//-------------------------------------------------------// Courier Blues -by Courier 5- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue War war never changes... The Courier with the assistance of Yes-Man was able to kick both the Legion and the NCR out of Hoover Dam, and with Mr.House out of the way, New Vegas's independence was secured. Chaos swiftly followed suit, both in the streets of vegas and in the Mojave as a whole. Rampant fighting among people was a daily occurrence, because of this the Courier diverted some of his Securitron army to Vegas and its surrounding areas. The Courier tried to fix tensions among the people and although he was able to convince most that his plans for independence were the best choice for the future, some still doubt him and his capability of controlling and protecting an entire region. 10 years after the event, large dust storms would fall upon the region, covering the Mojave in darkness. Reports of small settlements becoming vacant became too often of an occurrence during this time. It wouldn't be long until the reason for the sudden disappearances of people would show itself. All over the Mojave tunnelers would pop up and attacked anything insight causing mass panic among the people of Vegas. The first place to fall to the beasts would be Goodsprings, then Hidden Valley. The Courier would retreat to Big Mountain to find a way to get rid of this threat, as he was away many other places fell to the hoards of tunnelers. The tunnelers would continue their trek towards Vegas as they took down many towns in the process. https://camo.fimfiction.net/rYmtTRnGxMAxCTt7Lh9AzG4nK_cua_OYaCw5Yv6R8aM?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FTBZ59Nf.gif 2 Months after the initial outbreak The Courier circled the Sink central intelligence unit for what seemed to be the 5th time now. The large round table had the map of the Mojave glowing blue on its screens surface as red markers popped up around the towns that had fallen to the ongoing threat known as the tunnelers. Most of the inhabited locations towards the West had already fallen. The man kept circling the unit as he tried to think of anything to wipe out these beasts, yet anything he had attempted so far failed. He and the scientist of Big Mountain tried to modify the Sonic Emitter that Loyal had given him to see if they could modify it to work on tunnelers instead of ants. Sadly even though the test of 185 decibels and up usually was able to kill the pests, that would only work in an enclosed space, If they tried to just have it in the open the sound wouldn't do anything unless a tunneller was right next to the device emitting the frequency. Next, they would attempt to see if enough radiation could kill one of them, none of the tests succeeded. Then they attempted to see if they could blind the damn things so that at least killing them would be a bit easier, but due to the large dust storms currently enveloping the region, any kind of bright light wouldn't affect the tunnelers. They would try numerous amounts of tests on the tunnelers they were able to capture, each one either failing or wouldn't work when applied to the Mojave's current condition. Hell! they even tried testing on the Cloud residue that the Courier had collected from the Sierra Madre, but the only way that would work would be for him to infect the entire region! As he continues to walk a certain voice alerted their presence through a nearby intercom. "Courier! We may have been able to find the answer to your dilemma, come to the Think Tank so we may discuss." The voice of Doctor Klein yelled through the intercom, seems like he forgot to lower his voice modules volume... The Courier quickly raced towards the main room of the Think Tank and soon met with the other scientists. Each of the scientists turned their monitors towards him, the one with the dark blue glowing tank spoke first. "Ah you arrived, like I said we may have found the answer to the tunneler problem-" the brain in the jar hovered towards a table and picked up an object with all three of its claws then presented the strange device "- this here is our problem solver! This has taken us weeks to create so don't break it with your weird finger penises!" The device in question was as big as a Protectron's torso, it was shaped like a box, on its sides were radioactive symbols with wires poking out and on what was assumed to be the face of the object were buttons, switches, and a keypad. The Courier looked quizzically at the thing, not wanting to touch the mysterious box due to the symbols but did so anyway holding it in both hands. Luckily his Pip-boys Geiger counter didn't pick up any radiation. "So... What does it do?" The Courier said as he hefted the box. Before Dr.Klien could start explaining Dr.0 chimed in. "That device your holding there is what we like to call the T-31136 i-" Another voice chimed in through the large monitor hanging above the entrance, as the static subsided the voice of Mobius came through. "pah! The T-31136? What kind of name is that! I thought we agreed we'd call it the TUNNELLER-BEGONE DETONATOR! That is a much better name than-" "enough! For fuck sakes just tell me what this thing does!" The Courier yelled at the scientists. The box was causing lots of strain to his back even with his synthetic spine. He placed it down on the ground before something breaks. The scientists of the Think Tank turned their monitors back to him, this time Dr. Borous chimed in. " That device at your feet will cause an explosion that will exterminate the strange creatures. BOOOOM! TUNNERLERS GONE." "What! That's idiotic! Why the hell would an explosion from this thing-" The Courier pointed towards the box "-get rid of the tunnelers!" The Courier said, getting more frustrated as this conversation continues. Static chimed in and this time Dala started to speak. "Well... As Dr.Borous said, it causes an explosion but unlike ones from simple grenades or mini-nukes, it's more like an explosion from a pre-war Bunker Buster, the explosion should be so large that it will put a massive dent in the tunneler's current state. The explosion will also cause the tunnels of these creatures to be buried, crushing the things into the ground within the 50-mile radius. If our notes are correct the bright flash would scare off any leftover tunnelers and be blinded into a retreat." When she finished her explanation the Courier's expression looked even more frustrated and confused. "Are you kidding me?! That's the best you have, do you know how many lives that will cost! How much constructional damage that would cause!" The Courier became furious at the scientist, but before he could continue he was cut off by Klein. "Courier, we understand that your caring for the Mojave may blind your judgment, but we have run countless calculations on this matter. Its either now or never, if our projections are correct the Mojave will be overrun in 2 weeks and after that time they would have reproduced so much that there'd be too many even for you to handle. 2 weeks alone is not enough time to find a less destructive way of dealing with them." They both looked back at the device, the Courier contemplated for a moment, he began to speak but nothing came out. If they were right then he couldn't wait any longer, might as well get any survivors out while there's any at all. Sighing to himself he began walking towards the Sink room. "Jesus... Alright, if this is our final option we need to prepare-" the Courier turned his head back to the scientist "- I'm going to set up a warning signal so that we can get any survivors out." He continued on his path "God I hope this works." https://camo.fimfiction.net/rYmtTRnGxMAxCTt7Lh9AzG4nK_cua_OYaCw5Yv6R8aM?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FTBZ59Nf.gif The Courier leaned on the Sinks balcony as he looked down at the crater below called Big Mountain. For the past few hours, he's been thinking about this new plan and how to execute it. The Courier sighed and pushed himself up off the railing and looked through his pack, the pack was pretty full due to the massive device in it with his other items. He pulled out his helmet, an old riot ranger helmet with a partially fixed visor and a bullet hole on the cap with 'Benny was here' engraved next to it, and he also pulled out a pistol-shaped device that he liked to call the Transportal Ponder. He equipped the helmet and made sure to have the clasps connecting it to his armor were in place, then aimed his transportation device towards the sky and pulled the trigger. He was ingulfed an electrifying blue light and appeared on the steps to the Lucky 38. When the bright light subsided he found himself to be in the presence of some survivors that decided to make camp in the Strip, each one looked towards him with rage. If it wasn't for the Securitrons he was sure that they would have attacked him there and then. One of the survivors came up to him, it was hard to make out the details of the person's appearance through the visor but from what he could tell they had long hair and wore some sort of leather armor. "Well look who it is! The Courier who turned his tail and ran while we had to sit here while these things fucking tore this place to shit!" The survivor yelled at him, her voice was ghoulish, sounded like she had a build-up of phlegm. She stopped at the second step of the 38. "Listen I know that the tunnelers have overturned Vegas since I've left but while I was away I've been trying to find a way to stop this, and I have." As the Courier said this the survivors gained a look of surprise, the one who approached him looked unconvinced. "Is that so? Well, then what's your solution to our pest problem." She said as she backed up a bit. "Well... none of you will like this. The only solution is this nuclear device, I've tried and tried but there's no other way!." The survivors stayed silent for a bit and then they all started to yell at him and made their approach, only stopping when the Securitrons came to the Couriers side. They all yelled "You fucker!" and "We should've known you'd kill us!" the Courier reluctantly turned his back and walked inside as the Securitrons protected the entrance. As he entered he was greeted by 2 other securitrons next to the elevator, as he walked up they said the usual "Hello sir" and nothing else. Courier walked into the elevator and went to the Penthouse floor, as he waited he looked at his pip-boy to make sure he had everything he needed. The elevator dinged and the door opened. As he entered he was greeted by a floating metal orb that he called E-de. "heh I miss you too pal," The Courier said as he patted it on its side, he continued towards a large monitor that had a flickering screen with a smiley face on it " Yes-Man! I need you to send out a message through all frequencies that are still active." He said as he passed 2 more of his companions he left here, both of them looked on in confusion. "Six! Your back!" A man by the name of Arcade Gannon called out, he wore his Followers of the Apocolypse coat. Next to Raul. The Courier turned back towards the 2 "Hey guys... Wheres the others? He said as he waited for Yes-Man to respond. The screen continued to flicker, ever since the NCR attacked the generators Yes-Man has been on the frits even with a new power source. "Well boss Rex is in the Presidential Sweet with Veronica and señora Cassidy is in the Lounge. That's beside the point, whats brought you back? Did you find the solution to the tunnelers? Or are you just here to gather whats yours and disappear again." He said with a hint of anger, Six couldn't blame him. Six stared at the floor before explaining. "I have found a solution, but neither of you will like it." He began to tell his plans and about the nuclear device, Arcade was the first to respond. "What!? You can't be serious, there's got to be some other way to get rid of them! This cant be our only option" Arcade fumed at him while Raul stared on with fear and concern. "I don't want to be rude boss but are you insane! Has perdido tus canicas!" Raul yelled, Six stopped them before the could go on. "I understand that you two are against this and I understand why. Believe me when I say this but I've tried to find another way but this is our best shot. I-" Yes-Man interrupted. "Ah hello, Six! Glad to see you aga-in" The screens flickering increased "What message would y-ou like for me to broadcast?" Yes-Man said in his usual cheerful voice. "I need you to broadcast this holotape, put it on a loop." A holotape loader popped up allowing Six to place his message inside. Once inside the loader closed and he checked his Pip-boy and played the Radio New-Vegas broadcast, and sure enough, his warning for all survivors to flee the Mojave, anyone within the Strip and Freeside will be escorted far away from the detonation site and the tunnelers. He turned back towards his companions. "I need you two to get the others and once all of you are together I need you to huddle up and use this-" He hands Arcade the Transportal Ponder "- press the trigger and it will transport you to Big Mountain," He said with obvious sorrow. "What about you? How are you going to get out?" Arcade said still slightly mad about this whole ordeal. "I won't..." He walks towards the elevator leaving everyone in the room surprised at the response. He entered the elevator and pressed the button to the basement before the door closed he heard Arcade yell something he couldn't understand. Once the door reopened he was in the basement, exiting he went to the center of the room and took off his pack and took out the explosive. Placing the large device on the ground he flicked the switches and entered the passcode, he prepared himself for the oncoming blast until he heard rumbling. The sound stopped briefly until 2 tunnelers tunneled into the room, both of them saw and ran towards Six. Six tried to enter the code quickly but before he could finish one of them tackled him and tore into the vest piece of his armor making a large dent in the process. He pushed it off and instead of fighting he went to finish the code, while he did this one of them went to bite his arm. Using his other arm he was able to complete the passcode and went to punch the tunneler. One hit to the nose easily got it off his arm, he could hear the insides of the device activating and his life flashed before his eyes at that very moment. From his time in Vault 18 to his time in the Mojave. The device had activated and all he could hope was that some survivors escaped along with his companions. He and the tunnelers were engulfed in bright light and things went to black. Author's Note Welcome to my first story on this site! Any and all criticism is good criticism so please leave any in the comments so I may get better at creating stories and chapters. //-------------------------------------------------------// Awakening //-------------------------------------------------------// Awakening All Six could see was blackness and then an intense numbness all over his body. He tried to open his eyes and when he did he was met with a red-tinted sky, or at least he thought it was the sky, it was hard to tell through the visor. Six paused for a moment, he should've been dead, shouldn't he? He remembers setting off the device and it went off, then nothing. Could his mutant abilities allowed him to survive the blast? No, that couldn't be it his atoms would've been scattered to the winds. Then why was he still alive? Was he in heaven? All of these questions rattled in his head and he decided to get up to see where he was. It was at this point he found he was unable to. He tried to bring his hands to his neck to unclasp the helmet and remove it, but when he did so his appendages didn't feel right. He lifted a hand to his face and noticed that it wasn't there but it was replaced with what looked like a hoof similar to those found on brahmin and big-horners. Six's breathing hitched for a moment as he was stunned. He brought his arm into his line of sight he looked it up and down and noticed that underneath his pip-boy and duster was a layer of brown fur. Six pushed himself up which was awkward due to his new limbs. He began an examination of the rest of his body noticing that his torso and legs had changed along with his arms, he also notices the change in his eyesight, and all of his clothing morphed with him to fit his new body. Once his quick examination was finished he fell flat on his back only to realize he still wore his pack which for some reason he didn't notice before. sitting himself up he removed it which he found difficult due to his lack of hands. Once removed he looked through it to find that everything he had when he activated the bomb was there and nothing looked too different. with a sigh of relief, he looked around and what he saw made him even more confused, he saw green grass and trees all around him. Now he was even more confused and had even more questions, like why the hell was he some kind of animal? He tried unclasping his helmet again but couldn't due to him having hooves, that was until he could feel the clasps as if he still had fingers when they touched the underside of his hooves. Six noticed some kind of pads on the underside that flexed when he wanted them to, using this to his advantage he unclasped the helmet slowly and removed it. He inspected it and was once again shocked when he noticed the strange shape of it. The helmet had some weird snout shape where the mouthpiece is and the visor was enlarged, it also had some sort of ear encasing shaped like dog ears. Speaking of which he realized that now with it off he could feel something pinned against his head, reaching up with one hoof he felt around where the sensation was and to his surprise, he felt his ear. As he guessed his ear along with his entire head had changed. The helmet also had a hole in the center of the cap above the visor. He laid there for a few minutes until he was ready to try and get up. He turned over on his stomach and pushed upwards using what was now his forelegs and had his back legs under him to get ready to stand. When he tried to stand on 2 legs he immediately fell back down, his ext attempt would stand on all fours. He did the same thing as before but instead of pushing up with his forelegs full force he slowly pushed up on all 4 legs and succeeding. He wobbled for a bit until getting his balance. "How can Rex stand and walk like this?" Six thought to himself as he attempted to stay standing. Now that he was up he looked around and turned his attention back to the dense forest full of green trees, he'd only seen things like this in pre-war pictures in Jacobstown! As he examined the forest he realized that towards the north, or at least he thought it was north, was a visible clearing. Six decided to head towards the opening but first, he needed to learn how to walk on all fours. At first, when he tried he'd wobble and fall but after a while, he got used to it and was able to slowly walk. Before he went off he equipped his pack once more, reequipped his helmet, and slowly but steadily walked towards the clearing. Halfway into his trek into the trees he notices some ruffling in a nearby bush which made him pause, a small white thing hopped out of the foliage, it had a pink nose and had what he assumed was long white ears. Six had no idea what this thing was but it seemed to be friendly enough to not be attacking him. After what felt like hours of staring at each other, it simply hopped away. Six let out a breath he had no clue he was holding in and looked towards the direction it went to, then continued his path. As he got closer he noticed the forest got less dense and more sunlight came through the leaves of the trees. Six was surprised at how easy it was to get out of this forest, he was sure that at some point he would've been pounced on by some mongrel. He was a few feet from being out of the forest he heard some rumbling in the ground, the earth below him shook, something about this felt oddly familiar. It was at this point his perception kicked in and realized that he might have not been the only thing to be transported by the blast as he remembers the two tunnelers that were attacking him. Just a few seconds later just as he expected a tunneler unearthed itself and thanks to the shade from the trees wasn't blinded from the sun. Six backed away from the beast and quickly examined it, the tunneler looked very different from what he remembered. Instead of its usual humanoid figure, the thing had also turned into a creature similar to his own. Instead of fur, it had its scales and at the end of its hooves were claws similar to that of a yoa-gui. Its head was that of a lizard and its teeth sharper than Six's knives. The protruding spines on its shoulders and the back of his head glowed dimly with its eyes in the shaded forest. These details were the only ones he could take before he was immediately pounced on by the monster. Six fell to the ground as the tunneler pinned him there trying to go for the neck. If it weren't for his biotic upgrades Six was sure he would have been dead already, his arms trying their best to hold the thing back. As the tunneler continues its attack Six realized that although his forelegs were busy his back legs could be used, he aimed his back legs and pushed upwards kicking it away. Six inched himself away from the threat, the tunneler quickly pounced once more but this time he rolled to the side. He quickly took off his pack and took out one of his weapons, the first one he touched was the one he took out. His hoof touched his saturnite fist and as he took it out he realized that unlike his other weapons the power fist was transformed to fit his hoof. Not wanting to let his curiosity blind him from the threat he set aside his questions and equipped the weapon. The tunneler was fast approaching and six prepped his arm to punch and hopefully knock it out. The beast pounced and Six trusted his arm out and the fist launched its metal brick using the pneumatic ram mechanism within the weapon. As the weapon and beast connect, the tunneler was launched backward giving Six a chance to get himself standing and run. Six began to quicken the pace he was used to and almost fell multiple times, he could hear the footsteps and sometimes the falling of the thing, it seems as if it also wasn't used to having to run on hooves feet. When Six got closer to the clearing where the trees didn't block the sun, the pouncing threat's aim was getting worse. Six increased his speed and launched into the opening only to find himself rolling down a hill, the tunneler on the other hand, was blinded as soon as it got to the forest's edge and retreated into the darkness. Six cursed all the way down until he stopped near a riverbed, he was exhausted, his vision began to blur. Six decided to let his body become unconscious since he knew his healing factor would heal him in due time. The last thing he saw was a pair of cyan hooves approach him before he went completely unconscious. Author's Note Howdy folks, I hope you've enjoyed these first two chapters of Courier Blues. I plan to get a new chapter out at least in a week but I might procrastinate on it, so if I do Id like to apologize beforehand. :twilightsheepish: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/twilightsheepish.png //-------------------------------------------------------// Hospital in the Oasis //-------------------------------------------------------// Hospital in the Oasis Six's eyes slowly opened, allowing bright light into his vision. Blinded, he closed them for a few seconds and opened them once again. As he slowly awoke a subtle breeze made itself known, the air slowly danced on his cheeck before drifting away. He sat up and realized he had been tucked into a bed, taking off the covers he notices that almost all of his equipment but his pip-boy had been removed from him. He looked around worriedly, his eyes glancing at every corner of the room, his items nowhere in sight. His body had some bandages but other than that nothing to note (besides the fact he was still a 4 legged animal). The room he was in was as white as the "snow" in Jacob's Town, the only things in there were the bed he was on, a bedstand with a small lamp on it, a desk with a cabinet above it, medical tools sitting on said desk and a window with its curtain blowing about with the wind. He was about to try and get out of his bed but the noise of something approaching outside made him stop in his tracks. The door to his room slowly opened as a creature similar to him walked in, it wore a medical coat with a pair of glasses, its fur a tan color, ocean blue irises, and its hair blonde. The thing also had a horn on its head, it vaguely reminded Six of someone but he couldn't place his finger on who. The thing seemed to be reading off of a clipboard, the item caused the courier to take a double-take, however. The object in question floated nearby the quadruped, encased by some kind of gas, said mysterious substance glowed an orange hue. While Six was distracted it seems that the creature had noticed him staring because as his gaze returned to the said creature, the thing was looking at him with confusion... 'Wait a minute, that thing is showing confusion! If that's the case then it may be intelligent in someway!, ' It cleared its throat as it realized it has my attention- "Ah you're awake, good. We had thought that you were suffering from more than just some scratches, bite marks, and exhaustion," Its look of confusion turned to worriedness. As it spoke Six had tensed up, the thing had just talked! It spoke in fucking English to add to the list of surprises, it was no doubt intelligent if this wasn't a dead giveaway. Giving the creature a closer look he noticed that the same gas... or possible liquid? had encased its horn, the things coat had a red cross on one of the arms sleeves, whatever this thing was it seemed to be some kind of doctor... but then if that's the case then its most likely that he was in some hospital. As questions kept piling up in his head, the thing walked towards him and began examining his body. "When you were dropped off you were beaten up as if you ventured through Tartarus and back! Luckily you only seemed to have gotten some scratches, the only real concern was the large bite mark on you're right foreleg." Letting out a laugh it continued to examine Six. As he (at least what Six had assumed was a he) examined Six's body, the courier could hear scribbling coming from the clipboard. As he looked over he saw that there was a pencil moving on its own as it wrote on the board. 'For fuck's sake why am I not surprised! What else is there, is a god damn dragon going to crash through the window!?' Throwing logic out the window Six decides to go with the flow, taking deep breaths in and out he responds, "U-um,-" He cleared his throat once more "- excuse me, where the hell am I?" His voice was slightly raspy, Six wished he had a cola at the moment so he could clear out his damn throat. The thing looked up at him in confusion before its face turned into realization. "Oh, you're currently in the Ponyville Hospital, I'm Doctor Rest by the way," The 'doctor' finished its examination as it looked back at his clipboard, somehow not disturbed at the fact that the object was floating along with the pencil writing stuff down by itself. Looking away from the doc, Six felt his ears perk up as he heard other noises from outside his room. It sounded like there were more people outside, from what he could see from his seated position he could see that through the door was a hallway. Every so often another creature similar to him would walk past, said hallway was decently lit and its wall was painted white while its floor was simply tiled. "Non of this makes any sense... one second I'm getting blown into oblivion while getting attacked by tunnelers, and the next I'm in some godforsaken forest only to be attacked once more by tunnelers..." Realization hit him just as he remembered that part, the fucking tunnelers were also transported to this new realm. He was getting sidetracked though, that was a problem for a later date. Right now he had to find his belongings and get as much info on his surroundings. "Well, I thank you for patching me up. Mind telling me where my things are? I'd like to get them back as soon as possible." Looking back at the doctor, he seemed to be too preoccupied with reading everything on the clipboard to notice Six's distressed state. The doc looked back at him before nodding his head. "Of course, I just need you to fill out a forum or two before you head out. From what the records show us... well you have non-" the pencil and clipboard floated over to Six "- Once you're done a nurse will come and bring you your things. Speaking of which, we found some rather disturbing items such as blades in there along with items that nopony has seen before. If it weren't for the items belonging to you they would've been sent to Canterlot to be researched or something along those lines. Can you explain to us as to why you have such things?" Rest's face scrunched up as he talked, a look of worry could be seen in his eyes. "If you're wondering if I plan to use any of my items to harm anyone, don't worry because I don't plan to," As Six said this the doctor seemed to relax. "Best to not scare these things, don't want to get off on the wrong foot" Reluctantly Six reached out with his hooves appendages and picked up the pencil and board from the air, the gas (or what he assumed now was gas) dissipated. Holding objects with his hooves still felt strange, it was unnatural, but for now, it was something he'd haft to deal with. Rest raised an eyebrow at his action only to shake his head as he walked out of the room. Looking down at the clipboard he read what information was required from him on. Nothing much, simple things such as name, date of birth, etc. It seems as if Doc Rest had already filled out some things such as blood type, weight, and other information that didn't worry Six. That was until he looked back at the blood type, reading the information placed next to the box made him pause. 'Blood Type: B Positive strange particles were also seen within the pony's blood, must look further onto this matter~' What does he mean by strange particles, also is 'pony' what these creatures call themselves? Yet another question that most likely won't be answered for a long time, but at least he got one answer. Six just wrote down the information that was needed from him, as he finished writing another pony walked in. This one had white fur, with pink hair that was pulled back into a bun, its eyes shined a pale baby blue within the light. He also spotted a nurse hat that sat on its head with a red cross on its front. The pony had a somewhat large bag on its back which weighed it down as it walked on over. As the unnamed pony reached him, it had dropped the bag and looked up to him before smiling. "Here you are, all your belongings are in the bag. Have you finished filling out the papers yet?" She said, looking past her cheery exterior Six could tell that carrying the bag had exhausted her. He just nodded and handed the board and pencil to the pony. "Thanks for bringing my things, miss?..." The realization hit her face as he said that, she gained a light blush. "My name is Nurse Redheart, and its no problem. I'm just doing my job," She scratched the back of her head. Shaking his head with a small smile, Six got off of the bed, as he landed on the floor his legs were wobbly. The nurse quickly went to help him stabilize his stance. He was going to haft to get used to the whole 'walking on all fours' thing quickly unless he wanted to draw attention to himself. Slow and steadily, he managed to get to his bag and began to unpack things such as his duster and helmet. Nurse Readheart made her way out as he did so, looking over his morphed clothing, he noted that it was indeed his original clothing that was morphed to fit his form. Raising his Pip-boy into view, Six made his way to the inventory/clothing tab and pressed the button to equip his armor. Said clothing started to materialize around his body in an instant, if there's one thing he loved about the device stuck to his arm it was the fact he could make items on his person appear out of thin air! He didn't know the exact science behind it, all he could remember was something about dematerialization of the item from one place and rematerialize in another or something along those lines. Looking over to his helmet, he picked it up but hesitated on placing it on his head. Examining it again he just shrugged before equipping it, his vision now having a red tint on the world around him. Clasping the buckle he looked back out into the hallway as ponies wandered by. Letting out a sigh he wandered out of his room after equipping his backpack. "Into a whole new adventure, I guess..." He aid under his breath as he searched the hallway for a sign pointing towards the entrance of the hospital. Looking to his left he saw what he was looking for, above a set of double doors was a sign that said 'Exit ->'. Walking through the set of doors he entered what looked like a typical hospital entrance, there was a desk that sat what he believed was a secretary, chairs with some ponies sat upon them on the side of the room, it kept up the style of all white with its walls painted the same color, and windows that showed the greenery waiting for him on the other side. Walking up to the doors that led to the outside world, he looked around the room and found that he had caught some of the ponies' attention. Letting out a final sigh he looked back towards the set of double doors before proceeding to push them open. The light of the outside quickly spread across his skin, the breeze danced upon his skin that was not covered from his clothing or helmet, the smell of grass and nonirradiated oxygen filled his lungs. His eyes adjusted to the outside, the landscape was breathtaking, green hills laid the land, he could see rivers with clear water flowing nearby, colorful birds flew through the sky, and a small town just a few feet away from the hospital. Taking a step from the building he continued to examine the land before him, 'Welp, time for a whole new adventure.' and with that, he moved into the town... Author's Note Sorry for how late this is, I procrastinated on this for a while:twilightblush: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/twilightblush.png Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! //-------------------------------------------------------// Bar Time Troubles: Part One //-------------------------------------------------------// Bar Time Troubles: Part One According to my pip-boy the time is currently 6 PM, dunno if time moves the same way as it did back in the Mojave though so its more of a guess than anything accurate. This town is a strange one that's for sure, so bright with its colors. The townsfolk seems to be friendly enough although most sidestep from me and take glances before walking off in a hurry towards the opposite direction (probably because of my armor that has a couple of dull red stains here and there). I had left the hospital a few minutes ago and have just been wandering around and while walking about in the town I had a run-in with one of the town's people. She looked as if the color pink vomited all over her, before I could ask if she needed anything the pony went wide-eyed before speeding away faster than a bullet. Other than that things have been somewhat normal (or as normal as you can get with the whole talking animals thing). Not much to say, to be honest, some of the buildings are a little strange but nothing incredible. Well besides that large crystal tower but that's something to investigate on another day... Once Six finished off his log he looked around his surroundings, he currently sat at a table outside a building that he heard the locals call the Surgercube Corner, his helmet sat on the ground with his pack beside the chair he sat on. Closing the journal, he scrounged inside his pack in search of something to snack on and pulled out a box of Sugar Bombs and a Nuka-Cola. As some ponies walked by they stared at him with confused looks as if they've never seen something similar to the items he carried 'I swear can't these people mind their own business?'. Popping off the cap using the side of the table, he began chugging down the sweet sweet Cola. After finishing up his little break with some Sugar Bombs he started to pack up and continued to wander the town. Walking into what seemed to be the town's market place, he could see that it was bustling. It's so strange seeing a place so lively, usually, there'd be at least ten people outside in the towns like Goodsprings but here? This part of town has twice that amount walking about. On his journey through the small town, multiple shops could be seen selling useless items such as quills or sofas, sadly there were no weapon or ammo shops which meant he's on limited ammo for the time being. (Not like he'll be running out of ammo anytime soon since he's got to relearn how to use his weapons) As he walked he let his mind wander to topics he wasn't able to think clearly on while in the hospital. The biggest thought that came to mind was the fact that two tunnelers came over from his world, those things can easily mate and grow in numbers fast. 'God these ponies wouldn't last a second with those things considering how pacifistic they seem to be, even the ones that appeared to be the guards of this town seemed like marshmallows!' The worst part was that he was now a pony so if any danger came he'd be defenseless. He began making a to-do list in his head of what to do in his current predicament. Step One: Learn more about the denizens of this world Step Two: Learn to properly use this new body Step Three: Figure out how to use his items again Step Four: Warn the ponies of incoming danger and finally, Step Five: eliminate the tunnelers and retire He was snapped out of his thoughts when he accidentally bumped into someone. Landing on his ass he looked towards the person he bumped into, the pony in question was orange with blonde hair, it also wore a stetson which Six thought was a little funny. As the two of them got back up a look of confusion crossed the pony's face. "Ah'm sorry, I wasn't looking where Ah was walking... uh, are ya new to Ponyvill? Cuz Ah've never seen yer face here before. Or that kind of getup around these parts" She looked at Six's clothing for a split second before looking back at him "Um... yea I'm new here, and no need to apologize miss?..." "Oh! My name is Applejack, a pleasure to meet ya." The pony said as she held out her hoof, Six just looked at it awkwardly. "Eh ever heard of a hoof shake before partner?" Donning with realization, and mentally face-palming himself, he reached out with a hoof of his own and gave her a hoof shake. Applejack just looked at him quizzically before giving a lite chuckle "Well welcome to Ponyville, mister?" "Call me Courier" Ah there's the good old confusion that he was used to when he told people what to call him, never gets old. "Courier? That's an occupation partner, not a name." "Yeah well that's my name, don't wear it out" He let out a small chuckle as he slowly walked away, seems like miss Applejack was heading the same direction. "Welp if that's yer name, that's yer name. So while we're still walkin' n talkin' would ya care to explain where ya come from, also what's with the get-up? Wearin something like that makes me think yer the adventurer type" Welp shit, Six had not thought of a story as to where he came from or whats with all of the shit he carried. He had to use Plan B! What's Plan B you ask? Well, it's a little something called improvise. 'Cmon Six think of somethin quick' "Well that's a bit tricky to answer Miss Applejack, you see I don't really come from anywhere. I just roam place to place looking for stuff to do, and for my armor? It's for protection obviously" "Ah, so yer the 'go wherever the wind blows' type of pony? I can respect that. Welp sorry to cut the conversation short but I gotta go n sell some apples. Oh! Almost forgot, expect a party from Pinkie Pie sometime soon" With that said, she tipped her hat and walked towards a stand that like she said, did indeed sell apples. Six simply gave her a wave goodbye and walked off The conversation went better than expected, he's going to haft to work on his story though and make it more convincing since there's most likely going to be at least one pony that will want more answers than the ones he gave Applejack. Six decided to continue walking along and see where the wind takes him, and it took him to what seems to be the town's bar. Reading the sign that hung next to the doors Six saw that the place was called 'The Salty Saloon'. The building had two windows in the front and looking through said windows he could see that there were some tables with chairs that had ponies sitting on them, a bar counter with a pony behind it near another set of windows to the right side of the building. If there was a place he KNEW he could get information, it was the bar. Opening the door to the establishment he was hit with the stench of alcohol and smoke. The lights were slightly dim and it was depressing as hell. The ponies here all looked tired, and now that he was inside he could see how little customers the place had. Walking up to the bartender who was a pony with neither a horn nor wings, its fur was dark green with yellow messy hair and maroon-colored eyes. As he walked up the pony looked at him with a bored expression with large bags under its eyes. "Welcome to the Salty Saloon, we sell ciders, alcohol, and food so pick your poison." Her voice was slightly gravelly and sounded just as bored as she looked. "Not interested in buying anything today, ju-" "If you ain't buying anything then hit the road. I don't have time for any more ponies like you that sit around and waist seats." Six paused and looked at the pony that just interrupted him, looks like getting information was going to be harder than he thought. Looking around the bar he noticed a lack of customers. There was at least 3 currently in here not counting him or the barkeep. "No wonder why your bar is so empty if you talk to everyone like that..." at that she grew enraged, so much so that Six flinched back a bit at how sudden she went from bored to angry. "Don't you tell me why and why not my fuckin place is practically going out of business!" Touchy topic got it. With that new information in mind Six quickly came up with a scheme that was certain to give him the answers he wanted. "You say your business is going down the drain? Well, maybe I can help with that... in exchange for some information of course." With that now in the air, the pony reeled back before pondering on his statement. "Well maybe, you do look like the kind of pony who can get stuff done... Alright fine you've got yourself a deal" "Alrighty, names Courier by the way. Now let's get down to business, shall we? What do you need me to do?" Six smirked as he went to the notes page on his pip-boy and listen intently. "Names Tidefall, as for what I need you to fix are just three things, and once you get them done my bar will flourish! I don't get enough customers because one: its zap cider season so most of the customers flock to the Apple family farm, two: most ponies don't even know my bar exist because I lack the bits to send out advertisements 24/7 like some places, and three: I highly underestimated the rival bar on the other side of town. Six nodded his head as he wrote down everything she said on his pip-boy. Once he to the basics of what she said down he looked back towards her. "Alright then, how'd you like for me to approach this?" "Well if you're serious about helping me out with this I suggest starting with the Apple family, they are reasonable ponies so I'm sure you can talk them into something to help me out. Maybe some kind of deal where they share zap apple cider with me so I can sell it here, and share the profits." "Apple family it is then" He began to turn and walk out before realizing something, turning back around to Tidefall he asked "Which way is the Apple's farm?" Walking through the field of trees Six could see it went on for miles! Each tree had a least five apples hanging off the branches, some apples look as if they were dipped in a rainbow... odd but not the weirdest thing he's seen. He approached the Apple Family's barn, the barn walls were bright red with white beams that supported some parts of the structure like the purple roof. Next to the large barn was a house that followed the same color scheme, on the porch was an old pony that rocked back and forth in its chair. Walking up he could properly examine them, white hair with a lime green coat and what seemed to be amber eyes, it also wore some kind of orange bandana around its neck. The pony didn't seem to even notice his approach, walking closer he stopped at the edge of the porch he let out a cough to get the things attention. He finally got its attention and looked over to him. "Uh excuse me, are you the owner of this place?" "Wha? Wha was that dearie? Ya got to speak up a bit" Walking up onto the porch he spoke up a bit. "I asked if you were the owner of the farm" Took a moment for her to process what he just said before she lightened up a bit. "Why yes Ah' am, why do ya ask?" "Well, I was hoping to talk to you about a business offer tha-" "Oh, yer one of them folks. If ya wanna talk business go talk to Applejack, Ah' ain't falling for the whole business thing thanks to mah hearin'. You can find her in the field, last Ah' saw she was that way"-She pointed westward and her grandmotherly smile was gone and replaced with a small scowl. She went back to rocking back and forth on her rocking chair. Rubbing one leg with the other awkwardly, Six simply gave her a nod before walking towards the way she pointed. Walking past the trees for a couple of minutes he came across a large pony with red fur and orange hair... jeez he really hasn't to learn the pony anatomy sometime soon just in case ponies got weirded out with the terms he used. Anyway, he walked up to the large pony and he just looked at him before giving him a questioning gaze. "Excuse me, would you happen to know where Miss Applejack is?" "Eeyup" "Can you tell me where she is?" "Eeyup" Then just more starring and awkwardness for a few minutes. "Can you uh point to her general direction?" With that, big red pointed to the right and walked off... that was strange? Welp, he walked a bit more and came across the pony he was looking for. She seemed to be putting barrels in a wagon with the help of a small pony that was yellow and had red hair and a large magenta-red bow. Unlike what was most likely Applejack's grandmother, the orange one noticed him coming right away. "Well nice seeing ya again Courier, what can Ah' do for ya?" She said as she leaned against the wagon, the smaller one looked at Six with wonder which was most likely because of his armor. "Ah hello Miss Applejack, I wanted to talk to you about a business deal." At that, her happy excretion turned bland and rolled her eyes. She whispered something that to the small pony before turning back to him, the small one ran off somewhere. "So that what yer here for huh? Listen I'm sure yer nice n all but all of our apples are for us to sell, and we can't be sharing them right now cuz if we lose some profits that's less money going towards the farm." She said as she continued to store the last barrel in the wagon. "Will you at least hear me out?" She pondered on it before shrugging 'Alright Six you most likely only have this one shot at doing this.' He continued talking. "I'm asking on behalf of the Salty Saloon, I was hoping to talk you into having a deal where you would share some apple cider, possibly some zap cider as well, and in return, the saloon will share the profits gained" He paused for a bit waiting for a reply. Applejack waved a hoof in the air telling him to continue as she started to drag the wagon to the barn. "Well if you were to share cider with the saloon I believe you'd be able to gain more profits. From what I've seen your apple stall is only open when either you are around to run it, but if you had a place like a saloon that is opened for hours on end you'll be able to possibly double your profits!" With that said Applejack paused before nodding, thank god for his Charisma. "Alright Ah like what yer talking, but if we're gonna do this deal Ah have one condition. We gonna do fifty-fifty, there's no room for negotiation on that" She holds her hoof out and waited for my answer. Shit if ponies were that easy to convince this job was going to be easy! (If only he knew how wrong that was) "Well Miss Applejack that's perfectly fine, I'll go tell the owner of the saloon that you approve and you two can take it from there," He said with a small smirk on his face "No problem, but if this deal doesn't turn out good we're backing out of it jus' so you know. Ah gotta go do some stuff round here so Ah'll see ya later" With a tilt of her hat she walked off with a blank expression on her face. Six began walking away from the barn and back to the bar. Tidefall perked up at the sound of the door opening, she was currently sitting at a table looking at some papers that Six couldn't read from his current spot. She turned to look him in the face and got up from her seat. Now that she wasn't behind the counter she served stuff behind, she was rather small which made her look cute in some way. ( definitely cuter than a baby deathclaw that's for sure) "Ah you're back, so how'd the talks with the Apple Family go?" "I'm proud to say that you'll be getting some ciders you've been mentioning soon. Along with a deal that involves a fifty-fifty with the profits from said cider." He said with a smile, Tidefall looked at him skeptically before straightening up. "Well thanks for that Courier, that's gonna help with getting some ponies in these seats. Now with that done, I think you should move on to getting the word out there that my bar exists. However, I believe you've deserved some payment for helping me out-" She walked towards the table and picked up a bag and tossed it at him, he quickly grabbed it and stashed it in his pack "- There's sixty bits, I know you didn't ask for any but you deserve more than just info. Speaking of info what do you want to know?" 'These bits must be what ponies use as currency. Damn, that meant all his caps were useless.' Six thought about what he wanted to know first, there was a lot he needed to know but one thing at a time. "Is there a library in this town?" "Sort of, I have no doubts that you've seen the large crystal tower right?" He nodded "Well inside that is a library of sorts but it's also home to Princess Twilight Sparkle. To get in just knock on the door and ask to be lead to the library, or if you want to buy a book there's a book shop across the street. If you ask me the books over there are overpriced" She rolled her eyes as she picked up the papers on the table with her teeth and placed them on her back. "Come back tomorrow for more details on your next job, but right now the saloon is closed" With that Tidefall walked off to go store away some stuff. Six walked out and closed the door behind him, the moon had begun to rise, taking off his pack he took out his helmet. Placing it on his head and making sure the thing wouldn't accidentally fall off, he went to the nearest bench and lied down. The ponies had gone in their homes to sleep thus leaving him with peaceful silence. Closing his eyes he drifted away into the dream realm still having more questions than answers... Author's Note Hello once again! Sorry for taking so long (again:twilightsheepish: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/twilightsheepish.png) Been a bit busy recently. Anyway I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and please leave any criticism in the comments so that I can get better in storytelling.