Epilogue.
"Wake me up when this insanity is done."

Eclipse, that cruel earth pony with no compassion towards alicorns. Her time was coming. Mistress Tail Blade reluctantly allowed me to go after her, so long as her death could not be traced back by an inquisitive pony. Luckily for me that was just what I planned.

I had it all planned out to the second. Her routine was quite simple to figure out once you sat down long enough and watched. She'd wake up in the morning, stretch, workout, eat something and head off to the others. After that she did whatever it was Steel Rangers did for the day before she came home and read a faded Daring Do book for a couple hours. Eclipse would then fall asleep after that.

That was when I made my move. After five days of sitting still and watching her through a scope I had procured from a pony that didn’t need it anymore, I left my perch from the nearby building. My muscles ached and protested, the insides feeling like they were pulling back to my original position. Yet I pushed on and quietly made my way down the broken rubble pile. My stone colored cloth was still wrapped around me like a nice cloak which kept my wings covered. The rubble beneath my hooves threatened to give way, so I took flight with a flap of my wings.

I landed on the street after a short flight and darted over to a mailbox, crouching as low as I could. The night sky was as bright as ever with the full moon, which gave me a nice clear view without any aids. All was quiet except for my breathing and the thundering coming from my chest. My extremely heavy bags were prepped for the mission close to my heart and the drive that kept me going through Oakwood until Dead Hoof crushed it. But I was given a second chance at it and I was not going to waste or fuck up in any way. It had to go as I planned or all would be lost.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I peered over the mailbox at the building Eclipse slept in. It was a simple brick building built by the hardy race known as earth ponies. Where the others around it failed and crumbled partially or in whole, it stood the test of time. Laughter, music, and light spilled forth from the bottom floor and I could see ponies of all color moving inside. Luckily, I did not plan on kicking in the front door and claiming I was there to kick everypony’s flank. My plan was much more simple.

“Nice night for a walk,” said a nearby voice, forcing me to stop and look before I prepared to take flight. Leaning against an ancient light post was a familiar unicorn. Moonlight reflected off her sparkling coat where it could be seen, which was only her face. She wore a form fitting suit hide her features much like me. Lilium even wore an old trench coat over the suit with a top hat, well, topping it off. “I used to do this too.” she said as a revolver encased in green magic floated out from her coat. She stared at the cylinder for a second, her eyes darting to each bullet, before giving it a spin and snapping it shut.

“Now’s not the time,” I told myself. “We can have a mirror conversation later.”

She shrugged and looked up at the moon, I followed her gaze and saw a large cloud bank steadily moving in. “It’s not the same you know.”

“I know,” I nodded.

“Who cares if you get caught shooting a pony out here, right? The worst that’ll happen is a firefight and even more bodies. Though that body count will add up and one day, you’ll be looking back with regret. I know because I did.”

“I can’t wash my hooves any more than I have, so I’ve stopped caring about it.”

Lilium pointed a hoof towards the moon and smiled. “But what if you could wash away your past deeds like the coming rain?”

“I’ll still be who I am. Nothing can change or take away what I’ve done to past ponies. It will stick with me until I go to the grave. Wishing for redemption is a pipedream that will never come to fruitrition.”

“Then take this and have a good night.” Lilium tipped her hat with magic before tossing the revolver towards me. I instinctively reached out with my own magic and caught it. It felt heavy, loaded and, most of all, real. Pulling it close revealed that the weapon was an actual single action revolver with fancy designs on the body. I flipped the weapon over and saw an inscription on the barrel that read ‘Even a heartless monster can be redeemed if given the chance. All it takes is for one pony to care’. Opening the revolver’s cylinder and checking the bullets showed me that it was full and each one had a small inscription on their casings; Hope, Decency, Compassion, Forgiveness, Charm, and Morality.

Looking up revealed Lilium to have gone, but her coat’s hem betrayed her as she galloped around the corner. Eclipse forgotten for the moment, I broke into a gallop as I slipped the pistol into my already full bags. I barreled around the building and headed down the alleyway. Lilium was already far ahead, despite her age which was old. She slipped away again, so I took flight and flew after her as quick as I could, ignoring the buildings around us or even if anypony was watching. A strange whirring noise filled the air as I closed the gap on the corner.

The vision was familiar and I found my mind wandering back towards the time with Sister on the Cloudchaser. There too, I chased a vision of myself, yet that vision did not toss me a loaded weapon that was quite real! As I flew around the corner, I folded my wings and slid to a stop along the ground as I kicked up a small cloud of dust.

The night air was strangely quiet except for the thundering of my heart and my heavy breathing. My gaze went left, right, up, down, everywhere, but Lilium had vanished. Only yards away was a brick wall where the not a vision Lilium had to have run into. I saw her head down the path, yet she was not there!

A quick check of the nearby dumpster with my light spell revealed it to be empty, and the wooden boxes were far too small for her to have vanished inside of. The revolver she had given me was brought out and I checked it over, and over, to make sure it was still the same, it was. Nothing made sense. No vision I interacted with ever gave me a physical object that I could touch, feel and taste. Though it tasted like a freshly oiled revolver.

A check of the revolver against the other one in my bags revealed them to be different weapons entirely. For one, the shape was off as Lilium’s revolver had an intricate design on it. Another was that the barrel on Lilium’s revolver was a couple inches longer with a flip up iron sight. I frowned as I put it away and flew back towards Eclipse’s building.

The burning question on my mind was a simple one: How the hell did that happen? Am I still back in that fake world?!

I stopped above Eclipse’s building and looked around. The buildings and night sky around me looked as real as my hoof. My hooves felt like they were on a rooftop, the air felt cool and my feathers felt real. A shake of my head cleared the stupid thoughts from my skull. I still had those strange metal disks in my body. A light touch of my hoof confirmed it, so what happened really happened to me. Somehow, my old self managed to appear in the flesh and disappear just as quickly. Which was something to look into, but not at this time.

Ignoring further ramblings and thoughts, I dashed towards the rooftop edge and jumped off. I spun around in the air, slowly shutting my eyes as I unfolded my wings and hovered in place. I could feel a slight electrical tingle in the crisp night air flowing through my feathers, which was not odd to me due to the coming storm. The sensation felt like the one you’d get when lightning was about to strike. My mission had been side tracked, but not for long. I chose then to expedite what I had planned and tossed caution to the wind. So, with a deep breath, I brought up my shield and charged at Eclipse’s window. The glass shattered as the shield went clean through and I dropped it.

That was a mistake. My hind legs caught on the opening as I felt my stomach lurch and, with a yelp of surprise, my face met the hard unforgiving ground of Eclipse’s bedroom.

“Who’s th-fuck!” the aforementioned earth pony shouted in complete surprise, having noticed me as I pushed myself to my hooves and withdrew the 105mm artillery shell with magic. She looked at me, the door, the shell, and bolted for the door.

The shell whirled around in my magic and I released it, letting the momentum fling the high-explosive shell across the room for me. Eclipse’s side was slammed by the impromptu club and the mare was shoved into the wall by the weight as a loud snap filled the room. The heavy object slammed into the ground and slowly rolled to the side as I strutted over to her with my head held high.

“Been a while,” I said quietly, using my mouth to speak as she did not deserve a more elegant method of communication. “And I see you still recognize me.”

She sat there panting while holding a hoof to her side. “You broke my fucking ribs!”

My magic gripped the handle of my 10mm pistol as I drew the weapon and pointed it at Eclipse. Another object floated out and I turned on the audio recorder as her gaze went to it. “Now then, let’s start from the beginning. Hello, your name is…?”

“Star Paladin Eclipse,” she grumbled through her teeth, her eyes glaring a bright fire at me. “Or, I was anyway. They demoted me to Knight.”

“Good.” I nodded. “Do you know why I am here?”

“To kill me probably. That’s why you’ve got that pistol aimed at me isn’t it?” She sat down and continued to hold her side as I pulled out a knife.

“Correct. I had a plan, but I had to change it to unforeseen circumstances. So now we are doing a new plan.”

Eclipse rolled her eyes as she muttered something under her breath about a crazy alicorn. Then shook her head and yawned. “If you’re going to kill me. Please shoot me now and spare me the theatrics. Your entrance was terrible by the way.”

The knife moved closer to her flesh and pressed down, drawing a bit of crimson liquid. “Yes, yes it was. Just a question, but did you hear a strange whirring sound earlier? Like this?” I tried to replicate it, but mostly failed at it.

Eclipse facehoofed. “Just kill me now and save me the stupidity!” she shouted. Then shook her head while muttering, “why? Celestia, what did I do to deserve this stupid alicorn?”

“I’m not stupid. I was just asking a simple question! Now pay attention.” Slowly, the knife moved down her foreleg as it peeled the top layer of her skin off.

Her eyes widened as she yelled in pain. “Aah! What the fuck?! Stop that hurts!”

“It’s supposed to hurt.” I nodded. “That’s why it’s called torture.”

“I ended her suffering!” Eclipse shouted, causing me to stop skinning her foreleg. I tilted my head and blinked as I opened and closed my mouth to try coming up with a reply. “She asked me, begged me, to kill her. She was in pain from the fight.”

“Radiation would have healed her!” I shouted as my eyes narrowed towards the teal mare. “Alicorns. Heal. From radiation! You killed her like some kill happy crazy mare!”

“Just stop and think for one second. Who actually killed her? Me? Or the pony that put her in that position?”

“Don’t try to guilt trip me!” The knife was shoved through Eclipse’s leg and into the wall. “Don’t you dare try to say I killed her. Your pathetic device was sucking the magic from her in a failed attempt to capture me.” Eclipse attempted to pull the knife out with her hoof, which it came free quite easily, and stared at it. The pistol was floated up and pressed against the side of her skull. “You know what?” I asked as she glanced at me with her eyes, a look of fear and horror crossed her face. “We’re done with this conversation.”

Tension slowly built up in the trigger as I pressed on it with magic.