I opened my eyes and found myself looking up, after so much time in the darkness, I had expected to see the flames of Tartarus for everything I had done. This place wasn't exactly Elysium either, actually come to think of it, it looked more like a storage room with crates strewn here and there, based on the symbol on the wall I'd say it was definitely from the Ministry of Awesome.

I checked myself out, four legs, four hooves, muzzle, Cutie Mark, I'd check the rest later... wait cutie mark? Yep, on my flank was my old shield and wing cutie mark instead of the brand that had been there before.

What in Celestia's name was going on? Did whatever had saved my life heal my cutie mark too?

"Miss, are you okay?" A mare's voice said, and I looked over to see a tan colored Pegasus mare wearing torn clothing standing there with a red furred earth pony stallion.

"I'm fine, I think," I said with a groan as I struggled to get to my hooves. "Where am I?"

"You're in an old storage facility from during the war," the mare answered as the mare helped me out. "I'm Tawny, this is Rusty."

"Scootaloo," I said as I got to my hooves slowly.

"But... you're supposed to be dead," Rusty said shocked. "There was a skeleton found and buried and the message..."

"You were supposed to have died 200 years ago," Tawny finished.

"I thought I was dead too, I don't really know how I got here," I said rubbing my head before what she said actually registered. "Wait, did you say 200 years? I was in that thing for 200 years?"

"A little over it probably," Rusty said.

I couldn't believe it, I somehow had survived for over 200 years, that must've been a magical stasis pod like the ones we had built for Project Legacy. How did I even...

My ears drooped when I realized the answer, Rainbow Dash must have brought me here. I couldn't help but think of the look on her face, she was going to cry, she really did care about me... I just wished that I could have done something to thank her.

I just had to wonder if it was her, or if maybe something else had happened.

"I can't believe I've been in there for so long..." I said, taking a long look at the pod, one question filled my mind, "What do I do now?"

Two days later I had started moving towards central Equestria, towards something my traveling companions called Junction Town and the New Canterlot Republic. Apparently they had been sent to scout out there area for the NCR.

I couldn't believe how much Equestria had changed from the megaspells... but it seemed like things were at least starting to recover. I checked the pistol that I had found, it wasn't much, but it was at least something.

Even the cloud cover was gone, thank Celestia for that, somepony had managed to break the cloud cover. Maybe that even meant that the Enclave was gone. Would be great if they were.

Honestly this would be a lot faster if I could fly, curse my non-functional wings.

That's when I heard the sound of something above me, I looked up in shock to see a massive purple and green dragon flying above me. Yeah, a dragon, I couldn't believe it, there was a freakin' dragon!

"Oh crap... please don't eat me, please don't eat me..." I said, trying to find cover, I was shocked to see the Dragon landing right in front of me. "Please don't eat me Mr. Dragon, I don't taste very good!"

I was surprised to hear him chuckling, I looked up again to see him looking at me with one green eye, the other covered by an eye patch. "Don't you recognize me Scootaloo?" He asked in a deep voice, I wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Uh, well, I didn't know very many dragons," I said, I hadn't had much contact with Dragons after the war started other than... "Spike... is it really you?"

"That's right, its me," Spike said with a smile. "Its good to see you again Scootaloo."

"You too Spike..." I said as I tried to wrap my mind around this, I never thought I'd see anypony I had known from before the war ever again. "What, happened to your eye?"

"I lost it about 10 years ago, in battle with the Enclave," Spike said.

That made me pause, the Enclave was still around after 200 years? I had hoped that they would've fallen apart by now, but then again the cloud cover had been broken, maybe that meant the Enclave was finally out of the way.

"I'm sorry, Spike," I said with a sad smile as I placed a hoof on his claw. "Does this mean the Enclave is gone for good?"

"I'm sorry Scootaloo, but no... the Enclave Remnant is still around, and they've been plaguing Equestria for 8 years now," Spike said with a frown. "The NCR has been trying to stop them, but..."

I sighed and nodded in understanding, I just had to hope that there was going to be more chances to stop them.

"Come on, I'll give you a lift to NCR territory," Spike said and knelt down, I climbed up onto his back and he took off and flew off towards the New Canterlot Republic.

I just hoped that I'd be able to find something out there.

"So, are there any other ponies from before the war still around?" I asked Spike, honestly I doubted it, but it was worth asking.

"There are a couple actually," Spike said, that surprised me a little, it had been over 200 years, how many ponies could still be alive? "They're living in NCR territory so it should be easy enough to find them."

I paused for a long moment, there was another question I wanted to ask, but I didn't know how to ask it. I had to put it aside for the moment though, Spike didn't know about them, so it was unlikely that he'd have spent this time looking into it.

"The Stables... how did they turn out?" I asked seriously, I wasn't even sure what I was going to learn from this.

"Its, complicated... some of them turned out fine like 2 or 26, others... others didn't make it," Spike said with a pained tone in his voice. "Some of the experiments backfired, others just fell apart, I'm sorry Scootaloo."

My heart fell at that, we had tried our best to help ponies, while I had figured that Stable 1 would be sabotaged, there was still a hope that many of them would have survived. I didn't know how many ponies had died because of our stupid mistakes, and honestly I wasn't sure I wanted to.

Ultimately I knew that I'd be blamed for it, and maybe I deserved it.

"If I may ask Scootaloo, how are you still alive?" Spike asked me curiously. "I mean, there was a lot of indications you died at Rainbow Dash's shack."

"To be honest Spike, I don't know," I admitted to him. "The last thing I remember before falling unconscious is Rainbow Dash holding me. Wait, what happened to Rainbow Dash?"

"We, don't know," Spike admitted, I looked down sadly at that, I had hoped maybe he could at least give me some closure on that. "How long after the bombs fell did you get exiled?"

"About eight years," I said.

"Eight years... that means Rainbow Dash survived her encounter with Gilda after all," Spike said, which made me blink a little. "Its, complicated, we have a lot to get you filled in on, I'm sure we can get you a copy of The Book of Littlepip, that should help."

"Littlepip?" I asked looking confused, I guess that would be something that I'd have to learn in time.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," Spike said. "We're coming up on Memoria, you can find a caravan heading to Junction Town here."

"Thanks Spike," I said with a smile. "I'm glad you're still around."

"I'm glad you are too Scootaloo," Spike said with a smile. "If you ever need anything... I'll be here for you, no matter what."

"Spike, there is, one other thing," I said as we came in for a landing and I climbed off his back. "Before I was exiled... I had a husband and daughter... I know its been too long, but, do you know if I have any family left?"

Spike looked at me for a long moment with a pained look in his eye. Maybe I shouldn't have asked.

"I'm sorry Scootaloo but I don't know," Spike said with a shake of his head. "I can look into it and the NCR may have more information. I hope you find them Scootaloo."

I sighed and gave him one more hug. He gave me a bag filled with caps saying that it would be helpful in Memoria, and then took flight and took off.

"Take care Spike, I hope to see you again," I said with a smile as I trotted off towards town.

It was strange to be back in the world with non-Pegasi after spending 8 years above the cloud cover. Though, of course that was over 200 years ago, and things had seemed to change a lot since then.

The stares though, that on the other hoof still kinda felt like they were the same. Even back when I was above the clouds, ponies saw me as some kind of monster once the truth came out about Stable-Tec.

Well, except for Sky Walker, he always saw past that. He was a good pony... I missed him a lot and honestly, I kinda wished that I knew what had happened to him. Then there was Cloudy... my sweet little filly, I never should have let them exile me and leave her behind.

I just hoped that wherever she was, she forgave me for being a terrible mother.

I looked around at Memoria, it was an interesting town that looked like it had been made out of the permacloud remains of Cloudsdale and the remains of some sort of fleet of airships.

I finally found myself looking at the memorial itself, it was apparently for the ponies lost when Cloudsdale was destroyed. I sighed a little as I read the names, there were names that I recognized, good ponies that I had known in Ponyville.

Why had I lived when so many good ponies had died on that terrible day? I even saw Derpy's name, she didn't deserve this... especially not after what had happened to Dinky.

"Well, well, it seems that we've got a Scootaloo fanpony boys," a voice from behind me said and I turned to look at three rough looking stallions looking at me, and they didn't look happy. "Lets show her what we think of that."

"Look, I don't want any trouble," I said, I didn't have much to defend myself with, I just wished that I could fly away. "So, just leave me alone and things won't get ugly."

"Ha, the little mare thinks she's so tough," one of the others said. "We'll have some real fun with her."

I crouched defensively, it had been years since I had taken any sort of self defense courses while I had worked for Stable-Tec, but it was starting to come back to me. I just had to hope that I'd survive the next few minutes.

There was a crack of a shot as a bullet impacted the ground near one of the stallions, causing them all to recoil.

"Three on one ain't fair, Ah'd leave tha mare alone if ya'll don't want ta mess with me," a stallion's voice with a country accent said. We all turned to see a rust colored Pegasus Stallion with a black cowboy hat and two rifles attached to a battle saddle looking at us intensely.

"Y-yes Calamity," the lead stallion said and the three of them galloped off, I straightened up and looked at the newcomer for a long moment.

"Thanks, you really saved my flank back there," I said with a weak smile before I started to walk off again, only to be interrupted by the stallion.

"Well, Ah didn't think that Ah'd ever be meetin' Scootaloo," the stallion said. "Especially since yer supposed ta be dead."

I turned back to look at him, he recognized me? That's when I saw what was on his flank, not a cutie mark but instead, like me he had a brand in the shape of Rainbow Dash's cutie mark.

Just like me... he was an exile from the Grand Pegasus Enclave.

"So, that's how yah wound up here huh?" The other Dashite, or Calamity as I learned his name was asked after I finished telling him about what had happened. "That's quite tha story, but yah wouldn't be tha first one."

"Yeah, tell me about it, I'm still processing it to be honest," I admitted with a shrug, I had been a bit surprised to find out that the Dashite term had stuck, but it did fit us both.

I had been surprised to see that he was wearing a PipBuck, though it was golden and had the Dashite symbol on it. Did he come from one of the Pegasus Stables? No, that was too personalized...

"What's on yer mind?" Calamity asked, which snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, sorry, I was just looking at your PipBuck, I'm guessing its a custom model?" I asked curiously.

"Oh this? Well, honestly that's kind of a long story," Calamity said. "Would yah believe this is tha Element of Loyalty?"

Oh, yeah, that did make sense I guess. I remembered hearing about a project being done by the Ministry of Arcane Science that used them after the Rainbow Power stopped working during the war. I didn't actually think they'd come up again like this.

Though I had to wonder why it looked like a PipBuck, maybe it changed for the time.

"If I may ask, how did you..." I said and trailed off as I nodded to his brand.

"Same way yah did, Ah was fed up with tha Enclave and wanted ta do tha right thing, but Ah've got no regrets," Calamity said, I understood that, though I did regret having to leave behind my family. "Listen, do yah have any plans fer what yer gonna do?"

"Honestly, I don't know," I admitted with a shrug. "I haven't been awake for very long and, well, I don't really have anywhere to go."

"Well, Ah'm headin' back ta Junction Town in tha mornin' with some others, Ah know its not much, but its at least a start," Calamity offered.

"You seem to be pretty accepting about this whole thing," I said as I brushed my mane back, I thought back to everything I had done. "I thought ponies would hate me for what I did..."

"Ah ain't gonna lie, there will be ponies that don't like yah fer what yah did," Calamity said. "Ah don't blame them, but Ah did hear about yer reasons durin' tha war. Yer a good pony Scootaloo, that's all Ah really need ta know."

I smiled a little bit, that helped a lot, maybe things weren't going to be so bad. Things weren't going to be easy sure, but I could at least survive.

I hoped so at least.

That night I was asleep on the couch at Calamity's home in Memoria. It was a restless sleep at first, but when I finally managed to sleep, my dreams turned, disturbing to say the least.

I was in Ponyville again, the happy Ponyville that I had grown up in. There was no signs of the war, no posters from the Ministry of Image, no soldiers or Morale Officers going through town looking for Zebra Sympathizers.

It was peaceful... but it still felt, wrong somehow. Like there was something, unnatural about it after everything I had been through during the war... everything we had been through as a nation.

I started to move through town, I got a few hellos from ponies. It was weird, it felt so... normal.

That's when everything changed, there was an explosion that rocked the town, I turned to see the massive cloud of a balefire explosion. I covered my eyes with my foreleg, trying to block out the image I knew was coming of the ponies I had grown up with, and I didn't want to see it.

"Why did you live when we didn't?" A voice called out, I uncovered my eyes and was shocked to see the ponies still alive, but burnt crawling towards me.

"I didn't mean to..." I said, crying. "I just..."

"You don't deserve to live, not after what you did!" Another pony shouted. "You left innocent ponies to die! You left your family behind above the clouds!"

"I didn't have a choice... I just..." I said, starting to cry, I didn't know what to say. "I just wanted to do the right thing..."

"Well see what you got for it, you're just as bad as the ponies you wanted to punish!" A third said, and before I could reply I felt a pair of hooves around my neck that began choking me.

I screamed as the world around me went black and I swung a hoof at my attacker on pure instinct, feeling it connect with him.

"Oww, what was that fer?" An accented voice said and I looked at, somepony... wait, no Calamity, I had met him yesterday, he was rubbing his muzzle where I had hit him.

"Oh crap, I'm sorry!" I said, finally snapping out of my daze, I was sweating like crazy. "Are you okay? I didn't hit you too hard did I?"

"Ah'm fine, Ah've taken a lot worse, but yah have a mean right hook Scootaloo," Calamity said with a chuckle. "Are yah okay? It looked like yah were havin' a terrible nightmare or somethin'."

"No, not a nightmare," I said as I realized exactly what had happened. "It was something worse... a Night Terror."

We were seated at the table in the small house and I took a long drink of an Opal Cherry that Calamity had been saving. Really I never knew why most ponies preferred Sparkle-Cola, the Opal sodas were always better to me.

"Okay, now that yah have raided mah soda supply, mind tellin' me what that was about?" Calamity asked me.

"When I was just a filly I... lost my parents in an accident," I said. "I survived though and, that's when they started. The war, just made things worse, but its been years since I actually had one."

"Ah see... Ah wish Ah could help yah with that," Calamity said with a sigh. "Though, yah could come talk ta mah wife, she could help yah out with that."

"Yeah, sure," I said with a smile. "Hey, uh, thanks again for saving my flank back there."

"Don't worry about it, Ah don't like seein' ponies gangin' up on somepony like that," Calamity said.

We sat in silence for a long moment, there wasn't a lot we could say. I reached into my bags and took out the picture I had of me and my family, I had found it near the pod. It was slightly faded, but I could see the smiling face of Cloudy as I lifted her above my head.

I missed them so much.

"Is that of yer family or somethin'?" Calamity asked, I glanced over at the Pegasus Stallion who was looking at me curiously.

"Yeah," I said with a sigh as I put it away carefully. "I, don't really know what happened to them after I was exiled. I'd kind of like to maybe see if I still have any family out there somewhere, you know?"

"Ah see, Ah wish Ah could help yah, but tha Enclave didn't exactly keep any records on yah or your descendants, at least none that Ah know of," Calamity said with a shake of his head, I sighed a little, but it was predictable. "Though, Ah've heard rumors about a pony out west with a strikin' resemblance ta Rainbow Dash, not sure if that'll help."

My ears perked up at that, it could only mean one thing, Project Legacy had survived. I had admittedly had some reservations about it, but it was at least something. Really I found the whole idea of making genetically engineered ponies kind of weird, but Eureka had sold Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and even Luna on the idea.

It was something at least, maybe I should look into it.

"Thanks Calamity," I said and finished my drink. "I should get back to bed, sorry for waking you."

Calamity just smiled and said it was alright before we headed back to our beds.

The rest of the night passed pretty quietly, at least my dreams were normal again for some reason. I started gathering what little I had up and stretched out as we headed back out into Memoria.

It was still early in the morning, but it felt like the town was already coming to life. We made some stops at the shops in order to pick up supplies for our trip to Junction Town, and I was surprised when Calamity had a suggestion.

"Here, this should suit yah," he said as he gave me a coat and fedora. "Ah may not have a problem with yah, but a lot of ponies are goin' ta because of tha Stables. Not ta mention tha Enclave Remnant."

He had a point of course, it was weird to hide who I was, but I paid for the clothes. They fit surprisingly well, the coat was long enough to cover my cutie mark and when pulled down a bit the hat would keep my features hidden.

"I look like a pony from the old Shadow Spade adventures," I commented with a chuckle, I had a weakness for the radio dramas that Rarity put out during the war. "Well, I'm all set then, where's your friend?"

"She's waitin' fer us on tha outskirts of town, come on," Calamity said as I straightened out my hat and we started walking.

It was funny, even after the apocalypse, it still kind of felt like I was home. Memoria was different than Ponyville sure, but ponies seemed at least to still be willing to lend each other a hoof.

Maybe things weren't going to be so different here after all.

When we reached the outskirts of town there was a couple of ponies putting things into a wagon. I froze for a moment though, one of them was, rotting... like, she was literally a walking corpse, she was a Pegasus based on the wing bones, but it was still weird, like she was a zombie or something.

"Howdy Ditzy, Silver Belle, we've got a new guest comin' along with us," Calamity said, that name, why did it sound familiar?

The zombie pony turned to look at us and smiled, that's when I noticed something familiar, her eyes were yellow and facing two different directions. There was only one pony in Equestria that those eyes could belong to.

"D-Derpy?" I managed to stutter out.

Derpy took out a chalkboard and piece of chalk and began writing on it. I blinked a little at that, why wasn't she just talking to me? She turned the chalk board around and showed it to me.

"Hey Scootaloo, its good to see you again, please call me Ditzy Doo," the chalkboard read.

"Okay Der... Ditzy, sorry," I said as Ditzy smiled at me, I noticed she had the same type of PipBuck on her foreleg. "Sorry about reacting like that, I've never seen a pony like... umm, what are you exactly?"

Ditzy nodded in understanding as she erased the board and wrote on it again. "I'm a Ghoul, sorry if I scared you."

"Ghouls are ponies that have been affected by radiation but don't die," the teenaged Unicorn said as she poked her head out of the wagon, she was grey with a yellow mane, and she looked at me strangely. "Hey, uh, what's with the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well over there?"

"She'll be acompanyin' us ta Junction Town," Calamity explained as we climbed into the back of the wagon while Ditzy hitched herself up. "Silver Belle, meet Scootaloo."

Something had been nagging at the back of my mind since I first saw Silver Belle, and then it hit me. Dear Celestia, she looked almost exactly like Dinky, I couldn't believe it, it was, surreal really. She looked so much like my old friend...

I'm sorry Dinky, I wish I could've saved you.

"Are yah okay, Scootaloo?" Calamity asked and I realized I was staring.

"Sorry, its nothing," I said as I shook my head clear and looked at Silver Belle. "You, just remind me of somepony I used to know is all."
With that we went quiet as the wagon moved on towards Junction Town. Silver Belle gave me a copy of the first volume of the Book of Littlepip to read, and I had to admit that I was curious.

"If I’m going to tell you about the adventure of my life -- explain how I got to this place with these people, and why I did what I’m going to do next -- I should probably start by explaining a little bit about PipBucks."

I was amazed at what I was reading, Littlepip was a Stable Dweller from Stable 2, that was a good sign it meant at least some of the Stables had survived. And Stable 2 had been where Sweetie Belle was to be Overmare, that meant she might have survived the apocalypse, that gave me some relief at least.

It was kind of surreal to read about the adventures of a pony that was born years after I should have died, but Littlepip was an interesting pony. I was surprised to learn that all three of my traveling companions had crossed paths with her, and even traveled with her in Calamity's case.

I had to wonder how many other ponies had made it out of Stables like she did, who knows, maybe there was hope for the whole project after all.

On the last night before we would reach Junction Town we were camped in a quiet part of the Wasteland. Calamity was poking at the fire while I looked up at the sky. After thinking the cloud cover would last forever, it was, actually nice to see the stars again.

I took out the photograph again and sighed as I examined it, it was hard to believe that I'd never see either of them again.

"Ar yoo okaf?" A voice asked and I was surprised when I realized Ditzy Doo was talking to me, I looked up to see her holding the chalkboard, she must've talked to get my attention.

"Sorry Ditzy, I was kind of in my own world there," I said with a weak smile. "I'm just thinking about the whole thing really with the war and my family..."

Ditzy nodded in understanding as she wrote on her chalkboard, "I understand."

Maybe it wasn't so bad being a survivor, there were ponies out there that could understand what I was going through like Ditzy. I shifted my wings a little and sighed.

"I don't know, maybe I just feel like I failed as a mother because I couldn't be there," I finally said. "I can't imagine what Cloudy must've thought of me..."

Ditzy looked at me sympathetically, but her ears drooped slightly, Dear Luna I was talking about this to a mare that had lost her own daughter at Littlehorn, what was wrong with me?

"Sorry Ditzy, that was insensitive of me," I said with a sigh, Ditzy just smiled a little and shook her head and wrote on the board again.

"Its okay, I still miss her," Ditzy said with a sad smile and she hugged me, I was sure that I was getting a minor dose of radiation from the hug, but I didn't care.

Right now, all I cared about was having somepony there for me.

As we started to get closer to Junction Town, I got my first real look at the town. I was surprised to see that it was mostly comprised of buildings made out of what looked like old train cars, it was an interesting design but hey if it worked.

I closed up volume 1 of The Book of Littlepip, it was an interesting read and was a definite insight into what had happened in Equestria. It was amazing really how much things changed but at the same time, some things still stayed the same. Ponies still lived, loved, and made friendships long after the apocalypse came.

I guess its true, friendship really is magic sometimes.

We pulled up in front of a shop called "Absolutely Everything." Me and Calamity helped them get the equipment unloaded from the wagon, before we left though Ditzy surprised me with a rough looking Battle Saddle with two basic rifles on it.

"No, I couldn't," I said as I raised a hoof in protest.

Ditzy shook her head and wrote on her chalkboard. "I insist, its the least I can do for you."

"Besides, yer gonna need it if yah want ta survive," Calamity pointed out.

I slipped it on and checked it out, it had been awhile since I had taken that class on combat, Peek-A-Boo my head of security had insisted. The rifles were a bit more worn than what I had studied with, but they seemed to be working at least.

"Thank you Ditzy, that means a lot to me," I said and gave the older mare one more hug. "See you around?"

Ditzy nodded and smiled before heading into the shop.

"Come on, Ah'm sure that Velvet will want ta talk ta yah," Calamity said and started walking again with me close behind.

I got a few looks as we went down the streets of Junction Town, maybe it was the way I was dressed or something else entirely. I was surprised to see how much variety there was in Junction Town, I saw Griffons and Zebras living and working alongside ponies.

Things really had changed since the war, it wasn't going to be easy, but I could make my home here.

As we entered the building for something called the Followers of the Apocalypse, I was surprised to hear the sound of somepony singing. We entered one of the rooms where there was a Unicorn mare with charcoal black fur and a white mane with red and gold stripes, she stopped singing when we entered and smiled.

"Hey there Calamity," she said with a smile and trotted over and gave my companion a kiss before looking at me. "Who's this?"

"We met up in Memoria, Ah figured yah could help her out a bit," Calamity said as the mare looked at me curiously.

"Do you mind taking off this silly hat of yours?" The mare asked.

"I guess," I said nervously before taking the hat off, which caused the mare to take a step back. "Yeah, I know..."

"Well, this certainly makes things interesting," she said with a sigh. "Scootaloo, may I ask how you're still alive?"

I gave her a short version of my story which she listened to intently. She asked me a few questions about the stasis pod, but I could only tell her what little I knew from their development, it wasn't much help.

"Well, that's certainly interesting," the mare said and smiled a little. "Oh, I'm Velvet Remedy by the way, its a pleasure to meet you."
I was shocked, I knew that she was around from the book, but to actually meet here? And not to mention the fact that she was Sweetie's descendant, wow.

"Its a pleasure to meet you too," I said before finally smiling.

"So what can the Followers of the Apocalypse help you with?" Velvet asked. "You seem to be physically okay."

I told her about the Night Terrors, I had several during the trip to Junction Town as well, which made her pause briefly. I told her about the fact that I had suffered from them before, which prompted the obvious question as to what had brought them about when I was a filly.

"It was the accident that killed my parents, it started after that..." I said and rubbed my foreleg. "They were always of the accident, same thing during the war, but these are, different. I keep seeing Ponyville, the ponies I grew up with, and then it burns in balefire and..."

I let that thought trail off and looked at Velvet who looked at me sadly.

"This isn't the first time I've heard of this," Velvet admitted. "It became a big problem during the war with the Crimson Empire and I've heard of it existing during the Great War as well. You're suffering from what's called survivor's guilt Scootaloo, its a side effect of your trauma from the war."

"Trauma? But, I never actually saw combat," I said, not without trying, but my condition made me ineligible for service.

"Scootaloo, I've heard about what you went through, you were affected in a major way," Velvet said with a sigh. "Wartime Stress Disorder right? Except you were never treated, at least not effectively."

"Is there anything you can do to help?" I asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry, but this really isn't my area of expertise," Velvet said with a sigh as she looked thoughtful for a moment. "Your best bet might be to head for Tenpony Tower in Manehattan actually. There's a pony there that's part of the Followers named Focus, he may be able to help you a little."

"Thanks," I said with a smile, it really was good to know there were still ponies out there willing to help others. "What's the best way to get there?"

"Well, there should be a caravan headin' that way in a few days," Calamity offered. "We can see if yah need ta brush up on yer shootin', and Ah'm sure we can get yah on tha caravan easily enough."

"Okay, that sounds good," I said with a smile, it was good to have a plan, even if I wasn't quite sure what to do yet.

"Yer doin' good," Calamity said with a smile as I managed to hit the target just a bit off center with my Battle Saddle. "These rifles seem ta pull a little to the left, but yah have tha gist of it."

"Well yeah, I took some training, though that was years ago," I said as I lined up the rifles again, this was taking some getting used to but I could do it. I pulled the triggers again and this time was a lot better centered.

"Nicely done Scoots," Calamity said and turned when he heard somepony approach while I checked my rifles.

That's when I heard a voice I never thought I'd hear again, it was soft and kind, but it was filled with sadness. This was a voice that I'd never forget. "Scootaloo, is it really you?"

"Fluttershy?" I asked shocked as I turned around to see the familiar yellow Pegasus mare looking at me. "How are you..."

"Umm... its kind of a long story..." Fluttershy said. "I, was kind of turned into a tree for 200 years by mutated Poison Joke."

I couldn't believe it, Fluttershy was still alive after everything that had happened. I didn't really know what to make of that, she had been a traitor and had given the secret of Megaspells to the Zebras, which was part of the reason we were in this situation.

But was what I had done any better? I created experiments and subjected good ponies to them, I trapped ponies in Stable 1 just because of the actions of the nobility. We were both the villain of the piece really, and survivors.

And that was all that really mattered

"I can't believe it, you're still alive," Fluttershy said as she hugged me gently, I was surprised but I hugged back. "I'm so happy to see you again."

"You too Fluttershy," I said with a smile as we stayed there for a long moment. "I'm sorry Fluttershy... during the war I blamed you and the others for a lot of things. It was wrong of me, I understand that now."

"Scootaloo, its okay, we both did things that we're not proud of," Fluttershy said with a weak smile. "Its not about what we did in the past, its what we do to make up for them in the present."

I smiled and nodded, and we finally released the hug. I was just glad that I wasn't alone in the world.

"Do you have everything you need?" Velvet asked as I was getting everything together to take the trip with the Caravan.

"Food, water, extra ammunition for my rifles, caps, yeah I think I'm all set," I said as I put the last of it in my bags. "Velvet, if I may ask about Sweetie Belle, I know she made it into Stable 2 but..."

"You want to know if she missed you?" Velvet asked with a sympathetic look. "I think she missed both you and Apple Bloom a lot from what I understand. It was hard for her to have to leave you behind in Equestria, but I think she'd be happy to know you survived."

I smiled a little at that, even if I would never be able to see her again, I could see a lot of Sweetie Belle in Velvet Remedy.

"Well, I should probably get going, the caravan isn't going to wait forever," I said with a nod. "I'm glad I got to meet you Velvet."

"You too Scootaloo, I hope you find what you're looking for out there," Velvet said, then she felt around in her bags and took out a golden locket. "This belonged to Sweetie Belle, I think she'd like for you to have it."

I was a bit surprised but I opened it up to see a picture of the three of us as fillies. I smiled and closed it back up, placing it around my neck and hugging Velvet.

"Thank you, that means a lot..." I said trying not to cry.

"You're welcome Scootaloo," Velvet said as she hugged back. "You'll always have a place with us here in Junction Town."

I smiled and released the hug before I trotted out of the building to go meet up with the Caravan.

As we started up towards Manehattan, I took one last look back towards Junction Town. I had a long way to go on my journey, but things were already going pretty well.

I just hoped that things would continue this way.

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: Survivor of the Apocalypse.
Details: Against the odds you've survived the apocalypse that affected the rest of Equestria, now you just have to find your place in the world. You get a boost to your radiation resistance.

Author's Notes:

Credit to Memoria goes to the author ChaosPhantasm, used with permission.