Starlight Solace

Sky Blue, after looking around, confirmed that she was dreaming. But... She thought, Who's dreaming about this happening? She looked around again and saw the same landscape as before: An old-timey-western-fort-type deal, which meant that her surroundings were real. She didn't have to know. She really didn't have to know if Shadestar were dreaming or this were real... at all. Or did she? No, she didn't.

"Sky, what be wrong?" Lucian asked Sky, who had a drop of starlight in her right eye. "Dost thou hath a trouble about which thou shalt speaketh?"

How did he know? Sky wondered. How could he not? My signs are too *obvious** for anypony to miss! Of course Lucy Anne would notice the pain in my eyes! He's a true friend, and...* "Just that, Lucy Anne... Just that: A trouble. And, if you love me, you'd tell me the truth... I guess you really are the Element of Clarity!" Sky exclaimed, not even sure herself if she was sarcastic or confused or both!

"We sense this trouble be..." Lucian began. "...confusion. Thou art confused by the sudden change of landscape. We hath... something to tell thee."

"I'm listening." Sky replied.

"Very well." Lucian responded. "There is... somepony protecting us. Callest us mental if thou so wishest, but we believe it to be our sister, Aurora Flash. She hath the power to turn her dreams into real events... which can be taken to certain extents."

"Don't be silly." Sky said. "You're rhyming like Zillie! Oh no, I did it too! Even though I'm me, Sky Blue! Whatever to you this thing seems, to me it seems like one of Zillie's dreams!"

"Actually..." Lucian began, as if preparing to say something dramatic. "There be... remnants of all of our personas in this dream... which meaneth that we all hath been asleep for quite some time. Our sister must know where the Hearts of Aurora are, having been named after the very same Para after whom they were named upon creation! She trieth to help us all, and we can count on her to help us find the remaining Hearts!"

"That may be true." Reznor said, as if he had heard the entire conversation between Lucian and Sky. "In this one book I've read: The Mystery of Buffalo Ruins, it says, and I quote: 'Me big King Busta, ruler of new Buffalo Kingdom. Me try to find old kingdom, get in touch with roots, but... ruins not found. Ruins were buried in Dry Dry Desert, so me search there.' And that book..." Reznor paused for dramatic effect... his friends would rather him not have paused though. "...is now two-hundred-forty-three years old! It was confirmed already that Appleloosa was built on the very same sandy desert as the one called Dry Dry Desert."

"Lucky for us, we are near." Zillie said, as surprisingly as if she came out of nowhere, which she did. Probably some sort of Flash spell. Sky thought. She then listened for Zillie's rhyming sentence. "With the Celestial Compass, we need not fear. All we need to do is find the Aurora Hearts and let them bind. If we do so much as fail, then the Dark Ones will prevail! All we really need, it seems, is love and faith and hopes and dreams!"

"I hope you're right, Zillie." Sky replied. "Three Hearts found, three more to find... even if one of them is in the..." She gulped, as if to swallow her own fear... Sky hoped that would work. "...Chaos Dimension... where Discord lives!" Wait a minute. Sky thought. How did I know this? Was it another Flash spell? I get that the Flash family *invented** those, but... that doesn't mean they need to use them on us, the Heroes of Aurora! Or does it?*

Sky was interrupted from thought again when she saw a shining aura. It was yellow, and she could see Reznor glowing with a luminescent yellow aura to match it. She took the Celestial Compass out of her saddlebag, only remembering it because Zillie reminded her, and saw that it had a yellow point and three light blue ones. It was pointing down, which must have been the way to go in order to find Reznor's Heart, the yellow one. Whatever Element it's of, I'll leave it to *him** to figure it out... unless one of his other friends wants to tell him!* Sky thought, remembering Geno's magical capabilities. "I think the Buffalo Ruins are straight below, Rez!" She exclaimed. "Geno... do your thing!"

Geno, knowing which "thing" Sky meant for him to do, did it. He cast one of his signature spells, Geno Whirl, on a small patch of discoloured sand. "Geno Whirl!" He exclaimed, and the sand suffered a blow of 9999 damage points... according to his favourite game, Super Mare-io RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. If the sand were alive, it wasn't after the blow. Geno Whirl is typically regarded as overpowered, and... whoever says that is right. It is overpowered... but so are any and all of the enemies Geno has... including this mysterious Overseer.

After gaining the certainty that the ground did in fact have a hole in it, the five heroes jumped into it, one at a time. If you must know the order, it was... Geno, Sky, Lucian, Zillie, and then Reznor. Reznor seemed to keep glowing until he got closer to his Heart. It became visible as soon as Lucian's light spell ("Illuminaria") lit up the underground. Not only were the heroes already in the Buffalo Ruins, as suspected, but... they were also, as if by coincidence, right next to Reznor's Aurora Heart. He felt the glowing sensation, and thusly knew it was he who had to pick up the small floating crystal heart this time, for it was his.

Reznor, after finding his heart, turned to Geno for the answer to that ominous question: which Element do I represent. "I trust that you know the name of my Element, G-know." Reznor said to Geno.

"I know it, but I trust you don't need me to tell you." Geno replied.

"I believe it's the Element of Trust." Reznor replied. "Which would leave..." He tried to remember the names of the Elements of Purity, as well as who didn't find an Aurora Heart. "...Zillie, with the Element of Compassion. Is that correct, G?"

"Yes." Geno answered. "And I must say, Rez! You're more... trustworthy than anypony I've known! I've seen deep into the souls of all of us, and you have some memories you'd best keep secret. I trust that you will, my friend!"

"So do I, my friend!" Reznor replied.

And, as the connections between yet another pair of friends deepened, Sky noticed a pair of red eyes staring into hers. There are a lot of beings with red eyes, and, from what I've seen... most of them are evil. I don't know what to make of those eyes, but... they can't be Shadestar's, there's no green in them! Also... isn't there an Overseer we have yet to find? Sky then nodded, despite the potential confusion such nodding would bring upon her friends. And, despite already knowing which two Hearts are missing, we STILL DO need to find 'em! Zillie's gonna need our help again pretty soon!