//------------------------------// // Tales of the Lost IV: The City of Steel // Story: Return: Tales of the Lost // by Dustchu //------------------------------// -ooo000=+=000ooo- Texan Wasteland - Apple Bloom's Perspective It had been an hour since we left the town I guess you could call it, and we were headed down the road going further east. Lee was keeping an eye out, looking around the wasteland we were in with a careful gaze. Sweetie and Scootaloo were trailing close behind me, both looking like they were wishing we were home right now. I knew, because that's what I was wishing right now. My thoughts had trailed off a bunch of times and I was wondering if I was ever going to see my family again. It had only been, I think three quarters of a day since we came here. I was tired, Scoots was tired, and Sweetie was tired. Lee didn't seem like he was tired at all, and I didn't know if Forrest got tired, what with him being metal and all. Lee had told us we were going to see another human who was called Dusty Strange, and when Sweetie asked who he was, Lee had said Dusty was a sort of Shaman who had a strange way of going about his practices, and he may be able to help us. I wondered if Dusty was anything like Zecora? He sounded like he was something like Zecora, we wouldn't know unless we got there. The road ahead of us was dull, long and filled with sand. All around us was a wasteland filled with rocks and sand, and wrecks of those cars Lee told us a little about. The winds cascaded across the land, some of them buffeting us with sand and dirt. We had to hide on the other side of Lee or Forrest when the winds hit us, Lee was unfazed by it, along with his bot. He just pulled up a scarf and goggles and put them onto his face, blocking out the sandstorm. Sweetie tried casting a spell to block the sand, but only succeeded in setting a rock on fire, somehow. Lee seemed intrigued by that for some reason, but said nothing further on the matter, instead turning on a radio from his... that thing on his wrist, what was that? I don't think he told us what that was. "This just in from my friends in the Brotherhood of Steel," A feminine voice started from his wrist. "I've heard that there have been sightings of a little green dude wearing a spacesuit, if ya see him, tell 'im Bird says hi~" "Oh Bird." Lee chuckled to himself. "In other news, I've been hearing talk of The Enclave forces in the southern Texas Wastes have been up to something, I don't know what, but it ain't good." The girl on the radio spoke, Enclave? What was that? I made a mental note to myself to ask Lee about it later. "So if you're down south and you have something advanced, you best hide it, or run when you see those Vertibirds... cause they will kill you for what you have." My eyes widened at that, they would kill somepony for having some kind of advanced doohickies!? That was crazy! I wanted to ask Lee about it, but the storm prevented me from saying a lick of anything. So I opted to stay silent for now until we got out of this storm, I had some things I wanted to ask Lee about, the Enclave for one thing. "This storm is getting stronger!" Scootaloo yelled at us all, mane whipping in the wind. "We need to find cover!" I hope Lee heard her, cause if this storm got any stronger, we might end up getting blown away! I didn't want that. We kept moving through the sandstorm, Lee shielding us from the storm with his coat. Eventually we arrived at a bunch of rocks, and what looked like a cave of sorts, those cars were sitting out front, along with a bunch of tires and poles sticking out of the ground, helmets and masks with hoses were attached to the poles, along with jackets and other junk sitting around. Weird markings of a mushroom, skulls and faces were painted on the rocks, and strings holding small pieces of brass. The pieces jingled in the wind, filling the area with the sound of metal hitting metal. A newcomer approaches. I blinked, looking over at Sweetie Belle. "Did you say something'?!" I yelled at her over the winds. She returned my gaze, giving me a confused look. "I didn't say anything!" She yelled back to me. ... well, if it wasn't her, then was it Scootaloo? When I turned to ask Scoots, I saw she was looking at the cave, along with Lee. The cave didn't seem really important, but Lee had stopped, and the next thing he said was so quiet, it took some effort from me to hear him clearly. "We're here." Without another word, Lee started forward towards the cave entrance, Forrest hovering after him. After a few seconds of being in the storm by ourselves, we followed him inside. I led my friends inside, grateful to be out of the storm. I didn't expect Lee to lead us to a cave of all things, I thought he may have been leading us to another town, or even a house. Instead, we were heading into a dark cave, filled with who knows what! But... he hasn't done anything bad yet, but I'm still going to be a bit wary about this entire thing. The cave was dark, until Lee turned on a light from his wrist thingy and the cave was lit up. The walls were dark, and dry, sand had been blown inside from storms over the months I bet. More drawings were on the walls, of skulls, humans holding up sticks and throwing things at other humans, these drawings were all over the walls. Sweetie and Scootaloo seemed to notice them as well, and the three of us looked at them as we descended into the darkness. My thoughts drifted back to my family, specifically Applejack. What was she going through? I've been missing a few times, along with my friends, and we always came out unscathed. We may end up with a few cuts and bruises, but in the end we always got home safe and sound. But this time, I was wondering how long it'd take before we actually got home. I hope its soon... The time passed by slowly as we ventured further into the cave, and before we knew it the walls had started to change. They became something different, concrete, and above us I saw a few lights that were broken. The floor changed too, had we gone inside a building? Everything changed, I saw big blue doors on either side, most of which looked like they might have been locked. More of those strings with the brass on them were strung up across the ceiling, some of them were tiny and others were huge. Lee had led us further in until we came to a large double door that opened into a large looking room, where several big looking green things were sittings. The letters USA were painted on the sides of them, with a bunch of numbers on the front below a star. What were those? "I heard you were coming, General." A voice spoke. Sweetie Belle's eyes popped open, "A GHOST!" Sweetie squealed in fright, jumping behind me and shivering. Me and Scoots joined her, standing behind Lee as Forrest suddenly lit up the room somehow. Standing in front of us was a human, another one almost like Lee. The man was sitting inside of one of those... cars? Sitting on a seat and staring at us. He hopped out, hitting the floor with barely a sound. He was different from the others I'd seen. The human was shorter then Lee, and was wearing a pair of torn shorts and sandles, and over his chest was a bag strap with small tubes held onto it. Across his chest, arms and stomach I saw a bunch of black markings swirling over his body in weird looking patterns, body paint? I knew some ponies did that sometimes on Nightmare night, or on some other kind of occasions. I wonder why he was wearing it? The human stalked over to us, and I could make out a weird helmet on his head with a big black visor and some spikes on top of it, with more of those weird swirls and such. In his hand he was holding a big staff of sorts, with more of those brass pieces dangling from it. White eyes stared at us from under the visor, and the human got into a sort of crouch. "How long has it been Lee?" The man asked, his voice soft and his eyes unfocused. "Bout six months." Lee replied, opening his coat and reaching inside, he fiddled around with something before retracting his hand. And in his hand, he was holding something, a big something. "Found this for ya, if you want it that is." He tossed the thing to the other man, who caught it without looking. The man looked at the thing in his hands, with a satisfied nod he said, "the spirits will be pleased with this." He said, before standing up and walking over to Lee. He lifted up the visor, milky white eyes staring into Lee's eyes. "You need help, am I right?" "Technically, these three," Lee gestured to us, Sweetie and Scoots coming out of hiding to look at the new human. "I don't need any, not now anyway, Dusty Strange." This was Dusty Strange? ... The name made sense now. Dusty turned his gaze towards us, kneeling down and holding the staff over our heads. His eyes were wide and unfocused, mouth set in a fine line as he poked my nose. "Interesting... ponies..." He muttered, gazing at Lee before looking back at me. "They told me something was amiss... something had gone wrong..." He stood up, turning around and walking towards some stairs. Wait... what? "Hey!" I yelled at him, cantering after the human. "Lee said you could help us!" I yelled at him as Sweetie and Scoots followed. Dusty turned around, piercing eyes staring through me. I stopped dead in my tracks, feeling cold all of a sudden. "I am going to help tiny pony..." His eyes closed for a brief second... then they opened again, this time glowing. "~The Spirits demand it.~" I suddenly heard in my head as Dusty turned around and kept going up the stairs. I was frozen on the steps, how did he do that?! "Apple Bloom?" Sweetie came to my side and nudged me with a hoof. "Are you okay?" The filly questioned me as Scootaloo stood on the other side of me, Lee and Forrest passing by both of us and going upstairs. It took me a moment before I was able to nod, "Y-yeah, Ah'm alright." I told them, "Let's follow them." With combined nods, we followed the two human and robot. -ooo000=+=000ooo- I don't know how long we were climbing those stairs for, we passed so many floors, I wondered how high up we were. My legs burned, my lungs felt like they were on fire, and I was winded. We've been walking too much. Lee hung back for a bit, talking with Forrest about something involving Toasters and Explosions. I ignored them, I just wanted to go home, I wanted to go to sleep most of all. Eventually we arrived at the top, I think, the stairwell ended and there was an open door. Dusty went through first followed by Forrest and Lee, Scoots was next and then Sweetie and myself. When I stepped into the room, I felt a brisk wind blowing in from somewhere, and when I looked, I saw half of the ceiling and wall was gone... and in its place was a city... I found myself drawn to it, my legs moved by themselves, until I was eventually standing near the edge. I saw a city, a massive city sprawling around the area as far as I could see. I saw smoke rising from parts of it, filling the skies with a black cloud cover, the sun above peeked through, sending down rays of sunshine through the cover. Tall buildings made of glass and steel stood tall, some of them with their tops blown off and others having fallen over onto their neighbors. I saw small bridges suspended between some taller buildings, and the streets themselves were filled with rubble and broken cars. This building was probably the tallest one, as I had a perfect view of the entire city, its skyscrapers and so on. I've never seen such a city, Scootaloo and Sweetie stood on either side of me, and I could tell both of them were just as entranced by the sight as I was. "This place..." Scootaloo was breathless, her eyes wide and her jaw hanging open. "Its massive!" Sweetie squeaked, her eyes darting from one place to the next. I just stood on the plateau of this building, looking out at the area below. I heard footsteps behind me, and when I turned I saw Lee standing with his arms crossed, his eyes looking out at the mega-metropolis. "What is this place?" I asked him, I didn't even see it on the road we were on! This didn't make any sense. "Apple Bloom..." He gestured to the city. "Welcome to the City of Steel."