I sighed and laid back on the bed in my quarters aboard the Nightingale. Apparently it had been meant for the ship's first officer so I was on my own for the moment while my friends were staying nearby.

I sighed a little and took out my journal as I finished writing everything that had happened the day before. The war with the Enclave had changed in more ways than any of us had ever imagined.

And then there was the ponies that would be escorting us into the city. I could feel the tension between the two groups, in particular the commanders who didn't seem to like the idea at all, I just had to hope that everything was going to be okay.

I looked out the window, it was night time as I looked at the starry sky beyond. There was a lot of stars out there, I had to wonder what else might be out there in the stars. The Zebras believed that they were evil, but could there be something else out there?

I sighed and closed my eyes and laid back down for a long moment. I was starting to fall asleep when there was a knock at the door. I got up and was surprised to see Winter standing there dressed in a robe.

"Madam President," I said with a polite bow. "Can I help you?"

"You can just call me Winter until the battle starts," Winter said with a smile. "Do you mind if I come inside? I can't sleep, and I just wanted to talk to you for a little while, if that's okay."

"Of course," I said and ushered her inside. "Is everything okay?"

Winter paused a moment and sighed as she took a seat on the bed. "I'm just, thinking about a lot of things that's going on. I've never been able to sleep well the night before a battle honestly, I keep thinking about all the ponies who are going to be fighting, and now I'm fighting my own people, that doesn't really help."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I admitted with a sigh as I looked at her. "Even with everything that happened, the cloud cover was my home for a few years. I left my family there, no matter how much I may have regretted it. I, honestly don't know what I'm going to do from here."

"It, certainly doesn't help that Coltlumbia was our capitol city," Winter said with a sigh. "Scootaloo, I'm afraid. When everything is said and done, what is my legacy going to be? I caused so amny deaths, I used to try and remember the names of all the Enclave soldiers lost but..."

"But they just blended together?" I asked and she nodded. "Winter, you've done everything you can to make things better for Equestria. We all have our legacies, and I believe that if you keep being the good pony I know you are, then I know you'll do fine."

Winter smiled softly and nodded. "Thank you Scootaloo, hopefully you're right. I'm going to have to pay for my crimes still somehow. I just hope that the ponies who follow me will understand and it won't cause another war when it happens."

"Maybe you and your friends could join us in Crusader Town," I suggested and Winter looked at me curiously. "I mean, you don't have to be a politician, but you could do a lot more to help us. You could help build the settlement with us, help make it a good place to live, maybe even..."

I trailed off for a second, there was something that Winter could do and do it well based on everything I knew about her. I just wasn't sure if she'd agree to it given everything that she had been through. There was always a chance though, and ultimately she would probably be willing to do it.

"What is it?"

"I'd like you to be a teacher, if you're willing and able to do it," I said with a soft smile and offered her a hoof. "We don't need a politician or a soldier, we just need you to be a teacher. What do you say, once your punishment is over, you can come teach fillies and colts again."

Winter looked at me surprised, not that I was surprised by that. She probably didn't expect me to make that kind of offer to her but I could tell in her eyes that she was considering it.

"All I ever wanted to be was be a teacher..." she said softly. "After everything I've done, are you sure you can trust me with it?"

"I know I can," I said with a smile. "Winter, I trust you, I would trust you with my own foals. Which I guess I'm going to, don't worry, you'll do fine."

"Thank you..." Winter said and hugged me gently.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked and she nodded. "Back in Whitehome when you sent me that message you offered me a pardon. I, always wondered why you were so interested in getting me on your side, can I ask why?"

"Because we're family," Winter said with a sigh. "When I heard you woke up I wanted to give you the best life I could in the Wasteland. You're the only that made me who I am today, and I knew thatt you deserved a good life after what happened before, and I wasn't sure what you'd find in Equestria. You proved me wrong though, and now we're in the same boat."

"Like you said, we can still make a better future, together," I said with a smile. "And don't worry about tomorrow, everypony out there is fighting for the same thing. To make sure that Equestria has a future beyond what Cloud Chaser offers, and we're going to make sure that the future is a good one."

"Of course, I just hope that the ponies assigned to your team won't be a problem," Winter said with a sigh. "They're all good ponies, but they've been fighting each other so long. Good luck, I have faith in you."

"Thanks, I'll make sure I don't betray that faith," I said with a nod.

"I know you won't... well thanks for listening to me, that should've helped," Winter said with a smile. "I should get back to Spectra, thanks for talking with me Scootaloo."

"You're welcome," I said with a smile as Winter headed out again. I laid back and cloused my eyes as I thought about everything that was going on.

What was going to happen to me once this war was over? Had I done enough to make up for my mistakes or was it going to be my fate to spend the rest of my life making up for them?

Maybe building that town was going to be enough, it was hard to tell but it at least gave me a chance. I was going to help Equestria in any way I could, and give ponies who wanted to do the same a place to live and work.

I thought about Winter for a moment, I wasn't ever that good at statistics, but what were the odds that one of my descendants and one of Rainbow Dash's family members got together and had a foal? Two families seperated by over 200 years and they had found each other again.

It felt like my family and Rainbow Dash's family were still connected after this long. I missed Rainbow, but the fact that our families had come back together, that was amazing to me.

I just hoped that everything would go okay with everything that was going on. I yawned and closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I took a deep breath as we looked at the cloud city of Coltlumbia in the distance. The buildings and the large walled sections and battlements were on full alert, the Nightingale was out of range and things were getting a bit more intense right now.

I sighed a little as Arc and Riva moved next to me. "That's, quite the city. Are we going to be okay going in there?" Arc commented.

"Honestly? I have no idea," I said with a sigh and looked back at our escorts who were getting their equipment together seperately. "What about them, are they going to get along?"

"About as well as can be expected," Riva said with a shake of her head. "If you told the Alliance and the Legion that they would have to work together than they would be at each other's throats."

"So, at least they're not trying to kill each other right now," Arc commented with a shake of her head. "Now we just have to hope that holds up when we're in a battle situation."

I nodded and sighed a little as I looked at Garnet and Sunset. The two were shooting looks at each other. "I'll talk to them, or at least try to," I said and walked over to the Enclave troops first. "Commander Bright Sunrise?"

"General Dash, ma'am," Sunrise said as she saluted me. "We're ready and willing to follow your orders."

Well, at least the Enclave was willing to follow the chain of command. I admit I was a bit nervous going into this, but that helped a little.

"Well, that's good to hear," I said, I didn't want my nervousness to show. "Listen, we need to try and make sure that we don't cause problems with the NCR. I know things aren't going to be easy, but can you promise me that you'll get along with them as best you can?"

"General, I know you've been working with them for awhile..." Sunrise said and sighed a little. "We're here because we believe in what the President stands for, if she says that you can be trusted then we trust you."

A stallion huffed a little at that, but Sunrise shot him a look and he flinched a little. "Is there a problem Private Dust?"

"No ma'am," the Private said, his voice cracked a little as I looked over at him.

"Private, if there is going to be a problem with this, I'd prefer to know about it now than it come up when we enter the city," I said and shot him a look. "We're going into a warzone and we need to know that we can trust each other to watch each other's backs."

I looked back at the NCR soldiers for a moment and sighed as I looked back at the Thunderbolts and sighed.

"We all need to make sure we can trust one another," I said with a nod. "We're going into the most heavily fortified city in Equestria. We're in the heart of enemy territory, and if we don't work together, then we aren't going to make it out of here alive. I know you've been fighting each other for the last few months, but we're here in common cause. Please, we're here to stop the Enclave to make sure that Equestria has a future, that our familes have a future. That's something that we can all get behind, right?"

I looked between Sunrise and Garnet, it surprised me how close the looks on their faces looked to one another. I wondered just who these two soldiers were fighting for, they probably had their families that they wanted to keep safe.

I didn't want to think about the ponies I had killed ever since I first woke up... how many of them may have had families. I was starting to realize that I really wasn't made for war, but I had a job to do, and ponies of my own to protect.

"Understood General," Sunight, Dust, and the third Thunderbolt who I noticed was a Bat Pony said.

"What about you, Lieutenant?" I asked as I looked over at Garnet. "I've worked with the NCR closely this whole time. I have a lot of respect for the Rangers and I'd be glad to work with both groups."

"Can't we put aside our differences?" Arc asked as she and Riva moved up next to me. "At least wait until the battle is over."

"We don't need..." one of the NCR soldiers started to say but Garnet raised his hoof.

"We need their help," he finally said. "They know the city better than we do even with the maps. We'll work with the Enclave, for now, as long as they keep their word."

Private Dust looked like he was about to say something before Sunrise gave him a look. He gulped a little and backed off.

"Alright, good," I said and took a deep breath. This was the first mission I'd be doing as a General instead of as just a normal pony, I just hoped that everything was going to be okay.

Winter came in with Midnight and an Alicorn that was dressed in armor. Winter gave me a soft smile as she stopped in front of me. "General Dash, are you and your soldiers ready?"

"Yes ma'am," I said with a nervous salute. "Everything is in order, we know our orders and we're ready to go."

"Good," Midnight said and nodded to the Alicorn. "She'll be your ride to Stable 46 and the tunnel leading up into the city. Our, point of contact will directing things to make sure that you get there safely."

"Scootaloo, I wanted you to have this," Winter said in an informal tone as she took out a folded up uniform. "A pony from a settlement called Whitehome made these for all the new Wonderbolt Generals, I felt you might want to wear it."

I was a bit surprised when I unfolded it to see that it was an almost perfect replica of a Wonderbolt Uniform from before the war. I smiled a little and folded it back up before I put it in my bags next to the Shadowbolt uniform and the necklace given to me by Serenity.

Something told me these would be needed soon, it was just something at the back of my mind. I wondered if maybe she meant the Rarity clone, but that was something to wonder about later.

"Thank you Winter," I said softly and she nodded.

"Good luck and goddesspeed to all of you," Midnight said with a salute. "The future of Equestria is in your hooves."

We nodded and the Alicorn moved in between us. Her horn glowed and with a flash of light we were gone in an instant.

I've never been very good with teleportation, the few times that I've experienced it I've wound up feeling like I'm going to throw up the moment I landed. It was why I tended to use carriages and everything to move around during the war.

This trip was no different, as soon as we hit the ground my stomach lurched and I barely managed to compose myself with Arc's help. I gave the Unicorn a soft smile and a nod as I picked myself up.

"Thanks," I said softly to the Unicorn.

"You're welcome, don't worry about it," she said with a nod as we looked up towards the mountain above.

The foundation of the city was built into the side of the mountain, so it was the only way to get in and out of it past the ramparts.

It was hard to believe that I was looking up at Coltlumbia again for the first time in over 200 years. It was weird to feel like this, maybe it was because it was my last home before I left the cloud cover.

As I looked towards the cave that lead towards Stable 46 I noticed that Sunrise was looking up at it still. I could see through her helmet that she had a sad but determined look on her face and as we started to walk I moved up next to her.

"Lieutenant?" I asked and she looked at me snapping at attention. "At ease, I just want to talk with you."

"Uh, yes General, ma'am," Sunrise said nervously she hadn't expected me to try and talk to talk to her. "What's going on? Can I help you with something?"

"Well, I was wondering if something was bothering you," I said and looked at her for a moment. "I, know that look you had on your face when we arrived. If there's some reason that you can't work here, I'll send word for an Alicorn to come and pick you up."

"No!" Sunrise said with such force it actually stopped us for a moment. "I mean, no, I'll be fine. I have to go on this mission."

Okay, that definitely got my attention, there was something bothering this mare and I was going to try and get to the bottom of it. If this was going to keep us from finishing the mission then we needed to know what it was.

"What's wrong Lieutenant?" I asked and Sunrise realized that all eyes in the group were suddenly on her. "We're going into a battle situation, I need to know that I can trust you not to do something reckless."

"I... I have a son, who's in Coltlumbia with my parents..." she said softly. "I was assigned to work in Thunderhead while the President was doing her thing in the Stable. I, don't know what happened to them, I just have to hope he's okay. I'm sorry, I, don't mean to be so distracted but I just want to know if my baby is okay..."

For a moment, I thought I saw a glint in the eye of the Ranger Commander as she said that. I looked at him curiously for a moment, wondering what that might mean before I looked back at Sunrise.

"Lieutenant, I know exactly where you're coming from," I said softly. "Its not easy being a parent these days, and I know that you're just trying to keep your family safe. I, can't promise anything but I'll do everything I can to make sure that your family gets out alive."

Sunrise looked at me surprised for a moment from behind her helmet and smiled a little before she nodded and looked back behind her at the other two Thunderbolts who were equally surprised. "What?"

"I'm, sorry Lieutenant, I didn't know," Private Dust managed to stammer out and the bat pony nodded in agreement. "I'm, sorry."

"Come on, we have to get to the city before the battle starts," Garnet said but he didn't sound unsympathetic. He instead gave Sunrise a nod and a reassuring smile, I couldn't help but smile a little too.

If nothing else, this moment had managed to bring us together more as a group. Maybe this wouldn't be as much of a problem after all, at least I hoped not.

We made our way through the tunnel and up through the cloud foundation of Coltlumbia towards Flankton. When we came out from the tunnel we were up against a door that had a seal painted onto it with the symbol of the Enclave with the worlds "President of the Grand Pegasus Enclave" written around it.

"Well, I guess that means we're in the right place," I said as I typed in the code on the cloud terminal that was attached to the wall next to it. We waited a moment before the door opened and we found ourselves in a store room for a dingy looking bar.

"Flankton, we're right in the middle of the industrial sector of Coltlumbia," Sunrise said and gave us the quick lowdown on the area. "This place used to be privately owned before the Coltlumbia Uprising, but when everything went down, in particular given that a lot of the rebels came from this part of the city, it was nationalized by the government under the President. It, wasn't a very popular decision on her part among what was left of the Upper Class given that it was always used as, well..."

"Slave labor," I said with a shake of my head. "Some things don't change in 200 years, Flankton workers were basically paid as little as possible and they were always lower class. Sky Walker had to go into this place a lot while he was working on the Force, and he hated it."

"If you believe the stories, the late General Bluejay came from a place like this," Sunrise said. "They say that she was born in a lower class family and she pulled herself up and worked hard to get where she was. A rather striking comparison to other Generals who were born into military families. At least, that's what I've heard, you don't really know with Bluejay, spooks like her can be very mysterious."

That actually made sense from what little I knew about Bluejay. She was ambitious, which was why she had gone after New Pegasus, if she had to build herself up from the lowest levels of the Enclave society, then that kind of ambition made a lot more sense.

Mind you, I still didn't like everything she had done back in New Pegasus, but at the very least it made more sense to me.

"So, how much resistance are we going to meet here?" Riva asked.

"Unknown, but we need to find Colonel Fulbright, hopefully if we can convince him to join us then Flankton won't be much of a problem," I said with a sigh. "There is still the matter of the rest of the city though, this isn't going to be easy, but this is our best chance at ending the war. With teams being teleported into the city everywhere, then the Enclave Hardliners are going to have to spread their forces across the city."

"Hopefully they're not going to have enough to put up enough of a resistance," Arc commented. "I just hope you know what you're doing Scootaloo."

I sighed as we pushed our way out into the bar which was abandoned at the moment save for a bartender who looked up at us and was about to reach for a gun when we raised our weapons at him. "Do you really want to do that?"

"What are you doing here?" He demanded as we started to do a sweep of the bar to make sure there wasn't any surveillance equipment or whatever.

"We're here to stop Cloud Chaser and his forces and push them out of the city," I said as I looked at the bartender and made sure that I kept my trigger close. "Is that going to be a problem?"

The bartender looked at me and then at the other soldiers and ponies for a long moment and then sighed as he moved away from his gun. "Look, I've lived here all my life, I've seen the leadership of the Enclave change more times than I can count, not to mention revolts. Things ain't gonna change anytime soon, Contrails, Daisy Bloom, Stormy Skies, Winter Breeze, Cloud Chaser... it doesn't matter here. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

"Things are going to change," I said softly. "We're here to change things, to make sure that Coltlumbia has a future beyond just what the Enclave Hardliners offer."

"That's what Daisy said 10 years back, a fat lot of good that did her," the bartender said and sighed a little. "I won't report you if that's what you're afraid of. But you better get going, the night shift will be over soon and they'll be heading for the bar like they do every morning."

I nodded and looked back at the bartender for a moment as we headed out of the bar and out into the city. Looking behind us I saw the bar was called the Graveyard Shift. I sighed a little and we started walking down the paved streets and looked around at the old ramshackle buildings that made up this part of the city.

Here there were ponies huddled together for warmth, I frowned a little at that. Winter said that she had done everything she could to help this place, while I trusted her I didn't believe that Cloud Chaser and his forces would've cared enough about it.

I sighed and we headed towards the entrance to Flankton proper.

We made our way into Flankton with its large factories and other buildings that had once belonged to the industrialists that ran the section of the city. I wondered exactly how everything had gone down in the city years back during the uprising, but I didn't have much of a chance to think on it.

It was quiet other than the sounds of the factories and only a few ponies were around other than a few guards on the other side of the building. The ones that were here were unconscious near us and I blinked when I saw two Unicorns standing there, both were blue with curled brown manes and tails as they looked at us curiously.

"Curious brother, it seems that we have found the anomaly after all," the mare said and I blinked a little, there was something familiar about these two.

"Indeed, I must say I wasn't expecting this kind of change," the stallion said as they looked at me curiously.

"Who are you two?" Riva asked as we looked at the two Unicorns, our weapons drawn as we stared them down. "Did you knock those soldiers out?"

"Perhaps."

"Or perhaps they were always knocked out."

"Or they have yet to be knocked out."

"Okay, now I recognize you two," Sunrise said with a groan. "You're those Unicorn twins that were in league with the rebellion. Infinity and Beyond right? I heard the reports, you vanished after the uprising was stopped."

"Wait, Infinity and Beyond?" I asked in surprise, now I knew who these two were. "You worked for the Ministry of Arcane Science during the war, how are you even still alive?"

"Are we all alive?" Infinity asked.

"Or are we all dead?" Beyond asked.

"Perhaps we are..."

"...both at once."

"Who are these two?" Arc asked as she looked at me.

"Like I said, they were alive during the war working for the MAS," I said and frowned a little. "They did some work with Stable-Tec as well, including somehow being involved with whatever Twilight Sparkle had planned for Stable 13. They weren't exactly this weird back then, but they specialize in quantum physics or, something. I don't know anything about these two, and I don't know why they're here all of a sudden."

"There are still..." Infinity started.

"Questions to be answered," Beyond finished.

"Perhaps we should look elsewhere sister," Infinity said and looked at the other. "Perhaps she is not so much a variable as we believed."

"Yes brother," Beyond said and looked at me passively for a moment before she nodded. "Remember, there is always a man, there is always a city, there is always a lighthouse."

"But there is always a hero, always a child, and always a protector," Infinity said. "Perhaps we are looking in the wrong place for those. Curious, I thought the constants would be here as well, but oh well. The sea may yet yield results."

"What does that even mean?" Arc asked as I turned to look at the others for a moment.

"I, have no idea, what did..." I started to say and turned back to look at the bizarre twins and blinked when I realized they were gone. "Okay, that was freaky."

We didn't have a lot of time to dwell on the strange encounter with the twins however. There was the sound of metal hooves on the pavement as a group of Enclave soldiers headed our way. We quickly dove under cover as I groaned a little, this was going to be a long battle and we hadn't even made it out of Flankton yet.

I took a deep breath and raised the SOAR over the cover and aimed for the nearest soldier before I pulled the trigger and sent him sprawling. Well, at least that still worked I thought as we got into a firefight, the first goal was to make sure that the Enclave didn't get a radio message off before the main attack began, which would be soon.

I raised my second rifle and aimed for one of the soldiers and took them out quickly. The few workers that were in the area went running, I didn't blame them, I didn't want to kill civilians, especially not when most of them didn't have a choice in the matter.

Finally a shot from Riva's rifle hit the last Enclave soldier between the eyes and he fell dead. I let out a sigh of relief as I checked my EFS, there was still hostiles but they were far enough away that we didn't have to worry about them until we got into the factories.

I made a motion to the others as we headed for the main doors to the factory area and hopefully where the Enclave Commander was. We pushed them open and headed through.

The Flankton industrial area was built with several factories leading up to the central factory. There were golden statues of a Pegasus stallion dotting it and the Enclave soldiers were already starting to move into position, this was going to be a fight just to get to our destination.

"Any ideas on how we're going to get there faster?" Garnet asked as he looked over at me and then at Sunrise for a moment. "We're not exactly in a position to walk there you know."

"I know, I know," I said as I peeked out at the area around us in search of something that might be of use to us. "We need something that can get us over there without raising much suspicion. What that might be however, I don't know."

There was a long moment of silence as we looked around. The soldiers were put on the route between the entrance and the main factory, most of the minor factories were either closed down or automated.

I looked thoughtful for a long moment as I noticed that there was a long rail line that made its way through the area. It was built so that wound through the entire section leading to it and there were several parts that were still active that were transporting goods along.

"Hey, do any of you know anything about those?" I asked as I pointed up at the lines.

"Yeah, they're used throughout the city to transport things, it was more practical that way or something, I don't know," Sunrise said with a shrug. "They're everywhere, and that line should take us right to the factory, but I don't know exactly how you plan to get on it."

I thought for a long moment as I noticed that the nearest factory was starting to load some equipment into a box. It was just big enough to fit a small group of ponies, it might actually work, in theory at least.

"Scootaloo, you have that look on your face again," Arc said as she looked at me with a chuckle. "The you have a crazy idea that might get us all killed if it fails look. Are you sure that its a good idea?"

"Honestly? We don't have a lot of choice here, we just have to make sure that we time it perfectly," I said and looked at the soldiers again. "Look, I'm not going to lie and say this will be easy or even that it will work. But we have a job to do, we need to secure Flankton for the alliance and keep the Enclave from getting access to their equipment from here. This is the first stage of this operation and if it doesn't work, everything might fall apart, are you with me?"

I looked between the faces of the three Enclave Soldiers and then the three NCR soldiers, then finally my friends. Arc and Riva who had gotten used to my crazy plans by this point nodded in agreement while the Enclave soldiers paused a moment before nodding.

"Lieutenant, its up to you and your soldiers, we need to do this if we're going to stand a chance," I said as I looked at Garnet. "Please, are you with me or not?"

Garnet looked between his ponies and then back at me for a long moment and sighed as they made a decision. "Alright, this is our best option so we'll agree to it. I don't like it, since I'd rather not suffocate, but if you think it'll work we'll try it."

"Good," I said and smiled a little, that was something at least. "Don't worry, we're going to be just fine, I hope."

I took a deep breath as we headed towards the dock. There were less guards here so we had a chance of making it through this at least. I quietly looked back down the way towards where the entrance was and nodded a little.

We moved quickly and quietly through the area, taking out the guards and knocking out the ponies that were running it. I took a deep breath and opened up the container, it was still empty thankfully.

"Okay Arc, you're up, you know what to do," I said as we climbed aboard and Arc nodded as her horn glowed orange and pulled the lever on the controls as we closed the container up. There was a creaking noise as the container started to move along the rail lines, thankfully it looked like the Enclave hadn't noticed we were in the container, at least not yet.

It was cramped, even with it empty we were 9 ponies stuffed into a container together and 3 of us were dressed in power armor. We were quiet just in case, so I had nothing to occupy my time but my thoughts.

I thought about Cherry, she was back in Nomad City with the others now and I was worried about her. She was in a tough position given that we had to go off to war and she had stayed behind, I couldn't imagine what was going through her mind right now.

She was probably more worried than anything else, I just had to hope that she was going to be okay and so was the filly. It was hard to believe that I was really going to be a mom again, a step-mom mind you, but still a mom. I had thought about this before, but it wasn't until recently that it had really started to sink in.

Cherry was a good pony, a better pony than I really deserved with everything that was happening, and I knew that once everything was over I was going to do everything I could to be the best wife I can be for her. The fact of the matter was that no matter how much I screwed up, no matter what mistakes I made, I was still going to do everything I could to be the best pony I could be.

And that's what was keeping me going at this point. I wasn't a soldier, at least I didn't have the training of a soldier, I was here because I knew how to fight and the Enclave Hardliners needed to be stopped. I was here to do what should've been done 200 years ago, stop the Enclave threat once and for all.

But, the Hardliners were the only threat from the Enclave now right? Winter and her forces were good ponies, they were just trying to do everything they could to help Equestria as far as I could tell. I wasn't even sure if there wasn't the possibility that there were more ponies who thought like Cloud Chaser out there, but I had to hope that they wouldn't be as powerful as they once were now.

Then there was the ponies under my command. I hated to admit it but this was a dangerous move, these ponies had been fighting each other for months now and here they were working together because they were ordered to. I trusted Winter and Midnight, but this could end badly if we weren't careful.

I just had to hope that it wouldn't.

Finally there was a thud and the container shook as we were set down at our destination. I looked at the others and nodded as we waited for the doors to open so we could see what was going to happen next.

There was the sound of hooves outside as a pony went to the container and opened the doors. They were dressed in Enclave Power Armor, we didn't even give them a chance to call out in surprise as I fired a shot into them with the SOAR and their armor locked up quickly.

"I really need to know where you got that thing," Sunrise said with a chuckle as she looked at the rifle.

"Its a long story," I said with a shrug as we headed out of the container and into the factory where the Enclave soldiers inside had been taken by surprise. One of them started to run for the front door only to be taken down by Riva who gave me a nod.

"Well, this is another fine mess you've gotten us into," Arc said with a chuckle as she levitated her assault rifle up and fired at the Enclave soldiers as we did the same.

As the fight continued alarms throughout the facilities started to go off and the voice of Cloud Chaser came over the loudspeakers. "This is General Cloud Chaser, the Alliance and the Enclave Rebels have attacked the City of Coltlumbia. We've trained for this, the war is ours, Equestria is ours, Enclave forever!"

And with that the Battle of Coltlumbia had begun.

I aimed for the head of an Enclave soldier with my energy rifle and pulled the trigger, taking him out before he could shoot at us. I was about to turn around when I heard a shot ring out and an Enclave soldier that had been lining up a shot on Sunrise crumpled to the floor.

What surprised me more was that the pony that had shot them was one of the NCR Rangers. He looked at Sunrise and nodded, the Thunderbolt returned the nod and smiled before she turned her attention back to the battle and fired.

Maybe this alliance did have a chance after all.

"Fall back to position sigma!" A voice shouted from down the hall as the remaining Enclave soldiers pulled back towards where a barricade had been set up and fired down the hallway towards us.

"Anypony have any ideas?" Sunrise asked as we moved into cover. "Any ideas General?"

I checked my EFS for a moment and glanced down the hallway as I thought about what our next move was going to be. I looked at the others, they were the professional soldiers here not me, I was just a mare who was in a tough position that didn't know what she was doing.

I sighed and looked back down the hallway, just barely pulling back as a burst of energy flew past me. I checked my bags for anything in hopes that I'd be able to find something that would be able to get us through this. Then a thought hit me, there was one thing that could do the trick, we'd just have to be able to make it work.

"Does anypony have any grenades?" I asked as I looked back at the others. "Preferably flashbangs."

"Yeah, I've got a few," the Bat pony said as she looked through her packs. "What do you have in mind?"

"Okay, the best thrower in the group needs to throw it, and I need Arc to make sure it gets close to them," I said and gave Arc a nod. "Are you up for this?"

"Of course!" Arc said with a nod as I looked at the others and Garnet nodded before he looked at the Bat Pony.

"Give it to me," he said and the Bat pony paused a moment before she looked over at Sunrise and then me. "Please?"

"Alright," she said and tossed a flashbang over to Garnet.

He threw the grenade as hard as he could while Arc's horn glowed orange as she pushed it forward. If she timed it right, she'd be able to do this perfectly as she pulled the pin on the grenade just as it fell between the Enclave soldiers as we went back into cover.

There was a brief flash visible followed by a bang sound and we looked back down to see the Enclave soldiers were all disoriented. I grinned and gave the three ponies a nod as we fired down the hallway towards where the Enclave soldiers were waiting.

As the remaining soldiers fell from the fire, we could barely make out a tail that was retreating further into the factory. I checked my EFS, there wasn't anything else in the immediate vicinity so we started down the hall. I looked back at Garnet for a moment along with Arc.

"Great throw back there," I said with a smile as we stepped over the dead bodies of the Enclave soldiers. I grabbed what ammunition I could and put them in my bags, I chuckled a little when I saw Enclave paper money with Winter's face on it as I pocketed it.

"I'm just doing my job," he said with a shake of his head as he looked over at Sunrise for a moment. "So, do you think we can get to Fulbright before they send him more reinforcements?"

"The Hardliners don't have nearly enough support in this city to be able to send more than a few ponies," Sunrise said with a shake of her head. "At least not before we can get this part of the city secured."

"I hope you're Right," Riva said with a sigh as she looked back at me and gave me a nod.

There were only a few soldiers on the way and we took them out as we approached an office door that said "Office of Col. Fulbright." I took a deep breath as I pushed the door open and just barely dodged a burst of energy fired out the door by the Colonel.

"Colonel Fulbright?" I called into the room. "We're here to talk, just let us have a word with you and we'll leave once we're done."

"How do I know that?" A stallion's voice said from inside. "You're here to try and defeat the Enclave aren't you? You and your traitor friends you'd just kill us all instead of talk."

"Look, my name is Scootaloo Dash, I'm here as a representative of both the legitimate Enclave government and the Alliance," I said with a sigh. "We're not here to fight unless we have to. We'd rather the Hardliners just lay down their arms and come to the negotiating table. Who told you that we would rather kill you than talk, was it General Cloud Chaser? What reason would he have to tell the truth, he branded and tried to kill Winter Breeze. He's the traitor to the Enclave, not her, and not anypony else that follows her."

There was a long pause as the Colonel inside thought about that. I looked over at Sunrise and the rest of the Thunderbolts, they smiled and nodded a little.

"Colonel Fulbright, do you remember me?" Sunrise asked as she called into the room. "Its Bright Sunrise, you served with my husband 10 years ago. You knew me and trusted me as a friend, what reason would I have to lie to you about what's going on? General Dash is telling the truth, please, just hear her out."

There was a long pause as Fulbright kept thinking about what we had said to him. There was finally a clatter and we looked inside to see an energy rifle laying on the floor and a stallion dressed in a military uniform was seated at a desk. He had a short red mane and a dark blue coat.

He looked up at me and then at the other ponies with me. "General Dash, I have to say I wasn't expecting to see the first Dashite carrying an Enclave military rank," he said as he looked at me with a sad chuckle. "Hello Sunrise, I see you're doing well. How is Dusk doing?"

"He's... I don't know, he's still somewhere in Coltlumbia," Sunrise said with a sigh. "I know that this is a lot to ask, but we need to keep this battle from getting worse. If Flankton joins the Alliance, then that will cut off the supply lines."

"And what about when the military comes to attack us?" Fulbright asked with sharp tone in his voice. "If we don't have backing from the Alliance, we're not going to be able to hold ourselves in a battle. If Cloud Chaser wanted he could send troops to retake Flankton."

"Leave that to us," I said. "We've got Alicorns and other soldiers that can be put in position to help protect Flankton. Also, I'm sure that there are a lot of ponies in Flankton that don't like how things are going here either. You need to work with these ponies and make sure that this city has a future beyond just one despot after another. Please, give them a chance to help defend their home, I know if I was in their situation or yours, I would do the same."

Fulbright looked at me thoughtfully and sighed for a long moment as he looked back at Sunrise. "I honestly have no idea what to do here. You're right of course that we have ponies that can help defend the city and options beyond just what might be obvious. Flankton has always been the center of industry, the only reason why its even still running is because of the government."

He looked up at a large window behind him and shook his head at the outline of a stallion that was visible in it. It looked like it had once been a stained glass window that had the colors removed, but the actual outline was still there.

"I like the President, I trust her more than anypony else in Equestria, and a lot of ponies here in Coltlumbia feel the same way," he said with a shake of his head. "But Cloud Chaser has forced everypony to follow him and what he wants done instead of what Winter would want. He's still consolidating his power in the city, but the fact of the matter is that its a tenuous grasp at best. This battle, and everything else might be enough to break that grip."

"But, they need somepony to rally behind," I said with a nod of understanding. "We'll consider our options, there is one pony that would be able to rally them, I just hope she'd be willing to help."

Fulbright nodded before he took out a microphone and patched it into the loudspeakers around Flankton. He took a deep breath and then began to speak into it.

"This is Colonel Fulbright to all Enclave forces in Flankton. I'm giving all forces here an order to stand down hostilities against the Alliance and the Enclave loyalists. If you do not agree with this decision, you will be allowed to leave Flankton and join your allies in Coltlumbia proper. But I know you, I know a lot of you because you've served under me ever since we took the city back from the zealots, and I know that you don't agree with what's going on. I'm not going to order you to stand down, but I do ask you, as your commanding officer, to consider the fact that we have to create a better world, a brighter future for our families."

He took a deep breath and looked at Sunrise with a sympathetic smile, then over at Garnet and the other NCR soldiers. He closed his eyes and began to speak again.

"All workers in the factories will not be required to come to work today, until this war is over, I am declaring a general strike against the Enclave Hardliners. We're going to need all the help we can get ponies, we have a long battle ahead of us and the Hardliners will probably come back, but we're not going to stand down, and we're not going to be doing this alone. We have friends who are willing to lend us a hoof and protect our homes. Flankton stands against the oppressors, and from now on we stand with President Winter Breeze and the true Enclave."

I nodded and gave him a smile as he set the radio down. "You did a good job Colonel, the President would be proud."

"General Dash, my ponies and I stand ready and willing to obey your orders," Fulbright said and stood up and gave me a salute. "What are your orders, ma'am?"

I looked nervous for a moment, I don't want to admit it but this was the most nervous I had ever felt in a combat situation. Leading a small group was one thing, but I was about to give orders to a small army that was getting ready to fight an attack that could come at any time..

"Hold the line Colonel," I said and gave him a nod. "You and everypony in Flankton, hold the line against the enemy and make sure that they don't retake this area. I'm not as experienced at this kind of thing as you are, but I know that you're going to do just fine."

I looked back at Sunrise who smiled and gave me a nod.

"That we're all going to do just fine, this is the most important battle of the entire war," I said softly. "We're going to be just fine, Coltlumbia will be the end of the Hardliners, and the beginning of our future as a nation. Winter knew this, and and Cloud Chaser fears it, this city is where it all began 10 years ago, and this is where everything ends."
He nodded and saluted again. "Very good, is there anything else?"

"Yeah, can I borrow your radio?"

"So, Flankton is secured?" Winter asked on the other end of the radio, I had set up in the radio room not long after we finished talking to Fulbright. "Did Colonel Fulbright give you any problems?"

"Well he tried to shoot at us, but that's understandable in a war situation," I said with a sigh. "We're going to need ponies here to protect the citizens though. We don't know how long it might be before the Hardliners send forces into Flankton to try and retake it once the supplies are cut off."

"I'll have a few wings of Alicorns as well as a contingent of Enclave Soldiers and Applejack's Rangers be sent to Flankton," Winter said, I could hear the relief in her voice.

"Thank you, that should hopefully be enough," I said and let out a sigh of relief, that was a good sign, it meant that Flankton may yet be defended."Is there anything else?"

"No, we're done here," I said with a nod. "Where are we to go next?"

"Hurricane Bay and Wonderbolt Field is probably your next best bet," Winter said with a nod. "We've already got forces there trying to secure the civilians but they're not in the best of shape. Are you and your friends ready to take the fight into Coltlumbia proper or do you need more time?"

I thought about that for a moment. "Everything should be fine, we'll head for Hurricane Bay next."

Winter paused a moment as if she was trying to decide whether or not to tell me something. "Can you pass a message on to Lieutenant Sunrise for me?"

"Of course Madam President, just tell me what it is," I said and took out my journal and pen to write down what the message was. I paused a moment when she finished telling me what it is and nodded as I finished writing it down. "I'll tell her before we get out of Flankton."

"Thank you, hopefully this will help her," Winter said with a sigh. "Thank you Scootaloo, I know we're asking a lot of you with everything that's going on. How are you holding up?"

"I've been better," I admitted with a sigh. "I'm not really used to leading troops in battle, I've done everything I could to lead them, but I keep feeling like I'm gonna mess this up somehow. Did you really make the right call by making me a General?"

"Scootaloo, I would never have offered you the job if I didn't think you were capable of doing it," Winter replied reassuringly. "You're doing just fine given everything that could've happened in Flankton."

"Alright, thank you," I said. "Who do we meet up with in Hurricane Bay?"

"Applejack's Rangers is leading the charge for the most part there under Paladin Pecan Sandie," Winter replied. "She'll know about the situation better than anypony else. She should be at the arcade now, that's our hoofhold in the area while we push our way towards Emporia and the Presidential Manor where Cloud Chaser resides."

"Alright, we'll be there," I said with a nod. "Over and out."

I put away the radio before I headed back out to meet up with the rest of my team. I took out a map of the city and laid it out on the ground.

"Alright, we're here in Flankton," I said as I directed our attention to that part of the city. "We need to make our way out of Flankton and get to Wonderbolt Fields. Its an amusement park area in the city and one of the major hoofholds we have at the moment."

"Why are we going to an amusement park?" Arc asked.

"Because we need to take Emporia and the Presidential manor," Sunrise said and I nodded. "Wonderbolts Fields has the most lightly defended route into Emporia through the Spitfire line that we can take from the park's rear entrance. The problem is that the Hardliners would know this so they're going to have it well protected, same with Emporia."

"In other words, we're going into the hornet's nest," Garnet said with a shake of his head.

"Alright, we have our next destination then," I said and looked over at Arc and Riva and then at Sunrise. "Okay, the rest of you go see if we can get some more ammunition before we leave Flankton. Lieutenant Sunrise, can I to speak to you for a moment?"

"Uh, sure," Sunrise said as the others went to talk with Fulbright. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

I paused a moment and took a deep breath. "Before the radio transmissions out of Emporia went quiet a distress call was picked up coming from somewhere in that part of the city. We, think that it may have been coming from ponies that don't agree with what the Hardliners are doing, and it was from a pony named Trade Winds, they're asking for help to get out of the city."

"Trade Winds?" Sunrise asked and I nodded as she grabbed me. "That's my father's name! I was afraid that he didn't make it! What's going on? Where did it come from? Did they mention Dusk?"

"Uh..." I said and gulped a little. "I'm sorry, that's all the information that Winter was able to tell me, the messages were cut off before they could answer them. I'm sorry, all we know is that they're somewhere in Emporia. I wish I could tell you more about what's going on, but this is something at least. I promise, we'll get to them, but I need your head in the game here if we're even going to get that far."

Sunrise took a deep breath and sighed a little. "Okay, sorry, you're right, they wouldn't want me to be distracted," she said with a soft smile and then looked thoughtful for a moment. "Your friend's name is Arc Light right?"

"Yeah, is that important?"

"Kinda, actually my marefriend mentioned her a few times," Sunrise said and I looked at her curiously. "Cure All was her mother's apprentice in Stable 66 until, well, she died and Cure had to try and take over medical. It, didn't really go that well given that she was still pretty inexperienced at the time."

"Oh, really?" I asked curiously. "I admit I don't know many ponies from Stable 66, actually pretty much just Arc and Caramel. I guess they may have known each other in passing. Still, Arc would probably be happy to know that somepony who knew her mother survived after... well, what happened in Thunderhead."

"Yeah," Sunrise said with a sigh. "Is there anything else ma'am?"

"No, that's it," I said with a nod. "I really hope you find your family in Emporia."

"Me too," she said with a smile as we headed out of the room to meet back up with the others.

Once we were sure that Flankton was properly secured with the arrival of Alicorns and Enclave soldiers to help protect it, we made our way out of Flankton and started out into the city proper. This area was a lot nicer, it still had those rails running through the area as we followed the map of the city towards Hurricane Bay, the best way into Wonderbolt's Fields.

The rail lines that lead that way were currently not functioning and the Alicorns were busy with getting civilians out of the city so we had to walk there. As we made our way out of the lower foundation of the city and back out into the early morning light we could see the towering permacloud buildings and metal walls that made up Coltlumbia.

"Alright, we need to make our way..." I started to say as there was a sound above us that sounded almost like a crack of thunder.

We all looked up again and stopped in mid-stride as a cloudship came into view. It at first look resembled a Thunderhead more than anything else in basic outline, but it looked more like it had been repaired and rebuilt from a Thunderhead using whatever materials they could find.

The ship seemed to almost crackle with energy as it made its way towards Coltlumbia. Weapons started to fire from it and hit several Enclave Raptors near the city, just barely missing the Nimbus at the same time.

"What in Celestia's name is that?" Garnet asked as he backed away in surprise.

"I, don't know," Sunrise admitted along with the other Thunderbolts who were just as shocked as we were.

In fact the only pony who seemed to know anything about what we were looking at was Riva. The usually calm and collected Zebra was shivering in fear as she stared up at the cloudship muttering something in the Zebra language that I didn't understand.

"Riva, what is it?"

"Superuenientibus tempestate, Canticum Lunae..." she said over and over again, her body shivering as if something about this made her too afraid to even move. She looked at me and added one more thing to that, I didn't understand it but I got the impression already. "Navis ad mortem!"

"Riva, calm down!" I said and ran over to my Zebra friend and placed my hooves on her shoulders. "You called it a storm right Tempestate, that means storm doesn't it? What is that ship?"

Riva seemed to finally register that I was talking to her after a moment as she kept shaking. "Ship... ship of death, it came to Zebrica years ago and laid waste to entire villages. They say that wherever it went, death and disaster came in its wake, especially its Captain. It is a ship of ill fortune, a ship of the stars..."

"Who's its Captain?" I asked as I looked at the Zebra deep in her purple eyes. "What do you know about that ship's Captain?"

"They say, wherever she goes, when she leaves there is only one sound left," Riva said shakily. "The sound of crickets, it would come like a storm and bring disaster in its wake. The Canticum Lunae, the song of the moon."

I looked up at the ship in shock as I started to realize exactly what she was talking about. That ship, the Canticum Lunae based on what she said, that ship could only belong to one pony in Equestria, and I was afraid of exactly what that was.

"Cricket," I said softly. "Its Cricket's ship, the only question now is, who's side is she on?"

Maximum Level Achieved.