Why does she do what she does?

That's something that has been going through my mind ever since I first talked with Winter Breeze back in Stable 122. She doesn't act like a monster, she doesn't want to just kill ponies indiscriminately, she almost feels like she wants to do right by Equestria.

Then why does she still play the part of the villain of the piece? Why does she stay in charge of the Enclave? What exactly is her game? What is her ultimate motivation for doing what she does?

Is it possible she's in over her head? I honestly have no idea, but something about the way she acts still feels weird to me, that was something I'd have to figure out later though.

I smiled a little as we walked towards Star and Jade's house, Gambit was off trying to get her ship repaired after it had been shot holes in it by the Enclave, I was surprised that thing was still flying.

"Scootaloo!"

I smiled a little as the door opened and Serenity ran out of the house and hugged me tightly, I hugged her back, after everything I had been through it was nice to see a friendly face again.

"Hey Serenity, how'd things go here?" I asked as I gave the filly a smile.

"Oh, it was crazy, but the Enclave never attacked," Serenity said with a shake of her head, that was good, at least the Enclave had kept the ceasefire going. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Me too kiddo, me too," I said as I ruffled her mane a little and looked up to see Vanilla, Star, Pure Heart and Jade coming out of the house. "So what did we miss while we were saving Manehattan from the Enclave?"

"Well, the NCR is still trying to figure out the whole vote of no confidence thing, but I think you've at least helped things go in Regina's favor," Star said. "It may all come down to how this war goes."

"Well, I hope everything works out for her," I said with a shake of my head, really the last thing the NCR needed right now was a change of leadership especially with the Enclave licking their wounds. "So, what are we going to do now?"

"Nomad City is to help secure things in Manehattan before heading back to central Equestria, at least that's the plan," Jade said as we headed into the house.

"Junction Town is of course denying any involvement in the Enclave being forced out of the city, at least officially," Vanilla said with a chuckle. "They're calling it an operation carried out by private citizens of the Wasteland, but are working to get their presence established once more in the city."

"Well, at least the Enclave is gone," Cherry said as Serenity looked up at Riva curiously.

"Who's your new friend?"

"Oh, Serenity this is Riva, she's a Viatorem from the Zebra Lands, basically she's a special diplomat that was sent to Equestria," I said with a smile. "Riva, meet Serenity."

Riva smiled and nodded politely as she shook hooves with the filly. Serenity looked at her curiously and she just shrugged a little.

"She doesn't speak Equestrian," I explained. "At least not fluently, we've had to work with translators and gestures up until this point."

"Well, that's still cool," Serenity said. "I don't think I've ever really met a Zebra before."

"Come on, lets get some time to relax at least before we have to go deal with politics again," I said as we headed back inside, it was good to be back with my family.

I just had to figure out how to tell Serenity who Winter Breeze really was, though there was something else I had to tell her first.

"Hey Serenity, remember I told you if I ever got with Cherry I'd tell you?" I said with a smirk which made Serenity's ears perk up cutely.

"You mean..." Serenity said with a smile.

"Yep, We're official as of a couple of days ago," I said with a chuckle. "So now you can stop conspiring to get us together."

"Aww, but that was so much fun!" Serenity said and I just laughed as I hugged the filly, it was good to have family.

I looked out at the sprawling city of Manehattan from the observation deck of Nomad City. It was hard to believe that only 5 days ago the Enclave had come here to try and break the spirit of the NCR by taking over the city, it had almost worked too if it wasn't for me and my friends.

But at what cost? A lot of ponies had gone through rough times, lives had been lost, Tenpony Tower had been occupied all for what, another pointless war? I honestly wasn't really sure what to think about all of this, but at the moment we at least were still alive.

"Hey Scootaloo," a familiar Zebra's voice said from behind me and I turned with a smile to see Xiraia standing there in her usual cloak. "I just wanted to check and see how you were doing."

"I'm fine, thank you," I said with a smile as I gave the Zebra DJ a nod. "What about you, how are things going in Tenpony Tower?"

"As well as can be expected, we're still picking up the pieces from the Enclave's occupation but we're going to be fine," Xiraia said with a nod. "You and your friends helped us out, I was surprised to see a Zebra among your group though."

"Yeah, we met Riva during our little adventure in Stable 66, that's a long story in itself," I said and filled Xiraia in on everything that had happened while we were in Manehattan. "And, yeah that's pretty much everything."

"Well, that's quite the story, I'm sorry I couldn't report on it," Xiraia said with a shrug. "Well, I'm glad you managed to come out of all of that alive. I may have something that would be of interest to you, this was found in the quarters that Winter Breeze occupied while she was in the tower."

She reached into her saddlebags under her cloak and took out an old looking book and gave it to me. I looked at it closely, it looked like it was pretty beaten up, but I could make out the word "Diary" on the cover.

"This looks a little too old to be Winter Breeze's."

"Well, its not, I think its something she carried with her but she never got a chance to recover it," Xiraia said and looked at me with a sad look on her face. "You should read it Scootaloo, there are things in it that I think you need to know, you more than anypony."

I looked at her strangely but I gingerly opened the book to the first page, if she felt I needed to read it, I might as well see what its all about. The hoofwriting was kind of messy and a lot of the words were misspelled, but I could get the basic idea of what it said.

Dear Diary,
Hey, my mommy gave me this diary for my birthday in hopes that it would help me learn how to write better. My name is Cloudy, I'm 5 years old and living in the city of Coltlumbia. Mommy says that diaries can be a lot of help for little fillies, and told me I should write in it as often as I can about my day.

I froze as I read those words again, and again, this wasn't just anypony's diary, this was my daughter's diary. Winter Breeze must've kept it all these years, tears started to well up in my eyes, this may be the last piece of my daughter I had left other than the picture of us.

I remembered giving this to her, it was a gift for her fifth birthday, she had just learned how to read and write and I couldn't be prouder of her. It was also only a few weeks before I started speaking out against the Enclave and that had gotten me exiled, it was the last birthday I ever got to spend with my little filly.

I didn't know if she hated me for that or not, but maybe now I could get some closure on it.

Maybe now I could finally get some answers about how she really felt about me after I left... it was weird, but I wanted to know that more than anything right now.

"Th-thank you Xiraia," I said as I hugged the Zebra tightly, I couldn't thank her enough for bringing this to me. "This means more to me than you know."

"I think I have some idea," Xiraia said with a smile as she hugged back. "I can't promise you'll find all the answers you may want in there, but its worth at least reading."

I nodded and put the diary gently into my saddlebags, I was going to have to read this in private.

"Thanks again, I'll see you later," I said as I headed off to the Equestria Grand Hotel.

I sat down at the table in the hotel room and looked at the diary for a long moment. She wasn't really sure what to make of all of this, I actually was holding in my hooves something that had belonged to Cloudy, the one thing that could give me closure on what happened to my daughter... and I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it.
I
took out the picture of me and Cloudy and Sky Walker, it felt like an eternity ago that we had gotten this picture taken. I had started to feel a little better about everything, at least until the Eclipse happened and the Enclave really started to take power.

Would I find some sort of answer in these pages or would it just break my heart? I didn't really know what to do, but I had to read it, I had to get some sort of answers.

I opened the diary up and turned the page to the second entry in the diary as I started to read.

Dear Diary,
Mommy took us to a cave today, she said it was something called Stable 44, it was built into the mountainside near Coltlumbia. She said that she would have to go away for awhile, that she might not be back for a long time, but she told em to be brave. She said the ponies in the Stable would take good care of me and that I needed to stay brave for her.

I miss mommy, why did she have to leave me?

I cringed a little, Stable 44 was a fairly benign Stable that was built near Coltlumbia as one of the Pegasi Stables. It was the closest place I could take her and be certain that she was safe, I didn't like that I had to put her in one of the Stables but it had at least given her a chance to survive, and maybe that would be enough at least.

Then again, if Winter Breeze and Serenity are anything to go on, that wouldn't have lasted, they'd have been forced out of the Stable eventually.

I turned the page and read the next entry.

Dear Diary,
Its now been a year since mommy left me in Stable 44, I don't know where she is and I'm terrified. The ponies here are nice enough, but they're not the same as having mommy and daddy here with me. Daddy left the Stable a few months ago saying that he was going to try and find mommy, he never came back. I don't know what's going on, where are they?

Sky Walker had left the Stable? I wasn't sure what that might mean but I was worried, he may have been captured by the Enclave and Celestia only knew what they'd do to him if they got the chance.

It kept going, there were more entries about her wondering where her parents were, I felt horrible, I had done to Cloudy exactly what happened to me when I was a filly. She was abandoned and had lost her parents just like I had, all because I had decided that some things were more important than being a mom.

Had it been worth it? Had I done the right thing by leaving the clouds like I did? I honestly had no idea anymore, there was this nagging feeling at me that told me that I hadn't.

I sighed and kept reading, I needed to read more.

Dear Diary,
I got my cutie mark today! I was helping work in maintenance with the ponies that had taken me in and I earned my cutie mark! Its of a little wrench with a few gears around it, I guess that means I'm going to be a maintenance pony or engineer or something, I wasn't expecting that, but cool! I love playing around with machinery.

I wish mommy and daddy were here to see it, I would give anything in the Stable to have them here with me right now...

I placed my hoof on the rough drawing of the cutie mark, I smiled a little, my little filly's cutie mark, she had earned it without me. I couldn't be prouder of her, she was good with tinkering with machines like I had always been when I was a filly, sometimes I wondered if maybe that could've been my cutie mark instead.

I kept reading, I needed to know more. There was surprisingly a lot, there was a lot about her first love, what she was feeling, what her day to day life was like... it was more than I could handle, I was about to stop when I reached one entry when she was in her early 20s.

Dear Diary,
Its been awhile since I had a chance to write in you but... there's some things I want to say. I never really understood why mom left me in the Stable, but I'm starting to understand now. I had my first foal the other day, I named her Jasmine, she's the spitting image of my mom, its hard to see her and not think about her.

Maybe its because I'm a mom now myself but I can understand why she did it, she wanted me to be safe and to live my life away from what was going on, at least that's what I think she wanted. I still miss her a lot, and at this point I don't think I'll ever get to see her again, but I think I finally understand why she did it.

We all make sacrifices when we become parents, we all just want to do right by our foals.

I don't know if you're still out there Mom, I don't know if you'll ever be able to read this, who knows you may walk through the Stable door tomorrow, but I know one thing.

I forgive you, and I'll always love you, no matter what.

I couldn't hold it in, I broke down crying after I finished reading that. I had been afraid of what she thought of me for the longest time, but this was exactly what I needed to read, she may have been angry at me for it, but she at least forgave me for it... she still loved me even after what I had done.

I felt a pair of forelegs wrap around my neck gently and I looked up to see Cherry smiling down at me.

"Hey Cherry."

"Hey Scootaloo, what are you reading?" She asked as she nuzzled me gently.

"Something my daughter wrote when she was growing up," I said as I closed the diary. "Its, something that Winter Breeze had but left behind."

"What did she say about you?"

I told her what I had read, she frowned a little at some of the parts and just hugged me gently at the end. "You still miss her a lot don't you?"

"Yeah, I do, its been decades since she died, but for me she was just my 5 year old daughter over a year ago," I said sadly as I looked down at the diary again. "What should I do?"

"Talk to somepony maybe, not like a therapist or one of those Heartmender things, try talking with another pony who's gone through the same thing," Cherry suggested. "You're not the only survivor out there, there are ponies who are going through the same exact thing you are and maybe they can help you."

"Well, maybe," I said then frowned a little. "The only pony nearby that is like that is Gambit..."

"Well, go talk to Gambit then, I'm sure you both need to talk about this, I'll be there if you need me," Cherry said and I nodded and we got up and headed out the door.

It was time to talk with Gambit, I just had to hope that everything would be okay.

I was told that Gambit was working on the airship she had flown in on in Nomad City’s repair bays along the starboard section of the city ship. I took a deep breath as we neared the ship, it had taken damage from the fight with the Enclave so it looked pretty beat up but it was still as intimidating as I remembered.

As we approached the ship from a distance I could see Gambit working on it, she was on her hind legs and looked like she was cleaning the bow of the ship or something. As we got closer however, she didn’t appear to have anything in her hoof.

“Is she, caressing the boat?” Cherry asked as we held back a moment.

“It certainly looks like it…”

“You know the weirdest ponies you know that right?”

“I’m very aware of that fact yes…” I said with a groan as I facehooved a little, maybe I should’ve waited to talk with Ditzy or Fluttershy after all. “Well, I’m here, there’s no point in turning back now.”

Cherry nodded and I trotted forward to where the airship was. As I got closer though I swear I heard her mumbling something as if she was talking to it.

“It’s okay.. You’re okay.. No big mean ol’ pony is going to do that again..” Gambit mumbled “I’ll protect you from those big meanies.. We’ll get you fixed up, I promise..”

“Uh Gambit, are you talking to your airship?”

“And what if I was!” Gambit shouted, seemingly embarrassed.

“Nothing, never mind,” I said with a shake of my head, I wasn’t going to question the crazy mare right now, that wasn’t why I was here. “I just wanted to talk, you know- about everything.”

“What is there to talk about? I mean - we won, right?”

“We won in Manehattan yes, but Winter Breeze still got away and they’re larger than just one ship or one city. The Enclave isn’t going to stop just because we beat them there.”

“What do you mean? I mean - We handed their cupcakes to them. Why would they even try again?”

I paused for a long moment, how was I going to explain this to her? She had only woken up a few days ago so she didn’t know the full story of the Enclave, what it had done, what it was still trying to do.

“Gambit, this was only part of a much larger war, we’ve been fighting the Enclave for awhile now. They’ve gone after Stables in pursuit of… something that was locked away a long time ago, something that if they got their hooves on it would turn the tide of the war. They’re not going to give up, not until we stop them once and for all.”

“Well, what is it?” Gambit just had to question. “If it’s so important that it had to be locked away, what is it exactly? What does it do?”

“I, can’t tell you,” I said, this was not something I was ready to tell anypony about yet. “All you need to know is that it’s dangerous, so dangerous that if it was used it could destroy entire cities. It’s not the kind of power that needs to be in anypony’s hooves.”

“So is Quetzal here, But she’s mine - Going to take her away from me because you don’t think anypony should have this kind of power?”

“No, no, that’s your… wait, you named her the Quetzal?”

“‘Course I did, It’s a beautiful name and, she kind of reminds me of the birds, I don’t even know if they are still around, but It just… fits, Y’know?”

“Okay, fair enough,” I said with a shrug.

“She’s a magnificent ship, isn’t she? Survived the conflict with the Storm king - Managed to serve with distinction under the Equestrian flag after he was defeated, and now look at her. Over 200 years later, and she’s just as beautiful and powerful as she was back then.”

“Yeah, she sure is something…” I said with a slight shiver, it still scared me a little when I thought back to the invasion. “But why Quetzal? It’s not exactly green or anything that resembles a Quetzal bird.”

“You don’t see it? Really?” Gambit giving a bit of a sigh “This ship, on my way to Manehatten after hearing the radio, it seemed to be alive, and talked to me as we flew. I heard its song, and felt it move and sway to the breezes, and when the light caught her just right, she lit up in the most beautiful shades of green and red, and she just reminded me of Quetzals.”

“Oh, well okay, I mean it’s your ship so you can call it whatever you want,” I said with a shrug, it sounded crazy to me but if she felt that way there was no point in criticizing it. “Anyway no, I’m not going to take your ship away from you, the Enclave wants something, else. I’m sorry Gambit, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but this is one secret that needs to remain buried.”

“Sounds like it’s not so buried as you thought it was, What can hurt by telling me about it?”

“It’s a Megaspell, that’s all you need to know right now, okay? I’m sorry but it’s just, I don’t really trust anypony with this kind of power, especially not after the Enclave held Celestia One.”

“The heck is Celestia One, outside of a megaspell obviously, I mean - I don’t remember anything about these things.”

“Well, it basically uses concentrated sunlight to devastate whatever it’s pointed at, trust me it’s something you don’t want to mess with,” I said and shook my head. “You were right, Megaspells are the reason we are stuck in this situation. Which is why we have to stop any faction, Enclave or NCR from using this one.”

“Ever see up close and personal how the balefire bombs used on us were made? I’ve seen it up close and personal from one of the raids I went on,” Gambit would question. “It’s odd, knowing just exactly what killed so many ponies and created this world the way it is.”

“I can imagine, it’s weird sometimes, being alive after all of that,” I said as I played with my hat a little. “You get to thinking about everypony that was lost, everypony that you left behind, your friends, your family. Do you know what I mean?”

“My best friend was blown out of the sky, didn’t even find her body - I held my Foster mother as she breathed her final breath when stable 1 flooded with pink cloud, and then I got locked in a pod for 211 years I believe it was - I remember it all like it was yesterday, because it practically was for me.”

“You never quite get over it, even if you think you have, there will always be something that reminds you of what you’ve lost,” I said softly as I looked down at the floor, I was trying not to cry. “We’re all in the same boat, the survivors, you, me, and some others that survived. Maybe there’s some purpose to it, maybe we still have some crimes to answer for… I know I certainly did.”

I said that last part so quietly that I don’t even know if Gambit caught it. I doubted she knew what I had done, what the Stables had been built for, all because of me and my friends.

That was something I’d never truly be able to make up for.

“Then how do you explain me? I have no past - no future, I’m just here, out of time without a purpose.” Gambit sighed out “Not even those that saved my life are still around, I miss them all, and I question why me, and I wish that I could go be with them, or they could be here with me.”

“I wish I had answers for you, I don’t know your story, I wish there was something I could do,” I said with a sigh. “Do you regret waking up? Would you have rather died in that pod?”

“Sometimes Yes, when I first came out of the pod and found out all that happened before I came out.. I wished I could just go back in the pod, or to go and find my personal effects and use my service pistol, one last time.” Gambit said, looking away from me as if she didn’t want to see my reaction.

“Gambit I…” I started to say, I wasn’t sure how she’d react to that just yet. “I’m sorry Gambit, I’m the one who opened your pod. I got an alert related to pods while I was at the Stable-Tec building in Manehattan and I couldn’t just let ponies die.”

“Scootaloo, you may not realize what you had done, but despite the pain of finding out and learning that I’m all alone… I still thank you for what you’ve done, I know what I just said - that I haven’t a future, but maybe - just maybe I need to seek my peace before I can go.”

I nodded in understanding, there was at least one thing I could give her, at least to point her in the right direction. “You might try the wilderness up north, there’s a Tribe there called the Dayrunners and Stable 13. I, don’t know if it’ll give you the peace you want, but it may help at least.”

“What do you mean? What could be in a Stable or with this tribe that could help me?” Gambit seemed to perk up rather suddenly. “I don’t know if I’ll find what I need, but I do want to find... “ Gambit would take a deep breath. “To find where Dash is.”

“Mom… Rainbow Dash, is the reason I’m here, she put me in a pod similar to the one you were in,” I said with a nod, Gambit was one pony that I felt I could trust with this information. “After that, she went to Stable 13, you’ll find your answers there, I promise.”

“So, Dash went to a stable after they were sealed? How? I thought the stable doors once sealed couldn’t be opened?” Gambit questioned “I mean.. I guess you’re one of those ponies responsible for the Stables, you’d understand more how they work then I do - heck, I’ve only seen a couple before that final fateful day.”

“Well, the Ministry of Arcane Science had the door override codes for 13, and I believe one of them was given to her by Twilight Sparkle when she entrusted Eclipse’s safety to her. That’s, the best explanation I have really. But, she was there, I can guarantee it.”

With that, Gambit gave me a smile before she turned her attention back to the airship. “You know, I’m not going to be going anywhere for a while, She’s in bad shape - I didn’t know she was as rotten as she was. Some of this place’s engineers said that they are surprised she held together long enough to even get here, let alone have anything left after being fired on by those flak batteries.”

“Yeah, she’s quite the ship, I could talk with a friend of mine on the City council and see if we can get some resources in here to help with the repairs if that’ll help,” I offered.

“It might, I mean - She’s already got a few upgrades on the way, Did you know there is a blacksmith here? They wanted to study the screws on her, said they’ll donate new ones that’ll make her faster.”

“Well, that’s good, she’s quite the boat, err, I mean ship,” I said and facehoofed at my own slip of the tongue. “Yeah, that’s what I meant, I hope she serves you well.”

“I’ll just ignore that comment…” Gambit’s gaze drifting to Cherry “And you! Don’t think I didn’t hear you call her a boat! You better apologize to her for that!”

“What, me?” Cherry said as she trotted over next to me. “I don’t get this… okay I’m sorry for calling you a boat large, flying ship thing.”

“Scootaloo! Tell her exactly what this ship was back in our day.”

“Hey, cut me some slack here, my education in Stable 48 didn’t exactly include flying ships,” Cherry said with a pout.

“It's okay Cherry, long story short this guy called the Storm King sent a fleet of these to attack Equestria long before the war with the Zebras,” I said with a sigh, I really didn’t want to get caught between these two. “I’ll tell you more about it later.”

“Good, Now if you two don’t mind, I’d like some time to get to know my ship better.”
I nodded and we headed back out of the repair bay.

“Has she always been this…” Cherry started to ask as if she was trying to figure out how to put it.

“Odd? Maybe a little, I think it’s a ship captain thing,” I said with a shrug. “Come on, let’s go get some dinner, I still owe you a date.”

The next few days passed pretty quietly, we spent time in Tenpony Tower and Manehattan to help get things back together. Manehattan was still in pretty bad shape, but things were starting to return to normal after the Enclave pulled out of the city, so that was something at least.

Three days after the battle with the Enclave, we finally got some sort of an answer as to what was going on with the NCR over the radio as usual. Xiraia's voice came over the radio on NCR Radio as we were working in one of the outlying Settlements.

"This is DJ Pon3 coming back at you with the latest news from around Equestria. Good news has just come in from Junction Town, the Senate has agreed to delay the vote of no confidence in President Regina Grimfeathers. This decision was reached after reports came in of the events of the Battle of Manehattan, so at least we finally have some bit of closure on that issue. Now, lets have some music, dedicated to one of our heroes that helped save Manehattan."

"Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on."

Finally 5 days after the occupation was broken the time came for us to leave. I was on Nomad City working on getting everything together, we'd have to leave for Stable 78 or 97 once we got back to Junction Town and I wanted to be ready to go.

"Scootaloo," a familiar voice said and I turned to see Velvet Remedy standing there with Calamity, Ditzy, Homage, and Henri. "We need to talk about something, something that you learned during the battle."

"You mean Winter Breeze being my descendant?" I said as I looked back at Velvet and the others. "Did you know about that?"

The 4 ponies and the Griffon looked hesitant, I noticed that Henri had a PipBuck on her claw, a golden one like the others, I guess I had missed it before. That was 5 Element Bearers, but where was the sixth one?

"We, knew about it yeah," Calamity said as he scratched the back of his head. "We kinda crossed paths with Winter back when we were gettin' tha elements together. She traveled with us for awhile and helped us find tha other bearers."

"At the time we didn't know the whole truth," Homage said reluctantly. "This was before she even became the President of the Enclave, as far as we were concerned she was just another pony."

"You should see these," Henri finished as she took out a box and opened it to reveal four memory orbs and a Recollector like the one I had used in Stable 13. "I know it won't give you all the answers you're looking for, but its our memories of her. We gathered them together if they would ever be needed for this kind of thing, we just didn't think that it would be like this."

I took a deep breath and took the case, maybe this would help at least give some sort of insight into what Winter Breeze was really like.

But something still bugged me, something about all of this didn't make sense, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know what the truth was.

"Why would you keep this from Equestria?" I asked as I looked at the five again. "If you could've known who she was, what might come to pass... why didn't you warn ponies?"

"Because she was our friend, she wasn't a monster to us," Ditzy wrote on the chalkboard and looked at me apologetically.

"I promise, everything will make sense," Velvet said with a nod. "Come on, lets go."

I nodded and we headed to my hotel room, the others weren't there at the moment, so we'd have the privacy we needed. I took out the Recollector and placed it on my head and looked at the first of the Memory Orbs.

It was time to learn who Winter Breeze really was.

When I first entered the memory orb the first thing I became aware of was the sensation of something between my hind legs. It took me a moment to realize I was experiencing the memories of a stallion and it felt, weird. I couldn't explain why, it just felt strange to me, almost alien. I didn't dwell on it long, I had to get an idea of where I was and what was going on.

I found myself in what looked like a settlement at first, then I saw the tents, they were everywhere. Inhabiting them were Pegasi dressed in clothes that looked like they had been through a war, I was starting to realize that I was looking at a refugee camp.

"These poor ponies," a familiar voice said next to me and I turned to see Velvet Remedy walking along side my host. "I wish there was more we could do to help them."

"Ah know what yah mean," my host said, the accent meant I was reliving Calamity's memories, well that was one question answered at least. "Most of these ponies didn't ask fer this, they just wound up gettin' caught up in tha crossfire between tha Enclave and the rebels, its a shame that so many were made homeless."

Oh, that's who these ponies were, they were refugees from the Enclave Civil War. They must have been forced to the surface to get away from the fighting above the cloud cover.

I was really starting to hate the Enclave even more at this point, they could've done more to help these ponies but because they didn't they had made refugees out of their own citizens. Why did they want me to see this, how was this related to Winter Breeze at all? Something about this felt weird, but I was sure that I was going to get an answer soon, at least I hoped so.

"Do you really think we may find an Element Bearer among these ponies?" Velvet said as she looked at my host. "It would be hard to find magic or generosity in this kind of situation."

"Ah know, but Ah heard rumors about a mare who..." Calamity started to say and stopped when he saw something, there was a Pegasus mare with a blue coat and messed up mane and tail, she was dressed in the same burnt clothes as the others but she carried herself differently.

I knew who she was, Winter Breeze, not the poised and calm President I had met, but as a refugee. She must have fled to the surface with the other ponies when the fighting started.

She was currently at a rough eating area with what meager food she had and was passing it around to a group of foals that were there. They all looked scared but at the same time they look relieved, I didn't know where their parents were but I could tell that there was something more to what was going on with Winter.

"Don't worry my little ponies, everything will be just fine," Winter said reassuringly, her voice had lost the coldness I had come to expect from her, instead she seemed kind, almost motherly.

"Thank you Ms. Breeze," one of the foals said as Winter placed a plate in front of him. "You're a lifesaver."

"You're welcome, don't worry, I'll make sure you all have enough to eat," Winter said with a soft smile as she took out what small amount of food and water was left and sat down to eat.

I was starting to get what they meant, Winter Breeze was as hungry as the foals were, but she was giving them a chance at surviving instead of focusing on her own needs. She was genuinely concerned about the well being of her fellow Pegasi and wanted to help them as best she could.

What had happened in the intervening time to change that?

"Do you think that's the one we were told about?" Velvet asked as she looked at my host. "She doesn't seem to be your typical Enclave refugee at least."

"Ah'm not sure, come on lets see if we can talk ta her," my host said as we trotted forward and came up to the group of ponies, my host tipped his hat to them with a smile. "Howdy ya'll."

"Can I help you?" Winter asked as she looked at the two ponies with a bit unease on her face as she noticed my host's flank where the Dashite Brand was. "I see, you're Deadshot Calamity then aren't you?"

"Err, yes, that would be me," my host said, I got a feeling of unease from him as if he was nervous about how she might react to that information. "We're here because we heard about tha refugee camp and what's been goin' on with tha war, we wanted ta help as best we could."

Winter looked at them for the longest moment as if she was considering their words. She wasn't sure what to make of either of them and I wasn't sure if they knew what to make of her either, these were two ponies that had come up to her and wanted to offer their help, so she couldn't exactly afford to say no.

"What do you have?" she finally said with a sigh.

"Food, water, medicine, we can get it all here in a few days," Velvet offered. "I know it seems hard to believe, but we just want to help as best we can. This tragedy..."

"The civil war is the Enclave's own fault, they brought it on themselves a long time ago, but its those of us who just want to live our lives that have to suffer the most for it," Winter said as she wrapped her wings gently around the foals. "We'll take whatever help you can give us for the camp."

"Alright then, I will send word to the others to have it sent in a few days," Velvet said and reached into her bag and took out several food and drink items and set them on the ground. "Consider this the first of more to come, you need it more than we do."

Winter smiled a little at that as she gathered up the food and gave the two ponies that had helped her a smile. "Thank you, both of you, this means a lot to us."

"Yer very welcome," my host said with a smile and another tip of his hat. "We'll see ya'll around Ah'm sure, take care of yourselves."

Winter nodded and my host and Velvet left to go look around the camp more.

"Well, what do yah think?" My host asked as he looked at Velvet again.

"I'm not sure to be honest, she does seem to be a possible candidate, but there's something about her," Velvet said with a sigh. "Its probably nothing though, lets stay here for a few more days and see what happens next."

"Ah agree, hopefully it won't be too long before those supplies get here," my host said with a nod. "Come on, lets get word ta Ditzy and tha others, Ah'm sure they'll be happy ta know we made contact at least."

Velvet nodded and we walked off to send the message. The camp wasn't easy to look at, but now I was starting to understand what was going on a lot better.

When I entered the second memory orb I was relieved to find that I wasn't in the body of a stallion again, actually based on the charcoal colored hooves I was in Velvet's body this time.

I was back in the refugee camp, this time I was accompanied by Homage who was talking with some of the refugees at the moment. She trotted back over to my host and gave me a nod.

"Okay Velvet, the mare we're looking for seems to be in the large tent at the center of the camp, apparently she's converted it into some sort of school," Homage said which surprised my host a little but she smiled a little.

"So, our candidate is a teacher then?"

"Sounds like it, apparently she's been working to help the foals as well as any ponies that show interest learn more about Equestria's history and other things," Homage said with a chuckle. "She's become quite the fixture in the camp and a lot of ponies are taking notice."

"I see," my host said with a shrug as they headed into the tent at the center where there were ponies of varying ages sitting in a circle while Winter Breeze was reading from a book. It was kind of weird but it almost felt right for her, maybe it was because of what I knew about her, but somehow I felt like she was more at home here than anywhere else.

"So the next major threat faced by Equestria following Nightmare Moon's return was the return of Discord. The exact events of how he was freed from his stone prison is unknown, but some historians point to a class trip at the time that happened to be in the garden being one possibility."

Oh great, how was that for a confidence booster, I'm now being reminded that I helped release Discord from his prison. Oh well, at least it all kind of worked out in the end.

The class continued for a little while longer with the students asking a few questions of Winter as she continued her lesson. She finally closed the book up and dismissed the class before she looked at my host and Homage.

"Well, I must say I wasn't expecting another visit from you," she said with a smile as she trotted over to us. "I never got to introduce myself before, my name is Winter Breeze."

"Nice to meet you," my host said with a smile as she shook hooves with the Pegasus mare. "I'm Velvet Remedy, this is my friend Homage."

"Its a pleasure," Winter said. "I saw you decided to sit in on my little class, its been awhile since I really got to teach, I'm glad I got the opportunity here."

"You were a teacher?" Homage asked curiously.

"I was, before, well that's not important," Winter said dismissively, I was pretty sure I knew what she meant by that. "Now I'm just a pony trying to make my way in the world and help others as best I can."

My host and Homage exchanged a long look as if they were thinking the same thought, I was starting to get what they were thinking. Winter Breeze had shown a lot of the best attributes of an Element Bearer, they were going to be taking a risk by revealing it to a pony they didn't really know as well, but if she was the pony they thought she was, it may be worth the risk.

Maybe she was, but then why wasn't she carrying around one of the Elements? Something about this didn't sit right with me, and I was afraid of what the answer might be.

"What if we told you there was a chance you could help Equestria?" Homage suggested and Winter looked at her curiously.
"What do you mean?"

"We need ponies who can wield the Elements of Harmony, and while I know its a long shot, we wanted to see if you'd be willing to at least try," my host said as she offered Winter a hoof. "What do you say, a chance to make history and help Equestria be reborn?"

Winter looked surprised at that, she hadn't expected to have that offer be made at all. I didn't blame her, that was something that nopony would ever expect to be offered, Winter at this point was just a normal pony that was about to take her first steps into a much larger world.

"Well, if you think it'll help, I'll at least try," she said with a smile and took my host's hoof, shaking it gently. "Equestria needs a future, I would be happy to be part of giving it that future."

My host smiled and nodded, that was what she wanted to hear, now it was just a matter of seeing if Winter Breeze was the right pony for the job.

"Lets get finished up here first," Homage said with a nod as she looked around at the refugee camp. "The last thing we need is to let this place fall apart."

Winter nodded in agreement as they went to talk with the other ponies in the camp. After that they went to the outskirts of the camp where the other bearers were waiting.

"Howdy," Calamity said with a smile as my host took a spot next to him. "Ah'm glad yah could join us."

"I'm glad to be here," Winter said with a smile. "So, umm, where are these elements of harmony?"

Ditzy nodded and took out two items I recognized them as the old versions of the Elements of Magic and Generosity. Winter looked at them curiously as if she wasn't quite sure what to expect out of them.

"What do I do?"

"Just touch them, if you're going to bear one it'll react to you," Homage said and nodded to her. "Don't worry, you'll do fine, I promise."

Winter placed her hoof on the crown that was the Element of Magic first, nothing happened. When she placed her hoof on the Element of Generosity there was a brief reaction, just a quick light blue glow coming from it before it faded, leaving it laying there the same it was before.

"Well, Ah admit Ah've never seen that happen before," Calamity said as he scratched his head a little. "Ah have ta admit, Ah don't quite know what that means."

"Sorry Winter, it might mean you're not the one, or it might mean you're just not ready, I'm sorry," my host said and Ditzy looked at her sympathetically.

"Its okay, I knew it was a longshot really," Winter said with a shake of her head.

"Well, thanks for at least trying," my host said, she seemed more disappointed than anything else, I was getting the feeling that this search was starting to drag on a bit.

"Look, I know its not really my place, but maybe I can help you out," Winter said after a long moment. "I know I didn't get picked, but maybe there's some way I can still help. There are still ponies out there that could work, I'd be happy to at least help you search for them."

There was a brief discussion over what to do before finally they agreed, the world went white around me again.

My next host felt weird again, though I think this one was female at least. It took me a moment to realize I was inhabiting the body of a Griffon, at least until I noticed that she had a talon gripped around a mug and took a long drink of it before setting it back down on the bar.

"Another."

"I'm starting to think you've had enough Henri," the bartender pony said as she looked at her for a long moment, she was a Pegasus mare with off white fur. "And you're not exactly rolling in the caps these days."

"Put it on my tab," my host said with a groan as she shot the bartender a groan. "You know I'm good for it, I just need another job."

"Yeah, well unless you want to try Reino the jobs aren't exactly coming through this area," the bartender said with a shake of her head. "Fine, one more drink, then I'm cutting you off until you can get more caps."

"I'll take care of that for her," a mare's voice said and my host looked up to see Winter Breeze standing there, she set a pile of caps down on the bar and gave the bartender a nod. "Get the hen her drink and a Sparkle-Cola for me."

"Coming right up," the bartender said and swept the caps off the bar and went to get the drinks.

"So what do you want, somepony killed?" My host asked as she looked at Winter Breeze. "You don't seem the type to just give things out for charitable reasons."

"You're Henrietta Firebright right?" Winter asked as she looked at my host carefully.

"What's it to you blue?"

"My name is Winter Breeze, I'm here representing a group of ponies that are interested in your services," Winter said as the bartender came back and put the drinks down in front of us. "What do you say to saving Equestria?"

"Don't bother, Gawd tried the same sales pitch on me after she saved me from the Talons awhile back, it didn't work for her, it ain't gonna work for you," my host said as she took a long drink. "I'm not one to run off and join some new faction that'll probably fold in a few months anyway."

"I'm not here to get you to join the New Canterlot Republic," Winter said as she popped the cap on her bottle of Sparkle-Cola and took a long drink. "I'm here to make you a different kind of offer, there's a chance you could be able to help Equestria recover with more than just promises."

"That's a laugh, I'm just a merc, you don't need me for that kind of job," my host said with a shake of her head. "Last time I tried that kind of thing, it got me a broken heart and a dead sister, no thank you."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Winter asked as she looked at the Griffon. "I talked with Watcher, he told me about Puppysmiles and what you two went through together. And what happened to her at the end of the Big 52, you cared about that filly didn't you?"

"I did, and I'm the one who let her die..." My host said as she gripped her mug in her talon. "That, thing had a grip on her, I should've figured out another way to stop it."

"Henri, you did your best and you gave her what she needed to be able to pass on," Winter said and placed her hoof on my host's shoulder. "You did your best and you were there for her when she needed you to be. You were the big sister she needed, sure you may have made mistakes, but you did what you could to help her in the end. Maybe there was another way, but you can't keep beating yourself over what ifs. Puppysmiles wouldn't want you to do that, and she'd want you to help Equestria if given the chance. We're giving you that chance, all you have to do is have a little faith."

My host looked at Winter for a long moment, she wasn't sure what to say to this mare, I didn't really blame her. Winter was good, she was very good at what she did, I could certainly see how she had managed to convince the Enclave to do everything it had been doing.

My host smiled and took her hoof. "Alright, I'll come along on your crazy mission, what do you need me to do?"

"First, lets finish these drinks," Winter said with a smile as she raised her bottle. "To Puppysmiles."

"To Puppysmiles," my host said with a smile and tapped her mug against the bottle and they both took a long drink.

The world around me went white once more.

The next body I was in felt, weird, it took me a moment to realize I was actually in a ghoul's body. It was a strange sensation to realize your body was rotting, but I guess Ditzy had become used to it over the years. That's who's body I was in now, and we were in some sort of cave system on platforms attached to a Megaspell chamber. The other Element Bearers and an Earth Pony stallion I didn't recognize was there too, he must've been the bearer of Generosity along with Lifebloom.

Spike was there too along with Winter Breeze, she had accompanied them this far I guess, and it looked like it was time to actually set off Gardens of Equestria.

"Are you ready?" Spike asked as he looked at Lifebloom who was preparing to cast the spell.

"Everything's in place, this should work," Lifebloom said as he finished the preliminary checks on the Megaspell. "Everything checks out, looks like its time to fire this thing off."

His horn glowed as he cast the spell into the Megaspell itself, the Elements of Harmony all started to glow and I felt a weird sensation as I began to rise up with the energy connecting all of us. It was a weird sensation to say the least but not an unpleasant one.

There was a burst of energy as the magic flew up out of the mountain cave and out of view. For a moment it seemed like nothing happened until we looked at the monitors on the Crusader Maneframe, the cloud cover was finally gone once and for all, and we could see things changing, the grass was coming back, life was coming back to Equestria.

"Come on, lets see this for ourselves," Velvet said as we climbed off the platforms and headed out into the cave proper and looked out at the sprawling landscape in front of us.

It was unbelievable, everything seemed to be changing as the wave of magical energy spread across Equestria. We could see for miles and it actually looked like things were improving, that maybe Equestria had a chance once more.

At least that's until we heard what sounded like a crack of thunder above us, we gulped and looked up to see a massive cloud ship descending towards us. I could see the Enclave symbol painted on it next to the name Hurricane.

"That's, a Thunderhead," Calamity said as we backed up a little, what was the Enclave doing here? "What tha hay is goin' on now?"

"I have no idea," Velvet said.

My host turned to see Winter trying to hide behind the massive form of Spike. She tilted her head a little at that, what was going on?

I knew exactly what was going on, this was when the Enclave had come for Winter.

A Vertibuck was launched off the ship and it came in for a landing near the cave entrance and several ponies dressed in Enclave Power armor stepped off. The leader of them removed their helmet revealing a Pegasus stallion with a black coat and a short grey mane.

"We're looking for Secretary of Education Winter Breeze," he said in a cold voice that betrayed no emotion. "She has been tracked to this location from the Refugee camp near Maresprings, will you give her over peacefully or will there be a problem?"

"We're not going to give into bullies that easily," the Earth pony stallion said as he looked at the Enclave soldier hard for a long moment. "What do you want with her?"

"The Enclave needs to be rebuilt, we need her help in rebuilding it," the Pegasus said as he looked at her hiding behind Spike. "You're the last one in the line of succession to be in charge, you're our only hope at surviving."

"Well, maybe ya'll shouldn't survive then!" Calamity shouted, which actually made the Enclave soldier flinch a little. "Did yah ever think about that? Maybe the Enclave ain't worth savin' if ya'll had ta resort ta such methods as Operation Cauterize."

"We will level this mountain with the Hurricane if you don't turn her over," the soldier said as he narrowed his eyes at us. "We will willingly kill all of you and destroy whatever you have hidden in that cave. This is your last chance to make it out of this alive."

There was a long tense moment as the Enclave soldiers waited for an answer. We looked up at the Thunderhead looming above the mountain, that ship was terrifying, I had no doubt that it could do exactly what the soldier said it would do, and without hesitation.

"I'll go..." A voice said from behind us and we turned to see Winter moving out of hiding and walking forward. "I'll go with you, but you have to promise not to fire on them."

"Winter, you don't have to do this," Velvet said as she reached out towards Winter, the Pegasus mare turned back and looked at all of us sadly. "You don't have to do what they want you to do, you're better than them."

"I know... but I have to," Winter said sadly as she started to cry a little. "Maybe this is my chance to change Equestria... I just hope it'll be for the better."

My host took out her chalkboard and wrote on it two simple words "Never forget." Winter smiled and nodded in understanding before turning back to look at the soldiers.

"Alright, I'm coming with you," she said, though the pain was evident in her voice as she climbed aboard the Vertibuck and it started up.

We all watched as it took off and flew towards the Thunderhead above. Not long after the ship charged up its engines and flew off, leaving us all on the ledge.

With that my vision turned white one last time as the Memory Orbs came to an end.

I blinked when I woke up and found myself staring at the ceiling of the hotel room. Everything was starting to make more sense all of a sudden, maybe it explained a few things about Winter's behavior that I didn't know before.

She had helped ponies, educated them, comforted a Griffon who had lost her sister, she wasn't what I had expected out of the leader of the Enclave. That much was now clear, Winter Breeze was different.

"Do you think there's still good left in her?" I finally asked out loud as I looked at the five Element bearers who just looked at me for a long moment. "She's done things, things that I don't know if Equestria can forgive... I don't know what to think anymore to be honest."

"We don't know either," Homage admitted as she looked down at her hooves. "She's changed, she feels different from the mare we knew back then. Its not up to us whether or not she can be saved though, its up to her."

I sighed and looked out the window through the dome out into the sky. I could see a gathering of storm clouds in the distance, and for a moment I swore I saw the stern of an airship vanish into them.

I knew that if we were going to win this war, Winter Breeze was going to have to be stopped, one way or another.

I just hoped that she could be stopped.

There was a feeling of the city moving very briefly as the engines fired up and started off towards Junction Town, it was time to continue the fight.

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: Sky Pirate.
Details: You've gained a better knowledge of the swashbuckling past of Equestria's air force. You gain an extra point in melee attacks when using a bladed weapon and greater movement speed.