Wind whipped and pulled at my cloak, my wings beating a steady rhythm helping to angle me through the cloud and alight upon a particularly dense one overlooking the statue below. There were no visible lights on the island, but for the magical fire of the huge torch held in the statue’s outstretched hoof. My field glasses, another gift from Mitre, allowed me a good view of the island from my vantage point. J.J had said that Gates worked here, however the raid to rescue the kidnapped ponies may have inadvertently chased him away. Inwardly, I cursed not having asked Melon Patch about him before I incinerated the sick bastard.

The visitor centre itself was in total darkness and there was no sign of any nearby river traffic. Perhaps I had come at the wrong time? He couldn’t be here all day everyday, even rats needed to sleep. Taking a deep breath, I let out a sigh to settle my nerves. I had waited this long, and ‘all good things come to ponies who wait’, if you could believe that. Ruffling my wings, I settled in for a long night atop the cloud.

Around 2:00am, I heard the faint chugging of a motor launch in the distance. Leaning over my perch, I watched the small vessel drawing steadily nearer, heading for the islands small dock. Fortunately a combination of my field glasses and wendigo eyes allowed for a relatively clear view of the occupants, if not necessarily their colour in the darkness.

I counted six of them, two were very tall for ponies, another two were griffins by looks of them and the last two were the one’s that were hosting this little river jaunt. One pony piloted the launch while the other sat facing the passengers. I couldn’t hear anything from this distance, but there something about his mannerisms that jarred at my memory; the slick coal black mane and tail. My heart jumped in my chest, It had to be him.

The small vessel pulled up alongside the jetty and the passengers disembarked, heading straight for the visitor centre lead by their rather animated host. He jumped about like a flea on a dog’s back, the other four apparently more interested in their destination than listening to their ‘guide’. Watching them go, I noticed the last pony on the craft had stayed behind to tie up; this was my chance. Finished with his tasks, the vessels pilot let out a long sigh into the cold night air and sat back, enjoying watching the lights of the city reflect upon the calm water’s surface.

He should have been more vigilant, the remoteness of the location had given him a false sense of security. Perhaps nopony had told him about the last lot who’d used this island for their nefarious deeds, but whatever the reason, he never saw my blade until it was pressing against his throat. He choked on his cigarette but stayed still as a statue,

“Make a sound…go on…” I hissed, “I’ll slit your throat from ear to ear.”

The pony remained silent. I could hear his heart beating like a hammer in his chest.

I leaned forward, “Now…where’s Gates and what’s he doing here?”

“He…he’s in the visitor centre with the foreigners, he’s showing them the operation we’ve got here. They’re new c…customers.”

“What new operation?”

“I…”

I pulled the blade nearer, nicking his throat ever so slightly. He was panting heavily, “Drugs! Breeze and Ryetalin, weapons too. They’re stored here ready for sale, then the barges take them down river and out to waiting ships…that’s all I know!”

“Any guards here? Don’t lie to me friend…”

“Some, maybe four or five, under the visitor centre. The entrance is under the generator room.”

I patted him on the head, “Good boy! Now then…nighty night.”

A quick spray of the old knock-out gas and he was out like a light. So, they were still up to their old tricks, but more home-grown now. At least I didn’t have to worry about sex slaves being transported to the human realm. What worried me though was how come the agency and the watch didn’t know about this place even after our raid? Surely, somepony would have done a thorough search of the island, the agency certainly should have. Did they only look at the statue? This had the stink of Commissioner all over it, who else had the clout to leave a place untouched by the watch or maybe even the agency?

I trotted up the well worn path from the jetty; untold thousands of visitors regularly travelled here to see the island and the magnificent statue. It was supposed to be a symbol of freedom…how bloody ironic. The centre was locked up solid and, as I’d confirmed earlier, no lights. The whole area was complete silence except for the background lapping of the waves and thrum from the magic generator; a small building adjacent to the main centre.

Approaching it cautiously, I kept to the shadows. There was no sense taking chances when I was this close to my goal and potentially alerting anypony nearby. An acrid smell suddenly caught in my nose and I had to stop myself before I sneezed. Bloody hell fire, that stink! Breeze had a particular smell, at least during manufacture, and thanks to my misadventure in the human realm, one I will never forget. My poor nose had taken days to recover following that little escapade.

The steel door to the generator room was unlocked. Reaching out to pull the handle I froze; from inside I heard a cough from somepony clearing their throat. I ‘d have to keep this nice and quiet.

Thinking quickly, I backed away, hiding behind the shadow of a large rock. I looked about me and levitated over a nice sized stone, throwing it at the door…nothing. Picking up another, I tried again, the clang echoing like the toll of a bell.

“What the fucks that…?” an irritated sounding voice shouted from inside. The door began to open slowly. A second, quieter voice from inside, “Its probably Polo messing about again, give him a kick from me.”

“Ha! Sure…” the first one laughed.

The door was fully open now, pushed by a cerulean blue earth stallion, pistol in mouth. I threw a stone further down the path, and like an untrained puppy he followed the noise. Dropping onto his back, a quick twist was all it took. Beneath my hooves I felt his bones snap and body go limp, exhaling his last breath. Quickly, I searched his still warm corpse, fishing out a key, a few rounds of ammo and the fallen pistol. Mouth fired…blech!

The second pony appeared around the corner a lot quicker than I expected, “Hey, Rigg, you deal with Polo ye’….holy fuck!”

The pegasus tried to pull out his pistol but was way too slow. My magic flared and the blast of blue black energy took him full in the face before he could react. There wasn’t much left that was recognisable as a pony when his blackened remains hit the ground. I took out my PDW and quickly moved to the door, checking for any more ponies…clear.

Inside the small room was little more than a short landing and a set of red painted metal steps that disappeared down into the bowels of the island. Well, there was no other direction to take, so down I went. Level after level, I must have been way below sea level now surely, how far did this go? Were they using submarines or something?

My descent was finally brought to a halt by a heavy set of double doors, no guards this time, thank Luna. Pushing one of them open, I listened carefully but there was no sound of any voices, only a…shuffling? Fuck! A huge clawed paw swiped through the gap in the door and slashed my foreleg, sending a burning pain through me. The painful gash wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but the bloody thing was trying to get at me and finish the job. Growling menacingly, the beast was a snarling face full of fangs and animal rage. Thank Luna the thing was as thick as bricks, and rather than trying to pull the door open to get at me, it simply kept ramming its head into the gap, trying to squeeze through. My PDW levitated into my line of sight and I put a bolt of green energy right through the damned things open mouth.

The blast blew the monstrous creature’s back end out and it flopped over, stone dead on the concrete floor. What the fuck was that thing? It looked like a giant winged cat with a barbed tail. Fuck me, I was glad I hadn’t been hit with that! It was probably one of Equestria’s many ‘friendly magical creatures’; another class skipped I probably should have taken. One day I’d have to get some night school lessons.

I gave myself a good shake, now was not the time to get distracted. Whatever the bloody thing was, it was dead and I could only hope that the noise hadn’t alerted the others. Listening carefully, all I could hear was the faint hum of the generators.

I managed to push the door open enough to let myself through, after first kicking the still warm corpse of the big cat thing out of the way.

The room the thing had been guarding was cavernous and well lit with magically powered ceiling lights. For a moment I stood there in shock, my jaw hanging open at the sheer scale of it all. Goddess almighty…It was wall to wall guns. Crate after crate, rack after endless rack of the death dealing things, stacked from floor to ceiling, waiting for their new owners. In the room next to this one, no guns, but long rows of smaller crates, filled with tiny plastic wrapped packets of white powder…Breeze.

How many of the creatures it had taken to produce this amount was unimaginable. Even if the substance had been cut with another to bulk it out, they must have needed thousands of them. Considering the relatively small population to begin with, this must have been akin to an extinction level event for them. I wasn’t exactly fond of the annoying little creatures, but ‘every life deserves to live’, my mum used to say. I wonder what she’d say if she could see this.

Sounds from the next room; I ducked behind the crates, straining my hearing. I could hear several voices engaged in conversation, but one of them stood out from the rest. The swearing, the rough accent…the unmistakable sound of ‘him’…that filth, Gates.

My hatred for that scum was beyond anything you could imagine. A rapidly building fury began to rage inside me, screaming with a wrath that demanded release. I tried desperately but couldn’t…couldn’t, control it…Fog began to form around my hind legs, the familiar feeling in my mouth as teeth sharpened, my eyesight taking on the slightly blue edged hue. My heart was beating like a war drum.

“Mister Gates, what is this…this fog? Is there a leak in here?” a heavily accented voice questioned.

“Gentlecolts, griffins, please…everything is under control, this is just a minor malfunction in the cooling system”, Gates didn’t sound convincing. He hissed into a transmitter,

“Nails…what the fuck is going on down here? There’s a leak of some sort, get in here and get it sorted before we lose the shipment!” he turned to his guests, “So, here are…you’ve seen the merchandise, you’ve seen the factory. Shall we discuss terms?”

The creatures began to chatter to one another in languages I’d never heard before. Whatever they were was meaningless to me now. He was here, the torturer, the rapist…murderer…I was alive with such white hot hatred, my muscles were burning, my magic surging through me demanding release. It was time…I would wait no longer…

“What is that rumbling noise mister Gates? Is there an animal in here?”

“Damn! Nails, I think one of those bloody manticores got out its…oh my goddesses…”

I stepped out from behind the crates, flicking out the scythe and staring intently at the object of all my woes, all my suffering...

“Gates…”

It was him alright, any doubts I may have had were long gone. The stinking piss yellow scum stared at me then took a step back, the colour draining from his face, “Oh shit…oh shit! Sompony shoot it! Shoot that fucking thing!”

“I’m coming for you Gates”, I said quietly, “…I’M COMING FOR YOU!” I let out a howl that filled the cavernous room and charged him, ice and blue fire flaring out from my hooves, thick white mist billowing from my haunches and muzzle. It was time for the dance to begin…

The griffins were the first to react, drawing their curved swords and standing to meet my charge. Brave creature, but misguided. Nothing could stop me now, my blade swung around and up, disembowelling the first of them. The creature dropped, coughing out blood and twitching. The second screeched and thrust its blade at me which I deflected, a cloud of icy fog engulfing the creature which began to solidify almost instantly. With its dying breath the griffin made one last swing before its head separated from its neck and rolled across the floor to the hooves of the tall ponies…Saddle Arabians by the looks of them. They stood there, staring at me in abject horror.

As one they turned to run for the door. They never made it, their bodies frozen forever in a permanent scream. Shouting began emanating from the room that lead to the stairwell. Poor Gates, he was trying to open the door but somepony had locked it…I wonder who…

He stopped dead, his ears twitching as I approached him, “Hello Gates, long time no see…miss me while I’ve been gone?”

The stinking creature still had that terrible odour problem. My sensitive nose wrinkled up at the nasal assault.

“I don’t know who the fuck you are”, he spat at me, the gobbet of spittle freezing solid midflight and dropping to the floor, “…or what you are. Get him!”

Bullets flew from the room the party had entered from and Gates dove through it, narrowly avoiding being riddled himself. From what little I knew of this place, there was no escape from that room; one way in, one way out.

I had an idea…

Bullets smashed through the door, sending lead and splinters flying past me. With a crash, the tortured door finally succumbed to the onslaught and it fell from its hinges. It was what I’d been waiting for.

Holding them in my telekinesis, I threw in the two boxes of breeze.

“Hey! What the fucks he doing?”

“Dunno, keep firing, don’t let that fucking thing in here!”

The flashbugs hidden inside the boxes went off, filling the room with clouds of the foul drug. Coughing and shouting, the ponies inside began firing wildly, hitting each other and items of equipment around them. The sound of breaking glass and ricocheting bullets only ended when they finally ran out of ammunition. By that time, they were so high, it was almost cruel to have to put them down.

Bringing the scythe over and down, the blade only stopped when it hit the floor, both sides of the first ponies body falling neatly away. The second just sat there laughing until I decapitated him, kicking his lifeless corpse away from me as I passed. One after the other they fell, as corn to the reaper…until one remained.

Gibbering, laughing and foaming at the mouth, the piss coloured earth pony had quite literally shit himself. The stink was so bad, I was glad I’d brought the respirator Mitre had thoughtfully left me. A swift buck to the face, took the foul beast to the floor, knocking him cold. Silence fell, only the pinking of cooling gun barrels and the endless background hum of generators disturbed the scene.

I stood over him at last, the vermin who had destroyed my world, my wife, my child and finally my self. My heart was beating hard in my chest, its sound filling my ears. I had to get to work now, before he came round…there was so much to do, and so little time.

When I finished, I took a moment to examine the breezy cages. As I feared, they were all empty. Every single one of them was gone, and up some pony’s nose too by the looks of Gates. Did the goddesses have some strange sense of divine retribution? If so, they must have been having a riot with this one.

Eventually, Gates began to regain consciousness. His eyes blinked several times and he smacked his lips before realising his predicament. Struggling against his bindings, he whipped his head from side to side until he caught sight of me,

“What the fuck…what the fuck is this?!”

“’The fuck is this?’” I repeated, leaning back in the chair I’d set up next to him, “Why, you remember don’t you, Gates? If I said the names, Fairlight and Meadow, would that ring any bells with you?”

“Who?” he smirked at me.

I clicked my tongue, taking a draw on the cigar lazily, “You disappoint me Gates, your friend Mel remembered…quite sad what happened to him really, wasn’t it? Reminded me of that old song…you can sing along if you like”

I stood and waved my hooves in the air, “It’ll be a hot time in old Manehattan tonight….!” I laughed, white mist spilling from my muzzle.

“You did that?” He shouted, “You did that to Mel? What are you, some sort of demon?”

I sighed, “Maybe Gates, maybe, but…oh! Silly me!”, I released the power, my normal appearance returning. The grey coat, the blue eyes, damaged horn, scar…normal as I was ever going to be after what the bastard’s had done to me.

I stood up, flicking the ash from the cigar onto his face, “Remember me now?”

A light of recognition came on in his eyes, “Yeah…yeah! I remember you! You’re that watch pony the boss ordered us to take care of, you and that bitch wife of yours! How are you still alive?”

“That bitch wife of mine? She had a name, filth, her name was Meadow”, I stood over him and pressed my hooves to his chest, “Let me give you…a little ‘reminder’.” I pushed down slowly, firmly, harder and harder, putting all my strength, my anger and hate into that moment until with a sickening crack, his ribs gave way.

Gates screamed, or rather, he tried to. One or more had of his ribs punctured a lung and he coughed foaming blood into the air. “Sorry darling,” I hissed, “I don’t think I quite heard you. Could you try saying that again?”

“You...you bastard!”, Gates coughed, “…you can’t…can’t do this! The boss will…”

“You mean Velvet Cream?” I puffed out a smoke ring, “I’m afraid, Gatesey old stick, ‘mister’ Cream will be meeting a similar fate. If I were you, I’d focus on your own problems. They’re a little more ‘immediate’.”

I walked over to the control panel, “But don’t worry Gates, I’ll be making all your problems go away. Observe…”

With a click and a whine, the breezy grinder started up, the small sharp teeth on the rollers gradually picking up speed. Gates began to struggle, “For fucks sake, what do you want?! Don’t do this!”

I held up the conveyor switch, “You know Gates, I thought about killing you quickly, but then I thought…’no’. Why deprive you of experiencing that which you so happily inflict on others. Ponies, Breezies, doesn’t really matter to you does it?”

“What are you doing!” He shouted desperately, “Why can’t I feel my legs?!”

I pressed the conveyor’s start button, the machinery rumbling into life, “Well, that would be because they’re frozen, Gates. That way, you won’t miss a single second of what’s to come.”

I lifted his head and gave him a good look of the rollers as they started chewing through his hooves, his hind legs and inexorably working their way up towards his nethers.

Gates cried out in horror, but I kept his head locked in my hooves, “Look well piggy, look well. You’re gonna enjoy this. At least, I am anyways!” I started laughing, the sight was so horrific, so sickeningly macabre, and yet this was what I wanted…the end of the vermin who took the lives of my family. Here…here I would show him the mercy he had shown them.

“Please! Oh Celestia, please…kill me…kill me!”

I watched the grinders until his haunches and nethers were pulled in, chewing and cracking their way up his body. Gates’ screams were never ending. He howled and shrieked until I drew my PDW and pressed it to the side of his head. I whispered softly into his ear, “I’m better than you”, and pulled the trigger.

At some point during the gun battle, crates of explosives and ammunition had been broken open, spilling their content across the floor. I was damned lucky the whole place hadn’t gone up and taken me with it. Gathering a good quantity of the ammunition and explosives in one place, I opened the generator room’s gas valves and trotted up the stairs from the scenes of carnage below. Outside at last, I looked up at Luna’s moon and offered my thanks. Taking several deep cleansing breaths, I tried to remove the stench of death and the chemical reek of breeze from my nose, mouth and lungs. It was going to take ages to get my sense of smell back to normal after tonight.

Releasing the power once more, I flew up to the cloud layer and took out another of Mitre’s wonderful cigars. Truly a wonderful experience, a pity I didn’t have any of Grimble’s delicious brandy to go with it, but this would do for now. I smiled to myself, I didn’t even feel hungry, I’d fed quite well down there too. All in all, a most satisfying evening all round. Finally finishing the cigar, I let it drop to the ground below, just by the open door to the visitor centre.

The flash, rumble and subsequent explosion rent the still night air and sent debris flying for miles around. Fortunately, only smaller pieces hit the statue, the larger ones landing harmlessly out in the bay. I was lucky that I was quite adept at shield construction now or else I could have taken a hit by the flying pieces too, and that would have quite spoiled the mood.

But, all good things come to an end, and the saga of Mel and Gates was finally over. I would probably see them again in hell some time, but at least I had the satisfaction of sending them there first. I had a stretch and then set off back to my home from home, the dank sewer…it almost seemed inviting now.

Soaring out over the bay, I revelled in the feeling of the cool air on my hide. I’d get back, get some water heated and have a wash. I skin tingled with anticipation of a getting clean, if only for a short time. Something began buzzing in my pocket. It was Mitre’s encrypted transmitter.

“Mister Fairlight? It’s Bingo, get over to the roof of the Manehattan General Hospital as quick as you can. It’s that orange mare…I think she’s dying.”