Finale
When the light faded we found ourselves back in the big open area of the warehouse. Crackshot sat by the computers, a clipboard at her feet. She looked surprised when the light faded.
“Hey beautiful. Miss us?” I grinned, coming over and hugging her.
“I...but...you...Cane?” She stepped back, looking from me to Lily, still in human form, and Venture, who she, of course, didn't recognize.
“That's my name, don't wear it out.” I chuckled.
She just looked at me intently with what I could only imagine was intense wonder.
“What?”
With a flash Lily turned back to her normal form and stretched, sighing happily.
“Lily?” Crackshot asked. “Is this really Cane?”
“What? Of course it's really me.” But Crackshot ignored me.
“Yeah, who else would it be?” Lily asked. “You feeling okay you old bag of bones?”
“But...but...” She poked at me a few times and got up and walked out of the room. Lily and I looked at each other and hurried to follow, Venture following us.
She was running full tilt through the building and we followed her the whole way. She finally ran outside, it was raining, no surprise, and she ran around the side of the building. There was a makeshift graveyard now in the field alongside the building. Four rows of eight graves, each a fighter that had been killed in the taking of the facility and town, a stone with their name and cutie mark on it. Some names I knew, others I didn't. She ran to the last row and slid to a stop in front of a grave and started digging furiously at the ground.
“Crackshot stop!” Lily cried, grabbing her in her magic field and pulling her up from the ground.
“But...but...” The ghoul croaked and broke down into tears.
“Guys...” Venture gestured to the grave. My name adorned the top of the grave, my double helix cutie mark under that.
“What? But I'm not dead...” I looked at Crackshot and she just sniffled softly.
“When the portal closed after you guys went through it, Lily and Paul vanished, but you...” She looked at me intently. “You passed through the portal and fell into the pit underneath the gateway, screaming in pain and then you went quiet. By the time we got over to the hole you were already dead...”
“Dead...Really?” Lily asked, looking to the grave. She pressed down into the mud and pulled upward, the slick mud falling away as she pushed it off with her magic until she was holding the body...my body, caked with mud and showing the beginnings of decay...Broken horn, burned flank...dead...
“Oh god...” I whispered, slumping to the ground. “How?”
“The portal...” Venture said, stepping forward finally. “I built it to allow for inter-dimensional travel, using my genetics. It rebuilt my body because it recognized my DNA. It must have been able to extrapolate your DNA using mine as a base, and fixed your injuries and imperfections, but since you already had a body...it left the damaged one behind.” Seriously, how many times did it seem we had to come back to that explanation?
“Oh no...” I shot to my feet. “Ruby and CB?” I asked, looking at the ghoul.
“We need to tell them.” Lily said. “CB must be devastated, and Ruby...shit...she might be dead.”
“Ruby is holed up in one of the kitchens with Brutus and a LOT of booze...CB is in her room with Xem. Neither have come out in days...”
I looked at the others and took off running back inside the building, heading upstairs and into the living area, tearing down the halls, dodging around a few collective workers I recognized and sliding to a stop in front of CB's bedroom, the two indicators in my vision showing they were inside. I knocked gently and saw one of the marks move to the door after a moment. It opened and Xem looked out curiously. He saw me standing there, panting a little from running through the building.
“But...” He just stared at me wide eyed for a moment. “C...CB? Somepony to see you...”
“Tell 'em to go away.” She croaked, her voice obviously beyond strained from crying. He opened the door wider and I saw her laying on the lower of the two bunk beds, facing away from the door, a pillow wrapped tightly in her hooves, stained all over with tears. I looked back at the zebra and realized his coat around his neck and side were matted pretty heavily, probably from CB crying too.
I wasn't sure what to say, or what to do, but Xem pushed me on towards the bed and I walked over and sat down. “Hey...” I said dumbly, reaching out and putting a hoof on her shoulder.
She turned slowly and looked at me silently for a long moment. “D...Daddy?” She whispered and I just nodded. “But...but how?”
“It's a long story?” I asked. She launched herself out of the bed and tackled me to the ground, hitting me in the chest with her forelegs.
“YOU LEFT ME! YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE ME!” She yelled, hitting me as hard as she could, tears streaming down her face. “YOU LEFT ME ALONE AFTER YOU SWORE NOT TO!” Her voice cracked and she hesitated.
I took the chance the grab her up in a tight hug. “I'm so sorry sweetie, I never meant to put you through that. If I had known I never would have done it...” I said, hugging her close. All the energy drained from her and she stopped trying to fight me and broke down in tears, burying her face in my chest and just sobbing. I held her tightly until she had again cried herself out.
“D...Don't leave me like that again...” She whispered, looking up at me with big sad eyes.
“Never again.” I nodded. “Do you want to come with me to find Ruby? She still doesn't know I'm back...”
Her eyes went wide and for a moment I could see the sadness in her mind clear up as she realized the implications for Ruby.
“W...We should go find her yeah.” CB nodded. She moved back and sniffled, wiping her eyes and sighing. “Alright, lets go...” She said, moving to the door. “Xem are you coming?”
“Uhh yeah, I kinda want to see how this goes.” He said and I realized he had fought back tears of his own at the reunion. We moved to the door and I hugged him under one leg, pulling him close.
“Don't worry about it, it'll be fine.” I laughed, noogying him before I let him go. He laughed and nodded, moving to walk with us out of the room.
We headed out of the room and down through the facility to the kitchen area. I found Lily's indicator with a few others and headed there quickly. Lily and Brutus were sharing a very passionate kiss and Crackshot and Firebird were looking kind of awkwardly at the roof, Venture standing off to the side, awkward with the situation as a whole.
“Ahem.” CB cleared her throat loudly and everyone looked at us.
“Cane!” Brutus laughed, running over and hugging me tightly.
I pulled away from him and gave him my best dirty look. “Dude...Gay...” Brutus looked at me in shock for a moment, then I burst out laughing and he hugged me again, this time I returned the hug happily. “Where's Ruby?” I asked, pulling away after a moment.
Brutus sighed and gestured to a walk in pantry that he sat a few feet away from. “She's been holed up in there for days...”
I walked over to the door and knocked on the door. “Ruby?” I called.
“FUCK OFF BRUTUS!” She screamed, a glass bottle shattering against the back of the door. CB yelped softly and I looked down to see her beside me.
“What're you doing?”
“We're family, I have to help.” She said seriously.
“Fair enough, just stay behind me.”
“Ruby, I'm coming in.” I called, opening the door slowly, and throwing up my magic field just in time to deflect an empty wild pegasus bottle that was headed straight for my face. It shattered against my shield and I swept it aside.
Ruby was slumped in the corner, her face buried in a pillow, a pile of bottles all around her. I walked over slowly and sat down in front of her, CB sitting beside me. “Ruby...I'm back...I'm okay...” I said softly, reaching out to her.
“NO!” She screamed in horror, pulling away when my hooves touched her. “YOU'RE NOT REAL! YOU'RE DEAD!” She pushed backwards quickly until she was pressed to the wall. “YOU'RE JUST MY MIND FUCKING WITH ME!”
“What about me?” CB asked firmly. “I can see him too!” She reached out and punched me hard in the leg.
“Ow...” I muttered, glaring at the filly, who just grinned a little.
“You're just part of it.” Ruby hissed. “All in my head...” She got very quiet. “I just need more medicine and you'll go away...”
“I think you've had enough medicine.” I said, turning my head and using my magic to sweep away all the bottles before she could reach any of them, but when I turned my head back I saw her pressing the plunger of a needle, which was pressed into her flank, down, injecting herself with it's contents.
“RUBY! WHAT THE FUCK?!” I screamed, grabbing the needle and yanking it away from her. It was Med-X. “CB out!” I said firmly and the filly didn't argue, she backed out of the room quickly. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded.
“You're an illusion, you don't get to tell me what to do.” She said bitterly.
“Ruby he's not a fucking illusion.” Brutus said, walking up beside me. I wasn't about to try to throw him out after the spectacle I had made yelling just now.
“Did you know about these?” I asked, holding the needle up to Brutus, along with two other empties I found among the bottles I had just swept aside.
“No...” He sighed, looking at the pegasus. “When did you start abusing Med-X again?” He asked her seriously.
“Again?” I asked but shook it off. “That can wait...”
“You're not real.” Ruby hissed at me. “I buried you outside with all the others.”
“No, you buried an empty shell. My mind transferred into this new body. Healed and unblemished.”
“Where did you get these?” Brutus asked her, holding up the needles.
“Med bay, where else you stupid ass?”
I was amazed to see that Brutus was clearly just as upset by the needles as I was. He pulled her saddlebags from the floor beside her.
“Take her to bed.” He told me, storming out of the room quietly.
“Don't gotta tell me twice.”
“Lemme alone!” Ruby yelled at me, cowering back.
“I am getting really tired of carrying drunks and drugged out people and ponies around.” I sighed. I lifted her up and put her on my back, using my magic to not just hold her in place but also to restrain her so she couldn't thrash or hit me. When I walked out of the room I saw that most everyone else had left, except for Firebird.
“How is she?” She asked. I turned and showed her the magically bound pegasus.
“Aww geeze Ruby...I don't know why you don't come to us for help with coping?”
Ruby just grunted and turned her head away, hard to the side, biting my ear and yanking hard backwards.
"OW! DAMMIT!" I bucked to the side, losing my focus and she tumbled off my back, scampering back towards the bar in the main room a beer bottle soared off her wings and shattered against my side before I could get my shield up. I was grateful for the armoured barding, but a big chunk of glass cut into my neck.
"RUBY!" Firebird snapped, putting herself between me and the drunk pegasus. "What the fuck?!" She turned and bit the glass, pulling it out of my neck, blood starting to run down my neck and leg. I pulled a stim-pak from my bag and pressed it into my neck and injected myself, sighing as the pain faded and the wound closed.
"What's that?"
"Human world version of a healing potion. I ran out pretty quick, I also left some behind for them to study, they gave me stim-paks to compensate me, only used one I think, I mean we were only gone two days."
"Two days? You were gone a week."
"Long story." I threw my magic back around Ruby and lifted her up and set her on my back again, keeping her firmly muzzled this time. “Come on, lets get you to bed.” I sighed, carrying the drugged pegasus out of the room. I made sure to avoid any other life sign indicators and found my way to the living area. I wandered into the first room I found with a large bed and put her down, removing the magic bindings.
“I'm outta here!” She slurred, pushing herself towards the edge of the bed.
“HEY!” I snapped, feeling all my anger at her boil rapidly to the surface. “Lie the fuck down and go the fuck to sleep! I'm sick of your shit! I'm not a hallucination, I'm not dead and I'm not going to have you wandering around drunk and stoned!”
She whimpered and cowered down on the bed. “Yes sir, sorry sir...”
“Damned straight.” I said, stretching out on the couch and watching her. She had tears streaming down her face and she pressed into the pillows, sobbing softly. I sighed and moved to the bed, grabbing the blanket and wrapping it around her gently, hugging her close. She cried out and bucked wildly underneath me, thrashing to dislodge me and when I fell to the side she kicked me with her back legs, one leg catching my neck, the other impacting hard against my horn, I felt my skull vibrate from the force of the blow. I twisted around and pinned her down with the weight of my body. "RUBY STOP IT!" I yelled over her frantic screaming as she tried helplessly to get out from under me. I was glad the rooms were soundproofed. "Just stop, I'm not going to hurt you!"
She squirmed for another minute but finally all the energy drained from her and she sank onto the bed. "Please...just make it quick...and be gentle."
"What? Ruby what are you talking about?" But she just pressed her face into the pillows and I felt her rump shift and press up under the blanket, grinding slowly against me.
I realized what she was doing and pulled away from her quickly. "Ruby! I'm your fiancee, I love you! I would never force myself on you like that."
“No...My fiancee is dead,” She said sadly, “And I'll never get to see him again.” She sniffled and fought off fresh tears.
“No I'm not dead.” I replied. “Look, go to sleep, when you've sobered up we can talk and I can be mad at you for the drugs.”
She buried her face in the pillows and I know she cried for a long time from the way she shook, but eventually she did fall asleep. I laid on the couch and watched her for a long time. All the shit I'd gone through in the human world struggling to make sure we got back here, and I find her abusing drugs. I know she thought I was dead, but still, everypony else was coping without resorting to things like that...
There was a knock on the door and I opened it with my magic without getting up from the couch.
“How is she?” Brutus asked, looking into the room.
“Asleep, finally...she cried for a long time.” I said, looking up at him from the couch. “She thought I was going to rape her...what the fuck happened to her that she thought I was gonna rape her?”
“It's...a long story. A story that's not exactly mine to tell.”
“Brutus I have to know why she is like she is or I'm not sure I can forgive her for this...”
He sighed and nodded slowly. “I...I suppose so...I know the reason but I'm still going to have trouble forgiving her...gimme a few minutes.”
He left and I went back to watching Ruby for a while. He came back after about 15 minutes, carrying five memory orbs in a bucket.
“Here.” He floated the orbs over to me and set them down in front of me. “I gotta warn you...this shit is dark. Darker than anything you've seen in the wasteland so far...it's physically and mentally exhausting, and I can't promise that you'll like what you see.” He took the bucket and set it down beside the couch. “Two people have seen these memories, both of us threw up violently at the end so you'll want this.”
I looked from the orbs to Brutus and back. “What's on these?”
“Remember I told you Ruby went back to the Enclave when she was younger? This is her time there.”
“And it's THAT bad?”
“It's THAT bad.” He nodded. “I had to try and learn memory extraction magic just to pull these out as best I could and bring her back from the brink of suicide...She was worse then than she is now. Just, trust me. She's probably going to be pissed that I even show you.”
“Well I have to know, I can't not know anymore. If we're going to be married we should know everything about each other.”
“Yeah but she'd probably rather have told you herself in her own time.”
“Well I'll take the blame for it. Tell her I forced you to do it.” I floated the orb with a 1 on it up and touched it to my horn. “Let's do this...” With a spark the world fell away.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
So that's the end of Brother From Another Mother...Now go read Alamut's Fallen Star to find out just what Cane see's in the orbs.
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Wow,twists upon twists,though I doubt the Brotherhood would be that agreeable,then again they could be another chapter in the region. Still,I feel sort of cheated we never get to meet the real Paul,granted it was Castor in his body. So...an epilogue/dlc in the works ?
This really should get some epilogue, I would really like to know how it will end with them. Maybe wedding? Or a sequel to this sequel, whole new story, all old and loved characters. Pretty please?
On completely unrelated note: Thanks so much for this story, it was SO awesome.
2554657>>2556629
Guys, relax, I've got it all well in hoof :P Even though these are separate stories, it's all one story, so one leads into two leads into three. The epilogue for this story will be told through the first 2-3 chapters of the NEXT story.
2556853
Just two extremely important questions: When? And name?
Puppy please - I really need to know.
2556893
It'll be called "War Never Changes: Ghosts of the Past" and it'll happen...eventually...
I have another story called R.A.C.E.S. that's been almost totally neglected so I was thinking I'd plug through some non-FoE for a little bit while I flesh out the storyline for Ghosts
2557421
R.A.C.E.S has been putted in my stack of "to read" fics. In the mean time I am going to be really looking forward for FoE: Ghosts of the Past.
Your faithful reader, Leo
I'm soooo late with reading this... The ending's great, a little bit campy but great
Now I have to finish my dissertation and write the last two chapters of my little crime... 
2557421 Hey. Nice chapter. liked the ending very much. brings out deep emotions in the story. i also read Alamut's Fic. Fallen Star to get the extra back-story
information.
2567750 Alamut. Great work on Fallen Star. i have liked it very much. i believe it ain't finished yet is it? as it says incomplete. so i'll stick around for anymore on that.
and a side note to Alamut's Fic. i would really love it if Cane was to re-enact this scene of a popular web series on each and everyone of the Stallions involved in *SPOILERS* Ruby's bad time at the interrogation room.
2570513
How could it end now that the real fun is supposed to start 
Naah still 2-3 more chapters to go, but I'm currently busy at the university so it can take some time before I finish it
2570513>>2571063
Oh don't worry, things are going to happen with that. Alamut is going to help me with it (even if he doesn't know it (though he might know it)) because they are his characters and I want to make sure I do it justice.
I want moar of your Fallout, dear sir! It is definitely hillarious to read!
2586092
I'm working on it
Gimme a week or two and I'm sure I'll be rolling out part three of WNC 
After reading both Part 1 and 2 I have a few questions to ask:
What happened to the Storms and their children? Skywagon?
I can understand the ponies being shocked to see Cane alive but.... nopony noticed Venture? They may not of known who he was but he did sorta just appear...
Lily didn't have a master of disguise human equivalent?
Sweet Celestia! Everything makes sense!!
Brilliant piece of work here ^_^
Now to read the goings on in the memory orbs..