Princess Celestia: Have no fear, ponies. I have total confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord… with these.
DM: She levitates the mystical chest before you…
Twilight Sparkle: Aaaaaaaand there's nothing in the case.
DM: And Celestia suddenly drops it onto the ground with a start, having sensed something amiss. The latch, curiously already unlocked, bounces open on impact, revealing empty velvet lining.
Pinkie Pie: Welp! If you girls need me, look outside for the pink pony with a giant bendy straw!
Half the fun of having an absurdly long-running webcomic now is being able to make obscene callbacks purely for my own enjoyment, like loosely referencing Page 37.
Let's not forget the ultimate example of this, 8-bit Theater's call back joke in strip 1221 referencing strip 7. I have faith that one day, you shall break that bar.
It's not that much further to Page 1221. Just 162 more to go. (Granted, that counts the guest strips, but that's the numbering NS has gone with.) And FiD's Page 7 is easy enough to reference: Spike disagreeing with Twilight and/or sending a letter.
Or NS could one-up by doing that ref on Page 1222.
I like to think that the Elements were in the chest, up until the exact moment when Celestia unlocked the door, thus breaking the seal that would normally prevent anyone from magically stealing them. Because Discord was waiting in that room, invisible, for her to do exactly that, and then he'd taunt her.
It's certainly a sensible theory, but I always simply figured that powerful chaos magic needs special wards (since it would be far too predictable to be stopped by normal wards) and Celestia forgot to put such wards in place. I don't think there's any entity in Equestria other than Discord who wields powerful chaos magic, and he was supposed to be a statue.
Panel five reminds me of a short-lived sci-fi tv show.
Comic Relief Robot: "Attention, a hostile battle cruiser is approaching. If anyone needs me, FORGET IT."
President Lindberg: "Okay. There's a ball of fire, it's 1200 miles in diameter heading straight for Earth, and we have no idea how to stop it. *That's* the problem."
Korben Dallas: [sighs] "How long do we have?"
Scientist's Aide: [off the President's look] "If its speed remains constant, in an hour and fifty-seven minutes."
If you rewatch this scene, Celestia watches Pinkie walk away as they are staring shocked at the chest. She's the only one who does. It's kind of weird, she doesn't even turn her head to look.
It is a nice chest... how devalued are gems in equestria though, considering the tunnels and fields nearby ponyville with them and the number of dresses rarity makes with gems are they basically rinestones for them?
There has to be *some* value to them or they wouldn't have been worth using for the Elusive transaction Rarity gathered them for.
Personal headcanon/handwave is that the best gem sources are in Diamond Dogs territory and they don't share lightly. There are other seams and sources but they just aren't as good/accessible.