Well... Here's another chapter. If you liked this story, then I might suggest a Pokémon-My Little Pony crossover I recently published that isn't getting many bites. I'd appreciate it! *is totally not guilt-tripping*

---

That night, Octavia had another awful nightmare; one that made the "death of Whooves" nightmare look like a wonderful dream. She found herself floating in darkness. Looking to the left, there was nothing. Looking to the right, there was nothing. Looking down, there was nothing. Looking up, there was nothing.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

From far away however, a light began to shine like a train coming down a tunnel. It took an abrupt turn and started to climb upwards. After a few seconds, Octavia realized it was the sun. A beautiful land started to overtake the darkness, turning into the beach she knew all too well. She was actually enjoying it, feeling the cool sand on her hooves.

Things quickly took a dark and very strange turn.

With no warning, the full moon suddenly shot across the sky, crashing into the sun. Both celestial bodies shattered like glass, falling to earth as flaming pieces of rock. Too stunned to move, Octavia stood there, watching as the world burned around her.

A piece of meteorite started to fall towards her. At the last second, a brown blur pushed her out of the way, grabbing her up and taking off towards the path to the guild. Glancing beside her, Octavia's heart nearly stopped.

"Whooves?!" She asked, mouth open agape as they ran for their lives.

"Yeah!" He replied, "It's me! Less talking, more running!"

They continued to run from the raining balls of fire. Octavia still had no idea what was going on. Was it the apocalypse? Did the Tower of Midnight collapse again? She had to find out.

"What is going on?!" The mare demanded, forcing Whooves to stop, "Tell me!"

"We don't have time!" The stallion said. He was about to take off again, but Octavia grabbed his tail.

"Tell me or I'll kick you!" She growled, threatening him with her hind legs.

Whooves gulped, not wanting to be kicked at the moment, "Look! It was all his fault! It was-!"

But before Whooves could finish, a meteor came hurtling at them, crashing into them with such an impact that Octavia woke up screaming.

"Whoa!" Vinyl cried, being woken up by Octavia's scream, "What in the name of Celestia got into you?"

Octavia hesitated. She didn't exactly want to share her dream, mainly because it made no sense. Vinyl would probably think she was insane if she told it.

"Just... A bad dream." The mare lied.

Vinyl seemed a little skeptical, "You sure?"

Octavia nodded, "Yes."

Vinyl glanced out over the ocean. The sun had just risen over the horizon line, signaling that it was still early morning, "Well, I wanted to sleep in, but that's okay. We can get an early start. I was thinking about paying the guild a visit and showing off our prize from Daring Do. What's say you?"

Octavia didn't answer for a long time. Instead, she stared at the ocean as if expecting it to do something rather than make waves.

"'tavia!" Vinyl snapped.

"Huh?" Octavia shook herself out of her self-induced trance, "Uh. Yeah sure. Good idea."

"And maybe get some advice from Trixie..." Vinyl sighed, seeing that her friend was still acting paranoid.

---

Upon climbing down to the bottom floor of Lyra's guild, Vinyl and Octavia noticed that it was unusually crowded. The Cutie Mark Crusaders ran pass them; their newest member Dinky Doo was currently absent.

"Hey Crusaders!" Vinyl greeted. The three fillies stopped, their smiles growing larger upon seeing them. They had grown a lot since last year and now came up to Vinyl's chest.

"Hi miss Vinyl!" Apple Bloom greeted, "Hi miss Octavia!"

"What's going on?" Octavia asked, glancing at the crowd of guild members over by Lyra's chambers.

"Princess Cadance has come for a visit!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

Vinyl paused, "You mean, like the Guardian Cadance?"

"Yeah!" Scootaloo added, "She's so cool! She told us all about her fight with the cheeselings and how she saved the Crystal Empire from King Sombrero

"Changelings," Sweetie corrected, "And Sombra."

"Same thing!"

"Well, y'all take care!" Bloom said in her adorable country accent. She ran away with her two friends, giggling happily the whole time.

"Wow!" Vinyl cheered, "I'm glad we came today. I've always wanted to meet Princess Cadance!"

Octavia glanced over at where a certain blue unicorn was standing, "Well, you go on ahead. I've got to talk to Trixie."

Vinyl wasted no time rushing to Lyra's chambers. Octavia in the mean time trotted over to Trixie's "medical" stand.

"Hello, Octavia!" The unicorn greeted in a surprisingly cheerful tone, "What brings you to the guild and Trixie's stand?"

"I need to ask you something." Octavia replied.

Trixie groaned, "Please tell Trixie you don't have another funny feeling about our visitor. She doesn't want to go through all of that again!"

"No," Octavia interrupted firmly, "I need to ask you something; concerning my mentality."

"Yes, you are stupid." Trixie quickly replied.

"I haven't even asked it yet! And for your imformation, I am quite clever and smart!"

"Fine. What do you need to ask Trixie?"

Octavia hesitated, "There's been a lot of weird things going on recently... Like..." She then went on to explain everything from the strange feelings and hallucinations to the creeper-bird and her recent nightmare. She also explained what had happened last night when she heard a voice on the wind whisper her name. Trixie was silent for a long time. Surprisingly, she looked as though she had actually listened to Octavia's story. She pulled out a notebook and began reading through it quickly.

"Trixie has got it!" The unicorn suddenly concluded. She slammed the notebook down and stared straight into Octavia's eyes, "You are paranoid and slightly schizophrenic."

"What?!" Octavia asked in outrage, "I am not a mental psychopath, Trixie!"

"Trixie did not say you were," Trixie argued calmly, "She said you were paranoid and slightly schizophrenic. You talked about seeing a bird that Vinyl couldn't see, as well as hearing a voice that Vinyl did not hear. You also talked about movements you saw that Vinyl didn't see. And frankly, the end-of-the-world-dream confirms it."

Octavia wasn't convinced, "If I do have these conditions, what are the cures?"

"There's no known medical cure for either," Trixie began, "Only relaxation or a mental asylum."

Octavia scoffed, "You're no help, Trixie. How can you even pass for a fake medic?"

Trixie shrugged, "Trixie has no idea."

Octavia trotted back over to where everyone else was gathered. The group parted, revealing a pink Alicorn with a yellow, purple, and pink mane. She wore golden horseshoes, a golden necklace, and a small golden tiara encrusted with amethysts. Her cutie mark was a crystalline heart and her violet eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. When she laid those eyes on Octavia, they sparkled even more.

"Octavia?" She asked, pushing past the other guild members to get to the mare, "The Octavia? The Octavia that saved the Tower of Midnight?"

"Yes," Octavia replied, "I didn't do it alone though. I had... Wait, where's Vinyl?"

"GET OFF OF ME!" A familiar voices screamed. Vinyl pushed through the crowd with Derpy hugging her tightly.

"Oh it's so great to finally meet you, Princess Cadance!" The gray mare squealed, "You remind me a lot of my friend Vinyl Scratch! You two could be twins!"

"That's because I am Vinyl Scratch!" Vinyl exclaimed, managing to push Derpy away.

"Oh," She replied, rubbing the back of her neck while blushing from embarrassment, "That makes so much more sense."

"Vinyl Scratch and Octavia," Cadance said as Vinyl rejoined her buddy, "It is a pleasure to finally meet the ponies who saved Princess Luna and the Tower of Midnight. Not to mention, you also stopped Sombra, who is a huge enemy to the Crystal Empire."

"Actually, that was Whooves," Vinyl quickly corrected, "It was all Whooves. He stopped Sombra while we stopped Nightmare Moon."

"Oh, yes..." Cadance said, the mood suddenly becoming solemn.

Lyra and Bonbon appeared through the group of ponies. They approached Cadance, both with kind smiles on their faces.

"Princess Cadance!" Lyra exclaimed, shaking the Alicorn's hoof vigorously, "Welcome to Lyra's Guild for Rescuers! What brings you here?"

Cadance's smile suddenly fell, "I need to talk to both of you in private. Now."

Lyra nodded, seeming oblivious of Cadance's serious tone, "You got it!"

Cadance glanced over at Octavia and Vinyl, "I need both of you to come with me too."

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it." Vinyl quickly said.

They all stared at her, clearly confused as to what she "didn't do". Instead, Lyra led them to her chambers making sure that no one else got in when she closed the door behind her. They all took a seat around Lyra's chair, Cadance being allowed to sit in it.

"I have discovered something of great importance," The pink Alicorn began, "I recently started checking around the Tower of Midnight to see what might have started its collapse and I've come up with an assumption..." She paused, "The tower's collapse and Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon was no accident."

Lyra was the first to speak, "What do you mean?"

Cadance took a deep breath, "I believe that there was a higher power involved. Something, or someone manipulated poor Luna into thinking that Octavia and Whooves had caused the collapse of the tower; when really that someone was responsible for the collapse of the tower."

"Was it Sombra?" Vinyl asked.

Cadance shook her head, "Too underpowered and not clever enough to pull something like this off and get away cleanly."

"I've been having similar speculations," Bonbon added, "Luna can't go Nightmare Moon without an influence that makes her do so." She turned to the Musical Mares, "Vinyl, Octavia, did you sense any sort of strange magic flowing through the tower when you went there?"

"No." Vinyl answered. She paused for a moment, "But there was this weird red storm cloud over the tower that kept striking it with rainbow-colored lightning."

Cadance rubbed her chin, "It doesn't sound like something that Nightmare Moon could conjure up. She wouldn't try and destroy her own tower anyway."

"That is a little weird," Lyra agreed, "But Cadance... Who could possibly be so cruel as to do something like that?"

Cadance looked down, "That, I don't know. I've been racking my brain, but nothing's coming up. That's why I need your help and all of the rest of the guild's to solve this mystery."

Lyra and Bonbon exchanged glances. Vinyl and Octavia were on board, but that wasn't their decision. There was a very long silence between the cream mare and the mint-green unicorn, as if they were communicating telepathically. They eventually turned to Cadance and answered with a nod.

"We'll be glad to help." Lyra said.

"Even it's just in a small way." Bonbon added.

Cadance smiled, "Thank you so much. I believe we should start investigating-"

But before she could finish, Derpy burst through the door. Her wall-eyed stare was dilated in horror and her heavy breathing was erratic. Her face had been drained of its color, as if she had seen a ghost.

"Derpy?" Bonbon asked, "What in the world is wrong?"

Derpy took a deep, shaky breath before speaking, "Dinky... It's Dinky! She's not waking up!"

---

"What do you mean she's not waking up?" Bonbon asked, racing down the hall to Derpy's bed chambers. Lyra, Cadance, Vinyl, and Octavia followed close behind.

"That's just it!" Derpy exclaimed, "She's not waking up! No matter how much noise I make or how much I shake her awake, she isn't waking up!"

They came into Derpy's bed chambers. Lying there on a hay bed was little Dinky. She was asleep, but not peacefully. She was writhing around, murmuring and whimpering things in her sleep. Her skin, fur, and mane had no color. It was gray and lifeless, appearing very cold and almost dead.

"When did this start?" Cadance asked as the group gathered around the filly.

"This morning," Derpy explained, "She was feeling really sick this morning... Then when I checked up on her this afternoon, she started acting really weird."

"How so?" Cadance asked, looking over the filly.

"Like, she kept crying and wouldn't let me get close to her," Derpy continued, "I left her to get something to eat, then I came back and she was sleeping. I tried to wake her and she wouldn't wake up!"

Cadance examined Dinky up and down, checking every limb. She slid her eyelids open to look into her eyes, which were also gray and lifeless.

"What's wrong with her?" Vinyl asked, the concern showing in her red eyes.

Cadance looked stumped, "I don't know. This is something that is even beyond my knowledge."

Octavia looked closer, "Looks like some sort of crazy spell."

Cadance stared at her, very surprised at her suggestion, "Actually... It could be a spell. This doesn't look like an ordinary sickness, not even for a young unicorn."

"Are you suggesting someone intentionally hurt her?" Lyra asked.

"It's possible," Cadance replied, "But that's not important right now. What is important is that we have to figure out what's wrong with her and how to heal it."

"But how?" Bonbon questioned, looking more worried by the second, "We don't know what it is much less how to heal her!"

"I might could be of assistance." A voice said behind them.

They all turned, discovering a pony in a brown hood. Taking off the hoof, the pony had the familiar, jet-black fur, pure blue eyes and fangs hanging out of its mouth. It would be difficult to tell who he was exactly, but Octavia knew who this creature was immediately.

"Thorn?" She asked, mouth open agape.