Awaken, O' Beast of Yore.

Awaken, and lay low the Halves.

Awaken, O' Embittered One.

Awaken, and spread thine Gospel.

Awaken, ye who slumber within the Power.

Awaken, and show Them thy Light.

"What the fuck do you mean you can't stay with us?" Bon Bon snarled, gesticulating wildly at their surroundings.

"My only goal is to cull the Caribou. If I stay with you, I cannot do so as effectively," Horus replied calmly, arms crossed over his chest.

"So you're just abandoning us," Starlight deduced, glaring coldly at the beast.

"...No," he said slowly.

"Soo...you're staying, then?" Redheart asked, leaning forward in her seat to give him a sidelong look.

Horus shook his head. "No."

Bon Bon threw her hands up. "What the fuck is it then?! Are you staying and helping us, or leaving and abandoning us?!"

"I am leaving so you do not have as big a target on your backs," Horus replied coolly.

"You'd be depriving us of our most powerful asset," Lyra said, frowning at him.

"...Yes...and no," Horus answered, tail flicking to the side with a weighty woosh.

Bon Bon let out an unintelligible scream of rage, pulling at her frayed mane.

"Please, friend, leave the rhymes and riddles to me, the truth is what we must see," Zecora interjected, almost sounding like she was pleading.

Horus let out a slow breath, closing his eyes. "...I will draw attention away from you all as you escape south via the train. It is critical that The Equality Movement remains intact to continue it's work. Driving any attention away from your flight away from here to Abyssinia will ensure that it does remain intact."

Silence reigned for a time at that, even Bon Bon's eyes going wide. Slowly, Bon Bon sank down into her seat as she let out a heated breath. "You could have fucking lead with that, asshole."

"...Sorry," Horus eventually said, ears drooping ever so slightly.

All mares present sighed deeply, before shaking their heads. Starlight looked Horus in the eyes. "Will you return afterward?"

Horus nodded. "I shall," he said, ears perking back up. "That, I promise."

Starlight let a small smile play on her face. "Good." She then stood up from her seat. "Right, meeting adjourned, then. Ladies, Horus, you all have your jobs, so hop to it."

"Right," the mares chorused, filing out with tired sighs.

As Horus made to stand up, however, Starlight stopped him, the others filtering out of the meeting room behind him.

"What is it?" He asked, fuzzy eyebrow raised.

"There's some pon- people, I'd like you to meet," she said, before walking past him and towards the door. "Follow me." Curious, Horus did so, following Starlight out the door. "Since everyone threw a fit about us leaving when we'd been in the middle of improving the town, as well as the other, typical reasons of leaving the only home we've known, I had to appoint officers to help calm the citizens." Starlight explained as she led Horus through the hallways of Town Hall. Horus' eyes narrowed, but she waved him off. "Easy, I didn't mean like that. There hasn't been any excessive force or brutality, don't worry."

Horus snorted. "Good."

Starlight rolled her eyes as they passed a group of ponies and griffons carrying crates. "For a guy who seems so ready to abandon us, you sure seem to care a lot." Horus shot her a glare, and Starlight sighed. "Fine, fine, no jokes then." Under her breath, she added, "Just trying to lighten the mood, asshole..."

Horus didn't comment.

They soon arrived at a room to find a number of females being calmly talked two by two individuals he recognized; the young dragoness and zebra mare he'd saved just days ago. The names escaped him, but he did recall saving them. Many of those they were calming saw Starlight and Horus and started to glare at them, some even yelled at them for deserting their home, or the cause itself. Some called them cowards. Then...

"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU PACK OF PANSIES!" The dragoness roared. All went silent as every eye went to her.

Horus had had little time to speak with her, much less look at her. Currently she wore armor that was stolen from one of the officers of the Caribou, with four horns on her head curling upwards, along with red fins going down the middle of her head.

"We are not abandoning this place, it's a tactical withdrawal!" She began to explain. "We can't stay here because the forces around us can get to us too easily, and thus overwhelm us! We need a better base, and that's why we're leaving, got it?!" the dragoness snapped, eyes scanning each and every one of them with a snarl on her face. They all stepped back, ears lowered and cowed significantly.

Horus smiled at this. "It seems you know a bit about tactics," he began as he stepped forward.

The dragoness looked to him, her eyes widening a bit, before she turned her head away. "I know more than most, yeah. What's it to you?"

"A tactical mind is a welcome find, especially during a war," Horus explained, before reaching a hand out to her. "Horus. Horus Blackbriar. I do believe we never got the chance to truly talk, young one."

She glared at him out of the corner of her silver eyes, snorted, then grabbed his hand and shook it hard. "We already exchanged names, jerk. And I'm not that young."

Horus blinked. 'We have? Right, I...nearly forgot with all that's happened.' He shook his head. "Right, your name is Myrtle... Is that not the name of the Dragon Empress whom nearly took over Griffonia? The one labeled a demigoddess of war?"

Myrtle blinked, turning to look at him, before grinning widely. "Yeah. It is. Good to see you know some history."

A new voice, but one no less familiar, spoke up. "A surprise, considering his species." Horus and Starlight turned to see the young Zebra mare ushering the other females out the door, before heading back their way as the doors closed, and they were left alone. She had no mohawk, but instead black and white dreadlocks and an outfit from a Saddle Arabian belly dancer. It seems that unlike her friend, she had only marginally upgraded her coverage from the previous and far more revealing bikini she once wore.

Starlight tilted her head. "What do you mean, Titania?" She looked to Horus. "You mean because he's some weird mutant Diamond Dog-?"

"He is a Demon Beast," Titania interrupted, staring into Horus' red eyes with her own pink ones. Horus tensed at her words, but said nothing as the others stared at him with a new and frightened light in their eyes.

"W-What?" Starlight began, looking to Titania, then Horus as she stepped back from him. "H-He's-?"

"Yes," Horus cut her off. "I am of the Demon Beast species of Hellwolves, or Zinogres, if you wish to be exact."

Titania nodded as she narrowed her eyes at him, Myrtle getting into a battle stance at his words. "So you can understand our apprehension, then."

Horus frowned, but nodded. "I always could." 'Still, this change in their demeanors towards me... I suppose the truth does more than hurt. Even children whom I've saved still see me as a monster...' His features hardened. '...So be it.'

"W-Well, you're not getting any souls from us!" Myrtle told him as firmly as she could, wings splayed out to try and make herself look bigger.

Horus shook his head. "No. I will not be."

Titania crossed her arms over her modest chest, staring him down. He could see how she shook even still. "What was your pact, then, Hellwolf? And whom with?" She glanced to Starlight, who sputtered.

"Wh- Pact? I didn't make any pact with him! None of us did!" Starlight snapped, glaring at Titania.

"I'll believe that when-"

"You know well that pacts with Hellwolves do not happen easily," Horus interjected, crossing his arms over his own muscled chest as his tail flicked through the air with a weighty woosh. "She would have needed to offer me her flesh, or at least a substantial amount of blood, for me to have accepted."

"...Or the opportunity to eat as much flesh from her enemies as possibl-" Titania began, but Horus shook his head.

"I have eaten of the Caribou, this is true," Horus began, causing all of them to pale at his words.

"Y-You have?! Is that why clean up has been so quick?!" Starlight cried, taking another step back.

"BUT," he started again, glaring at Starlight for her interruption, before looking back to Titania. "I have made no pact. If I had, would I not bear the Mark of Binding over my heart, Child of The Mystic Clan?"

Titania frowned, eyes shooting to where his heart would be, then sighed deeply. As she did, a modicum of the tension in her body receded. "You are right." She looked back to his face. "But that does not answer the question of how you arrived in the mortal realm."

Horus snorted. "The stupidity, treachery and fallacy of the Caribou, many, many years ago."

"So they summoned you, but could not initiate a pact to bind you, and thus you were sealed?" Titania deduced, raising a brow at him.

Horus shrugged. "You could say that."

Titania stared him down a moment longer, before relaxing more. "...I see." She sighed deeply, then offered him her hand. It shook ever so slightly. "I apologize, then. I am Titania, if you recall, an apprentice shaman." She forced a smile. "It will be good to have some otherworldly help in our fight, at the least."

Horus looked to her hand, shaking more as the moments wore on, before taking it firmly and shaking it just as firmly. "It will be good to wipe out the Caribou together."

As they let go, Horus looked to the other two, still staring at him in fear. "I sense that I have given you all much to think about, so I shall depart with only one reminder."

"W-What would that be?" Myrtle asked, tensing up and looking at him warily.

"The Caribou are my only foe. I have no desire to hurt or devour any of you, much less your souls," With that, he turned and started to walk out of the room. "Starlight, I apologize, but I shall be taking my leave early. I will return in a day's time, if not a mite more." He licked his chops. "The blood of the Caribou must be spilled, and I will make good on my word in our earlier Council meeting." With that, he was gone, leaving the three of them alone with their thoughts.

"HE'S A WHAT?!?!"

Starlight winced, ears folding back at the combined shouts of her fellow Council members.

"A Demon Beast? You let a FUCKING DEMON BEAST into our fold?! What the fuck, Starlight!" Bon Bon shrieked, slamming her palms on the table.

"I didn't know he was one!" Starlight replied, trying to defend herself.

"But you still did it," Redheart pointed out, frowning at her colleague.

"I didn't know!" Starlight tried again, weaker this time. She scanned their faces, seeing only fear and distrust directed at her now. All, save Zecora. "Z-Zecora, you believe me, r-right?"

Zecora's eyes were closed, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Hang on, Titania knew what he was," Bon Bon began, slowly looking to the Zebra as well.

"And if an apprentice shaman knew..." Lyra caught on, following her marefriend's gaze.

"...Zecora, what do you know? Did you know about him?" Redheart asked slowly, eyes narrowing at the mare.

"...Not enough," Zecora eventually said, eyes still closed, and rhymes abandoned immediately. "His species I knew well, yes. But his mind, his Core, I knew less."

Bon Bon took a deep, trembling breath. "And you didn't share it with us because...?"

"Because his demeanor was unlike a typical Hellwolf," Zecora opened her eyes, looking to Bon Bon. "Tell me, didn't you belong to an organization that tracked down escaped Demons and Demon Beasts?"

Bon Bon growled. "Don't. Turn this on me."

"But she has a point," Redheart began, looking to Bon Bon now, eyes narrowed. "Your line of work had you hunting down Demons and Demon Beasts on the regular. And yet you didn't know what Horus was."

"I hunted down different things! Every agent did!" Bon Bon shouted, slamming a fist on the table. "Don't you bitches dare turn this on me!"

Lyra put a hand on her marefriend's shoulder, who growled but sat back down, before she turned cold eyes to Redheart and Zecora. "My marefriend is being honest. Each agent specialized in hunting certain kinds of escapees from Tartarus. Many did hunt down Demon Beasts and Demons, but some, like Bon Bon, hunted down only lesser Demon Beasts, like Bugbears and Impish Raptors."

Bon Bon nodded. "I never took on anything like a Gehennite Roller, much less a Hellwolf. All that was literally above my paygrade. No one had even seen a Hellwolf before Celestia tore the organization down, and I never researched them that much. I'd only heard about them."

Zecora sighed. "I apologize for making your tempers rise, then." She shook her head. "Still, I know little of Hellwolves and Demon Beasts, it is not as if I went to a college. I was taught, yes, but it has been long since then, I know aught." She looked to Starlight. "My memory is rusty and dusty, but I recall Hellwolves as beasts of independence and anarchy, known for trying to taking down a monarchy."

Redheart and Bon Bon shared a look, before Redheart sunk back into her seat. "And he's been pretty willing to work with us, even with how this all started." Redheart recounted.

Starlight let out her own sigh. "So you girls believe me, then?"

Bon Bon grunted. "For now."

"Thank Celestia..." She slumped in her chair, sinking into it almost.

A silence reigned for a short amount of time. Then, Lyra spoke up. "So...when is he gonna be back? We've loaded up quite a lot on the train already, we're almost ready to leave."

"...'Said he was gonna be back in about a day," Starlight replied, closing her eyes.

"...So he's gone to distract them, then," Lyra deduced.

"...Such a frightening fellow we've befriended," Zecora muttered. "One can only hope his spark is not ended."

I bit off another bite of meat from the leg in my claws, sitting atop a corpse beneath me. A sigh escaped me as I tasted the fresh blood of Caribou on my tongue, feeling it fill me in more ways than one. Chewing, I looked out at the courtyard of the fort I'd decimated, seeing the bodies of those I hated so stretching out before me.

A splat sounded as one string of entrails fell from a flagpole sticking out of a wall. I snorted at this, taking another bite. I had fired a flare from one of the Caribou not even an hour ago, to incite them to come to this position. By my estimation, more forces would arrive within another three hours.

Sighing, I stood up and tossed the leg of a Caribou away, starting to walk off. "I should return early as to not lead them to Ponyville." I mused, before closing my eyes. As my body shifted with my power and grew exponentially, I could feel bones crack inside me and under me as my skeletal structure changed and grew in weight and shape, crushing the bodies of the corpses under me.

In time, I had taken my Feral Form, now looking for all intents and purposes like a true Stygian Zinogre. I almost howled to the moon out of habit, but held back, so as to not draw more attention. Plodding towards the front gate, my mind wandered back to earlier last afternoon.

I had finally been revealed as a Demon to my comrades. A Demon that they, in all likelihood, would attempt to kill on sight once I returned. I frowned as I knocked the gates of the fort off their hinges with ease, walking through and into the cool night air before breaking into a sprint southward.

I did not relish the idea of having to leave them afterward, and I was tempted to go to the next fort instead, to save myself the...pain, of losing everything again, but... Something told me that this would be different. A feeling in my Core.

My Core told me vengeance, at the least, was not on their minds. I snorted at this, but continued to run. If they would truly not seek vengeance for my dishonesty to them, then I had only to find out.

Then, I thought back to Lady Illua. How she seemed to truly care. How she shared my hatred of the Caribou. How she resembled- I shook my head forcefully. No. Do not think of her.

I ran in silence for a time after that, before a new thought entered my head. The Equality Movement did not have much experience in warfare. They had not gained much either, even after the attack. Perhaps... Perhaps I should give them a test.

If I wanted to see if I could trust them, that they could hold the line, that they believed in me, even...

...Then I knew what to do.

Author's Note

EDIT: Fixed the major error with Titania (whom was called Runa on accident here) and Myrtle (whom was called Gisilia on this chapter). Jeez, I should have noticed this way earlier, huh folks? Sorry in advance, but at least I fixed it as best I could now. As for why they've had changes of demeanor towards Horus, well, guess you'll have to see, now won't you?

Things are getting spicy, huh, folks? Whatever could Horus be planning? *Grins* Only one way to find out! Tune in next week, and we'll see just what happens!

Thank you all for reading!

-Timeless