There was not a word spoken when Dead Hooves and I left Sharpshot, and the same occurred when we decided to split ways with White Light and Stitch. The next day of traveling was unnervingly quiet, not a single word coming from Dead Hooves that entire time. I felt bad, though I didn’t know what I did to cause this rift between the two of us. By the end of the second day the edge of the Manehattan ruins started to come into view. As the moon came up we found ourselves using the old shell of a building as shelter. What wood their was around us, which was not a lot, I used to make a small fire.

That night was chilly, one of the coldest in my life. The barren land and low winter temperature made me wish I still had my uniform with me. I had missed Hearth’s Warming back up in the clouds now, the first year in my life that I had. They don’t celebrate it down here in the wasteland, not since the mega spells fell. Yeilta’s words from our landing in Ponyville stuck in my head, and I felt like a horrible pony for everything we did. Just thinking about the culture, lives, and everything else we destroyed was horrible.

“The Four Star Terminal must be close to here. If we head there we should be able to find a map of the Wasteland,” I told Dead Hooves who was looking out a large hole in the side of the building. She seemed to shift uncomfortably as I talked. I had been hesitant to ask, but I needed to break the silence between the two of us. “You haven’t spoken since Ponyville, is everything okay?”

“Star Chart, how would you feel if you were thought to be a helpless filly?” I was caught off guard as she asked me that question, her voice mellow and quiet. I didn’t respond to that “I feel like I’m a burden to you all. I mean look at me. I’m pony with a paralyzed lower body who everyone thinks constantly needs protecting living in a wasteland where anything can kill you. I want to show you I’m strong, tough, and courageous like everypony, but instead Sharpshot treats me like I’m some fucking damsel in distress.”

A damsel in distress, that’s what she just called herself. The way she acted on the raptor when talking about her father, and the pony who recklessly charged at the culprit of Captain Bleak’s death were really one in the same. I thought it was just a facade of some kind but it wasn’t. That recklessness was her, and it was her showing she could handle herself! How did I not see it? That’s why she went silent when everyone told her to stay put. I could understand that, not in the same exact manner but still. Everything I went through to avenge those of the Grand Pegasus Enclave who had died because of the Bloody Angel. I went through hell to come down here with part of Bleak.

“You feel like you need to prove yourself?” I replied, Dead Hooves looking at me with a nod.

“Every time I try to do something to help everyone gets angry at me,” She said, sounding hurt. “They say I’m stupid, to leave things to them and it’s all just because I can’t walk as well as the rest of them,” She hit the wall of the building next to her with her hoof in frustration. “Everypony is like ‘Dead Hooves is a weak little filly who needs others to survive out here’ when they have no clue just what I’ve had to go through. I had to teach myself so much in order to survive for those five years by myself. I had to learn to cook, garden, fix my own fathers own fucking power armor, and even get clean water. No one, especially Sharpshot, gives a flying fuck how strong I am!” By this point she had hit the wall so many time she had put a nice dent into it, and then she started crying. I had seen her get angry, but this was an entirely different side of her than I had ever seen. “Spike… h-he knew I was strong, but everyone else probably just sees me as baggage. I tried to show I was courageous, putting myself in harms way so the rest of you could see I was more than just a stupid little filly, but what good has that done me?”

She broke down into loud sobs, curling into a ball on the floor. It was easy to forget she had spent her entire life until a few weeks ago in a shack with no one else. Those five years must have been difficult, being all by yourself with nopony around. I, like Sharpshot, had completely forgotten how much she had gone through. I wanted to say something to cheer her up, but had no idea how to respond to somepony when they were like this. This wasn’t just her reflecting on a past tragedy, this was must have been bottled up inside of her for since long before we even met. I looked down at the fire in front of me before I heard something unexpected.

“Oh little believer,
I think we’re alone in this irradiated land.
Oh little believer,
I wish for a world without this harm.”

Dead Hooves had stopped crying, now quietly singing a song I had never heard before. She laid down, sprawled across the floor with her metallic forehooves in front of her. When she stopped that first versus everything fell silent, and a solitary tear fell from her face. Dead Hooves was unlike any pony I had ever seen in the wasteland. Innocent yet scarred, strong-willed yet easily shattered, reckless yet always thinking. I could tell, just by the look of desperation in her eyes, what she was thinking of. The one pony she knew would make her happy, the one she had known longer than anyone else.

“Look at me father,” She said to the air. “I’m an emotional wreck, like you always were so sad to see,” A silence followed before she hugged herself, with a smile on her face. “Thanks dad, I’m so cold right now. I thought you would leave me when I broke your power armor, but I’m glad to see your still here,” She… what was going on? She had told me about how she killed her father, but she was acting like he was right her in front of her. Had she never gotten past denial, even in those five years? “I know daddy, but she isn’t like the other Enclave soldiers.”

Not like the other Enclave soldier. I felt a slight warmness in my chest as I heard her say that to the air. Suddenly though, that air seemed to come to life, brushing my face gently. There was many thing I didn’t understand, many things that never were absolutely logical, but all logical thought left my mind as that wind seemed to wrap through my fur. I closed my eyes, and I felt the touch of a pony’s hooves around my back. Their hooves wrapped around me, though not with the tensity I was expecting. I could hear Dead Hooves giggling as I reach behind me to try and find however was touching me.

“Dad says he wish he got to know you,” She told me, and I finally opened my eyes to see that nopony was hugging me at all. No, that felt to real but it couldn’t… could it have been?

“Dead Hooves, did you just feel-”

“You remember what mom said about the soul tree and belief?” Dead Hooves asked me. How could I not remember that with how much I was crying. “Well, I’ve believed it ever since then, and I could feel my dad laying next to me just now,” She pat the ground beside her. “He had to leave, but it was the first time since that day five years ago and…” She stopped, happiness on her face suddenly replaced by one of regret. “I sound like an idiot, don’t I?”

“No, not at all,” I replied calmly as I put my front right hoof to my left shoulder. “I felt him too. I can’t forgive myself for what we let the world become, and for everything we did during the war,” I suddenly hugged myself, feeling the spots that I had felt that pony, who must have been Dead Hooves father, hugged me. “I believe in the same exact thing and… thanks for tell him I wasn’t an enemy,” There was a question bugging me, and decided to get it out now. “Just, what was that song you were singing?”

“I made it up,” Dead Hooves explained with a smile. “Just now in fact. My dad always told me I was a good singer, and it’s helps me to calm down,” She looked out of the building again, this time a look curiosity on her face. “So how far are we from Four Star?”

“I would say a good two miles from here,” I told her, “The maps we have of the wasteland are rather dated and as we learn inacurate to what it actually looks like. Apparently nopony in the Enclave has an actual copy of the Equestrian map, as crazy as it is.”

“What are the odds of that?” Dead Hooves joked as she stood up, grabbing the Novasurge Rifle next to her. “Well, I think it’s time we hit the road again. I promised Spike I would find out what happened to Minister Twilight, and the sooner we get to this library the sooner we learn what Twister wants.”

I agreed, not feeling all that at the given moment. I checked to make sure my pistol hadn’t fallen out of it’s holster before following her out of the wrecked building. We really weren’t in Manehattan yet, or at least it felt that way with the amount of rubble there was. As we got closer the amount of rubble became less cluttered and gave way to some buildings that were still in decent condition. Most of them were apartment buildings mixed in with a few odd bakeries and other small stores. One thing was certain however: everything was abandoned.

This became more apparent as we found ourselves outside of the exact building I had mentioned earlier. Back before the the bombs, The Four Star Terminal must have been bustling with activity. Ponies used Celestia and Luna monorail lines for many things, and in a city as big as this any faster form of transportation than a carriage was very welcomed. I could only imagine how crowded this place was all those years ago. Ponies rushing to get their tickets, trying to get to work on time, or head to a fancy restaurant for a bite to eat with your family. This was an unrecognized symbol of how far ponykind has come, and how far we had managed to fall.

Over fifty thousand ponies must have once lived in this city, but now it seems like a ghost town. As me and Dead Hooves walked up, we didn’t see a single thing walking the streets around us. You could probably pass by this place without a second glance at it now, but think about how busy this place must have been. It was such a small piece of Equestrian history, but just large enough to remind us all of what we have caused. As we stood outside it’s door me and Dead Hooves looked to each other. She took a deep breath before nodding, and we opened the door.

As it opened that door my sister gasped in awe at what we were seeing, and if I hadn’t read about it in history and seen pictures I would have reacted the same way. The ceiling was high of the ground, large holes on it from where windows must have once been. A metal rod hug down from the middle of the ceiling and looking at the floor I saw the shattered remains of a chandelier. Glass could be heard cracking under our hooves, not doubt from the windows that use to make the skylight on the ceiling. We stood on the top of two floors, old marble making up the ground beneath us.

“Wow,” I could hear the disbelief in my sister's voice as she look around. “This, is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“The state of Manehattan is much worse than that of both Las Pegasus and Ponyville,” I explained to her. “Ponyville was never directly hit by the mega spells, and Nebula one didn’t create a mushroom cloud like other mega spells did. It might have been in bad shape but this,” I pointed to the chandelier. “Is a show of a mega spells true power.”

“All of this, and it was just over a stupid war.”

A weird noise was brought to our attention, sounding like the snarl of a wild dog though much more dry and raspy. I readied my pistol, recognizing it as the sound of a feral ghoul and I urged Dead Hooves to do the same. She slung the Novasurge’s strap around her head, holding it in her right hoof. I will admit that I was slightly jealous of her, not have to put that disgusting taste of a leather trigger in her mouth. I could focus on that though, and turned to the stairs where the sound came from.

“Makes sense there would be ghouls here,” I mumbled to myself. “The mega spell here did cause a lot more damage than elsewhere.”

As the rotting hoof of a ghoul came into focus, I raised my pistol. Than I heard the sound of another behind me, and I motioned Dead Hooves towards the chandelier. Finally I saw the disgusting head of the ghoul I had first heard, and it turned to me. Without a hesitation I fired two bullets at it, watching as both flew straight into it’s head and splitting it open. I could hear the charging of the Novasurge Rifle to my left, and watched as a trail of magical energy evaporated a ghoul I hadn’t seen. I put the pistol away as both ghouls fell dead, and turned to Dead Hooves as I told her the plan.

“Stay by me,” I told Dead Hooves. “We need to find a map, and there are most likely more ghouls around. Also, leave the ghouls to me. Save the fusion cells for Twister.”

“Got a point there,” She said as she rested the Novasurge Rifle on her back once again. She looked walked over to the edge of the large bridge-like structure that made up the middle of the upper floor. “I’m going to guess we’ll find more down there than up here. It has significantly more solid ground than up here.”

I walked up next to her and looked to the lower floor of the building. There was indeed more floor below us, but what truly caught my eye was the sight of railroad tracks below us. The monorail line, of course it came here of all places. I didn’t know if it was Luna or Celestia line, but that didn’t matter as much. Where the monorail stopped there was passengers, and where there are passengers there are maps of the monorail system. I looked back to the stairs, seeing that they had broken in the middle of them. Usually this would be bad for unicorns like Dead Hooves, but I smiled at the sight of this.

“Hey Dead Hooves,” I sang calmly, my sister looking at me. “You’re not afraid of heights are you?”

“Um… why do you say-”

I didn’t give her a chance to finish as I dashed under her belly and stood up. I effortlessly picked up my sister, her body seeming light as air to me. I could suddenly understand what Dread had said about being able to crush my sister. Even compared to a pegasus her body was light, which only helped in solidifying her zebrica heritage. I didn’t want to find out if it was true giving Yeilta was the only zebra I knew, but I’ve heard about how light they could be. To see just how true it was came as a big surprise to me.

“Hold on,” I told her as I backed up slightly before galloping forward and jumping off the upper floor.

I effortlessly glided to the floor, my sister clutching my neck as I did. Flapping my wings to keep me from falling, I did my best to soar down the tunnel, which was hard due to the lack of wind. We hit the floor at least seven feet away from the overpass that made up the upper floor. Dead Hooves stumbled off my back, falling on her back with a slight thud. It was less of a reaction than I expected, but watching my sister try and get back on her hooves was funny. It took her a minute but it finally happened.

“Just letting you,” I said was a big smile on my face. “You would make a horrible paper weight.”

“Very funny Star,” She replied rolling her eyes. Her head tilted slightly as she looked at something behind me. “That was a rather easy objective.”

Looking behind myself I could see she was looking at the exact thing we were looking for. There was a map of the monorail behind us with, showing the routes and stops of both the Celestia and Luna monorail line. I smiled as I walked towards it, looking for anything that might put us closer to the Manehatten Library. Luck smiled upon us as I looked at the route for the Luna line. Motioning Dead Hooves to my side, I showed her the map on the wall.

“Maps are my thing, use to love them when I was younger,” I told her before pointing at the next stop north on the Luna line. “We take the tunnel closer to us and we should get there no problem. Considering that at this point it must be nighttime outside, the trains shouldn’t be running. We’re going to have to walk to the station.” The sound of a horn filled the air, and looking behind me I couldn’t help but facehoof. “Or, the train could be coming right now.”

Dead Hooves and I walked up to the edge of the platform as we heard the ground start to rumble. Another horn sounded as a bright light shined through the tunnel, getting closer and closer. As the light came close to the tunnels exit it’s breaks creaked and a long mechanical beast shot out from the tunnel. Train cars past our eyes as it slowly came to a halt, only resting as the head car came to the end of the tunnel. Than the doors opened to see a rather clean inside of the car. As my sister and I entered, I felt an uneasiness about this all.

“You getting a strange feeling of deja vu here?” Dead Hooves asked as the doors closed behind us, the train starting up once again.

“Don’t worry about it,” I told her as I walked to the nearest booth and opened the doors. I was surprised to see the figure of a mare sitting down, looking at me as if dissatisfied. “Sorry.”

I closed it before she could respond and walked to the next booth. Opening the door I was glad to find that it was empty, and surprised at how clean it was. I let Dead Hooves through ahead of me before taking a seat myself. The metal feeling of the seats was much less sticky than I would have thought, and comfy as well. Honestly it was a surprise the monorail was still running. After all these years you think it would have broken down beyond repair. Nope, it was still working as well as it has been.

“Twenty caps please,” A mare said as she opened the door with a cart behind her. I tilted my head in confusion. “This your first time riding or something? Twenty caps or we toss you out the back door.”

“Oh, uh… one sec,” I said as I scrambled through my saddlebags. I pulled out the required amount, thanking the pay I got as part of the Angel Hunters as I handed it to her. “Here you go, and since you're here would you mind telling me how the monorail is still operational? I thought it would have been wrecked after the war.”

“I’m guess it really is your first time than?” I nodded in response to her question. “Well, it’s not that the monorail was save but more that the train was. It was underground when the mega spell dropped and stayed down here due to the destruction of the cities main power,” She pointed down at the floor as she continued to speak. “Than, some ponies thirty years ago decided to actually get off their asses and repair the railway. They also got the power going which helped Tenpony and Friendship City as well. Now we serve as a transport for any folk in the city.”

“What about raiders?” Dead Hooves spoke up as she watched the window, looking as the train came out of the tunnel to show the city. “Surely you’ve had some try and capture the train, so how do you manage with them?”

“Well, as rude and provocative as raiders tend to be they do know one thing,” She said with a wide smile on her face. “None of them know how to drive a train, or much less stop one. We’ve had more than our fair share of those unruly type on board our train, but they always know that the conductor knows far better than any of them. Now, if you don’t mind I have a job to do.”

I bid the mare farewell before joining Dead Hooves in looking out at the city. Far away I could see the remains of the once beautiful statue of friendship, and the Bucklyn Bridge that connected it. That was where Sharpshot, Willow Wisp, and Yeilta were heading, probably already inside the city for all I knew. The green coloring of the statue has long turned to that of a rust, and you could even see some larger parts sticking out of the irradiated water. With everything I knew about our journey, everything had started there with Cider Hooves, who has tried to warn the Steel Rangers of whatever Twister was working on.

“You know, even though I’ve never been here I feel like I’m at home,” Dead Hooves told me as she looked out the window. “If things happened differently I might be there with my father, and we would have been enemies,” She shift her body and looked at me as I drew my attention away from the ruins outside. “Even though I the situation I was put into, I’m glad that this happened instead.”

“Yeah, imagine what the wasteland can become if the Enclave and Steel Rangers actually worked together,” I said in agreement, before immediately reversing my opinion. “That said, the Steel Rangers are too stubborn to work with ‘traitors like us’. Even if they did try it would only last a day or two at best,” I looked back through the window, specifically looking for every glimpse I could of Friendship City. “That said, I’m not going back.”

“And why’s that?” Dead Hooves said confused. “Don’t you want to fight for the Enclave?”

“Well yeah, but I’m not going to abandon my sister,” I explained to her. “If this was just any other mission, and we never learned that we were related than yes, I would go. That said, how am I to leave my sister after everything we’ve been through?”

Dead Hooves didn’t answer, instead giving me a foal-like smile. I returned it, although my ended up feeling more mature than hers did. I didn’t tell her about everything else, about my father forcing me into the army, about my brother or his second marriage. I didn’t want to think of that right now, and the pain I felt. It wasn’t a story I wanted to tell, and one that I would never tell anyone. Yeilta, Dead Hooves, they were my true family. I felt a connection with them, even though I’ve barely even known them for that long.

The train slowly started to come to a stop, and we watched as the world outside the window seemed to catch up with us. We didn’t enter a station, instead we had stopped upon the edge of a sidewalk that was in less than fair repair. We were standing outside of a building that was almost completely glass save for the corners. Through the windows I could see rows of shelves and books in piles on the floor. No fancy logo needed to tell me what this place was: it was the Grand Manehattan Library… or whatever Spike had called it.

“This is our stop,” I told Dead Hooves as I got up from my seat. “You ready?”

She nodded in reply before getting up as well. We walked out of the booth and to the train doors, saying farewell to the mare that we had talk with earlier as we did. The train door opened and we stepped out, looking to see if anyone else had gotten off as well. As we realized we were the only ones that had gotten off we turned to the monorail and watched as the train slowly started to pick up speed. As it finally went out of sight Dead Hooves and I turned around and made our way to the Manehattan Library.

I let out a sigh “Not the place I would expect to hide your headquarters,” I said. “But I guess that's the point isn’t it?”

Dead Hooves didn’t respond. Instead I saw her looking up at the almost faded words above the doors. You couldn’t read them, but I had a pretty good idea of what they might have said. In truth, I’m surprise all the glass hadn’t shattered from the force of the mega spell long ago. Dead Hooves looked at the door, and pushed it open gently as she stepped inside the building. I followed after her, entering the building as she step over a pile of books in front of the entrance.

“It’s on this floor,” Dead Hooves told me as she looked to the ground. “At least, I have a feeling it is. Something about it being on the upper floors just doesn’t feel right.”

“Well than, should we start searching here first?” I replied, getting a nod from Dead Hooves in response.

An hour must have gone by as we checked the entire first floor of the library, and it was clear what the ‘Grand’ in the places name stood for. The building was huge, housing what must have been a copy of every book in Equestria. Most of them were beyond repair with torn covers and entire pages missing from inside. Nothing in here was in any condition to be used, some of which actually falling apart just at the touch of my hooves. It saddened me more than it did Dead Hooves, as I actually wanted to read something.

As I look around I start to realize that with everything the Steel Ranger and Equestria did wrong, the Grand Pegasus Enclave didn’t seem much better. We were told that we were better than everypony down here, that we hadn’t let ourselves fall as low as Equestria. Now that I actually knew what it was like down here, and the feelings of ponies that had lived in this world, I could see I was wrong. I’ll always hate the Steel Ranger, as well as the princesses for what they caused, but not everyone was bad. Dead Hooves wasn’t some crazy psychopath like lots of ponies in the Enclave stereotyped wastelanders as. Looking at everything now, were we really any better than the rest of them?

My eyes were locked to the ground when that questioned seemed to answer itself as I step on a book that seemed to still be in one piece. I lifted my hoof off of the book and was stunned at what I had seen right in front of me. Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone by A.K. Yearling, a name almost blasphemous in the Enclave for having stayed by Equestria side throughout the war. It was no secret among the Enclave that A.K. was revealed to be Daring Do herself, and as if she was the princesses or Minster Rainbow Dash anything they had about her was thrown away long ago. She is the only author in the Enclave who ponies find wrong to read, and not a single copy exists of her up there as far as I know. I should have wanted to tear the book apart, but instead I found myself opening the book in curiosity.

“What are you reading Star?” Dead Hooves said after finding me sitting on the floor with the book in front of me. I hadn’t realized how engrossed I had become in the book until that point.

“Daring Do,” I said showing her the cover. “It’s in almost perfect condition as well. You would never find one of these in the Enclave,” I could feel my face heat from embarrassment at that thought, feeling utterly ashamed. “Reading this is like abandoning the Enclave. I’m suppose to hate her, but how can I hate somepony I don’t even know?”

“That’s something only you would know,” She said as she started walking away. “I’ve never had to ask myself that question.”

I decided to put the book away for the time being and come back to it later. After what must have been another half hour of searching the first floor, I finally found something interesting underneath a desk. I ushered Dead Hooves over, and after a minute she was by my side looking at a strange device under what must have been the checkout desk for the library. On the underside of the desk was a familiar looking hoof print scanner similar to the ones that we used up in the clouds for the Enclave. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind, this was our way into the Ministry.

“Dead Hooves, put one of your hooves onto the scanner!” I commanded, getting a nod.

She put one of her front hooves onto the letting machine underneath… nothing. Dead Hooves tried again, retracting her hoof before once again placing it on the machine. Still we weren’t getting any results, and after a minute she once again retracted the hoof away. I thought about this, and almost instantly I facehooved as I realized the foalish mistake I made. Of course this damn thing wasn’t working, all her hooves were mechanically save for her back right. I let out a sigh in self-disappointment before turning to her.

“Get on your back, back legs towards the desk,” I told her.

At first I got a look of confusion, but after explaining to her my realization she did as instructed. Laying on the ground with her belly towards the ceiling, I maneuvered carefully to her hind legs, checking to make sure they were lined up. I motioned for her to wiggle forward a little, which she did with a feeling of embarrassment in her eyes. I looked to the one tan colored back hoof my sister still had, putting my own front hooves on it and making it straighten up. This wouldn’t have worked otherwise, considering that this one normal leg was a reminder of Dead Hooves paralysis, but thankfully I was able to straighten it to the point where it could touch the scanner. I watched as a green glow went across the device’s screen, a ding sounding as it turned green.

Before I could even smile I felt the ground under me move slightly, and getting out from under the desk I could hear the floor moving. After helping Dead Hooves back onto her feet we looked to see a gap large enough for a normal pony to jump down was now under the desk. Without even thinking what could be down there I crouched under the checkout desk and lowered myself down. I waiting for Dead Hooves to do the same and as we turned around we found ourselves in a much space than I had expected. Before us was a staircase leading downward, to a large computer with a purple six pointed star on it. We both moved towards the computer, seeing nothing else contained in this underground room.

“Not much of a headquarters if you ask me,” Dead Hooves commented as I booted up the computer. “Anything interesting?”

“Give me a sec,” I said as I searched through the many files, reading them. After about twenty five minutes of reading through random files I turned to Dead Hooves “This little space isn’t the entire Headquarters, apparently it’s the mainframe computer that Minister Twilight used when she had business in Manehattan. I have numerous messages from her on reasons why, but it seems like an endless checklist in reality.”

As I continued to look through I found there was some extra features to this computer, but smiled when I saw one was a location tracker. Taking out the elevation maps that Sharpshot had given me, I looked to a small device that looked like a copier you’d see on a printer. Walking over, I placed the maps on top and watched as the device scanned it into the computer. Looking to the screen I watched as a map of Equestria came up on display with a large green dot pointing at… the Statue of Friendship. Before I could ask what was going on I heard the sound of something on the dashboard open up, revealing a holotape which Dead Hooves picked up. Remembering that I had seen a holotape player on the computer earlier, I told Dead Hooves to put it in. She did as I suggested, and the recording played.

*click*

“To my beloved little soldier,

By this point you probably know everything, and I’m sorry you had to find out. I want you to know before I explain that I will always love you, no matter what. I’m your father, and to keep this hidden from you for so long was wrong, and I’m sorry for that. You should have known why I’m no longer part of the Steel Rangers, and I should have waited so long. So… here it is. Here is the reason for my exile

It all started when somepony named Twister came into Friendship city, and according to Nightshade he’s a friend. At first everything seemed fine, business like usual for the most part. Dread, who was still only a knight at the time, was being rather troublesome. He kept telling me that we shouldn’t let Twister stay, that he’s a bad pony. I didn’t listen at the time, and if I knew what was to happen later I would have.

Twister stayed, and convinced Nightshade to send a group of Steel Rangers to steal something off the Manehattan Ministry of Awesome building’s computer. I was part of that group, and the entire expedition brought up red flags. One thing specifically unnerved me: there were alicorns their as well. It’s kinda hard to explain, but something about them being there and not attacking wasn’t right. Is it wrong to judge them because of that? Probably, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling from my head.

We got the data - though we didn’t even know what it was - without any casualties, and with all the alicorns that didn’t feel right. When I got back I decided to look up exactly what the hell we had found, that feeling of unease still very present. I broke into the elder's office and searched through as many papers as possible, and I immediately was scared. You know I don’t get scared easily, but what I saw was not something I wanted to ever find out.

Nightshade is an insider, and he’s been sending all those important tech pieces and records we have found to them. He was helping them build something, and Twister was helping him get that. Than, I learned of Nebula three. Nebula three is a top secret mega spell created by the princesses themselves. It’s powerful, and from the folders that we had recovered I learned just how powerful it was. You know the story from there I think, I was caught and exiled for stepping out of line. I was given a day to gather my things and say goodbye to the others. That is where I am now, and why I am sending this to you.

No matter what you think of Dread, he’s the only one I trusted. We know that the only way to find it’s exact location is the Arcane Science hub, and since we’re descendants of employers we can open it. Dread is going to make sure Twister and Nightshade don’t get their hooves on those plans. Even if his way isn’t that of a Steel Ranger, I have my faith in him. He can only do so much though, and sooner or later Twister will find the location. We need to make sure the alicorns don’t get hold of them, no matter what.

That’s why I need you, my daughter, to stop him. Do what I couldn’t, what I am somehow afraid to do. I’m leaving this in the Arcane Science console before locking everything down. Only another descendant can open it, and you have to stop Twister and Nightshade before they do anything. Please just-

…

-Sorry, I can’t finish this. I can hear voices, familiar ones. They find me down here and this was all for nothing. You know what to do, and if I’m dead before you receive this I’m sorry for not being with you now. Just do what you have to, and keep him away from Nebula. He can’t stop himself from a challenge, or an unfinished job.

Please Dead Hooves, my one and only daughter and my brave soldier, do this for me. Remember, true courage isn’t recklessness, but the act of taking lead and showing you care.

Now… Goodbye. Sorry for not being a better father.”

*Click*

That was the last thing I found on the computer before Dead Hooves, tears streaming down her face, ran off.

Author's Notes:

Writing this chapter - especially the end of it - reminds me of how the story was originally planned to go. There was a lot of things that had been added, changed, or simply don't happen because of they way I write. Yet, out of everything that has changed in the story, Manehattan has never been one. I've always imagined Manehattan going this way, and it feels like I'm back to writing the beginning of the story. It's something truly special to write something I've been dreaming about for so long, and to have that one scene that says "your close". The message from Cider Hooves at the end of the chapter is definitely that.

Anyways please give a like and comment to show your love for the story.