"Good morning Stable 48, this is the Overmare with your morning announcements," the voice of Overmare Lilac came over my PipBuck. "As some of you are already aware, we have some new guests in our little Stable. Most of them will be part of the breeding division and incorporated into the next cycle a few months from now."

Oh wonderful, just what I needed first thing in the morning, a reminder of how screwed up my life had become since yesterday. I sighed and looked at the still sleeping form of Cherry Blossom, she actually seemed content to be in my embrace, and I had to admit it was really nice to have another pony close to me like this.

"All new Stable Dwellers and returning ponies are to report to the Atrium for your orientation at 0830. In other news, Colonel Twister of the Enclave has assured me that more Enclave citizens will be coming to the Stable in order to fulfill their end of the agreement within the week. He has the assurances of President Winter Breeze herself, which..."

"That's enough out of you," I said as I switched off my PipBuck, Cherry's eyes fluttered open as she looked up at me. "Good morning sleepyhead."

"Good morning," Cherry said and blushed a little when she realized how close we were, but she just smiled and rested her head on my chest. "Thank you Scootaloo..."

"For what?"

"For being there for me when I needed it," she said with a sad smile. "Sometimes it feels like its just me and the little one against the world, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do," I said and nuzzled her a little. "Cherry, you don't have to be alone ever again, I promise that I'll help you as best I can."

"Thanks," Cherry said with a nod. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

We stayed there for a long time, just holding each other in our forelegs. I looked into the pink eyes of the mare who's bed I had shared last night and smiled a little as I brushed a strand of her mane from out of her eyes.

"Come on, we're expected in the Atrium at 0830," I said as I released her from my embrace and went to get my clothes on as Cherry did the same.

"Do you think the others will be okay?" Cherry asked, the question made me pause for a moment, I wasn't quite sure how to answer it right away.

"I hope so," I finally said as I put my coat on. "I really hope so."

We stepped into the atrium's bottom floor where the others were already waiting. Silver wasn't looking happy as she stayed close to where Clear Skies was, the poor filly looked more scared than anything else.

I sighed a little, I was scared too to be honest, Stable 48 seemed to have survived this long but I had no idea if that was going to last. The Enclave didn't seem to be causing too much trouble in here, but that was only because the Stable likely had something they wanted.

And I was afraid to know what that something was.

"Alright, is everypony here?" A mare said as she looked between us, she was a Unicorn mare who was a light shade of purple with a white mane, she levitated a stack of papers out of her bags. "Good, good, alright I'm Violet Star, I'm in charge of the Breeder Division here in Stable 48. I'm looking at your medical scans here from Doctor Clearwater, everything seems to be in order, except for Miss. Silver..."

Uh-oh, I was afraid of this, I somehow knew this was going to come back to bite us in the flank. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Who because of her medical condition is not fit to serve in the Breeder division," Violet continued. "As such she will be assigned to Chief Blackfire with the Security division, now as Cherry Blossom will tell you this normally means that she would be separated from the filly that is in her care..."

"WHAT?" Silver shouted and I didn't blame her at all, she was about to make a run at Violet when the mare continued as if nothing had happened.

"Miss. Clear Skies will be allowed to stay with Silver in the Security Wing until she is of age," Violet finished. "You really shouldn't jump to conclusions Ms. Silver."

Silver just grumbled a little at that.

"As for the rest of you, Clear Skies will be sent to school with the other foals, and Cherry Blossom you're to help these two get, familiarized with their new duties, you are all dismissed."

Silver and Clear Skies shared a hug before they went their separate ways. I was worried all of a sudden, I didn't want anything to happen to either of them right now, I just had to hope that everything would be okay.

"Come on, lets get you two situated," Cherry said as she turned and lead us back towards the Breeder wing.

"As a rule all the breeders tend to be bisexual, but we lean towards one gender or the other," Cherry said as we entered the common room for the wing where a few other ponies were talking. "Mind you I lean towards mares and that doesn't always make a difference when the cycle comes around."

I flinched a little at that, the breeders were meant to be in order to make sure that the population of the Stable was maintained. I was starting to get the feeling that more often than not they were used for other purposes as well, which probably explained how Cherry wound up working in that brothel.

"Don't worry you two, you won't have to take on any duties until you're ready, or until your names are picked in the cycle," Cherry said. "Most of the time breeders are trained from a young age but I guess we don't have time for that."

"They could've at least put me in maintenance," Arc grumbled. "Why does Silver suddenly get preferential treatment?"

"She can't have children," I said as I remembered the conversation I had with the Doctor the day before. "So they can't use her in the breeding division, at least not for reproduction purposes."

"Oh, yeah, that would do it," Arc said with a shrug. "Wait, then what's the story between her and Clear Skies?"

"I have no idea, maybe she's adopted?" I suggested with a shrug. "Its the Wasteland, there's likely plenty of orphans out there."

"Yeah..." Arc said sadly as she shook her head. "And with the war with the Enclave, probably even more to come."

We got a quick overview of the system for the breeding cycle, I pretty much knew it already. During mating season a number of both mares and stallions from the breeding division would be selected along with ponies from the main Stable population based on genetic compatibility. Once the foals were born, they would be selected for one of the divisions and placed in its care to be trained until they were old enough to help around the Stable.

Technically speaking there was also supposed to be scouts, which Cherry mentioned briefly, however it seemed like that had started to be phased out since the Enclave arrived in the Stable. The purpose of the scouts had been to keep the immune system of the Stable Dwellers strong so that they could leave eventually.

After all, that was the point of all the Stables, to eventually leave and make their home in the Wasteland. I just hoped that the Enclave wasn't going to make that impossible for these ponies.

"And, yeah, that's about it," Cherry said. "Are there any questions?"

"Other than how we're going to get out of this mess?" Arc whispered to me.

"We'll figure it out, I promise," I said back to her before looking at Cherry. "No, that's about it, thank you Cherry."

"You're welcome," Cherry said with what seemed to me like a forced smile. "We have the most important job in Stable 48 after all don't we?"

Yeah, I'm sure that's what everypony in a division said, maybe this experiment was a mistake after all.

"Scootaloo, can I talk to you alone?" Cherry asked, which surprised me a little, but I nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'll catch up with you later Arc," I said.

"I expect her home by 2100 hours young lady," Arc said with a grin as she looked at Cherry who just blushed when she realized what Arc was suggesting.

"Very funny Arc, we're adults, we don't need a curfew!" I protested which just made the Unicorn laugh and trot off. "I swear, she's doing this to get back at me for what I said in Crystal City."

"What did you say in Crystal City?" Cherry asked, looking at me.

"Oh, I teased her a little about this mare she has a crush on," I said with a shrug, which just made the pink mare blush more. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, umm, well you see..." Cherry said nervously before trailing off a little. "Pimento wants to talk to me, he's... my foal's father, and I want you to be there, okay?"

Oh, yeah that was a very good reason, I didn't know a lot about him but I really didn't like what she had told me so far. I understood that she wanted somepony to be there with her when she talked to him, but I wasn't sure why she wanted it to be me.

Still, she was a friend and Rainbow Dash had always taught me that you should never leave a friend hanging. I smiled a little and took her hooves in mine.

"Okay Cherry, I'll go with you."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Cherry said as she hugged me tightly. "You have no idea how much this means to me!"

I smiled a little as I hugged her back, patting her gently on the back. I was happy to have the opportunity to help her out.
"So, when are we meeting him?"

"For lunch, come on, I'll show you around while we wait," Cherry said and lead me further into the Breeder wing.

I blushed a little when I caught myself staring at her flanks as she walked, they were rather nice and shapely and... darn it Arc, now you've got me thinking about her like that too! Are you happy?

After a tour of the wing we headed up the stairs to the top floor of the Atrium to go to the administration wing. This area was a lot better guarded with Enclave and Security posted outside pretty much every door as we went past.

"Why are the Enclave even interested in Stable 48?" Cherry commented out loud as we went past another stoic looking Pegasus. "We're not really that important, at least not anymore than any other Stable."

"Yeah, I'm not sure either," I lied, I knew exactly why but this wasn't the time or the place. "Maybe because of you."

"Me?"

"Your family line I mean, you're descended from Apple Bloom so that could make you an asset to the Enclave in getting access to some Stable-Tec facilities," I said with a shake of my head. "Most relatives of myself, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle are accounted for, you were the only one we didn't know about."

"Well, both of us," Cherry said and I nodded. "Do you have any descendants out there Scootaloo?"

"I do, she's a wild little Pegasus filly from the Crystal Wasteland," I said quietly once I was sure I was out of hearing distance of anypony from the Enclave. "She's a good pony, I kind of wish she was with me right now sometimes, but she has ponies that she needs to be with."

Cherry smiled a little at that. "She sounds like fun, I'll have to meet her when we get out of this nightmare."

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan, we just have to figure out how we're going to get out of here first," I said with a shake of my head. "Any chance Pimento can help with that?"

"I doubt it," Cherry said with a shrug as we stopped in front of a door. "Here we are..."

I looked at her and placed my hoof on her's, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "It'll be okay Cherry, I promise I'll be here every minute we're in there."

She smiled and nodded as she knocked on the door. After a minute the door opened to reveal an Enclave soldier dressed in a uniform instead of their power armor, she looked us up and down for a moment before calling into the room.

"Your guest has arrived, but she brought the Dashite," she said, which made me cringe a little. "Should we let them in?"

"Oh let them in, she's disarmed, she can't do any harm to you," a stallion's voice said from inside the room. "You're way too paranoid."

The soldier just rolled her eyes and ushered us in, we were in a set of quarters that were fairly lavishly decorated. Seated at a table was a Unicorn stallion with a dark green coat and a yellow mane and tail that looked at us with a smile.

"Cherry, its so good to see you again," he said with a smile as Cherry took a seat at the table. "And who's this, your bodyguard? Marefriend perhaps? What were you up to while you were out there?"

"That's none of your business," Cherry grumbled. "I'm only here to help her out."

"I see, I see, well why don't you two get a chair for our guest," Pimento said as he gestured towards the two Enclave soldiers who grumbled and went to get a chair. "I apologize for the Enclave's treatment of you Ms. Scootaloo."

"Its fine, they've left me alone for the most part," I said. "Well other than a few dirty looks."

"The Enclave have been a great help to us in Stable 48," Pimento said as the soldiers set out a chair for me and I took a seat.

"I can see that," I commented as I looked around and the food was set out. "I just have to know, what did they want in return?"

"Nothing but loyalty and access to some files, genetic files mostly," Pimento said with a shrug. "President Winter Breeze herself came here to oversee the transition."

I froze for a moment as my eyes went wide, Winter Breeze had come here? To Stable 48? I really wish I could come up with one of those creative curses LittlePip liked to do so much right now.

"The President was here, why?" Cherry asked as I tried to piece things together.

"I don't know, she spoke with my mother for a few hours, took a tour of the Stable, met some of the mares like your friend Holly, and then left without another word," Pimento said with a shrug. "She seemed friendly enough."

"And how did you first make contact with the Enclave?" I asked. "Did you open the door and send a radio call out or what?"

"No, that's the weird part, they came to us," Pimento said with a shrug. "They just showed up one day and opened the Stable door and offered us whatever we wanted in return for what I told you they took."

"So, the Overmare sold the loyalty of the Stable," Cherry said with a sigh as she took a bite of food. "I didn't know the situation had become that desperate."

"Well, why don't we ask the Vice President of Stable-Tec, what was your plan for the eventuality that there would need to be an injection of new DNA for the Stable to survive?" Pimento asked as he looked at me.

"Well, every eventuality was considered, at that point you were either to use the scouting teams to reproduce with outsiders," I said. "Or you'd abandon the Stable altogether, Cherry here actually had the right idea."

"I see," Pimento said as he shot Cherry a look. "Still, she put our foal at unnecessary risk, and she never should have..."

"I didn't want her to be raised to be like you!" Cherry said as she slammed her forehooves down on the table in front of her. "I didn't even want to be mated with you, but this stupid system doesn't care about sexuality. You're nothing more than a stuck up mamma's boy who's had everything given to him his whole life, and I wanted better for my foal! Now you're nothing more than a tool for the Enclave, you disgust me."

Pimento just stared at the pink mare in shock, it was clear that nopony had ever dared talk to him like that. I smirked a little, I liked Cherry, she had a certain style to her that made her an interesting mare.

"Well, umm... err..." Pimento said nervously, it was clear he was trying to figure out how to recover from that. "Well, you see we should... umm..."

"Forget it, come on Scootaloo, lets get out of here before he makes me vomit," Cherry said as we got up and headed out of the room.

"Are you okay?" I asked her once we were a little ways down the hall.

"I'll be fine," Cherry said with a sigh. "I've just been having a hard time, sometimes it feels like everypony just wants to use me for sex."

"I don't."

"I know you don't Scootaloo," Cherry said with a soft smile. "You're one of the good ones, that means a lot to me."

I smiled and gave her a hug. I couldn't help but feel a little guilty because I had been the one to create this experiment and put her in this position, but I was happy that she had managed to free herself from it.

Now I just had to make sure she stayed free.

"So, did you two behave yourselves? Arc asked as we joined the others at the Stable's saloon for dinner that evening.

"We didn't do anything like that," I said as my face turned red again. "Cherry just wanted me to help her with something is all."

"Yeah, that's all," Cherry said with a blush as we waited for our food. "So, how was school today Clear?"

"It was okay I guess, it was kind of weird really, I guess I just wasn't expecting it to be so..." Clear started to say, trying to think of the right words.

"Explicit?" Cherry asked and she nodded. "Well, unfortunately the whole system in Stable 48 is supposed to be geared towards educating foals to do their selected job from a young age. Its not really designed to bring in outsiders for the various divisions, which can make things awkward."

"Chief Blackfire just went ahead and put me on duty, I guess because of my experience on the surface," Silver said with a shrug. "Mind you Security doesn't really do much other than protect the lower levels these days because the Enclave handles most of it."

Yeah, that figured, of course the Enclave would want to keep things more under their control. I was starting to wonder how
much authority even the Overmare really had anymore.

"Yeah, things have changed a lot since I was last here," Cherry said with a sigh as she took a bite of her food. "I don't like it, there are good ponies in this Stable that don't deserve to be subjected to life under the Enclave."

Well, I was glad that at least one pony had gotten the message. I smiled a little and wrapped my foreleg comfortingly around Cherry, I half expected Arc to make a snide comment, but she was surprisingly quiet.

She had to be thinking about Caramel Corn right now, we still had no idea where she was. I had briefly considered the possibility that her PipBuck tag could be tracked, but that would require us to travel to Stable 66, and that wasn't possible at the moment, plus there was no guarantee that it would even work.

I sighed a little and gave Arc a reassuring smile.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Dashite," a stallion's voice said and we looked up to see a rough looking Pegasus stallion dressed in an Enclave uniform glaring at me. "I'd have thought you'd have enough sense to stay in your wing with the other brood mares."

"Yeah, because if there's one thing I'm known for its having a lot of sense..." I muttered under my breath before speaking up again. "What do you want? I'm not in the mood for dealing with you right now."

"Well too bad," he said with a sneer as he grabbed me. "I'll bet I can get it arranged to get you in the cycle, I'd love to get to spend as much time torturing you as I could you traitor!"

"So what, 30 seconds?" I said with a wicked smirk. "And that's if you could even find your stallionhood."

"What's that supposed to... HEY!"

"I see your brain is even smaller," I said with a smirk. "Took a minute to register huh? I guess the Enclave Remnant doesn't recruit ponies for their brains."

"Oh that's it you little bitch, I'm gonna..." the stallion started to say when he felt my hind hoof connect with his stallionhood, he released me and fell over in pain.

"Don't bother us again or next time I'll geld you instead," I said with a growl that made the stallion whimper and shamble off.

"Remind me to stay on your good side Scootaloo," Silver said with a chuckle. "Though I'm worried that the Enclave may cause a problem because of that."

"Yeah, they probably will," I said with a sigh as I returned to my seat and took another bite of food. "Lets just hope this situation will work in our favor for once."

The others nodded and we continued eating.

It didn't take long for the Enclave's response, as soon as we left the Saloon we were approached by two members of Stable Security. They said that I was to be escorted to the Overmare's office.

I told the others that I'd catch up with them again later, but I had to admit I was a little worried about what was awaiting me in the office as we walked towards it. The two security ponies didn't say a word as we headed up the stairs and into the administration wing, which left me alone with my thoughts.

The incident had been completely unprovoked and the stallion had threatened and clearly attempted to rape me, so I could easily argue self defense. There were witnesses like my friends and other ponies that were in the Saloon at the time, maybe everything would be okay, right?

I reached the door to the Overmare's office and was ushered in where Overmare Lilac and a Pegasus stallion dressed in power armor that covered all but his head is waiting along with the stallion from the saloon.

"Miss. Scootaloo, I have been informed of the recent incident in the Saloon," Lilac said as she folded her forehooves in front of her. "Private Updraft has informed me of what happened, however I am willing to hear your side of the story."

"Against my better judgment," the Pegasus stallion commented, though he shot a glare at the Private. "The Enclave is however interested in maintaining good relations with the ponies in Stable 48."

"But Colonel, she's..." Updraft started to protest.

"I am aware of who she is Private," the Colonel said, this must be Colonel Twister the pony that was mentioned before by Violet Star. "The President has stated that she is to be treated like anypony else in the Stable until she says otherwise."

Okay, that surprised me a bit, why would the President of the Enclave care about what happened to me? Something about all of this smelled fishy, but I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth at this point.

I took a deep breath and started talking. "I was in the Saloon with my friends when Private Updraft approached us. He threatened to torture me and use me when the breeding cycle began. Then he grabbed me and threatened to rape me before..."

"Before you assaulted me!"

"Is this true Scootaloo?" Lilac asked as she and Twister looked at me.

"If he means did I kick him, I did," I said. "But he was trying to attack me, I acted out of self defense against an unprovoked attack."

"THAT'S ABSURD!" Updraft protested. "I WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING!"

"Really, because we have a witness that says otherwise," Lilac said and Pimento came into the room, making Updraft's eyes go wide. "Why don't you tell us what you saw, Pimento?"

"This is highly irregular..." Twister said.

"He's my son, I trust him," Lilac said.

I gulped a little, I just had to hope that he was going to tell the truth.

"He tried to attack her," Pimento said simply. "She wasn't doing anything to provoke him at all, he just went up to her table and started harassing her."

"Do we need more witnesses Colonel, or are you satisfied?" Lilac said as she looked at the Colonel for a long moment.

"Fine, I'm satisfied," Twister said with a grumble. "Private you are suspended until further notice and confined to your quarters pending a military tribunal. You are to report to your quarters immediately, these two will make sure that this is carried out."

Updraft grumbled and was taken away by the Security ponies that had escorted me to the office with Twister close behind after shooting one more look my way. I was a bit surprised by what had happened, but at least it helped me.

"He didn't hurt you did he?" A voice asked and it took me a moment to realize it was Pimento talking to me.

"Just my pride, I'll be okay," I said. "Thank you for your help back there."

"You're welcome," he said. "Do you mind if I escort you back to the Breeder wing?"

"Uh, sure..." I said and we walked out together. "You're, not exactly what I expected I have to admit."

"What Cherry said earlier made me think," he said quietly. "She's not wrong, the Enclave has left their citizens behind for breeding, but there's a condition. Any children born here are to be raised on their ideals and not on ours. Its made some ponies in administration, uneasy about the agreement, but they've kept their word so far."

"They certainly have," I said, which surprised me, the Enclave didn't strike me as being honest. "I wonder why."

"I don't know, it almost feels like they're playing a bigger game," Pimento said with a shake of his head. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to give you more information, the Enclave has been secretive."

We came in for a stopping outside the Breeder Wing, he turned and looked at me for a moment.

"Scootaloo, I don't know what kind of relationship you and Cherry have..."

"We're just friends, I swear," I said, blushing deeply at the implication. "I mean she's a wonderful mare, but..."

"I get it, I'm glad she found a friend like you," Pimento said with a smile as he gave me a nod. "Just, tell her she was right, and that I'm sorry. Tell her, she was the smart one, we all should've left like you said."

I looked at him for a moment and nodded in understanding. "Okay Pimento, I'll tell her."

"Thank you Scootaloo."

"Don't thank me yet, we still have a long way to go," I said before I headed into the breeder wing.

"You're joking, right, Pimento really said that?" Cherry asked as we met up in our shared quarters.

"He did, I think he's starting to change his mind about what's been going on," I said with a sigh as I laid back on the bed and stretched my wings out. "This might help us really, we could use all the help we can get to make it out of here."

"Yeah, I know," Cherry said as she placed a hoof on her belly. "Its strange, most ponies in here don't even think about this kind of thing. We're just to reproduce, to keep the population maintained and, well, entertained. I've never heard of another mare who did what I did."

"Change isn't created by ponies who stay and maintain the status quo," I said with a smile. "Its created by ponies who are brave enough to challenge what they believe is wrong and stand for what is right."

Cherry smiled at me and got to her hooves and trotted over to my bed. "Like you did, Dashite?"

"Yeah, like I did, lets hope that you don't wind up the same way," I said as I looked at her. "I left my family behind because I was exiled... I had a husband, a daughter, good ponies that deserved better than what I gave them."

"I'm sure you did fine," Cherry said as she nuzzled me gently and laid down next to me. "You told me about your descendant remember? If she doesn't serve the Enclave, then maybe you did something right."

I smiled a little and nodded as I wrapped my wings gently around the pink mare again. "Yeah, I'd like to think I did... but still I wish I had been there to see my daughter grow up, never give up on your family Cherry, family is the most important thing in the world."

Cherry smiled as she wrapped her forelegs around me gently and smiled. "Scootaloo, I don't know if we'll ever be more than friends, but... I want you to help me with my daughter, I don't want to do this alone, will you be her godmother?"

I was a bit surprised by the request, in all my time here, even after I had met Serenity I hadn't really thought of the idea of raising a foal again. Cherry had made quite the request, because she trusted me with the most important thing in Equestria to her.

I smiled and hugged her. "I'll do it Cherry, I'll help you take care of her I promise. You're my friend, and I promise that I'll be there for you, both of you."

Cherry smiled and closed her eyes as we held each other. "Is it okay, if we stay like this for another night?"

"We can sleep like this as often as you want," I said with a smile as she rested her head on my chest.

I drifted off to sleep, enjoying the feeling of warmth as I held the mare close to me. The world was changing for both of us, but for this one moment we were there for one another.

And it was wonderful.

The next morning we all met up again for breakfast, we didn't have a lot of time before Silver and Clear had to go so we had to talk fast and quietly in order to formulate a plan.

"Okay, the Overmare usually takes rounds around the Stable at 1400," Cherry said quietly. "She likes to do a sort of daily inspection to make sure that everything is running smoothly in the Stable."

"If we can get Pimento to help us get into the office, I can get access to the Overmare's terminal," I continued. "Our best bet is to use the escape tunnel in the office, it'll take us right to the Stable door, but it'll be guarded."

"Which is where I come in," Silver picked up. "Our weapons are in lock-up in the Security wing. Because of the Enclave presence things are a bit lax in there so I should be able to get the weapons and meet you at the Stable door with Clear Skies."

"And I can get the door to the office jammed so tight it'll take hours to get through," Arc finished.

"We just have to hope this works," I finished as I looked at the map of the Stable in my PipBuck, this was going to be a dangerous operation but we could pull it off if we all worked together.

The first major obstacle was going to be managing to get Pimento to help us, but if what he told me the night before was any indication that should be easy. We just had to make sure that we laid low for the next few hours.

"Clear, are you going to be okay going to class for a little longer?" I asked the filly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry about me," Clear said with a smile. "Besides, this is nothing compared to being on the run from the Marauder Gang."

"I'm really going to have to ask you two what your story is someday," Arc said with a chuckle as the Bounty Hunter and her daughter got up.

"Believe me, its quite the story," Silver said with a smirk as she ruffled the filly's mane. "Don't worry about us, we'll be fine, we've survived way worse than this."

"Okay, but still be careful," I said and they nodded before heading out of the common area where we were meeting. "I hope this works, we've got a lot of variables out of our control in this plan."

"It'll work," Cherry said and Arc nodded.

I nodded, it was worth a try at least, we just had to hope that we could make it to the Stable door without much problem. This was going to be one of the trickiest things I had ever had to do, and I wasn't about to give up just because it was hard.

I looked at Cherry and then at Arc, we weren't just friends the three of us, we had become more like a family. I smiled a little, it reminded me so much of the Crusaders back before the war, always trying to get in or out of trouble just to reach our goal. Even after the war began and we started building the Stables, we had a bond that couldn't be broken easily, even by time or the apocalypse.

Still, I missed them so much, but it wasn't the time to dwell on that right now. Right now was the time for action as we prepared to escape Stable 48.

"Come on, we still have a few hours to prepare, lets get going," I said and we headed out of the saloon.

"Its amazing this place is still standing," Arc commented as we went past another damaged section of the Stable. "I almost wish I could stay, I could help with the maintenance on this place."

"Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon," I said. "Besides, it'll be fine, this place does at least have a good maintenance team."

"Yeah, there is that," Arc said as we rounded another corner, we were in the lowest levels of the Stable looking for the tools we were going to need in order to do this job. "Are you sure we're going the right way to get to where she's working?"

"Yeah, are you sure that this mare will be able to help us?" I asked Cherry who was leading the way.

"Oh yeah, Tinker's a good pony," Cherry said. "She tends to be a regular for me, well tended to be before I left I mean. She kind of owes me and isn't very fond of the system either."

"Let me guess, she got picked for the breeding cycle too and isn't into stallions?" I asked, wow I really didn't think this particular experiment through very well did I.

"Three years in a row," Cherry said with a shake of her head. "Her foals wound up in Medical and Breeding so she doesn't even get to see them except on the occasions when she goes there."

"You sure know a lot about the ponies in this Stable," Arc commented.

"Yeah, its part of the job, we're half breeder and half therapist," Cherry said as she looked back at us. "Sometimes they don't even want sex, they just want somepony to talk to who isn't in their own division."

Wow, I didn't even think of that, that was actually an interesting point. Therapy was technically supposed to fall under medical, but hey, if it works for them. I almost wished there was some way I could just shut this whole experiment down and let them live like normal ponies, but they had lived their entire lives like this.

I just had to hope that more ponies would decide they didn't want to live under the system anymore. I couldn't impose my will on this Stable, well, again, or I would be no better than the Enclave was.

"Okay, she's just up ahead, let me go talk to her alone," Cherry said as we came to a stop and she walked around a corner to go talk to Tinker.

"So, how far did you two get last night?" Arc asked with a smirk as she looked at me.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said blushing deeply. "We just spent the night in bed together because..."

Oh dear Celestia I just told Arc Light I slept in the same bed as Cherry, I was never going to live this down now!

"Oh really, you two slept together?" Arc said with a smile. "So, how is she in bed? I mean she's been trained from foalhood to..."

"We didn't do anything like that!" I protested as my face turned warm. "Cherry's just been through a lot lately and it helps her sleep and be comfortable. Don't read too much into it, we just held each other I swear!"

"Okay, okay, you don't have to be like that," Arc said with a chuckle. "Really, I think you two would make a cute couple and you clearly care about her."

I blushed at that, she wasn't wrong but I hadn't really thought about being more than friends with Cherry, except when Arc's teasing made me think about it. She was smart, funny, caring, and she didn't care about what I had done in the past. I almost wanted to consider it, but I wasn't sure if I was ready for another relationship.

Before we could dwell on it further Cherry came around the corner with a Unicorn mare with white fur and a light grey mane and tail with a cutie mark of a wrench. She was levitating a tool kit and gave us a nod.

"Here, this should be everything you need," she says and levitates the tools over to Arc Light who put them in her saddle bags. "Do you know what you're doing?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Tinker looked between the three of us for a moment before sighing. "I wish I could go with you but things aren't that easy for me."

I paused for a moment, I couldn't exactly guarantee the safety of all the ponies that wanted to escape from Stable 48 could I? I noticed that Tinker had the same bulge Cherry did, another expectant mother that was trapped in a system that I had created.

"Tinker, if you can make it to the Stable door at 1400 hours, we'll help you and your foal escape," I finally said. "I can't guarantee you'll make it out, but I promise we'll at least try our best to help you do so. Just don't go telling everypony, we need to keep this a secret if we want to make it out of here."

Tinker smiled a little and looked at Cherry. "You were right, she is a good one."

"She certainly is."

"Alright, I'll be there," Tinker said with a smile before heading off towards where she had come from.

"Are you sure we can get another pony out of here?" Arc whispered as we started back up the stairs.

"I hope so," I answered. "Just as long as she doesn't go crazy, we're already taking a big risk on this alone."

"You're kidding, right? You actually want to escape this place today?" Pimento asked as we outlined our plan to make it out of the Stable. "That's crazy."

"We don't have much of a choice, the NCR needs to know what's going on here," I said with a shake of my head. "The Enclave isn't just a problem here, they're threatening ponies everywhere. If the Republic knows what's going on, we might be able to stop it from happening in another Stable or Settlement."

"I see what you mean," Pimento said with a sigh. "Alright, I'll help you, but I'm going with you."

"Oh great, does anypony not want to come with us?" Arc said with a groan as she facehooved. "Are we just going to take the entire Stable with us?"

"Lets try not to please," I said with a groan, knowing my luck we'd probably have to. "We don't want to jinx it. Are you going to be able to get us into your mother's office?"

"Don't worry about it, I've been sneaking into her office since I was a colt," Pimento said with a smirk. "Don't worry, getting into the office is the easy part."

"Thank you Pimento, this really means a lot to us," Cherry said with a smile as I checked the time on my PipBuck, it was almost time. "Your mother is going on a tour of the Stable like usual, right?"

"You're welcome, and yes she should be," Pimento said as he looked at me for a moment. "I know what the Enclave has told us about you Scootaloo, they call you a traitor because of what you did in the past, what you did with the Stables like 48. I just have one question, why?"

"To save lives, to give Equestria the best chance I could," I said with a sigh, I expected that this wasn't the last time I'd have to explain it. "Each Stable was supposed to provide the best opportunity possible to learn from the mistakes of the past, sometimes it feels like I just kept making new ones."

"Alright, that's good enough for me," Pimento said as he opened the door and checked outside. "Come on, the Enclave is on guard rotation, lets get going."

We nodded and headed out of the room after him.

True to his word, the door was easy enough to unlock while the guards were away, so we slipped in unnoticed. While Arc Light started on the door I walked over to the terminal and started working.

"I don't know what the password is," Pimento said as I kept typing.

"Its okay, I have the master password for all Stable terminals," I said as I typed my password into the terminal. "Alright, lets see here..."

I glanced at the others, Cherry and Pimento were at the window looking out into the Stable to keep watch while Arc continued to work. I focused back on the terminal and input commands to access the code.

Stable 48 was important for another reason, I had to make sure that this wasn't compromised especially with the fact that Winter Breeze had been here, if this fell into the wrong hooves...

TIME SINCE LAST ACCESS: TWO MONTHS, FOURTEEN DAYS.

Oh horseapples, that was not what I wanted to learn at all. That was too recent to be anything other than while the Enclave was here.

"Scootaloo, Lilac is coming," Cherry said.

"I thought we had more time," I said.

"I guess not, are you any closer to getting us out of here?" Cherry asked.

"Almost," I said as I turned my attention back to the Terminal screen, I was trying not to look more afraid than I felt.

FAILSAFE PROTOCOL: ACTIVE.
PROTOCOL ZETA: OFFLINE
KEY: NOT PRESENT

No, no, no! How could she even know about the key and how to access it? What was going on?

"Pimento, what did Winter Breeze want here?" I asked as I looked at the stallion.

"I don't know, she connected to the terminal and downloaded some program into a PipBuck, I swear, that's all I know!"

Crap, that meant she had one of the keys, and that was a major problem. However as long as she didn't have all six of them and couldn't access Protocol Zeta, she wouldn't be able to use it.

Okay, I needed to stop freaking out so much, everything was going to be okay, this was probably just a fluke. I went back into the terminal and re-accessed the main menu, I selected the option to open up the tunnel and the desk slid open revealing the passage.

"Come on, lets get out of here," I said as the banging on the door began and we headed down into the passage, closing it behind us.

The passage was eerily quiet as we headed towards the door on the other end. A million thoughts were going through my mind right now, and none of them were particularly good. Something about all of this felt weird, Winter Breeze's behavior wasn't quite what I had expected out of the Enclave's leader.

If she had come to Stable 48 looking for the key then she had exactly what she needed, why did she leave soldiers in the Stable in order to help? It almost seemed like the Enclave was acting differently somehow, sure they were aggressive, but it seemed like they were doing more than just moving in and killing anypony that got in their way.

Then, was Stable 48 the exception or the rule? Something about all of this felt weird, and I wasn't sure I liked it, especially if the Enclave actually was being somewhat honest. I had no idea, but honestly I was scared either way.
If the Enclave was changing, they were going to be unpredictable.

"Okay, if we timed this right, Silver, Clear, and Tinker will be on the other side of this door," I said as we reached the door on the other end of the corridor and opened it up.

And we found ourselves in the middle of a firefight, me and my big muzzle.

"Well, nice to see your part of the plan is going so well," I said sarcastically as Silver passed us our weapons and we moved behind the rough cover she had made.

"This isn't the time for sarcasm Scootaloo," Silver said with a groan as she levitated her rifle over the barrier and shot at the Enclave soldiers. "Hey maintenance pony, what's the door looking like?"

"This'll take a minute, I've never tried to open one of these things before!" Tinker shouted from behind the console where she was working at her PipBuck furiously.

I positioned one of my rifles and shot at the Enclave soldiers, at least they weren't sending Stable Security after us, that was a good sign. I noticed that there were two dead soldiers, they must've been the guards that had to be taken out, which of course alerted the rest to their presence.

I kept firing, taking out another soldier as I did, I just had to hope that Tinker would be able to open it up quickly. I ducked out of the way of another energy shot and passed one of my rifles over to Cherry.

"You're kidding right?" She asked.

"You're going to have to do it eventually," I said as I took another shot at the Enclave soldiers. "It'll be okay, just point and shoot."

Cherry nodded and lined up a shot, taking out one of the soldiers with a headshot. The Enclave were starting to pull back a little at this point. There was the sound of metal scraping against metal as the door opened up behind us.

"I've got it, come on!" Tinker called out as we kept firing at the Enclave soldiers and backed out through the gear shaped door. I hit a button on the outside console and the door shut just as soon as it had opened.

We had made it out alive.

We managed to fight our way through what few Enclave soldiers there were outside the Stable and after a long trek through the woods and mountains, we found ourselves reaching the outskirts of Reino.

When we reached the NCR embassy we were exhausted, Clear Skies was asleep and resting on Silver's back as Henry came out to greet us with Schooner.

"Oh thank the great egg you're okay!" Henry said as we were ushered into the embassy. "What happened in there? Who are those two?"

I told her what happened as Silver and Clear Skies headed towards the Bounty Hunter Guild. Henry was shocked when I told her about what was happening with the Enclave in Stable 48 and she promised to pass on the message to the NCR and get us some transport as soon as possible.

I smiled a little as I laid down on the bed and looked at Cherry and Arc Light.

"Don't say one word Arc," I said as Cherry laid down over me, resting her head on my chest and sighing happily.

"Okay, okay, I won't tease you and your marefriend tonight," Arc said with a smirk as she laid down on the bed.

"I'm too tired to complain about this..." I said with a groan. I just wrapped my wings around Cherry gently and drifted off to sleep, I felt like I deserved it after what we had been through.

The next day came way too soon for my tastes, I yawned and stretched out as we headed back outside. Henry told us that our transportation had arrived, so I figured it was probably a Vertibuck.

Well, I wasn't wrong, there was a Vertibuck, but floating above us was the massive shadow of Nomad City. Okay, that's not quite what I was expecting, but at least we were going in style.

"What is that thing?" Cherry asked as she stared up at the massive flying city.

"Well Cherry, that's Nomad City, its a flying city that moves across Equestria," I said with a light smile. "Come on, lets get aboard."

We got aboard the Vertibuck and it flew off towards the nearest hangar.

"Quite the group you've picked up here," Vanilla said with a chuckle as she looked over the group that had come with us to Nomad City. We had all met up at the park in the city's center in order to regroup and figure out where to go next.

"Yeah, it really is," I said with a light chuckle as I saw Serenity, Pure Heart, and Clear Skies playing together. "How are things going in the rest of Equestria?"

"Not well, the Enclave has been using hit and run tactics wherever they can, they don't stay long enough to do more than damage our settlements and take what they can," Vanilla said with a shake of her head. "I'm guessing Stable 48 didn't quite pan out as you had hoped."

"The Enclave's basically taken it over," I said with a sigh. "They've gotten the loyalty of the Stable Dwellers in exchange for breeding stock and they wanted to keep us there for more breeding. We were lucky to make it out of there."

"Yeah," Vanilla said. "When we heard about that from the NCR Serenity wanted to go in after you."

I breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't done that. I couldn't imagine what would happen if Serenity was found by the Enclave.

"Alright, so what's next, are we heading back to Junction Town?"

"No actually, we're heading south," Vanilla said. "We've picked up a radio broadcast from another Stable that's offering to assist in taking on the Enclave."

"Well, that's good," I said as I waved to Cherry as she approached. "What Stable?"

"Stable 122," Vanilla said which surprised me a little.

"Interesting, Stable 122 was a population experiment, I wonder why they're broadcasting a message now," I said as I thought about what was waiting for us in Stable 122. "Do they seem to be in any danger?"

"No, like I said they want to help as best they can," Vanilla said with a shrug. "I don't think the Enclave is involved in this one at least."

"Yeah, you're probably right," I said as I stretched out a little and Cherry sat down next to us. "Hey Cherry, how's Pimento and Tinker settling in?"

"Fine, they've already got places to stay in Temporary Housing," Cherry said with a nod. "Scootaloo, there's something I wanted to ask you, I've been thinking about this for awhile, and I wanted to make it official. Would it be okay if I traveled with you and Arc Light? I know I won't be a lot of help and given my condition I might be a bit of a burden, but..."

"Cherry, you don't have to be so hard on yourself," I said with a smile as I hugged the earth pony gently. "You'll do fine, we'll help you learn how to fight and you'll never be a burden, I promise. I'd be happy to have you come along."

Cherry smiled and hugged back. "Thank you Scootaloo, that means a lot, I'll do my best to help you out."

"You're welcome Cherry," I said with a smile as I held her close.

"Aww, you two are so cute together," Vanilla said.

"Don't you start too Vanilla..." I said with a groan which just made the Unicorn laugh.

I smiled a little, it was nice to be able to have a few days to just relax before we reached Stable 122. There was still a lot of work to be done before Equestria was safe from the Enclave, but it was all going to be worth it in the end, right?

I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the moment, there would be time to worry about the Enclave tomorrow.

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: I Prefer to be Called a Hacker (Rank 2)
Details: You've gained a higher skill in hacking from your experience with terminals. You can now unlock expert level terminals.