Twilight grimaced as she walked down the street in her brand-new suit of purple and green armor. Her wings were awkwardly jammed against her spine as she tried to keep them hidden inside the armor. The only person who looked as uncomfortable as her was Starlight, in her slightly too-large Regional Governor uniform. A small temporary tattoo of a dragon's wing was emboldened across her cheek. Starlight had assured them that she'd quickly be outed as an imposter if she didn't have that marking.

Surprisingly, Yona herself was handling things pretty well, even though she was wearing nothing but a few rags that barely covered her body, and her hands were bound in front of her. A rope trailed from her bound hands to Starlight's hand as she gave a faux act of resistance, grinding her hooves in the dirt or shouting insults in Yakkish.

Meanwhile, Blueblood walked with a nonchalant swagger in his step as he flanked Starlight, holding up a spear in one hand. Sandbar gave the appearance of being equally confident in his stride, but every so often he threw an exceptionally nervous glance over at Yona.

Blueblood suddenly spoke up, making both Starlight and Twilight straighten their backs. "Focus, you're both loyal followers of the Empire. You have no reason to be worried in this city."

Starlight nodded and did her best to solidify her stance.

The five resistance members were just now coming into Appleloosa from the desert and entered the city... and what Twilight saw almost made her sick to her stomach. The once proud Buffalo race had been reduced to mere slaves under the Draconic Empire. Massive corals surrounded the cities, with the Buffalo shoved into them, completely nude.

She watched as a pen full of buffalo were forced to lower themselves onto their hands and knees to eat hay that had been half-hazardly thrown into their pen by a pair of pony guards, who laughed at them as they did. Still, more buffalo were almost completely bound and forced to pull carts and carriages for their masters.

Most of the buffalo were off in the distance far from the Resistance members, where they were working in the city orchards loading cartload after cartload of apples and dragging them towards a processing plant. Likely to be turned into rations for the Imperial Army's pony divisions.

Twilight shook her head, remembering back when she and her friends had helped the Buffalos and Ponies find a compromise. Now that had blown up in her face. She once again took solace in the fact that this wasn't her Equestria.

Appleloosa's city center itself wasn't large, with most of the population living on farms far outside of the town. That meant it wasn't hard for the four ponies to find the Governor's abode. It was a relatively small two-story castle-shaped structure in the center of town.

When they approached, they were greeted by a small circle of snickering and jeering pony guards. A single dragon stood over them, his arms crossed over his chest as he too enjoyed whatever it was they were looking at.

Twilight frowned slightly, doing her best to peer past the crowd. That's when she caught sight of it. A pair of buffalo, one male and the other female were stripped bare in the center of the circle. The female was on her back, while the male was on his knees on top of her, thrusting in and out of her. They both had tears in their eyes as they did their best to avoid eye contact.

"Come on! You wanted to be a ma and a pa didn't you?" One of the guards called out with a thick western accent. "Well, you'd best try harder then! Pick up the pace!"

The buffalo bull let out a loud sob as he turned his sight to the sky, thrusting even harder into the cow. This made the guard laugh even harder.

Twilight growled slightly, balling her fists. She made to take a step forward towards the circle, but Sandbar stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She turned back to him with her mouth open, but she was silenced when Sandbar grimly shook his helmeted head from side to side.

Starlight took a shaky breath in, before she cleared her throat, staring up at the dragon. The dragon turned his head towards her, before quickly pausing and snapping to salute. The other guards were slower but before long all of them had noticed her and saluted.

"Regional Governor Starlight Glimmer! It is an honor, ma'am." The dragon started.

Starlight stared up at the dragon for a moment, before she cleared he throat and straightened her back. "The pleasure is all mine." She said simply, narrowing her eyes into a bored gaze. "Now, I have an important gift for your boss, Governor Silver Star. Behind me is a Yak who was a slave in Sweet Apple Acres. I know that Silver Star has a bit of a thing for bovines, so..."

She trailed off and the dragon blinked twice.

"Say no more ma'am. I think I understand you. Go right ahead," the dragon said, giving a slight bow as he did. He quickly stepped aside, opening the door to allow her in. She gave the dragon a quick nod.

"Thank you, soldier, I'll be sure to inform Silver Star about how pleasant you made this interaction," Starlight said with a slight nod before turning back to Yona.

Yona merely had her eyes locked on the two buffalo's a growing look of appreciation on her face. Starlight merely closed her eyes, flared her nostrils, and walked forward, dragging the rope behind her as she did. When Yona remained still Blueblood quickly shoved her forwards with the blunt tip of his spear.

"Move it, slave," he ordered darkly, before striding past Twilight and Sandbar, Yona quickly doing as instructed.

Twilight inhaled deeply. "Come on Twilight," she said quietly, hoping her helmet obfuscated her voice enough that no one could hear her. "This is what you have to do to save everyone. The needs of the many..."

Then she and Sandbar strode forward, leaving the two buffalos to their fate as the soldiers quickly got back to their game.

The castle's interior was very medieval in style which, she felt, clashed with the rustic baubles that Silver had decorated it with. Grusome bull's horns were hung on the wall at even intervals, alongside empty gibbet cages that hung from the ceiling. Hides of creatures that patrolled the wasteland were turned into carpets here and there, with a central rug that led down the center of the main hall that had been made out of a Tatzelwurm.

A painting of Silver Star wearing a purple uniform, an armband, a black ten-gallon hat, and a pair of jackboots dominated the end of the hallway. It was set mid-day, with Silver Star having one of his boots kicked up, pressing Chief Thunderhoof's head into the ground. A pair of dragon guards in purple armor stood behind him in the picture, one of them holding Little Strongheart by the throat.

Staring at it made Twilight growl under her helmet, but what made it even worse was what was directly underneath the painting. It looked like a secretary's desk with two creatures chained to it. One she recognized immediately as Little Strongheart, who was wearing nothing but a skimpy rag tunic and a chief's headdress obviously intended to humiliate her. Every time she moved Twilight could hear the sound of chains rattling.

The other, meanwhile, was Braeburn, who was wearing an imperial uniform as he slowly stamped paperwork and stapled them together, bags under his eyes. Initially, Twilight glared at the sight of him, the thought of Braeburn of all people turning on the Buffalo and helping enslave them made her sick... that was until she heard the chains moving as he worked too.

He was just as much of a slave as Strongheart. The sight of it immediately made her glare dissipate.

The two were obviously emaciated and she could understand why. Hungry slaves were weak slaves. And weak slaves couldn't fight back.

Sandbar merely glared up at the picture of Silver Star as Starlight walked past him to Braeburn and Strongheart.

"I request a meeting with Governor Silver Star, I trust he can fit me into his schedule?" She said in an authoritative tone as she stared down at the two of them.

Braeburn merely looked up at her with hollow eyes before he spoke in a monotone. "Down the right hall, up a set of stairs, and to the left," He sighed. "It's the biggest door."

Starlight merely nodded down at him, before turning to go. Twilight watched as Strongheart turned to Braeburn with a look of sympathy, before turning away and sadly shaking her head. Twilight grimaced beneath her helmet and turned to follow after Starlight and Blueblood.

Sandbar and Yona hesitated for a moment before they marched on as well. Sandbar himself slowly turned Yona as they walked a look of pity on his face. "That... that could've been us," he said simply, shaking his head.

"Yona know..." she mumbled back, her face going white.

Once they were out of sight of the desk, Starlight collapsed against the wall slightly, sweat pouring down her brow. Yona, Blueblood, Twilight, and Sandbar quickly formed a ring around her, just to make absolutely sure she wasn't seen.

"Calm down, now," Blueblood ordered. "You are doing so well, and we are almost done with this."

Starlight breathed in heavily. "I know..." She sighed. "I'm just... shocked at just how well I'm doing." She whimpered slightly, shaking her head.

She turned to Twilight. "It shouldn't be this evil to pretend to be evil, should it? What if..."

Twilight shook her head at Starlight. "It's alright. You aren't slipping back to your old ways Starlight, just by pretending here."

Sandbar nodded, alongside Yona.

Blueblood put a hand on her shoulder. "I know more than anyone what it means to play a character for Equestria's future. You aren't becoming your act. Now shape up. We have a governor to meet with."

Sorry it took me such a long time, I've been really busy this year lol