Sunset Shimmer lay in the grass, staring at the sky and the few clouds slowly making their way far above her. She had chosen to go back to her more mortal form for now, trying to process the choices that had brought her here… and the choices she had made since.

There was a slight breeze that managed to cool her down, just a little, but that was the last thing on her mind. She kept replaying the firefight she'd had earlier in the morning over and over again.

How eager she had been for it. How callous. How quickly she had allowed herself to fall into the Desert Mirage persona. She had spent almost an hour after throwing up just digging holes to dump the bodies in. Trying to give them as proper a burial as she could under the circumstances.

That had never been an issue in GGO. It just wasn't something that they'd put in a game. But what choice did she have here? She wasn't just going to leave them to decompose out there. These ponies were someone's child, someone's lover, maybe someone's parent.

Her only real comfort was that she hadn't started it. That they had sought her out in order to kill her and she had no choice but to fight back. Still, this was something that the girls would not understand. Luna… maybe. Twilight and the others? She pressed her lips together and bumped her head gently against the grass. "Some things are better left unsaid."

She remained there in silence, arms and legs spread, staring at the sky, until she sighed. "Celestia, what the hell am I supposed to do here?" She felt like she was actually praying to the local Celestia, the goddess of this world, rather than addressing her mentor in her head. "I guess I could've used regular magic, but… against bullets? Other than a shield and maybe a stun spell, I don't think anything is really useful without resorting to something that might kill someone."

She shook her head, thoughts going back to just how dangerous she could be in-game, and now here. Sure, she was also risking her life to some extent, but her alicorn body worked under different laws. She could be killed, but it would take far more than a couple of shots to do so, and even then she'd be healing. If those were real mercenaries, which generally speaking were supposed to have some training, she had demonstrated that she was completely out of their league and thus the league of just about everyone here.

That and death was permanent here. A downed opponent stayed down. There was no respawning in a safe location, and she didn't want to go around killing ponies. Maybe more general spells? An image arose of the pony she had frozen solid cracking to pieces. She felt the bile rise in her throat before forcefully pushing it down.

She needed to get out of here.

The longer she was in this… this weird Equestria, the more likely it was that she'd end up killing the ponies that came after her. And even if they were trying to kill her, she didn't want to go back home with more blood on her hands.

She pulled out of her pocket the papers she had found on one of the mercs. "Sundown Valley…" she muttered. She leaned to the side so she could reach her pouch and pulled out the map Father Feather had provided her, then spread it on the grass as she sat cross legged to try and figure out where the hay that was relative to her current location.

Gazing up at the sun, then at her watch which she had tried to attune to the local time as best she could, she glanced in the direction she should be going. She could barely see something that might be mountains or cliffs in the distance. "If that's where you were supposed to meet your boss, I guess that's where I should go."

Sunset took a deep breath and let it out slowly, thinking of her options.

"I can't just show up. These guys are trying to kill me for some stupid reason. But they have the card, or at least know the mare that stole it. I can't go home without it." Tapping her finger on the map, she grimaced. "This so-called Bulletproof Heart… Why is that so familiar?" She shook her head. "Back to the present, Shimmer." She slapped herself gently on both cheeks and cleared her throat.

She glanced at the sky, then down at her hands, making fists. "There's no other way. I have to get back. Even if I have to get into another gunfight. The longer I'm here, the worse it will be for everyone." With a thought and a rush of magic that started at the tip of her toes then traveled all the way to the tip of her horn, she was back again as Desert Mirage. "Suck it up, Sunset. One more fight and then we're out."

Her wings picked up the breeze with ease, feathers ruffling and the delicious call of the sky beckoning. "Good thing I took Rainbow Dash's offer to learn to fly." She glanced at her watch again and sighed. "Time to face the music."

Rarity took a sip of the jasmine tea. It was a good blend. The kind she would expect from some wealthy aristocrat. Which, in truth, was how Autumn Blaze struck her. Except one that was patient and eternally calm. The mare’s expression hadn’t changed once so far.

The two of them sat at a table, white linens and solid oak chairs. They were in a cabin of the airship, which now sailed due west. It was an ostentatious space, to say the least, with bookshelves and navigational equipment that was clearly intended more for display than actual use. There was even a chandelier over their heads, although her talented eye noted that its gold finish was only a bit of plating and probably not even real gold. All in all, it spoke of somepony who wanted everypony else to know they were wealthy while only expending enough bits to fool the unawares and unobservant.

But none of this translated to Autumn Blaze – a kirin, Rarity now knew – who sat across from her sipping her own tea. The mare’s eyes never left Rarity’s, and there was an intensity to them that made her feel like she’d been judged and found… acceptable. But only barely. Waxton stood to the side of the room, relaying the meaning of the sign language Autumn occasionally threw out.

“So let me see if I’ve got all this straight so far,” Rarity said as her teacup clacked against the table. “This ‘Mirage’ wants to be the greatest gunslinger ever, and views me as direct opposition. She managed to get the chancellor’s backing, which is why the ponies normally under you decided to come after me. If they fail, she’ll likely come for me herself. Is that the gist of it, then?”

Aumun Blaze nodded, then began making some hand signs. Waxton helpfully spoke up. “The Lady is opposed to the chancellor’s decision, but wouldn’t dream of openly challenging it. Her position is sensitive, you understand. It was fortunate that we had good information on your whereabouts and were already using the chancellor’s airship, otherwise we’d have never been able to warn you.”

Rarity let out a sniff of disdain. “‘Warn me’, you say. Right after some of those ponies already made an attempt on my life.”

“We tried,” Waxton countered, although he seemed a touch ashamed. “It’s a big continent, miss.”

“I suppose I appreciate the attempt.” Rarity sat back in her seat and crossed her arms, considering the situation. “This mare. The Mirage. Is she good?”

Autumn Blaze gave a slow nod, then waved to Waxton.

“There haven’t been many stories yet,” he admitted, “but what we can confirm suggests that, yes, she’s a force to be reckoned with. A pegasus with superb melee skills and strength. Her actual shooting skills aren’t so well known.”

Rarity had no intention of taking chances. She would assume this mare was good enough to rival her. Or perhaps Applejack, who she knew was better than her on the draw. And if the mare was a pegasus, she’d have no trouble catching up to Rarity no matter how fast she tried to flee. What she wouldn’t give to have Little Lightning right about now…

Once more, Autumn Blaze began signaling. “We know she’s coming for you right now, so it would be best to prepare. We intend to drop you off soon, in whatever local township you’d prefer. We apologize for being so short about all of this, but if it is found that we aided you?”

“Yes, your position under the chancellor would be in jeopardy.” Rarity sighed and nodded. She couldn’t blame them for their caution. Besides, having someone inside the chancellor’s organization might prove incalculably valuable later on. “But what of this chancellor? Am I going to have to ‘deal’ with him too? I’d really rather not go on another crusade against a corrupt organization if I can help it.”

The kirin tilted her head. Her hands began to move. “Deal with The Mirage, and the chancellor will likely leave you alone.”

That certainly made things easier. She only had to defeat a single powerhungry mare. It wasn’t like Rarity hadn’t put down a few of those in her time. She grimaced, recalling the cost of doing so. And this time she might be going at it solo. Perhaps a visit to some friendlier places was in order… if she could justify risking innocent lives. In that case, maybe not. “So be it. You can drop me off at—”

The door to the cabin flew open. A stallion in a crisp officer’s uniform bounded into the room. “My Lady! The Mirage is in front of the ship!”

Rarity blinked. “She is? Already?”

Autumn Blaze finally gave off something that might be considered emotion. It was little more than a tiny widening of the eyes. A less observant pony might have missed it. To Rarity, she may as well have been in a full on panic.

The room lit up a bright orange as something outright pierced the room, and Rarity was left momentarily blinded. She leapt to her hooves and backed away from the intense heat of… whatever that was. When the roaring sound faded and she was able to blink the world back into her vision, she discovered that the table between herself and Autumn had disappeared. In its place? A hole.

A hole that ran through both floor and ceiling.

The sound came again, distant and alarming, and suddenly the entire room shook. Rarity tumbled sideways, somehow managing not to bang her head against the wall. Her stomach tried to fill up the space in her throat, but couldn’t seem to squeeze through.

Falling. They were falling.

I don’t think I’ll be riding in another airship after this. She tried her best to ignore the little pony running in panicked circles around her head. Air whipped through the holes above and below. There was a sense of weight in her side, like something was trying to shove her, and she realized the whole airship had to be spinning. Trying to keep calm, she focused on the others.

Waxton lay in a heap in the corner, blood pooling from a nasty wound on his head. It looked like he’d slammed right into one of the ornamental globes. Autumn Blaze was holding on to a beam, eyes clenched tightly as her mane billowed in the rush of air all around. There was no sign of the officer, and she didn’t have time to look for him.

Think, Rarity, think! Ship going down. No time to escape. Spinning, oh Luna, so much spinning. When we land that’s going to jar something fierce. And if that happens… She took another close look at the room, seeking something, anything she might use for—there!

With effort, Rarity began to cross the room, letting the forces pin her to the wall as she crept her way to Autumn Blaze. It seemed to take an eternity, the winds threatening to hold her down or pull her in random directions. Gritting her teeth, she threw a shield across each of the two holes. Instantly, the wind died.

Wasting no time, she charged forward, grabbed Autumn, and dove into the tight confines beneath a desk against the back wall. She made sure Autumn was between her and that wall, hoping the lack of range to move would prevent them from being thrown about by the impact. She let the shields drop and clutched the mare close, eyes closed and teeth gritted. Autumn grasped right back, arms wrapped firmly around her waist.

The world was noise and wind and chaos. An eternal breath of wild abandon, the work of pony engineers foiled in a matter of seconds. Rarity thought of Ophelia, hidden somewhere in the ship’s stables, and prayed to whoever would listen that the dear lizard would make it out of this alright.

Why are so many ponies trying to kill me?

There came the sound of shrieking metal and shredding wood. Rarity and Autumn were slammed against the wall and the insides of the desk with painful force, and she thought she heard Autumn whimper. Maybe. Amidst all the explosive noise.

Everything became still. Still and quiet. Rarity remained in place for some time, breathing in slow gasps and taking note of the pains in her arms and legs. Nothing broken. She was alive. She blinked her eyes open, unable to see anything but Autumn’s shocking head of orange hair pressed against her chest. A few short gasps, a few swallows to moisten her throat. “Miss Blaze? Are you alright?”

The arms beneath her moved, rubbing gently against her sides. That was all the reassurance Rarity needed. Slowly, groaning, she let go and crawled out from under the desk.

Hiding under it had been the right move. The other side of the room was a solid thirty yards away, attached to the other half of the ship. Smoke rose into the starry sky, the crackle of fires coming from various directions. Wood and metal and bits of furniture littered the area.

And bodies.

Rarity stared at the nearest one. Waxton. Somehow, he’d landed not far from the edge of their part of the wreckage. He was lying face-down, deathly still. She had no desire to try and see what the parts that hit the ground looked like.

A shadow passed over. Rarity looked up to see a lone pegasus darting amongst the smoke. Orange coat, fiery red and yellow hair. A perfect match to a certain description. As the black clouds began to coalesce and blanket the area, she felt the fires begin to boil her blood. That… That selfish creature. Who was she to cause all this just for a stupid title Rarity didn’t even want?

She’d expected this to take place in the open. No casualties, no fuss, just two ponies and a few guns. This? This was unforgivable. She pulled out her weapons with a snarl and stalked through the smoke.

“Fine,” she hissed under her breath. “You want to be the best? Let’s see you earn it.”

Mirage watched with wide eyes as the airship dipped, then started spinning as the captain tried to regain control. Fires erupted all over the deck and ponies screamed as they were flung all over the place, holding on for dear life. Then the whole thing split in two, the keel below letting out a hideously loud cracking noise and the airbags above ripping away in the winds. She had waited until the ship was closer to the ground, but…

The bow-half crashed first, then the stern. A scan of the wreckage found many ponies pushing themselves up and others… Well. Most she could see were still breathing. She cursed her stupidity under her breath. So much for not killing anypony else. Maybe if she'd used a less powerful beam...

She gulped down her self-directed anger, reminding herself that this was the way out. That staying here was dangerous for everypony, not just herself. That… That… She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. "Stupid. Stupid. That stupid mare and that stupid mercenary! I could be gone by now and nothing... Nopony would be dead!"

Although the flares from the fire hurt her eyes a little while using her night vision goggles, she concentrated on the moving ponies. She didn't want to have to kill them so spells would have to do. She shot one, then another with a stun spell, watching them slump to the floor, then pushed them away from the fires with her telekinesis.

Thankfully, as far as she could see most of the ponies had survived, and she spent some time clearing the area with her telekinesis so that they would not be in the way of the wreckage as it burned. She could still spot a few moving bodies here and there, although most were doing their best to help other survivors.

This had been a stupid plan.

She spun in place, studying the pieces of ship that survived, but she couldn't see the pony she was chasing. Presumably the Bulletproof Heart should be around. Best not to take things for granted. If she was competent at all, she'd not let a good chance fly by, and Mirage wanted to make it home alive.

So, hovering in place, she slowly turned around while her horn cast a protective spell around herself. "I'm Desert Mirage! And nopony else here has to die for this Bulletproof Heart gunslinger of yours. Give me what I want, and I'll be on my way!"

After shouting that, she slowly flapped her wings so she could land on the deck of the stern-side wreckage and raised her arm to cover her snout. Now that she was closer to the fires, it was much hotter. The smoke made things worse, she could barely see past it.

She was just thinking about removing her goggles and casting some water and wind spells to clear the area when something cracked against her shield with enough force to make her flinch.

Rarity spotted the pegasus at last as she landed on the stern-side of the wreckage. She considered, if only for a moment, trying to talk her way through this. Then she realized that somewhere in that wreckage the blasted mare stood upon was a stable, and in that stable there might be a dead Ophelia. Grinding her teeth, she took aim with Ruby Heart. “I’ll give you what you want, all right,” she hissed, firing a lone shot.

The last thing she expected to see was a shield. Her .45 round pinged off it with a flash, and suddenly Rarity understood. The ship had been taken down by a magical beam. Several of them. And right now there was a bright aura glinting off that ‘pegasus’s’ forehead. Alarm and horror filled her as she leapt aside, falling behind a chunk of wreckage just as a teal beam zapped past her.

An alicorn. The Mirage was a Discord-be-damned alicorn! “Oh, you have to be joking.” She clutched her weapons close and took a few sharp breaths. “Okay, Rarity. You can do this.” Could she, though? This mare had just taken down an airship with a couple beams. What was to stop her from doing that right now? Realizing her cover was woefully inadequate, she jerked to her hooves and started to move.

The Mirage was still on top of the wreckage. Overconfident? Confused? The smoke was obscuring the view, but Rarity fired a few more shots from both weapons, just for the sake of cover, and made for the area with the most smoke. If she was having trouble seeing through it, perhaps her opponent would as well.

The Mirage gave her wings a mighty flap, the smoke swirling about as she dodged Rarity’s shots with what appeared to be enviable ease. She disappeared behind some iron slag just as Rarity slid to a stop next to her own bit of wreckage.

Now she faced all new problems. The acrid smoke filled her nostrils as she tried to get a good look at her opponent, but The Mirage seemed to have disappeared entirely. Not that Rarity bought such an idea. She began to move slowly, drifting from cover to cover, watching for any sign of movement. Aside from the crackling flames and the moans of the nearby crew, all was quiet. Rarity reloaded without looking, not wanting to face this mare without a full clip in Ruby Heart.

The smoke surged, and there was the Mirage! Rarity only got a glimpse, leaping to the side as bullets ripped through the air where she’d just been. By the time she tried to get a bead on the mare, she was gone.

So, that was her game. The Mirage, indeed. Why blast Rarity with a big spell when she was trying to earn a title as the world’s best gunslinger? At least now Rarity knew the mare wouldn’t try anything big. Yet. She wasn’t sure her stealth game was up to the task, especially when this mare seemed so skilled at it. That said, if it were her trying to get the jump on somepony—

She whipped around and aimed just as a body burst through the smoke. There was a flash of an amber face and fiery red hair before her shots rang out and the alicorn yelped, disappearing back into the darkness. No hits. At least, Rarity didn’t think so. Cursing, she decided to get out of this open area and find someplace more cramped. If the mare wanted to fight like that, then Rarity would cut down on her options for approach.

“You want the Bulletproof Heart? Come and get me!”

Mirage slid to a stop, back against an outcropping as she spied her target dashing into the wreckage. Smart. She had to hand it to this mare, she understood combat tactics. If she had stayed outside, she'd have to deal with Mirage attacking from different angles with almost no obstacles and moving faster than the earthbound mare could react. Plus she’d been able to anticipate Mirage’s flanking approach, which was damn impressive.

In her mind, there was no doubt that this had to be the Bulletproof Heart. No one else in this world so far had given her this hard of a time taking them down, and her current opponent was not only fast on her feet, but also one hell of a shot. She had already almost gotten her twice, and the last shot would have gone straight into her chest if not for a desperate, wing-assisted dodge and her armor deflecting it. She'd have had one nasty scar… for a few minutes anyway, assuming she was able to heal it. Her current body was resilient, but painful experience had taught her it was not really immortal.

She studied the situation, drawing parallels to her experience fighting in urban settings, and came to the conclusion that following her opponent straight through the same entry point was a bad idea.

The Bulletproof Heart had enough time for a variety of stunts, from simply waiting for her to step in to shoot her to possibly setting up a trap with explosives. Thankfully for Mirage, stepping right in or trying to shoot her from another angle weren't her only choices. Grinning, she pulled down her infrared glasses again, quickly spotting the silhouette of a person just around a bend, still and waiting behind that cover.

She didn't want to kill the mare, so she fished out one of her flash grenades, quickly planning in her mind. Toss in. Stun her, run in, knock her out. Ropes. Questioning later. Sounded legit.

Barely hiding a smirk, she flew down to land next to the point of entry, took out the grenade's pin, and let it cook for two seconds before tossing it in. She heard the grenade bounce once. Then it bounced again…

Two feet away from her. "Oh, come on!"

The flash was made much worse by the night vision glasses. She screamed as the light blinded her, ripping them off and throwing them to the side, but it was too late. She fought the pounding in her skull as she held her head in her hands, trying to stumble away from danger. A part of her told her that was a bad idea, but the burning glare and pain were too confusing.

She barely had the presence of mind to cast her shield again as she fell to her knees, forcing her brain to go through the barely-visible HUD to get the eyedrop item that would heal her eyes. She felt one, then two, then three impacts on her shield just as her browsing stopped on the right item.

The distraction cost her. The fourth shot flew where her shield should have been, leaving a burning sensation in her leg, while the fifth smashed against her shoulder guard, not piercing her but still hurting. Without looking, she dove to the side just as the sixth shot rang, missing her completely this time.

The Bulletproof Heart would not give her a second chance. She crushed the item in her hands, cursing in relief as vision quickly returned. She had no cover if her opponent ran out to finish her, so instead she reactivated her shield and flew up, turning in place, both guns out to shoot if the other mare made the mistake of running after her.

The cry was enough to know she’s scored a hit, and Rarity wasn’t one to let an opportunity go to waste. Readying her shield in case of ambush, she hurried out from around the corner of her little hallway and into the open, ready to— There was nopony around.

A few bullets pinged off her shield, prompting her to look up. She could easily make out the shape hovering up above and promptly opened fire. The Mirage danced in the air, shouting curses and struggling to avoid her shots. The mare kept returning fire, but Rarity had a lot of practice with shields, and none of those hits were near enough to bring hers down. Now if only the stupid pony would stop fluttering about!

Just as Rarity thought she had a bead on the Mirage’s movement patterns, she felt something odd. Her shield, specifically the magic holding it, was… twisting? The colors were going wild! She could see the mare’s horn burning bright through the smoke and redoubled her efforts. Whatever she was doing, she had to make sure that it was stopped.

Suddenly, Rarity felt something she could only think of as a static shock that rippled through her horn and into her skull. It didn’t hurt, but it was most certainly disorienting! She tumbled, last shot going wild, and realized with shock and horror that her shield was simply gone. “Oh, how is that even remotely fair?”

Then a bullet tore through her leg.

Crying out, Rarity threw herself backwards, landing hard on her rump as more bullets ripped up the area she'd just been in. This was bad, she was utterly defenseless! She turned around and attempted to dash back for the relative safety of the ship.

“Oh, no you don’t!”

Rarity let out a yelp as, with a loud beat of wings, a pair of arms wrapped under her shoulders and lifted her off the ground. Her first thought was to wonder why the Mirage hadn’t taken the easy shot while she’d had the opportunity. The second was that they were approaching the airship’s hull very quickly. Gritting her teeth, Rarity stuck her boots out and let them slam against the wall, fiery agony racing up the wounded leg. The Mirage kept ascending and pushing, forcing her to ‘run’ up the wall as they went.

If there was anything Rarity didn’t want to experience a second time, it was being carried into the sky like a sack of flour! To say nothing for the drop that would inevitably come after. Snarling, she tried to position her arms to get a shot over her shoulder, but the way she was being held prevented that option. No matter, Rarity still had a horn. It gleamed solid blue as a blast of energy shot out, hopefully aimed right at her opponent’s face.

The Mirage let out a curse and, just as they were above the hull of the ship, shoved Rarity away with so much force it sent her spinning through the air. Rarity cried out, tried to curl up, and slammed stomach-first into a rail on the other side of the deck. With a groan, she flopped onto her back, head banging against the wooden floor.

No time, no time, no time! She climbed to her hands and knees, shaking all over from the pain in her abdomen, and looked up. The Mirage was flying a lazy circle around the deck, coming around for a presumed attack. Using the rail for leverage, Rarity managed to get up to one knee, then removed the empty cylinder of Silver Lining. “Alright,” she wheezed through her teeth, carefully selecting the extra cylinder pre-loaded with magic bullets. She made absolutely sure to know which one was going to fire next. “This needs to end now.”

The Mirage was moving in fast. Rarity’s knees wobbled, but she managed to stand. Her shield came back up in time to block a few more bullets. Rarity took aim just as the alicorn was preparing a spell.

The bullet that emerged left behind a brilliant flash of light, a long line that illuminated the night sky like a beacon. The Mirage dodged, but the damage was done; she swerved, hands to her eyes and losing altitude in her disorientation. Rarity switched to Ruby Heart and started firing, hitting only shield. The alicorn was barreling right at her, unable to see where she was going.

Rarity made no attempt to move out of the way.

The Mirage slammed into her at speed, and the two tumbled together over the side of the airship. Rarity kicked and snarled and clawed, making damn sure those wings couldn’t do more than beat at her body. The two struck the ground hard, but it was Rarity who was on top. She’d lost her weapons, but so too had her opponent. Now all she needed was an effective grapple and then—

A booted leg struck Rarity in the chest so hard she was knocked into the air, landing with a gasp on her back. She tried to stand, stunned by the lack of air in her lungs. How had the mare taken that fall and still come out with so much strength? She was on her knees, trying to work up the drive to make another charge, when she was blasted right in the heart by a teal beam. Once again, she flew back, this time landing hard on her face.

The heart. They always went for the heart. Rarity lay there, breathing hard and aching all over, but very much alive. “Th-thanks again, Coco,” she muttered. She slowly lifted her head and saw, to her amazement, both her weapons just a few feet away. Her ears twitched to the sound of approaching boots, which spurred her into sluggish action, crawling on hands and knees for the guns.

“Holy cow. How the hell are you still conscious?”

Ignoring the query, Rarity redoubled her efforts. Her hands grasped the weapons… just as a gun was pressed against the back of her head. She froze, heart thundering, hands gripping both guns tight.

“Come on, raise it up where I can see it.”

She wasn’t going to shoot? She had Rarity dead if she’d just pull the trigger. Also, ‘it?’ In that case…

“Don’t make me do it. Please.”

Slowly, so very slowly, Rarity raised Silver Lining. She made sure the mare could see it clearly.

“Good. Now drop it.”

She did. And as it fell, she twisted her left arm behind her back and pulled Ruby Heart’s trigger.

The Mirage screamed, and Rarity leapt to her feet in an instant. She spun, aimed… and froze as a gun barrel was pointed between her eyes. That wasn’t what caught her attention, however.

“Sunset Shimmer?”

“Rarity?”

Neither Mirage nor Bulletproof are amateurs when it comes to gunfights, and the important thing was to make sure that we emphasized their style and strengths. Mirage isn't always an alicorn, but she is a gamer, so it makes sense that she'll adjust quickly to the 'bonuses' her wings and horn give her, so she merged them into her hit-and-run (fly) tactics, while Bulletproof is fearless but calculating… and she has her favorite toss-the-grenade-back trick aside from sheer, forceful experience.

Without the alicorn thing, this would have been a much closer fight, with Rarity ultimately coming on top, the moment Mirage made a single mistake (like throwing the flash grenade). I like to consider how the less she knows affects her chances of winning, and it makes a good parallel to Gunsmoke where accurate information on her enemies is what informs Mirage's tactics.

— Wanderer D

On another topic: magic bullets. This may make some fans of BPH pause, because they never made an appearance in the stories currently published. But they are a thing, one that I had been planning from the start, Rarity simply never got access to or went up against them. I thought this story would be a fun way to introduce them, but if/when I write more BPH stories they will make an appearance in them.

Also: hey! I thought this was already fairly close, thank you very much.