The Vault Dweller: A Fallout in Equestria Story

Chapter 8: Into the Wasteland

Rusty looked at the steam engine as smoke poured from the stack. He never would have guessed that he would be using a mode of travel that was well outdated by the standards he knew before his car wreck. Some of the ponies that had came out of the Entertainment Plaza wanted to go further into the Wasteland, and one set of ponies wanted to go to Tenpony Tower. Rusty wasn’t sure if it was on the way or not, but since Railway Town was supplying the train it ultimately was up to them.

Their solution was to sell tickets to ride, with the understanding that one traveled at their own risk, for fifty bottle caps a head. The herd that had shut down the Entertainment Plaza, helped bring back the copper to repair the train, and bring back the hope that the ponies of the Wasteland so badly needed was granted lifetime passes to ride, with the understanding that the train wasn’t to be their personal travel across Equestria at a moment’s notice device. They could ride when the train was available, and they would be riding to where it was going. This trip to the Crystal Empire was just an added bonus and a thank you.

Cream neared the human she claimed as her own. It wasn’t odd to see a pony with a different creature. The Wasteland tended to do away with a great deal of the separation that had been present in Pre-War Equestria. As she neared him she looked at the train itself. There wasn’t a spot of glass in any of the windows, there was places the metal had been warped, but it did look to be in good enough shape to make the trip. She honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. There had been stories about the mirror, about the other world, but mostly it was old stories that had circulated around for years.

Lyra had said it was real, and she even revealed that she’d made it the Crystal Empire on hoof before. That didn’t surprise her, not really. Being a ghoul was right next to being immortal. Technically speaking the one pony that would most likely survive the Wasteland was Lyra herself. She took a moment to look at her ghoulish friend again and noticed, perhaps for the first time, how around her right foreleg it looked like something had been cut away.

Lyra, who stood a little ways from Cream and Rusty, noticed that she was being watched. She figured she knew what it was that was being studied on her. She was a ghoul, no getting around that, but she was a Canterlot ghoul. Most likely one of her new friends noticed the missing bit of muscle and skin that was about the size of a Pipbuck. She still remembered when it happened. The Slavers at Las Pegasus hadn’t removed it but rather it had been an administrator of the Ministry of Arcane Science that wanted to study the effects of prolonged Pink Cloud exposure to a Pipbuck.

In return for the device he had offered to do what he could to get her records of everyone that was supposed to be present inside of Stable 1. It had been a few years at this point, actually it was going on ten years at this point, she and Lemon Hearts had been changed, but she wanted that hope that maybe her Bonny had made it into the stable, that with any luck Bon Bon had a chance at a good full life in safety. She certainly regretted not being closer to the stable when the cloud hit. She would have loved to have been there with her Bon Bon, but things came up. Things like what was left inside of the Saddlebags that was still fused to her. Saddle bags that easily could, and often was, confused for her coat.

She opened one of the flaps on her right saddlebag, knowing that of the two sides it was the only one that opened freely. The other side, well the lash had fused quite securely to her flank. A flank she remembered Bon Bon saying was one of her better features. A soft heat crossed her cheeks as she thought of Bonny, her marefriend, kissing her, telling her how beautiful she was, laying her back and kissing down her until she reached the green valley of promise.

She grinned, but regardless she floated it out. Somehow it was still preserved, stuck together thanks to the Pink Cloud, but still preserved nonetheless. Occasionally she’d break off of a piece of the ancient Caramels and chew on it. Letting the Pink Cloud trapped inside of it help heal her. They were one of Bon Bon’s signature candies. She let out a soft sigh, looked at her friends once more, and gave them a gentle wave. She watched her two friends, certain that at some point they would be making the beast with six legs, and she found herself completely satisfied with that.

She glanced over at Salty, and she noticed how his shoulder moved near the missing wing. She’d seen it before, other Pegasi that had their wings removed, like that little filly back in Las Pegasus, she hated it too. She watched as he talked to Brass Cup. It seemed like he was in a very expressive discussion about something of some great importance. She wasn’t sure what to think of the Minotaur Cow, but hopefully whatever Salty was talking about with her wouldn’t be something that would come back and bite all of them in plot when he was done.

“Yes, I can build it, but I need the parts to do it.”

A small feeling of triumph shot through Salty. A new wing, a new shiny metal wing at that. Well, at least a new wing. He knew that it was likely not to be shiny. There wasn’t much shiny anymore. But the prospect of being able to fly again, oh, that was exciting.

“What do ya need?”

She rolled her eyes, reached into her pocket, and pulled out three folded pieces of paper, from them she pulled out a sheet that had two columns of words written in some of the finest quill work he’d ever seen. She then looked at Salty, noticed his lack of a Pipbuck, and looked around before she sighed, dug out another folded piece of paper, this one blank, and began copying things from the first piece to the new piece. She quickly handed it to him.

“This is what I’ll need, and it’s going to be expensive. Something like this is going to be a thousand bottlecaps, at least that much, and if you keep bothering me about doing it I can promise it will be more.”

Salty nodded, took the paper, and slid it into the saddlebags that his human friend had found in Las Pegasus. The duty of carrying those bags had fallen to him, and he didn’t mind, not really. Right now he had the bulk of their bottle caps, some ammo, and two apple grenades that he’d found in Las Pegasus. Since they hadn’t had a use for them he decided to just carry them until there was a situation needed for them.

He gave Brass Cup a smile, looked around, and saw where some of his friends were at. He saw Cream and Rusty. Anypony that watched the two knew that at some point Cream would letting Rusty take her hard and fast. There had been a time that he thought about what it would have been like to be with Cream, but that changed. He stopped viewing her as somepony that he’d be interested in physically, and instead he saw a sister. A sister that could be right imitating when she wanted to be.

It was funny that Rusty was able to bring out her softer side. Not that she had much of one, but it was there, and somehow their human friend seemed to be able to draw it out. His eyes drifted over to Lyra who seemed to be lost in her own head again. He couldn’t even begin to understand where she was at. She had over two hundred years on him, and he knew that she must have seen damned near everything there was to see by now. Seeing Rusty seemed to be one missing thing that she hadn’t actually gotten to see yet. He watched her as she closed her eyes and seemed to be humming to herself. He then looked at Twilight.

Twilight, the mare of the Ministry of Arcane Science, reborn as an Alicorn. She had freely admitted that she was more than Twilight. She had said that there was other ponies in there, but that Twilight composed most of who she was. She was currently talking with Cheese Sandwich, laughing, and obviously finding out more about herself in the process. He could only imagine what it was like to have to relearn about yourself.

Twilight smiled at Strawberry as the filly made faces and goofed off. She was adorable, and to be honest she was so much like her mother, like Pinkie Pie. She had memories about Pinkie, some scattered memories, but they all pointed to the fact that Pinkie was one of her best friends. She also knew that Pinkie had needed her help, but there was just so much that she couldn’t get past. The Party Time Mint-als was one of them. She could remember Pinkie taking them, swearing that she needed to take them. She remembered how it caused something of a ripple effect, causing damage to their friendship hurting Pinkie’s relationship with Cheese Sandwich, even damaging the working relationships she had with the ponies posted in the Ministry of Morale itself.

She felt a pang of guilt as she thought about her old friend. There had been something, something she didn’t remember, but something that had been said between the two of them. Something she regretted very deeply. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she knew that she wished she could take it back. Listening to Cheese did help her to remember a few things, and she couldn’t help but float Strawberry up to her and give her a friendly raspberry on her belly.

The little filly kicked and squealed happily, and shortly after Twilight sat her down. Cheese took a seat on his haunches and Twilight did the same.

“Do… Do you think that she could be alive out there?”

She didn’t need to ask who he meant. She’d been wondering the same thing honestly. Could Pinkie be alive? Could she have been like Cheese, inside of a suspended animation pod, or maybe a ghoul like Lyra? The questions came to her, but as she thought about it she began to realize that it was very unlikely. Pinkie had this ability to know where her friends were. She was able to turn up, seemingly out of nowhere, and surprise anypony. The fact that Pinkie hadn’t found them, or came looking for Cheese and Strawberry before now spoke volumes.

She knew that her friend was actually dead. Pinkie wasn’t the kind to abandon her friends, her family, and for her to not be there meant that she couldn’t be there. The guilty feeling in the pit of Twilight’s stomach gnawed at her. She had said something, something terrible to Pinkie, and she couldn’t remember what it was. All she knew was that she hurt her friend, and as she talked to the pony that was her friend’s special somepony she silently wondered how she could take it back.

The sound of the Train’s whistle caught the attention of everypony, and soon those that were traveling began to gather closer. Of the ponies in Railtown there was only a few that actually knew how to operate the recently repaired engine. Of those few the one that was going to be running it was an older stallion. He was an Earth Pony, big, burley, and his flank had a set of crosshairs for Cutie Marks. He looked like the kind of pony you tried to avoid out in the wasteland, and after a moment he finally spoke up.

The images of this prime of example of an Earth Pony changed a moment later when the most sophisticated, and enlightened voice most of the citizens of Railtown ever heard came from a pony that looked like he could have walked out into the Wasteland and had everything bowing to him in a day.

“The train will be leaving on time, and by Jove I intend to keep the schedule that has been presented to me by Sheriff Bronze Star. Now, on our first trip out we will be going to the Crystal Empire,” he waited while several of the ponies talked among themselves, “We will also be stopping in Manehattan a short walk from Tenpony Tower. Sheriff Bronze Star has already spoken to the tower occupants themselves, and they have promised to have a security detail waiting at the station.”

“Will we be stopping anywhere else?!”

The large Aqua blue Earth Pony rolled his eyes, “We will also be stopping in Junction Town. Apparently Sheriff Bronze Star has spoken to a representative of the Talons, and they have agreed to become… security for the Train in exchange for usage of the train to transport goods, refugees, and other committees. Sheriff Bronze Star agreed to those terms. Those three stops are the planned stops. There will be unplanned stops along the way. Most likely we will have to clear the track from time to time. Regardless if you paid or not you will be expected to aid in any work done along the route. Is that understood?”

There was a murmur of acknowledgement, and the Earth Pony shook his head, causing his blond mane to fling droplets of sweat away from him, “Good, then as Engineer it is my privilege to welcome you aboard the Railway Town Express, All Aboard!”

Rusty and his odd herd of friends gathered into one of the old passenger cars that had been moved and connected to the coal car that was right behind the engine. He watched as two other ponies, another Pegasus, and a Unicorn moved to the side of the train and seemed to be climbing up. He could only figure that they were up there as protection. The train’s whistle let out its lonely call, and the engine began to lurch forward. As it moved Rusty felt oddly calm.

He’d ridden in car pulled by a steam engine, back home, well before the accident, and he could recall how powerful the train felt. He even remembered that some idiot had tried to leave a car on the track in order to get the train to stop. Of course the engine did stop, about two miles down the road, after it had ripped through the car like tissue paper. That memory seemed to make him feel far more at ease. They were inside of a powerful steel beast that was heading out into the Wastelands.

He looked at his group, and noticed how Cream was leaning against him. Her eyes closed as she slept. Salty was smiling, bouncing a little on the seat, enjoying the chance to enjoy a ride that wasn’t connected to becoming a slave. Lyra was watching the world pass by through the open window, which they were all open, and she seemed to be far away, her mind occupied by thoughts that he didn’t feel the need to ask about, and then there was Twilight. Twilight seemed focused, her eyes telling the story of a woman, well mare, that was determined to do something.

He felt Cream move closer to him, her head falling into his lap. He was about to say something when he felt her nuzzle his crotch. His eyes widened, unsure if she understood what she was doing, but then he watched as she opened and eye, jumped down, and flicked her tail at him. Figuring that it would be an idea to follow he did exactly that. They moved from the passenger car to the caboose behind it. She stood on her hind legs, kissing him, and he returned it. Despite how she looked, she was a woman. Sarah was dead, long dead, and nothing could ever change that.

Cream however was here, alive, and she cared deeply for him. He’d tried to play it off, but there wasn’t any way he really could. He felt himself falling for her as well, and then watched as she moved toward a box, crawled on it, moved her tail and put her face on her front legs.

“Don’t make me beg, but make me your mare.”

He moved forward, his hands resting on her rump, “Are you sure?”

She looked back at him, “Idiot, of course I’m sure, so please, do it…”

His hands found the straps for his Vault-Tech jumpsuit, undoing them, lowering them, and then he pulled his boxers down to his knees with the rest of his suit. He moved up closer, and he could feel the heat radiating from her. He slowly moved forward, causing her to let loose a soft moan. Inch by inch he pushed until he was bottomed out in her. There was no resistance, but regardless she was tight. He felt her gripping him, her inner walls massaging his length. He leaned forward, kissing the tip of her horn, and she moaned again. Standing back up, he rested his hands on her hips, pulling back a little, and then slamming forward.

She grunted, moaned, nickered, and what from her experience normally was a quick thing turned out to be a thirty minute orgasm filled romp. She lay on the floor, next to him, her entire body quivering like jelly. She looked up at him, and two things crossed her mind. One, he was her Stallion, and if any other mare so much as looked at him she’d make them get really good and acquainted with their own tailhole. The second one was questioning if there would be any foals from their coupling. She knew that it worked with other species, so it was certainly possible. She smiled at the possibility, laid her head on his chest, and closed her eyes.

Neither knew that outside, in the wasteland, news about a working train had spread, and there was more than a few interested parties that were heading toward them in order to claim this rusty jewel for their own.

Author's Note

(AN: what? another chapter?! So soon?! I know right?! I wanted to strike again while I had the scene I wanted to write in mind.)