After mourning Sunburst for the past few hours, Starlight confined herself to her room, crying over what has happened and what could have been done to prevent this terrible incident. She has known him for years and she wanted to spend some more time with him along with getting to do the things that she wanted with him. But now that he was gone, she feels as if she has nothing left. Just then, she heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Starlight said, sniffling.

"It's me!" Cadence shouted from the door.

Starlight quickly dried away her tears and went to open the door. Luna came in as soon as the door opened. After the doors were closed, the latter turned towards the former and hugged her.

"Are you okay?" Cadence asked.

Doing her best not to show weakness, Starlight said,

"I'm okay. It's just..."

"I know." Luna said.

Starlight looked at her in a confused manner as she said that.

"I know what it means to lose a friend from the past. It is the most ugliest sensation that anypony can ever bear. But no matter what you do or what you can muster, they can never come back." Cadence said with sorrow in her voice.

Starlight lowered her head after hearing that.

"But you should not blame yourself for something that was unpreventable." Cadence said.

Starlight then raised her head as her dampened eyes gazed at Cadence.

"Why shouldn't I? If I had known that this would happen, he wouldn't..." Starlight said in her nearly broken voice.

"He would not have died for nothing."

Tears were now beginning to pour out of her eyes upon hearing that.

"But if he were here now, he would have told to keep moving forward and figure out how to stop this new threat. He also would have told you to be happy and to never forget about the times that you have spent with him when you were foals. I know that it will be hard to bear, but you will persevere." Cadence said in a comforting voice.

She knew that Cadence was right, but Starlight could not think of Sunburst anymore without shedding tears over the guilt of being unable to save him. She then said,

"Cadence, there's something I need to tell you about Twilight. She-"

Cadence put her hoof on Starlight's lips and said,

"I know. What she did was beyond imaginable and I know that you can never find it within yourself to forgive her."

Starlight looked at her with seriousness in her eyes as Cadence explained about her feelings on the matter.

"But right now, we need to put our emotions aside if we want to find Spike. Otherwise, Sunburst's death would have been in vain."

"Come on. We need to discuss this if we want to save more lives." Cadence said as she her hooves on Starlight's shoulders.

Starlight nodded at Cadence when she knew that they had to finish what they had started. With trying to figure out how to stop Spike causing potential untold destruction upon Equestria and beyond.

They left her room for the throne room. So many emotions were going through Starlight. She was feeling many combinations, ranging between anger and sadness like a rainbow coming from the very depths of her core. Starlight wanted to explode from this new form of pressure that she was feeling, but she had to hold back if she wanted to save Spike. After making it towards the throne room, everypony was already organized and ready to discuss their plan on getting Spike back.

"So from what one of the guards told me, Spike seemed to have snuck his way in as his regular self. Though he seemed to have looked different." Luna said.

"Another one said that his eyes were completely blackened, but his sclera was blackened. Like he was possessed by a monster." Celestia explained.

"But could he already be a monster? I mean, he was already taken over by that gem imbedded into his chest. That thing could be the link that has converted him into the monstrosity that snuffed out Sunburst." Twilight wondered as she took notes.

"Perhaps, but there is no way of telling otherwise unless we confront Spike face to face." Celestia said.

"But what could have caused this jewel to take him over?" Starlight asked.

"We don't know, but the crystal embedded in his heart could be the link to figuring out what has corrupted Spike."

"Yeah. But when I first saw him in this state, I had this strange feeling that there was somepony we knew. Somepony we had fought before..." Starlight pondered.

"Who do you think it is?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah! And when are we gonna kick this creature's butt?" Rainbow Dash shouted ecstatically.

"I dunno. But his voice... it sounded warped. Completely filled with malice and hate. Plus his eyes were completely whitened. It sounded very familiar."

"What are you getting at, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah! Spill the beans, Starlight!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

"Well, it could be-"

Just then, the door slammed open. They turned around and saw that a guard was running towards them. After the guard stopped, he said as he tried catching his breath,

"Permission to speak, Your Majesty?"

"Go ahead." Cadence answered.

The guard turned towards the Royal Sisters and said,

"We have news of Starswirl the Bearded."

Celestia and Luna both widened their eyes as they started hearing the guard explain. After hearing the entire explanation, they, along with Twilight and everypony else, were stunned to hear what has happened to him. The Royal Sisters both fell to their knees as tears started pouring out of their eyes. Twilight, of course, cried as she learned what has happened to Starswirl the Bearded. Everypony looked at them as they started to feel this new danger loom upon them.

"Am I the only one who's starting to feel that something terrible's about to happen to us?" Fluttershy asked in her terrified low voice.

They all gulped nervously as they looked out the window as the rain clouds started to loom over the Crystal Empire. This omen that they were seeing holds a terrible feeling that each of them were going to experience in this horrifying adventure.