The next day I was alone in my hotel room when there was a knock at the door, I was still trying to figure out what to do about all of this to be honest. Things weren't going well, the Enclave was licking its wounds right now but they would be back before too long.

"Excuse me, are you Scootaloo Dash?" A stallion's voice said as I answered the door, standing there was a pony dressed in what looked like a rough delivery outfit from before the war looking at me.

"Uh, yeah, can I help you?" I asked as I looked at him for a long moment.

"Yes, I was asked to take this to you by a Ms. Gambit," he said as he took out a box and held it out to me. "She said that she wanted you to have these."

"Oh?" I asked as I took out some caps to give the delivery pony a tip before I took the box, I honestly wasn't sure what to make of this, but if Gambit wanted me to see it. "Did she say anything else?"

"She said you're going to need it," the delivery stallion said and I blinked a little, I had no idea what she meant by that, but I thanked him and carried the box inside with me.

When I opened it up I was a bit surprised to see what was inside. First there was a dark blue feather that looked like it had probably come from Gambit's wing, I had no idea why she had given me this but maybe it would become more obvious when I looked at everything else.

Second was a folded up outfit, when I took it out I was a bit surprised to find that it was an old Shadowbolts uniform. This was probably Gambit's spare uniform or something, I had no idea why she had given this to me, but she had to have some sort of reason.

When I picked up the third one I was surprised to find it was a flag, a black flag that had a pony skull with two crossed swords beneath it. A pirate flag? That was kind of an odd thing to show me.

Finally there was a folded up piece of paper, when I opened it up I paused at the words that were written on it.

"Every so often every normal mare must be tempted to spit on her hooves, hoist the black flag, and start slitting throats."

Was this her way of saying that I needed to stop playing by the rules of the old world? This was honestly a bit confusing to me, Gambit was a strange mare to say the least, why would she send me these things? I got a weird feeling that she was playing with my mind somehow, but I didn't know how.

Maybe she was right, we were fighting the Enclave sure, but more often than not we were playing more by the rules of the old world and it wasn't doing us a whole lot of good. I hated to think that we may have to break the rules, but why?

One thing that jumped to mind was something mom had told me about once, a story about during the war with the Storm King they had crossed paths with pirates and had inspired them to stop following the rules and be awesome.

Or maybe she just wanted to mess with me, it was really hard to tell sometimes.

I then noticed that there was more written on the paper and frowned a little at what I read.

"I talked with a stallion named Pimento on Nomad City while I was here. He says he's the father of your Marefriend's foal, he doesn't want to ruin what you two have but he'd at least like to be considered to be allowed to be a part of his daughter's life. Its up to the two of you really, but I think you should at least consider it, I know you would want the same done for you if you could have your family."

"Really Gambit? Now you're messing with my love life," I said with a sigh, but she wasn't wrong really. I'd have to talk with Cherry about it though, I wasn't really sure what she would want to do, I just had to figure out how to bring it up to her.

I sighed and put the stuff into my saddlebags, it was almost time to meet Cherry and the others at Star's place so there was at least that, maybe I could talk to her then, at least I hoped so.

"So, there's still what, three keys left in play?" Cherry asked as we headed towards the house that evening.

"Yeah, 26, 78, and 97," I said with a sigh, I was starting to feel like this whole thing was a waste of time given that the Enclave was just going to get them anyway at this rate. "Its hard to tell just which one they're going after next is the problem, and they're pretty spread out across Equestria."

"But now that they've failed in Manehattan, they're going to be even more determined to get access to, whatever it is that those keys lock away," Cherry said with a sigh as she nuzzled me gently. "How dangerous is this? You don't just lock something away for no reason, especially not with this much security."

"Trust me, what's locked away by Protocol Zeta is something that if let out, will make what's already happened to Equestria look like a fireworks show," I said with a sigh. "I know its hard to understand, but I kept it locked away for the good of Equestria, now its going to threaten everyone living here, and that includes the Enclave."

"I see."

I paused for a long moment, I kept thinking about what that note from Gambit had said. She was right about one thing, if I had the chance to be with my parents again and something was keeping me from doing that, how would I feel?

"Cherry, I know this isn't going to be easy, but there's something that I'd like to talk to you about," I said, I tried not to sound as nervous as I felt. "Its, hard to explain but, Gambit left a message behind that she had met with Pimento."

"Oh, I see..." Cherry said as she looked at me for a long moment. "What did he want?"

"Well, I don't know what they talked about specific, but she suggested that maybe he should be allowed to be part of your daughter's life," I said and Cherry frowned. "I'm sorry, I just, I don't I don't know to be honest."

"I see," Cherry said with a sigh as she looked at me, she looked reluctant as if she was trying to figure out exactly what to say about this. "I know he's not really the same as he was before, he's changed but... I don't know to be honest. What do you think I should do?"

"You want to know what I think?" I asked, I was a bit surprised to be honest.

"Of course Scootaloo, I love you, your opinion is very important to me," Cherry said with a smile as she took my hooves in her's. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you and raise this filly together, of course I'm willing to listen to whatever you think we should do."

I thought for a long moment as I tried to figure out exactly how to say this. Cherry was the most important thing in Equestria to me right now and I just wanted to make sure that I said everything the right way.

"I think you should let him into her life," I said with a smile as I looked at Cherry. "I lost the opportunity to really know my parents when I was a filly because of the accident that killed them. If I could've gotten to know just one of them, or both, it would've been great. I honestly think you should let him be part of her life, you don't have to be in a relationship with him, just allow him to be there for his daughter when she needs him."

Cherry thought for a long moment as she looked down at the ground, she wasn't really sure what to think about what to think about this. I didn't blame her, she was from a completely different society than I was raised in so she may not have the same ideas I had, I just had to hope that she'd be able to listen to reason.

"I never knew my father, well I never know who he was at least," Cherry said with a sigh as she shook her head. "Stable 48 didn't really have that kind of thing because of the way it was built."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," I said sheepishly.

"Its okay, but I still have a lot to think about, I really only knew my mom because I was a breeder," Cherry continued. "This is our chance to live a completely different life than I knew before in Stable 48. Maybe, just maybe I'll give him a chance, but right now I just want to finish this war with you. When its all over, I'll figure out what to do. I, actually would like to at least make him part of her life."

I smiled and hugged Cherry, I knew she'd make the right choice. "You're going to be a great mom Cherry," I said with a smile as I nuzzled her gently. "I love you so much Cherry Blossom."

"I love you too Scootaloo Dash," Cherry said with a smile as she nuzzled me back. "Come on, lets go get some dinner. Don't you still have something you should tell Serenity?"

"Oh, right, that..." I said with a groan, I still hadn't figured out exactly how I was going to tell Serenity about what I had learned during the battle of Manehattan. "I honestly don't know how I'm going to tell her that yet, I mean family is important, but I'm not sure if she'd really understand..."

"It is a lot to take in," Cherry said with a sigh as we stopped in front of the house. "I'm honestly still shocked about it, I mean Winter Breeze is..."

"I know, its something that we'll all have to accept I guess," I said with a sigh as I brushed my mane back a little. "And what I learned from the Element Bearers just cemented it in my mind, I don't think she's evil, just misguided."

"I hope you're right Scootaloo, I really do," Cherry said and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Come on, lets go inside."

I nodded and we headed into the house.

"So, what's the latest word from Junction Town?" I asked as we sat down to eat, we'd be arriving at the NCR capital sometime overnight. "Have they figured out the next course of action yet?"

"Not yet, and the Enclave is being quieter than usual," Star said with a shake of her head. "They have ponies watching the entrance to all the known Stables, but they can't exactly spread themselves too thin in this kind of war."

"Yeah, I know," I said as I took a bite of food. "So Serenity, did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Oh no, not really, we hung out with Happy Smiles a bit, but since there was the whole ceasefire thing we didn't really have a lot to do," Serenity said with a shrug. "It was pretty boring here, I'm glad something finally happened at least."

I paused a long moment, how was I going to tell her this? Should I even tell her this in front of the others? Sure my friends knew but not Star and her family.

"Oh, I heard some good news, Paladin Nova is going to be just fine," Jade said. "They had to do some reconstructive surgery on her leg but all things considered she got lucky."

"That's good," I said and let out a sigh of relief. When me and Serenity finished our food I figured it was as good a time as any. "Serenity, can I talk to you in the other room?"

She looked at Vanilla who nodded. "Okay."

We headed into the living room and took a seat, I took a deep breath and started to talk. "Serenity, while I was in Tenpony Tower I ran into Winter Breeze," I said, which made the filly's ears perk up curiously. "She and I talked briefly, and... I learned something, something I didn't expect. Do you remember that Reticle said Winter Breeze intervened on your parents' behalf to get them assigned to the same unit?"

"Yeah, I thought that was weird but I didn't think anything of it, I mean maybe she was just being nice," Serenity said with a shrug.

"It, wasn't exactly that," I said and rubbed my foreleg a little, this wasn't going to be easy to tell her but she deserved to know the truth. "Serenity, when I met her she told me something, well really I put it all together, but still. Winter Breeze, is actually my descendant too. She's your cousin, that's probably why she arranged to get your parents in the same place together."

Serenity froze, she just looked at me with her eyes wide as if she hadn't expected me to say that. I didn't blame her, I was still trying to process the whole thing myself, it was not something I had expected to learn even if I had put together all the clues.

I couldn't imagine what was going through Serenity's mind right now, I mean I had something of an idea sure. Family was important to her, she had always wondered who her family was and now I was telling her the truth, how was she going to be able to handle that?

"That's..." Serenity finally started to say but she couldn't finish the sentence. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm positive, its the only thing that makes sense," I said with a sigh as I pulled Serenity into a hug. "I'm sorry, I know what you're probably feeling right now, and I don't blame you. I'm still trying to figure it out myself."

Serenity just hugged me back and sighed a little. "But... how... I mean she's so... you know..."

"Honestly, I'm starting to realize that there's a lot more to Winter Breeze than any of us knew," I said with a shake of my head. "But hey, at least it wasn't all bad, I got together with Cherry right?"

"Yeah, but now I can't tease you about it!" Serenity said with a laugh. "Though I could always tease you about when you two are finally going to get married."

"Oh dear Celestia, you're like a miniature version of Arc Light!" I said with a laugh as I hugged Serenity tight. I then grinned, I knew just how to get my revenge on the filly. "So, how's it going with Pure Heart, have you asked her out yet?"

"Oh come on, that's no fair, we're only 10!" Serenity protested as her face turned almost as red as her mane. "She's just a friend!"

I just laughed and ruffled her mane, then again that was just how it started with Sweetie Belle, she was just a friend to me too. Funny how that all works out in the end doesn't it?

"Its not so fun when its turned on you is it Serenity?" I said with a chuckle as I hugged the filly gently.

"Haha, very funny," Serenity said with a groan, but she just laughed and hugged me back. "I'm, still not sure about the whole thing with Winter, do you really think that it might be possible that she's... you know..."

"Not evil? I don't pretend to understand how her mind works, but there's, something about her," I said with a shake of my head. "It may be my imagination, but I think it'll be okay."

"Hey, is everything okay?" Vanilla asked as she came into the room. "You two have been in here for awhile."

"Yeah, everything's fine," I said as I released Serenity from the hug. "We were just talking about something is all, don't worry about it."

"Okay good, sounds like we'll be arriving at Junction Town soon," Vanilla said and gave Serenity a nod. "President Grimfeathers wants to talk to you and the others when we arrive."

"I figured she would," I said with a shrug as we headed back into the dining room. "Hopefully its not to throw me back in jail after all of this."

"We'll see I guess, at least it can't be much worse than what you just went through," Vanilla pointed out.

"I don't know, dealing with politicians or dealing with the Enclave, I'm not actually sure which is worse," I said with a chuckle. "At least with the Enclave they'll just shoot at you instead of making you listen to speeches."

Vanilla just chuckled and we took our seats at the table once more.

Even if it wasn't likely to last, it was nice to be able to sit down and have a normal meal instead of having to worry about the war. If the Enclave wanted to come, I just had to hope that they'd at least leave us alone tonight.

"Scootaloo, its so good to see you again," Regina said as she got up and offered me a claw to shake as me and my friends filed into the office. "I'm glad to see all of you made it out of Manehattan alive, and you have a new friend I see."

"That's right, Riva here is a representative from a nation called the Free Roam Alliance," I said and nodded to Riva who gave Regina a smile. "She's here because they're being plagued by the Enclave as well, among other things."

"I see, well we'll have to set her up with a translator and we'll be able to get more done hopefully," Regina said before she turned her attention back to me. "I've read all the reports out of Manehattan about what you and your friends did, I must say I was a bit surprised at everything you did."

"All in a day's work," Cherry said with a chuckle. "We're just happy to help stop the Enclave from getting any more powerful than they have already."

Regina nodded and looked at me again with a long pause before she spoke again. "I also read the report on what happened in the Megaspell Chamber from Paladin Gear Shift," she said and we all became quiet for a long moment. "We had Reticle decrypt the file in your genealogical records from before and she confirmed it. The question now is how are we to proceed with this new information?"

That was the question wasn't it? If we used this information we could turn the Enclave against Winter Breeze, that would create chaos and confusion among their ranks, which may give us an advantage in the long run.

But at the same time it would give the hardliner members of the Enclave like Cloud Chaser ammunition to use against Winter Breeze, and against us. Winter had kept it hidden because she was afraid of how the Enclave would react, something I didn't blame her for, if she really was trying to create change then this would only hurt her chances of doing so.

As much as I hated to admit it, there was only one choice we could make.

"How many ponies know about this?"

"Myself, General Sparkle, Nova, Gear Shift, your friends, and Elder Ironsides," Regina said. "This kind of information could change the course of the entire war, but we're honestly not sure what to do."

"Don't reveal it, at least not yet," I said and looked at my friends who all nodded in agreement. "Winter Breeze is, complicated I'm starting to realize that. If we let her be removed from power we might wind up hurting ourselves in the long run. I'm not saying its ideal, but its the best solution we have right now, we have to keep this information under wraps if we don't want to risk making the situation even worse."

"Alright then, I understand," Regina said before she turned to look at a map of Equestria. "The Enclave has already been spotted on their way to Vanhoover, does that mean anything to you Scootaloo?"

"It might," I said with a sigh, it sounded like another Stable was about to come into play. "Stable 78 is up there, have they been going after any other Stables?"

"No, just the ones that willingly joined them, and there's a few of those out there," Regina said with a shake of her head. "So, what's the story with 78?"

Everyone looked at me, I was the expert here, I knew every experiment we had used for the Stables and I knew exactly what it was for 78.

"Hybridization," I said simply. "The Stable was built with a mixture of ponies, Zebras, and even Griffons in order to test the viability of hybrids to continue the population. It required a little extra work to ensure that the offspring was viable, but assuming they've kept up with everything they were supposed to do it should still be in play."

"I see," Arc said as she looked at me for a long moment. "Are you sure that the Enclave is after this Stable in particular?"

"Yeah, its the only thing in the area I know of that they'd be interested in," I said with a shake of my head. "78 was also associated with Project Shape, not one of our better ideas."

"Oh right, I remember that, that was a supersoldier project that created a Hybrid during the war," Regina said and I nodded. "I didn't know that had any facilities outside of the one in Neigh Orleans.

"It normally didn't, but the military wanted a part in this project so we wound up giving them Stable 78," I said with a shake of my head. "Project Shape was, not one of our proudest moments. We only really did it because it was the only way to get some of the equipment we needed for other projects."

"So then, we're heading to Vanhoover?" Cherry asked as she looked between me and Regina. "Well, there goes our nice relaxing break from the war."

"Yeah, well the Enclave isn't exactly going to take a break, and if these Stables are as important as you say they are, we need to do this," Regina said as she looked at me. "Is there any way to keep the Enclave from getting these keys period?"

"Well, there is one way, but I consider it a sort of, last resort method," I said as I shook my head. "The terminals in question all have special energy crystals that power them, if one of them were to be removed it would keep them from being accessed. The only problem is we never really tested to see if it would keep the keys from just automatically going off, so its a risky move and I'd rather save it for a last resort method."

I glanced at Arc who looked away from me for a moment, Regina seemed to be satisfied with this answer and gave me a nod of understanding. I didn't tell them what was at stake here, the fact that I had gone to so much trouble to keep it locked up should've been a clue that it wasn't something to be messed with, I just hoped they got the message.

"Now there is still the matter of what is going to be done with Celestia One," Regina continued, which made me flinch a little. "The Twilight Society has informed me that you suggested it to be dismantled and taken out of commission, is this true?"

"It is," I said simply. "Even if it didn't make the Tower a target for anypony who wanted access to the weapon thanks to LittlePip including it in her book, that kind of power is dangerous. Megaspells created the Wasteland, lead to countless deaths of good ponies who just wanted to live their lives in peace. If we continue to use Megaspells and allow them to exist, we're just going to risk repeating history, we need to take the Megaspell genie and shove it back into its lamp."

"I hope that's something we can do," Regina said with a shake of her head. "Well, at the moment its up to the senate and they're stalling on the issue for the most part. I think they're more interested in being able to use it against the Enclave than anything else. Do you think the Enclave will back down if we had a Megaspell?"

"Did they back down before?" Cherry pointed out.

"Good point. Alright then, its settled, the 4 of you will be sent on a Vertibuck to Vanhoover to help with the defenses there and to stop the Enclave from gaining access to Stable 78. You'll have the full support of the NCR military on this one, and we'll be sending a specialist to help make contact with the ponies in Stable 78, are there any questions?"

"No ma'am," I said and my friends shook their heads.

"Very good, there is just one more thing I wanted to do, normally this would be done at a ceremony but given the nature of your operation I felt it should be done in private," Regina said as she reached into her desk and took out a case. "These are given to ponies who show valor in the face of overwhelming odds in order to help protect the NCR and Equestria, the four of you have more than earned it."

I was a little surprised when she opened it up to reveal a set of four medals made of what looked like gold, they each had stars on them.

"We just did what was asked of us really," Cherry said with a light blush as Regina pinned the medals onto our chests. "You don't have to do this."

"Like I said, you've more than earned it, we still have a long way to go in this war though," Regina said and gave us a salute as she finished pinning the medal on all of us. "Just don't go getting yourselves killed, we don't need any dead heroes right now."

I nodded and returned the salute, we still had a long way to go before we were all ready to handle what we were going through but we had high hopes that the Enclave would soon be stopped.

Next stop, Stable 78.

The next day we were getting everything loaded into a Vertibuck that was to take us to Vanhoover when I heard a voice from nearby.

"Mommy, do you really have to leave?"

I looked up to see a family standing near the Vertibuck landing area. The mare was a light grey Unicorn with a red mane dressed in an NCR uniform and was hugging a filly gently who had been the one who I had heard talking.

"I'm sorry, I don't really have a choice," the mare said as she held the filly in her forelegs, I could see that she was starting to cry a little. "Don't worry, your Daddy will be here to keep you safe and I'll be back soon, okay?"

"But I don't want you back soon, I want you here now!" The filly said through her tears, my heart went out to the kid, she didn't have any choice in this war.

"Shhhh... it'll be okay, I promise," the mare said soothingly as she held her daughter close, gently stroking the filly's mane as she cried. "You'll be just fine, stay close to Daddy, and I'll be back before you know it."

"Promise?"

"I promise, now who's my brave little filly?" The mare said with a smile as she loosened the hug a little and gave her husband a nod and pulled him into the hug. "I'll see you both soon."

The more I watched the family the more it reminded me of my own family. I had left Cloudy behind because I felt it was the right thing to do, that she could be safe in Stable 44. I wasn't sure what happened to the Stable, but I knew that she had at least survived to adulthood.

Was this mother thinking the same kinds of things I had been? Was she thinking about how she had to do this in order to protect her family? She looked like she hadn't seen a lot of combat, she was actually nervous, like she was in over her head, maybe we were all in over our heads at this point.

I wondered how many families out there had parents who weren't going to make it home because of this. What could I say to them? The fact was that we were here to try and fight a war with an enemy that threatened everything we stood for, but we had to make sacrifices in order to keep the peace.

At what point were those sacrifices too much? At what point did we stop and say that maybe we should be better than we've been in the past? I had left my family behind for my own ideals and look where it had gotten me, thrust into another war because the Enclave believed that their way was the best future for Equestria.

I just had to hope that we didn't have to lose our souls in the process.

The mare gave her husband and daughter one final hug before she walked over to the Vertibuck near ours. I gave her a nod and a tip of my hat as she went past us, she actually gave me a smile.

"Is everything okay Scootaloo?" Cherry asked as we finished getting secured into the Vertibuck.

"I'm just thinking about something is all," I said with a shrug as I placed my hoof on her's and gave Arc a nod. "We're just waiting on Riva right?"

"Yeah, she was meeting with the diplomatic corps, she should be here soon," Arc said as we looked out at Junction Town. "It feels weird to be back in this kind of thing after Manehattan."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I said with a sigh as I looked at my PipBuck, it was getting close to afternoon and we had a long flight ahead of us. "What about that pony Regina mentioned, any word on that?"

"I think they're in one of the other Vertibucks," Cherry said as she scratched behind Schooner's ears who wagged his tail happily. "What do we know about Vanhoover?"

I paused, I didn't actually know a lot about it but I took out some intelligence reports that I had been given and read them over. "It looks like its still mostly wild areas run by tribes and raider bands, the NCR only has a small outpost on the outskirts of the city right now. The problem is that several of the Tribes have pledged loyalty to the Enclave and they're moving in to deal with the Raiders with extreme prejudice."

"Well, at least the Enclave is good for something," Cherry said with a light chuckle. "We just have to hope that they won't be too much of a problem."

"Why do I have a sudden sense of foreboding?" Arc muttered as Riva climbed up into the Vertibuck and gave us a smile.

"Glad to have you with us once more Riva," I said with a smile and gestured towards her and then at us, she smiled and returned the gesture.

"Amicis... friends," Riva said with a smile as she strapped herself into her seat.
"Amicis," I said with a nod, we were all back together once more, the time had come to take the fight to the Enclave in Vanhoover.

As the Vertibuck took off I looked out the window towards Junction Town and Nomad City as we flew away from it. Once again we were flying towards danger in hopes of preserving the future for Equestria. I had to leave behind what remained of my family in order to do this, in order to stop the Enclave for the future of everyone.

I just hoped everything would be okay.

On the trip we got a little bit of a surprise, while Riva was in Junction Town and Nomad City she had picked up a phrasebook for Equestrian and the Zebra Language. She still couldn't speak it fluently, but she at least was picking up a few new phrases here and there that would help communicate.

I mostly spent the time looking over what information we had on Vanhoover, there wasn't a lot to go on, no surprise there, but it felt like we were flying into a hornet's nest. Vanhoover was one city where the Enclave had a strong presence because of their contact with the locals, the NCR was tolerated at best.

There was of course the issue of Raiders, but thankfully Winter Breeze's anti-Raider policies extended across Equestria. That was at least one good thing that was coming out of her campaign, Raiders were nothing but trouble from everything I had read about them.

It was hard to believe that ponies could fall that far, some had even speculated about it, the weirdest theory I had once heard was that it was caused by some sort of disease. That was however dismissed quickly as being Enclave propaganda that had somehow leaked into the Wasteland, it certainly sounded like something they'd cook up.

I smiled as I looked down at Cherry who was asleep with her head resting on my shoulder. I gently wrapped my wing around her and closed my eyes, letting the warm feeling lull me to sleep as we traveled towards Vanhoover.

The Vertibuck came in for a landing with a bump awhile later and we woke up to find ourselves in a camp on the outskirts of the city with ponies disembarking.

As we stepped off the Vertibuck I looked around, there wasn't any ponies that seemed out of place at least at first glance. A dark green pony with a short mane and glowing green eyes with slits for pupils approached us and looked at me for a long moment.

"Are you Scootaloo Dash?" She asked as she looked at me for a long moment.

"Umm, yes?" I asked, was this the pony that was supposed to help us out?

Before I could get an answer a hoof swung around and hit me square in the jaw. Here we go again.

"Hey, what was that for?" Cherry said as I rubbed my jaw.

"Geez Arc, she hits harder than you do," I said with a groan.

"Do you want me to hit you again to prove you wrong?" Arc asked with a roll of her eyes.

"That was for having your scientists make me!" The Dark green mare spat at me, oh, okay now everything was starting to come together. "I'm Tranquil, your little super soldier project in Neigh Orleans made me like this."

"Let me guess, you're the pony Regina sent to help us," Arc said as she facehooved. "Scootaloo, did you make it your goal to tick off half of Equestria or something?"

"Okay, so, this was kind of a weird case," I said with a groan as I looked at Tranquil. "Look, I know its hard to understand but I didn't exactly sign off on this one. The military wanted this one done in order to create an infiltrator in order to attack the Zebras from the inside, it was the only way to get some equipment we needed for another Stable. I didn't exactly like Project Shape to begin with, but we didn't have a whole lot of choice."

"Wait, so, she's a hybrid?" Cherry asked as she looked at Tranquil curiously. "She doesn't look like anything more than a normal pony to me."

"I'm part Changeling," Tranquil said with a shake of her head. "I'm the only creation of Project Shape, you're lucky I'm here to help you deal with your other mistakes, if you aren't careful you'll get worse than a punch."

What had I gotten myself into?

"So, you're looking for a Stable somewhere in Vanhoover huh?" The NCR colonel, a male Griffon named Archimedes commented as we looked over a map of the city. "Where is the Stable exactly?"

"Here," I said as I pointed at a part of the city on the far edge. "Its built under the Hill here, its a good distance away is the only problem and we can't exactly take a Vertibuck into the city."

"And its right in the middle of Tender Territory," Archimedes said with a shake of his head. "That's one of the local tribes, they control things along the beach here, they're not a bunch you really want to mess with. But they're also one of the only hold outs against the Enclave in the City, so there is that."

"So then, we just have to make our way into territory held by a potentially hostile Tribe and hope they don't shoot us, but hey at least they're not siding with our enemies," Arc said with a shake of her head. "What's the good news?"

"The good news is the Enclave isn't anywhere close to that area yet," Archimedes said as he looked at us. "You're going to have to hope that you'll be able to get the Tenders to listen to you, or its all a moot point."

There were two options here, either the Enclave was going to either make some sort of deal with the Tenders or wipe them out, it all depended on how the tribe acted.

I just had to hope that they'd be able to listen to reason.

"So, exactly what are we going to run into in Stable 78?" Tranquil asked as she looked at me. "All I know is that it involves hybrids and a super soldier project of some sort."

"That's about all we know honestly," I said with a shake of my head. "I don't think Stable 78 has been opened to the Wasteland so we don't know a whole lot about what's going on in there. The experiment was really more to be able to test the viability of hybrids like Zonies and others for re-population in the event of a lot of pony deaths."

"Yeah, but they aren't exactly viable for reproduction," Archimedes pointed out as he looked at me for a long moment. "How do we know that the Stable hasn't just died out?"

"We don't," I said with a shrug as I pointed at the location on the map once more. "But this is the kind of thing we thought long and hard about. We needed to account for a lot of possibilities, so we built Stables like this and 28 in order to test the viability of alternate methods of reproduction. It requires some genetic tinkering, but its very possible to make a Zony or similar hybrid capable of reproduction."

"I see," Archimedes said with a shake of his head. "Alright, well I'm in no position to judge here, I'll send a group of my Rangers with you into the city, but I can't promise you more than that."

"It'll do," I said with a nod as I looked at my friends and then at Tranquil. "Tranquil, I know I'm asking a lot out of you, but do you think you can do this?"

"I'm in, but don't think this means we're friends or something," Tranquil said with a shake of her heard. "I'm not here to join your little buddy club, the Enclave is just too dangerous for me to ignore."

"Lets hope the Tenders feel the same way," I said with a sigh as I looked at the map, this was going to be tricky to pull off at best, but we didn't have a lot of choice.

"So, how are we getting into the city itself and around the Enclave's patrols?" Arc asked as we looked over at the Colonel. "I don't think they're just going to let us walk into the city unopposed."

"We're working on that, there are a few areas the Enclave does not control which can be accessed easily," Archimedes said as he pointed at a few spots on the map. "There is one problem of course, they're not exactly the most hospitable of locations to visit."

"Let me guess, Raiders," Cherry commented with a groan.

"Raiders, Feral Ghouls, the local wildlife, and probably worse," Archimedes said. "You have to watch your step every moment you're in there, and the Enclave do have patrols in these parts of the city trying to deal with the Raiders with their whole policy of taking them out."

"Great, caught between the Enclave and Raiders, we're not exactly in a good spot here," I said with a sigh as I looked over the map. "Is there any other way to get there?"

"Sure, you could take the underground tunnels that are in the area," Archimedes suggested. "Its not exactly ideal and there are still threats down there, but there would be less of them at least, if you want to risk it which I don't recommend."

"How close will they get us to the Hill?" I asked, I was trying to think back to the tunnels that had been built under Vanhoover, this was the kind of thing we had to take into consideration with the Stables so you'd think I'd remember it better.

"Fairly close I think, but I don't know for sure."

"Alright, we'll call that plan B, for now lets just get into the city and hope we don't get caught," I said with a sigh as I looked at my PipBuck, it was late and the sun had already gone down. "We need to leave early in the morning, any idea where we can sleep tonight?"

"That's one thing you don't have to worry about," Archimedes said and lead us outside towards one of the buildings. "Its not exactly comfortable but we have living quarters for all of you, though two of you will have to share."

"We'll survive," I said with a blush as I looked over at Cherry who gave me a smile.

That night I laid back in my bed as Cherry rested here head on my chest, she smiled up at me and ran her hooves gently along my sides, brushing them against my cutie marks as she started planting soft kisses down my chest.

I froze when I realized what she was doing, this was what I was afraid of, what was she going to think if I didn't stop her? I was still afraid she'd think of me as just wanting her for sex, which couldn't be farther from the truth.

"Cherry, wait..." I said which made the mare look up at me strangely.

"What's wrong Scootaloo, I thought you'd want to do this," Cherry said as she tilted her head cutely as she looked up at me. "Do you not want to?"

I blushed a little at that, I honestly wasn't sure what to say to that, it wasn't that I didn't want to its more that I wasn't sure if we were ready for that kind of thing yet. Honestly I wasn't really sure what I was going to tell to her, it was hard to explain just why, what was I going to do?

"I mean, it snot that I don't want to..." I said with a blush. "I'm just, worried that you might think that I only want that from you. I love you Cherry, for you, I don't want to be all about that."

"Scootaloo you silly pony," Cherry said with a chuckle as she moved up and kissed me softly on the lips. "I know you don't think of me like that, I would never think that of you. I love you so much, and I want to do this with you. If you don't think we're ready though, I'd be fine with waiting."

I smiled a little and nuzzled her gently as I wrapped my wings around her. She was a wonderful mare, I was happy that she understood and the fact that she was willing to give herself over to me like this.

"Okay Cherry," I said with a smile, and then I rolled us over and laid her back on the bed. "But I'm not going to ask that of you, I think its only fair that you get to go first this time."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive Cherry, I'm the one who put you in this position, its the least I can do, I love you so much."

"I love you too, go ahead."

Cherry smiled as she spread her hind legs and I started to kiss down her chest slowly. This was going to be a wonderful night.

"Looks like you two had a fun night last night," Arc said with a chuckle as we met up with her the next day as we got ready to head out into Vanhoover. "Oh wait, you two haven't done the deed yet have you? Oh well, maybe another night."

"Well, actually..." I said with a blush as I looked at Cherry and her pink face turned even pinker.

"We, kinda... you know..." Cherry said as she blushed even more.

"Oh my gosh, you two actually did it didn't you?" Arc said with a laugh as she looked between the two of us as Riva trotted up to us. "You're not just messing with me are you?"

"Would we do that?" I said with a chuckle as I finished putting my equipment and supplies away. "You're starting to run out of things to tease us about."

"Yeah, yeah," Arc said with a laugh as we finished getting all our equipment together. "Trust me, I'll find something to tease you about."

I just laughed as we started out of the camp and out into the city proper. I looked up and frowned a little, there were Enclave Raptors hovering over the city that was ominous but at least they hadn't sent the Nimbus or one of the other ships, that was something at least.

I thought back to the briefing from the night before, there were a few different tribes and Raider gangs that were living in and around the area we were going through, that was a bit worrying but we didn't have much of a choice. I had faith in my friends, but the fact was that we were heading into the unknown.

There were signs of the Enclave's presence everywhere in the city, burn marks from Enclave plasma weapons when they fought against the Raiders and other groups in the city. This had been the sight of a battle that much was clear, I just had to hope that the survivors weren't around to try and attack us.

One of the Rangers that were accompanying us raised her hoof as we neared one section of the city. We stopped and eased ourselves forward, there were a few ponies gathered around a building that looked like guards, they were most definitely Raiders, which worried me to say the least.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered.

"We're going to have to be careful, if we attack them the sound might alert the Enclave to our presence."

I nodded in agreement, we had no idea if there were any Enclave soldiers in the area that much was true, so we had to be careful. I checked my rifles and eased the SOAR up onto a position where I could fire easily, it was the quietest weapon we had so it was probably our safest bet.

I lined a shot up on the nearest Raider when I saw something out of the corner of my eye, it was brief, I thought I imagined it for a moment until I saw one Raider fall with a knife blade sticking out of its neck. The others were instantly alert but it was too late for them to do anything.

Another knife flew out of its hiding spot and embedded itself in the forehead of one of the Raiders, making it collapse in a heap as their attackers finally moved out of the shadows. They were dressed in cloth wraps and armor that covered their bodies, it took me a moment to realize the color was actually shifting, they were camouflaged with some sort of magic.

"Tenders," the Ranger next to me said simply as my ears perked up curiously. "They're the deadliest tribe in Vanhoover, you can see why not even the Enclave wants to tangle with them."

I certainly did, they were fast and stealthy, it was like nothing I had ever seen before, they reminded me almost of Zebras but their horns and wings meant they were ponies. We couldn't help but watch in awe as they took the Raiders out one by one without even getting shot at.

One Raider finally managed to get his courage up enough to take out his rifle and aim it at one of the Tenders, I steadied my SOAR rifle and aimed for the Raider. I just had to hope that the Enclave wasn't nearby I guess, I pulled the trigger and a bolt of energy struck the Raider and he collapsed.

And just as quickly as the attack had started it was over, the Tenders stood victorious over the corpses of the dead Raiders and started picking up the weapons off the dead ponies. I was actually a bit surprised when I saw they were closing the eyes of the Raiders, was that maybe some sort of ritual they had? A way of respecting the dead even if they were their enemies?

"What now?" Cherry whispered as we all looked at the Ranger who shrugged.

"Now we hope they don't decide to go after us too," the Ranger said with a shrug as we watched the tribal ponies work.

One of them suddenly looked right up at us, it took me a moment to realize that it was the pony who's life I had saved during the fight. I gulped a little as they eased their way forward, but they didn't seem to be getting ready to attack again at least.

"I must say, I wasn't expecting the Enseearr to send ponies into the city again," the pony said in a mare's voice with a strange accent to it that I couldn't place, but her Equestrian seemed perfect at least, other than her weird pronunciation of NCR.

"We're here looking for the Tenders," I said as I cautiously moved into view of the tribal ponies.

"You've found them then," the mare said, she remained covered up by the cloth but I could feel her eyes staring at me. "I am Torn Shroud, Matriarch of the Shroud family of the Tenders Tribe. What do you want of us?"

"We're looking for a Stable on your lands, we mean no harm of your Tribe, but we need to make sure that the Enclave doesn't get their hooves on the secrets that lie within," I said as I looked at the Tenders, I tried not to look or sound nervous but I felt it just a little. "If you'll permit us into your lands, we will pass without causing issue."

Torn Shroud looked like she was thinking this over for a long moment as she looked at her companions who nodded in agreement.

"You saved my life, that is a debt that is owed," Torn Shroud said with a nod. "Very well, we will lead you to the village, but we will be keeping a close eye on all of you."

"Understood," I said with a nod and we started down towards where they were waiting, I offered a hoof to Torn Shroud. "I'm Scootaloo Dash, we're here to help with the Enclave. We have a mutual enemy and we can deal with them if we work together."

"Scootaloo of Family Dash, I see," Torn Shroud said as she eyed me a little. "Very well, you will be brought before the Council of the Matriarchs in the village in order to plead your case, but that's all I can promise."

"Well, alright, its better than nothing," I said with a sigh, at least we had an escort to their territory so we didn't have to worry about being attacked when we set hoof in there.

"Follow me," Torn Shroud said as we started walking again through the streets of Vanhoover.

I looked at the ponies that were our escort, I could just barely make them out with their camouflage, but maybe that was because they had used it somehow to make it so we could make them out easily. I wondered if this was how they normally dressed or if this was just how they dressed for combat.

The more I thought about it the more I wondered about was really going on here, why had they gone after Raiders like that? Mind you I don't think you really need a reason to go after Raiders, but still, it was kind of an odd move on their part.

When we finally reached the village there were ponies along the wall carrying weapons. The gate opened up and we entered, it had been built out of several old buildings with new smaller huts built into it and bridges that crossed the area around us.

That's when I noticed something interesting, a lot of the ponies in the village weren't ponies at all, instead they had a mix of pony traits and other species. I swear I even saw a Dragonpony or two.

"These ponies, they're all..." Tranquil started to say but her words trailed off as if she wasn't sure just how to say it.

"Hybrids," I finished, I had a good idea of exactly what this meant but I wanted to be sure first. "Every last one of the Tenders are Hybrids..."

Torn Shroud stopped and removed her cloth coverings, she was a Unicorn mare in what looked to be her early 30's with a black coat and an indigo colored mane. But what drew your attention right away was her stripes, she had white stripes on her coat.

I knew what that meant, she was a Zony.

"You wanted to see what happened to Stable 78? You're looking at it, we're the descendants of the inhabitants of Stable 78," Torn Shroud said as she looked at me for a long moment. "I will speak to the rest of the Council to see if you're going to be allowed to see us, wait here."

And with that, the strange Zebra-Pony Hybrid left us and the rest of her group dispersed save for some that were keeping a close eye on us.

"What do we do now?" Cherry asked as she looked around.

"Hope that the council lets us talk to them I guess," I said with a sigh.

I just had to hope that they'd be willing to listen to us or this whole thing was going to be for nothing. We weren't just asking to investigate a Stable in their lands anymore, we were asking to enter their ancestral home, and I had no idea how they might react to that.

It took awhile for the Council to reach any sort of decision, typical politicians, so we found ourselves waiting in the middle of the village as a few ponies looked at us curiously. None of them seemed hostile at least, but I was half afraid that might change if we weren't careful.

I looked at Cherry and Arc, they actually looked more curious than anything else, I guess they weren't used to seeing hybrids like this. Heck I wasn't really used to it either, a lot of this was new for me too. I had known about hybrids of course, but I hadn't imagined that it would ever reach this level of success, there was an actual sustained population here.

"The council will see you now," another Zony said as he approached and we all started to step forward but he raised his hoof. "Just Scootaloo of Family Dash, the rest of you will be permitted to stay in the village if you don't cause any trouble."

"Alright, fine," I said with a sigh, I didn't like having to leave my friends behind but I didn't have much of a choice in the matter at this point, I gave them all a nod and followed the Zony stallion to the Council's building.

Inside there were 5 ponies, or, beings I don't really know what to call them, including Torn Shroud who looked at me appraisingly. In addition to Torn Shroud there was two more Zony mares, though their stripe patterns and colors were different. The last two were a Dragonpony with a green coat and purple mane and a Pony-Griffon Hybrid (not sure what those are called off the top of my head) that looked at me like I was a piece of meat.

"Well, I must say I wasn't expecting to be graced with the presence of Scootaloo Dash," the Dragonpony said as I took a seat across from them. "You're shorter than I expected."

"I get that a lot," I said with a groan as I looked them all over one by one.

"So, why do you and your companions want to access Stable 78?" One of the Zony mares asked as she looked at me with cold blue eyes. "No outsider has ever been granted access to the Stable, what makes you any different?"

"You've had dealings with the Enclave in the past before haven't you?" I asked and they all nodded. "They've been trying to gain access to Stable 78 because of... because of something I placed in there over 200 years ago. I made a mistake and its putting you and your children all in danger. The Enclave wants what is in that Stable and they will do anything to get it, including kill all of you."

"The Enclave has never overtly attacked us," the Griffon Hybrid said as she looked at me closely. "How do we not know that you're not planning to kill us all yourself?"

"I would never do that!" I protested. "I'm not the villain here, I'm trying to help all of you before its too late. Look, we don't need access to the Stable, if you can keep the Enclave from..."

"From accessing the Stable and helping build a brighter future for Equestria?" A mare's voice asked from behind me.

I turned to see a purple Pegasus mare with a black mane and violet eyes, she was dressed in a familiar looking Uniform of a Wonderbolt General. This had to be one of the Generals I still didn't know about, and given that there was only one left that was loyal to the Enclave...

"General Aries I presume," I said as my eyes narrowed at the Pegasus mare. "What do you want?"

"Why to make sure the Tenders don't make the biggest mistake of their lives of course," Aries said and turned to look at the Council. "I come with the full authority of President Winter Breeze to negotiate on behalf of the Enclave to get access to Stable 78."

Our job just got a whole lot harder.

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: Deadshot.
Details: You've become much more adept with your weapon of choice. You have a higher chance of hitting your target in SATS.

Author's Notes:

Once more, credit for Stable 78 goes to Natalie.