The Great Hall of Canterlot castle was never Celestia’s first choice when it came to sorting out her thoughts, especially considering it was one of the few areas of the castle open to the public. This day was no exception, as a crowd of ponies trailed a guide, taking in the sights as the guide told them random facts about the castle, ranging from tapestry history to stained glass construction. All of that was well and good; except for their reasoning behind why access to the Wing of Star Swirl the Bearded was restricted. It was not because of any “dangerous spells” a malevolent individual could get their hooves on and use for ill. Most of the two-hundred spells Star Swirl had fathered were harmless, if his bowl-morphing spell—dubbed his “amniomorphic spell”—was anything to go by. She also wasn’t concerned with books and scrolls being stolen either; she had the original copies of everything hidden away in case of such an event.
No, she was more concerned that some poor unicorn who felt they needed to prove themselves would end up getting themselves hurt, attempting some of the more advanced spells without proper guidance. Most of the spells were written in old Ponish, which is why there was a process for gaining access to that section of the library in the first place.
Normally, she would have gently corrected the guide about the misconceptions, save the last one—outside of the hearing of the crowd, of course—for the sake of future accuracy. However, today was anything but normal.
Most quickly took notice of Celestia’s appearance as she made her way down one of the sets of stairs. They started excitedly chatting amongst one another, drawing more attention to her.
As she made it down the set of the stairs onto the landing near the stained glass, she cleared her throat before giving a magisterial proclamation.
“It is with great regret that I must inform you all that the castle is being closed temporarily, due to an unforeseen incident.”
She felt herself almost stutter the last word as she finished. She was experienced at appearing composed even under the most stressful of situations. However, she was near her limits, given how quickly for the worse the current situation could turn. She nodded to several pairs of guards. They promptly formed a semi-circle around the crowd.
The crowd, shocked, started babbling, expressions ranging from confused to concerned to annoyed. Some even found the courage to be vocal.
“What incident, Princess? Can you at least tell us that, if you’re going to make us leave?”
Some nodded in agreement as they muttered, others remained silent as they appeared completely lost about what was going on. The guard started to usher them out.
“I traveled so far to come here! Why close it today of all days!?” The lime mare who spoke scowled as one of the guards stepped closer to her.
“I am sorry, but this is for the best. I will ensure that everyone who visited today will be fully reimbursed for their troubles. I can’t speak of the situation at hoof yet—however, know that this is for your own safety.”
She wasn’t lying when she said that either. She knew for a fact that Discord would soon find his way to her, one way or another, and anyone who remained in the castle would quickly find themselves in for a world of trouble. The fact he hadn’t revealed himself to Celestia yet greatly concerned her. Why wouldn’t he immediately target the main cause of his imprisonment? She felt a sharp headache coming as she tried to process it all. She sincerely hoped her faithful student and her friends would be arriving soon.
As the crowd was being shuffled through the doors leading out, the muttering grew more incoherent. Most if not all now were as concerned as they were confused. What did she mean when she said this was for their own safety? Wasn’t the castle one of the safest places to be? The doors closed. Silence quickly overtook the once bustling room.
Celestia closed her eyes and started pacing on the landing. Every question she thought of quickly raised more questions. None of it was making any sense. Why hadn’t he revealed himself to her yet? Why was Ponyville his first target? Or, more accurately, his first playground.
She stopped, eyes widening at a sudden realization.
Unless… no, he couldn’t have known, she thought. How could Discord have known that Twilight and her friends were the Element Bearers? There was no possible explanation that made any—she’d talked about them. Her head shot up. She talked about them at his statue. The thought that he could actually hear her never occurred to her. She’d always assumed he’d be in some slumber-like state while as a statue. Her brows furrowed. But she’d never mentioned any of them being the bearers, not once.
The ringing in her ears became deafening and she suddenly felt herself become weak in the knees.
He must have connected each of them to their respective Elements as I spoke of their achievements… She’d been so excited for each of them for the lessons that they’d learned that she felt she needed to sing her praise to someone, albeit someone she’d thought would fall on deaf ears.
She took a shuddering breath as she tried to steel her nerves. She started pacing again, slower this time.
Pinkie Pie, always looking to brighten one’s day no matter what.
Rarity, willing to give up a dream if it meant her friend could live hers.
Fluttershy, feeling the need to be discreet in order to nurture a sick creature at the risk of being thrown in a dungeon, banished, or both, at least according to her.
Rainbow Dash, defending and sticking by her true friends if it meant she had to part with an old one.
Applejack, sincere and fair. Willing to help others in need, but too proud to admit when she needed help—a lesson hard learned. And although she represented the ‘Element of Honesty,’ Celestia believed the element to be more about integrity, which fit Applejack to a tee.
Celestia paused once more and took a breath.
Twilight… My most faithful student…
A small smile graced her lips, which instantly faltered into a grimace as she remembered the current state of affairs.
She’s grown so much in the short time she’s lived in Ponyville. So many lessons learned already, yet so much more to learn. For her to have to face such a powerful foe already…
She shook her head. Her eyebrows twitched as she thought back to what started this line of thinking in the first place: Discord.
If Discord was in Ponyville, had he already dealt with the Element Bearers? Was that it? He knew who they were, took care of them and she was next?
She sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case, she prayed they received her letter and were almost here.
She bit her lip and started pacing at a faster rate.
But what if they didn’t come? Could the Elements transfer back to her and her sister if the situation called for it?
What if–
The doors suddenly burst open knocking her from her dismal thoughts. She looked up with a hopeful glint in her eyes expecting to see her pupil and her friends, instead to her dismay it was a member of the Royal Guard.
He flew to the start of the stairs and did a quick bow.
“Your Highness, there’s been a situation at the Canterlot train station.”
He opened his mouth to continue but faltered as he looked up and saw Princess Celestia, slightly wide eyed, mouth partially agape staring at him. The best way he could describe it, was that she looked shocked or, heaven forbid, scared. But why would she be if he hadn’t even mentioned what the situation was? That made him as unsure as he was nervous to think. As quickly as the expression came, it was swiftly replaced by a more neutral look as Celestia regained her composure.
“What kind of situation?” she asked, trying to remain stoic. She was expecting it to involve Twilight and her friends.
He snapped out of his thoughts and cleared his throat.
“Right. My partner and I were stationed right outside of the train station square. We heard a whistle being blown several times in quick succession. We flew down to assess the situation. When we got there, we were met by the train conductor and a mare—a teacher who claimed that some of her students had been foalnapped by a creature made up of several different animal parts, who’s capable of teleporting very long distances. We weren’t sure what to make of it, but after hearing several similar accounts from nearby civilians, as well as the students of the same class we knew we needed to contact you right away, Your Highness.” He kept his eyes on her, her expression hadn’t changed. What he couldn’t see however, was the complete meltdown that was occurring inside Celestia after hearing that.
She couldn’t process any of it. None of it made any sense to her. Discord was known for a lot of things, but foalnapping? As far as she was aware, he was preoccupied in Ponyville, terrorizing the citizens there. Why in the world would he teleport so far away, only to take foals in a different city? What was he playing at?
“Did the teacher inform you of their names?” she asked, looking at him, or more accurately, looking through him as she was still trying to unravel it all.
“No, Your Highness—”
Celestia was about to send him back to get that information and started opening her mouth.
“—but I learned of them through the students there.” He closed his eyes for a moment and hesitated as he tried to recall. Given that many of the foals spoke over one another, making conversation with them difficult as he had to sort through all the babbling, he had a hard time trying to unravel all the names given.
“The names mentioned were: Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and… Scootaloo,” he said the last name with a little bit of uncertainty.
Celestia furrowed her brows. Those names were very familiar, but why?
“There’s one more thing, Princess…”
She looked back and nodded at him to continue.
“Apparently this creature came back a second time, dropping off some filly he’d taken the first time named… pardon me, Princess, but I don’t recall her name, before snatching the one named Scootaloo.”
A pause.
Celestia blinked.
This… was targeted then. No mistake about it. The fact he’d come back to drop off one, only to grab another all but confirmed that. But that still begged the question: why. She couldn’t for the life of her think as to why the names sounded so familiar as well.
But then a chilling thought occurred to her.
“Where was the train’s next destination?”
The guard straightened as he said, “I believe it was Ponyville, Your Highness.”
Her pupils started to dilate. No, she thought.
“Did anyone from that class mention where they were from?” she asked, already knowing the answer, but sincerely hoping she was wrong.
“I believe I heard Ponyville,” he said, not truly understanding the full gravity of the situation.
Celestia’s breathing hitched for a moment. She took a deep and mostly steady breath. The why could be sorted out later. She would confirm her suspicions once the Element Bearers arrived, although she still held onto hope she was wrong.
Since Discord had returned one of the fillies he mistakenly took, and had specific targets, the other foals were likely not in danger; however, there was no way to prove that. With the Element Bearers soon to arrive—she hoped—the remaining foals would be safer to remain in the city for the time being. If everything turned for the worse… she would need to make sure her contingency plan would follow through, ensuring the escape and safety of the rest of her citizens. Other cities, towns, and settlements of Equestria and beyond would also need to be alerted of the threat. In the event of catastrophe, Discord would likely have dealt with her, meaning she would not be able to follow through with it herself, meaning she would need to entrust this with her loyal subjects.
With newfound resolve, she channeled her magic. Her eyes tightened as she focused, she started gritting her teeth. Suddenly, she released it, sending a wide range pulse shooting in every direction.
The guard’s eyes widened as his armor rattled and glowed a bright yellow for a moment.
“Y-your Highness–”
Celestia held out a hoof. “I’ll explain once the others arrive,” she said, turning her attention to the doors. It wouldn’t be long now.
It started with one pair, swooping through the doors, followed by another. Soon, most of her royal guard had made it in a matter of minutes.
Once she was sure everyone had arrived, she spoke. “You all have been summoned here due to an unforeseen emergency arising. It appears that an old foe of mine, Discord has returned.”
Most of the guards stood at attention, stoic, while others, mostly newbies, turned their heads to one another.
“He is the spirit of chaos and extraordinarily powerful. My sister and I have faced him once before over a millennia ago. Even with our combined powers we were no match for him.”
Some of the guards shifted uncomfortably as they absorbed the information, some eyes widened, finding the prospect of such a thing preposterous.
“It took the power of the Elements of Harmony to defeat him and seal him away.” Her head dipped as she closed her eyes. “I had hoped he would remain sealed away forever, but it seems that, since the Elements have found new bearers, the original seal weakened, allowing Discord to break free and wreak havoc once more.”
She raised her head and straightened as she started channeling her magic. Several scrolls appeared above her. “Although the Elements have found new bearers and can be used to once again defeat him, I’m afraid there’s still a chance they may fall. In the event of such a tragedy befalling our nation, I’m entrusting each of you to ensure that these”—The scrolls started dispersing, finding a new home with several of the Pegasi royal guards who grabbed the scrolls with their wings—“reach their destination, alerting the settlement of the threat. Most established cities and towns have access to a telephone; however, there’s still a lot of underdeveloped settlements that have yet to have been afforded such a luxury, meaning I’ll need each of you to play your part and ensure they are all properly alerted of the threat. If the Element Bearers are… defeated, the seals for all the scrolls will break. In the event of that happening, you will immediately depart to bring your scroll to your assigned settlement. For those of you who didn’t receive a scroll, you will play your part here in Canterlot, ensuring the safe evacuation of its citizens. After that, well—”
She gave them a sad and meaningful look. Although most appeared unmoving and calm on the outside, not batting an eye at what they were being told, the truth of the matter was that they all felt a great deal of trepidation. If their Princess failed, if the Elements failed, where would they go after fulfilling their duty? Where would their families go? Would there be anywhere safe left to go? No matter what, nothing would ever be the same again.
“—let’s hope we don’t have to cross that bridge. Two more matters, you”—She pointed to a pair of Pegasi in the front—“ensure that the train doesn’t depart to Ponyville. I want that station closed for the time being.” She summoned a scroll and a pen and started writing. “Also, I want you to bring the class and teacher there to the Canterlot Resort Suite so that they have a place to stay in the meantime.” She gave them the scroll. “Now that everyone has their role to play, you are all dismissed.”
They all gave her a smart salute and quickly departed in rows leading back out through the large double doors.
Alone once more, Celestia sighed as she went back to her nervous pacing. She let her mind wonder. She tried not to delve too deeply into the worst-case scenarios, but was finding it increasingly more and more difficult with each passing minute the element bearers didn’t arrive. Twilight, please be safe… she thought distressingly, as she paused for a moment to stare out the stained glass with an increasing sense of foreboding and unease.
“What’s taking her so long?” Scootaloo asked, a little jaded.
Sweetie Belle sighed as she banged the back of her head on the wooden door.
“Apple Bloom, hurry up in there! I’m starting to get hungry and the day is… well”—she paused, realizing there was no sun, and the day was still the same level of brightness since they arrived—“isn’t moving, but that doesn’t mean you can spend all eternity in there!” she croaked, her back sliding down the door.
A muffled thump came from behind the door, followed by an increasingly more distinguished creaking sound as it came closer to the door. The door opened suddenly.
“Ow,” groaned Sweetie Belle as she got up to rub the back of her head. She turned around and squinted at her friend. “You sure took your sweet”—she got a look at Apple Bloom—“time.” Her eyes widened and mouth fell open.
Scootaloo turned. “Woah, Apple Bloom! You look… so… cool!” She hopped to her hooves, all sense of jadedness she felt earlier quickly melting away and being replaced by wonder.
Apple Bloom wore a black bicorne hat with a gold trim along the top; a small embellished emblem of the Cutie Mark Crusaders was stitched to the middle-left of the center front of the hat. Her trademark pink ribbon was much smaller and found itself further down the base of her head, supporting and holding her new classic chignon bun together. She had a white detachable frilled collar accompanied by a medium-short white lace jabot. She wore a long red coat with gold buttons on each side of the front, the coat stretched down to her flanks. She had black baggy trousers that stretched down to her peg le—
“Bwaah!” Scootaloo jumped back in shock. “Apple Bloom, what… what happened to your leg!?” she shrieked.
Sweetie Belle turned white when that was pointed out, which was quite the accomplishment. Her eyes were pinpricks, and she found it hard to formulate words.
“Oh, uh right… Heh…” Apple Bloom started, rubbing the back of her head, before bringing her peg leg up to her mouth and yanking it off, revealing a very much fully attached leg.
“Woah, what… how does that work?” Scootaloo shuddered, finding her way over to inspect it.
Sweetie Belle shook her head, following right after, curiosity overwhelming any sense of unease from before.
“Discord said we could do anythin’ with the magic he left us, so at first Ah thought about replacing my leg entirely, since Ah could always change it back, but uh… yeah, Ah didn’ really want to do that, so Ah thought of the next best thing,” she stated, placing her hoof through the peg leg once more, her leg disappearing in it.
“That’s totally wicked! But how the hay does it work?” Scootaloo asked, tilting her head and squinting at the offending object, unable to wrap her head around the mechanics of such a thing.
Apple Bloom shrugged.
“Ah just thought of it, an’ it appeared, an’ it worked as Ah hoped. Ah ain’t got the faintest idea how it works.” She looked up to inspect her friends, her smile grew as she walked around each of them. “Y’all look great yerselves.”
“Thanks,” Scootaloo exclaimed, looking over herself once more to make sure everything was in place. She wore a bright lilac, knitted Monmouth cap, a collarless, cream-colored loose linen shirt, a brown jacket, and loose, baggy woolen breeches. To top everything off, she wore an eye patch. “Why did you decide to not wear an eye patch, Apple Bloom? I think it would look cool on you with that getup.”
“Ah guess? But the whole point of an eye patch is so ya can see better in the dark by havin’ your vision adjust. As far as we know, it don’t get dark here,” she said while scanning the sky.
“Wait, what? That’s what they’re for? I thought it was just to look cool! Well, either way I’m going to keep mine and I think you should still wear one anyway too,” she grunted, looking away and turning her attention to the rather unusually quiet Sweetie Belle, whom she prodded at couple times. “Equestria to Sweetie Belle, hello? Do you copy?”
Sweetie Belle blinked. “Huh? Oh, sorry, I, uhm… got a little lost in thinking about stuff,” she mused, glancing between her two friends. She wore an emerald green bandana, navy scarf, a white linen collarless shirt, pink sleeve waistcoat and white baggy trousers. “I didn’t know you could tie neckerchiefs, or whatever that thing you have around your neck is, Apple Bloom.”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow at her. “Ah didn’, Discord’s magic, remember? Ah just thought what Ah wanted and it appeared as is.”
Sweetie Belle blushed. “Oh, right…” she chuckled in embarrassment. “But, how’d you know how it would look when you were thinking about it?”
Scootaloo scratched her head, wondering the same thing.
“That’s easy!” She galloped back into the room and scurried back to them post-haste. “With this,” she exclaimed, dropping a magazine in front of them.
Scootaloo scooped it up and dropped to her haunches. Sweetie Belle peered over her. “The Daily Pirate? That’s a thing?” Scootaloo asked, her eyes scanning over the pages, wondering if she could get inspiration from it as she glazed over all the different attire.
“Ah know right? Ah didn’ know what Ah wanted to wear, so Ah just thought of somethin’ that would help give me some ideas and whatnot,” she stated as she started to wonder where her friends got their ideas from.
Sweetie Belle knitted her eyebrows together. “So, is this magazine real or not then? I mean, if not, how does thinking of wanting inspiration produce something somehow accurately knowing what you're looking for if you’re not exactly sure what it is you want?” she asked inquisitively, her eyes boring holes into the magazine.
Scootaloo, missing a lot of what was said, glanced back at Sweetie Belle and blinked at her. “Uh, what was the question again? Wasn’t paying attention,” she said blankly, before looking at Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom scratched her head as she tried thinking on it. “Well it—Ah…” Her face scrunched up. Giving up in resignation she let out a big sigh. “Ya know what? It doesn’ matter, let’s just go with Discord’s magic and call it a day. It’s Crusadin’ time!” She crowed, holding a hoof out, waiting for her friends to bump it.
“Now that I understand! Yeah!” Scootaloo whooped, quickly joining in with a hoof.
They expectantly looked back at Sweetie Belle, giving her a welcoming grin. To which faltered when they noticed she wasn’t paying any attention to them, as she chose to continue staring at the magazine with a sunken look. She flipped a page, absentmindedly.
“Sweetie Belle, you can check out the magazine later. ‘Sides you look fine, nothin’ you need to change in my opinion,” Apple Bloom assured, although unsure if her friend was even really checking out the magazine at all.
“Yeah, hurry up! We should have set sail by now…” Scootaloo moaned, starting to get antsy and trot in place.
“Okay…” Sweetie Belle mumbled, dragging herself over to them, still not looking up.
Her friends frowned, worried they quickly dropped the hoof bump they initialized.
“Um, Sweetie Belle, is somethin’ on your mind?” Apple Bloom asked, trying to get a better look at her friend’s face.
“Yeah, you look kinda how Apple Bloom looked when Diamond Tiara picked on her during that party we became friends with her,” Scootaloo noted, rubbing one of her legs.
“Is it that obvious?” she looked up to her friends, who were giving her a look of concern. They slowly nodded in confirmation. She sighed. “I’m a little worried about this Discord guy… I mean, he seems… neat? And… fun? But… isn’t it a little weird that he randomly popped in, took us on a mid-class trip, dumped us”—she waved a hoof around, gesturing to the various flying fish and floating isles—“in the middle of who knows where. Gave us superpowers so we could do whatever we wanted. Then he left us to go do… Celestia knows what. There was also that whole chaos isn’t evil spieI thing he went on about which… was certainly something. I mean, if he’s actually a good guy why did he forcefully take us and didn’t just ask us if we wanted to come here in the first place? Do our families even know we’re here!? Nothing about any of this makes any sense!” she yelled before panting trying to catch her breath. She felt a hoof rest on her shoulder. She looked up to see Apple Bloom giving her a look of understanding.
“Your right, this whole thing stinks more than a pig tumblin’ in yesterday’s brunch. Next time that Discord fella comes by we’ll make him give us answers. And If he doesn’ come back, we’ll find a way out of here ourselves. If we can’t somehow, you know our sisters and their friends will come lookin’ for us and that’s a fact,” Apple Bloom exclaimed with increasing confidence as she spoke. She gave her her best winning grin and determined look.
“Yeah! Besides, if he doesn’t give us the answers we want, we’ll just blast him into next week using the powers he gave us!” Scootaloo boasted, throwing one of her front legs out, holding it with a hoof, resting her head on the leg, closing one eye and making “pew” sounds, which caused the other end of the room beyond the door to find two small smoldering holes on the wall. “Uh, whoops,” she stated sheepishly before blowing her hoof that was smoking.
Hesitantly, Sweetie Belle started to smile. “You’re right… We’ll get answers and find a way home no matter what. We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders after all! We can handle anything, no matter how big!” she avowed, her volume increasing as her spirits rose to the challenge.
“Now that’s the spirit!” Scootaloo cheered. “In the meantime, who wants to get their cutie mark in sky pirating!?”
Their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. They grinned so hard at the prospect that it started to hurt.
Scootaloo held out a hoof, which was quickly bumped by two more.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders sky pirates, yay!” they chanted, breaking off from a three-way hoof bump, before rushing to the deck of the ship.
“Avast ye buckos! Turn the capstan and lift the anchor! It be time to set sail!” Apple Bloom instructed, before rushing to the helm of the ship.
“Aye aye, captain!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle cheered, before blankly staring at one another.
“Uh, Apple Bloom? What’s a capstan?” Scootaloo asked, staring up at their captain who was busy trying to fold out a treasure map on the wheel, which kept folding back in on itself causing her to become frustrated.
“Turn the thing with the poles stickin’ out the sides,” she pointed behind them.
“Got it!” Scootaloo said as she and Sweeite Belle rushed over to push it. Try as they might, it wouldn’t budge.
“Apple Bloom, can you help us? This thing”—Sweetie Belle grunted, starting to sweat—“won’t move!” They both collapsed and panted.
Apple Bloom looked up for a moment, before staring back at the map. “…Did ya guys try pushin’ it the other way?”
They glanced at each other. Quietly they stood up, turned and started pushing the other direction. Sure enough, it turned with ease.
As the anchor climbed, Apple Bloom pulled a lever, opening two large trap doors beyond the capstan. Two blimps rose, causing the ship to start floating.
Seeing the ship rise, Apple Bloom pulled another lever, causing the large dual propellers behind the ship to start turning, leading to the ship to start pushing forward. She called out, “Scootaloo you’ll be our scout, here”—she tossed her a spy glass, to which Scootaloo leapt forward, landing on her stomach to catch—“be on the lookout for potential threats, such as storms, other pirates and what not.” Scootaloo gave her a salute before rushing to the front of the ship. “Sweetie Belle, mare the cannons, be ready to use them if any of those flying fish get any funny ideas…”
“Got it!” Sweetie Belle chirped. She saw Apple Bloom giving her a playful eyebrow raise. “I mean… aye aye, Captain!”
They giggled.
For the moment, they forgot about the current predicament they were in. They would deal with that when it came time to. For now, they were off to adventure, glory, riches and they hoped… cutie marks.