Ever since they left Canterlot, Twilight used to be prepared for everything. There were also certain times, where she´s not prepared for the unexpected. But right now she don´t know what's waiting for her. The same does her friends too. All excepted for Sweetheart.
She takes her book and took an glanse on the riddle of the dark mare. It was their first clue to find the place, they were supposed to find.

"I give you my first riddle
Use it very carefully and not to little
Listen to a lullaby so peacefully
But the place, you find is not pleasently"

Occasionally, Twilight tries to study a bit and figured out what the riddle means. She looks at Sweetheart with a focused and glossy expression. She would really like to ask her about it, but as Nightmare(the dark mare) said; Sweetheart can not give them help but was allowed to show the way just for a bit before they figured it out by themselves.
Sweetheart stopped and the others were about to bumping her. "Why did we stop?!" Dash asked annoyed. Sweetheart didn´t say anything and stared atnothing. There was three paths in front of them. "I don´t like this..." Fluttershy stuttered nervously, where Applejack comforted her.
Then they heard a lush melody. "Did you hear that?" Twilight asked them, which they can. Twilight looked at each path to hear where the melody comes from. But the melody sounds even higher when she looked at the left path. "This way." Twilight said with a sure confident and they followed the melody. They came to even more paths, but they followed the melody and finally they found only one path where the melody sounds even higher than ever.
They came to a very pleasent place where everything was like a dream to them. Pinkie whipped out all the sweet stuff and party confetties everywhere. Her party cannon was even there too, so she ran to it and fired non-stop.
Twilight and her other friends were exploring a bit in this weird little meadow, then they found their favorite habits, especially Rarity that was completely mouth-watering of all the shining jewels. Twilight seemed to be happy with all the books she could read and looked at her friends. She had completely forgotten everything about the riddle and actually found out that they needed a break after the long journey. She noticed Sweetheart standing alone and looked totally scared. "Why don´t you come and relax for at bit?" It's wonderful. " Twilight said encouraged, but Sweetheart just stood there and freaked out.

"Please... Don´t be fooled..." she heard her mumbling.

Twilight stared at her with a confused face. What does she mean? She just had to ask, but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who calls her. "But Sweetheart...". Twilight stuttered, but was interrupted again. "Oh, just let her be! It´s her own fault that she´s been hidden it all from us!" Rainbow Dashsaid pretty careless and called her up to play with the clouds.
Twilight looked worried at Sweetheart, but she says to Dash that she will come later and went back to reading.
Then she got a weird feeling that something wasn´t right. She looked at both sides and stared at the book. It seems normal, but then she felt some prick on her soft spot of the hoove. Twilight licked the blood, but immediately discovered that the book she´s been reading, has thorns. She threw it away and the book became a thorny ball.
She was shocked and rubbed her eyes. She wasn´t dreaming and looked around. She was really surprised that this lovely meadow and the fun activities her friends was doing was in fact a meadow fill with thorn bushes and a strange smell of fungus.
She realizes about the riddle and immediately knew what it meant. A melody with a peaceful sound, where it leads them to a place with their dreams and favorites. But everything was not as it seems and turns out to be a terrible and deadly place. And all happends because of these smelly fungus.
Sweetheart was right. They had been fooled by it´s illusion. She tried to snap them out, but they didn´t listen and they were about to be injured. She called Sweetheart and they tried to remove the thorns from poor Rarity covered in thorns, but one of them became alive and attacked them.
She uses her magic to make a barrier around her and Sweetheart. ANd now, she´s completely helpless and just looking at her friends being tortured by this madness.
But beyond them, a mysterious stranger stared at Sweetheart and Twilight helplessly. He watched them with a big crystal and a mirror as a window. It then glowed its horn to a dark aura and gently transported its magic through the mirror.
The aura floated like a light feather and melted into Twilight's horn. Twilight felt something strange, but hopefully and confident. She glowed her horn and could feel a weak aura that came from the thorns. That must be its weak spot! She then broke the barrier and blasted through the thorns and exploded.
Her friends were finally woken from their trance and looked confused. "What happened?" Rarity asked very confused. But Twilight hesitated. They were normal again, but Applejack called them over and pointed at a scroll, located on the thorn bush. Twilight thought it weren´t there before, but probably because of the illusion. She rolled it up and read it to the others:

"Now you solved the first puzzle, I'm giving you my next riddle ..."

"Wait, puzzle? What puzzle?! We haven´t solved any puzzle ?!" Rainbow Dash said angrily. Twilight and Sweetheart looked strangely to each other, but Twilight read quickly to the others:

"Your next trip will be long
But the path, you seek is not near
Keep your patience and be strong
And seek after a stoned giant in tears"

That does that mean? " Applejack asked questionable. But then something shone upon them. Tiny lights appeared and became some kind of a path and without hesitation, Sweetheart and Twilight followed the path. The others also followed. "Are you sure it's legal? I mean Nightmare said we shouldn´t get help." Fluttershy said worried.
Sweetheart gave her a serious look and replied that if she or they broke the rules, "she" would have appeared. Twilight looked at Sweetheart's scared look. She had the feeling that she hides something more than just Astral. But she and her friends chooses to follow the path and she hopes, they could save Astral on time...

Twilight had never ever been so exhausted in her life. She had travelled before, but never like this. They followed the spark almost the whole night night. Even though Nightmare said that they only have three days to find her castle, but it feels like an eternity. But then the little spark disappeared in the dark and they stood completely clueless in a unknown forest.
"Now what?!" Rainbow Dash complained in a grumpy tone. Twilight wasn´t entirely sure. And she can´t blame Sweetheart with that. They followed the spark whichs turns into a path until they figured it out what to do next. Twilight decided to camp here, because they really need to rest after a hard trip.
Applejack finds firewoods for fire. The others built a large tent with sticks and old leafs. They sat silent for a moment, but planned what to do tomorrow. And Rarity can´t stop whining about how terrible this trip was.
Finally, they all went to bed and fell deeply asleep. But Twilight couldn´t sleep. She noticed, Sweetheart was still on up, sitting on a rock and stared through the horizon. She would like to speak with her her, but decided sleep.

"What a waste! You're nothing but a useless coward! You can´t even fight with a spear! You're doing nothing but sitting in that dusty old library and reading books! Weakling! Coward! Weirdo!"

Twilight woke up with a set. She had the most strangest dream, but funny enough she couldn´t remember what she dreamt about. She saw her friends were already up. They got breakfast thanks to Applejack's bag filled with supplies and also Pinkie's (which Twilight wondered how many stuff, she can have in her bag).
They packed their stuff and proceeded to the last path, where the little spark had left. Twilight rereads the riddle again, but someone interupted her. "Hey Twilight! How's it going?!" said Pinkie, who poped up in front of her, so she got startled. "Pinkie" shouted Twilight. Pinkie giggled by her small prank, but even asked her how she´s been. Twilight hesitated, but even responded that everything didn´t go as she planned. She complained about that they might had been circling and Sweetheart would never talk to her. Pinkie listened carefully to her, but as always she says something that makes no sense. "Maybe you should look for something that wasn´t meant to be," Pinkie said, hoping away from Twilight. Twilight stood back with a confused expression, but smiled half.
They had wandered until it got dark, while finally Twilight saw something that could be their rescue. At the horizon there was a big clif that looks like a giant and seems to be crying. Perhaps this is what the riddle said. She called the others and the ran in a relieve to the rock. But when they reached the cliff, their hope was changed into disappointment. They saw the rock did not look like a giant, but only three rocks.
"Great! Another dead end, what should we do now?!" Rainbow Dash complained again. They stared lost on the rocks. Applejack suggested that they should camp and find a solution tomorrow.

It was already evening. Twilight's friends were sitting in front of the fire and telling horror stories. But Twilight would rather be alone to solve the riddle, but suddenly she felt stressed. She saw Sweetheart sitting on a tree trunk and looking up at the sky. She decided to sit next to her, silent, but admired the stars.
"It's... really great those stars..." Twilight said a bit awkward, but she heard Sweetheart mumble yes. "You know... Some stars have existed long before he came along. Twilight looked at Sweetheart, who's still looking up at the stars. She saw her smile and said that every star tells a story. Twilight knew about that, but hearing from Sweetheart sounds so interesting in her ears. Some of them had existed longer than the other stars and some of them were just only a few years old (probably because of Astral). Twilight listened fascinated to her. "It may not make sense to everypony, but if you look closely to the stars, you'll see something that cannot be seen from our eyes..." Sweetheart said in a calm and sweet tone.
Suddenly, something sparks within Twilight´s eyes. She took the riddle and read it through. Sweetheart looked at her with wondering eyes. But Twilight was too busy to read the riddle, that she knew immediately what went wrong. There was no stoned giant in the first place. It was all meaningless, and she knew the answer.
She called her friends over. She explained to them that she found out why they didn´t meant to find, what they were seaching. "Everything we've been through was not to find a stoned giant... but something that doesn´t make sense!" she proclaimed.
Her friends were confused, but Applejack even asked her what she meant about that. Twilight showed the scroll to them and pointed to the sentences, "We had marched a whole day, right? So what if the riddle actually meants that we should find another road. We just have to combine the last words to find an answer. Which means the nearby must the river!"
Her friends just looked confused at her while Twilight studied the river. The answer must be the river. She looked at the last sentences again.

"... Long... Near... Strong... Tear..." she muttered focused.

She thought of something far and looked at the river, then she thought of something that was strong, but there was no one or something strong besides the light breeze. There was nothing nearby and no rainy season. Then she saw a deer drinking from the river and a single drop drippled from it's mouth.
"I think I know where, we can find the next riddle!" she said loudly to the others and ran along the river. Sweetheart and the others followed her until they reachs a small cave. It was pretty wet inside, but she just approched the cave. Her friends followed with her.
When they were inside, they noticed three signs of a rain drop. But there were more of them. Twilight immediately knew that it must be a puzzle. She followed the instructions from the riddle and took some long steps. Her friends followed her and looked pretty careful. Suddenly a bored Pinkie accidently hopped over them, "Pinkie, no!" Twilight shouted, but too late, she already landed on a random symbol and the gorund shucked. Rainbow Dash flew hurried and grab Pinkie before stone made a large hole.
She sat her gently beside Twilight. She warned her to be careful and the booby traps. But Pinkie just shouted that it was fun, but realised, this is serious. She apologises to them for making such a fuss, but Twilight forgave her and told to be careful next time.
They continues to the symbol, which was the right one. She told Fluttershy and Applejack to stay put, just in case, which they understoods. Then the felt a strong breeze, they saw another symbol next to it. Rainbow knew what to and flew fast enough to quickly push the stone button. Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity and Sweetheart took some steps again, but felt something dripping above their head. That´s the third button and Pinkie jumped to stand over it. Twilight smiled and told Rarity to stay there in safety, which leaves her and Sweetheart.
Twilight immediately knew that the last source is something nearby, but where? She looked around again, but noticed something that was different from symbols. The sign has a strange shape, so Twilight went closer to the drawing raindrop. Her friends stayed there as she had asked them for safety. As she approached the symbol, she studied a little bit and noticed a small button hiding well on the symbol. She pressed it and it opened, where a round box appeared. Twilight called her friends over, cause she finally solved the puzzle. Her friends were relievd, but already astonished by the sight of the box.
"How did you know where it was?" Rarity asks absolutely amazed. "... I got some help..." she just said and looked at Pinkie and Sweetheart. She smiled at them and opened the box with a new scroll roll. "Read it up!" Pinkie said loudmouthed, but luckily Applejack closed her mouth and let Twilight read. She rolled it up read out loud for the others...

Author's Note

Chapter 8 done!!!!