"Hello, Instrumental," said Erase in a bored tone.

"Mhmh," mumbled Instrumental through the muzzle keeping her from singing.

"Did they manage to capture you too?" asked Erase. Instrumental just glared at him and gave a sarcastic sounding mumbling. The guards pushed Instrumental into the cell opposite to Erase. Normally, they would have put them together, but the curse would potentially be harmful for the mare if she was with him.

The dungeon they were in was clean and dry. The stone and steel walls were designed to hold a dragon, so they certainly wouldn't be able to break out of there. The light shining in through the small windows near the ceiling actually managed to brighten up the dungeon quite a bit. There were plenty of plants outside of the cells, making the place a bit fragrant. Inside the cells there was only a bed and a facility to relieve oneself in, but at least behind a wooden panel for privacy.

Case in point, it wasn't your typical dungeon. While it was a place for punishment by imprisonment, ponies were to be treated well there. After all, the castle staff were no barbarians.

There wasn't a lot of prisoners there, in fact, Erase and Instrumental were the only ones in cells. That didn't mean they were alone. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were there, as well as Princess Celestia.

"I don't have a lot of time with you this morning, so I expect you to keep this short," said Celestia. Erase scoffed.

"Of course you don't. Celestia, never has time with the little ponies," said Erase.

"Hey, watch your mouth!" said Rainbow Dash.

"And why would I? Because she's royalty? Not to me, not to us. Not anymore," said Erase and glared at the princess with cold eyes.

"I know why you are angry with me, and I'm sorry. I never intended this to happen to you," said Celestia. Erase looked at her with some surprise on his face.

"You're sorry? You're sorry. YOU'RE SORRY!?" roared Erase, making Instrumental tremble in her cell. "Do you have any idea what pain you've caused us!? Do you have any idea what our curses have forced us to do?! If we go seven days without using our curses, we will use them anyway. We can't stop it! Every week I have to strike at a creature, praying it will miss. Instrumental is a music lover who can't ever perform, she can't ever make ponies happy again!"

"She tried to torture ponies!" yelled Applejack.

"Yes. And she is receiving punishment for it as we speak," said Erase.

"What are you-"

"I've tried to kill your friend. And I'm in a prison, being punished for what I have done. Group Misery will all receive both punishment and praise once this whole matter is over. If a pony does something wrong, they are punished! This is a very basic fact! All of us expect to be in prison for what we have done by the end of all this! This is a small price to pay to finally get rid of our curses!" yelled Erase.

"What are you-?"

"If you do wrong, you are punished. So tell me, Celestia. When you created and destroyed the Cycle of Destruction, inflicting a curse on seven innocent ponies that destroyed lives, where you punished?" asked Erase. Celestia looked at him, from the look in her eyes, he had hit somewhat of a nerve.

"I-"

"Instrumental just want to be appreciated for her art. She can never do so without forcing ponies to dance. It's a tame curse, but you know how much it still hurts her? She's one of the lucky ones," said Erase, nodding in Instrumental's direction.

Instrumental just looked at the floor, trying not to cry. Erase continued.

"My curse, I remember when I got it. It was the same day I got this scar. Suddenly, a black blot on existence, it pounced at me, like an animal. It burrowed into my chest causing pain so horrible I am literally incapable of describing it. I could feel it changing inside me, being molded into something based on me. Me, the warrior who always demanded at least some respect. My best friend, he was like a brother to me. He witnessed as my hoof twisted and turned into a talon, a sword erupting from my very flesh and forever being grabbed by this horrible mutation. He lost his composure for the one time in his life. You know what he addressed me as? He said 'Are you alright, my friend?' That sealed his fate. Without being able to stop, I attacked. He was fit, so he blocked. He said 'What are you doing, friend?' I attacked again. He blocked, asking the same thing again, I struck. In self-defense, he attacked me. Almost destroying my eye in the process. 'Stop it, friend'... And then I struck him. He fell asleep, I woke him up, telling him I was sorry," said Erase. Twilight saw the stallion starting to weep from his good eye. "I was so sorry, and so afraid. The ticking kept going, and going, and going. I knew it meant disaster. I couldn't stop it, I couldn't. And then, the timer reached zero. In front of my eyes, his heart was pierced. He was my closest friend. The one pony I'd even dare to call 'family'. And this cursed made me kill him."

There was a silence in the dungeon. Fluttershy had to walk outside, she couldn't take listening to him any more.

"Can you bring him back, Celestia? Can you undo the damage I've caused because I couldn't stand being alone? It didn't matter how well I explained things, somepony would always slip up. If I didn't kill the friends I had, I forced myself to push them away. Years I've been living, knowing that whenever I get close to somepony I might strike them down. Can you give me back those years? Can you? Can you give back the lives of forest animals and ponies that I've suddenly been unable to stop cutting down?! I remember every single face! And I see them every, single, night! I've managed to keep that number down to three ponies, and at least a hundred innocent animals. Can you undo that? Answer me!"

"Don't, don't avoid the-"

"What am I avoiding, exactly?"

"You're-"

"Twilight Sparkle. Your brother is all alone in the world right now, isn't that terrible? Well, with a little luck he might be able to find Solitary and get back to normal. Her powers usually just apply to the closest, most dear ones, or something a bit more specific. She charged up her curse to make Shining Armor all alone. She won't be able to do something like that for a long time now."

"Why did you do that to him?!" shouted Twilight Sparkle.

"Because we knew he would get in the way of our goal. He managed to find our hideout even when being all alone in the world. That's impressive. The point is, that making him be cut off from the world was a necessity. Do you know what wasn't a necessity? How about Solitary being forever unable to see her own family and friends again? She is constantly affected by her own curse! She can't control it. She wouldn't have any friends if it wasn't for Mrs. Misery! She has two loving parents, two younger sisters and a little brother. She might have passed by them a thousand times in the last year, and she wouldn't know! She suffers, her family suffers! She's been alone for years before finding us! Can you give those years back!? Can any of you?!"

"Maybe you should just forgive the Princess and move on! Stop hurting everypony and yourselves!" said Twilight.

"If we move on, we will be alone forever and so many ponies would be hurt. Do you know Mood? I think you do. Whenever he looks somepony in the eyes, he says something that is true, and hurtful. It always causes tears, no matter what. Even if he was blind, just being too long with somepony makes him say it anyway!"

"Wait, what did you say?" asked Spike. Erase looked at him, and smirked. "I knew you would know who I was talking about," said Erase. Spike suddenly jumped on the spot he was standing, grabbing his head and panicking.

"Spike?" said Twilight.

"Twilight! Remember when we got here the first day?! That pony at your house, his name was Mood! And he made me cry!" yelled Spike.

"He was one of them? But that would mean- They know where I live. Mom! Dad!" said Twilight turning towards the exit.

"When you get back we'll be discussing business, I believe!" shouted Erase after her.

***

"Mom! Dad!" yelled Twilight and banged on the door to her home, but to her horror it opened as it had been slightly ajar. She ran inside, and to her relief she saw her mother and father in the kitchen together. They were eating breakfast. He was reading the newspaper while Velvet was making toast with delicious orange marmalade.

"Thank Celestia you two are alright!" said Twilight and almost collapsed against the wall. She had galloped the entire way from the castle to her home, fearing the worst. This was such a relief to her. She laughed at how silly her worry seemed to be now when they were safe.

She looked at the breakfast in front of her, and she realized she was quite hungry after all the adventuring and danger last night. She went over to the table and sat down.

"I just loved this marmalade," said Velvet, taking a bite of the toast.

"It is very nice, but, Mother, Father. I have something really serious to talk to you about. You're going to have to live in the castle. They know you are here!" said Twilight. The door burst open again. Twilight turned around, seeing Applejack and Rainbow Dash running inside. The rest had probably fallen behind.

"Hello, you two. How's the hunt for Group Misery going?" asked Velvet to them.

"Welcome back," said Night Sky.

"It's going fine, I think," said Applejack.

"Would you like to have some breakfast?" asked Velvet.

"What's going fine? Oh, the hunt for Group Misery, no doubt. Would you like some breakfast?" asked Night Sky.

"Wait, what?" asked Twilight.

"Wait. Velvet, Night Sky, are you alright?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Both parents looked at Rainbow Dash confused and looked around.

"Where's Velvet?"

"Where's Night Sky?"

"Oh no," said Twilight. Applejack ran up to Twilight and held her, showing them her.

"Here! Who is this?" asked Applejack.

"Are you making fun of me?" asked Night Sky.

"It's too late," said Twilight in shock. Applejack dropped Twilight.

"Listen here, you tw- You. You've been affected by the same thing Shining Armor is currently suffering of," said Applejack. They looked at her.

"But, I can see you," said the parents at once.

"Yes, but, turns out Shining Armor has a strong version of it. You have the weaker version, meaning you can't see your own kin," said Applejack.

"Are, are you saying that I can't even see my family?" asked Velvet and Night Sky at once, sharing the same worried voice.

"Yes. Velvet, Night Sky is right there. Night Sky, Velvet is right there. And both of you, Twilight is right here," said Applejack and gestured towards their respective seats.

"Lucky that we can at least talk to you. That's something," said Rainbow Dash. Twilight didn't say anything, she really wanted to shout at Rainbow Dash for not realizing that a conversation through a third party wasn't good enough when it came to her parents, but she knew better than to put blame on her friend.

"Have anyone been here today?" asked Rainbow Dash to them both. They both started talking at once. "Wait, hang on, one at time! Velvet, you first."

"Only one. It was a young mare, she said she was here because she wanted an autograph from Twilight, a Bearer of Harmony. You weren't home, so I asked her to leave and come home later."

"Did she touch you in any way?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"We did shake hooves right before she left," said Velvet.

"Okay. Night Sky, you?"

"There was only one who stopped by today. She was a young pony. A cute little thing. She came by a little early, I think. She handed me the mail and shook my hoof," said Night Sky.

"Great. Well, we better get you two a room in the castle. We can't have you here now, it's too unsafe," said Rainbow Dash.

"Right, you'll be coming with us," said Applejack. They both looked at them, and then got up.

"Alright, Twilight, if you're still there, everything will be alright," said Night Sky.

"Sweetie, I know this must be a bit frightening to you, just hang in there and everything will be fine, you'll see," said Velvet.

"Take care of my parents, girls. I've got to have a chat with Erase," said Twilight, getting up from the table. She ate her toast and walked out of the house with a determined look in her eyes.

***

"Erase!" yelled Twilight as she entered the dungeon.

"I trust you saw everything you needed to. We decided to be ready with this, just in case you managed to catch one of us. Mrs. Misery thought you might, so she planned ahead. Personally I consider her to be good at that. So, how is it going to be?" asked Erase. Twilight glared at him with barely contained anger.

"Do you seriously think I would allow you to leave this cell even if I could?" asked Twilight.

"Integrity. I admire that. But you misunderstand. We don't want freedom."

"Get me my parents back! Get me my brother back!" yelled Twilight.

"We are willing to do that. On one condition."

"And what would that be?" asked Twilight, sounding spiteful. She hadn't noticed until now that Erase sometimes turned his head a bit to mainly looking at the one he spoke to with his good eye, but it had never been clearer as he gave her a very serious look with it.

"Tell us everything we want to know about Cesom, let us use it, and then punish Celestia for her disregard for our fates and what she has done. If you do that, then we will gladly hand ourselves in. We are ready to discuss the exact nature of the punishment, even."

"What is this Cesom? I heard Random talk about it too,"

"I frankly think you should ask Celestia about that. Now leave me, return when you are ready to talk about this more. I need a nap," said Erase and turned around on his bed, facing away from Twilight.

"This isn't over," said Twilight as she walked out of the dungeon. Erase didn't answer.