"What do you mean he ran away!?" Shining asked, greatly worried.

Trill had quickly ran through the castle, gathering Pinkie, Fluttershy, Cadence, and Shining Armor, telling them that Solaris was gone. They were annoyed at first when the changeling woke them up in the middle of the night, but as soon as she showed them his note, they all began to worry about his safety.

"I don't know!" Trill said. "I was worried and wanted to check on him, but he wasn't in his room! The window was opened, and he left that note..."

"This is bad," Cadence said. "He shouldn't be on his own right now. What if he fled outside of the barrier!?"

"But...he's safe from the cold with his fire breath, right?" Trill asked.

"There's a lot of dangerous creatures far to the north of the kingdom," Shining said. "Not only that, but around this time, harsh blizzards come and go outside the barrier. This place is protected by the Crystal Heart, keeping it safe from the elements, but it can drop below freezing in a heartbeat if anypony's dumb enough to travel out there. Even with his fire protecting him from the cold, he's not mentally sane enough to defend himself from what lies outside of the empire."

"Oh great..." Trill uttered, knowing that something else aside from Lucifer could end up killing Solaris.

The group soon split up to try and find the alicorn before he could breach the protective barrier around the empire, Shining Armor alerting his troops and spreading them out to search for his nephew. Trill searched around Solaris's room again, having a gut feeling that her coltfriend was already long gone. The only way she would have a chance to find him was by tracking him, and her searching would possibly lead her outside of the warm, protective shield and into the freezing cold tundra outside.

Trill was lucky enough to learn how to track down any victims she encountered that could give more love energy than her previous prey could. Casting her spell, she closed her eyes, giving her a sixth sense through her mind's eye. The room around her through her shut eyes grew darker, but she can now see aura trails, each one different and floating in different pathways, signifying where that pony stood and where they had gone depending on how strong the aura was.

Solaris's golden aura flew out of the window, just like she predicted, but seeing how far out it went, he definitely went past the barrier. "Solaris, why did you have to run out there? I hate the cold..." Having no choice, she needed to go out there and follow his trail before it disappeared. Trill quickly ran to her room and grabbed her saddlebags, pulling out a scarf she bought back in Saddle Arabia. "Good thing I got one of these. I hope this can keep me warm."

With her gear in check, and the only bit of warm clothing she had on her, Trill flew out of her bedroom window and followed after the gold trail, ignoring the other colored auras down below. As soon as she reached the barrier and passed through, her wings immediately locked up as the temperature dropped drastically. She tried to will her wings to at least let her glide to the ground, but her body refused to listen, needing warmth. Screaming, all she could do was flail in a panic, slamming into a deep bank of snow, cushioning her fall and freezing her further all at once.

Popping out of the snow, Trill began shivering heavily, not one of her better plans. "S-S-So s-stupid...S-Should have t-told t-the others I-I-I could f-f-f-find him..." She shakily dug herself out and began to follow the golden aura on hoof, the scarf barely able to keep her neck warm. "G-G-Gotta f-find him b-before t-t-t-the trail d-dies..."

Far to the north of the Crystal Empire, a harsh blizzard has already rolled in the area, heading south toward the magical barrier. Through the harsh flurry of snow and chilling winds, Solaris ran through the blizzard unhindered, his body heat high in temperature thanks to Spike's dragon fire protecting him from the cold. He could barely see anything in front of him, but he didn't care, too upset to bother where he was going, as long as it was far away from everypony.

He reached the base of a mountain, finding a nearby cave. He stumbled inside, going in as far as the cave could go. He soon collapsed in the middle of the small room, his body shuddering in sorrow as his mind was plagued by the guilt his fate had wrought. Solaris didn't care if he ran from his destiny; he didn't want to be held responsible for the deaths of his family any longer. He looked down at his gauntlets with tear-filled eyes, glaring at his "rewards" for completing his tests.

"Was this what you meant by suffer, mom? Killing my family? The ponies who were supposed to be your friends!?" Solaris shoved the gauntlets off his hooves, throwing them far across the room. He then ripped off the pendant around his neck and pushed the ring off his horn, throwing them at the gauntlets. "How am I supposed to go through with all of this if all you want me to do is cause me pain!? WHAT KIND OF MOTHER ARE YOU!?"

Solaris sucked in a deep breath, blowing out a powerful blast of green flames at his armor he had obtained so far, wanting to burn them as they would only remind him of what he did to Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. He watched as the flames died down, but the golden gauntlets, pendant, and ring were still intact. Seeing as his armor was indestructible, he slammed his hooves into the ground, unable to get rid of the objects that would forever haunt him.

"You really think you can get rid of them that easily?" Solaris's ears twitched, hearing Rainbow Dash's voice. He looked around, but there was no sign of her anywhere, even though she was dead. They'll never go away, just like your guilt when you killed me."

"A-Aunt Rainbow?" Solaris looked all around him, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

"Ya couldn't even run fast enough to outrun a collapsin' temple," Applejack's voice spoke, berating him in a distasteful tone. "After all that trainin' ya did, ya should have been able to outrun Rainbow Dash. What're my brother, sister, and son gonna think when ya tell them ya got me killed!?"

"I told you to run off into the forest, and you completely ignored me," Spike's voice echoed in Solaris's head. His heart kept sinking more and more as he kept hearing the voices of his family, his sanity lost beyond this point. "If you had just listened to me, I would have still been alive. But instead, you just had to try and play 'hero' when you weren't ready to face Lucifer. Now look what you've done to me!"

The voices kept yelling at him from his mind, the cavern spiraling around him as his vision began to fade to darkness. In place of the cave, he saw Spike, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight surrounding him, all of their voices clashing as they said demeaning things toward him. He couldn't escape, he couldn't deny their words, because he knew what they were telling him were true in his mind. All he could do was collapse to the ground, curl into the fetal position, press his forehooves to his ears to try and keep the voices out as he rocked back and forth, their words still reaching to him as he fell deeper and deeper into despair.

Crystal guards searched every single alley, building, and field inside the empire's barrier, but they couldn't find Solaris anywhere. The blizzard had appeared a moment later, the harsh winds dying down as they hit the magic shield, the snow turning to freezing rain. Shining received reports from each group of soldiers patrolling the different parts of the empire, which were all bad news, no sign of his nephew anywhere in their sectors. He dismissed them, ordering them to keep searching.

"I can't believe this is happening..." Shining looked out of the nearby window from the throne room, watching the rain pouring down on the city, many of the crystal ponies and refugees inside their homes to avoid the freezing downpour as the blizzard raged outside the barrier. The doors opened, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy slightly drenched from the rain. "Please tell me you managed to find him."

"No." Pinkie shook off the rainwater, her coat and mane poofing up the second she stopped. "There's no sign of him."

"...Then...he must have ran out of the empire..." The stallion slumped against the windowsill, looking beyond the barrier toward the dangers the frozen north was capable of hiding. "I'm a terrible uncle...This is all my fault..."

"Wait, where's Trill?" Fluttershy asked. "Was she searching around the castle with you and Cadence, Shining Armor?"

"...I thought she went off with you two." After a minute, the three looked out the window, figuring the changeling princess must have gone out into the freezing blizzard. "She can't really be out there! What is wrong with her!?"

"I kinda don't see what's wrong," Pinkie said. "Maybe she found a way to find Solly and didn't think there was enough time to send a search party."

"Pinkie, changelings are part insect!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "She won't be able to last out in the cold for that long, especially when there's a blizzard!"

"...Oh." With how heavy the downpour was, there was no possibility a search party could last a minute outside the empire's barrier, all of them worried for both the teens' safety. "How long will this storm last?"

"With how severe it is, a couple days at the very least," Shining said. "I hope it only lasts a couple days..."

Trill shivered violently as she slowly hiked through the blizzard, definitely regretting going out alone without telling the others. She should have stolen a warm jacket and some fuzzy boots to go with her scarf, but there was no time and she feared Solaris could have gotten eaten by what creatures thrive in storms like this. She didn't really think things through, no matter what her plans are, and this is by far one of the dumbest ideas she ever had: tromping through the snow, fighting against the harsh winds, freezing to near death or possible hibernation, which can result in death if she collapsed in the snow.

She had been hiking for over an hour, her body heat slowly dying as she continued following Solaris's aura trail. As much as she wanted to succumb to her insect-like instincts and fall asleep from the cold, she kept moving forward, far too worried about Solaris's deteriorating health to leave him alone.

"I-Is this h-h-how l-lovers f-f-f-feel?" Trill questioned herself. "T-They d-do s-s-s-stupid t-things for t-the one they c-c-care about? N-No w-wonder I-I-I'm b-bad at m-making p-p-p-p-p-plans..."

She continued following the golden aura, the trail leading to a cave at the base of a nearby mountain, the aura at its strongest. Solaris was inside, and Trill hoped there wasn't any dangerous beasts living inside. She was too cold to defend herself, leaving her completely helpless. She stepped inside the cave, leaning against the wall as soon as she was out of the frigid wind and snow, shuddering as she tried to warm herself up as best as she could. Aside from her teeth chattering, her ears perked up as she heard sobs echoing inside the cave.

She shakily made her way through the cave, finding Solaris curled up in the middle of the room, mumbling to himself. She saw his gauntlets, ring, and pendant on the other side of the entrance, along with a scorch mark around his armor. Trill slowly approached him, feeling the emotional anguish he was suffering from, able to feel his mental state spiraling in his depression. He flinched as he felt her shivering hoof lightly touch him, quickly turning to back away from her.

"Stop!" Solaris shouted. "Leave me alone!"

Trill felt pity for her coltfriend, seeing just how terribly he was suffering. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, his pupils were shrunk as he saw illusions of something she couldn't, and his psychological state was destroyed, the changeling unsure if he'll ever recover at this point.

"S-Solaris, i-it's me," Trill tried to comfort, beginning to feel her body close to shutting down from the blizzard. "W-Why d-d-did you r-run away?"

"P-Please, I didn't want this!" Solaris cried out, backing away from her until he hit the wall. "I-I didn't mean it!"

Seeing he was too far gone to be reasoned with, Trill kept moving closer, trying to control her limbs to keep moving. She hated seeing him so broken, watching him wince with each step she took and scared out of his mind. He flinched as their faces were inches apart, Trill activating her magic as she pressed her horn against his head. She began devouring his negative emotions, Solaris's eyes widening and turning green as he fell into a trance.

Trill couldn't keep her spell up for long, not just because of how disgusting his other emotions tasted, but her energy was nearly exhausted just from pushing through a dangerous blizzard that almost killed her. She backed away, feeling sick to her stomach, managing to absorb enough of his depression to snap Solaris back to his sanity, though it wasn't enough to calm him down.

"T-Trill?" Solaris said, his mind still reeling from the torment he was suffering through. "Why did you find me!?"

"Y-you k-know how w-w-w-worried w-we were a-about you!?" Trill stuttered, desperately needing warmth.

"You shouldn't have come after me!" he argued. "Get away from me!"

"I-I t-t-trekked through a b-b-blizzard, a-and I-I nearly f-froze to d-death t-t-trying to f-f-f-find you," Trill said, trying to stay calm. "W-Why d-did you r-run away?"

"Just leave me." Solaris turned his back on her. "I'm a threat to my family..."

"...W-W-What?" Trill stared at the alicorn, having no clue what he meant.

"My tests...They're a curse." He looked over at his discarded equipment, glaring at them in spite. "My rewards required sacrifices, and the tribute was the lives of the ones I hold dear. That was what my mother meant when I had to suffer."

"W-What are y-you t-t-talking about?" Trill asked, still not understanding.

"Don't you get it, Trill!?" Solaris turned to face her, growing more upset as his mind kept playing through his mother's "warnings" and vague explanations. "My trails are killing my aunts!

"I beat the first one late in the evening, and ironically, Aunt Rarity was killed probably not too long after! My second test, we all could have gotten out, but Aunt Applejack had to kick me out before it collapsed on us! She could have made it out along with the rest of us!" A fresh wave of tears welled up in Solaris's eyes as he recalled the losses he had suffered from. "A-And Aunt Rainbow...There was no way that crystal could have broken off that easily! Not even an earthquake could shake it down from its roots on the ceiling, and she didn't even see it until it hit her! And I stupidly punched it to pieces, killing her with my own hooves!"

"I-It's j-just an u-unfortunate c-c-circumstance," Trill said.

"No it's not!" Solaris shouted. "It's not even close to being a coincidence either! They died in a specific time frame after I passed my test, practically an hour after I won!" He turned his head, breathing a large wave of green fire at his armor, trying his hardest to burn them again. They remained untouched as the flames died down, only angering the alicorn further. "What's going to happen after my final two tests!? Who's blood am I going to have to shed just to get them!? Why is my mother making my life more miserable when she left me, getting herself killed and leaving me with Uncle Spike and never being told of her fate!? I'M SICK OF BEING LIED TO AND LOSING THE ONES I LOVE!"

He slammed his hooves into the ground, making the whole mountain shake as he yelled in frustration and sorrow. While the flames Solaris spewed out warmed the cave a little, Trill still shivered, though more in fear of her coltfriend's enraged power than the cold.

"S-Solaris, is that w-why you ran a-away?" Trill asked, getting his attention as he panted. "B-Because you think y-you're responsible for their d-deaths? Lucifer k-killed Rarity and Applejack, and R-Rainbow Dash's death w-was an accident." She slowly approached him, being careful not to rile him up. "N-Not everypony can be s-saved."

"I don't want anypony else to die from my actions." Solaris turned away from his marefriend again, unwilling to listen to her. "I'm not a hero if I can't help my family...Four lives are on my head, their blood stained on my hooves." He looked down at his forehooves, his hallucinations slowly returning as he began to see them turn red and reeking of blood. "I'm just like Lucifer."

"No you're not!" Trill exclaimed in annoyance, the alicorn's ears pressed tightly against his skull to avoid listening. "Y-You're not like him!" She moved closer, trying to talk some sense into him before he lost himself to his broken psychosis while growing annoyed at his stubbornness. "I-I know you're hurting, b-but you c-can't expect to save the whole w-world! E-Everypony is suffering, and the world is m-more cruel than h-how we think it was i-inside the caves w-we grew up in!"

"Shut up..." Solaris muttered.

"S-Sometimes, sacrifices h-have to be made for the g-greater good!" Trill kept moving closer, unable to see his anger growing to a boiling point. "W-When my mom t-told me about what had happened after the invasion, w-we lost h-hundreds of changeling s-soldiers when t-they got separated when they f-failed! We t-tried, but we didn't g-give up!"

"Shut up," he said, louder.

"Y-You just have to face the f-facts, Solaris!" Trill shouted, standing directly behind the stubborn stallion.

"Shut up!" Solaris shouted.

"Y-You have to l-learn that t-the world is going to be cruel, and w-we need you to s-snap out of it!" She pressed her hoof against his shoulder. "Y-You have to grow up a-and be a stallion i-instead of crying like a baby!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Solaris quickly turned around, lost in his anger, pulling Trill's hoof down and punching her hard in the face.

The changeling princess flew across the room, knocking unconscious from the powerful blow, slamming her head hard into the wall. Solaris immediately snapped to his senses as he not only realized who he just hit, but the chilling, smacking sound Trill made when she hit the wall, her limp body collapsing in a heap.

"...O-Oh buck..." Solaris's hoof shook, eyes widened, and his breath shortened. More tears streamed down his face, not seeing his changeling lover moving. He panicked, running to her, his heart sinking even deeper as he believed he just killed somepony else he cared about. He skidded to a halt near her, Trill was still breathing, but her cheek was beginning to swell, along with her head bleeding slightly, her blood green instead of red. "T-Trill...I-I didn't..."

He was relieved she was still breathing, but the impact could have either cracked her skull or injured her brain. Solaris hyperventilated, carefully checking her injured head, which was only a small gash that wasn't life threatening. He gently took off her scarf, ripping some of the accessory to use as gauze for her wound, keeping it pressed down gently with his magic as he cradled Trill's head against his chest.

"I-I'm sorry..." Solaris sobbed, the guilt in his heart growing heavier. He almost killed the mare he loved, and he hit her. He feared his relationship with Trill was already over, immediately breaking up when she wakes, and leaving him forever. Losing his family one by one was painful enough, but just the thought of hurting or losing the one pony he truly loves and is willing to protect was ten times worse to him. "I'm so sorry...P-Please...Please don't leave me alone..."