"Attention all Pilots, this is your commanding officer Vice Admiral Graves, please standby from your employer Mr. Hammond."

I twisted in the chassis of my Atlas, I snorted a bit as a brief flash of a bulkhead and vision of space blurred across my closed eyes.

"All loyal members of the IMC, I have been informed of the recent lose of our air support responsible for the security over Demeter. Rest assured I am presently fueling reinforcements to be dispatched from the core systems for the long jump to the Frontier. You will hold the port of Demeter this day. You will crush the terrorists last ditch attempt at disrupting our civilization and you will find yourselves relieved and reward, tomorrow. Vice Admiral Graves, our world is in your hands."

Shaking my head slightly I let out a weak groan, my hands twitching just enough to rouse the sleeping mare above me into moving around a bit, trying to get comfortable again to return to her sleep.

"Standby, Approaching Shock Layer."

My body jerks a bit as it goes through the same thing it went through as I fell from the sky in the pod, the movement was enough to cause Blossom to yawn from her sleep before looking down at me and she saw that I was sweating profusely and was shaking badly.

"Militia is fifty percent of the way to overloading the reactor core. Pilots, your vaporization is inevitable should you fail to maintain of the hardpoints."

Twitching my hands in the fashion of me squeezing the trigger on my Spitfire but in reality I am just squeezing on a bit of Blossom's body fat, the bat mare squeaking a bit at the pain but does nothing as she starts to shake me, trying to get me to wake up.

"Man down! Man down! We need a medi-evac on our location, IMC Pilot Rundall Copenhagen is W.I.A. and needs emergency medical attention!"

My grip changed to one of holding the man's hand, his dying breath was to make sure the bastard that lit him up to be blown all to hell, and when I turned to look at the deceased Militia Pilot that I had torn in half with a hail of gunfire I told him that it was already taken care of.

"Vice Admiral Graves, MacAllan has destabilized the core, shutting down the reactor now will cause a reverse-pulse detonation will result in the destruction of Demeter, the situation is untenable."

Pressing myself close to my Atlas I also inadvertently press myself against Blossom who at this rate is now agitated that I am doing this and went from shaking me awake to slapping me awake with her hooves.

"Negative, Command Override, All Evacuation Dropships, cancelled."

Just as soon as I watched the entire fleet in orbit hit their jumps and disappear from sight I felt a painful stinging sensation on my cheek as I am forced awake and am greeted with the sight of those beautiful golden eyes with the look of anger and worry on her face.

"It's about time you woke up! I have been trying to get your fat flank up for the past five minutes!" Blossom said, her hooves still holding onto my head as my face is all squished together and with my hands I removed them from my head and set them onto my chest.

"I am alright, jeeze girl you are worse then my whore of a mother when it comes to concern for my wellbeing." I said while pressing down on a button opening up the Atlas hatch and as soon as we both felt the sun shine down onto us and we felt the warmth being brought we both let out a groan as the sun made us wake up more then we already were at.

"So...got any coffee?" Blossom asked as I shrugged and fell out of the Atlas, landing on my feet before stumbling around a bit from being tired from going through another reoccurring nightmare.

Bumbling to the Cargo Atlas that was deactivated by the mountainside, and when I popped open my package crate I poked around, looking for what I needed.

"Let's see what do I have here, ammo, ammo, rockets, ammo, more rockets, a fifteen inch black rubber cock...wow whoever operated this thing must have had her kinks a priority. Hmmm...more ammo, another rocket clip, ah ha! Here we go, genuine black coffee beans and a grinder but no coffee pot or boiler...got any ideas on how to make this?" I said as I threw the black dildo over my shoulder and pulled out the silver cylinder and stepped back from the crate as it closed itself, I turned back to see Blossom holding the dildo in her hooves with a red blush on her face and I just had to laugh at her expression.

It was during my laughing did I fail to see the evil grin on her face and when I opened my eyes while in mid laugh she shoves the fake phallus into my mouth and my eyes shot open in shock and surprise as she took her turn to laugh her ass off.

In my defense I sorta had this coming but come on, really. Yanking the rubber dong out of my mouth I started to spit and lick my arm to get the taste of rubber while glaring at the laughing bat pony who was now on the floor rolling around.

Glaring at Blossom I held the fake cock in my hand and with a grin of my own I lunged on top of the mare and when she realized what I was doing I shoved the fake schlong into her mouth before leaping off of her and ran off to my Atlas and climbed and closed the hatch just in time to hear the sounds of a body bouncing off the outer hull.

"Get out of that shell you motherbucker! Face your punishment like a stallion!"

I opened the hatch just a bit just enough to see her flying right outside shaking her hoof at me as I laughed a bit before and closed the door in her face.

"No! Your just going to hit me with that fake cock! And I am not a stallion I am a man!" I said before opening my hatch to stare at Blossom flying there with the rubber dong in her hooves.

"Then take your punishment like a man!" Blossom said as I opened the hatch and gave her a middle finger before slowly closing it.

"Hell no!" I shouted again before closing the hatch again but this time there was a sound of something bouncing off the hull and I could phantom a guess that it was the black dildo.

I waited a good ten minutes before popping open the hatch and when I did I was immediately assaulted by a large black object and I knew that it was the dildo that Blossom was holding with her hooves, and the funny thing was that as soon as I opened the hatch she was sitting there waiting for me and made the toss.

I stood there hunched over with the dildo resting on the top part of the lower hatch, just wobbling there before stopping and I had a blank expression on my face while Blossom was laughing her ass off.

"Ha ha very funny, you got me. Now can we just get some coffee before I pop a blood vessel." I said as I kicked the black schlong off my Atlas and jumped down and landed next to Blossom and before she knew what was going on I reached under her armpits on her forelegs and hoisted her up and carried her over the black coffee bean canister and picked it up with my other hand.

Looking the canister over in my left hand I wondered how exactly we are going to go about doing this coffee making, and that was when Blossom and I came upon an idea.

"Steal a coffee pot from the ponies!" "Ask the Element of Laughter if we can borrow a coffee pot!" You can guess who said what.

"I can't believe you even said that."

"Oh get off my back Blossom, it was just an idea."

"Yea, an idea that just so happens to be illegal."

"But it was an idea!"

"An illegal one."

"Your no fun."

"Yea I know, but I am here to keep you out of trouble not lead you into it."

With a sigh and a roll of my eyes I let the bat pony down and with a flick of my wrist my Atlas came over to me and picked me up and put me back inside and that was followed by the main gate opening up with the assistance of an Ogre, the lumbering giant turning the wench and as soon as the bat pony and myself were outside the machine turned it back and closed the gate.

"So...to that pony town for the coffee pot and not steal it?"

"Yes, and for Celestia's sake please don't do anything stupid to make it worse for yourself." Blossom rolled her eyes as she tapped the side my Atlas, making sure I was listening to her.

"Oh please, what could I possibly do to make it worse?" I said with a bit of a chuckle but of course captain killjoy had to make an appearance. All I saw was a flat face and I had to rub the back of my Atlas to get the point across.

"Right, sorry, stupid question." in truth I pretty much did say a stupid question.

Three Hours Later

"So Blossom, these ponies, you said they are all herbivores correct?"

"Yup for the most part, earth ponies and unicorns are strictly herbivores while pegasi have been known to eat seafood like shrimps or fish. Bat ponies can eat meat but only a small amount, like a steak or something similar."

"And they are easily scared by things they don't know of, haven't seen before, are predators, lives in the Everfree Forest, things bigger then them and also pretty much anything that is unknown to them."

"Uh huh, especially the ponies in Ponyville since they right next to the cursed forest in the first place."

"And Celestia expects me to be able to interact with her people when they are going to run away screaming their heads off instead of calmly coming over and have a conversation with me?"

"Yea...you know I didn't expect it to be easy to begin with since they are still afraid of Princess Luna since she came back and they are still afraid of us bat ponies. Just because we look different doesn't mean we are a menace to society."

"Eh, your not really a menace and besides you bat ponies sure as hell look more fluffy and fuzzy then your normal counterparts. That and I bet you make a funny noise when you get squeezed cause the rainbow headed pegasus made one when I picked her off my head a few days ago."

The two of us were sitting next to a river that was near my base of operations, I was throwing stones into the river to help pass the time since I have television to watch and no internet connection to watch any videos and all of the movies I have in my helmet are rather to gory for a pony to watch or way to raunchy.

"Thanks for that compliment, normally almost all the ponies that us thestrals meet are scared stiff and don't move a muscle until we leave or they run away with their tails between their legs."

"Well it seems like those ponies need to grow a spine. If what you told me is true then Equestria, a country of herbivores, is surrounded by predators with an exception to the north since its a frozen wasteland and across the ocean to the east cause that place is full of ponies. And seeing how your surrounded by predators that are bigger then you by twice or three times your size and eat meat as their main dietary needs I am somewhat surprised that no one bothered to attack this place yet."

Scratching my neck I grab another stone and proceeded to try and skip the stone across the water but all it did was sink like a boulder in an ocean.

"This assignment is gonna suck. I mean come on, does she really expect me to just you know...adapt to this place and not act like a complete asshole when it is called for? I know that your princess wants to know 'more' about my 'people' but does she really expect me to just get up and change myself for her ponies?"

"I am not Celestia but I think I can answer that question for you." and in her best Celestia impersonation she rose to her full height and tried in vain to act like royalty, "Yes."

We looked at each other for a good two seconds before bursting out in laughter, I was busy bending over, my back facing the river as Blossom was rolling on the soft grass trying to hold her sides.

It was during this laughter that things went a bit off course. I was busy laughing and when it started to get to the point of it being kind of creepy I started to lean back to control myself but I was leaning to far back and when I started to fall over the river Blossom saw my decent and managed to catch me but the position we were in is a bit...odd.

I was hanging over the river, my back facing the water and my legs just barely staying on dry land, Blossom was digging into the grassy dirt with her hooves and was beating her wings and she was biting me in order to keep me from falling in the water. The exact location of where she was biting was my groin area, she was biting onto the metal codpiece and she was snorting in exertion and when she finally managed to pull me up and I was standing on my own power Blossom let me go but when she saw where her head was located and that her mouth was there it all went down hill from there.

Everfree Forest, Cave

Time: 9:38:56 PM

Sitting down in the wooden chair I let out a sigh of relief as I hear the news that getting kicked in the balls with an armored hoof did not crush or destroy my balls but she has managed to leave a sizeable hoof-shaped dent on my codpiece, something I thought that would be impossible but after seeing it happen firsthand I am now a firm believer that anything can happen here in ponyland.

It took me the greater part of three hours trying to convince her that it wasn't her fault, she was just trying to help me and that she did a good job, but said good job was ruined when she freaking mule kicked me into the river so that would qualify as a mission failure but at least she tried. In the end I resolved the situation by picking her up and letting her rest on my lap, her head currently on my thigh as my left hand slowly sifted through her mane, effectively petting her and earning myself brownie points with her.

"So....Blossom....I have something to ask you...." I said at first with confidence but as I thought of what I was going to ask her I started to falter in my speech until it was slightly unhearable at the end.

Tilting her head up to look at me she at first thought I was gonna ask her on a date or something embarrassing but when she saw my down casted gaze and that my petting was slowing down to the point of it being nonexistent.

"What is it big guy? Something on your mind?" she said with a bit of confusion written on her face, how she can know what I am feeling at the moment is slightly confusing me but at this point I could care less what confuses me and what scares me.

"Blossom....am I a monster?" I said with a bit of hesitation, clearly wanting to know what my only friend thinks of me.

"You. A monster? Well not really a monster, more like a jerkass but why the sudden question on who you are?" tilting her head to the side I just let my hands going to my helmet as I took it off and just threw it to the side, not caring about it for the time being as I let my hands drop into my lap as I let out a long and deep sigh.

"Blossom...we are both soldiers in our own way, we both have our failures and successes but that is where it ends. You protect the innocent from what goes bump in the night and you do it under a royal banner that cares for all of her citizens, but for me, I...I did things that would give me an execution if it was back in the Core Worlds. I fought for a private company that abused both the citizens out in the frontier and the planets they inhabited, the IMC destroyed the surface of so many planets that left it a crumbling stink hole all for fuel and the energy to power the Titans. The IMC said that they had the future of humanity at their forefront and cared for our future but it was all for money and power back in the Sol. System...I should have saw through their lies but I needed the money and I needed to find a job that I could keep an eye on my younger brother."

"I joined the IMC when I was only sixteen, I had to lie about my age and when they put me through the ringer to be trained as a security guard for a low-level office complex and when the Frontier Militia started to up the ante and firebombed the building I was in, I ended up shooting and killing three of the eight and was given a raise and a choice. To join the IMC Marine Corps or to take the risk of dying and become a Pilot, I choose the deadlier of the two. For three years I was stripped down, broken, beaten, drilled and trained until I was reborn as a weapon of destruction and death, to be directed and ordered to kill by my superior officer. My first mission was out on a planet called Perugia VII, there was a Militia outpost there and it was concealed within a small colony that had just finished setting up their Dog Whistle Tower to keep the hostile wildlife out and we were trying to figure out a way to destroy the bastards and that was when I had the idea to destroy the tower keeping them safe from the wild..."

"We destroyed the tower and within fifteen minutes it was overrun with Myrloc Raptors, they are like lizards but they move on their hind legs and they are hunched back with venomous claws and poisonous saliva, by the time we went in all we saw was eviscerated bodies and blood...our mission was considered a success but all of those lives lost...."

"Then came my real battle with the Militia...I was sent in along with a large contingency of Pilots to protect a refueling depot from any Militia but that was when the entire Frontier Fleet arrived and we had to make an emergency deployment and we had to defend the hardpoints that would allow the terrorists to refuel their ships to carry out further acts of terrorism against the IMC and Core World Systems. I was nineteen at the time and this was my first actual battle and the things I have seen...the sounds of gunfire, the screaming and yelling of the wounded and dying...so many people crying out for their mothers and fathers....I saw so many mangled and mutilated bodies and I helped...I thought it was for the greater good of mankind to end the rebellion and to restore order out in the frontier...but I was wrong. Then there was my next mission which helped push me for a promotion that started my mental degradation..."

"We arrived on an uncharted and relatively unknown planet and we were told there was a rebel outpost along with a group of traitors hidden away there by an informant. At the time we didn't know if he was bullshitting us or was telling the truth so they sent in a new series of combat drones field test and assist us and when we arrived we saw what was essentially the truth behind the man's words, and then we started to kill them all. I don't know what came over me but I had killed civilians, innocent women and children died by hands...and I was just happy that I was killing terrorists for the greater good but when my girlfriend told me what was going on...Spyglass gave me the order to be regenerated."

"At first they told me that all the damage my body has sustained over the three and half years can be healed and that I can be whole again, but at a price that I lose all my memories I have gained from the fighting. To lose all of my combat experience to start anew and be whole again, and I allowed it all to happen because I was weak minded. They fixed my body, stole the bad memories that haunted me for days, but they made a mistake during the regenerative process."

"But something went wrong, I don't know exactly what happened but the scientists and medics said that during the process there was an error and besides taking the memories of my past experience in warfare, they also somehow lowered my empathy for my enemies and at first I thought it was a good thing to not give a damn for the Militia during the missions and fighting but I learned too late that with each regeneration I would only get worse and worse...all to a point where I would recklessly run in deep into hostile territory to inflict as much damage as physically possible and it had the cost of both my legs below the knees. When my brother died I stopped caring for myself and those around me entirely and that was before and after my last regeneration, I got to the point of feeling hollow and useless until given an order...I hate this feeling with a passion."

"I only began to feel anything at all again recently...at the lose of my Miko and the betrayal by Spyglass did I finally regain what little of my humanity that I had left within this broken shell..."

"So I am going to ask you again...am I...a monster?" I said as I looked at Blossom, my eyes red as I tried my best not cry but when I felt a pair of hooves wrap around my neck and wings wrap around my back as I felt the presence of the bat mare holding me tightly and just like that the flood gate that I thought I had blocked away years ago came rushing out.

I sat there crying my eyes out, every piece of emotion that had been locked away through mental augmentation and regeneration has been released by the simple hug that Blossom is giving me, I don't know if it is because this world is based on 'Harmony' instead of Chaos or even the countless deaths that I had to see and endure through but because of her emotional support I can now feel again. If only it was permanent.

"It's okay Ramsey...its okay...your not a monster. You did what you had to do because someone held your leash. Everything will be alright." Blossom said as she held me, this weird warm, fuzzy feeling came back but it quickly died down when I spoke up.

"Blossom, I am responsible for the deaths of almost two hundred civilians, Celestia will know about this and when she does I can assume that it will be my ass on the chopping block. I don't know if this land has outlawed public or private executions but that mare just might reinstate it just for me." my voice was quiet and weak, I had lost the will to keep fighting back the monsters that lived inside my head.

"Ramsey, its not your fault! None of that was your fau-" I cut her off as an Ogre lumbers on by, ignoring the two of us as we yelled at each other.

"Yes it is! No matter how hard I tried, I could never escape the reality of what happened there. It hurts so much, seeing the truth for the first time with my eyes open. Someone is going to pay for my crimes Blossom, and I know that it will be me and the IMC, but that won't happen for the longest time...until I can get back home and tell the Frontier everything that they have done to me and the others..."

"My true self has been revealed Blossom, I am beyond redemption." I said sadly, my eyes staring down, tears dropping into the dry dirt as the salty liquid is quickly consumed by the earth.

"Ramsey don't talk like that, we can help you, we can help you get over what you have become and fix you for the better. We may not be able to restore your body to what it once was but we can sure as tartarus help you get better. We can help put your mind at ease and make your a normal pony again, you just got to let us in." the bat mare said as she hugged me with her leathery wings, I could have easily pushed her off of me but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

As we sat there with me crying on her head as she hugged me tightly I came to the realization that this might be my chance to start over, to wipe the slate clean and redeem myself and possibly the IMC. I believed in a united Core and Frontier Systems and I am going to ensure that happens.

One way or another, we will all be free.

Or die trying.

I don't know how much time has passed since we stopped to hug it out and seeing how the moon was just now shining through some cracks in the wall I decided to take a short rest, to help ease my mind and try to recharge myself before setting out to inspect the ruins I had found earlier. Getting off my chair I went over and laid down on the half-assed bed and shut my eyes, my mind replaying everything that happened throughout my life.

Sleep Realm

I was walking down a long corridor, I was alone, unarmed and my armor was destroyed, parts of it was melted, bullet ridden and missing, I don't ever remember having my armor in this degraded state but whatever is the cause of it being like this must have been something serious. The hall was devoid of life besides my own, the lights that are built into the corners of the ceiling are flickering on and off, there must be a lack of power in the facility I am in currently. Maybe I am in the remains of an old Frontier Militia base that was recently raided by IMC forces or maybe I am in the ruins of an IMC Garrison barracks after an attack, either option doesn't sound good or bode well for me.

Walking down the dark corridor I felt like hell, my body was weak for some reason, everything felt heavy like blocks of lead was weighing me down preventing me from moving at my fastest. I don't know why I am feeling like this or even why I am here but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer.

As soon as the light of the sun touched my feet I started to move faster, feeling refreshed, invigorated even, and with this renewed strength I moved faster until I was completely engulfed in the light of the sun until I was standing outside and what is a balcony overlooking something I didn't want to see.

The remains of Demeter.

A Living nightmare.

"So this is what thee is being haunted by. A past battle thou have partaken in." a voice said to my left and when I reacted by moving back and getting into a combat stance but when I reached for my data-knife I found that it was gone, my pistol was also gone along with my Spitfire so I just had my fists but as soon as I got aggressive I suddenly felt weak, flimsy even and I had to hold onto the melted handrails just to stay standing.

Trying not to fall over or even go over the edge and plummet to my death I tightened my grip on the melted rails, my eyes going from the rails to the lunar princess as she sat there, looking over the battlefield that is nothing more then several craters that cover the circumference of the planet alongside several dozen degraded metal buildings.

"Welcome to Demeter princess...where several hundred thousand people died all to turn the tide of a rebellion." I said with a hollow tone, my eyes going back to the battlefield, I couldn't pick out anything significant out in the wastes as all I could see was the glaring orange fireball in the sky and the hellish orange dirt and glass on the ground.

Slowly letting go of the railing I backpedalled until I hit a wall and immediately let myself drop to the ground, my body aching in what was at first was nothing more then a small and easily ignorable pain but after a few seconds it felt like my body was on fire, felt like my skin was melting and my muscles burning away but when I looked down at myself I saw that I was whole and yet at the same time I wasn't.

"Thee seems to be having trouble keeping thee's mind in check." the lunar princess says as I watched the battlefield slowly rewind itself before disappearing in a flash of a brilliant white light. As soon as the light dimmed down and eventually vanished I opened my eyes to see that the two of us was still on the balcony over Demeter but we are now looking from my eyes before the battle.

"Well it is hard to keep calm and not have a psychological breakdown when you are being forced to remember your worst day ever. I am sure you had your own 'Worst days of your life' moment spontaneously burst itself into your dreams when you least expect it to princess." I said as I looked at her, she briefly glanced at me and at first I saw anger in those turquoise eyes of hers but when she saw my shell-shocked face and hollow, dead eyes she eased her heated stare just a bit, seemingly knowing what I have been through.

As the two of us watched the prelude for the Battle of Demeter, there was a smaller flash of light but it was to my right this time and now standing there was Princess Celestia and my new roommate Blossom, the small bat pony waved at me before coming to my side and sat beside me.

"So these are what other hoo-mans look like. They look kinda funny." Blossom said as she saw Blisk walk beside me alongside with two other pilots stood behind us, waiting for the signal to get into the drop pod.

"Because Blossom they are wearing similar uniforms, and its pronounced hu-man not hoo-man." I said and messed with her ears, gently touching the fluffy tips which resulted in her slapping my hand with those soft ears.

"Grammar-Gryphon." she mumbled before whacking my right arm with a wing.

"Bite me." I grumbled as she nibbled the hand that was petting her, I quickly pulled my hand away as she giggled at my reaction.

"Be careful what you ask for, you know I will bite you if you ask me nicely." Blossom said as she looked at me with those golden cat eyes and batted those eyelashes, I had to look away before I get mesmerized by them.

"Not now...maybe later." I said with a groan, the two princesses looking at me now with curiosity but when I looked at them and waved them off they went back to watching my memory as Blossom laid her head down on my lap and started to watch my memory as well.

Going back to looking at my memory they watched the other me crawl into the pod alongside Blisk and the other two pilots, Luna and Celestia are watching the memory with great interest as they moved closer to me and Blossom, boxing us in but at the moment I could care less, as long as Blossom is here then I can keep myself together.

As the memory of Demeter comes to a close everything starts to get dark as the four of us finds ourselves no longer on the melted balcony overlooking the battlefield but instead we were all standing amongst the ruins of the reactor I was fighting in and around, the hollow shell of the once dangerous and prosperous building ring dull as a weak gale wind moves the red sand around us until we are surrounded by nothing but darkness, the warped and twisted metal walls and lastly ourselves.

None of us knew what was going on, even Princess Luna was confused as to what was going on because seeing how she was the dream master she would be able to get us out of here but something was preventing her and when we all turned around at the sound of something dropping down, the four of us saw a body hanging by a long length of rope, the end disappearing from view into the darkness.

I slowly walked over to the hanging body, my eyes not being able to leave it alone as I shuffled over to it, my body still weak and battered from what must be it experiencing the pulse-detonation of the reactor.

As soon as I got to the body I turned it around to get a good look at it and what I saw shocked me, it was me, my dead body being hung up by a noose. Looking my body over I saw that my armor has fell into a state of decay, it was falling apart, even the flesh has already rotted away to nothing, my muscles are still there but are broken and are broken, bits of it sticking out as my corpse gave a slack-jawed expression and when I looked at its waist, I saw that it still had the holster strapped in and when I went to reach for it I felt my hand grabbing onto something rough and rugged and with a sharp tug I removed the B3-Wingman that was still inside of it.

"It seems that reports of my death have been...exaggerated." a voice said behind me and when I turned around I was aiming my revolver at the figure only for my eyes to adjust to the sudden shift to see that it was myself, wearing an officer's uniform with my last name stenciled on it and all the awards I had received.

"What the hell...this isn't possible." I said, I was too confused to come up with an actual response, my mind on the fritz after having to re-watch Demeter and now seeing myself dead by hanging and seeing another me walking around, it is just too much.

"Oh I assure you, it is Ramsey." The other Ramsey said as he walked over to my corpse and smiled at it in a creepy manner.

"How." I said dumbfounded, how this was possible, I don't know.

"Not just how, Why!" he said as he started to walk around me slowly, keeping a fair distance away from me.

"You were never supposed to come here, to review a battle you had partaken in with others without consent from Spyglass or Admiral Graves." the false Ramsey said as I recalled back to what I was told back in the academy, thinking back to exactly what was said.

"As a member of the IMC and of the Interstellar Pilot Program you can not reveal or discuss anything you have seen or done with anyone outside of the military. If you do break this rule then you will suffer the consequences."

"What happened here was out of my control. I didn't want to re-live this moment in my life!" I shouted as the three ponies watched the two of me yell at each other.

"Was it really? None of this would have happened if you just forgot about it and pushed forward." the fake me said as he waved his hand at me, trying to dismiss what I was saying.

"But on you marched, and for what? To show these beasts of burden what monsters we are?" he snarled a bit at the end, obviously showing his disdain for these ponies.

"No, to show them that I am willing to better myself, I don't want to be like this anymore, killing innocent people. We are supposed to be helping the Frontier better itself and to further ourselves not bring it down to its knees and cripple them!" I shouted at him, I believed in the IMC for standing up for what is right not for greed and power.

"Your no hero, no savior, not even a martyr. Your talents lie elsewhere, on the battlefield killing our enemies and securing victory for our cause." The false me said as the shell surrounding us is immediately illuminated with active moving memories of all my battles as the three ponies behind me turned to see what I have done but that was when they all stopped and immediately turned into my first mission.

The colony that was harboring a Militia cell that was protected by a dog whistle tower.

"That isn't my fault." I said as the mares all watched the dog whistle tower steadily collapsed, it lost all momentum and started to fall over directly over the town.

"It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him and if the truth is undeniable you created your own." fake Ramsey said as the screams of the civilians started to play, all of their screaming can be heard as the ponies watched in horror.

"The truth Ramsey is very simple. I am here because you can't accept what you've done. It broke you." The screaming only got worse as the three continued to watch in horror, they tried to look away but everywhere they looked they saw more death and destruction.

"You needed somebody to blame, so you cast it on us and the IMC." the screaming eventually started to die down as I felt the hot tears steadily fall down my face, one of my worst moments in the military coming to light before two foreign rulers and someone I consider my friend.

"You know the truth is hard to hear, Ramsey, but it is time. You are all that is left of Demeter and the IMC can't let you live on forever here in ponyland." the false Ramsey said as he stopped walking around me and stopped right in front of me.

Pulling out an exact replica of my revolver and aimed it roughly at my heart.

"I am going to count to five, then I am going to pull the trigger." I stared at my other self as he waved the gun at me, I don't know what could possibly worse, the fact that I was going to kill myself or the fact that if the other me kills me, does he take control of my body? Either of the two are bad and not one of them are going to help me in the long run.

"Your not real, this is all in my head." I said as I know that this bullshit will end when I command it to but when I tried to force it all away nothing happened, and I know that Luna tried to dispel this crap and wake us all up but something seems to be blocking her.

"Are you sure? Maybe it's in mine. ONE." he said before pointing the ground away from me then pointing it back right at my heart.

"No, I know it is inside my head because I was dreaming of me playing poker with four dogs smoking cigars and wearing sunglasses and that was interrupted when Princess One n Two and Blossom came in out of nowhere!" and what a dream that was.

"No...everything...all of this nonsense your trying to pull, this is your fault!" I shouted as I pointed the gun at him, I tried to pull the trigger but for some reason I couldn't.

"If that is what you believe in then shoot me! TWO." he said but this time when I tried to squeeze the trigger I felt it finally give me some slack and that was when I made my move.

"Fine then." I said quietly before shooting him right in the head, the bullet going right through and blowing out on the other side, sending brain matter and skull fragments everywhere.

The other me looked for the injury that I gave him, and when he finally felt the blood steadily drip down his head did he realize where I shot him.

"It takes a strong man to deny what's in front of him..." the false me says as he lets go of the gun, it didn't even make it to the ground before it faded away into the burnt sand that is now swirling past all five of us.

"And I am stronger then you and the IMC." I said, lowering my right hand that was holding my revolver before I slid it into the half-melted holster on my side.

"Whatever you say Ramsey, and no matter what happens next, just don't be to hard on yourself. Even now after everything you have done, all the blood on your hands, all the pain in your heart, all of the agony in your soul, you can still redeem yourself."

"Lucky you." and as he said that I watched him fade away into the background, Demeter steadily revealing itself from the darkness, the shell of the reactor losing the animated motions of my memories as everything started to return to normal, or as normal as it could possibly get.

As everything started to fade away I turned my back to the ponies and stared at my dead body still strangely hanging in place, its eyeless head staring down at me and just from that stare alone I felt weak in my knees and fell to them as I watched my corpse swing slightly in the breeze.

I eventually heard the sounds of hooves trotting through the soft dirt and sand before stopping just behind me, I was going to turn my head a bit to look at them but I was transfixed on my own corpse, wondering if that is my future, wondering if that is what I am to become for turning my back on the IMC.

"Ramsey...are you...are you alright?" I hear Blossom speak up quietly, I hear some hooves trotting closer to me and when I turned my head to look at who it belonged to I saw that it indeed did belong to Blossom the bat mare, but when she saw me look at her she saw just how dead my eyes looked.

I turned my head back to my corpse as I heard more hooves move closer to me and when they got close enough to me that I could practically feel their very presence touching me I let out a shuddering sigh as I then felt a leathery wing wrap around my back that was then followed by a fuzzy and fluffy pony head nuzzle under my neck.

Looking down a bit at Blossom I shuddered again before nodding at her just slightly as I barely heard what the two winged unicorns were talking about back there.

"...can't....did such a thing....against his..." "...a monster....be redeemed?"

I don't know what those two are talking about but everything started to fade inward as the surrounding landscape began to break apart like glass and before I know it everything is gone.

Awake

My eyes felt heavy, I tried to force them open but they didn't respond to my command and after what felt like an eternity my eyes eventually opened up revealing that I am still in the cave I fell asleep in but I was accompanied by someone when I felt something snuggle up to me and with a slow turn of my head I saw that it was Blossom, her cute snoring alerting me that it was just her.

Letting out a groan I moved on the leafy bed and maneuvered around the sleeping mare and once I was out of her snuggles I proceeded to walk out of the cave and I just in time see both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walking away from my cave and were climbing into a large chariot being pulled by four lightly armored pegasi and when I opened the door leading myself outside I saw Celestia cast a partial gaze at me before smiling ever so slightly and when Luna saw that slight smile she turned around to see me and then I saw something that I thought I would never see.

The lunar princess smiling at me, even though I shot her in the head for breaking into my mind at night.

'I can redeem myself, if MacAllan can do it and help liberate the Frontier from the IMC and Spyglass then so can I!'

Nodding at the two princesses I slowly closed the door behind me and went back inside before going back to the leaf bed and went back down, allowing Blossom to latch onto me again but this time I allowed myself to be hugged as I started to drift back to sleep but instead of getting a nightmare, for the first time in years I had received my best nights rest.

'Many decisions lie ahead for me...none of them are easy...but as long as I have these ponies to help guide me...then maybe...'

'I can be redeemed and when my time comes I make peace with my god and die with my honor and dignity intact.'

Author's Note

It strangely makes sense.

What he deals with during the day.

What he actually deals with at night.