Delivery!

I sit on a train, riding away from Canterlot with my fellow band members. Pinkie is positively bouncing... well, she always is. But, even more now, “Oh, I’m going to have to show you guys around the town! I mean, Braeburn does a fine job, but now I can do a tour of a town other than Ponyville!”

Free scoffs from her position on a bench, “Oh yes, because a lifeless desert sounds like a wonderful place.”

I pour her a bit of scotch, which she levitates with some magic, “Oh come on, Free, it’s not as if you are still tied to those damned plants. Lifeless deserts are wonderful places, even for a tree hugger like you.”

Free pulls the glass away from her head, “Tree hugger? I was a plant! Like, I was an actual plant! I can’t imagine living in a place with no plants around you.”

I smile, “You would’nt’ve liked the Mojave then.”

Lone smiles and leans over with a beer in his hand, “You being up a good point. Gonna be a blast to the past, Applelossa is. Town surrounded by nothing but wasteland, with people inside just trying to work hard and be happy. Sounds a lot like D.C. or even Kansas.”

I smile from behind a cigarette, “Kansas had it easy compared to the Mojave. Legion might’ve been cracking down on them, but at least they could walk the roads without worrying about death.”

Discord smiles as he sips the glass from his chocolate milk, “You should’ve seen the north back when ponies still lived there. I tell you, it was even worse than the wasteland, cause the very wind itself could kill you.”

I smile, and prepare to banter back.

—(???)—

I raise my welding mask as I look at what I’ve managed to do so far. Teleportation matrix is in place, calibrations all set to follow after the Courier. All that’s left is the safety matrixes and I should be able to go and find him.

I turn as I hear knocking on my door. I quickly go to answer it, “Hello?”

A ghoul stands on the other side, dressed in a fancy suit with some black sunglasses, and a cigarette lit in his fingers, “Ah, yes, hello. I am looking for someone named Arcade Gannon?”

I slowly nod, “That would be me, yes. Who would you be?”

The ghoul seems to brighten up at my answer, “Dean Domino, we have a mutual friend.”

I nod, “Courier?”

He nods back, “Courier.”

I open the door the rest of the way open, “Well then, come on in. It sounds like you have something important to say, so say it.”

Dean gladly comes in as I shut the door behind him, “See, I heard you were searching for him. I want in.”

I look at him suspiciously, “How did you know?”

He takes in a drag of the cigarette, and speaks the smoke out, “There is one of you in the Enclave that looked up to me as a child. All I did was ask him a simple question about the Courier, and I learned you were searching for him.”

I don’t lose my suspicions, “And why do you want to go with me?”

He sighs as he looks out to the side, “I can’t exactly do my singing anymore with my voice all ‘ghoulified’. So I figured I would search for my old partner, only to find he’s gone and blown himself up.”

I interject, “But he didn’t blow himself up.”

He nods, “Yeah, I know, they didn’t find a body. Either way, if he had been hit by that explosion, that’d mean the explosives he has strapped all to him would go off. If that’d happened, then we’d have a much bigger crater. Hell, might not even have a Mojave anymore if all of his explosives went off.”

I nod along, “So we can obviously assume that he survived.”

Dean drags from the cigarette with a smile, “We both know he survived. He doesn’t die. I once saw him get shot by a shotgun, and he just shrugged it off like it was nothing. Hell, only thing I’ve seen hurt him was a laser from a hologram. He didn’t die, he couldn’t die from something as simple as a nuke. We both know that’s how the Courier works.”

I smile, “Exactly! Quite clever, might I add. I was the only one out of the group of people that traveled with him that believed him still alive. Veronica hasn’t come out of the Bunker, Rex barely eats or drinks, Cassidy is somehow drinking more than she did before. Boone hasn’t spoken in weeks, he just sits in the Suite, even Ed-E isn’t beeping as much as he normally does. Lily is unaware, thank god, and Raul hasn’t left his shed. I also remember seeing this strange woman at his so called funeral. But you and I, we know him better. This is the Courier! And my machine has already locked onto him!”

Dean grins, “So then, how soon until we can go to him?”

I lose my smile a little, “About a week or two. But with your help on the machine, I might be able to fix it quicker.”

Dean throws his cigarette into a nearby bin, “Well, I can try my best. Just don’t tell me to hold stuff up, it’s hell on my knees.”

I quickly nod, and we get to work. I eventually bring something up, “So, what situation were you two out in?”

Dean grins as he screws something in, “Sierra Madre, the worst and best city I’ve had the pleasure to visit. All our lives were connected by bomb collars, and we had to break into the casino. We ended up getting out, the majority of us still alive. I waited for the Courier at the fountain, but the Ghost People were getting dangerously close. So, me and the Mute decide that he could live without a proper thank you. I booked it out of there, and found this lovely place called The Tops. Tried to sing one of my old songs, discovered my voice has been ruined. Now, I seek out the only person I know that will keep my busy and alive at the same time.”

I nod, “Alright then. You see that screw there? Can you screw all of those in?”

—(???)—

I smile as the children take shots at targets, “Keep on trying, everyone! We need to make sure we are safe now. Act like these targets are the raiders that killed you a few days ago. Aim for the head!”

Platinum quickly raises his revolver, the one his father used. It’s easily the biggest weapon there, being a .44 among .308s. He manages to place three shots on his target, just barely missing the bullseye.

I smile and kneel down next to him, “Come on, keep on firing. With enough practice, I’m sure you’ll become as good a shot as your father was.”

The kid nods and smiles, as he aims his fathers revolver down the range. The sound of gunshots fills the town, training the kids to defend themselves.

—(Courier)—

We’re pulled along the town by a hyperactive Pinkie. Well, me and Lone are pulled. Discord follows after, and Free floats after us. Pinkie is in the middle of pointing at something, “And here we have the horse drawn horse drawn carriages!”

She is about to continue, but she is interrupted by a echoing bang, quiet from distance. I listen to the shot clearly, “.44 revolver. Why does that sound so familiar? .44... my revolver!”

I look in the distance, where the sound came from. Lone walks up to me, “What was that, Courier?”

I hear it once again, and it just confirms my theory, “That sound! That’s my old revolver!”

I instantly start to sprint across the empty desert to where I can hear the shots ring out. I can hear Lone behind me, “God damnit!”

I run like my life depends on it, my legs a blur over the shifting sands. I hear the shots even more, and only speed up.

I see something come out of the sand, and stop in my tracks. A gate stands in between a wall, and a gun pokes itself out. I quickly draw my revolver and point it back at the thing on the other side of the gate. Lone runs up next to me, and draws his own 9mm when he sees the hunting rifle. We stand like that for a while, before a smooth, female voice speaks from behind the gate, “Identify yourself!”

It’s a voice that instantly sends memories shooting through me.

“Glad your back.”

I stare at the gate in shock, allowing my cigarette to fall out of my mouth. My hand trembles around my revolver, “Scarlet?”

The voice instantly responds, “John?”

The gate opens up, and it reveals her. Standing there, just like she was before... she died. My hands tremble even more, and I just stare at her in shock, “But you died...”