• Published 16th Apr 2015
  • 6,674 Views, 400 Comments

Return: Tales of the Lost - Dustchu



After six years of being missing, the CMC, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom have finally returned home to Ponyville, but not without a story to tell.

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Tales of the Lost II: A Bloody Companionship

War, War Never Changes.


-ooo000=+=000ooo-

Apple Bloom, unsure of what to do joined Scootaloo as she inspected several of the Vault-Tec posters lining the walls. Most of them she didn't understand, why would these be all over the walls? Maybe whatever happened to this town was the reason for these Vaults. The town wasn't exactly in the best shape, and if those bones were any indication... something bad happened not only to this place, but possibly to other towns and cities too. When the young Apple family member looked around some more she noticed the roads were damaged and cracked, chunks of cement and pavement were missing and piles of trash and burned debris were piled up around the place unattended to.

Holes were opened up in the ground leaving massive craters where murky brown water pooled, skeletons of burned out buildings sat all around, destroyed vehicles and even more skeletons of the hoo-mans Apple Bloom heard Scootaloo called them. Whatever happened here was terrible she realized. She hadn't seen anypony around, no birds in the sky, not even any bugs. It was strange. The land around her seemed... dead, a shell of its former self.

Oh how right she was.

Little did she know somepony was sneaking up behind them, clutching onto a very sharp knife and eyeballing the three small fillies with a psychotic hunger in his eyes. his footfalls were quiet and practiced, like a hunter stalking his prey deep in the jungles. He took extra care not to step on any rubble as he walked through one of the alleyways, brushing past a dumpster. Several bottles were in his path, he stepped over them, tiptoeing much like child would sneaking into the kitchen for some cookies. Once he made it onto the street he quickly made his way over to the unsuspecting light gray filly.

When Sweetie's ears twitched his way he swiftly grabbed her up in his arm, she screamed loudly drawing the attention of her friends.

"Sweetie!" Both of her friends yelled as they turned around, and came face to face with the psychotic creature before them. When both of them saw the face, the smiling face and disheveled dirty blonde hair, and the bloodshot eyes.

They knew what it was... from the posters.

A hoo-man.

But for the sake of words and all of our collective sanity, let's call it a human...

"Who said that!?" he yelled, eyes darting around looking for whoever spoke. The human shook where he stood as the filly in his arms tried to escape his clutches, squirming and fidgeting in his sweaty and smelly grasp. "What the fuck are ya!?" he demanded, his knife arm shaking wildly as he pointed the knife at the two fillies on the ground.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom's eyes were wide with fear as they saw the knife, and the dried red stains coating it tip to hilt. What is this? Who is this?! Apple Bloom shook with fear, she didn't know what to do! She wished Applejack was here, as the farmer knew how to handle tough situations just like she's always done. Of course she's never had to convince a strange creature in a different world to let her young friend go so it doesn't slit her throat and eat her... Ah don't think she had ta... Apple Bloom shook her head and looked up at the madpony (man) and spoke. "U-u-um, w-we're ponies," she told him, the man's eyes going wide when he heard her speak. "Please don't hurt Sweetie!" she blurted out, shivering.

"What the fuck! You can talk!?" The man smacked his forehead with the butt of his knife, only ending up with a headache. "WHATEVER! I'm still gunna eat you all! Starting with this little runt!" he yelled, he held his knife at her throat and was about to cut into her...

Before an orange blur tackled him in the stomach.

"AHHH!" he yelled when Scootaloo made contact, her head ramming him right in the solar plexus and making him let go of the extremely frightened filly. Sweetie bucked off of him and hit the ground with a roll, tumbling into Apple Bloom who ran after Scootaloo who, in the throes of her tackle didn't think her plan all the way through and opted to scream.

"Run for it!" she screamed, bucking the human in the face once again and bolting off of his frame. The man yelled in pain, clutching his now broken nose as blood spurted out coating his already bloodstained clothing.

"I'll kill you little shits! I'll fucking rape you, then eat you alive!" he screamed, getting up and grabbing his knife which he dropped when the pony tackled him. Once it was in hand he caught sight of the three fillies galloping down the streets at full speed, he growled. "GET BACK HERE!" He bellowed, sprinting after them with a lust for blood. His bloodshot eyes locked on their forms.

Apple Bloom chanced a look behind her, and her pupils shrank when she saw just how fast he was moving. She had to hand it to him. For a biped he moved pretty fast. Dang it! He's gaining on us! She screamed in her mind, pushing herself to go faster but she was already tired from the run back in the forest. Fatigue crept up on her faster then she would have liked, and she felt her legs burn. Scootaloo and Sweetie were the same, both of them were feeling tired and couldn't run for much longer. No! We can't stop now! Apple Bloom pushed the tired aside and ran out in front of her two friends, taking the lead she yelled. "Follow me!" then she hopped over a barrel and down an alley.

Scootaloo buzzed her tiny wings in an attempt to speed herself up, it helped to a degree. She managed to jump over the barrel followed by Sweetie who's eyes were bugging out. Both friends galloped after Bloom into the alleyway, running over the papers and bottles littering it from years ago. Posters were torn down and the fire from whatever burned the town and the damage had gotten worse the further they went in. Buildings were reduced to piles of scorched rubble, the carriages were broken down and taken apart by scavengers and looters, storefronts were pockmarked with small holes and deep gashes.

Signs and walls were desecrated with graffiti and marks. Doors boarded up, and some had been broken into. Smoke rose up from other places in the city with the sound of lightning cracking through the streets. Apple Bloom hazarded a guess it wasn't actually lightning but something else. It was too rapid, sporadic, that and there's no thunder clouds in the dark skies. Chancing a look behind her, Bloom saw the human stumble over the barrel they jumped over, cursing wildly and running after them again. "GET BACK HERE!"

Come on run run run run! Apple Bloom screamed at herself. She could hear the faint buzzing of Scootaloo's wings behind her, along with the *clip-clopping* of hooves on the pavement. The walls around her felt like they were closing in on her, the stained red bricks of the buildings seemingly closing in on her as they emerged in another part of the town. The roads and buildings were more battered the further they went in, cracked steel beams and scorched buildings were scattered everywhere.

Behind them ran Bill (let's call him Bill), screaming wildly and swinging his knives. "I'll catch you! and I'll fuck you up! and rape you! and eat you!"

Apple Bloom was scared out of her mind right now, and so were her two friends. Both of them huffing and wheezing behind her as they tried to keep up with the earth pony. Bloom looked around for a place to hide, but all the buildings were either boarded up or burned down, there was no place to run! Dang it dang it dang it!

"Where are we running to?!" Sweetie cried, trying to catch up to the two fillies in front of her. It was hard, considering she wasn't used to running this much. Her legs burned and sweat matted her brow.

"Ah don't know!" Bloom called back to her, looking around as the human's footfalls sounded closer and closer. Her heart started beating faster and faster, fear taking hold of her mind. He's getting closer!

"Gotcha!" Bill yelled, grabbing Sweetie by her tail and yanking her towards him. She screamed, her hooves trying to dig into the concrete.

"Lemme go lemme go lemme go! HELP!" She cried out. "Scootaloo! Apple Bloom!"

Both fillies turned around, their eyes locked on the human before them. Without a second to lose they both galloped full speed at him and once they got close enough, they jumped at him and smashed their hind legs into his stomach with a combined yell, knocking him over.

"Gah!" he yelped, letting Sweetie go as Apple Bloom turn and bucked him in between the legs, then going for his left leg. She was nowhere near as strong as her sister, but she was stronger than most fillies her age. With a satisfying crack in his leg the man went down, yelling in pain as his leg cracked from the combined force of the fillies' leg power. "You little bitch!" He grabbed one of his knives and threw it at her. Apple Bloom saw the knife coming and yelped as she ducked down, the knife careening off of the wall and landing near Sweetie and Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom was about to turn tail and run but the human grappled her back leg, "Ahh!" she screamed, feeling his grimy hands gripping onto her leg like a vice grip. the earth pony scrambled and kicked at him, only serving to fuel his anger and cause his grip to tighten around her tiny leg. Pain shot through her leg as the human twisted it, causing her to fall down with a cry. "Let me go!"

Bill's eyes bored into her like a predetor's, his teeth set in a snarl. "I'm going to fuck you up you little bitch!" Then to her shock he picked her up, and threw it at the side of a building with a yell. She hit it with a thump as Scootaloo tried to hit him again, only to be punched in the stomach and sent flying back into Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom groaned in pain, her head swimming as she heard Bill's growling and swearing. She tried to get up, to run away but she couldn't. her hind leg was burning, and she could tell she wouldn't be walking anytime soon, assuming she lived of course. Shaking her head she looked up in time to see Bill draw one of his knives and hold it up over her. Apple Bloom couldn't move, her vision swam and she felt unconsciousness taking her bit by bit.

"You're dead!" The knife came down...

And darkness took young Bloom into the void.


-ooo000=+=000ooo-


It had felt like hours, but Apple Bloom had eventually started regaining consciousness. The sound of fire crackling was what Apple Bloom heard when she awoke finally. The filly's eyes struggled to open, her body ached and she felt warm. Next to her she heard several voices talking nearby.

"So, what exactly is that thing?" She heard Scootaloo ask. "Looks like a weird suit of armor."

"Its scary!" Sweetie cried, no doubt shivering from what Apple Bloom knew was fear.

Then she heard somepony laugh, it sounded male and old, but not too old. Somewhere around Applejack's age. "Hehehe, he's nothing scary, are you scary, Forrest?"

"Of course not, General Sir!" yet another voice cried, this one sounded old, and... strange, almost like a voice out of one of Scootaloo's old video games. "I only scare my enemies, such as the commies!"

lWho are those two? She wondered, trying to open her eyes. They felt like lead weights over her eyes, but after some struggling she managed to open them. She could see the bright glare of the fire near her, along with the vague shapes of her friends. "S-Scootaloo? Sweetie?" She croaked, shaking her head.

"She's awake!" Sweetie Belle cried, bounding over to her and looking down. "Apple Bloom, are you okay?" She asked, her eyes showing worry even though Apple Bloom couldn't make it out, her vision was still blurry. "Apple Bloom?"

"She's probably still groggy in the head," The male said. "She did get knocked around a lot, give her some time kid."

The farm filly looked up at Sweetie, her eyes squinted from the flame. "Sweets," she looked around, trying to spot the male voice. "Who is that?"

Scootaloo took over for Sweetie Belle, trotting over to her friend's side. "Its one of those hoo-mans."

"Humans, kid, not-" He paused to laugh. "-hoo-mans, hehehe."

Apple Bloom shot up, but soon fell back down with a groan. "Ouch! a Human?! Ya mean like that one that tried ta' kill us?!" She nearly yelled, looking over near the fire as her vision cleared up. She could see the human, he sat near the fire next to a large floating object. This human she saw was extremely different from the one she saw, for one he looked more... clean, calm, and not as dangerous as the human she had been attacked by earlier.

He smiled when he saw her waking up. "Hey there kid, you alright?" he asked, his bright green eyes searching hers.

Apple Bloom was frozen, but she managed to ask. "Wh-who are you?" She questioned, shaking where she was laying as Scoots and Sweetie came over.

"Yeah just who are you, you never told us your name!" Scootaloo added, flaring out her wings as she stared at the human before her who sat calmly on the ground next to the fire.

The human, who we know as Lee said. "My full name is Lee Chang Huo, but you can call me Lee for short." He introduced himself, smiling a friendly smile. "As for who I am exactly... well... I'm a wastelander, like everyone else out here." he gestured to the area they were in.

Now that Apple Bloom could see, she saw they had moved away from the alley and were sitting in an alcove between two buildings. The only way out being a small walkways that was covered up, a single dark yellowish brown dumpster blocked off any way of getting out. Up above she saw the sun was gone from overhead, but it was still day out. It was getting late. Clouds moved across the skies, no doubt a storm was coming. The fillies could smell it, Scootaloo especially.

"Wastelander?" Sweetie asked, rolling the word around. "What's that?" She asked with a squeak, tilting her head at the human.

Lee hummed in thought, scratching the stubble on his chin. "Wastelander, well... that's what I am." He answered, pointing to himself and tapping his chest. "We are currently in the Texan wastelands of North America, just a few hundred miles or so away from the Mojave Wasteland." Lee looked down at the filly, causing her to shrink back. "Well, I can already tell you're not from this world, and if I wasn't so sure of myself I'd probably peg you as some crazy hallucination from being out in the sun too much." He jerked a finger at Forrest. "But Forrest here sees you two, and I know two people, IE a guy like me and a robot, can't have the same delusion. So that begs the question..." He leaned down further. "Just who are you three?"

Something stirred within the three ponies, prompting them to take stand side by side. Apple Bloom stood up on shaky legs and introduced herself. "Ah'm Apple Bloom!"

Sweetie piped up. "I'm Sweetie Belle!"

"And I'm Scootaloo!" Scootaloo introduced herself as all three sucked in a huge breath.

Uh oh. Lee's eyes widened and he could tell by some dark force that something bad was going to happen.

"AND WE'RE THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" They all cheered as loud as their tiny lungs could produce sound, the cheer echoed throughout the town bouncing off of the walls and alleyways and spreading like a virus... an adorable ear shattering virus.

Lee fell back, ears ringing as Forrest fell to the ground, entering a shutdown state. The human shook his head, shoving a finger into each of his ears and digging around before moving his jaw. Lee had heard many things throughout his life, explosions, rapid gunfire, and screaming and he had survived all of that. But these three fillies combined cheer had nearly deafened them. Sweet buttery Jesus! He thought, he would have yelled it, maybe he did but its not like he could tell. After a few satisfying ear pops he shook his head once more before looking down at the three fillies. "Cutie Mark Crusaders? Dare I ask what that is? and if I do are you going to cheer it?" he asked with a wince.

Apple Bloom, now feeling better decided to speak for them. "Well mister Lee, Cutie Mark Crusaders is what we call ourselves!" She said, gesturing to her flank. "We're all blank flanks, an' so we decided ta form the CMC ta help us find our cutie marks!"

"... what's a cutie mark?" Lee questioned as he looked over at Forrest who was currently knocked out. Cutie Mark sounded weird, but he wasn't going to say that outloud. Is Forrest dead?

"Its what tells a pony what their special talent is!" She cried, flapping her tiny wings generating a buzzing noise. "Which is what we're trying to find out, we want to fid ouut our special talent!"

Sweetie nodded, adding. "Hey! Maybe we can be Cutie Mark Wastelanders!"

All three gasped, and once again Lee was subject to a cheer.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER WASTELANDERS YAY!"

Lee felt like he was blasted by a cannon, falling back again he yelled. "SWEET BUTTERY FUCK!"

Sweetie looked at Lee, tilting her head and eyes gleaming with curiosity. "What's a fuck?" Sweetie asked innocently.

Lee didn't answer, only sighing heavily. Lordy luu what have I gotten myself into? he asked the cosmos, popping his ears once more.


-ooo000=+=000ooo-


An hour had passed and Lee's ears still hurt, Forrest had rebooted and was likewise hurting... in his servos, or something. He was watching as the three ponies from another world conversed with each other, again about earning their marks in being a wastelander. He wasn't entirely sure how that was going to work, from what he learned about the Cutie Marks. Whenever a pony did something, like construction or painting and knew they were good at it, they would get a mark on their flank telling them it's their special talent. He foudn the idea ridiculous, but that was the way of their world.

Seems kinda constricting to me, what if a pony wanted to be a writer but instead ended up getting a mark telling them their talent was building sandcastles? He laughed mentally, now wondering what kind of Cutie Mark he would get. Probably something badass, obviously.

"Excuse me," Sweetie asked, trotting up to Lee but staying a small distance away. "Um... do you know what happened here?" She looked around. "I haven't seen anypony other than you and that crazy guy, where is everypony?"

Lee sighed softly. "Well kid, that's a long story." he told her as he grabbed a small stick and tossed it into the fire, causing it to crackle. "I can tell you, but you might not like it."

"Now I wanna know." Scoots trotted over and sat down next to the fire where Apple Bloom was poking at it with a stick. "Can you tell us?"

"Alrighty then." Lee cracked his neck and cross his legs, getting into a comfortable position as Forrest hovered nearby, beeping silently. "Okay, well... where to begin." Looking up into the sky he murmrued something before starting his tale. "Well, as far back as I can remember. This world, was undergoing a crisis." Lee said, remembering what his grandpa told him.

"What kind of crisis?" The grey filly asked, biting her lip when Scootaloo shushed her.

Lee hummed in thought. "Well, there's this thing called Oil. It was used to power this world," he pointed at through the opening where a vehicle sat. "See those? those ran off of Oil and could take you anywhere you wanted to go, as long as you had it." He said, much to the CMC's shock. "You just got in, put in a key and started driving."

Sweetie held up her hoof. "Wait, you mean nopony pulls it like a carriage! That's ridiculous!" Sweetie squeaked.

"I know it sounds crazy, but its true." The human laughed. "We also had boats and ships that used it, and planes."

This time, Scootaloo raised her hoof. "What's a plane?" She asked.

Chuckling slightly Lee answered. "its this big thing made of metal that could fly through the skies," He held up his hand and made a buzzing sound as it circled it around in the air. "There were lots of them."

"Nu uh!" Teh orange pegesus shook her head. "No way, you're lying. There's no way!"

"Uh, I beg to differ little one." Lee frowned. "I am telling the honest truth, there were planes, all kinds that could fly through the air faster than you could blink." He shook his head. "Anyway, the workd ran off of Oil, Cars, Trains and Planes. Buildings and homes, the whole word ran off of it. And eventually, it started to run out."

Apple Bloom scooted closer. "What happened when it ran out?"

"... War happened." He said, like it was the most obvious thing ever. The CMC's eyes widened. "People started fighting everyone else for the last bits of oil on the planet, and prices for oil starting getting higher and higher until people couldn't pay for it anymore. Wars broke out all over, there were talks of World War Three happening. And soon enough it did," He picked up a rock, inspecting it in great detail before tossing it into the fire. "the whole world went to war."

"Everypony fought, over that Oil stuff?" Apple Bloom asked, eyes wide. Why would they fight somepony for something like that? "Why would they do that?"

"Whoever controlled the Oil controlled the world." He shrugged, leaning back on his hands. "The war I'm told, lasted for two hours... thousands of nuclear weapons were launched from missile sites, and billions of people were killed, shot, burned, blasted into tiny pieces, killed dead. The world ended..." His head fell back and he looked up into the sky, watching several clouds fly by. "Two hundred years have passed since that day, and here we are now."

Apple Bloom was speechless, as were her two friends. They had no words to say. Billions... dead... Bloom Shivered despite being close to the fire, her thoughts focusing on the war. Billions died over oil, all of them killed within the short time span of two hours... She was scared, more than she's ever been. This entire world ended, over something she didn't know about.

"People are still fighting today." Lee added, sitting up and looking at the CMC. "Of course its not over Oil, but trivial things. Like control of the wasteland, resources, power, religion, whatever they think they'll profit from. Lots of crazy people are out here, wanting nothing more then to kill anything that moves." he shook his head. "That guy that Scootaloo took out was one of the crazy guys."

The farm filly looked to Scootaloo, She did what?! Apple Bloom looked at her friend, now noticing the small bits of blood on her fur though it was hard to make out seeing how the blood was blending in with her coat. "You... you kill-"

"No!" Scootaloo cried, shaking her head. "I-I only grabbed the knife he had and threw it at his leg, he dropped to the ground and me and Sweets grabbed you and ran. Lee came a short while after we heard the thunder in the alley." She defended herself, shaking her forehooves back and forth.

"I'm the one who killed him," Lee told them nonchatlantly. "I blasted him after he tried to knife me."

That got all of their attention, looking at the human and his robot, Apple Boom asked. "You killed him?! Why'd ya do that?"

"Uh, well... For one thing he tried to kill me, and secondly he tried to kill you. If I let him live he would have come back to try and kill us all," He shook his head. "Actually, He would have raped us, killed us, raped us again and then eaten us. In that order," Lee shrugged. "That's the way of the wasteland, kids. Kill or be killed." He gave them a hard look, one that he didn't give often. "Look... I know you're just kids, and you think killing's wrong. Maybe in your world, its not exactly nescessary for survival... but out here," he stood up, pulling out his gun and showing them it. "Killing is a way of life, and its how I've lived my life since I was just a kid. And I doubt this is going to change anytime soon... if you're not willing to kill then you're probably screwed." Lee told them as he spun his handgun and holstered it without a second to lose.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders sat in silence as Lee took a seat by the fire once more, holding his hands over it as Forrest beeped once more. They didn't know what to say, so they just remained quiet as the wasteland around them.


-ooo000=+=000ooo-


"Well, I think its high time we left." Lee said as he picked up his backpack, shouldering it as the three fillies stretched.

"Um, if ya don't mind me askin' we are we going?"

Scootaloo decided to interrupt any response by asking "Why should we go with you anyway?" She glared at the human, her viloet eyes staring into his green ones.

Lee hummed, tapping his belt. "Well, you don't have to come with me, it just means less mouths to feed." He said, waiting a moment to et that sink in before adding. "And you could stay here and meet up with another crazy guy like Knivesy McGee and get killed." He held up a finger. "Or, you could come with me, which means I'll protect you and keep you outta trouble. Lord knows what people would do with ya'll."

Scootaloo gulped, backing down as Apple Bloom stepped forward. "What would people do ta us? Aren't there any other ponies here?"

The man shook his head. "Nope, there are a few horses I've seen. But they're not like you guys, they're not colorful and fucking adorable~" He sang, cackling, "as for what they would do... lots of nasty things involving needles and shovels." as Apple Bloom held out her hoof. "What?"

"Ah want your word, that ya'll protect us and help us find a way home."

Lee frowned slightly, "I'm not sure I can do that, get you home I mean..." Slowly but surely he bumped his fist against her hoof. "But I'll try kid, I'll try my best." he turned towards the exit and started walking. "Oh, back onto the horses. They do not talk, or squeak, or scream and bust an eardrum while knocking out a robot." He said as he left. With his promise in mind, the CMC followed him as he led them out onto the street. "Stick close to me, and if I tell you to do something, you do it. Alright?" He asked, getting three nods. "Good."

"How good are you at fighting?" Scootaloo asked out fo the blue, much to Sweetie's shock who gave her a look. "What? I'm just wondering, jeez."

"Kid," He looked back to her, flashing a smirk that reminded her of Rainbow Dash. "I'm the best there is."

And so, the CMC set out on an adventure. Following their bloody companion closely as he led them down the road, and into the vast wasteland known as the Texan Wastes.


The CMC have found Lee, and in good time too! Now the five have teamed up, the promise of home sealed with a hoofbump. How will our three adventures handle the big bad wastes?

Let's find out, next time on: Return on Vault-Tec Channel 6

*FLICKS OFF*

*STATIC*

Author's Note:

I am so so sorry for not updating this sooner :raritydispair:
I'm a horrible writer, prepare your pitchforks and knives... carve me up, my body is ready!

PLEASE ENJOY THIS SHORT CRAP!
//sobs

EDIT: 6/10/2015 So many fucking mistakes... I suck at writing.
FIXED!