Aloe shuddered in disgust as the Centaur pulled out of her, his rough and untrimmed hooves slicing raised lines down her thin-coated flanks. Of course, she said not a word. The Centaur hated noise from their ponies during sex, and tears... tears had made many a rape turn into an enraged and unscheduled "euthanasia." Doing anything she could think of to keep her mind off the seed pouring out of her, or the brilliant light of the screen in front of her reading Estrus, Aloe turned her mind to the reactions of Centaurs to emotions. Aloe was a fairly empathic Earth Pony, as was her sister Lotus, and she could notice the tense stance of the Centaur whenever they were around Ponies. They kept their eyes away from the Ponies, and were quick to stop a retort or angry snort with the back of a hand. And yet, amongst each other, Centaur were roaring louts, slamming into each other and locking horns to show dominance. It was... curious.

"Next," rumbled a deep, rough voice, and Aloe closed her eyes, mind tugged back to her present.

She was... here. Stuck. Likely for the rest of her life. Aloe and Lotus, while Earth Ponies, were quite small for their size. Half-breeds would kill them, that was just fact. They had one, maybe two half-breed births in them before they'd simply fade away. Aloe had taken care of enough of the herd who had simply been bred to death, and she knew her fate. If they were lucky, she might be able to see her friends and families a few days before they'd pass on. If she was lucky, she might be able to see her twin sister one last time...

The tears were accidentally, and Aloe cursed herself as her emotions grew. Her sobs reigned unchecked, her body shaking and tugging frantically at her bonds as she had one hell of a panic attack. Cramps tore through her stomach and legs, the harness tightening its grip on her neck and head as they gave out, body sagging to the floor. Her ears were splayed, and she sobbed anew as the door to her stall opened again. The deep, sharp intake of breathe told her exactly what had just approached, seconds before the hoof slammed into her stomach.

"Compose yourself!" The Centaur roared; a Magister, most likely, judging from his higher, nearly hissing voice.

Fiery pain roared up Aloe's spine from his magic, and she... just... screamed. There was no decorum, no false smile or guarded expression that could hold it in now. All of her pain, all of her depression, rage, and impotence tore out of Aloe in a deep, horrific shriek. And unseen to Aloe, her shriek had a profound effect on the Centaur inside the Stable. The two dozen of the Soldier caste roared in surprise and quickly rising anger, striking out blindly at anything around them, splintering wood and kicking ponies out of their frames. All said ponies instantly curled in on themselves, screaming and sobbing themselves, terrified that they were about to be put down en masse. The emotions and screams of over a hundred ponies filled the Stables, punctuated by the deeper roars of the Centaurs.

The Magister was panicking, his inner fight-or-flight reactions firing in a blind panic, slinging his magic aura around. One such pulse struck Aloe's frame, and she yelped in surprise as it exploded, flinging her out of her stable and onto the scuffed and scorched linoleum. Her head was pounding, and her entire body seemed to be ablaze. Knowing the magister's magic, she would not be surprised if she was. Babbling out apologies and pleas, Aloe peered up with tear-filled eyes. And found herself with a front row seat to a very... odd scene. Several Soldiers had their pistols, great hand-cannons, drawn on the terrified Magister; their eyes, while still a deep black as per normal, now had a small glimmer of white in their centers. They were raising themselves up, towering over the frail Magister. His meaty hands were raised, bearded and vaguely ape-like face scrunched up in terror as he babbled.

"Pl-please, just c-calm down, my good troopers... e-everything will be f-fine, we can talk about-"

BANG!

Aloe gave a small cry as blood and brains spattered her in a fine mist, the Magister's body toppling lifelessly to the ground just hooves in front of her. The Soldiers were beginning to gather behind one Centaur, eyeing the quivering ponies around them. Their leader was a massive specimen of the Soldier caste, easily nine hooves tall and wider than two Earth Ponies put side by side. His fur and mane were both midnight black, and his underlying skin was a deep red. His black eyes turned slowly to Aloe, and he studied her with far more intelligence than Aloe had ever seen in a Soldier.

"Lord Tirek, what do we do now?" Another of the Soldiers rumbled, gripping his pistol tightly.

"Gather up the ponies, and fetch us a transport. We move on the Academy in one hour."

***************************

"TWILIGHT! COME QUICK!"

Twilight cursed heavily as she raced through the tunnels that had become their home the past few days; the herd had carved out little lean-to's and firepits, and the air was perpetually thick with the smell of grilling mushrooms and crickets. Both were shockingly tasty. Racing past the Forge, she spared the feat of unicorn-earth pony cooperation a happy glance. Using the unicorns' innate knowledge of fire, and the earth ponies' bond with the earth, they had managed to draw up a wellspring of lava, allowing them to use it as one gigantic forge, melting pot, and "slow mine." Sure, it meant most of the metal were alloys, but the earth ponies had found that they could easily separate the thickest and most useful metals to be cooled down, ingoted, and pounded down into useful shapes. The Forge was producing plenty of spears and hoof-blades, which would be given over to Rarity and her team of unicorns, gifted earth ponies, and eager pegasi to be enchanted for battle and utility. They already had more than enough for their own herd, but they wanted to have armor and weapons to equip the rest of their kind once they began rescue operations.

The yell had come from the other mining operation, deeper in the crystal fields, which had seen several dozen earth ponies digging out gemstones to be used as magical foci and batteries for storing arcane energies. Applejack had been eager to lead the team; she was one of their more gifted earthspeakers, and her insights had led them to several diamond veins already. As Twilight raced into the mine cavern, she was treated to a shocking sight. Standing easily twenty feet tall, with scales the deepest purple the unicorn had ever seen... was a dragon. An honest-to-goodness, living dragon. It was quite lithe, like a panther; its purple scales pressing to its sleek sides and so fine that it was more like hide than actual armor. Green spines, starting from the crest of its head, ran down its back, perked up in what Twilight imagined was agitation, or surprise. Bright green eyes, larger than Twilight's head, snapped up to Twilight as she skidded into the room, and Twilight was surprised to see it immediately relax, sitting back on its haunches... and smiling. With rows of dagger-like, very sharp teeth.

Gulp.

"Excellent, the unicorns have survived."

If Twilight's jaw could have dropped anymore, then it would have. The voice was shockingly feminine, coming from such a gigantic beast, and had an air of warmth to it. Sweeping out a wing, the dragoness bowed low, sending Applejack and her earth ponies scattering back.

"My name is Setheressa, humble ponies. It is truly warming to see that some of your species has managed to survive this... catastrophe.'

Blinking, Twilight tilted her head, ears folding back as the rest of the dragoness' introduction was lost to her. Catastrophe? Survived? Well, of course they had survived. Not well, of course, but... It had been generations. Just how long had this dragon been down in the caverns? Trying to peek around the dragon's bulk, Twilight's eyes widened as much as equinely possible, staring at the dozens upon dozens of dragons, some of them even larger than Setheressa, all of them trapped in clear crystal. Red dragons with frilled beards and brilliant scales; white dragons with gigantic fore-claws and mighty jaws; black dragons with alligator heads and swimming fins along their sides... Twilight had studied ancient pony books on dragons, and as far as she could see, there was at least one of every species among the crystals. Setheressa was a purple dragon, one of the deep breeds that rarely come out of the caves. Absently, Twilight concluded that that was the reason she had been elected to watch over them, most likely.

"-ertainly hope pony civilization has righted itself," Setheressa blathered on, her speech interspaced with childish giggles, "I've always wanted to go see some of it, and maybe eat-"

"There is no pony civilization."

The cavern seemed shockingly quiet as Applejack's remark stopped Setheressa cold. The dragoness blinked down at her several times, tilting her head in confusion.

"But, you're here!" she replied slowly, "If there is no-"

"The Centaur won," one of the earth ponies, a stallion, replied listlessly, "They killed alot of us... enslaved the rest. It's been... goddess, centuries, Miss Dragon..."

"I'm afraid he's correct," Twilight added softly, "We only just escaped, a few hundred of us. We're living down here, for the time being."

The dragoness looked like somepony had just curb-stomped a puppy in front of her. Tears (Twilight had to restrain herself from gathering the alchemical ingredient) poured down her cheeks, and her body moved quickly to one side, her paw reaching out to swipe the group of ponies and tug them into the room. Twilight yelped as she stumbled along, ears laid back in surprise. The crystal cavern was incredibly bright, and taller than she expected. Dragon-filled crystals lined the walls, disappearing into the darkness high, high above. She was almost certain it could stretch to the mountaintop. What was most stunning, however, were the occupants of a jagged, amethyst colored gem in the exact center of the room.

"I-if that's what's happened... then you're going to want him first."

There were at least thirty stallions settled into the crystal, almost all of them encased in sleek, crystalline armor. Magical rifles, much like those in the Armory, were attached to their harnesses, and they were a healthy mix of earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns among them, though they all seemed to shimmer in odd ways. Their leader drew Twilight's gaze immediately, however. Taller than all of them, with a blade-like horn and jet-black mane, and charcoal grey coat, was a unicorn stallion, his body encased in runic steel armor, though his was without harness and weapon. His eyes were wide open, and seemed to stare at Twilight, their red depths enchanting and powerful. His mouth was bared in a snarl, and Twilight was further stunned by his long, dragon-like canine teeth. Power emanated from the crystal; dark magic, battle thaumaturgy, healing magic... These were warriors, in every sense of the word. A kind of pony Equestria had not seen in an age. And a kind of pony, Twilight Sparkle decided in an instant, that Equestria desperately needed.

Behind her, and sounding oddly respectful, Setheressa drew herself up tall, wings stretching out to shade the party of ponies.

"You want Crown Prince Sombra."