Life at ponyville had taken a turn nopony had foreseen before. The poor foals and fillies had been secluded to a home in the center of the city, doing the most they could to entertain them while the events outside were poorly kept in secret for them. More than once, they had seen several of those "caribou" their parents and/or teacher had taught them about in the last days... and while most seemed to be hurt or in pain, they were being led to another location away from the city by the guards of the princess. Not to mention those horrible and ugly beasts that had apparently shown up out of nowhere in the town. Fire breathing beasts nonetheless!
And then, there were those other ponies with clearer fur on them, all of them having some nasty injuries on their bodies, as they were led away to the hospital on improvised hammocks, though all of them being led with company of some mares and stallions who had a fearful or angry look on their faces.
"... What is going to happen now, ms Cherilee? Will more of those monsters come for us?"
Said mare's attention was caught when a filly peeking on a window suddenly asked, making everything in the house become uncomfortably silent, as all the eyes were posed on the filly at the window, who could only turn to the teacher with a fearful look on her face, followed closely by the stares of all the fillies.
Cherilee opened her mouth to say no, and even to assure them everything would be okay. But more than once, those foals and fillies, even those she had taught before, had surprised her in more ways than one when one of them said a thoughtful thing to her, making her realize that, even in the cases where something had been tried to be concealed from them, some foals had already discovered what was happening before their parents realized they already knew about what they were trying to hide away from them, and even accepted it whole heartedly and understood why such a thing had to happen.
"... yes... more of them will come." Cherilee said after a few moments of contemplation, instantly regretting her choice when she heard more than one fearful gasp from the foals and fillies on her care before a smile formed on her face. "But do not be afraid, foals and fillies! We have princess Twilight with us! She even managed to defeat the leader of these monsters. She has done it once, and she can do it twice!"
The conviction she showed before her dear students brought them a hopeful smile, as even some began to say that maybe their princess could defeat them thrice, other saying ten times, other saying a thousand times, and eventually all of them began to cheer and even pretend some of the fillies were princesses, "teaching" their caribou enemies (the foals) what would happen if they messed around with a princess like them.
Cherilee turned to the window, feeling the hope of the foals and fillies renewing her own; the laughter and cheers of kids always seemed so contagious to her, bringing her a smile even when things weren't going so well for her. But as soon as she saw the mare the caribou had brought with them being led away to some other place, she couldn't help but feel a shiver running down her spine, feeling it all the way down to the very end of her tail. Silently, she began to pray to whatever entity she could think of to help them... so her dear students wouldn't have to see the terrible things Twilight had told them about.
The last thing she saw before closing the window was the princess' treebrary on the distance, hoping the princess would somehow be closer to ending this once and for all.
Twilight was standing in front of a table with the staff of the caribou in front of her. With the damned thing being able to absorb her magic and canalize it to who knew where, she couldn't simply levitate it and was forced to use her hands to inspect it closer, more than once reminding herself to let go of it once she noticed something on it to take notes with her magic, leave the quill and paper on the table before taking it again on her hands to inspect it closer once more.
So far, she had discovered dozens upon dozens of different runes on the staff, all of them having a different effect on her magic or her surroundings when she tried to interact with them, only to notice all of the effects were focused on just one thing.
"Spike, take note! The magic contained on this staff is very similar to that of everypony, but in an opposite way. Every single attempt to interact with the runes that drain the magic of every unicorn i've tried so far is nullified... but instead of redirecting it to another part, like the shields of the royal guard do, the magic is instead... cancelled. Could perhaps this be of what Starswirl spoke about when he planted his theory of magic and anti-magic? Have the caribou discovered something only the most brilliants minds of Equestria could only theorize, and dare i say, even dream about?" Twilight stopped herself to think for a moment that maybe all of it had been too much for her young assistant? "Spike, did you get all of it, or do i have to-"
Her ears flattened against her head when she turned to the space her dear, and "little" assistant used to be. The space where she somehow could swear she had seen him just a few moments ago... only to realize he wasn't there, instantly remembering where he was... trapped beneath of her, corrupted by the same foul magic she was investigating and transforming him into something her baby dragon would never be!
And there she was! Acting as if she was back to being a simple student under the tutelage of princess Celestia, as if nothing was wrong, and wasting her time on stupid things like magic! Her mind acted on reflex, lifting a hoof and slamming it onto the floor as hard as she could from all the anger contained within her. They were in war, and she was hidden in her home trying to distract herself from reality as if she was a mere filly!
The stomp she made had consequences immediately, making her listen to a sudden, angry roar from below her, product of a grumpy spike being woken up from his large morning nap, and making him go feral all of sudden to try and escape once more. Twilight had to use her magic once more to maintain several things that she considered "delicate" in place (namely her books) so they wouldn't fall down to the floor and make Spike angrier.
"It'll pass... it'll pass... go back to sleep... it'll pass..."
Twilight muttered, more to herself, as she waited for the angry dragon beneath her house to calm down, and maybe go back to sleep serenely once more until she could find the solution to his current state.
Finally, the large dragon finally calmed down, and the whole place stopped moving finally, making twilight release a sigh, finally allowing her breathing to go back to normal, and noticing instantly she had somehow been holding back her breathing for the past few moments. The only thing that did fall to the floor was the staff she had been studying, slowly rolling on the floor thanks to all the rumbling until it was almost touching her hooves.
When Twilight noticed it, she felt a shiver reach down her spine, swearing the staff had moved towards her as if it was looking for her... or at least, the nearest source of magic in the whole place... which was, once more, herself.
Slowly, she reached down to take it cautiously on a hand, almost as if she was hoping that it would bite her or do something else to her, as if it was a sentient and dangerous object. Almost instantly, she let out a huff of annoyance while she berated to herself as she remembered her studies. Magic could not be sentient. Dangerous? Definitely. But sentient? Of course not!
She placed it back on the table to inspect it once more, even using a magnifying glass to check the runes closer, and discovered yet another rune to study, turning back to a board nearby to write it down, paying close attention to the details, to make it as accurate as possible.
Once more, she reminded herself that this was to gain an advantage over the Caribou. If she could somehow find a way to nullify the runes' effects, just like they did with the ponies' magic, then they'd have a more even terrain between them. And of course, she could find a solution to Spike's issue... and maybe even help Rainbow Dash, and then the ponies she had secured on the Apples' barn.
...
Rainbow...
The chalk she was using to write on the board slowly stopped,, mere inches from finishing the rune she was drawing before floating down, with the magic around it finally disappearing from around it until it was left as motionless as the staff before Twilight. She let out a quiet sob as she remembered how her friend had been in the following hours after her encounter with the rune master. She had been in an almost catatonic state the whole time, and she hadn't said a single word in the whole time, merely embracing her knees and hugging them as close to her body as she could, rocking back and forth and shivering in shock while her eyes seemed focused only on the wall in front of her.
The only times she did react were when a nurse or a doctor tried to check on her now featherless wings, which only made a jerking motion, and even making Rainbow jump at the touch, quickly backing away an inch in a small, fearful jump, before she returned to the same state she was in, leaving the diagnose of the doctors to mere speculation and guessing about the state of her wings and what had exactly happened to make them lose their feathers, even the tertiary feathers had been completely stripped away! But how? Nopony could exactly explain why, leaving it to Twilight to guess, as she was one of the best magic researchers in the place, maybe even the only one, considering the rest of the unicorns in Ponyville were into menial and insignificant things compared to what she did.
And Twilight had to agree with them... It was the effect of a mysterious and evil kind of magic. And even the same nullifying effect that foul magic had in the unicorns' magic seemed to also influence the magic of other ponies as well. Pegasi had their own kind of magic, making them able to do amazing things, like dragging clouds away as if they were made of cotton... and the Caribou had somehow found a way to interrupt even that process!
And finally, the strength of the earth ponies... Twilight began to wonder if the Caribou were as tough as they looked or if the runes' effects also affected the strength of the earth ponies, allowing even the weakest of the Caribou to overpower the strongest of the earth ponies... just like how the King had done with Celestia...
Slowly, it all seemed to become logical to Twilight, and she felt as if she was close to making the terrain more even between her and the beings that had done so many horrible things to the ones she loved the most. Spike, Rainbow... Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy... the princesses... so much evil... so many things...
Twilight let out a yawn, only then noticing that her eyes were almost completely closed. She had been so lost in studying the Caribou' runes and overthinking things that she hadn't noticed how tired she truly was. She looked down only to finally see she was almost stumbling.
"... I need some sleep..." She finally said before turning away from her research, but finding herself so tired to walk that she simply teleported to her bed. She didn't even bother to try and change her clothes, simply sitting down and letting gravity do the rest to make her lay comfortably on her bed.
Only until then did she allow her eyelids to finally close, releasing another yawn before sleep took her. She could almost feel Luna's reign embracing her as she fell on a dream.
""YEE WHO DARE TO DEFY KING DAINN AND THE GODS' WISHES! YEE SHALL GIVE IN, FOR FEMALE PONY MAGIC IS NO MATCH FOR OUR KING'S POWER!""
Twilight suddenly opened her eyes as she heard the words of the rune master once more. Her eyes quickly realized she was laying down on some grass from the outskirts of ponyville, where she had enjoyed more than one good picnic with her friends... but at that moment... it brought her a really bad memory. Turning to the city, she finally saw that horrid Caribou shouting its obscenities towards the city, making her hair stand up as she realized what that was.
A horrible sensation welled up in her stomach as she noticed the small projectile flying towards the Caribou, unable to do anything but watch as the memory of her first kill played itself once more before her eyes. She almost felt like throwing up when she saw the rock hitting in the mark, and then making the Caribou fall slowly on its side.
"... Oh, Celestia..." Twilight muttered to herself before tears filled her eyes, and the feeling swelling on her stomach only made it worse as the world around her seemed to twist, not helping the feeling of nausea filling her. She tried looking to another place, only to find the same scene playing before her, not mattering where she looked to, and finding the same moment reflected on her memory over and over.
"... I do remember the first time i took a life, Twilight Sparkle... It still haunts me at this day..."
Twilight's eyes snapped open when she heard a feminine voice right next to her, making her look up. She gasped when she saw none other than princess Luna, standing before her as royal and elegant as ever.
"... A dream after all..." Twilight said, more to herself while still fighting the urge to puke, while trying to stand up in her hooves, before she turned to the night princess, who suddenly seemed to be very quiet. "P-Princess? Are you alright?"
Luna's image seemed to shift for a few moments, and Twilight could have sworn she could see the regal look of the princess being replaced only for a moment with the image of the enslaved princess, only to then return to her regal self, finally opening her eyes to regard the smaller princess.
"I apologize, Twilight Sparkle... Things on the physical world aren't going so well... Namely, my body is suffering more torture from those brutes... But do not pay attention to that now..." The princess said with a mixed look, one that screamed unwanted pain/pleasure and anger, but still looking collected, and even cold.
"T-Then... what are you doing here, princess? Wait, how is princess Celestia, and Pinkie Pie and Applejack and Fluttershy? Have you seen my parents, my brother, my- hmpph!"
Twilight's series of questions were interrupted by the night princess, who had slapped a hand against the mouth her mouth. Although she did not say anything, seemingly trying to control her breathing while her visage turned once more to the enslaved Luna, before turning once more to her royal self, only to open her eyes once more to look at Twilight with a very annoyed look before speaking once more in a strained tone.
"D-do not fret your mind... Sparkle... I have not been able to see them...but i did hear of the victory you and your fellow ponies had over the small group Dainn sent to capture you... and that is why i-hmmfff..." Luna's image shifted once more, with Luna releasing a very heavy breathing once more before she seemed to control it once more, continuing once more. "... T-that is why... i have... contacted you... to prevent you of something..."
The lush and green plains of Ponyville were replaced with a black, empty void while Luna tried to focus. A moan escaped from the princess' mouth, while her image shifted once more, but the enslaved image remained a couple of seconds more at the moment, only to shift back to the princess' image once more, but the strain was already showing on the princess' face.
"Princess!? Are you al-"
"Be quiet, Twilight Sparkle, and pay attention... our time is coming to an end soon, so i need you to listen!"
Twilight watched as the princess' visage slowly began to vanish, while the void around her began to form black, unrecognizable shapes around her... or more namely... a shape of Luna in an embarrassing position, completely exposed as the black shapes passed by and groped her body or even spanked her ass.
Twilight finally noticed the shapes only seemed to become more defined when they got closer to the princess, even forming well defined shapes of hands, when they touched her, only to deform and lose their shapes as they got far from her. Other shape in the distance formed, followed by more moaning and laughter. The shape took a white color with the moaning, and even having Celestia's mark on it.
That continued for some moments, with the mocking of males at Luna's shape, more moans from Celestia's direction, only for the noise to end suddenly when another shape formed in some point in the distance, followed by the sound of doors opening suddenly, with several shapes "stumbling" into the room while breathing heavy.
Another shape formed in the distance and that one spoke with a voice that sends shivers down Twilight's back. She knew that voice... it was HIS.
"What is the meaning of this!?" Dainn's voice boomed through the place as the shadows stumbled towards his throne, instantly falling down on their knees, at least by the sound of heavy thuds and then hearing their breathing almost muffled, possibly due to how they had bowed the heads down.
"May the gods watch over you, King Dainn, rescuer of the Caribou, liberator of Equestria, Chosen one of the-"
"Save the chatter for later, Wooden Antlers! What is the meaning of your return, battered and so injured... and with no traces of the last worthless princess, as i so vehemently requested of you?" Dainn's voice was firm, even though he still held the calmed tone she had heard at the stadium a week ago. Cold, calculating, and almost emotionless.
"Oh, my lord... we went to that small settlement you described, and we even found the female, as you said... But something horrible happened! The other shadow began to say with an almost fearful tone, even stopping for a moment for a reason unknown for Twilight. But as she noticed it, several of the shadows once present in the room had begun to vanish, indicating Luna could no longer hear them, and even less know where they exactly were, and instead focusing all their attention on the figures now present in front of the King.
"Oh, King dainn... We found the settlement, right where you said it would be... and the princess was in there... that coward female... They rose a wooden wall around the settlement, and they began to throw us huge boulders... they even used hot tar to trap those ponies you so kindly assigned to us, oh great King!"
The shape of the king began to move forward, followed by the sounds of steps that formed his hooves with every step he took, making the breathing of the shape kneeling before him become more agitated. Soon enough the little noise that was on the room was non existent, with the king's steps soon becoming the only sound in the room.
"You mean to tell me... that a lowly female... managed to defeat a mixed force of Caribou and our most treasured allies, cristal ponies... all by herself? A lowly Female?" The king's tone was increasingly becoming colder the closer he got to the caribou, making Twilight feel yet another shiver of fear running down her back and tail.
"N-No, my lord! It wasn't her! I-I didn't exactly see the whole battle, as a boulder they threw hit me in my head and i fell unconscious... b-but when i woke up... your servant... the rune master... He was laying on the ground! Dead! At the hooves of a stallion! A very large stallion! One of the largest stallions we have ever seen!"
The room finally fell on a deep silence, making everything go back to an empty, black void, which remained like that for several moments until the king's voice could finally be heard once more.
"A... Stallion... you said?" King's Dainn sounded, with the coldness finally escaping from his voice while a tone of uncertainty, and maybe even confusion filled his voice. "You mean the princess didn't beat you all, but rather... a large, manly stallion managed to overpower a mighty force of Caribou?"
Silence filled once more the room, even passing several moments before a single sound could be heard. And that sound was a gentle, amused chuckle, that soon evolved into a full, mocking laugh.
"You mean the princess didn't beat you all, but rather... a large, manly stallion managed to overpower a mighty force of Caribou?" Dainn repeated the question, but more as if to receive confirmation from the caribou before him. After a few moments and even more laughter, he turned around and began to walk back to the throne, but not before stopping right in front of Luna and, Twilight assumed, Celestia. "You see the reality, princesses?" He sneered at their titles, but ultimately using them them as mere mocking.
The shape of a hand rubbing Luna's head formed while Dainn was still talking, vanishing for a few moments until a loud, female moan sounded in the distance, most certainly, of Celestia.
"Even the last of the mighty 'princesses' isn't a match for the liberators of Equestria... She has to rely on the help... of a male, nonetheless."
The moaning stopped, and the steps of the king kept going away, most probably to the throne or the honor site inside the room, all while his laughter eventually died down, being replaced once more with his cold, soulless tone.
"It doesn't matter. Let them celebrate their small victory. And tell the clan of the Black Pelts that their King is summoning them. They'll have the precious battle they have been oh so eager to have. As for the clan of the Wooden Antlers? Confiscate their females and treasures and keep them locked. We'll decide later if you help the other clan with their victory or better yet... help the other runemasters with their... projects."
The whole void collapsed sharply, and a heavy breathing began to be heard from behind of Twilight. Turning around, she noticed the princess had been reverted to her enslaved visage, with her horn cut off and her wings encased, all while a bright blush formed in her face and she tried not to look at Twilight to her eyes.
"... I am deeply sorry, Twilight Sparkle... but it seems our time is up... Remember this... King Dainn is going back for another assault. When? I do not know... i'll try to contact you if i find anything... but for now... i wish you luck, Twilight Spar-"
The dream was suddenly interrupted with a loud buzzing suddenly being heard all around her, while the dream itself began to form waves around Twilight. She knew what was happening... the dream was ending... and she was about to wake up.
"Twilight!? Are you alright!? Please, wake up, Twilight!"
Twilight opened her eyes to finally see a very concerned Rarity looking down at her, waiting for a few moments to finally allow her mind to react before she could finally make a question.
"How much did i sleep?"
"You've been asleep for almost 12 hours straight, darling. And i was even beginning to worry. No matter what i did, i just simply could not wake you up. You looked as if you were under some kind of spell!"
"Well... You wouldn't be totally wrong, Rarity... Would you please be so kind to bring the Apples, the mayor and the other ponies we met up with when we arrived? Princess Luna just sent me a message... and i think you all need to hear it."