Fallout Equestria: Brotherhood

CHAPTER 11: BUNKER 37

The sky was a pale brown as morning slowly came to the world. Adam was staring out into the world from the edge of a balcony. His legs dangled and swayed as he and his brother watched the morning come to the cloudy, brown world. His face was halfway buried in his crossed legs that rested on the low railing of the balcony, and the world was empty and vast, but as he stared into the land he felt a great sense of loneliness... it puzzled and bothered Adam how empty the world was, and how much life could have existed in the world before.

"Brother, I can't stop thinking about Lucy..." Adam sighed heavily.

Neo put his arm around his little brother. "I know Adam. After hearing that, I couldn't stop thinking what her life was like. And the more I think about it the more I can see her and how happy she was. I just don't understand why the world has to be this way, why the world we learned about turned out like this."

"That's what Lucy said. She just wanted to live with her family and make the world a better place. I feel bad that she had her family taken away from her... Brother, I hope nothing like that happens to us."

Neo wasn't sure what to say. The very thought ate at him from the inside, and just to think what would happen to Adam if he were to... He tried to let the very thought not enter his mind. "I hope so too."

"What do you think her brothers were like? Do you think if they lived now that Lucy would be happier?"

"I'm sure she would be, but sometimes we have to forget about the what ifs and move on. I remember mom telling us that when we used to come back from school after failing a test."

Adam started to build up a tear in his eye as a slow sadness washed over him. "I miss her..."

Neo rubbed him calmly with his hoof, a gentle smile on his face to help cheer up his little brother. "I'm sure wherever she is right now, she also misses us."

He smiled at him. "Neo, Adam." A voice called from behind them.

They turned around to see a soldier with Allie next to her. "You finally woke up Allie. We were afraid you might not wake up at all." Neo chuckled softly.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned, her mane was a mess and her eyes dark. "Yeah well you have to thank her for that." She motioned her hoof to the soldier next to her.

Both brothers got up and looked at Allie and the soldier she was with. "What is it?" Adam asked.

"Commander Ironside wished to speak with you two."

"Is this about the whole guardian thing?" Neo ask.

She nodded sternly to him.

Neo took a step forward before answering. "How does this thing work anyway? I mean, is there some sort of thing we need to do first?"

"No, but he looked through our reports and he confirmed that you two did kill Asmodeus. And, once we were able to get the proper equipment ready he sent me for you. Now, please excuse the statement. But we must be going, the commander isn't patient when it comes to these things." She stepped to the side for them.

"I still don't like the idea, but this is the only lead we've got." Neo said before getting up and trotting off to the door.

Allie looked at Adam, "He doesn't seem to be too happy about it."

"Brother doesn't like the idea because he thinks we're just being sent into a war or something. But I'm sure it won't be that bad."

The soldier threw them a negative glare. "I'm sorry, but it is imperative that we leave at once."

They both nodded at her. "Right, sorry." Adam said shyly.

"No apology is necessary. Now please, if you would follow me."

Together, the soldier took them through the fortress. As they went they saw ponies getting armor and weapons together as they prepared for the day ahead. Though it didn't take as long as they thought to get to their destination, in fact, their destination was a small room. A grey stone room that had only one door, and a white screen in the front. A small projector, and a table with various items were laid on top of it at one side of the room.

The soldier did not enter the room, instead she just showed them in. "Sit down please, the commander will be with you shortly." She said before closing the door.

Allie didn't come in, most likely the meeting was between them and Ironside. So Neo and Adam didn't waste any time taking a seat. The room was terribly quiet, with only a faint humming sound coming from behind the walls.

"Brother, what do you think is going to happen?"

"I don't know, maybe this is where they take future guardians." He said while looking around the room.

The door opened behind them, and the soldier, Lucy, and Ironside came through the door. "Hello boys." Lucy said with a smirk.

Neo looked at her oddly. She looked way too happy to be normal, at least it wasn't normal for her. "Lucy where have you been this whole time?"

She went over to a corner and leaned against the wall. "Oh I just went around talking to old friends, and did some more stuff like that."

Ironside blushed faintly. "Well, enough of that Ms. Luck." He muttered softly.

She winked playfully at him. "Whatever you say Wilco."

"And please don't call me that..."

"Sure thing Wilco."

He frowned at her and made his way to the front of the room.

The mare who had escorted them stood silently next to the projector with a button under her hoof. "Lucy, the lights please." Ironside asked with a slight bow.

Lucy unfolded her wing and flapped the light switch off. "Thank you." He replied.

He stepped to the side and nodded to the soldier next to the projector. "Private, if you would please." Right after he was done speaking she pressed the button under her hoof.

A picture of the province flashed on the screen next to him. It was green, with a black background, and thin grid lines marking miles and distance covered the map from top to bottom. He picked up his hoof and pointed to the middle of the picture.

"This is the Ironhoof Province. As you already know this territory isn't small, and it certainly isn't safe."

Neo and Adam for a brief moment marveled at the size of the map, and he was right the province wasn't small at all. "The province is a circular territory, and we’ve divided the province into four different sections."

He pointed to the top right part of the map. "This is the North Eastern Province, this section is-" he noticed Adam sitting there with his hoof raised.

"Yes, what is it?"

He dropped his hoof and gave him a curious look. "Um, why are you talking about the province? I thought the whole reason you brought us here was to talk to us about being guardians."

He sighed heavily. "Fair enough. Unlike the Freelancers, we just go through a basic debriefing of what you're going to do. Then we send you out there. Though for new ponies like you we usually give you an assignment before going out into the world on your own."

"Then what's our assignment?"

"I was about to get to that."

"Oh..."

"Right, as I was saying..." He straightened himself up and pointed back to the top right section of the map.

"This is the North Eastern part of the province. Please note that the north is mostly Legion controlled, and even though they have laws preventing guardians from being killed on sight a lot of them still don't take too kindly to guardians."

He moved his hoof down to what looked like a group of tiny boxes spread throughout the area. His hoof pointed to the first box, and generally moved down to the others as he named them. "This is the Legions Eastern outpost, this is where they make their supply runs, so if you can, stay away from here. The next place is the town of Jerky Town. Do not, and I repeat, do not go here. All it is is a town of slavers and junkies, and the Legion makes a killing off of its brain dead population. The rest of these places are either slaver, or Legion outposts. You can't restock at them so make sure you remember that."

Ironside nodded to the soldier and with a tiny click another picture flashed on the screen. This time it showed a different part of the province, not the whole map like before, but rather a small section of it. "This is the south Eastern Province. Most of the territories here are controlled by the coalition, so you can go to the outpost if need be. Though we are currently running low on supplies so you might not get anything if you plan to ask for something.

Now, to the south of here near the Dark Iron mountain range is the town of Arkcannon. We control this town, and believe it or not this is your first assignment."

He stiffened his posture and gave them a powerful look. "We lost communication with the town about two weeks ago, and all efforts to communicate with them have failed. Naturally we would send scouts or others to check on the settlement but unfortunately some kind of monster keeps attacking the caravans we send to trade or make contact."

He turned and pointed at a small road between Arkcannon and a small dot with the words, Bunker 37 next to it. "This is the Highway 26, and usually this is where the caravans travel, but reports of some kind of monster killing members of the caravans keeps coming up. We need you to go to Bunker 37 and find out what's killing them, and hopefully stop it... Any questions?"

They both looked baffled. "You want us to do what?!" Neo screamed slamming the desk with one hoof.

"We need you to kill, or at least find out what's killing these ponies. That way we can continue trade with the town, and finally start communicating with them again."

"Are you out of your mind! We don't know anything about this thing or why it's doing this, and you expect us to go out there and just find it?!"

"Yes, that is exactly what I want you to do."

Neo sat back down and folded his front legs. "What if we do find out what it is, then what?" He said in a negative tone.

"You'll be sent off to Arkcannon, as requested by Lucy."

Adams face lit up with joy at the sound of those words. "Brother that's where mom is! We'll finally get to see her again!"

Neo smiled at him before looking at Lucy. "You, requested it?"

She smirked at him. "Yep, and don't you ever say I'm not nice to you, cause I am."

Ironside nodded at Lucy which queued her to flip the lights back on. He trotted over to a table on the other side of the room. On it was two folded dusters, and a small holotape. "The holotape has the location of Arkcannon, and your mission on it."

They looked at the items from the table from their seats. Only it was a little difficult to see all the stuff on the table from their spots and so they shuffled around trying to get a better look. Lucy only laughed at them as she watched they try to get a look at the items.

"You can get up now." She chuckled.

Neo and Adam looked at her embarrassed. "Well that might help a bit won't it?" Neo said while nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"It would, wouldn't it?" Lucy added.

They both got up and went to the table to download their mission onto their PipBucks. It didn't take long for the download to finish, and once they were done Ironside continued to explain what everything else on the table was.

With a straight and serious expression he pointed to the dusters on the table. "These are guardian dusters. They are, and will be your clothing from now on. If you go into a town without them you will not be treated as a guardian. As such, it is vital that you wear them as often as possible."

He turned to his side and showed off his own duster which looked strikingly similar to the ones on the table. "Not only will these be a symbol of who you are, it will also serve as a form of protection." He looked at Neo and the tattered duster he wore. "If you compare mine and his you will notice mine is both scar and damage free."

Neo eyed his duster he wore and frowned at it. He was right, the old thing was worn and filthy. "The duster I wear and the ones on that table are enchanted. They will protect you from most small arms, and small sharp items, though anything bigger then a sword could cut through it."

He turned back towards them and motioned his head towards the dusters on the table, "Now, put them on." He said in a deep darker tone.

Without saying a word they both took off their dusters and tried to put the new ones on. While they did so Ironside noticed the small metal pads on their backs. He moved up to Adam and looked at the strange object on his back curiously. As he did so Adam stopped and watched him look him over, even though he felt like his personal space was being a little invaded.

"What are these?" He asked looking at Adam.

Neo stepped in to answer him. "They're levitation saddles. Adam made them for me and him when we were in the city."

He looked back to the machine on his back before answering in a pleased, yet stern like manner. "I see. Do they work?"

Adam backed up from him a bit and smiled at him. "Yep, and they can levitate items as heavy as two hundred pounds! Though every now and again I need to make sure they're working properly."

With a hard smile he glared at him. "Show me."

Adam nodded at him calmly, and just like he said the duster was engulfed in a faint blue aura and it positioned itself on his body. "See, works like a charm."

The commander circled him and looked at him carefully. "Hmm. I have to say, I am impressed. These things you've got will help a whole lot out in the world, and trust me, with levitation on your side your lives will be a lot easier.

Neo was surprised at the remark, after all unicorns in the Stable lived much easier than Earth ponies, but just thinking about what ponies with levitation out here did baffled him. They could use all kinds of spells, maybe even ones that he or the ponies of the Stable didn't know about, but what was worse was that he was going out into a world with ponies like that out there.

"Then it's probably a good thin-" He was interrupted by the door slamming open and a stallion soldier stumbled into the doorway with Allie behind him.

They all stared at him as he panted and saluted to Ironside. He had a worried and urgent look on his face, while Allie looked completely confused. "Sir! We've got a message from Ironstead sir!"

With a straight face he trotted over to him. "What is it soldier?"

He lowered his hoof and straightened up his posture. "Sir, we have confirmed Iron Hammer is not there sir."

His eyes widened in terror. "How do we know? Have we broke their defensive barrier?"

He shook his head. "No sir, they just let us in. A few scouts went into the place and came out with a note on a piece of paper."

"And?"

"It only had two words on it... Try again."

He slammed his hoof down on the stone ground with rage while Lucy came closer to the soldier. "Was there anypony in the fortress when the scouts went to check out the place?"

"Negative, they found this in an empty chamber after ten minutes of searching."

Ironside shook with rage, "Damn it! I knew it was there! Why didn't they listen to me!"

Lucy went up to him and patted him on the back. "Was there anything else there when they searched the place?"

He hung his head low. "No, just an empty fortress."

Ironside straightened himself up and inhaled deeply, trying to cool himself down. "Fine. I better talk to the council about this."

He looked at the two brothers who looked confused over what had just happened. "You're dismissed." He muttered softly before marching out the door with the soldier in the room and in the doorway.

Allie walked into the room with a puzzled look on her face. "What just happened Lucy?"

She sighed heavily. "The Coalition has been besieging the fortress of Ironstead for the past few weeks now. Though the only reason they're doing so is because of some fabled weapon the Legion found. The Coalition call it Iron Hammer."

Neo stepped forward. "And they thought it was there?"

"Yes, or at least we did till now."

"Why is he so upset about it? I mean it sounds bad that it's not there, but he looked more then just angry." Adam asked.

"You see Adam, for the past few days he was absolutely sure it was there, and for weeks the council was against him. They considered pulling out of the area, but he insisted it was there. After all this time he was right, but now that it's gone we're not sure where they might have it now." She looked at him a moment then trotted grimly out the door. "If you need me I'll be in the courtyard..."

Allie stepped in, she was unsure as to what to say to the two brothers. She looked at them shyly and rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Well, I'm not sure what to say about all of that..."

Neo looked at her calmly and made his way to the door, "Neither do I Allie, but I'm sure they're going to have to sort it out eventually. And I'm certain they won't want extra ponies like us in the base while they try to figure this all out."

"But brother where do you plan on going?"

Allie stopped him with her hoof which caused him to look at both her and his brother. "Yeah, you can't just run off like that without telling us. We wouldn't want you becoming a Lucy now would we?" She chuckled softly.

He smiled at them. "I'm going to take our first big step to finding our mom. Now that we have an idea where she might be I don't want to sit and waste anymore time."

With a light trot Adam came up next to him with a playful look. "Then I take it you want to get out of here, huh?"

"Well that's one way of putting it." He said merrily while patting him on the back.

Cheerfully Adam pointed to the duster he and his brother both wore. "And with these we won't have to worry as much about raiders. Oh! And maybe Lucy will get to fly us to where we need to go!"

Together they both laughed a bit before making their way to the courtyard where Lucy was.

The dark grey clouds in the sky grimly loomed above them, and a blue hue washed over the world. Though the sun wasn't shining the weather was fair and the wind blew only slightly in a gentle breeze that seemed to be both refreshing and dry. Lucy was reorganizing her cart so her take off would be easier with less items onboard. Neo, Adam, and Allie all stood contently next to the cart as the soft breeze gently blew by.

On the other side of the courtyard several soldiers, who were mainly unicorns dashed back and forth as they crowded a large metal door on the other side of the area.

Adams ears perked up as he saw Golden Cog go by to the crowd. "Hey! Golden Cog!" He shouted to her with his hooves cupped at his mouth.

Neo and Allie looked at him before turning their heads to the pony they had met the other day. She stopped for a moment as Adam's voice reached her, she smiled at them from the other side of the area and made her way towards them. "Hey guys, what's up?" She said as she came up to them with a her same friendly look about her.

She looked at Adam then to Neo. "Woow, looks like you've come a long way from from being those kids eating meat off dirty plates to kids with guardian gear. Then again it wouldn't really be that long of a way considerin I saw ya yesterday." She chuckled.

Adam spun around to show his duster off, "I know! We even got the badges and everything." He said in a proud happy tone while he pointed to the small sun on the collar of his duster.

Neo stepped in with a goofy smile on his face. "Hey don't forget about me, you're not the only one who got to become a guardian."

She shrugged, "Meh, you don't look much different. The duster’s a lot nicer though."

Neo laughed a bit. "Yeah, it doesn't feel any different then my old one, minus the small enchantment on them and all. Plus it feels clean... er."

"Heh, I wouldn't know anything about clean clothes, when you work in the wagon depot you can never stay clean no matter how much to try. Plus a bath is rare in these parts, so having that alone is a good thing."

"Speakin of which, is that the wagon depot over there?" Allie added while pointing to the large metal door on the other side of the courtyard.

Golden Cog looked towards the depot and nodded. "Sure is, I was on my way there till you guys called my name."

Neo blinked at her. "Oh, we aren't interrupting something you need to do, are we?"

She shook her head, "Naw it's fine, they just got in an air wagon we found outside the keep about seven miles out in some storage house."

Adam instantly became interested as he pondered what an air wagon might be. "What is an air wagon? I know there are normal wagons a pegasus can fly with but I've never heard of an air wagon before."

"I'm not surprised, nopony in the province uses them anymore. In fact I've never really seen one till now. I mean I've read some old pre-war books about them but I've never really seen one in real life before."

Neo turned his gaze toward the depot where the metal door concealed the fabled air wagon inside. "What's better about the wagon we found is that it's a TB-51 air wagon."

"Bullshit." Lucy interjected while she stepped away from the cart. "Those things don't exist, and I know that for a fact."

Golden Cog cocked her head to the side and shrugged, "Well we found one, and only one. The rest were either melted pieces of crap, scrap, or both."

"What's so special about them anyway?" Neo added.

"Well shoot," Golden Cog said tipping her helmet upwards, "they're only the most high class air wagons you can find! They don't need four pegasus ponies to fly them, instead ya need just two. Next, the pilots are inside the thing which means they're less likely to die when their flying them. Lastly, they run on turbine power generated by the two pilots."

"Well what about the pilots? Don't you have any?" Neo asked.

She hung her head low, and looked at Lucy who continued to work on the items in the wagon. "Well..."

"What? Aren't there enough pegasi you can use to help?"

"Well... not exactly... You see, pegasi are rare, especially in the province. Ever since..."

"The Purging? Yeah, they don't need to know about that." Lucy rudely stated while not stopping what she was doing.

Golden Cog rubbed her neck nervously. "Well... yeah... then it's probably not a good idea to talk about the enclave either huh?"

"GC! Get over here the chief wants you ASAP!" A mare in the standard coalition soldier barding shouted from the other side of the courtyard.

She moved her head in her direction and put a hoof to her mouth and replied, "Coming!"

Quickly she turned back to them. "Well guys it was nice talkin to ya, but I need to get to the depot. Me being one of the main ponies over at the depot means I gotta be there for stuff like this... well most of the time anyway."

They just scratched their head at her. "Okay... bye."

"Yeah, I'll catch ya on the flipside guys." She said before dashing off to the others on the other side of the courtyard.

Adam cocked his head to Allie, "Allie, what's the enclave?"

"Yeah." Neo agreed.

Lucy stepped away from the cart with a normal look on her face, and after patting herself down she went over to Neo and Adam. "The enclave are a bunch of pansy ass clowns who think this world is too bad to fix and there's no hope for it... ever."

Allie just shrugged at them. "I may have lived out here for most of my life but the info I get is from travelers and the radio. And my knowledge on them isn't very extensive."

"What about that purging thing?" Neo asked again.

"That's none of your fucking business, and it's best you refrain from asking that too many times unless you like to piss me off."

Neo and Adam backed away from her a bit scared for their own well being. "Okay, I get it. You don't want to talk about it."

She smirked at him. "Good, I'm glad we can agree on that." She went over to the front of the wagon and got her straps ready. "Well, she's all fixed up. Gears clean and fixed, and we're all ready to go."

Neo sighed and hopped into the cart. Adam and Allie followed behind him. "You know, it feels like yesterday we actually came out here. It just... It just seems like it's gone by so fast. But in the amount of time we've been out here we have done so much. It kind of amazes me now that I think about it."

Allie got next to him and smiled warmly. "I remember the time you guys saved me and Kat. Or when you helped me when I fell in that radioactive water in Ironhoof."

"Now that I think about it, brother’s right. It does seem like yesterday that we came out here. Now look at us." Adam added.

While Lucy tied off her fedora and strapped herself into the cart she cocked her head back. "I don't see what you're talking about. You still look like the same Stable babies to me. Only with different clothes on."

They all laughed at her. "I'm glad we're still Stable babies and not crazy murdering Stable babies." Neo said looking towards her.

Lucy finished hooking herself up, while she positioned herself for take off she flapped her wings a few times. "Well kids. Take a good look at this place, cause you probably won't see it again for a very long time."

With a brief wave from the three in the cart Lucy slowly started to trot and as she did she gained more speed as she did until she finally took off into the sky. They were on their way to where their journey would really begin, and where they finally have hope again. Hope that they would find their mother out in the vast open new world.

In all directions there was emptiness. Rolling dark hills dotted with small shriveled up black trees were spread out in the distance. Rocks and dead shrubs along with the pale blue cloud covered sky added to the emptiness the wastes had.

There were five ponies arguing with a velvet filly outside an old round metal dome. The dome had a flat top, and a huge metal door that seemed to be several inches thick.

The filly was a unicorn with a light velvet coat and no cutie mark on her flank. Her mane was like light blue icing on a cake, and her eyes were a deep shade of blue. The ponies talking to her had a two headed cow bearing several sacks and bags filled with various items and trinkets. All five of the ponies wore leather barding except the middle who wore a more formal red jacket. Two of them had massive machine guns that were hooked up to saddles on their backs.

"Listen kid, you're freakin crazy." Said the mare with the red jacket.

"But, you can't stop making your rounds! We need the supplies you and the other caravans bring."

"I'm sorry, but I lost two of my best guards back there because of that thing and I don't plan to lose anymore."

"That doesn't mean you can't still come halfway to here! We depend on you for supplies."

She sighed and rubbed her arm with a sad look on her face. "Look, it's just become too dangerous for us around here anymore. A lot of the ponies I travel with are good friends and it hurts me to see them die by something we couldn't even see... so we're just going to have to stop coming up this way."

The filly hung her head downward, and with a heavy sigh she nodded. "I see..."

The mare in the jacket patted her on the back with a reassuring smile. "Hey cheer up, I'm sure that soon this thing will move on, and when it does we'll be back."

"Yeah..." She sighed.

She turned around and motioned for the caravan to move out. Before she moved with the rest of the group she looked back at the sad little filly. "Tell your Dad and little sister we said goodbye okay." She said before going back to the others.

She just hung her head low and sat down on the ground, moping to herself. "Now what are we going to do..."

A faint noise caught her attention as she looked up into the sky. It was a grey pegasus with a cart, and she was slowly coming down towards the ground. "What the?" She muttered picking herself up and walking towards where they might land.

Lucy found a clearing only about a hundred feet from the dome and landed roughly on the brown wasteland soil. With a panicked look on her face she quickly unlatched herself and went to the side of her cart. She leaned against it and stroked it slowly while cooing to into in a gentle tone.

"It's okay, mama's here. Those meanie wheenie stupid ass raiders won't put any more holes in you. But you're a strong girl, and you show them who's boss. Yes you do, yes you do."

Neo and Adam climbed out of the wagon shaking. The ride had proven to be the most shaky they've had yet. Adam stubbled queasily over to a rock. "Brother, I think I'm going to be sick..." He gagged a bit as he leaned against the rock.

Neo laid down on the ground, he gagged a bit as he lay there with an awful feeling in his stomach. "It was such a smooth ride till we passed those raiders..." He moaned.

Allie tripped and stumbled as she tried to get her balance. "I know... She's making a big deal about a cart..."

Lucy shot up from her spot next to the cart and gave Allie a angry glare. "It's not just a cart!... It's my cart. There are many, and I mean many like it. But this one... yes this one, is mine."

Allie backed away slowly from her giving her a nervous smile. "Okay, okay, I think I get it..."

"Good." She snorted. "Now, Neo get off your lazy ass and help me unload the cart!" She barked at him.

He got up slowly and looked to Adam first. "Adam? Are you gonna be okay?"

Adam stumbled to him with sickly face. "I think I'll be fine..."

"Just don't think about it. It'll go away soon enough."

"I hope so..."

Lucy was getting impatient, "Listen, I need you guys to unload this. I've got somewhere else to be believe it or not." She said as she took a combat shotgun out from the cart.

The little filly curiously watched them from behind a rock that was about thirty feet away from the cart. "They look like... wait a sec, I recognize those dusters." Then a big grin managed to make its way onto her face.

She stood up from her hiding place and walked calmly to the four that were unloading the variety of things from the cart. "Hey! Are you guardians?" The little one cried out to them.

Adam was the first to look at her. "Who's she?"

Neo and Allie looked at her as she approached them. Neo and Adam were more curious as to where she had come from, and why she was asking if they were guardians or not. Lucy unloaded the final thing from the cart, which happened to be Neo's saddle bag.

"Oh that's Lavender Wind. She's Professor Thunderwill's daughter." Lucy said as she went through Neo's bag.

"Ah, but where did she come from? I mean she just kinda came out of nowhere." Neo asked without noticing her going through his bag.

Lucy quickly pointed to the round metal building that was to the right of them. "She came from the bunker right over there."

Neo blink as he wondered how he could miss the building that plainly stood there openly. He nodded at her with his eyes closed. "Ah, yeah well now that you point that out that does make a little more sense..." He said embarrassed slightly.

Adam put his saddle bag on and the rest of his gear on as well. Allie did the same only after she was done she went to meet the little one.

Lavender stopped and looked at Allie oddly. "Are you a guardian?" She asked.

Allie shook her head with a calm smile on her face. "Those three are, and you are Lavender Wind right? I'm Allie."

"Nice to meet you Allie. Are those three here to help us?" She asked while looking at the three next to the cart.

Allie looked back to them and nodded. "Mhmm, well I think they are anyway."

Neo watched Allie talk to Lavender for a moment before starting the search for his own bag. He started to look around the cart for it, as he did so he decided to see if Lucy had seen it. "Hey Lucy have you seen m-" He stopped his search and watched as she took hundreds of caps out of his bag.

"Lucy! What the hell are you doing! Those are mine!" He yelled at her while he scrambled to get his things from her.

She pushed him back and waved her hoof at him disapprovingly. "Nope, some of these caps belong to me, namely about four hundred and thirty four of them."

Neo eyes widened as he took his bag from her and placed it on his back. "Why in the name of Celestia do you need four hundred of them?!"

"Because you see that shotgun, or the well repaired gear you have in your bag, well all the cash that cost to repair that crap came out of my pocket. So I am getting what you owe me."

"That's," he stuttered, "that's unfair! Me and Adam won those fair and square!"

She put the caps she had taken and put them in her own bag. "That might be true, but I repaired your gear with my caps. So I get a share of the caps."

Neo's brain was about to explode with frustration, "Fine, just keep the stupid things." He sighed, "I didn't need the extra weight anyway."

Neo walked over to where Allie and Lavender were so he could catch up with them. Lucy smirked at him while Adam trotted up next to her. "Brother means well, he just... has a tendency to dislike it when other ponies take stuff that's his."

She shrugged. "Whatever, just hope he gets used to it cause out here, a lot of ponies will be wanting to do just that. Only they may want to off his dead corpse."

Adam didn't like the thought of his brother dying, or having to watch, or just the thought in general made his stomach churn. "Just drop it..."

Lucy nodded at him and went back to the cart to hook herself up. "See ya around kids. Oh, and tell Neo he needs to grow up will ya." She said to Adam while she put the last strap on her body.

Adam had a surprised look on his face. "Aren't you coming with us?"

She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. You see I've got to get back to Ironhoof, with half of our guys gone there they'll need me there more then ever." She said in a quiet, almost sad tone.

Neo, Allie, and Lavender didn't seem to notice that Lucy was about to leave. "But you can't just go! You haven't said goodbye yet!"

"I just did kid. And cheer up, we'll see each other again. I mean really you know where I live so it shouldn't be too hard."

Adam felt a cold sadness wash over him, like he was losing a friend. "Just stay safe okay Lucy."

"You too Adam, and make sure your brother doesn't act stupid while I'm gone." She said with a smirk.

He gave her a smile and nodded. "Alright, try not to get hit by raiders on the way back."

Lucy nodded at him and stretched out her wings for take off. With three powerful beats of her wings she and the cart were off the ground and in the air. Within a few moments she had taken off into the sky and was out of site.

Neo turned around to see Adam looking up into the sky. Curiously he trotted over to him and looked up with him. "She left didn't she..."

"Yeah..." He sighed.

Neo chuckled a bit. "Good riddance I say." Adam threw him a dirty look.

"She wasn't too bad, minus the name calling and things..."

Neo bursted out laughing. "Well you are right, but I still think she needs to see somepony about her problems. Then maybe she can be a nice as a red apple."

He raised an eyebrow at Neo. "Why are you comparing her to apples?"

He shrugged and smiled. "I don't know. Why not?"

A small cough came from behind them. Slightly surprised they both turned around to see Lavender and Allie looking at them. "If you two are done talking about apples then we kinda need to get inside. Nighttime is when the wildlife comes out, and.. the monster too..." Lavender said while looking around nervously.

"Monster?" Adam asked.

"I'll tell you later let's just get inside, it'll be dark in an hour."

Without making another comment the whole group went to the dome shaped bunker where a large thick metal door stood in their way. Along with the many small tubes and bolts on the door a large 37 was imprinted on it. Though the number was chipped and worn from the elements. On the side of the door was a small intercom with a small red and green button next to each other.

Lavender pushed the red button and spoke into the intercom. "Lu? Can you open the door for us?"

A young voice answered from the intercom. "What's the password!" The young voice said.

Lavender facehoofed, "I'm sorry she tends to be a little odd sometimes."

She pushed the button again to answer. "Lu, I'm your big sister please open the door or get dad please."

"Say the password and I'll let you in!"

"I don't know the password."

"Password or GAN."

"GAN?"

"Go Away Now."

"Let me in, Lu or I'm telling dad!"

"..."

"Lu, I'm going to start counting."

"..."

"One... two... three... f-"

"Okay! Please don't tell daddy..."

"Promise not to do this again?"

"I promise..."

She turned around and looked at the group with an embarrassed smile on her face. "Sorry, she's a little goofball... heh."

A loud click came from the other side of the door before it slowly opened for them. Lavender motioned her hoof for them to go inside. One by one each pony went through the square metal doorway that lead into the bunker. Lavender was the last to enter, and as she entered she push the door shut behind her. With a loud click the door locked itself once again.

The room they were in was round and empty, only a grey metal ground and walls surrounded them. In the center of the room was a hatch that was fully open with a metal ladder going down the small hole the hatch would cover if it was closed.

Lavender stood next to the ladder and put her hoof on the ladder itself. "Watch your step as you go down, and be careful as you go down. We don't want anypony to fall and hurt themselves."

Allie went down the ladder first, it was a little difficult for her to keep her bag on her back, even with her magic it was still slightly difficult in a way. "Which one of you wants to go next?"

Neo stepped forward and slowly made his way down into the shaft. Adam was kind of nervous, especially with ladders. He didn't understand why, but for some reason it freaked him out. His knees started to shake as he felt slightly nervous.

"What's the matter?" Lavender asked.

Adam shook his head trying to get rid of the feeling. "Nothing, I-I'm fine."

She could tell he was nervous, though she didn't say anything about it. "Alright just go down when you're ready."

Adam position himself on the ladder and slowly made his way down. Lavender went over to the door and made sure it was locked before going down herself.

The chamber below was round and branched off into four round hallways each with its own set of four doors, with two at each side. On top of the grey metal hallways was white round light bulbs that illuminated the underground bunker. The only thing that seemed slightly different about each hallway was the hallway to the far right. It, unlike the others, had an extra door at the end.

Behind the grey dull metal walls was a faint humming coming from them. The ceiling was low and the air smelled clean, and in a way it was like being in a Stable again. Which felt both warming and cold at the same time.

Lavender pointed to the first door near them in a hallway to the left. "My goofball sister should be in there."

As the group moved into the first hallway they each observed the wondrous place. Memories came flooding back to the two as they continued to inspect the bunker.

The door she had pointed out earlier made a faint swooshing noise as it opened for them. In the room was a small yellow unicorn filly with a neatly combed pink mane on top of her head. Her eyes were a bright baby blue, and the red bow on her head was just as large as the blue eyes that stared at them.

She was sitting on a metal stool in front of several flashing buttons and terminal screens with a big headset on that looked way too big for her.

She took off the large headphones and set them down on the large panel of buttons with a rather guilty look on her face. It only took her a moment for her to hop down off the stool and shuffle saddly to Lavender. "I'm sorry... please don't tell daddy! I didn't mean to use the big voice. Promise!"

Lavender shot her a stern glare. "Then why were you joking with us if you didn't mean to, hm?"

The little filly hung her head lower and folded her eyes back. "I'm sorry..."

She patted her head gently and let the other three in. "Lu, these are our guests. This is Neo, Allie, and Adam."

"Hi." Adam said with a small wave and a gentle smile.

Seeing the new ponies had done something to perk up the little one, because her face lit up when she saw them. "New friends! Yay!" She exclaimed while jumping in the air several times.

"Yeah Lu, and they should be staying with us for a few days too."

She squeed and giggled at her. "How many days big sis?"

She scratched her head and looked at Neo for answers. He just looked at her oddly as he tried to remember how long Ironside had said they were staying at the bunker. "I think we were told three days... I think."

"Aw... You and your friends won't get to stay long..."

Neo noticed the word friends, and not friend and decided to step in. "No, me and him are brothers."

She got a big smile and tackled Neo. "Big brother!" She yelled as she attacked him.

Everypony backed away as Lu got away from Neo. "What just happened?!" He said while Adam helped him up.

Lavender chuckled. "Shes always wanted a big brother, and she does that with ponies she really likes."

She looked at Adam next and crouched down to pounce on him. "You're my big brother too!"

"Wha-?!" He said before having a yellow filly attack him.

She giggled before hopping off him. "You two are funny."

Adam rubbed his sore head as every pony gave out a small chuckle. "Does she do this all the time?"

"Only when she meets somepony."

"Oh, well I'm glad that's over with..."

The kind moment was interrupted by a faint cough. "E-e-excuse me. I don't believe we've met."

They all looked at who the strange pony behind them was and saw a yellow unicorn stallion with an orange mane looking at them. Though unlike Lavender and Lu he looked sickly and tired, as if he had not slept in days. He wore a brown coat with pockets all around the middle section of it, and on his face was a pair of old circular glasses that were perched in front of his pale green eyes.

Lu jetted over to him and hugged his leg. "Daddy!"

"Hey dad." Lavender said with a smile.

She motioned her hoof to him. "Everpony, this is my dad."

He gave them a nervous smile, followed by a laugh. "Pleased to meet you all, I-I'm Professor Thunderwill, but you may call me Will if you would like..."

Neo, Allie, and Adam nodded their head to him. "I'm Neo, and this is my little brother Adam, and over here is Allie."

"T-The pleasure is all mine."

"Dad I was just about to show them to their rooms, but I wanted to see if you could do it for me so I could get dinner ready."

He looked at her nervously, and with a shy tone he said, "Okay, but don't take too long now dear."

She gave him a quick nod and trotted off to another door across from them in the bunker. "She's a good girl. So independent and s-spirited..." He looked at the three, and Lu and pointed to a hallway to the left. "Please follow me. I hope you f-find this place comfortable." He said as he guided them to the hallway.

Neo trotted next to him to talk to him more easily. "We used to live in a Stable before we came out here, so we're pretty used to life like this."

His eyes looked at him dully as if he were not himself, then he stopped at the first doorway ignoring Neo's statement, "Neo will be staying here with her," he pointed to the door across from the door he was standing at. "And Adam will sleep with Lu."

Lu started hopping up and down again, "Yay! Big brother gets to sleep over!"

Adam patted her on the head, "Yep... great..."

"We'll read stories, and eat pie, and eat pie while reading stories! It will be sooo fun!" The little one squealed.

Neo Stepped through the doorway to peek inside the room. It was a fairly well sized room, though he chuckled a bit when he realized it looked bigger then his living quarters back in the Stable. He continued to look around the room which had a small lamp, a velvet chair, and a terminal with a desk. But the one thing that caught his attention the most was the fact that there was one bed.

"Um..." He muttered with a faint blush in his cheeks, "There's only one bed..."

"You'll have t-to work it out."

Neo looked at Allie who gave him the same kind of expression he had. "Now if you e-ex-excuse me I need to go back to work... I-I have a-a-a lot to get done..." He stuttered nervously.

Without saying another word he turned away from them and went off to the hallway on the left of them which had the door at the end of the hallway. "Bye daddy." Lu said with a little wave.

Allie looked at Neo with an embarrassed look. "Well, we should probably find out how we're going to work this out... heh..."

"Yeah... heh..."

Adam turned to the door that was supposedly Lu's room. "Well I've got to get my stuff all put away, I guess I'll just leave you two to it then..." He and Lu trotted off to her room so he could unload and rest while Neo and Allie did the same. As he went away Lu's talk of how much fun she and Adam would have could be heard as he trotted away with her.

"Maybe, we can find out what we're going to do after dinner..."

Allie nodded at him. "Yeah, yeah, sounds good to me."

The small grey room had the smell of baking beans and cold metal in the air of the kitchen. A faint mist was above ceiling as steam came out of a pot on a stove. Adam, Neo, and Allie all sat at a low table with bowls resting in front of them while Lavender levitated a pot over to the table. Lu sat there and stared at Neo's metal arm and PipBuck.

She pointed to the tiny device on his arm. "What's that?"

Neo looked at his wrist where his PipBuck rested, "What, this? Well it's a PipBuck, in the Stable when you turn ten you get your very own Pipbuck, and you get to take on the responsibilities of an adult."

She raised her hoof up in the air. "Yes Lu?" He said.

She put down he hoof and scratched her head. "What's a Stable?"

He scratched his left arm with his metal hoof. "Maybe I'll tell you sometime later, it's a little hard to explain."

"Oooooh," she cooed, "then where did you get that?" She pointed to his metal arm.

He looked at her with a darker look, "It's a long story, and I'd rather not talk about it..."

"Oh, okay..." She said feeling slightly embarrassed for asking.

"Soups up everypony!" Lavender shouted while Levitating a pot of beans to them. She circled the table and as she did she took a ladle out from each side of the pot and put a small serving in each bowl. "Tonight we're having beans... and beans... and, more beans."

After she was done she took a seat of her own and started to eat her own serving. Neo and Adam looked at the 180 year old beans that had long been expired. "You know Adam, the wasteland cuisine never ceases to amaze me."

He looked at Adam and Allie with a surprised look as he watched them eat the disgusting looking gruel like candy. With a smile, and a full mouth Adam pushed Neo's bowl towards him. "Go ahead brother. It tastes much better than you'd think."

With a bit of confidence he forced himself to put a bit of the stuff in his mouth, and to his surprise it wasn’t that bad. A little stale maybe, and a little burnt tasting but not at all terrible, well at least not inedible. As they ate Adam got a little curious about the bunker and decide it would be a good time to talk about it with Lavender.

"So, Lavender. What does your dad do anyway?"

She stopped eating to answer him with a puzzled look. "Well, he says he makes potions. Some kind of strength potions and he gives them to the coalition and travelers. But he never lets us go down to where he works though. He says it's not a place for fillies."

"Well what about your mom? Where is she?"

Everypony stopped and looked at him. "She's... she's not with us anymore... Dad said she got sick, and then she died. He didn't even let us see her before she passed away..."

"I'm... I'm so sorry... I didn't kno-"

"It's okay... I just don't like to talk about it a whole lot... that's all."

Adam hung his head down slightly in his chair and thought about his own mother. "What about Lu?" Neo asked.

"What about her?"

"Where did you get the name Lu from?"

Her horn faintly glowed as she started to pick up the empty bowls. "Well, dad said he named her Luna, after the goddess. But when he found out that ponies around here didn't like the name so we started calling her Lu."

Lu giggled as she just stared at Neo, which kind of creeped him out. "I see, so why do you live in the bunker?"

She put the bowls away in a sink and turned to him. "Well this place is the only safe place dad could do his work. Or that's what he tells us anyway."

Allie stepped in with her own question before Neo could ask another. "What about this monster everypony keeps talking about?"

Lavender sighed heavily and sat herself down at the table again. "Well... It's been here for years... but not till recently has it been a real problem. It attacks caravans and it kills some of them, then it just fades away. So far it's scaring off the traders that we rely on for food and supplies... Isn't that why they sent you? To help us with it?"

"That's what we were told." Neo added.

Lu started punching the air with a serious look in her eyes. "Yeah! We'll beat that nasty thing cause nopony messes with us!"

Lavender smiled at her. "You gotta love her spirit, this place wouldn't be the same without it."

"Especially when somepony new comes here, then they get a real blast of it... literally." Adam chuckled.

Everypony joined in the laughed as Lu continued to fight an imaginary monster in her chair.

Adam lay there in his bed in Lu's room with his eyes shut. He breathed slowly as he tried to let sleep take over. Though the more he tried sleeping the more it got harder, but he still tried anyway. He rolled over in his bed and looked at Lu sleep peacefully in her bed on the other side of the room.

"Come on Adam... sleeping isn't that hard, after all you've been doing it most of your life." He thought to himself in the dark metallic room.

Once more he closed his eyes and tried resting, only this time he could feel his body relax and loosen as he drifted off. At first all he saw was darkness, just darkness. Then, the world started to come back into light as he found himself in a small room. It looked like the inside of his room in the Stable. The posters and desk which he worked at were all there as clear as crystal. He decided to walk out of his room and into the main living room where their mom used to bring back food for them. Though what puzzled him was the window next to the door. It was a oval shape and usually you could see out into the hallway, but it was just black... He put his hoof up to the button to open the Stable door out to the hallway, but he paused for a moment as he felt a faint warmth coming from the other side metal door.

"What the?"

He pressed the button and the door slowly slide open, a bright wave of orange light took him off guard. He put his hoof to his face to block the light till he could see again but when he put it down his eyes went wide with terror as he saw a town street with ponies running around. Every building was on fire and cinders and ash dropped down from the sky like snowflakes. He saw ponies in green armor with masks shooting and killing everypony they saw, even the ponies that screamed and cried at the side of their fallen loved ones.

"Leave no survivors!" Called one of the soldiers before he shot a mare who trembled at his hooves.

Her head was cracked open and bleeding at his hooves. He felt an urge to run, to hide but he was frozen. He forced himself to lift his hoof to press the button and close the door, but he couldn't move. "Mom! Brother! Lucy! I can't move!" He cried but before he could get another word out all the terrible noise stopped, and all went silent.

Then he heard a kind, gentle voice from behind him. "Adam dear." The muscles in his legs were freed and he could look around to see who it was, and his terrible feeling almost went away when he saw his mother standing there.

"Mom..." He whimpered.

The glowing from the fires flooded the inside of the home as the blue unicorn stood there and looked at him with a sad look on her face. "Why haven't you found me yet Adam? Don't you care about finding me?"

He wanted to hug her, but like before he was immobilized. "Mom... I can't move..." He cried as huge tears rolled down his cheeks.

She just smiled at him gently which melted his heart. Then one of the many shadows on the walls took shape and pulled out a steely white glowing knife.

"Mom! Behind you! I can't move, run mom please!"

"Brother, where are you! It's going to get her! Help! Please!"

The dark figure took the knife and struck downwards at her with it. Adam screamed, and that's when he realized he could move again.

He was sweating profusely as he breathed heavily. He had shot upright and was now sitting up straight, he looked around and saw his goggles next to his bed and his duster sticking out of his saddle bags on the floor. Lu looked at him with big wide curious eyes with a small teddy bear in her hooves.

"Big brother, I had a bad dream..." She squeaked.

With his left hoof he sighed and wiped the cold sweat from his brow. "I did too Lu, I did too."

She looked around the dark room nervously before staring straight at him again. "Big brother, can I sleep with you... I don't want to have the dream again."

Adam moved over in his single pony bed and let Lu get under the covers. She hugged the small stuffed animal and snuggled close to him. Adam gently stroked her mane before laying down to get back to sleep, and for the moment everything was peaceful once more.

Just as Adams eyelids closed his ear twitched. He could hear a slight metallic knock echo faintly down the hallways. It happened again and again till it could be clearly heard from the room. Both Lu and Adam sat up and went to the door to see where the noise came from.

The door whooshed open, Neo and Allie were on the other side scratching their heads as they walked down the hallway to see where the banging came from. Lavender was already in the main room were the hallways met and the ladder to the upper part of the bunker was.

"It woke you guys up too?" She asked as the others gathered around the ladder.

Neo looked up the ladder and placed a hoof on the it. "Yeah it did, only I have no clue what it could be."

"Maybe it's a creature or something." Adam added.

The pounding got louder the more they stood there, and Lavender was already ready to climb the ladder to see what it was. "Lu stay here, anypony else who wants to come up and see what it is come with me."

"But what if it's the monster..."

"I doubt it Lu, it's probably a mole rat or something." She said before climbing up to the upper part of the bunker.

Neo put his hooves on the metal bars with the intent of following her. "You guys wait here, I'll go with her and see what it is."

"Be careful." Lu squeaked while holding her bear.

He smiled at her warmly. "I'll be careful, I promise."

Neo climbed up the ladder and into the dimly lit round room where they had entered from. Lavender was next to a orange glowing keypad with several buttons on it. She sat there and looked at him with a ready face as the pounding grew more faint.

"Is anypony else coming up?"

Neo shook his head. "Alright, let's hope it's not a hellhound..."

With a gulp he nodded at her. "Alright, whenever you’re ready."

With that she pressed the button that opened the door. It slowly opened, creaking and screeching followed as the door drew open. A cool dry breeze drifted inside, but as soon as it opened a red coated mare who looked like a merchant fell down in the doorway.

Huge scars and cuts covered her blood stained body. The whole front of the door was covered in bloody hoof marks where she had been pounding on the door.

Lavender gasped and looked as the mares blood dripped everywhere, she felt scared as tears built in her eyes. Neo scrambled to get the injured mare in his back. "Hurry and close the door we need to get down the ladder and help her!"

Though Lavender was on the verge of vomiting she closed the door and helped Neo get the mare down the ladder, "Is she dead?" She muttered nervously.

"I hope not, do you have medical equipment here?" Neo asked as he positioned the pony on his back so she wouldn't fall off as he climbed down.

Lavender nodded at him with a sick look. "The first aid box is in the kitchen, do you think she'll be okay?"

Neo looked up at her from the ladder before climbing down. "I hope so... for her sake."

Foot note: Level up

New Perk: Down the rabbit hole: Your sight adapts to dark places underground faster, as a result SATS now works 20% better in the dark.

Foot note: Level up

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Little big brother: +3 in Speech and some unique dialogue choices are now available when talking with younger ponies.

(Wow she's an unlucky one. Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! I really like writing dialogue for Lu, I don't know what it is, but she is just a fun character to me. Leave a comment and tell me what you thought!)

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Colonel Lat Muffin

Wayofthepen

LyonAzakura