Straken, the ponies and the changelings were all waiting in the dining room for the distraction to happen. When questioned about how she was going to know Straken had informed the natives that ‘It’s ISA, when it happens we’ll know’ and that was the end of it.

The changelings had all stayed in a group in one corner, despite Straken’s recommendations the ponies and changelings still gave each other a wide berth. Well, at least they weren’t fighting so that was probably the best that she was going to get. The only ponies willing to stay close the her were Maple, Blaze, Blueblood and the bat-pony who had introduced herself as ‘Night Shard’. The Colonel had passed the time by studying the creatures, in particular the marks on the flanks of each one.

Night Shard possessed a full moon with a chunk missing, Blaze had a simple image of orange and yellow flames, Blueblood had a compass and Maple had a half-assembled violin. Straken found the marks useful memory-wise as she linked them to the owner’s names to help remember the multitude of names that ponies threw at her.

As for the ponies they were mixed in their reactions to her. Some thanked her constantly, some bowed their heads in fear while the more damaged ones moved like zombies. The changelings avoided her and the stallions apart from Blueblood followed her orders and not much else. The ponies had tried to fashion crude clothing from any clean robes that they could find which was a difficult task in the blood-covered room.

Most gave up and went about naked, the changelings never making an attempt to clothe themselves in the first place. Blaze had quietly mentioned that the creatures rarely dressed apart from when they impersonated ponies. Straken didn’t care either way, as long as they listened to her she wouldn’t care if they all chose to wear clown makeup.

The mental condition of the ponies had started to improve a little as they waited, conversations helping many to adjust quickly. A few mares sobbed as whatever clouded their minds lifted, all of the ponies having removed their collars which seemed to help their memories return quickly. All of the equines offered support to their upset fellows as all of them had gone through similar experiences. The most pressing concern on Straken’s mind however was the behaviour of the Prince.

Blueblood had refused to move away from her, Tabitha having to stop him from attempting to hold her hand a few times. The stallion was terrified, Straken guessing that he would have lived a fairly privileged life before the Caribou and that the thought of becoming a prisoner again must horrify the Prince. Straken decided that she would try to ease his tension as having him a nervous wreck would be a burden to all of them. In addition to this he was likely the highest member of the government still resisting which would no doubt prove useful in the coming days.

“Blueblood,” Straken addressed not bothering to use his title, “calm down, act like a leader of your people.” The stallion fidgeted with his hands and his legs crossed as he sat down on the table. He looked at Straken while she was speaking, bowing his head as he stared down at the ground when she had finished.

“I- I can’t,” he muttered. “I’m not a guard or an officer like you; I’m just a Prince who mooched off his aunt. That has hardly helped me now though; a Prince shouldn’t have to spend days in prison watching… that.” Blueblood shuddered, Shard moving to pat him on the back. The bat pony had tried to remove the rings in her wing membrane, however it seemed that they would rip and tear the wings if she did. Straken had told her to wait until they found a proper medical doctor.

“You had the will to resist whatever magic they used to claim so many of your fellows didn’t you?” Straken enquired, Blueblood sighing as Shard sat down beside him.

“I think it was less about my will and more about me being too arrogant to sink to those beasts’ levels to be honest,” Blueblood answered, his experiences having humbled him. “I always was rude to everypony in my pride and the thought of lowering myself to such a debauched level disgusts me even now. I just can’t look at anypony the same way I used to. I don’t know what to think of myself anymore.”

“Take pride in the fact that you didn’t fall,” Straken replied. “That alone has surely redeemed you in the eyes of many here already.” Blueblood glanced around at this, finding that Blaze, Maple and Shard were all nodding in agreement.

“You were a total prick Blueblood,” Shard stated bluntly, “but you had more conviction in your morals then almost everypony else, even if it was for selfish reasons. The guards, both Solar and Lunar would always talk about you behind your back but look at what most of them are now. Nothing but thralls to these Caribou monsters while you’re trying to help us and the Colonel fight back. That’s all that I ask of you.”

Blueblood blushed at the praise while Straken gave Shard an appreciative nod. The Prince had stopped shaking and was far more confident in himself now after reassurances from multiple people. Blaze had been watching Straken with interest while she had spoken, the guard examining the human’s clothing and weapons.

“So you’re a Colonel in your home military,” Blaze started. “I didn’t expect an officer to be able to fight like do.” Straken huffed mentally; she had been dreading the ponies trying to ask about her.

“Every UIP citizen is required to begin learning about the military at age twelve, start training at sixteen and serve four years in either the standard Army Infantry or Naval Marines. After that you can chose to leave the military to pursue a civilian job or continue on with the option of branching out into the multiple departments of the military. Almost every family, human or not, has a history with military service so many children grow up already ingrained in military culture. My own father is a Captain for the navy while my Mother serves as an electronics engineer.”

“Every citizen spends four years in the military?” Blaze asked with awe, imagining an empire where every citizen over the age of twenty-two was a trained soldier and had experienced war. She had gathered that the UIP was a warlike empire, with the way Straken spoke and the conscription it sounded like military pride was a large focus of the culture.

“Not exactly everyone,” Straken replied. “People identified as extremely intelligent are drafted into Research and Development while skipping Military service. There really isn’t any point to getting all of your Brainboxes killed on some dirt-ball planet. There are other circumstances that often mean people get a pass but they tend to be pretty rare. Most civilians end up as part of local Planetary Defence Militia anyway so almost everyone is trained in some way.”

“What about you?” Shard inquired as she leaned back against the main doors and stretched her arms, Blueblood turning his head away as Straken looked at Shard. “I mean you personally, I don’t know about humans but you seem young for a Colonel.”

“I’m older than I look,” Straken answered. “Besides, I’ve been in the army my whole life from training. After I finished my four years I continued on in the infantry. I got a few promotions and was then selected for the ODSF, the Orbital-Deployment Special Forces. I spent another five years with them before I was promoted again and Command decided to put me through officer school.

Three years of that and I was a Lieutenant working for Command and Control, with a few more years of that I was eventually promoted to Colonel. Now I’m on a foreign planet leading ponies and changelings against S&M reindeer, Father would be so proud.” Straken muttered the last part with a roll of her eyes. The ponies listening didn’t know how to reply, Blaze a little surprised at just who much experience the human had.

“What about the ISA, that agent Orthodox?” Blaze continued as she was keen to find out as much as she could about the aliens helping them. She still knew little about why they were helping them so finding out why Straken seemed to not like the ‘ISA’ might shed some light on the matter. Blaze noticed that the human scowled slightly at the reminder.

“The ISA is the Internal Security Agency,” Straken started to reply. “They deal with black ops operations such as spying, assassinations of foreign leaders and destabilizing governments. All of the ones I’ve met were some of the most infuriating people I’ve had to deal with. They have access to rare genetic and technological augmentations, some of the best equipment and all of them are trained in multiple techniques of combat.” Straken rubbed her temples with her hands as a lone changeling female nervously approached the group unnoticed.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Tabitha continued, “they’re all deadly warriors, especially their elite Spector agents but they all are infuriating. They are the sort of soldiers that sit in the background until the last second when they pull some heroically suicidal stunt to grab all of the glory. They love to use psychological warfare, most of them are so psychopathic that they make me look like a pacifist and they are incredibly flamboyant.

Rather than just kill an enemy commander with a silenced shot they would do something like kill his close friends and subordinates one-by-one, only to steal the bodies out of the military morgues, plant explosives inside of them before hiding them in the Commander’s tent. As soon as he walks in and sees all of his dead friends they detonate the charges while filming the entire thing to show their buddies later on.” Blaze furrowed her brows while Shard paled, wondering what the ISA agent they had was like. Straken noticed the looks and let out a humourless chuckle.

“I know it sounds crazy but that whole ‘steal dead bodies to put charges in them’ actually happened. They even made a video montage of the enemy commander’s face before the explosion set to a pop song which they sent to the enemy army the next day. They are not right in the head.”

“That’s horrible,” Maple commented before noticing the small changeling standing near them. The three mares, Blueblood and Straken turned towards the creature as the changeling bowed her head towards Straken.

“Sorry for interrupting,” the changeling apologised as she fidgeted with her hands, “but we haven’t had any food for days and we were wondering if we could go into the kitchen to find some if the Caribou aren’t in there.” Straken shook her head, the creature deflating as she nodded in defeat and began to retreat back to her fellows.

“Wait,” Straken commanded, the changeling stopping and turning around. Her voice sounded young, Straken no expert on changeling ages but she assumed that the creature was equivalent to a human teenager. “What is your name?” The changeling glanced back towards the other changelings who were watching from the other side of the room. She hesitantly walked back to Straken, trembling a little as she stood in front of the human.

“I’m called Mirage,” she answered as Straken leaned forwards from her spot in the table.

“Well then Mirage, I do not wish for us to risk our plan so that is why we cannot attempt to enter the kitchens yet. The Caribou may be in there but unaware of the servant’s entrance, if we go before the distraction we can risk everything. As soon as we are set to leave however then we will spend a few moments to gather all the supplies we can, if we find any food you and your companions are welcome to share in it.” Mirage smiled slightly and left without argument as Blaze looked back to the main doors with the outside corridor still quiet.

“How long are we waiting for this distraction anyway?” she asked. “It must be night already.” Straken waved a hand in dismissal, taking a moment to check her holstered plasma pistol.

“The agent is ISA, no doubt he’s planning to start a fire or blow something up-“

The floor shook as a massive boom was heard from outside the castle in the city while the yells of Caribou able to be heard through the corridor. Straken left the table and drew her gun while moving towards the door leading to the kitchen.

“That’s the distraction, let’s go,” she ordered. “When we get to the kitchen grab all the food and water you can carry before Lieutenant Blaze will show us where to go. We have to move quickly if you want to get out of here.”

Ponies and changelings stopped resting on the floor to scramble up and follow the Colonel through the servant corridor into the kitchen as a secondary explosion joined the first.

Orthodox and the sixteen mares were pressed against an alcove in the city wall, the ponies huddling down as a massive fireball rose into the sky from the nightclub. A mass of Caribou troops ran around the corner heading towards the explosion as flames lit up the night sky. Everyone stayed quiet as they rushed past which brought a grin to Orthodox’s face. Now the morons had left the main gates guarded and all they had to do was just walk out and meet up with Straken. All the Caribou disappeared into the city, Orthodox stepping out towards the gates.

He quickly ducked back, having seen around twenty troops still guarding the gates on the ground. All of the slavers had batons and armour with no lethal weapons from the looks of things. Orthodox assumed that since they had subjugated the ponies already they were more focused on capturing as many as possible rather than killing them. Still, while his armour would no doubt protect him he couldn’t say the same for the creatures that were following him.

“Fuck me,” Orthodox muttered under his breath. He would have to do something soon before more guards came back. He checked his weapons, a machine pistol in each hand as he resorted to plan B.

Kill everything.

As he was about to move back out to mow the guards down a weight placed itself against his side. Orthodox turned his head towards his left and his vision was filled with two white, furry breasts pressing against his visor. His height was once again proving to be a problem. He pulled his head back, spotting the white unicorn grinding against his armoured leg with a wide grin on her face.

“Miss,” Orthodox hissed in an attempt to keep his voice low, “what the Hell do you think you’re doing!?” The unicorn let out a happy moan as the other ponies made no move to stop her while they continued to stare at the scene with confusion or sadness. Orthodox’s eyes were afforded a reprieve when the unicorn arched her back. He saw the red collar around her neck and his memory recalled that it apparently made the wearer obey. That coupled with his words before and the unicorn must have interpreted that he requested her to literally fuck him. The pony grinding him hit a ridge and let out a loud moan that made Orthodox wince at the volume.

“Hey, what was that?” a male voice from the gates asked, Orthodox sighing as he knew what would happen next.

“Is someone screwing around there while they’re on duty?” another male voice called out. The only reply they got was another moan from the unicorn. “Apparently so, go and make sure it’s not someone who’s supposed to be putting out the fire Keith.”

Keith? Orthodox questioned. ‘There’s a Caribou called Keith?’

Regardless of how unthreatening the name was Keith the slave-driving Caribou was still a threat so unfortunately he would die a little sooner. There was still one problem to take care of however as the sound of armoured hoofsteps drew closer.

“Unicorn, stop what you are doing right now!” Orthodox hissed again, thankfully the mare stopped but still pressed herself against him. Reaching up with a hand he moved her head to his shoulder, clearing his vision just in time as Keith walked around the corner.

The Caribou was wearing an iron breastplate with black straps covering it everywhere, silver metal rings hanging from each one. In his hands he held a baton and a whip was attached to his waist on a belt. He wore nothing on his lower body, Orthodox wondering why you’d bother wearing a breastplate if someone could just stab you in the naked groin. He’d much rather be stabbed in the chest than in the junk.

The Caribou’s eyes widened in surprise as he saw all the mares huddled against the wall while a creature was being hugged by a unicorn whose mouth was open and tongue hanging out in ecstasy. He opened his mouth to order someone to explain just what was going on as he raised his baton in preparation to strike a pony to keep order. He never got the chance as an armoured tail lashed out, wrapped around his throat and cut off his air.

Orthodox pulled Keith to the ground, the caribou struggling for air as he thumped down in the dirt. Orthodox pushed the unicorn away roughly and while he didn’t want to hurt the mare he needed to deal with the slaver immediately. She landed on the ground while still maintaining that same grin even as her rump crashed down heavily. Orthodox left her for the time being to focus on Keith with the caribou unable to scream as his face began to turn blue from lack of oxygen. The slaver clawed helplessly against the segmented armour covering the tail that was wrapped around his neck.

Orthodox was just about to squeeze tighter and crush Keith’s throat when he stopped and looked down at the unicorn gazing up at him with adoration. More specifically he stared at the red, mind-altering collar around her neck. Maybe they would work on males as well as females…

“You there,” Orthodox whispered to one of the more resistant bat-ponies who looked at him warily in response. “Take the unicorn’s collar off, we’re going with Plan C.”

He was unsure what would happen if the collar was removed but for his plan to work he needed it. As the assigned mare fumbled with the clasp Orthodox loosened his tail’s grip on Keith so that the caribou was given enough air to breathe but not to yell. The collar came off, the unicorn immediately collapsed on the ground causing the bat-pony holding the collar to stare at the fallen mare horrified.

“We’ll help her soon,” Orthodox reassured. “Hurry and put that collar on Keith here!”

The mare glanced at him while opening her mouth to ask just how she was going to if a tail was covering the caribou’s throat but Orthodox demonstrated exceptional control over his tail as the tip was forced into Keith’s mouth. The armour covering the tail was made up of many different pieces, allowing the prehensile limb to twist and turn with great agility. Keith’s eyes widened as more of the tail was forced down his throat, blocking it off as Orthodox practically deep-throated the caribou guard and unwrapped it from around his neck.

The spikes on the top of the tail were flattened down allowing Orthodox to stuff Keith’s throat while the bat pony tried to attach the collar. Keith’s arms and legs kicked to try to stop her. Orthodox looked at the rest of the mares who flinched back at the attention.

“Hold him down,” he ordered over Keith’s muffled grunts and the slick sound of his tail in the caribou’s mouth. Four of the mares being the only other ones wearing black collars that had fought back in the club pounced in the slaver’s limbs. With them stopping the resistance the mare with the collar was able to do up the clasp. As soon as the clasp snapped shut all fighting from Keith ceased, the thrashing stopping as his eyes unfocused.

The mares holding him down backed away after Orthodox gestured for them to with a wave of a gun, the caribou still not fighting back. Slowly the tail was withdrawn, the black armour coated with Keith’s saliva. It came out with a sloppy plop, Orthodox smiling underneath his helmet as the caribou didn’t utter a word.

“Did you enjoy it as much as I did?” he joked, chucking as the caribou nodded with a blank gaze on his face. “Oh, that is just priceless. I think you’re ready for the next stage.” The five aware mares glanced to each other with puzzlement as Orthodox bent down and fumbled with something on his armour near his waist.

He did not do what they expected however as he attached a dark grey block to a ring on Keith’s vest and stood back up. Upon closer inspection the block had white writing on it but the mares were unable to read what was written.

“Well then Keith, can you stand up for me?”

The male obeyed immediately, standing up with a happy smile on his face as he blankly awaited an order. Orthodox chuckled; this was going to be priceless. Taking out a black marker he kept for situations like these from his armour he scribbled a brief message for the other caribou guards on the iron breastplate above the grey block. Standing back he pointed with a gun towards the corner and nodded to Keith.

“Say Keith, those nice caribou around the corner guarding the gate must be pretty lonely. Why don’t you go and give them all a hug?”
The mind-controlled slaver grinned happily and quickly walked off to his comrades, Orthodox peeking around the corner to watch. All of the guards looked over as Keith approached them as the one that Orthodox assumed was the officer in charge tilted his head. Keith closed the distance and hugged the surprised leader tightly as the other guards formed a circle around the two.

“Keith! What do you think you’re doing you moron!” the officer bellowed, the other Caribou moving to pull Keith off him. Orthodox lost sight of Keith in the huddle but he could still hear what the guards were saying. He had to time this perfectly.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“I think… yes, that’s a red collar on him!”

“I thought that only worked on females, who put it on him?"

Orthodox waited as many male voices discussed their fellow, sooner or later one of the caribou would notice his message. These creatures spoke English so hopefully they could read it.

“What’s that written on him?” the officer inquired, Orthodox shifting from foot-to-foot like a child about to receive a birthday present.

“It says: ‘Boom goes the Dynamite’.”

As soon as Orthodox heard that he activated the anti-personnel mine he had strapped to Keith, all of the guards disappearing as the small explosion claimed all of them in a ball of fire. A wave of shrapnel followed to shred anything not caught in the initial blast, Orthodox turning to the mares as soon as the flash of the explosion died. The unicorn was lying on the ground sobbing with her glasses still covering her eyes.

“Two of you help the unicorn, we have to move quickly!”

He yelled the command, all stealth having gone out the window. He only waited for two of the defiant mares to pick the crying unicorn off the ground before he dashed out from the wall and headed towards the gate.

No one stopped him as he did so as all the guards had been killed in the explosion. He glanced back, the mares were all following behind and the gate was only a few metres away. He rushed to it and found that it was already cracked open. Orthodox poked his head out and confirmed that no Caribou were waiting outside the city. Pulling his head away he ushered the ponies through and followed them out as hoofsteps sounded from the direction of the city.

Orthodox drove them forward as they all ran away from the gates with him guiding them towards a ditch beside the road.

“In the ditch!” he called back, all of the mares lying down as Orthodox leapt in last. He poked his head up as the ponies next to him breathed heavily with the exhaustion of the dash, the gate a mere one-hundred metres away.

A caribou stuck his head out of the gap in the two metal doors and looked out towards the road where any escaped slaves would likely flee. Seeing no fleeing figures the head was withdrawn into the city before the gates closed with a thud. Orthodox erupted with the laughter that he had been holding in since the Keith-bomb had gone off. What an entertaining end to the evil reign of Caribou Keith, Destroyer of Worlds. Orthodox still couldn’t get over the incredibly unsuited name.

The faint sobbing of the unicorn reminded him of what he still had to do. The mares still held their bags except for the unicorn however Orthodox guess that he could forgive her considering the circumstances. As he stared at her while the mares around her offered comforting words he did see that instead of removing her horn the caribou had just placed a black ring around it instead. It must serve as a kind if inhibitor but it would most likely be easy to remove so at least she still had her horn unlike most of the other unicorns he had seen.

Glancing up at the moon shrouded by clouds Orthodox decided to allow the ponies a few moments rest before they set off to find this bridge that the pony Lieutenant had mentioned. He had a general description of the area so it should be easy to find.

He grinned to himself as he listened to the sound of the ponies breathing heavily and talking quietly amongst themselves. More of them had started to wake up from whatever daze they had been in and were losing those blank looks.

He leaned back in the dirt with a content sigh. He may be lying in a roadside ditch but Straken and her group would certainly be despising their method of escape a whole lot more.

Straken’s face was once again locked in a scowl as her boots trudged through the muck in the sewers. Granted, she had it better than the ponies that had to go in with bare hooves but still it was disgusting.

A big surprise to the ponies had been Blueblood insisting that he take the lead with the stallion not even flinching as he walked in the filth that coated the tunnel. Grasping a spear in his hands and his still-intact horn lighting up with a blue glow to provide light the Prince had drastically changed from a whimpering wreck to a revenge-driven leader.

Straken let him take the lead while she stayed in the back in case they were followed. The ponies all listened to him anyway so all Blaze and her had to do was to give the Prince orders and he would lead the ponies on without question. The only exceptions to this were the guards, Shard, Maple and the changelings. The pony soldiers all preferred to listen to Straken directly as they acknowledged her experience while Shard and Maple were just thankful for how she saved them. The changelings stayed near her to avoid the guards up the front while they carried bags loaded with food and water plundered from the castle.

As they walked in a line silently towards the exit they could hear the sounds of running hooves, bellowed commands and the crackling of fires far above them through the vents. Whatever Orthodox had done it certainly was proving to be quite the adequate distraction.

It took what seemed to be hours for them before the message was passed down the line that the exit had been sighted, Straken and her small group of ponies passing through the crowd to reach the front. Blueblood and the guards were standing in front of the pipe opening on a stony ridge. The eleven guards had all moved onto the outcropping and were keeping watch as ponies climbed down from the pipe. Straken and her group breathed in the fresh night air thankfully even if they did all smell like excrement still.

Straken was just about to ask the guards if any sign of the ISA agent had been seen before a blue light flashed three times in an alternating pattern out in the distance. Recognising it a UIP code she raised a hand and waved back not needing to shine a light as the agent was wearing full armour and therefore would have an entire suite of sensors and vision modes.

She was proved correct, a mass of figures moving over towards them. Agent Orthodox, fifteen bat-pony mares and a unicorn walked over towards them with most of the newcomers loaded with bags. Straken walked forwards to meet them with Blueblood, Blaze, Shard and Maple following her. The two UIP personnel exchanged nods while ponies from Straken’s group moved to help the new bat-ponies remove their collars as the ponies from the castle had already discarded theirs.

“I see you all made it out,” Orthodox observed as he holstered his guns. “I guess my distraction was good enough after all.”

“About that,” Straken pointed a finger to the city behind them as the light of fires raging glowed and smoke rose into the air. “What exactly did you do?” Tabitha couldn’t see but she was certain that the ISA agent had a huge grin under the helmet when she asked him this. Orthodox acted nonchalant by pretending to check his armoured fingers for dirt.

“Nothing too big really, I walked around the city and checked out the sights until night. Then I went to a nightclub, knee-capped the owner, stole their booze and money, rescued these mares like a boss, executed the rest of the slavers and then blew up the joint which seems to set the city on fire.” Orthodox gave a dismissive shrug as all the ponies not present at the nightclub all listened to him with amazement. “Whoops.”

Straken shook her head as she could have known that it would have turned out like that. Blaze however furrowed her brows as she examined the agent.

“You or at least your armour can turn invisible though,” the Lieutenant stated. “Why didn’t you just stay invisible, defeat the Caribou, free the mares and then blow the place up instead of making it so difficult?” She received another shrug in reply.

“Because that wouldn’t have been as much fun,” Orthodox responded. “You have much to learn in the art of showmanship. What’s the point of killing slavers and saving mares in distress if you don’t do it with class?” Straken shot a ‘I told you so’ look towards Blaze as the pony realised that the human’s description of the ISA’s agents’ arrogance wasn’t just a personal opinion. Straken faced Orthodox and rolled her eyes at his explanation.

“What do you mean ‘with class’?” she inquired. “You robbed a nightclub.”

“Hey,” Orthodox defended as he beckoned over two bat-ponies and reached into the bags they were carrying. With one claw he removed a bottle of champagne and the other emerged clutching a mass of gold coins. “Nothing says class like champagne and gold.”

He dropped the coins back in but kept the bottle of champagne as his helmet’s faceplate lowered. Straken sighed as Orthodox popped the cork and quickly took a swig from the bottle before any champagne escaped. Emptying half the bottle he belched and his tail seemed to wag happily.

“Ah, that’s the good stuff. Anyway, do you want to hear about how I got myself and sixteen mares out of the guarded gates?”

“Not really,” Straken answered coldly already knowing that it would just be another ego-stroke. “You’ll just tell me anyway so it’s not like my opinion matters.” Orthodox took another swig before grinning at her. He turned and looked at all the ponies watching him, extending a hand out to emphasise his points.

“It was in the dead of night and I’d just blown up a nightclub,” he recounted as he swept his hand in front of him like a grandfather recounting war-stories. “It was just me and sixteen prisoners rescued from a den of vice. We all had to get out of the city but it was surrounded by hordes of Caribou. Having managed to slip by the patrols we had made it to the gates before I detonated the bomb which distracted most of the guards. Some of the buggers still remained however so we were in a right pickle.

After an… incident a lone guard was approaching where we were hiding. His name was Keith, can you believe that? Anyway, so I grabbed Keith with my tail and was about to strangle him when I noticed that a mare was wearing a red collar. As some of the mares and I held down Keith we put the collar on him and it worked. Seeing this I...” Orthodox trailed off as he burst out into laughter. As the ponies warily watched him and Straken kept on shaking her head in disbelief the agent started to calm down.

“Right, sorry about that but the next bit is priceless. What I did was strap an anti-personnel mine to Keith, that’s an explosive meant for killing people,” Orthodox explained for the ponies, “and ordered him to go and give his friends still guarding the gate hugs. The stupid Prick is dead to the world and he ambles off towards them. He hugs his officer and the Caribou all gather around to see what is happening.

I wait until they read a special message just for them and then I command the mine to blow up. Caribou parts everywhere! Then it was a small matter of leaving through the front door and hiding in a ditch. They obviously thought that their guards suffered an attack and then the culprit fled back into the city. We found the pipe, waited until you showed up and the rest is known by all.”

No-one spoke, human, changeling and pony alike not finding any words. Orthodox bowed and finished the bottle he held, Straken wondering if she had drawn the short straw and received the most irresponsible ISA agent as an ally. She doubted many others would take pride in setting fire to a city with colourful equines and other aliens that looked like animals from Terra.

“Well at least we all escape without detection it seems,” Blaze finally spoke as she worriedly watched Straken rub her temples again. “We should probably get a move on if we want to make it to Ponyville by midnight.” Orthodox threw the empty bottle out into the distance with a wide swing which his armour enhanced. The bottle flew out of sight before the faint sound of shattering glass could be heard. The agent reached to his back and un-holstered his pitch-black ballistic shotgun which he cocked enthusiastically.

“You’re right,” he agreed as he walked off towards the small wooden bridge to the right of them. “These filthy caribou won’t kill themselves after all and Old Bessie is itching to blast some fools.” As the agent caressed his low-tech shotgun, evidently ‘Old Bessie’, Straken shrugged her shoulders and gestured for all the ponies and changelings to follow.

“He’s crazy,” she called back which Orthodox ignored as he was too busy cooing sweet mutterings to his weapon, “but he does have a point. Onwards we got to this ‘Ponyville’; I hope you’re all ready to avenge yourselves and your people.” Straken received a chorus of agreements as ponies and changelings hefted batons and other weapons with their fear of fighting waning as the memories of what they had endured burned in their minds.

Orthodox was leading the group from the very front in accordance to the directions he had received from Blaze. The pony Lieutenant and Straken had figured out where to go so after they had told him they had focused on preparing the eighty-three ponies in the group for the attack on the town. Well, Blaze was as Straken wasn’t the friendliest of people which caused most of the equines to shy away from her. Orthodox doubted that most of the ponies would be of much help leaving him to rely on Straken and the guards.

He was further ahead than the main group with his twelve-gauge shotgun in his hands. It was an ancient weapon but he still enjoyed it as the feeling of cocking the gun to produce that ominous sound appealed to him. With an extended magazine to fit twelve rounds and some special shells that he had been given as a gift from a friend in Research and Development it was still a viable weapon for the current engagement.

His task was to rove ahead of the main force to watch for patrols and eliminate them before they could alert any others. It seemed however that the Caribou were content to stay in the cities and towns as no-one else had been seen walking in the countryside. The group was avoiding the roads but it was little issue as most of the landscape was pure green fields of grass. Orthodox was relaxed as he was confident that with his suit’s sensors and the wide open space he would be able to spot any Caribou before they spotted him.

Someone approached him from behind and Orthodox turned to find the white unicorn from the nightclub walking up to him from the main group. He slowed slightly to allow the mare to catch up. She walked next to him on his right side and once again Orthodox was reminded that these ponies were still taller than him as his head only made it up to her chest. The mare looked at him with her eyes still hidden behind her glasses and tear trails on her face as she appeared to try to think of something to say.

“Hi,” was all she got out at first. Orthodox waited a few moments before replying in case she had anything else to add.

“Sup,” he responded. The unicorn had been a DJ so he assumed that some of the ‘cool’ lingo would put her at ease. That is if this planet even had the same sort of lingo. It seemed that the word was the same in meaning as the mare seemed to relax slightly as she found it easier to say what she had been dreading.

“Name’s Vinyl Scratch,” she introduced with a little more energy.

“Orthodox and that’s it, no last name.”

“I just wanted to talk to you for a second,” Vinyl asked as she rubbed the back of her head. Orthodox nodded for her to go ahead. “I wanted to thank you for getting that collar off me and also I want to apologize for almost getting us caught back in the city. I was… not myself.”

“It’s cool,” Orthodox answered as he shrugged. “You were mind-controlled so I can’t hold it against you. Do you remember everything then?” Vinyl shuddered and winced as he said this.

“Yeah, it’s not too nice to think about though.” Orthodox nodded at this, the two walking in silence for a few minutes before Vinyl spoke up again. “So after we get to Ponyville and bet the Caribou then what are we going to do?”

“Make a defence and wait to the cavalry arrive,” Orthodox answered as he glanced at Vinyl. “No offense.” The unicorn scrunched her face up in confusion.

“Why would that be offensive?”

“Because,” Orthodox tried to find a way to explain about why humans riding horses into battle may be seen as offensive to the equine-like ponies but he gave up. “Never mind, ‘calvary’ in this context just an expression for re-enforcements. In a week your planet will be teeming with soldiers and it’s goodnight Caribou. Even if we fail and somehow all die then they’re still doomed as once the UIP has your scent you screwed.” Vinyl absorbed all of this and took her time before asking her next question.

“What happens after that? Last thing I heard was that the Caribou King, King Dainn, had taken the Princess and removed their horns. How the sun and moon still work I don’t know but without them how are we going to reform the country?”

“You’ve got Blueblood,” Orthodox reminded her deciding to not question the sun and moon thing. “He seems to be adapting pretty well, dude seems ready to crack some Caribou skulls and he is a Prince.” Vinyl sighed.

“I know that but Blueblood by himself? Plus you guys don’t seem like you’ll just free us and leave.” Orthodox chuckled as he recalled the night’s events.

“I’ve already got booze and gold so I’m happy,” his response bringing a slight smile to Vinyl’s face. “Seriously though, the UIP will most likely kill the Caribou, put most of your Stallions on trial to determine if anyone needs execution, help you form a new government, build a few bases and then pretty much just let you rule yourselves for the most part. We might just assimilate you depending if the higher-ups think that your race will be useful but even then you’ll still remain pretty independent.”

“I guess anything will be better than the Caribou,” Vinyl accepted with another shudder.

“Yeah, those guys are scum,” Orthodox added. “I mean we’re pretty bad ourselves but we treat our citizens and allies right. You’ll do fine and you’ll probably even be able to find some decent work in the entertainment industry with that DJ stuff. You mix your own stuff?” Vinyl perked up at this, her smile now beaming at him.

“Yeah I do! Everything I play I’ve done myself!” Orthodox grinned under his helmet as he realised that he had just found a way to distract Scratch from her memories of the club.

“Sweet, those were some good tunes. Never been much of a fan of electronic stuff but your stuff was good.”

“I know right?” Vinyl boasted cheerfully. “Listen, you seem like a cool guy. After all this is over we should hang out and mix some tracks.” Orthodox considered the offer. Why the hell not? He needed other things to do then smoke, drink and cruise bars in his time off. On the plus side he knew one friend who utterly despised anything to do with electronic music so it would give him another way to piss him off. Chalmers was funny when he was mad.

“Okay then, no complaints from me on that.” He answered to the glee of Vinyl. The pony bobbed her head and muttered as they continued to walk onwards. No doubt she was already thinking of what tracks she would mix. Orthodox was satisfied with that as long as it kept her distracted from what happened to her then he was happy to help. It wouldn’t go away just like that but it was a start and any UIP shrinks sent to help the population after will likely have a lot of work on their plates.

Vinyl continued to walk next to him as he scanned his surrounds for any foes. They had been waking for hours and Ponyville should be getting close. Then it was a simple matter of butchering every Caribou in the town and then waiting. Boring but that just meant that he would have to have a lot of fun while he could and he was sure that the Caribou could prove to be adequate entertainment.

“So that’s Ponyville then.”

Straken was lying on a grassy hill overlooking the town below them with Blaze, Orthodox and Blueblood at her side. The four watched on as small groups of Caribou patrolled the town while the building identified as the Town Hall was lit up with lights. The Hall was a hive a of activity as Caribou moved around and inside it. Also around the building were assorted mares crawling around on all fours. Caribou armed with whips ensured obedience as more where filled into the building for nefarious purposes.

“It is,” Blaze answered as she glared down at the scene. “A lot less cheerful then when I last visited however.” The doors to a bar to the left of the hall opened and a group of drunken Caribou stumbled out onto the street. Straken observed the guards and realised that the Caribou were lacking in numbers. There could be more in the houses and shops in the town of course but right now there was around fifty-seven of them ambling about by her count. Half of them were drunk and Straken spotted even a few of the patrol members shamble around uncaringly.

There were only five roads out of the town and if they were surrounded then no Caribou could escape without fighting through the allied forces. Doing a count of her available soldiers she had thirteen guards, an ISA agent and fifty-nine civilians. The ponies and changelings were all armed with weapons including a large amount of spears and swords compared to the Caribous’ whips, nets and shock batons. Straken worked out a plan that was simple but should work due to the advantage of surprise and the lax attitude of the enemy. The Caribou were not expecting an attack to happen anytime soon and that would be their downfall.

“Lieutenant Blaze,” Straken addressed. “Chose five of your guards and assign them to five civilians each. Each group is to circle around and cut off any escape. I must stress that if a single Caribou leaves alive then we can expect an attack from their main forces which is not something I look forward to. I don’t care if you kill or capture them as long as none escape.Blueblood will take a force of fifteen including the rest of the guards and attack the apple farm,” Straken pointed to the farmhouse and barns surrounded by apple orchards.

The lights were out with the owners likely out in the town or in their beds. “Don’t bother sneaking in as the rest of the force will head straight for the Hall. Agent Orthodox and I will lead that attack alongside Blaze and the rest of the civilians. We’ll take the changelings as well. Orthodox will head in a bit before to thin out the patrols while attempting,” Straken stressed the word as she gave the ISA agent a glare, “to not burn down the town or alert the entire guard this time.”

“No promises,” Orthodox replied as he hefted his shotgun to his shoulder. Straken sighed as he cloaked and disappeared into the night towards the town.

“We better hurry before he detonates a nuke or something equally attention-grabbing,” Tabitha continued with a huff. “Once again no Caribou is to leave alive and any stallions apart from our own five are to be trusted. Inform everyone to capture and contain any just to make sure but that is second to neutralising Caribou. Now is everyone ready?”

“I am,” Blueblood replied while rising up off the ground with spear in hand and stony look on his face. “I’ll happily attack when you command it.”

‘Well, he’s certainly grown a pair,’ Straken thought as she nodded at the Prince while the rest of them stood up.

“Good, any other questions or observations before the assault?” Tabitha asked. She received nods and affirmatives from the two. “Okay, wish everyone good luck for me and remember what you are fighting for.” The two ponies left together to gather their teams in preparation for their attacks while Straken was left by herself on the hill to glare hatefully at the village below.

Her hands touched the butt of her gun and the handle of her sword which changed the glare to an icy smile. She was going to slaughter every last slaver in the village tonight and she was going to enjoy doing it immensely.

Herbert stumbled down the street with his whip in hand while he patrolled for any rowdy slaves. He had stopped earlier at the bar for a few drinks and was now feeling rather pleased with himself. After tonight he would have enough cash to buy himself a female of his own instead of having to rely on the ones assigned to punishment duties. He didn’t even have to work that hard as these ponies barely resisted once the King had convinced the Stallions to join the cause. He doubted his fellows in the former Griffon Empire were having it as easy with the predatory birds more fiery and prone to rebellion.

The King himself was away sieging the Crystal Empire claiming that with the Crystal heart under their control nothing could stop them. Herbert snorted as he remembered the alicaibou’s speech prior to his departure. He doubted that anyone could stop them as it was especially since the King had managed to make Discord the Chaos Spirit his thrall.

“Oh, is someone there?” Herbert halted and gazed towards the alleyway as a female voice called out from it. “It’s such a cold night and my master is all away leaving me by myself. Is there any male who would grant me the small mercy of ploughing me until I can no longer think straight? I promise to scream and beg for you to stop.”

Herbert couldn’t believe his luck as he grinned. From the sounds of it the slave was one of the red collars which were reserved for rich and important males. The caribou guard in his drunken state didn’t question why such a slave would be in a dark alleyway as he was too focused on obtaining a night with a female that would obey his every desire.

His whip dangled limply as he walked into the alley trying to spot the female.

“Slave,” he called out. “Where are you?” A giggle was given in reply causing Herbert to move deeper into the alley towards the voice.

“Over here you stud,” the voice responded from behind a corner surrounded by overflowing trashcans. “I’ve been a naughty mare and I need to be punished.” Herbert could hardly contain himself as he rushed around the corner in preparation to rut the slave senseless.
Instead of a mare however he was met with a pile of caribou corpses and a lone, short figure armoured in black.

“Oh yes,” the figure voiced in a now very-masculine tone as it shot out a hand to grab Herbert around the neck. “I’ve been a very naughty mare indeed.”

With a slight crack Orthodox snapped the neck of the guard with his power-armour assisted hand. He tossed the body atop the seven other drunk guards that had fallen for exactly the same trick.

“Does everything on this planet think with its dick?” Orthodox questioned to himself as he unslung Bessie. It had been an hour already and he’d managed to kill fifteen of the Caribou with none of the others noticing. All of them had been off their faces and easy to fool. He had started masquerading as a lonely slave-mare after the first five as walking up behind them and slitting their throats had gotten stale. He was an artist and he intended to work his craft with aplomb. Any ingrate can stab someone and only the real masters can go about it with the thought and cunning that he had demonstrated.

The sound of angry bellows, yells, war cries and plasma fire interrupted his self-congratulation from a few streets over. It seemed like Straken had decided to move in and it was time to make an entrance.

“It looks like someone’s in for a spanking,” he said out loud in a high-pitched voice. He paused for a second before heading to the alleyway mouth to join in the fight.

“God dammit, I’m enjoying this far too much for it to be healthy.”

“Kill them all!” Straken cried out as she and her force of ponies and changelings charged out of the darkness of the streets towards the surprised Caribou and slaves outside the Town hall. A bolt from her pistol sheared the head off a Caribou in a white robe while a bolt flew from the crossbow held by Blaze to embed into the naked chest of another Caribou. Ponies and changelings armed with their weapons closed the distance quickly as some Caribou stayed to fight while others tried to run inside the Hall.

Straken refrained from firing her gun towards the Hall as she didn’t want to risk killing any slaves inside. As much as she hated to admit it the equines were growing on her and she found them to be quite enjoyable to be around, while they weren’t enslaved to filthy Caribou of course. The unicorns also presented an interesting avenue for military research as the UIP scientists were always looking for things to weaponise.

All her thoughts of possible application of unicorn magic in combat situations were pushed to the side as she found herself behind as the ponies and changelings had rushed past her to clash with the Caribou. Weapons smashed together and screams rang out as batons fell and swords thrust. The Caribous’ weapons were built to subdue however and while a few were able to down ponies with strokes of their stun batons it wasn’t lethal whereas the spear and sword wounds inflicted on the slavers were.

The ponies still seemed to shy away from killing even when faced with the peril of slavery. Most stopped and stared in shock at Caribou they had just run through as the creatures died while the more fragile minds dropped their weapons and froze. Straken let them be as such reactions were to be expected from civilians of a peaceful society. She could hardly fault them for stopping as she herself had done the same with her first kill all those years ago.

It mattered little as the majority of ponies still fought on with the changelings mainly staying back and using crossbows to pick off Caribou running away with admittedly terrible aim. One however was in the thick of the fighting and had just stabbed a Caribou in the gut with her spear. The slaver cried out in pain and dropped his baton while the young changeling stared at him in horror. The wounded Caribou ripped her spear out of her hands as he rolled in agony on the ground and tried in vain to remove the weapon with bloodied hands.

Seeing that the changeling that Straken recognised as Mirage was having difficulty the Colonel moved past a changeling reloading a crossbow to move towards the scene. Only pausing to shoot a fleeing Caribou in the back Straken quickly made it over as Mirage was trying to pull the spear from the Caribou with desperation plain on her face.

Straken pushed her away, placed her boot on the slaver’s chest to steady him and then lined her pistol up with his head. One plasma shot later and the body went limp apart from the occasional twitch. With her free hand Straken yanked the spear from the corpse causing the metal head to come out with a wet slick. Turning to Mirage she handed to spear back to her as the melee started to cease.
The changeling continued to stare at the blood-stained spear as she took it in her hole-ridden hands but Straken had no time to waste helping the changeling overcome the fact that she had just helped take a life.

The doors of the Hall were thrown open from the inside this time and a lone, tall Caribou in a black robe marched out. With a grin his eyes glowed a sickly green and purple smoke bellowed out as ponies dropped their weapons and fell to their hands and knees. Straken raised her pistol towards the Caribou but the mage blocked her sight with a wall of mares. The changelings were unaffected but they too were hampered by allies turned mind-controlled slaves. Straken watched helplessly as mares crawled towards the mage with longing in their eyes while more Caribou sounded the area.

“It looks like your attack has failed!” the mage gloated as he made the mares not obstructing her and the changelings line up before him. he laughed and the rest of the Caribou emerged from the Hall and joined in. Slaves peeked out of the windows as Straken continued to attempt to line up a shot. Mares kept on attempting to grab her arms and her aim was continually ruined all with the Caribou continuing to mock them. The changelings were soon dragged down and held on the ground by their former comrades as the Caribou moved forward.

“Pathetic females,” the mage taunted as Straken sighed. Pointing her pistol towards the smiling face of a brown-coated mare blocking her aim of the Caribou she prepared to clear a path to the mage as it was the only option she saw.

She had however forgotten that there was still one more allied combatant in the area.

“Knock Knock Motherfuckers!”

A small black figure jumped from the top of a nearby building to land on the back of the Caribou mage at the same time as the greeting.

Straken watched in shocked confusion as Orthodox wrapped his legs and tail around the Mage’s neck and held onto the slaver’s pair of antlers. The Mage shouted in surprise before the armoured legs tightened and cut off his voice. Orthodox moved his tail to stab the Mage in left side with a spike causing the mage to veer to the right in an effort to avoid the pain. A repeat jab to the right side caused the caribou to head left which caused the ISA agent endless amusement as he rode the slaver.

“Mush!” with the command and a jab from the tail in the rear the mage stumbled forward as Orthodox removed a hand from an antler to grab his shotgun from his back. Straken noticed that the ponies seemed to be recovering with the mage having lost his concentration. A cackle from Orthodox as he steered his unwilling transport towards a group of three Caribou was accompanied by the shotgun rested against an antler cocking.

“The ride never ends!” Orthodox yelled happily through his helmet as his gun boomed. One unlucky caribou was flung backwards as pellets implanted with explosives pierced his body and detonated. The two surviving members suffered a similar fate while the frenzied mage stumbled with the recoil. The ponies all had recovered from the control and while many stayed on the ground terrified a few grabbed weapons and fought on.

Faced with more resistance and an alien midget riding one of their own mages the remaining slavers tried to escape. A few of slaves left alone inside the Hall had barricaded the doors on them though which meant that they only had one way to go.

And that way was through the armed, trained and incredibly angry human holding a sword and a gun.

It didn’t work out for them as they hesitated charging the intimidating female who was caked in blood. This proved their undoing as the ponies finished with their engaged foes and quickly overwhelmed the Caribou left with a revenge-driven frenzy. Orthodox dismounted his Caribou mage’s shoulders and turned his tail around so that the retractable blades on the top dug into the slaver’s neck. A weak gurgle uttered from the throat of the mage as the caribou collapsed with his throat slit.

As the ponies and changelings killed or bound the surviving Caribou with chains stolen from the corpses Orthodox calmly sauntered over towards Straken while patting the grip of his shotgun.

“Well that was incredibly fun,” he mentioned as stepped over bodies to reach her. “I want to go find another Caribou to try it again. Maybe I can get it to repeatedly slam into a wall or something.” Straken tolerated his annoying speech only because he had saved her from having to kill some of the ponies. She wasn’t going to let him know that she was thankful however.

“We still have a town to clear,” she reminded as groups of ponies helped others up and re-armed them before heading off into the streets in packs to hunt the Caribou in the town. Orthodox glanced to the barricaded Hall.

“No complaints here. I’ll go and make sure none of them are hiding in the Hall still. What about you?” Straken furrowed her brows before she spotted Blaze consoling a mare sobbing on the ground.

“Lieutenant Blaze!”

The pony lifted her head and looked Straken at the call. Offering some final words to the crying mare the guard stood up and approached the two UIP soldiers.

“What is it?” she questioned as Straken pointed towards the Hall.

“Agent Orthodox is going to clear the Hall. Would you know where the house of the former leader of this settlement is? I’m willing to bet that a high-ranking Caribou will have made his lair there.”

Blaze didn’t require any time to think as the pony immediately pointed towards a tall treehouse sitting in the middle of the town which wasn’t far from where they were.

“The library was where Princess Twilight Sparkle lived,” Blaze explained as Straken examined the structure. “She actually may still be there as I didn’t see her in Canterlot being paraded around like Celestia and Luna.” Straken nodded and immediately walked off towards the building before glancing back over her shoulder.

“Lieutenant with me and you as well changelings!” she ordered. The seven changelings including Mirage followed while Blaze looked back to see Orthodox enter the hall. They encountered no live Caribou in the minute of walking it took them to reach the library. An angry roaring was coming from the inside and without hesitation Straken raised her sword and shoulder charged the door open.

She was met with a mass of purple scales as a dragon slightly bigger than her yanked on the lead of a purple alicorn. Straken fired a plasma shot into the beast’s chest but it did nothing as the scales blocked the heat of the shot. It didn’t stop the dragon getting pissed off however and a long purple tail crashed into her side and threw her to the floor. Straken rolled into a crouch and was about to try shooting the soft underbelly of the dragon before Blaze and the changelings charged into the door to pounce on it from the side.

The weight of the ponies and changelings drove the beast to the floor as it roared and thrashed. The unicorn was huddled in the corner amongst a pile of books spilt from a bookshelf as the dragon tried to throw the changelings and Blaze off. The lieutenant was punching it in the head with bleeding knuckles in an effort to subdue it but still the dragon resisted. It started to rise from the wooden floor and looked set to throw them off before a loud boom sounded from the direction of the Town Hall. A wave of black energy washed over them heading back to the source of the explosion.

The dragon ceased struggling as the energy passed him and Straken noticed a strand of the black essence leaving the drake. The dragon froze and then collapsed into a heap. Pony, changeling and human watched as it shrunk down into a much smaller form that would barely come up to Straken’s waist. Straken pulled herself off the ground and examined the unconscious dragon. It looked no older than a child and far from the raging beast that it had been before. Still it had been a threat and Straken had no desire of it turning back to its larger form.

“Guard him until we figure out what to do,” she commanded to the changelings and Blaze. She walked next to the unresponsive unicorn wearing a red collar and stared out of a window at the Town Hall. She was just in time to witness black energy gathered in a cloud above the hall churn and roar before with a massive bang it dissipated. She winced as it echoed around like a bomb blast as it could have possibly alerted other Caribou to the fate of the town.

Just what had Orthodox done?

Orthodox stared at the smoking remains of the black crystal that had exploded as the semen-drenched slaves chained to the walls and floor of the Hall’s main area wailed in fear.

After smashing through the barricade with his armoured form he had encountered a small number of black-collared mares who ran away from him and hid in the corner. Gathering that they had been the ones to block the door he had ignored them and instead headed to the next room. Upon entering he had found the chained mares and a large, squat crystal sitting on a pedestal in the centre. As he watched it pulse and glow he had come to the conclusion that it was incredibly important so he had did what he thought was a wise tactical and strategic decision.

He had shot it with his plasma rifle.

As it turned out black glowing crystals do not like being shot with energy weaponry and it exploded into mist. This mist passed through the roof and before he knew it an entire mass of the same black mist had been sucked from around the town towards the top of the hall.
He didn’t get a chance to look outside before a massive crack had sounded. The noise shattered a few windows and Orthodox doubted that Straken would be too happy with him about it. Never the less he still had a job to do and so he shouldered his rifle and moved to begin freeing the chained mares from their bonds.

Maybe no one would notice the explosive death of their crystal?

Dainn, King of all the Caribou as well as the two nations he had conquered lifted the mouth of Celestia off his phallus as he sensed a disturbance in the force. The force being his network of magical control crystals meant to keep the stallions and male griffons in order.
The former Princess wearing a red collar giggled dreamily as she was shoved down next to her sister. Luna was sulking in the corner with her black collar like usual and was ignored as Darius stood up from his temporary throne. His golden crown, decorated with two long horns belonging to the former princesses, shone on his head as he exited his command tent. His brown-furred hooves stepped onto snow as he moved through his encamped army.

In the near distance was the Crystal Empire covered with a shimmering pink dome which was the same dome that was stopping his forces from plundering the Crystal Ponies hiding within the shielded city.

Oh, the things he would do to Princess Cadence as punishment for slowing his army down. Maybe he could force her own husband to rape her subject’s children as she watched. Now that would be entertaining.

The massive Caribou king clad in full iron armour grinned as he passed saluting soldiers and tents filled with loyal Caribou warriors. He had permitted no females except for his own two personal slaves in the camp as when the Crystal City did fall they would be all the more enthusiastic in showing the females their place.

He approached a large white-cloth tent guarded by twenty soldiers clad in full armour and wielding axes instead of whips and batons. They all saluted as he walked past into the tent to gaze upon the small cage within.

A small pony colt with a grey coat, a coal-black mane, little fangs and a sharp red horn retreated as far back as it could from him as Dainn leaned over the cage. Green eyes with red pupils stared up at him in fear as the colt which looked to be about the age of four trembled. Dainn knew that this was no simple pony colt however.

The child in front of him surrounded by food scraps and piles of its own shit was none other than Sombra, former tyrant of the Crystal Empire.

Dainn didn’t know why the King had de-aged and made powerless but what he did know was that when some of his subjects brought the captured colt to him it signalled a great rise of the Caribou. Sombra had been found battered and almost dead in the snowy wastes that made up a large part of his kingdom in the Caribou homeland north of the Griffon Empire. Having already been a potent mage skilled in alchemy and natural magics Dainn had been pleasantly surprised to find that although Sombra could no longer use his powerful mind-control and shadow magic Dainn could.

After silencing all of his rivals Dainn had lured the recently released Discord to him and used his new powers to enslave the draconequus. Discord had been so confident in himself and his powers had been so weakened by his recent ‘reformation’ that it had been too easy to dominate the spirit’s mind. After using Discord to turn him into an ‘alicaribou’ which enhanced his physical and magical strength even more the draconequus had been discarded and imprisoned within stone once again. Dainn couldn’t resist that one and he had even released Discord from the mind-control just before the stone completely covered him. The terrified look on his face was priceless.

“Now you little prick,” Dainn muttered darkly as Sombra buried his head in his filthy forehooves. “Did you have anything to do with one of my crystals disappearing do you?” The colt shook his head and sniffled while Dainn closed his eyes and mentally felt for any magic emanating from the pony. He found none which wasn’t that much of a surprise.

“I could have guessed,” he continued as he turned to leave the tent. “Of course a pathetic creature like you couldn’t do a thing to stop me. If I didn’t have to keep you alive to leach off your powers I would have either have let you starve or gifted you to one of my stranger subjects. Keep that in mind you filthy bastard.”

Dainn left the colt alone as he walked out once more into the chilly air. Spotting one of his generals called Siegfried he beckoned the soldier over.

“General,” Dainn addressed before giving the officer a chance to inquire about his summoning. “There appears to be a problem in-” the King briefly shut his eyes before opening them again, “-Ponyville. Take three hundred troops and investigate to make sure those idiots I left behind didn’t allow an uprising. Take any steps required to ensure that everything is in order.” General Siegfried nodded and moved off quickly knowing that the King liked un-questioning obedience.

Satisfied that the General could address whatever was happening in Equestria Dainn headed back towards his tent.

He had two Equestrian Princesses to keep him warm after all.

Author's Note

So we find out just how the Caribou gained their mind-control powers unlike in the original verse. These crystals seem fairly important to them so what could their effects possibly be?

The long suffering Straken now knows just how unlucky she is with her ISA ally, will she be able to keep him under control as they finish securing the town?

Their attempts to remain undetected have failed though so they are going to find themselves in a dangerous situation soon.