"The Enclave sent one of their Generals here?" Our NCR escort asked as she looked at us surprised, I didn't blame her, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I'd be just as surprised. "Which one?"

"Aries," I said with a sigh as I sat down in the hut that we had been given to stay in while we were in the village. "She showed up to try and negotiate with the council to get access to Stable 78."

"That's weird, Aries doesn't normally get involved in this kind of thing," the Ranger said with a shake of her head. "The Enclave must be getting desperate after they failed in Manehattan."

"Maybe," I said thoughtfully as I looked at my friends, in truth I wasn't sure if the Enclave was even going to consider Manehattan a failure. Yes we had driven them out and stopped them from using Celestia One, but at the same time they had damaged our morale on a major scale by taking over the city and exposing Xiraia's secret. The fact was that while we had won the battle for Manehattan, we were starting to lose the PR war against the Enclave.

Winter Breeze was smart, dangerously smart, she knew just how she could hit us where it hurt the most and she was going to keep doing that for as long as she needed to until she won. We were going to have to stop playing by our own rules and start playing by her's if we were going to win this.
Maybe Gambit was right, maybe it was time to spit on our hooves and hoist the black flag. But if we went too far down that road, would we be able to come back from it? That was something that worried me more than anything else.

"So what's the plan?" Cherry asked as she looked between all of us, I just sighed a little and shrugged. "Yeah, that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

"We're going to be fine, I hope, right now we just need to stay here in the village and try and convince the Tenders that the Enclave don't have their best interest at heart," I said with a sigh as I thought over what we were going to have to do. "Stable 78 is sacred to the Tenders so they're not going to allow just anypony into it. Ultimately we don't need to enter the Stable, we just need to make sure the Enclave doesn't either."

"Alright," Arc said with a nod as she looked at a rough map of the village, Stable 78 was on the outskirts of it. "So what are we going to do if they do allow the Enclave into the Stable?"

"Do what we can to keep them from entering it and getting their hooves on the key," I said with a sigh, I didn't want to have to do that, it might hurt anypony from the Tenders in the process. "And if that fails we have to be ready to stop them at the last two Stables, if that's even going to be possible."

"Where are the last two Stables?" The Ranger asked as she looked at me for a long moment.

"Neigh Orleans and San Prancisco," I said with a sigh, it wasn't a lot of information and I was worried about what any faction might do with it, but at the moment we didn't have a choice. "We have to keep the Enclave from getting their hooves on what those keys unlock."

They nodded in agreement, we all knew the stakes even if they didn't know the details of what I had locked away so many years ago. I didn't like the idea of it coming back to bite me in the flank like this, but given the alternative... I just had to hope that we'd be able to stop the Enclave from using it once and for all.

"Come on, lets go see if we can get any information on what's going on," I said and we headed out of the hut to try and talk to the ponies around town.

I just had to hope we'd get some answers

"Hey out there in the Equestrian Wasteland, this is your good friend DJ Pon3 coming at you with the latest news from around the Wasteland," the voice of Xiraia said over a nearby radio as we passed through the village. "The Enclave has started another assault, this time on the Raider encampments out in Mareizona. There's not a lot of intel coming from that area, but it seems that the Raiders aren't exactly going down easy. I honestly don't know what to make of this fillies and gentlecolts, when its a war between the Enclave and Raiders, who really wins in the long run? Well, that's only part of the news for today, since it seems that some of the Top Tens among the Reapers in Hoofington have been sent out to help with the NCR war effort against the Enclave. We don't know if this is the work of the enigmatic Big Daddy or if they're just here for a good fight. Still, its good to have a little extra support in the war. Now, lets get back to the music with some more from Echo."

The raspy stallion's voice started playing again on the radio and I smiled lightly as we went past it.

"And you could have it all,
My Empire of Dirt.
I will let you down,
I will make you hurt."

We headed back out into the village where a few of the ponies shot us strange looks. I glanced around and noticed that a few of them seemed to be looking directly at Arc, I didn't really know what that might mean a whole lot, but something about it made me a little uneasy, it was almost like they were more worried about her than they were about anypony else in our group.

"What's going on?" I asked as I looked over at the Ranger who just shrugged a little.

"I don't know, I've never really experienced this particular thing from the Tenders before," she said with a shake of her head, something about all of this was weird, it was like they didn't know what to make of us.

"Well, we'll figure something out," Cherry said as she looked around.

"So, there's something I have to wonder about," Tranquil said as she looked over at us. "Why are they called Tenders anyway? That seems like kind of an odd choice of names for the Tribe."

"I have no idea," the Ranger admitted with a shake of her head. "I think it comes from the idea of tending to the dead, something to do with their traditions in combat I think. Honestly, I don't know, I never thought it would be that polite to ask them."

I remembered back to the fight with the Raiders where the Tenders had closed the eyes of the Raiders they had killed. I had wondered about that and maybe that was what the Ranger had meant by them tending to the dead or something similar, it was something I would have to shelve away for later to try and figure out.

A Dragonpony mare with dark blue fur and a red mane ran past us, she only briefly looked at us with piercing cat-like eyes that made me shiver a little. This whole village was a bit strange, I don't know what I was expecting, but somehow the large number of Hybrids made me a little uneasy, like we were the only ones here that weren't Hybrids.

I looked over at Cherry who gave me a smile, I took a deep breath and nodded, at least she was here for me along with my friends. I looked at Riva who had stopped to talk with one of the Zonies that was selling wares nearby, I smiled a little when I realized they were speaking in the Zebra language together, I guess some things were passed down in this tribe including that language.

I sighed a little and looked at my hooves, the Tenders were certainly an interesting group and if they really didn't like the Enclave that might give us an advantage in the negotiations. Right now I just had to figure out how we were going to persuade them not to join the Enclave.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Arc asked as she looked over at me.

"We need some sort of..." I started to say when there was a group of Enclave soldiers passing in front of us they shot us a look but they didn't pay us any mind. "Thankfully, they seem to have decided this is neutral ground, unless they attack us, we're not to do anything against them, okay?"

The rest of the group agreed, though some of it was reluctant. I didn't like what was going on around here, it felt like something was being set up for us to fail and it felt weird to me.

Something was weird, the Enclave controlled most of the city, why did they choose now to move in and try and negotiate with the Tenders? The only thing I could think of was that we were here, they might've realized that we were going to try and stop them from getting access to the Stable, and since they weren't ready to attack them outright, they had to make sure that we couldn't get access to the Stable or at least couldn't keep them from getting access.

The fact was that I didn't really know what we were going to do, the Enclave were in a much stronger position than we were in this city and the Tenders may actually want to side with them given their strength. I didn't like that idea, but sadly it may be the truth, it was kind of hard to tell with everything that was going on, but I didn't like the possibility.

"Spy!" A stallion shouted out, for a moment I thought they were talking to me when I realized that he was pointing right at Arc Light who froze in place. "Stable 66 sided with the Enclave, they're all here to serve the Enclave and nothing more!"

"Wh-what?" Arc managed to stutter out, she was just as shocked as I was at the accusation. "I'm... I'm not a..."

"She's no spy!" I said as I moved between the Unicorn and her accuser. "Arc Light left Stable 66 before the Enclave had even entered it. I've been traveling with her for the past year and a half and she would never do anything to side with them, not after what they did to her home."

"What proof do you have?" The stallion demanded as he looked at me harshly. "How do I know you're not all spies trying to turn the Tenders against the Enseeare?"

"Look, I know you listen to DJ Pon3's broadcasts, we're the ponies that she was speaking about," I said with a sigh as I looked down at my hooves a little. "Arc is no spy, I saw what happened in Stable 66 and she had no part in that. She would never betray me or the NCR to the Enclave. We're here to try and help the Tenders, we don't want you to suffer fates similar to 66 or worse. There's a lot of good that can be done in this world, and we don't want the Enclave to take that away, she's here to help, we all are."

I glanced at Arc for a moment and she gave me a weak smile, I smiled back at her. I sighed a little, I hated that I had to come to Arc's defense like this, but she was a friend of mine and nopony went after a friend like that.

"Are we going to have a problem?" I asked as I turned to look at the stallion again who just glowered at me. "Where did you hear about Stable 66 anyway, that information hasn't been made public."

"The Enclave was talking about it," he said simply.

"Don't trust anything the Enclave says," I said as I narrowed my eyes at the stallion. "They're not to be trusted, even if they seem like they want to be your friends now, they're more dangerous than you can imagine. You do not want to be on the same side as them in this war."

"Scootaloo, its okay, you don't have to defend me anymore," Arc said as she placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Come on, lets keep looking around."

I nodded and we started walking again past the Stallion that had accused Arc of being a spy. I saw a few more Enclave soldiers and other Pegasi that looked more like scientists that were talking with the tribal ponies. They didn't seem to be interested in causing trouble at least, but I wanted to keep a close eye on them anyway.

I smiled and looked over at Riva who gave me a smile. I was glad that the Zebra had become accustomed to us so quickly, the fact was that I had been a little worried because of the mission that she had been sent on. Still, from what I understood she had managed to start to open talks with the NCR, that may at least be a good sign and it could mean that we were going to be okay after all.

Viatorem, that was something that I kept going back to, from what I understood it meant Traveler. Why would you call a special diplomat a Traveler? That seemed kind of a strange choice of names for a diplomat, but it had to make sense to the Alliance at least.

We talked with a few more ponies around the tribe, but we didn't get a whole lot more answers to what we were going to do. There was actually a pretty general consensus that the Enclave was dangerous, but they didn't want to get involved as long as the Enclave didn't cause them any trouble, that figured really, but there wasn't anything we could really do about it.

"Well, so far this is a bust," Cherry said as she kicked a stray rusty can. "How are we supposed to convince them that the Enclave really is as dangerous as they are?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," I admitted with a sigh as I looked around. "This place isn't exactly vulnerable, and they know how to fight if they have to. The Enclave would have a hard time assaulting this village, which is probably why they have had to resort to negotiation instead of an all out offensive."

"Well, that and Winter Breeze doesn't want to seem too confrontational with the neutral tribes," Arc pointed out and I nodded.

Actually that was an interesting point, what would happen if the Tenders joined the war on either side? Right now they were a neutral party, if they joined the war they would lose that neutrality and the Enclave wouldn't have to worry about playing nice with them. That worried me a bit, if they did side with us, then a lot of ponies could be killed in the attack that followed.

What was I going to do? The Enclave wasn't putting us in an easy position no matter what choice we made, and I didn't like it, this was why Winter Breeze was such a dangerous enemy, she knew how to play us against one another.

If only we could figure out how to take her out without making the Enclave even more dangerous, right now it was really a better the devil you know situation with her.

"Scootaloo, there's something I want to talk to you about," Arc said softly and I looked back at her. "In private if we can."

"Sure, no problem, if the rest of you don't mind," I said and the others nodded as we headed off towards the hut that we were staying in.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked Arc as soon as we were sure that we were secure enough and nopony was listening in on us.

Arc looked at me for a long moment, it seemed to me like she was trying to decide just how to put this and that worried me, if it was something major, then why wouldn't she just tell me? I was suddenly very afraid that whatever it was, I wasn't going to like it.

"Scootaloo..." she said and paused a long moment before she looked at me with a pained look on her face, she was starting to cry a little, I tilted my head and looked at her worriedly, what could possibly be going on?

"Arc, you can talk to me, what is it?" I asked as I moved forward and placed my hoof on her shoulder but she just brushed it off. "Arc, I'm your friend, talk to me."

"Scootaloo... there's something that I've been wanting to tell you for a long time, but..." she started to say and shook her head. "Its been eating away at me ever since we first met, I can't... I can't hide it anymore, I know that if they find out I told you they'll hurt everypony I care about..."

"Who will..." I asked and then it dawned on me and my ears shot up.

No, no, she couldn't be, not her... she couldn't be... it had to be something else, there had to be another explanation.

"Scootaloo... I'm the spy, I'm the one that's been feeding Winter Breeze and the Enclave information on you ever since we first met," Arc finally said as she broke down crying.

My heart broke at that confession from Arc.

A million thoughts rushed through my mind at once, anger, betrayal, sadness, pity... all directed at the Unicorn mare that was standing in front of me. She had betrayed me to the Enclave, but why, why would she do such a thing?

"Arc..." I said but the words caught in my throat, I couldn't get them out, there was no words I could say that summed up how I felt about this, I just finally managed to say one word. "Why?"

"Because the Enclave didn't trust you, they needed somepony on the inside that could feed them information on your activities!" Arc said through her tears. "They approached me not long after they took over Stable 66, they said that if I didn't they would kill everypony in my Stable. I didn't want to do it, I hated you back then, but I didn't like the idea of betraying anypony to the Enclave, but I didn't have a choice..."

My mind was still reeling at the reveal, I couldn't believe what I was hearing and yet everything was starting to fit together. I knew that the Enclave had an agent that was trailing me as far back as Stable 48, I didn't think that they were going to be somepony so close to me though.

Arc was the perfect plant, she was a pony that had every reason to hate me because of what I had done to Stable 66, and yet she had been coerced into doing it. The Enclave was starting to lose any pity I had for it because of Winter Breeze, they were not doing this for any sort of altruistic reasons, they were holding a pony's family and friends as leverage to get information on me, and that made me angry.

"What are we going to do now?" I finally asked as I looked at Arc for a long moment. "The Enclave can't know that you've confessed this to me, they'll kill your friends anyway."

"I know..." Arc said softly. "When we're done here in Vanhoover I'll turn myself over to the NCR, they can think of some sort of excuse and I'll give them information on the Enclave's intelligence network or something. I'm sorry Scootaloo, I really am... I always considered you a friend and I hate having to do this, but..."

"But you have loyalty to your home and to Caramel Corn," I said as I nodded in understanding as I just looked at Arc for a long moment. "I understand Arc, probably better than most ponies do, but... but it still hurts a lot that you did this, we're going to have to think long and hard about what's going to happen next."

"I understand, and I understand if you don't want to be my friend again after that," she said with a soft sigh which just broke my heart more.

"Yeah, we're fine..." I said with a sigh as I looked over at Arc who nodded and I nuzzled Cherry gently. "So did you have any luck while we were gone?"

"Yeah, we got a meeting with Councilmare Starling, she's one of the Zony representatives on the council and she's willing to listen," Cherry said with a sigh as she looked over at Riva who nodded. "She apparently carries a lot of weight with the council so she might be able to persuade the others to our side if we can convince her."

"Well, that's good," I said with a nod and looked over at the Ranger who looked a bit concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"Well, the problem is that General Aries is going to be there too," Cherry said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Apparently its something of a tradition among the Tribe as a sort of debate between the two parties before members of the council. I don't particularly like it either, but we don't have a lot of choice given what's been going on around here and the customs of the Tenders."

"Yeah, I don't really like it either," I said with a sigh as I looked around. "So, when is the meeting going to be?"

"In an hour," Cherry said with a sigh, I groaned, that didn't really give us enough time to prepare what we were going to say. "On the bright side, they're going to allow us all in there for the debate so that gives us something at least."

I looked back at Arc, somehow this didn't feel like that much of an advantage especially if Aries knew that Arc was a spy for their side. There was little reason to believe she didn't know, and that may as much as I hate to admit it, give them an edge in the negotiations.

But on the other hoof if she didn't come along, that might give a tip off to the Enclave that we were onto her for being a spy, that wasn't any better and it certainly didn't help our situation. I hated that everything was happening like this, and I would much rather do this alone as much as I hated to admit it.

"Well, I mean unless you'd rather go in by yourself," the Ranger said with a sigh as I looked over at her. "This isn't going to be easy right now, but if you want to go in alone, we'll understand."

I looked between Cherry, Arc, and Riva as I tried to figure out what I was going to decide to do. This wasn't going to be an easy choice to make to be honest, I wasn't sure if I really was going to be able to make this decision, but I was starting to get the feeling that I was being put in a tough position on purpose.

"Cherry, what do you think I should do?"

"I think you should do whatever you feel is right," Cherry said with a smile. "I trust your judgment, we all do, but we're going to have to make a decision now. Starling wants to keep this fair and unbiased, at least as best she can given what all is going on around here. The Enclave is the greatest threat Equestria has ever faced, and we're going to have to stand together or we're going to fall apart."

I smiled a little, Cherry really did have a way with words in her own way. Maybe she was right though, we couldn't do this alone, none of us could. I wrapped my wings around her and kissed her deeply as I pulled her in close, which I'm sure got a few stares from around the village.

"What was that for?" Cherry asked with a blush after we broke the kiss.

"For being the most amazing mare in the Wasteland," I said with a smile as I nuzzled her gently. "I've made my decision, we're all going in there together, no question."

"Are you sure about that?" Arc asked and I looked over at her.

"United we stand, or divided we fall, as a team or as a world," I said with a nod as I looked over the small group of ponies I had gathered together. "Cherry is absolutely right, we're not going to stop the Enclave by being divided, we have to stop them together, and we stop them here."

My companions nodded in agreement, I smiled and took a deep breath. We still had a lot of things we had to do, but everything we could do in order to make sure that we really could help change things for the better, I just had to hope that the Enclave could be stopped here.

Stable 78 wasn't the final Stable in Winter Breeze's plans, but it may just be the decisive one. If we could make sure that they couldn't get access to that Stable, we were going to stop them here, and now. I just had to hope that we would be able to do it.

I just had to make sure that we could.

I sighed a little as we walked into the hut belonging to Councilmare Starling, she was a Pegasus Zony who looked at each of us in turn as we walked inside. I looked at Aries who just ignored me for the moment as we took our seats on opposite parts of the small house.

"So, you both want to convince me that that my tribe should take one side or the other in this conflict," Starling said as she looked between us with a calm look on her face. "I must say I'm surprised that the two of you are remaining so civil given the ongoing situation in Equestria."

"We're not here to cause any trouble for your tribe," I said as I glanced over at Aries. "We're just here to try and help you is all."

"A likely story," Aries said as she looked over at me with a scowl. "While it is true that the Enclave has done things in the past that were..."

"Unethical, destructive, immoral, oppressive..." I said as I looked at her harshly.

"Less than ideal," Aries said with a shake of her head. "But President Winter Breeze has sent me with her full assurances that she will be keeping up any deal that is struck. We have no desire to drag you and your tribe into our ongoing war with the NCR and their Allies, which is what will happen if you side with this traitor."

"Really, what choice did you give to the ponies of Manehattan?" I asked as I looked over at her, which made her flinch a little. "The Enclave carried out a military occupation of an entire city and Tenpony Tower in order to get what they wanted, why don't you explain that away General. The Enclave occupation cost more lives than anypony can count, what justification do you have for that? Or are your hooves still stained with their blood."

Aries paused for a long moment, I could tell that my words had hit her close to home and she wasn't sure how she was going to react. I looked at Starling who was frowning a little at the accusation I had made, the fact was that this was something the Enclave was going to have to explain if they wanted to win over any new allies.

I just hoped that they wouldn't be able to.

"I was not personally involved in the occupation of Manehattan, that was an operation carried out by the President and her Elite troops," Aries said, I could tell that she was trying to save face at the moment. "The Occupation was a necessary measure in order to bring a swift end to this war, if it wasn't for the actions of you and your friends, the war would've ended days ago and there wouldn't have been any more bloodshed. Any blood that is shed during and after the occupation is on your hooves Scootaloo, not ours."

I flinched a little at that, she wasn't wrong to be honest, we could've ended the war there in Manehattan if I hadn't interfered. I knew that it would lead to even more death in the coming battles, but the alternative was to give Equestria over to Winter Breeze and the Enclave.

Even if Winter seemed to have noble intentions, the fact of the matter was that we couldn't let her win. Things would just get worse for Equestria before they got better, something that I didn't want to admit.

"Yes, that is true from a certain point of view," I admitted with a sigh. "But its also true that the Enclave has always ruled with an iron hoof. You pledge resources, food, water, and medicine to any tribe or settlement that would join you but at what cost? Freedom at the cost of supplies is a cost that in my opinion is too high to pay."

"My Stable joined the Enclave, and while the Enclave kept their end of the bargain, they still insisted on loyalty from them," Cherry said speaking up. "You're not going to be slaves in the same sense you might be under other rulers, but you will serve the Enclave's system in one way or another. Their bright future is one that is built with the blood of innocents, no moral pony should agree to any of their demands."

I looked at Arc and Riva, Riva nodded in agreement but Arc just looked off to the side. I couldn't imagine what was going through the Unicorn's head right now, she was in the worst position of any of us given that she was trapped between her loyalty to us and her loyalty to her friends.

"We've all been affected by the Enclave in one way or another," I finally said and nodded to Riva. "Riva here comes from the Zebra Lands, where her tribe and their allies are being plagued by the Enclave and their Starkatteri allies. If you have Zebra blood, then I'm sure you know what that means."

Starling looked at me and then at Riva before she spoke in the Zebra language to Riva.

"Hoc verum est?"

"Sic est," Riva answered.

Starling turned to look at Aries who remained stalwart as the Zony Councilmare stared her down. "This is quite the accusation to be made, what does the Enclave say to this?"

"The Starkatteri are allied with General Stardust who has been deemed a traitor to the Enclave after an assassination attempt on the President," Aries said as she glanced at me. "One that I may add, was thwarted by Scootaloo and her friends."

"Curious, you don't seem to like the Enclave, but you would spare the life of its leader," Starling said as she looked at me strangely. "How do I know you're not working for them now?"

"You don't," I admitted with a sigh as I looked down at my hooves. "But we only saved Winter Breeze's life because we felt that it was better than the alternative. There are ponies in the Enclave who will use their position to do things worse than anything you've ever seen. They want to return to the old ways of the Enclave, even if Winter Breeze doesn't want to and might want to try and help Equestria, they will do things worse than she will. Sometimes its better to deal with the Devil you Know, and Winter Breeze is most definitely a case of that."

"I see," Starling said as she looked at Arc Light. "What about your Unicorn friend, she's remained strangely quiet this whole time, what do you have to say about this?"

"I..." Arc said as she looked over at me and I nodded softly. "I think you shouldn't side with the Enclave, they took away every pony I grew up with, every pony I ever cared about. I don't know where they're being held, but they are not there of their own free will. The Enclave makes a lot of promises, but they're never going to keep them unless they get something in return. I don't know what they're going to promise you and your Tribe, but is it worth selling your soul?"

I could tell that saying that hurt Arc, especially in front of a Wonderbolt General. But she knew that it was something that needed to be said, I gave her a small smile before I turned to look at Aries and Starling.

"What is the Enclave offering?" Starling asked as she looked at Aries.

"Weapons, technology, the ability to deal with the Raiders living in this city once and for all," Aries said without skipping a beat. "The Enclave and the Tenders have a mutual dislike of Raiders and we'd be happy to work together to deal with them once and for all."

"That is, quite the tempting offer I have to admit," Starling said as she looked at Aries for a long moment as if she was contemplating the offer the General had made. The Raiders of Vanhoover have been a problem for the Tenders and the others for a long time. However, I cannot completely ignore what Scootaloo and her friends have told me... we have heard of what happened in the rest of Equestria even here."

I breathed a sigh of relief, maybe that was a good sign and the Tenders would listen to us. That being said, there was no way it was going to be as easy as just them deciding not to allow the Enclave into the Stable, something told me that this would still come down to a fight either way.

"I have heard your arguments, and I believe that I have enough to think about before I make my decision," Starling said as she looked at each of us in turn. "When we have made our choice, we will call all of you to the Council once more, until then you may continue as you were. But if either party commits an act of violence within our village, be warned, we will be swift and without mercy."

We all nodded in understanding and filed out of the hut. I looked at Aries for a long moment and the Pegasus mare looked back at me, her face didn't betray any emotion, she just turned and headed off once more.

"She's not going to take no for an answer is she?" Cherry asked and I turned to look at her with a shake of my head.

"I don't think so, no," I said with a sigh as we started walking again. "The Enclave wants these keys more than anything, its why they're so willing to make deals like this. They made a good offer to the Tenders to deal with the Raiders, that's something that is hard not to refuse."

"But the NCR is helping with the Raiders too, right?" Arc asked as she looked between us and I shrugged a little.

"I'm sure they're trying, but the problem with an ongoing war like this is that sometimes things like Raiders get ignored in favor of the war effort," I said with a sigh as I shook my head. "The Enclave is playing a dangerous game, and even if they don't like Raiders, they're trying to use the situation with them to their advantage."

"That's troubling," Cherry said with a sigh as she put her foreleg around me gently. "Do you think the Council will agree to keep the Enclave out of the Stable?"

"Honestly Cherry, I have no idea," I admitted with a sigh as I looked down at my hooves. "I hope they do, I really do."

She nodded and we headed back to the hut that was our temporary quarters here in the village. I sighed a little and looked up at the sky as we neared the door, night had fallen and everything was quiet.

I just had to hope that we'd make this work somehow.

The next day we were called before the Council of Matriarchs once more, I looked over at Aries who just stood there stoically.

"We have reached a decision on the matter of what to do in relation to our ancestral home," Torn Shroud said as she looked between all of us. "It wasn't easy, and we had to deliberate long into the night before we could make a decision. The fact of the matter is that the Tenders want no part in this ongoing war between the Enseeare and the Enclave, but we cannot entirely ignore what has been told to us either."

I held my breath a moment, what was the decision going to be? Were they going to side with us or were they going to join the Enclave?

"It is the decision of the council, on recommendation from Councilmare Starling, that the Tenders Tribe will remain out of the conflict," Torn Shroud finally said and I let out the breath I had been holding. "As for the matter of entering Stable 78, we will not grant either party entrance into our ancestral home. Both parties have shown a disregard for pony lives in this war, and we appreciate the offers that have been made, but we cannot join your war."

"We understand," I said with a nod of my head as I glanced over at Aries who was smiling but her teeth were gritted, this wasn't a good ruling for her, but it was the best we could have hoped for. "The NCR will not take any action against the Tenders tribe or attempt to enter Stable 78."

"And what about the Enclave?" Starling said as she looked over at Aries who was seething in rage as she looked between all of us. "Will the Enclave continue to respect our neutrality in this matter and leave our ancestral home alone?"

Aries didn't answer, she turned and walked out of the hut angrily. I frowned, that was not a good sign, I didn't think the Enclave would take this kind of thing laying down, and I was afraid of what she was going to do next.

"Do you have any guards at the Stable door?" I asked as I looked over at the council. "Because I'm afraid that the war is about to come to you."

"Why would the Enclave do anything after we've already given them our decision?" The Griffon Hybrid Councilmare asked.

"Because they want what's in that Stable, they want it enough that they're willing to negotiate for it, or kill for it," I said with a sigh as I looked between all of them. "The Enclave will do anything to get what they want, they will hurt anypony that gets in their way. The fact of the matter is, this was merely a formality, if you chose against them, they consider you an enemy, and now all bets are off."

The council looked between one another and before they could say anything there was the sound of an explosion in the distance. We all got to our hooves and rushed outside, when we looked towards the area where Stable 78 was, there was a plume of smoke coming out of it.

The Enclave had made their move, and the Tenders were about to be drawn into a war that I wasn't sure we could win.

"How many ponies were at or inside Stable 78?" I asked Torn Shroud as we headed into the armory where the Tenders Warriors were already starting to gear up.

"We don't enter the Stable unless its necessary," Torn Shroud said with a shake of her head. "We consider it a sacred place and its only to be entered to honor the dead. The Enclave is going to desecrate out home with their very presence. There were only around 5 ponies guarding the door."

"I understand, we're going to do everything we can to stop them," I said with a sigh as I looked over at Cherry who nodded in agreement. "We're going to have to make sure the Enclave are stopped, and fast, they can't get that key."

"Did you know the Enclave wasn't going to keep up their end of the bargain?" Torn Shroud said as she looked over at me with a scowl on her face. "Because if the Enseeare had anything to do with this..."

"We had nothing to do with this, the Enclave did this because they want the key that's in the Overmare's office," I said with a sigh as I looked at her. "I don't like the Enclave, over 200 years ago they branded me a traitor and cut me off from my family when they sent me below the clouds. I would not work with them for anything in Equestria."

Torn Shroud looked at me for a long moment before she seemed to be satisfied with my answer. "Fine, I will trust you for the moment, I hope you don't do anything to betray that trust."

I looked over at Arc Light who just looked down as she fit her rifle into her holster. She was the only pony among us who had any chance of betraying us, I trusted Cherry and Riva, but Arc? Honestly I was having a hard time believing that she wasn't going to turn on us somehow.

I hated myself for thinking like this, but I couldn't help it. She had betrayed us, what was I supposed to feel like? The Enclave had a spy this close to me ever since my first trip to Manehattan and I was still traveling with her to deal with Stable 78. I just had to hope that we'd be able to sort things out in due time.

"We're all trustworthy here," I said as I shot Arc a look that told her not to do anything. "We'll help you get the Enclave out of Stable 78, I promise."

"What happens when they're beaten here, will they keep going after them?" Tranquil asked and I looked over at the Changeling Hybrid and sighed a little.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Honestly the Enclave want this badly enough that I don't think they'll give up until the key is in their hooves. As much as I hate to admit it, the best thing for the Tenders may be to let them get the key..."

"What are you saying Scootaloo?" Cherry asked as she looked at me with astonishment.

"The Enclave aren't going to give up even if we stop them here," I said with a sigh. "If we could seal the Stable permanently that would be one thing, but I don't think the Tenders would want that either."

Torn Shroud shook her head, I didn't like the idea of it either, but we were running out of options here, we had to at least make an effort to keep the Enclave from getting to the key. For a moment I actually considered going with the last ditch plan of removing the power source, but I didn't even know if that was going to work.

I sighed a little and checked the ammo for my two energy rifles, I had enough for the moment but we were going to have to make sure that everything was done sparingly. I looked over at my friends and Torn Shroud one last time, it was time to take the fight to the Enclave in Stable 78.

"Once more into the breach," I said with a sigh as we headed out of the armory and towards the hill where Stable 78 was concealed.

I don't like going into Stables sometimes to be honest, there's something uneasy about all of this especially given what I had done. Sometimes it felt like the ghosts of the ponies who had died in a Stable were judging me for my crimes, like the guilt was eating away at me as I simply walked into the Stable.

Stable 78 was no different, even if the Stable had succeeded I couldn't help but feel responsible for anything that may have gone wrong in it. The ponies here had made it out of the Stable alive and had built a new society for themselves in the ruins of Vanhoover, but had I done the right thing? Had it really all worked out in the end?

I didn't have any answers right now, and I didn't think that I ever really would, the Stables were something that would haunt me for the rest of my life if I let them. Now it was just a matter of making sure that I kept this one from opening the box.

The door to Stable 78 was wide open as we approached and the guards were all dead. We weren't too far behind the Enclave thankfully, and according to Torn Shroud the Overmare's office and most of the rest of the Stable had been sealed to make sure that nopony disturbed them.

A small consolation for the guilt I felt over this place.

"How long do you think it'll take them to break through the door to the office?" Torn Shroud asked as she looked over at me and I shrugged a little.

"It depends, the locks on Overmare Office doors are very hard to get open without lockpicking tools," I said with a sigh, knowing our luck the Enclave had brought that along. "What about any defenses that were set up?"

"We have a few things sure," Torn Shroud said. "They're programmed to attack anything without certain genetic markers."

"Great, so, that means we're going to be targeted by them too doesn't it?" Cherry asked as I facehooved a little, she was right of course, that had seemed like a good idea for the Tenders at the time, but now it was just going to get in our way.

"Tranquil, I know you don't like me very much but I need you to help us out here," I said as I looked over at the Changeling hybrid. "Can you shift into an Enclave soldier? That might give us an edge in the fight."

"I'll try and see what I can do, but I'll need some armor," Tranquil said, she didn't look very happy about the idea of taking orders from me and I didn't really blame her, but she took it in stride.

"Okay, keep an eye out for anypony we can grab," I said with a sigh as we moved into the Stable quietly, thankfully any defenses in the entrance had already been destroyed by the Enclave, though not without cost to them by the looks of things given the number of bodies that were littering the floor.

Well, at least there was a few less Enclave to get in our way.

"Why are they doing this?" Torn Shroud asked as we stepped over another body, we were checking them for anything that would be intact enough for Tranquil to use but weren't having much luck. "Why does the Enclave want to get access to Stable 78 at all?"

"Its not Stable 78 itself, its what the key in the terminal unlocks," I said with a sigh as I looked down at my hooves. "Over 210 years ago, during the war, I locked away a great and terrible weapon so that it could never be used by anypony. I thought that I had secured it enough, but the Enclave found out how to get access to it, and they're going to use it to force the other factions to surrender."

"How does the Enclave even know about it?" Tranquil asked as she and Torn Shroud both looked at me, I could tell that they weren't happy with this information. "If its so secret and secure, the Enclave shouldn't even know it exists, should they?"

"They shouldn't, but I think they got their hooves on my old journals that I had to leave behind," I said with a sigh as I checked my EFS, there wasn't any hostiles nearby, I guess they were deeper in the Stable. "I kept journals that had information on the project and I had hoped that they would never fall into the wrong hooves."

I wasn't ready to tell them just how the Enclave had found them yet, admitting Winter Breeze was my descendant was not something that I wanted to just tell anypony.

"I see," Tranquil said and shook her head a little. "That's quite the story, not quite sure I believe all of it, but if you really think that's what the Enclave did, then I'm sure you're right."

"Its the best explanation I have really, there were no other records of it anywhere else just to be safe," I said with a sigh, well there was the video files that I had seen, but that was another matter entirely. "I just hope that we're going to be able to stop the Enclave in time."

We rounded the corner where a lone Enclave soldier was coming out of one of the communal bathrooms and fitting their armor back on themselves. I smirked a little and nodded to Tranquil who shifted into a Pegasus Zony mare and sauntered over to the poor unsuspecting soldier.

"Hey there big boy, care to show a mare a good time?" she asked with a smile as she sauntered around him, I tried not to stare at the mare and just mentally facehooved, I couldn't believe this was happening.

"Well, umm, I should really get back to my post," the soldier said with a gulp as he looked at her for a long moment. "I mean... this isn't really the best time and..."

He didn't get to finish the sentence before he got a hoof to the head that sent him sprawling and we dragged him into one of the adjoining rooms that were still open.

"Stallions, always thinking with their penis instead of their brains," Tranquil said as we stripped the stallion of his armor and she shifted into a copy of him before putting the armor on. "Are you sure this'll work?"

"We don't really have much of a choice," I said and she nodded before heading out into the Stable, the rest of us gave her a few minutes before we followed.

The Enclave was mostly in the inner parts of the Stable from the looks of things, they were more interested in getting their hooves on the key than on actually holding the Stable, that was something at least. When we reached the areas that the Enclave were in, Torn Shroud moved ahead quietly and took out any of the soldiers that were in our way.

When we finally reached the Atrium, the Enclave was working on getting the door to the Overmare's office open still, that was a good sign at least. I looked over at my friends and gave Cherry a nod as she moved into cover, we weren't going to risk her and her baby no matter what was going on.

"So what's the plan?" Torn Shroud whispered to me as we ducked down just as one Enclave soldier happened to look in our direction.

I paused and looked around, there were still a few ponies here and there dressed in Enclave power armor and they were guarding most of the areas. I saw General Aries near the door, she probably was the one who could actually get the key out of the terminal, but it wasn't a guarantee.

"We need to kill or incapacitate the Enclave soldiers here," I whispered back and she nodded and we moved forward quietly towards the door to the Overmare's office. I checked the ammo one more time, it was time to fight the Enclave again.

Just as we were about to move into position, one Enclave soldier noticed us and let out a cry of alarm. We ducked out of the way of a blast of energy as the Enclave started firing at us.

"So, any other brilliant ideas?" Torn Shroud asked sarcastically as she looked over at us.

"I'm working on it..." I said with a groan as we fired back at the Enclave soldiers, but Aries had ducked into cover and was returning fire. "Hope that Tranquil is somewhere nearby I guess."

As we fought, I could see the Enclave tech working to try and get the door open still, but the others were covering him. I ducked down when another shot of magical energy flew past me and hit the wall.

"This is getting tedious," I said with a groan as I fired a shot and took out one of the soldiers but there were still more heading our way. "Cover our..."

A shot rang out from behind us and I turned with a surprised look to see a pony in Enclave armor falling over with Arc holding her rifle in her telekinesis. They must've been trying to sneak up on us and Arc had taken them out, she gave me a nod and a weak smile which I returned before we returned to the firefight.

"Cover me!" Aries shouted as the door to the office slid open and she ducked through it followed by the tech and two guards, I flinched at that, the Enclave were now one step closer to getting the key and we had to stop them, now.

I lined up a shot and took out another soldier, the rest of them went down not long after and we pushed forward towards the office. We stopped just short of entering it when the guards inside fired towards us.

"You've all done well to follow us this far," Aries called out from the terminal. "But you're too late, the key is almost released, and you will not be able to stop us!"

I flinched and facehooved a little, of course it wasn't going to be easy. The Enclave was still trying to stop us with sustained gunfire every time we so much as looked into the office. I sighed a little, it looked like it was too late and they'd probably escape using the tunnel.

That's when something surprised me, there was the sound of gunfire coming from inside the office followed by a thud. When we looked inside we saw one of the guards was standing over the unconscious body of General Aries, he removed his helmet and shifted back into Tranquil.

"Took you long enough," I commented with a chuckle as we moved into the office, Tranquil just rolled her eyes at that.

"Well sorry, I had to make sure that they weren't going to see me," Tranquil said with a shake of her head as I pushed Aries out of the way and checked the terminal.

"Great... we're too late," I said and stomped my hoof, the Enclave despite our best efforts had succeeded in getting the key released from the terminal.

"What does this mean?" Cherry asked as she looked between all of us, she looked as scared as I felt, and I didn't really blame her for that. "What are we going to do now?"

"It means, the Enclave just needs two keys now," I said with a sigh as I looked down at my hooves. "And now we just have two places left to stop them at, and I don't know if we're going to be able to."

That hung over the room for a long moment as we looked down at the unconscious General Aries. The Wonderbolt General groaned a little.

"Well, at least we have a prisoner," I said and we picked her up and carried her out of the Stable, it was time to report back to the NCR.

The NCR under Colonel Archimedes arrived two hours later accompanied by a Vertibuck that landed in an area that had been cleared out on the outskirts of the village. There was a lot of whispers around about what was going to happen now that the Enclave had made it into the Stable, and a lot of the villagers weren't happy about it.

We were called before an emergency meeting of the Council of Matriarchs who looked at me and the Colonel with a bit of contempt in their faces. I didn't particularly blame them, we had brought the war with the Enclave into their home, into their sacred site, they had every reason to hate us for what we did.

"Scootaloo of Family Dash," Starling said as she looked at me for a long moment. "It was on your advice that we refused the Enclave's offer, and it has brought nothing but death and suffering to our Tribe. You came here representing the Enseeare, and while you claim to respect our choice to remain neutral, you have called them here, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Councilors, we're not here to..." Archimedes started to say before he was cut off by Torn Shroud.
"The question was not directed at you, Griffon," Torn Shroud said as she shot the Colonel a glare. "Scootaloo of Family Dash will answer the question."

"We do respect the Tenders' choice of remaining neutral in this conflict," I said with a sigh as I looked around at the others. "And I do believe that now that they have the key, the Enclave will have no reason to return to your village, but there is always the risk that they will want some sort of retribution. I'm not asking that you violate your neutrality by siding with the NCR and the alliance, but you will be putting yourselves at risk if you don't do something to defend yourselves from the Enclave."

"We understand that," the Dragonpony representative said as she looked between all of us. "The decision will not be an easy one to make, but you have not given us much of a choice. We have survived as a tribe for over 100 years and we will continue to survive, no matter what. Our decision to remain neutral still stands."

"And we will respect that," Archimedes said with a nod as he looked over at me. "The NCR will leave your village once the prisoners are secure, I hope that someday we'll be able to open relations again."

"Not as long as the NCR is waging war in our lands," Torn Shroud said as she looked at me and the Colonel harshly. "Until there is peace, the Tenders will have nothing to do with either the Enseeare or the Enclave."

"Understood," Archimedes said and I nodded before we headed back out of the hut to where the Vertibuck was, Cherry greeted me with a worried look.

"Scootaloo, they arrested Arc Light, they said she's being charged with espionage!" She said breathlessly as she looked at Archimedes. "What's going on, why is this happening?"

"Cherry, we wanted to tell you before but..." I started to say and sighed a little, this wasn't going to be easy. "Arc has been spying on us since I first met her in Manehattan, she agreed to turn herself into the NCR, I'm sorry..."

Cherry looked at me for a long moment and started crying as she hugged me tight. I didn't blame her for being said or angry, Arc had betrayed us all even if she had the right reasons. We still had a long way to go before we could really forgive Arc, but I could understand why she did it.

"I'll explain it all when I get the chance," I said with a sigh.

"Okay."

I held her for a long moment before we released the hug and started walking again, I was a bit surprised to see Tranquil wasn't getting ready.

"Are you staying?" I asked curiously as I looked at the Changeling Hybrid.

"I'm not officially NCR, and I'm closer to them than to any of you," Tranquil said with a nod as she looked out at the village. "Until now, I've never really had anywhere to live and they asked me if I wanted to stay."

"I understand, we all need a home," I said with a nod as I offered a hoof to Tranquil. "Fair winds and stay safe."

Tranquil looked at me for a long moment before she smiled and shook my hoof. "You too Scootaloo, I may not like what your company did to me, but I respect you as a warrior. Just do me one favor okay?"

"What's that?"

"Kick Winter Breeze's flank extra hard for me," she said with a smirk and I chuckled and nodded.

"You've got it," I said with a nod as we climbed aboard the Vertibuck.

I looked across the aircraft at Arc Light and Aries who were chained up, Arc couldn't look at us in the eye and I sighed a little. This wasn't going to be easy, but at least one lingering question had been answered.

I just hoped that everything would be okay for Arc and for all of us.

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: Counter-Espionage Agent.
Details: You've gained a better knowledge of the enemy's intelligence network and a better ability to recognize spies in your midst. You get an extra boost to perception and a special conversation option with certain ponies.