Fallout Equestria: Chasing Paradise

Chapter 2: Family Reunion

Clank. Clank. Clank. Screeeeeettch.Clanking followed by scratching coming from the wall beside me woke me sometime during the night. I shot up and looked over at the wall to see nothing. I was certain the sound was coming from that wall and the skittering continued. After the immediate panic died off I laid back down, content that the sound must be either my neighbor or another of the stables odd sounds. They were common and I became used to them but sometimes I’d hear something completely alien and it would shock me senseless. Sometimes the sounds felt animate, like another pony was making them, but I passed that off as my mind playing tricks on me. Eventually I found myself asleep again.

The morning went by like they normally do with the morning routine and breakfast disappearing in the blink of an eye. The events of yesterday still swirled around in my head and they kept me occupied for most of the morning. I greeted my father with the same words I usually did and before I knew it, I was back in the little room in the bookstore, organizing and reading the newest additions and those that I hadn’t read in a long time.

A particular book by Copper Script, one of their earlier works, was one I held in high regard and I kept it out of the way off the other books. This little gem was a story about a couple fillies finding a home for themselves after running away from home. It was a heartwarming tale about friendship and love and it was somewhat of a dream I had shared with the author. To just be free to do whatever I pleased, live a life of my own and explore the vast unknowns of the world, it was paradise. Unfortunately the metal walls of the Stable kept me from ever seeing that vision come true and the dream died away long ago. The book still meant a lot to me however and I would often come back to it as I did again today. Not long into the book I started to doze off and eventually fell asleep, the book resting beside me alongside the pile of other books I was reading through.

When I got up from my short nap I noticed a distinct lack of tapping coming from the counter which was my father’s favorite pastime. I decided to investigate and upon entering the front room my father was nowhere to be seen. Everything else seemed normal so I assumed he went off to lunch and manned his place at the counter, waiting for a customer to stop by. Only a few minutes had passed before Blizzard Storm came rushing back into the shop with a mixed look of confusion, horror, and excitement on his face. “Frost you won't believe it!” He shouted, still moving quickly in my direction.

“What, what?” I quickly stammered out as he took my front hooves in his.

“She’s come back. Your mother, she’s returned!” He was dragging me out of the shop as he spoke.

“What do you mean she came back!? What about the shop?” I was overwhelmed with excitement and fear at the thought of seeing my mother again.

“Don’t you worry about the shop! This is far more important!” By now we’d already cleared the front door to the little bookstore and were quickly headed towards the overseers office. “Apparently a bunch of ponies that’d gone missing turned up this morning and the overseer is seeing to their health and safety right now. My friend told me that he saw her in the crowd and I had to look for myself!” After an almost sprint to the overseers office we came face to face with a large group of ponies, almost as many as their were ponies in the Stable, that I had never seen before.

They ranged in many colors and it was obvious that they came from many different families, but their similarities to the residents of the Stable made it plain to see that they were family to most if not all of the ponies living in Stable 84. My eyes scanned the crowd, once, twice, three times. It was during my fourth scan through that I spotted her, A middling sized pony with a dark blue tone and a similar mane. I knew this woman, even if it was several years ago that I saw her last, it was my mother. It didn’t take long for the crowd to grow exponentially with all the families of the Stable reuniting and sharing sentiments. My father led me through the massive conglomerate of ponies up to where my mother was standing. As soon as she noticed me she rushed up and gave me a hug.

“It was been so long dear.” She said with a tear in her eye. “How have you been my little girl?” She looked down into my eyes and I looked up into hers, tears running down my face to mirror hers.

“Too long mom, too long.” Was all I could muster as I pressed my face into her chest.

After the reunion of families had come to a close the overseer had all of the ponies that were displaced sent to the medical ward to see to it that they were healthy mentally and physically. Not to my or anypony else's surprise most of us followed alongside our lost family members, asking question after question. I was no different and soon after the fact I had many a question of my own. “What happened to you? Why’d you leave? Where did you go?” Those were only some of the questions I asked and most of the answers were the same. She didn’t know. Last she remembered was that fight with dad and then walking out. The sentiment seemed the same amongst all of the misplaced. Nopony seemed sure what’d happened and they’d very fuzzy memories of the events transpiring between then and now if they had any at all.

The next few days I spent in a daze. Most of the Stable had returned to normal and things were finally starting to calm down however. I’d never seen the Stable so packed full of ponies before since I was a little filly and it seemed oddly as though this was the intended number. It had always seemed off to me that the apple orchard was so big and large portions of the birthings empty. I had assumed the former was for safety in case of a fire or some blight killed off some of the trees and the latter simply because many ponies would feel off replacing rooms once containing family and close friends with anypony else. Although that was just a passing thought as the return of my mother was far more important to me. Every day after work for the next couple weeks I would visit the medical ward, checking to see if she had come to remember anything and also to spend time with her. Dad wasn’t all too pleased with the frequent visiting but he hadn’t much a say in it in my mind. He was still upset about how that night transpired but he seemed to have moved on. The nightmares stopped after Frosty returned and that was a relief for me for sure.

There were many little things I began to notice about my mother that had changed since I knew her last. She seemed more docile and less energetic. After all, it had been almost four years since I last saw her. She didn’t seem any older however and that one tidbit bothered me immensely. Other ponies had noticed a similar vein of problems with the ponies they had remembered as well. I told myself I didn’t care and took the route of blissful ignorance. She was back, and that’s all that mattered to me.