I sighed as I made my way down the stairs to the Enclave bunker. Winter had been taken away to the nearest hospital in order to be checked over and treated given everything that had happened. The bunker was already abandoned since the Enclave forces had decided to fall back to the Alliance camp while we decided how to proceed from here.

I shook my head at what I saw. There were bodies everywhere, the Hardliners must've forced their way in and attacked these ponies with everything they had to take Winter. It was senseless and violent, they had just done it because they disagreed with Winter.

I sighed a little and picked through what was left of the Enclave's bunker. What had changed? How had they been compromised? I didn't know the answer and I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

Winter, I had put her in this position, it was all my fault that she had been grabbed and nearly killed. If Spectra had been just one second slower she would've either died or been damaged beyond repair. But I had been the one to put her in this position, I had been the one who convinced her to stand up to the hardliners and end the war.

Had I done the right thing? Should I have just left it alone and let history take its course? I sighed a little and looked around as I walked through the bunker, there were so many unanswered questions, so many things I could've done differently but I didn't.

Winter was going to be okay, that much I knew, but was she going to be able to be the leader the Enclave needed? There were ponies out there that were still trying to figure out what to do now that the Enclave was fracturing and they were going to have to make a choice between Winter's forces and the Hardliners.

All because of one thing, because the ponies from Tenpony Tower decided to fire on this city and kill innocent ponies.

I sighed and pushed the door to Winter's office open. There were scorch marks on the wall from where the fight had taken place, I even saw a bullet hole or two, Winter had fought back. I was proud of her for that, she probably went out fighting, that's something I admired and knew that she would want to do.

Winter was a good pony, a good pony who had been forced into an impossible situation. She wasn't going to stop just because the Enclave believed that her way of thinking was wrong, that wasn't the kind of pony Winter was.

She was smart and brave and if she let this kind of thing stop her she wouldn't have done this in the first place. But still, I wished that I hadn't put her in this situation and I couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

I sighed and moved around her desk and was a bit surprised to find a piece of paper that had been folded into an origami crane. I picked it up and looked at it curiously. I hadn't ever seen anything like it in the Wasteland and I had to wonder why Winter had been folding it.

I put it away in my bags and looked down to find a holotape lying on the desk nearby. I picked it up out of curiosity and saw that scrawled on it was "Scootaloo." I picked it up and put it into my PipBuck, I wondered what she was trying to tell me, this was clearly something she wanted me to hear.

"Scootaloo, the Hardliners are attacking the bunker and I don't know what's going to happen to me," Winter's voice said over my earbuds. "At best they're going to brand me and exile me, but that would be stupid of them, and Cloud Chaser isn't stupid. Please, know that this isn't your fault, you did what you felt was right like you always do. You don't need another death on your conscience, so know that no matter what happens, this was my decision and mine alone. I just wanted to help Equestria, we all did."

She paused a moment as if trying to think of what to say next. I sighed a little, she was right of course, and it did help me feel a little better. Winter wasn't a bad pony, I had done everything I could to help her, I just had to hope that everything was going to be okay.

"If I don't survive this, don't blame yourself Scootaloo, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you because of my choice. But I do ask you this, stop Cloud Chaser and the other Hardliners. They're the real threat to Equestria right now, and please save Calypso. Right now my daughter is the most important pony in Equestria if I'm dead, the Hardliners can only get to Rockhoof's Thunder if they have her. If I'm dead, take care of her for me, I can't think of anypony I trust more with my daughter's well being than you and Cherry Blossom."

Really, she trusted me with her daughter? I wasn't sure if I should be honored or worried, but at least she was still alive at this point. I smiled a little, it was actually nice to know that she thought so highly of me.

"I hope we'll see each other once more Scootaloo. But if we don't, thank you for everything. You inspired me to be a better pony, to change the world for the better. I guess I was always a Dashite, I just never got branded. I have no regrets, I made the Enclave better, I set the stage for the future of Equestria. I just hope that I'll be here to see it, but as long as Calypso gets to see it... that's all that matters to me."

The holotape ended at that and I took it back out of my PipBuck and looked at it for a moment. I sighed and put it in my bags, that had helped a little bit, Winter was still alive but I was going to make sure that she got to see her daughter again, no matter what.

I headed back out of the bunker at that, there was still a lot to do.

I made my way to the hospital where Winter was being taken care of. The Enclave soldiers were still on high alert given what had happened, I didn’t really blame them. After I was searched I was escorted towards where Winter was being taken care of.

“Scootaloo,” Tornado said in her distorted mechanical voice as she stared down at me. “I’m surprised it took you this long to visit.”

“I, had a lot of thinking to do,” I said with a sigh as I looked up at the armored Alicorn. “How is she doing?”

“Physically, other than the brand she’s fine, she’ll live,” Tornado said as she sighed and shook her head. “Mentally? I honestly don’t know, she’s still shaken up by everything that happened. I, honestly am afraid that she’s never going to be the same again.”

I sighed and looked at the closed door for a long moment. “Nothing will ever be the same again after what happened this morning.”

“I should’ve stopped them…” Tornado said softly and my ears perked up a little. “They had these, things with them. My magic couldn’t even touch them… I failed to protect her, my one duty for the past 200 years has been to protect her family, and I’ve failed them.”

My ears perked up at that. “My family…” I said softly. “You’ve been protecting my family, but… why?”

Tornado looked at me for a long moment and then turned away from me for a moment before she reached up and started to undo the helmet on her Power Armor. She had a light blue coat with a short turquoise colored mane. She looked down at me with purple eyes and sighed a little as she set the helmet down.

I looked at her for a long moment. I swear, she looked familiar to me somehow but I couldn’t place my hoof on it. It was like seeing somepony for the first time in years, you barely remember what they look like or who they were.

“After this was done to me, I couldn’t remember who I was,” Tornado said softly. “I lost all memory of who I was, except for one thing, to protect a certain family. It became my single focus. I was the only success of Project Valkyrie, the rest either went insane or got horribly mutated and had to be put down. Usually by this crazy mare named Cricket, I don’t know what her role was in the project other than executioner.”

Cricket, that figured she seemed to keep coming up ever since we came to Thunderhead. But I kept listening, there was still something at the back of my mind though as I tried to figure out who she was.

“But now? Ever since I saw you on the road to Manehattan, things have been coming back to me,” she said softly. “Now, I remember everything. Scootaloo, it’s me, Sky Walker.”

Sky Walker… my husband was still alive? He had been turned into an Alicorn and was definitely a mare, but now that I looked at her closer, I could see it now. I just sat there in a moment in stunned silence for a long moment.

“But… how? Why? What happened?” I said in shock as I tried to get my words out. “You’re… you know...”

“Project Valkyrie was an experiment using IMP to try and create supersoldiers,” Tornado said with a sigh. “I wanted to stay in Stable 46 and keep our daughter safe, but, things changed. Back then the Enclave was looking for ways to consolidate their power and they told me if I didn’t come with them they’d take Cloudy and use the IMP on her. I didn’t want to leave, but I had to if I wanted to keep our daughter safe. I thought you were dead Scootaloo, they told me as such, even showed me pictures of your body to break me. Then they took me off for the project, and the next thing I remember is waking up like this.”

“I’m sorry…” I said softly and placed my hoof on my transformed Husband’s armored hoof. “I should’ve done better, maybe I should’ve just hidden away in Stable 46 and hope that it bought me some time. I’m sorry, I should’ve been there for both of you.”

“You did what you felt was right, just like you always did,” Tornado said with a shake of her head. “Scootaloo, I don’t blame you for what happened. Cloudy lived a good life and died peacefully surrounded by her family, that’s the best we could’ve hoped for her given the situation. We both wanted to keep our family safe… I just wish I could’ve protected Winter.”

“You did everything you could do to protect her,” I said with a nod. “It wasn’t your fault, you did your duty and that’s all anypony can ask of you.”
We sat in silence for a long moment as she looked down at me and sighed. “Do you love her?”

“Who?”

“That pink mare you travel with, Cherry Blossom,” she said with a shake of her head.

“Yeah… I love her,” I said with a sigh as I looked up at Tornado. “Is that going to be a problem?”

Tornado sighed and shook her head. “I let you go a long time ago Scootaloo. I’m just glad that you found somepony to love. She seems like a good pony from what I’ve seen, just promise me you’ll never let her go.”

“I promise,” I said with a nod and then looked back at the door. “Should, I go inside? I feel like I should talk to her a little, I just hope that she’d be willing to talk to me.”

Tornado looked at me and nodded. “Come on,” she said and we got up and knocked on the door. After a moment a soldier opened the door and after a quick explanation we were escorted inside.

As we entered the room a nurse was in the middle of arguing with Spectra. “I’m sorry Commander, but only family and members of the Secret Service are allowed to be in here, doctor’s orders.”

“Are you dense?! I am the secret service!” Spectra said with a growl to his voice. “I’m not leaving, and that’s that.”

“You are also disturbing the President at the moment, I am going to have to insist that you leave the room unless you are part of her family,” the nurse insisted.

“You are not going to make me leave, I will Not leave her.” Spectra demanded, staring that nurse down. “Not over my dead body will I leave.”

The nurse sighed and looked at Tornado and the other guards. “Will you please come restrain the commander and escort him out before I have to sedate him?”

“If they lay a single hoof on me, I’ll take it out of your hide.” Spectra growled.

“Umm, Spectra, what seems to be the problem?” I asked as I looked between the Enclave Commander and the Nurse.

“They keep trying to make me leave, and refuse to leave me be,” Spectra said in return, taking his attention off the nurse for a moment.

“Only because he started causing a scene when I asked him to step outside,” the Nurse said. “Not to mention the President is recovering from an attack by members of the Enclave, a soldier acting like this doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in his loyalty.”

“I just saved her life, she wouldn't even be here if not for me, and you want to question my loyalty. You insubordinate piece of…” Spectra growled as he snapped his attention back to the nurse.

“Spectra, we’re not questioning your loyalty,” I said with a sigh as I looked at the rainbow maned stallion. “But why don’t you want to leave?”

Spectra’s gaze snapped over to me, his eyes were bloodshot, he had obviously been crying alot. “Because I will not leave my wife.”

The Nurse flinched at that and backed away sheepishly. “I’m, sorry… I didn’t know…”

“Nopony knew,” Winter said finally speaking up as she blushed heavily and shot Spectra a look. “I’ve kept the truth about my family secret for their own safety. Which is why he wasn’t supposed to tell anypony, way to go Spectra.”

“It's about time they admitted it,” Tornado said with a shake of her head.

“Yeah, well, you’re the one that needs protecting now, I doubt they are going to stop with their assassination attempts.” Spectra said as he turned to look at Winter. “I failed as a father when Callie was taken, I almost failed as a husband when they tried to kill you, I’m done failing, I’m done pretending to be somepony I am not.”

Winter sighed and sat up in the bed as she looked over at Spectra and then at me. “Spectra, what happened to me wasn’t your fault any more than it was Scootaloo’s. I thought I’d be safe in the bunker, I shouldn’t have risked staying there, so don’t go beating yourself up for that. And you did save me, just a little late, that’s what counts right now.”

“If I had just been a little slower, if I hadn’t managed to get the courage to let go of everything… we wouldn’t be having this conversation, Winter.” Spectra said with a sigh “I heard a voice as I dived, I didn’t recognize it, but it was a mare’s voice, telling me to keep pushing, keep going, you can do it. If not for that, I don’t know what would of happened.”

Winter nodded and sighed as she laid back on the bed again. “You did your job, that’s all that can be asked of you. What about me though? I don’t know how many ponies out there are even willing to listen to me anymore. I don’t regret my decision, but, I’m not much of a President anymore.”

“Don’t say that, what these hardliners did to you, those who support them are few and far between… The Enclave is a different creature then what it used to be, all because of you.” Spectra said, smiling as he moved to Winter’s side. “One snowflake can bring smiles to millions, those millions aren’t going to forget.”

I nodded in agreement. “Winter, you did what nopony thought was possible, you made the Enclave into something good. You’ve got the loyalty of countless ponies across Equestria and you’ve got more support than you can imagine. Cloud Chaser stands alone, you don’t.”

I reached into my bags and took out a piece of paper and gave it to Winter. “General Sparkle asked me to bring this to you, it came from President Grimfeathers herself.”

Winter took the paper and opened it up as she read it to herself. She looked at me surprised. “This, this is a notice of intent from the Alliance to support the Enclave remnant against the Hardliners…”

“As long as President Winter Breeze, or a rightful successor, is in command,” I finished. “Like I said, you have more support than you know.”

“And more beyond that, if only you could see the bags of gifts and mail piling up in the lobby, all for President Winter. Pegasi have been dropping by since the rescue to show their support. I think I’ve even seen a few alliance soldiers drop by to leave rations and anything they can spare. No matter what you think, you’ve touched more than I can even begin to count” Spectra added with a smile and a gentle nuzzle to her cheek.

Winter finally smiled again and nuzzled him back. “Thank you… all of you. You’re right of course, I’m sorry…”

“Shh, no more talking, not to us anyway…” Spectra said and pressed his hoof to Winter’s muzzle. His gaze shifting to terrace of her room. “What say you, President Winter Breeze, Ready to make one more public address, this time - In person instead of over a radio?”

Winter took a deep breath and looked at me and then at Tornado and nodded. “I’m ready, but I want all of you to be there with me.”

“I think I speak for everyone, when I say this - We’re here for you all the way” Spectra said before using a wing to knock the monitoring equipment off her. “Didn’t even need that anyway, all you did was bruise a rib.”

Winter nodded and got to her hooves, she wobbled a moment but Spectra helped steady her. “Let’s do this then.”

We stepped out onto the terrace where a microphone had been set up connected to a nearby Raptor that was holding station near the hospital. I glanced down over the terrace to see the gathering crowd below.

I smiled and looked back towards Spectra. “Did you get this set up?”

“Hey, I know my wife, she likes to talk to her people.” Spectra said with a chuckle.

I nodded and turned back to look at Winter who moved in front of the microphone and took a deep breath. She paused a moment as she tried to decide how to put this into words, a silence fell over the crowd below as they waited to see what she had to say.

I nodded and turned back to look at Winter who moved in front of the microphone and took a deep breath. She paused a moment as she tried to decide how to put this into words, a silence fell over the crowd below as they waited to see what she had to say.

“10 years ago when I was sworn in as President of the Enclave I swore that I would do everything I could to serve this nation and rebuild after the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows. Since then, I have done everything in my power to make the Enclave better. We are better, the fact that all of you stand behind me in support of my ideals against Cloud Chaser’s. We have to stop living in the past, the time has come that we all stand united against a common threat. Earth Pony, Unicorn, Pegasus, we must and stand united along with every other being that believes in a brighter future for this world. It’s no longer about Enclave or Alliance, we now all stand united in common cause. The brighter future we have all been fighting for is now within our grasp, and we will defeat Cloud Chaser and his forces.”

She paused a moment and looked back at me with a smile.

“We have friends and allies in places we never could have imagined before. We stand together, for we are Equestria. All of us, either in the sky or on the earth below, it’s time we remind Cloud Chaser and any other pony that thinks they can break our spirit just how strong we really are.”

She took a deep breath and stepped away from the microphone. There was a long moment of silence before the crowd erupted into cheers. I smiled and gave Winter a nod.

“Well said, Winter.”

“Well, that was the easy part,” Winter said with a sigh as she looked at Spectra. “Now, we have to survive this war.”

Winter moved up close to Spectra and kissed him long and passionately. I smiled a little, though I think the crowd below was a bit surprised, I just chuckled lightly and stood next to Tornado as the two kissed.

They broke the kiss after a moment before we headed back into the hospital room. I blinked a moment when I saw the nurse was off in the corner with a syringe in her hip.

“How sweet, a nation standing united.” a voice from the open door to the hall said, as a group of Alicorn walk in, clad in what appeared to be old equestrian guard armor. “When we were told of a Unity above unity, we did not believe it to be so, Unity is not something that can happen twice, or so we thought.”

“Equestria was once united, the war changed everything,” Winter said with a shake of her head. “Perhaps its fitting then that another war brought it back together.”

“Yes, it was, a very long time ago.” the figure entered the door, another alicorn, dressed in similiar garb to the rest. The major feature taking attention, the brightly colored six pointed star on her chest piece. “We would like to have a moment of your time.”

“We’re listening,” Winter said as she looked at the new Alicorn curiously. “What can I do for you?”

“Give us unity.” The alicorn spoke. “We have spent much of our generations, looking for Unity once it was destroyed. We hear of a battle taking place, and we came here to assist. Much of this city is in ruins, we do not know why, but we heard you speaking of unity, and we wish for this unity.”

I recognized the Alicorns as being from the same group from New Maripony that had joined Gambit aboard the Quetzal. I looked back at Winter, I had to wonder how she was going to answer this.

“We are going to need all the help we can get, not only to win this war but to work together in the peace that follows,” Winter said. “If you wish to help, I grant you, and anypony else who wishes it, citizenship in the Grand Pegasus Enclave.”

“This is the unity you offer? But… we feel no different, how is this unity?”

“This is true unity,” Winter said as she looked over at me and smiled. “Unity is about being together with your friends, your family. Unity is about standing together despite our differences, this is our Unity. Equestria is our Unity, where we can embrace what makes us different. It’s that which friendship, which true unification is built on. That is the Unity I offer you, and we’d be glad to have you.”

“So, you do not hear each other’s thoughts? You are alone in your own head?” The alicorn said, with a rather obvious confused look on her face.

“Yeah, that’s right,” I said and Winter nodded. “We’re all our own ponies not connected by a Hive Mind, but we still have our own Unity.”

“We… don’t know if we can live this way, being alone in our own mind, it’s… to quiet.”

“There are other Alicorns out there who lost the Unity too,” Winter said and sighed a little. “They can help you if you’ll give them a chance.”

“We… We don’t even have a name, Unity was all we knew.” the alicorn said with a sigh.

“I’m not going to ask you to fight for me or the Enclave,” Winter said in a calm, soothing voice. “But I will offer you a chance at a new life. We can help you figure out what you will do with yourselves now. There is a place in the future for everyone, including Alicorns. Just, give us a chance to help, that is all I ask.”

“We would… we would like to do that, to serve a purpose again..” The alicorn said with a little bit of a smile

“Then, welcome to the Enclave, and to the future,” Winter said and offered the lead Alicorn a hoof.

“We do not know if the others would agree… but we accept your offer… Miss?..” The alicorn said, and tilted her head out of curiosity.

“Winter Breeze,” she said with a smile. “And if they don’t want to join, that is their choice.”

“They look to us for guidance, they expect us to lead.” The Alicorn said with a nervous smile “They… don’t know their own voice, they only listen to ours.”

Winter nodded. “I would welcome anypony who wishes to come join us, I hope that they will be willing to listen.”

“They… uh, They agree.” She said, looking at those who now stood guard of the entrance. “It is odd.. But, we can hear them when we stay close.”

Winter nodded. “Alright, well, we’re glad to have you all then. Thank you for joining us, I just hope that you won’t be the last to join. We still have a long way to go to get to our bright future, but this is a step in the right direction. I need to get to the Alliance camp, I will send word for you if we need you.”

“Yes, Miss breeze, We will wait for you here… we are sorry about that pony there” She pointed to the nurse. “She tried to sedate us.”

“I see,” Winter said and looked back at the Nurse. “Tell her you’re here on my orders if she wakes up. She can confirm it with me if needed, same with anypony else in here.”

We headed out of the room as Tornado secured her helmet once more. I looked back towards the Alicorns as we started down the Hall. It was interesting to see how Winter worked, I could really see how she had convinced so many ponies to join her. I smiled a little, she was good at what she did, and I admired that.

Now we had to make sure that the future was a good one.

The Alliance camp was a hive of activity. There were Enclave soldiers along with those that I had seen last time I was here and as we stepped through the gate and they saw Winter, there was a moment where everything seemed to stop.

As we went past the soldiers they saluted Winter. She smiled a little and returned the salute as best she could as we approached the command center where Midnight was standing along with my friends.

“General Sparkle, it’s a pleasure to finally meet face to face,” Winter said with a respectful bow of her head as we came to a stop. “I’m sorry it couldn’t be under better circumstances.”

“Likewise Madam President,” Midnight said and gave her a nod. “We’ve been getting reports from all over Equestria since your speech. Enlistment is at an all time high and we’ve got everything from local militias to Dashites and Enclave soldiers deserting from the Hardliners joining our side.”

“Unfortunately we have to move in on Stable 102 before they can get here,” Dazzle commented. “But it’s working, you’ve changed things for the better. Lets just hope that it stays that way.”

“Yes, let’s hope,” Winter said.

“We don’t have to hope, the intelligence has gotten aboard The Nimbus, they are far from making a move - they have yet to finish excavation.” Spectra said with a smirk “What can I say, I’m still the eyes and the ears.”

“There is one last matter to be dealt with,” Winter said and looked at me. “With Cloud Chaser gone rogue and Aries in jail, the Enclave lacks a proper command structure. We’re in need of new Wonderbolt Generals. This time, we need ones that are a reminder of what that name really stands for, not those that represent the Enclave.”

“Do you have anypony in mind?” Tornado asked as she looked at Winter.

“If they’ll agree, I do,” Winter said with a sigh. “This isn’t an easy decision to make, I’m not going to force any of you to do this. I am asking something of you that won’t be easy, but you’re the only ponies I trust to do what I want you to do. Spectra, Scootaloo, Tornado, will you do this for me?”

I blinked in surprise, was she really offering this to me? Why me of all ponies? I wasn’t even in the military, and she was trusting me with this?

“Umm… I honestly don’t know what to say,” I said in shock. “But, I’m not even in the military, how am I supposed to know what to do?”

“You know for somepony who isn’t in the military, you haven’t been doing that badly since the war started,” Arc pointed out and Midnight nodded a little.

“Besides, it’s not your military knowledge I want, it’s your heart,” Winter said. “You’re a good pony, and I trust you with this. I’ll give you a battlefield commission so its official. If you want to of course.”

“I am but a lowly Intelligence officer, How am I supposed to represent the Enclave as a general, My job has always been snooping around and getting into things.” Spectra said with a chuckle “Though I guess our daughter would have another role model to look up to, other then her mother.”

“Spectra, I wouldn’t ask this of you if I didn’t think you could do it,” Winter said with a smile as she looked at her husband. “I wouldn’t ask it of any of you. Don’t worry, I have faith in you.”

“If this is what is asked of me, I will do this,” Tornado said with a nod.

“I, honestly don’t know,” I said with a sigh. “I’m honored that you think that highly of me, but at the same time, I’m not sure if it’ll work. Do you think they’d listen to me? Even if I could do a good job, there’s no guarantee that they’d be willing to follow me.”

“Scootaloo, it’s up to you,” Winter said with a sigh. “But these ponies are loyal to me, they may be willing to follow you if I ask it of them. Just, at least try? I believe you can do it.”

I sighed a moment before nodding. “Alright, I’ll at least try,” I said with a weak smile. “Thank you for trusting me with this Winter, I’m not sure I would.”

Winter nodded. “Of course, so what about you Spectra?”

“You know I’ve never had an easy time telling you no.” Spectra said, leaning in to give Winter a gentle kiss to the cheek. “So I guess I’ll be one of your Generals, No reason to say no.”

“Alright, very good,” Winter said and looked at Midnight. “Alright General, the Enclave stands ready.”

“Very good,” Midnight said with a nod and offered Winter a hoof. “I want to formally welcome you into the Alliance, we’re glad to have you.”

Winter smiled and shook her hoof. “We’re glad to be here,” she said.

“Hey Blackjack?” I asked as I entered the room.

“I heard what do you wish me to help you with?” She said, she was laying on the couch relaxing for the moment.

“Well, we’re getting everything ready to head out for Stable 102,” I said as I trotted over to her. “Go Fish is, probably there or on the Nimbus. I thought you should know so you can get ready.”

Blackjack nodded. “Oh Scoots. Silver stopped by and he gave me something to give to you.”

“Oh, what’s that?” I asked with a tilt of my head.

She lifted up a little box with a note on it. “He just came in and gave it to me Saying give it to you when I see you.” She floated it over to me with her magic.

I picked it up and opened it curiously. There was a chip in it with a note that said “You know what to do.” That was weird, why did Silver give me this?

“Well, I’m sure it’ll make sense when the time comes,” I said and placed the box in my saddlebags. I sighed a little and looked at Blackjack. “I’m honestly starting to feel a little in over my head right now.”

Blackjack laughs. “Scoots I felt like that every single feathering day. But I can try another speech to see if I can get the rest of the factions to join us. But when Silver left he said this news will make ponies act in strange stupid ways.”

“No, no, I think Winter did that already,” I said with a shrug. “But, well… Winter asked me to, basically join the Enclave, as one of the new Generals. I agreed but, I’m honestly not sure I’m cut out for it.”

Blackjack salutes hitting her head with the metal hoof. “Ow. I shall follow you to the death General.” She said with a joking smile.

I rolled my eyes. “Really, you need to stop saluting or maybe put some pads on your hooves or something,” I said with a chuckle. “But seriously…”

Before I could finish my thought Blackjack placed her hoof on my mouth to silence me. “Scootaloo, I know this has been hard for you. But you have done so much. You inspired me to make my life better. You have become a close friend. You have so much behind you and to fight for. I know you won’t fail like I did. You’re a stronger mare than me.” She placed her hoof back to the floor.

I smiled a little at that. “Thanks Blackjack, I really needed that. I hope I can live up to everypony’s expectations. And hey, we’ve still got to save your daughter, I promise we’ll do that.”

“Scoots you haven’t failed me yet. The fact you got me back with Glory. The real fact you well became my friend and dealt with my Stupidity. The constant drinking at the start.. Trying to get you in bed. Cussing at you.. What a meeting that was.”

“I met my fiance in a brothel… not like that, I needed her help with a Stable and she was working in one…” I said and blushed when I realized what that sounded like. “You’re not the first pony to try to get me into bed when I first met them.”

Blackjack blinked at me. “You met your wife to be at a brothel? Huh and I thought the place Glory and I met was odd.” She rubs her own cheek with her hoof. “I still feel the place she shot me at.”

“Hey, I wasn’t a customer… never mind, there’s no way that can’t sound weird is there?” I said with a chuckle as my face turned warm. “But yeah, the things we do for love huh? I’m just glad we both got a second chance at it.”

She chuckled. “Yeah it really doesn't sound that weird to me at all Scootaloo. It sounds more that you just met a very awkward spot. At a different time and place and a little romantic music. Candlelight a wonderful table. It could have been a wonderful Bella notte.”

“Speaking of which, where is Glory anyway?” I asked and looked around.

“She went to see her family. She didn’t wish me to come though because she would feel that her father still needed to get used to the fact that I am going to marry his daughter now. But she thinks just the fact she is alive will make him very happy for my sake.” She said with a nervous chuckle.

“Try dating the sister of a Ministry Mare, that got a bit tricky at times,” I said with chuckle and a shake of my head.

Blackjack looked more pale then she is now. “I um...would have been scared to be shot frankly. Like what gift do I give her so her sister doesn't kill me and such.”

“Yeah, that was a bit tricky,” I said with a sigh. “Still, Sweetie and I we had something special. Rarity was usually too busy to threaten me anyway.”

“Scoots I have been meaning to ask.” She looks at me not sure how to word it.

“What is it?” I asked her.

“What was Twilight like before the war?”

“She was… interesting,” I said with a sigh. “She was kind of obsessed with books for one thing, but she was overall a good pony. Mind you, she could get a bit crazy at times, but she ultimately wanted to help ponies as best she could.”

Blackjack sighs. “From the orbs I looked into. The war could have been prevented but the elites wanted to prove themselves from what I saw.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty accurate,” I said with a sigh. “I hated what the war did to Equestria, but, well that’s the thing about war isn’t it? It changes you, it always changes you even if you don’t fight in it.”

“One last thing before Silver left he also said. Crow will return with more. I have no idea what he meant.” She shrugged.

“Okay, good, we’re going to use all the help we can get,” I said with a nod. “Are you still up for coming with us or do you want to stay with Glory?”

“Scoots I can’t just sit by and wait while Equestria is in danger, I can’t. She will understand, I need to fight.”

“Alright, just don’t call me General Dash or whatever, I’m still me,” I said with a chuckle. “Okay?”

“I will just call you Scootaloo it’s your name. It’s how I know you.” She said with a smile. “Besides General Dash makes you sound like you have a giant ego.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t start calling myself that,” I said with a groan. “Come on, let’s get ready then, we need to get going soon.”

We headed back outside into the camp. I looked off towards the Nimbus near the mountain, I sighed a little, I just hoped that everything was going to be okay. We had only one shot to stop this and I had no idea how close the Hardliners were to getting at the Stable.

It was time to end this.

“Stable 102 was never completed before I shut it down,” I said as we looked over the map of Stable 102 that Winter had provided from the old Stable-Tec files. “The Megaspell chamber is here, where the Reactor normally is in your standard Stable. To actually get there though you have to make your way through the automated defenses the Stable has set up. The problem is that it’s not going to do much more than slow down the Hardliners.”

“Cloud Chaser has a small fleet that he can bring to bear, but most of them are involved with other operations or are being used to maintain order in the other cities,” Winter picked up from here. “Still, we’re up against a ship that was built to replace the Thunderhead class. Even with the deserters, most of its crew is either loyal to Cloud Chaser or are too afraid to leave. He also has the Raptors Nexus and Aurora on standby.”

“We have the Orion for that, and the Pegasus Irregular Fleet is on its way from New Pegasus along with the Typhon and loyalist ships here in the city,” Midnight said. “Hopefully we can at the very least hold our own in a fight against the Nimbus long enough to deal with Rockhoof’s Thunder. Our first priority needs to be stopping Rockhoof’s Thunder from being used, that will be the mission of the infiltration team.”

Midnight gave me a nod, it was up to me and my friends along with a contingent of Enclave soldiers lead by Tornado to do that. I took a deep breath and nodded a little, we had our plan for what was going to happen. I just had to hope that it survived first contact with the enemy.

“Are there any questions?” Winter asked.

“I do have a question.” Blackjack said. “Do they know we are coming?”

Winter paused a moment and sighed. “Cloud Chaser is one of the smartest ponies I’ve ever dealt with. He’s probably had this planned for a long time and was just waiting for the right moment. I have little doubt that he’s figured out we’re going to try and stop him.”

Blackjack had a thought. “Then why not do something he wouldn’t even expect. Something that he would never even think of. Maybe think out of the box like me.”

“And what would you suggest?” Midnight asked as she shot Blackjack a look.

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe place someone in a Enclave power armor with their codes if you can get them. Then have one just go behind the lines and try to shut down whatever they would have. That would harm an advancing force?”

I paused for a moment in thought. She might have a point, but it depended on several factors. “Spectra, what’s the last report on how close they are to the Stable?”

“Well, I admit some of what I know is sketchy at best, they are keeping a close eye on anypony that gets near the dig. Last reports I heard, about an hour ago…” Spectra said, taking a moment to think before he continued. “If I recall correctly, they said that digging had slowed thanks to multiple workers deserting their posts, But if the time frame given is correct, we’ve got maybe an hour, hour and a half till they are through.”

“Then sending somepony into their ranks is likely not an option,” Winter said. “They’ll be on high alert in the tunnels and aboard the Nimbus.”

“But, we don’t have to go into the tunnel itself,” I said and looked at the others. “I set up a hidden elevator starting in the tunnel that was built through the bottom of the mountain. It’ll get us up to the Stable and since they’ve been digging this whole time, I don’t think it’s been compromised.”

“This may sound like a failure in my line of work, but - unless they are digging because the tunnel is compromised, you said this place was never finished - what if this tunnel collapsed?” Spectra said looking at me.

“Okay, that’s also possible,” I admitted with a sigh. “So, anypony have any other suggestions?”

Blackjack spoke up. “If only we had powers like a changeling and transform into something big enough to make them think that’s a threat to lead them away.”

“Hmm…” I said and looked thoughtful. “We do have Changelings that are friendly to us, though the only one I know that’s nearby is Crow. Could we get him to help?”

“Then how do we know he’s not here?”

“I’m sorry I am late everypony. What did…” Blackjack stares at herself.

“Okay… what?” I asked and looked between the two. “Oh, Changeling I’m guessing.”

Crow changes his form and sighs. “Soooo you have use of me then? Being in that form feels...gross.”

“Right, yes, if you could draw the attention of the Enclave Hardliners away somehow that would be useful,” I said with a nod. “If we can at least distract them long enough to get into the Stable, that’ll help.”

“Well I can do it. But how far do I need to get them away?” He asked.

“As far as you can reasonably get them away,” Winter said as she picked up a map of Equestria. “Preferably somewhere uninhabited, lets see…”

“I do have an idea..” Blackjack said. “But it would be full of danger for him. But it would be the best thing. Why not the core.”

“Does anypony have any objections to this plan?” Winter asked and looked around. “Right now it seems like it might be the best option.”

“Well since this is my life, I don’t since I wish to see a peaceful world.” Crow nodded “So i am willing to risk my life to bring one.”

“None here,” I said and Midnight and the others shook their heads.

“Alright, you all have your orders, this is it, Equestria is in all of our hooves now,” Midnight said and gave Winter a nod. “One way or another, it ends here today.”

I nodded and gave my friends a smile before we headed out of the room and off towards a Vertibuck.

“So, General Dash huh?” Dazzle said with a smirk as the Vertibuck flew off towards the mountain. By now the Nimbus had moved its position along with one of the Raptors had flown off towards the core.

“Please don’t call me that,” I said with a groan and a roll of my eyes. “Winter asked me to do it, I’m not really comfortable with being called that by my friends. So please, just call me Scootaloo.”

“Alright, General Scootaloo,” Riva said with a chuckle and I facehooved at the Zebra’s response.

“Very funny,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “You’re getting way too much enjoyment out of this, you know?”

“Heh, I feel it fits you Scoots.” Blackjack smirked.

I just rolled my eyes and Arc laughed a little as I looked out the window towards the city beyond. I sighed a little and looked back at the others as we went on in silence. Tornado just shot me a look and shrugged a little.

I checked my bags, we had enough StealthBucks and cloaks for what we had to do. I sighed a little and looked around a moment. We were going to land as close as we could to the entrance without drawing attention and use the Stealth equipment to sneak our way in.

Stable 102, it was bound to come down to here one way or another. I chuckled a little when I saw the large dragon that I suppose was Crow’s distraction in the distance.

“Well, that’s one way to distract them I suppose, lets hope it lasts,” Arc commented.

“I hope he won’t get hurt from this.” Blackjack said worriedly.

“Me too,” I said with a sigh. “I don’t like the idea of putting him at risk, but if it’s our only option we have to go with it. Hopefully, everything is going to be okay, we just need his distraction until we get to the Stable.”

I leaned back and put my earbuds into my ears again. We were getting close to the mountain and I wanted to see what was going on in the rest of Equestria so I set the radio on my PipBuck to DJ Pon3’s radio station.

“...Well that’s the latest from the front lines, now for an unexpected bit of international news,” Xiraia’s voice said over the radio. “It seems that we’re finally getting some reports in from the city of Trottingham for the first time since the Steel Rangers in the city had to pull out around 8 years ago. It’s still not clear what’s been going on in the city or the Braytish Isles, but we’re starting to get reports of bombings and other terrorist actions against the current regime. More to come on the Trottingham situation as we learn about it. Now back to the music with Elegant Voice singing Dream of the Sky.”

I removed my earbuds as the Vertibuck came in for a landing. It was time to get into Stable 102.

The trip through the tunnel that had been dug up by the Enclave soldiers moving towards the Stable. It had been constructed so it could be followed easily at least since they had taken the most direct route.

We had to sneak past the occasional guard left behind to keep an eye on the tunnel, but given the current status of the Hardliners forces it wasn’t unexpected. We had to stay quiet since there was a tendency to echo.

Stable 102’s entrance was built deep into the mountain, originally we had built a tunnel leading to it but when I locked it up I had blocked off the entrance. Just one more precaution, there was only one way to get to the Stable, and that was if you knew exactly what you were looking for.

When we reached the Stable Door my heart fell. The door, surrounded by six lights that had been turned off which had been part of the locking mechanism, was wide open. It was guarded by a pair of ponies dressed in Enclave Power Armor. I lined up my shots on the guards with the SOAR and pulled the trigger.

We took out the two guards that were in front of the door without problem. There were still advantages to using a rifle that could take out power armor so we took them out once there was no chance of being noticed.

“You two, make sure this place remains secure,” Tornado ordered two soldiers that had put on the armor of the guards we had taken out. “Be careful, don’t take any unnecessary risks.”

“Yes General Tornado,” the soldiers said with a salute.

I checked my StealthBuck, we had to move fast if we were going to get down to the Reactor without getting spotted. “Alright, the defenses are heaviest in the Reactor level so assuming they haven’t cleared it out, they shouldn’t have gotten to the Megaspell yet. Let’s get down there as fast as possible, we’ve only got one shot at this.”

As we started down into the depths of the Stable I moved up next to Arc. “Hey Arc, so, uh, any word on the others from Stable 66?”

Arc sighed and looked down at her hooves a moment. “There were quite a few of them that were caught up in the attack on Thunderhead. Caramel is okay, I met back up with her in the Alliance camp.”

“Well, that’s good,” I said with a soft smile as I checked my rifles. “I’m sorry about the others though. We should’ve put Celestia One more permanently out of commission or at least made sure that they didn’t repair it.”

Actually something bugged me, they hadn’t seemed interested in repairing it. Why had they suddenly had it working again? Something about this was fishy and I didn’t like it, it was as if the whole thing had been manipulated.

“Scoots..” Blackjack whispered.

“Yes?” I asked.

Blackjack pointed to a screen that showed a Changeling bleeding. “They….got him.”

I really, really wished I could do a creative curse like LittlePip did. Crow looked like he was still alive at least, but that meant the Hardliners knew that it was a distraction, which meant they were heading back towards the mountain.

“What are we going to do now?” Dazzle asked as the others looked at me and Tornado.

“Stay the course, they’re not going to be able to get here before we get to the Megaspell,” Tornado said and then levitated up her weapon. “Though, I think the time for subtlety is over, we’re on the clock now.”

I nodded and we got our weapons ready. The Enclave was going to be on even higher alert now so we had to make sure that we made it out of it okay.

As we started to enter the incomplete atrium with its old and rusted construction equipment, an energy bolt shot at us and glanced off a shield that Tornado threw up at the last second to protect us.

I glanced up to see a group of robots that were firing at us as we ducked into cover. “Great, if they don’t know we’re in here already, they certainly do now,” I said with a groan as we returned fire.

“Crap... “ Blackjack said trying to find a good gun to use. “Oh Scoots do you have anything that could shut these down?”

“They’re hardwired into my personal code, I can shut them down or rewrite their attack command, I just have to get closer,” I said with a sigh as I looked at the area between me and the robots. “I’ll just need cover.”

“Oh i am going to hate myself for this. Well… “ She runs out from behind the cover jumping around. “Hey I am over here!!”

The robots turned their attention to her and directed their fire in her attention. I didn’t take the time to see what was going to happen, I just hoped Blackjack was going to be okay as I moved quickly out of cover and behind some of the construction equipment.

I took a deep breath and checked my PipBuck to make sure that I was close enough to the robots to hack into their systems. I took a quick look around to see that Blackjack was avoiding the shots as best she could, but I had to move fast.

My PipBuck connected with robots’ computer systems after a moment and froze in place. Okay, that was good, I went through the commands on the programming and selected the targeting option. After a moment, the command went through and I let out a sigh of relief as the robots activated again but didn’t open fire.

“Is everypony okay?” I asked as I moved out of cover.

Blackjack lay on her side bleeding from a few wounds. Riva and the Enclave medic was working on healing her with potions and bandages. I flinched a little, that was a bad choice of diversions.

“Blackjack, I’m sorry…” I said softly.

Blackjack groaned a bit. Her eyes closed but she spoke. “Go… without us Scoots… we will catch up.”

“We’ll take care of her,” Riva said with a nod. “Go on ahead.”

Tornado frowned a little and nodded to the other soldiers before picking out two of them and leaving them with the others. That just left me, Tornado, Dazzle, Arc, and the remaining two soldiers to head deeper into the Stable.

“Stay safe, if anything goes wrong, head for the nearest safe room, it’s just over there,” I said and pointed off towards a room connected to the Atrium. “They were set up in case the reactor failed, it’ll keep you safe.”

I took a deep breath and we kept walking towards the reactor. I looked back at Blackjack and sighed a little, I hoped she was going to be okay, but we had a mission to do.

There’s something eerie enough about going through an empty or abandoned Stable, it was even creepier when the Stable wasn’t complete. There were doors and entire walls that had been left incomplete when I cancelled construction on it.

The deeper parts of the Stable were more complete than the rest of it because of Rockhoof’s Thunder. The walls didn’t look the same as normal Stable walls because they had been constructed by the Ministry of Arcane Science. We had built the Stable around the Megaspell Chamber and the small facility.

“Well, this is certainly different,” Arc commented as we went past a wall that had the logo of the M.A.S. on it.

“It kind of had to be given what we built it around,” I said with a shrug. I was about to say more when we came around a corner and Enclave troopers started to fire at us. “Of course, we can’t just easily walk in and find them all dead…”

“There’s not much point in dwelling on it,” Tornado said and levitated her gatling laser up and firing into the room beyond. I shrugged a little and the rest of us started firing at them too.

I lined up a shot on one of the nearest Enclave soldiers in SATS and paused a moment. Things were changing, it wasn’t really as easy as just shooting the Enclave. Was this pony really loyal to the Hardliners or was he forced into the fight? I sighed a moment and shook my head, I couldn’t dwell on that in a combat situation so I targeted him and fired a shot into the head.

The rest of the soldiers went down quickly between our gunfire. We grabbed what ammo we needed from the soldiers and kept walking, we were close to the Megaspell chamber at this point.

We passed by robots and turrets that had been destroyed by the encroaching Enclave soldiers. We pushed the last door open to where the Megaspell chamber was and raised our weapons ready for the fight to come.

The antechamber was a large room with a second door at the far end. Several shots rang out and as Tornado tried to throw up a shield it fizzled out of existance as the remaining Enclave soldiers fell and we tried to duck out of the way.

“Well Scootaloo, I should’ve known Winter Breeze would send you,” a familiar stallion’s voice said. I glanced up to see Cloud Chaser standing there with a gun held on two fillies, one was a light shade of blue with a shock of white for a mane and the other was grey with a black and purple mane. Cloud Chaser stroked a small lizard resting on his back gently. “Don’t bother to shoot me with your magical energy weapons, my little friend here. And if you try and shoot me with conventional weapons, these two will die. I don’t think you’d want Winter’s daughter to be killed, would you?”

“Let them go Cloud Chaser,” I called out to him. “They did nothing to you, they’re not part of your little war. They’re just fillies, you’re a parent yourself, you lost your wife and eldest daughter in Neighvarro, didn’t you? Do you want to put more parents through that?”

Cloud Chaser flinched a little at the mention of his family. He gritted his teeth and looked back at the two cowering fillies.

“Let them go and I’ll give you access to the Megaspell myself,” I said softly. “You only need somepony with my DNA, you don’t have to hurt those two. Let them go and I’ll give you what you want. Please?”

Cloud Chaser growled a little and backed away. He gestured towards the door with his gun. “Go in there and shut off the Bypass Spell. After that I’ll let them go.”

“Scootaloo, are you sure about this?” Arc asked me as I got to my hooves. “Are you really going to do this?”

“I don’t have much of a choice,” I said as I moved through the doorway. It didn’t even slow me down of course, I had programmed this thing myself. I sighed and looked at the terminal and pulled up the deactivation code for the bypass spell and shut it off. “Alright, its off, now let them go!”

Cloud Chaser pushed the two fillies away and started to walk towards the door when a gunshot rang out and there was a brief squeal as the strange lizard creature’s head exploded.

Blackjack stood there in her magic one of her guns. She stood there with a soft smile on her face. “Don’t move or your head is next.”

He was about to do something else when Tornado’s horn went ablaze and a shield formed up around the fillies. Cloud Chaser growled and looked at me and then at Blackjack. “This isn’t over.”

“I don’t know, it looks pretty over to me Cloud Chaser,” I said and raised my energy rifle and pointed it at the General. “Surrender now, let’s end this war before it results in more bloodshed.”

The grey filly who I figured was probably Go Fish shivered and looked at Blackjack with a curious tilt of her head. Blackjack stared back for a moment as she took her eyes off of Cloud Chaser, which was what he needed.

“Its not over, not yet,” he said and looked at one of his guards who nodded. It took me a moment to realize that the guard was actually a Unicorn, I was about to shoot at them when the Unicorn’s horn lit up brightly and with a flash of light they and Cloud Chaser were gone, leaving the remaining soldiers confused.

Blackjack did something that surprised me. She set down the gun to the floor. “No more death not in front of little ones.”

Riva and the remaining soldiers came in as they went to secure the Hardliner soldiers. They didn’t put up much of a fight as Go Fish trotted over to Blackjack and looked at her curiously.

“You, look like the picture mommy has,” she said and looked at Blackjack.

Blackjack looks down to Go Fish. Her normally cold eyes turn soft and gentle. She leaned down a bit to her. “Hello Go Fish, I’m Blackjack.”

“B-Blackjack, but… mommy said you’re…” Go Fish said as her eyes went wide. “My other mommy?”

She looked at me with a smile forming on her face. Then back down to Go Fish. “Yes I am.”

Go Fish just stood there for a moment and then hugged Blackjack tightly. She was starting to cry a little as she hugged the white mare tightly. “I, always wanted to meet you after all of mommy’s stories.”

Blackjack had tears fall from her eyes and fell down her cheeks. “I wish...I could...have come sooner…”She sounded like she was crying herself.

I smiled a little at the two’s first meeting. The others headed into the Megaspell chamber now that the block was off, it was time to figure out what to do with it. The other filly, Calypso trotted up to me and looked at me curiously.

“Hey, you must be Callie,” I said with a smile as the filly tilted her head. “I met your mommy, she’s been very worried about you.”

“She’s still alive?” Calypso said with a shaky voice. “Cloud Chaser told me that she was dead…”

“Yeah, she’s still alive, and she’s waiting for you back in Thunderhead,” I said and hugged the small Pegasus filly gently. “As soon as we’re done here, we’ll get you back to her, I promise.”

“Mommy said you were a good pony Ms. Scootaloo,” Callie said with a smile as she hugged me back a little. “I’m glad you came to save me. She always told me that you’d help me if I ever needed it.”

I smiled and looked down at the filly. “I’m glad I was able to help you, you’ve got a good mom you know that? Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get back to her.”

Blackjacks horn glows placing Go Fish on her back with her bags. “Hold on little one. Scootaloo I think we better take care of the Megaspell. This will sadly have to wait.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said and looked back to where the others were checking out the Megaspell. I walked up next to Tornado with Callie on my back and looked at the Megaspell beyond.

Rockhoof’s Thunder was still as terrifying to look at today as it had been 211 years ago. A large terminal was fitted against the wall with the casting rods beyond that lead up to the summit of the mountain.

But what made me frown was that it was glowing, the Megaspell had been on for over 210 years. There was shielding that was keeping it from becoming a problem, and it was humming with power.

“That’s, not good,” I said with a frown. “We have a problem, a big problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Arc asked as we looked up at the chamber together. “Can’t we shut it off?”

“Yes, we can, but, we don’t really know what’ll happen if we do,” I said with a sigh. “This thing has been building up so much power over the years that just shutting it off might cause a catastrophic failure of the Megaspell.”

“Oh… Oh lovely.. “Blackjack sighed. “Go Fish do me a big favor little one.”

“What is it other mommy?” Go Fish asked with a tilt of her head.

“You and your friend along with me. Are going to go.” She looked to me with a smile. “You can do it.” She lifted up the other filly with her magic and slowly trotted out.

“Blackjack, remember what I said, get to a safe room if the alarms start going off,” I said and turned my attention back to the Megaspell. “There is, one way to do this, honestly it’s our only choice.”

“And that is?” Riva asked.

“Well, we have to fire off the Megaspell,” I said with a sigh. “We can aim it somewhere it won’t cause any damage, like into space. But there is a problem, well, two problems.”

I quickly explained that the Megaspell was going to need somepony there the whole time to maintain the integrity of the casting rods to keep it from failing. That however was the easy part to deal with. The problem was that even if we kept it from failing, because the shielding had failed so much over the years, it was going to flood the entire Stable, save for the safe rooms, with radiation.

There was a moment of silence as we let that thought sink in. Whoever stayed in the room was going to die, there was no way around it.

“I’ll do it,” a mare’s voice finally said and we turned to see Dazzle, she had been the one to speak up. “I can survive the radiation longer than any of you, even you Tornado.”

“Dazzle, you don’t have to do this,” I said as I looked at the Canterlot Ghoul who just shook her head. “You’ve got a lot to live for still.”

“Scootaloo, you know just as well as I do that nopony else can do this,” Dazzle said as she placed her hoof on my shoulder. “I’ve been dead for years, I died with everypony else in Stable 1 11 years ago when the Enclave destroyed Canterlot, I just didn’t know it yet. You gave me a second chance to help Equestria. This is my chance to help Equestria, and to see my loved ones again.”

I placed my hoof on Dazzle’s as I started to cry a little and gave her a nod. “I’m sorry it came to this Dazzle… thanks for being a good friend, and I’m still sorry about what I did to you and the others.”

Dazzle nodded and gave me a smile. It should’ve looked creepy given that she was a Ghoul, but to me it was one of the most beautiful smiles I had ever seen. “Hey, when you eventually die, look me up in Elysium, promise? I’ll be waiting for you.”

“I’ll see you in the fields and the golden city, I promise,” I said with a smile as we backed off from one another.

“Just don’t say goodbye, I hate goodbyes,” Dazzle said and turned her attention back to the Megaspell. I gave her a quick overview of what to do and how to target, we decided that it would target the sun, there wasn’t much point in going after anything else.

“I’ll…” I said and paused a moment. “See you later Dazzle.”

With that we headed out of the Megaspell room and left Dazzle behind. I started to cry as I took one last look back towards my friend, but this was our only choice.

But that didn’t mean I had to like it.

As we made our way down the hallway the alarms started to go off, that meant the Megaspell was firing up and we didn’t have a lot of time. We hurried our way towards the nearest Safe Room.

That’s when it happened, I tripped, yeah I know, I feel dumb looking back on this, I actually tripped and fell flat on my face. When I tried to get up, a pain went through my legs as I fell back down.

“Scootaloo!” Tornado said and turned back around, I just shook my head.

“Go!” I called to them. “You don’t have time for this, just go! I’ll just slow you down”

My friends exchanged looks and sighed as they ran down the hallway. Arc mouthed an “I’m Sorry” to me before she vanished around the corner. I sighed a little and laid back as I looked up at the ceiling.

Maybe it was appropriate that I was going to meet my end in a Stable. I had done everything I could to help ponies in these places, but I had caused so many deaths here. I had done everything I could to make Equestria a better place and atone for my mistakes.

If I was going to die here, then I was going to die with dignity. I struggled to get to my hooves again as the alarms went off again. I tried to walk forward as best I could.

I sighed a little and thought back to the necklace in my bags that Serenity gave me. “I’m sorry Serenity, Cherry, Winter… I did everything I could, have a good life if you find these recordings. Know that I’ll always love you.”

The last alarm went off, the third alarm meant that the Stable was about to be flooded with energy. I closed my eyes and waited for the feeling to come over me and take me away to Elysium or Tartarus.

But that never came, instead there was a strange feeling of warmth as if somepony was wrapping her wings and forelegs around me. I opened my eyes and looked up in shock to see that a shield was surrounding me, a shield that shined with all the colors of the rainbow.

“What the…” I said and looked down at my neck where the Element of Loyalty was glowing with the same Rainbow color as the magical energy swirled around me. The shield still held though, I smiled a little and let out a sigh of relief.

As the energy finally died down and the Stable’s cleansing systems turned on automatically to clear out as much of the radiation as was possible, I swear I heard a voice in my ear.

“You did a good job Scootaloo, I’m proud of you,” the voice said in a familiar raspy tone before the feeling of the wings and legs moved away from me.

“Thank you… mom,” I said softly as I placed my hoof on the Element of Loyalty. Somehow, Rainbow Dash had come back from beyond the grave to save me one last time.

“Scootaloo!” Arc shouted as she and the others made their way down the hallway with Blackjack and the fillies. “You’re alive, but, how?”

Blackjack looked at my back legs. “Ow…. that looks painful.”

“Yeah,” I said and flinched, my legs were at odd angles and bleeding here and there. Riva and the medic got to work again and put the damaged legs into splints, saying that we’d have to get me to a hospital once we were out of here.

I felt a strange sensation as I was wrapped in purple magic as Tornado picked me up and placed me on her back. I smiled and nodded a little.

“Come on, let’s go…” I said.

Blackjack looked the other way and sighed. Bowing her head a bit. “For a ghoul she was a strong mare.”

“She died to save the rest of us,” I said with a sigh as I looked at the others. “We should at least see her.”

We turned back around and headed to the Megaspell Chamber. We looked inside where Dazzle was slumped over the terminal. I sighed a little and shook my head, while I had only known Dazzle for a short time I hated that we had lost her.

“Goodbye Dazzle… we won’t forget you,” Arc said softly as she looked back at me. “What are we going to do with her?”

“We’ll have to come back for her,” Tornado said with a shake of her head. “She’ll get a funeral with full military honors. That’s the best we can do.”

Tornado moved me forward to I could see her one last time. I was a bit surprised to see Dazzle start to stir a little, the Canterlot Ghoul was in bad shape but there was still a little bit of life in her.

“Hey Scootaloo,” she said with a weak smile. “You all made it… I’m glad. Equestria, needs more ponies like you Scootaloo. I just wish I had seen it when I first met you.”

“It’s okay Dazzle, you were a better pony than I ever was,” I said with a weak smile and reached out towards her but my PipBuck just started clicking rapidly from the radiation. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said weakly. “I’m just glad that I got a chance to meet you. You are, and always be, my friend. In this life or the next one, I’ll see you again, I promise.”

“I’ll see you again,” I said softly and with that Dazzle closed her eyes and was gone.

We left the Stable and made it out of the mountain tunnel without any further incident. The Enclave was in the process of pulling out, they probably realized by now that Rockhoof’s Thunder was of no use to them.

Yeah, we did a quick check over before we left. The Megaspell had been in such bad shape after letting off that much energy that it could never be used again safely. We’d have it dismantled and everything on it destroyed, Rockhoof’s Thunder would never again be a threat to Equestria.

As we came back into the sunlight we saw the Orion listing. It wasn’t in the best of shape, it looked like it had been damaged but it wasn’t out of the fighting yet. I chuckled a little, the Enclave’s Raptors were destroyed and the Nimbus could be seen fleeing in the distance towards the west.

“Its over… Thunderhead is safe,” Tornado said as she looked down at Calypso. “Come on, I think this little one wants to get to her mother.”

Calypso smiled and nodded as ponies flew down towards us. I smiled a little when I saw Sparky on approach, she had been involved in the battle above ground and I was glad she had made it out alive.

I felt tired, more exhausted than I had felt in a long time and my vision turned black as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.