*Josta POV*

It was a rather odd situation, to tell the truth. At first, my soldiers and I were marching through the desert of the Undiscovered West, but now our guides, descendants of people from the Snake Clan who had served me diligently throughout my 3000-year reign, had continued to inform me of glimpses of what looked like citizens of Equestria who escaped and fled into the desert. We had made camp earlier in the day, but I still had a feeling about what they were saying.

"These reports can't be good," I thought to myself, before turning to my trusted messenger, a leader in the Snake Clan and one of my best assassins. "Raksha," I beckoned.

"Yes, my Empress?" Raksha replied, entering my tent, "do you need me to keep your hammock warm~?"

"A-wh-NO! I just want you to take some men and see what these reports were all about!" The blush on my face was furiously deep, hinting at my surprise to her words. Raksha was being her usual, flirty self, which annoyed me a little bit. "Just do that, please. AND NO FLIRTING, FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS!!!"

"Understood my Empress, I'll be back as soon as I can." Raksha soon left with a party of her best men. "And no flirting? Got it." I know Raksha wasn't going to listen because of course, she wasn't the type to listen to orders. She would rather sleep with me than do what I asked. It was annoying at times, but we made it work out. I just hope to the Gods she comes back.

*3rd Person POV*

Twilight and her friends had spent the last three days in the desert, and morale was low. When she heard about the Caribou Empire invading Equestria at Lindesbarne, she was, at first, optimistic about making new friends from a foreign country. But now, she was doubting her earlier optimism. Having some of your friends raped in front of your very eyes would do that to a mare.

"Twilight, where the buck are we going?" Rainbow Dash spoke up from behind the group. The once athletic pegasus had seen better days. Forced to walk due to the Caribou's wing covers, with a tattered, dust-filled mane and covered in sand, Rainbow had once been, in her words, "The Greatest Flyer in Equestria". The weight of the caribou's invasion had crushed her. Hard.

"Twilight already told you, darling," Rarity spoke up, still as beautiful as she had been when she left Ponyville, but an absolute mess when it came to her mane and clothes, "We're meeting with the empress of Iskalia to see if she could help get those Caribou brutes out of Equestria."

"Yeah, well, I don't trust those, 'Iskalisa' or whatever," Applejack spoke up, her mane and tail let down and her iconic hat covered in sand, "they seem like a bunch of warmongers. What we need is someone to-"

"Help you get around in this desert?" A voice chirped up. Immediately, everyone went on the defensive, readying their hands and some spells to fight them off.

"Calm down, calm down," The voice beckoned, "There's no need to fight." Immediately, Raksha popped up out of a nearby dune along with other members of the Snake Clan.

"Greetings!" Raksha waved her hand. "I'm Raksha. I serve the Empress of Iskalia. Call it a hunch, but you're looking for her, aren't you?"

"Um... yes," Twilight replied, "We were looking for her to ask her if she would help with the-"

"Caribou occupation?"

The four elements were stunned. How did she know?

"Well then," Raksha continued, "If you want her help, then please follow me." She began to walk in the direction of the war camp, only to notice that they weren't following her. "Don't worry, we don't bite."

Meanwhile, in the camp, Josta was currently performing maintenance on her hilt, to make sure the blade she cast when they entered combat was the correct length and width. It would be disastrous if she didn't. That's when she heard a tent flap be opened. She turned around and saw Raksha.

"Ah, you're back," Josta spoke, "tell me, what did you find-"

Josta's thoughts were interrupted when she saw who Raksha had brought in. Four of the six Elements of Harmony. Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, and Magic.

"Raksha..." the empress turned to Raksha with a small bit of anger in her voice, hair turning red and eyes turning black.

"Uh-yes, my empress?" Raksha's voice was full of fear.

"Did you or did you not enter Equestria?"

"Um, well, you see-"

"Give me a straight answer. Don't dawdle."

"We found them in the desert. They escaped and were looking for you to see if you would help. I didn't enter Equestria, I swear to the Gods!" Raksha bowed furiously, an action typically done by Sondrans during a meeting or an apology.

The empress calmed her moment of fury passing, before taking in a breath of fresh air and then exhaling. "Get them treated. I think that the ringing of the Bell of War was enough of a statement." She stared into Twilight's eyes. "Don't worry. We'll try our damndest to get those monsters out of Equestria." She turned to her hammock as Twilight and her friends were led to the medical tent, stripped off her armor, when down to her undergarments, and began to sleep. Soon, she felt a familiar warmth cling to her back.

"Is that you, Raksha?" the Empress questioned.

"You catch on quickly, don't you, my empress?" Raksha spoke from behind her. The empress turned to Raksha, staring into her brown eyes.

"I guess you could say that. Being over 3000 years of age does let you refine like a Sondran diamond. But please, go tend to the Element Bearers. I'd rather have them be alive. It's been a while since I've been to Equestria."

"As you wish, my empress." Raksha got up, and left the tent, leaving the empress alone to ponder.

'how are we going to fight the caribou when we meet on the battlefield?' She thought, 'well, we'll figure it out when we reach that junction.' And with that thought, she went back to sleep. Early to bed, and early to rise.

Meanwhile, inside of the medical tent, the Element Bearers were being treated. They started to talk about the empress. "She reminds me of Celestia," Twilight spoke, "she's kind, benevolent, and appears to be rather down to earth." Rainbow immediately spoke up.

"And did you see her armor?! It looked so cool!" She exclaimed with childish excitement.

Rarity replied, "It is a rather unique sense of fashion. Who knew dragon scales could serve as such good armor?" Twilight's mood soured upon the mention of dragons. Deep in her heart, Twilight prayed for Spike's safety and that he made it to Ember in time.

"Oh, I'm sorry darling, I didn't-"

"Don't be, it's okay," Twilight said to Rarity. "I have a feeling he'll be alright."

In the Dragonlands, a certain purple and green dragon sneezed.

"Are you okay, Spike?" Ember asked.

"Yeah," Spike replied, "I'm fine."

"But I got the feelin' that we shouldn't make her mad." Applejack spoke, "Did ya see her hair when she saw us? I could've sworn it turned a little red."

"If you want to see the results for when the empress gets mad, you could ask the city of Tanelorn." Raksha soon spoke, dressed in her nightwear and revealing her lean build. "The whole damned city was put to the torch for insulting her. Sure, Josta has a long fuse, and she tanked a lot of what the people of Tanelorn said, but press the correct buttons, and she goes ballistic. You should've seen her when the Caribou came looking to ally with us after they annexed Equestria. She damn near broke the Bell of War in her rage, and that thing is tough! And don't even get me started on her magic output!"

The four elements soon looked towards the sleeping Josta, with fear in their eyes. This empress put an enemy city to the torch just for insulting her? What did they do to make her so mad?

"If you want to know," Raksha spoke again, "They killed her diplomats, called her a fool for attacking them, insulted her heritage and so on."

"But, what made her raze the city?" Rainbow asked. "I bet it was something super crazy."

"Nothing like that. They called her magic weak. So imagine their surprise when she used said magic to raze their city until the only things left were ruins, a crater, and the ashes of the men responsible. Now, I recommend you go to sleep. It's getting dark."

And with that last, bleak statement, both Raksha and the Element Bearers went to sleep, knowing that one day, they'll see their friends will be safe, but they were still fearful of the now sleeping empress. Twilight also made a mental note to never let Rainbow Dash talk to the empress, to make sure that all of the elements stay alive and that Equestria and the Iskalians aren't on bad terms when negotiations began.

Author's Note

Well, now that Isklalia is on the march (and they have some of the Elements of Harmony with them), things are gonna get interesting!

Anyway, please, continue to enjoy the story! Again, any criticism is okay, just don't make it too harsh, and any fanart you, the reader, draw (if that happens), feel free to send it to me if you want to!

-Silver Ghost