Six

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.