"If she keeps this up the Ministry of Image is going to get involved!" a black coated unicorn snapped angrily at a grey pegasus buck sitting behind a desk.

"What did she do exactly?"

"What did she do? Ha. You act as if you don't know the kind of things you've been telling her. Questioning the war, knowing how power armour works. Dangerous knowledge for a filly to possess."

"I can see how you would be concerned, but I assure you Amaria means no harm by it. She has an inquisitive mind and she's going to find out one way or another."

"She's ten! There is no possible reason why she should know Ministry of Wartime Technology information. It's a breach of security!"

"That may have been my fault. She came looking for me to help with ideas for a school project when I was reviewing the MWT's orb. She was curious so I explained the basics to her. Believe it or not some of the ideas for improving the T-45 were ones she came up with. I just put them into more technical wording and forwarded them to the appropriate ponies."

"Regardless the benefit, it is still unacceptable and your daughter Amaria has been removed from from the educational facility."

The grey buck got up quickly. "Where is she?"

"Not to worry Mr Hurricane, she's on her way here now. I wouldn't think of harming your only child. Goddess knows we don't need you losing your mind again like when your wife died."

"Don't. Ever. Bring. That. Up. Again!" Snarled the pegasi in dangerous tones.

"Woah, calm down there! It was a weapons misfire. We've all lost loved ones because of this war."

"That's bullshit. She was murdered, and the pony responsible got away because he's a Wonderbolt. Not even a reprimand. The only pony I truly cared for, dead, and my daughter has to grow up without ever knowing the love of a mother."

"I...I see.. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned her."

"Well you did. Just had to tear that wound open again. Why don't you pour a little salt in it too?"

"If this is about your having to leave the WonderBolts, I'm sorry."

"Leaving the WonderBolts was the best decision I've made in years. The very reason I joined them is no longer even followed. Its just everypony out for themself."

"Watch your tone Firebrand, what your saying could be seen as traitorous. Even from you."

"Then lock me up and explain to the OIA why their projects are late." challenged the pegasi buck.

The unicorn gave a worried look and then turned and left. A short while later a yellow filly with a orange mane and tail came running into the room.

"Dad!" She exclaimed, and ran to him.

He wrapped a wing around her and pulled her close.

"It's okay, I know what happened."

"But how will I go to school?"

"I've got a better idea. How would you like to learn about what your Dad works on?"

The fillies eyes lit up.

"Really? Cool!"

"Of course I'm still going to have to have a tutor come teach you some stuff you know."

"Oh that's okay Dad, school was boring anyway."

"Don't get ahead of yourself there smarty-pants. Just because it was boring doesn't mean it wasn't important."

" I know dad, it's just it seemed too easy. I want something hard."

"Alright, I have a couple things to do, then I've go to Hoofington to check on some of my facilities. Want to come along?"

"Yup!"

"Okay, go wait in the lobby and I'll be down in ten minutes."

The filly trotted out of the room and the buck went back to his desk. He dialled a number onto a number pad and picked up the receiver.

"Yes, this is Cataegis Industries. I wish to speak with Miss SweetieBell. Thank you." A sort pause and then a voice came through the other end.

"Yes, and good morning yourself. A pleasure to finally speak with one of the creators of StableTec."

"Yes, I am calling about that."

"I understand."

"I have possibly found a candidate for the study. We'll be in Fillydelphia in about five hours."

"Alright. Bye"

He put down the receiver and headed down the hall.

"And now there's no turning back." He said quietly.

Two strange ponies that I couldn't make out very well. No telling if they were armed, but more than likely they were. I stopped abruptly before nearing the door. The two ponies bumped right into me and tried to shove me forwards out the door, but to no avail.

"Move!"

The one said in a low, menacing voice.

I backed up away from them. If they wanted me out that door it wasn't happening until it was on my terms.

"Outside!"

I shook my head.

The pair paused a moment as if not sure what exactly they were going to do. I didn't care what they wanted, I wasn't doing it. The one started directly at me and I returned the stare, only to find a set of yellow glowing orbs unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Okay, not pony. Something...else. Whatever it was, it seemed to recognize that I knew it wasn't a pony and began to back away. Then there was a blue flash and a crackle and they were gone. I looked around quickly to see if any other pony had seen it as well, but none seemed to have noticed anything had happened. Okay then, either I was crazy or weird shit only happened to me. Talking spritebots, alicorns, now weird ponies that weren't ponies. All I needed now was to meet a friendly Hellhound and my day would be complete. Best not think about it too much. I left the hotel and made my out the gates and back out into the Wasteland. I tucked around the side of WaySide and made my way back to the MWT wagon were I'd left the BoltFire gun. Sure enough it was still there. I packed it into one of my saddlebags and headed north out of the ruins. There wasn't a lot special out this way, just collapsed buildings, damaged skywagons, and cracked road. If there was any life out here was doing a good job keeping hidden from sight. Some said Nightstalkers, a weird combination of snake and coyote, wandered these ruins. I'd never seen them but I didn't for a second doubt it. Off in the distance the M.A.S.E.B.S. tower rose up from a cluster of ruined buildings. A I drew nearer I noticed a few sentry bots patrolling the base. Good thing I could fly. I noticed a small balcony a couple floors up and flew up to it. Aside from a rusty railing and a half destroyed chair it was empty. A large door with a maglock and a terminal blocked my further progress. I tried my luck with the terminal but only ended up locking myself out. I was no idiot with terminals, but whoever had programmed this one was far more intelligent than me. Perhaps Twilight herself had set the passcode. I'd only met her once for a brief moment, but I'd gotten the sense that she was definitely an egghead. Only one thing to do now. I pulled out the BoltFire gun and loaded the strange little cartridge. I pulled the trigger and let it charge up, and then shot directly at the maglock. There was a crack,a bang and a puff of smoke. Sure enough it had gone right through the lock. I jimmied the mechanism a bit and soon the door slid open for the first time in probably two hundred years. The inside of the tower was still light and in surprisingly good condition. A few ceiling tiles had fallen here and there and a fine coat of dust covered the floor, countertops, windowsills, and furniture. Out of curiosity I looked around a bit, but found there wasn't a whole lot in the tower. It had apparently been more of a M.A.S. public relations office than anything else. Just cubicles a large front desk, and a few other facilities for employee use. I rummaged around the desks, but didn't find a lot. Just old papers and files that were either faded to the point of illegibility or just piles of dust. I did find a keycard in one desk. Might as well grab it. No idea what it might unlock. There were a few healing potions in boxes with a yellow butterfly on them, a lot similar to what I remembered Fluttershy's cutie mark to be. Wow, now there were more of those old memories. At least she had a cutie mark that meant something, not like my weird one. A black spire with a folded wings and a sun. Whatever the heck that was supposed to be for. I uuuuurummaged through more drawers, but didn't find a lot. I made my May back the atrium and found an elevator with a keycard lock. Grabbing the card in my mouth, I swiped it and was pleasantly surprised when the door clicked and opened. Apparently the power still worked. I pressed the up button, and after a bit of creaking and groaning, the elevator started to move upwards. It must have been twelve or so floors before the car finally stopped and the door opened. A room filled with cables, chairs, a few displays, and various other equipment sprawled out in front of me. I heard DJ Pon3's station playing softly through hidden speakers. Dust covered everything, so I was likely the first creature in this room in years. As I peered over the equipment, I couldn't help but notice that a few of the displays seemed to be views of various cities. Slightly high and zoomed out, but still quite clear. I found the main terminal and activated it, getting a lock screen and a prompt to enter a passcode. Great. I tried a few to no success. I wracked my brain for ideas, but after a few minutes of this I just lay my head on the keypad and stared at the mainframe. I had no chance to reprogram the radio antennae to search for my Pipbuck. If I disconnected power the program might go corrupt and I'd be in even more of a mess. I got up and slowly walked back to the elevator. At least I'd tried. Perhaps I'd find another another way.

"Scan recognized. Password accepted. Welcome Tia."

What?

"System override active. Scanning for EC-1101. Error, file not found. Scanning connections.StableTec network corrupted. Office of Inter-ministry Affairs network corrupted. Ministry of Arcane Science emergency broadcast system operational. Unauthorized broadcast detected. Unable to cease transmission. Possible override from other source."

Wait, what just happened? Somehow the terminal had just unlocked by itself. Corrupted files? I didn't know what to think, but if it had just let me in I wasn't complaining. I started messing around with the various controls and soon found that one could actually do quite a lot from the M.A.S. Towers. Those city views were actually live feeds from cameras on the towers that could be zoomed in to a certain degree, and u in some cases audio could be captured. Alright, this was cool, but I needed to do what I came here for. After a bit of digging I found the radio beacon recalibration tools and set it. The radio faded out and I heard a faint beeping. A map grid appeared on on of the screens and I saw a rough representation of the MareHave. I punched in my Pipbuck tag and let the mainframe work. A minute later a blip appeared on the map somewhere to the northeast. Okay, not as detailed as I wanted, but it was a start. What else could I find out while I was here? I began to scan through the terminal, trying to find any files that might be of interest. No luck there. Most of them were locked and required some kind of override program. I tried to see if I could rerouted connections to gain access to other networks, but my efforts only ended in error messages. I kept snooping around in the system until I found a network called the S.P.P.. I'd never heard of it so naturally I was curious. I opened up the connection and to my surprise it worked. There were a couple of locked files, but one of them I was able to open. I selected the file and the screens went black. Then there was a menacing laugh and Nightmare Moon stretched across all three screens. Then she stopped laughing and stared at me. Either this was the creepiest security system ever, or I was dreaming.

"Who are you?" Nightmare Moon demanded.

I didn't answer, but I backed away from the screens. The hairs on my neck were tingling and something didn't feel normal about this. Nightmare Moon was gone right? Then how was she here? This didn't add up. When I didn't respond for several seconds the image faded and was replaced a white background. Nothing appeared this time, but a voice I clearly remembered spoke over the speakers.

"You are not like the others who have tried before. You are... different.. How did you gain access here?"

There was only one pony I knew who sounded like that, but this couldn't be her, could it? She was dead for the last one hundred or more years. Or was she?

"There is something familiar about you. Something as if part of me, but not me. I......"

The voice cut out and the screens went black again. Then the mainframe rebooted and DJ Pon3 came over the speakers.

"Hello children of the MareHave! It seems we had a bit of trouble with the old broadcast tower, but never fear, it's all back to normal now!"

Music then resumed playing. Damn you DJ Pon3! Just when I was starting to get somewhere interesting. I let out a sigh a turned back to the elevator. I was a bit closer to my goal, but now I had even more questions. I returned to the main floor and trotted onto the balcony again. It was early evening now, but still bright enough to see clearly. I took off and flew back towards the Las Pegasus ruins. Shadows were beginning to creep out from behind the remains of walls and street posts, but it didn't bother me. Most ponies started worrying about creatures coming out of hiding in the ruins, but I could fly. Not too many things flew other than Bloodwings, but none lived out here. Far too dry compared to inner Equestria were they apparently thrived near the ruins of Canterlot. I kept flying an unhurried but steady pace over the ruins. I could see the lights from the Strip beginning to glow in the distance and couldn't help but think how nice they looked despite everything going on out here. At least a few things reminded me of when it was easier. Ow. Cramps. Wait, not cramps. I had to pee. I searched for a rooftop to land and spotted one a few feet off. I landed and ducked behind an old ventilator unit. I squatted and relaxed, letting the feeling of relief wash over me. I'd just barely finished when I heard automatic gunfire erupt from a few blocks away. Great. Who's shooting who, or what now? By Luna please don't be Hellhounds. Those things could pick off flying targets with ease. I listened closely to the gunfire. Nope, not beam guns. Traditional bullets. Likely five millimetre rounds from the rate of fire. Maybe one or two seven millimetres. So, these were likely bounty hunters or mercenaries. They seemed to like to carry those caliber automatic rifles. Easy to find ammo, and plenty of lead down range in a hurry. Then I heard the scream of a mare. Now I was interested. I pushed a charge cartridge into my beam rifle and checked the magazine on my .308. Good, full. Then I jumped off the side if the building, spread my wings, and glided down the street towards the gunfire.

As I got closer I landed on a rooftop and carefully peered over the small wall on the edge. It was getting dark, but I could still make out the ground quite well. There were a couple earth ponies in some sort of scrap metal armour bits and a griffon. The griffon wore some kind of cage that had been wrapped in a mesh for a helmet and had a crudely cut out bit of an old stove for a chest plate. Okay, definitely not mercenaries. Likely slavers if the makeshift gear told m anything. There were a couple dead ghouls on the ground, and I was trying to figure out what as going on when I heard a scream and a colt's scared cry. That made my mind up. I kicked off into the air above the street and brought my rifle to bear on the griffon. He was the biggest threat at the moment. Blam. A .308 round lodged solidly into the griffon's right shoulder and he dropped his rifle, cursing wildly. The two earth ponies looked up and stated firing up at me wildly. I levelled my beam rifle down at one and fired. Bzzoomm. I blue streak shot down through the air and engulfed the pony's rifle, dissolving it into a a fine blue glowing dust. I was about to turn to take aim on the other when I was hit in the side by a mass of claws and feathers. The impact sent my beam rifle flying and we crashed through the window of a building across the street. I hit the glass first and got a flank full of glass shards and cuts that ripped at my stable barding. I winced in pain but couldn't think long about it as the griffon slashed wildly for for my throat while keeping up the cursing. We rolled about on the floor kicking scratching and biting until we hit a wall and the griffon finally found a grip on my throat. I tried kicking his talons away but he just started pressing harder. Breathing was getting hard. My eyes went wide and started to water. The griffon managed to dodge most of my frantic hoof swings and kept me pinned on my back. Great, so I was going to die from strangulation. The Enclave had failed, but I guess death had caught up with me again. I relaxed a bit and held my breath in as the grip got steadily tighter around my neck. The look of anger on the griffon's face slowly began to turn to confusion as I didn't struggle. Then I kicked him right upside the head with one of my free forelegs. There was a crack and the griffon fell off me like a burlap bag of potatoes. I rolled over and got a few breaths before checking the griffon's vitals. Yup, he was still alive, but he going to be out for a while. Then I noticed the wound in his shoulder. It was bleeding pretty bad. I could just leave him and he might make it, but be a bit weak when he woke up. No. I couldn't do that. Raiders were one thing, but I didn't even shoot them if they had no weapons. Proxy hadn't understood it when I wouldn't
pull the trigger on a bunch of fleeing raiders with no guns a week back. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Something felt wrong about it. This griffon on the other hand wasn't a raider. For all I knew he might have a family out there somewhere depending on him to come back with enough caps for their next meal. Sure he was a slaver and what they did was definitely not on my list of tolerated things, but if I was in worse circumstances I might have done the same thing. I rummaged in my saddle bag and found a healing potion and a bit of bandaging. I was no wasteland medic, but I did what I could to stop the bleeding and bind the wound up. He'd still need a doctor, but at least he'd make it to one once he woke up. I arranged one of his packs under his head and then headed down the stairs carefully. My beam rifle was somewhere on the street below, and all I had left was my rifle. I fished around in my other saddlebag and pulled out another few rounds with my wing. When I reached the main floor and peered out I to the street there was nothing but silence. I spotted my beam rifle and keeping my .308 ready I scooted out and picked it up, quickly diving back into cover. There were a couple scratches but not much else wrong with the beam rifle. I would have been right ticked if the receiver had been damaged. I ducked inside one of the buildings across the street and as soon as I entered came face to face with five sets of eyes. I whipped up the beam rifle and took aim almost instinctively. There was a frightened whimper and then a slightly raspy voice of mare begged,

"Please don't hurt us!"

My eyes adjusted to the dim light and I could just make out the shapes of a mare and four fillies, fouls, or both. I lowered the beam rifle let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"Thank you for getting us out of that fix back there," the mare continued. "When they got got Slim and his brother I thought we were doomed."

I nodded my head.

"You probably want some kind of payment. Here's a few cops I've been saving. I'm sorry it's not a lot, but it's all I've got."

She grabbed a small pouch in her mouth and presented it to me.

I shook my head vehemently.

"But?"

I pointed a hoof at the fillies and then at her and shook my head again.

"Wait, so you did it for us, and not for caps?"

I nodded a yes back to her.

"Well aren't you the sweetest thing? Could I bother you one more time with helping us home?"

I nodded.

The mare made a clicking noise and the fillies and colts followed her out the building and I to the street where the faint light gave just enough light to see things faintly. Ghouls. They were ghouls. I'd seen a few before, but never really interacted with them. We started down the street without saying word to each other. A cool breeze gusted down the street, so I pulled on my rout cloak. We went for a couple more blocks before she turned and looked at me again, letting out a gasp and freezing.

"Oh my sweet Celestia! It's you! DJPon3's been talking all about you but never thought I'd actually meet you!"

I just gave a shrug and kept walking. The mare did the same, but certainly seemed happier about the whole thing. I guess that radio pony was at least a bit of good. A we neared a still mostly intact apartment building I began to get tingly feelings on my neck. Something wasn't right. Something was moving near us and I couldn't see it, but I could just barely hear it.

"Jump!" said a voice in my head.

I did and no sooner had I when felt something move right where I'd been standing. I hovered in the air for a second before something fell over my head and was tightened around my neck. I hit the ground hard, but on all four feet. I might be able to see, but I could still detect movement around me. Something moved behind me and I let a rear hoof fly, catching something soft and producing a pony like grunt of pain.

"Do that again and we'll shoot you!"

A raspy voice said from in front of me. Okay, I didn't want to, but I'd rather not get a bullet in the brain today.

"Get her inside. We'll figure out the details later. I was pushed through a door and then down a flight of twelve stairs. Then we turned right and continued another twenty three steps before defending another forty nine stairs. There was a creaking as a metal door opened, and then we stepped inside. I continued counting the steps and turns, until I was left in what a could make out to be a six by twenty storage room. From the smell I guessed it was the sewers, and that ghouls had brought me, as all the voices I heard each had a bit of raspiness to them. They hadn't taken my guns though, which kind of seemed strange. Why capture somepony but leave them armed? Perhaps it was their way of showing that they don't want to hurt me? I'd probably find out soon enough. I fumbled about with the bag like hood over my head and finally managed to get it off. The room was pitch black. I could scarcely see my own hooves beneath me. Once again my own body surprised me. For some reason I could make out that there was a shelf just across from me, and a few barrels and boxes on the far wall. How I figured this out I had no clue, but I was just going to roll with it. Implants again? That was the only logical answer I could think of at the moment. Now if only I had all those extra parts I had left in my hotel room. There was at least one small spark battery and a bulb somewhere in that stash. Well, I'd just have to improvise. I fired my beam rifle at the boxes and they lit up in a nice low blue glow of ash. The room was now just bright enough that I could make out a mirrored window on one end, and a metal door at another. Great, so their watching me. I turned and stared directly at the window for a good five minutes or so without moving. Once the ash stopped glowing I tucked against the wall and moved under the window. There was no way I was getting out of that metal door, but the window might just be the trick. I pulled out the BoltFire prototype and loaded the cartridge again. I aimed for the glass and pulled the trigger. There was a smash and tinkle of broken glass and the startled yells and groans from several ponies. I wasted no time and jumped through the opening and into the adjoining room. There were a few mainframes, but I didn't hang around to find out what they were for. I pushed open the only door and stared into a hallway. Left or right. Right. I'd barely made it halfway to the end of the hall when six ghouls with various iterations of pipe guns rounded the corner and took aim at me. Shit. I looked around quickly and spied a heating grate. I kicked it out and dove inside. Whoever had designed these things had certainly made them spacious. I rounded a few corners and then stopped to check behind me. A few voices echoed down the pipe.

"I sure as hell am not going in there after her. Did you see that beam rifle? There's no way I'm getting on the business end of that!"

"But we can't let her just leave!"

There was a bit of clattering and then another voice broke in.

"Well if we weren't sure if she was the Spectre, we can be sure now. I haven't seen a pony react that fast in years."

"So your saying she might be it?"

"Well I didn't get a good look at her cutie mark due to all that stable barding, but I glimpse a bit of it through the tears. It could be, but I'm not sure."

"Then those old tales are true!"

"Perhaps. Now, guard this vent. If she comes out again try to stop her, but don't hurt her. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

Now this was an interesting tidbit of info. What did these ghouls know about me that I didn't? All I could really bring to mind was the whole 'super weapon' nonsense the Steel Rangers had been talking about. I wast even sure myself. Then there was that whole thing in the M.A.S. tower with that voice, and then the Enclave way back when I woke up the the Stable. Something was definitely going on here, and somehow all these events were connected. Something seemed missing though. It was like I had a puzzle but didn't have any instructions and all the pieces were the same shape. Maybe if I had my Pipbuck it would have some answers. Yes, it had to. It was all starting to get ever so slightly clearer in my mind. I must have had my memories selectively removed for some reason. I could recall most of my growing up, a lot of my training and several other things. But there were memories that seemed oddly short for some reason as if hours and entire days had been removed from my mind. Well, no point lingering on what I didn't know. I kept moving down the air vent till it hit a three way split. I took the third and found it ran along a wall of some kind of room. I reached a vent on the wall and carefully popped it off. I slipped through the opening and tucked behind some of the metal boxes stacked in the room. There were several ghouls standing around a low table with papers spread about on it. A familiar voice was talking.

"So, we get her in here and then we loose her. Great. Who's the genius who thought using one of our few and precious supply of Stealthbucks was a good idea?"

"I'm sorry sir, I just thought it might be best to use sunrise after hearing all those stories about the Equestrian Special Forces. If she had trying anything like that, than we'd be goners."

"I'll admit her reaction was faster than I had anticipated, but that was no call for using a bag over her head!"

"But what if she decided to escape and tell about our refuge down hear?"

"She's more likely to do it now than if you'd stuck to my original plan!"

I listened a while, but didn't pickup anything particularly interesting. I casually propped my beam rifle over the box and aimed it at the ghouls. I clicked the receiver on and instantly the ghouls looked up. Then there was a panicked scrambling behind the table like a bunch of radroaches. If I had been able to laugh I probably would have right there. I picked up the gun and walked out into the center of the room. The ghouls still cowered behind the table.

"So, what's the big deal with dragging me down here?" I wrote.

"Umm... Well ... I .. Um...we wanted to talk to you" replied the buck who seemed to know a little too much about me.

"Really? You need to work on your hospitality skills. That was by far the worst welcome I've had in a long time."

"Sorry... I didn't mean for it to go like that."

"Clearly. Your associate certainly seems to have had a good tongue lashing on the way down the hall."

The ghouls stared at me.

"You heard that?"

"I hear a lot of things."

"I told you she was E.S.F.! I told you!"

I didn't reply, but I didn't lower my guard.

"Um, you should have a PipBuck, right?" the first buck asked.

"How do you know so much about me? Who are you?" I wrote.

"Well, I'm really no pony too special. I just heard a lot of stories from an old ghoul who claimed to work for Cataegis Industries. He used to go on and on about some kind of super pony being created to save Equestria. He mentioned something about a Stable and some power source being part of a whole plan to disguise the whole thing. I'm not sure how much of it is true or not, but one thing is definitely true. There was a secret Stable built by StableTec, and you came out of that Stable. Whatever that Stable was for, it was something big. Something that a lot of ponies took a lot of effort to hide in order to protect something. If I'm right, you are that something."

"How are you even sure about that?"

" Well, you took off the Stable lettering, but if you look carefully you can still see the marks that spell out X-27."

Apparently this ghoul was smarter than I'd anticipated.

"Look, I know your having a bit of trouble believing this, and probably don't trust us." he continued. "I'll admit we aren't the greatest ponies out there, but we're trying to do what we can to make things better. If you are who we think you are, than we want to be on your side."

"Umm, okay.. I guess. But what exactly am I? Who am I?"

"We aren't exactly sure, but we do know your important in some way."

I tried to get more information from the ghouls, but they didn't seem to really know a lot more than a few bits of information. I did manage to find out that they ran their own little city down in the sewers and tunnels under the ruins of Las Pegasus. Most of The Strip's plumbing and power worked only because these ghouls kept it repaired, doing so with no notice from the surface who shunned them. I asked about the mechanical ponies that showed up in the hotel lobby, but no pony seemed to know anything. I got a few names for possible future reference, and then was offered a meal and a bed for the night. I gladly accepted both. I didn't particularly like ghouls, but this bunch seemed much better than a lot of normal ponies. Definitely kinder and a lot more prone to try to help each other. Now if only Wayside could see this and realize how bigoted they were. As I lay on the old mattress the ghouls had generously supplied me, I reminisced over what I had discovered that day. For one, my Pipbuck was still out there and still working. On the other hand, when I'd accessed the M.A.S.E.B.S. network, something had recognized me and unlocked something. Part of me knew what it was, but the rest of me just couldn't bring myself to believe it. There was no way she was still alive after all this time was there? Watcher still being around I could get, but her? And why did these ghouls seem to know me and want to help me? I was missing something from this picture. Even the Steel Rangers and the Enclave were interested in me. But why? I really need find that Pipbuck and get whatever is stored on it. As I drifted off to sleep, I heard low whispering from behind the door of the room I was in.

"That's definitely the mark. No doubt about it. She's the one."

"Why didn't we tell her then?"

"We can't. Not yet. It's far too dangerous if the wrong ponies find out now. Red Eye, Sanguine, The Enclave. Even the Rangers would want to get their hooves on her."

"Are you saying she's a .... a..."

"Yes, and praise the Goddesses she's still alive."

"

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long. I had a lot going on over the past while, but I'm still dedicated to getting this story finished regardless how long it takes.