It's been a week since the population of Ponyville had been freed, and we had arrived at the hive three days after. Not much had happened, compared to what could have, anyway. I had met with Chrysalis, along with Celestia and Luna, when I said that it would seem hypocritical for a male fighting against the male-centric Caribou to be leading a female oriented army, so I had decided that Celestia, Luna, Nightmare, that one being the one to ire the other two, and myself would share power. Celestia, the sun, Luna, the moon, Nightmare, dreams, and myself leading the army. In short, I had only a fourth of the power, something I was fine with, though, a technicality I had not thought of was that, since the three alicorns were in the military as well, when it came to military matters, I could overrule them. In short, they were Vals along with Fleur and Silver, but Princesses as well. That would become confusing later on, I just know it.

That was the day we had arrived. The second day did have something of interest. I was walking along the barracks of the army, the Equestrian people's army, my choice, our flag and symbol being a modified version of the original flag. It had Celestia and Luna on it, yes, but it also had Nightmare on it beside them, the symbols for each pony type, including Thestrals, above them, and above that was my mauler, a rainbow aura around it, when I was passing by the officer area, where myself, Fleur, Silver, and the first three alicorns, when I heard something muffled coming from Celestia's room. Thinking one of Dainn's supporters, the resistance before my arrival had no way to stop traitors from getting in to report to Dainn, and quite a few had been found since I got here, I rushed to the door, and broke it down, only to see Luna, Celestia, and Nightmare having sex. I had my helmet off, and if I had any eyebrows, they would have been seen raised. They said that, though they hated what the Caribou had done, it made them more. . . I'm going to say open about their feelings, which resulted in, well, this. In response, I said, "So long as you do not try to impose this on those unwilling, I have no qualms with it." Hey, if they want to do this shit in private, I have no issues, but the line for me is crossed you do so to a gender simply because of their gender, and the Caribou, mostly, had crossed that line sooooooo long ago.

On the third day, I had met with Gunne, a buck who, though agreed with normal Caribou, he was a little more understanding, and saw the resistance's point of view, so I had put him under male guard. Don't get me wrong, I was careful around him, but he had willingly surrendered, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. When I visited him, I was there to ask if he knew what had become, specifically, of the Apple family, as well as the Elements. For the former, he had told me all were in Appleloosa (damn puns), and the stallions were like Big Macintosh, meaning they didn't like the new order, and most of the mares were as Applejack had been before liberation. As such, I had ordered later that day for a covert strike team in infiltrate the town, and bring back who they could. As for the Elements, he told me that Rainbow was in Cloudsdale, the other four in the Empire. I had known that, but what I didn't know before hand was that three of two of the latter group had begun to resist. Keep in mind, those sent to the Empire were red collared. I don't know why, but the two were Rarity and Pinkie Pie. I had sent in a changeling group under joint command of Chrysalis and myself to extract them, but to leave Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle there. I would attack the Empire, eventually. And with it, a reckoning for the traitors known as Cadenza, Twilight Sparkle, and Shining Armor. Fluttershy would be safe from my wrath, as she was technically submissive to begin with, as well as meek, so it was only natural for her to submit.

That brings us to today. I stood outside Silver's room, with all but my helmet on, playing it safe because of the aforementioned agents. I knocked on the door before placing both hands, my left wrist not having the mauler on. Now, I wasn't an idiot, and I had a small dagger trapped to my right thigh for defense. In my mind, only an idiot thinks he is safe at home during a war, while someone with enough sense carries something for defense at all times.

"Coming," I hear from the other side of the door, and a few minutes later, Silver, wearing her fatigues, a pair of jeans along with a shirt with our symbol on the right shoulder that was white. The shirt itself, on her, at least, went to just below her rib cage, a style I personally call a 'Half-cut', for obvious reasons. "Oh, hey, Mau'ual."

"Hello, Silver," I say. I had made it a point that when we weren't actually doing military shit, the Vals were to refer to me by my name. I wouldn't let things go to my head I was special because of a title, like I imagine happened to Celestia, and it helped remind them, and myself, from time to time, that I wasn't anything special. Just someone who stepped up when he was needed. Not that I had a damned choice in the matter, due to the merchant. "May I come in? Don't worry, this isn't a military visit."

"You don't need to ask, Mau'ual," she replied. "Come in. Word of warning, though, the others are here too." Yeah, ever since we arrived and everyone got settled, Silver would have a so far daily talk, gossip, I don't give a shit sessions. In fact, that's what I'm going to call them seeing as how, you guessed it, I don't give a shit.

"Copy that," I say in a joking tone before walking in. Oh, guess I should point out I had my thrusters and rocket pods taken off, huh? Anyway, I walked in, and I saw Celestia, Luna, and Nightmare, believe me, it still surprised me that they fucked each other, forgive my bluntness, sitting together on one of the couches, you would not believe the surplus this hive had, let me tell ya, with Fluer on a single seat, each wearing their own fatigues. "Not a military visit," I say before anything else. "So, how are you all doing?"

"Considering we are all practically outlaws trying to overthrow a nation," Nightmare said, crossing her arms. "Well. I do find it ironic, though, that the two who tried to stop me the first time are my allies."

Says the mare who fucked said allies, I think to myself.

"As do we, Nightmare," Luna said. "As do we."

"It's good you all are doing well," I say. "But Silver, do you remember what you told me a week ago? About your history?"

"Yeah, I remember," Silver said before sitting down on a chair. "Better get comfortable, Mau'ual, because my history is the history of just about the entire Caribou people."

Before I start, I want to point something out to you guys. That story about Estra, the first collared Doe, is a lie. She wasn't what the males call a cow, she was the last of the Caribou queens, and my ancestor. She wasn't a slut. If anything, she was like Celestia mixed with Nightmare, meaning she was compassionate, but willing to show her strength when needed. She was overthrown by a group of stallions, of whom Dainn is descended from the leader of that group, and enslaved. With their strength and a bit of runic magic, they converted most bucks to their philosophy.

Anyway, I was born in the last decades of my people's ancestral home. The name isn't exactly vital, so I won't bother with it. Unlike most families of my people, both my mother and father saw each other as equals, acting like the majority only when they had guests, or in public, and my father was close friends with Dainn's, and I would often be sent to the royal family to be Dainn's plaything, but he never did anything to me. Not when it was just us, anyway. He was compassionate to both does and bucks, even taking the blame for stuff does did, saying that a leader must be willing to accept responsibility for their actions.

That changed a week after his eighteenth birthday, which is actually the same day as mine. You see, there's a ritual for males, I don't know what it is or what it's called, but when Dainn came back, he was what he is now. Cruel to his former friends, raping does because he could. He was my best friend before that. Hell, we may have been something more, but that ritual completely threw it away.

Some bucks, like my father, went through it as well, but for some reason are immune to the effects, and each of them, far as I can tell, joined a group that Estra made after she was overthrown to bring our people back to how they were during her rule, and every generation of my mother's maternal side has been in it. Yeah, I honestly don't understand how all of Estra's blood descendants are does, but still, each of us have been a part of it, and I'm currently the leader, my mother dying of illness on the boat ride over to Equestria, which was a year long thing, and started when I was twenty three. When we landed in Lindisbarne, the where the first mare was collared, the rest of the does of my group and myself fled, the bucks staying behind so we would have people on the inside.

As more cities fell, more does willingly went in to help with information. Ponyville was the last major town, and with it, only myself and two other members remained fully free, much as it meant here. A week after it was taken, the three of us split up. My two aides, Gina and Kaena, they went to Manehattan, while I stayed in the woods for near a month, living off of berries and such, before a Stallion patrol found me. They had bucks with them, and they tried to use runic magic to stop me, but every doe of my family is given training in runes, and we have a natural resistance to most, as well as a higher tolerance before exhaustion when you say the runes.

You see, most runes nowadays are written or carved, and that actually weakens them. Only reason the bucks don't use said runes is because they were a doe creation, when the verbal ones are stronger. I was able to get away, but I was severely weakened form it. Fleur knows the rest of the story, but I'll tell it again so you all know. I collapsed after an hour of running, and laid on the forest ground, waiting for something to either kill and eat me, or for the bucks and stallions to find me, rape me, and capture me. So, imagine my surprise when a group of mares, with Fleur in the lead, found me. One of them wanted to kill me, but the others all said no. I was brought back here to the hive, and allowed to recover. After that, I requested to speak with Chrysalis, and when I met her, I told her the same thing I just told you all. I said I wanted to help, and I was given a position in Fleur's squad. From there, it was normal resistance stuff. Hit and run attacks, assassinations, the works. Things were like that for three years, and, well, you probably know the rest.

"Whoa." That was all I could say in response to Silver.

"Yeah, I can see that," Silver said with a chuckle. "So, anyway, when we got back here, I found those of the order that had been in Ponyville, and started to combine what intel we had that could still be of use." A devious smile came to her face. "Turns out the stallions are planning on using a, quote unquote, 'secure spell' to broadcast messages and such to Equestria, and we were thinking, with the right spell, we can break into it, and use it to show them just how smart does and mares can be."

"It sounds like a military matter," Celestia said. "Mau'ual?"

I thought on it for a few seconds. "No," I say. "I don't want to reveal our hand so soon in this war, and it may be a trap of sorts. Mares had their horns removed, but changeling females didn't. This may be a ploy so they can find our base. If we fell for it, and we don't have troops ready, we would lose, and every mare here would be captured or re-captured, and I will not risk that. Not yet."

"When, then," Fleur asked.

"When they know they are losing, and can do nothing to stop it," I say before a knock on the door was heard.

"Coming," Silver said before getting up and going to the door, revealing a changeling soldier, a male one, standing at the door.

"Val Silver, Her Highness Queen Chrysalis wishes for you and your comrades to come to the throne room. Something important has come up, and she wishes you all to be there."

"What is it," I asked, getting up.

"Valus, a representative from the Griffons has come," the soldier replied. "They wish to help us."