Celestia awoke to find herself curled up in the museum, surrounded by exhausted unicorns and her sister...as well as more children than she recalled that Discord had taken. Yona, Smolder, Gallus, Ocellus, Silverstream, and the earth pony named Sandbar were still there, and sound asleep, however they had been joined by a young kirin, a zebra, and a buffalo, as well as an unicorn filly, and a pegasus. "Discord!"
"Yes Celestia?" Discord appeared next to her, casually flipping through a newspaper.
"Who are these children?" Celestia forced herself to take a deep breath, trying to convince herself that blowing up at him wouldn't help with the sitatioun.
"Oh...that would be Summer Breeze of the kirin, Zarina of the zebras, Little Strongheart of the buffaloes... and the last two are Sapphire Shadow of the unicorns." He pointed to the sleeping female unicorn, who had a pale blue mane and a dark gray, almost black coat. "And that one is Cloud Chaser of the pegusas." He pointed to the male pegasus, who had a snowy white coat with a stormy gray mane.
"Why are they here!?" Celestia probably shouldn't have yelled, if the whimpering as the children began to shift and move was anything to go by.
"I need their help to save the world!" Discord appeared to be completely confused on how she didn't know any of this.
Celestia shook her head, bewilderment flashing through her. Why in the world was Discord so positive that the old scroll that was addressed to him were instructions on how to save the entire world? Sapphire Shadow awoke with a start, eyes snapping open to reveal that they were a deep blue color. "Where am I? What's going on here?"
"I need your help to save the world!" Discord cheerfully announced, clapping his hands together with excitement.
"But I wanna go home!" It was Cloud Chaser who spoke up this time, bewildered dull grey eyes staring at Discord with pure panic.
"Discord...you have to take them home." Celestia spoke firmly, even as all of the children huddled together behind her. The unicorns bristled slightly upon seeing that Discord had kidnapped one of their kind's young.
"Hold on! We can't yet! We still have to save all of Equestria! Now then...where is that scroll..." Discord pretending to be looking through many pockets, before pulling it out of thin air, quickly scanning the contents once more. "Okay...we have the gems and the representatives... now we just need to awaken the Council of Harmony...how exactly are we supposed to awaken them when to do so I have to be in front of Fluttershy? And I don't even know where they're at...or what she means about making Fluttershy proud!" Discord groaned, frustration edging his voice.
Luna spoke up, her voice tinged with exhaustion. "Perhaps you should take a break Discord..."
"Never! I will do this if it kills me!" Discord whirled around to glare at the alicorn that dared suggest he take a break.
Just then a school tour came into the museum's garden. "...And we have the newest discovery over, a statue of a unicorn with two earth ponies and two pegasi." The tour guide gestured towards the statue, right as she paled at the sight of Discord and both of the royal sisters standing next to it.
"Hey!" A small filly, stumbled suddenly, before turning to glare at two slightly larger stallions, one of which was holding a stuffed doll. "That's mine! Give it back!"
"If you want it...come get it!" The one holding the doll then proceeded to throw it...towards his friend.
"Not funny!" She scrambled, trying to get to the doll, but the two obviously older ponies wouldn't allow her to get anywhere near it.
Discord felt anger surge through him at that sight, recalling how Fluttershy would get so upset when people picked on her, or on anyone else. "Hey you two! She told you to stop it! Give her doll back this instant!" Horror flooded from the two troublemakers as they whipped around to see Discord glaring at them, arms crossed. "Don't make me make you give it back!"
The boys hurriedly gave the doll back to the filly...even as a loud cracking sound shattered the randomly quiet room. Whirling around, Discord's eyes widened in shock as he watched as the stone used on the statue cracked fell away...revealing five familiar colored coats glistening in the light. "Discord...what did you do!?" Star Swirl the Bearded demanded, panic edging his voice at the sight of the statue breaking apart.
"I think we just found the Council of Harmony." Discord blinked rapidly, before tapping his claw on his chin. "Uh...actually now that I think about it... there's never been a statue of them before so I should have figured that the statue of them that you dug up really was the real deal."
"Seriously!?" They yelled in perfect unison.
Before Discord could answer, a terrified, familiar voice, spoke up. "Discord? Where are we?"
"Fluttershy!!!" Discord lunged forward, quickly hugging the yellow pegasus.
Fluttershy smiled weakly, before gently patting him on the back with her wing. "Nice to see you too. Though I do believe that I asked a question..?"
Luna blinked rapidly, staring first at the obviously, painfully shy pegasus, then over at the overly zealous creature of chaos. "That's your beloved!?"
Discord hummed to himself, before quickly doing introductions. "Luna, Celestia, StarSwirl the Bearded, Sunset Shimmer, Sunburst, Yona, Smolder, Gallus, Ocellus, Silverstream, Sandbar, Summer Breeze, Zarina, Little Strongheart, Sapphire Shadow, and Cloud Chaser, may I present the Council of Harmony, Rarity Bell, Applejack Apple, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and last but most definitely not least... Fluttershy Shy." Discord turned to face the five ponies, who were for the most part acting as if him tackling hugging the yellow pegasus was normal, quickly gesturing to the gathered audience. "Guys...this is everyone."
"Yes...we can see that darling." Rarity drily announced, even as she readjusted her mane.
"Soo...where exactly are we anyways?" Rainbow flexed her wings, which felt rather stiff after being trapped in stone for a thousand years.
"Well...you see we've been trapped in there for so long a new kingdom called Equestria popped up, and they build this huge museum to keep all things historic in! And when they found us, they thought we were an ancient statue that needed to be preserved in the museum...and that is where we are at right now!" Pinkie blurted out, even as she pulled a cupcake out of her frizzy mane.
"I highly doubt that, Pinkie." Applejack drawled out in a southern accent.
Discord scratched the top of his head as he stared at her. "...Yeah she's right actually."