Being in the Everfree Forest, Zecora rarely had anytime to herself. Thanks to the war between Equestria and the Caribou, she has been requested by the princesses to help in the war efforts, so she used all her alchemist knowledge on the field. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be enough as the Caribou seem to be winning somehow. If nothing is stopped, they will take over Equestria for sure.

One night, Zecora slips out of her hut and enters a secluded part of the forest. She prepares a potion that was strangely different from her normal potions. It seem to crackle with blue energy as she shatters the potion on the ground, using the last of her daily ingredients. The ground then sprouts up a circular plant that opened itself slightly making a hologram of a zebra in its stead.

"Nice to speak with you again Zecora. I trust you have a report to make?" the hologram zebra asked patiently.

Zecora decided to say to him. "You see, sir, Equestria has been raging war against a race known as the Caribou, but somehow the Caribou army is overpowering them.... I think we may need to get involved if this continues."

The other Zebra's face looked grim. "I'll inform the Emperor of your situation."

"Thank you, sir." Zecora says back soluting to the other zebra. Her left hand was place over her right shoulder, bowing down slightly. With the conversation at its end, the hologram cease to exist anymore. The plant shriveled up and died in front of her immediately. Zecora head back to the hut, but veers off course gather as much potion ingredients as she could.

At Zebrinica, in Roam...

The messager zebra colt races to the palace to meet his Emperor for the bad and also great news. After all, the zebra and pony races have been at each others necks for ages on end. At one point in history, a war broke out during, the Third Emperor, Dainhammer's reign on the throne. Millions were slaughtered on both sides across the continents.

The numbers continued to climb dangerously high until Princess Celestia and Luna signed a treaty with the Seventh Emperor of Roam, Dazeswift. Officially, the war had ended. Unfortunately, the treaty did little in settling tensions between the races. Both suspecting the others betrayal at any given moment of weakness. The messager finally made it to the throne room seeing that the present and fearless fourteenth Emperor Deathsane sat silently on top of his royal chair.

He was easily the tallest Zebra in Zebrinican history with the right amount of clear, smooth stripes all over his body. His mane's stripes were red, instead of the usual black stripes that the average Zebra bore proudly. His mane and jade colored eyes was a birth right being the Emperor of Roam. He had three visible scars on his chin, forearm, and torso that showed his many years of experience of being on a battle field. Deathsane wore military, royal purple Roamian armor that shined of what looked like a strong titanium metal. Custom made to fit his form. He stared evenly at his kneeling messenger.

"I bring you a mixture of good and bad news," he states one fist on the pearl white floor. "Equestria is at war with the Caribou, but the Equestrians seem to be failing in the war somehow."

"Caribou," Emperor Deathsane repeated to himself with a sudden interest that frightened the messager zebra colt. "That's enough, Zapori. You may leave me now."

"Yes my imperial." Zapori replied before walking away from the palace.

Deathsane watched one of his faithful scouts goes off as the thought of Equestria about to lose a war against a tribe of furry brown mammals seem surreal to even imagine. It turned out King Dainn really did know what he was doing for the most part, but this was far from over.

A year and six months ago......

Emperor Deathsane was visited by a group of strange mammals. These five male mammals looked to have antlers and various types of brown fur as a natural coat of sorts. And also strange, but outraging, their female counterparts were naked and chained just outside the palace like some type of wild animals.

"Emperor Deathsane, our king would like you to join our cause." One of the mammals spoke to him.

Deathsane remained calm realizing that it was ill behavior to strike cause of their culture alone. "And who might your king be, mammal?"

"That would be King Dainn, leader of the Stonehoof tribe and the Caribou. We hope to conquer Equestria with the Empire of Zebrinica on our side. After all, we could use a former, and still potential enemy towards the Equestrians," another one of the Caribou had said.

What the Caribous said did make sense, and he should take up on their offer to rectify from the mistakes Emperor Dainhammer had started long ago. The discrimination and unfair treatment the innocents of his people went through in the past from ponykind. But, it all seemed.... wrong somehow. The backwards culture the Caribou had would obviously be forced upon all Equestrians for the rest of their lives. And, in a worse case scenario, King Dainn and his followers might try to force their culture on Zebrinican soil as well, eventually. The Empire of Zebrinica may be enemies with Equestria and their princesses, but none of his ancestors have ever wished to degrade ponykind in a sickening way like this, or make themselves that low in dirty deception.

He stared at the Caribou with a neutral expression that made it hard to determine his decision. "Tell your king that I am declining his offer. We do not thirst for their blood like we did a millennium ago. I am sure you understand."

The displeased looks made it clear that they did not expect the Emperor to refuse such an offer. They draw their swords and wands prepared quickly. "Then our king has orders to kill you."

However, the Emperor had been preparing for such a tactic. Dozens of zebra soldiers, the Imperial Guard, surround the five male Caribou like a pack of wolves, blades drawn and ready to pounce on their intended target. The guards broke apart at the front of it to let a single Centurion through their lines. She wore enchanted silver armor that seem to shine, and three sheathed gladius hispaniensis in their scabbards secured to her belt. The veteran's azure eyes seem to have been formed from the very steel the gladius was forged from.

The Caribou didn't seem to care as they charged at the Centurion. The zebra swiftly unsheathed two of her swords. Skillfully blocking or dodging every attack the Caribou soldiers had to offer. Even their magic proved not effective at all against the zebra's enchanted armor. In the end, the Caribou's were swiftly cut down into bloody chucks of meat by the Centurion leaving only one of the Caribou still alive, terrified by the blood bath. She stared down at the cowarding Caribou below her; ready to end him for the slightest resistance. "What shall we do with this last Caribou, my imperial?" the Centurion asks.

Deathsane seem to smile at Katina's excellent work, as always. "Send him on his way back to the bastard Dainn. Tell him that I'll not be intimidated by a worm like him." he said. Katina nod in agreement as he picked the Caribou off his feet and discard him out the palace doors as he ran for his life with the female Caribous by his side.

Present day....

"Commander Ikrai," the Emperor called out. A zebra stallion came out from the shadows dressed in black armor with outlines of gold to match his brown eyes. "I need you to gather up the twelfth and thirteenth legions along with their Centurions. I need to meet them."

"Of course my Imperial." Ikrai bowed before heading out the palace walls.

After a long while of collecting the required legions to the palace throne room, the two Centurions that command each of the legions stood before Deathsane. Katina, Centurion of the twelfth legion and Brikoius, Centurion of the thirteenth legion stood before the Emperor in a respectable bow position.

"My Imperial, you have called for our services?" Katina said as both Centurions raise themselves from their bows.

"Yes, I want you and Brikoius to turn your legions to the lands of Equestria." There was a slight pause in the air at the tension it was giving off.

"Pardon me for my bluntness, my Imperial, but are we strictly enemies with them?" Brikoius states stepping up a little further. locking eye contact with the Emperor. Deathsane stared right back at him with the same intensity as Brikoius gave off.

"I am well aware of the risks I am playing with, but this does not consult with the reason why I send you to enemy territory. I sent you two because Equestria is in need of aid against some barbarous foes, the Caribou. If we let Equestria fall, it could get very ugly for our Empire In return."

Katina blinked a little awkwardly. "So we are mainly there for the interests of our Empire.... I still don't think it's a good idea. They caused a great war between us for two centuries of generations!"

Emperor Deathsane made eye contact with her. "Katina, I know this is an order that stands against most of the zebra people's wishes, but I'm worried about the Equestrians country. I'm doing this for the interests of our Empire, and in order to do that we must join forces with them. Now, I need you two to retrieve our zebra mare spy, Zecora. I believe her last report was that she was on the outskirts of Ponyvile. She has a lot of info that I need from her. Once you extract her, I need you two to find someway to stop the Caribou's advance. I don't care what it takes to do this. Be careful out there, my legionaires."

"Of course my Imperial. Consider it done." Katina and Brikoius said in unison. They soon left with their legions heading to the lands of Equestria. Now, all Emperor Deathsane can do is wait and prepare for the worst in Zebrinica. If this worked as planned, war will consume the Caribou Stonehoof Tribe.

Author's Note

More is soon to come! Stay tuned for more. (When I can get to it)

Only one more chapter to rewrite before I move on. Hope you like it better now.

July 2019 edit: Yikes. This was very messy for my early pieces of works on FIMfiction. It was a bit painful to read before, but hopefully, it's better now than before the edit.