Author's Notes:

There will be spoilers in this chapter for Wasteland Jewel, fair warning.

"This is DJ Pon3 coming at you with the news from around the Wasteland," DJ Pon3's voice said over my earbuds. "I've had a rather interesting guest here in my studio recently a pony only known to the Wasteland as the Wanderer. She's a brave mare who has ventured out into the wide world hoping to find herself a place. If you ever cross paths with her, don't hold anything against her, she's just another pony like all of us, and tell her DJ Pon3 says hello."

We had been traveling for days by this point, DJ Pon3 had played that message on occasion. It was weird to hear yourself being talked about on the radio, but I had gotten used to it.

About a week after leaving Manehattan we were camping out, having set up our tents and a fire. I opened my copy of Ruby's Story and read it to myself while Schooner ate his dinner next to me.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you fly," Arc Light commented, causing me to look up at her, she was working on something on her PipBuck. "Kind of strange given that you're a Pegasus."

"I can't, its a rare genetic condition that keeps my body from producing enough magic to achieve flight," I admitted with a sigh. "It tends to run in families, but it usually skips a few generations for some reason. My daughter for example could fly perfectly fine."

"Oh, you have a daughter?" Arc Light asked surprised. "What happened to her?"

I paused a moment, that was a tough question to answer, especially because truth be told I still had no idea. "I don't know, she lived above the cloud cover, and that's really all I know for certain," I said with a sigh. "I can just hope that she lived a good life, and didn't hate me too much for leaving her behind."

"I'm sorry," Arc Light said. "That can't be easy for you."

"It's not... I miss her a lot," I said with a sigh as I thought back to the picture of my family still in my bags. "What about you, did you leave any family behind in Stable 66?"

"No, my parents are both dead," Arc Light admitted sadly. "My father was an engineer who died when I was a filly and my mom died not long before I left the Stable."

"I'm sorry Arc," I said.

We continued to eat in silence before it was time for bed.

As the ruined cityscape of Neigh Orleans came into view, it struck me how much the city had changed since I had been there years ago. The buildings were crumbling even from this distance, but I could recognize the city in any state.

I checked the map on my PipBuck, Stable 26 wasn't too far away now but I figured I could visit there later. In the meantime I was following the marker to a settlement that Focus had called the Quarter.

Even as we walked there was still signs of the war with the Crimson Empire here and there from 5 years prior. I suppose this meant the Firerain had been dealt with as well since we could still see the sun.

As we started to enter the ruins of Neigh Orleans, we had to navigate past several ruined buildings as well as flooded sections of the city that had once been where ponies lived and worked.

Arc Light actually seemed interested with what we were seeing. I guess that made sense if you spent your whole life underground then everything would be new to you.

I guess it was all new to me too, even the familiar places felt different.

I remembered this area of the city as we approached the settlement, the old Prench Quarter, I guess that was why they called in the Quarter.

"State your business here," the pony dressed in what looked like Stable security barding asked as he looked us over when we entered the settlement.

"I'm here to talk with the Followers," I said as I adjusted my hat a little. "I heard there was one here who could help with... nightmares."

The guard nodded, that seemed to satisfy him as we headed into the town. There were a few ponies here and there dressed in military uniforms as well as the same security barding I had seen before, even some ponies dressed in normal Stable barding with the number 26 on them.

"These are Stable Dwellers?" Arc Light asked curiously as we stopped to let a pair of foals cross our path, playing a game of tag.

"They're from Stable 26 yeah, it's just a little ways north of here," I said with a smile, a few of the ponies watched us curiously. "They must have settled here after the Stable fully opened."

"Fully opened? What sadistic experiment did you put them through?" Arc Light asked, which made me cringe. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to this."

"It's fine, I deserved that," I said with a groan. "But no, Stable 26 was actually not given an experiment at all, at least not a traditional one. I left the inhabitants instructions to build their own society and government from the ground up without any interference from Stable-Tec. The idea was that after awhile, an inhabitant would leave to prove that the Stable's inhabitants could survive."

"Well, it looks like it worked," Arc said and I nodded as we kept walking.

As we went past an alleyway, I was surprised to hear a soft whimpering. I turned and looked, surprised to see a small Pegasus Filly that couldn't be older than 4 years old looking at me, she was red colored with a gold and red mane and let out a small eep before hiding.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly, trying not to scare the filly as she looked out at me again, I offered her a hoof. "Where's your parents?"

"I... don't know, I got separated from my momma and sis," the filly said quietly. "All the ponies are big and scary..."
I smiled gently, she reminded me a little of Cloudy, only less energetic. Poor kid, maybe there was some way I could help her.

"Well, where is your momma? Maybe I can help you find her," I said, the filly looked at me for a moment before taking my hoof. "Its okay, my name is Scootaloo, but everypony calls me Wanderer, what's yours?"

"S-S-Sunny Sky," she said as she came out of hiding.

"Okay Sunny, it's nice to meet you," I said with a smile as we started to walk and look for her parents.

Arc Light looked at me and Sunny curiously but didn't question it as we started walking around town. I was amazed at how many ponies there were living here, but it made sense given the original population plus ponies that moved into the settlement.

"Sunny!" A mare's voice called out and we all looked up to see a blue Pegasus mare dressed in light armor and wearing a pair of goggles galloping over to us and picked Sunny up.

"Momma!" Sunny said more energetically than before as she hugged the older mare, me and Arc Light hung back and I smiled a little.

"Don't scare me like that, I'm just glad you're okay," the older Pegasus said, she was crying a little as she hugged her daughter before turning to look at me and Arc. "Did you two find her?"

"Yeah, we found her," I said with a smile and a tip of my hat before offering her a hoof. "I'm Wanderer, this is Arc Light."

"I'm Bluesky, its nice to meet you both," the blue mare said with a smile as she shook my hoof.

Wow, I really did seem to be meeting a lot of Wasteland heroes on this trip didn't I?

"Ruby should be home with Sapphire in a bit, but until then you two can make yourselves at home," Bluesky said as we entered the building that she and her family called home.

"Thanks Bluesky," I said with a smile as I sat on the old couch and looked around, there were a few pictures here and there, mostly of Bluesky and a pony I could only assume was Ruby. There was also pictures from during the war of ponies I didn't really recognize other than mentions in Ruby's book.

"So Sunny told me the craziest thing," Bluesky said as Arc Light went to get some food. "She said you told her that your name was Scootaloo, but that's crazy, right? Or did you have strange parents?"

I paused a moment. "No, Scootaloo really is my name," I said, she didn't seem to be an Enclave agent so I could probably tell her, so I removed my hat. "Yeah, I'm really Scootaloo."

"Oh my gosh, I have a million questions!" Bluesky said excitedly as she jumped to her hooves.

And she asked a lot of things about me, mostly about how I was still alive, no real surprise there. She also asked about my life before and during the Great War, I got the impression that she likely knew some of this already, but she definitely seemed to enjoy hearing about it from me.

I did surprise her a bit when she learned that I had a daughter before I was exiled, I guess that hadn't become common knowledge which made sense.

"Well, I'm sorry you don't know about your family," Bluesky said with a frown. "I'd tell you if I knew anything, but I barely know anything about my own family."

"Why all these questions about me anyway?" I asked curiously as Arc Light came back into the living room.

"My mom was a Dashite, she was exiled before I was born and wound up in the ruins of Horseton," Bluesky said, ah, yeah that made sense. "She told me and my sister about you and the other more well known Dashites, and I was curious."

"Probably better stories than I got," Arc Light said with a chuckle as she took a seat.

"So, you and Ruby got married huh?" I asked Bluesky who nodded. "That's great, but a bit of a spoiler for Ruby's book."

This just got a laugh from Bluesky. "Well, there's probably going to be a lot of those around here, don't worry about it."

This was actually kind of nice, it gave me a chance to just relax a little before I had to worry about dealing with my nightmares again. It turned out that Sunny and Sapphire were twin fillies, as Bluesky told me at least, I guess they had found that spell that Twilight had used.

I sighed a little as I thought back to Sweetie Belle. It wasn't common knowledge but the two of us had been, close while we ran Stable-Tec. We had never gotten a chance to make it anything special, but we had even considered having a foal once the war was over if we survived.

Yeah, that didn't exactly work out for us, and I hadn't really thought I'd find love again, needless to say I was wrong. Still... I really missed Sweetie Belle, more than almost anypony else.

"We're home!" A voice with a slight accent said as the door opened and shut.

"We're in the living room, we have guests," Bluesky called out.

A blue Unicorn filly about the same size as Sunny trotted in and hugged Bluesky, that wasn't really anything unusual. What was unusual however was who walked in next.

She was a red color with a white mane and tail dressed in a white coat over Stable 26 barding. But what drew my attention was the fact that she had both wings and a horn, I didn't have to guess who this was, but I was shocked when I realized what it meant.

Ruby Starlight was an Alicorn.

"I'm sure this is a lot to take in," Ruby said as we moved upstairs to her private office. "Believe me, I was surprised too."

"How did this happen?" I asked curiously, I really needed to finish reading her book didn't I?

"It's, kind of a long story," Ruby said with a shrug. "It was something that happened at the end of the war after I gathered together fragments of a spell and, well, here I am."

I had to admit I was curious, but I got the feeling that she didn't really like talking about it very much so I let it pass. It wasn't like I couldn't learn about it from other sources anyway.

That being said I was curious more than anything, did this mean that she was an ascended Alicorn like Twilight was instead of an IMP Alicorn? That was pretty rare even before the war.

Ruby was definitely something special.

I told her about what I had been experiencing and she listened intently as I told her what was going on. When I told her that Focus had sent me here from Manehattan she chuckled a little.

"Well Scootaloo, the good news is that I think I can help you deal with the nightmares," she said. "It's kind of, complicated, but I promise it won't hurt you."

"What is it, some kind of spell?" I asked curiously, I hadn't heard of anything like this except for Luna's dreamwalking.

"Something like that, just lay down and close your eyes," Ruby said and I nodded and laid down on the couch and closed my eyes. "Allow yourself to drift off to sleep, don't worry Scootaloo, you're safe here.

I drifted off to sleep, though I swear I saw a glow of red.

I blinked as I realized I was back in my nightmare version of Ponyville. I sighed and just sat on the ground, I knew how this was going to end, there was no point in fighting it anymore.

This was my punishment, maybe it was the one I deserved... to be trapped forever away from my friends and loved ones until I died and went to Tartarus. Wow, that was a depressing thought...

"What troubles you, Scootaloo?" A voice said behind me as the world around me froze, one that I knew, but didn't think I'd ever hear again.

I turned around to see the regal form of Princess Luna, she wasn't wearing her royal finery, but it was definitely her.

"Your majesty," I said with a bow. "I thought you were dead."

"The same could be said of you Scootaloo," Luna said as she placed a hoof under my chin. "You do not have to be so formal anymore, I have no real authority in my current state."

"Your current state?" I asked curiously.

"I, am not Luna, not really, I am more an echo of her, a fragment that was placed in the subconscious of Ruby's ancestor," Luna said with a sigh. "I have no physical body anymore."

"Oh, wow I'm sorry," I said, that really put all of my problems in perspective didn't it? "So, I guess you're how she's going to help me then?"

"Of course," Luna said with a nod. "I would like to see your nightmare play out first."

I frowned, but nodded as the world around us started to move again. I had to stay strong, so I watched it play out as well, watched as the flames of balefire consumed the town and burned the ponies I had grown up with. I could tell that it pained Luna just as much as it did me, and as the flames faded the dreamworld froze again.

"I see, I understand," Luna said before looking at me. "Scootaloo, I am truly sorry for what happened during the war. We all made mistakes, perhaps Fluttershy was right and we should have tried harder to reach a peaceful solution."

"Well, you know what they say about hindsight," I said with a shake of my head. "I survived when my friends didn't, that's probably why I keep having these dreams."

"Perhaps, but I think there is something else," Luna said, which made me look at her strangely. "You are still looking for something, not family, not atonement... something else, something deeper."

"Are you always this cryptic?" I asked with a groan.

"I am sorry Scootaloo, I wish that there was more I could do for you," Luna said with a sigh. "You did not deserve this, nopony did, the fate of Equestria was my fault alone, can you forgive me?"

I looked at her for a long moment, could I forgive her? She wasn't wrong, but at the same time, I was trying to find forgiveness, I couldn't look for that if I wasn't willing to give it could I?

"Luna, I forgive you," I said with a smile. "Will you forgive me for what I did and what I tried to do?"

"Scootaloo, you made mistakes, but you tried to do the right thing," Luna said with a smile and wrapped a wing around me. "I forgive you, but remember that no matter what you do, you are a good pony."

I don't know if it was because Luna said it, or just because it was what I needed to hear, but that helped me feel better. I hugged Luna and smiled as the dream around me started to fade.

"Do not worry Scootaloo, you still have a long way to go before you're recovered, but I have faith in you," she said, and with that she vanished into the ether and I woke up.

I looked up at the ceiling of Ruby's home office, I still felt a little sweat, but for the most part I felt fine. I didn't know exactly how that worked, but talking to Luna actually did help a little.

"Any luck?" Ruby asked as I looked over at her.

"Yeah, a little bit," I said as I sat up and stretched my wings out. "I can't believe Luna is still alive, well, kind of."

"Yeah, it surprised me too, imagine finding out you have a princess living in your head," Ruby said with a light chuckle. "It certainly comes in handy with ponies, kind of a shame that it's limited to just when I can use the spell."

"That's okay," I said with a shrug as I got to my hooves. "It was nice meeting you Ruby."

"You too Scootaloo," Ruby said with a smile. "How long are you and Arc Light planning to stay in town?"
"Probably just a few days, and Arc Light is looking for some sort of, Enclave Warlord or something that she heard made their home here," I said with a shrug.

"Sorry, I can't help you there," she said with a sigh. "Though, if you want to stay for dinner, maybe Bluesky can help you, or if you want to ask around."

"Sure, that sounds great," I said with a smile. "We'll find a place to stay in town and join you this evening?"

"Sounds good, dinner should be at 1830," Ruby said with a nod.

"Okay, see you then," I said and went to go talk to Arc Light downstairs.

"This is DJ Pon3 coming at you with a news report," DJ Pon3 said over my earbuds as we walked out of the hotel. "News reports are coming in from around Equestria of unusual activity being carried out at night as ponies seem to be vanishing under unknown circumstances. Authorities have no idea who is behind these kidnappings, but paranoia is starting to run rampant in the settlements that are affected. If anypony out there has any information on these incidents, please don't keep it to yourself."

That was weird, it didn't sound like the Enclave's M.O., but there wasn't really much I could do other than wonder.

"Any idea what we should expect here?" Arc Light asked as we headed back to the house. "Just a normal dinner, right?"

"Yeah, of course," I said with a light smile as we knocked on the door and Bluesky welcomed us into the house.

Soon enough we were seated at the table with me sitting next to Sunny as Ruby passed out the food and took her seat.

"So, you're from a Stable like mommy?" The Unicorn filly Sapphire asked as she looked at Arc Light's Stable barding.

"Yeah, I am," Arc Light said with a sad smile. "I'm from Stable 66 up in Manehattan, I've been traveling with Scootaloo here since we left Manehattan."

"Cool," Sapphire said.

"Scootaloo, I wanted to ask you some questions," Ruby said, making me perk up curiously. "About Stable 26 I mean, why did you pick my family?"

"Your ancestor was Star Heart and her family right?" I asked and she nodded. "Her father, Haze, after his sister died in battle, he started to question the war. I, kind of knew him and Gold Leaf a long time ago, so when I made the Stable, I made sure he was on the list for 26, he fit the requirement anyway."

"You knew him?" Ruby asked curiously. "When?"

"Before I moved to Ponyville, I lived in Neigh Orleans," I said, which got a surprised look from Ruby and Bluesky. "I was born here actually, after I lost my parents I was shipped around a lot before finally winding up in a foster home in Ponyville. I knew Haze and Gold Leaf in the orphanage here, they were good ponies."

I remembered back to them, it was actually kind of nice to know that their family had survived for this long. They would be proud of what Ruby has accomplished.

Just two more friends I'd never get to see again.

"Well, I'm glad it all worked out," I said. "Stable 26 was important to me, and I'm glad it all worked out. You did a great job Ruby, you made this settlement possible, and you helped Equestria a lot. That's more than anypony ever could've asked of you, and you performed admirably."

"Thank you Scootaloo," Ruby said with a smile as a blush creeped over her face, it was strange but it was still visible despite her red coloring. "I did my best really, but I'm not anything special."

Bluesky just laughed a little, I couldn't help but chuckle too, even when she was an Alicorn she was humble, I liked that.

"So, Ruby said you're looking for the Enclave?" Bluesky asked, looking at Arc Light.

"Yeah, the Enclave may have taken a friend of mine so I'm looking for any clues about where they took her," Arc Light said and I nodded in agreement. "There's a rumor that one of their Generals is in this area."

"Well, I don't know anything about Generals, but you might want to try Lakeview," Bluesky said with a shrug. "Its a settlement almost entirely populated by Pegasi, many of them are Dashites, they might know something."

"We'll check it out," I said and Arc Light nodded in agreement. "Anypony in particular we should talk to?"

"I'd try Shimmering Skies," Bluesky suggests. "She's in charge over there."

We nodded and continued eating, it was going to be an interesting few days at this rate.

"So, what can you tell me about the Enclave?" Arc Light asked as we got situated in our hotel room that night.

"Really I can't tell you more than you've heard from anypony here," I said with a sigh as I slipped out of my coat.

"Yeah, but you had to live under them right?" Arc asked.

"I lived under them in the early days yes," I said with a shrug. "They were just starting to gain power among the Pegasi, they didn't rule them, at least not completely. They really just took advantage of the growing thoughts and feelings among the Pegasi about what had happened, and not to mention the eclipse."

"The eclipse?" Arc asked.

"Its something Twilight told me once when I met her daughter, something she learned about while she was in another world," I said, which got a strange look from Arc. "Long story, but this other world's sun and moon acted differently than ours, so sometimes they would, overlap or something. I think Equestria experienced one, but the Pegasi didn't know what it was so they panicked, and the Enclave took advantage of that, insisting that the Princesses had forsaken us or something."

"Geez, sounds like a real piece of work," Arc said with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, well by then I was living in Coltlumbia with my husband and daughter," I continued. "I started to speak out you know? After Rainbow Dash left, I felt we had a duty to go back to the surface and help ponies. The government didn't like that, so they arrested me for treason, branded off my cutie mark, and exiled me."

I didn't realize it at first but I was starting to cry as I told the story. This was the story of how I had lost my family, even if I found any surviving family, I'd never get to hold my little filly in my hooves again.

That was probably the hardest thing to accept.

"Well, it seems it grew back," Arc commented as she glanced at my flank.

"Yeah, I don't know what's up with that either, probably related to the magical stasis I was in, I guess it had some sort of healing effect," I said with a shrug as I climbed into bed and pulled the covers over me.

"Scootaloo..." Arc said and trailed off for a moment. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

"So do I Arc, so do I," I said with a yawn. "And I hope you find your friend."

Arc didn't reply, instead the room was filled with her light snoring. I smiled and drifted off to sleep not long after.

When I opened my eyes I was surprised to find myself looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling and the feeling of warmth against my body. I looked down and was surprised to see Sweetie Belle resting against me sleeping peacefully.

What was going on? Was my whole life up to this point just a dream and I was waking up? Or was something else happening?

"Scootaloo, are you okay?" Sweetie asked as she looked up at me confused. "You seem more tense than ususal."

"Sorry Sweetie, I've just been, stressed out lately I guess," I said, I was still trying to process what was going on here, but I didn't want to ruin it so I just hugged her. "I'm so glad to see you again Sweetie Belle."

"What are you talking about, you just saw me a few hours ago," Sweetie said and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Come on, Cloudy will be up soon, lets go get breakfast ready."

I blinked a little and followed her, I took a look out the window and everything was so, normal. There was still a few signs of the war here and there, but things actually looked like they had almost returned to what it was like before the war.

It was everything I had ever wanted, then why did it feel wrong?

"Scootaloo, I know things haven't been easy for you since the war ended," Sweetie said as we started to make breakfast. "The Doctor said you're starting to make progress, are you still having those dreams?"

Before I could answer there was the sound of hooves running and I was hugged by a pair of small forelegs. I looked down and smiled at the little blue Pegasus filly with a purple mane looking up at me and hugged her gently.

"Hey Cloudy," I said as I held my daughter, tears starting to stream down my face as I did. "How'd you sleep?"

"Great!" Cloudy said with a smile as she kept hugging me, Sweetie Belle hugged the two of us and smiled.

"You're going to be just fine Scootaloo, I promise," Sweetie said as she nuzzled me gently. "Your family is here for you."

I didn't care if this was a dream or not, this was the best dream I had ever had. I just wished that it didn't have to end.

"Come on, lets go see what your aunt Rainbow Dash is up to," Sweetie said with a smile as we headed out of the house.

When I woke up the next morning back in the Quarter it was disappointing, I even pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Of course the fact that I woke up to Schooner licking my face also probably should have been a hint that it was real.

"Are you okay Scootaloo?" Arc Light asked as we left the Quarter, I hadn't really been very talkative since we left the hotel.

"Honestly? I don't know," I admitted, I was still thinking about the dream I had the night before, it felt like my subconscious had been mocking me with that. "Just, thinking about something is all."

We kept walking towards Lakeview, luckily it wasn't too far away from the Quarter. As we reached about the halfway point though, Schooner stopped and growled.

"What is it boy?" I asked as I checked my EFS, there was definitely something around here, I readied my battle saddle and glanced at Arc Light who levitated her rifle out.

"What is it?" She whispered to me.

"I don't know, keep an eye out for anything" I answered and we started to walk forward carefully, the bars on my EFS were yellow for the moment, so I just had to hope that it wasn't going to turn red and attack us.

As we moved farther along however our luck didn't hold as the ground below our hooves started to shake and we pulled back just in time as some, thing burst out of the ground. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, it looked vaguely like a crab only with long claws and a hard shell.

It was followed by two more, and even when I entered S.A.T.S. to get at them, my bullets just wound up hitting their hard shells and doing barely any damage. That figured really, we couldn't even hurt these things.

"What do we do?" Arc Light asked as we kept shooting.

"I have no idea, I don't know how to fight this thing!" I said with a groan, why did we have to run into this now?

There was a sudden shot from above and the crab monster turned into, a puddle of goop? That was unexpected, the other crab looked up which gave me a window to take it out with a few well placed shots to the head.

"You two really should be careful," a voice from above us said as a pony landed near us, a Pegasus dressed in beaten up Enclave power armor, she looked at us through the insect-like visor. "You must be new here, most ponies know to avoid this stretch of Canal because of the Sand Crabs."

"Uh, yeah, sorry we're from up north," I said. "I'm Wanderer, this is Arc Light, we're on our way to Lakeview."

"Are you with the Enclave?" Arc Light asked, which made the pony let out a laugh.

"I was, I went Dashite a few years ago, a lot of us did," she said. "We're just trying to make a home here, and the Enclave doesn't really understand that."

"Well that's good," I said with a smile. "I'm glad there are ponies out there that don't agree with the Enclave's policies."

The armored pony nodded and we went on towards Lakeview.

The trip to Lakeview was pretty uneventful, we passed through an overgrown park area, thankfully our guide seemed to know the best route through the park. When we left we found ourselves on a street where there was a gate with ponies keeping an eye out.

"Ma'am, I'm glad you made it back in one piece," the guards said with a salute as we approached the gate.

"Its no big deal, I can handle anything the city can throw at me," our guide said with a chuckle as the gates opened. "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Just the usual caravan passing through," the guard said as we walked into the settlement itself onto the market street.

"You've done a nice job around here," I commented as I looked at the market.

"Yeah, we have, the last few years have been good to us," our guide said as we reached a building labeled town hall and she lead us into an office. "So, what really brings you here? You don't look like traders and we don't get guests very often from the north."

"We're, looking for information on the Enclave," Arc Light said and I nodded. "We think they may have taken a friend of mine. We came this way because there's a rumor that a General has made their home somewhere in the city, and we were directed here."

The strange mare paused a long moment before removing her helmet, beneath it was a golden colored mare with orange eyes and a short lighter gold mane. There was something about this mare, even if I didn't know who she was, there was something about her that commanded respect.

"My name is Shimmering Skies, I run the settlement here," she said and offered a hoof for us to shake. "I'm also a Dashite, I was... under the General that you're looking for so to speak."

"Really, where are they?" I asked, I hadn't heard of any stories of the Enclave attacking the city, so something about this was weird. "I mean, nopony seems to know where they are."

"The Enclave learned from their mistakes," Shimmering said. "And since General Marigold was killed, some of the Generals have moved more underground, well except for Cloud Chaser, but even he's gone quiet from what little I've heard. I'm sorry Arc Light, I can't really tell you much more than that."

I sighed a little, making sure my hat was secure, it seemed this trip was a dud from the Enclave perspective. Maybe at the very least we could get some more intel on them.

I was surprised to see Shimmering Skies looking at me curiously. I wasn't sure what could've attracted her attention so much, but I backed away a little, I wasn't sure if she was ready to know who I really was yet.

"So, you're the Wanderer huh? I've heard about you from Pon3's broadcasts," she says. "I'm sure you don't want to give away your real identity, but I have to admit that I'm curious."

"Everypony has secrets," I said with a shake of my head. "My secret is, too big for just anypony to know, at least for now."

"I understand," Shimmering said with a nod. "There are some secrets the world isn't ready for yet, something I know all too well."

I looked at her curiously for a moment, but I wasn't about to pry as she removed her armor, I spotted the very familiar Dashite brand on her flank as she stretched her wings out.

"Why did you turn on the Enclave?" I asked curiously.

"After Sunshine and Rainbows, the Enclave started to clamp down even more, its what caused events like the Coltlumbia Rebellion and the Civil War that followed," Shimmering explained with a sigh. "Then there was the selection of the President and the formation of the Wonderbolt Generals. Since then, things have gotten too desperate and the Enclave is trying to take over the Wasteland, many of us didn't agree with that, and well, even with the Enclave Remnant, the Dashite policy still stands."

"Yeah, that is certainly a pain in the flank," I said with a groan, remembering when I was branded, which got a strange look from Shimmering.

"Interesting choice of words," she said, crap, me and my big muzzle. "Are you a Dashite too, Wanderer?"

"Its, complicated, and part of the reason I want to keep my identity a secret," I said with a sigh. "Lets just say I left a long time ago."

Shimmering nodded in understanding. "Well, Dashites are welcome here for as long as you want to stay, as are Stable Dwellers."

We smiled and headed back out of her office.

We spent a few weeks in Neigh Orleans before I went to talk to Ruby again, there was one place I wanted to go while I was here to make sure that everything was in order.

I had to take a trip to Stable 26. Arc Light said that she wanted to stay behind in the Quarter, I guess I understood, which is how I wound up standing in front of the Stable door with Ruby.

"What are you looking for here?" Ruby asked as I opened the door using my Stable-Tec override code.

"Its, complicated," I said with a long pause. "Its probably nothing really, I just need to check on something that was placed in your Stable."

"You placed something in Stable 26?" Ruby asked curiously. "What was it?"

"Nothing you should be concerned with," I said as the door opened. "Its probably nothing anyway."

Ruby nodded and we headed in, it was kind of strange to see the Stable empty, but I was actually happy here. It meant that Stable 26 had worked, I had given it the best chance I could, so the fact that it worked filled me with confidence that I had done the right thing all those years ago.

Still, it was kind of creepy to walk through the empty hallways and rooms. The Stable was completely empty other than the equipment, it was like walking through a ghost town.

"What was it like growing up here?" I asked Ruby.

"It wasn't too bad," Ruby said with a shrug. "The Stable's council always made sure that we were taken care of. Especially after what happened to my parents..."

"What happened to them?" I asked, I knew that they had died but Ruby never really went into detail in her book.

"There was an accident with the air filtration systems, they, saved everypony else in the Stable, but it cost them their lives," Ruby said sadly. "I was still young at the time, friends of my parents took me in and, well, you know the rest."

I nodded as we entered the Council office, it was a little bigger than your standard Overmare office with a table at the center. I took a seat at a terminal on the desk off to the side and started typing.

"I saw the memory orb of your parents' accident..." Ruby said, which made me pause a moment. "Scootaloo, I'm sorry... it couldn't have been easy for you to carry that around with you for so long."

"It wasn't," I admitted with a sigh. "I manged to deal with it for awhile, having Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle helped but when the war started up... well it didn't help any and a lot of those memories were brought back up."

"Oh," Ruby said with an understanding nod.

I finished inputting the commands and brought up the lines of code from the terminal for what I wanted and then the information.

TIME SINCE LAST ACCESS: 211 YEARS, 2 MONTHS.

Well that's good, it meant it hadn't been accessed since last time I was here, which was a few months before the Megaspells fell. I continued to scroll down, checking the information.

FAILSAFE PROTOCOL: ACTIVE.
PROTOCOL ZETA: OFFLINE
KEY: INTACT

That just confirmed what I knew from the Stable-Tec building, well at least that meant the computer wasn't just messing up, that was a good sign.

STABLE NETWORK: STATUS UNKNOWN.

Well, that wasn't good, but there was nothing I could do from here.

"What's Protocol Zeta?" Ruby asked looking over my withers.

"Nothing you should worry about, just something I wanted to check on," I said and closed up the terminal. "Lets get back to the Quarter."

Ruby nodded and we headed out of the Stable.

Another two weeks passed, it was actually kind of nice to be in the Quarter, like for the first time we really could settle down. That being said, I was starting to feel a bit antsy and so was Arc Light.

After all we still had to find the Enclave, and I wasn't any closer to finding the answers I was looking for here. So we were discussing where to go next when the radio suddenly changed to DJ Pon3's voice.

"Ponies of the Equestrian Wasteland, this is DJ Pon3 coming at you with a special news bulletin. The Enclave Remnant under General Bluejay has taken control of the city of New Pegasus following the death of Mr. Rider. The New Canterlot Republic is starting to mobilize their forces to move onto the city, but there is little hope of them getting there in time. The status of the ponies living in New Pegasus is currently unknown. Pray to Celestia or whatever deity you believe in that the Enclave can be stopped in time."

"Looks like we know where we have to go next," I said as I looked over at Arc Light and she nodded in agreement.

It didn't take long to get ready, we bought the ammunition and provisions we were going to need before setting out to the north. Our next stop was the train station, and hopefully after that New Pegasus.

It was time to get answers from the Enclave.

LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: I Prefer to be Called a Hacker, Rank 1.
Details: You've developed your skills with terminals to the point where terminals have a harder time keeping you out. You can now hack advanced terminals.