A Royal Guard, bored out of her mind, stood outside the gates of Canterlot Castle with a stoic expression on her face. She knew that it was her sworn duty to protect the Princesses from any sign of harm and she would do anything to ensure their safety even if it meant tossing her life aside.

As she stood in position, she could hear somepony whistling before an old pony walked into her line of vision. He wore a gigantic pair of glasses onto a face overwhelmed with sagging wrinkles as he proudly wore the uniform of the Equestrian Mail Service. He walked up towards her with determination in his watery eyes.

“Excuse me, youngster,” he began in a creaky voice so low that the Royal Guard has to strain her ears to hear what he had to say. “I have a message to deliver to Princess Celestia. Would you be so kind as to give it to her for an old pony’s sake? I would sincerely appreciate it.”

The Royal Guard shook her head in response to his request. “I’m afraid not, sir. Princess Celestia is in the middle of Solar Court as of now. Perhaps you can give it another time.”

“I’m afraid I can’t, youngster,” he sighed. “I’ve traveled all the way from Manehatten to give this letter to her Royal Highness, and this message is too important to hold off ‘til another time. At least give it when she’s finished with her business for today. It won’t be much of a bother then, now would it?”

The Royal Guard has to hesitate to think about that. It would be wrong to simply push the old stallion away especially since he had to travel so far to simply give a letter to Princess Celestia. It wouldn’t exactly be fair to send him back without allowing him to complete his civic duty. In any case, she could just accept his request and give the letter to her Highness after the Solar Court proceedings have finished for the day. “I suppose not… alright, old stallion. Give it here.” She extended a hoof which the wrinkly stallion placed onto with a trembling limb.

“Thank ya kindly, miss,” he said with gratitude highlighting his voice. “Have a nice day, ya hear!” He quickly scampered off with a spring in his step as he whistled out an unfamiliar tune.

She shook her head as he disappeared from view before taking a glance at the letter. “I wonder what’s so important about it that it couldn’t be just sent via royal mail.”

Out of the Royal Guard’s sight, the old mailstallion burst into shadows before converging to reveal a whistling Dragonok that strode down the streets with a Look-Away charm attached to him to avoid curious glances. “Now that that’s done, let us commence with the waiting.”

Celestia plopped onto her bed exhausted after a tiring session at Solar Court with yet another gaggle of nobles wanting to raise taxes to line their pockets from hard-working ponies. The only comfort she took from such experiences was the little political games she played against the nobles and, with over fifteen hundred years of experience, she easily trumped their every tactic before they could ruin somepony’s life.

There was that one time when one noblestallion had forcefully wed his tomboyish daughter to a wealthy brute who had a reputation for abusing everyone around him with sadistic glee towards their pain. The newly wedded couple had gone on an all-expenses-paid honeymoon to Neighpon paid by hers truly. She had to giggle as she recalled informing them that the groom would have to wear a robe made of fried tofu on their first night as per marriage tradition in Neighpon. He soon vanished after the first night there with only a few strands of auburn hair and a few muddy paw prints in his room. After the groom had been deemed missing, the bride inherited everything and now became a famous best-selling author of over fifty volumes of her exploits as a world-trotting explorer though few know about that particular fact.

Then there was that one time a noble had spread nasty rumors to wreck a photographer’s budding career in the fashion industry. Thanks to a rather large donation from a mysterious sponsor, however, that same photographer established her own fashion firm before rising into the role of one of the top fashion icons in Equestria.

Celestia smiled at her past accomplishments as she sipped from her teacup before daintily nibbling on a slice of strawberry shortcake. It’s at times like these when she can cut loose and relax. “Ah, nothing beats a good cup of tea and some cake.”

That was when somepony knocked on her door. “Come in,” Celestia said.

A Royal Guard entered into Celestia’s suite. “I have a message for you, your Majesty,” she mumbled with a plain-looking letter in her mouth.

“Thank you, Steel Strum.” That’s strange; most of my mail usually arrives from Derpy every time she crashed through my balcony. This should be interesting. Her eyes travelled along the message etched throughout the letter until a particular word caught her attention. She did an epic spit-take that sprayed onto the Royal Guard’s face.

“What is the meaning of this!?” Celestia roared.

Tea dripped down the Royal Guard’s concerned expression. She didn’t care about that particular fact; she was more concerned on what had sparked such a reaction in the Princess. “What is it, your Majesty? Is there something wrong?”

Celestia turned towards Steel Strum. “Excuse me, Steel Strum, but there seems there is an important matter that I need to attend to for a few hours. Would you mind standing guard here while I’m gone?”

Steel Strum shook her head as her face became awash with confusion. “Not at all, your Majesty, but where do you plan on doing?” she asked.

Celestia became grim. “I just need to visit someone I once knew for quite a long time…”

Before the Royal Guard could say a word, Celestia vanished in a flash of golden light.

Canterlot Park, a peaceful area where foals scamper off and about amongst the animals shaped out of the shrubbery dotting throughout the park in the light of day. Lovers would picnic at night as they gaze at the stars before turning their stares towards each other with love at this most romantic of nights.

Now, however, marks the time when shadows come out and dance in the moonlight when everypony had already departed into their homes. Crickets strum out a medley of melodies into the night sky without any signs of intelligent life to bother them in their midnight concert. A chill wind rides unimpeded throughout the uninhabited park.

With a barely audible pop and another flash of golden light, Celestia reappeared in the shadow-touched recesses of Canterlot Park. She trotted towards a fountain and sat down at its granite rim.

“That’s strange,” she murmured as her head turned left and right in search of the individual responsible for sending the letter. “I was certain this was the location the letter mentioned. Was I mistaken?” Her brows furrowed as a more sinister train of thought arrived. “Or was this merely a distraction to lead me away while he sneaks into my castle and steal the Elements? I sincerely hope that is not the case. Who knows what might happen if he broke the seals over him to regain his full power? I just hope I’m not-” That was when she suddenly came snout to face with the ever-grinning skull-helm of Dragonok.

“AHHHHH!” she exclaimed in shocked surprise as she jumped back and tripped on the fountain’s edge. Her limbs flailed as she fell into the water with a splash.

“Greetings, Celestia,” Dragonok said as he dragged the soaked Solar Diarch out of the fountain. “As much as I would love to join thee, we have important business to discuss, old friend.”

Celestia sighed as she dried herself with a mild heating spell. “Don’t call me friend. You lost our friendship the moment you destroyed an entire nation filled with innocent ponies. The only reason why I’m not blasting you off into the sun is that you wanted to warn me of a grave threat against my student and her friends.”

Her ethereal mane burst into a fiery blaze as her eyes and fur gleam a blinding corona of white. “But if this is some sick joke to lure me away, I will incinerate you piece by piece until there is nothing but slag and burnt flesh.”

Dragonok rolled his eyes at Celestia’s theatrics. “I understand thy concern but I did indeed invite thou here to warn thee of what is to come without the nuisance of unnecessary prying eyes and eavesdropping ears.”

Celestia caught onto one particular word that Dragonok had mentioned. “Unnecessary? That’s quite an unusual choice of words, Dragonok. What are you hiding?”

“I hide quite an abundance of secrets as much as thou hast hidden away over the last millennia, Celestia,” Dragonok casually replied. “But we should not tarry on such talk.” His posture straightened into a regal stance as he cracked his neck from side to side. “Now let us speak of the evils that are to come.”

Before Celestia could even blink, Dragonok had somehow donned a pristine black professor’s gown and cap as he stood against a whiteboard with a felt-tip marker in his hand. “As thou know based on thy adventures with Star Swirl, this universe is but one of many within a space known as the multiverse. Between the spaces that separate each universe exists a prison where catastrophic entities who could easily obliterate everything ten times over if they desired to do so have been sealed away to prevent the destruction of the universes in which they derive from.” He drew a gigantic eyeball with squirming tentacles behind bars to emphasize his point. “Due to the arrogance of sorcerers who desire to rule over Equus, these entities have been summoned here to obey them.” He drew said eyeball standing in the center of a summoning circle surrounded by hooded sorcerers. “They however could not maintain control over these entities and have become enslaved, devoured, or decimated by the entities.” He sketched out the eyeball breaking out of the summoning circle and snatching up the sorcerers to shove them inside its pupil-centered mouth equipped with jagged teeth. “Now the only obstacle standing in their way is the Elements of Harmony which could send them back to their prison once the harmonic energies converge collide with them.” He then etched out the gigantic eyeball surrounded by six stick-ponies wearing the Elements of Harmony who blasted it into a portal with a burst of black-to-white spectrum energies. “That is why they will converge onto Ponyville one by one to either assimilate them into their ranks or obliterate them into dust before resuming onto their path for world devastation. Once they succeed, cracks will appear on the shields that protect this multiverse from the Corruption which will infest this world first before branching out to other universes.” He finally drew a gigantic snake with eyes infesting its body as it wrapped its coils around Equus with a ravenous gleam in its eyes.

Dragonok melted into the shadows before reappearing right next to Celestia back in full armor regalia. “That is why I implore thee permission to reside to Ponyville without impediments to prevent me from protect thy precious Twilight and her friends when they require my assistance from these entities.”

Celestia could only blink at this unexpected request that just came out of the blue before she nodded. “Very well,” she sighed, “I shall send a letter to my student to inform her to prepare for your arrival but remember this; should you harm Twilight and her friends through any means, you won’t live to survive another day. Is that understood?” If what he said is true, then I need him to protect Twilight and the others regardless of my feelings on the matter. I’ll ask Twilight to keep an eye on him to ensure he isn’t hatching any insidious schemes without her informing me of them before then.

“As thou wish so I will comply, Celestia,” Dragonok replied. He tilted his head as he scritched one side of his helm with a single claw. “By the way, I noticed an interesting detail I wish to inform thee of before I depart for Ponyville.”

“And what exactly would that be?” Celestia asked. Her curiosity drew her closer to hear what Dragonok had to say.

“I have noticed that thy power has decreased while thy derrière has expanded a great deal based on our last encounter,” he casually remarked. “Thou did not have to go through such effort to attract my attention. If thou desired some happy fun time, I would have been there for thee for such an occasion.”

One of Celestia’s eyes began to twitch. “Would you mind staying there for a moment? I need to pick something up.”

She momentarily vanished in a burst of light before reappearing with a gigantic hammer levitating alongside her. “Now just stand still while I crush you and send you to Ponyville in a hearse, you letch!”

From one of the balconies at Canterlot Castle, Luna and Daemon relaxed on beach chairs with gigantic sunglasses perched on their muzzles. They consumed popcorn as they watched an enraged Celestia blazing with blinding fire trying to smash Dragonok to pieces through binoculars.

“Ah, ‘tis entertaining to witness Tia lose her temper against him,” Luna said as she snuck a sip from a silly straw attached to a mug of hard cider. She smacked her lips with satisfaction as she continued to watch the two play cat and mouse. “We still have not forgiven him for defiling our royal self with that kiss but we suppose this should somewhat make up for it.”

Daemon released a gigantic burp that echoed throughout the castle before turning toward Luna. “I know, right? I’m so glad you agreed with his plans to go to Ponyville earlier when I chatted with you earlier.”

Luna smiled for a moment before a grim thought passed through her mind. “Indeed, but there is something that Dragonok mentioned that has bothered our royal self. Did he truly obliterate that sacred city or did somepony else committed the deed?”

Daemon shrugged as she chewed on her popcorn. “That, I can’t say. Master said that the time for you and Celly to know hasn’t arrived yet.” She affectionately patted Luna on the head. “Until then, don’t worry your silly head about it, ‘kay?”

Luna mused for a moment as her hoof tapped against her snout in contemplation. “We suppose so, but we will discover the truth on the matter. If he did destroy that city, then he will have much to pay for indeed.”

With a smirk etched across her snout, Daemon tilted her head towards the fight below. “Whatever you say; do you still wanna watch Celly try to smash Master?”

Luna nodded before she returned her attention towards her sister trying to fruitlessly smash Dragonok to pieces with no success. A tiny titter escaped her lips as she watched Dragonok effortlessly dodged each blow; much to her sister’s growing frustration. “Indeed, it shall amuse us for quite some time.”

Author's Note

Phew! That editing went longer than I thought. In any case, I have some news for everypony here. Now that my spring semester at PCC is over, I'm currently looking for a part-time job. I'll still be able to send in new chapters every now and then, but once I acquire a part-time job (at who knows where and when) then the updates will slow down so I can ensure that I don't either crash down at my job over the summer nor do I send in terribly, terribly, terribly awful chapters riddled with bad grammar that just spewed out of a overworked brain filled with dehydrated garbage. Thank you all for understanding and know that I won't abandon this project and leave an incomplete, a hiatus, or a cancelled tag anytime soon. ESPECIALLY THE CANCELLED TAG! Bye bye!