“Commander, I found some!” A voice called out from ahead.

‘Who’s the Commander?’ Manifest thought in confusion.

Manifest looked around wildly, his head inhibited by the clothing and the mask that he wore. He was looking through the heavy lenses of a gas mask; dust had collected on them and inhibited his vision. It was dark, and snow and ash fell from the sky in equal measures. A thick cloud of concrete dust hung in the air, obstructing his vision. The only thing that helped him to see was a beam of light that pointed to where he looked. ‘I have a light on my head,’ Manifest remembered.

He had never been here before, but he knew it all. On his right flank there was a portable radio, on his left small cannon of sorts. He had never seen one like it, but at the same time it felt familiar. The voice, that was the other pony. Manifest looked ahead, but couldn’t see him in the gloom. He began to trot forward, his pace quick with urgency. In the gloom ahead he saw the pony. He remembered this; in a second the pony would speak.

“It isn’t pretty commander,” The pony pointed to a pile of rubble in front of him. Manifest couldn’t see over it. He couldn’t remember what was behind it. He trotted faster. He had to know.

With a howl the wind began to pick up, Manifest began to run, trying to close the distance to this other pony and the rubble he pointed to, but they seemed to be getting farther away. They disappeared into the dust, the wind blowing harder. Manifest stopped running and threw himself onto the ground, covering his head to shield himself.

The wind died down, and Manifest looked up. He was in a field, the starry blue sky stretching out above him, and the land bathed in the glow from Luna’s moon. Ahead of him he saw a forest, the trees stretching off to impossible heights. In the forest he could see a silhouette of a tall unicorn, with eyes that shown pure white, looking right at him.

Quickly he looked down at himself, all of the equipment that he had earlier was gone. Even the brown dye that he was so used to was stripped from him. He was Static Sparks again. The silhouette in the woods began to move toward him. “Nonononono” Sparks muttered, looking for his rifle, or the cannon, or something that he could defend himself with. There was nothing, and the unicorn was coming closer.

He scrambled to his hooves and began to run away as fast as his legs could carry him. Ahead of him were more woods, which he ran into quickly. He kept running, occasionally glancing over his shoulder to see if he could see the unicorn. He couldn’t, not anymore. He slowed down, trying to catch his breath.

“Hey.” Sparks spun quickly to face the voice. It was a brown unicorn, carrying a rifle, a number stamped on his flank. Sparks turned to run, but the unicorn spoke. “Stop, it’s me.” Sparks looked at the unicorn again, and saw his eyes staring back at him. It was Manifest Destiny.

“No, this can’t be happening, that can’t be me. I’m me!” he looked around for a second, and the pieces fell into place. “I’m dreaming.” Sparks realized. “I’ve got to wake up.” Hurriedly he slapped his left leg with his right hoof, and then winced in pain. He opened his eyes back up. He was still in the woods, Manifest Destiny standing before him. “You can’t be here, I’m Manifest Destiny,” Sparks said to the pony. The unicorn in front of him shook his head.

“Manifest Destiny and Static Sparks are two different ponies. The Artist said it himself, I was born in the dye baths, and when the war is over you’ll leave me there. You’ve been waiting there this whole time for the day that you can get back to your life.” Sparks tried to comprehend what Manifest was telling him. In a strange way it made sense, they were supposed to be different, that was how Cold Blooded operated. Suddenly Manifest’s face hardened.

“Sparks get down, now!” Manifest ordered, his voice barely louder than a whisper. Sparks immediately hit the ground, Manifest running and propping himself up against a nearby tree. Sparks watched as Manifest unslung his rifle and loaded it quickly. Manifest glanced over, and then pointed into the woods. Sparks followed his hoof. In the distance he could see the tall unicorn, trotting through the woods toward him. Something seemed different about this unicorn, but Sparks couldn’t put a hoof on it.

Manifest raised his rifle slowly, aiming at the approaching unicorn. The unicorn wasn’t charging, wasn’t doing anything other than walking.

“BOMF!” before the bullet could hit home the unicorn vanished with a crack. The flash of the rifle illuminated the woods, and when the flash ended the woods were darker. Manifest threw the bolt open and closed, aiming back into the woods.

Sparks could hear noises in the woods now, the thuds of hoofbeats, and low chatter coming from up ahead. They weren’t there just a few seconds ago. Manifest snapped the rifle up again. “Stay down” he whispered to Sparks. The two ponies stayed absolutely still, Manifest’s ears twitching as he tried to hear the unicorns ahead. Slowly his hoof tensed up upon the trigger.

“BOMF!” the woods flashed again, and in the flash Sparks could see the shadows of unicorns along the trees. Manifest rechambered the rifle and fired again. “BOMF!”

“Enemy to the front, charge!”

“BOMF!” Manifest rechambered. “BOMF!” Again. “BOMF!” In the flashes of the rifle, Sparks could see only the shadows of the unicorns, their actual bodies obscured in the foliage. “BOMF!” He saw one of the shadows arch its back and writhe, then it was dark again. “BOMF!” this time there were only a couple shadows dancing among the trees. Two unicorns ran into Sparks view, only a few dozen yards away. “BOMF!” one of the ponies fell down. The last one skidded to a halt, and began to turn to run away. Manifest operated the bolt.

“NO! STOP!” Sparks yelled out. Manifest fired. With a heavy burst of red the unicorn shuddered, then fell lifelessly to the ground. Sparks looked at the body, then to Manifest, who opened the bolt and began to reload. “You killed him. He was running away, and you shot him in the back,” Sparks said in horror. Manifest closed and locked the bolt and trotted over to Sparks. He held the rifle towards him stock first, and Sparks took it subconsciously, still in shock at what Manifest did.

Manifest looked at him, a hint of sadness in his eyes. “You and me, we’re in this together. I didn’t do it alone.” Sparks eyes widened at the realization. “You killed him too.” Manifest said. And then with a flash of light he vanished, leaving Sparks alone in the woods with nothing but a rifle and bodies.

As Sparks looked around though he saw that there weren’t any bodies, they had all vanished just like Manifest did. He reared up on his rearhooves and tried to hold the rifle steady, but without support it shook wildly. “wakeupwakeupwakeup!” he pleaded to himself, but he stayed there in the woods. Then he saw it.

It was the unicorn again, staring at him from around fifty yards out. Quickly he snapped the rifle up to bear, aligning the unicorn in his sights. Suddenly the unicorn sprouted a set of large wings, holding them open so that he could see. Sparks immediately lowered the rifle. Wings and a horn could only mean a princess, so…

“Princess Luna!?” he called out in surprise. The figure leapt up and flew closer, revealing itself to indeed be her. “I thought that you we’re a Unicornian!” Sparks said, forgetting his manners.

“You were mistaken, but I hope not disappointed,” the princess replied cordially. Sparks suddenly remembered who he was talking to, and immediately bowed down before her. The princess waited until he got back up.

“I’m not disappointed princess, but what are you doing here? Wait, how are you here? This is just a dream!”

The princess smiled warmly at him. “I am the princess of the night; therefore it is my duty to come into your dreams. I am here to help to keep the nightmares away, and give my subjects a peaceful slumber.”

Sparks cocked his head to one side. “Wait; are you in my dream only, or in everyponies?”

“I am there for everypony who needs my help,” Luna replied. She shifted uncomfortably, “Lately, there have been more
ponies who need my assistance.”

“Because of the war?” Sparks asked. Luna nodded. For a moment Sparks contemplated what she said. “I am there for everypony who needs my help.” ‘The princesses have more power than I thought,’ Sparks thought in awe. ‘If she can be in everypony’s dreams at once...’ He kept thinking, the princess waiting for him to gather his thoughts and respond. ‘She can’t be all powerful, because then she would have been able to stop this nightmare from happening.’

Sparks tried to think about how to phrase his next question. “Princess Luna, how come you weren’t able to stop my nightmare?”

“It is difficult when you try to prevent me from ending it; it was your mind that conjured the soldier to fight me. When I left, your nightmare was free to take hold again, and I regret that I wasn’t able to end it sooner.” She sat down. “Perhaps it was better that I didn’t, your mind attempts to make sense of what has happened to you through your dreams. Tell me Static Sparks, What happened in your dream?”

“I saw me, the soldier was me. Do you understand the Calvary? How they tell us that we will be different ponies until the end of the war, and then we can be ourselves again?” the princess nodded. “That was my different self. In the Calvary I’m called Manifest Destiny, and that was me, no, him.” Sparks shook his head, the line between who he was and wasn’t was beginning to blur. “When he saw you he shot at you, and then a squad of Unicornians showed up, and he shot them.” Sparks paused. “The last one tried to run away, and he shot him in the back. I asked him why he killed the last one, and he said that we’re in this together. He said that I killed him too.”

The princess sat patiently, listening. “What is it that you are afraid of Static Sparks?” Sparks sat there, and sighed, he looked at the ground.

“I’m afraid of dying, I’m afraid of not knowing who I’m supposed to be,” he thought about it for a second. “I think that I’m afraid that I might become somepony else, I might become Manifest Destiny.” He paused “I, no, Manifest Destiny did that at the battle of the Galloping Gorge, he killed the last one as he ran away. I’m afraid that I might become him, and that isn’t somepony that I want to be.” He glanced over at his flank, still bare, without a destiny. “I’m afraid that I’m supposed to be somepony that I don’t want to be.” He looked up at Luna, hoping for an answer.

“It seems that your mind is trying to tell you that you and Manifest Destiny are separate, but are also one. What you do as him, you’ll have to live with.” She trotted up to him, and placed a hoof on his shoulder, looking down upon him. “Static Sparks, remember his name, Manifest Destiny. You can choose who you are, and you can choose who he is as well. Don’t choose something that you’ll regret.”

Sparks looked up at the princess. “Thank you.” The princess smiled.

“I must leave now, Static Sparks.” Luna spread he wings and took off, flying into the canopy. The wind began to pick up, and in a flash of realization Sparks remembered the dream from earlier.

“PRINCESS! WAIT!” She flew out of sight, and then everything turned to black.