Fallout Equestria: Brotherhood

CHAPTER 15: ONWARD

The sky was dark and thunder cracked silently in the distance in the early morning. None of this bothered Neo as he sat there on a rock with his forelegs folded looking blankly into the hills and far of mountains. Adam, who was five feet away from them had just finished packing their things once more, but he too said nothing and felt equally as sad as his older brother.

He turned to his brother to tell him he was done packing their things, but before he could speak he felt the words just die down and went back to their things. The bunker and outside was quiet and calm, only the sound of wind and dead shrubs blowing in the breeze could be heard. Allie sat with Lavender in her lap, she had stayed awake the whole night after what had happened. Inside she was scared and unaware of what she was going to do now, after all her life, home, and family were all gone now.

Allie had called the coalition outpost on a short range radio the professor had in his lab- no neither Adam nor Neo wanted to call it that now. Because it was a grave now. A grave for all those who the professor had killed, and his family.

They had dug a small grave next to the bunker for Lu, and Neo even carved her name and information into the wooden plank they had decided to use for her tombstone.

Adam sighed and turned to his brother who starred endlessly into the wide open world. "Brother... Lucy should be here soon, the coalition said they had called her to come check on us... and I managed to pack our things too..." But his brother didn't respond.

Adam decided it was best to leave him be. He didn't feel any different about what had happened, after all he shot the professor and killing a pony for the first time in his life was... he didn't like to think about it.

Allie looked out into the distance and saw a small yellow speck traveling through the sky. Lavender got up from her lap and watched the pegasus get closer to the bunker. Even Neo had seemed to notice her approaching them and got up all the while still having the same mournful feeling inside him.

Lucy came in slow pulling back on herself as she and her cart landed roughly on the dirt ground. She came up to them and pulled the wagon up to the side of the bunker. With one quick motion she removed the harness and trotted over to the four mournful souls.

At first she gave them her same old, quirky smile she always gave them, but upon looking more carefully her smile slowly faded as she felt something was wrong. "Sorry for being late, the weather’s kinda bad so it took me a bit longer then usual to get here."

"I don't care." Neo said negatively while grabbing his bags and and going back to the rock he was on earlier.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "And what's wrong with Mr. Happy pants over there?"

Adam shook his head at her. "I'm sorry Lucy but now's not a good time."

She looked around at the rest of the group as if something was missing. "Where's the other daughter, you know the smaller one? L-Lu's her name right? I thought she was here too?"

The rest of the group gave her a sad look. "S-she's not with us anymore..." Allie stated grimly.

Lucy blinked at her, and respectfully took her fedora off and put it to her chest. "I-I see, so that's why Neo's the way he is?"

Adam nodded at her. "I'd rather not talk about it... too much has happened too fast."

Lucy rubbed the back of her neck nervously, which wasn't normal to see her do. "Well the news ain't gonna get much better..." Neo turned his head slightly toward the rest of them to hear a little better on what Lucy was going to say.

She put her hat back on and went through one of the buttoned up pockets on her duster. She pulled out a small folded letter that looked worn and old, "I was making some scrap runs in Maneton when that one pony named Kat came over and gave me this. She looked like shit and said I should give this to you, and to bring you back."

They all opened their eyes in surprise at what she had said. "Give me that!" Allie yelled in a slight panic taking the letter from Lucy.

Her eyes skimmed quickly back and forth as she read over the letter, as she read her expression became more and more scared. "Oh, my dear sweet Celestia..." She whimpered sadly.

Neo had got up as she had read it to herself and had come over to see what the matter was. He peaked at the note next to her and looked it over.

To Allie,

Sorry I haven't, well you know I tried to write to you and all. Not just that but getting this far alone to reach you was a miracle on its own. But anyway, look things have gotten bad here. I mean really bad, about three days ago a raider group attached the town, some of them managed to get through the wall. One of them had an RPG and took out one of the main supports of the building Newt and I were in. It took me awhile but I got Newt out pretty much untouched. But I can't say the same about myself, my leg got busted up pretty bad while I dug through the wreckage to save Newt. I still can’t feel it. Doc says I might not be able to use it again after that... But that's not all, like I said before things are rough right now, and I can't take care of Newt alone right now. So Allie if you're reading this, that guardian that took you needs to bring you back, cause I need you more then ever now.

- Kat

Neo stomped his hoof in the ground violently and turned away from the group gritting his teeth. "First Lu, and now you have to go too! Why! What did I do!"

Allie lowered her head in thought and Adam took lavender by the shoulder, this wasn't good for any of them especially her. "It's not my call sweet heart. She looked pretty banged up back in Maneton."

Allie didn't answer, but instead continued to think of the different outcomes depending on her answer. "But what about Lavender? And if Allie goes, who knows when we'll see her again!" Adam stated trying to comfort Lavender, who stood there almost on the verge of tears.

Lucy put her hoof to her face in frustration, "Listen Adam, it's not my choice, Kat needs her back. I'm just following the orders she gave me."

Adam looked at Lavender, who looked confused and sad. "What about Lavender? If she comes with us it might be dangerous, and I... I mean we, don't want to lose her too."

Lucy and Adam continued to talk back and forth about what would happen, what wouldn't, how everything would turn up. Inside Allies mind though she thought about how life could be in Maneton for her... She and Kat had the means to provide for another soul, and plus Newt would have another friend to play with back home. But Neo and Adam would be on their own, left out to be alone in the dark vast world.

She lifted her head and interrupted the two and their conversation. "I've made up my mind." She stated clearly.

They both stopped their conversation and looked at her eagerly. "And?" Adam asked.

Allie sighed heavily, "I'll go back, and Lavender will come with me."

Neo turned around sharply to her with a puzzled look. "W-what?"

She turned to look at Neo with a serious aura looming about her. "I'll take Lavender and go home. Kat needs me, and Lavender will be safe in Maneton."

"B-but... I thought..." Neo was confused, the very idea of her leaving left him almost speechless.

"Allie, you can't go... I thought you were going to help us..." Adam added sadly.

Lavender sniffed softly to herself as she latched herself to Adam’s foreleg. "It's alright Allie, besides I'll just cause more trouble, it's probably best I stay here and die. That way I can see Lu and mom again..."

Adam nudged her gently. "Don't think like that! Would Lu want you to do that?!"

"He's right, Lavender. You should listen to him." Neo stated duly.

"But... What will I do? How can I move on... just yesterday I was down in the bunker making breakfast with my sister and now... Everything... I-It's all gone..."

Allie came up to her and tried to give her a smile. "I'm sure you can help somehow. After all with only me taking care of everypony, it'll be hard on my own."

"But what if I..."

Allie put a hoof to her mouth. "You'll be fine. Plus living with us isn't so bad."

Lavender sat there thinking about it for a moment, as she thought she clung onto Adams foreleg. She sighed and let go of Adam. "I'll go... For Lu..."

Allie smiled and ruffled her mane a bit trying to act more happy than she really was. "That's the spirit, now let's go get you things. We won't be coming back here for a long time..."

She nodded plainly to her and went off to go get what little she had in the bunker. Neo came up to her and looked at her in the eyes. "So... this is goodbye then...."

"Yeah... I guess it is...."

"Kat needs you, and Adam and I still have a task we need to complete. That's the promise we made, and we intend on keeping it."

"I hope you find your mom, Neo."

Neo, with a little willpower, managed to muster a small smile. "Yeah, me too."

"Maybe we'll get to see each other again... You know, like we talked about in the sewer..."

Allie chuckled softly. "Yeah, not the best of places to ask me out."

Neo rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I just hope everything works out in the end and-"

Just before Neo could finish she hopped at him and gave him a large emotional hug. "I'll really miss you and Adam..."

Neo put his metal foreleg around her. "I will too..."

Lucy rolled her eyes at them. "Sheesh, when did you two get so close, if ya need me I'll be waitin by the cart Allie. Oh and see ya Adam."

Neo nodded at her before Allie let go of him. Allie turned to the bunker and looked at Neo gently. "I'll go help Lavender pack... just, stay safe out there okay?"

"We will."

"You promise me?"

"I promise."

Adam got his saddle bags on and set his Pipbuck map to take them to Arkcannon, and with luck their mother would be there. That is, if all went according to plan. Neo and Adam, with their dusters flapping calmly in the wind said their goodbyes to Lucy and her cart again. And trotted over to Lu's grave one last time.

Neo came up to the small plank of wood with her name carved into it. Inside he felt his stomach churn, and his heart sink as he thought about the night before. "Lu... Whatever I do, I won't forget you. And as long as I live I won't let another filly like you get hurt by anypony..."

With that, Adam motioned for his brother to follow him and they went down the old pre-war road that would take them to the fabled town of Arkcannon.

Wind blew mildly on the two brothers as they marched down the old pre-war road. Cracks, dirt, and old carts from the old days dotted the road as they went on. Through the first few hours they had walked Neo had said almost nothing, occasionally he would ask Adam for where they were or how long it would take them before they would reach the town. Though Neo had his own Pipbuck that had their destination imputed into it, Adams was designed to calculated distance, time of arrival, and whether or not they had the supplies to make it there based on his inventory.

Though those were all things he had implemented as test programs for other things while in the stable. He never thought that he would be actually using using them, but then again here he was using those very programs.

It was about lunch time, well it looked that way. It would have been easier to tell if they could see the sun. Trees, or rather dead trees, and hills covered the land around them. The landscape gave them an empty feeling, because up until now they had been in places where there were lots of ponies, but now there was no one. Not a soul, and the only living things was them, and the few vultures above that would circle them then disappear only to come back again.

Adam sighed as he felt the soreness in his hooves ache terribly from the long walk. Even Neo felt it, and in a way Neo enjoyed the pain. It seemed to take his mind off the night before, and the fact that the only nice mare he's ever met had to go home.

"Brother, you think we should stop and rest for a bit." Adam said cautiously as the thunder in the sky grew louder.

Neo looked into the sky and the dark clouds that swirled and churned above them. "Yeah I think you're right. Maybe we shou-"

He paused for a moment when he felt a small drop of water hit his nose. "What is it?" Adam asked looking at him oddly.

Neo held his left hoof out to see if he could feel another drop. "I think I felt a drop of rain."

Adam too felt a small drop fall on to his ear. "Yeah I felt one too!" Then they felt another, and another. Till finally there was a gently down poor on them.

Neo frowned. "Great, of all the times in the world it chooses now to rain."

Adam chuckled at him, "Cheer up! It's not like a little rain killed-" He stopped speaking when he heard his Rad-meter on his Pipbuck start to tick madly. Neo's too was ticking at a fast rate.

Neo looked at his Pipbuck and then turned his head to the sky. "Adam the rains radioactive!"

"That's impossible, the rain wasn't in Ironhoof!"

"It doesn't matter we need to find cover, now!"

They both bolted down the road and looked for any kind of cover from the rain. Unfortunately the only things they found were melted down wagons, dead trees, and rocks. None of which would be of any help in this particular situation.

Then after traveling a little bit up the road they saw a small side path along the road which had a small collapsed shack next to it. In dire need of shelter they both dashed for it and found their way under the only dry place they could see.

They huddled up close as they listened to the rain beat the old collapsed metal roof above them. In a way, they both felt grateful that there was some protection from the rain, and in a way it made them finally decide that as magical as rain was that they hated it.

Adam and Neo shivered as a cool wind blew against them from under the small collapsed shack. Not only this but the radiation they had absorbed from the rain took effect as they felt themselves become weak.

Adam went into his bag and pulled out his only Radaway he had. He felt weak as the radiation slowly set itself into him. Neo didn't have any Radaways left, and as Adam had it there in his hooves he offered it to his older brother.

"Here," he coughed. "You'll need it to clear up," he coughed once more as he felt the effects get worse, "the radiation..."

Neo pushed it away and smiled at him. "You take it, you need it more then me... I'll-" he let out a loud cough of his own before finishing. "I'll be fine."

Adam looked at the orangish potion in his hooves and shook his head. "If you won't take it, then we'll just share it instead."

Neo coughed for a moment, "that sounds like a fine idea to me."

He popped open the potion and drank half of the orange liquid, then gave the other half to his brother. The effects work almost instantly and they could already feel a small bit of their strength coming back.

Down the road a bit, they heard the faint sound of music over the sound of rain battering metal. It was loud marching music, the kind ponies would play in parades or during celebration marches. A tiny spritebot passed by, as it did the music suddenly stopped and was replaced with Vladimir's voice.

"Greetings my loyal subjects! I have great news for you all, the new world has waited long and hard for a new ruler, and a new start. And I am here to tell you that that day is coming. Soon, my little ponies, the Legion will have the strength to reclaim this land, and purge those traitorous Coalition dogs, and put an end to this great feud between us. But until then do your part, support our soldiers and you too will live in a world of peace once more. This is your friend, your emperor, and your god. Signing out."

Neo rolled his eyes as the bot passed them. "Some god..."

Adam chuckled before coughing lightly. "He can dream can't he?"

"Even that seems a bit too good for him." Neo added playfully.

Then they heard the sound of heavy splashing coming from the way the spritebot came from. "Hurry Bill! Don't let that thing get away!" Called a hard, yet cheerful voice.

The owner of the voice came into view a few seconds later. He was a tan unicorn with a shaggy brown beard and a long dark coat that was covered with random junk. His horn was glowing around him which made a shield and protected him from the rain. A donkey behind him had a dull look on his face as he followed behind him. He had an old umbrella attached to a saddle on his back.

"Y'know Two's this isn't worth the trouble... it's just a spritebot...." The donkey said in a low deep tone.

The odd unicorn pony came up to him with a playful look on his face as he put his hoof to his mouth. "Shhhhhhh, you hear that?" he put his hoof off his mouth.

The donkey looked around for a moment and heard nothing but the rain against the shack and the rain itself. "What? The rain?"

"Nope, that's the sound of me not caring."

"So you not caring sounds like rain?"

"Yes," he boasted. "W-wait, no that's not what it sounds like!"

"But you said..."

"It doesn't matter what me not caring sounds like, Bill!"

The donkey, who by this point Neo and Adam assumed was Bill had a confused look on his face. The unicorn pony facehoofed himself. "Never mind, let's just get back to the tent, dinner should be done anyway."

Neo eyed them cautiously with his shotgun pulled out as he watched them walk away. "They didn't notice us brother."

Neo waited a few seconds and made sure he couldn't see the two before speaking. "I don't think they did. Let's wait for the rain to calm down before we move out ag-"

He was interrupted by the unicron who had managed to somehow pop in front of the collapsed shack and looked at them with a big goofy grin on his face. "Hello, were you here this whole time?"

Neo held his shotgun up ready to fire as he eyed him. "Yes, now beat it before I shoot you."

The pony still had his shield protecting him as he raised his hooves in the air in surrender while still maintaining his grin. "Whoa there buddy, I wasn't gonna harm ya. And old Bill here has got more fight in him then a baby foal."

The donkey named Bill duly walked slowly over to the unicorn and stood there next to him idly. "I don't care, just move on and I won't hurt you."

The unicorn chuckled a bit. "Your funny kid you know that?" He looked at the two Earth ponies in the collapsed shack and pointed to Adam. "Your friend there has got some decent rad poisoning, and you aren't looking too good either."

Both Adam and Neo were a little taken by his knowledge about them. "Shut up! Get moving or I shoot!" Neo barked at him.

He laughed once more and leaned over to his donkey friend. "Twenty caps if the kid doesn’t shoots us."

Bill sighed, "Whatever, you're always right with these kinds of things..."

"Heh, yes I am Bill. Yes I am."

"Well?" He grinned, "Shoot."

With the word shoot Neo felt the very same as he did the night before as the professor begged him to kill him. Taking the life of a raider was one thing, and an insane pony but he wasn't insane, or Neo thought he wasn't. Then again it all confused him. Neo yelled at him and pulled the trigger, and Adam covered his ears so he couldn't hear the two ponies die, or at least try to help not hear.

There was a faint clicking sound, and Neo froze. Wasn't there a shell in the gun? His EFS had said that it had ammo, but it didn't fire.

The unicorn pony lowered his hooves and shrugged. "What did I say? I told you it wouldn't fire." Neo just looked at him in shock, how was he right?

"That's a basic combat shotgun, most of them have a little pin you can see outside it pulled back when it's about to fire. Yours didn't have it back, so there wasn't a shell there. And I must say the pony that loaded that weapon did a half ass job of it."

Lucy... Neo thought to himself in anger and when he did check again, his EFS still registered there being no shells ready to fire. "We really didn't mean to harm you, just go on and leave us here." Adam asked nervously.

"Hey we don't want trouble, and you two guardians don't look like you're havin a good time under that metal shack. Or what's left of it anyway."

He calmly approached them and placed a damp hoof on Neo's gun and lowered it. "Just put the gun down boy, you'll shoot someponies eye out with that thing y'know."

Adam got up as high as he could and pulled out his laser pistol. "Why should we trust you? And why so accepting?"

Neo put his gun down and watched Adam point his weapon at him. "I'm sorry, I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Two Socks, traveling merchant and repair pony. I do acting, singing, and some magic tricks too! Because I‘m Two Socks the traveler, and I'm here to please you!" He chanted.

"Woo-hoo..." Bill added blandly.

He stepped back and pointed to the donkey behind him. "And this ball of sunshine is Bill. He's a donkey."

"I don't care," Neo interjected. "Now either you leave us alone, do something or I'll shoot." Neo said trying to be cautious before making sure there was a shell in his gun this time.

He shrugged once more with a calmer grin. "Suit yourself, I usually help guardians because it makes me look good in Coalition settlements, but you're not interested.... soooooo bye."

Just like that he spun around and motioned for his friend to come with him. "Come on Bill we've got a fresh meal waiting for us back at camp!"

Neo and Adam both felt their stomachs grumble as they heard him mention food. Though they had food on them the sound of a warm meal sounded good to them.

"Adam." Neo asked his brother in a whisper.

"What?”

“You think we should go with him? He seems nuts to me, but they said they have food and maybe even supplies we can buy off them. What do you think?"

Adam coughed hard for a moment before answering. On one hoof there was possibly food and a warm place to rest till the storm passed, on the other hoof they would get mugged and probably die. Then again, out here that could happen at anytime and always assuming everything was bad might be both a good thing and a bad thing.

"Let's give them a chance," he coughed once more, "maybe they can help mark down a faster route to Arkcannon."

Neo sighed, "If that's what you've decided the let's keep our guard up. Hopefully they aren't lying to us."

"Hey!" Neo called out from under the shack.

The trader pony and the donkey both turned around in surprise. "Changed your mind have we?"

"Yeah, we'd like it if you could help us... please..."

He shrugged once more. "I don't see why not."

He focused a small portion of his magic on the two and a small shield appeared over them. "Just come on out, I've got a shield blocking the rain for you!"

Neo looked to Adam and nodded, Neo got up and moved out slowly from the shack and put out his hoof for his brother. "We're making a gutsy move doing this."

Adam took his hoof and coughed for a second. "Yeah, I hope we're right about this."

They soon both were out of the shack and made their way to the unicorn who had both a small shield above himself and them. "Our camp isn't far from here, and just wait till I tell the rest of the caravan! Guardians, real guardians in our camp! Ha! This was a great day, minus that spritebot bit... but who cares! You guys are guardians, right? Yeah, well our caravan really likes the Coalition, yes we do!"

Neo whispered to his younger brother, "Come to think of it sitting inside that shack wasn't such a bad idea...."

Thunder cracked up above as the four ponies walked through the thick mud on the ground. Neo and Adams Pipbucks were covered in the muck, the only good news that came from out of this was the fact that their Pipbuck's rad meter wasn't going off. But besides their Pipbucks being covered it wasn't all bad, though the pony Two Socks as he called himself didn't like to stop talking.

From sports, to landmines, to places he's been, to things he's seen the list of things he talked about went on forever.

Finally, after what seemed to be an thousand years, they finally saw a small group of tents glowing in the distance. "There they are, our caravan! To think we managed to beat that monster thing and make it all the way past the killzone it lurked in."

Neo and Adam felt their mood sink instantly at the mention of the professor, "Say, Cool Blue said on the radio that the coalition got some nice guardians to help out with the problem. You two happen to know anything about that?" He asked curiously while still retaining his smile.

Neo frowned at him and turned away his head so he didn't look at him while speaking. "The only thing I know is that the thing is dead. That's it."

Two Socks rubbed his gruff bearded chin. "Ah I see, right that's good! That means business won't be as... risky."

Neo didn't answer, instead he just kept quiet to himself. "Yeah I guess so...."

Adam didn't say anything he found that if he talked about what had happened in the bunker it would only deepen the sadness inside him.

They soon entered the camp where about ten ponies worked on Brahmin and items under tent tarps that protected them and their things from the rain. A zebra with a black blindfold on and a tiger symbol on his flank stepped up to Two Socks with a rather agitated facial expression.

"Where were you Two Socks?" He cooed smoothly in his deep voice.

He shrugged at him. "Here, there, oh and I found some guests!"

The zebra looked at Adam and Neo distrustful glare. "Who are these two?"

"They're guardians... Me and Twos thought they might need help seeing as they were under a broken down shack." Bill commented.

Two socks nodded vigorously at Bill before turning his gaze back to the zebra. "Yeah, what he said, that's who they are."

He snorted at them. "We shall see..." He strolled over to Neo and Adam and looked them over, though it puzzled them both as to how he could see if he was wearing the blindfold.

"They are guardians, I can smell the dark steel of their badges. I feel they mean no harm." He said with a grunt before trotting over to the trader pony Two Socks again.

"Do not wander off again, as a member of Tiger Company, I and my squad have a duty to keep all of you safe, do you understand me?"

The unicorn nodded nervously. "Good."

With that he turned around sharply and went into a tent nearby. It was odd that the rain didn't seem to bother the zebra at all, the water was irradiated after all which wasn't good for anypony. The shields above both Two socks and the two brothers faded in and out frantically before coming back to normal a few seconds later.

Two Socks shook his head as if he were in pain. "Come on, let's get inside I can't hold the spell much longer."

The four ponies all entered a dull white tent that was at the end of the small camp. Each one felt a small tingle of warmth as Two Socks held the door flap open for the others, as soon as everypony was inside the tent he went in himself and closed the flap behind him.

"Well it's really bad outside, good thing it's nice and warm in here." The trader pony said taking off his jacket and plopping it on the floor as if it were trash.

Bill took off his umbrella and put it to the side and huddled around the small stove with a boiling pot in the middle of the room. Two Socks made his way to the center as well and looked over the stew in the center of the room which gave off a strong beefy smell that filled the room.

"Please," Two Socks said extending a kind hoof, "Sit, make yourselves at home. Just know that everything you see here is on sale! The only things that aren't though are myself and the crap on that coat over there. But Bill over there is up for sale if you're looking to buy."

The donkey snickered at him. "I was just kidding! Though if you find anything you like please say so."

Neo rolled his eyes and sat down in the the nearest clear spot he could. The floor of the tent was littered with mats, junk, more junk and knick-knacks everywhere. "Is this really where you live?" Adam said marveling over all the assorted crap on the ground.

Two socks nodded at him before tending to his soup, which look over cooked. "Eeyup, my- I mean our own little slice of heaven. At least until the group moves here in a day or so." He then picked up the ladle and put it to his mouth and sipped it loudly.

He smacked his lips tasting it. "Needs more paprika... well sucks we don't have any." He said contentedly before continuing to stir it.

Neo and Adam weren't too fond of this new pony, but his cluttered tent was a big improvement then that old shack. Adam still felt a little weak, for some reason Neo seemed fine, the only explanation he could come up with was that since his foreleg was gone it made him less rad absorbent so the radiation faded quickly from him when he took the potion. This was the only reason he didn't get radiation poisoning when when he saved Allie from the irradiated river in Ironhoof City.

Adam coughed hoarsely once more, Neo who was sitting next to him took his brother and held him still as he coughed hard. Two Socks looked at the two curiously, "Looks like he needs some Radaway, kids got a bit of the poisoning still in him."

Neo rubbed his brothers back as he recovered from the cough attack. "Just get some out of the satchel there, and don't try to take anything. I rigged most of the stuff here to explode if it leaves this tent without me disarming it."

They both looked at him like he was insane, would somepony really make everything rigged to explode if you tried to steal it? Was that possible? It was a confusing thought, one that not even Adam wanted to ponder.

Neo leaned over to the satchel and pulled out some of the Radaway inside it. He held it nervously as the thought of his other foreleg coming off if he took something raced in his mind.

"Here Adam." Neo calmly said to his brother as he gave him the potion.

Adam started to take the potion just as Two Socks had tried the soup once more. "It's finished!" He cried in a singing like manner.

As quickly as he spoke he levitated four bowls out from underneath one of the many piles of junk and plopped big spoonfuls of over cooked goop into each bowl. "Eat up! You'll need your strength if you are willing to buy anything!" Two sock then started to engulf the contents of the bowl furiously.

Even Neo cringed a bit at the sight. But he was hungry and at the moment food was food, and it didn't smell completely like crap.

Adam, who tried hard to eat his food, but something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. He noticed a small satchel laying across from him that read, "Secret shit" on it. In his mind he could only think of Two Socks coming up with that kind of name for something like that. That and it was drawing him to it, like a magnet to metal.

Just as Adam leaned over to look at it Two Socks quickly swiped up the bag and held it close to his chest. "Mine! You can look at everything, but this!"

Adam cocked his head to the side, "Why?" He asked.

"Just don't, okay there are things in this world nopony should see. Even one as young as yourself shouldn't look at stuff like this! Who knows what could happen to you..."

Bill yawned and lay back against the junk while putting his dirty empty bowl to the side as if it were nothing. "We'll two's I'm off to sleep, been a long day for me."

Two socks frowned. "Aw, but there's so much I want to talk about, and I need you to be awake to help tell these two!"

Neo and Adams eyes widened at thought. In fact, Neo almost spit out his food once he heard him say that. Adam on the other hoof felt just like not eating anymore.

Neo set down the bowl he was eating from down with a nervous looking smile as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, it's been a long day for me too, what with the rain and the walking, I think I'll try and sleep a bit too."

Adam looked clueless for a moment before answering in a stutter. "U-Uh... yeah! Me too, whoo, I'm beat. With being sick and all it really takes the life outta ya! So I'm with Brother on this."

The trader pony frowned again. "But I was going to tell you the time I was a courier, and the time I met a tribe of Buffalo and-"

In unison Neo and Adam smiled fake smiles at him and laid down. "Good night!"

He hung his head low. "But it's not even late yet, and I still need to show you my stuff we've got almost everything on-"

"Night!" Neo and Adam called out together.

Though the ground was hard, and the junk poked into Adam and Neo's legs it was a lot better than listening to that pony talk for another 200 years.

It was late now, crickets chirped quietly in the now dark night. Adam lay there uncomfortably and tired, this was really hell with no bed, terrible food, (Not to say that the food wasn't already old and stale) and what had happened a day ago lingered around in his mind. Not that this was important but he also wondered about what Two Socks might have in that bag. But if he had to guess it might be something stupid like a key to a lunch box, a hammer made of copper, or something like that.

Neo quietly tried to pack up their things quietly without waking up Two Socks or Bill. Though Neo personally didn't mind Bill, he was afraid he might say something and wake up the trader. Adam knew he was awake for a bit now, he just wanted to see if he could get some sleep that night, but it was hopeless.

The one thing they both were looking forward to was the town they were heading to, if their mother was there then not only would she be there they would be able to sleep in something close to a real bed.

This whole moment reminded him of when he was younger, as a young colt their mother would sing to them when they slept or if they had bad dreams or restless nights she would tell them stories about two brave ponies that went off to save a kingdom. Every time she told that story to them it would always remind them of her and their father. Adam never met his father, though the very few times their mother talked about him, she would always say he was nice, kind, and caring. That's all he needed to know, that when he died that at least he was those things.

A tear built up in one of his eyes and slowly ran down his cheek as he lay there and thinked about his family. Neo stopped his packing and looked at Adam with worry.

"You okay Adam?" Neo whispered.

Adam rolled around and wiped his cheek. "Yeah," he sniffed, "I'm fine..."

Neo wanted to say something, but he was afraid that if he spoke too much it might wake up the chatty unicorn. "Here." Neo said levitating Adams bags to him. "Make sure you've got everything with you before we go. We don't want to have to come back here because we left something."

Adam nodded at him with a sad look that. The image of their childhood, the memories they had as colts it was all so good. It was hard to believe that while they had that life others out here lived in fear for their lives everyday. They lived in a world where there was no clean place to live, no good food, and rain that could kill you. This was truly some cruel hell that fate had made to punish pony kind.

Adam got up and put his bags on his back, he had made sure he had his goggles and his duster with the badge they had been given to show that they were guardians.

Neo did his best to get his stuff on quietly and tip hoof to the door without making too much noise. His mechanical hoof, which tapped faintly against some of the metal items on the ground made him cringe as he made his way to the door. As he made it to the door flap of the tent Neo motioned his younger brother to come quietly.

Adam, who followed the same path to the exit as his brother, made his way over the assorted crap that littered the floor. Once he reached the exit he sighed and looked back for a second at the two sleeping souls in the dark tent. "Bye." Adam cooed to himself before both him and Neo left the tent and out into the damp outside world.

The air was cool, crisp, and moist as the world around them was dark and though they had learned from Lavender that most of the creatures came out at night they were determined to get to Arkcannon as soon as they could.

Neo looked at his brother before setting his Pipbuck to their destination. "Alright, we're good to go, the trip should only take us the rest of the night and half of tomorrow."

Adam smiled at the thought of their mother being at the town. "Good," Adam added, "Well let's get going the sooner we start the better."

"Wait." Whispered a calm strong voice from behind them.

They both turned around sharply in surprise, for all they knew it was Two Socks or another trade who might wake up the others.

Once they turned around they saw that it was the Zebra with the blindfold from Tiger Company. "Oh... it's just you..." Neo sighed.

He cocked his head to the side as if he didn't understand the statement. "You're leaving, correct?"

The both blinked at him. "Uh, what does it loo-" Neo stopped and realized again that he was blind. "Um, yes. Yes we are."

"You both are going to Arkcannon, correct?"

They both nodded at him. "Neo, Adam. Please hear me. Though I know you seek your mother there, not everything is truthful in these lands. Please know this as you travel."

They were both shocked, not only did he know what they did without saying anything, he knew what they were planning on doing. That or he could see, and he overheard about what they were doing. Either way they looked at it it still amazed them.

Beside the fact that they were surprised, Neo nodded at him weakly. "Alright. I'll keep that in mind." Neo turned around and motioned his brother to come with him off in the direction of the town.

Adam gave him a quick nod and thanked him before following his brother off into the night. "I hope the War chief was right about them..." He whispered to himself.

The main street of Maneton was quiet with only the lights that were strung across the tops of the buildings for light. Everypony was at home and quiet as the night slowly went on. Lucy alone walked down the street herself with her wagon behind her. She enjoyed nights like this, quiet, damp, calm. It reminded her of her home, and not the loud always bustling Ironhoof city. This was the main reason Maneton was her favorite places to go and do business in her spare time.

There were small puddles of water built up in small ditches in the road which glared the light from the buildings as she made her way to the bar at the end of the street. The same windmill and sign that advertised the boring little drinking center, so at least nothing stupid had happened while she was gone.

Once she got to the bar she unhooked herself from her wagon and kept the fedora attached to the wagon. She pushed open the swing open doors into the dimly lit bar inside. There were four ponies in the bar minus herself. An odd pony at the counter, and the bartender who looked slightly impressed as he watched the strange pony drink whatever he was drinking. Then there was some old drunk buck sleeping in the corner of a booth near the corner of the room. At his side was a mare who was writing something down next to him.

This is how she liked the bar. Quiet. She had a smirk on her face which shouted out that she had some smart remark coming up as she sat down next to the stallion who was at the counter. "Hey Wester, how ya doing ya old metal head?"

The stallion she was addressing was a large stallion covered with a large, thick leather duster which was battered and worn. From his forelegs to his hind legs almost every bit of him was covered with scratched and scarred metal armored plates. His chest piece had a small white W imprinted on his right breast. On his duster was a crudely drawn W where his cutie mark would be. His head had a soldier like helmet that was connected to a breather piece that covered his whole head. Two large pistols and a folded anti-armor sniper on his back hung loosely on him.

He ignored her, and she just watched as the bottom section of his mouth on his helmet separated with a faint hiss and formed a mouth. Within an instant he drank down what looked like dirty water in little under a second.

"We are functional." He had a deep almost soulless robot like voice, like that of a mechanical god or demon.

His jaw came back together with a hiss, and he turned his gaze to her. His eyes were covered by a pure red visor which did not show his emotion. "Good to know. Know seeing as you're here you got my message a few days ago."

"Affirmative." He answered.

"Right, so first things first, what are you doing right now?"

"Current objective: Survive. Main Secondary Objective: Find and kill Big Lot. First Objective: Meet Coalition Province Guardian 216, aka Lucky, or Lucy Luck at the Maneton Saloon at this hour."

Lucy took one of the many bottles on the counter and gave it a quick swig. The bartender didn't seem to mind, and continued with cleaning and maintaining the bar. "Well then, think you have enough room for another objective?"

It took him a moment to answer. "Affirmative, we have space for another objective. Note: Objective complete."

"Good," she grinned. "Besides you owe me. You still owe me, right?"

"Affirmative."

"Right, you see there are these two boys and personally I think they might need some... extra help out there in the wastes."

Foot Note: Level Up

New Perk: Cautious minded: You become more aware of traps! Every time you see a mine, tripwire, or other kind of trap you are alert of it before it can harm you or others.

Foot Note: Level Up

Would you like to Level Up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

New Perk: Wishful Thoughts: You think positively and wishfully! As you talk to others you are given new more positive speech options which give you good karma if you choose them.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Fragment12

Colonel Lat Muffin

Quad Ruple

(AN: I will give anyone points if they spotted the big reference here. This chapter was really fun to write, mainly the beginning and end, plus I got to introduce one of my favorite characters who we’ll see later. Well, as always if you liked this chapter tell me what you thought!)