Fallout Equestria: Dust

by Mr Foster


Chapter 7: Bloom

We had been on the road for three days now. New Canterlot was getting visibly closer, but we were running out of gas. We had about 50 miles in the tank, and it was time to fill up. Again, it was just our luck to be in the middle of nowhere, about 90 miles away from the nearest filling station.

“What are we going to do?” asked Blue Blossom, after I told her about our gas situation.

“I could try and get us as close as possible to an old gas station, and we could try to fill up there.” I said, as we drove down the destroyed highway.

“No, no. Too risky. There could be raiders in the area, and no one likes raiders.” Said Blue Blossom, touching her chin in thought.

“Okay. You have any spells?” I asked, and she shook her head.

“I’m not that good with spawning spells. They’re extremely hard, and drain me. I’m good with repair, levitation, and stun spells though.” Said Blue Blossom, and I sighed.

I pulled up my map on my Pipbuck, and looked around on the map. There was the Maripony facility near here, but there was no way in hell I was heading there. Also, Fillydelphia was only about 40 miles away, but it was over a number of hills.
The only easy place to go was Rockland, but that was a scary place. It was filled with feral ghouls, but it was easy enough to slip in and slip out of.

“I think Rockland is a good place to head too. While it is filled with feral ghouls, I can handle them.” I said, and Blue Blossom nodded. We drove over to the entrance, and I stopped the car.

“I’m coming.” Said Blue Blossom, who had already unbuckled herself.

“Oh no you’re not. That place is filled with a metric buck-ton of Feral ghouls an-.” I was cut off by a hoof to my face.

“I can handle myself, Captain.” Said Blue Blossom, and she got out of the car. Man, she was shy when you first met her, but she was obviously more outgoing and hardheaded then most ponies when you got to know her.

“Alright, but if you get bit by one of them, don’t expect me to come running.” I said, and she sneered a bit.

We walked into the small bunker, the entrance of the small compound. Rockland used to be military base, but I guess it was abandoned early in the war, seeing as how it was near the Zebra-Equestria border. Though they did leave a large amount technology, but no one wanted to go there. It was filled with feral ghouls, and those were bad news. I could handle them, but then again, I had S.A.T.S, and a big rifle.

I opened the door, and we walked in cautiously. Red lights glowed, and I could see the shuffling movements of sleeping feral ghouls. I turned to Blue Blossom, and pointed towards the moving figures, and she nodded. We quietly moved quickly to the door, and opened it. The grey light lit up the room, and I guess it disturbed a couple of the dragons, because I heard some of the ghouls hiss in hatred. I walked outside, and I saw the filling station, directly in front of us.

“Watch out!” Screamed Blue Blossom, and I saw a bunch of ferals charging at me from the bunker. I pulled my handgun, and fired at them. I hit almost all of them, except for a quick, wingless Pegasus. I hit its soft skull with the back of my ivory grip on the .454, and it immediately dropped, dead.

I turned, and saw a couple more ghouls waking up from their slumber in the area around the filling station, and a couple inside the small buildings.

“Crap.” I muttered, and the ghouls charged.

I have to admit, they were easy to kill. But seeing as how I had a sniper rifle and a revolver, there wasn’t really anyway to just spray and pray. I used a mixture of hand to hand, and quick scoping (Very hard to do, especially if you’re just using your hooves, and not your magic.) Blue Blossom used her handgun, which was a .45, made with black steel, and had silver grips. It made a huge bang, which almost completely dismembered the ghouls. She was inaccurate though, flinching every time she shot the gun. It was a bad habit, but I guess she was still the shy mare she was, not used to using guns.

After about 5 minutes, we had killed almost all of the ghouls, not counting the ones inside the buildings.

“Blossom, I need you to fill up the tanks of gas. I’m going to check out the armory.” I said, pointing towards the largest building. It was barricaded, and had sentry turrets out front, but I could make short work of both.

“Alright. I’ll be here.” Said Blue Blossom, taking two red gas tanks from beside the filling station, and putting the gas hose inside one.

I walked over to the Armory area, and the sentry turrets locked on to me. I activated E.F.S, and it read the turrets as friendly. I moved closer, and it stayed the same. I finally started to walk normally towards the door, when the ticks on the E.F.S meter turned bright red.

“BUCK!” I screamed, jumping out of the way of rockets and bullets. I hit the ground on my back, and pulled my handgun, and fired two shots, each one hitting the rocket pods on either turret, blowing them up.

I carefully looked over myself. There was no bullet wounds, or shrapnel wounds. It was my lucky day, I guess. Blue Blossom looked over at me, and I waved. She went back to filling up the tanks, and I started to pull off barricades off the door. They were rotten wooden planks, so they were easy. I finally opened the door, and looked into the dark room. I saw the flashing of robotic ponies waking up, and I groaned audibly. Could this get any more annoying? Laser shots flashed past my face, and I pulled my head back. I pulled my handgun out, and hid on the outside of the door. Lasers shot through the door, and I was grazed by one, tearing right through my barding, and cutting my skin. I flinched in pain a little bit, but I immediately recovered, pushing the door in the face of one of the robots. I jumped into the building, using S.A.T.S to take aim at each of the robots brains. I fired a single shot into each of them, and their cryo brain holders exploded with blood on the inside. They all dropped to the ground, as pools of blood streamed out of the cryo chamber.

“I seriously thought there was going to be a challenge.” I muttered, and stepped over the deactivated bodies of the robots. I went over to the left wall, and turned on the electricity. The lights sputtered on, and I heard a Robo-Dragon awaken from its slumber in the next room. I kicked a table over, and hid behind it. The Robo-Dragon rolled in, looking around. It obviously never saw me, so it rolled outside.

Outside? Blue Blossom was in trouble if that was the case.

I ran outside, following the Robo-Dragon, loading my handgun again. I heard the Min-guns spur up, and start to fire. Damn it, I have to save her! The Robot was firing at Blue Blossoms general area with the mini-gun, and I heard her faint scream through the sound of gunshots. I tried to activate S.A.T.S, but it was still recharging. That would it make it much harder to kill the massive robot. I could always go for the good old fashioned headshot, but that wasn’t going to work out. It was a robot for goddesses’ sake; it wasn’t like a regular pony. I scanned over its body quickly, and realized that it had a control panel on the back. I aimed for that, and fired a single shot.

Bad idea. Very bad idea.

It went into frenzy mode, firing all around, using its Gatling laser, Mini-gun, rocket launcher, and its plasma ray. Worst of all, it knew where I was. It turned around, using its Gatling laser and Plasma ray to shoot at Blue Blossom, and its Mini-gun and Rocket launcher to try and neutralize me. I used my well-honed dodging skills to evade the rockets, but the Mini-gun was too fast. The bullets first bounced off my barding, but then tore a little bit into it, bouncing off my skin. It hurt like hell, but I’ve been through worse. My main mission at this point was to get Blue Blossom to safety. I would deal with this guy later. I jumped and dodged my way across the middle of the compound, using old pieces of debris as cover, and occasionally firing bullets at it. While it did stun the robot, it didn’t do any real damage. Now I knew why they used them to guard the strip.

“Dust! Watch out!” Screamed Blue Blossom, as a Plasma laser shot whizzed past my head.

“God damn! Does this thing ever let up?!” I half shouted, half choked. I realized I was almost crying, out of fear.

Get ahold of yourself, you big wuss, it’s just a robot. Remember your training.

I obliged the wishes of my thoughts, and I thought back to how to deal with one of these guys.

While Robo-ponies are hard, they are nothing compared to the monstrosity that is the Robo-Dragon. Know by pre-war military units as the K-112 Decimator, it has a thick 5 inch steel plating to protect is software. While it does have a control panel on the back, don’t shoot that, or it will go crazy on you. Use a high-powered weapon, and aim at its groin. Don’t ask, just shoot. It’s where the hard-drive is, covered by 3 inches of steel. It’s easier to penetrate, and is the most lethal of shots.

It was an easy shot. I mean, the groin on a 12-foot tall, 5 ton piece of rolling machinery wasn’t unnoticeable at all. It was like a tank, having no groin, except for a little part when the two “Legs” separated. I aimed towards it with my sniper rifle, activating my now full S.A.T.S. I aimed at the screen, and the little blue Pony in the top right corner, which I had never noticed until now, had a weird grin on its face. I fired a shot, and I saw the bullet penetrate the groin area, and its head exploded off, sending rockets, plasma, bullets, and lasers flying everywhere, including a rocket heading straight towards Blue Blossom.

Damn.

I ran after the rocket, using adrenaline spells to upheave my ability to sprint. It wasn’t enough, so I rose my left fore hoof, and looked at my medical supplies. I scrolled down, still sprinting, to a potion called “Speed”. Well, I guess the name said it all, because the needle implanted inside the Pipbuck, and injected me with the potion. I felt my vision blur, and my legs speed up. Before I knew it, I was running next to the rocket, and then in front of it. At this point, we were ten yards away from Blue Blossom, so I had to think fast. So, I did the quickest thing I could have done.

I punched the rocket to the side.

While it did deflect the rocket a bit, it hit the gas station right next to us. For a split second, time stood still, as the look on Blue Blossom’s face went from relief, to complete fear. I jumped for her, the Gas station exploding to my left, sending bits of shrapnel into the air. I put my forelegs around Blue Blossom, and tackled her down, shielding her from the explosion with my body. I felt hot fire lick my back, and I grimaced in pain, but nothing more.

As soon as I felt it was safe, I raised myself from Blue Blossom. She was staring at me with her big red eyes, watering with tears.

“I promise I will never let you come with me on my little excursions anymore.” I said jokingly, and she gave me a weak smile.

“You saved me.” She muttered, still smiling.

“Eeyup.” I said, standing completely up.

“Thank you.” She said, and she pulled of my gas mask, and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. I must have been blushing as pink as her mane was, because she started to laugh.

“W-what?” I asked, half angered, half laughing.

“Have you never been kissed by a mare before? Because you’re acting like you haven’t!” She said, and we both burst out laughing. It was the first time I had laughed in a little while.

“I still got to go through that damned armory, I fought enough of those danm robots to get to it, so there better be something worthwhile in there.” I said, pointing back towards the armory. I trotted over, and walked in, looking around the now lit room. There was nothing else lethal in there, so I went over to the double doors on the right side of the room, and kicked them open, handgun in teeth.

Clear. Except for a wall of weapons.

There was an assault rifle, which was labeled on my Pipbuck as “Armageddon”, a Flame thrower, labeled as “The scorcher”, a .50 semi auto handgun, labeled as “Justice”, and a beautiful bolt action .308 rifle labeled as “Mosin”. It looked like one of the old pony sharpshooter’s rifle, when they were fighting the Griffons when Equestria was just barely established. It was beautiful piece of machinery, such finely crafted. I grabbed all the weapons, ammo for all of them, and hauled them back to the truck.

“Well, I see you had a fun time.” Said Blue Blossom, who was filling the armored trucks gas tank.

“Eeyup.” I said, putting the weapons in the back.

“We have enough fuel to get to New Canterlot, and from there we can fill up.” Said Blue Blossom, who had just topped of the tank. I nodded, and hopped in the driver’s seat, and put the truck in gear. Blue Blossom jumped inside, and buckled herself in. She smiled at me, and we pulled out of the parking lot for Rockland, and drove off into the sunset.


It was 9:00 at night when we finally reached a NCR rest stop. Blue Blossom was asleep, and since she was, I decided to turn the radio to DJ Pon-3’s channel. More news about us.

Well, Ladies and Gentle colts, it seems that someone finally got the balls to raid Rockland! They hit it at about 5:00 today, and dealt with ghouls, robots, and even a gas station explosion! They got ahold of some good, pre-war gas, and even some sweet guns. I believe it’s the same Stallion who saved the Steel Rangers a few days ago, and it seems he has a Mare-friend with him. I know who’s getting lucky tonight! Stay tune, for some music, dedicated to our very own, Soldier of the wastes and his lady friend, to set the mood for this evening, from the Beautiful lips of Sweetie Belle, in her song dedicated to her husband.


I've been really tryin', baby
Tryin' to hold back this feeling for so long
And if you feel like I feel, baby
Then, c'mon, oh, c'mon
Let's get it on
Ah, baby, let's get it on
Let's love, baby
Let's get it on, sugar
Let's get it on.

I burst out laughing, so hard that I accidentally swerved the car. Seriously? She thought me and Blue Blossom had a thing. God, some ponies were stupid. A simple kiss on the cheek was nothing.

“Do you want to?” Asked Blue Blossom, who had now turned over, awake.

“What? No, no. We’re just friends.” I said, and Blue Blossom giggled.

“Right. Seems like DJ Pon-3 thinks otherwise.” Laughed Blue Blossom, and she turned and looked at the ceiling.

“Have you ever had anyone special in your life, Dust?”

Not this question again…

“Uh, no, not really. I mean, at one point, maybe I had a crush on a certain someone.” I said quietly. God, all these questions about finding a special mare were making me feel lonely.

“I had a guy. He was Pre-war. Silver Star, a handsome, young Colt. He was strong, fast, and funny. Then, when the bombs dropped, he ran outside the stable to help an elderly pony inside. The stable doors closed right in front of him.” Said Blue Blossom.

“Wow. I-I’m sorry.” I said, as we pulled up to the NCR checkpoint.

“You don’t have to be. You didn’t do anything.” Said Blue Blossom, her eyes welling up in tears.

Damn it, did I make her cry? Great going, Dust. You are such a smooth colt.
What do I do, kiss her? Make her feel better? I’ve never been in this type of situation, which is probably kinda unhealthy, but nonetheless, this is foreign territory.

Follow your heart, but remember, you can’t reverse this car, once you’ve got it going.

Well, here goes nothing, I guess.

“Look, don’t be sad. He’s somewhere better, somewhere where there is no violence, hate, or fighting. A place better than here, for sure.” I said, putting a hoof around Blue Blossom. She turned towards me, and smiled.

“You’re sweet. Thank you.” She said, and my nerves of steel were being melted.
Oh sweet Celestia, wherever the hell you are, grant me this one wish, to have these nerves for one more moment.

“Uh- I- um.” Smooth move, Casanova.

Blue Blossom giggled, and leaned in closer. Ah, buck, what do I do now? Kiss her?

“Hey, you two, get a room!” said a NCR officer, and he looked at me.

“Oh, sorry Captain. Your room is ready. 105.” Said the NCR officer, and he opened Blue Blossoms door. She carefully unbuckled herself, and got out of the truck.

Oh, Sweet Celestia, Luna, and every other god out there, thank you for sending that officer.

“Lieutenant, here’s 20 caps. Go buy yourself a drink after your shift is done.” I said, handing the earth pony 20 caps. He nodded gratefully, and saluted. I walked past him, and looked at the huge statue of Spike standing tall. We were at the town of Spikeovac. Famous for the huge statue of spike, and also for the snipers that sat in his mouth, guarding the town, day and night.

I walked after Blue Blossom, who was already near our room. I carefully put the key in, and then opened the door. Blue Blossom walked in quickly, slightly shuffling side to side. I closed the door, and dropped my saddle bags. She did the same, and kicked off her pink shoes, and jumped on the bed. I sighed, and kicked off my cowboy boots, and then took off my duster. All I had left on was my barding, torn up due to the abuse it suffered at Rockland. It was quite awkward, really. I didn’t know what to do.

“Dust, I-I really don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to say this straight up.” Started Blue Blossom, and my heart went into my throat.

“These past couple days, I don’t know, but have been really, really different. I thought traveling with a gun toting soldier was going to be like life back at the Steel Ranger base, but it’s not. I feel connected with you, like I’ve known you for a long time. Like you are a best friend, or a peer. My view of you has been warped in many different ways in the past few days, and I think I have a definite idea of what you are to me.” Continued Blue Blossom, who was now standing up, making her way towards me. Her red eyes were filled with a look of longing, and I knew what she was about to say.

“I-I think I’m in love with you.” She said, and my heart exploded…twice.

My jaw dropped, my chest started to fill up with air. All the blood went to my face. She loved me? Sweet Celestia, I think I’m dreaming. Pinch me, shoot me, and cut my horn off. I’m sure I’m dreaming.

“I-I think I love you too.” I said. GREAT! BUCKING PERFECT!

Blue Blossom leaned in, her eyes closing. I did the same, and time slowed to a crawl. It seemed like eternity before our lips touched, the warm scent of her mane flowing into my nose. Oh crap, here we go.

I put my fore hooves around her, keeping our lips touching, as we fell onto the bed. She tore off my nearly destroyed barding, and I slipped hers off, as we fell into love.

You know what, screw you, DJ Pon-3, but at the same time, thank you.

Footnotes: 62% level up!
New Follower added: Blue Blossom.
New Perk: (Follower) Brain Child; Your Follower is the smartest pony you know! She gives you a bit of her intellect, and you gain 20 in science, medical, and energy weapons!

Thanks to Kkat, Somber, and No-one