Hoofsteps rang out along the orange-tiled floor of what was once an impressive hallway. Magnificent pillars, reduced to rubble, and the walls cracked and coated in grime. This place had seen better days.
Twilight turned to her companion and asked the obvious question. "What caused this? This doesn't seem normal, even for a being from another world."
Luna nodded. "Yes, this place is... heavily damaged. Thou said the colt admitted to being twelve years old, correct?" Twilight nodded in affirmation and Luna took on a more somber look. "Then he has clearly had some form of psychological trauma, of some sort. The deepest reaches of one's mind are often pristine and well-kept, much more than the fleeting dreams on the surface of the brain. We will not go into details, but this place... it is filled with sorrow, and regret. What has that monster done?"
The two continued forward, traversing the debris. Before long, a soft sound reached their ears. Somepony, or something, up ahead was crying. "Do you hear that, Luna? I think that's Comet. We must be close!" She galloped forward towards the approaching end of the hall, but the grasp of magic on her tail stopped her.
"Be calm, Twilight. We do not know what lies ahead, as the dream world is far more fickle than reality. If thou wishes to speak with Comet to gain information while he is still unconscious, thou WILL follow our instructions."
"But he's been in a coma for a whole week!" She whined back.
"We know. And his magic is recovering. But he is still barely alive after burning up so much mana at once. His safety is paramount, Sparkle. It may be why this place is in such disrepair."
Twilight sighed in defeat. After Exterminatus had vanished, the group dragged themselves back to the crystal empire with a heavily drained Comet in tow. While Twilight and some of the Empire's best worked on how and why the group's shadows were... gone, Comet was in a coma. Whatever a 'Star break' was, as he had called it, it had used up so much magic it ate into his magical ember slightly, giving him even less maximum mana to work with and leaving him in critical condition. Flurry rarely left his side, inconsolable over the potential loss of the one friend who didn't treat her like royalty.
Still, by some miracle he was regaining what little power he had far faster than anypony even thought possible. For most ponies, burning up a piece of their magical ember to essentially overcharge themselves would be a lifelong disability, recovering barely 1% of their maximum magical potential a year. Comet was expected to reach his crippled 5% power that he was known for by the end of the week. And while there was still a few days until he was expected to awaken, things needed to be moved ahead of schedule.
Reports were coming in from around the empire of ponies losing their shadows. The story was always the same: a pony they knew would coax them into a dark area, before shifting into a monstrous form and attacking. The victim would wake in pain around an hour later, completely unharmed aside from their now-missing shadow. Some even claimed that Twilight and Cadence had been the form used to lure ponies to the dark. Regardless, an emergency declaration was made to never follow a pony into a dark area alone, and that slowed the reports down from around ten per day to one per day.
But they needed answers, and their only hope for any information was out cold. Thankfully, Comet's magic had recovered enough for him to dream again, so professional help was called in from Camterlot. Thus, Luna and Twilight were now venturing into the depths of the colt's mind, hoping to find his concious thought and get the answers they needed.
The pair approached a large, ornate door decorated with an elegant version of Comet's cutiemark. Though faded, they could make out that the seven stars forming the semicircle around the main one each had a faint color, forming a rainbow from left to right. Luna turned to her friend and partner. "He is just beyond this door, Sparkle. We can sense it. And we do not sense any other presence. Still, be on your guard."
Twilight nodded, and pushed the door open. She needed to take a moment to adjust to the darkness in the room. It seemed to be a throne room, but clearly a battle had taken place. Despite the obscuring, almost fog foglike darkness limiting visibility, she saw that the pillars holding the roof had suffered impacts from large projectiles, the stairs leading to the throne were cracked and ruined, and what was likely once a magnificent stained glass window taking up the wall behind the throne was shattered into thousands of pieces. And in the far corner, a tiny light shone, illuminating a form curled around it, sobbing.
Luna walked over, careful to make as little sound as possible, and Twilight followed. "Excuse us," she whispered.
Comet's reaction was immediate. He jumped nearly three feet in the air before shuffling backwards against the wall, shaking in terror. It was then that Twilight saw the source of the light: he was holding the star he had used a week prior to help fend off Exterminatus.
"St-stay away from me! Puh-please..." Comet pleaded through closed eyes. He curled up into a ball, trembling. "Please..."
Twilight approached cautiously. "Comet. It's okay, it's me. Twilight. You're safe, everything is going to be alright." As she reached out to lay a comforting hoof on his shoulder, he only curled up deeper into himself. The room almost seemed to get darker, and even more dilapidated than it was before. "Comet, we aren't going to hurt you. Everything is going to be alright." Taking a risk, she wrapped Comet up in a hug, holding her wings protectively around him. And it worked.
The star in his grasp shone bright once more, and the room shook as it healed to its former glory. "Sparkle! Something is going on! He's... He's waking up! Hold on, we will have to get out of here, NOW!" Luna lit her horn, and in a flash of light, the pair evacuated the dram as fast as they could.
In the dead of night, the central star of Comet's cutiemark glowed for just a moment, and his eyes fluttered open. He felt exhausted. Drained. But he also felt that he had hope again. It felt like somepony cared. Glancing around the darkened hospital room, he saw Flurry heart passed out in the chair next to his bed.
Shakily getting to his hooves, Comet clambered out of the hospital bed and approached his friend. Noticing nopony was around, he slipped back into his old language. [You really do care, don't you, Feathers? Heh... I don't deserve you as a friend. But... I swear on the stars I'll protect that smile of yours. You need it more than I do.]
Climbing up into the adult-sized chair, he snuggled up next to Flurry and let the bliss of sleep take him once more, a smile on his face. Unconciously, Flurry snuggled closer to her friend, and draped a wing over him, a smile appearing on her face as well, for the first time since their adventure together.