"Guard, can you give me an update on the condition of Captain Gibraltar?"
"Yes, sir. As feared, both of his front legs are indeed broken. He will need to be in traction for quite some time, and might take an early retirement offer if Princess Celestia were to give him one."
"Thank you, Guard."
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The Upper Class unicorn guard salutes and turns to leave as Acting Captain Shining Armor looks somberly at Lieutenant Captains Stratocumulus and Fidelitas as the three of them are gathered in the Captain of the Guard's office. All around are signs of half-finished work which had to be put off due to the crisis in front of them - the draconequus Discord was presumed to still be loose somewhere in Equestria, although the activity related to him seemed to have trailed off in the city itself.
"Fellow Guards, I do not think I need to reiterate the peril we find ourselves in." Shining Armor begins addressing. "The city has been badly disrupted by the actions of the enemy that was released from the statue garden, and now there are reports of his chaos manifesting elsewhere in Equestria. Do not ask help of the alicorns, because I already know they will not give it. Our only hope is in the Elements of Harmony and their new bearers."
"Surely those ponies are on their way, sir? To use the secured Elements of Harmony?" Fidelitas asks, prompting Shining Armor to awkwardly look away in response and Stratocumulus to raise eyebrows.
"Why are the princesses delaying?! The damage will only get worse the longer he is loose, and I'm not just talking about physical damage, sir!" Stratocumulus bursts out, stamping a front hoof down as he does so.
"I'm afraid, Stratocumulus, that Princess Celestia will only be persuaded to summon the Element Bearers once the enemy has affected the environs of Ponyville." Shining Armor answers, his tone almost a sigh.
Stratocumulus instantly gave a look of startled disgust, and when he looks over at Fidelitas the unicorn just shakes his head sadly. It is clear from Shining Armor's perspective the two comrades were just as unhappy with Celestia's delaying as he was.
Nevertheless, Shining Armor continues on addressing the Lieutenant Captains: "In the meantime, there are things we can do to help the situation. There are reports of clouds raining unusual liquids, so these need to be confirmed and their effects addressed. I am also expecting that our enemy will release criminals held in our prisons in order to further his own ends, so this must be prevented if it hasn't already happened or fixed if it has already happened. Those are your orders, I must stay myself to maintain the castle lockdown. You are dismissed."
The Lieutenant Captains Stratocumulus and Fidelitas give salutes, but can't hide their unhappiness at essentially being asked to be reactive rather than proactive against the effects of the chaotic foe. When they turn to leave the captain's office, Shining Armor finally allows the deep worry inside to cross his expression. This was certainly not the way he wanted his sister to come back to Canterlot, but when he got down the fundamentals it appeared he didn't have much choice in the matter...
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MEANWHILE...
The horn of Princess Celestia blinks in its application of magic, causing the floating screen in front of her to change the image it was displaying. The rate at this was happening was fairly high, in the same manner a worried human might be looking through television channels looking for news about a disaster that might've affected a relative of theirs.
This intense "channel surfing" entranced Celestia so much that she did not notice the other two alicorns, Princesses Luna and Cadance, arriving inside her chamber! Luna and Cadance exchange a look as they hear Celestia muttering a bunch of place names: "Fillydelphia...Cloudsdale...Appleloosa...Manehattan..."
"Aunt Celly?" Cadance finally interjects, which prompts Celestia to look over and finally notice the other alicorns.
"Oh, sorry, I'm trying to find any evidence of Discord having attacked Ponyville..." Celestia quietly answers as the image continues to change on the floating screen.
"And WHY should that matter, sister? You should've already summoned THEM with your remote messaging connection!" Luna objects, referencing Celestia's capability to send messages to Twilight Sparkle through Spike's magic flames.
"I thought somepony told you Luna, Twilight doesn't know about Discord. She won't believe any message I send her until he affects Ponyville directly." Celestia warily explains to her sister.
"And, pray tell, who's fault is that?" Luna critically asks, prompting an angry glare from Celestia as a result.
"Aunties, we can argue about it later! There's ponies that need help NOW!" Cadance interrupts, hoping to stop a serious argument before it started.
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Luna lets out a growling sigh, but holds her peace as she and Cadance walk over and sit beside Celestia to watch what was going on the screen as well. Celestia was still changing the image on the screen, but less frequently than before.
Celestia narrates what is going on as the image on the screen changes: "Prisoners loose in Canterlot... cola storm in Cloudsdale... cheese all over Fillydelphia... apple cider flooding Manehattan... crazy animals in Appleloosa... but nothing in... wait, I think that's a cotton candy cloud. Looks like he did do something in Ponyville after all since the last time I went through the feeds."
The sun princess now levitates a brief but to-the-point scroll she had previously written as a distress message to the Element Bearers, just to indicate to Luna and Cadance that it was ready, just as the image on the screen shows Rainbow Dash crashing into the just-discovered cotton candy cloud.
"Thou shouldst have sent that letter out 20 minutes ago, sister." Luna mutters, temporarily reverting to the "old language" as a more subtle way of expressing her grumpiness with the situation at hoof.
"Now now sister, this is all about timing..." Celestia replies as the three alicorns watch Rainbow Dash wrestle with the cotton candy cloud, which eventually starts raining chocolate milk over Ponyville. This, in turn, appears to trigger a cascade of other chaotic effects: corn popping right off the ears that Applejack was harvesting at the time and the apples of the apple trees suddenly growing to huge sizes, threatening the trees that they are still attached to.
"Well, I guess Ponyville's economy will get hurt just like it will everywhere else..." Cadance sighs out as the screen shows images of the local wildlife eating the oversized apples and mutating into long-legged "freaks", doubtless as Discord wanted to happen even though he himself had not yet shown a face in the area.
"Oh, and there's Twilight Sparkle, coming in to save the day as usual... 'spell that will fix everything'?" Luna comments as the purple unicorn that had previously been Celestia's #1 student appears on the screen, looking through an open book she was levitating in front of her.
"Ah, I see Twilight has still been working on learning that ever since I sent her to Ponyville. Looks like she finally got it down!" Celestia explains, her tone the happiest it has been in a while.
"But Auntie, would even that kind of spell work against the chaos he's causing?" Cadance naturally asks.
"We're about to find out. Twilight looks like she's about to try it..." Celestia answers as Twilight, with Spike the Dragon standing beside her, is seen on the screen prepping to use her fail-safe spell.
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The three alicorns watch, riveted, as Twilight lets out the supposedly-restoring blast of blue and purple magic that, rather disappointingly, seems to do exactly nothing to fix the problems facing the now-assembled Element Bearers in Ponyville. As Twilight is seen staring in shock at how badly the spell failed, Celestia again levitates the rolled-up distress message, her thoughtful expression making it clear that she might've considered the timing just about right to send it.
"That's disappointing. Whatever is behind that magic is more powerful than that spell, no wonder Shining told me I would be no good here..." Cadance sadly comments.
"Sister, art thou going to send the message NOW?!" Luna sharply asks, unable to contain her irritation any longer.
"Yes Luna, I think they'll believe me at this point..." Celestia quietly answers, still transfixed on the floating screen in front of her as if waiting for a certain "cue" to send out the message - something that was lost on Cadance and Luna, who instead were focusing on the "Plan B" Twilight was laying out for dealing with the cotton candy clouds.
"I see Twilight's leadership skills have been developing nicely. She will make a fine mayor or war leader in due time." Luna comments as the alicorns continue to watch Twilight leading the effort rounding up the cotton candy clouds around Ponyville.
"Mayor? War leader? You should be thinking bigger with Twilight, sister." Celestia cryptically comments, which prompts Luna to look over at Cadance in confusion.
Cadance can only give a shrug in response - whatever Celestia had meant was completely lost on her. And indeed it would take a pair of wings and a number of years before Cadance would ever fully understand what that comment meant.
As Twilight is seen on the screen celebrating the corralling of the cotton candy clouds, Celestia gives a little nod and the levitating message disappears in a burst of green flame. A few seconds later, Spike is seen on screen spitting back out in green flame the same scroll Celestia had been levitating just seconds before.
Twilight on the screen takes the scroll with her magic, greatly surprised, and then opens it up to read it, the rest of the Element Bearers gathering closer around her as she does so. Finally, Twilight says the message Luna and Cadance consider too-long delayed in being sent: "Come on, girls. Princess Celestia wants to see us all in Canterlot immediately!"
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"And now, we wait." Celestia quietly comments as the Element Bearers rush off the view on the screen.
"You mean we wait longer, sister." Luna continues her grumpy statements.
Cadance sighs and rolls her eyes, adding a comment of her own: "I hope Shining is having an easier time reorganizing the Guard than me trying to keep the Aunties from each other's throats..."