Canterlot – Castle – Throne room -
Celestia could feel it: it was like a faint tickling on the back of her head, but the by-now faded-away link to the old spell she and Luna had used so many eons before now was still working with enough power to tell her that the seal they used when still in possession of the Elements was eroding away at a faster rate than anticipated.
"SISTER! Something horrible is happening!" Luna yelled as she barged inside the room with a frantic expression.
"I know, Luna. But what can we do about this?" the Sun Alicorn said sighing.
"We shall banish the Element Bearers on the Moon for their transgression!" the other answered snarling.
"Yes, there is no other...I am sorry, what?" Celestia asked taken aback.
"You heard me, your student Twilight Sparkle and the others have gone too far this time, I demand retribution!" the Moon Alicorn said huffing.
"Sister, we have more pressing matters to worry about." the other said slowly.
"You mean that having those dirty mares plan to rape my son is not important enough to have me worried?! I saw their dreams last night! Sure in there my sweet son was consensual, but only in those girls' depraved minds somepony as Pure and Innocent as my Maelstrom would be happy to be subjected to those perverted ideas...especially the dirty filth I saw in the Element of Kindness' mind...that mare spend too much time with animals, her mind is filled by depraved fantasies she wishes to try on my baby! AND I WANT THEM PUNISHED EN MASSE!" Luna answered offended.
"They are teenage girls, bound to be curious about that kind of things...no matter how surprising is hearing about Twilight and Miss Fluttershy being that perverted, but the fact remains that we have Discord to worry about," Celestia answered tiredly massaging her temples.
"What about that stoned fool?" Luna asked.
"Concentrate! The Seal holding him is almost broken, we need to act fast and contact the Elements to reinforce it before it breaks completely,"
"And now he may seek revenge on us...you especially, dear sister." the Moon Princess said.
"Why me?"
"I had been banished on the moon barely few years after his imprisonment, so it was all YOU the one that decided to move his statue in the gardens, being subjected to birds' excrements for a thousand years will certainly not make him open to dialogue, at least with you." Luna answered.
"Ah! I-I didn't consider that up until now...that will make him kind of against the idea of resolving this pacifically." Celestia said with a grim expression.
Forcing someone to spend one thousand years being shat on by generations of birds was not a nice way to make a friend, that was certain.
Canterlot Gardens – Discord's statue -
In an hidden corner of the ample gardens stood a rather 'Peculiar' statue, representing a being seemingly made by casually stitching together parts of different animals, THAT Was the petrified body of Discord, Chaos entity and former "Mad Ruler" of Equestria.
Curiously two wrapped gift could be seen sitting innocently at the feet of the statue, one with Celestia's name on it and the other with Luna's.
"Gifts?" the Moon Alicorn said with narrowed eyes.
"Let's open them from afar, if nothing happens they are harmless, but we can't risk being an early attack from him." the other sister answered.
Concentrating carefully on the wrapping Luna slowly undid the ribbon making a cloud of smoke shot-out of the small package before remaining still.
"Uhm!...some kind of smoke based curse?" Luna said uncertain as her shadow slowly grew larger.
"Sister?" Celestia said worried.
"Yes? What do you nee-SPLAAAAAAT!" the Moon Princess had the time to say before over fifty kilograms of pie fell on her like a meteor burying her in cherry-flavoured frosting.
"BLEAGH! HELP! I am drowning in cheap pastry!" the Alicorn shrieked as she dug her way out.
"It's certainly the work of Discord," Celestia said making her own present blow-up in a flare of Magic making the box' lid placidly fall at her hooves.
"AH! I bested you this time! I WO-WHAM!" the Sun Alicorn said in triumph, cheering until from the box' lid a boxing glove at the end of a long spring went shot-out at light-speed nailing Celestia's face fully launching her high in the sky.
In that moment the statue exploded in a colourful display of fireworks in every possible shape, colour and size shooting rubbles and sparks everywhere until the last rocket, the biggest and most noisy one exploded with enough power to shatter every window of the castle and showing it's message proudly in bold red letters:
- After a Thousand Year-long sabbatical! Discord the King of Chaos is BAAAACK! -
In the silence that followed both Alicorn Princesses limped their way towards each other once recovered enough from their 'presents' and once sure no other surprises had been left behind for them.
"Discord, then?" Luna asked while removing the last remaining frosting from her face and mane.
"Who else?" Celestia answered gravely while nursing her black eye with a wince.
"We need the Elements Bearers, and we need them now!" The Moon Princess said.
"By the time they reach us he will be already around wrecking havoc in half the land,"
"The problem is that we can't know where he will strike first, that is a terrible advantage he has on us." Luna answered displeased.
"Unfortunately we'll need that first strike to understand where he is and what his intentions are..." Celestia answered going wide-eyed as a first, terrifying idea struck her.
"Unless..."
"THE ELEMENTS!" both Princesses said at the same time.
"He knows that the Elements of Harmony are the only thing able to stop him, he will probably track them down to firstly removed them." the Sun Alicorn said horrified.
"Then our first stop is Ponyville as he too will probably move there, he may be able to sense the power of Harmony inside Twilight Sparkle and the others!" Luna added.
Said that both Alicorns immediately rushed out of the Castle, determined to reach the small town before the Chaos Entity could possibly attack the girls and corrupt them with his powers to then bring desolation in all Equestria.
Meanwhile - Ponyville – Dash and Gilda's Apartment -
Twilight sighed as she and the other Element Bearers were sitting around the small living room of the apartment with Gilda while Maelstrom and Dash kept arguing loudly in the near bedroom about the new trouble they all were facing.
What problem? Apparently both Prince and Rainbow-maned mare had been secretly dating for quite a while, the problem was that in the meantime the stallion had spent some time helping the others resulting in Twilight herself, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie to also develop romantic feelings for him, all without him openly trying to court them but just by acting as he normally would.
The problem was that without a law such as the 'Law of Refusal' giving to the other mares an opening, no matter how forced upon Dash it would have been, the fact remained that now five of the Six Elements of Harmony (minus Rarity that preferred seeing Maelstrom as just a Big Brother) were all interested in the same stallion, and Dash was not open to share and nor was the Prince himself open to idea.
From that the current predicament with the blond Alicorn and Pegasus yelling at each other behind closed doors.
"Darn it, we reached the third hour of no-stop yelling," Gilda said impressed.
"This is not a matter that can be resolved easily, so I am not as surprised as you," Rarity answered sighing while offering some tea she liberated from the kitchen to the others.
"I am not trying to break-up with you!" Dash was heard yelling in despair.
"Then why are you setting me up with your friends then? If it is not in the hopes to have me fall for one of them then why?!" Maelstrom asked.
"I-I-I don't know okay?! I want to stay with you, but I want my friends to be happy and they won't bulge about not staying with you...I don't know what to do!" she answered with a sob.
"Shucks...we are making more damages than good," AJ muttered flinching.
"It was a bad idea telling him," Pinkie said sighing.
"It was the right thing to do instead, going behind his back would have been worse," Fluttershy answered shaking her head.
"Do you...Dash, do you really love me?" they heard the Prince ask with a worried tone.
"YES, FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE! I do love you!" Dash roared in answer, clearly offended by the question.
"And I love you, what do we do then?" he answered sighing.
"I don't know." Dash answered sobbing, unseen by the others the Alicorn had hugged her and was now consoling the distraught Pegasus as she cried on his shoulder.
"Hoy, Dash! Come out, this thing needs to be discussed with the interested ones all present," Gilda said knocking on the door.
"Do we have to?" Dash asked back as both she and Maelstrom walked out, the girl hidden under his wing as she leaned close to him.
"Sigh! You ponies do things differently, I get it. But we griffins follow the 'right through might' rule in this case, we have on one side a powerful male (do not deny it, Mister 'pretty wings'! now is not the time to play the humble horse) and to the other the bearers of the Elements of Harmony that even we know and respect," Gilda said.
"So?" Twilight asked confused.
"I say to give this...'Group relationship'? Idea a try; people would find it strange at first, but the fact that he is a Prince, so royalty, and you others the Elements of Harmony may be what it takes to curb bad-mouthing almost to nothing as it would be a group formed by 'Special Ponies' and so akin to act...in an eccentric way?" Gilda said.