"So, what's the plan now?" Cherry asked as we walked around Zebratown more. "Did, whoever you were talking to give you anything that could help?"

"Maybe, but lets not discuss it here," I said as I looked back at my saddlebags where the map was as I looked over at the four mares who had joined us. "Are you going to be okay? We need to leave as soon as possible given how important it is to get to the Stable before the Enclave."

"Why do the Enclave even want into the Stable anyway?" Mariposa asked as she looked between us. "I mean, we've heard everything Winter Breeze has been broadcasting, but why Stable 97 specifically?"

"Well, you see, I put a program into the terminal in Stable 97 which they want," I said with a sigh. "Its the last part of a puzzle so they can get access to something dangerous and powerful. If we don't stop them, they may take over the world."

"Well, at least they'd probably do something about all these Raiders," Centerpin said. "I'm still amazed we made it through Raider territory."

"Thanks to Mariposa and Brick here," Heart Ache said and nodded to their two friends.

"Well I'm glad to help, these Raiders are nothing but trouble," Mariposa said with a shake of her head. "So, what's with the filly anyway? Does she normally travel with you?"

"Well, no," I said and sighed a little as I looked at Serenity who just looked away a little. "She kind of stowed away on the Vertibuck and we have to bring her along to make sure she stays safe. Mostly because if we don't, her mom will probably kill us."

"Oh, that sounds terrible," Centerpin said as she looked at me. "Would she really do that?"

"Well, she did fight against the horrors of the Wasteland including the Enclave herself," I said with a shrug.

"Don't worry, I have total faith in Scootaloo and her friends to keep me safe," Serenity said and hugged me. "I'm sure everything will be okay, right?"

"Yeah, everything'll be fine," I said and hugged her as I looked over at the other four. I smiled a little, it was actually nice to know that there were ponies who supported each other out here.

"So, what's the plan?" Brick asked.

"We have one more companion we have to meet up with, once she's ready to go we'll get going," I said with a nod as I looked between my friends. "Lets find somewhere private where we can look over these maps."

It took a few minutes but we found an out of the way part of the Settlement and I laid out the two maps that I had. I frowned a little because there was a lot of overlap between it and known danger spots. This was going to be a problem to say the least and we were going to have to figure out how we were going to navigate the city.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Cherry asked as we looked over the map. "It looks like we're not going to be able to get all the way to the Stable in the underground."

"Yeah, I know," I said with a sigh as I compared the two. "This isn't exactly going to be easy, but we're going to have to figure this out somehow. I know this isn't going to be easy and we all have a challenge ahead of us, but this is what has to be done. The Enclave needs to be stopped here and now. If Winter really thinks she has a vision for the future, we're going to make sure she has to earn every second of it."

"Hear hear!" Serenity said with a nod and a smile. "Down with the Enclave."

I smiled a little and ruffled the filly's mane. She was right of course, the Enclave needed to be taken down and this was our best chance to do it.

"Are you four in?" I asked as I looked at the four ponies and they nodded. "Okay good, we've got a crazy adventure ahead of us, so lets get going."

They nodded and we went to find Riva and Zafir.

"It was an honor to meet you Scootaloo," Zafir said with a smile as he bowed slightly.

"Likewise Zafir," I said with a smile as I returned the bow. "I'm sorry you and Riva have to part again, unless you want to come with us."

"Its fine, we knew that we'd be apart for a long time when we became Viatorem, I'm just thankful I got this chance," Zafir said and looked at Riva who smiled and gave him a light kiss. "Te amo."

"Te amo," Riva answered with a smile as she gently nuzzled the stallion. I didn't need a translation for that to know that they were saying they loved each other. She turned to us and gave us a smile and a nod.

"Zafir, Zebratown should consider opening up more," I said as I looked at the Stallion. "A lot of good could come from open relations between Zebratown and the NCR. Maybe you could talk to those in charge about this, just a suggestion."

"Maybe I will," Zafir said with a nod as he looked over at Riva. "Take good care of her for me, perhaps before this war is over we'll cross paths again."

I smiled and nodded. "I'd like that," I said before we headed back towards the front gate of Zebratown.

We gathered up our weapons and as I slipped into mine I was surprised to see Heart Ache slip into a Battle Saddle of her own with two energy rifles attached to it.

"I haven't seen very many Unicorns using Battle Saddles," I commented as I secured my own weapon into its place.

"I'm... uhh... not very good with magic," Heart Ache said with a shake of her head as Centerpin gently placed her hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"I see..." I said with a frown. "Alright, that's fine then I was just curious."

Heart Ache nodded as we started out of Zebratown and I looked at the map again. We needed to head underground if we were going to get to where we needed to go. The map was as up to date as we could expect given that things probably changed pretty regularly in this kind of city.

"So, where are we going first?" Serenity asked as she looked at the map with me.

"If we're lucky, we can get underground at the Monterrey Street Station," I said as I pointed at the nearest subway station to Zebratown. "The problem is that its in the middle of some very unfriendly territory. It looks like that territory falls under the Lycan gang, that's not good."

They nodded and we checked our ammunition and headed off towards the station. I just hoped that we would make it there okay.

My hope lasted about 30 minutes as we neared the Lycan gang's territory. A shot rang out and just barely missed us as we jumped into cover as the Raiders started shooting at us.

"Great job keeping me safe," Serenity snarked as we set up our weapons and fired back at the Raiders. "You're doing a wonderful job."

"Hey, I didn't ask you to come along," I said as I leveled the SOAR at one of the Raiders and fired a shot at them. Serenity just rolled her eyes and put a bullet right between the eyes of one of the Raiders and they fell over in a heap. "Though I'm not complaining about your marksmanship..."

"I told you I can take care of myself," Serenity said as she rolled her eyes and fired another shot at a Raider.

"Okay, you're right, I'm sorry," I said as I fired another shot. "You're right, I guess... I just have a hard time seeing you as more than just a filly sometimes..."

Serenity sighed as a bullet impacted the ground just behind her head. "I know, but these Raiders are nothing compared to Changelings. I'll be just fine."

"Okay Serenity," I said as I lined up a shot on the last Raider and pulled the trigger and he melted into a pile of goo and lowered my rifle as I looked at Serenity and gave her a smile. "Alright everypony, the Raiders are gone."

"Wow, you two really cleaned them up," Mariposa said as they came around the corner, the others had been hanging back in case the Raiders tried to flank us. "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, just a little shaken up, we've had worse," I said as I gave Serenity a smile and a nod. "You did great Serenity, I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

Serenity smiled and hugged me a little and looked back at Cherry and gave her a nod. "So, how close are we to the station now?"

"We're close," I said as I looked at the map for a long moment. "So, how are you and Pure Heart coming along?"

"Oh come on, we're just friends!" Serenity protested and I just laughed as I ruffled the filly's mane gently. "You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Yes, very much," I said with a laugh as we headed down the street, we ducked out of the way as more Raiders tried to shoot at us.

Here we go again.

"Well, that was not a fun experience," Heart Ache said as Riva started to work on picking the lock to the door leading into the old station. "Does this normally happen to you?"

"This is actually a slow day," I said as I checked the ammunition left in my Battle Saddle. "Normally we're involved in fighting the Enclave for the war effort. These Raiders aren't exactly trained Enclave troops."

"Why does that not exactly fill me with confidence?" Mariposa asked as she looked at us. "Don't you think we'll run into the Enclave somewhere in the city?"

"I have no doubt that we will at some point," I said with a sigh. "Hopefully it won't be until we reach the Stable, unless of course they're also in the underground. I'm not sure how they'd know where to go though."

"Well, maybe everything will be okay," Centerpin said with a shrug. "What will happen if the Enclave does reach Stable 97?"

"Well, they took over my Stable and made a deal with them," Cherry said with a sigh as she brushed her pink mane back. "They make you an offer that's too good to be true. They'll give you whatever you want or need in exchange for your loyalty to them."

"Basically, they're asking for you to sell your soul if you ask me," I said with a shake of my head. "Winter Breeze makes a lot of good promises, but its hard to tell just how much of it she's actually going to follow through on just yet. I mean, she kept her word in Cherry's Stable, but she has ponies that may not be so loyal to her. That could be a problem given how much firepower the Enclave can bring to bear."

There was a creak as the door to the station opened up and we pushed it open and walked into the station. The old subway station was in a state of disrepair, it looked like it hadn't been touched in the last two centuries since the bombs went off.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about anything down here in the immediate..." I started to say and groaned as we heard the sound of growling. "Or, we have to deal with Feral Ghouls, I just had to go and open my big muzzle."

Brick let out a growl as she readied her weapon. I was starting to get the feeling that she didn't like Feral Ghouls very much and backed away slowly as the lumbering and rotting rotting ponies came into view.

"Does it feel like we've been running into Ghouls a lot lately?" I commented as I fired a shot at the nearest ghoul, but there wasn't a lot I had to do. The Alicorn charged forward and tore through the Ghouls quickly, I blinked a little and lowered my rifle to avoid shooting at the Alicorn as she took the last two down.

"Ghouls will not hurt Squishy Ponies," Brick said as she looked back at us and we lowered our weapons. "Come along."
"Remind me not to mess with that Alicorn," Serenity muttered as we walked forward down the subway tunnel.

"Words to live by if there ever was any," Centerpin said with a chuckle.

We headed further down the tunnel just going by the light from our PipBucks as I followed the map towards where we needed to get to next. The map showed some tunnels that we'd be able to access, that was something at least and may even get us closer to where we needed to go.

As we neared another station we heard the sounds of ponies talking in hushed tones that we couldn't quite understand right away. I made a motion for us to talk quieter and moved forward slowly as we looked out into the station ahead and I frowned.

Ahead of us there was a group of ponies dressed in leather armor that were holding other ponies in cages. I frowned a little and shook my head, they were obviously slavers and that was a problem to say the least. I frowned a little when I took a closer look ant noticed that all of the ponies in the cages were dressed in Enclave Uniforms.

"Look at the far one," Cherry whispered to me and pointed at the cage. I looked over at it carefully and was surprised to see a Grey furred Pegasus mare with a purple mane and a Dashite brand on her flanks. "Call me crazy, but I think that's Morning Glory."

"Winter Breeze's Chief Science Adviser? What's she doing here?" I wondered out loud as I took out a pair of binoculars and looked at the Pegasus.

"Maybe she's here to work on getting to Stable 97 like we are," Mariposa suggested. "I mean it makes as much sense as anything else."

I frowned a little, how did the Enclave get captured by slavers? I sighed a little and looked between my friends. We had a tough choice to make, were we going to rescue these ponies or would we leave them there to rot in the cages?

I looked at Cherry who nodded, we couldn't just leave these ponies with the Slavers even if they worked for the Enclave. I hated to say it, but we were going to have to save them.

"Alright, so here's the plan," I said quietly as I whispered to the others, I just had to hope this was going to work somehow.

I really didn't like that we had to do it this way. There was one advantage to your face not being very well known, we could easily just walk into a group of Slavers like this and offer to buy or sell.

Which is how I found myself holding a makeshift chain with Cherry and Riva as we walked towards the group of Slavers.

"Stop right there," a slaver guard said as he approached us and looked me over. "What do you want Pegasus?"

"I'm here traveling from the south," I said with an attempt at a smile. "I saw your signs and I was interested in seeing if you were selling right now."

"You've got a couple of hot little mares here," another stallion said as he approached and looked at Cherry with a rather disturbing look on his face. "Are you willing to give us a little taste? Maybe we'll give you some time with one of the Pegasi back there if you do."

I tried not to flinch at the way they were looking at my marefriend. I just needed to get into the camp now that I was here and make sure that I could get the Enclave ponies out of this camp.

"No, she's my... personal merchandise," I said with a flinch, I hated talking about Cherry like this. "Last stallion who I let do this... well, you can see how that went."

I mouthed an "I'm sorry" to Cherry and she nodded a little. She had agreed to this of course, but it didn't feel any less weird doing this.

"Alright, a shame, she's a real cutie," the stallion said and shrugged a little. "Alright, go on into the camp. Feel free to take a closer look at the merchandise, but the grey one in the back is for the boss."

"Got it," I said with a nod as we headed past the guards and into the camp itself. I didn't want to think about what they meant by Morning Glory being for the boss, right now I just needed to make sure that everything was going to be okay.

"I don't like this," Cherry whispered to me.

"Don't worry, we just need to get the cages opened," I whispered back and she nodded. "I'm really sorry about this..."

"Its okay, I know you're just playing a role," Cherry said as we passed by another Slaver that looked at Cherry and Riva lewdly as we headed for the cages and stopped in front of Morning Glory's. Her eyes went wide as she recognized us.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed at me.

"Nice way to thank the pony who's here to rescue you from slavers," I commented sarcastically as I took out a set of lockpicking tools and once I was sure it was safe started to work. "Unless you would rather me leave you in there so their boss can do whatever he wants to you."

Morning Glory flinched a little at that and nodded softly as the lock clicked open. "Alright, give me 5 minutes after the last cage is unlocked, then we'll be ready."

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that they weren't outfitted with bomb collars or anything. That at least meant that the Slavers hadn't taken the time yet, or they didn't have any. These probably were the dumbest Slavers in Equestria, but I wasn't complaining.

I got the last of the cages unlocked and gave the Pegasus inside a quick nod before we headed back out into the camp. I had to wait a few minutes and then give the signal, that would the the cue to attack.

I just hoped this would work.

The Slaver camp was bustling with activity as we made our way back through it. These detestable ponies were celebrating their recent victory over the Enclave and I just shook my head in disgust. At this point I had to admit I could understand why Winter Breeze felt the way she did about Raiders and Slavers, they were the scourge of ponykind to say the least.

Its weird to agree with your enemy like that to say the least, but she's right. Maybe when all this is over the NCR can do something about this kind of thing permanently.

At least I hope they can.

"So, you're the pony from the south eh?" A stallion's voice said from behind me and I turned to see a large stallion that could rival Big Mac in size. He was dressed similarly to the other Slavers but he smiled with rotting teeth as he looked at me and my friends with a nasty glint in his eyes. "I must say, you're not quite what I expected. Who do yo work for, one of the remnants from the old Empire?"

"More of a freelancer really," I said with a shrug as I looked back at my friends. "I keep my nose clean and I don't stir up trouble so it usually doesn't find me."

"Well, a shame because trouble seems to have found you," he said as he moved in closer and looked at me in the eye. "Do you really think I'm stupid enough not to recognize who you are?"

I gulped a little when he tossed a torn poster image on the ground at my feet. It was an old Ministry of Image poster of me, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom with the caption "Stable-Tec, Preserving the Future of Equestria today!"

"I think the gig is up," Cherry said.

I didn't reply instead I swung my battle saddle around and aimed it right at the stallion's head. He didn't have time to react as I pulled on the trigger and sent a bullet from the rifle into his head and it exploded in a burst of brains and blood that splattered all over me.

That's when the camp erupted into chaos, ponies were rushing around as they tried to figure out what was going on. At that point the attack began and the cages were thrown open. Cherry and Riva grabbed what weapons they could as we ducked behind cover.

Still, I felt weird... I had killed ponies before but I had never killed one that close up before. I had seen the fear in his eyes as he realized I was about to kill him. No, I hadn't killed a pony I had to tell myself, Slavers didn't deserve that title, they were monsters.

I swung my Battle Saddle around and fired a shot at another Slaver who was trying to move in on the now freed Enclave ponies. I locked eyes with Morning Glory for a moment and she gave me a nod.

The battle didn't last much longer, the rest of the Slavers were either killed or surrendered. The Enclave soldiers lined the survivors up against the wall as they grabbed their weapons from where the Slavers had been keeping them.

"Are you really just going to execute them?" I asked as I looked over at Morning Glory. The grey and purple Pegasus mare frowned a little and looked away, she didn't want to look me in the eye. "They're unarmed prisoners, why kill them now?"

"We can't just take them with us," she pointed out. "Enclave law is very specific about how to deal with Slavers and Raiders. The senior military or government official is to determine whether or not they are guilty of their crimes and carry out the sentence with as much expediency as possible."

I facehooved, the Enclave had changed only a little given what they were about to do. I didn't disagree with them in principle, but this was still a bit, morally grey. What was I going to do though? If we just let them go they would hurt more ponies.

"Alright, fine," I said softly as I moved over to where my friends were watching. "What's our next move then?"

"Are we just going to let them do this?" Cherry asked as she looked at the Enclave soldiers who were setting up a firing squad. "We're just going to let them execute them like this?"

"Its their laws, and they were captured by the Slavers," I said with a sigh as I looked down at Serenity who looked a little worried. "I don't like the idea of killing unarmed ponies either, but these are Slavers. Enclave justice isn't necessarily what we all agree on, but it may be the only way to keep more ponies from getting hurt by them in the future. Even if we don't agree with it."

Serenity sighed a little and hugged me. I closed my eyes as we heard the sound of the Enclave's energy weapons firing, at least this ordeal was over. Now it was just a matter of reaching some sort of peace with the Enclave soldiers in the tunnels.

"So how did you wind up like that anyway?" I asked Morning Glory as we picked through the Slaver camp for supplies. We had agreed that we'd divide the supplies we found between our two groups, it was the least we could do in the situation.

"We were searching one of the tunnels when we got a distress call, we walked right into an ambush," Morning Glory said with a shake of her head. "You'd think after all the time I spent with Blackjack I'd know how not to walk into traps."

"It could happen to the best of us," I said with a sigh as I picked up some ammo for the SOAR. "You were trying to help somepony that you thought was in danger, it shows that you're a good pony to me."

"Sometimes I wonder if I really am," Morning Glory said with a sigh as she looked over at me. "11 years ago I traveled with a mare who always wanted to try and do better. She made more mistakes than I can count, cost a lot of ponies their lives, but she always tried to make up for those mistakes. She stopped Lighthooves at the cost of her own life, and that's something that I'll never forget... even if the Wasteland seems to have forgotten a lot of what happened on that day."

"What was Lighthooves trying to do anyway?" I asked.

"He wanted to secede from the Enclave along with Thunderhead," Morning Glory said with a shake of her head. "He was willing to use any means necessary, kill as many ponies as he could in order to do it too. Then when he died, the rebellion turned him into a Martyr for their cause. They took a terrorist and turned him into a hero, I couldn't believe it."

I blinked a little at that, that wasn't what I expected to hear. I didn't like the sound of Lighthooves to say the least, so why would anypony turn him into something more than what he was? Why wasn't this information more public?

Then it hit me, if this got out the rebellion against the Enclave would've been built partially on a lie. He had become a symbol to the rebels and if we took that out it may hurt morale more than anything else. I hated to admit it, but sometimes there was a need to lie to other ponies.

"What about you, why did you get involved with the Enclave again?" I asked as I looked at the brand on Morning Glory's flank. "I mean, you're a Dashite right?"

"Its, complicated," she said with a sigh. "Winter Breeze made me an offer, she wanted to rebuild Equestria and she gave me a high place in her administration so I could make sure that everything was okay. I know its strange, but I do just want to try and keep the Enclave from being like it was before."

"Yeah, I get what you mean," I said with a sigh. "But at the same time, maybe its not necessary for her to be so brutal at times. Do you really think that all of her methods are necessary? What would Blackjack think of this?"

There was a brief moment where I actually thought I may have reached her. Morning Glory had a pained look on her face when I mentioned Blackjack. For a moment I hoped that she was going to listen to me and maybe she'd change sides.

"I'm sorry Scootaloo, but while I understand what you're saying, I have to do my duty," Morning Glory said with a sigh as she looked at me. "We'll let you pass through this part of the tunnels unimpeded but I can't promise the same once you leave the tunnels to get to the Stable."

I sighed a little as I watched Morning Glory walk off to meet with the rest of the ponies under her command. It wasn't going to be easy to have to stop the Enclave if they were that convinced that they were doing the right thing.

"So, what's the plan now Scootaloo?" Cherry asked as she walked up behind me with the rest of the group. "What are we going to do with the Enclave?"

"Let them go," I said with a sigh. "They're going to let us go in peace, we should do the same."

"I hope you're right Scootaloo," Cherry said with a sigh as we looked back at the Enclave ponies before we started down the tunnels again.

"Me too Cherry, me too," I said with a sigh as my eyes met with Morning Glory's for a brief moment. There was a pain in her eyes that made me frown, even if I hadn't managed to convince her to change sides maybe I had gotten through to her a little.

I looked at the map again as we passed through the tunnel. We were right under territory belonging to a Raider Gang called the Burnouts. I brushed my mane back and sighed a little as I looked at the map again, there looked like there was going to be a side tunnel coming up which was where we needed to go.

"So, what are we looking for?" Serenity asked curiously as she looked over my shoulder at the map of the underground.

"Well, if we take this tunnel here, it'll take us close to Marendon, which is the area of the city that we need to get to in order to reach the Stable," I said with a sigh as I looked at the map. "But its not really a short walk."

"Well, why don't we go a little further along the tunnel and take this one right here," Serenity said as she pointed at another tunnel down the line and ran her hoof along a path. "That'll get us there faster and we might even beat the Enclave there."

I looked at the route with a long pause. It could work sure, but it didn't look like it was going to be that safe. There was some marks along the map that looked like they might be traps or something. I wasn't sure what we were dealing with here, but there did seem to be more in the route Serenity suggested.

"I'm not sure," I said with a sigh as I looked it over. "I mean we do need to get there faster, but do we know if its going to be safe to take that route?"

"As safe as taking a route through any route around here?" Cherry pointed out as we looked at the map again. "Lets put it to a vote, who thinks we should take the shorter route to Marendon? Show of hooves."

Serenity, Cherry, Brick, Centerpin, and Heart Ache all raised their hooves.

"Well, I guess that's that," I said with a sigh as I looked at the map again. "Alright, we have to walk a little further along this tunnel to reach it, but there will be a door in the wall that should lead us down that route if its still intact. If we run into any major problems, we turn back around, okay?"

"Okay," Serenity said with a nod and the others agreed as we started down the tunnel again. "Do you think the Enclave is going to get to Stable 97 before us?"

"Honestly? I don't know," I admitted with a sigh. "The Enclave can't get into the city by air like they usually do, so they're at a disadvantage. But they've got more ponies at their disposal and can fight the Raiders topside more effectively... honestly I just hope we can make it there in time."

I looked down at my PipBuck and cycled through the radio signals again. There wasn't much underground, no real surprise there. We kept walking until we reached the door that was still secured on its hinges.

"Riva, you're up," I said as I looked over at Riva who nodded and started to pick the lock on the door. It took just a few minutes before she finished and the door clicked open and we pushed it open.

It was time to head for Stable 97.

The tunnels under San Prancisco weren't exactly any more pleasant than topside. There weren't any Raiders down here sure, but there was the occasional Radroach or similar mutated animal which we had to deal with. This wasn't a particularly pleasant area to go through by any stretch of the imagination.

"Ewwww, what was that!" Cherry said as her hoof stepped in something with a squishing sound as she looked down at her hoof and cringed at the sight of a large Radroach that had been killed before and laid on the ground dead.

"Cherry, its okay," I said with a sigh as we pressed forward after that. I looked over at the walls that were being illuminated by our PipBuck lamps and frowned a little. There was words and images carved into the walls that looked like they had been here for awhile. "Interesting."

"Do you think anypony lives down here?" Mariposa asked as she looked at the carvings.

"Maybe, but I don't know who would want to live down here," I said with a frown as I ran my hoof along a rather unpleasant looking carving of a pony impaled on a stake. "I think they're supposed to be warnings. This was a bad idea..."

We were about to start to turn around when there was a rumbling sound above us. I looked up to see cracks starting to form in the ceiling above and my eyes went wide. "Run!"

The sound of our hooves echoed through the hall as we ran down the tunnel towards the next junction. There was a rumble as the ceiling behind us started to collapse and we picked up pace. Finally it looked like we were home free as more of the ceiling began to fall right towards us. I closed my eyes as I expected to feel the pieces of stone and concrete crushing my body.

The feeling never came and I opened my eyes in surprise to see a green dome protecting us. I looked over to see Brick standing there with her horn glowing as she formed a shield around us that repelled the falling rubble.

"Not let Squishy Ponies die," Brick said in a strained voice as she held the shield to keep the rubble from hitting us. Once the collapse finished she released the shield and we looked behind us only to see that the whole way we had come was blocked off by rubble.

"I, don't think we're going back that way," Serenity said.

"You're a master of understatement Serenity," I said with a groan as I took out the map again and investigated it. "I guess going back is no longer an option."

"So what are we going to do now?" Centerpin asked she still looked a little shaken by the whole experience.

"Push forward, hope if we run into any more trouble we'll find some way out of the tunnel," I said with a sigh as we kept walking. I was starting to regret this decision, but at this point we didn't have much of a choice.

As we pressed forward the carvings became more and more prevalent until we came across a large makeshift door that looked like it had been put there to keep ponies out. Carved into it was a phrase that chilled me to the bone.

"Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

"What does that mean?" Cherry asked as she looked at it confused. "Why would they carve that on a door?"

"Its part of the words on the gates to Tartarus, its not very subtle," I said with a sigh as I looked at the map again. We had only one choice and that was to go forward. "Well, we might as well knock."

I knocked on the door and after a long moment the door swung open, but there was no one on the other side. I looked between my friends who just shrugged and we pushed forward.

I hoped we weren't making a big mistake by doing this.

The first thing we noticed was the smell of rotting flesh. I wrinkled my nose a little at that as we moved forward, keeping our weapons drawn. We had to stay quiet of course, I didn't like what we were walking into but at the moment we didn't have a whole lot of choice.

I looked at Brick she didn't look happy to be here either. I was starting to get the impression that the Alicorn knew something about what we were walking into and that scared me more than anything. She knew that we had to stay quiet otherwise she'd have said something by now.

Still, we moved quietly down the tunnel and into a much larger underground section that looked like it had once been some sort of large bunker. Not a Stable of course, but it had been built prior to the Stables to protect the most important ponies of San Prancisco during the war.

A fat lot of good it did them by the looks of things. The whole place seemed to be empty, but I knew there was a way out on the other side we just had to get there and fast.

"Come on, this way," I said quietly as we pressed forward towards our goal. "Don't worry about this place, it looks abandoned."

"I hope you're right Scootaloo," Cherry said with a sigh as we kept moving forward into the bunker. "What is this place?"

"Sort of the precursor to a Stable, in the early days of the war there was a lot of paranoia over what was going to happen so they built places like this all over Equestria," I said with a nod. "This one was built for the mayor of San Prancisco I believe, I don't know what..."

I was cut off when we all saw something we didn't expect. There was large vats of some sort of sickly liquid in one of the rooms. I held up a hoof and looked at it closely, I had an idea of what it might be but I was afraid to say it.

"IMP," I said softly. "This place is stocked with IMP..."

"Where did it..." Serenity started to say before there was a crashing sound behind us, no, in front of us, no both. We looked around and found ourselves surrounded by Alicorns that were eyeing all of us hungrily.

"Alicorns... I should've known," I said with a growl as I readied my weapons for the fight. "Everypony get ready, we're not going down without a fight."

"Well, well, I didn't think Brick would ever be back here," a mare's voice said and a tall blue Alicorn walked forward as she looked at Brick with a harsh look on her face. "Did you really think that we would forget what you did?"

Brick just spat at the blue Alicorn as she shook her head.

"Always the defiant one, well we'll deal with you and your friends soon enough," the blue Alicorn said and turned to look at me and my friends with a wicked smile. "Welcome to New Maripony, I'm afraid that you won't be leaving anytime soon. You have two choices, join or die."

I gulped a little and looked between my friends as the Alicorns surrounded us.

"Well, this is another fine mess we've gotten ourselves into," I said with a groan as we sat in a set of cages that we had been thrown in by the Alicorns.

"I'm sorry Scootaloo, this was a bad idea," Serenity said as she laid back against the bars of her cage. "I shouldn't have told you to take this route, its all my fault."

I sighed a little and reached through the bars as best I could to place my hoof on the filly's. "Its okay Serenity, you had no idea what was going to happen."

"What did they mean by join or die?" Centerpin asked as she looked around afraid. "What are they going to do to us?"

"They're going to make us like them or kill us," I said with a sigh as I looked over at Cherry who looked afraid. "But its going to be okay, we'll figure something out... I hope."

"I hope so too," Cherry said softly as we looked out at the Alicorns who were standing guard. I glanced down at my PipBuck, I had set it to let out a distress call but I had no idea if it was going to be heard by anypony out there.

"So, do you three know anything about Brick's history in this place?" I asked as I looked over at Mariposa.

"Honestly, not a whole lot," Mariposa said with a shake of her head. "She doesn't seem to have a whole lot of memories of her life before we met her. She's, really hard to talk with sometimes as well. I don't really know what's going on with her honestly."

"Yeah, she just kind of showed up to save us from Ghouls awhile back," Heart Ache said with a shake of her head. "We don't really know what her story is to be honest."

Well, that figured, but now we were in a situation where we didn't know what we were going to do. We didn't really have much of a choice given that we were either going to be turned into Alicorns or killed.

I looked over at Serenity with a sigh, I had to make sure that we all got out of this place. I couldn't risk her safety in addition to everything else.

"Serenity, don't blame yourself for what happened, it was still my decision," I said as I squeezed her hoof gently. "We're going to be okay, I promise."

"I hope so..." Serenity said as she squeezed my hoof back. "I... don't want to die, or become an Alicorn."

"I promise, I'll make sure that neither thing will happen," I said softly, I just hoped that I would be able to keep that promise.

"On your hooves, all of you," one of the Alicorns said and we got to our hooves as they looked at us harshly. "High Priestess Bluebird wants to get a good look at all of you."

I gulped a little as my ears flattened as the same blue Alicorn from before walked into the holding area and looked at each of us in turn.

"Well, well, it seems we have quite a few ponies we could bring into our new Unity," Bluebird said as she looked at me with a wicked smile. "Well, well, if we don't have Scootaloo herself. I must say I wasn't expecting to see you here, what are you doing here?"

"That's none of your business, we need to get through your territory to stop the..." I started to say before I was cut off by the Alicorn.

"It doesn't matter, its time for you to decide, bring her with me!" Bluebird said as she gestured to the other Alicorns who opened my cage and grabbed me in their telekinesis.

"Scootaloo!" Serenity and Cherry protested at the same time as I was dragged off by the Alicorns.

I was tied to a chair in front of a desk that I assume had been made for the mayor in the bunker but had been taken over by the Alicorn High Priestess. She sat down in the chair across from me and stared at me with cold blue eyes.

"So, when are you going to dunk me into the IMP?" I asked as I looked at her for a long moment.

"Like I said Scootaloo, you have a choice," Bluebird said calmly as she looked me over. "You have a choice between death and joining us. We need to rebuild the Unity after the Goddess' death, and we are giving you a chance to be part of Equestria's future."

"The Unity was dangerous, if you tried to rebuild it, things would be bad," I said as I narrowed my eyes at her. "The Unity stripped away anything that makes ponies unique individuals. How many ponies have you destroyed in your attempts to try and rebuild it?"

"Too many," Bluebird said with a scowl. "But we're working on it, the green Alicorns are the best..."

"Yeah, because that worked so well for Brick," I said with a roll of my eyes. "But you know that won't work don't you? It only worked for the Goddess because the Unity was formed out of four ponies that had the abilities of various different abilities that they were built on. The Unity won't work and its just going to cause more trouble for both you, your ponies, and Equestria as a whole."

Bluebird looked at me for a long moment as she frowned. This was something that was going to be hard to try and get her to understand. Honestly, I had my doubts that she'd understand and stop. Honestly, this was probably a long shot, but it may at least get her to delay doing anything to us.

"Look, there's an important thing we have to do here in San Prancisco," I said with a sigh as I looked at her with a frown. "Please, this is going to be more important than anything else, literally the future of Equestria is at stake here."

"You're not the first pony to say that," Bluebird said as she narrowed her eyes at me. "You should ask some of them, they're now Alicorns. You're making a lot of big claims that I'm not sure how to confirm, what proof do you have?"

"I... don't really have any proof on me," I admitted with a sigh. "The Enclave is trying to get access to keys that were placed in Stables all around Equestria. The last one is here in San Prancisco, if we don't get to it they're going to get access to something that will threaten everypony in Equestria. That includes you and your new unity."

Bluebird looked at me for a long moment as if she was trying to figure out what she was going to say to that. I sighed a little, I just had to hope that she was going to listen to me.

"We'll take this into consideration," she said and looked at me. "But if we choose not to let you go, you will have to make the choice."

"Fine," I said with a sigh.

"Take her back to the cells," Bluebird said as two Alicorns came into the room again.

"Excuse me?" The two of them said as they looked at me. "She's not to be dealt with?"

"You heard me, the High Priestess has spoken," Bluebird said. "Or do you want to question the Goddess' servant?"

They nodded and dragged me off once more.

I groaned as I was tossed back into my cell and rubbed the back of my head from the impact. "Thanks for being so gentle with me."

The two Alicorns didn't reply, instead they just walked off. I got to my hooves and rubbed my head a little as I looked over at Serenity who was looking at me scared.

"Are you okay?" She asked shakily as she reached over to try and take my hoof. I smiled a little and took her hoof in mine. "I thought you weren't going to come back..."

"Yeah, how did you convince them not to do anything to you?" Cherry asked as she looked over at me.

"I, told them the truth," I said with a sigh as I looked up at the ceiling. "The Priestess said that she'll have to decide what to do about it. I'm a bit worried though, I don't know if she'll agree to letting us go so we have to hope that somepony will come help us."

"Yeah..." Cherry said with a sigh as I squeezed Serenity's hoof gently. "Do you think anypony will?"

I sighed and looked at my PipBuck, it was still broadcasting the distress call but I had no idea if anypony would be able to hear it. It wasn't going to be an easy wait, but right now I had to hope that everything was going to be okay.

Serenity was scared, I could see it in her eyes and honestly I didn't blame her. We were all at risk because of what was going on and there was no guarantee that we'd make it out of this alive, or with our minds intact.

I closed my eyes and thought about everything. I just wanted to rest right now, maybe there was a chance that something was going to go right for us at least.

My eyes shot open when when I heard a light beeping coming from my PipBuck. I groaned a little as I raised my foreleg so I could see my PipBuck's screen. I was a little surprised when I saw that a message was waiting for me.

"Help is coming."

"What's that?" Serenity asked softly as she looked over at me. "What's going on?"

"I think we're going to have some help," I said with a blink, who was coming to help us? "I don't know who sent it though... what should we do?"

"Hope that they're friendly," Riva said as she looked at me from her cage.

"Yeah, lets hope," I said with a sigh as I typed in a reply through my PipBuck that said "We're waiting."

I hoped we weren't making a big mistake right now. Maybe this was our only chance of surviving, but what were we getting into by letting some unknown pony come help us?

"Riva, can you try and get the cages unlocked?" I asked as I looked over at the Zebra who nodded. I knew this was a long shot but it was worth a try at least.

After awhile there was the sudden sound of an explosion coming from outside as Riva was getting Serenity's cage open. There was the sound of energy weapons going off followed by gunfire being returned.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is..." Cherry said as she brushed herself off. "We're not getting saved by who we think we are are we?"

"I swear, we're never going to live this one down," I said with a groan as we headed back out of the holding area where the Alicorn guards had left to fight against the Enclave invaders.

The battle between the two forces didn't last long, the Enclave had the element of surprise on their side and had attacked the Alicorns swiftly enough. They had for the most part teleported out of the underground however, leaving the rest of us to pick up the pieces from the fight.

I sighed a little as I fitted my Battle Saddle onto my back again as a familiar grey and purple Pegasus mare trotted up to me. "I have to say I wasn't expecting you to answer my distress call Morning Glory."

"Well, it was the least I could do after you saved us earlier," Morning Glory said with a sigh and a shake of her head. "I know its hard to believe but we don't want you hurt. I'm one of the few ponies privy to the details of Winter Breeze's heritage, and she wants to make sure that no harm comes to you for some reason."

"Well, that explains a lot," I said with a sigh as I straightened out my trench coat's collar. "So what now? Are we going to go back to our respective factions and tell them what happened here today?"

"I think we should call it even," Morning Glory said with a shrug. "You saved my life, I saved yours. We'll escort you out of the tunnels and to our allied settlement, then we'll figure out where to go from there."

"By your allied settlement you of course mean the one that broadcasts Rebel Radio," I said as I looked over at Morning Glory who nodded slowly. "We're known associates of the NCR, I doubt we're going to be well received in there."

"Being part of the President's inner circle does have its advantages you know," Morning Glory said with a light chuckle as she shrugged a little. "Don't worry Scootaloo, we'll make sure that no harm comes to you."

"And what will happen when we go after Stable 97?" I asked her. "You're not just going to let us go on our way are you?"

"Well, that's entirely up to you," Morning Glory said with a nod. "We could make a race out of it, set out on two routes and see who gets to the Stable first. I know its hard for you to understand why we'd do this, but we just want what's best for these ponies, in particular after what your company did to them."

I cringed at that, she was right of course we had screwed these ponies over more than usual. I didn't like that I was getting criticized by a pony working for the Enclave about it mind you, but she was still right.

"Alright, I'll play your game on one condition," I said as I straightened my tie and looked at her. "You're going to promise me that Winter Breeze will do everything in her power to help that Stable. I'm going to do everything in my power to stop you from getting that key, but we can't help Stable 97 in the way its going to need help, but the Enclave can. Can you promise me that?"

"I promise," Morning Glory said with a nod. "I'll make sure that it'll be done personally. Winter's past occupation has made Stable 97 of particular interest to her given its... education system."

"Alright the, we have a deal," I said and offered a hoof to Morning Glory who shook it. "When we get topside, we get what we need and then set out for the Stable. Is that fair?"

"Its fair," she said with a nod. "I just hope that your team will be okay... especially the filly, fillies that age don't need to know the horrors of war."

"That's two things we can agree on," I said with a sigh as I looked over at Serenity who was getting her stuff ready. "But Serenity knows how to fight, she's fought in a war before and she's going to do just fine. She's more grown up than some of the adults I've met in this wasteland at times to be honest."

"Yeah, well I can't argue with you there," Morning Glory said with a nod. "Though, you might want to keep an eye on her. The Enclave has an interest in, reuniting her with her family."

"That's out of the question, Serenity has a family and they love her very much," I said in protest as I shot a glare at Morning Glory. "Mark my words, if anypony in the Enclave hurts Serenity, they will have to answer to me and Vanilla Cream, do you understand?"

"Perfectly," Morning Glory said with a nod. "Don't worry about that, just make sure she's kept safe is all. I don't want anything to happen to her and neither does Winter. But if word got out..."

I sighed and nodded. There was another risk to her if the Enclave generals got word of who she was related to, they might grab her and use her to get access to the Megaspell hidden by Protocol Zeta.

That was something I couldn't let happen.

"So, shall we?" Morning Glory asked as we finished getting our stuff packed up and she gave me a nod.

"Lets go," I said and we started traveling down the tunnels again towards our destination.

"Why are we even traveling with them?" Cherry whispered to me as we walked side by side with the Enclave and Brick searching the area ahead of us to make sure nothing else attacked us. "They're the enemy."

"I know, but right now they're the best bet we have to get through these tunnels alive," I said with a sigh. "This is a temporary truce at best, it'll only last until we reach the settlement topside and start out towards Stable 97."

"Well I don't like it, it feels almost like we're about to walk into a trap," Cherry said with a sigh as she looked over at Serenity. "Do you think we can trust them?"

"I think we can trust Morning Glory yes, but I don't know about the others," I admitted with a sigh. "We don't have much of a choice at this point though, and we'll stop them if they try anything."

"I hope so," Cherry said as Serenity yawned a little, I didn't realize how late it was getting as I picked her up gently and placed her on my back.

"You're really good with her, you know that?" Morning Glory commented as she trotted back to me.

"I try, and it doesn't hurt that I've had experience with foals," I said with a light smile. "What about you, did you ever think about having any foals of your own?"

"Well no, I have several older sisters of my own and I never really thought it was necessary," Morning Glory said with a shrug. "Besides, I've never been particularly attracted to stallions and there was the whole thing with Blackjack, and, yeah, its just not in the cards for me. Pun not intended."

I chuckled a little at the slight pun. "So, tell me about Blackjack. I've heard her name sure, but I've never heard much about her."

"She... wasn't particularly smart at times, and enjoyed her whiskey, chems, and sex a little too much..." Morning Glory said with a sigh as she rubbed the back of her head. "But she was a good pony in her own way. She made mistakes, a lot of mistakes, but she was always trying to do better and make up for them. You kind of remind me of her actually, only less, well everything else."

"I don't know if I should be worried or flattered by that," I said with a sigh as we took another tunnel. "What are we going to do when we get to the settlement?"

"Well, the key's stayed where it was for over 210 years, I think after the day we've had we could both use a rest," Morning Glory said with a sigh. "What do you say, truce hold until, tomorrow afternoon shall we say?"

"Alright, but I'm holding you to it," I said."

"We all are," Cherry added as she shot Morning Glory a look.

"How's the baby doing Cherry?" Morning Glory asked as she looked back at Cherry. "Any problems?"

"Not really," she said with a shrug. "She's doing as well as ever I guess, that's something at least. So how much further until we get there?"

"Right about... now," Morning Glory said as we stopped at a ladder going up. I woke Serenity up and we climbed up the ladder and onto the surface.

We were near a settlement of some sort that looked like it had been built around a wartime radio tower. I breathed a sigh of relief, we had finally made it through the underground.

Now in less than a day, the race for the last key would begin. I just hoped that it was a race we'd be able to win given everything that was happening lately.

One way or another, we were going to make sure the Enclave's grab for that Megaspell was stopped here and now.

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: I Prefer to Be Called a Hacker Rank 3.
Details: You've gained a better knowledge of terminals and how they work. You can now hack terminals of master level.