On a cloudy, rainy day in an alternate universe, Princess Celestia was sleeping in her Canterlot castle, on a soft, fluffy bed which had been imported from a different side of Equestria.
An electric alarm clock - which was placed on a drawer beside the bed - went off, waking Celestia up from her slumber.
She groaned as she reached towards the alarm clock, hitting a button ontop of it, shutting it off, before yawning and stretching.
"Mph... It's raining,,,," Celestia muttered, before dragging herself out of bed, heading towards the bathroom next to her bedroom, where she proceeded to take a shower.
While doing that, she was thinking about what duties she had to do today, such as managing Canterlot, making sure the other towns were safe, and, who could forget, keeping tabs on the Elements of Harmony!
It was not often, but the times that it did happen to happen, some mischievous bandit would try to steal the Elements for their own selfish gain; like, Celestia knew that the Elements sure did look pretty, but they were an important part of keeping peace in Equestria.
After finishing her shower and throwing on a hoodie, panties and pants, Celestia checked her smartphone to see if there were any messages from Equestrian government officials, the Mane 6, Spike, Luna, or just about anypony.
As was expected, there were a few unread messages, one from an official, a few friendly "hello"s from the Mane 6, and a friendship discovery letter in an email from Twilight Sparkle.
Celestia responded to the greetings, then congratulated Twilight on her discovery, before seeing what the official said.
The government official, Sir Moyaklar Sharlar, has informed Celesia about a new princess born to a couple of earth ponies, a quite unusual occurrence.
Celestia messaged back that she would arrive there shortly, but after she had checked on the Elements, just to make sure they were still there.
Moyaklar agreed, commenting that it had been a while since she checked.
Celestia put her phone in a pocket on her hoodie, before heading off to the castle's basement, where the tree was located.
On her way there, she passed a few Royal Guards, who greeted her formally, and who were greeted back by her.
When she arrived at the basement, she noticed that, instead of the Elements hanging off of the tree, there was nothing.
"Oh shit," exclaimed Celestia, looking at a button on the wall.
She pressed the button, which triggered many MEA (Missing Elements Alert) alarms, spread out all across Equestria.
"That should take care of it in a while," thought Celestia, knowing that many ponies were now in the process of searching for the Elements.
She texted Koyaklar again, telling him that she was on her way, then began her path to the outside of the castle, where she would take off into the sky.
While flying, she would observe the ponies way down below, most of which were living normal lives, ponying around; she could also see the ponies who received the MEA alarm signal, galloping around the towns in search of the Elements.
She wondered how an alicorn was born to two earth ponies; something like this happened before, a pegasus and a unicorn being born two an earth pony couple, something about their ancestors being unicorns and pegasi, so maybe the same thing happened here, but what alicorn could have been in their ancestry?
She also then remembered that she forgot to bring an umbrella, because she could feel the rain on her fur.
She pondered this until she arrived at the place Moyaklar said the new-born was, a cosy urban house in a nice neighborhoof, where she then entered said house.
Inside the living room, an earth pony couple holding an alicorn infant was present, along with Sir Moyaklar - a pale and striped minty green unicorn wearing a suit and dress pants - standing next to them.
"Salutations, your majesty," Moyaklar said to Celestia, looking at her.
"Sorry about the wait, had to send a MEA alarm signal, but I'm sure it'll be taken care of," Celestia replied, smiling, "But, salutations to you, too!"
Celestia looked in the arms of the yellow mare of the couple, where a beautiful, black alicorn foal was sleeping, wrapped in an also black blanket.
Celestia smiled again, "Aww, such a cute foal! What's her name?"
The green mare of the couple replied, grinning happily, "She sure is! Also, we've been deciding on either Ikki Qirrasi, or Kukunda!"
"How about Ikki? It sounds cute, too!" Celestia suggested.
"Ikki Qirrasi Lagoma is is then!" announced the green mare, which the yellow mare nodded in agreement to.
"Speaking of names!" the yellow mare chimed in, "My name is Orina Lagoma!"
"And mine's Moco Lagoma!" the green mare said.
"Well hello, Orina and Moco Lagoma!" Celestia replied.
Celestia knelt down, looking closely at Ikki, who was waking up from her nap.
Ikki opened her eyes, which she then used to look at Celestia.
Ikki made a happy noise, and bapped Celestia's snoot with her hoof, smiling.
"Aww, heheh! She likes you!" said Orina, "Do you want to hold her?"
Celestia nodded, saying "Sure! Just lemmie sit down and-"
At that moment, her smartphone rang.
"Darn it," Celestia exclaimed, taking out her phone and answering the call, turning around, and putting the phone against her head to listen to it.
"W-we have a problem," the pony on the other side alerted.
"What is it?" Celestia asked with a scowl.
"We, uh, can't fou- find the Elements," the pony informed Celestia, "we- we searched just about e-everywhere in Equestria, and, i-it's not anywhere, we can't find it."
Celestia's face turned from a look of annoyance to a look of shock.
"W-what!?" she half-yelled, "Are you sure you can't find it? W-where did you not check yet?!"
There was a moment of pause, before the pony on the other side spoke again.
"Th-the clouds; we've c-covered everywhere on the land, and the ocean, but it's n-not anywhere there," they said, "But, we're in the process of searching the clouds, so, n- j-just most or s-some of the clouds."
"I- I see,,,," Celestia murmured.
The pony hastily said, "I'm sorry, my- your m-majesty! We-we'll- we'll search harder, I pro- promise! Pro- promise! Pro-"
"Okay okay, you don't have to rap about it, just, search harder on the land and sea, alright?" Celestia requested, waving her hoof a bit, looking annoyed again.
"Of course, your m-majesty!" the pony on the other side exclaimed, before hanging up.
Celestia turned back to the couple.
"Sorry about that, Moco and Orina Lagoma, just some, problems somewhere, but I'm sure that ponies around Equestria are taking care of it, hopefully," Celestia informed, looking more calm.
"...I think you could be a little nicer, couldn't you?" Orina pointed out, a bit worried about Celestia's anger just now.
"You're right, sorry; though I do try, sometimes," Celestia replied, looking down.
Orina stood up, holding Ikki in a front leg, then walked over to Celestia, nuzzling her chest warmly.
"It's okay," Orina assured, "What counts is that you're trying, okay?"
"Okay," Celestia said with a smile.
At that moment, a balloon drifted into the room.
Everyone looked at the yellow balloon, confused.
"Hoooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" an extremely happy and energetic voice called out.
Pinkie Pie hopped into the living room, smiling widely, wearing funky and colorful, baggy pants, that three wolf moon t-shirt, a red and black plaid top, and a rainbow party-hat-umbrella-thing.
"Is there a need for a birthday party over here?" Pinkie asked excitedly, dabbing.
Moco turned to Pinkie, looking worried.
"Shhhhh!" she shushed, "You'll scare the baby!"
Ikki was hiding away in her blanket, scared of whatever this pink thingy is.
"Sorry,,,," Pinkie replied, slowly sneaking her way back out, having lost most of her energy.
Moco ran up to Pinkie Pie.
"Nono! It's okay! You can stay! Just, not too much noise, please?" she requested, smiling reassuringly.
"Okie!" Pinkie whispered, looking happy and energetic again, but not too energetic as to have the possibility of scaring the baby.
Pinkie brought a bunch of balloons of various color and a black birthday cake into the room, the icing on which spelled out, "HAPPY 0TH BIRTHDAY IKKI".
Ikki peeked out of the blanket, and, upon seeing the large amount of black infront of her, smiled happily as she reached out toward it.
"Hehe! Does da widdle baby want a swice?" Orina asked in a sweet tone.
Pinkie gave a slice of the cake - which was red on the inside, a nice, strawberry and cherry flavour - on a plate to Ikki.
"I made sure I used only both the best-tasting and the healthiest ingredients I could find!" chimed Pinkie, "Also, of course, ingredients that were safe to newborns."
"Do you hear dat? Da cake is safe for you!" Orina said, using a spoon to feed the baby a piece.
Ikki chewed and swallowed, smiling brighter, liking the taste of the cake, and making more happy noises.
"She likes it!" announced Orina, "Hehe!"
"Yaaaaaaaaay!" Pinkie exclaimed, making sure not to do it too loudly.
For the next few hours, they had a mild 0th birthday party after inviting some guests, with such fun activities and games such as 'Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Pony', 'Peek-a-Boo', 'Guess-the-Thing', and more.
After the party, the guests started to leave, letting the Lagoma couple take care of Ikki Qirrasi.
Celestia was walking towards Canterlot (using Pinkie Pie's umbrella-hat as to not get wet from the rain) to check on the progress of the search for the Elements.
Pinkie Pie was hopping along side Celestia showing more energy than she was at the party, also seeming to not mind the rain.
"Aren't you bothered by the rain?" Celestia asked.
"Nope!" Pinkie replied, smiling, "It's just water! Harmless, natural water, silly!"
"Ohokay then!" Celestia chuckled.
Pinkie Pie would follow Celestia into Canterlot, up and into the Castle, through some corridors and up some stairs, all the way to a small room.
The room contained a singular table, which had a silver metal box with a button on it.
Also in the room was an LED screen on the wall that, in red text, read,
"ELEMENT 'MAGIC' MISSING FOR
1d 2h 35m 56s
ELEMENT 'LAUGHTER' MISSING FOR
1d 2h 34m 13s
ELEMENT 'LOYALTY' MISSING FOR
1d 2h 36m 17s
ELEMENT 'HONESTY' MISSING FOR
1d 2h 33m 45s
ELEMENT 'KINDNESS' MISSING FOR
1d 2h 28m 10s
ELEMENT 'GENEROSITY' MISSING FOR
1d 2h 55m 22s"
The time kept ticking up, increasing every second, tick, tock.
"What?" Celestia asked, looking shocked.
"Oh z-zoinks!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, feeling about the same emotion.
She began to hurriedly gallop down towards the basement (after grabbing the box), with Pinkie following behind her.
When she reached the basement, she saw that, as the screen said, the Elements were not there, just nothing where the Elements should be.
"Oh fuck, f-fuck fuck fuck, that's why it's been raining all day; but why can't anypony find it!?" Celestia yelled.
In a panic, Celestia repeatedly and rapidly pressed the MEA button on the wall, sending out many, many MEA alarm signals.
After a few seconds, Celestia's smartphone blipped many times as well (though not as many times), signifying text messages.
She took her phone out of her pocket, but before she could check the texts, someone called the phone, making it ring.
Celestia answered the call.
"Th-this is not good,,,," the pony on the other side from earlier said, "A-also did you, l- have to, like, send so many, sig- gi- s-signals?"
"This is a matter of national emergency," Celestia responded, "We need to find the Elements as soon as possible."
Pinkie Pie began to wander around the place, Celestia absentmindedly following, talking to the pony on the phone
"Y-you're right,,,," the pony murmured, "Though I'm so so sor- sorry that the Elements, c- aren't f-found yet…."
Pinkie wandered onto a balcony, admiring the view.
"I think I might even have to resort to the Far Range Object Location Headpiece,,,," Celestia informed.
"Do you e-even know hoe- how much magic and e-electricity that thing takes?" the pony shouted back.
Pinkie balanced herself on the fence, getting a better look of the landscape, with all the rain and storms.
"Yes, I know; I'll have to go to Twilight to see if she can help us,,,," Celestia replied.
"A-are you crazy?" the pony on the other side yelled, "A ga- device that takes that much -e magic would be very unhealthy for the both of you!"
"But it might be the only way," Celestia suggested.
"A-again, you're right," the pony admitted, "Shall I c-contact Princess Twilight Sparkle, your me- majesty?"
"That would be appreciated," Celestia told them.
"R-right on it!" the pony exclaimed, before ending the call.
Celestia put the phone back in its pocket, before noticing Pinkie Pie, trotting up to her.
"Hey, Pinkie Pie, could you please get down from there? You might hurt yourself,,,," Celestia requested, visibly worried for Pinkie Pie.
"Okie! Right away, sunshine!" Pinkie responded.
Celestia chuckled at the nickname as Pinkie Pie carefully tried to get down off the fence.
Alas, she failed to, instead slipping off the fence forwards, into the air above the long drop below.
"Whoops!" she exclaimed in surprise.
"AH!" Celestia squeaked, quickly catching Pinkie with her magic.
"Phew!" Celestia sighed, "Just in the nick of time-"
CRACK!
Lightning.
Lightning, which had struck the top of the castle, not far away, caused a big flash and an even bigger boom.
"WRAAUGH!" Celestia yelled in fright, accidentally letting her magic fade away, causing Pinkie to fall away from her.
Celestia stood there for a few seconds, before realizing what happened, shaking her head.
"Oh gosh," she thought. "Did I lose my grip? Please don't tell me I lost my grip…!"
Celestia quickly looked over and down from the balcony, dreading the worst.
And the worst was the truth.
She could see a distant mix of pink and red on the ground way far below.
"Oh shit shit shit shit," Celestia mumbled, taking off into the air, and then floating down to the corpse of Pinkie Pie.
When she arrived at the ground, she could see every gruesome detail.
Blood splattered everywhere, bones sticking out of the skin, extremities bent to places where they weren't even designed to go.
Pinkie wasn't visibly breathing.
Letting a few tears fall onto the ground, Celestia knelt down beside Pinkie's body, checking her pulse.
Nothing.
Celestia lay down on Pinkie's body, crying silently, closing her eyes.
How could this happen?
What cruel fate would allow her to, to, die?
Celestia thought about this as she grieved the loss of the pink party pony.
Pinkie Pie is dead.
5 remain.