Tears of Harmony

"What are the names of the six Garden Worlds, little Flurry?"

"Equus, Equus Prime, Ascension, Starlight, Destiny, and Cadenza!"

"That's right. And the names of their solar systems?"

"Umm... Equus is in the Horsehead Nebula, Equus Prime and Ascension are in the Utopia system, and Destiny and Cadenza are in the Unity system!"

"Very good! Would you like to visit them all someday?"

"Emp... Emper... Twilight said I'll protect them all someday! She said she was going to make me the Royal Hunter!"

"Oh? And what is that?"

"What's next?" I asked Koss. He paused mid-stride, a bemused smile on his face as he cautiously eyed me. After I'd returned to his apartment I had one of the Sons of Gilda return my ship to the spaceport to make it easy to find, and then I'd gone back to Koss's apartment to wait for his return. I'd been sitting in one of his chairs when he'd opened the door, and he seemed to be doing well. I didn't bother to ask how he escaped the quarry, and I knew he wouldn't offer to explain himself. It didn't matter, only Harmony did. That, and our next move.

"Well, Tim'mrak's been hurt pretty bad by having his emerald mine disrupted. He's got other assets, as we've discussed, but the one next important to him is his slaver camp system. He uses slave labor, pony mostly, to tend to some of his other facilities. Refineries, machine shops, that sort of thing" Koss explained.

"Mmm. Well, let's get going" I said, and stood. Koss stopped me as I neared the door, and I smiled at him.

"Are you certain you want to go so soon? I don't know what happened to you after you and your bot escaped to the sewers, but you come back weeks later without him, missing your mane and tail, and blistered and scarred to all Tartarus. It's obvious Tim'mrak didn't do any of this to you, but clearly something terrible happened to you" Koss said. "Then, you came back and went straight back into the fight. It might be wise to take a break for a day or two."

"The fuck do you care?" I huffed. "All that matters is the bottom line to you. Now let's go, we've got work to do." I shoved my way past Koss and headed for the stairs that led down to street level. There'd be plenty of time for rest later, once my work was finished.

Our flight on the Sons of Gilda skyboat took us to within a few miles of Tim'mrak's tower. I could see it in the distance, rising above countless other low buildings. The skyboat dipped and we slowed for a landing. The vehicle hadn't even stopped when Koss and I leaped out onto the street. The hum of the engines briefly filled the air as the vehicle took off and headed for a standby point a few miles back.

"OK, so, the camp isn't far from here. There ought to be a sewer tunnel running underneath it, and we'll use that to infiltrate the camp. Do you have a plan?" Koss asked as we started walking.

"Kill everything that walks on two legs, and free everything that walks on four" I said.

"How succinct, but it'll hardly be that simple. At each corner of the perimeter fence, as well as in the center of the camp, are machine gun towers. Getting to the Minotaurs inside will be a bit harder than the rest in the camp."

"So I'll just knock the whole towers down. I'm an Alicorn, Koss. Nothing can stop me" I declared, spreading my wings out for emphasis. We neared the porthole cover Koss was leading me to and he stopped, took a moment to slide the cover off, and gestured for me to get in. Negotiating a ladder was a bit of a challenge for a pony, but I made do. After a moment Koss came down, slid the cover back into place behind him, and together the two of us began the trek down the tunnel.

"Alicorn or not, you're still killable. I think that you'd do well to remember that."

I huffed but ignored him, and we made our way down the tunnel in silence. The objective was to make our way into the camp and free as many of the ponies interred within as possible. The plan, to kill everything on two legs, was how we'd accomplish that. It was a simple matter, I had no idea why Koss thought there'd be more to it.

it was about fifteen minutes before we reached a junction where two other tunnls met the one we had entered through, with runoff pipes opening up in the ceiling above the mouth of each. As we came to a stop a deluge of ashy water came rushing down one of the runoff pipes and was dumped into the sewer. I watched it disinterestedly as Koss looked for a ladder or door of some kind.

"Ah, here we are" he said, and I turned to face him. The tunnel to the left of the one we'd come down had a small ladder against the far wall, and Koss had one clawed hand on the rungs, ready to head up. I silently followed him as he clambered up and, with a quick check once he reached the top, leaped out into the building above. After a moment I joined him, and we found ourselves in what appeared to be a morgue, the hatches lining the wall all sealed. "I suppose you want to split up."

I nodded. "We'll use this as the escape route for the slaves, and we'll free more if we split up. Just go wherever you like, it doesn't matter to me" I said, and I headed off. The morgue led out to a wide hallway, the walls adorned with posters and notice boards. I trotted left and headed for the double doors at the end of the hall, which I assumed led out to the grounds of the camp.

With a twist of the handles and a gentle nudge the doors swung open, and I poked my head out. Directly to the left was the perimeter wall, solid concrete and rising twenty feet, and in the corner of that was one of the machine gun towers. The Minotaur in it had his gun trained on the interior of the camp, but being that I was so close to him he didn't see me.

Hmm. Here's an idea I thought, and approached the tower. There was a ladder that ran directly under the center of it, leading up to a trapdoor. I floated myself up to it and pushed the trapdoor open, and the Minotaur didn't even react, though he was apparently aware the door had opened. "Mm, finally. Is that you, Jin'nak? It's about time you came to relieve me" he said. I gently shut the trapdoor and gripped the Minotaur's thick neck in my magic. He flailed and tried to twist as I suffocated him, but I kept him firmly rooted in place. After just a few seconds he passed out, and a few more moments later I was sure he was dead. I dumped his body to the floor and stood on my hindlegs as I approached the machine gun, inspecting it. A quick check confirmed it was loaded and I sighted in on the tower directly across from me, some 150 yards away, and opened fire.

I'd never fired an actual firearm before. I had my horn, and the few times I'd used a gun it was a recoilless magical energy rifle that mounted to the body, so you can imagine the thrill that rippled through me as the old singer thundered out its tune. I'd heard plenty of gunfire in my time in The Dome, both near and far, but to actually fire one? There was the blast, the flash, the recoil(mitigated as it was by the gun being mounted directly to the tower), and the smell. That sulfur smell of gunpowder. The empty brass briefly danced on the wooden floor before settling, and I watched as the Minotaur in the other tower caught a dozen bullets in his collarbone and throat and fell to the floor. Certain spells caused clean kills, and certain spells caused me to be bathed in blood, but this just...felt different. I smiled; it felt good.

Alarms began to rise in the camp, and I took a moment to blast the gun in the tower before I leaped out and floated down to the ground. I charged towards a blockhouse near the center of the camp, the other towers opening fire as I went, little geysers of dirt kicking up all around me as the bullets landed. I lit my shield and a few of the rounds shattered around me. I ran behind the blockhouse, putting it between me and the other towers, giving me a brief respite. The Minotaurs in the towers were likely expecting to me to charge out from the other end of the blockhouse, so I went back the way I came to throw them off. I paused and siphoned off part of my magic, and wrapped the center tower in my magical grasp. With a yank I knocked the entire tower down and crushed the Minotaur inside, and charged back behind the blockhouse.

As I ran toward the other end of the camp I caught sight of a few Minotaurs gunning for me, and I prepared to cut them down. I slid into cover behind a quonset hut and edged around the corner, shooting a Minotaur in the back. I moved up to where he'd been, and found myself on the flank of the Minotaur squad. I peeked out to shoot them all and they scattered, seemingly aware of me. I frowned but moved out to get an angle on them all, and out of the corner of my eye I saw movement on a nearby rooftop. I turned my gaze to focus on it and saw a Minotaur hoisting something on his shoulder. I was about to take a shot at him when there was a tremendous hiss and a cloud of dust kicked up around the Minotaur, and a second later half of the camp was cast in an orange glow as a missile screamed towards me, and I scrambled back, pumping as much magic into my shield as I could and just praying it'd be enough.

The rocket slammed into the ground a few feet in front of me and I was violently thrown back, sailing through the air and slamming into the corner of a nearby building. My shield winked out with a *CRACK* that made my fur stand on end, and I hit the dirt hard.

Sweet Celestia... Fuck, fuck fuck. I scrambled to my hooves, feeling dazed and dizzy, and lit my shield. Just in time, too, as a smattering of bullets hit just seconds later. I ambled back towards the blockhouse as the Minotaurs closed in on me. Nothing was broken, thankfully, but it had been a close call. It was a miracle I was even still alive, frankly. Time to try something different I thought, intending to head back towards the morgue. I turned back to where it had been and saw the building it had been in was the largest in the camp, likely the main administrative building, and an entirely different thought occurred to me. I bet there are some important documents in there, maybe even a map or floorplan of Tim'mrak's tower.

As I raced towards the admin building I heard a skyboat roar overhead. I dared to look and saw it was that Type X gunboat that I'd encountered at the convoy ambush, and I galloped faster. My shield might save me from one rocket, but a dozen, all hitting at once? There wouldn't have been enough left of me to fill a coffee cup.

I rammed the main doors of the admin building without missing a beat, being welcomed by some gunfire as I did. There was a staircase directly across from the main doors that led up to the second floor, an overturned table in front of it with a Minotaur behind that. I shot him in the head and charged up the stairs, to look for the offices. The stairs were a switchback type, where you went up the initial staircase to a landing, which had two staircases on either side heading up in the opposite direction to put you on the next floor. I reached the second floor, which split off in either direction, and paused. Find the main office, it'll have everything.

"GET UP AFTER HER! TIM'MRAK WISHES TO PLUCK THE FEATHERS FROM HER BACK!!" I heard a Minotaur bellow from downstairs, and I took off into a canter down the left wing of the hall. I passed by several offices and meeting rooms, amused that an illegal slaving operation felt the need to engage in bookkeeping. Maybe each slaver gang had a portfolio that kept track of their reliability for potential buyers. If true, I wasn't sure if that was hilarious or fucked up.

I reached the end of the hall with nothing to show for it. I pushed open a few doors to check, even pulled open a few filing cabinets, but there was nothing that'd help me for the assault on Tim'mrak's tower. Undeterred, I headed back out to the hall where I saw a squad of Minotaurs stacked up the staircase, all of them aiming down the hall at me.

"There's no way out now, little pony. You'd do well to come along quietly; Tim'mrak wishes to have words" one of them said, and I huffed in annoyance.

"What a thing to say. I thought he wanted to pluck the feathers from my back?"

The Minotaur growled a low giggle. "What's the difference?"

"The same as deciding between which spell to kill you all with" I said. My shield had already been lit, and I pushed more power to my horn as the Minotaurs opened fire. They all had armor, and were in cover, so it took a bit of work to actually hit them. After the first few dropped the others spread out, some of them crossing the hall to enter the offices and possibly flank me.

It's not even a challenge anymore, just an inconvenience. At least I remembered how fun it could be I thought. I passed by the staircases, shot the Minotaurs still there in the head, and headed for the other end of the building. I felt and heard a few bullets strike my shield from behind, but paid them no mind. A quick check of the rooms on this side of the floor revealed only more mundane offices, and I was beginning to think I wouldn't find anything when I came across it. The master office. With a smile I pushed the door open and got to work.

"Hello everypony, I am Flurry Heart, the Royal Hunter. It is my honor to be here on your graduation day, to congratulate you all as you all take that first step forward towards the bright future you have all worked very hard to realize. To become Royal Rangers, and become the vanguard of the Golden Age and the Greater Equestrian Empire."

Did that class even end up doing anything? I bet after a few years they realized how boring being a Ranger was. I bet they were jealous of me, though.

"How are you, Flurry? I understand you'd like to get back to work, but it's important to remember take time off when you can."

What a pompous bitch. She didn't give a fuck about me. All she cared about was my track record. That's all anypony cared about when I was the Hunter.

After a few minutes of searching the cabinets and desk I found what I was looking for: a drawer dedicated to cartography. I flicked through the various maps of camps and facilities until I finally found it. A map of Tim'mrak's tower. I scanned it briefly and was surprised to see that there was a sewer access door in the basement. That'd be my ticket inside.

I folded the map up, slid it into one of my pockets, and headed back out into the hall. I heard a clatter and my hoof kicked against something on the floor, and I paused to take a look at it. It was a grenade, and I barely raised my shield in time before it detonated. With a tremendous boom and crash I was sent flying back through the air and out the window at the end of the hall, and I fell the two stories to the ground.

That I was still alive, and conscious, after everything I'd endured this day was less a miracle at this point and more like Celestia herself was protecting me. I struggled to stand, my hooves shaking and my head pounding. I screamed as a bullet hit me in the flank, and I lit my shield. I didn't even bother to try and fight back as I staggered back into the admin building and headed for the morgue. I leaned against the wall for support, just focusing on putting each hoof in front of the pevious. I saw Koss by the door of the morgue, and he kept the hall covered as I approached.

"Let's... Let's get out of here..." I breathed as I passed him. He nodded and sealed the door, and I took a look around. The morgue was empty, and I was about to ask Koss what had happened when he put a talon to my back to push me along.

"The freed slaves are already down in the tunnel. Come on."

I let Koss lead the way, and he helped me get onto the ladder. I hobbled down it and he came down a moment later, rigging the hatch with a grenade trap, should any Minotaurs try to chase us. I turned and there were only four ponies in the tunnel, the lot of them dirty and beaten. "This is...everypony?"

Koss nodded. "Everyone who survived, I'm afraid."

I sat down and leaned against the tunnel wall, trying to catch my breath. "Sorry we couldn't do more... Go on, all of you. Get away from this fucking place..." I whispered, and the ponies only hesitated for a moment before they took off in separate directions, though two of them went down the same tunnel together. It was enough.

"I got-- Ah! I got...a map, of Tim'mrak's tower" I said. "There's a sewer tunnel that runs underneath it, and there's an access door at the base of a main staircase. I'll...sneak in, and disable the anti-air cannons. That way-- Nng... That way you and the, the Sons of Gilda can come in uncontested."

"Very good. For now, though, it's time to get you to a doctor, little Princess. Come on now, let's get going" Koss said. He took one of my hooves across the back of his neck and I leaned on him, trying to keep pressure off my right hindleg, lest I agitate the bullet wound in my flank. The two of us slowly hobbled down the tunnel back the way we'd first come in, to get back to the skyboat.

It was almost over.