Fallout Equestria: Brotherhood

CHAPTER 2: WHAT WE LOST

Small flashes of light blurred into Neo's vision as he tried to open his eyes. Small glares and shadows waved in front of him as he tried to regain consciousness from the day before. Every now and again he would hear a tiny high pitched beep that kept up with every beat of his heart. There were shadows hovering above him, although he couldn’t tell who exactly they were he could tell that they were in fact ponies. Neo could faintly hear muffles coming from one of the ponies hovering above him. He tried to speak but he couldn't get a word out.

One of the ponies looked down at him and then turned its glance to the pony on the other side of Neo. Once again he tried to speak but it was no use. He managed to move his head to the left, all he could see were fuzzy images and uneven shapes. He used the last of his energy to move his head to the right. He could hear and feel his heart beat at a steady pace as he squinted his eyes to improve his vision. It was hard to see but he could make out a large long object. He didn't know if it was metal, but it was a light grey color so he thought it was safe to assume that it was made of metal. The large grey object levitated itself into his side with a orange glow surrounding it.

The object stopped moving for a moment, the blurred pony levitating it was looking at a smaller figure. It was a blue fuzzy shape with what looked like a brown mane. "Adam?" Neo thought to himself as he just stared blankly at the pony.

Then, his eye lids got heavy. He struggled to keep them open but it was no use. The unicorn levitating the metal object and continued to move it towards him. Then with a muffled click, a sharp rusty pain flew throughout his body. Neo jerked a bit at the horrible feeling that he just felt, he wanted to yell but his voice was still gone.

His drowsiness returned to him in full force. He could no longer hold his eye lids open as he slowly returned to his dark empty state. All he could see was darkness. It was like the time before he woke up, it was dark. He felt alone in the empty nothingness that stared at him. Now he thought he was dead, "This is probably what hell is like... Great, what did I do to deserve this?" Then the small beeping noise returned only this time it was more clear. His eyes didn't feel as heavy anymore, so he attempted to open them. They slowly opened to look into the world again, and at first the new lighting burned a moment as he looked back at the world of the living.

Everything wasn't fuzzy anymore. He could hear normally again, and he could see more clearly then he did before. His sense were becoming more and more sensitive with every passing second. He looked down at his chest, he was in a medical apron lying in a medical bed with a heart monitor hooked up to him. He looked around the room for a moment to see what else there was to see around him. It was already clear to him that he was in the medical office, or the surgery part of the office anyway.

Neo was laying on one of three other medical beds. His bed was slightly tipped upright so sitting up was easier than normal. He looked around the bleak grey room where injured ponies came to get patched up. There was nopony else in the other medical beds, and there was certainly no other ponies in the room except him. "Great." He thought to himself as he sat there blankly looking into the empty room.

*Swoosh.* One of the doors opened as a green unicorn with clipboard came into the room. "Oh, your awake." He said looking up from his clipboard.

Neo gave him a slight smile. "Yeah, I'm awake."

The doctor went next to him and turned off the heart monitor. "Won't Adam be glad to hear your awake! And look at the motor control on your forehoof, looks like its all working out after all." He said as he continued to remove wires and other attachments from Neo's body.

"What does he mean my forehoof?" He thought to himself as he looked at his left hoof. To him there was nothing different about his hoof, so he looked at his right one.

His eyes shot open as he looked at the fake metal forehoof, "How did this get on here!" He shouted to the doctor.

He looked at him oddly for a second before smiling cheerfully at him. "Why, Adam built that for you." He chuckled taking the last wire from his body.

Adam had always been a young protégé when it came to fixing or building things. Heck, he could build or fix anything as long as he had a screwdriver in his mouth and a few minutes available to him.

Neo lay back in his bed. "He did." He said quietly as he put his new hoof in front of his face.

The doctor nodded at him with the same smile on his face. "Mhmm, he sure did. It took him four days just to make the darn thing. It really only took one, but it was pretty hard finding all the pieces needed to build it."

He moved over to one side of the bed to look at the doctor. "I've been out for four days?" He said with a little worry in his tone.

"Yes you were. I was just about to remove the heart monitor when all of a sudden I found out you were already awake."

Neo looked down as he smiled a bit at the thought of seeing Adam and his mom again. "Were's Adam anyway?" He said finally sitting back all the way in his bed.

The doctor put a hoof to his chin as he thought about the question. "I think he went home about one hour ago. He said something about getting your mother. We told him you should be awake any time now so I guess he went to go get her."

Neo looked at the doctor with a small grin on his face. "So, when will I be able to get out of the bed?"

The doctor pushed the monitor to the side and moved some more medical equipment around before he answered. "Now if you want to leave, you just need to make sure you pick up a new Stable suit before you go."

Neo looked down at himself, and he was right the only thing he was wearing was his Pipbuck and the light blue medical apron. "So were can I get a new one?"

The doctor made his way to the Stable door before answering. "Just ask the nurse on the way out, once your done I'll send word to Adam that your feeling better and on your way to their living quarters."

"Thanks, that means a lot." Neo said with the same small smile he gave him earlier.

"No problem, its the least I could do." The doctor said returning the smile before leaving the room.

Neo looked down at himself and removed the dull itchy medical blankets from under him. He swung his legs over the edge of the medical bed so that he could try and move normally again. Slowly and gently each hoof touch the ground softly as he made his way out of the bed. Soon all four hooves touched down on the ground neatly.

"This isn't so hard." He thought to himself as he moved one hoof slowly forward.

It was just one hoof after another. The new limb was a totally new experience, he couldn't feel a thing, but at the same time he could feel the ground move under his hoof. It wasn't hard to get used to, of course he fell over a few times before reaching the door. Then a few times turned into several trips, then into lots of trips and falls.

After finally catching his balance he made his way into the main office of the Stable medical center. At a small desk was a cute red earth pony mare with a pink mane. She wore a medical cap with a red cross and four red hearts decorated on it.

She looked up to the white stallion. "I'm guessing you want your suit, correct?" She said plainly as she stared at him from across the desk.

Neo looked at her sheepishly. "Mhm." He nodded to her.

She ducked under the desk and pulled out a neatly folded Stable 142 suit. "Here you go." She said laying it gently down on the desk in front of him.

"Thanks." He said kindly to the nurse.

She just shrugged and went back to looking at her terminal in front of her. Neo on the other hoof started to change into his Stable suit. He was glad you didn't have to change cloths often because the hardest part about putting cloths on is getting the sleeve to go under your Pipbuck. Within a few minutes of struggling and fighting he managed to get his sleeve through the bottom of his Pipbuck.

It was the first time in four days Neo had been out of the medical office. Despite the small headache he had he felt great. If there was one thing you could count on it was the medical staff. He felt like nothing had happened, even the accident with his foreleg at the pumps didn’t seem to have happened at all. But that was all in the past, he was looking towards the future. He was looking forward to seeing his little brother again, and he wondered what his mother was going to do when she found out. He was pretty sure she must have heard about the accident by now. After all, the alarms did go off.

He trotted down the bleak corridors like usual as he made is way to the resident level. He was in a rather good mood, he felt great, Adam and his mom were probably waiting for him back at their living quarters. He couldn't help it when a small smile found its way across his face.

The resident district was quiet, it was dinner time at the mess hall so almost everypony was there eating. That meant that most of the districts were probably the same way. Just up ahead Neo could see the large 67 at the end of the hallway, all he could think about was the warm look his mother and brother would give him when he got home.

He went up to the large steel door and tapped his new metal hoof on the door. *Ting, ting, ting.*

"Don't come in!" Adam screamed from the other side of the door.

Neo's warm smile died at the sound of his little brothers voice. "Adam?" Neo said from the other side.

His voice was choked up like he was crying heavily. "Brother?" He whimpered from the other side.

"Yeah Adam its me. Whats the matter?" Neo was worried, his thought of warm smiles and family faded away.

The door slid open exposing the miserable looking pony. He had tears running down his eyes by the gallons and his face was quivering with sadness.

Neo stood there shocked. "Adam what happened!" He asked with a worried tone.

Adam lowered his head. "She's gone." He whimpered as more tears fell from his face.

"What?" Neo replied talking a step forward.

Adam moved to the side and motioned his head to one of the chairs in the center of the room. "Just listen..."

Neo cautiously moved into the room and made his way to one of the chairs. On it was a small holotape with the words, "For Neo and Adam."

Neo looked at it oddly. "What is it?" He asked as he looked to his younger brother.

"Just listen." He returned mournfully as he made his way to one of the other chairs in the room.

Neo looked down at the small black metal square. Neo restrained himself as he nervously put his hoof to the play button on the top of the device. It clicked and started to make a small noise like some audio had been recorded on it. Then, it started to play.

It was their mother. "Hello boys. I don't have a lot of time to say my goodbyes." She started to cry a bit. "I just wanted you to know that I love you... And that I'm leaving the Stable. I can't tell you why, but I am. I... I just want you to know that I didn't plan on leaving, but there are some things I need to finish. Things I should have taken care of a long time ago."

She paused for a moment. "I wish you could understand why I had to leave... I just wish that I could see you one more time."

A small voice in the background could be faintly heard. "We need to get going."

"Remember, don't come looking for me. Please, just don't. I want you two to live long happy lives in the Stable... Goodbye." The message ended.

Neo was shaking, his legs felt weak as the whole message echoed in his mind. The questions came back, and with that he could no longer hold himself up. He fell down to the floor still trembling. He was angry, but at the same time sad, and curious.

"Why would she leave..." He whispered to himself as he looked blankly at the ground in shock.

Adam lifted his head up to look at his brother. "I thought we were happy... I thought she cared about us, I thought she was happy..."

The mixed feelings in Neo started to twist and turn into a confident idea. His shocked look left him as he looked towards Adam with a tiny twinkle of hope in his eyes. "Adam!"

Adam was still whipping away the tears from his drenched face. "What?" He whimpered.

Neo moved over to him and put his new hoof around his brother. "I have an idea. Its a long shot, but it might just work."

Adam just started to look down as his older brother continued. "What if we left the Stable."

Adams face shot strait as he looked at his brother with worry. "Leave the Stable?" He said as he tried to handle what his brother had just proposed to him.

He thought about it for a moment. "But, we don't know whats out there. I mean there could be monsters, or nothing, or-" Neo interrupted him.

"We won't know for sure if we don't try." Neo said with a kind smile, he was trying to cheer his little brother up with the warm smile.

He still looked unsure. "I don't know... What about your job? What about school?"

Neo shook his head at each one of the things he listed. "I don't care anymore, plus who needs a boring job like mine." He chuckled a bit.

Adam was slowly coming out of his depressed mood. "Yeah, I'm way smarter then any of the kids in my class anyway." He added with his own smile.

"And just think about it. One day we'll see mom again, and we'll all come back home. It'll be like nothing ever happened. We'll be a family again."

Adam got up from his chair slowly. "But how are we going to get out of the Stable?"

Neo turned his gaze to the holotape on the chair. "There was somepony else in this room when she recorded that message."

Adam remembered the faint voice in the background. "Wasn't that the Overmare?"

Neo's ears perked up at the thought, and come to think of it the mare in the background did sound like the Overmare. "I betcha she knows how to leave the Stable."

"She might also know were mom went." Adam added.

Neo ignored his brothers comment as he started to think. He thought about what would happen if they couldn't find their mom. How would Flipper react to him leaving all of sudden. He started to rethink his plan.

"Adam, what if we don't find her. What if you get hurt or I lose something more than just my foreleg." He looked down at his metal hoof with the memory of when it was flesh and bone.

Adam proudly strutted over to his brother with a proud goofy grin on his face. "I can take care of myself, I'm fifteen after all. Plus you'll be there beside me the whole step of the way."

Neo liked how his brother was encouraging him to go farther with his plan. "But I just got out of the medical office. Do you think we should really go now?"

Adam nodded to him. "Better now then never."

Neo thought about it for a moment, then with his spirit restored he returned to Adam with a solid nod. "Plus there isn't a lot more we can do other than go to the Overmare."

"Then what are we waiting for!" Adam shouted with excitement as he hopped to the door.

"Not so fast Adam." Neo said stopping him before he went through the now opened door.

"Are you one hundred percent sure about this?"

Adam confidently nodded to him.

"Then lead the way then." He said moving up to him. Soon the two both made their way to the Overmares office to find some answers to the millions of questions spinning around in their heads.

There was nothing different about the trip to the Overmares office, but it was odd to think that she helped out with their mothers disappearance. Why would she do such a thing? Maybe that was why she acting the way she was a few days ago. Then it hit Neo, how come Adam didn't realize that their mother was gone till just recently.

He decide to ask about it. "Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"How come you didn't know about mom till earlier today?"

He looked slightly sad. "Well, I was worried about you. I spent those four days cooped up in that office trying to build that. Come to think of it, I can't recall seeing mom, even on the way to the medical office from the purifying chambers."

Just down the hallway was the Overmares office. "Do you like it?" Adam said sheepishly.

Neo looked down at his hoof before stopping at the door. "Yeah, so far it seems to be working fine. But you can't beat a good old fashion right hoof."

Adam looked down at his own right hoof. "Yeah, we were lucky we found you when we did."

Before Neo could answer the Overmares door slid open. The Overmare was standing in the doorway looking at the two brothers. She looked guilty, it was as if she knew what she had done.

"Hello boys." She said with a shameful tone.

Neo looked at her sternly. "You know what happened didn't you?"

She nodded with the same shameful look on her face. "Come in, and I'll explain." She said stepping to the side for them to come in.

Like before she went to her round desk, she leaned forward on the desk with her hoofs together. "Sit." She said with her soft ashamed tone.

The two brothers each took a seat in one of the two seats in her Office. For a moment she just looked at them. The two brothers returned the glare as the three looked blankly at each other. It was like each one of them were waiting for someone to speak.

"I should probably start from the beginning, huh?" The Overmare said turning her gaze to the two.

They didn't answer.

"Your mother, she was... An interesting pony. I never really understood why she did some of the things she did, but I think you should know that she loves you." She paused and returned her gaze to the desk. "It's funny. I never really thought she would leave again."

"Again?" Adam added.

"That doesn't matter. At least it doesn't anymore. What does matter is are you two going to follow her?"

Both of them gave her a stern confident nod.

She sighed. "Boys do you know what it's like out there?"

"Do you?" Neo added still retaining his straight look on his face.

The Overmare looked puzzled as she stared at them in a serious fashion. "No." She waited for a moment before continuing. "I care about all my ponies in this Stable. Even the ones who don't obey the laws. I don't understand why somepony would leave..."

Neo spoke up before she continued. "She's our mom. In a way, she's all we have in the Stable. Family is it. It's everything. I want you to understand that."

The Overmare continued as if she was never even interrupted. "It's almost funny... She said that what she was doing would make us all happy. Even the Stable... I wonder what she meant... To think she left just before you had your accident happen."

With a small smile she looked at them warmly. "I'll let you leave if you want." She said in an almost whisper like manner.

Their jaws hit the ground at her statement. "Really?" Adam said with a surprised look.

She nodded gently to him.

"I thought that you couldn't leave the Stable." Neo replied.

The Overmare leaned back in her chair with her hooves still together. "When I was a young filly, my grandmother made a law that stated any and all could leave the Stable whenever he or she wanted to."

Adam became interested. "What happened then?"

"Most ponies didn't like this idea. In fact many of them demanded it to be removed immediately. She thought that one day somepony like yourselves would come along and want to leave. So, she told everypony she got rid of the silly idea, but she kept it active secretly." She continued.

Neo was confused, he had always been told that leaving the Stable was forbidden. "Your just going to let us go. Just like that?"

The Overmare got up from her chair and moved over to the door. "Get water, food, and what ever else you thing you need. Once your done come back here." She said with a worried look before opening the door to her office.

Neo and Adam made their way out of the office with confused looks on their faces. Before Neo left he turned around to the Overmare on the other side of the doorway.

"Is that all?" He asked.

"Yes that's all." She whispered before closing the door to her office.

She looked like she was about to cry. It was a whole mess of emotions, she was happy, sad, and worried all at the same time. Neo didn't want to think about it anymore. All he cared about was getting all the items she listed to them.

Adam trotted up to his big brother with a dedication in his eyes. "Brother, we need to get going."

Neo shook his head trying to come back to reality. "Sorry, I was just... Thinking."

Adam nodded at him. "I understand, but we need to go get all that stuff."

"I'm guessing your going to go to mom's place, right?"

Adam replied to him with a nod. "Yep, and your going to your place right?"

"Mhm."

Adam turned away from his brother for a second. "Once you've got all your stuff lets meet back here in twenty minutes."

"Right." Neo said as he watched his little brother gallop off down the grey hallway.

And just like that Adam dashed off to his home, and Neo dashed to his. They were fueled by the hope that one day they would see their mother again, this was their final moments in the Stable. Because after today, they would possibly never come back again.

At each of their homes they grabbed their saddle bags and the few items the Overmare listed. They packed food, two canteens of water each, and some personal items. It didn't take long for them to gather each of their stuff, and it wasn't going to take them much longer to get back to her office.

Neo was trotting down the hallways to get back to the Overmares office. He wasn't in a great rush, so he decided to take it easy for the moment as he made his way there.

Without thinking he rammed head first into a speeding pony. The two ponies lifted up into the air for a moment before falling face first into the hard ground. Neo picked himself up from the accident. His head hurt a bit from the collision with the other pony. After he rubbed his face better of the soreness he took a look at the pony he had smacked into. It was Flipper.

Flipper was just as dazed and sore as Neo was. He stumbled around like a drunk as he pulled himself together. He shook his head trying to get rid of the aching soreness.

His tone was angry and negative as he recovered. "Watch were your-" He stopped when he realized it was Neo he had hit.

"Hello to you too Flipper." Neo said sarcastically as he continued to rub his head better.

"Oh, ah... Hi there Neo, I didn't see you there... Heh..." He was slightly embarrassed about what he did.

"Yeah, I can tell." He replied rolling his eyes sarcastically.

"Why were you in such a rush?" Neo added.

"Oh, well... You see I was on my way to the Stable Pit when I-" His eyes went wide as he looked at Neo's right forehoof.

He got close to his right foreleg, "Whoa, that's your new metal limb Adam made for you?" He said getting more closer to Neo than he would like. He failed to notice the full saddle bags on his back.

Neo backed a bit from the creepy pony. "Um, yeah how did you know?" He said nervously.

Flipper picked his head back up. "Oh, the whole Stable knows about that. I mean really, Adam set off the whole Stable alarm system."

Neo looked to his hoof for a second. "Wow, I didn't know the whole Stable knew." He said a little shyly.

"Yeah, I mean your the only one in the Stable that has a limb like that!" He exclaimed with a big goofy smile.

Although he enjoyed talking to Flipper, he had somewhere to be. "Uh, Flipper. I'd love to stay and chat, but there's someplace I really need to be."

It just hit him that he too was wasting time just talking when he had a place to be. "Shoot! Me too, hope you have a good day, and... Yeah... Bye!" He said before giving him a quick grin and continuing his race towards the Stable Pit.

Neo watched as he raced down the hallway before turning sharply behind the corner. "Bye..." He said softly while raising his eyebrow. He was a little bit confused about his behavior, but he was on his own mission and he need to get back to his.

Adam was impatiently waiting outside the Overmares office, he was bouncing up and down in place as he anxiously for his brother. He had packed all that he deemed worthy of taking, preferably his favorite books on science and technology. He also found it to be useful if he packed a few extra parts for his brothers new foreleg in case it needed repairs.

Up the hallway he could see Neo dashing down the hallway. His face turned sour at the sight of his tardy brother. "It took you long enough!"

Neo stopped right in front of him panting heavily. "Sorry... I... Ran into Flipper, on my way here." He said huffing from exhaustion.

"It took you ten extra minutes to talk to Flipper?"

Neo caught his breath and continued. "No, I had to finish finding all the stuff I needed. My living space isn't that big, or that full of anything useful for that matter." He said giving his little brother a slight chuckle.

Adam liked it when his brother laughed, even when he was angry at him, it made him feel happy to be his brother. "Well. Are you ready?" Adam returned to him with a smile.

Neo nodded confidently in response.

"Okay, whenever your ready." He said stepping aside for Neo to knock on the door to the Overmares office.

Putting his hoof to the door Neo started to knock. *Tap, tap, tap* Within seconds the Overmare opened the door for them.

She had a terrible look on her face, it was almost like she was watching somepony die for the first and last time. "Come in, its all ready for you."

"We're really greatful your doing this for us, we really are." Neo said taking a step forward.

She put a hoof up to stop him. "You still have a choice to go back... to stay..." Her eyes were becoming more tear filled with every second.

Adam stepped up. "We need to get our mom back." He said with confidence burning in his eyes. "She's all we have left." He continued. "So whats the point of staying in a place when your not happy?"

The Overmare looked down shamefully. "It's your choice, not mine." She swayed to the side allowing them to come into her office.

Together the three moved into her office. Her desk was lifted up by several large metal pistons, which exposed a small staircase leading down to a small metal door. Neo and Adam stood at the top of the stairway looking down at the small metal door at the bottom.

The Overmare stood at the side of her erected desk. "Just head down the stairs, go through the door and go to the guard at the end of the hallway." Her emotion didn't change.

Both brothers nodded sternly.

"One last thing." She said before they started their decent. "Just don't forget about me." She said as she tryed to muster a smile.

"I don't plan on it." Neo said with a honest glare.

Adam thought about it for a moment, then he came to terms with himself he was going to give her one last hug before they left. She was a little shocked by the gesture but she was happy he cared enough to show how much he cared before they left.

Hugging her tight Adam whispered to her. "I won't forget you. I can't forget you... Just, don't forget us okay?"

She wrapped her hoof around him gently. "I won't, I promise." She whispered back in a kind peaceful tone.

Adam let go of her and went back to his brother. Then, they both started to make their way down the steps to the metal door. Without even trying the door hissed open exposing the other side. On the other side of the door was a long metal corridor with large white lights lining the ceiling.

With a deep breath the two started their march down the large corridor, each step was a blow to their morale as they trotted on. Their hoofsteps echoed faintly with every step, until they finally made it to the door at the end. The door at the end was much like the door before, it was large had made of finely crafted steel. Like the door before it hissed open making a ear bleeding screech as it opened. Both of them cringed at the sound of the steel screeching as its hinges cried madly. On the other side of this door was a smaller room with a ramp going down to a large steel cog shaped door.

The room was empty, except for a large metal object that looked like a key hanging on the ceiling. Below it was a guard standing at a control panel. He was a strong looking stallion with a security helmet and visor perched soundly on his head.

"Are you the ones the Overmare said was leaving?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's us." Neo said as he started down the ramp.

The guard nodded at him, before starting to flip several switches on the control pad. Then Adam dashed to catch up with his older brother at the bottom of the ramp.

*Hsssssshhhh* Went the big metal arm that descended from the ceiling. A loud alarm followed as it creeped its way over to the cog shaped door. Like a key going into a lock the arm put the front piece into a tiny hole in the corner of the door. With another hiss the door rolled open. The opening of the door was followed by violent shaking. It was apparent that the door wasn't used to opening.

It was when the door was finished that they realized that the door might have caused that shaking. It might have been their mother who caused Neo to fall over and loose his foreleg. Whether that was the case or not wasn't important. What was important was them finding their mother.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Cause when I close that door thats it. I won't open it again."

Neo looked up to the guard for a moment with a calm smile. "I understand that, we have to do this."

The guard shrugged. "Whatever you say."

It was at that moment that both of them gulped and took their first few steps toward the empty dark cave that lay in front of them. As they slowly left the cog shaped doorway they were imminently greeted by black charred pony skeletons. They littered the floor of the cave with tattered burnt signs bearing rants and protest. They both eyed the skeletons as they moved onward to the end of the cave.

At the end was a boarded up wooden door with tiny specs of light dotting it. Neo and Adam were almost at the door when the terrible shaking and hissing returned. They both turned to look back at their former home. And just like that, the large cog with the number 142 shut closed with a loud clank. They were truly outside the Stable for the first time.

Neo looked down to his little brother. "You ready?"

Adam gulp nervously. "Yep."

With a deep breath, and a whole lot of confidence, Neo pushed on the large door until it opened. Then they were taken by a wave of white light.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Iron hoof: +5 points to Unarmed Damage.

Would you like to Level up Adam?

Yes-

No

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Coltprehension: +1 additional skill point whenever a skill book is read.

Proofread by:

Myself

Neverknown

(Its done! We’ve gone through and check most of the spelling and grammar. I tell you writing this sucker was hard. Also, how will they react to the wasteland? Find out in chapter 3!)