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.

Chatter in the train was almost nonexistent. At most, it was kept to a dull murmur, which was easily drowned out by the roar of the wheels on the tracks. I swept my gaze around the car I resided in. The Equality Movement, as Redheart had coined, was meager in many ways. Far too many of them had little to no armor, little to no weapons, and worst of all, little to no experience. Their guidance, their leaders, were strong, but fragile. Full of fractures that the Caribou could exploit.

I saw Dragons, a people with females once proud and untamable, now cowed and huddled together with others. I saw Griffons, a people with females renowned for their grace and prowess in battle matched only by ancient Pegasi, shuddering as their eyes scanned the environment like children waiting for the bogeyman. I saw Unicorns, brought low and without the horns that made them the prime magic casters of the world. I saw Changelings - albeit a different brood - too scared to do anything but hold each other as tightly as they could, as if fearful some attack may come and end them at any moment. The Council members were seated near one another, but their grim visages gave none of their followers any hope.

It was pathetic, sad, heartbreaking...and above all it made me furious. These were all once proud and wonderful women. Now? Now the Caribou had made them doubt themselves. Made them weak. Even the few militia members milling around at each end of the car seemed too scared to be able to truly put up a good fight, much less win one.

I didn't like it. In fact, I despised it. Not because of any shortcomings of their own making, but because of how far the Caribou had gone to demoralize them. Yet, the problem remained.

And the only answer I could come up with, was to test them. If any found out, I was likely to be pushed away, this I knew. I clenched my claws at the thought, but soon relaxed. If that was what happened...then so be it. I was already close to being shunned after the Council found out about my species. If worst came to worst, I would shoulder the burden, just as I always had.

I glanced out one of the windows, seeing the southern countryside race by. My mind drifted to earlier times. Times when I would have enjoyed being on a train. Now...it felt empty. Hollow.

I glanced to the side, noting how the 'guards' were watching me intently. It was not yet common knowledge that I was a Demon Beast, yet even barring the openness of that knowledge, the fear of me still remained fresh. I knew why. Ignoring the thoughts that soon came from that mental train, I looked out the window once more.

According to the volunteer conductor, it was postulated that we would arrive in Abyssinia in roughly three days. Two had already passed.

Yet, I worried still. The Caribou scum have always been persistent, if nothing else. They do not let slights go unanswered, and I knew Dainn's bloodline well. His ancestors embodied the Caribou ideas of male dominance. There was no chance he wouldn't pursue.

So why had two days passed with no such pursuit? Even if my distraction had worked, the fact that I had been asleep for another two days after returning from said distraction was worrisome. That, and I highly doubted that Dainn would not muster forces to pursue, considering his son's death by my claws.

I had slighted him. He would not allow such an insult to go unanswered.

I looked at my claws at this. Could I fend off the forces he no doubt sent at us, with my constitution still recovering from millennia of no use? I clutched my chest at this. Could I protect them if this test failed?

Suddenly, a whistle sounded out, followed swiftly by a thunderous boom and a rocking of the train. I stood swiftly, rushing to a window and throwing it open.

Outside, what could only be described as a primitive armored car was racing alongside the train. It bore tracks in the back instead of wheels, and several large cannons were jutting out of it's armor while a small smoke stack rested at it's back, spewing noxious fumes from it's top.

A more shrill whistle, exactly like a train's, sounded, and I looked ahead to see a black, armored train speeding towards us. I growled. "So they mean to force my hand. So be it."

I looked back at the various Movement members around me, seeing how they huddled close together in fear and how the guards seemed unsure of what to do. I grit my teeth, pulling myself back inside.

"This is what you lower yourselves to?" I began, throwing a claw out at them all. "You would cower at the sight of these so-called men's forces? What are you?" They all stared at me. "Are you women, or are you scared little mice? Are you not stronger than these scum?" They looked at each other. "Tell me, was it mice who defended Ponyville? Was it mice who took back their independence?" They turned back to me and continued to stare. "No! It was you! Strong, able-bodied women! Women whom have endured more pain than any male could! Women who even during their enslavement endured in the hopes that retribution would come!" I pointed to myself. "I am not your retribution!" I then pointed a claw at them all. "You! You all must create your own retribution!" I waited for an answer. A response. Anything.

They simply stared at me, eyes wide and surprised. I frowned, then snorted. "...Very well. If you will not seek your retribution, then I shall seek mine." I made my way towards the window once more.

If this did not stir them, then nothing would. I would shoulder this fight alone. With that thought, I jumped out the window, tucked and rolled, then stood. As I heard the two approaching engines and the one behind me, I took a breath.

After precious seconds of my body shifting and swelling with new muscles and bones, I exhaled. Then, I bounded towards the oncoming train, feeling the scales on my back flare up and release the vestiges of power I'd kept under wraps.

The power of the few Hellbugs I had been nurturing in my body.

With their power, I sped forward like a rocket, and as I reached the enemy train, I slammed head first into it. Pain lanced into my claws and head, and I felt both my horns snap under the sheer force the armored train had behind it, but I managed. My hind paws dug in on either side of the tracks, and with a howl and Hellbugs fueling me along with my Dracophage Bugs, I shoved the train off the tracks.

With a raucous screeching and clatter of metal on hard ground, I grit my teeth as my muscles screamed from the strain of excess power filling them fit to burst. Power I was no longer used to. Then, a lance of pain lanced into my shoulder after a thunderous boom, and I looked to my shoulder to find a cannonball drop off of my shattered scales. I snarled as I turned to the proto-tank, stepping off the tracks, only for two more shots to slam into me. One hit my other shoulder, another whizzed over my head.

They had shattered my scales...but they had not broken through them. Growling as I pawed the ground, ignoring the pain and blood leaking down both my forelegs, I charged the ironclad.

A hail of bullets barraged my face, pulping my eyes and making me roar in pain as I stumbled and fell over my own legs, coordination now gone. As I tried to stand, the ironclad drove on top of me, then over, racing towards the train again.

"Get...back here..." I growled out, trying and failing to stand. My legs shook as I tried again, and failed again. My muscles were too busy reconstituting themselves. Even now I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming as my body raced to heal itself. I could not see anything, I could only feel pain. Pain and remorse, as I waited in the dirt for my wounds to heal.

Instead of the resistance failing their test...

...I had failed.

The Council watched with wide eyes as Horus lay in a heap, crimson electricity streaking over his form as his demonic regeneration factor slowly started to kick in.

"He's...not getting up," Lyra noted with a gulp.

"His regeneration has been weakened," Zecora said slowly, staring at the scene with her own wide eyes, rhymes forgotten in her shock.

"How..." Bon Bon licked her dry lips. "...H-How long does it take for a Demon or Demon Beast's regeneration factor to recover from misuse?"

"...I do not know," Zecora said shakily.

"...What do we do?" Redheart began, looking to Starlight, eyes pleading.

"..." Starlight watched silently as the cannons of the new engine of war lit up with magical power. Slowly, she stepped back, looking to those around her even as a new shot rocked the train. "Ladies..." She started. "...This might just be our end."

Shocked and scared murmurs filled the car at her words, but her next ones stopped any further murmurs cold. "But I intend to fight. Even if it means my death." She scanned the crowd, seeing their shocked faces. "Who is with me?" No response. "Will you all be mice, like Horus said? OR WILL YOU FIGHT TO THE LAST WOMAN, WILL YOU SEEK RETRIBUTION?!"

They all looked at each other, uncertain. Then...

"I will," Lyra said slowly, shakily stepping up.

"So will I," Bon Bon vowed, placing a hand on her marefriend's shoulder. Lyra shared a brief smile with her.

"As will I," Redheart swore, stepping forward. She shook only marginally less than Lyra.

"And I," Zecora said, placing a hand on Starlight's shoulder.

Slowly, ever so slowly, more voices joined, even as more magical shells rocked the train.

"I'll fight!" A guard cried.

"Me too!" said a griffon.

"We're fighting too," said the familiar voice of Titania. Starlight looked over to see her and Myrtle with makeshift armor on, as well as flintlocks and muskets on their backs and hips.

Starlight smiled as she saw many more females voice their agreement. "Then it's settled! We're in this together, ladies! Now, let's tear those fuckers limb from fucking limb!"

"YEAH!!"

"Heh, this is too easy!" said the Caribou driving the ironclad. "These bitches are too scared to fight back!"

"Yeah, and that big fucker was laughably easy to kill!" His navigator agreed.

"Totally! I thought he'd be a good fight after he flipped that train, but he went down like a slut hungry for some dick!" The gunner concurred.

"Shut it! We all knew this would be easy, it's just a bunch of bitches after all!" Their captain scolded, before pointing at the train engine visible from the viewport. "Engines! Pour more power to the cannons and aim for that train! We're done scaring the shit out of them! It's time we get down to business!"

"Sir!" The two engine workers saluted, before slamming batons into the bare breasts of the unicorn mares chained to the large, rune inscribed cube.

"Oi! More magic, sluts!" one of them barked.

"W-We can't-!" they tried to argue, but another slam to their breasts stopped them short with a scream of pain.

"No excuses! Just do it, you whore!" the other ordered.

With a weak whimper, her and her fellow captives lit their horns even brighter, and the magic soon traveled into the cube, which flowed through rune after rune along the inside of the ironclad, towards the cannons, which lit up with their own runes.

"Powering main cannons!" The gunner Caribou called out as he hovered his hand over a large green rune set upon something not unlike a console in front of him. He cranked a lever. "Taking aim!" The cannon was soon aimed squarely at the engine of the resistance's train. He watched a pair of runes on a glass slate to his right, watching as they slowly changed from red to green. "40%...45%...60%...85%...100%! Firing!" He made to slam his hand down on the console's green rune, only for the ironclad to shake and shudder as hundreds of dents were made in it's armor. At least four bullets sped through the viewports and into the head of the navigator Caribou, the stag falling off his seat and bodily to the floor, right in front of the captain's feet.

"Shit! Those damn whores!" The wizened old stag cursed. "Gunner! Aim for-!" The sound of boots on the roof of the ironclad was heard, followed by the hatch opening and a Griffonness jumping down it and slamming her musket's bayonet through the captain's windpipe.

"Holy fuck!" The gunner yelped, pulling out his flintlock, only for the Griffonness to duck behind the body of the captain, letting his bullet pelt the captain's dying form. As the engineers and the driver made to pull out their own weapons, the Griffonness tossed a small clay orb down, which shattered with a cloud of smoke.

"Gah!" The driver cried, trying and failing to wave the smoke away as he and his cohorts coughed up a storm. Three screams soon rang out, each followed by the sickening sound of blade meeting flesh. Then, silence. "H-Hello?"

The only response he got was a bayonet through the mouth from within the shade of the smoke. Eyes rolling up into his head, he soon went slack as blood leaked from his eyes.

The Griffonness panted heavily as she pulled her musket from the body, feeling the ironclad stop with a jerk. She didn't notice though. Her eyes were stuck on the body before her. The cold, dead eyes. The warm blood on her face. The smell of fresh blood. The sight of a Caribou not too unlike her old captors.

A feeling came over her. One she hadn't even allowed herself to feel for years.

She raised her musket and it's bayonet again, before slamming it back down on the body. Once. Twice. Thrice. Four times. Five. Six. Seven. She lost count after twenty stabs. She stopped caring by fifty.

She knew this feeling now.

It was rage.

Horus groaned as he awoke once more to the sounds and feelings of being on a train. Slowly creaking his eyes open, he hissed as the sudden overload of light hit his newly regenerated orbs of sight. Closing them once more and making to rub them gently, he let out another hiss as the arm he was going to use lit up with pain from the shoulder down. On top of that, it was wrapped in a makeshift cast. He also took note of how much his head ached as well.

Carefully opening his eyes again, he looked up to see his horns had regrown. He let out a sigh, and looked around. He was in a different car this time, with far less occupants. To his side, sleeping while sitting in the seat across from him, was Redheart.

He let out another sigh, this time deeper. 'I can hardly remember the last time I had to have my wounds treated.' He glanced down to the cast his arms were in. 'Much less the last time I wore casts.' He lay his head back, staring up at the ceiling. He looked to Redheart. 'It seems we survived. That...is a relief.' A pause. '...And if I am here, and not in a Caribou prison before Dainn...then they...' Slowly, the Hellwolf gained a smile. "...Then they passed it."

"Passed what?" Starlight asked from the seat behind him. He stiffened. "What did we pass?"

Horus remained silent for a time, before letting out a breath. "I...needed to test you."

"For what?" Starlight said with more ice in her tone than before.

"...To see if you could be trusted to handle yourselves in a real fight," Horus replied with grim acceptance.

"..." Starlight didn't reply for a short while. Horus didn't say anything either. "...You're really pushing things, you know."

"...I am, yes."

"Then why the test? Why do you not trust us?"

"..."

"...Because we haven't fought wars before?"

"..."

"...I thought so."

"I did not mean to offen-"

"Yeah, well, you did," Starlight interrupted. "I don't care if it was needed. You should have just told us."

"...I'm sorr-"

"Sorry isn't good enough. We're supposed to be partners in this," Starlight intoned. Horus was silent. "You were just going to kill our pursuers and then leave, weren't you?" Horus still didn't respond. "After everything that's happened, you were ACTUALLY ready to abandon us?" She stood up, walking around the seats to stand in front of him, between him and Redheart. "Considering how your fight went, how long do you think you really would have survived alone?"

Horus stared up at her, then looked away and sighed. "I...don't know what to say to that."

"..." Starlight stared hard down at him. He didn't meet her gaze. Sighing herself, she relaxed slightly. "You say, 'I'll do better next time'."

He looked to her in surprise. "You...aren't going to banish me from the Movement?"

Starlight snorted. "Believe me, I'm annoyed enough with your literal lone wolf act, but..." She looked to the still slumbering Redheart. "...It's obvious we need you just as much as you need us." She looked back to him. "You didn't tell us your regen was stunted."

Horus winced, ears lowering. "I...didn't want to worry you."

Starlight stared him down for a moment. Then, she put her hands on her hips and let out a heaving breath. "You're hopeless." She shook her head, then finally quirked a smile. "Just be honest with us. We're partners. Allies. We need to trust each other to survive, especially against those bastards."

He frowned, looking to the ceiling again, closing his eyes. "I suppose you are right."

The mare rolled her eyes. "I always am."

Horus snorted, but said nothing. A momentary pause followed, neither saying anything, before Horus opened his eyes again, looking to the Unicorn. "What happened while I was out?"

"We aimed for the obvious viewport for the vehicle. Had a Caribou looking out, so we figured killing him would hinder them. We were right. After that, we sent Ilma in," Starlight explained.

"Ilma?"

"Griffon. Used to be a spy for the Griffons before the Caribou captured her a few years back," Starlight informed.

Horus frowned, closing his eyes once more. "...Was she harmed?"

Starlight shook her head. "No. She came back shaken, but otherwise fine. But what she found inside..." Starlight clenched her fists.

Horus' fur stood on end. "...What did she find?"

"They had Unicorns chained to a mana battery. Used their magic to power the engine, and from what they told us..." Starlight snarled. "...they used to be a group of four. Ilma only found two. The firebox had a smell to it, too." Horus' form briefly flickered with hellish lightning as he snarled himself. "My thoughts too." She shook her head, taking a few breaths. "Anyway, after that, we had a few fliers pick you up. Thankfully you shrunk down after you passed out, so we didn't have to worry about your fat ass weighing us down."

Horus rolled his eyes, but gained a smile nonetheless. "...I am glad."

"Because we survived?"

He shook his head. "Yes...and no." He turned his head to look to her. "Because today, you all found your rage, and took the first steps towards obtaining your own retribution."

Starlight blinked, then, slowly smiled herself. "Yeah... I guess we did."

Author's Note

Phew, this one took an entire morning to get out, and even more time to edit. Thanks to Illua, it went a bit quicker, at least. Hopefully it's palatable to you all. I'm still not too sure I got the mood down exactly, but, I guess I'll see when I see the comments from you lovelies.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Thank you all so much for reading, it means a lot! Give Illua some love to, for all her help editing and proofreading this chapter! 'Till the next update!

-Timeless