Author's Notes:

Okay, a quick disclaimer here.

First off as before Gambit was created by and written by Natalie, thank you again.

Second, characters and locations in this chapter belong to the writers Somber and Heartshine.

Blackjack and Silver Gunner are written by (and owned by with Silver Gunner) MegaSkullMon.

Now, enjoy.

“Do you really have to go now?” Cherry asked as I broke the kiss we had been sharing.

We were standing near the Quetzal’s mooring area outside of Junction Town as we got ready to head out for Hoofington. I sighed a little and wrapped and nuzzled Cherry gently. “Yeah, I don’t have much of a choice. If we wait too long the Enclave will get into Stable 102 and we only have one chance to stop them.”

Cherry sighed a little and held me as close as she could. “I’m just worried about you Scootaloo. I wish I could go with you right now.”

“I know, but I will be back,” I said softly as I wrapped my wings around her. “I want to be back here for you and for our daughter. I don’t care if I have to fight through the entire Enclave to get back to you, I will be back, I promise you that.”

“Okay, but I’ll still miss you,” Cherry said as she gave me one more quick kiss. “And don’t think you’ll get out of the wedding, we’ll be planning everything while you’re gone. I love you Scootaloo.”

I laughed and nuzzled her before letting go of the hug. “I wouldn’t dream of it. I’ll see you again after this battle, I promise. And I love you too Cherry.”

“Hey Scootaloo…” Serenity said and I looked down at the filly who was holding something in her hoof. “I want you to borrow this… just for a little while.”

I was surprised to see her holding the necklace I had given her in her hoof. “Why Serenity? This is for you, you get to fly finally and I don’t want to take that away from you even for a little while.”

“Its okay Scootaloo, I can wait a little while longer, but I want you to take it with you,” Serenity said as she hugged me. “Just for a little while, you never know when it might come in handy.”
I looked at it for a long moment before I hugged Serenity tightly. “Okay Serenity, if you think it’ll help I’ll take good care of it.”

“You better, I want it back after all,” Serenity said with a giggle as she hugged me back. “Just come back safely, okay? I don’t want to lose you again…”

I smiled and ruffled the filly’s mane a little. “I’ll be back, don’t worry about me, you two just stay safe okay? Don’t do anything crazy again or I’ll fly you back here myself.”

“Okay, I won’t,” Serenity said and released the hug before she went over to Cherry. I smiled and watched as the two climbed aboard a Vertibuck that took off for Nomad City before I headed over to where Arc and Riva were waiting.

“Are you going to be okay Scootaloo?” Arc asked as I moved over next to her.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I said with a sigh as I put my hat back on as Gambit approached. “So what’s the word Captain, is she ready to go?”

“Nope, Never, she’ll never fly again.” Gambit said with a smirk “Nah, She’ll be good to go bout - 10 minutes, 20 tops. Been a bit of a hassle getting supplies aboard, most of the alicorns left though we did pick up 2 new hands.”

“Well, that’s good,” I said as I looked up at the ship and chuckled a little at Gambit before putting the necklace away in my bag. “Sometimes I wish this was was over, it feels like we’re just going from one battlefield to the next.”

“Probably because we are,” Arc muttered.

“Hey, one day you’ll be going to the last one and then you get to go home.” Gambit said “Something that I kept in mind back before all this, its not a never ending string of battlefields, eventually one will be the last one.”

I looked back towards the Vertibuck that was near Nomad City’s hangar bay. “Does it ever get any easier? Leaving your loved ones behind and knowing it might be the last time you ever see them?”

“To be honest, I never had to find that out till just before everything happened.” Gambit said and sighed. “I can tell you now, from a perspective that I can never go back - You never get used to it but it doesn’t keep bothering you as much”

I sighed a little and closed my eyes. “Sometimes I wonder why I’m doing this. I’m not a soldier, I’m not even a mercenary. I’ve got no training, no real knowledge of war and here I am… still fighting the Enclave. It’s not even that I’m the only one who can do it, but… somehow I feel it’s the right thing to do.”

“Our fights aren’t always something we can pick and choose, I can tell you that back before I fought in alot of fights I had no interest in, but it was what I thought was right.” Gambit said, smiling at me. “But, we are all here for a reason, and let's face it - if we don’t stop them, who will?”

I looked at Gambit and then smiled a little. “Thanks… and you’re right, we just have to hope we won’t be too late. The stakes have never been higher, lets just hope we can end this before it gets any worse.”

“What say you, other pony.” Gambit said, looking past me to Arc “You’ve been really quiet, certainly there’s something on your mind.”

Arc just shook her head. “My friends from my home are still being held by the Enclave, same with the most important pony in Equestria to me. If they are in Thunderhead, I… I don’t know what they’d think of me after everything that’s happened. I’m afraid of what they might think.”

I sighed a little, Arc couldn’t be completely truthful about what she had done but I understood where she was coming from. She may have been forced to do it, but she had done terrible things and even helped the Enclave. Now we were faced with the possibility that she might have to confront that, and I didn’t blame her for being worried.

I just hoped that we’d figure something out.

“I don’t mean to offend, but - if your family and what not is with the enclave, doesn’t that mean your family is the bad guy? Or… are they being held by the enclave, like hostages?” Gambit said. “If that’s the case, that’d give them a pretty big card to play bout the whole, do what we want or we hurt your friends and family over ya, don’t ya think?”

I facehooved as Arc’s eyes went wide. “Real smooth Gambit…” I said with a groan.

“Umm… err…” Arc said softly as she looked around. “I’m just going to get up on the ship now…” She said as she started up onto the ship.

“If that’s what you want to do, there may be an alicorn or two aboard, so - if you see em, they’re good guys, Mostly.” Gambit said with a chuckle “Did you know there’s residents from Stable 2 here? I found that pretty cool, one of em asked to join my crew, with this guy in power armor she just calls Ranger.”

“Well, that should be interesting,” I said as I looked up at the ship. “We probably should get aboard ourselves. Thanks again for helping us out.”

“Yes, thank you,” Riva said with a smile.

“No problem at all, Peanut should have some food set up in the mess hall, and Valen should have some bunks set up for you. If you need anything you can just ask, otherwise I’m going to mostly keep to myself.” Gambit said with a chuckle “Got some stuff I need to look into and figure out.”

I nodded and headed up the gangplank leading up to the Quetzal after Arc with Riva close behind.

I sighed a little as I leaned over the railing of the ship and looked out at the landscape below as the Quetzal flew towards Hoofington. I sighed a little, I had been reading over some information that had been sent with me on the groups around Hoofington and it wasn’t exactly filling me with confidence.

The one group that I had heard of was the Reapers. Some of their members had already gotten involved in the war so the plan was to get Blackjack and head that way first. That was the good news, the bad news was that the Reapers from what I understood were a bit unpredictable. They were made up of the nastiest Raiders, Tribals, and others from around Hoofington with the purpose of keeping them more in line than anything else.

Ideally they seemed like the easiest group to convince, it was just a matter of figuring out how to get them on our side.

“Hey Scootaloo,” Arc said as she came up behind me and leaned on the railing. “What's on your mind?"

"Just thinking about everything that's going on," I said with a sigh as I brushed my mane back. "Everything just keeps getting more and more complicated. I don't even know what I'm going to say when we meet Blackjack, how am I supposed to convince somepony I don't even know to help us?"

“I honestly don’t know,” Arc said with a sigh as she looked out over the railing. “But its what’s needed to stop the Enclave isn’t it? I mean, we can’t fight through the entirety of Hoofington before we even get to Thunderhead.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said with a shake of my head. “Some of these groups though, I don’t know what to do about them. The Reapers should be easy enough to convince, but what about the Society? They’re, well… they’re about as bad as the nobility was before the war from what I understand, maybe worse.”

“Yes, well that is a problem,” Arc said with a sigh as she looked at the papers that we had on the different factions. “Well, what do you think we should do?”

“I think we should get in there and do everything we can to make sure the Enclave doesn’t get at Rockhoof’s Thunder,” I said with a sigh. “But the question is how are we going to stop them. Even if we kill Winter Breeze, Cloud Chaser or some other hardliner will just take over and we’ll be in an even worse situation.”

“Well, maybe not worse,” Arc said. “I mean, you said that you can only access the Megaspell itself if its you or one of your descendants right?”

“Right.”

“Well, if we take Winter Breeze out of the picture and Serenity is kept safe from the Enclave, then they can’t get at the Megaspell,” Arc pointed out. “Its not an ideal situation, but it would keep the Enclave from getting at it, right?”

“Yeah, it would,” I said with a shake of my head. “But at the same time it feels like we’re missing something important. We have most of the puzzle figured out, but the more I think about it the more it feels like we’ve missed something big, and that worries me a little.”

“Like what?”

“Why does Winter Breeze do this?” I said thoughtfully. “She once said that she had her reasons, reasons that me or Cherry would understand but she didn’t say why. I wish I had a chance to talk to Nova, maybe she knew something about Winter’s time in Seaddle that could shed some light on this.”

“Maybe, or maybe she just feels its the right thing to do,” Arc said with a shrug. “It could just be simple altruism instead of some deeper reason that we have to try and understand. I don’t know really, but either way I’m sure we’ll find out.”

I sighed and nodded a little. “I just wish I understood why she’s doing this. I didn’t think my family line would result in this kind of thing to be honest. Even if she’s a good pony on some level, she’s still doing terrible things.”

“I know, but that’s not your fault Scootaloo,” Arc said with a shake of her head. “You did everything you could to help your family just like you wanted to help Equestria. I’m sorry that I didn’t see that before, but you’re not a bad pony at all, even if you make mistakes.”

“Everypony deserves a second chance,” I said with a sigh. “I got a second chance and look what’s happened. I’m here fighting a war against my own blood because of mistakes made 211 years ago. I want the war to end before more lives are lost, are we doing the right thing by fighting still?”

“Honestly I can’t speak for it either way,” Arc said with a shake of her head. “The way I see it it’s up to history to condemn or vindicate our actions. The alternative right now is that we all surrender to the Enclave and hope for the best.”

“And that’s most definitely not an option,” I said.

“Right, which means we have to fight,” Arc said with a nod. “And we’ll make sure that the Enclave is stopped. You’re a smart pony, and I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

I sighed and nodded before I looked out again. I could see Tenpony Tower and its lights in the distance, and then as my eyes went up I saw it. The mountain that held Stable 102 was looming in the distance.

This was it, it was do or die time and we weren’t going to let the Enclave win. We had no choice at this point but to fight them, and fight them we would.

The next day the Quetzal moored itself near the small settlement of Chapel. It was built around an old pre-war building at the center with smaller buildings surrounding it and a bridge leading off towards Hoofington proper.

“Welcome to Chapel,” I said as I looked off towards the city of Hoofington. It was in a state of disrepair like the rest of the cities of the Wasteland, that much was clear, but strangely it seemed to be mostly the result of age, almost as if nopony wanted to set hoof in the city.

“So, where’s Thunderhead relative to our location here?” Arc said as we scanned the area around us.

“Its to the northeast if I remember correctly,” I said with a sigh. “The best point to get there from is the Rainbow Dash Skyport, which according to all our intel, is of course controlled by the Enclave.”

“Figures,” Riva said with a shake of her head. “Where is Blackjack?”

I paused a moment and took out the information on Chapel. It was apparently the home of a group called the Crusaders, go figure, and had been a major trading hub for years.

“Some place called the Star House,” I said as I nodded and looked around, Riva’s ears perked up a little at the mention of stars. “Calm down Riva, I’m sure its just a name.”

“Bad name,” Riva said with a shake of her head. “Star Maiden may be there.”

“Look I didn’t…” I started to say when there was the sound of a shot and a sharp pain in my shoulder. “What the…”

As I held my bleeding shoulder I looked around for the source of the shot. The entire area around us seemed to have gone quiet. Riva moved towards me to heal the wound when I saw who had shot at me.

They were a Unicorn mare dressed in stable barding with what looked like rough armoring particularly around the neck. She had a coat that looked like it had once been a shade of gold with a short silver mane and light blue eyes but had become faded and distorted over the years.

What stopped me in my tracks however was the way she looked. Her Stable barding was fused to her body instead of being attached like normal along with a PipBuck on her leg. When she breathed wisps of pink smoke came out as she glared at me.

“What in Celestia’s name is that?” Arc asked as I looked at the number on her jumpsuit.

“That’s, a Canterlot Ghoul, from Stable 1,” I said as I tried not to panic. It took me a moment to go through all the names of the ponies that were on the list for Stable 1 before I remembered the name and face. “Dazzle, is that you?”

“Yes its me… and now you’re going to pay…” Dazzle said as she levitated her gun back up and pointed it right at my head.

I shuddered a little as I tried to line up a shot with my Battle Saddle. I was about to say something when Gambit moved in between us and shot a look at Dazzle.

Dazzle’s eyes went wide as she saw Gambit. She lowered her rifle and managed to stutter out, “Y-y-you, you’re the mare from The Stable, I remember you. You were one of the ponies who tried to help us.”

“Listen, Dazzle…” I started to say before the Unicorn cut me off.

“Don’t you talk now, I’m not going to listen to your lies!” Dazzle said as she snapped out of the shock of seeing Gambit. At least she wasn’t trying to shoot me anymore, but that might be more because there was an annoyed Alicorn in the way. “You locked us in that deathtrap of a Stable and left us to die!”

“I… you’re right,” I said with a sigh as I looked down at my hooves. “I did lock you and the others in Stable 1, but I never had the intention of killing any of you. The Stable was supposed to hold up against Balefire bombs and conventional weapons, the Pink Cloud was not something we thought the Zebras would employ against Canterlot.”

I sighed a little and looked at Riva who looked at me apologetically. I flinched a little as she worked to get my shoulder wound healed. She wasn’t a bad Zebra, but I could tell she still felt a little guilty over the sins of her ancestors at times.

“Dazzle, nothing I say can excuse my actions,” I said softly as I pulled my hat down over my eyes a little. “I was bitter and petty, I locked Stable 1 because I didn’t like what my home had become during the war. What I did to you and the others isn’t the only crime I committed, but its the one that weighs heaviest on my soul.”

I looked over at Arc who turned away with a sigh.

“We’ve all made mistakes, we all have things we regret more than others. My intention was to avoid repeating the mistakes we made during the war, mistakes that cost so many good ponies their lives. Did I go too far with Stable 1? Maybe, but I have to live with that every day of my life, and I’m trying to do better at the same time.”

“I don’t care,” Dazzle said with a growl. “You’re a monster and you can take your good intentions and shove them up your plot. I’m not going to stand here and let you lecture me about how your intentions were good or what you want to do to make up for it.”

“Then kill me if that’s what you want, but will it change the past?” I asked with a sigh as I looked at Gambit. “If that’s the penance I must make for my crimes, then so be it. But there’s a much bigger threat out there right now, and killing me will do nothing to change what happened to Stable 1 and the ponies in it.”

Dazzle paused a long moment after that and looked between me and Gambit. I wasn’t sure what was going through her mind right now but at least she wasn’t trying to kill me again, at least not yet.

“Gambit…” I said with a sigh as I looked at the Alicorn.

“I don’t want to hear it Scoots.” Gambit said with a sigh. “I went into Stable 1, I saw what happened to most of the ponies in there. It was grotesque, ponies should never have to suffer that. My question is, If the gear we were given to go in was made resistant to the pink cloud, how can you not have some sort of resistant seals for the stable, or some alarm when seals were being breached.”

“There was a filtration system and positive pressure that was supposed to keep anything like the Pink Cloud out, but we didn’t…” I said and then paused a moment. “The Pink Cloud has a negative effect on some electronic systems. Robots, broadcasters, that kind of thing, we never anticipated what prolonged exposure to Pink Cloud could do to those systems…”

“But no alarms, no alerts, it was over a week before S1-B picked up any signs of distress.” Gambit said turning to look at Dazzle “We got there as soon as we got it, but… we were too late, most ponies were already gone..”

Dazzle looked away from us and sighed. “You saved those of us you could, and for that I’m grateful. But what about her? She locked us away for the crimes of a few ponies, I wasn’t even involved in the war and she locked me up in there like some kind of criminal!”

“Scoots did what she thought was right, and I wouldn’t expect you to do any less than what she did given the situation. Not to mention, she’s my sister and if you hurt her, I’ll have to hurt you.” Gambit said “I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

Dazzle looked at Gambit and then at me and shook her head before she put her rifle back in its holster. “Fine…”

“No, Give me the rifle.” Gambit said with her hoof held out. “Not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t think somepony with a hotheaded attitude can handle one of these right now.”

“Fine!” Dazzle said and pulled the rifle back out of its holster and threw it towards Gambit. “But I’m here to fight the Enclave and I want it back.”

“You can come back here and get it back when you’ve calmed down, I suggest you and scoots here go and get a drink from a pub or something, talk - I bet you two can come to a common ground if you tried.” Gambit said with a smile.

Dazzle looked at me for a long moment and shook her head. “I’ll think about it at least…” she said and turned to walk away.

“I’m sorry…” I said and Dazzle froze a moment and turned to look at me.

“What did you say?”

“I said I was sorry,” I said and spoke louder. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have locked all of you in Stable 1. I’ve had a long time to think about this, and I genuinely regret what I did back then. I’m not asking you to forgive me or give me a second chance, but I want you to know that I am sorry.”

Dazzle paused a long moment but didn’t say anything else as she walked off into Chapel.
“Well, that could’ve gone better,” Arc said with a sigh. “What do we do now?”

“We do what we came here to do, we find Blackjack,” I said with a sigh as I looked back at Gambit. “Hey Gambit… thanks for your help back there, you really saved my flank.”

“No problems, but you and I, we’re going to have a talk later, off the record - no putting me in that journal i keep seeing you with.” Gambit said with a smile.

“Alright, I’ll leave it out, I’ll talk to you later,” I said with a nod as we headed off towards the Star House.

“Can I help you?” A brown Pegasus pony with a tan mane tied into a ponytail and dressed in a coat asked after we knocked on the door to the Star House.

“Uh yes, we’re looking for Blackjack,” I said as I looked at the pony. She couldn’t be older than 14 years old, what was going on here? “Is she here?”

“Oh, right the NCR said they were sending some ponies here to talk to her,” the Pegasus said and stepped aside to let us in. “I don’t know how much use she’s going to be. She’s, well… you’ll see when you get inside.”

We walked inside and I wrinkled my nose as the smell of alcohol hit it. It wasn’t very strong out here, but it certainly smelled bad. I sighed and looked back at Arc and Riva. “I’ll talk to her alone for now.”

“Okay, just be careful,” Arc said.

The Pegasus lead me around the building until stopping by one of the rooms where the door was slightly ajar. “Blackjack, I’ve got a visitor here for you,” she said and when there was a groan from inside she pushed the door open and I walked inside.

Sitting up on the bed was a white colored mare with a short black and red mane. As I looked her over for a moment I thought she had armor covering her legs before I realized that her legs were made entirely of metal and cybernetics. I actually thought she was an Earth Pony before I noticed a small horn sticking out of her mane.

“Blackjack?” I asked.

The mare took a deep long drink from a bottle. Then randomly tossed it at me. “GET THE FUCK OUT!!”

I dodged the bottle and it shattered against the wall behind me. “First I get shot in the shoulder, now I get a bottle thrown at me… is this whole town crazy or do I just keep running into the ponies who want to kill me?” I muttered to myself with a groan. “Look, my name is…”

The mare lifts her shotgun, cocked it, and aimed it right at my head. “Okay I don’t give a fuck who you are...“ Her voice sounded so lost, and empty. “I don’t care if your the fucking fairy princess that wants to make me happy. One you haven’t offered me sex. Two you didn’t give me a drink. Third You wish to bug the shit out of me. Get out before I do what that one that shot you should have done!”

“Don’t worry, it’s not loaded,” the Pegasus whispered to me. “She’s not exactly been mentally stable recently so we haven’t let her keep any ammo.”

“Great, so I just have to worry about her beating me over the head with it,” I whispered back before I spoke up again. “Look, I was sent by the NCR, the Enclave is threatening Equestria from Thunderhead, we need your help to get the factions of…”

The mare stood off her bed and just stood there brooding. “You think they would follow me?! Oh they folow the white mare with the tiny peins on her head. OH woopty dooo, I am weak to them. I’m nothing now… I am just a simple mare with metal hooves. Now again….” She turned her head to look right at me. Her eye’s bright red with anger. “GET OUT!”

“I don’t think today’s a good day…” the Pegasus said and looked at me.

“Yeah, but today’s the only day we can do this,” I said with a sigh as I looked back at Blackjack. “What if I went and got you some booze, would you talk then?”

Her eyes brighten her anger seems to subside. She walks over to Scoots very sultry. “Oh if you can do that….I would be forever in your debt.” She gave a gentle charming smile.

The white mare grabbed me and pulled me into a deep kiss before pushing me away. “Don’t be to long you hear.” She winks turning around showing off her hips as she walks back to her bed.

I was about to leave when my eyes fell on the mare’s flanks. Not that I was staring, but I spotted her cutie mark, it was of an ace and queen of spades, just like the cards that strange pony had thrown at me back in Manehattan.

“Blackjack, do you know anything about a ghostly skeleton pony in an old hat and duster that has a thing for cards?”

The mare blinks turning right to look at me. “ The Dealer? Yes I used to see him all the time. I don’t anymore thankfully.”
“Alright, thank you,” I said and headed out of the bedroom and shut the door behind me as I looked over at the mare who had accompanied me. “Is she okay?”

“She’s, not exactly been the same since Lighthooves,” the Pegasus said with a shake of her head. “Especially not after her marefriend vanished and the rest of her friends… well, I don’t even know, she doesn’t like talking about them.”

“Her marefriend… wait do you mean Morning Glory?” I asked as I looked over at the strange Pegasus.

A loud sob came from the room followed by the mare yelling. “GLORY!!!!!” To the heavens.

“I should go deal with this,” the brown Pegasus said with a shake of her head. “Come back in a little bit, okay?”

“Okay,” I said with a sigh and started walking down the hall before I turned back around. “I never caught your name, what is it?”

“Oh, it's Threnody,” she said before vanishing into the bedroom once more.

“That’s… an odd name…” I commented before heading downstairs to find my friends. I just hoped that we’d figure something out and soon.

I sighed as I took a seat behind the local bar in Chapel. This had not been going well at all so far. Blackjack was being difficult and we were on a timetable, what was I going to do?

“So what’s your poison?” The Bartender asked as he wiped down a glass. “We’ve got just about anything you want.”

“I need a bottle of Wild Pegasus,” I said with a sigh and he looked at me strangely. “It's not for me, I’m trying to talk to Blackjack and she’s being, difficult.”

“Could’ve just…”

“I’m engaged and I’m not going to cheat on my wife to get that mare to talk to me,” I said with a sigh as the bartender got the bottle down and placed it in front of me. “Thanks.”

“Just try not to talk too much about her friends,” he said with a shake of his head. “That’s a bit of a sore subject with her. Especially since Scotch Tape has been gone this long.”

I nodded and was about to get up when Dazzle took a seat next to me. She shot me a look and sighed a little. “Hello Scootaloo.”

“Dazzle,” I said and looked at the Canterlot Ghoul.

“Look, about before…” she started to say with a sigh. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have acted like that. I’m still angry about what happened to Stable 1 and everything.”

“Its okay, I understand,” I said with a sigh. “And I really am sorry about Stable 1. I’ve had a long time to think over my mistakes during the war and I shouldn’t have locked you and the others away like that. If I had known the Zebras would deploy the Pink Cloud, I would’ve thought this through better.”

"Why did you do it? I heard what you said in your message, but I want to hear it from your own mouth," Dazzle said as she looked over at me. "Why did you lock away Stable 1."

"I did it because of the war, at that point it had gotten to me in ways I'm not proud to admit," I said with a sigh as I put the bottle away in my bags. "I was just trying to save as many ponies as I could, but Stable 1... Stable 1 was meant to be my revenge for the war itself. I wanted to preserve those that deserved to live not those who were causing the war and all the problems Equestria was facing but I didn't want to kill them either."

"Like I said before, I wasn't one of the ponies who was involved in the war," Dazzle said with a shake of her head. "I came from a Noble family sure, my parents were the real war profiteers in the family, they ran one of the companies that went through Wartime Technology, its actually why I was in the Stable to begin with. But me, I actually hated the war just as much as you. The only reason I was never investigated by the Ministry of Morale was because my family had friends in high places."

I sighed a little and shook my head. This didn't help me feel much better given that this was a pony that had been caught up in my trap just because of her family. I sighed and looked at Dazzle for a long moment. "I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have done what I did to anypony. I was hoping that when the door finally opened the ponies that survived learned to do better than their families and could make Equestria a better place."

"Well, that worked out real well," Dazzle said with a roll of her eyes as the bartender put her drink down in front of her.

"Yeah, well like I said I didn't expect the Zebras to use the Pink Cloud on Canterlot," I said with a sigh. "Did you have any family in Stable One?"

"Yeah, my parents," she said with a shrug. "They may have been trying to prolong the war for their own profit but they were still my parents. I, actually left the Stable 1-B facility about 11 years ago after I woke up and found myself in there."

"11 years ago so..." I said and let that thought trail off. "You were awake when Operation Cauterize happened. That's what you were talking about, you hate the Enclave more than you hate me don't you?"

"Yeah, well when you see your home get destroyed that puts things in perspective," Dazzle said with a shrug. "I've been doing everything I can to fight the Enclave over the past 11 years. First it was in the Crystal Wasteland, then in Trotson, and finally in New Pegasus. I actually saw you there, but I was too busy with the fight to really do anything."

"I know how you feel," I said with a sigh as I looked down at the bar. "Over 200 years ago I was living above the Cloud Cover in the years after the war. I had a family, a good life until I decided to try and get the other Pegasi to help Equestria instead of cutting ourselves off from it. I nearly died because of it and was only saved because Rainbow Dash found me and got me to safety. I left behind a husband and a daughter, and when the bombs fell I was cut off from everypony I grew up with. Dazzle, you're not the only pony who has lost somepony, we're in the same boat you and I."

"I'm starting to see what Gambit meant by finding common ground," Dazzle said with a smirk. "Look Scootaloo, I don't like what you did but maybe I can help you out. I'm here because I heard the Enclave is planning some big move out of Thunderhead, is there any truth behind that rumor?"

"Yeah, that's one way to put it," I said with a sigh. "So what, you want to come with me after everything I did to you and your family?"

"If you really are trying to do better, I want to see it for myself," Dazzle said with a nod. "I've heard DJ Pon3's broadcasts about you, before and after she was exposed as a Zebra. If you really are some great hero or something, then you better prove it to me."

"I'm no hero," I said with a sigh. "I'm not a villain either, I'm just a pony who got caught up in the worst situation possible. But I'll promise you this, I'll make sure that the Enclave is stopped, one way or another. Are you sure you want to come with me?"

"I do," Dazzle said with a nod. "I know that's not what you were expecting."

"Its not, but I welcome the help," I said with a sigh as I checked my PipBuck, it was getting close to noon. "I have to get back to the Star House soon and talk Blackjack into helping us. If you're coming along, you might want to go find Gambit and get your weapon back."

"Right," Dazzle said and then looked back at me. "Do you have any family out there Scootaloo? You've been here for awhile, do you have anypony out there you're fighting for?"

I thought for a long moment and then sighed. "I have a fiance and her unborn daughter, plus a descendant who's a good pony and just wants to try and help Equestria. I've got a lot to fight for, good ponies out there who want to do the right thing and change the world."

"Well, that's good enough for me," Dazzle said with a nod. "But if I don't like what I find out about you, I may reconsider the option of killing you."

"Understood," I said and got to my hooves before heading out of the bar. I sighed a little, this was going to be a long day and I still had to get back to the Star House and convince Blackjack that she needed to help us out.

I just hoped that it was the right thing to do.

I pushed open the door to Blackjack's room and took out the bottle of Wild Pegasus I had bought from the bartender. "Blackjack, are you still here? I brought you a bottle of whiskey."

Standing behind the poor mare was the well the white ghost. “They never lock me inside there.. So… Your lucky i am in a better mood now. Oh and I could have killed you right there you know.” She said with a smirk.

“Right, and then you wouldn’t have gotten your whiskey,” I said with a roll of my eyes as I pulled the bottle out. “Are you this friendly to all your guests?”

“Oddly no, you came at a bad time. Night terrors and the like you know. But you brought me something so after comes the sex.”

My face turned hot as I blushed deeply at the suggestion. “Sorry Blackjack, I’ve got a fiance back on Nomad City who I wouldn’t dream of cheating on.”

“So? Have her join the more the bodies the more fun sex is.” She said with a smirk.

“Well for one thing she’s miles away right now,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “And for another thing I’m not sure if she’s into threesomes… actually I never asked, I mean sex was kind of her job back at her home Stable, but I never… what am I saying?”

“Well you’re saying that she changed for you so she would make you happy. It’s what I did for the longest time...When…” She gave a deep sigh. “Glory and I were together.”

“You miss her a lot don’t you?” I asked with a frown.

Tears fell down her face. “Yes... I loved her. I didn’t care about her just because she was amazing at sex. That was a plus.. But I loved her... For her heart, for how beautiful she was. For how she put up with my stupidity. I’m not a smart pony after all. Like I say, fuck me, do what you want to me, but don’t let me think.”

“I know how you feel,” I said with a sigh. “A long time ago I was in love with a mare. She was beautiful, kind, she put up with a lot of things I did that at times weren’t very smart either… she was my best friend in all of Equestria and we became so much more. I miss her every day of my life, and its hard knowing I’ll never see her again.”

“Death is something of course, I know know I died a few times myself. I think it messed up a few things in my head. But I learned to focus on what you want. Don’t lose sight of it… I did..with all my friend’s. I kept hurting them.. I kept things from them.. I Hurt Glory the most and I..” She looked away. She took a deep sigh as to not get angry or upset. It was easy to tell that was close to happening. “But enough of this sappyness.” The mare’s horn glows taking the bottle bringing two shot glasses out and poured it in the cups.

“I’m not normally one for drinking,” I admitted as I picked up the shot glass and shook my head. I paused a moment, should I tell her what I knew? How would she react to the information? “Blackjack… what if you had a second chance, what would you do?”

“What would I do? I would change what I did with Lighthooves. I would have tried to keep my friends alive. I have been kinder to Rampage. I would have… asked Glory to marry me..” She said with a sigh. “But I was too focused on sex and beer and well killing to notice her feelings.”

I closed my eyes as I thought it over, I made a decision here and there, the only decision I could make right now. “I… I know where Glory is.”

The mare was about to drink. She looked up with her eyes opened wide. The magic grew tight around the bottle. She started to shake her anger building. Her rage taking control. She then screams. “SHE IS DEAD!! Do you hear me?! She is fucking dead!!!”

The white mare grabs me as fingers formed from the legs forcing them around my neck. “I don’t even know who the fuck you are!” She grabs the hat pulling it off my head and quickly jumped back and stared at me in shock. Her anger subsided and a blush formed on her face. “OH...I asked a old mare to sleep with me...Excuse me..”

She rushed off to the bathroom and the sound of vomiting is heard.

“Oh come on, I’m only 43… physically… okay I’m not helping myself…” I said and groaned as I rubbed my neck. Those metal fingers really hurt.

She came back out a few moments later and took some water and spit it into the sink. She looked calm this time. “Scootaloo…” She turned back to look at me. “What do I owe the pleasure of the biggest murderer of all time to speak to me?” She said with a neutral tone.

“You’ve got quite a grip you know that?” I asked with a groan and shook my head. “I’m here because the Alliance needs your help. The Enclave is trying to get access to a Megaspell I locked away in a Stable during the war and its near Hoofington so we need the help of all the factions around here to fight them. You’re the only mare in Equestria that has the respect of all of them.”

“One moment.” The white mare would rush back to her room. The sounds of crashing and rushling. Then she rushed back out in her gear with all her weapons. “I may let them take my ammo but not everything. Now why didn’t you say Megaspell I would have helped you.” She smirked. But then she came closer. “Is Glory really alive?”

“She is, I met her myself in San Prancisco, I saved her from Slavers and then she saved me from Alicorns,” I said with a nod. “There… is a complication though.”

“What is the complication?” The mare said looking through everything in the house as she found random things of ammo. “Oh and I hide things from them too. I tell them my porn stash is in these.”

I chuckled a little at her behavior, though I was starting to see why Midnight was hesitant to work with this strange mare. “She’s working for the Enclave, she’s the President’s Science Adviser and she’s probably in Thunderhead…”

The mare nodded and closed her eyes breathing out. Then opening them again. “I don’t wish to kill Enclave but if I have to. To save well knowing Glory it’s not saving her ass. It’s more like she got her dream job. But it’s more keeping her from getting killed by the others.”

“She’s a good pony,” I said with a nod. “She could’ve left us in that Celestia forsaken tunnel with the Alicorns but she came back for us after I sent out a distress call. There, may be a chance we could get her back if she’s really in Thunderhead.”

BlackJack opened her bag bringing out the statue of Fluttershy looking at the words. “Glory always told me Do better. So for her.. I am going to Do Better be better.” She floats the statue back into her bag. “So for you Scootaloo and what you had to go through. I will do this I will fight. Oh and please remind the alliance I love whiskey. Not the fucking cheap kind. So if they want to keep me happy let me be drunk during this.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I said and smirked a little. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it worked.

“One more thing. Who was this mare that you talked about? Oh and one more thing….” She leaned up to me with a sultry smile. “You taste like strawberries.”

“Sweetie Belle, we were, well we were together before…” I said before the rest of what she said registered in my mind and I blushed deeply. “Umm… you’re… umm… I’m starting to think Midnight had a point…”

“Oh Midnight told you about me? I bet that was a wonderful conversation. Since when I talked to her she was just a simple Ranger.”

“Well, she mentioned you… she didn’t really go into detail,” I said with a shake of my head.

“Eh I know why she doesn't really care for me. I was lonely depressed. She was lonely and depressed as well. We got drunk. We fucked and then we never talked to each other again after that. She couldn’t look at me after that. But I still could taste her ass afterwards.”

“Okay, that is way too much information…” I said with a groan. “But don’t think you’re getting under my tail, I’m in a happy relationship still.”

She laughed “That’s what many mares tell me Scoots, All the time...Even some married one’s. Along with Stallions. It’s a wonderful life if you let it control you. But there are times you must grow up. I am going to do this for Glory. Can’t be a sex hungry fool forever, got to be happy sometime.”

“I hope you find Glory, Blackjack,” I said with a soft smile. “I know what its like to be in your position, I’ve been where you are… only with less drinking and sex. But still, I lost everypony dear to me a long time ago…”

Out of nowhere Blackjack pulled me into a friendly warm hug but not without stroking her metal hoof along my flank of course. “Hmm plump.”

“Careful, I went hoof to hoof with a Starkatteri Assassin during the Battle of Manehattan,” I said with a groan. “Look, Blackjack… I… thank you for agreeing to help, I just hope we can stop the Enclave in time.”

“You haven’t told me though.. What does this Megaspell do?”

“Well, it basically creates powerful earthquakes and can change the very earth itself to destroy entire cities. It’s also dangerous and if it ever failed, well… good-bye Hoofington, and most of Equestria.”

“Scoots I don’t know I know this was war… But what in Celestia burning hot pussy you were thinking of making something like that?!”

“Okay, first off I didn’t make it, it was given to my company by the Ministry of Arcane Science who said it was an experimental power source!” I protested. “I only found out about what it really did because Celestia leaked me the files on the tests carried out before they gave it to Stable-Tec. I shut down that Stable and locked it away so that nopony could get to it or so I thought.”

“Look again I know this was war.. But look at this world now? I have talked to Zebras about the war. Some of them were treated like Slaves by ponies. They were treated so awful by them. I couldn’t believe half the stories i heard. I was told Equestria the most beautiful, harmonious, friendly land in all of Equis. I see what was left behind. That is a big fat fucking noooope.”

“There was a time when it was better… a long time ago when I was just a filly trying to find out what made me special,” I said and closed my eyes. “I don’t know if it all came with the war or if we dug down deep enough before it we’d have found the same thing. The war was a mistake, but I never treated Zebras badly, I made sure when I built the Stables that I saved Zebras too because I knew what was happening was wrong. I, just wish that more ponies saw it too, maybe this world wouldn’t be like it is.”

Blackjack Gently placed her hoof on my shoulder. “Scoots the fact you even have this feeling and that you did this counters everything you did to the stables or that your company did. Believe it or not… You’re a better pony then I ever was. I tried all my life to do better. You have won at that...So come on...Lets go before the Enclave makes the world even worse.” She said cocking her gun’s. “Let’s give them hell.”

I grinned and gave her a nod. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, come on I’ll introduce you to my friends.”

We headed back out of the Star House, I gave Threnody a nod as we went past her and kept walking.

Blackjack looked thoughtful and turned to look at me. “How big of a missile have you seen ? I mean sorry why did you ask about the dealer?” She looked like she was about to say something else but stopped herself.

“At the end of the Battle of Manehattan after we drove the Enclave out of Tenpony Tower, I saw, something,” I said and brushed my mane back as I put my hat back on. “Well, I didn’t know what it was at the time but it was the Dealer I guess. He was just kind of, floating there with a deck of cards and he threw two cards at me… those two cards.”

I pointed at the cutie mark on Blackjack’s flank. “I think, he was telling me to look for you or something.”

She thought a moment. “Well when he showed up to me. It was to tell me something. Of course I just thought he was in my head at the time. Maybe he’s a lot more than just a figment in my mind if you saw him to. HEY!! You’re crazy too!! Oh now wait that’s just me.”

“You’re an incredibly strange pony…” I said with a groan. “Well, I can’t explain what I saw really, but it was strange that’s for sure. I’ve never really seen anything like it before or since.”

“Well I may be strange. But at least I am good at what I do..” She said and winked. “But all that aside of course. I was pretty lucky that I got out of my stable. It was dull the same dull thing over and over. Just to see something other than those damn metal walls is something I loved.”

“Yeah… we, didn’t really focus that much on the aesthetics,” I said and looked at her. There was a tone in her voice that made me unsure if what she was saying was the whole truth, but I wasn’t going to question it right now. “Equestria has come a long way since what happened, but we just wind up in one war after another.”

BlackJack let out a deep sigh. “That’s the issue with our species. I think we allowed all this Friendship and harmony to make us think that we are in control. It also didn’t help that we had princess that kind of started this war. Well I doubt they meant to start it..” She shrugged. “You get what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do,” I said as we caught up with Arc and Riva.

“Uh, hi,” Arc said as she looked at Blackjack curiously and Riva just kind of waved. “I’m Arc Light, the Zebra here is Riva… she doesn’t really talk much.”

Blackjack looks at Arc then back at me, then at Riva, and then back at Arc. Then simply randomly takes a large long drink from her booze. Pulling it out of her mouth burping. Then looks back at arc. “Do you enjoy having booze?” Then she thought about it a moment. “Oh I’m sorry nice to meet you.” Blackjack turned to Riva and bowed her head in respect. “An honor.”

Arc looked at Blackjack strangely but Riva nodded and bowed her head back. “Likewise.”

“Scootaloo, can I talk to you a moment?” Arc said and we moved off to the side to talk. “Are you sure about this mare? She seems a little…”

“Crazy?” I asked and Arc nodded. “Yeah, I admit she’s a bit, unhinged at times to say the least. But we were sent here to get her help and… well, there’s something about her. If the Alliance thinks she can help, then we’re going to give her a chance.”

“Okay, if you say so,” Arc said with a sigh as we looked back at Blackjack and Riva. “I’m just not sure about it, I mean we don’t know what’s been going on around here in the past 11 years, what if they won’t listen to her?”

“Then we’re going to manage somehow,” I said with a sigh. “If we can’t get them to side with us we can at least hope that they’ll be willing to stay out of our way. We don’t want to risk any collateral damage.”

“Yeah, I know,” Arc said with a shake of her head. “Look, Scootaloo… I know I messed up before, and I wanted to thank you for giving me a, well, third chance at this point.”

“You didn’t have a choice in what you had to do Arc, I don’t blame you,” I said with a shake of my head. “Life’s too short to hold a grudge if you ask me, especially in the Wasteland. The first chance we get, we’re going to free the ponies from Stable 66, I promise.”

“I just hope we can,” Arc said with a shake of her head as she looked towards Thunderhead in the distance. “Thank you Scootaloo, you’re a good friend and I’m glad I decided to travel with you, even if things have been hard for both of us.”

“I’m glad you came along too,” I said and hugged Arc lightly. “I admit I was angry that you betrayed us, but we’re going to get through it.”

She nodded, I paused a moment and felt a slight tremble from Arc that I hadn’t expected. The Unicorn was starting to cry a little as I pulled her in closer, the trembling was starting to get worse.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly.

“I’ll be fine,” she said with a shake of her head. “So what are we going to do now?”

“I need to go talk with Gambit before we go,” I said with a sigh. “Dazzle’s going to be joining us as well.”

“Wait, really?” Arc said with a blink. “You’re taking the pony who shot at you along with us? How do you know she can be trusted?”

“Honestly? I don’t know,” I said and brushed my mane back a little. “She doesn’t like the Enclave any more than we do and has just as much reason to. She deserves a chance at least just like you did.”

Arc looked back towards the looming city of Hoofington and sighed a little. “You’re right of course. Are you going to be okay without Cherry?”

“I will be, I hope… though Blackjack’s not going to make it easy,” I said with a shrug before we headed back towards the others. “How’s it going over here?”

Blackjack blinked and turned to look at us. “Oh lovely enjoying my wonderful chat with Riva here. So again thank you Riva.” Blackjack bowed her head lower than the first time. Trying to show well in her way great respect.

“You’re welcome,” Riva said and looked back at me and just shrugged a little.

“Alright, well I’ll be back shortly,” I said and looked at Blackjack. “If you need to get anything else before we go, I’d get it now. We’re leaving as soon as we meet up with one more member of the group.”

Blackjack looked like she was thinking. “Let me check if I have it.” She looked through her bag pulling out her stable 99 jumpsuit and stared at it for along time.

I sighed a little and adjusted my hat a little before I headed off to talk to Gambit aboard the Quetzal. I wasn’t sure what Gambit might want, though I was going to respect her desire to leave it out of this journal.

“Hey there my little ponies, this is DJ Pon3 coming at you with the latest news,” Xiraia’s voice said over my earbuds. “After the recent ultimatum set out by the Enclave, we’re still waiting for an official response from the leadership of the Alliance. Nopony is quite clear on what Winter Breeze was alluding to and the Alliance won’t give us a straight answer. For now, we all have to hope that we’ll get some sort of answers soon. Some reports are coming in of the Enclave military being on the move near Hoofington, so we’ll see what happens from here. Now, let’s get back to the music with an old favorite.

“Come on away to the city,
A kingdom to behold.
Where the bluest skies they float on by,
The streets all paved in gold.”

“You’re kidding, that much for ammo?” I asked with a groan as I talked with the pony working behind the counter at the local shop.

“Yeah, we don’t just give things out for free you know, and your weapons don’t exactly come with common ammo,” the cashier said with a shake of her head. “Is there anything else you want?”

I sighed a little and laid the caps out for the energy cells. I frowned a little when I realized I was actually a few caps short and sighed a little as I was about to try and go through my bags to find something to sell as I heard the sound of metal hooves coming up behind me.

A metal arm with a robotic hand places a bag of caps on the counter The one who had done that said nothing but just stood there. While the hand leaves the counter and the sound of something closing was heard.

“Do you have any idea who that was?” I asked as I looked at the pony behind the counter who just shrugged. I took out the rest of the caps and pushed them over the counter and grabbed my stuff before putting the ammo and caps away before I turned around and nearly jumped out of my skin to see a robotic figure standing behind me. It was just standing there and looking at me in silence. “Hello?”

The robotic pony just stood there. Its eyes flicker looking right at me. It didn’t say a word at first. But no mouth moves or anything else. But when it spoke it sounded hollow. “What is the core Value of Friendship?”

I blinked a moment, what kind of question was that coming from a robot? I thought about the question for a moment, honestly I wasn’t sure what to say. Was there any single thing that served as a core of friendship?

There was one answer that came to me, but was it the right one? I took a deep breath and nodded.

“Forgiveness, forgiveness is the core of friendship,” I said. “Friendships are built on trust with one another, and even if that trust is broken, friendships can survive through forgiveness.”

The robot’s eyes flickered like it’s starting to think, but then said. “Most never know the answer. But there are many answers to this Scootaloo.” The robot turned, I could tell the robot was very beat up and rusted looked old. There is even a year date on him, he had been built during the war, the robot simply just walked out.

I sighed, I wanted to try and get more information out of that strange robot but I had to get going. I headed back out to meet up with my friends

“Is everything okay Scootaloo?” Arc said as I met back up with them on the edge of town.

“I, honestly don’t know,” I said as Dazzle trotted up to us. “I had a strange run-in with a Robot Pony back in the shop. He asked me about the core of friendship and I honestly don’t know what to make of it.”

“Robot Pony huh?” Dazzle asked as she looked at me curiously. “That might be Silver Gunner, there’s been some stories going around Equestria for years. Most ponies think he’s a legend like the Puppetpony or the Burning Stallion, but we crossed paths a few years back. Odd robot, but, not really a threat unless you’re a Raider.”

“Well, thank Celestia I’m not,” I said with a shake of my head. “So, are we ready to go?”

Without any further reason to stay in Chapel we started out of the town and towards the north. I checked the map on my PipBuck, we had a walk ahead of us to get to the Sports Arena, and we needed to get there soon.

I just had to hope we weren’t going to be too late. I sighed and looked through my bags and took out one of the holotapes that Rainbow had left behind for me and slipped it into my PipBuck to listen to it.

“Hey Scootaloo, I want to talk to you about something that’s not easy to talk with you about. I know you had wanted to serve Equestria in the war and circumstances kept that from happening, but never let that discourage you. You once asked me what made a soldier different from a killer, at the time I didn’t have an answer but I’ve given it more thought and I think I know what to say. While a killer only leaves behind death, a soldier, a true soldier leaves behind hope. I don’t know what kind of world you’ve found yourself in Scootaloo, but if you have to fight, remember that hope should never be sacrificed. Good luck, and make me proud."

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: Kissed by Security.
Details: For good or for ill, Security herself kissed you. You now pick up the “benefits” of Wild Wasteland, even if you are not level 1. Welcome to your new, wilder and weirder life.