She had just taken a seat at one of the tables, cold beer in hand when she noticed someone approaching.

"Hey, Sport."

Scootaloo merely grunted in acknowledgment of Rainbow Dash's presence. She didn't want to talk to her right now, but it was an acknowledgement, in the end, and the pilot took it as a sign to sit across from her.

Dash grinned when she saw what Scootaloo had in her hand. "Aww, yeah. Sectoid Sweat! Best IPA around."

"I heard you also liked it." Scootaloo sighed. She looked at the bottle and groaned. She had just grabbed it out of habit. She had even stopped drinking it after Jane had mentioned Dash's like of it. "I guess it's too late to get a different one."

She tried not to feel bad at the slightly hurt look Rainbow Dash gave her.

"I could just get you another one, we don't have a dedicated bartender everyone here just, sort of pitches in on the role," Rainbow Dash offered.

"Nah." Scootaloo shuffled and looked away, it was too late anyway. "It's not a big deal."

"It seems like it is to me," Rainbow Dash said. "What's going on, Scoots?"

"You really need to ask?" Scootaloo stared at her, almost incredulously, before she sank back and shook her head. "I'm stuck in this ship with a bunch of terrorists. My friends decided to join you. People I thought were dead just appeared randomly alive last month, are terrorists themselves, or natives, and expect me to just take it in stride.

"My hometown was destroyed by my friend's not-quite boyfriend, who turned out to be a psychotic AI… who killed my friend. My dead friend made me place her brain and spine into a new body for her, my other best friend has been secretly a rebel all this time, risking her life (and mine) by defying the government.

"Our neighbors and friends are dead. We have a little girl whose parents died also in this ship, somewhere, and best thing, none of us are safe if we return to our normal lives. My choices are, join here and work on this contraption, go native in India, and finally get sent literally to another world." She glared at Rainbow Dash. "For the life of me, I can't figure out why I'm not celebrating yet."

Rainbow Dash grimaced at the sarcasm. "We're not terrorists, we're—"

"I don't care. That's what they call you." Scootaloo looked down, glaring at the table as if she could melt it away with sheer anger. Her voice rose. "I waited for you. For years. After Canterlot High, when you… joined the army… that wasn't the end of it. Did you ever wonder what happened to everyone else? There were more of us, besides your immediate friends, you know?

"Well. Even though I was taken in by ADVENT after the governments surrendered, my aunts refused to do so. They went native, along with several others. I don't know if Snips and Snails were there, but I know their parents were. I know Granny Smith was there. In true Canterlot fashion they named their settlement something idiotic and horse-related. I sincerely hope it wasn't something as stupid as "Ponyville" but it actually sounds legit.

"Anyway, I had just graduated from college. Twenty three years old, highest grades in my graduating class. ADVENT already had several location choices for me to choose. I was waiting on Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom… their graduations were staggered a few weeks after mine.

"So, when I heard that the city was doing a humanitarian mission to drop needed food and medicines at settlements near Canterlot City, I volunteered. Imagine my surprise when we avoided Canterlot and miles around it.

"We visited twelve settlements. Twelve. We set up shop, dispersed the assigned food and medicine… I asked around. None of them had people from my home. At least no one I knew. They hadn't heard of the Ponyville settlement. They thought it was a joke at first, but they asked around."

Scootaloo took a deep drink from her beer. "I went on two more volunteer missions. I never saw my aunts again. I never saw Snips, or Snails. Never saw Silver Spoon—" she glared at Rainbow Dash who had choked on her drink, then continued, "No one from Canterlot. None of our neighbors or acquaintances were there. I was told that violent groups had released toxins and viruses around Canterlot and it was no longer safe for anyone to even attempt access. That everyone within that containment area was dead.

"I never saw anyone but Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom, whose brother disappeared just before her graduation. He joined ADVENT security. I saw how Sunset and Jane looked when we told them, by the way. Big Mac is probably dead. He wouldn't abandon us. Sweetie Belle hid from me that Rarity was as much a prisoner as your commander."

Scootaloo's eyes raised to meet Rainbow Dash's. "But they were there. So, I was there for them. I thought we were still a team. I thought we were all on the same page, with the same ideals. The same hopes. I was wrong. And it all comes down to XCOM.

"XCOM, who was the only force the aliens feared was enough of a threat to bring the world against you. XCOM, who was not there to save Canterlot High. Who was not there to stop the poisoning of Canterlot City. XCOM, who took Applejack away. XCOM, who failed Rarity and Sweetie Belle. It was XCOM who showed up in the news whenever death and mayhem happened."

She took a deep breath, feeling the anger bubbling under her skin, waiting to burst. She wanted to hit Rainbow Dash again. "Who created Julian? Who defied the Elders? Who still fights them and forces ADVENT to even more retaliatory attacks? X-goddamned-COM."

Scootaloo finished her beer and sighed in disappointment, glancing at the empty bottle with distaste before putting it down on the table. "And you know what hurt worse? That the one person outside of my aunts and the crusaders who I had left—who I considered family—who I never, in a million years, thought would leave me to rot? Where was she all this time when I was afraid and alone, lost, or comforting my friends? The one that I never expected to make me think she was dead only to turn up like nothing was wrong the moment she needed something?"

The bar was quiet.

"XCOM. She was with fucking XCOM."

She slid back and stood up. "So yeah, Rainbow Dash, I guess you're right. This whole thing with everyone having secret lives, suddenly being alive all along—just not telling me—with me being uprooted from my home, finding out everything I knew for sure put into a different light and outright dismissed… finding out I've lived a lie for twenty years… yeah, I guess you could say that it is a big deal to me."

She turned around and walked out, leaving Dash and several other bar attendees in quiet contemplation.

She didn't feel better. Not really. All of it had hurt to say, especially looking at Rainbow Dash's pain while she listened. But she needed to say it, she just couldn't keep pretending none of that bothered her. She hadn't been active behind the scenes like Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. She hadn't been anticipating something like this.

She still had a lot to think about. She had choices to make, and also, thinking about the consequences of said choices.