A large figure stood alone in the office. A mare that boasted a flowing mane of beautiful colors that sparkled as it ebbed and flowed gently in the calm of the wooden building, a coat of the purest white a pony could ever hope to see. She's sported a figure that any stallion would give any body part to claim as their own, even for a second, barely marred by the heavy, golden suit of armor she wore.

Princess Celestia’s purple eyes were locked on the only other 'company' in the room: the lifeless bodies of two stags that lay sprawled on the floor. One lied at her feet, on its back and staring lifelessly up at the ceiling. The other lie further away, dressed in heavy metal armor. This stag lay on its stomache, its face kissing the dirty floorboards that played host to its corpse.

In the princess's right hand was a sword made of pure light, its blade crackled and sparked with energy. The solar princess opened her hand, letting the hilt tumble along her opened palm and roll over her fingertips, the blade rushing to meet the floor below. The tip was a mere millimeter away from the wooden material below when the weapon suddenly vanished with a loud puff of smoke, the dark choking cloud dissipating in mere moments. Celestia showed no reaction to this as she continued to stare at the two fallen stags.

"Huh, I didn't think thou had it thee, sister mine." A meek voice interrupted from behind her. Celestia didn't turn to face it's owner as it stepped into the room beside her. "I never knew thee to kill thine opponents."

The newly-freed Princess of the Night, who had returned to her throne only the previous day, had not yet completely regained her former strength after her ordeal as Nightmare Moon as her smaller form clearly showed. Her fur was a lighter shade of blue rather than the dark blue she had been accustomed to all those years ago, and her mane had not yet resumed the starry, nightly visage that she once had.

"This is not my work, my sister." Celestia responded sorrowfully. "They were like this when I had arrived. A shame, I would have prefered to deal with this monster myself."

"Then, this too is the work of this 'mysterious assassin', then?" Luna inquired. "The so-called 'Ghost of Lindinsbarne', as thy ponies here are calling it?"

"It would appear so."

Luna remained silent.

"Of course, that leaves the burning question," Celestia started.

"The identity of this mysterious assassin." Luna finished. "Doth thou have any ideas?"

"I admit, at first I thought, I hoped it was a traitor from the inside. It made the most sense, and... well, perhaps I just wanted to think that not all of caribou are as vile as these two."

"If even half of the things the ones we captured confessed to are true, then I sincerely doubt that." Luna commented. Celestia didn't give a response, instead continuing with her own thoughts.

"However, something here leads me to believe that something else entirely is behind this. Tell me, Luna." Celestia pointed to the two bodies. "Do you notice something a bit... off, about them?"

Luna's eyes squinted as she examined the scene. She cupped the bottom of her muzzle with her finger, using it to scratch her chin thoughtfully before she shook her head and responded.

"Sorry, I do not notice anything.." She narrowed her eyes further.

"Exactly my point. Don't you think this is a little odd? No blood, no cuts, no wounds, no bruises. Nothing." Celestia remarks. "It's as if they just... died. Without explanation."

"Although now that I look, I cannot help but notice a few... marks on their throats and arms." Luna remarked, earning a nod from Celestia. "But they are not big enough to even be a bruise, let alone cause one's death."

"Yes, I see them too." Celestia sighed sadly. "I hope I am wrong about this, I sincerely do. But there is only one type of entity I know of that is capable of doing something like this. An entity that disables and kills its opponents through pressing certain points on the body, particularly the throat-"

"Surely thou does not mean-?!"

"I'm afraid so." Celestia responded.

"But, they do not ever leave their realm! Their brotherhood has not set foot in Equestria for thousands of years!" Luna protested.

"Very true, my sister. Though if it did indeed send one of its minions here, one thing is for sure: It was not here for our sake. If it is indeed one of them, they were not here to help ponykind."

"Thou must alert the guards!" Luna yelled. "We must search the town for-"

"It will do no good, Luna." Celestia shook her head. "If it was one of them, and if its mission was indeed to stop these caribou for reasons we cannot fathom, then it has most certainly left this town by this point. For all we know, they could be halfway to Zebrica by now."

Luna nodded slowly, looking over the corpses again.

"Gods help anyone or anything that is unfortunate enough to run across them."

~~

A Pink Pony with a curly, poofy mane that was a darker shade of pink than her coat and seemed to defy the force of gravity itself, bounced up a path winding up a hill. In her hand she held a basket containing many letters. Her expression was one of pure joy and bliss as she bounded up the pathway leading up to a small cottage.

Upon arriving at her destination, she gave the door a few knocks. The door opened, revealing its occupant to be a yellow pegasus with a long mane that curled over to one side and matched the pink party pony's own coat.

"Hiii Fluttershy!" The Pink mare practically yelled, happily.

"Oh, Um... hello Pinkie." The pegasus replied shyly, looking off to the side as she tried to hide her face behind her hair.

Pinkie dug into the basket she was holding, and pulled out a sealed card. "You're Invited to-"

"I can't come. Um, if that's okay with you." She replied softly.

Pinkie's cheerful demeanor disappeared, quickly being replaced with one of exaggerated sadness.

"Why nooo-hoot?" She pouted. "Don't you like my parties? I mean, I know you're shy and all but-"

"Its-It's not that." Fluttershy said sadly. "It's just that... ummm..."

"Yeess?" Pinkie pie asked with a high pitched, whiny tone.

"It's just that I'm um... busy." Fluttershy explained, stuttering as she did so. "Well, um, I was in the woods yesterday, gathering some, umm, treats for my animals. And then I saw this poor creature being attacked by a hydra. I... I got there just in time, but the poor thing is out cold and, um, I dare not leave him unattended before he wakes up."

"Oooh, a new pet!" Pinkie squeaked, her cheerful expression returning faster than it had vanished. "How exciting!"

"Well, he's a bit big to be a pet. I think. Though, I really have no idea what he is. I've never seen anything like him before."

"Can I see?!" Fluttershy yelled.

"That's not a good idea. He's sleeping."

"Ohh! I know, we should totally throw him a party when he gets up! New people always get a party, that's the Pinkie Policy!" She yelled, bouncing up and down as she clapped her hands.

"Ummm... That would be nice. I think." Fluttershy said as Pinkie bounced away, already on her way to deliver her remaining invitations to the next ponies on her list. Fluttershy closed the door, and retreated back into the house.

She slowly opened the door to her bedroom, where her new guest now lie in a deep sleep. She'd given the strange, bipedal creature her own bed, to make him as comfortable as possible. She didn't mind not having her bed in the slightest, as she was more than accustomed to sleeping on the couch if need be. A white robe he had been wearing lay on a nearby dresser. She hadn't told Pinkie this, but this was how she'd figured out where it was a boy or a girl. Her cheeks turned red as she remembered that, and did her best to purge her mind of such unclean thoughts.

The blanket Fluttershy had tucked the creature under obscured most of its features, save for its face. It appeared to be a strange mix between a bunny and a diamond dog. In fact, it looked somewhat like a bigger version of her little Angel. It had the nose and muzzle of the former, while its ears were definitely closer to the dogs'.

Perhaps the most distinct feature though was the strange marking or tattoo on its head: it looked like a silhouette of the creature's own head and upper chest, flanked by two tilted halos on either side that intersected around the lower part of its head. On the bust's 'chest', was what appeared to be an open eye.

It was a strange creature, but Fluttershy at least found him irresistibly cute.

"Oooh, I just wish I knew what you were." Fluttershy cooed, rubbing its forehead gently with her hand. "You just get your rest, little guy. I-"

The creature began to stir under her hand, causing Fluttershy's hand to recoil in shock, and her eyes to go wide. The creature's movements stopped, save for its slow breathing, and Fluttershy gave a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, its eyes flew open, revealing a pair of glowing, icy blue eyes. Eyes that frantically began to scan the room, before locking on with those of the hovering yellow pegasus.

Author's Note

Well, it took me two plus damn years, but I finally released this chapter ending. Hope it was worth the wait (though, I'm guessing it's probably not.) You see, I actually had this written out a long time ago, but never released it, as I was waiting for Shattered Order to reach a certain point, and then I would release this final chapter right after words. However, as that does not seem like it ever will happen, I decided "fuck it" and released it now. I should have done so years ago, but oh well. Better late than never, right?

For those who can guess (and still give enough of a damn to do so): Yes, the "ghost" is in fact 'Monolith', the same little Mimiga that ended up in Freeville looking for Eadgil in that story, under orders from an eldritch deity of the same name. This was to be implied through a number of hints. IE: the fact that he can't really harm Eadgil, the method that he uses to kill his victims, etc. At one point in Tarvoc's story, this would have been made very clear when Monolith talked to Fluttershy about it, and revealed his silver tanto to her. The idea here was that we kind of end on a book end, where Monolith in this timeline meets Fluttershy, and it's left open-ended as to what exactly happens to them. In fact, this whole story is actually an alt-universe to Shattered Order, in which the Monolith (entity) sees all of the possibilities that could come of the Caribou's invasion, and decides that in this timeline, it'll send its servant to strangle this invasion in its cradle.

Sorry to everyone that expected Tirek or Grogar or Discord or Angel Bunny (well, we aren't too far off in that last regard) or something else, but hey... them's the breaks.