Chapter 1: Drunken hero
"This tastes like it came out of a ghouls plot!" I yelled as a slammed down the drink previously handed to me.
The mystery flavored Alcoholic beverage spills everywhere, it wasn't abnormal for me to cause a scene in public. But I was currently a tad bit drunk so this was gathering a little more of a crowd then usual.
"Miss, I think you've had a bit much to drink." The bar tender polity says. Of course you can't reason with a drunk that easily. I was having none of this guys crap.
"Oh don't you give me that!" I shouted. As if I hadn't disturbed the peace of this bar enough. "Listen tall and scruffy, I'll drink what I want when I want! Hell, I'd like to purchase some straight liquor now." I tossed a few more bottle caps on the counter and grinned. "Bar tender if you please."
The bar tender sighed and shook his head. "As you wish ma'am. But if you cause any more ruckus I'm gonna have to show you out."
I simply laughed at this threat. He was trying his utmost to remain polite, but drunk or not you could see clear as day he was losing his patience with me. As he turned to fetch me the drink that surely wasn't going to help my current situation. Nor would it help the monster hangover I was going to have in the morning. I turned to the pony sitting to my left and smiled.
"Hey there sweet heart, how about this bar?" She rolled her eyes and ignored me. Rude. I eyed a stallion sitting on my right. "And how bout you, muscles? Got anything for me?"
He glanced over and sneered. "Yeah, I've got a smack across the face if you don't shut your yap and mind your business bird brain." Ok wow... Double rude. I was drunk, but I had the sense not to go down that road. So I shut up and turned back to the bar.
"Here is your... hard liquor" the bar tender grumbled. "Try not to throw up in my bar please."
I smiled. "Is this a challenge?" He looked confused.
"No, absolutely not." The tone in his voice changing to a somewhat concerned and very annoyed one.
"My flank its not!" I grabbed the cup and chugged. I got that entire thing down in less then a minute. I slammed the now empty glass down hard enough to shatter it and looked at the bar tender very triumphantly. Of course this victory was very short lived, for my vision became rather blurry and my speech slurred. (More then it already was.) Before long I couldn't even think straight. The bar tender had had enough he used his magic to levitate me out the door. He even gave me a glass of water and a bag to puke in. He seems like a pretty decent guy.
I passed out shortly after. No wonder the doctor says I have a bad liver I do crap like that. I can barely remember thinking to myself, "Worst idea ever, I'm never drinking again." Before passing out, but honestly, don't we all tell ourselves that?
I woke up to darkness. Most likely a product of the night before, my head was ringing and I felt like curling up and dying. The world around me slowly started to make since and my vision became clear. I was in bed. But something felt wrong. I was a little to big for the bed, and I didn't recognize my surroundings, maybe the hangover was effecting my intelligence because it took a little longer then it should have for me to realize I wasn't in my home. When I did come to realize this how ever I shot up and hit my head on a book shelf hanging above my head. And I hit it hard. I swore and feel back on the bed. My head started ringing more and I felt like throwing up. I felt a bit of blood trickle down my forehead and saw it run down my beak. Goddesses! that book shelf is sharp. The workings of Zebras and The king of Darkness Sombra himself!
"Oh so you're awake?" I heard a female voice ask. A rather intimidating voice I might add. I was then in a very rotten mood all of a sudden, cause I lost all patience I didn't really have to begin with.
"Yeah I'm awake, but tell me... Who the hell are you and where on Luna's ever-loving moon am I?" She stepped closer to me a chuckled.
Now I got a better look at her. She was a crème colored earth pony mare, with a brown mane fashioned in a "punk cut" style. She had dark Blue eyes and a bottle cap as a cutie mark. Her special talent was... currency? Maybe it was making money. What ever it was I'm sure she has an awful lot of bottle caps stashed somewhere. Maybe I could poke around a bit when I get out of here.
"Calm yourself Giselle, I found you passed out at a bar and brought you here." So many thoughts are crossing my mind, its ridiculous.
"How do you know my name?!?" I was very close to reaching out and popping her in the muzzle. I probably would've already done so if my hangover wasn't slowly sucking the life out of me. It pained me to move.
"Your name was monogrammed into your gun."
My gun... wait!
"Were is my stuff?" My voice changing between confusion, pained, and loathing.
"Now, Now." She cooed. "I assure you, it's safe."
This situation had bad luck written all over it.
She stopped and looked to be in deep thought. "Now..." she said. "Time to get right down to business." She whipped out a mouth held pistol and aimed it right between my eyes.
"Were you the mangy griffon who killed my daughter on your escort mission?!?"
I was taken aback. "What!?" I yelled. Of all the things I expected out of this situation a gun to the head a murder accusation was not on the top of my list.
She growls and grabs something out of here jacket pocket. Its a post card, from New Pegasus. She stares me down and reiterates. "My daughter was going to meet her older brother in New Pegasus and went with a group of ponies being escorted by a griffon across the wastelands. I know it was a griffon escorting her, she said she was going to be escorted by a black, white and grey griffon. She was very excited because she had never met a griffon before." I was a little shocked as she told me all this, but before I could say anything she continued. "They never arrived at their destination, and the families of slaughtered bunch were told. This was her postcard, and I found it in your coat pocket. Care to explain? Say something wrong, and I'm gonna pop a cap in you."
Silence....
I shuddered. "Listen miss uh-..."
"My name's Blue Cap." She hissed.
"Right." I answered quite nervously. "Listen miss Blue Cap. You can rest assured I haven't ended the life of any pony recently. Especially not a filly's.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. "How do you know my daughter was just a filly?"
I gulped. "Well ma'am, I may or may not have been around when the carrier of that post card was killed."
"Chose your words wisely." Warned Blue Cap.
I sighed. Ok, where to start. "I think I am indeed the griffon who escorted your daughter. And yes I picked up that post card after this filly was killed." Blue Cap's grip on the gun tightened. "Wait, don't shoot me just yet. I was leading the group through a dangerous part of the wasteland, and I needed to scout ahead for trouble. I heard a scream, and when I got back to my group the were all dead."
More silence....
She seemed to ponder this for a minute. "And how do I know you aren't lying so I'll spare your life?"
I needed to think for a minute about how I could prove to her my innocence. "Well... Believe it or not, I picked her up and dropped her at the nearest funeral home, and saw to it that she got a proper burial. If I take you there will you believe me?"
Blue Cap didn't say anything for a long while. But she spoke up. "You took my little girl to get buried?" She sounded slightly confused but perhaps thankful. And a little bit sad, all at once.
"Yeah." I sighed "I suspect that she and the rest were killed by raiders. No pony deserves that kind of death, and she was just a filly."
Blue Cap appeared to be tearing up. "Oh Celestia! Thank you so much." She then wrapped her fore hooves around me to deliver a spine crushing hug. "But wait!" Exclaimed Blue Cap. Interrupting the painful embrace. Most certainly didn't help I still had some bit of a hangover. "I won't know who did it..."
"Well... do you need to?" In retrospect that wasn't the smartest thing to say in that moment, given the circumstances.
It was then that a devious smile crossed her face. She turned to me and grinned. "Yes, I do need to know my feathery friend, and you, are going to help me find them."
"What?!?" I protested. "Look lady, you kidnapped me, took all my stuff, accused me of murder, and threated to Celestia damn shoot me in the head... And now you want me to help you."
"Hmmmm.." She tapped her hoof on her chin. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."
No words can describe the amount of BS this mare was talking. I suppose she read my emotions pretty well, because wouldn't you know it? She decided to use bribery.
"I saw you staring at my flank, either you were thinking about my cutie mark, and the bottle caps it means I possess, or perhaps you were thinking of a little something else involving my flank." Then she gave my the Celestia damned look.
"Don't you wiggle your eye brows at me!" I spat, feeling somewhat flustered. I let out an agitated breath and asked, "So you're saying there's money in it for me if I take on your offer?"
Blue Cap nodded. "Correct."
"How many bottle caps are we talking here?" No way was I hiking this chick across the wasteland for a miniscule amount of caps.
"How's 2500?" She winked.
Holy. Hell.
"2500 caps!!?!" I stared at her in sheer disbelief.
"Mmmhhhm." She smiled.
"You've got yourself a deal." I was expecting maybe 150 caps. But 2500???
"Really?!?" She beamed. She embraced me for yet another bone crushing hug. She leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Yknow... if you like my flank you can just say."
I could feel my face heat up and I suppose she noticed. She seems to have a keen eyes for details. "Oh I'm just messing with you, no need to get all embarrassed". She ruffled my head feathers and let me go. I huffed angrily and fixed my feathers. Before saying,
"Whatever, lets just hop to it. Where's my stuff?"
She pointed to a closet in the corner. While I retrieved my things she thanked me for agreeing to help her out. "I hope this little debacle didn't cause any bad feelings between us. I truly am thankful for your help, and If we're going to do this we're going to need to get along. So try not to get all pissy on me."
She thanked me in her own way...
I slung my gun over my shoulder and looked through my bag to make sure everything was in check. As I headed out the door I looked at Blue Cap, "Thanks for bringing me inside when you found me... Even if it was with the intention of murdering me."
"I couldn't just leave a poor drunken thing like yourself outside." She teased. "You could've caught a cold. Or been killed by Hell Hounds. Besides, now that you've agreed to help me, you're my drunken hero. We'll find who killed my daughter and make them pay!"
I couldn't help but chuckle at that. I figured I should let her know what to bring. "Listen, chances are there's going to be a lot of out of civilization travel. We're gonna come across mutants, raiders, pony gangers, and worse case scenario, we may run into Hell Hounds or worse. So if you have any weapons, ammo, food, or medical supplies I suggest you get them now."
Blue cap got a little sparkle in her eye. "Really?!?" She beamed. "Will we really be battling the likes of hell hounds, or any of the other lethal creatures of the wasteland!?!"
I snickered. "Probably not." I smiled, "But we will likely run into some gang members of bloat sprites, so I would still recommend loading up on supplies."
She lost the sparkle she held in her gaze, but proceeded to salute to me and went to pack her things. I looked at her a smiled, "Meet me in front of the bar in one hour alright?"
"Will do!" She chirped. "See you later drunken hero!" She called after me.
I stopped to wave back, then made my way back to the bar.
"Hmmm.." I whispered to myself. "Drunken hero?" A small smile painted itself across my face. I think I could get used to a nickname like that.
Author's Note
First chapter of Fallout Equestria : Giselle
If you haven't read the original Fallout Equestria fic I suggest you read that first.
But if you wish to read this first anyways or have already read Fallout Equestria,
Enjoy!
