Twilight found Celestia in the gardens. She was keeping several documents afloat around her, and she payed close attention to each and everyone of them.

Through the main gate several carts were slowly passing through, filled to the brim with all sorts of wares. Twilight understood those were the last supplies required for the rest of the delegates and other important guests. The last of them would come in two days. Then they would 'mingle' a bit, events, parties, such and such, until finally they would have the meeting this entire thing was all about. While Twilight couldn't say she had seen many others but that griffin king, she had heard from several sources that eight more had arrived since King Pero had, at least three were from the Crystal Kingdom. This was merely a trivial number compared to all who would be there in just two days.

Twilight walked up and stood next to Celestia and looked at the carts as they passed by and were unloaded.

"These are late. I'm investigating them to make sure this isn't part of Mrs. Misery's plan. Poisoning the food, that would be disastrous. Still, we're more than ready for most things she could do. They could attack with small army and they wouldn't get inside the outer wall," said Princess Celestia.

"The guards look a bit tired," said Twilight, noticing the guards looking over the carts as they slowly entered. They just seemed to struggle keeping their eyelids from closing, standing less than upright as they performed their duty. She just said it in order to get into the conversation a bit more smoothly.

"They might have been pushed a bit harder than what they are used to. They have to endure, as these matters are far too important," said Celestia.

"Well. I'm sure they'll be able to get some rest once this is all over," said Twilight. Celestia turned towards her for a moment, while still keeping a watchful eye on the carts.

"Twilight Sparkle. I heard about your family. I'm sorry. I know how it is to be so close, yet so far away from those you love," said Celestia, wrapping her wing around her pupil in a caring gesture.

"I talked to Erase," said Twilight.

"Did he inform you of his group? Or did he merely shout at you?" asked Celestia.

"He said that they planned for this."

"Just like last time Mrs. Misery was in Canterlot. One of her strengths is planning. If she's like when she was just Merry, then she is still a genius, but physically weak. I think even Spike would be able to defeat her in combat, easily. But despite what weaknesses she might have, it's her intellect that makes her such a threat. I've faced so many evils during my long life, but while Mrs. Misery is hardly the most dangerous one, she does have one quality that sets her apart," said Celestia.

"What's that?"

"She is an earth pony. The only thing truly special about her is her family's name. Yet she has gotten closer to destroying Canterlot, and me, than most others. She's cold. King Sombra had powerful unicorn magic and didn't hesitate to kill, and yet I've gotten the impression over the years that this simple pony could cause so much more destruction and suffering than he ever could have."

"Where... did you send her?" asked Twilight.

"To Ocka. It's a griffin prison in the middle of the ocean between our kingdoms, while most inmates are griffins, a few of them are indeed ponies. We still have shared responsibility of that building. It holds griffins and ponies that would make creatures in Tartarus shiver in fear. For about four years after I imprisoned her there, I received reports of how the child was doing. In just a year after she was put there, half the inmates begged for us to incorporate some sort of death penalty. Not for her, but for them. The rest were simply trying to appease her. I hope she does not have a curse herself, because if she does, it would add another level of unpredictability to her. She has enough of those,"  said Celestia.

Twilight looked at her mentor, she was noting down some things on a document with a still serious look on her face. Twilight realized she wouldn't get a better opportunity to ask, so she decided to just get it over with.

"Celestia, what is Cesom?" asked Twilight Sparkle. Celestia stopped writing, and she then turned her head to look at Twilight.

"It's nothing. It's just a distraction from Group Misery. They just want you to look for something you think is important, no biggie."

"Celestia. You have misled and tricked ponies at times, but that's part of why we like you. You are not a good liar, though," said Twilight Sparkle. Celestia looked at her, and then sighed.

"I avoid lying. A ruler should not have to use deceit to lead. It is no wonder it is not one of my strengths. Perhaps... perhaps this secret should be shared with at least one. We must return to my private chambers to discuss this, Twilight. While Group Misery seem to know worryingly much about it, there is a small chance they have kept it to themselves. As long as nopony knows, I will intend to keep this a secret. Come with me."

***

They had walked inside the castle and seemed to constantly head upstairs until they came to a long large hallway with a door at the very end. As they got closer to Celestia's private room, Celestia turned her head back to Twilight.

"I hope you realize how much this means that I'm entrusting this to you, Twilight. This is my oldest, and now, only secret. Not even my beloved sister knows about this. What you are about to hear from me can never be uttered by you as long as Group Misery keeps this a secret as well. Not to your friends, not to Spike, not even back to me. Do you understand?"

"Yes," said Twilight and nodded respectfully. Celestia opened the door to her private room.

Twilight had never been in there before, and she was surprised at how small it was. She had expected a large room with so many books it would have made the official Canterlot library seem like a notepad in comparison. Her bedroom back home in Ponyville was actually larger. This room was round, there was only a single bookshelf in there and a fireplace, illuminating the purple walls. The big windows had their large red shades drawn. The ceiling was pretty high. There was a desk near the windows, but it didn't seem like it had been used much. In the middle of the room there was a big couch in front of the fireplace.

"Please, sit," said Celestia, closing the door using her magic. Twilight felt a distinct subtle force, a magical aura expanding from the Princess, and it settled along the walls. Twilight realized her mentor had made the room completely soundproof.

Twilight sat down on the sofa, almost sinking into it, it was so smooth, so soft. She could have fallen asleep there and then. Celestia sat down next to her, and turned her attention to her after a heavy sigh.

"Before I begin, did Erase say anything about Cesom?" asked Celestia.

"Just that Group Misery was willing to cure my brother and parents if you'd tell them everything they wanted to know about it... and receive punishment for this whole Cycle of Destruction mess. He said they would hand themselves in," said Twilight. Celestia sighed again.

"I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle. But even if they had your entire family's lives in their hooves, I have to coldly say that I would let them die," said Celestia.

"How can you possibly say that?"

"It would have pained me beyond comprehension, but I would not have made that decision without reason. I'm about to tell you what Cesom is."

"So, what is it?"

"Cesom, is a very old, very powerful magical artifact, or, perhaps it is an anti-magical artifact. I don't even know. I know that it is far older than me. It predates me by an untold number of ages. It is so old and eternal that not even history can manage to keep it in memory. There are all knowing beings that simply does not know what it is, or, perhaps they are just afraid to speak of it. There are no longer any books, ancient tomes, stone writing or legends that mention it. Cesom is so old it makes the Elements of Harmony feel modern by comparison."

"Fascinating," said Twilight Sparkle.

"Its name technically originally came from the little information I managed to learn when even I was very young. It also describes its terrible effect well. Its current name was coined by Luna when she wasn't even able to form coherent thoughts in complete infancy. I read out the translation of the name in our current tongue, and she shortened it, laughing, unknowing of its power. Cesom: Cessation of Magic."

"What?" asked Twilight, not sure she had heard it right.

"Cessation of Magic. Cesom is an artifact that can completely, and permanently, remove magic from the very fabric of our universe."

Twilight just wasn't sure what to make of this, she tried to get her head around it, but it just didn't make sense to her. A universe without magic just seemed like an impossibility in every regard.

"Cesom can have a limited effect. It can make a single pony lose her magic, it can make a nation lose its magic. It can make all magic become nothing but a soon-to-be distant memory," continued Celestia. "Our entire society, almost all societies in this world depends on magic. If magic would disappear, we would face complete collapse. Unicorns would merely be those marked by a reminder of the catastrophe. Magic would become a ponytale. I would be forced to watch Equestria crumble, my natural longevity be seen as something unnatural and foreign. I would be worshiped like a god, or hunted like a demon. Neither option tempting for me."

"That's, that's horrifying," said Twilight, still trying to just comprehend what it would do to her world.

"And it's not even the worst thing," said Celestia to her.

"What could possibly be worse?"

"Twilight, any astronomer in this world knows that both the position of our sun and our speed relative to it have to be affected by magic. It logically should be further away. Did you know that I don't have to raise the sun or make it set?" asked Celestia.

"What? No, I always thought..."

"Twilight, the sun moving is a natural phenomenon."

"But, then why would you-?"

"Because if I let it work as it should, our winters would be longer and our summers shorter, essentially making our control of the weather and seasons mean nothing. A sudden change like that will not mean the extinction of every life on the planet, its stronger than that, but it would mean the death of millions upon millions of individuals all over the world, desperately trying to adjust to a longer winter. Fighting for food and warmth. Complete destruction and chaos, civilizations in ruin, so much sorrow it would make Discord himself weep. That is just what would happen if I would let the sun proceed its task on its own, returning everything to its natural state, which would take two months if I started to work on that this instant. If Cesom would be activated right this moment, and take away my magic, the consequences would be so horrible you can't even begin to properly imagine it. The closeness of the sun would draw in our planet towards it," explained Princess Celestia.

"W- what would happen?"

"Within roughly forty agonizing days, we would quickly drift towards our sun. It would get hotter and hotter, on the twentieth day plants would start to burst into flames. On the thirtieth day entire chunks of the world's crust would be ripped apart. On the last days, whatever few ponies managed to survive in the deepest darkest and coolest caverns would scream in agony as the very mountain surrounding them melted, swallowing their bodies up in a fiery inferno of pain and despair. And that's how our world would end," said Celestia.

It felt like her very words were hanging in the air.

"I will not talk about Cesom, because if anypony irresponsible or outright malevolent knew about it, then it could mean the complete annihilation of us all. Everyone knowing that a way to end us all existing, that's just too cruel. And since only I know where it is, if other kingdoms and empires knew about it, then they could consider it an even bigger shift of power to Equestria. That in itself could cause conflict."

"Wait, so, if you would die? Then our-?"

"No, no. I have a magical spell within my very aura that would return the sun to its natural place without danger to us if I would perish without a successor. The long winters would still happen, but rather harsh living conditions and wounds that would eventually heal than complete destruction. Only Cesom could mean we all die," said Celestia.

"But, then why haven't you destroyed Cesom?" asked Twilight.

"Twilight, nothing but the power of a god could even make a dent in this artifact. Don't you think I have tried? No, instead I protect it and keep it safe from those who would use it for their own gain or evil goals. So, Twilight Sparkle, considering just how horrifying Mrs. Misery is, would you be willing to give her Cesom in exchange for your parents?" asked Celestia.

Twilight frankly hesitated for a moment, but in the end she had a duty to her mentor, the ponies of Canterlot, Equestria, and the civilizations of the world.

"No. I couldn't be that selfish," said Twilight, looking down on the floor with slight grief in her voice. Princess Celestia looked down on her, and then rubbed her neck affectionately, motherly, against hers.

"The fact that such a decision hurts you so much, but that you are still willing to make sacrifices, is just one of the many reasons I chose you as my pupil, Twilight. As you now know this secret, I expect you to keep it safe, and keep Mrs. Misery and her group from getting their hooves on it. Whatever fault I may have, they can not get it. While I'm not sure if I would let them be affected by Cesom to remove their curse even without Mrs. Misery as their leader, I do know they won't learn anything about it while I'm in charge with her at the head of the pack."

"But, what is Cesom? What does it look like? Where is it?" asked Twilight.

"Sorry, Twilight, but this is the one thing you won't get to learn," said Celestia. "Only if I would no longer be head ruler of Equestria would that information part from me," She got up from the sofa, releasing the spell. "We're done here, Twilight. If Random didn't already seem to know, I would have told you to wipe your own memories if he tried to gamble you for them about this," said Celestia. It was clear that even uttering the name of the artifact was taboo now.

"We'll get Group Misery. Don't worry. When we're done with them, they won't even know what they are looking for," said Twilight with pride in her voice. Letting down Celestia was unacceptable. But, she had started to form a plan. Her next step was to talk to Erase again, immediately.

***

"So, the prize pupil returns. Did Celestia reconsider? For the sake of her ponies, I hope she has. There has been enough suffering," said Erase.

"Well, I might, might just give you some information. But first, I want something from you," said Twilight.

"And what would that be?" asked Erase coldly.

"Tell me where I can find Mrs. Misery, you jerk," said Twilight.

In what seemed like less than a second, Erase leaped from his bed, making a stabbing motion towards Twilight. His talon went in between the bars with its sword in a firm grasp. He aimed between her eyes as his leg reached out with the blade from his cell. Twilight didn't more, or even blink, as the sword stopped merely an inch from her eye. She had already calculated his maximum reach. Erase eventually pulled back his cursed blade, glaring at her.

"Don't toy with me, Twilight Sparkle. This curse is not for your amusement," said Erase.

"Tell me where she is hiding, and you might get what you want," said Twilight.

"I am not fond of Mrs. Misery, but I have vowed to help her until the pony responsible for our suffering gets her proper punishment. The only way I would tell you where she was, would be if she told me to," said Erase coldly.

"Heh, you're off your game, Erase. What's the matter, tired from last night? You, Erase, if anypony should have noticed," said Twilight Sparkle. She gave a mischievous smile, as she was suddenly covered in green bright flames, transforming back into a changeling. "Anyway, I'm here for an update with you two," said the changeling with her voice.

"Rerry? Huh, didn't expect you here. When did you transform into her?"

"I copied her aura when she left the castle to see her parents. This castle has bad security against changelings as they need to focus on bigger things. Not much has changed since I was here a while back, really."

"So what do you want to say, friend?" asked Erase. Instrumental mumbled some inaudible question from the other cell. "Are we going to break out sooner rather than later?" asked Erase.

"No. As her backup plan for you was to get you in jail, we go this path now and follow it. We do as planned. I'm just here to tell you to change one thing," said Rerry.

"And that is?"

"Tell her exactly where Mrs. Misery is. I think Twilight Sparkle has been deemed to be a threat. She is to be broken down by Mood, or Random, I think it will be her choice. Worst case scenario: she dies."

"I don't like it, but with everything else, it will be necessary. All to fulfill our goal, to heal, and stop and punish Celestia," said Erase.

"I'll see you in a few days. I'll say hello to my queen for you," said Rerry and then walked out from the dungeon, no doubt intending to steal someone else's form to get out unseen.

***

Merely less than a minute went by before Twilight Sparkle, the real Twilight, returned to the dungeon.

"So, the prize pupil returns. Did Celestia reconsider? For the sake of her ponies, I hope she has. There has been enough suffering," said Blade. The conversation continued eerily similarly like the one before it, right up to a certain familiar point.

"Tell me where she is hiding, and you might get what you want," said Twilight. Erase looked at her coldly for a few seconds, before he sighed and stepped back from almost piercing her eyeball.

"Fine, but what you give us better be worth it," said Erase.

"I'll give you something first after I find her," lied Twilight.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," said Erase and gave her a cold smile.

***

After receiving the information from Erase, Twilight was about to leave to find her friends so they could hurry to Mrs. Misery to capture her, if the information was indeed true. As she got to the door, a pony just passed through it, bumping into Twilight.

"Oh, so sorry, Miss. Wait, Twilight Sparkle? Oh my goodness! What an honor!" said the young mare.

"Oh?"

"A Bearer of Harmony in front of me, so graceful. Now, if you'll excuse me, I wanted to check out the freaky pony with the sword, I heard he had a talon," said the mare.

"Well, alright, just be careful. Make sure to not get close, he could very well hurt you," said Twilight, hurrying outside. She had to hurry, because if what Erase said was true, then Mrs. Misery was just about to leave her new hiding place. She couldn't let this opportunity slip away.

The young mare saw Twilight slip out the door and close it. Perfect.

"Hey, Erase. Hey, Instrumental," said Solitary.

"What are you doing here?"

"Me? Oh, Mrs. Misery also needed Twilight Sparkle to not be able to talk to her friends."

"Well, obviously, but what are you doing here? In the castle? With guards and Celestia on the prowl?"

"I slipped in with the carts they loaded today. Celestia was expecting something sneaky like poisoned food, so I could basically just slip right in. They didn't even bother checking the ponies after the head guy Random made a bet with gave them the revised list. These guards are too tired, just like Misery said. I better get back before they notice, though," said Solitary. "This is just a friendly visit. How are you, Erase?"

"Better than Instrumental, that's certain," said Erase. Solitary walked up to the bars and leaned on them, looking at him, with an odd amount of interest.

"You know, Erase, once this whole thing is over, and you aren't a danger to everypony around you, then maybe you and I can... share a cell?" asked Solitary. Usually she was charming, but her attempts at seduction were quite poor. Partly due to inexperience and partly because when it came to acting romantic she was awful. Erase sighed.

"Solitary. I'm not a very romantic stallion, and I'm too old for you."

"I'm legally an adult," said Solitary and pouted.

"You're a child. No written law will make me see you differently until you prove me wrong with maturity. Even then, I do not think I'm right for you. Still, you are a good friend," said Erase. Solitary sighed with disappointment.

"Just my luck with stallions. If I can see them they are either too old, too insecure or too crazy."

"Where is Dot? You didn't leave her with Misery, did you?"

"She's with our secret weapon right now," said Solitary, which made Instrumental mumble in unpleasant surprise.

"Him? Is he really capable of taking care of Dot?"

"Hey, he might not be loyal, but he's the only one who can safely take care of her right now," said Solitary.

"I suppose that's true," said Erase.

"I wonder how much he knows about us?" said Solitary.

"Oh, he knows enough with us being in all the papers. He's simply staying because he is greedy. He's not like Dot," said Erase.

"That guy... It's almost hard to think that we have somepony with such an unbelievable curse on our team."

"His power does stand out, to say the least," said Erase.

"I just hope Y doesn't try to leave before the big day. By the way, when is the meeting?" asked Solitary.

"In roughly four days, but I hear something similar but slightly less official will take place in just two," answered Erase.

"Thanks. Well, Erase, Instrumental. I'll be going now. I'll see you soon," said Solitary and walked towards the door. It was time she got out of there. However, when she got close to the door, she bumped into somepony that went through it. He was all alone, and he looked very familiar.

"Sorry, dude," said Solitary and kept walking, and as the pony started to ask her questions she started to run in a bit of a panic. She needed to get away from the castle before he connected the dots. She wasn't fearing punishment from Mrs. Misery for this mistake. At this stage, there simply wasn't anything that that stallion could have done to stop them. She rounded a corner, and left the stallion behind.

***

The stallion looked at the pony who had disappeared.

"Hey! Wait! What's your name? Who are you?!" yelled the stallion. He was still so very shocked at seeing her that he didn't have the composure to think about what it meant, and then it hit him. He looked inside the cell to see Erase and Instrumental, who both looked at him a bit uncomfortably. The stallion didn't have a care in the world about them. He ran into the corridor, basically prancing and laughing. He passed a couple of guards, and he just gave a wide smile as he turned his head. "Hey guys! Great to see you again!" said the stallion.

"Wait, what?!" exclaimed the guards together.

"That's right! Shining Armor is back!" yelled Shining Armor in joy. He couldn't wait to see everypony again, finally. Most of all, he missed his sister, no, that wasn't true, there was one other pony he missed more. "I better contact Cadance!" said Shining Armor oddly loudly to himself. He realized he was so used to thinking loudly to update the guards he had assumed was around him that he did it on a reflex by that point. He took his shield from his, by this point, tattered, dirty uniform, and activated it.

"Velvet? Is that you? Have you figured out a way to help my husband?" asked Cadance worrying through the magical item.

"Even better," said Shining Armor. He was still prancing through the hallways, happy as possibly could be. He turned quite a few heads on his way. Some burst into tears of joy as he greeted them, actually greeted them.

"Shining Armor! My love! I've been so worried! Do you have any idea how much grief you've given your family?! They've been worried sick about you with this whole quest of yours to catch Group Misery," said Cadance, both happy and annoyed at the same time.

"I've longed to hear your voice. You have no idea, no idea at all. Finally that nightmare is behind me. It's time for me to get an update from somepony in the castle, oh, how I love to say that! Do you know if anything new happened this week?" asked Shining Armor. There was a bit of silence from the other end. "Cadance?"

"Well, there is this one thing you might want to know about..."

"What is it?" asked Shining Armor.

At the other end of the hallway, two guards could see Shining Armor oddly prancing towards them in the distance. They both observed him falling over flat on his face, quickly getting up again simply to shout:

"WHAT?!"