Fallout Equestria: Wanderers

by Mach Speed

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: From Docks to The Box
“To protect and serve”

The landscape had brightened up as I continued to track down the long, dusty road. The sky was filled with the usual endless cloud cover, with only a few patches of sunlight breaking through. The sun was giving off enough light so I could see the wasteland around me. Browns, reds, and oranges coloured the landscape. It had been a few hours since I left Sunny Springs and I finally knew where my first stop was going to be. Half a day’s trot from Sunny Springs rested the town of Dusty Docks, on the bank of a large lake. The residents of Dusty Docks made their living by breeding, killing, and selling radigators for their meat. Once there, I’d spend the night and set off again in the morning for my real destination. It’ll take me over a week to get there.

As the sun rose higher into the sky, so too did the temperature rise. Even the thick clouds blocking the sun from view didn’t stop much of its heat getting through to the earth below. Wiping my brow, I took in the surrounding area. On one side of me were a few small hills with large rocks dotting the side of the road, and on the other side was a dried riverbed. I had walked this road a few times before. Sunny Springs and Dusty Docks had become trade partners in the past and I had travelled with some caravans a few times before. Up ahead was a familiar sight next to the dried up riverbed, a small shack. From what I could tell, it used to be some sort of business before the war. Now it was just a run-down old shack, anything of value having been stripped away long ago by passer-by.

“Dusty Docks should be just over the horizon.” I said, moving past the shack. Just as I finished speaking, a loud explosion sounded out with a very audible “Boom” along with a flash of light. Instinct kicked in and I dove behind a nearby rock, taking cover from whoever was attacking. Moments passed but I heard no shouts of anger or demands. Steadily, I levitated the rifle off my back and placed it on the large rock, facing the shack. Peering down the scope I could see two ponies wearing some sort of armour, lobbing dynamite towards a radroo. The armour they wore was a light blue fabric with a bulletproof vest over the top. After another try, one of them landed a successful throw and blew the radroo into a red mist of blood and entrails. The two ponies began to laugh and cheer when another pony wearing the same type of armour appeared from around the corner of the shack.

“What the FUCK are you doing!?” the new arrival began shouting. I was just close enough to hear what they were saying. “You’re supposed to be watching the fucking road!”

“We got bored and nopony uses this road anyway. Besides, it’s not like we have a shortage of this stuff.” one of the ponies began to flail a stick of dynamite around.

“I don’t give two shits if you were bored!” the new arrival shouted as he slapped the stick of dynamite away. “Go put the dynamite back and watch the fucking road!” The first two ponies trotted back inside carrying their small bundles, quickly followed by the third. Judging by their armour, they weren’t raider and they weren’t slavers, but I didn’t want to stick around and find out who they really were.

*** *** ***

The final hour of my trot went smoothly and the town of Dusty Docks came into view as I crested a small hill. The town was just as I had remembered it, small and quaint. Even from here I could make out both the radigator cages and the large, green creatures housed within them. As I approached the town, something seemed off to me. There were few ponies outside. From what I could see there was maybe four or five at the most. Given the time of day, there should have been more out tending to shops and the radigators. The three ponies from before also weighed heavily on my mind. Who were they? Why were they there? And why were they watching the road? The questions circled in my mind as I trotted down the road towards town.

*** *** ***

Dusty Docks was completely silent as I entered the town. There were no foals running around, no mares or stallions going about their daily business. It was if the residents had just up and vanished. I was just about to enter the general store when a pale earth pony mare trotted around the corner of the building; she was wearing the same type of armour as the three ponies before. Before I could react she spotted me.

“OI! Who are you!?” she called out. Before I had time to react, she bent down and pulled a pistol out of the holster around her leg with her teeth. She quickly fired off a round with her tongue that flew just to the side of my head; she was the fastest shot I had ever seen. Within moments, I was surrounded on all sides by three other ponies, all wearing the same type of armour. A large unicorn mare trotted up to me, brandishing a combat knife in her magical aura.

“And just who are you?” the mare asked, tracing my features with the tip of the knife.

“I’m no one important, I’m just a traveller.”

“Then what’s this?” the mare asked, cutting the strap on my rifle and levitating it in front of me.

“Everypony needs protection, don’t they?” I could see the anger in the mare’s eyes as I answered her questions. (It wasn’t like I was lying or anything.)

“Copper, Spark, put this “traveller” in with the rest of them, then take his gear back to the store so we can sort through it” the large mare barked at two of her helpers. The two ponies flanked me on both sides a give me a couple of swift kicks to the stomach. (I guess that’s their way of saying “move”.) My escorts took no detours on the way to our destination. In no time at all I was standing in front of The Thirsty Gator, the town pub.

“Oh, about time, I was starting to get thirsty. You two gonna buy me a drink? Oof!” my hosts didn’t take too kindly to my joke as the kicked me in the stomach, stripped me of my saddlebags and forcefully kicked me through the doors and into the pub. I slowly rose from the ground, coughing and holding my pained stomach. It took me a moment, but finally I was able to look around the room at the dozens of shocked and scared faces of the townsponies of Dusty Docks. Once my coughing passed, the room was dead silent, and then a voice came from the centre of the crowd.

“I know you.” The crowd parted and the mayor of Dusty Docks advanced towards me. “You’re Buckshot’s son, from Sunny Springs.” There came a slight murmur from the crowd as the mayor spoke. “Sorry to say, but I think your rescue failed.”

“Rescue? What are you talking about?”

“You were here to rescue us right? You got our message?”

“No I’m sorry sir. I was just passing through then I was going to leave in the morning. What’s happening here?” the mayor gave a sigh and turned around.

“I knew it was too good to be true, this is how we die.” My mayor’s voice was full of sorrow as he trotted over to a barstool, hopped onto it and laid his head on the bar.

“Will somepony please tell me what’s happened here?” I said, raising my voice slightly

“We’re being held here by The Powder Gang.” A young mare said as she walked up to me. “It happened three days ago, a group of them just walked into the town and demanded supplies. The sheriff tried to stop them but they just gunned him down.” I could hear the sadness in her voice as she spoke, there was even a few sobs around the room.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you know where they came from or where the rest are? Judging by the sounds of it, these guys aren’t the only ones.”

“No they aren’t. From what we know, the rest of them are held up in that old prison to the West of here. The place they call The Box.”

“Why are they here? What do they want with the town?” with each question, I became more worried for this town. I knew the ponies who lived here. They were good ponies; they never did anything to harm others.

“We don’t know. They just walked in one day, demanded supplies, then never left.”

“Shit. The mayor said something about a message and rescue, what’s that about?”

“We sent a pony out last night to go find help. If you’re here and didn’t know, then he never made it…” her voice filled with even more sorrow. I could see the tears forming in her eyes as she bowed her head.

“Just because I didn’t see him doesn’t mean all is lost.” I said, putting a hoof on her shoulder.

“You think so?” the mare before me seemed to brighten a little at the thought of her friend safe and sound.

“I do, but we still need to think of a way out of this.” I began to pace back and forth in front of the group, their eyes following me. “Where do they keep the weapons?”

“In the general store. Why, what are you thinking?” the mayor piped up.

“I’m thinking that if I’m able to get out and get my rifle, I might be able to make a sneak attack on their base, maybe bring it down from the inside.”

“It’s hopeless, kid. The building is literally a prison, it’s built like a fortress, nopony gets in or out without the guards’ say-so. Besides, that also means you have to sneak out of here get that weapon of yours and then sneak out of town, it’s impossible.”

“One pony made it out last night, why can’t I do the same tonight?”

“You’re gonna need some help.” A new voice came from the crowd, but the crowd didn’t part. Instead a young stallion pushed his way to the front of the group. He was a short, white unicorn stallion with a grey mane. He wore some sort of repair barding but apart from that, there was something different about him, he looked… clean. The stallion before me was clean, it wasn’t as if he was just standing out in the rain, it felt more like this was his first time in the wasteland. After a few seconds of staring at him, I finally snapped to and realised what he said.

“It’s safer if only one pony goes. The less there are of us, the less the guards will notice” I said shaking my head at the stallion. “I need everyone to stay behind and look after each other; I’ll go in, look around and see what I can do. For now, we just have to wait until night rolls around.”

*** *** ***

It was a few hours but night finally fell, I used my time to go over a plan in my head. When the guards weren’t looking, I’d sneak out, get my rifle then head for the prison. Simple, right?

As soon as it was dark enough, I slipped out the back and looked around, what luck, there were no Powder Gang members around. I started my slow trot to the general store, making sure to keep right up against the buildings and off the main street. I must have been halfway down the street when a Powder Ganger rounded the corner up ahead. Quickly, I dived into an alley between two of the buildings and held my breath as the gang member passed by. With a sigh of relief, I slid out of the alley and continued onto the store.

The rest of the silent trot down the street went undisturbed and I soon reached the general store. The wooden door before me was old a weathered but still in relatively good condition. Carefully, I push on the door handle with my hoof and the door slid open (yes!) My celebrations were cut short however by the sound of a pony snoring on the inside of the shop (fuck!) I knew it was too good to be true, there was a guard snoozing at the front counter. He was sitting on a chair in front of the door to the back room. If my rifle was anywhere, it would be in that room.

I entered the store and moved silently along the floor, the guard must have been in a deep sleep because he didn’t stir as I crept up to him. I soon reached the door to the back room, but just my luck, it was locked. I turned around and raised my head slightly to look for the keys, only to have them brush against my nose. A set of keys were dangling from the guard, hooked to his armour by a small clip. Carefully, I focused my magic on the keys and the clip. Slowly, the clip released and the keys were freed into my magical grasp. Turning back around, I unlocked the door. The tumblers turned loudly and the door opened on squeaky hinges, prompting a stir from the guard. I quickly slipped into the back room and my mouth almost hit the floor. Weapons, saddlebags, supplies and a small mound of caps filled the room. (Praise Luna, I’ve hit the jackpot!) My eyes scanned the room and soon fell on both my sniper and my saddlebags. I quickly moved over and levitated my rifle onto my back, making sure to tie a knot in its broken strap. Leaving my saddlebag where they laid, I moved out of the room and closed door silently behind me. Placing the keys on the ground I moved over to the front door, checked the coast was clear and left the guard to his dreams.

*** *** ***

I managed to make it out of the town silently and escape under a cover of darkness. I had finally made my way to the prison known as The Box. Near the front gate was a large hill that overlooked the facility. When I reached the top of the hill I laid flat against the top and levitated my rifle off my back, rested it against the ground and peered down the scope. The prison was small and old, it had two buildings and from what I saw, four guard towers. This was going to be more difficult than I had originally planned.

“So what’s the plan?” I must have jumped three metres into the air when the voice asked its question. I took my eye from my scope and turned around to see a familiar face. The young white stallion from before had followed me out of the town.

With my heart pounding against my chest I replied “What are you doing here? I told everyone to stay back.”

“And I told you, you would need help, that’s why I’m here. I left the pub shortly after you and then followed you after you left the general store. So what’s the plan?”

Resisting the urge to facehoof I turned back to my scope “It’ll probably more dangerous to send you back so listen carefully.” I said with a strong, annoyed tone. “There’s one pony guarding the front entrance, one in each tower and from what I can see, three patrolling the yard.”

“Right, so what’s the plan?”

“I have no fucking clue…” It was the truth; I had no idea what I was doing. I had one full magazine of bullets so even with perfect shots I’d only be able to take out five guards and they’d hear me as soon as I pulled the trigger. I continued to wrack my brain for an answer.

“What if you sneak in?”

“I don’t see an opening in the fence, plus I’d be shot as soon as they saw me”

“Well you said you would bring it down from the inside. You may as well walk up to the front gate and ask to go in” I knew the stallion was being sarcastic, but what he said gave me an idea.

“That’s it.”

“You do realise I was joking right?”

“No, I mean yes, I mean. I might be able to go and, I don’t know, ask for a job?” (That sounded better in my head.) The stallion gave me quizzical look then shrugged slightly.

“I guess stranger things have happened.”

Turning back to my rifle I looked through the scope again “I’ll come along the road so it seems less suspicious. You stay here, if anything happens, run.”

“Fine.” he replied with a sigh. Taking my eye from my scope, I levitated my rifle onto my back and crawled back down the hill until I was at the bottom. Standing up, I headed for the road that curved back towards the prison.

The night air was cool but brought no breeze, as I continued to walk towards The Box, I tried to calm my nerves. “Just take a deep breath and try to look menacing.” Beep beep. “Oh shit…” I jumped back as soon as I heard the familiar sound of a landmine. I wasn’t wrong, the landmine exploded right before my eyes. My face was singed from the explosion and felt pieces of shrapnel fly passed my head, a single piece cutting my cheek and drawing blood while the lower part of my duster was ripped slightly. I was just about to start walking towards the prison again when I heard a pony call out.

“OI! Who goes there!?” it was one of the guards in the closest tower “answer or I’ll shoot!”

I had no choice; I had to answer “I’m a merc looking for work!” I called back. A few minutes passed but there came no reply, of mouth or rifle. Slowly and carefully I continued my trot to the front gate, making sure to avoid any landmines along the way, blood continuing to drip from my cheek. Eventually I made it to the front gate where I was met by two ponies, the one who had been guarding it in the first place and a new arrival.

“So you’re the one looking for work?” the guard asked.

“That’s right. I heard tell of a gang camping out in an old prison. Thought you lot might need some work done.” I didn’t smile as I spoke, trying to look as professional as possible.

“Why didn’t you come during the day?”

“I only just got here.” The guard squinted his eyes at me. “Look at it this way buddy, the more ponies you hire, the less time you have to stand there and feel your mane grow.”

The last comment did it as the guard thought for a bit then turned to the new arrival. “Barrel, take our guest to see the boss.”

“But he’s asleep.”

“Then fucking wake him up!” the new pony, Barrel, nodded to me to follow her into the yard. I did as instructed, leaving the guard to his thoughts.

Barrel and I entered through the large gate and into the yard. As we walked towards the largest building, I felt many eyes follow me; The Powder Gangers that were awake watched my every step. As we entered the large building, I was greeted with the sight of many more Powder Gang members, some playing cards and drinking, others sleeping on old dirty mattresses. None of them spoke; they just stopped and watched as I was taken through the building. Every Powder Gang member I saw wore that same type of armour from before. We ascended a flight of stairs until we reached the top level, from there, Barrel lead me to a far room down the hallway.

“Wait here.” Barrel’s voice was deep as she spoke, not bothering to look at me. Quickly she entered the room and closed the door. Minutes ticked by as I stood alone in the hallway, I began to wonder if this really was such a good idea. Soon the door swung open and before me stood a very large stallion wearing a modified version of the Powder Gang armour, he wore a bandolier over the top of the vest, full of shotgun shells.

“So you’re the reason I was so rudely awoken. What do you want?” the stallion’s voice was rough and full of annoyance as he spoke.

“I heard about your gang making base out here, I thought you might be able to use a couple of extra hooves.” The stallion stared me down as I spoke but I didn’t waver.

“Why do you think I’d need some no-named, scruffy haired, no-muscled fuck like you?”

“Because I shoot straight and never miss. Besides, you guys might be able you use a brain around here, doesn’t look like anyone else is using theirs.” I stared him down then came something I wasn’t expecting. The stallion before me began to laugh and laugh hard.

“You’re not bad kid, ok; we’ll see how you do.” The stallion said coming out of his laugh. “Barrel, take our new friend here to the cells, let him guard the fool who thought he could sneak out. Now it you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to sleep.” The large stallion gave me a fleeting, rotten-toothed smile before turning back around, walking into his room and slamming the door behind him. With that, Barrel nodded at me to follow her and we exited the building.

*** *** ***

The cells were the other building within the prison’s yard. The cells were smaller than the main building and contained a visitor centre in the front which housed another mare Powder Ganger who looked up as we entered the room.

“Hey Barrel, who’s the stallion?”

“New guy, he’s here to fill in for you, Lock.”

“Oh excellent. I need to get some sleep, I didn’t get any earlier with those fucking idiots having a bit of target practice.” the mare Lock said hopping up and moving towards the door. “You mind showing him the prisoners, Barrel? Kay thanks, bye!”

“Wait, prisoners? We have more?”

“Yeah, Stock brought in another one a few minutes ago, some short, white kid. We think he’s another run away from the town I was planning on telling Short Fuse in the morning so I didn’t wake him.” (I can’t believe my ears, I told him to stay put and now he got himself locked up. If we make it out of here alive, I’m going to kill him.) Without another word, Lock ran out through the door, leaving Barrel and myself alone.

“Follow me.” Barrel said with a low growl. She lead me through one of the two doors at the back of the visitor centre and into the area which contained the holding cells, sure enough, there was the stallion I left on the hill. He was sitting in a cell with a blue stallion; this was probably the one that escaped from Dusty Docks the other night. Without another thought, I raised my hoof and threw it towards Barrel’s head, knocking her into the iron bars of the cell and effectively knocking her out.

“You are a real pain in the flank, you know that?” I said, turning my attention towards my new found companion.

“I thought you could use some help so I intentionally got caught because I knew you’d be able to bust me out of here.” His story was almost convincing, almost.

“Sure, I completely believe you.” I replied in a sarcastic tone. “Stay there while I go and find the key.”

“Where am I going to go?” he replied but I didn’t answer as I headed for the visitor’s centre then returned a short time later with the key to the cells. I quickly opened the cell door and entered, turning my attention to the other stallion.

“Are you ok? Can you walk?” the stallion looked exhausted but managed to reply.

“I’m fine, just tired and hungry. They just locked me up in here. I think they wanted to send a message to the others and needed me in one piece to do it. I’m Moonlight, by the way.” The stallion managed to stand up and face me.

“The name’s Clear Shot. Good thing we came when we did. Come on, we’re getting you out of here and we’re going to take back the town by force.” I said as I turned and exited the cell.

“How are we going to do that? There’s three of us and over two dozen of them. How are we going to kill all of them, make it to the town, and kill the gang members there?” Moonlight asked.

“Many bullets and a lot of luck.” I replied walking into the visitor’s centre followed close by Moonlight and my companion. My attention was quickly drawn to the other door; I wondered what was behind it. Pushing it open I was surprised to see a couple of gun cases, a workbench with a number of different items and five large crates of dynamite. “I think we just found our luck.”

*** *** ***

After placing Barrel in a cell and locking the door behind her, we began to inspect our treasure. The gun cases held a couple of assault rifles and sniper in one and some pistols in the other, along with ammo for each weapon type. Stocked up on ammunition, I felt much safer. Because Moonlight was an earth pony, he took the pistols with their mouth grips, while my companion took the assault rifles, after much arguing.

“Ugh, I hate this earth pony technology; the weapons are inaccurate and always jam. Now if I had my laser pistol… Well-“

“Well, you don’t have your laser pistol, so you’re just going to have to make do.” I called from the workbench. I had been taping sticks of dynamite together for the last few minutes, putting them in bundles for bigger explosions. With a few bundles of dynamite hastily put together, I looked out the window; the sun was just beginning to rise on a new day. “Alright, time to live or die.” The three of us looked at each other then I moved to the door. Opening it just a bit, I could see the gang members that were in the yard last night were passed out in the middle.

Looking out into the yard, I took a gulp, my heart pounding against my chest. “I wish I had a smoke right now.” That’s when it occurred to me, my lighter was still in Dusty Docks. “Shit, how am I going to light the dynamite, I don’t have my lighter.” The two of them just stood there and looked at me in silence until Moonlight spoke up.

“We could always shoot it?” it was my turn to stare at Moonlight. It was a good idea, but I’d need help.

“I’ll need one of you to throw it, I’m going to need to use my magic to hold and focus my rifle.” I said as I began to lay on the floor with my rifle. I could feel the young stallion begin to levitate the dynamite up.

“I’ll do it” there was something in his voice; it sounded like determination to my ears. Slowly I moved the barrel of my rifle out the small crack in the door and aimed it at the small group of Powder Gangers in the middle of the yard. With my rifle fixed into place, I gave the stallion a nod to signal him to throw it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him nod in return. Throwing the door open, he gave the dynamite a hard toss. As the dynamite landed in the middle of the group, I magically squeezed the trigger of my rifle and sent a round flying into the bouncing explosive.

The stallion closed the door as soon as I began to pull the trigger. The sound of my rifle was muffled almost instantly by the sound of the explosion. The gang members in the yard were instantly incinerated in the blast while everyone else was knocked slightly from the shockwave. Taking the chance I had, I took aim at both the pony in the tower I could see, along the guard at the front. The door guard had his head splattered over the entrance from my shot, while the tower guard took the bullet to the chest. Because of his bullet proof vest he didn’t die, but he staggered so much he fell off the top railing and hit the ground hard. If my ears weren’t ringing I probably would have heard his spine crack.

It didn’t take long for the gang members in the other building to realise what was going on. They began to stream out of the building, brandishing all different types of weapons. Taking aim, I fired off a few more shots, BLAM BLAM; the rifle rang out against the roar of the gang. Two of the Powder Gangers lost their heads but two out of two dozen didn’t make much of a difference. I went to fire again, click (shit). I was empty on rounds. Pulling my rifle inside the door, I quickly closed it and locked it.

“That’s a lot of angry gang members…” the young stallion said, looking out the window.

“No shit.” I replied, pulling him down. Not a second later, a bullet came flying through the window, raining glass down on us. “We also have three towers to worry about.” Reloading my rifle, I levitated it onto the windowsill and looked through the scope, sure enough; I could see a tower guard, aiming at me. Lining up a shot, I pulled my head back down and blind-fired. I looked back to check my target. My first round missed but he wasn’t aiming so I fired again. BLAM, this time the bullet hit its mark, the guard faltered and fell off the tower, landing in a pile of debris. As I pulled my rifle back in through the window, all hell broke loose. A storm of bullets flew in through the window and the door. A few rounds grazed my side, tearing through my duster and armour before I threw myself to the ground. As the bullets that were coming through the door stopped, Moonlight and the young stallion opened fire, sending their own ammunition through the door where the screams of dying Powder Gangers could be heard.

As the Powder Gangers on the other side of the door quietened down, a stick of dynamite flew in through the window, its fuse burning quickly. Before I could act, the young stallion let go of his assault rifle and focused his magic on the stick of dynamite, quickly throwing it back out through the window. The sounds of screams and an explosion filled the air as the dynamite exploded. The explosion and screams came quickly and faded slowly but soon there was no sound at all. The air was deathly silent; all I could hear was my breathing. Suddenly, out of nowhere, another explosion sounded, splitting the air around us. This explosion was different though, it wasn’t the sound of dynamite going off, it was the sound of a shotgun. Quickly I moved passed the stallion and stood at the side of the shattered window. Looking out I saw the leader, Short Fuse, standing in the middle of at least nine other Powder Gangers. As soon as the shotgun’s roar died down, Short Fuse began to speak.

“You think you can just fucking waltz in here and start gunning down my men!? I’ll show you what it means to mess with The Powder Gang!” the rest of the Powder Gangers let out a war cry as they each brought out a stick of dynamite.

“That’s not good.” said the stallion poking his head up. “I don’t supposed you have a shield spell? Cause I don’t.”

“Ready!” cried Short Fuse

“Shit.” Bringing my rifle up, I rested it on the windowsill and took aim again, this time I was aiming at the sticks of dynamite. I took my time; I knew I’d only get one shot.

“Aim!” the Powder Gang members began lighting the fuses. Moonlight huddled in the corner, tears in his eyes, while beside me, that stallion began praying to the Goddesses. I doubt even they could save us right now. I focused my crosshairs on one red stick.

“Fire!” time seemed to slow down as the gang members began to throw the dynamite. Magically squeezing the trigger of my rifle, I fired, BLAM! The round left the chamber and a split second later, found itself inside the stick of dynamite. The explosion from the shot stick sent a chain reaction down the line, with each stick of dynamite blowing up in the faces of the Powder Gangers. I watched in amazement as Short Fuse had both his sides blown out and became nothing more than a pile of blood and organs. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I dropped to the floor and rested my head against the wall as the young stallion just stared at me with a look of shock and amazement. For the first time in years, I was reminded of why I have a reticule for a cutie mark.

The three of us sat there on the floor for what seem like hours. We began to take note of our wounds. Bullets had torn through my duster and armour and skinned one of my sides, leaving a number of bleeding gashes, the young stallion had taking a bullet in the side of the lower part of his stomach, not noticing due to the adrenaline. Luckily the bullet hadn’t gone too far in, he’d just have to live with it till we get back to town. The two of us also had a number of cuts on our faces from the falling glass, Moonlight on the other hoof, hadn’t sustained any damages at all. We were just about to leave when hole-ridden door was kicked in by the remaining two guards. Moonlight opened fire on them but at a price. One of the guards shot out of instinct and shot Moonlight in the leg before he was gunned down. With all the Powder Gangers lying dead, we headed back to Dusty Docks.

*** *** ***

The walk back was painful but we managed. As we came close to Dusty Docks, we remembered the few Powder Gangers that were stationed there. It appeared that they didn’t hear the explosions going on at the prison. Either that or they just thought it was “target practice”. With the element of surprise, we gunned them down and entered the Thirsty Gator where we were greeted with cheers of Joy and praises before the three of us were rushed into the clinic for our wounds to be treated. That night, the ponies of Dusty Docks celebrated with the best gator meat they had, and it seemed like everyone wanted to buy me a beer. I did make a point, however, to tell the mayor about the other three Powder Gangers out at the shack by the road. With a promise that they would be dealt with, I fell asleep on the couch in the Thirsty Gator.

*** *** ***

I awoke the next morning as early as my head would allow me. As much as it would have been nice to stay another day, I had to keep moving. The Hoofstralian wasteland wasn’t going to wait for me. Grabbing my rifle and my collected saddlebags, I walked out of the pub and into the street. As I made my way to the main road in the early morning, I was greeted by the few ponies who were up. Giving me a few last thankyous and goodbyes, I left the town. Little did I know someone was waiting for me by the road.

“What are you doing up this early, kid?”

“Easy, I’m coming with you” The young white stallion replied. “I overheard what your plans were while you were drinking last night. If you’re going to try and clean up the wasteland, then I want to help.”

“No dice, kid” I replied moving passed him. “You have your whole life ahead of you. This is my vendetta, not yours.”

“If I hadn’t thrown that dynamite out the window yesterday, you’d be nothing more than a fine red mist.” What he said made me stop. “You need me as much as I need you. Besides, I’ve got my laser pistol with me now” he said, turning side on and showing me the small arcane weapon attached to his side. It took me a while but I finally gave a small smile and chuckle before giving a low sigh.

“You won’t last ten minutes in the wasteland without my help.” I said before nodding towards the road. “c’mon, we have a long road ahead of us.” The young stallion puffed out his chest and marched up to me.

“I’ll have you know I was in the wasteland for fifteen minutes before I reached Dusty Docks.” He said before moving on passed me. With a shake of my head I trotted up beside him and we began our journey together. “I’m Bolts by the way.”

“Clear Shot.”

Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk: Long Shot, Level 1 – The longer you look, the more you see, when looking down the scope of a scoped weapon you gain +10% accuracy and -5% bullet spread

New Companion Acquired! Bolts the repair pony.

---

A/N: That took longer than expected. First off, I would like to apologise for how long it took to get this chapter out. A couple of weeks after the first chapter went up, my laptop’s hard drive died and I needed a new one. Luckily, I was able to back everything up, but with my main computer down, I became really backed up on university work. That, unfortunately, had to take priority when I got my laptop back. Also, this became more New Vegas than I had expected. Just know that this is not a New Vegas adaptation, it’s just the way the start happened. As always thanks to Kkat, Somber, No One and Mimezinga for giving me the inspiration to write this side story. This chapter of Fallout Equestria: Wanderers was written by Mach Speed and edited by ShikaTheSingingPony. Likes and favourites are always appreciated to help get the fic out there and constructive criticism is always welcome. Thanks for reading!

Comments

[Deathpony]

good chapter looking towards the next

[Noakwolf]

You said you don't have many views, You made this the September 30 and you have 200 views. That is pretty fast as compared to some other stories, so don't freak out man.

- Noakwolf. (P.S. I did read the story and it was actually pretty good! )