Annabeth trotted out of her house happily, feeling the warm rays of the sun on her flanks and hearing the little birds chirp in the trees. She tossed her head and her mane swooshed to one side.
"Today's going to be just fine!" She said, but a wave of water soaked her just then.
"Percy! Could you watch out next time?" she looked around for her special somepony, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead, she found Piper there, trying to control the flow of water.
"Sorry, Annabeth!" she said, "Somehow I'm not doing my best. I'll be more careful next time!" She trotted away, but not before Annabeth saw her cutie mark - a trident.
Oh no! She bit her lip in worry. That isn't Piper's cutie mark! That's Percy's! "It seems like not everything's going to be alright!"
Then she asked Piper, "Hey, do you know where Percy is?"
Piper nodded and pointed not in the direction of Percy's house... but in the direction of Nico's. "Yes, he's right that way."
No, no, no! That's Nico's place!
Annabeth galloped to her house, quickly flinging open the door. The little box of the Elements of Harmony didn't look right... their colors were switched! That meant that each of her pony friends had switched talents and personalities!
She quickly galloped to Nico's house, where tons of bones were lying all over the front yard. Nico did summon skeleton warriors to help him, but he never leaves their bones all over the place. Percy must have Nico's cutie mark! Annabeth thought, worried.
She knocked on the door, and soon Percy appeared, looking worn out. His cutie mark was a skull. "Oh, hi Annabeth," he said, "I've been shadow travelling around a lot lately, along with bringing up the skeleton warriors to fight off the evil. It's tiring." He yawned. Then he looked at Annabeth and seemed to read her expression. "You looking for Nico? I think he's at the forge."
"Okay, thanks," Annabeth said, "You look tired. I guess I'll leave you to rest, Seaweed Brain?" Percy nodded and closed the door.
I was right. This is bad! Annabeth ran as fast as her hooves could carry her to the forge, and sure enough, Nico was busily making mishappen weapons. His cutie mark was a fiery hammer.
"Nico!" Annabeth called to him. He didn't look up when he replied.
"Hey, Annabeth." Nico fiddled with the weapon, then bent it the wrong way. Then somepony yelled at him for doing it wrong. "Really? Ugh, fine, I'll do it your way!"
"Nico! Do you know where Leo is?" Annabeth called again.
Nico nodded, but still didn't look up. "Yeah, he's at Cloudsdale. I don't know how he got there when he's not a pegasus, but he's there anyway."
Annabeth nodded and cast a flying spell on her. It took lots of energy, but it worked. She flew up into the cloud city and flew around until she saw Leo in the weather factory. His cutie mark was two crossed lightning bolts.
"Hey Annabeth!" Leo said, waving. He looked at the clouds that needed to be moved, but ended up setting himself on fire and burning away part of the cloud. "When will I ever get it right?" He muttered. Then he kicked it with his hoof and lightning bolts started shooting from the cloud, spooking the ponies below.
I suppose that means that Jason's at Piper's place? Annabeth thought, finding her way down, trying to avoid Leo's lightning bolts. She landed outside Piper's house, which currently had scorch marks all over it. She knocked on the door where Jason answered.
"Hi Annabeth," Jason said. Annabeth felt dizzy. Jason has Piper's charmspeak now, and she's afraid that if she doesn't snap out of it, she'd fall under his spell.
No, no, no! This is all my fault! Annabeth ran off to her house.
"Uh, Annabeth?" Jason said, watching her run off. But she was too far away for the charmspeak to have any effect.
Annabeth swung the door open and ran inside, slamming the door closed. She slumped against her bed, wailing to herself, "What have I done? What will I do?"
She thought for a while. I have to help my friends! What kind of friend will I be if I don't? Instantly, a lightbulb flashed in her head. That's it!
She ran towards the forge but found Nico walking sadly around Ponyville. "Hi again Annabeth," he said, not looking up.
"Nico, listen," Annabeth said, "Percy needs your help with the shadow-travelling and the skeletons. Would you help?"
Nico looked confused. "But I don't know anything about the dead!" He said.
"But you know something about Percy, don't you?" Annabeth swore she saw Nico blush.
"Well, yeah," Nico said. Then, more determined, he said, "And I'm not going to let my friends down!" Nico and Annabeth went to Percy, who was struggling to control the skeletons.
"Percy! Let me help," Nico said, using his unicorn magic to summon more skeletons to fight off evil. It was a lot more controlled than when Percy did it.
"A true, true friend helps a friend in need," Annabeth whispers, and her magic suddenly turns Nico's cutie mark back into a skull. Nico shook his head and muttered, "What just happened?"
Annabeth opened the door. "No time! Percy, you need to help Piper! She's causing floods!" she said, and ran out the door, Nico and Percy following.
Piper was struggling to control the water, and the stream flowed off every which way. She groaned and stomped her hoof. Then Percy came along and took control of it instead. Annabeth watched with hope as his cutie mark became a trident again.
"Piper, you have to help Jason! He's charmspeaking everypony wrong!" Annabeth said. Piper gasped and galloped alongside her.
Piper's charmspeak didn't work as well as when she was herself, but it was still strong enough to charmspeak Jason out of his switch. Piper's cutie mark was a music note again.
"What a dream I just had!" Piper muttered, shaking her head.
"Quick, Jason! Leo's causing a storm!" Annabeth cried, using her magic to fly herself to Cloudsdale.
Piper followed. "Maybe I'm still having it..."
At Cloudsdale, Jason helped Leo with the weather and got his crossed lightning bolts cutie mark back. Then Leo helped all of Ponyville by fixing the forge and helping with the weapons.
Annabeth sighed as the day rolled by. "Whew! At least now everything will be just fine!"
