"What do you mean Rarity isn't here!?" Rainbow shouted as she and the others arrived at Carousel Boutique to check on the fashionista.

It was early in the morning, the sun slowly beginning its ascent into the sky. Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie agreed to let Rarity take some time to recover after her breakdown seeing Spike's body. They gave the dragon a proper burial last night, leaving the grieving unicorn with her sister, Sweetie Belle, back at her home. The young singer was back after a tour she was on for the past couple months, hoping to have at least made it back for Solaris's birthday, but was a bit too late. Sweetie's cutie mark was a shield just like Apple Bloom's, only hers has a star in the center and a music note in the star.

"That's just it," Sweetie explained, just as confused as the others. "She was in her room crying last night, and she seemed to have calmed down. But when I got up to put Gemstone back to bed after waking up from a nightmare, she wasn't there. No note or anything."

As the others began to worry where their friend ran off to, Sweetie Belle's coltfriend, a brown earth pony stallion with an auburn mane and tail, his cutie mark a game pad, walked into the living room from the kitchen, carrying some tea for them. He was really tired, not much of a morning pony.

"Maybe your sister went off to the mountains to search for gems?" the stallion said, suppressing a yawn as he sat next to Sweetie Belle. "You know how she is with those designs of hers. Gotta have gems on everything, even on dish towels."

"She wouldn't just go out gem hunting early in the morning without leaving a note, Button," Sweetie said. "Besides, she always wakes up at nine in the morning. She never goes a day without her proper beauty sleep."

A moment later, they heard a knock on the door to the boutique. Sweetie Belle got up to check on who it was at this hour, leaving the others to their warm tea and fears for Rarity. They all soon heard her shriek, quickly getting up to see her hyperventilating, tears streaming down her cheeks as she freaked out about something. Button ran up to her to comfort her, wondering what had shocked her. At the front door, the four Elements of Harmony gasped when they saw the mercenary, Zero, standing there. They saw the mysterious hired soldier a few times when Lucifer stopped by Ponyville to instill fear into everypony in town. Just from his armor and hidden features, they figured he was just as dangerous as the unicorn tyrant he worked for.

"His Highness, King Lucifer, has a message for you all." Using his magic, his aura masked by his enchanted helmet, he levitated Rarity's body off his back. They all gasped in horror, seeing her body stained with blood, along with her slit throat. "She tried to attack the king early this morning. He says this will be your fate if any of you help the alicorn who escaped from him."

Sweetie Belle began sobbing, clutching her coltfriend tightly, who tried to calm her down. While Fluttershy and Pinkie were in tears, unable to look at Rarity's corpse, Applejack and Rainbow were absolutely furious, mostly the latter of the two.

"You son of a-" Rainbow charged at Lucifer's right hoof soldier, but as she was about to punch him, she was punched hard in the abdomen, knocking the wind out of her.

"I didn't come here to cause trouble," Zero said. Rainbow tried to attack him again, only to be flipped over on her back, his hoof slamming down on her chest, keeping her from getting up. "I'm just following orders. She came to Canterlot and tried to kill Lucifer. I had nothing to do with her death. So I suggest you calm down before you regret your decision to strike me again."

He slowly removed his hoof, making sure Rainbow Dash wouldn't try to attack him for the third time. She thankfully held back, but still kept her hateful glare on the mysterious stallion. After delivering his message, Zero teleported back to Canterlot, leaving the others behind with the body of another lost friend.

It didn't take them long to give Rarity a proper burial, laying her to rest next to Spike's in Ponyville's cemetery. This news was going to be really hard to explain to Gemstone, or even Rarity's husband, who was off on a business trip for the next few months. Now they lost three of their closest friends to Lucifer, their bond as the Elements threatening to break at a moment's notice. After leaving Sweetie Belle to her grieving, they headed off to their homes, grabbed their saddlebags and filled it with supplies for their long trip, meeting up at the entrance to the Everfree Forest.

"We need to end this now," Rainbow said, still miffed after getting beaten by Zero.

"How are we going to tell this to Solaris?" asked Fluttershy.

"Ah don't know..." Applejack looked toward the wild forest the Elements have gone through countless times, hoping that Solaris was still waiting for them after a whole day. "He's old enough to understand, but losin' three of his family...He ain't gonna be happy to know Rarity's gone."

"Let's go," Rainbow said as she began to walk into the Everfree. "I'm not going to lose anymore of my friends. Lucifer is going down."

Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy nodded, following the cyan pegasus as they walked down the path to the ruins for the umpteenth time, no longer afraid of the dangers lurking inside. The only danger they fear is Lucifer's tyranny and black magic.

Deep in the Everfree Forest, sunlight began to shine through the canopy of endlessly overgrown trees, though only a few rays of sunshine managed to peek through the small gaps. Inside of the tent in the ruins of the castle, Solaris and Trill were still sound asleep. The disguised changeling began to open her eyes, still feeling groggy after the excitement meeting Solaris and chatting up a storm last night. As she tried to stretch her limbs, she felt she could barely move them.

Looking down at herself, Trill saw a pair of white forelegs wrapped around her chest. The only other pony with her was Solaris, and she could feel the stallion's chest against her back. He was still asleep by the sound of his calm breathing, pulling her closer to him, snuggling her like he was holding a stuffed animal. She had to suppress her snickering, not wanting to let a hilarious opportunity like this to be wasted for a little joke.

Carefully, she wriggled herself around until she was facing him, making sure he didn't wake up for her prank to work. After getting herself in position, she wrapped her forelegs around Solaris, hearing him mutter something in his sleep. As she got a look at his face, Trill noticed he had some bruises on his face. Figuring she could ask him how he got those later, she went back to her fun little plan to shock him, gently pressing her muzzle against his. His eyes fluttered open at the sudden touch, squinting his eyes as he stared into the princess's emerald irises.

"Good morning," Trill said, fluttering her eyelashes in a sultry manner.

"GAH!" Solaris screamed, scrambling away from Trill as she began laughing uproariously. His face brightened in embarrassment, wanting desperately to toss the changeling out into the forest. "What were you gonna do to me!?"

"Nothing!" Trill said, trying to calm herself as she clutched her ribs. "That was so perfect!"

"I said no more pranks!" Solaris said, grabbing his stuff from inside the tent and exiting.

"Oh come on!" Trill poked her head out of the flap. "It wasn't my fault you wanted to cuddle with me."

"I did not do that!" Solaris denied.

"You had your hooves wrapped around me," said Trill, smirking at the flustered alicorn. "Did anypony ever tell you that you look cute when you sleep? I wanted to just squish your cheeks."

Solaris blushed even harder, his entire head as red as a tomato. Using his magic, he shoved Trill back inside the tent, making her yelp, nearly flipping the tent over.

"I've only known you for a day and you're already getting on my nerves." Solaris put on his new gauntlets, still feeling sore after last night's intense trial. "I'm not going to fall for anymore of your traps."

"Well, you were the one who wanted to snuggle with me." Trill managed to free herself from the tent, but as she looked at the alicorn, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped when she stared at his flanks.

"It was you who was snuggling with me! I was sleeping on my side of the tent, and you were about to kiss me!" Solaris said, his blush coming back as the thought of kissing a mare was nerve inducing. He even hated to admit it, but for a changeling, he found her to be quite a sight compared to any of his aunts: cute, a little funny when she wasn't messing around with him, and her eyes were entrancing to stare into. He turned around to face Trill, seeing her standing there slack-jawed. "...What?"

"...I was gonna ask how you got the bruises, and those gold gauntlets," she said, pointing her hoof at his flanks. "But when in Equestria did you get your cutie mark? You didn't have anything on there last night."

"Huh?" Confused, Solaris looked down at his flanks. His eyes widened when he saw his cutie mark, having no clue when he had gotten it. It was a rising sun with half of his mother's lavender star cutie mark in the center of the yellow circle, the six orange rays each holding a white star inside. The teen was speechless, spinning around to try and get a better look. "W-What...? How did I-?"

"Wow." Trill got closer to Solaris, getting a closer look at his cutie mark. "Wonder what it means."

Solaris quickly covered his cutie mark with his tail, leering at the disguised changeling.

"What did I tell you about personal space!?" he shouted, his hooves sparking green as he prepared to summon his flaming hooves.

"It's not like I was gonna look at anything else!" Trill said. "Then again-"

"Trill, I swear to the makers above, stop being so perverted!" Solaris yelled, his eye twitching as his nostrils expelled flames.

Trill backed away, chuckling nervously, remembering not to keep striking a nerve with Solaris. "Y-you need to learn to take a joke. You'll really act like a cavepony if you decide to just go all smash happy at the drop of a hat."

"Gee. I wonder why I act like one," Solaris said, glaring at the mare. After making sure Trill wouldn't try anything funny again, he took the tent down and stuffed it in his saddlebags. He pulled the map out, looking at the marks in the other four other regions, mentally crossing the one in the Everfree Forest off. "Ok, I think I get what these marks mean."

"On the map or your flanks?" Trill asked.

"Ignoring that last part." Solaris turned the map around for Trill to see. "The one in the Everfree Forest, where we're in right now, is where one of the five locations where I have to take these trials my mother had set up for me. Which answers your question as to how I got so banged up."

"Ah. I thought it was because you fell down a flight of stairs." Solaris raised an eyebrow as Trill's assumption didn't match the hoof shaped bruises on his body. "Well, this castle does have stairs."

Solaris sighed, questioning what level of education the changeling actually has with her childish logic. "Well, no. After I won, I was given these gauntlets by my mother, which gives me a little boost of strength to help me in the future." He lowered the map, but was still confused by what Twilight had said when he was supposed to suffer after completing his tests. "I still have no clue what she meant by her warning...'After passing each test, you will have to suffer and fight through the pain.' It was so vague, though..."

"...So, you saw your dead mom?" Trill asked, Solaris's confusing predicament flying past her head.

Before he could scold her for missing out the important problem with his trials, they heard a voice outside, coming from the entrance to the castle.

"Solaris! You here, buddy!?" Solaris recognized the voice coming from Rainbow Dash, catching sight of his aunts entering the castle.

"Aunt Rainbow?" Trill immediately flinched, hiding behind Solaris as the older mares spotted him.

"There he is!" Pinkie was the first to run toward him, grabbing the alicorn into a bone-crushing hug. "I'm so happy you're ok! Are you hurt!? Are you hungry!? I got plenty of food stored away for the long, long, long, loooooooooong trip!"

"Gagh! A-Aunt Pinkie! Can't...breathe...!" Pinkie realized she was crushing her nephew, dropping Solaris as he tried to catch his breath, earning more bruises from her powerful hooves. Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Applejack pulled him into a group hug, glad to see he was unharmed by any of the creatures in the Everfree. Solaris noticed there was somepony missing, no sign of Rarity with them. "Hey, where's Aunt Rarity? Is she back in town?"

The mares hesitated, not knowing if they should tell him the unfortunate news. Before one of them brought up the courage to tell Solaris, they all noticed the green unicorn mare trying to sneak away.

"Wait, who's that?" Rainbow asked, making Trill flinch as she was spotted.

"Uhh..." Solaris thought about what to say to keep Trill's identity a secret, but Applejack and her inner lie detector can easily tell if he was making up stories. He learned that the hard way when he ate all the apple fritters she had baked and brought to the cave on his sixth birthday, regretting it greatly as he got a bad tummy ache the next day. "...W-Well, umm...T-This is-"

"My name is Evergreen Forrest!" Trill said, putting on her act as she bounded up to Solaris. "I met this hunky alicorn stallion here in the Everfree Forest the other day! He saved me from a vicious group of timber wolves, smashing them to pieces with his own hooves, a feat that made me swoon and pass out from how brave and valiant he was!" She leaned her body over Solaris's back, his cheeks burning as she kept complimenting him, even though he knew that wasn't really how they met. "We hit it off so quickly, I gave him a kiss as a reward for being such a heroic stud."

"She's just a friend!" Solaris quickly bumped the dramatic changeling off his back, his heart racing as his aunts stared at them, not sure if they believed her or not. He was really hoping for the latter. "Nothing serious happened! She always makes up weird stories after she blabbed my ear off last night."

"Hey! I did not!" Solaris quickly shoved a hoof in Trill's mouth, keeping her from spewing anymore lies that could get her into more trouble.

He gave his aunts a nervous grin, hoping that his little lie wouldn't get him into trouble. It seemed to be working, though Applejack was still pretty skeptical.

"So, you two stayed out here the whole night?" Rainbow asked.

"Y-Yeah. I-I let her sleep in the tent with me last night." Solaris couldn't get rid of the blush growing on his face, making his explanation sound more awkward. "I didn't want her to sleep out on the cracked flooring...so I uhh..."

Trill moved Solaris's hoof out of her mouth, wrapping her hoof around his neck. "He liked me too much to not be a gentlecolt to a stranger like myself. You should have seen the awkward moment we had when we-"

"CAN WE PLEASE GET OUT OF THIS FOREST!?" Solaris yelled, giving Trill a deathly glare, already embarrassed enough as it is and not wanting his aunts to know of them being that close in the tent this morning.

The trek back out of the forest went by smoothly, thankfully no encounters with any of the dangerous creatures that lived inside. Solaris grew aggravated when Trill talked with his aunts, her idea of staying low and not getting caught because of her fear of being found out with four of the Elements of Harmony thrown out the window. It was worse when she kept talking about how handsome he was, and his bravery "rescuing" her from peril. She even talked about what they had discussed last night, leaving out anything involving her as a changeling, thankfully.

They finally found themselves at the entrance of the forest, making their way to Fluttershy's cottage, being the closest home nearby and far enough away from Ponyville so none of the Shadow Knights would discover Solaris's whereabouts. As they entered the cottage, Fluttershy's animals immediately flocked to her, greeting her with their chittering, chirps, squawks, etc. But as Trill entered, many of them fled to their little homes inside the abode, leering at the disguised princess, able to tell who she really was.

"Oh dear," Fluttershy said, worried about her little critter friends' reactions to "Evergreen". "I don't know why my friends are acting this way. They're usually quite friendly with new ponies."

Fluttershy's pet, a white bunny that looked like Angel, the spoiled rabbit having passed away a few years ago, and behaves almost exactly like him, approached Trill. He gave a pout, giving her the death glare, then proceeded to thump his paw against her leg.

"Heheh..." Trill laughed nervously, trying to think up something to explain their disliking her. "Animals really don't like me. I tried to help a puppy with a hurt paw, and it bit me."

"Oh." Fluttershy grabbed New Angel, keeping him away from the teenage filly. "I'm going to let him roam about outside. Angel needs some exercise anyways."

Fluttershy took the leering rabbit outside, leaving the others inside. Solaris didn't see Rarity in the cottage, and he didn't get an answer from his aunts about where she was.

"So, before...'Evergreen' was introduced, irritating me to no end..." Solaris looked at Trill, who only gave him a grin, then back to Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow. "Where's Aunt Rarity?"

Again, they hesitated. It was hard enough to have the unicorn run off to Canterlot and try to kill Lucifer, which would have ended in failure the instant she set hoof in the city, then having her corpse delivered to them by one of his soldiers. Just knowing if Solaris would have to hear more bad news about somepony he cares about is gone, he would either break down or lash out. He had to know the truth now, no more secrets, no more hidden information, no more lies.

"...Sugarcube..." Applejack said, being the first of them to speak up. "...Ah hate to say this, but...Early this mornin'...Rarity was killed."

Solaris felt his heart sink, staring at the depressed mares as they relived seeing Rarity's body, the sickening slit across her throat that was the cause of her death.

"W-What?" he asked, hoping that they were just pulling his leg. "What are you talking about?"

"She went up to Canterlot last night and tried to kill Lucifer," Rainbow said, glowering in anger as she mentioned the tyrant's name. "We think she lost her mind when he dropped Spike's body at all of us in town, wanting to get revenge, I guess...It was practically suicide."

Solaris was speechless, tears building up in his eyes as he was told the unfortunate news. Another member of his family was gone, and he blamed himself for both Rarity's and Spike's death. He ended up getting his uncle killed, and Rarity lost her sanity, attempting to kill a unicorn who was invulnerable to everything except for him, and getting herself killed out of losing the dragon she had secret feelings for.

Pinkie gently pulled the grieving teen into a hug, though he tried to stay strong, not wanting to fall into a major depression. After calming down slightly, Solaris looked down at his gauntlets, his reward for the completion of one of his five trials. If he wanted to keep his family safe, he needed to stop Lucifer, and he needed to get stronger.

"I won't let him hurt anypony else ever again." He gently pushed himself away from Pinkie, holding up his gauntlets. "I passed one of the five tests mom gave me back in the forest. I'll beat each one, and take Lucifer down." He set his hooves on fire, shocking Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow, slamming his hooves together. "It's time for me to fulfill my destiny and save Equestria."

"...Well, that's a new trick," Rainbow said, glad to know that Solaris was more mature than the other day.

"Ooh!" Pinkie pulled out a stick with several marshmallows stuck through it from out of nowhere, roasting them over the alicorn's hooves. Solaris wanted to question how she does the things she does, but knew never to question it out loud, watching her party loving aunt munch on the roasted marshmallows. "Instant fires for instant s'mores!"

After putting out his fire before he scared the critters inside Fluttershy's home, Solaris looked at Trill, her jaw agape at seeing Pinkie pulling out that stick from thin air.

"...How did she do that?" she asked, overwhelmed by the impossibility that was Pinkie Pie's randomness.

"You want to know, Evergreen?" Solaris asked, getting a nod from the mare. He closed her mouth for her, smirking at her shocked expression. "It's just my Aunt Pinkie."

Trill stared at him, not receiving the answer she wanted. "That doesn't help at all!"

As soon as everypony was ready to head out across Equestria for Solaris to gain more power to defeat Lucifer, the group headed off to the train station. They had to take a long trek around Ponyville, but it was worth it if it meant keeping Solaris's location a secret. It was sad to know what had happened to Rarity, but he had an important job to do.

They arrived at the station platform, Solaris staring in awe at the locomotive, awaiting passengers to board and continue on its way across the tracks laid out for it. He had to be pushed inside before the train set off, entering a private car for the six of them so no one else may bother them. As long as Solaris kept his saddlebags over his wings, others would just see him as a regular teenage unicorn, but wearing them for a long period of time would end up making his wings sore. He pulled out the map, explaining to Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy how he got the gauntlets and his mother's return from the dead for only a short while.

"Ok, so these marks on the map are where we have to go for your tests, and they're all split up in different locations," Rainbow said, pointing out to each region. "There's one out in the deserts of Saddle Arabia far to the east, which this train is luckily headed. Then the Crystal Empire to the north, Cloudsdale, which could wind up anywhere throughout Equestria, and...one out here in the wastelands?"

"Is there any town or city around there?" Solaris asked, finding no sign of a major city anywhere in the wastelands.

"I don't think so." Rainbow sighed as she looked over the map. "Your mom didn't really tell us exactly where your tests were or who would be giving them to you. She was either too cryptic or not explaining enough for us to know."

"I think the shorter term is 'vague', Aunt Rainbow," Solaris lectured.

"Hey, I'm pushing up to forty, kiddo!" the pegasus said, grabbing the stallion in a headlock and giving him a rough noogie. "I don't need you telling me what means what!"

Solaris managed to escape from the headlock, rubbing his sore head. As the train chugged along its route, the teen felt a little uncomfortable with the car lightly jumping as the wheels rolled along the tracks. He did read about trains, easily fascinated with them as a colt, but to ride on one was a different experience. At least he didn't have motion sickness, otherwise he would have been losing his lunch every ten minutes.

He sat in one of the bunks of their car, looking out the window and watching the scenery pass by, amazed at what else Equestria had in store after his fifteen years in seclusion. Part of him was excited to actually ride on a train, even though it felt like he was always in a minor earthquake, any harsh bump making him stumble and threaten to make him fall on his face or plot. Solaris watched the trees, buildings, mountains, and forests pass by, slowly beginning to relax after the past three days.

While distracted by the swiftly moving landscape, Trill sat next to him, noticing how excited he was just watching everything pass by the window. "Having fun?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Solaris turned to Trill, not even hearing her sit next to him. "Oh. I guess I am." He looked back out the window, very eager to see what each region of Equestria looked like up close compared to pictures in his books. "Have you ever been on one of these, Trill?"

"No. But I'm not the one who's acting like a foal excited about riding on a train." Trill lightly punched Solaris in his foreleg. "I still find it pretty amusing how much of a colt you actually are. You're starting to break out of your cavepony shell."

"Don't you live in a cave?" Solaris asked, still hating the status the disguised changeling gave him.

"It's a hive," Trill huffed. "There's a big difference. Just because we make our home in caverns doesn't technically make us act like caveponies."

As the two talked, they didn't notice a certain somepony eyeing them from the other side of the car. Applejack watched the two closely, mostly Trill, feeling slightly uneasy with her sudden presence in Solaris's life. Her name, Evergreen Forrest, sounded like something she made up on the fly, and the fact that Fluttershy's animal friends back in Ponyville were giving her a wary look. Even with how close they seemed, it didn't look like they were instantly best friends, and Trill's occasional flirting was bothering her.

"Applejack, what are you doing?" Applejack turned to Fluttershy, wondering what she was doing.

"Do ya think Evergreen seems a bit...odd, Fluttershy?" the farm mare asked, turning her head back to the two teens.

"Well, she does seem to be affectionate with Solaris," Fluttershy said. "She was lucky Solaris came to her rescue. Those timber wolves can really be a terrible creature to run into in the Everfree Forest."

"Then how do ya explain how she wasn't terrified of bein' in the forest?" Applejack questioned, leering at the filly, feeling her body tense when she began to flirt with Solaris again. "Ah have a bad feelin' about her. One is that she could easily manipulate Solaris, havin' no clue how to interact with anypony outside of us, and the other is that she's liein' to us."

Fluttershy gasped, unable to believe her friend would be this judgmental to somepony who didn't seem all that bad. "Applejack, she's Solaris's friend."

"Maybe so, but Ah just have a really bad feelin'..." Applejack continued watching them, feeling conflicted about her thoughts on "Evergreen". "We're gonna need to keep a close eye on her. She might be a spy from Lucifer's guards."

The older mares left the teens to themselves, Applejack being very cautious as she glanced back, watching Solaris growing annoyed with Trill's teasing. She could only hope that this journey would go smoothly and have no repercussions along the way.