Morning sprung in the halls of Canterlot Castle. A weakly Luna walks through the halls of Canterlot Castle as the sunlight shines through the windows. After the dragon attack, Luna now had to raise the sun and the moon, and this greatly weakened her. Luna's duty was to raise the moon, and not to raise the sun. Now, seeing her sister's fate, Luna had to take over her sister's duties as Celestia did Luna's when Luna was known as Nightmare Moon and was banished to the moon for a thousand years.
After raising the sun, Luna headed back to her chambers. From behind Luna, Celestia suddenly appears. The Princess of the Sun was alive before Luna's eyes.
"Luna," said Celestia.
"Celestia?" gasped Luna.
Luna turns around to see Celestia disappear into dark shadows. Luna rubs her eyes to see if her mind isn't playing tricks on her. She was thinking if it was really was her sister or a hallucination. "It can't be," she whispered. Luna gives chase, galloping down the halls of the castle after Celestia. "Celestia, wait! Come back!" Luna shouted and quickly follows after her. Luna followed her all the way to the Throne Room. "Celestia!"
From nowhere the ponies: Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy came behind Luna. The group stops in front of the throne, with Celestia eying them. All of them are dumbstruck at the site of Celestia, who was thought to be buried beneath rubbles.
"Celestia!" said Luna, smiling at the site of her sister. "You're… you're alive!"
Suddenly, in a blink of an eye, Celestia's eyes glow green and she morphs into a different form. A form of black skin and legs and a horn, and green wings and eyes.
It was Queen Chrysalis, not the Princess of the Sun.
The ponies, including Luna, gasped.
"Surprise, surprise, little worms!" the queen laughed.
"Wow!" said Pinkie Pie. "I didn't know Princess Celestia could imitate a changeling!"
"Pinkie, that IS a Changeling!" stated Applejack.
"I know!" said Pinkie Pie. "She looks just like one!"
I apologize for arriving unannounced," said Queen Chrysalis. "But… better to ask forgiveness than permission, I suppose."
"What are you doing here!?" asked Rainbow Dash. "How did you get back into Canterlot?"
"Oh, I had a little help, my dear," answered the changeling queen. "A force of incredible power. Said to have once ruled the land of Equestria through chaos and disharmony."
The group's eyes widen as they realize what Chrysalis means. With a quick flash, Discord appears before them. "That's right, mon petit ponies! He's back!"
"Discord!?" exclaimed Spike. "But-how?! You were sealed in stone!"
"I had a little help from her majesty here," said Discord, pointing at Queen Chrysalis.
"Wait a minute," said Luna, thinking and gasped. Luna realized what was going on. "Discord! This is your doing, isn't it? You had Chrysalis take the form of my sister to deceive Twilight!"
"I don't believe it!" said Pinkie Pie. "That means that they're in cahoots!"
"Bingo!" said Discord "Tell her what she's won Chrissy!"
"Excuse me?" replied Queen Chrysalis.
"Quite the sleuths you've become!" Discord said. "But I'm afraid, dear Luna, you know too much. Allow me to fix that." With a snap of his figure, Discord shoots a beam of magic from his fingertips at Luna.
Luna yells out loudly, but is quickly changed to stone. The Princess of the Night was trapped and useless. The whole group looks on in horror.
"W-why you… that's it!" yelled Rainbow Dash. "You're gonna pay for what you did!" Rainbow Dash bursts forward wanting to clobber Discord for his wicked ways. Discord simply rises up his hand, snaps his fingers again, making a brick wall appear in front of Rainbow Dash who rams into the wall instead of Discord. The crashed pony fell to the ground as the wall evaporated.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Really?" Discord said. "Have you learned nothing from my last visit? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Although, I do admire the fact you think you have a chance against me."
"Enough foolin' around, Discord," said Applejack, stepping in. "What do ya want?"
Discord began mocking Applejack: "Well, shucks darn, sugarcube. I was hopin' for some good ole hospitality. After all, is that any way to talk to Equestria's TRUE ruler?
Rainbow gets back on her feet, rubbing her head. After hitting the wall, Rainbow felt really dazed but quickly regained conscious. "Cut the schtick, Discord. What have you done with Twilight?"
"What have you done with Twilight!? Oh please!" Discord mocked again, mocking the girls in a whiny tone. "You ponies and your friendship! Blegh! If you really want to know what I did with that purple stick in the mud you ponies love to coddle, I've sent her away and there's nothing you can do about it."
"But that's not playing fair!" complained Rainbow.
"You know, sometimes I have to wonder if you really understand who you're talking to," debated Discord. "There's no point in playing the game if I KNOW I'm going to win."
"Hmmm… well if you're so sure you'll win," Applejack said, "Then why don't you give us a chance to go and find her?"
"HA!' laughed Discord. "Now why would I agree to something as ridiculous as that?"
"Well, if you're absolutely certain it's a futile endeavor," said Rarity, "Then surely you have nothing to be afraid of."
"Another game? Hmmm…" Discord thought. "Well, I suppose. But should we decide to play this little game, you'll have to follow some of my rules."
"If it means finding Twilight," Rainbow Dash bailed. "Then we'll take on anything you throw at us!"
Discord chuckled. "I wouldn't be so sure of that." Discord clicks his fingers again. In a lighting flashing faster than the eye could blink, Celestia appears before them, sickly and tiringly. The real Celestia falls before the ponies.
The ponies look on, horrified.
"The Princess," gasped Spike.
"She's alive!" said Rarity, with great relieve at the site of the real Princess instead of looking at Queen Chrysalis.
The weakened Princess crawled to Fluttershy. "Twilight," she whispered, weakly. "Give this to Twilight. Find her. Please."
The fragile Celestia hands over a gold locket to Fluttershy. Celestia lays her head back on the floor. Fluttershy quickly tries to hide the locket from Discord's view.
"As you can see," said Discord, she's not looking too good. I'd say she doesn't have much time left by the looks of things. All you have to do to save her is this one simple task: find Twilight Sparkle and return here.
"You better not have hurt Twilight too, you big meanie!" said Pinkie Pie.
"I'm giving you four days to find Little Miss Runaway," said Discord. "If you win, Celestia's curse will be undone. But if I win, the throne is mine, and I'll see to Miss Sparkle's well-being. But remember, no Twilight, no Celestia." Discord went to stand on the Princesses' throne.
"Why, you horrid brute!" muttered Rarity. "Why should we trust your word?"
"Oh, ye of little faith. Of course, what fun is a game with so many rules and restrictions?"
"A game without rules would be nothing but chaos!" Spike stated.
"Chaos? I'll show you what TRUE chaos is all about," said Discord, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, visions of past memories appeared all around, showing how chaotic things were. The ponies start to run out the castle.
(An Untitled Villain Song was to be sung here.)
As the Mane Group flee from Canterlot Castle, Queen Chrysalis looks over to Discord, who was sitting on the Princesses' thrones with his own chair, with anger and disappointment. "You idiot," she said.
"Pardon?" asked a sitting Discord, if he wasn't paying attention.
"Suppose they should find a lead on where Twilight is!" suggested the queen. "You're a fool for giving them the opportunity to ruin everything! How can we stop them if we can't get involved?"
"Actually, Chryssie, I never said YOU couldn't get involved," the Spirit stated. "So why don't you round up your little worker bees and follow them? Hmm?"
Queen Chrysalis raises a brow, looking at Discord with a confused expression. "Hmm. Your methods are… perplexing."
"Well, let's be honest, your majesty, I'm not really all there. But did you expect anything less?"
Queen Chrysalis scoffs. A few elite changelings came from the throne's entrance and bowed before their queen. Chrysalis looks to her elite changelings. "Follow them," she ordered. "Make sure they don't succeed."
"Yes, your majesty," said the captain. The changeling group got up and followed after the ponies, to make sure they failed in finding Twilight Sparkle.