The Ponyville ponies immediately bowed at the sight of their princess, as did Skylar and Adara. Their friends, however, stood there, unsure what to do.
"Umm...who are you?" Sophie asked, finally breaking the silence.
The royal alicorn smiled at her and replied, "My name is Celestia, and, as well as being Twilight's teacher, I am one of the princesses who rules this land."
The friends looked at each other, and slowly bowed to her. Celestia smiled again and said, "There's no need for that."
All the ponies stood up to face her, and Twilght said, "I haven't told them anything yet about why they are here; I thought I should wait for you, since you are the reason why they're here."
"You!" Garnet shouted. Everyone turned towards her; Adara's face fell. She knew her friend was capable of when she was angry - she just hoped it won't reach that.
"You're the reason why we were taken from our homes, from our own world, and turned into colourful ponies? Why the hell would you do that? How did you do that? What have we ever done to you?" she exclaimed angrily, slowly walking closer to Celestia.
"Allow me explain-"
"Yeah, you better explain, and it better be a good reason too!"
The princess sighed and closed her eyes. She began to pace around the room while saying, "There is a great darkness moving through Equestria. I have only seen it once before - before the Nightmare Moon incident and before my sister and I defeated Discord. We were leaders of a few rebel ponies rising up against Discord. The creature came from outside Equestria. When Discord heard about our plans to overthrow him, he allowed this creature into our country to wreak havoc amongst those who were rising against him. Of course, it did its job, but killing other innocent ponies as well. My sister and I knew that it must be stopped, and we thought of harnessing the power of the Elements of Harmony to destroy it. But the Elements were not enough. We needed a more powerful source of magic. There was only one thing more powerful than the Elements of Harmony - the Bindings of Hope. We searched for them far and wide for many years. We were out of ideas when 8 brave ponies came forth, with powers of their own. They were the Bindings of Hope, just like Twilight and her friends are the Elements of Harmony. Using their powers and the power of the Elements, only then were we able to subdue this creature.
"But again, it was stronger than we initially thought. We were not able to destroy it - only weaken it. During the battle, the 8 ponies that bravely stood up were weaken terribly. When the creature made its final bid of freedom, they used the last of their strength to insure its failure. Of course, they were so exhausted by their extended use of their powers that when Discord, angry at them due to the failure of his plan, attacked them, they were unable to defend themselves. They were sent far away, to a completely different world, where they were unable to return.
"They carried out their new lives - made homes, families, friends - in their new world, and eventually died peacefully at a reasonable age. They passed on their powers to their children, and passed it to theirs and so on and so forth. But over the years, their genes became...diluted. Only a few of their descendants now have the ability to harness the power of the Bindings, and their existence was, until recently, unknown.
"Now that this creature is back and moving across Equestria once more, we not only need the Elements of harmony, but also the Bindings of Hope. After much study and careful checking, I have discovered the identities and whereabouts of the descendants of the original Bindings of Hope." The Princess stopped pacing and looked up at the 8 ponies. "And they are standing right in front of me."