Fallout Equestria: Brotherhood

CHAPTER 8: CHAMPIONS

It was the next day, and the four had completed their mission at returning the talisman. Allie was slowly recovering from radiation poisoning, and Neo was getting his arm fixed at Lucy’s shack.

“Ow!” Neo shouted painfully as Adam messed around with his brother’s arm.

Neo’s arm was resting on a small desk in Lucy’s shack, small metal parts were scattered everywhere. Nuts, bolts, and small sensors covered the small space around them.

A small blue screwdriver was in his mouth, as he dug through Neo’s arm.

“Ow!” Neo yelped, as Adam pushed farther into his brothers arm.

Allie was resting in her bunk and Lucy was out getting food for the night, which in some cases, was probably a good thing.

“Adam, why does it have to hurt so much?” Neo asked, turning his head away from his arm, gritting his teeth trying to accept the pain.

Adam put down the screwdriver for a moment to answer him. “Because when you jumped in that water to save Allie your arms nerve sensors got water on them. And when I made this for you I didn’t make it water proof.” He picked up the screw driver and continued to work on his arm.

“Ow!” He yelled. For some reason his yelps didn’t wake up Allie. “That wasn’t my question, my question was why does it hurt so much when you work on my arm like this?”

Adam put the screwdriver back down on the desk and sighed. “Well, your nerve sensors are in the way of the motor control relay, so in order for your arm to even work at all I need to move your nerve senors to get to your motor relay.”

Neo gave him a puzzled look, “what?”

Adam gave him a bland facial expression. “I have to move the thing that hooks up to your nerves, so I can make the arm stiff, and you can use it like a support. Cause if you use it now your nerves to your arm could get severely damaged. Heck, I’m just amazed it lasted this long.”

“I see, so how long will this take?”

Adam moved his goggles on his forehead down onto his eyes. “What? Oh, just a few more minutes.”

Neo sighed with relief. “Just work as fast as you can, cause this is torture.” He slouched in the chair he was sitting in trying to relax the best he could while Adam operated.

Adam jerked forward into his arm with the screwdriver in his mouth. Instantly a huge throbbing pain went flying through Neo’s body. “Oooooooow!” Neo yelled as he felt his arm stiffen.

Adam put the screwdriver away in his bag and wiped his sweaty brow. “Whew, I’m done. I’m finally done.” He adjusted his goggles back up to his forehead.

“Yes, finally.” Neo said getting rid of some sweat on his neck.

“Here let me close it up and you should be good to go.” Adam said before closing his brothers arm, returning it to its normal state.

“You can move around now.” Adam said backing away from his brother.

“Great now, lets just get you down from the desk.” He said to himself, planting his right forehoof on the ground.

Neo smiled as he took one step with his left hoof, but when he moved his right he stumbled a bit and then fell down with a thud on the hard ground right on his face. “Does the pain never end?” He moaned to himself as he tried to get up from the ground.

“Oh, you can’t move your arm normally. I locked it up, think of it as a peg-leg from an old pirate story,” Adam added.

“Great,” Neo muttered standing completely up on all fours finally.

“How are we supposed to find mom with me like this?” He complained.

“Your going to have to wait till this weekend when I get more parts for your arm. Until then, your going to have to be peg-leg Neo for a while.” Adam chuckled.

Neo’s jaw dropped. “But I don’t want to be peg-leg Neo.” He stopped trying to move forward, “And how am I supposed to do anythi-” His sentence was interrupted by the floor coming into contact with his face again.

“Are you okay brother?” Adam asked helping his brother up.

“I’m fine, thanks Adam.” He sighed while rubbing his sore face with his other good hoof.

The shack door opened with Lucy standing in the doorway. “Hello boys,” She greeted them before closing the door.

“Tell me you at least brought food back?” Neo begged, while he was leaning against Adam for stability.

Lucy turned to him with a blank pessimistic face. “What’s with you?” she asked looking at the two.

Adam helped his brother move to his bunk before replying to Lucy. “I locked up brothers arm so he could move around, but it turns out that he can’t really move around any better than he could before.”

“So what, is he peg-leg Neo or something?”

Neo face-hoofed at the remark with his left hoof. “Really, you too?” Neo’s reaction was followed by a small chuckle from Adam.

“Well,” Lucy yawned, “I brought back some food. It’s irradiated, but its food.” She threw the saddle bag on the ground and opened it for them. “Get it when you need it, I’m off to bed.” She said moving over to her bunk.

“Oh, and Neo. Don’t eat to much of it, we need it to last more than two minutes. And plus its irradiated, so you don’t need any more radiation after that stunt you pulled back there with Allie.”

“Aw,” Neo pouted laying back in his bunk, “oh you can’t eat Neo because of radiation, blah blah blah.” He continued to himself quietly imitating Lucy.

She dove onto her bunk and pulled the sheet over her, “Night.” She said while rolling over. She didn’t even take off her fedora, she just went straight to sleep.

“Well, I guess we eat something, huh brother.” Adam said moving to the saddle bag.

“Yeah that's if I don’t eat it all first, right?” Neo commented sarcastically.

“Heh, yeah. So I better be careful on what I give you.” Adam replied taking some of the food from her saddle bag.

Everypony was fast asleep in their bunks, except for Adam. He rolled around in his bunk as he wrote some things on a paper. It was a list. He looked through it up and down to check if everything he wanted was written down. It was dark in the room with only the small glow from the large terminal screen in the back of the room for light.

Adam smiled as he held the small pen in his mouth. He thought to himself his plans and how he would carry them out.

"Looks like I've got everything I need down on the list." He looked over to Lucy in her bunk.

"Know all I need it to get Lucy to buy the stuff, bring it back, and get brother out of here so I can make this stuff."

"I can't wait to tell Lucy and Allie, and wait until they see the look on his face when he finds out his birthday is tomorrow."

Adam gently set down the pen on his pillow in front of him, then he carefully pulled the blankets off him. As he did so he tried to make as little movement as he could. As he moved off the bed, he tip-hoofed over to Lucy's bunk on the other side of the room.

He held the small paper in his mouth as he crept over to Lucy. At the bunk, Lucy was sleeping soundly with her fedora laying awkwardly on her head.

He poked her head with his hoof. "Lucy."

She just twitched and continued to sleep.

He poked her again. "Lucy..."

She slowly opened her eyes and yawned. "The bathrooms outside kid..."

"That's not what I wanted to ask."

She yawned again before sitting up in her bed. "Then what do you want? Cause if you haven't noticed I was sleeping..."

"Here," he put the paper down in front of her.

"The hell is this?" She grumbled while scratching her head.

"It's a list of all the stuff I need to build brothers presents."

She looked at him for a second before turning her gaze to the paper in front of her. "Two nerve attachment units, six carbonic resination tubes? Four steel pads that are twelve inches at each side, and an enchanted steel blade that measures at four inches. Lastly a new robotic limb..."

She just stared at it a bit before picking up the paper and putting it in a pocket of her dust she wore.

She turned her head to him with an odd look. "Wait a second... presents?"

"Yeah, his birthday’s tomorrow."

"He's like four right?"

Adam frowned at her response. "No, he'll be twenty one tomorrow."

"Are you sure, because I was sure he was at least three."

"Could you please just get me the stuff on the list?"

She looked at him blandly for a moment before answering. "Sure, I know were most of this stuff is, but I can't promise I'll get everything..."

Adam smiled at her. "Thanks Lucy, this means a lot to me."

She laid back down and pulled the green sheet over her head, "yeah, yeah I'm too nice..."

Adam looked at her for a moment before returning back to his bunk. "I just hope brother likes the stuff I'm getting him."

The next day was like the others before, cool, crisp, and gloomy. The only thing different about this day was that instead of the average brownish morning, it was a white, baby blue morning. It was a rather better morning, mainly because of the lack of wind blowing.

Allie woke up first to see Lucy already awake and working. She was just about to leave when Allie stopped her, “morning.” She said tiredly while rubbing her eyes in her bunk.

Lucy turned to her sharply with a surprised look on her face. “Oh... Morning Allie.” She said sheepishly.

“What are doing or, where are you going?” She asked, now sitting up dangling her legs off the side of the bunk.

She looked at Neo carefully and moved to Allie carefully. “Can you keep a secret?” She whispered.

Allie nodded.

She looked around the room again to see if Neo, or anyone else, was listening in. “Well, Adam gave me a list of stuff to buy, cause Neo’s birthday is tomorrow.”

“Really?” Allie replied with a whisper.

Lucy nodded, “I have to tell you I like Adam much more than Neo, but he said he’d make it up to me if I did this so... yeah.”

Allie lay back in her bunk and pulled the covers over her. “Okay, I can keep that a secret,” she said happily.

“Good,” Lucy replied sternly. “Just sleep a bit more, and I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Allie just smiled at her and rolled over in her bunk, trying to get back to sleep.

Lucy turned away with a small grin on her face. “I better finish getting this stuff before the crowds come.” She thought to herself as she left the shack quietly closing the door behind her.

A few hours later past and Neo woke up lazily like he normally did. He smacked his lips trying to get saliva to quench his parch mouth. “Adam you awake?” Neo asked tapping the bottom of the bunk above him.

Adam rolled over opening his eyes slowly. “Yeah, I’m awake,” he mumbled.

Neo slid out of bed carelessly dropping the blankets on the ground as he emerged from his bunk. He moved over to Allie and tapped on her bunk with his right forehoof, which was still locked up and stiff.

“Allie you awake?” Neo mumbled to her.

She rolled over with her eyes open, “Mhm,” she returned.

Neo gave her a gentle smile before moving over to a cabinet next to Lucy’s terminal. But just before he managed to get to the cabinet the door slammed open. *QWANK!* Everypony in the shack turned to the door to see what was the problem, and there in the doorway was Lucy with her fedora tied to her head by the small string.

She had the same old pissed cranky look about her, which meant nothing was different. “Sorry about that,” She said plainly.

Neo grinned at her and rubbed the back of his neck to calm himself. “Its okay Lucy you didn’t scare us to muc-” Before Neo could finish she interrupted him. “I wasn’t talking to you.” She added Neo’s grin dying with her words.

“Than who were you talking about?” Adam asked curiously.

“The door.” Lucy replied blankly as she gently closed it. Neo frowned at her remark before returning to the cabinet to get something to eat.

Lucy moved to Adam, while his brother was busy getting something to eat. She moved close to Adam and put her mouth close to his left ear to whisper to him. “I got all the stuff, even the special order.”

Adams face lit up as he replied quietly. “Great, won’t brother be surprised!”

“Yeah, he better like it,” Lucy replied negatively.

Adam just smiled at her, “don’t worry I guarantee you he’ll like it.”

Lucy just shrugged and went over to Neo. “Hey fat flank, stop eating for a second.” She insulted Neo as he ate some dried apples next to the cabinet.

Neo ignored her insult and continued eating. “What do you want this time?” He said with a calm tone with his mouth full.

“I need your help taking some scrap to the smelters today.”

Neo sighed frustratingly. “Fine, when do we leave?”

“Now.”

Neo almost spit out his apples at her response. “Now?” He said still shocked that he had to go and help her now.

“Yeah, and its going to take, all, day, long.” She gave him a wicked grin.

Neo whimpered a bit before grabbing his leather coat and do-rag. Before they left, Allie helped Neo put on his do-rag with her magic, and get his saddle bag ready for the long day of work.

“Be safe,” Allie said before giving him a small goodbye hug.

Neo’s spirit raised as the warm little gesture that flew throughout his body making him feel much more happy than he was a few moments ago. Within a few minutes, Lucy and Neo left the shack to deliver scrap, although it is unknown him as to why Lucy delivers scrap to others, it didn't really matter nor did he really care.

“Bye Neo,” Allie said waving goodbye.

“Bye brother,” Adam said waving his hoof with a big quirky smile on his face.

“Bye,” Neo said waving goodbye to the two before Lucy closed the shack door on him.

Adams wave and smile faded as he turned to Allie. “Good he’s gone,” Adam said mischievously.

“Do you know where Lucy left the stuff?” Allie asked.

“Yep, its outside on the other side of the building.” Adam said with a smirk.

“How long will it take to make?” Allie asked while she walked to the door.

“I did it in four days, heck, with the hard stuff mostly done it’ll take me five hours tops.” Adam boasted proudly.

“Okay, than lets get the stuff and get to work,” Allie said raising her hoof in the air.

Adam lifted his hoof up and clapped it with hers. “Lets do this,” Adam said with a confident smile on his face, as he moved his goggles on his eyes.

Night slowly came to the Sky-top city as all of the buildings lit up with an assortment of bright neon colors. Lucy and Neo didn’t manage to beat the crowds and so they had to dodge and maneuver their way through the massive crowd of ponies on their way back to Lucy’s shack.

Neo hung his head low as he waddled his way through the crowd. He was sad that Lucy made him come with her, and he was sad that she kept calling him, “peg-leg Neo”.

He was in a depressed state, which wasn’t normal for him, or at least it wasn’t ‘till he came out into the outside.

The worst part was Lucy mocked him with a pirate accent making, the torment even more old. “Avast peg-leg Neo! How goes yer search for treasure?”

She was referring to him hanging his head low, which made it look like he was a hound dog, sniffing out treasure in the ground. In his mind he did the best he could to block out the pirate insults from Lucy. “Why Lucy? What did I do to deserve this...” he thought to himself as he waddled side to side trying to get back to the shack as fast as he could.

Lucy stopped insulting him for a moment to wipe a tear off her face, “wooow.” She exclaimed blissfully. “I haven’t laughed like that in a long time.” She said to herself aloud.

“Yeah, laugh all you want...” He thought as he continued to walk up the path that lead to her shack.

She caught up to him and nudged him playfully. “Hey it’s all in good fun...” She stopped for a moment, her face looked like it was about to explode with laughter. “Peg-leg Neo,” she squeaked before busting out into an insane laugh.

Neo just frowned and did the best he could do to ignore his tormentor. “Would you please stop?” he begged.

“Nope,” Lucy replied happily with a big smile on her face.

Neo looked up from the ground for a moment to see where he was, and to his surprise he was only about a hundred feet way from the shack. His eyes widened, and his face lit up with joy as waddled quickly to get to the shack.

He got to the door before Lucy, and he just stood there knocking on the door violently. “Adam... Allie... Let me in please?” He begged pitifully as his smile turned into a sour frown.

Lucy slowly approached the entrance with her normal look about her. “One sec.” She said nudging him to the side.

She raised her hoof and knocked on the door three times in some kind of specific pattern. From the outside Neo could hear Adam and Allie shuffling around inside whispering to each other.

Then the shuffling stopped, and the door suddenly clicked unlocked. It slowly opened, and exposed Adam in the edge of the doorway. “Oh hi brother... Lucy...” He said to the two giving them a fake smile.

Neo tried to look over his brother to get a better look inside the shack. “So...” Neo said curiously. “What are you doing in there?”

“Oh, just stuff,” Adam said giving him the same big smile.

In the background Allie quietly called out to Adam. “Its ready!” Adam turned his head back to see if she was telling the truth, and with a nod, Adam opened the rest off the door for his brother and Lucy.

And in unison Adam, Lucy, and Allie yelled, “surprise!”

Neo was shocked at the sight, his face was baffled by the event. “What is this?” Neo asked softly.

Lucy patted him once on the back. “Don’t you see? Its your birthday you scurvy dog.”

Neo looked to Adam with his baffled look still on his face. “My birthday?” he asked as he was still computing the moment.

Adam gave him a real smile this time. “Yes brother, it's your birthday!” Adam said jumping slightly in the air.

Neo thought for a moment about the date of his birthday, and well it had been a few days since they left the Stable. His whole sense of time and date was completely messed up, but if Adam said it was his birthday, than heck, it was his birthday.

Neo suddenly felt himself lift up from the insults that Lucy had thrown at him throughout the day, and with a new spirit in his step he gave them a smile. “Thanks guys,” he said gently, as he and Lucy walked through the door.

There wasn’t really anything different about the inside, other than some food that was in the middle of the floor, and two large items next to the meal. The items were oddly shaped and covered with two of the blankets from the bunks.

Adam moved over to the center of the room and sat down near one of the gifts. “Sorry if we didn’t wrap the gifts with paper, it was the best we could do.” He said rubbing the back of his neck with a gentle grin.

Lucy sat down on one of the bottom bunks to watch them, and Allie levitated the first object over to Neo with a smile on her face.

She lowered it gently in front of him as all three of them watch anxiously as he sat down to open it. “You didn’t need to get me anything,” Neo said humbly looking down at the green blanket wrapped gift.

“No trust me, you need it,” Adam said leaning a little closer.

“Okay if you insist,” Neo said before moving down and opening the blanket with his mouth, exposing a large metal square with a blue light going down the middle of it. It looked like a saddle of some sort, it was made of steel, and had two flat black disks on the top connected to the blue neon lit light.

Neo looked at it curiously, eyeing the mysterious contraption. “What is it?” He asked with an eyebrow raised.

Adam went over to his brother and nudged him to stand up. “Here I’ll show you.” He said holding his brother still.

Then, he turned to the metal device and with a stern looking stare, a small ring of blue light enveloped the item causing it to float.

Neo jumped for a moment in amazement as he watched Adam levitate the object towards him. “What the? How are you? How!” He stuttered as Adam moved his brothers duster up a bit exposing his back.

“Here, just watch.” Adam said reassuringly as he placed the cold metal pad on his back.

The cold little device sent shivers down Neo’s spine as Adam rested it gently on his back. “One second.” Adam said before the device made a small clicking noise. At that moment Neo felt a jolt of pain go through his body for only a brief moment before it died back down.

“Ow!” He said after the pain kicked in.

“There we go.” Adam said successfully as he moved away from his brother. “Now you have one just like me.”

Lucy leaned forward to see them better, “Brother stop spinning, please?” Adam said trying to get his brother to stop spinning.

Neo was spinning around and around, trying to get a better look of the thing on his back. “What is it?” He said as he finally decided to stop moving around in circles.

“I made it myself, it really wasn’t that hard to make.” Adam smiled proudly.

“No really, what is it.” Neo asked Adam again.

Adam adjusted his goggles a bit before explaining. “Its a levitation saddle. Kind of like those ones we used in the radiation suits in the Undercity.

Neo looked at him puzzled. “So we can levitate stuff?”

Adam nodded. “Yep, and they work ten times as well as those ones the suits had to.”

Neo looked to his back again before returning to his brother. “Okay, but, how do they work?”

“Simple,” Adam stated. “Just slightly concentrate on the item you want to levitate, and wal-la! Your floating things around, just like a unicorn.”

“Okay, that seems easy enough.” Neo said as he looked around for stuff to levitate.

Quickly he chose the first thing that caught his eye, which was a bowl of noodles. He narrowed his eyes at the bowl trying his best to concentrate on it. And with almost no effort at all the bowl lift itself off the ground and moved its way to his mouth.

At this time he started to consume the noodles, “This is really a great gift Adam!” Neo exclaimed as he scarfed down the noodles. But then, he heard a ticking noise which stopped his feast. He lifted up his Pipbuck to look at the source of the ticking, and on the small dial on his Pipbuck the arrow on the dial started to shift over into a small red zone with a +1 on it.

Suddenly Neo felt sick, “I don’t think I want to eat the noodles anymore.” He said sickly as he lowered the bowl back to the ground.

Allie chuckled a bit. “Yeah all the food is slightly irradiated so your going to have to go easy on the food.”

“Yeah fat flank, guess that means no endless feasting for you.” Lucy pestered him with a wicked smirk on her face.

Neo ignored the comment and moved over to the next blanket wrapped gift. “What’s this?” Neo asked pointing to the small wrapped item.

Adam got a stern look on his face as he quickly nodded to Lucy and Allie. Without any warning Lucy and Allie pounced on Neo holding him down on the ground.

“What the hell?!” He shout as he struggled to get free from his attackers.

Allie just held his legs down giving him a calm smile. Lucy on the other hoof was enjoying herself a little to much. “Hold still you big baby!” She yapped at him as Adam came over to his metal arm.

“I’m not a baby!” He returned angrily as he continued to struggle.

“Just shut up!” She yelled at him again trying to make him shut up as he wiggled more to get free, but it was no use.

“Just hold still brother, this will only take a second.” Adam said unwrapping the blanket.

It was hard to see what was in the blanket because Lucy was in the way. Adam got up levitating a screwdriver and a steel forearm that looked just like his other one. “Adam, what are you doing?” Neo asked nervously, sweat being to build on his face and neck.

“Don’t worry, It’ll only hurt for a second.” Adam said reassuringly as he started to unscrew his old arm off the socket in his shoulder.

His heart was racing as he felt a rusty sharp pain just like the first time go though his entire body. “Gah!” He yelped as he felt his arm come off, and the other one replace its former spot.

Then, once again, another surge of pain went through his body as Adam tightened the last screw on his shoulder. “There.” He exclaimed tiredly as he put his things way and stepping back from his brother.

“You can let him go now.” Adam said cheerfully as Lucy and Allie let him go.

Neo’s face was frozen with fright as the three backed away from the shocked soul. “Are you okay Neo?” Allie said in worried tone.

Lucy rolled her eyes and started to count down blandly. “3... 2... 1... Wake up.” As soon as she said “wake up” he arose sharply from the floor sitting up strait breathing heavily.

“See? He’s just a big actor,” Lucy commented blankly.

Neo huffed a bit and then turned to his new arm. “My arm...” He said quietly. He moved his arm around a bit, testing its flexibility. “My arm, I can move it normally!” He shouted joyfully.

“You like it?” Allie asked moving closer to him with a calm smile.

He was overjoyed with excitement. “Yes! I love it! Thank you Adam!”

Adam shrugged modestly, “aw, it was nothing.”

Neo leaped up from the ground and hugged his brother warmly, “Thanks Adam, I really like it.”

Adam gave him a small chuckle, “It was nothing, but I did add a few features to this one.”

Neo’s overjoyed expression faded away with the sound of these new features Adam spoke about, “What new features?”

Allie stepped in, “You’ll see.” She teased him.

“Hmm?” He grunted returning to Adam.

“Well for starters it’s fifty percent lighter than your old one.” Neo moved his arm around a bit realizing it was a significantly lighter than his old one. “Another feature is it's one hundred percent water proof, and bullet proof too, or at least it should be.” Neo smiled a bit inspecting the new shiny steel arm. “It's the best enchanted steel I could ask for, and it comes with a magically enchanted blade.”

Neo looked surprised. “A magically enchanted blade?”

“Yep.” Lucy interrupted as she sat back down on the one of the lower bunks.

“Just think of the blade, and it should unsheathe itself.” Adam said pointing to the end of his hoof.

Neo inspected the hoof carefully thinking about a blade, but unlike the levitation saddle Adam gave him this was much more difficult to use. Just as he was about to give up. *Sheeth!* The small blade extended itself from the bottom of his hoof through a tiny slit at the end.

“Whoa!” He yelped as he jumped at the small blade that emerged from his right hoof.

“Yeah, and it never dulls to,” Adam pointed out.

“Really,” Neo returned before his blade sheathed itself back into his hoof.

Lucy got off the bunk and sat down at the food. “Great!” she shouted sarcastically. “Now that we got all your gifts open and used, can we eat now?”

“Yes Lucy, we can eat now.” Allie muttered turning to the meal she made for Neo’s birthday.

Neo looked at Adam calmly with a cheerful smile on his face. “Well, I’m still hungry. Even if this food makes me sick, it's still my party right?”

Adam smiled back at him. “Yeah it’s your party. Now lets eat before the food gets cold.” Adam chuckled.

“Yeah,” Neo sighed happily.

But then it struck him that he no longer had a stiff arm, and so he got a devilish feeling about him. “Oh Lucy?” Neo said turning to her with a wicked grin on his face. “Guess who doesn’t have a peg-leg anymore?” He taunted her.

She pouted a bit before starting to eat. “You don’t,” she replied blankly rolling her eyes at how childish he was acting.

He started to laugh at her. “Ha, ha! Who has the last laugh now!” He mocked her.

She facehoofed with her left hoof. “Can we just sit and eat, please?” She begged him.

And so, on that night they ate merrily as Neo enjoyed his new arm and levitation saddle. Although Lucy kept quiet to herself during most of the meal, she couldn’t help laughing at some of the jokes and stories they shared as they enjoyed the night they had together. It was then that Adam realized that laughter brought them together, and it was then that he felt that Lucy was truly a real friend.

It was the next morning, the sound of ponies gathering in a massive horde woke them up. They had slept in, it was already noon by the time they woke up from their party they had all night long.

Lucy slouched upright as she put her hoof to her head trying to help the aching soreness in her head. “Dammit...” She moaned to herself as she turned around to see the others laying where they could for the night.

Neo was on the ground with a small empty box on his mouth, and Adam and Allie were laying on their bunks lazily in awkward positions.

Lucy’s mane was tangled and messy from the rough nights sleep she had gotten. “Damn...” she whispered to herself getting up from her bunk tiredly.

She started to make her way to Neo on the ground who was snoring loudly. Lucy didn’t like this at all, so she spit on her hoof and started to gently rub his right ear softly. As she preformed the gesture, Neo squirmed around blissfully with a big smile on his face.

“Oh Allie... I didn’t think you wanted to...” He moaned to himself before opening his eyelids slowly, and there staring at him was Lucy with a cocky smirk on her face.

“Hi there sleeping beauty,” she whispered to him.

His eyes popped open as he leaped up and backed away from Lucy hitting one of the bunks as he moved quickly away from her. “Was that your spit?” He asked with a worried tone.

Lucy nodded at him with her quirky tired look.

Neo started to rub at his ear furiously trying to remove the Lucy saliva from his right ear. “Get it off, get it off, get it off!” He yelped to himself, as he rubbed his ear.

Lucy started to chuckle maniacally to herself as she watch him try to remove her saliva. Neo managed to wake up Adam and Allie from his small panic attack.

“Its all over my ear! Get it off!” He yelped to himself as he finally stopped his violent rubbing.

A little pissed Neo, looked at the tattered Pegasus with an angry look. “What the hell was that for!” he yelled at her.

“You’re welcome,” she replied sarcastically.

Adam hopped down from his bed, and rubbed his eyes sleepily. “Brother, whats going on?” Adam said, still trying to wake up.

Allie joined them in the center of the room looking just as tired and crashed as the rest of them. “What did I miss?” She asked Lucy while she scratched her brown mane.

Lucy turned her head to Allie showing her the quirky look she gave Neo. “I pulled a little prank on him...” she said calmly with her wicked grin.

“That crazy lady put her spit in my ear!” Neo yelled at her.

Lucy giggled softly to herself, “I sure did.” The giggled she made was almost evil.

Neo managed to cool down a bit before replying. “Yeah, well you had your fun. But just remember that I have my arm back so that means I can move properly now, so watch yourself.” He muttered to her in an almost angry tone.

She slowly stubbled away from him to the cabinets in the corner of the shack hanging her head low tiredly. “Yeah, yeah I’ll be sure to do that...” She mumbled before tripping over something long and hard.

*BAM!* Her face made contact soundly on the hard floor. “Ahow...” Lucy moaned as she looked over her shoulder to see what she tripped on. To her surprise the item she tripped on, was her sniper rifle.

“How the hell did that get there?” She said scratching her head.

Neo moved over to her and started to taunt her. “Ha!” He pointed to her. “Who’s the one falling on their faces now?” He taunted her, as he enjoyed every second of her failure.

Lucy just ignored him and got up off the floor, “laugh it up kid.” She said plainly, while she dusted herself off.

Adam looked down at her rifle on the ground. It looked like she managed to break the scope by denting the side. “Um, Lucy...” Adam muttered softly as he moved over to her.

“What Adam?” She said negatively looking at him with her eye lids low.

He pointed down to her rifle on the ground. “Your scope is a little... off...” He said cautiously trying not to upset her.

She shrugged before looking down at her rifle. “I don’t now what you mea-” She stopped as her eyes shot open. “What happened to my rifle?” she muttered angrily.

Adam could see the fire building up in her eyes, “You did it yourself, when you walked away from brother.” Adam said sheepishly putting his fore hooves infront of himself trying to block any rage that she could throw at him.

Allie and Neo jumped behind the nearest bunk for cover from her rage. “Take cover she’s gonna blow!” Neo said jumping behind the bottom left bunk.

But, nothing happened, instead she just got up from started to pick up boxes and putting them in a pile. Neo and Allie poked their heads up from their cover behind the bunks with baffled faces. “Why didn’t she explode?” Allie said scratching her head.

Neo shrugged to Allie, “I don’t know?”

Lucy stopped her trash collecting for a moment, she just stood there with her head hanging low. “Neo, Adam?” She sighed.

Adam approached her carefully. “Yes?” he answered quietly.

“Go to the arms district, and get me a new scope...” her tone was quiet and soothing, but it was easy to tell that even the slightest thing could detonate Lucy’s rage.

Neo gulped from behind his cover as he asked nervously. “Where is the arms district?”

Instead she replied just as calmly as she did before. “Pipbuck, local map, get caps, go buy scope, now.” She emphasized on the now.

Adam decided it was safe to ask another question. “What about Allie?” He gulped.

She looked at him with wide demon looking eyes, “scope, district, buy, now.” She said almost ready to explode.

Adam nodded quickly and grabbed his stuff and dashed out the door, slamming it behind him as he left. “Wait for me Adam!” Neo called out to him as he put his saddle bag on and jumped out the door, he also slammed it as he exited the shack.

“What just happen-” Allie was interrupted by the pissed Pegasus.

“Just help clean up!” She barked at her.

She snapped at attention, “yes sir.” She yelped as she quickly moved around the room picking up trash from the night before.

It was cold and damp outside with small trickles of rain falling easily down to the world. Small rings of thunder and lightning could be heard booming out from miles away.

Ponies of all kinds walked along the metal ground splashing in small puddles of water as they went.

The rain was the first thing Adam felt, every tiny drop was cold and tingly. “Look brother, rain!” Adam exclaimed merrily looking into the dark cloudy sky, he forgot all about the previous objective Lucy had given them.

Neo snapped him back to reality. “Yeah, falling water that’s a good thing,” he said sarcastically looking down at his Pipbuck.

Adam shook his head, trying to forget about the magical rain falling from the sky. “What does it say?” Adam asked as he pulled up his Pipbuck up to his face to inspect the map of the city.

On his Pipbuck was a small orange display that said area map. Right next to it was a box with the words local map. Using his teeth, Adam turned the small knob on his Pipbuck. The screen then flashed a map of the city in full detail.

"Whoa! There's a full map of the city already here!"

"Mhm," Neo nodded to him as he continued to look down at his Pipbuck.

Adam pressed a button on the side that let him move around a small cursor on the screen of his Pipbuck. He moved it up and down looking for the Arms District.

"Found it," Neo exclaimed before putting his Pipbuck down.

Adam put his own down with a cheerful look on his face. "So how far away is it?"

Neo looked at him with a small smile. "Well it says it's about one mile away from here, which isn't too far if you ask me. It's next to some place called the Arena though."

Adam looked puzzled by the word, "Arena?"

"Yeah, you know fighting, sports, that kind of thing."

"What?"

"It's a place were ponies sit and watch fighting and sports and stuff."

"Oh," Adam said nodding his head. "So then, which way do we go?"

Neo looked around a bit before bringing up his E.F.S. The small orange screen popped up in front of his face. On the screen was a small orange blip flashing slowly to the west.

"Well it says that it's this way," Neo said pointing his left hoof to the west.

Adam looked in that direction. "How long do you think it will take to get there?" Adam asked looking up at his brother.

Neo shrugged. "It shouldn't take more then a few minutes at most."

Adam smiled a bit. "Then what are we waiting for!" He exclaimed as he jumped up in the air happily.

Neo couldn’t hold back his own smile, even though they might be a million miles from finding their mom he still held a strong positive attitude.

Neo looked to him, "lead the way." He said merrily as he motioned his hoof to the west.

They both turned to the west and started to make his way to the nearest bridge that moved to their destination.

After trotting out of the district they made their way to the next district over. This was the Pound District. As they trotted along a huge metal bridge that span to the other building they took note of all the magically lit signs that covered the top halves of the buildings.

"Boxcar Suites and Inn, world famous for it's top notch room service!"

Another sign said. "Ironhoof Artillery and firearms. Best in the whole province!"

There were also several signs with mares or stallions dancing on poles in a hypnotic fashion. It was both amazing and stunning to see the city in full life. Then, before they came to the other side of the bridge they saw a huge purple neon sign say: "The Ironhoof slayer Arena. Join the fight, and become a champion, today!" Below the sign was a list of times and dates.

"What do you think that means?" Adam asked with an eyebrow raised as he looked at the huge sign on the building.

Neo glared negatively at the sign as he answered his brother. "I don't know, and frankly I don't really care, but it's probably best if we stay away from it."

Adam looked down for a moment, "if you say so."

As they trotted to the end of the bridge there was a massive blue neon sign that had the words, "Welcome to the Arms district!" imprinted on it.

As they crossed into the the new section of the city they were blasted by a wave of foul smelling air.

Adam gagged at the smell as it entered his nostrils, "Ugh! What's that smell!" he said putting a hoof over his nose.

Neo was equally disgusted. "I was thinking the same thing."

They looked around the district as they moved on through the center path that ran straight through the middle section of the district. Unlike most districts they had seen this one had normal buildings. Each one was made of dark steel that made each one loom like a shadowy monster. These builings all looked mostly the same, give or take a few tents and wooden slaver stands here and there. Besides tents and stands there were small brahmin pens holding three or so brahmin inside each one.

As they continued they saw ponies covered in battered armor that made each one look like a gladiator. Each pony was filthy and grimmy, and anypony who wasn't covered with armor were cover with large scars or were using skulls as pieces of their armor. Each pony they passed gave them a threating glare before returning to their original task.

The one thing Adam seemed to like about this place was the lights that were strung from building to building. It reminded him of Maneton, he missed the small town and it's townsfolk.

Both Adam and Neo jumped in fright as they saw a pony crash through a window and land five feet away from them. He was a unicorn stallion with a orange coat and a brown mane.

He had small cuts and bruises all over his body. He moaned a bit before attempting to get up. An angry looking Mare charged out of the structure he was thrown out of with a double barrel shotgun levitating in front of her.

The stallion got up and looked at her with his bruised eyes. He spat out a bit of blood to before he wiped his mouth of extra blood.

She was a unicorn and it didn't take Adam or Neo long to tell she was pissed at the stallion. She had a long red dress that looked like it was made of some kind of silk, and a red velvet bow perched on top of her purple mane.

She marched up to him in with the shot gun pointed at his head.

"You have five seconds to tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now you sick son of a bitch." She threatened him with the barrel hovering two feet from his head.

He gave her a wicked grin. "Shoot woman! I don't give damn! I got all I wanted out of you!" He replied with a chuckle.

She was losing her temper. "I'm going to shoot you, you know that?"

"Ha! Pull the trigger, see if I care! Make my day you stupid bitch!" He shouted with an intimidating look in is eyes.

Those were his last words before his head exploded into a million pieces. The shotgun blast echoed through the city as she lowered her gun.

"Serves you right you perverted fuck." She snickered at his headless corps.

She then spat on the body, turned around and marched back inside with her nose held high. All the other ponies in the street just shrugged and continued on with their lives as if nothing had happened.

Adam was shocked by the event that had just taken place in front of them. "b-brother? D-did she j-just kill him?" He whimpered as he stared at the once living pony.

Neo's stomach churned and twisted as he watched the body seep blood into the street.

Adam was trembling, he just saw a pony get murdered right in front of him! Although, for some reason this time was different. It wasn't like watching a raider die. No, it was just a normal pony, one second he was there, and another he was gone.

Neo wanted to go and get away from the dead pony, and if possible leave this the damn district as soon as possible.

Neo's tone was quiet and sad. "Come on Adam let's go before we see more ponies die..."

Adam turned his head away from the body and continued onward into the district with his brother.

Neo trotted a little faster than normal to try and find Lucy's scope so they could leave this the damn place. As they continued the district got cleaner, and more and more shops popped up as they moved on.

Adam had the image burned into his mind, he tried to think of something else but it was no use, it just stayed. So, he decide that maybe if he talk with his brother maybe they both could forget it.

"Brother?"

Neo was still upset, and slightly sick from the murder they just saw. "What?"

"Aren’t you the least bit curious as to where I got all of that stuff for you?"

Neo thought about it for a moment before answering. "Not really, I figured that you just found this stuff where you could."

Adam pouted. "Well of course I did that. But aren't you curious on how I made all of it so fast?"

Neo looked down at him. "Well, now that you bring it up, it would be nice to know how you built these two saddles, and my new foreleg in just a few hours."

Adam smiled a bit, he was anxious to explain how he built each item. "Well the levitation saddles were the hardest part, first I used those levitation pads I found at that trader tent on our way to the work board. Then I just used some old scrap metal out back for the base, the nerve systems were probably the hardest part to build. You need to make sure the cryo-cells are properly aligned with the magical expander. And trust me, it must have took Lucy forever to find those. Now, putting them together was as easy as counting to three! And I just got Lucy to find you a new arm somewhere, and I just added the blade myself."

Neo looked at him with a baffled look. "What?" He said raising an eyebrow.

Adam gave him a playful look before responding. "It wasn't hard making them. It was just hard getting the pieces." He said with a slight chuckle.

Neo laughed a bit to. "Well, you could have just said that."

"Now what fun would that be if I said that?"

Neo started to laugh and so did Adam.

It was nice that he had managed to get the murder out of his mind, now if only he could completely erase it, then all would be perfect.

Their happy little moment ended when Neo hit a tough looking mare in the street. Neo almost fell over into the dirty ground, luckily his new arm caught him before he fell.

Adam went over to his brother. "brother are you okay?" He said with a little worry in his tone.

He shook his head and turned to Adam. "Yeah I'm fine, I just hope she's okay."

The mare was laying face first in a pile of brahmin droppings. She picked herself up and violently shook her head of the shit that was on her face.

She was pissed, and she wanted to know who bumped into her. "Who the fuck did that!" she yelled as she wiped some brahmin crap out of her eyes.

Neo got a good look at her, she was about his size and clad in a suit of dark armor with a pony scull replacing the left shoulder pad of her suit. Her blood red mane covered her head to her lower neck, and her purple bloodshot eyes made her look like a demented monster.

Neo was scared now, he didn't mean to piss of a gladiator. "Um... sorry about that." He said cautiously as he backed away from the angry mare.

She fixed her eyes on him, and him alone. "You!"

Adam looked up at Neo with a worried look, "I think you made her mad."

"I think we've been here before Adam." Neo said still backing away slowly.

She moved over to him before he could get any farther. "You! Watch the fuck where your going next time!"

Neo backed down and folded his ears back. "Sorry, I didn't see you there..."

She just glared at him before pulling away from him with an evil grin. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood today... I just won the jackpot at Fray's Casino just a few minutes ago. Cause any other day and I would've killed your sorry ass." She paused for a moment and gave him an evil grin. "Plus, you'll probably be dead in an hour or so anyway," and just like that, she turned around and started trotting in the other direction.

Neo sighed with relief, "Damn, that was scary..."

"I'll say," Adam replied.

"Let's just find Lucy's scope and get out of here."

"Agreed."

"Now," Neo said, looking around as he still tried to calm down after what had just happened. "Where can we buy a scope for a sniper," he said narrowing his eyes.

Adam joined in and started to look at signs on buildings, "maybe we can ask somepony."

Neo shook his head, "that's the last thing we want to do."

"Now that I think about it, yeah that's probably not a very good idea..." He said with a nervous chuckle.

Neo smiled a bit at him before returning to his search for a weapons store. He looked around and apparently they were in some kind of round trading area. In front of them was a large round structure on top of a building that was right next to the one they were currently on. On it were the words: "Slayer Arena."

Several guards in dark green plated uniforms marched around with sprite bots hovering next to them.

One sprite bot passed the two boy's blasting some kind of message. It was the same voice as before, and it was still just as proud and smooth as it was the first time.

"What ever happened to us? You see, when I was a small colt I lived in a province that was unified under the belief that we could find a future. Let me say that again, unified, but now we live in a province filled with violence, death, and war. We stand divided amongst ourselves, so, let me ask you one thing my fellow ponies. What ever happened to the Ironhoof province... what ever happened, to us? I'll tell you what happened, war... war happened, and it is because of war that our families, friends, and loved ones live in a constant state of fear and hopelessness. Well, I'm here to tell you that those day are over. For, you see, The Ironhoof Legion is starting over, and with your help we can build a greater future. One without the fear of war, a future, with peace. I am your Emperor, and this is my promise to find and build a better tomorrow."

The two brothers watched as the tiny robot flew off into the crowd of ponies.

"What do you think it meant?" Adam asked.

Neo looked down at him. "Well I can't really say, all I got from that, was something about unity and what ever happened to us."

They hadn’t noticed it but the area had become extremely crowded with ponies. There were so many, that they bumped into a pony with every step. There were ponies crowding the streets, and there was no sign of the crowd lightening up anytime soon.

"Brother, how are we going to find her scope if we can't even move?"

"I don't know Adam... I'm trying to see if we can get out of this crowd or something." He said hopping in place trying to look over the heads of the ponies in the crowd.

Across from this district was the Arena, the entrance to the Arena was large and open with long meat hooks and chains dangling from the ceiling. Inside the large entrance were two skinny tan stallions with black checkered suits on and well kept groomed manes. One of them was pacing back and forth nervously while the other one was looking at him with a desperate expression.

"Jib! Think! We need to find some contestants before Tiger company comes and makes us fight for them!"

"Shut up! I'm trying to think damnit!"

"Well think faster, cause if we don't get somepony out there soon we're going to be the ones fighting Asmodeus!"

"Just shut up will you, just shut up!"

He stopped for a moment and looked at the other stallion, "I've got it!"

The other stallion just looked at him oddly, "and?"

"We just need to send somepony out there right?"

He nodded back.

"Then let's just pull some random shmuck out of the crowd and send them into the Arena."

The other stallion put his left hoof to his chin as he thought. "That's cheap, dirty, and totally immoral... I like it!"

"Then it's agreed?"

The other stallion nodded back to him with a greedy smile, "agreed."

They both then turned to the exit and dashed out onto the bridge that connected the Arena to the Arms district. The bridge that connect to the arms district was only fifty feet long, so the Arena wasn't to far away from the main building. Once they got to the end the two stallions looked through the crowd for a shmuck they could fool into coming into the Arena.

They narrowed their eyes and put their hoofs up to their brows to help search through the crowd.

"How about... that one." One of the stallions said pointing into the crowd.

"Nope, she looks to smart."

"What about..." He scanned though the crowd again. "That one." He said pointing to a scrawny looking mare.

"No, we need one that looks new..." He looked through the sea of ponies, "Somepony like... Those two!" He pointed to Neo and Adam who were in the center of the crowd.

"Who? Where?" The other stallion said as he looked for the two the other had mentioned.

"Those two." He said taking his partner by the head and focusing his gaze on the two brothers.

"How did you spot them?"

"You have to have an eye for good ponies to deal with, even the stupid kind." He said in a proud professional boast.

"Agreed, especially in our line of work!" the other stallion chuckled.

Then, with a bow the stallion that found them said. "Shall we, hire our clients?"

The other stallion returned the graceful bow. "It would be terribly rude if we didn't offer our... once in a life time deal."

"Then it's agreed?"

"Agreed."

And just like that they trotted merrily into the crowd to get the two brothers.

Neo was still looking for a gap they could jump through or a way they could go to get out of the crowd.

"brother, it doesn't look like it's going to let up."

"We can't give up, we just got to time it right and-"

His heart about jumped out of his chest when he felt a hoof touch his shoulder.

Adam saw the odd pony before his brother did. Neo turned sharply to the stranger with a surprised expression.

The first thing he saw was a skinny groomed tan stallion with a black checkered coat. "Who the hell are you!" Neo shouted at him as he brushed off his hoof.

The stallion grinned at him and moved closer to him. "I'm Jib, and that handsome chap behind that one there is Jab."

He motioned his hoof to Adam, and like he said there was Jab standing right behind Adam.

"I'm sure you boy's want to get out of this nasty crowd, correct?" Jab said with a grin that went from ear to ear.

Adam was kind of creeped out by the over friendly stallions.

"Yeah?" Adam muttered cautiously.

"Then just follow us dear, and we'll get out of this nasty crowd." Jib said in a creepy manner.

Neo was cautious about the two odd strangers. "Just get us out of the crowd." Neo said with a threating glare.

"Of course! Of course! Just follow us and we'll be out of here in no time." He chanted in a cheerful tone.

So together they managed to bump and push their way to the bridge that took them to the Arena. Once they were their, They took a moment to rest.

"That was much harder then I thought it would be Jib old boy! Whew, I say."

"Yes, agreed." He huffed a bit.

They had managed to push all the ponies out of the way so all Neo and Adam had to do was follow them. Now, the only thing Neo and Adam wanted was to leave, and soon.

"Thank you for helping us, but we need to do something, and be somewhere." Neo thanked them blandly.

Neo and Adam turned around and started heading off the bridge before being stopped by the stallions again.

"Wait!" They both cried out in unison.

They both turned around to see what they wanted. "What is it?"

Jib and Jab each took one brother and wrapped their arms around them merrily with big smiles on their faces.

"We have a little... Job for you boys."

Adam looked up at the strange pony. "Job?"

"Why yes! But this isn't any normal job, no no no, this is a very... special... Job." Jib hesitated a bit while he spoke.

"We're not interested," Neo replied in a negative tone.

"You say that now, but why not hear us out first?"

"Yes, this job will make you rich, powerful, and best of all it's completely easy!"

They started to pull the two with their arms wrapped around their shoulders. As they explained their proposition they slowly made their way to the Arena. As they spoke each one took a turn to speak the next portion of the conversation.

"You see, my dear boys we work at the Arena."

'Yes, we handle the score earnings, and wages, and such."

"And we have run out of fighters today."

"And without fighters their is no show."

"And if there is no show, ponies don't pay."

"And if ponies don't pay our other clients get upset with us."

They were now in the entrance of the Arena. Adam noticed this and decided it was probably a good idea to point it out. "Brother... Um, we're in the Arena..."

Neo looked around at the dark entrance they were now in. "Hey what's with big idea bringing us here!"

The stallions let go of them and moved around to face them. "Oh, well you see we need you to do something simple for us."

"Yes, very simple." Jab added.

"Like what?" Neo said rolling his eyes at them.

"Well all you need to do is go out onto the feild for ten minutes, then just wait for a bit and... Bam! Your done!" Jib waved his arms in the air like he had just made an explosion.

"Once your done we will give you a lovely payment off 500 caps." Jab stated in a rich, persuasive tone.

Adam looked unsure about the the whole situation and Neo just wanted to leave. "If we do this will you leave us alone, and let us go?" Neo said gritting his teeth with frustration.

The two stallions crossed their hearts with their hooves. "We swear it," they said in unison with big wicked grins.

Neo sighed and looked at his little brother. "Adam, what do you think about all this?"

Adam looked up to him with a strait face. "I don't know... I mean we really don't have much of a choice... It's either we go do this, or we go back out there to the crowd..."

He didn't want to go back out into the mess of ponies back at the Arms Districted, and if they had 500 caps then they could use it to help them find their mom, or better yet repay Lucy for the stuff she had bought for him so he could make his brothers gifts. In the end he smiled a bit, and nodded at the two stallions.

"Sure, I'll do it."

"Are you sure about this Adam? I mean, are you positive about doing this?"

Adam looked up to him and nodded. "Just think about all the stuff we could do with five hundred caps!"

Neo sighed and then turned his gaze back to Jib and Jab. "If he says yes, then that's my answer too." Neo agreed.

"Good, good, then it's settled."

Jib and Jab stepped to the side and pointed to a small door on the other side of the entrance. They still had their abnormally sized grins spead wide across their faces.

"Just go through that door right their, and tell the Arena master that we sent you."

"Yes, and don't forget to do your... um... best! yes, do your best... heh..."

Neo and Adam gave them both an odd look, before slowly making their way to the door.

"This better be worth it," Neo complained to himself.

"Don't worry it can't be that bad." Adam said warmly as he tried to reassure him with a smile.

"I just hope you’re right about this." He sighed.

Just as they got to the door they looked back at the two stallions grinning at them from the entrance of the Arena. "Go on then!" Jib called to them as he motioned his right hoof for them to go in.

The two brothers turned around to knock on the iron plated door. *Mumb, Mumb, Mumb.* The iron door made an odd noise when Neo knocked on it.

Then, door flew inward and a armored mare was standing at the end. Once the two managed to get a good look at the mare on the other side their mouths hit the floor.

"Look who decided to fight, it's about time I had-"

She stopped as she stared at the two who were in front of her.

At the same time all three of them shouted, "It's you!"

Neo suddenly got very scared. It was the mare he bumped into on the way.

Her surprised expression quickly turned into a evil grin. "Well, well, well. Look who decided to come to the Arena." She chuckled menacingly.

Neo was at a loss of words. "But.. You... how? I mean, how! Your the.. the..."

"Arena master?" She continued for him.

"Yeah." Adam finished.

Neo gave her a big grin as he put his arm around Adams shoulder. "Well that's enough excitement for one day! Come on Adam let's go!" He said spinning around with Adam.

"Don't take another fucking step!" She barked at them.

Neo and Adam turned around sheepishly with their ears folded down. They looked at her with a small shy smile.

"Don't look at me like that!" She barked again.

They straightened up and watched her eye them carefully with her left hoof rubbing her chin as she thought. "Well, you aren't the weakest ones to come here I'll give you that much." She started to circle them, here eyes moved up and down as she went.

She stopped circling them and stepped to the side of the door with a hoof extended to the door. "Go in and have fun kids..." She gave them a devilish smile and an evil looking glare.

Now they were really worried as to if they should go or not. "Um, one question before we go..." Adam squeeked quietly.

Her evil look left and was replaced with a stern angry expression. "Make it quick, I don't have all day."

Adam nervously rubbed one arm with the other. "Um, what is it we are going to do in there exactly?"

She sighed and tried not to let her temper best her. "You'll go in there, stand around for ten minutes and then go, it's as simple as that." She lied.

"Now please get in there before I make you do it myself!" She barked angrily.

A little scared for their own well being Neo and Adam went inside the small room she had been in before they had seen her. Just as they entered she took the handle of the door and slammed it shut behind them.

"Whew," She sighed.

Her gaze immediately turned to the two stallions in the entrance. "We won't see them anytime soon." She chuckled with an evil sinister look.

Jib and Jab approached her with blank expressions. "Indeed, we just need them to be out there, that's all." Jib said as he pulled out a paper from one of his pockets on his checkered coat.

Jab looked at it closely from his companions mouth. "Yes, as long as we have somepony out there every day, Tiger company pays a small fee of a thousand caps to us per match. That was the deal we made with them, and if they need somepony to fight, then they'll see somepony fight."

It didn't look like the mare cared about their contracts or their affairs with Tiger company. "Listen I don't really care, I just want to get payed, nothing more."

Jab gave her a smirk. "Indeed, and you will, they just need to live for ten minutes and then after that we get our pay and that's it. It's over, we'll never see those two ever again."

Jib started to chuckle a bit. "Yes I say, I think we did quite well."

"Yes, I do too brother of mine." He joined in with his own chuckle.

Jib looked at the armored mare again with a greedy look in his eyes. "Say, I have an idea, why don't we bet on how long they'll last out there? Of course it's all for the fun of the game, what say you ma'am?"

She shrugged. "Aw what the hell, I won the jackpot today anyway, so yeah, I got some caps to spare."

"Indubitably, after all, this round in the Arena should be extra special with the emperor being present and all." He stated in a proud boastful manner.

Neo and Adam sat there in a cold dark room with only the lights from their Pipbucks to give them light. The room they were in was small and dirty, small meat hooks and chains hung from the low ceiling in the dark creepy room.

"I'm really thinking this was not a good idea now..." Adam sighed as he listened to the loud cheering coming from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, we should have just left when we had the chance Adam." Neo said as he recalled the whole series of events that lead up to this point.

Then their ears perked up at the sound of the cheering growing louder. On the other side they could hear a muffled voice. Adam and Neo put their ears against the door so they could hear what has happening on the other side.

"Fillies and gentlecolts of Ironhoof City!" The voice was loud, amazingly, and quite powerful to listen to. "I give you the most insperational! Amazing, show to ever come to this Arena, now stomp your hooves on the ground foooooor." He stopped for a moment before continuing. "Our new contestants!"

With that the door they were leaning their heads on suddenly opened with amazing speed. They both fell flat on their faces on the sandy Arena floor. They picked themselves up and helped each other dust themselves off before stepping out entirely into the Arena.

A small blast of white blinding light hurt their eyes as they slowly made their way out into the sandy field. The cheering was now earbleeding, as hundreds of ponies of all shapes sizes and kinds yelled cheers out into the Arena.

Adam felt like panicking, he had never been in front of so many ponies before. "B-brother, t-there are s-so many ponies..."

Neo looked around the Arena and the hundreds of face looking at them. "I didn't think that there would be this many!"

Adam was trembling as he looked around. "Now I really think this was a bad idea..."

Neo looked at him with a terrifyed look on his face. "The feeling’s mutual Adam... The feeling is mutual."

Things didn't get any better either, the door they had come from closed right behind them. *Clank!* They turned around to see it shut, and in pure terror they dashed towards it and started to bang on it begging them to let them go.

"We didn't want to do this! Let us out now!"

"Please open up! Please!"

Then they stopped for a moment to look at the announcer at the top of a tower next to the bleachers. The tower was on the right side of the stadium, and it was perched safely along side the high walls that protected the audience from the activities in the Arena.

The stallion who was announcing was yellow with a ragged orange mane and a microphone with two swords crossing it as his cutie mark. He wore a old prewar headset that was connect to some speakers next to the tower.

"Fillies and gentlecolts I give you our new fighters for this evening!" He announced enthusiastically while pointing a hoof a the two brothers in the Arena below.

The annoucer pony waved his hoof in the air and pointed to a small dark balcony on the opposite side of the Arena. "Before we begin, let us honor our proud emperor as he gives these brave fighters his blessing."

The only thing Neo and Adam could see was several dark figures in the small balcony. "Now, without further a due, I give you their challenger!" As soon as he finished saying challenger the crowd started to cheering wildly.

Now they were really scared. They looked around the Arena and saw hundreds of pony skeletons with some red rotting meat still on some of them. Destroyed chariots and wagons made of metal and wood littered the floor of the area. On the other side was another door, only this one was massive. It was not a normal door, instead it had large dark rusted iron bars keeping whatever it was holding inside, away from them.

The annoucer started speaking again, as he spoke he did several weird posses as he annouced each thing about their challenger. "He's the meanest! The strongest! And the most terrifying creature alive! He's our one and only Manticore of death... Aaaaaaasmodeus!" As soon as he finished there was a loud clanking noise which sounded like the gate holding what ever it was behind the door back was being unlocking.

Both their eyes were wide with both panic and terror as they watched the dark figure behind the bars kick up small puffs of dust from it's breath. Then they saw two evil glowing green eyes stare back at them from the darkness that covered it.

Within a spit second, the gate holding the creature back slowly opened, and is it did the hinges creaked and squealed as the rust on them cried out into the stadium.

Then, everypony was silent, the crowd was completely still and calm as they watched the Arena below. All that could be heard was the moans and aches of the old stadium.

Neo and Adam were glued to the wall as they watched the dark opening on the other side. The creatures eyes vanished into the darkness as the silence continued.

Adam nudged his brother slightly, "Do you think it-" His sentence was interupted by a loud, gut wrenching howl. It was as if hell itself was screaming right at them.

Instantly they both froze out of pure terror. So they just stood there looking at the dark cave. They hadn't noticed it but the crowd had started cheering madly again.

Then they saw a huge dark grey paw emerge from the dark opening, and just like the first one the second paw followed. They looked like they belonged to some kind of cat, but it was unclear as to what kind of cat that would be.

The glowing green eyes returned as they moved closer to the light, it only took a few moments before the head was we completely outside. The entire creature was grey with a ragged old battle worn mane. Small pink scars were scattered across it's powerful terrifying snout. As it came into full light it showed off it's powerful scorpion like tail, as it swayed back and forth slowly.

Its eyes were fixed on them as it prowled slowly in their direction. It was carefully maneuvering its way around the broken carts and chariots of fallen fighters as it approached the two terrified ponies.

Neo leaned close to Adam and tried to whisper to him. "Listen Adam when I say run... we book it for the door on the other side."

Adam leaned back to answer him. "Are you sure, this thing looks like it can run pretty fast..."

"Don't think about it like that, we just need to get out of here. So when I say run we-" He paused for a moment to look infront of him, and there standing in front of them was the large vicious looking creature standing over them.

"Run..." Neo whimpered as he stared into it's big green eyes.

"W-what?"

"RUN!"

With that shout came a loud roar from the monster as it lunged its tail forward at them. *BAM!* It managed to barely miss them as they jumped to the side. And without even thinking they both took off in opposite directions. Adam dashed off to the left and Neo to the right.

The creature looked back and forth between the two as it decided which one was going to become its next meal. It didn't take it long to decide on Adam to be its next target.

Neo saw the creature dash over towards Adam. "Adam!" Neo shouted back in full panic.

Adam heard his brother and looked behind him to see what he was shouting about. At first he didn't want to believe it but his suspicions were true, and like he thought the giant monster was racing straight for him. It was gaining speed at a unbelievable pace and he needed a place to hide, and he needed it now.

He spotted a large steel wagon that had looked like it supported some kind of cannon or gun on top. He assumed it would be strong enough to lure the monster away for a moment so he could catch his breath. So, without another thought he dart to the right and made his way to the destroyed battle wagon.

Asmodeus hadn't let him out of his sight for one second and the very moment Adam had turned so did he. With a huge leap Adam dove inside the metal wagon that had been flipped over. For the moment he was safe, until he heared pounding and scratching as the monster beat and clawed at the wagon trying to get it's prey inside.

Neo stopped running and saw the terrifying beast pound and scape the destroyed wagon and with it he faintly heard his little brother cry out.

"Brother help me! Please! Help me!"

Just hearing his little brother scream that way made his fear vanish. Instinct had kicked in, and he was pissed, with not even a moment to spare he dashed to the monster as it tried harder and harder to get the taste young pony inside. Then a huge rock hit the side of it's face, and at first it didn't notice it. Then, it felt a large one hit its face only this time it actually did something.

"Hey you ugly fuck, eat me! Eat me! I'm over here!" Neo taunted the big thing as he jumped up and down waving his hooves in the air.

The beast turned it's gaze to him with a ferocious snarl. And at the second Neo lost the powerful instinct inside him when he realized that he just fucked himself.

He dropped his hooves and looked at the beast get off the wagon and move it's way to him. "Ah crap..."

It crouched back and lunged itself at him with lighting speed. Neo managed to see the thing come before it landed so he dodged to the side and ran off towards the place the creature had emerged from. Asmodeus hadn't noticed his new target move so it checked under its paws to see if he had caught his new prey. Once it saw nothing under its paws it looked around to see where Neo had gone, and it didn't take long to spot him again.

Neo looked back to see if he was chasing him and like he had suspected he was. "Shit!" he thought to himself as he increased his pace.

As he passed Adams wagon he called out to it. "Adam! hurry and help do something!"

Adam heard his borothers message so he crawled over to a small opening next to him so he could see what was going on outside. Neo strayed off from his original plan and was trying to get rid of the beast by moving through small carts and wagons.

He jumped, dodged, and dashed through several smaller wagons to try and slow down the horrifing creature, but it was pointless. It just kept jumping and swiping at the carts he passed by destroying them in one swing. Every time Asmodeus would destroy something the audience would either boo or cheer wildly.

Adam just watched as his brother tried again and again to get away, but the beast would always find away to destroy the obstacles that were in its way.

"I need to do something, I can't just sit here and do nothing!" Adam thought to himself.

"Think think think!" He was shouting at himself in his mind as he looked around the Arena for something they could use to stop it, or at least slow it down.

Then it hit him, he had a saddle bag, and it had weapons in it. Quicky he looked at his Pipbuck to hopefully find something he could use to fight it. As he looked through his inventory nothing showed up, or at least nothing that would help them in this particular situation.

Once he had gone through his entire inventory and not once did he find anything worth using. Just caps, and some other small items.

He stomped his hoof down at the ground in frustration, because he had to go back to plan A which consisted of looking around the Arena for something to stop it. He looked back outside to see his brother, but all he saw was Neo running around trying to avoid the massive creatures claws as is swiped and lunged at him.

Neo was getting tired, after all he wasn't used to running this much. So he did the last thing he could think of, and that was to dash with the last bit of energy he could to the wagon Adam was under.

The Manticore was getting closer and closer, as Neo pushed himself to get to the cart. Adam noticed his brother approaching it, so with the most strength he could muster he tried to make the hole that he was looking out of larger so that his brother could slide in.

Once he had made the hole slightly larger he poked his head out and shouted for his brother to slide inside. Neo was only ten feet away before he leaped forward towards the cart. As he leaped so did Asmodeus, and Neo felt safe when he finally slide into the cart, but then he felt a huge pain go throughout his left leg. Asmodeus had pinned him with one of his claws. It pierced straight though his upper, left thigh.

The sore pain got worse as the hungry beast licked its chops as it pulled him towards it.

"Help Adam! It has my leg!"

Adam looked around urgently for something to break the monsters grip on his brother. Adam found an old rusted sword in the corner of the cart that he hadn't noticed before, so without hesitation he picked it up in his mouth and stuck his head outside the cart through the hole.

Although it took him a few seconds to get his head with the sword out he managed to fit it all through the hole without cutting his brother. He positioned his head so he could hit the paw that had his brother. With three powerful jerks into its paw it finally let go of Neo.

Happy to be free he finished crawling into the hole with blood dripping down from his leg.

Adam Dropped the sword and returned to his hiding place with his brother. Although as lucky as he was to have found the sword it didn't last very long, upon the third strike the sword had snapped into two pieces.

Adam layed back against the wall of the cart and tried to slow down his violently beating heart. Neo was laying in front of him with his hooves pressing against the bleeding wound.

Neo was panting heavily as he chocked on the pain. "Adam, we need to get out of here... I don’t think were gonna live much longer if this keeps up."

"I didn't think we would have to fight this thing. I just thought we wou-" He was interupted by Asmodeus pounding and scratching on the outside.

"I don't think this thing can keep us safe for much longer..."

Adam began to lose hope. "Brother, I don't want to die here..."

Neo choked on the pain coming from his leg again before answering. "Listen, we need to get my leg better if we want to have a chance... and don't worry, you won't die here, not today, not now."

His words were comforting in a small way. "So please help me get back on my hooves so we can find mom, and get the hell out of here."

Adam nodded at him sternly before pulling up his Pipbuck to his face. He looked through the list of items he had on him, and although he didn't have weapons on him, he did managed to have a roll of medical bandages. He levitated them out of his bag and helped wrap them around his brothers leg.

Neo felt the pain die down as Adam wrapped the magical bandages. Once he was done Neo sighed with relief as he moved his leg around.

"I'm just happy that he didn't get the bone."

Adam shrugged a bit before putting the remaining bandages in his bags. "I’m happy it didn't bleed as much as I thought it would."

The crowd was booing outside as the creature continued to attack their shelter. Neo sat up and looked over to Adam, "listen, I think I might have a plan to get out of here, and maybe in one piece. It might be a long shot, but at this point I think it's our best bet."

Asmodeus was gnawing on the corner of the wagon with his dagger like teeth until he felt a small rock hit the side of his face. He turned sharply to see what tossed the small rock, and there was Neo waving his hooves around and shouting madly at him.

"Hey! Hey! Down here!"

It growled at him for second before it charged at him with all its might. Neo started to gallop at full speed towards the Wall that separated the audience and the battlefield the two brothers were stuck in. He ran along side it with all the energy he had, and right behind him was the demon monster himself.

Adam poked his head out of the small hole and scanned the area for something he could use to stop the creature. He recalled what his brother had said when he told him about what his plan was, and sure enough there was a large metal wire attached to a cart on the other side of the field.

With a small burst of speed he sprinted over to the cart that had their only hope of survival attached to it. Within a few seconds he managed to get to the wire which was coiled and attached firmly to the cart. Adam grabbed the end and pulled hard on the wire so that it would unwind. Once he had completely unwound it he dashed back to the only cart that proved to be safe from Asmodeus. The crowd was now in a frenzy as they cheered for both the brothers and Asmodeus.

As Neo ran he would check to see if Adam was carrying out his part of the plan. "Adam hurry!"

He was almost at the cart when all of a sudden he felt a large tug on the wire. He looked back to see that he had completely used all of the wire. Adam started to panic, the whole plan relied on this wire being tied down to the wagon.

He jerked is head around as he looked around for a place to tie the wire, because it was clear that he couldn't make it to the original spot. To his right was a smaller wagon that was made of iron with both its wheels missing, and a pony skeleton hanging off its side.

It didn't take him long to get to it, and it took even less time to tie the wire to the cart itself. The wire now stretched tightly across the middle of the Arena.

Adam shouted back to his brother with both hooves cupped at his mouth. "Hurry brother! It's ready!"

Neo heard him from across the field and made a mad dash for the center of the Arena where the wire stretched across from one end to another. His legs burned and his wound throbbed but he sucked up the pain as he came right up to the wire.

He slid underneath it on his belly as Asmodeus gained on him. Adam watched fearfully as his brother managed to lay on his back before the massive monster tripped on the wire.

Instantly both carts holding the wire jerked forward as Asmodeus's face smacked right into Neo who was right in front of him. Then, there was silence.

Adam looked carefully at the fallen creature, it was not moving, and his older brother wasn't anywhere to be found.

Adam cautiously approached Asmodeus, and as he moved closer to his face he saw his brother with both forelegs in it's eyes. Neo had green blood rolling down his right foreleg.

Neo was struggling to get out from underneath its head. "Help Adam... I'm stuck and my right arm stuck in its eye..."

Adam nodded and helped lift the head up a bit which gave his brother enough space to wiggle out from under its head. Once Neo got his body free, it made it easy for him to get his arm free from the bloody eye it was stuck in. He pulled his metal arm out of the creatures eye with a large stream of green blood spitting out of it. His blade was extended and covered in the green goo.

He picked himself up and shook off his arm a bit before looking at the creature again. "Is... Is it dead?" Adam asked poking it with his hoof.

Neo retracted the blade and nudged it's head to the side. "Yeah, I think it's dead..."

The crowd just stared at it for a bit before bursting out into a loud uproar of cheerful shouts and cheers. The announcers mouth hit the floor as he looked at the two wave shyly to the crowds that cheer for them.

He was at a loss of words, so quickly he put the mircophone that was attached to his headset up to his mouth and began to speak in a baffled tone.

"Well... This is the first time anypony has done that... He's dead... Asmodeus is dead!"

He looked around a bit before finishing. "Well folks, there you have it. Our new Ironhoof City Aaaaarena champions!"

Adam nudged his brother playfully. "Did you here that, he called us champions." He said giving him a happy smile.

Neo looked down at him returning the warm smile. "Yeah, just don't let the fame go to your head."

"I just can't believe that worked."

"Yeah, and it didn't even work out the way I intended to either."

"Maybe, Celestia is looking out for us."

"Maybe Adam... maybe..."

They both chuckled a bit as they listened to the crowd cheer in unison, "cham-ions! champ-ions! champ-ions!"

In the balcony across the Arena was a shady figure sitting on a velvet chair that was decorated with golden symbols that twisted and turned like waves on the beach. Standing around him was two green armored ponies with gas masks attached to their helmets. In the corner were a few beautiful eathponys and unicorn mares laying on several silky pillows with metal collars on their necks. On the other side of the room was three robed ponies with crimson robes that were stripped with green and gold down the middle of their backs and hoods.

The pony in the chair motioned one of the few ponies standing in the corner to come to him. One of the robed ponies looked at him before approaching.

With a small graceful bow he answered. "Yes m'lord, what is it you need."

He leaned over to the pony next to him, and as he spoke he did so in almost a whisper. "Those two down there, who are they?"

The robed pony looked out into the Arena for a moment before returning to him. "I am not sure m'lord, as far as I can tell they are just two commoners from the city."

"Yes, but they managed to kill Asmodeus... Nopony before has been able to do that. Even with my skills and power it took me three years to catch him."

"Then what shall you have me do."

The dark figure put a hoof to his mouth before answering. "Invite them to the tower. I would like to meet the two that killed Asmodeus... After all, I have been waiting three years for somepony to end that miserable creatures life, and now that somepony has, I'd like to meet them."

Foot Note: Level up

New Perk: Blade of Glory: You now have a blade that extends from your mechanical limb, with it you now have a fully functioning melee weapon on you at all times. This increase unarmed by +2 and melee weapons by +2 with every level.

Would you like to level up Adam as well?

Yes-

No

Foot Note: Level up

New perk: Champions Heart: You feel like a champion! You gain +2 in medicine and +20 hp when healing yourself or others. You also gain +2 in unarmed.

Proofread by:

Noakwolf

Colonel Lat Muffin

Dracoliat

(AN: I have to say that I had a lot of fun writting this chapter. I know it was a long read but chapter 9 won't be that way. Anyway, thanks for reading! Oh and point out any mistakes me or my proofreaders might have missed! )

PS: colonel lat muffin is epic.