Cobalt flinched in his sleep and his eyes shot open. He at once shut them against the bright light immediately tangible by sight. He blinked a couple of times to adjust his eyes to this new brightness, and then tried to discern shapes. After a long while, he deduced that there wasn't anything in his immediate surrounding.

He staggered to his hooves and glanced down to make sure he was still himself. Yes, two front legs, two back legs… that was all in order. He gave his wings a slight flutter to reassure himself that they were still there, and flicked his short tail. In conclusion, after his observations, he was normal, but where he was wasn't. It was all just a flat terrain of brightness and warmth, and he couldn't discern what was ground and what wasn't due to it all being the same hue. It felt almost like a grassy meadow under his hooves, and the air around him smelled of wildflowers.

He got the sudden feeling that he didn't belong here, that his gray coloring didn't mesh with the warm glow of everything around him. He was the odd point in an expanse of what was considered normal here. He knew he had to leave. He knew that it wasn't right for him to exist here, but the warmth and peaceful brightness of the place invited him in, made him feel at home. He felt actually happy here.

Then he suddenly wondered what what this place was.

That was when the warmth disappeared, when the glow turned cold, when the light extinguished.

Cobalt became aware of a massive headache as the façade walls of the reality he'd grown so hopeful was real tipped outward, giving way to a stark, cold, black abyss. Before long what he'd once felt such assurance and relief in was spinning away in squares into the distance, and the headache was beginning to feel like a drill on his skull set at maximum RPM. He held his head in his hooves and then heard a sinister voice scream at him.

Pitiful! As if you could ever believe that you have a hope, you miserable excuse for a life form! You are nothing! NOTHING!

As he jolted awake on the train to Canterlot, he wasn't sure whether that voice had been the creature's that resided in his mind… or his own. He realized he was shivering from cold. The train's compartments had dropped to at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit during the night, and as he looked out the window, he could see tree limbs blown back and forth by a chilling wind that seemed to have somehow infiltrated the metal casing of the train. That train seriously needed some engineering work done.

He then became aware of a small warmth close by, and glanced to his left and slightly downward to see Rainbow Dash curled up next to him, her eyes fluttering open. His sudden movement had woken her. She yawned hugely and glanced up at him through bleary eyes, stretching slightly. "Issit morning?" she asked, her words slurred with drowsiness.

Shifting in his seat, Cobalt wrapped his wing around her. "No, I just had a nightmare. Sorry for waking you up."

Rainbow blinked. "You always have those. Why don't you ever have good dreams?"

Cobalt winced. "I…" He knew she wasn't trying to be any more direct than normal, and that her pointed inquiry was simply born out of her current disconnection with reality, but that question hit too close to home for him. He couldn't tell her about the creature inside of him, causing him to have bad dreams and act strange, but what else could he tell her without completely lying to her? It wouldn't be fair. He couldn't lie directly to her face without completely betraying the weak trust she'd started to put in him during the events of the wedding. That was what had caused their relationship to collapse in the first place. It would be wrong and potentially harmful. But he couldn't tell her the truth either. He'd done that with Twilight, and now she worried about him all the time. He couldn't put another pony through that. "It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it," he said, dodging the question entirely.

She seemed satisfied with that answer, and after making a tiny sound of acknowledgement, she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes again.

There was silence for a while, but then just as Cobalt was considering trying to go back to sleep, Rainbow mumbled something so quietly that he counted himself lucky that he'd even heard it.

"You're not alone, you know…"

Then she started to breathe heavily, and Cobalt knew that she was asleep.

That thought was comforting to him. For so long after they'd fallen out he'd felt abandoned, like he was a complete stranger in this world he'd woken up with no memory in. He hadn't known how much he needed some sort of emotional attachment until it was ripped away from him, and he knew that it had to be her. He knew that nothing else would end up working.

But now they were together again, and she was right, he wasn't alone. He had her, he had his friends, and he had a whole world that could call upon him to save it at any moment. He was not alone, and that was all he needed to know to stay sane.

"Thank you," he murmured quietly, and then followed Rainbow's example, and fell asleep once more, and this time, he didn't dream of darkness.

ONE TITLE SEQUENCE LATER

Twilight poked all her friends roughly in their foreheads, and they awoke with groans of annoyance. "Wake up! We're here!" she snapped. Obviously her nerves were stretched pretty thin, because the worry on her face was clearly evident under the mask of irritation.

"As much as I love being jabbed in the forehead, Twi," Cobalt grumbled, holding up a hoof to stop any further attempts at trying to wake him up, "Don't do it."

Fluttershy shielded her eyes against the soft, gray light streaming from the windows, yawning hugely. "Why's it so bright outside? Wasn't the train supposed to arrive at 3AM?"

"It was supposed to, but thanks to 'excessive ice on the tracks', it ran late. We were stopped for four hours!" Twilight rolled her eyes and exhaled heavily.

"And… Ah take it you were up for that whole time?" Applejack asked, a slight smile on her face.

"Just hurry up and get off before the train starts to go back to Ponyville," Twilight growled, and levitated her bags out of the luggage compartment overhead, turning around and left.

"Applejack, don't be silly. She has to have gotten some amount of sleep," Rarity chided, as if the thought of Twilight staying up all night was foolish.

Rainbow burst out in laughter. "R-Rarity, do you even know Twilight?"

The white unicorn looked disconcerted. "Why, yes, I think I do, and–"

"And Spike and I are her roommates," Cobalt interrupted, a grin forming on his face. "I think we know her habits pretty well." He glanced at Spike, seated beside Rarity (at an uncomfortably close distance, if he were considered an adult). "How late does she usually stay up?"

"Oh, yeah," Spike grinned. "She's up to at least two in the morning every day, and if she's stressed it's usually five!"

"That doesn't sound very healthy," Fluttershy put in. "Her sleep cycle's bound to be messed up after that."

"That is her sleep cycle."

"Eep…"

Rainbow glanced around in confusion. "Hey, has anypony seen Pinkie?"

"Out here!"

The sound was muffled but easily recognizable. The five ponies and dragon in the compartment looked out the window and saw Pinkie waving at them from outside, and taking a picture. "Come on, guys!"

They then saw Twilight trotting toward their pink friend, and heard this muffled bit of dialogue.

"Pinkie?! How'd you get out here so fast?"

"I walked!"

"But I walked! I never saw you pass me."

"Well that's weird. Didn't you see the blue box that said police? There was a really nice stallion inside and Derpy from town. They said they'd give me a ride and somehow I got out here before you."

"But I didn't see a police box…"

"How do you miss the police box?"

"I don't–I don't know…"

LATER

Twilight decided that she should enter the hall alone. As much as she loved her friends, she still thought of them as sort of a risk factor for something as formal as this. Besides, if it was a test, they'd be expected to leave anyway. So she pushed, and literally pushed, through the giant doors at the far end (which were actually very hard to open; she thought there might be a bit of a weight reducing spell on them by now, but no, they were still as heavy as normal).

The same awkward pressure as usual pushed in on her from all sides as she trotted down the hallway, and realized with a chill down her spine that she'd forgotten to check whether she was presentable. She quickly reached up and patted down her mane, praying to whatever powers held sway above Celestia that it was flat. (Speaking of, she'd heard Celestia herself use the 'I pray' phrase a few times. She would have to ask about that at some point.)

As she reached the throne, she bowed deeply to Celestia and Luna, who were both sitting in their thrones. It was an honor to see them both there at the same time, because according to Celestia, they usually got into arguments about which papers should be signed and which shouldn't, Luna pleading an appeal for how things used to be before she was banished, and Celestia either claiming seniority or arguing that things had changed. Today, however, there were no papers to be signed, and that meant that the volatile nature of their attempted cooperation couldn't result in any (perhaps literal) fireworks. "Your highnesses, it's my honor to–"

"No need for formality, Twilight Sparkle," Luna interjected, her sudden interruption proving what she said. "There is a matter of utmost importance that must be discussed, and we have no time to delay."

Twilight raised an eyebrow as she stood up. "Uh, by 'we' do you mean yourself, or both of you, or…" she shook her head to clear it, because the sudden barrage of ideas her mind presented to her now clouded her thoughts from what she'd come here for. "Um, right. About the test, I brought my own parchment and quills, and I studied everything I've ever learned all yesterday, and…" she trailed off as Celestia's expression remained unchanged. "That's not what it is, is it?"

Celestia shook her head. "It is not a test, per se, but if you wish to call it that, it would not be entirely wrong. It's something like that assignment I gave you those six months ago, to keep an eye on Cobalt Spikes. You asked whether that was a test then, and I told you that if you thought of it as that, it would be." She let out a sigh. "But as for quills and parchment, they're all unnecessary for this.

"Have you ever heard of the Crystal Empire?"

Twilight frowned, racking her memories. "Not that I can remember. I don't think that was in any of the books I've ever read."

"We assumed as much," Luna said, nodding. "It's not the sort of thing that comes up in everyday conversation, bro." She then glanced up at Celestia with a slight smile. "I believe I have done the modern language right?"

Celestia shook her head. "Not the time, sister. We'll work on it later." She then used her magic to levitate a crystal from the table beside her so that it was visible to all three of them. "The Crystal Empire was a peaceful part of Equestria around one thousand years ago. Then it suddenly just disappeared. Nopony knew what happened to it then, and nopony does now. It's all a mystery, though some ponies suspect it might have to do with the stallion who took control of it, a unicorn tainted by dark magic called King Sombra. Once again, nopony knows the details of his rule, but they do know that it was a time of great suffering for his subjects."

Twilight was now thoroughly confused. "That's quite interesting, but why are you telling me this? How is this relevant?"

"That is just the problem." Luna sighed. "As far as we know, the Empire has stayed vanished for a thousand years… until three days ago."

"Which is about when you sent me the letter." Twilight nodded, beginning to understand. "So the Empire reappeared and you sent for me."

"Indeed. Though we did send for your brother and Cadance first," Celestia corrected. "They're in the Empire now, keeping it safe and from collapsing into chaos. The citizens have been gone for one thousand years. There has to be a bit of jet lag to that. But as for what we need you to do." She projected a bit of light on the crystal, and that light refracted to form a holographic map of what Twilight assumed was the Empire. "This is the Empire as it should be, with the Crystal Heart in tact. But the Crystal Heart was cast out when Sombra seized power, missing from where it normally sits. And when that happens…"

She didn't finish that sentence, but instead began casting another spell, one that caused black crystals to spring from the floor. Twilight looked up at her mentor, and was shocked to see that she was using dark magic herself, her magic turning a purple and greenish alternation instead of its usual warm, yellow glow. Her eyes turned pure white as she used this evil spell, and the black crystals sprouted in a line towards the holographic Empire, breaking through the walls and smashing into the building. The image flickered, and then disappeared.

"Now you see what we mean," Luna said as Celestia ended the spell and the downright scary look she'd attained. "We believe that King Sombra has been revived along with the Empire, and without the Crystal Heart in tact, it will have no chance to defend itself against his dark magic. It will be taken over once more."

"So I have to go and find it while Shining Armor and Cadance keep the dark magic out of the Empire." Twilight nodded. "Yes, that makes sense."

"Then you know your task–or test, as you choose to put it?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, your highness-es," she added awkwardly at the end, still used to only addressing Celestia. "I'll get to doing that immediately."

As she turned to pick up her bags and leave, she heard Celestia say these last few words as parting. "Twilight, remember, it must be you and you alone who returns the Crystal Heart."

Twilight turned around and looked straight at the two Princesses, and nodded with a faked confident smile. "You can count on me." She then turned and galloped out of the hall before she let something that betrayed her surprise at this unexpected task onto her face.

When she was gone, Luna turned to her sister. "Are you sure she is ready for this?"

"I'm sure. This will be one of her most monumental tasks yet, but with her friends' help, I'm certain she can overcome it, especially with the help of Cobalt Spikes." She sighed. "I cannot trust him right now, but I sense that he has monumental powers of chaos that we cannot yet comprehend. I only hope he chooses to use them for light rather than darkness." A smile crossed her face. "Oh, and little sister? You are getting better at speaking more like modern ponies. You didn't say 'art thou' this time."

Luna grinned widely. "Yes!" she cheered. "I have attained the epic win!"

"Using the definite article again…"

Finally got it posted! This took me way too long to do. Sorry guys. Anyway, the next chapter of Brony University will be up soon, and thank you again for reading.

If you liked this chapter, please leave a favorite, follow, or review, and I'll see you all next chapter!

Radicool223 out!

(Oh yeah, if anyone has any new info about the cover art, PM me! Thanks!)