Six

Chapters

Prologue - Not Idle Sympathy
Our Defect
Day 1: To Slaughter the Sorrow

Prologue - Not Idle Sympathy

Golden Oaks Library may as well have been playing host to a funeral in that hour. In many ways, that was exactly what it was.

The mood in the room was morose at best. No one was at fault for this, though. No one except Nightmare Moon. It had been a mere few hours since the fated events had transpired. Dawn had not even broken yet, though the sun was beginning to creep its way up over the horizon.

Twilight stared out the front window of the library. It was her work, her home, her life. Her breathing was imperceptible as she gazed out forlornly in the direction they had been charging in just a few hours previously.

So much had changed in such a small span of time.

Her friends around her were completely silent, which is how she preferred it just then. She could almost sense that they knew that, even though she had left that particular sentiment unspoken. They were in tune with her, potentially now more than ever, now that they had all gone through such a trying and traumatic experience.

None of them had come out of it the same.

She wondered how Celestia and Luna were taking this. Luna, she assumed, would probably be hit the harder of the two by the events that had just taken place. She had been the initial vessel for Nightmare Moon, after all; the evil spirit had chosen her, and Celestia had been forced to banish her own sister to the moon for 1000 years.

Twilight knew something about the verdict, though, something that nopony else had knowledge of. Celestia had entrusted her with this, swearing Twilight to a royal Vow of Secrecy, due to this being immensely private information regarding the Equestrian royalty. The fact that she had been given 1000 years' banishment from Equestria was not a number chosen at random. The prophecy that Twilight had seen, the one concerning the stars aiding in Nightmare Moon's escape, was not made until nearly 600 years later, by one Starswirl the Bearded, who apparently at that time was the only pony other than Celestia who knew about the verdict and what it meant.

Celestia's predecessor had dealt with Nightmare Moon before, and the spirit had been sealed away for only 500 years that time. She had thought that 500 years would have been enough to starve the spirit to death, but that had obviously not been the case. With Celestia's decision, she had come to the conclusion that maybe if the time of imprisonment were doubled, it would be enough to finally drive Nightmare past her breaking points and into the realm of the faded-away.

It was a noble effort, but obviously as well for naught. Nightmare had come back, more vicious and vengeant than ever, and only the combined powers of the Elements had been enough to drive Nightmare out of Luna's body. Their intent had been to finally finish Nightmare off, naturally, but as both Celestia and Celestia's predecessor had discovered so long ago... Nightmare Moon could not be killed. She could be defeated, yes, though not without an arduous fight. But to be killed?

If there was a way, it had yet to be found.

Twilight sighed softly as her mind took her in a different direction of reverie. The Elements of Harmony. Powers beyond imagining. Formerly wielded by Celestia and Luna themselves, they had been passed down into the hooves of Twilight and her friends during Nightmare Moon's first release. They had used them wisely, both in that event and in times of national crisis since then.

She remembered the surge that had gone through her body the first time the Elements were activated. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before. She didn't have much time to think about it as it was happening, mostly due to an impending death staring her and her friends directly in their eyes were they to fail, but in the days following the defeat of Nightmare Moon, as she was settling into her new life as a citizen of Ponyville, on direct mission from Princess Celestia herself to make friends in the small town and study friendship as both an art and as a science... She found herself considering the possibilties more and more.

What were the Elements in their nature? Did they by themselves hold power, or was the power given to them by the bearers? And if they held no power on their own, then why were they noteworthy enough to be given space in that book? The bearers were truly honored and noble, to be sure, but what were their parts in all of this? Were they merely pawns in a game far older and more complex than any of them could ever imagine?

Or did they, by wielding the Elements, become the game's master and not just its playing pieces?

It was at that point that she could no longer deny the thing that she had been trying to push back into the deepest, darkest recesses of her memories, and she could feel the tears welling up once more. Her eyes already stung horribly, from the eternity it seemed that she had already been weeping over the loss she had endured. And now, it was all happening again. She had hoped that she would have no more tears to cry, but it had been a foolish thing to ask, she was now seeing.

To be sure, her relationship with Rainbow Dash had not started off easily- not that any of her friendships with the citizens of Ponyville had gone off to a smooth start, really. Twilight had found her brash and annoying at first, a braggadocio of the highest caliber. What had really started her change of view, though, was the night that Nightmare Moon had come to tempt them all individually- much like, in a book that Twilight had read a very long time previous, a snake had tempted the first beings to ever inhabit the land that was now called Equestria.

Rainbow Dash had irrevocably redeemed herself in Twilight's eyes that night, choosing to be loyal to her friends instead of falling for the faux promises of power that the Shadowbolts had presented to her. (Rainbow had told her all about the Shadowbolts and their offer to her, as Twilight and the others were unable to see Rainbow at that time due to the fog that Nightmare Moon had conjured around the end of the bridge to cut them off from each other.)

There was a reason why Rainbow was chosen to become the Element of Loyalty, and ever since then Twilight had found their friendship becoming deeper and deeper with each passing day, week, month. They would often have sleepovers- as disastrous as Twilight's first one with Rarity and Applejack had went- where they would talk the whole night through about Daring Do, presenting theories that they had and speculating about what grand adventure the pegasus would go on next. If it happened to fall on the release of Yearling's newest Daring Do novella- and let's face it, it always did “happen to fall on” those days, though only because they planned these particular events months in advance around the book's release- they would also take turns reading passages from the book in various alternatingly funny and serious voices, until they had read the entire book all the way through aloud. It was a grand time for both of them.

Twilight even used to joke that A.K. Yearling must have known Rainbow in a previous life, because Daring Do seemed to be practically entirely based off Rainbow herself. Her headlong stubborn streak, athletic prowess... The two even shared basically every physical characteristic, apart from mane and coat color, of course. Rainbow tried to deny it at first, but in the end even she had to admit the similarities were startlingly uncanny.

As similar as Rainbow had seemed to Daring Do, there was one thing that now separated them permanently. Daring Do always lived on to see another adventure and to save the day again... but for Rainbow, there would be no more saving the day.

Twilight breathed in slightly through her nose. She could almost swear that she still smelled the aroma of burning flesh that had wafted through the air as the blaze consumed Rainbow right in front of them. It would be a scent that would be burned in her memory for the rest of her life.

She walked away from the window, glancing up at all of the books that lined her bookshelves on the bottom floor. They were all perfectly arranged, naturally, by subject, author, and year of release. Twilight had spent so much time obsessively taking care of her book collection; it had always been her pride and joy. Knowledge and the pursuit of it was what she had been born to do; friendship had just added on even more happiness to the abundant amount that was already present.

Now, as she gazed absentmindedly- the “thousand-yard stare,” as somepony had referred to it as once- at the vast wealth of knowledge that was stored before her, she wondered if it even mattered anymore. None of the knowledge she had accumulated since being taken on as Celestia's student had been able to help her stop Nightmare Moon from murdering one of her very best friends. What little she had been able to study about the Changeling race after the attack on Canterlot did nothing for her, either. Nor did the revelations that Cadance had made about herself and her relationship with the Queen of the Changelings, Chrysalis.

In the end, her life's work hadn't aided her at all, and the realization of this seemed like a prison that not even the stars' alignment could save her from.

Twilight was so deep into her own mind, that she barely heard a soft voice from behind her. “...to the sunrise?”

She turned to see Fluttershy walking up to where she was. She sniffled a bit. “I'm sorry, Fluttershy, I was so lost in reverie... What did you say?”

“I asked what happened to the sunrise. It isn't there anymore...”

Twilight, a bit alarmed, turned towards the window. Sure enough, the night sky had completely returned. Not even the smallest bit of sunrise could be seen. She cut short a gasp.

“Is Celestia ok?” she moaned, pacing anew in front of the window. “Why did she stop the sunrise early? Maybe Nightmare Moon got to her...”

“How could Nightmare stop the sun?” Fluttershy asked as Twilight continued to pace. “She's the night. She doesn't have power over the sun like Celestia does.”

“There's one of a few things she could do,” Twilight said hastily as she walked a worn loop into the carpet. “Nightmare could have incapacitated her and Luna. It may just be one of Nightmare's spells making it so that we can't see the sunrise even though it's actually still happening. Or maybe she's using her magic to obscure the skies completely... It could be one of any number of things. We have no idea how strong she's grown since we defeated her.”

“We're still going to be able to defeat her though... right?” Applejack had come over to them as well. “I mean, we did it last time. Can't we do it again?”

Twilight shook her head slowly. “I believe there is a way that we can defeat Nightmare Moon, but it is going to have to be done without the Elements. Without Rainbow Dash here to fill the Element of Loyalty, we can't use the Elements like we did last time to defeat her. My heart just can't accept that the Elements is literally the only way that has ever existed to defeat Nightmare Moon.”

Just then, Twilight heard a tell-tale belch come from the other room, followed by a sickly groan. “She has to wake me up like that, doesn't she...? Couldn't she just have waited until I was actually awake...” In spite of herself, Twilight giggled a bit, then muffled a horrified gasp at what she felt just then.

“This isn't good...” Twilight murmured. “I can't actually be getting used to this depression... There's no way. Why is smiling and laughing becoming such a foreign feeling to me?” Before anyone could pick up the thread, Spike walked in, rubbing his stomach.

“Next time you talk to Princess Celestia,” Spike groaned, “let her know to maybe be a little less forceful when she sends her letters. I don't know what it is, but this one really messed my stomach up...” He belched again, but this time there was no letter that came out. It was just gas, Twilight guessed, left-over from the initial letter.

Twilight took the letter from Spike and unraveled it. She read it for a moment, and her brow furrowed. Then, she rolled it back up. “Send a letter back,” she told Spike, with mixed determination and confusion. “Let Celestia know that we will all be at the Royal Castle within the next hour. And ask her to convey my apologies to her guests for the delay. We are all the way in Ponvyille, after all.” Spike nodded and went off to find a quill and ink.

Twilight turned to the others. “Princess Celestia has extremely important guests waiting for us at the Castle. She didn't say who they were, only that they are apparently beings of immense power have come to visit her, and apparently they are not happy at all to hear of Nightmare Moon's return.”

“Hear of it?” Rarity asked. “It just happened a few hours ago! Surely word of it couldn't have traveled so far in such a short amount of time...”

“Not by itself, no,” Twilight admitted. “But if someone- not naming any names- were to have gone about to spread the word herself, doing it deliberately... It's not very far-fetched to think that somehow the word could have gotten to these beings in a short amount of time... Whoever they are.”

Just then, the door opened. Twilight turned to close the door, thinking the wind might have blown it open. She stopped suddenly, her jaw almost coming unhinged from the force by which it dropped. Standing in the doorway, was none other than Adriu himself, member of the Changeling Court and right-hand Changeling to Chrysalis himself.

Rarity stepped up. “I destroyed you once, and I can surely do it again!”

Adriu smirked. “Quite obviously, you did not 'destroy me,' as you just so eloquently put it. Otherwise, I would not be standing here in front of you. And if I may be honest, I am glad that your kill-spell did not work. Though I am not surprised it did not. You are an Element of Harmony, are you not? Though you may know of darker magicks, the fact that you cannot put your heart and soul into them to make them work properly tells more good about you than bad.”

Twilight filed this away in her “ask Rarity about this later” section of her brain.

“So then why did you come here?” Twilight asked, stepping in between Adriu and Rarity, just in case Rarity were to still want to off the Changeling.

“I am here to end things,” Adriu stated simply. “There was a plan in motion before Nightmare Moon ever came back. A plan to rescue and to protect. This plan is hereby over. By the stating of these words, I fulfill my final promise.”

He closed his eyes and recited a short phrase in the ancient Changeling tongue. “D'sa athu, m'sa chronne.” A soft blue glow enveloped him as his chitinous skin began to flake away from his body, revealing patches of blue fur underneath. Twilight was stunned.

In a moment's time, the spell had finished, and who they thought was Adriu was no longer standing before them. Instead, they saw before them that their fallen friend was now not so fallen anymore, and they all let out gasps of shock and awe.

Rainbow smirked at their reactions. “I told you this was all part of the plan.”

Our Defect

The tension in the room seemed to evaporate immediately, only to be replaced by a distinct air of confusion and apprehension? Was this the real Rainbow? Or was this just another of Nightmare Moon's tricks, designed to throw them off their guard and distract them from the task that they had set about to do?

Twilight spoke up first: “How is this even possible? We saw you die in the ritual fire... You were consumed entirely. Nopony should have been able to survive that. That was serious dark magic that was at work there...”

The grin dissipated from Rainbow's face. “I didn't really want to have to go along with the plan... I mean, I knew I had to. Adriu was right. The Elements didn't need to be broken up, especially not like that.”

“So what happened?” Rarity chimed in.

Rainbow took a deep breath before continuing. “Adriu was completely loyal to Chrysalis, but... he didn't like the way she was treating me. For a Changeling, he was incredibly well-educated. He knew about the Elements of Harmony, although he didn't know what exactly they were. He knew they were super important, though, and when he figured out through conversation with Chrysalis that I was one of the Elements... He also hated how Chrysalis was treating me.” She winced a bit. “I still get random waves of pain going up and down my side from the way she had me chained up in her personal room. It wasn't exactly comfortable in there...”

“So what did he do to save you?” Applejack asked.

“Well, before I tell you, let me get this out of the way. Adriu had spoken to Nightmare Moon on a few occasions, not to mention he knew all about her being banished to the moon by Celestia while she was still inhabiting Princess Luna's body. And he hated her. He despised Nightmare with a passion. If it weren't for the fact that Nightmare was possessing Chrysalis' body, he would have stayed as far away from her as physically possible.

“He came to me in Chrysalis' chambers one night and laid out a plan for how I was going to get out. He knew that the Elements were the way that Nightmare was defeated last time- I told him as much- and he figured that they would at least be part of the key to stopping her again. So he gave me the only way he knew to help me. And right before the ceremony, he did some of the most amazing magic I've ever seen- I mean, this was Twilight-level stuff. He completely changed both of our physical appearances. I looked exactly like him, and he looked exactly like me.”

Twilight was stunned. “That... is incredibly clever. I'm blown away...” Something occurred to her just then. “But how did Chrysalis not recognize the deceit? Can't she sense her Changelings from anywhere?”

“Yeah, and he figured that into the equation as well. Part of his magic was giving me the scent of a Changeling as well, and giving himself the scent of a pony- me, to be more specific. That way, Chrysalis wouldn't be suspicious that something was up.”

“Did he count on me blasting 'him' into oblivion?” Rarity retorted.

“Actually he didn't,” Rainbow admitted. “I don't even know how it happened, but when you hit me with that magical bolt- which hurt like hell, by the way- instead of killing me, it just teleported me way outside the ritual room. It took me a few hours just to find out where I was, and then I flew in what I thought was the right direction to get me out of the Changeling lands.” She stretched her wings out painfully. “They're still sore. I'm not used to that much constant flying. Not anymore...”

“Chrysalis didn't let you out of her room at all, did she?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow shook her head. “That was one of the single biggest worries I had while I was trapped there... I didn't want to lose the use of my wings from not being able to use them like I normally do. As it was, it took everything in me just to fly the rest of the way back. I actually got here about an hour ago, but I was so tired, I had to rest for a bit before coming back to your library.”

Twilight scratched her head a bit. “I think I know a bit about what happened with you and Rarity. I'm not a professed expert on Changeling magic in the slightest, but I do know that when you aren't careful with types of magic and you try to mix them, some seriously messed up stuff happens. It might have just been that the mix of Rarity's magic and the Changeling magic that Adriu imparted onto you had the side effect of teleporting you way out of where we were all at.”

“Or maybe that actually was part of his plan to begin with,” Fluttershy said. “That's possible, isn't it?”

“Maybe,” Twilight said, “but I don't think there's any way for us to find out now, is there?” She turned to Rainbow for confirmation on that.

Rainbow nodded. “Adriu was the one who was killed in the ritual fire, so there's no going to him for answers. Not anymore. I also highly doubt Chrysalis is going to be very happy when she finds out that her favorite Changeling betrayed her like that...”

“Which doesn't make sense either,” Twilight said. “I thought all of the Changelings were 100 percent loyal to Chrysalis. What Adriu did is the exact opposite of loyalty.”

Rainbow hadn't considered this. “I'm not even sure. I'm just glad he did. If he hadn't... I wouldn't have made it out of there.” She stepped inside and closed the door. She turned and glanced out the window, and something seemed to dawn on her just then. “Wait... Was I flying for less time than I thought? I could have swore I saw the sunrise when I woke up. Why is it dark out again?”

“We think that Nightmare Moon is using her powers- now that she's back in the world and stronger than ever- to block our view of the sun. Celestia is still around, so she can't eliminate the sun altogether- not to mention that would completely kill off all plant life in Equestria, which would also eliminate all oxygen in the air, so we all couldn't breathe and we'd all die anyways-” She stopped and took a breath, then continued- “but what she can do, is make it to where the darkness is covering the sun so nopony can see the sun.”

“Hmm... So maybe it's her way of telling everypony that even though Celestia is still around, she doesn't have the power to get in Nightmare's way like she did last time. She's defying Celestia straight to her face.”

“And that means she's far more confident than she was last time. She knows something we don't, and that scares me.” It scared everyone, from the looks on their faces.

Rainbow yawned. “I'm so tired right now... I'm going to find someplace to lay down and take a nap.” She smiled. “It's so nice to see you all again.” They all nodded in agreement, then as one walked over to Rainbow and hugged her warmly. Rainbow grimaced a bit at the blatant physical affection, but she hugged them back nonetheless. She was telling the truth after all- she was more than happy to be back with her friends and to see them again.

She extricated herself from the hug and walked over to the rug by the fireplace and curled up.

Twilight turned to the others. “This is good. We actually have a very good chance of beating Nightmare Moon at her own game.” Something popped into her head just then. “We have to get to the castle! I almost completely forgot that Celestia called us all out there for something.” The other ponies looked at each other. They'd forgotten about it as well.

“What about Rainbow?” Applejack asked. “Should we dare ask her to come with us?”

Twilight thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. “She's been through so much. Let's just let her rest here. Whatever it is that Celestia has to tell us, we'll just pass the information along when we get back.” The rest of them nodded as they dispersed, getting ready for the trip to Canterlot.

The train ride to Canterlot was silent. Not that there wasn't noise going on all around them. In fact, the chatter seemed to be upped a level in the wake of the recent development of there being no visible sun in the sky. That was the topic of choice for just about every pony on that train, aside from a few ponies concentrating on work-related matters and the Elements, who weren't saying anything to anypony at all.

They all had close to the same thoughts running through their minds though. What were they to do now? What kind of strength could Nightmare Moon have gained from the dark ritual that brought her back into this world with her new physical body? What did she even look like now? How would life change without the sun?

And what was up with Celestia calling them to Canterlot all of a sudden? The Princess requesting meetings with them was hardly out of the ordinary, granted, but having visitors wasn't exactly common either. And the way that Celestia described it in her letter, these were very important visitors. Twilight could tell by the tone of the letter, which Celestia herself had said she hadn't had a reason to use for quite some time. So this was guaranteed to be very important.

These were the thoughts that occupied their minds. Twilight had barely bothered to look around at the other ponies in the car with them since she got on. Before she had boarded the train, she had waved at Derpy, who seemed very happy to see her- though, she was usually happy to see everypony. That was just her personality. She had somepony with her that Twilight didn't at first recognize, a blue-coated pony with varying hues of blue in her mane and tail. She hadn't thought about it at all, assuming it was one of her friends or maybe someone who had just started working at the Ponyville post office that Derpy was in charge of.

Her mind was on things vastly more important than who Derpy's new friend was.

The train ride seemed to pass in no time at all. She barely heard the train stop, but when the announcer called out that they had arrived in Canterlot, she shook the cobwebs out of her head and stood up. The others followed suit, and they deboarded the train.

It didn't take long for them to make it to the Canterlot castle from the train station. Right before Twilight was to open the door to the castle, though, she stopped suddenly.

“What's the matter, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Do you feel that?” Twilight asked. They all stopped for a moment. Sure enough, there was an aura of power in the air. Power that none of them had ever felt before. Whoever these visitors were, they had power beyond their imagination at their disposal.

Which only led to Twilight wondering again... Who were these visitors?

Twilight pushed the door open and they all entered, the door closing on its own behind them. They went from there into the Royal Hall, where Celestia usually entertained her guests. The door was already open; they were expecting them, after all. As Twilight rounded the corner, she was able to see the first glimpse of the visitors to Canterlot, and she let out an involuntary gasp.

What she saw standing beside Celestia were two beings of immense height- the tip of Celestia's horn only came up to about their midsection. They looked about like regular ponies looked, but their bodies were almost completely clad in a dulled iron armor, with menacing-looking spikes protruding out in places. Atop their heads sat helms of the same metal, with three spikes jutting out from the top.

Their eyes were visible: red in color, with gold irises. Twilight was absolutely stunned. Nopony that she had ever met had looked as such.

She looked over to her friends, who had seen these beings as well, and they looked much the same as she thought she might have looked at that point: apprehensive, scared, nervous beyond belief. Twilight looked back at them and then to Celestia, then continued walking up to them. Her friends followed suit, keeping close to her.

When she was a few yards away from them, she bowed to them in the traditional Canterlot style, and her friends did so as well.

“I am glad to see you all here,” Celestia said. “Well, not all of you...” Twilight knew that she was referring to Rainbow Dash.

“I will not keep our visitors waiting while I divulge these details,” Twilight said, straightening up, “but just suffice it to know that Rainbow is alive and in our care. I will give you the other details of how and why after our meeting.” Celestia's eyes widened at this news, but she gave no other reaction than a nod to Twilight.

Twilight turned to her visitors. “Welcome to Equestria. My name is-”

The being closest to Celestia curtly cut her off. He spoke in a voice similar in tone and force to the Royal Canterlot Voice, though not with as many decibels behind it. “I know who you are, Twilight Sparkle. What I do not know, is why you have allowed the Wretched One to escape back into this world.”

Twilight assumed she menant Nightmare Moon. “We tried to stop the ritual that was to bring her back, but-”

“You did not do enough.”

His words stung her at her very core. She fought back a tear. “Who are you, anyways? Celestia did not tell us who you were in her letter.”

“That was at my behest. Our individual names do not need to be known. Celestia tells us that you are a very well-read pony.” Upon seeing Twilight nod in confirmation, he continued: “Tell me. In any of your studies, have you ever read anything about the Hellas Army?”

Twilight racked her brain for a few moments, then slowly shook her head. “I have not heard anything about them. Is that a bad thing?”

“Not necessarily. Your Canterlot records probably would not have anything about us in them, anyways. Once we were banished to Tartarus almost ten thousand years ago, the deity who ruled this land before Celestia was named her predecessor wiped all knowledge of us from the Royal Archives.”

They were all very confused at this. “Why did they try to make everypony forget about you?” Twilight asked.

“That is neither here nor there,” the being stated matter-of-factly. “What does matter now, is that we are here, and we are not happy. Once very long ago, we fought Nightmare Moon, and if it weren't for outside interference, we would have had her right where we wanted her, to take her out for good. As it stood, she escaped, and Princess Celestia's predecessor imprisoned us in Tartarus under the pretenses of us raising an army against her to overthrow the government.”

This made absolutely no sense to Twilight. Why would they just imprison the ones who helped fight against Nightmare to begin with? And for that matter, why wouldn't she want everyone to know that they were on their side? Why try to turn opinions against them?

“Who was the outside interference, if you don't mind my asking?”

“We did not have the chance to find that out before our imprisonment. Since then, we have received very little news of the outside world, so that information is still beyond our reach. We are here now, though, and we seek retribution for this act against us. Celestia was not in power then, so we are not here to get revenge on her. It was not her fault that this happened to us.”

“So you want our help in this?” Rarity asked.

“We demand your assistance, yes. And you are not in a position to refuse.”

“We would not refuse you to begin with,” Twilight assured him. “We want Nightmare Moon to be defeated just as much as you do-”

“Not defeated. Killed. Eradicated completely and entirely from existence, with no way for her to come back into this world ever.”

Twilight nodded. “Your desires do not go against ours. We do not wish to ever see Nightmare in this world again, just like you.” She looked at Celestia, who had an odd expression on her face, which Twilight knew about from other royal meetings with visitors that she had attended. “There's something you're not telling us, isn't there?”

The being leveled his gaze at Twilight, and she could feel raw energy emanating from him, and it almost drove her straight to her knees. “You and the other Elements have had two chances to defeat Nightmare Moon once and for all, and both times you have failed. This is completely unacceptable. If it were simply up to us, we would not give you this third chance. However, Celestia has assured us that you are capable of aiding us in hunting down and destroying Nightmare Moon, and thus we have extended this offer to you.”

“We won't let you down,” Twilight said with staunch assurance.

His next words chilled them all to the very core. “I know you will not fail in this effort. You cannot afford to. You have six days to find Nightmare and wipe her from the face of existence. If you do not... Then the Hellas Army will do the same to Equestria. Your entire land will fall before us, and there will be nothing that anypony can do to stop us- not even your precious Elements.”

The next thing they knew, an unseen force flung them out of the room, into the hallway outside. The doors to the Hall closed, leaving them staring at a wood as blank as their faces in the wake of the Army's terrible pronouncement.

Day 1: To Slaughter the Sorrow

Twilight gazed around her, the loud thud of the Royal Hall doors shutting behind her still echoing dully throughout her senses. It seemed to the others that she was acting as though she had just awoken from a long, deep sleep, or had been walking in a trance for a very long time and had only just found the mental fortitude to snap herself out of it.

The shock of the situation had gotten to them all. They had just been dealt some serious, grave news. Six days. That’s all the time they had.

“This don’t make no sense,” Applejack stated. “None of this does.” She turned to Twilight, who still had that vacant expression on her face. “You’ve read a ton of books in your life, haven’t you? Who were those… things? The Whatever Army? Have you ever read anything about them?”

This seemed to be the magic ticket that brought Twilight back to her senses. She blinked once, twice, then swiveled her head and focused her gaze on Applejack. She thought for a minute, then replied. “Not much, I’m afraid. I’ve been through the entire Royal Archives throughout my stay as Celestia’s royal student, and in all my studies I’ve yet to read about more than a mention of them.”

“What was the mention, then?” asked Fluttershy.

“Well, in I believe it was The History of Great Equestria Volume IX, there was a very brief- probably less than a page long- section describing an army of great power that had once been native to Equestria, and had been what was essentially Equestria’s standing army in case of invasion from any nations who decided they had a problem with Equestria.”

“Was there any sort of mention of Nightmare Moon in that text?” Applejack asked.

Twilight racked her brain trying to remember. “Nothing that I can recall, which is what concerned me at that point in time. Their role in the story, so to speak, just abruptly ended. I believe there was mention of Celestia’s predecessor, Princess Astra, and that she had not been very supportive of the role that the Army had played in Equestria. It didn’t make mention of what role she had in their removal from the nation, just that they had come to a mutual agreement for them not to ‘interfere’ in Equestrian matters anymore.”

“It didn’t sound too mutual, from the tone that they used,” Rarity remarked.

“No, it didn’t… Which is why I’m rather confused as to what the real reason for their banishment was. And if it truly did have to do with Nightmare Moon and their failure to defeat him, then what does that say about Princess Astra? I mean, just because they failed once, doesn’t mean they couldn’t regroup or something and try to go against her again. Why did she banish them to Tartarus without allowing them a second chance to defeat her?”

“I don’t know,” Applejack replied, “but it looks like they think we are their second chance.”

“We do have the Elements after all,” Twilight acknowledged, “but we couldn’t even kill her with the Elements the last time.”

“We also weren’t trying to kill her,” Rarity reminded her. “We were only trying to drive the spirit out of Princess Luna. Death was not on our mind. Really, it never is.”

“I think that was our problem” said Twilight. “We were too narrow-minded. We weren’t trying to come up with a permanent solution to the problem- only a temporary one. And that’s come back to bite us in the flank.”

They walked out of the castle, silent at Twilight’s last words. They had unwittingly put themselves in the exact same predicament that the Hellas Army had put themselves into almost ten thousand years previous. Granted, Twilight and the other Elements hadn’t been banished to Tartarus for failing to destroy Nightmare Moon, but their actions had allowed her to continue to exist, and now she had come back. Who knows what she was planning now that she had once again reconstituted her physical form-

“Wait a second!” Twilight exclaimed, stopping suddenly a few feet outside the castle doors. “I just thought of something.”

“What’s that, darling?”

“Well, think about it. If the Hellas Army really has the ability to raze all of Equestria to the ground, how did they get banished to Tartarus? Couldn’t they have just used their powers to, erm, “convince” Princess Astra that exiling them was not the wisest course of actions for her to take?”

“And for that matter, if they really could turn Equestria into an eternal wasteland, how were they not able to defeat Nightmare Moon? Shouldn’t beings with that much power available to them have been more than capable of dispatching one pony-spirit-thing?”

Twilight thought for a moment. “It may be possible that back then, their power was not as great as it is now. Ten thousand years is a long time for anyone with power- magical or otherwise- to hone their craft, or even just let their powers advance naturally.”

“Plus,” Fluttershy added, “we don’t know anything about Princess Astra. What was her role in all of this?”

This threw Twilight off. “Are you saying that Princess Astra could have had a hoof in the Army’s not being able to defeat Nightmare Moon? Why in Equestria would any royalty want a being as evil as Nightmare Moon running around unchecked?”

This question perplexed all of them. Equestrian royalty had long been tasked with keeping the populace safe from harm. It was the reason why the Royal Guard had been established, along with keeping the royalty themselves safe.

“This is something that definitely merits further study,” Twilight continued. “But how are we going to-” And then the answer came to her. “There has to be something in the Royal Archives that can help us with this. I’m not entirely sure about how, but we really don’t have much of a choice now. We have to take any avenue that we possibly can. There’s no other option. We can’t play this one safe.”

“Let’s go back to Ponyville first, though,” Rarity replied. “We need Rainbow for this one.” She yawned. “And we should probably rest for a bit while we’re there. I understand how important this is, but we’re not going to be as effective poring over dusty, ancient tomes if we’re too tired to read straight.”

It was as though her words triggered something in Twilight; before this, she had been feeling wide awake. Now, though, it seemed as though every bit of strength had just been sapped out of her. She nodded sleepily. “We can rest a bit on the train ride back to Ponyville, and then we’ll take a proper rest when we get back to Golden Oaks.” They all agreed to this, and began to head back to the Canterlot train station.

A few hours later, they stumbled back into the library, bleary-eyed and groggy. As hard as they had tried to rest on the train ride back, sleep had almost nearly eluded them, despite their beliefs that they would fall into near-comas as soon as their eyes had closed. They had finally fallen asleep though, but only for about half an hour before the train arrived back in Ponyville.

As soon as they closed the door, Rainbow walked in from the kitchen. Her expression was pretty close to what they felt their own looked like.

“Did you not sleep well either?” Twilight asked, coming close to slurring her words a bit.

Rainbow shook her head. “And this, coming from the pony who can nap literally anywhere. It’s like there’s something… ominous in the air. I just couldn’t get to sleep.” She yawned rather hard. “So… how did it go there? What did Princess Celestia want with you all?”

Twilight swallowed hard. She did not want to have to bring such dire news back to her friend, not after everything that she had endured over the past weeks. However, it would have been a huge disservice to her, considering she was part of the Elements as well. She would be just as necessary as the others in bringing this whole thing to a close. So, Twilight steeled herself and told Rainbow everything.

The expression on Rainbow’s face changed as Twilight explained what had taken place. At first, her eyes widened. Then her jaw slowly became unhinged, becoming more and more gaped as Twilight went on. Finally, when she told her about the final verdict given by the Army, Rainbow let out an involuntary gasp.

“Wait wait, so let me get this straight,” Rainbow said when Twilight had indicated that she was finished. “So we only have six days to do this? When the Elements haven’t been able to fully finish her off before, and not even when this Hellas Army couldn’t do it in what? Ten thousand years? And now that they have all this power, why not just go after her themselves? Why are they dragging us into this?”

“I think they are going to be helping, but probably more in a behind-the-scenes way. They want us to do all the dirty work. Though I don’t know how we’re going to be more effective than they are. From the power level that I felt in the room, they are some seriously powerful beings. I don’t think the Elements could put a dent in them, if they weren’t on our side.”

Rainbow sighed. “Why is this happening…? Why did Nightmare Moon have to come back?”

Twilight didn’t try to offer her an answer for this. She didn’t even know the answer, herself. Her gaze wandered around the library. She went through a mental checklist of all the books she had in her collection, trying to think of a single title that could help them figure out what to do.

She walked over to the far-left bookshelf and used her magic to grab a book from one of the topmost shelves. She went over to her study section and sat down, setting the book in front of her and beginning to leaf through the pages.

“What ya got there?” Pinkie asked, bounding over to her.

“It’s my own copy of The History of Great Equestria Volume IX. Princess Celestia gave me the entire 24-volume set shortly after I became her student. I used to read through these books obsessively. It was my opinion that if I was to become the best student Celestia ever had, I had to first know about whose hoofsteps I was following in.” She flipped to a section a little over halfway in, then began to read. A few moments later, she frowned.

“This can’t be right,” she muttered. “I must be in the wrong section.” She flipped back to the beginning of the chapter, then began to peruse its contents. Once she reached the end of the chapter, she scowled and continued on to the next.

“What’s wrong, darling?” Rarity asked.

“I know that this is the chapter in the book I read in the Royal Archives that mentioned the Hellas Army,” Twilight replied almost absentmindedly, “but in this copy, there’s absolutely no mention of them at all. It’s as though they never existed.” While still reading, she magic-ed volumes seven and eight over to her, as well as volume ten. Once she had satisfied herself in volume 9, she went through the other three volumes at a blinding pace, her expression becoming more and more annoyed and confused.

She finished a few minutes later, and sighed. “There’s nothing. Nothing at all in any of these volumes about the Hellas Army. And I know for a fact that they’re older than a few hundred years. That’s as far back as the beginning of volume seven goes, is about 300 years before the period of time that was chronicled in that section of volume nine that I’d read.”

“So if what they were saying about Celestia’s predecessor- Astral, or whatever her name was- is true, then maybe the books you have were even more whitewashed than the copies that are in the Royal Archives.” There was a knock at the door just then, and Applejack excused herself to go see who it was.

Twilight thought of something just then. She turned to Rainbow. “Where’s Spike?” she asked.

“Upstairs sleeping,” Rainbow replied. “I’ve been up there a few times to check on him. It’s weird, though. I haven’t heard any sort of noise the entire time. He hasn’t come down to get snacks or anything. He’s just been sleeping the whole time.”

Twilight frowned. Spike was normally a rather heavy sleeper, but he was still a growing dragon, and she could remember multiple times when he would get up in the middle of the night to get food because he woke up hungry. Still though, she tried to not put too much stock in that. She didn’t want to get worked up over something that would turn out to be nothing. She had way too much big stuff on her plate to be worrying about the small stuff too.

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I’m not exactly an expert on baby dragons. I think it may have something to do with the fact that it’s consistent night outside though. Spike normally sleeps all the way through the night, and only wakes up when I make noise waking up in the morning. Now that there is no morning, his body might just be telling him he needs to sleep more because it’s not daytime yet.”

“This is probably heaven for him then,” Applejack joked as she walked back in. She was not the only one who came in, though. Twilight saw additional movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see who it was.

“Oh hi Derpy,” Twilight said, trying to manage what she hoped managed for a passing smile. “What brings you over here today? Do you have a package for me?”

Derpy nodded. “It came into the post office last night and I completely forgot about it until this morning. Sonata- she just started working at the office a few weeks ago as my assistant- reminded me about it when we got in this morning- well, as much of a morning as it is, with there being no light- and I figured I’d get it to you while I still had it on my mind.” She nudged it in Twilight’s direction.

Twilight levitated it over towards her. “Sonata, right, you said her name was? Was that the pony I saw you with earlier when we were at the train station?”

Derpy nodded. “Sonata Dusk, her full name is. She lives in Canterlot, so she has to take the train in to work every day. I meet her over there so she doesn’t get lonely on the trip from the train station to the office. She’s really nice. Rather quiet, but that’s fine with me.”

Twilight opened the package, and felt a genuine, unforced smile cross her face. “Oh wow, this is the book Zecora said she was going to send me! Potions and You, Volume XIII! This is the last one in the set, and I’d been looking for it for forever!” Her smile dwindled quickly, though. “I wonder how Zecora is doing… She must have made it back to the Everfree Forest safely, right?”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Pinkie replied. “She’s a tough zebra. She can hold her own.” She didn’t sound a hundred percent sure of herself, though, and Twilight knew why. Who knew what Equestria would be like now that Nightmare Moon was back to full power?

Something occurred to her just then, and she turned to Derpy. “Say, Derps. Whatever happened to that old friend of yours? The one that you always used to be around before he just up and disappeared from Ponyville?”

“Oh, you mean Time Turner? I don’t quite know where he went. He said he had to go home for something, and that it was really important. He left me a rose before he left. It’s beautiful. I’ve been taking really good care of it…”

“Isn’t he like some kind of really smart pony? Maybe he’s got something in his writings or inventions or something that can help us with beating Nightmare Moon?”

Twilight thought about it for a minute. The more she mulled over it, the more it made sense to her. “I’m not exactly sure what he could have that could help us, but I did say that we would take any road that even felt like it could lead us to our proper destination, right? Plus, when I was over there interviewing him for that book I was doing on Ponyville’s citizens, I saw an awful lot of gadgets in his living room. It could just be that he’s got something that can help us.” She looked at Derpy. “Are you sure you don’t know when he’s going to be back?”

Derpy thought for a second. “I’m pretty sure he didn’t say when. I do have a key to his house, though. We can go over there later and see if there’s anything that catches your eye.”

“You have a key to his house?” Rarity asked, a bit askance.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Derpy asked. “I’m his companion. We’re practically inseparable, when I’m not at work and he’s not off doing some grandiose experiment. He’s really great with Dinky; they get along incredibly well.”

“I’m sure you two are great together,” Twilight said, cutting off any headway the conversation could have made. “That’s not remotely what we’re here for, though. When do you think we can head over there and check things out? We’re all incredibly tired, and I’d really love to get a nap in before anything major happens.”

“I’ll stop by after I get off work,” Derpy replied. “I have to get back to the office anyways. See you all later!” She walked out the still-open door and flapped her wings a few times before taking off into the air.

Twilight turned to the others and let out a massive yawn that she’d been suppressing the entire time Derpy had been over. “We really need to try to get some rest.” The others agreed and dispersed to various places around the library.

As it turned out, their exhaustion had finally taken more of a toll on them than their bodies could handle. Within a few minutes, they were all fast asleep, completely dead to the world around them.

A few hundred leagues away from the Golden Oaks Library, though, an entirely different scene was playing out.

Nightmare Moon’s ears were burning. Someone was talking about her, and rather fiercely as well. She could almost tell that it was the Elements. No doubt plotting her very demise. She laughed to herself. There was nothing that they could do about it now. She was far too powerful in her new body.

She looked down at the thought of her new body. She scowled at her appearance; it was far from being the sleek body that she had been expecting when the ritual had taken place. It was a pony they were using for the sacrifice, after all, so shouldn’t it have been a pony body that she was in?

That was unfortunately (for her) not the case, though. Her body was similar to her old form, but it did have some very… Changeling-esque aspects to it as well. The body structure was very similar to a Changeling’s structure, and she could almost feel as though there were supposed to be holes in her legs similar to a Changeling’s legs, though fortunately enough her legs were hole-free for the time being. Her horn was also shaped differently from normal; it was the regular length, but it was shaped similarly to a Changeling’s horn. This gave it the aspect of looking tacked-on, as though whoever had created the body had made a mistake in making the horn and accidentally formed it too long, but still slapped it on and just hoped that nopony would notice the error.

The doors to Chrysalis’ royal hall opened, and Chrysalis entered the room. She wore an expression of disgust and angst, though this was how she had looked the entire time since the ritual had finished. One of her most trusted Guard members- Adriu, she thought his name was- had not been seen since the ritual, and Chrysalis was beginning to fear the worst.

Chrysalis stepped up to the royal throne as the doors finished shutting behind her. “My spy has returned from Canterlot, and he brings very dire news.”

“How dire?” Nightmare asked, in a tone that suggested that the news being brought wasn’t very dire at all.

“Celestia has visitors in her Royal Hall as we speak. Something about an Army from way back when-”

Nightmare laughed, and it echoed throughout the chamber. “The Hellas Army? They’re still around? Last I heard, they had been banished to Tartarus for failing to kill me.” She smirked. “Dear old Princess Astra… She was a good pony, but she had no idea how to run a country. Her or her sister, Princess Maenon.”

Chrysalis had heard Nightmare speak of Celestia and Luna’s predecessors, and she knew of the disdain she held for them. She wasn’t quite keen on hearing of this again, so she headed Nightmare off. “Are you concerned about their return?”

Nightmare scoffed. “Like I said, they couldn’t beat me the first time. And unlike the Elements, they weren’t just out to drive me out of Luna’s body. They were out for blood. Murder. And they couldn’t do it.” She glanced at a large ancient-looking clock face that was positioned at the head of the Hall. “It’s almost time, Chrysalis. We need to prepare.”

“Prepare for what?” Chrysalis asked.

Nightmare smiled a glowering smile at her. “We’re going to take a trip to Canterlot. It’s about time our new subjects met their Queen and their God in person.”