Get up...

Morning Star rolled over, her eyes slammed shut against the pounding in her head. She felt grass under her side and a light breeze, but it felt strange, alien to her. A burning sensation accompanied her headache, though she felt neither feverish nor alarmed.

Come on, wake up! A voice in her head came. You can do it. She could not place the voice, but it didn't sound like anypony she had ever met before. It rang with unusual clarity, cutting through the pain and weariness.

She greeted the voice with a grunt, and kicked at the ground under her.

Get up already! It urged her again. Your friends are looking for you!

Her eyes fluttered open weakly, and a shadowed sea of pale green grass swam before her eyes. The sky overhead was dark, without even a single star to illuminate it. She could barely make out a series of sounds, like the voices of her friends, echoing close by.

"Star? Where are you?!" she heard Harmony cry. She lifted a hoof, waving it slowly in the air from her prone position.

"Over here, Harmony!" a voice like Wishful's called. "She's over here!" The sounds of movement

A pair of ponies trotted into Morning's clearing vision - Wishful and Harmony - and she let her head rest against the ground. Though the grass felt soft, the ground itself was hard - almost like stone. Slowly, she pushed herself up to sit, shaking her head.

"Where are we?" she managed, looking to her friends.

"No idea," Wishful said, glancing around. "When we got here, it was just Harmony and me. We couldn't find you anywhere!" She took a seat next to Morning and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"Why were you asleep, Star?" Harmony asked, tilting her head. "Were you tired? Or did you hit your head, or-"

"I do not know, Harmony," she replied, closing her eyes and rubbing them. "Did either of you hear a voice in your head when you arrived?"

Harmony and Wishful looked at each other, eyebrows raised and lips moving in whispers. They shook their heads almost in unison before turning back to their friend.

"No... I don't think we did. Are you okay?" Harmony muttered; to this, Morning nodded.

"I think I will be... it is just a headache. Is this -" she stood up, slowly gazing out over the landscape "- the excellent thing Diamond Dust wanted us to see?"

Rolling hills extended out from in front of the trio of ponies, the sickly-looking grass agitated only by their movement now. Awkwardly-angled trees of grey bark and scant leaves rent upwards against the dark skyline, as if they were attempting to escape the earth. In the distance, an impossibly tall tower stretched skyward, casting an ominous shadow across the world below. It was only now that Morning saw the heavy, black clouds that haunted the firmament; under their tyrannical coverage, the landscape - shrouded in shadow - seemed to be dying.

Wishful flapped her wings and leapt up, sighing. "I hope not. This doesn't seem all that great..."

"It just looks so... sad," Harmony said, frowning. "Oh, but where's Diamond Dust? Wasn't she supposed to meet us?"

As if on cue, a gout of smoke erupted from the ground, and a translucent pony stepped forth. Though it appeared to lack substance, there was a hint of color and detail about it: a grey coat and a disheveled sky-blue mane, cerulean eyes and a snowflake cutie mark. As the smoke from its appearance cleared, it smiled.

"Hi, Morning Star! With Harmony Rose and Wishful Mind in tow, too!" she said, her smile growing wider. The trio exchanged worried glances.

"...Is that you, Diamond Dust?" Morning said, stepping forth.

"Yup! Well, sort of. I'm projecting myself onto your space so you can see me while I talk. I know your gift doesn't look that great right now, but believe me - when you climb up the Fleche of Conquest, it gets a lot better."

"But where are we?" Harmony asked, holding up a hoof as she surveyed the area again.

"...climb the what?" Morning chirped, her brow wrinkled up. She looked to Wishful to find that they shared their reactions.

"I know, it's weird. What the hay's a Fleche?" Diamond shrugged, looking down to the ground beneath her. "You girls are in Nadir right now, which is why you should totally make your way over to that glowing golden ring-gate-thing -" her image motioned towards a tremendous tree in the distance "- and hop in. It's like a portal or something."

Morning squinted, searching the skeleton of a tree for a 'golden ring-gate-thing'. Her eyes caught a glimmer of light, somewhere within the discordant snarl of its upended roots. The labyrinthine mess resembled the maw of a defeated beast, left to rot in the earth. Though the tree's canopy was vast, the leaves within were so sparse it seemed to be naught but a net of vines cast to the sky. Morning Star shuddered, glancing back to Diamond.

"...Alright. Will that ...Gate, take us to you, Diamond?" She asked, a smile returning to her face.

"That's right," Diamond said. "If you could hurry up, I have something I want to show all of you."

"Of course!" Wishful said, bouncing up and down.

"Then we can figure all of this out as a team," Harmony chimed in. The three ponies upon the grassland smiled.

"So our course is decided, then - to the tree, we go?" Morning concluded, looking to her friends and nodding.

"Great! So I'll see you in a few minutes, then. I'm excited, Morning Star. Please hurry!" Diamond exclaimed, the image dissipating into the resurrected breeze.

"Alright, let's go, then!" Wishful took wing, making a bee-line for the enormous tree. Harmony took off after her, with Morning trailing behind.

"Wait for me!" Morning called, and just as she passed the spot where Diamond had appeared, a shimmer of light flashed and a small, torn piece of parchment appeared.

The parchment drifted lazily for a moment before catching on a gust of wind, flipping and careening away from the ponies. On it read a single word, scrawled in haste.

"Don't".

The three ponies crossed the grasslands with alacrity, eager to escape the melancholy that seemed to pervade the realm. They only noticed at the last moment the eyes that watched them from the darkness of holes and dens, reflecting a mix of hesitance and hostility. Growls could be heard echoing from deep inside, which served only to spur the ponies faster toward their destination. They slowed as they approached the tree, a low, steady series of sonorous bellows greeting them.

"Wh-what is that?" Wishful whispered, shrinking back. Morning and Harmony joined her, following her steady gaze.

A basin under the tree revealed a thicket of dying brush, along with the ring gate, which hovered just inches off the ground. A golden nebula spun within the gate, pinpricks of light shedding from it and falling upon the tangle below. What had caught Wishful's attention, however, was the scaled hide of an immense grey-brown beast coiled partway about the gate's threshold. A colossal claw sat half-buried under layers of dirt, and a crown of horns decorated its head. With each long and slow breath drawn, it revealed a jaw full of needle-like teeth - though luckily, its eyes were closed, and the dust of ages had collected on the creature's hide.

"Is that a dragon?!" Harmony squeaked, her eyes widening.

"Shh! You'll wake it up!" Wishful quietly chided, creeping closer on her belly. She poked her head over the edge of the basin, and shortly after, Morning joined her in doing so.

"I believe we can get to the gate," Morning whispered, motioning towards a worn path, barely visible from above. "See? There's a path."

"...you still want to go? What if we wake it up and it wants to EAT us?" Wishful said, throwing her hooves into the air.

"I don't think we really have the option to not go, Wishful," Harmony posited. "I don't know what else to do, at least."

Wishful looked about, as if searching for some reason - any reason - to pursue another path. In the end, however, she sighed, rolled her eyes and stood up. "Alright," she said, glaring down at the gate. "So how are we going to do this?"

Morning smiled. "We follow the path - slowly and quietly."

With silent hoofbeats, the three ponies crept closer to the gate, taking care not to stray from the path beaten before them. As they entered the glimmering field of light about the gate, Wishful spread her wings.

"Now!" Wishful whispered back to her friends, pushing off from the ground and darting straight into the portal. The nebula twisted and warped as she passed through, a bright light encompassing her form before disappearing. Morning and Harmony glanced to each other, a cloud of dust kicked up from Wishful's sudden lift engulfing them.

"Go, quick!" Morning mumbled, ushering Harmony towards the gate. Taking the cue, Harmony dashed forward and leapt up, barely clearing the ring. Again, the light flashed bright for a moment, and away went Harmony.

Morning bent low, glancing one last time to the beast's eye. She breathed a sigh of relief to find it still closed, creeping closer to the gate. With a quiet grunt, she sprang for the portal. In the half-second before touching it, a voice invaded her mind.

Hero of Light... you will not abandon us again, will you?

Before she could react, she passed through the portal, and tumbled into the unknown.