Rainbow opened the door and saw a very filthy Rarity, she was covered in dirt and dust and scrapes and bruises, she was struggling to catch her breath.
"Rarity, what's wrong? What happened to you?!" Rainbow asked, she was beginning to panic, the look of terror on her friend's face.
Rarity said one word, and one word only. "Discord".
"How!" Rainbow Dash replied, her jaw agape.
Celestia then landed on the cloud in the middle of the conversation.
"Your foals are responsible for this!" Celestia exclaimed wrathfully.
"But...how?!" Rainbow asked, she was in shock.
"When they were turned into foals, they lost control over their elements, I should point out to you, because nopony has seemed to notice, they don't have their cutie marks anymore, as a result of this, their elements have gone dormant and Discord has been freed from the spell trapping him in stone, and he is back with a vengeance!" Celestia grunted.
"Can't you and Luna do something about this?" Rainbow groaned.
"No, we have already tried, look at the state of your friend, you only have one option…" Celestia trailed off.
"Rainbow, I know this is going to hurt you, it's going to hurt me to, but.." Rarity said ruefully.
"What are you..." Rainbow was cut off by Celestia.
"I need to perform a memory spell on Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, they will live for twenty-four hours before the disease kicks in, long enough to defeat discord and then transfer the elements of kindness and magic to my sister and myself." Celestia said
"No...you...you can't...I won't let you" Rainbow said backing away from the door, tears in her eyes.
"Rainbow, it's the only way, please, if you won't do it for Equestria, or Celestia, do it for me, four our friends, for them." Rarity trailed off.
"Rainbow Dash, as the element of loyalty, you represent part of the circle of magic, without the elements magic ceases to function, they are intact inside Twilight and Fluttershy, but they are quickly diminishing, if you choose not to act, Discord will roam free, but more than that, every Unicorn will lose their magic, and every Pegasus will lose their flight." Celestia explained.
"I...No...There has to be another way.." Rainbow blubbered, now openly crying.
Rarity put a hoof on Rainbows shoulder "Honey, there is no other way." She said.
Rainbow looked back at her foals, and then to Rarity and Celestia.
"Is it possible, to remove the elements, without the memory spell?" Rainbow asked, tears rolling down her face.
"Only with a sacrifice from an equal or greater source of magic." Celestia said
"Would…w-would my element… be enough?" Rainbow asked
"Rainbow no, you can't do that!" Rarity retorted.
"I have to Rarity, to let my foals live and grow I have to." Rainbow firmly said.
"Yes, your element would be strong enough to remove the weaker forms of their elements, but you would die," Celestia sighed.
Just then, Discord appeared.
"Oh look, my favorite opponent Celestia and her minions, oh it brings me such joy that there is so much chaos!" Discord said, grinning deviously.
"Discord, my foe, the elements will reign you down again as they have before" Flames flickered in Celestia's pale, light grayish magenta eyes, making them smolder a dark purplish-red.
"Oh I disagree, why, just turn around and look at Twilight and Fluttershy, you'll see what I mean," Discord said, they all turned and saw fully grown Twilight and Fluttershy laying on the floor in pain.
"What did you do to them!?" Rainbow asked, she was about to charge at him.
"I gave them back their memories, and right now the disease is spreading through their bodies killing them as we speak, you could save them, if you were willing to give up order," Discord said "With a snap of my fingers they could be your foals again, and for the small price of eternal chaos," Discord spoke with a tone as wicked as he was.
"Never, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, I will fight you, for my subjects, for my kingdom" Celestia said charging at Discord, he used his magic to teleport behind her and he froze her in a block of ice.
"Have fun getting out of that, Celestia!" Discord cackled viciously.
"What did you do to her?!" Rainbow demanded.
"She is trapped, she is alive, but in a coma like state, she is no help to you now!" Discord grinned and vanished and appeared beside Rainbow, time had stopped, everything accept for Discord and Rainbow.
"Rainbow," Discord spoke.
"What do you want with me!" She said
"I could save your foals and your friends without sacrifice.." He said
"Why would you help me?!" Rainbow said
"Because, you can help me." He spoke.
"How exactly?" She asked.
"Convince the princess to let me reign chaos over a fraction of Equestria, say, the changeling lands without her interruption, if you can do that, I can save you friends and your foals," Discord challenged.
"She doesn't control the changeling lands," Rainbow Dash retorted.
"No, but she refuses to let me reign chaos over them, I would leave her kingdom along but she refuses, convince her." Discord said
"I..." Rainbow said, with that discord disappeared, the princes was freed from her ice prison, Twilight and Fluttershy were foals again, and time resumed.
"Tick-tock, you have one hour," Discord said in a voice only Rainbow could hear.
Rainbow thought over her options as fast as she could, she had two options as she saw it, 3 if she counted letting everyone or herself die, but she wasn't about to consider that.
"Mommy, what's happening" Twilight was crying, Fluttershy was also crying.
"Nothing, um, let's go, we don't have time to waste" Rainbow said picking them up.
"Were are we going?" Twilight said through her tears
"To Canterlot" Rainbow said, she flew up into the air, Rarity created a magical orb around her allowing her to fly and Celestia took to the sky as well.
"Princess, when you say sacrifice, what do you mean" Rainbow said trying to confirm her suspicion.
"a sacrifice of a magical power equal to or greater than the power of their combined elements, meaning death to that source of magic or its wielder." Celestia spoke, they flew faster trying to get to Canterlot.
"Is there no other way, must I sacrifice myself to save them" Rainbow said
"It would mean we would need to defeat discord once and for all instead of trapping him, as your element, the element of loyalty would cease to exist" Celestia said, they had neared the palace.
"There has to be another way" Rainbow said
"It is possible that..." Celestia trailed off "..is it possible..." Celestia nearly dropped out of flight.
"Princess?" Rarity exclaimed watching her princess fall.
Celestia regained her flight and proceeded flying.
"It's nothing, really it's just" She trailed off again this time releasing a sigh of agonizing pain.
"Princess!" Rarity yelled as the princess fell out of the sky, Rarity picked her up with her magic and floated her next to them.
"I feel a presence, I have not felt in a long, long, time, its broken through a barrier I put up a long time ago, weakening my magic" Celestia said through her pain.
They reached Canterlot and entered the palace to be greeted by Luna.
"I suspected, I felt a similar tremor in the magic circle, my ties are not as great as my sisters, therefor my pain is not as intense" Luna said walking beside them.
"Were is he" Celestia said still struggling to stand but now recovering from her pain.
"In the throne room" Luna said
"Who? What's going on?" Rainbow asked
"My eldest brother" Celestia said, they entered the throne room to see a large yellow alicorn with a flowing red mane sitting on Celestia's throne.
"Dearest sister, how nice it is to see you again after the ten thousand year banishment you sent me on" He spoke in a booming voice.
"Another banished relative, shocker" Rainbow said, receiving an angered glance from Celestia
"How are you here" Celestia said
"Oh you should know, I felt the tremors long before you did, your magic is slipping away, the circle of magic is fading and I broke through your barrier, my magic was always stronger than yours, its a pity really, mother and father favored you over me, And I could have done so much more for this kingdom too, but instead you banished me to the border lands, not allowing me back into the kingdom, for ten thousand years I wandered trying to find a way back in, fighting for my life every day." He said
"You're a monster, you wanted to enslave the pony race and conquer the land, you got what you deserved" Celestia spoke
"Regardless of what you think of me I am actually here to help, your magic may not be strong enough to forcibly remove the elements without harm, but mine is, and its fading quickly with every passing moment those elements grow weaker, soon nopony will be strong enough to stop this" He said
"What are you suggesting" Luna spoke
"I can remove the elements, and place them in yourself and your sister, but I cant do it alone, I need the other 4 elements present, and you and our sister to help, if we succeed, the elements can be used to stop discord and we can ALL return to normal life" He put emphases on the word all, Celestia immediately picked up on it.
"You want to be allowed back into Equestria don't you, this isn't the first time you've tried and the answer is still no, you will try to force your ideals upon our great civilization and I will not allow it." Celestia spoke
"Dearest sister, so negative as always, I simply want to be put back in my place as Prince of Equestria, as much as baby sister wanted to leave the moon I want to leave the borderlands." He spoke
"Princess, you should really consider..." Rainbow was cut off
"No Rainbow, he has tricked me once before with this same offer and never again, he is to be banished for eternity" Celestia spoke
"Again with the negativity, I've learned my lesson Celestia, and I'm ready to become Prince again, and unlike nightmare moon over there, who is still residing in her by the way if you hadn't noticed, I am ready to return, with a good deed" He spoke
"Everest, my brother, if you really want to help us and return, give us some sort of assurance you won't do the same thing you did last time" Luna spoke
"My word as a member of the Royal Family" Prince Everest spoke.
Celestia was still uneasy and thinking her sister was naive by trusting him, Rainbow was going over the choices in her head, Rarity was just watching unable to speak as she was beginning to feel the effects of the circle of magic fading.
"Princess, it's the only way" Rainbow chimed in talking to Celestia.
"I agree with Rainbow Dash big sister, we cannot afford to lose this opportunity" Luna said
"Well, are you going to stand there all day, or are we going to get something done" Everest Said
Just then several Royal Guards barged into the throne room and blockaded the doors behind them shut.
"Your highness, the chaos is spreading and we..." Captain Thunderbolt looked up to see Everest, nopony had known that he was banished, they were all told he had simply left.
"Your Majesty" Thunderbolt said bowing before Everest
"See, even your subjects get the picture, a prince banished for ten thousand years, and they trust me, now little sister, why don't you?" Everest said, he flew up into the air and flew circles around Celestia.
"As I was saying, the chaos has spread to Canterlot, the palace is almost completely overrun, the Unicorn Guards are projecting a spell to block the chaos from entering the throne room but we must act fast, for some reason the magic is fading" Thunderbolt said.
"We are aware already Captain, hold the palace as long as you can" Luna said ordering the Captain while Celestia and Everest continued to speak.
"Yes your highness, at once" Thunderbolt said before taking his Guards and leaving the throne room.
"Princess! Please if not for us, do it for the rest of Equestria, please" Rainbow pleaded, Rarity fainted as her magic grew weak.
"Rarity!" Rainbow yelled, she tried to fly over to Rarity but her wings would not move, so she ran over to Rarity.
"Rarity!" Rainbow yelled again, Rarity closed her eyes and fell into a coma like state.
"What's happening to her!" Rainbow asked
"It's the circle of magic fading, and faster than I anticipated" Celestia spoke
"Do something" Luna protested against her sister standing there doing nothing
"Luna you know as much as I do that brother is just trying to fool us once again" Celestia said
"Celestia! Get off your high horse and just trust him!" Rainbow lashed out
"Rainbow Dash!" Celestia yelled shooting rainbow a commanding look.
"No! I will not let you tear apart Equestria, I will not let you risk the lives of my foals!" Rainbow said as she began to cry.
"Rainbow Dash if you do not silence yourself" Celestia was cut off
"You'll what, banish me? Kill me? Where will that leave you, I'd gladly die to save the lives of my foals, which is more than you would do for your kingdom" Rainbow said, tears rolling down her face, she truly faced losing her foals, and that was something she was not willing to do, even if it meant standing up to Celestia.
Celestia lowered her head and closed her eyes.
"Your right" She whispered "All of this time I have never made one sacrifice for my kingdom" Celestia spoke, she paused
"Big Brother, I will help you" Celestia said, leaving out a sigh of defeat.
"Very well, but we must act now, there is no time to assemble the other elements" Everest said, his horn glowed a dark purple color and a purple hue surrounded Twilight, Fluttershy, Celestia, and Luna, Rarity's chest began to glow blue and Rainbow's began to glow red, the elements were working, Fluttershy and Twilight's elements were also glowing but they could not be seen through the hue of magic.
There was a flash and the magic hue was gone and the chests of the ponies stopped glowing, Celestia was now wearing the crown for the element of Magic and Luna was wearing the necklace for the element of Kindness.
"It is done" Everest said before collapsing onto the floor from overexerting himself.
Rarity opened her eyes.
Celestia spoke "It's been restored, the circle of magic is rebuilding once again" She turned to look at Everest
"And now for you brother" She said, her horn glowing "This time I will not banish you, it's to merciful" Celestia said before Luna put her hoof out to stop Celestia, Celestia closed her eyes and exercised her mercy. "Fine" Celestia said, she may disagree with her sister, but she shared 50% of the ruling of Equestria, her opinion mattered.
Just then Discord appeared once again.