"I take it this is serious," Cadence said, sparing a glance at the door to make sure it was closed properly.
Sitting at the table, Twilight nodded. "I'm here for other reasons as well, but yes. Not that I think our communication lines are compromised, but I still felt more comfortable talking about this face to face."
"Is it about that carcass we found in the palace?" asked Shining, leaning a little closer.
"That too," Twilight said. "I've had some time to analyse the data properly, and I'm fairly sure that's a part of this too." She shifted a little in place, then looked at both her brother and Cadence. "I guess I should start at the beginning. You both know about scales already, right?"
Both the other ponies nodded. "We've read your reports," said Cadence.
"None seem to have been found here in the Empire yet," Shining added.
"But we have informed the citizens of what they look like, and that they should report any findings of one," Cadence continued.
"Right." Twilight nodded. "In my reports, I believe I talked about how all worlds scales lead to seem to be in some state of ruin, all at least past the point of housing any form of civilisation and most forms of life."
"Right." Shining nodded to. "Except for..." He looked around, even though there was no one else in the room but the three of them, and lowered his tone nonetheless. "Except for that one."
"The Nightmare Moon world," Cadence recalled. "Knowledge of it is still not more widespread, correct?"
"Correct." Twilight took a deep breath. "I'm sure you remember the incident we had at the laboratory in Ponyville."
Shining cocked an eyebrow. "Does this have to do with the thief?"
Twilight shook her head. "There was something else that happened then. Something I didn't include in the reports. In my defence, it wasn't relevant information at the time."
"What was it?" asked Cadence.
"One of the worlds Chrysalis entered was the Nightmare Moon one." Twilight chewed on nothing for a moment. "I believe we might have been spotted while there."
Shining frowned. "So the carcass..."
"It came from there, most likely, yes." Twilight shifted in her seat again. "It's not all. There was a recent discovery made near a city south of the Wall. Some kind of creature, we believe, appeared in the forest next to it and eventually disappeared. We only found the traces it left, but the readings from the crater it seems to have either arrived in or left from lead me to believe it also came from the same universe as what was found here."
Cadence drew back in realisation, much like her husband did. "So they have a way to send something here?" she asked, worried.
"Not a perfect one, the process they're using seems to be a risky and unstable one," Twilight replied. "And they still haven't been here directly as far as we know, so they're likely only taking shots in the dark. But they're working hard on fixing both issues, if I had to guess. Having seen what they've sent so far, I think you can imagine it's not peaceful contact they're looking for."
Shining leaned a little closer to Twilight again. "What should we do?"
"Prepare," Twilight replied. "I think things will only get worse from here. I will see what I can do on the other side, but I'm afraid it won't be enough by itself. We need to be ready for what will come next."