First Quarter was many things, but “stupid” wasn’t one of them.

She was familiar with artifacts that corrupted the mind, such as the Alicorn Amulet (wherever it was). And she knew of the tyrannical ruler King Sombra, along with the brand of magic he was said to prefer. She might’ve had her eyes on the throne, but she was not so desperate to attain it that she would resort to sacrificing her mind and free will (or those of others beyond those she’d already taken, for that matter). If she wanted to be a more capable ruler, she needed to retain a clear head.

At the same time, she knew she wasn’t worthy of the Elements of Harmony. Never in the near-thousand year gap did she ever try to seek them out for herself. Nor did she try to destroy them; she’d seen what they did to Discord, so if she ever ran into a foe that she couldn’t crush, guiding them into worthy hooves would make a good countermeasure.

So when she got it into her head to launch a crusade against the Princess, she figured that she would turn something mundane into something that—when mastered—would be far superior to all but the strongest types of magic. She took up unarmed combat, and over the decades and centuries revamped her personal style until there was nothing else she could do to improve it further. By the present day, it had long since reached the pinnacle of what ponies could do without boosts or artifacts.

One of the hallmarks of Mocha Martial Arts was that its users learned to balance their innate magic with their bodies’ own natural life energy. With proper focus and training, they could become far stronger than non-alicorns had any right to be. Caramel ripping through weakened steel was child’s play; at full strength, Quarter could one-shot dragons Metallium’s size without exploiting any weak points. She suspected that with an alicorn’s power in her veins, her techniques would become stronger still.

And if some form of anti-magic or absorption was in play, as it was on one occasion 400-plus years back, she could switch gears to full life energy-based strikes and power on through; it wouldn’t be quite as strong, but it would still get the job done. She was confident that if it came down to a direct confrontation with Queen Chrysalis on her home turf, she could destroy the throne that Bushwhacker had warned her about.

Mocha Martials Arts did have one dark side to it. There was a unique aspect of it that was derived from Quarter’s early experiments in Cutie Mark manipulation.

It needed to be a deliberate act on the user’s part, a complete and total willingness to eliminate everything that made ponies who they were, a proper delivery of life energy and magic finely tuned… but if a practitioner’s attack struck a Cutie Mark directly with those criteria met, the Mark would cease existing on the spot. If done properly, and barring any unforeseen complications, the pony would die almost instantly from the sudden unnatural shock. It was the biggest reason why nopony outside the family was allowed to join the school, and the only technique Quarter hoarded to herself: she knew the danger it presented if it got out of hoof.

Years before, she needed to use it to silence Moissanite permanently. The patron of the arts had been a silent supporter of Quarter-as-Cocoa’s organization, but had discovered some of the things that she’d been involved in by sheer chance and didn’t like them. Deciding to go to the Police with his information, he had first visited the Golden Bell to warn his wife Alexandrite of what he’d gotten involved in. It was there that Quarter caught up with him; when she left a minute later, Moissanite was no longer in a position to inform anypony of anything.

The technique wasn’t infallible. From the time that she had first let ponies in on her plans to the present, she’d needed to silence them six times to keep them from tearing apart her webs. Of them, one pony had managed to survive past the shock of losing his Mark and kept going, requiring Quarter to put him down the old-fashioned way. At the time, she’d chalked up the technique’s failure to her just having an off day; all other times, it had worked flawlessly.

…

Quarter wasn’t having an off-day currently. As she had said to Ignition, she was progressing well and on her way to regaining her peak strength.

The monochromatic pegasus had looked to be in distress after her final strike had destroyed the Equihulk. Quarter knew all the signs of a heart attack, so she’d waited to see if Gray would succumb to it. She had collapsed for several minutes, but it hadn’t been enough to do her in: she’d instead recovered enough strength to drag herself over to Cozy Glow and check on her.

Quarter’s ambush on Gray was executed without a hitch, hitting her while she was fully distracted by both her haywire health and Cozy’s presence. The precise burst struck Gray’s Cutie Mark, passing through her to destroy it on both flanks.

Gray’s eyes dilated, and she whimpered in agony before collapsing to the floor like jelly. The nutrition formula that covered the floor soaked into her coat and damaged suit.

Quarter approached to survey her work. For several long seconds she was positive that the older mare had died on the spot. Finally she nodded and started to switch on her radio, intending to signal somepony she trusted to put Gray’s body where it could conveniently be found---

A shiver shook the back of her neck before she could complete the motion, and she jumped away. As she did, she saw one of Gray’s gauntlets slash through the space that her forelegs had occupied just a moment before. “Oh, come on!” Quarter bit out. “Really?”

Gray didn’t answer, instead shifting her position to stand guard over Cozy Glow. Her back was arched and most of her visible coat was standing on end, making her look a lot bigger than she really was. Her tail was lashing about, and her ears were flattened off to either side of her head. Her pupils were no longer the round ovals nearly all ponies had, but were instead thin diamond-like slits. Growls bubbled past her closed lips.

And more to the point: her heart was still beating and her lungs were still working.

Quarter huffed as she realized what was going on. It was quite possible that the technique had indeed killed the pony, but the biological aspects of her that weren’t pony-like hadn’t gotten the memo just yet. I hate it when my past decisions backfire on me. Cursed Zoolinef.

Still, it didn’t take much for her to recognize that what Gray was doing was effectively a final gasp. Quarter could finish her off freely and have her dealt with, clean Cozy off and give her what immediate care she needed, and take the toddler to a quality orphanage. It would be difficult to explain the early Cutie Mark, but not impossible.

She raised a foreleg and aimed it at Gray, focusing her body’s energies with a method that she had perfected long, long ago. A hovering red dot formed, then rapidly expanded into a shining sphere a bit larger than her hoof. “I’d love to know what those weapons of yours are made of,” she told the pegasus, though she didn’t believe that her enemy was listening. “They’re the only things keeping me from finishing you close up. I can’t let Caramel know that I was fighting you.”

No…

Quarter’s ears pricked up. It almost sounded like Gray had spoken, but she’d uttered nothing but snarls and growls in the past minute. She shrugged inwardly. Maybe it’s just the air circulation in here.

Don’t… you...

Her eyes met Gray’s. The stubborn pony was not currently capable of comprehending what was about to happen to her. One good strike to the chest after the damage her heart had already taken would kill her, Zoolinef or no Zoolinef. “Go to sleep,” Quarter uttered in a low tone, bidding her farewell. “That’s what you’re best at, isn’t it?”

WHITE ROOK, DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!

…!

A furious scream coupled with a name that she hadn’t been called by since before the original Hearth’s Warming jolted Quarter, as if all the noise of an explosion had gone off right in her ears. Having intended to release the sphere the precise moment it had happened, her aim was sharply thrown off. The sphere instead rocketed off to Gray’s right and detonated against the wall, cratering it.

Quarter went on full alert, senses straining for any sign of danger. “Who’s there?” she barked. “Where are you? Come out and fight me!”

You want to know who I am? I’m the grandkid whose body you’re hitchhiking in!

...! Quarter’s breath was stuck in her throat for a moment as she struggled to process the shock she felt. Never in her entire existence had any of the bodies she’d taken been able to maintain their presence: as soon as she was in full control, their minds were gone forever. What had changed? “Hazelnut…”

Rook. ...Can I call you Rook? ...Of course I can, because I’m sure not going to call you my grandpa anymore. After you stole my life from me, I felt like I was drowning. If that maroon monster hadn't popped up in your memories when you saw Leviathan, I'd be dead now!

There was only one ‘maroon monster’ that she knew of, and that fear Quarter had of it resurfaced. She hesitated. “Hazelnut, please---”

Shush, you. The non-murderer is talking, Hazelnut interrupted her harshly. I have got a lot to straighten out with you, but that can wait. If you kill that pony, I will physically make sure that you never have a good night’s sleep again! You hear me?

Quarter shook her head, becoming angry at this turn of events. She knew techniques that could prevent brainwashing and mind control, but she didn’t have anything that could forestall something that was already a part of her. “So that’s what it’s come down to, is it? I can’t do that, Hazelnut. She’s already on her last legs at this point.” She watched as Gray quivered for a bit before steadying. “This is what they call ‘putting somepony out of their misery’, and she’s been opposing us from the start anyway.”

Yeah, misery that you’re giving her! Hazelnut shouted. You orchestrated something that made her use that crazy magic blast. You’re the one who tried to kill her the same way you killed that Moissanite pony. And you have the gall to talk to me about putting somepony out of their misery?

You taught me and Carrie that Mocha Martial Arts were only to be used in self-defense, or to protect somepony who needed protecting. That had better not have been a lie, because I refuse to believe that the two of us had been manipulated our entire lives! And before you say anything, don’t even try to claim that you were fighting to protect that runt over there. Give my intelligence more credit than that!

I’m only going to say this one more time, Rook: if you kill that pony, I’m going to be the biggest distraction you’ve ever had. And judging from current events, you can’t afford another one!

Quarter couldn’t believe it. She just couldn’t believe it or get over it. After all these years, one of her victimized descendants had somehow retained her sense of self, and right on time to stop her from doing what had to be done. She had difficulty suppressing the anger she was feeling at this.

Gray needed to die, that was certain. She had likely gained access to information down here that would doom the coup, and while the most important items had already been sent to where the Prism Tower was being built, there was no guarantee that she hadn’t found something that had slipped through the cracks.

...But as Quarter watched the Zoolinef experiment slowly weaken, her more rational side considered several matters. Gray already was in the midst of dying. Even if she somehow recovered—and all signs pointed to ‘no, she wouldn’t’—she wouldn’t be in much of a condition to talk about matters afterward. And there was also the matter of her family: they were no threats, never mind that one child’s denial of Illudere. Too, the love they shared between each other matched—and possibly exceeded—the love Quarter had for her own family. Would it really be fair to them to deny them a chance to escort Gray out of this life and onto the next?

And Hazelnut’s threat still rang in her head. Having her distract Quarter at a crucial moment would cost her. That went without saying.

She sighed and watched as the damaged champion struggled to keep herself going. Decisions, decisions. “Hmm… Gray Ghost. To live or die?”

…

…

…

…

…

Caramel had just exited the restroom after a quick break when Hazelnut barged in, looking both out of sorts and breath. “Hazel?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

Panicked, Hazelnut grabbed her close and hissed in a low voice. “Emergency! … Can’t… find security… or Ignition! … Gray pony… baby filly… hospital...!”

Caramel started at this, eyes widening. “Where are they?”

“Sub-basement!… Hospital… quickly!” Hazelnut managed to stammer, on the verge of hyperventilating.

The sub-basement? That’s off-limits to everypony except authorized personnel! “Where’s the medics? Shouldn’t there be—”

“Hospital! Now!”

The urgency of the situation finally got through to Caramel. She yelled a quick apology to her immediate supervisor for leaving so abruptly, then took off as fast as she could gallop.

...

When they reached Gray, she was still positioned where Quarter had left her. She hissed and swatted feebly at Hazelnut when she got too close, but relaxed when Caramel approached and let herself be carried on her back. Quarter grabbed Cozy Glow, making a cursory check to ensure that she didn’t need anything just yet. Together the siblings returned to the surface and made tracks for Manehattan General Hospital, wings flapping furiously as debris were blown around in their wake.

Caramel had plenty of questions, but she kept them to herself for now. Trying to save these lives took priority.

It was while Gray was being transferred to the hospital’s emergency services that her valiant heart could no longer fully sustain her more bestial side. Her eyes squeezed shut, her pulse became more fluttery, and she was reduced to gasping for air. This immediately drew the attention of the staff, and they hurried to start treating her and get her situated. They did everything they could to determine what the problem was and to try and curtail it.

But it didn’t take long to establish that it was going to be a losing battle. Gray’s heart had simply taken too much stress in quick succession. It was a wonder that it hadn’t burst entirely.

And of course, those who kept up with the news remembered Moissanite’s mysterious death years ago. They knew that the loss of a Cutie Mark meant ill tidings.

...

Nopony paid attention when one of the nurses placed Gray’s equipment and damaged clothing somewhere out of the way. In life or death, the masquerade must be upheld.

The children didn’t have the truth about recent events.

They did know of course that Gray had jetted to the hospital to chew out Fiver for her recklessness. After Leviathan had left the MRPD to pursue her enemies, Ebony and Zig-Zag had collected Energy and went to the hospital themselves to visit their sister. They’d expected their mother to still be in the area, not knowing that she’d left to fulfill her self-perceived S.M.I.L.E. duties, so they were surprised to find Juniper Leaf instead.

After some time spent checking on Fiver and chatting with Juniper, the children decided that they were ready to leave. They had just stepped out into the hall, but were forced to hastily backtrack to keep from being steamrolled by a medical team, wheeling somepony past them to who-knew-where. Close behind the team were two chocolate ponies that Juniper easily recognized from the newspapers.

While the staff did their work, the Mocha scions remained behind and did their best to answer any questions that the children and Juniper had. Who was that? “Somepony we found at the tower’s sub-basement.” What did they look like? “Pink toddler and a gray adult, both pegasi. For some reason, the filly has a Cutie Mark.” That’s impossible at that age! “All we know is what we saw.” What about the adult? “Even weirder. She doesn’t have a Mark.” And so on and so forth.

By the end of it the twins were looking frazzled at the constant questioning. Feeling sorry for them, Juniper decided to wind things down by asking something that had been on her mind. “You said the adult was still standing when you found her. How was she acting?”

“She wouldn’t let me get close. Only Carrie,” Hazelnut summarized it. She seemed taken back at the intense stare Zig-Zag was giving her the entire time, but she did her best to ignore it. “Didn’t say a single word. Actually tried to attack me a few times. Wouldn’t stop growling. Almost felt like I was being judged by a wild animal.”

Realization slapped them in the faces immediately, horror punched them in the lungs, and dread straight-up kicked them in their hearts. There was only one gray pegasus who acted like an animal that they knew of, and they knew that going out of her way to protect a child was in character for her. The children found themselves unable to speak. “...Gray Ghost?” Juniper managed to stammer.

Caramel’s ears turned down. She hadn’t forgotten their brief encounter at Median Park, but it still took a moment for her to connect the dots between the pony she’d met then and the one she dragged out of Mocha HQ’s depths. “You know her?”

“How could I not?” Juniper smiled mirthlessly, tone more bitter than dark chocolate. “I helped turn her into that addled beast to start with.”

From those words, Hazelnut—or more accurately Quarter—recognized her as the released Zoolinef scientist who was still alive. Caramel was only becoming confused from Juniper’s choice of words, and she opened her mouth to ask for elaboration.

“...She’s in danger.”

What Caramel got instead was a warning from the bed’s tiny card shark. Fiver had roused herself over the course of the interrogation and was staring past them, down the hall the medical team had gone down. “...Mom’s hurting badly,” she continued, coughing a little in-between sentences. “...We’ve needed her our entire lives. The tables have turned. She needs us now.”

“How can we help?” Ebony protested, barely keeping herself from shouting. “We don’t know anything about how this works!”

“...We wait,” Fiver stated as if the solution should’ve been obvious to everypony. “...And we will be there for her when she comes out.”

“Good idea. I’ll let one of the staff know who they’re treating and ask them to let us know when she’s out of the emergency room,” Juniper decided. “All of you, stay put for the moment.” She hurried away as quickly as was allowable.

What had happened? Where had things gone wrong? What had she done to deserve this? Why was she like this when she was perfectly healthy just a little while ago?

The medical staff had eventually taken Gray out of the emergency room and wheeled her into one of the recovery rooms, hooking her up to a machine that none of the children recognized but that Juniper knew all too well. When Ebony fearfully asked how her mother was doing, one of the staff shot down the family’s hopes.

Somehow as far as they could determine, Gray had suffered not one, but two heart attacks in quick succession on top of mysteriously losing her Cutie Mark. All of the signs of it were rattled off, and it was quickly explained what they tried to do to keep her alive, with Juniper dumbing the explanations down so that the children could understand.

None of the methods they tried, whether they were standard or chancy, worked. At best, all they could do was buy Gray a few more minutes. And now, all they could do in this scenario was to pass this information to her friends and loved ones as their peaceful lives came crashing down around them.

Plain and simply put, Gray Ghost was dying. There was nothing they could do to stop it, and any additional help they could bring on board would arrive far too late to be of any use.

There were outcries of denial from Ebony and Zig-Zag as the cold reality set in. Pure Energy was wracked with questions he didn’t know the answers to. The pain of it hit Juniper the fastest: she was no stranger to the realities of life, and here she was dealing with another one barely a few weeks after being reunited with the pony laying in that bed. It wasn’t fair, and it never had been.

But then, that was life. No matter what some claimed, it did not play favorites. At the end of their lives, it didn’t matter what they accomplished or possessed, whether how much or how little: everypony was equal in the way that always counted.

“...The lullaby.”

Juniper almost didn’t hear those words, thinking they were just background noise. The children were beginning to cry, and she was getting close to weeping herself. It was too much to take.

Something nudged her, and she looked down to see what the matter was. Fiver was looking up at her with the same expression she gave to everypony and everything. It was a lie to say that she wasn’t feeling anything, but without knowing her that was the impression most would get. And for now, her calm words were a boon. “...The lullaby,” she repeated. “...You know the one. You were here. When it was time for us to sleep, she would sing it. Now it’s time for her to sleep. We will sing it too.”

Juniper considered this. She slowly nodded: it was a fitting sendoff for her. Somepony might have other ideas later, but this would be the best way to show appreciation for Gray’s instinctual desire to do what she felt was right. She approached the side of the bed, not wanting to look at her former charge’s completely still form but forcing herself to anyway.

As Gray’s signals flatlined, the high-pitched dirge that nopony in a hospital ever wanted to hear, heartfelt lyrics issued forth from Juniper’s lips. The quiet strumming of incorporeal instruments lent their music to the old scientist’s unsteady words, the song’s true form becoming known to all for the first time.

~"In the dusk, I see the gulls flying about
seeking out their fav'rite fare
They're alive, with all their energy and flight
surpassing this tired mare."~

Despite her grief, Ebony recognized what she heard. “That’s Mom and Dad’s music,” she whispered. “They used to sing it to me all the time. But where did she hear it?”

~"In the dusk, I see the gulls flying about
seeking out their fav'rite fare
They're alive, with all their energy and flight
surpassing this tired mare."~

Those with the ears to hear it looked down. Five-of-a-Kind’s voice was as soft as ever while she did her level best to join Juniper in song. Only a minute wavering in the lyrics betrayed the pain she was feeling.

The others looked at each other, then joined one by one. Zig-Zag with his slightly off-key singing was first. Pure Energy and his complete seriousness was next. Ebony was having the most trouble keeping it together but did her best anyway. And while their father was unaware of the situation out at the marina, they knew he would be singing along too—and it was easy for them to picture him in their minds doing just that.

~Every day, I look and see
all the flocks of birds taking flight
And I picture my dear foals
Joining them at morning's first light."~

Just outside the room, the Mocha siblings and the assigned medical staff watched and listened. Caramel closed her eyes and tried to stay strong as she remembered two ponies who were taken from her life far too soon.

“Should we be doing something?” a nurse quietly asked.

“Leave them alone,” one of the doctors answered, his voice that of a pony who had done everything he could but wished he could’ve done more. “They’re saying good-bye to her the best way they know how.”

Quarter stayed close to Caramel, reassuring her with her presence while at the same time staying alert. It seemed like Gray was dead, but she’d been proven wrong before. This was Equestria; miracles could and did happen, and for reasons that nopony would expect. She would know: she’d been a direct eyewitness to a number of them, with the Windigos’ and Discord’s defeats being just a few.

As Juniper and the children continued to sing, they remembered. Ebony recalled the constant exasperation she felt at seeing her mother sleeping in places she shouldn’t have been. Pure Energy thought back to how often he would run around and have fun while his parents tried to keep up with him. Fiver remembered the patience and care Gray had shown in the face of her illness and silence. Zig-Zag knew of her protectiveness and how often she would go out of her way to make sure everypony was safe and secure. And Juniper remembered the little filly who believed a simple box was the greatest bed in the world.

Remembering those moments was key to keeping in mind who she had used to be. Not the battered mess that she had been reduced to—

…

The children’s ears turned upward. An odd sort of noise was right behind the song; if Leviathan had been there, she would’ve thought of it as a tiny motor revving. A steady beeping could be heard, drawing the attention of the doctors and nurses.

~"In the dusk, I see the gulls flying about
seeking out their fav'rite fare...”~

The children and Juniper paused their singing to try and identify the source of the revving noise…

~”They're alive, with all their energy and flight
surpassing this tired mare..."~

...and realized that somepony else was singing along, the revving serving as an accompaniment. Their heads turned as one towards Gray’s bed, her rest that just a short time ago was permanent---

Her mouth was moving. Words were heard leaving it. It was very weak, but she was singing. Too, the children knew what that revving noise was: the long-familiar sound of a cat’s purr. The doctors confirmed the beeping: her heart was beating again, returning to a steady rhythm, no longer fluttery. No longer non-existent.

And beneath her blanket, Gray’s flanks were shining. One of the nurses immediately investigated.

A few short minutes ago, her Cutie Mark was gone. Now, as if she was earning it all over again, it was returning to her. Fragments of two yellow-green cat’s eyes were phasing into existence. One by one they reconnected, fitting together like puzzle pieces. When the last one snapped into place, the Mark flared briefly—looking for all the world like a slow blink—before settling down.

“What… how…?” Quarter managed to say. Just because she hadn’t dismissed this as a possible outcome didn’t mean she actually expected it to happen.

“Hazel?” Caramel mouthed, eyes wide. “Did… did we just see a miracle?”

You sure did, sister! Hazelnut was crowing, though only Quarter heard her. That’s how you beat the odds!

As for the joy that the children and Juniper felt? It was beyond description. When they fully realized that what they were seeing wasn’t a dream, they clustered around Gray and chattered away with excitement and relief. The medical staff had to ward them off so they could assist her, though they were just as relieved that the worst-case scenario had been averted. Juniper and Ebony in particular had tears streaming down their faces the entire time.

But it was a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moment that summed up best how they were all feeling. It only lasted a full second, and only Pure Energy noticed it, but Five-of-a-Kind—for the first time since she was a toddler—had smiled.

...

Gray was still very tired and weak, so ultimately she had to go back to sleep for now. But before she did, the lead doctor told her: “I’ve been in this profession for forty years now, and I’ve never seen anypony pull their life out of a hat quite like you did. I’m not expecting a clear answer, but how in the world did you do that?”

Her answer was clear and completely certain, if quiet. “. ….. .. ……. ……. … ...”

The medical staff didn't know what to make of her response. When they repeated it for the others to hear, Caramel was flummoxed and wondered how it was possible. Quarter was stunned into silence at how simple it was. Most ponies on hearing it would laugh it off, shake their heads, or both. Only her family and Juniper really understood, and Leviathan and Drama Heart would join them later.

The one thing that everypony who knew her agreed on, whether they believed the answer or not, was that it was completely in character for Gray:

"I heard my kittens calling for me."

…

Quarter finally chuckled, the noise completely lacking the falseness that came with animosity. Hazelnut’s celebratory laughter was a little too contagious. Alright, alright. I’ll take that failure on the chin. I can best her in battle, but what can I do against that kind of love and will?

Treat Cozy Glow as you wish, Gray Ghost. You’ve earned this victory.

Author's Note

Music links include: A dual mix of "Trauma", from Ghost Trick; "Last Breath", from Ultimate Custom Night, and Zame's remaster of Pokemon Black and White's "Village Bridge".

I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t do it.

Since about the time I’d hinted at her forbidden technique back in “Winding Down”, I’d been toying with the idea of having Gray killed off by story’s end. It would involve her using said technique to take down a major threat, she’d suffer the consequences for it, and her time in the story would end with a gravestone in a cemetery on the mainland (with the closing music from Zero 4 being used to drive it home). I’d used a few passing references to Proto Man and Zero—the iconic scarf and shades for the former, and close combat preference for the latter—to subtly suggest that her days were numbered.

I don’t know how much of it is due to self-sabotage—Gray getting back into shape with Fleetfoot’s help being the clearest example—or how much of it is because I’m just too attached to someone who’s existed in my imagination in some form or another since the mid-1990s, but ultimately I just couldn’t go through with it. She’ll no longer be used as a combat or stealth asset for the remainder of the story, but that’s as far as I dare to go.

There was a hardly a day while I was working on this chapter when I wasn’t crying, even when I knew that it was going to end with a positive outcome. And whenever my grief gets the better of me, my thoughts start trending in a direction that’s not mentally or emotionally healthy. My mind has not been in the right place for some time, and I hope with all my heart that I never have to do something like this again before story’s end.

On a slightly lighter note, the big disruption to MLP’s canon that I was planning has come to pass with this chapter concluded. Cozy Glow’s path to the future has been altered for the better. If you’re wondering why I referred to Gray’s opponent in the previous chapter as “Equestria’s Destiny”, now you know.

Quarter’s “to live or die” moment was meant to be a reference to Harpuia in the second Zero game. To provide context for those who never played those games: at the end of the intro stage, Zero collapses from having fought his enemies on his own almost non-stop for a year. Harpuia swoops in at that point and contemplates what to do with him, and the cutscene that follows shows that he chose to drop him off at the Resistance Base and let him recover.

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