Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I got a new computer and sort of had to go through all the processes of transferring data. But anyway, I'm going on it again. This chapter will be sort of a checking back in to Equestria, so forgive me if it's short.

SubZPhantom: Dang… I had the exact same idea!

ash the pokevenger: Okay then.

Spike Hedgehog I aim to outdo myself every chapter. It makes the story better.

blueflare202101: I can't tell what sense that's meant in…

Guest: It will be.

Inkwell: Can't reveal most of that right now… you'll see when it happens.

Caliburn glanced curiously at Cobalt as they wandered through the forest, in blind search for one of the knights. Caliburn had rebuked Cobalt at first for such a passive approach when the kingdom was suffering as it was, but the blue pegasus had reminded him that the knights were searching for him actively, making it even easier to find them by doing nothing except helping villagers and such.

"So what of your home, knave?" the sword asked. "Is it much like this world?"

"More than you'd think." Cobalt answered, wincing and putting a hoof to his temple as if he were having a splitting headache. Caliburn raised an eyebrow as the pegasus coughed and spat out a little blood. "Art thou ailed by some sort of sickness, knave?"

"No." Cobalt shook his head and put on a reassuring grin. "I'm fine." The brief smile faded into an expression that could have been construed as either brooding or concerned. "I just hope they're doing okay there."

IN EQUESTRIA

They were not doing okay there.

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and was greeted by fading moonlight outside the window. Spike was still asleep in his basket. As much as the baby dragon called her crazy and pointed out the slight dark circles underneath her eyes, Twilight still loved to go to sleep around eleven o'clock and wake up at six in the morning to get a head start on the day.

She smiled and trotted over to the mirror, levitating her hairbrush and beginning to do her best to tame the tangles in her mane. It currently looked as if she'd been in a large windstorm. As she slowly made progress on her mane, she frowned into the mirror; those dark circles were getting more prominent by the day. Maybe Spike was right. At least they weren't as bad as Rainbow Dash's.

The thought of the cyan pegasus brought a mixture of emotions out of Twilight's mind: anger, sadness, and… guilt. Twilight still felt slightly guilty for both the Mare-do-Well incident and the fact that she was now dating Cobalt… though it appeared that only Rainbow and Applejack knew at this point, and she was content with keeping it that way for now.

Speaking of Cobalt… Twilight glanced around the bedroom in confusion. She hadn't seen him this morning. He might've gone back downstairs to sleep on the bookshelves again. This wouldn't be surprising, considering that Twilight had finally forced him to sleep in the guest bed after he'd fallen off one of the shelves in the night and one of the late-night patrons of the library had seen him, screamed, and gone to the mayor to accuse Twilight of murder. That had taken several hours to resolve.

Twilight shrugged, maybe he'd just gone out for an early morning fly, or to do his weather pony duties early so he could have a free day. Once more, that wasn't an uncommon thing. It seemed as if he never slept anymore, and when she questioned him about it, he gave her a solemn look and said 'nightmares'. What nightmares could drive a pony to insomnia eluded Twilight at the moment, but she was going to find out eventually.

She suddenly attained a wicked grin. If nopony was up besides her… then… butter.

She made one final pass through her mostly smoothed mane with the brush and then set off at a quick trot down the stairs and into the kitchen area. She flung open the refrigerator with her magic and levitated the butter out, closing the refrigerator as quietly as she could afterward. She grinned as she took a large bite out of the stick of creamy, salty goodness and chewed on it while staring out the window and watching the sun slowly rise.

Once again she was amazed at her mentor's power. It must be an immense effort to raise the sun every day, but then to turn right around and run an entire kingdom? Twilight figured she'd choke under the pressure if she had to do that.

A figure crossed the ground below, which Twilight's tired eyes glossed over at first. She then did a double take and stared more intently at the figure. Although the light created a glare on the window, Twilight instantly recognized the pony. It was Rainbow Dash, looking depressed. The lavender unicorn frowned and considered what to do. She could always just ignore her, but upon closer inspection, she noticed that there were tears freely pouring out of the cyan pegasus' eyes and running down her face. That decided it for Twilight; she had to go and talk to her friend.

She quickly swallowed the glob of butter and trotted over to the door, swinging it open with her magic. Peering outside, Twilight began to trail Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash!" she called out after a few seconds.

Rainbow stiffened, swiped at her eyes in an effort to brush away the tears that she'd paid no mind to before, and whipped around to glare at Twilight. "What?!" she snarled.

Twilight jerked back a little in surprise, but quickly regained her composure. She hesitated for a few seconds, trying to figure out how to phrase her question. "Why are you crying?" she eventually decided.

"None of your business." Rainbow mumbled, turning back away.

Twilight took a few more steps toward her, her concern turning into irritation at her friend. "Even if it isn't my business, you're still my friend!"

Rainbow turned her head just enough to give Twilight another glare. "I forgave you. I didn't give you permission to interfere in my personal life!"

All of a sudden both of them felt something cold touch their back, almost as if a wind had blown straight into them and stopped there.

"I can't believe you!" Twilight's agitation suddenly spiked and she shoved Rainbow.

The response was nearly instantaneous, and the cyan pegasus whipped around, landing a punch straight on the side of Twilight's face. Twilight's head snapped to the side from the impact, and as she backed away a few steps, she spat some blood out on the ground.

"You wanted me to respond, didn't you?!" Rainbow snarled, baring her teeth and narrowing her eyes. "Well I hope you're happy!"

The double vision Twilight had acquired from the blow merged back into one picture, and she leaped forward at Rainbow, performing an awkward tackle and knocking her down. Rainbow retaliated by kicking Twilight off with her hind legs, and sprang back to her hooves, ready to attack.

The cyan pegasus suddenly found herself floating off the ground without flapping her wings. She gasped as she realized what was happening, but was too late as Twilight mercilessly slammed her into the ground over and over again, battering and bruising her in the process.

Rainbow shakily tried to push herself up with her forehooves, but failed as her forelegs buckled and she fell face-first onto the ground and lay there, unconscious.

Twilight felt the cold feeling leave her and her breath caught in her throat as she realized what she had just done. She rushed forward and picked Rainbow up with her magic and began to run as fast as she could toward the hospital.

Meanwhile in the forest a few miles off a round craft retreated back into the wilderness as its pilot lowered his binoculars.

"Subtle manipulation phase… success…"

BACK WITH COBALT

"I'm sure they're fine." Cobalt shook himself out of his thoughts.

"That is good knave, for the enemy has appeared!" Caliburn announced, causing Cobalt to whip around and see a familiar looking purple pony in armor advancing on him with a sword.

"Prepare for battle, knave!" the pony shouted.

Cliffhanger! I hope you enjoyed!

Radicool223 out!