So, what was the plan? Find Twilight, find the source of evil. Easy enough, except if you don't know, where she is nor whom to ask about it. At first, I searched in Ponyville, not really sure about how I could find her. I decided to ask around, maybe somepony in Ponyville actually knew something about Twilight. That was, guessing from her stay in the tree-library-house at least. Although none of the ponies I spoke to in the next hours actually knew, where Twilight had headed towards, most of them had a good relationship with Twilight. She must have left without really telling anypony here. There were only two ponies left, who might actually know, where she was: Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. Speaking with the former would be much more pleasant than speaking with the latter. Celestia had always been the princess of light, honesty, forgiveness and a big heart in my foalhood. Now that picture was a lot different.
Celestia and Luna were in a slightly bigger tent, given that Celestia is also a very tall pony. The 'royal tent' as it was called didn't look very royal at all. It was just like every other tent, except slightly bigger. I was not sure, if I was allowed to just go in, but I decided to just try it. Of course, I was instantaneously stopped by a guard, who looked at me as if I was a ghost – Seeing somepony who had been encased in stone was as likely as seeing a ghost.
“How in Equestria did... Err... The princess isn't here. She headed off towards the Crystal Empire, where supposively a hospital is still intact. Furthermore, they are informing our Princess, Cadence, and Prince and head of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, about the situation.”
It was good to be recognized, because otherwise I would probably not have gotten so much information. However, this meant, that I had to get to the Crystal Empire now, which was up in the north, but a bit further south and a lot further west than my home town or Frozenfalls.
Given the destruction of most trains, it was quite possible, that I would have to gallop the whole way. Since there was nopony with a 'mode of transport' like the twin brothers, who I had met on the way to Frozenfalls, I really had to gallop all the way.
It took three days and it was terrible. The cold air, the long times of just galloping, the short stops for recovering and the deep snow to thread through got me really exhausted. Still, that exhausting was still a nice feeling compared to the inability to do anything. I arrived in the late evening and even though I was used to the snowy biome, it was still a terrible difference. However, seeing the shine of the Crystal Empire was really wonderful. The snow just ended from hoof to hoof. A clear line, the protection of the empire. Inside the giant round area, grass grew as if we were in the midst of Equestria and not so far in the north. Even more impressive was the Empire itself; Shiny and colorful and bright. The ponies welcomed me as if I had been their long time friend. A couple of them asked me, if I would like to rest in their houses. I denied, even though, I could have needed a rest: I wanted to at least meet Twilight Sparkle before the end of the day.
I headed towards the biggest building in the Crystal Empire, where obviously they would be. At least, that was what I had thought before realizing something right on the doorstep of the tower. They wouldn't be in the royal tower, they would be in the hospital. I turned around, annoyed and exhausted, and headed towards the hospital. My wounds had not really been hurting badly in the last days and I was glad about that. The support for my leg was also still holding tightly. I had to wander through the city for a couple of minutes, but after some time I finally found the hospital.
By a lucky coincidence, I actually met Twilight in the main hall. She was walking into some corridor without noticing me and I decided to just follow. She trotted into a room, which I entered just after her. The whole group was assembled there.
“Dream Whisper?!” Applejack obviously didn't believe her eyes.
“Finally we can do something.” Rainbow Dash yelled.
“Dream Whisper? How in Equestria...?”
Twilight asked after turning around and getting quite startled by my sudden appearance.
“YAAAAY. Now we can give a welcome party.” Pinkie Pie and her usual charm.
“It's a long story...”
or rather a story I didn't want to tell.
“You have to help us!”
Twilight Sparkle's voice was filled with a sense of pressure and tension.
“It all comes from the dream world. It must have been these shadowfrights. You have to take us there.”
What? The shadow fights? Inside the dream world? It felt almost as if I had missed something. Somehow, Twilight must have had some research. Furthermore, she must have found out, that what I encountered had not been the only thing. It was a bit overwhelming, but she seemed so tensed, almost as if the time was running out. I was really not sure, whether I should tell them I was ready, or that I still needed sleep; Both were true at the same time. I was totally exhausted, but at the same time, I would probably not be able to sleep, when knowing, one of these shadows could come again at any time.
Furthermore, I had vowed to help, and I was not going to break that vowel. It was quite the decision, but in the end I decided to agree just to not turn them down. They needed my help and even with my exhaustion, I could probably still take them into the dream world.
“I have to warn you at least: I am very exhausted. If I am not able to get all of you through, we will have to cancel the whole thing.”
“Okay, try your best!” Applejack said, knowing I would appreciate it;
Anypony would, in this situation, because it relieves a lot of pressure. Anyway, it was time to get calm:
“We will have to stand in a close circle, I will be in the center. Thus, I don't have to create a giant shield.”
I was not sure, how we should find the source of all of this in the dream world or if we would find anything after all. However, Twilight seemed so sure, so determined.
We quickly organized our position inside the small room, just about enough place to fit. I hoped, it would work, but I wouldn't have made a bet on it. I relaxed at first, calming down, counting to ten. Being sleepy was the only way I knew to reach the magic of the dream. Once reachable, it would be easier to get into the dream with active magic. It took a couple of minutes for me to come down from the exhaustion and heavy breathing from the long walk. It was also hard to clear my mind, but I had all time in the world.
When I finally saw these whispy blue-ish lines floating around me, whose purpose I was still not fully aware of, I knew it was time to actively use magic. Within seconds, I created a shield, around which the whispy blue lines bent again. While the lines got more and more opaque, the background of the hospital room faded behind them. Then, it got darker again and the star-like lights started to shine through. We arrived in the middle a field of stars. It seemed as if the whole Crystal Empire had to sleep.
“It's... beautiful.”
Twilight was surely impressed. Somehow I had the need to spoil this perfect moment.
“And dangerous.”
It wasn't the time to gaze upon the beauty of this place, but rather the time to defeat what was ruining it.
“So where do we find the source?”
Rainbow Dash asked. It was a really good question: How would we find the source? There was not really an easy solution to the problem.
We did not even start to trot forwards. This time, I saw the sudden change. Light after light in front of us went out. The change was still incredible subtle, but I actually paid attention to my surroundings this time:
“Look over there!”
“There is noth... oh wait.”
Rarity seemed quite confused. It was time to fight again. We prepared, as best as we could, tried to stand together and keep each other save.
As more and more distant lights faded, we started to worry. Thoughts came up about losing, about failing. I had to get those out of my mind as soon as possible. Slowly, almost without noticing we backed off. The shadow rising in the horizont was giant, but that was not the big deal. The big deal was, that we realized, it was not just one shadow, it was a multitude of shadows. When it got clear, that those were too many shadows to fight, Twilight made a hard decision:
“Abort!”
Before I could do anything, the shadows already surrounded us. I tried to create the shield and pull us out, but the shadows seemed to just suck up the whispy lines. A slightly bigger shadow fiend came a bit closer than the others. He was – I think – the one, who spoke. You couldn't actually see him/her speaking, you could just guess, where the sound was coming from.
“Puny ponies. Just give up your senseless struggle. We are not trying to get you. In fact, we have already got all of you. Every single one of you is infected by our very essence. Trying to escape us is like running from your own shadow.”
He started to laugh a deep laugh for a while.
“We are not scared of you!” screamed Twilight.
I couldn't have done that; Screaming in the face of my nightmare.
The shadow fiend just started laughing louder.
“Did you notice, that saying that implies you finding us scary? If you wouldn't think, we were scary, why would you have to express, that you aren't scared?”
Twilight Sparkle was confused by that logic for just a heartbeat. Her voice was much quieter, but also stronger now: “Because being scared is something different to finding something scary. You may be scary, like a scary clown or a dark night, but we are not scared of that.”
The shadow fiend stopped laughing, which gave Twilight back some of her courage.
“We have not come here to run from you. We are going to fight you.”
Now the shadow fiend bursted out in laughter.
“F...F... fight us? Are you kidding? That pony must be kidding!”
Twilight and her friends got into their formation. They activated the Elements of Harmony. The giant bright, shiny rainbow erupted, but suddenly, it stopped.
“As we said, you are already infected.”
The last word echoed in my head, as I saw Twilight falling down first, followed by her friends.
Before I could do something, blackness surrounded me.