Darkness. Complete, total, all encompassing darkness. The Captain of Princess Celestia's Royal Guard, Shining Armor, groaned in pain as he awoke. He strained to lift himself to his hooves, his muscles aching with every move. Shivering slightly as the cold air nipping at his fur, he shook his head vigorously and smacked his lips, trying to remove the dizziness and awful taste that came with finding himself in a seemingly empty room. If he even was in a room.
Shining took a second to look around, looking for something, anything to give him a hint as to his current location. The void stretch forever in all directions, though, leaving the stallion no closer to an answer. He tried using his magic to create a light source on his horn, but said horn failed to collect the magic. Raising an eyebrow, he tried again with the same result.
Deciding that he'd exhausted all other option, Shining did the only other thing he could think to do.
"Hello?" He called out. "Is anypony out there?"
The only response he got was his own voice echoing his question. He frowned slightly.
"Well," he said to himself. "At least I know I'm alone. Great way to gain your bearing, Armor." Taking a deep breath, he prepared to start digging into the ground with the intention of forming a sleep-hole. As he lifted a foreleg, however, light suddenly bathed the area, stinging Shining Armor's eyes. He took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the new light. Once he was ready, he once again looked around. What he found raised more questions than answers.
Wood adorned the walls, floor and ceiling of the room. A painting, which looked like an odd mishmash of colors to Shining, hung on one wall. Candles acted as the source of the light for the room. One wall held a doorway with a curtain acting as the door. The curtain was open, leading to more of the darkness that initially held the room hostage. Before he could question where he was, Shining jerked in place slightly as the room seemed to suddenly shift. He braced himself as the room sped to its destination.
"Okay," he said. "So I'm in a room that can move itself. I have no idea where exactly I am and how I got here."
He scrunched his brows in thought.
How did I get here, anyway? The last thing I remember was going out to a get-together with some of the officers from the Guard. We had a few drinks. Avant Guard had a few too many drinks. We had a good time. I went home, climbed into bed with Cady and swear I fell asleep.
"So now the question is, how did I get here?" The room began to slow down, indicating to Shining that it was nearing the end of its trip. "Second question: why am I talking to myself?"
The room finally came to a stop. As he prepared to exit and try to get a better understanding of his situation, Shining Armor took notice of a note taped to the doorway.
"Don't forget your pillow, lost lamb."
Shining raised an eyebrow. Lost lamb? Looking around the room, he found the pillow in question, resting on the floor behind where the stallion awoke and glowing slightly. He shook his head.
"Why would I need a pillow?" He asked himself aloud. "And why is it glowing?"
As he made to exit the room, the curtain that served as the door quickly snapped shut, forcing Shining Armor to jump back slightly in surprise. Shaking his head again, he took a step forward with the intent to push the curtain aside and leave. The curtain, however, did not move. Shining tried to tuck his horn under the cloth, but jerked back as soon as he could feel the curtain's weight on the appendage. Not only did it feel much heavier than it had any right to be, it gave him a slight shock to boot.
Note to self: Don't touch the curtain.
Shining Armor focused on a spell he knew all too well. While his magic was more specialized for defensive spells, he was no stranger to the basic telekinetic spell that virtually every unicorn learned early in their lives. The weight he felt when he gripped the curtain matched the weight he felt trying to lift the thing himself. He strained, trying to move the obstacle out of his way. After a couple of seconds, the magic gave out and Shining Armor dropped to his knees, panting heavily in exhaustion.
Why is this thing so heavy and hard to move?!
The Captain of the Royal Guard glared at the curtain, resorting to merely willing the thing to move. Again, he gave out after a couple of seconds, finding it difficult to believe that he, of all ponies, was losing to a Celestia-damned curtain. Taking a deep breath, he looked the cloth over one more time before his eyes fell onto the note that also had not moved.
"Don't forget your pillow, lost lamb."
He sighed. Might as well give it a shot. Firing up his horn, he lifted the pillow into the air and onto his back. The curtain drew back, allowing the Captain to exit the room. The stallion did so, steeling his mind for whatever awaited him on the outside.
Elsewhere, the Princess of the Night frowned as she gazed toward the moon. Night was her domain, and she had no problems sensing her and her elder sister's little ponies as they slumbered under her blanket of stars. On this night, like several nights before, several ponies had suddenly disappeared from her senses. While most of them were, with all due respect, less well-established in society, one in particular caught her attention as soon as he winked out. A pony if major importance to Canterlot, as well as the rest of Equestria. Their bodies likely still existed, as she could feel their life forces, but their minds were no longer under her protection, which worried her greatly. None moreso than quite possibly the single most important stallion in all of Equestria.
Shining Armor was gone.