I looked at Gearframe in shock, they were all dead? Everypony we had seen in the Stable had just been a hologram then? Something about this felt weird, what had happened to everypony in the Stable?

Star was the first to find her voice as every time I tried to say something nothing came out.

"What happened here?"

"There was an accident, 30 years ago," Gearframe said with a sigh. "I was still young back then and part of the maintenance team. We all fought to try and stop it from happening, but the entire Stable was flooded with poison gas except the room we were in. The other ponies, they couldn't take it anymore and they walked out into the gas. I lost them... I lost my wife, my daughter, everypony I had ever known in that accident."

Oh dear Celestia, while this hadn't been a result of anything Stable-Tec had done here, I couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Stable 117 had still lost everypony in it save for one stallion.

"I see, then you vented the gas and used the holograms to re-create the ponies," I said with a frown. "That must be why the system is glitching out, that kind of processing power must take a heavy toll on the computer."

"It was the only thing I could do," Gearframe said with a shake of his head. "I didn't want to die like the others, but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in a dead Stable either. Leaving wasn't much of an option, so I did what I had to do in order to keep Stable 117's memory alive."

"I understand," I said as I placed a hoof on his shoulder. "I lost everypony close to me in the apocalypse that put your ancestors in this Stable. If I could do something to see them one more time, I'd have done the same."

Gearframe looked at me for a long moment and nodded. "Thank you Scootaloo, that means a lot," he said with a weak smile. "I don't know what to do now though, is there even any point in continuing the illusion?"

I thought for a long moment, something was starting to bug me about the simulation, and then it hit me. "Sunshine, was she born before or after you programmed the holograms to recreate them?"

"After, Honeydew was only 13 when the accident happened," Gearframe said. "The computer combined the traits of her parents both genetically and in terms of personality to create her and the other foals."

I nodded, there was only one thing we could do now, I looked at Arc. "Arc, you were telling the truth when you said you could get the system working again right?"

"Yeah, it'll take a bit longer to compensate for the computing power required, but its do-able," she said with a nod. "I'll need some help, but we can get it done."

"You, really would do that?" Gearframe asked as he looked at me in astonishment.

"Like I said, I understand why you did it," I said with a smile. "The ponies of Stable 117 may never get to leave here, but I will do my best to make sure you survive, I promise. All of you."

Gearframe started to cry and hugged me tightly, which caught me off guard but I smiled and hugged him back. I had messed up so many Stables, it was good to be able to help just one survive.

Besides, who were we to say what constituted life? The ponies of this Stable were alive as far as I was concerned, even if they were holograms. Stable 117 was a success in my mind, and I was glad that I got a chance to make it work again.

00000

We left the two maintenance ponies to work on the hologram systems and headed out into Stable 117 proper. The Stable was strangely empty without the holograms, and I just hoped that it would be vibrant and thriving again soon.

Arc even said that with some tweaking they might be able to get the ponies that had vanished back. They'd just have to replace the power supply and increase the computing power, which is why we were looking in the Stable in hopes of finding something to help boost the power..

"Did any of you know this was the case?" Cherry asked as she looked between us.

"No, I had no idea," I said with a shake of my head.

"I suspected because of the vanishings, but I couldn't prove it," Star said with a shrug. "Especially after we didn't find anypony on the other side of the holograms."

"Yeah, I admit that was odd," Cherry said as we looked into one of the empty looking quarters. "Still, they felt so real, I didn't expect them to just be holograms."

"I know what you mean Cherry," I said as I put a wing over my friend. "Ponies deal with loss in different ways, Gearframe just wanted some piece of his life to survive, like I said I understand that."

"Would you have done the same with your friends and family if you had the technology, Scootaloo?"

I paused a little at that, what would I have done if I could have recreated Rainbow Dash with holograms? Apple Bloom? Or even Sweetie Belle most of all, would I have done it? Could I have done it or would it just have been hollow because I knew that they weren't the real thing.

I honestly had no idea, as much as I missed them, I didn't really know if I could keep up that lie forever.

"Honestly Cherry, I don't know," I finally admitted to the earth pony. "You saw what happened in 122 with the clones of the Ministry Mares, would I be any better than whoever created them? Would I be selfish if I wanted to spend the rest of my life like that? Honestly, I don't know, but I do know that I want to help Equestria right now more than anything. I helped create this mess, and this is my chance to set it right again."

Cherry smiled and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "That's what I wanted to hear Scootaloo. I know you'd say something like that and I couldn't be happier."

I smiled a little at that and didn't even care that she had kissed me. Cherry was right and I still had a job to do, Stable 117 was just another part of that job.

"So, I have a question," Star said as we checked another room. "The Enclave seems to be after something in these Stables right? That's why you checked the Overmare's terminal."

"That's right, just don't ask what it is, I'd rather keep it secret."

"I won't pry, I understand secrets," Star said with a nod. "But I do have to wonder why you don't just remove the keys from the terminals so they don't get their hooves on them."

"I wish it was that simple," I said with a sigh. "The keys are part of a special encryption that is connected between some of the Stables. If one key is removed, it unlocks that part of the encryption."

"That figures..." Star said with a sigh. "So then we just have to stop the Enclave from getting the rest of the keys."

"Easier said than done," Cherry said with a sigh. "Some Stables will just let them in and take what they want in exchange for whatever they can give the Stable. That's what happened in 48 after all."

"Yeah, but when they enter here they'll... oh horseapples," I said.

"What?"

"If they come in here while the holograms are down, they'll just take the key, no negotiations," I said and Star's eyes went wide. "Yeah, we have a big problem right now, lets just hope we can deal with it."

"Lets just hope we can find something to get the systems working again," Star said as we headed into the maintenance wing.

It took searching most of the maintenance wing but we finally found what we were looking for. Apparently Robronco had thought ahead enough that it kept some stores of equipment in a storage room, the only problem was finding it.

Arc and Gearframe got back to work on repairing the device and we headed into the Overmare's quarters to get some rest for the night. I watched as Star started to detach her cybernetic wing.

"What happened?" I asked the mare as she wiggled the stub where her wing had once been a little.

"When I was exiled, I was aboard the Nimbus," Star said. "General Cloud Chaser is very old school Enclave, he wouldn't stand for anypony trying to undermine his authority on his own ship. So after branding me, he paralyzed my wings so I couldn't fly and had me thrown off the Nimbus while it was in the air. When I hit the ground, it mangled my wing beyond repair."

I cringed a little at the thought of that, I couldn't imagine what it would be like if I had lost my wing like that. Even if I couldn't fly, it was still like losing a limb, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

"Then how did you get that wing?" Cherry asked as she nodded to the metallic wing.

"Nomad City," Star said with a light smile. "There happened to be a scouting party in the area that found me and brought me there. The pilot of the Vertibuck carried me on her back to the hospital and arranged for a cybernetics expert to build me a new wing."

"She sounds nice," I said. "Where is she now?"

"Well, not long after that she left the Vertibuck corps and entered politics, becoming the Unicorn representative on the Council," Star said with a smirk, oh, yeah that explained a lot. "Then a year after I was found, she married me."

"Wow, that's quite the story," I said with a smile as I remembered Jade, I had no idea that she had done that for Star. "Well, I'm glad everything worked out for you in the end, you're lucky."

"Well, except for having to deal with the politics side of things," Star chuckled. "But yeah, I have a good family who loves me, and I've been able to make my home on Nomad City. It hasn't been easy, especially with the Enclave coming back like this, but I'm managing."

She yawned and laid back on the couch and pulled up the covers we had found before falling asleep. I laid down next to Cherry and gave her a light smile as I draped my wing over the mare.

"Do you really think the Enclave will come here?" She asked me.

"If they want the key, they're going to come here, they just have to find it first," I said with a sigh. "I don't like the idea of them coming here either, but we don't have any way of stopping them unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless we can use the holograms to our advantage," I said thoughtfully. "It'll be tricky, but we might be able to use the holograms to fight against the Enclave."

"Maybe, it would be nice if we could make it work," Cherry said as she snuggled up to me. "Scootaloo, its not, hard for you to be this close to me, is it? I mean, because of your family..."

I paused a little, I had to admit that it wasn't always easy, I hadn't been this close to another pony since I had lost Sky Walker. The thing though was that it felt, nice to be able to stay close to another pony again... even if I was still trying to figure out just how I felt about her.

I just shook my head and held Cherry close. "Cherry, I'm not going to lie and say it isn't a little hard at times, but I'm okay with this. We both have a long journey ahead of us either together or separate, I'm just glad you feel safe with me."

Cherry smiled and nuzzled me gently before closing her eyes. "Good night Scootaloo..."

"Good night Cherry," I said as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

00000

"Hey Scootaloo, the baby's crying again..." a voice said in the dark as I woke up, it took me a moment to realize I was back in my dream world.

I could hear the sound of a foal crying in the other room over the baby monitor as me and Sweetie got out of bed. I yawned a little as we walked into the next room and Sweetie gently picked the foal up out of her crib.

I smiled down at the filly, she had an orange coat with a purple mane with two different tones. She looked up at us with purple eyes as she calmed down a little bit.

"Somepony is hungry," Sweetie said with a smile as she nuzzled our daughter gently. "Come on Sparky, lets get you fed."

Sparky? Our daughter's name was Sparky then... I couldn't help but smile a little as Sweetie set herself up so that the foal could nurse.

"She's beautiful," I finally said as Sweetie gave me a smile and placed her hoof on mine.

"Yeah, she really is," Sweetie said with a smile as she looked at me for a long moment. "What's going through your mind lately, Scootaloo?"

"Oh, I'm just thinking about things," I said softly as I squeezed her hoof a little. "About friends, family, our loved ones, what happened, what's been happening."

"The Doctor said you're doing a lot better," Sweetie said with a smile. "We did it Scootaloo, we survived the war and things are starting to return to what they were like before, you got what you wanted."

"I know, I got exactly what I wanted," I said with a smile as I kissed Sweetie softly on the lips. "I have a beautiful wife, two wonderful daughters... I couldn't be happier."

"Me neither."

We just sat there in silence for awhile as Sparky continued to nurse. I looked at the little filly for a long moment, it made it even worse that this really was just a dream because Sparky never got the chance to live because of how the war ended, how the war really ended.

I started to cry a little and Sweetie gently wiped my tears away. "What's wrong Scootaloo?"

"Its just, I'm so happy I have both of you," I said as I nuzzled Sweetie. "You're the best family a mare can ask for."
Sweetie just smiled as Sparky finished nursing. She gave me the filly and for the first time I held my daughter in my hooves, cradling her gently as she looked up at me and cooed sweetly.

"Hey there Sparky," I said with a smile as her purple eyes met mine. "My beautiful little filly."

I just sat there for the longest time holding my daughter in my hooves, Sweetie put her foreleg around me and smiled as Sparky slowly drifted off to sleep.

I don't know why I keep having these dreams or if some force out there is causing them, but thank you for this one moment. It meant more to me than anything else I've ever experienced in my life.

"We did a good job didn't we Sweetie?" I asked as I looked up at the beautiful Unicorn mare next to me.

"We certainly did," Sweetie said and kissed me softly on the lips. "I'm glad we made this work, I can't think of anypony I'd rather spend the rest of my life with."

"Neither can I..." I said softly as we gently placed the sleeping foal back into her crib. I just stood there watching her sleep before Sweetie placed a hoof on my shoulder.

"Come on, tomorrow's family appreciation day at school, you don't want to be too tired to do your Red Racer presentation do you?" Sweetie asked with a smirk.

"Oh, of course not," I said with a smile and nuzzled Sweetie before we headed back to the bedroom.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of an alarm, I bolted up out of bed as Cherry was already waking up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"What's going on?" Cherry said with a yawn. "What's that alarm?"

"I set the computer to alert us if anypony enters the entrance tunnel outside of the Stable," Star said as she was getting her weapons ready. "It might just be scavengers, but..."

"It might be the Enclave," I said, and with that we were both fully awake. "Here's hoping the tunnel is collapsed, what's the status of the hologram systems?"

"They're online but I don't know if we should turn them on to the town," Arc commented. "We haven't tested the systems yet so we don't even know if they'll be able to handle the amount of computing power we'll need."

"What about something small?" I asked. "Not an entire town of ponies but a few, maybe some defenses that can be used against the Enclave."

"That could work," Gearframe said. "At the very least it should buy us some time to think of a plan."

"Okay, we'll get on it," Arc said with a nod as she went to the terminal.
"In the meantime we'll set up some defenses, any chance you have mines or something Star?" I asked as I looked at the Pegasus.

"Yeah, I have a few, that should help," Star said with a nod as she went to get them set up.

"Okay Cherry, you and me will help get the defenses set up from in here and outside," I said as I turned to look at Cherry. "If all else fails, we'll use the escape tunnel to hide out and maybe we can get into other parts of the Stable."

She nodded as we started to get to work, I just had to hope that we'd have enough time to do this. I took a deep breath as we started to set up the lockers in the office to serve as barriers in the event of an attack.

It wasn't going to be easy, we weren't exactly in the most defensible of positions. The Stable had some defenses but the Enclave wouldn't need to do much in order to overwhelm them.

I looked around, honestly I was wondering if maybe this was the wrong place to be. If they were after the key, they'd come here first, given the Stable isn't even inhabited they might even ignore the rest of the Stable.

"Can you access the system remotely?" I asked as I looked at Gearframe.

"Yeah, sure, there's a secondary command console down in maintenance," Gearframe said. "We just have to make sure that its working up here, why do you ask?"

"Because I have an idea, it's just going to take a little bit of work," I said with a smirk as I outlined my plan. "We have to assume at this point that the Enclave knows we're in here, whoever is feeding them information probably told them that. So here's what I propose, we set up holograms of ourselves here, and let them be taken out by the Enclave, if we're lucky they'll think we're dead and leave us alone."

"That, could work," Arc admitted. "We'd just have to input the programs, but that should be easy enough. Can you do that Gearframe?"

"No problem, I'll take care of it," he said with a nod as he started to get to work on his part of the plan. "I'll throw in a few surprises of my own, they're not taking this Stable without a fight."

I smiled and nodded as we continued to set up the defenses. It was time to make it look like we were having our last stand. I just hoped the Enclave would fall for it, the holograms were realistic enough that they might.

It was time to put on a shadowplay for the Enclave.

"Does my flank really look that big?" I asked as I looked at the holographic projection of me, she wasn't activated yet, and it was strangely creepy to see a copy of myself. "I think my coat makes it look bigger than it really is."

"Your flank looks fine," Cherry said with a roll of her eyes. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm not sure this is going to work," Star said as she examined the holograms. "They look real enough, but Cloud Chaser is smarter than the other Generals. He might be able to see through them."

"Well, lets hope he doesn't," I said with a sigh as we got them all into position. "If this doesn't work, we'll figure something else out."

"I hope so," Cherry said with a nod as we started to get our gear together. "This is a gamble already and the odds aren't exactly in our favor."

"We'll manage somehow," I said with a nod. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure we'll make it out of this alive."

Cherry nodded as we left the office and navigated around the mines to start down the stairs. According to the external sensors the Enclave was getting close to tunneling through the rubble, but they probably would have to make a larger tunnel and take longer to get in here than we did, so we had time.

After what seemed like an eternity we reached the maintenance wing and entered the chief's office, locking the door behind us. Now we just had to wait, which mostly consisted of hanging around the office and reading whatever we happened to have on hoof as we remained completely quiet.

We heard the explosions even this far into the Stable as the Enclave hit the mines before it went quiet again. I hated not knowing what was going on, we were just sitting there as whatever was happening above kept happening.

"Do you think that got all of them?" Cherry whispered.

"I doubt it, we didn't have enough mines to take out as many ponies as they might've sent," I whispered back. "We'll be okay as long as they think we're dead."

She nodded and the whole room remained quiet for the longest time before suddenly the speakers above us went off. The voice that I heard sent a chill up my spine, it was cold, calculating, with a Trottingham accent to it.

At first I almost was reminded of Winter Breeze, but this was different... colder, and more calculating.

"It was a nice try little ponies, but your holograms aren't nearly enough to fool me. I know you're still in this Stable somewhere, and I will not stop until the traitors are brought before me."

"That's Cloud Chaser..." Star whispered to me. "I told you he wouldn't fall for it, he's much too smart to fall for that trick."
"Great... there goes that plan," I said with a groan.

"The key to Protocol Zeta will be removed of course, so your dirty little secret is already one step closer to being in Enclave hooves Scootaloo. Now its all up to you, are you willing to risk the lives of your companions, or will you and the Dashite with you surrender to the Enclave?"

It occurred to me at this point that he didn't even know where we were, that gave us an advantage at least. I noticed there was an intercom on the wall, so it wasn't like we couldn't talk to him, but that would be suicide at this point.

We just had to hold out hope that he wouldn't be able to find us.

"If you surrender, your friends will be allowed to go free along with any survivors of this dead Stable. The President is looking forward to overseeing your interrogation personally Scootaloo, and as for Shooting Star... well, she knows what fate awaits her already."
I really hated the way he said
that.

"What do you think the odds are that he'll let them go if we surrender?" I asked Star.

"I don't know, he's more often than not honest but he's playing some sort of new game here," Star said with a shake of her head. "We have to be careful and don't trust a word he says."

"What I'd give for a Zebra Invisibility Cloak or a StealthBuck right now," I said with a groan, then an idea hit me. "Hey Gearframe, can the holograms be programmed to cover up ponies like they do with walls and objects?"

"Sure, it would just take some tweaking to the program," Gearframe said with a nod. "What are you thinking?"

"You will have an hour to surrender before we start searching this Stable room by room for you. My soldiers have orders to kill you on sight unless you surrender, so you better use that time wisely."

There was a burst of static as he finally finished.

"Okay, here's my plan," I said. I want this room changed to look like it was when we came in, hide the three of you and we'll go surrender to Cloud Chaser. It'll at least buy you some time to escape or mount a rescue."

"Preferably the latter," Star said with a groan, it was clear she didn't like this plan. "I'd rather not be punished by Cloud Chaser right now."

"Do I even want to know what he meant?"

"Cloud Chaser has some, rather unique animals at his disposal that R&D genetics developed," Star said as she shuddered. "One such animal has a powerful venom that causes a lot of pain, but it won't kill you. In fact its magical in nature so it'll actually actively keep you alive for as long as its running through your veins as the pain slowly drives you mad, he saves it for traitors."

"Okay, yeah that doesn't sound pleasant," I said with a groan as we started working to get the holograms set up. "Lets just hope they don't figure out a way around the holograms..."

It took us most of the hour to get it set up but by the time we were done it was just me and Star standing in a seemingly empty room. I took a deep breath and hit the button on the intercom.

"General Cloud Chaser, this is Scootaloo," I said into the intercom.

"Ah, Scootaloo, I'm glad to hear from you, is Shooting Star with you?" The calm voice of the stallion said on the other end.

"Yes, she's here with me," I said as I glanced at Star. "I want your assurances that our friends will be unharmed if we surrender to you."

"You have my word they will be unharmed and will be allowed to leave the Stable once we are finished," Cloud Chaser said on the other end. "Come out into the Atrium unarmed and I'll have you escorted to the Overmare's office. If you come armed, I will flood the lower levels with poison gas."

"Understood, we'll be there," I said as the intercom clicked off, I took out my weapons and set them down as Star did the same... with considerably more weapons mind you, I swear she was like a walking arsenal.

"Are you sure about this Scootaloo?" Cherry asked as she and Arc briefly stepped out of the hologram.

"We don't have a choice, I said I'd make sure you and your filly were safe, I'm not going to let the Enclave get you," I said as I hugged Cherry gently. "I'll be okay, we'll figure something out."

Cherry nodded and hugged back. "Its just... I don't want to lose you..."

"I'll be fine Cherry, I promise, we'll see each other again soon," I said with a smile, it was a promise I hoped I could keep.

"Okay Scootaloo, I trust you," Cherry said with a nod as we released the hug after a long moment.

I nodded and headed to the door with Star. I took one last look back at my friends before they re-entered the hologram, me and Cherry locked eyes one more time and I knew that there was something I had to do if this really was going to be the last time I ever got to see her.

I turned and galloped over to the Earth pony mare and took her in my forelegs gently and kissed her on the lips. Cherry was shocked to say the least, but after a long moment she relaxed and returned the kiss.
We held it for a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity before we finally released and gazed into each other's eyes.

"What was that?" Cherry asked, her face turning red.

"Just... a thank you for being the most wonderful mare in the Wasteland," I said as my face heated up. "In case, you know..."
Cherry nodded and released the hug before heading into the hologram. I couldn't believe I had just done that...

What was I going to do now?

We reached the atrium where we were met by two Enclave soldiers dressed in power armor. They searched both of us, very thoroughly (I really hoped they were just afraid I had weapons stashed back there and weren't some kind of perverts) before we were escorted up the stairs towards the Overmare's office.

When the door opened I saw a pony I hadn't expected standing there looking at me. She (at least I assumed it was a she) was a towering Alicorn dressed in modified Enclave Power Armor that stared down at me.

It was the same Alicorn I had seen a year before on my way to Manehattan, that wasn't the kind of thing you forgot easily. She stepped aside after a moment to allow us into the Overmare's office.

Seated behind the desk was a Pegasus Stallion dressed in a white Enclave uniform. He was a dark shade of blue with a slicked back light blue mane with red eyes, unlike Serenity's red eyes, his eyes had no kindness or happiness behind them, only coldness. There was something about his eyes, as if he was examining everything, as if he was plotting something.

"So, you're the infamous Scootaloo," he said as he got to my hooves, it struck me just how tall he was as he walked over and looked at me in the eye. "I was somehow expecting you to be taller."

"Sorry to disappoint you," I said sarcastically as I tried not to look him in the eye. "You have us, what are you going to do with us?"

"You are to be taken back to the capitol to be dealt with as per the President's Orders," he said as he looked at me coldly before turning and resting his eyes on Star. "As for you, I'll be dealing with your punishment personally."

"You've been looking forward to this haven't you?" Star spat at her former CO.

"Ah, but of course, like I told you before, nopony under my command is exempt from being punished for treason," he said coldly. "Not even my own daughter."

My eyes went wide at that, daughter? Shooting Star wasn't just another Dashite, she was Cloud Chaser's daughter?

"You were hurting innocent ponies, what was I supposed to do? Follow your orders blindly until you brought the entire Wasteland down on us?" Star said with a growl. "I did what I felt was right, nothing more."

"The Enclave is the future of Equestria, we bring order but they didn't understand that, I was hoping my own flesh and blood would," Cloud Chaser said and turned to look at the soldiers. "Take them to the security office and lock them in the cells."

"Yes sir," the soldiers said as they started to lead us away from the office, I got one last brief look at the strange Alicorn who had remained strangely quiet this whole time.

Why did I get the weird feeling that something about her was familiar? Maybe it was my imagination, it wasn't like I could even see what she looked like under that power armor.

We were tossed into the cells and the doors were locked with two soldiers standing inside the office to keep an eye on us. The cells were about as comfortable as the rest of the Stable, but just our luck the cell doors were still working.

I looked over at Star, they had removed her cybernetic wing leaving her lying on the bed looking uncomfortable. We could still hear each other so at least we could talk to each other.

"So... let me guess the personal business was dealing with your father..." I said as I looked over at the younger Pegasus who just grunted in reply. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Star said with a sigh as she looked over at me. "Its not easy having a pony like that for a father."

"I can imagine," I said with a sigh. "Do Jade and Pure Heart know?"

"Yeah... I told them early on when I was dating Jade, I didn't want to lie to them about that kind of thing," Star said as she turned to look at me. "He wasn't always like this you know, before Sunshine and Rainbows he was a good father. He never tried to get us to join the military and wasn't always so serious all the time, but that all changed..."

"What happened?"

"My mother and my sister were both assigned to Neighvarro when it was attacked... they, didn't make it out alive."
Oh dear Celestia, yeah that would definitely do it. They must've died in the battle against LittlePip and her allies.

Just another consequence of war, I hated it.

"After that, everything changed," Star continued with a sigh. "Dad became more distant and poured himself into his work. I wound up aboard the Nimbus and was aboard when the rebels attacked the R&D facility. They basically conscripted me after that, which is how I wound up on the ship during the campaign in Whinneyapolis, and I couldn't take it anymore."

"I'm sorry Star, I wish there was something I could do to help," I said with a sigh, just when it seemed like the Enclave was changing a little I heard stories like this. "I just hope the Enclave will be stopped for good someday."

"Me too."

I laid back on the bed and tried to think about anything else other than the Enclave, but something kept bugging me. There was still something weird about that Alicorn, I know that I didn't remember her from my time above the clouds, but something still felt familiar about her, and I didn't like it.

"Star, do you know anything about that Alicorn that showed up?"

"Oh, you mean Tornado?" Star asked as she looked at me again and I nodded. "Honestly? Not much, she kinda showed up around the same time Winter Breeze became President, officially she's the head of her security detail I think, I don't know why she's here."

That was weird, I couldn't think of any reason for Winter Breeze to send the head of her security detail here. Maybe she wanted to make sure the key was secured, but that was the only explanation that made any sort of sense.

We just sat in silence for the longest time, I hated this, it felt more like they were forcing us to wait in anticipation for what was going to happen next instead of actually doing it. They had taken away my PipBuck so I didn't even know what time it was.

After awhile there was a burst of static over the speakers in the office followed by the same music that had been playing last time.

"Sounds like its time for another speech..." I said with a groan.

"Greetings Equestria, this is President Winter Breeze, I have come to speak to you today about a problem that has continued to plague Equestria for years," Winter Breeze said over the speakers.

"Ponies who like to give long winded speeches over the radio?" I said with a chuckle which got a laugh out of Star.

"Shut up prisoners!" One of our guards said with a glare.

"I'm of course speaking of Raiders," Winter Breeze continued. "Oh sure, some of them band together and create groups like the New Canterlot Republic and the Crimson Empire, but at their heart they are all Raiders. This scourge has been eating away at the Wasteland like a cancer, so today I ordered the systematic destruction of one such group that has been plaguing the..."

Wait, what did she mean by one such group? Had there been an attack on Junction Town? Was the NCR even still standing at this point? I looked over at Star and could tell that she was just as worried as I was.

"The Marauder Gang who's recent actions in Reino and other territories attracted the attention of the Enclave," Winter Breeze finished, I felt relief at that at least. "The leader of the Marauders has been brought to the Enclave capitol to stand trial for crimes against Equestria. I assure you my little ponies, justice will be swift, and the Marauder Gang will no longer plague Equestria."

Okay, I felt a little torn about this to be honest. I had heard about the Marauder Gang to be sure, they were a group of organized and well equipped Raiders that had been attacking the NCR and their allies for years. Heck, apparently they had gone after Silver and Clear Skies awhile back, but on the other hoof did anypony really deserve this kind of treatment?

"This is only the first taste of what the Enclave will bring to Equestria. We will not stand for Raiders, Slavers, and corrupt ponies eating away at Equestria. The Enclave stands for Equestria, we are the future, and the future is bright my little ponies. I assure you as your President, I will make sure that no foal has to fear a Raider attack again."

Wow, she really knew how to lay it on thick didn't she? The worst part was that I could understand why this would appeal to some ponies, she actually genuinely sounded like she wanted to do the right thing and change Equestria.

The question then became, what would the new Equestria be like? That was something that I didn't want to think about to be honest, while Winter Breeze's words sounded good, there was no guarantee that she'd be any better than the Enclave before.

"Join the Enclave Equestria, side with the future. We will come like a cleansing fire and burn away all of those who would threaten this great country. This is President Winter Breeze, signing off."

"Corrupted Generosity."

"Excuse me?" I asked as I looked over at Star.

"Its something that LittlePip talked about in her book," Star said with a sigh as she looked at me. "She used it to describe Red Eye and how he'd promise ponies a brighter future in return for slave labor. Its what Winter Breeze's speeches remind me of."

"Great..." I said with a groan, if Winter Breeze was anything like Red Eye, then we really would have a problem. "What do we do now?"

"Now, we wait, and hope that we get freed," Star said as she laid back in her bed. "I'm going to get some sleep, you should do the same, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

The next day they took Star away, probably to undergo that punishment that she mentioned, which just left me in the cell alone with the two guards. I didn't know how I was going to get out of this one, I had certainly worked myself into a corner at this point and I just had to hope I could figure something out.

As I stared up at the ceiling I heard the door to the office open, I looked up to see the Alicorn, Tornado walking in still dressed in her power armor.

"Leave us," she said as she looked between the two guards.

"But ma'am, General..." one of them started to say.

"I outrank him, and I'm ordering you to leave us," Tornado said as she fixed her helmeted face on the two soldiers. "Unless you would rather be punished for defying a direct order, Lieutenant."

"N-no ma'am, we'll leave," the lieutenant said shakily, he looked like he was about to pee himself, it was almost satisfying.

"Good, now you're dismissed," she said with a stomp of her hoof, which sent the two soldiers scrambling to leave the room.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" I demanded of the towering Alicorn.

"Scootaloo, its okay, its me, Vex," the Alicorn said as she suddenly shifted into a Changeling. I smiled a little, I remembered Vex from when I met him in Crystal City, I hadn't expected to run into him here, but I wasn't going to complain. "Star was worried that the Enclave may find you before you finished in Stable 117 so she asked me to stow away on the Vertibuck and infiltrate the Enclave forces."

"Oh thank you, do you know where they took Star?" I asked as Vex started to unlock the door.

"Your friends are getting ready to her now, we just need to get out of here before the real Tornado comes to get you," the Changeling said as he got it unlocked. "We just have to figure out how to get out of here and past the Enclave."

"Yeah, that's easier said than done," I said as I walked out of the cell as Vex changed into Tornado again and put a pair of hoofcuffs on me loosely. "Don't worry, I'll get you all out of here safely."

I nodded as we headed out, the two guards from before looked at us astonished.

"General Cloud Chaser wants her taken in for interrogation," "Tornado" said, the two soldiers cringed and nodded.

"Understood ma'am," they said and let us go on our way.

I cringed as we entered the residential area, we could hear the sound of a pony screaming in pain even at this distance. I guess that meant whatever they were using on Star was working.

We found Cherry, Arc, and Gearframe in one of the quarters getting some equipment together. There was a suit of power armor lying on the bed along with a dead Pegasus that they had

"Good to have you back Scootaloo," Cherry said with a smile as I checked my battle saddle.

"Good to be back, now we just have to make sure we all make it out of here," I said with a sigh. "Anypony have any ideas?"

"Well, we have one, but we needed your help to do it," Arc said and nodded to the suit of Enclave Power Armor. "It should fit you."

"Oh, that figures," I said as I checked the power armor, it was actually a little bigger than I was, but it was about my size.

"I also got this for you," Vex said as he passed me my PipBuck, I gave the Changeling a smile as I put it into my saddlebags for later.

"Thank you Vex, that'll help a lot," I said with a smile as I fit myself into the Enclave armor, it wasn't exactly comfortable, but it at least made me look like I belonged here as I adjusted it a little. "How do I look?"

"Terrifying," Arc said as I adjusted the helmet. "You're good to go."

"Here, you'll need this antivenom," Vex said as he gave me the antivenom. "Just get her out of there and to the atrium, we'll be running a diversion."

"Got it," I said as I put the antivenom in one of the slots on my armor. "I'll be back, I promise."

"Scootaloo..." Cherry said and I turned to look at her.

"Yes Cherry?"

"Be careful out there, okay?" She said with a soft smile.

I nodded and headed out the door, it was time to go.

While I got a few strange looks as I moved down the hallway towards where Star was being held, most of the ponies paid no attention to me. Wow, the Enclave really needed to consider redesigning their helmets or something because this really shouldn't be that easy to do.

I opened the door and found the room where Star was strapped to a bed writhing in pain, she had stopped screaming but she was still alive at least. There was only the one guard, so I guess they didn't think anypony would be in here.

"Hey, what are you doing in here?" The guard said as she looked at me. "My shift isn't over for another hour."

"Huh? Oh, see the General told me to come relieve you, you're needed at the office for a, performance evaluation," I said, they did those in the military right? "He said I can take over for you until the shift is over."

"My last evaluation was last month," the mare pointed out. "Why is he springing another one on me now?"

"Look, I don't know why, I'm just the messenger," I said with a shrug, this wasn't working out like I had hoped.

"I'll just have to call..." she started to say as she turned her back on me, then got shot by my energy weapon.

"Really should've just left," I said as I took out the antivenom and ran over to where Star was. "Hang on Star, I've got you..."
It took a minute for her to hold still long enough but we finally got the antivenom into her mouth. She shook for a little longer before it took effect and she fell back, breathing heavily.

She looked over at me and smirked a little. "You're a little short to be an Enclave soldier."

"Why do ponies keep calling me short," I said with a groan as I helped her get up. "Come on, lets get you into this Power Armor."

"Okay," Star said, she still looked a little out of it as I helped her into the Power Armor. "Thank you Scootaloo, I assume Vex broke you out."

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way," I said as we finally secured the power armor, we just had to hope that we could find her cybernetic wing and that nopony noticed she was missing one. "Come on, lets get going."

She nodded and we headed out of the room.

We headed for the atrium where the sound of battle was heard, whatever the distraction had been it was working better than I had expected. When we reached the entrance there was a group of holographic soldiers fighting against the Enclave forces while my friends were firing from behind cover.

"Now that's what I call a distraction," I said with a chuckle as we joined the fight, firing our battle saddles at the Enclave soldiers.

"Yeah, well, it was easy enough to program once we knew what to do," Arc said with a nod as she took out one of the soldiers. "Funny thing about holograms, they don't kill you but they'll at least put you out of commission apparently."

"Good to know," I said with a chuckle as I fired at another one of the soldiers, taking them out. "So what's the plan from here?"

"We're still working on it," Gearframe said, which made me facehoof. "We're cut off from the door at the moment, so if you have any ideas, we'd love to hear them."

I paused for a moment as I fired another pair of shots at an Enclave soldier that was getting a little too close for comfort. If our exit was cut off there really wasn't a whole lot we could do except hope that we could somehow draw them away from the door.

Oh what I would give to be able to teleport right now, that would be really useful.

What I didn't see at the time however was an Enclave sniper that was lining up a shot on me. Somepony else did though, and just as the sniper took a shot, they pushed me out of the way and took the brunt of the shot to the chest, sending us both sprawling.

Gearframe laid there on the ground with a wound in his chest, he was alive but barely. Arc took aim at the sniper and took them out, but the damage was already done.

"Come on Gearframe, you're going to be okay..." I said as I held him in my forelegs, I struggled to find a healing potion in my bags. "You've still got a lot to live for, you want to see your granddaughter again, don't you?"

"Scootaloo... its okay..." he said weakly. "I should've died... 30 years ago with the rest of my Stable... I'm nothing more than a walking corpse... been that way ever since... Nature and Honeydew died..."

"Don't think like that, you're going to be just fine, we'll get you healed!" I said in protest, I wasn't going to let this stallion die, I wasn't going to let the last survivor of Stable 117 die on me. "This is all my fault, I built these Stables and created these experiments... your death is on me..."

"No... its not..." Gearframe wheezed out as he placed his hoof on my face. "Scootaloo, you did everything you could to help me and my Stable. Promise me one thing, you'll make sure the holograms are turned back on... let Stable 117 continue to live."

"I will, I promise," I said as I started to cry. "I'll always remember you Gearframe, I promise."

"Here... take this... its... me..." he said and took out a holodisk and gave it to me before his eyes closed. "Keep... on... living... for... me, promise me..."

"I promise," I said as Gearframe took one last breath, and then went limp in my forelegs.

He was gone, the tragedy of Stable 117 had claimed its last victim.

I barely remember what happened next, there was a lot of shouting and gunfire as ponies and others swarmed into the Stable from outside. I later learned that Colonel Quill had gotten worried about us after reports had come in about the Enclave being in the area and had dispatched his troops to back us up.

The Enclave had been either killed or captured, but General Cloud Chaser and Tornado had escaped. The best guess anypony had was that Tornado had teleported the two of them out of the Stable and nopony knew where they had gone.

Finally the time came to fulfill Gearframe's last request, but first we buried him in the orchard in Stable 117. Very few ponies in Stables had ever been given that honor, and I felt that he deserved it as much as the others did.

I had Arc Light add the holodisk he had given me to the holographic system, he said it was himself, I understood what he wanted us to do with it.

"Are we ready to turn it back on?" I asked Arc.

"Yeah, its all repaired and the upgrades should hold for a long time," Arc said as she stepped back from the device.

"And the NCR will be maintaining a presence here as well, I've okayed it with Junction Town," Quill said with a nod. "Stable 117 will survive, like he would have wanted."

I nodded, but before we did that there was one more thing that had to be done. I sat down at the Overmare's desk and entered the code, I knew what the answer likely was but I had to check anyway.

The key was gone, that was two keys, probably three with Stable 14. I looked up to Arc and nodded as she turned the holograms back on.

The vibrant Stabletown had re-appeared with Bluebelle, Sunshine, and Gearframe.

"What happened? Who are these ponies?" Bluebelle asked as she saw Quill and the other NCR ponies.

"Don't worry Mayor, these are friends of ours from out of town," I said with a smile. "They're here to help your town in the event of any more problems."

"I'm Colonel Quill from the New Canterlot Republic, we're glad to extend the hoof of friendship to Stabletown in order to help," Quill said as he offered a hoof to Bluebelle.

"Thank you Colonel," Bluebelle said as she shook his hoof. "We'll be glad to have you and the NCR here."

I smiled a little as I went out to where Gearframe and Sunshine were talking with a yellow Earth Pony mare with a short green mane. She was looking a bit surprised but was hugging Sunshine and smiling.

"Hey Scootaloo, mommy and daddy are back!" Sunshine said happily as we approached.

"Its nice to meet you, your father has told me all about you," I said with a smile as I offered the mare a hoof.

"I don't understand what happened, but its nice to meet you too," Honeydew said as she shook my hoof. "Sunshine said you and your friends helped us come back."

"We did," Arc said with a nod. "We were glad to help."

"Thank you again," Gearframe said with a nod, and I nodded back sadly, it was hard to look at the old stallion now, but I knew that this was what he wanted.

"You're welcome, anything for family," I said with a smile.

"So what are you going to do with this power armor?" Gearframe asked as he looked at the armor I was wearing.

"Sell most of it probably, I might keep the battle saddle though," I said as I nodded at the twin energy rifles.

"We should probably get going," Star said, she had managed to find her wing and was flexing it at the moment. "I've got us a transport back to Nomad City."

"Aww, do you have to go?" Sunshine asked.

"Sorry Sunshine, but there are many more ponies out there that need help," I said and hugged the filly gently. "We'll be back someday, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that," Sunshine said with a smile as she hugged back.

We stayed in the Stable a little longer before heading out, the tunnel had been cleared by this point so it was just a matter of heading through the tunnels and out into the old stadium.

"When we get to Nomad City, we're heading to Ponyville," Star said as we got into the Vertibuck. "The NCR has gotten some new intel that might help uncover the mystery of how the Enclave has been hijacking the all clear signal."

"That's good, why are we going to Ponyville?" I asked.

"Not so much Ponyville as Sweet Apple Acres," Star said as we got strapped in.

"What's at Sweet Apple Acres?" Cherry asked.

"If you believe the rumors, a pony who looks a heck of a lot like Apple Bloom," Star said as the Vertibuck took off.

"Wait, WHAT?" I said in shock, I hadn't expected that at all.

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: Where'd you Purchase that? (Rank 1)
Details: You've managed to gain skill in magical energy weapons to use in combat, so you have magic guns now. You gain an extra 10 points in magical energy weapons.