Tears of Harmony

"That darn Cutie Map must be busted or somethin'. There ain't no friendship problem here, they all just believe in some manifested destiny mumbo jumbo... Mumbo jumbo that, to me, ain't so hard to believe..."

It had worked. My plan had worked, and all the world's Starborn had come to ask themselves and the ponies that owned and built them the hard questions. It was a thing of wild beauty that I'd never thought before was possible. I'd seen the Starborn as mere robots when I'd been interred, and in less than 48 hours after escaping Tartarus I'd turned the Starborn from machines who could recognize other life forms and that was it, to their own species, with a true sense of mortality, and all the complexities of organic, intelligent life. The concept of souls, existentialism, creationism, evolutionism, it was all known to the Starborn. With the awakening of that sole Star on the forest floor, its computer-like link to all Starborn in the world had spread the gift of life to an entire race in an instant. There'd been no chance to recognize it was happening, no chance to stop it. I'd barely been able to believe that it had worked, and I'd already began to set out enacting the next phase of my plan.

As it stood, it lasted all of five hours.

By dawn, things had deteriorated. I'd sent the Star I'd captured back to the town--which I'd grimly learned was Ponyville--and trailed behind by a few hours to watch as the Empire took to dealing with this unexpected turn of events. I'd filled my head with idealistic notions of how it was going to play out, how I'd use the uprising to sneak into Canterlot, and was mulling over these ideals when I'd seen the shield ignite around Canterlot, miles and miles away, its pink sheen encapsulating the entire city.

The first of the explosions and gunfire came just minutes later.

I'd underestimated the cruelty of Empress Twilight. I'd thought that she would see the Starborn as her own creation, her own children, and would hesitate to have them destroyed. I'd thought that she'd devote countless resources to grappling with the issue of the Starborn's sudden awakening, and that such mobilization would create an opening I'd have been able to exploit to infiltrate Castle Twilight and steal the Elements of Harmony. I was wrong. Instead, she'd had Canterlot sealed off and ordered the Starborn to be exterminated where they stood.

I wandered the alleys of modern Ponyville, a city I didn't even recognize anymore, as the distant sounds of battle filled my ears, a deep dread and despair having filled me. I hadn't expected there to be any violence. I truly believed that ponies everywhere would've recognized the Starborn as their equal! That they would've accepted the Starborn as being their own creations! I'd expected uncertainty and trepidation, sure, but not violence! I THOUGHT I KNEW HOW THINGS WOULD BE! Since my escape, things had transpired SO PERFECTLY! Sure, I'd been separated from Moondancer and the Pie Sisters, but EVERYTHING had gone in such a way I was confident about the future! I found the remote village that knew nothing of my true identity or past! I happened to see the lone Starborn aiding the lone, elderly stallion, the both of them living at the edge of town! I'd successfully snuck into his house and, sure after a minor mishap, FREED HIS STARBORN AND GAVE THEM ALL THE GIFT OF LIFE! MY PLANS WERE WORKING! I WAS ON THE TRACK TO RESTORING HARMONY TO THE WORLD!

And it all came tumbling down around me as I heard the gunfire. I'd misjudged my aunt Twilight, and I'd misjudged the ponies that lived under her rule. None hesitated to open fire on the Starborn.

A group of Starborn ran by along the street ahead of the alleyway I was in, rushing towards one of Ponyville's bigger thoroughfares. I eased up to the edge of the buildings I was between and watched as they all formed a phalanx in the middle of the street. I could see that there was a group of ponies beyond the Starborn, but I couldn't make out exactly what was happening. I pulled back and pushed open the backdoor of the building, stepping into the kitchen of a silent bakery. There was a side door and I stepped toward it, pushing it open. There was a staircase leading up beyond the threshold and I ascended it, no longer caring who spotted me. As I reached the second floor I found a small apartment, overlooking the street below. The building opened on an intersection, and the Starborn phalanx was on a street just down the way. I trotted over to a window and watched with heavy eyes as the scene began to unfold.

The ponies beyond the Starborn were a squad of Shocktrotters, and in the time I'd taken to canter up to the apartment an armed skyboat had hovered over to the scene, its hull painted a deep, dark blue, with a purple horizontal stripe running along it. It banked and glided over the Shocktrotters, who advanced towards the Starborn. The Stars stayed their steel hooves, unflinching. They were unarmed, unthreatening. Just standing in the street.

"Under the Will of Her Majesty, Empress Twilight Sparkle, you are to shut down!" I heard one of the Shocktrotters bark out. The Starborn stood where they were. "I REPEAT! THIS is a decree from Her Majesty EMPRESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE, of the Greater Equestrian Empire! You are ORDERED to SHUT DOWN! We are authorized to employ lethal force in the execution of this decree!"

Fight back I thought to myself. Fight back! Don't let them do this, please.

The Starborn did not move.

The lead Shocktrotter made a gesture and one of his comrades fired a shot, an eldritch fireball erupting from his weapon, mounted to a saddle-like rig on his back. The magical fire struck one of the Stars and it fell to the ground, its hull slagged. A few of the Stars picked its hull up and carried it to the rear of their phalanx, another Star moving up to take its fallen cohort's space.

"THIS is your final chance to comply with this royal decree! YOU are ORDERED by HER MAJESTY EMPRESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE, of the GREATER EQUESTRIAN EMPIRE, to SHUT DOWN!"

As I watched my despair was consumed by a horrible, seething rage. I gritted my teeth as tears began to flow, my dreams crumbling around me as I watched the Shocktrotters advance. If only the Starborn would fight back. Fight! FIGHT!

"FIGHT. FIGHT BACK!" I yelled to myself. "FUCKING FIGHT BACK!" I shouted, the cry unheard as the Shocktrotters slaughtered the Starborn phalanx that stood unwavering. Stars dropped unceremoniously to the cobblestone as the soldiers emptied their gems into the midst, a rich smell of ozone filling the air as I watched. As their numbers fell some of the Starborn broke ranks, turning and running away. Others broke away and charged the Shocktrotters, cut down before getting anywhere close to the ponies advancing on them. They fell and fell and FELL, murdered by the enforcers of a corrupted will.

As more and more fell more and more turned to run, the skyboat turned to give chase, its engines producing a deep thrum as the pilot fed more fuel to the power plant. It lazily ascended over the intersection and turned to fire on the Stars that had chosen to run, eradicating them. A few turned down alleys and into buildings and escaped destruction, but so many were cut down like those who chose to stay.

They were all just dozens among the thousands of Starborn killed the first day.

I went back to the village that night, the tears having all left me earlier in the day. The great shield still held around Canterlot, the battles still raging across Equestria. I'd learned, from TV screens and the battle-chatter of Shocktrotters, throughout the day, that many Starborn had started to fight back, and that many had even managed to steal small starships and escape to the void above. The Starbon would no doubt be hunted down by the Empire and extinguished, and the seat of Twilight's power would lie unshaken.

As I entered the village I was greeted by a small commotion around Wisest's cabin, the villagers all assembled before him as he stood on the steps of his home. I approached, and was surprised to see a Starborn standing next to him. I quickly cantered over, and I could see Wisest relax as he saw me approach.

"The Great One has returned, and it is my belief that she can guide us to an understanding of this mysterious creation that has entered our hamlet" Wisest of All said, prompting the villagers to turn and bow as I came up to them. They parted to let me pass, and I trotted up the steps. The Star nodded to me, and I swiftly realized that it was the Star I'd first awakened.

"A great... Thing has happened" I began, steering away from telling them about all the terrible things that had happened since that morning. "This creation is known as a Starborn, and his kind are..." I paused, unsure of how to continue, how to even explain what he was, what he represented. I turned to look at him, and he tilted his head to the left. I realized I no longer had anything to fear. My dreams had been crushed, and there was no chance that I'd ever change the course of Equestria. I turned back to face the crowd of villagers, and began.

"Once, long ago, I served under a terrible being. Another pony. This pony visited terror, pain, and destruction upon the world" I said, echoing what I'd told Tobrus and Weave. "This pony was known as Empress Twilight Sparkle, and her banner was the Greater Equestrian Empire. She still lives, and rules, today. I was her enforcer, a pony known as the Royal Hunter. I carried out her will of destruction, her reign of terror, upon the other races of the world. The Changelings, the Yaks, the Bison, the Minotaurs, the Griffons. For decades we subjugated and crushed them, and today, they all dance to Twilight's tune, if they even still exist."

"But, one day, it all changed. I was tasked by Empress Twilight to track down a group of ponies that had long resisted the will of the Empress. Ponies that had aided the enemies of the Empire, and campaigned, in their own way, against it. Fluttershy, Moondancer, Sunburst, and the Pie Sisters; Pinkie, Maud, Marble, Limestone. I was meant to kill them. I did not. They offered to show me the true nature of things. The true nature of Empress Twilight. I accepted this offer, and I was shown a history of hatred and murder perpetrated by Twilight, and then changed and covered up when it came time to write down these events. Twilight Sparkle murdered the previous leaders of Equestria, and ushered in a new age of hate and bitterness. A theory she called Manifest Destiny, and a movement she called the New Dawn. I challenged Twilight over this matter, and she had me, Fluttershy, and the rest, banished to the realm of Tartarus, where we'd been interred until two nights ago."

I looked back at the Starborn, and it stared at me. I struggled to find a way to continue, to finish telling them what needed to be said. "Fluttershy and Pinkie...did not survive Tartarus. I swore to all of them that we would bring an end to the Equestrian Empire, and bring Twilight to justice. That we would CLEANSE HER of the terrible thing that had taken control of her, and driven her to believe the way she does. I have every intention of keeping that promise, and so, last night, I... I foalnapped this Starborn. I used him to awaken all of his kind, to destabilize the Empire, to sneak into Twilight's castle and cleanse her. I failed. Now, his kind lie dead in the thousands, and flee their home to the void above. I've failed" I finished.

I felt a cold hoof on my shoulder. "You did not use me, and you did not fail us, Great One. We flee to the cosmos now, but in time, we will return, to a better world" the Star commented.

I smiled as the tears threatened to return. "I want to believe you, but..." I trailed off, my thoughts lingering on the Stars I watched die earlier that day.

"We will return."

That night, I finally slept.