That very night, somewhere deep within Canterlot's walls, somewhere dark and hidden, a mare was sitting quietly in what could basically be described as a hole. She looked up at the ceiling made from dirty ancient bricks. The damp, dark and enclosed space made her wish she could just get a room at a hotel or something similar, but in the end she didn't mind being down here, because at least here she wasn't alone. In the corner, a pony was leaning against a wall, with his back oddly enough. He was standing on his two hind legs with his eyes closed.

"Erase, would you please stop standing up like that? It freaks me out a little," said the young mare. She was essentially a teenager. She turned and twisted on her mattress to look at him properly. Her yellow long mane and gray coat had managed to be kept free of the filth in their current dwelling. If it wasn't for a spell keeping the smell away, she would have outright refused to stay in such a place. The faint light of the few candles there showed the stallion open his good eye to look at her.

"Solitary, I prefer to stand this way when I'm relaxing. It means I'm less open for attacks," said Erase.

"And you look ridiculous doing it, come on, stop it," the young mare pleaded, trying to sound cute to easier charm him into standing up on four hooves like a normal pony. The light green stallion scoffed at her request, the scar slicing diagonally over half his face made the gesture seem a bit more intimidating despite it's relatively tame nature. "Why does my best friend have to be such a jerk?" asked the mare and pouted.

"Because you don't have many others?" asked the stallion. Solitary did not like that comment one bit.

"If you're not careful, you'll never have any friends ever again," said Solitary playfully, yet oddly terrifying. Erase didn't like it when she made threats like that, mostly because she could easily follow through with them.

"Like the friends I get ever last anyway," said Erase and sighed. Solitary looked at his face, it had a heavy look of depression on it. Erase let his hoof touch his scar. He had once told her that getting that scar had almost made him blind on his right eye, but he had managed to make it out relatively unharmed.

"Hiltguard, I'm sorry," said Solitary.

"Solitary," he said quite sternly.

"Right, sorry, no names."

"Solitary, I must say, you have a terrible habit of forgetting that. It might spell doom for us all," said a third voice. Solitary rolled around to see whoever it was who entered the small opening in the brick wall. He was carrying a few bags with food and water, making both Solitary and Erase smile, her a bit more than him.

"Did you win this?" asked Erase.

"Of course not, I bought it," responded the pony.

"With what?" asked Erase.

"With... money I won," said the pony a bit sheepishly, making Solitary laugh. "Anyway, dig in! There's plenty of it for everypony. Hm, Rerry should be hungry now as well. Where is she?" asked the pony and looked around as everyone got seated at a makeshift table made out of old wooden crates.

"Right here," said a far too familiar voice from up above. Solitary looked up in shock as something swiftly crawled along the wall down from the darkness of the ceiling to the floor.

"How long have you been there?" asked Solitary to the, frankly gross, creature.

"For about a good hour now, didn't you notice her?" asked Erase, more surprised at Solitary than the creature crawling on the wall.

"Well, no. How are you, Rerry?" asked Solitary. She looked at a pony with a long yellow mane, and gray coat... in other words, herself. With a bright green light coming from an equally green flame, the mare disappeared into nothingness, and in her place sat a strange... insect. It had black exoskeleton, essentially being an armor in itself. It had fangs, and parts of its very body just seemed to be missing, like holes cut out by something. The two bright, blue, emotionless eyes never seemed to blink when Solitary wanted them to, making her uncomfortable. It wasn't so much that this creature, this changeling, this Rerry, was bad company, it was merely the fact that Solitary did not like insects. Seeing an insect that reminded her that much of a pony always felt so... uncanny.

"I can't complain. How are you, my Queen?" asked the changeling and looked at the pony that had brought the food, the male pony. Her voice tended to make buzzing and faint clicking sounds, sounding barely female.

"Rerry, stop calling me that. It's Random, and you know it," said Random, adjusting his hat a bit to protect him from the drops dripping down on them.

"I'm sorry, my Queen, but it is hard to stop."

"In any case, are you hungry, dear?" asked Random. Solitary noticed a faint show of emotion on the changeling's face, it was hard to see any such thing on it most of the time.

"Very much so, my Queen," said the creature. Random looked deeply into the changeling's eyes, and the proceeded to give it a, quite passionate, kiss, making Solitary flinch in disgust and even made Erase look away.

"That is just sick," said Erase.

"Yeah, bug, ew!" said Solitary.

"Not because of that, but because this is basically slavery."

"You don't really have a say in what's right when you're pretty soon going to be known as a terrorist, Erase," said Solitary.

"Hey, we do this because we have to! The Princess won't help us or listen to us, and I've learned that when things are tough, you have to help yourself," said Erase. He looked back at Random and Rerry that continued their kiss. Rerry eventually stopped, making Random sigh, he seemed a bit exhausted. "You make me sick, Random. Kidnapping a changeling and brainwashing it into-"

"Okay, Erase, this has gone on long enough. That thing I told you when I introduced you to Rerry? That I had bet on it to be my slave? That's not true. I just told you that to mess with your head," said Random. Rerry nodded her head.

"It's true, I'm technically his assistant, I can quit whenever I want to. I just don't want to. He made a bet with my old queen, that he would get a personal changeling to work for him as long as he treated him or her well. Then, he gave me my life back at once. I'm nopony's slave. He's my queen as long as I want him to be. And I want him to be, I get all the love to myself."

"Unless of course he forced you to say that," said Erase.

"Wow, you caught me," said Random teasingly.

"Whatever shall he do to me now, when you have uncovered him, Erase?" said the changeling, overly dramatic. Erase was getting fed up, Solitary could easily see that on his face.

"So what if I messed with your head a bit? I do that all the time just to play. You need to relax, pal," said Random, not realizing he had crossed a particular line. Erase suddenly swung his left front leg towards Random. It bounced away from him, like an impenetrable bubble was between them. Erase sat down again, holding something in what was supposed to be his left front hoof, but it wasn't a hoof, it was a purple and black talon, it wasn't as intimidating as what he was holding in it, however. It was a long, black, thin sword.

"I want you to know, that I'm so fed up with how you toy with me that I didn't warn you on purpose," said Erase with an angry voice. "I wouldn't have even if you could have been hurt. That's how annoyed I am at you right this moment," said Erase, giving Random a really cold stare that made even the untouchable Random a bit nervous.

"I can assure you Rerry is here by her own will. By the way, where are the others?" asked Random and looked around in the small room, like he expected to see somepony behind one of the pipes or boxes.

"Instrumental is out and showing Dot the stars. Also, our little secret weapon is out enjoying the night life. Our other friend is still out, learning stuff about the Bearers of Harmony," said Solitary.

"And Mrs. Misery?" asked Random.

"I'm right here," said yet another voice. They all turned, barely believing they hadn't noticed her. Solitary noticed that even Rerry and Erase was taken by surprise as their leader stepped out from the shadows, wearing her cloak to keep her dry. "He will be here in just a few seconds, I believe," said the mysterious mare. Like clockwork, another pony walked inside through the same hole Random had taken. The dark blue pony took off his glasses and tied a scarf around his eyes.

"Welcome back, Mood. How was the trip here in Canterlot?" asked Solitary.

"Enlightening, I'm afraid," said Mood, carefully going over to the table and sitting down, managing to avoid tripping.

"That bad, huh?" asked Solitary.

"I made a dragon cry," said the pony. Erase burst out with proud laughter.

"That's something worth bragging about, you made a dragon cry! I didn't even know they could do that!" said Erase, actually sounding jealous at the feat.

"It was a baby," said Mood, ashamed. Erase's proud face quickly vanished with a simple 'oh'. A simple 'ahem' from Mrs. Misery made everyone fall completely silent.

"Have you found out anything of value today?" asked Mrs. Misery to Mood.

"A few minor things, the most valuable I got from just a regular chat, however."

"Oh?"

"It seems that Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard and brother of one of the Bearers of Harmony, will be coming here soon to help to stop us," said Mood. Everypony recognized the name, and looked at each other with at least a bit of worry in their eyes, everyone except Mrs. Misery.

"I'm aware of his arrival. I know that he will come tomorrow," said Mrs. Misery. Solitary looked surprised.

"Tomorrow?! But, it should take a least three days to get from the Crystal Empire to here," said Solitary.

"I am aware of that. He will be breaking a number of records on his journey here."

"The captain of the royal guard. We can't have him here so early. He's much more capable than most of these guards, and if he's here, he might actually pose a serious threat to our plans," said Erase, gripping his sword tightly. "As much as I hate to say it, it might just be time for us to cross the final line in order to get to Cesom before it's too late. Would you want me to... to kill him, Mrs. Misery?" asked Erase, steeling himself for whatever task he would get.

"No. Death is such a barbarian measure, and it's too simple. We need to show them just what sort of pain that we can cause if they do not listen to us. Shining Armor, a soldier, a leader, a brother, a son, a husband, and if my sources are right, a soon-to-be father, will be an excellent example, an excellent way to help us show a taste of our power," said Mrs. Misery with a cunning smile. She turned her head towards a particular member of the group. "Solitary!" The young mare immediately sat up straight.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"Are you strong enough to give him an extreme effect?" Solitary sighed, not liking it, but she knew it had to be done.

"I am. Shining Armor is about to wish he had never left his home to come here," said Solitary with determination in her voice.

***

Shining Armor felt a bit strange coming back to Canterlot after such a long time, he felt even more strange wearing his old uniform. It always took him by surprise whenever he thought about it, but he was not technically the captain of the royal guard anymore, not Celestia's royal guard in any case. Now he was the husband and protector of his wife, and that was to him the most important duty he had. Then he had received Celestia's letter. Now he was back there again. He couldn't wait to see his old friends and soldiers, he couldn't wait to see his family, but most of all, he couldn't wait to see his sister.

Being all alone on this early morning train felt far from ordinary for him, he was almost always around somepony, whether it was because he was a soldier in a platoon, or because he was a friend among friends. He thought back to the last few passengers that had left a few stations earlier, they had recognized him, and they had started a pleasant conversation. When they had introduced him to a particular rumor he found himself unable to not laugh at it. How in the world did a rumor that Cadance was pregnant start? he pondered. It was laughable, but Shining Armor learned something valuable when he caught himself a bit upset that the rumor wasn't true. Maybe... maybe it's time that the two of us have a talk about that? he thought, looking up at the train's roof as he whistled thinking about it. For a moment he actually tried keep himself from laughing in childish glee, he reminded himself of his sister in that moment. It will be great to see you again, Twily.

***

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Sir," said a mare that he had accidentally bumped into. She had just passed a corner, running towards the train that was about to take off. They were completely alone in the station, as it was still far too early in the morning. Shining Armor didn't expect ponies to arrive until at least a few hours later.

"It's alright, Miss, it was all my fault. Take care," said Shining Armor and waved to the mare as he kept walking through the station. He suddenly realized something, what is possible that the mare had been a pickpocket? Unlikely, but it was odd she was here so early. He made sure to check his bag and every little detail of his old uniform, but nothing was missing. He actually felt a bit ashamed afterwards for being suspicious.

He kept walking through the station, nothing had changed since he had been there last. The white stone walls and large windows made it look brighter even during the night. Seeing the light shine in from the early morning sun, casting it's red and golden light everywhere, made Shining Armor realize how much he had missed Canterlot. As beautiful as the Crystal Empire was, the fact that most of it was made from crystals made sights like these rare. The only bright sunlight that came to the Crystal Empire was more likely to make your eyes hurt from all the shimmering. It looked so beautiful and natural to him here. He smiled when he realized that this very moment had been the first time he had seen the station completely empty. It was so early the timetables for the trains hadn't even been put up yet. He wanted to get home to his parents, but he first had to get to the castle and report in.

***

Walking though Canterlot had never been so quiet. Shining Armor realized just how early he was. While going to report in at the castle wasn't going to be a problem, it would be rude to interrupt his parents this early. He didn't want to just spend the entire day in the usually busy streets of Canterlot, so he decided that once he was done at the castle he would sleep for a few hours at the barracks. Everything would be fine.

***

The castle was just as magnificent as Shining Armor remembered it. He had been there so much in the past that he could practically have been going through its hallways in his sleep. He was still a bit frustrated that nopony had put any guards at the outer gate, but at least he had managed to get in. Had they really let their standards sink so low since he had been there last? Just because it was early was no excuse. He thought about it when he entered the room where his visit would officially be written down. Of course, there was nopony there, so he had to file a paper and leave it on the desk. 'Addendum, I don't care how understaffed we are, guards are to be posted at the front gate at all times,' he made sure to write in big letters at the bottom of the page.

He strolled out of the room and went to the barracks. He usually didn't like the hard beds, but they were always warm, always available and always clean, what more could a guard ask for? He went inside, surprised there was nopony there. For once, he didn't need to sneak through the room trying to not wake some poor soul. He picked out a bed and jumped in, not bothering to put off his uniform, he was simply too tired after such a long trip. He pulled the covers over his head, and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

"Sir, I, I appreciate the... warm welcome, but, I have a wife," a voice echoed in his dreams. Shining Armor woke up, and rolled around, which made him suddenly fall out of the bed. It had been so sudden, and so loud, but he realized to his relief it was merely a dream. He looked outside, the shades still drawn, but it was clear that it was at least noon. Shining Armor picked up his bag and left the room. It was time to see his family.

***

Walking though Canterlot had never been so quiet and terrifying. It was in the middle of the day, which any other day would mean at least a hundred ponies in one's field of vision at once wherever you looked, sometimes even up. Yet not a single pony could be seen, nowhere, there was nothing. The streets were completely empty and silent. The quietness of the entire town was just so uncanny, like the entire area was just somehow dead. He could smell the faint aroma of dinners, both from restaurants and homes, but nopony was around to eat any of the food. It was just sort of there.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" asked Shining Armor. He actually missed the last time Canterlot had been this unfamiliar, while that had been a gigantic attack from changelings, at least it had been loud, busy and dangerous. He was a soldier, he was used to loud, busy and dangerous. This was just silent, empty and frightening. "Where did everyone go?" asked Shining Armor, looking around, just wanting to see anyone, anything. There wasn't even any flies to be seen in the air. Had the citizens been hurt? It could not have been a regular attack, there was no signs of violence anywhere. He feared for the worst. What about his family?

***

"Mother, Father?! Twilight!" yelled Shining Armor, banging on the front door. For every step he had taken on his way there, the more afraid of his family he got. He just wanted to see them safe. He had longed to see them ever since he had become a citizen of the Crystal Empire, he couldn't let them be hurt now, not when he was so close to see them. He tried to open the door, and to his relief it was unlocked, strange, he could have sworn that it had been- it didn't matter. It was obvious to him that he had just been stressed and mistaken. He walked into the familiar hallway. "Mother! Father! Are you here?! Twilight?!" He checked everywhere, the kitchen, the basement, the bathroom, the astronomy tower, but there wasn't anyone there. As far as he knew, the entire city of Canterlot was empty. He realized that he needed some help. He, or more specifically his wife, Princess Cadance, had prepared something in case he would find himself in trouble.

He removed the little shield on his uniform bearing both an emblem representing his family, and his wife's heritage. He closed his eyes and gently let his hoof follow the outline of the cool metal frame. He could feel the magical connection getting stronger, he didn't even need his horn for it to work. An object imbued with a very weak but effective teleportation spell, the magic sending away the tiny vibrations of the very air itself to be received in a crystal hanging around Cadance's slender neck.

"Cadence, something's wrong in Canterlot. I can't find anyone. Have you heard anything?" asked Shining Armor directly to the metal emblem. What he heard was just static and the winds of the arctic north. It was at that moment Shining Armor realized that this wasn't just happening in Canterlot. His wife would under no circumstances remove that necklace, there was simply no way, not while he was going away on a potentially dangerous mission. "Cadance, can you hear me!?" yelled Shining Armor. He was trained to deal with tough situations, so to his credit he at least didn't panic, but he couldn't stop himself from shivering. Everyone was gone, all the way to the Crystal Empire at least. His wife, his entire family, if not his entire civilization. He was all alone. He dropped the shield on the floor in shock. What had happened to them? Unless... it felt impossible, but it was very much just a possibility.

***

"Shining Armor? Shining Armor?! What's happening!? What's wrong?!" yelled Cadance's voice as loud as she could, her voice coming from the shield, she might as well have been standing right next to them. Twilight was holding her brother as tight as she could in a warm hug, but he didn't even seem to register her touch. Velvet picked up the shield.

"Princess Cadance, this is Twilight Velvet. Shining Armor is here, and he is physically fine, but he doesn't seem to either see or hear us," said Velvet into the shield. If not for the worrying situation, she would have been a bit proud that they were using one of her teleportation variations to speak to each other.

"Mrs. Velvet? Is that you? How is he? He seemed so upset. Is he alright?"

"Please, dear, you can call me Mom. Yes, as I said, Shining Armor seems to be perfectly healthy, just a bit stressed. There are at least ten ponies here who followed him. Mostly guards and a donut salespony," said Velvet. She calmly explained the situation as far as she understood it. Everyone was basically gathered in the kitchen with them, most looking at Shining Armor with worry in their eyes. Twilight was trying her best to catch his attention, she gently shook him, but to no effect. She yelled into his ear, but he wouldn't even feel the breeze of her breath. He seemed both depressed, but also in deep thought.

"What sort of powerful magic could remove all his senses?" asked Night Sky as he walked around his son. He kept his bravery by making his scientific curiosity take over. He was a pony who solved problems, and he stayed brave with that mindset. This was just another problem to be solved, even if a bit odd.

"Not senses, but complete recognition of everything alive. He doesn't see us ponies, or even Spike," said Velvet, thinking as hard as she could.

"This isn't just any old spell. It would be very, very difficult to even make a pony not see a specific thing, but another being, and all of them at the same time? Not even Celestia would be able to do something like that. There are too many variables to take into consideration. You would need to be able to think of at least 4000 things at once at the moment of casting the spell. Nothing in the world can do that. Heck, an age spell only requires 200," said Night Sky, talking with his wife in hopes of coming up with an explanation.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash, see that plate on the table? Sweep it off," said Velvet. Rainbow Dash just pushed it with her wing, and it promptly fell to the floor and loudly shattered into a dozen pieces.

"Hm, he doesn't seem to register anything made from us, even if it's just secondary. Leaving notes should not be possible," said Velvet.

"And remove immediate secondary contact? That's even more advanced. The tap is dripping, has been so for a while. Does that bother him?" asked Night Sky, trying to look into Night Sky's eyes, but there was no sign of him even hearing anything. Velvet walked up to her son. She lifted a knife from the table, and cut Shining Armor's outfit. No response.

"Spike, could you do me a favor and heat up this spoon?" asked Velvet and put down the knife, getting a spoon instead. Spike grabbed it and burnt it with his flames, making it glow. Velvet took it back with her magic. She did not like what she was about to do, but it was her duty as a mother. She could not allow anyone else to do it. She pushed the spoon against his front leg, making many ponies gasp. The faint smell of burnt fur could be sensed, making Velvet stop. She looked at her son, waiting for any sort of response, but there was nothing. "Sadly, that didn't work. He is completely cut off from any outside stimuli caused by other creatures. He won't even notice that we locked the doors and windows. His mind will just justify whatever happens around him somehow. He will either be forced to ignore it, or an excuse will be created. Right now my daughter is holding him, but he doesn't move. That's because his brain is telling him not to. His subconscious is working overtime to make every strange thing make sense in his head," said Velvet.

"Shining Armor... I'm going over there, with some luck I can make it in four days and-" said Cadance.

"Cadance, your ponies need you. Stay where you are. We'll find away to stop this, whatever it is," said Velvet.

"But-"

"Cadance. I know you are worried about my son and that you care about him, that's why I was so happy when you married him. But, it seems you have forgotten that no matter how much you love him, we're his family too, and we were here first. Listen to my words, carefully. We will find a way to cure him. As his mother, I give you my word that I won't stop until I've found a way to fix this," said Velvet. Night Sky walked over and Velvet gave him the shield. Night Sky didn't just say something else, he practically continued exactly what his wife was about to say.

"You might have married him, but you got us into your family too. And you might as well learn this now, because you will sooner or later. In this family you can always count on each other." Twilight Sparkle just knew what she needed to say, it just felt obvious, she had to say it. She took the shield from her father, and continued.

"As we have faith in you loving this family's son and my brother, we ask you to have the same faith in us as we find a way to help him," said Twilight. Cadance was quiet for a few seconds. Everyone in the room was looking at them.

"I- I- I really got the whole package, didn't I?" she asked, Twilight heard she laughed, through tears, possibly tears of both joy and sadness.

"Hey, everyone?" asked Shining Armor. Everyone turned to him in shock, everyone in the room went silent. Shining Armor was looking right ahead, with courage and determination in his eyes. "I, I don't know if you're here, or if I'm all alone, but if you are there, I want you to know I might have been affected by some sort of magic, I don't think it's an illusion, I think I just can't see or hear you. It's trying to make me think I'm all alone. At first I thought a gigantic disaster had happened, but that would leave some sort of trail. It can't be something that big, it just can't. That's impossible. In any way, I want to tell you not to worry. And I... Hm, I better note some of this down in case you are all out or something," said Shining Armor.

He took a piece of paper from above the fridge and lifted a pen from the table. He started scribbling and then put it on the fridge.

"I would read it, but he's sort of in the way," said Twilight, trying to look over his shoulder.

"In any case, since there seem to be at least physical traces left from ponies here, that means I might still be able to lead an investigation on this Group Misery, which is probably the reason this happened. I'll go to the castle right now, and I'll shout to catch the attention of some of my old friends and then write down what I've discovered on one of their black boards. I'm going to need some guards to protect me in case I get attacked, because I probably wouldn't even notice, huh? I will continue this examination until I've caught them. I'll show them the pride of the royal guard Shining Armor, the pony who will defeat his opposition even when he feels like he's in another world completely. This, this is nothing but a fun challenge!" he said with pride. He then proceeded to walk towards the door.

Night Sky pointed at all the guards that had followed him there in their worry.

"You, I want you to be his guards! Follow him every waking moment of every day! Get used to his schedule and protect him in danger. Never lose sight of him! If he gets hurt I'll pay you back with interest! Now follow him and help him in whatever way you can! If he's walking into battle, block his path to force his mind to reconsider. If he sits down to eat, you eat too! If he sleeps, you sleep! Whoever this Group Misery is, I won't rest until my son have their rumps so deeply into the castle dungeon they'll be able to start mining for diamonds! I won't rest, AND NEITHER WILL YOU! UNDERSTAND?!" shouted Night Sky with such gusto and willpower that every single one of the guards saluted him like it was instinct, and then quickly followed Shining Armor out of the door. The only one not a guard who had followed, Donut Joe, the donut salespony, was awkwardly standing there.

"Er, what about me?" asked Donut Joe, pointing at himself.

"Did I stutter? You're his friend too? Right! Be their chef if it need be! You owe him that much! NOW GO!"

"Sir, yes, Sir!" shouted Joe in fear and hurried after the guards who just sort of seemed to have accepted him into their ranks for the moment. Night Sky sighed.

"Twilight, dear, what does it say on his note?" asked Night Sky. Twilight picked it up and read it.

"It says what he just said. It also says that he will be thinking out loud a lot during his stay here. He will also make regular visits, so we should keep his bed clear for him to use. He will eat at the castle, clearly planning to eat straight out of the kitchen there, I assume."

"So my cooking isn't good for him, is it?" asked Spike.

"He wouldn't even see it," said Velvet.

"Oh, right."

"Hopefully he can eat leftovers and canned goods. He'll have plenty of food to eat, and if not, we can probably feed him ourselves," said Velvet.

"Seems my reports will be extended with whatever Shining Armor finds," said Spike. Twilight immediately shook her head, but her parents easily noticed both of these little details. Velvet looked at her daughter.

"So you're into this too, huh?" asked Velvet to her daughter who hesitated a while before nodding her head.

"Figures. Another dangerous adventure, like I didn't have enough to worry about. Well, let's try to keep our chins up."

"Thank you for supporting him, and me, so much... Mom," said Cadance. "Please, please find a way for him to get back to normal. It, it would be too terrible otherwise."

"We'll do everything we can."

"I, I might need to tell you something, to make you work even harder to help him. I wanted to tell him first, but you don't always get what you want."

"What is it, dear?" asked Night Sky, moving closer to the shield.

"Velvet, Night Sky... Mom, Dad, you're going to be grandparents."