The sun was risen by Celestia, the main six along with Spike and Starlight woke up. Princess Celestia didn’t want to waste time and wanted to go to the Crystal Empire at once.

"Good morning everypony." Celestia said.

The main six said good morning but not in the usual way. They were a little sad and scared.

"We don’t have time to waste, we have to get to the Crystal Empire as soon as possible and warn Princess Cadence and
Shining armor." Celestia said.

"Then let’s get going! We are gonna fly there and arrive in five minutes." Rainbow Dash said.

"It’s not that simple Rainbow Dash, we have to keep a low profile so that Nocturne’s minions won’t see us. Because if they do then all of our chances to stop him are lost." Princess Luna said.

"Luna is right. If Nocturne finds us everything will be lost."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Twilight asked.

"We will combine our magic and we will teleport outside the Crystal Empire. This will help us avoid all the dangers to our journey." Celestia said.

The main six and spike quickly agreed.
"Starlight, come help with the spell with need all the unicorns we can have."

Starlight didn’t answer, she was just sitting and having her back turned to everypony.
"Starlight?"

Twilight got a little closer, she extended her hoof at the point where she could touch Starlight at the shoulder. When Twilight touched Starlight, Starlight started to breathe heavily and after a while she stopped.

"Are you ok Starlight?"

Starlight whispered to Twilight.

"I will tell you at the Crystal Empire."

Twilight felt uneasy but respected her decision.

"Alright, now that we are all ready, let’s begin." Luna said.

They all got into a big circle. In the middle were Spike, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity. The four mares around them charged their horns and a blue aura surrounded the ones that were in the middle. And in the blink of an eye, they were gone. The crew found themselves outside the Empire. When they entered they were greeted by smiles and laughter. But they didn’t have time for that. Except Pinkie Pie, who was always happy to make more friends. And then some guards came to lead them to Princess Cadence and Shining armor. Along with them was Flash Sentry. Twilight noticed him.

"Your majesties, it is my honor to welcome you to the Crystal Empire! Flash Said.

"Thank you guard, lead us to Princess Cadence." Luna said.

"As you wish your majesty."

Flash Sentry along with the other guards began to leading them to Princess Cadence and her husband. They entered the throne room where Princess Cadence and Shining armor were at.

"Twilight!"

"Cadence!"

"Sunshine sunshine ladybugs awake clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

They both laughed.

"Welcome to the Crystal Empire. Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you Cadence, but where is my brother?"

"Oh, he is with Flurry Heart. He really loves her."

"How sweet."

Princess Luna wasn’t fluttered by their behavior and wanted to immediately alert them about Nocturne. Celestia noticed Luna’s reaction and put her hoof in front of her to show her to be patient. Luna agreed without saying anything.

"Please make yourselves at home."

"Thank you for your hospitality Cadence, but we have important things to discus." Celestia said with a serious tone.

Twilight remembered and felt stressed. She was also wondering what happened to Starlight. What will she tell her and is she ok? They went to a room with a big round table. Cadence went to get her husband before going to the room.

"Shining, the princesses are here along with Twilight and her friends."

Shining armor was at his daughter’s room watching her playing with her toys and he was smiling.

"Oh, they are here? Let’s greet them then!"

"It’s not a normal visit. They said that they have something important to discus."

Shining armor was confused and filled with curiosity of what could have happened. He put Flurry Heart back to her cradle and followed Cadence to the meeting room. Twilight was sitting near Starlight, she looked scared, her skin was less colorful and she looked like if somepony had drained the life from her body. Twilight whispered to her.

"Wanna talk about what happened?"

Starlight replied slowly.

"Yes Twilight. You see, yesterday when we got to sleep. I had the same dream that I had they day before we go to the gala."

"Did you see something different in your dream this time though? "

"Yes, but this time everything was crystal clear. I saw, us at the camp last night. I was at my bed of sorts. I couldn’t move my body, but I could still use my eyes. And out of nowhere Nocturne appeared. He started talking to me."

"Hello Starlight. Don’t try to telling your friends. Not that you can."

Nocturne was right. Starlight couldn’t move, her lips were at the same position and her heart was slowly beating.

"You know Starlight? Out of all those who tried to take over Equestria , you have impressed me the most. Unlike Nightmare moon or Tirek, you never wanted power, you only cared about destroying Twilight’s most sacred thing of all: Friendship!"

Nocturne then took a quick look at Twilight and her friends. And after a second he turned around and said.

"No, you are not ready yet nor your friends. But you Starlight. You are!"

Then dark tendrils came out of Nocturne's hoof and immediately they attacked her. Starlight woke up in pain and terror"
Twilight felt terrible that this happened to her friend.

"I am sorry that this happened to you Starlight. But we will find a way. Together!"

Starlight sighted.

"It’s not that simple."

"What do you mean?"

Starlight showed her hoof to Twilight. Starlight’s hoof had something like a big black pimple. And it was slowly infecting the rest of her body.

"Twilight, I am scared."

Twilight had never seen such a thing, but she knew it was something bad and it had to be removed.

"Don’t worry Starlight. Princess Celestia and Luna will know what to do about this."

Starlight still wasn’t sure about this. I mean she saw both the princesses lose a fair fight against Nocturne and he wasn’t even trying to defend himself. When they ended their conversation Princess Cadence along with her husband entered the room.

"Hello Twilight!" Shining armor said with a smile.

"Hey….."

Shining armor was worried. What had happened and made Twilight so stressed out.

"I and Princess Luna have something to say."

Everyponys’ eyes were directly staring at them as they were waiting for some answers.

"Princess Cadence and Shining armor we would like to inform you about an attack that happened on Canterlot." Celestia said.

They were both confused even more and were eager to hear more about what happened.

"Last night Canterlot was attack by a very powerful pony that I and Luna knew a very long time ago. We banished him because of his actions and his rage, his name is Nocturne."

"And now he has returned and he won’t stop until every last one of us are dead!" Luna said.

Princess Cadence was worried for her child.

"But why? What did we do to him?" Cadence asked.

Celestia took a deep breath and started talking again.

"It was a stormy night away from Equestria when I and Luna were still small. One of the servant’s found a small basket just outside of the castle, she grabbed it and inside there was a little baby pony, but he wasn’t like the others, his skin was dark, with blue glowing eyes, bat wings and no mane. The servant brought the small pony to our father and mother. And they were both surprised at what they had seen, even if Nocturne was different our mother wanted to adopted him as one of her children."

"But father didn’t like him for what he was, he said that such a thing should be destroyed. And when the other leaders of other nations found out about a son they were eager to hear about him."

"But when they found out what he was they demanded to execute that thing. And father couldn’t agree more. Mother though didn’t care what they were saying and kept the child as her own. Father didn’t like the idea but he carried on.
Nocturne was raised to be a warrior. He would be mistreated and be beaten by his elders. And when they found out that he could use magic, they couldn’t believe in their eyes!"

"Wait a minute, so you are telling us that he can use magic and he is not a unicorn?" Shining armor asked.

"But, how does he do that?" Princess Cadence asked.

"We were told that because of Nocturne’s design, he could use magic like any other Alicorn and Unicorn without any problem." Luna said.

"Nocturne was known for his….unnatural might and power. He alone managed to destroy an entire empire on his own and returne victorious." Celestia said.

"Nocturne can also do other things." Luna said.

"What type of things?" Spike asked.

"You see, Nocturne can actually enter your dreams just like me. But he won’t be in your mind just to protect you. He will manipulate you, your pain and screams will bring joy to him. And some of you may have….seen things in your sleep because of him." Luna pointed out.

Twilight and Starlight looked at each other’s eyes knowing what had happened.

"You may ask now, why Nocturne wants to kill us all. This is not an easy answer." Celestia said.

Celestia took a deep breath and continued

"Even if Nocturne was a monster to everyponies eyes, even if with every step he took somepony around would die or suffer he was loved by one mare. When our father found out about his relationship he killed her. Nocturne full of rage went on a rampage and was about to destroy everything. Celestia said.

"From the way that you described he so far i can tell that it seems love can find it's way to anypony's heart" Cadence said.
Celestia noded and continiued.

"But thanks to a very old priest Alicorn named Crossbleser we managed to stop Nocturne and he was sent away through a portal that he opened. We believed that Nocturne was gone for good. But now he is back."

"Yes, he has returned and with a path of destruction behind him." Luna said.

Everypony was scared , stressed and worried for their loved ones. There was silence in the room for a second.

"What are we going to do?" Twilight asked.

"I truly don’t know." Celestia said.