//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Road to Steel 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Dust 
// by Mr Foster 
//------------------------------//

Wake up, Dust.” I heard my mother say.

Oh crap, I was dreaming. Again. And it was the same buckin’ dream.

“Morning, Ma. What’s for breakfast?” I asked. Always the same pitch, some tone, same groggy sound.

“Oh, just some eggs, and some bacon. Your father needs some help, go out and meet him.” Said Ma, who gestured towards the door.

I almost walked out the door, but then I grabbed the lever action shotgun, and loaded it with shells.

“That’s my boy.” Said Ma, who was smiling happily. Buck, I hated that smile. It reminded me of better times. Times when she was still alive.

I opened the door, and walked down the path, looking into the long rows of corn and carrots. The radiation from the spells mutated them, making them bigger and healthier, so carrots were like corn stalks, and the corn was like trees. Bucking hell, I hated the path too. Everything about this god danm dream was pissing me off. I had only had it a million times before.

“Son, come here!” Shouted Pa, who was leaning on the fence.

“Hey Pa! What’s wrong?” I asked, looking over the fence.

“That’s what’s wrong. Danm raiders and they’re movin’ fast.” Said Pa, who was levitating some binoculars to his head.

I looked, squinting my eyes, and I saw they were heading straight to the ranch.

“Tell your Ma, and your little sister to hide.” Said Pa, who pulled out his bolt action rifle.

“What if they’re friendly?” I asked, trying to deny the situation.

“Son, they’re raiders! They’ll kill me, rape you’re Ma and you and your sister will be tortured. Now, get inside, and hide!” Shouted Pa, and I ran off. At this point, I was legitimately scared. I had heard on the radio from the NCR broadcasts that Raiders were bad news. Driven to the edge of insanity by years of killing and radiation, they were ruthless, and just wanted to kill. 

“Ma! Gather Sandy, and hide!” I shouted, busting through the door.

“What is it? Why?” Asked Sandy, just a filly at the time.

“Raiders! Lots of ‘em!” I shouted, and Sandy started to cry. Ma scooped her up, and got into the small crawl space underneath the floor boards. Outside, gunshots erupted, and I heard Pa scream in pain, then silence.

They killed him.

I didn’t have much time to think about it, seeing as how bullets tore through the walls. I was hit in the foreleg, and I grimaced in pain. I pulled a towel from the counter, and wrapped it around the wound, making sure I didn’t drip any blood. I couldn’t let them follow me, could I? It was apparent that we weren’t going to be able to hold off the attack, so why should we die? I ran to the basement, and grabbed a bunch of mines, that my Pa had kept in case something like this happened. I ran back up the stairs, arming and throwing mines across the floor. They made a hollow sound, and then lit up. Good, they weren’t faulty. Just then, the door busted open, and a tall mare stood there, grinning manically with a knife between her teeth. She was covered in blood, and one of Pa’s eyes hung from her belt. I think that’s when I lost it.

You see, there’s something about me most ponies don’t like to know. That when something that is too brutal for my brain to comprehend, like the death of my father, his eyeball hanging there like a trophy, I lose it.

And I don’t mean like I curl up into paranoia.

I mean I kill everything in sight that opposes me. I mean everything. Also, as an added bonus, I kill them in the most brutal manner possible. The only other time I had ever lost it was when my dog, Rusty, was killed by a drooping dragon, but I don’t want to get into details about that certain incident.

I pulled the top off of one of the mines, and threw the gunpowder in her eyes. The mare screamed in pain, and dropped the knife. I levitated it upwards, point facing the sky. I tore through her stomach, and then ripped out of her spine. She doubled over, and I walked over to the dying pony. I looked into her eyes for a second and slammed down on her throat. She gagged on her spine, which had torn into her windpipe. She twitched there for about 30 seconds, before just giving up.

“Pitiful.” I muttered, and turned back to the doorway, where a raider was standing, handgun in his mouth. He had a look between excitement and fear in his eyes, probably just seeing a young-ish colt kill a full grown, veteran raider, mare.

He was too slow. I raised my shot gun, and shot him in half, his innards splattering across the room. He was still alive when I walked over to him, choking on his own blood.

“Kill me… Please!” Half gagged, half spoke the dying raider.

“No.” I simply replied, walking out of the house, cranking the action on the Shotgun. A bullet whizzed past my head, and I saw 2 raiders taking pot shots at me with scoped handguns. I turned towards them, and looked around on the ground for a ranged weapon. The raiders were about 50 yards away, hiding among the corn stalks. I saw a raider galloping up the hill towards me, his sniper rifle glistening in the sunlight.

“Perfect. You idiots will be victims of your own weapons.” I said, my eye slightly twitching. The raider with the sniper rifle jumped at me, using his side arm to fire at me. The bullet hit my side, but I didn’t flinch. I pulled out my shotgun, and blew his head off, turning it into sausage, before it’s processed. He dropped to the ground, and his rifle skidded in front of me. I stomped on the back end of the stock, flipping it up to my eye level. I then caught it with magic, and fired a shot into the corn stalks. I was answered with a red explosion of blood, brains, and bone, spattering across the corn. I scanned the area, and I didn’t find a sign of the other raider. I saw the corn stalks moving, fast, and fired a shot into the forest of corn. I heard the raider cry out in pain, but not before she reached the house. 

Then, came the gunshots. 

And the screams of my mother and sister.

I galloped to the front door, kicking it in. There, in the middle of the room, stood the raider, holding a .44 in her mouth, standing above the dead bodies of my sister and mother. My eyes twitched, and I got an enormous grin. My legs started to wobble, and I started to laugh erratically. The raided looked at me like I was totally insane.

I was.

I lunged at her, slapping the gun out of her mouth with the butt of my rifle, and turned the rifle to her face. She slapped it away, and hit me in the face with her horse-shoe, splitting my brow. I didn’t even flinch, as I levitated the knife from the table, and flung it at her. It cut through her stomach lining, and her guts spilled out, onto the dusty, now red rug. She screamed in agony, but I could barely hear it over the sound of my laughing. I grabbed my shotgun from the ground, and jumped on the mares back, choking her with the shotgun. She fell backwards, trying to crush me, but I held on tight, choking her out. Her blood spilled onto my coat, her saliva pouring out of her mouth as she died. I giggle a little bit, as I snapped her neck finally, and crawled out from under her. 

I walked outside. It was still morning. Bright and early. I stumbled out of the house, my eyes still wide, and my grin still there. I looked back, and shot one of the mines, and the house exploded in flames, leaving whatever I had back there. I have to admit, it was a stupid move, but do you seriously think I was thinking?
I walked down the hill, trampling over the dead bodies of Pa, and the pony who’s head had been torn apart by a buck shot. It was a terrible sight, another pony who had fallen into the wastelands cruel ways, into killing, and not trying to make things right. I walked down the hill, and kept on walking until it was nighttime.



“Augh! Bucking hell!” I screamed, sitting up, looking around. I was in a dark room, lying in a bed. I was covered in magically lined bandages, and a small lamp was on in the corner.

I rush of memories flooded my brain. I had left the 6 ponies of harmony with Luna, who in all her mechanical glory, still remembered them. Napalm, Sophia and I had left for the Ender Land Memorial near Manehatten, to try and find a working portal. We were ambushed, and almost slaughtered by a bunch of raiders, who were well armed. We had all survived, but I was wounded bad, almost killed. Now I wake up in what looked like a hotel room.

“I reckon you’re awake.” Said Napalm from one of the darker corners.

“No crap.” I said, rubbing my eyes, looking at my surroundings. I must have been in either Manehatten, or Fillydelphia. I was pondering that, when the door opened. There was Sophia, standing there, the light silhouetting her. I covered me eyes, the sunlight harsh on the dark surroundings of the room.

“Seriously, Dust? This is the second time you’ve been injured in the past 2 weeks!” She said, walking over to me, and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I know- wait, two weeks? It’s only been 2 days!” I said, sitting up quickly, and I fell back into my slouch in pain. The wounds were too bad to just use healing potions and such on. I must have been asleep for the past week and a half, and I had just woken up. But the dream was so short. 

“Look, Dust, I’ll just patch you up, so you can get out of here. Things have kinda settled down back at Camp Alicorn, but there are a whole lot of legion officers and groups out there.” Said Sophia, who was waving her horn over me. I felt the pain receding, and Napalm stood up.

“We got the slaves out, they’re safe here.” Said Napalm, opening the curtain in the room, showing off the sight. We were in Manehatten, which was only a little ways from where we needed to go. In fact, this was only up the road from the Ender world memorial.

“Alright, well, we need to get a move on. It took us 2 weeks to get this far. It should take half the time to get back, and another week or so to get them here.” I said, sitting up. Sophia put a hoof on my chest.

“Uhh, Dust, I think the mission is called off.” She said, looking me in the eyes.

“Why?” I asked, putting on my gear, which was lay over my saddle bag.

“You’ll see.”


She was right. The portal didn’t work. We tried multiple times, but it was worthless. 

“Buck! How many ways can this wasteland buck us over?” I shouted, kicking the portals outline. The frame shuddered, and I sat down.

“Look, Dust, don’t worry, we’ll find another way to get them home.” Said Sophia, brushing some of my mane out of my eye. I had let my mane grow out, and I needed to cut it soon. It would become a battle incapacitation, and get in my eyes, ruining my accuracy.

“ah’ reckon we go an’ check with the Steel rangers. They love this type o’ crap.” Said Napalm, who was chewing on a blade of long, yellow grass.

“The steel rangers? Celestia bless! Why didn’t we think of that before?” I asked rhetorically, looking around. Their bunker would only be about 10 miles from here, and we could fill up the Humvee here.

“I dunno. Just never occurred to us, ah’ guess.” Said Napalm, spitting out the blade of grass.

“Sophia, go home. We’ll deal with the steel rangers. I’ll contact you as soon as possible, okay?” She gave no objections to my request, as she walked over to the NCR gyro copter, its rotors spinning up. But then she turned back.

“Wait, Dust, take this.” Said Sophia, walking over to me, and then handing me a Pipbuck. Its screen was blue, instead of green, and it said “Combat Model” on the side, with a Pony in Power armor, saluting, next to the words.

“You know, frankly, I have no idea how to work this thing.” I said, looking uninterested.

“You’ll figure it out. Just tap the sync button.” Said Sophia. I looked down at the Pipbuck, and put it on my foreleg. I found the red sync button, and tapped it. And then tapped it again. I kept on slapping other buttons, and it was angering me.

“Sophia, in case you haven’t noticed, I have hoofs! Who the hell designed this?” I asked angrily. My temper was short, seeing as how I was sort of pissed at the fact that we came all this way, just to find out that what we came for was a piece of pre-war crap
.
“Use your nose, you stupid colt.” Said Sophia, who didn’t turn back. I did as she asked, and I pressed the button with my nose. I felt a needle go through my skin, and a weird HUD appeared in my vision. I felt dizzy for a second, but then I was fine.

“So this is what stable ponies get to use? Danm.” I said, looking around. There was an aiming reticule in the middle of my vision, and an ammo counter in the lower right corner, along with a bar that had something about S.A.T.S. In the other corner, was labeled my heartbeat, my percentage of health, using my vitals to measure it. In the very middle, was a compass, with an E.F.S spell activator. I thought it was pretty cool, but there was no time to linger. 

“Napalm, I need some ammo. Let’s go.” I said, pointing towards the inside of Manehatten.


After a quick trip to the weapon shop, we headed towards the Steel rangers base in the trusty old Humvee. It was a short drive, but we were not oblivious to the dangers. After we were about half a mile away, we got out of the Humvee, and walked the rest of the way. It was much easier to dodge mines that way.
After about 3/4’s of a mile of walking, a warning shot past our heads was fired.

“‘Ah reckon that’s the Rangers.” Said Napalm, who was rubbing his ear. I guess the harsh whistling sound had hurt it.

“You! Out there! Stop where you are! Put down your weapons, and raise your hooves. A retrieval team will be out there to get you shortly!” Said a booming voice from the base. Through the massive sand winds, I could barely make out the compounds walls. My HUD outlined multiple ponies with Gauss rifles, Mini-guns, rocket launchers, and Magic laser weapons coming out of the compound.

“I don’t suppose you want to do what they say, do you?” I asked, turning towards Napalm.

“Nope.” Said Napalm, just standing there, his uninterested expression making it clear.

I dropped my weapons, and raised my hooves. Napalm did the same, and a group of soldiers in power armor stepped out of the sandstorm.

“Well, I reckon they won’t find happiness in seeing a Pegasus.” Said Napalm, who now had a face of a little fear. I remembered the scattered skirmishes that had happened between the Great Pegasi Enclave, and the Steel Rangers. While there were a few Pegasi that were never in the Enclave, like Darin’, but I couldn’t say the same about Napalm. I never asked.

“Well, well, well. So we have a NCR Ranger, and a former Enclave agent. You know, this isn’t really in your favor, boys.” Said one of the Steel rangers, and the rest of them metallically cackled. I groaned, and I looked at Napalm. I could see the desperation in his face.

“Well, we might as well take you inside, give you a couple drinks. We’re cool with the NCR now, but you,” The Steel Ranger pointed at Napalm “I will take you out of the sky for good someday.” 

The Steel Rangers motioned us to follow them, and we obliged. 

“You have a lot of god damn explaining to do, Napalm.” I angrily whispered, and she hung his head. We were lead inside the compound, and into a bunker. We walked into the commons area, and we sat down. There was no off duty soldiers, no scholars, no nothing. Just us. The Steel rangers walked off, and we just sat there.

“You were part of the Enclave?” I asked, anger filling my stare. I had taken my gasmask off when we entered, and my eyes were filled with rage.

“Eh’, yes. Look, I can explain.” Said Napalm, and I turned away.

“You stupid piece of CRAP!” I screamed, turning back, hitting him with the side of my Pipbuck. His brow split, and he hit the ground, groaning in agony.

“How do I know I can trust you? What if you are just spy for them, huh? I thought you Pegasi were killed by Little pip and her companions!” I shouted at him, standing over him. 

Little pip had been dead for over 100 years now, and the years of a disbanded wasteland were long over. Ever since she destroyed the enclave, from the ashes of her battle, people came together, and formed the New Canterlot Republic. Even somehow, Luna came out of the blue. While most of us knew that heroes like Black Jack, Little Pip, and Silver Storm had been dead for a while, we all still looked up to them. We all thought their actions were permanent. They were obviously not.

“Well, Dust, for starters, you can stop hitting me.” Said Napalm, who stood up. I then saw the Enclave symbol on his metal wings, the E surrounded by stars. 

“Kinda hard, when you’ve been hiding that, cousin.” I said, still standing over him.

“I’ve left that life behind. The only things I’ve brought are the Incinerators, and these here wings.” He said, Fluttering his wings. All of the sudden, the door slid open, and a scholar, surrounded by a group of Steel rangers. 

The Scholar was a Unicorn Mare, who had A White mane with a blue stripe through it, and a sandy light yellow colored coat.

“Well, well. We have an Enclave agent, and a NCR stallion Ranger. Definitely a sight to see, two opposing factions working together.” Said the scholar.

“I am not an enclave agent no more.” Said Napalm, he said turning towards to me. His brow had started to bleed terribly, and he was letting drops of blood drop onto the carpeted floor.

“We’re just trying to find a piece of technology. We were hoping you could help us.” I said, looking at the group of soldiers.

“What type of technology, and what for?” asked the scholar, looking at me.

“Well, it seems that there was a faulty portal caused the six ministry mares, long before they became ministry mares. They are probably from a little bit after the Royal wedding, which gives us a full 20 years before the Great War.” I said, pointing to the Pinkie Pie “Ministry of Morale” poster on the wall. I would have to explain what was to happen, and how they would affect the future to the ponies soon.

“Why would you send them back? They could change the wasteland in present day, by using the elements of harmony!” Said the scholar, looking wildly excited.

“It would mean another mega-spell, and you remember what happened last time. Sure, Fluttershy’s mega spells were re-engineered by the damned Zebras, but with all the crap that’s effecting magic now, who knows what could happen.” I said, looking at the scholar eye to eye.

“Uhh, boss, we’re going to leave you nerds to yourselves, but the Pegasus comes with us. We won’t hurt him, we promise, we just need to make sure he’s not a problem.” Said one of the Steel Rangers, and they walked out, Napalm following quickly behind him.

“Well, didn’t the stuff that Twilight was working on supposedly supposed to save the wasteland?” Asked the Scholar, who had now sat down at the table.

“Remember, this is a full 20 years before the war, which gives us about 15 years before the ministry was formed.” I said, looking around. I was kinda thirsty, so I pulled out my canteen.

“Alright. I’ll help you. I’m SandStorm, but you can just call me Sandy.” Said SandStorm, who went to get some bottles of soda. I looked around, when I heard a crackling on my Pipbuck’s radio.

“Dust, you there?” Asked Darin’s voice, sounding a bit distressed.

“Eeyup. What’s wrong?” I asked, looking around.

“They’re back. By the dozens. I thought Cloudsdale was destroyed man…They’re heading towards Manehatten, so I suggest you get out of there.” Said Darin’, his voice wobbling a bit.

“Who is back?!” I asked, but I already knew. This was no coincidence. The Enclave was back, probably alerted by Napalm or something, and they were coming to destroy the Steel Rangers.

“The Enclave.” 

Well, screw me sideways, that about ruined my day.

SandStorm had heard, and he scrambled for the P.A button.

“We got incoming Enclave fliers! We need you to activate the defenses, now!” shouted SandStorm, who had dropped the sodas.

“I need to find Napalm.” I said, grabbing my gas mask.

“Oh no you don’t. You are not going to escape here with that spy.” Said SandStorm, who reached for her laser pistol.

“I’m not going to help him escape; I’m going to put a bullet in his head.” I said, the action on my sniper rifle working.


Footnotes: Pipbuck Combat model acquired!
Spells added: S.A.T.S, E.F.S, Medical compensation!

Big thanks to Kkat, Somber, and No-one.