Chapters There's only one light on in the store as I walk in. I'd spent most of the day searching every other jewelry store in town looking for the perfect necklace for Leena's birthday but at almost 9.p.m, I didn't have much hope of finding it in an antique store. Everything in the small shop seemed to be covered in a fine layer of dust and it was so dim I could barely make out the shop keeper's face at the back of the store. Things that look like relics from a lost civilization are lined up on shelves throughout the shop, as if an entire culture, or cultures' worth of posessions were relegated to the space of a single corner antique store. There weren't even price tags on anything. It was like I was in someone's house. I can tell I'm not going to find anything by just looking so I decide to ask the apparent store owner.
"Welcome, good sir." the shopkeeper addresses me as I approach the counter. He's a white-haired man about my height wearing a vest, jewelery and other clothes that look like they're half a Halloween costume and half circus clown outfit. I pull out my wallet and show him a picture of the necklace I was looking for, or rather a picture of me and Leena and her wearing the necklace she'd lost about a month ago. The necklace she'd been wearing when we met and that I wanted to replace for her birthday next week. "I'm looking for a necklace that looks like this one", I say, pointing to the photo. The necklace itself was a simple band but in the center was an opal jewel of some sort that complemented her hazel eyes. "What a lovely gem." the shopkeeper says as a sly grin forms across his face. You better be talking about the jewelry , I think to myself.
"I think I might have something." he says as he turns around to the shelves in the back. After a minute of fiddling, he turns around with a small green box. He pulls back the lid on the box and pulls out something delicately wrapped in paper, as if to preserve whatever it is from touch itself. He sets it down on the counter and pulls back the paper to reveal a necklace. What disdain I might have shown at his playful 'complement' on my girlfriend earlier is instantly replaced by a feeling of awe. I examine the necklace. I can't believe how similar it is to Leena's. In the center was a dark green gem and the band shined with a golden luster. On the band on either side of the gem were small symbols, the same on each side. A horeshoe, a four-leaf clover and a small star, engraved on the band. It must represent good luck and I was certainly having some to have found it at all. It's the perfect replacement.
It wasn't hard to see I was interested. "This item is said to bring good fortune to the wearer." he says. I nod, still amazed that I seem to have found exactly what I was looking for. "What would you give for such a fine piece?" he then asks. I was taken aback by the question. What would I give? What kind of antique shop is this? "I would normally sell such an item for, hmm, maybe two hundred dollars." Not an unreasonable price, I think to myself. It even came in a nice box Leena could keep it in and I wouldn't have to wrap it. "But because this item is one of fortune, I believe we should let fortune decide." I was willing to pay two hundred dollars, now it sounded like I was getting into something a lot more complicated. Was this even legal? Could I get arrested for making some shady backroom antique deal? Still, this was as close to anything I'd found that even resembled Leena's necklace. Maybe this is where hers had come from. He pulls out a small silver-grey coin from his pocket.
"A game of chance. If this coin lands tails-side up, you pay me two hundred dollars for the box alone and I keep its contents. If the coin should land heads up, both container and jewel are yours. Free of charge." Free? If I won I could just take it and leave? There had to be a law against this. I thought about Leena's birthday. She loved that necklace. Her grandmother had given it to her. After about a month of looking for it, we hadn't given up all hope of finding it but she'd always worn it. It was like a part of her and I wanted to get it back. Here was the perfect replacement. It wouldn't be the same but at least it looked similar. And it would've been something I'd given her. That settled it.
"I can take it and leave?" I asked. "Yes." he says, through the same coy smirk from before. "If this coin lands face up, the box and necklace are yours. Fate will have decided. Do we have a deal?" I clench my fists on the counter top. "Deal." I reply, feeling the tension in my throat. Without another word, he presses the coin to the counter top on its edge and spins it. I move my hands away from the counter quickly as not to interfere with the coin. The shopkeeper clasps his hands behind hs back and we both watch. It spins wildly on the counter top making a ringing noise that seems to echo off the walls. I can barely make out which side is heads and which side is tails. I can feel my heart pounding inside my chest and my hands go cold as I watch it spin. Is it too late to say best two out of three? But I don't take my eyes off the coin as it begins to slow and then fall on its side, landing finally, heads up.
The shopkeeper claps his hands together, replacing the ringing of the coin and making me practically jump out of my skin."Congratulations young man." he declares in a joyful tone. "Fortune smiles upon you this day." I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and swallow hard. I had won. This was incredible. The storekeeper wraps the necklace back up, places it in the box and hands it to me. "Thank you, thank you very much." I exclaim, so relieved I'm almost dumbfounded at the result. "Don't thank me young man. It was chance that decided this item's fate. Now, is there anything else I can help you with? I have many other fine items that might interest a young lady." he asks, smiling again. "No thanks, this is more than enough really", I answer, not wanting to press my luck. "All right then, please come again." he says as I open the door and finally leave.
I get in my car parked on the side of the street and strap the box into the passenger's side. As I buckle up and get ready to head home, I see the one light in the store switch off. Maybe they close at 9, I guess to myself. I look at the green box. Truly, I was going to be the hero of Leena's birthday. I couldn't wait to see her face. Even if she found her old one between now and the party, she'd have two now and one was from me. It could not have been a better turn of events.
I get to my apartment around 10:30 that night. My roomate Sam Marshall is still up playing Xbox 360 in the living room. He addresses me without looking away from the screen as I close the door behind me. "So you've been gone all day. Did you find it?" "Yeah, I found it." I say, patting the box in my left hand. "How much you blow on it?" Sam asks casually. "Not much at all actually." "You know you've been going out with her for two years now." he says as I make my way through the living room. I know he's implying I should propose, set a date, do something but I'm still a little nervous. I've never really had much luck at anything like this, until tonight of course. Maybe my luck has started to change though. "We'll see how things go after next week. Hey, don't you have to be at work early tomorrow?" I ask him over my shoulder. "Yeah, I'm only going to be on a little longer." He says, his attention fully returned to the game. "All right then, I'm hitting the hay. Night." "Night", he says as I close the door to my room.
I carefully place the box on the nightstand in my bedroom, lay down still half-dressed on my bed and watch an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic I recorded earlier. I never really noticed before but as I watch the episode, I realize Leena's necklace and the necklace I just bought for that matter look a lot like the Elements of Harmony from the show. Thinking it to be an interesting coincidence and nothing more, I drift off to sleep as the episode ends and the last image freezes on the t.v. I sleep comfortably, picturing Leena smiling as she opens the box and unwraps her gift that I was lucky enough to find.
The alarm on my clock goes off at exactly 8.a.m normally giving me an hour to prepare for work but today I have the day off so I ignore it for a few seconds. I slept well, not surprising since I had nothing but happy thoughts to keep me company for the night. I open my eyes and reach over to turn off the alarm when I notice something's not right with my hand. Or rather, I don't seem to have a hand anymore! I bring both limbs to my face to realize they've been replaced by some sort of strange flat appendages! Hooves?! Horror grips my entire body as I quickly examine myself to find I have 4 hooves, a tail, my hair has become a mane! I've become some kind of pony, a cartoon pony like out of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! How did this happen?! I was just watching the show last night! This had to be a dream.
I try to pinch myself to see if I'm dreaming but I can't seeing as how I don't have fingers! I rub both... hooves together, feeling the short, soft hairs of my tan coat. It feels quite nice actually and confirms that I am not dreaming. I look around my apartment. My clothes are crumpled up in a pile next to me in bed. Everything else seems to be normal. If I'm a cartoon, why is everything else still normal? I see the t.v still frozen on the ending scene of My Little Pony: Friendships is Magic. I look at my hooves and at the picture. It's like I'm ripped right from the show! What's happened to me?
Trying to shake off the panic, I get out of bed. I stand up slowly, feeling the carpet beneath me. Well, at least it seems I can still walk upright. What was I going to do? My mind was racing. I thought about calling 911. What would I say? For that matter, how could I dial a phone with HOOVES? I can't drive like this. I guess I could gallop to where I needed to go? What would my parents say? Would they take me to the hospital? Or.. the vet? What will Leena say? She does like My Little Pony... no, no I have to fix this! I definitely wasn't a pony last night... wait, the necklace!
I grab the the green box on my night stand. Shaking a tad, I grasp it between both of my... hooves. The lid seems to have been opened. I look inside to see the wrapping is still there but the necklace is gone! I look around frantically for it. As I move I feel something on my shoulder. The necklace! It seems to have attached itself to my forearm, or foreleg? like some kind of arm band. And it's become a cartoon too. The dark green jewel shines as a I watch it and it seems to almost glow. It gets brighter as I stare at it and then some beam shoots out of it like a bolt of lightning! The beam stops over the foot of my bed and starts to flatten out into a yellow disc of some sort. I crouch behind my bed, unable to do anything but watch as a figure of some sort appears in the disc.
The figure steps out of the disc as the disc vanishes behind it. A portal of some sort? The figure raises its head. From the moment I see it I recognize who it is. My eyes dart back and fourth between the t.v behind her and the purple unicorn at the foot of my bed. She speaks, "My name is-".
"Twilight Sparkle!" I practically shout her name. "I know who you are! Wh-what are you doing here?! How is this possib-" she raises a hoof "Please calm down, let me explain". I felt faint. This couldn't be real. I nodded my head and tried to calm down. "Obviously you know who I am. We've known about your world for some time but this is the first time I've ever been here. I've read about Earth in books and clearly... " she notices the image still frozen on t.v. "I've seen Equestria on television.", I say, completing her explanation.
"Wait, no this can't be real. I... I'm clearly seeing things." I shake my head in disbelief. "Can't be real?" Twilight says. "Both our worlds exist within each other in some form. If my world didn't exist, you wouldn't know anything about it. Equestria is just a little more real than you thought it was." she says as she looks around my apartment. I guess what she said made sense. I rub both my hooves together again. Real in some form? I remember the old saying 'anything is possible'. While a tad cliche, that saying was more true to me now than ever before.
"Why are you here? In my apartment? And Why am I like... this?" I ask as calmly as I can manage. "We recently discovered old texts about some powerful magic artifacts from Equestria, lost long ago. That band your wearing is one of them. It's one of 6 items, the Elements of Heroism that were used to save Equestria in ages past. It was said though that they were too powerful for any one pony to control and so they were hidden in a far away place. I had no idea that place would be out of a book though." A book. Earth, the whole planet a book. I wonder who wrote it in Equestria... I hope it has a happy ending. Maybe I could get a copy?
She walks over to me, "The Elements of Heroism are linked to the Elements of Harmony, when you activated that one, my Element of Magic reacted. I was able to use that link to create a portal to Earth. As for why you've become a pony... my only guess is that you couldn't use the element in your natural state so the element must have changed you so you could wield its power." she explained. I shake my head, "Hold on. How did I activate this element? I can't do magic. Well, I can do the vanishing coin trick... but that's not the same, that's just an illusion."
"Let me see it." she says. I hesitate for a second before holding out my hoof where the band is attatched. She examines it for a moment, "This is the Element of Luck. You must've done something lucky to activate it." Something lucky? Immediately I think back to the shop. The storekeeper, the coin game. I knew there was something strange about that old man. "This was supposed to be a birthday present for my girlfriend Leena. I went to an antique shop downtown... or at least what I thought was an antique shop. It was a necklace last night. The storekeeper offered it to me if I won a bet. He spun a coin and I won. I should've known it wouldn't be that easy. I'm never this lucky... I'm not even sure I believe luck exists." I tell Twilight in a hopless tone. "Well, obviously luck exists in some form or we wouldn't be talking about it." she says as she lets go of my hoof.
"You said it was a necklace first?" she asks. "Yeah, my girlfriend Leena lost her necklace about a month ago and I wanted to get her a new one." I reach over to my wallet on the nightstand. I carefully use both hooves to try to open it up. I can tell it's not going to be easy doing anything with hooves. Holding the wallet apart, I show her the picture."This is me and Leena, that's her wearing the necklace she lost." I say, holding it in front of her carefully. Suddenly, her horn glows purple and my wallet levitates out of my hooves. It stops right in front of her face and she examines it. The magic she uses, just like in the cartoon. "Nathan Sheffield. That's your name?" she asks. "Yeah, I'm Nathan and that's Leena on the right." I say, pointing to the picture. "So this is what you normally look like? You're called humans right? So you do walk on your two hind legs..." she says. Exactly what did this book she read say about Earth?
"Wait, that necklace your girlfriend is wearing. I think that's one of the Elements of Heroism!" she says. I look at the picture, "The reason I bought this one is because it looked like her old one. You're saying they're both elements?" "That's what it looks like but I can't make out which one it is. We have find it and fast." she says, levitating the wallet back to my night stand. "Wait, why do we need to find it?" I ask. "One of Equestria's biggest threats has resurfaced once again. A creature of pure chaos called-" "Discord." I complete her sentence. "You seem to know a lot about Equestria." she says. "I've seen it a lot on t.v. It's one of my favorite cartoons... or I guess real life documentaries now." "Then you know how dangerous he is. We're not entirely sure how he broke out but when he did, he demanded that Princess Celestia give him the Elements of Heroism. She didn't know what he was talking about though and he disappeared. It's then we started to look them up and found that they were on Earth. It's a good thing your element activated or I wouldn't have been able to come here. We have to get to the Elements before Discord. Have you seen any sign of him on Earth?"
I freeze and feel the hairs across my body stand on end as started to think of that shopkeeper again. This was all too convenient. "I think I may have already met Discord." I said. "That old man in the antique store. I knew there was something weird about him. I have a sneaking suspicion that was Discord in the shop. He must've known this would happen... but why- oh no." I say, coming to a realization. "I showed him the picture of Leena and the necklace. If that was Discord then he already knows what to look for." "We have to get to your girlfriend and find that Element." she says as she enters the living room heading to the door of my apartment.
"Wait, no we can't leave; We can't let anyone see you or me like this. Cartoon ponies don't just go walking about the streets! We'll be arrested, studied, I don't know what!" I exlaim. "We don't have any other choice. I won't be able to use a teleportation spell for at least a week after making that portal and I can't use any transformation or even the wing spell without studying the materials of this world first. You really think people will flip out if they see us?" she asks. "At least! We'll probably be captured by the military, taken to Area 51 or something. If they catch us the'll want to study us, run experiments and-"
"Yeah..." I begin to explain, remembering how small Ponyville is in the show. "We get around by riding in these things called cars, they're like horseless carriages made of metal that travel on rubber wheels but I can't really drive mine with me being like this." "I think I've read about cars before. We have similar modes of transportation in Ponyville. Maybe I can drive using my magic." she says excitedly. I look down at my hooves. "Let me get my keys." I say with a sigh.
I look at my keys on the nightstand. I guess I didn't need my wallet. No one was going to recognize me anyway. I grab the keys in my mouth, seeing no other way to carry them. How was this even going to work? I couldn't think about that now. Leena could be in trouble. We had to get there and fast.
Twilight uses her magic to open the door and exit we exit my apartment. I turn back toward the door. Keys still in my mouth. I think for a moment, trying to see how this could work. I turn back to Twilight. "Um, Twilight? Could you lock the door for me please?" I ask, still biting down on the keys. Without a word, her horn glows purple and the keys levitate out of my mouth. The door glows purple and shuts. "It's the key on the right." I say, watching something that is undoubtedly normal to her but astounding to me. She locks the door smoothly. "I wish I brought my saddlebag and some supplies with me." she says as the keys float above her head. "I just wish I was human again. Is there anyway you could use your magic to change me back?" I say, hopeful. "Hmm. It might be possible." Her horn glows and a bright beam shoots out of it, hitting me square in the chest. My entire body tingles with static for a second but it quickly disappates. I look at my hooves. Nothing has changed. "I'm sorry Nathan. The magic of the Element is too strong." I look at the band on my arm. "Am I going to be stuck like this forever?" I ask. "If we get the Elements back to Equestria, we should be able to bond them to some other ponies instead of you but we have to find them first." Twilight says as she turns and starts downt the stairs. I nod, now wishing I'd bought Leena something, ANYTHING else for her birthday than the acursed artifact wrapped around my... hoof. Still getting used to even thinking the word.
We walk down the stairs and exit the complex into the parking lot. It's still early and the street is empty. Good. There shouldn't be much traffic. Twilight looks around, "Wow. Your town is amazing! So many buildings and they're so tall!" she says looking around. "Yeah, it's quite a bit bigger than Ponyville." I say, leading her to my car. I focus on the car, trying to ignore the clip clop sounds of my hooves on the pavement. "So this is your car." she says as we approach my blue four-door. "Yes, we're uh, going to have to unlock the doors first. Press the thing on the keychain that looks like a little unlocked lock." she examines the keychain for a moment. The car beeps, the lights flash and the doors unlock. The sound echoes off the buildings to either side of the parking lot and I look around to see if it caught anyone's attention. Still in the clear. Carefully using my hoof, I lift up on the door handle and quietly get inside the passenger's side, Twilight doing the same on the driver's side. The car rocks back and fourth on its shocks. Apparently ponies are a bit heavier than people. My tail feels a bit uncomfortable but it seems we'll both be able to sit upright. Twilight carefully places her hooves between the gaps in the steering wheel. Using her magic, she adjusts the mirrors, fastens both our seatbelts, places the key in the ignition and starts the car. "Have you done this before?" I ask watching this. "Like I said, we have similar vehciles in Ponyville." Maybe I haven't seen those parts of the show I think to myself.
Twilight pulls the car out into the street with all the grace of a student driver with their first time behind the wheel. She taps the gas pedal and the car lurches forward in short bursts. I can't help but brace myself. Quickly though she learns the controls and soon we're traveling down the road at a steady pace. "Stay inside the yellow lines and on the right side of the road." I say, trying to remain calm. She's able to reach the pedals with her back hooves and use her front hooves to steer. Maybe I should've tried driving? We travel down the block and approached the first intersection. Still no sign of other cars.
The car starts to slow down finally as we approach the 3rd intersection. "Turn left here if you can!" I say, heart still racing. The car carefully turns as we finally return to normal speed. We pass the hospital where Leena works. Her place is still a couple blocks away. "I can move the pedal now." Twilight says. I exhale, relieved. I notice the element on my arm is still glowing. Just then the car starts accelerating again! Our speed increases rapidly. "Twilight?!" I ask, eyes forward bracing again. "The pedal's stuck again!!" "The brakes?!" her hoof stomps the brake. "No!" Buildings raced by as our speed climbed again. Another car went past. The roads are narrower here. "This is it! We're going to hit something and that will be it! I'm going to die a cartoon horse next to a character from my favorite show!" "Nathan, calm down! You're not helping." Twilight says nervously but with an underlying steel in her voice. She focuses on the road ahead.
We pass stop signs, intersections, a school zone. People walking by on the sidewalk move farther away from the road as we speed by. Suddenly, the car begins decelerating again. My element stops glowing. Almost as quickly as the thrill ride hide started, it ended and the car slowed to a halt. I unbuckle my seat belt quickly, open the door and practically leap out of the four door death trap I used to call my primary mode of transportation onto the grass beside the sidewalk. I could kiss the ground. Twilight quickly exits herself and walks around toward me. "I... I think I'll need a little more study before I try that again." she says catching her breath. "Yes. And helmets and ejector seats." I say as I get back up.
I look around. "We're actually not far from where Leena lives. We could probably walk there now." "Walking sounds good." Twilight agrees. Carefully we close the doors on my car and Twilight grabs the keys using her magic. Worst thing that could happen is it gets towed, so we leave the car there and trot onward without another word. I choose to focus on the clip clop sounds of my hooves on the pavement and forget about the car ride here.
We took Sara's SUV, it being a little bit roomier than my car. Twilight and I kept our heads down in the back so we wouldn't be seen. She couldn't help but look up at interesting things that passed by though. Thankfully the back windows were tinted so it's likely she wasn't noticed. Leena kept adjusting the mirror to look at us in the back. "Wow. I still can't believe this is real." she said. "Yeah, me niether." I say back. "My Little Pony is like my favorite show! I watch you and your friends all the time Twilight." "Nathan said something like that before... Equestria is a t.v show?" "Yes! Nathan and I watch it all the time! I love that episode where you fight Discord." "That was a tough battle. It's good that at least some humans know what Discord is capable of though." Twilight said. "I remember that episode. I'm surprised Discord hasn't started 'improving' Earth yet." I say as I look out the window, looking for any signs of pink clouds or chocolate rain. "Maybe coming here drained Discord's power too. If so, we could have the time we need to gather the Elements." I nodded and the car became silent.
We pulled into the mall parking lot just after 9. There were only a few cars in the parking lot. Still, I knew it was only a matter of time before we were discovered. We had to find the rest of the Elements fast. Leena parks us close to the entrance, plenty of spots still available because it's so early. "Maybe you and Twilight should stay in the car so no one sees you." Leena says. "What if Discord finds you? You have no way to defend yourself Leena. We should stick together." Twilight says. I nod in agreement. I don't know what's going to happen but I'm not about to let Leena out of my sight. "What if people find out about you and Twilight? How are we going to explain?" "We'll just have to improvise." I say as I open the door.
We got out and started walking towards the entrance. The hot pavement quickly became uncomfortable on my hooves. "The ground here is kind of hard on your hooves." Twilight chimed in. "Yeah. I wish I'd brought some shoes." Leena giggled. "What?" I asked at her amusement. "Maybe horseshoes Nathan?" she giggled again. "Yeah. And maybe a saddle and bridle too. And you could build a stable for me behind the condo and let all the neighbors come see your pony-boyfriend." I state plainly, my voice oozing sarcasm. She just laughed again and we left it at that. Twilight rolled her eyes.
We entered the main entrance to the mall. Unfortunately, people were there. People saw us from before we even got to the entrance but most seemed to be ignoring us as they went by, oblivious to the girl with two cartoon ponies in tow. A couple stopped and stared, a few checked their eyes as we went by but ultimately none stopped us as we entered the concourse, took a right and headed to the jewelry store. "Hey Nathan." Leena said. "Yes...?" I ask, quietly. "I really like your mane." Leena said with another light giggle. 'Thanks Leena." If I had a palm, it would be on my face right now. We continued walking/trotting to the jewelry store as people looked over their shoulders at us.
As we approached the jewelry store, two clerks ran outside and turned in the opposite direction, not seeing us. Something was clearly wrong. The jewelry store seemed vacant when we entered it until a familar face popped up from behind the counter. Leena's jaw practically hits the floor and honestly, I'm still a little surprised myself. But Twilight is overjoyed to see her longtime unicorn friend.
"Rarity!" she says as she walks over. "Twilight darling! It's so good to see you!" the white unicorn says. "What are you doing here Rarity? How did you get to Earth?" "Well, after you entered that portal another one opened up responding to the Element of Generosity. I decided to see where it lead. And just look at all these jewels Twilight! I simply must take some back to Equestria with us. Oh the new fashions I'll be able to make!" Rarity says while examining various jewels in cases behind the counter. "And who are these friends with you?" Rarity asks, still preoccupied with jewels. "OMG It's Rarity!!!" Leena exclaims. "My reputation proceeds me then. Yes, I am the one and only Rarity. And what is your name? And who is this other pony with you?" "My name's Leena and this is my boyfriend Nathan. He wasn't always a pony. In fact, Nathan why are you a pony?" "Twilight thinks it's this Element of Luck on my foreleg. It's magic turned me... into this." 'So you're normally a... human is it? And these are some of the... clothes... you wear?" Rarity says, addressing Leena. "Well, I didn't really have time to get dressed up in anything... I mean, Nathan kind of just came over and..." "Oh no darling, it's quite all right. It's simply interesting to see what you humans are wearing. As a fashion, designer I must look for inspiration everywhere!" "Maybe we could take you to some of the stores here in the mall?" "Let's focus on finding the Elements first girls." Twilight chimed in. They both nodded but I sensed something expensive in the future.
"The Elements? Oh that's right, you must be looking for those other elements Discord was talking about." Rarity said. "Yes and we've already ran into Discord here on Earth. In fact, Rarity if you're here that means one of the Elements must be in this store." Twilight said. "But which jewel could it be?" Leena asked as she looked around the jewelry store. "We're just going to have to examine them all. It has to be nearby though." We searched the store for a few minutes but found nothing resembling an element. "You're sure this is the store you returned it to?" I asked Leena. "Yes, this is the only jewelry store in the mall." There was only one spot left to look. The cash register. Hopefully they didn't think we were trying to steal anything. I looked at the buttons on the register and carefully pressed the one that opened the register. Nothing. But then some glow caught my eye from underneath the register. "I think I've found it." I lift up the cash tray to see, Leena's necklace. The same one she wore when we met.
"Let me see." Twilight says as she, Leena and Rarity gather round. Just like my element did, the center jewel had a faint glow. Probably because it opened up the portal Rarity came through a few minutes ago. "Just as I thought. This is the Element of Honor." Twilight declared. "All right so two down, four to go. Where to next?" I said, happy to be one step closer to our goal. "Nathan, it's not right for us to just take it. I sold this necklace to the store, we have to at least return the money." "How much did you sell it for?" I asked. "The store clerk gave me two-hundred dollars." she said as she opened up her purse and brought out her wallet. Something about that seemed familiar. Once again, I remembered back to that antique store. "Leena, about that store clerk..." "Yeah?" Leena asked as she placed a fistful of dollars on the counter. Just then, Leena's necklace started glowing. "What's going on?" I asked Twilight. The necklace started shaking in my hooves, and then started to float! Just like my Element did in my apartment, Leena's necklace was now levitating in the center of the store. What was it going to do? Was it summoning another portal?
The Element glowed brighter and then leapt straight at Leena! It collided with her left arm and let out a flash of bright light that covered the store. Leena fell to the ground and knocked over the cash register in the process. We all collapsed, temporarily blinded. I fought to see though and ran over to Leena's side. She was covered in the same light that exploded out of the jewel. "What's going on?!" I asked Twilight, Rarity, Leena, anyone. "What's happening to her?! Leena! Are you okay?!" "The Element is bonding to her!" "Bonding?! Like... like this?!" I hold up my hoof and the Element of Luck. "...Yes." Twilight answered. I turned back to Leena to see the light that enveloped her was glowing bright. Her arms and legs took on a cylindrical shape, her hands and feet became flat appendages, her hair became one long mane. I realized I was watching Leena change before my very eyes and I was helpless to stop it. The light faded. Her skin had become a pale white coat of fur and her mane was a dark brown. Her eyes opened, her same eyes except cartoon, like mine.
"Leena?! Are... are you all right?" I asked, my heart racing. "Of course I am. Wow, what happened? What was that light?". "Leena... you're..." "Where's my necklace? Or, the Element I mean?" Leena asked, apparenlty oblivious to what happened to her. "It's on your..." Twilight pointed to what was Leena's left arm. She lifted her foreleg and made the same realization I did when I woke up this morning. "My... my hand? What's wrong with my hand? I... I'm..." "You're a pony Leena." I say, relieved that at least she was okay. "Did... did the element do this to me?" "It seems the Element of Honor has bonded with you Leena. It must've changed your form so that you could use its magic just like Nathan." I hugged her. "Nathan it's okay. I'm fine. Wow, so this is what it's like to be a pony?" "I think you'll absolutely love being a pony darling. And I can make sure you're both dressed up in only the best attire when I get back to Equestria." "Yeah, I don't think I'll be wearing these anymore." Leena said as she nudged the clothes she was just wearing, crumpled in a pile on the floor. "I do say you humans have some interesting outfits." Rarity said.
The Element on Leena's arm slowly stopped glowing. "So now, how do we find the other Elements?" I thought about that as I turned over the cash register that was on the floor. The tray had been knocked out in the commotion and inside, I saw a brown piece of paper. It looked almost like parchment. "Look at this." I carefully balance it on both my hooves and unroll it as the 3 pony girls walked over to me. There were pictures of six necklaces, arrayed in a circle and in the center, I recognized Canterlot, the castle-city in Equestria. "Those are the Elments of Heroism. It's a page out of the book I found out about them in!" I turned the parchment over and to see someone had made a list on the back. Hope, Strength, Spirit, Wisdom, Honor and notes beside them. "It looks like you're not the only pony with a copy of that book Twilight. Whoever has it was apparently keeping track on the Elements here on Earth. But I don't see Luck here." I say, turning looking all over the page. "Who would be trying to find the Elements here?" Rarity asked.
"Leena, when you sold your necklace here, did the store clerk seem kind of... strange to you?" "Now that I think about it, he was acting kind of odd. He asked me if I thought two-hundred dollars was a fair." "Discord." I say. "I have a feeling he's been looking for the Elements for a longer time than any of us realize." "But if he's looking for the Elements, why did he let you have one Nathan?" Leena asked. "Maybe transporting them here on Earth drained them of their power. It's possible he needs to reactivate them before he can use them." Twilight theorized.
"And he's been keeping track on them so that he can get to them quickly when they're activated. Look at the these notes." I say, pointing to the notes next to the words. "We can use these to find the Elements! Look here next to Strength." There was a word next to it in bold ink. Flemming Brothers... Like Flemming Brothers Carnival? "Flemming Brothers? Like the fairgrounds? The Element is there?" Leena asked. "It looks like it." Twilight said. "It's the only clue we've got to go by." "The fairgrounds. Leena, that's where we went out for the first time!" "Oh Nathan it'll be so much fun to go there with you again! We can take a trip on the Tunnel of Loooooooooove!" she cooed."Oh how romantic." mused Rarity. I smiled, remembering our first date. "It can't be a coincidence that it's there. Can it?" I asked, suspicious. "Well regardless, it's the only lead we have at the moment." Twilight said. "Let's get going everypony." she said as she began to walk out. I rolled the piece of parchment up and tucked it under my bracelet, not having anywhere else to put it. . We walked back out into the mall together, the clip-clop sound of 16 hooves together.
We walked back out onto the concourse. We started walking back to the entrance when we saw 2 security gaurds coming right at us in a hurry. "Oh boy. Here it goes." "Hey! No animals allowed in the... what in the world are those?" "Time to run everypony!" I say to the girls who were already turning around. "Wait, where are you going?" Twilight asks, slowly chasing after us. "No time to explain, just run!" I yell. We run the other way and turn a corner, onto another concourse. Stores to either side of us, we're moving too fast as I search for something resembling an exit. There's more people now and they run away from the galloping cartoon ponies in the mall. We pass the food court. The rich, delicious aroma of something cooking in the mall hits me right in the face and I realize I haven't had breakfast this morning. Could I even still eat normal food as a cartoon pony?!
Two more security gaurds have joined the two already behind us. One of them speaks into a walkie talkie as he runs but we're too fast for them, our four legs quickly gaining ground on their two. We turn another corner to a department store. No parking access, it's a dead end and despite the lead we've gained, the gaurds were closing. "Oh my goodness look at the patterns!" Rarity exclaims looking at a window display. I look left and right. We're actually near a place I recognize, the game store that Sam works at. To the left was a clothing shop, not even opened. It's just then that I notice Sam staring almost slack-jawed at us from the inside of the game shop. "Hello there! You wouldn't happen to know where the nearest exit is would you? There are some men chasing us and well..." Rarity explained to my roomate.
"Hi Sam!" Leena calls out to him. "My Little Pony?" the Sam says as he walks out to us. "What... what is this? Is this some kind of new animatronics?" "No, Sam it's me Nathan and this is Leena." I say, looking at my long time best friend. "You've got to be kidding me." Sam says, unconvinced. "Sam, your gamename is Maximarshall42 and your password is twentypercentcooler, no spaces." I say to him, revealing my knowledge of his Nbox account. "It is you." he whispers. Just then we hear the security gaurds chasing us getting closer. "Sam, you've got to distract them somehow so we can lose them. Can you do that?" He nods. Leena, Rarity, Twilight and I hide in the department store behind a display just as the gaurds round the corner. Sam walks over to them.
"Sir, have you seen any strange animals running around here?" "No." He says plainly. "You might want to check the food court though." "That's a good idea; food is sure to attract them. All right, back the other way." The security gaurds turn around and leave up the concourse leading to the food court. Sam walks over to us.
He turned around the corner of the doorway and just looked at us. "So is it really you guys?" "Yeah, it's us." "Dude, you're a pony." "Thanks Sam, I hadn't noticed." I say sarcastically. "How did you become a pony?" "It's because of this thing." I say, holding up the element attatched to my foreleg and swatting at it. "There's six of them here on Earth and we're trying to find them before Discord does." "Discord's real too?!" "Yeah, we saw him in Leena's apartment. "Dude, this is awesome. My Little Pony is real. My gosh, that's unbelievable." "I guess it is pretty cool. I never thought I'd be part of the show."
"Nathan, I think we should be looking for an escape route or something." Twilight says. "The car's on the other side of the mall now." Leena reminded us. "How are we going to get outside even? We'll be seen before we even get onto the concourse." Twilgiht adds. "Where's Rarity?" Leena asks.
The unicorn was busying about different racks of clothes, darting from one to the other, her magic making the clothes fly off the shelves and hover in mid-air, allowing her to examine them for a second before she hung it back up. "Rarity! Get down!" I say in a loud whisper. "Look at this fabric, it's amazing! Oooh and this color is just so bold! I love it all! Oh, so many ideas! I feel an absolute rush of inspiration!" Rarity continues going on about the clothes. "You know, if it's a ride you guys need, my car's parked by the south entrance." the young bystander says. "The south entrance is a lot closer. We have a better chance of getting there without being seen." I think aloud. Rarity!" Twilight practically yells. "I could use a little help over here!" Twilight says, following Rarity around, trying to straighten out what the fashion designer tosses aside.
"I will have so many ideas to take back to Ponyville with me." Rarity declares. "That gives me an idea. Rarity, do you think you could make us some kind of disguise?" Rarity stopped and just turned back to us. "Now that is the PERFECT idea Nathan." she says. "We have plenty of material... I'll just be a few minutes and I'll have something whipped up for all of us!"
We took down displays, gathered clothes and Rarity found some basic tailoring supplies, scissors and the like. Sam kept a lookout for more gaurds but it looked like things were clear. Good thing it was a big m all. Slowly, our disguises came together. Rarity overlapped sheets and sewed them together to form rudimentary cloaks for us to wear, something to cover our flash animated bodies. When she was done, Rarity examined each and smiled. "Hmm. I may have found a new passion! Disguise making is a whole new approach to fashion!" "This is all right. At least they won't be able to tell we're cartoons but if we walk on all fours they're going to know we're not exactly human." I turn to Twilgiht and Rarity, still getting used to wearing all the cloth. "We're all going to have to walk upright." "While not exactly comfortable, I think we can manage." Rarity says. "I don't do this very often. It seems so unnatural." "Pinkie seems good at it." Rarity says as she stands, wobbling slightly. "Well have to get some pointers from her next time." Twilight agrees, both her forelegs spread out to help her balance. Leena and I both are able to stand easily. "Maybe we just have a little more experience with it." I say with a shrug.
"Honestly, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen! Look at them!" Sam says, looking over at Twilight and Rarity. "Yeah but then I became one. I can't open doors. And try driving with these things" I say, looking at my hooves again. "Lighten up dude. How many times have you found out an awesome show you watch is real?" "Yeah, this would be a first for me." "Could be worse. You could've wound up as a pony from one of the other generations." Sam said, folding his arms. I hadn't thought of that. "I actually don't think the other gens were all that bad. I watched Gen 2 when I was little." I said. I paused and looked at my hooves again. "That being said, I'm really happy Friendship is Magic is the real one." "Same here... I mean... wow. I still can't believe it IS real." "Tell me about it. I'm never going to be able to watch the show the same way again." "I feel like I'm watching it right now." Sam replies. Twilight and Rarity practiced walking a little bit. I wondered if the show was on right now.
It looked as though the girls were getting the hang of walking. It was difficult for all of us; Twilight and Rarity because they were used to walking on four legs and Leena and I because we were used to having two. "It looks like you've gotten the basics of walking upright down and I don't have time to go over posture. Just... your forelegs, keep them at your sides until we get out of sight. Don't hold them out." Slowly Twilight lowered her forelegs, almost like arms. "This isn't as easy as it looks." "Just put one hoof in front of the other hoof." Leena adds. "All right, time to move. Sam, please lead the way."
We walked back out into the concourse. Our disguises actually looked relatively the same, Rarity being a fashion genius, I wasn't surprised. We passed the security gaurd standing at the corner. He saw us but didn't stop us. Maybe he wasn'tpart of the group that was chasing us. He didn't say a word as we passed. Twilight and Rarity wobbled a bit but we kept single file. People didn't pay much attention to us and we didn't see any other security gaurds. Sam lead us all the way to the entrance. I didn't feel right trusting a complete stranger but there was nothing more we could do and he seemed all right. We turned a few corners, keeping things slow and in around five minutes we were close to the other entrance.
The south entrance was just ahead past a cafe. I could just begin to see the parking lot when a group of young kids ran outside of the cafe. One of them brushed up against Rarity and part and part of her carefully made disguise fell off, revealing her animated mid section. "Oh my." she said aloud, scrambling to fix the garment she'd crafted only a few minutes ago. As she did, her face wrap fell off, exposing part of her face. She reached up to fix it and the midsection drooped off again. Within seconds, the cloth disguise had returned to cloth and Rarity's animated form drew stares from everyone nearby. "Oh forget it just run!" I yelled. We started galloping, the storm of our hooves echoing down the mall. The entrance was close by, no gaurds were around. We bumped into a few people, there were shouts but none could stop us. We got to the doors, being so close Sam hadn't fallen behind and opened them for us.
We stepped outside into the parking lot and into the plain view of about a dozen security gaurds and a few animal control specialists. SUVs were parked blocking the driveways up to the entrance and near the bus stop directly across from us. Aimed directly at us, weapons I could only assume were tranquilizer rifles of some sort. Two gaurds with large nets were setting up near the end of the SUVs. "What are we going to do Nathan?" Twilight asked. Sam, who had opened the door had not stopped running. "Where's he going?!" I asked to no one in particular. Did he just ditch us? Maybe he was afraid the guards would try to apprehend him too if he was seen with us. But the gaurds didn't even try to stop him. He ran right past a space in between the covered bus stop bench and the animal control vehicle next to it. I looked over at Leena. I had to protect her. The two gaurds with nets approached us cautiously from either side.
"Follow my lead." I whispered to the girls. Carefully, I stood on my hind legs, threw my forelegs into the air and spoke, "People of Earth! I bring greetings from... Equestria!" I shouted to the gaurds."We come in peace!" The girls followed suit, standing on their back legs carefully. The two specialists holding the nets stopped in their tracks. Guards with tranquilizer rifles slowly lowered their weapons and my stunning display of oration. A few inched down behind the vehicles, pulled out cell phones, walkie talkies and began panicking. "What in the world?" one of the gaurds muttered in awe. "What... what do we do now Nathan?" Leena whispered. "Move slowly to the parking lot." I whispered back through gritted teeth. "We are from another dimension!" I call out, holding my hooves into the air. We moved forward towards the bench in front of us hoping to slip by. Some of the guards backed a way but most held their non-lethal weapons at the ready. "We can't keep this up forever Nathan." Twilight whispered from behind me. "Just a bit further." I said back. Truthfully I had no idea what we were going to do. We could try doubling back and maybe galloping to the other side of the mall. How far we'd get, I had no idea.
We continued carefully walking past the vehicles parked by the bus bench and into the parking lot. Some gaurds fled, others followed at a close distance. I looked over my shoulder to see one guard right behind us, rifle aimed. My instincts told me to duck and he fired. A muffled chuff sound was heard and a dart hit Rarity in the middle of her back. She fell over instantly, knocking Twilight down in the process. The gaurd quickly threw down his rifle and jumped behind one of the SUVs, others hiding looked up to see what had happened. Rarity had been knocked out immediately by the tranquilizer. "Help me carry her!" I yelled. The other guards began aiming their weapons at us. I looked at the many barrels pointed directly at me. This was it, I thought. We were going to be captured.
Just then I heard a car's tires screech, I turn to see Sam's green station wagon speeding towards us. It stops just between us and the gaurds. He pulls over to us. "Get in!" he shouted. "You know how to cut it close Sam!" I say as I get in. "Sorry, I'm a bit tired. I didn't get enough sleep last night." he grins. Twilight and Leena pulled an unconcious Rarity into the back and I got in the passenger's side. Doors closed quickly and the car was in motion. We sped away as concerned Twilight and Leena looked over Rarity with concern.
"What happened to Rarity?!" Sam asked. "She was hit by a tranquilizer dart of some kind." Leena said, removing the dart from Rarity's back. "They shot her?!" "One of the guards must've panicked." I said, looking through the rear window as gaurds scrambled around the vehicles. "She's just out cold. It looks like she'll be fine, just out of it for a while at least until she wakes up." Twilight said, examining her friend. "I'm so sorry this happened Twilight." I tell her. "It's all right Nathan. You were right to be wary of people seeing us." But now they had seen us. What would happen now? The fact that four pastel colored ponies ran through a mall would be a hard fact to keep covered up. Maybe people would buy the 'aliens' charade we distracted them with.
"It doesn't look like we're being followed. For now at least." Sam said, returning the vehicle to normal speed. "Where do we go now?" he asked. "Flemming Bros. Circus." I said, unrolling the parchment that was our only clue to the location of the other elements. "The fairgrounds, got it. I take it the next Element you're looking for is ther?" "Yeah. The fairgrounds doesn't open until next month. Hopefully there won't be anyone around." I said. We turned a corner and headed to the outskirts of town. "It's lucky you found that page Nathan." Leena says. "Lucky... " I say, balancing the page carefully in both hooves. "I have a feeling it won't be long before whoever wrote this down comes looking for it." The car goes silent as we head away from the mall.
I could see lights in the distance as we approached the outskirts of town. We pulled off our disguises and set them in the back of the car. Huge spot lights scanned the overcast skies above. Just over the circus, the clouds seemed to be darker. As one of the spotlights illuminated them, I could tell they were pink, animated clouds like out of one of the episodes of the show. "Looks like Discord might already be here. Look, above the circus." I say, pointing to the clouds. "Are those clouds pink?" asked Sam. "Cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate. One of Discord's favorite 'improvements'." Twilight said, her voice icy with determination.
"Why would he go to such great lengths to draw attention to himself?" I asked. "Maybe he knows we're coming. This could all be a trap!" Leena answered. "We could try to find one of the other elements first. Maybe skip the carnival and come back?" Sam said nervously. "Those lights are going to attract people. We're the only ones who can stop Discord. We have to protect those people." Twilight answered. "You're... you're right." I say in a reluctant tone. I looked at Leena. She was actually enjoying being a pony. This was all still so weird. Part of me just wanted everything to go back to the way they were, wake up in my apartment and have My Little Pony going back to being a cartoon. But I knew there was no going back. What was going to happen to me and Leena? Would we be ponies forever? All I could do was stare at the pink clouds as we approached the fairground's parking lot.
"What are we going to do about Rarity? We can't leave her here alone." Leena said as we parked and got out. "One of us should stay here with her. One of us with one of the Elements in case Discord shows up." Twilight said. "I could stay with her." Leena volunteered. There was no way I was leaving Leena alone in the middle of a parking lot in broad daylight with a magic-powered madman on the loose. "No, I'm not leaving you here alone Leena." "Nathan we can't just leave Rarity without someone to watch her." Twilight interjects. "I'm not going to risk leaving Leena alone when Discord could show up." "Nathan, it's okay I have this." She says, jingling her element on her left foreleg. "That's not enough Leena. You don't even know how to use that thing and they do CRAZY things, believe me." I said, remembering the car ride to her apartment that nearly gave me a heart attack. "What do you want us to do? We can't carry her." Leena says back. "I could park her in a safe place and stay here myself." Sam says. "You won't be able to do anything against Discord's magic Sam. You need something to defend yourself with." Twilight answers. "What about these?" Sam says, brandishing his bare hands. "I bet I could take him on by myself if I had to!" "He's not going to fist fight you Sam. If anything, he'll hypnotize you into driving off a cliff or something." Leena says. "I don't care what we do but I'm not leaving you alone Leena." "Nathan..."
"May I ask something?" we all turn back to the car. "Where are we?" Rarity asks, looking out the window. "I guess that solves that." Sam says. "Oh, Rarity thank Celestia you're okay!" Twilight says as she opens the car door with her magic. "We're at the fairgrounds Rarity. We were worried about leaving you here alone in the car while we went looking for the element." "Well, I do appreciate the consideration but I assure you I'm fine. A little shaken but fine. Are those clouds pink?" Rarity asks. "Yeah. Discord must be in there waiting for us." "I see. It is unfortunate our disguises fell apart or we could get the drop on him." "We're going to get the drop on him all right. Let's get going everypony." Twilight says, walking to the main gates of the fairgrounds. "Everypony! This is so awesome!" Sam exclaimed. "Should we hide the car or something in case those gaurds from the mall gave the description of your car to the police?" "Nah, it'll be fine. C'mon, we've got a villain to take down." Sam said. Despite having just joined us, he was already enthusiastic about being here. Just then I thought about my car, still parked in the street. Couldn't worry about anything now. We had to find the next element. We all knew Discord wasn't going to stop with pink clouds.
"So how are we going to find the Element in there?" Sam asked. "I could use a spell on your Elements that makes them react in the presence of the other ones." Twilight says. "We're not splitting up to go look for it. I'm staying with Leena." "Ugh, Nathan I'm going to be fine." "It'll be all right, actually it should make the spell stronger if the two Elements are closer together. Leena and I held out our Elements and Twilight cast the magic upon them. They glowed hot and bright for a moment and then pulsed with a purple aura. "Okay. When we get close to the next Element, it should get brighter." Twilight explained. "Now all we have to do is get close to them."
The gates were wide open and no one was taking tickets. There didn't seem to be anyone around despite the fact there were a few cars in the parking lot. We all stepped through the turnstyles and into the main road into the fairgrounds. Booths with carnival games were on either side of us, kiosks in the middle held other items, information and games themselves. Straight ahead were amusement park rides, a rollercoaster, ferris wheel, the classic setup. The path forked in the middle of a park area with benches. To the right were smaller rides that led up to the circus tents in the back. To the left were other attractions and games that led up to the funhouse, tunnel of love and haunted house in the back. Twilight and Rarity were completely enamoured by what they saw but I kept my eyes out for anything that looked like jewelry. We still didn't see any people. There was a fork in the road turned right, heading down the same route Leena and I had taken when we came here during our first date. "Nathan are you mimicing the same path we took on purpose?" Leena asked sweetly. "Maybe..." I said bashfully. Only this time we didn't stop for anything.
"Oh dear goodness... it's, it's me!" Rarity exlaimed. We turned to see her running over to a game booth that gave out My Little Pony plushies as prizes. Rarity was immediately captivated by the giant piece of fluff shaped in her likeness. She used her magic to left it off its shelf and examine it in mid air. "It... it's me! I... I don't know what to say... there's so many of them! Look, there's Rainbow Dash, oh and you Twilight! And Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, oh this is too much!" "Oh wow! It there are dolls of us!" Twilight said, walking over. "I forgot to mention, your show is really popular. You and all your friends from Equestria are, well, famous." I said, remembering that I too am a fan. "Yeah. Check out my t-shirt. Twenty percent cooler oh yeah!" Twilight and Rarity looked puzzled at Sam. "What is a 'tea-shirt'? A garmant one wears for tea?" "Uh, no it's just a shirt or something I guess. I've never really thought about it really." "What does twenty percent cooler mean?" "It's from the show! When you were making Rainbow Dash's dress and she said it needed to be about twenty percent cooler! That line became famous!" Sam explained. "I think I do remember that. Interesting... and you, humans I mean, you put trendy phrases on these tea-shirts?" Rarity asked. "Well, yeah." Sam answers. "Very interesting. I wonder if I could put some trendy sayings on my own designs in Ponyville." Rarity pondered. "Well, a t-shirt isn't really formal, it's more for comfort than anything else." "I see." Rarity says. "Um, guys? We're looking for magical artifacts, not clothes. Let's get moving." Twilight refocuses the group. Rarity took one last look at the fluffy little doll and set it back down on its shelf, brushing its mane a few times before leaving.
We approached the tunnel of love, a simpler more romantic ride where couples sat in small boats and traveled down a heart-shaped corridor while sappy music played and bubbles fell from the ceiling. The ride was supposed to be romantic but really it was a scam to sell pictures to young couples for extravagant prices. Taking Leena on it for our first date had been a move many considered forward but after dunking the clown that evening, I'd felt confident enough to pay twenty dollars for a couple tickets. The picture that had been taken at the end of it was still in my wallet.
"You think it's in the tunnel of love Nathan?" Leena asked playfully. "Well... let's find out." I said. "Oh yes!" Leena said, trotting off. "Wait a minute, what would the element be doing in there?"Sam asked skeptically. But Leena was already galloping toward the ride with Twilight and Rarity quickly following her. "You never know. Maybe someone was wearing it and they lost it on the ride." I said to him over my shoulder as a race to catch up to Leena. She quickly runs up to the terminal and starts the ride, the tunnel lighting up and sappy music playing. We all hope into one of the boats, a tight fit but we're able to manage. The ride starts and the boat heads inside.
I look at the element on my foreleg and so no reaction. Leena was snuggled up next to me though as bubbles began to descend from the ceiling. So for a few minutes at least, I decided to forget about the circumstances we were in. Behind us, Rarity was still fascinated with Sam's shirt. "I could bring the thrill of tea-shirts to Ponyville! This could revolutionize fashion all over Equestria! Do you have any other patterns in your wardrobe I could examine Sam?" "Uh, I really wouldn't call it a wardrobe, I mean, I just-" "Oh don't be modest! You must be at the height of fashion!" "It's just a shirt..." Sam tries to explain. Twilight seemed to be ignoring them, looking quite enamoured at the bubbles.
"Oh Nathan can we get a picture? That way we'll have one of us as humans and one of us as ponies!" "Do we really need to? It takes so much time." I say, trying to disuade her. "But Nathan I want us to remember being ponies!" She begs. "I just want to get us back to human and then forget I was ever a pony." "What's wrong Nathan?" "Nothing, it's just I really hope we can just find all the Elements and everything will just go back to normal." "Nathan, what if we don't get back to normal?" The question shocks me. "What if? That's why we're looking for the Elements, to get things back to normal!" "Nathan, we just found out that My Little Pony is REAL. We just got turned into ponies, I mean, seriously does that not just blow your mind?!" "It does but... but we can't stay like this forever." I say, not believing what she's saying. "What's so bad about it Nathan?" "What's so bad about it? I can't drive, I can't open doors, I can't use a phone, I can't do anything for myself." "But we have each other... isn't that enough?" She looks up at me, her eyes watering. "It... it is but I... I can't believe what you're saying." "Why not?" "Are you not happy with what we had? I want that back. Everything was so perfect and-" "Nathan, sometimes you just have to take what life gives you. Maybe I'm happy being a pony."
"Wait... so you don't want to go back?" "Why would I?" "Are you even listening to yourself? We won't be able to do anything in this world, people will want to lock us up, study us, experiment on us. We're not going to be able to see our friends and families. This just isn't normal Leena!" "Who cares if its normal or not Nathan? We've got each other here and now, that's what's important. We'll find a way to explain it to our friends." "What are other people going to say? I won't be able to get a job, you're not going to be able to go to school." "Since when have you cared about what other people say? You weren't ever ashamed of being a brony, now you're a pony and things are suddenly different?" "I didn't have people aiming guns at me because I liked a cartoon." The ride ended abruptly. Twilight, Rarity and Sam were silent in the back, trying not to listen.
Leena got out immediately, not even bothering with the picture automatically taken during the ride. She turned to me, "People thought you were weird for liking My Little Pony before Nathan. Now that you actually are a pony, the only thing that's changed is how they react. But you didn't care about their reactions before. Why care now?" "Because they didn't want to capture me and study me back then. They think we're that strange." "We don't know how people are going to react. But we're together. That should be enough for us to just take a chance. Normal is what you make of it anyways." she said as she trotted away. "She's got a point dude." Sam said as he passed us. "Yeah, say that again when animal control specialists are pointing rifles at you." "Really, that dart didn't phase me at all Nathan and with all the excitement I may have needed the rest honestly!" Rarity says as she passes. "I really don't think they were going to get that worked over seeing a few ponies Nathan." Twilight says as she too trots past me. "Hey, you don't know what these people are like." "I know you, Leena and Sam, so at least there's some good people. And I believe that everypony has the potential for good. That's good enough for me." Twilight says, looking over her shoulder. "Hey, guys wait up!" I shout as the group that has just gone past me is now heading for the circus tents on the other end of the fairgrounds. I looked at the bracelet attatched to my arm and then at the pink clouds overhead. Getting back to being human again wasn't the only reason I wanted to find those Elements.
"I haven't noticed my bracelet reacting. Maybe the Element got moved somewhere." Leena says as we walk to the circus tents. "How close do we have to be before they give us a reaction Twilight?" I ask. "We shouldn't have to get that close, within a few meters would suffice I believe." As we get closer to the tents, I begin to hear voices like a crowd. "You guys hear that?" "Yeah." Leena answers. "It sounds like there's something going on." We turn the corner to the circus attractions area to see a crowd of people. "Get back, get back!" I usher the group. Carefully we all peak out from behind the stand near the opening to the area. I can see a crowd standing around one of those 'swing the mallet, ring the bell' style games. Simlpe mechanical device, supposedly an accurate indication of one's strength. Never really played any of these kinds of games, too much of a spectacle but it seems like that's all this crowd of people were interested in. Carefully, we creep closer.
"Let's see if this gentleman has what it takes ladies and gentlemen..." a bored voice announces. On small raised platform next to the game was a white haired man in a straw hat and jeweled red vest sitting in an armchair, holding his head in his hands and leaning forward. A man stood up to the game and swung the mallet, the blow causing the small peg in the machine to rise up and ring the bell at the top. "Uhhhhhg. Next!" the man shouted, sighing and wiping his face. He then snapped his fingers and the man who'd just rung the bell quickly turned around and stepped back into the crowd without saying a word. I looked at a few of the faces in the crowd. Eyes glazed over, unblinking. Standing transfixed by the spectacle of a bored man sitting in a chair. "Discord. He must have hypnotized them." I whispered. It had to be him. But what was he doing with these people? "Look! Up at that bell!" Twilight points. At the top of the machine, just under the bell I make out what looks to be an amulet of some kind. Like someone had strung a necklace around the bell. "That's the Element of Strength!" Twilight exclaims. "Are those more of the tea-shirts you were talking about?" Rarity asks, looking up. "Rarity, get down!" I say, trying to pull her back behind the stand. The man in chair looks up, noticing us finally.
"Is that Rarity?" the man asks, standing up and snapping his fingers. The crowd parts in an instant and the man's human appearance quickly changes into the fiendish form of the draconequus we knew only too well. " I just keep running into all the familiar faces today. Seems I can't go anywhere without seeing my old friends from Equestria." Discord says in an almost uncharacterstic threatening ton as he approaches us. Twilight and Rarity immediately exit from behind the stand, followed by Leena, Sam and then me. "" "Let these people go Discord. This is between you and us." Twilight declares. "And if it isn't Nathan Scheffield if I'm not mistaken. It took some time for that blast from the Element to wear off but I was able to manage." "Yeah, uh, well, let's see how long it takes for two to wear off!" I say, trying to be brave. Leena and I brandish our Elements together. Thunder cracks overhead and the pink clouds begin to rain chocolate. "You know your world is quite beautiful Nathan. So random, so unpredictable, so... chaotic. Even some of your own people actually embrace it. It's so much more diverse than what I'm used to seeing in Equestria." "You can be a stone statue here or in the Canterlot courtyard Discord but you're not getting the Elements." Twilight calls to the fiend.
"AhahahahahahahaHA!" Discord lauchs as a lightning bolt cracks overhead. "You got lucky the first time. That WON'T happen again. And once again, we're reached an impasse. You know what that means..." Discord snapped his fingers and instantly, the world around me changed. We were inside the big top, in the stands around the center ring. A spotlight was on Discord who was now sporting a ringmaster's attire in cartoon form. The hypnotized audience members filled the stands around us. Sam tried shaking the person next to him to snap him out of it, to no avail. "Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Cirque du Chaos!" Discord announced. As he did, fireworks exploded in the background, showering the in more ways than one captive audience with fish. Sam shouted boo as the stands were bombarded with bass.
"And now for our main event!" Discord announced again and a spotlight appeared overhead, casting a beam on a birdcage descending from the ceiling on a chain made of daisies. As the cage drew closer to the floor, we saw a figure gripping the bars with two blue animated hooves. "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight and Rarity shouted simultaneously as they saw their caged friend. "Let me outta here! Discord!!" Rainbow Dash shouted angrily ash she shook the bars. The cage stopped a few feet off the ground. Through the bars we were able to make out a small ball of animated yellow shaking in the center of the cage. "Fluttershy's in there too!" Leena shouted. "Let them go Discord!!" I shouted at the floating fiend.
"Oh I'll let them go." he said, hovering over to our section of the stands. "Only if you help me find the rest of the Elements of Heroism and activate them. If not..." Discord snapped his fingers and two spotlights casted beams on two cannons at the the side of the ring, both aimed directly at the caged pegasi. Discord flashed an evil grin. "You let the go RIGHT NOW!!" Leena shouted, standing and pointing at Discord. As she did, her Element of Honor glowed and shot out a bright yellow beam. Discord tried to dodge but it collided with his left arm. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" he screamed in pain as his left arm turned to stone. He fell down onto the stage, rolling through the audience, knocking people over until finally coming to a halt in a heap next to the center ring.
"Your Elements must respond to emotion just like the Elements of Harmony! That means you can use their power by focusing on strong thoughts and feelings!" Twilight explained. "Why didn't you tell us that before?!" Leena asked, clutching her Element. "I didn't get a chance to read much about them, I had no idea they'd work the same way!" Twilight said, looking at the Element. "So if we concentrate, we can use their magic?" I ask, looking at my own element. "Yes and the effect should be amplified by the strength of the emotion." Twilight said. We had Discord right where we wanted him. The audience members, still entranced stood where they had been knocked over, making a path that lead right to Discord. I climbed over the stands and made my way down to our foe who was still struggling to get up with only one working arm.
"So how about it now Discord? Let Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy go or the fairgrounds is going to have a art piece on display." I say over him. Slowly, Discord stands. "So that's how you want to play it eh? Fine. Let's play some carnival games." he says through gritted teeth. He makes his right arm a fist and his left arm begins to shake. The stone around it shatters into pieces. He snaps his fingers and again my vision twists. In an instant, the circus tent is gone. Leena, Twilight, Rarity and Sam are gone, so are the hypnotized audience members around us. I appear to be in a funhouse looking down a corridor of mirrors, the floor creaks under my hooves. I must be in the funhouse on the other side of the carnival.
I walk forward, having no other choice. I see my cartoon image distorted in several mirrors as I pass them by. The corridor turns and leads me into another hall of more mirrors. Suddenly, I notice my reflection replaced in the mirrors I'm passing by the familiar draconequus. I stop, he stops, mimicing me as good as my own reflection. I look him right in the eye and raise my Element of Luck right at him. "I know it's you Discord. What do you want? Where are the others?" "Why this is a carnival Nathan! The others are off having fun. No harm will come to any of them I assure you." "Right." I say, starting to walk again. "So is this the part where you try to turn me grey?" I ask the image in the mirror. "Turn grey? Whatever do you mean?" Discord asks, being coy. "Don't try to fool me. I've seen that episode before where you turn Twilight and her friends grey and their Elements lose their power." "Well aren't you the clever one." Discord says, hands on his hips floating down the corridor. "But I wonder how clever your friends are."
Discord's image fades and replacing it I see the a picture of Sam, holding some sort of mallet, trapped in some sort of giant whack-a-mole game. He swings and misses, turning to each new target, unable to make his hits find their mark. Another image appears, Leena in the tunnel of love again, only this time, holding her head down, covering her head with her hooves as laughing bubbles circle her. Next to that image, I see Twilight Sparkle on the rollercoaster, screaming as the ride goes upside down. And in a fourth image I see Rarity, desperately trying to win a carnival game where the player knocks over bottles. She uses her magic but can't see that the bottles are really just a cardboard cutout pasted to the wall.
"Leave them alone!!!" I shout at the mirrors, hitting them with my hoof. "Stop it! STOP IT!" The halls begin to fill with his meniacal laughter. I run from the images, down the halls, turning the corners, following the only path that's out. "What's the matter Nathan? You all knew the risk." His voice echoes and the images continue to play in every mirror, on every surface, everwhere I look. I turn another corner and stop with seven doors ahead of me. "You placed your girlfriend in danger Nathan. How could you?" "Shut up!" I yell at the walls. "You promised to keep her safe but you risked her safety didn't you?" "I... I had to." "You didn't have to involve her at all. You chose to." "I... I..." the room began to spin and I almost felt faint. The doors seemed to follow me whichever direction I turned. I couldn't shake it off. "You risked her safety Nathan and now she's paying for it." It was like his voice was whispering directly in my ears. "Sometimes the safest bet to make is to stop playing Nathan. There's no risk if you never take a chance." My legs buckled and I fell down on the floor in a heap.
I struggled to get up but my legs felt like jelly. I realize I was shaking. I struggled to speak. "I did. I risked her safety." "But I also risked my own safety. I placed myself in the same danger because... because I knew that I'd be stronger with her." Slowly, carefully, still shaking, I got up. "I didn't care what we faced so long as we did it side by side. And we have." The room stopped spinning, I felt feeling return to my body and the 'multiple doors' refocused in to just one, marked 'Exit'. I turned and looked at myself in the mirror. Same light tan coat. No grey. "Was that your plan? Get me to give up on ever taking a chance? Nice try but you're not getting the Elements." I say to the mirrors, turning back towards the exit. Discord materializes again, this time in the exit door. "You don't understand. Those Elements were mine to begin with!"
"What do you mean?" I ask the picture in the doorway. "Oh? Your precious little t.v show didn't tell you did it? The Elements of Heroism belong to me." "How do they belong to you?" "I wasn't always the fun-loving chaotic individual you know so well. A long time ago, I used the Elements of Heroism to vanquish a demon that threatened to destroy all of Equestria! After my victory, the citizens made me their ruler!" "Why didn't Twilight tell me this?" "You'd never find this story in any of those books of hers. Someone becomes a villain and they tend to forget about all the good you tried to do. Then when it comes time for some leniency, they turn you into a statue and set you up in the courtyard like a trophy." Discord finishes. "The point is, those elements are mine and I will have them." I raise my Element at him and try to focus on the moment when I protected Leena from him. "What are you doing? Wait!-" The element blasts out a ray of energy that collides with the door, blowing it off its hinges.
I carefully trot outside to see Discord hovering in midair, one of his antlers turned to stone. I raise the Element again, concentrating while he's off gaurd and it fires another blast, this time hitting his tail. He plummets to the ground with a screech. I turn around the back of the funhouse and head over to the tunnel of love to see Leena getting off the ride, still white but not grey thankfully. "Nathan!" she yells as we run over and embrace. "I'm so happy to see you!" I say, almost in tears. "Me too but we need to go find the others." "Twilight's on the rollercoaster and I think Sam and Rarity might be in the arcade." I tell Leena. "Okay, let's go!" We gallop off to the other side of the theme park as fast as we can. We arrive at the circus area to see, surprisingly Twilight and Sam, walking out of the rollercoaster and arcade respectively. "Guys, you're okay?" I ask as I trot up to greet them. "Yeah, no sweat. I needed a workout." Sam said, still holding the mallet I saw him with in the image. "I must say, whatever that 'ride' was it was exciting!" Twilight said, seeming a tad winded but no worse for wear. "I don't really know what happened. One minute I was in the circus and the next I was playing some kind of giant whack-a-mole game. I don't know who had the high schore but I'm betting it was a hack." Sam said, gripping the mallet. "What happened to you guys?" he asked. "I tried out Discord's funhouse. Wasn't impressed." "He turned the tunnel of love into a tunnel of hate for me. I just held my head down and it was over in a few minutes. I don't think I want a picture from that ride." Leena said.
"Oh I'm so happy you all enjoyed my fun!" Discord said, trying to compensate for drag while flying towards us. "You all seemed to be forgetting something." He snapped his fingers and the circus tent unfolded, revealing Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, still caged in with the people from the audience surrounding them, the cannons pointed at them all now. "Give me my Elements or your friends will be reduced to elements." Discord snapped his fingers again and the wicks lit immediately. "No!" Twilight called out to her friends. "Leena, we can take Discord down. Twilight, Sam go move those cannons!" "Okay!" Leena and Twilight both answer. "Discord!" I call out. "You want the Elements? Here, take em!" I shout as Leena and both unleash blasts from our Elements, they hit him square in the chest and he falls to the ground, begining to stone over. "You fools, even with two Elements you'll never be able to move that cage in time. "We're not trying to move the cage, we're trying to move the cannons." I tell Discord with a slight smirk. "I can tell you two are going to be more trouble than you're worth. If I can't have those Elements, I'll just have to get rid of both of you!" Discord says as he breaks out of the stone and rushes towards us.
"Yo Discord!" Sam shouts. "What?!?!" The fiend shouts, looking in his direction. "You never told me what I'd get if I won!!" He shouts as he slams the mallet down on the strength gage machine in front of where the circus tent was. The peg hits the bell with tremendous force with a loud ring. All of a sudden, the bell seems to glow and releases a bright flash of light. The light blinds Discord for a moment, and I focus on a blast from my Element right at his face. He falls headfirst into the dirt. The mallet that was in Sam's hands flies off the platform and lands on the ground next to it. Sam seems to be lifted into the air by the light released from the necklace that was hung around the bell. "He's activated the Element!" Twilight shouts. "Whoa! What is this?!" Sam asks as the light envelops him. In a flash, he's transformed into a blue pony, like us, the same color as his t-shirt. "Did that... just happen?" Sam asks he walks forward. "What... what's happened to me? I'm a pony too now!" "Sam, you activated the Element of Strength! It's transformed you into a pony so you can use its power!" Twilight explains for the third time now. "This... is... awesome!" he says. "Where is the Element? I don't see it." he says, checking his hooves. Just then we see wings extend off his back. He looks up at us. My jaw about hits the floor. "Uh, Sam, the Element, it's on your..." "My what? My... uuooohhhhhhAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" He shouts with the realization that he's a pegasus pony. "I... I've got... I've got... WINGS!"
"Yes you do." Twilight says, examining his wings. "It seems the Element has bonded to you on one of your wings." "Where's Discord?" Sam asks. We turn to see Discord trying to pick his now statufied head off the ground, to no avail. "Let's finish him off." I say, walking over. "Good idea." Leena agrees. "So how do I work this thing?" Sam asks, carefully trotting over. "Focus on the emotion you just thought of when you rung the bell and just point it at him. "Okay, I'm still getting used to having wings." Carefully, he extends his right wing and a blast is unleashed from the band strung around his feathers. Leena and I follow suit with a couple round fired from our bracelets and before anything could be said, Discord was a stone statue again. "Looks like we didn't need all the Elements after all." Leena announces. We take a step back and examine Discord, looking very much like a statue with its head stuck in the dirt. "Now, let's go get Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy!" Twilight says.
The crowed, no longer hypnotized was beginning to disperse. There were shouts, confusion but we just ignored them and walked over to the cage. "About time you guys showed up. I was beginning to think we were going to be stuck in this cage forever!" Rainbow Dash says as we approach. "All these people... firstt they didn't talk but then they did and then they didn't and now they're walking a way..." Fluttershy said. Twilight uses her magic to carefully bend the bars of the cages allowing Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to walk outside. "Finally! Now, where in the hay are we?" Rainbow asks. "Hi I'm Nathan and this is Earth. This is my girlfriend Leena and our new friend Sam. We uh, just became ponies today so we're kind of new to it." "Uh huh.... why is it so cloudy here? Are your pegasi lazy or something?" "We don't really have pegasi to control the weather here." Leena explains. "That's weird. Well, you're in luck. I can clear the sky in-" "Ten seconds flat! We know, we watch your show all the time! I even have that saying on a t-shirt!" "Wait, what?" Rainbow asks, confused. "They know about Equestria from watching us on t.v." Twilight says. "Oh... so my awesomeness has already hit another dimension? Well, can't be all that bad if there's fans of me here." Rainbow boasts. "Um... where's Rarity? Wasn't she with you?" Fluttershy asks timidly.
"Oh no. We forgot about Rarity!" We turn to see people running from the entrance to the circus area as a grey Rarity comes from around the corner dragging a wheelbarrow full of carnival prizes. "Back! Back all of you! I won them all, they're MINE!" she shouts. "Rarity... now calm down now. We don't want any of your prizes, we just want you to..." Leena tries to approach her calmly. "I SAID GET BACK!" Rarity says, using her magic to throw a teddy bear at us. "Discord must've actually gotten to her. What should we do?" I ask the group. No one had any ideas as Rarity continued dragging her overflowing wheelbarrow of goods through the square. "Wait, I know!" Sam says. Carefully flapping his wings, he attempts to fly. At first he just hovers but soon it seems he gets the swing of things as he flies up to the platform and retrieves his t-shirt. "Rarity!" he says, bringing it to her. "Rarity, remember this? It's the t-shirt I was wearing. Remember how you said it inspired you? How you wanted to bring a whole new style of fashion to Ponyville?" Rarity huffed and gritted her teeth as she stared at the pegasus holding a t-shirt in front of her. "You can have it! I can't use it anymore anyway!" He said, throwing it over her. "I... I don't know what to say, that's just so very... so very... generous." Slowly, color returned to Rarity's body.
"I don't know what I was thinking, doing with all those prizes. Where would I even keep them all?" "It was Discord again, let's not even worry about it." "Oh yes, HIM. What happened to him anyway?" Rarity asks. We headed back over to where his statue was, only to find an imprint left in the sand. "Looks like we need to get going. Where to next?" Sam asks. Carefull, I unroll the parchment that was tucked behind my element. Examining the old paper, we see a few other clues. "It looks like we've found 3 so far but this thing only lists 2 others." I explain. "We found the one here in the carnival because we had a clue to go by, written on the back. It doesn't look like anything else is written here though." "Maybe the page itself is a clue." Twilight says, looking at it. "It's a page out of a book right? There's only one library in town. Maybe we could find what book it came from?" Leena says. "My brother and his girlfriend work at the library." Sam says. "Maybe we should give them a call, explain things and have them come pick us up?" I ask. "Sounds like a good idea to me. But I don't think either of them have ever seen MLP: FiM." "Well be sure to tell them when you call them, because they're about to see it soon." I tell Sam as we head to the parking lot.
No one that had been part of the hypnotized audience bothered us as we walked to the parking lot. Maybe it's because we were at a carnival, maybe it's because they'd just been hypnotized, whatever the reason, they didn't bother us as they slowly made their way out the front gates. Sam was talking to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy about flying, Rarity had found a way to put on Sam's t-shirt and Twilight and Leena were busy looking over the piece of parchment that was our only clue as to finding the rest of the Elements. "So how are we going to call your brother?" I asked Sam. "I left my cell phone in the car. I figured I didn't want to lose it if we we happened to ride any of the rides." "How are you going to dial it with hooves?" "Well, uh, maybe Twilight or Rarity can use their magic." "I don't think I've ever used a sell-phone before. This should be interesting." Rarity says.
We got over to Sam's car. It was getting late in the afternoon and the clouds Discord had spawned had already disappated. Sam opened the car door and retrieved his cell phone. It's a good thing he took his keys with him. I remembered my car. I wondered if it had been towed yet. He grasped the phone in his hooves and handed it to Twilight who levitated it and examined it before her. "So this is a phone?" she asks. "Yeah, you can use it to talk to people far away on their phones." Sam explained. "Interesting." Carefully, Sam explains how to use the device and soon Twilight dials his brother's number. Setting it to speaker, he places it on the car seat and waits. The phone rings. And rings. And rings. Before going to answering machine. The answering message plays, "Hi this is Dave Marshall, I'm not avialable right now but if you-" "Hmm. Twilight, hit the redial button." Twilight presses the button again with her magic. After a few rings, the phone picks up. All we're able to hear is static from the other end, no voices. "What's wrong?" asked Rarity. "I don't know. That shouldn't happen." Sam answered.
"This is a waste of time." said Rainbow Dash, hovering over the car. "Why don't we just fly over there? I'm eager to try out these skies anyway." "I kind of want to give my bro a heads up first... I mean, just so he doesn't freak out or something." "I understand. I don't like being startled either..." Fluttershy says. "Uhhgh, fine. Keep trying him on his fown then." Rainbow Dash sighs. We try a few more times but either get his answering machine or more static. "Okay, something's obviously wrong." Sam says. "I think Rainbow's right. Let's just fly over there. He's going to find out eventually, might as well get it over with." I say to everypony. "All right, so we flying?" Rainbow asks. "I'm a little nervous... I don't really know how to fly yet." Sam says. "I'll teach you." Rainbow says, picking Sam up off the ground. "Waaaaaa-whoa! Easy now!" "All right now, flap those wings." "Okay..." Rainbow lets go. He falls for a minute before his wings start flapping faster and soon, he's able to maintain lift. "Looking good Sam." "Rainbow dash encourages him. "I... I think I've got it! Wow, this is so cool!" He says, slowly moving through the air. "Okay, now for stage two." "What's stage two-wwaaaaaaaaahhh!!" Sam screams as Rainbow grasps onto his right hoof and takes him speeding off into the sky. She flies around the entire amusement park with maneuverability no aircraft could match. All the while holding onto Sam, she flies directly overhead. "THISSSSSSSSSSS ISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS AWESSSSSSSSOMMMEEEE!!!!!" we hear Sam as he speeds by. Rainbow lets go of him again but follows close, Sam banks slowly and heads back down to us. "That was the most amazing thing that has ever happened in MY LIFE!!!!" Sam exclaims, sounding a tad winded.
"All right, you think you can find your bro's place from high up?" Rainbow asks Sam. "I... I think so. It might take a minute, I'm not used to flying above town but yeah, we should be able to find his apartment no problem." "Well, that takes care of you but what about us?" Leena asks the pegasi. "Maybe we could use the wings spell?" Leena says with an eager smile spreading across her face. "I still would need to examine the materials first. I just haven't studied this world enough yet." Twilight explained. Leena kicked the ground, disappointed. "Maybe I can use the cloudwalking spell though." Leena perked up immediately. "We wouldn't have to make all those turns so it would still be faster than driving." Sam said. "I don't know much about clouds on Earth but magic seems to work the same way. Let's give it a shot!" Twilight says.
Twilight caste a spell on all our hooves. "All right, now Rainbow and Twilight can carry us up to cloud level." Twilight says. "Good thing it's still overcast." Leena remarked as Fluttershy picked her off the ground. "Hold on tight now." Rainbow says as she grasps me from under my shoulders. In seconds the ground beneath my feet is meters away. My heart starts racing as we climb higher and higher. I felt completely safe though as we soared into the cloudy sky. My ears didn't even pop as we broke through the cloud layer. Underneath the clouds are dark and grey but above it looks like a moutain range of autumnal colors. The sun bathed the clouds in oranges and violets, creating a rolling sea of gorgeous colors. The clouds feel soft and cool under my hooves as Rainbow set me down next to Leena before shooting underneath the clouds again. Only moments later Twilight and Rarity are beside us and as a group, we head out in the direction Sam's leading us.
"Nathan this is amazing!" Leena says, bouncing up and downs as we walk along. "This definitely beats the tunnel of love, that's for sure." I remark, amazed at the breathtaking view. The puffy oranges, lavenders and purples coalesce together under our hooves as we trot along. "Oh Nathan can we get a picture of us here?" she asks. "My phone has a camera in it, hold on." Sam says, flying over to us. He reaches under his bracelet to get the phone but a strong gust hits him and he drops it. "Oh no, my cell phone!" he says as it punches a hole through the cloud floor. "I got it!" Rainbow calls and shoots through the clouds to retrieve it. She comes up a few seconds later, her head covered in cloud. "Darn it, I lost it. There's something wrong with your clouds, they keep getting in my eyes and I can't move them around!" Rainbow says, shaking the clouds off of her. "I'm sorry Sam, I should've spelled your phone too." Twilight says. "It's all right. It's not much use to me with hooves anyway." "Maybe we can get you one that's more pony compatible." Rarity says. "Too bad we can't get a picture now." Leena says. "I don't think we need one Leena. I know I'm going to remember this moment forever." I say as I pull Leena in for a light kiss. "That's... that's so romantic." Rarity says, tearing up. "Come on everypony, let's get moving before the sun goes down." Twilight says. Leena and I join the others, hoof in hoof as we walk on the sunset colored sky.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew us one by one to the ground in an alley near Sam's brother's apartment. The building was in busier neighborhood than my apartment on the opposite side of town. We approached the elevator to see a middle-aged man in a suit, tie and breifcase walking out. He avoided us as we walked past him. "Excuse us!" Leena says as we pass. He goes wide-eyed and stares at us as we get on the elevator before quickly turning and walking away. It's a bit crowded but we're able to fit inside with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Sam flying. The man looks back at us one more time as the doors close. Sam hits the button for the fourth floor and the elevator ascends.
The moment the elevator doors open we hear two muffled voices shouting. "Uh oh." Sam says as he walks over to the door. He's about to knock when we hear something smash in the background. "This was the other reason I wanted to call..." Sam admits. Sam knocks on the door and calls out. "Hey, Dave! Monica! It's uh, it's Sam and I-" he's cutoff abruptly by what sounds like a plate hitting the wall. One of the loud voices gets closer to the door, the female one who I assume must be "Monica". "Uh, guys, if you can hear me, you might want to wait a minute before opening-" Sam is cutoff again as a woman opens the door. We all collectively greet the small red-haired woman and she faints shortly after.
"I was afraid of this." Sam says, looking at the limp body on the floor. "Monica, just give me a minu-" A man with shoulder length blond hair and a goatee stopped as he saw the cartoon ponies at his doorstep. "Hey Dave." Sam says. "What is going on? What is this? Who... what are you? What did you do to Monica?!" Dave shouts as he cowers behind the door. "Dave, it's Sam. Your brother?" Sam says, getting closer to the door. "I can explain everything." "Why do you sound like Sam?!" "Because it is me Dave! I... we..." "Oh for crying out loud! My Little Pony is real and we've been turned into ponies so we can use these magical elements to stop Discord from controlling the world." Leena explains abruptly. "Well... that pretty much sums it up." Sam says. "Wait, do you mean you guys are cartoons?" Monica says, her face looking up from the floor. We all nod slowly.
"Monica, are you okay?" Dave asks, putting his arms on her shoulders to help her up. She brushes him off. "I'm fine Dave and don't think this changes anything." she says as she stands up. "What's wrong you guys?" Sam asks. "We uh... um..." Dave begins but Monica finishes for him, "Sam lost another job." she says in an irritated tone. "Your brother can't seem to commit to anything." "We really don't have time for this." I say but entire group shushes me simultaneously and turns to back with eyes wide and sympathetic to listen. I let out a heavy sigh and slumped to the floor myself.
"What happened you guys?" Leena asks. "He's been fired from every job he's ever had, he can't hold onto work for more than a month!" Monica says, exasperated. "I'm tired of supporting both of us. He even got fired from the job I got him working with me at the library." Dave hung his head low, not even trying to disagree. "He keeps trying to get 'recognition' as an 'artist' but it's time he spent some time in the real world." Dave's head seemed to sink lower as she went on. The room went quiet for a few long seconds. Dave picked his head up. "So what did you guys come over for?"
"Well, as Leena said we're looking for the Elements of Heroism." I said, shaking my own element in the air. "We've found three so far and our only clue has been this piece of paper." I say, showing them the scroll that listed the elements. "Wait, this is out of one of our books from the library! Where did you get this?" Monica says, examining the parchment. "We found it with one of the other elements in a jewelry store at the mall. We don't know how it got there." Leena explains. "Maybe we could find the book it came from and that would give us more clues. Could you maybe, take us to the library?"
"The library's closed right now but Monica has a key." Dave says. "Because unlike some people, they trust me to actually show up." Monica says, glaring at Dave. Dave lowers his head again. "Wait, why do we all have to go? Won't people get freaked out when they see you?" Monica asks. "We're not the only ones looking for the elements." Twilight says with a grim determination in her voice. "Discord, an old nemisis is on Earh too. We've already ran into him twice. We don't know when or where he'll show up, it's too dangerous to go alone." "All right then but how are all of us going to fit in the same car?" Dave asks.
"Me Sam and Fluttershy can just fly there. We'll follow from above and keep an eye out for trouble." Rainbow Dash said, sporting a cocky grin. "Oh, well if there's going to be trouble I'll be following you a little closer..." Fluttershy says. "I can't believe we're actually doing this. Let me get my keys... since someone still doesn't have a car." Monica says again. Dave resumes looking at the floor as Monica heads inside.
"So what's wrong bro? You didn't show up for work or something?" Sam asks. "Eh, yeah. A couple dozen times..." Dave admits. "I'm just... I want to focus on what I love. I know my sculpting is good but having a job just gets in the way of it and-" "You just need to do it faster! It'll be easier and you'll save so much more time!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I don't think a job works that way Rainbow. Maybe you need better scheduling." Twilight suggests. "Yeah but THEY make the schedule for ME." Dave says, his tone depressed. "I know how one suffers for their work Dave. But getting the job done can be satisfying in its own way." Rarity says. "Yeah, I guess." Dave says. "But they already fired me. I'm not going to get another chance." "Maybe you could ask them? I'm sure they'd considered it if you asked nicely." Fluttershy said. Dave picked his head up."I appreciate what you all are trying to do but I just need a little time. I just hope Monica will forgive me."
Monica appeared again with her keys. "All right let's get going." she announces. We open the doors to the elevator and a few of us step inside. Rainbow, however, has already opened a window and she, Fluttershy and Sam head take to the skies. It's sitll a little crowded and awkwardly silent as the elevator descends to the ground floor. We exit through the front and it's already gotten dark outside. We all get inside Monica's car, a large military-style SUV painted bright red. It looks kind of initimdating honestly as made no less intimidating by the small red-haired woman getting in the driver's side. Dave sits in the passenger's side quietly. Twilight, Rarity, Leena and I take spots in the back and the car starts. We pull out into the road as Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Sam fly over us.
It's just then that my Element of Luck starts reacting. I look to the bracelet on my foreleg as it glows. The car begins to accelerate. "What's going on?!" Monica asks, gripping the wheel tighter. I look over to Leena and her Element lights up too! I turn to Twilight who looks at me with a face approaching panic. Our speed continues to increase and then so does our altitude! At first the massive vehicle is only a few feet off the ground but it doesn't stop there. Soon, we're soaring over the rooftops of office buildings as the vehicle flies through the air! Monica screams, Dave screams, Twilight and Rarity scream, Leena screams, I scream!!
"How do we stop this?!" Monica shouts as she grips the wheel. There's nothing we can do though considering the car's over thirty feet in the air! We can't stop, turning the wheel does nothing, we're literally helpless because of these two bracelets! "This is it! This is it! I'm going to die a cartoon pony next to characters from my favorite show! At least I'm with you Nathan!" Leena says, hugging me. "Leena calm down! You're not helping! The same thing happened to Nathan's car on the way to you this morning!" Twilgiht said. "It did? So this is normal then?" Leena asks, calming slightly. My heart sank as I looked over at Twilight who just shook her head. "But it's a lot better than this morning! I mean, at least I'm with you!" I hold her tightly.
Just then, the car jerks. "Where do you guys think you're going in such a hurry?" Rainbow Dash asks. "Oh thank goodness Rainbow!" Rarity exclaims. "It's all right guys! We got ya." Sam says. The car returns to a stable speed as the three pegasi hold onto the sides, leveling us out. The car collectively breaths a sigh of relief until Sam says, "Uh, what's going on?" The vehicle then begins accelerating again! "This thing on my wing is glowing!" It must've been his Element! Mine and Leena's were still glowing too! It was the car ride this morning all over again except now we were flying! Our screams this time were joined by three screams from the sides of the car as well.
The car flew through the air like a small plane. "Rainbow! You've got to pull us down to the road!" Twilight shouted out the window. "I... I can't! It won't budge! Something's keeping you up!" Rainbow shouted back. An office building appeared right in front of us. I saw the reflection of the headlights in the mirror windows. "Rainbow, Sam, Fluttershy! Pull to the right together!" They pull and we slowly bank right, narrowly missing the building. "How are we going to get down Nathan?" Leena asks. I look at my still glowing Element. I had an idea.
"We have to get out!" I say. Everyone stairs at me like I'd gone crazy. "The car's acting like this because of the Elements! Sam, Fluttershy and Rainbow, get us out one at a time! Leena, you and me will go last!" I tell the group. "It's our only shot." Twilight says in agreement. "Okay, Rarity, open your door!" Rarity touches the handle and the door swings open. Fluttershy grabs her and gets her out. Twilight does the same and Rainbow gets her out of the other side. Next, Dave and Monica were out and soon Leena and I were left with Rainbow Dash holding onto our vehicle. "What about us Nathan? If we leave, won't the car fall?" she asks. "I hope Monica has ensurance." Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy grasp us both. We'd barely gotten out of the doors when the car drops like a stone behind us. It tumbles through the air before landing in the street, smashing to pieces.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy set us down next to a furious Monica and relieved Dave. "Monica, I'm just happy we're alive!" Dave says. "My... my car! You know how expensive that thing was?!" "It's okay, Monica, really. It landed, more or less intact we should be able to get it fixed up no problem." Sam says, trying to consol Monica. Leena nudges me, non-verbally telling me to help calm her down. "Oh, uh yeah. It... it'll buff out." I say, looking at the wreck. Monica and Dave look over at the car again and as if on cue, the car erupts into flames. Smoke billows high into the night and the mirror windows around us reflect the scene of the fire. The entire street is lit up. "It'll buff out." I say again. We did have magic after all, even if it was what destroyed the car in the first place. "Uh, let's get going guys. The library's this way. Let's uh.... let's just walk there. Enjoy the night air right? Right..." Sam says, leading the way and doing his best to distract the group from the burning vehicle scant few meters behind us.
We arrived at the library around 9 p.m. Mysteriously, the lights were on despite the fact it was closed. The parking lot was empty as we approached the front entrance. The doors were still locked, Monica used her key to open them. We entered the building and passed by the entrance desk to see half the shelves in the back knocked over. Leena's and my element began to light up as we headed further back. Books had been knocked off the shelves and lay in piles on the floor, the shelves themselves resembled dominos that had been knocked over. As we walked closer to the back we heard a familiar laugh.
Pinkie Pie sat at a desk in the back reading a book. "Hi guys!" she said as we approached. "Pinkie Pie!" The entire group minus Dave and Monica exclaimed as we ran over. "This is book is so funny you guys! Everything in it keeps repeating over and over and the characters in it never learn! Ha!" Pinkie Pie said as she held up the book. I looked at the cover and felt like facepalming again. "World History" was scrawled across it. "Wherever this 'Earth' place is, it sure sounds silly!" Pinkie Pie said with a laugh. "Pinkie..." Twilight began. "Pinkie, sweetheart, this is Earth." Rarity said. Pinkie Pie looked dumbfounded. "Oh... so what have you guys been up to?" Pinkie asked, changing the subject.
"We're searching for the Elements of Heroism. Discord is here on Earth searching for them too and if he finds them, he'll rule both Earth and Equestria. We've already found a few and we came here looking for a book that might lead us to them." Twilight explains. "Well, you're probably not going to find anything out of this book. It has a page missing." Pinkie Pie says, balancing the book on her hooves and turning it to face us. "Wait a minute." Twilight says, looking at it. "This is the same book I have in my library! Except, mine isn't missing a page." "You don't think...?" I unroll the scroll and Twilight levitates it up to the book. The page's rips match up exactly to the book's. "This is the book! This is the book I read about the Elements of Heroism!"
"Where did you get a history book on Earth from Twilight?" Leena asked. "It's one of the ones I brought with me to Ponyville from Canterlot. I'm not sure where it came from." Twilight says. "It also had this inside it too, like a prize or something." Pinkie said, holding up a necklace. "Pinkie! That's one of the Elements!" Twilight exclaims. Twilight levitates the element over to her and examines it. "This is the Element of Hope! You said it came out of the book Pinkie?" "When I opened it up, it just fell out. Like somepony was using it as a bookmark." "Except I don't think whoever was reading this was a pony." Twilight says, looking back at the book.
"It looks like there are more clues written on the next page!" Twilight says. "'Jack's and Central. What does that mean?" "Well, I know there's Jack's Supermarket. It's actually not far from here." Sam says. "I don't know what 'central' could mean though." "Jack's Supermarket? My sister works there!" Leena says. "Well, let's head on over and see if she's seen any interesting jewelry." I say to the group as Twilight puts the missing page back in the book and closes it. "We should take this book with us. We might need it again." Twilight says.
"Well if you're going to take it, you're going to have to check it out." Monica says. "Do you have a library card?" "You're seriously asking a unicorn from another dimension if she has a card for this library?" Sam asks Monica. "I don't care where she's from; if she's going to remove a book from our library she's going to have to check it out." Several exhausted sighs and remarks escape from members of the group. We did not have time for this but it was sadly, painfully clear Monica wasn't joking."Can we please not argue when we're trying to save the world?" I plead with them. "Well, I suppose I can check it out on my card." Monica says.
Monica boots up the library's computers and checks the book. "I actually have this same book at my library at home." Twilight says. Monica checks the back of the book for a library card. "That's funny, I don't have a record of this book being here." she says. She quickly flips through the book's pages. "This book isn't in our system. That's strange." "Twilight? You said you have a copy of this book at your library?" I ask, suspecting something. "Yes but mine doesn't have a page ripped out of it." "You don't think..." Leena asked, looking at me. "... that someone could've taken the book from your library and came here?" I finish. Twilight's eyes go wide.
Twilight's magic grips the book from out of Monica's hands. She looks through it, flipping it back and fourth. "This... this can't be. This IS my book from back home! That means... DISCORD WAS IN MY HOUSE!!!" Twilight exclaimed. "This is my book! What else could he have stolen? My spells... he could've sabotaged any number of things!" Twilight started pacing, panicing. "Well, at least you found your book Twilight!" Pinkie says. "If Discord stole it, why would he return it to the library?" I ponder aloud. "Maybe he wanted to hide it in plain sight?" Leena says. "We'll ask him when we find him. One more Element people and we'll be able to send him back to stone." I say, this time my voice sounded determined. "Yes. Let's get moving everypony." Twilight says.
"So what are we going to do with this Element?" Pinkie asks, holding up the Element of Hope. "I could carry it in my teeth but I'd be afraid I might swallow it." "I could hold onto it." Dave volunteered. Pinkie Pie reached up to give it to him but Monica snatched it out of his hand. "Dave, you can't even keep track of your own library card, let alone something more valuable." "Monica, come on you know that's not true." Dave says. "Really? Where's your cell phone?" Monica asked. Dave said nothing but looked to the floor again. "You see? You're not reliable Dave." Dave pulled out a set of keys. "I remembered to grab the keys from the car when we were flying." Monica was surprised to see that he had them. She laughed. "That's... that's not really the same thing Dave. But thank you." "I'll... I'll try for you Monica. Please, give me another chance." Dave says as he hands them to her. "I believe you Dave. And I still love you." she said, taking the keys. But in her other hand, the Element was glowing.
Light burst fourth from the necklace's jewel, filling the library. The parking lot outside was lit up for a few seconds. Energy swept fourth from the Element and wrapped itself around Monica, lifting her up into the air. Dave was knocked back by the flash. I looked at Leena and at Sam then at Twilight. We knew what was going to happen next. "What's going on?! What's happening? Monica?" Dave called. Sam put a hoof on his brother's shoulder. "It's the same thing that happened to me bro. It's... it's going to be fine." "Are you sure?" Dave asked, concerned. Sam nodded. Dave looked to everyone else in the group and we nodded reassuringly. Dave turned back to see Monica change.
The light left and Monica descended to the floor on four legs. She was a light brown mare with a golden mane and green eyes. And something new, a unicorn's horn. "What... what just happened?" Monica asked. "You activated the Element of Hope Monica. You... you're a pony now." Twilight says. "A unicorn to be precise! I'm sure you'll find the magic most enjoyable!" Rarity says. "Wait, I'm a pony too? No, no this can't be happening!" Monica says in denail. Dave gets down on one knee and hugs her. "It's going to be okay Monica." Dave comforts her. "No, Dave this isn't right I mean, I can't be a pony... I don't even watch the show!" Monica says. "Look at it this way Monica. You won't have to worry about a car anymore once you learn the teleportation spell." I say, trying to make light of the situation. "My car... what am I going to do about my car?" Monica starts tearing up."Maybe you could use your magic to fix it." Fluttershy suggests. "Magic?" Monica says, looking up. "Yes! Unicorns can do lots of magic! There are spells for just about everything! I can teach you some." Twilight suggests. "But how am I going to work at the library if I'm a unicorn?" Monica asks. "My house is pretty much a library back in Ponyville. I use magic to keep all my books organized. I'll be happy to show you how." Twilight offers. "Well... okay... maybe I could give it a try." Monica says, drying her tears. "We'll work something out." Dave says as he holds her hoof in his hands. He helps her up and we walk out the front doors.
We heard sirens the moment we exited the library. Police cars, fire trucks and an ambulance sped by, most likely to clean up what was left of Monica's SUV in the middle of the road. We stuck to the shadows as we headed down the sidewalk to the Supermarket, "Jack's", which was open late. We didn't even try to conceal our appearances; there were so few people there and we were so close to our goal none of us even bothered. The few people that were there, clerks and a few late night shoppers gawked at us but none tried to stop us as the doors slid open and we entered.
At the front of the entrance we saw a tall, dark-haired girl run outside and open a cell phone. "Sara!" Leena yelled as she ran over. "What is this? More of them? What are these things?" Sara said as the group walked towards her. "Sara, it's me and Nathan!" "Why do you sound like my sister?! What is this?!" Sara screamed and started moving back into the store, horrified at the cartoon pony with her sister's voice. "Sara, it's me Nathan. Leena and I activated some powerful magic artifacts that changed them into ponies so they could use them." "You're really Leena and Nathan?!" Sara said, still terrified. "What did these aliens do to you?!!" She screamed again. "We'e not aliens, we're from another dimension called Equestria." Twilight said. "How... how do I know you're telling the truth?". Sara asked as she stepped back to the entrance of the supermarket.
"Well, I may not be an expert on this here place but I'm pretty sure they're telling the truth." Applejack says as she walks out of the supermarket. "AJ!" the ponies, including myself exclaim as we see the orange pony exit the doors. "Hey everypony. Looks like you've all made some new friends. This place sure is different from back home ain't it?" "Oh yes, and you would love the carnival! They love us here! They put what we say on their clothes and they make stuffed dolls of us! It's like we're famous!" Rarity's excited decleration of fame raised a few eyebrows. "Uh, that's nice." was Applejack's only response. "So, you're really Leena and Nathan?" We both nod. Hesitantly, she walks over to us.
"We're looking for these things called the Elements of Heroism. They're magical artifacts from Equestria that are here on Earth. We've already found a few, they look like necklaces." I explain this time. "We think one could be in the supermarket." "Well... I suppose it's all right to check." Sara says shyly. She escorts us back into the store and immediately my element starts glowing. I turn to Leena and see that hers is doing the same. "Okay, so they have to be in here somewhere. Where do we start looking?" I ask. "You said they look like necklaces right? We could check the lost and found." Sara suggests. She leads us over to the front desk, gets behind it and pulls out a small box. "What's this? Where did this come from?" Sara asks, pulling up a small green box. "It looks just like the box I found the element in last night, the one I bought from the antique store." I say, looking at it. Sara opens the box and pulls out a small brown piece of cloth. Wrapped in it is another necklace. I sigh with relief as I see it. Only one more to go.
"There's something else in here too." Sara says. She reaches back in and pulls out... a cell phone? "Nathan, don't you have a cell phone like that?" Leena says. "Yeah but my cell phone's back at my... my apartment. I left it on the nightstand next to the green box that had the Element in it." I grab the green box and examine it. She looks back at me as it finally dawns on me just how my cell phone had gotten in that box. That familiar green box. The SAME box I had bought from the antique store last night! "DISCORD WAS IN MY APARTMENT!!!" "Hey, that's my apartment too! What if he messed with the Xbox?! Deleted my game saves? He could've sabotaged anything!" Sam exclaims. He could've gone their right after Twilight and I left!
"If he messed with any of my stuff I'll make him wish he never came back from stone." Sam says seething. "All right, so one more element and we'll have all six. And we know where to go. "Central". I wonder what it could mean?" "Well, I took the train to get here. It could mean the Central Subway Station in the town square." Sara suggests. "It's worth a shot." I say. "It's too dangerous to skywalk at night, we should find another way to get there." Twilight says. We all agree. "Let's hope the ride is easier than the 'flight' over here." "What do you think could've caused that Twilight?" Leena asks. "I'm not sure. Magic is mysterious like that but it seems to be amplified by the number of Elements we have with us." I tried really hard not to picture the subway train flying off the rails in my mind. "And we have five elements with us. And we're going to be underground. On a fast moving train." I say aloud. "No sweat Nate. You got nothing to fear with Rainbow Dash here!" Rainbow proudly states. "Yeah but I don't know how well your flying skills are going to help us underground" I say with a smile. "Underground, above ground, underwater, we got ya covered Nate." Rainbow says confidently. I notice the lights on the store turn off as we walk down the street and head towards the subway station.
The train ride over was surprisingly and thankfully uneventful. It was so late out that we were the only passengers and the trains were automated so there was no one there to see us. Twilight and her friends marveled at the spectacle of a train moving underground. I kept my own eyes on my Element, waiting for it to start glowing and make the train fly off the rails. But one of our elements reacted, there was no sign of Discord and within a few minutes, we were near central station. We disembarked and headed out for the park, our only lead as to where the last Element was. Leena walked beside me as we walked out of the station.
"So, only one Element left." she said, looking up at the night sky. "Yeah, one more and then we can finally things will get back to normal." Leena dropped her head low at my statement. I though for a moment. "Maybe we can visit Equestria sometime." I say, trying to cheer her up. She immediately perks up. "I think we can manage that. Teleportation spells are complicated but once I read up on them we should be able to use them at least once in a while!." Twilight says. "Really?! That would be awesome!" Sam says, doing a loop in midair. "We can show you all around Ponyville!" Pinkie Pie says. "And even Cloudsdale and Canterlot!" Rainbow Dash adds. "I'm sure everyone will want to learn about creatures from other planets." Fluttershy says. "That sounds wonderful!" Leena says, overjoyed. I smile, looking forward to it myself. We continued walking to the central park.
The park itself was a large open area of grass, trees, a few benches and sidewalks in the center of town. Only a line of green bushes on all four sides seperated the park from the street. In the center was an impressive foutain that all 4 corners of the sidewalk led to and then encircled. We crossed the street and entered the park . As we crossed the line of bushes, I noticed my Element reacting. "Look! This must mean it is in the park!". Leena's and Sam's Elements were glowing too, confirming that we were in the right place. "But where?" Leena asks.
"It's going to be pretty hard to find something as small as a necklace at night. Maybe we should split up." Sam says. "Good idea. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Sam should cover the air. Keep in sight of each other everypony." Twilight says to the group. Pinkie Pie immediately darts off, tumbling over the grass, and searching in trees and bushes. The rest of us spread out and turn over everything we can. Leena, Sara and I search the rim of the foutain, looking into the water. There were coins scattered about the foutain's pool but no necklace that we could see. Rainbow Dash, Sam and Fluttershy checked the trees, Applejack, Rarity and Twilight looked under tabeles and in trash bins. Dave and Monica started walking around the fountain in a slow circle, Dave had his eyes glued to the ground.
"So... you and me? We're okay?" I hear him ask. Monica sighs. "This really isn't the best time Dave." "I know it's just... I want to do good for you." "You will." she says, walking beside him. They both stop before a large sidewalk painting. Dave says nothing but spends a few long moments walking around the painting, examining it. Leena, Sara and I walk over to them. The painting itself was the view of a beach with a portion of the ocean, diveded in half across a square in the middle of the sidewalk. Sand and water spilled out the sides of the square making the painting seem like it was a hole in the concrete looking into another world.
"You must really like art." Leena says. "It's his passion." Monica says with slight smile. Dave said nothing and continued admiring the artwork. Sara walked over holding the green box. "So, is it a picture of the beach from the ocean's view or a the ocean from the beach's view?" Monica asked, turning her head as she looked at the painting. "Both." Dave said. "Huh?" "Come here." Dave carefully took Monica by the shoulders and positioned her to view the painting. "You see it now? If you look at it from here, it's like you're standing on the beach. And here..." they switched positions and looked at it again. "You're standing in the ocean." Dave says. "You're right! Dave, that's amazing!" "I know. You change your perspective and the reality changes. It's like, depending on where you stand, you're looking at a whole new world." Dave holds Monica close around the neck, her being a pony, she nuzzled into him and closed her eyes. "Hey guys! I think I see the Element up here!" Sam calls out, flying above the fountain.
Something crashes behind us. We turn to see Sara dropped the green box and it broke apart. Light shone from inside the piece of cloth the element was wrapped in. "Here we go again." Leena said. The light shot fourth and wrapped around Dave this time, hoisting him into the air and lighting up the entire park. Dave was a glowing ball for a moment that shone brightly in the night air above us illuminating the sky. The glow slowly faded and descended, the unicorn form of Dave opening his eyes.
"Hey Dave." Sam said flying over. Dave carefully stood on his newly aquired legs. "So... me too now." "Eeyup." Monica says, putting a foreleg around his neck. "Well, I definitely see the world in a new way now." Dave said with a smile. "Well how fortunate for you. Now you're all little pony friends together. How adorable." a familiar face says from behind. Discord appeared out of the shadows. He wasn't smiling; a look of sheer loathing across his face, his rage visible as he walked.
"There's just one problem. Those elements are mine." Discord scowled. "You know, I thought this park was missing something. A nice statue near the foutain for all the birds to perch on during the day, that would be nice." I say, mocking Discord. "Oh yes, that would definitely add to the artistic appeal." Dave joins in. "How about it Discord? Want to volounteer?" Sam says. Discord tilts his head back and laughs. "You think turning me to stone is the only power those trinkets have? You've only just begun to understand their power." Discord says with a malicious toothy grin.
"The Elements of Heroism belong to me." Discord says. "That's a laugh! Since when have you done anything heroic?" Rainbow Dash scoffs. "I was once the king of Equestria. Long ago, I wielded the Elements of Heroism to save our world from a threat of darkness. They were lost to me in the process and I was forever changed into this form you see before you." he said in a regretful tone. Discord teleported closer to us. "Look at this planet. It's so full of chaos. I know it's been cruel to all of you. Leave it behind, go to Equestria and be with your friends. This world is perfect for me and I will rule it in a state of chaotic bliss!" He called out, laughing again.
"This world may be cruel Discord but it's still our home. It gave me a chance to find Leena." I say, looking at my beloved. She smiled. "It's given me a chance to make a difference." she says. "It's given me a chance to help others." Sam said. "It's given me a chance to give back." Monica says. "It's given me a chance to express myself." Dave says. "It's... it's given me a chance to find peace." Sara declares. "This world may be chaotic and cruel at times but it's given us all a chance to be happy. And we're not giving up this world to the likes of you!" I shout at the fiend, not in rage, not in hatred, only in the determination to help my friends, my family. "It's twelve of us against you alone Discord. And we have five Elements to your none. You don't stand a chance." "We'll see about that." Discord replies. He snaps his fingers and disappears.
The grass rises high into the air creating walls of green around us seperating us from the foutain. The walls shift and the sidewalk splits, soon the park has become a maze. "We've played this game before. No wings, no magic." Discord's voice says. The pegasi's wings disappear, the unicorns horns vanish. None of us are shocked this time; we've seen this before. "Again with the mazes? Sheesh, you woulda thought he'd learned the first time." Pinkie says. "Oh but this time there's a catch. You see, this maze has no way out. Surrender to me my elements or you'll run like rats through my maze forever!!" Discord raged.
"Sam! You think you saw the Element in the fountain?" "Yeah, the top ring where the water cascades down. I saw a necklace, or something but it was stuck." Sam says. "We're going to have to play his game. But we've played it before and we can win! Stick together and head back to the fountain everypony!" Twilight rallies the group and we run down the green corridor. As we near the corner, the grass walls shake and our view rotates. We look above to sky moving above us. We turn around to see the fountain revealed right where we were standing. "Wait! There it is!" Sam says, charging for it. We dash towards the fountain before us but as we're running the walls shake again. A green wall slides between us and the fountain, seperating us again.
"Back the other way!" Twilight yells. A wall of grass appears before us, dividing the group in half. "The maze keeps changing!" Pinkie Pie yells. "How do we find our way back if the maze keeps flipping on us like this?" Applejack asks. I notice Dave right next to me is looking at the sidewalk painting from before. "Dave! This is no time to be admiring the floor art!" Monica says. "No... wait look." Dave says. "The painting hasn't changed, which means the sidewalk hasn't changed. The only thing that's moving is the walls!" "Then all we have to do is wait." I say, turning back towards where the fountain was.
Sure enough, the walls opened again for a split second. "Now!" I yelled. We jumped into the center of the park. Discord was yanking at something on the top rim of the fountain. I raise my element and focus, unleashing a blast at him. The blast hits is leg and he drops behind the fountain. We run over to the side where he fell and find no trace of him. "Where did he go?" Leena asks. "Let's grab the element before he comes back." I say. "How can we get up there? We don't have wings or magic. I don't think we can climb on top of each other." I hop onto the fountain's edge and reach into the top bowl. Just barely, I can feel the brace of the element with my right hoof. But I have nothing to grip it with. "I can feel it but I can't grab it!"
"Sara, you're the only one who can get it!" Leena says, knowing what must be done. "I... I'll try." Sara says timidly. She stands on the edge of the fountain and reaches in. Just then, Discord erupts from the fountain's pool and tackles Sara. They both tumble to the ground as we see something glow in Sara's right hand. Sara stops in midair only inches from the pavement. Light wraps around here, turning her into a glowing ball. The park is lit up once again by the light from the orb. Discord hits the pavement flat, his hands slowly turn to stone from the effect of Sara's element activating. The glow fades and Sara descends, now a pony herself.
"Am... am I a pony now?" "Yes. And a pegasus too! Lucky." Leena says in a slightly jealous tone. "Well, isn't this adorable. We're all little ponies now. Why don't you all just go to Equestria and let me have Earth?" Discord says, balancing himself. "Everypony! Raise the Elements and concentrate! Think of the moment that activated your Element! Focus!" I shout to the group, raising my hoof at Discord. Leena, Sam, Monica, Dave, Sara and I all point our elements at Discord. Blasts of light unleash from all of them and combine into a single beam. The beam strikes Discord and a coloumn of light envelopes him. The light blinds us all and then explodes outward, leaving us stunned in the middle of the park.
I open my eyes to see the statue of Discord next to the fountain, his posture forever frozen in an attempt to block the blast with his hands. The ground feels weird under my feet... my feet? I look down to see I'm human again! And in the same clothes I had on last night! I turn around to see Leena, Sam, Monica, Dave and Sara all are normal again! I'm so relieved I could almost do backflip! "Leena! Look! We're back to normal!" I say, running over to her. I pick her up and hug her with my arms, my human arms. "I... I'm happy Nathan." she says with a smile. I can tell she's going to miss being a pony. Hopefully, getting the chance to visit Equestria will fix that. I hold her close and give her a kiss. Dave and Monica do the same, Sara brushes herself off, Sam looks around for something. "That's right. I lost my cell phone when we were in the clouds." he says frowning. "It's all right Sam; we'll get you a new phone. And Monica a new car." I say. We all laugh at that, even Monica.
"Thank you so much Nathan." Twilight says walking over. She has her horn back, as does Rarity. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy test out their wings again, doing small loops. Applejack and Pinkie Pie slowly pick up the Elements at our feet and give them to Twilight. "The Elements of Heroism have been drained again, they were able to unbond from you." she explains. "We'll take them back to Equestria with us." "Do we have to take Discord too?" Rainbow Dash asks with a chuckle. "You know, the park could use a little more artistic appeal. I think it's okay if we leave him here." Dave says. We all agree with a laugh. Behind us, we here the sound of applause. A man approaches us, clapping.
"Congratulations young man!" a familiar voice says. "You've defeated Discord and saved Earth from a choatic fate. You truly do represent the Elements of Heroism." We turn to see one the park lamps illuminate the face of the shopkeeper I saw in the 'antique store' last night. He smiles at us. "Wait... no. I... I thought you were Discord." I say to the man in disbelief. "Wait a minute... aren't you the guy who was working at the jewelry store a couple weeks ago?" Leena asks. "Why yes! I could tell the moment I saw you that you were the one to bring out the Element of Honor. You've all done so well!" he says. "You knew this was going to happen to us?" I ask. "Yes. I couldn't bring out the power of the Elements myself so I was forced to look for others, people that embodied each Element to activate them. And you've done so well!"
The man slowly steps forward. "Who are you exactly?" I ask. "Who am I? Why, I'm whoever I want to be." The man's form slowly changes. A blade-like black horn appears on his forehead. His hair becomes green and stringy, his body becomes black and elongated. He drops down onto four long black legs and opens two large animated eyes. I'm in shock. The shopkeeper who I'd seen last night had now become... "CHANGLING!" Pinkie Pie shouts. "Queen Chrysalis my dear." she says. "You! What are you doing here?!" Twilight yells at the Queen. "Muahahahaha... well hello my almost sister-in-law. How's Shining Armor? I do miss love like that." "What the hay are you doing here? Didn't y'all learn yer lesson the first time?" Applejack demands.
"We were blasted here after you defeated us, you ingrate. The power of Shining Armor and Cadence's love blew us off the face of Equestria... and onto Earth." More people begin stepping out of the shadows. People from the circus who were 'hypnotized' by Discord, the security gaurds from the mall, the animal control specialists. They all stepped into the light and transformed into changlings, soon we were surrounded. "Once, long ago I ruled my people in a kingdom that embraced change... but not all of Equestria did. I fell in love with a unicorn, a strong stallion king. But our love was not accepted by the people. They looked at us as bizarre, shunned us. So I decided then that if no one accepted our love, than I would take all the world's love for my own!!" Chrsalis shouted into the night sky. Her horn glowed brightly and blue energy beams leapt out and blasted us, enveloping each of us in a force field. Twilight dropped the Elements of Heroism. The Queen walked right over to them and put a hoof down on top of them, stomping them into pieces. "Infernal jems! My love wielded those accursed items... against me. My own lover betrayed me, betrayed our love and left me to rot." Chrysalis recounted.
"But now, a new world full of life, full of love is ours for the taking!" She rose into the air with her changling horde. "And now you're all trapped here, no Elements and no way home. Once I'm done draining the love out of Earth, I may just go back to see Equestria!" she says, laughing maniacally and flying into the night sky. I look at the Elements, crushed into the pavement, their gems broken and braces smashed. I look to everyone around me, trapped in bubbles. A huge ball of light illuminates the sky above one of the buildings, some type of spell. The entire city is illuminated by the eerie light and dark figures flit around it. I punch the bubble's walls but it doesn't even move. What were we going to do now? I'd been played from the very beginning and now... Earth and Equestria would suffer for it. We were trapped, each one of us. We might as well have been turned into statues like... Discord?
I turn to the statue form of Discord, hoping he can still hear me. "Discord... Discord!" I call out to him. I thought of something, something crazy but right now made more sense than anything else. I heard nothing, the statue remained still. I punched the bubble again and I lost my balance, falling into the side of my green prison. The bubble rolls slightly. I get up and throw myself at the wall, rolling the bubble over to Discord. After a few good tries, I finally make it over to him. "Discord!!" I shout at him. "What are you doing Nathan?" Leena asks. "I... I don't know." I confess. I smash into the wall of the bubble again. The shield collides with Discord and my bubble bounces off of him. The statue tilts and falls over onto the pavement and shatters. The form of Discord is revealed underneath, shocked and dazed from the blow.
"Screwball is that you? Daddy loves you sweetheart." Discord says, his mind not clear. "Discord!" I shout at him. "Wha.. what?" "Discord, we need your help." "You... you freed me. But... why?" "Discord, you know Queen Chrysalis don't you?" I ask. "Chrysalis? I..." "You said you saved Equestria from a dark threat before right?" "I don't, I'm not..." Discord stammared as he tried to stand. "You were the one who defeated Queen Chyrsalis and the changlings long ago, weren't you?" "I..." Discord takes a long pause. He slowly looks up. "I loved her."
"I met Chrysalis when she was a princess of a kingdom to the south in Equestria, a kingdom that embraced the changing of the seasons. We were very much in love, for a time. But our kingdoms did not trust each other, each thought of the other as foreign, undesirable, strange. We had to keep our love a secret. But one day, the truth came out. We didn't know how anypony would react so... we seperated. We went months without seeing each other. I was miserable. And then, one day the changlings invaded." Tears form in Discord's eyes. "I was forced to defend my kingdom." Discord walked over to where the destroyed Elements were smashed into the sidewalk. He knelt down and picked them up. "I used the Elements of Heroism... and defeated her."
Tears fell down Discord's face as he looked to the large ball of white high atop an office building. "The residents declared that the changlings were to be banished. There was nothing I could do." I didn't know what to think, what to say. His words seem to hang in midair and the park grew silent. I turned to Twilight and the others, their mouths hung open, some of them almost at tears. Fluttershy was beyond tears but none of us made a sound. "People looked at me as a hero. A hero for banishing the one I loved. I was heartbroken, distraught. Over time, I grew to distrust those around me. I used the Elements of Heroism to try to control people. Slowly, I became corrupted. I changed from a unicorn.. to a draconequus." Discord told us.
The streetlamps flickered. I look around us and see the park around me slowly losing hue. The color of everything around us, the sidewalk, the grass, the water, the world itself slowly became a dull shade of gray. "You can still be a hero Discord!" Leena called out to him. Discord chuckled. "It's too late for me. And I'll have you all know something: a world of chaos is still a world of love." Discord started walking away with the Elements in hand. "Do you still love her?" I asked him. "Save it kid. You're asking the wrong villain." he didn't even turn around. I didn't give up. "Because she still loves you!" I yelled. Discord stopped and turned
He snaps his fingers and the force fields around us disappear. "Get out of here. After Chrysalis is done draining the love out of Earth, she'll be too strong for any amount of magic to handle. Go to Equestria and do your best to make sure she doesn't find a way back." Discord says. "Take these with you. Put them some place safe." he says, giving me the Elements of Heroism. He turns around then and starts walking away. "So you're just going to give up? After all this?!" I shout at him. He says nothing and continues walking into the shadows until he's out of sight. I look down at the Elements in my hands, broken, shattered. It seems that all hope is lost. I turn around towards the group.
"So, Equestria sound good?" Sam asks. "It seems like the only option. I... I need to inform the princess. But I'm sure she'll be very accomodating to... refugees." Twilight says in a sad tone. "Do you think we have time to pack some things?" Monica asks. "What are you talking about?" I ask in an accusing tone. "We're not giving up. Not yet." I say, clutching the Elements in my hands. "What do you mean Nathan? Chrysalis destroyed the Elements and-" Leena says. "No, the Elements are right here. We activated each one of them, we represent them. Seriously, none of you remember the pilot?" It finally dawns on the rest of them that the Elements are still alive in us. "The Elements of Harmony still worked when they were crushed, the Elements of Heroism should work the same way. It's worth a try." I tell my friends.
I pass out the Elements, we each put them carefully on our wrists. Rarity and Twilight do their best to mend the bands. "How do we know if they still work?" Leena asks. I look at mine and move it around my hand for a moment. "I'm not sure. Maybe we can-" as I'm talking, a blast is unleashed from the jewel. It flies off and into a tree, slicing through a branch and incinerating a few leaves. "I think we know now!" Dave says, covering his head. "How much time do you think we have until she's drained Earth?" Sara asks. We look at the huge glowing sphere above the office building. "Let's not waste any of it." is my only response.
We enter the office building. The changlings were patrolling the sky near the white orb, if we tried to fly we'd be caught. The entire world had become gray, the very essence of life being drained from the physical world. We took the stairs up to the top floor. It took me a while to get used to having two legs again so I used the gaurd rail to help steady myself some part of the way. "Would this be faster if we were still ponies?" Monica asked. "I really miss having wings right now." Sam says. "I've been there Sam. Ya never know what ya got till it's gone." Rainbow Dash says.
After a few minutes of climbing, we reach the top floor and stand by the exit to the rooftop. I place my hand on the handle."So what's the plan Nathan?" Sam asks. "Twilight, you and your friends distract the changlings. The rest of us will try to hit the Queen with everything we have." I open the door to see... myself on the other side. "CHANGLINGS!" Pinkie Pie shouts. Changlings mimicing our entire group stare back ut us with mischievious grins on the other side of the door. I try to raise my Element but the one mimicing me grabs my arm and pulls me through. Several changlings mimicing the ponies grab the others and before we knew what happened, we were subdued, our Elements were removed and we were brought before the giant ball of white. Chrysalis floated down and stood before us.
"So predictable. Leave it to creatures descended from apes to play right into your hooves. You certainly took your time." the queen said with a laugh. "When I said I wanted all the love on Earth, I meant it. Including your own! All I needed was a little time to build up my strength and then get you right where I wanted you. So thank you, all of you. The love from the twelve of you will make me strong enough to invade Equestria! I'll finally be stronger than Cadence and Shining Armor! Now, no one will be able to stop me!! Muahahahahahahaha!!" Her eyes glowed with the same eerie white as the sphere above her. Her horn glowed a sickly green blue and she pointed it at us.
I felt a coldness grow in the pit of my stomach. It spread all over my body. Not pain, not numbness, only cold. I looked around me as my arms and legs were pinned by changlings that licked their lips as they looked at me. I looked at Leena, her eyes in pain looking back. I saw her slowly turn gray. I look back to Queen Chrysalis who just smiles at me. The edges of her eyes burn white. From behind her, I see a figure in the shadows.
"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Discord shouts. He tackles the queen, breaking her concentration. I gasp for breath, the cold feeling slowly leaving me. The changlings look up as the two collide with each other. I shake them off of me. I grab my Element before me and blast the changlings off my friends. Quickly, they grab their own Elements as Discord distracts the queen. The changlings encircle us. I unleash a few blasts that turn a couple to stone and they back away. We form a circle, Twilight and her friends before us as the horde of changlings flies around the roof of the building. Discord and the queen still fight in a corner of the rooftop.
"We've got to stop that spell!" Twilight says, pointing to the giant ball. "It's unstable! If it bursts, it could destroy the whole city!" "How do we stop it?" I ask. "I think I can use a defusion spell but it'll take some time to cast!" "You do what you have to do Twilight! We'll keep you covered." Discord and Chrysalis continue to scuffle on the side of the roof, Discord having the advantage with claws, tries to pin the queen. Twilight moves underneath the giant sphere, closes her eyes and her horn glows. The rest of us form a circle around her. The changlings circle the rooftop, their black bodies illuminated by the glow of the spell.
I fire a few rays into the sky but the changlings are small and fast. Sam actually is able to hit a few. Maybe all the time spent playing video games payed off. Changlings divebomb us and try to reach Twilight, a few get through us to be smacked by Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack or Fluttershy. In the corner of the roof, we can still hear Discord and Chrysalis fight.
Discord snaps his fingers. Thunder cracks overhead and chocolate rain begins to fall. The changlings stop in midflight, confused by the chocolate rain. We take the opportunity to blast dozens of them as they hang in midair, some of them drinking the chocolate rain. "ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!!!" the queen yells in a voice rivaling that of the Royal Canterlot Voice. She blasts Discord off of her and unleashes a wave of energy from her body. We're knocked back by the pulse. She uses her horn and imprisons us all in green spheres again. "If I can't have love, then we shall all burn together!!" she announces, walking over to the giant sphere. "Stop... stop please!" I beg her, carefully standing up in my own sphere. "I'll destroy all of you fools and your coveted feelings for each other!" she says back to me angrily. "Please! Please!!" I plead. She moves in closer to the sphere and her horn glows a sickly green-blue. "He still loves you!" I shout at her. She stops.
She hesitates for a second but says nothing. I yell again. "He still loves you! After all this time he still loves you!" "Who are you talking about? My love is long gone and I-" "Discord, tell her!" "Discord?" she asks. "My name isn't Discord. It's Discovery." he says, standing. The glow from the queen's eyes vanishes. "Discovery...?" she says, turning to Discord. "That's who I was. Discovery, the first king of Equestria. And I still love you." Discord proclaims.
"But... Discovery was a unicorn. A proud stallion, you're just a... a mess." Chrysalis says. "It's me Chrys. I... after you were banished, I changed. But it's still me." "Why did you use the Elements against me?" she demanded. "You attacked my kingdom! I had no choice! Ponies were running scared when the changlings invaded!" "I did that for us! If the kingdom would not accept our love, they would feel our wrath and then their opinions would change!" "When you lashed out at them, you only confirmed what people thought about the changlings before! But I still love you!" Discord tried to make her see her mistake. "What are we supposed to do then? Let people judge us, walk all over us and treat us like freaks?!" Chrysalis shouted back.
"Stop fighting! Both of you!" I yelled at them. "You both still love each other, you should be together!" I try to explain. "But what if they never accept us? Can... can we be together when so many think it's wrong?" she asks, almost shyly. "You don't know what people are going to think. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, what people will say or do. But you have love. You just have to give it a chance." I tell them both. "You can still be together. You just have to give it a chance."
"Can we really be together? Start over after so much, after all this time?" Chrysalis asks. "I... I'm willing to take a chance." Discord says. He walks over and offers Chrysalis his claw. Slowly, Chrysalis puts her hoof in his claw. "Me too." she says. "Thank you Nathan." "Thank you." they both say. I say nothing back but smile, tears in my eyes. For a brief moment, I saw a little bit of me and Leena in them. Then, I see a light coming from my wrist. My Element glows brighter and brighter, I see a flash and that's the last thing I remember.
The alarm on my clock goes off at 8:00a.m. I open my eyes and it's just then I realize I'm back in my apartment. I don't even remember going to sleep. I reach out to turn off the alarm. I pull my hand back and examine it. A normal, human hand. I see the green box that has the Element in it on my nightstand. Slowly, I examine the rest of myself. I've still got the clothes on I was wearing. No hooves, no mane, no tail. I reach over and grab the box. I slide back the lid, pick out the necklace in brown wrapping and unwrap it. It's whole, undamaged. Had it all been a dream? I set it down on the nightstand.
I look at the t.v in my room. The last scene from My Little Pony: Friendship is magic is still frozen on the screen. Maybe it was all just a dream. I lay back in bed, lost in thought. Just then, I see a glow out of the corner of my eye. I see the necklace on my nightstand glowing. It glows brighter and unleashes a yellow ray. The ray stops right in front of my bed, flattens out into a disc and I realize it's another portal. Twilight Sparkle steps through and the portal closes behind her.
"Twilight Sparkle!" I shout out loud. "It's good to see you up Nathan." she says. "What happened last night?" I ask her. "Well, after what happened on the rooftop, you kind of blacked out and we took you back here." "So it wasn't all a dream." I said. "Where are the others?" "They're already in Ponyville. We've got the rest of the elements back where they belong now." she answers. I think for a moment, relieved everything worked out okay. "So it's all over then." "Eeyup." she replies. I look at the element on my nightstand. I reach over and grab and hold it in both hands, looking at the gem and the band. It's hard for me to believe all the trouble this little piece of jewelry started. "We were able to use the Elements while we were human. Why did it change us into ponies? And why did it do all that other stuff?" I ask. Twilight walks over to the side of the bed. "Magic is like that sometimes. I think the elements behaved like that while we were traveling so that we could get where we needed to go faster. As for turning you into ponies, there's more to the elements than just what you look like. It's the feeling in your heart that gives you the power to use their magic. You represented the elements long before you became a pony. In that regard, you've always been an Equestrian." she says.
I look down at the small band in my hands. "I guess it was pretty lucky how things turned out." Twilight smiles. "That's not the Element of Luck Nathan. It's the Element of Love. You activated it by taking a chance for Leena. So really, you've been making your own luck." Twilight says. "So, what will happen if I put it back on?" I ask her. "I don't know for sure but I can tell you the others already have. Why don't you take a chance and find out?" she opens up a portal in front of us and turns back to me with a smile. I smile too and slip the element on my wrist.
We step out of the portal and into Ponyville, right inside Twilight's living room it looks like. The floor feels comfortable against my hooves. I see all my friends, ponies, socializing throughout the room. Rainbow Dash and Sam chat together, leaning on a wall while sipping mugs of cider. Fluttershy and Sara sit by the window, looking outside. Dave, Rarity and Applejack each sit on pillows sprawled out in the center of the room while Pinkie Pie and Monica read a book. Pinkie laughs outloud at something. I look over to see it's the world history book from before. "What a funny story. But I'm so glad it had a happy ending!" Pinkie says as she closes the book and gives it to Spike, Twilight's baby dragon assistant. They all look up to see me and Twilight. "Hey guys!" Leena says, trotting over. We embrace in a warm hug and nuzzle, looking into each other's eyes. "Welcome to Ponyville!" Spike says, putthing the book back.
"So Nathan, you happy you took a chance?" Leena asks me. I look into her eyes. "With you Leena, there's no way I could ever lose." I hold her close and we kiss. The room goes quiet and we hear a couple 'awws' escape the occupants.
There's a knock on the door and Spike goes to answer it. He opens the cottage door and in steps a regal-looking all white pony, twice as tall as all of us. She has a long horn and large wings. Her colorful mane flows like whisps of clouds in the sky mixed with the gentle waves of an ocean. She sports a warm smile and though I'm wondering what she's doing her, it's nice to see Princess Celestia.
"Princess!" Twilight says, trotting over to her mentor and the ruler of Equestria. "Hello Twilight. It's good to see our new guests in Ponyville." "I've already told her everything. Discovery and Queen Chrysalis have made peace. They're going to get married in Canterlot!" Twilight exclaims with giddy excitement. "Now that's something I've got to see." Sam says. "It seems you've all made some new discoveries today. You've all made new friends and discovered a new magic, the magic of love. We would be honored if all of you would join us in Ponyville to uncover more about these new elements." Princess Celestia said.
I nodded, happier than ever. Everypony else nodded in agreement. "You want me to write to you Princess?" I ask her. She nodded. "Whenever you learn something new about the magic of love. I'm sure you'll learn more all the time." "I'll get started right away. Spike, would you help me out here?" I ask Twilight's assistant. "Sure thing Nathan." he says, grabbing a quill. I hold onto Leena and look into her eyes. "Dear Princess Celestia," I begin. "There's only one light on in the store as I walk in..."
Leena's place was right around the corner from where we left the car. After the ride over, I didn't really care if anything happened to the car. Leena lives with her older sister Sara in a small condo that was one of four in a complex with its own parking lot in the back. As Twilight and I walked through the grass, it only just occured to me that I hadn't called to tell her I was coming over, let alone even find out if she was home. Still technically a medical student, Leena worked at the hospital Twilight and I passed at breakneck speed just a couple blocks away. What would she say when she saw me like this? What would she say when she saw Twilight? I could only wonder those things as we approached the door.
Carefully, I stood on my back legs, took a deep breath and knocked on the door with my right hoof. "Yes? Who is it?" calls a Leena's voice from inside. I let out a heavy sigh of relief. At least she's okay. "Leena! It's Nate, I uh, I'm sorry I didn't call, I just figured I'd drop by." I say in as casual a way as I can manage. "Is Sam with you?" "No, but uh,... could you open the door? Please?" The door quickly unlocks and opens. I look into her gorgeous hazel eyes and try to smile as best I can. The smile on her face quickly turns to shock as she steps back from the door, her hand over her mouth as though to contain an approaching scream. Her eyes dart back and fourth quickly between myself and Twilight. "Leena, it's me Nate." I say calmly as I open the door a bit further. "Oh mai gawd. What is... what are you? Who are you? You're... you're... she starts stammering. "We're ponies. And I can explain. You of course know Twilight from MLP:FiM? Can we come in?" she shakes her head as if trying to shake off the shock of seeing two animated ponies at the doorstep of the condo. "Hi I'm Twilight Sparkle. You're Nathan's girlfriend right?" Twilight asks through the door. Leena doesn't answer her, her eyes still going back and fourth between me and Twilight.
I open the door and put my front two hooves on the ground, walking on all fours again. I look up into her eyes. "No, that can't be you. You... you can't be real! What is..." "Leena, it IS me, it's Nathan.." I hold up my right hoof and show her the bracelet. "Look. I got you this for your birthday. It's uh... well it was a necklace. To replace the one you lost, remember?" She looks at the braclet and then at me. "Oh Nathan... it is you isn't it?" "Yes." I say. "I love you." "I... I love you too." she says back. "Oh Nathan... what happened to you? Is it okay to..." she says as she looks reluctant to touch my outstretched hoof. "Yes, I'm fine." I say. With tears in her eyes, she touches my brightly colored hoof. It's nice to feel her touch again. Slowly, I get up on my back hooves again and carefully hug her. "Nathan... you're a pony." she whispers into my ear. "Yeah. I noticed that too." I whisper back. I didn't care what I was. I was happy to have her in my arms again. I brush her hair lightly with my hoof and give her a small kiss. She starts crying a little. I feel tears form in the corners of my eyes. I don't even try to stop them as they fall. I'm just so happy to hold Leena again. Without saying a word, Twilight closes the door behind us.
Holding her by the shoulders, I explain things to her. "Leena, My Little Pony, Equestria, that whole show is real. That whole world is real." "How is this possible?" she asks. "You remember the Elements of Harmony? There's 6 other elements that are here on Earth and they're linked to the elements in Equestria. Twilight needs our help to find them before-" "Before me?" a voice interrupts. Suddenly in the living room of the condo, the animated form of Discord appears before us. "Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" he laughs as his body materializes. "I'm sorry for dropping in unannounced but it looks like it might rain at any minute! Ah ha ha ha ha!"
"Discord!" Twilight jumps betweens us. "Twilight my old friend, so good to see you! Have you seen this new world? So beautiful and so much chaos! It has so much potential! Just think of the things I can do once I'm able to rule it." Discord says while floating across the ceiling, behind furniture and into and out of paintings and pictures on the walls. "You'll never rule any world again Discord. We've beaten you on Equestria and we'll beat you on Earth too!" "Equestria? Who wants that dull place? You and your little friends can have it. I'm done with Equestria. Once I have the Elements of Heroism, this entire world will be mine to do as I please! And don't think your little Elements of Harmony can stop me. I think you'll find things are quite different from Equestria here." the villain says with a grin.
I hold Leena tighter. "Maybe the Elements of Harmony can't stop you. But I bet I know what can. This!" I flash my Element of Luck at the villain. "Oh ho ho. You think one little element can stop me? Do you even know how to use it?"
Discord stops in his tracks and covers his eyes, momentarily blinded by the light. A bright flash errupts from the gem in the center and hits Discord before he can try to dodge. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" The fiend screams as Leena and I tumble to the ground and Twilight rushes over to us. "Noooo! Not again! Not back to stone again so soon!" he yells as his tail slowly turns to stown. But it stops part way before his legs, freezing only his tail and part of his back. "What's this?" he says, examining his tail. He looks back over to us. "Oh, it seems your little Element's power alone wasn't enough. Still effective it seems but without all 6 you don't stand a chance of stopping me. I'll be seeing the three of you real soon!" He laughs again and disappears in a flash, the stone of his tail taking a moment longer to dematerialize.
"Discord." Twilight says. "So he is here on Earth." I help Leena up off the floor. "Twilight thinks that your old necklace you lost might be another one of the Elements of Heroism. We have to find them before Discord." "Uh... I'm sorry Nathan." "Why? What's wrong?" "I... I lied Nathan. I didn't really lose it. My school fees are so expensive... I had to sell it." Now it was my turn to be shocked. "Why did you lie about that? You know if you need money you can just ask me right?" "I'm sorry Nathan, I stopped wearing it a while ago because I knew I was going to have to sell it to pay my fees. I'm still living with Sara after all this time... I just wanted to pay my way through one thing on my own for once. I didn't want anyone to know. I'm sorry." "It's okay. Just next time, if you need help just ask." I said. This actually reminded me of one of the episodes of the show. I guess we both could stand to pay attention to it a little more closely. "But we need to find it before Discord does." "I sold it to a jewelry store in the mall downtown just a couple days ago. You think they might still have it?" "It's worth a try." "Okay, should we take my car? Wait, how did you and Twilight get over here?" I remembered the car ride over. "Twilight drove. We had some... car trouble." "Is car trouble what you call losing control and racing down the street at breakneck speed?" Twilight chimed in.
"I think it might've had something to do with my Element." I said, looking once again at the bracelet on my front leg. "You know it was actually kind of lucky the car accelerated like it did, otherwise someone might've seen us." Twilight said. And it just blasted Discord in the face. "Maybe it only works if something like can happen." I remark. "Or needs to happen." Twilight says. "You think it will happen again if we try to drive over?" I ask Twilight. "Let me see the Element again." she says, examining the confusing piece of jewelry. "It actually looks kind of drained to me. Maybe zapping Discord took some energy out of it. I don't think it would put us in any danger anyway." "You act like this thing has a mind of its own." "Magic is mysterious in this way Nate. That's why I study it, so that the mysteries can become clear to us. It should be safe." Nothing about this seemed clear to me but Leena was with me. I had to stay strong, get back to being human as soon as possible so things could get back to normal. "Well, if you say so Twilight. Leena, just to be on the safe side, you think you could drive?"