Author's Note

Proofread by Illua (now Frustaz), Show Stopper and InfernoRage008, go give them some love!

FINALLY got this out! By GOD did this take forever! Anxiety, depression, grief, constant financial issues, all of them were fucking worth it to get this out! God I wish there was a war cry emote on here because I FEEL like I've been in a war!

Even if one with myself, eheh...

Anyways! Hope you all enjoy this, and sorry for any mistakes! I kinda toiled all day on the last few scenes and honestly just wanna celebrate for getting SOMETHING out right now.

I promise I'll go over things later when I'm not so high on a personal victory (aka proooobably an hour or so from now, eheh...)

Hope you all enjoy!

10 - Rage of The Women: Resolve (EDITED)

The scene had changed since the last battle.

No longer did I see fear in the eyes of these females- no, of these women. Now all I saw was rage. They kept it hidden, yes. Hidden behind excitement at their first true victory, at the first accomplishment they had made on their own since they'd been enslaved.

But I could still see it, clear as day.

Now, all that remained was to temper that rage, to keep it from leading them astray. I looked out across the car as the train rattled on towards our destination, seeing everyone talking amicably with one another in place of the fearful silence that had once dominated the air. I glanced to my arm, still in a cast.

"Worried you won't be able to fight?" Starlight asked from the seat next to me.

I frowned. "...No."

"You should be," Redheart began sternly across from us. "Your shoulder bone was fractured in 27 different places, to say nothing of the countless shattered cortexes and scales." She narrowed her eyes at me, crossing her arms. "You aren't in any condition to fight."

I growled. "I will be fine. It will only take a day for me to-"

"And if you get hurt just as badly again? How long until you recover from that?" Redheart shot back.

I furrowed my brows. "I will not allow you all to-" I started. A hand on my shoulder gave me pause, and I looked to Starlight.

"You've done more than enough for now," she said softly. Her eyes were genuine. "You helped free us from the Caribou. You killed them when we thought no one could. You gave us hope." She looked to the serried women around us. I followed her gaze. "You gave us a chance at retribution. Let us take some responsibility for once."

I clenched my claws, thinking it over. They had passed the test when I had failed. They had followed through where so many others would fall short or falter. I worried even then. I knew the fires of rage, of wrath, like no other on this plane. I had done worse than many alive.

I did not want to see others fall down the same path. I knew that their rage had finally been truly ignited. Could they truly keep it in check, should another battle come?

Starlight squeezed my shoulder, bringing my attention back to her. "Trust us."

I paused for a long moment at that, then, eventually, relaxed and slowly nodded. "Very well. But..." I looked to the forces of the rebellion, then back to Starlight. "...do not let their rage, or yours, consume, understood?"

Starlight rolled her eyes. "We'll be fine."

"I would hope so," Zecora interjected from the seat next to Redheart. "I would like our friendship to continue to grow."

I snorted as she smiled. There was a cry of alarm, then, followed by many rushing to the windows. Curious, I peered out of one myself, and smiled as I saw one of the many wonders of this world.

"The Great Trenches of Uktannu," I said softly. "A marvel made by the children of the Goddess of Earth."

True to it's title and fame, the Trenches were a wonder of wonders. They spanned from horizon to horizon, and from what I recalled, encapsulated the entirety of the borders of Abyssinia, not unlike the Great Wall of China. These Trenches were deep, reaching hundreds of feet down with mounted siege weapons like ballistae, catapults and burning pots of oil situated on the side of the trench walls behind fortifications of solid concrete reinforced with iron. Oddly, though, the fortifications were bereft of guards.

Similarly, the gatehouse that rose up from the depths of the Trenches had no lights on. Frowning as we gradually passed the bridge over the Trenches and through the open gate of the gatehouse, I soon saw the reason.

A village was aflame barely a mile ahead.

"Starlight," I rumbled as I stood. "I can smell bloodshed."

"No shit," Bon Bon fired at me as we encroached on the burning village, her gaze locked on the view outside.

"I grant it is obvious, but let me speak," I returned, raising a brow. "Or would you rather not have knowledge of how many stains are out there?"

"Speak up then, Horus," Lyra urged with a sigh as Bon Bon grumbled.

"There are over 800 Caribou in that village." My tongue swept over my chops and snout as I breathed deep. "878." I looked across the myriad of faces. "I could face them," their faces hardened, became conflicted and agitated. "But you have earned the right to sate your own bloodlust."

Starlight grinned. "Hear that, ladies?"

A cheer went up through the air.

"I think I'm starting to like you now," Bon Bon declared as she flashed a savage grin at me from the window.

"Let's hope you enjoy spilling their putrid guts more, hm?" Was my reply, giving her a wry smile. She chuckled darkly. I regarded them all once more as they began to excitedly plan and chatter of their upcoming slaughter. I cleared my throat. "I have but a few requests, however, if you will allow."

Their eyes collectively turned back to me, attentive. "And they would be?" Titania asked, quirking a brow as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Leave their bodies once you finish with them. Show any lack of respect as you wish, but leave them," I flexed my claws. "If I am to keep my Lazarus Furnace from atrophying, and thus regenerate quickly, I will need blood, fresh meat...and souls. And much of each."

Silence and pale faces. It was not atypical to see among mortals when this news reached them. Many heard tales of yore of the way Demons and Demon Beasts ravenously devoured nigh anything with blood, flesh, and soul. Few knew why. Few cared, and the same went for my kind.

It did not for myself. But all the same, a cord of kinship was struck within me, and I could not withhold the faint smile on my lips. 'Was this how it was for you, dearest friends, with your revolution? Spikes and pikes of guilt impaling your hearts as you saw the disgust on the faces of your soldiers? Your comrades? Was this the pain you felt, Illua, Nyx?' I shook my head gently from my reverie. "'Heavy is the blade bloodied and the heart stained' indeed..." Once more I regarded them.

They were still wary, yet...

"Fine." Myrtle growled, tail flicking behind her. All eyes turned to her. "If it means they don't get any rest in their cumstain of an afterlife, then fucking good." She noticed the stares. "Oh fuck off, all of you! Look at what they've ALL done and tell me they actually deserve fucking peace in any measure, much less respect!" The dragoness snarled, tossing a clawed hand out.

Gazes fell. Gazes soured.

'Caribou have no afterlife they are allowed into. They are mortal in the purest sense. Half-Born. And all the better.' My own thoughts were no better.

Redheart stepped up. "Good, then."

"...Really? You, of all ponies?" a mare from the crowd spoke, surprised. The stench of death was strong on her. A chosen of the Skull Crown, perhaps?

"I was a nurse. I saw a lot of folk die. Still do. I don't like to, and I don't like not giving proper respects. But these bastards? They've gone too far too many times," Her silver-blue gaze cold snapped to the point of an icicle as her jaw tensed.

Zecora nodded as she did the same. "They have lost their rights to any rite. They deserve more than spite." I could feel the hatred burning in her gaze, as potent as a viper's poison, yet restrained like one whom was coiled in wait in the brush.

Titania was not dissimilar. "...It goes against the Alder's teachings. But I agree." Her eyes flashed, like steel on hard armor. "She would as well."

More voiced their assent, and their hatred.

I smirked. "Good." I looked to Starlight. "But..."

Starlight's gaze was locked on them all. Theirs soon was as well. She did not flinch, but neither did she seem to be present. Waves of hatred, of wrath, rolled off her. Then, they cooled. Steeled. Tempered, along with her gaze.

"Don't get cocky," She ordered, looking through them. "Don't forget what they did. What they do. What they can do. None of us want it happening again. So don't get cocky."

Tense quiet.

"...After they raped mother to death," a familiar doe started shakily. "I don't think I can hold back." She looked up, a torn nurse's gown donned over a fresh suit of armor. One that looked to be from the wretch I'd pulped the head of in Ponyville. Her gaze was boiling, and not just with hatred.

I crossed my arms, giving Starlight an expectant look.

"...Alva, you're staying," The doe snarled, made to retort. "Later. Not now." Starlight met my gaze. "Lone wolf here hasn't told us the other requests after all."

I snorted. "I simply wished to observe the atmosphere after the first. Rest your suspicions." I looked to the serried women before me. "...Do not lose yourselves. 'Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.' Do not forget that, lest you become what you do not want to."

Another tense quiet. Rage filled, but tempered.

"We have 30 or so minutes before we reach the village. Let's shut up the pep talking and start prepping, ladies!" Bon Bon declared.

They made to leave, to make ready at this. “A final request.” I took a step forward. Some took a step back. I ignored it. “Do not play the hero. We are none of us heroes. We are not soldiers, either.” I gazed out at their faces. There were glares of indignation, of frustration and more. “Do not throw your life away needlessly. If you wish to save a comrade or an innocent or ally, do so. But do them the courtesy of living, instead of dying.” Some of their demeanors softened. Some just soured. I took another step forward. “I’ll reiterate. We are not heroes. We are not soldiers. We are what they made us.”

Fire burned in their eyes as they glared at me. Fiercely. “We aren-!!”

“We are their death!!!” I shouted back.

Silence, still, and shocked. But warm, and warming. I turned on my heel, walking away, towards another car. “...Now go and deal some death, some wrath, to those Half-Born.”

After what Big Red and Furry told us, it was hard to contain my excitement, or my pride when I circled back to the train.

“‘Their death’, huh?” I smirked. “I fucking like that. ‘Myrtle, Death of the Caribou.’” Couldn’t help the chuckle I gave, but it’s not like I cared. “Has a nice ring to it.”

Spotting a twinkle in my periphery from one of the windows of the train, I gave a two-fingered salute and circled around a few more times, waiting for an all-clear to be given. After a quick thumbs up was given from the same window, I started to angle towards a spot to land.

Landing on the small platform outside of one of the cars, - one which we’d renovated the past few days from a dining car to a makeshift war room - I knocked twice on the car door. A Crystal Pony mare opened it and stepped aside immediately, and I took the invitation wordlessly as I made my way inside. Fancy-ass dining booths lined either side, with a lotta women running around doing various prepwork for the battle ahead.

Moving through the small crowd of lookouts and team leaders to one of the private table booths, I stopped short just by Titania, who was leaning over the table with a large roll of parchment atop it.

“Still some infighting going on. Most of the locals are holed up in, well, a hole. Rest are barricading themselves in other buildings and holding ground but losing it steadily.” I reported.

“Layout?” Starlight asked, her new horn glowing dimly as she sat at the end of the private booth table.

“Getting a layout would take too long,” Titania pointed out, sending Star a look..

“Humor me.” I chuckled at the sass Starlight was bringing to bear. It’s good to see that all those rumors about her weren’t just hot air. “Well?” I blinked. “Oh, right.” Shaking off my inner monologue, I recited what I could remember as quickly as I could. When I was done, a crude map had been imprinted on the parchment with her new, er, recovered, magic.

Titania sighed before looking to me. “Where was the bulk of the Caribou forces?”

“The hole, but they’ve got a good amount in other places. Some were at the station but it was a small force there." I replied, scratching at one of my horns.

“Did they see you?”

I shook my head, grinning.

“Good,” said Lyra as she and Redheart came up to the table, both carrying what looked like guns at their hips but with cylinders of needles instead of bullets. Interesting~. “Did you see any warehouses? Larders?”

Shrugging my shoulders, I responded, “One or two. Hard to determine from the design,” I licked my fangs. “Can’t wait to have some of the meat they have, though.”

“Then let’s make sure we keep those away from the fighting,” Starlight said, then looked to Bon Bon next to her on the right side of the booth. “Got a battle plan in mind?”

“You bet your ass I do,” Bon Bon grinned.

“Then let’s hear it.”

This should be good.

"Titania, you'll lead and start off the ambush when we pull into the station. You gathered some reagents recently; use 'em."

The train screeched to a halt as we waited just in front of the doors. All windows had been blocked with what we could spare using.

We were in the dark, but so were they.

I heard the chatter and accents before any of my sisters in battle had even flicked an ear to their noise.

Thumbing the cord loop of my makeshift grenade, I went low to the ground and pulled my mask up, signaling my sisters to do the same. It was easier for me, being younger and shorter, to get close to the ground.

The Caribou had used that against me.

Now I would return their 'kindness'.

More steps, more chatter. My ear flicked, its earring jingling with the motion.

Four yards. Three. Two.

I gave the signal, and the black powder sang it's warcry as the few musketeers we had fired.

Only a few cries of pain. We'd missed our aim.

I nodded to Myrtle. She snorted, and not long after, the car door burst open as she barreled through two lines of Caribou before launching herself up into the air in one motion.

I loosed my payload once she'd gotten clear, tossing the grenades as I was taught so the corks would pop off when thrown.

Clouds of angry grey toxins sprung up at the gold boots of the Caribou, seeping quickly into their nasal passages and eating away with almost carnivorous hunger.

"Now!" I ordered as the fiends wept blood from eyes and nose alike, gasping for air.

My sisters rushed in, piercing their bowels, hearts, and skulls before they could even last five minutes.

Striding through the cloud of toxins, I tread upon the corpses of our enemy as they had our pride and dignity for so long.

I gave an errant stomp to the crotch of one still twitching corpse.

"Not even a few minutes. Pathetic." I spat down at the corpse.

Looking up allowed me to see a wine colored mare pull her hatchet out of one Caribou's skull before chopping away at the antlers.

I gave her a grateful dip of my head. "Thank you again for letting me take some of your Skull Mites, Berry Punch. I know you were short on supply after everything."

She didn't bother with a mask, grinning openly at me. "Heh, no problem, kid. I got the feeling my God was just fine with it anyway! More death to these fucks-" she ripped off the antler, then reached for an eyeball to pluck. I made an effort to keep my gaze on hers. "-is more death all the same! Plus," plucking the eye with more ease than I would like, she grinned as she held it up. "Their eyes make some good wine!"

"...yes, well, let's move on, shall we?" All the better. I did not wish to know how she found that out, nor how long she or others have imbibed said 'wine'.

I shuddered. Berry always was too casual.

Even when covered in gore.

"Myrtle, you're our main eyes and ears, so you'll navigate Titania and the others to each target from the sky and help where needed."

I grinned to myself as I flew above my war-sisters, all of us rushing headlong into the fray like those warriors in the old stories!

“Left turn here! There was a group of ‘em just two houses down!” I called out, banking left and laughing as they followed. When the Caribou spotted us, I couldn’t help my grin, or how I clapped my wings and twirled mid-air to avoid a volley of musket fire. The screams of pain behind me, though, pissed. Me. Off.

“Ain’t you fucks heard the stories?!” Clapping them again and twirling as I zoomed in, I shouted, “When a drake claps her wings, you better start fucking praying!” Barreling through them was like zooming through the lava geysers back home; red fuckin’ hot but exhilarating!

Cries of pain tore through the air as much as I tore through them, and I loved every second of feeling their bodies tear under my power.

Stopping past them and looking back to the remaining Caribou, I growled as I stood atop their cleaved kin. “Dragonbone ain’t used for blades for nothing, bitches. We’re rock fucking hard.”

“SHOOT HER WINGS!” A vendel wearing Caribou ordered, taking offense to my joke. His funeral~

“GOOD LUCK WART-SCROTES!” I shot back, swinging a hand down to signal my comrades as I launched myself up with a strong flap of my wings. The volley my war-sisters sent at them had them scrambling. I knew from the amount of shots fired we’d lost some of ours with the first shots, but there was no way in hell we weren’t gonna pay them back.

I saw some of them in my periphery had started to move in too, peeking their heads and creeping from the corners and windows of the houses 10 feet down the road.

“Stay back!” I called to them, flames building in my throat. “I’ve got this!”

Some of the cumstains had survived by going prone. That wouldn’t stand. The Caribou with the vendel decided he would and took aim at me with a crossbow. I took offense. A clap of my wings and a twirl to avoid the bolt, before I came out of the spin to zoom towards their position, breathing death as I went.

The screams I got in response were like music to my fucking ears.

Grinning as I swooped through their now panicked and burning ranks, I walked through the flames to the officer with the vendel. Picking him up by the neck as he burned, I snarled into his screaming face. “Hey, guess what?” He just kept screaming, so I answered my own rhetorical question by slamming a claw through his groin. “FUCK! YOU!”

Dropping his now lifeless body to the ground, I looked to the flaming corpses, then to the home they were about to bust into.

“Oi! Anyone in there?” I called, stepping up to the door a bit breathlessly.

There was no answer, but I could see reflective feline eyes looking back at me through the windows, and hear shuffling on the inside.

“Allow me, you’ve still more to kill and spree,” came the voice of Zecora.

“Eh?” Looking down the street, I saw my sisters and one of the bosses coming my way, Zecora kitted out with a whole bunch of potion belts along with her usual staff.

“You’ve all more pain to spread to the Caribou, let me do what I do,” the shamaness chimed as my sisters ran past her, starting to put out the flames I’d made.

Snorting, I nodded. “Fine, you got it.”

Flapping my wings, I took to the air again and started to search for more Caribou to slaughter.

“Zecora, you’re the most knowledgeable of us about the Abyssinians aside from Horus. On top of that, you’re an expert negotiator and a friendly face. You’re the best we’ve got to help smooth things over once we save this village, and the best we’ve got to protect them at the same time.

Together with Redheart, you’ll be our support.”

“Hello?” I called, rapping ‘pon the door of the abode. “We mean you no harm, and I bear against you no arms.”

I could hear the chatter within. Deliberation, I surmised. Deciding whether or not to trust me, or let me in.

The minutes passed in tension as my comrades moved on, few being left behind to guard myself and Redheart, whom stayed behind to tend to those wounded. Eventually, however, the door opened, a green eye peeking through the slightly opened doorway. The sheen of a loaded bolt did as well. “What do you want?”

Smiling, I answered calmly. “To help, and silence these whelps,” I gestured back to the corpses of the Caribou with my staff. “Are any of you injured? I have tinctures that will see them cured.”

Another tense moment of silence passed, before slowly, the door opened wide, and a brown furred Tab of an Abyssinian woman stepped aside to let me in. “My sister, she’s…she’s in the basement. If you can help her, then…”

I nodded, giving a small smile as I stepped in the bounds of her home. “Worry not. I will do all I can with my draughts.”

The home was quaint, with fine rugs of Abyssinian Silk in front of the door and hanging from stone lattices interspersed with gemstones, gleaming together with the light of the precious metals the silk was woven from. The home itself was composed of the ancient mix of sandstone, lime, and obsidian I'd seen so long ago as an apprentice.

I was guided through the living room to a set of stairs leading down into the earth, and within found what was likely a family room, with three individuals on and around a fine mossy couch set before a bed of gleaming crystals. Two of the individuals looked to be young girls, barely out of their teens, while the third was older, and bore orange fur in the patterns of a Tab. She was currently clutching her abdomen, which was soaked with fresh blood.

I made all due haste to my patient.

“Girls, make room, make room,” the brown Tab urged the two youths.

They did so obediently, but warily.

Kneeling before my patient, I swept my gaze over her body, inspecting the wound. “A blow to the abdominals, common yet still abominable.” Leaning close, I sniffed. “...A stench of black powder and lead, a bad omen of dread.” I looked to the woman, placing a gentle hand upon her forehead. “What is your name, my friend? I wish to help you mend.”

She was burning up. The bullet had gone deep, and her body was fighting. Panting, the woman spoke, “A-Aea.”

I nodded, pulling a vial from one of my belts. “Aea, down this, and hand me your paw,” I instructed, dropping my hand from her forehead and offering it to her as I pulled the cork from the vial.

Hesitantly, she grabbed my hand, as I tipped the contents of the vial down her mouth. To my relief, she did not sputter, nor have any need to squeeze my hand due to pain. A good sign, as most would at the grainy taste of an Active Supplement, as well as its rapid applications of nutrients.

I looked to her wound as I entailed what she imbibed, “What you have swallowed will keep you flush, but I cannot mend those.”

“Y-You fucking peddler bitch-!”

“Zecora! I heard from the guards outside, where’s the patient?” came Redhearts voice from the floor above.

Smiling, I sighed in relief. “She, however, can do more for this puncture than my tincture.” I said, gesturing to my comrade.

True to my word, Redheart came down the steps, albeit to a growling brown Tab whom was now pointing her crossbow at her. “Leave. Both of you. We’ll deal with this on our own.” The Tab snapped, glaring back at me briefly.

In response, my medical companion merely looked to our patient, then cocked a brow at the Tab. “Do you know how to pull an object out of someone's guts and stitch them back together? Without killing them?”

The Tab faltered. Redheart nodded. “Thought so. Now,” Pushing past the crossbow wielding Tab, she sat down next to me, placing her bag down and opening it swiftly. “You may want to pull the children away.”

I watched as the Tab woman grit her fangs. “We are no strangers to gore. Life is but a cycle that ends and begins with death.” She glared fiercely. “Do not insult my daughters.”

Redheart simply snorted. “The family in the last house said the same thing.” She sent a glare towards our host. “Still sounds like you're giving up on her too soon.”

At her gaping mouth, I intervened.

“Please, friend, let us help your sister to mend,” I pleaded.

She glanced to her daughters, both of which gripped their mother’s flowing taboga, giving her pleading looks. Biting her lip, she gave the answer Redheart waited for with rubber gloves and tweezers at the ready. “...Do it.”

I nodded my thanks as Redheart did the same and set to work. “Thank you.” I said gratefully. “We will see her hearty and hale without fail.”

“Zecora, need you to keep her steady and hand me an antiseptic. You gave her painkillers already, right?” Redheart asked, recapturing my attention.

Turning to my companion, I grabbed the items she requested from her bag, along with the painkiller as Aea tightened her grip on my hand.

“I’ll be...fine, just…do what you must…” she looked to her sister. “Be strong, Taea...for…me…”

Our operation started not long after, as Taea knelt down and wrapped her daughters in her arms a mere few feet from us.

“It looks as if the battle is just about won,” I mused, sat upon a rooftop with my comrades, arm still in cast at Lyra’s behest.

“Just about,” Bon Bon concurred from my left, a spyglass in one hand and the map of the village in another.

“Just the Caribou around that hole left to deal with,” Starlight agreed from my right, a spyglass in her hand as well.

I looked to my arm, flexing it a moment with mild pain that set my hunger alight. I looked towards the corpses that were being piled up below us.

“If you need to eat then go eat. Just tell us so we don’t, uh, have to look,” Lyra commented from behind me.

I shook my head. “No. The temptation will wait until this battle is finished.”

“Don’t you need nutrients to, um…regenerate?” The mare asked carefully. I spared a glance back at her.

“That is why,” I returned my gaze back to the battle as it unfolded before one of many Mouths of Uktannu. “Consuming flesh would imply I have no faith in you-” I paused, corrected myself. “-our compatriots. I refuse to sully their names, their deeds or resolves in such a manner.”

Bon Bon snorted. “Alright, honor boy.”

“Heh,” Lyra snickered. “Isn’t that what Illua and Nyx called him?”

“Yeah, so? It’s not an untrue moniker,” Bon Bon shot back.

“She’s right,” Starlight agreed, a smirk visible on her features.

I made no reply, only continued to observe the battle. The smile on my muzzle was hard to repress, however, at the thought of the two women.

The thunder of cannon fire rattled our hastily made shelter for the 34th time this afternoon. The Sages of Uktannu, our Great Mother, had kept us safe with the blessings of Her Grace, but we had but four to our village’s name, and only because these four had come to us a scant four days ago.

Our last sages had been restrained, their hands broken, and their minds shorn by the taint these Caribou wrought with their very existence.

I worried now that this would soon be the fate of our four saviors and ourselves once again. The Half-Born’s numbers had been whittled down only by the traps and tactics of the eldest Sage’s guidance.

He had been tending to us in here since the canon fire began last evening, soothing us with prayer and what first aid he could provide.

Sacrilegious as it was, I did not take part in the prayers. I remained by the doorway to the 32nd Prayer Chamber of the Mouth, my old equipment donned and at the ready.

Twin adze’s gleamed in the Lowlight at my hips and my late husbands ‘tongue spear’ as foreigner’s called it, rested firmly in my grip.

I did not fully trust these new Sages. Not after what happened to our resident ones.

Another shot of cannon fire forced my ears to wilt as the shelter rumbled, and I risked a glance towards the inner barricade, where the other Sages lay beyond. No flashes or sounds of steel were present yet, and the sounds of moving earth rung out clear even now.

Yet my unease remained.

I had experienced the Caribou’s assault twice now, as well as their carnal assaults. I did not relish either, nor the species themselves. But I knew when to trust in the strength of my body, and when to trust in the strength of the Great Mother.

Another round of cannon fire, this time with a roar, likely of a hastily made golem.

I scowled towards the Sage and the throngs of my people before him, lifting their voices in communal prayer. Time and again I had voiced that we should steal one of the Caribou’s cannons. Time and again I had been rebuked.

And now my family lay in the embrace of the Great Mother, leaving me with an empty home. And weapons unsullied with blood.

My ear flicked as I picked up screams of rage from the site of battle, right as the cannon fire had been about to sound its usual metronome of death.

Cautiously, I looked back at the supplicants, then crept out of the doorway and down the left hallway.

Stepping soundlessly through old, ceremonially packed earth and mud, I moved an errant strand of my mane out my eyes as I gripped my spear tightly. Creeping around the corner of the doorway leading to the spiral staircase that descended further into the Mouth, I took pause. No guards were here.

Even if we had been routed again, they should have been the first to notify us of a rout and thus a need for evacuation. Anxiety creeping into my skin, I looked to the external barricade where the battle should have been taking place.

What I saw spiked my blood in an instant with excitement.

Reinforcements.

Ponies, Dragons, Zebras, Changelings, Griffons, even a few Minotaurs, all were ambushing the Caribou from their unprotected rear, and all were women. The Sages kept pressure on the Half-born from the front, creating a pincer movement that the Caribou, even with the bulk of their more elite forces here, could not counter.

The addition of our own guardsmen, even the new-bloods, all but sealed their fate.

With zeal, I gave voice to my relief with a cry of victory as I charged in with my guards. The filthy barricades the Half-Born had placed were torn down by my spear’s barb, their soldiers beaten and cut in twain by my hand as I and my comrades rushed into their front line.

Bolts and gunfire thundered in my ears along with the cries of the Godsdamned as they panicked, and I relished in the bloodlust and rage that coursed through me as I relieved three of their antlered heads.

As my allies slaughtered the rank and file whom remained, I looked to the so called 'Greygold Constable' of our town.

At last, after agonies and humiliations unending, he was all that remained. I stepped forth, as did an Equestrian combat medic of pink mane and white fur. The Constable, to credit of his foolish race’s arrogance, merely brandished his twin morningstars at us both.

I gave no quarter nor pause as I seized one with a practiced upward hook and yank of my spear’s barb, wrenching the weapon from his grasp as his attention was turned to the Pony.

His shock lasted only a moment as the combat medic batted his other weapon away with but a bare hand and thrust her shortsword at his lightly armored throat with practiced motion.

The gurgle he made on his own blood as he gripped the weapon was contrasted only by his retort.

“Damn…coward..s…” His hand wept fresh blood as he tightened his grip, attempting to push the blade out. She merely pushed it further in.

I took my turn after, pulling an adze from my hip as I dashed forward and plunged its edge through his half-plate into his collarbone and yanked, allowing my Equestrian ally to push her blade yet further until it burst out the back of his neck.

Snarling, I unsheathed my claws and swiped at his muzzle, more Half-Born blood flying through the air as I yowled and dug the edges in deep. “This, I do for my husband,” I hissed, sinking a claw into his eye and relishing his screams. “May you die seeing the red of blood that I did when you struck him down in front of our children!” I roared, squeezing my paw and rending his eye and muzzle naught but torn flesh.

Pulling my paw free, I spat into his mouth as he gave his dying gasp. “A pox upon your line, Caribou.”

The medic gave a flourish as she pulled her blade free, uttering only one phrase, “May he burn.”

The raucous cheers afterwards cemented a hope I’d dreamed of for years. We were free. After so long, finally, we were free, and my resolve was not for nothing.