New Elements

by Barrobroadcaster

Nightshift

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!"
Twilight says triumphantly.

"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.