Once the shield had been lowered, Ponyville had gone into a frenzy state, with Twilight suddenly having a deep feeling of dread which wouldn't simply go away, despite the hours passing by.

There was something heavy in the air, and all of Ponyville could already feel it, much like their princess. That was the main reason for most if not all of Ponyville's stallions and young mares to work as hard and fast as they could to complete the wall in time.

Just in time to prevent the attack Twilight feared so much and hoped would never come. But again, it seemed the Caribou were simply taking their time to capture her.

Twilight simply stood over her treebrary, watching through her telescope all the progress on the wall within its range. While it was relieving to see mostly all of Ponyville protected by a thick, wooden wall (and at the same time, saddening), she still feared it would not be enough to stop them. But there was little they could do except prepare the best they could.

In just a few hours, the wall would be complete and Ponyville would be one step closer to being safe from the Caribou threat.

Or at least, more prepared to what was to come, of course. Twilight just couldn't shake off the feeling of dread within her, formed since the moment she saw Shining's shield vanished from Canterlot, only for it to reappear the next day.

There were no signs of the corruption around them, no male starting to behave irrationally, and no females wanting to become more… debaucherous. So, Twilight believed, it was a good sign for the moment.

Unless… the corruption was already within them? What happened with Spike? Was it maybe slowly worming its way up to their heads, to begin transforming them into lustful, mindless–

"Twilight, you're spacing out again."

Twilight blinked for a few moments to wipe away the fog from her mind, which seemed to happen a lot for the past several days. Once she recovered, she turned to see her friend Rainbow staring at her with a smirk. Right before she could say something, Rainbow smirked cheekily as she extended a hand towards her, closing her fist and opening it a few times.

Twilight huffed loudly before glaring at her friend, quickly finding herself reaching over with her magic to summon a bit and letting it fall in her friend's hand, earning a chuckle from the pegasus as she quickly stored it away in a bag in her shorts.

Rainbow's smirk quickly vanished when she saw her friend's glare turn into a concerned frown, quickly stashing the bit away before turning away.

"So... You gonna tell me what's on your head, or will i win another bit in a few minutes?"

Twilight quickly turned her head towards her friend, looking at her with a warmth swelling up in her heart. Of course, she had been left in the dark about what Rarity and herself had deduced before, just for the sake of keeping her focused in the present. Rarity and Twilight both had had several sleepless nights when they both understood the invasion was maybe several months in the making , more Twilight than Rarity, of course.

Yet, somehow, Rainbow had quickly noticed both mares were keeping something from her, and while at first she simply dismissed it as something related to the recent events, she had quickly grown suspicious when Twilight became more distracted as time went on. They were friends, and they should tell each other what concerned them!

"... I'm just nervous, Rainbow."

Despite the anger she had for the moment, Rainbow turned an ear towards her purple friend, watching her slowly lift her arms to hug herself as she looked at the pink bubble over Canterlot.

"... I know they are coming... And i know we're prepared the best we could do, considering the place we live... But…"

Of course, Rainbow did know what she meant. If only she wasn't so damned stubborn, she'd quickly turn to her friend and tell her she was maybe, just MAYBE, as scared as her.

In all her life, she had been a mare of action, never afraid of using her fists to fight, if she needed to. Heck, she had even taken several martial arts lessons, just to be sure she would be prepared when the time of fighting came!

But the Caribou had quickly demonstrated her that, no matter how prepared one was, or how strong one believed they were, it just wasn't enough. If she was being honest with herself, she'd say she was ready to fight… but she also had to admit she wasn't really looking forward to it.

As for Twilight, it all came to a simple conclussion. They'd have to endure what could be compared to a flooding river, and try to stop it with their bare hands.

She knew it was short of an impossible task. She knew the chances of losing were huge, and she knew what losing entailed. But it was all they could do.

"Hey, i say, let them come! We'll make sure to kick their sorry asses so hard they remember it for life!"

Rainbow quickly said with her confident smile, even slapping softly Twilight's shoulder when she mentioned the kicking, earning a soft glare from her friend while she rubbed the same area a bit too painfully.

But Twilight did have to admit some of that confidence was contagious. And Rainbow was right. Better to fall fighting than living on their knees… right?

…
…

Discarding the idea for the moment, Twilight looked once more through her telescope to the last point of the Wall, watching several ponies working on it as if their life depended on it (which it kind of did, Twilight thought). It was just short of a few feet away from completion, and Ponyville would be finally as defended as it could be.

But then, there was the famous saying: no battle plan survives first contact.

To that end, Twilight had spend several nights on her own, making several plans and courses of action in favor of preventing a bad outcome. Typical Twilight, always having a checklist for everything.

All of it in favour and hopes of being able to escape and maybe fight another day. If she wasn't captured, of course.

Even then, she already had a plan for it, and a backup plan for that plan. And so on and so on. Rainbow had entered into her home that day to find the whole library changed, looking more akin to one of those "survivalist" bunkers she had heard about. But she couldn't blame her dear nerdy friend for doing that. In fact, the Library looked as awesome as ever.

At least one good thing had come from those difficult times, she thought with a smile.

Both suddenly fell silent when they heard the crowd of ponies cheering loudly, making Twilight sigh in relief when she saw through her telescope and saw the wall completely finished. Ponies and animals alike were cheering as one, letting her look at the power of friendship in its fullest, uniting beings of every species!

Yes, they could win that fight, if they stood together! Of that she had zero doubts at the moment. It was possible to stop a river with your bare hands, if there was enough hands!

"Come Rainbow, we better make sure everything's set."

Twilight said with a true smile, one showing a happiness she hadn't been able to feel for a week. But things were starting to look up! For once, she did feel they could win… no, that they WOULD win!

The air around Ponyville became heavy with worry, even moreso when all the town was conscious of a true war about to break out right there.

Getting foals closed in inside the city? Seemed like a bad idea. Getting all of Ponyville's population closed in? Seemed like a bad idea.

Preparing to hold a siege against the so powerful Caribou and actually believe they could win? Now that looked like the worst idea.

But as Twilight herself thought at the moment… what other choice did they have? That same idea drove the nervous ponies (and even several animals) to take everything they could carry and run towards the wall to ger into the relative safety inside the fortified town.

Just to ensure nopony, or creature, would be left behind Twilight had taken the mayor's records and made several lists to check who was already inside. Knowing full well she couldn't do it alone, Twilight had assigned some other ponies to help her with that while Rainbow and the Guards had taken to themselves to gather those who still weren't inside.

Twilight was busy crossing out names from her list with every face she view, already inside or those who were rushing in through the door, making sure to not forget a single one. Each one of her neighbors, of her friends, all of them were crossed out from her list.

Minutes seemed to stretch out into hours while she counted those ponies in her list, even counting twice and thrice to make sure nopony was missing! After three whole hours of wrecking her brain over and over, she let out a sigh of relief when she was sure nopony in her list was missing.

"Yo, Twilight!" Twilight opened her eyes to look towards her friend, who was returning from a quick fly through town along with a couple of pegasus guards, who she herself had comissioned to search for any leftover ponies. "We're done! I think that's the last pony!"

Twilight smiled at her friend and nodded quickly towardd the guards, who immediately began to close the door of the wall, making a harsh thudding sound when it was closed.

The whole town was silent for a few moments while the door closed, trying to take in the last moments of the scenery around the town, as if it was the last time they would see it.

If Twilight was being honest with herself, she wished deeply in her heart not to do that, to simply flee, much like the mares she had seen a couple days ago leaving.

But as she looked down at the list in her hand, all the lives counting on her, she steeled her resolve of not allowing another Canterlot. Not if she could help it.

She was the last princess of Equestria, and as such, she was beacon of hope for the rest of the land (no pressure there), and their guiding light to fight against the invaders.

Looking down at her list, it all resumed to how many could she free and how many she'd be able to guide to victory. But for that moment, all that mattered was to make sure she had all of ponyville safe.

"Princess Twilight! We've finished checking up. I think we have all of Ponyville in here!"

Twilight turned to the voices of some mares and several guards with the others lists in their hands, all of them with the names of all the ponies and already checked positive.

Upon looking down at them, she released a long sigh of relief when she noticed every name already checked. All of Ponyville was already safe.

She turned to yet another list and started to check the lists already delivered to her, just to be sure nothing else was missing. After all, what better way to make sure nothing was missing than a checklist?

"Wait… somepony's missing!" Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a mare suddenly shouting.

Said mare was looking frantically around while holding her list open in an specific spot. Right before Twilight could ask what she meant, the mare spoke once more.

"Has anypony seen Zecora the Zebra!? Is she here!?"

All color left Twilight's face when she realized they had made a huge mistake. Zecora was a ponyville resident, yet she didn't live in Ponyville! And she hadn't assigned anypony to go for her!

Rainbow immediately rushed in, taking the list from the mare's hand a flying up. Once at a good height, she squinted her eyes to look around, taking several seconds to make a good check on all of the citizens right before rushing back.

"She's right! Zecora isn't here! Allow me Twilight! I'll go and get… her?"

When she turned to where Twilight had been, her eyes widened when she saw some sparks floating in the air right next to Rarity, and Twilight nowhere to be seen! Peeking over the wall, she could barely see Twilight's tail waving in the air before it vanished in the entrance towards the Everfree.

Her breathing was heavy, and her legs hurt from running so much, and her wings simply wouldn't respond! Yet, she didn't surrender, and she continued to run as fast as she could towards Zecora's tree.

Trees seemed to rush around her, and even wild beasts seemed to stop in their tracks to allow her to pass, as if all of them knew something was going on.

Finally, her legs gave up for a moment, making her fall face first into the mud. Only when she tried to get up, finding she could simply lay there for a few moments to try and recover a little, did she found out some beasts lurking around the forest to be acting strange.

More than once she had faced some of those beasts, and she was sure all of them hadn't even winked before lunging at her. But at that moment?

All of the beasts were simply keeping their distance from her, eyeing her cautiously as if she had a sickness they all feared.

"… But why?" Twilight wondered to herself, looking down to herself to make sure no strange plants were attached to her skin or clothes, and even using a quick spell to check her body.

Yet, she found nothing. Maybe it was because she was an Alicorn? Or could it be something else?

The answer came when she saw a pack of timberwolves snarling at her, but merely doing so before moving away, followed closely by some other creatures, all of them going in the same direction.

Creatures like those didn't walked together like that, unless they were migrating to somewhere else, like some tribes and other animals she had read about in the vast continent of Zebrafrica…

…

…

Or unless they were fleeing from something akin to a natural disaster…

Her mind was filled with worry once she turned in the direction the beasts were fleeing from.

Canterlot.

The fauna was somehow aware of the Caribou threat, too. And they were doing the same the other mares had done a few days ago.

She slowly started to get up from the mud, having to lean against a tree to support herself. Her mind was being filled with those damned doubts once more, and they were worsening once she saw such powerful beasts simply turn around and try to leave.

If such powerful and destructive beasts were fleeing from the Caribou, what possibilities did she and the rest of Ponyville had? Shouldn't it be better to try and leave as soon as she could?

Her mind was starting to feel clouded from all those questions, making her feel tired and somewhat useless when she thought about it, with the memories of her failures once more flooding her mind!

All she wanted to do was to simply curl into a ball and wait for everything to pass, to wait for somepony to come and rescue her!

…

But Zecora was still out there.

…

Twilight's shaky breath slowly started to slow down with a practiced routine, all while Twilight kept getting up on her tired hooves, ready to go back to run.

Yes, the Caribou may pose a great threat to them… but neither she and her friends had fallen down without giving a good fight! Not with Nightmare Moon, not with Discord, not with Sombra, with no villain!

And at that moment, she had all of Ponyville behind her to help her… all of Ponyville except for one.

And she still had to go and get her.

That very same thought was the only thing that pushed her forward, ignoring all of the animals around her to get to her zebra friend. She would help her be safe, just like she did with all of Ponyville…

Even if that was the last thing she did as a princess…

As usual, Zecora kept that part of the forest, if not tidy due to the moss, leaves and everything else growing around there, at least with enough order to make it noticeable that somepony was actually living there.

In its own, creepy way, of course. Always the tribal zebra, she preferred to keep things natural, even if it made the tree look broody and dark. But Twilight had learned to accept that and even appreciate those little demonstrations of her culture, and in time, to even like them, if she was being honest.

But on that day, that dark and creepy atmosphere felt different. Instead of its usual warmth and balance, as Zecora liked to call it, the air felt heavy and cold around it, almost as if the whole picture was a bad omen.

Twilight's senses were constantly telling her that something inside was very bad, telling her to just turn around and, like a prey running from the hunter on pure instinct, just run from there as fast as possible.

But she still had to get Zecora! She whispered to herself to encourage her to go forward with her mission, ignoring that primal instinct and instead press forward.

The omen seemed to increase when she pushed Zecora's door open, slowly as she remembered how bothered Zecora was when she just barged in. And indeed, there was her friend, standing right in front of her large cauldron, which was shining with an eerie green glow to it, all while Zecora stood still and quiet.

Or quiet from where she was. Twilight noticed the zebra's mouth moving, as if she was talking, or more like mumbling, seeing as she simply couldn't hear a thing.

"Zecora? What are you doing?" As much as that base instinct was telling her to not even address her, she did speak, making one of the zebra's ears to turn to her sharply, making that pinch of fear on Twilight's heart to grow.

"Twilight Sparkle… ophunyukile… the imimoya are grateful that you are here." Zecora spoke quietly, but not turning to greet her friend as usual.

Everything about that situation felt abnormal. Why was Zecora acting like that? What was going on?

"T-the what? I-i mean, i'm glad they are glad, too. But listen to me Zecora, we need to go right now! Something terrible is coming towards us, and soon!"

"Indeed, my female friend. Something big is coming. The imimoya have already informed me of what is to come."

"… They have?" Twilight couldn't help but feel silly when she asked that. Over and over had she been proved that strange things happened on the world that simply couldn't be explained. Proof of that was her friend Pinkie.

But a shiver ran down when the words of the zebra repeated themselves in her mind over and over. Why did they felt… wrong?"

"Indeed. They have informed me of those powerful beings that you and the rest of the ponies know as 'Caribou'. They have shown me what they have in mind for us."

For the first time since the alicorn entered into her home, she moved aside from the cauldron, and finally revealed something that sent shivers down Twilight's spine.

Zecora's eyes were completely green, mich like whatever substance she had on her cauldron. When she looked into them, Twilight felt as if something entirely different was looking back at her, not Zecora. It felt… colder and almost as if it wanted to hurt her… no, not hurt her. But it did feel as if it wanted to do bad things to her.

Tearing her eyes away from those green, evil eyes staring back at her, she finally noticed her friend's striped hand pointing towards the cauldron, as if her very life depended of Twilight looking into it.

Taking cautious steps forward, and always keeping her possesed friend in sight, she advanced to the cauldron until she could finally see inside of it. It was only a peek at first, trying to keep both things into her sight, just in case.

But as soon as she noticed what the cauldron was "showing" her, she released a gasp while her hands covered her mouth in horror. The same, green glow seemed to invade her own eyes before a series of things played before her eyes.

Almost as if she herself was there, she was made a witness of what truly had happened to the princesses and her three captured friends. Days of horrible torture passed before her eyes, and she was forced to see her friends and mentor moan in unwanted pleasure while they were submitted to worse things as time passed!

They were being tied, they were being whipped, they were being beated, they were being forced to fuck in so many, submissive and humilliating ways!

Celestia was made to be still while the "king" raped her to his heart's content, all while her former babysitter sat by a corner and masturbated herself silly at the sight of her aunt moaning like a common whore!

Luna was tied to a wooden device, and several animals… ANIMALS were made to fuck her! All while the Caribou wrote demeaning things on her body! She was tied down in some sort of attire that made her look like a pig, even having her nose spread to make her look like one!

Fluttershy stared frightfully in a corner while the caribou forced the night princess to such demeaning acts, even sometimes having to participate herself when an animal crawled towards her, demanding or begging for her attention!

Pinkie Pie was still immobile with an almost frightened look on her eyes, all while the Caribou around her simply took turns with her body, laying still like a simple ragdoll.

And Applejack had the worst of it, being fucked by a Caribou from behind while her breasts, stomach and thighs were hit with whips, or even with their very fists, using her more like a punching bag than mare. And Applejack still seemed to get some pleasure out of it!

Twilight teared her eyes away from the cauldron with a shriek or panic, even falling back on her butt due to her own strength. She was back in Zecora's home.

Yet, Zecora was nowhere to be found for the moment. A chill of fright ran down her spine when she realized that. Where moments ago was her striped friend, now only an empty space stood there.

"You have seen it. And those are only the ponies you wanted to see the most."

Her voice sounded in the dark, making twilight jump to her hooves as she looked around, nervous and frightened deeply. Though when she finally met those green, shining eyes in the dark, her fear only rose.

Standing before her was her zebra friend, though much like the mares in Canterlot, she was completely naked, save for an specific item surrounding her neck.

"… No… Zecora… no…"

Twilight had started to back away slowly while more of the zebra's naked and curvier body, curvier than what she remembered her, showed up.

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle. The great spirits… no… the god of the Caribou contacted this humble mare… and made her his slave…"

Twilight stopped suddenly when she noticed her friend's pattern of talk change. Instead of the cold, empty voice from before, it sounded more… sad?

"Zecora? What are you-?"

"Listen to this mare, Twilight Sparkle. If you do not wish to share the same fate… get away from here with haste. That wretched being is on its way here."

Twilight wanted to say something to her. But when she looked at her friend once more, a chill ran down her spine when that same presence returned, making her friend to turn away from her before talking again in that empty tone.

"They are on their way, female. They know where you are."

No more words were needed to be exchanged between both equines. Twilight turned around and started to run back towards Ponyville, barely hearing her friend's voice beggining to desperately yell
or beg about something.

Yet another victim the Caribou needed to answer for. Her wings snapped open as she took flight over the trees, eager to get as fast as she could to the rest of her friends.

Those images would forever be burned in her mind. But those same images were the fuel of that burning desire she had to make them pay for what they had done (and were doing) to her friends and her loved ones!

Even if she fell, she would make them pay.