We slipped the mooring lines and drifted out of the harbour, it was around midnight when we did it. I stood on the bow wearing nothing but a fresh jumpsuit, the salty air greeted my nose as I took in the sights. I was leaving again. This city that had sheltered me, adopted me and shaped me, I was leaving it behind.

“We can come back someday,” Permittivity said from behind me. His thick duster had been returned to him, that and the rest of his desert clothing.

“Will it be the same though?” I asked him as he trotted up to me. The two of us stood at the front of the little ship.

“Does anything stay the same?” He said with a soft smile. If anyone could answer that question, it’d be him.

“War,” I answered with a sigh.

“If we play our cards right, maybe there won’t be one,” Permittivity said before putting a hoof on my shoulder. There were fifty ponies on this boat. And yet none other than us wanted to see us pull out of our adopted home. I guess I understood why, the desert rangers were expecting to get home and have it be the same place, more or less. The steel rangers had yet to fall in love with this place. That left the two of us alone, watching the ship slide through the tiny waves that persisted within this natural harbour. I pulled out a smoke and shared it with him, the both of us saying little, just enjoying each other’s company.

“War or not, someday we’re gonna settle down,” I said to him, pulling him the slightest bit closer. The little green and black scarf around his neck tickled mine. Bajada had told him to keep it after he had gotten his blood on it. That had actually been the most pleasant part of getting things done. My friends and the other rangers had gone slightly crazy when I told them that we were following the directions of a former Arab commander. But between Perm and I, we had them settled down.

“When we do, I want a vegetable garden,” Permittivity said with a smile.

“You’re such a dork,” I said with a laugh, before kissing him on the muzzle. “You’re my dork though.”

“I know,” he said simply as he kissed me back. I should’ve been more worried about Crescent moon, and her being on a boat with half of the ponies wanting to kill her for what she used to be. But, between Rosetta and Bajada, they made her a harder target. If anything, I was worried about the coalition itself. Somehow, my words on the radio had inspired those desert rangers to action. That and Bajada’s relationships with them… Yeah, she had definitely fucked at least half of them.

“Where do you wanna settle down?” I asked him wistfully.

“Somewhere warm, perhaps by the ocean?” He answered in that same dreamy tone.

“You know, I’m gonna ride you every night after I get my implant out,” I replied in a husky voice. He nickered and stared into my eyes. His dark blue orbs were filled with doubt-

“I’m going to make you my broodmare, I’m gonna bite your neck and hold your withers-” He said in spite of that doubt.

“Okay, now you have me turned on,” I replied in that same husky voice. My marehood was already starting to drip into the jumpsuit. I was surprised when he held me with his magic and kissed me deeply, all the while, the stars only got brighter as we headed towards destiny.

“How are you holding up?” I asked Rosetta as he looked over the bow. A second later he threw up over the side of the ship. “Okay, not well I can tell.”

“That’s some bedside manner right there,” Rosetta answered just before wiping his mouth off with a hoof.
“I’ve had worse,” I said, looking him in the eyes. “And better.”

“Icepick, I don’t know what your game is, but you’re with Perm. Maybe if he wasn’t around, maybe we could try being something,” He replied with resolution. He didn’t expect me to pull him into a hug a moment later.

“It isn’t that simple,” I said to him. He loosened under my hooves, before giving up and giving me a hug as well.

“I mean isn’t it?” Rosetta said with a shrug.

“Dude, I bought into this love stuff, but I’m not one of those people that believes monogamy is the end all, be all of the relationships,” I said to him with a smile. “Besides, it’s obvious we both like you. And, you like both of us.”

“Hypothetically, and I mean hypothetically,” Rosetta said while looking down at the deck. “Would Perm be okay with some sort of, threesome?”

“Uh,” I said as I lost my smile for a second. “Probably? As I understand it, he kinda had one of those going on before he left for here. It uh, ended badly though.”

“Icepick, what you’re talking about is when someone cheats on another pony, that’s really bad and really different,” Rosetta said before putting his head over the railing again and puking.

“That makes a certain amount of sense,” I said before shrugging. What Perm had done before meeting me really wasn’t my business. What mattered is what he did while we were together.

“Okay, I’ll level with you,” Rosetta said as he pulled himself back off the edge of the ship. “I like you a lot, you’re beautiful, wonderful to talk to and I could see myself staying with you. I think a lot of the same things about Perm. If you could work some of that brusque magic on him and I, I’d try being with both of you.”

“I see,” I said as I realized how weird this might be in practice. It’d be almost like a reverse Harem. Or would that just be a harem? Anyway, multiple stallions to play with would be fun. That and watching them make out and snuggle would be nice-

“I don’t know if I would try to fuck with what you already have. Icepick, you’re a wonderful soul, even if you can’t see it in yourself, so you do you.” Rosetta said before looking out over the black ocean. Beyond the horizon was the land his stomach so desperately wished a return to.

“Well, have a nice night, okay?” I said to him before giving him a kiss on the cheek. He flushed and tensed up when I kissed him.

“You do the same,” he said a moment later. His face was mostly back to normal, but even in the tiny amount of moonlight pouring through the clouds, I saw he was redder in the face.

“So how are you gonna explain this to Churned Waters?” I asked Reflex as we sat in the small command room of the ship.

“I’ll pull an Icepick, and say that the situation required immediate action,” He said idly, as he stared at a map. The captain of the ship stood at the rudder controls, he watched the sea outside through the reinforced glass windows at the front. They were made using an old pre-war technique that was rediscovered recently. Bulletproof glass, with a simple non-shattering enchantment. It was very expensive and time-consuming to create, I knew that much.

“So, how far are we off from the island?” I asked him, my curiosity drawn by the map. He had hastily added a single dot to the prewar charts. Apparently, this part of the coast was not very often travelled.

“About five days now, it would take the Ember six, and a merchant ship a week,” Reflex added, his voice quivering in quiet admiration for the ship he was sailing.

“How long do you think it’ll take to find a beach and to land on?” My hooves came down hard on the ground as I asked him this. I was nervous about the timing of the whole operation. We would have to coordinate things perfectly, on L day +18 hours, we were going to attack the beached submarine. But we had to maintain radio silence the whole time beforehand. If only one half of the operation went right, then they would be unsupported.

“According to Crescent Moon, there’s a good landing site a few kilometres to the south of the beached submarine,” Reflex said with a slight shudder.

“Well, that’s good,” I said before turning around and starting towards the door. I wanted to inspect my equipment before I had to use it. Maybe I could work out a little too, maybe get Perm all sweaty too…

“Do you really trust her?” Reflex said to me, his tone nervous.

“I trust her because Permittivity does and because she’s someone he’s bled for,” I said to him, meeting his gaze and his question head-on.

“So it was him,” Reflex said with a sigh. “I wasn’t sure if the suspected Arab and the unicorn that charged at a trio of Rangers was them. It makes sense though. He really is brave, I can see why you chose him.”

“Reflex, he’s a great guy, and he is brave. Just like you,” I said to him as I walked back over. “He’s just willing to commit is all, something that never occurred to you in like, a decade of being friends with benefits with me.” He looked up at me and met my soft gaze.

“It just never occurred to me that you wanted something like that. You always seemed so happy just having a good time with me, and other stallions. I didn’t mind sharing such a wonderful mare with the world, but I guess you wanted something more formal…” Reflex was shivering, and his voice was low. Regret was dripping off of him.

“It’s okay, trust me, it feels like Perm and I were set up half the time,” I said, remembering all those dreams of him. It had taken us a long time to admit to the other that we had dreamed of them, but now that we had, we talked about it a lot.

“I can see shades of that. Until I met him, I never realized just how shaken up you were about your life. I think that you’re both good ponies, just stretched and beaten down by your lives,” He said wistfully. My friend then leaned forward and threw his forelegs around me. “He saw that in you, and you saw it in him.”

“He’s like a training partner, just uh, we’re training to be spiritually sound ponies,” I said a moment later.

“Well, I hope it works out between you,” He said before letting me go.

“I hope you find someone too, or multiple someones-” I said as I began to leave once again, the idea of working out did seem nice.

“Thanks, Icepick,” he said simply. I was soon out of the room and heading back to the crew quarters. We still had a few days to prepare. It only made sense to use them well.

“Come on, do another rep!” Ironsight said to me. Permittivity was off doing something else, probably relating to our mission.

“She can’t,” Bajada said as she looked over at me. I was under the weight of one hundred and thirty-five kilos. I had already done three reps.

“Yes, she can!” I said out loud as I pushed my legs up and cleared the top of the cage. This place had a hell of a gym, apparently, the old owner had been into it. When I came down again, I felt my muscles start to buckle under the strain.
“Yeah, she’s burned out,” Bajada said to me before lighting up a cigarette. She smoked way more than me, I only went through like two packs a week. She went through one a day. My muscles were hot and screaming in pain. I eyed Bajada and met her grin with a look of determination, and that same pain.

“No, there’s enough of her left unburned to get the job done. Hey, Icepick, last time you were only able to get to four,” Iron said to me with a stomp of her hooves. I grunted in response, before looking over at the assembled crowd. I had always wanted to be the best ranger, not realizing that was a horrible goal. The old Icepick was weak and waiting to die. Now I had a reason to fucking live!

With sweat streaming down my face, I managed to lift the bar above the safety cage. I met Bajada’s eyes. Her face was now halfway between smug and doubtful. My legs managed to lift one last time, I pushed all the way up to full extension.

“Five!” I yelled loudly as the room cheered at my feat.

“I’ll be damned,” Bajada said with a slightly sheepish grin, before looking through her saddlebags and hoofing over a comb and a small bottle of bourbon to Ironsight.

I was in the middle of getting out of the harness and getting out of the safety cage as Ironsight threw up one hoof and patted me on the shoulder.

“Did you bet on me?” I asked her as I walked out of the cage, legs shaky as hell.

“I’m glad you were up to it, I didn’t wanna trade my favourite playmare,” She whispered in my ear.

“We really need to work out an exchange rate,” I said as I watched Bajada step into the cage. The small mare managing to lift the bar a total of twice before burning out. I was still impressed by her willpower. I clapped the other mare on the shoulder and cheered her on as the assembled curious ponies took their turn on the machine. Most of them lowering the amount of weight on it.

“Wanna go for a run?” Ironsight said with a laugh.

“Fuck you,” I said to her before starting towards my cabin. Apparently, I got one because Perm and I were the reason for the expedition, it was like my entire social status got catapulted. Now I was a leader of ponies.

“Haha, alright, you better rest though, you hear?” Ironsight said to me as I walked out of the room, my jumpsuit soaked through with sweat. I had been working out for an hour before I finished with body lifts.

“I hear,” I said softly as my legs shook underneath me. She sighed and looked over me.

I was still catching my breath when I opened the door to our little cabin. Perm was laying on the bed, reading a book with the lamp on. He looked up at me and smiled.

“Whatcha reading?” I asked him as I laid down beside him. Our bodies were pressed against each other in the small bed.

“Oh, a book on tactics and strategy,” Permittivity said before letting one of his hooves drift down to my hips, giving them a nice squish. “Written by a Von Hoofwits.”

“Yeah, I’ve read that before, he was one of the first ponies to use muskets and cannon, his mercenary army devastated the minotaurs,” I said to him as I clutched his hoof and brought it up to my muzzle. It was nice being close to him. I felt warm, even as my sweaty body wanted nothing more than to sleep beside him. He would keep me safe, he would bleed for me. Even if I didn’t want him to…

“Truly fascinating,” he said with a smile, before putting the book down on the bedside table. He rolled over to face me. “Your world didn’t invent firearms until very recently.”

“Yeah,” I said as I put a hoof on his back and pulled him closer to me. My foreleg felt the stretch and didn’t like it very much. “Ouch.”

“Did you overdo it in the gym?” Perm asked lightly, before moving head closer to mine. Instead of answering him, I put my hoof on the back of his head and pulled him into my waiting lips. His parted for me, and I enjoyed the sensation of our tongues meeting. A few moments later, we caught our breathes even as we heated up.

“Remember when we first laid in that hotel bed together?” He asked me, but before I could say anything he added, “and eyed my sheath like it was the nicest one you had ever seen?” I punched him in the shoulder lightly. It did nothing to get the grin off his face. If anything, he probably had the most resilient shoulders of anyone I knew.

“Yeah, and you stared at my tits like a weaning foal,” I shot back.

“That’s fair, we were both a little horny that night,” he said with a grin.

“You’re always horny,” I said before tapping his horn with a hoof.

“At least I have an excuse,” he replied. I suddenly had a thought. My tone changed as I pondered something close to my heart.

“Perm, do you think our kids would have horns or not?” I said softly. He met my eyes and gently pulled us closer. Those spots that we had stared at were now in contact.

“It depends on you,” he said. “Your genes are the determining factor.”

“What do you mean?” I asked him curiously.

“Well, I’m a unicorn, so my recessive unicorn genes will be passed on regardless. Now, since you’re an earth pony, you have at least one dominant earth pony allele, if you just have one, then we have a fifty percent chance of our foal being a unicorn. If you have double earth pony genes, then we’ll have all earth pony foals. It’s as simple as that,” Permittivity said simply as he played with my mane, twirling it around in a circle with his magic.

“So it all depends on me,” I said. Our eyes met for a moment and he stopped playing with my mane.

“Do you know if you have any unicorns in your lineage?” He asked me swiftly, before realizing who he was asking that question.

“No fucking clue,” I said before pressing my muzzle into the crook of my neck. I didn’t want him to see me cry.

“Icepick?” He asked a moment later. “I’m sorry.” After a few seconds, I lifted my now tear-streaked face from his neck.

“It’s not your fault,” I said simply before the next spasm of tears wracked my tired body. He didn’t say anything, he just pulled me closer before nuzzling me. Minutes later, I looked up at him and saw a look of pain on his face.

“My parents were good ponies, everything I used to do, was for them,” Permittivity said before meeting my eyes. “I’m sure your parents are good ponies, I mean, they made you.”

“That’s why I was so happy to find Paradise,” I said softly. “And why I love that I found you. I want to raise kids the same way your parents did, and I want the old ranger ways to die!” I practically yelled as my words failed to express what I really wanted.

“I’ll help you raise them, as best we can,” Permittivity said in a low voice. He stroked my shoulders softly as I cried it all out. All my pent up emotions, all of my nervousness, all of my self-hatred, it all poured out as we laid together.

Eventually, I passed out. He didn’t leave me as I cried. A part of me died that day, but a new part breathed its first breath too.

It was Crescent Moon who first spotted the land, or if you prefer the island. Well, technically, it was the radar that first spotted it. But, credit should be due where credit is due. We approached the island from the west, whereas the crashed sub was supposed to be on the east side. The side that faced both the zebra and equestrian homelands. The final resting spot of that weapon told a story all its own…

“So is everyone set to land in the small boats?” I asked the assembled ponies, roughly two dozen brave volunteers.

“I’m ready to get on the tropical island, yeah,” Bajada shot back a moment later.

“I bet they have coconuts there,” Reflex added, much to my annoyance.

“Holy shit, you’re possibly right!” Bajada said with a laugh. “Did anyone bring any rum?”

“No, no!” I said loudly to the assembled ponies on deck. “No one is making any tropical themed drinks.” It pained me a lot to say that. I really enjoyed tropical-themed drinks.

“Damn, why did we sign up to do this again,” Permittivity said with a shit-eating grin plastered across his scarred muzzle. A moment later, as I assembled the words to give him shit- “Oh wait!”

That was met by a large peel of laughter from everyone involved. Even if I was a little angry that he got to be the one to undercut the tension with humour. Dammit, that's my job.

“Anyways, we’ll start letting the smaller landing boats off the deck,” I said with a nod to one of the ranger sailors running this pleasure cruise.

And so we climbed into the small motorboats, started their engines and proceeded to land on the shore. It only took a few minutes for the ponies in power armour to drag the boats onto the shore and cover them in camouflage netting. That was the advantage of power armour, it boosted your horsepower a lot.

“So, we’re going to take the straightest path from here to there?” A desert ranger asked, as he held up his own compass and compared it the maps we had passed out last minute.

“Basically, though we should avoid the tops of the ridges closer to the submarine, until, well, we’re ready to attack,” I said to him.

“And how exactly are we gonna attack a likely fortified encampment?” A steel ranger that I wasn’t familiar with asked.

“Simple answer, we play to our strengths,” I looked at the assembled heavily armed ponies. Most of the desert rangers had pre-war flak jackets and ceramic plate carriers. Obviously, the Rangers were wearing our powered armour. “We attack the centre with our power armour, and we send our less armoured ponies in a pincer attack.”

“That makes sense,” someone said as we got our equipment ready to depart.

“Exactly,” I said back, with a nod from both Perm and Reflex, I managed to ready myself for the task ahead.

“Looking at all of you fills me with pride, for the first time in a hundred years equestrians are fighting a common enemy, one who seeks to destroy her. To that, I say take us on!” I said loudly to the assembled ponies. There were cheers, there were grins, and to be fair a few odd looks.

“We’re fighting for the honour of our ancestors today, and for our children’s future, so march hard, and when the fighting begins, remember what you’re fighting for!” I finished with a flourish and a ranger salute. I was met by about forty other salutes. A few minutes later we had assembled our marching column and we were marching into the jungle.

“That was an inspiring speech, short though,” Permittivity said with a look of interest on his muzzle as we walked beside each other. “It was an interesting speech as well. That pan-equestrian nationalism you’re advocating is being served well by this mission.”

“Yeah, I just gotta remind these ponies of not just the present, but also the past and the future,” I said to him before bumping his shoulder with a hoof.

“It is nice to have a future,” Permittivity said wistfully.

“Yeah, and it starts with us getting back to civilisation, you buying me a drink, and me giving you a sloppy bathroom blowjob because I’m so turned on by being around you-”

“I get the picture Icepick, and it is quite a nice one,” Permittivity said with a laugh and a flush in the face.

“I mean, we’re gonna stop and camp in a few hours anyway,” I said to him with a twisted smile. “I’ve always wanted to try Jungle humping.” This time he looked away for a moment, before pulling me closer to him with his magic. I yelped a little as he turned his head to meet mine at the last possible second. I melted into his embrace, and I pushed my tongue forward to meet his. It was a ravenous kiss, the way he held me, the way he explored me.

“Permittivity,” I heard a female voice say as we continued the embrace and the kissing.

I looked over and spotted Crescent Moon standing behind us. She was averting her eyes, but I could see her peaking at Perm. Her eyes were drifting over him, imagining him doing things… I could tell because I had done the same thing before. The only difference was: he was mine. A moment later the embrace was broken by Perm. He looked over at her and gave her a slightly embarrassed smile.

“As the kids say: what’s up?” Permittivity said with that same tone he reserved for serious business.

“The other ponies are staring,” Crescent said simply. Perm just laughed nervously, before turning to all the ponies.

“Icepick brings out a lot of passion,” he paused to look at me. “Clearly.”

“Anyhow, let's get started again,” I looked at Perm with a wry grin. “You know, if we kept going, we could probably charge them for the show.” That managed to throw his brain for a loop. He stood there for a few seconds unmoving, only when I tapped him on the shoulder did he come back to the land of the living. He moved closer to me, before whispering in my ear.

“And you love it,” I replied as we all started walking together again, now significantly further back in the column. It was worth it though. His kisses were fucking golden, almost as golden as when he kissed my neck softly when-

But yeah, we were marching through the jungle now. And we all had little feelings that we were being watched as we stomped our way through the dense foliage…

Nine hours had passed, and well, it would only take us another few hours to make it to the beached submarine. So, we took our time making camp. Steel rangers out of their armour for the first time since we had gotten off the ship mingled with the desert rangers that Bajada managed to bring along. And judging from their interactions, and the way the tents were being filled… Perm and I weren’t the only ones who wanted to try out jungle humping. Which was good, if a bit unplanned.

“So, you ready to sing campfire songs and sharpen our knives?” Bajada asked with a laugh as she helped me set up my tent, meanwhile, Perm and Rosey were busy talking to Reflex and one of the senior Desert Rangers.

“I dunno, but aren’t the males supposed to do the tent pitching?” I asked with a wry smile on my muzzle. The other mare matched my grin.

“If we do this for them, that leaves them more energy for other things,” Bajada said in a low voice, her tail flicking from side to side was the only thing giving away our conversation.

“Good point,” I said as I hefted the fabric up with only my bare hooves.

“So, I gotta thank you for bringing him by my place,” Bajada said a moment later. “Reflex is a pretty interesting pony and a good lay.”

“Yeah…” I said while looking over at where the boys were congregating.

“But, he wasn’t really that into me,” Bajada said wistfully.

“That’s what I always felt from him,” I said simply. The tentpole now stood erect, and now the tent was pitched. I was reminded of the little shelter we built in the desert during the days. Memories of listening to a strange, yet familiar breathing filled my mind. Gazing at him and seeing the years either drain off him as he slept, or caught up to him with extreme prejudice. Getting to actually know him had taken work, but I was glad I had.

“Oh really? I got the impression he was really pining for the one that had gotten away,” Bajada said as she and I took a break and drank from our canteens.

“O-oh,” I replied softly, as I threatened to either spit out my water or go for a hug with the nearest person.

“Yeah, he’s hurting right now,” Bajada said wordlessly. “But then again, so are most of us. Icepick, I know we’re not very good friends. I remember being called that bitch from the truck behind my back. But what I see you having with that stallion is as close to fairytale romance as I’ve ever seen. In fact, it kinda makes me wanna throw up,” She stopped and met my slack-jawed expression. “So, like, don’t take it for granted. You’re both lucky fuckers.”

“Noted,” I said with a strained expression on my face. Was it just fate that most ponies would never find a relationship as fulfilling as the one I had with Permittivity.

“No, no,” Bajada looked at me again. “I mean, that kinda thing is rare, and life is hard. There’s gonna be something that could easily break that kinda love if you don’t protect it. For my parents, it was them losing my older brother. It destroyed them both.”

“That’s why you don’t do romance, isn’t it?” I said solemnly.

“I’m just not a romantic, though having that as an example kinda helps me toe the line,” she admitted. Her eyes bored into mine though. “Maybe if I just magically found the stallion of my dreams…” She said with a longing glance towards Perm, who was probably explaining the operation of a common, yet complex machine.

“Nope, he’s mine blondie!” I chirped before smacking her shoulder lightly.

“Just joking,” she said before turning to me again. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind climbing in bed with both of Y'all, just a test drive…” I flushed at that.

“I’ll uh, take that under advisement,” I said to her before suddenly finding something else to do. Dammit, that mare out lewded me, got me to break. I wasn’t even into mares!

A few feet away, Permittivity was talking to some assembled ponies. Rosetta, Reflex, and a few other ponies all stood around him as he talked about something called a Stirling engine.

“They don’t require the same complexity that a steam or internal combustion engine does,” Permittivity said before looking at me and continuing. “And they can run off of essentially any heat source.”

“I see, that would make sense for certain industrial applications, or household generators,” A steel ranger said with surprise. “I don’t remember anyone before the war designing anything like that. How did you learn about them?”

“I worked on them a lot in the field,” He said before meeting that ranger’s eyes. There was a sparkle of shared recognition between them. It was rather cute to see nerdy boys talking about things like that. “They were used as power generators and heaters for the trenches.”

“I see,” the stallion replied. “I guess we never really had a need for that kind of power supply. We kinda just went from steam boilers to magical power during the war, and then we developed internal combustion tech for use given the amount of crude oil available here.”

“Good point, I think that the parallel development of different technologies is a fascinating sociological phenomenon,” Permittivity said with a broad smile before something turned it into a frown. At this point though, we were all about ready to sleep. There would be no campfire at this site. We were trying to be stealthy, and that involved us waking with the dawn. “Anyhow, we should all get some rest. Tomorrow is the moment of truth.” He walked over to me as the crowd began to disperse. I greeted him with a smile and a brief hug.

“How was the captive audience?” I asked him before breaking the embrace. He tensed up a little at my words.

“They weren’t captives, they have a strong desire to learn, the lot of them!” Permittivity said in a moment of levity, before losing that energy. Perm looked at me a moment later with an enervated expression. Something was draining him.

“I see,” I said to him softly. He looked relieved as he met my eyes. “And I’ll believe you, just this once.” I managed to put a smile on his face. It would be one of the last for a long time…

The final approach was done under dead silence, as we made it to the edge of the forest, and to the zone, they had cleared of foliage. There was a kilometre dead zone where only stumps and grass existed. Out maybe a hundred metres past the beached submarine was the ship they had ridden out on.

“You see that ship?” Permittivity said to me as we both laid low at the outer edges of our safety perimeter.

“Yeah, it’s big,” I said to him.

“It’s in ill repair like it hasn’t seen regular maintenance in decades,” Permittivity said with a harsh smile. “I bet our ship will sink it.”

“That’d be nice,” I said quietly. There had obviously been some efforts to reinforce the site of the submarine. I could see sandbags stacked up in places, with trenches and machine gun muzzles pointing out in all directions. They had built a fortress around the submarine. There were howitzers pointed out toward the ocean. How they had gotten fucking howitzers and machine guns, and the engineering work to use them…

“What the fuck?” Reflex said as he trained his optics on the fortifications.

“What is it? More heavy guns?” I looked over at where his binoculars were pointed. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. “What?” There was a pony there, wearing an unfamiliar uniform, but an equestrian for sure. On his back was a stubby looking firearm, with a large drum magazine hanging beneath the barrel.

“Ah,” Permittivity said as he too looked at the pony. “I think that those ponies were the engineers.”

“Oh really? I never would have thought that the fucking Arabs would employ anything other than ambush tactics,” I said out loud. My eyes squinted at the rest of the fort. There were four main machine gun nests. And two big howitzers on the opposite side of the submarine. Between each nest were a number of smaller trenches that ran parallel to the hull of the submarine. Arabs stewed in the fortifications, their bored expressions making me angrier. They must be expecting more of an attack from the ocean.

“We weren’t expecting this kind of fortifications, we weren’t even sure that they would have sentries posted,” Reflex added, unhelpfully.

“I’m surprised it’s as lightly defended as it is,” Permittivity said with a strange expression on his face. “But the logistics of a larger force would be hard to deal with as well, considering we own the seas. I mean, with this level of fortification, it’d be hard to take it without them having time enough to detonate the bomb.”

“You really think they’d do that?” I asked him, knowing the answer.

“If you had decided to send the entire fleet here, yes they would’ve already detonated it,” Permittivity surmised.

“We’re not worth it though, because they could take us on, and have a fair shake of winning,” Reflex Sight replied, his own thoughts troubled.

“Bear in mind, anything short of an anti-Ursa rifle is gonna have a hard time penetrating our armour,” I reminded the other two ponies here.

“Who has the radio gear, we’re gonna need to change our plans a little,” I said simply. There were a few hours before the ship would be here.

“What do you suggest?” Permittivity asked with a curious expression on his muzzle.

“That’s for everypony to hear, you don’t get a sneak peek just because you’re good at hitting all my fun spots,” I said to Perm with a sly grin. He flushed and looked away, before meeting my grin with a grudging one. When I looked over at Reflex, there was a momentary expression of pain on his face. He choked it down a moment later though.

“Let’s leave the rest up to the sentries, c’mon boys,” I said with a flick of my armoured tail as I started back towards the rest of the assembled ponies.

“Yes Ma’am,” Permittivity and Reflex said simultaneously. As I looked back at them, I saw my old friend standing there in his gleaming armour, looking back at me with strength and power flowing from him and the weapons strapped to his body. Permittivity had a far-off look in his eyes as if he was praying. To what, I had no clue. The green and black of the scarf around his neck and the tattered cloth duster on his back made him look like a creature of cloth. He looked so vulnerable compared to Reflex. Maybe that was why I loved him. He was scared, tired and open to things, open to love, open to new ideas. Reflex was nothing like that. He stood resolutely for what he believed was right, all the same things we had been indoctrinated in for our entire lives.

What was I though? I wore the armour that made me a ghost from the past, here to kill the living… Was that my destiny?

It all seemed to happen at once, as the ship got close to it’s assigned location, we gave it new orders. All of us were sitting on the edge of the treeline, waiting for the first show-

With a brilliant cacophony, a barrage of rockets launched off the deck of our ship lighting the air around the rockets brightly. It also revealed the position of our boat. There wasn’t time to just watch the light show though. We had to run!

“Rangers, for Equestria!” I yelled through my helmet loudspeaker and was met with many others yelling the same thing. The burning and shrapnel peppered camp was in front of us.

The treeline was about a kilometre from the edge of the first trench line. It would take a while to get over there, even as us rangers ran at the target. There was no response from the fort for the first few hundred meters, the servos of our armour straining as we pushed it to its limit. The rocket barrage ended as we had made it about halfway there. By that point, a number of the ponies in the trenches and the sub who had survived the bombardment were lining up and starting to fire at us. The darkness was on our side though. The first few ponies to get pinged responded by opening up with their machine guns in loose suppressive bursts.

Beside me in the charge was Ironsight and another ranger by the name or Screw Loose. Screw yelled out and let off a burst of his grenade machine gun, arcing the projectiles up into the air at a forty-five-degree angle. From behind us, about two minutes behind, the rest of the ponies started firing with their limited number of scoped and night vision weapons. The next part of the plan depended on-

With an earth shattering boom, the howitzer inside their encampment went off. However, there wasn’t a whistling in the air from an airburst above us. Instead, there was another loud explosion as the shell sought in vain our ship.

But our ship was already heading out in the other direction, running away as fast as its engine could carry it. It’s rear facing turret fired a parting shot at the fortifications on the other side as quickly as it could. By then, the number of poorly, and not so poorly aimed rifle shots had picked up. The pings and near penetrations of the high powered guns these ponies were armed with starting to make the other rangers a bit nervous. My path had changed slightly as I spotted my target. I was still a hundred meters out of range when I looked back behind me and spotted the shapes of the desert rangers and Perm charging at our backs.

The first machine gun opened up at the opposite corner of the trenches from me. It managed to down one of the rangers nearest to it, I wasn’t sure if the wounds were fatal though. The heavy machine gun rounds were capable of piercing our armour on places other than our breastplates and helmets. So as he began to search for another target, I only hoped that the pony assigned to it…

There was a whoosh of air as a rocket lit up the sky on the other side of the battlefield. It connected to the pillbox within seconds, before the impact fuse blew that entire section of fortifications to sand and tiny fragments of cloth. I pushed myself forward another dozen steps before risking my own target-

I watched in horror as the pony who had fired the rocket was struck in the chest with a heavy bullet. The massive cannon of a gun ripped straight into the ranger who had fired, throwing them to the ground. I couldn’t make out much other than a massive bloody hole straight through their breastplate. Beside me, Screwloose fired his grenade launcher again, this time at the gargantuan muzzle flash that had killed our fellow ranger. With another massive shot out and glanced against the curved edge of Screw’s armour.

Everyone was counting on me. I was finally facing a real fight. These ponies, the equestrians that had reinforced these ponies, the ones that fought like the one's Perm had fought, they were dangerous. I lined up the shot using my assisted targeting system and fired two consecutive shots at the as of yet unused machine gun nest nearest to me. The first shot fell short, falling into the ground a dozen meters in front of the sandbags.

The second though, it managed to tear apart the entire nest. And I could do nothing but keep going, the running was now a part of me. Even as the metal of the missile tubes cooled in the night air, now rife with bullets, I kept my eyes focused at the enemy. An Arab poked his head out of the trench line, and with an assisted burst from my machine gun, I managed to get that head lined up with at least one bullet. There was another explosion as the howitzer fired again, this time managing to hit nothing at all, other than some water.

As I looked behind me, the other ponies were running at full speed, some of them getting close to us. I spotted Perm running with determination written across his face, the strap on that steel helmet tight around his chin. He still had his gun on his back, not wanting to light himself up with magic. There was another boom as one of those anti-Ursa guns opened up again. The high calibre round throwing Screw Loose to the ground this time. I stopped what I was doing and ran over to him. I didn’t need night vision to see what was wrong with him, he was missing most of his neck. I yelled from within my armour. They were downing us like flies. My heart rate picked up as I realized I was closer and closer to the guy that had just been shot- I couldn’t help but stand beside my dead comrade. His was a death that meant something, at least that was something…

“All rangers, I’ve made it to the trench line!” Ironsight blared into my ears, my attention suddenly shifting back to the battle at hoof. I looked over at that Trench line and decided to run at it. Within the minute, I had jumped over the top of it and landed on top of an Arab. I could hear the sounds of bones breaking over the ambient gunfire. When I climbed off of them, they were already bleeding internally, in shock. I stomped on the Arab’s neck with my sabaton. They stopped breathing.

To my right and my left, the trenches filled with light and fighting as Power Armoured rangers finally made close up contact with the enemy. Machine guns and belt fed assault rifles tore into the enemy, our overwhelming firepower advantage turning the tide. I felt something smack into me, and with a scream of pain, I turned to face whoever had just shot me. There was a prick in my side as I felt my armour dose out a pain reliever and a shot of stimulant.

There was a pony standing there, pulling a bolt back of his rifle, ready to shoot me again. Beside him was a grenade the pin only restrained by his hoof pressing down on it. It didn’t look like a shrapnel grenade, no it looked like it was made to kill things through pressure waves, things like me. I aimed my gun at him just as he fired again, this time the bullet didn’t penetrate my weaker leg armour, it just left a divot in my breastplate.

“Who the fuck are you?!” I yelled as I started to crack off a burst, just before I was able to fire, he threw himself behind a corner of the trench. I turned tail and threw myself to the ground a moment later. The bang from the grenade my ears ring, and the little bit of dirt and debris in the trench was thrown my direction. It rang off my armour as I got up and dusted myself off. He popped his head around the corner and fired again-

“Fuck!” I yelled into my helmet, without activating the loudspeaker. The round from his gun managed to strike my tail segment near my dock. The fucker had sent a round through my fucking tail. Luckily, it only felt like a graze. More morphine travelled into my body as I incurred my second hit. This time I ran straight at him, not even pausing to really turn the corner. I just ran right into the corner of dirt and wooden boards. It didn’t stop me.

He managed to dodge out of the way as I barreled through his cover and came to a stop to the side of him, down the travelling trench another pony aimed one of those submachine guns at me and let off a long burst. The bullets stunned me for a moment as they pinged off my chest and helmet, most of them glancing off the curved surfaces. They were lined up for a returning volley, and they were hit by my own burst. For some reason, they didn’t deal with bullets striking them as well…

I turned to face the other pony who I had chased down, in his hoof was a knife, which he tried to bury in my neck. I ducked backwards and clocked him in the side of the head with my armoured right hoof. He fell to the ground, unconscious or dead. I didn’t care. Out of commission was enough for me. I didn’t have an urge to finish him off. So I didn't.

I started walking down the trench, waiting for someone else to try to shoot me…

“Your leg! Are you okay?” Rosetta asked me as we sat in one of the trenches outside the submarine. Everyone, other than some sentries on the entrance that had been blown open, was collected and waiting for the go-ahead on the final assault.

“It’s fine, it can wait till after the battle,” I said as I looked down at my blood covered leg. There was a solid hole through it and as the first bit of adrenaline died down, I started to feel the ebbing and flowing of pain throughout it.

“No, that’s stupid, you could die,” Rosetta said to me, fire blazing in his eyes.

“How long would it take to pack it with gauze and slap a dressing on it?” I asked him as I started to key the armour opening command with my nose.

“A few minutes,” he said in a modestly insincere voice.

“Alright,” I said as my armour opened up and I stepped out. The moment I put weight on just my leg, I screamed and collapsed. There was a bloody divot in my rear leg.

“Oh fuck,” Rosetta swore as he helped me onto my back. I looked down at my leg again as I sat against the wall of the trench.

“Icepick!” Permittivity said as he saw me hit the ground.

“I’m gonna feel this in the morning,” I said as I strained from the feeling of air travelling through my leg. The open flesh oozing blood the whole time, now that my armour wasn’t holding in the fluid.

“You’re gonna feel this for the rest of your life,” Permittivity said as he watched Rosey begin to sanitize the wound, before jamming gauze into it.

“You would know, wouldn’t you,” I told him as I looked around at the campsite. We had taken a few prisoners as we cleared out the fortifications. Many Arabs, but also some of those Equestrians that had brought the big guns and the trenches. The things that had cost us many lives. All told, we already had twelve casualties, including me. And we hadn’t even taken the Submarine yet.

Permittivity just rolled his eyes before sitting down beside me as Rosetta dressed my wounds. He held his hoof out for me to hold, and I did so, squeezing it tightly as he packed the wound.

“It’ll be okay though,” he said to me softly. “I was more worried about the howitzers firing on us than I was about anything else.” In his magic, he grabbed on the dropped rifles that had been used on us. He cycled the bolt quickly, clearing the chamber with four quick actions. His movements were steady, ingrained.

“How do you know how to do that so well?” I asked him with a little bit of suspicion dripping into my voice. That and pain, there was a lot of pain in my voice.

“You know, you don’t need to participate in this next fight,” he avoided my question and began to load the rifle again. “There’s no shame in staying out of it. It’s going to be loud, and bloody.”

“I’m gonna fight in it, as soon as Rosey finishes binding up my wound. My armour is already healing, and if it’s fine, I’m fine,” I said to him. My words were tinged with pain until Rosetta jammed a needle into my thigh. Within seconds the pain retreated to a dull ache.

“I know better than to argue with you,” Rosetta said as he packed the wound. With a light from his horn and a look of extreme concentration on his muzzle, I began to feel a glow begin to emanate from my leg. All at once, it began to feel better. For a minute all I could feel was warmth and light from my leg, along with a slight itch. All the while Permittivity stared at Rosetta with his jaw hanging open. Several others had the same look on their muzzles. But soon enough, it was over, and as I moved my leg and looked at my dressings, I realized that he had healed me enough for me to get back in my armour. He had saved me a week or a few days of bed rest and pain…

“Rosetta!” I said loudly as I watched him lose his balance. Only Perm’s magic was quick enough to stop the poor doctor from falling to the ground. With a decent amount of magic flowing from him too, he managed to place Rosetta’s heaving and exhausted body against the wall we were sitting against. Him between us, wooden boards and dirt against our backs.

“This feels too familiar for comfort,” Permittivity remarked with a huff. “Are you alright Rosetta?”

“I feel like I ran two marathons,” Rosetta quipped in a painful tone. I twitched my leg and felt the dull ebb become heavier. I turned and looked at my two stallions, before standing up and facing them, they had nowhere to run from my affections. I favoured my other legs and walked over to Perm, still clutching that old style rifle in his hooves. Before pulled him closer to me with a leg, and kissing him on the lips.

“I’m gonna finish the fight Perm, there’s nothing that will stop me from that,” I said before kissing him one last time on the lips. “Thanks to Rosetta,” I said before moving over a little bit and meeting Rosetta’s tired expression with my drug-addled one. “Thank you, sweetie,” my words had barely left my lips before I pushed my head forward the last few centimetres and kissed him on the cheek.

“Wha-” He managed to say as the last of his uncommitted blood flowed to his face, turning just that last bit red.

“Well, I think we should get ready for the last push!” I yelled loudly while turning away from my two boys. I was flushing a little too, but because grey and red don’t look that good together I was anxious to get my helmet back on.

As I stepped back into my armour, I realized the cleaning talisman had done its job. The blood and sweat in the armour had already been churned through for useful materials, and the rest ejected. As I stepped into the steel suit, I realized that for the first time my armour had a part of me in it. I knew there wasn’t that much iron in my blood, but whatever iron had been spilt inside was already working to repair the battle damage.

“Icepick, are you gonna lead the charge?” Reflex said as he watched me step into my armour while limping heavily.

“Well be careful, we’ve already found a secret exit they prepared in the other side of the hull,” Reflex paused and stopped as I waited for the whirring of the armour to stop.

“Have you gotten anything out of the prisoners yet?” I asked him as I put my helmet on, the overpressure system kicking in as I locked my helmet down. My leg felt better in here already, the repaired sections of my armour were holding my leg in place like a brace, and taking the weight of the armour and myself off of the bone and damaged flesh.

“Not really, most of them are hurt, and all of the Equestrians are unconscious,” Reflex replied before throwing his own helmet on and looking at the assembled ponies.

“Half of us are going to the secret entrance, the other half are following Icepick and Permittivity,” He barked to the assembled ponies. Most either saluted or yelled an affirmation. I let my eyes drift over the remaining soldiers under me. They were already scratched and tired, but in each of their eyes was a resolve that didn’t just happen. It was born of years of pushing yourself to be better than you were…

Perm wasn’t smiling though, but he had the most complicated expression on his muzzle of the bunch. I could tell he was worried about me, but he had also avoided my question. It couldn’t be- He suddenly met my eyes, there was a fire in them, but also resignation. Why though? I didn’t have the time to be worried about my for once not wounded buckfriend, I had a balefire bomb to secure.

“Lay down your guns and you’ll live, now if you fight, you might piss me off,” I yelled into the seemingly empty hole in the hull. My loudspeaker carried those words far and wide through the harmonically designed submarine. There was no reply though-

“Fair enough, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!” I yelled back before throwing myself into the whole and immediately turning to the left, another ranger went in with me, and turned to the right. The tight passageways were hard to manoeuvre in. Still, I could fire my gun at whoever wanted to stand in my way.

It was clear, even as we heard gunfire coming from the other entrance. I looked around and started towards the middle of the hull, where the missiles would be stored. Within moments I had Permittivity by my rear. Other ponies followed me and soon enough we had a little congo line of ponies waiting for me to punch through any defences they had rigged up.

Maybe a minute later I walked around a corner and spotted somepony messing with something, they had enough time to act surprised and attempt to throw whatever they had in their hooves at me, before I unloaded my light machine gun into them. The object they were throwing clattered to the ground beside them, I halted my column with a hoof. With a quick turn, I managed to push Permittivity into the wall and block his body with mine.

The grenade exploded, and even from as far away as it was, it threw shrapnel down the hallway at us. I felt tons of it pinging off of my armour. None penetrated me, and not even a scratch was on Permittivity. I smiled at him, forgetting for a second that I was wearing my helmet. When he looked back at me, there was pain in his eyes. My own eyes wandered his body to see if some bit of shrapnel had gotten through…

“I’m fine, just keep going,” he said a moment later, he yelled it actually, the pressure waves from that indoor grenade blast having fucked with the ears of anyone not wearing protection. I just nodded and committed to asking him about it later, when you know, we weren’t in the middle of a battle for a weapon of mass destruction.

We moved on and fought and disarmed traps along the way. With Perm having disarmed some of them by shocking the ignition switch on the bombs and mines. It was slow going, but eventually, we managed to get to the central area where the missiles were stored.

“So this is the place?” I asked the ponies near me. We were all either in concealed firing positions or ready to rush inside and find our cover. I got a nod from a few ponies, and I smiled. It took a minute to ready the breaching charges and set them on the door, but soon enough the entire thing was ready to blow.

With a small detonation, the doors came tumbling down, and as the smoke cleared Perm and I managed to get inside the room and immediately run for cover. We found a small arming station that worked as a small wall. Another two ponies managed to slide into the room, one in power armour, one without. That was just before I saw massive slabs of steel begin to glow with the light of telekinesis. On the other side of the room, a number of sandbag barricades separated unicorns and Arabs from us. They dragged the massive metal steel plates over the entrance of the room and blocked us in.

Permittivity ducked around the cover and fired that rifle he had picked up, the bullet ripped into the wall behind one of the unicorns, and that unicorn stopped throwing their magical weight into moving the slabs. The speed of the aperture closing was slowing, especially when I threw myself around the other side of the arming table and fired a long burst from my gun. Then, from the other side of the metal plates, we heard the sounds of gunfire. Furious gunfire. Those bastards had waited until we were split up.

This stunk of Tegarni, I thought as I got back behind the wall with Permittivity as they returned fire at us. The bullets sinking into the metal of the arming station, thank goodness for the zebra propensity to over-engineer. The other two ponies on our side found a similar bit of cover near the entrance. It was either a rookie mistake to leave these things up, or they just couldn’t move the massive steel tables and racks.

I turned my head to look at Permittivity, he had two guns levitating in his magic, that assault rifle and the bolt action rifle. He met my helmeted gaze. His own helmet gleaming greasily in the weak incandescent lights available within the submarine. I lifted my hoof and waved it three times. He grinned slyly. On three we both popped out and peppered the ponies sitting behind the sandbags. One of them was hit by Perm’s rifle shot and fell to the ground behind them, another was hit by one of my bullets.

We were felling them, as were the other Ranger, who was just standing beside his cover and spilling hot, automatic death all over the opposing side of the building. One of the consoles in the room was hit and began to spark and light up.

There was a hole in the ceiling from the rocket barrage let the moonlight compete with the portable lights in the room. It let me see the high powered rifle shot that ripped into my fellow Rangers leg, my own wound seeming to ache harder in sympathy as another shot rang out and nearly penetrated him from the side. He ducked back and took a breath as his armour dosed him with painkillers. Now we were down to two healthy ponies. There were probably a dozen ponies still left on the other side. And my ammo was nearly out…

Suddenly Perm poked me on the shoulder with a clang. I turned and watched him gesticulate to me before giving up and straight up pointing near the remaining missile.

“What about it?” I yelled at him. He seemed to hear me because he got behind me and hunched down, before miming movement. “Ah.” He was fucking crazy… Then he showed me something a little interesting.

I stepped out into the firing line and let out a long burst that had them getting down, none of the remaining Arabs or Equestrians wanted to get shot like their comrade. Permittivity stood behind me as we both started running at the missile, nearly in the centre and to the right of us. That exposed both of our vulnerable sides, but we had to risk it. As we ran, it felt like time was slowing down as the ponies facing us popped back up and started shooting at us, my form covering Perm’s as he ran parallel to me. We made it a few meters before the first bullet bounced off my steel encased flank.

The other two ponies with us took the moment to crack off some covering shots as we ran. It was only about twenty metres away from us when the shooting from half of the ponies stopped, we had made it to the bomb. And they weren’t willing to shoot at the missile.

That left half with a firing angle at me, one bullet smacked into my left wither, penetrating partially through the armour, before being stopped by the second layer of steel. We made it though, I had tanked the bullet fire for a few seconds and kept my lover safe. As we got behind the bulk of the missile and its launch apparatus, he gave me a look of thanks. I thought he was crazy for a second as I watched him safety and place his guns against the missile.

Then he pulled them out for the second time. A large pouch of steel ball bearings levitated to him in his magic. He pulled two dozen out and began floating them up along the slight curve of the ballistic missile. Then they began to glow brighter, and spark electricity along the line of the balls. Perm’s face was wracked by effort as he overglowed his horn, not once but three times.

And then he threw them at the enemies all at once, though they kept that same line of energy sparking in a line through them. I stepped out of cover and cracked off a burst as I watched Perm’s sphere’s travel over their cover and land behind the ponies who had been shooting at us.

With a loud crack, the electricity arcing between the ball bearings exploded to life, flowing through the air- and whatever conducted electricity better than air. There were screams, loud ones as the burst of electricity shot through the ponies who had been shooting at us. The ponies beside us, took the moment to run at the enemies who were either unconscious or in a great deal of pain.

I did the same. I spared a glance towards my love, even as he dropped to the ground and laid there from the exertion.

The prisoners were bound and the injured were being bandaged by the Desert Ranger in the room, as Permittivity rested near the missile, miraculously or not so miraculously untouched by the fighting. I guess no-one wanted to risk setting the Balefire egg off. I was near the original doorway we had used, and I was helping the other ranger, his leg now bandaged, with the steel slabs…

“Icepick, it’s your old acquaintance, speaking to you from somewhere in the ship, where, it doesn’t truly matter,” A voice began to pour through the loudspeakers set in the wall. It was Tegarni and I turned to look at the nearest speaker. “You see, I wasn’t aware of your plans until it was much too late to do anything. So I concede the prize to you Icepick, one operational Balefire missile. Power enough to shape the destiny of worlds, or so my master has said. The only reason I didn’t activate it was, it only had one target left in its databanks, and none of the descendants of the original crew were helpful enough to reprogram it for us.”

“Yeah, well fuck you and your bomb!” I yelled at the ceiling my blood boiling as my wound began to hurt badly. The adrenaline rush and the medication were beginning to wear off, and I felt just very exhausted. This battle had killed so many, but I had won. We had won. Yet he was the one with the snide tone.

“Ah, but do you know the target that missile was meant to destroy, a century ago?” He asked me rhetorically, even as I watched Permittivity get to his hooves and run towards me. There was that same pain on his face as he watched me. “Our home.”

“What?” I asked loudly as everyone stared at me.

“My master told me, he knows a lot, and I had one of my trusted technicians help me confirm it. Now, do you want to end the Arab threat forever?”
My heart jumped into my throat. Was he lying? He must be! This had to be a trap.

“Icepick no!” Permittivity yelled when he got closer to me. There was fear and revulsion in his eyes.

“Oh, the betrayer! He’s never wanted you to reach your destiny. He always lies, and you’ve accepted part of it, because you love him so dearly,” Tegarni said as Perm came to me before stopping and putting a hoof on my armoured withers.

“I know what he’s trying to do, that necklace he found isn’t just jewellery, it’s poisoned his mind, now he knows nothing but doing his master’s bidding,” Permittivity said to me with wide eyes. Wide, pleading eyes full of sorrow.

“I know the stallion screaming into the loudspeaker sounds crazy, I’m not arguing that but what do you mean?” I asked simply, eyes drifting to the Equestrians that had been captured today, and how familiar Permittivity was with their tactics and weapons…

“Sombra is telling you to destroy your enemy through him, that necklace warps and controls the minds of those who wear it. I know, because he sent me here, and that necklace was mine until I lost it,” Permittivity said solemnly. My eyes reddened and I began to undo my helmet. I wanted him to be able to see the anger and pain in my eyes.

“Oh, so he admits it for the first time! Yes, he was sent here to find you Icepick,” Tegarni added as I threw my helmet onto the steel deck. The loud clunk was the only thing to breach the pregnant silence. I counted to ten in my head and took deep breaths.

“Shut the fuck up Tegarni!” I yelled loudly, to the ceiling before looking at Permittivity. “I’m not sure if I can trust you again, ever, but if you ever loved me, you need to tell me the truth now.”

“To Sombra, you’re the destroyer, the one who will weaken Sall’han enough for him to be able to conquer it, and with the technology and resources of this continent, he’ll be able to beat the Celestians we lost a war too. All I ever wanted, was to have my world survive. That was what kept me alive Icepick. I couldn’t lose everything, I was willing to go to an alien world, and I was willing to die for it. I’ve changed but felt unable to stop it. Sombra’s soul is locked in an invincible soul jar, made of obsidian. And he has a nation of millions to draw on in the invasion to come. We know how to fight too, you’ve been fighting advance units from the Imperial army this entire battle-”

“Wait, so he’s going to invade us through the mirror, and that mirror exits in the centre of their complex? The one with the balefire missile aimed at it? Is he fucking stupid? Why wouldn’t I want to turn the thing into a radioactive crater?” I said loudly and with confusion on my face.

“That’s nothing to him, and it’ll just kill the Arabs, not stop his invasion while killing the core of another army we could use to fight them,” Permittivity said hastily.

“Are you really gonna let the stallion that lied to you this whole time dictate your destiny? Prevent you from doing what you’ve wanted to do this whole time? Stop you from being the best ranger you could be, the one who avenged all the friends you’ve lost to the war?” Tegarni said with a surreal sureness in his tone.

“How do I trigger the missile then?” I asked him, before stepping away from Permittivity.

“Simple, there’s a terminal behind the access panel on that door over there, one of Equestrian design. It’s one that even one with your modest technological skills can utilize,” Tegarni said in catty, snarky voice.

“Okay, if we’re done insulting me, the mare with a balefire missile at her hooves, I mean, nobody else wants it, right? I’m going to get that terminal running before things get serious,” I said loudly before starting the walk over there.

“Icepick, you can’t! It might be a trap, we have no idea whether or not it’ll just detonate the bomb,” Permittivity said as he was hot on my hooves. I suddenly threw my non-injured leg at him, hitting him lightly before he moved into the hit. On the ground, he sat there looking wounded at me. Though on his face was also understanding, he knew why this was happening and he knew he couldn’t really blame me.

“No-one try and stop me!” I yelled at the other ponies, the steel ranger in power armour almost looked like he wanted to try it, but seeing as he was still bleeding, he didn’t seem to want to risk it. The other mare, I had seen her before, she was a fan of mine. If anyone had latched onto the idea of uniting Ramsgard and Paradise… It was her. So, other than Permittivity, who knew better than to try and hurt me, I was free to do what had to be done.

Minutes passed as I rooted through the terminal and figuring out how they mated the tech to the zebra computers. I wanted to be sure of the risks. I saw that the launch door mechanism was already connected to the last remaining spark power in the generator. Both systems reported that they were functional.
The target was apparently what it said it was. The warhead was ready to detonate too. There was a command available in the missile functions. View critical spell. The spell that would be critically amplified using the Megaspell amplifier. I keyed it not knowing what to expect-

It was beautiful. The enchanted egg filled with necromantic energy. It swirled deviously like it was trying to get out. It probably was. Something about it though, it called to me. I was the one with the key. I could unleash something meant to destroy Equestria, but use it against Equestria’s greatest enemy. I kept the terminal window open, flicking to it every couple seconds and staring. It was like the most beautiful abstract painting.

“Don’t do it! Icepick, please be better than everyone thinks. Everyone but me,” Permittivity said from a safe distance away. He had seen my reaction to the balefire egg.

“Oh shut up, I am who I am, and honestly, being known as the destroyer would be pretty cool,” I said to him, scowling at him. Why was he being so whiny? Why wouldn’t he just shock me with his magic, I was wearing a suit largely composed of metal. “I mean, I know I’ll be blowing up a bunch of Arabs.”

I keyed in the final set of commands. Before me was the launch command for the missile. I readied myself to press it, hooves centimetres away…

“Go ahead, it’s all ready to go, shame we can’t watch it detonate. All we’ll find later is the crater…” Tegarni said in a seemingly sincere voice, he sounded like he was crying.

“For Equestria!” I yelled one last time, before-

Before I unloaded my last remaining machine gun rounds into the machine, almost at the same second as I did it, a spark of electricity coursed through me. And the computer that was just being hit by the first few bullets from my gun. The current stopped before I ended up dead, or knocked out…

But damn, it still hurt. As my gun barrel heated up and the last few rounds of belt-fed ammunition shot out, I looked over at him, he was relieved and apologetic now. He honestly looked like he was nearly about to pass out on his hooves from the exertion. I gave him a smile and trotted over to where he was standing. And then I clocked him in the face, softly, well softer than I could have.

As he fell to the ground, I let my body relax as I heard silence from the intercom for a few seconds. I looked up at it and smiled. Before raising a hoof in the air and shooting a glance towards everyone in the room.

“You fucked up! Maybe before I would’ve hit that button and killed thousands, the seeds of Arab resistance. But the only reason I was able to make this attack, to save the twin cities of Equestria was because of an Arab mare!” I paused and looked down at a pained, and yet understandably relieved Permittivity. Whatever else I knew about him, there wasn’t any spark in him left- He was all used up, and to be fair, nearly was I.

And then I heard a gunshot through the intercom. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was over. We had secured a couple dozen prisoners. The bomb was ours. Now though, I understood at least a little of what had kept Permittivity quiet.

I knew what was coming too- “If you ever want to regain my trust, to ever be anything like we were in Paradise, you’re gonna start telling me everything, and-” He picked himself up and walked the remaining distance slowly.

“I’m so sorry,” he said simply. His hooves wrapped around me in a comforting gesture. I met his hug and wrapped my foreleg around his neck.

“I know you are, that’s why you’re getting a second chance, we aren’t playing by baseball rules though,” I squeezed his neck for half a second, just enough to let him know I could’ve broken his neck.

“By the time that necklace was gone, I was already in over my head,” Permittivity said sadly. I didn’t respond in words, in some part of my mind where things were still simple, I knew what would be right. I pressed my lips to his.

He was caught by surprise by the kiss, and when I let him lean over a little as I kissed him, holding him in place as my tongue pressed against his lips before being let in- Moments passed as I let him enjoy the last kiss from me for… Well, the next one would be a long time coming.

He had lied to me a bunch, but when it counted he had done the right thing- Why was he making this so hard on me! Nevermind what he was going through now… I broke the embrace and looked at him.

“I cherish you, I want to grow old with you, and I want us to have that happy ending we talked about- But you’re gonna need to do something to prove your loyalty-” I said slowly, the very words hurting me. The mental burden of what I needed from my boys was heavy, but I was a strong mare.

“Whatever you require will be done, even if it means I have to fight Sombra on my own,” There was a resolve in his voice that felt the same as before. The part of him that was good, the part I loved was still around.

“Well, if it comes down to that, we’ll do it together,” I said simply. He met my eyes and smiled.

“Hopefully whatever test of me you require isn’t too painful,” Permittivity said before rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof. “Just, thank you for just punching me.”

“I hope it isn’t too painful either,” I said before looking into his blue eyes. The eyes I had no doubt in an hour ago. The ones I wanted to see when I looked at my foals. Maybe they still could be…

Author's Notes:

This is a big one and a definite end to the second act! Now, we're in the endgame.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter because it was amazing to write. Anyhow, happy Thanksgiving to my US readers, and happy almost December to my international ones!

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