Celestia decelerated rapidly and immediately focused her magic on a vision of her throne room. A white-yellow bubble formed around her, and with a blast of energy, she teleported.

“Princess!” said one of her guards in surprise.

“Bring me a scroll and a quill,” Celestia said, firmly, but as calmly as possibly, trying not to betray her apprehension.

“A…scroll?”

“Yes, a scroll!” said Celestia, her eyes flashing with the power she tried so hard to conceal.

“Yes! Right- -right away!” said the guard, dashing out of the room and quickly returning.

“And a quill?”

“I found ink but…but…”

“Never mind,” said Celestia, pulling out one of her own feathers and magically processing it into a quill. She immediately lifted the ink, scroll, and quill into her magic and began writing.

The message had arrived to her from Spike halfway through her return from the Grand Magus. Since she had been travelling alone and without her chariot, she had not bothered to bring any stationary; she had not expected that she would need it, especially with Luna remaining to watch over the kingdom.

Never had she expected Twilight to contact her with such dire news, though. It seemed that three more pieces of cerorite had appeared. At first, Celestia had been inclined to believe that they were forgeries or some other similar kind of gem, but Twilight had stated that they had been verified by Rarity. Celestia only knew Rarity distantly, but she understood from Twilight’s letters that the mare was incredibly well versed on gemstones and their use in clothing. In addition, the gem that Twilight had witnessed had showed several unique traits that only cerorite showed.

Twilight could not have known, but those pieces needed to be captured immediately and stored under the utmost security. Cerorite had manifold uses, and very few of them were good. One of the most important and most concerning, of course, was its ability to permanently kill an alicorn if fired with adequate velocity into their heads.

Celestia finished the letter rapidly and ignited the letter with a spell, causing it to vanish as smoke. Within seconds, Spike would vomit it up in a plume of green fire, and Celestia felt mildly relieved.

Sitting back on her throne, Celestia sighed, and for a moment took the time to admire her perfectly selected staff of guards. Their presence always made her feel a little bit better.

Her relief quickly ended, though, when she realized that her guards were starting to float. They seemed confused, and tried to cry out, only to find their voices missing. Some of them even tried to swim, an action that had no effect in air; they simply rose to the ceiling and were suspended there.

“Princess,” said Discord, sliding from behind her chair. “It’s so good to see you again. Did you bring me any souvenirs from the you-know-who?”

“Who told you where I was going?”

“No one. Well, perhaps myself. I might have told me, I suppose, but I tried not to. Loose lips do sink ships, you know, and I do so enjoy a good shipping.”

“I suppose there is no hiding anything from you, is there?”

“Well, that depends on how adventurous your feeling.”

“Are you friends with the Grand Magus?” Celestia looked up at her helpless guards; she knew that the same magic that kept them from crying out kept them from hearing as well. Discord seemed to want a private conversation.

“I don’t know if ‘friends’ is the right word, but she knows me. I mean, I was once the ruler of Equestria. I’m a very important pony, you know.” He leaned forward, cupping his lion hand over his mouth, and whispered. “I’m not actually a pony!”

“I know, Discord.” Celestia attempted to change the subject. “So how goes the investigation.”

“Well,” said Discord, suddenly appearing in a trench coat and checking a blank reporter notebook. “I interrogated several ponies, which was fun, but ineffective. Then I did some math.” He became suddenly serious, something that worried Celestia. She actually found his brand of chaotic humor rather endearing, and she was not looking forward to harsh news. “Something weird showed up.” Discord produced a chalk board covered in various calculations.

“Discord, that is the derivative progeneration spell for generating a block of cheese,” said Celestia, looking over the math. “And not very good cheese, either.”

“That’s not important. What I found was that the Order I was sensing is actually almost identical to the magic produced by the Crystal Heart. I mean, without the mushy spirit of harmony and public displays of affection. I hope.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Is there anything else that produce a strong ‘Order’ signal?”

“Not currently, now, but the point is it’s almost impossible to see through all this noise,” he said, pulling at space and causing several waves passing through it to distort and become visible. “It’s like trying to see stars with the sun out. You’re glorious, glorious sun…”

“Ahem,” said Celestia, forcing Discord to look back to her face.

“Oh. Yes. What did you learn from the old fruit-bat?”

“Discord,” said Celestia, chastising him for being so insulting, even though she herself also had a strong dislike for Crimsonflame. “It is impolite to call her that. But, regardless, she said that what we may be dealing with something called a Choggoth.”

Discord continued to stare forward for a moment, but remained strangely still. Then, rather suddenly, he spread his arms. A set of suitcases appeared in each of his hands, and a rather gauche Hawaiian shirt over his torso.

“Well, time for me to be going,” he said.

“Going where? Why?” asked Celestia, standing. “What do you know?”

“There is a saying, Celestia: when Choggy comes a’ knockin’, you nuke the planet, and then get out. Here, I think I have one for you right here,” he opened one of his bags, searching through it, producing a pile of various random items behind him.

“Who says that?”

“No idea. Because they all, well…their a lot less lively than when they said it. As in, they’re all dead.”

“What is it?”

“Drat,” said Discord, standing next to a now mountainous pile of mostly garbage. “Other suitcase…”

“Discord.”

“I don’t actually know!” he cried. “Things…some things in my brain just aren’t in…order…”

“What do you know, then?”

“Only that they are really, really nasty creatures. Terribly nasty. Worse than me, even.”

“What exactly are they?”

“Something akin to shapeshifters, I suppose. Sort of like a bread dough with too much yeast.” Discord snapped his fingers. A tire appeared. Annoyed, he snapped them again, and produced a potato. He snapped several more times before he managed to summon a rapidly growing lump of yeasty dough. Celestia realized that he was shaking; whatever this was, it was terrifying to him. “Except they grow much bigger than most dough, and eat just about everything in their path.”

“You mean like the schmooze?”

“The schmooze? Yes, exactly like the schmooze, in the same sense that you are exactly identical to a goat.” A rather perplexed looking white goat appeared with a poorly drawn sun icon on its flank and a pastel-rainbow wig. It released a nervous bleat.

“Language, deerie,” said Discord, returning the goat to wherever it came from. “The schmooze is organic protoplasm. Choggoths are something else entirly…well, I suppose they rather do resemble the G1 schmooze, actually…”

“Who?”

“Never you mind. The point is, they exist only to consume universes. Whole ones. Like you consume cloud cake. They aren’t intelligent, they don’t think, and they don’t stop. No fun at all.”

“Could one use the type of magic you have been sensing?”

“A creature made out entirely out of teeth and eyes that eats worlds and uses Order magic? Why, thank you Celestia. I suppose I won’t be sleeping for a few…evers. I don’t go dimension hopping often, but you can darn well bet your secret collection of striped socks that even I’m not crazy enough to go near a dimension infected with a Choggoth.”

Celestia sighed. Discord did not seem to know much about them at all, but Celestia knew less. At least she now had a partial understanding of what the Grand Magus had meant. “Discord,” she said. “I am officially taking you off the case.”

“Off? What? Why?”

“You seemed to be rather intent on leaving a second ago.”

“I was joking. Well, not about the nuke. It’s in there somewhere. And armed. Probably should get rid of that somewhere...you know, with the SALT-lick treaty and all. But I’m not leaving. I’m reformed, remember?”

“And you were quite helpful, Discord. I really am grateful. But I have enough information right now. The situation now falls to me to correct.”

“Because you can’t trust me.”

“No. Because it requires surgical precision and the use of resources that I am not comfortable with you or anypony else knowing about yet.”

“You just said it,” said Discord, growing increasingly angry. The pile of trash and his flamboyand shirt disappeared, as did the bags he had with him. “You don’t trust me.”

“No. I just think that this task is not suited for you.”

“Because you want to go about it all orderly and neat,” he snapped. “You haven’t seen what these…these Choggoths can do!”

“Neither have you.”

“I now that. But my point still stands. Careful planning is not going to help you now. This needs to be an all-out war. Isn’t that what you’ve been planning for?”

“Equestria has been at peace for one thousand years. Why would I be preparing for war?”

“Don’t pretend like I’m an idiot. I have eyes, you know. I see what you’ve been doing. You’ve been collecting an army of immortals.”

“I do not know what you are talking about.”

“Don’t you? You resurrected Luna, un-stoned and ‘reformed’ me, gave Cadence the Crystal Empire, and used some extremely forbidden magic to force poor Twilight Sparkle to share your own fate. At first, I thought you were just lonely…but now…”

“I expand my power as I see fit to ensure the eternal peace and prosperity of Equestria,” replied harshly. “And being a princess is a tremendous honor.”

“Yes, the Princess of Friendship, who will have to watch all her friends age and die until all she has left is the rest of us misfits. A real great honor.”

“I will wield my power as I see fit,” said Celestia coldly. “And that is final.”

“So we’re all just tools to you. Well, ‘Tia, you’re the tool!”

“Give up the case, Discord.”

“No. You know very well that you can’t control me, and I’m not going to let this land get destroyed because you want to maintain an impression of power.” Discord sighed. “I can see why your sister went batty in her lunar belfry, having to deal with you all this time.”

“What did you say?” said Celestia, her cold anger suddenly melting.

“Buttery Snake,” said Discord, snapping his fingers.

A sickly green colored pony suddenly emerged from the background, and Ceslestia did a double-take as she realized that he had been there the whole time, somehow unseen without being invisible. Even stranger was the massive, clearly magically induced scar running down his side, severing his cutie mark- -which had formerly been a golden colored snake- -into two pieces, one of which resembled a stick of butter.

A strange, multi-pointed antler in the center of the green ponies head glowed.

“Buttery Snake and Discord out,” he said. They both vanished with a pop, and the rather exhausted royal guards fell to the floor.

Almost as soon as they did, the door to the throne room flew open. Celestia expected a surge of guards coming to “protect” her from Discord, but instead, only a lone chiropteran pony entered.

He winced at the light pouring through the windows, but maintained his professionalism and stood in the center of the room, hastily bowing. From his armor, it was clear that he was one of Luna’s personal guards. If Celestia called, his name was Nightwatcher.

“Princess,” he said with his oddly deep chiropteran voice.

“Has something happened to my sister?” said Celestia, standing.

“Physically, no, but a peculiar mood has beset upon her. I was sent to call for you at once on your return, but the door was sealed…”

“Take me to her. Now.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

Celestia was led into the depths of the castle. It was a place she rarely went, except to visit her sister; until Luna’s return, it has mostly been a location used for storage or boiler rooms. The current castle had never been built with Luna in mind; although Celestia knew that she would one day return from the moon, she had never been sure if she could find somepony to use the Elements of Harmony to restore her to her kind and loving state.

The basement had since been rebuilt substantially in the past several years, though. Mechanical functions were moved deeper into the castle, or higher; the floors and walls had been repurposed with adequately royal décor and cool-glowing gem-lamps. There were even several chiropteran employees, who, although they bowed to Celestia with appropriate decorum, seemed to be deeply suspicious of her. It seemed that, even after one thousand years, they still remembered what she had done to their people.

Nightwatcher led Celestia to a large door, the door to Luna’s personal chambers. There were no guards outside of it, only a female chiropteran that Celestia knew well.

“Cavern Melody,” she said. “What has happened to my sister?”

“I do not know,” replied Cavern Melody. “There was an incident with Discord. Something happened, and there was a magical discharge. A lawyer was badly injured.”

“A lawyer?”

“By the name of Slimy Snake, I believe.”

Celestia recalled the sickly looking unicorn with the scar down his side.

“What was the condition of this Snake?”

“Discord intervened, and saved his life.”

“You mean the injury was life-threatening? Where did it originate?”

“The magical signature has been confirmed to be Princess Luna’s.”

“Then I need to find Discord immediately.”

“No, Princess, that is not what you need to do.” Caver Melody pointed toward the door, her cutie mark glinting in the dim light. Celestia had never figured out entirely what it was; some ancient instrument, she imagined. It also made little sense to her why a pony whose special talent was music was a servant. “You need to be with your sister.”

“You’re right, Cavern Melody,” she said after a slight pause, smiling. She suddenly felt a strange sensation as she looked down at Nightwatcher and Cavern Melody. She had not felt it before, because they had not been togather, but now looking at them both it was far more obvious. Celestia used her magic to gently slide open the door. “And congratulations,” she said. Before the door closed behind her, the two batlike ponies exchanged surprised but knowing glances.

The room inside was dark, and Celestia ignited her horn.

“Luna? Sister, are you here?”

There was a rustling and the surface of the bed on the far side of the room shifted. Luna rose, collecting herself, standing as proudly as she could. Celestia could tell that she had been crying, and that she was trying to hide it.

“Sister,” said Luna, her voice artificially cold in a way that almost mimicked Celestia’s own well-measured royal demeanor. “I see you have returned.”

“Yes, I have. My mission was…partly successful.”

“And I suppose that you have already heard about…about what I did,” her expression dropped, and the deep sadness within her was visible for just a moment.

“And I will have a long talk with Discord, I assure you.

“It was not his fault,” said Luna suddenly. “It was mine, and mine alone. My reaction was…it was mine alone.”

“Reaction to what?”

“Discord attempted to touch my wings and I…I do not know what happened. I flew into a rage. I attacked Discord, and nearly murdered a helpless lawyer pony. I even threatened poor Fluttershy…I said I was going to take her…take her…”

Luna attempted to force herself to regain her composure, even as tears began rolling down her face. “Sister, help me,” she whispered. “I do not know what is happening to me. I can see things, almost remember them. I’m slipping and I think…I think I’m becoming somepony else…”
\ Celestia put her wings around her smaller sister, slowing the spiral of her anxiety, and Luna burst into tears.

“I’m a princess,” said Luna, softly, nearly sobbing. “I am the living goddess of the night. How can this be happening?”

“It was inappropriate for Discord to attempt to touch your wings,” said Celestia.

“But my reaction- -”

“Neither of you could have known. Even I did not suspect it. You reacted to a fragment of a memory.”

“A memory?”

“Yes. From before we were like this, when you were just a little blue Pegasus.” Celestia smiled, but the smile faded. “I failed you, Luna. Back then, because of my failures, terrible things were done to you. Things that can never be forgiven, and that I can never forgive myself for allowing to happen.”

“Please do not tell me,” said Luna.

Celestia looked down at her sister. She had expected Luna to ask about the harsh memories, to probe deeper into her own past, but even now, when those memories were just beyond the edge of her consciousness, she still rejected them.

“I won’t.”

“Because if I remembered, I do not think I would be me anymore.”

Celestia lowered her head over Luna. “Shhh,” she said softly.

After a few minutes, Luna seemed to have calmed down. Celestia stepped back from her. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes,” said Luna, her voice having regained some of its anachronistic steeliness. “I believe I have improved, with you here. Thank you.”

“You just get some rest, sister.”

“No,” said Luna. “I believe I have had enough rest for now. Returning to my royal duties will be helpful.”

“Well,” said Celestia, smiling. “You may want to begin by reviewing your servants. Cavern Melody is going to need some leave in a few months.”

“Cavern Melody?” said Luna, looking simultaneously confused and concerned. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no. I probably should not even tell you, but knowing her, she would hide it from you to prevent you from worrying?”

“What is wrong with my friend, sister?”

“She is going to have a foal!”

Luna blinked. “Foal?”

“She’s pregnant. I am almost certain that Nightwatcher is the father. I was not even aware that they were married.”

“They are not,” said Luna, seeming somewhat dazed.

“Well, they probably will be thinking about it soon. She may even ask you to officiate the wedding!”

“That would be a tremendous honor,” said Luna. She smiled, and Celestia was glad. “I will be sure to discuss it with her.”

“Excellent,” said Celestia. “Just don’t forget to raise the moon in two hours. I know how much you love chiropteran weddings.”

“They are steeped in formality and ancient, beautiful tradition,” said Luna, somewhat defensively.

“You just love weddings, and your upset about missing Cadence and Shining Armor’s.”

“Indeed,” sighed Luna. “Although from what I hear, it was somewhat more eventful than either of us would have preffered.”

Celestia laughed, and opened the door with her magic. “I have some duties to attend to for now, and then I am afraid I will have to miss your beautiful night. I require a long, long royal bath followed by a longer royal nap.”

Celestia left and closed the door, leaving Luna once again alone in darkness. She let out a deep sigh. It had taken a prodigious effort, but she had convinced her sister that things were fine, even as the flashes of distant memories of pain stirred even closer to the border of Luna’s consciousness, accompanied by an ominously familiar voice.

Celestia sat alone in darkness. She had retreated farther into the Castle, into her own private complex, but not to sleep. There were still duties that needed to be attended to. Luna’s condition was unfortunate, but there were larger problems at hoof. Equestria was imminent danger.

News had been delivered from a shadowy, anonymous source. Apparently, a special agent from a “rouge” agency had broken her deep cover in Ponyville to relay a message. She had encountered a creature capable of amorphous shape-shifting, disguised as a pony. Even as a professional monster hunter, she had not known what it was, but Celestia knew. There was only one thing it could be.

Its presence, of course, presented an issue in terms of neutralization. In its current state, it seemed to be small and relatively weak, which actually made it far more dangerous. If Celestia sent in her military to sweep Ponyville, it was almost definitely small enough to escape into the Everfree forest, where they would never find it. The other option was to engage it herself, or to send Twilight and her friends to destroy it with the Elements of Harmony. Going herself was not an option; Celestia did not want to leave Luna alone, and she worried that the fallout from a battle between herself and such a beast could endanger ponies. The same went for Twilight, with the added concern that information could leak and alert the enemy to her plans.

In the end, Celestia had begrudgingly decided to call on one of the more severe forces at her disposal. A clean, surgical excision of a threat required could only be accomplished with her Light.

A candle in the dark of the room flickered, and Celestia knew that they had arrived.

“Tlilxochitl and Chocolatl,” said Celestia, offering them a fake smile. As she spoke their names, both of them emerged from the shadows. Both were tall, dog-like creatures with forward-set eyes and wide mouths. On both of their forelegs as well as the tips their tails, they had hands. Tlilxochityl, the female of the two, had a pure white coat that seemed to glisten in the candlelight; Chocolatl, the slightly larger male, was a deep rich brown.

“Your holiness,” they both said in unison, dropping to their knees and offering tremendously deep bows.

“What is it,” began Chocolatl.

“That you ask of us,” finished Tlilxochitl.

“Oh Divine Mother of the Sun,” they said in unison.

“There is a grave threat to Equestria,” said Celestia. “Go to Ponyville. There is a monster there that may be disguising itself as a pony. It’s mark will be a pair of geometric shapes. Be careful, as I believe it may have the power to shapeshift, or to divide itself. Let no pony see you.”

“As always,” said Tlilxochitl. “But what are we to do- -”

“When we encounter the beast?” finished her husband.

“Capture it if you can. If not, eliminate it.” Celestia’s horn illuminated, and the two ahuizotls stared at the light as though it were the most important aspect of their lives. Which, Celestia supposed, it probably was.

Celestia presented them with a glossy steel case.

“What is this?” asked Cocolatl.

“Gifts from my own era. They will use silver; it should slay any unholy beings you encounter.”

“What level of collateral damage is expected?” asked the white ahuizotl, opening the case.

Celestia sighed. She wondered if she really had changed after several millennia; she had rather grown to despise that part of the equation. Still, the choice needed to be made, and could only be made by her. “Avoid the deaths of ponies, unless you are sure they are aiding the creature. Deaths of monsters not allied with me are acceptable.”

“It will be done,” they both said in unison, taking the contents from the case. “We will bring your glorious Light to the Darkness.”

“Then go.”

The two gave one more bow, and then drifted back into the darkness, leaving only the empty, ancient case behind, having taken the devices it had contained with them.

Celestia sighed. Since the beginning, the ahuizotl had been among her most vehement worshipers. They were war-like, vicious, and generally cruel, but most of them were unbelievably loyal. They were excellent warriors and assassins, and Celestia had made use of the thousands of times to correct anomalies in the Equestrian government. They were the perfect fit for this mission.

Yet still, something within her was afraid. Not of them, but that something terrible could very easily go wrong when the Light were involved. She had to accept it, though. There was no other way. The death of the Choggoth was absolutely essential to the security of everything she had worked so hard for.