Fallout Equestria Chance at Redemption

It's a golden age we live in now a days, jobs are plentiful if you know where to look, you have the freedom to settle down anywhere you feel like it and it's real easy to get your hooves on the coolest toys "Gaaaah!" a Pegasus dressed in mangled barding made up of pieces of scrap metal and leather straps cried out in agony as a bullet passed through his hind leg, he limped slowly towards a rusted old shack as the hot red blood that oozed from the wound left a trail behind him, a loud crack like thunder followed by searing pain sent another jolt of pain through the stallion as his other hind leg was given the same accessory, remarkably in the same place.

He continued to crawl towards the shack, sweat pouring down his brow as the blood flowing down his legs onto the ground behind him ran hot, making his coat matted and sticky down his hind legs, a tug on his shoulder flung the stallion onto his back but when he looked up there was no pony there. Frantically he looked around but saw nothing and just when he though the heat was playing tricks on him, a small click from right in front of him caused the raider pony to direct his attention directly ahead towards the cloudy skies above him. "Alright big guy." a mare's voice, slightly garbled by something called out from right in front of the stallion, within the blink of an eye the Pegasus watched as a White Unicorn mare, dressed in a long brown coat and armoured riot barding seemed to materialize in front of him, this wasn't teleportation however. Teleportation magic had been lost for centuries but it was still well known it was instant. No this mare had just faded into view out of thin air. “I’m gonna give you three easy instructions, you will follow these instructions to the letter and if you’re a good boy and don’t try any funny shit with me I promise not to put the next one between those pretty blue eyes of yours.” The mare said in a cold, harsh and horrifically emotionless tone. The Stallion nodded to show he understood, not wanting to say anything in case it got him shot. "Good, now." the mare's horn glowed a soft blue as she used her magic to lift the stallion up into the air and ever so delicately, drop him on his face in a hard wooden cart. "You will sit quietly here until we get into town, when we get there you will co-operate fully and after we reach our destination you are going to have a nice long chat with my employer about why it's not very nice to carve foals up like a brahmin on a spit."

Something in the way the mare relayed these instructions, how calm and easily she was able to say them after shooting out both his back legs filled the Pegasus with dread, if it wasn't for his busted wing he would have just flown off, but would that have made any difference? Normally when a raider shoots someone and captures them, there's a hint of satisfaction and deranged pleasure in their tone. This mare didn't have that, she was stern and neutral as if she neither hated nor liked what she was doing, but didn’t care either way.

The cart ride was long, bumpy and bone chillingly quiet.

The mare just kept her eyes straight ahead, pulling the cart behind her, injured raider in the back as he stared up at the burning amber skies, hot sun beating down on both of them causing the raider to sweat, matting his coat further. Once or twice the thought of making a break for it crossed his mind but every plan he cooked up ended the same way when he played it out in his mind, the mare would notice him trying to escape and even if he did manage to lose her, how would he know she was really gone. It had taken some time to figure out but the stallion had noticed this rather intimidating unicorn mare had a Pip-buck strapped onto her right foreleg, normally these devices would be applied to the left foreleg but upon further inspection it seemed the mare had been tinkering with it, she'd completely refurbished the casing and even managed to splice a Stealth-buck into the device as an added feature... some pony that smart, it would be nearly impossible to escape from.

Several hours had passed, the sky was beginning to darken, and a trail of dust followed in the wake of the raider being dragged across the ground through town, mothers and fathers attempting to pull their children inside, shop owners and townsfolk all rushing to see what was going on. Inside the town hall an old stallion with a long grey moustache, his mane having completely fallen out dressed in a dirty old pre-war suit and a thick pair of cracked spectacles on his face was arguing with a young mare wearing a dusty old Stetson, a dirty leather vest and a set of old tattered denim chaps with a scoped six shot revolver strapped to one of her flanks. "Now see here Mayor, I've been the sheriff around these here parts for almost twenty years!" the mare said in a displeased tone, her heavy country accent couldn't be missed with a blindfold and earplugs. "We don't need no fancy Unicorn bounty hunter to track down this here varmint!"

"Now now." the mayor said trying to calm the fiery tempered mare down. "See here High Noon, this is precisely why I hired this bounty hunter, we need you here to protect the towns folk, not out there hunting down one dime a dozen raider, not even for a crime this horrific." this didn't seem to improve the mare's mood however as she glared down the mayor

"Well.. I still don't like it, something funny's up with this mare, she wears that gosh darn helmet twenty four seven, refuses to eat with the rest of us and won't even tell us her name."

"We've been over this High Noon." the mayor interjected before the sheriff could go any further. "Blackout's code name is to ensure complete confidentiality, we don't tell her our names, she only gives us the name she's known by as a bounty hunter.” The stallion cleared his throat. "that way if-" before the mayor could finish however High Noon slammed her hooves on his desk.

"That way if a bunch of dog gone, low down, yellow bellied raiders come a knocking on our doors we can't tell them anything about her, that confidentiality policy of hers is to cover her own tail not ours!"

"Calm down High noon." the elderly stallion said a tone of worry in his voice "If you keep working yourself up like this you'll give yourself a heart attack, think what'll happen if Bonesaw can't fix you up, it was a close call last time, what'll happen to Lasso if you kick the bucket stressing over a traveller who won't even be here come tomorrow morning." High Noon took in a deep breath.

"Fine..." she finally spoke up, sounding a bit calmer now. "But don't expect me to like it, bounty hunters aint no better than raiders and slavers in my opinion." she adjusted the old Stetson on her head and quickly bolted to her left as the doors to the town hall were kicked open and a pony shaped object flung in her direction which collided with the mayor's desk and dropped to the ground panting heavily.

"Aaaw and here I thought we were getting along so well sheriff." the mare dressed in riot barding said with a touch of sarcasm in her voice. "That's one good for nothing cannibal, tagged and bagged.” There was a moment of silence as the two stared blankly at the raider, back legs still bleeding, bullets poking out of the wounds they were driven into, coat matted by dust and dirt and his face was roughed up a bit, a black eye and a fresh scar decorating his ugly mug. The two town officials then turned their attention to the mare standing in the doorway, sniper rifle strapped on her back as she brushed some dust off of her coat. “… That’s two hundred caps alive right?"

Slowly the mare made her way towards the mayor’s desk, hooves barely making a sound as she softly trotted over the wooden floor out of habit.

As she placed her hooves on the desk, using her magic to lift the raider up for the mayor to see she pinned him onto the desk in front of him. “This is the guy right? Green eyes, Dark coat, Mane styled like a buzzsaw got stuck in his head?” Upon inspection of the crippled Pegasus the mayor found that he indeed matched the description of the miscreant perfectly, his eyes were a dull sickly green, his coat dark and discoloured by bruising, dirt and blood, only some of it his own and his Mohawk styled mane although common among raiders was easily recognizable due to how he styled it to be spiked up like a buzz saw.

“Y-Yes this is the one.” The mayor said as he knelt under his desk and opened up a safe, retrieving two large sacks and placing them on the desk. “Two hundred caps, as we agreed.” He said calmly as he gently pushed them towards her.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” The mare said and turned to walk out into the town, bags of caps levitating beside her as she used her magic to pack them into her saddlebags strapped onto her sides.

The next morning that sorry soul was hanged, and tossed out into the wasteland to be picked apart by Rad-roaches and whatever other creatures stumbled across his carcase. And that same white mare, the one no pony ever said a word to unless it was strictly business, stood there and watched.

“It’s a golden age we live in.” I repeated to myself. “Jobs are plentiful if you know where to look.” I looked to the bag of caps I held in my hoof, counting out five before putting the sack back into my saddle bag. “Well, I’d say I’ve earned myself a sparkle cola.” I turned to High Noon who stood next to me, pretending it was purely out of civic duty. “... Care to join me sheriff?”