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!"
"You really think those security guards are going to fall for a disguise?" Sam asked. "Why not? It worked in that one dragon episode." Leena said. "It's worth a shot. It only has to work until we get outside the doors anyway." "Sounds like a plan." Marshall added. "I remember that episode." he says. "Hey, you remember that one where-" "Hey, you guys want to give us a hand over here?" Twilight called. "Yeah, let me gather up some clothes." I said, getting back to the task at hand.
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.