//------------------------------// // The everfree offensive // Story: Concealed darkness // by Neobreaker10 //------------------------------// Chapter 8 ========== The everfree offensive ========== Back at everfrees entrance Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash waited for Twilight and the princesses. “Here they come” Pinkie shouted, pointing to the east. Twilight trotted up to them with the princesses close behind. “Did you find anything?” Rainbow asked inquisitively. “There wasn’t much on the nightmares, but I think if we can all combine our power we can use the celestial array spell and defeat Nightmare Blade” Twilight answered confidently. “Excuse me” Luna interrupted, “have you forgot about the nightmares power?” she tried cautioning everypony, “Saber may just be a more powerful breed, even if I still were-” Luna was once again cut off by Celestia, “I told you that you were never one of them!” she scolded Luna in a gentle fashion, “but we won’t worry about that now”. Twilight started to relay her plan to everypony, “alright, here’s the plan. We stick together until we reach his stronghold, when we get there we will split up and search the place. It is likely Saber will be in the throne room but we need to deal with the stone alicorn first along with anypony else who has turned” she finished, “now Rainbow”, “yeah?” she replied. “Where is their fortress?” Twilight asked. “it will be very hard to run into, but I found an old stone slab with some writing on it in the old castle ruins”, “excellent” Twilight exclaimed, “what did it say”. “It said “a bridge broken only crossable by those who have traversed fire” she spoke out what the tablet said. “I may know what it is saying” Celestia pointed out “but it’s risky, Nightmare obviously planned for this”. Twilight asked “how do we access the fortress?” Celestia sighed, “Alright, it means to open a gate so we can bypass his dark power one of us will have to go through Tartarus”. Everypony stood there and stared at Celestia, none too sure what to say. After all, Tartarus is even worse everfree and the only known entrance was smack dab in the middle of the ruins. Twilight sighed then straightened her neck, “I’ll go” she exclaimed. “Very well” Celestia replied, “I will teleport you to where the entrance is, after that you will have to continue on your own”. Her horn shimmered in a bright yellow light which enveloped Twilight, “make it back soon” Pinkie commented while waving with a worried expression on her face, Twilight nodded then vanished. “Now that she is doing her job we might as well go to Nightmares fortress” Rarity suggested, “now then, Rainbow darling, which way is the fortress?”, “this way, follow me!” Rainbow called as she flew into the forest with everypony right behind her. “Ooh” Twilight groaned as she opened her eyes. She was used to teleporting but this was the first time she had been by somepony else. “Alright, it should be nearby” She remarked looking around. She started with the entryway but slowly worked her way through the ruins until she finally reached the last area she could look; it was right where Nightmare moon fell, and where she was nearly killed by Saber. She shuddered, this was the third time she had been here and trust me, she was no more fond of it than the first time. “Well, if it is here then that must mean that the stone alicorn has been using Tartarus as a shortcut between areas” she thought aloud. She worked her way to the back of the room and prodded around with her magic. “It has to be somewhere” she thought, no sooner had she said this than her magic hit an area which started to ripple and pulse, eventually opening into a portal. Twilight stepped back to recollect on what she was about to do. “Well” she gulped, “here goes” and she trotted into the portal, but what she was in for at the other side was something nopony could guess.