"Okay..." Luna wondered vaguely if she should be concerned about that statement. Before she could ask though Discord spoke up.
"Let's go remove Sombra from his throne!" Discord snapped his fingers, teleporting the entire group to the middle of a snowy wilderness. "Odd... I'm sure this is where the Crystal Empire is supposed to be..."
"Um? Discord? If it's been a thousand years.... the landscape could have easily changed..." Fluttershy whispered softly as she ducked her head, shivering in the cold.
Rarity noticed and once again pulled out a trunk full of clothes, this time winter, out of nowhere. Within seconds everyone was bundled up against the snow. "There you go darlings... that should feel much better now."
"Ah...thank you?" The children were bewildered over her generosity, confused on why she would so much effort in keeping them warm.
"It was nothing, really!" Rarity flipped her mane ever gracefully as she smiled daintily at them.
Rainbow swooped down low to her, her brow furrowing with concern. "Um...Rarity? You might wanna... WATCH OUT!!!!" Rarity whirled around just in time to dodge a rock that was flying straight for her.
"Oh dear... I get the feeling that Sombra is still here..." Rarity murmured softly, before nudging the children backwards, away from where the rock had came from.
Pinkie suddenly began to vibrate, before whipping her head around to Discord. "Discord! Take us out of here now! My Pinkie sense is going crazy!"
Celestia and Luna glanced at each other, confused on what she was talking about. Discord however merely snapped his fingers, teleporting them back to the dig site. The archeologists groaned at the sight of them, before throwing their wide brimmed hats off and leaving the area, the head archeologist turning to face the princesses. "We quite! We don't get paid enough to deal with him!" He gestured wildly at Discord.
Applejack raised one eyebrow upwards, before turning to face Discord. "Discord, what did you do?"
"My name. Like always." Discord responded instantly, waving one hand through the air as if it were no big deal.
"We need to get Twilight back. Discord did she leave you any instructions on how to do that?" Fluttershy appeared to almost shrink back as she looked to her boyfriend.
Discord frowned at that, quickly pulling the letter Twilight left for him. "Um... let's see here.... great. Her instructions don't say nothin' about herself. Just that Ponyville will be revived if I follow her instructio... wait a minute. We don't have the Ponyville Gem."
Groans escaped the group at that, everyone only now realizing that Rarity had changed their outfits to be more mid fall woods appropriate, Sandbar shifting slightly where he stood. "So... where exactly is this Ponyville located and can we go find the Gem for it and a pony to place it in there quickly?"
Discord glanced at him for a second, before snapping his fingers. "To the Everfree Woods we go!"
"What!? No! That place is too dangerous!"
"Too late! We're here! Um... anyone see the path to Zecora's hut?" Discord glanced around, his brow furrowing in confusion.
"Thousand years Discord... it probably doesn't exist anymore." Celestia vaguely wondered if she should be concern that she actually was interested in what this Ponyville looked like.
"No problem. Townsquare is right in front of us anyways." Pinkie announced as she pointed straight to a large clearing that had what looked like a hundreds of statues and several rundown buildings inside of it.
"Oh my... is that Starlight?" Rarity walked over, circling one of the statues of a mare unicorn.
Discord sobered up suddenly, his gaze sweeping the area. "I forgot that Sombra turned everyone into statues when he attacked..."
"Well? What are we waiting for! Twilight placed the Gem inside of the Friendship Castle! Let's get going!" Rainbow blurted out, before zipping to the edge of the town, where a small looking castle made from what looked like pure crystals was resting.
"Let's go!" Discord poofed himself ahead of the group.
Luna jumped slightly as she heard a loud crash come from somewhere else in the castle... that was by chance larger than the Palace that she shared with her sister on the inside. Big enough in fact that everyone had to split up to go search for a Gem... inside of a castle that appeared to be made from gems... this was not as easy as one would think.
"Luna!?" Celestia called out suddenly, before appearing around the corner, entering the storage closet, which was the same size as Luna's bedroom... a frown on her face.
"What is it sister?" Luna tilted her head, even as she used her magic to move a statue of a baby alicorn to the side. Since it was in the storage closet, that probably meant that it was a real statue and not a citizen frozen in stone. Though why would they want a statue of an alicorn as a baby she had no idea.
"I found something that I think you might want to see." Celestia kept glancing behind her, as if worried that she had been followed.
"Um...okay." Luna stood up, stretching her legs luxuriously. "Lead the way."
After what felt like forever, Celestia finally ushered her into a large throne room. At least she presumed it was a throne room. It had seven thrones set up around a large table, and a large chandelier that appeared to be made out of not crystals like most chandeliers but rather tree roots. Luna eyed the thrones, noting that five of the seven had the odd council's cutie marks on them. While the sixth throne had a six point star, and the seventh, and smallest, had no symbol to behold.
"You...wanted me to see a throne room?"
"No..." Celestia used her wing to raise Luna's chin towards the chandelier. "Look at the chandelier sister."
Luna frowned not getting it at all... until she noticed something that sent a shiver down her back. The chandelier, while made from tree roots, was decorated with gems, thousands of gems.... and each gem upon closer inspection had a memory frozen within it. A small gasp escaped her, her eyes widening in surprise. "No one would think to look for a special Gem there!"
"I reckon that is why this Twilight pony placed it there in the first place..."