And just like that the dream was over. The fantasy ended. I had done it, the thing that I could never in my wildest imaginings dreamed I would do: talk to Littlepip. Now that we left the SPP, I didn’t feel the sense of fulfillment or epiphany that I hoped I might have. I felt lost. I wasn’t any better of a stallion than before I walked into that room. I wasn’t any more equipped to lead or do any of the things required of me. I wasn’t a hero. I was afraid. I was doubtful. I was alone with my duty.

It wasn’t fair to my friends to feel this way. They had stuck with me more than was probably smart for them to do so, and I would be forever thankful of their loyalty. But no matter what Littlepip or Homage said, no matter what the hope inside me said, I knew that when it was all over, I would be the one on a throne. The opportunity to save Equestria’s future may have rested with all of us, but the future itself sat squarely in my hooves.

I have spoken of burdens before. The burden of my armor. The burden of the future it promised me. The burden that my friendships and my own actions had caused me to bear. But this was unlike any of those. Littlepip had said that I would make mistakes, and that it would be okay. And she was right. I would make mistakes. But when the unity of an entire country, when the safety, security, and peace deserved by thousands and thousands of ponies was my burden to bear, and to bear alone, I didn’t feel like I had room to make mistakes.

I had to be a perfect pony. And when I examined myself, I knew I wasn’t. Failure felt imminent.

But Littlepip believed in me. That was the only reason I continued. The only one.

The sun had risen once more as we exited the SPP, bathing the wasteland in a golden, peaceful glow. Below us, beyond the foothills, stretched the Everfree, with the Sear a jagged scar, and yet it was a bastion within the twisted trees.

Our trip through the Everfree, with our odd sleep intervals, had left us all exhausted, but now that our journey would eventually lead us to Friendship City, only a few hours away from Manehattan, we decided that our poor bodies would survive a little more pushing.

We plodded along, over the fallen branches and trunks of the Sear, and now that I had more time to think, I began to ponder about the slave-driving Red Eye and his plan to save Equestria. Littlepip’s story had given me enough of a warning not to become so idealistic in my own attempts to save Equestria, but I did wonder what kind of ponies Littlepip and Homage believed were out for my blood. I had learned enough to know that they wouldn’t be as black-and-white evil as I hoped they would be. I mean, Red Eye was pretty evil, but I doubted whoever might threaten my claim to the throne would be a slave-driving, gladiator-supporting tyrant like the stallion who tried to burn down this forest.

It seemed inevitable that I would face opposition. But would they really be as bad as Red Eye? Or would they be more insane, like Trixie? Or would they be less distinguishably evil? Would they be ponies that I would be friends with under other circumstances? Would the differences between us be only a few points of view? Or as trivial as my horn and wings?

My companions had other questions on their minds. Cloud Chaser finally opened her mouth once we had made good headway through the Sear. “So, I’ve been thinking about these clones, and just how are we supposed to tell the difference between our Ebonmane and clone Ebonmane?”

“We’ll call the clone Ebonmane Prime,” Ironbright suggested. “Like in math.”

“Well, that answers a different question, but I was thinking more along the lines of the clone tricking us or not wanting to believe it’s a clone? What then?”

“We could always give Ebonmane a scar after we clone him,” Ironbright suggested. I hoped the tone in her voice was a jesting smile that I couldn’t see under her helm.

Rosemary put a stop to this talk. “According to Littlepip, the clone should want to identify itself. Even if it doesn’t, it won’t have Ebonmane’s memories. Just ask how many brothers he has or something.”

“That’s another thing,” Cloud Chaser continued. “If it doesn’t have your memories, how are we supposed to predict its behavior? I mean, our memories make up a lot of our personalities, why we do the things we do. The clone will basically be your distilled personality, but what is that, really? How could we possibly know what anypony’s core personality is?”

“That’s… surprisingly insightful, Cloud Chaser,” Ironbright remarked.

“I’m young, not dumb! All I know is, if I didn’t have my memories, I wouldn’t be nearly as careful as I am. I learned to stay safe by living on the streets. My experience is the only thing keeping my curiosity in check. But Ebonmane’s… tougher.” Cloud Chaser’s eyes turned to me, and suddenly I had the spotlight.

“I just know what I would do if I was a clone,” I responded. “I don’t know if that’s who I am at heart or a product of my experience. If the clone is uncooperative, we can always just kill it.”

“’Him,’” Rosemary corrected. “Not ‘it.’ And how could you? You’re giving this pony life, and you would just kill him if it didn’t work out?”

“It’s not alive like we know it,” I told her. “It’s a clone.”

“He,” she stressed again.

I rolled my eyes. “He wouldn’t have any parents or any memories.”

“So he would be no different than an orphan newborn,” she pointed out.

“No,” I replied. “Foals are born with a purpose. Parents decide to bring foals into the world for the sake of making new life, of having children. We’re making this clone for a specific purpose, like a machine. I know it might look like me and sound like me, but it won’t be me. It won’t ever be me.”

There was a shroud of silence as we saw we had touched a nerve. I realized how cold it was for me to make this thing… this pony, and just send him to die. How much different was I than Red Eye? And what if this new Ebonmane, without his memories, was a better version of myself than me? What if he, being less burdened, was nobler, more insightful, less doubtful, than I was? Who was to say that I shouldn’t be the one to die?

But he wouldn’t be me. Of that much I was certain. And there was some good in me, somewhere. Something that made me as priceless an individual as anypony was. Some spark that gave me value and worthiness beyond whatever decisions I had made and would make. I believed all life was valuable simply for its own sake, and while that was hard to hold onto in a wasteland filled with the most evil ponies ever spawned, why did I have so much trouble applying that to myself?

And surely my friends thought my life was more worthwhile than a clone’s. Wouldn’t they be able to tell the difference?

Their banter fell into lighter territory as Cloud Chaser continued on her list of questions. “So what would you guys do if you had a clone or two?”

“No,” Ironbright said firmly. “Rule one of this thing is: no pony gets to make a clone other than Ebonmane, and he gets one. You heard Littlepip say what happened when Pinkie did it.”

“She didn’t actually say what happened,” Cloud Chaser pointed out.

“Exactly.”

“Wow, way to be a stick in the mud, Ironbright,” Cloud Chaser folded her arms in flight. “I wasn’t actually going to make one. It was just a hypothetical question.”

“I wouldn’t make one,” Ironbright responded. “We would both want to be in command. Too much of a hassle.”

“I’d probably hate myself,” Rosemary remarked.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Another me wouldn’t be much fun.” Cloud Chaser agreed.

“Although, I don’t think Ebonmane would mind having a few more mares hanging around him,” Ironbright said, again with what I suspected was a masked grin. I didn’t smile, although I probably should have faked it. Conversation died off very quickly after that.

By the time it was well past noon, we had reached a point where we could no longer dither about in the relative openness and safety of the Sear. Littlepip’s coordinates would take us into the thick of the Everfree Forest and there was nothing we could do about it. We were afraid to go in the first time, but each of our own brushes with near-death had only increased the severity of our fears to enter it a second time. We may have been able to survive the thornwolves and killing joke, but who says we could do it again? And what other horrors might lurk beyond those trees that we had no hope of standing against?

At least at this point, we had become reasonably good at swallowing our fear and charging headlong into danger anyway.

Once again, despite the light, albeit cloudy day outside, the world of the forest was cast in a blurry gray light, and everything teemed with a sickly green life. We had entered the trees at a point that should have allowed us to pass directly to the spot Littlepip had mentioned, but any amount of time in this forest was too long.

The growls persisted. The hazy mist surrounded us. The ever-present feeling of being watched had every hair of my coat standing on end. I could see why Rosemary deteriorated so quickly from being here. Every second of this stress was surely taking minutes off of my lifespan.

Speaking of Rosemary, knowing the effect the forest had on her, I couldn’t help but keep a closer eye on her. It wasn’t hard, considering she walked right next to me, but every so often I would ask her how she was holding up. She usually gave terse responses, like, “Fine.” Normally, such distant and obviously false replies would frustrate me, but I could see some kind of gratitude in her eyes, a thankfulness for the fact that I cared, at least a little bit, and wasn’t thinking about myself like I usually did. I half expected Cloud Chaser or Ironbright to make a joke about my attentiveness, but the heavy, tense atmosphere of the Everfree Forest wasn’t terribly conducive to joking. We all walked rather quietly, we all checked up on each other, and we all responded that we were holding up. We kept each other moving.

And we moved as a team. At numerous occasions, Ironbright and I used our PipBucks to avoid any little red dots we happened upon, taking routes that skirted around possible danger. Cloud Chaser led the charge in keeping us quiet, and her expertise in stealth saved us at least a couple of times. And when we were so focused on everything else, Rosemary was focused on us. She kept us eating and drinking. She silenced anything more than playful bickering. I know I’ve accused her of acting like my mother, but every group needs a mom, and Rosemary was a good one. When I saw this dynamic at work, when I realized how effective we were, I began to give more credence to what Littlepip had said about me not having to be Prince alone. Even if I couldn’t nail down exactly what I contributed to this group aside from my status as an alicorn, my friends never complained about me, and I did everything I could to be useful. If I had to come down on it, I think I was moral support. Rosemary greased the wheels and Cloud Chaser was comic relief, but as whiny as this sounds, I think my friends realized that if I could keep going when I was looking at a throne and assassination, then they could, too. Even when I was afraid, I did my best to show courage. When I was wounded, I shrugged it off, not denying it for my pride, but ignoring it in favor of more important objectives. And when I fell into doubt and loneliness, I found a way to rally. I think my friends took inspiration from me, but the truth was that I wouldn’t have been able to take another step if not for them.

In the heart of the woods, I had a moment of gratefulness for them.

After almost two hours of trekking and skirting, we reached our destination behind curtains of thick brambles and vines that made me worry about lurking thornwolves or killing joke. If Littlepip’s marker on our PipBucks didn’t announce it, the landmark did. No pony would have looked twice at the massive boulder that sat at the entrance to the cave that held the pool, but because we knew the pool was here, the great stone only confirmed that we had arrived.

We relaxed. Our PipBucks had shown that any danger had passed, at least for now.

Cloud Chaser whistled. “Pinkie Pie must not have wanted anypony else to find this place. It must have taken all six of them to get this thing to budge.”

“Or one Twilight Sparkle,” Ironbright remarked. “She was a renowned telekinetic, after all.”

“Well, give it a shot, Rosemary,” Cloud Chaser offered.

“Perhaps Ebonmane should,” Ironbright suggested. “He’s stronger, after all.”

Rosemary and I glanced at one another. I don’t know why we couldn’t just both lift it, but it appeared some kind of contest was in place, and since strength was involved, I knew my stallionhood was implicitly being measured. I sighed and stepped forward.

I enveloped the boulder in my blue field and heaved, but I knew immediately this thing wasn’t budging. For the sake of pride, I hefted and strained for a few more moments, but it didn’t take my friends long to figure out that I had nothing.

Cloud Chaser was smiling. “Well, you’re up Rosemary.”

Even then, I would freely admit that Rosemary was a more powerful spellcaster than me, but I believed that the boulder was way beyond the limits of even a reasonably powerful unicorn. Only a specially trained one, like Crane or Littlepip, could hope to lift this thing.

But of course, I exhaled in surprise when Rosemary managed to make it budge. It rolled and wobbled, exposing the dark hole underneath, but she couldn’t quite get it off the ground.

With the point made, I added my magic to it, and we managed to roll it to the side, allowing us access. Cloud Chaser whistled again. “Damn, Rosemary, I didn’t know you were that strong. That rock must weigh a ton!”

Rosemary was winded, but smiled gratefully. “I couldn’t have done it without Ebonmane.”

“Uh huh,” Cloud Chaser agreed. Despite Rosemary’s gracefulness, it was clear that my magical abilities were weak.

Ironbright attempted to stand up for me. “Ebonmane might not have strength, but I don’t know of any other ponies who can wield three weapons with the accuracy that he does. What he lacks in strength he makes up for in dexterity.”

“That’s what all the stallions say, right up there with, ‘this is normal size,’” Cloud Chaser said with a cocky grin. I groaned and moved toward the hole. It was time to get on with it.

Luckily for us, it wasn’t a straight drop down, or we would have had a hell of a time getting Ironbright in and out. Rather, there was an easy ramp that led into the cavern, as if somepony had carved out the entrance, rather than the cave system forming more naturally. I wonder if Pinkie and her army of clones had made the access so easy, or if more ponies lost to history had used the pool. Sadly, I would never know.

Once we were inside, we turned our lights on to illuminate the pitch black, but hardly one light was necessary. The walls and floor were crammed with bioluminescent flowers. They lined the walls, sprouting from the loose earth that was the floor. I was surprised at the peacefulness of it all, how unobtrusive it was. The cavern didn’t even have a musty, earthy smell. It just smelled like stale, unmoved air. Not even the flowers had a fragrance.

After checking with Ironbright and me for signs of danger, Cloud Chaser immediately began to explore, and there was no hope of stopping her. The cavern seemed to stretch on past the lights, but a small stream led to the pool before us. The cave wasn’t too different from the one underneath Canterlot, and the Everfree Forest wasn’t too far away from the city. How had no pony known about it? With the efforts taken to hide this place, I wondered if what we were about to do was wise.

With the size of the cavern, it didn’t take long for us to find the pool. “This must be it,” Ironbright pointed out.

Cloud Chaser was at our side, the curiosity of what was about to happen overtaking her need to explore.

“So… what do I do?” I asked.

“How should we know?” Ironbright replied.

“Littlepip said that if you walk through it, you’ll make a clone,” Rosemary reminded us.

“How can he walk through a pool of water?” Cloud Chaser asked.

“Maybe there’s some sort of incline.”

While they argued about the semantics, I stood at the very edge of the pool. It was unlike any other water I had ever seen. I couldn’t see the bottom. Even when the water was only an inch deep, I couldn’t see the sand or stone underneath. I only saw the roof of the cavern. And myself, staring back, my own reflection.

It was the strangest thing. Parts of me were off. Parts that appeared on one side of me in a mirror, like a small scar I’ve had on my eyebrow since I was young, were on the wrong side. But they were really on the correct side. And with the cavern above reflected so perfectly, the pool looked less and less like a mirror and more and more like a portal.

But it was when I examined myself even more closely that threw me off. We both held perfectly still, my reflection and me, but the gentle motions, the idle swaying and stirrings, didn’t seem to match. Neither of us blinked. We were mesmerized.

I leaned my head closer to see if it was really my reflection in the pool. He leaned closer too.

My nose touched the water, and I felt no water. I felt myself being pulled in.

I took a step. He retreated.

It wasn’t a mirror! I stepped closer and closer, realizing that I was looking into the face of my clone, but he continued to retreat, around the curve of the pool. I followed him, not wanting to lose him now that I had found him.

I walked around the edge of the pool. And when I came around on the other side, there he was.

His appearance was so sudden that we bumped noses. We backed up and rubbed out snouts in the exact same way. “Sorry,” we said automatically. At the same time. The whole experience was a little eerie.

“Holy mother of Celestia,” Cloud Chaser said quietly. “I have the best idea right now.”

The others ignored that. “Okay, what’s my name?” Ironbright asked.

“Ironbright,” I answered. The other me examined her and the others carefully.

Ironbright designated us with her hoof, “Ebonmane, Ebonmane Prime.”

“Uhh, nice to meet you?” he said. Was I really that goofy?

“This is Cloud Chaser and Rosemary,” Ironbright continued. “We’re friends.”

“Alright, but… what’s going on? Why am I here?” Ebonmane Prime asked. Well, straight to the existential point. So far so good.

“Let me explain,” I started with him. He turned to me and regarded me with such intensity that it was a little off-putting. With him being just as tall as me, it was almost intimidating, but I began to inform him anyway. I decided to just tell him the truth straight out. Sugar-coating it probably wouldn’t help with something this big. “You’re a clone of me,” I told him.

“Oh,” he said simply, lowering his gaze. “I guess that makes sense… So, you made me?” he hazarded.

I nodded. “I needed a double for something very important. So we came here and made you.”

He cast his gaze around as he processed this, but he wasn’t showing many signs of panic or distress. “What did you make me to do?” he asked.

I took a breath as I launched into my explanation. “Because I’m an alicorn, a lot of ponies out there think that I’m supposed to be Prince. That’s a big deal, because right now, the land is lawless and brutal. There is no leader to keep the peace or protect ponies. Maybe it’s supposed to be me and maybe it’s not, but either way, I have a chance to start something that could save Equestria from a lot of death and hardship.”

“So you’re going after a throne?” he asked.

I shook my head. “It’s not like that. It’s not about the power. It’s about helping ponies.”

He scrutinized me further. “How can I be sure that you’re telling the truth?”

I had to smile. “Well, I’m you. What would you do if you were in my position?”

He thought for a moment. “I would try to help ponies.”

I smiled bigger, and felt less distant from him. Hearing my own voice answer back to me like that was a comfort, and I stepped toward him. “You have a chance to help them.”

He nodded, and I saw a slight smile on his own face. It disappeared before his next question. “What do I have to do?”

This was the other tough part to explain. “There are a lot of ponies who would be threatened by somepony trying to gain power like that,” I began.

“Just tell me,” he interrupted. “I know it’s not good.”

Again, I was taken aback by his, my, own forwardness. But I wouldn’t hold back from myself. “We need you to bait out the ponies who would want me dead.”

He looked down again as he processed this, and asked quietly, “I’m not going to survive, will I?”

My voice wouldn’t work. I struggled to give my answer as I watched a pained expression play out over my own face. “No.”

He nodded solemnly, but understandingly. “That’s why you made me? As bait?”

“I’m afraid so,” I replied as honestly as I could.

“Why were you made?” he asked suddenly.

He stared me straight in the eye, expecting an answer. And it was tough to give him one. “I don’t know,” I told him. “I’m not like you. I can’t talk to the ones who made me. I mean, I have parents, but they just wanted to have a foal. I don’t get to know what my grander purpose is.”

He nodded again, and I wondered what thoughts were going through his mind. His expression could be so hard to read, but I knew myself well enough to know that he was thinking about a lot of things at once. “I think I’ll try to help you with that, while I can.”

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

“There is an advantage to knowing what your purpose is, even if it’s simply to die, like mine. It’s… easy to deal with. I mean, we all die, right? At least I know that my death will matter. But you… you really don’t know why you’re here, do you?” I shook my head. I didn’t have an answer for him. “If you’re going to go for a throne, you should know,” he said. “And if anypony can help you discover what your purpose, what… our purpose is, it’ll be me.”

I faced him again, and I was already feeling such a strong bond with him. It would be hard for me to let him die, but I knew already he wouldn’t have any of my sympathy. He had his purpose and he had accepted it. There was nothing more to say, but for him to promise to help me in such a selfless way was truly touching. And to think that somewhere inside of me lived him… it was almost too much for my emotions to handle.

He turned to the rest, and I followed his gaze. They all stared, blank and curious as they watched a pony talk with himself in the most literal way possible. I imagine it was quite entertaining. “Are you all close friends with Ebonmane?” he asked.

“We haven’t known him long, but we’ve grown close over our experiences. We’ve come a long way to reach where we are,” Ironbright answered.

He nodded. “Then I’m sure we’ll get along well.”

“We should get out of here,” I suggested. “Maybe we can make it out of the Everfree Forest before night falls.”

“Is the Everfree Forest dangerous?” Ebonmane Prime asked.

Cloud Chaser laughed. “You have no idea.”

Ebonmane Prime swallowed nervously, and I realized that without my memories, he wouldn’t have any of my combat experience. “Here,” I said, handing him my pistols. “These are pretty easy to use. Just because you’re meant to die doesn’t mean you’re expendable. You should be able to defend yourself.”

“Thanks, but what about you?” he asked.

“I have all this armor and my sword,” I said, drawing my blade to show him. The look in his eyes that lusted over the beautiful blade said more about me than I would have liked. I sheathed it. “I’ll be alright,” I reassured him.

We climbed up and out of the pool, and Rosemary and I replaced the boulder, wedging it firmly. Ebonmane Prime asked for their names again, and he did it with such forwardness that one of my suspicions was confirmed: without his memories, Ebonmane Prime was a lot more confident than I was. Ironically, this did not leave me feeling good.

As we headed out of the Everfree, keeping a quick pace to beat the night, Ebonmane Prime seemed be fearless, or at least, to mask his fear well. Even though it was obvious that Cloud Chaser was burning with more questions, as I’m sure the others were, we kept quiet until we reached a safer place. After what we had encountered in the forest, we didn’t want to take our chances with more killing joke, or worse.

Luckily for us, the fact that Pinkie was so easily able to find the pool meant that it was a short walk to Ponyville. As we exited the forest, looking down on the village ruins below, I asked Ironbright, “Do you think it’s safe?”

“With that Ranger base in Stable Twenty-Two so close by? This should be a good place for us to bunk down for the night.”

We wandered through the ruins of Ponyville. It seemed that the Rangers had done some work in cleaning up after the raiders that had made camps here twenty years ago, but aside from the lack of gore, it looked like not much had changed. Most everything was still in ruins, the streets filled with rubble and debris from the decimated buildings. The schoolhouse was still intact, and despite the raider graffiti that covered the walls, it was empty, and suited our purposes. Ebonmane Prime seemed dismayed by the profanity and pornography that covered the walls and chalkboard, but he said nothing while Rosemary wiped the board with a cloth. It didn’t help. A lot of it was etched in.

I couldn’t help but wonder which ponies from before the war had been taught in this school. Applebloom? Scootaloo? Twilight was from Canterlot, but Applejack wasn’t. And what was the teacher like? It was probably a mare, and I wondered if she was young or old, kind or stingy. I wondered if she ever saw the war coming. But I shook my head of these thoughts. They would get me nowhere.

Either way, we all breathed a sigh of relief once we laid down, Rosemary starting a fire in the charred hole in the center of the empty room. She began to cook, and once Ironbright had removed her helmet, to Ebonmane Prime’s scrutiny, she began to do what repair work she could on our weapons and armor after our scrape in the forest. Cloud Chaser bugged Rosemary, but Ebonmane Prime looked about restlessly. “Is there some way I can help?”

“Ebonmane really doesn’t do much, so don’t worry about it,” Cloud Chaser said.

He looked at me with a mixture of shame and dismay. “Nothing?”

“Well, I think he’s our main healer now, but none of us are injured,” Ironbright commented. “Sometimes, not being in the way is just as useful as anything else.”

“Yeah. Just look at me,” Cloud Chaser said.

“But you’re always in the way,” Rosemary joked back. “At least Ebonmane learned to keep his hooves to himself after I yelled at him.”

“Aww, don’t be like that Rosemary,” Cloud Chaser whined.

Ebonmane Prime smiled, as I did. He was learning to appreciate our friends.

“What was that idea you had? About Ebonmane Prime?” Ironbright asked Cloud Chaser.

“Oh, yeah! Heh,” she laughed nervously once she remembered. “Would you two mind doing me a favor?”

I was immediately suspicious, flattening my ears, but Ebonmane Prime answered gullibly. “Sure. What do you want?”

Cloud Chaser looked at both of us. “Do you think you two could kiss?”

We were both taken aback. We looked at one another, then back at her, then back at each other. We were both stallions, but was it really that gay…?

“No,” I answered firmly. Ebonmane Prime shook his head in agreement. “We’re not doing that.”

“You aren’t at least curious? And it would be soooo hot,” Cloud Chaser begged.

I must admit, I was at least a little bit curious, and I could see that Ebonmane Prime was, too. “Doesn’t that break some kind of rules about clones?” he asked.

“What rules?” Cloud Chaser came back.

“The rule that says that creating a clone so you can make out with yourself is a total abuse of power,” I said finally. “He might be a clone, but he’s just as much of a pony as I am. Do you think we have no dignity?”

“Fine, fine,” she backed off. “Just asking.”

Ebonmane Prime and I rolled our eyes, but I knew Cloud Chaser better than he did. That request was a little too bold of her. But the food was nearly done, and the hunger in my stomach overrode my constant analysis of my friends’ behavior.

Rosemary and I watched eagerly as Ebonmane Prime took his first bite of tonight’s soup. Even though her Tenpony Tower supplies were dwindling, I knew she had gone all out on this pot to impress him, and I wanted to see how I had reacted when I had first tasted the small heaven that was Rosemary’s cooking. I expected his reaction to be even greater, seeing as how this was technically his first meal.

He blew on the spoon forever. I knew I wasn’t that much of a wimp; I burned my mouth for Rosemary’s food nearly every night. I wondered if he was doing it to mess with us.

But eventually he took a bite. His eyes lit up as the flavors hit his tongue. The tomato broth, spiced so expertly, mixed in with all of the cooked vegetables in such a hearty, fulfilling way, it was like I could see the stresses melt off his face as his lust for the food grew. When he swallowed he said, “This is really good, Rosemary.”

She blushed, like she wasn’t expecting such lavish praise, and replied. “Thanks,” with as much grace as she could muster.

He took another bite. “No, I really like this. I mean, is all food this good?” he asked us.

We shook our heads. “Only Rosemary can cook like that,” Ironbright said. “You’re a lucky stallion, Ebonmane Prime. Not every pony gets to taste something that good in the wasteland.”

He smiled as he took another bite. “Well, I think I can die happy then.” It was painful to watch myself put my hoof in my mouth like that, but the joke failed and an awkward atmosphere was achieved. Way to go, me.

Either way, Ebonmane Prime and I downed our bowls, finishing first as was normal for us. I couldn’t stop looking at how sloppy of an eater I was. I just gulped it down like I was some kind of animal. Hadn’t my mother raised me better?

When the meal was finished, though Ebonmane Prime was clearly impressed. “What is this made of?” he asked her.

“Oh, it’s just tomatoes, carrots, and celery with a pinch of oregano, rosemary and basil,” she said, clearly flattered by him.

“Well, it’s amazing,” he said. His inexperience was almost cute. Rosemary was clearly caught off guard by how forward he was being, but despite her blush and lack of eye contact, she didn’t appear to be uncomfortable. Just basking in the glow of how incredibly impressed with her he was. “Where did you learn to cook like this?”

I listened intently. Where had she learned to cook? I had never thought to ask her…

“Well,” she began, “after my little sister was born, my parents got really busy taking jobs to pay for everything. When we were old enough where I could look after her, my parents left me in charge of the house while they worked. I… had to do everything. Cooking, cleaning, taking care of my sister, and she was just a baby…”

“Sounds difficult,” Ebonmane Prime remarked.

She nodded. “I was nine, so it took me all day to get my chores done.”

“What about your friends?” I asked her.

She looked away from both of us. “I… I didn’t have a lot of friends when I was that age. I was home most of the time.”

Suddenly, a lot of things about Rosemary made more sense to me. Ebonmane Prime saw it too, but he didn’t say anything about it, instead offering to, “Let me help you clean up.”

Why hadn’t I ever offered? I didn’t say a word as he stood to see if he could fetch water, so we wouldn’t have to dip into our drinking supply. He came back with a pan full and helped her scrub with a rag. The two of them sat near a corner of the schoolhouse as Cloud Chaser and Ironbright set up their beds. I watched them from afar.

“You alright, Ebonmane?” Ironbright asked me.

“Yeah,” I said, tearing my eyes away from them. “It’s just weird, seeing him.”

“How so?” she asked.

“It’s like… sometimes, he does the exact same things that I would do, and it’s kind of creepy to see just how alike we are. But other times, he does things that I had never thought of doing.”

“Like offering to help with the dishes?”

“Yeah…” I admitted.

She smiled. “It’s no big deal. You can help once he’s gone.”

I looked at him again, feeling the nearness of his death. “Is it wrong for us to do this to him?”

“He volunteered for it. We didn’t lie to him. It’s just as Littlepip said it would be.”

“But…” I had trouble finding my words. “He seems… more confident than me.”

“Ebonmane, what are you saying?” Ironbright cut to the chase.

I hung my head. “Maybe it should be me.”

Ironbright gave a concerned nicker. “What on earth would make you think that?”

“He’s… he’s better than me,” I said. “He doesn’t doubt himself at all. He’s so willing to give his life because he thinks it’s the right thing to do, and I’m… I’m just letting him.”

“It’s the way things are supposed to be.”

“No,” I demanded. “That’s not good enough. Why shouldn’t it be me who dies?”

She looked at me long and hard. “It’s like he said. He gets to know why he was created. You don’t. None of us do. Don’t you deserve the chance to figure that out?”

“Maybe I was created to give my life for his,” I suggested.

She shook her head. “You were made for more than that. You know what it means to have a family because you’ve had one. You know what it’s like to feel fear and pain. He doesn’t. You can empathize with the ponies of the wasteland because you’ve lived in it. You were the one who was meant to go forward. Not him. He accepts that. Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain because you’re hard on yourself.”

I nodded my head, but felt shame. Once again, my desire to disregard my own worth for the worth of another had caused me to disrespect those around me, this time our friendships. But Cloud Chaser, who had been silent throughout this conversation but clearly within earshot, had a way of bringing me around again.

“Besides, you think he’s so much better than you, but to the trained eye, you’re pretty much the same.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at him. He’s crazy about food. He’s way too ready to get himself killed. Plus, he’s still thinking with his dick, and you seemed to have learned at least a little about doing that.”

“He is not!” I said, perhaps a little too defensively.

“Are you blind?” she said. “He might as well be drooling all over Rosemary.”

I looked at the two of them, talking, smiling, even laughing a little, and was about to say that neither of us knew the first thing about flirting, let alone had the presence of mind to do it intentionally, when I realized that she was joking. I just shook my head and said, “Whatever you say Cloud Chaser.”

“Right. So stop worrying.”

We all got sleepy, but Ebonmane Prime and Rosemary kept their beds close, talking quietly until they got tired. I wondered why he had been able to make friends with Rosemary so easily when I couldn’t. Every time I had tried to extend some sort of olive branch to her, she rejected me. Did she accept him because he didn’t have the history of misunderstanding and conflict with her like I did? Or was I just that dense, that unable to perceive whatever he had done to earn her trust and favor?

I worried about it for a good portion of the night. Rosemary should know not to get too close. He wasn’t going to last long, after all. So why did she? I guessed that her heart was just too big not to. She probably figured that he would only be around for so long, so she only had so much time to make friends. I smiled at that idea. It was awfully sweet.

But my concerns about his death still lingered. I knew Rosemary would take it particularly hard. Even before he had existed, she had lectured me on his status as a pony instead of a clone. To her, he was another individual, completely separate from me, and a friend who was walking to his death. She slept peacefully, but I knew she must be experiencing a lot of turmoil about this situation. I know I would have.

Once it was all over, I resolved to help her through it. In some way, he was still me, and I decided that if I was ever going to be friends with Rosemary and experience this joyful thing that Ebonmane Prime now seemed to treasure, I wouldn’t find a better opportunity than this. It might not be exactly the same for her, but hopefully I could imitate him close enough where she wouldn’t feel the loss so strongly. I hoped I could pick up the pieces.

Ironically enough, the bare schoolhouse floor provided me with more restful sleep than I had gotten in what felt like an eternity. Things were normal for once. We woke up when the sunlight was bright enough to rouse us. We ate breakfast. We bathed with the water left in the fountain Ebonmane Prime had found outside. We weren’t constantly scanning radars or complaining about injuries, even though mine still ached something fierce.

Ebonmane Prime and Rosemary still stuck pretty close together, and Rosemary looked happier in the morning than she had ever since I had met her. While I was glad that her new friend made things so much better for her, I still had lingering worries from last night about how his death would affect her.

But I knew she wasn’t blind and she wasn’t stupid. She was well aware of the circumstances, and for whatever her reasons, she chose to ignore them. I wasn’t about to question her decision.

“So now where are we headed?” Ebonmane Prime asked after helping clean up breakfast.

“Manehattan,” Ironbright answered as she put on her helmet. “It’s a big city, but you’re going to a smaller one within it called Friendship City.”

“It’s a city within a city?” he asked.

“It’s on a small island and it’s guarded,” Ironbright explained.

“About that,” Cloud Chaser piped up. “I was thinking that maybe it might not be a good idea to walk around, you know, out in the open with two Ebonmane’s in the same place?”

“You think we should split up?” Rosemary asked.

“It would be risky,” Ironbright commented.

I had to agree with Cloud Chaser. “It’s pretty smooth sailing from here to Manehattan, and if we’re seen anywhere near each other, our whole plan could be ruined. It’s riskier not to split up.”

“What will you do in the meantime, Ebonmane?” Rosemary asked.

“I should probably lay low,” I suggested. “Find a place to hide while he goes on ahead.”

“If we’re splitting up, we should have somepony with both of them. Even if you’re lying low, something bad could happen, Ebonmane.”

I nodded in agreement. “So who goes where?”

“You pick,” Cloud Chaser said. “This whole thing is your mission, and you should be guarded by somepony you trust to guard you.”

The others looked to me, implicitly agreeing. I began to pace a little as I thought about who to send where. Ironbright should go with Ebonmane Prime, for sure. She would have the best chance of identifying and tracking whoever might assassinate him, and if things turned bad, she would have the best chance of walking away unscathed.

That left Cloud Chaser and Rosemary. As worried as I was about Rosemary’s new friendship with Ebonmane Prime, I didn’t have the heart to tear them apart just yet. Besides, she brought him some comfort as well. His last moments should be with a friend. Plus, Ironbright could protect Rosemary better than Cloud Chaser could. And lying low was likely to be boring. Cloud Chaser would at least be fun to talk to.

“Ironbright and Rosemary should go with Ebonmane Prime,” I decided. “Cloud Chaser and I will find a spot to hide until you return.”

They all nodded silently, accepting my judgment as sound.

Ponyville wasn’t too far away from civilization, and we knew that we were parting ways as soon as we left the schoolhouse. We exchanged hugs, even me and Ebonmane Prime.

“We’re going to stop at this Tenpony Tower place to see if we can’t get more information from Homage,” he told me. “While I’m there, I think I’ll pick up a diary or something. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about me and you and why you’re here. I want you to be able to know if I figure something out before…” he trailed off.

“Yeah,” I understood. “That’s really kind of you. Thanks.”

He nodded. “You’d do the same for me.”

There was an awkward pause. I felt a lump in my throat. “I guess this is goodbye. If things go according to plan I… I doubt I’m going to see you again.”

He shook his head. “It’s not like that. I’m you.”

I shook my own head. “You’re not me. You’re special.”

“No. You made me. I’m a part of you. I’m somewhere in there,” he said, touching my armored chest. “As long as you can keep that alive… I’ll never be gone.” He was fighting back tears.

We hugged again, more tightly, and I wouldn’t let myself fight them any longer. “I’m sorry,” I whispered to him.

“Don’t be. I’m okay. Really. Just be ready to do your part.”

We didn’t want to let go. But somehow, we did. We wiped our eyes, and nodded once more to each other, wearing a slight smile. I promised myself I wouldn’t fail him.

And just like that, they were gone, walking off into the gray, cloudy horizon of the empty wasteland.

Cloud Chaser and I agreed to leave an hour behind them, and I was glad for the time. I needed to shake off my emotions. I needed a moment to grieve for Ebonmane Prime.

I only shed a few more tears. He wouldn’t want me to cry, I told myself. And, I decided that a part of him was right. We were special in the bond we shared. We may not have been one and the same, but he was a part of me. He was my heart. In that sense, mourning him was strange, but I was able to pull myself together as I swore oaths to keep him alive as best as I could. He deserved it. We deserved it. I deserved it.

When I returned to Equestria, I noticed that Cloud Chaser had been awfully quiet. She sat in a corner and fiddled with her knife, and her expression wasn’t too happy. “Ready to go?” I asked. It was about time.

“Yeah. Fine,” she agreed angrily. She sheathed her knife and pushed past me.

“Woah,” I said. “Is something wrong?”

“No, Ebonmane. Nothing’s wrong,” she replied impatiently.

“Is this about Ebonmane Prime?”

She stopped in her tracks on the schoolhouse steps, and after a long pause she whipped around, her face full of rage. “I swear to fucking Celestia’s holy sun, you have to be the most stupid, imperceptive, dense, stallion I could have ever come across in this entire fucking wasteland!”

“What the hell did I do?”

This only made her angrier. “You sent Rosemary off with Ebonmane Prime. Like an idiot.”

“She likes being around him. I wasn’t going to tear that up when he only has so much time left.”

She made a noise of pure exasperation. “No! Don’t you get it!? Or did Luna descend from on high and shit moon rocks into your head for brains!?”

Cloud Chaser was getting awfully adept at the cursing. “Get what?”

“ROSEMARY LIKES YOU!” she roared at me.

Oh.

“She’s liked you ever since she laid eyes on you! Ever since she met you, she can’t stop thinking about you! And the first chance you get to be alone with her, to prove to her that you’ve ever really noticed her, that you even care just a little bit, you send her away, like you’d rather be alone with me, like you still have feelings for me!”

“But I don’t have feelings for you! Not anymore!” I insisted.

“Well, you could have fooled me!” she screamed. With a huff, she sat down on the school steps. After a few moments of heavy silence, I realized it was okay to sit next to her.

“Why didn’t either of you say anything? Why did you let it get so far between you and me?” I asked her.

She sighed. “Look, we both liked you when we saw you. You were noble and brave and kind and so damn hot,” she admitted. I almost blushed. “We decided that we weren’t going to ruin our friendship by fighting over you, though. If you decided that you liked either of us, the other one would accept your attraction.”

“And I fell for you and not her,” I finished.

“Yep,” she said. “Because I was skinny and young and a flirty whore, and…” she hit her head a few times. I had no idea she was beating herself up about this, or that this had even been going on.

“Ever since you met me?” I asked.

“Mmhmm,” she confirmed. “Right when we laid eyes on you.”

“So… what happened between us, then? Did you get guilty or something?” I asked.

“No, it’s not like that,” Cloud Chaser said. “Even though I was being a total bitch to Rosemary. She liked you way more than I did, and deep down I knew how much better for her you were than for me, but… I just didn’t want to be alone,” she admitted quietly.

“It’s alright. I’m sure Rosemary forgave you,” I said.

She nodded, but said, “That’s not the point.”

“Then what happened when I kissed you?” I asked quietly.

She took a deep breath. “I just… I started thinking about what was happening. I got really excited, because you’re, like, way hotter than I ever expected my first kiss to be, and I… I wanted to touch you and do…”

“I get it.”

“But when I thought about, like, touching you, and stuff… suddenly I didn’t really want to.”

“What do you mean?”

She shifted nervously as she tried to explain. “You weren’t as soft as I hoped you were. You were a stallion, and your skin, your body, even your lips were kind of hard and sturdy, you know? And then I thought about… other parts, and…”

“Cloud Chaser,” I put the pieces together. “Are you not attracted to stallions?”

She turned away from me. “I am. I still like to look.”

I spoke gently. “You’re not sexually attracted, though, are you?”

She shook her head.

“Do you think you’d prefer a mare?”

After a long pause, she nodded.

She turned back to me with tears in her eyes. “Am I weird?”

“No,” I said firmly. “There’s nothing wrong with you.” She looked in need of comfort, and I opened my arms for a hug, which she accepted. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

“I’m only just coming to terms with it. It’s not easy. You and Rosemary are the only ones who know.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” I promised her.

She released me and met my gaze again. “You really don’t think there’s anything wrong with me?”

I shook my head. “Maybe you don’t want to hear it, but there are a lot of really awesome mares who are lesbians, like Homage and Littlepip. And there was nothing wrong with them.”

She wiped her eyes. “I knew you’d bring them up.” A pause. “But it’s still nice to hear.”

I wrapped a wing around her. “It’s alright. I’m glad you told me.”

“Sorry I led you on like that. You were really head over heels for me, weren’t you?”

I looked away as my old feelings began to resurface. “I wasn’t head over heels. I wasn’t in love, I was just…”

“You were acting like a stallion who’s crazy about mares,” she said with a smile. “It’s alright.”

“At least we can check out mares together like you and Rosemary do with stallions,” I suggested.

She shook her head. “I would, but Rosemary wouldn’t like that. She’s already the jealous type, and now that you know there’s no excuse.”

There was another long pause before I spoke. “She really likes me, huh?”

Cloud Chaser nodded. “What about you? How do you feel about her?”

As I considered Cloud Chaser’s question, a lot of things came into the light for me. Rosemary only acted distant or angry when I showed favor to other mares over her. She was upset that I noticed them and not her, and I could understand her reaction. I had felt the same things myself. She pushed me away because she didn’t want me to hurt her anymore, yet at the same time, I understood how she knew so much about me, how perceptive she seemed, and why she had taken to Ebonmane Prime so well.

And I realized that all this time, Rosemary had her eyes on no pony else but me. Even when I had ignored her. Even when I had hurt her in a myriad of ways, she had always looked out for me. She held me when I had the vision about Shining Armor and Cadence. The surprising burst of power Rosemary created when she killed Thunderfall made sense: she was so afraid of losing me that her emotions fueled her magic. And now all the things that she had said at my hearing to become a Ranger, and especially the things that she didn’t say… she may have understood who I was, at my heart, better than any of my friends. And it was apparent that she had harbored these feelings for a long time, just like Cloud Chaser had said, but it was also clear that even when I was chasing after another mare, Rosemary still did her best for me. It wasn’t about finding love for the little unicorn. It was always about me.

“She’s perfect for me, isn’t she?” I questioned.

“A match made in heaven,” Cloud Chaser said.

“I don’t deserve her,” I concluded.

“A lot of ponies would say that you’re the one who’s out of her league,” she said with a small smile. “What makes you think that you’re the one who doesn’t deserve her?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter what I look like. She’s… she’s a wonderful mare. She’s kind, thoughtful, smart, devoted.”

“She’d be a good wife and mother,” Cloud Chaser said.

And I had to agree. Rosemary would fulfill those roles perfectly. “And I think she really understands me. Somehow.”

Cloud Chaser nodded. “Some days, I don’t know what she sees in you. But she sees something, so I think I’d have to agree with you.” Cloud Chaser stood.

“What do I have to do?” I asked. “How can I make all this up to her?”

My pegasus friend smiled at me. “Just go after her. When all this is over with, just sweep her off her feet. Tell her you’re sorry. Tell her you were stupid. Tell her exactly how you feel.”

“I…” I examined my feelings. This was all developing really fast. “I don’t know what I feel.”

“Love, Ebonmane. It’s called love,” Cloud Chaser explained warmly.

I shook my head. “It’s too soon. I just figured out that I liked her a few moments ago.”

“Like you can control love. It finds you Ebonmane. You, maybe more than any pony I’ve ever met, are a slave to your heart, and you, young stallion, are falling hard. You can’t change that any more than I can change my attraction to mares.”

I looked up at her, and she smiled at me. I found myself smiling back. “I want to tell her.”

“Well then, we had better go. We’re late already, and when this is over with, she’s going to need a big, hunky shoulder to cry into.”

“It’s not funny,” I said.

“She’d be so upset, she’d probably want to spend every minute with you.”

“Cloud Chaser.”

“The only way to comfort her would be with hot, raunchy sex.”

“Cloud Chaser!”

She was laughing her ass off. “Alright, alright. Sweet Celestia, you two are so touchy about it. Like I said: match made in heaven.”

We set out. A little more than an hour ahead of us was a pony who could have literally been my heart walking beside the pony to whom I wanted to give my heart. Cloud Chaser was right, even though I was hesitant to admit it at the time. I was in love. I wouldn’t admit it because I believed that love should develop slowly, but Rosemary and I, despite our clashes, were friends. Even though I hadn’t noticed her before, I noticed her now, and all of the little things she did, every habit and quirk making me smile warmly. I was certain that Ebonmane Prime was in love with her, too, and I knew that as long as I pursued these feelings that burned in my chest, he would be alive.

Ebonmane Prime had been a brief but strange experience for me. Without realizing it, he had played out all of my habits, my fears, and my emotions before I even knew about them. He had fallen in love with Rosemary before I had realized how perfect we were for one another. And yet, even though he was the core of me, my heart and my soul, I didn’t see myself reflected so perfectly in him.

The best parts of me were reflected in Rosemary’s love. My character was in her quiet devotion. My soul was in the tears she had wiped from my eyes. My life was in the hooves that had saved it. My love was in her.

I fell in love so fast. But for the first time in my life, it felt right. I knew where I needed to be.