I’ve never had to bury a friend before.

I’ve lost a lot of friends and family sure, but I never was around to bury any of them. So, standing here for Dazzle’s funeral was not something that I had ever experienced before. Tornado had promised us she’d get a funeral with full military honors and the Enclave had come through on that promise.

I looked over to where Winter was standing with Spectra, Calypso, and Tornado. I was standing with Cherry and the others and gently put my hoof around the Earth Pony mare. She hadn’t known Dazzle, but we told her everything that had happened in Thunderhead.

Arc and Caramel were standing together off to the side. They weren’t sure if they deserved to be here but I had insisted that they come. They were friends with Dazzle too, even if it was only for a short time for Caramel, I wanted them to be here.

I just wished that I knew what I was going to say. Winter looked over at me and gave me a soft smile and a nod.

“You’ll do fine Scoots,” Cherry said and gave me a nod before I moved forward and took a deep breath.

“After I got back from Thunderhead, I got access to the files from the Stable-Tec headquarters in Fillydelphia on the files from Stable 1. She came from a noble family living in Canterlot, but she never liked the war. That’s something we had in common, but we went about dealing with it in different ways. She just wanted to live a normal life, but that was robbed from her on the Last Day. The Pink Cloud took so many lives that day, and my own mistakes didn’t help matters any. In the time that I knew Dazzle, she resented me for my mistakes but she gave me a chance to make up for them. We all deserve a second chance for our mistakes when we’re willing to atone for them. Dazzle… Dazzle gave her life so that Rockhoof’s Thunder was stopped once and for all. We’re all going to miss her, but she went to her death knowing that it was for a good cause. I’ll never forget her for what she did for Equestria, none of us will ever forget. She gets to see her family again, she gets to see everypony she knew that died in Canterlot and Stable 1. I, just wish that we didn’t have to lose a good pony in the process. I just hope that we can win this war before we lose any more good ponies.”

I moved back to my spot next to Cherry and she nuzzled me gently before she whispered to me. “You did fine.”

“Thanks,” I whispered back to her and wrapped my wing around her gently.

A few more ponies stepped forward and told stories about Dazzle. Some of them were other mercenaries that she had fought alongside over the years, there were even a few NCR soldiers that she had apparently known during the NCR-Imperial War.

I looked over at Arc and Riva, neither of them really were sure what to say but they gave me a nod for a moment. I was a bit surprised when Winter stepped forward, she looked behind her at her guards who moved into position to be safe before she started to speak.

“I didn’t know Dazzle for very long,” Winter said with a sigh as she looked at the gathered ponies. “The sad fact of war is that we have to make sacrifices if we want to win. Dazzle was a brave pony, braver than most of us. She knew that she was going to her death and faced it with honor and dignity. I wish I could’ve known her longer, but she’ll be remembered as one of the bravest ponies in this war. We’ve lost so many good ponies on both sides, it’s hard to believe that we’re all standing here united. We have to keep that unity, that alliance if we want to give Equestria a better future. We won’t forget you Dazzle, none of us will for as long as we live.”

She moved back next to her family. I looked around and spotted Silver, Crow, and some others who were there. We had gathered more than our fair share of allies from around Equestria. I was happy, but the loss was still felt among all of us.

As it came to a close and Dazzle’s body was lowered into the ground there was a 21 gun salute as the pony that was holding the Equestrian flag carried it over to me. “We weren’t sure who to give this to, but she was your friend so we decided you might be best.

“Thank you,” I said with a nod as I took it reverently as they finished burying Dazzle and sighed a little as the crowd started to disperse. I sighed and looked at the gravemarker for a long moment and closed my eyes. “I’m sorry Dazzle, I wish there was some way I could’ve saved you. I hope you find your way to the fields of Elysium.”

I sighed and walked off after Cherry who gave me a nod as we headed for the Vertibuck to take us back to Nomad City.

“I’m sorry to ask this of you, but she’s been like this since this morning,” Vanilla said as I followed her into the house she shared with Serenity. “Now she won’t even talk to me for some reason, I’m worried about her.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I looked at the Cyberpony worriedly for a moment. “She seemed fine when we talked yesterday.”

“I think…” Vanilla said and trailed off for a moment. “Serenity went through a lot during the Changeling invasion. She doesn’t want to let it show to anypony, but there are times when it gets to her. With everything that’s going on, I think that it’s gotten to her again…”

I sighed a little and looked upstairs towards Serenity’s room. “Well, if you think it’ll help I’ll talk to her about it,” I said with a nod. “She’s a stronger filly than I would’ve been in this situation, I just hope that she’ll be willing to listen to me.”

I headed up the stairs and knocked on the door to her room. “Come in…” Serenity said from inside as I pushed the door open and looked inside to see Serenity laying on the bed and staring up at the ceiling.

“Hey Serenity, your mom asked me to come talk to you,” I said and sat down on the bed next to her. “She said you’ve been in here all day, do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know honestly,” Serenity said with a sigh as she rolled over onto her side to look away from me. “It’s just…”

She trailed off for a moment, I didn’t want to pry given that it might not help. I just wanted to give her a chance to talk about what was bothering her. I placed my hoof on her gently and she looked up at me sadly.

“Serenity, you know I’m here for you whenever you need me, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Serenity said with a sigh as she closed her eyes. “It’s just, with everything that’s been going on… it feels like the Changeling invasion all over again. There are times I wish I could just be a normal foal, you know?”

I hated that she had been put through this, especially since it had been sort of because of me and my friends. She was just a foal and shouldn’t have been in the battlefield even in the Wasteland that was messed up.

None of us were really ready for war, but it was even worse for her at her age. I didn’t blame her for being damaged by it, and I wished that I could go talk with my counterpart from the Human World about exactly what had happened and why they had done it.

“Yeah, I know exactly how you feel,” I said with a sigh as I looked down at her. “Serenity, why did you decide to fight the Changelings?”

“Because it had to be done,” Serenity said and perked her head up a little. “They were threatening Crystal City, somepony had to stand up and do it.”

“Yeah, but why did you do it? Even if you don’t act like it, you are still just a filly,” I said with a sigh.

“The Crusaders were the first ponies that ever really treated me seriously, like I wasn’t just another foal,” Serenity said with a sigh. “I guess I wanted to grow up too fast and I got involved in something that was way over my head. And the Enclave war its not helping any, especially not with…”

She trailed off for a moment and I realized what she meant. She was talking about what had happened in Thunderhead with Celestia One. I wondered how many fillies and colts her age had been killed in that attack. The NCR and Enclave had done everything they could to identify those lost, but so many of them had just been disfigured or even vaporized.

The Battle of Thunderhead had cost us more than just lives, it had cost us our morality and our innocence. The Enclave was mad, and I didn’t blame them, maybe now this was the chance we needed to stop the use of Megaspells forever.

“Serenity, you’re a stronger pony than I am,” I said and gave her a smile as she looked at me confused. “I’ve been a wreck ever since I woke up from stasis. I’ve got a lot of ponies willing to help me out though, and they’ve gotten me through the hardest parts of it.”

“Really? But you seem so cool and collected,” Serenity said as she looked at me in surprise. “I mean, there was the whole thing with the nightmare…”

“Yeah, I’ve had those more than once,” I said with a sigh. “You have too haven’t you? You’re still plagued by the nightmares of what happened and what you had to do aren’t you?”

“Yeah… last night was the worst of them,” Serenity said with a sigh as she rolled back over and looked at me. “You were there, so was everypony else. Then, you turned into Changelings and started pressing in on me, saying things like “Why did you kill us?” “Why didn’t you just leave us alone?” And worse, it’s always like that, it’s always ponies I know and care about being replaced and coming after me like that. And then, I saw a burst of light hitting Crystal City and Nomad City and destroying them. It, just left me all alone in a scorched Wasteland.”

She hugged me tightly and cried into my chest. I looked down at the filly and sighed a little as I hugged back and wrapped my wings around her protectively. She was afraid of abandonment and war, not that I blamed her, even if she had tried her best to hide it, she was just as broken as the rest of us.

“Serenity, you don’t need to keep fighting,” I said softly as I looked down at her. “Not at your age, I know you just want to help but its not going to help you any if you keep fighting in wars.”

“But… isn’t it my duty?” Serenity asked as she looked back at her cutie mark. “I got my cutie mark when I was protecting my friends in battle.”

“Well, why don’t you tell me everything?” I asked as I looked at her. “Hey, my talent is in helping other ponies figure out their talents and cutie marks. Maybe I can help you.”

“Well, okay,” Serenity said with a nod as she took a deep breath and started to tell the story of how she got her cutie mark. “We were fighting the Changelings near Stable 81, or what was left of it you know. It was kind of an impromptu shelter while we hid from the patrols from the Changeling hive when we got ambushed. I, wasn’t much of a fighter in those days since I was still getting used to being in a war, you know? Anyway, one of the Changelings managed to come around and was about to attack the other Scootaloo. She didn’t see it, I was the only one who saw it. I, managed to shoot at it which caught Scootaloo’s attention even though I missed. The rest of the fight went okay I guess, but when it was over, I found this cutie mark on my flank. I guess we figured that it was for fighting, but, I honestly don’t know”

I thought about it for a long moment as I tried to figure out what it might mean. “What were you thinking when it happened?”
“Well, umm, she was like my sister so I was afraid of losing her,” Serenity said with a nod. “I wanted to save her, to protect her. I wanted to protect my friends and family from the Changelings, and I knew that it was up to me to do it.”

“Protector,” I said with a soft smile. “You’re not a warrior, you’re a protector. Your shield represents this, you want to keep your loved ones safe from danger. That’s what your cutie mark means. I know it’s kind of hard to understand, but it makes the most sense to me. Everything you’ve done was to try and protect others, right?”

“Right,” Serenity said with a nod and a sniff. “That’s all I ever wanted to do. I thought the best way to do it would be to fight. Do, you think I did the right thing?”

“Serenity, you did what you felt was right,” I said with a nod as I looked down at her. “You’re a good pony. You shouldn’t be fighting though, there are ways to protect those you love without going to war. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you and I just want you to live a long and happy life. The memories aren’t going to fade, but you don’t have to keep fighting. Please, promise me that you won’t at least until you’re older?”

Serenity paused for a long moment and then smiled a little. “I promise Scootaloo, will you always be there when I need you?”

“I will, I promise,” I said with a soft smile as Serenity hugged me tight.

I sighed and looked down at her for a moment. I was glad that we had never had to use foal soldiers during the war, even if Serenity hadn’t been forced into joining the war she had still done a lot that required too much of her.

We stayed like that for awhile, I wanted to learn more about her time with the Crusaders outside of battle and she was happy to tell me. I smiled a little as she talked about the good times they had together, it was understandable why she had become so close to those three ponies.

I wished that I could’ve known them, but for now I was here for the filly. That was all I really needed to do for now.

“Scootaloo, are you okay?” Cherry asked as she nuzzled me gently. “You seem a little more distracted than usual.”

“How distracted am I usually?” I asked with a chuckle which just made Cherry shake her head and giggle a little. “But yeah, I’m fine, I’ve just been thinking about everything that’s been going on you know?”

“Yeah, Thunderhead sounded like it was crazy,” Cherry said with a nod as she rested her head on my chest and smiled up at me. “I’m just glad you made it out of there okay. I was scared that you had been in the path of that Megaspell.”

“Don’t worry, I was far away from it at the time it went off,” I said with a smile and hugged my fiance gently. “I missed you so much Cherry. I, just have a lot on my mind right now, especially with Serenity.”

"Yeah, I understand, she's been a bit restless lately ever since you left," Cherry said with a sigh as she looked up at me. "So, what now? Are you going to have to run off again and we're not going to see each other until after another battle?"

"Possibly," I said with a sigh. "The Enclave Hardliners left Thunderhead behind, and we've got all our eyes and ears open to see where they went. Winter thinks that maybe they're going to the capitol at Coltlumbia..."

"Didn't you used to live there?"

"Yeah, a long time ago," I said with a nod. "That was a long time ago though when I was with my family. I moved there not long after the cloud cover was formed, it was, nice enough I guess. I didn't think it would be the Enclave capital though, that surprised me."

"Yeah," Cherry said and paused for a moment. "What do you think of Winter? I'm, still kind of iffy about her even if she's been nice so far."

"Yeah, I know, but so far she's kept her word,” I said with a shrug. “She seems like a good pony though. I saw her in the bunker in Thunderhead, what happened really broke her. If she’s lying, it’s a very elaborate lie given everything that’s going on.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Cherry said with a sigh. “And she did make sure you were helped back in Tenpony Tower. I just hope that everything is going to be okay. The Hardliners under Cloud Chaser are the bigger threat now.”

I nodded and looked down at Cherry’s stomach. “How’s the little one doing?”

“She’s as healthy and active as ever,” Cherry said with a smile as she kissed me softly. “Just, if you have to go to war again, be careful alright? I want both her moms to be there when she’s born.”

I looked at her and smiled a little. After Cloudy, me and Sky had considered having another foal but it had never really gone anywhere before I got exiled. I hadn’t even thought about having another filly or colt until I met Cherry.

“So, what are we going to name her?” I asked with a smile as I stroked her mane gently. “I’m guessing we’re not going to name her something related to cherries.”

Cherry just chuckled a little and shook her head. “Maybe, but honestly I don’t know. There’s not much naming conventions where I come from, though a lot of breeders have plant related names.”

“That, probably would not be a good idea,” I said with a chuckle. “I remember having this conversation with Sky Walker. Maybe we should see if we can find a book of baby names.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Cherry said with a shrug and yawned a little and closed her eyes. “Good night Scootaloo.”

“Good night Cherry,” I said and gave her a kiss before she drifted off to sleep. I smiled a little and closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep not long after.

It felt like I had only slept for a few minutes but it was actually early the next morning when I was woken up by the sound of somepony knocking on the door. I got up and headed to the door and was surprised to find an NCR Ranger and a Pegasus in Enclave Armor there.

“General Dash, the war council has called for you,” the Enclave soldier said. “There’s been a development on what’s going on with the Hardliners.”

“I’ll be right there,” I said and went to get dressed and wake the others up.

“One of our agents managed to get word to us before they were killed,” Winter said as she looked around at all of us. “It’s just as we feared, Cloud Chaser and his forces have entrenched themselves in the capital city at Coltlumbia. The General has basically declared martial law in Coltlumbia and what few places are still loyal to him.”

“Coltlumbia was constructed during the years leading up to the war with the Zebras at some of the tensest moments in the cold war,” I said with a nod as we laid out a map of the city. “It was constructed to be a virtual fortress in the sky to protect against any aerial assaults from the Zebra Lands. We are dealing with a city that is built to withstand a siege and open warfare, and I don’t even know what kind of defenses the Enclave has built since then.”

“So, then how are we supposed to get in there?” Midnight asked as she looked between me and Winter. “It sounds to me like it’s not going to be easy.”

“It’s not,” Tornado said and looked at me and Winter for a moment. “One possibility is we could teleport into the city, but we’d need more than one Alicorn to get enough of a force into the city. The other option is we take advantage of the lower points in the city.”

“That would be Shantytown under Flankton,” Winter said as she tapped the spot on the map. “There’s an old series of tunnels built through the area by the rebels around the time of the Coltlumbia Uprising. Most of them were sealed up, but there’s one still intact leading out of the city along Mount Perseus.”

“How do we know that it's not being monitored by the Hardliners?” Midnight pointed out.

“For one thing it's hidden in the bar in Shantytown, the Enclave barely ever visits there,” Tornado said. “Secondly it’s a Presidential Escape tunnel, only select members of the Secret Service are even aware of its existence. It may be our only option to make it into the city.”

“It ends near Stable 46,” I commented as I looked over the map to where the tunnel had been marked. “What’s the current status on it?”

“Its been sealed up for years ever since the Enclave found it and removed the inhabitants,” Winter said. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that we could use it as a launching point for the ground attack,” I said with a nod as I looked it over. “It’s a good defensive position and it could give us an edge in the fight at least.”

“Right, that could work,” Winter said with a nod. “Flankton itself is a manufacturing plant for weapons and whatever other equipment we need. It’s been under military control since Cold Water died during the Uprising. It’ll be our first stop in the city though this route. We’ll have to either convince Colonel Fulbright to join us, or kill him.”

“Though, we need to attack on multiple fronts,” Tornado pointed out before she looked over at Gambit. “We could use the Quetzal and Alicorn teleportation to attack several points around the city. Gambit, you know the other Alicorns best, would they be willing to do this?”

“Well, a majority of the ones I know will be willing to help.” Gambit said with a sigh. “Though there is a splinter group that follows me, I just don’t really know if I can trust them - by their way of handling things I think they are still mentally connected to each other.”

Tornado paused a moment at that before she looked at Gambit again. “I see, that is unusual, there haven’t been any reports of that since the Goddess died. There could be some use of that in a combat situation, but it would be hard to coordinate it.”

“I’m up for suggestions,” Winter said. “If the Alicorns can help us, good. We’ll have to figure out a way to coordinate with them, but we don’t have a lot of time.”

“Well, we could always put an Alicorn of our own in there,” Nova suggested. “One that can coordinate with our forces and pass the messages on through the mental link.”

“That could work, but do you really want to risk a Alicorn losing themselves in a Unity connection, if that’s what they have” Gambit said with a sigh and shake of her head. “No, I think that’s too risky.”

“Yes, I have to agree,” Winter said with a sigh. “We just don’t have enough time to explore all the possibilities of it. We’ll have to rely on encrypted radio communication to coordinate or something similar unless a better option is presented.”

I had to admit I didn’t like the idea either. We didn’t know anything about this mental connection and we couldn’t risk an Alicorn like Tornado or Gambit losing themselves in it. Now it was just a matter of figuring out what was going to happen next.

“Alright, if there’s nothing else, lets get everything together and be ready, we leave for Coltlumbia as soon as possible,” Midnight said and we got up to get everything ready as Winter and Tornado came over to us with her guards.

“General Dash, will you and your friends come with us?” Winter asked.

I groaned a little at the use of that, but I had taken the job and if I was in the Enclave Chain of Command I didn’t have much choice here.

“What’s going on?” Riva asked as we looked at Winter curiously.

“It’s time the General met her troops,” Winter said and turned to head out of the base with us close behind.

As we made our way through Junction Town we saw more ponies dressed in Enclave Power Armor than before. A few ponies looked at Winter nervously as we went past, but none of them gave us any trouble.

As we reached the edge of town I saw Calamity talking with another pony and facehooved. With everything that had been going on I had forgotten that I still had to get the Element of Loyalty back to him.

“Give me a minute, I need to do something,” I said and headed over to Calamity as he finished his conversation. “Hey Calamity.”

“Howdy Ms. Scootaloo,” Calamity said with a smile and a tilt of his hat. “It’s been awhile since Ah saw yah, how’s it goin’?”

“About as its been going for awhile,” I said with a shrug and reached into my bags to take out the Element of Loyalty. “Listen, I found this while I was in Thunderhead in the possession of the Enclave. I don’t know the whole story, but its rightfully yours.”

“Well thank yah kindly, Ah wasn’t sure how Ah was gonna explain this one ta Velvet,” he said and took the object. It glowed and then turned into the same golden PipBuck from before that wrapped around his foreleg. “Thanks fer all your help Scootaloo, Ah hope it helped ya’ll out somehow.”

“Well, it kind of saved my life in Stable 102 along with, I think Rainbow Dash’s spirit,” I said with a nod. “It was strange, but its something at least. It's yours though, sorry it gotten stolen from you.”

“Don’t worry about it, yah didn’t steal it,” Calamity said and looked behind me to see Winter standing there with the guards. “How’s she doin’?”

“She’s, okay I guess,” I said with a sigh as I adjusted my hat a little. “It’s not been easy given everything that happened, especially with Calypso. But she’s getting settled in as best she can and wants to help now.”

“Alright, well that’s good enough fer me,” Calamity said with a smile as he waved at Winter and we walked over towards the group. “Howdy Winter… Ah, wanted ta talk ta yah about somethin’.”

“Hello Calamity, it’s good to see you again,” Winter said with a smile as she gave him a nod. “Before you say anything, I want to apologize for not telling you the whole truth before. I wanted a fresh start and to put my life in the Enclave behind me as best I could. I didn’t think it would come back to bite me like it did.”

“It’s alright Winter, we understand why yah did,” Calamity said with a smile. “Look, Ah know this is kind of unexpected. But after what happened in Thunderhead, we’ve been talkin’, and, well… we want ta see if tha Element of Generosity will work fer yah. After we lost tha previous bearer we’ve been lookin’ fer one… if yah want at least, we’d be happy ta have yah.”

Winter looked at him surprised and then at me. I honestly had no idea what she should say, this was quite the honor that was being offered to her. Still, she actually seemed reluctant to agree, I wasn’t sure what I’d do in this situation either. Sure I had held the Element of Loyalty, but it wasn’t rightfully mine.

Could Winter be an element bearer? She certainly was Generosity, but it was more a question as to whether or not she deserved to be an Element Bearer given everything that had happened. It was all up to her now.

“Calamity, thank you for the offer,” Winter said with a soft smile before she shook her head. “I’ve done a lot of things since we first met, my hooves are too stained with blood, I don’t deserve it. Thank you for the offer Calamity, but I’m going to have to say no.”

Calamity looked at her and then at me for a moment before he nodded. “Well, thank yah fer at least considerin’ it. Fer what it’s worth, Ah think that proves yah are worthy of it.”

“Thank you Calamity,” Winter said with a smile. “I’ve missed all of you, maybe when the war is over we can get together again. How are things going with Velvet?”

“Well, uh…” Calamity said and blushed a little. “We’re, tryin’ ta have a foal these days. But with everythin’ that’s goin’ on, it hasn’t been easy.”

“Well, tell her I said hello, and good luck to you both,” Winter said with a smile.

Calamity left with a tip of his hat and Winter looked at me with a nod. I smiled a little and we started off out of town once more.

The Enclave camp was on the outskirts of Junction Town was made up mostly out of tents and some repurposed buildings. Though what immediately drew your attention was the large cloudcl ship that was looming over it.

“That’s the Nightingale,” Winter said as I looked up at the Thunderhead curiously. “We were constructing it in Thunderhead’s shipyards to replace the old Thunderhead class ships. Thankfully she was pretty much done, we’ve had to check her over to make sure Cloud Chaser didn’t sabotage her.”

“Well, hopefully she’ll come in handy,” Arc said as she looked up at the Nightingale.

“Listen, Arc… I wanted to say I’m sorry,” Winter said and Arc looked at her. “I took advantage of your situation with the ponies from Stable 66 to get you to betray your friends. It was wrong of me to lie to you like that. I never would’ve let anything happen to the ponies from Stable 66.”

Arc looked at Winter and then at me before she sighed a little. I put my hoof on her shoulder and gave her a nod. “Arc, I can’t tell you whether or not to forgive her. It’s up to you what you want to do.”

“Winter, I’m going to have a hard time trusting you I’ll admit,” Arc finally said with a sigh as she looked back at me, Cherry, and Riva. “But I’ve talked with Caramel and the others, they said you never threatened or mistreated them. I’m willing to give you the benefit of a doubt, for now.”

“That’s all I ask of you,” Winter said with a sigh. “I did a lot that I regret, I also did everything I could to help Equestria. But still, I did things I’m not proud of and I’m going to spend the rest of my life making up for them if I have to.”

“Forgiveness doesn’t come easily, but it beats the alternative,” I said with a sigh as we entered the Enclave camp. “Winter, I’ll do what I can to help you.”

“Thank you Scootaloo,” Winter said with a smile as she looked at me. “There’s somepony here you should meet now that you’re well enough.”

“Oh, who’s…” I started to say before I looked up to see something I hadn’t expected. A robotic pony was standing there with a metal lower body, her head though looked like Sweetie Belle’s with a long purple and pink mane and mismatched green eyes. “You brought her with you?”

“Scootaloo?” Sweetie Bot said as she looked up at me with a spark in her eyes that looked almost like surprise. “Winter told me you were alive, I did not think I would ever see you again.”

I smiled a little and looked her over. She looked in good shape, though it looked like a lot of the parts had been replaced over the years. It was still her though, still the same voice, still the same smile.

Though that didn’t make seeing her again any less painful. She still looked so much like Sweetie Belle and was a reminder of my own actions.

“It’s good to see you too Sweetie Bot, you’re looking good,” I said with a smile. “Winter told me about everything that you’ve been doing. I’m, sorry I left you behind like I did, but I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for my family.”

“When you left, I could not abandon my duties to you,” Sweetie Bot said. “You created me and treated me like part of your family. I wanted to make sure that your legacy was passed down, to give your descendants a chance at being more than just what the Enclave is.”

“And it worked,” I said with a smile as I looked back at Winter. “You and my journals changed everything. Equestria and the Enclave have changed and are better places thanks to your influence on Winter. You’ve done everything I made you do do and more, so thank you.”

“All I did was tell her the truth, as I saw it at least,” Sweetie Bot said and gave me a smirk. “You did more than just create me, you made me who I am. You are the closest thing I have to a mother.”

I smiled softly and hugged the robot tightly. There was the shifting of servos for a moment before her metal legs wrapped around me and she hugged me back. “I, created you as a way to remember the mare I loved. Even when I started a new family, I couldn’t abandon you so I left you behind with them. I never thought I’d see you again.”

“I never thought I would see you again either,” Sweetie Bot said, I swear I heard emotion in her voice. Was it possible that she felt some form of emotion? That was strange for a robot, and it wasn’t in her programming. “I just wish that I could have done more.”

“You did enough,” I said with a smile as I looked back at Winter and then at Cherry and the others. “I can’t imagine what this world could’ve been like if you weren’t there. There’s still a lot I have to understand about the world around us. But you and Winter pulled off what seemed impossible.”

“But we couldn’t have done it without you Scootaloo,” Winter said as she moved next to us. “You set the stage for everything I did 200 years ago.”

“So then, are you ready to build a brighter future?” I asked and offered Winter a hoof.

“Of course,” Winter said and shook it before I looked back at Sweetie Bot. “Sweetie, would you like to join us?”

The robot nodded and we continued walking through the camp once more.

“General Dash, this is Colonel Starling, she’s been in charge of Thunderbolt Squadron, they took over the Enclave special ops after the reorganization of the military,” Winter said as she introduced me to a light blue Pegasus mare with a short white mane with a shock of yellow. “Colonel, you along with the 3rd, 7th, and 9th will be answering to her, understood.”

“When yah said a new General would be takin’ over from Aries, yah didn’t mention that she was a Dashite,” Starling said as she looked at me with a frown. “Ah don’t like it, a lot of tha ponies ain’t gonna want ta follow her.”

I flinched a little, I didn’t blame them honestly. The Enclave had every reason to hate me given my reputation. Even with Winter in charge and having been branded, they likely wouldn’t trust many Dashites outside of her.

“Colonel, I know this is going to be hard to accept, but we needed somepony for the chain of command,” Winter said with a sigh. “I’ve tried to talk with Aries, while she’s not interested in joining the Hardliners, she’s not ready to come back yet. Do you respect me?”

“Yeah, Ah wouldn’t have stuck with yah if Ah didn’t,” Starling said and looked at me. “What about her, what does she have ta say about this?”

“Well, uh…” I said and froze a moment when I realized that both sets of eyes were on me. “I’m… I have to go.”

I turned and headed out of the tent and took a deep breath. What was I supposed to tell them? I wasn’t a soldier, I wasn’t much of a fighter. Sure I had survived this long but it had been because of the help of my friends. Why did they expect me to be able to do anything with the military.

“Scootaloo, are you okay?” Winter said as she came out of the tent behind me. “You left rather suddenly back there.”

“Winter… I honestly don’t know if I’m cut out for this job,” I said with a sigh as I turned and looked back at her. “She’s right, I’ve been so vilified by the Enclave that I don’t think most of them are going to listen to me. Why did you pick me for this job? There are ponies who are way more qualified than I am.”

“Because I trust you, I trust you more than anypony else I could give the job,” Winter said with a smile. “You and the others that I asked. I’ve talked with Reticle and she’s willing to help too as best she can.”

“Well, that’s good,” I said with a sigh. “What about the Colonel in there, what does she think about this?”

“She’s ultimately loyal to the ideals we stand for, she’ll be willing to listen if given the chance,” Winter said with a sigh. “She’s got the respect of the Thunderbolts and most of the other ponies under your command, so if you can convince her the others might fall into line much easier.”

“So I just have to figure out how to convince her,” I said with a sigh. “You know her better than I do, what do you think I should do?”

“Talk to her, don’t act like you’re going to change how things are going to be run with the Thunderbolts,” Winter suggested. “We have a battle coming up and they need to respect the chain of command.”

“Alright, I’ll, figure something out I guess,” I said with a sigh and looked towards my friends. “Excuse me a moment.”

I headed over to where my friends were waiting for me. Cherry was seated in a chair and looked up at me with a smile as I walked up to them. “Hey Scootaloo, how’d it go?”

“Well, I’m still figuring this whole thing out to be honest,” I said with a sigh. “I have to somehow convince them that they should follow me, not an easy task.”

“Scootaloo, I know that’s not going to be easy, but you’ll figure it out,” Riva said with a nod. “Do you think you’ll be able to lead these ponies?”

I sighed a little and looked around for a moment. There were a lot of ponies around and more than a few of them were looking at me. I had no idea how many of them served under me or what they thought of me. A few of them certainly didn’t look like they trusted me, others looked like they were still trying to figure things out.

I sighed and looked at Cherry who gave me a nod. I smiled a little and leaned in and gave the pink mare a kiss on the cheek before I turned and looked back at the others.

“I don’t know how I’ll do as a General,” I said with a sigh. “I’ve done everything I could to help us get through this war. I’m not a soldier, I’m just a pony who wants to try and help Equestria. We’ve been through a lot since the war started, and we’ve got a lot of work to do before everything is over. Whether or not I’ll be able to lead them is something I don’t know the answer to, but I do know that I’m going to do everything I can to lead them to the best of my ability. I’m just a pony who’s stuck in a situation that’s way over her head. I hope that I’ll be able to do this, and that they’d be willing to at least try and listen to me.”

“Do yah really think that way?” A familiar accented voice said from behind me and I turned to look at Starling and Winter. “Listen, Ah don’t entirely trust yah either, but we need ta trust one another if we’re gonna work together. Ah don’t like tha Hardliners either, and if Winter trusts yah and yer really interested in helpin’ Equestria, Ah’ll listen ta yah.”

I smiled a little and offered her a hoof. “Well that’s good Colonel. You know these ponies better than I do though, I’m going to trust your judgment in most matters. I want you to be my second in command and liaison with the other unit commanders and soldiers.”

“Alright, if yah say so,” Starling said with a nod and gave me a salute. “So, what’s yer first order, General?”

I took a deep breath and looked around. It took me a moment to realize that all eyes were on me, not just my friends, but the other ponies around. “We don’t have a lot of time before the battle with the Hardliners in Coltlumbia. Get ready for the battle, your assignments will be passed out once everything is finalized. I, wish I could say something inspiring here, but all I can say is stay true to your ideals and we’ll make it through this. The future of Equestria is in all of our hooves, and it’s up to us to make sure that we have that future.”

I sighed a little and went back to where Cherry was sitting and nuzzled her gently as everypony returned to what they were doing. “How’d I do?”

“You did fine Scootaloo,” Cherry said and nuzzled back.

Winter was about to say something when three more ponies entered the camp. They were dressed in the same Enclave Power Armor but it was more beaten up as if it hadn’t seen much maintenance lately.

“President Winter,” the leader said in a voice that sounded familiar for some reason. “We’re here to provide whatever assistance we can with the war with Cloud Chaser.”

“I see,” Winter said and looked at the lead soldier curiously for a moment. “You were sent by… her weren’t you?”

The soldier nodded and removed her helmet to reveal a familiar golden colored Pegasus mare who looked at me and gave me a nod. “Hello Wanderer, or should I call you Scootaloo?”

“Shimmering Skies,” I said with a chuckle. “It’s been awhile since I saw you in Lakeside. I’m guessing you’re not ready to tell me whatever you’re keeping secret yet?”

Shimmering just chuckled and shook her head before she looked at Winter. “Madam President, I would like the chance to speak with you if possible.”

“Of course,” Winter said with a nod and headed off with Shimmering and Tornado towards her command tent.

“General Dash?” A voice said and I turned to see a Pegasus standing there and looking at me a little nervously.

“Yes?”

“The President wants to speak to you, come with me,” he said and turned a moment. I looked back at my friends before following him to the command tent.

“Thank you lieutenant,” Winter said and looked up at me with a smile. “We’ve managed to make some progress on the…”

Before she could finish the sentence a Pegasus in a lab coat came in carrying a clipboard. “Madam President we’ve… oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No, no, it’s okay, I’ve been waiting for this report,” Winter said and looked at me. “Sorry Scootaloo, we’ve been working on something up on the Nightingale.”

“Its okay,” I said and looked at the scientist curiously.

“If you are going to address the President, do not waste her time by losing your nerve.” Another scientist said as she stepped forward. “Madam President, I would like a moment of your time - We’ve made an important breakthrough that needs your immediate attention.”

“Of course,” Winter said. “Let’s go then, sorry Scootaloo, this is important so we’ll have to discuss that later.”

“Excuse me, Madam President? But you cannot be serious about letting this filthy commoner come into our most secret of labs.” The second scientist said, using her magic to adjust her glasses. “This would be a breach of many different protocol.”

That made me mad, I wasn’t some filthy commoner and I was about to tell this mare off when Winter spoke up. “Scootaloo is a Wonderbolt General, which gives her the second highest security clearance in the Enclave behind the President and the Inner Circle. She is to be treated with the same respect you would give anypony in her position, do I make myself clear, Starlet?”

“You have got to be kidding… Fine, fine - My apologies Madam President.” Starlet said with a roll of her eyes.

“Thank you, now, let’s get up to the Nightingale,” Winter said and shot Starlet a look. “Unless there is another problem.”

“Just keep your jarhead under control, I can’t have slobber on my sensitive equipment.” Starlet said before she turned to lead the way.

“Why do you let her work for you?” I whispered to Winter as we headed out of the Command tent. “I’ve met pre-war nobles who are more likeable than she is.”

“She worked for the Ministry of Arcane Science during the war,” Winter whispered back. “She’s got an education that even the Enclave can’t match these days. Her knowledge and credentials are, sadly irreplaceable as insufferable as she is.”

“Great, just what I needed, a female Blueblood…” I said with a groan. “So, what’s this project we’re looking at?”

“You’ll see,” Winter said as we got aboard a Vertibuck that took off towards the large ship floating over the camp.

The Nightingale was about what I had expected, it was more utilitarian than anything I had ever seen before. The ship looked like it was still under construction in the interior as there were ponies working on attaching bulkheads and other equipment to the ship.

“The Nightingale was being built to be a counterpart to the Nimbus,” Winter explained. “While we don’t have a lot of the schematics on the Nimbus since Cloud Chaser claims they were “lost” in the Enclave Civil War, we were able to build the ship fairly close to the Nimbus class.”

“Well, it’s quite the ship still,” I said and looked around curiously.

“Try not to drool too much, some of the paint in this section is still wet.” Starlet said with a snicker. “I know, hard for you jarheads to understand these amazing pieces of technology”

“Okay, I’ve had enough,” I said and turned to look at Starlet. “I am not some sort of dumb jarhead. I helped design the Stables, I created intricate security systems that the smartest ponies in Equestria couldn’t break through. I’m…”

“A fraud.” Starlet said as she stopped. “The real Scootaloo did all those things, The adopted daughter of the great Rainbow Dash, Vice President of Stable-Tec - None of which you are. If you were the real Scootaloo, you would be over 200 years old, which may I remind you, would mean you would of been dead and turned to dust ages ago, yet here you stand, you look like her, even sound like her - but there is no way you are her.”

“Says the mare who claims to have worked for the Ministry of Arcane Science,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “I spent 202 years in a S.A.D. pod, what’s your excuse? You don’t look like a Ghoul to me.”

“Time travel, there were ponies with an invested interest in the end of the war, we were given a project to make safe time travel to allow ponies to see the end of the war so they could prepare for what was to come.” Starlet said with a sigh. “Unfortunately, some things don’t work out exactly as planned, and you end up trapped hundreds of years in the future because every time you tried to warn somepony, you ended up back here.”

I sighed a little and shook my head a little. “I’m sorry, I can’t imagine going through that. But it is me, Rainbow Dash found me and put me in a pod. I woke up over a year ago now and, well, here I am. I don’t really care if you believe me or not, but it’s the truth.”

“Well, if you’re telling the truth, you’re welcome.” Starlet said, laughing a little “If not for my work integrating the Stasis field with the auto-doc, you wouldn’t be standing here.”

I had no idea what to say to that. Great, I partially owed my life to this mare, I didn’t want to think about that, I really didn’t want to think about that.

“If I may Starlet, my agents talked with the Scavengers that found the pod in question and investigated it themselves,” Winter said as she shot a look at the scientist. “That and checking her DNA against records from during the early days of the Enclave, I can confirm that it is indeed Scootaloo. Albeit, with some genetic enhancements and biomechanical organs, but it is her.”

“Speaking of those pods, this breakthrough is regarding one of my latest experiments regarding the regeneration of ghoul DNA and replication of their original body for neural transplant” Starlet said, beaming with pride. “While I can say the DNA we had wasn’t very good, Canterlot ghouls aren’t the best of donors - We were able to partially reconstruct her DNA, and through some research into the Ministry of Morale Database, I found she had a few love interests pre-war. With some work I found a compatible donor in the database, It’s not perfect but its a step in the right direction.”

“Wait… what Canterlot Ghoul are you talking about?” I asked and looked between Winter and Starlet strangely. “Winter, what’s this about?”

“Oh, right, we will need to call her back in for a better sample, with enough I can rebuild her entire genome.” Starlet added before looking at me. “Does it matter? A ghoul is a ghoul - She just happened to be one willing to let us take a few skin samples.”

“She’s not going to be donating any more samples…” Winter said softly and looked over at me. “Scootaloo, you have to understand, we didn’t know this was going to happen when she volunteered her samples. It was before…”

“Wait, are you talking about Dazzle?” I said and looked between the two in shock. “You, did something with Dazzle’s genetics using the pods?”

“Yes, and why is she not going to be donating more samples, do you have any idea how hard it has been to get a willing ghoul to contribute? I refuse to keep testing with Ferals, and if you insist you can be the one to collect the samples and get bitten.” Starlet said with a huff.

“Because she died in the Battle of Thunderhead, she sacrificed herself to put Rockhoof’s Thunder permanently out of commission,” I said softly.

“What is the condition of the corpse? I’m assuming she was just shot in a way that she couldn’t regenerate from, Perhaps if there is enough left I can still finish the research.” Starlet said, sighing. “And, I’m sorry if that seems insensitive, but this research could prove to be a saving factor for many ghouls all over equestria.”

“She was buried yesterday,” Winter said with a scowl. “I’m not going to authorize her body to be exhumed given the situation. I’m afraid you’re going to have to find another test subject.”

“Madam President, with all due respect - You have no clue how important this research is.” Starlet said “You are willing to sacrifice potentially tens of thousands of ghouls across equestria, for the corpse of a dead friend. That is not a move I have come to expect from you.”

“It is a matter of respect, she sacrificed herself to save Equestria,” Winter said with a growl. “I understand the stakes in this, I wouldn’t have approved of the project if I didn’t.”

“Then you understand that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the feelings of one.” Starlet said, sighing and shaking her head. “I am sorry, but I need her body exhumed and brought to my lab immediately, this research is far too important to just let it fall back months of progress because the primary donor died.”

“Look, I’m no geneticist, but Dazzle’s body was saturated with so much radiation that not even a Canterlot Ghoul could survive it,” I said with a sigh. “I don’t think any samples would be of much use to you anyway, I’m sorry.”

“You just don’t get it! I have to see her, No one told me - I wasn’t even invited to her funeral” Starlet said, starting to shake. “It’s not fair, Why does every pony that understands me end up dead…”

“Starlet, I’m sorry,” Winter said and sighed a little. “I didn’t know you two were close, if I had I would have invited you. I’m sorry that you weren’t there, if you want I can take you to the grave once we’re done here.”

“You just..” Starlet said before she took a deep breath, using her magic to straighten out her lab coat and mane before she stood up straight. “Very well, Back to the news.” She motioned to a nearby closed door, signalling the small group to head inside.

We headed into the lab inside. It seemed rather sparse with equipment, however on the far side of the room, a row of 3 familiar pods against the back wall, the steady hum of magical energy filling the air.

“So, exactly what did you do with her DNA?” I asked as I looked at Starlet. “Did you create a new body or pony or something? I didn’t know S.A.D pods could do that.”

“Not the standard ones, before the war - after the pods got functioning more or less correctly - the MAS wanted to integrate a way to synthesize and administer IMP in a safe and controlled manner. With those modifications in place, you can create entirely new bodies from just a base genetic code… with some limitations, mind you.” Starlet said with a smile. “Some of my finest work.”

“Interesting, I never really thought about it until I found the lab in Manehattan,” I said and then looked at her and sighed a little. “Starlet, thank you. You and the team that developed these are why I’m still here along with Rainbow Dash. I, just wanted to say thanks.”

“Don’t mention it, my only wish was that they got out sooner, maybe more ponies could of been saved the fates they were given if these were more readily available.” Starlet said with a shake of her head.

“Yeah, it’s a shame, but at least it did some good,” I said with a sigh and looked around. “So, can we see what you have managed to do? I admit I’m a bit curious now.”

“Certainly.” Starlet said before she motioned to another pony in a lab coat, whispering something into their ear before they’d give each other a nod. “You see, I have done multiple experiments regarding the restoration of body parts, or the replication of an entirely new body - But, none of those experiments required me to restructure the genetic code - a ghoul, with their mutations, it makes it nearly impossible to get a perfect replication, however - with the help of our late friend Dazzle, and the Ministry of Morale Database these pods have been networked with, I was able to find that she had a few love interests before the war, of which one was investigated by the ministry and thus their mental profile and genetic sequence was stored in this database, allowing me to mix Dazzle’s and this previous love interest’s genetic samples, and was able to accurately create what would equate out to if Dazzle and this stallion had a foal.”

“And it worked?” Winter asked curiously.

Starlet nodded, and lifted a hoof to point to the middle pod. “We are about to begin the replication process, you will be the first in a very, very long time, to see one of these pods materialize a new form, from nothing.”

“Alright, begin whenever you’re ready,” Winter said with a nod.

I admit I wasn’t sure what to make of this. They were creating a new life using Dazzle’s DNA and that of some pre-war stallion. It wasn’t the same as having Dazzle back, but what was going to happen to the pony once it was formed? Once you create a new life through science, what are you going to do with it?

I sighed and shook my head, this wasn’t the same as the clones back in Whitehome. I looked at Winter and then back at the pod, wondering what I was about to see.

“I’ll try and give you a play by play, to help you better understand. The entire process takes just short of 5 minutes. It’s very rapid, as the pods were designed to heal terminal trauma as quickly as possible to improve chances of survival.” Starlet said, the lights in the lab dimming as the pod’s lighting came on, highlighting its interior. “Now, I am sure you may be thinking, Once you’ve created new life, what do you do with it.”

“Well, yeah,” I said with a nod. “It’s a living pony no matter how it’s created, so you have to figure out how you’re going to treat it.”

“Well, the answer is as simple as the question, You educate them and teach them how to live and be their own pony.” Starlet said with a smile. “They are a living pony with all the rights and privileges that come with that, to treat them as anything less would be deplorable.”

“I wish the ponies in Stable 122 had thought like that…” I muttered and shook my head. “Well that’s good.”

“Now, given there is an advantage to the ability to produce ponies on demand, given the right neural imprinting, you could make entirely combat ready soldiers, skilled medics, pretty much everything you could need, one of these pods can meet the demand.” Starlet said, as she motioned for us to look as the pod started to construct the skeleton.

Me and Winter moved forward to look at what was happening. A lot of thoughts were going through my mind, especially the question as to what the pony was going to look like. Were they going to be a foal or fully grown? Who was the other, well, donor I guess? We watched quietly to see the forming pony.

“This next process is the most time consuming, the pod is - as we speak, manufacturing the organs that this pony will be living with for the rest of their lives.” Starlet said with a chuckle “Naturally, if you wished we could apply biomechanical upgrades or augments to the organs, you know, in case you wanted a super soldier or something.” She said, standing beside us as the organs started to fill out the skeleton.

A few moments later, the muscle and tendons started to form over the skeleton, as time passed more and more did that form look like a pony. Skin forming over that and then the coat and mane sprouting from the skin.

“I never get tired of this, next - we will plug in our basic neural storage device, it contains the basics, like eating, breathing, walking, talking - the kinds of things any adult pony would need to be able to learn and grow.” Starlet said, motioning to a nearby table that had a scientist plugging in a large brick looking device. “First experiments resulted in a one hundred percent mortality rate, until I realized that you had to provide the basic impulses, the stuff that your and my body doesn't automatically come pre-programmed on one of these.”

“Interesting,” Winter commented as she watched the forming pony. “What kind of mental state will it have? You said you could convert neural patterns of a pony, but unless you have a copy of Dazzle’s on hoof…”

“Well, to be frank - This one will have just the basics, the stuff it’ll need to learn and grow, but other then that? It’s a blank slate, a foal in a adult’s body.” Starlet said with a sigh. “Dazzle wouldn’t let us map her neural patterns, not until we had concrete evidence that this would work.”

“I see,” Winter said with a nod before she looked back at the pod.

I had to admit I was amazed by this. I hadn’t realized just how much potential the S.A.D. pods had. While they had saved both my and Gambit’s lives, making an entirely new body? This was a bit too much to take in.

“I’d be willing to help with them as best I can,” I offered.

“Help will definitely be appreciated, as you can tell - my interpersonal relationship skills need some work, and I don’t think I could stand another me walking around.” Starlet said with a chuckle.

Winter muttered something that sounded like “I think they need more than some work.” I chuckled a little and nodded. “Dazzle was my friend, despite the fact that she shot at me when we first met… I’d be honored to help whenever I can, though the current situation will make things difficult.”

“I have arranged for a foster family to take it and look after it until this whole thing blows over.” Starlet said with a sigh, “Though, knowing that Dazzle has passed, I think I may want to take more of a hooves on approach to this one”

“Yeah…” I said softly and looked down at the pod again for a moment. “I’m really sorry about Dazzle. She was a good pony and I wish you could’ve been there at the funeral too, I…”

I paused a moment and reached into my bags and took out a holotape and offered it to her. “I know it’s not the same, but I’ve been recording a lot of things to keep them fresh in my mind for my journals. This is the one of the funeral, you can have it if you want.”

Starlet stopped, and took another deep breath before she shook her head. “No use crying over spilled milk.” She said, a painful smile on her face - clearly just trying to dodge the offer.

Before anything more could be said, the pod let out a rather humorous egg timer style ‘ding’ before Starlet flipped a switch, letting the Stasis field switch off and the retaining door swing open to reveal the fully formed pony within.

The pony inside was a Unicorn mare with a silver coat and a yellowish-gold mane. She looked a lot like Dazzle, though her colors were reversed. I just stood there in silence for a moment, I honestly wasn’t sure what to say or do right now.

“Well, congratulations are in order, it’s a mare,” Winter said with a light chuckle.

“Don’t break out the cigars and champagne yet.” A voice from behind said, which caused Starlet to turn around. “What, you thought I would miss this?”

“Melody, that isn’t fair - you shouldn’t even be aboard this ship, let alone in this lab.” Starlet said with a sigh “And yes, while you are the ‘original’ - you have to understand that she is the next step, she is a future for ghouls.”

“Oh yes, I do understand that, nor am I jealous” Melody said, chuckling to herself some, she had been sitting in a corner on a counter in a very unponylike way. “The first step is the biggest, but it’s far from the last, you know that.”

“Should we leave you two alone?” I asked with a chuckle.

“No no darling, that would not be at all necessary.” Melody said slipping off the counter and coming over to where we stood. “I’m just a coworker, and the first pony she ever made with a pod that didn’t die.”

“You’re also the last one for nearly 10 years, it’s not like there is a slew of dead bodies laying somewhere” Starlet huffed.

“Do, I want to know what they’re talking about?” I asked Winter.

“It’s a long story,” Winter said with a sigh as she looked back at the two ponies. “Well, you and your team have done a good job with this. Very well done, hopefully we’ll be able to find another willing donor to help with the Ghoul research soon. I’ll see what I can do.”

“A very, about Eleven nearly Twelve year long story.” Starlet said with a chuckle “It’s been a long time in the making, but at least we’re actually closer to getting somewhere. With the Enclave being a bit more accepting of outsiders, maybe a replacement will not be as difficult to find.”

I looked down at the pods for a moment and then back at Starlet. The first thing that jumped to mind was Ditzy Doo, I wondered if this would work for her. “Well, I hope you get this to work, if you can get the Ghoul thing to work it will do a lot of good for Equestria.”

“Especially given your tendency to run into Feral Ghouls,” Winter said with a chuckle.

“Arc told you about that huh?” I said with a shake of my head. “Yeah, that does seem to be a recurring thing with me.”

“Well, It is about time to wake our little... I’m not sure what to call her.” Starlet said with a chuckle. “She can’t stay like this indefinitely.”

“Alright, lets wake her up… though she does need a name,” Winter said and looked over at me for a moment. “Any suggestion on a name Scootaloo?”

“How about Silver Shine?” I suggested.

“That could work, what do you think Starlet?”

“I think it’ll work for now, when she’s capable of speaking herself - she may decide she has a better idea for her own name.” Starlet said and with the use of her magic, flipped a nearby lever that fully disengaged the pod, allowing its pony occupant to stand on her own hooves for the first time.

I watched the mare, Silver Shine I guess, get up out of the pod and paused a moment. I wasn’t sure what to say to her, she was a new life created in a lab that was waking up for the first time, what do you say to that? So I guess I said the only thing I could think to, “Umm, hello.”

Yeah, looking back that was kind of lame, but it was the only thing I could think of to say at the time.

Silver Shine looked at me confused and looked around the lab. She just looked at us as if trying to figure out what was going on around her. She tried to take a step only to stumble a little since she wasn’t familiar with walking yet.

“Alright, steady,” Winter said and helped steady her. “Very good work Starlet. If you need any further assistance or funding, just let me know.”

“Understood, and Madam President, I wanted to say, I’m sorry about what happened, and I hope that those hardliners pay for what they did to you and to the Enclave.” Starlet said with a smile “Make em pay.”

Winter smiled back and gave her a nod. “We will, thank you. Right Scootaloo?”

“Right,” I said with a nod before we headed back out of the lab. I took one last look back at Silver Shine who watched me curiously before I sighed and we headed out.

“Do you really have to go?” Cherry asked as we headed out of Absolutely Everything where I had gotten stocked up on ammunition for my weapons.

“I’m afraid so Cherry, I have to finish this,” I said with a sigh as I checked my packs. One of my guns was missing, which was a problem given that I only had two and the other one was more to incapacitate. “Have you seen Liberty? I couldn’t find it after I got my stuff back from the hospital.”

“Really? Weird,” Cherry said as she helped me look through my pack for a moment. “Where do you think it went?”

“I, honestly don’t know,” I said and sighed a little as we got aboard a Vertibuck and took it to Nomad City. It was our last night together before I left for the Battle of Coltlumbia the next day and we were going to take full advantage of the night.

But all thoughts of that were abandoned when we entered the Equestria Grand Hotel and were called over to the desk by the receptionist. “Excuse me you two, while you were out a pony brought over two packages with your room number on it.”

“What did they look like?” I asked as she laid the packages out, one of them looked like a rifle of some sort while the other was smaller and looked like it was a box.

“I didn’t get a good look at them, they were dressed like you, only better disguised,” the receptionist said. “We did all the standard scans on it given the war situation and they came up clean. Well, other than that one being a weapon of some sort, but its not booby trapped at least. There was another one, but your friend already picked it up.”

“I see,” I said and we took the packages upstairs with us as confused as ever.

When we opened the door Arc looked up from what she was looking at. There was a toolbox that looked like it had been repainted from its original color to be grey and orange with Arc’s cutie mark and the word “KINDNESS” written across it.

“Did you two get something too?” Arc asked as she looked up to see us.

“Yeah, you did too?” I asked and me and Cherry laid out the packages we got. “What’s up with the toolbox?”

“It was mine in Stable 66,” Arc said with a shrug. “It was always helpful with my job, but I didn’t have a chance to bring it with me. I don’t really know who would’ve gone through the trouble of getting into Stable 66 and finding it.”

“Weird,” I said and looked at my package thoughtfully. “Did Riva get one too?”

“No, I did not,” Riva said as she looked between the three of us. “Why kindness though? It’s weird.”

I paused and looked at my package again before I slowly unwrapped it. Wrapped up in the paper was Liberty, but it wasn’t the same weapon that I had used before. It was painted orange with my cutie mark and what looked like apples engraved into it. Then there was a word along the barrel, “HONESTY.”

“That’s weird, why Honesty?” I said and looked at it closely, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the weapon, it just had a strange new paint job.

“Well, maybe it’s because you’ve never lied about who you are and what you did,” Arc suggested. “You hid yourself sure, but you always made it a point to try and make up for what you did. I don’t know why I got one that says kindness though, I’m not very kind, at least not to my friends.”

“I don’t know, if you think about it you are,” I said with a sigh. “Arc, you were willing to do everything you could to help your friends back in Stable 66. When the time came you were willing to admit what you did instead of keeping the lie going. You did everything you could to save them, even if you hated it. That shows some kindness to me, and that’s good enough an explanation for me.”

Arc looked at me curiously and then shrugged a little before she nodded. “If you say so, I guess it makes some sense at least. Though, I wonder why you weren’t loyalty. I mean, you held the element for a short time.”

“Yeah, I don’t know, I’m loyal maybe, but I don’t think it’s what defines me,” I said with a sigh and looked at Cherry. “So what about you?”

“I, don’t know, I didn’t really lose anything recently and I can’t think of anything that it might be from home,” Cherry said and then started to unwrap the package carefully since she wasn’t sure what might be in it. She took one look at it and blinked a little in surprise. “Oh, wow I forgot about this.”

In her hooves was a music box, it looked like an old one with apples inlaid into it. At the same time though there was the word “LAUGHTER” painted along part of it that was more simple. When she opened it there was a small figurine of a pony dancing in it as a familiar tune played.

“We’ve got hearts as strong as horses…” I said softly as I looked at Cherry and smiled a little. “Where did you get this?”

“Well, my mom gave it to me,” Cherry said as she smiled a little. “Since she was a Breeder too, I knew her. She told me that it was passed from mother to daughter since our first ancestor to enter Stable 102 passed it to his daughter. They always said that it was from our ancestors, which, never really made sense to me until I met you.”

I wrapped my wing around her gently and looked between the three objects curiously for a moment. “Honesty, Laughter, and Kindness… that’s three of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Two is a coincidence, three is a pattern,” Riva suggested. “Perhaps it means something.”

“Cherry, you’re more than just a nurturer, you’re always trying to keep spirits up and make ponies happy,” I said with a smile as I nuzzled my fiance gently. “Though, I have to wonder who’s making these.”

“And who else is getting one,” Arc said.

We talked about it a while longer before Caramel came in and we realized it was late. She and Arc went off to their room and Riva went to her own after a moment, which just left me and Cherry alone.

“Do, you really think I’m like that?” Cherry asked and looked at me with a soft smile.

“I know you are, come on, if this is the last night we’ll be together for awhile, let’s enjoy it,” I said with a smile and took her hoof as we headed into our room together.

Maximum Level Reached.

Author's Notes:

Starlet belongs to and was written by TheLittlestofPips.

Also, I'm taking name suggestions for Cherry's daughter. She has a white coat with a pink mane, so if you have any suggestions make them in a comment or privately, this contest will last until the end of the fic.