In the dining hall of the castle, Cadence, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were nibbling on their breakfast as they waited for Solaris, Trill, and Rainbow Dash to wake up and meet them. Rainbow finally arrived at the table, her mane a ragged mess, still greatly exhausted.

"Hi, Dashie!" Pinkie welcomed the pegasus. "You look like you rolled into a lightning cloud!"

"Huh?" Rainbow looked at her reflection in the crystal table, noticing how frizzled her mane was. "Meh. I must have been rolling around too much. I'd rather sleep on a comfortable cloud than a springy mattress." She fixed up her hair until it was its usual messy state, looking around to see a couple heads missing from the table. "Where's Sol and...bug mare?"

"I think they're both still sleeping," Fluttershy answered. "I thought I saw them in town yesterday, leaving the movie theater."

"Oh great. The two are bonding as friends." Rainbow slumped in her seat. "I still don't like the idea that those two hanging out, and he knew she was a changeling before we did!"

"Maybe if we didn't hide everything from him, then maybe he would hate changelings more," Pinkie replied. "Although, Trilly's not that bad! At least she doesn't seem that bad of a pony!...Changeling...Uhh...creature! Besides, what's the worst she did in the past?" Struck with wonder, Pinkie pulled out a few dozen pages from underneath her seat, which there was nothing underneath in the first place. She began laughing uproarously at certain points, only confusing the other mares with what she was reading from. "Oh wow! That was pretty funny! They actually did snuggle in the Everfree Forest!"

"Pinkie, what the hay are you talking about?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh nothing! Just something that happened a while ago." She read through more of the pages, but at the last one of the pile, she slammed the piece of paper down on the desk with a straight face. "...Oh boy..."

"'Oh boy,' what?" Rainbow dared to ask.

"Nothing!" Pinkie buried the pile of papers underneath the table, disappearing from existence, looking nervous. "Absolutely nothing happened between them yesterday!"

Rainbow wanted to ask further, but decided not to bother with her friend's randomness. "Ok, then. I'm gonna go and wake them up. We need Solaris battle ready for his next test, whatever it's supposed to be." She got up from her seat and headed down to the guest rooms to wake up his lazy nephew and the changeling he trusted. Since Trill's room was closer, she checked hers, but when she looked inside, there was no sign of the bug pony. "Where'd she go to? Probably trying to steal some love from him like the parasite she is."

Rainbow noticed a piece of paper on the floor next to the window, examining it and reading its contents. She read the threatening letter, looking back out the window where Solaris must have read the note, running off on his own to save Trill. She flew back to the dining room with the note in hoof.

"Guys! We got a problem!" Rainbow slammed the note down on the table. "Solaris ran off to save Trill!"

"What!?" Pinkie exclaimed, picking up the note and reading it to herself. "Who the hay is this 'Zero'!? Is he an evil number that came to life because he lost 'One'!?"

"Pinkie, this is serious!" Rainbow shouted. "And I think I know who Zero is. It's got to be that same mysterious follower of Lucifer's who was with him back in Saddle Arabia, and who dropped Rarity's body to us!"

"Oh no. This is bad," Fluttershy said in fear, worried for Solaris's safety.

"And the idiot told him where he took the changeling too," Rainbow said, the three mare's not seeing Cadence's worried expression. "I'll go on ahead and kill that bastard before he does anything to Sol!"

"Wait, hold on, Rainbow Dash!" Cadence tried to warn Rainbow Dash, but the pegasus flew out of the nearby window, heading toward the cave specified in the note. The princess ran toward the window, but Rainbow was already long gone. "Zero's not who you think he is!"

"What are you talking about, princess?" Fluttershy asked.

"Zero is Lucifer's right-hoof soldier, but he's not on his side. He's a double agent," Cadence explained. "...He's also my husband."

"...Hang on a second..." Pinkie rushed to the table to grab her drink while Fluttershy's jaw dropped in shock. The party mare took a long swig, only to quickly spit it out on the crystal floor in a delayed spit-take. "WHAT!?"

Solaris and Trill were dumbfounded, staring at Shining Armor, who just so happened to be Lucifer's best soldier. Shining still sat where he was beaten, waiting for some kind of response, until finally, Solaris moved. He punched himself hard in the face, wondering if he was dreaming or all of this was really happening. It turned out to be the latter.

"I-I...WHAT IS GOING ON!?" Solaris questioned, as if expecting an answer to come from the heavens.

"I know this is confusing, but I can explain, Solaris," Shining said, trying to calm the teen down before he decided to lash out at his uncle.

Instead of him, Trill was the one to attack the unicorn, kicking him hard in the stomach. "You kidnapped me and were going to kill me!? Now I'm starting to question between the two of our species who's actually worse!"

Shining coughed, deserving the changeling's kick as he tried to regain his breath. "I had to kidnap you so Solaris had some incentive to rescue you. His test was to prove to me if he was able to fight against somepony to protect the ones he love."

"But...I didn't until near the end..." Solaris said, looking down in shame.

He looked back up at his uncle as he felt his hoof rest on his shoulder. "It doesn't matter. You've proved to me that you weren't going to back down against somepony when somepony you care about is held hostage. Just know that you have to take account of allies or hostages around when on the battlefield." Solaris still didn't feel like he had passed, even with that lesson he just learned moments ago. "Hey, you're still learning. Cadence and I both know that you'll get better with experience."

"Right..." He still felt bad, but Solaris understood that he can't be expected to be perfect at everything. Fighting against opponents of greater or equal strength in actual combat was still new to him, barely able to survive against his first test. "But...why are you working with Lucifer?"

"Like I said earlier, I'm acting as a double agent," Shining explained. "I've been undercover for nearly a decade." He paused, a look of anger and pain in his eyes as he looked down at the ground. "After what happened to my sister, I began to grow angry with each day that passed. I wanted to kill that bastard for what he did, and I took out my anger on Cadence and the recruits in the empire. I heard he was unbeatable, nopony could lay a scratch on him, and I wanted to do something, just to seek vengeance.

"That's when I decided to go in as a hired mercenary named Zero, concealing my identity and serving my 'loyalty' to Lucifer." As Shining continued his tale for the teens, he crafted a small crystal figurine of Lucifer, leering at his crafted crystal creation. "I wanted to gather some information on him, get close enough to attempt to assassinate him to end all of this...but then I saw others who had attempted to do the deed before me. They couldn't get close without his magic either tearing them to shreds or torturing them until they begged to be killed...It only made my plans hindered to failure every time, no possible way to injure him, or even catch him off guard..."

Shining slammed his hoof down hard on the figurine, sending shards of the crystal flying out from where it stood. Solaris could see that his uncle and mother had been really close when they were younger. Like his uncle, he wanted to get back at the dark magic wielding unicorn for killing his family, and so far, he was the only one who was able to injure him, if only by pure luck.

"So...you kept this persona as his best soldier to keep tabs on him...Gathering information to help Equestria," Solaris said, piecing together his uncle's reasoning staying as Zero.

"Right," Shining agreed. "And as far as Lucifer knows, you and the others are considered dead in that temple. He thinks he's won, but he's definitely dropped his guard a little. He's always been so paranoid the last fifteen years trying to find you, he didn't even try to figure out who I was. He trusts me, and it's one of the biggest mistakes he could ever make putting faith in a lone mercenary who chooses the side who pays him the most."

"I actually wouldn't trust you, even if you were a mercenary," Trill said, leering at the older unicorn stallion.

"Yeah...Sorry for the kidnapping," Shining apologized. "At least I kept you from getting burnt by your coltfriend here, even though I really don't want to approve you two being together."

"Wait, how do you know we were a couple?" Trill asked, not noticing Solaris turning away, remembering he called her his marefriend during their fight when she was still out cold.

"Cadence told me about your day out together, and yesterday evening's little picnic date she set up for you," Shining said.

"What!?" Trill exclaimed, Solaris blushing heavily. The changeling scrunched her face, glaring at Shining Armor. "She was watching us yesterday, wasn't she?"

Shining sighed, understanding their annoyance. "Yeah. Once she sees a couple who definitely deserve to be together, she has it in her head to try and give them a little nudge to finally share their feelings for each other. Just be grateful she didn't cast any spells on you two, otherwise you would end up waking up the next day, wondering what happened when you 'blacked out'." Solaris buried his face under his wings in embarrassment, now knowing his aunt and uncle know he was dating Trill, while the changeling princess's eye twitched. "As long as you make Solaris happy, Trill, then...I'm happy."

"Really?" Trill asked, greatly confused. "...I thought you wanted me out of Solaris's life."

"I still don't trust you that well," Shining explained. "But if he can trust you enough, then I'll allow it. He's going to need somepony to be there for him once this is all over." Trill looked at Solaris, his cheeks still red and very nervous to know how the rest of his family would react to the news, but she knew Shining Armor was right. The alicorn was helpless without her. She nuzzled him, breaking him out of his nervousness, though embarrassing him more in front of his uncle. "It's still so weird to see that a changeling can actually feel love rather than eat it.

"But, I think we've wasted enough time with exposition on myself. Time for me to give you your next armor piece, Solaris." Shining dug through his armor, pulling out a golden ring from his pockets. It was the right size to fit around the base of a unicorn's horn, along with enchantment symbols written on the inside and outside. "This is a specialized ring for your horn. Your mother wanted Cadence and I to create a special defensive charm using the magic from the Crystal Empire. This may explain how I've been able to manipulate crystals to form anything just by using my magic or physically touching them in our fight earlier."

"Oh. That does explain the transforming crystals," Solaris said as he pondered the properties gems and crystals have through magical latency.

Shining placed the ring on his nephew's horn, resting comfortably at the base. Solaris didn't feel any different, thinking it was only some kind of pointless accessory. He didn't notice his uncle rear his hoof back, punching the teen hard in the face, but as it made contact, his supposed injury was protected by a crystal shield. Both Solaris and Trill were surprised and astonished from Shining's surprise attack and the shimmering crystal gleaming against his cheek.

"Inside that ring's enchantment, it will give you crystal armor, covering your entire body from any sign of physical trauma," Shining explained, grinning at their reactions. He pulled his hoof away, the crystal disappearing as Solaris wasn't in any harm at the moment. "It's a defensive mechanism the soldiers in the Crystal Empire are born with; the shining crystal bodies aren't just for show. But be careful with how much damage you take. Just because your skin's a lot tougher doesn't mean it doesn't have its limits. Take too many tough blows anywhere, the armor will shatter and leave you vulnerable, taking time to recharge the enchantment."

"You could have warned me before you tried to punch me, uncle..." Solaris muttered, rubbing his cheek, not feeling any pain.

Finding the new literal body armor interesting, Trill smirked as she raised a hoof behind Solaris's sight. She smacked him on the flank, but highly regretted it as the crystal coating was far stronger than her hoof. She yelped in pain, and Solaris didn't even feel the slap on his rump. Shining saw what she tried to do, holding back his laughter and groaning at her perverted nature.

"If you'd known I was going to let you test it out, I didn't want you to block my attack." Shining grabbed his helmet and placed it back over his head. "I took this time on leave from Lucifer to meet you face to face, and give you your test. Why I couldn't do much with you the past few days was because I needed enough rest to last against you. And teleporting around is really exhaustive as well."

"Can you teach me teleportation?" Solaris asked.

"Once Lucifer's beaten," Shining replied. "I need to get to Canterlot and see that bastard, but don't worry. Once I figure out what he has planned after his victory, I'll-"

Shining was suddenly kicked hard in the head and sent flying across the room. Solaris and Trill jumped in surprise as Rainbow Dash had come flying in, hovering in front of the alicorn to defend him.

"You just keep ticking me off more and more, huh, Zero!?" Rainbow shouted. "I'm not gonna let you kill my nephew!"

"Wait, Aunt Rainbow Dash, he isn't-" Solaris tried to stop the pegasus, but Rainbow sped off after Shining, the stallion quickly defending himself from her rampage.

"Hold on a minute! This isn't what it looks like!" he said, trying to get the pegasus to listen.

"Why don't you just leave us alone, you prick!?" Rainbow continued throwing a flurry of swift kicks and punches while speeding around the slower unicorn. "I'm not gonna let you take another life, or watch one of them die like a sick masochist!"

"I'm not working with Lucifer!" Shining said. "It's me, Shining Armor! Just let me-"

Shining tried to pull off his helmet to show Rainbow it was him, but she kept hitting him, preventing the stallion from trying anything she thought was a trap.

"Shining Armor's back in the empire! He doesn't kill anypony who were actually friends of his sister's!" Rainbow continued staggering the defenseless stallion, not letting up on her fury.

Solaris flew at her, holding her back as she struggled to break out of his grip. "Aunt Rainbow, stop! He's with us! That is Uncle Shining!"

"Now you got him hypnotized under a spell like a puppet!? You're sick!" Rainbow shouted, elbowing Solaris hard in the gut, despite his new crystal skin protecting him. She slammed the alicorn into a nearby crystal pillar at a blinding pace, dazing the stallion as the force of the contact made his armor shatter, temporarily rendering it useless. "Don't worry, Solaris. When I'm done with him, you'll be ok."

Trill ran up to Solaris as he struggled to stand up, unable to do much against a pegasus that's fast enough to pull off a sonic rainboom in a snap. Above the ponies, completely unaware, one of the large crystal stalactites began to show cracks at the base of its resting place, threatening to give and fall at any moment. Rainbow Dash was directly underneath that crystal, after flinging the armored stallion across the room.

"W-Wait, you don't understand," Shining said, hoping to stop Rainbow before she does try to kill him.

"Oh, I understand what you are," she said, stomping her hooves with her wings flared out. "You're dead meat is what you are!"

The cracks in the crystal began growing more erratic, unable to keep itself held in place from the constant stress the walls took from the ponies being slammed into them. Shining heard the cracks, looking up to see the crystal was just about to break from the ceiling and impale the pegasus underneath it.

"Rainbow, get out of the way!" Shining warned, trying to use his teleportation, but the pain in his body kept losing his focus to cast it.

"You don't scare me!" Rainbow said. "I'll show you not to mess with-"

The stalactite broke off from the ceiling, the pegasus too distracted by her own shouting to hear the cracks finally give way. Before she knew it, the crystal slammed through her torso, pinning her down to the ground as the sharp point dug deep into the earth. Rainbow could barely breathe, coughing up blood as the crystal was wide enough to pierce through her body, possibly breaking her bones and tearing through her organs. Solaris finally snapped out of his daze, finding his aunt run through by the stalactite.

"AUNT RAINBOW!" he shouted.

Shining was horrified, quickly taking off his helmet, showing the shocked and dying mare his face. He saw Solaris rush at her, flying through the air with his hoof rearing back, his pupils shrinking as he saw his nephew was going to punch the crystal to pieces to try and free her. It was a horrible idea, and with how much strength Solaris had at his disposal, he's going to do far worse.

"No! Solaris, don't-!" It was too late to stop him.

Solaris punched through the crystal, shattering the entire stalactite to pieces, sending shards flying out everywhere. The bit of crystal inside of Rainbow broke into tiny, jagged shards, only to decimate her body and killed the mare in an instant. Trill and Shining covered themselves as the shards flew out at them, covering their faces from the raining bits of crystal. When it stopped, they looked at Rainbow's body, completely horrified at her shredded body, blood splattered around her body, along with shards of the crystal coated in it.

"Oh gods above..." Trill uttered as she and Shining Armor stared at the pegasus's body.

They looked up at Solaris, the alicorn's wide, pupils shrunk, his body shuddering as he slowly hovered down to the ground, unable to believe what he had done. He looked down at his hoof, tears welling and trickling down his cheeks, his leg shaking as he realized what he had done to Rainbow Dash. He killed her, though unintentionally. It hit him hard as he struggled to breath, his stomach churning at the sick act he had just committed.

Shining could see his nephew was about to break down at any moment, slowly approaching him. "Sol..." He didn't get his attention, the teen still looking at his hoof and Rainbow's body. He knew that Solaris only did what he thought would save her, killing the pegasus by accident. But being in the military, and seeing his fair share of death under Lucifer's rule, ending some lives against his own will, he could already tell his nephew's mind has been shattered. "Solaris, you didn't mean to do it...It was an accident."

Solaris suddenly hunched over and threw up, spilling his stomach's contents as he retched. He was having trouble breathing, unable to think or see, his mind racing at the worst thing he never wanted to ever commit in his life. Now he felt responsible for another life lost; killing Rainbow Dash by his own hooves. He couldn't hear Shining or Trill try to calm him down, his vision growing dark as he collapsed on his side, falling unconscious.

Shining and Trill ran up to Solaris, the stallion lifting his nephew's head, his pupils dilated and unresponsive to his movement. He cringed as he looked back at Rainbow's body, yet another victim that was her sister's friends, and he couldn't have helped save them again.

"Damn it..." he muttered, blaming himself for putting his helmet back on. Unable to do anymore, Shining lifted his nephew on his back, deciding to head back to the castle and tell the others what had happened. "Come on. Let's get back to the empire..."

"W-What about...?" Trill trailed off, looking at what remained of Rainbow's body.

"...I don't know..." Shining said, feeling disheartened. "After everything that's happened to him...Solaris isn't stable enough to keep going...He needs therapeutic help, and some time to cope and recuperate." They began to head out, leaving the cave behind, as well as Rainbow's corpse. "This is all my fault..."

After making it back to the castle, Shining Armor laid Solaris down in his guest bed, the young alicorn still unresponsive from the shock of what had happened in the cavern. He and Trill explained what had occurred, Pinkie and Fluttershy mourning another friend that had died, but by complete accident. It was hard enough for them to lose Rainbow Dash, being a really close friend to Fluttershy since they were fillies, but for Solaris, losing more and more of his family was becoming too much to bear.

As it grew late into the night, the two mourning mares had spent the rest of their day in their rooms, while Shining Armor continued to chastise himself. If he had told them that he was Zero, this could have been avoided at the cost of possibly getting himself caught by one of Lucifer's troops. He sat on his bed, looking at a picture of his sister and her friends in Ponyville, where times were far different back then from when they were now. He heard Cadence enter their bedroom, who was checking on Solaris, making sure he was ok and wasn't going to hurt himself.

"He's still unconscious," Cadence said, closing the door behind her and approached the bed. "I can't imagine how much he's gone through...He's still just a colt." She sat next to her husband, noticing the picture he was looking at. After telling them what happened, she knew Shining felt guilty, having not told Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow who he was disguised as for Solaris's test against him. They were supposed to use her as the hostage, but with Trill around and the two became a couple yesterday, it made the fight more serious for him. Now, instead of feeling successful, their nephew is falling into a major depression. "Shining? You ok?"

"...It's my fault..." he said, making Cadence tilt her head in confusion. "Why did I have to put that dumb helmet back on?"

"Honey?" Cadence asked, hearing the guilt coming from Shining's voice.

"We should have told them I was Zero..." He leapt off the bed, heading for a wardrobe in their room. He opened the doors, where his disguise sat, as well as the helmet. "First my sister, then Spike, and now Twilight's friends are dying left and right...I could have stopped Rarity before she tried to attack Lucifer. I should have held out from destroying the temple a while longer for all of them to escape!" He slammed the doors closed, feeling his blood boil as he continued to blame himself. "Now Rainbow Dash is dead because she wasn't told about who I was, and Solaris blames himself for killing her when she was already fatally impaled, making his depression worsen to the point of him close to getting a heart attack at the age of fifteen!

"I could have saved her, but she injured me too badly that I couldn't focus on a teleportation spell! All of their deaths are all my fault, and I didn't do a damn thing to stop them from happening!" Shining slammed his hooves into the floor, making the crystal flooring crack under his strength as he struggled to keep himself from letting his rage worsen any further. Cadence could see tears falling down her distraught husband's face, the ex- captain of the royal guard beginning to break down, though not as hard when they heard of Twilight's fate a decade and a half ago. "It's all my fault...I'm causing Solaris...so much pain...T-Twilight...I'm sorry..."

Shining slumped to the floor, burying his face under his forehooves as he wept. Cadence got off the bed and comforted the stallion, holding him closely as he let out his pain.

"It's not your fault," she said. "What more could you have done? You would have been killed by Lucifer if you didn't listen to him." Cadence held him close, nuzzling his neck as she rubbed his back. "I don't know what I would do without you, or Solaris. We're his only relatives, including your parents. It would only devastate him more if you died."

She gently led her husband back to bed as he calmed down, the married couple laying together, holding each other close. They could only hope that Solaris will recover from his shock soon, otherwise he would have to spend a month or two in therapy for killing Rainbow Dash by accident. At least her death ended mercifully, otherwise she would have died in agony underneath the crystal. But it still messed with the teenager's head; he murdered somepony he cared about, even if it saved her.

Solaris opened his eyes, finding himself back in the same black void of his subconscious. He felt horrible as his mind went through the dumbest mistake he had ever made hours ago. His ears perked up as he heard something out in the darkness, but there was no sign of whatever it came from. He feared it was Lucifer again, haunting him in his dream like before.

"Hello?" he asked. "Who's there?"

Suddenly, something had shot up from the ground, a decomposed white hoof popping up in front of the alicorn. He backed away, but another hoof popped up behind him, this one orange. More limbs shot up around him as they began to climb out of the ground. Solaris gasped in horror as he began to see members of his family pulling themselves out, their bodies decayed as if they had turned into zombies.

"Soooolaaaariiiiiissssssss..." they moaned, slowly walking toward him.

The alicorn could barely move, only able to look at each of them in terror. Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike kept moving closer, limbs outstretched to reach out to him and kill him. The ones who had died showed the injuries they had sustained that killed them: Rarity with her throat slit, the hole in Spike's chest, Applejack's broken body that was able to function, Rainbow's whole torso exploded with crystal shards still embedded in her hanging organs. Fluttershy and Pinkie were the only ones that didn't show any fatal injury, but they were as dead as the others.

"N-No. No! Stay away!" Solaris finally came to his senses, flying over them and running for his life. He ran as hard and as fast as he could, but they seemed to catch up to him, despite their sluggish limping. "Somepony help me!"

"Why run from your fate, Solaris?" Up ahead, Lucifer slowly came into view, making Solaris stop as he was soon surrounded by his undead family and his mortal foe. "Can't you see that we're both one and the same?"

"I-I'm not like you!" Solaris said, though he felt unsure.

Lucifer only laughed as he watched the alicorn tremble. "You are so naive. Of course a foal like you would never truly understand how important you truly are." He disappeared, soon appearing behind Solaris with the zombified ponies and dragon. He backed away from them, only to hit some kind of invisible wall, keeping him from fleeing. "You're considered a sort of god, an immortal deity everypony should worship. You should have known since the day you were born that everypony would die for your precious life. Or...you would end up killing them on your own."

"W-What?" Solaris pressed himself against the wall, too scared to fly away. He got a glimpse at one of his hooves, suddenly turned red and reeking of blood. He lifted them up, and saw that they were coated in the liquid, thin streams of it magnetizing to him from his family. "No! G-Get it off!"

"Their blood is on your hooves, Solaris." Lucifer said, relishing the teenager's horror as he tried to brush the stained blood off his forelegs. "Their deaths lie on your head. Because of you, everypony around you will die."

"NO!" Solaris shouted, tears welling up in his eyes as his entire body was covered in blood.

"You can't protect everypony, Solaris! The entire world will fall, and you will fail them all!" Lucifer laughed maniacally, thrusting his hoof forward to command the undead ponies and dragon to attack. "I win! Equestria is mine, and it's all thanks to you, oh great and powerful alicorn!"

Solaris pressed into the wall as his aunts and uncle approached him, too upset to fly or fight back. He curled into a ball and waited for the inevitable, but the sound of the moaning zombies disappeared, as well as Lucifer's cackling. He opened his eyes, his body blood free, and standing before him was Twilight.

"M-Mom?" He slowly approached her, desperate for her attention and seeking her protection. "Please, help me..."

"Help you?" she questioned. Twilight shoved her son away from her with her magic, shocking the alicorn teen. "Why should I help you? After what you did to my friends? To Spike!?"

"B-But I didn't-" Twilight immediately teleported in front of the distraught teen, slapping him hard in the face.

"I don't want to hear a word out of you! You were supposed to protect Equestria, but you let it fall to ruin!" She pointed behind him, Solaris slowly turning around as his tears fell, feeling hurt as his own mother slapped him. His eyes widened as the darkness behind him turned to a burning landscape of all of Equestria from a bird's eye view. Ponyville, Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, every single city and town across the continent was burning to ashes, and the flames kept growing and growing. "Some hero you turned out to be. I was wrong about you."

"N-No...I-I'm not-" Solaris screamed as he felt his wings being torn out from his back, his appendages held tightly in Twilight's aura.

"I can't believe I gave birth to a monster. A harbinger of death and destruction, far worse than Lucifer ever was!" As Solaris tried to breath, his back bleeding heavily from his quickly torn wings, he screamed louder as his horn snapped in half by Twilight's magic. Blood ran down his forehead, staining his face along with his tears, the pain becoming unbearable as he was rendered defenseless. He could only watch as his horn and wings burned up, turning into a pile of ash that fell mere feet in front of him. "A monster like you deserves to die in the deepest, darkest pits of Tarterus."

"M-Mom, please..." Solaris begged, reaching out desperately for his mother.

"You heard your mother, Solaris," Lucifer said, appearing before the teen. He grabbed Solaris by the throat with his magic, hovering him over a deep pit, where his zombified family reached out to him, wanting to bite into his flesh. "Time for you to die. Farewell, foal."

The tyrant dropped Solaris, the teen screaming in terror as he couldn't fly anymore. He was going to die, and the world had perished because of his failure.

Solaris woke up screaming, sweat dripping down his face as he hyperventilated from experiencing the vivid nightmare. The memory of what he did to Rainbow Dash was still clear in his mind, only making the nightmare he had only made his guilt worsen. He curled up in his bed, sobbing heavily as the weight of his murder began to eat away at him.

As his thoughts raced from his sorrow, how he lost so much of his family in such a short amount of time, something about his mother's words began to repeat itself into his mind.

After each trial you complete, you will suffer.

Those words kept repeating themselves in his head as visions of his family ran through his mind. His heart only sunk further in despair, realizing what his mother meant by suffering with each trial; she meant he would lose one of his aunts after each test he passes.

"...N-No..." More tears fell from his eyes as the realization kicked in. It had all made sense, Rarity's, Applejack's, and Rainbow Dash's deaths all in the same time frame after he had succeeded with each trial. Rarity's assassination attempt in the middle of the night when he beat his test around that same time, Applejack bucking him out of the passage and getting crushed mere moments after he beat his second test, and now Rainbow Dash, getting killed by a crystal stalactite that seemed stable, but fell directly on top of her and impaled her. It wasn't just Lucifer who had killed them, Solaris was responsible as well. His tests were cursed. "...I-I...I'm...killing them..."

Trill tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep. She knew Solaris was suffering really badly that she could practically taste his sorrow from a mile away. She couldn't imagine how much more pain he must go through in order to have thoughts of suicide run through his head. Even if she were to eat his depressing emotions, there would still be that lingering guilt that would make it keep coming back, making his anxiety and psychological trauma grow worse with each moment.

Trill got out of bed, deciding to head for Solaris's room to help comfort him. She didn't care if the others knew if they were in a relationship. The point was he needed her more than ever, and she did not want to lose him. After navigating through the long corridors, she finally found the alicorn's room, gently knocking on the door.

"Solaris? Are you awake?" She didn't hear an answer, either he was awake and couldn't speak, or he was still unconscious.

She opened his door, but as she looked inside, she gasped, seeing no sign of Solaris anywhere in the room. She ran in, searching for any sign of him, but there was none. The window to his room was wide open, and as she looked at his bed, there was a note left behind, the page strewn with tears.

I'm sorry, everypony. I don't want to do this anymore. Please don't find me. I don't want to kill anymore.

Trill's eyes widened, looking back out the window, Solaris having run away when he was dreadfully upset. "Oh no..."