The earth shook as flare shells lit up the sky, and machine guns fired like deathly insects, cutting the air to ribbons at best, at worst tearing into ponies like they were made from thin membranes filled with fluid. Mostly blood, there was so much blood-

I held my weapon in my magic and looked through the glass eyelets of a stifling gasmask. I fired at the advancing ponies, wounding some, dropping others into the earth rended by previous advances, previous attempts to take our positions. Beside me, ponies fired from behind sandbags or huddled in the shell holes that weren’t filled with toxic water.

It was the third day and the tenth mass attack on our position. We were running short on ammunition, grenades and rations. The supply lines were being strained, filled with wounded ponies, and bombarded to Tartarus by their siege guns. I just pulled back the bolt on my rifle and fired another shot into the screaming ponies, chlorine gas floating above the ground held down by its weight. I breathed heavily through the filter and tried to ignore the fact that if there was a crack in my mask, I would drown in my own fluids.

I felt the magazine run dry, and with a grunt, I pulled one of my few remaining stripper clips from my bandolier. I rammed them in with my magic, before taking aim at a lone pony who was limping towards my shell hole, already torn to shreds by their own shrapnel, but still coming, like a corpse that didn’t know its fate already. I pulled the trigger with my magic and they dropped as the bullet passed through their visor. Just another blood-soaked patch of earth, meat and gristle, bone shards and metallic debris worked into the ground by the hooves of the ponies that followed, a great charnel house created by the ambitions of ponies thousands of miles away-

Above my head, a flare lit up the sky anew, throwing the bodies and mud into contrast against the phosphorescent light, and the stars that taunted us mortals with their distance. I pulled the bolt back and took aim once more. It had been days since I had known sleep, and at this point, I couldn’t be sure that what I was shooting at was even real. The rifle bucked in my magic as another young pony was killed. A bullet whizzed by and buried itself into the earth behind me. I blinked and my heart seemed to stop for half a second. Then, I traced the path of the bullet, remembered where the muzzle flash had come from and emptied my magazine in the general direction of that flash. There was no response, I had never seen the pony that had fired at me, and I wasn’t sure that they were dead. Maybe they had seen the error of their ways, maybe a piece of shrapnel from an exploding shell had done them in, maybe their mask had broken and they were dying from exposure to the chemical arms we were utilizing in this war between masters of chemistry and industry-

Then there was another muzzle flash from that location and another bullet impacted the lip of the shell hole I was hiding in. The mud flew up into the air, covering me in it, more of it. Thank you for the camouflage!

I laughed from within my helmet, bloodshot eyes and a body riven with multiple waves of adrenaline buckling under the strain. Suddenly, the sky had another occupant, a pegasus from their lines flying low to the ground. I took aim with my service pistol and managed to clip their wings with one of the smaller bullets. They dipped and crashed into no-mare’s land. They were dead from the fall.

I steeled myself for that same fate. Light seemed to surround me for a moment, my ears rang, and I could feel the bite of small pieces of metal pierce my greatcoat and ring against the meagre protection of my helmet. I had my excuse to leave the hell that was the front and limp into the infirmary.

I was giddy with the possibilities afforded to me by my wounds, minor enough to survive, major enough to get me a hospital bed for a fortnight or two. There was a smile beneath my mask as I ambled, bleeding and exhausted towards the trenches-

I gasped as I awoke. The ships gentle rocking told me that I had just experienced a nightmare or a memory of something pulled from Permittivity’s psyche. The brown coat and blue magic told me that it was the latter. I shivered from the cold sweat soaked into my blanket. I cast it away from me with my reddish-pink magic. There was a comfort in my familiar magic. The necklace I had fashioned out of the talisman gave it a darker hue. That had taken some getting used to.

But change was the only constant in our lives, I realized recently. Among other things.

I took a look at my bedside table. A half full bottle of rum taunted me with its- Numbness. That’s what alcohol did for me now, it wasn’t something to do socially, it was a way to take away the dreams, and the guilt. I shook my head and got to my hooves, before walking over to my bag of clothes. With a touch of magic that had gotten more simple, more dexterous, and just better, I pulled my clothes on.

The door opened on hinges that had recently been revived by the talisman at the ship’s heart. It opened gently and my eyes shot open as the light assaulted them. Ah, the sun, the giver of life, but the enemy of hung over ponies. I shook myself again, and started towards the mess. Ponies were milling about in there, and there was probably a pot of coffee already brewing. That was still a breakfast, right?

“Hey, wanna go get lunch?” Icepick asked me as she trotted into the empty infirmary. I fought myself as I looked at her. She was a pretty pony, and well, I could’ve had her first, but I had been a mistake for her-

“Sure,” I replied, hoping my smile wasn’t as fake as it felt. The third cup of coffee sat on my desk, cooling down.

“Good, I told everyone that I was taking the day off, and well, you seem like you need a bit of decompression time,” Icepick said in a chirpy voice. She wanted me around, even after everything. I still hadn’t seen my family.

“I’m down for it, work has slowed, and everyone is just taking the time to be themselves, while they have the chance,” I said before looking over at her. Icepick was smiling. I managed to smile back.

“I like how you phrased that, time to be themselves,” Icepick replied with a thoughtful look on her face. “Is that the whole point of our movement?”

“Yeah, it is,” I said before walking around my desk, and lifting the last of the coffee to my lips, downing it before sitting it back down. Icepick rolled her eyes at that.

“I could never get that into coffee,” Icepick said with a laugh, before gesturing at the door. It was hanging open. There were other doctors on other ships, and a bunch in the city. I could leave my post. Hiding from life through work was below me. I had done it too much in the past.

“You do, when you’re up for days,” I said half-seriously.

“Ehh, when that kinda thing pops up, my armour normally throws a bunch of stimulants into my system,” She said before starting towards the door.

“That- that makes sense,” I said before shutting off the lights in the empty ships’s infirmary. Damn, I would probably have to leave the little flotilla behind. “I wonder how more times I’ll need to do that.”

“Turn off the lights?” Icepick asked, a little curiosity dripping into her voice.

“I like this little tub,” I said with a laugh. “We’re gonna be leaving it behind soon, I think.”

“Yes, but you don’t need to head into the desert to do battle, not if you want to stay,” Icepick said in a reassuring tone.

“I’m going with you, whatever is out there in the desert, it reeks of destiny,” I said without a note of hesitation.

“Good, but uh, don’t start believing in destiny for the wrong reasons,” She said quietly. “Now, we’re gonna go eat.”

She didn’t understand, she didn’t have the burden I had. My dark desire to suplicate to the enemy I had vowed to fight, or the need to stay true to some shadow of myself-

“I’m already dressed,” I said with a laugh. She laughed along. Things were fine.

“So, how do you like the noodles?” Icepick after she slurped back a bowl of noodles.

“Spicy, but good,” I said. My eyes drifted over the ponies in the restaurant, living their lives without so much as a single dark power taking up space in their mind. The wave of jealousy I felt in that instant was overpowering, I could feel their breaths deep inside myself, and I knew at that moment that I had the power to be a monster. I tried not to let the thoughts show through to my face.

“Exactly! That’s why I love this place,” Icepick said before taking a long swig from her bottle. It was a slightly carbonated beverage, and the second after she drank, a staccato belch left her lips.

“And the drinks?” I asked softly. She raised a hoof to her chin and looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Carbonation is a pretty great technology,” Icepick started, “but I don’t think your alcohol is anywhere near as good as Safe Harbour’s.”

“That’s a subjective judgement,” I said with a laugh.

“Well, it is, but no-pony else has been where I’ve been, or drank what I’ve had the opportunity to drink,” Icepick said before adding. “So, I think my experience is pretty good.”
“All your stuff comes from greenhouses and grain, they’ve got access to charcoal, grain, sugar cane, and chocolate. You don’t, besides, you have radios and hair dye. So it balances out,” She said in a serious tone. There was always such ferocity in her, something that tipped the balance towards engagement with her. That’s why she’d win. I had to hope that it was enough.

“Y-yeah,” I stuttered out as the gulf between the end of her words and the present grew vaster.

“I saw the look on your face, you were either staring into my eyes or at nothing at all,” Icepick said, “I’m flattered if it's the first, and I’m worried if it’s the second.”

“I was just thinking about what you’ve built, how far we’ve come,” I said with a note of admiration in my voice. “We have a fleet, an army, and a movement! We started with nothing. Well, a suit of power armour and a few guns.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t have any money, and our fleet is four ships, and three are tubs,” She said with a laugh. “It’s alright to be worried, but I think that last thing is what I’d bank on. If we can get your ponies to really start cranking out the guns and the soldiers, well, we have a chance.”

“I like that tub, thank you very much,” I shot back with a smile on my muzzle. “And I think our chances are pretty good. That interview you did got ponies talking everywhere. Or so I’ve heard.”

“Well, I told him the truth, even when he asked that fucking question,” Icepick explained, edging towards anger at the end.

“To be fair, a lot of ponies would like to have a superweapon,” I said with a shake of my head.

“Yeah, the same weapon that ended the world once before,” Icepick said in a dark voice. “If we make the same mistakes as they did, then what the fuck was the point?”

“No, no, I agree,” I said in a nearly apologetic tone. “It’s just, ponies are scared.

“I know,” she said in a harsh tone before taking another swig of soda. “Ponies of Paradise, they’re good folks, but they aren’t used to being under threat like Rangers or Arabs. Or fuck, Imperials.”

“A hundred years of peaceful isolation will do that,” I said before remembering something from long ago. “Well, not perfectly peaceful. There have been clashes with Arab raiders for decades…”

“Hence your military actually having more than rocks and sticks available?” Icepick asked after a moment’s silence on my part.

“My father was one of the Desert Rangers,” I said.

“Your mom told me that, last time we were here,” Icepick said in a reassuring voice. “He sounds like my kind of stallion.”

“You sound like you want to fuck my dad’s ghost,” I laughed a little, but there was a bitterness in it that rang through, like cheap vodka in a bloody marey.

“Ehh, spectral cocks don’t really do it for me,” Icepick said. “No, but, there’s a martial spirit in you ponies, I just know it.”

“I hope you’re right,” I replied softly.

“Well, you’re a pony of Paradise, so, you’ll be a test case, besides, another gunmare is never a bad thing to have,” She said with a laugh. Her hoof traced out across the table and rested on mine softly. “I’m a good teacher and an average shot.”

“You have a machine gun, just pointing in the nearest cardinal direction of someone is enough to blow them away.”

“You are such a civilian,” was all she said before we got back to finishing our meal. The idea that I was defenceless was odd to me. Maybe it had been true when she’d met me, but with the talisman, I could do more than defend. I could kill. Had killed already. I shivered as I ate a bite.

“Okay, why are we here?” Icepick asked as we got to the door to a familiar building.

“I need to talk to someone,” I said simply. “You can stay out here if you want.”

“Without air conditioning? Fuck that,” she shot back to me before gesturing at the door.

“Fair enough, though, the pony in here is kind of an asshole, so be warned,” I replied as I opened the door with a twist of my telekinesis. For just a moment, the flow of my magic picked up, I felt the power of the talisman strengthen it without my intent. The torque on the handle shot up, and I knew that if I wanted to, I could break it in a single stroke. I fought it down and let out a deep breathe.

“Hey, the next appointment isn’t for half an hour,” I heard a familiar voice call out. He sounded buzzed, at least.

“I’m not your damn Appointment,” I said in a loud voice before stepping into the small clinic.

“Oh, well, shit,” The old purple stallion said as he saw me grinning at him. There was a cup of suspiciously cool coffee beside him, and a pack of cigarettes sitting on the desk beside him. “The pony who bucked my retirement.”

“Like you were ever going to retire, you need the paycheck to pay for your habits,” I shot back as I walked over to the desk. Behind me Icepick pulled herself inside, before shutting the door and looking towards Mildew. Mildew for his part, looked shocked for about half a second, before looking back to me.

“I mean, yeah, but I still wanted to leave this place to you,” he said before picking up his drink in his weakened magic. “And now, you’re planning to get dead before hitting thirty. I mean, I understand that kids are always looking for a grand crusade, but come on.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Icepick said in a neutral tone. “And who the fuck are you?”

“You do sound like the mare on the radio, a real spitfire,” he said while looking at her. “I mean she’s pretty, but there are a lot of pretty mares who stay in Paradise.”

“I-I,” I stuttered a little as the two ponies gave each other appraising looks.

“Spitfire enough to throw down, fun enough to go down, that’s me!” Icepick said with a cautious laugh. “So you know this bag of bones?”

“He taught me how to heal,” my words seemed to leak out. The memories of the harsh training, the sleepless nights, and the times that were good. I shook my head and took a step forward. “Alright, I’m ready to embrace destiny.”

“That’s fuckin’ ominous, has she turned you into some kind of zealot? I was always kind of worried about that with you. It was the same thing that happened to your father,” Mildew said in a worried voice. He rubbed his stubbly chin with a hoof, before pointing at Icepick. “Then again, you might have finally given him some backbone. So good on you if you did.”

“He’s seen some action, and worked his ass off to save ponies left and right,” Icepick said with- with admiration in her voice.

“That, that makes me proud, even if you’re a damn fool to go along with her,” Mildew said. “So, if you’re looking for destiny, you must mean what I think you mean.”
“Yes, my inheritance,” I said.

“You know, I only told you about that because I was drunk and feeling nostalgic, right?” Mildew said with a bitter laugh.

“Oh, yeah, you were really mopey that day, and thoroughly plastered,” I added with a thin smile crossing my muzzle.

“Well, I might as well give it to you, I’m never going to use it,” Mildew said before looking away from the two of us. Icepick coming abreast with me as we spoke.

“What the fuck is it? An inheritance? A deed? A sex toy of immense size?” Icepick asked, her curiosity turning to anger turning to loudness.

“It’s my father’s revolver,” I said patiently, taking my time through every syllable. Her eyes widened and her ears dropped a degree.

“His mother didn’t want it, she hates weapons, violence, the whole shebang,” Mildew said, an explanation to fill the void that my words had left.

“Yeah, Page really doesn’t like soldiers,” Icepick said before adding. “She still warmed up to me after Dally did.”

“Wait, you know Page? And Dalliance?” Mildew acted shocked for a moment before looking back at me. “You should see her. She was equal parts pissed and worried when you left with her.”

“I will,” I said with resolve and guilt wrestling in my conscience. My back straightened up a little, the same way I had seen the soldiers drilling back in Safe Harbour.

“Good, I was gonna have to smack some sense into you if you didn’t,” Mildew said cheerfully. He was kind of a pacifist, but that didn’t extend into whoopin’ territory. And he loved to rend my hide.

“Oh, well, that’s one less thing to keep track of then,” Icepick said before smiling at Mildew. “You’re alright for an old fart.”

“And you’re more thoughtful than you give off,” Mildew shot back.

“Okay, I’m ready to see it,” I said to get the two of them back to the subject at hoof. These two were scarily similar. A little voice in my head told me that was probably why I had never introduced them before.

“Alright, gimme a moment, without a lackey to organize the back, it’s kind of gone to shit,” Mildew admitted.

“Well, damn, get another lackey, there has to be at least another pony who can do the grunt work,” Icepick said as we watched the elderly pony get out of the chair. He walked with a slowness that would have seemed deliberate on anypony with fewer decades weighing them down.

“You see, I don’t just let anypony work for me, and I get a lot less airtime than you,” he said in a slightly envious voice.

“Well, that’s your problem, the radio loves me and I love the radio,” Icepick replied. I just stood there awkwardly, wondering how long it would take him to locate the object of my desires. Except, it wasn’t a desire of mine to hold that weapon, even less to use it. It just felt like the right thing to do.

Destiny is funny like that.

I shivered and the necklace below my clothes chilled a degree. What the fuck? I had felt a voice in my head. It wasn’t my conscience, it was colder, more alien.

“Ah, under the used syringes,” I came back to the present as I heard a heavy thud from the storage area in the back. “Thing’s heavier than I remember, then again, I haven’t touched it in-” He stopped speaking, and Icepick chuckled a bit.

“I don’t need to remind myself of how old I am with a mare around,” he finished gruffly before walking back with a faded green case wrapped in his magic.

“What if I was into older stallions?” Icepick teased, her tongue practically bursting through her cheek.

“Yeah no,” he said as he tossed the case onto the desk. I ran a hoof over the metal case. It had been a darker green than it was now, and the dust left on my appendage was enough to tell me he hadn’t ever played Stalliongrad roulette with it.

“I do have an appointment in a few minutes,” Mildew said before tapping at where a watch would have been if he was the type to wear one. He wasn’t.

“He was trying to be dramatic, besides, you can always make them fill out a form or something while he stares at the family piece,” Icepick said before slamming her hooves down on the desk. “No, but really Rosetta, I’ve got shit to do.”

“You’ve both made your opinions abundantly clear,” I said dryly before pulling open the latches on the case. As it opened, I felt a chill down my spine, but no alien voice echoing in my skull. I could deal with a weird sensation-

Icepick whistled appreciatively. My eyes widened a bit at the sheer size of the gun. It looked like it could down aircraft.

“Yeah, your father used a big gun, as to whether he was compensating for something, I’m not at liberty to answer,” there was a warmth in his voice as he watched me admire the gun.

“Don’t worry, I’ll just ask Page about it,” Icepick said with a laugh and a bump on my shoulder. “Note to self: remember to get a family piece.” I lifted the gun from the case, finding the button to let the cylinder swing out. It was empty. I aimed it at a wall and pulled the hammer back with my magic. It locked into position and with more effort than I would have suspected I dry fired it. There was a satisfying click as it swung down where a percussion cap would have been.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to know how to do that,” Mildew said with surprise in his voice. I looked at him for a moment. My expression must have darkened as he shrank a little before me-

“He’s used guns,” Icepick said coldly. I looked back towards her before placing the gun in the case and closing it.

“I believe you now,” Mildew said with worry in his voice. “Just remember, violence is a last resort for good ponies. And you’re a good pony Rosetta, okay?”

“I know,” I replied before grasping the case in my magic and turning towards the door. “Don’t count on me coming back to run this place, but don’t rule it out either.”

“Alright,” Mildew said. “I think I understand you a bit better now.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said before seeing the look on Icepick’s face as I said that. She followed me out the door.

“Getting ammunition for that thing is gonna be a bitch,” she said with a laugh. “But, I think we can manage it.” Clearly, she wanted to change the subject. I was fine with that. The heavy weight of the gun was nothing to me at that moment. All the burdens I was carrying were inside me.

“Do you think Perm is going to be jealous?” I asked with a smile. On some level, it was something I felt. It was still a lie. I had scared him. He knew something she didn’t, and it stung. That’s why I didn’t want to see my mother, the guilt of leaving her was only a small part of it. I didn’t want her to realize that she was right. I had been warped by my time away. Maybe not as bad as the hell Permittivity and Icepick had been through, but enough. I had seen enough.

“Of that hoof cannon?” She looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking again. “Not really, not his style. I like it though.”
“Thanks,” I replied as the sun poured down on us, dusty streets full of ponies getting out of work for lunch. “So, want to walk with me back to the ships? I don’t want to show mom that I have this.”

“Good idea,” she said simply. Her mind was already going to other things, bigger things, more important things. The fact that she had gone out with me was a sacrifice on her part. The ponies looking at her as we walked down the street was proof enough of that. She smiled at them and walked with a self-assured swagger. I would never be that pony.

That, at least, I had made peace with.

The door was open, I walked inside. The inside smelled like the written word, but aged. My mother looked up as the bell rang. She looked tired.

“Rosetta?” Page Turner said softly as I walked up to the desk.

“Hi mom,” I said neutrally.

“I’m so glad you’re home!” She said before collecting herself and putting a stern expression on her face.

“I know,” I said softly as I trotted up to her, and behind the desk. The old cash register was forgotten in that moment as I embraced her. “And I’m sorry.” She looked at me when I said that. I could see the betrayal in them, a betrayal that had begun when I moved to Copper Springs.

“The recriminations can wait,” she said softly. “Let’s go eat dinner, and you can tell me about your adventures.”

“Wait you want to know about where I’ve been?” I asked with surprise written in my words.

“Of course, my son is an explorer, I have to enjoy that part of it all,” Page said as she started towards the sign on the door. With a touch of her magic, she flipped it around and locked the door. I smiled at that.

“Well, we found ponies, zebras, Arabs, and Orangutans!” I said in a chirpy voice.

“What’s an Orangutan?” My mom asked.

“Think a big ape, with reddish fur, and strong enough to tear a pony limb from limb,” I replied. “They’re very sweet though, and they saved their island from the darkness that encompassed the world.”

“How ever did they do that?” Page asked as she took the first step up towards our home. Their home. I followed behind her.

“Magic,” I think there was a twinkle in my eye as I said that.

“Right,” she replied with a curious expression.

“If you wanted to know more about their magic, you’d have to ask Perm, I don’t really understand their way of looking at the world, and changing it.”

“How are Perm and Icepick?” She asked as we rounded the top of the stairs. The smell of stew assaulted my nose, reminding me that I had walked a lot on only a lunch and a pot of coffee.

“Well, Icepick is basically a celebrity, and a revolutionary leader, and Perm is doing alright, learning the techniques of the Path,” I replied as I took in the sights and smells of home. A home that hadn’t changed, not yet anyway.

“Oh yeah, all the ponies on the street are talking about the turncoat ranger fighting for us,” my mom said with a smile on her face. “It’s almost enough to forgive her for taking my son on her wild ride.”

“Don’t blame her, I wanted to go, needed to go,” I said softly, but firmly.
“Hey!” Dalliance said as she trotted up to us, her stained apron tied on the front of her gleaming fur. She looked at me happily, before pulling me into a tight hug and giving me a kiss on the cheek. I smiled at her, even as I felt a bit uncomfortable at the attention. “So, you’re an adventurer now! What’s that like?”

“Hot, mostly,” I said as her legs dropped away. There was a thud as they struck the ground.

“Jungles eh,” Dalliance replied with a laugh.

“Jungles indeed,” I shot back before sniffing the air audibly. Dalliance was a good cook.

“Want to eat dinner here?” Page said before walking around me and embracing her lover.

“I would love to,” I replied. There was a sincerity there, and a sadness that I couldn’t quite place. I was happy to be home, even if I might never see it again.

The food was good, and the beer in front of me reminded me of what I had left…

“So, what happened out there, you owe us at least a good adventure tale,” Page said as she waved the pasta wrapped around her fork with a touch of her magic.

“Well, we assaulted the old submarine, and disassembled the balefire bomb in the hold,” I started out by saying. They looked a little shocked at my nonchalance.

“Wait, there’s more there, I see it in your eyes,” Page said with a fork of pasta aimed at me.

“You are my mother, so, I guess I’ll lay it all out. The head ranger with us, Reflex Sight, tried to betray us, to steal the bomb and use it as a bargaining chip, or worse. And when Bajada discovered this, she fought him, and lost. He came after me next, taunting me. I managed the get the upper hoof, and well, I took his life. He fucking deserved it, everything I did to him,” I finished and opened my eyes to see them staring at me with something approaching fear, and on my mother’s face- pain.

“Ranger wearing power armour, how did you do it?” Dalliance asked with curiosity and fear in her voice.

“I discovered something in that fight, some aspect of my magic that I had never realized I had,” I said before dragging over a single flower sitting in a vase. I lifted my hoof and pressed it to the surface of the rose. A single thorn dug into the soft frog of my hoof. I barely felt it. My horn lit brightly, and in a single instant it broke, and dessicated in the florescent light and the light of my darkened magic. It died as quickly as the bones and viscera in Reflex’s legs. My mother let out a shocked gasp as I destroyed a living thing with my magic. I picked up the rose and tossed it into the trash can. I had made my point. I had revealed the power learned from the talisman.

“You killed him with magic?” Dalliance nearly whispered.

“No, I destroyed his legs with my magic. I finished the job with a couple pistol shots. First I blew away his jaw, his ability to speak, to plead. That made the final shots easier,” I let out a deep exhale as I watched my family shrink back, into themselves. Whatever warmth I had been feeling was gone now. I met each of their eyes. “He killed Bajada with his armour, he crushed the life out of her. He treated her like an object, an obstacle to his goals. He was ready to kill everyone in Paradise if he felt like it was the right move. I couldn’t let him live. He was a danger to everyone I love.”

The hoof that touched me wasn’t tentative, Page had gotten up and around the table without me noticing. It was warm, and in that moment I broke again. Just like I had broken him, just like I was likely to break others. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I shut them as hard as the muscles would allow.
“It’s alright baby, it’s okay,” Page said softly as my tears carved salty paths down my rosey cheeks.

“I-I, I’m a killer,” I said softly. It wasn’t a rebuttal to her words, her kind, meaningless words. It was just a statement of fact, like the sky being blue.

“You’re a pony, a good pony, someone who doesn’t need to kill again,” Page said in a reassuring voice. “Just stay with us, heal ponies who need it, live with us until you’re feeling better.”

“No,” I said with a new resolve in my eyes. I turned to look into my mother’s sapphire eyes. There was a pain in them, but also something else. “I need to protect my friends. I’m an asset, I might be the only thing that can stop Sombra. I need to fight them out there, so I can protect my city.”

“You know,” she started before the words died in her mouth. I looked at her deeply, and lifted a hoof to hold hers. And then I stood to my full height and looked at my mother. “You’re the spitting image of your dad, he said those words once.”

“I,” I tried to speak. I couldn’t.

“It makes me so proud, I raised a fighter, even if I didn’t want to. I guess that’s the power of heredity,” she said as she embraced me. I held her back, tightly. New muscles, new strength I had never had before. For a moment the chill pressed against my chest was gone. “I can’t stop you, even if I want to with all of my being. You’re a grown stallion now.”

“I know mom, I want to stay too. I want things to go back to what they were like before-”

“Here comes the but,” Dalliance said in a tone that lacked all surprise. Her beer was in her hoof. And I could almost feel the warmth travelling down her esophagus. I could feel their heartbeats in my mind, if I tried to listen.

“But I can’t, destiny, the future of Sall’han, the whole sordid history of ponykind, it’s out there, and I can’t bury my head in the sand,” I added with a nod at Dalliance. She smiled a sad smile at that.

“Please just, if it’s a lost cause come home, don’t tell me you’re planning to run into your own death,” She pleaded with me. That’s how things had changed. I wasn’t her foal anymore. I was just her son.

“I don’t plan on dying,” I said with a dry chuckle. “I do plan on drinking another beer though. And sleeping in my old bed.”

“I can live with that, even if you’re echoing your father again,” Page said.

History as a great wheel, destiny as a loop, an endless ouroboros of change and continuity. I could feel it in my bones. It didn’t change what had to be done.

I hefted the massive pistol in my magic and took aim at the paper target. It was thirty meters away. I lined up the sights and tried to anticipate the jerk of the pistol-

“That hoof cannon is going to have a huge recoil, but don’t think about it, just fire it and be ready to have to slam back against your hold,” Permittivity said as he watched me aim. Beside him, a rifle of the imperial type, his assault rifle, and a petite semi-automatic pistol sat on the bench.

“Okay,” I said loudly enough to get past his ear plugs. His ears twitched a little as he watched me with pursed lips. The pistol went off with a huge bang. It bucked in my magic, but I caught it. My eyes peered at the paper target. It had a large hole to the right of center mass.

“With that gun, you could kill a bear, so it’ll kill ponies just fine,” Permittivity said from behind me. “But it’s not much use beyond fifty or so meters. So, you’re going to learn to shoot an imperial arms, mark four.”
“Makes sense,” I said as I took aim again, this time I managed to hit a little closer to the center.

“Better, but you’re still jerking the trigger in one motion, it’s a natural impulse, but it’s wrong,” Perm said from beside me.

“Can you show me?” I asked just loudly enough to be heard.

“Sure,” he replied simply, before taking the gun from my magic with his own. His was a gentle magic, it simply overcame my levitation, with not a micro-newton more force than necessary. He took his own aim, carefully adjusting his stance and making certain everything was right-

Bang!

Dead center, where a heart would be if it was a real pony, there was a gaping hole where he had plugged his shot. I whistled before I even realized I was doing it.

“Did you see how I squeezed it in one fluid motion?” He asked me, eyes boring into my own. There was a pedantic edge in them, something I had only seen on him when he was teaching. It suited him.

“I think I did,” I said before taking the gun from him, and plugging a much closer hole to center mass. I sat the gun down and looked at him. There was a weariness about him that I couldn’t shake.

“Much better,” he said before picking up the rifle, and placing it to his shoulder, and biting into the handle with his teeth. He braced the bottom of the gun with a foreleg before grasping the stripper clip with his magic. He inserted it and pulled the bolt back, and forward in a practiced motion. A target a hundred meters away was holed at center mass a moment later. “I’m going to teach you how I was taught. The earth pony way.”

He floated the gun onto the table and waited for me to pick it up. It was heavy in my magic, the weight of steel and wood made into a killing tool. I bit into the handle and felt the smooth wood against my naked shoulder. I could taste his spit on the trigger. It was almost like kissing him-

Crack!

I put a round into the target, the well built iron sights guiding me into accuracy. I racked the bolt back, and slid it forward, feeling the tension and friction in the mechanism. The short barrel of the rifle was manageable. The second shot missed, even as the gun dug into my flesh with the recoil.

I sighed audibly, before I felt a hoof on my own, and a body pressing against mine. He helped me aim, his barrel warm against my own. Something in me was comforted by it, another part was worried by my own reaction. The bolt came back, and forward again. A moment later, I hit the target again, much closer to the center.

“Good,” he said in a lower voice. His words coming into my ears from a lot closer than before. I could feel his breath against me.

“I have a good teacher,” I said in a chirpy voice. I had shared his memories, hollowed out the ones that made him dangerous, the ones that poisoned his soul. And yet, he was still here.

“My father is the best shot I’ve ever known, though he only ever practiced for the town militia,” Perm said in a low register. There was a note of melancholy in them. He still didn’t know that they were dead. I had stripped him of that pain, of that knowledge of reality-

“Huh, I guess some of that got transmitted,” I said with a shrug and a chuckle.

“Something like that,” he said as be backed away, leaving the full weight of the gun on my form.

“I would like to meet him, and your brother,” I said quietly, before sitting the gun down and looking at Permittivity.
“Me too,” he said in a dour voice. His lips were puckered, and a deep melancholy was being barely hemmed in by his steady breathing and the task at hoof. He grasped his rifle, the one he had gotten so long ago, and fired off a series of five shots, perfectly grouped into the hundred meter target. “If not, then I’ll make do. I have family here now.”

“Yes, you do,” I replied before resting a hoof on his shoulder. He was a good friend. And maybe in another life, something more.

I rested my head on the desk before the doorbell rang. I sat up and looked at the pony who had entered. My mind instantly shot back to a moment long ago.

“Hello,” the chipper stallion said. That same oddness to him was there.

“I remember you, you sold me the memory orbs,” I said instantly, and not quite tactfully.

“I did that, and presumably you used them,” he said as he strode up to the desk.

“I did,” I said simply. This stallion stood there with pursed lips for a moment, and a pair of floral patterned saddle bags popped open with a pink magic. “So, what are you here to do? Sell me something odd, but prescient again?”

“I might, I have a couple things in my possession you’d find useful,” he said with a tip of his hat.

“Like?” I asked, curious and wary in the same breath.

“Well, it all comes down to a bet I made ages ago. And I do mean ages, someone as young as you really doesn’t have the frame of reference to understand. But, suffice it to say, it was about the nature of ponies, and the arc of history. I told him that love was more powerful than anything in this world, he said that the power of arms and destruction trumped that. We’re still waiting on the results. But, well, I’m willing to bend things a little to my end, as is he. When you play at our level, the little things don’t matter much normally.”

“O-okay, go on?” I asked him with a bemused expression on my face. If this stallion hadn’t given me something quite powerful before, I would have been a lot less willing to listen to him wax rhapsodic about the power of love.

“Ah, you still don’t understand, but you will,” he started to say before pulling out an object from the bags. It was a thick folder, brimming with aged paper, and a metal cylinder, that reflected the sunlight and fluorescents in the room. “You’re on the right track, all of you, mostly. Even if that necklace you’re wearing is a little less than helpful.”

“What?” I asked, suddenly a lot more wary of the stallion after he mentioned my talisman.

“Even if you can control it, which you probably can’t, it’s still a weapon, a force of death,” The strange stallion said in a low voice.

“We need weapons, every advantage we can get, we’re fighting a monster with the power to conquer worlds,” I said to him.

“All true, but that’s why I’m here,” he said with a flourish and a wry smile. I blinked at him before he patted the objects he had set down. “Not everything is there, but enough is.”

“What?” I asked quietly.

“In there are files on megaspell theory and construction, from a friend. The other thing is a class of spark grenade that will suit well for your purposes,” He said.

“That’s exactly what we need,” I blurted out. He looked smugly at me.

“I know,” he replied. And then he spun around. And started towards the door. “And before you ask, I’m doing this to win the bet. Don’t fail me. Don’t fail ponykind.”

The door shut as I just stared at the documents and the spark grenade.

I had my bags on, and I was out the door before I could even think about all the questions that were plaguing me. The weight of history, of a great game I could only speculate about all weighed down on me. Still, I ran back to the harbour.

“What the fuck?” Icepick, and the rest of the higher ups of our little movement stared at me with a mix of bewilderment and excitement.

“I know right, and I’d obviously look through the stuff to make sure it’s the real thing, but I think it is. And seriously, this guy was weird,” I added with a raise of my eyebrow.

“I’m not even going to ask where he got this stuff from, but I am fucking wondering why?” Icepick said in a bewildered tone.

“Uh, he mentioned a bet?” I said out loud, as the looks grew more concerned, not less.

“I don’t think it was a stallion you spoke to, not really,” Zenji said with the least confused look on her face.

“What?” Icepick asked, turning to her advisor, and friend.

“He seems like a spirit, or an avatar of a greater power,” Zenji said. The room was quiet for a breathless moment. And then, a peel of laughter hit everyone’s ears. As one, we turned to face Ironsight.

“I mean, a little divine intervention never hurt,” she said before laughing even harder. “Goddess, I need a fucking drink.”

“Seconded,” Icepick noted casually.

“Make that three,” Permittivity said darkly. “I’m not sure what powers are interceding on our behalf, I never believed in that kind of thing before. The gods on my world were dead millennia before my time. This however, makes me question my assumptions.”

“Like fuck it does, we might just be able to actually build the weapon required to stop him,” Icepick said before adding. “If we can get it close enough to him.”

“Yeah, he only has like, an army and a fortress,” Ironsight said with another laugh.

“Well, we have allies in high places,” Zenji said with a smile on her face.

“Apparently,” Permittivity replied.

“So what’s the next step now?” I asked the lot of them, and they turned to Icepick as one.

“Well, we either need to get these plans to Xuaith, or get him here,” Icepick said before scratching her head with a hoof. “Suggestions?”

“We have that airplane that we towed here,” Ironsight said.

“Good point, I think I already got it in the repair queue,” Icepick said before looking over at the map pinned on the wall. Paradise, Safe Harbour, Ramsgard, and the fortress were all outlined, with positions and hypothetical troop movements added on in pencil.

“So, who wants to go flying?”

I volunteered for the flight, but I was turned down. Ironsight would go to Safe Harbour, crammed into the back of the plane with a load of fuel for the return journey. Meanwhile, we drilled, and added volunteers from Paradise to our ranks. Bajada would be proud of that. Most of them were untrained ponies who had never fired a weapon in their life. Still, between them and the conscription and recruitment in the city itself, our effective forces were growing quickly, what we didn’t know, was if it would be enough…

“Ponies of Paradise, and of the Equine liberation army, we come in peace, thought that wasn’t in our orders, but fuck orders that tell us to kill fellow equestrians when there’s a greater threat out in the desert,” The radio played its message again. It was on loop, and even as the rapidly assembled ponies on our side stood in the trenches that had been erected outside of Paradise, we looked on with hope as the broadcast began it’s final part. “This is interim commander Phalanx of Ramsgard. Please do not be alarmed.”

“Are you listening to him again?” Icepick asked, she was looking over the outskirts of paradise with a pair of binoculars.

“Well, I’m worried about two strange but good runs of luck, it doesn’t seem to fit with our past,” I replied as I stood there, a rifle on my back, and my pistol weighing down my front right leg. It was a good weight. Now, I could kill at whatever range required killing.

“Yeah, me too, and I don’t even remember a Commander Phalanx,” she added with a snort. “But I mean, they’re waving white flags, and advancing up to us without weapons.”

“I know, I hope none of our guys get itchy trigger tongues,” I said a moment later.

“Me too, that’s why I said that I would kick whoever shot one of those rangers first in their baby making parts,” Icepick said before letting the binoculars settle down on her chest. There was a clank as the steel casing smacked against the steel encasing her. She looked beautiful in the noon time sunlight. And there was a bubbly beverage beside her.

Permittivity was sitting deeper in the city, with our reserves, somewhere along the line, he had gotten a patch sewn onto his sleeve. It meant something along the lines of third in command, and with Ironsight off on her trip to Safe Harbour, in search of the Zebra with the skills required for megaspell engineering, that left him in second place. He had taken his field promotion with grace and dignity, befitting an officer. Maybe. Well, what the fuck did I know.

“Are we gonna greet them?” I asked softly, on the extreme edge of our defences, just behind where our closest howitzers and mortars were trained, Frostbite sat there, with his own rifle in tow. He would hold the line to his last breath. Even as everypony there saw the armoured vehicles and power armoured shock troops lined up opposite to them.

Our ships had been covered in rocket tubes, and they were just about the only thing we had in our favour, other than the sheer number of troops we had, most of them barely trained.

“It would be a shame if we didn’t take that nice, shiny truck out there to greet them,” Icepick said with a laugh. A few minutes later, I sat in the passenger seat of the lightly armoured truck. A driver from the Desert Rangers sat in the driver’s seat. Icepick and the civilians from Paradise sat in the back, languishing in the heat of the tin can.

The drive was short but tense, only a few kilometers from our position, still definitely in range of both sides artillery. If it came to a battle, it would probably be a pyrrhic victory for either side. That was probably why Phalanx, whoever they were, was trying to ally with us.

We got out of our truck and stood there, as another vehicle, a ranger power armour carrier came up. It stopped about ten metres from us, and a moment later two rangers wearing helmets exited. And then, after they stood at the back of the carrier, two more ponies came out. One was a ranger paladin, who exited wearing light armour over her uniform. The other was a pegasus wearing a chest piece and a hat. They nodded at us, before one flew over and the other made the remaining distance at a trot. The Pegasus landed in front of Icepick and I, and the other dignitaries.

“Icepick, the turncoat, fighting for the liberation of all equines,” the pegasus said before turning to me. He looked me over appraisingly.

“I see my reputation precedes me,” Icepick said with a grunt, before meeting his eyes. “So who the fuck are you?” The dignitaries looked shocked at her language.

“I’m Phalanx, the pony who wants to rebuild Sall’han as a free place, and who’s willing to do what must be done,” he said with a bow. “But for right now, I’m a pony who needs diesel, petrol, and rations, in that order.”

“So, you’re plan was to beg the same ponies the rangers tried to annex with a fleet, to give you supplies?” Icepick asked before adding. “You’re bold, I’ll give you that.”

“Bold enough to see that the orders we were given were wrong, morally, and strategically,” he replied sharply, before holding a hoof out and shrugging his shoulders.

“That whole interim commander thing, I take it you did something with the higher ups, I know most of the big wigs back in Ramsgard, and you’re not one of them,” Icepick shot back, waiting for him to tell her that he had them shot, or left them tied up for the desert foxes.

“Oh, they’ve been treated well, ours was a bloodless coup, however, if you want to keep them in Paradise, as a token of good faith, I can have them delivered in a few hours, no silver platters though, that’s more a Paradise thing. Or so I’ve heard,” Phalanx replied smartly. “So, when are we marching to defeat this Sombra character?”

“Are you deferring to her?” One of the councilors of Paradise asked, startled by his question.
“Don’t be offended, rangers aren’t exactly taught to respect civilian authority,” Icepick said with a turn back towards the counselor.

“That’s quite true, however, I respect her, as a former ranger, and a pony of action, a lot more than someone who got voted into office off of rhetoric and a pretty smile,” Phalanx said with a laugh.

“I make a lot of speeches and smile a lot,” Icepick said with a note of humour in her voice.

“Indeed, but again, mare of action, politician,” Phalanx said with a little defensiveness. He had picked his hill to die on, and it was based on a shitty false dichotomy. Whatever, ponies were odd.

“In any case, we’ll need to confer before allowing the exchange of supplies,” One of those politicians said in a dry tone. Whatever else that stallion had seen, one disrespectful pegasus wasn’t going to hurt his feelings.

“I respect that, though allowing some of our ponies to enter the city and refresh themselves before the campaign would be appreciated,” Phalanx said with a nod of his head. “Unarmed, and only a fifth of my ponies at a time of course. Think of it as building a rapport between the different Equestrian tribes.”

“We’ll consider that proposal as well,” the tired sounding counselor said before turning around and walking back towards the vehicle.

“That was fast,” Phalanx said before looking at Icepick with that same cunning gaze he had me. “You’re taller in person.”

“I get that a lot,” Icepick said before moving towards him. The sun beat down on us, and the guards twitched a bit as she moved closer to him. He turned his head towards his guards and gave them a scathing look. “So, what the fuck is your endgame?”

“I beg your pardon?” Phalanx asked as the rest of the councilors watched on, even the one who had turned his back looked over his withers at the two rangers.

“You know, after we kick Sombra back to my boyfriends plane, and hopefully fry his magical ass,” Icepick started, before adding. “Our relationship is going to depend a lot on your answer.”

“You are definitely a mare that goes to the heart of the matter, and with forethought in regards to the future. Which is related to my goals. Only in an ossified and rigid system would a pony such as you would be relegated to the lower ranks,” Phalanx said before taking a deep breathe and watching Icepick for her reaction. She frowned at that, but not deeply, more like an old wound was being opened up for someone else’s benefit. “That’s exactly what I plan to change, to change our system of oppression, and add a dynamism and meritocracy to our home.”

“So, you’re planning on marching back home with your army, and taking Ramsgard?” Icepick asked, having shaken her frown, a kind of curiosity, and perhaps humour was on her face now.

“Well, yes,” he replied smoothly. “I think a well lead army can defeat whatever turgid defense they’ll offer. Even more than that, perhaps, with our victory as an example of what we can do as rangers, it may even be another bloodless transition.”

“You know, I can accept that, just don’t expect a single drop of blood spilled by my ponies for your power play,” Icepick said. “And if I even get a hint of a double cross, your pretty little wings are going to be broken by my hooves.”

“Oh, I’m an intelligent stallion, double crossing a mare of your calibre doesn’t end well, or so I’ve learned,” he said before adding another little stab. “Reflex Sight was exactly the kind of pony who got his position and standing from his heritage, and I know what happened to him.”

“Do you?” I barked out, looking this fucking slug of a pegasus in the eyes.

“Icepick dispatched him, after his plan to steal the Balefire bomb was discovered, and then she rigged the submarine to explode, so that when our retrieval team arrived, it wiped out half of the crew of one of our destroyers.”

Icepick winced when she heard that last part. She hadn’t meant to kill that many ponies, it was a move of desperation on her part to lay those charges. That they had worked, that they had built up her legend as a slayer of ponies who stood against her- The Destroyer. That little voice in her head, that told her she was a monster, it was speaking up at that moment.

Destiny is harder to run from than anyone expects.

“I killed him, with my own hooves, because he was a slimy bully who killed someone I loved,” I yelled out, anger spilling out of myself as much at him, as the voice that had spoken to me again. “And I’d do it again, except I’d break every part of his body except the ones needed to keep him alive, and let him suffer and die for longer.”

“I see-” Phalanx was looking at me with fear behind his eyes, and a smile that tried to cover for his discomfort. Deep down, he was scared of blood and death. Even if he was perfectly willing to order those under his command to theirs.

“No you don’t, and try to understand what it feels like to put someone like him down. As bad as he needed to be put down, he was still a pony. I still feel a part of me died when I killed him, even if I’d do it again in a heartbeat. And I still felt a part of me that died when I killed him, even if I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” I finished, out of breath, the catharsis of threatening this pompous asshole finally draining that killing rage out of me. “At the end of the day we’re talking about thousands of lives. And he was willing to snuff out thousands, in pursuit of his goals. That's why I did it, because this isn’t about personal glory, or being witty and interesting, this is about fighting a monster that wants to take away everything from us. You need to act like that’s the case, if you want any respect from me. From us.”

“Exactly,” Icepick said with a nod, even if she wore a curious expression when she looked at me.

“I’ll bear that in mind,” he said in a muted tone. Something in him had been shorn away by my words. Maybe, the idea of a campaign as great fun. Or something similarly juvenile.

“Good talk,” Icepick said before clapping the smaller pegasus on the back softly. But not too softly.

We made our way back to the truck, it was already running. Phalanx gave us an odd look as we sped off, his driver doing the same. Whatever else had happened, at least he seemed a little off balance. That was probably a good thing. Confident ponies are the ones most likely to order something stupid.

“Okay, wanna tell me exactly where that came from?” Icepick asked as soon as we had the door shut on the back of the truck.

“I was shaken by events, but I think I’m getting better,” as I said that, the necklace chilled a great deal. Somehow, it wanted to remind me that I was lying. Or maybe I wasn’t, I had seen my family, I was embracing my destiny, not running from it-

“That was a very sterile way of putting things, and well, you didn’t seem very sterile back there, or well, that other time,” Icepick said with a laugh that was cover for deeper concern. She leaned in and hugged me suddenly, the feeling of her steel against mine, her strength and chilly exterior, encompassing me. Icepick smiled at me, and there was the warmth that kept her going, the dynamo at the heart of everything. I leaned into her, nuzzling into her neck and holding back tears. “You don’t have to go.” She said softly, comfort flowing from her heart to mine.

“And let you have all the fun?” I said in a shaky voice.

“I think you’ve already had enough fun for a lifetime,” she replied. “Then again, so have I. So has Perm.”
“And yet you’re not asking him if he wants to come,” there was a hint of jealousy in my voice. She noticed it instantly.

“The difference is,” Icepick started with a deep breath, her eyes moving away from mine, towards the steel ceiling. “Before I met him, I was broken, a mare going through the motions, hating every moment, loving a pony that didn’t understand the concept. But he changed me, helped me feel normal, feel things that everypony has felt from prehistory to the post-apocalyptic shithole we’re living in now. And he had the same thing happen, slowly, and even if we’ve had our ups and downs, we survived the end of the honeymoon phase, and that’s the thing that makes me want to stay with him forever. We’re two sides of the same fucked up coin, Rosetta.”

“He completes you, and you him,” I said softly. She ruffled my mane with a hoof. I laughed at that.

“Pretty much, probably has something to do with that weirdo you met who gave us the keys to the kingdom,” she sourly, but with a note of wry humour.

“Life is strange: gods, weapons of mass destruction, and a Pegasus with delusions of grandeur,” I replied softly. As the eyes of the politicians in the truck widened a degree.

“And through it all, love is the thing that’s always constant,” Icepick said before adding. “I’ve been thinking a lot about that Stallion in the bookstore. I have a feeling he’s been behind a lot of things, little tweaks in the right direction, pushing us here.”

“Pushing you two together,” I said.

“Maybe,” Icepick said in a quiet tone. “I don’t think it matters too much, I know that we found each other against the odds, and found ourselves in the process. Maybe we’re the hinge point in some master plan. It doesn’t matter. The thing those types never seem to suspect is, us little ponies have plans of our own.”

Author's Notes:

This was definitely an interesting chapter to write, and well, I hope you all like a Rosetta chapter after a long break for him.

If you want to help support my writing, I have a patreon and a ko-fi!
https://www.patreon.com/Sunnydontlook
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And a new discord server for me to connect with my fans, and well, to hang out in: https://discord.gg/dxfCZzV