The flying had stopped a while ago, and while Twilight was glad she could have a moment to take a breath, it also allowed her to stop for a moment and think, to watch at the group of ponies who, much like her, had stopped to rest.

Reaching Ponyville flying would have taken a lot less time than going on hoof, but when her group had suddenly spotted yet another group, mostly formed by earth ponies and unicorns, they had merged together in hopes of reaching ponyville safe and sound.

There had been a few skirmishes with small groups of caribou who had given chase to the ground group since they left Canterlot, but were easily subdued by the numbers and strategy Twilight had shared with them.

The most difficult part was when the caribou were beaten, having to take a choice of what to do with them. Almost all the mares in the group (and even some stallions) had voted to right there and then kill them. Others had voted to tie them in a tree and leave them to rot in the forest.

Twilight was in a mixed feeling on such position, one where she had the final word. There wasn't a lack of reasons for why they should be killed, she had to admit, and there was a vast lack of reasons on why the shouldn't.

In the end, Twilight had taken a choice she had already done in the past. The caribou were monsters, but they wouldn't make her, and even less her subjects, like them. They were ponies, and they were the most honorable of races for a reason: Friendship.

While she felt happy and proud for her choice, there was a huge part of her group of refugees and rebels who weren't happy with her decision, but couldn't ultimately argue with a princess.

Later on, she had noticed with some sadness when her group suddenly was split into two smaller groups. The main one, the bigger one, was mostly conformed by females, the civilian had taken their place following closely their princess, while the female guards had taken on themselves to watch the other, smaller group: the males.

Treated like something shortly of criminals, the guards had been disarmed and put in a small circle constantly surveilled by the female guards.

Of course, Twilight couldn't blame them for being so cautious. She had to guiltily admit she had also watched them closely, having to suspect of them because of the changelings and the brainwashed stallions.

So far, none of the males of the group had done anything suspicious, and it made Twilight feel even more sad for them when she saw a stallion try to help a mare who had tripped and fell and receive a harsh slap to the face and being called "rapist". The stallion had gone back to the group with a sad face and his tail between his legs.

Just what had things turned into? Had they really turned into sexists so far, even judging innocent stallions who had done nothing to them? Judging those who had a truly good heart and wanted nothing jut to help them, but having a trauma so severe it clouded their perception?

Once again, with everything that had happened so far, Twilight couldn't blame them. But it didn't make it more correct.

She really wished things would go back to how they were as soon as possible, where everypony was friend of everypony.

Turning around, Twilight's hopes grew as she saw the weak lights that shone over Ponyville on such a dark night. The moon hadn't gone up and there wasn't a single star in view. It was almost as if a dark veil had fallen upon all ponies.

But she'd make sure that veil would be lifted from them, even if it was the last thing she did.

At the next morning, the group had moved quickly when the town of Ponyville was sighted. Hungry and tired as they were, they made haste for the town with the promise of food and a warm bed to sleep. Twilight knew the people... her people in ponyville would be generous and aid them in their time of need.

Finally reaching the small clearing separating them from the forest, with the train tracks at their side, the group would finally reach ponyville in a small time.

Just as Twilight hoped, the town ponies quickly received them, but the group of refugees quickly ruined such a warm welcome.

"GET AWAY FROM ME! GET THIS RAPIST AWAY FROM ME!!"

Twilight quickly turned to the source of the scream, product of a mare who had kicked a stallion in the crotch and fled behind a female guard, who had quickly threatened the poor, panicking stallion with the tip of her spear. Right in front of the frightened stallion, a blanked and a spilled bowl of some kind of soup laid.

"Wait! Stop!" Twilight rushed in front of the guard, casting a shield around her and the stallion before facing the guard. "What are you doing!?"

"Your highness! This stallion tried to assault this mare! I'm just making sure this scum doesn't try anything!"

Twilight turned once more to the stallion, who was literally shaking of fear and looking at her with a pleading look.

"Put that spear down!" Twilight turned to the mare once more, having a fierce and determined look on her face. "He is innocent!"

"How can we be sure!? For all we know, he could be with THEM! They ALL could already be sided with them!!"

A small spark of fear and nervousness filled Twilight. She had seen the day before several cases of stallions suddenly turning against their loved ones. What if the guard was right? What if the caribou's influence had already reached them?

"What is going on here!?" Twilight turned to a tomboyish voice approaching them, bringing a truly happy smile to her face as she saw her friend Rainbow Dash flying towards them.

"Rainbow!" Her shield was lowered as she proceeded to run towards her friend, catching her in a tight hug which Rainbow quickly returned.

"Twilight! I'm so happy to see you!" Rainbow's voice was softly broken for a moment, trying to drown a sob and a pair of happy tears threatening to fall from her face.

Rainbow broke the hug first, looking around at the group that had just arrived, suddenly concerned by the concerning distance between mares and stallions.

"Twi, what is going on? Wait, Pinkie Pie? Fluttershy? Applejack?"

Twilight's face filled with tears at that, opening her mouth to try and say something though not finding any words to say.

"Applejack!?" A rough, low tone was heard close of them, making her look at Applejack's family. The tallest member had quickly ran towards her, looking at her with a questioning look.

"Stop right there!" Big Mac was quickly stopped by a pair of lances pointing at his throat, belonging to a pair of guardsmares who had just arrived to Ponyville. "You won't get near princess Twilight, you wretched rap-"

"Let him pass." Both mares turned to their princess with a surprised look, though not having much choice when the princess herself took the spear in her hand and throwing it away.

Finally free to speak, Twilight turned to the red stallion. The resolve and hard look of royalty was instantly broken as their eyes met, a feeling of dread constantly growing on his gentle, big eyes.

"... Mah sister?"

"... there were too many... i couldn't do anything... *sniff*"

A few tears escaped from her eyes, and while clouded by said tears, she could still get a clear of view of Big Mac's face turning into one of uncertainty, slowly becoming more and more enraged, something almost not a single pony had seen before.

Big mac was actually more than angry. Enraged and furious would be better terms to describe him. Nopony said anything as the stallion suddenly turned around and left with a quick pace, stopping before a thick tree in the distance.

Big Mac was a calm and collected stallion, with a more leveled head than most of his family's members. That day, just as he shouted in despair as his punch literally tore a hole through the poor tree, all of ponyville was treated to the true meaning of a concerned brother, a vulnerable pony, unable to do anything for one of the ponies he loved the most.

Twilight and Rainbow looked at him with a mix of feeling, though Twilight was the one feeling the most guilt. It was her fault for being weak and powerless to help. Just what kind of torture was poor Applejack suffering at the moment? And her friends, and the princesses?

"Twilight, darling!"

All her worries were put aside for the moment as she looked at her last friend, Rarity. Still dressed as fashionably as always, she didn't care about her attire as she ran towards her friend, embracing her in a warm, welcoming hug.

Yet to that day, Twilight still wondered what had she done to deserve such wonderful friends.

"... Twilight?" Rarity's voice broke her thoughts as she broke the hug, looking at her with a concerned and almost afraid face, much like the rest of Ponyville. "... are the rumors true? Is Canterlot being attacked at the moment?"

A circle had quickly formed around her, all of Ponyville's habitants looking at her in concern, but still expecting her answer. Twilight sighed slowly before hardening her face and turning to them.

"... it is true. Canterlot... no... all of Equestria is under attack right now."

A gasp was heard from among all the ponies looking at her, followed by a soft murmur along them, though still waiting for Twilight to finish.

"I was there, and it was indeed terrible..." Memories came back to her mind again of all the ponies she had to abandon the day before, and the atrocities the caribou did. "... and worse of all... The princesses have been defeated and... incarcerated."

The word "enslave" was about to escape from her mouth, though she stopped herself just as she saw several foals out there, helping as much as they could. They wouldn't understand what she meant, and she didn't want to give them mental scars at the moment.

"... Three of the elements of harmony have been captured, too. Princesses Cadence, Celestia and Luna have been subjugated and several hundreds of Ponies have also been captured."

A tense atmosphere quickly formed among the town as they turned to the mountain, where Twilight noticed the large, pink bubble enclosing it again. Her brother was up again, which meant they would know she had escaped already... and they would come for her, first.

"... The beings that dared to attack our lands are called Caribou. We don't exactly know what brought them here from across the sea, but they are out to claim our lands as theirs. That's the why they attacked Canterlot and captured the princesses. They are trying to conquer us."

She was glad most of the ponies understood the severity of what she was saying. No panic had broken yet, even the scaredy flower ponies were quiet and giving her their full attention.

"And their next objective... is here, Ponyville. Because they are looking to capture the signs of strength of Equestria." And turn them into sex slaves, twilight thought. Though of course, she couldn't just tell that out loud. Not just yet. "... They are looking for me. The last free princess of Equestria."

"And we shall not allow them to capture her!" Rainbow's voice suddenly sounded before she landed at her side, putting a hand over her shoulders in a protective way. "We will defend our dear town and our dear princess from them!"

The guards who had come to the town, most notably the males, let out a shout of support to the idea, lifting their fists up in a firm salute to their princess.

"We won't allow them to just come and take the land we love for themselves! When they come, they will find just how tough us ponies are!"

Rainbow was clearly up for action, as always, and Twilight smiled once more as she felt truly secure for the first time. Taking a step ahead, she also rose her voice for everyone else to listen.

"Rainbow is right! We won't allow them to take our lands! We will face them here and drive them out of here. We will rescue our friends and the princesses in Canterlot! And then, we will truly defeat them! Like with Chrysalis, with Discord, with Sombra, with Nightmare Moon! We defeated them, and we shall defeat the Caribou, too!"

A loud cheer was heard across Ponyville, all of the ponies joining their princess in promising to recover what the Caribou had stole.

Her confidence wavered slightly when she turned to the group she had brought. Most of them were looking at her with an insecure expression, even some of them scared at the prospect of having to face the caribou again.

She, too, was afraid of facing them again. But what other option did she have? Just to run away from them as she had done so many times again? No, she wouldn't. She'd stay and face them until the end.

A short while later, having put the refugees in some free rooms offered kindly by the folks of Ponyville, Twilight had quickly gathered the ones she trusted the most in the town hall.

Mayor Mare, Big Mac and Granny Smith were present, as well as Rainbow Dash and Rarity. The rest were some of the guards who had come with Twilight, though more females than males.

"So... how bad is it really?"

Rainbow was the first one to actually break the heavy silence that had formed in the room. Twilight was actually glad she did, seeing as she was too afraid to actually say anything on her own.

"... very bad. Not only we are being attacked by Caribou... it's several other things i'm sure you must be made aware of."

Now within a closed circle of confidence, she could truly say openly what she had seen so far. The way the Caribou acted, the crystal ponies' betrayal and the Changelings' alliance.

And then came the heavy part. Twilight had to repeat word by word all of her failures to that moment, starting with Celestia's defeat at the hands of the Caribou King and the things she had seen during their celebration parade.

Most of the guards in the room hadn't actually seen the parade, just hearing it in the distance from their hiding place. For them who had already seen the effects of Cadence's barrier on the stallions, it finally made some sense why some stallions had suddenly turned against them even within their hideouts.

Though the part of mutilation was what definitely made everypony's face show a reasonable amount of fear. Big Mac had quickly pushed another hole on the table in front of them when he heard what had been done to Applejack, while Granny Smith stood silent and with a serious look.

Rainbow's face had turned to one of extreme anger like Big Mac's, though also sorrow when she heard of what had happened to her dear friends. Much like Twilight, she had also been feeling guilty for just leaving her friends behind. But now? She just felt miserable for doing so, even when some ponies stood up for her.

Rarity's reaction was bizarre, to say the least. Her eyes constantly shifted to the table, having a lost look on her face. When Twilight mentioned of how the females were being collared, both hands were lifted to her own neck, rubbing on it as she had an almost panicked expression on her face.

Of course, Twilight understood their expressions. She had lived it herself, yet it all seemed so distant, as if she had lived it millenia ago. It also seemed so unreal, having to repeat to herself it had truly happened, least her already stressed mind took it as a bad dream or her own imagination.

"... so what do we do now?"

Granny Smith's elderly tone broke the silence once everypony had fallen into a quiet despair, making every pair of eyes to turn to the green mare.

"Ya' said they would come here first 'afore goin' somewhere else. What do we do 'bout it?"

Twilight was once more given the full responsibility when every pair of eyes turned to her once more. Of course, being a princess, the last free princess of Equestria, she was now their last hope of having a light to guide them when fighting back.

Twilight started to stammer, trying to find something within her brain to say. There hadn't been many wars in Equestria in centuries, so the info on battles, sieges and general wars had been scarce.

"I-i... i... i don't know... what can we do to-"

"We hafta lift a fence." Once more, Granny Smith's experience was shown, even rivalling Twilight's own leadership. Once everypony had turned to her, she looked at Twilight with a smirk before continuing. "That's how we keep varmints out of the farm, so they don't have the chance to take anything that isn't theirs."

"Eeyup."

"And that's how we'll stop them!" Twilight said with a smile as she finally understood what the elder pony was trying to say.
"We'll stop their armies here and force them to pull back!"

"And when they grow tired, we simply kick their flanks back to wherever it is they came from!"

"Simply brilliant, darling! A good plan, indeed!"

Every single pony had quickly voiced their opinions on the plan, some of them disagreeing with said plan with their whole being, but ultimately deciding it would be the best course of action.

"Then, it's settled!" Twilight said with more confidence as she stood up, finally feeling they could stand a chance against the caribou. "Send word to every stallion and mare who can work so they can start building a wall around Ponyville."

"But what do we make it with? We don't have enough stone or bricks!"

"We have plenty of wood."

Big Mac immediately turned to his grandmother with a surprised look on his face, letting out a grave "nope".

"We have enough apples to grow another harvest when all this is over, sonny. But right now, them trees might do more good on that wall than just restin' up there in the farm."

Big Mac sighed deeply for a moment before letting out a tired "eyup" in answer, turning around and leaving yhe hall, ready to set hands and hooves to work.

Being the strongest of the group, the guards immediately went with him to work, too. Granny Smith nodded silently before getting up and going away, too.

Mayor Mare had decided that most of the townsfolk, specially those that were parents should be informed of the gravity of the situation and left shortly. Rainbow had apparently left at some time to help with the construction without saying a word, leaving only Rarity and Twilight in the room, though the white unicorn still looked at the table with a distraught look and rubbing her neck.

"Rarity? Are you alright?" Twilight asked with concern before going to her friend's side.

"... i don't know, darling. What you just told us... it's not easy to process."

Twilight nodded with a sad frown, knowing that same feeling. She could only lift a hand to her friend's shoulder and posing it softly, rubbing in a comforting way that might as well been for herself, trying to assure both ponies that everything would be fine.

Rarity turned to her friend, smiling to her as she placed a hand over her friend's, showing her friend the very same support and appreciation she was showing.

It brought some calm to Twilight's mind, which also brought a sudden feeling of drowsiness and a large yawn escaping her mouth.

"I think you should take a rest, darling. You look as if you haven't slept at all!"

Twilight nodded at her friend, feeling absolutely tired. No pony said a word and instead just waved at each other as they started to leave the place. Twilight could allow herself a couple of hours of sleep now that they were safe, for the moment.

"Oh, before you leave, darling?" Twilight turned once more to her friend with a tired face, desiring to already fall on her bed. "I think you should know... Spike... he's not feeling too well."

The tired look on Twilight's face left immediately at that.

"Spike? Where is he? What happened?"

" i don't rightly know, Darling. He's on the library, but he didn't even open it yesterday at all. When i tried to visit him, he wouldn't even answer to me at all, which is actually concerning. He's always so willing to see me!"

Of course that was concerning. Twilight didn't even say anything before she had started to run towards the library, despite Rarity's protests and yelling.

She wouldn't fail yet again. If it was within her power to solve something, as small or big as it might have been, she'd do it. No more failure.

Though the library definitely was closed (clear evidence of that being the small sign hanging from the door), Twilight couldn't help but feel as if something was definitely wrong inside.

"Spike!? Spike, where are you!?"

Twilight slammed open the door, letting a small beam of sunlight to enter into her beloved home. The library had definitely seen better days, and Twilight made a mental note to give Spike a good lecturing when she found him.

Not only where books thrown across the floor, but shelves had been turned over and even some scrolls had been chewed off.

"Spike! I leave you alone for three days and you leave the library in such a mess!?"

Quickly storming upstairs to their bedroom, she noticed the library becoming even more disarranged and chaotic the closer she got to their space.

Her hand stopped mere inches from the door when she saw it. A claw slash on the door, though one bigger than any being living close to Ponyville.

A hissing sound caught her attention, quickly turning around with a stunning spell ready to fire, finding a pair of green, emerald and definitely huge eyes staring at her.

"S-spi-"

"MINE!"

Just when a large claw wrapped around her neck, lifting her from the wooden floor effortlessly, did she see who it was.

It was Spike, though seemingly passing through another growth spurt like the one they had seen before. Once again, the little dragon had let his own greed get out of his claws, but it seemed as if that time was different.

He was bigger indeed, though his body seemed more muscular, having a solid wall of flesh and scales in places where once had been childish chubbiness.

Twilight's eyes turned to pin pricks when her eyes strayed down his figure, seeing something that sparked something down her mind: his huge dragon cock, already hard and throbbing.

A slashing sound was heard right after his large claw lunged at her, not giving her time to react before it was right in front of her.

She watched in stunned silence as the front part of her clothes were shredded to small pieces, sending them flying away while her own modest breasts jiggled softly when released.

Spike's look had turned even more animalistic at the sight, even openly drooling at Twilight's private parts revealed. His claw slowly started to approach to one of her breasts, eager to openly fondle such a delicious piece of-

A loud crack sounded shortly of a flashing behind him, finding both claws empty of his prey while Twilight looked at him with fear.

She couldn't believe it. It couldn't be happening! Spike was showing the same effects of the Caribou's magic than the stallions in Canterlot. He had been also been tainted!

She teleported away once more when the large reptilian lunged at her, popping into the lower floor of the tree just in time to hear a loud thump in the upper floor.

Not much time passed as heavy steps and slashing where heard from above, quickly moving towards the stairs. His eyes narrowed when he saw her standing the middle of the room, having a frightened look on her face while she slowly backed away from him.

"Spike! Get a hold of yourself! This isn't you!"

"MINE! TWILIGHT MINE!!"

She barely had time to teleport away when Spike moved at a speed that could as well rival that of Rainbow's, making the reptile to crash head first into a wall of the library, sending so many precious books to the ground.

The bundle started to move before the dragon bursted out of it with a roar, though stumbling around with other objects in a daze due to the hit he had suffered.

Twilight slowly tried to get towards the stairs, having locked the front door with her magic so she could leave him inside while trying to figure what to do. Her ears flattened against her skull when a loose board sounded right below her hoof.

Fear arose into her when Spike's uproar stopped suddenly, slowly turning towards her with an angry and hungry look. Right before his prey could teleport away again, his claw quickly took a hold of a nearby book, lifting it over his head.

"Not that one! That's a first and special edition of- OOF!!"

Twilight's phrase was interrupted when the book collided with her stomach, taking out the air from her as she fell on her rump, holding her belly in pain and panting.

"... Mine..." Spike hissed lowly as he started to walk like a crocodile slowly towards her, sensing his prey down and easy to catch.

Twilight's breath was slowly returning while looking at her baby brother, more resembling a son as their time together flashed through her eyes, not believing for a moment those ferocious eyes belonged to the baby dragon she cared so much about.

"... i-i'm... so- hahh... sorry, Spike... you're... hah... not well..."

Her horn started to shine as the most powerful stunning spell she could muster started to load, making the dragon to lunge at her before she could recover.

Their eyes met one last time right before the spell was shot, giving Twilight barely a second to muster an apology to her baby brother before the beam sent the dragon flying back with a roar.

A loud crack sounded around the library when he fell, making Twilight wonder for a moment if anypony else outside the library had heard it. Panic grew on her when she noticed him not moving at all, making the worst ideas to come to her head.

Staggering towards him, still panting to recover her own breath, she turned him over with her magic just short of touching him with her hands, silently thanking Celestia when she saw his chest rising and falling softly. He was alive, just knocked out.

"... i-i'm so sorry spike... you're not well... and you might harm yourself if i don't do this!"

She said to the asleep dragon, though once more to comfort herself, to repeat to herself that it would be alright.

She had floated him down the basement, setting every cushion and pillow she could find to make that space comfortable for him. Tainted or not, he was still her number one assistant, and as such, she'd make sure to make him feel comfortable while she tried to figure how to fix him back.

Her whole afternoon was spent on securing all the important equipment she had downstairs so Spike wouldn't break it when he woke up, but also making a big enough supply of food for him so he wouldn't starve... for as long as he had to stay there.

Spells were set on the room so the ceiling and walls couldn't be broken or passed through by him, using every single spell she could remember to keep him (and the others, herself included) safe from himself.

When she was over, a last spell was cast on the door so it could only be opened from the outside, blowing a soft, good night kiss to the sleeping dragon before the door closed, leaving him trapped there for as long as it needed to be.

Drowsiness came back on full force to Twilight's mind when she was done, even feeling her body growing heavier with every moment that passed. Her horn started to ache due to all the magic she had to use without a rest, which shortly transmitted to her brain, giving her the biggest headache she had felt ever.

Arriving to her bedroom, her last space of peace and security, her hooves barely moved away from the floor as she almost fell over on the way to her bed.

Her dress still in pieces, her mane disheveled, her mind tired and overstressed and her whole body aching, Twilight immediately fell asleep even before her face touched the pillow.

Alone, afraid and uncertain of what would happen the day after, Twilight Sparkle slept through the whole night.

Author's Notes:

Welp, this is it. This is as far as [REDACTED] went with this story before her personal problems arose. Thanks for the guidance you gave me, leading it to this part.
And much like Twilight in this story, i suddenly find myself responsible to lead this on unexplored territory, blind and without a map. Yes, i know (so so) the events that lead to Twilight's breaking and later on, to her own training as a red collar example. But saying is different than actually doing. So, bare with me for a small while longer, as i try to find a way for things to reach a point, but also to make them fit accordingly so the puzzle gets completed (or as complete as this may be)

As I said, I have a Ko-fi page now. If you like my stories, have money to spare, and find it within your heart to spare it in me, then i'd be grateful. And if you want to keep reading stories, then you can hit that "follow" button.

Leave a like if you want, and also a comment. Good ones help me to improve, and critics help me to correct mistakes. I'd really appreciate it.