Wings flapped a mile a second. Breath short and ragged. Eyes stung from the razor kiss of icy air. The sound of an endless explosion erupted in front of me, slowly but surely, leaving me behind. Nothing held me back, not even the demented stallion I left in behind in the missile silo. That poor warped soul staring endlessly at the night sky in wait for the destruction of the world didn't bother to fight me like I thought he would. Instead, he only kept me at bay until the missile was in the air.

I would have ended his life out of pity, but Twilight asked me not too. Deep down she knew that her brother was still there, that the darkness hasn't taken over completely. She was so sure of this that I couldn't help but did what she asked. Instead, I charged my speed enhancers and took to the air, however. Even as I blasted out of the missile silo at Mach 1 with an Azure Flame trailing behind me, the Rocket began its climb.

Now, I'm not the fastest flier in Equis, that title went to the Jetstreamers: The Pegasi, Griffons, and the Thestrals capable of flying the great river in the sky. With their sheer skill and practice, they can manipulate Air Magic to the point that speeds beyond Mach 10 were possible. If it were them trying to catch up to the Rocket, they would have stopped it already.

In my haste in the silo for protection, I couldn't latch onto the hull in time. Normally, this would have been the end, but my Human nature said: "Fuck that noise." I couldn't give up. Not when I was so close. Now, as I climb higher and higher, and the Rocket growing smaller and smaller—My heart ready to explode from overexertion—The sight of the great river in the sky appeared in my vision.

"When you figure out how to fly the stream without doing a Sonic Rainboom, then let's travel the world together kiddo," Spitfire said with her iconic smirk.

"What will happen if I do try with a Rainboom?" I remember asking.

Spitfire let out a light chuckle in response. "Welp, let's just say it will mess with the world's weather for a long while. Now come on, let's get some ice cream."

Closing my eyes with clenched teeth, and with the deafening howl of the wind flowing with such harsh respite, as if it was trying to kill me with it's suffocating embrace, I began climbing to the Jetstream. 'I'm sorry, Mom. I know you told me not too, but It's all I have left.'

The howl of the wind against my internal drums now louder than the growl of the missile engines, I angled myself at a forty-five-degree angle towards the Jetstream. Even though Mom told me not too and I was sure I was going to get grounded for life for doing so if I didn't die first, I felt the immeasurable surge of magic flowing above come closer and closer.

I didn't dare open my eyes in fear from them being ripped to shreds from all the winter ice forming all over my body; my wings, chest, and face in particular. Knowing the raw power of the Jetstream from the stories my Mom told me and Nightingale when she had the time made me somewhat cautious despite the situation. Then again, the ice on my fur was cutting into my skin like thousands of little razors slicing into the flesh with fast, jagged cuts. I could feel my blood freeze solid once it left my body, probably making me lose my winning complexion. I hope Summer will still find me sexy.

"Heh, the thoughts of a slut when she was about to die."

Though as amusing as it was to learn about how the ice was killing me, yet keeping me alive, I felt the Jetstream just feet above me. With one last breath and one final push, I sealed my fate.

"BOOM!"

Slowly, after the explosion that destroyed my ears, most of my senses returned, mostly the ones that involved pain. Strangely, the wind was no longer cutting me to ribbons. Instead, it was pushing me without resistance. It was still bloody cold, but at least I could breathe again without as much trouble. Carefully, I opened my eyes knowing that they should be fine for the time being, and what I saw both filled me with giddy excitement and dread.

I was catching up to the missile, not only that, but I was over the ocean with the Griffon Isle's rapidly approaching. "I can do this! Just one last push!" I cheered mentally as I looked back to see how far I was from the mainland from my sudden boost, and instantly regretted it.

The Jetstream was collapsing behind me as fast as I was flying. It is hard to explain, but imagine a river exploding all it's contents and a long, but fast line, leaving nothing but a dry riverbed. Now, imagine said riverbed suddenly erupting into the largest and fastest growing thunderstorm in the history of weather. That's what was happening before my mind.

The collapsed magic had to go somewhere right?

It didn't take me long to figure out that I was not flying as fast as I thought, and the collapsing Jetstream was chasing me down as fast as I was chasing down the rocket. Panic quickly followed, forcing me to pump all my worth into my wings.

"CRACK!"

"Fuck!" I gasped as a rod of lightning shot past me from behind, followed by hundreds more, each one barely hitting me with each flash of light. I took one more look behind me and saw a black cloud growing as big as the ocean barely touching the tip of my azure trail. "Hurry, Rose. Fucking hurry!" I screamed internally, the Rocket just within reach.

I reached out with my forehooves, claws ready to clamp into the hull of the rocket. The storm was starting to swallow us whole. I made one final adjustment in my height, which placed me above the Mach 12 bomb at the tail. It was there that I saw a small latch for maintenance near one of the fins, and the magical black cloud clamping its jaw around us both.

Realizing that I was running out of time before the storm would end our journey before it could even make its full rotation around the globe, I grabbed the latch with my claw and closed my—

Before I could finish the thought, a loud "CLASH!" blasted with enough volume that my bleeding ears could hear, however, within a fraction of a fraction of a second, searing pain as hot as molten iron pierced every, single, nerve in my body. I would have screamed...I'm pretty sure I did...But what hit me forced my entire body to convulse in ways that it shouldn't have. What's worse was after the initial jolt of pain, I lost all ability to see. Even worse than that was the Rocket began to climb straight up in a violent spiral.

If it wasn't for the muscle lock, the rocket would have thrown me off, which meant I still had time. I knew I was struck by lightning, but the unholy amount of voltage must have destroyed one of the fins.

"At least I can...Still..." I thought, searching for my escape route, but they weren't there anymore, only stubs remained. "Don't think about it, just climb."

Panic, pain, misery, ice, blood, hot, sleepiness, that's all I felt, yet I pushed on. Using my claws and hooves, I climbed the hull of the rocket with whatever I could grab that gave me something to use to climb. The rocket flung me around in a death spiral straight up, and halfway up I was almost thrown off from the insane amount of centrifugal force.

As I climbed, I noticed the magic of the storm fading behind us, but the cold only worsened. I suspected that it won't be long before I entered space, which meant I only had a few short minutes to reach the emergency controls at the top, but then something even more horrifying happened.

We started to tilt.

"No, no, no, no!" I mentally screamed. If the rocket went back down, then I wouldn't be able to reach the controls in time before titan fall, and without the fins responsible for keeping it straight, then...then I knew what to do.

As the rocket slowly began to level out and the air became more and more difficult to come by, I started to climb back down. It wasn't as slow as climbing up, but it wasn't any easier.

With each step I took, I felt Summer's Heart screaming at me to stop, but I wouldn't.

With each step I took, I felt every promise I made breaking apart and turning to ash.

With each step I took, I felt everything that I have accomplished come undone.

With each step I took, I remembered all the little things.

"So, Rose. What do you want to be when you grow up?" Spitfire asked, her voice holding a little bit of love and curiosity. She sat in her chair with me reading a book on the floor next to my Daring Do plushie Feather Flight bought me.

I looked up at her with a frown. At that time, I didn't know what I wanted to be with my new life. In my old one, I wanted to help people, to protect them from monsters like my old family. In this new world from my home in Cloudsdale, I didn't think that such darkness could foster in such a peaceful land, and boy was I wrong back then. Though, I'm glad about what I said. It was the first time Spitfire showed any pride in me, but she didn't openly admit it at the time. I could just tell in her beautiful, fiery eyes.

"I think I want to be a member of the Skyguard," I replied honestly before continuing to read Daring get slapped around by a Tentacle monster that had too many choice words about it, making me think that the writer thought it first as a sex scene.

"Skyguard?" Spitfire hummed thoughtfully. "Why the Skyguard?"

"Cause I heard there will be cute Thestral mares in boot camp."

The magical sound of a hoof to face echoed in the family room followed by a muffled, "Of course you would say that."

I giggled and turned the page.

Blood and Ice covered my entire body, slowing my movements to a crawl. I was so close to the tail that I could feel the vibrations of the broken fins rattle against the hull, but I was so cold, so tired. If I wasn't already blind, I would have had to watch my vision fade to black in a painful crawl, but I persevered.

"Hey everypony, it's the blank flanks of Flight 7!" seethed Priceless Jewel...Or was it Gem? I can't remember clearly. The filly in question sat with her Flight in the field that was supposed to be practicing team maneuvers for forming Rainstorms, and, of course, our Flight and Her's were always paired up during any and all group activities at camp.

I rolled my eyes, along with Blue, Crimson, Sandy and Gloria as we took our positions. We watched our flight instructors show us how to mold the clouds into proper shape, and form them into cohesive, layered blankets so to make the shower as long as possible with one layer feeding into the one below and so on.

Long story short, I ended up guiding my Flight since I couldn't do jack shit to the clouds, while the other Flight fumbled with theirs, getting everyone but us wet. The instructors weren't too happy about the sudden bath. In the end, I got a Leadership Ribbon while my team got Teamwork Ribbons for their jobs. Because of how well we performed, we got a pizza party that night and I got to make-out with Blue. Good times.

I clenched my teeth as I jammed my leg into the flailing fin, stopping it from moving at just the right angle that the rocket began to climb again. I let out a sigh of relief, but such a luxury didn't last. Within moments, my leg froze in place, making a permanent seal with the fin in a rapidly forming coat of ice.

If one could listen closely, they would hear the cheers and laughter of a close group of friends. If one were to follow the joy and merriment, the would find room 69 in the House of Season at Canterlot's School for Gifted Individuals. If one were to listen closer still, they would hear soft moans of pleasure escape that room.

If one would to even dare look into the room, they would see four fillies; one white as snow, one with a flowing sunset for a mane, one as sweet as maple syrup, and one as musical as the night sky playing a game of Truth or Dare. The one with the mane of the sunset was spread eagle with the one made of snow on top, both locked in a long, lustful kiss while the other two watched in earnest, hungry even for some of the action.

The next round, the one of maple was Dared to sit on her bottle of Fizzy Pop. With a blush, she did so eagerly. Slipping the entire bottle into her moist flower until it vanished with little chirps and squeals escaping her trembling lips and quivering hips.

The next round, the mare of stars revealed her deepest secreted of wanting to experiment with her friends that night. And so, from the Game of Truth or Dare turned into a night of loving passion, only to end with the mare of white and the mare of sunset in a loving embrace at the center of a cuddle pile.

It was said that soundproofing enchantments were implemented the very next day.

Each breath was short and shallow, my body trembled violently. Heartbeat becoming slower and slower with each passing second as the rocket continued to climb. "How much longer?" I asked no one in particular in my mind since I was unable to move as my limbs were kind of frozen in place.

"Hey, Summer?" I nervously called to the mare dressed in the most beautiful gown that only a Goddess would wear. She looked up at me with a light blush and fluttered her long, smoky eyelashes timidly.

"Yes, Winny?" she asked back.

Trying to find the right words, my wings twitched relentlessly as if I should just run in case of screwing everything up. We were standing in the moonlight on the courtyard on top of the House of Seasons after we were kicked from the School dance because of our choice of partners. Because of this, we both decided to have our own dance in a nice, quiet place where no one would bother us, but it didn't help my nervousness.

Fidgeting in place, and starting out with an immediate voice crack, I replied. "D-D-D-D-Do, y-y-y-you want t-t-to have thisdancewithme?"

She let out a giggle before pressing her chest against mine with a content sigh. "Don't be so nervous, Winny. I know you'll be fine."

With an audible "gulp," I tried to calm my nerves, but it was a losing battle. The scent of Rose's, her soft fur on her cheek pressing against mine; the beat of her heart syncing up with my own was sensory overload. Yet, try as I might, and stumbling on my first few steps as I took the lead. We both hummed a little song that we danced too.

Slowly, but surely, we both spun, twisted and turned like two swans in the lake of twilight to each other's song, however, as wonderful as it was, it came to an end.

We both stopped on the final note of the song in front of each other. Our eye locked, her stunning violet to my mismatched azure and crimson. Slowly, we closed the cap, eye's closing in unison. I felt her lips tenderly brush against mine for a brief moment and in the next? We were in heaven. It was pure, and we became inseparable.

It was the best night of my life.

I rested my head against the hull as my last pillow. I could feel the magic within the missile prime and about to explode. If it wasn't for the ice covering my entire body like a cocoon, I would have died from suffocation a few minutes ago once I entered space. With what little life I had left, and with the Rocket bucking harder than Umbra in heat, I managed, through all my current pain and suffering, to smile.

Looking back on my life, both new and old, I had a good run.

My old life I was a small-time assassin that was heavily abused as a child from a mother and two sisters that hated men, and thus me. In between each kill, I was a homeless asshole that made money with music from an old guitar. Little didn't anyone know, I was giving all my assassination and drug money to my illegitimate daughter. She has a good mother, even though it was only a one night stand. An aspiring astronomer intern that worked for NASA. My only regret in that life was never telling her that her Ex Boyfriend hired me to kill her. I hope she is okay.

As for my new life, I have many regrets. Most of them involve my many promises to all the ponies that I have met, but it's pointless to keep most of them at this point. Right now, all I can think about was Spitfire and Summer.

Spitfire for giving me the life I've always wanted. A loving family, a good education, and the warmth and support of a real mother. Summer for giving me someone to love and to hold, in sickness and in health. For sharing my secrets and for accepting who I truly was on the inside.

A single tear managed to caress my cheeks as I reached out to Summer one, last, time. My final thoughts were of love, forgiveness, and regret. Before Hell Accepted Me with open arms, four words escaped my dead lips.