It was really over.

After weeks of fighting the Enclave, traveling from one side of Equestria to the other hunting down the keys. Taking the fight to them first in Thunderhead and then in Coltlumbia, so many lives lost, so many lives saved.

And now it was over, the Enclave had been stopped and was unlikely to ever rise again to the same threat level. As Cloud Chaser was taken away, we stood in the hangar bay of the Nimbus and looked out at the city of Coltlumbia in a long moment of silence.

“So, what now?” Riva asked, finally breaking the silence for a moment.

“I don’t know, we get back to the surface, and hope that we can finally get some peace,” I said as I looked out at the city and the sky beyond. “And I’ve got a town to build, I’d be haunted by the ghost of Apple Bloom for the rest of my life if I didn’t keep that promise.”

“And we have a wedding to do,” Cherry said with a smile as she rested her head on my shoulder. “Don’t forget about that.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, which reminds me we have to find Blackjack down in that mess,” I said with a chuckle. “What about you Arc, are you and Caramel going to settle down?”

“Yeah, though I’ve got my own crimes to pay for,” Arc said with a sigh. “I’m only out for as long as the war lasted. They did say that depending on how I acted they might reduce my sentence, but I’m still going to have to do some time.”

“I’m sorry Arc,” I said with a sigh, though at least it meant she wasn’t going to be gone forever. “You’ll always have a home with us, you and Caramel, you know that right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Arc said with a smile. “So what about you Riva, are you going to be hanging around here?”

“I’m afraid not,” Riva said with a shake of her head. “I’ve done my mission, I’ve made friends and allies here to help back home. I’ll be going back to Zebrica soon, but… perhaps I’ll be back someday. The FRA can always use friends in Equestria.”

I smiled and wrapped my wing around Cherry gently. We were going to have to leave soon, so I just wanted to enjoy the moment for as long as I could.

A moment later it came crashing down as a voice shouted from behind us.

“The Canticum Lunae, she’s going down!” One of the assassins shouted, I didn’t know which one because I was more focused on what was going on in front of me.

The Canticum Lunae must’ve been hit harder than we had thought during the fighting with the Eclipse because it was starting to fall out of the sky with its engines beginning to fail. It was pushing to the side a little as if it was being redirected a little, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to be enough.

“How many ponies are still on there?” I asked as I turned back to look at the four assassins that had been accompanying us.

“If no pony was killed in the fighting… alot” Kimberlite said with a sigh, shaking her head. “We never got a full number roster, but Cricket wouldn’t fly if the ship was less than half manned…”

“Get on the radio, we need to start coordinating a rescue effort,” I said as I slipped out of my saddle and started rummaging around in my bags.

“What are you doing?” Cherry asked.

“Cricket’s been helping me this whole time, things have been a bit, screwed up at times but I’m not gonna let her go down,” I said and finally found what I was looking for and took it out. “It’s time I repaid the favor.”

“You’re, going to fly over there?” Arc asked as she looked in shock at the necklace that I had taken out. “That’s insane, you know that right? We have a ship right behind us.”

“Serenity said she gave me this because she felt I would need it,” I said softly as I looked at the necklace. “I’ve never used it before now because we’ve been in battle after battle, I can’t imagine what she’d think of me or the gift if I used it to kill ponies. Even when Winter was in danger, I couldn’t have made it in time to save her even with it. I think, this is what I needed it for, getting to that ship so I can do what I can to help.”

I looked at Cherry and gave her a long passionate kiss that I broke after a moment. “I’ll be back, I promise.”

“You better,” Cherry said with a smile. “Spread your wings and fly Scoots.”

“Hey Riva,” I asked and looked at Riva. “When you get back home, tell my story okay? Either way, tell my story.”

Riva nodded and smiled as I placed the necklace around my neck and looked back out at the sky.

I could feel the magical power of the stone that was in the necklace running through me. It entered my wings and energized them with a power I had never felt before.

And with that I took off, and for the first time in my life, I flew.

Flying was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had, it may have been years since Rainbow Dash gave me lessons (before we realized I wouldn’t ever fly), but a lot of what she taught me still stuck with me.

Maybe it’s because I wanted to hold onto the good memories more than anything else, but right now I had a mission to do. As I flapped my wings and flew towards where the ship was falling, I knew I had to get aboard somehow.

My eyes scanned the hull of the ship as I looked for a way on board. I finally spotted a hole and flew for it, my wings beating as hard as they could as I did. When I landed on the metal floor of the ship, I looked back at myself as if I couldn’t believe what I had just done, had I really just flown?

I didn’t have much time to dwell on that however, there were ponies who were hurt and I was the first responder probably. I took a deep breath and pushed into the ship, I needed to get to the bridge, but I wasn’t about to leave anypony behind that was in danger.

I made my way down the ship’s main hallway towards the command center when I came across a Unicorn stallion. He was dressed in a torn outfit and looked like he had been hurt already, but he was doing everything he could to get some rubble pushed out of the way.

“Help me!” He shouted as he heard my hooftsteps coming closer.

I managed to step over some of the debris and got under the rubble that he was trying to push. I frowned a little when I saw why he was trying so hard, there was a mare trapped under the rubble and she had her eyes closed.

After a moment of heaving we managed to get the rubble pushed out of the way and the Unicorn stallion rushed over to the mare. He checked her over while I raised my PipBuck, looking at my EFS’ compass where I saw that there was no marker for the mare.

“Hold on Maple,” he said as my heart fell.

“Sir…” I started to say.

“Just help me to get her free!”

“Sir, she’s gone, and the ship is going down,” I said as I tried to get through to the stallion and tried to pull him away. “There’s nothing we can do, you need to get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving her…” He said as he looked at her again, trying to get the last of the debris away.

“I’m sorry,” I said and placed my hoof on his shoulder. “But you have to go, mourn her later, but at least you’ll have a chance to mourn. Come on, we have to go.”

He snapped and looked at me for the first time before he took one last look at Maple and pulled away. He made his way down the hallway and I sighed, hoping I had done the right thing.

I didn’t have time to dwell on it though, I had to get moving again if I wanted to save anypony else. I uttered a silent prayer for the deceased mare in hopes that she’d make it to Elysium before I took off down the hallway again.

I opened the door to another room and saw another pony working to get their stuff together. The ship lurched a little as debris started to fly towards them, I flew faster and pushed the pony out of the way just as the debris rained down around me. I covered my head as best I could as it fell.

The last thing I remember before the world turning dark was a sharp pain in my head and the pony picking themselves up unharmed.

I was floating... not flying, not falling, just, floating.

I saw a bright light above me, was this it? Was I really dead after everything I had been through, was I actually going to the afterlife? As I floated up into the light, I covered my eyes and was surprised to find myself in a place I never thought I'd see.

It was made up of rolling green hills with buildings made of gold. I was in Elysium, I had to be, there was nowhere else I could be. I blinked in surprise as I looked around at the fields and hills as I tried to figure out what was going on.

“Mom!” A familiar sounding mare’s voice called out and my ears perked up as I turned just in time to be hugged by a light blue Pegasus mare with a long purple m
ane. I blinked in surprise for a moment and then smiled when I saw her cutie mark was of a wrench with three gears around it.

“Cloudy…” I said softly as I hugged her back, tears started to stream down my face as I hugged the mare, my daughter, tightly. “It’s really you…”

“Of course it is mom, who else would it be?” Cloudy asked with a smile as she looked up at me. “After everything you’ve been through, I wanted to come greet you when you arrived.”

“We all did,” another mare’s voice said and I looked over to see Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Rainbow Dash standing there. Sweetie Belle had been the one to speak and smiled. “Hey Scoots, its been awhile. I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

“Yeah…” I said softly as I looked into the green eyes of the first pony I had really loved. “Listen, Sweetie, I…”

“Scootaloo, you don’t have anything to explain,” Sweetie said as Cloudy released the hug and let Sweetie walk over to me. “When we got seperated I tried to hold out hope that you would show up at the Stable Door one day. Maybe I’d even have let you in, but I chose to move on, even if it was painful for me to do so. I still love you Scootaloo, that’s never going to change, and…”

She paused and trailed off a little as she placed her hoof on her chest. I blinked for a moment, what was wrong? She was trying to figure out how to put it properly into words and looked back at the others before she sighed.

“What’s wrong Sweetie?” I asked as I looked at her confused. “You know that you can tell me anything, right?”

“I’m sorry, I asked Rarity to put a small fragment of our souls in a soul jar!” She finally managed to say and my eyes went wide. “I was afraid that something might happen and we’d be separated, so I… had her use a spell that would let those fragments be reborn in new bodies after we died, so that maybe we’d find each other again somehow.”

“The locket Velvet gave me,” I said and thought back to the locket I had been given over a year ago by Velvet Remedy. I was still a bit in shock, but now everything was starting to make sense. “Sweetie…”

“I know, I’m a terrible pony,” she said as she looked down at her hooves. “It was selfish of me, I just, wanted to be with you again. I’m sorry.”

“Sweetie…” I said and took a deep breath and placed my hoof under her chin and gave her a smile. “Its okay, I probably would have done the same in your place, we both did a lot of things during the war that we’re not proud of. I’m not mad at you, I promise.”

Sweetie sniffed a little and hugged me tight, I smiled and hugged her back as I wrapped my wings around her gently.

“Cherry Blossom has your soul fragment doesn’t she?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle said and Apple Bloom chuckled a bit at that.

“Figures, she’s mah kin but she’s got yer soul,” she said with a shake of her head. “Seems like somethin’ up there wants ta put us all together again or somethin’ in a weird way.”

“So, this is Elysium huh?” I said as I looked around. “Still, I kind of wish that I could’ve spent more time in the living world. I still have a lot I wanted to do.”

“Scootaloo,” Rainbow said and sighed a little before she smiled at me. “We know, its not your time to come here, not yet at least. You still have a lot to do.”

“Then, why am I here now?” I asked.

“Well, you kinda got hit by debris, but ponies back in Equestria are working to get you breathing again,” Cloudy said. “Mom… you did everything you could to make up for what you did. You never lied about who you were, you always were up front and honest. You did what you could to make Equestria a better place and even helped create real change in the Enclave, something ponies thought was impossible.”

“You did good kid,” Rainbow said with a smile as she pulled me and Sweetie into a hug. “Now, what’s this about you two dating without telling me?”

“Well see, we… umm…” Sweetie said as she blushed.

“We were going to tell you…” I said as I blushed more. “But you see, with everything going on during the war…”

“We just never got the chance,” Sweetie said as she looked at me. “But you know I loved Scootaloo more than anything in life. I’d have braved the wasteland itself to make sure that I found her if I needed to.”

“And I love her too,” I said as I nuzzled Sweetie gently. “With everything that was happening, she was the light in my life even in the darkest of times. She was always there for me when I needed her, and I still miss her today.”

“Alright, that’s good enough for me,” Rainbow said with a chuckle.

“Hey Rainbow… mom, there’s, something I wanted to tell you, something I’ve always wanted to tell you since I woke up,” I said and looked into the magenta eyes of my adopted mother. “Thank you, for everything. You took me in when I was a filly and then you saved me by putting me into that pod, you’re the reason I was able to do this.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t let my daughter, die like that,” Rainbow said with a smile. “You’ve always been part of the family, even with everything that happened. And I couldn’t be prouder of you for everything you’ve done. And when you do come here, we’ll all be waiting.”

“Bye mom, and don’t worry, I forgave you and dad a long time ago,” Cloudy said and hugged me tight.

“Still, I wish I could’ve been there to see you grow up,” I said sadly and she shook her head.

“You gave me a chance to live without the Enclave, and the ponies in the Stable were really nice,” she said with a shake of her head. “I love you mom.”

“I love you too Cloudy,” I said and held her close for the longest moment before I let her go.

“Ah’ll see yah later Scoots, take care of yerself and Cherry,” Apple Bloom said with a smile. “She’s still an Apple after all, and that makes yah family, even from beyond tha grave.”

“You two were always my family,” I said and hugged the two of them. “Cutie Mark Crusaders forever?”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders forever,” they said in agreement as we held the hug for the longest moment. Cloudy and Rainbow joined in after a minute and we just stayed like that until I felt something tugging at me.

“Scootaloo, can you do something for me?” Rainbow asked.

“Anything.”

“When you see Fluttershy again, tell her, I’m sorry for what I said to her,” she said sadly. “Now, get out there and make us proud.”

“I will,” I said as I found myself being pulled away, I reached out one last time as they waved crying as I was pulled back into the land of the living.

I groaned as I woke up, my body was still feeling sore but I was alive. I was also being flown apparently, I looked over to see a Rainbow mane and for a moment I thought maybe it was Rainbow Dash, then I saw the stallion’s white fur.

“Spectra?” I asked with a groan. “Where are we going? What’s going on?”

“Welcome to the land of the living kiddo.” Spectra said as he looked down at me and smiled “We nearly lost you back on that ship, what in the world were you thinking going into a ship that’s crashing alone?”

“Aren’t I older than… never mind,” I said with a shake of my head and shrugged. “I, wanted to help Cricket, I guess I didn’t think it through very well.”

“Yeah, we found you buried in a pile of rubble, the Alicorns are all exhausted but they are trying their hardest, everypony that can fly or teleport is on that ship right now trying to get the crew off, but we can’t find Cricket” Spectra said with a sigh. “Some of the rescuers are almost convinced she didn’t survive the battle.”

I felt around my neck and let out a sigh of relief that the necklace was still there. I looked back towards where the ship was and my eyes went wide when I realized that it wasn’t falling straight down, and then something else occurred to me. “She’s not dead!”

Spectra stopped and looked at me with a confused face. “What do you mean she’s not dead?”

“Elysium, I saw Elysium, if she was dead she’d have been there too!” I said. “Look at the ship, its adjusting course away from any populated areas. Cricket must be on the bridge or…”

I stopped when I saw where the bridge would be, there was nothing left of it as it had been blown out in the battle. I swore internally at that, that was my only hope of her still being alive.

“Look, she’s gone - the ship is on auto pilot, we can’t find anything that tells us it’s being handled by a pony.” Spectra said with a sigh. “And maybe she’s not in Elysium, she wasn’t a good pony Scoots, she destroyed everything her hooves touched.”

“There’s still a chance,” I said and looked at him. “She helped me, helped us more times than we can count. Don’t you think we owe it to her to see if she’s alive? What if there’s a secondary command center or something similar to what the Nimbus had?”

“There is no secondary command center on a thunderhead ship” Spectra said “I know you don’t know this - you haven’t spent a portion of your life serving on one, but trust me, there isn’t one on that ship.”

“Are we looking at the same ship? That doesn’t look like a typical Thunderhead to me,” I pointed out. “Looks like she’s rebuilt that thing from the ground up to me, she may have built a secondary command center. Plus can an autopilot account for the course corrections you’d need to do to avoid crashing that thing into anything?”

“Not exactly… but we scoured that whole ship and found nothing, how do you explain that?” Spectra said with a sigh and roll of his eyes “Fine, you know what, fine, if you want to go back and try and kill yourself again go ahead.”

“I’ll be careful,” I said and shook my head. “Look, if we can’t find her quickly, I’ll abandon ship… but I feel like I owe it to her to at least try. So, umm…”

I flexed my wings a little and flinched when a pain shot through them. “Mind giving a mare a lift?”

“You have got to be…” Spectra said with a chuckle “Winter is going to kill me, alright alright, let’s go.”

We flew off back towards the Canitcum Lunae, I frowned as I saw just how bad the damage to the ship had been up close. I had no idea where I was going to start looking for her, and there wasn’t a lot of time to find her.

I just hoped that I was going to be able to find her in time.

Spectra set me down on the deck as I looked around. I was a bit nervous given that I had no idea where I was going or what to look for, especially given that nopony had found a secondary command center yet.

We were roughly at the middle of the ship, that wasn’t a lot to go on, but it at least gave us an idea of where to start looking.

“Spectra, if you don’t want to be at risk, you can go ahead,” I said as I checked the map on my PipBuck that was mapping out the ship’s deck around me.

“Do you forget who you’re talking to? Plus you’re going to need a ride out of here - and if things keep going at this pace, I don’t know if the alicorns are going to have any juice left.” Spectra said with a chuckle.

“Alright, thank you,” I said and gave him a smile as the map finished forming and I pointed down the hallway. “Let’s go this way, I think I found something on the map. I think so at least…”

We headed down the hallway as I checked the map every inch of the way, making sure that I wouldn’t trip over something. There were a few rooms but none of them looked like what we were looking for.

“If there is a secondary command center, why wouldn’t the search teams have found it…” I commented out loud as I kept checking the walls.

“Did she stealth it? Like that Raptor of hers?” he said with a shrug “I mean, she did spend what - a decade or so as a fugitive, maybe she just got so used to hiding that she’s stuck in her old habits?”

“Maybe,” I said with a shrug as I stopped in front of a door on one end of the hall and looked at the map again. “Okay, that’s weird. This looks like a storage closet, but there’s, well, a big empty space behind it instead of walls or whatever.”

“A hidden armory perhaps? Maybe a strong room? I’m sure the ship is littered with them - she was also really concerned with security, so I guess if stealth failed she could hide somewhere and prepare to fight back..” Spectra said with a shrug “Guess it can’t hurt to look, just be careful - it might be boobytrapped”

I nodded and opened the door and indeed there was a storage closet there that looked like it had seen better days. I looked around the shelves and equipment to see if there was anything that might give me a clue as to what there might be to get past the wall.

There was a click as my hoof pressed against something and I automatically backed up in fear that I had triggered a booby trap of some sort. Instead the back wall opened up and a mechanized voice could be heard.

“Welcome Scootaloo.”

“Okay, that’s odd…” I said as we moved in through the opening.

The room beyond had terminals lining the walls, it looked like a bridge of a ship similar to what I had been on before but it was more compact. There was also a series of screens that showed the bow and stern of the ship and some interior shots with somepony seated in front of them.

“Cricket?” I asked as I approached the chair.

“Why are you here” the pony at the controls said without turning around. “This place isn’t safe, you shouldn’t have come.”

“Cricket, you’re in danger here, we need to get you out of here before the ship crashes,” I said as I walked closer. “Please, come on, we need to get out of here.”

“Go away, please.” She said turning around, damage on her armor consistent with blast damage, she must of been on the bridge when it went. “For once, I’m face to face with my mortality… and I’m alright with that”

“Cricket, you don’t have to die here today any more than I did,” I said. “You don’t have to face your own mortality here. You’ve still got a lot to live for, you helped me during my journey, please, let me help you this time.”

:No Scootaloo, Equestria can do without ponies like me, but it needs more ponies like you.” She said, her voice soft. “It’s been a wild ride, lots of ups and downs over the years, but I’d rather you safe and sound, then you risk your life to save me.”

I paused a moment, that was almost exactly what Dazzle had said before I left her behind in Stable 102. I shook my head and looked at her determined not to let her stay. “I couldn’t save Dazzle, no matter how much I wanted to. But I can save you, even if I have to drag you out kicking and screaming.”

“Scootaloo, just leave me” Cricket said before she turned back to the controls “A spark battery is going critical, if I can’t get the ship away from the fleet and the city - we’re going to have mass casualties.”

“That’s why the ship is adjusting course, you’re keeping it from killing anypony…” I said and took a deep breath.

I looked at the screen that was showing the internal cameras, I smiled a little when I saw familiar faces like Blackjack and Riva helping get ponies. I was surprised to see that there were even ponies dressed in Hardliner armor working alongside members of the alliance.

“Cricket, what about your family? You still have ponies out there don’t you? Serenity told me about the encounter in the park on Nomad City. Don’t you want to see them again?”

“Sure, but those ponies” She said stopping to point at the monitors. “Need me to stay here and keep this ship aloft, the longer it stays up the more time they have to get off the ship.”

I looked over at Spectra. “Are there any Alicorns that can teleport her out?”

“Right now they are pretty much all exhausted and just… unable to do much of anything anymore.” Spectra said with a sigh “Unless there is an Alicorn that hasn’t been helping, she isn’t going to get out of here like that.”

“Do you have any other ideas?” I asked as I looked between him and Cricket. “We don’t have a lot of time here.”

“We have as much time as I decide we have, even if it burns the engines out I am not leaving ships ship and letting it fall until everypony is out of it - and its no where near everypony else.” Cricket said, I couldn’t help but notice that Cricket was cradling her side with a hoof, was she hurt? Could a Canterlot ghoul even get hurt like that?

“Cricket, are you okay?” I asked as I looked at her side. “We can get a medic in here if you need one.”

Spectra didn’t wait for a reply, he moved over to cricket and forced her chair to turn the other way and moved her hoof away, showing that a piece of metal was stuck in her side through her wing “You might want to get that medic.”

I rushed out of the secondary command center and looked for one of the teams I had seen on the screen. The first being I crossed paths with however was Riva, I explained what was going on as quickly as I could and she agreed to come and help.

Riva adjusted her hat as she entered the secondary command center and walked over to where Cricket was seated and started checking the wound.

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked the Zebra as she took out some of her potions.

“Hard to tell, it would be easier to heal her if we had some radiation,” she said as she started to work on the piece of metal.

Cricket stopped glaring at Riva long enough to push her away “I am a canterlot ghoul you idiots, I’m fine - don’t worry about a little flesh wound, and there will be a whole lot of radiation if you don’t leave me alone” She said with a groan turning back to the controls.

Riva shook her head and backed off a little. “You may be a Canterlot Ghoul, but that wound isn’t going to go away unless we can remove the piece of metal. But I can’t remove it if she doesn’t stay still either.”

A burst of light from behind us followed by somepony yelling “Solum relinquatis eam!”

We turned to face the voice, seeing a pure white alicorn standing there, horn faced at me, she seemed very angry, her deep violet eyes barely visible out of her light purple mane.

“Ego sum medicus, ego conatur ad eam axuilium!” Riva shouted back in Zebran.

“Redipiscor!” She shouted again, horn starting to spark and glow.

Riva backed away more on instinct than anything else as she moved back towards me. I looked at the new Alicorn and gulped a little. “We’re friends, we’re not going to hurt her… Riva translate for me.”

“Erant amici erant ‘non iens est nocre ei,” Riva said but the Alicorn didn’t seem to be paying attention.

“Et Canticum Lunae enim mori?” she asked to cricket, to which cricket nodded.

“Yeah, she’s dying, I’m trying to keep her from taking a lot of ponies with her.” Cricket replied, to which the alicorn nodded in return.

I didn’t like this, once more a friend of mine was about to sacrifice themselves to save ponies. But this time, they had a way out, and I wasn’t about to let her go. “Hey, uh, white, Alicorn mare… you care about what happens to Cricket right?”

“Etiam, vos?” She said, glaring towards me before she moved, laying next to Cricket’s chair, using her magic to gently push her hoof from the wound and gently removing the fragment of metal from her side. Humming a soft tune as she went to work bathing the area with a gentle spell, eyes never stopping their stare at me.

“Yes, do you?” Riva translated.

“I do,” I said softly. “I don’t want her to die, not when she doesn’t have to. You’re here, you can teleport her out before the ship hits. Can you do that, for her?”

"Semel tantum est paratum" She said her gaze softening, hoof pointing to the monitors “Pony still on ship, they leave first” she said in a very thick accent “No sooner.”

“Cricket, if we can get everypony off this ship, will you teleport off with your friend here?” I asked.

“As she said scoots, and not a second sooner, the ponies on this ship are more important.” Cricket said with a chuckle. “Not some grizzled old mare who’s done more harm than good in her life.”

“Every life on this ship, every life in this world is precious,” I said and looked at her. “Your life is no less important than any of theirs. We’ve seen enough death and bloodshed today, don’t add one more body to the pile when the war is finally over.”

“What’s that old moniker? The Captain goes down with their ship? Guess I might just have to live that.” Cricket said with a chuckle.

“No you will not!” The alicorn said with eyes wide and glaring at cricket, accent gone for just the moment, eye twitching and turning around to look at the rest of us with a glare that says ‘you did not just hear that.’

“We’ll get the ponies off this ship,” Riva said reassuringly as she looked back at me and gave me a smile. “Scootaloo may have been crazy to fly here alone, but she still came, we all came. This ship isn’t going down with anypony alive on it.”

“And that includes her Captain,” I added.

“And if it doesn’t give you the choice and you all have to leave?” Cricket said with a shake of her head “No, if I can’t get the ship far enough away - I’m not going to leave it, and I want you to give me your word that you aren’t going to stay and die here too. You have families, well - I don’t know about stripes there, but you all have ponies to go back to, and lives to lead.”

“We’ll leave,” I said with a sigh. “I promise.”

“As do I,” Riva said.

“I hope to see you again Cricket,” I said and turned back towards the doorway and paused. “But, if we don’t see each other again this side of the abyss, I wanted to say thank you. For everything you’ve done for me and my friends, that meant a lot to me, and I just wanted to say thanks.”

The alicorn sighed and shook her head. “You will see her again, mark my words.” No accent marking her words, she sounded like just a typical pony now. “I am sorry for my deception, I did not know if I can trust you… but if she can, I can”

I nodded and gave her a smile. “If you don’t want anypony to know, I won’t tell them, don’t worry.”

“I do not know if the Enclave will want me back after everything.” she said with a sigh. “Technically, I am their property”

I looked over at Spectra and gave him a nod. “I’m sure the President would be willing to weigh in on this. But for now we need to get out of here… I’ll see you both later.”

“Who is president now?” the Alicorn said with a soft smile “Was it not Cloud Chaser? Is he not dead now?”

“He surrendered and I arrested him, Winter Breeze is back in control of the full Enclave,” I said and looked back at her. “Is that a problem?”

Her face softened all the more and she smiled more earnestly. “She was a great student, she made me proud with how she lead as teacher… I am glad to hear she got her reward.”

I made it a point to ask about that again later, but now we had to get going. “We’ll have to talk about that sometime. But we need to get going, take care of Cricket, for all of us.”

“Of course.” She said with a smile. “Go get those ponies off this ship, may the goddesses be with you.”

“And with you,” I said and the three of us headed out of the secondary command center together.

We made our way through the hallways of the Canticum Lunae, directing as many ponies as we could find towards the hangar bays and cleared out areas that were being used to get the ponies off the ship while the Alicorns couldn’t.

We were on the last VertiBuck out of the ship once the last of the crewmembers were evacuated off the ship. As it flew off towards Nomad City, we looked back at the mighty ship that was just barely holding together.

Finally a few minutes later once we were far enough away, we heard and saw the Canticum Lunae hit the ground and detonate. The shockwave from the explosion radiated outwards and pushed us forward a little bit we kept flying.

I just hoped that Cricket and her Alicorn friend had made it off the ship alright.

As the Vertibuck came in for a landing in the southern hangar bay of Nomad City and I got off I was greeted by a tight hug from Cherry. I smiled at the Earth Pony mare as I wrapped my forelegs and wings around her gently.

“When they said you went back to the ship, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again…” Cherry said softly as she buried her muzzle in my chest fur. “Are you crazy? Why did you go back in there? Why did you go there alone in the first place?”

“Shh, I’m okay, I’m never going to do something that crazy again,” I said reassuringly as I patted the mare on the back gently. “I just, felt like it was something I needed to do, in order to help Cricket get out of there alive. I’m sorry if I scared you.”

“You scared us all,” Arc said as she walked up with Sparky, Serenity, Sunrise, and Garnet coming up behind her. “We did everything we could to find you, but I guess only Riva managed to.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” I said aid sighed as I looked at Cherry. “Still, we got a lot of ponies off that ship right?”

“Most of the crew survived,” Cherry said with a nod. “Are you okay? I heard you died briefly before they managed to get you back.”

“Yeah, but I’m fine now, other than my wings being a bit sore,” I said and then remembered something. “Oh, Serenity, you can have this back.”

I removed the necklace from around my neck and gently placed it around the small filly’s neck. I gave her a smile and a quick hug.

“Thanks Scootaloo,” she said and hugged me back. “You didn’t have to give it back though, you need it as much as I do.”

“Yeah, but I’ve spent my whole life unable to fly,” I said and gave her a smile. “Serenity, you still have your whole life ahead of you. You need it more than I do, I can live without being able to fly, but this is for you.”

Serenity looked at it and then hugged me again. I smiled and hugged her back, wrapping my wings gently around the filly. “Thanks, I hope it came in handy for you.”

“Yeah, it did,” I said and looked back towards where the smoldering remains of the ship was. I had no idea if the two of them had made it out, but I hoped they did.

“A shame, really.” A voice from behind, followed by a familiar tune being hummed.

I turned to see who was standing behind me, I smiled when I saw Cricket and the white Alicorn standing there. “You made it!”

Sparky and Serenity looked at Cricket for a moment. Sparky sighed a little and gave her a nod. “Hello Cricket.”

“Hello young ones.” the alicorn said with a soft smile “What are you doing here?”

“Well, we were waiting for Scootaloo to get back from the ship,” Serenity said as she looked at Cricket and the Alicorn curiously. “What else would we be doing here?”

“And if she did not return and was still aboard the ship when it crashed, were you prepared to know that you just watched her die?” the alicorn said with a giggle to herself.

Serenity’s ears flattened a little bit at that thought as I reached down and hugged her again. “Don’t worry Serenity, that was never going to happen,” I said and shot the Alicorn a look. “This isn’t the time or the filly to say that kind of thing to.”

“I do not understand, young ones during my time of teaching were prepared for death.”

“Serenity… she’s not good with losing ponies she cares about,” I said softly as I held her close and she whimpered a little. “The important thing though is that we did make it back alive.”

“Besides, different ponies grow up in different ways,” a familiar voice said as Winter walked up escorted by her bodyguards, she gave the Alicorn a smile. “It’s good to see you again, it’s been way too long.”

“Snowflake, it has been far too long.” The Alicorn said and came to winter, giving a soft hug. “Is it true, I hear you have a daughter”

Winter’s guards tensed up for a moment but she waved them off she hugged back. “Yeah, I do, her name is Calypso.”

“I hope to meet her someday, I bet she is much like her mother.” The alicorn said with a soft smile. “It feels weird, being around ponies again - after so long of hiding, afraid the enclave would come for me.”

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to hide anymore,” Winter said softly. “There’s no reason to hide any longer.”

“Would the Enclave even need me again? With you as president I don’t think they could have a better teacher to go off of.” She said with a smile.

Winter paused a long moment and shook her head softly. “I’m not going to be President much longer Celestial. I’ve done things, terrible things that I need to atone for. I’m only President until a temporary successor can be picked, followed by General Elections. Whatever my punishment is going to be, we’re going to be working that out once I get back to Junction Town.”

“There should be no question that you are rightful to be president” Celestial said with a huff. “This is an outrage, no student of mine deserves to be in any sort of prison or exile.”

“Celestial, I’m willing to take my punishment!” Winter said. “My actions lead to countless deaths, more than I can even name. I screwed up when all I wanted to do was help Equestria, Scootaloo helped me see that, and I’m going to do what I can to correct my mistakes, even if it requires punishment.”

Celestials expression went sour, her eyes showing her sadness, ears falling back “No, No student of mine deserves such punishment.. It is the teachers fault for teaching them wrong, not the student’s fault for only learning what the teacher offered.”

“By that logic I’m as much at fault as you are,” I said with a sigh. “I programmed Sweetie Bot that also influenced Winter’s worldview. Celestial, I know you’re just trying to help, but this is Winter’s decision.”

“She was always a stubborn student, she had her own opinions and thoughts, she helped me realize that everything the Enclave taught to me, told me for me to remember and distribute to my students, archives of data miles deep, more then any pony should know, was all wrong.” Celestial smiled and sighed “She reminded me, I was a pony once, before they turned me into this.”

“Wait,” Tornado said as she spoke up and looked at Celestial. “You were created by the Enclave? I thought I was the only success of Project Valkyrie.”

“Sister project, looking at new sources of the potion, and different ways to give it to ponies, I was injected with a fairly pure batch.” Celestial said with a soft smile. “In a way, we’re sisters.”

“I, had no idea,” Tornado said.

“Celestial, I know you just want to help,” Winter said with a sad smile. “But I can’t run away from my mistakes and let somepony else take the blame for them. What kind of leader would I be if I did? What kind of teacher would I be? You taught me that a teacher sets an example, so I’m not going to let you take the fall for my mistakes.”

“Then, I hereby turn myself in for desertion of my post, for fleeing below the cloud cover and turning against the Enclave.” Celestial said with a soft smile. “If you insist on letting yourself take responsibility for your actions, then I insist on you letting me take mine.”

“Alright, then as President of the Grand Pegasus Enclave, and in the place of the head of the judiciary given she is otherwise occupied, your punishment is this” Winter said. “I sentence you to live your life, free of fear of reprisal from the Enclave. The condition of this sentence is that you use your knowledge to help ponies, and help make Equestria a better place.”

“Too bad you’re only acting president right now, I don’t think you have the authority to pardon me of my crimes.” Celestial said with a chuckle.

“I’ve still got authority to make a few more decisions,” Winter said with a chuckle. “Or do you have a better suggestion, my old teacher?”

“Well, as history has said - If the president steps down, Vice president is to step up into office, who is your vice president?” Celestial said looking at the ponies around her. “Or did you do away with that?”

“Well, in this situation it would go to the highest ranking military officer in the vicinity,” Winter said and looked between the three of us. “And as head of the Special Forces, that would be General Dash.”

“So, General Dash, do you accept the responsibility of being president and leader of the Enclave?” Celestial smiled, giving Winter a wink.

“What, me?” I asked and looked between the two and shook my head. “No, no, I can’t do this, I’m not a political leader, I’m barely even a military leader. I’ll pass.”

“Same here,” Tornado said before she could even be offered. “I have other things to deal with.”

“Well then, that leaves, General Spectra or the head of the Judiciary,” Winter said and looked over at Spectra. “What do you say, General?”

“Hmm, I think as the sole remaining General of the Enclave that has not turned down the position, I have no choice but to accept.” He said with a chuckle. “President Spectra? Kind of has a nice ring to it, no?”

“Alright then, once I finalize things I’ll step down and formally name you my successor until the general election,” Winter said and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Just don’t let it go to your head, okay?”

“Darn it, my evil plans, foiled,” Spectra said, leaning in and giving Winter a kiss on the cheek. “Feels weird doing that in public.”

“Yeah, but I don’t care,” Winter said and nuzzled him.

“Come on, lets let them have some time alone,” I said and ushered the others into Nomad City itself.

I smiled as I looked back at the couple. I just hoped that everything was going to be okay, for now we just had to worry about getting back to Junction Town.

00000

A week passed since the end of the Battle of Coltlumbia. We had returned to Junction Town by now and Nomad City was remaining in the sky above the town for now, though they planned to leave soon.

Right now we were on Nomad City in the park towards the center of the city. We had set up a small stage and a space for the wedding. I smiled a little as I looked out at the crowd, there were ponies from all over Equestria that I had met on my adventures gathered for the ceremony.

I smiled over at Blackjack and gave her a nod, though I had to admit I was a bit nervous, I wasn’t sure if it showed as I waited for the cue that the brides were coming down the aisle.

“Just stay calm Scootaloo… there’s nothing to be afraid of,” I said quietly to myself as Arc placed her hoof on my shoulder and gave me a smile.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be just fine,” she said. “You’ve done this before, right?”

“Yeah, but… I don’t know, I’ve never been good at this,” I admitted with a soft sigh and shook my head. “I’ll be just fine.”

“For the pony that helped fixed my very life Scoots, you will be fine with this.” BlackJack said smirking. “Besides you didn’t give up on me like most did.”

I smiled and gave her a nod. “Thanks Blackjack, that means a lot.”

Before Blackjack could say anything, the music began to play. I smiled when I saw that it was coming from Silver, he had been fully repaired and was here to help with the ceremony as the brides came down the aisle.

I couldn’t help but stare a little as I saw Cherry in her wedding dress. She looked stunning as she walked down the aisle with Morning Glory close behind. She gave me a smile as she stepped up to the altar and moved into position next to me while Glory did the same with Blackjack.

I gave Cherry a smile as we took our hooves and looked over at Cricket who was officiating the ceremony. I’m not actually sure how that works given that she lost her ship, but hey, she offered and I wasn’t about to say no.

“Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union between Scootaloo Dash and Cherry Blossom as well as Blackjack and Morning Glory,” Cricket said as she began to speak. “These mares have been tried and tested time and time again, but their love, even when separated by time or distance, has remained strong, and their commitment has never been more clear.”

I smiled as I looked at Cherry and met her soft purple eyes. This was what we had been working towards ever since we had first gotten together. After everything that had happened, we were going to finally be married. I just hoped that everything was going to be okay.

“Now, I believe they have written their own vows,” Cricket continued as she looked at me and Cherry. “Scootaloo, if you would go first.”

I nodded and looked at Cherry in the eye. I had thought hard about exactly what I was going to say to her, but I had finally decided, knowing that I was going to need to speak from the heart.

"When I first woke up in this world, I honestly never thought about love, even more when the war started. But then I met you, this amazing mare who was funny, smart, charming, and everything I could ever want. I wasn't sure how to tell you how I felt about you, but I'm glad I did. Now together we're going into the greatest adventure of our lives, working together to build a home, and a family. After everything we've been through together, I can't think of anypony I'd rather spend the rest of my life with. We're stronger together, and if what we've been through hasn't broken that bond, then nothing will."

I smiled as I looked at Serenity who was holding the two bracelets. It was more traditional for Earth Ponies than Pegasi, but I wanted to use it. So I picked one of them up and gently slid it onto Cherry’s hoof.

“With this I do wed,” I said and gave her a smile.

“Cherry, your vows,” Cricket said and gave Cherry a nod.

Cherry looked at me and smiled before she began to speak.

"Where I come from, families are rare, even unheard of. I left because I wanted to give my family a chance, but I never imagined that I would find a pony out there to share my family with. You're everything I could want in a mare Scootaloo, you're kind, caring, honest, I never really cared about the mistakes you made, just the fact that you wanted to help ponies, and that you helped me when I needed it the most. And today as we prepare to go into the future, into that undiscovered country together, I can't think of anypony else I'd rather do it with."

Cherry smiled as she placed the bracelet onto my hoof. “With this I do wed.”

I lowered my hoof, my eyes still locked on her’s as Go Fish stepped forward for Blackjack and Morning Glory.

“Blackjack, you’re up,” Cricket said.

BlackJack blinked she took a deep breath looking to me with a weak smile. Then back to Glory.

“I have never been good with words. In fact I suck at most of my speech, but you complete me Glory. I know the past I wasn’t the kindest mare. I did very silly things broke your heart stepped on your trust of me many times. I looked back on that and think dang.. How lucky am I to have met Scootaloo to help me realize how much of a fool I was.”

She took a deep breath.

“I love you Glory. I will always love you till my death.” She lifts the ring to Glories hoof. “With this ring.. I thee wed.”

Glory looked into her eyes and took a deep breath as she began to speak. “Blackjack, when I first met you I didn’t know what to think of you. You were wild, stubborn, and a lot of other things that I probably shouldn’t say in mixed company. But then I got to know you, the real you deep down. No matter how flawed you could be, I loved you for the mare I saw you really were, and even though we were separated I never gave up on you. And we have a family together already, I’m glad I got you back, and I’ll always love you.”
She picked the ring up and slipped it onto Blackjack’s horn. “With this, I thee wed.”

“If anypony here thinks that these ponies should not be wed, speak now, but you’ll regret it,” Cricket said with a chuckle. I glanced out at the crowd of ponies and not one of them spoke up.

I smiled a little as I scanned the crowd, there were so many familiar faces out there. Even Crow had made it after he had recovered from the Battle of Thunderhead. I think I even saw a few members of the Tenders, a lot of ponies had gathered here that I had come to know from the war, and I couldn’t be happier.

“With the power invested in me by… well me,” Cricket said with a chuckle. “I now pronounce all of you… well, you know. You may kiss each other.”

I chuckled and leaned in and kissed Cherry long and passionately as I wrapped my forelegs and wings around her. As I closed my eyes, the world around us vanished, it was as if we were the only two ponies in all of Equestria, and it was the most amazing feeling I had ever experienced.

I still don’t understand everything Sweetie had told me, but I did know that I loved Cherry and I was going to be happy.

As we walked down the aisle I spotted Crow and Peach with Silver. I smiled a little as Peach gave me a salute but was confused when we finished and I saw them walking away.

We walked forward to see what was going on but Silver came to a stop. “Hey, what’s going on? Aren’t you staying for the reception?”

“Scootaloo we have one that is lost to us. We have been searching for her for along time. But we gave up to help you.” He turned to me to stare at me. “Peach will be back to see you. So will Crow. Me…. My journey will always end up to find you.”

Silver turned to me sitting down in front of me. “Again what is The core value of Friendship. The true answer this time.”

I thought about it for a long moment, but to be honest I didn’t know the answer anymore than I did before. My first answer still made the most sense to me, and it still felt subjective, like it varied from pony to pony. What could be the true answer?

To my surprise, Cherry spoke up as she wrapped her foreleg around mine and gave me a smile then looked back at Silver. “Hope, hope is the core value of friendship. Hope gives your friends something to hold onto, to give them something be inspired by.”

Silvers back opens up and plays a horn with fake audience cheering. Soon after he closes up. “Hope is a big part of the core. But the most valued of it. Treasure it don’t forget it. I shall come back someday. But for now we must return to our home. Remember the journey you have followed. Don’t forget the past either. For if we forget we are doomed.”

He turned away from me and simply follows the other two back to their home.

I smiled and nodded as I looked back at Cherry and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. “Come on, let’s get to the reception.”

And with that we headed towards the hall nearby. I looked back towards Silver and the others for a moment and nodded.

“Thanks Silver… for everything,” I said.

A few more days passed after the wedding ceremony. We were getting everything together to start working on Crusader Town at this point, when it was finally time for judgment to be passed on Winter Breeze.

So we found ourselves in a courtroom in Junction Town. This was merely a formality since Winter had already made a deal with the NCR and this was more or less to lay things out to make sure that things were clear.

Winter had already stepped down as President, which had been the first step. Spectrum was rejected as her successor because they believed he was too close to her, which was understandable (though I think he was still a little disappointed). Her actual successor was a pony I hadn’t met yet, but from the sound of things they were the mysterious Wonderbolt General who had come back for the Battle of Coltlumbia on our side.

If Winter trusted them and the rest of the Alliance agreed to it, then I trusted them.

“I’ll have order, order in the court,” the judge said as he banged a metal orb down, emitting a loud noise and sparks. He was an old Griffon that looked like he had been through his fair share of fights over the years with a claw mark crossing his right eye. “I am not going to let my courtroom be turned into a circus again. I know these hearings are a mere formality, but we are to carry these things out with some sense of decorum. Understood?”

The courtroom seemed to calm down at the old judge’s words. I was seated behind the defendant’s table with Spectra, Cherry, Calypso, and Celestial as the judge gathered his notes together and looked at Winter.

“Will the defendant please rise,” he said and Winter stood up. “I must say Mrs. Breeze, even I would have a difficult time deciding on a verdict for this if you hadn’t already struck a deal. I’ve read the information on what was carried out over the course of your Presidency, what you ordered and what was done without your knowledge. Some of it good, some of it bad. Taking everything into consideration however, we have reached a decision.”

Silence fell over the crowd, it was strange all these ponies in one place were deathly quiet as he looked at her.

“It’s said here that you were to carry out some final preparations before turning over control of the Enclave to the Acting President,” the judge said as he put a pair of reading glasses on. “Including kickstarting a new agricultural project and reconstructing Canterlot, interesting, have you made any progress with this?”

“Yes your honor,” Winter said with a nod. “Everything is in place already, and the agricultural project will begin soon enough. As for the rebuilding of Canterlot, that is primarily Gambit’s project, we’re just helping with it.”

“Of course,” the judge said and looked at her again and then back at me. “Very well then, Madam Winter Breeze, for your crimes normally the punishment would be death or life imprisonment in Arbu. However…”

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the outcry from the gathered ponies in the courtroom. Many of them had been Winter’s supporters and were already a little angry that she had to step down from the Presidency and this wasn’t helping.

“Order, order in the court!” The judge said as he slammed his orb down, his voice booming as it caused the ponies to stop. “However, there are circumstances that have to be taken into consideration. The former President has on numerous occasions provided food and medicine for Settlements around Equestria including some within NCR territory when the need was too great for us to meet. In addition, the Enclave under her leadership has come to the defense of settlements being plagued by Raiders and Slavers. This mixed with her assistance during the Battle of Coltlumbia has changed the situation. Given these circumstances, there will be a different punishment.”

I honestly wasn’t sure what they had worked out, Winter and her lawyer did know about it of course but everything was kept under wraps until now.

“Your sentence is to last for no longer than 4 years,” he continued. “You are not to re-enter politics either in the Enclave or any affiliated nations within Equestria. During the time of your sentence you are to remain within the confines of a Settlement to be determined at a later time. The time spent there is to be spent in service of Equestria in one way or another, and if a need to leave the boundaries does arise, an escort will be required. Is this acceptable?”

“Yes your honor, it is,” Winter said and bowed her head. “If I may be allowed to speak before I go?”

“Go ahead,” the judge said and gave her a nod as she went around from behind the table and looked out at the crowd.

“I know that this is going to be a hard period of transition for you, and for everypony else that has come to trust me as their leader,” she said, her voice was calm, almost motherly, this was Winter in her element, even if it was probably for the last time. “Some of you fought for me, others worked for me, and more just lived in the Enclave. I am here because I made mistakes, because I chose to go down a path that caused death and destruction. I’m never going to be completely free of that…”

She looked over at me and gave me a soft smile. I smiled back and nodded in understanding at her as she continued speaking.

“A good pony taught me that we are never going to be free of the guilt we feel for what mistakes we’ve made, but we can make up for them. The Enclave has a lot to answer for, not just from this war but from everything that happened before, but we are learning, we are correcting those mistakes. I may not be the President anymore, but I know that the future of Equestria is in good hooves, and claws. After all, nothing ever ends, not really, and our stories, our adventures, our lives are just beginning. Don’t let the end of the war be the end of our friendship with the rest of Equestria, let’s all build that better future together.”

She smiled and looked at the crowd, after a moment of silence the applause started. I chuckled a little and joined in, noticing that even the judge was clapping. The only pony that wasn’t was Calypso who ran out and gave her mom a tight hug.

“Mommy, I’m so glad you’re not going to jail!” she said as Winter smiled and hugged her back. “You scared me… I didn’t want you to leave again.”

“Don’t worry Callie, I’m never going to leave you alone again,” Winter said softly as she held her daughter close to her. “I’ll be there for you whenever you need me, we both will.”

She smiled and looked over at Spectra before she walked over to us and gave me a smile. “Hey Scootaloo, I’m glad you could make it.”

“Of course, where else would I be?” I asked with a smile as I gave Winter a hug. “So, you’re going to have to spend some time living in a settlement huh? Any idea on where that’s going to be?”

“Well, I haven’t finalized everything yet, and I still have to wrap some things up before I’m ready to move,” Winter said with a smile as she looked down at Calypso. “But I think I know where to go.”

“Wherever you go will be lucky to have you,” I said with a smile as we all walked out of the courthouse together and back out into Junction Town.

A month had passed since the end of the Battle of Coltlumbia. I was married, Winter had been given her punishment for her crimes, Arc sadly was in jail, and now there was only one thing left to do, and so that’s how we found ourselves once more in a field on the outskirts of Ponyville.

The Apple Bloom clone’s grave was marked off to the side of the old treehouse. I hoped that wherever she was, she knew that I was keeping my promise. This town had been her dream, and I was going to make sure that it came true.

The ponies we had gotten together to start constructing the town were setting up the tents that would be our homes while things were still being built.

I climbed the ladder up to the treehouse itself and looked out. There was ponies from all walks of life here, many of which I had met on this long journey. I smiled a little when I spotted Pimento and Tinker talking with Cherry along with some other ponies that had recently left Stable 48.

Terra and the other foals along with their father had arrived that day and were setting things up. There was a lot of wood, nails, and other construction equipment that had been brought around, hopefully it was going to be enough.

I headed into the treehouse and rummaged around until I found what I was looking for. It was an old holotape that I had recorded in the early days of our plans for Stable-Tec, and it was still here and working. I put it into my PipBuck and listened to my own voice come over my earbuds.

“At 0800 hours, one of the last of of the Stables was finished being constructed in the south. It’s hard to believe that this is really happening, there’s even talk of a party celebrating the “beginning of a new future for Equestria” thrown by Pinkie Pie and the others at the Ministry of Morale. But, I don’t know if they’d be so happy if they knew the truth. I lied, I cheated, I bribed ponies to cover my own crimes and hide the truth. If anything goes wrong in these Stables, I will be an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all is, I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. I guess a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of Equestria, so I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it… I can live with it.”

I looked at my PipBuck for the longest moment as I thought about what I had just heard. That had been me during the war, when it was all about saving Equestria, all about saving as many ponies as we could.

I don’t know how many times I had said that to myself, that even with my mistakes I could live with them. They were what was best for Equestria, even if they were mistakes. But, what would I do if I could go back and change it all?

Everything that had happened over my adventure had happened because of what I had done. But more than that, the Stables had resulted in good as well as bad, heroes had come from the Stables despite my mistakes.

While I regretted what I did, the strangest thing is that I don’t think I would change a thing. Even if they had been mistakes, I had learned from them and Equestria had a future because of them, maybe it was all worth it, maybe not, but it was what had happened.

Now I was going to look to the future, I had found my place in Equestria, and now it was up to me to make it a good one.

I took off my fedora and my coat and folded them up before I placed them in the same hiding spot I had kept the holotape in and closed it back up. I was no longer the Wanderer or the mare in black, I didn’t need to be at the front or to mourn those I lost.

Now I was just Scootaloo once more.

“Hey Scootaloo, there you are!” a voice said and I turned to see Sparky standing there with a surprised look on her face.

“Hey Sparky, what is it?” I asked as I turned to look at the Pegasus.

“You might want to come outside and see this,” she said as we headed outside together to see what she was talking about.

Outside there were new ponies who looked like they had just arrived. Most of them were Pegasi who were either helping set up tents or bringing in more supplies to help build the town with. I smiled a little when I saw Winter Breeze and a blue Alicorn with a turquoise mane that had to be Tornado as I made my way down the stairs towards where they were.

“Hey Winter, Tornado, I didn’t expect to see you here,” I said with a smile as I walked up to the two. “Are all these ponies here to help?”

“Well, I thought I’d take you up on the offer you made before the Battle of Coltlumbia,” Winter said and gave me a smile as she looked around. “So, this is where it all started?”

“Yeah, back before there was no wars, no Stables to worry about,” I said with a smile as we looked at the field around us. “The first place I ever really called home. There’s nowhere else I’d rather make a new life at.”

Winter smiled a little as Cherry walked over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Hey Scootaloo, Winter, Tornado, it’s good to finally see you out of your armor.”

“Cherry Blossom,” Tornado said with a smile as she looked down at Cherry. “I’ve heard a lot about you, it’s a pleasure to finally meet on better terms.”

“Likewise,” Cherry said and looked up at her with a nod.

Tornado looked between me and Cherry, I could tell there was a bit of pain in her eyes, but it faded after a moment and she smiled. “You’re a very lucky mare Cherry, don’t ever let her go.”

Cherry looked at me and smiled a little as she gave me a kiss. “I won’t, I love this mare too much.”

I chuckled a little, though admittedly I had been a bit worried about what would happen if my wife and my ex-husband met. I put my wing over Cherry and nuzzled her gently.

“And I love her too,” I said softly as I held her close. “But I’m glad to have you here all here, where’s Spectra and Callie?”

“They had to go back to Coltlumbia to get some things,” Winter said. “They’ll be coming tomorrow. So, why don’t you give us a tour of what you have in mind for this settlement?”

I smiled and started leading them around the field. We went past Caramel who was getting her tent up, I looked at her sadly for a moment, Arc hadn’t gone without punishment like she had said, but she was only going to spend about a year in prison.

Still, it wasn’t easy to think that one of the first friends I had made in the Wasteland wasn’t going to be here as we started to build. But at the same time I knew that she was with us in spirit, I just hoped that she’d be okay.

I pointed out the places where we had decided to place houses and finally where we were going to build a schoolhouse. Winter smiled a little and we spent some time talking about what it would look like and how big it should be before we were interrupted.

“Hey!! Scoots you owe me a drink!!” Blackjack said with a wave. She had a large bag on her back.

“Blackjack?” I asked and blinked in surprise as I saw Morning Glory and Go Fish coming up behind her. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going back to Hoofington aboard Nomad City.”

“Well, I thought it would be better for her to get away from Hoofington to help with her nightmares,” Morning Glory said as she gave Blackjack a nod. “So, we thought we could come here and lend a hoof.”

“Besides, I retired.” Blackjack admitted.

“Well, we’re happy to have you,” I said with a smile.

“Though, you’re going to have to wait until we build a bar before Scootaloo can get you a drink,” Cherry said with a laugh.

“Where’s Callie?” Go Fish asked as she looked around curiously. “I was hoping she’d be here.”

“Don’t worry Fishy, she’ll be here soon,” Winter said with a chuckle as she looked at the filly. “She just had to go home for some stuff, she’ll be here soon.”

“Awww, okay,” Go Fish said.

“Well, welcome to Crusader Town, I know it’s not much yet,” I said as I gestured to the tents and field around us. “Sorry you’re going to have to sleep on the ground in a tent until we can get everything set up.”

“Eh, it’s a learning experience. We will help her grow strong.” Blackjack said smirking

“Still probably more comfortable than some of the places we stayed in Hoofington,” Glory said with a chuckle. “Come on Cherry, I’d like to check on your foal to make sure she’s okay.”

“Alright,” Cherry said as the two walked off to one of the tents where we had put our medical equipment.

“Seriously Blackjack, I’m glad to have you here,” I said as I offered the mare my hoof. “You can stay as long as you want.”

BlackJack took my hoof and laughed. “You’re stuck with me Scoots we will be living here till I die. Hopefully we are both still alive to laugh about our past. While we have to look for our teeth.” She laughed.

I laughed too at that and shook her hoof. “There’s a lot of ponies coming here… I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I just hope that it’ll be a good settlement.”

“Well think of it this way Scoots. You got me and Glory here. But I’m putting up my gun. I’m done with battle. I need to just live.”

“Yeah, I understand, the only fighting I want to do from now on is to defend,” I said with a sigh and gave her a nod. “I’d say you picked the best place to retire in.”

BlackJack looked down to Go Fish. Leaning down gently to her. “Besides I got to be a mother now. Oh and Go Fish, give your aunt a hug, because Scoots is family to me.”

I smiled a little as the filly hugged me and I hugged here back. “Auntie Scoots?”

“Yep, that’s me,” I said with a smile as I ruffled her mane and chuckled. “Which means you’re going to have a little cousin in a month or two.”

“Anyway Scoots I am going to find a place for a tent for me and Glory. I will talk to you later.” Blackjack said with a smile. “Come along Go Fish.” She walked away

I smiled and watched them walk off as I sat down on the steps to the old Treehouse. As I looked out at the collection of tents, I couldn’t help but think about everything that had come before.

Me and my friends, Rainbow Dash adopting me, the war, Stable-Tec, admitting my feelings to Sweetie Belle, the apocalypse… the war with the Enclave. Everything really had started here with three little fillies trying to figure out what made us special.

But at the same time I thought about what the future hold for us. Soon a town would stand here, a place where ponies could live and be happy. Orphans, refugees, and just any pony who wanted to live their life in peace and happiness, this was our town.

I wished more than anything that the Apple Bloom clone had lived to see it. This was her dream after all, and we were going to make sure it prospered in her memory.

“Hey Scoots,” Cherry said with a smile as she took a seat next to me. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, you know, just remembering,” I said with a smile as I wrapped my wing around her gently.

“Welcome home Scootaloo,” she said and gave me a soft kiss on the lips.

I closed my eyes and returned the kiss. This was our home, and it was here that we’d be building our own future.

I held her close, and we just sat there for the longest time, watching the ponies work together. We could both imagine what kind of town this was going to be, and we couldn’t wait for it to be done.

If we were going into the future, into that undiscovered country, then we were going to do it together, as a family.

Like we always had.

Maximum Level Reached.

Author's Notes:

I'll see you all soon for the epilogue.