It's been a few minutes, and Twilight was still trying to process what she was reading. "Uhhhhhh," was the most intelligent thing she could say. I'm not sure what's worse: That I'm Celestia's daughter, Cadence is part changeling, or that Galaxy is my cousin and is quite literally in my head.

I'm going with the last one, Nightmare said over the mental link, though that may be a little biased.

I'm going with the first, Luna said, even if she was sealed in Nightmare's body and was only a second personality at the moment. She could have told you, and me, after you, well, became a princess. I'm beginning to think I should side with you all now, though that's still uncertain.

I'm actually leaning towards the Cadence angle. I can see her wanting to keep it a secret before the wedding, but after, she should ay least know one of her parents was one, Twilight said. On the bright side, we could use this to recruit her.

Possibly, Nightmare said. I would recommend you get out now. I do not know how much longer I can stall Celestia.

Right, Twilight replied as she made a duplicate of the book, an exact one, mind you, and placed it where the original was, and, with the original in her grasp, teleported to her room.

. . .

Twilight appeared in her room in a flash of light. She looked around to see if there was anypony in there for some reason, and was relieved when she didn't see anything out of the ordinary, she hid the journal in her covers, and went to get Rarity and Chrysalis. She exited her room, and bumped into Rainbow. "Oh, hey, Rainbow," she said.

Glaring with suspicion, Rainbow said, "Hey, Twi. What've you been up to?"

"Oh, not much. I visited my parents earlier, then I went to the archives to get some books, and I felt like teleporting to my room so that I could get the books set up."

"Oh. Where're you going?"

"Just to see if Rarity's done with a secret project, and no, Dash, you can't see it until it's done," Twilight said. You'd try to stop it, anyway, she thought.

Grumbling, Rainbow said, "Why would I want to see something Rarity made. I mean, she's a good friend, but she's a little hung up on fashion."

"Not any more," Twilight whispered to herself, though Rainbow could hear, but pretended not to, and it only made her more suspicious. "So, what are you up to?"

"Just going to practice some new tricks I came up with," Rainbow said before thinking, Or at least, I was. Somethings going on. I htink Princess Celestia needs to know. "Well, see ya later, Twi," Rainbow said, turning in the direction to the gardens, which, fortunately, had a route to the throne room as well.

As Rainbow left, Twilight was starting to fear if Rainbow suspected what was going on. Definitely going to be a problem, she thought as she went to knock on Rarity's door.

A few moments after she knocked, the door opened to reveal Rarity. "Oh, hello, Twilight. What can I do for you?"

"There's something I need to show you, but first, do you know where she is. You know, the guard?" she asked in reference to Chrysalis.

"Oh, her?" Rarity said. "Yes. She's in here, actually," the white unicorn said, moving aside to reveal Chrysalis in her guard form.

"Hello, Twilight," she said, coming to the door. "What is it you wish to tell us?"

"Well, um, that's best talked about in my room, as that already has privacy spells active on it."

"Then what are we waiting for," Rarity said, stepping out of her room. "Let's go." Chrysalis followed her, and the three of them went to Twilight's room. Little did they know, Rainbow was watching them from behind a corner. Just before they closed the door, though, she saw Luna/Nightmare teleport and enter the room. Now she knew something was going on, what with how Twilight had been acting before, as well as the fact only that she, Rarity, Luna, and that Guard were in the room. There were other stuff she had noticed, too, though pretended she didn't. The first was that Twilight's eyes seemed to take on a greenish color, though it was faint. A second thing was that Applejack and Fluttershy bowed slightly when ever Twilight entered a room, or when she asked them to do something, which they hadn't done before. Finally was the fact that, whenever Celestia's name was mentioned, Twilight seemed to get angry for some reason.

Gotta let the princess know she thought as she flew off in the direction of the throne room.

Meanwhile, the four Eclipses were in Twilight's room, two of them waiting to find out what she wanted to show them, the other one knowing what their ally wished to share. "So, what do you want to share with us, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

Twilight brought the journal out from under her sheets and gave it to Rarity and Chrysalis. "Second to last and last pages," she said, and waited until they were done reading, and it was obvious when they were done, as their jaws were on the floor.

"I have no words for my surprise aside from, 'wow'" Rarity said. "Just, wow."

"Agreed," Chrysalis said. The changeling queen then faced Twilight. Do you have anyway of separating Galaxy Star from yourself?"

Just before Twilight could respond, the book she had brought with her from her castle began to vibrate. She took it in her magic and opened. "I do now," she said as she put the book down and cast the spell. As the spell did it's work, the three observers saw a light teal cloud seep out of Twilight's ear and come together on her bed. As the last of the cloud reached the bed, it began to take on a shape. It's form became a pony with a teal coat with a horn and wings. In build, it looked like a mix between Nightmare, her mother, and Twilight, her former host. From what they could see, the alicorn was just as tall as Twilight. Nightmare began to tear up.

"Oh, my daughter, I thought I would never see you again," she sobbed, walking over to her daughter, removing her Luna disguise, and placed a gentle, caring hoof on her daughters face. The others saw her cutie mark, which was a spiral galaxy. Galaxy Star was asleep, to be expected, but her removal from Twilight's body would eventually weaken the sleeping spell Celestia had cast, and she would wake.

Fortunately, though, Nightmare knew of a spell to hasten the awakening of her beloved daughter. She closed her eyes and lit her horn, a small glow encompassing both her horn and her daughters body. After a few seconds, the glow faded, and the light teal alicorn opened her eyes, slowly, mostly due to her getting over the sleep she had just awoken from.

She looked around the room, and her eyes froze on Nightmare. M-mom," she said weakly.

"Yes, Galaxy," Nightmare said, "mom's here. I missed you so much." Nightmare then pulled Galaxy into a much needed hug, which the smaller alicorn returned, though weakly.

"It's been a thousand years, hasn't it," Galaxy said, strength returning to her voice. "Has Celestia been overthrown yet?"

"Unfortunately, my bright Galaxy, no, but that is what we are working towards."

"'We,'" she asked.

"Yes," Nightmare responded. "Me, and the others in this room," she said, gesturing to the others, Rarity in her Nightmare form and Chrysalis in her true form, "are working to overthrow Celestia."

Twilight stepped fore ward, saying, "Uh, hi."

"Hello," Galaxy said.

"Uh, wow this is awkward. My name's Twilight Sparkle, and, well, I'm your cousin."

"One of Celestia's children rebelling against her," Galaxy said, her eyebrow raised. "It's about time."

"What do you mean," Rarity asked.

"Simple. Most of the ponies Celestia put me in were her children, as only ponies that were either half alicorn or a very talented, pure-blooded unicorn would be able to contain me with out dying, and the latter is extremely rare, and my cursed aunt was the only alicorn for most of the thousand years my mother was gone." Galaxy shrugged. "Simple deduction, really." She then looked at Rarity.

"From your appearance, I'd guess that you're a unicorn my mother once possessed, and can switch between that form and your original form." Rarity nodded, amazed that she guessed all that, as the new alicorn turned to Chrysalis.

"Hm. A changeling, a queen, no less. Given she's allied with you, mother, I'd say she's done something to get on Celestia's bad side, as well as quite a large part of the populace?"

"I tried to invade and take over Canterlot," Chrysalis said in a deadpan tone.

"Really? Impressive, even if it didn't work."

With a small bow, Chrysalis said, "Thank you."

"You sure analytical, aren't you," Rarity asked with a slight hint of amusement in her voice.

"Yes, and before you say anything, the irony is not lost on me at all that Twilight, my last host, is like that. That's how I was before Celestia sealed me away."

"Well, that saved a lot of time, didn't it?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, it did," Galaxy said. "I think it goes with out saying that I'm a part of this alliance now, so what's our next move?"

"Tonight, we, hopefully, bring Cadence, my old foalsitter, and current princess of love and ruler of the Crystal Empire, into the alliance," Twilight said with a smile.

"Let me guess: Dreamwalk?"

"Yes," Rarity said.

"Then I'd like to offer my assistance. Three dram walkers will be hard for an alicorn to defeat in their dreams, should it come to combat."

"Galaxy, are you sure you're strong enough for that," Nightmare asked, concern obvious in her voice.

"Yes, I'm sure, mother. I may have just woken up, but we both know I've been a Dream walker whose skill is second only to you."

Sighing, as her daughter was right, Nightmare said, "Then tonight, we will bring another pony into our alliance."

Meanwhile-throne room

Celestia was in the middle of paper work when the doors flung open, revealing Rainbow Dash, taking quick breaths, indicating that she had come here at great speed.

"Rainbow Dash, what's wrong?" Celestia asked, waiting for Rainbow to catch her breath.

After a minute to catch her breath, Rainbow said, "Princess, I need to tell you something, preferably in private. It has to do with Twilight."

Celestia's eyes widened. "Guards, leave us," Celestia ordered. Her guards left the room, and she sealed the throne room door behind them. "Mow, Rainbow, what do you think is wrong with Twilight?"

"I don't think something's wrong with her, I think she is the something!"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, not exactly, but she's been acting weird for the past few weeks, maybe a week and a half. She's bene staying up for entire nights, not studying, and I know, because I ask what she's been reading, and she always responds, 'nothing,' which is something Twilight wouldn't do. Stay up late without a reason I mean, and I know she isn't just downplaying anything, because I had her PINKIE promise that she was telling the truth, and that was after this started.

"In addition to that, Applejack and Fluttershy bow to her, slightly, so that ponies wouldn't notice, but I see her grin slightly when that happens, and it always happens when she asks them for something, or when she walks into the same room. I know what you're thinking, Princess, that it isn't concrete, but there's something else. Twilight's eyes, the whites of them, they're tinted the same green as dark magic."

"Rainbow, what are you saying?"

"In all honesty, I'm not certain myself, but I think Twilight's planning something, and it involves dark magic. Plus, she completely went against being what a princess of friendship entails."

"How so?"

"In short? She called me stupid, insulted my life dream, thinks I'm an attention hog. She even said I was trespassing on a castle that has my cutie mark on a throne, and even threatened to send me to prison. Don't believe me, take a look at my memories!" Rainbow was so worked up, she didn't even care if what she said could be considered an order.

Celestia did so, and was surprised at what she found, and that everything Rainbow had said was there. "You're right. This is dire indeed."

"What do we do?"

"There is only one thing we can do," Celestia said, rising to her full height. "Rainbow Dash, kneel." Rainbow did so, a little scared of what was going on, but, at the same time, curious. "Do you, Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, hereby swear to protect Equestria and her allies, her princess, and her citizens, at any cost, even should said cost be your life?"

"I do," Rainbow said, a little giddy.

"Do you hereby swear loyalty to the crown of Equestria, to serve only it and it alone?"

"I do."

Celestia's horn lit. "Do you swear to report ant and all possible hostile activity to the crown?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to fight, and kill, if needed, in order to protect Harmony, and to stand as a beacon for the common pony, one to look up to, should your exploits become public?"

Rainbow hesitated here. She had a good idea of what was happening, as Twilight had told her only once, and in a whispered voice, that there were a group of ponies that answered directly to the princess, ones who went after any who used dark magic. It wasn't that she wouldn't see her friends, she still went on her normal life for the most part if what Twilight said was true, but rather she may have to kill, and, at this point, kill one of her closest friends. She then remembered her Element, and that she was loyal to Twilight, yes.

But she was also loyal to Celestia, and, by extension, Equestria.

"I do," she said as Celestia's magic enveloped her in an orb of yellow light.

When it faded, she felt different, but her thoughts were interrupted as Celestia said, "Then rise, Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, descendant of Commander Hurricane, protector of Equestria. Rise, and take your place among the Solar Knights!"

Rainbow rose from her knees, and, as she rose, she knew what the new feeling was. As she rose, she felt the air brush against her horn, and her wings spread out.

Rainbow was now an alicorn.(1)

"Whoa," was all she said.

"I know this is sudden," Celestia said to the former pegasus, "but it's the only way for you even have a chance against dark magic."

"It's alright, Princess," Rainbow said, bowing. "I understand that it's the only way I would stand a chance against Twilight if she has been taken over by dark magic, though I think I'll need a teacher to help me learn."

"Then you are in luck, as the last Knight before you has just been sent out, and I have an opening for a new student.

"But, princess-"

"No 'buts' Rainbow. You are now my student, and you'll need as much time as possible to learn combat spells, You won't be able to return for Ponyville for some time, but I believe that might be for the best."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Rainbow said.

"And you're fist lesson is a basic illusion spell to hide your horn." Celestia then showed Rainbow how to create the illusion of her pegasus body, which was a simple spell that Rainbow literally mastered to the degree she needed in ten seconds flat. She disguised her horn, and Celestia then said, "You'll be staying in the Knight tower until your training's done, Knight Dash. You are not to tell anypony else about this unless they say the words, "Olly Olly Oxen Free."(2)

"Of course, You're Highness," Rainbow said as she bowed yet again.

That Night- Cadence's mind scape

Caadence was having a lovely dream. She was back in the Crystal Empire with her husband, Shining Armor, and everything was perfect. No nobles had complaints, ponies were happy, and the Empire was protected from any and all threats by the Crystal Heart.

She was bored to death. Just once, she wished that her dreams would be exciting, but they were always like this.

Imagine her surprise when Nightmare Moon, Rarity, in nightmare form, and Galaxy Star, who she didn't know, appeared. To their surprise, she didn't panic.

"Uh, why aren't you panicking?" Rarity asked.

"Oh, hey Rarity. It's because this dream is extremely boring, and just having a talk with you two, and who ever the filly is, would be the most interesting thing for my dreams in weeks," Cadence said in a bored tone.

"You seriously aren't afraid of us? Galaxy said in disbelief.

"Why should I be? You're just figments of my imagination."

"Right," Nightmare said. "Well, we came to tell you to go to Twilight's room."

"Why?" the alicorn of love said.

"How should we know, aside from you really wanting to see her. We are just a part of your subconscious, after all," Galaxy said.

"Fair point," Cadence said. She then woke up. "Better go to Twily's room, then."

She got up, put on her regalia, fixed her hair with magic, and brushed her teeth, then went to Twilight's room, a process that took about ten minutes.

She knocked on the doors, and was surprised when she heard Twilight say, "Coming," as soon as the first knock sounded. "Oh, hey, Cadence. What brings you here?"

"I can't visit my favorite filly when I want," Cadence said. The two then did their traditional greeting.

After that, as well as a laugh, Twilight said, "Uh, Cadence, there's something I need to show you." She then brought out the journal, which was disguised as a normal book. "Last and second to last pages are the ones that have what I want to show you."

Cadence looked a little skeptical, but read said pages anyway, and her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she read the pages. Twilight, how did you get this book?"

"Do you pinkie promise not to tell anypony?" Twilight asked nervously.

Cadence rolled her eyes. "Yes I pinkie promise," she said, doing the motions. "Now, where and how did you get this book?"

"Oh it isn't a book, it's a journal." She then added in a whisper just loud enough for Cadence to hear, "Celestia's personal journal, from her personal library, which I sneaked into."

"YOU WHAT?! I'M TELLING CELESTIA," Cadence yelled before Pinkie popped out of her mane with a scroll in her hooves.

"Sorry, Cadence, but doing so would be breaking the pinkie promise, and that would mean I have to kidnap you and recondition, for lack of a more pleasant word, you to not do so again, as well as talk to the author to adjust the story to where you didn't break it. Not that it wouldn't make the story exciting, but the little plot twist earlier and in the last chapter already did that, and his other story still has a lot of plot twists, so I doubt he'd want to add any thing else other than what he has planned." The pink pony then disappeared to another story to mess with another author, though the two alicorns didn't know this.

"I think I'll keep it a secret," Cadence eventually said with surprise on her face. "And probably not think on what she meant."

"Me too," Twilight said, the same expression on her face. "There's actually something else I want to show you. It's in my room, actually."

"What is it," Cadence asked, rolling her eyes as she moved to Twilight's bedroom. She walked in, with Twilight closing the door behind them, and felt her jaw nearly hit the floor as she saw Nightmare Moon, Rarity, in Nightmare form, Galaxy Star, and Chrysalis. "I know I should be panicking, but the journal has removed my capability for logical thought right now." She took a deep breath and said, "Can you at tell me what it is that caused all of you to be here, and who she is," she said pointing to Galaxy Star, "though I assume that's my cousin, Galaxy Star."

"You'd be right," Twilight said as she went to stand next to Nightmare. "As for why we're all here, we're here to overthrow Celestia and recruit others, including you."

"Why would I join with you, aside from the fact I'm part changeling?"

"For one," Nightmare said, "did she ever actually help you when you needed it, like the Empire?"

"She sent Twilight."

"Who was a unicorn at the time," Galaxy said. "And we both know an alicorn that was at full power had a better chance of defeating him then any unicorn."

"Plus, she isn't the best ruler," Chrysalis said. "I f it hadn't been for Twilight, nopony would have found you. If it were me, I would have had patrols there already, but she didn't. If so, it could have prevented the entire wedding fiasco."

"And she kept your heritage a secret from you, something you need to know, and should have known," Rarity said.

"Plus, if it hadn't been for her caring more about herself a thousand years ago, Nightmare wouldn't have happened.," Twilight said. "The way I see it, everything bad that's happened in the past thousand years is her fault somehow. Need I point out Tirek."

"And I think she somehow corrupted the Element of Generosity," Rarity said. "Has anypony else noticed how greedy I was before I had some sense knocked into me a few days ago."

"Yes," all of them but Chrysalis and Galaxy answered, and both of them because they didn't know her well enough.

"My point exactly."

"I suppose your right," Cadence said. "All right, I'm in."

Author's Notes:

1: Before you go batshit crazy, let me explain. Celestia had to have some kind of group to make sure dark magic didn't threaten Equestria, so she created a group to fight it. If you have sharp eyes, you may have noticed there was an alicorn background pony in "Rarity takes Manehattan" and "Rainbow Falls". This story says they were part of this group on down time. And no, no other mane six will become an alicorn
2:Yes, that's a Halo Reference, Couldn't think of anything else.
And for the record, Pinkie was referring to my other story, When Worlds Collide, which can be found here.