As they headed back to the Castle of friendship, Humdrum was getting annoyed at the wait he was forced to endure, 'How long must I wait to hear my story?!' he thought to himself, as he accidently bumped into Matterhorn, "Oh, sorry Matterhorn, I was thinking about something," Humdrum apologized.
"Its alright Humdrum," Matterhorn reassured, as the group was lead into the castle, and to the dining room.
"Ok, take your seats, and your lunch will be along shortly," Eris said, as she snapped her eagle talon, and some platters appeared around the table. The ponies took their seats, and as they lifted the lids, they were all surprised to see their favorite dishes, "Well? Bon appetite," Eris said, as everyone dug in.
"So, lets review on what happened, what have we learned so far about the new threats?" Silver quizzed.
"We know what the Power Ponies' enemies can do," Heiru said.
"We know that my Daddy is somehow back in Equestria," Toby said.
"And he has a chaos creature working for him," Zap said.
"That thing can gobble up elements of harmony as if they're candy," Brian said.
"And when I first saw it, the Master Element was destroyed," Eris said.
"You mentioned this 'Master Element' before when you first showed up. What is the Master Element?" Twilight asked.
"You could say that the Master element is the father of the elements of harmony, the one that created them," Eris replied.
"Ok, so what does that have to do with you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, it all began 1000 years ago, when my father, Discord, was imprison in stone for his reign of chaos. I was different from Daddy, in terms of personality, where he was mischievous, I was a very playful and kind draconequss. The two regal sisters decided to spare me from the same fate that daddy took, provided I guard the Master Element, hidden deep under the Tree of Harmony," Eris explained.
"Wait, so Discord was evil?" Silver asked.
"He was, but I was able to reform him, so that he could use his magic for good instead of evil," Fluttershy replied.
"OK, BUT IF THIS 'MASTER ELEMENT' IS UNDER SOME SORT OF TREE, THEN WHY AREN'T YOU THERE GUARDING IT ANYMORE?" Echo-Echo asked.
"Because, it was destroyed when I first saw the Chaos creature," Eris replied. "I was guarding the Master Element as usual, when a huge explosion woke me up. And there, at the Master Elements alter, was that Chaos creature," Eris explained, "I went to go and try to save the Master Element, but it was too late. It was in pieces, and the creature warped away," Eris explained further, "But that was when the real trouble began. I noticed that some of the plants began to slowly wither away, and that's when I knew that the magic of the Master Element was beginning to fade away," Eris finished.
"I see, so we have to find what's left of the Master Element, in hopes of keeping Equestrias magic from deteriorating indefinitely?" Raiden asked.
"Yeah, but finding the shards will be like finding a needle in a haystack," Eris replied.
"Then that's what we'll do!" Silver said.
"But wait, we need to go and find our enemies, and stop whatever it is they're planning first," Matterhorn explained.
"And we need to keep the remaining Elements of Harmony safe," Twilight explained.
"Not to mention, find Toby's jerk of a father and stop him, and the Chaos creature," Rainbow Dash said.
"Alright, the leaders of each group will meet, and discuss what will happen," Twilight said, as she lead Silver, Matterhorn, and Discord into another room.
"So, I guess its time we told you about where you came from Humdrum," Radiance said, looking at the young colt, "Well, it all began on night, when we were off duty from patrolling the city for any crime," she explained.
"We were all just lounging around, when we heard a knock form our front door," Zap joined in.
"When Matterhorn came back, we were all surprised to see a young foal in the basket," Filli Second said.
"And that foal was me?" Humdrum asked.
"Yes, and you had a note attached to you, saying, 'Please take care of my baby, since I can not take care of him my self. His name is Humdrum'," Saddle Ranger explained.
"Knowing we couldn't just let you go to some orphanage, we decided to try and look for your real mother, but after a month of searching, we decided that you should stay with us, and be a hero, just like us," Mistress Marvelous added on.
"But you guys never found my real Mommy?" Humdrum asked, which resulted in a round of sad shakes from his teammates.
"But, what brought all this on?" Saddle Ranger asked.
"Well, as Shadow Mane fell towards me, I saw a mare, none of you girls though, reaching to pick me up," Humdrum explained, which put looks of shock on his friends faces.
"You know, before they teleported away, I saw a worried look on Shadow Manes face, so its possible she knows something as well," Heiru commented.
"So, we need to find Shadow Mane, so she can tell us about her side of the story," Zap said. Just then, the leaders came back.
"Alright, we've figured out something," Twilight said.
"We have decided that we need to divide and conquer," Silver said.
"So here's the plan, Saddle Ranger, Mistress Marvelous, Brian and Francisco will guard two of the remaining Elements of Harmony, Filli Second, Eris, Stealth and Raiden will hunt for the shards of the Master Element, Echo-Echo, Rainbow Dash, Zap, and Silver will try to find James' base, and the rest of us will hunt down the Mane-iac and the others, while Discord will stay behind with Fluttershy and Rarity to look after the children," Matterhorn explained, which everyone nodded in understanding.
"But before you guys go and do your tasks, we should probably prepare for a long battle," Francisco suggested, which everyone nodded, "OK Mr. Writer, take us to the next scene," Francisco asked, which resulted in this.
"NOOO! The OTHER scene! Am I working alone here?!" Francisco demanded, which resulted in a cave lair, with all sorts of different stuff, like a movie theater, an arcade, and a bunch of other stuff.
"Where are we?" Twilight asked.
"The titan Lair. I built it from scratch this morning, in a remote cave underneath Ponyville," Francisco explained.
"There are caves under Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yeah, so, I decided to use this abandoned one for our living establishment," Francisco explained, as he led Silver and Echo-Echo to a small chamber, "And this is what you two will need for your mission," he said, as he opened the door, to reveal some jet planes.
"Uh, they're nice Francisco, but we don't exactly have our pilots licenses," Silver explained.
"Don't worry, they're easy to fly. In fact, you need to use your mind to fly them," Francisco explained.
"Ok, so I guess we can use them," Silver said, as he and Echo-Echo got into their seats, "Alright guys, if anything happens, just call us, and we'll come to help," he said, which the other titans nodded in understanding, as everyone left to take care of their own assignments.
Later, with Eris' group,
After splitting up to take care of their task, Eris and her group decided to investigate Las Pegasus first, "Its best to check the more unlikely places first, just to be safe," Raiden said, as the group came to the outside of a Casino, but the outside was destroyed, "Excuse us, but do you know what happened officer?" Raiden asked a police pony.
"Uh, yeah, witnesses say that some glowing rock crashed into that building," the officer said.
"WHAT?! Did they say what it was?!" Eris demanded, taking the officer by his shirt.
Leading the group inside the building, the officer took the group to where some investigators were examining the rock that fell from the sky, "That's it, right there," the officer said, pointing at a red crystal.
"That's it, one of the shards we're looking for," Eris said, walking over to the gem, and opening her eagle talon, and like magic, the crystal floated out of the crater, and into her talon. This drew gasps from everyone. She smiled at her prize, but then she frowned, as a vision entered her mind. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was outside a castle of some sort, 'That's strange, this looks like the castle of the two sisters, but the building should be ancient. Why does it look brand new?' she thought to herself, as she made her way towards the castle. Once she was close enough, she could see some warrior ponies standing in front of a young mare.
"Father, you must listen to me, we shouldn't seize the elements for ourselves!" the mare said.
"Jewel Rush, the clan needs those six elements to make ourselves strong, in order to protect ourselves from our enemies," the leader of the warriors said.
"Seizing the elements for our own selfish needs and bringing harm to others is wrong!" Jewel Rush protested, as a flash of light engulfed Eris again. Opening her eyes, she found herself back inside the Casino.
"You ok Eris?" Stealth asked.
"Yeah, I'm ok," Eris replied.
"Seeing as how there wasn't a crime, we won't need that rock as evidence, now will we?" the officer asked.
"No, we won't," another officer replied.
"If any of you find any more shards like this, let me know," Eris told them, which they nodded, as Eris led her group out of the casino, in search of more shards, 'I wasn't able to stop the Master Element from being destroyed, but I can gather what's left of it, along with my new friends,' Eris thought to herself.
Meanwhile, with Brian's group,
After leaving to keep Lucky Joy and Charity harder to locate, Brian, Francisco, Saddle Ranger, and Mistress Marevelous, along with Pinkie Pie and Rarity, all decided to take the fillies somewhere scenic, and quiet, so that lead them to a rocky valley, "So, why bring us here?" Rarity asked.
"I figured that the rocky terrain will make us harder to be found," Francisco replied, just as a strong wind blew, "GAH! But it appears I underestimated the skyscraper currents around here," he commented.
"Skyscraper currents?" Lucky Joy asked.
"The tall a building or formation is, the stronger the winds are," Francisco replied, as another powerful gust blew.
"But why leave the other children behind in the Titan Lair?" Pinkie asked.
"To keep them safe, plus, with the home theater, they can watch some movies and/or TV shows," Brian replied, before another, yet more powerful gust of wind blew, "Ugh, the winds picking up!" he complained. Just then, the wind swept Lucky and Charity away from their group.
"Lucky Joy!" Pinkie cried.
"Charity!" Rarity cried, as both mothers rushed over to comfort their daughters. Just as they were a few inches from the fillies, their daughters were scooped up by a big claw. Looking up, they could see James in his hovercraft.
"Why thank you for the elements, I'm sure Chaos will just love a little snack, two of them, in fact," James cruelly said.
"Why don't you get out of Equestria, and leave us alone?!" Pinkie snarled.
"Not until I take back my son," James said, as he flew away.
"I don't think so!" Brian yelled, rushing towards the craft, and jumping onto it, "Now give back Lucky Joy and Charity!" he demanded.
"How about this instead?" James taunted, as he activated his crafts drill systems, and charged to the ground, knocking Brian off, "Now then, to make sure you don't interfere any more," James said, as he then charged towards Brian, only to be stopped by an angered Saddle Ranger, who broke the drills off, "Grr, how dare you?!" James snarled, as the hulking monster pony threw James back, also knocking Lucky Joy and Charity out of the craft, and into a pond. Upon entering the water, there was an eerie glow from under the surface, which made our heroes shudder with uneasiness, "Its ok, you can come on out now, Chaos four!" James called. And with that, the Chaos creature emerged from the water, now larger that it was before, taking on the shape of a fish, with a large stone like skeleton with the new addition of the elements of laughter and generosity. The heroes gasped in horror.
With a wave of its hand, it sent a wave of energy that sent the heroes flying, "Man, this thing is tough!" Brian cursed, as he, Francisco, Saddle Ranger and Marevelous went on the attack, prompting Chaos to dive under water, "Alright, where'd it go?" Brian asked, as he and the others landed on lily pads. Just then, Chaos emerged from the lily pad Brian was standing on, sending him flying. Once at the peak of his ascent, Brian then charged towards Chaos in the form of a fireball. Once Chaos saw this, it dove back in the water, with Brian latching onto its tail.
"Dunk that little punk until he's all washed up," James ordered, which Chaos complied, constantly jumping out of the water, trying to shake Brian off of it. The others tried to slow Chaos, with Marevelous trying to lasso Chaos, so it won't escape, Francisco trying to take after Icezer in the ability to freeze, and try to stop Chaos dead in its tracks, and Saddle Ranger, who tried to stir up enough water to make it harder for Chaos to concentrate. These attempts were all for naught. As Chaos jumped out of the water, a powerful gust of wind blew, which gave Brian an idea.
"That's it, I'll ride the wind!" Brian said, as he let go of Chaos, and rode the wind to pick up a strong velocity, while engulfed in a fireball, which dove right at Chaos, who tried blowing the others away, but didn't notice Brian, as he tackled the head, ultimately making Chaos dissolve into little droplets of water, much to the dismay of James, who used a tractor beam to gather up what was left of Chaos.
"You got lucky this time, but mark my words, I will have my revenge!" James said, as he escaped into a huge flying fortress.
"Whoa, that thing's enormous!" Francisco commented, as it flew away.
"Silver, come in Silver, this is Brian. James has now obtained the elements of laughter and generosity, and is making a run for it in a large flying fortress!" Brian said, taking into a communicator.
"*BZZT* 10-4, I copy. My group will hunt and pursue," Silver said.
"We'll join you shortly!" Francisco called, as he formed two more jet planes, which everyone got in, and flew off to stop James' ship.