Return of The Six

A/N: Sorry about the wait, Tgiving break and a wedding or two. The song link is my inspiration, not really anything else... Go check out my other story, an Infamous crossover!

The throne room had been closed off to all but the closest of Celestia's advisers and generals. Of her three generals, only one was actually present, with the unicorn and pegasus generals witnessing the gathering by way of a far-seeing spell. Celestia sat on her throne, the six stone statues behind her un-moving, as the last of the ponies she had called for entered the chamber. Around her, in a circle, sat the rest of her council, save the one who had just entered. As he took a seat, she began.

"My little ponies, welcome to the court. Before anything is said, I must speak. Long ago, ponies from all walks of life had banded together to defeat the evil known as Discord. While my sister, Luna, and I did actually encase him in stone, we were not the real 'heroes' of that war. We did not fight, like some of the ponies did. We simply dealt the finishing blow. Now, you may or may not heard of the 'Tale of the Six'. There were six, highly skilled soldiers of the highest order and class. They were the archetypes of justice, and were the best six generals I have ever had."

The ponies had now begun to listen intently, as there just happened to be six statues, of generals passed, sitting behind the throne.

"They were the ones who fought back the Chaos armies, leading the army of ponies to combat. This is, until now, the greatest war pony-kind has ever been in. They pushed the armies of Chaos back to Discord's very stronghold, in the far south, and eventually stormed his chaotic palace. This is where the story draws away from the actual event. The story says that they perished in the fight, buying my sister and I enough time to deal the finishing blow with the Elements. This is incorrect."

The listeners now sat, stock-still. Most ponies were told the 'Tale of the Six' when they were children, and it was drilled into all guards as the perfect soldiers, paragon fighters, courageous generals, willing to give their lives for pony-kind. To know that they had been lied to all this time...

"Now, before you reply, let me explain. They survived the last fight without serious injury, and recovered well. However, they were not ponies for a time of peace, they were warriors. They knew how to fight, no more, and they told me this. I understood, and I did them a favor. Look behind me and see..."

The ponies looked once again at the amazingly life-like statues of the six generals of old... and it clicked.

The room froze. Not a sound was made, not even a released breath.

A hoof slowly raised into the air, like a child taking blame for something bad.

"Princess Celestia... do you mean to say that the Six are encased in stone and are currently sitting behind your throne?" The pony squeaked out his question.

"Yes."

The hoof lowered as slowly as it had went up. The room stayed silent.

Then voices broke out all at once, some in outrage, some in fear, some in amazement. Questions from all but the three generals were shot out at the Princess like arrows at a target.

Celestia flinched at the noise, and then raised a hoof into the air. The room fell silent once more.

"Once question at time, please."

Hooves shot into the air.

"So the plan is to break them out and then use them in the war?"

"Yes. I will remove them as soon as I can to allow them time to get used to moving again."

The throne had been removed from the center of the room, and the back half of the room was empty, save for six statues and the princess. She stood calmly, six stone orbs orbiting her head. To her right, an enormous red earth pony, one of her generals, stood. He was an apple farmer-turned-soldier who had moved up through the ranks quickly. He had a level-head and clever mind, well-fit for command. To her left stood a medium sized unicorn mare. She was the head of the Healers' guild, a guild devoted to the practice of medicine and healing.

"Everypony, stay back. I am going to undo the enchantments and free the Six. Please give me, and more importantly them, space, so that they can get used to their surroundings."

In the room, there was nearly a grand total of thirty ponies, including Celestia herself. Around the room, some took a few steps back, and others a little more, all wary of the magical discharge that the Elements of Harmony could produce.

The stone spheres began to orbit at a faster pace, now blurring into what appeared to be a single grey blur. As they reached a point where instead of a blur, they seemed to be in a single place at once, each revolution completing in the exact same time as it takes for the eye to send a picture to the brain, they lit up. Each orb turned a different color of the rainbow, creating the effect of a rainbow halo around the Princess's head. The light seemed to be attracted to her horn, and as it gathered near it's base, the lights began to crawl up the natural curve of Princess Celestia's horn. Her brow furrowed in concentration as the light's crept their way up, closing in on each-other at the tip. As they joined together, the rainbow of energy refracted into six others, all full rainbows in their own right, and linked themselves to the six statues.

Celestia's body shuddered as magical backlash coursed through it, and she winced. The beams faltered for a moment, as if about to dissipate, but regained coherence a moment later.

The pressure seemed to build as more and more energy was put into the spell. Curls and wisps of uncontrolled magic arched around the six beams, like solar flares around the fiery sun, but Celestia held firm.

Suddenly, the magic cut off. The Elements stopped orbiting, and their lights went dark. The room was silent as Celestia stood, regally, slightly out of breath.

*crack*

Then, the cracks began to show. A spiderweb of cracks appeared on each of the statues, all at the same time in the same place. Not a single pony moved.

*crack* *crack*

More cracks began to appear, as flakes of stone and powdered rock began puffing around each as they showed. The cracks widened, and chips of stone began to break off the imprisoned stallions. As one, the rock around all the six began to crumble, exposing armor, fur, and soon the entire bodies of the six generals, ready for war, as their prisons were destroyed and bodies brought back to the land of the living.

A dusty haze blocked the Six from scrutiny, however, one, the unicorn with the quarterstaff, seemed to know what had happened. He began to move, his stiff bones creaking and popping, muscles stretching. He stepped down from the pedestal he was on, nearly fell, and caught himself on his staff. His head lifted, and he surveyed the crowd before his eyes latched onto the princess. He stepped forwards on an unsteady hoof, shaking. He took another step, and then another, and then finally seemed to level out. He continued walking, and his steps brought him closer to the princess, his staff hovering over his shoulders. After a hushed silence and a few steps, the dust seemed to clear and his crimson body came into sight. It was covered in a dull green robe, and he seemed to be unarmored. His face was screwed up in concentration, and he seemed to be in pain.

His steps brought him directly in front of the princess, and his cutie mark became apparent. It was a puff of flame (imagine the sort of curls used to depict breath out of a persons mouth, like the number 6 sideways, but all fire-y). His eyes betrayed a sort of intelligence only present in the brightest, and a self-confident smirk which made one believe he had an answer for everything.

He stopped in front of the princess, and looked up into her face, matching her gaze.

"Well hello princess, you haven't aged a day, I see."

Her voice cracked and she responded. "Arhim, it's been far longer. I'd say the same about you, but I haven't been frozen in stone for quite the time." Her voice lowered. "And besides, you and your brothers always were good friends to me. I've missed you all..."

Arhim winced at an unseen pain and spoke again. "Really? I couldn't tell." His face turned into a lopsided grin, one she knew all too well. "I'm just going to... go to sleep for a sec-" His eyes rolled up in his head and his body went limp. As he collapsed, his body was caught in a soft white glow, and ponies suddenly rushed forwards.