There were more bodies further into the Stable, each one showed either bullet wounds or energy weapon wounds. There had been some sort of fight here, and it looked like the Stable Dwellers had lost.

"This is all Stable Security," I said as I looked back at Arc Light who was scanning the corpses as if trying to look for any familiar faces. "Did you know any of them?"

"A couple sure," Arc said softly. "I mean I recognize all of them, small community and all that but I only really knew two of them... why did the Enclave do this?"

"Why do the Enclave do anything?" I asked with a sigh as we checked the dead Enclave soldiers for any equipment, there wasn't a lot left. "They probably wanted something from Stable 66."

"I just hope we find somepony alive in here..." Arc said softly as Schooner whimpered next to her and nuzzled the Unicorn gently.

I couldn't imagine what she was going through... well okay I kind of imagine, this would be like if I found Ponyville after it had been attacked like this. I sighed a little and hugged Arc gently.

"I'm sorry Arc, I promise we'll make the Enclave pay for what they did here," I said reassuringly. "We'll figure out what they did."

As we walked forward into the smaller Atrium that had been built for Stable 66, the Stable was much smaller than the other Stables because of the way we had constructed it, and I was starting to see that it had its problems.

Arc had come from here, this was where she was raised, though at least as we entered the atrium there seemed to be less corpses. Actually it seemed most of the fighting had been limited to the entrance.

"Maybe that means ponies survived," Cherry said hopefully.

"Yeah, but where are they?" Arc asked with a sigh, I didn't have an answer to that and I wasn't sure if I really wanted to
know.

We started searching the Stable, there wasn't a whole lot inside the Stable just more rooms that were empty. The whole Stable had been abandoned and I didn't know why, but as we searched the saloon we found something odd.

There were some signs of habitation, and they looked pretty recent too, somepony was still alive in Stable 66. Maybe it was a survivor, I checked my EFS but I didn't really see anything in the immediate area.

"Lets keep on our guard," I said and the others nodded as we started searching around the Stable.

I checked the Overmare's office first and after inputting my master password I pulled up the logs that had been left behind. There was the usual really, not a lot had happened out of the ordinary, but I still pulled up the records starting after Arc Light had left the Stable, there weren't very many.

Log One:

Its only been a few days since Caramel Corn left the Stable and Arc Light left this morning, so now we're down two ponies! More parts of the Stable are starting to break down and we're missing one of our maintenance ponies at the worst possible time. Oooh, I hate this job so much, why did it have to come at the worst possible time?

Log Two:

Arc Light's been gone for a week now, we've managed to get everything back under control but I have no idea what to do now. The Stable has been falling apart since my mother died and everything just keeps getting worse. I'm starting to think this job is cursed or something because at this point nothing can get worse.

Log Three:

Caramel Corn came back today, I wasn't expecting that, she looked tired and just went back to her quarters and rested. She asked about Arc Light but nopony knows where she went off to at this point. The Stable isn't exactly in the best of shape, but we're starting to get back on track.

Log Four:
The Stable Door was opened today... I don't know who opened it but ponies dressed in strange armor came in. They were lead by a mare they called General Aries and they killed part of the Security team that had been sent to the door to see what's going on. They've demanding our surrender, I'm inclined to believe that we don't have a choice at this point.

I've sent word to the General that Stable 66 will surrender to their forces, the alternative may be death so I hope they're willing to negotiate.

Log Five:

The invaders say they're part of something called the Grand Pegasus Enclave, after our surrender they started rounding up the Stable Dwellers. A new mare arrived today named Winter Breeze, she was, different from the others. I don't think I've ever met a mare so, cold, I don't really know what to make of her to be honest.

Winter Breeze says that we're to be taken out of the Stable because its in no shape to be lived in. She's offered us a place to live in a city near Hoofington, but I don't know how truthful she's being. I don't like this, but it may be the only way for this Stable to survive.

What's worse is that it seems that it was Caramel Corn that allowed the Enclave into the Stable. One of our own had brought this on us, I don't know what her reasons were but something about this feels wrong. I hope we can figure out what's going on soon.

Goddesses have mercy on all of us. This is Drizzle, last Overmare of Stable 66, signing off.

That solved one mystery, the Enclave had come to the Stable after getting their hooves on Caramel Corn. We hadn't found any other bodies in the Stable so it looked like they had at least been honest about getting them out of the Stable.

Hoofington again, was the Enclave setting something up in Thunderhead maybe? Was that where the Enclave made their main base now after the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows?

I didn't have the answer to any of this, but something about this felt weird, it was like we were only getting pieces of a puzzle. I sighed and walked out of the office to where Arc was waiting.

"Did you find anything?"

"Maybe, I think they're alive at least," I said with a sigh. "Arc, the Enclave took them, maybe to the city of Thunderhead."

"Thunderhead?"

"Its one of the major cloud cities in Equestria near Hoofington, I don't know what its like these days but I remember it always being a bit... different than the rest of the Enclave if that makes any sense."

I explained that Thunderhead had a closer connection to the surface at times because of Shadowbolt Tower. There were even a few Unicorns that made their home there because they had been above the clouds before, at least that's how I remembered it.

"Interesting, well its something at least, though it would be nice if we had more of a clue than that," Arc said with a sigh. "Still, that helps me a little, it at least lets me know that they're still out there somewhere."

"Yeah, that's something," Cherry said as she came up. "I just checked the clinic, it looks like somepony has been in there recently but I didn't see anything other than some hoofprints."

Now this was just getting more and more confusing, who was in this Stable if the Enclave had cleared everypony out?

"Did you at least find any supplies Cherry?" Arc asked.

"A few, but most of it was cleared out already."

"Okay... something about this is weird, maybe we should try and figure out who else is in here with us," I said with a sigh as we started to head down the stairs. "Did you find anything else out of the ordinary?"

"Maybe, there's a door to part of the Stable that's locked up," Cherry said, which made Arc's ears perk up a little.

"That might be the wing that was flooded with gas, maybe there's somepony still alive in there if it was cleared out," Arc suggested. "If it was still registering as being hazardous, the Enclave may have left it alone."

"That could work..." I said with a nod, I checked my bags and found a gas mask I had purchased while I was in Junction Town and turned to look at the other two. "I'm not going to risk Cherry going in there if the gas is still present, I'll go in there alone and let you know if its safe, okay?"

"Okay," Cherry said as she gave me a hug. "Stay safe, okay?"

"I will," I said as I hugged her back before securing the gas mask onto my face, Cherry pointed me in the direction of the locked door and I headed that way.

I just hoped that I didn't find anything dangerous on the other side.

Unlocking the door was easy, I checked my PipBuck as I entered and found that there was no signs of anything dangerous in the immediate area. I needed to check the rest of the wing before I was certain, but it was at least a good sign.

It was quiet in this part of the Stable, there were signs here and there of habitation sure, but it was as if whoever lived here tried to keep the fact that they were here secret. I kept a close eye on my EFS as I kept searching.

Sometimes I think I saw quick flashes of something on my EFS but every time I tried to investigate there was nothing there. I couldn't help but think about what LittlePip had written about in Stable 24 with the strange creatures that were living in the ventilation systems.

Could an EFS pick up something like a pony in a ventilation system? Was something else going on here? I had no idea and I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

I passed by a few rooms that seemed to be strangely empty. If this area had been flooded with poison gas, where were all the bodies? That didn't help my paranoia any as I kept walking through the Stable.

When I finally reached the other side of the wing I stopped in my tracks, there was something that resembled bedding, and it looked like it had been slept in recently. I took the bit of my Battle Saddle in my mouth and looked around for signs of anypony.

There was nothing, just what looked like old papers with writing in the Zebra language, that was odd, what were they doing here in a Stable? I reached my hoof out to touch them when I felt a gun barrel pressed against my head.

"Ne transgrediaris," a mare's voice said in a language I didn't understand. "Et quis es tu, quid agis hic?"

I gulped a little as I looked behind me slightly to see a barrel pressed against me. I couldn't see who was holding the rifle, but I didn't like the looks of the weapon and decided that it would be best to not anger the pony that was threatening my life.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand your language," I said, when I didn't get a response I dropped the bit from my mouth, slowly moving my forelegs up as I spoke slowly. "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just investigating this Stable with my friends."

"Quot?" The mare asked I think based on her inflection, she didn't remove the rifle yet but at least she wasn't going to shoot me.

"Do you know what happened here?" I asked, I didn't get a response from the strange mare. "Please, there are only three of us, we're just looking into what happened to this Stable, we're not here to hurt anypony and will leave if you want us to."

There was a moment of silence before I felt the barrel move away from my head. There was the sound of hooves stepping on the metal as the pony moved around to get a better look at me.

Okay, so calling this mare a pony is inaccurate. She was dressed in wastelander gear with a dark red desperado hat pulled down over her mane, she looked at me with a pair of violet eyes that seemed more curious than malicious.

But what drew my attention was her stripes, I was muzzle to muzzle with a Zebra mare who just stared at me. I had no idea what to say, the only Zebras I had met in the Wasteland had all spoken Equestrian, why did this Zebra seem to speak a completely different language?

"Scootaloo," I said as I pointed to myself with one of my hooves, I hoped that she got the idea.

"Riva," she said simply as she pointed at herself.

Well, at least now I had a name to go with the face. At least she didn't want to kill me anymore.

"So, you're saying she's been living in here?" Arc asked as she and Cherry watched the Zebra curiously.

"That's what I've gathered at least," I said with a sigh. "I think she's the one that we've been seeing signs of in the rest of the Stable at least, unless you think there's somepony else in here."

"No, we've pretty much eliminated that possibility," Cherry said as she looked at the Zebra for a long moment. "Does she talk?"

"She does, but she speaks only the Zebra language I think," I said with a shrug. "The most I've been able to understand is her name."

I had to admit I was curious about Riva, she was a Zebra that much was certain but I wondered what more there was to her. She spoke a language that hadn't been heard in Equestria in years, so did that mean she wasn't from Equestria? Had the Zebra Empire survived maybe or was there something else going on?

I couldn't exactly expect answers out of her right now, maybe if we could free Xiraia she'd be able to translate what she's saying. I looked over at the Zebra she was working with a piece of paper and a pen.

"Are these yours?" I asked as I pointed at the papers curiously.

"Tribus mea historiarum scriptor," Riva said, when we just looked at her confused she sighed and pointed at the papers then made a motion with her hoof as if saying she's speaking.

"Stories?" I asked, and Riva nodded. "Alright, we've established some sort of communication..."

"Yeah, now what?" Arc asked as we looked at the Zebra for a long moment.

I thought for a long moment, I was wishing that I had studied sign language growing up, but I never had a reason to. I looked around through my bags and came out with an old map of Equestria and pointed at the location where Ponyville was.

Riva seemed to understand quickly and pointed off to the East, then she spoke again. "Ego autem viator ex Liber Roama Alliance."

"Okay, I think I got one word of that..." Cherry said.

"I think she said Roam," I said, I remembered that was the name of the Zebra capitol city. "Or, at least something close to it, Roam?"

Riva nodded, I smiled a little and gestured around us and then pointed at her, I was trying to convey that I was wondering why she was here in this Stable. It took the Zebra a moment to understand what I meant, and the next words she said chilled me to the bone.

"Enclave... Starkatteri."

There was no need for translation, the words spoke for themselves. I didn't know what Starkatteri meant, but the way she said it sent a chill down all our spines.

She was here to hide from the Enclave and something that scared her even more.

"What's a, Starkatteri?" Cherry asked me as we were going through the Stable's food stores, there wasn't much left.

"Honestly? I have no idea," I admitted with a sigh, I hated not knowing what was going on, especially not right now. "Maybe it refers to one of the Zebra Tribes, I don't know."

"I don't know a lot about the tribes other than what Vina told me about the Carnilia," Cherry said as she found some more supplies. "She, didn't exactly fit in..."

"Yeah, well from what I understand there are thirteen tribes, each one has their own distinct culture and beliefs. I don't know a lot about them sadly, the Zebras have always been kind of an enigma."

We searched for awhile longer and I sighed a little, we knew from what Shooting Star had told us that the Enclave in the Zebra Lands was allied with one of the Tribes but not much else. Xiraia had referred to them as the One, something that didn't make a lot of sense to me either, but it must have something to do with the way the Tribes are structured.

I sighed a little as closed another cabinet in the saloon's kitchen. It looked like most of the food stores had been taken, either by the Enclave or Riva, but we had managed to find some. I looked back at Cherry and smiled a little at the mare, she was working to find whatever she could, even if she wasn't having a lot of luck.

"So, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead," Cherry said as she gave me a smile.

"What's your cutie mark mean?"

"Oh that? Well I mean, its kind of silly really," Cherry said with a light blush. "When I was a filly I snuck into the hydroponics bay in Stable 48. I didn't really like the idea of being used for breeding back then either and so I wanted to try to grow something. The Science Division was experimenting with some new plants and snuck one back into my quarters, I managed to nurture it into bloom. When it did, I gained my cutie mark, its weird."

"That's not that silly," I said with a smile.

"Yeah, well, I never quite understood what it meant to be honest, or what my talent might be."

I looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, sometimes talents weren't obvious right away and it took some digging into the context to understand. She had received her cutie mark after having gone against tradition in her stable, and also in nurturing something to give it life, was that maybe connected to it?

Maybe that was her talent, to nurture, to help grow, that was an interesting talent especially for a Breeder in Stable 48. I smiled a little, it really did reflect what kind of pony Cherry was.

"I think it might be nurturing," I said with a smile, Cherry tilted her head cutely. "Well, think about it, you gained it after helping a plant grow to maturity, later in life you left the Stable because you wanted to help your foal have a better life. It makes some sense to me at least."

Cherry thought about that for a long moment, I wasn't sure if I had hit the nail on the head or not. Honestly it had been awhile since I had helped anypony figure out their cutie marks, and maybe I was a little rusty at it, or maybe I wasn't as good at it because my friends weren't with me.

I sighed a little but perked up when Cherry hugged me tight. "Thank you Scootaloo, that really helped a lot."

I smiled and hugged her back. "You're welcome Cherry, I'm glad I was able to help you figure it out."

"Hey, are you two done making out yet? I think there's something wrong," Arc said as she poked her head into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" I asked with a blush as I let go of Cherry.

"Riva started freaking out a few minutes ago, I don't know what's wrong but I'm getting the impression she wants us back in the sealed wing," Arc said with a shake of her head. "Did you two find anything in here?"

"Just a few things, lets go," I said as we headed out of the kitchen.

If Riva was afraid of something, I wasn't sure I wanted to know what it was.

We locked the door to the sealed section behind us as Riva looked at us worriedly. I nodded to Arc and she started working on getting the door sealed up better before I looked at Riva again.

"What's wrong?" I asked automatically before I shook my head and gave her a worried look, pointing at the door behind us.

"Enclave," was all she said and shook her head for a moment before saying something else. "Enclave Zebras."

She made a motion with her hoof towards the map and I laid it out. She used gestures to show her route from Zebrica to here and then traced it again, she was telling me that she had been followed here from the Zebra Lands for sure.

"Enclave, Starkatteri?" I asked and she nodded in confirmation, though she seemed afraid at the word.

"The Starkatteri are trying to stop me," Riva said in her panicked voice, still speaking in the Zebra language, she gestured again towards herself.

I gave her a quizzical look before asking, "Why does the Enclave want to stop you?"

She looked thoughtful for a long moment before taking out a paper and sketching a symbol on it. I didn't recognize it, but it seemed important to her at least, she pointed at it, and then at herself and at us.

"Libra Roama Alliance," she repeated the phrase from earlier. "Starkatteri sade venatione ceperunt me hinc ab Roama."

"I think she's saying that they've hunted her from Roam," I said, though I wasn't sure what she meant by the Libra Roama Alliance.

"Well, this isn't getting us anywhere, we might be under attack and the only one who can tell us what's going on can't speak Equestrian," Arc said with a sigh as Riva just shrugged apologetically.

"Its okay Riva, we'll manage," I said, I was worried if she had wanted us to fall back here that might mean the enemy had entered the Stable.

I sighed a little and checked my PipBuck again, there was still nothing on the EFS. Riva looked at me for a moment then reached into her bags and pulled out a cloak, she threw it over herself and vanished before removing it.

I got the message right away, she was saying that the Zebras were going to be using stealth in order to sneak up on us. I nodded in understanding and looked at Arc.

"Is that door secure?"

"As secure as I can make it yeah," Arc said as she finished on the door. "What do you think we should do now?"

"I don't know, maybe sweep this wing to make sure we don't have anything to worry about," I said with a sigh as I checked Freedom and Liberty to make sure I had enough ammunition. "I doubt any of them made it in here already, but its better safe than sorry."

"I'll go with you," Arc said and looked at Cherry and Riva. "Are you two going to be okay here?"

"Yeah, we can check one of the rooms and stay in there," Cherry said as she nodded to one of the rooms nearby. "Stay safe, okay?"

"We will," I said as I left with Arc to search the rest of the wing.

"This room's clear," Arc said as she left one of the rooms, I had just finished checking the room across from it which mostly consisted of looking around the room and making sure we didn't miss anything. "What about you?"

"Same here," I said with a sigh, at least it didn't seem like there was anything in the wing so far, but we had no idea if that was always going to be the case.

I looked at Arc and noticed she was shaking a little, she was looking more nervous and uneasy than usual. I dismissed it as just being a side effect of being back in Stable 66, this was her home and she had no idea where anypony that lived here was anymore.

It was one thing for her to be looking for her best friend, now she had lost her entire Stable to the Enclave. Something kept bugging me though, Caramel Corn had come back to the Stable before the Enclave moved in and had been the one to open it, why would they risk that?

Something about all of this felt weird, but I wasn't going to question it right now as we split up again to search the last two rooms. I didn't find anything and when I moved out Arc wasn't waiting for me, which was weird, her room had been smaller she should have finished before me.

I cautiously pushed the door open to the room she had been searching, I was ready for a fight but I don't think I was ready for what I did find in there. Arc was holding a syringe in her telekinesis and injecting it into foreleg.

"What are you doing?" I demanded of my friend, startling her as she dropped the syringe.

"I'm... I was just..." she tried to say, we stood there in silence for a long moment as Arc shook more. "Its, not what you think..."

"Really, because this looks like chems to me," I said as I pushed the syringe with my hoof, why was she taking chems all of a sudden? "You owe me an explanation."

"Okay, maybe it is what you think..." Arc said with a groan. "Scootaloo, you have to understand, its been hard for me to do all of this. I've been trying to limit it to just once a week, but ever since the war started... its just getting worse and worse. Its the only thing that's kept me sane at this point."

I frowned a little and kicked the syringe under a nearby piece of furniture, sending Arc after it for a moment. "Arc... I can't believe you'd do this..."

"Do you think its easy on me? I left my home, my friends, everypony I knew, because I thought it was the right thing to do!" Arc said. "I find out that my best friend has been captured by the greatest threat to Equestria in 10 years, and I've been traveling with... well, you. I didn't want to admit it to you or myself Scootaloo, but when we first started traveling I couldn't stand being around you!"

That stung me more than anything else did, I knew that she was telling the truth really, but I thought we had grown past that. Arc and I were friends, that much was definitely true, but that hadn't always been the case.

"Arc, I'm sorry... I'm sorry for everything..." I started to say as I moved forward and hugged Arc gently. "I didn't think this would happen, is there any way I can help?"

"I don't know... I just..." Arc said weakly as she started to open her bags to find something in there.

That's when I saw something out of the corner of my eye, it looked like something had moved where there wasn't anything there before. I pushed Arc out of the way as a knife struck out, I gasped as it slashed at my wing.

On instinct alone I bucked out towards where the knife had come from and my hooves connected with something behind me, sending it flying into the wall, I turned to see another Zebra, but this one looked, different.

This Zebra had a messed up mane and his stripes were different from Zecora, Xiraia, or Riva's, instead they were circular around his face. The Zebra struggled to get to his hooves as he glared at me.

"Who are you and what are you doing in here?" I demanded of the Zebra as Arc struggled to get her rifle out of her bag.

"That is none of your business, Proditor!" The strange Zebra said, I blinked a little since I didn't know what that even meant. "This has nothing to do with you two, we are here for the Viatorem!"

"What's a Viatorem?" Arc whispered to me, I had to admit I wasn't sure either.

"Maybe he's talking about Riva," I said with a shrug as I put the barrel of my gun up against the Zebra's chest. "Arc, I know you're not in the best place right now, but we need to get this guy disarmed."

Arc nodded and checked him, removing more knives and a pistol along with the cloak before I prodded him towards the door. "Alright get a move on, we don't have all day."

We started out of the room and back down the hall, I kept a close eye on the Zebra as we walked. There was something about him that made me uneasy even though I didn't know anything about the Starkatteri.

And I didn't like it at all.

"Alright, I think we have our guest situated," I said as I finished getting the door secured, Arc was still shaking but I think she was starting to settle down a little.

"Starkatteri?" Riva asked and I gave her a nod, she cursed under her breath in the Zebra language.

"Great... now we know that they're after us," Cherry said with a sigh.

"I don't think so, he said that he was here for something called a Viatorem," I said with a shake of my head. "I have no idea what that means."

Riva's ears perked up a little at the mention of the word and gestured towards herself, well that was one mystery solved at least, she was a Viatorem. The problem is that I didn't even know what that meant.

"This is going to be hard if we have to interact through gestures," I said with a sigh, maybe there was some way one of us could learn the other's language, but I didn't really know how easy that would be. "I'm worried though, if there are more Starkatteri in the Stable, they might figure out a way into this wing."

"Easier said than done, I've got this place locked up tight," Arc said with a shake of her head. "We'll be..."

Her sentence was interrupted by a chime followed by a burst of static from the intercom on the wall. I cautiously approached it and hit the talk button on it.

"Hello?"

"Is this the Pegasus Proditor that gives safe harbor to our target?" The cold voice of a stallion said on the other end. He had an accent that I recognized as Zebra similar to Zecora's, but without the warmth that she possessed.

"If you mean a Dashite, then yes that would be me," I said with a frown as I looked at the others, I didn't know what they meant by Proditor, and I didn't like it. "Who am I speaking with?"

"My name is not important, I'm here to offer you a deal," the stallion said on the other end. "Give us the Viatorem and we will allow you to leave this Stable unhindered."

"And why would you do that? You work for the Enclave don't you, you answer to Winter Breeze and she'd love to get her hooves on me," I said, I had to admit that I was confused by the Zebra's actions.

"That is none of your concern Proditor," the stallion answered, his voice remaining calm as he did so.

"And what about your friend? We caught him in here and I'm sure we'll be able to get some answers out of him soon enough."

"Unlikely, the Starkatteri do not give up our secrets even to the death. You will get nothing out of him, I will give you one hour to surrender the Viatorem or we will kill all of you."

"We'll see about that," I said with a growl.

"Yes, we shall, I'd check on your prisoner, Proditor, I'm afraid you won't be getting more information out of him anytime soon."

"Wait, what do you..." I started to say before the intercom clicked off.

I opened the door and rushed to the room where the prisoner had been held. I opened the door and recoiled in horror at what I saw inside.

Laying in a pool of his own blood was the Zebra stallion, it didn't take long to realize what he had done. He must've fallen in just the right way to bite right through his tongue and had drowned in his own blood.

Dear Celestia, I can't believe anypony would do that to themselves, even if it was the only alternative to being captured. He had killed himself knowing that we would have interrogated him for information on his allies.

Now we had nothing to go on but a dead stallion and a scared mare.

I headed back into the room and shook my head. "He's dead, he killed himself..." I said shakily, I looked at Riva and motioned towards her and then back at the intercom, if she could tell us anything, now was the time.

The Zebra mare paused for a long moment, then pointed at the intercom with her hoof and said one word, "Cadith."

The way she said it sent chills down my spine. But we didn't have much time to dwell on that, we had to get ready.

"I can't believe he killed himself..." Arc said as we started to run spools of line that we had found along the entrance to the area.

"Yeah... well to some the sad fact is that some Zebras would rather die than give up their secrets," I said with a sigh. "Its not our fault, we couldn't risk taking him in a room with Riva and Cherry."

"I know, but still, it feels like we're just going from one nightmare to the next," Arc said as she connected it to some cans. "Do you think this'll work?"

"There's only one way into this wing, and even while invisible they'll still touch them," I said with a shrug. "We don't have a whole lot of choice at this point, the alternative is we surrender."

"Okay, but we don't even know what a Viatorem is, what if it means she's an escaped criminal?"

I paused a moment, that was certainly a possibility but not one I particularly wanted to consider. If Riva was a killer or something she hadn't done anything to show it, I wasn't sure what to make of this situation, but I wasn't going to turn my back on somepony, or Zebra, in need.

"We'll make it out of this, we just need a plan," I said as we finished setting it up, there wasn't going to be a lot of time so we had to make sure we got everything in place. "I don't think we'll be able to just talk to the Zebra and get him to leave nicely."

"Right, I still have to wonder about the Starkatteri though, why does Riva seem to be afraid of them?"

"Well, there's a theory that it was a Starkatteri that carried out the Littlehorn massacre, but other than that I have no idea," I said with a shake of my head. "The fact of the matter is I just don't know a lot about what the Zebras are really like. Growing up I really only knew one, Zecora and she rarely talked about her own culture and civilization."

"Curious, I wonder why," Arc said and I just shrugged a little. "What was it he kept calling you, Proditor?"

"Well, my Zebra is rusty but I'm guessing it means traitor, given the context at least," I said as we headed back to the room with the others in it, we had moved to the far end of the wing in preparation for the attack. "Alright, I think we're all set up, we just have to wait for them to come. And pray that we'll be able to survive this."

Riva nodded though she still looked worried, I placed my hoof on her's and gave her a nod to try and reassure her. I didn't like that I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't have much of a choice.

She smiled a little and nodded back before she surprised me by speaking in plain Equestrian for a brief moment, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Your hour is up Proditor," Cadith's voice said over the intercom once more. "What's your decision?"

"Well lets see Cadith..." I said, using the Zebra's name, I didn't get an immediate response from him so I kept talking. "I'm not sure we can trust you to just let us go, especially if the Enclave doesn't know you're operating in their territory."

"We serve the Enclave Proditor," Cadith responded in that same cold way he spoke in before. "You do not understand the true nature of what is happening here."

"Really? Because I think I can see what's happening here clearly," I said as I gave a nod to Arc. "You're acting outside of your authority, the Starkatteri are in league with General Stardust aren't they? Except all our intel says that she's still in the Zebra Lands, so why would an elite Hunting team be here under the Enclave's radar I must wonder."

"That is none of your concern, are you going to turn over the Viatorem or not?" Cadith said, there was a touch of anger in his voice this time.

"Oh, you really think you're so good at what you do that you can't just come in and handle three mares so you can deal with your, Viatorem?" I said with a chuckle. "Your friend is in here and he's singing like a canary Cadith, how do you think I know your name? I know everything, I know you're not acting on orders from the President, I wonder how she'd take one of her Generals going against her orders."

"You think you're so smart don't you Scootaloo?" Cadith said, the coldness in his voice made me feel like there was ice in my veins. "Sardis would never give up the secrets of his Tribe, you're bluffing."

"I see we're on a first name basis now," I said. "You're nothing more than a thug, hired muscle sent to deal with a problem, but you're not going to do it. We're going to stop you, Enclave, Starkatteri, it doesn't matter, you'll never prevail. We won't give you Riva unless you decide to be upfront and tell us exactly what you want her for."

There was a long silence, the four of us exchanged glances as Schooner whimpered a little, we all knew whatever happened next would affect how we proceeded.

"Well? Or does the Starkatteri just operate in the shadows and not want to get his hooves dirty?"

"You've made your choice," was the only answer as the intercom went silent again.

"I really hope that doesn't come back to bite us in the flank," Arc said and Riva nodded softly.

"We'll be fine, we've forced his hoof," I said with a nod. "He's going to have to come in here and that means we'll be fighting on our terms, not his."

Riva looked uncomfortable and shook her head, pointing at herself then at the intercom. I was pretty sure I knew what she meant, but I wasn't going to have any of it. She shot us all a worried look and shook her head.

We had learned things from the conversation, the way he reacted meant I was right on the money. The Zebras weren't here on orders from Winter Breeze, which explained why they tried to make the deal, kind of.

Then why were they really here?

"Riva, we're not going to ask you to sacrifice yourself," I said with a note of finality in my voice as I shook my head. "Come on, lets get all set up, we've got quite the fight ahead of us."

They nodded and we started getting set up outside the room.

You know its funny, before Stable-Tec I'd have given anything to be able to serve Equestria and help fight the Zebras. I had never been given the chance because of a freak chance of genetics that kept me from flying, but I had still gone on to serve Equestria in my own way.

Now here I was, over 200 years later in one of the Stables I had built, preparing to fight the Zebras in service to Equestria. The irony was not lost on me at this point, but this time there was no military to tell me I couldn't fight because my wings wouldn't work, this time I was here because I needed to be.

The future of Equestria was balancing on the tip of a knife right now, if we failed to stop the Enclave then everything would fall apart. It was kind of scary to think that right now it rested in the hooves of me and my friends, but we weren't about to give up just because the odds were against us.

There was a moment of silence as we waited for the attack to come, the door was still locked up tight but we didn't know how long that would last. I had no doubt that Cadith would figure out some way into the wing and the minute that happened we would be ready for him.

"How do we know when they're here?" Arc asked as she looked at me.

"They're invisible not intangible, they can't come in without opening the doors," I said with a nod as I set up Freedom on its perch. "If we fire enough shots down there we'll hit something."

"Not exactly a brilliant military strategy," Cherry said as she readied her own rifle. "What's Plan B?"

"I don't have one, this is our only chance," I said and she nodded in understanding.

I was a bit surprised when Riva took up a position next to me, she gave me a nod as she readied her own weapon. I smiled a little, she was a brave mare, I just hoped we weren't all going to our deaths right now.

There was a moment where nothing happened before the sound of the door opening was heard. For a moment nothing happened then there was the sound of something small and metal hitting the ground near us.

"Grenade!"

There was a loud noise followed by a bright light as we ducked out of the way, the flashbang had disoriented us but we quickly recovered and raised our weapons again, strangely nothing happened for a long moment but the sound of a voice was heard from the other end.

"You're outnumbered and outgunned Scootaloo, there is no dishonor in surrender," Cadith said, his voice echoing down the hall. "You don't have to die for a war that isn't yours to fight."

"Its not your choice what war is mine to fight Cadith!" I shouted back. "Turn back and we won't kill you and your men, this isn't a fight you can win."

"What makes you think you can win?" Cadith called. "But to show I'm not unreasonable, I'll give you one last request before we kill you all."

I paused for a long moment, there had to be some way I could get us out of this, I doubted he'd just let us go if I asked him to. I paused for a long moment, there was one thing that I could do, it was a longshot, but it might work.

"By the ancient rite of the Imperial Legion I request trial by combat," I said, it was an old Pegasus law but it was one we had learned from the Zebras. I had only one chance to win this, and I had to hope that he accepted it. "If I win, then you will leave this Stable and not bother any of us again!"

"A pony dares invoke the ancient law?" Cadith said as he let out a laugh. "What claim does a lowly Pegasus have to this?"

"The Pegasi upheld the same traditions the Zebras still hold to, I have just as much right as any Zebra would," I countered. "What do you say Cadith, or are you a coward?"

There was a long pause, we each held our weapons steady as we pointed them towards the hallways preparing for a fight. I didn't know if he would go with this or not, it was a longshot already, but I didn't have a choice but to risk it.

"Alright fine, if you want to die like that, I'll play your game," Cadith said with a laugh. "You've bought yourself another hour. We will meet in the atrium, come with your blade and nothing else."

I really hoped I wasn't going to regret this.

"Are you insane?" Cherry yelled at me when we returned to the room that made up our temporary resting area. "Why would you propose such a reckless action?"

"I didn't have much of a choice, Cadith had too much of an advantage," I said with a sigh as I removed my battle saddle and set it to the side. "Its our only chance of getting out of this alive at this point."

"Isn't trial by combat you know, a fight to the death?" Arc pointed out. "And Cadith is probably a much better fighter than you are."

"I don't doubt it, and if I can get him to yield that might be enough," I admitted with a sigh as I checked my bags. "The fact of the matter is that this wasn't made for a Pegasus vs. Zebra fight since normally I'd have the high ground, but..."

"But you can't fly," Arc says with a sad nod. "You'll do fine Scootaloo, we have faith in you."

"Not that we really have much of a choice," Cherry muttered.

"Well, there's only one problem, I didn't exactly pack a bladed weapon," I said sheepishly as I checked my packs. "Of all the things I could forget to bring..."

"Well, to be fair I don't think you thought you'd need it to fight a Zebra in one on one combat," Arc said with a chuckle.

I thought about trying the knives we had confiscated from the Starkatteri but when I tried to touch one they disintegrated. I didn't know what that was about, maybe it was some sort of enchantment that tied them to their user's life or something. That didn't exactly help me in my current situation.

Riva looked thoughtful for a moment then used her foreleg to pull up one of her sleeves, which revealed a sheathed knife. She unstrapped it from her leg and offered it to me, which surprised me a little bit.

"For me?" I asked as I shot her a quizzical look and pointed at myself.

Riva nodded before speaking again in the Zebra language. "Vos postulo plus ego operor."

I gripped the blade in my forehoof and drew it out, it wasn't exactly a sword but it was well made with a sharp edge. The hilt of the knife had several runes etched into it that I didn't recognize.

I smiled and gave Riva a nod as I returned the blade to its sheath, now I had a weapon and my own skills as a fighter. I didn't have a lot going for me, but this was going to be the best chance I had at surviving this fight.

"Thank you Riva," I said with a smile as I hugged the Zebra tightly, she smiled and hugged back.

Now we just had to hope I could win this fight.

The rest of the hour passed quickly as we got ourselves ready. There wasn't much point in putting it off any longer, the time had come to fight the Starkatteri leader. I walked into the Atrium and gulped a little at what I saw.

Cadith was an imposing figure to say the least, he stood taller than me and was bulky, not like Bulk Biceps bulky, but not exactly something you'd want to mess with. He had the same stripe pattern that the deceased prisoner had and was dressed in a black cloak with gold trim.

"I see you decided to show yourself after all Proditor," Cadith said as he lifted a knife in his hoof, it was made of some sort of black metal that shined in the light of the Stable. "You're not so cowardly after all."

"I could say the same of you Cadith," I said as I eyed the Zebra stallion nervously for a moment. "You know the rules of course."

"First to kill their opponent wins, or if the enemy yields," Cadith said with a smile that I didn't like, I got the impression this wasn't his first rodeo. "I hope you enjoyed living a little longer, because you die tonight."

"We'll see about that," I said as I removed my coat and tossed it to the side, Cadith did the same with his cloak as we both drew our knives.

It was on.

We circled around each other, neither of us wanting to make the first move just yet. Cadith had a menace about him that gave me chills, I never really bought into the wartime propaganda about Zebras being evil and wicked, but I could see it in his eyes, Cadith was evil.

The Zebra stallion surprised me by making the first move as he charged forward and swiped at me with his knife blade. I barely dodged it as he cut at my flank before taking a swipe of my own at him, but he had moved out of the way in time.

He was fast, and strong, he just laughed as he dodged another swipe and swung his blade at me, this time catching me in the leg, nearly making me drop my knife.

"Do you yield yet?"

"In your dreams," I said as I jumped at him to try and make another attack but he just laughed and jumped out of the way again, taking another swipe at me with his knife.

"You're slow Proditor!" Cadith said with a laugh as he moved back to avoid another attack from me. "I haven't even broken a sweat fighting you!"

Maybe he was right, I was much too slow to take him on, at least normally. I frowned a little, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this, I had just taken the enhancement in order to free the clones, I hadn't wanted to become overly reliant on it so I had been holding back on my speed this entire time.

It was time to change that, and there was only one way to get that done right. I had to get this Zebra to make a mistake, thankfully that was one thing I could do well.

"Really? I'm slow, well you're weak, I've barely felt all your attacks!" I taunted him with a laugh, I smirked a little as I watched him flinch. "You're nothing more than a coward aren't you? You hide in the shadows while you get your minions to do your dirty work for you, but you can't hold your own in a fight!"

"Why you little..." Cadith said as he rushed forward and swiped at thin air where I had been standing a moment before. "What was that?"

"You're getting sloppy, or maybe you always were and you just didn't want to admit it!" I said tauntingly as I picked up speed a bit more. "This is the feared Starkatteri? Good thing you weren't in charge during the war or it would've lasted less than a week!"

"You don't know what you're talking about Pony!" Cadith said, his calm veneer was breaking down as he tried again to attack me, I just rolled out of the way and cut at his hind leg, causing him to let out a scream of pain. "Coward, stay still and fight me!"

"Oh, like you were?" I said with a laugh as I kicked at him with all my might, the Zebra went sprawling on the ground and managed to pull himself up again. "Come on, I thought this would be a challenge! Or did over 200 years of being cut off from Equestria make the Zebras soft?"

Cadith finally couldn't take it anymore, he charged right at me with his knife poised for a strike. I didn't even budge right away, I let him get closer as the world around me seemed to slow down, I moved right out of the way and turned around, kicking him again right in the stallionhood which sent the Zebra flying.

I ran over to him and kicked the knife out of his reach and before he could even react I had him pinned and the knife pressed against his throat. I saw something in the Starkatteri's eyes I hadn't expected, fear.

"Do you yield?" I said simply, pressing the blade of the knife closer to his throat. "Your life is in my hooves Cadith, you will either yield or you will die."

Cadith glared at me, for a moment I thought he was actually going to take death as an option, but instead he spat in my face before finally speaking again. "I yield, you win Proditor."

I breathed a sigh of relief and released him, the fight was over finally.

"Calm down Scootaloo, I have to get these wounds disinfected," Cherry said as she patched me up.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," I said with a groan. "I can't believe I actually beat him though... that was not an easy fight."

"I can imagine, don't worry, you'll be fine," Cherry said with a smile as she finished patching me up.

Cadith had left the Stable with his Zebras, they didn't have much of a choice because of the traditions of the trial by combat. I had won so they had to honor their end of the bargain or face the consequences from their spirits.

It was weird really, I hadn't ever really thought about that part of Pegasi tradition. There was some debate as to whether we had copied from the Zebras or the Zebras had copied from us, but regardless that had been what turned out.

I remembered the story of Flash Magnus, a Pegasus Legionnaire, I wondered if anypony back during the war ever really thought about how similar our two cultures had once been.

I sighed and laid back in the medical bed as Cherry finished up, the door opened and Riva entered carrying my weapons and clothes.

"Thank you," I said with a smile and a nod as I carefully slipped back into them.

Riva nodded and smiled a little as she straightened out her own hat. She then did something I hadn't expected, she pointed at herself then gestured to me and Cherry, it took me a second to figure out what she meant.

I pointed to her and then back at us and out at Arc who was getting everything together before making a motion as if bringing us all together. She nodded and I smiled a little and gave Cherry a nod.

"Looks like we've got somepony new to travel with us," I said and offered Riva a hoof, which she shook. "Welcome to the group Riva."

Riva just smiled before we headed towards the residential section of the Stable. It was too late to head back out. I laid down on the bed and wrapped my wings and forelegs gently around Cherry and smiled a little as she snuggled up to me.

We still had 6 days left before the deadline, I just had to hope we'd make it.

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: Marquess of Queensberry Rules.
Detials: You've gained a better knowledge of the finer points of CQC combat, making you a dangerous opponent in combat. You gain an extra 10 points in your Melee stat.