Fallout New Vegas: A New Road

Chapters

The Road Begins
A Forest Trail
The Monster in the Woods
Rough Meetings
Cavernous Shelter
By a Campfire
Winsome Falls
Crosseyed Meetings
In the Orchard
A Day in Ponyville
The First Battle of Ponyville Dam
Doctor! Doctor!
Recovery
Moonlit Walk
A Work Day
Mining Away
Party (Not So) Hard
Shy Greetings
Adventures in Dinkysitting
Royal Pains
Restless Dreams
Oddjobs
Acceptance
The Dodge Junction Arrival
The Dodge Junction Brawl
Rat Food
Into the Skies
The (Carrot) Top of the Rose
Sidequesting and Digressing
A Chaotic Meeting
A Chaotic Menagerie
A Chaotic Date
Blue Lyra
Back on Track
To Get a Letter
Tracks to Seaquestria
Fun in the Sun
Call Upon the Seaponies!
A Heroic Exit
Dazed and Confused

The Road Begins

The moon and stars lit up the night sky over Canterlot. The normally lively city had gone quiet as the day died off, giving way for the Princess to raise the moon, ushering in the darkness that came with it. Only a few ponies walked the stone roads now, likely on their way home. Atop a balcony on the grand castle that was the centerpiece of the kingdom stood a lone, purple alicorn.

Twilight looked down at the city with a small smile. How many years had it been since she’d left this place for Ponyville, and now she was back, permanently this time. She slowly strolled up to the balcony’s edge, and then a moment later put her forehooves up onto the guard rail. It was cold to the touch as she rested herself on it.

She stared down at the city for a few moments, before fixing her gaze off of the mountain top. She looked towards Ponyville, and her eyes remained locked in that direction for a good while. She could see it had expanded a little bit since the months she’d left it.

A few new houses here and there, some more construction work dotting the landscape that had been barren a few years back. She cataloged these new details, taking them in and making mental notes of them to leave to herself. It came naturally to her, given her previous affinity with charts and the like.

So lost was she in her musings she didn’t notice the pitter patter of small feet approaching her. Only when a small purple drake was right beside her did she look down, having caught a large green scute atop his head out of the corner of her eye.

“Oh, hey Spike,” she spoke, surprised and a twinge embarrassed.

“Reminiscing about Ponyville again?” the little dragon asked with a sly smirk.

“Yeah,” she huffed, turning her homesick gaze back towards the town in question, “I know the girls will come to visit me soon but that doesn’t make it any easier.”

“Aw come on Twilight, it’s fine to have those feelings,” he said, patting her on the back softly. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Not now Spike,” she said, her tone somber, though she managed a small smile. “I’m thankful, truly I am, but I’ve got a lot of work on my plate tomorrow and I don’t have time for an impromptu therapy session.”

“Alright, I’ll be here when you need me,” he assured, still her most loyal assistant all this time later.

“I know you will, Spike,” she said, resting one of her wings over him for a quick, thankful hug, which he returned. “Sometimes, I just need a few moments to clear my head. I’ll be back inside in a minute.”

“Hey, no problem, I get ya,” he said, breaking off the wing-hug a moment later to leave the Princess of Equestria alone.

Truth was, as much as she loved her land and the creatures in it, a small part of her wished things could have remained simpler. She knew others had twinges of it too. To relive the glory days, even if it was just one last time. Despite that, all things changed, no matter how hard anypony or creature tried to keep them the same. To fight such a thing is useless, and besides, she could do so much more for her subjects in her new position.

She soon banished these scatterbrained musings, letting her take in serenity of Lu-... Her night sky. Such a strange sensation, knowing that after all this time it was now hers to command. Regardless, it was beautiful as always.

As she looked up at the stars, she wondered about what lay beyond. Not exactly in a cosmic sense, but the existence of the human world, and other universes and timelines would leave her pondering on occasion. There was so much out there unexplored and undocumented. Traces of her old scientific self bubbled up at pondering those thoughts.

Above even that though, there were those out there who never felt the warm embrace of friendship. She couldn’t exactly worry about that idea too much, after all, she had her own country, her own friendship-less subjects to help in their times of need. Still though, she did wonder what exactly she would do had she met anycreature like that…

The sun beat down harshly onto the sandy dunes below. Everything that could scatter from its unbearable heat had already. The lizards, desert toads, rats, and other critters hid underneath any shade they could find. The blazing sensations of summer had once again broken out across the numerous great deserts that covered the American Southwest.

It hadn’t been any easier for those who wandered and roamed a lot either. Just as many had died in the Wasteland before, so too did more die day after day, either because of the temperature, or some other, worse fate.

Though, in the great, vast emptiness that was laid out before the searing sun above, one lone figure braved the heat and the sands that were now being carried by the winds, which themselves had begun to rapidly pick up pace. He was a stranger in a strange land. A wanderer, if you will. Though, in the modern world, few weren’t.

He was adorned in a wide variety of things, though the most notable currently were the several large duffle bags he currently carried, which largely obscured the flowing duster he wore. There were three in total and all of them were dark navy green colored and had extremely sturdy looking stitching.

One was tightly lashed against his stomach by sturdy looking belts. It jingled and jangled a bit as he walked, producing muffled clinking sounds with each hefty footstep. The other two of these were strapped to his back, along with a massive hiker’s backpack that gave his impressively bulky frame even more width to it

Several strange peculiarities adorned it, as what looked like the paw of a large bear was sewn into it. A large sleeping bag was strapped to the top of it too. Not only that but strapped sturdily to his spine underneath said pack was a large metal briefcase with a big yellow and black atomic symbol etched into it. No doubt the metal was scorching hot from the sun’s rays, though he didn’t seem to mind.

It was a larger lead-lined container he’d found in his trek through the Divide. A durable one at that, no doubt one of the reasons he took it with him for his long-haul travels. A worthy addition to his nearly over encumbered state.

Despite being packed to the gills and looking armed for bear, he easily strolled through the haze and the sand without issue, not stopping or looking even slightly tired as he trekked forwards. While he seemingly had no destination on his mind, his gait oozed determination and sturdiness, as he did not stumble despite all of the excess weight he was carrying.

He reached the top of a nearby sand dune and paused, looking down across the landscape that lay ahead. There was nothing yet. He couldn’t see signs of civilization at all. All that existed were many dead or dying shrubs and the sandy remains of the occasional collapsed building, merely olden ruins to remind him of what had once been here.

Not much law out here, at least compared to the NCR, and even Legion lands or Vegas before the Battle of the Dam. Legion’s hold was or, rather, used to be tight, but he suspected that even whenever they were a true superpower, this was a dead zone, as it contained nothing to grow or loot or control. That was likely a good thing, or at the least some small part of himself looked at it that way. No Legion. No NCR. Just sand and man, as nature intended.

The man stood, his duster billowing as much as it could through the restraining bags. He took one breath, inhaling and then exhaling quickly. An act that was muffled by the armor that adorned his head and face. It was a combination between a gasmask and a military-grade protective helmet. A pair of bright crimson lenses poked out amidst the brown and grayish color scheme of the mask.

Deep green segments of plate-like armor adorned his shoulders, forearms, and knees. They were all banged up and scratched, no doubt from extended use. This usage was obvious even more when looking at his duster, which had numerous holes and patchwork sewing jobs that dotted it, though it was a bit harder to notice currently given the large nylon bag that was so closely strapped to his chest.

He reached a gloved hand down to his thigh area and pulled back up a large jug of water. With shocking swiftness, he moved his mask up a bit, allowing his lips to poke out, though he hid them from the sand with his hand and wrist, letting no part of his skin poke out as he took a deep swig of water in an almost secretive, defensive manner. He then shifted his helmet back down, fully covering his face as he screwed the cap back on.

While doing this, he took a cursory glance at his equipment. Off the right side of his large hiker pack was a lever-action carbine rifle and a pump-action shotgun, both snuggly strapped in place. On the left side was a large fireman’s axe with a black handle and deep, polished silver colored blade head.

The weapons were strapped securely in place but looked as if they could easily be removed from their storage points if needed. Though they seemed to be unneeded as currently, a large AR-patterned rifle slung down against the man’s chest, pressing into the duffle bag resting there. No doubt it was there for quick access, should he come across any form of trouble.

With the equipment check out of the way, the man nodded to himself and continued down the steep and sandy slope that laid ahead. His powerful legs kept him steady as he slowly walked downwards, his packs bumping about occasionally as he continued along his trail to seemingly nowhere in particular.

This journey continued on and on as the sun slowly began to sink below the horizon. Hours passed without notice as he continued his ceaseless journey, walking without destination nor pause. He was coated in a thin layer of sand now, which had been blowing harshly against him from the desert winds. Though now they were beginning to settle, with sand particles falling back down to join their brethren.

He soon found himself seated in the ruins of what once had been a gas station. The pumps were obviously long dried, but the durable metal building lasted a bit longer than the other wooden houses that were so often victims of collapse, especially all this time later.

While the windows were gone and the flooring was coated in more sand, he was able to get a nice secure spot underneath the register area. No one would immediately see him should they so happen to stroll by. This safety was one of the luxuries he fought the wastes for constantly. The ability to sleep without disturbance was a fantastic one, and he cherished the rest when possible.

He sat aside his numerous supply packs as he got ready to lay down his sleeping bag. As he did though, he felt himself reaching for something he hadn’t held in a while. From a holster that was slotted on the back of his belt he pulled out a very strange device with a bluish glow about it.

It had the shape of a C4 detonator, but the glowing, sci-fi nature of it was obviously proof it was something else. The man rubbed a gloved finger over the strange device, his index finger getting ever-so-close to the bright red trigger. Said finger even clenched a bit, creating a hook as it seemed as if he would pull it. Oh, the memories, to be reunited with them was a glorious thought!

No, the memories were soon cast aside, buried deeply in a far-off corner. Not out of spite, nor a desire to forget, but out of a desire to move on. Every road had its end. That road had already been walked, for the betterment of himself and others. To go back now, after all of this, all he’d been through… It’d make the long roads he’d traveled since then completely pointless, forcing him to travel them yet again. A needless retread.

He soon shoved the strange device back into its holster, away from the non-existent prying eyes of the world around him. He sighed, tapping his fingers on the remnants of the gas station’s tiled flooring. Each impact of his gloved digits created small thunking sounds in a rhythmic pattern.

He didn’t exactly want the sleep per say, but he knew his body would need it soon. It would be better to get an hour or two now rather than later. He sighed as he laid on his back for a moment. The tiled flooring was cooler than the outside sands had been, and despite how extremely uncomfortable it was, he almost liked that. No need to let himself get too comfortable, after all.

The man could see the moon shimmering through a small hole in the roof of the building. It was a beautiful sight, one that reminded him of the night that things changed for him, for both better, and worse. He sighed again, though tried to keep it quiet out of instinct, as even if nothing was out there in the barren wastes, there was no reason to be too loud.

After a while, he allowed his eyes to close for a few minutes, and let his body naturally shut down. What felt like mere moments later they snapped open. Alright, rest done, just over an hour or so of sleep, perfect! It was like the man’s body had an internal alarm, likely from years of sleeping in unsure locations around the wastes.

He grunted as he got up, rubbing his lower back as he did. In his reminiscing over the moon, he’d forgotten to lay down the damn sleeping bag. Oh well, no need for it now, he figured as his gloved hands traced over several stars and stripes which were now visible due to his backpack and bags being out of the way.

An Old-World flag adorned his duster, which crinkled this way and that as he rubbed and worked the minor kinks out of his spine. He was tough though, so they were gone quickly. Those that weren’t, he just sucked up.

With the sudden massage session out of the way, he began to repack himself, grabbing all of the intricate bags. First, he strapped the metal suitcase to his back, and then the backpack, then the other bags. It was an entire mechanical process. Definitely annoying but still, it had to be done.

He was decently quick about it, though not overly so, and soon enough he was restacked and ready to go. He checked a large, bulky, watch-like device around his wrist for a moment. His Pip-Boy’s glowing screen displayed the time. 11:27 PM, not bad, but still, he needed less time sleeping and more time wandering.

He dusted some sand off of his chest before grabbing his rifle which he’d sat nearby earlier. While the bags gave him immense bulk, he was able to still reach down and pick it up without issue before hoisting the strap over his head and around his shoulders.

“Okay,” he said in a tone below that of a whisper. A simple word of affirmation to himself, ensuring everything was exactly in place and where it needed to be. Nothing out of line… good, good, great. Perfection, as it all needed to be.

Click.

The rifle was shouldered immediately, he looked around, pointing at the only entrance to the gas station. His helmet’s crimson eyes glowed a bit, turning the faint darkness into a fully lit up scene. With the night vision he realized that there was nothing there, just a few empty shelves and cluttered trash that coated the floors.

He sighed to himself, keeping the rifle shouldered still, surely there was a noise, right? He’d heard it, it wasn’t fake!

Click.

Wait... That sound. It didn’t come from around him! He stood still as a statue, his finger resting flat against the rifle just above the trigger, in case it was a trick of some sort.

Click.

Alright, that definitely was coming from him. He took his left hand off the rifle, letting it slack down a bit, though he kept his dominant right hand on the grip as he shuffled about, patting down his own body as he tried to find something that might be making the noise.

Click.

It definitely wasn’t a grenade thankfully; he’d have known if it was by now. Though soon enough that gave him an idea. He’d suddenly remembered reminiscing over the Transportalponder earlier, and thus he reached down and grabbed the device from its holster. Maybe it was just nothing, but still, he checked regardless.

Click.

It had to be it! He was careful about it, even if it didn’t work in doors, he made extra sure to not put his finger anywhere near the red trigger. He looked down at the strange device…

And then he and all his gear promptly vanished.

A cloud of strange, rainbow-colored energy hovered where he had stood for a few moments. Soon though, a powerful gust of wind blew through the blown-out windows of the gas station, scattering the particles to the wayside, as if they had never even been there in the first place.

Apple Bloom’s eyes snapped open as she was lightly shaken awake by a larger orange mare. The little filly’s vision was blurred, but she soon blinked away the twinges of sleep that stuck to her gaze as the face of her dear big sister came into view. Soon after her ears tuned in as well.

“-ple Bloom, ya come on now, I know ya don’t wanna be late for the camping trip,” she said with a soft tone, easing the filly into alertness.

Ease wouldn’t be the exact word worth using though, as immediately the smaller pony hopped out of bed, tossing aside her covers. As she rushed over and grabbed a neatly packed bag of her belongings.

“Ah crabapples!” she shouted as she quickly got ready. “Sorry for almost bein’ late sis!”

“Think nothin’ of it, I know you and your friends got all tuckered out yesterday. We ain’t gonna be late, I just let ya sleep in a few minutes, that’s all,” assured the older, honest pony. “Besides, we’ve all got the whole day together, nothin’ to worry about.”

“Well, yeah I know,” said the smaller filly. “But with all the new work we’ve been doin’ with the Friendship School an’ Twilight bein’ the new princess an’ all that other stuff, it feels like we don’t have as much time together as we used to.”

“Now that’s a load of nonsense, Apple Bloom. We both know I’ll always make time for you,” responded Applejack.

“I know, I know,” Apple Bloom said back. “I’m not that worried but, sometimes I just feel like there’s a lot on everypony’s plate.”

“Well, that’s because there is,” agreed Applejack. “Why shucks, you and yer friends have more responsibilities than most ponies yer age do. Don’t let it get to ya know, ya toughed it out this far for everypony else’s sake,” she concluded by gently pressing her hoof into her sister’s back, rubbing her gently.

“I won’t sis,” the filly responded with a smirk. “Now we really should get a move on.”

“I’ll be right behind ya,” said her sister with a wink.

They gave Big Mac, Sugar Belle, and Granny Smith their goodbyes, and they were off. The trek from Sweet Apple Acres into Ponyville was like any other. A rush of colors and “hellos” from familiar faces. The town was bustling as always on a bright and sunny morning. One of the many peaceful mornings that had followed since the defeat of the Mean Three.

Now the monster attacks had lessened, and ponies and other creatures could go about their business without a pissed off beast or magical spell gone wrong wrecking the place. Though they had grown used to that in the past few years anyways.

The swirl of names and faces and greetings continued. Derpy, Lemon Hearts, Cherry Berry, Lyra and her wife Bon Bon, just to name a few. So many faces to see, and even with their new ruler, the town bustled on as ever, time marching on around them all.

Little Apple Bloom didn’t really think about this though, her mind was obviously set on the soon-to-be-awesome day her, the Crusaders, and their sisters were all going to have. Hopefully it wouldn’t wind up with them being stuck in a cave this time.

Soon Apple Bloom saw Sugarcube Corner come into view. Rainbow Dash was talking with Scootaloo near the front doors, likely another exciting story of a recent stunt she’d performed with the Wonderbolts to give her little sister some excitement while they waited.

As the two Apples approached further, Rarity trotted out of the delicious smelling bakery. Her illustrious saddle bags were packed with snacks and goodies no doubt. She traveled relatively lightly this time, having kept the lesson from their first sisterly outing.

Sweetie Belle trotted along beside her sister, a smile adorning her face, and no excess luggage weighing her down, for she only had two excessively heavy, flower patterned suitcases this time! Though despite the added weight, she no doubt was enjoying her time with her sister just as all the others were.

“Yo!” Dash called to the Apples, stopping her story as she noticed their approach. “You two took a bit longer than I thought you would.”

“I slept in a bit,” Apple Bloom admitted with a sheepish smile.

“Ah it’s no sweat, squirt, we’ve got plenty of time,” assured the pegasus with a chuckle.

“It’s honestly a blessing, it allowed us to pack some extra confectionaries for the road,” agreed Rarity with a nod.

“And this time she didn’t make me carry all of the camping supplies,” winked Sweetie, nudging her sister.

“Sweetie Belle, that was one time!” Rarity defended in an embarrassed huff, causing the CMC and other sisters to laugh good naturedly at their friend’s tone. Soon even Rarity herself gave in and gave a small, albeit still embarrassed chuckle.

“Alright girls, are we ready to get this show on the road?” Dash asked the group.

“You know it!” answered Scootaloo with an excited tone, the little orange filly’s wings buzzing about like that of a hummingbird.

The others nodded in agreement, and with that confirmation, they began making their way towards Winsome Falls, chattering happily all the while. The multicolored group of ponies was certainly a cheerful sight to behold. Sisterly love and unbreakable friendships continuing on, as they should.

Existence rushed back to him after the nothingness had engulfed him. The blackness of the night and the sandy nature of the post-apocalypse was gone, replaced with a wide variety of greens and a deep beautiful blue sky…

A damn shame he couldn’t admire it yet, as he felt and heard wind blasting past his body, his duster billowing yet again as gravity took hold of him. He took a deep breath of utter shock, and his limbs flailed this way and that, legs kicking at what should be ground, but was now nothing.

Only then did he realize he was about twenty or so feet into the air, and rapidly tumbling downwards, going towards a large cluster of trees. Nothing was around to slow his descent. Not that he could, his hands were filled with the rifle and the Transportalponder anyways.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” he managed, before slamming face into a nearby tree branch. He saw a world of brown as the thick branch snapped apart against his helmet.

The blow rattled him, didn’t hurt much, but it did its job and threw him backwards. Had his hand not been firmly gripping his rifle, it would’ve been flung off to the side, as the strap was now flowing freely in the air. He let out a loud shout of shock before he felt his backpack impact against another branch.

Crack!

The sound of wood snapping rang out, and splinters joined his descent as he slammed through several more branches, loud cracks ringing out with each one he slammed into. The man, for his part, was keeping it together rather well given his current predicament.

“Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!” he cried, his body being battered by gravity and branches.

He flung this way and that, to the left, to the right, he even hit a particularly sturdy branch that didn’t completely snap under his bulk, causing him to do a complete flip, rotating to the point he was now face downwards as he fell.

He was just in time to see the rocky ground, of course…

“Aw sh-” he muttered; his expletive cut off from him slamming down right into the ground. The wind was knocked out of him, so he couldn’t finish it regardless.

The duffle bag helped cushion the fall, and shockingly it didn't rip open even as his heavy ass and other bulky bags crushed it against the muddy ground. The man for his part laid there for a few seconds, his jet-lagged brain processing what the hell had just happened.

After a moment, he was right back to being fully in control, given that the ground was now beneath him. He quickly forced his right hand under himself and shoved himself up. All the while it still gripped the rifle, which was actually a good thing for him, as the barrel of the weapon acted as a makeshift cane as he forced himself up to his feet.

He pushed off the butt of the gun and was soon standing once more. He was a bit woozy in his actions, obviously disorientated as he looked around, his vision spinning. He closed his eyes and shook the cobwebs out, and then he was back in the saddle, as well as he could be, at least.

“Alright… what the fuck,” he said, it wasn’t a question, no one around to answer. Just a statement, a very apt one, actually.

He looked down at his left hand. The Transportalponder was still gripped in it, the trigger never pushed. He brought it up for a closer inspection. No visible damage, thank God. Who knows what other weird shit it could cause. He shook it, as if it were some simple lightbulb that would rattle if broken, but he of course heard nothing. A few more shakes and he gave up, putting it back into its holster with a grunt.

He looked around, examining his new surroundings. Green, green, more green. It was similar to the mountains around Jacobstown except… less snow, and healthier looking than even those relatively untouched trees had been. He could see a menagerie of multi-colored birds flying overhead, no doubt spooked from the tree he’d just smashed through.

After looking up at the healthy blue sky for a moment, he slung his rifle’s sling back over his neck and then let it dangle down as he checked his Pip-Boy, flipping the knobs and taking him to the STATS page. Nothing crippled, obviously, but it was good to check.

He flipped to the ITEMS section and nodded to himself. Every piece of equipment was still cataloged and in place. Good, good. Alright, the maps. Time to find where the hell he was…

What the fuck.

His eyes squinted, making sure he was reading this right. He even leaned his wrist closer to his face and blinked. The screen displayed just a great amber colored “ERROR!”

Fuck, maybe the fall had damaged the Pip-Boy. He knew these things were almost nuke-proof, but even still they could break, especially an older piece like this. He tapped his finger on the screen to see if that would change anything. It didn’t, obviously.

He grunted in annoyance and then hit his open palm against it with a bit more force this time. Nothing, yet again.

Maybe flipping through the dials would work? Nope!

Shit… at least everything else functioned.

He didn’t have the time to sit down and break the damned thing open, so he just accepted his losses. He considered where he was. Maybe somewhere rural and untouched by the bombs? Montana? Possibly. Maybe somewhere more east? Virginia, maybe? Ehhh, who knows.

“Ah… fuck it,” he just sighed, reaching up his right hand to rub the back of his neck as he did. He huffed, looking at the Pip-Boy's compass.

That fucker was spinning wildly too. What the hell?

“Guess that’s fried as well,” he muttered, before looking around.

Like all good wanderers, he picked a random direction and began walking, keeping his eyes peeled for anything of interest. This was just another road to walk, after all. A thick, overgrown one, but a road nonetheless...

A Forest Trail

The human let out a huff as he sliced through a particularly dense thicket of twigs and leaves. The bush gave way to his immensely sharp bowie knife. He stomped foliage underneath his boots as he continued on, his rifle swinging about as he plodded along at a reasonable pace.

His bags jiggled and ruffled as they had before, yet he didn’t pay much mind. They might be a bit of a hazard later, and they were snagging here and there on the branches. For now, though, he just needed to find somewhere clearer to set up shop.

It was a strange sensation, being somewhere so overgrown like this. Reminded him of places like Zion and Vault 22. Two of many locations that proved that plantlife-filled areas were out there in the wastes. Of course he was more into trekking deserts instead. Forests, those were a different story.

Still, he kept his eye out as he walked, making sure nothing was resting in a nearby bush or behind a nearby tree to ambush him. He knew he could take a coyote or wolf if needed, no sweat. However, the last thing he wanted was to come face to face with a damned Yao Guai or some other monster.

Perhaps there’d be a trail of some sorts he’d discover eventually. After all, there was so much ground to cover. If he couldn’t find it, then a river would do too. Just follow that to civilization. Maybe do a bit of trading, get some tools. Yeah, it was a good thought. A plan was forming in his brain nicely. Just needed a bit more molding.

The specifics could wait though, as now he was re-focused on finding his way out of the greenery that encompassed him. He allowed himself to go sort of on autopilot, body-wise. He just walked, slashed through any bushes that were in his way, and stomped over the leaves and twigs.

Slash, stomp, advance. Slash, stomp, advance. Slash, stomp, advance.

It was getting a bit tedious, and if his radio worked, (it was seemingly another victim from the rough fall) he’d put on some tunes. Marty Robbins would definitely make this a lot more bearable. As it stood though, he could manage. He always had.

After a few more minutes, the thicket began breaking. Bushes and dense foliage softened out to manageable weeds and thinned out brambles. He walked on ahead, knife still in hand, and rifle in reach in the event things went south.

His bright red lenses stuck out against the slight darkness the trees provided. Even with the sun overhead, the shadows were present. He advanced on, looking around and taking in his surroundings. The deep green leaves filled his gaze, and he felt a bit of joy taking in nature without interruption.

Normally by this point he’d have killed something. Though perhaps here things would be different. Maybe this place was more civil, or at the least deserted. Either one wouldn’t be that bad of an option at least.

As he gazed around at the lively trees, he kept out an ear the entire time to listen for either chatter, footsteps, or the sounds of rushing water would be all he needed. Sadly, he heard neither and he shrugged before continuing on, his pace a bit quicker now that he didn’t have to slash apart some plantlife with each step.

After he deemed the woods ahead more manageable, he wiped his bowie knife on his sleeve. He rubbed off the dirt and leaf remnants that had coated it from his swings before he put it back into a sheath that was neatly concealed beneath his duster.

He looked backwards at his pack and numerous bags, being reminded a bit of his trek to Zion, and the weight limit the Happy Trails Caravan required. He could manage up ahead with the gear but at a slower pace if the thickets picked back up. He weighed his options for a moment, taking a few seconds to think.

As he did, he rubbed his hands together for a few seconds for no real reason. He could feel the calluses that had adorned them rubbing into the smooth of the gloves. He ceased this action quickly, and then shrugged his shoulders to no one in particular.

Then he decided to himself with a nod. He walked over to a large fallen log. He examined it closely, bending down and finding the interior hollow. He smirked to himself at that, and soon enough he was stripping himself of a large portion of his hefty gear.

The duffle bags and the metal, lead-lined suitcase were the first to go. They were shoved deep into the hollowed log, more towards the thicker center portions so they wouldn’t be easy to grab at. After a moment, the survivor was stripped of most things.

He looked at his remaining large backpack and considered keeping it for a moment, before shaking his head. He needed to be as light as possible and to travel on quickly. That too joined the others inside of the log.

After shoving some dirt and larger rocks in place at both ends of the fallen tree, he nodded to himself at a job well done. He took a moment to look around, making sure no one had seen him.

No rustling in the bushes. No swaying of the trees. Alright, good, good. Everything currently seemed reasonable, and his stash would likely be safe for now at least.

“Alright…” he mused, not finishing his sentence as he walked on ahead.

He checked his Pip-Boy, partly in search for the time and partly out of instinct to mark the spot on his map, but then stopped himself as he realized it likely wouldn’t be right anyways; it never updated itself earlier when he checked. He also figured correctly the map wouldn’t work either

With a lot less weight dragging him down, he moved more spryly, going from a decent walking speed to a jog at this point. He still was slower and more methodical, not rushing ahead and taking time to keep his eyes peeled, but hopefully he could find some place more civilized soon.

“Come on, pick up the pace!” Rainbow Dash called out, hovering overhead of the other ponies as they continued advancing through the hilly and winding trail towards Winsome Falls. “The Weather Team called for a storm today, I doubt you all wanna be soaked by the time we get to our campsite.”

“Of course, on the only days we have free time, they have to schedule a downpour,” Rarity sighed.

“Hey, it could be worse,” said Sweetie Belle, while she carried her sister’s luggage like a champ. “It’s only for tonight at least, tomorrow it’ll be nice and clear.”

“Yeah, and we should be at the falls by then!” agreed Applejack, trotting alongside the others.

“If only we didn’t have to collapse that cave shortcut we found,” Apple Bloom said, a bit downtrodden. “I really liked the waterslide.”

“Yeah, me too,” agreed Sweetie, nodding along with her fellow crusader.

“I gotta admit, that did make that cave a lot less scary,” Scootaloo agreed with a smirk.

“I just hope you don’t get worried if we have to camp in another one,” Rainbow Dash said, flying down to her little adoptive sister, smirking coyly as she did.

“Me? I uh… I won’t get scared,” gulped the orange filly, before putting on a brave face. “Not with my big sister around.”

“Atta girl, Scoot!” Rainbow encouraged, ruffling the small filly’s purple mane.

“Speakin’ of caves,” Applejack injected, “we’re almost near one now, just a few hills ahead. Not a bad spot to stop and set up camp.”

“I must agree, my hooves are simply killing me,” Rarity said with a nod, to which Sweetie Belle giggled, luggage still firmly in place on the filly’s back.

“Not our fault the route’s longer this year,” Applejack responded. “There’s been reports of a swarm of Fly-ders recently. Bit up a few ponies somethin’ fierce. Better to take the long way and avoid them critters than to get our hides ate up.”

“It’s a good thing I packed bug spray this time,” mused Rarity.

“Even with that, I don’t think we have enough for an entire swarm of ‘em,” responded Applejack.

“Between Rarity’s spray and my hooves, I think we’ve got better chances this year,” boasted Rainbow Dash, gliding downwards, closer to her friends and sister.

“Yeah, ya sure showed them last time,” smirked Applejack, making Rainbow Dash roll her eyes, though she gave a small chuckle moments later.

“Girls, I think I see the cave!” Sweetie Belle excitedly called, gaining the attention of the others.

They soon crested a hilltop and found a relatively level stretch of ground. A few dozen paces in front of them was a large cave entrance. It was elevated up off the ground a bit, so water couldn’t easily seep in and flood it should the storm get too strong.

“Yep, that’s her alright,” Applejack nodded with a smile.

Scootaloo examined the dark entrance. The light of the sun didn’t penetrate that deeply from its current angle, making it difficult to see too far inside. She couldn’t help but imagine stalactites as long, jagged teeth, waiting to swallow her up.

After taking a deep breath, the little pegasus soon managed to banish her fears. She calmed herself by remembering back to what Luna and Rainbow Dash had told her. This year she had no reason to be afraid.

She was stuck in her musings for so long, she didn't really notice as the other ponies entered the cave, speaking amongst themselves all the while. She also didn't see Apple Bloom approach her as she was still transfixed on the rocky maw, which seemed as if it could engulf everything if it so desired.

“Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said casually.

“WHAT!?!” cried the orange filly in question, turning in surprise, obviously frightened after having let her mind wander a bit. She shook herself back to her senses quickly. “I mean… yeah?”

“Yer on firewood duty,” responded Apple Bloom with a deadpan expression.

“Oh yeah uh… right!” Scootaloo nodded, her face taking a determined expression.

“You want me to help you? I’m supposed to help Applejack set up the tent in the cave, in case any water gets in, but I think she can manage without me,” offered Apple Bloom, consoling her friend.

“No,no! It’s fine!” assured Scootaloo, gaining back her confidence, this time more thoroughly. “The sun’s still out, and I’m not gonna be scared like last time!”

“Well, alright, be careful out there,” Apple Bloom replied, nodding before she turned and trotted off back to help the others make camp.

Scootaloo for her own part was alright. She gave herself a small breather and then began her trek off into the forest.

“Now don’t go and get lost squirt!” she heard Rainbow Dash call over her shoulder, with the blue pegasus having already gotten out their sleeping bags and other supplies. “I don’t wanna have to go grab ya!”

“I’ll be fine, no need to worry!” responded Scootaloo, for the filly had a plan!

She figured if she could bring back a large enough hunk of wood, it would be enough to use throughout the night. Her imagination ran wild, causing her to smile at the idea, thinking about all the delicious marshmallows and smores she and the group would be eating. She used both the future taste of those sugary treats, and reassurances of her own awesomeness to drive herself forwards.

If only she’d packed her scooter, she’d be even quicker. Still, her trot was enough! Especially as her little wings buzzed in excitement. There was much fun to be had, she’d be back in no time to make sure she didn’t miss it!

Forests were far more obnoxious to navigate than deserts. That was the one thing the human gathered from this unintentional expedition. No damn wonder he’d never gone north. These brambles and winding paths. A lot less safe, and a lot more dangerous than the simple flat deserted dunes of the southwest.

Even Utah would be more agreeable, minus the raider tribes of course. Though who knows, those bastards could exist here too. Oh well, enough about that!

He looked over the landscape with a pair of binoculars. He was currently standing atop a rather sturdy branch, and had his left arm slung around the tree’s trunk itself, making sure he was kept firmly in place as he overlooked the landscape. A lot of hills, a lot of trees, and a lot of green.

Not a bad vista, beautiful even. Chalk might’ve enjoyed it. He himself didn’t really need a vista right now, though. He needed shelter, and not the kind he could make with some shitty sticks and leaves.

The man absentmindedly scanned the environment in a sweeping motion as he pondered numerous musings to himself. He wondered-

Wait!

He tilted his head back to the left a bit more.

Amidst the green, he could see faint traces of water. Rushing water! Yes, that’s perfect!

He smiled to himself as he let the binoculars go, allowing them sag downwards against his chest, connected to his neck with a sturdy bit of string. He then began to climb downwards, one branch after another.

Despite his previous tumble, he didn’t allow that to scare him off from any more elevated tree-business. No sir! He was ready for it this time anyways, and after a few minutes of slowly climbing downwards, he was soon home free with the ground back underneath his boots.

He grabbed his marksman rifle, which was resting against a nearby tree, before he briefly pondered going and reclaiming his gear. He soon thought better of the idea, as at first, he needed to know the locals, assuming there were any, and their intentions. He was better in a fight when he wasn’t slowed down, after all.

With the general destination of the river in his head, he began the trek towards it yet again. He was brisk, sliding between bushes instead of having to chop through them, continuing forwards at a speed a bit above a jog.

His feet never got caught on any roots or stray holes as he continued on, his light step making sure of that. Even with his rifle dangling around his neck for ease of access, he continued on without issue, both of his hands free as he didn’t have to hold it in place.

Just got to get to the river and follow it. Nice, simple. Easy, too.

He continued up further, swatting aside any wayward thickets that blocked his vision when needed. Before long he could see through a gap in the trees, and smiled to himself as he spotted the river’s bank. He stopped as he reached the edge of the trees.

The water was currently flowing from left to right, so he decided to travel upstream for the moment. His heels crunched wet grass underneath with each step he took. He slung the rifle over his back this time, so it wouldn’t be clattering with his movements, and held onto the strap with his right hand, ensuring it wouldn’t be yanked away from him when it was needed.

He scratched at his cloth-covered neck as he walked, brushing off some flakes of dust and dirt that had accumulated from his impromptu forest trek. As he continued, he examined the river. It was decently wide, easily over about eightish feet, give or take.

The man grabbed a nearby branch and snapped it off before leaning over and carefully poking it down into the medium-moving rapids. He got the entire thing in, at least over three feet deep, and it easily went deeper than even that.

While the man wasn’t a stranger to swimming, he figured he’d rather not have to endure those rapids. Still, he kept a few feet of distance between himself and the water as he continued on. Who knew if any lake- or rather in this case, riverlurks, could be in there. Not to mention who knows what else.

For the next solid few minutes, it was a simple, even peaceful walk. Nothing to listen to except for the splashing of the waters on occasion. Sometimes from a twig falling in, and others from some fish or frog leaping out.

As he hiked along, he pulled out a small pack of bubblegum. It was irradiated, but it wasn’t like that mattered to him. He popped a stick into his mouth, moving his helmet upwards for a few seconds before returning it over his face.

What he didn’t eat, he shoved back into one of the many small satchels on his chest. It didn’t taste good, exactly, but it let him focus on something other than just walking. As he strolled, he heard his Pip-Boy let out the sound of a geiger counter, but he paid it no mind, and before long it had ceased. It wasn’t enough to do much damage anyways, he figured.

He continued plodding along, his body going into autopilot as he just let his mind wander a bit. The scenery was nice. Lots of multicolored birds. He didn’t see those all too often, so they were a nice change of pace.

Could see squirrels too. Typically he would be eating them, but this was one of the few occurrences he could admire them scurrying about, planting their nuts in the trees above, or eyeing him up a few feet away in the denser portions of the foliage.

The bank continued along a good many minutes longer, and he could see it stretch further and further, sometimes curving, but remaining ever-present. At this point he was beginning to wonder if he’d walk an entire fucking state at this rate. He sighed to himself.

“Ah hell. I almost wish I had someone to talk to,” he mused to himself. Typically he wouldn’t speak, but he did so in a hushed tone, making sure even with his sarcastic tone, no potential threats could hear it.

Thankfully for him, nothing heard him speak… but the water nearby began to bubble and rise.

“What the fuck!” he coughed, choking the gum down his throat in surprise as he turned towards the river, backpedaling a few steps as he grabbed and shoulder his rifle in one swift motion.

He steadied it, looking through the scope as something began to stir from the water. His finger was over the trigger, ready to fire if needed. Still though, he waited a few seconds, seeing if whatever it was before he determined if it needed a dosage of hot lead.

Purple scales stirred within the water, and the man’s eyes widened as he realized how large this thing was. It looked snake-like almost, though way fucking bigger. He stepped back, trying to slowly and silently make his way to the treeline. Maybe he could duck into a bush?

Strange, orange-colored hairs began to appear in the water too. Ah shit, are those eyes and a mouth, and a… mustache?

“What-” he began, before immediately being silenced.

“Helloooooo my good fellow!” a fabulous sounding male voice called out.

“Huh?” he moved his eye away from the scope and just… took it in, so to speak. Took him in, rather.

He was long, scaly, snake-like, obviously, but… He was almost dopey. Eyebrows, a large mane of hair, and a big, goofy mustache.

“What?” said the human, looking up at the massive serpent.

“I said hello, sir,” responded the huge creature. “It is such a marvelous day out, isn’t it. Despite that, I didn’t exactly expect to find any other creature out here!”

The rifle went slack, no longer pointed at the obviously non-hostile target. The human let his arms sag down. He would’ve fallen over from sheer and utter confusion, had he not had his boots firmly planted on the ground, his own strength keeping him standing.

“Are you alright, you are looking rather… strange,” said the serpent, with his sing-songy voice, before he caught himself. “No offense of course, I apologize if I upset you.”

“I… uh,” stuttered the smaller man. “I’m just looking… for a town.”

“Oh, you must mean Ponyville!” began the purple snake. “I completely understand! The place has become a bit of a tourist hotspot since, well, the princesses and the elements saved the day over and over again, especially after last time!”

“Yeah uh… sure,” was the lackluster response from the human.

“Oh, I do apologize sir, I did not give you my name! You must not exactly be comfortable with strangers, especially big sea serpents like me!” spoke the strange creature in an understanding tone. “I am Steven Magnet! Might I ask for yours?”

“I am-…" he stopped, as if thinking deeply.

"Yes?" asked Mr. Magnet expectantly.

"Just call me... Courier Six,” concluded the Courier.

“Ah that is,” Steven paused as he made a bit of a face, as if searching for a way to compliment such a peculiar name, “very unique! Not the name I would've chosen for you, but it is your name nonetheless! Where are you from, might I ask?”

Weirdly enough, the Courier was unsure if this was the weirdest creature he’d talked to. Robots, a sentient toaster, giant blue mutants, his own brain. Somehow, the giant snake with a mustache was close to topping at least some of them.

“The Mojave,” Six began, “have you heard of it?”

“Hmmm, I apologize, my friend, but that does not ring any bells, and I am a well-traveled sea monster!” Steven replied with a smile.

“Maybe Nevada?” asked the human.

“Nnnnope!” Steven shook his head.

“New California?” responded the Courier.

“I have not even heard of an Old California, sir!” Steven said good-naturedly.

“Uhh… New Vegas? Used to be called Las Vegas?” tried the Courier.

“Ditto, I’m afraid,” Steven sadly replied. “Though I admit, that does remind me of Las Pegasus… Perhaps a coincidence.”

“What the fu-...” The Courier stopped himself, taking a moment to shake off the strange similarity, before continuing.

“Are you alright?” Steven asked, leaning in.

Damn he was big, easily a few dozen feet long. Bet he gave the Robo-Scorpion a run for his money. Those thoughts were shaken off as the human spoke again.

“I’m fine… all that figures, just my luck anyways. Look uh… Mr. Magnet, do you know the way to… ‘Ponyville’?” the Courier asked, still sounding a bit confused about the whole thing. Felt like a damned chem-trip.

“Oh certainly! Though I do admit, you must’ve gotten rather sidetracked, as you seem to be going the wrong way,” Steven replied, showing sympathy for the poor mailman. “I can give directions, but it will be a bit of a doozy.”

“It’s fine, I can just take notes,” the Courier assured, looking at his Pip-Boy, ready to write whatever he needed. At least this function wasn’t broken. “Don’t worry by the way, I have plenty of time.”

“Oh well, I don’t figure you want to endure a storm, correct?” Steven responded. “From what I’ve heard, the Weather Team has scheduled a doozy today.”

“I can handle a storm, Mr. Magnet,” replied the Courier. “Now about those directions?”

“Oh, certainly!” said the helpful sea serpent, before he began to speak, with the Courier taking notes all the while.

Scootaloo looked around herself, mentally mapping the way back to the camp as best she could as she advanced deeper into the forest. She was grabbing smaller twigs to rest on her back, but all the while she kept an eye out for any larger branches or even chunks of fallen logs.

The sun was a bit lower now, casting a yellowish-orange tint across the sky. It was a beautiful sight for sure, but the little filly was getting a bit anxious now. She was sure she’d been walking for almost half an hour at least, and still no truly great firewood in sight.

She’d need to find something big to last all night. Especially once the downpour began. She could even see some dark gray clouds drifting into view overhead, likely carried along by a pegasus-created breeze.

Scootaloo shook it off. She’d be fine, just find some firewood and go back to the camp! Why was she worrying herself silly over it? She almost laughed at how goofy her fears were. Again, there was no headless pony or evil monster out to get her.

She was a trickster daredevil, afterall! Why would some darkening woods spook her? Now, where was some high-quality wood? Those smores wouldn’t make themselves, especially without a nice cozy fire!

The filly considered briefly trying to fell one of the trees, almost like Rainbow Dash had done so awesomely during their first camping trip out here. But Scootaloo soon noted that she had neither the strength, nor the wings to do such an amazing feat, thus she had to keep her eye out for any fallen logs.

Truthfully, she was getting a bit annoyed at the lack of them. An entire freaking forest and not a toppled tree in sight? This was getting ridiculous!

“Oh, come on,” she huffed, making her way through some more bramble to find nothing of interest.

Even with her small bundle of twigs, she knew it wouldn’t be enough to create a long-lasting fire that would be needed for a night of hopefully-not-scary stories! She looked around the small clearing she’d found herself in for anything to use, and after ignoring the numerous little branchlets no bigger than her hoof, she saw a potential target.

At the edge of the clearing in front of her was a small, withered looking tree. It was nice and dried out too, a husk of its former self that would no doubt burn for a good long while! It was tilted backwards, and she could see some of its decaying roots poking out of the soil. Just a little push could topple it by this point, surely!

“Perfect!” she exclaimed, giving a concentrated smirk before she stepped back.

This big guy would totally help her keep the fire going all night and then some if needed! Perfect for everything being kept warm and dry! Even just a few chunks of him would work!

Scootaloo stamped her hooves, getting ready for a running start as her wings buzzed excitedly. After a moment to prepare, she rushed down the decaying tree, and jumped, ready to slam her hooves into it and send him tumbling to the ground!

Unfortunately, the young filly didn’t exactly take heed of where exactly the tree was, at least not until she had slammed into it. Her hooves made it give a loud cracking noise as all four of them were planted firmly through it. Sadly, that meant she was now riding it downwards as it rocked over, tearing up dirt with its decayed roots.

Her eyes widened as the tree leaned all the way over. She and it both were sent careening off the edge of a deep slope that was previously hidden behind some bushes. Practically invisible from her prior viewing spot, it was all to visible now, with it being almost a sheer drop! A rush of horror hit her gut, making her feel almost lightheaded.

“Oh no!” Scootaloo managed, trying to backpedal, but she only then realized that her hooves were stuck. She did manage to pull her forelimbs out, but by then it was too late!

She let loose a cry of shock and terror as the thing began sliding, almost falling straight down as it went. The tree absorbed the hefty portions of the fall as it slid downwards more and more, but the shocks still made her body ache a bit as her mane whipped this way and that along with the wind.

While Scootaloo was used to that particular sensation, she wasn’t exactly in the mood for a DIY roller coaster, and thus, her screams continued as the tree slammed into a large patch of other trees that had rested below.

Green filled her vision as she slammed through the roof of the lower level of the forest, with the old dead log hitting the ground hard, splintering apart as she was slammed downwards into it by gravity. A hefty BOOM rang out from the impact, sending some birds flying upwards and away.

As for Scootaloo, she groaned as her vision spun, she’d hit her head into the dried tree from the jolt. Thankfully she couldn’t taste or smell blood, so her snout was fine, but her head was aching, and her eyes spun about in their sockets, showing just how dazed the little filly was from the blow.

She reached a forehoof up to rub her head, groaning in pain. She checked herself for any other signs of bleeding, rubbing her hoof through her mane and the like. Thankfully all she found were twigs and leaves, but still, that hurt!

As she stumbled off of the fallen tree, she realized she’d landed far down in a denser pocket of forest. The sun was still visible, but it had sunken towards the horizon all that much more, and she swore she could faintly hear the sounds of thunder.

She looked up, trying to see if she could spot any weather ponies, maybe they could help her! She looked around, trying her best to see through the trees and up at the clouded, reddening sky. Sadly, she saw nopony to help and thus the filly whimpered fearfully.

Scootaloo briefly considered trying to scale the cliff face she’d fallen down, but upon taking a few glances at it, there was no way she could make that. Not without tools or wings anyways.

“Oh nuts,” she managed. “Now what?”

She considered calling out or waiting here until the other ponies had found her. She’d cleared a lot of distance looking for firewood, sure, but maybe Dash could still find her. She was quick enough, she always was!

However, dark thoughts began to take hold. She never told Dash which exact direction she’d gone, and she never left a trail to follow back. Even without tumbling down this cliff, it was a mistake, but now… Oh Celestia!

She looked around, now suddenly feeling a lot smaller, and a lot more vulnerable. A faint trace of her rationality told her to calm down, but it was buried by even more bad thoughts.

What if the storm started soon. Then even with all her speed, Dash would never find her! Oh no, that’d be horrible! Her, all alone, out here in the middle of a stormy night, like it’s some horror story! And what if some horrible monster showed up too, just like in one of those stories?! The Headless Horse? A pack of Timberwolves? Maybe it would be something even worse!

Scootaloo began to bolt, running away from the cliff edge and into a random direction. She was almost hyperventilating, taking deep breaths as she ran about.

“Gotta find a trail! Come on!” she shouted to herself as she picked up the pace.

She rushed through the bramble at break-neck speeds. She ignored it as some of the twigs and branches hit her in the face and forelegs. She had to find some type of way back to her sister and her friends!

Still, the forest remained thick. Oh no! No, no! None of this was familiar at all. She couldn’t recall the trail exactly, she didn’t have eyes for the forest like Apple Bloom, and with her panicked state, she couldn’t behave rationally.

She was running so fast, but the forest never gave way. She was sure she was sprinting for many minutes on end by this point, and all she could notice was the sun growing dimmer with each passing second. It was dusk now, and the redness in the sky had turned into a deep, pale blue. Soon even that would be gone.

Soon enough she broke through a clearing, getting out of some bushes only to see more ahead. She took some deep breaths, allowing herself a moment to rest. She felt her little heart pounding inside her chest.

The filly just needed to remain calm. Banish these dark thoughts and scary ideas as Luna and Dash said. Scootaloo almost managed to calm herself down with this small breather. Even in the darkness, she could get back to the others. Yeah… she was tough, and brave! With her little pep talk to herself, she was beginning to feel a tiny bit better…

And then a small raindrop plopped down right onto her muzzle…

And then another hit her ear…

And then more began pelting her…

And then she screamed.

The Courier had parted ways with Mr. Magnet about an hour or so ago by now and was currently trekking back through the woods. For a big ass snake, he sure was a friendly fellow. Nice hair too. Could do without the mustache, but that was just Six’s preference.

Six had figured he was some sort of post-war mutation, and after asking him several questions relating to radiation, bombs, robots, literally anything about the post-war hellscape that America now was… He never got a good answer back.

That was fine. Maybe Steven wasn’t aware of it all. The Courier knew many who weren’t exactly familiar with the outside world, locked in their own little scuffles. Still, it was strange that Magnet hadn’t seen any humans whatsoever before. Surely they’d be common in an area as beautiful as this!

From what he’d gathered, the dominant lifeforms here were… strange, multicolored ponies. Who could also be pegasi or unicorns. It felt like the dream of some pre-war girl. One who owned far too many Giddyup Buttercups for her parents’ wallets’ sake.

Still, he couldn’t admit it was that much weirder compared to a bizarre hellscape like the Big MT and its many experiments. Though it did look nicer at least. Less buildings though, that was a negative. Less robots and Cazadores, that was a positive.

As he mused, he felt several droplets begin to hit his helmet and shoulders before rolling down his body. He wiped them off of his riot helmet’s lenses as he continued onwards, musing some more to himself.

The rain looked nice, reminded him of Zion. That was another positive, as his geiger counter wasn’t activating. That meant fresh rainwater at the best of times. Guess that evens it out and all tha-

A shrill scream cut off his musings and he instinctively jerked around towards its direction. He reached for his rifle for a moment, before realizing that said scream belonged to a young girl.

He didn’t rush towards it though, even with that knowledge. Children were… fickle. They could sometimes be little brats, rarely be decent lore-expositories, and sometimes they could be holding live grenades if the Legion was anything to go by.

Still, that sounded genuine but even then, who’s to say it wasn’t a recording or someone really good at mimicking terrified little girls. Six pondered his options.

Option one, go rushing head-first into danger, kill a bunch of assholes, save a kid.

Option two, go rushing head-first into danger, realize the kid wasn’t real, and then have to kill a bunch of assholes.

Well, both weren’t the worst choices. Still, hedge the bet and he'd lose his trump card: surprise. Should he really-

Another scream rang out in the distance, demolishing that thought yet again. It was further away now, but just as terrified sounding. Same girl, no doubt.

“Oh fuck me!” he growled, and then bolted off towards the direction it came from, slinging the carbine over his shoulder as he did.

He just hoped he wouldn’t regret this...

The Monster in the Woods

As the sun dipped over the horizon fully, Scootaloo let loose another cry of horror as darkness engulfed her. She couldn’t do a big scream this time, as her lungs were burning from the marathon she was sprinting currently, so most of it died in her throat, but the little filly still choked out a whimpering moan.

Her mane was sagging down against her head now, soaked with water, which also covered her coat. She was close to crying now. Even the other times she’d been stuck in the woods at night, at least then it wasn’t raining. This was far, far worse. Especially as her mind began playing tricks on her.

Out of the corner of her eyes she swore she kept seeing strange figures approaching. Creatures or trees that were ready to swallow her up. She didn’t dare slow, lest one of these monsters get her!

Scootaloo swore she saw a big beast up ahead, a large clawed limb reaching at her. She turned to the right, sprinting off in complete fear. Sadly, said limb was just a particularly placed branch, swaying wildly in the wind. To make matters worse, the little filly herself had just booked it into a particularly rough thicket of forest.

Twilight’s moon didn’t help her see much as the trees overhead were thick, darkening the little light she had to work with. It was almost a miracle she didn’t trip as she slammed her hoof into rough, mossy rocks and thick, uncovered tree roots.

She breathed deeply as she forced her body to give all it had to give. She wished she’d eaten a bigger lunch because her stomach was now growling too. Oh how she wished she had taken a baggie of marshmallows with her!

All of those regrets could be saved for later though, as currently she was focusing on not getting trapped in the wilderness during a rainstorm. She briefly considered if she could climb a tree and find a vantage point, perhaps she could see the campsite from here?

Those hopes were dashed when she was nearly tipped over from a particularly strong gust of wind. She shrieked as she stumbled around, forcing all four of her hooves beneath her as her underdeveloped wings stuck to her sides out of instinct.

She looked around again, and then picked a random direction to run towards. A loud crackle of thunder rang out from above, and she shouted in fear once more as she continued running without direction or reasoning.

Fear had taken hold of the poor filly, and now without any adult to guide her, she was letting it take hold. This situation was far worse than even her numerous nightmares. She was close to tears as she smashed through a thicket.

She was in a clearing now, a big one. A small field, actually! Didn’t help much, though. She could barely see more than five paces in front of her face from the oppressive darkness, and the tall grass that dotted said field didn’t help any either, as it was almost up past her cheeks.

Still, she rushed forwards, trampling it down as she tried to allow her eyes to adjust. They sadly didn’t and even if they did, the rain was too much for her. At least Twilight’s moon was helping her, albeit barely, as faint traces poked between the clouds above.

“Oh why did I ever do something so stupid!” she cursed herself with a whimpering tone as she reached up a forehoof to wipe the muck and water from her eyes.

Scootaloo shook her mane side to side, and yet it didn’t help much, making her whimper in sadness. The little pegasus soon began sniffling as well. She was getting cold now, and she shivered instinctively as the frigid rain poured down onto her without mercy.

She tried to position herself underneath a nearby tree, but the leaves didn’t stave off the storm. She could feel tears in her eyes now. They were forcing themselves up from deep within, and even as she tried choking them down, she just sobbed instead.

Her cries were barely audible over the storm above, especially when another blast of thunder lit up the area around her. She tried to keep her ears peeled despite this. She could just sit here and wait for rescue! Yeah!

Maybe Rainbow Dash would approach her any minute! She would bust through the treeline and sweep her off her hooves, and hug her and break up the clouds, and assure her that she was safe! Yeah, just thinking about it made Scootaloo feel better-

“Hey!” a voice rang out from the treeline ahead.

That… definitely wasn’t Dash’s voice. Or any of her friends or their sisters either…

It was deep, muffled, and masculine.

Scootaloo looked up, still hopeful that perhaps some weather pony had found her! She expected some knight in shining armor to be standing before her, greeting her with a polite gesture, no doubt here to save her!

Then, her heart sank into the deepest pits of her stomach…

In front of her, she could see two deep, red, glowing eyes.

She froze, and so did the creature that was looking at her. It was the single most horrific sight she could imagine. Whatever it was, it was tall, taller than Dash and likely even a bit taller than Big Mac too. It was bulky, and she could see what looked like fabric billowing in the wind behind the monster, a dark, dirty looking jacket adorning its frame.

Scootaloo’s eyes widened, bugging almost out of their sockets before she inhaled a shaky breath…

And then gave out one of the loudest screams she’d ever managed in her young life.

Her lungs, already burning, felt like an inferno now, especially as the scream lasted a few seconds. The monster in front of her actually reached up for his ears out of instinct before he could approach any further.

That was all she needed. She hopped to her hooves, and bolted off, running into the denser foliage in hopes he couldn’t follow. She could see him rushing towards her, an arm outstretched as he did.

“Wait!” she heard the beast shout! No doubt it was a trick! He would pretend to be all friendly and then lure her back to his cave and then eat her! The little filly ignored him as she continued on, hoping beyond all hope she’d never see those horrible red eyes again!

“Dash, did ya spot any sign of her!?” Applejack shouted over the rainstorm. The bright orange earth pony had to hold her hat down as the wind was currently picking up even more. She, Rarity, and the pegasus in question were currently outside of their cave campsite.

“If I did, do you think I’d have come back here empty hoofed!?!” growled back Rainbow Dash. “I knew I shouldn’t have let her go out there, and now look at what happened! This is all my freaking fault!”

“Dear, don’t blame yourself. That will get us nowhere,” Rarity assured her friend. The white unicorn was now adorned in a bright yellow raincoat, one of the few useful tools she had packed in her luggage.

“Just warm yourself up by the fire for a moment. Me and Rarity’ll go out and search for her again. That’ll give you time to rest up,” added Applejack, getting a nod from the unicorn by her side.

“Getting warm isn’t going to help Scootaloo!” shouted Dash, her eyes narrowed at her friend. Applejack could see faint traces of tears welling up too, and she gave a small, understanding frown.

“You won’t help her if you let the cold sap all your energy. It’ll make you sick, and then we’ll be in a real pickle,” Applejack said, her tone soft and encouraging.

Dash’s head dipped down, and she sniffled a bit, but she nodded nonetheless, knowing her friend was right. She walked back into the cave, with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sitting near the campfire alongside her.

“This ain’t right!” Apple Bloom shouted, crossing her forehooves. “We should be out there helping ya’ll!”

“Yeah, Scootaloo’s our best friend, we can’t just sit here and do nothing!” agreed Sweetie Belle.

“That storm out there’s wicked, even for me,” Dash said, drying her wings off with one of the many towels Rarity packed, water gliding off of her in thick droplets. “We are not letting you guys get washed away too.”

“Yeah, but-” Bloom was cut off by a glare from the mare.

“Don’t ‘but’ me!” Rainbow Dash said, taking on an authoritative tone. Her teacher-side coming out, as if she were scolding misbehaving students.

Apple Bloom wilted back, but the glare that Rainbow Dash had soon faded into a sorrowful gaze.

“I’m sorry Apple Bloom, I just… We don’t need you two in danger either,” Rainbow Dash explained, looking between the filly duo. “If anything happens to you or Sweetie, Applejack and Rarity will lose their cool too, and then we’ll all be in a bad situation.”

The two fillies nodded, and sat closely beside one another, sharing their warmth along with the heat from the fire. They stared at the small, crackling blaze for a solid few minutes. There wasn’t much wood to go around given that Scootaloo never returned, but the others had collected some earlier, ensuring their sisters would be warm in the coming storm.

“Don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash said, getting their attention away from the fire pit. “I swear to you guys, I’ll bring her back. She’s my sister, after all.”

The two fillies nodded at the older mare. Rainbow Dash could tell they had faith in her. It made her feel good. It almost gave her more energy than the heat from fire and the quick rest had. Soon enough, she’d be back into tip-top shape, and her sister would be safe and sound. She’d make sure of it!

“Why the fuck are you running!?!” the Courier shouted, reaching down and grabbing a large branch that was in his way.

He yanked on it hard, putting some of his immense strength into it as his muscles flexed beneath his duster. Of course he wound up unwittingly uprooting the entire damn bush with his rough tug, before he threw it aside, stomping over the other thickets in front of him.

The All-American battered this way and that against his back as he rushed her down. She was a scurrying little bugger, quick like a damn rabbit. He’d give her that, she had speed, but he was keeping a good pace with her.

It didn’t really cross his mind that perhaps chasing the fleeing pony was a bad idea. Especially when he looked like a beast right out of her worst nightmares. Not that he himself knew that of course!

Still, one would figure the red lenses give it away… Oh well.

He continued on, smashing through more shrubs as he tried tracking her down from the broken branches and hoof steps she was now leaving in the muddy terrain. He felt his lungs burning a bit, but he continued on undeterred.

“Get back here, kid!” he called out, swatting down another branch in his way as he stomped towards her. Probably not the best thing to shout either, all things considered.

Regardless, his helmet’s night vision let him see her with ease even as she bobbed and weaved away. The little pegasus was basically a little blotch of fuzz against the plantlife and bramble that cluttered the forest.

Still, he could see where she was going, and she couldn’t, so it wasn’t a shock he was slowly gaining on her as she weaved between bushes and trees. He smashed down another bush, trampling it underfoot and creating loud snapping sounds as he advanced.

“I’m trying to help you, you little brat!” he shouted out, though it was likely lost on her, as another crack of thunder and the loud rain drowned his voice out.

She seemingly just sped up. He could see what looked like a pair of little wings fluttering, though she didn’t seem to have the ability to fly. Maybe she was under-developed due to her age? He couldn’t exactly ponder the maturation cycle of pegasi at the moment, though, as he was still smashing his way through the overgrowth that kept blocking his path to the little filly.

He could see her ears flick back though, before she ducked behind another bush. She could likely hear the cracks of twigs and such, even over the loud rainstorm thundering in the background. Though he could also see her chest heaving, reminding him of a dog that was in the middle of a hunt. In this instance though, she was more or less the prey.

He saw her burst out the other side of the thicket and take a hard right turn, scurrying away into some more bushes. He growled in annoyance, but kept pace, his breathing becoming a bit stiff, and he could feel sweat run down his forehead beneath his mask. The Courier paid it little mind though, as he’d dealt with desert heats infinitely worse than this little sprint session.

Still, she was a fast little bugger, he’d give her that. He would catch her soon though, but the logical part of his brain was hoping he’d get her before she got herself hurt. Seconds later, he broke through the thicket into the clearing she’d reached, he banked hard to the right.

However, his eyes widened as he felt his foot slip from beneath him. His entire brain was soon yanked away from thoughts and into the present as he completely slipped.

His left foot gave out fully, flying into the air, and he fell down, slamming hard onto his right knee. He grunted as it smashed right into a particularly large rock that had been hidden in the mud.

“Fuck!” he hissed, catching his upper body with his hands before he fully fell into the wet mush.

It didn’t exactly hurt, as his knee pad absorbed the worst of the blow, but he had now lost some ground with the filly. With a growl he was back up onto his feet, and sprinting just as fast as he had been, though he paid more attention as to not trip.

As he was running and focusing on the ground though, he caught something out of the corner of his eye and turned his head for a split second. He could see a figure, running on all fours. His eye lenses were a bit clouded from the water, but even still he could see it definitely wasn’t the filly he was chasing.

In fact, it wasn’t even a pony at all. The creature looked like a big canine and… was it made of fucking wood?

The Courier’s eyes widened beneath his helmet as a large wolf leapt right towards him. He managed to raise his hands up before it slammed into him, knocking him off course and leaving the both of them rolling downwards through the bushes.

The ground was a complete slurry and sloped beforehand anyways, meaning they slid harshly. Both the man and the canine were clawing at each other the entire time they tumbled. Grass and mud and rock flew this way and that while they rolled.

Six’s hand shot up and grabbed the fucker by the throat before it could bite at him, but as the two continued down slope, he felt his grip loosen a bit. Not only that, but he felt the All-American’s strap slip away, with the rifle tumbling off down the hill and out of his reach as he scuffled with the beast.

Soon enough though, he slammed harshly into a tree at the bottom of the hill they’d been rolling down. It was back first, obviously, making a loud CRACK sound ring out as the trunk of said tree indent from the harsh impact. Bark and leaves that had shaken loose from the blow fell down onto the two scuffling creatures.

The Courier let out a growl of pain and annoyance as the beast was kicking and clawing at him now that their fall was over. No doubt it was trying to get itself free from his grip, but the pissed off human wouldn’t just let it go that easily!

He reached up his other hand and shoved his thumb deep into the strange, wooden creature’s bright glowing eye. Little fucker wanted to ambush him? Alright, enjoy that plan with one fucking eye you bastard!

SQUELCH!

He looked over and saw a rather large rock on the ground nearby. With his hands still wrapped firmly around the beast’s head, he picked the bastard up and then slammed it right down onto it. He could feel the wood crack under his powerful slam, and the rock did its job by smashing the beast’s head apart, leaving roots, leaves, and pieces of wood coating the muddy ground.

The Courier quickly stood up, looking around himself as he wiped his sap-coated hands onto his duster. He growled out in annoyance as he could see more figures approaching from the treeline. He noted their glowing eyes and had he not been wearing a gas mask; he would’ve also noted a strange scent filling his nostrils.

As it stood now though, the Courier just reached down. In the blink of an eye his right hand disappeared beneath his duster, before he yanked out something…

The one that had advanced the furthest jerked back, a portion of its head splattering apart as a loud BANG filled the air.

It wasn’t thunder, though.

The beasts looked at their brother as he fell to the ground, turning into useless pieces of bramble and foliage. They then turned back to their newest prey, sizing him up as they stopped their advance for the moment.

Slowly, over a dozen wooden wolves began to surround the lone human, who held a strange looking object in his hand now. The beasts’ feet left tracks in the mud as they encircled him. He was definitely a bigger meal than the filly, even if he’d already taken down two of the pack.

Sadly for them, he wasn’t even remotely going to stop there.

The Courier just cock Lucky's hammer while smirking beneath his mask. While the All-American was out of his grasp currently, he was far from defenseless. Besides, .357 should be enough for these assholes.

“Alright you thorny fucks,” he took a deep breath, his almost psychotic smile visible just as he spoke, “come get some!”

The unnatural wolves charged…

And so did the Courier.

Scootaloo’s ears slammed downwards against her skull as she heard several loud BANGs ring out behind her. She moaned and whimpered in fear as she continued sprinting. She knew it wasn’t thunder, as it sounded too close.

Whatever it was, she wanted no part of it, and instead was trying to put as much distance between herself and that monster as possible. At one point she swore she even smelt the faint traces of Timberwolves! Oh that would be just great. Not one monster, but one monster and a pack of those horrid beasts! Just what she needed!

She felt both of her forehoove get caught on something, and her eyes widened as she slipped up, her momentum carrying her forwards all the while. The muddy ground also caused her balance to give way, and she wasn’t able to right herself in time before she slammed face-first into the muck with a groan.

Scootaloo forced herself back up onto her haunches and tried wiping the mud from her face. After a few moments, she managed to clear herself up mostly, but flecks of grime still adorned her face, staining parts of her orange coat an unflattering brown.

She continued to sit there for a few moments, realizing only now how tired she felt. Her lungs burned and her body was starting to ache from how hard she’d been pushing herself. Still, she couldn’t focus on that now! She had to get free from these monsters before she could acknowledge that medical stuff!

Still, a rest would help… She looked around for a few moments, and after finding the area clear from anything that could eat her, she backed herself up against a tree and took a few deep breaths, letting her body finally get some form of rest. She almost wanted to sleep, but the cold rain and the hot adrenaline forced her to stay awake.

Scootaloo kept her eyes and ears peeled as she looked around. Even the faintest snap of a twig, or the fluttering of a branch in the wind nearly made her bolt. However, nothing came for poor the little filly.

The orange pegasus gave a deep sigh, no doubt relieved a bit. Perhaps those monsters had gotten into a fight with each other! Maybe the Timberwolves would rip it apart and leave her alone! Maybe she’d escape after all-

BANG!

The filly immediately ducked back down, covering her head in fear, looking around for the source of the horrid noise! She couldn’t see anything nearby, but that didn’t comfort her at all. Especially as the loud sound was soon followed by a pained howl.

Wait. That means the monster was beating those Timberwolves!

“Oh no,” Scootaloo squeaked. She tried to stand, but her body was exhausted, so she just wound up collapsing back into a sitting position. The adrenaline that had carried the little filly this far seemed to have vanished, and now she was alone with her pained body.

“Oh no!” she cried again, a bit louder this time.

She soon began to crawl backwards as best she could, keeping her eyes on the direction the noise had come from all the while. She kicked all four of her hooves as she tried to stand up, only leading to her slipping back into the slurry of mud.

Scootaloo groaned as she gave it her all, grunting in effort as she managed to slowly stand back up. Despite the fact her hooves were killing her, she was able to shakily backpedal. She dared not turn away from the direction she was gazing in, as that would allow the beast to sneak up on her.

In the span of a few minutes, Scootaloo had only gotten a few dozen feet away from her starting location. Even if she did turn to run properly, her body would no doubt give out again on her soon. This slower, steady pace at least helped her keep herself up, though likely not for that much longer either.

In that time, she heard more howls and bangs, but the noises had ceased a few minutes ago by now. Soon she was left with just the occasional crack of thunder and the continuous sound of rain hitting the ground and trees around her.

Soon enough though in the darkness, she could see it.

Breaching a thicket dead ahead of the little filly, two bright glowing red eyes soon stared at her from several dozen yards away. She nearly bit her tongue in fear but managed to avoid hurting herself. However, her eyes bulged out as the beast spotted her, and began advancing, closer by the second.

She would’ve screamed, but it died in her throat as she finally turned to run, getting a second burst of energy as she finally managed a proper gait. No doubt the immediate danger drove the little filly on as she bobbed her way through the bramble. She had received several cuts from the branches, but they were better than some monster taking her!

However soon, her running stopped, as she finally reached the seeming end of the boundless forest, smashing through one final thicket to get to the end!

…

Her heart sank as she realized she was staring across a large river now. She’d breached the forest and gotten to merely a small clearing on the bank. Ahead of her were just more trees.

Scootaloo almost cried at how hopeless she felt. Even if she wasn’t exhausted, there was no way she could swim over it! And even if she could, there were untold miles of forest ahead of her anyways!

Still, she had to do something! She could hear a voice shout from behind her, deep in the treeline, but no doubt approaching rapidly.

“Hey! Come back here, kid!” it called.

Oh no! It was hot on her tail. There’d be no way to hide from it now!

Scootaloo looked behind herself and then back ahead, staring across the river. The filly felt jittery, truly caught between a rock and a hard place. She was taking quick, rapid breaths as she tried to decide what to do.

Suddenly however, a determined expression crossed her face. Her worry seemed to meld away, and the little filly looked backwards at her stunted wings. As small as they were, maybe they could help? She couldn’t fly but…

“Kid!” called the muffled monster.

She jerked herself out of her thoughts, deciding her plan then and there. Thus, Scootaloo stepped back a few paces, readying herself, with her small body tensing in anticipation. Her eyes sat fixated on the riverbank in front of her.

Happy thoughts filled her mind as she amped herself up. She thought about all the times Rainbow Dash took her on personal flights. She imagined soaring through the clouds. She imagined the time she made it to Cloudsdale just from her own wicked stunt.

She smirked to herself, drawing out her confidence, and then rushed forwards, kicking up mud as she did! The little filly reached the edge of the bank, and then leapt!...

Scootaloo was in the air, soaring! It was a wonderous feeling, as her mane flung back, rain droplets slamming into her face. She was getting closer, closer to the other side! Her wings flapped as hard as she could, looking like those of a hummingbird.

Come on! So close! Maybe she could make it!

Sadly, gravity soon kicked in, and her eyes widened as her arc soon turned downwards, and her vision was filled with the flowing rapids below. She began kicking her legs this way and that, as if she were trying to flap them as well. Still, the little filly wasn’t able to do anything despite this, and now she was getting closer, and closer to the uncaring water.

She let out a loud scream of fear.

But there was no splash…

Instead, she felt a sharp pain in her tail, and her descent completely stopped, leaving her dangling. Her eyes widened as she realized what had happened. Somepony had grabbed her by her tail and saved her! Maybe they were here to rescue her from those horrible monster-

Her happiness immediately faded when she turned her head upwards…

…It was the beast!

The great two-legged monster had grabbed her tail with his outstretched palm. From her position, she could also see that his other hand was latched onto a large, sturdy looking branch. Said branch hung low enough to allow him to lean outwards several feet over the water, showing how he was able to nab the filly before she landed in the rapids.

Soon enough he leaned back over so that the two were on solid ground at a slow and steady pace. While her brain was buzzing with leftover adrenaline and an immense amount of fear, a faint part of her rational mind made a note that he was doing this rather gently for a monster that she expected to eat her!

She would’ve kicked at him, but her body had now fully given out. All the fight in her was gone, replaced with a deep pit in her stomach. Sheer soon dread filled her insides as she looked up at the creature with fear. Soon enough, she was being lifted up towards his face as he leaned down.

She was sure it would be over soon. His bright red eyes made her whimper back as the horrid thought filled her head. She couldn’t take his awful gaze much more, and thus she put her hooves up over her face while whimpering.

In that frightful moment she thought about many things. She thought about the Crusaders, her aunts, and her parents. She thought about Rainbow Dash. Oh goodness, Rainbow Dash. Her own adoptive sister, the coolest pegasus in Equestria… and now she was never going to see her or any of the others ever again because this mean monster was going to eat her!

She cried, sniffling into her hooves as she did, accepting her fate-

“Jesus. Fucking! Christ!” she heard him shout. He gave out several deep, labored breaths, his words and breathing muffled as he spoke. She was so confused she didn’t even acknowledge his swear.

This confusion gave way to a twinge of curiosity, and slowly, she moved aside her hooves, inch by inch, and then peeped an eye open. Just one though! She couldn’t be sure if this monster was just toying with her!

But he didn’t seem to be. He was just staring down at her, his chest moving from his deep breathing. He looked horrifying still but… she didn’t sense any immediate threat coming from him.

“Do you ever stop running, kid?” he asked, before leaning downwards and slowly laying her down onto the muddy ground.

She just remained there on her back as he let go of her purple tail, staring up at him as he took a few steps back and leaned against a tree, clearly winded, though not as badly as she was. She continued to gaze at him as he took deeper breaths.

“Fuck’s… sake,” he said, more to himself than her. She watched as he brought a hand up to his chest and tugged a strange looking object out of a small satchel.

Wait… was that a bottle?

The creature then popped the cap off with one strong thrust of his thumb, sending it into the air. As it flew down, he caught it with his free hand and shoved it back into another satchel in one fluid motion, as if he’d done it many times before.

She just watched in utter confusion as he leaned away from her. She couldn’t really see him in the darkness as he lifted up his helmet up just a tad, and then began to utterly slam back the bottled drink.

Scootaloo heard him gulping deeply. He leaned his head back, tilting the bottle straight upside down. He utterly guzzled it with a few more deep, audible swallows. Not since Pinkie slamming those root beers had she seen anypony- or, well, anything down one so quickly, but she was half-sure he would give the party pony a run for her money.

In the span of no less than a second, the bottle was gone, and the creature had stopped his deep, labored breathing. He shoved the empty bottle back into another satchel, wiped around what she assumed to be his mouth area, and then readjusted his mask so it was fully over his face.

“Anyways… like I said, why in the hell were you running around like a mad… pony?” he asked, his voice back to normal, no longer tired or labored.

That question actually triggered something in the little filly, and she hopped up onto her hooves, giving him a glare despite her exhaustion and pain.

“Why were you chasing me!?” Scootaloo retorted.

“Duh, because you screamed so loud half the forest could hear you!” he shouted back.

Oh… right. She did do that, didn’t she?

“Well,” she huffed back, “I only screamed because I got lost!”

“And what about all those times I said ‘Wait, come back!’ huh?” he countered.

“Why would I ever come to you when you look like some big scary monster!?!” she re-countered!

He would’ve hit himself in the head but held his grip. He agreed with her but didn’t want to show it. He couldn’t admit defeat to a talking plush toy! Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was because he was an asshole.

It was probably both.

“I do not look like a monster!” he shouted back, crossing his arms.

“Do too!” was her obvious response.

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

“DO NOT!”

“DO TOO!”

“Alright, you know what!” he shouted, throwing his hands up as he did. “I don’t have to take this. I came because you screamed, and I thought you needed help. Clearly, you’re perfectly fine on your own.”

With that, he made sure the All-American was firmly strapped onto his back, more so than last time at least. After losing it in the scuffle prior, he didn’t feel like losing the rifle again.

Soon he turned to leave, swatting aside a bush to walk deeper into the forest. He made it several steps into the thicket before the little pegasus took a few uncertain steps towards him.

“W-wait!” Scootaloo cried, her voice welling up with fear. “Please don’t go!”

The Courier stopped suddenly.

Damn…

He sighed silently enough she couldn’t hear it.

A scared child was still a scared child. Even if it wasn’t human. He couldn’t just ditch her. He turned his head back towards her, and she flinched back a bit as his red eye lens seemingly glared down at her.

“Yeah?” he asked, his tone a lot more neutral sounding. It filtered through his gas mask to make him sound a bit scarier, but he could now see she had an almost hopeful look on her face.

“I… I really am lost. I don’t know where my friends are, or where my sister is,” she admitted, looking downtrodden. It was almost as if she were about to weep. Hell, she might already be doing it, with the tears being lost in the ever-present rain that poured down over the two.

He sighed again, this time loud enough for her to hear.

“Alright… come on if ya want,” he said, waving his gloved hand, beckoning her to follow.

She looked at him for a moment, a look of uncertainty crossing her face. She raised a hoof to step closer but paused mid step.

“Kid, think of it like this. If I wanted something bad to happen to ya, I would’ve let ya go over into that river,” he said.

As horrible as that mental image was to her, Scootaloo had to agree. He had her dead to rights several times already, and yet she was still here, perfectly fine.

“Well… alright,” she said, nodding. As she spoke, she felt her aches come back to her now. Her body needed rest, and she looked up at him with a hopeful expression. “But… can I ask for just one thing?”

“What? Do you want a piggyback ride or something?” he asked, almost chuckling. He had a smile beneath his helmet. However, as he looked down at the sheepish pegasus, his smirk slowly faded. He soon rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” the human muttered.

Rough Meetings

The Courier swatted aside another bush as he backtracked towards the clearing where those wooden bastards had attacked him. The rainwater continued to pour down on him and the little filly resting on his back, with it seeping down his neck as he plodded along.

Scootaloo looked down at him. Her legs were all loosely wrapped around his neck, putting her weight roughly on his upper spine and shoulders. She noted just how strong he felt. His muscles supported her small frame with ease. It almost made her feel safe, like the rare times she was embraced by her father.

Truth be told though, she wondered if this weird creature had more bulk than even her dad did. It was hard to tell, especially through the haziness and the rain clouding her vision. Said rain made her shiver as she tried to nuzzle herself against his supportive frame, though it gave her little warmth.

“You getting cold, kid?” he asked, his muffled voice cutting through the silence.

“Y-yeah,” she said with a shiver.

“Ah don’t worry, you’ll be safe soon and all that,” he assured, looking down at a strange watch-like device on his wrist.

Scootaloo looked at it with curiosity as he flicked through a bunch of knobs, looking over various pieces of information she couldn’t read from this angle.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Oh uh, a Pip-Boy 3000. Got it off an old friend a long time ago,” he answered, looking away to continue on.

He’d been eyeing up Magnet’s notes. Surely this pony belonged in Ponyville, right? Might as well double check anyways.

“So what are you doing out here? I figured you’d be at home getting some rest in a storm like this,” he asked, trying to both lighten her mood and get some information.

“I was out here with my friends and sister before the storm started,” began the little filly. “We were having a camping trip, and I went to get some firewood…”

She trailed off, and he could tell she’d taken on a sad expression.

“I got lost,” she stated simply with a sigh.

“Ah it’s fine kid,” he said. His tone wasn’t exactly comforting, sounding a bit too callous for the filly’s liking, but he was trying his best. “Everyone gets lost sometimes, ya know?”

“I guess,” she agreed with a faint nod. “This was really bad, though. I have no idea how to get back to camp.”

“It’s fine, I can take you back to your home in Ponyville. A guy gave me directions and all that-” he was cut off by her giving a deep gasp.

“Oh no! You can’t do that!” she said, her voice raising from a low tone to a little shout.

“Hey calm down! The hell’s the matter with you?” he asked, moving his head downwards a bit, given she’d just shouted in his ear.

“I’m sorry mister, but my friends and sister are all probably out here hunting for me!” she said, her mind racing to thoughts of Rainbow Dash and the others braving the storm to find her. “I can’t just go home and leave them out here! They’ll be worried sick, and they might get hurt!”

While Scootaloo was totally confident in the ever-awesome Rainbow Dash to make it back safe, her mind went to the non-flying ponies getting washed away by the torrential downpour of rain. That or getting surrounded by a pack of Timberwolves! Or Fly-ders! Or Tim-Fly-der-Wolves!

“Alright, alright,” he huffed. “Don’t get your hooves in a knot. Just tell me where you think they are, and I’ll try to find them.”

“Well… I don’t know,” she admitted, and he sighed in annoyance, letting her continue. “I fell down a big steep cliff and well… A bit after that I saw you and then-”

“Yeah you did the whole bolting schtick, I get it,” he cut her off. “Alright just uh, I’ll follow your trail.”

He continued on for a few steps, looking at the ground.

“What’s left of it, anyways,” he added.

“Oh thank you so much, mister!” cried the filly, hugging the back of his head with her forehooves.

“Hey, hey, watch it with the helmet!” he growled, and she loosened her grip.

“I’m sorry!” she squeaked, and he felt her shrink back a bit on his shoulders.

“It’s fine,” he said, his voice taking on a (very, very slightly) softer tone, obviously trying to make her feel less shitty about the situation this time. “Just uh, cool it with the hugs and… the whole ‘mister’ thing.”

“Well what do you want me to call you uh… sir?” she said, her young voice filled with uncertainty. “You haven’t given me your name.”

“It’s uh…” he paused for a moment, “Courier. Courier Six.”

She made a scrunched-up face of confusion.

“Courier Six? That’s your name?” she asked.

“Yeah well, what’s your name then, hotshot?” he retorted.

“It’s Scootaloo,” she replied, before she heard him snort, obviously stifling a laugh.

She felt him shake his head a little bit, no doubt judging her. The little filly gained an annoyed expression.

“What’s so funny?” Scootaloo asked after a moment.

“Like you’re one to judge my name when that’s yours,” he smirked.

“Well at least I’m not named after delivering mail,” replied the little pegasus annoyance evident in her voice.

“At least a courier is a real thing,” he replied back coyly. “I don’t even know what a ‘Scootaloo’ is.”

“It’s my name!” she defended with a huff.

“Whatever you say, kid,” he responded casually.

The two were silent for a bit, with the Courier using his riot helmet’s night vision to follow the trail. The All-American was slung around his neck, with it rattling about each time he took a step.

As he did this, the little filly was looking him over, at least as best she could from her awkward angle. She could see the strange, rattling device hanging from his neck by a thick strap, unsure of what exactly it was. A curious expression came over her tired face.

“Uh,” Scootaloo began, but paused, as if she didn’t really know fully what to say, “mind if I ask, what are you, exactly?”

“What?” he simply responded, continuing through the woods.

“I mean, I’m a pony, you are…?” she allowed the question to trail off.

“You’ve never seen a human before, kid?” he asked.

Human.

Human…

Human, human, human.

She’d swore she’d heard that word before. It rattled around in her brain for a few moments as she tossed and turned and tried to remember.

Had one of her friends said that before? Twilight, maybe? Or Starlight, perhaps?

Her face took on a look of concentration as she pondered it. She didn’t exactly know just what a human was, but she recalled that the word was just faintly familiar in some deep portion of her mind.

“...No,” she finally responded, “I don’t think I have.”

“Figures, I land in the only spot in the entirety of the damn Wasteland filled with nothing but mutants,” he sighed.

“Mutant?” she asked, obviously confused. “What in the hay are you talking about?”

“Well, you’re obviously not a natural species… No offense,” he replied. “Last I checked, ponies didn’t have wings or orange coats or purple hair… and they didn’t talk either. Pretty sure they were also extinct.”

Scootaloo just looked at him like he had a hole in his head for a few seconds.

“Are you alright?” she asked, absolutely baffled from his monologue and unsure of what exactly to say. It honestly sounded like he was talking about a bad comic book Spike had with talks of 'mutants' and such.

“Once I find out where I am, I will be,” he replied.

“Uh, duh, you’re in Equestria,” she answered.

“I know that, but I mean where in America,” The Courier retorted.

“What’s an America?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah, that’s my point,” he just sighed.

“Look, uh, Six? I’m not really sure about all this weird stuff you’re saying, but this feels like something Twilight might’ve looked into back before she became a princess,” she said, still a bit weirded out over the whole ordeal.

“And where can I find her palace?” he asked, recalling some minor snippets of info Steven Magnet had given him.

“Well, she moved to Canterlot a few months back. It’s just a few miles from Ponyville,” Scootaloo explained, making him nod.

“Well maybe she can help me figure all of this out,” he muttered, and from there on in, the two were mostly silent.

Only the sound of thunder and rain and the occasional lightning strike rang out in the two’s ears. The snapping of fallen branches below were mostly drowned out by the other noises as the human continued on. The orange filly rested on his back as he advanced.

Scootaloo felt her eyelids getting heavy, as they almost drooped downwards, barely stopped by her forcing herself awake. She lightly shook her head to knock off the tiredness, but soon rested it on the top of his helmet, feeling the hard metal material press against her chin as she did.

It wasn’t comfortable, but it definitely made her feel safe, especially from her current vantage point. She basically towered over all the shrubs she’d once had to weave through. Even when she was transformed into an adult, she wasn’t this tall!

She felt herself slowly lull off towards sleep. Even with the rain and the thunder, she couldn’t force herself to remain awake much longer, as scrapes and the tenderness of her muscles made her body ache. She exhaled through her nose, blowing some water droplets away from her muzzle as her eyes closed.

“Kid, don’t pass out just yet,” called the masculine voice of the Courier, snapping her away from the edge of sleep.

“Oh, horseapples,” she groaned, borrowing one of Apple Bloom’s countryisms.

“This your doing?” he asked, pointing towards a downed log. It had four small holes in it that were currently filling with water and muck from the rain. They looked just big enough to fit a filly’s hooves.

“Huh?” she questioned, examining it for a moment before something clicked in her mind, and her eyes widened excitedly at that. “Woah, yeah!”

“You slid down this hill here, right?” he asked. “Guess we’re getting close.”

She looked up at the steep slope she’d fallen down several hours earlier by this point and got sheepish.

“You’re not uh… gonna climb it, are you?” Scootaloo asked, sounding a bit fearful.

“What?” he asked with a slight chuckle. “No, I’m gonna follow it until it gets down to a manageable incline.”

Scootaloo was silent for a moment.

“Why didn’t I think of that!?” she bemoaned, smacking herself on her forehead while he chuckled.

“Don’t worry about it, kid. Maybe next time,” he smirked.

Applejack managed to push herself through the mud and the harsh rain to continue the search for the lost filly. She hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Scootaloo, and had begun to press deeper and deeper into the woods. Though she tried not to show it, a worried expression had adorned her face for the past few minutes now.

Even with her, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash having split up to cover as much ground as possible, none of the adults had any luck in their search. It made a horrible, empty pit form in her stomach. While the country pony hoped for the best outcome, as the storm continued raging on, and as the moon hung oppressively overhead, she began bracing herself for the worst.

She soon saw a bright light through the trees nearby and put aside these horrible thoughts Rarity’s face came into view. The unicorn’s horn illuminated their surroundings, though the glow did little to calm either of their worries.

“I haven’t found her!” cried the posh pony over the storm, a deep frown settled on her face.

While that was obvious, saying it made them both feel even worse about the whole thing. Rarity herself was bordering on tears, though it’d be hard to tell, as the rain had made her mascara run like she had been bawling already.

“Well we can’t give up!” shouted back Applejack, trying to keep herself stoic.

“Of course we can’t!” shouted a tomboyish voice from overhead, and the two grounded ponies looked up to see Rainbow Dash hovering above.

Her mane was billowing this way and that in the wind, soaked completely with rain. She was covered with stray leaves and twigs as well, no doubt from her smashing through the treeline in attempts to find her adoptive sister.

“I’m not doing anything until we find Scootaloo!” she shouted, determined as ever, her teeth gritting. Though the edges of her mouth quivered as dark thoughts went through her mind.

“We ain’t either!” said the equally determined Applejack. “We need to go deeper into the woods though. We’ve searched every inch of this place! She must’ve wandered further than we thought.”

“Well then let’s go!” shouted the pegasus, obviously about to zoom off.

“Darling, before you fly off, I think it’s best we stick together this time!” Rarity managed, her once beautiful mane billowing about as the wind picked up again.

“Why? If we split up, we cover more ground!” she retorted.

“That doesn’t matter when we keep retreading ground,” Applejack explained, agreeing with Rarity. “This storm’s not slacking off anytime soon. And it makes us backtrack over each other’s trails over an’ over. If we’re together, at least we can plan out where to go.”

“Oh yeah, and then we’ll take triple the time to find her.” Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow in response. “Look, you two do whatever you want, I’m not slowing down!”

“Rainbow Dash, wai-” cried Applejack, but it was too late, as her blue friend shot off in a random direction, no doubt to go even deeper into the woods.

“Dangit!” she added, before hoofing it after her, Rarity doing her best to keep up with the farmer as the two earthbound ponies did their best to track their quicker friend, though she was already long gone.

Dash’s teeth grit as she smashed through more and more branches, which left minor scrapes and bruises on her forelegs. While they hurt a bit, she ignored the pain, all to find her dear sister. Even as she inadvertently knocked over a tree here and there by smashing through it and out the other side, she didn’t slack up.

Her mind was racing with horrible possibilities for poor Scootaloo now. What if she’d been hurt and got stuck somewhere? Her screams drowned out by the storm, meaning nopony could find her, leaving the poor pegasus alone to suffer.

That idea nearly made tears stream down her narrowed eyes, but then Rainbow Dash’s brain went to even worse conclusions. For instance, what if some horrible beast had found her? What if she’d been dragged back to some Timberwolf den? Or what if a hungry manticore got her?

Typically, she’d consider the ideas ridiculous. Scootaloo was tough, resourceful, and awesome! But these dire times, the storm and the lack of a trail for the filly, they began getting to her. She’d spent several hours already searching for her, all to have no luck on her sister turning up.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth, clenching her jaw tightly as she slammed her forehooves through the trunk of a large tree, ripping off a large section of it and causing it to collapse in half behind her. She just flew on without noticing.

At this speed, she was practically a weapon, about a hundred or so pounds of sporty pony muscle flying at a few dozen miles per hour. It wasn’t a shock she was literally ripping her way through the forest to find little Scootaloo.

She wasn’t as great of a tracker as someone like Applejack, but she tried to keep her eyes peeled for a trail. However, that was almost useless, as at her speed and with the rain, picking up on anything would be impossible.

Still, she searched as best she could while flying as fast as possible. Surely with all the ground she was covering she’d spot the filly’s orange coat somewhere, even amidst the darkness! She had to! She couldn’t give up hope!

Rainbow Dash banked left, sending hundreds of loose and fallen leaves scattering about in the wind as she did. Due to how quick she was, her wings were creating immensely strong gusts of wind as she flew by, making even the rain itself fly about before it fell to the ground.

She was almost considering a Sonic Rainboom at this point, as she was flying just a bit slower than the speeds that were required to perform the ear-busting maneuver. Maybe she could scatter the clouds above and save her sister?

However, a faint part of her realized she’d need to do several to fully clear away the clouds, assuming the first one didn’t save Scootaloo. Not only that, but the weather team would have to reschedule the storm. It was a much less important fact to her by this point, but the rational part of her brain noted it as she flew onwards.

“Kid, are you feeling better? You’re not getting any lighter,” the Courier said, scaling a manageable scope as he did, looking back at Scootaloo for a moment. He felt a slight pain in his neck from all of her weight pressed against it.

“I am,” she replied, and while she was still exhausted, a mini powernap had helped her regain some energy. “When we get to the top of this hill I’ll hop off.”

“Oh yeah, how convenient,” he rolled his eyes as he continued the rainy hike. He could feel her still shivering a bit as he climbed.

He paused in thought, and after a moment of consideration he reached a gloved hand back and grabbed her like she was a cat. Scootaloo gave a little squeak as he adjusted her, putting her underneath his duster. The soaked little filly was soon resting against the right side of his slightly warmer stomach. His jacket was now keeping the majority of the rain off her body, though her head still poked out the front of it as his arm held her in place.

“T…thanks,” she managed before flinching back a bit as the stock of the dangling All-American bonked against her nose. “Jeez, what is this thing?”

“A gun, kid,” he replied as if it were obvious, before continuing like he was talking to a baby. “If we deal with any bad guys, I’ll point it at them and make them go away.”

“Are you mocking me?” she asked with a huff.

“What, me? Never,” he replied, smirking like a bastard under his helmet.

“Why are you like that?” Scootaloo questioned.

“Like what?” was the unhelpful reply.

“Like that. Ugh, you know what I mean!” she responded.

“Kid, all I can say is that everyone acts the way they do for a reason,” he answered, equally as unhelpfully. “I figured your preschool would’ve taught you that.”

“I am not a preschooler!” she squeaked back.

“Uh huh,” he said, reaching the top of the slope finally, giving a huff as he continued on.

“You can let me go now,” she said grumpily, crossing her forehooves beneath his jacket, both out of annoyance, and also an attempt to warm herself up a bit more.

“You’re still shivering,” he replied flatly, continuing on with her hoisted up safely against his bulky frame.

“I-… thanks… again,” Scootaloo said, her annoyance melting away.

The filly felt his muscles through his jacket and clothes. It was almost like she was in the grip of a great bear or minotaur. A shockingly gentle one at that.

“Whatever,” he replied, equally as flatly as last time.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Of all the monsters to get stuck with and he was both a sourpuss and a jerk. But after a moment she soon looked up at him with a faint, thankful smile, even if he didn’t pay her any mind.

Soon enough though, the trees thinned out a bit, going from the dense thicket it had been to something more manageable. He trekked ahead as rain droplets poured down onto his body.

The pegasus was getting a bit warmer, if slightly. He wasn’t exactly a bastion of heat, but he knew she was feeling better beneath the Old World duster than she had been on his back.

And it made his neck hurt less, so there was definitely that. That was the more important part, obviously.

A part of him grew annoyed he wasn’t going to have usage of his dominant hand during a potential fight, but after he rubbed his left hand against one of the many holsters stashed on his body, he was reassured with himself. The brief seconds his hand felt the familiar frame of a pistol, he was quelled, as if it were a comfort blanket for him.

“Hey uh…” began the little one, interrupting his thoughts.

“What?” he huffed, moving his hand away from the comfort gun.

“You got another soda?” she asked. “I mean, I saw you drink one earlier, back at the river. Do you think I could-”

“The Sunset Sarsaparilla? Kid… that shit rots your teeth and kills your kidneys. And before you say ‘I know’ that crap does it more so than most other soft drinks, it's bad, trust me,” he replied succinctly. "It was out of date too. Completely flat."

“What? Why do you drink it then!?” she cried out in shock, her little eyes bugging out in shock that he’d consumed such trash.

“Like I said kid, we all have our reasons…” he said, pausing to consider if he had anything on him that wasn’t toxic, out of date, or radioactive. He shrugged, realizing the majority of them were in his pack back under the log. “I’m sure you’ve got plenty of food and drinks waiting for you back at your campsite anyways.”

“We were supposed to make smores,” sighed Scoots.

“Yeah!... Whatever that is,” he agreed, and she looked at him in shock again.

“You’ve never had a smore?” she questioned; her mouth wide open.

“Nope,” he replied casually, stepping over a large fallen branch.

“Where are you from?” she asked, looking at him like he was an alien.

“Like I said, the Mojave Desert, kid,” he said simply.

“Yeesh, you’re missing out,” she said, continuing after a moment. “Please tell me you’ve had cake at least!”

“Kid, I’m not here to tell you about the foods I’ve had,” he said, and she looked a bit downtrodden for a moment, but her ears perked up a moment later. “But the answer is yes… They were a bit old, and dry, and… not good.”

“You’re missing out, Six,” she responded. “I’ll have to get you some cake the next time I’m at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie’s a total freak when it comes to throwing parties for poni-uh.. creatures new to town!”

“I appreciate the thought, kid, but I’m probably gonna be hitting the trail soon enough,” he explained. “The second I find a good map and someone with decent directions, I’ll split.”

“B-but you just got here!” Scootaloo squeaked.

“No offense kid, but I don’t really hang around the same places for that long,” he said casually, and her expression dropped into a sad one.

“Alright Six…” she said glumly.

He continued on for a few paces in silence, but soon wound-up glancing down at her for a moment. He then quickly returned his gaze back up to the forest. She was like a sentient plush toy that had just lost her candy. Had he not been exposed to the horrors of the real world, his heart might, might, be melting right now.

As it stood, he rolled his eyes, gave an exaggerated sigh. He caught himself, thinking for a moment. He then snorted in annoyance, running his tongue along his teeth in thought before he spoke.

“Look I’ll think about sticking around for a day or two after this is over, alright?” he said, and he could swear to whatever deity listening that the little filly fucking squeaked like a rubber duck as she immediately lightened up.

“Oh that’ll be awesome! I’m sure Rainbow Dash will love you!” she beamed, as he felt her latch onto his chest in her best attempt at a hug.

“Hey, hey, hey! Fucking easy with the merchandise,” he said, prying her off a bit, making sure she didn’t accidentally brush up against one of the many guns or knives holstered and sheathed around his body. The safeties were on, but still he remained cautious.

“Oops, sorry!” she shouted sheepishly, letting go, but ignoring his swear as she remained uplifted about the whole thing, her smile never leaving.

“You need to learn to keep your hands- hooves, whatever, to yourself!” he scolded in annoyance, though she was still uplifted that her hero would be able to spend time with her sister and the Crusaders. She could just imagine how awesome it’d be!

The two continued on, the Courier walking further along the more manageable pathways the woods had to offer. The trails meant at least some form of civilization. Perhaps they were getting closer to the campsite the filly had told him about earlier.

The human looked for any signs of recent hoofprints in the mud. He could see some new puddles out of place within the sloshy mess, but still, it was a bitch to track compared to the broken bush limbs he’d been following prior. The damned rain was wiping away these more open trails. Still, it’d only be a matter of time before they reached somewhere more civilized.

He tried keeping an ear out too, surely the filly’s guardians would be shouting out by now if they were searching for her. The rain made it hard, but his senses were keen. Still though, he heard nothing as he trudged forwards.

“Hey uh, I can walk now, Six,” Scootaloo said as he noticed she hadn’t been shivering as harshly as she was prior. “I feel better now.”

“Suit yourself, kid. Saves me an arm cramp anyways,” he said, leaning down and letting her hop onto the muddy ground without issue. He flexed his right arm a bit, rubbing it for a second as he straightened himself back up.

“This place looks a bit familiar,” Scootaloo said, eyeing over the trail. “We don’t normally take this route, but after last year, we had to change it up.”

“Isn’t that just dandy,” he offered, a bit sarcastically. “We’re still getting closer to your camp, right?”

“I think so,” she said, drawing upon memories from the previous hike, though truthfully the trek itself had blended into the background from the conversations she’d held with the Crusaders, her sister, and her fear of dark places.

“Perfect,” he nodded, walking forwards a few paces before he wiped his helmet’s lenses. “Come on kid, let’s get a move on.”

“Right behind you!” she squeaked, sounding determined.

Rainbow Dash remained steadfast, even if all she could see were trees, trees, and more trees. Her body had begun to involuntarily shiver, despite the heat coming from her longs and her tense muscles. She was no stranger to marathons, but between the frigid rain and the dense forest, she was beginning to falter, however slightly.

She managed to smash through another patch of trees, her frantic pace of zigzagging hadn’t been quick enough, and thus she’d decided to power through the leaves and the branches. Any scrapes or bruises were worth it for Scootaloo!

The pegasus remained stone faced on the outside, but by this point, she truthfully felt like bawling. Her little sister was gone! Lost in this hellish storm and it was all her fault! She shook the thought from her mind quickly, replacing it with determination.

She couldn’t give up now or ever. Not until that precious filly had been found at least! Only when that little pegasus was in her hooves would she let herself finally rest!

Rainbow Dash kept an ear out for something, anything that might help her. She would’ve shouted out, but her lungs were burning by this point, and the thought of screaming wasn’t exactly crossing her mind, as it was currently clouded by panic and a want to find Scootaloo physically.

Suddenly however, it seemed as if the stars had aligned for her, as she heard a shrill shout from just to her left, only a couple dozen feet away given she picked it up over the storm. There was no doubt, it definitely came from a young filly, and thus the pegasus did a hard turn, heading straight for the noise’s source.

As she flew, her ears registered another voice, but her brain didn’t. It sounded partly muffled, hard to exactly make out. Still, she could hear traces of it even if she wasn’t listening to it, per se.

“Christ kid, watch out for fucking mole holes out here, you’ll break your damn ankle,” it said in a not-so-friendly tone.

Soon enough though, Dash had come into a much more open area, a trail snaked out beneath her as she stopped and turned her head, seeing if she could find anything.

“Rainbow Dash!” she heard from behind her, and turned, spotting Scootaloo, and… something else.

It was tall, quite tall in fact, and bulky too. It had deep red, glowing eyes, and she could see it wore some type of long, dark colored jacket.

The creature was standing over Scootaloo, just a foot or so away from her. It was currently in the middle of reaching down to grab the filly, who herself had her foreleg stuck halfway in a tight looking, muddy hole.

While Scootaloo looked overjoyed, the creature stared up at Rainbow Dash for a moment. The redness of its eyes stuck out in a sea of dark greens and blacks. Its jacket billowed in the wind as she stared him down.

It was almost like he'd realized this was not a good look though. A pony, a tiny little filly pony at that, who had just shouted in fear, and a big, two legged, scary, red-eyed beast staring down at her, ready to grab the little filly in question?

It wasn’t a shock she shot at him like a bullet.

The beast jerked back, straightening himself in surprise as Rainbow Dash barreled forwards, not stopping or slowing in the slightest. Even as her sister called out to her to slow down, the blue pegasus readied her forehooves, charging in almost like a superhero would.

She was so zoned in that she didn’t seem to notice the various shouts.

“Woah! Woah! WAIT!” he called, raising his hands up to try and stop her!

“Wait Rainbow Dash!” even Scootaloo was doing the same, trying to cry out to her sister to stop!

Both were too late!

He couldn’t dodge out of the way in time, as he didn’t seem to be expecting a fight. Thus, he wasn’t able to do much but gag out a shout of pain that died in his throat as he felt both of Dash’s hooves slam into his chest, no doubt leaving a pair of bruises on his skin whilst also knocking the wind out of him.

He flew backwards with a grunt, while Dash managed to stop herself, hovering in the air with her lightly flapping wings. The “monster” was sent tumbling several feet through the air before he landed down hard on his back. The impact elicited a loud “FUCK!” of pain from him.

After his harsh landing he began tumbling too, rolling down a shallow incline. His duster billowed and the All-American once more found itself flung aside, though not by choice obviously.

“Fuck! Shit! Fuck! Goddamn!” he growled these and many more expletives as he slid and tumbled, unable to catch himself on the muddy, slick ground. Soon enough he just accepted it and let himself continue his descent.

It took a few seconds, but he rolled to a stop a dozen feet away down the trail, heaving and laying on his stomach as he did. He was dazed, stunned, and obviously hadn’t fully registered what the hell had just happened.

In this time Rainbow Dash had turned her attention to Scootaloo. The mare flew down, grabbing the filly and yanking her out of the hole and into a great, deep, hug. Tears were almost flowing freely down the older pony's face by this point as she embraced her sister.

An embrace that shockingly enough, Scootaloo didn’t return.

“You hurt him!” shouted the little pegasus, trying to shove her way out of Dash’s grip.

“Huh? Hurt who?” Rainbow Dash questioned; her elation stopped suddenly due to confusion.

“Six!” Scootaloo said, getting a hoof free to point it back towards the downed human, who was rising to his feet by now.

“What?” was all Rainbow Dash managed to respond with, as the filly soon slipped out of her grasp and ran over to the now standing creature. She watched as Scootaloo jumped up onto her hind legs and practically wrapped herself around one of his legs.

“Oh Six, are you alright?” she squeaked, and Dash could tell the filly was close to crying.

“Easy kid, I’m fine,” he growled, rubbing one of his hands over his chest to make sure everything was in place, before he then reached it down and ruffled her mane in a comforting gesture.

It was only by then the adrenaline faded and Rainbow Dash noticed a distinctive soreness in her hooves. She’d put a lot of force into that blow and yet he just got right back up like it was nothing, even hurting her a bit in the process, albeit unintentionally. She’d known trees less resistant than that thing, whatever he was.

Scootaloo turned back to Rainbow Dash with tears welling up in her big, expressive eyes. She glared down at the older mare while finally prying herself off “Six” as Rainbow Dash now knew he was called.

“What were you thinking!?!” she angrily cried. While this anger made Rainbow Dash slink back a bit, the older mare responded with a glare of her own.

“Uh, duh, I was saving your life!” she retorted. “He looks like a monster! For Celestia’s sake he’s even got big glowing red eyes!”

“Yeah well, he’s still my friend!” Scootaloo shouted back. Even though the filly had to concede with her older sister that he did look scary, she still stood in front of him defensively, as if she expected another attack from Rainbow Dash.

“Look kid, I don’t need a pint-sized defender,” Six explained softly down to the filly. “I’m alright, no harm, no foul, all that… now run along to your sister.”

“She could’ve broken your ribs!” Scootaloo said, turning back to the taller human and looking up at his mask-clad face.

“Yeah… I think they’re mostly in place,” he said with a nod, and she frowned, making him pause as she didn’t find his joke funny.

She sniffed silently as Rainbow Dash watched the display, feeling a bit stunned. Mentally she was racking her brain about, eyeing the human as if he were still a threat, but at the same time, she could sense a genuine warmness coming from Scootaloo as she beamed up at him.

He in turn leaned down, ruffled her mane yet again, and spoke, placing his hand gently on her chin.

“Look, uh, how about you go back, you eat one of those- uh, those smore things, and you have a good vacation or whatever?” he spoke, trying to calm her down.

“Not without you,” she said softly. “You said you would, remember?”

"I said I would think about it," he corrected.

She just sniffled sadly in response

He looked away from her sullen face and towards Rainbow Dash, who just returned his gaze stoically. He could tell she wanted to speak, or rush over and snatch up the small filly, as her body was a bit tense still. He'd seen that look, that posture before, albeit not on a pony.

“Look kid, I don’t think that’s a good idea, alright?” he explained, looking from the older pegasus down to the younger one, who wilted further at his words.

“I know you’re worried about the adults hating you, but who cares what they think?” Scootaloo said, reminding herself of the time she and the other Crusaders helped Trouble Shoes. “Besides, once I explain everything that happened, I’m sure they’ll want to thank you anyways.”

“Look kid,” he paused briefly as he looked around, trying to think up something to say, “this whole thing was a sisterly experience, right? It’d be weird to have me hanging around.”

“You can be our special guest, just this once at least!” she responded, and he sighed again. “I can’t just leave you out here, not until this storm blows over anyways.”

Suddenly, a new voice interrupted, a deeper, tomboyish one, that drew the gaze of the Courier and Scootaloo up.

“You can stay,” Rainbow Dash offered, looking down at her hooves in thought, before she moved her gaze back up towards the human, “until the storm breaks up.”

The Courier sighed as Scootaloo looked back up at him. She didn’t seem as excited as he’d figured, though it was likely due to the fact she still seemed to be fighting the urge to not glare back at Rainbow Dash.

“Fine,” he managed, throwing in the towel in verbally, which he hoped would calm the filly.

That confirmation made her face light up more towards what he expected, and she practically became a blur as she jumped at him. He felt her latch onto his leg again even tighter than last time. As she squeezed his calf muscle in her tight embrace, the human set his sights on Rainbow Dash.

“Sure you don’t wanna boot me back out again?” he asked, Scootaloo still stuck on his leg. He swore he saw Rainbow Dash’s lips twinge up to smirk, but that soon vanished back into a serious gaze.

“You brought Scootaloo all this way, right?” asked Rainbow Dash, her tone serious.

She wound up only getting a soft nod from the Courier in response, leaving her to ponder for a moment.

“Then you helped my sister out, and I’ve gotta repay you somehow,” she said, her tone a bit lighter. Not fully friendly, but not as serious as she had been.

“Whatever you say,” he began, reaching down to pry Scootaloo off his leg, gently shoving her away as he continued, “but uh, you’re not like, on edge or anything anymore, right?”

“Now that you brought Scootaloo back, I’m fine,” assured Rainbow Dash, though she sounded tired, not her normally sporty self.

“Well,” the Courier spoke, pausing for a moment while examining her. When he didn’t sense any malice coming off of her or any sense of lying, he nodded.

“Alright, fine. You know the way back to your campsite?” Rainbow Dash nodded in response, and he shrugged.

“Alright then, let’s-” he was cut off as a light suddenly shined from behind Rainbow Dash.

He and the two ponies turned their gaze to the source before two new figures burst forwards from the bushes behind Dash.

“Rainbow Dash, I told ya not to-” Applejack began, her voice dying in her throat as she laid eyes on the large, bipedal figure a few feet in front of her blue friend.

Rarity just gasped in a mixture of shock and fear, looking between him and Scootaloo, who was still at his feet.

“What is that?” she soon asked, stating the question that was on the mind of not only herself but also Applejack and to a certain extent, Rainbow Dash.

“Oh… it’s a long story,” Scootaloo answered with a chuckle, nervously scratching the back of her head with her forehoof.

Cavernous Shelter

Courier Six trudged along at the back of the pack of ponies, as if he was debating on slipping off while they weren’t paying attention. Scootaloo in her excitement, was up ahead conversing with Applejack and Rarity about how he’d saved her from the river earlier.

“And then I was like ‘ahhh!’ and he chased me, and I was smashing through all these bushes, but he kept up! And then-” she was shouting excitedly, explaining the ordeal as if it were some action story or stunt show she’d seen, with her making sound effects and zipping her hooves this way and that whenever possible.

He sort of tuned it out and allowed it to settle in with the background noise of the rain, which by this point had substantially slowed down, thankfully. Rainbow Dash was next to him as he trudged forwards, and he occasionally glanced down at her, as she herself occasionally glanced back at him.

The Courier wasn’t sure if he could feel mistrust emanating from her, or an apologetic sensation. It was probably a bit of a mix of both, given she didn’t seem exactly in a speaking mood just yet. Likely because body looked haggard, covered in leaves and blotches of mud—no doubt she was exhausted.

He would’ve said something to comfort her, but he figured she’d be a bit harder to consol than Scootaloo was. He also didn’t feel like getting a pair of hooves to the chest again if he said the wrong thing. That was neither here nor there, though.

As it stood, he continued on silently by her side for a bit, letting the ponies ahead continue their talk. Occasionally though, Rarity and Applejack would look back at him with studying expressions. Scootaloo herself would also turn and gaze at him with a smile every now and then as well.

It was getting a bit awkward by now, walking alongside Rainbow Dash in complete silence. So, he finally spoke, giving a quick cough to catch her attention before speaking in a lowered voice so as to not interrupt the conversation going on up ahead.

“So… what’s with the uh…” he looked at her hindquarters in thought, as if he were pondering what to continue with, before finishing, “the uh… ass tattoo?”

She looked up at him with a face of bafflement, completely taken out of her previously stoic, tired expression.

“What?” she asked, her voice as befuddled as her expression.

“I don’t know what to call it. The thing on your flank or whatever, I don’t think horses had those,” he said, reminding himself of the few pictures of the animals he’d seen from pre-war books. One of the many creatures who went extinct in the harsh Wasteland.

“It’s my Cutie Mark,” she managed, still confused.

“Cutie… Mark?” he returned, just as confused.

“My special talent?” she shot back, as if it were obvious. “You know, everypony magically gets one when they find out what they’re supposed to do in life?”

He remained silent, staring blankly as he walked long, as if he were taking it in.

“You’re making that up,” he said, his tone flat, as if he were unsure what to even say to that explanation.

“What?” she asked again.

“It’s too perfect. Like, your name is Rainbow Dash, and your mark is a rainbow bolt,” he said. “What if your name was… Carrot Juicer or something. Would you still get the same mark? Or what if your name had nothing to do with rainbows?”

“Scootaloo’s mark isn’t a scooter!” pointed out Dash. “Names don’t define who you are.”

“But the mark does? What if you change your name?” he countered.

“Why would anypony do that?” she responded back.

“...I don’t know…” he said after a moment of thought, “...but it’s still weird. Too accurate. Fate is more random than that.”

“What would you know about fate, huh?” she asked, a bit aggressive now.

He was silent at that, giving a grunt in response, keeping his mouth shut from there on in.

Rainbow Dash looked at him as they walked, but eventually she dropped it, and turned her sights back towards her friends and sister, who seemingly had just finished telling her tale.

“Well… that certainly is a mighty good story,” Applejack admitted with a nod.

“Yes, despite his outward appearance being rather,” Rarity began, pausing for a second to think of a nice way to say ‘terrifying’ before looking back at the Courier and continuing, “unique, I can certainly say you are a true hero, mister… Six?”

“Courier, Six, Courier Six, mailman, call me whatever you want,” he responded, making the fashionista nod.

“I don’t mean ta pry, but, how did you get here?” Applejack asked, looking curious.

“I had a teleportation device-” he stopped, wondering if he should explain what that even meant, before Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“What, like a unicorn’s horn?” she asked.

“I… what?” the Courier questioned back.

“I think he meant a magical artifact, darling,” Rarity said back.

“Magic? What? No!” he spoke, interrupting the two before they continued. “I- Look, there’s this place called the Big MT, host to hundreds of technological marvels. They managed to keep some teleportation devices operating after the war.”

“What war, darling?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Ugh… you know, the Great War!” he explained, getting all of the ponies to give him a confused look as he sounded exasperated. “I expected the kid wouldn’t know, but surely you guys must’ve seen some craters around here? Abandoned buildings? Destroyed cities?”

“The closest we’ve got around here to that is the old, abandoned castle in the Everfree,” Applejack said. “Of course, it’s sorta changed a lot since we first found it with the new treehouse an’ everything, but it is a thousand year old ruin.”

He stopped walking for a moment, making the others trot ahead of him before they themselves stopped.

Thousand years? No, no, no. Can’t be right! Not in the US anyways. No Pre-War book talked of anything that old. Hell, the country itself was only three hundred or so before it was swallowed in fire.

Oh fuck, was he in Europe? That might explain something about everything being so utterly different. Still though, the accents, they were all wrong, from the old holotapes he remembered at least.

“Are you quite alright?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah Six, you okay?” Scootaloo added, her expression one of concern.

He wasn’t able to answer, imagining that the Transportalponder had rocketed him across the planet, which made him unsure of what the hell to do now. His simple plan of wandering back towards the Mojave and righting himself was now gone.

On the fly he tried spinning something different. Perhaps he could find a human settlement eventually? Walk there, get some boat or even a vertibird up and running and then get back to the good ol’ USA. East coast landing. Surely that’d be alright? Maybe he could even find Chicago. Yeah, not a bad idea. He could even pay his last respects to ED-E and-

He was jerked into reality when Scootaloo poked him in the shin.

“Six?” she asked simply, looking worried.

“I… sorry kid. I’ve just had to make some new plans,” he said, waving her off. “I’ll catch up, you guys go ahead.”

“But-” she managed, but he shushed her.

“I’m just gonna be a little slower, just you and your friends go ahead,” the Courier explained. She looked at him for a moment before nodding.

“Come on Scootaloo, you need to get warmed up,” Rainbow Dash said, making the little filly groan.

“Yeah…” she simply stated, not seeming that excited as she walked alongside her older sister.

Courier Six for his part just walked along almost absentmindedly, his mind obviously somewhere else for the time.

“Apple Bloom, you can’t just leave!” Sweetie Belle cried.

“We’ve been waitin’ here for over an hour and they ain’t got back with her. We gotta try an’ help!” cried the country filly in question as she was loading a saddlebag beside the duo’s dwindling fire.

“But what if you leave and they get back while you’re still out there? You can get lost like Scootaloo and then they’ll have to rescue you too!” explained the more rational filly.

“Yeah, an' what if they got lost theirselves?” Apple Bloom retorted. “What if they’re stuck out there an’ no one can find each other? Somepony’s gotta save ‘em!”

“I don’t know… this storm is a lot worse than the one we dealt with when we found Trouble Shoes,” said the unsure Sweetie.

“It’s startin’ to slack off,” Apple Bloom replied. “Besides, we gotta find them as soon as we can!”

“Well alright, but what if we go back to Ponyville to get some other adults to help us?” Sweetie began, thinking up a plan. “We can get all the Wonderbolts to help out, and maybe Cherry Berry can get her hot air balloon to do an overhead sweep an-”

“Girls!” suddenly shouted a familiar third voice.

Both of them turned just in time to be snagged into a threeway hug by Scootaloo.

“Oh I missed you two so much!” cried the third crusader, having finally been reunited with her lifelong friends.

“Scootaloo! Yer safe!” shouted Apple Bloom excitedly.

“And she’s squishing me!” choked Sweetie, though she still tried returning the hug as best she could, a hard feat, given both her forehooves were locked in place from the bear- or rather, filly hug.

“Yup, all of us are safe an’ sound!” confirmed Applejack, who trotted up to the trio along with Rarity.

“I sure hope you two didn’t plan on going out in that putrid storm either?” Rarity asked, leaning down and giving the side eye as Scootaloo broke off the triple-hug.

“Uh… no,” Sweetie Belle said, looking down at the cave floor to shyly kick aside a rock.

“That goes for you too, sis,” Applejack said, eyeing the saddlebags on the floor, as Bloom herself looked a bit timid.

“I jus’ wanted to help,” she muttered, getting a soft hoof on her back in response. “I got worried about ya’ll.”

“I know Apple Bloom, but yer still too young fer all that adventuring stuff,” Applejack said softly, letting her little sister hug against her, as Rarity and Sweetie Belle did the same.

Rainbow Dash trotted up to Scootaloo and tried to give the filly a hug as well, wrapping a forehoof around her sister and snuggling her soaked body against her sister’s. Sadly, the little pegasus didn’t seem to fully return the embrace as she looked out towards the cave entrance, seeing Six leaning against the cave wall as he witnessed the whole adorable display.

He watched as Rainbow Dash looked downtrodden at the lack of a return hug. The blue pegasus soon broke it off, giving a sad frown as she looked down at her preoccupied sister.

Six for his part sighed an expletive to himself at this. Damned familial troubles. He hoped the kid would loosen up soon. Sibling disagreements were always a bit of a bitch.

“Ahhh!” a shrill cry rang out suddenly.

Speaking of bitches to deal with, he groaned again whenever he spotted Sweetie Belle looking up at him, pointing her hoof.

“M-m-monster!” she shouted loudly, and Apple Bloom joined in on the panic, the two fillies huddling together.

“Woah, woah, woah!” shouted Scootaloo, hopping up and waving her forehooves about to calm her friends. “Girls, he’s my friend!”

“Th-that thing is yer friend?” questioned Apple Bloom.

“I know he looks scary, but he’s the coolest!” Scootaloo assured, and by this point the adults chuckled a bit.

“Yeah, sorry for the lack o’ warning ya there,” Applejack said sheepishly to Apple Bloom.

“Indeed darling, forgive us for giving you a fright. It’s been a long night, and we forgot to explain,” Rarity said, holding back a chuckle as she comforted Sweetie Belle.

“But who is he?” Apple Bloom asked.

As the group began to answer, the Courier himself stepped further out of the cave, right at the edge now. He watched the rain pour down from above. It had weakened a bit further still, but it was still a decently strong storm.

He felt his eyes go heavy from the and thus blinked a few times. Moments later he sat aside the All-American, finally removing its strap from his shoulders before he propped it up against a large stone nearby.

Soon he leaned into the cave wall with one leg up under him, foot braced against the wall itself with his arms crossed. He remained there in an almost cowboyish pose, his head tilting down against his chest.

Just as he was about to let sleep potentially take him, he saw a blur of blue from the corner of his eyes. Six looked over, blinking them open as he saw Rainbow Dash standing there, she herself gazing up at him.

“I don’t know if I ever thanked you for saving her,” she said, stopping for a moment, “so… thank you.”

“I could swear I almost saw a piece of you die just by saying that,” he snarked back.

“Do you ever take anything seriously or are you always killing everypony’s joy?” she asked back, her face showing annoyance. “Only rainbow-colored ones,” he said.

No verbal response: she just narrowed her eyes at him.

“Sorry,” he responded simply, making her annoyance go to confusion at the genuine-sounding apology.

“It’s… fine?” she said, unsure if she was still peeved or not.

“Look you’ve got a good kid there and everything,” he said, his body still leaned against the cave’s cold, damp wall. “I’m not just gonna let her fucking drown, alright.”

“I hope to Celestia you didn’t use that language around her on the whole trip back,” Rainbow Dash responded.

“What are you, the word-police?” he asked, going back to the snark.

“No, but I’d rather not have my sister become a foul-mouthed prick like you,” she responded back sternly.

It was a weird experience, hearing the rainbow-maned pony swear. The Courier felt unsure of how to react. It was as if some rightful law of the universe had been broken somewhat. Gave him goosebumps almost.

“Alright,” he began, throwing his hands up, “I’ll cool it down with the ‘fucks’ and ‘shits’ and whatever else. I’m not gonna be sticking around here long anyways.”

“Even though I’m not against that idea, I think Twilight would want to speak with you,” Rainbow Dash said simply.

“What the uh, princess or whatever?” he asked back, remembering the name from his conversations with Mr. Magnet and Scootaloo. “The kid mentioned her too. What exactly could she do?”

“She’s the ruler of the land, and she’s also the smartest pony I know,” Rainbow Dash explained. “Because of that, she’s got a lot at her disposal. If anypony can help you get back home, it’s her.”

“Alright, I’ll go see her after we get this Winsome Falls trip behind us,” he said with a tired nod.

She herself nodded for a moment, before looking up at him.

“You know, you should come over by the fire before it dies off,” she said, looking back at the lowering flame in question.

“You don’t have any more dry firewood?” he asked.

“Scootaloo was on firewood duty, remember?” she said back.

“Any accelerants?” the Courier questioned.

“Huh?” was the simple response.

He sighed, getting up off the wall before he began walking out into the rain.

“Where are you going?” she asked, following him for a few steps, before pausing as the rain soaked her again.

“Give me a few minutes,” he called back as he walked towards the treeline.

Rainbow Dash considered for a moment about staying behind. Her exhaustion was catching up to her. Still, the Courier had helped Scootaloo in her time of need…

“Dang it!” she huffed, before flying off after him.

He had made it surprisingly far, having trekked through the forest almost like a ghost as he seemed more confident in his gait now that he was alone. She was able to point him out though and was soon flying behind him at a slow, steady pace.

“Just where are you going?” she asked with a scowl. “After promising Scootaloo you’d stay and me agreeing, you can’t just bail!”

“I’m not bailing, numbnuts,” he replied casually, swatting aside a low hanging branch.

It flew back and she ducked under it, growling at him.

“You might wanna just walk. I don’t want you to get hit in the face,” he casually said.

“Could’ve fooled me,” she huffed as she remained hovering, albeit extra carefully. “Where are we going?”

“I am grabbing some Flamer fuel,” he answered casually.

“What in the hay is that?” she asked, sounding annoyed.

“It’ll help you keep the fire going without worrying about the wood being too wet,” he answered simply.

It was a decently brisk walk from there. While he mostly stuck to the trail, when he went into the bushes, he was able to quickly and cleanly carve out a path. A destination and knowledge on the surroundings made him outpace Rainbow Dash by a few yards, though he remained within eyesight of the pegasus.

She remained at his back as he got closer and closer to his stash. At the moment, Dash wasn’t one for conversation, likely a by-product of her tiredness and the obnoxious rain that still poured down on her and him both.

“You delivered mail, right?” she asked finally as they continued on through the thicket.

“Yeah?” he answered casually. “Kinda figured we went over that.”

“Must’ve been a slow process, without wings and everything,” Rainbow Dash responded over a thundering crackle from the storm.

“Sometimes it was. Why do you ask?” the Courier questioned.

“It’s just that some of the best couriers I know have wings,” said the blue pegasus with a smirk.

“That so?” he said, almost challengingly. “Well, you’ve now met one without them then.”

“Yeah? What makes you so good?” she mocked back, smirking challengingly.

“Through storms, bullets, sand, and wind, the Mojave Express was the quickest, most affordable, and most effective mail delivery service in the entirety of the NCR and the US in general,” he spoke with pride, an almost reverent tone in his voice. “They didn’t let any assholes in off the street. You had to be smart, resourceful, and worth a damn for it. The job chose you, not the other way around.”

“You really cared about it, didn’t you?” she asked seriously, partially letting herself be sucked into his impromptu speech.

“Of course I did! You think my name’s just for show?” he barked, before giving a sigh. “Damn shame what some of those guys dealt with.”

“What do you mean?” she asked as they reached a clearing.

“Maybe-” he paused, looking at a downed log, before sighing with relief and a faint trace of reminiscing sadness, “maybe one day I’ll tell you about it.”

She watched as he walked over to the log and dug aside several large rocks from the end of it. Soon enough the Courier pulled out a massive, slightly soggy camping backpack. He hoisted it up and covered it as best he could so water didn’t leak into it as he pulled out a small metal canister.

He also grabbed a large, bulky lunchbox and what looked to be a fire axe before he zipped it back up and shoved it up under the log. With his gear stashed away again, he resealed it with dirt, mud, and rocks before getting up.

“A little bit of corn goes a long way,” he said with a smirk, rattling his bottle of Flamer fuel a bit.

“You didn’t have to help us with the fire you know,” Rainbow Dash said as they began walking back the way they came.

The Courier was at a light jog as he attempted to rush back, though it was harder to do given he had Knock-Knock strapped to his back now, not to mention the lunch box rattling on his belt.

“It’s fine,” he assured, “I might as well use this shit up anyways.”

“And the axe? You're gonna split it too?” she asked, giving him an almost snide smirk.

“Give me another look like that and I’ll make you do it,” he responded ever-so-assholishly.

“Bite me,” she chuckled.

“Don’t tempt me. I’ve eaten stranger things,” he shot back, sounding surprisingly serious, which made her give a confused look.

He gave a small huff that was almost a laugh as he moved on ahead of her.

The trek back towards the camp was mostly silent for a while. The two just let the rain and thunder sound out as they continued on. The Courier lugged his axe and canister with him, and Rainbow Dash flapped along behind him. He looked back at her and then forwards once again, as if he was pondering something.

“You uh… You and your sister. Got any parents around?” he asked after a few moments.

“We’re not related by blood,” she answered, “but she’s got some good ones, when they’re around anyways.”

“Ah, damn,” he nodded understandingly. “Well, could be worse, I guess. She’s a good kid. Decent head on her shoulders.”

“Yeah, Scootaloo is the awesomest,” Dash said with a tone of pride. “Thanks for rescuing her.”

“You stuck on repeat back there?” he casually chortled, getting an annoyed huff in response.

Rainbow Dash just studied him in silence as they continued on, reminded of Cranky Doodle Donkey, albeit a bit younger, and debatably slightly more prickish? She almost wondered what made him that way. Broken heart? Broken friendship? Broken some other third thing?

Maybe it was just plain bad luck.

She huffed again, to herself this time, and just remained silent. At least the trip back was rather peaceful, for a walk in a thunderstorm anyways.

“What do you think about the Courier?” Rarity asked, her tone a bit hushed as she finally removed her soaked raincoat.

She and Applejack had moved off to the side of the cave, letting the CMC huddle around the fire. The trio were cooking a few marshmallows on small twigs as Scootaloo went on and on about her new friend. She spoke about all the cool things she and the Crusaders could do with him once the trip was over.

“I don’t know,” admitted Applejack in an unsure tone. “I mean, he did a mighty bit of good for us, but I can’t help but think there’s somethin’ different about him. I don’t know if I like it or not.”

“He did have a certain strangeness emanating from him, though I can’t quite put my hoof on exactly what it was,” agreed Rarity, drying herself off, before passing Applejack the towel.

“Thanks,” said the farm pony, before continuing as she patted herself down. “I’ll keep an eye on him just in case. I don’t wanna judge him too harshly with him not bein’ from around these parts.”

“I certainly hope wherever he’s from, his attire doesn’t qualify as fashionable,” mused Rarity, making Applejack just roll her eyes, of which the fashionista took note. “What? Did you see that jacket of his? And don’t even get me started on that ghastly mask!”

“I wonder what it’s used for,” pondered Applejack. “All that armor on him too. You think he gets into a lot of fights? Maybe he’s even a soldier or somethin’?”

“I wouldn’t completely doubt that,” Rarity answered. “Didn’t you see that strange device he had dangling off him? I’m not sure what exactly it was but it might be some type of weapon.”

“I hope whatever it is, he only uses it for the right thing,” Applejack nodded.

As they spoke, the fire was getting so low now that the CMC had thrown in their tiny marshmallow roasting twigs. Their addition didn’t help much as they shivered a bit, with a strong gust of wind blowing through the cave.

Scootaloo was especially affected by it. Even after having dried off, the pony was a bit frigid and cold. Her teeth chattered a bit, but she soon felt both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle snuggle against her left and right sides respectively, giving her their warmth, even though they themselves were also pretty chilly.

“Thanks girls,” Scootaloo managed with a smile.

“No problem,” Apple Bloom responded, wrapping her forehoof around her fellow Crusader.

Despite the chill in the cave’s air, it felt good. The hug gave Scootaloo a warmness that lifted her spirits greatly. She almost drifted off to slumber as she closed her eyes.

Even both Rarity and Applejack were on the verge of falling asleep, their own eyes being a bit droopy, though the chill kept them awake as they slowly realized something.

“Where’s Rainbow Dash?” asked Rarity, snapping awake suddenly.

“An’ where’s the Courier?” added Applejack, equally as surprised.

They looked around the cave, but all they could see was the dwindling fire barely illuminating the CMC. The trio had seemingly fallen asleep in a huddled-up pile for warmth, almost like they were a pack of kittens.

The adults trotted around, trying their best to not wake up the three, but after looking deeper into the cave and still not finding a pegasus nor a mailman in sight, they began to panic a bit. Soon enough, Rarity was back in her raincoat, and the two were almost at the cave’s entrance, ready to go out into the rain.

They were stopped whenever a heavy footstep rang out, soon enough a strange, amber glow came into view. The Courier stepped inside the cave, his Pip-Boy light on, brightening up the place. Just behind him, they could see Rainbow Dash hovering, before she landed a moment later and shook herself off almost like a wet dog.

The duo arrived not a moment too soon either, as she and the Courier entered, the fire was dimmed completely to embers and ash. Both sighed in relief as they realized the Courier was carrying a large chopped up log over his shoulders, with Knock-Knock being swung onto his back.

“Rainbow Dash, are you alright?” Rarity asked as she and Applejack trotted over to her.

“Woah, I’m fine. Why are you guys freaking out?” Rainbow Dash responded.

“Why in the hay didn’t ya’ll tell us ya were going out?” Applejack growled.

“It was one of those spur of the moment things!” defended the pegasus.

“Yeah, and don’t worry about her,” grunted the Courier, dropping the large chunks of log into one of the corners of the cave, before he then rested his palms on his back, rubbing the tensed muscles through his soaked duster. “She didn’t throw out her back chopping up the wood.”

“I don’t see why ya’ll got it when it’s all soaked. It’s not gonna burn!” Applejack pointed out.

“That so?” he challenged back, stomping out the remaining embers of the fire, making sure there were no wayward sparks.

He nodded to himself and then carefully refilled the firepit, stacking the wood properly. After a bit he had a decently sized campfire with some extra wood to spare.

With his work done, he then unscrewed the nozzle of the canister of flamer fuel and dumped a few drops of it onto the wood. He was carefully attempting to eyeball the amount, and whenever he felt satisfied, he ceased pouring.

He then pulled out a flip lighter after a few moments of letting the fuel settle. The lighter was distinctively engraved, looking quite beautiful for such a simple tool. With it in hand, he flipped on the flame, and then carefully lit up the firepit.

He jerked back as the flames roared up in his face, and the ponies gasped as he stood back up. However, after a moment they realized he was fine, and the cave was now being slowly warmed up.

“This shit’s fast burning so we’ll have to dry out the leftover wood and throw it on there every few minutes, until you guys are warm enough anyways,” he explained, looking over at adult ponies, before turning and staring at the still sleeping CMC.

He watched as their shivers got less and less harsh, and a faint part of him smiled at that as he wiped the soot off himself.

“Well, that’s mighty fine of ya to do for us,” complimented Applejack as he poked the fire with a twig, before throwing it in.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” he said flatly with a nod, adjusting his jacket before walking over towards the cave entrance. “I’m going to sleep now.”

“Dear, are you sure you don’t want to use one of our tents?” offered Rarity as he sat down and leaned against one of the damp, rough walls. “I’m perfectly fine with giving up mine-”

“Nah, just let me rest,” he answered bluntly, interrupting her.

He looked over at the All-American, which was still left perched on its spot within arm's reach. Good. He pressed himself up against the cave wall foot or so away, letting his body rest against it as he slowly slid downwards into a sitting position.

He leaned his head back, crossing his arms under his duster as he did. The mares couldn’t see it, but his fingers were pressed softly against the grip of a pistol under his jacket. Just as a minor precaution, of course!

“I suppose he needs a rest,” Rarity said, a bit deflated as she looked around at her haggard friends, adding, “we all do.”

“Yeah, my wings are aching,” Rainbow Dash agreed, looking from the Courier back to her friends, and then finally to the sleeping Scootaloo, still in the CMC pile. “Uh, should we move ‘em?”

“I thought about that. Maybe we should let the girls be, after all they’ve been through,” Applejack answered, before she walked over to where she’d set up her tent.

The other two mares watched as she pulled out a large sleeping bag and sat it down just a few feet from the sleeping fillies.

“But I ain’t gonna let them stray, I’ll hear ‘em from here if they wake up before us,” she explained.

“I don’t think they’re gonna be running off after last time, but I get your point,” nodded Rainbow Dash. “Forget the tents, I’ll sleep out here too.”

“I…” began Rarity, looking at the damp, icky ground for a moment, before she became stoic, “will do the same, for Sweetie Belle’s sake.”

“It helps I also wanted to keep an eye on him,” admitted Applejack, looking at the Courier, who adjusted himself in his sleep a bit, causing the large lunchbox strapped to his waist to rattle.

“I get ya but…” Rainbow Dash paused to eye him over, “I genuinely think he’s at least somewhat an alright pon- creature.”

“Maybe so,” Applejack nodded. “Still, I jus’ wanna get ta know him a bit more before I get it out of my system at least.”

“Assuming he sticks around,” Rarity added. “He seems to be the wandering type.”

“Well, he’s still sorta my friend I guess, at least after helping Scoots anyways, so maybe I could get Twilight to help him,” Rainbow Dash pointed out, getting the others to nod in agreement. “Now let’s hit the hay.”

“Yeah, I’m beat,” Applejack yawned as they walked over to prepare for a hopefully restful slumber.

While the trio had been whispering extremely quietly, and the rainstorm outside had hidden their voices with its loud crackles, they greatly underestimated the Courier’s hearing.

He was about seventy, maybe seventy five percent of the way to dreamland, but even in this nodded off state, he had keen senses.

Couldn’t judge the farm pony for assuming him as a threat. Must be strange, him being another species and all that. Especially when ponies and sea snakes and who-knows-what-else were the dominant lifeforms in… Europe? Was it even Europe?

This all seemed so strange, even with radiation and secret experiments, for them to cause all this? Big MT was stranger, he countered to himself…

Maybe.

Slightly?

By a hair?

He had yet to talk to a horny fertilization pod. There was that at least.

Still, wandering the lands wasn’t the worst of ideas. Same as the Big MT, Zion, the Divide. He’d think about it. Maybe later. That ‘Twilight Princess’ or whatever, maybe she could help. Get a map from her? Fix the Pip-Boy? Not the worst of ideas…

He would’ve continued thinking, but he was asleep before he could do much more.

By a Campfire

A cigarette filled his hand nicely. He brought it up to his face, and then shoved it straight through his riot helmet’s gas filter. Shockingly this somehow worked, and it met his lips, letting him take a drag.

Smoke filled his mouth and soon enough his throat and lungs as well. He let it sit there, absorbing it into his body before he exhaled, sending it billowing out of his mask’s filters.

He stood atop a snowy mountain’s peak. Looking down he saw a village that reminded him of Jacobstown. He could see super mutants walking with centaurs, who were on leashes. He even spotted some of the strange creatures vomiting their acidic stomach bile into bushes.

“More cake, dear?” he heard a deep, guttural yet surprisingly friendly voice from behind his shoulder.

“No thanks, Lily,” he turned, meeting the massive, hulking Nightkin with a smile beneath his mask.

In one of her palms was a small ceramic plate, adorned with an extra-large piece of chocolate cakes. It looked immaculate, right out of one of the pre-war magazines he’d read.

Despite this, she nodded, and he turned back to Novac.

He was stood atop a large cliffside overlooking the town. He could see the massive T-Rex rooted in place. He casually took a drag off his cigarette as the huge reptile just stood up straight, threw aside the sign, and walked off, stomping into the desert wastes.

“Huh?” he mused, before giving his cigarette another drag.

Smoke obscured his vision, and he swatted it away with his free hand.

When it cleared, he noticed Camp Golf looked nice. The misfits were going about their training and-

“Wait,” he managed, before he suddenly raised his hand.

He then concentrated for a moment, before suddenly a mini-nuke flew out of his open palm and right towards the camp. He cringed back as the entire place was leveled in the resulting mushroom cloud.

“What the fuck? This is the first dream I’ve had in years and I get this shit?” he said with a degree of lucidity, throwing aside his cigarette.

Cake and friendly Nightkin aside, he began to think of something else he'd actually enjoy.

“Ah, got it,” he smirked, and snapped his fingers.

He was in the Lucky 38 penthouse, overlooking the Strip while being sat in a nice, cushioned recliner. In front of him was a delicious sat out meal of YumYum deviled eggs, Brahmin steak, boiled corn, and a big bowl of stew, which had cooked chunks of Mole Rat meat floating around in it.

He picked up an egg and devoured it, shoving it through his mask and into his mouth without it ever making contact with anything other than his lips. He then pulled a Bloatfly slider from literally nowhere and ate that as well.

The Courier leaned back, chewing on his meal before he took a bite of the boiled corn and then slurped down an entire ladle’s worth of the stew. He looked over to a newly appeared bowl of fully cooked InstaMash, a true Wasteland rarity. He smirked and then took a massive bite of that too.

He took another moment to look around at his surroundings. No House. No Legion. No NCR. Only a giant moon with a unicorn’s face on it. That was much better!

…

Wait.

He stood up quickly, inadvertently knocking his feast to the floor, making him groan as all of the food suddenly turned to sand and blew away in a current that appeared from out of nowhere.

“Alright, asshole. I know someone else is here,” he growled, looking around as a strange sensation came over him.

He pulled out a .45 pistol and scanned the room. After a moment, he even jerked himself out of the Lucky 38, through the window and let himself hover over the New Vegas streets. It was as if he turned off any form of collision or gravity as he floated there, aiming all around himself.

“You have five seconds to show yourself!” he growled, looking about.

“Five,” he began after not getting a response.

“Four,” he continued, noticing the stars suddenly beginning to shift about, twinkling brighter as they did.

“T-three,” he said, distracted as the stars grew closer to him and he felt like they were now flowing about, almost like a river.

“Two?” a managed in an unsure, surprised tone, .45 still in hand. The billowing stars seemed to almost take form now.

He could soon see something within them! A great, black figure. Four legged. The details were hard to make out though, too dark! It was as if it absorbed all the light the stars gave into itself. Was that... flowing hair?

Suddenly, the moon leaned in, swallowing up the sky and filling his vision before-

His eyes shot open, filling with the visage of a curious orange filly.

“Six?” Scootaloo managed, poking the slumbering human.

She didn’t expect him to jump up to his feet like a damned cat, as he pulled out a strange looking L-shaped device from under his duster.

“Where the fuck is it!?!” he shouted, looking around, waving his .45 for a moment, before he suddenly realized exactly where he was and pointed the pistol at the ceiling.

The CMC and their respective sisters stared at him in shock. The camp supplies had been packed up and the fire had died out, showing they were ready to move on with the trip.

“Where’s what, Six?” cried a worried Scootaloo.

“I uh…” he managed, swallowing dryly before he put the handgun away. “Bad dream.”

Applejack and Rarity gave him the side eye, and Rainbow Dash looked concerned. The other CMC members were spooked too, worry plain on their faces.

“I should just go now, you guys are all safe,” he said, grabbing the All-American and slinging it over his shoulder.

“W-wait!” Scootaloo squeaked as he began to walk outside, his heavy boots stomping down the wet grass as he left the cave.

The filly scurried in front of him, making him stop with a sigh.

“Don’t you just run off on us now! We’ve still gotta get to Winsome Falls!” she squeaked.

“Again with that?” he responded, reaching up to rub the matter from his eyes. His fingers just made contact with his eye lenses before he realized his mistake.

“Hey we had this talk last night!” Scootaloo said.

“It was only until the storm cleared up,” he retorted.

“You’ve not even had a smore yet!” she shot back.

“I don’t-” he paused with another tired huff as the others exited the cave.

“You can come along I guess,” called Rainbow Dash as she looked down at Scootaloo. No doubt she was doing this to make her sister happy.

He looked at the other two mares, gauging their reactions.

“Well, I suppose after all he’s done, there’d be no harm in it,” mused Rarity.

“It might not be the worst idea to have an extra set of mitts helpin’ us,” agreed Applejack.

“Alright,” he sighed, looking down at Scootaloo first, before turning his gaze to the adult mares. He motioned with his hand. “Lead the way.”

Scootaloo hugged his leg again, making him grunt in annoyance. He could hear some of the others chuckle at the sight as he tried to walk about with the filly practically stapled to his shin.

He hung back as Applejack led the way for the group, with Rarity taking up second place. However, as he let the ponies get a headstart, he noticed Sweetie Belle struggling with the pair of bags resting on her back.

The little filly was sweating visibly through her coat. She wasn’t fully straining to carry them, but they definitely didn’t look comfortable.

Scootaloo had let go of his leg by this point, so he easily walked over and tugged both of the large suitcases off of the little unicorn’s back. He felt his eyes widen a bit at their weight.

“Damn, these are heavier than I expected,” he said as she looked up at him, surprised. “How the hell do you carry all this?”

“Oh, I uh… I usually carry Rarity’s stuff,” she answered bashfully.

“You’re just a kid though,” he pointed out.

“It’s not that bad,” she answered with a chuckle, “you should’ve seen the first year we had this meetup!”

“Fucking hell,” he huffed, biting his tongue for a moment as he remembered he wasn’t supposed to swear. “Just uh, go frolick or do whatever preschoolers do.”

Sweetie made a face that was a mixture of confusion and annoyance as he walked ahead of her. Scootaloo trotted up alongside her, letting the unicorn filly turn to her fellow Crusader.

“What’s his deal?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“He’s… different,” answered Scootaloo, only getting a deadpan face back from her friend, making the pegasus filly elaborate. “I mean in how he acts! I think he’s some type of knight or somethin’. The rough and tumble type, like out of one of Spike’s old comics!”

“He’s not very chivalrous,” pointed out Sweetie.

“Well, he did take those bags off yer back,” pointed out Apple Bloom as she joined her fellow Crusaders at the back of the pack.

“Yeah,” Sweetie nodded, feeling a sense of relief on her spine as she stared ahead at the human, who seemed to be lost in his own world of thought as he trudged ahead. “I just hope Rarity doesn’t mind.”

Rarity did mind.

She minded a great deal, actually.

Whenever she finally realized he’d taken her luggage, every few paces she’d look back at him. More specifically, she’d lock her eyes on his gloves. She was examining them, checking to see if they were dirty or grimy.

While the pony had gotten used to the likes of mud and dirt on these long adventurous hikes, having a strange, unknown, grimy creature carrying her items still seemed like a smidge too far. Still, she didn’t say anything, and kept herself in decent spirits, looking on the bright side as she did.

“Well, you are quite the gentlecolt, carrying my luggage!” she complimented.

“I don’t know why you’d ever have a kid sling around this crap,” he replied crassly. “She looks like she weighs less than ninety pounds.”

Rarity pursed her lips, giving him a look which he didn’t seem to notice.

“In…deed,” she stated simply, turning her gaze to Applejack, who just shrugged back at her awkwardly.

Rarity considered further small talk with the Courier but decided to remain silent for the time being.

Rainbow Dash for her part was keeping her gaze on Scootaloo, now flying overhead at a slow and steady manner. Normally she’d rush along at her own pace, but going slower was worth it to make sure her sister was safe.

She still noted a friction in the two, as Scootaloo still seemed more eager to be around her fellow Crusaders and Six. The rainbow-maned pegasus frowned to herself but decided to give the filly space. Unlike the ordeal with the Washouts, she could tell the human would at least keep her sister safe.

Despite that, she still felt hurt by the cold shoulder treatment she’d been getting all morning. Hopefully by the time they set up their final campsite, everything would be a bit better.

She was at least happy her sister was doing better than last night, as the Crusaders were now walking at their own pace given Sweetie Belle wasn’t bound by Rarity’s baggage anymore. Rainbow Dash felt their excitement and happiness as they whispered amongst themselves, doing standard filly fare as they continued along at the back of the pack.

The Courier was silent while remaining in the center. He made so little noise that it was almost hard to remember he existed at times. With no motor-mouthed pegasus on his back, he was far less talkative, giving only the occasional inhale and exhale as a sign that he was still alive. Even his footsteps were quiet despite the added weight from Rarity’s luggage.

It was a few hours later he was pulled out of his mind and back into reality. A combination of Applejack stopping up ahead and his stomach growling were the culprits.

“Alright, this cave ahead is our campsite. Winsome Falls is just a little ways up yonder,” she explained to the Courier.

He nodded in response as he examined the clearing ahead. A small fire pit and several logs were strewn around it. No doubt a makeshift campsite the ponies had used before.

“Yes, and you can put down my luggage now!” Rarity insisted with a forced smile.

He sighed and partly considered dropping them in a patch of mud a few feet away. However, the Courier resisted the urge and instead walked over to the cave and dropped them at the entrance on the comparatively clean stone.

His stomach rumbled again as he dusted his gloves off, and he looked down at his lunch box, still strapped to his waist after all this time. It was a Vault-Tec classic. Too bad he only had the one.

The Courier walked over to a stump on the edge of the clearing and took a seat. He sat Knock-Knock and the All-American aside and opened the lunchbox before he began to rummage through it. He grunted in dissatisfaction as he pulled out an unopened box of InstaMash.

The Caravan Lunch wasn’t exactly the best of meals, but he’d sterilized it with a RadAway awhile back at least. His stomach grumbled as he thought back to his dream. So much good food, and all of it just out of his reach thanks to that moon demon.

He leaned away from the ponies, making sure his face was obscured as he lifted his mask up a bit. He ripped open the old packaging of the InstaMash and then dumped out a handful of dried flakes into his gloved palm. Moments later he shoved it right in his mouth, hoovering up all of it in one gulp.

He then began the process of chewing the dried, century old potato shavings into a slightly liquid mush, gulping down the barely-flavored mash. He managed another handful and then the tiny box was empty, the cardboard tossed back into his lunchbox as he sat there, chewing and looking around.

A bird flew overhead, and he considered shooting the bastard down for some real meat.

Ponies… were vegetarians, maybe? Cakes contained eggs? They still probably wouldn’t appreciate him killing an animal right in front of them. Especially the kids.

“Mister Six!” a young voice called.

As soon as he heard Sweetie Belle, he jerked away from the source, sending the Caravan Lunch to the ground as he shoved the revealed portion of his lower face into his elbow. He was almost acting like some post-apocalyptic vampire as he looked over at the filly, his vision a little obscured due to the lopsided mask.

“Uh… here’s a cupcake?” she offered, very confused at the display.

He looked down as she held it outstretched in one of her hooves, and then nodded, reaching out a hand to grab it.

“Shank yu,” he managed, his mouth filled with the horrid InstaMash.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow before he turned away…

And then shoved the cupcake, wrapper and all into his mouth.

Sweetie Belle looked on with a partly horrified expression as he then adjusted his mask back downwards, leaving a smear of icing on his helmet. Only then did he realize there were crumbs and frosting smearing his hand. Thus, he reached into his duster and pulled out a dirty rag, wiping himself off as he chewed.

God, even with the paper, it was so much better than the InstaMash.

And the Fancy Lads.

And… a lot of things in the Wasteland.

Maybe not the omelets, though. That was a discussion for another day.

When he finally swallowed, he spoke.

“That’s uh… really good, kid,” he complimented, reaching down to pat her head in a stiff, awkward manner. “You did a good job baking it.”

“Oh I didn’t make it, that was one of Pinkie Pie’s cupcakes,” Sweetie explained, a bit awkwardly herself.

“Ah,” he nodded, patting her head once more before he backed off. “Well, thanks anyways. You sure you didn’t wanna keep it?”

“Well we got a whole bagful of ‘em, and that’s not mentioning the marshmallows,” she explained.

He nodded as he collected his fallen lunchbox and food items.

“Why were you so spooked there?” she asked, noticing how quickly he’d covered his face.

“Kid, people do the things they do for a reason,” he explained while packing his unsatisfying lunch back up.

Sweetie nodded, looking up at him for a moment, before deciding to ask bluntly.

“Are you a knight of some kind?” she asked.

He looked down at her for a moment in confusion. First his mind went to the Brotherhood, and he was about to ask in shock how she knew of them. However, after mewling the question, he slowly turned back to the numerous Tæles of Chivalrie magazines he’d read. Surely, she meant a medieval knight! Maybe she’d read something similar. Maybe they existed here?

“Well…” he managed. He was technically a Brotherhood of Steel member, a knight in a way. However, he knew she didn’t exactly mean that. Being an NCR soldier likely didn’t count either.

She looked at him, a small bit of intrigue building on her face.

“I guess kinda, sorta?” he offered.

“Alright!” she nodded, before rushing off.

He watched her as she went behind some bushes, and just stared on in confusion.

“Huh,” he managed, turning back towards his lunchbox. He struggled with the idea of if he was still hungry enough to scarf down the Cram and the Pork n Beans or not.

As he did this, he didn’t realize that Sweetie had met up with her other two Crusaders behind the bushes.

“So what did ya learn?” Scootaloo excitedly asked.

“Well, he likes cupcakes… a bit too much,” Sweetie answered.

“I don’t know why we needed ta give him that anyways,” Apple Bloom added. “Couldn’t ya just ask him since you’re friends an’ all?”

“It’s to butter him up!” pointed out Scootaloo.

“Then why didn’t you give him the cupcake?” asked Sweetie.

“Duh, because he’ll expect me to give it to him! With you, he might reveal something new!” explained the pegasus, as if it were obvious. “Besides, if we all become friends with him, he might reveal more of his super-secret, super-awesome origin story!”

“Scootaloo, it ain’t like he’s Daring Do or somethin’ from an action comic!” Apple Bloom shot back. “He’s real! There’s no guarantee he even has a cool backstory like yer sayin’!”

“Well, he did say he was a knight,” Sweetie admitted, getting a glare from the country filly, which made her give a nervous addition, “sorta anyways!”

“I knew it!” Scootaloo squealed with excitement.

“Scootaloo, why are ya even this excited about him?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Well duh, he saved my life!” the pegasus answered, getting a nod.

“Yeah but Rainbow Dash saved yer life more than him,” pointed out the country filly.

“But I know Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo elaborated. “I know where she lives, where she grew up, who her parents are! Heck, she’s my sister, I know everything about her! I don’t know anything about Six!”

“I really hope yer not gonna start another fanclub after what happened last time,” sighed Sweetie Belle.

“I won’t!” replied the embarrassed pegasus, before shaking it off. “But more importantly than me knowing about him, he doesn’t have any friends.”

“I wonder why,” Sweetie added, thinking back to his odd behavior he’d just displayed with the cupcake incident.

“Be serious!” glared Scootaloo. “He helped you with the saddle bags whenever he didn’t have to!”

“That was mighty kind of him,” Apple Bloom admitted with a nod.

“Yeah, and earlier this morning Rarity said he restarted the fire last night too,” Sweetie said after a moment of thought.

“See! That’s what I’m saying! He’s like some cool comic book hero, and he’s got no one here! No friends, no family…” Scootaloo paused for a moment to frown but shook it off. “We might as well be his first!”

“I guess that makes sense,” Sweetie shrugged.

“Twilight did teach us about friendship with other creatures an’ all that,” agreed Apple Bloom.

“That’s what I’m saying!” Scootaloo smiled.

“Still though, I don’t know how we can get him to stay, he seems pretty clear on being one of those wandering types,” Sweetie pointed out.

“Well, what if we just watch him and get to know what he does and doesn’t like!” Scootaloo offered after a moment of thought. “Maybe if we show him that there’s tons of fun things to do with us and around Ponyville, he’ll stay!”

“You know, that might work!” Sweetie Belle agreed with a smirk.

“Yeah, if he liked that cupcake, maybe he might enjoy some of our apple desserts too!” offered Apple Bloom.

“That’s the spirit, now let’s watch him, we’ve wasted enough time as is!” Scootaloo added with a tone of finality.

Moments later she and the others soon peered out from the bush, staring over at the still seated Courier. He was currently using the same rag he’d cleaned his mask with to rub the dirt off the Pip-Boy’s screen. He didn’t seem to notice them as they continued whispering amongst themselves. The two watched on for many more minutes as he cleaned himself up.

“Hygiene!” Sweetie pointed out. “He likes hygiene!”

“Ya sure? His jacket’s awfully dirty still,” added the unsure Apple Bloom.

A bit later, he soon reached into one of the many small satchels adorning his chest and felt around. After a moment, he popped one open and pulled out a small cloth sack.

The fillies leaned in close as he untied it and dumped it into his hand. Pinyon nuts soon rolled out, and he emptied the small sack. He looked at the pitiful sum before shrugging, adjusting his mask very slightly, and leaning down, devouring them in one bite as he kept his lower face hidden this time.

“Nuts! He likes nuts!” Scootaloo said with a squeak.

“Don’t almost everypony like nuts?” asked Apple Bloom.

“What about ponies who have allergies?” responded Sweetie.

The CMC continued on, watching him for many more minutes as the Courier would do the occasional menial task like checking his Pip-Boy, rubbing off some muck and wayward leaves from his duster, and even wiping down his shoes. Soon enough though, he pulled out a large bowie knife, and the girls squeaked.

“I think he likes knives,” Apple Bloom said.

“We could get him a knife set!” Scootaloo pondered with a smile.

“He doesn’t have a kitchen for them all, though,” Sweetie pointed out.

“He could!” Scootaloo shot back.

“Girls!” added a new voice, making them all give squeaks of surprise as a white forehoof parted the shrub they’d been hidden in.

They saw the face of Rarity peer in, with her giving a questioning glance between the three.

“Why are you all hiding about when we’re getting ready to start the fire? I figure you’d want to spend this time chatting and sharing smores, not hiding in some filthy bush!” said the fashionista.

“Oh, right,” Apple Bloom peeped, having nearly forgotten about the whole “sisterly camping trip” thing.

“Sorry Rarity, we were just spying on the Courier!” Sweetie squeaked, getting the other two Crusaders to sigh in annoyance.

“You what?” Rarity questioned. “Why in the world would you do that?”

“We were gonna become his friend and get him to stay,” begrudgingly admitted Scootaloo.

“I understand all of those friendship lessons paid off, but are you quite sure you should be spying on him? He seems like a very…” Rarity paused, as if mewling about what to say, before finishing, “unapproachable fellow.”

“So was Cranky Doodle, and Pinkie’s still his friend!” Scootaloo pointed out. “And Starlight too, she was way worse before Twilight became her teacher!”

“Well, those are very different cases,” Rarity said after a moment in thought. “Still, I understand you desire to be his friend after what he did, but all I want is for you all to be safe.”

“I think he wants that too,” Scootaloo replied, looking back at the Courier through the gaps in the bush.

Soon enough she sighed and looked away though.

“Oh now don’t fret dear!” Rarity said, attempting to lighten the filly’s mood. “We have plenty of marshmallows and graham crackers and other treats for making smores! It’s going to be a wonderful night!”

Apple Bloom felt her stomach rumble and looked between her two friends.

“I guess we could use a break,” admitted the farm filly.

“Yeah, I’m getting a bit hungry too,” Sweetie Belle agreed.

Scootaloo took a moment to think, and eventually just nodded along with her friends.

Before long they were out of the bush and back towards the campfire, which was roaring to life thanks to the wood that Six had collected. It had spent all night and most of the day drying out, meaning it was easier to set alight.

The sun overhead was soon lowering, turning the fading day to a deep, bluish evening. It made the fire standout more as Scootaloo plopped herself down on a log.

The pegasus watched on as Sweetie and Bloom ran up to their respective sisters, sitting next to them on their own logs as well. She waited for a moment, seeing if Rainbow Dash would fly over and try to pull the whole “what’s up squirt?” routine. She just huffed to herself, not noticing the blue pegasus in question had flown over to the Courier.

Rainbow Dash stood a few feet behind the human, looking at him as if she were unsure of what exactly to tell him. He was currently cleaning one of the strange objects he had stashed in his coat. She didn’t know what it was, other than the fact it was shiny and had a swing-out cylinder.

Moments later though, she finally formulated the words, and spoke.

“She really likes you, you know,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“What makes you say that?” he asked, still cleaning Lucky as he did.

“She spent about half an hour in a bush watching you,” said the pegasus with a dry tone.

“Yeah, I was wondering what the hell they were doing,” he admitted. “I thought it was some weird secret game or something.”

“I don’t know why, but she’s been giving me the cold shoulder all day,” Rainbow Dash said, getting back on track.

“Want me to talk to her?” he offered casually.

“I want you to-” she paused, staring at him with a confused tone.

“I don’t wanna see a pair of sisters fight. I’m not a fucking monster, after all,” he pointed out. “Besides, I doubt you’d come to me to chat about your… feathers, or rainbow pubes, or something.”

“You need to work on your manners,” scolded Rainbow Dash as if she were talking to a misbehaving student.

“I don’t think I will,” he said, standing up as he put Lucky away.

“That wasn’t a request,” she said, her expression stern. “I want you to keep it clean for Scootaloo’s sake. Whether you like it or not, you’re a role model to her now.”

“Fuck’s sake,” he huffed. “More word-policing?”

“It’s manner-policing now,” she just glared.

“Fine, fine,” he relented.

She did too, giving a nod as her expression became neutral.

“Give me like five minutes with the kid,” he said, going to walk past her, before she stopped him and extended a hoof.

“Here,” she said, offering him a marshmallow.

“What?” he answered with confusion.

“Scootaloo was talking about how you’ve never had a marshmallow on the way up here,” she pointed out.

“Oh… yeah,” he nodded, remembering he’d zoned out for basically the entire trek. “Thanks.”

“They’re alright,” Dash explained. “A bit too sweet for me at times though.”

“Thanks, just uh, go fly around or whatever. I’ll talk to the kid,” he said, walking away once more.

“I’ll keep my eye on you!” she warned, and he nodded as he continued.

As he walked, he looked down at the marshmallow Dash handed him, and after a moment of thought, nodded once more, this time to himself. Soon enough he reached the campfire, and suddenly Scootaloo noticed him approaching from the darkness. Her face lit up as he sat down next to her on the large log.

“Six!” she squeaked, but before she could hug him, he stopped her with an opened palm.

She noted the seriousness of his posture, and almost slinked back as she looked up at him with a partly worried expression.

“Kid look,” he began but stopped, looking away with a sigh. After a moment of thought, he managed to continue. “I’m not trying deliberately to give you the whole silent treatment, alright? I’ve been in your shoes. I know what it’s like to have a friend who won’t open up to you.”

“You do?” Scootaloo perked up, looking at him in surprise, both from the admission and partly from being called a ‘friend’ albeit not flat-out.

“Yeah. He was a good guy, deep down anyways,” he paused in thought once more, before shaking himself out of it. “Look, I’ll be straight with you, alright? One day, when you’re a lot older, and if we still know each other, I’ll answer everything you want, if you still want to know, that is.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” she huffed, deflating a bit.

“Trust me kid, it’s more than fair, alright?” he offered. “As it stands, I’ll answer some stuff-”

She squeaked, before he held out a finger to calm her.

“-on occasion.” he finished.

Scootaloo huffed once more, thinking it over.

“Well, better than nothing,” she concluded.

“Good,” he said with a nod. “Now that that’s out of the way, I’ve got one more thing to say.”

“Which is?” she asked.

“Ya need to go easier on your sister,” he pointed out.

“Oh, we are not having that talk,” she huffed.

“Yeah, we’re having that talk,” he replied.

He let the situation (and the filly) breathe for a moment, before continuing.

“Kid, I don’t see why you’re not forgiving her and all that. Surely she’s saved you in the past, right? Doesn’t make me special,” he explained casually, still sitting beside the small orange filly. “Bet she did it more than me too!”

“Yeah but she’s still brash too even after all those lessons she learned,” Scootaloo agreed, though she just looked down at the campfire as she spoke, her tone forlorn. “I love her, but her hitting you wasn’t right. If you weren’t so tough, she could’ve really hurt you, or worse!”

“Kid,” he began, before taking a moment to give a deep sigh, “I’ve been through a lot worse, and I already forgave her and all that. Besides, if I was in her situation, I might’ve done the same thing. To save my hypothetical little sister of course. Hell, you might’ve too!”

“Yeah, I guess,” Scootaloo agreed with a sigh.

“What is it now?” he asked, knowing her tone hadn’t lightened.

“Why can’t I just be brave like you and Rainbow Dash? I got you guys into that situation in the first place. If I just kept a level head, I would-” she was cut off by him shoving the marshmallow from earlier into her mouth to mellow her out.

“See kid, now you’re just looking for bad stuff to get upset over,” he said with a smirk. “The point of it all is that you’re here, you’re safe, and we’re all friends.”

She looked up at him with a bit of an annoyed expression, before spitting out her marshmallow.

“Knew it,” she said with a teasing smirk, her spirit seemingly raised.

“Knew what?” he responded.

“You just said we’re friends!” she said, gently hitting his forearm with her hoof. “For the second time no less!”

He paused for a second, before shaking her off of his forearm. He looked away and crossed his arms.

“Well, even someone like me can make mistakes and say things they don’t mean,” he said, looking away, though he did quickly glance back at the filly, seeing her sitting with a teasing smirk on her face.

He just turned away again, giving a good-natured huff.

“Just shut it and eat your dam-” he somehow felt the eyes of Rainbow Dash burrowing into the back of his head before he corrected himself, “-dang marshmallows or whatever the fu- uh, fudge.”

“Not without you trying one!” she squeaked.

“I filled up on nuts, kid,” he said with a sigh.

“Come on, just one?” she pleaded, pressing against his back with her forehooves.

After a solid minute of this, he rolled his eyes.

“Alright, fine,” he said, turning back towards her. “If you want me to eat one so bad, then you go make me one!”

“I’m on it!” Scootaloo said, before zipping off to the firepit, joining the other Crusaders and their sisters to make some smores!

The Courier heard and faintly felt wind billow around him as he heard Rainbow Dash land behind him.

“Again, I’m sorry abou-” she began, but he cut her off.

“Don’t worry,” the Courier sighed to the rainbow-maned pony, “I’ve forgiven people who’ve done worse.”

She looked at him, a pondering expression on her face.

“For what it’s worth. Whatever you’ve been through, I’m sorry,” she said genuinely.

“You aren’t someone who owes me an apology,” he stated flatly, arms crossed.

She was silent, wondering what someone possibly could’ve done to wrong the human.

“You gonna go make that chocolate crap with your sister now or what?” he asked, breaking the silence while pointing at Scootaloo.

The filly was attempting to make a smore by herself, looking quite the odd pony out amidst the other Crusaders, who were being helped by their respective sisters.

“Thanks again,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Between the constant ‘thanks’ and ‘I’m sorry’s’ I’m beginning to think you’ve got something scrambled up there,” he responded with a faint smirk.

“Jeez, you really are a prick,” she responded with a smile.

“Would you have it any other way?” he said.

She just rolled her eyes before zipping off towards her sister.

The Courier watched on as Scootaloo turned to the older mare. Soon enough she hugged one of Rainbow Dash’s forelegs. Good, he nodded to himself.

He soon allowed himself to zone out a bit. He was tired, but didn’t want to sleep, especially after last night. He wasn’t exactly listening to anything for the moment, and he let his head lean down, his chin pressing against his chest. If he were a robot, he’d be in ‘Low Power’ mode.

He remained this way for many minutes, until being woken from his “slumber” by both Scootaloo, who presented him with one of the fabled smores. Rainbow Dash stood behind her sister and smiled at the human as he adjusted himself.

Six reached out a hand and grabbed the gooey snack, before turning away and adjusting his helmet. They didn’t get a good look at his face as he scarfed it down loudly. Scootaloo chuckled and Rainbow Dash almost did as well, instead giving a humorous snort.

The Courier readjusted his helmet and turned back to them. He was chewing under his helmet for a few moments, before he gave a chocolate-covered thumbs up.

Rainbow Dash finally giggled at that, and a faint trace of him smirked as she did.

Many hours later, after the fire and fun had died down, and the smores had been finished off, Scootaloo woke up in the cave. She groaned as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

A bad dream.

She’d been no stranger to them, but this one didn’t have Luna or Rainbow Dash come in to fight off the monsters.

Scootaloo looked over to her snoring older sister, thinking about waking her up as she did. She felt almost like a toddler, having bad dreams at her age. But this one felt particularly bad, even if she couldn’t remember the details.

“R-Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo squeaked.

Shockingly, her sister’s eyes snapped open.

“Whazz-huh?” Dash managed.

“I…” the filly fidgeted for a moment, and sighed, “had a really, really, bad dream.”

Rainbow Dash yawned and sat up.

“What kind, squirt?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“I don’t know,” admitted the filly, looking down with a face of sorrow. “I just remember it was really bad!”

“Headless Horse bad?” Dash questioned.

“I think it was worse,” Scootaloo admitted.

“Woah,” said the older pegasus in thought. “That is pretty bad… Wanna snuggle up with me?”

“I do,” began Scootaloo, “but… well…”

Rainbow nodded in thought, already figuring out what her sister would say.

“Alright squirt, you can go to him,” Dashie said with a smirk.

“R-really?” her sister squeaked.

“Yeah sure, just don’t come crying to me if he pulls his grumpy pants routine,” laughed the older pegasus.

After embracing her sister, Scootaloo set off, through the dark cave and towards the still, humanoid figure resting against a wall that was closer to the entrance. Moonlight bounced off his body, illuminating his form as he rested there without a hint of movement.

“Six, are you sleeping?” Scootaloo asked.

No response.

“Six?” she asked again.

Nothing.

“Six!” she whisper-shouted.

“What?” he huffed, turning to her.

“I had a bad dream,” she admitted with an embarrassed tone. “Can I lay with you?”

“I was sleeping,” SIx lied.

He hadn’t been asleep all night. He was sitting, watching, waiting. He felt if he did slumber that thing would attack him again. Come for him in his dreams like the bastard it was.

“Kid, why didn’t you go to your sister instead?” he groaned after a few moments of silence.

“I did, but she said it was alright if I wanted to go to you too,” Scootaloo admitted.

He paused for a moment, looking at her.

“I can just go back to bed with her if you want,” said the filly with a nod, turning away.

He let loose a long, annoyed-sounding sigh, which made her pause.

“Come on then,” he offered, hands outstretched.

She squeaked in excitement, but before she could rush into his arms, he held his open palms out.

“Hey, quit!” he huffed. “Keep it smooth! None of that rushdown crap, ya dig?”

“Right!” she said with a smile, slowly making her way over to him.

He gently picked her up and carefully positioned her so that no gun holsters or knife sheaths were near her. With all the expertise of a bomb squad leader, he laid the filly against his chest. Soon enough she was snuggly against him, supported by the weight of both his arms.

Scootaloo was almost like a large feline as she pressed against his chestplate. Her breathing was calm and steady. Good, no abnormalities to note.

The kid was fine.

He was fine.

Why not sleep?

…

Maybe later.

He looked down at her.

She’ll rest instead.

He then looked out of the cave’s entrance. Had he not had the night vision helmet, he would’ve enjoyed the moonlight illuminating the calm, slightly damp night.

Scootaloo’s dreams were brightened by thoughts of the Courier, coming to rescue her in numerous perilous situations.

The Courier himself had no dreams.

…

But if he did, she might’ve brightened them.

Winsome Falls

The day began soon enough, and he was finally able to feel the filly stir from her slumber.

Scootaloo yawned in an almost cartoonish manner as her bright, expressive eyes opened up. She blinked a few times as her vision began to unblur itself, making his intimidating mask come into view.

“Six, you up?” she asked softly.

“Yeah,” came the tired, dry sounding reply. It was like he hadn’t had anything to drink all night.

“You sleep good?” she asked, a bit concerned.

“Sure,” he said simply, before gently picking her up and lifting her off of his chest.

Her hooves clattered against the floor as he gently sat her down. After a moment, he stood up and stretched, looking at the All-American and Knock-Knock, which were both sitting a few feet away.

As he stretched, he heard the faint popping sounds of his joints loosening up after about eight hours of sore stillness. He groaned almost like an old grumpy man as he reached into a satchel and retrieved something out of it.

Scootaloo frowned as she saw him pull out a small box of cigarettes.

“You smoke?” she asked.

“Yeah?” he said, as if it was obvious.

“That stuff can kill your lungs, you know,” she pointed out.

“Which is why you probably shouldn’t pick it up, kid,” he answered back. “I’m not an addict or anything. It just helps fill the stomach whenever there’s nothing to eat.”

He’d been running off of a stick of gum, a cupcake, a box of InstaMash, and some pinyon nuts for the past two days. The Cram and Pork n Beans were still an option, but they were the few pieces of food he had that were airtight. No need to waste them yet.

“Well, alright,” she nodded unsurely.

Six nodded back and walked out of the cave.

He made it several paces over to the initial campground. The fire had burnt out by now, and only a few small, dropped marshmallows littered the ground, soon to be eaten by the wildlife.

The human stood in front of the campfire, adjusting his mask a bit to let his lower face out to the open air. The shadows still cast by the rising sun made it impossible to notice any distinctive details.

He put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it, taking a moment to huff down the smoke. It filled his lungs and eased the faint, familiar pangs of hunger in his stomach.

The Courier examined the lighter for a moment before stashing it away once more in one of his many satchels. He gave a satisfied ‘hmm’ before finally pulling the cancer stick from his mouth and billowing out the foul air that had been settling inside him.

He took a moment to admire the greenery before taking another drag off the smoke. The mailman nodded to himself, letting the sounds of buzzing insects, chirping birds, and mother nature herself fill his ears.

By the time his smoke break was done, he heard the other ponies coming out from the cave, chattering amongst themselves. He finished off the cigarette and shoved the filter back into his cigarette package, stowing it away to trash later.

More smoke left his mouth as he exhaled one final time and then readjusted his helmet. Rainbow Dash landed next to him a moment later.

“We’re about to head up to the falls, they’re just a few minutes hike that way,” she said, pointing down the trail with a forehoof.

“I’ll get the kid’s friend’s luggage so she isn’t breaking her back, just give me a minute,” he nodded.

“You do realize they have names, right?” Rainbow pointed out with a huff.

“Most things do,” he agreed.

She just sighed and flew off.

Sweetie Belle wasn’t a bad kid. Strange name, but they all had those. She gave him a cupcake anyway, so she deserved some help in return. Sister was a bit… snobbish though.

Rarity. Yeah, reminded him a bit of the White Gloves, though there definitely wasn’t anything nearly as dark behind the false smiles. He couldn’t completely blame her apprehensive nature. She seemed to care about the kids and her friends. But him?...

Maybe he’d hate him too if he was in her shoes…

Hooves?

Doesn’t matter.

It was about ten minutes later they were walking the trail. Rarity seemed a bit perturbed about him carrying her luggage again, but she was very slightly less jumpy this time.

Half an hour later, they broke through the forest completely, and emerged into a massive clearing, with a massive lake. The lake, however, wasn’t the strange part.

“What in the fuck?” he said, nearly dropping Rarity’s luggage as he looked up at the rainbow-colored waterfalls.

It was a bizarre sight, almost biblical in a strange way. Colors water shouldn’t or couldn’t actually be. Reds, greens, purples, yellows streamed down into the huge reservoir, creating a large amount of mist as they did.

He just stood there in shock and awe as the other ponies walked by him.

“Pretty sweet huh?” Rainbow Dash asked with a smirk, landing beside him.

“Water’s not…” he shook off his stupor, trying to formulate what he’d say. “It’s not supposed to be that color- those colors.”

“Uhh, why not?” she asked.

“I guess it’s some type of large-scale refraction but… it doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen,” he managed, sounding confused.

“Sounds like you didn’t wander enough,” she snarked at him, expecting a retort.

Her smirk vanished when he didn’t wittily respond back.

“Hey, you alright?” she asked after a few moments.

“I think, I just…” he shrugged. “I don’t know. Everything’s been strange for me these past few days.”

“Wanna talk about it?” she offered.

“No,” he stonewalled, continuing forwards with Rarity’s luggage.

Rainbow Dash just sighed for her part.

A little while later, he returned the bags to the fashionista and was soon examining the water by the lakeside. He ran a hand through it, creating a ripple of miniature waves. Nothing seemed strange about it. As a matter of fact, he was reminded of Lake Mead. This seemed even fresher than that though.

The Courier thought it over for a minute, before he nodded and grabbed the jug from his waist. He refilled it in the lake and took a deep, mighty swig, draining a large portion of it. He then refilled it back to full again and screwed back on the cap.

After he refitted it around his belt again, he pulled out a small canteen. It had a blue piece of cloth wrapped around it, and a large yellow “13” emblazoned on the side. Scootaloo had been watching him for a few minutes by now and after a bit of thought, she walked over.

“What’s the number mean?” she asked, making him turn towards her for a second as he refilled the small flask.

“It’s from Vault 13,” he answered, before screwing its lid back on.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“A place a long way away from here,” he answered simply, putting the trusty canteen away.

“Oh foo, you know what I meant,” she huffed, and he shrugged.

“So, you gonna go back to your sister or whatever?” he asked, pointing back to the group, who were frolicking about and admiring the beauty of the falls.

“Hey, you’re the guest on this trip! I figured I’d spend a bit of time with you,” she explained.

“Oh come on kid, after I had that sister talk and everything?” he responded with a sigh.

“I’m not mad at her!” squeaked the filly. “I just wanna spend a little bit of time with you before you go.”

“It’s a sisterly trip,” the human pointed out.

“Hey, sisterhood doesn’t mean I can’t hang out with you!” Scootaloo huffed. “One time Apple Bloom’s brother dressed up as a girl to spend time with her!”

“I really hope you don’t want me to put on a dress,” he said flatly.

“Not the point!” Scootaloo sighed. “The point is that family is what you make of it!”

“Kid, no offense, but you’ve known me for like, three days,” the Courier explained. “Calling me family is a stretch.”

“Well, I didn’t mean that you were but… you’re still my friend!” managed the little pegasus. “And friends spend time with each other, no matter what!”

“Alright look, I’ll stay here for a bit, but after a few hours, when you guys get ready to pack it up, I’m heading for a straight shot back to Ponyville, then Canterlot,” he laid out.

“But you still need to wait for Rainbow Dash and the others to set up a meeting with Princess Twilight!” pointed out Scootaloo.

“Yeah, but-” he was interrupted.

“And if you just stroll into Ponyville or Canterlot, they’ll have a freakout due to how you look!” she continued.

“I know, but-”

“But if you stay with us, we can-” he cut her off this time.

“Okay, you’re going a bit too far, kid,” explained the mailman with a huff, before elaborating on his plan. “Look, I’ll stick low, form a plan with Dash, the adults, or whatever, and hang out around the outskirts of Ponyville until the princess is ready to see me.”

“Oh that’s awesome! I can totally come visit you every day and-” she began, before he cut her off again.

“Hey, hey!” he said, his tone raised. “That isn’t a permanent thing, alright? Just for a little while. A week, two, hopefully three tops. After that, if I get situated and figure up a way back home, I’m gone. You understand?”

Scootaloo sighed, remaining silent as she nodded.

“Now don’t give me the depressed shit again,” he said, pausing for a moment after his swear, before continuing with a sigh. “Look, I’ll take it slower for now. But in a few hours, I really need to go and get my stuff back, alright?”

“Alright,” she said, nodding once more.

“And…” he said, sighing, “I’ll try to see you while I’m hanging low in Ponyville-”

The little filly squeaked, her spirits up.

“-On occasion,” he concluded.

She still seemed excited at the prospect.

“But don’t go thinking you’re spending the rest of your life stapled to me, alright? Again, me sticking around isn’t a permanent thing!” he hammered home the point.

“I understand, but I’m still excited!” Scootaloo said with glee.

“Alright then, now, I guess we can do something,” he finally offered.

“Oh, that’s great!” Scootaloo said with a smile. “We’re having a picnic just over by the bodega!”

“I’ll join, but I’m not really hungry,” he said, though he could feel his stomach rumble a bit.

“Uh, you sure?” she asked, concerned. “I can spare a cupcake and a cucumber sandwich, if you want?”

“I’m fine, really,” he answered.

If his stomach could, it would’ve smacked him.

For now, he just ignored it.

“I uh, filled up on that cigarette from this morning,” the human offered.

“Six, you don’t have to give me the cold shoulder, friends give each other stuff all the time, even food,” she said.

“I’m not going to starve, alright?” he said, attempting to defuse her. “I’m just not hungry right now, really. I have uh… leftovers for later.”

“Well, alright,” Scootaloo concluded after a few minutes, and slowly walked over towards the others, who were under the bodega on the other side of the lake.

Six allowed her to continue on for a few minutes as he stood still. His mind was racing through various thoughts.

On the kid. On what to do. On how to leave this place. On whatever else.

Finally, he silenced it, giving a sigh.

“One thing at a time,” he reminded himself, and finally made his way over to join the ponies.

He took his seat on the edge of the group, off the blanket, allowing them to continue their conversations uninterrupted as he just listened in.

“-anyways, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind judging my next dress lineup, Applejack,” Rarity said with a smile. “This time it will have a much smaller scale, so you won’t have to worry about critiquing anyone’s work but mine.”

“Well sure thing Rarity, but it’ll have to wait a little while, I’ve got a whole helpin’ of trees to buck startin’ tomorrow,” offered the farm pony, taking a bite of an apple fritter.

“Oh no worries, dear, take all the time you need!” the fashionista offered, raising a floating napkin to her mouth.

Wait…

Floating?

“What the fuck?” he said aloud, standing up to look at the napkin in question.

Both it and Rarity’s horn were surrounded by a light blue aura.

Had she done this before? How was he just now noticing something as huge as that!

“Good heavens!” said the unicorn in response to the sudden swear.

“Six!” growled Rainbow Dash, pointing a hoof to the fillies.

“Why in the hell is it floating!?!” he managed with a shocked tone.

“What, ya mean Rarity’s magic?” Applejack asked.

“Magic?” he questioned.

“Yeah, duh, everyone has magic in some way!” Rainbow Dash explained, as if it were obvious.

“But magic isn’t…” he began out of instinct, but trailed off, remembering the numerous prior conversations about Cutie Marks, special talents, the like.

Well, even if it was real, it shouldn’t be.

“Are you alright?” Rarity asked, her shock wearing off.

“I uh… I guess,” he managed.

First the rainbow water, now this? This had gone beyond just mutations as an explanation. Something was definitely wrong here!

No shit, sherlock. You knew from the get-go something was wrong.

Still, seeing actual, fully functioning telekinesis… Well, that was different from just talking about ass-tattoos and friendship powers.

He sighed to himself, and just sat back down.

“Just… carry on,” he sighed with a faintly pondering tone. “Overreaction on my part.”

Scootaloo looked at him with worry for a moment, considering consoling him, but she herself didn’t even know where to begin.

How was there a creature who didn’t know magic existed to this extent? It was almost as ridiculous as a pony who thought the sky was green!

Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were also giving the human the side eye, but they didn’t say anything, likely for Scoot’s sake.

It was a while later that the Courier came back into existence from his deep thoughts. The picnic was almost done, given most of the food had been consumed.

“Hey, uh, Rarity, Applejack?” he began, getting their attention as they were interrupted from their small talk.

“Yes dear?” Rarity answered, a bit hesitant.

“The princess… Twilight, yeah?” he asked, getting a pair of nods before he continued. “She could help me get back home. Rainbow Dash said that. You two know her, right?”

“We're some of her closest friends,” Applejack nodded.

“Good,” he nodded back. “I just need to learn some things. This magic stuff it’s uh, new to me.”

“What would you like to know?” offered the generous unicorn. “I’m not on the same level as Twilight, but I know a thing or two, obviously.”

“Well, it’s not the magic that’s the issue,” he stopped. Didn’t expect to say that today, that’s for sure. Regardless, he continued. “It’s just, I’m not from here. I know I said that before but, I just need to take some time to learn, orientate myself. All that.”

“Well, she has an entire library’s worth of books for ya to borrow if ya need to catch up on some studies,” offered Applejack.

“Yeah that’ll, that’ll be fine,” he paused and instinctively added. “They are new books, right? Like, Post War.”

“Well, some of them are thousands of years old,” pondered Rarity. “What war do you mean, specifically? There are quite a few of those, I’m afraid.”

“I mean like…” he trailed off, taking in what she was saying.

Alright, wait.

Dozens of wars. A pre-established culture. No mentions of humans. Magic. Cutie Marks.

Maybe there was a better explanation for all this?

Machines run amok?... No, he’d dealt with that before.

Fake world created by AI?... That’s dumb.

Alternate timelines and universes?... Stupid.

Hmm…

Wait…

…

Aliens.

Alien planets.

Yes, he had been transported to an alien planet…

…by the Transportalponder malfunctioning, and he was dealing with alien talking ponies, some of whom just so happened to look like ancient mythological pegasi, unicorns, and they all also just so happened to speak just like normal, everyday, modern humans.

And also magic was real.

It all made sense now!

Oh thank God.

He’d begun to worry he was in Europe there for a moment...

This was way more manageable!

“Mister Six?” Rarity called.

Suddenly he zoned back in.

“Yeah?” he asked, his tone dulled and almost dream-like.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

He noticed all of the ponies were staring at him.

“Yeah ya kinda just zoned out there for a few minutes,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“Did I?” he asked, putting his crackpot theory into the dark creases of his brain for later.

“We kinda began to worry a bit there,” admitted Scootaloo.

“Look, I’m fine,” he nodded. “Let’s just get back to the Twilight topic before my brain implodes.”

“Well, we can try ta get ya into a meeting before long,” mused Applejack.

“How long is ‘before long’ gonna be?” the Courier asked.

“Lemmie see, uh…” Dash began, thinking it over.

“Perhaps in roughly three weeks?” offered Rarity.

“Alright,” he managed.

Not bad, maybe?

“Well, what am I supposed to do in those three weeks?” he asked with a shrug.

“Well, as we said, you could hang out around Ponyville,” Scootaloo inserted herself into the conversation.

“I don’t know if folks would be keen on some red-eyed monster lurkin’ about,” Applejack began, before quickly adding. “I don’t mean yer a monster, I just mean-”

“Yeah we’ve been over that,” he huffed.

“If I may? Why don’t you just take your mask off?” offered Rarity.

He was silent for a moment.

“Why don’t you just peel your face and horn off?” the human asked back.

The unicorn cringed at the thought.

“Oh come on,” Rainbow huffed, “it’s not like that mask’s your face!”

“It is,” he countered, before pointing at his riot helmet. “You wanna see my face? You’re looking at it.”

“I guess it’d be like me without my hat,” Applejack pondered.

“Well, maybe you could stay with somepony while you wait?” offered Rarity.

“I volun-” Scootaloo was cut off.

“I appreciate the hospitality but I’m not looking for handouts or free beds,” he interrupted. “I just wanna figure this crap out, get a plan going, and I’ll be good.”

“We can try to spread word throughout Ponyville and perhaps introduce you as a friend?” Rarity said, trying to think up an idea.

“That’ll keep the number of terrified ponies down at least,” shrugged Rainbow Dash.

“Alright, that might work,” the Courier mused. “I’m not gonna hang around, I just need the ability to buy…”

He didn't finish that thought.

“Hm?” Rarity offered a few moments after he trailed off.

The human didn’t answer, and instead grabbed at his satchels, opening one of them and pulling out a bottlecap of all things. The Courier sat there, looking at it in his hands.

“Ah fuck,” he huffed.

“Six,” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Fillies, I know, I get it, but listen,” he began, “where I’m from, bottlecaps are the dominant currency.”

“What?” asked the pegasus, now confused.

“Why is that?” questioned Rarity.

“Not important now,” the mailman said. “Point is, I need to know what you use as money around here.”

“Oh, well we use bits!” the fashionista explained, reaching into her saddlebags with her magic and pulling out a small, gold coin, which floated up to the Courier. “I always carry a few spares; would you like one?”

“No, I just,” he paused, before unsurely grabbing it out of her magical field, “needed to see what they looked like.”

“Need a job I take it?” Applejack smirked.

“Looks like it,” he said while pondering the bit. “For three weeks anyways.”

He then flicked it back over to Rarity, who grabbed the small coin with her magic and returned it to her saddlebags.

“Well, what are you good at?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I can do physical labor, if that’s a thing needed here,” Six answered.

“Hmm, Big Mac an’ I could use some help at Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack decided.

“Sure they won’t mind a big scary monster?” the Courier smirked.

“Pssh, I have a feelin’ Big Mac an’ ya would get along just fine!” laughed Applejack.

“And… I might have an opening at the Carousel Boutique,” Rarity offered with an unsure tone. “I have plenty of dresses to finish for my next lineup, and my previous assistant has… recently had greater priorities.”

He noticed she looked sad after saying that last bit. Must’ve been someone close.

“Well, I can pull a double shift whenever,” he offered. “But I’m heading back to grab some stuff before long and then I’m taking a straight shot for Ponyville. Anywhere you want me to meet up at?”

“Sweet Apple Acres is probably the best spot,” Applejack admitted.

“Alright, I just need the best directions you can give,” he said, opening up his Pip-Boy’s notes.

After a few minutes, he’d readied himself for the layout of Ponyville, and before long, he finally got ready to break off from the group. He'd secured Knock-Knock and the All-American, and headed down the trail.

As the Courier walked towards the treeline though, he felt a tug at his duster, and looked down.

Scootaloo’s saddened visage stared back up at him.

“Kid, I told you about me not sticking around,” he scolded.

“I know,” she began with a sigh, “but I really am gonna miss you.”

“For what, two days?” he chortled.

“I’m serious!” she huffed. “I mean, it’s two days now, but what if you ever find a way back home? What then? I don’t wanna say goodbye to a friend I just made!”

“Kid…” he stated, before trying to ease his voice down into a softer one, shockingly soft despite its still sounding a bit gruff. “Sometimes, we all have to say goodbye to the things we love. Alright?”

“I think I know more about that than a lot of ponies my age,” admitted Scootaloo. “I did that with my parents. I’ve not seen them in a long time.”

He remained silent, as he could tell she was on the verge of tears.

After a moment, the Courier got onto one knee and reached down a gloved hand and gently placed his fingers on the underside of her chin. He lifted her head up enough so that her bright, big, expressive eyes stared back into his smaller, red, off-putting lenses. She could see herself reflected in them as he spoke.

“Scootaloo,” he said, making her gasp lightly at the mention of her real name, “you aren’t the first person to tell me that. I doubt you’ll be the last. But what matters is that they loved you, right?”

She nodded.

“Then even if there’s someone you like,” he continued, “someone you really, really like, and they like you back, despite not being there with you physically, you will always have the memory of the fact that they cared for you. No matter what you do, a piece of them is with you, in some way. Emotionally, at least.”

The little filly nodded once more.

“I know that might not help much,” he reached a hand up and rubbed the back of his neck for a moment, feeling its tenseness before he continued, “but it’s the truth… in a way at least.”

“Yeah, but sometimes it still hurts; the emptiness, I mean,” she responded.

“I know kid,” he said, reaching into his satchel to pull out a small bottlecap.

It was the same one that he’d collected whenever he first downed the Sunset Sarsaparilla after saving the filly.

He smirked, and then flipped it over to her with a thumb.

She grabbed it with her forehooves and looked up at him in surprise.

“Nice catch,” he complimented. “I know it’s not much. I’m not exactly a gift-giver.”

“These bottlecaps were like bits to you, yeah?” she asked.

“Yeah, weird, I know,” he said with a smirk. “No use for ‘em now though.”

“Well, thank you, Six,” she beamed up at him.

“Yeah no problem just uh… don’t lick it, alright?” he said. “Maybe disinfect it and put it in a picture frame or something too, so no one touches it barehanded, just in case.”

“What?” she asked, obviously confused.

“I’m kidding,” he smirked.

Thankfully Sunset Sarsaparillas themselves also seemed far more resistant to radiation than Nuka-Colas. Still though, he would occasionally clean and disinfect their exteriors with RadAway and alcohol, just to be safe.

“Now take care, kid,” he chuckled, standing up. “Catch you on the flipside.”

“Bye, Six!” Scootaloo squeaked, waiving him off as the other CMC members walked up beside her.

After the Courier disappeared in the treeline, Sweetie Belle turned to her orange friend and spoke.

“He gave you a bottlecap?” she asked in confusion.

“It don’t look like he owns much else,” pointed out Apple Bloom.

“It’s not the gift that matters, it’s the thought behind it,” elaborated Scoots with a smirk. “And between you girls, I bet he thinks a lot of me!”

The trio looked down at the bottlecap as Scootaloo examined it in her hooves.

This caused the filly’s smirk to grow into a smile.

Despite the chipped paint and dullness of the metal, it reminded her of a friend.

And that was enough for her.

Author's Note

And thus concludes "Act 1" of my story! Act 1 of... probably more than 3 Acts, lol. Chapters from here on out might slow down a bit, but I hope you all have enjoyed this thus far!

Comments and reviews are deeply appreciated. Thank you for your time!

Crosseyed Meetings

Her eyes bolted open, and she leaned up out of bed with a smile. An excited demeanor befell her as she hopped up, with her gray, feathered wings springing her body into action. She landed on all fours like some sort of spry cat.

Her pale blonde mane hung down over her face. A stray hair covered her right eye, which was looking in a slightly different direction than her left one.

She blew the bang back with a quick puff of air from her mouth and smiled. She always hated bed-mane, but she enjoyed sleeping so much! What a conundrum!

“Dinky, time for school!” she shouted, trotting from her small bedroom and down the hall towards her daughter’s.

“Five more minutes!” came the muffled, childish voice.

“Come on now, mom’s gotta get ready for work, Dinky!” responded the cross-eyed pegasus, before she opened the door.

“Ugh, fiiiine,” said the filly as she hopped out of bed, revealing herself as a small pale violet unicorn, with a similar colored mane to her mother.

“Oh don’t be like that,” Derpy said, reaching a wing over to pat her daughter on the back.

“Why can’t I call out sick just this once, mom?” she asked. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders did for the past three days for their trip!”

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders have sisters who have the time to stay by their side,” pointed out Derpy. “Doctor Whooves couldn’t babysit you this week, so you gotta go.”

“I guess,” huffed the filly.

“What’s the matter, muffin?” asked the mare. “Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon aren’t teasing you are they?”

“Mom, those two stopped being bullies like, two years ago, remember?” said the little unicorn with a deadpan look.

“Oh right,” the crosseyed mare snickered out of embarrassment, “sorry!”

“I just wanted to get some relaxation in today, mom,” admitted the filly. “Maybe go on a hike, have some fun. I mean, I’m gonna be late in a few minutes anyways.”

“Don’t worry my little muffin, I’ll make extra sure to take you on a nice vacation this weekend,” Derpy said, before pausing in realization of what her daughter said.

Her crossed eyes suddenly straightened in surprise as she looked at the clock on Dinky’s nightstand. It was almost eight thirty! She slept in! Her shift started in fifteen minutes!

“I need to finish my deliveries! I’m gonna be late if I don’t go right now!” added the pegasus, a surge of energy filling her body.

Dinky watched as her mother hopped up, flapping her wings as she began to hover.

“Mommy will be back soon! Dinner’s in the fridge! Love you, bye!” Derpy said with a blistering pace, heading towards the window at shockingly fast speeds.

The window that just so happened to be unopened.

“Mom, wait!” Dinky shouted, before thinking quickly.

Her horn lit up and the window unlatched before opening her magic opened it wide, letting her mother safely fly outside without issue. Derpy stopped, hovering in place for a moment, before she sheepishly turned back to her daughter.

“Thanks, Dinky,” she said, rubbing the back of her head out of embarrassment.

“It’s fine, mom,” Dinky assured with a flat tone.

“I don’t mean to embarra-” Derpy began, before her daughter paused her by raising a forehoof.

“You’re gonna be late,” the little unicorn pointed out, motioning to her forehoof as if she were wearing a watch.

Derpy’s crossed eyes widened, and she shot off towards the post office, leaving her daughter in a cloud of dust.

Dinky, for her part, just rolled her eyes and sighed. After a bit though, she smiled faintly at her mother, watching her as she flew off.

Ms. Hooves for her part was quite the quick pegasus. She was blitzing her way over Ponyville, dodging this way and that as she attempted to avoid any air traffic. Other pegasi wisely got out of her path as she flew towards her job.

“Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh!” she managed, approaching the post office.

Almost there!

Just as she zoomed in, the front doors opened, and a light aquamarine unicorn began to walk out with a package enveloped in her golden magic.

“In coming!” shouted the pegasus, and the unicorn’s eyes widened before-

BAM!

Derpy slammed her backwards through the door by accident, her outstretched hooves carrying the other mare until she tried flapping her wings again to right herself.

This caused the duo to break off, with the poor unicorn being slammed to the ground, and Derpy herself doing a faceplant that turned into a roll. She tumbled forwards several feet and miraculously landed in a sitting position. Both of her eyes cartoonishly rolled around in their sockets as she did as she sat unsteadily.

“Did anypony get the plate of that carriage?” groaned the unicorn, lying flat on her back behind the mailmare.

“Oh gosh Lyra, I’m so sorry!” Derpy offered, jumping up and unsteadily walking over to the downed mare. “I just don’t know what went wrong!”

The pegasus tried her best to help Lyra back up to her hooves, but given she was currently seeing doubles, she wound up doing little more than rolling her onto her stomach. The unicorn huffed and managed to get back to her hooves, groaning as she gave Derpy the side-eye.

“All these years and you still can’t fly right,” growled the annoyed Mrs. Heartstrings.

“I’m sorry,” Derpy looked hurt, giving a sad frown at the fact her friend was mad at her. “I really, really am!”

Lyra could almost see the tears welling up in the mailmare’s eyes. Must’ve been a busy and no doubt stressful day of deliveries ahead. She always got a bit more emotional when she was on delivery duty.

“Now don’t do that,” sighed the aquamarine unicorn, her tone softening. “Look, Derpy, I don’t want you to cry, alright?”

“I know,” admitted the gray mare. “But I don’t like messing things up either. It just keeps happening no matter what I do!”

“Look, Derpy, you’re a great mare,” Lyra began, putting a forehoof on Derpy’s shoulder, “but you need somepony to help keep you straight, alright?”

“I know, but the Doc’s been awfully busy lately,” said the sheepish pegasus. “He’s always the one who helps me with that kind of thing.”

“One day somepony will come along to help ya out on that, I know they will,” Lyra offered, giving a quick pep-talk as she finally re-collected her dropped package. “I’d do it, but I’ve really gotta get back home and tend to my business.”

“Alright,” Derpy said with a nod, perking up a bit, “tell Bon Bon I said hi!”

“I will,” nodded Lyra, walking towards the door.

“And we’re still having that double dinner date thing next weekend, right?” Derpy asked.

“As long as you don’t forget it,” teased Lyra with a smirk.

“I might have some mix ups, but I’m not wasting you, Bon Bon, and the Doc’s time!” Derpy said with a blush.

“You might wanna clock in, Derpy!” reminded Lyra as she left.

That snapped the mailmare out of it, and she quickly rushed back into the employee’s only section of the post office to start her shift.

She just hoped it’d be an easy route today.

The Courier nearly slipped on a loose patch of moss as he waddled through the forest, with his left foot nearly giving way underneath him.

His massive, bulky duffle bags, suitcase, and backpack weighed him down once more, causing him to nearly tumble over. However, after a few moments of holding his arms out and trying to finagle his way back into being balanced, he steadied himself. The human remained still for a moment, and then slowly advanced on ahead with a huff.

Fucking damn moss.

The desert never had that shit.

Typically, he never had to worry about such things, but his added weight made his movements a bit clunkier, allowing for more potential slips.

Nevertheless, he continued onwards, taking in the forest around him and trying his best to mentally log it. He was decent at that, but lacking a map meant he couldn’t get down the finer details. Not to mention his true expertise laying with the aforementioned deserts and dunes.

He’d been walking for about… a day and a half now. This was all without any breaks, other than to stop and slurp down a can of Pork and Beans. Kept the can too, just in case.

He wasn’t lacking in food now that he had his proper stash, but he still would only be able to manage for another week with his supplies. He mentally went over what he had for about the tenth time as he walked on. Wasn't anything else to do, anyways.

At least it was quiet.

He hadn’t encountered any other asshole wildlife since he’d killed those wooden wolf bastards a few nights back. That was a plus at least. The Courier nearly yawned to himself as he crested a small hill and leaned against a nearby tree for some support. He sucked it back down and continued on, pushing himself off of the trunk to move forwards.

He had some Coyote Tobacco in his bag. Maybe boil it into some coffee soon?

Still, that would only do so much against about three days without sleep now.

He needed it though; could tell his senses were dulling a bit. Still, could last a bit longer despite that.

Could still get to the town at least. From there, all the sleep he needed.

Sun was getting a bit low now. Day turning to evening; evening created a beautiful series of red hues along the sky.

Looked pretty. Still walked though. Can’t admire it for long and all that.

Needed to reach Ponyville. Needed shelter. Needed a Sunset Sarsaparilla. Needed a bath. Needed sleep.

All in that order, specifically.

He yawned again, fully this time.

“Fucking hell,” he growled, forcing it off.

Could manage about twelve more hours. Maybe thirteen. After that, body’s gonna go into microsleeps.

That wouldn’t be great. Not out here at least.

Soon enough though, the forest was breaking up. There were far more clearings and far fewer trees. They were a bit smaller too.

He nodded to himself. Alright, that was definitely a sign of civilization, and because of that, he began to lay low.

Needed to lose the excess weight though. Hmmm.

After a bit of searching, he found a small burrow in the side of a hill a few dozen paces away.

He leaned down and looked inside of it.

A snake responded by rattling and hissing at him for daring to threaten its den.

The Courier himself responded by reaching in, grabbing the slithery fucker and tugging it out of its hidey hole in one fluid motion.

With his prey in hand, the human adjusted his mask all the while the reptile wriggled around in his grip. He revealed his teeth to the creature, which bared its fangs back in response.

Six then lurched forwards and snapped down his jaws on the animal’s head.

CRUNCH!

It went limp in his grasp, and the rattling stopped.

The human then tugged his hand back, fully separating the snake’s skull from its spine. He spat the head aside, sending it to the ground before he shoved the bleeding stump into his mouth, letting it hang there, gripped in his teeth tightly.

The Courier sucked down its flowing blood as he began to unlatch all of his bags. He leaned back in to see if anything else was in the burrow.

No eggs. Damn. Definitely wasn’t a mommy then.

Anything else?

…

Nice, a worm!

He grabbed it with a gloved hand and pried it out of the dirt it had been attempting to burrow back into. He moved his bloodied mouth away from the snake’s body to snap his teeth around the wriggling creature.

Six masticated the annelid for a few moments, crunching it up and soon swallowing its chunks into his stomach. As he did, he felt a slight, sharp pain on his tongue and then realized it had to have been the snake’s doing.

Fucker bit him before it died.

Oh well, venom didn’t matter to him anymore anyways.

Besides, the reptile made for a good meal. Least he could do was give it a free shot.

The Courier shoved the snake’s bloodied stump back into his mouth. He continued sucking on it as if it were candy while he carefully placed his gear into what was now his burrow.

After a bit, he was finished, with it all being tightly packed down in the dirt hovel. This time even the All-American joined the bags. The firepower was nice, but he didn’t need it rattling around on him and drawing attention from any keen-eared ponies.

Once everything was in place, he soon covered it with a few leaf-covered tree branches, rocks, and dirt. He made sure the burrow was nearly invisible for someone who wasn’t looking for it.

With his new stash in place, he nodded to himself, enjoying the sensation of blood leaking down his throat. The coppery taste would’ve disgusted others.

To him, however, it was nourishing. It was survival.

He considered cooking the rest of the creature, but soon decided against it. Too risky to draw attention with a fire.

So, he just continued on, taking a large bite from the animal’s corpse as he did. He chewed as thoroughly as he could, and then swallowed as he trekked through the thinning woods.

Derpy flew forwards, her blonde mane billowing about as she looked down at her clipboard. She was in full delivery uniform now, hat and all. The pegasus smiled to herself as she crossed ‘Roseluck’ off her list.

“Alright, just a few more,” said the mailmare with an expression of relief.

Next up was Cranky. Hmm, unusual. He typically didn’t get much mail. Well, that’s alright!

She attempted to remember exactly where he lived. The mare knew it was outside of Ponyville proper, but the exact whereabouts slipped her mind at the moment.

Oh well, she could totally wing it!

With a determined expression, she readied herself, and continued along, flying over Ponyville and towards the more forested outskirts of the town.

The sun had lowered significantly, and while typically that wouldn’t be an issue, the more rural location made keeping track of everything a bit harder. For the time being, the mailmare continued ahead doggedly, a saddlebag of mail dangling off her back as she did.

“Let’s see,” she said to herself, trying her best to make her eyes straighten out as she scanned the horizons.

Her speed was a bit quicker than it likely should’ve been, no doubt in an attempt to keep pace to finish up her other deliveries. Regardless, she kept an eye out for any familiar looking trails below, to see if they could jog her memory.

As she searched for Cranky’s house, she flew over a large lake, and a flock of geese looked up at the mare as she sailed by. This action disturbed some of the creatures, causing them to fly upwards out of instinct.

Now normally, this situation would’ve been perfectly fine. Most other pegasi would’ve just dodged out of the way or let the geese fly by, however, a combination of the darkness that was settling over the lands and Derpy’s own lack of depth perception led to an unfortunate series of events.

The mailmare didn’t see a goose flying right at her until it was too late.

Her eyes widened, in surprise.

The goose himself honked, equally as shocked.

She barreled a hard turn to the left to avoid slamming into the avian...

Of course, this hard left led her face first into a tree.

Now thankfully, she wasn’t going that fast, so whenever her body passed through the leaves and branches and slammed into the trunk, instead of feeling anything break, she just felt a minor pain in her muzzle and chest area. However, this impact caused her saddlebags to get caught on and ripped up by some of the particularly sharp bramble.

Derpy groaned as she leaned back a bit, regaining control over herself to flap her wings. Moments later, she looked down and her eyes widened as her letters began to fall all over the forest floor, spilling out of her ripped up bags. Not only that, but the winds picked up, sending the mail she did have in sight billowing deeper into the woods.

“Oh no!” she managed sadly, before rushing down, grabbing every parcel she could find.

However, the darkness had only grown by this point, and for every letter the mailmare grabbed, another flew away from her grasp.

“Oh jeez! Oh jeez!” she shouted, landing now and getting a closer view of her letters.

One of her wings held her saddle bags shut, keeping the holes in them from spilling out any more precious mail. However, this only made her situation worse as she couldn’t remain airborne.

Nevertheless, the mailmare continued her duty of collecting the mail she’d dropped, keeping as best a pace she could despite the darkness. Oh, how she wished she were a unicorn at times like these!

Still, she continued on, and as she collected the lost mail, she made a mental note to log not only how many she had left to grab, but who they belonged to.

One laying in a bush? It was white and had blue cursive written on the exterior, meaning it was Bulk Bicep’s! Nabbed.

One stuck on a rock? Envelope had a faint green hue; it was definitely Berry Punch's! Got it!

One in the death grip of a goose’s beak? After bonking him away, she realized it was a faint yellow, Carrot Top’s! Can’t touch that mail now, goose!

As she picked up another letter from the dirt, one other billowed by above her head in the breeze, just out of her reach. She examined it for a moment as it fluttered by.

Brown envelope, red stamp on the exterior...

Cranky’s!

Her eyes focused in as she rushed after it, with the wind sadly picking up, sending it further away!

“Aw come on mister letter, I gotta get you so I can go back to my daughter!” Derpy shouted, as if the billowing mail would take pity on her.

She bobbed and weaved through bushes and around tree trunks, keeping her wings securely around her bags the entire time. Derpy soon picked up the pace, huffing all the while. If only she’d ran track in high school, she’d have kept a better pace!

Come on! Just a little closer!

She groaned, speeding up.

A few feet now!

Her teeth gnashed together; she was at her top speed!

Almost…

Wait.

What were those red dots?

The letter slammed into something solid.

And then Derpy did too, hitting face first into something for the second time tonight.

Wait, she heard a masculine voice groan as she impacted. Make that somepony!

“What the fuck!” he growled, as Derpy and him fell back into a heap.

A very angry stallion at that!

The mailmare pushed back, stumbling into a seated position as her eyes rolled around in her head for the second time today.

“Oh I’m sorry mister…” she trailed off as her vision came back to her.

Two red eyes stared back at her. A strange, horrifying face glared back at the pegasus. As it rose to its feet, she realized it was tall and bulky. Not only that, but Cranky's letter was now scrunched up in one of its fists!

She stared at him in confusion.

He stared back.

Her crossed eyes examined him.

He just looked at her, probably examining the mailmare as she did him.

“Mister m-m-monster,” she gulped. “Now don’t take this the wrong way… but you don’t eat ponies, do you?”

“What? No,” he growled, before elaborating. “I eat uh… rats, bugs, and stuff.”

Suddenly she sighed in relief.

“Thank goodness!” she said with relief, wiping her brow underneath her hat. “I thought you were a pony eating monster.”

He just looked on, confused.

“But if you just eat all that icky stuff, we’re perfectly fine!” she said with a thankful gaze.

“You’re… not scared?” he asked, still surprised.

“Well, you don’t eat ponies, right?” she asked, a faint trace of fear creeping back into her voice.

“No!” he huffed with finality.

“Then nope!” Derpy answered, going right back to her normal, jovial self.

“But, the glowing eyes, all that,” he said back. “That typically scares you guys.”

“I’m not gonna just judge you because you look a bit different!” said the gray pegasus with an honest tone, before frowning. “Stuff like that can hurt a pony’s feelings.”

He pondered at her deeper, only now fully noticing her crossed eyes.

“Are you lost?” he asked simply.

“Well…” she trailed off, looking around, “...a little?”

He was silent for a moment, as if thinking internally to himself.

He gave an annoyed sigh a few moments later.

“Do you need help?” he offered, sounding like he hoped she’d say ‘no.’

“Oh boy do I!” responded the mare with a smile.

“Great,” he rolled his eyes, his tone flat. “What do you need?”

“I lost some of my letters when my bag here ripped,” she elaborated.

“Let me look at it,” he huffed, handing her the letter he had before he crouched down and examined the ripped saddlebags.

“Thank you, mister monster!” she squeaked after taking the letter.

“I’m Six. Courier Six. Or the Courier. Or whatever the hell,” he elaborated.

“Oh, well thank you mister Whatever The Hell!” she said happily.

He stopped for a few seconds, looking at her.

Derpy just smiled back, a faint sheepishness in her grin, as if she knew she said something silly.

“Just stick to the first three,” he said flatly, before looking back at her bags.

“Whatever you say!” she responded.

He carefully examined the cuts, nodding to himself for a moment before he pulled a sewing needle, string, and some cloth from one of his satchels.

“Do you sew?” she asked excitedly.

“A bit,” he said truthfully, before he got to patching up her bags.

A stray bit of dirty cloth and boom, she was good to go within less than five minutes.

“Wow, thank you so much!” she squeaked, looking at his patchwork job.

“It should hold for a good while, but you might wanna get new bags soon,” he said, putting away his sewing supplies.

“I will mister Six,” she assured, “but first, would you like to come along my mail route, just for a bit?”

“Why would I do that?” he asked.

“Well, you seem like you’re out here all by yourself,” said Derpy, almost matronly. “Someone as nice as you all alone, that isn’t right! You need a friend!”

“Wouldn't I slow you down? Don’t you have to be quick about running the route?” he just asked.

“I do, but I can slow down just a little, at least until I get back to Ponyville,” she explained. “These woods are a bit harder to fly through!”

“Well… I guess I have nothing better to do,” he nodded. “Just do me a favor and show me the way to Sweet Apple Acres, alright?”

“Ohhh, sure thing!” Derpy said with determination, before she began walking through the woods, much safer than flying!

She was careful so as to not rip the bags he’d just patched up this time, and he moved alongside her.

“Can I ask you a few questions, Six?” Derpy asked as they walked along.

“I guess,” he said flatly.

“Well, first question is, do you have the ability to turn ponies into solid stone?” she asked, her tone a bit serious.

“No- I… what?” he managed, looking at her.

“That's great!” she said with a wide smile, speaking jovially as she continued on. “I had a really, really bad experience with another monster who walked on two legs one time. He turned me to stone and tried to take over Equestria! I still have nightmares about it sometimes!”

He just stared down at her for a few moments as they walked along.

“Don’t worry, the Doc helps me with therapy sometimes!” she assured.

“Doctor who?” asked the Courier, partly surprised at the prospect of doctors existing here.

“Whooves, actually!” she corrected.

He stared in silence once more.

In the Orchard

Derpy finished her delivery to Cranky’s house about an hour later. She would’ve introduced her new friend to the donkey and his wife, however even she realized that wouldn’t be the best idea.

The Courier for his part just waited in the shadows, leaned against a tree. He was a good ways back into the forest, so as to make sure no one else would notice him as he waited for her to finish up.

Whenever the mailmare came back into view, he began to walk alongside her. Her pace was a bit quicker now, having grown more confident from the first trek through the woods, as the directions came back to her in a slow, steady manner.

They were quiet for a good while, before suddenly her bubbly voice broke the silence.

“My name’s Derpy Hooves!” she said suddenly, getting him to look at her.

He stared back, still in silence for the moment.

“I was just letting you know, since you told me your name and all,” she explained with a bright smile.

“That certainly is a name,” he responded simply. Though a faint part of him realized it wasn’t exactly a worse name than “Courier Six.”

“Well, sometimes ponies call me Ditzy Doo, and sometimes they call me Muffins,” she admitted, “but Derpy Hooves is my original name.”

“Why Muffins?” he asked.

“They’re my favorite food ever!” she said with a cheerful tone. Just thinking about a delicious baked good made her brighten right up!

“Makes sense,” he replied simply.

“What does your name mean?” she asked back. “Did your parents give it to you knowing you’d be a mailmonster?”

“First thing’s first, I’m not a monster, I’m a human,” he explained, his tone stern. Some fellow humans would beg to differ with that statement, but that was neither here nor there. “And secondly, I got that name from sheer bad luck.”

“Bad luck? What happened?” she asked, concerned.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he answered vaguely.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, her tone like that of a sympathetic mother. “What was your real name?”

“I don’t know,” he said flatly. “Doesn’t matter anymore anyways.”

“You don’t remember your own name?” Derpy questioned, still concerned.

“I don’t remember a lot of things,” Six answered. “Like I said though, doesn’t matter now. Leave it at that.”

“Maybe one day you’ll remember it!” the mailmare added, her tone hopeful.

“Doubt it. That was a long time ago,” the human shot her down matter-of-factly. “But don’t worry about it.”

“I’m gonna worry!” she shot back. “You’re my friend!”

“I’m not-” he huffed. “We just met like an hour ago!”

“So?” she asked.

“So what?” he questioned.

“Why does that mean we’re not friends?” she countered.

“It just- It takes a bit more than that,” he tried explaining. “I mean you’re just trusting me out of nowhere.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked. “You’ve been honest with me! You helped me with my bags! You didn’t make fun of my eyes like some other ponies! Why wouldn’t we be friends?”

He sighed and went silent for a moment, trying to think of something to say.

“I’m just going to say, there’s a good chance you’re never gonna see me again,” he said. “I wander a lot and I don’t plan on sticking around.”

“That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be my friend,” she answered simply, her tone a bit somber.

He was silent for a moment, running his tongue over his teeth as he walked on.

After a bit he just nodded.

“Well, I guess you’re right in a way,” he admitted, more to himself.

For her part, the mailmare just smiled, gently reaching over a hoof to pat him on the thigh due to how short she was.

“That’s the spirit, mister Six!” she said with a smile. “Oh goodness, I’m so happy I could sing!”

“Derpy, I’m going to say this as politely as possible,” he began, his tone sounding tired and agitated, “please don’t.”

“Oh uh… guess you’re not into music, hehe,” she managed, giving an embarrassed smile.

The two continued on until the forest cleared up, and in the distance, he could see the town of Ponyville. Decently sized, home to maybe a thousand or so, by his gauge at least.

“Well Sweet Apple Acres is just to the east of here!” she offered with a smile, pointing in the direction of the farm. “Just go straight that way for a good while and you’ll hit one of their fields soon enough!”

“Yeah, I can get it from there. I got directions,” he nodded.

“I’d go with you, but I gotta finish these deliveries and get home to my little Dinky!” she explained.

“You’re a mother?” he asked.

“Only to one of the sweetest fillies in Equestria!” she said, pride in her tone.

He nodded silently before she finally jumped into the air, hovering in place as she looked down at him.

“For what it’s worth,” Derpy began, “I hope you find what you’re looking for out there, mister Six!”

“You uh…” he managed awkwardly, “you take care too, Derpy.”

She smiled at him before flying off.

He watched her as she did, letting her disappear in the distance before he turned away.

His stitching should hold in the less rugged terrain, so she wouldn’t have to worry about losing anymore mail.

From there on in, he just made his way towards Sweet Apple Acres, trying to lay low from any late-night ponies as he did.

Big Mac was making his final rounds through the orchard.

With Applejack and Apple Bloom gone, he had to pull basically triple duty in his harvest. Normally that would’ve been manageable, but the farm had recently gotten a huge order placed recently, meaning it was all work and no breaks for the rugged stallion.

After bucking a tree and sending its apples falling into the buckets below, he took a deep breath and began loading them up on a nearby wooden cart. It was large, stacked with several other buckets worth of apples.

Sweat was pouring down his brow from a practically non-stop workload these past few days all the while he worked. Soon enough though, Big Mac finished up, and then got ready to drag the large wagon.

As he hitched it to his back, he could see a sight for sore eyes approaching him, and a faint smile crossed his face.

Sugar Belle.

She looked as beautiful as the day he married her.

Not only that, but to make the sight better, she was carrying a tall, ice-cold, and no doubt refreshing glass of apple juice in her magic!

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you dear,” was the first thing the thoughtful unicorn said, her face filled with worry as she magically grabbed a rag and wiped at his brow.

Big Mac just responded by giving her a nuzzle on her neck, kissing her.

He then leaned downwards, quite low, and surprised his wife by craning his head between her forelegs. From his new position he was able to give her plump belly a small kiss as well.

“Big Mac,” she giggled, “stop it.”

He himself chuckled, straightening back up.

“Sorry,” he said simply, looking away with a blush and a smile.

Even after all this time he was a stallion of few words.

“I know you’ve got a lot of love to give to us both, but that can wait until after you’re rested,” she said, rubbing his brow with the rag once more. “Goodness, you’re soaked!”

Big Mac downed the refreshing juice as she continued patting him down.

After few more moments of letting himself rest with his wife, he readied himself to tug the cart back to the barn.

Sugar Belle walked alongside her husband as he went.

Neither said anything.

Neither needed to.

They just enjoyed each other’s company, along with the beautiful stars above lighting their path as they moved along.

Even then, their love for one another felt better than gazing up at the amazing night sky.

“It’s crazy to think, only about six months left,” the unicorn mused, breaking the silence.

“Eeeyup,” he agreed with a warm smile.

“Mmm and we still haven’t figured out a name yet,” she said with a chuckle. “We’ll have to fix that soon.”

“Eeeyup,” he agreed once more.

The two chuckled together as he pulled the wagon up to the barn. A few minutes later, he had rolled it inside and locked up the door for the night. Another day of work and they should be able to complete the order!

He took a deep, relieved breath, finally glad that the day was done.

Sugar Belle for her part, gave him a peck on the cheek.

“Come on Big Mac, I made dinner,” she said, motioning him back to the farmhouse.

He responded by giving her a gentle kiss back, before following her.

The married couple entered the house, leaving the door to shut behind them courtesy of Sugar’s magic.

About a quarter mile away, a bipedal figure lowered his binoculars.

“Alright, guess Applejack isn’t back yet,” he thought aloud, before putting long-distance peepers away into one of his satchels.

Couple looked cute at least.

Nice seeing a pair of lovebirds who didn’t have to deal with the crippling horrors of the Wasteland every once and awhile.

A faint piece of him wondered how Joana and Carlitos were doing.

The rest of him silenced that trace of his old existence trying to force its way back into his psyche.

For the moment though, he just looked around the field, trying to think of what to do. His brain was foggy, sleep ebbed at his vision, making the darkness noticeable even with his helmet’s night-sight.

Needed something to do.

A distraction, perhaps?

…

Oh, that might work!

The Courier walked around the orchard for a few minutes before finding a fallen tree. It was a rare sight, as it seemed the Apples cared deeply for their farm.

Not a shock. Was in the name. Also was their livelihood too.

Anyways, he sat down in front of the stump and pulled out a deck of cards contained in a ragged looking cardboard box. With a smirk, he began laying them out in a row.

A spot of solitaire would hit the… spot.

Nice.

He began playing, sitting there with this almost dulled looking demeanor. As he began to match the cards together, his vision went blurry.

Six ignored it and tried to continue on, shaking it off as he went about his game. He had a decent row now, revealed a king, matched it with a queen and a jack, and then further stacked numbers on top of it.

By this point he was feeling a little woozy, but he just played on. He managed to stack another king into an empty slot and began building off of that. He revealed more cards to himself as he freed up the space.

Not bad, getting closer…

His head leaned downwards, chin pressing into his chest. The human’s hand soon fell limp. A 10 of spades fell from his grip and landed in the grass as he inadvertently passed out, his exhaustion overtaking him in his moment of downtime.

He really should’ve had that coffee beforehand. It might’ve helped.

Darkness surrounded him.

A pitch black, inky void of nothingness.

No sweet Nightkin offered him confections this time. Instead, he was lost in the void.

“What the fuck,” he growled to himself, gaining control over what seemed to be his dream.

He looked around a moment, before he realized that, given this was a dream, he could do anything!

The Courier held out his hands and concentrated. After a moment, a gigantic, multi-barreled CZ57 Avenger minigun appeared suddenly in his palms.

The mailman easily held the weapon’s nonexistent weight in his dreamscape and began swinging it around. He aimed at everything in sight, turning this way and that, and even upside down as he was practically floating.

“Alright you spooky bastard, where are you?” he growled.

Couldn’t see anything, not at the moment at least.

With a thought, suddenly a gigantic spotlight appeared on the front of his minigun, lighting up the darkness. With his new light source in place, he continued aiming around.

However, this action didn’t reveal anything, as the darkness seemed to be a lack of anything whatsoever, rather than a mere lack of light. He growled to himself in annoyance.

“Alright, whatever you are, come out right now!” he shouted, his voice echoing.

He wasn’t even sure if his lips moved, or his voice just rang out from nothingness.

Regardless, he continued looking around in the case anything approached.

Nothing.

“I know you’re here!” he called out, the barrel of the minigun spinning up as he readied it.

He still didn’t get any type of response.

“Just come on out, and we can settle this rationally!” he shouted, waving his automatic firearm about like a madman.

He was just left there, alone with his thoughts.

Honestly, it was hard to determine if that was better or worse than having the moon dropped on his face.

The sun rose over the orchard as Sugar Belle slowly rolled out of bed with a soft groan. She had to take her time about it, making sure to be extra careful given her swollen stomach.

Big Mac had gotten up about an hour ago by this point, bless him. He was such a sweet stallion. In moments like these, Sugar Belle was reaffirmed in why she adored him so. However, a faint part of her frowned, wishing her husband didn’t have to work his tail off.

She wished she could help like she did before her pregnancy. Blissfully, she thought back to the days where she’d help hoist up buckets with him. She enjoyed the times she’d attempted apple bucking herself, though she wasn’t as strong as an earth pony.

Even when she offered to use magic only, he denied her. No way he was going to take a chance on his wife and child getting hurt! Truth be told though; she wasn’t sure her magic was strong enough to help much anyways. Not beyond picking up a few stray apples, at least.

She huffed to herself, before leaving the room and descending the stairs. As she left, she could hear Granny Smith snoring loudly in her sleep, which made her giggle.

Sugar Belle left the house and began wandering towards a portion of the orchard Big Mac wasn’t apple bucking in. If she wasn’t going to be useful in helping out with his hauls, she would at least make herself help by making sure he was refreshed and fed!

A part of her was annoyed she wasn’t up in time to make breakfast, but the other part of her knew her body needed the rest. It made her sigh as she trotted along, a basket held in her magic.

She hummed a tune to herself as she enjoyed the beautiful stroll, grateful at her new, beautiful life. No more worrying about being equal, just pure bliss and a loving husband.

As the unicorn strolled along, she made sure to avoid the trees nearest to the barn and farmhouse, so that the future apple hauling process would be easier on her husband. This did mean she had to walk quite far, but she didn’t mind the exercise.

Sugar Belle was a ways out into the orchard by now and was huffing a bit. She paced herself, but with her pregnancy, it was more taxing than expected. Still, she continued along, cresting the top of a small hill before long.

From there she saw it.

A strange, dark figure laid draped across a fallen tree. She faintly recalled that Big Mac intended to remove said tree within the next few days, however, that wasn’t the important part.

The important part was that the creature looked utterly bizarre and intimidating to the mare, even while asleep. Strange fabric hung off his body. Pieces of metal also adorned him as well. Not an inch of natural skin or fur was visible, which made Sugar Belle even more anxious.

A piece of her considered approaching him, but the rational part of her brain told her to stay away. After a moment of deliberation, she slowly turned away from the strange, resting creature, and began making her way towards the fields Big Mac was working.

As she trotted, she’d glance behind her every few paces, to make sure that thing hadn’t followed her. Her breathing was a bit labored from both panic and physical exhaustion.

It took a solid many minutes, but she did eventually come within eyeshot of her husband and called out to him from several dozens of feet away.

“Big Mac!” her soft voice echoed, sounding strained.

McIntosh for his part was in the middle of bucking a tree and didn’t notice his wife until she cried out. But when he did, his head Immediately shot towards her, concern adorning his features. Upon spotting her tired, sweat-soaked form, he ceased worrying about the apples and rushed over.

“Sugar Belle!” he shouted, his tone fearful as he reached her.

“I know you said not to wander around much,” she began, nodding as she explained quickly, “but I wanted to pick some apples out of the west fields for our turnovers tonight and, well-”

She paused, looking down with a deep breath as he stared at her.

“I saw something,” she admitted, “some strange creature sleeping in the orchard!”

Big Mac looked even more worried at that, but soon his face grew into a look of determination.

“Oh now Big Mac, no need to get aggressive,” she offered, her sweetness coming through. “He looked scary, but maybe he was friendly?”

Regardless, the large stallion pressed on.

“Big Mac, be careful!” called Sugar Belle as she tried to keep pace with her husband.

He turned and gave her a stern expression, making her sigh.

“Right, right, I’ll get some rest, for the baby,” she nodded, leaning against a tree with a frown. “Just be safe, please.”

He nodded and then turned away, making his way through the acres. His pace was far quicker and determined in his gait, so it wasn’t a shock he reached the downed tree and spotted the creature in question after just a few minutes.

McIntosh approached him carefully, examining him as he did.

He was partly reminded of a minotaur or a dragon, but this thing was differently proportioned than either of them. A part of him thought it looked like something Discord might’ve made up to scare ponies. But he hadn’t seen the master of chaos in some time, so that was out of the question.

Besides, there’s no way it’d just be sleeping if it was some prank-laden monster.

After a bit of thought, Big Mac slowly walked right up to the creature.

He noted the fact that it had several playing cards arranged on the fallen log of the tree. They looked a bit strange though, not your average pony cards.

Regardless, he soon took a deep breath…

And then nudged the creature on the back with a forehoof.

“Ahem,” Big Mac coughed in an attempt to get the being’s attention.

“Gah!” the creature groaned, snapping up and grabbing at its head. “Fuck me running!”

Big Mac made a face of confusion.

He hadn’t heard that kind of language in a while. Not since that one time Granny got a bit too much cider in her system.

The creature for his part sleepily turned to the great red farm pony, blinking tiredly as he looked him up and down.

“You Big Mac?” he asked casually.

“...Eeeyup?” responded the stallion, his tone obviously confused.

“Applejack said you needed a new farmhand?” asked the creature, standing up.

“Eeeyup?” offered the surprised farmpony once more as he looked upwards at the strange beast. One of the rare times in his life he had to do that.

“Courier Six,” said the being, offering a hand.

Mac just looked at it as it remained outstretched. Six awkwardly moved the hand back into his pockets, leaving it there as he spoke.

“You need help hauling the apples and picking them?” the Courier asked, moving on from the awkward encounter.

“Eeeyup,” Big Mac said, more flatly this time.

“Lead the way, just tell me what needs to be done, and I’ll do it,” nodded Six.

Big Mac was just silent for a moment, staring up at him in confusion.

“Applejack sent ya?” the stallion finally managed.

“Yeah, she and the others had their whole sisterly outing or whatever,” the Courier nodded.

Big Mac looked taken aback. No way the creature would just casually know that. He had to have met with them at some point. Not only that, but he couldn’t detect a lie coming off the human.

“I said I needed a job, and she said you needed help,” Six pointed out, breaking the awkward silence. “You need any?”

The stallion looked on in thought for a moment, before nodding.

“Eeeyup,” he offered.

“Then I’m ready to begin whenever you need me,” the human replied, rubbing his gloved hands together.

After a moment, Big Mac finally shrugged, and then nodded, as if accepting the Courier’s “application” on the spot.

Soon enough though, a cerise unicorn appeared over the hill behind the red stallion.

“Big Mac, are you alright!” she called down.

“Eeeyup!” he shouted, turning his head back towards her.

“Hello, uh…” paused the human, his tone an attempt at being friendly, “whatever your name is!”

Sugar Belle looked confused at the strange being speaking to her.

“I-I’m Sugar Belle!” she managed.

“Yes well,” Six nodded, “I am here to help your uh, boyfriend or whatever around the orchard!”

She looked really confused, before turning her gaze to Big Mac, who just shrugged, equally as confused.

“I think there’s a chart of how many more apples we need back in the house!” she offered.

“Excellent, that’ll help nicely,” the Courier said, nodding to both her and Big Mac.

“Eeeyup?” offered the stallion, giving a confused agreement.

“First though I guess I should learn from you, right?” Six said to Big Mac. “I’ve never really dealt with apple trees before.”

Mac looked at him for a moment, before shrugging once more, and motioning the human to follow him back to the orchard he was bucking.

It was a little later, but after making Sugar Belle had the apples she needed, Mac and the Courier were now out in the partly bucked fields.

The human stood back, watching Big Mac as he walked over to a tree and then turned, before bucking it. The stallion’s strong kick shook the apples from their stems, and they rained downwards perfectly into the ring of buckets surrounding the tree. Six watched on, impressed a good deal at the efficient farming method. Moments later, Big Mac pointed to the Courier.

“Oh, right,” he nodded, walking over to an un-bucked tree.

He looked at it with a pondering expression, walking around the tree’s trunk as he did. He scratched his neck in thought, as if he were calculating something. After a moment, he shrugged and then brought up his foot.

His muscles surged as he slammed his boot-covered heel right into the tree. He grunted, stumbling back after the blow. To his credit, the tree rattled a bit, however, only a small handful of apples rained down into the buckets.

He turned his head back towards Big Mac, who was watching him the entire time. After a second, he turned his gaze back towards the tree, and then kicked it once more.

It rattled again, and another handful of apples fell.

He huffed at that.

This time, he decided on a different strategy.

He pulled back a few feet, and then charged shoulder-first into the tree. Like a pro football player, he slammed his entire weight against it, rattling both his head and the trunk.

He stumbled back, shaking off the dizziness as he watched a larger abundance of apples fall. It wasn’t the entire tree, but it was more than his kicks had gotten him.

That wouldn’t do.

The tree was once again shoulder slammed.

More apples fell. Not all of them, though.

He slammed into it a third time.

Getting closer.

Fourth!

Only a few left.

He slammed into it one final time, rattling the tree and actually causing some of the bark to chip before he looked up.

The tree was empty!

His lungs were burning a bit, but that wasn’t an issue. Neither was the faint pain in his arm.

Big Mac looked on as the human turned back to face him.

“How’d I do?” Six asked.

Big Mac gave an unsure face, inhaling through his clenched teeth.

"Ffffiiiine?” the stallion finally exhaled awkwardly.

The Courier just sighed.

Sugar Belle watched the two work from atop a nearby hill. She was seated beneath the shade, and currently had a large, ice-filled pitcher of apple juice waiting for the two on a small wooden picnic table nearby.

For what it’s worth, the strange creature did help her husband as best he could. His bucking skills were… lacking, but he could easily lift buckets filled to the brim with apples and shockingly enough, haul loaded carts.

Instead of latching them around himself, the human would just grab both extended pieces of wood and tug them forwards with a bit of effort. His extra strength sped up the hauling process by a good deal, and she was thankful he lightened the workload whenever possible.

It was a bit later that the two finally stopped for a break. Some of the ice had melted by now, but that was alright. The sweet juice was still perfectly drinkable!

Big Mac helped himself to a large glass. The Courier for his part only had a small gulp’s worth.

She looked at him as he did, unable to see anything under his mask, as he turned away to drink. Before she could see anything, he readjusted it, and his face was covered again.

Sugar Belle almost cringed, imagining just how hot he was underneath his duster and layers of armor.

The Courier, for his part, felt a little chilled.

A particularly strong breeze caught his duster, making it billow about in the wind. The heat here was far more manageable than the Mojave.

Good.

“You ready to go, Big Mac?” he asked, adjusting his jacket as the wind died down.

The farm pony looked at him for a moment, before taking a deep swig, finishing off his drink.

“Eeeyup,” he said, sitting his empty glass back onto the wooden table.

“Goodness, you boys sure you don’t wanna wait a little longer?” Sugar Belle offered, looking longingly at Big Mac.

He looked longingly back at her, and the Courier almost swore he could see hearts in the stallion’s eyes.

The human felt like a third wheel, and after a moment of the couple staring at one another, he finally broke the silence.

“Uh, if you wanna take five, I can go shoulder check some more trees for you,” offered the Courier.

“Oh, are you sure?” she asked.

Big Mac looked at him with an equally unsure expression.

“I know I’m not good at bucking, but uh, humans, they got pretty far on their stamina alone,” he pointed out. “I can last, made of sterner stuff than most anyways.”

Big Mac examined him for a moment, before nodding, trusting the human’s words.

“Do be careful, Six!” Sugar Belle called.

“When am I not?” he offered back.

She couldn’t answer.

She hadn’t known him long enough to know better.

For his part, Courier Six continued his job. His “bucking” wasn’t as effective as Big Mac’s, but as the two ponies watched him, they could see he was slowly adapting. Every shoulder-strike brought a couple more apples.

He would examine each tree for a few moments, as if looking for weak spots, before hitting them full force. While it would likely never match the Apples’ bucking prowess, he was surprisingly effective.

“He’s a nice fellow, isn’t he dear?” Sugar Belle mused, wiping her husband’s brow as he took a swig of juice.

“Eeeyup,” agreed Big Mac with a smile. The smile was more for her, but the thought was still sort of there.

Both of them watched on as Six loaded up a cart and tugged it towards the barn for storage. Just a few more loads and they’ll have made quota.

Big Mac was just thankful for the break. He knew whenever he saw the Courier come back with a new, empty wagon, it’d be time for work again. As it was though, he enjoyed the peace and the beautiful day. But above that, he enjoyed the beautiful mare next to him.

He gently placed a hoof over her shoulder, and gently tugged her into a hug.

Sugar Belle just giggled softly, enjoying his embrace.

“That the last one?” asked Six, giving a huff as he and Big Mac loaded up one last barrel of apples.

“Eeeyup!” said Big Mac with a nod.

The trees around them were now bare. Where there had once been an abundance of fruit, now only empty branches and leaves remained. The sun had lowered a bit, turning day into evening, meaning Mac had finished his shift a few hours earlier than last night.

The farm pony smiled to himself at a job well done.

Six just stretched, feeling his muscles tense and his joints pop loudly.

“Damn,” he huffed, before popping his knuckles. “No wonder you can shake an apple tree with those legs, a workout like that every day… fucking hell.”

Big Mac chuckled as he hitched himself to the cart and began tugging.

The two trekked back towards the farmhouse, but on their way, they ran into a pair of familiar faces.

“Big Mac!” squeaked Apple Bloom, rushing up to give her brother a hug.

“Howdy, Six!” offered Applejack, tipping her hat to the human. “Sorry about bein’ late, ya’ll! The trek back took a bit longer than we thought. Ran into a pack of Fly-ders on the way and it costed us some time.”

“Oh don’t worry about it, it wasn’t your back at risk, after all,” he snarked.

“Fer what it’s worth, looks like ya’ll did a mighty good job!” complimented Applejack, looking over the haul.

“Yeah, Sugar said something about a big order or whatever,” nodded Six as he rubbed his neck.

“Why landsakes, just our luck,” huffed Applejack. “I’m mighty sorry. An’ ta you too, Big Mac.”

“Look it’s fine,” Six huffed, before continuing. “I’m not trying to be greedy, but do you mind if I have my bits?”

“Certainly! Jus’ give me a moment!” said Applejack with a smile, walking into the house.

Six looked around for a moment, before turning his sights on Apple Bloom.

“Hey, kid. How’s the kid?” he asked, rather redundantly.

“Wha- ya mean Scootaloo?” she asked.

“Yeah, she doing alright?” he asked back.

“Well, she missed ya a bit, but yeah, she’s okay,” Bloom said.

He nodded, going back to being silent.

Between him, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom silently standing and staring, it wasn’t awkward at all!

“Uh, I’m gonna head in, check on Granny Smith,” Apple Bloom said after a few more moments.

“Granny Smith?” the Courier asked, before suddenly the house’s door opened up.

He turned and there he saw an older mare.

Way, way older.

Her graying mane and tail were done up in buns, and her coat was a lime green.

The Apple Matriarch looked at him, her face turning to one of confusion for a moment, but she shrugged it off as she approached.

“Howdy there uh… whatever you are,” said Granny Smith as she approached. “Six, wuzzit?”

“Yeah?” he offered.

“Well, I heard from Sugar Belle and Applejack you did a whole helpin’ of good work t’day,” she explained.

“It was nothing, just the job, ma’am,” he nodded.

“Aw fiddlesticks, if it were jus’ about the job, ya wouldn’t’ve given Big Mac here a nice break,” she responded.

“Look, ma’am, no offense, but I was just hoping I could collect my bits, please,” he explained.

“Well that’s dandy since I’m here to give ‘em to ya,” she said with a wink, before offering him a small jingling sack of coins.

He took them and looked at her for a moment, before he opened the sack and began counting.

“Aw don’t get spooked youngin, us Apples don’t skimp nopony,” she assured. “Or er, creature in this case.”

“Yeah, I figured that. I’m just counting it up,” he explained.

“Oh, that’s sixty-four bits,” she answered.

“Seems like a good amount,” he nodded as he stopped counting.

“I would’ve given ya more, but bits are a bit tight at the moment,” she said. “I feel a bit bad, since yer such a mighty fine worker an’ all that. Once we get this next order in though, I’ll be glad ta pay ya any extra ya feel yer old.”

“It’s fine,” he assured, tying the sack and putting it into one of his satchels. “This will be enough.”

“Ya sure?” she offered.

“Really ma’am, it’s fine,” he said, holding out a hand. “Above the money, I just need to find somewhere to settle down for a little while.”

“Why shucks, ya can sleep anywhere in the orchard ya want!” offered the old mare with a smile, clearly having heard about his impromptu nap from Sugar Belle.

“No, no, it’s fine, ma’am” he assured, raising his palms. “Just need to figure some things out.”

“Well if you need any words of advice from an old mare like me, give me a holler!” said Granny with a smile, before she turned and made her way back into the house.

“Thanks, Mrs. Smith,” he offered back, briefly waving at her as she went.

Apple Bloom looked up at him, a bit confused at his lack of snark through the entire conversation.

Courier Six, without any swears or sass?

Unbelievable!

“Alright, time to get the fuck out of here,” he huffed to himself, adjusting his duster.

Ah, there it was.

Big Mac looked at him, a bit annoyed before he pointed one of his large hooves to his little sister.

“Sorry, sorry,” said the Courier, his tone almost like that of a used car salesman who’d been called out. “No disrespect, genuinely. It’s just been a long week.”

Applejack was soon approaching, and she spoke up, interrupting the conversation before it continued further.

“Well, ya sure you don’t wanna rest here? We’ve got a mighty warm couch for ya,” she offered, and he could feel the southern hospitality oozing from her voice.

“I’m fine. Sleep’s not the issue, I got enough this morning,” he explained with a tired tone.

“Uh huh,” Applejack said, raising a brow.

“What I really want is assurance the town isn’t gonna riot the second I show my face,” he said, pointing to his mask.

“Well, I might be able ta ask the mayor for a small favor,” Applejack pondered. “She can give ya a whole official introduction an’ everything.”

“I guess that works,” he nodded, trailing off in thought for a moment.

“Ya alright?” she asked.

“I’m fine but…” he thought again, before finishing, “do you know any good uninhabited stretches of forest?”

“Beg yer pardon?” Applejack questioned.

“I mean like, places no one lives,” he elaborated.

“Well er… there’s the Everfree, but ya don’t wanna go there,” she said.

“Why not?” he asked casually.

“It’s filled with all sorts o’ mean critters, an’ they all fight an’ hunt one another to survive,” she said, her tone taking on one of seriousness. “Why, even the clouds there move by themselves!”

He just stared.

“Are you joking?” he asked flatly.

“Wha- why would I be jokin’?” she huffed.

“That stuff’s all average for me,” he pointed out. “Like I dealt with that every day.”

“I’d hate ta see where ya came from then,” Applejack said.

“I think everyone would,” he shrugged, thinking one final time. “Before I go, you got a map I can buy?”

“I got a map you can have,” she offered back.

“I have the bits-”

“Aw shoot, I’m not gonna make ya pay for a darn piece o’ paper,” she huffed, before turning and walking into the house.

He noticed her accent came out more when she was frustrated.

By this point, the tired Bloom and Big Mac had also entered inside, and thus the Courier was alone when she came back out with the map between her teeth.

He grabbed it, looking it over to make sure it wasn’t wet from saliva.

“There ya are,” she said with a smile.

“Thanks,” he said, still reading over it, “when’s my next shift?”

“Oh, well ya don’t have ta help with me an’ Bloom here,” she assured.

“I’ve got nothing better to do,” he pointed out.

“Well, tomorrow will us takin’ time ta load up the orders, but maybe the next day ya can come on by again!” she assured.

He nodded, folding up the map carefully, and placing it into one of his pockets.

“Well, see ya around, I guess,” he said.

“Ya be careful now, Six,” she said. “I know we ain’t really talked much, but I don’t want ya gettin’ yourself in no trouble now, ya hear?”

“I hear a lot,” he said flatly.

“I’m serious!” she responded sternly.

“Look, I can manage, alright?” he offered.

She just rolled her eyes and nodded.

“Suppose I’ll be seeing you around then,” he said, before turning and walking off into the night.

Applejack watched him as he disappeared down the trail.

“Goodluck, ya ol’ wanderer,” she said.

A bit later, the farmpony turned and rejoined her family in the house, giving one last glance behind herself.

He was gone, like a ghost in the night.

A Day in Ponyville

Applejack’s eyes fluttered open, and she groaned for a moment before sitting up, tossing her sheets aside as she began to get ready. Outside her bedroom window she could see Twilight’s sun beginning to rise over the horizon, causing a chilly blue to cover the lands. The farmpony quickly put on her hat, freshened herself up, and trotted to Apple Bloom’s room.

“Apple Bloom,” she called, knocking on her sister’s door with a forehoof, “I’m makin’ a quick run to the market, ya want anything specific?”

“No thanks!” came back the tired sounding reply. No doubt she was still tuckered out from yesterday.

“Alright but I expect ya ta be up in the next five minutes! Ya got school!” Applejack said loudly. “I even got yer permission slip signed for ya on the kitchen table! Sugar Belle said somethin’ about ya’ll havin’ a field trip last night!”

“Alright!” yawned back her sister, muffled by the door.

Applejack shrugged and continued on down the stairs. She grabbed her saddlebags and a small list of items she’d made yesterday. Flour, sugar, some non-apple fruits, and the sorts.

Most of it was for Sugar Belle. The pony loved her baking, that was for sure.

With everything set, the orange pony left the house behind her and headed on down the trail towards Ponyville proper. However, she only made it a few dozen paces, before somepony came into view over a hill ahead of her.

She was a bubblegum pink coloration and was literally bouncing as she made her way towards the farmhouse. A large box leapt up and down on her back with each hop she made as she continued along the trail.

Applejack smiled at the familiar face.

“Well howdy, Pinkie!” called the mare, waving a hoof.

“Hey Applejack!” Pinkie called back, bouncing further towards the house, before she finally stopped. “It’s been a few days since I’ve seen ya! How are you?”

“Right as rain, Pinkie!” offered the farm pony with a smirk. “Whatcha got there?”

“Oh this?” Pinkie said, looking at the box on her back. “This is a cake I baked for Sugar Belle and Big Mac’s baby!”

“Uh… Pinkie, that baby ain’t even been born yet,” Applejack deadpanned.

“I know, but it's their six-month anniversary since they were conceived! That means they’re about halfway to their first birthday!” Pinkie explained. "And that's worthy of a cake!"

“Right…” Applejack nodded. “Well, I was about ta go to the market for a little bit. Ya wanna come with me?”

“Of course I do!” said the pink mare with her ever present smile. “Just let me drop off this cake and we’ll hit the road!”

“Sounds great ta me!” Applejack responded brightly.

After the party mare had left Sugar Belle’s cake in the fridge, (along with a birthday card for her baby-to-be) the two continued down the trail towards Ponyville.

“Gosh it feels so nice to see you again!” Pinkie said, her voice oozing with positivity.

“Likewise, Pinkie,” affirmed Applejack, “what’ve ya been gettin’ into these past few days?”

“Oh well, Mr. and Ms. Cake are gonna unveil a new lineup of Rainbow Frosted cupcakes to honor the Elements of Harmony and Twilight’s sixth month as ruler of Equestria,” she explained happily.

“Is six-month anniversaries a new trend now?” asked Applejack with confusion.

“Wellll, between you and me, I think they’re just milking it after that last batch sold so well,” said Pinkie slyly.

“Anything else?” Applejack asked.

“Hmmm,” Pinkie pondered for a moment. “Oh right! Cheese Sandwich said he’s considering settling down in Ponyville! I got his letter just last week!”

“Cheese? I thought he was the wanderin’ type,” Applejack pointed out.

“He was, but he’s decided that as much as he loves making ponies smile, he wants to raise a family some day!” she explained. “Isn’t that sweet?”

Applejack’s mind briefly flashed with the image of pint-sized Pinkies and Cheeses, bouncing off the walls and sending sugar and confetti spiraling about.

“Uh… yeah!” she affirmed with a nod after a moment to ponder the horrors in store for Ponyville.

“But enough about me, how about you?” Pinkie asked with a smile. “How was the trip?”

“Well, the trip was good n’ all. Had a bit of trouble at first, but other than that, everypony enjoyed themselves,” Applejack explained.

“Yeah, Rainbow Dash said something similar,” Pinkie said, before her voice took on an inquisitive tone. “She also said some super cool stallion rescued Scootaloo from falling into a river.”

"When did ya run into her?" Applejack asked, confused.

"Oh, I ran to her house this morning to say hello!" Pinkie said casually.

Applejack pushed aside the pony's speed-busting antics and focused on her annoyance towards Dashie.

“Why that big mouth,” huffed the farmpony, rolling her eyes. “Er, I mean, yeah… He did save her n’ all-”

“And then he left, disappearing into the forests like some super-secret action pony of mystery!” Pinkie concluded.

“I guess that’s one way ta put it,” shrugged Applejack.

“What’s his name?” asked Pinkie.

“Didn’t Rainbow tell ya?” asked the farmpony.

“She went all quiet after realizing she’d said too much!” Pinkie squeaked. “Which is how I know he’s gotta be some super-duper secretive spy! Or an adventurer like Daring Do!”

“Look, I’ll tell ya his name, but Pinkie he-… he’s not here right now,” said Applejack, technically telling the truth.

“Where is he?” squeaked the party pony, knowing her friend wouldn’t lie.

“Pinkie, he's not just a pony ya can jus' approach!” the farmer growled. "He'd also be extra annoyed if I went around tellin' other folks about him."

“Aw come on Applejack, even if he is a grumpy pants, he still deserves a ‘Welcome to Ponyville, Mr Grumpy Pants! Thanks for saving Scootaloo!’ Party!” said Pinkie, pulling off the mouthful of words with casual flawlessness.

“Alright how about this, I tell ya his name, but you have to Pinkie Promise me ya won’t go huntin’ for him,” Applejack said sternly. “He’ll turn up when he wants ta turn up, ya understand?”

“But Applejack-”

“He deserves his privacy, Pinkie,” she added, equally as stern, not going into detail on why he remained so private.

The two remained silent for a few moments as they trotted along.

“...You’re right,” Pinkie finally sighed, obviously disappointed. “If he wants his privacy, I shouldn’t go snooping for him, even if I wanna be his friend and even if he does deserve a super fun party.”

Applejack’s face softened.

“He’s gonna love to meet ya, Pinkie, I promise,” she responded simply. “He’s just goin’ about life in his own way right now.”

“I guess we all are,” laughed Pinkie, her tone lightening back up at her honest friend’s assurance.

“Alright you little motherfuckers, you’re about to be my dinner,” a gruff voice hissed.

The Courier currently stood over a rushing stream. A large, sharpened stick was gripped in his hands as he waited, completely still. He held his breath, watching the stream flow on and on all the while. Eventually, he spotted movement in the slightly murky waters, and thrusted his spear downwards.

“Fuck yeah!” he growled to himself as he impaled a bass, tugging it up and out of the water as the creature wiggled about.

He quickly tugged it in close, yanking it off the end of the spear before he held the creature upside down by the tail.

Six smirked at his catch as he examined it. A five pounder at least. Not often he got to enjoy fish, but today was going to be one of those days!

He pulled out a knife and quickly severed the animal’s head with one powerful slash. The human picked up the head and walked along, going into the trees and away from the stream.

Currently, Six was in what Applejack called the Everfree Forest.

Honestly, didn’t seem that bad.

Maybe it was his bulky frame scaring off potential predators, or maybe it was just good luck, but he hadn’t had any issues yet.

He was even able to light up a fire out here, as he soon returned to a clearing the center of which had a boiling pot of water in the middle of a firepit. He smirked as he looked inside it, poking at the potatoes and carrots with his knife.

The stew was almost done, just needed some meat. That’s where the fish came in, of course.

Cooking fish wasn’t exactly something he was used to, so he just diced the body on a sturdy stone and scraped most of it into the pot, letting it simmer along with his other foods. He buried the bass’ head in a small compost pit nearby and took a seat on a nearby stump.

Behind him, shoved inside the hollowed-out trunk of a dead tree was his reclaimed bags and gear. He still had them stashed in this new campsite, but he was just thankful now he seemed to have a permanent location for them.

As he watched his concoction boil, he took a bite of a leftover piece of raw bass and nodded to himself.

Not bad.

Better than Radroach.

Tasted a bit like Lakelurk, but that made sense.

Oh well, he’d critique the taste later.

For now, he just needed something in him after yet another all-nighter.

As he waited, he soon fiddled with the All-American, taking out the magazine and checking the rifle's chamber. It wasn’t a full field strip, just a quick look for debris after it had been sitting in a dirt cave overnight. Once he was satisfied, he sat the weapon aside.

He then did the same with one of his .45s too, taking it out of its holster and checking the slide and magazine. His actions were very similar to a certain Canaanite he’d met long ago. One who’d taught him everything he needed to know about this particular make of pistol.

Whenever he was finished, he nodded to himself and reinserted the mag. He made sure the safety was on before he placed it back into its rightful holster.

He scratched at his neck for a moment. He would’ve considered a full-on breakdown and cleaning for the weapons, but at the moment, he was preoccupied with his thoughts, and a lot of other things.

Six soon inserted the assault rifle into the hollowed-out stash with the rest of his gear, and then went back to check on his stew, which had seemingly gotten close to finishing by now.

Done enough, good enough to eat by now, anyways.

Wish he had salt.

As is, only the fish’s natural sodium helped flavor the rather plain meal.

Carrots were sweet at least.

Potatoes were a bit mushy.

Still ate it though, right out of the pot. Didn’t care it was close to boiling hot. Filled him up all the same.

He slurped down the remnants in the span of only a few minutes, and his stomach finally ceased rumbling and growling at him.

It’d be growling again by tonight, but the fucker would just have to accept it, as it had so many times before.

As it stood, he lit up a post-meal smoke, examining his diminishing cigarette stockpile as he did. That’d probably be the… third thing on his list to buy with the bits he had.

He put out the fire as he puffed down the cancer stick. After that he then began to trek his way through the woods, deciding suddenly he might as well explore about with his free time.

The mailman left the campsite behind him, ready to wander once more now that he finally had a worthwhile map in his possession.

Applejack placed a large sack of baking powder soda and flour into her saddlebags. She tipped the mare at the store’s register and soon exited, meeting back up with Pinkie as she trotted her way through the streets of Ponyville.

Given it was early in the morning, only a few dozen other ponies were out and about, either headed to work or school. The air was chilly, a faint breeze rushing through the town, courtesy of the weather team.

“Applejack, what’s Six's favorite type of cake?” asked Pinkie as she hopped alongside her fellow earth pony.

“Pinkie, I’m not really sur-”

“I know, I know! I’m not gonna press too hard. But you said you wanted to do a whole introduction to the town with Mayor Mare, right?” the pink party pony interrupted.

“Well yeah-”

“I’m gonna be doing confections for it anyways!” pointed out Pinkie with a bright smile.

“I guess, but would ya let me check with him first?” Applejack finally finished her sentence.

“Right, sorry!” Pinkie said with a small giggle. “If he doesn’t want any cake or a super big party, that’s a-okay with me! But he still deserves a little reward, saving Scoots and all!”

“If he were to take any type of reward for anythin’ I ain’t sure it’d be cake he’d want,” mused the farm pony.

“Why? Is he more into pie?” Pinkie asked. “Or maybe he likes pudding?”

Applejack just huffed, giving a good-natured smile as she did.

While the two continued on their way, Scootaloo zoomed by on her scooter. Pinkie gave the filly a passing wave, but Scoots wasn’t able to return it as she zoomed off towards school.

Her wings buzzed loudly all the while as she continued on, ramping off of a stray piece of wood conveniently balanced on some boxes nearby. Of course she wound up sending herself high into the air.

“Woohoo!” she called to herself, enjoying the serious airtime before she stuck the landing. The filly continued along. If she had a watch, she’d be looking at it in panic.

“Can’t be late,” she huffed to herself, leaning in as the trail led into the outskirts of the town, towards a variety of grassy hills and fields.

After a few more minutes, she crested a hilltop, and saw the school just a ways down the trail. She smirked to herself upon seeing this.

“Aw yeah, I got this in the ba-” Scootaloo began, before her scooter's wheel hit a particularly sturdy rock she didn’t see.

“-aaaAAAAGGGHHHH!!!” the filly managed, her scooter losing control as she nearly rammed into the white picket fence leading up to the schoolhouse.

As it stood, she banked hard to the left, away from the wooden obstacle. She groaned though, as this fully threw off her balance, and she slammed down, rolling along. Plenty of “ouch’s!” “oof’s!” and “ow’s!” rang out as she tumbled, finally coming to a stop just outside the school premises.

Cheerilee was standing outside, motioning for her soon-to-be tardy students to enter, when she watched the whole ordeal. Of course, the pinkish-purple mare rushed over immediately, her face one of worry.

“Oh my goodness, are you alright, Scootaloo?” she asked.

Scoots just sat there in the dirt, looking up at her teacher with a sheepish grin.

“Hehe, nailed it,” she said shyly before patting the side of her helmet with one of her forehooves. The sturdy plastic no doubt saved her from a rougher injury.

Cheerilee sighed at her student’s antics.

“Come on dear, let’s get you inside and cleaned up,” she offered compassionately.

As the older mare led her student inside, Dinky watched from the sidelines.

The unicorn frowned at seeing her fellow classmate get into such a crash.

While she wasn’t exactly close with any of the CMC, she was still a blank flank, and their attempts at helping her get her Cutie Mark didn’t go unappreciated. She followed behind, entering inside the packed classroom.

“Scootaloo, what happened!” Apple Bloom called, rushing over to her hurt friend. Sweetie Belle soon joined in.

“Now girls, give her a bit of space,” huffed Cherrilee sternly, grabbing a medkit from out of a nearby cabinet. “She had an accident on her scooter, nothing that bad, thankfully.”

“Yeah, I’ll say!” Sweetie said with a bit of relief. “I’d hate for you to miss the trip to the dam.”

Dinky herself listened in, thankful, but not saying anything. She almost felt like she existed in the background at times like these.

“I’m fine, girls,” Scootaloo said with a smirk. “I’m tough like Six!”

“Who’s Six?” Cheerilee asked with curiosity, leaning down to rub a bit of alcohol on the small bruises the filly received.

“Oh uh… he’s a comic book hero!” said the orange pegasus, trying to cover for herself.

Sweetie and Bloom nodded along.

Some of the other kids laughed.

Dinky cocked an eyebrow.

Six?

...

Her brain flashed back to last night.

‘Oh Dinky!’ she heard her mother’s voice say, ‘I wish you could’ve met Six! He was the nicest monster I’ve ever seen!’

At first, she figured her mother had seen some type of strange dragon. Perhaps a minotaur, even. But now…

She sidled up to the Crusaders, waiting until after Cheerilee finished cleaning off Scootaloo. Their teacher backed away, putting the med-kit back up as the little unicorn spoke.

“You’ve seen him too?” she asked, her tone uncertain.

“Seen who!?!” squeaked Sweetie Belle in shock, before the other two Crusaders shushed her.

“Six,” huffed Dinky, as if it was obvious.

“I- We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sweetie continued, looking away.

Dinky just deadpanned; her fellow unicorn’s lie obvious.

The CMC looked between each other with uncertainty, before Scootaloo stepped forwards.

“What do you know about Six?” she asked.

“Sit at the back of the class with me, I’ll explain everything,” Dinky said, her tone hushed.

The Crusaders nodded; their expressions serious.

Six stomped over a small creek, taking a deep swig from a Sunset Sarsaparilla before he shoved the empty bottle back under his duster. As he walked, his equipment rattled a bit.

While the All-American and Knock-Knock were left behind back at the camp, he did carry some extra gear he’d taken from his duffle bags. He traced his hands under his jacket and smirked to himself as he felt something particularly devious resting pressed up against his spine.

He’d like to see any woody fucks take him now.

Not that they could before, of course!

He continued on, letting go of the weapon. As he trudged along, something hefty rattled against his right leg. It was hitched to his belt and obscured just under his duster. The added weight wasn’t an issue though, and he continued on throughout the forest without issue.

He’d reached closer to Ponyville by now, and as he could see the forest breaking up into clearings ahead, he pulled out his map, looking it over intently.

…

“They have a fucking dam here too?” growled the Courier in surprise, huffing as he noticed Ponyville Dam emblazoned on the map.

Different alien planet and still the same damned thing!

“I swear to God, if I see a ‘Coltifornia’ I am going to kick someone’s teeth in,” he cursed to himself as he began to head towards the dam in question, pinpointing it from his current location after a few minutes of examining the map.

A part of himself didn’t feel like going.

A different part of him wanted to sleep.

Another part wanted to just sit down and eat some Cram.

The loudest part told the other voices to shut the fuck up.

They did, and he continued on, curiosity outweighing his annoyance.

Scootaloo listened intently to Dinky. It was perhaps one of the few times she’d majorly paid attention to the filly’s existence. Scoots was practically hooked to the unicorn as she explained her mother’s strange night with a human.

“At first, I thought she was joking or had mis-seen something since her eyes aren’t the best... but the name, Six, that’s just too much to be a coincidence,” explained the little unicorn in thought.

“His real name isn’t Courier Six,” Scootaloo pondered to herself, her tone quiet, as ideas for what his true name could've been surged through her head.

Cheerilee droned on about the field trip at the front of the class, but neither the CMC nor Dinky were listening to what had once been an exciting prospect.

“Yeah, mom wondered what it was too,” offered Dinky. “She said she last saw him at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Yeah, he was there last night for the job,” Apple Bloom explained.

“Six was with you and you didn’t say anything?” Scootaloo squeaked.

“Scootaloo, we’ve not seen each other since last night,” reminded the farm filly.

“R-right,” the orange filly acknowledged. “I’m sorry, I’m just so excited he’s here!”

“Hey uh… think he’ll spend time with my mom again?” Dinky asked. “She seemed to really like her time with him, and since she doesn’t have many other friends, I figured-”

“Miss Hooves!” exclaimed Cheerilee, getting the attention of the fillies, who just now realized a large portion of the foals had gathered at the front of the classroom.

“I am going to need your permission slip for the field trip!” Cheerilee explained.

“Oh right, that’s today,” Dinky said with a huff. “Of course, on the day I get a vacation, mom finds a monster.”

“Don’t worry, Dinky,” offered Apple Bloom, “I’m sure Six would love ta see yer mom again.”

Dinky nodded with a smile to the Crusaders, and then moved her way up to the front of the class, giving Cheerilee her ticket.

“Girls, you think I can skip it by pretending I didn’t get a slip?” Scootaloo asked.

“Do ya even actually have one?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Well, yeah, my aunts kept up with my schoolwork and everything,” Scootaloo admitted.

“Honestly that’d be kinda slappin’ them in the face if ya didn’t go,” the farm filly shrugged.

“But it’s Siiix,” whined Scootaloo.

“Hey, I’m jus’ here because it’s better than cartin’ off a whole load of apples,” Apple Bloom shrugged. “My brain’s all fizzled from the trip. An easy walk through the dam fer a few hours isn’t a bad rest up.”

“And we can get ice cream at the concession stand there!” Sweetie said with a smile. “My parents said so, anyways!”

"I hope they’re right! A cold helpin’ of chocolate is what this filly needs!” Apple Bloom giggled.

Scootaloo sighed, drawing her fellow Crusaders’ gaze to the orange filly.

“Look Scoots, it’s up ta you,” Apple Bloom pointed out, “I understand if ya wanna skip, but I don’t think you’ll get far if you go out on a wild goose chase fer Six.”

“You’re right,” Scootaloo huffed. “I wouldn’t mind spending a bit more time with you girls."

“Me neither,” chuckled Apple Bloom.

“Thank Celestia, it's the weekend tomorrow,” Sweetie added.

Her fellow Crusaders nodded and muttered words of agreement amongst themselves.

From there, the rest of the class was called up to the front, handing in their slips and tickets.

“Alright, now the school carriages should be by soon enough,” explained Cheerilee, ushering the students outside in an orderly fashion.

The foals who didn’t have any slips were let out for the day, and Scootaloo looked on, a faint hint of jealousy on her face as they frolicked away from the schoolhouse. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon being some of the notable ones among them.

“Remember, iiicccee creeaaam,” encouraged Sweetie.

Scoots actually giggled, cheered back up.

The CMC laughed among themselves as Dinky watched them from the sidelines. She was gonna make extra sure to keep an eye on the trio for the trip.

Soon enough, the carriages arrived, painted a bright yellow and pulled by burly looking stallions and mares, the fillies were packed in. Dinky made sure to squeeze into the one the Crusaders entered, sitting beside them as they talked amongst themselves. The filly allowed herself to blend into the background, not saying much, and merely listening in for the time being.

Operation Background Filly was a go!

The ride there wasn’t very noteworthy. The CMC just discussed minute things along with their weekend plans, laughing here and there.

Apple Bloom was happy she didn’t have to break her back dealing with apples.

Sweetie was still excited for ice cream.

Even Scootaloo was getting cheery as they continued on down the trail.

Eventually their school carriage began climbing uphill and winding this way and that as it continued along. Dinky could see the dam in the distance. Truthfully, as big as it was, it wasn’t that impressive of a sight, compared to something like Hoofer Dam anyways.

Despite that, ever since the Mysterious Mare Do Well incident, it had an uptick in tourism. Which is probably why they were here in the first place.

The school carriages stopped on an overlook a few feet away from the dam proper, and the ponies began hopping out.

Recently there’d been a bit more construction that had taken place here, adding in a few safety guard rails and a small confection stand, along with several small wooden tables out front. Dinky saw the menu from her carriage and noticed they served ice cream.

Guess Sweetie was right in that regard!

Everypony was ushered out and formed into a small group, with Cheerilee standing in front of them, eyeing up to make sure she counted all her students correctly. She then began the teacher spiel soon after she’d finished.

“Now don’t any of you go wandering out of sight, understand?” she questioned sternly.

A wave of “Yes Ms. Cheerilee” followed, being said by most of the class.

“Good,” said the older mare, giving a smile.

Dinky just scanned around, only finding a few dozen other ponies that were there that weren’t part of the field trip, not including the carriage pullers, at least. The little unicorn tried to see if she could recognize any of the ponies amidst the small crowd.

Hmm, Golden Harvest was here.

Lyra and Bon Bon were sitting off to the side, enjoying a milkshake together. The romantic kind with two straws in it.

Other than that, Dinky didn’t see any faces she truly recognized, and thus went back to just blending in with the crowd of fillies as Cheerilee moved them along.

“Now, can any of you tell me why Ponyville Dam is so important?” she asked the group.

Keeps the town from flooding and provides non-magical power.

“Not only does it keep the town from flooding, it also is one of the few non-magical power sources to the town!” explained the teacher after a few moments.

Yep, just another boring old field trip.

Courier Six stomped through a low bush, letting it shatter into useless twigs beneath his heels as he moved ahead.

The Everfree was far behind him, and at this point he moved beyond the forested edges of Ponyville. He only saw a small handful of wandering ponies as he went.

Some were having picnics. Others were hiking. Some were just relaxing under trees and on stumps.

It was a weird sensation.

This… “normalcy” wasn’t exactly one he was used to.

It was as if he was watching some strange show, peering into another universe without the acknowledgement of the individuals. He could follow them, trace their every move, and they likely wouldn’t notice.

Weird thoughts.

They were shoved to the back of his mind as he continued on.

As he ducked back fully into the trees, he noticed the terrain was getting steeper and far more rugged. An annoyance, to be sure, but he could manage.

Sometimes he’d have to use his hands to drag himself up small, rocky inclines, but overall, it wasn’t any worse than dealing with the cliffs of the Mojave. Pieces of him even missed those a bit, too.

Whenever he tugged himself up, he stayed low down, on his hands and knees. He crawled along, peering out through the thickets and bramble. Could see a trail winding along below.

Trail to the dam, probably.

He continued to hang back, shoving his way through and around bushes and smaller trees as he got to a safe roosting point. It wasn’t a proper clearing, that’d be too risky. Instead, he laid flat on his stomach and peered down with a pair of binoculars retrieved from beneath his duster.

With them he was able to see the Ponyville Dam in all its glory.

Hoover was more impressive. This one didn’t even have any howitzers!

Had ice cream and cakes, though. Confection stand said that, at least. Filled up on fish and carrots and potatoes, sadly.

He watched as a class of foals moved along the dam at a slow, steady pace.

Wait…

Was that the kid?

He leaned, as if that would somehow help his vision with the binoculars he already had.

Yep, that was Scootaloo.

Bunch of other kids too.

Right, schools. Those existed.

He tried reading their lips as they spoke.

Didn’t really work out, he only caught a small bit of the conversation.

Down below and out of the Courier's sight, Dinky sipped on a small chocolate shake. She’d brought a few bits with her, so she was able to grab a little something extra from the confection stand.

She was seated at a table next to Lyra and Bon Bon, and as she looked into her drink, she magically gripped the straw and stirred the thick mixture. All the while she could hear the married couple going on about romantic trips and gifts and blah, blah, blah.

Boring adult stuff.

Dinky sighed, leaning her head down to rest on the table with a sigh.

After precisely twenty minutes of Operation Background Filly once she'd gotten off the carriage, she'd given up, having the feeling the CMC weren't going to let anything else slip. Since their minds were on the weekend, the unicorn might as well take a break and have something nice and cool.

A part of her just wanted to have a muffin.

Another part wanted a proper vacation.

Currently though, she just watched the CMC walk along the dam from her table vantage point, sipping on her chilled shake occasionally.

“And these safety rails were installed after the tourism boom the Mysterious Mare Do Well’s visit offered!” Cheerilee explained, pointing to the newly added guard rails on either side of the dam.

The CMC stood at the back of the group, only half paying attention to the tour.

“Wooow so cool,” offered a sarcastic Scootaloo with a good-natured smirk, to which Apple Bloom and Sweetie giggled.

“It might not be the most excitin’ place ta be, but I’m glad I’m with you girls,” stated the farm filly after she’d stopped chuckling.

“I’ll admit, it is nice just taking time to breathe,” Scootaloo nodded, looking down at Ponyville, getting a nice view from the dam. Felt almost like she was soaring through the sky in a way, with the breeze hitting her mane.

“You all wanna go grab some ice cream?” Sweetie offered, getting the pegasus' attention before magically raising a small cloth sack of bits. “My treat!”

“I’ll spot ya back later,” Scootaloo giggled, before the CMC broke off from the group of ponies.

Cheerilee for her part, just continued occasionally glancing back at the students. Some looked enamored and others looked bored. She didn't notice their or Dinky;s abscence by this point.

High above, Six watched Scootaloo break away from the class with his binoculars.

Only then did he realize he was peeping at a group of children without their notice.

“Not creepy at all,” he just sighed to himself, sitting down the binocs for a moment.

After a few seconds of giving his eyes a rest, he suddenly heard something rumbling from the trees behind him. His eyes widened, and he reached for a .45 pistol as he turned onto his back, checking to see what was fast approaching.

The human’s shock grew as a massive creature slammed through the foliage and leapt right over him. As it glided by, everything seemed to slow, and the Courier noticed just how much it looked like a Yao Guai.

He also noticed how different it looked from a Yao Guai.

Same bearish structures, but the fucker had its fur still. More importantly, it had four massive, powerful looking arms and, it faintly looked insectoid, giant stinger, big ass pair of wings.

Looked like something the Big MT cooked up.

Time seemed to go back to normal as it flew by him, down the cliff. He sighed in relief, letting his hands fall limply by his side as he laid in the dirt…

Then he heard a loud crashing sound from down below.

And then the screams started.

Dinky nearly fell out of her seat as she looked over in shock.

One of the carriages was crushed into useless hunks of wood, and immediately the ponies began to scatter away from the massive beast that caused it. A Bugbear emerged from the wreckage, causing the little unicorn to drop her magically held shake in sheer shock!

Bon Bon jumped into action nearby, yanking Lyra down and shoving the table over so it would act as makeshift cover.

The filly didn’t exactly notice though, as she was frozen in fear at the huge beast, which was currently roaring as a crowd of screaming ponies obviously bolted away from it. Screams of panic filled the air as they ran this way and that, collapsing into a fray of fleeing forms like a pack of scurrying bugs revealed from underneath a rock.

The monster growled, rushing towards a nearby fleeing stallion and swatting him away, sending him tumbling in a cloud of dust when he landed. The creature slowly made its way over to his dazed frame, its jaws opening wide.

Suddenly, a golden blast of magic hit the beast on the back, making it pause in annoyance.

Dinky turned to see a certain aquamarine unicorn glaring down the monster.

“Lyra, that isn’t going to work!” Bon Bon shouted from behind the nearby table.

“I’m not just going to let it eat everypony, Bon Bon!” growled back Lyra, her horn glowing with magical energy.

The couple’s quarrel was interrupted by the beast roaring and rushing the unicorn down. Bon Bon acted quickly, grabbing the table and rushing forwards. As the monster was about to snap its jaws down onto Mrs. Heartstrings, Bon Bon shoved the wooden table into the creature’s maw, leading it to bite down uselessly on the wood stuck in its mouth.

The secret agent then grabbed her wife and hoisted her up onto her back, rushing over to find more cover as the beast clawed at the furniture stuck in its mouth.

“Hey!” Lyra shouted.

“Planning first, fighting later!” shouted back her wife.

Dinky for her part watched the entire display wide-eyed, shocked that Bon Bon could move like that. Her attention was turned back towards the pissed off monster when it growled and bit down even harder, shattering the table with its powerful jaws.

Oh crap!

Dinky picked a direction and just bolted, rushing past the Bug Bear. If she could reach the trail, she could get back to Ponyville proper and get some help! Maybe the Wonderbolts or the guards could take this beast!

As she ran by, the Bugbear noticed, and looked over to see a large wooden piece of debris from the carriage just a few feet away. It growled as it readied itself on two legs, before grabbing and hucking the section of the cart at the fleeing filly.

The large segment slammed down just behind the small unicorn. She shakily moved forwards, before soon tripping from the near impact, falling flat onto her face before she rolled over, trying to get a good look at the beast’s next move!

It was then she spotted another large chunk of the cart flying right at her!

Dinky screamed, her eyes forcing themselves shut as she huddled herself into a ball, trying to find some form of protection from the incoming projectile!

CRACK!

…

Nothing.

No searing pain, nor sensation of impact.

The only thing she noticed was that her vision had gotten a bit darker, as if a shadow had fallen over her.

Her muzzle soon twitched as she felt small pieces of dust and what felt like wood chips fall onto it.

Dinky snorted, slowly opening her eyes after she finally realized she wasn’t dead. She noticed a large, burly looking trunk of muscle in front of her.

It wasn’t a stallion’s, or a pony’s at all for that matter.

It was covered in fabric and ended in a rugged, dirt caked boot.

Her gaze slowly shifted up, seeing what looked like a strange jacket, with several stars and stripes adorning the back of it in a configuration she’d never seen before.

As she examined the figure further, she could see its right arm held outstretched in front of it, as if it had just punched something. A huge, sturdy looking metal gauntlet adorned its hand.

After a moment, the head of the bipedal figure turned towards her, and she cringed back as a pair of red eyes looked into hers.

“Get the fuck out of here,” it growled.

She shrunk back in shock and awe.

“NOW!” it bellowed.

Dinky complied, jumping up to her feet and scurrying away to safety behind some foliage nearby.

She wanted to leave, to run back to her home and crawl into her bed and sleep all this off like a bad dream. Something forced her to stay though, as she hid herself in the bushes and turned back around, watching the lone figure standing against the Bugbear.

Maybe it was to make sure he would be safe too. Maybe it was just morbid curiosity at what would come next.

Regardless, her bipedal savior straightened out his back and puffed out his chest, making himself look big as he glared down the beast.

She saw his left hand reach under his duster in a lightning-fast manner, before he pulled out a strange looking object. As she examined it further, she realized it was a series of vials, held together with leather and tipped with a needle.

Dinky watched the creature inject the vials into his own neck, before it tossed it aside and pulled out an L-shaped, metal object so quick it almost made the unicorn’s head spin.

Even with the quick-draw display, the Bugbear didn’t back down; instead, it just roared at the new creature, and then charged.

Dinky’s ears flattened against her head as miniature explosions rang out.

It wasn’t the sound of thunder.

But it was damn sure close.

Author's Note

This one took a bit out of me! After the next chapter, expect a break from the daily uploads, just for a bit!

Hope you all enjoy this!

The First Battle of Ponyville Dam

The Courier’s grip stayed steady as he fired. Despite it being his non-dominant left hand, he was able to land all of his shots.

Of course, the .45 rounds did jackshit to the big fucker. Unloaded the entire mag into the bear and he only got a few small bullet wounds. Bastard didn’t even notice as he charged at the human.

Six reacted shockingly quick and jumped to the Bugbear’s right, avoiding its charge. The big beast growled in annoyance as it inadvertently skid along the ground a few extra feet, kicking up dust clouds.

This gave the human an opening. Within a second, the Courier re-holstered his pistol, realizing that even the God-given round wouldn’t be enough to fell this bear unlike the one’s back in Zion. He grunted to himself, pulling out a different, more fitting weapon.

The wooden grip of a double barreled sawed off filled his hand. He no-sold the recoil from sheer strength alone as he let loose a slug right into the Bugbear’s chest when it turned.

It stumbled back a step, growling in anger as the solid steel ball penetrated its flesh. Its human opponent just huffed in annoyance at the fact it wasn't dead yet.

“Of course,” growled the Courier, not using his second slug just yet.

His Power Fist made it impossible to reload at the moment, so he would just tough it out for the time being.

The bear-like beast leapt into the air and dive-bombed at him, stinger first. For such a big bastard, it had surprising agility, and the Courier jumped back a few feet, barely getting out of the way in time, only for it to slam into the ground in front of him.

Its impact kicked up a cloud of dirt, and the beast’s massive, clawed paw swatted at Six from the smoke.

He was just too slow to avoid that one, and it slashed across his chest, ripping through his duster. Sparks flew as the claws raked into the riot armor underneath and he stumbled back with a grunt.

“Fucker!” he hissed, putting his shotgun’s second slug into the beast’s upper shoulder.

The Bugbear roared, but ignored the pain otherwise and lunged forwards into him, its mouth wide open.

Six’s eyes widened as its muzzle slammed into his chest at an awkward angle. He tried to move back, but the beast lurched forwards even more, and he found himself in an awkward position as he jumped upwards to avoid being knocked down.

He grabbed onto the monster’s neck with his left arm, still gripping the shotgun all the while. With a grunt of effort he began slamming his Power Fist into the side of the monster’s head.

It roared in pain at the first hit, but he decked it again, and then a third time, trying to cave the big bastard’s skull in with each blow. Sadly though, he didn't have a good angle to punch at, and thus only left a few cuts and deep gashes on the monster’s cheek.

The Bugbear had enough and stood up to its full height, flinging the Courier off of its head and back towards the confection building. Six flew upwards at first and then began spiraling downwards in a perfect arc. He flailed about as he attempted to right himself, but had nothing to grab onto!

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he shouted, before slamming back-first onto one of the untouched wooden tables, shattering it into splinters.

The wind was knocked out of him, but he wasn’t even close to done as he forced himself up. As he did though, the Bugbear leapt into the air and dive bombed him again!

His eyes widened and he rolled out of the way to the left as the beast slammed its four front paws downwards in an attempt to crush him. To counter the massive beast’s attack, he rolled into an upright position on one knee, and then brought back his fist, before surging forwards.

The Bugbear howled in hate as he slammed his Power Fist right into its lower left wrist.

Six found the crunch of the impact quite satisfying in a morbid way and drew back for another punch.

However, he was swatted away with a backhand slap from the beast’s other left arm, sending him flying back several feet once more. He grunted, landing on his shoulder blades and skidding back, kicking up some dust and dirt as he went.

He hopped up quickly, getting back fully to his feet as the Bugbear stood up to full height as well, examining its now crooked, and no doubt broken forearm. Saliva leaked out of its opened mouth as it growled at him.

The only response it got was him quickly putting his Power Fist under his left arm and yanking his hand out. The Courier broke open the shotgun and quickly loaded another two slugs into it, letting the spent shells fall to the floor.

Normally he would’ve recollected his used ammo, recycling and all. But he was sure whoever invented recycling hadn’t dealt with a twelve-foot bee-bear-thing.

Regardless, the shotgun was flicked shut and his right hand was returned into the Power Fist. Locked, loaded, and rearmed, he stood there, tense and ready for the beast, as it glared down at him.

Throughout all of this, Lyra her head out from behind the concession stand to watch the brawl, shock adorning her face.

“Bon Bon…” she managed, her voice almost like that of a whisper from her shock, “l-look…”

“Lyra, I’m busy getting prepared to evacuate any civilians!” shouted back her wife, who now inexplicably had acquired a large, metal briefcase.

“I’m serious…” Lyra managed.

“I am too!” Bon Bon replied as strapped a grappling hook around her chest, a watch now adorning her right forehoof. “Didn’t you see all those foals? They could get hurt in the fight, or worse!”

Lyra just used her magic to force Bon Bon out from behind the small ice cream stand.

The special agent was just about to chew her wife out, whenever she saw what had Lyra so shocked. A large, bipedal creature unloaded a handheld cannon at the Bugbear, leaving two new wounds in the beast as it charged him down.

“Is that a…” managed Bon Bon, her expression confused. "I thought they were a myth..."

“I think it is, they're real...” concluded Lyra.

After a moment of shock, the special agent shook off her surprise.

“T-this doesn’t change the plan!” shouted back Bon Bon.

“B-but-”

“No buts! We have lives to save!” the stern mare said.

“What about the-”

“He’s our golden distraction!” shouted Bon Bon, interrupting her wife a second time. “Now focus! I’m gonna need your teleportation!”

Lyra only managed a meek nod.

Courier Six focused on the Bugbear’s weakened left side. With one paw mostly out of commission, it only swiped at him with its good one as he weaved around behind the creature.

Before it could fully turn, he slammed his Power Fist into the bastard’s lower lumbar, hoping to sever the spine. Unfortunately, he only left a deep gash and not much else as the beast roared, turning and swatting at him in one fluid semicircular motion.

The Courier dropped down low to one knee, avoiding the slash and allowing him to slam his fist right into the beast’s stomach. It gagged, faint traces of bile splattering into its own mouth as its lower forearms grabbed at its pained stomach out of instinct.

Like a boxer, Six just followed this up by giving it a one-two combo, sending a quick pair of right-hooks into the parts of its stomach its claws weren’t covering. This opened up more gashes and made the monster stumble back as it nearly vomited.

Six for his part took this time to quickly reload his shotgun, taking his Power Fist off to do so as he stepped back as well, gaining some more distance.

The Bugbear soon recovered, getting on all six and rushing him down as he snapped the double barrel closed and re-equipped his Power Fist.

He aimed his double barrel low, steadying it against his right forearm as he pulled the trigger. The shotgun's left muzzle flashed, and the slug grazed the side of the beast’s head, leaving a long scrape. It did little else though, and before Six could manage a second shot, it slammed into him, hard.

He was sent sprawling onto his back again, but this time the monster forced him down with its two upper arms, slashing and jabbing at him before he could roll away.

He growled and hissed as it left scrapes along the armor on his chest. Even on the ground he was kicking his legs out the entire time, forcing himself back as best he could. It was relentless though, moving forwards and slashing and biting at him as it did.

Six managed to angle his shotgun and fired off the second slug, hitting the monster’s collar area and embedding the slug deep into the beast’s flesh.

It howled out in pain from its new wound but continued its beastly assault by swatting at his left hand, knocking the sawed off from his grasp. Not only this, but the monster’s long claws raked across his palm as well, slicing through his glove and drawing blood. Had he not had his Pip-Boy for protection, it likely would’ve torn apart his wrist as well.

“Fuck!” he hissed, even though most of the pain was dulled by the Slasher he popped earlier, it still hurt like a bitch!

Six then began kneeing the Bugbear in the throat as it went in for a bite, trying to collapse the esophagus. It lurched back a bit from the blows, and he crawled backwards, staring down the beast as he did.

The monster leaned in, growling in his face as its mouth opened wide, aiming right for his head!

Six’s reaction speed almost seemed to double at that, and his bloodied hand grabbed a large amount of dirt. He responded to the monster’s roar by throwing the debris right in the beast’s face, aiming directly for its eyes!

It roared and stumbled back in shock and irritation as Six finally got the breathing room to crawl back further and jump up to his feet. His stance was lower to the ground now, matching the Bugbear’s own.

His hand continued pouring out blood as he grabbed a bowie knife from its sheath, holding it in a reverse grip. Six made sure to hold on extra tight, as the blood made his palm slicker than normal.

The Bugbear huffed deeply, its breaths more labored. It almost had the air of an animal that was going to retreat. Still though, it roared in fury at the human, and rushed him down once again.

He swung out his bowie knife, catching it across the snout, creating a fresh, bleeding wound that made the animal back up. It roared once more, finally rearing back up onto its hind legs again.

As the Courier was handling the beast, Special Agent Sweetie Drops and Lyra were both dealing with the civilian evacuation

Most of the ponies had bolted down the winding trail by this point, thank Celestia, but a straggler or two remained.

The two stayed out of the line of sight of the two battling monsters as they snuck around to find any more civilians. It was an easy feat with Lyra’s teleportation, thankfully.

Soon enough, they checked one of the few structures around the dam that wasn’t a cheap tourist shop or a food kiosk. That being the bathrooms.

When the doors were shoved open, both of the adults heard a trio of terrified screams, which were immediately shushed.

“Quiet!” whispered Bon Bon.

“Hey, these three look familiar,” mused Lyra as she looked down at the three spooked fillies.

“Oh uh, we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders, ma’am” squeaked Apple Bloom.

“Ah, Dinky hangs out with them every now and then,” nodded Lyra.

“Ye-yeah…” Scootaloo managed. “Are you here to rescue us from that big scary monster?”

“Yes we are, little lady,” said Bon Bon, before nodding to Lyra.

The aquamarine unicorn used her magic to hoist the trio up and onto the stronger earth pony’s back.

“Alright, is there anyone else around here?” asked Bon Bon.

“We don’t know,” admitted Sweetie Belle. “We just ran for the only hiding spot we could when that thing showed up.”

The thing in question soon roared as more shotgun blasts rang out, making the ponies’ ears ring.

Scootaloo felt a sense of familiarity at the loud bangs but couldn’t quite recall where she’d heard them in her current, terrified state.

“Alright, Lyra, you know what to do,” nodded Bon Bon.

Lyra nodded back, and charged up her magic for a moment, before enveloping them all in a teleportation spell.

The ponies appeared down the trail, a good ways away from the dam.

“You fillies head on to safety now!” Bon Bon said as she bent down, letting the CMC jump down from her back.

“What about you guys?” Scoots asked.

“We’re gonna go catch ourselves a monster!” said Lyra, attempting a gruff and cool voice, to assure the trio.

“Alright, Starlight might be here soon, she’ll be able to help y'all!” offered Apple Bloom.

“And maybe our sisters too!” Sweetie offered.

The adults nodded and rushed the fillies along, making sure they got to a safe distance before they galloped back to rejoin the fray.

“Think ya can take me, asshole!” growled the Courier, burying his bowie knife in the monster’s back.

He had managed to leap on top of it and was currently hacking and punching away at the Bugbear’s defenseless spine. Still, the beast managed to endure the blows and the stabs, just growling in annoyance. Soon enough it hovered a few feet into the air before it leaned back, stopping its wings from flapping and allowing gravity to take over.

Six’s eyes widened as he realized what the monster was doing, and before long, he was crushed between the hard concrete of the dam and the several hundred pound bear monster!

He grunted in pain, shouting out as his cybernetic spine and riot armor thankfully absorbed most of the blow.

Still, he was a bit dazed, and didn’t hang onto the monster as it got back up and turned towards him. He rolled away as the beast tried to stomp on him, and continued rolling as it plodded forwards, slamming its feet into the ground each time.

As he rolled, he didn’t notice the two mares approaching from behind the monster. Only whenever the beast stopped its advance did he stop his rolling, looking up.

The Bugbear growled, looking down to see a grappling hook embedded into one of its legs, with the hook itself penetrating the monster’s skin. Its eyes widened as the combined weight of Bon Bon’s earth pony strength and Lyra’s magic forced its leg out from under it.

“Thanks for the assist!” Six growled to the two, his voice coarse as the desert he hailed from.

They looked at him in surprise, before nodding as their faces took on a determined expression.

“Hold this big bastard off for a minute!” he shouted, looking back towards where he’d lost his shotgun.

He then looked back at the Bugbear, which was rising back up. Six acted fast, giving the fucker a hard sucker punch to the snout, making it force its eyes shut in pain. With that, the human rushed back over to retrieve his dropped firearm.

With the bastard distracted from the blow and the ponies, he reloaded a pair of slugs into the shotty and then fired off both of them immediately, pelting the beast.

Suddenly though, its wings began flapping, and it jumped up, flying into the air and almost taking both ponies along with it!

Lyra and Bon Bon strained as they tried tugging it downwards, and Six himself even tried to gauge the percentage of hitting one of its wings from here.

Damn, not looking good.

Fucking VATS.

Regardless, he fired on, missing one slug but landing another, albeit ineffectively.

He reloaded once more, and that’s all he had time to do before finally the rope of the grappling hook snapped, letting the monster fly into the air and dive bomb right at Six.

“Oh fuck me!” he shouted to himself, not expecting it to charge him.

Lyra fired off some magical blasts, but they did little as the monster pointed its stinger right at the human.

It was so quick, he didn’t even have time to get out of the way, and his stomach was met with the hot, searing, and yet familiar pain of a giant insect’s stinger being lodged inside it.

Of course it was the stomach, one of the few parts without proper reinforcements.

He growled, easily four, maybe five inches of penetration.

Fucker got him good.

His breath hitched as he was drug along by the flying monster. His feet were kicking up dust all the while, his heels skidding along the ground. Soon the monster flew upwards once more, Six still impaled on its stinger as it went. His boots finally left the ground as the monster ascended further.

Lyra and Bon Bon just looked in in horror as he was lifted up about fifteen feet… and then weight took over.

Six’s eyes widened as he slid away from the beast, air rushing past him as he did.

He traded in his impalement for a long drop.

Limbs kicked and grabbed at nothing, just as he had done before.

Nothing to be grabbed. Nothing to slow the descent.

He slammed down onto the roof of the confection kiosk, and it gave way entirely, with his body smashing through the small building, a deafening CRACK! ringing out around the dam as it collapsed on top of him.

There was no movement from it, just dead silence broken up by the sound of the Bugbear's buzzing wings.

With no more human in the way, the monster set its sights on the ponies, blood still adorning its thorax all the while.

Shocked out of their stupor by the beast turning their way, Lyra and Bon Bon ducked out of the way as it tried to sting them as well. However, after it dive bombed them, its spiked tip just met dirt. Their lower-frames and four legs let them outmaneuver the beast easier than the human had.

It didn’t matter much though.

The beast just pulled itself away from the ground, standing on two legs as it growled down at the ponies. Lyra pelted it with her golden magic as she backed up.

Smoke was kicked up with each impact, but the creature just laughed them off as it charged forwards. The two mares split to either side of the beast as it rushed them down.

“Got any more rope?” asked Lyra as she tried to form a plan.

“I only packed the one!” Bon Bon returned, obviously not expecting this whole ordeal.

“We gotta get the human and bail!” offered the unicorn, her wife nodding.

“We should find a way to slow it down first!” Bon Bon said, before having to dodge out of the way of the charging Bugbear.

She rolled to the side with the agility of a secret agent and reoriented herself.

Bon Bon saw it was now on Lyra, chasing her back towards the side of the dam the two had initially came from.

The earth pony swore to herself as she chased after the beast, hoping to distract it away from the unicorn.

She took a note out of the human’s book and forced herself to gallop as hard and as fast as she could, moving up to match pace with the Bugbear. Sweetie Drops then leapt onto the monster’s back, grabbing its sensitive wings with her forehooves and tugging hard.

It roared, kicking itself up onto its hind legs before it shook around, trying to fling the earth pony off.

Bon Bon held on for dear life as she was flung this way and that, her grip loosening by the second. She groaned, a faint trace of motion sickness exploded through her head as she was finally flung off the beast.

The secret agent flew several feet into the air, before she began to descend towards the ground. This obviously didn't help her motion sickness, and she was too dazed to orientate herself.

“Bon Bon!” shouted Lyra, as she rushed over, grabbing her wife in her magic before she impacted with the ground. The unicorn gently sat her wife down several feet away.

The earth pony was dazed, groaning as she nearly vomited up her shake from earlier. She gagged as a faint taste of sickness rose in the back of her throat, but she managed to keep it down as she looked up at Lyra. The unicorn was blasting the beast to get its attention, hitting it in the face and eyes with each spell.

It had grown annoyed with Lyra by this point, and took no more chances with its prey. The monster charged down the unicorn, and reared up on its hind legs, sending all four of its paws down at her, even the injured one!

The mare had no choice but to throw up a shield spell. While she wasn’t as magically adept as other ponies, she managed to create a small dome around herself, though her face shifted into one of a deep, almost pained concentration.

Its claws raked off the shield at first, with the monster looking on in confusion before it pressed against the small dome. Lyra huffed in response, pumping a bit more magic into her horn as the creature forced itself against her spell.

The beast began to use more and more weight, forcing its claws to slash harshly against the aquamarine unicorn’s only protection. She groaned again, as the monster put its entire force down onto the dome.

A spider web of cracks formed.

Bon Bon’s breath hitched in her throat.

The dome shattered like glass, and Lyra fell onto her back, exhausted as sweat poured off her. She awkwardly attempted to crawl away, but the monster strutted forwards.

“Lyra!” cried Bon Bon in panic, as she hopped up and began to gallop over in an attempt to help her wife.

She wasn’t quick enough, as the Bugbear stood over the unicorn already.

It growled down at the little pony as it raised a massive claw, ready to strike…

Memories flashed through Bon Bon’s mind.

All this time.

All of the attempts at protecting the one pony who cared for her, who accepted her, secrets and all.

Tears streamed down her face, as she was about to lose it.

The winded Lyra looked up at the Bugbear, her eyes narrowed at the beast, her horn glowing as a last-ditch effort to protect herself...

…

Her eyes shut out of instinct when a splatter of blood hit her in the face. The monster’s knee exploded forwards, sending out chunks of flesh and bone and viscera and dozens of droplets of crimson. Immediately, its leg buckled, and it dropped to one knee with a roar of agony.

It growled and chuffed, turning away from the unicorn as its gaze fully settled on the lone figure who dared to challenge it.

His duster billowed in the wind, the Old World flag emblazoned on it swayed this way and that, still standing after all this time.

Just as he had.

Six’s left hand leaked a large amount of blood onto the wooden handle of his new revolver, but even with that, it looked immaculate.

It was large.

Larger than the .45s, larger than Lucky, and honestly more impressive than even his shotgun by a mile.

A bear and a star were engraved on the grip, and ornate golden decorations adorned the metal frame of the weapon.

However, the most standout part of the art piece were the words emblazoned on either side of the big frame revolver’s barrel.

‘FOR HONORABLE SERVICE’

‘AGAINST ALL TYRANTS’

The Power Fist was held down at his side, still wrapped around his right hand. The bowie knife had been fully abandoned.

The Courier’s demeanor, his posture… they were different.

Didn’t cuss at the beast. Didn’t even say a word. Not a taunt, nothing.

Just looked at it, dead in the eyes as it glared him down, as if he knew the monster’s fate had been decided.

He was calm, stood up straight, nice and tall. Almost like a folk hero confronting an enemy that was out of their league.

Didn’t even mind the still bleeding wound in his stomach.

Stimpak worked nicely, even if the blood hadn’t fully clotted yet.

The swears, the anger, the rage, the want to eat and to rip and to tear into the Bugbear. It was all gone, brushed aside, allowed to meld into the back of his mind.

It was almost like something else took the controls; a switch flipped to a different setting.

The battle-ready survivalist was fully replaced.

No lowered down, animalistic stance. No knives. No punching.

In that moment, Courier Six wasn’t letting himself be an animal anymore.

In the place of the rugged Grunt was now a stoic, Gunslinging Cowboy.

He shrugged off the pain in his still-bleeding left hand as he cocked back the hammer on the big-framed revolver and fired off another round right into the Bugbear’s right wing.

VATS gave him a 90 percent chance to hit.

He damn sure did.

Its right wing was utterly split and rained down in pieces like papier mache. The paper-thin membrane couldn’t hope to be able to withstand the power of the big iron.

It was grounded. No running. No more dive bombs.

The Courier’s demeanor didn’t change at all. No words.

He just continued firing his final three rounds as the desperate beast charged him on all six paws.

Its eyes widened as the .45-70 shredded into it, delivering more damage than the .45 or the slugs could ever dream of.

Muscle and sinew couldn’t withstand the continued assault from the mighty Ranger Sequoia. Each additional bullet he put into the beast made its death draw closer.

One in its upper right leg made its gait slow from a determined run to a pained, jogging limp.

One in the left shoulder caused a bone inside to snap so loud he heard it amidst the gunfire.

One more utterly blew its front left paw completely off, with the creature nearly face planting as it tried to stand on the stump where its foot had once been.

It persisted, rushing him down with its near-death rattles ringing out from its saliva-leaking mouth.

Five rounds of the Ranger Sequoia did their job though. Thus, he stored the firearm, letting it twirl on his skillful index finger before he placed it in a special holster on his hip.

Rest was up to him now.

As the Bugbear approached with an unsteady run on its remaining limbs, the world slowed around the Courier.

The post-apocalyptic cowboy took just a moment to straighten his jacket.

GRX gave him time to do it anyways.

It was still quick despite its injuries, but he was quicker, even without the implant.

When it was a mere foot away from him, he made his move, shifting off to the right of the beast. He moved so quickly his duster flew up behind him, billowing about due to his immense speed.

He ducked low, his Power Fist brought back and then, he surged up, letting loose everything he had into an uppercut that’d make a Super Mutant blush at the raw strength behind it.

SNAP!

CA-CHUNK!

The servos in the Power Fist gave out, locking up from the sheer power of the blow.

The Courier heard a faint crack from within his arm.

The Bugbear’s head jerked upwards, and its entire body was forced into a standing position from the force of the strike.

The left half of its skull was utterly caved in, shattered from the now-broken Power Fist’s final attack.

Its neck was bent unnaturally, no doubt broken, and the monster’s right eyeball hung out of its socket, its tongue slung from its mouth like a limp slug.

The beast’s gigantic frame remained standing on its hind legs, before it slowly began to fall backwards. Its corpse impacted the ground, with a loud rumble ringing out around the Ponyville Dam.

The Courier held his position, his right arm outstretched for a moment.

It then dropped down to his side, going limp.

He ignored his Pip-Boy beeping, warning him that he had a crippled limb.

He grabbed at his shoulder with his still-bleeding left hand.

Probably a dislocation too.

After standing still for a moment, letting blood leak down his palm and his stomach, he turned to look at the utterly shocked Lyra and Bon Bon, who had been so enamored with the situation, they hadn’t even fled.

Dinky’s jaw was agape as she stared from the bush on the other side of the Dam.

“You alright?” he asked the mares tiredly.

They just nodded, too stunned to speak.

“Good,” he nodded to himself.

…And then he fell straight backwards onto the ground, splayed out and almost unconscious.

The breeze made his duster billow as best it could, as the lights got dark and blurry…

And then, there was nothing

Doctor! Doctor!

It was almost a full minute before Lyra and Bon Bon snapped from their stupor. Their shock finally gave out and was replaced with concern for their bipedal savior.

The two ponies rushed over and Bon Bon, with her special training, immediately placed her forehooves onto the bleeding wound in the Courier’s stomach. She used her natural strength and applied pressure in an attempt to halt his bleeding.

Lyra, meanwhile, grabbed a series of napkins from the totalled concession stand nearby. While not as skilled as her wife, she knew to apply pressure to the bleeding wound on his left hand.

The napkins were cheap, but they were decent as makeshift gauzes as she tried her best to patch the human up. With the unicorn even constricting his hand in magic to slow his blood flow.

Dinky finally fled from her bush-based hiding spot and rushed over to the commotion as well.

“Oh my Celestia!” the filly shouted in sheer shock; her voice filled with panic. “I-is Six alright?”

“Dinky?” questioned Lyra, before she immediately returned focus to the human’s hand.

She looked at it with a deep sense of curiosity, eyeing up his digits as she did. Such a strange fact, after all this time, this was her first contact with hands.

“Look away, civilian!” Bon Bon said out of instinct, continuing to apply pressure on his stomach wound.

“I- what?” Dinky managed, her face one of bafflement. “Bon Bon, what do you mean by ‘civilian’?”

“Dinky, now’s not the time!” Lyra shot back, hiding her wife's secret.

“Right, sorry!” the filly squeaked, before looking down at the human, her face filled with sorrow. “Jeez, he saved me and now he’s…”

She closed her eyes tight, unable to finish the sentence as she was fighting back tears. She didn’t even know the creature, and here he was, badly hurt all for the safety of her and her friends.

“He’s not dead yet,” growled Bon Bon.

“We need to get proper medics here, stat,” managed Lyra.

“I-I’ll try to go get some!” Dinky shouted, pepping back up as she decided then and there to help the human, as he had her.

However, as she rushed off away from the dam and down the trail, she spotted a large carriage which was being pulled by several armored ponies. Immediately she stopped, staring in awe and shock.

They approached, rushing past the filly as they continued on. The resulting gust of wind by them made Dinky’s mane fly about, before returning to normal once they’d gone by.

Further down the trail, she saw several more ponies approaching, kicking up dust as they arrived. She recognized Applejack and Pinkie Pie among them.

Aside from the former Element Bearers, the filly also noticed several journalists equipped with cameras and fedoras, no doubt here to cover the news-worthy Bugbear incident.

Just behind the reporters was a white carriage, one that had a medical cross on the side. An ambulance! Oh thank Celestia!

Back at the dam, when the guards finally pulled up, they unhitched themselves, with several more well spear toting stallions and mares, all also equipped with regal, golden armor. All in all, there were about a dozen of them, a mixture of earth ponies, unicorns, and a few pegasi overhead.

As they properly surveyed the scene, their typically stoic faces became a mixture of various emotions.

Some were shocked. Others looked a bit disgusted. A few were even awestruck.

All of this was no doubt due to the butchered Bugbear corpse that laid in front of them. Its face twitched slightly as a large hunk of brain matter slid from the gaping hole in its crushed skull.

“By Celestia…” a gruff looking stallion managed. Soon the ambulance carriage pulled up as well and several medics hopped out, before surveying the scene for any injuries.

There was, of course, just the one.

“What in Equestria is that thing?” a medic asked, as she and several guards created a semi-circle around Bon Bon, Lyra, and the Courier.

“He’s the one who saved us and killed that monster!” Lyra shouted quickly. “He’s hurt badly!”

After a moment of processing, one of the doctors, a deep pink unicorn, rushed over, jumping into action immediately.

“I’ve never treated something like this before,” she managed. “We’ll have to load him up and take him back to the hospital. Run a full diagnostic on him.”

“Can’t you do anything to help him now?” growled Bon Bon. “He saved my wife! He deserves something!”

“I can do my best to patch him up,” offered the mare, magically raising a medkit. “Bandage him and apply some anesthetics, but these wounds will need stitches, tools. We’ve gotta get these clothes off and do a full surgery.”

Bon Bon finally nodded and allowed a male earth pony medic to take over.

She stepped back a few paces and sat down, looking at her bloodied hooves. Her face was one of horror. The blood coating her was the same blood that belonged to the creature who’d saved Lyra’s life.

That thought made her want to gag.

Thankfully though, she was calmed when her wife moved over and embraced her. The aquamarine unicorn’s job was now taken by another unicorn, who used her magic to properly bandage Six’s hand, tossing aside the bloodied napkins.

“I…” huffed Bon Bon, unsure of what to say. One of the few times she’d lost her cool.

Lyra shushed her by giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead, further calming her and letting her wife process the day’s events.

The two watched as the human was magically lifted up, held still by the unicorns and brought towards the back of the ambulance carriage for easy transport.

As he was carried along, Applejack had finally arrived, and her eyes widened in shock at the carnage.

Pinkie looked on with a frown, her mane partly deflated as the two saw the body of the Bugbear in the distance.

But what truly caught their eyes was the unconscious, levitating human.

“Six!” shouted Applejack, trying to rush over, before a medic stallion stepped into her way, blocking her.

“Ma’am you-”

“He’s my friend!” growled back the farm pony.

“Then we can get you transported to the hospital to visit him later, right now, he’s potentially in critical condition!” explained back the stern doctor.

The farmer bit her lip, looking down as she huffed.

Pinkie watched as the human was shut into the back of the ambulance, which was hitched to several pegasi, who began the process of airlifting the patient back to Ponyville hospital.

“Th-that was-” began the party pony, her lip quivering.

“Yes Pinkie… that was Six,” Applejack said with a sigh.

The pink mare’s eyes filled with tears. She hadn’t even gotten to meet her new mysterious super-secret friend who was supposedly a stallion but was actually a weird two-legged thing, and already he was hurt really bad by that mean old Bugbear! Had the beast not been dead a few dozen feet from her, she’d really have given him a piece of her mind.

As it stood, she sniffled, holding back the sadness in an attempt to look on the bright side. He was getting medical help, after all!

Applejack put a hoof on the mare’s back, patting her as the farmer cried on the inside.

“Pinkie, once I find Apple Bloom an’ the girls, we’ll head right on over to the hospital,” managed the farm pony with an assuring tone.

“Don’t you have an order to get done?” sniffled Pinkie.

“Ah ta Tartarus with that order!” said the honest mare. “He’s my friend an’ he’d be there for me! After all he’s done for these folks an’ my family, I owe him that! I know Mac an’ Granny would wanna be with him too!”

Coming up behind the crowd were the Crusaders themselves. The commotion had attracted them back up the trail towards the dam, and before long the three were weaving in between ponies left and right.

“Jeez, what do ya think happened?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Whatever it was, it was something big,” Sweetie pointed out, looking at the surrounding press members. “They’re already reporting on it."

Among the crowd, a certain little unicorn emerged, rushing towards the Crusaders.

“Girls you won’t believe what happened!” she shouted.

“Dinky!” Scootaloo shouted, before she and the other CMC gave the filly a quick hug, which she awkwardly returned.

After a bit, they broke off the hug, and the grayish violet filly began to explain what went down.

As she spoke, each of the Crusaders were filled with shock and awe, though by the time she concluded, they all had worried expressions.

A bit later, Scootaloo began to trail away from the group, who followed after her.

“Where are ya goin’?” Apple Bloom cried out.

“I’ve gotta get to the hospital,” responded the determined pegasus.

“Right now?” Sweetie added. “What about waiting for Rainbow Dash and your aunts to make sure you’re safe?”

“He was there for me; I have to be there for him as soon as I can!” Scootaloo shouted back.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“I couldn’t do anything to help him!” growled Scootaloo, looking down with a sigh. “The least I can do is be by his side!”

“Ya need to calm down,” the farm filly said softly.

“I am calm!” shouted back the pegasus with narrowed eyes.

Apple Bloom, Dinky, and Sweetie shrunk back at her outburst.

After a moment, Scootaloo’s hardened glare softened into a regretful, saddened one. The others could see tears welling up in her eyes.

“I just… he’s my friend…” was all she could manage as she sat on her haunches, sniffling as the other fillies surrounded her, giving her reassuring pats and hugs.

Soon enough though, a blue, rainbow maned pegasus flew overhead and landed not far away, rushing over as she'd spotted the fillies from above.

“Girls, are you alright?” Rainbow Dash shouted in worry as she galloped towards the fillies.

“It’s Six,” explained Sweetie as Scootaloo continued to allow herself to cry softly.

Dash’s face became one of a grim frown.

“W-well maybe he’s alright!” she offered, gently reaching down to stroke her sister’s purple mane. “He’s big and tough, took a full hit from me like it was nothing! I’m sure he can take some dumb Bugbear, no sweat!”

“He kinda did,” admitted Dinky sheepishly.

However, before the unicorn could explain, a mature, feminine voice sounded out from above, catching her ears.

“Dinky!” it shouted, and the filly looked up to see a quickly approaching gray pegasus.

“Mom!” she shouted, rushing towards where Derpy was going to land.

However, a moment later, her eyes widened.

“Wait mom, slow dow-” she managed, before Derpy slammed down hard, divebombing right into the dirt and faceplanting with a loud thud that kicked up some dust and debris.

Dinky sighed and rushed over, helping her mother up into a sitting position.

Derpy’s eyes rolled in their sockets cartoonishly for a moment, before she shook it off, and then immediately embraced her daughter, giving her a tight hug with her forehooves.

“Oh Dinky, I was so worried after I heard that mean monster was attacking the dam, I flew right over!” shouted the mare, before giving Dinky a few kisses to the forehead.

“I’m fine mom, really!” managed the small unicorn, a blush of embarrassment soon appearing on her face.

With the mother and daughter duo reunited, soon enough Applejack and Pinkie Pie spotted the Crusaders through the crowd, rushing over as well.

“Apple Bloom!” shouted the orange mare, and before long she and her sister embraced tightly.

“Don’t worry Sweetie Belle, I’m sure Rarity will be here as fast as you can say Lickity Split!” assured Pinkie to the small unicorn, trying to cheer her up. Though honestly, it was an attempt to cheer herself up as well.

Sweetie managed a small giggle at the joke, smiling at the thought of seeing her sister.

Back towards the dam proper, Lyra had helped wipe the blood off her wife’s forehooves, and now the two were slowly wading through the growing crowd of ponies.

Before long though, a matronly voice called out.

“Lyra, Bon Bon!” it shouted, and the two soon turned to see Cheerilee rushing through the crowd of guards, medics, paparazzi and onlookers.

“Cheerilee?” managed a surprised Bon Bon.

“Have either of you seen the Cutie Mark Crusaders or Dinky?” shouted the panicked teacher.

“When I ran off with the students, I thought they were behind me but after a head count, I-”

“Already taken care of, teach,” chuckled Lyra, coolly. “We conducted a bit of a rescue mission for any stragglers. They were perfectly safe!”

“Oh thank Celestia,” the purple mare said, giving a deep sigh of relief as she sat on her haunches, sweat rolling off her brow.

As this all happened, numerous reporters were taking pictures of the Bugbear’s corpse. A few of them and other onlookers lost their lunch at the sight of the brutalized monster, some even throwing up over the dam.

It was a grizzly sight most ponies weren’t used to. Still though, the guards swept them back, maintaining order as a large carriage pulled up and they hauled the beast’s corpse into it.

It took about half a dozen earth ponies to lift it, along with help from a few unicorns and pegasi.

Many of them wondered what exactly could’ve done such damage to a fearsome beast like that…

Fucking hell!

The blackness was back!

The inky, ever consuming darkness was starting to piss him off!

Six’s patience had worn thin, and even in his physically battered state, he had the use of both hands, mentally, anyways. With this realization, it obviously wasn’t long before he just began swinging wildly, as if he could somehow punch his way out of the darkness the same way he solved his Bugbear problem.

“I don’t know who the fuck you are, or what this is, but back the fuck off!” he growled out, his voice echoing around him.

A piece of himself burned brightly. Some portion of his mind slowly began to wrestle control of the dream away from something else.

Before long, the darkness actually began receding, as if his punches were actually effective. It cowered back, vanishing away from him to reveal plain, metallic walls and partly rusted grate flooring.

Soon, the darkness fully was repelled back, leaving the Courier alone in a small grayish box-like room. It almost felt familiar, reminded him of the numerous pre-war military installations he’d combed and fought through.

“You know, as much as I am fine with the whole, brutish, caveman-like display of primal power, perhaps a more… thoughtful approach is required,” a voice rang out from behind him.

His eyes widened at its familiarity.

A vaguely British accent? Highly intelligent sounding? Snarky as hell?

It couldn’t be…

The Courier turned and came face to… well, brain with uh… His Brain!

“You’re my Brain!” shouted Six in shock.

“Why are you so surprised?” it just asked back, no doubt it’d roll its eyes if it had any. “It was your idea to put me back in this boney cage, remember?”

“Right but… how can you-”

“Talk? Right well, I do believe that Mentat gel had a bit more of an effect on me than I- er- we thought,” hypothesized his Brain.

“So... you’re like a… split personality?” Six offered.

“Hey now that’s just rude,” huffed his floating Brain with a sigh. “After all we’ve been through, that’s all I am to you?"

“No I didn’t… we’re the same but separate. How does that work?” asked the Courier with a huff.

“You think I know more than you?” his Brain deadpanned.

He sighed, thinking in silence for a few moments.

“You’re my conscious, subconscious, something like that, I guess? Maybe even an early stage of schizophrenia?” he diagnosed himself.

“Took the words right out of my lack-of-mouth,” his Brain replied with a chuckle. “Though if I am part of some mental disorder, I do really hope I’m the worst effect that develops. I’d hate to have others running around up here.”

“Yeah, you and me both…” Six managed, looking around the small box in thought. “But that still doesn’t explain this darkness shit.”

“Ohhh right, see you don’t remember your dreams as well as I do, one of the few things I do know that you don’t,” explained the Brain.

“I… how does that work?” he asked.

“Maybe it’s because I never exactly sleep? At least not in the same way you do. Again, you’re asking YOUR brain here,” pointed out the fleshy organ.

“Right, right…” nodded the Courier.

“See, from as far as I know, something is trying to latch onto our dreams,” explained the Brain.

“Figured that much,” Six replied. “Know what it is?”

“You really need to stop asking me questions,” the Brain sighed back.

“Sorry! Damn it, rough day,” said the Courier, rubbing his neck.

“I know. I was there,” said the Brain with a chortle. “Regardless, while we don’t know what it is, I’d say we can force it out with enough concentration. That’s how I made this cozy little box of ours; I don’t think it can reach us here.”

“Think it’s evil?” Six asked.

“Maybe? Did drop a moon on us, after all,” sighed the Brain. “Then again, that could be some type of warning.”

“We did always read a bit deeply into those tribal vision quests,” nodded the Courier. “Think it’s literal?”

“If the moon drops on top of us, then we’re not even going to remotely worry. Nothing we could do to stop that,” shrugged the Brain.

“Might give us some peace and quiet at least,” sighed the Courier, before summoning a fresh Fancy Lads’ cake into his palm.

He snacked it down through his mask while pondering as his Brain looked on in annoyance despite its lack of eyes.

“Hey no fair, I don’t have a mouth,” huffed the ridgy organ.

“Why don’t you, we’re in a dream?” he just asked back.

“I…” the Brain stopped, before suddenly a large split formed on it, and it popped open, revealing a row of sharp teeth and a long, fleshy tongue which waggled about.

“That is fucking horrifying,” Six said casually, before tossing what was left of the Snack Cake into his Brain’s new mouth.

The mouth snapped itself shut and the Brain returned to normal.

“Agreed… felt a bit, tingly? Strange,” mused his Brain. “Tasted like sand mixed with sugar, blegh, as worse as we remember.”

“Tell me about it,” sighed the Courier.

The two stood (or floated, in the Brain’s case) in silence for a moment inside of the lucid dream.

“So, any plans for when we wake up?” Six asked.

“You tell me. You’re the boss, after all,” the Brain said.

“Well, you’re only useful while we’re asleep-”

“Hey, watch it! I am still the one that’s responsible for controlling your body!” the Brain defended.

“Right, right, sorry, but you get what I mean,” Six pointed out.

“Of course I do!” the Brain huffed. “And since I’m you, I’m too prideful to accept it!”

“Maybe next time I go to sleep, you can help summon another box like this. Maybe we can try and study the thing in my dreams, see what exactly it is,” Six explained.

“Don’t need to say it verbally, but I am in agreement,” the Brain chortled.

“Hey saying it helps me- us think!” Six retorted.

“Right,” nodded the floating Brain. “Well, from here on in, you worry about the breathing and the urinating and those other ghastly bodily functions, and I will worry about making sure our mind isn’t invaded by some shadowy dream demon.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Six nodded back.

“Oh and one more thing,” the Brain added.

“Yeah?” asked the body in question.

“When you wake up… For the love of God… TAKE A BATH!” roared back his brain, a flurry of soap and water surrounding the two.

Soon the suds were drowned out with brightness, Six being pulled from the dream as it enveloped him.

The Courier’s left hand swatted outwards, knocking aside a plastic tub filled with soapy water that a unicorn nurse was carrying. It clattered to the floor, sending suds all across the tiles.

Six growled as he sat up, finding himself in a hospital bed, surrounded by half a dozen medical ponies. A unicorn stallion’s eyes widened as he backed up, his white-maned assistant backed up right beside him as well.

“Doctor Horse, I thought you said it was out cold!” shouted the nurse.

“I did, Redheart!” he responded in shock as he and a few other members of the hospital staff watched as the creature stood up, forcing itself out of bed.

Six grunted as he did, nearly slipping on the soapy, water-slickened floor before he caught himself with his good arm. The human looked down at his limp right arm, and grunted, in annoyance.

“Anyone got a sling?” he asked, looking at the stunned staff.

Nopony said anything.

“Well don’t all answer at once!” he snarked back, grabbing his bed sheet before he began doing his best to tie it into a makeshift sling. The process was a bitch given his one working arm.

“I-I can get you a sling!” Nurse Redheart piped up.

He turned to look at her, and she cringed back in horror at the cold, red eyes staring her down.

“Alright, just sling, that’s all I need,” Six huffed.

Doctor Horse leaned in and whispered into her ear.

“And get some sedatives as well-” he managed before he was cut off.

“Hey hey hey! I heard that shit!” Six said, pointing an accusatory finger and snapping his left hand at the doctor.

Doctor Horse only shrunk back in shock.

“Now listen… this is a hospital, right?” Six pointed out, getting a few of the staff to nod.

He nodded back, drawing from his memory of the numerous Pre-War medicine and doctor’s manuals he’d read as he continued.

“Alright, good… that means as a patient, I have a right to refuse service, alright? You assholes can’t just fucking sedate me and force me into a situation I do not consent to!” Six pointed out.

They looked at him, before looking amongst themselves.

“He is right…” agreed a stallion.

“Yes, and I’m in my right mind too!” said the human, still pointing as he looked amongst the doctors for any wrong moves. Didn’t need one charging him with a needle.

“Are you sure sir?” asked Redheart, her tone soft and… caring?

He paused for a second at that. Didn’t hear that tone much where he was from.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “All I want, alright, is a sling, and… about half an hour of rest, and then I, Courier Six, who is fully in my right mind, will discharge myself from the hospital… uh, Ponyville Hospital?”

She nodded back, her face unsure at his requests, but turning to leave regardless.

“And a glass of water,” he quickly added, his voice cracking dryly as he licked his lips beneath his helmet.

Redheart nodded again, leaving the room.

Six was now alone with Doctor Horse and a few other staff members. The human looked around and pointed at the wall with his good hand after a moment.

“This wall… it’s solid brick, right?” he asked, looking at the unicorn stallion.

“What?” Doctor Horse asked back in shock.

“It’s brick. Sturdy and solid, right?” he asked.

“Y-yeah…?” Horse responded, now really hoping Redheart would get the sedatives.

“Alright, good,” Six said, walking over to the wall.

Everypony watched on in complete shock as he slammed his dislocated shoulder into it, causing a loud CRACK to echo out. Six grunted in pain and effort as he twisted his upper arm, several more strained noises came out from his joint before finally a loud POP silenced them all.

His pained groans stopped, and he stood up straighter. Six tested the arm by moving it left and right, letting it swing about as if he were walking. He then rotated his arm freely now, even being able to lift it up and down. Soon, he laughed to himself.

“Still a piece of cake, after all this time!” he chuckled.

“Sir, did you just…” Horse managed, stammering as he adjusted his glasses, “you just popped your arm back into its socket?”

“Not the first time,” Six just said casually, looking down at his still broken forearm.

His Power First was still stuck on his hand, with the staff not having had the time to remove it. Even still, he could feel his wrist was broken, no doubt snapped at an unnatural angle inside the weapon.

He didn’t fuck with it for the time being, and instead just took a moment to sit in a nearby chair. Typically it’d be one reserved for visitors, but Six scooted it backwards into a corner, staring down the still stunned staff.

He made sure nothing could approach him from behind, and then nodded to himself as he looked at the mixture of multicolored pony doctors and nurses.

“You guys get paid more the longer you stare?” Six quipped.

Some looked away, others shrunk back, a few blinked in surprise.

“With big ass bear-wasp things, sea serpents, magic, and all that other weird shit, I’m damn-near normal,” the human affirmed. Well, physically, anyways. Mentally… different story.

They were silent, but slowly, realizing that their patent didn't need them, a few of the staff turned and left the room, unsure expressions on their faces. After one of the nurses wiped up the spilled soapy water with a towel, she too left.

Doctor Horse was the last one now. He stood there awkwardly, a bit annoyed with himself he hadn’t been the first to leave and pinned this strange monster on some other staff member. Still, he shakily stood, gulping in nervousness as he did.

“Your name’s Doctor Horse?” Six asked.

“Y-yeah?” the stallion nodded.

“Isn’t that ironic, you being a pony and all?” the Courier pointed out, raising a finger coated with dry blood towards the doctor.

“I-it’s just a familial name,” the pony explained.

Six let out a singular “heh” and nothing else.

After a bit longer, he broke eye contact, slowly turning his head to examine the now empty room.

“Anyone else hurt?” Six asked, still looking at the shelves and cabinets, examining the various medical supplies adorning them.

“I… to my knowledge an on-site medic examined those two mares that were at the dam. Only found a few scrapes and bruises,” explained the doctor, his tone trying to be professional, but cracking slightly. “I recall they even requested a visit with you while you recovered.”

“Kids?” Six asked simply.

“No physical damage to any of the foals,” answered the doc. “It was a miracle.”

“How long was I out?” Six asked, nodding to himself.

“Roughly three hours,” the stallion replied quickly, sweat on his brow as if he was being interrogated. “We didn’t even have time to give you any stitches before you woke up.”

The human nodded again, before looking down at his left hand. He raised it, pointing his palm at the doctor, who shrunk back, as if the Courier could somehow grab him from across the room.

“Don’t need them,” Six said with a proud tone.

The doctor slowly stepped over and adjusted his glasses once more, his eyes narrowing as he examined the human’s hand.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” the doctor said, not seeing anything but his blood and dirt-caked gloves.

Six huffed and then rubbed his palm harshly against his pants, wiping off the grime. After a bit, he pulled his relatively clean hand up, showing it to the stallion.

“No fresh blood, see?” the Courier pointed out.

“H-... how is that-”

“I'm part lizard,” snarked the human.

The stallion cringed back in response.

“I’m fucking with ya, doc,” the human chuckled. “I just heal quicker than other guys.”

Doctor Horse just nodded.

“Jesus, I swear you guys can’t take a joke,” Six snarked further.

Soon enough, Redheart walked in with a sling on her back and a glass of water carried in a tray in her mouth.

“That sanitary?” the human said, making her roll her eyes as he took the glass.

Ice cubes clinked about inside, and he looked down at the water with an almost stunned pause. The pony sat aside the tray, freeing up her mouth as she looked on at the human.

“What? I didn’t spit in it,” Nurse Redheart said, attempting to line up with her patient’s sense of humor. Something she’d done many times in the past due to her bedside mannera.

“That’s ice,” Six said in surprise.

“Yes?” she asked, confused. “We are not going to give you warm water… unless that’s what you wanted?”

The Courier just turned away, moving up his helmet and then downing back the glass of water. The two watched in surprise as he chugged it, and then slurped down the ice cubes, crunching them in his mouth as he re-adjusted his helmet before they could get a good look at the visible portions of his face.

“Nice,” he huffed, putting the empty glass back on the tray.

“Fantastic, now just stand up and I can-”

He cut her off.

“I’m putting the sling on,” he said simply.

“I-I am the medical professional here, sir!” the nurse said back, holding her ground.

“And I as the patient can choose who does and does not service me,” he shot back. “There’s only one doctor I’d let patch me up, and he’s not here right now!”

“For your own safety I really must insist-”

“I am aware of the risks and I wish to proceed,” he said sternly.

“Even if you are aware, I can’t just-”

“Give me the damn sling,” huffed the Courier, his hand outstretched.

She glared at him in silence, but after a few moments of him not backing down, she grabbed the sling with her mouth and handed it to him.

“Much obliged,” he hissed, as he put it around his neck, adjusting his broken arm to fit into it.

“That model is specifically for dragons, I hope it’s comfortable,” she offered.

“Of fucking course there’s dragons here,” he just said back, making her confused.

After a moment, Redheart took the tray and the glass and walked out, leaving the Courier and the doctor alone again.

“I assume you’d like some time alone to rest?” asked the stallion.

“No, I want you to stand there and look at me bug-eyed all day,” snarked the human.

The doctor just nodded and trotted out of the room, taking the hint. Not that he needed much convincing.

“Hey wait!” the Courier shouted.

The doctor sighed, giving a frown before he turned back into the room.

“Yes, sir?” he said, trying to remain cordial.

“You got any tools?” Six asked, looking at his Power Fist.

“Uh, what?” the doc managed.

“Like… screwdrivers, pliers, you know?” Six said, still examining his busted weapon.

“Sir this is a hospital,” the stallion replied.

“A hospital with no tools to use in case something breaks down?” shot back the human.

“Y-you’re a patient, sir,” said the doctor, swallowing a lump in his throat, nervously due to the humans insistance on asking for potentially sharp objects. “For your safety and the safety of the staff-”

“Fuck, just forget it,” growled the human, waving off the doctor.

“Is there anything els-”

“I’m fine,” he interrupted.

The stallion nodded and then quickly trotted out of the room, fully this time.

Six just looked down, fiddling his fingers around the broken gauntlet. He pulled his hand back, hissing as he jostled the Power Fist a bit too hard, causing a sharp pain in his wrist.

“Fuck,” he grunted to himself, before continuing his examination.

He felt a little woozy from the blood loss, but other than that, he was working his way back up to tip-top shape.

He just wished he’d brought an extra Stimpak.

Half an hour later, almost everypony was currently huddled in the front waiting room of Ponyville Hospital.

Rarity had joined up with her group of friends. Apple Bloom had been sent back to the farm to inform the others what had happened, cutting down the CMC to just two members. Dinky and Derpy sat in the waiting chairs off to the side, and even Bon Bon and Lyra were seated on a bench just outside the hospital.

Bon Bon wore a pair of sunglasses and a fake mustache. Lyra for her part was sitting casually, in an almost human manner, though she watched the front doors with bated breath.

Back inside, Rarity had Sweetie locked in a near death-grip bear hug.

“Oh my goodness, you poor thing, I’m so, so sorry that mean monster frightened you so!” Rarity said. Her tone was a bit dramatic, but genuine worry for her sister filled her voice.

“You’re doing more damage than the Bugbear!” managed Sweetie, before the older unicorn let her go.

“I’m terribly sorry!” Rarity managed with a sniffle. “It’s just that the thought of you getting hurt, or worse makes me want to…”

“I’m fine!” said the filly. “Lyra and Bon Bon saved me before anything bad could happen!”

“Everypony's fine... except Six,” said Applejack with a huff.

“Hey, he’s gonna make it!” Scootaloo sniffled from a chair nearby, before getting a pat on the back from Rainbow Dash.

“Of course he is, squirt!” assured the older mare.

“Ya’ll didn’t see him,” Applejack pointed out. “I ain’t tryna’ worry ya, but he was hurt real bad... there was alotta blood.”

“Goodness, he could be in there for a few hours then!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Well I’m not moving an inch until he gets better!” Scootaloo proclaimed, crossing her forehooves.

“Scootaloo!” a deep, feminine voice called as the little filly heard the front doors of the hospital open.

“Are you alright my dear?” another, Aussie-accented one called.

The pegasus’ eyes widened in shock, and she turned in her chair, craning her neck towards the voice

“Auntie Lofty! Auntie Holiday!” shouted the filly, jumping up and practically catapulting herself at her two adoptive mothers.

They both caught her in an embrace, their faces filled with worry.

“We came the second we heard the attack, but the folks at the dam told us you all had left for the hospital,” explained Lofty.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” the pegasus managed sheepishly.

“It’s alright dear, we needed the workout,” Holiday chuckled.

“I still wonder though, why are you here, exactly?” asked Lofty.

“It’s my friend!” Scoots squeaked. “He got hurt real bad fighting off the Bugbear!”

“Your friend was the one who fought that beast?” Holiday asked. “I thought he was some weird monster or something, that’s what the press said.”

“Hah, wellll…” Scootaloo managed. “You remember the sisterly camping trip?”

“Yeah?” Lofty asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It might’ve went a bit differently than I said,” admitted the pegasus sheepishly.

As Scoots gave her aunts the real story, Dinky was rubbing her hooves along her mother’s back, keeping the pegasus mare calm.

“Oh goodness, oh goodness, oh goodness.” Derpy whispered to herself.

“There, there, mom, I’m sure he’s gonna be alright,” assured the young unicorn, herself unsure of her own words.

“But you said he’s hurt really bad,” squeaked the mailmare. “What if my new friend is dead a day after I meet him! Oh, it’s my fault!”

“You didn’t do anything wrong mom, honest!” Dinky assured. “Everything went right this time!”

Derpy just squeaked sadly and hugged her daughter close as she forced back tears.

It was another half hour of the group waiting with bated breaths, talking amongst themselves, and hoping that eventually the doctors would come out with some good news.

Their voices were a symphony of whispers and uncertainties. Some were sniffling, and other, tougher mares like Rainbow Dash and Applejack remained stoic.

However, one muffled voice rang out from behind a pair of double doors, silencing them all.

“No, I do not want anything to eat!” it was deep, masculine, and crass.

Everypony’s ears perked up before the doors were shoved wide open, two figures coming into view.

One was an earth pony, the other… well, wasn’t a pony at all of course!

“I cannot just let you walk on out there like you’re better! Your wrist is still broken!” shouted Nurse Redheart. “And I heard your stomach grumbling.”

“Yes, you can and no, you didn’t!” shouted back the human.

“Why are you being such a bullheaded imbecile!?!” growled back the stern nurse, obviously taking her job very seriously but having her patience tested by the annoyed human.

“Because I’m FINE!” was the retort shouted into her face.

She glared back in silence.

He stared back for a moment, and she found herself no longer afraid of his glowing red lenses.

After a few more seconds, he spoke, his voice having softened from one of a pissed off annoyance to one of exasperation and tiredness.

“I’m not just some little pansy who needs a doctor’s visit because he got a whittle booboo,” he explained, before pointing to his wrist, still in place in the sling.

“This? This shit? This shit isn’t nothing to me,” he said, his tone serious, before he then pulled aside his duster, revealing the inch-wide hole in his armor. “And this isn’t worth a damn either!”

Finally, he turned away from the mare, his vision blurring a bit from blood loss, and he stumbled, having to brace himself against the door frame.

Nurse Redheart didn’t say a word, just smirked up at him.

“Just a little woozy… that’s all!” he growled back, shaking off the blurriness in his vision as he’d done many, many times before.

When the swirl of colors came into focus, he stared out at over a dozen ponies, most familiar, and a few not. Many of their faces were stunned upon seeing him, and amongst the stunned faces, Rainbow Dash, and a pair of unfamiliar mares near Scootaloo were giving him the side-eye, no doubt for his outburst of swears.

“Jesus fuck, what the hell is this? Some sort of parade?” balked the Courier. “You guys must have nothing else going on.”

“I, wh- We were waitin’ for YOU!” Applejack snapped back.

“Well… here I am,” he said, holding out his one good arm to his side, as if he was showing himself off.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Dinky shouted in shock, hopping up from her chair and trotting over. “You got slashed around and stabbed by that thing! How can you just get up and walk it off!?!”

“What, that buggy prick?” he huffed, playing it off cooly. “Fucking please, I’ve fought off snack cakes that were more of a threat than that bastard.”

“Alright that is not an excuse for such coarse language in front of children and ladies!” Rarity huffed, plugging Sweetie’s ears.

“Fuck it, I’m too tired to self-censor right now,” he said, waving off the fashionista for the time.

She scoffed at his rudeness.

“Also, Applejack, you should be back at the farm, packing up the order and whatever, right?” he said, pointing at her as he pulled out a crumpled pack of cigarettes.

“I was here because yer my friend and I was worried for ya!” she huffed back.

“You should be worrying about the important stuff,” he said, pointing at her, his hand still clutching the beat-to-hell cancer stick pack. “Like your family, finances, whatever. Something that actually matters.”

She just gave him a confused face, raising an eyebrow as her annoyance and anger melted away. She looked at him, as if she were trying to gauge if he’d just told the truth. Or rather, what he considered the truth anyways.

Given her element, she quickly realized he did.

“Ya-... ya do matter-”

“Save the sentimental shit, please,” he growled, cutting her off. “I just wanna get to my camp, smoke a stogie, and get some rest.”

“You can rest from here!” Rainbow pointed out.

“Can’t smoke in a hospital, numbskull,” he countered. “I’m not a monster.”

As the argument continued, Pinkie Pie was examining the human, giving him a look up and down from afar. Shockingly enough, she wasn’t jumping with excitement at him just yet. She was subdued, letting him speak first.

She could tell something deep down inside him had put him into a permanent bad mood, almost like Cranky, but perhaps even worse, shockingly enough.

While she didn’t say anything, mentally she was trying to think up ways to make him smile. Even someone as grumpy as him deserved happiness, after all!

“Where’s your camp, we can get your stuff and bring it back,” offered Dash.

“Everfree Forest,” he said casually.

“What!?!” she shouted back, her mouth open and her eyes wide.

“What?” he shrugged back.

“Alright, there is no way you’re going to the Everfree Forest on your own with a broken wrist!” she huffed.

“Why, you wanna come?” Six asked.

“I…” she looked at him. “Well, I guess?”

“You do whatever you want,” he pointed at her with his cigarette clutching hand. “I’m doing what Papa Six wants.”

“Papa Six?” Scootaloo asked, her former worry having turned to elation and now to a bit of confusion mixed with elation.

“Stole it from a Great guy,” Six answered casually.

“Sounds a little lame” she said teasingly.

“Hey, hey, don’t tempt me, feather-ball,” he pointed to her now. “I fought off a bear-wasp today, an orange chicken isn’t gonna be any skin off my back.”

Scoots just laughed, leaving Holiday and Lofty looking at each other in confusion from the whole interraction.

“Now does anyone else have anything they wanna say?” the Courier asked, looking around and motioning with his good hand for any of the crowd to speak. “Any more arguments in your systems?”

Silence from the colorful crowd.

“Great to have you back, Six,” Rainbow Dash stated simply after a few seconds of silence. She wasn’t fully smiling, but she did give a small smirk.

“Sister… I was never gone,” he said, adjusting his duster.

She just rolled her eyes at that. After a moment, the Courier went to leave, but was stopped by Redheart tugging at his duster. He huffed and turned.

“I need your signature, sir,” she said, holding up a clipboard with a forehoof.

“Ah fuck me,” he growled at having to use his non-writing hand to sign.

When he got outside, Lyra and Bon Bon still sat on the nearby bench across the street.

Not only that, but a small crowd had actually formed, and as Six opened the door, there was a flurry of reactions.

Some ponies cowered back, a couple of them leaving as soon as they saw him.

Others examined him with curiosity, some with fear.

A small few though, they trampled their hooves as if they were clapping.

A few more even cheered, Lyra being one of them, much to Bon Bon's embarrassment.

“You people need more free time,” huffed the human in response. “None of you even know me!”

Nopony heard him over the trampling and the cheers.

“They don’t know you… but they know whatcha did for ‘em,” Applejack pointed out with a smirk. “Puttin’ down that Bugbear an’ all.”

“It was just in my way,” he retorted.

“Yeah, your way which wasn’t even remotely blocked by a certain little unicorn,” Dinky smirked, standing at his feet along with Scootaloo.

“You’re making me regret not letting it crush you,” he huffed to the unicorn.

She just giggled back.

“Ya might wanna stick around,” Applejack said with a knowing smirk. “I’m sure Starlight, Fluttershy, and a few more ponies would wanna meet ya!”

“Tell them to go…” he paused himself, looking down at Scoots and Dinky, “...suck eggs, I don’t know. I’m going home.”

“Wait Six, you gotta visit me and my aunts sometime!” Scootaloo squeaked, though Holiday and Lofty looked a bit unsure at the idea.

“Yeah and me and mom too!” Dinky shouted excitedly, with Derpy actually nodding excitedly at the prospect.

“Alright take it slow you little bundles of annoyance,” he huffed. “I’ve gotta go unbreak my arm first.”

“And I’m coming with!” Rainbow Dash said, hovering beside him.

“Whatever,” he scoffed. “Try not to slow me down.”

“Oh you are just the master of getting under a pony’s skin,” she snorted, like that of an annoyed horse.

“I do that to more than just ponies,” Six said, before he began to walk past the crowd and towards the forest.

While Scoots wanted to follow, she didn’t want to leave her aunts, and thus watched as her two heroes walked on.

Six just lit up a cigarette as he went, soon huffing it down as Rainbow swatted away the smoke with a disgusted face.

Author's Note

Thus concludes "Act 2" or maybe "Act 1.5" perhaps! Haha! I hope you all enjoyed this longer-than-typical chapter!

Recovery

Courier Six swatted aside a particularly thick bush with one of his many bowie knives, slicing a few branches off of it and then stomping it under-heel as he walked ahead.

Dash hovered lazily along a few feet behind him, with her face being one of boredom, though she kept a keen eye out for any wayward creature lurking in the bushes nearby. They were still in the Everfree, after all.

All they saw on the way were just a few squirrels close together and eating nuts.

Upon spotting them, the Courier sheathed his knife, bent down and picked up a small rock. After aiming for a few seconds, he threw it at one of the small rodents in an attempt to kill it. He just barely missed, and the creatures all scurried off into the brush.

“Hey, what are ya doing?” Dash asked, looking down at the human.

“Hunting?” he pointed out as if it were obvious.

“You eat meat?” the rainbow pony asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah?” Six said, also as if it were obvious.

“You uh… you’ve never eaten anything that talks… and/or is a pony, have you?” she asked, an expression of concern visible on her face.

“Nope and couldn’t, they’re extinct where I come from,” Six said, slashing down another bush.

Dash was both relieved and a bit concerned at the answer, but she just nodded.

The two continued on a bit further and eventually reached the small clearing of the Courier’s makeshift camp.

“Ah, home sweet home,” Six mused to himself, walking over to check the hollow tree, seeing nothing had been touched.

“What are you talking about?” Dash questioned. “This place doesn’t even have walls.”

“Not yet,” the Courier said, reaching into his stash, before soon rummaging around in his backpack with his good hand.

A few moments later, Dash watched as he pulled out a small tool belt and a strange needle thing. The Courier sat the Stimpak down on a fallen log nearby, using it as a makeshift table before he also splayed out his tools.

Dash watched as he pulled out a screwdriver from the belt and began to press and prod at one of the inner rivets on his Power Fist. He managed to soon get it into the rivet and began unscrewing it.

Slowly, bit by bit he began to disassemble the weapon stuck around his hand. He took out a large screw, sat it aside, and then did another one, with the metal frame of the weapon slowly coming apart as he worked at it.

He soon switched to a rivet on the outer side of the glove-like weapon. After a bit longer he managed to unscrew them as well, allowing the metal casing of the gauntlet to split in half.

He sat aside one of the large pieces of metal, and Rainbow Dash noticed the distinct tally marks adorning it. A faint piece of her knew what it meant, but the human soon confirmed it.

She watched as the Courier used his screwdriver and etched an additional mark into the metal sheet. After that, he gave a small chuckle to himself and got back to work.

Before long, he pulled the deconstructed gauntlet off his hand and hissed as he pulled his broken, swollen wrist free.

Blood covered his hand, and he could see that the protection of the Power Fist had failed, causing not only his leather glove to split, but also the knuckles underneath. He sighed in annoyance, adding that to the list of things to fix.

As he wiped his hand off with a rag, Dash could faintly see the bone of his knuckles when he polished off the dried blood.

She cringed back whenever she noticed that the bone itself had a distinctly metallic appearance, shimmering unnaturally. Not the off-white real bone was supposed to be.

“Stimpak didn’t heal my hand up good,” Six just shrugged to himself. "Only the stomach wound."

“W-what’s wrong with your uh… your hand?” Rainbow managed.

“My knuckles are split, what does it look like?” he shrugged.

“I mean, the bone, I can see it from here and it looks… weird,” she said, pointing a forehoof at his visible knuckle bones.

“Oh right, lot more tissue damage than I initially figured,” he shrugged. “I’ll make sure to add more padding into the Power Fist once I’m done.”

“Why does it look weird?” she finally huffed.

“That’s a long story…” he shrugged, looking at his visible, metal bones. “Best not to worry about it.”

There was a pause.

“A-are you some type of robot?” Rainbow Dash asked, her tone one of shock and awe as she thought back to Spike's comics, some of which she'd occasionally snag and read for herself.

“What? No!” he huffed, giving a pause. “The technical term would be cyborg, anyways.”

“W-what?” she responded.

He just gave a “heh” in response and grabbed his wrist.

“Alright, avert your eyes if you’re squeamish,” he said simply.

“What do you m-”

KA-CRACK!

Six grunted as he manually set his wrist bone, forcing it back into proper alignment in one shockingly swift motion, as if he’d done it before.

“Yeesh,” Rainbow Dash cringed away at that.

“Told ya,” he shrugged, as he tested his fingers.

He was getting very slight movement in them now.

Good.

He grabbed his Stimpak and with a hiss he injected half of it right into a vein in his wrist. Immediately a cooling numbness took over his nerves, giving him relief. He could feel the bone and tissue inside his hand slowly healing up.

With half of the Stim gone, he then turned his hand around, letting his busted knuckles facing him. He carefully shoved the needle into the top side of his hand and injected the rest of the medicine into it.

He sighed as right before his eyes the damaged flesh tissue was slowly scabbing over. Not only that, but he was getting better movement back into his fingers!

“What was in that?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Xander Root and Broc Flower,” he answered casually, as if she knew what any of that was.

He sat aside the needle onto the log for later usage and eyed the pieces of his Power Fist.

“Damn,” he grunted, looking at the locked-up servos. “This shit’ll take a solid few hours to fix up.”

He sat the piece aside with a grunt.

“Fuck it. I’ll do it later,” he huffed to himself.

Rainbow Dash watched as he collected the pieces of metal and the empty syringe and soon deposited them into his backpack in his stash. He then returned over to the smokey, burnt out firepit in the center of his camp with a small metal grate in one hand, and what seemed to be a gigantic mantis claw in his other.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Cooking?” he replied back, sitting down the grate over some rocks, before he re-started the firepit with a few twigs and leaves.

“You’re cooking... at a time like this?” she asked, shocked.

“Yeah?” he retorted. “I just broke my fucking wrist. I deserve a snack.”

“I… how can you even have an appetite after everything that happened today?” she asked.

“I’ve ate after worse,” he shrugged.

Dash watched as he then pulled out a small jingling sack of bits from one of his satchels and tossed it at her. She caught it with her forehooves and looked at him in surprise.

“You’re quicker than me and you know the stores, go grab me a bottle of wine,” he said. “Cheapest they’ve got. None of that fancy shit.”

“W-what?” she asked.

“I can’t make grilled mantis without the wine,” he said, as if it were obvious.

“You’re still hurt!” she managed.

“Do I look hurt?” he asked, waggling his outstretched right hand at her.

After a moment of looking at him, Rainbow huffed.

“You’re lucky that Scoots likes you,” she said in annoyance, before flying off, his bits in tow.

She arrived back about ten minutes later, which was good as the fire was roaring properly to life now, letting the Courier rest the mantis foreleg on the grate he had balanced over it.

“I don’t know why you’d get drunk at a time like this,” huffed Rainbow, returning his wine and bits.

“I’m not getting drunk, numbskull,” Six growled, pouring the wine into a small metal pot, which he put onto the grate as well, right by the mantis claw.

After a few more minutes, he watched the red wine boil as he put away his bits, smirking to himself.

“You’re boiling it?” she asked.

“Reducing,” he answered, ripping up and crushing a honey mesquite pod in his hand, tossing it into the pot afterwards. He stirred at the pot with a long, wooden spoon.

“Fuck, forgot to tell you to get salt,” he huffed to himself, throwing some flour into the boiling wine.

“Looks like you’re the numbskull this time,” smirked Rainbow Dash as she sat on a stump nearby.

“Glad you agree you were the numbskull every other time,” he said casually, stirring in the powder to thicken up his wine.

After a few minutes he had reduced it by a third into a thick, saucy glaze, and once he stirred it a bit more, he soon grabbed a small brush.

Rainbow Dash watched on as he dunked the brush into the thickened sauce and then rubbed it onto the mantis foreleg, letting it coat the chitinous exoskeleton.

He leaned back finally, watching his creation grill and sizzle. There was little juice compared to red or white meat, but that didn’t stop him from salivating over the mantid’s limb.

“You uh… cooked animals a lot?” she asked, fidgeting nervously a bit.

“All the time where I come from,” he nodded.

She cringed.

“How in the hay could you live eating that crap?” Dash managed.

“It’s not bad,” he said casually. “Where I’m from, you learn to survive, or you go hungry.”

She frowned at that.

“You don’t have to do that here, you know?” she pointed out. “There’s plenty of food for everypo- everycreature, in Equestria.”

“And what happens if you ever get a supply shortage?” he asked back. “Or a bad crop yield?”

“Well, in those times ponies used to eat grass, I think,” she offered. “But we’ve gotten a lot better at keeping stuff uh… not go bad.”

“Preserved,” he nodded.

“Yeah!” she offered.

“Well good for you guys, but just know, it only takes one fuck up and-” he snapped his fingers, “-BOOM! It’s all gone.”

“You’re a ray of sunshine, you know that?” she asked.

“I’m a realist,” he said, scratching his neck.

“I think Twilight had a name for guys like you…” Rainbow managed, racking her brain. “Neighelist?”

“Nihilist,” he corrected.

“Whatever,” she said back. It was a bit later that the Courier flipped over his mantis limb and then brushed down the other side with his makeshift wine-glaze, letting it sizzle.

He yawned for a second while poking the fire with a twig.

“Tired?” she smirked.

“I’m fine. Just had a nap,” he said back.

She chuckled, nodding as she looked out at the foliage.

“So, what are ya gonna do now that the cat’s outta the bag?” she offered.

“Same thing I did in my old home; I’m gonna work and refuse to pay taxes,” he answered with a shrug, poking the fire once more.

“You should write an autobiography,” Rainbow Dash smirked. “I bet you’d get rich, first hooman in Equestria.”

“Human,” he corrected again, before pointing at his head. “And whatever’s up here is probably best left forgotten.”

Rainbow Dash frowned at that.

“There’s no way it’s that bad,” she said.

“It’s not that bad,” he nodded. “It’s far, far worse.”

She slunk back, going silent once more.

“You need some friends,” she said.

“I thought you and the kid were my friends,” he smirked. “Breaking it off this early?”

“I’m serious, there’s plenty of ponies and other creatures who’d like to help you deal with whatever you’re going through,” she offered, her voice genuine.

He looked at her for a moment, completely silent.

She stared back, giving an awkward yet hopeful smile.

Soon enough, he just snickered, shaking his head.

“Pffft… Therapy,” he said, chuckling to himself like she’d told a hilarious joke as he poked the fire yet again.

She frowned as he just laughed on, sounding almost like a schoolboy.

“Ahahah… ahhh fuck, that’s a good one,” he said, a smirk evident.

“I’m serious!” she huffed. “I’m not a pony who gets all caught up in this mushy stuff either, but sometimes you need help.”

“Sister… you have no idea,” he managed, before giving another series of chuckles.

Of course that was the first time she’d heard him give a genuine, hearty laugh.

She huffed, rolling her eyes and letting it go before she said something brash.

“Look, I’m not gonna press, but you can talk to others about what happened, that’s what friends are for,” she finished.

“I’m sure they’ll just line up down the street for a chance to talk to me,” he snarked.

“Some would!” she countered. “And that’s more than enough!”

“Whatever you say,” he said, snapping the stick he held in half before throwing it into the fire. “Now do you want any of this mantis leg?”

“What? No!” she shouted, obviously annoyed at his lack of taking her seriously.

“Suit yourself,” he shrugged, before just grabbing it off the grill with his gloved hand.

He adjusted his mask and ate messily, dripping the glaze over himself as he snacked down his insectoid meal.

“Aw fuck yeah,” he happily grumbled in the middle of messily chewing.

Rainbow Dash cringed back at the sigh, obviously a bit grossed out at the feral display of eating.

Lyra sat across from Bon Bon, who just stared down at her daisy sandwich as her wife looked at her with a hint of worry.

The two were seated on the exterior table of a small restaurant. It was no shock, given the only thing the two had that day was a milkshake, one that thankfully didn’t come back up!

Still, Mrs. Heartstrings frowned at her wife’s lack of eating, as she hadn’t touched her food.

“What’s wrong, Bonny?” Lyra asked, giving her wife her pet name.

She frowned further when even that didn’t lift the agent’s spirits, as Bon Bon continued brooding down at her plate.

“I almost lost you,” pointed out the earth pony after a few moments of silence. "That's what's wrong."

"But he saved me!” Lyra said, keeping her tone positive. “I’m fine, see?”

“I know, and I’m thankful but… that Bugbear,” Bon Bon paused, her face one of worry, as her lip quivered out of sadness. A faint piece of her told herself that it was her fault.

“You don’t think it was the same one?” Lyra asked, her tone shocked.

“I don’t know,” admitted the earth pony. “They typically never stray this far from their usual territory.”

“But it was trapped in Tartarus, wasn’t it?” Lyra pointed out.

“Yes but…” Bon Bon just sighed, not finishing her sentence.

“What are you saying, Bonny?” the unicorn questioned. “You don’t think something intentionally released the Bugbear, do you?”

“I hope I’m wrong… but I’ve got a bad feeling about something,” said the secret agent. “Feel like there’s something bad on the horizon.”

Lyra’s face was one of a grim frown.

“We’ll get through it together, Bonny,” she finally managed, giving a small yet hopeful smile. “Just like we did all those other times.”

Her wife nodded.

“I hope so, Lyra,” the earth pony sighed. “For the sake of all of us.”

After a few minutes in silence they soon heard a high-pitched, familiar voice.

“Hey Lyra, Bon Bon!” Derpy said as she trotted over to the two, Dinky at her side.

“Hey Derpy, Dinky,” the aquamarine unicorn said back, smiling at the mother-daughter duo.

“I feel like I should thank you girls, after what Dinky said you did back at the dam,” Derpy said.

“Me too, you helped fight that mean old Bugbear and saved Six and I never even said thanks!” Dinky squeaked

“Makes you two the first ones to do so,” Lyra smirked.

“Keep that part on the downlow, you two,” Bon Bon huffed, remaining serious.

“Your secret’s safe with us,” smiled back their long-time friend.

Lyra smiled at that, and even Bon Bon’s expression lightened up as Dinky ran over to her, giving her leg a hug due to her small size.

“Why don’t you two join us?” offered the earth pony as she gave the unicorn a matronly pat on the head.

Lyra’s smile grew at her wife’s improved mood.

“Oh, are you sure?” Derpy said, shrinking back a bit. “I’d hate to interrupt!”

“Nonsense Derpy, you and Dinky are our friends!” Lyra pointed out, patting the mailmare with a forehoof.

Derpy blushed and pulled up a seat with her friends, before Dinky soon got onto her own booster chair.

“So, Dinky, Derpy,” began Bon Bon with curiosity, “how do you two know about the human?”

“Huh? Oh, Six!” Derpy offered. “Well, he’s my newest friend! I would’ve told you all but with my schedule, jeez, it’s a wonder I can get any time to myself.”

“They still haven’t hired a new mailpony?” asked Lyra, concerned for her friend.

“We only ever got one applicant, but she had to turn it down,” sighed Derpy. “Had obligations to another mail delivery service… She was a dang good griffon though; made less mistakes than me, too.”

“What was her name?” asked the unicorn.

“Gummy, I think? Gammy? Something like that,” answered the crosseyed mare with uncertainty.

Finally, the waiter came, and the mother and daughter took their orders, getting a tray of hayfries to share.

When he left, Bon Bon finally spoke.

“What all did that human tell you, Derpy?” she asked inquisitively.

“Well, he said that Courier Six wasn’t his original name, after he helped me repair my bags of course! Gosh, he was so nice, didn’t say anything about my eyes either!” said the mare, smiling just thinking about her friend.

“Did he say where he was from?” asked Lyra, sounding giddy.

“Hmmm, I don’t remember anything about that,” Derpy said with a look of concentration. “We were only together for an hour or two, so I didn’t get to talk that much.”

“Maybe we can find him and get some info,” Bon Bon said.

“Yeah, maybe we can invite him on that double date thing we have planned!” offered Derpy with excitement.

“Uh… he’d kind of be a third wheel, wouldn’t he mom?” asked Dinky. “I doubt he even has a date.”

“Oh well he’s still my friend, he should be allowed to come!” replied the cheerful mailmare.

“We’ll worry about that next week,” Bon Bon said. “For now, let’s focus on the human.”

“Well, maybe he’d be up to hang out?” Dinky piped up amid the adults. “Scootaloo said she’s real good friends with him.”

“Scootaloo?” asked Lyra, thinking back to the dam.

“Yeah, remember her? She said the CMC and Six are good friends,” Dinky explained. “They were at the hospital waitin’ on him and everything!”

“Yeah, and Applejack and Rarity and Pinkie… there were a lot of ponies there,” Derpy said in realization, having been too distracted by panic earlier to notice. “Except you two.”

“Well, we were just in the crowd outside. Too packed inside. Too… obvious,” Bon Bon said.

Derpy just cocked an eyebrow.

“What she means is that we just figured we’d give him space,” explained Lyra coolly.

“Anyways, he works at Sweet Apple Acres,” Dinky squeaked. “Maybe tomorrow you can see if he’d wanna do something once he gets off?”

Lyra pondered the idea, though Bon Bon seemed a bit hesitant.

“You girls don’t have to worry, he’s real nice!” Derpy reiterated.

“Yeah…” Bon Bon nodded, thinking back to seeing him save her wife. “Maybe we can work something out.”

“That’s great!” offered the mailmare with a smile, as she and her daughter got their hayfries.

Bon Bon, for her part, finally leaned down and took a bite of her sandwich, pondering her thoughts as she did.

Back in the Everfree, Six finished his meal, and was now picking his teeth with one of his knives.

“That’s dangerous, you know?” Rainbow Dash said, though she couldn’t see his lower face as he was turned away from her.

“Yeah?” Six shrugged, before spitting out a chunk of mantis he’d scraped from his teeth.

He wiped his mouth with a rag and then adjusted his helmet.

“Well, what now?” she asked.

“It’s gettin’ a bit late in the day,” he shrugged. “I guess I should start getting to work.”

“Work?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” he said, pulling out a small sheet of paper and unfolding.

It was a deep yellow color, showing its age, no doubt something he had since the Mojave.

“While I had some free time, I sketched up this.” He turned the paper at the pegasus, and she just leaned in, giving a squint.

It was the entire floor plan for a small cabin, sketched with precise measurements and details.

One floor, sloped roof with shingles, no windows, even had a gardening section.

“I… what?” she managed.

“I like roughing it as much as the next guy, but I figure if I’m gonna be here for the next three weeks; might as well have something to do,” he shrugged.

"So you decided to build a house!?!” she shot back, her mouth wide.

“Yeah?” he shrugged. “No one owns this forest, right?”

“I... you… no?” she replied, still confused.

“Then I guess I’ll make myself at home,” he shrugged, before standing up and stretching.

“You got the tools?” she just questioned.

“Mostly,” he said, as he went over to his hollowed tree and reclaimed Knock-Knock. “I’m not in the logging business, but I did read up on it in my free time.”

“Do you have any idea how long that’s going to take?” Rainbow Dash huffed.

“Week? Maybe two?” he offered.

“Jus-… just give me a second,” she sighed, before suddenly she zoomed off in a rainbow-colored trail.

After a few seconds she zoomed back into view at near-sonic speeds and smashed through one of the trees.

She knocked a chunk out of it perfectly, making the trunk give before it slowly began to lean. Six watched and it soon gave way and fully fell to the forest floor with a loud THUD!

Soon enough, she landed right beside him, huffing.

“There!” she smirked.

“Well, that takes the fun out of it,” he stated as he slung the axe over his shoulder.

“There is just no pleasing you, is there?” Rainbow huffed.

He didn’t speak for a few seconds, as if he was in thought.

“Sarsaparilla!” he exclaimed, snapping his fingers suddenly. “That pleases me.”

She just rolled her eyes.

“Look, I’ve gotta get home soon,” she finally huffed. “Do you wanna get back to Ponyville with me, maybe actually sleep in a real bed instead of on the dirt?”

“Who said anything about sleeping?” he chuckled. “I just woke up!”

“Whatever, suit yourself,” she finally shrugged. “I’ll check on ya tomorrow morning, make sure you’re not dead so Applejack’ll know if you’re coming in for work.”

“Thanks Dash,” he said simply, genuinely.

She looked at him, a bit surprised at the compliment.

He just ignored her and got to cutting up the fallen tree.

At Sweet Apple Acres, a small crowd of ponies waited outside the front of the farmhouse.

“Now Scoot, are ya sure ya wanna stay here tonight?” Holiday asked, looking down at her adoptive daughter.

“Yeah, I was thinking about baking some cookies!” offered Lofty with a smile.

“As long as Applejack’s fine with it, I’d like to sleep over tonight!” Scootaloo said, looking up at her aunts, a small saddlebag slung on her back.

“Well, I’m fine with it as long as ya’ll are,” Applejack said, looking between the two mares with a smile.

“Yeah, she can sleep in my room!” Apple Bloom offered with a nod.

“Well… if this is what she wants, I see no problems,” Holiday offered, turning to Lofty.

“Me neither,” agreed her wife.

“Oh thank you!” squeaked Scootaloo, hugging both her mother-figures with a smile.

They returned both the hug and the smile.

“Now we’ll be back tomorrah to pick ya up” Holiday explained, her accent as charming as ever.

“And I can bring some leftover cookies for ya and your little friend,” winked Lofty, making the orange filly giggle.

After saying their goodbyes, Scoots, Applejack, and Apple Bloom raised their forehooves, waving at the two mares as they left.

“Yer jus’ here because ya wanna see Six workin’ tomorrow,” whispered Apple Bloom as she leaned over to Scoots.

“Oh totally,” agreed the pegasus.

The little farmpony just rolled her eyes with a smirk, but didn’t say anything, doing her fellow Crusader a solid.

A few hours later, the sun began to set, and by then both of the fillies were in Apple Bloom’s room. The two Crusaders were small enough to share the bed, with Scootaloo laying on her back, tucked partly in.

“Apple Bloom?” she asked quietly, wide away.

“Yeah?” yawned the youngest of the Apple family.

“You ever think Six came here for a reason?” the filly wondered.

“What’cha mean?” the sleepy farmfilly asked.

“I mean that if he wasn’t here, he wouldn’t have saved me from that river,” Scoots said, shivering at the thought. “And that Bugbear could’ve hurt a ton of ponies without him.”

“It could just be coincidence an’ all,” shrugged the filly.

“I know, but what if it’s not?” Scoots responded.

“I guess somethin’ out there really likes ya then,” smirked Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo crinkled her muzzle at that, before huffing. She didn't say anything, though.

She soon looked out at the window, gazing at Twilight’s moon as she did. She looked at the stars and the vastness of space with an expression of curiosity.

It took a long while but sleep finally overcame her.

Moonlit Walk

The moon was high into the night by now and as Scootaloo and numerous other fillies slept across Ponyville, the Courier toiled away in the Everfree.

Given his helmet’s night vision, there was no need to pause or light anything up to give his position away, meaning he was able to begin construction on his small cabin. With no nails nor pieces of metal to support the logs, he fashioned them together in a very primitive form.

Inspired by a children’s toy in numerous Pre-War magazines he’d seen, he created large divots at the ends of a few of the pieces of logs he was using. He had also flattened out their rounded nature a bit through trimming them with a small hatchet and Knock-Knock, meaning they would stack easier. This would allow them to link together through gravity alone.

He also had to trim any irregularities in the wood to get both ends of the log to a manageable nature. Given he had no other means of keeping them together, that would have to do for the time being.

He briefly pondered and tossed about the idea of using glue. However, chuckled to himself. Given everything around was equine-based, and the main lifeforms were talking horses, it wouldn’t be quite the best idea.

The process was slow, obnoxious, and back breaking, but he did manage to get a rectangular-shaped base laid out. He examined it, crudely measuring with his eyes and then his physical feet.

The base was made from the tree Rainbow Dash had knocked down for him and laid out on a flattened-out plot of dirt, right next to where his firepit still sat.

It was relatively small, only four feet wide and seven feet long, but he was going for shelter, not glamor. Didn’t help any that he’d also nearly run out of wood, as the one tree provided only so much.

As it stood, it would have enough room to lay down in and enough room to store his stuff in. That was more than enough.

He had cut two large lines across one of the four feet long segments to show where he intended to put the doorway to the cabin as well. Other than that, no marks, as there’d be no windows nor extremities nor additions to the basic, rectangular cabin.

For someone belonging to the desert, through his own ingenuity, he managed to get decently far. But even his powerful body had begun to slow down, and he was heaving here and there.

A part of him considered taking off the mask to get more fresh air, but he shrugged that part off immediately.

For the moment, he stopped trimming the log he’d been working on and sat up, hearing his joints pop and groan with effort. Maybe a break was in order…

He shook off the thought for the moment and looked around at some of the trees surrounding him.

Certain ones had large Xs etched in them. They each had a similar width and thickness to the logs he’d already worked on, ensuring the future cabin would be sturdy, even, and stable.

Everything was ready for him to pick back up if needed...

His Brain’s final words echoed in his head a moment later.

Take a bath?

Take a bath!

…

Fuck it, why not?

The Courier wandered the Everfree for a bit until he found a reasonably clean looking stream. It was only a few feet deep, so he wouldn’t get carried away in the reasonable currents.

After scanning around in the clear, rushing water for any predators and checking the bushes nearby for threats, he nodded to himself, and began to take off his riot gear.

Water felt weird against his skin.

Wasn’t often he submerged himself in it.

Reminded him of the time he’d helped the Boomers back at Lake Mead. What a fun trip that was.

There was no soap or anything, so he effectively just scrubbed the grime off himself by hand.

It was basically impossible to make out any details of the large, bulky figure in the night as he bathed.

After a few minutes, he had finished, and dried himself off with a large rag. From there on in he slipped back into his gear, throwing on the pants first. While he reached for his breastplate, however, he paused, eyeing up the stomach area.

He ran his fingers over the hole in the armor that the Bugbear left and remained still. After examining it for a few moments, he narrowed his eyes in thought.

He threw on only his duster and helmet instead, leaving his bare chest exposed as he carried his torso armor in hand, advancing quickly towards the clearing.

After backtracking to the campgrounds, he retrieved a large armor plate from his stash, yanking it out of one of his duffle bags and getting to work on repairing the punctured portion of his stomach piece.

He’d saved a few spare segments and pieces of combat armor for emergency repairs like this. Despite the difference between the two, they were close enough in terms of material and strength for the combat armor’s plating to be a worthy substitute to the riot gear’s.

The Courier took his sewing kit and a bowie knife and got to work, gently cutting through any pieces of fabric. His night vision helmet continued to come in handy, letting him work in the shallow moonlight.

He remained there, crouched over a small stump he used as a makeshift table for the almost surgical procedure. Should he make any mistakes, it could compromise the armor, thus he continued on slowly and carefully.

Eventually, he tugged the damaged plating away from the main chest piece and examined it.

The stinger's impact point was gnarly, with the armor having caved inwards, leaving several jagged edges that likely added to the impalement he’d received earlier. He even noticed some dried blood covering it as well.

After tossing the damaged plate to the ground, he got to work inserting in the new one. He made sure it interlocked properly with the rest of the armor, and when it looked like it would set fine, he sewed it back into place. Six then gave it a few rough, testing punches, making sure it stuck solidly to his riot gear.

His knuckles hurt after the fifth blow, and a piece of him even considered shooting it with at least a 9mm to ensure his safety. After some thought, he shot down the idea, as he didn’t feel like needlessly damaging the armor.

Instead, he then just wiped it down with the same wet towel he’d dried himself off with from earlier, cleaning off the dried blood, the muck, and the sandy grime that clung to it.

Finally, he was able to cover up his chest with the snug fitting, slightly cleaner armor. He then reapplied his duster over it as well. After a second, he considered sewing up the claw marks the Bugbear had left in it as well, but for the moment he decided against it.

Not important right now.

With his armor repaired, just sat down, his back to a tree as he let himself just… take it all in.

He nodded to nothing as he eyed the grass, the trees, the falling leaves around him.

This… nature, it was strange.

He gnawed on the interior of his cheek for a moment, before he reached into a satchel and pulled out a small stick of bubblegum. He adjusted his helmet, popped it into his mouth and straightened it back in one swift, familiar motion.

The geiger counter beeped again, but he just ignored it as the sandy, faintly sugary taste filled his mouth.

He rubbed his thumb across his index finger, scrunching his glove a bit. He did this as he did his best to “relax” for lack of a better term. Six almost felt as if the strangeness of the past few days was going to affect him, but he just shook it off with a low grunt.

He looked back over to the logs he had shaped up for the base of his soon to be tiny cabin, and considered getting back to work, but a large piece of him didn’t want to.

Maybe it was exhaustion from the fight. Maybe it was his lack of sleep. Maybe it was laziness. Maybe all three?

A faint piece of him wanted to pick a random direction, saddle up, and just wander.

A fainter piece of him wanted someone to talk to.

An even fainter piece wanted sleep.

He just sighed, got up and began to walk away from his camp back towards Ponyville.

He didn’t hide himself this time, and as he got to the forest’s edge, he just strolled along. There wasn’t anypony or creature out at this time anyways.

There was no direction in the wanderings, barely even followed the pathways; he just walked.

The moon above gave everything a nice, ethereal glow. Reminded him of the nightly wanderings in the desert.

There were rolling hills ahead, with a few houses dotting them. Ponyville proper was in the distance, with most of the windows on the various abodes and establishments being shuttered for the night.

Off in the distance he could see a great mountain. Atop of which was a great city, and in the middle of the great city was the greatest sight of all; a gigantic, medieval-styled castle.

He hadn’t particularly noticed the sight before, given the prior times he was walking near the town, he was laying low. But with that burden off his shoulders, he could examine more freely.

It almost reminded him of the occasional splash pages the Tæles of Chivalrie magazines would offer. However, instead of faded printing on wood pulp paper, this was a gorgeous, scenic view, with stars dotting the inky sky above.

A pleasant sight.

A sense of civilization that equaled the lit-up Strip; possibly even surpassed it in some regards.

Even if it wasn’t one crafted by humans, it made him imagine the days of old. Not just Pre-War, before even that.

The days of knights, trusty steeds, and kings. Unique days, though all-in-all, not completely dissimilar to what he’d come from, even after a millennium of years separating the two time periods.

Instead of swords, it was firearms.

Instead of horses, it was great metal tanks and vertibirds.

Instead of steel plates, it was advanced alloys and composites powered by nuclear fusion.

War was uncreative like that.

Six stopped gazing at the sights for a bit and walked along down a trail for a bit. He soon saw a wooden bench up ahead and tiredly made his way to it.

He sat down, leaning back so his spine rested against the supportive yet uncomfortable backstop of the bench. The human rested his right arm on the armrest at the end of the bench. The Courier then raised his left one and laid it along the top portion of the back rail.

Let himself sit like that casually. Was almost comfortable in a way.

Felt a bit boring too though.

This is normalcy… Strange.

He just sat there, and chewed gum, and waited.

And waited.

Almost like that of a statue.

One would think he’d died if he didn’t occasionally look around or adjust his position. It was as if he was mentally counting the hours, waiting for nothing in particular.

Bon Bon couldn’t sleep.

She rolled and tossed and turned under her sheets, but tried to keep her movements to a minimum so she didn’t wake up Lyra.

Her wife just snoozed away, snoring loudly as she rested off the long day.

Normally, Bon Bon would be annoyed at her, but on this night, that wasn’t the reason for her lack of sleep.

Every time she closed her eyes, she could see it, that same scene over and over.

A terrified aquamarine unicorn.

A gigantic beast about to rip her apart.

She felt the terror again, making her nearly give herself a panic attack.

It was about an hour and a half later she finally gave up on sleeping.

Bon Bon sighed to herself, gently rolling out of bed. She was quiet, like one would expect of a special agent. Her lithe body allowed her to slip out of the large bed, leaving the snoring unicorn alone.

Thankfully it wasn’t a cuddle night, otherwise that would’ve been a pain.

Regardless, the earth pony snuck out of the bedroom. Soon she wrapped a small scarf around her neck and exited out of the house completely, walking into the chilly night.

No destination in mind. No ponies to visit, anyways.

Sadly, Vinyl Scratch wasn’t having a late-night rave or anything, otherwise she might’ve slipped into that to at least hear some music, have a drink.

No, as it stood, she had no crowds to blend into, nor any backgrounds to hide in.

It was just her and the streets of Ponyville.

Such a strange sensation.

Seeing the town alive so often made the deadness of it seem so much more bizarre.

It reminded her almost of the time Equestria was under attack by the Mean Three. Most ponies split apart during that time, went back to their baser roots, hated one another and acted tribal.

But Lyra and Bon Bon hadn’t. Love had kept them from doing so.

Ah, there it was again!

She’d almost cleared her head, and now the Bugbear incident was back inside it once more!

Her brow furrowed at herself in annoyance. Bon Bon just huffed and walked along, getting to the outskirts of the town now.

The mare felt a cool breeze fly by, likely courtesy of a few night-duty weather pegasi.

It was enjoyable. Calmed her nerves, almost.

Still though, she toiled with her thoughts, trying to face them and then shove them out of her mind, giving herself some peace.

It only partly worked though, as even after that she felt herself going back to those same, horrific “what ifs” over and over again.

She was a secret agent! How could something as basic as a near-casualty make her so antsy?

Well, the answer was obviously just who the near-casualty was.

The earth pony had strayed quite far from Ponyville now, with it being a decent ways behind her. She was now in the outer rolling hills of the town, following no trail in particular.

She and Lyra had faced so much together. All the monster attacks, the secrets, the daily struggles of life.

To be left alone, to have all of that ripped away...

Bon Bon sniffled but held it together thanks to her training.

Still, her mind was so clouded she didn’t notice the bench up ahead until a pair of glowing red, beady eyes stared back.

The earth pony paused, her eyes widening in shock, but after a moment of examination, she sighed.

“Don’t scare me like that!” she shouted.

“You walked up on me!” huffed back the human, shaking his head as he looked away.

She bit her tongue and rolled her eyes at that.

He was right, but the stubborn mare didn’t dare admit it.

“What are you doing here?” she asked as she approached. “I thought you went off to the forest or something.”

“Can a man not have a nightly stroll?” he just replied back as he switched his position, leaning down and resting his elbows on his thighs.

“You just didn’t strike me as the pony-friendly type,” Bon Bon said.

“I’m not,” he replied. “Why do you think I’m out here so late?”

The mare just sighed and hoisted herself up onto the bench, sitting beside him.

“The real question is why are you out here,” he pointed out. “Insomnia?”

“I guess,” she said, sounding a bit cold.

“If you don’t wanna talk about your shit, fine by me,” he shrugged. “I just figured you ponies were all about happiness and feelings and honesty and problem solving and… rainbows or something.”

“Not all of us are friendly and open,” she responded.

“Whatever,” he said simply, leaning back and readjusting himself again.

The two were silent for a bit, just sitting there together.

Bon Bon awkwardly looked away from him, though she did peak a few quick glances at him, all the while he just stared off in the distance at nothing specific.

After a minute longer, she finally broke down and sighed.

“I never got to thank you,” she said, “for saving my wife, I mean.”

“Ahh, they allow that here,” he shrugged. “Didn’t realize you guys were that progressive.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow and finally turning to him.

“Nothing, just musing to myself,” he explained. “But really, you don’t have to thank me. I got enough of those back at the hospital.”

“I noticed, you’re not really an open book, wonder if all humans are that way,” she said casually.

He shot up into a straightened position and turned to her.

“How’d you know what I was?” he asked her.

“Oh uh… Rainbow Dash?” she offered with a nervous chuckle.

“No, no, you said that shit too casually,” he said. “I was told humans didn’t exist here, but hearing that? Now I’m beginning to worry.”

She sighed, giving in with little resistance. Surprising, giving her affinity with keeping secrets.

“Alright, I’ll say what I know, but you have to promise me you won’t freak out,” Bon Bon said carefully.

“Sister, you have no idea what I’ve been through this week, and not once did I freak out over it,” he just replied.

“I…” she examined him with a cocked eyebrow, “...alright.”

He leaned in, ready for what she had to say.

“My wife, back a few years when we were just dating, she had this…” Bon Bon paused, trying to figure out how to phrase her next words, before shrugging, “...She had an obsession with the mythological, you know? Strange, nonexistent creatures.”

“Uh huh?” he asked, if his helmet could show it, it’d likely raise an eyebrow itself.

“Well, among the list of stuff like Bighoof or Mothpony, there were,” she paused, giving a sigh, “humans.”

“Humans?” he questioned.

She nodded back.

“I know you’re not exactly what they looked like,” she elaborated. “They had no fur except for on their heads, and they had two eyes, a small weird looking nose, lips, all that stuff. But you look like one, in shape anyways, just wearing a lot of armor.”

“So, what exactly were humans to you?” he asked.

“Just old ponytales,” Bon Bon shrugged. “Sometimes they ate little foals who disobeyed their parents. Other times they’d act like caveponies, throwing spears and bashing each other with clubs. A few of the legends even had them as great protectors, appearing to save lost and wayward ponies, leading them back to their homes.”

The mare just sighed again.

“It was no different than aliens or robots to me, just all make-believe stuff that a few kooky ponies invested too much time in,” she admitted. “Almost like all those stupid Daring Do conventions.”

“So I’m like a, I don’t know, fake story to you?” he asked back, obviously sensing the irony in the situation; he himself being the make-believe mythical beast in the land of ponies and dragons and God-knows-what-else.

He would’ve laughed at the idea had he not been face to face with a talking mare right now.

“Well not anymore,” she admitted. “At this rate, I wish Lyra hadn’t given that stuff up. She even was thinking about this spell where she could create her own hands out of magic. Stopped working on it before we got married though.”

“If it’s any consolation, if I went back to where I was from and told other humans about talking ponies and pegasi and unicorns, I’d be locked in a looney bin,” he said. “Well, if there were any.”

“Where exactly are you from?” she questioned. "And how did you get here?"

“I don’t even really know myself at this point, lady,” he admitted. “I just went to sleep and the next thing I knew I was in a forest plummeting out of a tree. And before you ask, no, I didn’t have a magical artifact, and no, I can’t use magic.”

She “hmm’d” to herself in thought.

“I’m not big on magic usage, even with Lyra, she’s not exactly a masterful spell-user compared to a pony like Star Swirl, Starlight, or Twilight,” admitted the earth pony.

“Just a bunch of sky-based names running around with all your power, huh?” he stated flatly.

“You have no idea,” she chuckled, remembering Luna and Celestia’s reign as she gazed at the stars.

“You know,” he began, but paused himself, wondering if he should continue, as if he was thinking back on something.

He soon shrugged as she looked over at him with curiosity.

Fuck it, might as well be a bit open for once.

“Aliens exist too, but I don’t think they’re anywhere near your guys’ part of the galaxy,” he said with a smirk.

“H-how would you know?” she asked, surprised.

“Just do me a favor and don’t ask on that front,” he said, almost chuckling. “I just know.”

Her face scrunched, and she folded her forehooves.

“You’re just screwing with me now,” she scoffed, turning away from him cutely.

“Hey that’s fine! Don’t believe me,” he said, leaning back with a chuckle.

They were silent for a bit, him looking up at the stars while she faced away, still annoyed looking.

After a while, she finally spoke again.

“Lyra was the only pony who ever seemed to care about me,” she admitted to him.

She didn’t know exactly why.

Maybe a piece of her thought he could keep a secret, or maybe it was because another piece believed he didn’t exactly give a damn and wouldn’t bring it up.

“I spent years of my life feeling like I was living in the background, you know?” she questioned.

“I can’t relate to that, sorry,” he admitted. “But surely you had something going on?”

“I did…” she sighed. “But it took away any chance at normalcy I had in life.”

He nodded silently, not pressing what exactly she was referring to.

“Until I met her, felt her love... I was nothing,” Bon Bon admitted, tears faintly welling in her eyes. “If I had lost her, I don’t think I could’ve lived with myself.”

“And here I was thinking this place was all sunshine and rainbows,” he sighed, though she felt a faint piece of sympathy coming from him.

“I don’t know exactly where I was going with this,” she admitted. “I guess I just needed somepon- somecreature to vent to.”

“I’m not exactly a grade-A therapist, but I understand where you’re coming from,” he replied.

“I just felt weak after the incident at the dam, you know?” she asked. “I’m a bit tougher than most ponies, had a couple of fights but… even then I couldn’t do anything to save her.”

“Sometimes it’s not about winning, it’s about giving it what you’ve got,” he pointed out.

“And what I had wasn’t enough to save Lyra,” she sighed.

“Maybe not,” he shrugged, “but you two bought me enough time to put the fucker down. I couldn’t’ve done it without you. Look on the bright side! Because of you, that thing can’t break up any more lesbian pony couples.”

She laughed dryly at that.

“I guess,” she offered, her tone still shaky.

“Look, I’m not exactly one for that love and stuff, but I can say that dragging around that weight, that uhh… guilt. It isn’t good,” he offered. “Eats ya up inside, ya break down, can’t think right. Let it consume you and you just become a shell. It’s not pretty.”

“I know but I still can’t shake it,” she said, her voice hitching.

He looked over at her, seeing the tears streaming down her face.

Six just rolled his eyes, before reaching out a hand. He awkwardly patted her on the shoulder, giving her a bit of support.

She shocked him by leaning in for a full-on hug. Unlike a child, Bon Bon was a full mare, so her grip was stronger and more unexpected.

“Ooo…kay,” he said, patting his back as he looked around, as if he wanted something to leap out of nowhere and help him.

When nothing came, he sighed, accepting his situation.

“Look, uh…” he blanked, realizing he never got her name.

“Bon Bon,” she answered, her voice muffled by the jacket she was crying into.

“Bon Bon, you’re a strong mare, alright?” he said. “You can get through this. Just go back home, wait for your wife to wake up, take the day off or something. Just enjoy your time with her.”

She sniffled, breaking back to look up at him. His red lenses met her bright, expressive eyes as he continued.

“You should realize that people you love aren’t gonna always be there, which is why you need to enjoy the time you do have with them,” he offered.

“B-but Lyra is my world,” she admitted.

“I know… but you’ve gotta have friends, right?” he pointed out. “Everyone else here does anyways.”

“Well, I know a few, like Derpy and Doctor Whooves,” Bon Bon admitted, wiping away tears with her forehoof.

“That’s a good start,” he encouraged. “Think of it like this; if anything happens to Lyra, if they’re good friends, they’ll be there for you, thick and thin and all that.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she nodded. “It’d be impossible to face, even with their help, though.”

“I’ve heard something like that before,” he shrugged, briefly thinking to the Freeside junkies he'd helped. He shook it off quickly though. “But no problem is too big to face, especially when you’re not alone.”

Bon Bon nodded again.

“And you’re not alone,” he pointed out, giving it a sense of finality. “And if you want more friends, just make ‘em. This place doesn’t have a shortage of those it seems.”

“Right,” she said. “I’m sorry about all of that… you’re not used to hugs, I guess. You kinda suck at them.”

He laughed dryly at that and just nodded as he looked out at the rolling hills of Ponyville.

“Sorry, guess that wasn’t very funny,” she sighed.

“Don’t become a broken record on me now,” he huffed back, before giving her an assuring pat on the shoulder, a small bit of force into it. “After the whole ‘getting your emotions out’ you should feel like a million caps- er… bits!”

Bon Bon nodded, a faint smile on her lips.

“You know, I know you’re alone out here,” she said, before looking back towards the town.

“What gave you that idea?” he snarked.

“You can bunk with us, if you want,” offered the earth pony.

“Nah I’m… I don’t know if that’d be a good idea,” he admitted.

“Come on!” she huffed, prodding him in the shoulder with a forehoof. “Lyra would love to have you!”

“I’m fine,” he said.

“We have a couch and everything!” she offered, giving a smile.

“You’re persistent,” he stated.

“I learned it from my wife,” she giggled.

“Look, I’m not gonna be here for that long anyways, so I shouldn-”

“Even more reason to room with us for the time you are here!” she pointed out.

He paused; his pointer finger raised. After a moment, he huffed, bringing it back down and letting both his palms rest dangling between his legs.

“Just think of it as repayment for saving us!” she added.

“Maybe later,” he said tiredly.

“You didn’t say no,” she chuckled in victory.

“Didn’t say yes either,” he pointed out, tugging back hard on her minor victory.

“That means you thought about it as a possibility,” she shot back.

“Look, just give me a bit,” he grunted.

“Fine, fine,” she smirked, and patted him again, giving a bit of an embarrassed chuckle. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he huffed, leaning back tiredly. “I just have a long shift tomorrow and I need time to think.”

“Get some sleep,” she offered.

“I’m fine. Don’t need it,” he said, stifling a yawn.

“Riiight,” she smirked, raising an eyebrow.

“Look, just go home to your wife, alright?” he shrugged. “Have lesbian makeup sex or something.”

She looked at him in shock.

“Are all humans as crass as you?” she growled back, blushing all the while.

“You’d be surprised,” he stated flatly.

She huffed in embarrassment and remained silent.

After a bit, he reached into his satchel and pulled out his ever-decreasing cigarette pack. Only about half a dozen smokes left.

Regardless, he pulled one out and adjusted his helmet, putting it in his lips.

Bon Bon looked at him, as if she were pondering something. After a moment, the mare spoke.

“Can I have one?” she asked.

He looked down at her in surprise.

“You’re notta addict, are ya?” he asked, his cancer stick clenched in his teeth.

“I’m not. I Pinkie Promise,” she said, making him cock an eye at the strange phrase. “I just do it on occasion. Helps me every now and then.”

Six gauged her reaction, finding it genuine. He then looked down at his smokes and wondered. They shouldn’t be radioactive, never set off the geiger counter, anyways. Just old, but even then, tobacco keeps.

After thinking it over, he shrugged and offered her one, putting it between her lips.

He pulled out his engraved lighter and lit his first and then hers.

She couldn’t make out his lower jaw’s features, but she looked at him thankfully as she huffed down the smoke. Tasted stale. Still, nothing else wrong with it.

She reached up a forehoof and removed it from her mouth, blowing out some smoke. She looked unsure at the stale flavor of the cancer stick, but still seemed thankful for it.

“You need a new brand,” Bon Bon eventually said, smirking.

“Tell me about it,” he just rolled his eyes.

Two streams of smoke billowed upwards as the two sat on that bench.

She enjoyed his company despite his coldness.

He…

Wouldn’t admit he enjoyed hers.

Not to her face anyways.

A Work Day

Bon Bon was only able to remain with the human for another hour or so, and by then her eyelids had become too heavy for her to ignore.

She yawned her goodbyes as she wandered off back towards the town itself.

“Remember…” she said tiredly, stifling another yawn, “Lyra and I would love to have you!”

He didn’t give her a proper answer back, just nodding and waving.

Now though he was alone, sitting on the bench and enjoying the night slowly bleeding away from him.

He never slept, just waited some more.

Waiting for hours on end was an impressive skill he’d mastered by now though.

After a while, the sun slowly began to rise into the sky, and he stood up as it turned the blackness of night into a pale blue of the early morning. He then made his way towards Sweet Apple Acres, with the wind picking up and sending his coat billowing behind him as he went.

The human soon entered into the orchard proper, travelling down the trail towards their quaint rural home.

Inside said farmhouse the Apples and their plus one awoke, getting ready for the day.

“Now Scoot,” yawned Apple Bloom as the two fillies sat at the kitchen table, “I know yer all excited fer Six an’ all, but don’t distract him too much, alright? He will be helpin’ us work the fields, after all.”

“Right, I’m sure he’ll help you get everything finished up in no time!” the excited filly said with a smirk, before taking a bite of cereal, she continued with a full mouth. “An’ then, wea’ll b’able to hang o’t aw’ll day!”

Apple Bloom just rolled her eyes at her friend talking through a bite of the sugary flakes, but she soon smirked.

Soon enough, Applejack trotted into the kitchen, adjusting her hat with a forehoof as she did.

“Ya’ll are up mighty early,” she smirked. “Not often yer up before me, Apple Bloom.”

“Because ya don’t have to deal with a human-obsessed pegasus wakin’ ya up extra early,” huffed the farmfilly, bags under her eyes.

“Sorry,” squeaked Scootaloo with a blush.

“Well, Scootaloo, would ya like to chip in an’ help us?” Applejack offered. “Big Mac’s a bit tired after havin’ ta handle most of that order yesterday by himself, so I’m sure he wouldn’t mind ya helpin' us lighten the load.”

“You mean I can work with Six?” the filly asked with an excited shout, her little wings buzzing around in joy.

“Ya weren’t kiddin’ when ya said human-obsessed,” Applejack looked to her sister and raised an eyebrow.

“Told ya,” Apple Bloom said, resting her chin on a forehoof in a tired manner.

“Well, I suppose ya could help him, but yer gonna have to not let yerself get distracted,” Applejack explained.

Scootaloo nodded, before giving a serious face and saluting.

“Yes ma’am! I’ll be the best farmhoof you can get!” she said, as if she were a soldier addressing a general.

“That’s the spirit!” Applejack chuckled good-naturedly at the excited filly’s display.

A little while later, Big Mac entered into the kitchen with a tired gait, and after he and Applejack quickly cooked themselves up a meal, the Apples and Scootaloo were outside, looking over the fields.

“Alright, today’s gonna be a lot easier than the last few on ya, Big Mac,” assured Applejack with a smirk.

She then turned to Scootaloo and explained.

“Now listen, this is gonna be a basic round up of apples in the east orchard,” she said down to the little filly. “Think ya can handle it?”

“You know it!” she shouted with a smirk, before looking past Applejack.

Her eyes widened as she saw him leaning up against the front wall of the barn, waiting by the door.

Immediately the little filly practically disappeared in a cloud of smoke as she zoomed over at him with shocking speeds.

Six’s senses were dulled from lack of sleep, so he only turned just in time to see an orange blur slam into his thigh, wrapping around it and giving him a vice-like hug.

“Woah, woah, what the hell!” he grunted, looking down and trying to pry off the small pegasus.

"It’s so great to finally see you again!” she squeaked.

“Kid, it was like a day at best,” he grunted.

“I know but you were hurt then!” Scoots said. “Now that you’re back to normal, everything is awesome again!”

“Yeah, awesome or whatever, can you let go now?” he huffed, managing to shove his hand down between the filly and his thigh.

The filly blushed as she hopped back, landing on all fours.

“Sorry,” she said in embarrassment.

“What are you doing here anyways?” he asked, dusting his pants off.

“I had a sleepover with Apple Bloom!” she explained.

“Gee, I wonder why,” he rolled his eyes, needing only one guess as to Scoots’ sudden interest in staying with the Apples.

“Come on, I’m not just gonna stand around and talk all day, I’m gonna help you too!” she explained.

He just sighed as Applejack opened up the barn getting a large wagon and several buckets ready.

“Alright ya’ll, let’s hop to it!” she shouted as she hitched the wagon to her back.

From there, the five of them strolled into the fields proper and broke off into two groups.

Given the Apples worked most effectively together, Big Mac, Applejack, and Apple Bloom obviously were one unit. This of course left the Courier and Scootaloo together to handle their portion of the harvest as a duo.

The little pegasus took bucket duty, making sure to line up several of the large containers around the base of the tree. Despite her small size and weaker frame compared to an earth pony like Apple Bloom, the athletic filly was able to do an effective, speedy job.

The Courier’s shoulders received their workout of smashing into numerous apple trees, all the while Scootaloo watched on, impressed at his display. While he wasn’t exactly able to punch through trees and logs like a certain quick-moving pegasus, the human’s physique allowed him to knock down several buckets-worth of apples in only a few shoulder-slams.

“So cool,” she beamed, wide-eyed at him as he shook a tree with a harsh tackle.

He stepped back and popped his shoulder joint with a grunt before turning to her.

“You gonna just stand there all day, or you gonna help me move these freaking buckets?” he asked before he picked one up.

“O-oh, right!” she nodded, before rushing over and carefully balancing one onto her back.

Six walked ahead towards a nearby cart and sat his bucket down into it. Scoots also brought hers over and he hoisted it up and onto the cart as well.

For her part, she was a good help, seeming to just bask in the Courier’s presence as he worked the trees. He was able to fell most of the apples with just a few blows, making decent pace.

The Apples obviously worked faster and more effectively, and as the day stretched on, the five of them were able to finish up a good portion of the harvest in a decent time.

After a few hours, the Apples took a quick break on a hill nearby. Of course, they got a few delicious treats and drinks courtesy of Sugar Belle, who was always happy to help where possible.

The three siblings looked down at the human and pegasus they worked at the remaining trees, getting close to being done by now.

“Ya know Big Mac, yer right,” Applejack said, wiping her brow under her hat with a forehoof. “He is a pretty good help after all.”

“Eeeyup,” smirked her older brother back.

“It’s been a good while since I’ve seen Scootaloo this happy,” chimed in Apple Bloom. “He’s almost like the uncle she never had.”

“Some uncle,” chuckled the older farmpony.

They watched as Six and Scootaloo loaded up one final batch of apples and soon enough the human began dragging the cart back towards the barn to store the harvested crops away.

“If he cut back on his swears an’ minded his manners, he’d be a real stand-up fella,” Applejack said as she watched the two make their way through the orchards below.

Scootaloo bounced along beside him as he drug along the cart. The three couldn’t hear her from their vantage, but they could tell the two were talking. Even with only his body language, they could tell he was no doubt a bit annoyed by the little filly’s barrage of words.

The Courier placed the filled cart inside the barn and took a moment to rest, leaning against the red-painted outer wall once more.

“You alright?” Scootaloo asked, though she herself was soaking with sweat.

“Fine,” he huffed tiredly, before shaking his head, trying to wake himself back up. “It’s nothing.”

She looked at him with uncertainty as the rest of the Apple family crested a nearby hill and soon approached with their own cart.

“Well now, Six, ya did pretty well fer yerself!” complimented Applejack as she put the second cart into the barn. “That should be enough to sell for the next day or so! So yer free from havin' ta come back tomorrow!”

“Yeah,” he nodded, his voice sounding drained. “It was nothing.”

“Well, jus’ give me a sec an’ I’ll get yer bits!” she smirked, leaving the tired human alone with his tiny pegasus companion.

“Alright now I’m starting to worry about you again,” Scoots said with a frown.

“I’m fine,” he repeated.

“I don’t know why you don’t just take a nap or something,” she pointed out.

“I’m alright, I will later,” he huffed.

“Alright,” she squeaked simply, though she still held an air of worry about her.

The pegasus shuffled there in an awkward silence for a bit before Applejack soon came back out of the house with Six’s payment for the day.

He took it and gave the mare a nod, putting it back into one of his satchels.

“Well, ya helped us get through that harvest ahead of schedule,” she complimented, looking up at him with a smile.

“I’m shocked you don’t have more workers, these fields are huge,” he said, looking out at the orchard.

“Sometimes we do, but it seems everypony’s just got their own jobs ta work,” she admitted.

The Courier nodded silently, as if he was thinking about something.

“Ya know, Sugar Belle’s still got some leftover fritters and juice, ya want any?” she asked.

Six almost said yes, as his stomach hadn’t had much to work with recently.

“I don’t know, Granny Smith said you guys were low on funds, I figure you’d need all the foo-”

“We live in an orchard, Six,” she huffed, rolling her eyes. “Can ya drop that loner schtick fer just five seconds an’ enjoy a snack with us?”

He was silent, staring away from her and out into the orchard.

“Jus’ think of it as a bonus payment, alright?” she added, her tone more neutral, almost pleading.

The Courier nodded, still looking off into the distance.

“Fine,” he finally shrugged with a tired sigh.

Applejack and Scootaloo both looked up at him with joyful smirks.

A little while later, the three sat at a small picnic table out in the orchard, with the Courier having a small plate of fritters, accompanied by a small glass of juice.

“That cinnamon?” he asked, currently chewing down a bite of the fritter and looking off into the distance yet again.

“Yeah! They have fritters back where you’re from?” Applejack asked curiously.

“They might, but I don’t think I’ve ever had one,” he admitted. “Apples aren’t that common. A lot of fresh fruit isn’t.”

“That sucks,” Scootaloo sighed, before sipping down a glass of juice in one go, the sugary liquid filling her up nicely after only having had a bowl of cereal that morning.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” the human said simply, before taking another bite, still leaning away from the two.

“Well I jus’ hope everycreature worked as hard as ya!” Applejack complimented.

“Eh, sometimes, but others…” he paused, not finishing that thought. “Not really.”

“That just says more about you then!” Scootaloo squeaked with a smile.

“What?” he asked simply.

“I mean, if you came from a bad place where there were all kinds of bad creatures and other things, then that just means you’re a hero because you’re so good!” she explained.

“Okay you’re looking at this like it’s some sort of comic or something,” he huffed. “I’m not a hero, and in general, not everything else was bad.”

Just most of it, a piece of him wanted to say.

“But you are a hero!” she retorted. “After saving me, and then killing the Bugbear, and helping out those other ponies like Derpy-”

“Just, quit it,” he shut her down. “You’re giving me a headache, kid.”

The filly frowned at that.

Applejack’s mood also seemed to go down a little bit.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds.

“The fritters were good!” he suddenly exclaimed, as if he’d sensed the added tones of tension. “Nice uh… cinnamony flavor, apples were fresh too.”

“Thanks, I’m sure Sugar Belle will be mighty glad to hear that,” Applejack managed, giving a small smile.

He nodded, looking down at the empty plate and the clean glass.

“Well, I guess if you don’t need anything else, I’ll be going,” he spoke up after another few seconds of silence.

“You’re leaving already?” Scootaloo asked with a frown.

“That’s how work is kid,” the Courier said, turning to Applejack. “Unless you got anything else you want?”

“Well, maybe ya should check out Ponyville, folks always need plenty of help around there!” offered the farmpony.

“I don’t know if they’d wanna hire a big scary human,” he pointed out.

“Could ask Rarity if she needs anything,” Applejack pondered. “After Spike left, she’s… well she lost her best assistant.”

“Spike?” Six asked.

“Oh, right,” she said with a snort. “He’s Twilight’s little brother and also her greatest assistant.”

“Ah,” he nodded.

“He’s also a dragon!” Scootaloo added.

“Of course he is,” the human said tiredly.

After a moment of silence, the Courier suddenly spoke, turning to Applejack.

“You know, before I go, those are pigs you have, right?” he questioned.

“Yeah?” she said back. “We use ‘em for fertilizer.”

“How much for one?” he asked suddenly.

“What fer?” she questioned; a bit confused.

“I remember this really old recipe, uhh black soup, made from pig,” he answered casually. “Always wanted to try it, pork wasn’t that common back where I was from.”

Applejack looked at him in disgust.

“Ya eat pigs?” she asked.

“Well, we used to,” Six shrugged. “Typically I stuck to rats and reptiles, sometimes dogs.”

She cringed at that.

“Ya might wanna consider changin’ yer diet,” she offered.

“Yeah you’re all herbivores or whatever here, but humans need their protein,” he said. “Meat’s the simplest way to go about it.”

“I’m fine with sellin’ ya eggs, but… well those pigs are special ta us,” admitted Applejack. “Almost like family.”

“Right, pets,” the human shrugged. “I get it. Figured it was worth the offer.”

“You know, griffons eat meat sometimes too,” offered Scootaloo after a moment of thought. “Gabby said they do on occasion anyways. Maybe if you're ever in Griffonstone, they might have that black soup stuff!”

“Maybe,” he nodded, looking back towards the farmhouse for a moment. “Also, what’s up with the carrot patches? I thought this was an orchard.”

“Huh?” Applejack balked for a moment, before realizing what he meant. “Ohhh, those are Golden Harvest’s. She’s a relative of ours. Keeps mostly ta herself, though.”

He nodded.

Well, at least he had a place to get fresh carrots.

“Thanks for the meal and all, but I should go get some more work done,” he said, standing up.

“Wait!” Scoots squeaked.

“What is it, kid?” he huffed.

“Can you walk me back home?” she asked.

“Don’t you know your way around town? You’ve lived here longer than me!” he pointed out.

“Well yeah…” she admitted, “but I was thinking we could go together, if you’re heading into Ponyville anyways.”

He looked down at her.

She replied back by giving a sad, almost puppy dog-like face.

He stared, putting his hands on his hips.

Her lip quivered as her eyes went big and wet looking.

He finally sighed.

“Alright, come on,” he huffed.

“Awesome!” she shouted, going back to normal.

“I knew it was a damn trick,” he crossed his arms.

She just grinned back sheepishly.

It was a bit later when Scootaloo grabbed her saddlebag and the duo headed off back towards Ponyville. The Courier walked on behind her as she trotted along, letting her lead the way towards her house.

It was in the afternoon by now, and the numerous ponies throughout the town were starting to either get off work or just begin finishing up their shifts.

He could feel their eyes on him as he strolled into the town proper. A familiar sensation.

A sensation of judgment.

A sensation of being feared.

And… even the sensation of being venerated.

It was rarer than the others, but he knew some of the ponies who looked at him saw him as something more than a scary looking beast.

He wasn’t exactly sure if that was a good or a bad thing, but he pressed on regardless.

Soon enough he could see a large, ornate structure with what seemed to be a big carousel on top of it, complete with several pony sculptures. He paused, looking up at the building. It was definitely one of the more impressive ones he’d seen in the town.

“That’s the Carousel Boutique,” explained Scootaloo, stopping to gaze at it along with him. “Rarity’s place.”

“Strange decor,” he shrugged, examining the business as he did.

“I was never really into that frilly stuff either,” admitted the pegasus, “but she sure can sew a cool outfit if you know what to ask her!”

“I guess I could drop by there,” he mused to himself.

She looked up at him with a smirk.

“After I’m done taking you home,” he huffed.

“Aw come on, I won’t bother you while you help her, honest!” Scootaloo squeaked.

“Hey, you wanted me to walk you home. I’m doing just that,” he chuckled.

“No fair,” she pouted, but he just walked up beside her.

“Go on, let’s get you back home,” he smirked.

She was shocked whenever he leaned down and picked her up.

He held her close to his chest like a cat as he began to move.

“Now just point the way,” he said.

She leaned into his chest as she sighed.

“I could get used to this,” she smirked, feeling like a princess as she rested in his arms.

“Don’t,” he growled back.

After giving a quick hello and an immediate goodbye to Aunt Holiday and Aunt Lofty, the Courier bid farewell to them and their adoptive filly.

As much as Scootaloo wanted him to stay, (and as much as he could tell her aunts didn’t want him to stay) he left her where she belonged, going back towards the Boutique.

As he approached, inside of the fashion store Rarity sat, glasses on and toiling over a large desk sprawling with various pieces of paper.

She huffed at herself, magically drawing up new plans only to crumple up the resulting piece and tossing it aside.

“No,” she growled.

She fashioned another rough sketch, and after eyeing it, threw it away too.

“That won’t work!” the fashionista bemoaned.

She drew up yet another one, and then immediately ripped it apart.

“Oh come on Rarity! You’re better than this!” she groaned.

After a few more moments though, she slumped forwards and sighed as she pressed face-first into her desk.

“How I wish Spikey Wikey was here,” the unicorn said, a sad tone in her voice. “He’d yank me out of this slump.”

As she pondered her sorry state, suddenly she heard the door downstairs open up.

Her eyes widened and she snapped to attention, levitating a brush over.

“Goodness, a customer! Have to look spotless,” she said to herself, combing through her mane before she soon looked at herself in the mirror.

She nodded and rushed towards the entrance to greet whoever would be waiting for her.

“Hello and welcome to-...” her voice trailed off.

He stood, looking bulky and utterly out of place surrounded by the numerous clothes racks worth of dresses she had out on display. His dirty, leather-clad frame clashed utterly with the pristine silks and linens.

“Oh, erm, hello, mister Six,” she said, her tone taking one of uncertainty.

“You needed help last time I checked?” he asked. “You said that back at the waterfall, right?”

“I… suppose I did,” she admitted, regretting herself a bit now. “Though in the chaos of the past day or so, I did honestly forget it.”

“It’s fine,” he shrugged. “So, what do you need help with?”

“Well, I typically am able to handle this by myself, but recently I have had… well, a stifling of my creativity,” she explained

“You know, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve handled something like that,” he admitted, thinking back to the time he helped Michael Angelo. Soon he shrugged it off though. “But uh, what’s got you down?”

“Well, in truth, I had a dear friend move away recently,” she explained with a sad sigh. “My little Spikey Wi- er…”

She paused and looked at him, giving an embarrassed blush, which was clearly visible due to her pale fur.

“Ahem. Sorry, I mean, Spike, he moved to Canterlot about six months or so ago with Twilight,” she said, still blushing through her white coat.

“Ah, can’t visit him either, I guess,” Six nodded.

“Not for a while at least, my schedule is packed, and this isn’t helping,” she admitted.

“Maybe some inspiration is in order then?” he shrugged.

She looked at him, surprised he offered a decent idea.

“Well, that is true, and typically I’m an utter queen at figuring out what to help get my creativity flowing, but recently even that’s difficult,” she sighed.

The human was silent for a moment in thought.

“Why not pay tribute to him?” he offered. “I mean, really get it out of your mind, put all your emotions into one of your dresses, like an artist throwing paint all over a canvas, you know?”

She was silent, toiling over his words.

“I… that’s not a bad idea,” she admitted, a faint sparkle in her eye. “That would be perfect for my next line, something dedicated to such a loyal friend!"

“I don’t know how dragons work, but maybe you could find another one around here to help you with it?” Six thought aloud.

“Ooh, that is a good thought,” she spitballed back, “but dragons aren’t particularly known for fashion. Or grace. Or… dresses.”

“Surely there’s at least one?” he said.

Rarity was silent for a moment, a forehoof pressed to her chin in thought.

Seconds later the Courier could almost swear he heard the faint DING of a lightbulb going off.

“Smolder!” she shouted, her face lit up.

“I wasn’t gonna say burn anything but given what I do remember about dragons, I guess that works,” Six offered.

“No, I don’t mean smolder, I mean Smolder!” the unicorn elaborated happily.

The Courier blanked at her.

“She’s an absolute dear, one of the students at Twilight’s School of Friendship!” Rarity explained. “Now, you have to promise you won’t tell anycreature else about what I’m about to say.”

“Oh no, I’ll just go out and gossip to all the friends I totally have,” he deadpanned.

“Phooey!” she huffed back, before continuing. “Look, I’m serious, she’s a dear friend of mine, and I won’t risk-”

“I promise, cross my heart, all that shit,” he spat back quickly.

“Well, rather crass, but I suppose it works,” the fashionista accepted with a nod, continuing. “Smolder is the only dragon I know who actually enjoys this type of stuff. I made her a free dress in secret a few months back. Given she’s way more familiar with draconic culture, maybe she wouldn’t mind being my muse given Spikey is gone.”

“Well, I guess that all works out then,” he shrugged. “Now, where do I come into play?”

“Uh… excuse me?” she asked.

“Yeah, you said you needed help, I can just grab my sewing kit an-”

“Oh dear, no,” she interrupted. “I try to sew all of my own dresses; I would teach you my style, but we don’t have that kind of time. Instead, maybe you can help by perhaps mining for gems along with me? Dragons love their precious stones and they would go splendidly on dresses tributing them!”

“Ah… right,” he said with a nod.

Was that… disappointment? Hard to tell.

“Well uh, when will that be then?” he offered.

“Oh sometime tomorrow will be fine, I’ll need to work out my concepts more! The idea of creating a line for more than one species is… it’s exhilarating!” she admitted proudly.

“Yeah… right,” he agreed awkwardly.

“And it’s all thanks to you!” she boasted. “Please, you simply must let me get you out of those drab, grimy clothes and into something far more ravishing.”

Six felt his jacket get enveloped in her magical grasp, and as she went to tug it off him, he folded his arms, ensuring she couldn’t budge it.

“I would prefer not to do that,” he growled down at the fashionista, who quickly relinquished her magical grip, her horn ceasing its glow.

“My sincerest apologies,” Rarity said with embarrassment, before she began to walk around the Courier in a circular motion, examining him (or rather his outfit) as she did. “I suppose it means a lot to you?”

“Yeah, you can say that,” he huffed.

She gazed the stars and stripes on the back of his jacket inquisitively, as if she were pondering something.

“What do these represent?” she asked, noticing them properly for the first time.

“It’s an old flag,” he answered. “Really, really old.”

“Such a strange design,” the unicorn mused. “It belonged to an empire, yes?”

Under his helmet, the Courier opened his mouth, but didn’t speak at first, only exhaling.

“You could say that, yes,” he admitted. “The United States of America, though now there’s not much left of them.”

“Mmm, red, white, and blue; not an uncommon color scheme,” the fashionista said, her brain soon switching back to the conversation. “You said it’s gone. What happened?”

“They went the way all empires go,” the human said with a huff.

“Goodness,” the unicorn frowned, a piece of her remembering the Crystal Empire’s unfortunate fate, though whatever happened to this ‘United States’ might’ve not had such a bright ending. “Why do you still wear it then?”

“It’s… to honor history,” he admitted, continuing, “but above that, it’s to pay tribute to an old friend. He left it to me.”

Rarity nodded, still with a frown.

“I see,” she spoke softly. “Is this friend, is he still with you?”

“Maybe,” he answered with uncertainty. “Not even I know what exactly happened to him.”

“I’m sorry to hear,” she sighed.

“Don’t be, he uh… he reached the end of his road alive, that’s all I think he really wanted in the end anyways,” Six admitted, his voice nostalgic sounding.

Rarity just nodded in silence.

He didn’t say anything either.

“Well, I should be going,” he nodded, heading towards the door.

As he left, she continued to examine his wardrobe silently.

“I uh… see ya tomorrow,” he said, opening the door and looking back at her over his shoulder.

“Be safe, dear,” Rarity offered with a nod.

He just nodded back and then stepped out, shutting the door behind him.

The white unicorn didn’t stop him, but her brain slowly got to work on something for the human. While his measurements weren’t taken, she could still eyeball a design, for the moment anyways.

That evening she toiled away at her desk, thoughts swirling through her head.

The Courier just sat on another bench, smoking the rest of the day away...

Mining Away

“Full house!” shouted the Brain, laying down its cards onto the poker table; it had been holding them with its long stem. “Top that!”

“Royal flush,” yawned the Courier, revealing his own hand.

“Now that’s just cheating!” growled the disembodied organ.

“Hey I won fair and square,” the human replied back with a smirk. “Not my fault you have a shitty poker face.”

“Haha, very clever,” seethed the Brain before it tossed aside the cards, which turned into dust and billowed away into nothingness.

“Maybe something else then?” Six shrugged. “Blackjack? Roulette? Go Fish?”

“I’m getting bored of casinos,” huffed the organ. “If only we had a board game.”

“What, like Nuke Em?” shrugged the Courier, recalling old Pre-War adverts he’d seen.

“Ah yes, ‘get them before they get you’!” hummed the Brain as if it was reciting a familiar jingle. “I wish we could’ve found an intact copy of that.”

“The quality of their holograms were shit,” shrugged the Courier. “No game is surviving a century in a barren desert.”

“A brain can dream,” sighed the organ.

“Is the shadow monster still outside?” Six asked, summoning in a long, authentic cigar to smoke, with him shoving it through a filter in his mask before he took a puff.

“You think it ever left?” asked back the Brain.

He just shrugged.

They were silent, a small ceiling fan slowly turning overhead inside the metal bunker that the organ had created inside the Courier’s dreamscape.

“Well, we’ve got time to kill until I wake up. Anything you wanna do?” the human shrugged.

“You’re me, numbskull,” the Brain huffed.

“I was being courteous, dickweed,” the mailman shot back.

The floating Brain was silent for a moment.

“Giddyup Buttercup?” it offered.

“We’re literally surrounded by ponies in the real world,” pointed out the able-bodied half of the duo.

“And yet you still haven’t ridden one,” the organ pointed out.

“Oh yeah, let me just walk up to fuckin’ Applejack or something and be like ‘you’re cool, can I ride you?’ I’m sure she’d be thrilled!” the body growled back.

“I’m only speaking our intrusive thoughts out loud,” the Brain pointed out.

“Let’s keep them to ourselves for now,” puffed Six, taking another drag from his cigar.

“We could always try to let that thing speak for itself?” the Brain pondered.

“Not now, we’ve gotta get up for work in a few hours anyways,” Six shot down.

“Right of course,” huffed the Brain. “We’re in a fantasy land of magical horses and the first thing we do is get a nine-to-five.”

“Hey we both know that’s because we have literally nothing better to do,” Six shot back.

“Could finish the house,” the Brain pouted.

“We gotta get nails!” the human said to his own mind.

“And rope!” added the Brain, as if its body had missed the important part.

“If I didn’t pass out, I’d have both on me right now,” sighed the Courier, checking his Pip-Boy for the time out of instinct, before he immediately gave up trying to read the gibberish on his ‘STATUS’ screen.

"You spent all night sitting on a bench," the Brain pointed out. "We need a coherent sleep schedule.”

“We’ll think of one later,” the body replied.

“At this rate we’ll only have had maybe… three, four hours of sleep, tops,” the Brain calculated. “Given we did fall asleep in a public area.”

“Maybe no one will notice?” offered the Courier.

However, he soon felt something poking him on the shoulder.

“Ah fuck,” he huffed, crossing his arms in annoyance.

“Same time tomorrow?” the Brain teased.

“Bah, more like next week,” Six huffed.

“Ooh, going for a record, are we?” the Brain laughed.

The body just rolled his eyes as he was torn away from the dream.

He blinked himself back into consciousness and groaned, sitting up as he raised a gloved hand to block the sun. The human looked around himself as he did, seeing easily half a dozen ponies staring at him. One mother held her foal particularly close before walking away from the awakened mailman.

Others continued to stare.

Six stared right back, looking between them.

“The fuck you all looking at?” he grunted, his hand still raised and blocking the sun’s harmful glare from his eyes.

“You uh… talk in your sleep,” said a small brown colt with a propeller hat, looking up at the Courier as he rose to his feet. "Like a lot."

The human looked down at him. Likely the one who'd woken him up. Little bastard.

“Yeah, who said you had to listen?” growled the tall, bulky figure as he rubbed his neck.

The colt looked away from the large frame of the Courier, who was looking around at the gathered crowd of onlooking ponies.

“Beat it, all of ya! You too, small fry, shows over,” the human grunted before he began to stumble tiredly down the trail and out of the public park ground he’d fallen asleep in.

All the while this happened, the colt watched him walk away, a cockeyed expression on his face.

“Guy can’t fall sleep in a public place anymore without being fuckin’ hounded!” huffed the annoyed human as he rubbed his back, his muscles tense from the uncomfortable bench he'd slept on.

Six just wandered back into the main hub of Ponyville proper and towards the Carousel Boutique, leaving the confused foal without further explanation.

As he walked and stumbled, numerous ponies parted like the Red Seas around him, giving him a wide clearance zone. A few would even cross the street to avoid him.

Good. Sped up his commute.

He walked until he found a small restaurant which had a small picture of a hot cup of coffee painted on the wooden sign above it. Six didn’t even read the name, like some type of caveman reading markings, he went by pictures, stumbling half-awake into the small cafe.

The stallion at the register turned towards him with a smile, however, his smile dropped into a look of surprise as his words died in his throat.

“H-how m-may I-”

“Coffee. Black. Now,” grunted the human, slamming down ten bits.

“S-sir it’s only f-five bi-”

“Make it two,” growled back the armor-clad mailman.

The stallion didn’t argue, getting two mugs prepared as the human just turned, looking at the other patrons.

Most of them shied away at his gaze, however one didn’t.

A yellow pegasus mare was in the middle of eating a bagel but paused in the middle of her bite to stare at the human. She looked a bit like Derpy actually, just minus the crossed eyes.

“The fuck you looking at, squarehead?” he insulted.

Now she still looked like Derpy, but extremely baffled at the bulky man's choice of insult. Mouth was still wide open though.

“Close your piehole,” he said, waving her off and turning back to the barista, who sat out the now-finished cups of coffee for the human.

They steamed, definitely close to boiling in temperature due to their freshness.

“Now sir it’s ho-”

The Courier just adjusted his helmet and downed it.

One long, continuous gulp. Didn’t even mind that some of the scalding liquid poured down his chin as he did.

Finished the cup of joe in about five seconds, and then sat it back down with a small clink before he downed the other one in a similar fashion.

The barista and pegasus mare both watched him with surprise, worry, and awe evident in their expressions.

“Fucking shit’s weak,” huffed the Courier, wiping his mouth with the back of his gloved hand before he adjusted his helmet. “Should’ve given me a double shot of caffeine.”

He then just tossed down a five bit tip and wandered away, opening the door and stumbling out of the cafe like some half-awake gorilla.

There was silence for a few seconds.

“What an asshole,” Sunshower huffed, still not having finished her bagel.

Outside the Courier just shook off the remnants of sleep, letting the caffeine course through him. He wiped off the drops of coffee that had dribbled onto his duster and straightened himself up, ready for work.

His gait was more confident now, his brain properly working as he wandered ahead. He was still getting looks of concern and rarely glances of thankfulness as he continued ahead throughout the town.

Soon enough though Six was weaving his way through the streets as they got a bit more crowded from numerous ponies either setting up stands to sell fruit, veg, and the like, or from ponies hustling to go to work.

“Hey, Six!” shouted a familiar, country-twanged voice, drawing the human away from his locked in tunnel-visioned state.

He turned, seeing a smiling Applejack waving him over with a forehoof as she sat beside a large cart filled with apples, no doubt being some of the ones he'd helped gather the day before.

“Applejack, you set up your stand early,” he said, rubbing his neck as he approached her makeshift kiosk.

“It’s nearly eleven, Six,” she raised an eyebrow at him.

“Ah… right,” he nodded, looking at her large selection of apples.

He soon pulled out a handful of bits and dropped them onto the table.

“It’s only one bit per apple, Six,” she pointed out proudly. “After ya helped with the harvest, we’ve had an influx of ‘em! Heck, ya don’t even have ta pay if ya don't wanna!”

“It’s fine, just give em to Granny; buy her something nice,” he shrugged, taking an apple.

“Uh, Six, this is seven bits,” she said, counting the coins up.

“I said something nice, not something expensive!” he retorted with a tired huff before adjusting his helmet and biting into the big, red apple. Juices splattered about as he shredded into it like a savage, taking numerous bites like a hungry dog.

“You uh… feelin’ alright?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Ye’h, wa‘hy?” the Courier questioned back, mouth filled with chunks of the apple, as he had shredded it down to the core in only a few seconds.

“Ya seem a bit out of it,” she pointed out with a hint of concern.

“I’m fine,” he huffed, adjusting his helmet and throwing the core into a nearby trash can in one swift motion. “Just waking myself back up.”

“Well, alright,” Applejack shrugged, not seeming fully convinced. However, soon enough the mare remembered something. “I saw Rarity about half an hour ago, she said somethin’ about needin’ your help with mining for crystals. I think ya might wanna hoof it to the Boutique.”

“Way ahead of ya,” he nodded, turning away. “Seeya around AJ.”

“Yeah see-”

She was interrupted as the human dashed off, leaving the farm mare in the dust.

“-ya,” she finished, giving a huff as she watched him speed away.

Ponies continued to part before him as he booked it to the Boutique. A rush of emotions, rush of colors, rush of air. The apple and coffees had helped invigorate him by this point, and thus it wasn’t long before the fashion shop came into sight.

The front door swung open and out came Rarity, wearing a not-so-fashionable mining helmet and set of saddlebags. He slowed his pace, skidding to a stop as he came within eyesight of the unicorn.

“Hey, Rarity!” he huffed, kicking up a cloud of dust as he ceased his quick pace down to a standstill in an instant. She was obviously surprised at the suddenness, but she managed a smile.

“Ah yes, mister Six! I thought you were going to be late there for a moment!” she admitted with a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah, sorry about that, sleep schedule’s been… not the greatest,” he admitted, being truthful to the generous mare. “But uh, I’m fine!”

“Are you sure? It’s quite alright if you would rather get some more re-”

“No!” he grunted, interrupting her. “Look, I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t fine, alright? It’s nothing, really.”

“Dear it’s really no trouble, you seem to suffer from insomni-” she managed, ignoring the rudeness, only to be interrupted again.

“I don’t!” he growled. “Can we just get this show on the road please? I need to get myself occupied and busy.”

Rarity gave him a worried look, but after realizing the human wasn’t backing down, she sighed in defeat.

“Alright, I just need to retrieve a cart and my pickaxe,” she said.

He nodded along, ready to do some work.

About half an hour later the human and pony duo had left Ponyville, with Six lugging the wagon as he continued on at a steady pace behind the fashionista. They crested a hill and made their way down a winding trail, continuing deeper into the forest.

“Alright, there should be a cave just up ahead,” Rarity said. “Now I will say dear, you must watch out while mining, so you don’t spook any bats. They are ghastly little beasts when frightened.”

“Right,” he said, still lugging the cart behind him as he trudged down the path.

“And do watch your step,” she added as the cave came within sight. “Given they’re wild, they don’t have a problem with… well, doing their business in the cave.”

The Courier gave a “hmm” at that.

However, a faint, deep part of his brain felt something click inside it.

Bat guano... hm.

Hmm…

Wait a minute…

He made a mental note of the cave’s location, as the inner machinations of his mind got to work on something.

For the moment, he just remained silent and before long the two descended down into the cavern.

“Now are you sure you don’t need a flashlight, dear?” offered the generous unicorn.

“I’m way ahead of ya on that,” the Courier smirked as he flipped on his helmet's nightvision.

“Well if you insist,” she said, her tone becoming one of a hushed whisper. “Now just keep quiet and stay close to me, one cartful of gems should be enough for a good few dresses.”

He continued on, remaining only a foot away from her as the two reached deeper into the mines.

“Right, though are you sure there’s gonna be that man…” he trailed off as his eyes widened.

The damn walls were sparkling, alight with a dazzling array of colors.

The place was packed with precious gemstones of all shapes and sizes! There were rubies and sapphires and emeralds, and numerous other precious geodes he couldn’t remember the names of.

Not since the rare Pre-War magazines had he seen such a display of dazzling materials, and even those were limited by comparison! This one cave probably had enough gems in it to crash the economy before the war, let alone after it!

The only thing to match it would be the bars in the Sierra Madre, but even then, there were only so many of those compared to the seemingly limitless gemstones lining the cave's walls.

“What the fuck?” he said quietly, looking over at a dazzling gem the size of a softball. It reflected his mask perfectly back at him, being as clear as a mirror.

“What’s wrong my dear?” Rarity asked, turning back as he stood there, stunned.

“This place has enough gems to buy a small country, that’s what’s wrong,” he huffed.

Rarity just chuckled softly.

“Oh dear heavens no, those are only worth a few bits apiece at best,” she smirked, continuing. “This cave is filled with numerous common gems, we’ve not even reached our mining spot yet. I assure you that while to the untrained eye, these gems look gorgeous, they aren’t as beautiful as what I intend on finding!”

He paused, staring at her in surprise. Of course, given how damn many there were around here, they’d hold no value in Equestria.

Not a shock. It was a stroke of irony, if anything.

“One of these would be worth tens of thousands caps where I come from,” he said, almost chuckling at the worthlessness of such sought after pieces. “Never had too many of them, even before everything went down. To my knowledge at least.”

The fashionista raised a brow at that.

“Your kind… don’t have gems like this?” she asked, concerned. “How on earth do you decorate your suits and dresses?”

“We don’t. Not with gems, anyways,” he answered, considering grabbing one of the large sapphires buried partly in the cave wall.

He decided against it. No reason to get greedy, after all, even if it wasn’t worth much in the first place.

“Goodness, I’m so sorry,” she said, sounding genuine. “I couldn’t imagine a world like that.”

“I think gems were the last thing on anybody’s mind back home,” he shrugged, turning back towards her.

She seemed sad at that. It wasn’t just from the lack of fashion, but from the fact that she could tell wherever he had come from hadn’t exactly been a bastion of generosity. Even with how little he’d spoken of it, she could sense it. It was her element, after all.

“Well uh, let’s get a move on darling!” she said, trying to pep up, as she put on a smile. “No need to dwell on that. Just help me along and we’ll be out of here in a jiffy!”

“Right,” he nodded, tugging the cart along.

They trekked deeper into the gem-filled cavern and above he could see numerous sleeping bats. Not that uncommon of a sight, given his pension for exploring the occasional cave, but still, the sheer number of them was a shock. He narrowed his eyes at them in thought, and thus was almost blindsided when Rarity magically tossed a gem his way. Reflexes took over, and his hand shot up and grabbed it in mid-air.

“Fantastic catch, darling!” Rarity smirked as he tossed the gem into the wagon.

“A warning would’ve been nice,” he grunted.

“My apologies, I’m just trying to be as quiet as possible about this,” she whispered.

He watched the fashionista as she eyed over the gems, chipping away at the rock that held the more dazzling ones in place with her pickaxe. This allowed her to magically tug them loose and toss them to the human, who caught and placed each and every one into the cart without issue.

The labor was honestly a bit boring.

Toss, grab, repeat. Toss, grab, repeat.

Just kept doing it as he partly went on autopilot, letting himself follow Rarity whenever she would occasionally make her way towards another set of jewels.

“So…” he finally began, speaking his first word in what felt like a solid hour, “what was Spike like?”

She gave a sad smile at that.

“Oh Spike was truly a gentledrake, one of the best creatures I’ve ever known,” she admitted as she picked away at a sturdy patch of stone. “Never complained towards me once. He was always there for me, doing anything I needed at the exact moment I needed it.”

Six nodded, listening as she continued.

“Why, we went on so many adventures together. One time he saved me from this ghastly book that caused my magic to go haywire and ruin half the town,” she explained the bizarre situation with a sense of nostalgic sadness. “Or another whenever he turned into a giant greed-fueled monster and kidnapped me before the power of love turned him back to normal.”

“...right,” the Courier said plainly.

“He was such a dear friend, always made time for me even whenever he had other obligations,” she fetched a handkerchief from her saddlebags and wiped her eyes as she thought about the dragon longingly. “Now he’s doing what’s right for all of Equestria by training to be an ambassador. I’m so very proud of him.”

“Guess that’s why he can’t visit much,” the human observed.

“He sends letters when possible,” Rarity sighed, sitting her pickaxe aside and looking to the floor with a frown. “But even then, it’s just not the same…”

Six stood there in silence along with her.

“I learned about a year ago how to get along without him,” she sighed, remembering back to the whole penpal incident she had with Gabby, “but even then, it’s not fully clicked with me that he’s gone, you know? Same with Twilight…”

He let her keep speaking, just listening in.

“Oh she’s such a dear, I remember the first time she came to Ponyville,” mused the fashionista with a nostalgic smile. “Pinkie threw her a party and we had to stop an evil possessed princess all in the same night.”

The Courier would’ve questioned her further on that, but that’d ruin the moment.

“How I loved spending time with her, like whenever me and Applejack had to spend the night at her library, or whenever her face lit up after I made her a new dress… I loved the spas, the adventures, the quiet moments…” she wiped another tear as her mascara began to run. “All those years she stuck with me and the girls, never gave up on us no matter what…”

He remained quiet.

“Goodness, listen to me ramble on, haha...” she laughed, but there was little humor in it as she wiped more tears away and sniffled into the cloth.

“You’ve got the memories, Rarity,” he finally said, a consoling tone, the typical hint of gruffness having dissipated. “No one can take that from you. No matter what, the friendships are yours to cherish.”

She nodded, swallowing before giving a huff.

“Sorry darling, please forgive my little outburst,” she said, sounding embarrassed. “Sometimes it’s just hard to remember that times are not the same. That I can’t just stroll over to Twilight’s castle and have tea or invite Spikey out on a nice gem-hunt.”

“Yeah…” agreed the Courier, his mind faintly retracing the memories with Boone, Lily, Veronica, and the many others.

He shoved the thoughts aside though.

“You had friends, yes? Back where you were from?” she asked, turning to him.

“You could say that,” he said simply, his tone hardening back to normalcy now.

“What were they like?” she asked, curiously.

There was silence for a few seconds.

“Let’s just get these gems,” he said, verbally shoving the generous mare away.

She gave a small, sad nod at that, but didn’t press further.

From there the duo didn’t exchange many words. Rarity picked out the best gems, and the Courier would catch them and toss them gently into the big wagon. He was silent, moving like a machine.

She would occasionally hum a tune to herself, her mood picking up a little bit as she did.

“You are quite a good help, you know,” Rarity complimented after a little while longer.

“It is my job,” the human shrugged.

“True, but nothing says you had to help me specifically,” she smiled. “That’s very generous of you to do.”

“You’re one of like… six ponies in the town who won’t bolt at the sight of me,” he pointed out.

“Dear there’s well more than just six of them,” she chuckled.

“Whatever,” he stated flatly.

“I think you need to just come out of your shell a bit more and you’d be surprised at how accepting ponies can be,” she mused, dusting off a gem before tossing it at him.

He caught it and placed it with the ever-growing mound of them in the cart.

“Haven’t heard that one before,” he grunted sarcastically.

“I’m serious!” she pouted. “Why, you haven’t even properly met the rest of our friend group yet! I’m sure I could schedule a nice picnic with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie whenever I get the time, dear. Maybe even a party, perhaps? Pinkie's are always splendid!”

“I’m not in the mood for social events,” the human said coldly.

“Now mister Six, that attitude towards others will get you nowhere,” she huffed back.

“It’s gotten me this far,” he said as she threw another gem at him.

The Courier grabbed it and put it with the rest in one swift motion, as he did with all the others.

“You don’t have to constantly reject others,” Rarity pointed out. “It’s alright to open up, nopony will judge you.”

“I’m sure you’ve said that to a lot of people, and this would be one of the times you’d be wrong,” he countered.

“Now mister Six, don’t be like that,” she said softly.

“Don’t push your luck,” he huffed.

She was silent at that for a bit.

“I’m sorry if I’ve offended you,” Rarity managed, her tone sounding genuine, and a bit hurt.

He was silent in return.

A solid few seconds later, he finally broke the tense silence with a sigh.

“Some things are better left unsaid,” the human admitted.

“I hope whatever it is you went through, one day you can put it behind you properly,” she offered with the same genuine tone.

The human just nodded, his mask as expressionless as ever.

It was silent once more from there as the two worked on, over an hour or two passing.

Before long Rarity basically had filled the cart to the point a small mountain of gems rested inside of it.

“I think that’s enough for our new dragon-inspired line,” she said with a smirk, wiping away a small bit of sweat on her brow with a forehoof as she did.

“I guess we can just lug these to Ponyville and that’ll be that,” he said, stretching his muscles a bit.

“That sounds splendid dear, perhaps I can treat you to a bite to eat?” she offered.

“Remember, don’t push your luck,” he said, though it wasn’t antagonistic this time, more snarky than anything.

“Come on, just a meeting between friends?” she pouted.

He sighed as he continued to haul the cart along, with the two getting closer to the cave’s entrance.

“You still have about two weeks before we can meet with Twilight anyways, might as well have fun while doing it,” Rarity pointed out.

“I guess,” he “agreed” with exasperation.

She just beamed at him.

“Again, it’ll be on me-”

“Do you have any coal?” he asked suddenly, as if he had an entirely different conversation going on in his mind. “I mean, not you specifically, but is there any way I can buy some?”

The fashionista was obviously utterly confused at that.

“Erm… I do believe you can,” she explained. “It’s used for trains all the time, but I’m not particularly the best pony to ask about the specifics… why do you want to know, anyways?”

Six just looked back at the cave, his mind on the bat droppings of all things.

“No reason in particular…” he answered vaguely.

Back in Ponyville, the day was winding down a bit, as Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo sat outside a small cafe, perspiration dripping down their brows.

Scootaloo leaned back in her seat, looking across the table at her rainbow maned sister, who was currently slurping down an ice-cold smoothie.

Dash wiped a large amount of sweat from her brow as she finally broke off the long slurping session, giving a satisfied sigh.

“Nice workout eh, squirt?” the Wonderbolt offered.

“Yeah!” squeaked her sister with a smile. “Thanks for taking me out on that awesome stunt training session.”

“I figured after the sisterly camping trip, we deserved at least a little more time together,” the mare chuckled. “I can’t have that human hogging all the time with you. I still am your big sis, after all!”

“Dash, you know it’s not like that,” huffed Scootaloo, though she gave a small laugh as well. “I’ve spent years learning how awesome you are, but he’s a different story! We both know he just needs to come out of his shell, and he’d fit right into Equestria.”

“Assuming he wants to stay,” her older sister added with a smirk.

Scoots frowned, causing Dash to lose said smirk as she took on a dour expression of her own.

“Oh come on Scoots, it’s like me and Twi. Just because I can’t see her that often, doesn’t mean we’re not friends,” the mare advised.

“I know…” her sister huffed. “That bums me out a bit, too. I remember when me and the Crusaders hung out with her and now, she’s just gone.”

“Scoots, things change, alright?” offered Rainbow Dash with a sigh. “We both know I’m not one for all that mushy stuff, but it’s true. No matter what ya do, sometimes things just don’t pan out the way you want them to.”

“I know, but if even you can have your friend group broken u-”

“It’s not broken, Scoots!” huffed the older mare. “It’ll never be broken. Like I said, we still visit each other. We’re still friends.”

The filly frowned, and leaned onto the table with a sigh, resting her cheek on one of her forehooves.

“Sorry Rainbow Dash,” she managed. “It just feels like so much has changed outta nowhere in these past few months, ya’know?”

“Of course I know, squirt,” smirked her sister, before the older pegasus reached over a hoof and ruffled Scootaloo’s purple mane. “But I know one thing that won’t change.”

“What’s that?” chuckled the orange filly.

“You’re still the most awesomest filly I know!” Dash answered.

Scootaloo giggled at that.

As the two continued to sit and just enjoy the simpleness of the quiet town, they soon looked off down the street and saw a pair of familiar faces coming.

Or rather, a familiar face and a familiar mask.

“Hey, lazybones!” Rainbow Dash called, waving a hoof to the Courier as he approached, dragging the cart along. “I went to go check at your camp yesterday morning, but I couldn’t find you!”

“There was a change of plans,” he huffed, sitting down the wagon as Rarity trotted over to the two fellow ponies.

“What a pleasant surprise, seeing you two here!” the fashionista said with a warm smile. “Do you mind if I join you? I’m getting quite peckish.”

“Pull up a seat, Rarity,” smirked Rainbow Dash.

The Courier just rubbed his neck with a grunt, feeling his back muscles loosen up as he stretched about.

“Why don’t you join us, Six?” offered the white unicorn as she sat down beside her friends.

“Yeah, that’d be awesome!” squeaked Scootaloo.

He just grunted, looking down the street in thought.

Soon he felt his stomach rumble and just sat down without saying anything, between Scootaloo and Rarity.

The filly squeaked in excitement as she looked giddy.

He just raised a hand and motioned for a nearby waiter to bring him a menu.

Hayburger and hayfries combo? Weird. How would that work?...

Fine! No reason not to get it.

After placing the order, it was a whirl of conversation, with Rarity talking with Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash with Scootaloo, and Scootaloo back with Rarity.

He tried to pay attention, but he was also just trying to stay awake at this point.

Damned coffees didn't last the full day. Caffeine crash. Ignore it. Need the food to stave it off.

“So why did you sleep on a bench, Six?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I saw you conked out on one when I was flying over town this morning.”

“Huh?” he grunted, brought back into the conversation by the mention of his name. “Don’t have anywhere else to sleep.”

“Darling, I could’ve offered you a fine collection of pillows and sheets at the least, no need to sleep on a rock-hard bench,” Rarity pointed out.

The hay-based burger and fries were finally plated and sat in front of him a moment after she finished speaking. He adjusted his helmet, leaning into the food.

“I’m fine,” he managed, before biting through a handful of the salted, potato-like delights.

It was a bit strange, not starchy, more dry? No reason to stop eating.

He devoured through some of them, taking a massive bite from the burger and splattering ketchup and sauce all over himself and the table. Halfway through the meal he came back to his senses, huffing as his emptied stomach was partly filled.

Rarity watched him eat like a beast with a twinge of horror.

Dash found it funny, snickering as she gazed at him.

Scootaloo just eyed the hayfries.

He huffed, sauce coating and leaking down his hand as he nudged the plate over to the little pegasus.

She looked up at him thankfully and he continued shredding into the non-meat burger.

“Darling if you were that hungry, we could’ve come back earlier,” Rarity said.

“I’m fine; can last a while on empty,” he said, sauces and pieces of the bun dripping down from his gloved hand, before he took another slightly more reserved bite, swallowing it practically whole. “Just need something in me on occasion.”

“If that’s the case I do hope you genuinely consider meeting me, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy in the next few days. We'll have a nice, proper lunch prepared for you,” the generous unicorn offered with a smile.

“Feels like all I do is eat half the time,” he grunted. Even back in the Wasteland that partly rang true.

Rarity just cocked a brow at his answer. It wasn’t a yes or a no, just a slightly amusing observation.

Scootaloo enjoyed the hayfries, at least.

He just continued eating, slightly less like a rabid dog this time.

Party (Not So) Hard

The “house” (really it was going to be more of a shack) was looking better, had about three logs stacked on top of each other now, and it had reached up to the Courier’s thighs. About four or five more and it’d be past his head, enough clearance to slap on the roof and finish it.

He’d cut an opening for the doorway now. Off to the side several large, sturdy looking planks had been nailed together and reinforced with some rope. No doubt in the future it’d serve as a makeshift door for the human’s home.

There was no work to do today. Neither Rarity nor Applejack called for him, even after he offered his services numerous times before leaving Ponyville the day before.

Was still running off of the three-hour poker session with his brain.

Boiled some Coyote Tobacco into coffee earlier. That was the real shit that kept him awake. No wonder Boone chewed it all the time.

He grunted as he stepped back to admire the work he’d done to what had just been an empty camp plot. Now it had half a shack, and a small garden off to the side, protected by a crude fence made from sticks and rope.

Six figured potatoes would be the best thing to use. One of the veggies he’d kept in his pack this whole time. Rarely seemed to properly spoil. As a matter of fact, he would even see them sprouting in the Wasteland.

A bit of water here and there, hopefully in the next few weeks he’d be able to make stew or mash. Nice carrots to go with it too. Hopefully, anyways.

If all else failed, Golden Harvest was an option to buy some.

Planted Broc Flower and Xander Roots too. Only so many Stims left, after all.

They were used to drier, rugged climates. Hopefully the dirt here would be to their liking. They grew well enough in forests and Zion, so maybe they’d be fine here.

A piece of him considered if it was safe to introduce new plantlife to the forest, but at the same time he knew they weren’t irradiated. Safe for him, probably safe for ponies and whatever else, too.

Still, he’d keep a close eye on them throughout their growth cycles. Make sure nothing unusual happened.

He took a break from work, walking over to his hollowed stash. Pulled out a Sunset Sarsaparilla.

The Courier popped the cap off, stashed it, and chugged his luke-warm beverage like it was a nectar from the gods.

He downed half of it and took a break, sighing. Checked his leftover supplies too.

Damn.

Only six of the Sunsets left. Needed more sarsaparilla.

Different brand here, maybe? Hopefully.

If there was none, then there’d be hell to pay.

He finished the bottle and stashed the glass back into the backpack. Dusted his gloved hands off and stretched after he did.

Hungry? Nope, thankfully not that much... Okay maybe a little.

Felt… better. Safe?

Hmm.

He shook it off, shoving the feeling aside. It was dangerous to think that.

It was hardly ever true.

He checked the Pip-Boy.

Thankfully by now he’d set his watch properly after checking the clocks in town.

Only three in the evening. Blegh. Slow day.

Guess it meant more work to finish. More time to kill.

He pulled out a smoke, only one or two more in the pack by now.

Forgot to get others in the supply run yesterday, damn his memory.

Just lit it up, enjoyed the staleness by this point.

Six pulled out his sawed off from his bag and continued puffing away as he examined it. He’d managed to reclaim it after the battle at the dam, and now finally got around to actually cleaning it.

The bear-bug-fucker’s claws left a couple scrapes in the wood and metal, but the firearm held. Rugged. Reliable.

He popped it open and made sure it was loaded. Still had some 12-gauge slugs in it. Some buckshot in the pack, too.

Not a bad idea for a hunting gun. But maybe not to be used on bucks despite the shell’s name.

Wonder if bucks were talking here. Not equines, but if dragons existed…

Musings were cut off when a rainbow blur zoomed in above him. He felt his duster billow a bit as the familiar flapping of wings rung out.

“What do you want, Rainbow Dash?” he said, cigarette slung halfway out of his mouth as he continued looking down at the firearm.

He rubbed off a small bit of dirt that was left on the barrel and considered a deep cleaning as she spoke.

“Hey, I just wanted to come by and ask something,” the mare said, hovering above the human. “Is that cool?”

“Is what cool?” he said.

“What? I- What do you mean?” she asked in confusion.

He just chuckled, each laugh causing a blast of smoke to billow from his mouth.

She narrowed her eyes in realization.

“That’s not funny you know,” she huffed. “I was being serious!”

“Who said I wasn’t?” he asked through clenched teeth as he wiped down the shotgun further with a rag.

“Alright so there’s this awesome aerial group called the Wonderbolts, right?” she went on, ignoring his snark. “Anyways, they’re super awesome and I’m a part of it. I was thinking… maybe you could come to one of our shows in a few weeks.”

He rubbed down the shotgun further, just being silent.

“If you’re still here,” she added.

Six shrugged, still remaining silent as he cleaned the gun.

“Come on, give me an answer!” huffed the pegasus. “I was gonna take you and Scoots along!”

He finally sighed.

“Kid did say something about a show or stunts or whatever yesterday at lunch,” he mused, finally pulling the cigarette from his mouth and putting it out by smashing the hot end between his gloved fingers.

“Yeah, we both were training for it all day yesterday!” explained the mare.

“Kid’s gonna be in the show?” he asked as he adjusted his mask and flicked the shotgun closed.

“Well… maybe when she’s an adult. We have a whole strict set of guidelines on the show, to ensure the safety of everypony,” the pegasus answered.

“But she can’t fly, right?” he pointed out.

“Uh... no…” huffed Rainbow. “But that doesn’t mean she can’t help out in some ways! She can perform the sickest stunts ever! Give her a few more years and I’m sure they’d make a super special segment in the show just for her!”

"If it’s safe and makes her happy, guess that’s not a bad thing,” he admitted.

“So that means you’d be down to go?” Dash asked, giving a hopeful smile as she landed in front of him.

“Look, if I’m not halfway to another planet by then… I’ll THINK about it,” he offered, putting away the shotgun back inside the hollow tree.

She just sighed.

“It’s never easy with you, is it?” Dash groaned.

“I prefer to do things the hardcore way,” he snarked, turning back towards her.

“Yeah… right,” she huffed.

The two were both silent for a bit as she seemingly pondered something.

“Anything else?” he grunted.

“You should come back to Ponyville,” she said with a sigh. “There’s like half a dozen ponies who keep asking about you!”

“Who?” he said, a bit confused.

“Well aside from Scoots, there's Derpy, her daughter, Lyra, Bon Bon, heck, even freaking Cheerilee!” admitted the pegasus. “They keep asking me because I’m the only pony who knows where your camp is!”

“Tell them I don’t wanna come,” he answered.

“Oh come on, don’t be a sourpuss,” she said. “They really like ya! I’m even taking time out of a nap to come get you!”

“You’re napping this late in the evening?” Six deadpanned

“You try doing a Wonderbolts’ training session all day and not needing rest,” she defended. “But that’s not the point! The point is that for the time being, you’re stuck here. At least for another week or so until Twilight’s free to meet ya, anyways!”

“Is there no way to just go up to her castle and get a meeting?” he asked with a growl. "This is starting to piss me off."

“I mean, even if we told the guards to stand down from the big scary, red-eyed monster, I don’t know if they’d all be super pleased,” Dash pointed out. “Even then, she’s got a lot more important things on her plate, er-... no offense. But she does have a country to run and like, half a dozen other countries she has to keep an eye on.”

“Fucking monarchs,” Six said, crossing his arms.

“Hey! Have you tried running a country before?” she shot back.

“It wouldn’t have gone well if I did,” he admitted, as if he had experience in the matter.

She cocked an eye at him, but soon shook it off.

“Look, do you wanna come to Ponyville or not?” she offered with a tone of finality.

“If it’ll get you to shut up, I guess I’ll go,” he finally said with a scowl. “Lucky for you, I needed to get some things anyway.”

She gave a small smirk.

“Thanks, Six,” she said genuinely.

“Yeah,” he grunted, as he began to walk ahead.

“You knooowww,” Dash said, her word drug out with a sense of mischievousness, “I can get us there quicker than you walking the whole way!”

“Yeah, you just gonna fly me?” he scoffed with a smirk.

She smiled devilishly.

His smirk dropped under his mask.

“This is such fucking brahminshit,” growled the Courier, his arms crossed as he was held by Rainbow Dash’s forehooves.

She had him slung under her, with her forelegs going up under his arms to carry him properly.

He felt like a toddler being picked up. Utterly bizarre sensation; not enjoyable for him in the least.

“You could stand to lose a few pounds, ya know!” Rainbow Dash huffed, managing to hold him, though his bulk made her strain a bit.

“I wonder if a fall from this height would kill me,” he just snarked with annoyance, looking down at the approaching Ponyville as his pegasus ride flew quickly.

“Six, quit your yapping! You complained the whole way here!” Rainbow Dash shot back with her own tone of annoyance.

“And that’s still not enough if you ask me,” he said as she approached the ground.

When she was hovering a foot above the streets, she let go. His duster billowed at the short fall before he landed on his boots with a thud.

“Let’s never speak of this again,” he huffed, dusting himself off, as if her touching him had left dirt on his duster.

“You’re welcome,” she growled back, hovering above him.

“Yeah, whatever,” he grunted, looking around at the few ponies who had stopped to examine his unusual entrance. “So, where’s everyone who wants to see me?”

“Probably leaving work or school. Just walk around town and intermingle, I’m sure they’ll pop up soon,” explained Rainbow Dash.

“You do realize who you’re talking to, right?” he just deadpanned.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you’ve gotten a miniature fanbase at this point,” she sighed.

“That’s not exactly a good thing,” he shrugged.

“Before I forget, Starlight asked about you too,” Rainbow Dash added. “Said she wanted to see you in the next few days.”

“Am I supposed to know who that is?” the Courier asked back.

“She’s the principal of the School of Friendship, used to be Twilight’s student,” explained the pegasus.

He just blanked at her.

“She lives in the big crystal castle,” stated Dash flatly.

“Yeah I was beginning to wonder what that was for,” he shrugged, having noticed it in his past wanderings around town. “But an entire castle for a principal sounds a bit strange.”

“It used to be Twilight’s,” the mare said, her wings flapping lazily.

“Ah, right, think Rarity said something about that,” he mused.

“Look, I just need to rest up for today, I’ve got a long training session ahead of me and I need my sleep,” Rainbow huffed.

“Sounds like you need some coffee instead,” he snarked back.

“Haha, very funny,” she deadpanned. “Not everypony has insomnia like you!”

“I don-”

“Whatever, look, I’ll catch you on the flipside, Six,” she said, before flying off.

He just growled in annoyance, now stuck in town and given little direction.

Whatever, just walk along.

Not much to do back at the camp, anyways.

However, the human didn’t spot the rainbow-maned pony fly into a small alleyway a block or so away. It was empty, filled with only a few barrels and boxes.

“Pinkie!” Dash growled with a whisper-shout as she looked around. “Pinkie! Where are you?”

Suddenly, one of the barrels behind her popped open.

“Right heeerreee!” squeaked the pink pony, lifting her head into view.

“Why are you hiding in a barrel?” Dash deadpanned.

“I’m in disguise, duh!” Pinkie offered back.

“Why?” asked the pegasus.

“Uh, because he could’ve followed you?” pointed out the earth pony as if it was obvious.

“I- wh- Pinkie, he has no idea we have a party pla-”

A pink hoof covered her mouth.

“Shhh,” Pinkie shushed the pegasus. “He could be listening! You never know if he has super-secret extra-hearing powers.”

Dash just shoved the mare’s hoof away.

“Pinkie, he’s not some weird superhero! He’s just a… weird two-legged thing,” pointed out Dash.

“A weird two-legged thing which might have secret hearing powers!” Pinkie shot back.

“Look, did you get everypony in place or what?” huffed Dash.

“Of course! Well… not Rarity or Applejack; too busy at the moment! But the others are ready to go!” Pinkie smirked deviously. “This is gonna be the best S.S.S.S.S.P. ever!”

“Sssssp?” Rainbow Dash mimicked.

“Not sssssp, silly filly. S.S.S.S.S.P.!” corrected the pink mare. “Super Soft Super Secret Surprise Party!”

“How do you have a ‘soft’ surprise party?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh you’ll see,” giggled the earth pony back.

Rainbow Dash just looked on in confusion.

“For now, we just gotta wait for the others to do their job…” smirked the mare, in a comedically devious manner, rubbing her forehooves together.

As the Courier turned to walk down a different street, he heard trotting approaching from behind him. The streets weren’t super crowded, but hoofsteps actually coming towards him was a bit uncommon.

“Hey Six!” a familiar, feminine voice said, and he turned to face it.

“Bon Bon?” he asked, looking down at the earth pony.

“That’s not all,” smirked a certain aquamarine unicorn, standing beside her wife.

“You’re uh… Lyra, right?” asked the Courier after a moment of thinking back to his bench-based encounter with Bon Bon.

“The one and only!” she said with confidence, before eyeing up the human’s glove covered hands.

She approached him with a curious expression, eyeing him up and down. The unicorn was finally getting a close-up look at the human, after only having seen him from a distance in their prior “meetings.”

“What are you doing?” he asked, feeling a hint of confusion at her close examination of him, especially his palms.

“It’s just… so nice to see you,” admitted the unicorn, hiding her giddiness, though it broke through her voice here and there. “I mean, years and years of wanting to see a real human and the first time I do, he saves me from a dangerous monster and… just wow.”

“Yeah…?” he agreed, a bit unsure at the oddness of the situation.

“Back in the day they considered Lyra a crackpot,” Bon Bon teased, making her wife give her a glare.

However, the unicorn dropped the glare, giving a huff as an embarrassed blush crossed her face.

“It’s true,” she admitted with a pout. “Not even Bonny believed me!”

“But you were right,” Bon Bon winked.

“In a way, anyways,” the Courier shrugged.

The unicorn perked up a bit at his voice.

“Hey, this is gonna sound weird, but can I get a closer look at your hands?” she asked suddenly.

“I… what?” he asked.

“Lyra,” huffed Bon Bon.

“I mean, they’re so cool!” Lyra gushed. “Like you can grab stuff and throw it without magic, and unlike dragons, you don’t have those claws in the way! But I read you’d have a sensitive, more precise touch, you know? Gotta be a lot of nerves in them!”

He was silent for a moment

“I mean, you’re right in a way?” he finally offered.

She squeaked in excitement at that.

“So can I see your hands real quick? I can make a sketch!” she said, before magically pulling out a small pen and paper.

“I guess,” he finally caved, and held out his palm.

She looked at his gloved hand in excitement, her eyes practically lit up.

“Ooh that looks really nice! Can you remov-”

“Glove stays on,” he shut her down.

Lyra frowned looked over to Bon Bon, who only shrugged. A bit disappointed, she just nodded and faced back to the Courier, as she eyed up his palm, her pen beginning to copy its features into her notebook.

"Just uh, move them around and stuff!" she squeaked, back to being giddy.

He complied when he wiggled his fingers.

“Oooohh,” Lyra managed with excitement. “So coooool!”

He held his hand up a bit so she could see his open palm.

“That’s awesome!” she said, still excited as her pen began to get a bit jittery.

He had to admit, it was amusing seeing her in awe over something so basic as… rotating his wrist.

She just followed his hand's movement, almost like she was hypnotized.

“Is she alright?” the human asked, turning to Bon Bon as he continued waving his hand about.

“She’s fine, just a little starstruck,” smirked the earth pony. “It’d be like if you spent the better part of a decade dreaming about something and finally one day it just fell into your hoov- uh, hands.”

Six nodded, turning back to the still transfixed Lyra.

He suddenly snapped his fingers, and she jerked back in shock.

“Woah!” she managed. “That was so amazing!”

“You might wanna stop gawking at my hands before your wife gets jealous,” he smirked.

“Hey, I am not like that!” huffed Lyra with embarrassment, before Bon Bon chuckled and rested her forehoof over her wife's shoulders.

“He’s just teasing, Lyly,” said the mare, giving her wife her own pet name.

Lyra just blushed as she put away her half-finished sketch.

“So did you two call me to look at my hands and cuddle or what?” Six said, interrupting the two mares.

“Oh right,” huffed Bon Bon, blushing herself now. “We uh… wanted to invite you to lunch!”

“Lunch?” he repeated.

“Oh yeah, Derpy was getting off her shift soon and we had this whole thing planned! We figured you’d wanna be there!” explained Lyra with a smile.

He sighed, looking around as he put his palms on his hips.

They looked at him, seeming a bit nervous.

“Sure,” he just shrugged, finally answering.

“Great!” squeaked Lyra, giving a little hoof-stamp of approval.

“So where we going?” he asked.

“Just follow us!” Bon Bon said, and the two turned away, leading him down the street.

As they trotted ahead, the unicorn winked to her wife, who smirked back happily.

Courier Six didn’t notice, given he was a few paces behind them.

The walk was quite brisk, given most ponies still were a bit fearful of the hulking figure. Soon enough the trio came into view of a large house that had a decorated roof made up of what seemed to be gingerbread, frosting, and a cupcake at the top.

He looked at the architecture for a moment. Neat feat of engineering.

“So this the place?” he asked as the mares approached.

“Yep, Sugarcube Corner,” Lyra smirked.

“It’s absolutely awesome!” assured Bon Bon. “They make some of the best confections this side of Equestria.”

“Yeah, I think Sweetie Belle gave me a cupcake from here one time,” he mused. “It was pretty good. I didn’t get a lot of sweets back home.”

“Heh, we’ll be sure to fix that!” Lyra said with a chuckle.

The two stepped aside, letting him open the front door and enter in first. He didn't question it as he stepped inside.

He soon realized the lights were off as he stepped deeper into the building.

The Courier looked around with a sense of unsureness, before suddenly they flicked on, making him narrow his eyes questioningly.

About a dozen ponies surrounded him.

Dinky, Derpy, the CMC, Rainbow Dash, he recognized, there was also a pink earth pony with a poofy mane he thought he'd seen before. He vaguely thought he remembered her name, but blanked on it. There was also a purple earth pony he didn’t know at all. A yellow stallion and a light blue mare stood behind the group, a large, three-layered cake on a table between the two. Likely the bakers of the large confection.

“Surpriiiiise!” they all bellowed, though their tone was quieter and not the typical shout one would find at a normal surprise party. It was almost like they were whisper-shouting.

He cocked an eyebrow at that.

The ponies all looked at him with smiles, though the human just looked around, confused.

“Uh… alright?” he offered back. “I’m surprised?”

“Ooh he’s gooood,” the pink, floofy-maned mare huffed.

“Pinkie, I don’t think he even knows what this is,” Rainbow Dash sighed, doing a facehoof.

“What is this?” Six finally asked.

“It’s your S.S.S.S.S.P.!” Pinkie huffed, as if it was obvious.

He cocked an eyebrow under the mask.

“Your Super Soft Super Secret Surprise Party,” Rainbow Dash sighed, reciting the phrase from earlier.

“...what?” he offered.

“Instead of shouting at you and getting you angry, we just all whisper ‘surprise’ and you’d have no reason to be such a mean ol grumpy pants like you usually are!” Pinkie elaborated. “It was all part of my master plan!”

“I guess that makes sense?” Six said, barely even sure he was awake at the moment.

“Hey it’s alright! We’ll just keep the vibes chill and ease him into the party!” Lyra said, trotting up from behind the Courier.

“Look, I just came for lunch, alright,” he stated. “Not… whatever this is.”

“It’s a surprise party, silly!” Pinkie said, speeding up to him so fast he felt a gust of wind send his jacket billowing back. “Have you never been to a surprise party?”

“No,” he answered flatly.

She gasped loudly at that, before shocking him further by rearing up and giving him a powerful bearhug with her forelimbs.

“My goodness! You poor, poor thing!” she said, standing on her hind legs as she squeezed him.

He grunted, struggling a bit against her shockingly strong grasp.

“Let… go,” he growled.

“Ooops!” Pinkie said, doing as instructed with an embarrassed smile. “Sorry!”

He dusted himself off in annoyance.

“Hey, Six, it’s not bad to have fun, alright!” Dash said, hovering over to the human with a slice of cake on a plate outstretched in her hooves. “Cake’s free, on the house!”

He looked at the chocolate-covered confection, and then up at the rainbow pegasus.

“You tricked me into this,” he said, his voice gravelly.

“I didn’t!” she said back. “I was being genuine. Everypony here has been asking about you!”

Pinkie nodded.

“Yeah! After my talk with AJ, I learned you were a super-duper lone-wolf type!” Pinkie explained. “So that’s why I only invited a couple of ponies instead of the whole town like I usually do! I just got the ones who I knew wanted to come… it’s not as big as it normally is, but I figure you’d like that!”

He overlooked the crowd, spotting the unfamiliar earth mare once more. She lit up at his gaze and slowly trotted her way towards the human with a thankful-looking smile.

“Alright, the others I get, but who the hell are you?” he asked, gruffly pointing a finger at the pony.

“Sorry for my lack of introductions!” she offered back, still giving a soft, warm smile. “I’m Cheerilee! I’m here to thank you for saving the lives of my students. Dinky and the Crusaders talked really big about you in class today.”

“You didn’t have to come to a party just to tell me that,” he said flatly.

“I know but I just figured you didn’t have many ponies here giving you a warm welcome, even after the cheers you got at the hospital,” the teacher said. “If you ever need anypony to talk to, I’d be glad to call you my friend.”

“Thanks…?” he said back, unsurely.

She gave smile at that, nodding as she outstretched a forehoof.

The Courier took it and gave it a gentle shake.

She was mature, though was a similar age to the other adults in the room. Had a more matronly air of her. Not bad.

He’d encountered a few teachers in the past. She was sort of like them, just more warm. Then again, everything was warmer here.

"By the way, I brought you some homemade sarsaparilla, just over there on the table by the cake,” she said.

He gripped her forehoof a bit tighter, his body leaning in, red lenses looking into her lively eyes.

“You what?” he asked, his tone serious, like an addict being offered his substance of choice.

“Yes, Scootaloo mentioned you had a penchant for it, I occasionally make sodas as a hobby of mine, so I figured I’d try my hoof at it!” she said with a smirk. “I had some sarsaparilla vines growing in my garden and well, one thing led to another and… I hope you enjoy.”

He let her hoof go at that, nodding.

“I… thank you,” he said, his tone softer as he looked over onto the table.

With the stallion and pale blue mare having backed up a bit, he could see a large pitcher of the dark-colored liquid. It was filled with some ice cubes too, with condensation just rolling off of the glass.

His mouth felt dry at that.

Fresh.

“Hey Six!”

Ice cold.

“Six?”

A wasteland rarity.

“Six!”

Delicious necta-

“SIX!!!”

He was brought out of the trance by the familiar voice, looking down. Scootaloo stared back up, giving him a pouty face, with the other Crusaders at her side.

“Jeez, what’s wrong with you?” she rolled her eyes.

“Nothing,” he hissed. “What do you want, kid?”

“I just wanted to say hello to my friend,” she pouted, crossing her forehooves. “Guess you care more about soda than me.”

“Ice cold soda,” he corrected.

She snickered at that, giving a small smirk as she dropped her annoyed expression.

“You know, I was thinking that maybe once that whole meeting with Twilight thing goes over, if you don’t wind up teleporting away… we could search for your Cutie Mark!” Scoots offered.

“Kid I don’t think that’s gonna work,” he answered, his tone one of uncertainty. “Humans don’t get those.”

“We could still try!” Apple Bloom offered. “Griffons don’t either and Gabby got hers just fine! Even if we had to make it fer her.”

“Shouldn’t you be helping your sister, Apple Bloom?” he asked.

“Hey, we still got a bit of an excess today!” smirked the filly. “Thanks in part ta you.”

“Yeah, and Rarity’s already arranged a visit with Smolder for next week!” Sweetie happily added. “She’s getting the pony-based dresses prepped now! You really inspired her.”

“I’m just one big problem solver,” he sighed, looking over the party.

The stallion and mare duo soon walked up to him. They seemed more nervous than the others, but the yellow male spoke first.

“H-hello sir! We’re the Cakes!” he introduced with the best grin he could give, his wife giving a nervous smile as well. "I'm Carrot and this is my wife, Cup."

Pinkie popped up beside the Courier from seemingly nowhere, causing him to jerk his head towards her in surprise.

“Yeah, they helped on all these awesome snacks!” she said, praising the duo.

“You sure you don’t want compensation or something?” the human asked, looking back at the two.

The two’s nervousness slightly subsided at his generous offer.

“Well that’s mighty kind of you mister!” Mrs. Cake said, her smile more genuine and less tense now. “But no, we do this kind of stuff a lot. We’re not hurting for bits.”

“You sure?” the human offered. His voice gruff, but tone surprisingly helpful.

“Not unless you can bake a mean cake,” smirked Mr. Cake, giving a chuckle.

“I’ve baked once or twice,” the human shrugged.

The two Cakes looked between each other in thought, before turning back to him.

“Maybe we’ll think of something for ya eventually,” Mrs. Cake said with a smirk.

“Whatever you say,” the Courier shrugged.

“Why don’t you grab a slice, dear?” offered the blue mare with a soft smile.

“I might,” he responded.

“Take your time,” Mr. Cake chuckled. “But not too long! Don’t want it to all be gone before you’ve had a bite!”

The human nodded and the Cakes soon backed away, going over to intermingle with the other guests.

He soon felt a tap on the shoulder and turned, seeing Dash again, the same plate of cake in hand.

“They’re right you know,” she smirked. “This stuff’s good.”

He finally shrugged, giving in as he took the plate.

He looked as out of place as he felt.

Colorful ponies laughing and talking and being… genuine.

No hostilities or uncertainty.

He could see the Cakes had begun talking with Cheerilee, joking offhandedly about their own foals becoming students in her class.

Just friends.

He looked over and saw Derpy, wiping a large patch of frosting off Dinky’s cheek, before the small unicorn hugged her mother softly.

Family.

Bon Bon and Lyra were wrapped in a warm embrace off to the side, giggling softly to themselves.

Love.

…

A community.

He felt something nudge him in the back, and he turned around, looking down to see Pinkie Pie, who never left his side.

Her expression was soft, genuine.

“I can’t say I know what it’s like to be in your shoes, but I hope you like this party,” she said with a smile. “I know you can be grumpy and all, but you still deserve to smile like anypony else. Laughter is the best medicine, after all.”

She gave a small chuckle.

He stared in silence.

“I’m sorry you never got to experience a surprise party before. Like I said, Applejack told me a bit about you, so I know you come from a pretty rough place, but here in Equestria you can smile as much as you want,” the party pony offered. “Nopony will judge you.”

He sighed, taking a few seconds before he replied.

“You and your friends make it sound like it’s that easy,” he shrugged.

“No matter how hard it is, we’ll be there for you, Six,” Pinkie assured.

“You just met-” he just stopped himself before finishing, giving a sigh.

He remembered the whole conversation with Derpy. This one would likely go the same way.

“We make friends fast here,” she just said with a wide, toothy smile.

“Yeah, I noticed…” he nodded.

“I’ll stop buggin’ ya now,” she giggled. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”

With that, she literally bounced away, hopping over to a table to meet up with Rainbow Dash.

He finally looked down at his cake, before shrugging and grabbing a nearby fork, taking a bite of it after he adjusted his helmet a bit.

Not bad.

Before long though, he tried Cheerilee's sarsaparilla.

It didn’t last the rest of the hour before it was gone...

Shy Greetings

It was about an hour or two later and the party had died down. Cheerilee was one of the first to leave, likely due to her busy job. With a final smile back towards the Courier, she trotted out into the streets.

Dash was next, having to go catch up on her nap for her upcoming training sessions. The Courier waved her off in silence as she went.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had to return to their sisters as well, splitting up the CMC once more.

He was just… there.

Existing in an almost awkward manner in the corner of what was his own party.

He conversed on occasion. He enjoyed the food. He definitely enjoyed the soda. But something just still sat differently within him.

The others were patient. They still accepted him. He obviously could tell that. They accepted the quietness, the occasional snark, the cold shoulder.

Still felt strange.

He actually helped clean up when the party reached its end, stacking up numerous plates and silverware as he went around the tables. Given there were only a dozen guests, this was a rather quick feat. He took Lyra’s plate out of her golden magic and moved over to the Cakes.

“Why thank you, mister Six,” Mrs. Cake said with a smile up at him. “You truly are a gentleco- uh… gentlehuman!”

“If you say so,” he shrugged, before motioning to the plates stacked in his large palms. “Where do you want these?”

“Just the kitchen over there dear,” she pointed him into the back, and he shimmied his way around Mr. Cake, who was sweeping the floors after a long day of guests tracking dirt and debris in.

The kitchen was empty, yet still had a faintly sweet smell coming from it, likely due to it being where the Cakes baked their cakes. It was hard to notice given the mask, but it was there.

Six wasn’t exactly used to cleaning up, but he still sort of had an idea on what to do. He sat the plates down into the sink and turned it on, allowing water to run over them. He plugged the drain and let the sink partly fill before he turned the flow off.

“Hey Sixy-Wixy!” came a playful voice from behind.

“Don’t call me that, Pinkie Pie,” he grunted, pouring in a bit of soap into the sink. Soap was an unusual sight for him.

“Sorry!” she giggled, keeping her bubbly tone. “But what are you doing back here? Party’s out front! What’s left of it anyways!”

“Cleaning?” he pointed out, examining the sponge sitting nearby. Strange contraption. He knew what it was, but it was a very uncommon sight in the Mojave, just like soap itself.

“Pfftt, the guests don’t clean up, silly filly!” she said, gently nudging him aside.

“What are you talking about?” he huffed, letting her push him gently away as he stepped back.

“That was a free party, surely they want somethi-"

“I know teaching generosity isn’t my thing, but you really need to learn to accept gifts,” Pinkie chuckled.

He would’ve argued further, but to tell the truth, he was tired. Felt drained. Honestly, he’d been drained for the past week almost. Couldn’t dwell on it though.

“Look just-...” he sighed, interrupting himself. “What do you want?”

“I want you to smile!” she answered with an honest grin. “Just like everycreature else!”

“You and all of your friends have been telling me to be happy, to let the walls down, to do this, to do that,” he huffed. “Where’s your grand speech?”

“I’m not into speeches, but peaches on the otherhoof… ooohh now those are yummy!” she said as she began washing the dishes, licking her lips at the thought. “Good idea for a cake, or maybe a pie? Cakepie? Piecake?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he blanked.

She cringed a bit at that.

“Yeesh, could warn a pony before you drop the F-bomb,” she sighed.

He just stared.

“Look, I’m not trying to get you to open up or anything, Six,” she said, her tone much more calm, less playful. “I just want you to be happy, alright? Like I said back at the party, laughter’s the best medicine.”

He was silent, looking down at his dirt-caked shoes.

“I hope you liked it,” she said, her tone soft, genuine.

He remained quiet.

Her mane slightly deflated from his lack of an answer as she continued to wash the plates. She didn’t press him further, though.

After a few seconds of quietly washing up, there was a faint, low whisper.

“I-... I did…” he said, his tone low, guttural, and honest, as if he didn't want her to be upset after all she'd done.

Though it was almost like he was speaking more to himself than to her.

Pinkie’s mane poofed back up instantly and she turned to him.

“What was that?” she asked with a smile.

He stepped back.

“Nothing, forget it,” he growled, his tone defensive, panicked even. “I… I’ve got to go.”

The Courier turned, stumbling towards the kitchen entrance.

“Wait Six!” she shouted; her hooves wet as she trotted after him.

He paused at that, giving an annoyed grunt as he turned towards her, his red lenses staring back into her natural eyes.

“Thank you,” she said, giving a soft smile.

The human sighed deeply, leaning against a wall tiredly as he looked down at the floor once more.

“Yeah…” he stated simply.

“Would you like to meet the last of our friend group?” Pinkie Pie offered, her tone bubbly once more.

“Huh?” he managed, looking up at her.

“Well, you met me, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash,” she said, counting off the ponies on her hoof as if she had fingers.

The Courier didn’t acknowledge how bizarre it was.

“But you still haven’t met Fluttershy!” she concluded. “And Twilight too, but that’s gonna be a lot harder to do! But Fluttershy herself should be finished with her duties at the animal sanctuary now! I’m sure she wouldn’t mind a quick visit, if you want?”

He sighed yet again, looking back down at the ever-beloved floor yet again.

Say no. Say no. Say no.

Tell her no, Goddamn it!

“I guess,” he huffed tiredly, lifting a gloved hand and waving at her.

Ahh… great.

“You alright Six?” she questioned, lifting a brow. “You need any coffee or something?”

His head perked up at that.

“You know what… Yeah,” he answered with a nod, giving a small smirk under his mask.

She beamed her own smile back at him.

It was a few minutes later and the Courier had rejoined the remaining members of the party. He sat at a table with Pinkie, Scoots, Dinky, Derpy, Lyra, and Bon Bon. Currently, the crowd was chanting the classic “Chug! Chug! Chug!” at him.

The reason was because he was downing an entire gallon’s worth of sugary iced coffee that Pinkie had whipped up.

It rested in a massive glass mug, and he showed no signs of slowing as he gulped it down, not even needing a second to pause for breath as a mixture of whip cream and the milky brown coffee itself flowed down onto his duster. It was only a full minute and a half before it was gone.

The crowd went wild.

Lyra and Scoots cheered. Derpy clapped her hooves together. Dinky and Bon Bon lightly pounded the top of the table. Pinkie pulled a camera from her mane and snapped a picture.

The Courier sat the empty, chilled mug down with a satisfied exhale, wiping his mouth before he readjusted his helmet. His body felt energized, wired.

Heart was pounding harder than a quarterback on prom night!

Whatever sugary shit she’d put into that, it worked. Hopefully the caffeine high would last longer this time!

“That was awesome, Six!” Scoots said with admiration.

“Never seen someone down a gallon of coffee before?” he snarked back, wiping away the droplets that landed on his jacket as he did.

“That was a badass party trick, you know,” Lyra chuckled, patting his shoulder encouragingly. “Between that and you downing the sarsaparilla earlier, you should show it off more!”

“That was just for necessity,” he corrected, though he gently nudged her shoulder good-naturedly with his gloved hand. “Needed a pick-me-up.”

Speaking of which, he soon reached into his jacket and pulled out his pack of smokes, which was basically empty now.

“Sir, no smoking in the building!” he heard Mrs. Cake called from across the room, she was currently closing up shop.

“Right, right,” he huffed, putting the cigarettes away, and the mare nodded back at this.

Scootaloo giggled at that.

He just looked down at her and rolled his eyes with a grunt of annoyance.

“Shouldn’t you be at home, kid?” he huffed.

“My aunts know where I am, they were cool with me staying a bit late!” she defended with a squeak.

“I have a hard time believing that,” he chuckled.

“You know, the night’s still young, Six, and I think Vinyl Scratch is throwing a rave tonight,” Lyra offered with a cocky smirk. “We could hit it up.”

“Well, some of you could,” replied Derpy. “I gotta get Dinky home soon.”

“Ah right,” huffed the aquamarine unicorn.

“I probably wouldn’t go anyways,” admitted the Courier. “Pinkie wants me to meet Shutterfly or whatever.”

“Fluttershy, silly,” giggled the pink pony, suddenly popping up right behind him.

He jolted a bit at that but managed to remain seated.

“Wow, look who’s opening up,” Lyra teased with a wink.

“The only thing I’m about to open up is a can of whoopass on you, if you don’t shut it,” he snarked back.

She just snorted, laughing at the bizarre insult.

Bon Bon joined in and chortled as well.

They couldn’t see it, but under the mask he gave an awkward half-smile, as if he enjoyed the banter.

When the group finally exited Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie bounced along beside the Courier, with Lyra and Bon Bon waving their goodbyes.

“Catch ya soon, Six!” Lyra called over her shoulder.

"We've got a club to hit up!" Bon Bon laughed, trotting along side her wife.

He nodded back.

“That was a great party,” Derpy said with a soft smile. “I just wish the Doc got to see it.”

“Yeah, where is he anyways?” Pinkie said, bouncing in place. “I sent him an invite and everything!”

“He’s been helping Vinyl Scratch out recently,” Derpy explained. “Been working on some new sound system; said he wanted to revo- uh… ‘revolutionize’ raves or something. It’s been eating up a lot of his time.”

“Who are you talking about, again?” Six asked, confused.

However, before he got his answer, a moment later, the remaining ponies (and human) heard a familiar, accented, masculine voice.

“Wait!” it huffed.

The group looked down the street; The Courier focused his keen eyes and examined him.

Brown coat, darker brown mane and tail… What the hell was the point of the bowtie?

Dr. Whooves skidded to a stop just a few feet away from the group, sweat dripping down his brow as he took deep, ragged breaths.

“Doc!” Derpy said, before giving the stallion a hug with both of her forehooves. She began showering him with kisses. He didn’t resist her affection as he continued panting.

The Courier just watched this display, looking down at Dinky, who just shrugged back up at him.

“My sincerest apologies for not making it to the party sooner,” huffed the Doc, straightening his bowtie with his forehooves.

“It’s fine,” the Courier nodded. “Place was a bit packed for my liking anyways.”

“Yes, well,” the Doctor cleared his throat as Derpy finally backed off, giving a blush at her outburst.

“You two uh… got a thing?” the Courier mused, pointing between the two.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” huffed Dinky, rolling her eyes as she sat at Six’s feet.

“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Derpy said, flicking back her mane with a forehoof as she still kept a light blush. “A while before we started going steady, anyways.”

“Indeed, though I must admit that here recently I’ve not been as great of a coltfriend as I should be,” the Doctor admitted, a minor blush of his own.

“Don’t worry about that, Doc. I know you can get really busy, but that's okay since we’ve still got that double date with Bon Bon and Lyra planned!” Derpy said with a smile.

“Of course!” he smiled back. “You still have our foalsitter booked for this weekend, right?"

Derpy’s smile soon dropped, her crossed eyes going wide.

“Here we go,” smirked Dinky to Six.

“Oh my goodness!” the pegasus shouted.

“I completely forgot to get a new one after Sea Swirl canceled!”

“Great Whickering Stallions!” the Doctor cried. “What about Roseluck?”

“Too busy running the shop, her sisters are out of town for the entire week!” Derpy replied.

“Cherry Berry?” he asked, desperate.

“Fixing her helicopter, that'll take the next two weeks!” Derpy shot back.

“Bulk Biceps?” he asked again, this time even more desperate.

“He got another job!” the mare cried.

“This is awful!” the Doc managed, before suddenly the Courier cleared his throat, ceasing their panicked display.

“If I may...” he said calmly, before pausing, giving a deep, annoyed sigh, as if he wasn’t sure about his next set of words.

Finally, he grunted to himself.

“I’ll do it,” he said, his tone one of flat annoyance.

The pair’s faces lit up, and immediately Dinky stepped aside, before Derpy shot over at speeds that’d make even Rainbow Dash blush. The gray mare slammed into his chest, causing him to step back from the impact. She wrapped all four of her limbs around him for a powerful hug, squeezing the air out of the unprepared human.

“Derpy,” he growled, obviously annoyed, “quit it!”

Her crossed eyes widened, and she flew back, hovering in the middle of the air as she gave a sheepish smile.

“Oh goodness, are you sure you wanna do it, Six? My little Dinky can be a handful,” offered the matronly mare.

“Yeah, I'm sure she's the handful of the family,” he growled, waving her away as he dusted off his jacket. “Just don’t do that again or you might actually make me change my mind.”

“Right, sorry,” she squeaked, another blush forming.

"Now it's this weekend, my good fellow!" the Doc elaborated. "We can discuss more in depth this Friday! Learn the routines of foalsitting, and such!"

"Yeah, I figured that," the Courier nodded, looking at the small group.

They all looked back at him.

“Look guys, it's been enjo-” he stopped himself; looking over the ponies who all stared up at him with wide smiles, even Derpy giving him a nervous, yet thankful grin as if they all anticipated what he was about to say.

“It’s been something, that’s for sure,” he corrected himself.

They kept their smiles, nodding back at him.

“You’re still up for a meetup at Fluttershy’s, right?” Pinkie questioned after a few seconds.

“Yeah, let’s make this quick before I regret it,” he huffed. “Once this coffee’s out of the system, I’m probably gonna drop.”

“Sir, before you go,” the Doctor said suddenly, walking up to the human with a soft expression.

“Yeah?” Six said, looking down at him.

“I must thank you dearly,” the stallion said, offering a hoof.

The Courier grabbed it, and the Doctor thankfully shook the human’s hand in an almost gentlemanly (gentlestallionly?) fashion.

“Without you, poor little Dinky would’ve met with a terrible fate,” he said, his tone sounding horrified at the thought. “She might not be my daughter by blood, but she is an excellent little filly!”

“Look it’s no problem Doc,” the human said, and moments later the stallion let his hand go. “She didn’t deserve to die like that.”

Dr. Whooves nodded, his face a mixture of grimness and thankfulness.

“I’d love to stay with ya a bit longer, but we really need to be getting back home,” Derpy said.

“Yes, certainly,” her bowtie-clad coltfriend nodded. “I know our meeting was short, but I do hope to see you again!”

“Yeah uh, take care Doc,” the human nodded, and before long the three ponies were trotting down the street away from him.

That just left one more.

“Alright kid, your turn,” Six said, looking down at Scootaloo.

“Oh come on, I can visit Fluttershy too ya know!” she pouted.

“You’ve got school tomorrow, don’t you?” he pointed out.

She just sighed, not answering.

“Go on home, your aunts are gonna get worried,” he scolded.

“Fiiine,” the filly huffed. “Jeez, when did you become such a buzzkill?”

He just placed his hands on his hips like an annoyed father as his red lenses stared down at her.

“I’ll talk to you later, kid,” he said sternly.

“Yeah, see ya around, Six,” Scoots said, finally caving before she grabbed her scooter from nearby. Soon enough she sped off down the street.

Now it was just him and Pinkie.

“Alright,” he huffed, “let’s get this over with.”

Pinkie just giggled, nodding at that.

The walk to Fluttershy’s cottage wasn’t particularly of note. The sun dipped a bit lower by this point, and the sky above was a redder hue, indicating the evening had arrived and was slowly turning to night.

They reached her cottage within half an hour; Pinkie was still ahead of the human as they followed the trail to Fluttershy's front door.

“Oh you’re just gonna love her,” Pinkie squeaked, hopping up and down all the while.

He didn’t question it anymore.

Given she was ahead of him, she reached the door first.

“Now she might freak out just a little bit at how you look, so let me lead the way,” explained the earth pony, before she gave a few gentle knocks on the door. “Fluttershy, it’s Pinkie!”

There was silence for a moment, before the Courier heard a faint, feminine voice from inside.

“Just a minute!” it called in a sing-song fashion, sounding a bit muffled.

He looked around at the exterior of the cabin and noticed all the little critters hiding in the bushes and trees nearby. Squirrels, birds, rabbits, all kinds of things, really. The place was like a menagerie.

“Fluttershy loves her animals,” Pinkie chuckled, noticing him gazing around. “I wonder how she feels about hoomans.”

“Humans,” the Courier corrected.

“My version is funner to say,” Pinkie smiled.

Suddenly, the door creaked open just about halfway and a light yellow, pink maned pegasus' face was visible, the front half of her body peeking out from inside the cabin.

“Hello, Pink-” she paused in the middle of her introduction, a sense of nervousness befalling her as she looked at the armor-clad human.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” the earth pony replied. “This is Courier Six, and before you freak out, there’s nothing to worry about! He’s the creature that stopped the Bugbear at the dam! Remember in the papers?”

The Courier just lifted a hand up and awkwardly waved a “hello” at the shy pegasus.

Fluttershy shivered for a second, looking as if she wanted to slam the door in their faces. However, a moment later, she took a deep, calming breath. After taking a few seconds, she exhaled and fully opened the entry to her cottage.

“Would you like to come in for tea?” she offered; her tone low yet steady.

“That sounds great!” Pinkie said with a grin, before bouncing inside.

The Courier remained still as Fluttershy looked at him with a questioning gaze.

“Well, I filled up on cake back at the party,” he said, as if he had suddenly become the shy one.

“Oh, sir it’s no big deal,” offered the pegasus, her tone kind and understanding. “You can just come in for a quick visit, you don’t have to have any tea.”

“You sure? You seem kinda…” he paused.

Her name was Fluttershy. What did he expect?

“Yes?” she asked gently.

“Scared,” he replied, “at how I look, I mean.”

“You do look a little…” she herself paused this time, as if trying to think of a less-harsh word for terrifying, “...unusual, but I’ve learned to never judge a pony or any other creature just because they look different!”

“Right,” he nodded, before he entered.

He immediately had to duck as a bluejay flew right by his head.

“Oops, sorry,” Fluttershy said softly. “They’re not used to someone as tall as you being around here that often… well, aside from Discord.”

“Who?” Six asked as the smaller animals scattered away from his presence, with birds roosting in their nests and mice and varmits rushing to hide under furniture.

Fluttershy noticed this and tried to calm the animals as Pinkie bounced over.

“Oh he’s just the Lord of Chaos!” the party pony explained with a smile. “Tried to take over Equestria two or three times in the past until we stopped him.”

The Courier stared at her in silence.

“Don’t worry, he became a lot nicer a few years back,” the pink mare said, waving a forehoof. “Thanks to Fluttershy, of course!”

“Riiiight,” the Courier nodded, looking at the pegasus.

She smiled back at him as she focused her attention away from the animals and back to the human.

“Now there’s no need to worry, Discord really is a sweetheart, even if he was a bit mean at first,” Fluttershy explained with a smile, before flying into the kitchen.

She soon came back with a small tea set sat out on a large tray, complete with several teacups, a warm kettle, and a small bowl of sugar cubes. She laid the tray down onto a small table and took a seat.

“Would you like some tea, mister Six?” she asked softly, “It always helps me calm my nerves, especially after a long day at the animal sanctuary.”

“It’s fine, I’ve got a gallon of coffee still in me,” he said, pulling up a chair of his own.

Pinkie joined the other two at the small table, and the human sat awkwardly in silence as the two ponies each poured themselves a small cup of tea. Of course, Pinkie put an entire hoofful of cubes into hers, while Fluttershy only had one or two. The ponies stirred their sugar into their hot beverages as the Courier tapped his fingers on the edge of the table.

“So Fluttershy, how’s it going with your animals?” asked Pinkie, trying to break the ice between the two, otherwise they'd sit there in silence all night!

“It’s going great,” answered the pegasus with a soft smile. “Between Angel and Dr. Fauna’s help, I’m finally able to get a bit more free time.”

“Yeah, you should’ve seen her a few months back,” laughed Pinkie as she turned to Six. “She was swamped with work, between the sanctuary and the Friendship School, she barely had time to think!”

“You work at a school?” he asked, raising a brow.

“All of our friend group does,” admitted the pegasus with a shy smile. “It used to take up a lot of our day, but as of recently Starlight has found a lot of substitutes to fill in for us.”

“Guess that explains how the others managed that sisterly camping trip,” shrugged Six.

“It makes planning parties all the easier, that’s for sure,” Pinkie chuckled. “If I had my past schedule, it would’ve taken me a whole week to throw one for you!”

“A lot seemed to happen to your group in particular,” Six mused. “I remember something about you being the Elements or whatever, and you’re teachers, and one of you’s a princess.”

“Well Twi wasn’t always a princess,” pointed out Pinkie. “She just became one after she grew wings and became an alicorn!”

“...right,” the human accepted flatly.

“We went on a lot of adventures together, that’s for sure,” Fluttershy smiled.

“Yeah, like that one time you talked down a fifty-foot dragon!” Pinkie said with a giggle.

“Or the time I became an apple-craving bat monster,” chuckled the pegasus.

“Or when we helped save the Tree of Harmony!” Pinkie added.

The human just sat in silence, his brain only half-processing the words coming from their mouths.

As he listened, he noted their voices were a bit similar.

“So, you all used to go on life-threatening missions each week?” he finally said.

“Well, most of them weren’t life-threatening, but we definitely did a lot of weird things,” admitted Pinkie.

“But that just made our friendship even stronger,” Fluttershy added, before wrapping a wing softly around the earth pony, giving her a gentle hug.

“Here lately though, everything’s been quiet,” Pinkie said as she returned the embrace. “Aside from that Bugbear attack, anyways.”

“Guess I came at the right time then,” Six said, finally deciding to pour himself a small cup of tea, no sugar. He felt a little silly holding the tiny cup in his large, gloved hands, but still decided to adjust his mask and take a sip.

“I’ll say, you whooped that Bugbear really good!” Pinkie complimented as he downed the tea in one gulp due to how tiny it was for him.

“I just hope the poor creature didn’t suffer,” said Fluttershy with a sad tone. “I know he was up to no good, but it’s just such a shame seeing a beautiful creature have to…”

She stopped herself, as if she was incapable of saying the word “die.” Like it was some sort of taboo for her.

“You’ve got a strange definition of beauty,” Six said, readjusting his helmet.

“I admire all forms of life,” Fluttershy said, her tone a bit sterner despite her typically subdued nature. “To see an animal pass away, no matter the cause, it just doesn’t feel right.”

“Sometimes you’ve gotta do what ya gotta do to survive,” he countered, sitting down the empty teacup. “Nature’s cruel. To live, you gotta abide by its rules.”

Fluttershy was silent for a few seconds.

“That wasn’t the first time you’ve killed something, was it?” she finally asked, her tone full of uncertainty.

He didn’t reply at first, as if he was trying to pick his next words.

“Everyone’s gotta eat some way,” he shrugged after a moment. “Dogs, lizards, bears, killing one meant the difference between you and your family surviving until next week.”

Fluttershy frowned, her gaze softening a bit.

“I’m sorry you had to do that,” she nodded, as if faintly understanding his words. “I’ve known some predators who say the same thing.”

“What, do you talk to animals?” he scoffed, chuckling at that. A bit ironic, given he was talking to a horse.

She just nodded, answering genuinely yet without words.

Beneath the mask his smirk dropped as he looked on in confusion.

“She does run the animal sanctuary,” Pinkie pointed out. “It just helps her do her job!”

“Wait, is it only you that can do that or…” he trailed off, looking between Fluttershy and Pinkie.

“So far I think I’m the only pony in Equestria with this ability,” Fluttershy answered. “Even Dr. Fauna can’t, and she’s one of the best vets I know.”

“Right,” the Courier nodded.

Suddenly, one of the cottage windows opened and a large hawk flew in carrying a little white rabbit. It dropped the lagomorph to the floor and then sat down, perching itself on the windowsill.

“Angel?” asked Fluttershy in surprise. "I thought you were at the sanctuary for the night."

The bunny in question scurried over, climbing up one of the table legs and pointing frantically to Fluttershy, as if he was miming out something.

“My goodness, Muriel’s having another night terror?” Fluttershy repeated in surprise.

Angel nodded.

“Oh I am so sorry, Mister Six, but I’m afraid I’ll have to cut this tea party short; I’ve got to get down to the sanctuary and take care of this,” Fluttershy explained frantically. “After Antoine tried eating her a few months back, Muriel’s been having these awful dreams on occasion.”

“Uh, it’s alright,” shrugged the human, as he looked down at the rabbit.

Angel examined him back, the two looking over each other with a shared sense of confusion.

Strange creature.

Rabbits were rare in the Wasteland, easy pickings, only surviving on their own ability to breed.

Angel, was it? He seemed a bit smarter than your average animal. Unique, in a way.

Six's musings were interrupted by Fluttershy grabbing some saddlebags and sprinting over to the door.

“You and Pinkie just let yourselves out at any time, it was nice meeting you!” she said frantically, before opening the front door and flying off.

“That’s Fluttershy for ya, loves her animals, as you can tell,” giggled Pinkie.

Six nodded, looking down at Angel, who was still examining him as well.

“Weirdly intelligent, for a rabbit,” the Courier mused aloud.

Angel just crossed his arms, as if to say, ‘you’re weird!’ while he glared back up at the human for the perceived insult.

Six could faintly read his body language. Very anthropomorphic. Like something the Big MT would’ve cooked up for a laugh.

“Well Six, ya ready to go?” Pinkie asked, before nibbling on a sugar cube held in her forehoof.

He nodded, finally finishing his examination of Angel Bunny.

“Yeah, let’s roll out,” Six shrugged, before he and Pinkie cleaned up the tea tray and exited a few minutes later.

When the two were gone, Angel finally gave a huff, letting out a breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding.

The rabbit uncrossed his arms as a cold shiver ran down his spine. In the time he and the human were examining each other, he felt a horrific sensation that he’d dealt with many times as a little defenseless bunny…

He felt like he’d just looked into the eyes of a predator.

Adventures in Dinkysitting

It had been a few days since the Courier had offered to babysit Dinky.

He regretted it every second after he said he’d do it.

No matter what he was doing, be it working on his house, hunting for fish in the nearby stream, or checking his growing crops (the potatoes were doing well!) he found his mind being tugged back to it.

But he never canceled.

In all that time, not once did he track down Derpy and say ‘Hey, I don’t wanna babysit your loin-spawn, please find someone else!’ He just stuck to his word, accepted his fate.

Even went to the meetup yesterday, where Doctor Whooves (Derpy was out running mail) explained to him the do’s and don’ts of babysitting the little filly. Pointed out her favorite snacks, explained her bedtime, what time he should be there, and blah blah blah.

The human did remember it, but he knew how to babysit. It was as simple as making sure the kid didn't die... An easy feat!

At least the trip into town allowed him to get another pack of cigarettes!

Camel branded, with a large camel wearing sunglasses on the front. He didn’t know if that counted as an equine or not, but to be fair there were also dragons here. They tasted fresher than the ones from the Mojave at least.

He’d worked with Applejack once or twice, Rarity too, helped her get another small batch of gems. She said her work was coming along nicely. Said she wanted him to meet Smolder sometime in the future, after the dresses and such were done.

He just finished up his log shack in the time since. It was small, only a foot higher than the top of his head, having about eight logs stacked on top of each other. The roof was made up of long, sturdy sticks and wooden shingles in a triangular arch. He knew the houses back in Goodsprings and the like had a roof-design like that, which helped keep out the rare instances of rain.

Still, he managed to migrate all of his loot from the hollowed-out tree and into the shack, so now he had a relatively safe spot for it. He even made himself a small bed on the inside, of planks and dried leaves. It was… as comfortable and as soft as you could imagine. It provided rest though, and that’s what mattered.

The garden was slow. Only a few days since he'd started it, after all. He made sure to put some fresh fish heads into it, let it compost all together and grow. He even planted some maize too, just to see if it’d stick.

It was past midday now, and he finally decided to venture forth to Ponyville, as his Pip-Boy dinged a few times due to the alarm he’d set as a reminder.

Trek was normal, unexciting.

By this point when he entered, less of the locals fled from him. It felt like they’d grown accustomed to him wandering into and through the town every other day or so.

He still felt strange at the normalcy.

The lack of fights, the lack of criminals and murderers, the lack of monsters, (minus the Bugbear) it all didn’t gel well with him.

It’s alright though, in about a week or so he’d finally have his damned meeting with the damned princess, and from there he could leave…

He was going to be able to leave.

The human didn’t quite think about what exactly he’d do if he couldn’t leave.

No reason to do that! It was an impossibility, surely!

He shoved the thoughts aside as he reached Derpy’s house. She was already sitting out front waiting for him, Dinky at her side, he heard her in the middle of a conversation with her daughter.

“-now remember, you be nice to mister Six, alright,” he heard Derpy explain to her little filly.

“Mom, that’s like the fifth time you’ve said that today,” the unicorn sighed up at her overprotective mother, rolling her eyes.

“I know but I really need you on your best behavior, Dinky,” Derpy explained, a bit of panic taking over. “Why, if you got on his bad side, who knows what could happen! He could get really mad and quit babysitting and then you’d be alone and then he wouldn’t be friends with either of us an-”

The Courier made her stop by clearing his throat, and she turned to him.

“I believe your reservations were set for four,” he pointed to his Pip-Boy’s watch. “It’s already three thirty, you should get going.”

“Oh goodness, you’re right!” Derpy said, before turning and trying to kiss Dinky on her forehead. (she actually missed and just kissed her horn instead) The mare then flew off, shouting back over her shoulder. “Bye Dinky, bye Six! Be safe!”

“Thanks for the save,” Dinky sighed, wiping her horn with a forehoof. “She can be a bit embarrassing at times.”

“Hey she’s your mother,” the human pointed out sternly. “Better be thankful for what you’ve got. Some aren’t that lucky to have a parent like that.”

Dinky frowned, remembering the entire situation with Diamond Tiara and Spoiled Rich.

“Right,” she nodded.

“Now do you wanna go around town with me?” offered the human.

“Huh? You’re supposed to be foalsitting me,” the unicorn squeaked with surprise.

“I am,” he pointed out. “And not once did either Derpy or the Doc say I couldn’t bring you around town to run some errands.”

She just smiled goofily up at him.

A bit later and she was trailing a foot or two behind him as he walked along, checking the notes in his Pip-Boy.

“Alright, it’ll just be a quick stop by Rarity’s, maybe Applejack's, maybe a diner,” he said aloud to the little filly, his vision focused on the amber-colored screen of his HUD.

“Maybe we can go to the park?” offered the little unicorn. “Ooh or maybe a quick hike in the Everfree?”

“Last time I was with a filly in the woods, it led to me having to save her from certain death,” he said flatly. “Let’s skip that one.”

She deflated a bit, but still nodded.

The Carousel Boutique was the first stop, and today it looked as if it were closed. Weekends and all that.

Regardless, the human ignored this and just barged on in with Dinky in tow, opening the door and causing a bell to chime as he entered.

Immediately, he was met with the sight of a large, bipedal, scaled thing with wings looking at him. It reminded him a bit of the geckos back home, but a bit more… ferocious, perhaps? More durable looking as well. Had horns and sharper fangs. Definitely draconic, though it wasn’t like the ones he’d seen in the comics.

It also had a big poofy pink dress on. So that lowered the intimidation by a bit.

It (She? Looked a little feminine in the face, the dress helped too) jerked back in surprise at his sudden entrance, and immediately her clawed hands reached up to cover her dress, like that’d hide all the frills and gem-coated fabrics of it.

“Smolder dear, are you alright?” Rarity yelped, rushing into view from the other room with a large amount of fabrics and needles in her magical grasp.

“I was until this- this… whatever it is barged in,” hissed the dragon.

Was she… blushing? With scales?

The human didn’t question it as he set his gaze on Rarity.

“Guess you’re a bit busy at the moment,” he said simply.

“Ya think!” the embarrassed dragoness growled.

“Smolder, no need to be panicked, this is Courier Six!” Rarity injected herself into the conversation, standing between the two. “He helped me gather these gems for your dress, remember? He’s not going to judge you at all for wearing liking girly things!”

“How am I supposed to believe that when he has a bunch of… dark, cool, mean-looking stuff on?” Smolder growled, still doing her best to cover her feminine attire.

“Oh, ignore the armor, underneath I’m just a big softie,” he snarked.

“I can sense the sarcasm, you know!” the young dragoness spat back, smoke billowing from her nostrils.

“Look, kid, I’m just here for work-related meetings, honest. Not whatever this is,” he said, motioning his hand to the dress.

“This is my newest interspecies fashion line!” Rarity explained with a huffy tone. “Now I am not trying to be rude, but I do need relative quietness to concentrate on the dress.”

“Whatever,” he shrugged. “Sure you don’t have any work for me today?”

“Positive,” she said with a definitive nod.

“Alright, come on Dinky,” he said, walking back over to the door.

However, the little unicorn had trotted up to Smolder by this point, looking up at the dragoness, who gave an unsure look down at the little pony.

“I’m not usually into frilly stuff, but your dress looks really cool,” offered the filly with a soft smile.

“Uh… thanks?” Smolder managed, still blushing; an unsure expression adorned her face.

“You know, I always thought dragons were really cool!” squeaked the unicorn. “We should hang out sometime, you’re at the School of Friendship, right?”

Smolder nodded unsurely.

“Dinky!” interrupted the Courier, his tone louder now as he stood by the open door.

“Ah, sorry,” the little filly said. “It was really cool to properly meet you, Smolder. I’m Dinky, by the way.”

“Yeah I kinda figured,” chuckled the dragoness, finally moving aside her claws from her dress to gently bend down and offer an open palm to the filly.

Dinky squeaked with excitement and shook her hand with excitement.

The Courier and Rarity both watched the little unicorn as after a few seconds, she let go of the claw/hoofshake and rushed over to the human’s feet.

“Bye Smolder!” she said.

“Catch ya later, Dinky,” the dragoness replied with a smile and a wave, much more relaxed now.

The door shut and the duo were gone, with Rarity wiping her brow in relief.

"That dude is kind of a jerk, isn't he?" Smolder asked.

"He's rough around the edges, and sometimes he is rather... forwards?" replied the fashionista as she looked over the dragoness' dress. "But deep down, I think he just wants to be accepted, no different from any other pony. Or dragon."

Smolder nodded at that, looking at the closed door.

Outside the Boutique, the human and filly walked alongside one another.

“Guess you made a new friend,” he chuckled.

“Smolder?” Dinky looked up at him. “Nah, she’s… well her friend group is too important to hang out with someone like me. They saved Equestria in the past, actually!”

“You’re kidding? They’re students! Teenagers at best, right?” he said, his tone one of surprise.

“Well Cozy Glow was younger than them, and she nearly drained the entire world of its magic!” the unicorn explained.

“Okay now this shit’s getting weird,” he growled, not censoring his swear. “Feels like half of this specific town saved the world.”

“Tell me about it,” Dinky rolled her eyes.

The two continued on, heading towards Sweet Apple Acres.

The Courier’s meeting with Applejack went by quickly for the little filly. She got a quick hello with Apple Bloom, but beyond that, her day consisted mostly of following the human around as he did what she would call ‘boring adult stuff.’ You know the kind.

The farmer had no work for the human to do, obviously, and explained that for the next few days it’d be like that. He seemed annoyed at that but still left courteously.

The trek back was a bore-filled swirl of nothing but trees and hills and greenery. It was only after they got back into Ponyville proper did things start picking up.

She walked on behind him as they made their way to a small burger joint. Dinky was pretty sure she remembered this as the one that Twilight had eaten at with the CMC a few years back.

“I don’t know about you kid, but I’m ready for some grub, kid,” he flexed his shoulders a bit. “You want some of that uh… ice cream stuff?”

She smirked at that, with him now getting her proper attention once for the whole evening.

The two were soon sitting at one of the tables, and not long after that, Dinky got a small banana split for her troubles. The Courier himself only had a large salad, hold the flowers, along with two sarsaparillas.

He was halfway through one of the drinks already and digging into the greens without mercy.

It wasn’t a Desert Salad, but it’d have to do for now.

“So uh… how’s school going?” he asked, doing his best to make small talk with the little filly as he sat across from her.

“It’s alright,” she replied simply. “Cheerilee’s been super protective over everypony since… well you know.”

“Yeah, she seems like a good teacher, not like some of the ones back where I came from,” he said, waving a fork in thought before he dug it back into the large bowl of leafy greens with the utensil.

As he chomped down a large helping of the greens, the human waved over one of the waitresses.

The mare looked a bit nervous at his appearance, but she soon walked over with a nod.

"Can I get ya anything?" she asked.

“Three more sarsaparillas,” the human said, and she gave him a cocked eyebrow as he turned back to Dinky, “you want anything to kid? Ya didn’t order anything earlier. Want some apple juice, something?”

“Apple juice with a banana split?” the filly replied.

“Yeah, why not?” he shrugged.

“I’ll just take a sparkling water,” shrugged the filly.

The waitress nodded, writing down the two’s drinks orders before she trotted away towards the back rooms of the restaurant.

The human himself was digging back into his food, covering his mouth and lower jaw with one of his gloved hands as he chewed.

“So, your mom, she uh… runs the mail yeah?” he asked. He already knew the answer to the question but was just trying to keep the filly’s attention by this point.

“Yeah and it’s awful! She breaks her back over that dumb job all the time,” huffed Dinky, before she took a bite of her banana split.

“Hey, hey! None of that,” he waved his fork at her again, his tone stern despite having a mouthful of tomato and lettuce. “Mail delivery is the backbone of a polite, organized society. Without couriers, there’s no long-distance communication, and without long distance communication, there’s no order, and when there’s no order, there’s anarchy, and when there’s anarchy, there’s NO society.”

She just looked at him in silence, partly stunned and partly confused at his tangent.

Six soon sighed, taking a long drink of his soda to clear his mouth. He sat it aside and continued.

“Look kid, your mother’s doing her best for you, and she’s doing a good job for the community while she’s at it, alright?” he said, his tone softer. “She loves you, and that’s what matters above anything else.”

“I know that,” Dinky rolled her eyes. “It’s just… it feels like no matter what she does half the town calls her a klutz.”

“Now don’t say that. She’s important to others, you know?” he explained, remembering his conversation with Bon Bon a few nights ago. “Without her help, some peopl- uh… ponies, couldn’t function at all. Or at least not as well as they do currently at least.”

“You weren’t in my hooves though,” Dinky said, her tone filled with a trace of sadness. “Whenever she would do something wrong like mix up a pony’s mail, or accidentally smash through a house, it felt like half the ponies in my class would laugh at me for it. Called her all kinds of mean names for weeks.”

He sat there in silence, letting the filly vent as he held his gloved hand over his mouth.

“And it’s not like any pony came to my defense that often,” she pouted. “I mean, the CMC were nice enough, but they had dozens of other ponies they dealt with. I just kinda faded into the background. I barely had any friends to hang out with. It was just me and mom and occasionally the Doc and Lyra and Bon Bon.”

“Kid, that’s still a lot more than your average person back where I’m from,” he pointed out.

“That still doesn’t help me!” she snapped.

He was silent for a moment, gently tapping his fork against the rim of his salad bowl.

Dinky looked on the verge of tears, as if this had been built up over a good long while.

“I think you’re just looking for the negatives in this situation, kid,” he explained, his tone a bit soft. “I mean, look back at the Boutique there, you were making friends with that dragon without issue.”

“What, Smolder?” Dinky asked, a bit confused. “She’d never actually hang out with me, she’s older and has her own friend group. Like I said, they're way more important than I am.”

“Didn’t stop you from talking to her,” he huffed. “I mean, think about it! If you can get on a damn dragon’s good side in just a few minutes, think about every other kid you could befriend.”

She was silent at that, leaned back in her chair a bit.

“Well, I always liked Twist,” she admitted, “and Tender Taps, he had some cool dance moves.”

“There you go,” the human chuckled, encouraging the little filly. “Got plenty of friends there for you. Just gotta talk to em.”

She nodded, her mood a bit brighter, with the sadness seeming to dissipate, even just a bit.

The two remained silent, the Courier occasionally eating some salad as he let the filly process his words and come to her own conclusions.

“Your drinks, sir,” the waitress returned, sitting down his sodas and Dinky’s small cup of sparkling water.

He nodded and she trotted off, leaving the duo alone once more.

“I think you’re right,” Dinky finally admitted.

“Of course I am,” he tapped his fork on his bowl with a chuckle. “Now get to eating your ice cream, I’m not wasting bits paying for that shit just to have it go to waste.”

She snickered at that.

“You need to work on your language,” she teased.

“This is me being censored,” he chuckled back, before downing an entire glass of sarsaparilla in one go.

She just rolled her eyes at that, and magically gripped her spoon before she went back to eating her sugary treat.

The day was getting late, but the two had a few hours before Dinky’s parents got home, so as a final form of relaxation, the Courier took the filly to a small park nearby.

Six and Dinky crested a small hill and found a nice bench to relax on. The human took a seat, leaning back as he overlooked the park below. He could see dozens of ponies and fillies playing about, relaxing, and just generally having a good time.

There were no worries, no hardships, no fears about whether tomorrow would be survivable, just parents and children having fun. It was a community, just like it had been back at the party.

"Why don’t you go join them, kid?” he said, looking down at the unicorn, who instead just took a seat next to him.

“I’ve got plenty of time to make new friends with other foals and stuff,” she explained with a cheerful smile. “I’ve only got so much time with you, though! Who knows how much longer you’re gonna be here, given half the time you talk about leaving!”

He shrugged and she sat beside him, curling up almost like a cat as the two watched the nice, beautiful scene below.

They just remained there for several minutes, not needing to talk.

They enjoyed it.

Despite the different age, the different species, there was something… calming, about being with Dinky.

Maybe it was just obnoxious fatherly instincts. Maybe it was him beginning to crack. Maybe it was an equally as annoying third thing. He couldn’t tell.

Soon enough though, she broke the silence.

“Life’s good, isn’t it Six?” she squeaked, turning her small head towards him.

The human looked over at her, and then back to the numerous ponies below. He nodded to himself, running his tongue along the inside of his cheek in thought as he did.

He pondered her words.

No war. No looting. No starving...

No killing.

The Courier was silent for a bit, letting her question linger as if he was pondering how to answer. Soon enough, he nodded.

"Yeah, Dinky... I think it is..." he finally admitted, more to himself than to the gray unicorn. "Life... is good."

He continued to contemplate the scene before him in silence. The afternoon sun shined brightly down onto the grassy fields of Ponyville all the while.

Dinky just smiled up at him as he slouched there in silence.

He was her savior.

Her hero.

Her friend.

Late in the night, Derpy opened up the front door to her home, entering first, before ushering in a tipsy Doctor Whooves inside along with her.

“Dinky!” she called softly, looking around her home’s entryway. “We’re home!”

“And I’m staying the night!~” the stallion added with a devious chuckle and a sing-song tone, a drunken blush on his muzzle.

Derpy batted him softly with one of her wings while blushing herself, before scolding him.

“I told you that you shouldn’t have challenged Lyra to that contest!” groaned the mare. “The only pony I’ve seen outdrink her is Berry Punch.”

“What, it was for your honor,” he teased. “She challenged you first, after all, I just filled in for my lovely little mare.”

Derpy held back a chuckle, waving off her coltfriend.

“Dinky-” she called out once more, though this time the pegasus was cut off by the sound of a loud, deep snore.

She soon entered the living room and turned, seeing her couch, which was pressed up against the nearby wall. She covered her mouth with a forehoof, stifling a giggle at the scene before her.

The Courier sat there, passed out, his head leaning against the backrest of the couch as Dinky sat in his lap like a little kitten, herself equally as conked out as he was.

He sat there, as if he were a snoring guardian to the little filly.

The Doc peaked his head in through the door frame, looking at the scene, before he nearly burst into a full-on laugh. Derpy’s wing clamped his muzzle before he could.

“Shhhh,” she managed, before turning back to the two. “These two need their rest.”

The Doc nodded with a goofy smile, still lucid in his drunken state.

The love-ponies soon left the two alone, as the Courier gave another deep, visceral snore.

While they couldn’t read his thoughts nor his dreams, if they had the ability to, they’d realize the Courier was getting one of the best sleeps of recent memory at that moment.

Maybe it was due to the fact some piece of him accepted that he cared for Dinky.

Cared for the others.

Cared for Ponyville...

Author's Note

I hope you all enjoyed this shorter chapter! It will probably be one of the last slice of life styled ones for a bit. What comes next will be a lot more tonally serious!

Royal Pains

The sun was just beginning to peak over the mountains, casting Ponyville in the faint blue hue of the early morning.

Barely any ponies were out at this time, with the streets of the town basically being dead.

All except for one lone, bipedal figure, who was saddled with numerous large duffle bags and a gigantic backpack. He stood at the train station in silence, off to the side and out of the way. It wasn’t like anypony was here to notice him, but regardless he still tried to blend into the background.

The Courier checked his Pip-Boy as a faint fog settled over the town. Early dew carried on by the winds created by the pegasus weather team no doubt.

It had been about a week since he’d babysat Dinky, give or take a day.

By this point he was ready for it. The meeting was today.

A faint trace of… was that nervousness? Damn.

It welled up inside his stomach, but he pushed it away, ignoring it as he prepared himself. Within the day, he’d be gone.

Yes, he’d be whisked back to the drab, barren deserts of America. Left to his own devices and able to wander freely.

No ponies.

No dragons.

No Applejack, nor Rarity or Pinkie or Dash.

No Derpy, Lyra, or Bon Bon...

No Dinky nor Scootaloo…

No friends…

He shoved the thoughts aside again with a growl.

What the hell. Just be happy. Get to go back to where you belonged anyways!

This is what he wanted after all…

Right! Right. He wanted this… right?

He checked the time again, growling.

Only five thirty. Damn. Damn it! Fuck...

He grunted in annoyance, looking away from his wrist and examining the tracks. He swept his gaze all around himself, taking in the vast, lush, green hills and forests off into the distance.

Not many of those back in the Mojave. That was for sure. Haha… ahhh…

The smirk beneath his mask dropped, and he instinctively checked the Pip-Boy again, as if it would magically change the time. He inhaled through his teeth and soon just lit up a cigarette, like the fifth one he’d had that morning. Helped ease the stress.

What stress? He finally was getting to go home, for Christ’s sake!

He just waited longer, as the blueness of the early morning dissipated into the day proper.

Still hadn’t gotten any good sleep. Not since the night with Dinky, and that was well over a week ago by this point. As it stood, he was running on cigarettes and coffee this entire time.

He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited, before finally managing a calming breath beneath his mask. He growled to himself, running his tongue over his teeth beneath the helmet.

Just waited. Waiting was all he could do.

He was at the right station. There was only the one, and even then, Applejack had explained to him where to go when he last worked at her orchard.

When the early commuters finally did begin to show, most of them seemed a bit awkward, avoiding the Courier’s bulky frame. He just did the same to them.

Hour passed; first train of the morning went out. Of course he wasn’t on it. Just waited more.

Wasn’t until about midday that the former Element Bearers arrived. They were all in a group and adorned with saddlebags. They were laughing and talking and trotting alongside one another. Minus Dash, she hovered above the rest of the squad at a slow and lazy pace, of course.

“Hey Six!” called out Applejack, her tone friendly as she was the first to notice him from across the station.

The Courier gave a nod and tired wave as he walked over to the group.

“How are you today, dear?” Rarity offered, eyeing up the numerous garish bags he was holding. “Do you need help with carrying that dreadful luggage?”

“I’m fine,” he grunted, his voice scratchy and ragged more than ever.

She nodded at that, though he could tell a faint piece of her worried for him.

Let her worry. Wouldn’t matter before long anyways.

“Are you ready to meet Twilight?” Pinkie offered with a wide grin.

“Yeah, and go back home,” he added.

“Well, now there’s a chance she might not have the ability ta send ya back,” Applejack said, her tone sounding a bit uncertain.

“She’s the Element of Magic, isn’t she?” he grunted. “Telling me she can’t send me home despite being that powerful? You’re kidding.”

“Maybe she can work something out,” Fluttershy offered, piping up from the back of the group.

“Right,” Dash agreed with a nod, “like we said, if anyone can help you, it’s gotta be her… and maybe Starlight.”

Ah, Starlight. He still hadn’t met her. Her schedule seemed busier than the other girls due to her being a principal.

He didn’t know much about how principals or schools worked. Beyond the time at the Big MT. Even then that was more or less him fighting off vicious cyborg abominations and turrets than anything.

Six shook the memory off, looking around.

“Where the hell is she?” he questioned.

“Ah, just give her a bit, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “She’s probably just giving some last-minute checks to the school’s staff before she goes.”

“She’s almost like Twilight in that regard,” Rarity offered with a giggle. "Before she became a princess, I mean."

He nodded, still dazed. Still tired. Insomnia had worsened a bit. Even with Dinky having helped, the times he’d slept since then were minimal. Rare meetings with the Brain, they were amusing but he still woke up tired, sometimes even hurt.

Suddenly though, the group noticed her, off in the distance. She was a pale heliotrope color, deep purple mane with a couple of turquoise highlights.

“Hey Starlight!” Dash called, hovering up and waving her forehooves.

There wasn’t much need to shout her over, as only a few dozen other ponies were waiting anyway, plus the Courier stood out over everypony else anyways.

Starlight of course waved back, though her eyes were set fixed on the Courier. After all this time of hearing about the strange two-legged creature in Ponyville, she finally was getting her meeting with him!

The unicorn rushed over with a wide grin, before stopping just a foot in front of the human.

“Oh my goodness,” she mused to herself, examining him up and down. “Two legs, hands, stands up straight… well, I thought the papers were off but… I think you really are a human.”

“What?” he asked, leaning down. “What do you know about humans?”

“I… well,” she looked around, trying to make sure no other ponies aside from the group were listening in.

Of course, nopony was.

“All I will say for now is that humans… they don’t exist in Equestria,” Starlight explained with a whisper. “But they do exist.”

“Wait, so if they exist, you or Twilight or whoever else can send me back, right?” he asked, stepping closer to Starlight.

“Well… not exactly,” she nervously rubbed the back of her head with a forehoof. “I’ll explain more whenever I can but from what the others have told me, wherever you come from… it’s a lot different than the human world I know.”

“And what the fuck does that mean?” he growled.

She cringed back a bit at his sudden aggression.

“Like I said, I’ll explain whenever I can!” Starlight assured, nodding. “When we meet up with Twilight, we can properly discuss it!”

He glared at her for a few seconds, as if she’d somehow been the one to waste the past three weeks of his time. Though soon realized he was being overly rough with the mare, and thus he backed off.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you more just yet,” offered the unicorn. “I assure you though, me and Twilight will use what free time we can to help you! I just wish we could’ve met at a better, less hectic time.”

He nodded, pondering his actions to himself.

The tiredness made him aggressive, more brash. Needed to control it.

He just waited in silence for the train. The others talked amongst themselves but nopony bothered him, as it seemed like they could sense his frustrations bubbling up by this point.

However, just a few minutes before the train for Canterlot arrived, the human heard a familiar, feminine voice.

“Hey Six!” it called, sounding out from behind him.

He and the others turned to it.

“Lyra?” he questioned as he spotted the aquamarine unicorn approaching.

“In the flesh,” she chuckled, strolling up to the human with a pair of saddlebags resting on her back.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Me and the others were originally going to see you off, assuming you didn’t come back from Canterlot,” she explained. “But work sidetracked Derpy, the Doc, and even Bonny so… just me for now, heh.”

He nodded, looking down at the pony.

She stared up with a sense of gloom about her. The mare was smiling, but it was definitely one of those sad smiles, like the one a parent or sibling would give their loved one before they never saw them again.

He soon saw her activate her magic and open one of her bags.

“I know it’s not much, but I hope you like it,” she sighed, levitating up a small picture.

She moved it over to him, and he grabbed it gently out of her golden magic’s glow.

His eyes widened as he realized it was the same picture that Pinkie took back at the party. He could see the joyful expressions of the numerous ponies who surrounded him in it. Derpy, Dinky, Bon Bon, Lyra herself...

The Courier softly ran his thumb over it in thought, before looking back at her.

She just responded with the same sad smile. He slowly reached his right hand down towards the unicorn, and she didn’t back away as he gave her a soft pet across her mane.

“Thanks Lyra,” he nodded solemnly, placing the small picture into one of his many satchels with his left hand.

“Shame you didn’t wanna stay, you would’ve made a great masseuse,” she said with a chuckle, leaning into his hand as he patted her. “I know Bonny would love this.”

He gave one lone “heh” back at that. More of an exhale than a laugh.

Soon though the train pulled in, interrupting the two.

“Six, that’s us!” Dash shouted as the others began to board one of the train carriages.

The Courier turned to leave, but before he’d fully walked away, Lyra called to him.

“Hey uh… me and some of the others will be waiting here later!” she said with a loud tone. “Just in case you wind up coming back or something!”

He looked back to her over her shoulder.

“I don’t know if that’ll happen,” he replied.

Lyra just nodded solemnly.

“We’ll still be here for you,” smiled the unicorn. "No matter what!"

He nodded and continued on from there, his duffle bags clattering together as he entered into the train.

Inside he was able to get them off and place them in the luggage compartment, though even then it only fit some of what he was carrying, so he had to hold his metal briefcase at his side along with one of the duffle bags.

“Ya sure loaded yerself up, sugarcube,” Applejack mused as she took a seat across from him.

“It’s better to be prepared than to be comfortable,” he replied ruggedly.

She nodded unsurely at that.

“So, mister Six, mind telling me about yourself?” Starlight asked, as she seated herself next to Applejack, also across from him.

“Not much to tell, won’t matter before long anyways,” he just sighed.

She deflated a tad at that but remained excited.

“Oh come on, I’m sure you’ve got a lot of interesting stories to tell! You are the first human in Equestria, after all,” the unicorn continued, as if trying to appeal to him in the same way a teacher getting a closed off student to open up would.

“Lady, I’ve only been here for a month, and a good chunk of that month was eating fish and squirrels and rabbits in the forest,” he sighed.

Fluttershy cringed back a bit but managed to steel herself.

Starlight frowned.

“I’m serious,” she said softly. “I genuinely want to get to know you, even if you won’t be here for long.”

He shook his head at that.

“Maybe soon, when there’s less peo- ponies around,” he replied.

She nodded with uncertainty.

The rest of the ride was just silence on his part. Occasionally the others would try to make small talk when they weren't chatting amongst themselves.

Rarity discussed how Smolder had taken a fancy to Dinky Hooves, who had seemingly begun coming out of her shell a lot more. The filly even visited the Boutique on occasion when Smolder would come in to help the fashionista with her dress line.

He felt a faint piece of himself get happy at that, but outside, he just nodded at her.

Applejack discussed Sugar Belle’s pregnancy, and Big Mac’s nervousness yet joy at the fact he’d soon become a father. Not only that, but Granny Smith would be happy to see Six again, should he not wind up getting sent home!

The Courier wanted to congratulate the stallion face to face, but he knew he wouldn’t be there for the child’s birth anyways. He wanted to greet Mrs. Smith too, but once more, he'd be long gone.

Dash talked about how Scootaloo was doing better and better on her stunts, and how she no doubt had a bright future ahead. She mentioned how the Wonderbolts show was still open for him if he wound up staying!

He wanted to be there to see it, but he just sighed in response, looking down at his gloved hands as he waited for the ride to end.

It seemed nothing the group tried actually broke through to him. He had a one-track mind about this. About leaving. Nothing could stop him.

It was about an hour or so, relatively short, but for the Courier it was agonizingly slow, just as the morning had been. Just stuck there, sitting and listening to the tales of beings he’d never meet again.

Not too dissimilar from the Mojave actually.

Just as all the other forgotten faces, so too would the ponies join them in the back of his memories before long. It was only a matter of time.

Another hour later and they were approaching the castle.

The same one he’d stared at from Ponyville, and now he was waltzing right up to it with the others. The ponies in Canterlot were a lot more snobbish, higher class. Some turned their snouts up at him, and unlike in Ponyville, barely any seemed pleased by his existence.

Good. Fuck ‘em. Didn’t matter anyway. He would be gone soon.

He could see some ponies coated in golden armor as they entered inside. First time he’d actually seen guards of any type, unless one counted when he was passed out at the dam.

They kept their eyes on him, obviously. They talked amongst themselves. A few even looked on in shock, as if they recognized him. Those were likely the ones who kept up with the news. Whatever, didn’t matter.

He wasn’t able to appreciate the castle’s regal interior, though the stained-glass windows leading towards the throne room definitely caught his eyes.

He faintly noticed the fact that he’d now been seeing mares with not only horns but wings as well. Alicorns, right?

Starlight noticed him staring, and spoke, seemingly being the first one to properly break him from his autopilot-like stupor.

“Those are the past princesses of Equestria,” she explained. “The Princess of the Sun, Celestia, and the Princess of the Moon, Luna.”

“Fuck, Bon Bon really was right,” he partly chuckled to himself, remembering his conversation back on the bench with the earth mare.

“What?” Starlight questioned.

“Every time there’s some super powerful magician or ruler or whatever, they always have some weird sky-related name,” he shrugged.

The unicorn went to speak but stopped.

Starlight made a face at that.

“Yes, well…” she said, clicking her tongue a bit awkwardly. “After the defeat of Equestria’s major villains, Twilight was deemed the sole ruler of the land.”

“What happened to the other princesses?” he asked.

“They peacefully retired, and now they’re enjoying their newfound free time,” chuckled the mare.

“Must be nice,” he shrugged.

After a bit longer, he continued on, quickly looking over the other stained windows. One of them with the Elements banishing a dark mare, looked like Luna. Probably a connection.

Numerous others. A strange mix-matched creature, playing with ponies on marionette strings. An alicorn and a stallion creating a heart shape with their bodies. A little dragon standing beneath a large, crystal heart.

Lots of stories. Old ones. Unique. Ignored by him beyond a passing glance.

Lots to explore in this world. He wouldn’t be the one to do it. He was going home. He WAS going home…

Shook himself from his stupor. The Element Bearers had trotted on ahead, with only Starlight at his side as he advanced towards the throne room.

Passed by some more guards. Just ignored them and their uncertain stares. One track mind.

The guards opened the doors, and the group entered inside. Immediately there was a sense of happiness that sprung through the ponies. He could see her on the throne that rested above the floor. Very regal, red carpet leading to it and all.

Twilight Sparkle. At long last… Didn’t look as regal as the others he’d seen in the stained windows.

She was smaller, still only the size of a normal pony. No long, flowing mane. Just the wings and horn made her standout. Her face lit up; her gaze set more on the girls than him. Not shocked, they were her best friends, afterall.

“Girls!” she called, leaping up off of her great throne and gliding down to meet the Mane Six (plus Starlight) in one gigantic group hug.

Giddiness filled the air. No doubt she’d been desiring their arrival for some time now. He felt even more out of place now. Outsider looking in.

Wouldn’t matter. Back to the desert soon.

The love was evident. That same sense of community and friendship that he felt from the party and the park a few days ago was brought back. This time he shoved it away instead of embracing it.

Again, focus on going home. After all the time he spent dawdling and intermingling with them, it was time to go back where he belonged.

Patience! Jesus! Fucking hell, whirl of thoughts. Tired. Could sleep later though.

Pulled himself back from his insomnia-addled mind when he realized the ponies were talking amongst themselves. Or, more precisely, verbally pelting Twilight

“Twi, it’s so great to see you again!” Applejack said, as the group finally broke off their group hug.

“How’s the most awesomest princess ever doing?” Dash chuckled.

“Want a cupcake?” Pinkie excitedly offered, reaching into her saddlebags to retrieve a confection.

“Darling, you look as wonderful as ever!” Rarity complimented. “Mind if I ask where dear Spikey Wikey is?”

Fluttershy and Starlight were the only ones who didn’t verbally speak, likely knowing not to further bombard the princess. Though the two enjoyed the meetup as much as their other friends did, obviously.

Warm smiles all around.

“I’m so glad you all are doing well, but please girls, one at a time!” snorted Twilight with a good-natured giggle.

The group nodded, chuckling amongst themselves as they quieted down.

Twilight turned to Rarity first, answering the fashionista’s question.

“Unfortunately, Rarity, Spike is still undergoing his ambassador training, but don’t worry, I can absolutely schedule a special visit for you in the next few weeks, if you’d like? I’m sure he’ll be back by then!” offered the princess.

The white unicorn deflated a bit, but remained smiling as she nodded, seemingly excited at the prospect.

“I’ll make sure to spend as much time with you girls as possible, for now though, I have to handle something,” she assured, before finally turning her gaze towards the Courier, who continued to stick out like a sore thumb as he stood a few feet back from the group.

She examined him with intrigue.

“Or rather, someone,” Twilight corrected as she trotted over to him.

He just looked down at her, the numerous bags he held shuffling against one another, weighing him down almost as much as his emotions were.

“Twilight Sparkle?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Courier Six?” she asked back.

He nodded as well.

“You’re familiar with humans I assume; you know how to get me back home, right?” he grunted.

Her face scrunched up in thought, before she turned to Starlight.

“Starlight, you and…” she paused, looking at the human, before asking, “...will me calling you Six be alright?”

“Yeah,” he growled simply.

She nodded once at that and turned to her friend group.

“I’m going to teleport the three of us to somewhere more private, allow Six to relax and explain himself without being overwhelmed, alright?” Twilight explained.

The group gave their own murmurs and nods of agreement.

Starlight readied herself to be teleported.

“Wait, tele-” Six was cut off as the three disappeared in a flash of Twilight’s magic, leaving the throne room with just the Element Bearers and a few guards in it.

“-port?” he finished, blinking his eyes several times before looking around.

He found himself and the two ponies surrounded by numerous bookshelves. The books on them were all extremely well-maintained, more so than even some of the pristine Pre-War books he found in the Mojave. A small table and a few chairs sat a few feet away, covered with numerous parchment papers and quills, likely notes the princess had taken.

“Sorry,” Twilight blushed, standing next to him as she rubbed the back of her head with a forehoof. “I didn’t mean to spring it on you like that, but I figured you’d rather talk about this all in private. So, I brought you to one of my study rooms.”

“Then what’s she doing here?” he growled, pointing to Starlight.

“I wanted to tell you back at the station, but I figured waiting was the best option,” sighed the unicorn.

“You see, Twilight and I have both been to the human world before.” He leaned in.

“W-what?” he growled, his tone one of shock. “Wait, so you’ve been to America before? The Mojave? New York? Boston? Where?”

They looked confused at that, turning to each other before looking back at him.

“I can’t recall anywhere called ‘America’ in the human world, can you?” Starlight asked Twilight.

The princess shook her head, equally perplexed.

“When we went to the human realm, we went to a school called Canterlot High,” Twilight explained. “The world was actually quite peaceful, which is why I was so confused when my friends told me you claimed it was violent.”

“There’s… there’s no schools where I came from, not real ones…” he managed.

“What about cars or planes?” Starlight offered in thought.

“They’re all burnt out husks,” he replied. “The War and two hundred years of erosion decimated them…”

“What war are you talking about?” Starlight asked. “I think the girls mentioned you said something about bombs, but to my knowledge wars in the human realm were rare.”

He felt dizzy.

He’d accepted the fact he was probably on another planet weeks ago, but to have the hope of going back home ripped away…

“The Great War,” he managed, deciding he should start from the beginning. “In the year 2077, the human race obliterated a massive chunk of the planet’s population with nuclear weaponry… It was over oil, territory, you know… It was between the United States and China. Two of the biggest countries on Earth.”

The mares were confused, but their faces remained in deep thought.

“I think it was 2013 or so whenever I first went to the human realm,” admitted Twilight. “But nowhere near close to the year you claim.”

“You don’t think he’s from the future somehow, do you?” Starlight asked, her experiences with time travel bubbling up in her memories.

“It’s possible but it still doesn’t explain the different names in countries… and Earth?” Twilight pondered.

“The name of the planet!” the Courier huffed.

“The planet you’re on is Equus,” Twilight explained.

He nodded; alien theory was right. No big surprise there.

“But the planet of the human realm… I don’t recall if I ever learned it,” she continued. “It has been a while since I was able to study anything from there, especially with my princess duties.”

“Okay… just,” he huffed. “To make sure we’re all on the same page here, explain to me the human realm you’re talking about.”

“Well, it’s very strange, almost like a mirror dimension to ours,” Twilight began. “It has an alternate version of me, Applejack, Rainbow Dash- basically everypony I know has a human copy there.”

He paused in thought.

“Lyra?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Bon Bon? Derpy? Scootaloo?” he managed.

Nods aplenty.

He looked down at the floor. It spun about in his vision. Felt sick a bit.

“They’re very similar in appearance as well, same skin tone as their coa-”

She was cut off.

“Skin tone?” he growled.

“Yes, humans have a wide variety of skin tones, from pinks, to orange, to blue and pur-”

He stepped back, bumping into the table and spilling a small vial of ink.

There went the easy ticket home.

“Are you alright?” asked Starlight.

“I’m fine,” he lied.

He was truly finally processing it now. He was stranded. Lost on another planet. No way home. No way back to the deserts and wastelands he’d seen for countless years…

“Is there anything else you can tell us about where you’re from?” asked Twilight.

“I come from a place called the Mojave Desert,” he nodded, giving in. “The year was 2283 last I checked, before I got sucked to… wherever this is.”

This made the two even more concerned than his previously mentioned date.

“Everything was an apocalyptic hellhole, minus some beacons of light and civilization in the dark,” he continued. “There was the New California Republic; NCR, my original home. Then there was New Vegas, which was built from the ruins of the original Las Vegas. And…”

He paused, as if suddenly realizing something.

“If you don’t feel like continuing, I understand,” Twilight frowned.

Six reached into his jacket and suddenly pulled out the Transportalponder.

“This is a teleportation device!” he explained with a shout. “You can use this, right? Maybe help me reverse engineer it to get me back home?”

Twilight looked at the strange, raygun-like device.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before, except maybe in Spike’s comic books,” she mused as she slowly grabbed it out of his grasp with her magic.

“I tried using it a few days back, but got nothing,” he admitted. “Just pulling the trigger typically activates it; sends me back to the Big MT. But it typically relied on satellites for that… maybe we could rig something up?”

She examined it with a frown.

“I can try my best Six but… this isn’t a magical artifact, at least then I’d be familiar with it. Doesn’t remind me of any of the human world tech either…” she replied, examining the teleporter.

“It’s worth a shot, right?” he growled.

“Again, I can try but… Six, I’m a princess,” she explained with a sigh. “If you had come here a few years back I could’ve devoted my entire time to helping you. As it stands though, my free time is far less than that of what it used to be.”

Starlight was frowning as well by this point, worry evident on her face.

Didn't even really know him, but like all the others she had a sense of wanting to help him. A sense of genuinely wanting what was best for him in her.

He brushed it off as he tried to think of a way out of this.

“Look, I’m not familiar with the tech in it either!” he raised a hand, his tone a bit more panicked. “But maybe I can stay here, help you work it out, surely it’d only take a few days!”

“Do you know where we would begin?” Twilight asked. It was a genuine question.

“I-I…” he stammered. “I never was able to crack it, hell most of the Think Tank’s tech was wizardry even to me. I worked with coding and medical shit but… not teleportation.”

She frowned.

“Can you just take a few days off, we can try to get it working? C-come on?” he pleaded.

The Courier’s tone was rarely desperate. This was one of the few exceptions.

The NCR. The Wastelands. His home. The people.

All never to be seen again...

“Six, I genuinely want to. I can help you for the rest of the day,” she offered. “But tomorrow, I have numerous extremely important meetings and delegates from other countries I have to meet. I cannot miss those meetings.”

He finally stopped, and just rested both his palms on the wooden table nearby to balance himself. The ink had already stained numerous parchment papers, but Twilight was more worried about the human than her notes.

He looked as if he would fall over. No way back. Just here, for the rest of his life.

He’d shoved that idea into the back of his mind for the past few weeks. Now it was coming back full force.

He heard ringing in his ears as his vision blurred a bit. He’d been through worse, maybe. But at least with the Big MT, the Sierra Madre, Zion, he could eventually fight his way out and walk away.

Here… he couldn’t. No wandering. Not anymore. Boxed up. Caged like a rat.

“-Six!” Twilight’s calls for him broke through his stupor.

He shook off his dazed state and looked over at the alicorn, whose face was filled with worry.

“Are you alright?” an equally as worried Starlight asked for the second time.

“I jus-I just…” he sighed, unable to rub his face due to the mask. “Fuck man…”

“Did you have friends back in your home realm?” asked Twilight. “Pon- people you could count on?”

“I… used to,” he admitted.

“Well, I know you’ve been here for a few weeks now, but I hope you’ve realized we’re extremely hospitable here in Equestria,” Twilight said, giving a reassuring smile. “Especially to heroes who rescue ponies from evil monsters.”

She was already talking like he’d be here permanently. The warm welcome from an official bullshit.

He felt sick. Didn’t vomit, thankfully. Would’ve been a waste of the boiled maize he’d had this morning.

Still, he wanted to gag. This was the same sugary sweet assurance he’d heard time and time again.

He believed it.

A different, more stubborn part of him didn’t.

A different part from that hated it.

Another different part loved the ponies.

A different part was almost thankful for his inability to go back to the Mojave.

A swirl of thoughts, none of them right nor wrong exactly. Made his head spin again.

He just looked at her, giving a few ragged breaths.

“Would you like me to get your bags for you, Six?” offered Starlight kindly, doing the only thing she could think of at the moment to help the dazed human. “You’ve been carrying them all day and it’s no trouble for me with my magic.”

“I’m fine,” he rejected her help.

Spat at it. Didn’t need it; like he didn't the others.

He needed it.

No, he DIDN’T!

“I just need a minute,” he grunted.

Starlight nodded with an understanding expression.

“I know what it’s like to be ripped away from your home,” she offered. “Losing all of your friends, losing what you’re familiar with… it’s horrible.”

She was genuine.

She almost got it.

He could almost be fully open with her...

But not quite.

He shrugged her off. Just nodded and waved a hand.

“I just need a minute, I’ll be fine,” he lied. His voice was flat, hollow.

She obsiously didn’t believe him but didn’t press.

“Six, just know that whenever I have free time, I’ll make sure to write to you,” Twilight offered. “We can figure something out together. I’d love for you to be my frien-”

Friends! This again? Like all the others!

He snapped. Began laughing. Laughed and laughed right in her face.

“Hahahahahahahaha!” echoed throughout the book-filled study.

The alicorn's warm smile dropped into an uncomfortable one.

Starlight’s look was stuck in one of worry.

He didn’t blame them.

He was a fucking madman, after all. Madman without a home. Belonged back in the Wild Wasteland with all the other loonies.

Not somewhere with peace and prancing and ponies and playing and politeness…

“Are you alright?” Starlight offered yet again. Broken fucking record.

He cut himself off with a sharp inhale through his teeth. The laughter was gone.

“I’m fine,” Six lied yet again.

Fought off the overt madness, went back to the stoic silent type of insanity. Gave him some degree of normalcy.

“I’m fine,” he chuckled again, this time in a sleep-deprived fashion, fully silencing the maddened laughs after that.

“Are you sure?” Twilight offered, unsure of what to say.

Interdimensional aliens who looked like humans but weren’t the same type of humans didn’t seem to be something she planned for. Maybe if she still made overly detailed charts, that might’ve been in the cards.

“I’m just going to uh…” he huffed. “I’ll just let you get back to your friends.”

“Six, as much as I love my friends, I know they’re your friends too,” Twilight said, her tone serious. “They want what’s best for you, even if it means less time with me.”

“No, no, no, noooo,” he repeated in a low tone. “It’s fine. Just enjoy yourselves. Have fun. Don’t let me stop you…”

She offered a weary nod at that, not convinced but unable to pry deeper, lest he continue to shut her and Starlight out.

He figured she didn’t have it in her to be able to take what he could share.

The gritty, dirty details.

Maybe one day.

Not yet though, at least with her current experience. Just like Starlight.

“Six, I’ll do everything in my power to get you back home,” the princess reiterated, making sure the Transportalponder was carefully sat on her table for later studying.

He could tell a faint piece of her knew that the chances were unlikely. He could tell she knew that it was the longest of longshots. He could tell that she was eventually going to try to get him to accept he was a citizen of Equestria.

He'd live the rest of his life here.

He'd die here.

Well, die again anyways.

“Yeah yeah,” he shrugged it off. “Now are you getting us back to the throne room?”

Starlight and Twilight shared another gaze.

“Would you like to stay in Canterlot?” Twilight offered.

“No,” he flatly replied, shoving her verbally away just as he had so many others. “Just… don’t worry about the damned thing.”

She stepped back in surprise.

“Six, isn’t that your way home-”

“You’re right,” he growled, his tone much more lucid than before. “Got a country to focus on. Just worry about that first.”

She just frowned deeper, as if she was thinking what to say to console him.

He’d just shoot her down though.

Twilight knew that.

For the moment, might as well give the Courier what he wanted.

“Alright, are you two ready to get back to the others?” Twilight asked Starlight and the Courier.

She already knew the answers, he could tell that.

The rest of the day was a blur.

Just him sitting off on his own. Let the ponies eat a small feast of flowers, greens, and sugary cupcakes Pinkie brought.

He didn’t partake at all. Still sat off to the side, letting them enjoy themselves. Whenever a pony offered to talk, they were shut down.

Pinkie felt hit the hardest, as whenever she brought him a specially made cupcake, he just sat it on a tray and scooted it back towards her, silently rejecting the gift.

Whatever had hit the human, hit him hard.

He didn’t even swear or insult or snark at anypony.

That seemed to be the most off-putting thing.

It was as if the life was drained from him, his very soul removed, leaving a tired, almost robotic being in place of the once wise-ass Courier. Still, they continued to try to support him, offering their words of genuine kindness to him.

“Even if you’re stuck here forever Six, we’ll be with ya!” Rainbow Dash said, her brash tone getting met with scolding gazes from the other ponies of her friend group.

Even Fluttershy gave her best attempt at one, though it wasn't as potent as her typical Stare.

“Sorry,” Dash managed after realizing what she said.

He didn’t say anything. Didn't snap, didn't insult her, didn't laugh... just looked down at his gloved hands, occasionally running them over one of his duffle bags which he continued to wear.

“Sugarcube, we’ll always be here for ya,” Applejack said, honesty in her tone.

“Yeah, I know you didn’t want my cupcake now, but I can totally make more for ya!” Pinkie said, trying to bring him happiness.

“And I have a marvelous gift I’m working on for you, after you helped me get my creative spark back!” Rarity added.

“Maybe I can introduce you to the animals at the sanctuary, they love new faces!” Fluttershy even offered.

“We could even introduce you to some of the students around Twilight’s school!” Starlight smiled. “Smolder talked about how you helped her and Dinky become friends! Maybe the others would want to get to know you?”

Nothing. Only response to the overwhelming support of the friend group?

“Yeah, maybe,” he just nodded, his tone quiet and drained and rugged and dry and uncaring.

He was like a great big cloud hanging over their meeting. Even he knew it. Faintly felt bad about it; didn’t want to ruin the good vibes. But something deep inside had just… given out.

Lack of sleep? Lack of honesty on his part? Lack of both? Lack of everything? Lack of nothing?

He just continued on autopilot right up until he was back on the train.

The words buzzing through his skull but barely sticking.

He finally came back into a semi-conscious state when he stepped out of the carriage and back into Ponyville’s station. Day was turning to late evening by this point.

There they were…

Waiting for him as Lyra said this morning.

There was Dinky, and Derpy, Scoots, Lyra herself, Bon Bon, the other Crusaders. Fucking Cheerilee and the Doc even.

They were there for him, where few others were.

They smiled. They waved. Dinky and Scoots both rushed up and hugged him, wrapping themselves around his thighs.

He just brushed them off and walked around the group without a word, leaving them all alone, standing, gawking, shocked by his actions.

He wanted to turn back. Wanted to apologize...

Couldn’t.

Whatever was inside needed solitude.

Not love. Not affection. Loneliness.

He heard the Mane Six and Starlight explaining what had happened to the shocked and saddened adults.

His friends worried for him.

Ignored it.

He just continued along, ignoring it all.

Dinky and Scoots called after him, rushing to him and begging him to stop.

“Wait up!”

“Six!”

“Six, wait!”

“Six!?!” this one sounded like there were tears in their eyes.

Still didn't turn back when he knew he should've.

Only whenever he’d walked a solid two or three blocks away did they finally stop following him…

He continued on, eventually getting away from the town and heading into the Everfree.

The Courier just marched on, like a soldier without a cause.

Or more aptly, a ranger without a country.

Wandering away from it all as he had before...

Author's Note

Next chapter contains darker subject matter than this fic has displayed so far. Just figured I'd offer a warning here.

Restless Dreams

The Courier practically yanked the makeshift door away from the log cabin as he entered it. He then slammed it shut and took off his numerous bags, tossing them into one of the corners of the tiny home.

The darkness inside didn’t matter thanks to the helmet, though it was blacker than pitch because night had settled over Equestria by this point.

His mind was rushing with what Elijah must’ve felt whenever he realized his entrapment back in that damned vault.

Twilight’s words rang through in his skull, but instead of a kind ruler explaining to him, it seemed to take on the nature of a vindictive bitch.

“No way home,” she spat, her tone aggressive.

He clutched at his head as it ached, feeling as if it would begin to throb at any moment.

“Stuck here forever,” she seemed to laugh.

He growled, pulling at his helmet.

“You still have us!” the soft, caring tone of the others rang out. A cacophony of Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy.

That made him tug at it harder, ripping the riot helmet off, his vision disappearing in the darkness before he turned the helmet back towards him.

It looked into his eyes as he stared into its red, glowing lenses.

He threw the fucker into the makeshift cabin wall that was less than a foot in front of him. Despite it being his face, he needed to be away from it for the moment.

He sat silently contemplating for a little while.

A few minutes later, he pulled out the Ranger Sequoia, and clicked back the hammer with his thumb. Looked over the firearm. His eyes worked in the dark well enough to see it in full detail.

Want a way out? Do it, you fucking pussy! A piece of him growled deep inside.

No. Fuck you! The other pieces ROARED back.

He audibly growled, tossing the ornate revolver to the side without any more thought to it. Not the way to get through this. Instead, he just looked down at his fallen helmet.

“You still have us,” the group whispered in his mind.

He almost smiled, cracking into maddened laughs at that. He stopped himself suddenly after only a few seconds.

He wanted the walls gone, just for a little while.

He refused it.

Let them know what you truly think. Admit it. No reason to be alone.

Gotta let it out, let them know. Be honest with them.

No. Later, maybe.

He grunted.

It was the tiredness. It was closing in, making him rash, animalistic. Monstrous.

Fucking damn it. Almost an entire month, barely any sleep.

He’d done it before, but this… nowhere to go. Nowhere to strive for at the moment. Just preoccupying himself with work.

He loved it.

Being useful.

Being useful for them.

Doing something.

Doing something for them.

He liked them.

He hated that he liked them.

Why did he have to like them? Why couldn’t it just be easy? Why can’t they be hateful, and disgusted by him?

Let him remain alone. Let him be in silence.

His eyes were heavy.

He leaned back into the makeshift padding he called a bed. He couldn’t fight it.

He wanted to. He’d force himself to…

…

You know what?

No.

He allowed his eyelids to close, and not more than a minute later, he was out.

No different from someone flipping a lightswitch.

By the time the dream formed, he was already in the metal box.

Helmet was back on too. Good.

Same poker table, same floating brain.

“Are we sure about this?” the Brain asked. Its tone wasn’t the typical jovial or comedic one. It was quiet, morose almost. Dead serious.

“We’re both sick of hiding,” the human growled back at his mind.

“Of course we are, but shouldn’t we wai-”

“Not anymore, we’re sick of waiting,” he countered definitively.

“Sure we shouldn’t play just one more game of Poker?” the Brain snarked.

He growled.

The Brain chuckled.

“You know what to do,” Six said.

“Right, hide away and be your ace-in-the-hole in case anything goes south,” the Brain iterated his thoughts out loud, before saluting the body with its stem. “Goodluck, me.”

The Courier nodded quietly.

The Brain disappeared, and seconds later the walls fell, and blackness took hold not long after that.

He growled at it as it coated everything around him.

It shrunk back at that. Honest to God, he saw it cower backwards for a moment. As if it felt his animosity, his hate.

The human continued to glare at it, his red eyes piercing the darkness like a pair of bullet holes as it surrounded him.

Soon enough though, it slowly broke away. The darkness seemed to dissolve before him.

He stepped back cautiously at that, raising his fists as if he expected an attack.

Suddenly though, it faded further. The darkness became less restless, and the wiggling seemed to stop. Everything became almost peaceful...

And then she appeared.

He had an air of confusion as she faded in from the nothingness.

A pair of wings, a long, regal horn, a coat as black as the night. Wait wait… he recognized her. She was on one of the glass windows back at the castle.

“Y-you’re…” he scanned his brain for the name, “Luna…”

“And you’re the creature I’ve been attempting to contact for the past few weeks now,” she said back, her tone deep, regal.

“That’s a funny way of saying you dropped a moon on me,” he growled.

“I do apologize for all of these terrible dreams you’ve had recently,” she said with a genuine frown. “Your mind is… not quite like any I’ve seen, at least not in a long while. It’s hard to navigate, fractured almost. As if it was damaged somehow.”

“Tell me about it,” he said, his tone raspy. “Are you going to leave me alone now? Let me rest?”

“I am unsure how much you know about me, but I will reveal my intentions now,” she said, before clearing her throat. “I used to be one of the co-rulers of Equestria, but after my sister and I abdicated from the throne, Twilight Sparkle now presides over our duties.”

“Yeah I heard all that. Why are you in my head?” he growled.

“There are several reasons for that,” she said, almost sheepishly. “One is that I still have a natural magical connection with dreams, and given my new-found free time, there is little else to do. I figured I’d lighten Twilight’s duties by presiding over the dreamscape while she rules the waking world.”

“Still doesn’t answer my question,” he pointed out.

“I felt your dream when you first arrived here,” she admitted. “It was… very strange, different from the ones natural to Equestria. I still remember you eating a putrid meal made from… rats, was it?”

“Mole rats,” he corrected, as if it was any better. “That still doesn’t answer why you kept coming back.”

“You have an air of darkness within your mind,” Luna sighed. “I wanted to examine it, perhaps even guard it from allowing anything else to take hold.”

“You’re telling me other things can invade my head?” he hissed.

“I am only taking precautions!” she defended. “But… yes. You being an outsider to these lands, I was unsure as to what could happen to your dreams and above that, your mind if something ever breached them.”

“So you just bathed me in darkness the whole time?” the human responded, his tone obviously one of anger and frustration.

“I was going to explain my intentions to you in time, but you seem to be an insomniac, and when you did dream… something strange blocked me out,” Luna admitted. “It feels as if there’s more than one consciousness inside of your dreams. I’ve never seen anything like that before, not in a single creature anyways.”

“I guess schizophrenia and split personalities aren’t common here?” he said, being snarky despite his anger.

Luna frowned at that.

“My expertise does not cover medical terms,” she admitted. “Whatever you have isn’t common is all I can say.”

“So you just wanted to warn me, that’s it huh?” he said, his body tense.

“That and I desired to get to know you,” admitted Luna. “I have access to the dreams of all of my former subjects. I recall dear Scootaloo’s nightmares have taken a brighter turn every time she thinks of you or Rainbow Dash, at least.”

“What do you know about the kid?” he growled, almost protectively.

“I occasionally helped her and her friend group banish dark dreams and self-doubts years ago,” the former princess explained, “They have all matured greatly since then, but I still occasionally make sure she’s not having any issues while asleep.”

Six’s tenseness melted back a bit and he nodded.

“Well, what do you want now that we’ve got… all of this out of the way?” he growled.

“I would hope we could become friends, if you desire?” the regal mare offered with a smile. “Even though I am no longer the princess of Equestria, I still desire the best for any of its new subjects.”

“Friends!?!” his tone was manic, as if on the verge of cracking. “Friends? Friends! FRIENDS!”

Luna stepped back at that.

“That’s all I fucking hear. Friends this! Friends that!” he hissed, clawing at his helmet.

Luna watched as he peeled it away, ripping it from his head as it squirmed within his grasp. It was as if the metal alloys had become organic, with it wiggling around like tendons as he tore it away.

However, her face soon took on a tone of shock when what lay underneath was just another exact replica of the riot helmet. It was his true face, one could say.

He threw the first one aside, as if he needed to toss something to get his frustrations out.

“I’m stuck here! No way back home! No use! No way to wander! And all I get is a bunch of fuckin- fucking cakes and sprinkles and candy and happy thoughts from a bunch of children’s toys who don’t know what it’s like!” he ranted, his chest heaving. “I don’t even know them and they jus- they just accept me, like there’s nothing wrong! Instead, they should just leave me alone!”

She frowned sadly at that.

“To be overlooked and forgotten is nothing to be envious of,” she said, her tone one of calmness, understanding. “For others to be frightened away by your appearance is a tragedy I am familiar with.”

“It’s not just my appearance, gah- fuck!” he growled, his fists clenching so hard blood pooled from his hands. “It’s th- the fucking shit I’ve done, alright!”

He glared back into her, his red, emotionless lenses staring back at her expressive eyes.

“I’ve fucking killed people, alright! A lot, a lot of people!” he admitted, his tone one of fury. “Not just monsters. People. Ones who talked. Who had lives…”

He inhaled deeply through his teeth, pausing.

“...I don’t regret it,” he admitted.

Her frown remained.

“They deserved it as far as I’m concerned,” he continued, pacing around as an invisible wind picked up, making his duster billow in the dream. “But that’s not common here is it? War, death, killing. The need to survive. To eat fucking roaches and maggots not knowing if you’re getting anything else tomorrow.”

She listened to his ramblings in silence. He leaned in, his cold mask just inches from her muzzle.

“I DON’T belong here,” he concluded. “Around them; they’d hate me if they knew. They’d call me a monster. Honestly, they’re right. Wouldn’t blame them. But…”

He stopped, giving a deep sigh.

“You are not a monster,” Luna replied, her stern, calming voice echoing around him.

“You just fucking MET ME!” he said, looking around as if he was trying to find something else to throw in his continuous fit of rage. “Every Goddamn time, they just buddy up and act like everything’s hunky-fucking dory!”

“You are the one who pushes them away, it seems,” she stated simply. “They just genuinely seem to desire what’s best for you.”

“What’s best for me is a long stretch of desert and a loaded gun,” he spat back.

“Why do you push away their help so much?” she asked.

“I didn’t need it back in the Mojave,” he growled.

“What about that blue creature? The muscular one I saw in your first dream?” she replied.

“Who? You mean Lily?” he said, shocked out of his stupor at the mention of an old, pleasant friend.

“Yes, you obviously had a great deal of emotions for her… enough to have a picnic with her, anyways,” said Luna, managing a soft chuckle.

“I-... sh-she’s…” he huffed, his tone slightly softer. “She went her own way. Left to go find her grandkids. Her real family… People she actually belonged with.”

“Was she the only one?” Luna asked back.

“No,” he answered, but didn’t elaborate.

“Did they care for you too?” she asked once more.

“They did,” Six said, before he held up a finger, making sure she wouldn’t cut him off, “but they went their own ways as well… We had a thing, wandered together for a good while, but when duty called, they knew where they were needed. It wasn’t by my side.”

She was silent for a moment, he felt a sense of understanding echo around him, as it seemed like Luna had become the very essence of blackness surrounding him.

“I liked it like that… We understood each other,” he said, looking down.

“Would you allow me to understand you?” she questioned, her tone soft and matronly and wise, like that of a queen.

Made sense.

He looked up at her, giving a laugh. A deep, visceral, belly laugh. Suddenly though, in the middle of his hearty heaving, he stopped on a dime. His red lenses glared into her eyes.

“What would you know? About suffering?” he said, tone deep, cold.

She stared back with a determined, righteous glare.

“More than you would think,” she replied, her tone serious.

He was silent at that, looking into her eyes.

She just stared back.

He finally lost his tenseness, and then nodded.

Felt an air of… something about her.

Something old.

Something ancient.

Something… that might get it. Unlike the others.

“Alright,” he said casually, giving in with a sigh.

All at once, the blackness enveloped Luna.

The moon was full.

That was the first thing Luna noticed as her vision slowly came back from a darkened blur.

She looked around herself, trying to clear her eyes as she began to take in the sights. This place was different. Still in his dream obviously, but for once, the Courier had taken control of it.

Luna realized she was in a desert.

She was currently on top of a large hill, and below she saw a small village, filled with only a few dozen houses. It reminded her of the towns of Appleloosa and Dodge Junction. A nice, quiet, quaint little town, no doubt.

To contrast this though, off in the distance she could see a large, lit up city that had several massive looking buildings that stretched into the sky. It was a far cry from the relatively flat surroundings of sand and rock and little else. Almost reminded the princess of Las Pegasus in a way. Big, loud, bright, and bold. She never was a fan of a city that never slept.

The sound of someone stepping on dirt behind her made her turn, her horn alight, ready to defend herself. Her magic’s glow and a small lantern nearby were all that allowed her to see the scene properly.

She remained tense as she could see about half a dozen distinctive figures. None seemed to notice her for the moment though. They were all bipedal, like that of the Courier.

Humans.

Most of them had on what looked to be leather attire, almost like that of the rising punk fashion the princess had occasionally read about and seen in dreams. She could see they were armed with shovels and knives, no doubt the marauding type

A man stood at the center of the gang, sticking out like a sore thumb compared to the other raiders. He had a suave air about him, slick hair, checker-printed suit and tie combo. Definitely took pride in the way he looked.

But the most notable figure, to her anyways, was the one currently on his knees. He was weak, vulnerable looking, having a simple set of overalls, gloves, a work shirt and hat on. Not dressed to kill or dressed to impress like the others.

His hands were bound, and upon seeing this, Luna activated her magic, attempting to undo the rope around his wrists.

She just stood there, horn alight as it didn’t work. It was like the dream was forcing her to just watch, unable to interviene.

“Guess who’s wakin’ up over here!” chuckled one of the leather-clad bandits.

She saw the bound human look up at the men who had captured him.

Luna stepped back in shock upon seeing his face.

...

It… wasn’t there.

There was nothing.

Where the bound man’s visage should’ve been was a mere smear, like someone had painted a picture with too much water or shaken a camera too quickly for it to properly snap a picture.

It was just a blurry mass of nothingness, no discernable color about it. No face to be seen.

Regardless of the horrifying revelation, she still pressed on, as the humans conversed around her. Suddenly, the checker-suited man walked right past her. He was holding a strange, coin-like item in his hand.

“You made your last delivery, kid,” he said, his tone serious before he reached his hand back into his suit, stashing away the coin. “Sorry you got twisted up in this scene.”

Luna tried once more to free the human as the suited man pulled out an ornate, well-kept pistol with highlights of ivory and gold adorning it.

Her magic still did nothing.

She could hear the bound man’s breath get deep, ragged, and panicked as he fought against his bindings. However, his “face” was locked squarely towards the other man’s gun.

“From where you’re kneeling, it must seem like an eighteen-karat run of bad luck…” the man with the gun said, his voice echoing in her mind.

She could only watch as he pointed his gun at his prisoner, feeling helpless.

“...truth is, the game was rigged from the start,” he said, his pistol aimed squarely at the faceless figure’s head.

BANG!

The shot heard 'round the Mojave rung out.

She could see a splatter of blood.

The bound man dropped onto his side.

The suited man just walked over to the corpse and then put a second round right in his head, giving a final coup-de-grace.

Everything was still.

Everything was silent.

...

Suddenly, the men faded away into nothing, every figure becoming ash that was blown away by a strong gust of wind.

Luna was alone with herself, her breathing being the only evidence of her existence.

She felt a pair of eyes on her but didn’t turn around.

The Courier was sitting on a large rock behind her, his hands propped up on his knees.

“You get what I mean now?” his tone was soft. Softest she’d ever heard, anyways.

“It was you…” she pondered aloud. “You were…”

She narrowed her eyes, biting her tongue as she was unable to finish.

“Yep,” he answered flatly.

She gave a small sigh.

“I’ve seen death before,” she admitted. “Murders, accidents, old age, even battles at times. It’s rare, but Equestria dealt with it as well. To see something like this… it wasn’t fully uncommon, at least during my original reign.”

“I wish you didn’t have to deal with that shit here too,” he said with a sympathetic sigh.

“What else did you do?” she asked, finally looking back at him. “What else have you been through?”

“You sure you’re ready for that?” he smirked, summoning the Platinum Chip and flipping it in his hand casually, as if it were a useless coin and not the cause of his death. “This was just a taste of what I’ve been through. You sure you want more?”

She nodded, her face steeled and stern.

He just chuckled softly.

“Alright, you’re the boss,” shrugged the human.

More scenes faded past her vision.

Suddenly it was midday, and she was standing in the center of the same small town she had been overlooking from the cemetery.

Goodsprings. A piece of the Courier’s dream seemingly told her.

In front of her, she saw the same human who’d been bound back at the makeshift gravesite.

However, his appearance had changed; he had a massive bandage wrapped around his head, along with a bandana covering his lower face and neck. The pieces of skin that poked through were smeared, still indistinguishable in color. Currently he was wearing a set of what looked to be padded leather clothing, looking far more ready for combat than he had been back at the ambush site.

Luna watched as he and several other humans, both male and female, fought off a group of charging raiders, who were adorned in black chest plates with long-sleeved blue undershirts and jeans on.

She watched as the Courier leveled out an over-under shotgun and blasted the skullcap off of the dark-skinned man leading the charging raiders.

His body dropped and the other citizens of the town let loose their respective guns at the remaining marauders.

“Cobb deserved it,” the Courier snarked, his voice echoing out around her. Cobb had obviously been the man the Courier had killed, and he obviously didn’t have a shred of remorse behind his tone.

The scene flashed by her eyes, and soon it was night again.

She sat by a campfire, watching the same blurred form of the Courier standing over the skinned corpse of a coyote. Luna choked back her lunch as she could smell its rotting body. But despite the stench, the human just shredded it with a large knife and roasted its corpse.

When the meat was overly charred, he took it off the fire and greedily ripped into it with his teeth.

“Gotta eat what you can to survive,” he pointed out.

Scene shifted again.

She was in a grungy office space.

Several other humans were with her here, all adorned with the same armor "Cobb" had been dressed in.

A pale-complexioned man sat behind the desk, eating from a can of beans as he laughed with his buddies. Suddenly though, there was a loud explosion, and the men all reached up to cover their ears. Moments later, they rushed around frantically, grabbing firearms and knives. However, as the man behind the desk pulled out a futuristic looking pistol that had a greenish glow about it, a figure rushed into the room.

The man’s eyes widened before a bullet blew through his skull, making his body drop back down into his chair, limp like a sack of potatoes.

Luna looked over and saw the Courier, now dressed in more durable looking military-grade armor. One that seemed to be made for actual combat and not mere scuffles like the leather armor. His upper head was now covered by a proper helmet too, though he still covered his face in a bandana and sunglasses.

In his hand he held a smoking .357 revolver.

“Eddie’s death was a bit different than that in reality, but you get the gist,” chuckled the human.

The scene shifted again.

They were in the middle of a steaming hot desert, obviously mid-day due to the sun beating down on the scorching landscape.

On the ground in front of her a woman in leather was clutching her throat. Blood pooled out from between her fingers as she instinctively kicked her legs, trying to back away from whatever had slit her neck. Off to the side, Luna saw at least three other blood-soaked corpses, two male, one female.

She cringed back as she could only continue to watch the human bleed out on the ground.

Soon enough, the Courier walked over with a bloodied knife in his right hand. He was counting out bullets in his left hand, no doubt having scavenged them off the others. Finally, he looked down at the Jackal member, her wide, horrified eyes staring back up into his uncaring shades.

He just raised the knife.

Luna had to look away as he jammed it down through the woman’s right eye socket and twisted, ensuring her death.

“Jackals, Vipers, all raiders are always equal opportunists. Would’ve killed me if I didn’t get them first,” he stated, as if it were a fact of life.

The scene changed again.

She suddenly found herself inside dark and dingy looking metal hallways.

Down the hall she saw the Courier, a large, boxy rifle-like weapon in hand. Soon, from out of thin air, a gigantic blueish brute appeared a few feet ahead of him.

It looked like Lily but had no kindness to it as it rushed at him with a large sword crafted from scrap metal.

The Courier was quicker.

The beast got struck in the face with a bright red energy blast and stumbled back. Six just responded by unloading more blasts from the laser rifle into its head and upper chest, leaving deep cuts in its rugged muscled frame.

Eventually though, one laser got lucky and hit the brute in the head. His entire body turned into ash within a flash of light, scattering to the dingy floor without any more fanfare.

“Bright Followers needed pest control,” he spat.

Another shift, another blur.

Found herself in what seemed to be the ruins of an abandoned city.

It was much larger than the prior smaller-scale towns, yet despite that had less life evident in it.

She seemed to be next to a fortified encampment of some type, though numerous dead bodies of humans were scattered about in the rubble. All of them had strange attires, with goat skulls adorning their heads.

Smoke covered the area, as if a large battle had taken place, or an explosion had gone off, kicking up a large dust cloud. Soon enough though, Luna watched as one figure emerged from the sandy cloud ahead, and she realized it was the Courier.

He was in armor that looked quite similar to his current appearance, though it looked less reinforced. Lacked the shoulder pads and extra equipment. She watched as he drug another man out of the clouds with him.

The man was adorned with the same goat skull helmet the other corpses had. However, he was still alive, albeit barely, as a large amount of blood was pooling from a wound in his stomach. He was being held roughly by the Courier’s left hand, which was wrapped around the back of his neck.

Six’s other hand had a large, aged, gnarled looking golf club of all things slung over his shoulder.

Luna, as she had before, could only watch as the Courier leaned the Fiend against a large piece of rubble, sitting him against it, his back braced against the concrete.

Her face steeled when she soon saw Six step back and line up the end of the golf club with the man’s temple. He was almost casual about it, as if he were just playing the sport itself.

Without a word, Six bashed Nephi’s own golf driver against his skull, cracking it, and sending brain matter all over the rubble. The golf club snapped in half from the force of the blow as Nephi’s bloodied helmet flew a good few feet from the force of the hit. After a second or two of getting some air, it impacted against the ground with a thud and rolled a bit before coming to a stop.

Nephi's finger just twitched as he sat there, dead as a doornail.

“I would’ve shouted ‘Fore!’ but it was too cliche,” Luna heard him say. “Would’ve been on par with the respect he gave any soldier he’d killed, anyways.”

The scene shifted yet again, and Luna soon found herself in a much different place yet again.

She was standing in front of a river, which had a rocky, gravelly bank.

Numerous plants were growing nearby, even fruit bearing ones, which showed this place to be a lot more fertile than the barren deserts and city ruins she’d seen. The alicorn looked to her right and saw a man clutching his bleeding thigh.

He had on a strange looking hat which was adorned with feathers. His clothes weren’t much to write home about, as he only had a bandoleer and a few pieces of leather covering him. Had a loincloth on at least.

However, she soon noticed the man was looking towards the river, and her gaze turned towards it as well. There she saw the Courier, still dressed in his NCR veteran ranger armor.

He was holding the head of another tribal underneath the flowing river, slowly but surely drowning him.

She watched as the man’s struggling got weaker and weaker under the Courier’s unyielding grip. The bubbles that billowed out of his mouth began to slow, and after almost five minutes of watching the brutal display, the tribal’s body finally went limp beneath the waves.

The Courier just squeezed his gloved hands around the man’s neck extra hard. There was a wet crunch audible over the sound of the river's rapids. Moments later, a small pool of blood bubbled up in the water from the definitely dead tribal's mouth, before being carried downstream.

She watched as Six then stood up and walked over to the bleeding man who was still applying pressure to his wound. At first, she didn’t know what to expect, but then she saw the Courier offer the downed man a hand.

“You alright, Chalk?” he offered.

Chalk nodded and accepted his help. The Courier got the tribal back to his feet, with Chalk slinging his arm over Six’s back to help steady himself.

“I just need a bit of healing powder, should be plenty back at the camp,” Follows-Chalk explained.

Six just nodded, helping him along as the two continued down the river bank.

“It was them or Chalk, and Chalk had a life worth living. The White Legs didn’t,” she heard his voice.

Was a bit more morose this time. Less vengeful, as if the memory was nostalgic to him.

The shifting had finally stopped, as if he’d shown her enough. Luna felt as if she wasn’t exactly meant to see the caring side of the Courier.

The side who helped a fellow man get medical attention.

The side who saved numerous lives with his actions.

The side who killed not for just vengeance, but for a seemingly righteous cause.

Darkness surrounded her, and soon enough, Courier Six appeared in front of her again. He was still sitting on the same rock, as it was just floating in blackness now.

She trotted over to him in the darkness; he was barely looking at her, staring off into the distance like some type of shellshocked soldier.

Even with the mask, she could feel his emotions.

“Surely there’s more to your life than just killing,” she offered, attempting to snap him out of the stupor.

“Sure, but that makes up about ninety percent of it,” he sighed back, shaking his head a bit as he cleared his blurred vision.

“Show me something good you’ve done. A deed not because you wanted a reward, or because you’d get something out of it,” Luna insisted.

He remained silent for a few moments, perhaps even a full minute.

She couldn’t hear anything, not even his breathing as he pondered her request.

“…fine,” he sighed, looking down at his gloved palms, before he rubbed them together.

Everything went away again…

She felt herself in his shoes now, his body. Not just a bystander, but she was in his literal point of view. She could feel his duster billowing in the wind. She could feel the material of his gloves rub against his hands. She could feel it all.

At the moment, she was him.

Experiencing his emotions, his thoughts, all of it. This wasn’t just the show of power and violence all the other memories had been. No, this was… more genuine.

Luna could only watch through the Courier’s own eyes as the memory continued on.

...

The valley was empty.

The Sorrows, the Dead Horses, even the broken and battered White Legs were gone now. Their leader was a shell of his former self.

The Courier had saved Joshua’s soul. Helped him in his time of need.

Now it was just him left.

But even still, one final soul had never been laid properly to rest. Never had a true goodbye given to it…

The Courier stood, looking down upon the decades-old skeleton. His bones were bleached by the sun, having been picked clean long, long ago.

The Survivalist.

The Father in the Caves.

Randall Clark.

His remains laid still, pressed against a large duffle bag. The Courier had checked it earlier and found an old, battered, yet unbroken Pre-War rifle remained inside.

Unique, chambered in 12.7mm.

A piece of him wanted it. But just as he had to so many things before, he let it go.

The Courier’s final good deed in Zion was to lay him to rest.

The hole was deep, easily six feet or so. He worked in the darkness, having no issues seeing thanks to his helmet. He was quick, effective, and tireless in his movements.

Despite being solo, the survivor had quickly finished it.

He clambered up out of the hole and examined another bag off to the side. This one he himself had brought. Six unzipped it and carefully brought out the contents.

A single, battered, beaten and patchworked set of Desert Ranger armor. Easily over a century old. It was much like the NCR gear the Courier himself was currently wearing, though definitely far more weathered, covered in grime, patchwork sewing jobs, and rust.

It was still immaculate.

A piece of him wanted it too.

That piece was banished to the side.

A different, more sentimental piece of the Courier considered adorning his fellow survivor in it.

It was also cast aside, feeling disrespectful to force him into the uniform he tossed aside. If he wanted to wear it, Clark would’ve put it on before his passing. When he came up here to lay himself to rest.

Thus, the Courier chose to simply bury it, the rifle, and the survivor in the pit together.

Inseparable, they belonged to Zion.

To have him plunder them for loot felt wrong.

He gently sat Randall’s remains down into the hole, and then did the same for the duffle bag and then the armor too. He was wordless in his ordeal, slowly but surely burying them.

Each shovelful of dirt felt like something within him was getting hit and hit hard. Maybe his conscience. Maybe it was something else. Each toss of the dirt, he could remember the terminals, even faintly hear Randall’s voice, though it was obviously impossible to imagine as the vengeful survivor never left holotapes or recordings to listen to. Just typed words, no pictures, and no face to put to the forgotten soldier.

He was silent as he buried the man.

After all this time, all these years, and all these generations… no one would remember him.

No one realized what he did for Zion.

It might’ve been a small contribution in the grand scheme of things, but it was a desire to ensure that tomorrow was better for the next generation.

And yet still, no one even knew his name…

Well, no one but the Courier.

He knew. He wouldn’t forget. He just hoped, beyond all hope, if Randall Clark, and the many, dozens, hundred, thousands of others who had been forgotten, chewed up, and tossed aside by the world… He hoped they would know he remembered.

Heaven, Nirvana, Something else? Wherever they were, didn’t exactly matter on the specifics.

Regardless, a deep part of him wished for them to realize their lives hadn’t been forgotten, hadn’t been in vain. Just like all the other soldiers and heroes and good men and women before.

He hoped they knew that they meant something… To him at least, if no one else.

He hoped that was enough for them.

Still yet, that made a piece of him strive for something. The desire to continue to exist, not for his own sake, but for theirs.

This refusal of the Second Death.

The idea of being forgotten. Horrific.

He hoped that it wasn’t painful for those he could never have had a chance to remember.

After a little while longer, he finished, patted down the grave, scattered some sand and rocks over it to make it look like a natural part of the ground. He made sure it looked undisturbed. No bastards could take it, loot it, throw aside the man who had laid down his existence for those he didn’t know.

None deserved his possessions.

Not even the Courier.

After another hour of just sitting and enjoying the quiet night sky above, he soon left...

Goodbye, Zion.

Goodbye, Randall.

Goodbye, those who were lost.

Goodbye, those who were not here to see this day.

Maybe, somehow, deep down, you all got what you wanted...

The Courier’s eyelids blinked shut.

...

Luna opened hers. Minor wetness adorned them as she could see the Courier sitting on the same rock a few feet in front of her. She’d felt his emotions, knew what it was like. Hit a bit close to home, the idea of being forgotten and unloved.

“Y-you knew him?” she managed, steading herself back to a calmer tone.

“No, never even met the man, had no way too, died well before I was born, I think,” Six shrugged.

“But you still put him to rest… why?” she asked, wanting him to be verbal with her. Instead of just letting emotions speak, she wanted him to admit it. Maybe it was just for herself to hear.

“He deserved it, after what I read in his journal entries…” the Courier paused for a second, giving a sigh. “He deserved someone there for him, even though he’d been gone for years before I ever discovered him. Didn’t deserve to be forgotten. No good man does…”

“You… are noble,” she offered.

“If that’s how you wanna see it,” he said back.

“I know there are more good deeds within you, you’re filled with anger and hate but… there’s something more to you than pointless rage, that much is obvious,” she explained.

“Oh you’re gonna make me blush,” he just snarked back.

“I will not pry further, I understand what you showed me was… painful enough as is,” she sighed, sensing him closing off again. “Still, may I ask one question?”

“Sure,” he shrugged. “Ain’t got anything better to do.”

“Why do you desire to go back? I can feel a sense of longing from your emotions,” she pointed out.

“It might’ve been a hellhole… but it was home,” he admitted. “Those people were my people. The good ones anyways.”

“You were a hero,” Luna nodded.

“Knock the hero shit off, I was just doing what’s right!” he hissed, a bit annoyed now. “Betterment for the group, the country, the whole. Not just the individual.”

“That’s heroic of you,” she pointed out.

“I’m not here to argue,” he growled, looking down, away from her.

“Neither am I,” Luna said, her tone soft and queenly as ever. “But when I was connected to you, felt your memories, your emotions… I felt more than just Zion... I know you care for them. My former subjects, I mean.”

She figured he was going to swat her away again. Toss her aside verbally, or even physically within the dream.

He just sighed.

“How can I not?” was all he replied with. His tone one of honesty.

“Give yourself a chance to care for them,” she explained wisely. “Instead of pushing them away, or closing them off, embrace them.”

“You act like I don’t know that,” he growled.

“Sometimes it helps to have somepony reaffirm it for you,” she explained softly.

“I already tossed them aside like everyone else,” he growled, smacking his palm against his helmet. “Abandoned them when they were there to greet me. I just came here and locked them out. Didn’t even give a shit what they felt about the whole thing.”

“I think you will find that they understand,” Luna replied. “They might not know exactly why it is the way that you are, but I’ve learned that even the closest of friends, and siblings, can have their falling outs.”

He just remained silent.

“What matters though, is how you deal with it,” she continued. “Either you can continue pushing it away, holding your love at bay… or you can allow others to help you. Allow them to break down your walls and get closer with them. Let their love drive you. Instead of being led by your anger. That allows you to come back stronger than even...”

She herself sighed this time, looking down.

“It took me a millennia to learn that,” she said, looking a bit saddened at remembering her past.

She was regretful as well.

He was silent for a bit longer.

She frowned further at his lack of a reply.

She couldn’t feel his emotions at all. Blocked off.

Suddenly though, he straightened himself up, hopping off of the rock he had sat on.

“I guess it’s a good thing I’ve not got a millennia to waste then,” he said, his tone snarky. Uplifted, even?

She brightened up at that, sensing this renewed vigor radiating off of him. For his part, he felt as if he’d popped an entire bottle of Buffout and chased it with a hit of Rocket.

“I hope one day you find whatever it is you wander for,” Luna offered, as she felt the dream around them begin to give way. “You deserve happiness.”

“You too, princess,” he smirked, raising a gloved hand to his helmet. He gave her a quick two-fingered salute as she smiled back at him.

“I hope to meet you again, Courier Six,” Luna called as she began to drift away from him.

“I think we will!” he called back. “But uh, next time, cool it with the all-consuming darkness in my dreams!”

She giggled at that.

And then they were both gone.

He awoke to the sound of thudding on his log shack’s door, and he jumped up, grabbing his big iron from the ground. Small rays of light peeked in through the numerous small cracks in the cabin as he steadied himself, aiming his firearm at the sound of the knocking.

After a moment of letting the sleep wash away from him and truly waking up, he heard a familiar voice calling out, muffled slightly.

“Hey Six, you in there, dude?” Dash shouted, her raspy voice filled with worry.

He holstered the Ranger Sequoia with a groan.

“Are you quite sure he’s in there, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked. “He could’ve wandered deeper into the Everfree!”

Six retrieved his helmet from the floor as he listened on.

“I bet he’s just ignoring us, I told ya’ll to leave him alone,” Applejack huffed. “A pon- human, losin’ his home like that, eats ya up on the inside. At least it would me.”

He fashioned it back over his head, making sure it was securely in place as he looked over himself and his gear, making sure everything else was as he’d left it before he'd passed out.

“Maybe we can just leave an invitation to another party instead?” Pinkie offered. “It worked last time!”

He almost chuckled at that.

“Look, I promised Scoots I’d go and check on him,” Dash finally shouted. “She’s been a nervous wreck all night.”

Ah fuck. How could he treat the kid like that?

“And Derpy too,” Pinkie added, he could tell she was frowning from her voice's tone. “Since Dinky’s been all down in the dumps, it's got her all worried. Even ice cream and cake didn’t cheer either of them up.”

His brow furrowed.

Rainbow Dash went to knock again.

Her hoof met nothing, and she nearly stumbled forwards into the cabin, though stopped herself as she looked up.

His red lenses stared back into her expressive eyes.

The Courier, for his part, examined the group.

No Fluttershy in sight. Guess she had to deal with the animals today. Plus, she knew him the least anyways. Oh well.

“Six?” she questioned in surprise, before her gaze hardened. “Why’d you have to go and leave Scoots like that? She was up all last night worrying about you! Thinking she did something wro-”

“Dash, we ain’t here to argue with ‘em!” Applejack growled, scolding and interrupting the hotheaded pegasus.

“Six, are you quite alright dear? You look… rather dreadful,” Rarity offered.

“I’m better than ever,” his tone was rough but energized.

The unicorn cocked an eyebrow at that.

“Ya sure sugarcube?” Applejack said. “I know ya have yer issues sleepin-”

“No Applejack, I’m fine,” he assured, his tone softening. “For once… I’m awake.”

The entire group looked at him funny now.

“Well of course you’re awake, silly!” Pinkie giggled.

“I don’t think he means it literally, darling,” Rarity offered.

“I’ve finally realized what matters,” he explained, stepping out of his cabin fully, closing the door behind him as he did.

They were silent as he continued.

“This whole time I’ve been… closed. Locked down. Didn’t focus on the things that were important,” he said, looking over the group.

They were important… But he couldn’t just say it aloud. Not yet. Had to be perfect. They deserved it.

“I just need some time,” he added. “Just a bit longer to orient myself. I’m fine now… I’m better.”

“If ya say so,” accepted Applejack, not detecting any lies from him.

“Well what should I tell Scootaloo?” Dash asked, still partly annoyed.

“Just tell her I’ll be seeing her really soon,” offered the Courier, as he slowly walked over to his garden, checking the crops.

“When?” Dash replied.

“Next day or so,” he smirked. “It’ll all work out in the end, I think.”

“I hope so,” the pegasus said, her annoyance giving way a bit to a faint trace of worry and sadness.

“Girls, I think we should give Six here some more alone time,” Applejack offered. “I think he’s doin’ a lot better now.”

The Courier nodded, still looking over the crops.

“Maybe I could plan a party for then?” Pinkie chuckled. “If ya want that is!”

“You know…” the Courier turned to face the pink pony, “...that’s not a bad idea.”

She beamed at that.

A while later he watched the group as they trotted away from the campsite.

He gave a half smile as he watched them go. It wasn’t a full-on grin of joy, but something inside did feel better, knowing they came all this way for him. The kids probably would’ve too if Dash and Derpy had let them...

What was he doing?

Why was he moping about? Having dark thoughts? Locking everyone out?

They cared for him.

They loved him.

That was more than most back in the Mojave could offer.

He should treat them like he treated the NCR… Yeah… that was it.

It was decided. Courier Six would fight for them.

He would help them in their time of need.

He would offer his hand…

If needed, he would die for his friends…

The darkness inside seemed to cower back, unable to comprehend his newfound light.

Author's Note

Goodbye old friend. You were always there for me. Even though you’ve been gone for a few years now, I will always remember you.

You made me happy...

This chapter is dedicated to you.

Oddjobs

After the ponies had left, the rest of the day was peaceful. Six checked his crops, made sure nothing had gotten into them. Afterwards, he just rested, making up for all of that sleep he’d lost.

He was in a deep slumber, didn’t get any dreams at all, so no talk with the Brain. So it was just an enjoyable, calm time for him as he drifted through nothingness. Waking up actually well rested after so many days of insomnia was a great sensation. He got up late in the night, about eleven or so, whenever he found himself thirsty, his lips extra craggy.

With a grunt he forced himself out of the shitty padding he called a bed and began rummaging through his pack. Only one Sunset Sarsaparilla left and after that he was left with boring water. Hmm.

He drank it down with annoyance. Didn’t have any way to brew more so he’d have to buy some locally. As he did, he decided to check the crops once more; make sure they were alright and all that. Upon opening his wooden door, he found a small handful of multicolored envelopes nailed into it.

He rolled his eyes as he realized Dash or some other pony must’ve delivered them throughout the day while he was passed out. Six tugged them off the nail and began reading, starting with the pink letter as he continued to slurp down the little remains of his soda.

‘Hiya Six, I hope that you’re feeling better! Mr. and Mrs. Cake thought about your offer to help, and after hearing about what happened, they decided to hire you starting any time you feel ready enough to help! You can do janitor duties and take out trash and we can even bake together. It’ll be super-duper fun, I Pinkie Promise!’

‘-Your friend, Pinkie Pie!‘

‘P.S. Dinky’s doing better! :D’

He gave a small chuckle, even giving a partial grin at her calling him a friend. Hand- uh, hoof? Mouth? Whatever-writing was pretty neat, given she was a hyperactive pony. He also felt relief wash over him at the mention of the little unicorn. He’d make sure to give her an apology face to face soon enough.

The human took another swig from his bottle as he opened up the orange one, already knowing who it was from by this point.

‘Hey Sugarcube, I ain’t really one for writing many notes, more of a muzzle-to-muzzle girl myself, but I just wanted to let you know that everypony on the farm is doing great! They’re all wishing you the best. Even Big Mac got a bit emotional for ya! Anyways, you’re welcome at the farm any time!’

‘-Applejack’

‘Granny Smith says hello!’

‘And Sugar Belle, too! And Apple Bloom. And Big Mac.’

The text was reasonably clean. Especially Granny’s and Sugar Belle’s. Not as fancy as Pinkies but that obviously didn’t matter. He continued to remain a bit uplifted at that as he checked the final envelope, which was a pale blue.

‘Hey Six, I’m not gonna write much since I’m gonna be the one delivering these anyways, but I figured I’d let Scoots go ahead and get some stuff off her chest.’

‘Six, Rainbow told me that you were doing better, and I have to say that’s awesome! I really wanna see you soon, but I can’t go off hiking in the Everfree. My aunts said I’d get grounded if I did. >:(‘

‘Anyways, I just wanted to say that I hope you’re doing even better, and I’ll see you soon! I was still thinking we could still try to get you that Cutie Mark! Even Sweetie and Bloom are up for it!’

‘We’re all rooting for ya, big guy!’

‘-Rainbow Dash’ (And Scootaloo!)

Both of them had choppier, chicken scratch writing, but that didn’t matter. What did matter to the Courier was the fact the kids were better. He could just imagine their smiling faces now, which filled him with a faint warmness.

While he wanted to rush into town right now and find Scootaloo and Dinky and Derpy and all the others and apologize, he still was exhausted, mentally and physically. It was also midnight and no doubt the ponies would be conked out.

Without much else to do, he finished his century-old soda and slept some more. Thankfully there still weren’t any dreams, and he woke up at four thirty going by the Pip-Boy. No new notes this time either.

He brewed a small cup of coffee over the firepit, smoked a cigarette; considered that as his breakfast before he continued on out of the Everfree and towards town. Ponyville was coming to life as he approached, with numerous early birds (horses?) trotting around the streets.

His destiny for the moment was Sugarcube Corner. Given the emptiness of the streets and the fact the confection shop stuck out like a sore thumb, the journey was short. The place was still closed, so he knocked at the door, checking his Pip-Boy as he waited a few seconds for a response. A bit later, Pinkie Pie answered, and gave a wide grin upon seeing him.

“Six! You came!” she shouted, before latching her forehooves onto him and giving a deep hug.

“Yeah, yeah… I did…” he huffed, letting her hug him for a few seconds before he finally brushed her back. “I figured I might as well try and make myself useful, after that letter and all.”

“Oh that’s great, we can totally plan the party too!” Pinkie said, stepping back and letting the bulky human in. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake are gonna be so happy to see you!”

“Business has been booming, I suppose?” he asked, trying his attempt at small talk as he adjusted his gloves.

“Business is always booming!” Pinkie snorted as she shut the door. “And when Cheese gets here, it’s gonna be an even bigger boom!”

“Cheese?” Six questioned, looking back at the pink pony.

“Yeah, Cheese Sandwich!” she chuckled.

He just cocked a brow.

“Right, right!” Pinkie grinned in realization. “You wouldn’t know him. He’s a pro party planner, just like me! One of the best!”

“Sounds like you two were made for each other,” Six shrugged.

“W-well…” she blushed slightly at that, with it barely noticeable on her already pink body. “I- We- He’s not my coltfriend… Not yet anyways.”

“Why not just tell him you like him then?” offered the human, having heard her whisper.

She blushed a bit deeper.

“How about we get to the kitchen?” Pinkie managed, changing the subject.

“Whatever you say, boss,” he chuckled.

She led the way into the back while he followed.

Soon he greeted the Cakes; they were already rolling out the early morning coffee cakes and donuts, ready to open. After buying a few confections (breakfast 2: breakfast harder) he began menial work. Took out the trash, swept the floors, wiped down the countertops, helped them get ready.

Was a little boring, but the Cakes were nice enough. They even offered to give him the aforementioned snacks for free, but of course he made sure to pay up. Not gonna be a bum, after all.

He was scraping off some gum on the underside of one of the tables when the store officially opened. From there, he continued cleaning up where possible. Some ponies would shrink back as they saw him doing menial tasks, like wiping up spills or sweeping any dropped crumbs and the like. Despite his casual work, he still had a relatively intimidating frame and outfit.

The work was a bit cathartic in a way. Still boring, but at least he was being useful. Went on like that for a few hours.

Pinkie and the Cakes baked, and he cleaned up their messes; threw away the eggshells and the empty sugar bags and the unneeded containers. Wiped up any wayward frosting that dribbled a bit too much. Washed the dishes whenever they were emptied, scrubbing away melted chocolate and cleaning out baking trays, letting them sit on a rack to dry.

They were thankful, and while he never said it aloud, he was happy to help. Was repaying them after all. They were good peo- ponies. Despite all this, deep inside, something felt a bit empty. As much as he enjoyed being around them, there was a deep desire to do… something else.

He sort of knew what it was, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself.

Before long, the shift was winding down a bit, and he sat with Pinkie in the kitchen as she worked.

“So I was thinking that we could totally do a big blast of confetti with my Party Cannon… if you wanted?” she offered while mixing a bowl of batter.

“A bit too loud,” the Courier shrugged, holding a towel.

“Maybe let’s just keep it chilled out like last time?”

“Okie dokie!” the party pony nodded excitedly, before pouring the bowl into a baking tin, spilling a few wayward drops of the mixture. “Want any presents?”

“Presents?” he said with confusion, wiping up the spill. “Pinkie, it’s not my birthday.”

“You never told me when your birthday was, silly! I had to improvise!” she pointed out, putting the cake tin into the open oven, before her mane somehow wrapped around its handle and shut the door.

He would’ve questioned her hair acting like a bizarre appendage, but by this point he was a bit more focused cleaning.

“Last I checked, I don’t have one,” he admitted.

Pinkie gasped in shock and horror.

“Now please don’t flip out over that,” he huffed tiredly, wiping up the countertop and putting the bowl into the sink.

“How could I not!?!” she shouted, her tone one of sad. “Birthdays are more than just presents! It’s about the time you spend with other poni- uh… humans! It’s about the love you have between friends! Between a community! It’s about celebrating the love they have back for you too!”

“Well I never had one and I don’t remember when my birthday was,” he huffed, scrubbing the bowl.

“Six, I am so, so sorry!” the pink pony said with a sniffle.

“Don’t be,” he grumbled. “You’re not the one who put a bullet in my head to make me forget.”

“Put the what in your what?” she asked, confused.

“Nothing, nothing,” the human huffed, finishing his scrubbing of the dish before he sat it aside.

“Look, this party is for you, alright? That means you’ve gotta do something extra special for it! Something that would make you happy!” Pinkie offered.

“Something that makes me happy…” he pondered. Resisted answering with answering ‘a Fat-Man and a nest of Cazadores to aim it at.’ Instead, he shrugged. “...maybe I could make Mushroom Clouds? You guys seem to have the ingredients for ‘em.”

“Mushroom Clouds?” she tilted her head in confusion.

“One of the few sweet things I got to eat back in the Mojave,” he shrugged. “Back there I had to adapt it from its original recipe, but here you have got everything it called for. I think I’ve got the notes still in my Pip-Boy, too.”

“Ooh, that sounds neat!” she smirked. “When we close up, you’re gonna have to show me the recipe!”

“Sure thing,” he nodded, before suddenly feeling something scaly press against his leg.

The human looked down to see a small, strange, greenish creature looking back up at him.

Wall-eyed little bastard. Looked like a gecko. Instinctively, he shot out his leg, tossing the creature across the room.

Pinkie moved with shockingly quick reflexes, jumping up and catching the little monster with her bushy, surprisingly maneuverable tail like a pro sports player.

“Gummy! What did I tell you about sneaking up on others?” she scolded the scaly creature, sitting him down.

“What the fuck is that thing?” the human asked.

“He’s my pet alligator!” she squeaked with a wide grin.

Gummy just blinked, his eyelids moving out of sync with one another.

“Right…” he would’ve questioned it but decided not to.

From there on in, he continued his work. Occasionally Pinkie would pitch an idea on the party, and sometimes he’d agree, though mostly things were quiet. When the Cakes finally closed up shop, the Courier was allowed to go into more detail with Pinkie, showing off his recipe.

“Alright so I remember I used Nightstalker eggs for this back home, but we don’t have that,” Six shrugged, as he separated the egg whites from the yolk, throwing the whites into the bowl. “Then again, the original recipe called for chicken eggs anyways.”

He threw a tiny pinch of salt and a bit of cream of tartar into the egg whites and then took a beater to them.

“Ooh is this a meringue?” she asked with a smile, closely following his movements.

“Uhh I think,” he shrugged. “To be honest when I made it all I had was radioactive cereal and shitty gumdrops.”

She cocked an eyebrow at that.

“Yeah I know,” he shrugged as he continued beating. “Now uh, go pour a cup of sugar into the blender while I’m doing this.”

“Superfine sugar, got it,” Pinkie smirked.

He continued working the eggs and a bit later, Pinkie came back with the sugar, which he slowly added in as he continued beating the confection. He soon stuffed the thickened mixture into a piping bag Six had never used a proper one before, but he was able to quickly get the hang of it.

Soon enough he’d piped out the caps and stems onto a baking tray, before dusting them with cocoa powder and stuck it into the oven. Way easier than doing this shit over a campfire, especially now that he had the proper ingredients.

“So why are they called Mushroom Clouds?” she asked as the two waited.

“Got it out of an old Pre-War booklet. Survival guide of some type; had some recipes in it. Author was… something Cain,” Six paused in thought, before shaking it off. “Anyways, I guess it was an attempt to make nuclear armageddon sound less scary to kids.”

“What does nuclear armageddon mean?” Pinkie asked.

He paused again, looking down at the party pony.

“...forget it,” he shrugged, leaving her a bit confused.

Soon enough, the confections were taken out of the oven, with Six taking a butter knife to them, trimming off the edges. When he was done, he used some melted chocolate to glue the stems with the tips and assemble the whole thing. Little meringue mushrooms glued together with chocolate decorated the small baking tray now, able to stand perfectly upright on their own thanks to the Courier's skillful work with the knife.

“You know, they look neat!” Pinkie offered.

“Yeah, back in the Mojave, they were never this appealing,” he smirked as she tried one.

“Not bad!” she complimented as she chewed. “I prefer something a bit more sugary, but this is pretty good.”

“Pinkie, we’re not trying to give everyone a sugar rush,” Six said, eating one of the Mushroom Clouds himself, nodding along as he chewed.

Yeah, definitely better than using gumdrops and Sugar Bombs.

“But sugar rushes are so fun!” she whined.

He just rolled his eyes as he continued eating.

“You know, the Cakes might start selling these,” Pinkie said with a giggle, eating down another hoof’s worth of the little meringue explosion clouds. “They’ll market them as ‘authentic human treats!' I can just see it now!”

“Whatever they think’s best,” he shrugged, checking the time on his Pip-Boy, before stretching. “I’m gonna go find a park bench to nap on.”

“You could just stay here, you know?” she offered, rolling her eyes, though she seemed excited by the thought of him staying over. “We could have a slumber party and play board games and eat marshmallows and-”

“Maybe some other time,” Six said, giving a fake yawn. “I’ve gotta meet with AJ tomorrow, see about some work.”

“Oh right! That reminds me!” Pinkie reached into her mane and tossed a bag of bits at the Courier.

He caught them mid-air but looked at her, obviously confused she'd just had it in her hair of all places. Then again, no pockets.

“Cakes wanted me to give it to you!” she smiled.

He just shrugged and put it into a satchel.

“Before I go,” he turned back towards her, standing near the kitchen’s entrance, “party’s this Friday, right?”

“I think that should work. End of the week and everything,” she chuckled.

He nodded at that.

Before long he’d left Sugarcube Corner, and sat on a bench yet again, enjoying the night sky. Let himself fall asleep on it too, having set his Pip-Boy to wake him up so he’d be ready for a busy day at the orchard.

Six sat at a picnic table as he overlooked Sweet Apple Acres. The work was the same as it had been laborious but satisfying.

Just as he had while working with the Cakes, he felt like something was missing though. Felt it inside the entire day. Wanted to… just walk.

Wander.

He took a deep sip of some apple juice Sugar Belle had made, still delicious as always. The human leaned back in his chair and sighed to himself. Suddenly though, he heard the grass and fallen leaves crunch nearby and turned to see a frail old mare approaching.

“Hey Mrs. Smith,” he nodded.

“Howdy youngin’!” Granny Smith offered back happily, before pointing a forehoof at the other built-in seat of the picnic table. “This seat taken?”

“‘Course not,” he chuckled.

“Thank ya kindly,” the earth pony smiled as she soon hopped up, sitting across from him.

He took another sip, sitting in silence with the aged pony.

“Applejack said ya worked hard today, as ya always do,” she chuckled.

“It’s just the job, I’m not gonna halfas- uh… half work it,” the human shrugged.

“Ya don’t have to censor yerself around me youngin’ I ain’t a filly,” she said with another chuckle. “Exact opposite, actually.”

“Ah it’s fine,” he offered back, looking off into the cleaned-out orchard, a majority of the trees being barren after the harvest.

“I can tell somethin’s on your mind,” Granny explained. “Applejack did too, while ya worked.”

“I kinda figured that,” Six nodded, finishing off his drink and sitting the glass aside.

“Believe it or not, I’ve seen yer kind a lot ‘round Ponyville, especially back ‘n the day,” revealed the elder Apple.

“Yeah?” he perked up with a small grin. “This place is a lot younger than I thought then."

“Why you kidder, ya know how ta make an old lady blush,” snickered the pony.

“I figure back then though there wasn’t much here, some orchards, maybe?” he said, still smirking under the mask.

“Oh Ponyville back ‘n those days was just like ya said, couple a buildings, the farm, all that,” she explained. “But that’s not what’s important. What is important is that ya got yerself a case of wanderlust, don’t ya?”

“What gave it away?” he snarked good-naturedly.

“Ya shouldn’t lock yourself down here, ya know,” she said, her tone a bit more serious.

He was silent at that.

“I know ya had yer issues recently, an’ I know ya got yer friends here, but ya were made to walk the earth, just as we Apples was made ta’ grow these here trees from it,” she said sagely.

Six nodded, stretching for a moment, still silent.

“But you still need help on the fa-”

“Pssshhh fiddlesticks,” she brushed him off. “This farm has been in my family for generations, ya really think we can’t handle it by ourselves?”

He looked down, dusting some dirt off his jacket as he went back to silence.

“I know yer wantin’ ta help an’ all, and yer mighty fine for that, but ya weren’t made to settle down, not just yet at least,” she pointed out.

“I know Granny,” he admitted. “But this place isn’t exactly like my home.”

“Don’t that just make it more excitin’ though?” she chuckled. “All of Equestria at yer hoof- uh, hands?”

“Yeah, it's something I’ve thought about,” he chuckled back.

She gently placed a forehoof on his shoulder, looking into his red lenses.

“The decision is yers ta make though,” she said, her tone soft and understanding. “Just remember, yer always welcome here though, no matter what, sonny, and I’ll make sure to let the extended family know about ya, from here on in, yer a friend of the Apples!”

He nodded at that, reaching up a hand before gently taking her hoof and shaking it.

“Thanks, Mrs. Smith,” he replied, soon letting her go.

With that, she gave him a nod and a wink, and then took her leave, even being generous enough to take his empty glass.

He continued looking over the orchard, which was basked in a golden glow from the evening sun.

About a minute later, Applejack trotted up to him after Granny had gone, taking the same seat her matriarch had.

“You were hiding behind that tree for the past five minutes,” he said simply, his tone flat.

The orange mare gave a small blush of embarrassment.

“Well I wanted ta make sure ya hit it off with Granny,” she replied honestly.

He let loose a dry chuckle at that.

“She’s right ya know,” Applejack pointed out. “I know ya’d rather be out there explorin’ than workin’ tha fields.”

“I’d have to figure out a path,” he replied in thought.

“Good thing I already have a suggestion,” she chuckled.

“Yeah?” Six turned to her.

“My old friend Rara- ah, Coloratura, she’s doing a musical concert in Dodge City in the next couple of days,” she smirked. “Gonna be a night or two of fun, an' she’s even bringing in Sapphire Shores too!”

“Yeah, I totally know who that is,” he snarked, pulling out a cigarette as he did.

“Look, I dunno if yer into music, but it’ll be a chance ta get outta here an' meet new ponies; place is a nice town for country folk like you and me too,” explained the farmpony.

“I’ll think about it,” he sighed. “I’ve dealt with a few stage shows in the past. Some weren’t bad.”

“Yer gonna love it, Six,” she assured.

He nodded, his cigarette now lit and in between his teeth.

“Gotta say this is probably the only time I’ve been fired,” he joked.

Applejack laughed.

“Yer still welcome ta work of course, but we got it covered, always have!” the country mare assured.

He chuckled softly, and soon enough he saw her sit down a small number of bits on the table.

“What’s this?” he asked, smoke billowing from his mouth, blocking any vision towards his lower jaw.

“For the train ticket,” she nodded.

“Applejack I’m not just taking your money,” he said, shoving the coins towards her.

“Ya can and ya are,” she shoved them back towards him.

“You already paid me earlier,” he grunted, pushing them away.

“Consider it a bonus,” she replied, doing the same.

“I didn’t put in overtime,” he countered.

“I’m yer boss and I say ya deserved it,” she shot back.

This went on for a solid five minutes before he gave up.

“Christ you’re harder headed than a Deathclaw,” he grunted, “or me after the Big MT.”

“Now ya gotta go,” she said slyly.

“Alright we’re buddy-buddy and all but don’t hit me with that shit,” he grunted, finishing his cigarette and flicking the remaining ash off to the side before he put the filter into his pocket to dispose of later.

“Like I said, yer gonna love it,” she replied.

“Whatever,” he huffed, putting his helmet fully over his mouth now.

He soon stood up, obviously ready to leave.

“Ya take care now, Six,” she said, giving a soft smile.

“You too, AJ,” he replied over his shoulder as he walked away, following the trail through the orchard.

Like before, she watched him as he went, a prideful smile on her face the entire time.

“We’re all proud of ya,” she said softly.

Six stirred some sugar into his coffee though left it black otherwise. Figured he’d try something slightly different this morning. Across from him sat Lyra and Bon Bon, who were in the middle of conversation.

Something about which booze they should take to the upcoming party to spike their punch with. He wasn’t giving his thoughts because booze was booze.

After having woken up on a bench yet again that morning, the Courier had a free day, which he used to wander around Ponyville. Led him to meeting the two, which itself led to a nice morning meetup outside the current diner.

“I was thinking of bringing a nice simple red wine, we could make some sangrias with it!” Bon Bon explained.

“Wine’s already fruity enough!” Lyra retorted, wiping bits of a hayburger from her mouth. “We should bring vodka!”

“Christ, you getting drunk that early? Party starts at like three,” Six interjected.

“It’s never too early to get a little crunk,” the mare retorted.

“Around the kids?” he huffed, before downing some coffee.

"It was gonna be for the afterparty!" she sighed, waving a forehoof.

"Yeah, we're not dumb enough to do that in front of foals," Bon Bon added.

“If that's the case, why don’t you just go to one of Vinyl’s shows or whatever like last time?” he asked.

“Can’t. She and Octavia have packed up and headed for Dodge,” the earth mare explained. “They’re playing opener for Coloratura and Sapphire Shores. Won’t be back for another week or so.”

"Doc's there too," Lyra added. "Helping with the speaker system and all that."

“Is everyone gonna be at that fucking thing?” he huffed.

“Well… we planned on going too,” chuckled Lyra, almost sheepish in tone.

“What?” he grunted.

“The morning after the party, we’re getting our tickets and heading for Dodge. Should arrive by that night, got a hotel pre-booked and everything,” the unicorn boasted.

“Of course you do,” he huffed before downing more of the coffee. "Dunno why you'd wanna travel with a hangover though."

"Hey, we're getting a little crunk, not that crunk!" Lyra defended.

“You really should come, Six, we wouldn’t mind sharing a room,” Bon Bon offered, her tone softer than her wife's.

“Unless they only come with one bed,” Lyra interjected, before Bon Bon shushed her.

“I guess I will,” he growled. “AJ already gave me the damn bits for the ticket and everything.”

“Aw yeah!” Lyra cheered. “The Trio of Terror, taking Dodge by storm!”

The other two just stared blankly at her as she spun in her seat.

“I mean,” she went back to normal, clearing her throat, “glad you could come, Six.”

“I guess I’m glad too,” he sighed, adjusting his helmet.

The meet up continued from there, the two talking amongst themselves with him occasionally joining in. He looked out to the town, examining the ponies passing by on the street as he did. Soon enough though, he saw a familiar mare flying overhead, making him gaze upwards.

The Courier watched as Derpy continued along, her flight speed was slower than normal, lagging almost. He could see even from the ground she was pausing every now and then to yawn, bags under her eyes.

He suddenly spoke up, catching the attention of Lyra and Bon Bon.

“She looks exhausted,” he stated the obvious, pointing up at the gray pegasus.

“Well duh, she doesn’t have anypony else to help her at the post office,” Lyra replied back.

The words bounced around in his mind as he intently watched Derpy fly away, going further into town. Everything around him seemed to fade as a low, buzzing ringing sounded out in his ears, his gaze set solely on her until she was out of sight.

He suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out his map Applejack had given him a few weeks back. After unfurling it and examining it for a few seconds, he nodded. A second later he stood up and put the parchment away again. Six tossed down some bits onto the table and straightened his jacket.

“Where are you going?” Bon Bon asked.

“I’m going to do what I should’ve done from the start,” he replied, Granny Smith’s words echoing through his mind. “I’ll see you two soon.”

The two mares just looked at him with confusion.

The Courier didn’t elaborate and just strolled away with a determined gait.

Lyra and Bon Bon watched the human as he left.

His duster billowed in the wind behind him as he went; after a minute or so, he turned down another street and was gone from their sight...

Acceptance

The Mane Five had entered Sugarcube Corner by now, preparing for the party that’d take place in just an hour or so. It was midday and they all managed to take time off their jobs and such to be here.

Pinkie Pie adjusted one of the party streamers hanging from the ceiling, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she made sure the decoration looked perfect.

“Pinkie darling, I don’t think he’s going to mind a few misplaced streamers,” Rarity piped up, sitting at a table nearby. The fashionista soon delicately sipped on a glass of punch.

“How would you know?” the hyperactive mare asked back. “What if he sees this specific streamer is out of place and he goes back to being all mopey and sad and is like ‘you guys aren’t my friends anymore, go away!’ and I’ll be all like ‘but Six, you’re our bestest friend ever, and there’s no reason for you to be sad’ and he’ll-”

“Pinkie,” Applejack cut off the mare as she sat down a plate of apple fritters, having freshly baked them in the kitchen, “ya don’t really think he’d do that all over a party streamer, do ya?”

Pinkie deflated a bit at that.

“Well… no,” she admitted. “But he was supposed to be here with me this morning, help me make some more of those mushroom things and he never came!”

“He probably just got tied up working on his shack or crops or something!” Rainbow said, laying down on one of the tables, obviously having tried to get in a few quick Zs before the other guests arrived.

“Indeed, no offense to him but his home is rather… unsightly,” Rarity offered.

“But what if that’s not it?” Pinkie asked back. “What if he went back into a deep depression and went into a dream where he talked to his own brain, and-”

“Pinkie, that’s just ridiculous,” Applejack interrupted with a sigh.

“He seemed a lot happier a few days ago,” Fluttershy pointed out. “I don’t know why he’d go back into a depression.”

“Homesick still?” Rainbow offered, still lazing around like an oversized cat. “I was kinda that way when I moved here from Cloudsdale.”

“I don’t think he’s got that homesickness anymore. It’s wanderlust,” Applejack said with a tone of finality. “Last he visited the farm he had a good talk with Granny an’ me. I even offered him some bits for a train ticket… I just hope he didn’t skip out on us.”

“That’d be so sad, especially after he said he’s never had a birthday before!” Pinkie squeaked, giving a deep frown.

“Hey, we gotta look on the bright side,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “Maybe he’s off fighting some evil forest monster and it’s making him late?”

“How is that the bright side?” Applejack asked, giving her an annoyed glare.

“I’m just thinking of something that’s better than him ditching us again!” huffed Rainbow, giving a frown.

From there, the group just continued waiting and occasionally helping Pinkie prepare the decorations. It wasn’t much longer before some of the guests began to arrive.

Lyra and Bon Bon, who brought a small bottle of wine for later. Then came Derpy and Dinky, both of whom snacked on muffins and made small talk on occasion, with Derpy mentioning how much lighter her workload had been recently. Cheerilee and the CMC were soon after, likely having come from the school, with Scoots being especially excited about the ordeal as she chatted with Dash.

Soon enough though it was a bit after three, and only the ponies had showed. The Cakes had even brought out a large well… cake for the Courier, who still hadn’t arrived.

Worry had begun to bubble up, especially in Dinky and Scootaloo, who sat anxiously like a pair of dogs waiting for their master as they stared intently at the door.

Nothing for another half hour, and by this point Lyra was considering busting out the wine, though Bon Bon told her better. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had joined Scootaloo and Dinky now, sitting beside their friends.

“Ya know, if he doesn’t show, y'all can come over to the orchard for a nice sleepover!” Apple Bloom said, trying to brighten her friends up. “He’ll eventually turn up there for work, maybe!”

“He’s going to show up,” growled Scoots, a deep frown of annoyance on her face.

“He has to,” Dinky said, though her frown was much more saddened than frustrated.

Rainbow Dash trotted over to console the two fillies.

“You know girls, he’s a busy human,” Dash explained.

“Busy doing what, living in the woods and growing potatoes?” asked Scootaloo.

“I’m just saying, he’s not a liar, alright,” Rainbow Dash continued. “He probably got caught up in something big for him to not be here.”

“Oh yeah?” huffed the little pegasus as she turned to her sister. “Like what?”

Suddenly the front door flew open, and the sun beamed into the sugary shop as a distinctive bipedal figure filled the frame. Everyone’s eyes locked onto him as he stepped in. The Courier adjusted his duster and wiped off any wayward dirt that clung to his sleeves.

“Sorry about that you guys, the route today was a doozy,” he said, as he dusted himself off.

Derpy noticed that he had a new set of patches, one on each of his upper arms, in the bicep area. They looked as if they had been recently sewn onto his outfit. The mare’s crossed eyes straightened up as she examined him, chewing a muffin in her mouth intently.

A bright red arrow, two pegasi wings coming off it…

She nearly choked on her tasty confection in realization.

“What do you mean ‘route’?” Scootaloo squeaked.

“The mail route of course,” he laughed, closing the door behind him.

“Wait… you’re not saying…?” Lyra managed.

“My name is Courier Six,” replied the human smugly.

“Derpy, why didn’t you tell us?” the unicorn asked, turning to her friend.

The gray pegasus in question coughed a bit, choking down the muffin fully as she shouted.

“I didn’t know!” she replied. “I just remember my route being a lot lighter today! They never told me why!”

“I handled the long hauls,” shrugged the human as he walked over to the stunned crowd. “Cranky, the orchard, Fluttershy’s cottage. All of the out of the way stuff. And don’t even get me started on the sheer backlog of outgoing mail they have for other towns and the like. It’s a fucking travesty.”

“Why didn’t ya tell us ya got a new job?” Applejack questioned.

“I figured it’d be a surprise,” he said, filling himself up a glass of punch. “That’s what these parties have in them, right?”

“Uh… usually it’s for the pony who gets the party thrown for them, not the other way around,” Dash pointed out.

“Maybe next time,” he shrugged, adjusting his helmet to chug down the punch. He soon sat it aside and pulled down the mask once more. “Now what are you guys sitting around for, aren’t these things supposed to be fun?”

Slowly but surely, a series of smiles appeared over the faces of the ponies, their confused and surprised expressions completely replaced by joyful ones. Even Fluttershy had a small grin despite being the least familiar with the human. In contrast, Pinkie herself literally squeaked almost like a rubber duck as she gave a massive one.

From there, the party from there was a whirl of fun and colors.

The Courier and Dash teamed up against Lyra and Bon Bon for a game of punch pong, (like beer pong, minus the beer) and of course the two mares got a bit frustrated at the Courier’s usage of hands. Even with Lyra’s magic, she and Bon Bon lost.

Their loss was rubbed in when Rainbow Dash gave the Courier a high-five with one of her wings, before they downed the last punch cup. As this happened, Scootaloo and Dinky hoofbumped, celebrating that their favored team won.

“Don’t be sad girls, it’s all my experience with throwing grenades,” the human boasted with a chuckle.

“Yeah, we’ll see how you’re laughing whenever we play pin the tail on the donkey,” huffed Lyra.

The group then shared a series of laughs at that.

“What’s a grenade?” Scootaloo suddenly asked from the sidelines after the chuckling died down.

“Uh… forget it,” the Courier shrugged with a small shake of his head.

A few minutes after his victory, the Courier had Dinky and Scootaloo both sitting on top of his shoulders as he was digging into a plate of cake. Their small frames were easily supported by his bulk.

“Jeez, you can see a lot from up here,” mused Dinky.

“Tell me about it,” Scootaloo chuckled back. “This is awesome!”

“Don’t either of you get used to this now,” grunted the Courier from between the two fillies. “You guys need to lay off the hayburgers, you’re friggin heavy.”

The duo just shared a laugh.

Soon enough the group were playing charades, with the Courier holding up a peace sign on his gloved hands, and mimicked a small, hopping creature.

"Ooh, an alligator going for his prey?" Lyra offered.

He shook his head.

"A spike trap going off?" Dash said, obviously thinking about Daring Do.

Another negative.

"Is it... a bunny!" Fluttershy guessed, suddenly piping up at the back of the group.

The two other mares cleared the way, looking at her and then back to the Courier.

He was silent for a moment, as if pondering.

The gave a thumbs up, chuckling as he did.

"Oh no fair!" huffed Rainbow Dash as Lyra rolled her eyes.

A bit later, he was sitting off to the side with Cheerilee, sharing another round of punch with the mature mare.

“You know, you really are a fascinating uh... creature?” she offered, a faint tone of uncertainty in her voice.

“I could say the same for everyone in Ponyville,” chuckled the human. “Back where I come from, you guys would be the interesting ones.”

“Everypony but me I bet, I’m quite boring, really,” she chuckled softly.

“Ah don’t say that,” Six said as he gently patted her on the back. “You do good work. Keep the kids safe.”

“It's my job!" the mare pointed out, faintly blushing. "You’re just saying that to be nice! I’m nopony special.”

“Nah, you are, Cheerilee,” he replied back. “If half of the adults back in the Mojave were as considerate to their kids as you were, raised ‘em right, taught them properly, it wouldn’t have been such a mess.”

She nodded at that, remaining silent for a moment.

“Th-thank you,” she said, her voice still soft and delicate. ”I’m sorry to hear you had to go through that.”

“It’s nothing,” he assured.

Cheerilee was silent once again, letting a few seconds pass, as if thinking about something.

“I know it’s a bit hard to believe, but I used to go to parties that would make Vinyl Scratch’s raves look tame,” she soon giggled, reminiscing.

“I’ve not been to one of those, but I bet you saw some serious shit,” he chuckled back.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” the teacher said, almost prideful, though her tone seemed hushed in case any other pony would hear. “One time I managed to down an entire barrel of hard cider on a bet.”

He chuckled along as she continued giggling at the memory.

“I couldn’t see straight for a week, but I earned my fifty bits!” she bragged.

“You must’ve been a party animal,” he complimented.

“Of course,” she said, calming her laughs as she took on a more mature tone. “But those days are in the past obviously.”

“How time changes us all, huh?” the human chuckled.

“More than I think anypony could ever imagine,” she agreed. “It feels like just yesterday Twilight moved into Golden Oak… Now it’s gone and everypony’s moved on…”

“Guessing you miss it,” he stated calmly.

“I do, but I think almost everypony does in a way,” she reminisced. “I’d say it’s probably more different for them than for me. Not a lot interesting going on at the school, unless you wanna hear about detention or student pranks.”

She gave a half-smile and stirred the straw in her punch glass with a forehoof.

“Well Cheerilee, if you need someone, I’m here for ya,” he finally offered. “Shoulder to cry on and all that.”

“I bet you say that to every mare,” she rolled her eyes. “You probably stretch yourself awfully thin.”

“I’m not like that…” he pointed out, “...but I am the master of stretching myself thin when needed,”

She gave a small exhale at that, smiling as she did.

He gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder, and before long the duo returned back to the party proper.

After some more minor party games and punch and cake, soon enough the whole thing was winding down, and the Courier was sitting at the table playing cards with some of the group.

“Read ‘em and weep girls!” Dash boasted, laying down a full house; three queens and a pair of twos.

Applejack and Lyra folded at that, giving a set of annoyed sighs. Apple Bloom patted her sister on the back, consoling her for her loss.

Rainbow Dash grinned, looking up at the Courier as he looked over his own hand.

Everypony watched with bated breaths.

“Straight flush,” he said casually, breaking the silence while revealing his cards. Six to ten, spades… He looked at the Ten of Spades card for a second with a sense of familiarity, before brushing it off.

“Ah you prick,” huffed the pegasus, letting a rare swear slip out.

He just leaned back in his chair and laughed.

“Nice work, Six,” laughed Scootaloo, sitting next to him.

“Whose side are you on anyway, squirt?” Dash snarked with a laugh from across the table.

Scoots giggled back.

“Well, it’s gettin’ a bit late,” Applejack said. “I think me an’ Bloom art ta be headin’ home now.”

“Indeed, I have a lot of work to do on my dresses tomorrow,” Rarity smiled, turning to the human. “I even have a gift for you, Six. Would’ve brought it today but I simply must make sure it’s perfect.”

The Courier nodded at the fashionista.

“And I’ve gotta pack my bags for our trip to Dodge,” Bon Bon added, Lyra murmuring in agreement.

"And I can just imagine how exhausted Angel is going to be when I get back to the sanctuary," Fluttershy said with a faint trace of worry.

As everyone stood up to leave though, the Courier took a small spoon and tapped it against one of the drinking glasses to catch the group's attention.

“Before you guys go…” he took a second to pause, taking a deep breath before he sat down the cup and silverware.

He then stood up from his seat, towering over all of the ponies as they looked at him intently.

“This whole time I was looking a gift horse in the mouth… er, probably not the best expression here,” he chuckled as he looked between them. His gaze went from Scoots, to Pinkie, Dash, Dinky, Fluttershy, Rarity, Cheerilee, Applejack, everypony all got a few seconds of examination. “Point is, all this time I was so focused on going back home, going back to the old life of wandering… I didn't allow myself to realize what new life I could build here…”

They all gave him various looks of reassurance and understanding.

“You guys helped me see it. You were there for me when I had no one but myself to rely on,” he continued.

They remained focused solely on him, one could've heard a pin drop in the silence of the room.

“You guys are…” he took one final breath, as if preparing for what he was about to say.

Everypony leaned in further.

“You guys are my friends… Thank you,” he finally stated.

Immediately there was a rush of cheers and hoofs clanging together as they clapped for him. The more hyperactive among them, like Lyra, (who had a bit of wine in her by this point) Scoots, Dinky, and such basically rushed over and dogpiled him with hugs.

Pinkie herself literally leapt over the table at him, clearing it completely and joining the bandwagon of hugs.

He had to step back as they latched onto him. The mailman barely remained standing after the onslaught of snuggling ponies as he concentrated on balancing with his newfound weight. Instead of being annoyed though, he just let out a soft chuckle, patting them when possible, in an attempt to return the hug as best he could.

It was a bit later and the hug session had finally broken off, with Rainbow Dash considering taking a crowbar to Pinkie to pry the spry party planner off the human. Thankfully it didn’t come to that as everything returned to being mellow.

“I guess we can count on seeing you tomorrow at the train station?” Bon Bon chuckled up at the human as the party members left Sugarcube Corner, going off in their own directions.

“Yeah, there’s a good dozen or so letters to Dodge sitting in the post office anyways, might as well get them off the list,” he smirked. “And then after that, all of this country is mine to deliver mail to.”

“There can’t be that much of it,” Lyra giggled, slightly tipsy from the wine the mares had brought.

“You’d be shocked,” Six shrugged.

Derpy soon flew up, hovering a few feet ahead of the Courier as she looked at him, her wings flapping about as she spoke.

“I was gonna give you a surprise hug,” chuckled the mailmare, “but after that hugpocalypse back there, I figure we’ll stick to just a hoofshake.”

She offered a forehoof and he took it, shaking it gently while giving her a small pat on the shoulder.

“You don’t know how much this means to me, Six,” she said with a genuine tone. “I’ll be able to spend so much more time with Dinky now. We can finally do all those things she wanted to do!”

“It’s nothing Derpy,” he assured. “Just a bonus of the job.”

She smiled softly at that as Dinky trotted over. Before long the mother and daughter duo had flown off, with the tiny unicorn giving the Courier’s shin another thankful hug before they did.

“Well Six, you sure you don’t wanna sleep in our guest room?” Lyra offered with a smirk as she and Bon Bon walked alongside the mailman.

“I’ve got a few nightly deliveries to attend to. Lotta roads to walk, even if they are just around town,” he shrugged. “I’ll see you guys at the station tomorrow.”

They nodded and gave him their farewells.

From there, Courier Six of the Ponyville Postal Service continued on. As he said, there were a lot of roads to walk, and a lot of places to see out there...

Starting with Dodge City...

The Dodge Junction Arrival

Six leaned back in his seat, a small saddle bag at his side, filled with mail. A moderately sized duffle bag was clutched in his grasp. He looked out the window of the train, enjoying the scenery passing him by as he relaxed. His first train ride wasn’t exactly all that enjoyable, but given he didn’t currently have a chip on his shoulder, this one was far more entertaining.

Lyra and Bon Bon sat across from him, talking amongst themselves. He wasn’t fully listening in on them, just catching the occasional stuff like “Is that Sea Swirl?” and “You think Carrot Top’s coming?” and “I wonder if Minuette, Twinkleshine, or Lemon Hearts will be there!” and so on and so forth.

For his part, he just leaned further back into his seat. Wished he had something to prop his feet up, but this was relatively comfy. Not a word often used outside of perhaps the Strip.

He rifled through his duffle bag. Wasn’t one he originally brought with him from the Mojave, as this one was a good deal smaller... and it had flowers and polka dots on it, but that wasn't important.

He'd bought it that morning, actually. Was decently sturdy fabric; he just needed it to hold a few fun things for his trip without ripping. That was the important part.

“You packed heavy, huh Six?” Lyra noted, pulling him from his mind and into the conversation. She snickered a bit at the pink bag being held by such a gritty figure.

“Just taking a few precautions,” he said to himself as he continued looking through his luggage.

Soon enough, he pulled out a small metal lunchbox. The same recycled Vault-Tec one that used to hold his Caravan Lunch, actually. As he moved it aside, three grenades sat in the bottom of the bag, along with the wooden stock of a rifle. He looked away from them and examined inside the lunchbox itself.

A Psycho, Med-X, pack of Buffout, and a Steady. Nice.

He latched it shut and put it back inside the duffle bag, covering the grenade and rifle stock again, before he zipped the whole thing up. It was like the fifth time he’d checked it, but he wanted to be extra, extra, extra prepared.

The train ride from then on was relatively calm. No hiccups or anything. Just small talk with Bon Bon and Lyra.

The duo managed to order drinks, (the train had on-board service) so they spent a good amount of the trip sipping and sharing fruity cocktails with one another. Non-alcoholic, thankfully.

Six himself tried one, but it was a bit too sweet, so the mailman didn’t bother ordering another.

Hours passed and the sun had drifted downwards in the sky, giving way to evening. The grassy hills had transformed into wide, open, desert by this point. Felt homely, in a way at least.

“Why the hell would there be a big musical show in the middle of some small desert town?” Six asked, finally getting a decent topic on his mind.

“Ah right,” Lyra said, looking up at him from her drink. “You weren’t here for that whole Countess Coloratura thing.”

“Oh no, I was there the whole time,” he snarked back, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, well there was this whole thing about her and Applejack having a big falling out, but it all got patched up, and in the end, Coloratura wound up trying to rebrand. She’s going on tours to smaller, more out of the way towns as a whole charity ordeal. Been planning this for months, easily,” explained the unicorn. “Said all about it in the paper.”

“Yeah I don’t keep up with that stuff,” he shrugged, looking out the window at the desert.

“It helps that Dodge has expanded in the past few years too,” Bon Bon added. “It’s quadrupled in size, easily.”

Six nodded at that and went back to waiting out the journey.

It was about an hour or two later that the train ride finally ended, and the evening sky had been replaced with the pale blueness of an oncoming night. Six, Lyra, Bon Bon, and dozens of other ponies exited out of the cart as they stepped onto the Dodge Junction station.

The human looked around the place. Town wasn’t super large but had about four, maybe five or six dozen buildings. All of them were old west-styled, saloons and wooden houses and all that. Reminded him of a few historical photos he’d seen in magazines, that or Goodsprings anyways.

Seemed to have a lot more hustle and bustle than typical though. Dozens and dozens, possibly a hundred or so ponies were walking around the town, no doubt here for the show. A bunch seemed like tourists, not exactly the western type.

“It’s a good thing we booked the hotel when we did,” Bon Bon said, looking around as the two walked deeper into town.

“I told you Sapphire and Coloratura were a huge draw!” Lyra chuckled.

“I wonder if they have any sarsaparilla here,” Six mused to himself, his mind on the important things.

He was getting his fair share of stares by this point. No doubt word hadn’t spread throughout Equestria of his existence, so no shock a lot of ponies were eyeing him down. Some even looked hateful.

He flipped them off on occasion for fun.

“What are you doing?” Lyra asked.

“Don't worry. It means world peace,” Six chuckled.

She cocked a brow, unsure if he was being truthful.

Trek to the hotel was slowish, but even then, they got there relatively quickly. It was a two-story building, probably one of the only ones in the town. Still was made of wood though.

Interior was nice, clean, all woody with a lobby with tables and chairs and a small snack bar. Place was moderately packed already, several ponies eating and chatting, though the chatter slowed as Six walked past, with them gawking at him. One mare even dropped a spoonful of her oats in shock, with it clattering back into her bowl.

The old, gray bearded stallion at the front desk eyed the human suspiciously as he handed off the keys to Lyra. Both the unicorn and her wife seemed a bit annoyed by the staring by this point.

“Never seen a human before?” she huffed back as she magically took the keys.

He just scoffed, turning to help some other patrons as the trio made their way up the stairs and down a hallway to their room. No carpets or anything, just solid wood that gave off a loud thud with each step.

“Room… 38!” Lyra said after they trekked for a bit longer.

“Great,” the Courier shrugged.

The door was soon unlocked, and they entered. Immediately after flipping on a lantern, (which was the only decent light source) Bon Bon and Lyra gave a deep sigh of annoyance.

“One freaking bed, are you kidding?” the unicorn of the group grunted, looking around the drab, wooden room.

Six figured it looked right out of an 1800s inn. Ancient history come to life going by his standards.

“Got a chair at least,” he pointed out, looking at the old rocking chair in the corner. Had a faint lair of dust and cobwebs on the underside of it. Definitely rarely used or cleaned.

“The only solace is we’ll probably be too drunk and tired to care by the end of the night,” the unicorn huffed as she sat her saddlebags aside.

“Mind if I use the bed for a sec?” Six asked, however he just flopped down his bright pink duffle bag immediately after asking, opening it back up with a loud zip.

“Suit yourself,” Bon Bon rolled her eyes with a smirk.

Six nodded and pulled out a few items from the bag.

To the ponies, it looked like a weirdly shaped piece of wood and a metal tube, along with a few other strangely shaped parts.

To Courier Six… it was art.

He began reassembling the rifle, his hands quick and adept for the familiar task. His gloved fingers danced about like spiders as he would occasionally respectfully wipe off the weapon of any minor dirt or grime or lent from the bag. He didn’t have any lube for the mechanisms yet, was hard to find anything suitable in Ponyville, but he did ensure they were as clean as possible as he fully assembled it.

An antique weapon.

A beautiful machine.

“What is that exactly?” Lyra piped up, having watched him assemble the rifle the whole time.

“After the ordeal with that bear-bug bastard, I figured I might as well carry something with a bit more stopping power, especially while on my mail runs. I would’ve brought the 5.56, but I find the .308 typically offers superior penetration, at least if I deal with a larger target,” he explained, looking on proudly.

“I knew it was one of your explody-firey-things,” Lyra huffed. “But what is it specifically?”

“M1 Garand. This one’s a more ‘recent’ replica or offshoot than an exact copy of the original, but variations of this baby fought in the Second World War, easily over three hundred years ago,” he continued on, gently rubbing a gloved finger over the old girl’s wooden finish. “They might call her ancient, but I just say you can’t change perfection. That’s why I carry Lucky too, and the .45s.”

“Lucky? You named one of them,” Lyra chuckled.

“He deserved it, he’s… unique,” Six replied, gently reaching his hand into the duster and patting the holstered revolver in question, as if it were an old friend. “The battle rifle here has more stopping power than him though. Would’ve brought the All-American but the clips are easier to store more of than full mags.”

“You named more than one of them?” Bon Bon asked.

“Hey, they’re the only ones that’d never leave my side, gets lonely out there in the desert every now and then,” pointed out the mailman.

“Riiight…” Lyra replied, nodding. “Well, it’s a good thing we became your friends before you started naming your knives too.”

She and her wife gave soft chuckles.

Six remained silent.

He didn’t tell them about Blood-Nap. Now that would be difficult to explain.

After the laughing died down, the mares fully sat aside their minor luggage and turned to leave.

“We’ll try to save a seat for ya if possible Six,” Bon Bon offered with a soft smile.

“Yeah, but try to hurry with your mail run, I don’t think we’ll have much time before the place is fully packed,” winked Lyra.

He nodded and before long the two were gone, leaving him alone with his bag of equipment. The mailman continued rummaging through it and set aside a large canister of flamer fuel. He made sure to be extremely careful with it, checking for any potential leaks. When he found none, he sat it back into the duffle bag, leaving it beside his grenades.

Really safe idea there.

He grunted.

Would be fine for the night at least. Surely.

He soon applied a strap to the battle rifle and slung it over his shoulders. After that, he grabbed just one more fun thing he’d brought with him. He took it from his duffle bag, hiding it slung under his duster as a just-in-case emergency tool.

It’d be the ‘oh shit, we have a problem!’ kind of tool. Quite fun in a way. Hopefully he wouldn’t need it though.

With that, he grabbed his bag of mail and left the chems, the grenades, and the fuel behind in the bag as he headed for the door. Stopped one time to adjust his duster in a mirror, making sure the extra special surprise was well hidden under his jacket before he left.

Thankfully the place had a post office. Not a big one, mind you. It was a rundown little ramshackle shack sat off to the side of the town, near the train station. Door creaked heavily as he opened it and entered. Without the mask, he would've noticed a faint smell of old papers in the air as he walked up to the front desk.

A mare sat in a rickety wooden chair. She was a pegasus about as old and wrinkled as Granny Smith. Thick glasses rested on her muzzle.

“Ma’am,” the human said, getting her attention away from a small crossword she was filling out.

“Ahhh hello sonny, uh…” she adjusted her glasses.

“Yes, hello, I am here on behalf of Ponyville Post Office to deliver this backlog of mail,” Six said with an air of professionalism, pointing to his saddlebags. Moments later, he pulled out a small clipboard from under his duster and handed it to the mare. “Can you point me in the direction of any of these peo- ponies.”

“They hire Diamond Dogs now?” she squinted her eyes at him, before looking down at the clipboard.

“A lot’s changed recently,” he stated simply, neither questioning nor correcting her.

“Aye well… Caramel Butterscotch moved to Manehattan a few weeks back,” she said, her old voice low and slow.

“I will add that to my notes,” Six nodded.

“Mmm… I think old Petunia Petals passed away,” she added, sounding a bit down at that. “Celestia bless her.”

“I will deliver her mail to next of kin, if possible,” he replied, sounding like he’d fulfill the request.

She nodded.

“Alright sonny, grab a pen and paper and I’ll give you their addresses, this might take a while though,” the old mailmare soon said.

He quickly pulled up the notes function on his Pip-Boy.

“I’ve got nothing but time on my hands and a will to deliver,” said the prepared Courier.

She softly smiled up at him.

A bit later, about forty minutes or so, he was wandering around Dodge, following the old mare’s advice.

Had already made two or three deliveries. Most were stashed inside mailboxes, but he did manage to catch a stallion in person, or rather, in pony? Eh, doesn't matter.

What did matter was that the pony himself was horrified at the two-legged thing approaching him so much, he passed out on his front porch. Six checked his pulse, and after finding both it and the stallion’s breathing steady, just shoved the mail under his head for him to get when he woke up.

So far so good.

Before long he was on the edge of town, and off in the distance he could see a large orchard. Had strange looking trees in it though. Pink leaves…

Hmm…

Cherries, maybe? He remembered a few old magazines and papers that had cherry blossoms so, maybe this was an equivalent? Didn’t matter much. Though he did see that a massive stage had been set up on the edge of the farm itself. Large, as impressive as the one in the Tops, actually. Must’ve taken a good bit of elbow grease to build, had lights and everything.

He looked it over, his night vision helping him see the place more clearly, though the stage lights were extra bright. A white unicorn mare with glasses on was belting out strange sounding music on stage though a set of almost comedically oversized speakers. Even from his distance he could hear it. Sounded weird. Not like the classics. Marty Robbins and Sinatra she was not.

He just shook it off as he continued on his mail route.

Saw Lyra and Bon Bon in the front row of seats, catching them out of the corner of his eye. Hopefully they’re having fun at least.

Him though? Just mail to deliver.

With the pondering done, he went off like a machine doing its one purpose.

In the crowd though, Lyra and Bon Bon cheered for Vinyl as she boomed out her wubs.

The mares were definitely having a good time, judging by the minor blushes on their faces and the two cups they held, the fizzy liquid inside swishing about as they bumped to the music. Lyra herself had her horn lit up, slowly waving it back and forth like one would a lighter, along with dozens of other unicorns doing the same.

Backstage, Doctor Whooves was checking over the sound system as DJ Pon-3 bumped to the bass.

All the wires looked great, yes, yes, everything was still in order. He’d double checked it all at least three times by now, but even then, he might as well do a fourth. Doctor Whooves wiped some sweat from his brow as he did so.

Behind him, he heard the other musicians making small talk. He didn’t see them as he was focused on the sound system. Was his job after all.

“You know, this place really is beautiful,” admitted the voice of Coloratura. “I know Dodge isn’t always on everypony’s go-to tourist destinations, but I’ve always loved it.”

“That’s the fifth time ya’ve said that tonight,” laughed Cherry Jubilee. “We're always happy to have ya, Rara. I know ya used ta place orders here all the time for yer shows.”

Coloratura giggled at that.

“I can’t help it, your cherries are just so delicious!” the popstar admitted.

“Hey Rara,” a third, more bombastic voice interrupted, “are you absolutely sure you don’t want a costume change? I can have Rarity hook you up with something less… plain. Could get it here in the next hour before the main event sta-”

“Sapphire, you knew that when you signed on, we were going to go for less glitz and more soul,” chuckled the other popstar.

“I know that, but this is your last chance to change that before we play, I just wanted to make absolutely sure,” offered Sapphire Shores.

The Doc just continued to toil away at the wires and the speakers and all the backstage equipment as the popstars and cherry farmer had their three-way conversation. He wiped a bead of sweat off his brow as he made sure his new sound system was absolutely perfect.

Couldn’t have the show crash and burn after all his work!

Courier Six had finished his job within the hour. All that mail and now it was delivered safe and sound to the hooves of all the ponies who needed it.

Felt good, great even!

Made him feel useful. An amazing sensation as always.

Now he was just hanging back away from the show itself. He had initially considered buying a ticket, they were only one bit apiece, but something had caught his eye.

A pink-coated, yellow-maned earth mare landed what looked like a damned helicopter a ways back. He’d been tailing beneath her as she flew earlier, and now she finally rested the machine on practically the other side of town, out in the desert where nopony would be.

Took this time to examine the vehicle. Bright pink in color, with a heart-motif. Seemed almost like a children’s toy or something. No doors on it either, just wide, heart-shaped holes on both sides. Probably not the safest but oh well.

He watched from a distance as she hopped out of her pedal-powered vehicle. An aviator’s cap and pair of goggles adorned her head. The human was intrigued by this, and seeing as he had no more mail to deliver and no interest in the show, he approached her. His rifle clattered on his back with each step.

“Hey,” he said, catching her attention.

She jerked her head towards him, and her eyes widened as she examined him in the darkness.

“Ah fuck, right,” he said, stepping back to make himself seem less threatening. “That’s a uh… helicopter, right?”

The mare stared at him, and slowly looked back to her vehicle, before nodding.

“It’s uh... nice,” he said, trying to remain casual. “I’ve not seen many air-based vehicles so that’s really unique to me.”

She nodded once more.

He nodded back.

The silence between them awkwardly dragged on.

The human considered leaving for a good several seconds before she spoke up.

“I-I’ve seen you before,” she admitted. “Around Ponyville I mean.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded. “I think I’ve caught a glance at you on occasion too.”

“I’m Cherry Berry,” she said simply.

“Here for the show?” he asked.

She looked surprised for a moment, before answering.

“Y-yeah, beats taking the train if you ask me,” she said, taking pride in her flying machine. “Just fixed her up too!”

“I bet that took a lot of skill,” Six chuckled.

“Heh, it was nothing,” she smirked back at the compliment. “Took me a bit, but she’s real easy to learn when you get a feel for her.”

He nodded at that.

“You know uh, I wouldn’t mind paying for your ticket if you wanted,” he offered.

“Are you asking for a date?” she asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow at that.

“I-... what?” he answered back, utterly confused. “No... that wouldn-... I’m not a pony, that wouldn’t work.”

Cherry Berry pulled back, laughing at that.

“I’m screwing with you,” she admitted.

“Uh huh…” Six said, not returning the laughs, though he felt a bit better now. Little less awkward.

“I’m trying to work on my comedy routine, did I get ya?” she asked with a snort.

“I’d say stick to aviation,” he replied, checking his Pip-Boy, as if it'd make the time go by faster.

“Tough crowd,” she grinned back.

“But uh, ticket’s still yours, if you want,” he replied, pulling out a bit for the mare and offering it to her.

“Oh wow thanks… I didn’t think you were serious,” she said, gently taking it with a forehoof.

“Hey, maybe you can pay me back one day,” he chuckled back.

She nodded at that, and looked up at him, as if she was mewling over something.

“Are you going?” she finally asked him, figured the answer was yes, but might as well check anyways.

“Maybe,” he shrugged. “Crowds were never really my style, too many people or in this case, ponies.”

“Loner type?” she asked, looking up at him.

“In a way,” he said, casually leaning his back against her helicopter as he crossed his arms.

Felt surprisingly sturdy. Supported him without issue, despite its cutesy appearance.

He looked it over as he leaned against it, eyeing the controls.

“Is this fucking thing pedal-powered?” he asked in surprise, leaning down.

“Yes, and I would prefer if you didn’t press against it,” huffed the mare before he stepped back. She pulled a small rag from inside the cockpit and wiped off where he’d rested on the machine.

“Hey I’m not poisonous,” he shot back.

“I’d rather that weird spear thing of yours not chip the paint,” replied Cherry as she dusted off the copter further.

Six looked at his back, realizing he still had the battle rifle strapped to it.

“This isn’t a spear… well, not traditionally,” the human corrected.

“Whatever,” she rolled her eyes, though she did give him a faint smirk, showing she wasn’t too annoyed with him. “Look I’m gonna double check my saddlebags. I guess I’ll see you at the show. Hopefully Sapphire and Rara aren't on yet.”

“Sure thing I guess. I’ll wait for you,” Six shrugged, turning back and advancing towards Cherry Hill Ranch proper.

Town was dark, no streetlamps or anything to brighten it up. Just the moon above. Thankfully though, Six had his night vision to help him along.

But as he headed deeper into the town proper, a strange… chill, went up his spine. He found himself standing in the middle of the streets, the small, western building surrounding him as a faint breeze blew his duster. He narrowed his eyes in thought. Place was empty, even more so than it had been when he was running his route. The few wayward ponies who weren't at the show were gone now. It was as if a sudden cloud of thick, muggy air overtook everything.

Saw something out of the corner of his vision duck behind a building. Looked big. About as tall as he was. He kept his eye locked in on the direction. Wasn’t a pony. Two legged. Maybe a Dragon or something else? Diamond Dog thing that one mailmare mentioned?

He approached the building with a slow but steady pace, hand ready to reach down for one of his guns if needed. The only noise was the sound of his rifle softly clattering against his back, and the soft crunch of sand underneath his boots as he stealthily moved.

Felt a bit silly at doing this, but better safe than sorry. He soon reached the small corner the shadow had turned behind and looked around the corner...

Nothing but an empty alleyway.

Six huffed, metaphorically wiping his brow as he stood up straight and walked back out into the middle of the town street. Wasn't anything after all...

He was just about to write the whole ordeal off whenever he heard the sound of hooves clattering up from behind him. Six turned with lightning-fast quickness and stumbled out of the way just in time to let a terrified, sweating stallion rush past him.

“Watch where the fuck you’re goi-” the Courier paused as the pony just continued galloping, his breath hitching in panic as he continued running.

Alright, that wasn’t right. Wasn’t right at all.

The Courier quickly turned fully back around from the direction the stallion had run from, and his eyes further homed in as he could see movement in the darkness. Heard footsteps quickly approaching and then...

And then he saw it…

Rather, he saw them.

They rounded a corner out from one of the alleyways and skidded to a stop upon spotting his large, bulky frame.

Had a strange shape, unlike anything he’d ever seen at that point. All three were about as tall as he was, give or take an inch.

Bipedal, pair of arms, pair of legs. The skin was smooth and black as pitch. Even with his night vision they partly blended in with the darkness to an almost supernaturally degree. Had cloven hooves, and long, gnarled, boney fingers that ended in claws. Limbs were unnaturally long too.

Overall, their bodies were gaunt, slender, almost skeletal. With the only fat and notable muscle on them being in their torso, thigh, and belly areas. Gave them a putrid, almost decayed look, like that of a bloated corpse in a way. Most standout part about them though, were their faces- Hell, their entire heads!

Boar skulls. No skin coated them at all, no eyes, no nose, no ears, just the skulls, with the skin stopping at the neck. He would've figured they were wearing masks or helmets had it not been for the fact he could see straight into their heads, though their naval cavity and eye sockets. Speaking of eyes, two deep green embers were constantly burning inside their empty sockets, where their irises should be. Small balls of fire in an empty blackness.

Magic. Had to be. But he didn’t figure necromancy was something that would’ve existed in this bright and colorful place.

Felt like he was staring down a bastard monster of the week from one of those Grognak comics.

The trio of piggish beasts looked him down and actually took a step backwards as they gazed upon the Courier’s powerful frame. His red glowing lenses just gazed right back into their own green balls of magic.

The one in the middle had a pair of large tusks coming from its bottom jaw. More boar-like in nature than the other two. Leader, perhaps? Alpha male maybe?

It let loose a deep bellow at him and slammed a palm against its chest, as if it were challenging the Courier to a fight.

The human just let Lucky respond to the bellow by sounding out a gunshot, having quick-drawn the revolver in the blink of an eye.

The creature jerked back as Six blew its head apart. Its body dropped to the ground, kicking up some dust and causing a dull thud to ring out. After the first shot, Six held down the trigger on the .357, ensuring the hammer remained loose. Before the other monsters could react, he reached up his left hand and fan-fired the remaining five rounds right into the other two beasts, killing them in seconds like a true cowboy.

Two bullets slammed into the one on the left, both center of mass, near the heart; dropped the bastard without much of a fuss.

Three more into the upper chest of the one on the right, its body jerked back and forth as the rounds ripped through its skin. The sixth and final round in the cylinder shredded the creature’s neck, causing a strange, black… gas(?) to spray out as it fell to the dirt with a gurgle.

Wasn’t exactly fluid but wasn’t fully gaseous either, though. The best he could describe it would be that the piggish monster was bleeding a thick, smoggy smoke.

The trio of creatures laid dead on the ground, not even knowing what had hit them. More and more smoke billowed up from their corpses as they began to crumble, for lack of a better word. Six watched in fascination as the three bodies began to turn into what looked like ash.

Reminded him of a disintegration, but he hadn’t hit them with a laser weapon. Strange…

He didn’t have much time to muse, as he heard a faint scream behind him.

Fuck, Cherry!

Six bolted back towards the mare’s copter, holstering his emptied .357 as he did.

Cherry Berry kicked all four of her hooves at the bizarre monster as it tried to get her into its grasp. She’d been checking her bags when out of nowhere this foul monster had attacked her!

It tore off her aviator goggles and cap before tugging her down by her mane. The beast wound up ripping out some of her yellow hair as it brutally forced her down.

She screamed out for help only once before the creature placed one of its gangly hands over her muzzle and forced her head fully onto the cold ground. It held her down in the dirt, trying to keep her pinned as she slowly but surely wasted her own energy on bucking in an attempt to escape.

The mare heard it roar out as it stood over her, and from her vantage, she saw a second approaching shape in the darkness. It was another one of these horrific beasts, as she could see its strange, fireball-like eyes staring back at her.

The second beast helped the first one get a proper hold on her, and before long, she felt herself being lifted by their combined strength. One of their hands remained covering her muzzle, the other three arms were focused on restraining her hooves and body.

Cherry kicked at nothing, not being able to strike properly from her awkward angle, as she was being hoisted up between the two monsters. She felt like chattel, being manhandled by these beasts! The aviator wouldn't go without a fight though!

The pink-cared mare screamed into the palm around her mouth once more, trying to bite the beast as she jerked about in its grasp. Her tongue inadvertently made contact with its skin in the scuffle. The fight partly left her as she had to stop herself from biting any further. Instead, she began gagging, as it tasted like she’d just licked an ashtray!

Eventually though, she managed to angle her neck back as she tried to turn back to see her helicopter. The monsters were carrying her further and further away from it! Maybe if she could get loose, she could get in and fly away an-

The creature on her left stopped walking, gurgling suddenly as she felt its hands loosen. Both her and the second monster looked over to see what had happened...

A throwing knife stuck out of the beast’s neck, causing partly viscous, ashy smoke to billow out of the hole in its neck. Cherry kicked her hooves once more, breaking free from the other monster’s weakened grip. Without a second of delay, she began bolting back towards her copter, and when she reached it a few seconds later, only then did she turn back to see what had saved her...

The mare heard a grunt of effort ring out as she watched the Courier deliver a downward strike with his bowie knife, the glint of the blade shimmering out against the blackness thanks to the moon's light.

Blood-Nap smashed through the upper skull of the piggish creature’s head, with the sharp point piercing out through the bottom of the monster's jawbone below. Bone fragments and bits of brain matter coated Six's glove as he kicked the creature’s corpse onto the ground, yanking the knife out of its head as he did.

The blade was completely coated in a black, tarry slime as he examined it.

“Y-you saved me…” she whispered, piping up from a dozen feet away.

He just continued looking over the knife as he replied.

“Yeah, it’s what I do,” he said casually as he tried to shake the bowie knife about, seeing if the tar-like sludge would fly off on its own.

It did not.

“W-what are those things?” Cherry asked, pointing a hoof to the dissipating corpse of the piggish creatures.

“You think I’d know?” he snarked back, finally just wiping off the blackened blood on the left sleeve of his duster, allowing Blood-Nap’s shimmering edge to once more be visible.

She frowned deeply at that, sweat rolling off her forehead.

“Are there any more of them?” she asked once more, as she considered getting into her chopper and booking it.

“Dunno, I killed some back in town though,” Six said, sheathing the blade for now as he approached the mare.

He spotted something on the ground and reached down, grabbing it in one fluid motion as he continued approaching the pink mare.

Cherry shrunk back against her copter, shivering as he stared down at her. Despite having sort of met him, he still looked absolutely terrifying, especially now that she'd seen him kill a horrific monster like that.

Suddenly though, he reached out his hand, which was still clutching the thing he'd picked up.

It was her cap and goggles...

She felt a sense of warmth coming off of the human as she stared at his outstretched palm, and then up into his bright red lenses. Her mouth was opened in a sense of awe as she softly took back her possession from him. One of her most unique possessions, tossed aside by some unfeeling monster, and now here it was, returned to her by a stranger she'd just met.

To think she might’ve flown off without it…

She steeled herself, blinking away some tears as she put her cap back on.

“Look, Cherry, you’d better get into your chopper and get the hell out of Dodge, pronto,” Six said, as he began reloading Lucky, collecting the spent casings from the revolver and depositing them into one of the many satchels strapped to his chest. “I have a feeling shit’s going south.”

“What about you?” she asked. “I-I might have enough room in the helicopter to-”

“My friends are back at that concert,” he replied, snapping the loading gate on Lucky shut and cocking the hammer. “I’ve gotta make sure they’re alright.”

“But there could be a lot of those things lurking around town!” she called, terrified at the prospect. “Good thing I brought a bit extra firepower,” Six said with a grin, holstering Lucky and replacing him with his Garand, slinging the ol’ girl off of his shoulders and into his grasp.

She stared, her breath hitching in her throat.

“You waitin’ for a second doomsday? Go!” he shouted, waving a hand at her.

Cherry snapped to it, quickly hopping into her vehicle and putting her hooves to the pedals.

Six stepped back, eyeing around the empty desert as he aimed his rifle about, covering her from the ground for a few minutes as she began taking off.

She looked down at him with a concerned frown as she ascended.

He just gave a singular wave back, before turning away, heading back towards Dodge.

The battle rifle that saw the United States through World War 2 fit nicely in his gloved hands as he carried on. He gripped her nice and tight like any true G.I. would. Finger was resting just above the trigger, ready to snap down and pop off a shot at a moment's notice.

Over three hundred years, one nuclear apocalypse, and an interdimensional jump, and she’d still service him as well as she serviced any other troop in the old days...

Bet John Garand didn't expect that!

The Dodge Junction Brawl

Lyra drunkenly leaned against Bon Bon as Vinyl Scratch finished her performance with an extra loud set of WUBs ringing out across the audience. The mint-colored unicorn had a small blush on her muzzle as she sipped at her drink.

“I wish Six was here to see this,” she snorted.

“I think he’s still running his routes,” Bon Bon said, sounding a lot more keen and a lot less intoxicated than her wife. “Maybe he’ll get back soon, the real show’s about to start.”

As the two mares sat in the crowd pondering where the human was, they soon saw the curtains drop down. Several stagehoofs began to prepare for Coloratura and Sapphire’s performance, all the while Vinyl exited stage right, soon finding Octavia amidst the lights and wires. The gray mare winked back at her as Doctor Whooves trotted up.

“No malfunctions?” he asked, bags under his eyes.

Vinyl Scratch shook her head.

“Speakers sounded crisper than ever?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Easy to control the soundboard?” he shot back.

Once more the unicorn nodded.

He sighed, wiping his brow.

“Fantastic. For a second there I thought something absolutely dreadful was about to happen,” he managed, giving a weak smile.

“It was a great sound system, Doctor,” Octavia said, speaking up for her mute partner. “You did marvelous. You should get some well-deserved rest.”

“Rest?” he scoffed. “My dear, that was just the test run. I’m going to need at least another month’s worth of shows before I can conclude my work is adequate.”

“You’re worrying too much Doctor,” Octavia pointed out. “I know you are a stallion of science, but really, you are overexerting yourself! You truly need a break.”

“Yes well…” he cleared his throat, pondering her words. “We still have another few nights before we leave Dodge. I will worry about resting later.”

The two musical mares shared a glance. Even through her glasses, Octavia knew Vinyl felt an equal hint of concern for him.

Behind them, Coloratura and Sapphire Shores were engaging in small talk. Before long though, they ceased conversing among themselves as Cherry Jubilee herself trotted out. Soon the aged mare pushed aside the stage curtains and trotted into view of the crowd.

Easily over a hundred or so ponies cheered up at her, knowing she was here to announce the main event of the night. She stepped up to a microphone that one of the stagehoofs set up and scanned over the crowd, who soon quieted down, silently anticipating what she’d have to say.

“Well howdy there everypony!” she began. “I sure hope y’all enjoyed Vinyl Scratch’s performance as much as I did!”

She got a series of hoof claps and cheers back at her, making her chuckle.

“Now I know most of y’all aren’t from Dodge itself, but that’s alright! We might still be a small town, but as you can tell, we’re gracious to have each and every one of ya!” she said graciously. “Now I know I already said this but I’m happy that Cherry Hill Ranch could host a show as amazin’ as this!”

She got another cheer and a small round of hoof-based applause and whistles. Cherry took a moment to look over her shoulder, seeing behind the curtains. Coloratura smiled back at her, giving the signal that she was ready. Cherry herself smirked at that and turned back towards the crowd.

“Now without further ado, I give ya’ll Sapphire Shores and Coloratura!” as she shouted this out into the microphone, a sense of tenseness began to shoot through everypony in the crowd.

Most ignored this of course, and once the curtains pulled back to reveal Coloratura and Sapphire seated together at a piano, which had replaced Vinyl’s DJ stand. Most of the lights around the stage dimmed, as a single spotlight shined down on the popstars. Cherry herself quickly went backstage once more, making sure she was out of the way so the two could perform. A microphone hung down overhead, letting Sapphire lean up and speak.

“Now this is a bit more mellow than anypony would expect from me, but just know, I’m behind Rara one hundred percent, I hope you all enjoy this!” the glamorous pony said, winking out at the audience.

“This song goes out to not just Dodge, but every other Equestrian here!” Rara added with a smile.

After another moment, the two slowly began to play the piano, with the beautiful melody being belted out as they were perfectly in sync together, tapping away at the keys with their forehooves. The microphone lowered a bit more as Rara went to sing first.

“Eque-”

“Equestriaaaaaa~” a deep, scratchy, masculine voice rung out, interrupting her and silencing any cheers in the crowd.

The popstar was so utterly baffled that she stopped playing, her hooves remaining down on the piano, stretching out the note. Sapphire Shore was equally as baffled, pulling her own hooves back as she looked at Rara with a cocked brow.

“W-what is going on?” she questioned. Her words echoed out through the speakers nearby, having been picked up on the mic, confusing the crowd even further.

“The land you looooveee…” the scratchy, grimey voice continued.

The ponies in the audience began to notice how thick and muggy the air felt now. It was as if something

“Land of harmony,” the masculine voice chuckled. “Those are the lyrics, right?”

“Alright listen here buster!” Sapphire growled, her temper flaring as she grabbed the mic with her forehooves. “This prank isn’t funn-”

“Prank? Who said anything about a prank?” it replied back, echoing out. “This is… an attempt at democracy!”

“What?” Rara questioned.

“Ohhh right,” the voice replied, chuckling. “I suppose you’d rather meet me in pony, correct? Everypony feel free to answer, this is a question for the whole crowd. Not just these overrated sows!”

Sapphire Shores balked at that before fuming, literally snorting steam like a pissed off horse. Rara gave a deep, concerned frown as she looked around. The audience was a whirl of confusion, everypony chattering amongst themselves as they seemed uncertain on what to say.

However, a large, green burst of magical energy from a rooftop nearby rang out, interrupting their panic. It sounded like a cannon shot, causing everypony to flinch as they turned towards it. Lyra and Bon Bon were still in the crowd, squinting their eyes as they looked up to see what the cause of the ruckus had been.

The magical energy dissipated, and a pair of small, burning green embers stared down at the gathered ponies. The form they belonged to was hard to make out in the darkness, but they could see it was bipedal, and shrouded in a large, flowing black cloak. In one gnarled looking hand, he held a microphone.

“Alright, let’s drop these pretenses,” the voice rang out across the crowd. “Believe it or not, I come here offering peace.”

The crowd was still stunned, most of them being silent as the few ponies who hadn’t seen the bipedal creature were now looking up at him.

“Oh yeah? Why would we believe you, huh!?!” Lyra shouted out, her voice half-drunk.

The head of the creature snapped towards her direction.

Despite him being on a rooftop several dozen feet away and having a small field of distance between the two and numerous chattering ponies he had heard her. She nearly fell over in shock. She couldn’t see much of him other than two glowing dots, but she felt his gaze peeling at her skin.

“Good question, dear,” he laughed, his voice still echoing throughout the speakers. “I am here to give you ponies the choice of subjugation or mutual assistance.”

Many got panicked at the mention of ‘subjugation’ with them looking around fearfully.

“What I mean by that is this is,” he began, laying it all out, “I need a large dose of magical energy to help me out in my plans. Now naturally, I could just attack you all, but that would be quite… horrific for the lot of you.”

The crowd were even more panicked now.

Bon Bon narrowed her eyes up at the creature. Somehow despite him not looking at her, she felt as if he was glaring right back at her.

“Think of it like this: You let me drain your magic, and I leave Dodge peacefully. No harm will come to it tonight,” he offered.

Cherry Jubilee had rushed out on stage now, with the Doc, Vinyl, and Octavia peeking out behind the curtains as well. Cherry took the microphone that the Sapphire and Rara were using and put it into your hooves.

“Now listen here,” she growled into the mic, a fiery, southern temper flaring up in her voice. “I have no idea how things are done in yer neck of the woods, but here in Dodge, we don’t take too kindly to threats-”

“It’s not a threat, Cherry my dear. It is a cold, hard, fact,” laughed back the voice.

She glared up at the robed figure, eyeing him down from her own vantage on the stage.

“And what if we did give ya our magic, huh?” called back the voice of the mare, speaking for the whole of Dodge. “What are ya gonna do with it? Even if ya left us alone, what would that mean for the rest of Equestria?”

“Ohhh now you’re just asking the obnoxious questions,” replied the growling, hissing voice. “As I said, no harm comes to Dodge tonight. If you all just willingly let me sap some of your magic, we’ll leave it at that.”

“Ya won’t have a drop of magic from me!” Cherry replied with a scowl.

“Me either!” Rara shouted, a sense of Equestrian pride in her heart.

“You can kiss my flank!” Sapphire said with a huff to the strange creature.

The other ponies in the crowd looked around, conversing amongst themselves.

“What a shame,” the voice replied flatly, with the monster on the roof glaring down at the three mares, before his gaze settled on the crowd. “Now if there are any of you who aren’t utter buffoons in the crowd and actually don’t want your home destroyed, please step up now.”

Some of the ponies looked around, as if they were actually considering it. It was mostly the tourists though, the rough and tumble Dodge locals just glared up at the beast.

“Come on, are you all really going to risk your hides for ponies you don’t even know?” the voice replied like a con man selling a faulty product, a pompous air about it.

A few ponies still looked uncertain.

A certain minty unicorn wasn't among that category, though.

“I am!” Lyra belted out over the crowd.

His glare returned to her, and she shrunk back, but held her ground with a determined expression.

Bon Bon clenched her jaw, before standing up as well.

“Me too!” the secret agent shouted.

Lyra looked at her wife with a passionate, loving expression on her face, with it being further fueled by her tipsy state.

“You know what, I will too!” another earth stallion in the crowd shouted.

"Me too!" a pegasus mare shouted.

"Me three!" joined in a unicorn stallion.

A roar of shouts joined them. The crowd nodded and stamped their hooves and shouted the rare obscenity up at the beast on the rooftop.

“You’re all making a big mistake,” it growled. “I am offering you one mo-”

“Go buck yourself!” Cherry Berry growled into the mic, getting a round of cheers.

The creature gave a sigh into his own microphone.

“Well, I tried,” he shrugged.

He suddenly tossed the mic aside, freeing up his hand before a flash of magic came from his palm. Suddenly, the crowd watched as he summoned a long, gnarled looking wooden staff from his hands. It ended in a glass-like orb that contained a billowing green energy inside of it. It whirled this way and that as the robed creature suddenly pointed it down at the crowd.

“Attack,” he growled the word, his voice at a normal speaking level. A good chunk of the crowd didn’t even hear him.

Something else did though…

A lot of something elses, actually.

They rushed the stage from the alleyways and from behind trees and from around corners. Dozens and dozens of them, well over a hundred or so. They were bipedal, tall, skeletal bodies, skull-like heads with similar green glowing balls of energy for eyes.

It was as if they had just been willed into existence from nothingness.

The army of piggish monsters charged down the concert crowd within seconds, with many ponies letting out gasps and shouts of shock and terror. Immediately, the few security guards at front were tackled, being shoved to the ground and forced onto their backs or sides.

The creatures shoved and punched and restrained as many ponies as they could as the entire concert devolved into an unorganized, chaotic war. Chairs were thrown, hooves were bucked, and the unicorns of the audience were sending out magical blasts as the unstoppable horde of cold, gray beasts clashed with the horde of color and warm ponies.

Few realized it in the chaos, but if one listened closely, they would make out the sound of gunshots in the distance as well…

Ping!

Six grabbed the Garand’s expended clip from midair and shoved it into his satchel, replacing it with a fresh one. He then shoved the new clip into the battle rifle and readied it at his shoulder as he advanced. A dead pig-beast was turning into ash at his feet, a large hole in its chest. It just joined the half-dozen others he’d put down on the way here.

Six was rushing, running at a light jog as he held his rifle pointed dead ahead. He couldn’t full on sprint at the moment, but he was making his way through the town to help any of the remaining ponies left in it.

The door of a nearby saloon was kicked open, and a large boar-beast drug out a flailing mare. It didn’t even have time to register Courier Six’s lenses glaring at it from the darkness before a .308 round blew its skull apart.

The mare screamed in panic, freezing up as she ducked under her forehooves.

“Get the fuck to safety you nitwit!” growled the Courier, as another one of the beasts rushed him from an alley nearby.

He turned to it on a dime and blew a hole in its stomach, making it step back, gurgling in pain as it clutched at its wound. Six put it out of its misery by shooting it in the head, fracturing the skull like glass and dropping the fucker flat onto its back.

The mare finally shook from her stupor, and rushed back into her saloon, likely to find a better hiding spot. The human trudged forwards, not having time to collect the spent casings of the rifle as he moved like a man on a mission.

He heard one rushing up behind him, and he turned again, using the momentum to slam the wooden butt of his rifle into the fucker’s cheek. Its lower jaw snapped fully off as it stumbled back, falling to the dirt a moment later. Six pulled out Lucky, cocked the hammer, and finished it with a .357 round to the neck.

“How many of these pricks are there?” he growled, turning around a corner, only to freeze in place as he stared ahead.

A dozen of the beasts looked back at him, with several of them holding numerous ponies down in the dirt.

“Me and my fucking mouth,” he hissed, shouldering the Garand.

He fired off two shots, dropping the closest of the bastards with inky smoke leaking from the wounds in its chest. Another rushed at him before he fired off the fifth round of the magazine. He got it in the right bicep, blowing apart the beast’s upper arm. Inky black smoke spewed from the gaping wound as it squealed like a pig. The squealing was immediately silenced by Six walking up and smashing half its skull in with the butt of the rifle.

Another rushed at him with swiftness, abandoning the pony it was holding to try and tackle the human. Six kicked it in the stomach when it got too close, sending it stumbling back. It slammed into two other of the beasts who had also charged forwards, stunning them as well.

Six just took aim and fired.

Bang!

One. Got one in the head.

Bang!

Two. Another in the collar bone.

Bang! Ping!

Fuck! Three! In the eye at least!

Rifle was slung back over the shoulder, a pair of 1911’s would have to handle the others.

Six let the next half dozen of the charging beasts meet God’s caliber. The ponies they had been holding were freed now thankfully, but that meant all the attention was being drawn by him.

Good.

He wielded the pistols akimbo style as he let lose all fourteen rounds. .45 met flesh and flesh lost, with the creatures dropping back with numerous hisses as he slow-walked forwards, keeping his pistols aimed straight out at the approaching monsters as he did. One had a nice new hole in its skull. Another clutched its neck as it fell back. A third tumbled backwards as its shoulder was ripped open from the high-powered round.

Six met six beasts, and now he was the last thing left standing, as the creatures laid bleeding and dying and disintegrating.

He had a minor amount of free time to catch his breath and reload, shoving the used mags back into his satchels as he replaced them with fresh ones. Did the same with his Garand too. As he did this, he tried to remember the mail route he’d taken and orient himself. He was only a few blocks away from the edge of town, and thus not far from the concert. Maybe Lyra and Bon Bon and the others were alright?

Six looked up as a colorful blast of energy caught his eye. It was a dark green. Reminded him of a plasma grenade exploding. Only a block ahead too.

The mailman holstered his pistols and kept the Garand slung over his shoulder as he picked up the pace, bolting towards the fun. Less monsters now. Guess they fucked off?

A man could hope.

He continued sprinting as he went, his rifle and duster billowing about. The secret surprise under his duster also clattered around too, sounding like wood and metal bouncing off of his strong riot armor. A bit later, he reached the source of the earlier blast.

The building itself was a small shop, however, the explosion definitely came from atop it. Six looked up, squinting his eyes. Thanks to the night vision, he could see a figure perched above. It turned towards him in a flash, and he could see a similar skeletal visage from the pig-beasts staring at him. However, this one was a bit different. Bone structure wasn’t that of a pig’s. No tusks either. Looked more… equine?

He saw it actually jerk back a bit as it looked down at him, as if it was shocked.

“You…” a raspy, screechy voice rang out as the beast moved his lower jaw, talking crisply without lips.

“Me?” Six responded with an assholish tone.

It walked up close to the edge of the building as it stared down at him.

Six examined him closely.

He wore a long, dark robe, bipedal, but not as tall as the other pig monsters. Even from his high vantage, Six realized this creature would’ve only been about four or so feet tall, come up to his chest at best. Held a long staff in his right hand as well; used it as a walking stick as it moved.

“You know, I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you’re the one responsible for all those monsters running around, right?” the human asked.

The creature’s skeletal head leaned closer as he looked down at the Courier, not answering.

“What gave it away?” the creature soon spat, as if it was too pissed to be properly snarky.

“What’s the matter pal?” Six asked. “Stage fright?”

“You’re a human,” he growled back.

“Oh, that’s not fair. You know me, but I don’t know you,” Six replied.

The creature straightened back up, as if he was trying to play off his own anger.

“I suppose you’re right…” he replied, offering a dry, humorless chuckle.

The creature reached up his gnarled, clawed left hand and pulled back his robe’s hood a bit. Six watched in a minor amount of curiosity as the monster revealed his entire head and face...

Well, head, not face. No face to show. Still though, one thing that did shock Six was the fact a long pair of donkey ears and mane of grayed hairs unfurled themselves from under the black hood. Unlike the boars, this creature seemed to keep enough skin on his head for him to have a rugged, unkempt mane run along the back of his neck. Still no eyes or nose though, obviously.

He had a cocky air about him, as if his skull-like face was smirking down at the Courier. While the mailman knew it wasn’t possible, it was like he could see his bone structure shift into a smile. Either magic or an illusion.

“Donkey huh? I knew you guys could be cranky, but I didn’t expect this,” Six shot.

The bipedal donkey chuckled at that, his demeanor laxing.

That’s it you fuck, get nice and comfortable.

“You know, you’re not quite like the other humans I have met,” he smirked. “Though, there aren’t any humans in Equestria last I’ve checked.”

His smirk dropped into a look of dead-seriousness. Damn it!

“How did you get here?” he growled.

“Your guess is as good as mine, pal,” Six said, playing it cool.

“Oooooh really,” the donkey scoffed, his seriousness turning to more cockiness. “You just showed up here one day without rhyme or reason and now you’re here, at this exact moment, at this exact time, based on pure happenstance?”

“Summed up my life perfectly,” Six replied casually.

He exhaled at that, giving a chortle, which grew into a proper laugh for a few seconds. Dropped his guard.

“You know I-”

With lightning-fast reflexes, Six pulled out the Ranger Sequoia and loosed a shot aimed right for his head. The Courier was damned quick, but the donkey was just slightly quicker.

Immediately the orb on the end of his staff let loose a burst of magic, and a bubble-like shield surrounded him. The .45-70 left a massive crack on his shield, however the spider web of cracks immediately vanished as he pumped more magic into it, making it sturdier.

“-Partly expected that,” laughed the donkey, keeping his cool as Six had.

“Damn, almost had your ass too,” Six chuckled, still holding his big iron.

“You’re quite skilled in combat,” mused the donkey. “I wonder if that’s a shared human trait.”

“Mind telling me how you know humans?” Six chuckled up at him.

“I would love to, but you know I really, really wanted to know how you got here and, since you can’t answer… I’m afraid we’re at an impasse,” laughed the donkey, giving a cackling hee-haw mid-bellow. Sounded like nails on a chalkboard mixed with a dying dog.

“Your laugh sounds as shitty as you look,” Six said, giving a small chuckle.

“We’ve resorted to name-calling, is that it?” tsked the donkey. “Here I thought we were getting along.”

“Buddy, I tell you what,” Six said, holstering the big iron and raising both of his open palms. “I’ll cut you a deal.”

“I just love deals,” chuckled the undead creature as he leaned in.

“You take your pigs, and yourself, and you get the fuck out of Dodge,” the Courier offered.

“Ah and what do I get in return?” the villain shot back.

Six exhaled, giving a single “heh” in response.

He looked him dead in his non-existent eyes, giving him a glare from underneath his mask that any living creature could feel.

“You get to keep your life,” he said coldly.

The smirk on the donkey’s lack-of-face disappeared.

There was a tense silence between the two.

“You’ve got fight in you, unlike so many others I’ve seen…” mused the creature.

Six just glared back.

“I will give you the chance to walk out of here now,” the donkey offered. “These creatures they’re… self-destructive. The ponies offer friendship and kindness but speaking from experience, they just need a few choice words to be ripped apart.”

“Maybe I don’t particularly believe that,” Six replied.

The donkey chuckled.

“They were fractured before; they can be again,” shrugged the skeletal creature. “With the utmost ease. Why, even a bug could do it.”

Six didn’t detect any lies from him.

“Even if what you're saying is true, we both know I’m not walking away,” growled the human.

“I know you’re only against me because you care for some of the ponies… I’ll let you take up to ten of them,” offered the cocky creature. "How's that?"

“How about you tell me how you got here instead,” Six replied

“That’s not important,” the donkey shut him down.

“Okay then, what’s your name, asshole?” Six grunted

“That’s not important either,” the donkey said, losing his patience, “because soon enough, you’re going to be dead.”

“That’s a long ass name. How about I just call you Prick, huh?” Six shot back.

“Ahh I remember now why I hate your kind,” the donkey groaned, like an old schoolteacher. He even reached up a hand to rub the side of his skeletal head, as if he had a migraine forming.

“If it makes ya feel any better, feeling’s mutual,” Six replied. “You’re not the first power-hungry asshole I’ve seen, and you won’t be the last.”

“I bet you have a life almost as interesting as mine. I could’ve even had use for you,” the donkey huffed, a trace of genuineness in his voice. “It truly is a shame you’ll just have to die along with the rest of this gutless, bastardized country.”

“The only one dying at the end of all of this is you, pal,” the Courier promised.

“Kill him,” the donkey said with an almost bored tone, waving his staff.

Immediately, Six looked on as a miniature tornado of ash and dust billowed up a few feet in front of him. Had traces of green magic dancing in it. He stepped back and watched as over a dozen shapes formed within the gusts of wind and debris. They took form, and the human stepped back further as over a dozen of those same pig bastards from earlier seemed to form from the ashy gusts of wind.

“You’re gonna need a lot more than that,” Six boasted.

The donkey’s skull morphed into what looked like a smirk, before he jiggled his wand a bit. Immediately, Six saw another dozen or so more of the boarish bastards come around the corner of almost every building around him. Easily there was close to forty of the fuckers now.

“How’s that?” chuckled the donkey, before he disappeared, teleporting away with a green burst of energy.

The Courier just growled back at him.

Alright. Surrounded by about four dozen bipedal pig monsters? That was definitely grounds for the ‘oh shit, we have a problem!’ kind of tool he’d been packing under his jacket.

They surrounded him in a semi-circle, trying to block him in. Six smirked as he reached under his jacket. Time slowed as they charged.

Six pulled it out…

Tommy gun-like in its appearance. Had the wooden finish. Had the same basic shape. Even had the drum mag…

But even still it wasn’t a tommy gun...

The Laser RCW made itself known as the Courier grabbed the front half of the laser rifle by its foregrip and let loose a volley of light-based death at the charging, ashy beasts. The laser light show was wondrous as he fired upon them. No different than a gangster from the 30s taking down some fellow bootleggers, the Courier channeled his inner mobster and downed the first volley of mooks.

Fuckers dropped, falling back as the laser blasts scorched their bodies. A couple even disintegrated on the spot, but more came.

Good. Let ‘em.

Had the recycler in this baby anyways. Eighty fucking shots, no waiting.

By God, he almost had the desire to shout-

Alright, fuck it. Fuck having the desire. He just went for it!

“Nyah! See?” Courier Six laughed as he utterly unloaded the rapid capacity weapon at the skeletal monsters.

One blast lobbed the head off of one of them. Another dismembered a bastard’s arm. Another laser incinerated a boar-beast that leapt at him. And then the monsters just kept coming!

The horde continued to throw itself at him as he backed up. More were even coming from the damned woodwork. He was losing ground. Backed up onto the porch of a small shop now. Six was losing ammo almost as quickly as he lost space. However, the volley slowed the mob enough for him to plan his next action.

When the electron charge pack finally gave out, he made his move.

Six rushed over and jumped up, managing to launch himself three feet into the air, he kicked off of the guard rails on the end of the porch and flung himself higher. The Laser RCW was dangling around his waist thanks to a strap, letting him reach his hands out and grab the edge of the wooden building’s roof. He grunted thankfully as he hung there for a second.

After a moment, he forced himself to clamber up and onto the roof, leaving the horde to swarm below his feet as he forced himself up. He laid on his back for only a second or two to catch his breath from the insane stunt before he hopped up and looked down at the piggish army.

They were squealing and hissing as they began to try and climb up after him.

Six turned and could see the stage show in the distance. He was actually only a hundred or so feet away, plus maybe a couple dozen.

“Hooo-lyy shit…” he said instinctively.

There was a full-scale battle going on below.

He saw earth ponies bucking the pig-beasts. He saw pegasi dive bombing them. He saw unicorns throwing objects and letting loose magical blasts at them. It was an utter anarchy of numerous pastel colors against a gray mass. The pigs moved as one for the most part, though they broke off into chaotic brawls.

He was happy to see the ponies weren’t just laying down and taking it or running away. But holy fuck there were a lot of the pig monsters below. Outnumbered the ponies nearly two to one, give or take.

His musings were cut short when he heard a growl and hoofsteps approaching. Six turned on a dime and slammed his elbow into the approaching pig monster’s gut. The beast doubled over, dropping to its knees, giving the human the ability to quickly reach his left hand down and pull out Blood-Nap, while also slicing the monster’s neck with one fluid motion.

The mailman turned back towards where the crowd of the monsters had been attempting to clamber up and saw two more already on the roof. Six pulled out a throwing knife with his right hand and tossed it at the one on the left. The knife flew through the air and struck dead center, into one of its eye sockets. The creature went slacked and tumbled right back off the roof with a weak howl.

Six just reloaded the RCW as the next one charged him. It got within three feet of him before a volley of half a dozen lasers dropped it face-down onto the wooden roof, a pool of tar-like slime leaking from it. With no more immediate threats, he quickly walked over to the edge of the roof, letting the RCW go so it could dangle at his waist as he pulled out and cocked Lucky.

A monster peeked its head up before he shot it point blank, dropping it back on top of the other pig-beasts. Still, more of the bastards were climbing.

He turned and saw one had clambered up on the other side of the roof while he was covering this portion. He turned back and shot the creature in the chest twice, dropping it. After he did that, he felt a hand grab around his left leg. Before it could yank him, Six snapped to it and shot the creature’s wrist, blasting it apart and severing its hand as the pig monster roared in pain, only silenced by a round to the head.

Six stepped back as he reloaded Lucky. Alright, had to get off this fucking roof. Couldn’t run though. Could jump down, but they’d catch up, and then he’d probably have to take them on from an even worse vantage. He took a moment to breathe and think, but the pig bastards and their squeals and roars were making it hard to do either.

Soon he began firing over the edge at the mob below. Six downed another four or five of the bastards, but the group seemed endless. He even subbed Lucky in for the Garand, hoping the penetration would mean more instant kill shots, and thus less bullets he’d have to use. It was almost like fish in a barrel as he shot down at them, but even still, for every one he’d drop, another would take its place.

Ping!

He grabbed the spent clip, shoved it into a satchel, and replaced it with a fresh one, feeding the Garand once more. Fuck. Should’ve brought more ammo! Had some left still thankfully, but half the reserves were gone. Only so many electron charge packs too.

Six turned, shooting the battle rifle at another beast that had climbed up on the other end of the roof, uncapping its skull like he would a bottle of sarsaparilla. Even as the ashy smoke flowed and the being died, he was too focused on another behind him to do much to celebrate. It dropped back into the horde, its body trampled over as more clambered over to him.

“Do you assholes ever fuck off!?!” he shouted, relieving some anger as he blew the head off another one down below.

Shoot. Reload. Shoot.

Shoot. Shoot. Reload.

Reload. Shoot. Shoot.

A fucking maddening cycle.

However, as he popped another clip into the rifle, he suddenly saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned towards it. It was bright pink and airborne…

“Holy shit…” he said softly to himself.

“Six!” Cherry Berry shouted as she flew in, managing to keep herself in place, hovering over the horde as they looked up at her, letting loose a choir of growls. “Get in!”

The Courier nodded befo-

“Look out!” she shouted.

He turned and slammed the wooden stock of his Garand into the jaw of an approaching pig, sending it tumbling back. Two more were already on the roof, and five more were just itching to join their brothers as he saw their heads peaking up over the edge. He shot one of the ones already on top and then bolted towards the direction of Cherry’s chopper.

Didn’t have time to get much of a run up, he just fucking dove for it, sending himself flying at the helicopter. Everything seemed to slow as he flew, his hands outstretched towards the flying vehicle.

The battle rifle and the RCW clattered against him.

The monsters roared up, reaching for him as if they could grab him despite a dozens feet below.

The aviator pony felt her heart thump in her chest.

The helicopter drew closer as he continued soaring through the air…

…

Finally, Six's fingers locked around something solid.

His gloved hands grabbed onto the landing gear, shaking the small craft a bit as he dangled from it, his entire weight making it a bit lopsided. Cherry pedaled as hard as she could as another monster dove at the Courier, following his lead by jumping. Six let loose a grunt of shock as he felt it latch onto his right leg. Only a moment later, it dug a claw into his thigh.

He hissed in pain, as he felt it rake a deep gash into his leg but was able to bring his other foot up and slam it into the skeletal face of the beast. Its grip loosened but didn’t give way from the first kick. The Courier repeated the process, slamming the heel of his boot into the fucker’s head.

This time the kick sent it flying back with a roar. It tumbled to the ground and slammed hard into the earth below, landing with a sickening snap and going limp from there. Without the unwanted passenger, he managed to climb his way upwards and into Cherry’s helicopter.

“Are you alright?” she shouted.

“Get me up higher and start circling!” Six said, as he grabbed his Garand and shouldered it.

“What!?! Are you crazy!?!” she asked. “You just had that thing take a chunk out of your leg we need to get to the-”

“What I need to get some shots off on that donkey prick! If I can get him, I might be able to stop them all!” Six replied with a growl.

She shrunk back at that, looking terrified both from the whole ordeal and his shouts.

“Cherry, please!” he managed. “I have to save my friends!”

After a moment of silence, the pink mare finally nodded back at him. Her face became steeled with determination. As she began to pedal quicker, she reached up a hoof and pulled down her goggles, adjusting them over her eyes.

The battle-ready Cherry and Six hovered over towards the stage as Six began taking pot shots at the monsters below. He saved a stallion from being tackled by one of them, letting the pony help out his marefriend, and together the two bashed the head of another one of the pig monsters in. Another round blew out the brains of one of the beasts, who was about to tackle an old, familiar looking mailpegasus. And then a third saved another old stallion who had been so snooty to Six back at the hotel.

As he gunned down more and more monsters, the human kept his eyes keen, trying to see if he could spot that donkey bastard. Cherry continued circling, and after Six took out another clip’s worth of pigs, he finally saw him.

A dozen feet off to the side and out of the way of the chaos, he saw that fucker. He stood, his large glowing orb on the end of his staff giving him away.

Six took aim at him, taking a deep breath and steeled himself...

Pulled the trigger...

Bang!

...

Fuck! Missed by an inch!

Below, the donkey jerked back in shock, stumbling about as he tried to piece together where the shot had come from. His head lurched this way and that before finally he spotted a bright pink helicopter, which he glared hatefully at. Six glared right back at him.

“Yeah I know you see me, asshole,” Six growled.

“Who sees us?” shouted Cherry with concern, though she never got an answer.

The donkey just summoned a small, billowing gust of gray, ashy wind at his side, creating a brand-new pig monster right beside him. Moments later, he then pointed his staff at the pig and enveloped him in a green magic. Instantly after that, the donkey flung him right at Cherry’s chopper. The pig squealed as he flew through the air, his skeletal limbs twisting this way and that as he barreled through the sky.

“Oh shit, dive!” Six shouted.

“This is a helicopter, not a-” she was interrupted by the pig monster slamming into her tail rotor.

The pedals gave her resistance at first, but suddenly, there was the sound of flesh being shredded by steel, and a massive cloud of ashy smoke billowed up from the copter’s tail blade.

Cherry’s eyes widened in shock, before she looked around, seeing if anything else was approaching. Suddenly, another pig slammed into the glass windshield of her copter, cracking it as its own skull splattered against the reinforced, see-through material. She screamed in shock as the monster slid down, falling to the ground.

The creature’s death didn’t matter though, as it had obscured her vision.

“Oh shit!” she heard Six shout over the sound of approaching squeals before-

RIIIP!

SCREECH!

The main rotor blades got it that time, and the pedals resisted her attempts to turn them as the piggish beast’s guts locked up the helicopter’s delicate mechanisms. Even as it disintegrated into ash, the damage was done.

“Aw fuck!” shouted Cherry, not even bothering to censor herself with a ‘buck’ on this one.

“Get us low, it’s time to go!” Six shouted, slinging his rifle over his shoulder as he leaned over.

“How? My pedals are screwed!” she replied.

“You can still steer, right?” he shouted.

“Yeah?” was her response.

“Steer us away so we don’t crash into the crowd!” he commanded back.

“Crash!?!” Cherry shrieked.

“I’ll keep you safe, I promise!” he growled. “Just do it!”

She steeled herself as best she could, praying to Faust that she’d be saved, before she nodded.

The aviator did her best to steer herself away from the crowd as Six acted as her eyes, with him precariously hanging halfway out the helicopter as they descended rapidly through the air.

“To the left!” he shouted.

She banked hard to the left, avoiding crashing into the stage. Now the two were heading towards the treeline of the denser portion of the cherry orchard.

“Keep her steady!” he sounded out, wind making his duster billow about.

“Alright!” she replied.

About thirty seconds later, he shouted again.

“Okay, fuck the controls, just let her descend!” the human growled.

“We’re coming in too hot! She’s gonna get smashed apart!” Cherry cried.

“Yeah but we won’t be in her!” Six said, before he suddenly reached over.

“What do you me-aaaahhh!” Cherry managed before he yanked her from her seat, undoing the straps and grabbing her hard with both hands.

“Hang on!” he shouted, before jumping out, back first as she was clutched against his chest.

Cherry only screamed in response.

Six however, aimed himself properly.

A wide variety of twigs began to surround the two, though only he noticed as Cherry clutched her eyes shut. They snapped against his robotic spine as he descended. A wide abundance of pink-colored leaves pelted into him as he hit several particularly thick branches. Even though they slowed his falls, he grunted in pain at each strike.

The human held himself almost like a ball around the mare as they fell, making sure to absorb the majority of the impacts with his body. He only uncurled around her when he slammed back first into the dirt, knocking the wind out of himself as he groaned. Cherry landing right on top of him didn’t help matters either.

She grunted herself at the sudden impact of the ground but was able to quickly open her eyes and realize she’d survived.

“O-oh my Celestia… we’re alive!” she shouted with glee. As she looked around, she noticed the two had landed deeper in Cherry Jubilee's ranch, meaning they were out of the way of the battle proper.

“Shut up!” he grunted with a whisper. “If there’s any more of those bastards lurking around, I don’t want them to hear us.”

“S-Sorry,” she squeaked as she stood up, getting off of him.

“Holy fuck,” he groaned as he sat up, taking deep, ragged breaths.

“Are you okay?” Cherry whispered.

“Barely…” he managed, before reaching into a satchel and pulling out a Stimpak.

He just injected half of it into the gash on his leg, before then injecting the rest into his neck area. Six gave a deep sigh of relief as the cooling, numbing, healing liquid flowed through his veins.

“Fucking shit…” he said quietly once more, simultaneously in pain and relaxed.

“What do we do now?” asked the pink mare.

“My friends are still back there at the concert,” he huffed. “Think I saw ‘em while we were overhead.”

“You’re going back into that mess?” she hissed.

“Like I said, gotta save ‘em,” shrugged the human as he finally stood up, his wounds only partly healed over.

“What about me?” she asked.

“I’d say lay low and sneak off into a barn or something. Maybe nothing will find you,” he offered.

“I’m not leaving you!” she hissed once more. “Not after you saved me!”

“What about the monsters?” he pointed out.

“I-I can buck ‘em!” the mare said. “Us earth ponies are stronger than pegasi and unicorns. Maybe I can help you beat ‘em up!”

Six remained silent at that.

“Cherry…” he said softly, pausing as she looked up at him.

He took a sigh as he gazed into her glamorous, beautiful eyes. They were luminous, looking majestic even through the night vision.

“...Remind me to buy you a year’s worth of hayburgers after this whole thing is over,” he offered, sounding genuine.

She chuckled at that, before readying herself.

“Come on Six, we’ve got a town to save,” she said, sounding determined as she looked back towards the concert.

“Fuckin’ A,” the human growled back, slamming another fresh clip into the Garand.

Lyra slammed a chair into the back of one of the monsters, dropping it down onto its knees, before Bon Bon followed up this attack by giving the creature a double-hoofed buck with her back legs. The pony’s powerful back legs snapped the piggish creature’s neck with a satisfying snap before it fell over, soon dissipating into ash.

However, there were still plenty more of the creatures around, as Bon Bon scanned the battlefield, she could see more and more of them coming from the treeline and behind the buildings nearby. As she did this, Lyra blasted another charging creature, blowing a hole right through its chest and dropping it dead instantly.

“They just keep coming!” shouted Bon Bon. “We’ve gotta do something to stop them!”

“Like what?” Lyra asked, her speech a bit slurred as she blasted another monster, dropping it down before a small group of earth ponies got to stomping on the fallen creature.

Bon Bon bucked the knees of another creature, snapping them backwards and dropping the wounded beast down to the ground. It hissed up at her, before the earth mare picked up a nearby chair with her forehooves and slammed it down onto the creature’s head once. Twice! The third time killed it, with the creature's skull caving in and the chair exploding into woodchips!

The brawl just continued from there. Some ponies were drug away from the battlegrounds, but even then, the others held their ground, though they were losing numbers as their brothers and sisters were restrained by the piggish creatures.

“We need to get somewhere more easily defensible and come up with a plan! Standing here fighting isn’t working!” Bon Bon shouted.

“You think if we stop the guy on the roof, it’ll drop the rest?” Lyra offered as she stepped back. “Like when Starlight beat Chrysalis.”

“Maybe,” Bon Bon pondered.

Suddenly though, the two mares had to flatten their ears against their heads as a small explosion rang out.

They scanned their heads around, looking to the direction of the source and then they saw him…

Six put a .45 round in the head of a charging beast while Cherry bucked another away with her hind hooves. He held the 1911 in his left hand while holding the Garand with his right. He one-hand fired off the rifle, downing another charging beast instantly. No-sold the resulting recoil without much effort.

The weapons of World War 2 carried him further as he fought his way through the next few monsters that charged him and the pink mare who was escorting him. He pistol-whipped one with the .45 pistol, dropping it to the ground for Cherry to rear up and slam both of her forehooves into, shattering its skull.

“Oh my Celestia, gross!” she groaned as she stepped back, tar-like black slime clinging to her front hooves.

“Get used to it!” Six replied, bashing the butt of his rifle into another monster’s cheek, sending it stumbling back before he unloaded three rounds in its upper chest.

“Six behind you!” she suddenly called out.

The Courier felt several claws rake into his back as two of the monsters full force tackled him. However, like a great stone wall, he shoved back against them, holding his ground against both of the beasts. They squealed in shock as he flexed his muscles and used his unbreaking spine to reverse the roles, putting all his weight into shoving them away.

Six let out a grunt of effort as he finally forced them off of him, sending them stumbling back. He then brought up the 1911, holding it backwards over his shoulder, pointed right at the beasts. He let loose one round, right into the head of the monster on his left, before he turned to the right a bit. Didn’t even have to look backwards as he fired the second round, dropping the other pig creature with the power of the .45.

Six reloaded, leaving one extra round in the chamber as he did.

Cherry Berry looked on with shock.

“Could’ve done more than just stand there, you know!” he grunted at her.

“Sorry!” Cherry squeaked, as Lyra and Bon Bon rushed over, kicking aside a few monsters in their way.

“Six!” Lyra shouted.

“Lyra hold this!” Six shouted, offering her his 1911.

She confusedly grabbed it with her golden magic, letting him use his now free left hand to properly shoulder the Garand. He loosed another shot into a nearby monster, dropping it before it could take down a nearby pegasus mare. A ping rang out and the Courier caught the clip mid-air yet again, before replacing it with a fresh one. With that, he slung the rifle back over his shoulder and grabbed his .45 pistol from Lyra’s magical grasp.

“We’ve gotta get somewhere more defensible!” he shouted. “Somewhere with a better vantage so I can try to spot that donkey fuck.”

“Exactly what I was thinking!” Bon Bon agreed.

“Donkey fuck?” questioned Lyra.

“I’ll explain later,” Six grunted, checking the rounds left in his other 1911.

“Where could we go?” Cherry asked.

The group looked at her, and then turned, eyeing up the stage.

The four watched as Cherry Jubilee bucked a pig-beast off, slamming both of her hind hooves into its chest, snapping its ribs and sending it flying half a dozen feet back and onto the ground with a dull thud, landing just a meter or so from the group.

“That might work,” Six said.

“Everypony get to the stage!” Bon Bon shouted, before the trio of equines rushed ahead.

Six followed up their rear, occasionally taking less risky shots to put down any monsters in the way. There were so many of them though, and he had to hold himself back from unloading so he didn’t hit any innocent ponies in the crossfire.

Nevertheless, after bashing past a couple of the piggish monsters, the group clambered up onto the stage, with Six leaping up onto it and rolling for a few feet as he forced himself into a crouch, his rifle and Laser RCW clattering about as he did.

“Who in the hay are ya’ll?” asked Cherry Jubilee.

“Ma’am we’re here to hel-” Bon Bon was cut off by a familiar, accented voice.

“Lyra, Bon Bon?” shouted Doctor Whooves as he rushed over. “What in Equestria is going on here?”

“Your guess is as good as ours, Doc!” Lyra replied. “All we know is some guy wants our magic and wants it bad.”

“I heard that over the speakers, but who is it specifically?” the Doctor asked.

“An evil donkey is using his army of pig demons to try and take over the town!” Six replied, shooting a nearby monster as it tried to climb up onto the stage.

“Oh goodness, it must be Tuesday,” the Doc pondered.

No one was able to question it as more and more of the pig monsters began to encircle the stage, trying to climb up.

“Doc you’re a scientist, right? That means you have both science and magic on your side, surely you can make something to help us!” Six shouted over the squeals and the roars.

“I have an idea but…” he brought up a forehoof, running it over his chin as he watched Six operate his firearms. The Doc narrowed his eyes in thought as he concluded, “...it will be rather risky.”

“I’m willing to take the risk!” Six said, shooting another few rounds out across the stage, trying to help any ponies in need he could see.

“Well, you do have opposable digits. And those weapons of yours were quite effective… Alright just give me a few minutes!” the Doctor concluded, before he rushed behind the curtains. He barreled past Vinyl, Octavia, Rara and Sapphire Shores, who were backstage during all this commotion.

The pale unicorn DJ looked extremely pissed, letting loose a loud horse-like snort at Octavia.

“Vinyl, we can’t just go out there and throw ourselves into the fray!” shouted the earth mare. “You could get hurt.”

Vinyl Scratch just glared back. Even through her glasses, Octavia knew she wasn’t backing down. After a moment of scowling back to her fellow music artist, the gray mare eventually caved with a loud sigh.

“You’re so pig-headed… no wonder I’m engaged to you,” she said, her tone one of admiration for the unicorn. “Let me get my cello, dear!”

Vinyl just smirked proudly at that.

Sapphire Shores and Coloratura looked at each other for a moment. Both had an unsure yet determined gaze. Neither were fighters at all, but if even their fellow music artists were willing to stand up and deal with these invading beasts, then they should as well!

Back out front, Six blew the skullcap off another climbing beast with a .45 round, sending it crashing to the floor below.

“Goddamn they just don’t give up!” Six growled.

“Don’t worry hun, we’ll whoop ‘em real good!” Cherry Jubilee shouted, bucking another off the stage.

“That donkey asshole keeps summoning more of them,” Six shouted, scanning around the Dodge rooftops as he tried keeping his eyes peeled for any hints of green.

“Use one of those gun things to take him down!” Lyra shouted, blasting another pig-beast away, before she picked up a nearby speaker with her magic and tossed it out into the crowd, smashing apart the skull of a different one of the monsters.

“If only it were that easy!” Six growled, slamming a fresh mag into his 1911.

“Cherry Berry look out!” called Bon Bon. Six turned and saw two monsters charging at the pink earth pony in question.

However, before Six even raised his pistol, a wooden bow flew in and penetrated the creature’s chest, making one stumble back with a growl.

The second was knocked away by Cherry Jubilee, who reared up and straight up punched the creature with a powerful right forehoof, sending it flying backwards and rolling off stage. The aged mare looked over to the younger pink one and smirked.

“Yer name’s Cherry too?” she chuckled.

Cherry Berry could only nod frantically.

Back to the first beast, a second bow flew in and slammed right into its skull, dropping it flat onto its back. Six looked over to see where the wooden stakes had come from and found a gray earth mare he was unfamiliar with holding a cello in her forehooves. A massive box of spare bows sat beside her.

“Octavia!?!” Lyra shouted in confusion, recognizing her friend.

“In the flesh!” the elegant mare responded, before she grabbed another wooden bow and hoisted it up.

The Courier and a few others just watched in shock as Octavia pulled back her cello’s string and loosed another bow at a third oncoming monster, hitting it dead in the center of its head.

She treated her cello as if it were a bow bow, if you will.

“I… how-” Lyra was cut off.

“I took archery in school, dear!” laughed Octavia, before another mare came rushing forwards.

Vinyl Scratch wasn’t exactly a master of magic, but she was still able to send small energy blasts out into a crowd of oncoming pig monsters, knocking some of them over, and sending the sturdier boars stumbling back.

“Alright, that takes the weight off us a bit!” Six shouted to Lyra, before he then shocked her by throwing a .45 pistol at the minty mare.

She magically grabbed it and listened intently as he spoke.

“Lyra I need you to help hold off more of those pig fucks, you have seven rounds in the mag, DO NOT fire into the crowd, just shoot any that come on stage,” he explained like a drill sergeant, before tossing her a second magazine, which she grabbed in her golden magic as well. “Once you’re out, hit the release on the side, pop in the second mag.”

“Six are you su-”

“Not even remotely,” he answered. “But I need to get to a better vantage, and you have the closest thing to having proper hands here.”

She nodded, remembering the times she'd attempted to constitute human hands with her magic years ago.

“I’ll be right back!” Six shouted, before rushing over to the side of the stage.

A pig monster climbed up yet again only to get a boot to the skull, sending it tumbling back as Six began climbing up the metal support beam of the overhead lights. Given its sturdy nature and the numerous crisscrossing beams in it, it was able to give the Courier a makeshift ladder.

He climbed up towards the overhang above the stage, reaching the point where the stage lights were before he turned to see if he could spot anything from his new high-up vantage point. Six scanned over the rooftops keenly, being a few feet above them, though that didn't help that much given he was at a distance of a few dozen yards.

From this vantage he could see a good chunk of Dodge and the raging battle below. Had to force that to the side of his mind though, for now, he kept an eye out for any green.

Green.

Green. Green. Green.

Green…

Got ya.

Six saw the donkey off in the distance, a few rooftops away from his prior spot. He still held his magical staff, which gave him away in the darkness, especially thanks to the riot helmet’s night vision. The human shouldered his Garand and aimed down the sights since he had no scope to help out.

Took a deep breath…

Leveled it…

Bang!

The bullet flew from the end of the muzzle and out towards the bipedal donkey as he observed the fight. Given he was preoccupied this time, Six’s round caught the fucker in the right shoulder. He stumbled back, clearly hissing in pain as he clutched at his smoke-spewing arm.

The pair of green fireballs looked around for a few seconds, before steadying towards the direction the bullet had flown in from. Six shot again. He was wise this time though, threw up a shield. Six just let the other six rounds in the clip fly in response.

Ping!

The clip spiraled to the ground as the six bullets left a series of cracks on the green dome. The human knew the donkey was glaring back at him now. Felt the hate oozing off of him.

Familiar sensation, that one was!

The donkey pointed his staff towards the human and growled something out loud. Likely a command for the remaining piggish beasts to focus more on the human.

Good. He just reached to grab a second clip in response, going to shove it into the battle rifle.

Six’s musings and attempts to reload the Garand were cut off by a series of screams below. He looked down and saw two unfamiliar mares surrounded by five of the pig monsters.

One of them was glamorous looking, cream colored with a blue mane and snazzy outfit. The second was gray, black maned, and far more down to earth looking. And currently they were being restrained by the beast.

Suddenly, Six realized his thumb was still inside the mag-well of the Garand, and when the metal snapped forward, he grunted in pain, tugging back his digit as he did and shaking his hand for a second.

Fucking Garand Thumb!

Six growled in annoyance, ignoring the bane of every G.I. as he flung his freshly loaded rifle over his shoulder and replaced it with the RCW. He one-handed the laser blaster with his left hand as he reached up with his right one, grabbing some of the lighting’s wiring.

“Oh this is fucking stupid!” he growled to himself before tugging on the high voltage wires, finding them reasonably sturdy.

Fuck it.

He jumped from the steel support girder and held on with all his might as he flew downwards towards the stage. His weight ripped a large portion of the wiring loose, letting him turn his fall into an arcing swing. Like Tarzan, Courier Six came flying in, his boots outstretched in front of him before he collided heel first with one of the monster’s heads!

Snap!

It tumbled backwards against the others with a newly broken neck!

The two popstars only watched in awe as he continued his swing, having not lost enough momentum from the kick to slow down.

“Duck!” he shouted down towards the two.

They complied, and with the piggish creatures reeling back in surprise, he swung back around and then did something wild.

Like a pulp hero, he one-handed the RCW, unloading two dozen shots into the last four standing beasts. It was a quick… swing-by! But it did the trick, with the four creatures dropping back with new burn wounds in their heads and chests. With one final change of direction, Six let go of the wires and dropped down, boots first onto the monster he’d kicked down earlier, crushing its chest from his weight.

“Coloratura and Sapphire Shores, I presume!” he shouted, stepping off of the ashy beast’s corpse.

Their jaws dropped.

“Yeah just stick to music next time!” Six growled, before walking back over to the backstage curtains. He peeled them back and peered in, seeing the Doctor hunched over a strange looking device.

“Doc, I need your help out here!” Six growled, replacing the RCW with the Garand. “I’m running low on clips!”

“Just a few minutes!” Doc replied.

Six just growled, turning back towards the front of the stage before he rejoined the fray.

Lyra unloaded a burst of three rounds point blank into the skull of one of the pig beasts as it climbed up, with the 1911’s slide locking open.

“Damn!” the mare hissed before she turned to see Six.

She offered the gun back to him, and he quickly reloaded it, holstering the firearm back under his duster, away from the magical grasp of the half-drunken mare.

“Not bad,” he said, as Lyra blasted away another charging monster, this time with magic and not bullets.

“I was getting a bit tired there from using all my magic,” Lyra huffed. “Thanks.”

“I know where that old donkey fuck is,” Six called out, pointing towards the direction he saw the bastard in.

“That’s back towards our hotel!” Lyra shouted over the roars as the brawl continued.

“Yeah, and I intend on going right there, but I need to clear a path first!” he shouted.

“Let the Doc finish up that weird invention he’s working on!” Lyra shot back “That might help!”

“I hope! I’m running dry here!” Six replied, pulling out and unloading a scoped .44 revolver. The beastly weapon wasn’t quite the biggest of irons, but it shredded a nearby monster’s skull without issue.

Nearby, Octavia loosed another trio of bows at the monsters in quick succession, dropping one or two of them, along with Vinyl Scratch’s magic.

Bon Bon, Cherry Jubilee, and Cherry Berry used their combined earth pony strength to bash back any other monsters trying to board the stage. Coloratura and Sapphire Shores hung back, but tried bucking away monsters when possible alongside their fellow earth ponies.

It was utter anarchy in the crowd as well.

While many ponies had been restrained, many others continued fighting, with the brawl spilling out into Cherry Hill Ranch by this point. And yet more and more of the piggish monsters continued coming.

High on a rooftop back in town, the donkey clutched at his gaping wound. As he summoned more pig-beasts to fight, he clutched not only it, but the area around his heart as well.

“Bastard,” he hissed, glaring down towards where the Courier was.

The bastard in question popped another .44 round through the neck of one of the pig creatures, kicking its corpse aside as he then flicked open the revolver’s cylinder and shoved in a speedloader’s worth of rounds. Flicked it closed and got right back to killing! Six soon backed up, peeking into the backstage once more.

“Doc, I’m running out of speedloaders now!” he shouted. "Hurry the fuck up please!"

“One more minute!” Doctor Whooves shouted. “Ah blast it! Why did I have to forget my screwdriver at home!”

The human shook his head and continued back out into the battle.

The Doctor for his part used his forehooves to cross wires and work on the strange device. It was big, easily as long as his brown-coated body was. Had a gigantic speaker strapped to the front of it, likely one of Vinyl’s. He had a pair of safety goggles on as he worked, using nothing but a cheap soldering iron and his wits to construct the damned thing.

Back out front, Six had ran out of .44 rounds, and had resorted back to Lucky now. Only one or two .45 mags left too, so the 1911s were sadly out. The Ranger Sequoia only had one cylinder's worth of bullets in it, so that was soon emptied too! Even the RCW, with its ammo recycler, was getting spent too quickly for his liking!

Only one round in the Garand by this point… had to make it count.

He looked around, seeing if he could find any use for his final .308 bullet.

Nearby Lyra blew apart some more of the creatures with her magical attacks. One of the monsters she missed climbed partly up onto the stage and swiped at the Courier. It then found its footing and rushed him down, focusing on the human as its master commanded. Six responded by leveling his rifle and shooting it right in the lower chest, all one-handed too, as he gripped Lucky in his other one.

The resulting point blank shot ripped a gigantic hole through the creature’s lower lung and out the back of its spine. But given the bullet was still traveling, another creature that was clambering up behind the first one suddenly jerked its head back as the bullet penetrated right through its skull. The round kept going downwards, finally finishing its journey by slamming into the neck of a third pig-beast.

The first one looked down at the hole in its chest, giving a hiss before it fell over dead as a doornail. The other two doing much of the same.

Lyra looked at Six, who wiped away some viscous black tar that had splattered onto his lenses.

“Told you the penetration matters!" he boasted.

The Garand had pinged its final ping with that one, and he had to set the rifle down on the stage and resort to fan-firing Lucky exclusively now, with the nearly tapped out RCW dangling around his waist. As the .357 shredded another monster, the pigs were gaining ground, with more and more of them climbing up the stage front as the ponies (and human) got more and more drained of energy, ammo, and magic.

“You know Cherry,” shouted Bon Bon as she reared up and decked a pig across the face, with sweat dripping down her brow, “I’m sorry we never got to hang out more!”

“Yeah, I know you used to really love my jokes!” shouted the pink mare as she bucked another beast off the stage.

“Especially the one about the donkey! I hope you found a good comedy club to work at!” Bon Bon chuckled.

Cherry sighed, her face dropping a bit as sweat poured off it.

“I wish,” she rolled her eyes before punching another one of the pigs.

Octavia had run low on bows by this point and had resorted to taking her cello and bashing it across the heads of any climbing pigs. It was shockingly sturdy, only denting a bit after having knocked away a dozen of the monsters. Suddenly a pig rushed up behind her, but before it could tackle the earth mare, a blue blast of magic sent it squealing backwards and falling back into the crowd below. Octavia turned and saw an exhausted Vinyl, who just gave a loving smile back at her.

Down the stage, Six reloaded Lucky, having to slowly shove in one round at a time due to the nature of the older revolver. His pace had slowed a bit, with him having to resort to punches, kicks, and knife slashes by this point. One of the beasts rushed down the Courier before he was finished reloading the ancient revolver.

Six reached down, ready to grab Blood-Nap, only for the monster to have its neck caught by a wire fashioned into a lasso. Six looked on in surprise and saw that Cherry Jubilee had been the one to throw out said lasso, with it being gripped tightly in her teeth. The powerful earth mare then yanked the beast onto its back and tugged it towards her. While it was down, she walked over and bucked it harshly, snapping the monster’s neck.

“Holy shit, nice save,” Six said, looking down at the middle-aged mare.

She looked exhausted but had a fire in her that wouldn’t give out.

“The original Calamity Mane, at yer service,” she snickered. “I’d give ya a hoofshake, but now’s not really the time fer a proper Dodge welcome!”

Six nodded and went back into the fray after seeing more beasts climbing up nearby.

“Get the fuck off my stage!” the human growled, booting another pig-beast back down.

Despite his insults and verbally claimed ownership of the stage, they just kept coming and coming.

Before long though, a new voice shouted out.

“Mister Six!” the Doc cried, rushing out from backstage.

A strange, gigantic device was slung over his back. As Six examined it, he was reminded almost of a rocket launcher, albeit, with a gigantic speaker on the front end instead of any type of propelled explosive. It even had a trigger and everything! The Doc reared up and threw it at Six, who holstered Lucky and grabbed the gigantic device mid-air and shouldered it. A long, thick wire came out of the back of it and ran across the stage, meaning it was electrically powered.

“Now be extra careful with that!” warned the Doc. “Don’t point it at something unless you want it absolutely destroyed!”

Six nodded back and then aimed down towards a section of the concert that didn’t contain any ponies. He pulled the trigger. It let loose a singular wub. Nothing more.

“Hold it down!” Doc shouted, bucking back a monster nearby.

Six growled in annoyance but did as instructed.

Wubwubwubwubwubwubwub...

He felt the object shake and rattle in his hands. He looked at it with concern, backing up as more and more pig monsters came up towards him.

Wubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwubwub!

More and more of them were getting onto the stage now as he backed up even further.

WUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUB!!!

Oh shi-

WUB!

Courier Six was knocked off his feet and fell to the ground, sitting up and watcheing on wide-eyed as the front speaker of the cannon-like weapon fired out a blast of sheer, compressed sound. Reminded him a lot of the Lakelurks back in Mead, but this… This made those fuckers look like a mouse’s squeak.

The compressed soundwave fired out, slamming right into one of the pig-monsters and utterly shredding him to pieces, before it continued to travel forwards. It utterly ripped a straight path through the entire crowd of beasts, dropping and shredding anything in its way. It flew out so far it even reached one of the buildings back in Dodge proper, with it shattering the windows of it and letting out one final, loud WUB as it died down.

Six grunted, forcing himself back up and making a mental note to brace himself better next time.

“Holy fuck, Doc!” Six shouted.

“I do what I can with what I’ve got!” laughed the stallion, helping Octavia buck a monster off stage. “Do be careful though, I doubt it will remain together for much longer!”

“Oh that’s reassuring!” Six shouted as he fired off another WUB! from the heavy weapon, shredding a second path in the group of pigs.

He didn’t fall down this time, but still skidded back a few inches from the sheer force of unleashing the blast. As the Courier fiddled with the gigantic weapon, turning knobs and dials to tune it properly, he heard the faint strum of a guitar blasting out the front of it, which got louder as he flicked a particular dial. He soon could even make out lyrics…

The human cocked an eye as the tune seemed partly familiar…

“Is that fucking Black Betty?”

“You guys have that back where you're from too?” Lyra asked from nearby.

“It’s one of Vinyl’s favorite non-dubstep songs!” Octavia rolled her eyes as she smashed another pig’s head in with her damaged cello.

“You know what, I’ll question it later,” Six shouted over the guitar strums and the Bam-Ba-Lams and the wubs.

Vinyl Scratch just headbanged a bit as she magically blasted apart the head of a nearby pig-beast.

The Courier just pointed the Wubcannon at the large pockets of beasts who weren’t near any ponies, blowing them apart with high-powered soundwaves. Doctor Whooves' new invention absolutely turned the tide, as more and more of the pig-beasts were dropping now, to the point it looked as if there were starting to be more ponies than monsters!

Six saw a flash of green out of the corner of his eye and stared up to a nearby rooftop. That robed fucker again. Likely here to oversee the battle and figure out what that big ass explosion was. Still clutched his bleeding shoulder too.

He could faintly hear the deranged maniac’s shouts, despite him being dozens of feet away and well above the human. The donkey was pissed, no doubt.

Good, fuck ‘em.

“Forget the foals, focus on killing the HUMAN you IDIOTS!!!” growled the monster.

Six smirked and aimed the Wubcannon upwards right at him.

WubwubwubwuwbwubwubwubwUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUWBWUB!

The donkey overlooked the scene, only finally glaring at the Courier to see him charging up. Six knew he didn’t have eyes, but he could’ve sworn the robed bastard’s sockets widened in shock.

WUB!!!

There was a faint flash of green as the soundwave was let loose.

KABOOM!!!

The entire upper portion of the building exploded on contact, kicking up a cloud of wood chunks and debris, which rained down with small thuds and thunks.

Six felt a jolt of electricity in his hand, and the speaker on the front died down with a hiss of static.

“I do believe that’s all she wrote!” the Doc shouted. "Thank Celestia it didn't explode."

“I’m not done yet!” Six shouted. “That fuck wants me dead, not you guys, and after that move I bet he’s willing to toss a good chunk of army at me!”

“What in Tartarus does that mean?” shouted Lyra.

“Means I’m going for it!” Six shouted.

“Wha-”

Before anypony could stop him, Courier Six grabbed his RCW and loosed it into the few pigs who hadn’t been knocked aside by the last WUB, killing them and further clearing a path for the human. He then dove right off stage and began fucking bolting. The ponies back up front watched in shock as easily two or three dozen pig monsters quickly began to follow the human as he hauled ass.

“Come on assholes!” Six shouted, drawing as much attention to himself as he could.

He definitely got it, as a horde charged him.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Six shouted to himself, lasering down a monster that tried to cut him off.

He just continued moving, his RCW held in one hand as he fled.

Only a bit more juice left in it; have to make it back to the hotel!

Six continued, exiting the open fields of the cherry ranch and bolting into Dodge proper, ducking through alleyways and trying to use any shortcuts he remembered from the mail route. It was a blur of sound and colors and laser blasts as he moved. At one point he decked an approaching pig beast, dropping it to the ground as he got within sight of the hotel.

“Ah shit yeah,” he growled in ‘victory’ as he bolted for it.

Jumped up and dive-smashed right through the front window. Didn’t give a fuck about the glass as he rolled to his feet. He ran up the stairs, and thanked God that Lyra had given him the keys as he unlocked their room. As he slammed the door shut and relocked it from the inside, he heard the monsters approaching up the stairs and fast.

Took a few deep breaths, but he had only a moment to rest before they began banging at the wooden frame. It wouldn’t hold for long, given how many of the fucks there were. That was alright, though. Six grabbed the pink pack and checked it, finding the grenades inside.

He would’ve grabbed the lunchbox out of it but didn’t have the time as they already smashed out a chunk of the door, with the rest about to give way. With survival on his mind, he pulled all three pins of the grenades, and then threw them and the entire canister of flamer fuel at the door as the monsters finally smashed completely though it.

Six just rushed for a window and dove out it, letting more glass cover him.

The second KABOOM!!! of the night rang out as Six felt the heat against his back.

He grunted in pain as the fiery shockwave of three combined grenades and a tank of flamer launched him forwards, sending him tumbling down. The RCW was blown away in the blast, clattering down the street somewhere. He smashed chest-first into the middle of the street and grunted once more, the wind knocked out of him again as he bounced a few feet into the air and then slammed back down once more onto his stomach.

The human barely managed to roll onto his back and looked up at the burning wreckage of the motel. A good chunk of the second floor had been blown apart, sending hunks of flaming wood and flying about. He took three or four deep breaths as he grunted. The burning body of a pig monster flew down and slammed harshly into the ground beside him, with it laying limply there.

Suddenly though, he saw a faint flash of green, and the donkey stood on a rooftop nearby, looking down at Six. No doubt the fucker teleported here after hearing the blast. Sadly, the Courier’s immense energy was sapping by this point, so he could only stare upwards at the sky as he tried to recompose himself. Numerous other monsters nearby had been knocked over by the shockwave too, so at least he wasn’t swarmed immediately…

Wait…

As he stared upwards, from in the air a familiar object tumbled downwards and then impacted the ground a few feet to his right.

Holy shit…

They really did build these lunchboxes to last!

The front portion of it had snapped off, the hinges having given out, and there were numerous dings and dents in it, but it still remained mostly intact. The Buffout’s plastic bottle was melted, and the Steady's vial had shattered, but that didn’t matter… The Psycho and the Med-X remained intact!

Six began crawling towards it, desperate in his struggling, exhausted state.

“Get up!” he heard the donkey roar to his minions from the nearby roof. “GET UP!”

Six reached the lunch box, grabbing both the Psycho and the Med-X in his gloved hands. He turned onto his back once more, facing down the street as he could see the monsters slowly but surely rising to their feet, following their master's command.

The mailman smirked, the world slowed, and he slammed both needles into his thighs within a split second. The drugs acted fast, both forming a perfect cocktail of power and soothing pain relief in his veins.

GRX kept things slow. He needed just a bit longer to count how many there were…

Three dozen of the bastards had chased him, not counting the ones he blew apart inside…

Not nearly enough of 'em to take him down.

Six reached out and grabbed the Vault-Tec lunchbox with his left hand before he shot up to his feet. He fucking chucked it at the closest pig monster, knocking the bastard onto his back as Six reached into his duster. He pulled out a pair of spiked knuckle dusters.

Love and Hate.

No guns. No laser rifles. No knives. No grenades.

Just fists and brutality and hate and the need to bleed!

Tonight… he was gonna have himself a real good time.

He bolted them down, cracking the skull of one nearby with a single punch, dropping it. He followed this up with a two-piece combo into another approaching one, bashing it in the head twice before he slammed the spiked dusters into the fucker’s neck, piercing it and dropping it to the floor as it gurgled its last breath.

As the drugs rushed through his veins, he felt alive, like he could turn the world inside out.

Dropped the next one with a hard left hook, sending it to its knees before he slammed his own knee into its lower jaw, snapping its neck from the force of the blow.

He was floating around in ecstasy by this point.

A second wave approached him. He just charged forwards to meet the horde of grayness, his brown duster billowing as he did. He was a shooting star leaping through the sky as he rushed them down!

Like a leaping tiger he launched himself at them, decking the first skeletal beast in the face, dropping it down right onto its back before he charged the others. Dropped a different one with a hard elbow that cracked apart its eye socket! He was out of control!

His fists were almost supersonic with their blows, hitting the next beast like atom bombs.

WHUMP! CRACK! WHUMP! CRACK! WHUMP!!! CRACK!!!

Even though it got wise, guarding its face from his assault, that didn’t matter. The bastard fell backwards, its ribs broken from the strength of his punches to its unprotected chest.

He cleared the way a bit now, and looked up to see the donkey fuck sitting on the roof nearby. Six didn’t hesitate, he just charged him, barreling through anything that got into his way like a pro football player. The skeletal fucker stepped back as Six leapt up, jumping several feet into the air, which let him grab onto the edge of the roof.

The donkey stepped further back as he clambered up, his staff's orb glowing brightly. However, before Six could offer him some more pain than just a demolished shoulder, he was hit in the chest with a blast of singing magic, leaving burns in the duster.

The Courier growled as he was launched back, falling a good distance for the third time that night. A few seconds later, he felt his back collide with something boney, which broke his descent. Six got up to see he’d landed on one of the beasts, which laid on the ground with a huge crack in its skull, which couldn't compare to his durable spine. He repaid the pig creature’s kindness by grabbing a nearby rock and caving its head fully in.

More charged him down, and he threw the rock at one, smashing its head in from the force of the toss. He continued on, charging them down as they rushed him, swinging his fists with strength and wild, untamed power!

He was burning through them now, as if he were traveling at the speed of light!

One rushed at him and tried to respond with its own punch. He just caught its fist and then put some power in his palm. The beast howled and grabbed at its forearm as he crushed and shattered its hand in his grip with a satisfying Crack! Six then kicked the creature in the chest, sending it falling to its back.

Another rushed up from behind him, but the Courier heard him coming and turned. In one fluid motion, he ducked down and leg-sweeped the fucker, sending his duster billowing about from the slick move. The pig squealed as it fell, its ankles having been broken from the NCR Ranger technique.

More charged, more dropped before him.

Love bashed one’s head in.

Hate snapped another's neck.

Nothing could stop him even if he wanted them to…

Which he didn’t!

Six grabbed a nearby piece of rusted metal from the ground. It was long and sharp and likely came from the hotel he’d blown apart. He just used it as a makeshift sword, slashing the throat of a charging pig. Another beast leapt at him, but he was quick, catching it mid-air by impaling it on the long, sharp piece of metal. The creature squealed as it slid down on his makeshift blade, leaving a trail of tar-like blood on it.

The Courier just shoved it aside, letting its black internals spill onto the ground as he continued taking down the dwindling group of pigs.

He didn’t wanna stop at all!

Snapped the neck of one with a right hook!

He was having such a good time, having a ball!

Picked the bleeding, dissipating corpse another up and just fucking tossed it into an approaching trio of other monsters, knocking all four of them to the ground as the creature’s body fully disintegrated into ash.

He liked it!

Only under a dozen left.

He was having a good time, good time, yeah!

He grabbed the neck of one and shoved his fingers through its ashy skin, tearing its throat out from his own strength and rage alone. Kicked its gurgling corpse back as he just continued on.

Caught a claw slash across his chest, created sparks.

Didn’t matter, just replied by uppercutting the fucker who did it. Got a gash in his right leg after he kicked one. Just kicked with his left from then on.

Unstoppable force of anger and adrenaline and drugs.

SMASH! CRACK! POP! SNAP! RIP! CRUNCH!

Finally, he was the last one standing…

He was breathing heavy now, coated in blood that was both tar black and deep crimson. Duster had a ton of new rips and tears in it. He felt a new hole gouged into his upper left bicep. Fucking hurt even with the Med-X.

He looked up, saw the donkey bastard on a rooftop nearby.

Took a few deep breaths before he spoke.

“What? You giving up that easy?” Six boasted up at him with a growl. “I’m still standin’ ya prick!”

The bipedal donkey was as ragged as he was, giving his own deep, concentrated breaths. He pointed his staff at Six, and the ball on the end began to glow. However, he suddenly gasped, with the light fading away as he clutched at his chest.

Wasn’t the shoulder wound this time. Must’ve been something else...

“Y-you bastard,” growled the skeletal beast down at the human.

“I’ve been called worse,” Six chuckled. “Low on magic, asshole?”

“This… Isn’t… Over!” growled back the monster.

Immediately, Six watched as he seemed to dissipate into an ashy gray cloud. Even his staff disappeared in the cloud. Six pulled out his 1911 and just fired off his final rounds as the cloud flew upwards and floated away. The bullets passed through it as they would any other cloud, making the human swear to himself as he finally stopped firing.

He could only watch as the donkey-cloud flew away, far into the sky and far off into the distance.

“I’ll be waiting… prick,” Six managed...

...And then just let himself tumble down, falling flat onto his back.

Didn’t pass out this time unlike back at the dam, though. Just laid there, breathing deeply in exhaustion as he gazed at the night sky...

Author's Note

Thus ends Act 3, and ends Arc 1 as a whole! I will likely take a decent break for now and be back (relatively) soon with more of the fic!

Comments, thoughts, critiques, and more are all welcome!

Also, if anyone can guess all of the references in this fucking thing, feel free to post them in the comments lmao.

Rat Food

The blueness of the morning sun poked through the windows as Cherry Berry trekked through Cherry Jubilee’s large home. Everything was cherry themed of course, with large pictures of the fruit painted onto the wooden walls on either side of the pink mare. Given her namesake, she enjoyed the occasional cherry as well, but Jubilee had her beat by miles in that regard. She was pulled from her musings when she came up to a sturdy wooden door, raised a forehoof, and lightly knocked on it.

No response.

Another knock.

Nothing.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Lyra, go away!” grunted the tired, masculine voice, muffled given it was on the other side of the door. “For the fifth time, I’m trying to get some sleep!”

“I-it’s Cherry!” called back the unsure mare.

“Ahhh fuck,” replied the Courier, though he was much softer and less pissed… Still pissed, just a bit less so.

She heard the unlatching of a lock before the human pulled the door open.

He rested his shoulder against the frame of the door as he looked ragged and worn down. Instead of holding himself up high like normal, he was slouching a bit. She could see the new rips and tears in his jacket from his fight with those piggish monsters from just a few hours prior. Despite his pension for quick healing, he still seemed a bit drained.

"What?" he growled tiredly.

“I just wanted to check on you,” she admitted.

“I’m fine,” he replied back as he turned, limping towards his bed, his right leg nearly giving out from the two deep gashes he’d received yesterday. “Would’ve been better if I brought an extra Stim...”

After making sure he wouldn’t fall, Cherry examined the room around the two. Cherry-based (the fruit, not the pony or the other pony) decorations still adorned most of it, and a small desk with a lantern sat off to the side. Two gigantic pitchers were sitting on it as well. One was fully emptied, and the other was only a third of the way full, with an amber-colored liquid inside. Other than that, the only thing on the desk were two half-used rolls of first-aid bandages.

“I heard Cherry Jubilee say you loved your sarsaparilla but I didn’t expect you loved it that much,” admitted the aviator.

“Helps me feel better,” he strained, sitting down on the bed as he felt his muscles cramp and ache once more. “Now is there anything else you wanted?”

“Well… I wanted to say thank you,” she nodded, “for saving my life, I mean.”

“I'm pretty sure we already did this... but it’s cool, it’s fine, it’s whatever,” Six said quickly and nonchalantly, laying back onto his bed. His rugged, grime and dust-coated clothes were dirtying the soft mattress, but he honestly didn’t care.

He kicked his mud-caked boots up onto a pillow, and Cherry could see through the rips in his pants that the bandages he’d applied to himself were a crimson color from the blood he’d leaked into them. She frowned in worry as she examined them.

“You sure you don’t need a hos-”

“I’m fine,” he growled, instinctively checking his Pip-Boy as he did, though gave up after a few moments. “I heal quick.”

“What, like a lizard?” she said, trying her hand at being comedic.

“Yeah, that’s it,” he replied as if she had been serious. "Just takes a bit of time, especially after all the shit I did."

She made a face at that, but quickly shook it off and trotted up to the side of his bed. The two were silent as the mare fidgeted, looking a tad nervous.

“What?” he finally huffed, looking over at her, with his red lenses staring into her expressive eyes.

“You did a lot for me, you know,” she said softly.

“I do a lot of things,” he replied, looking away from her and up at the ceiling. “Like crashing your chopper for one.”

“Well, yeah,” she rolled her eyes. “But you also helped me rekindle my friendship with Bon Bon!”

“That one was just pure coincidence,” he said tiredly.

“Why do you have to make it so hard for me to just compliment and thank you?” she asked, obviously annoyed.

“I was trying to sleep,” he pointed out.

She glowered at that.

“Well fine, be that way,” she scoffed, turning to leave.

As she trotted away, he finally sighed and spoke up.

“Cherry,” he rolled his eyes at having to do this sappy song and dance.

She turned back, her hopes seemingly lifted.

“If you wanna hang out more when we get back to Ponyville, that’s fine by me,” he huffed, as if he was forced to say it. She trotted up to the side of his bed.

“You really mean it?” she asked.

“Yeah, why not,” he said, reaching a hand over to her.

She was half expecting him to begin petting her, running his gloved fingers through her mane…

Instead, he just grabbed her goggles, lightly tugging on them, before pulling them downwards.

Cherry was shocked as he let go, letting the elastic material snap backwards, covering her eyes as she now looked at him through the glass of her eye-covers. She cringed back as it made a light twack, though she wasn’t hurt beyond a minor sting.

“Ow! What was that for?” she squeaked.

“Waking me up,” the Courier said, giving her head a gentle pat this time.

The mare rolled her eyes with a smirk at that, leaning into his hand.

“You’re such a prick,” Cherry Berry pointed out with a chuckle as he ran his hand over her cap and down the back of her neck, his fingers trailing through portions of her bright yellow mane.

Kind of felt calming, running his hand over her fur. Even if it wasn’t any real contact due to the gloves, he felt her warmth. Knew she was alright.

Alright because of him. Felt good knowing that.

“Your muscles are tense,” he said, his tone one of a medical professional examining a patient as he felt down her neck and against her shoulder blades, working over her tense frame.

“After last night and spending all morning worrying about you, what do you expe-eee-ct,” she droned mid-word, before refocusing herself, as he loosened her muscles.

His hands were precise, like those of a surgeon. At this point he felt like he should just lay down and get some rest, but it was… soothing? Maybe? To physically help his friend out. Even if it was in a small manner.

Was this why people kept cats back in the Pre-War days? They were basically extinct in the Wasteland, but every time he’d seen them in magazines and comics and the like, they’d be lazed around and receiving pets. Unlike dogs, they had little use of their own. Killed vermin at best but that wasn’t really needed with mouse traps.

Damn it! He was mentally rambling now!

Cherry Berry was just sitting there, a goofy grin on her face at the unintentional massage-session. After a night of nearly being carried off by pig-beasts and having her helicopter totaled, she definitely felt at least a bit better now. Didn’t say stop at any point, obviously.

The Courier was still partly in his own little world, just rubbing over her muscles and back casually as he felt himself almost drift into a… not quite a sleep… Maybe a state of nirvana of sorts? Hmm.

Either way, their little disconnected bubble was interrupted when the door was shoved open, not having been locked earlier.

“Six I brought ya some mo-” Cherry Jubilee stopped. In one of her outstretched forehooves was a large platter, a third giant pitcher of sarsaparilla sat upon it. The older pony just remained still, awkwardly staring at the two. Had she been a few decades younger, she might’ve felt a shocked blush form on her muzzle.

Cherry Berry looked back at the aged mare with an actual blush of embarrassment on her face, before moving away from the Courier’s hand… even if she really didn’t want to.

The human for his part just stood up, walking over as if he didn’t realize (or didn't care about) the potential awkwardness of the situation. He then casually grabbed the large pitcher of the soda and adjusted his mask before he began drinking it.

“Thanks Cherry,” he said through the gulps, his mind on the drink above anything else.

The mature mare held back a laugh at that.

Cherry Berry herself huffed, still embarrassed about the whole ordeal.

“It’s nothin’ really. After ya helped save the town an’ all, I figured ya deserved somethin’ in return,” admitted the older mare as she fully stifled her chuckles.

The Courier nodded, sitting aside the half-emptied glass of sarsaparilla now as he gave a deep sigh. The ice cubes inside of it clinked about as condensation leaked off of it.

“Speaking of, you guys combed through everything by now, right?” Six asked as he readjusted his mask. “Any ponies missing?”

Cherry Jubilee smiled hopefully.

“Well as far as I can tell, everypony’s present and accounted fer…” though her smile turned into a minor frown, “...but a hoofful of ‘em definitely got their magic drained. We ain’t got many doctors, but those that looked ‘em over said they’d need a few weeks of rest ta let their natural magic recover.”

“Six you should really go out there and see the town, half of it’s been clamoring for you after that badflank battle we had on the stage!” Cherry Berry said, looking up at the Courier with pride. “Some ponies even wanted my autograph! Can you believe it? Nopony’s ever noticed me like that before!”

“The only thing I can believe is that I’m starving,” the Courier said, adjusting his jacket. His desire to slumber apparently taking a back seat for now.

“Ooh, I can get ya some freshly picked ch-”

Jubilee was quickly interrupted by the human.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to go hunt my own food,” Six said, looking over Blood-Nap.

Still sharp after the fight. Good.

“Uhh… ya eat meat?” the older mare asked, a bit hesitant.

Even Cherry Berry was giving him a minor side-eye,

“Humans eat bugs, snakes, rats, vermin creatures, you know?” he said, trying to remove any worry that the two felt. It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it wasn’t wrong either. It did the trick though, as the two seemed a bit more relieved.

“Jeez, I don’t know how civilized folk like yerself could stomach that,” Cherry Berry admitted. “Er… no offense.”

“Hey, ya gotta eat what ya can find back where I’m from,” he shrugged, putting the bowie knife back into its sheath. “Know any places with a pest problem?”

“Er… well, I’m sure ya could find plenty of critters in the orchard,” admitted the mare. “I wouldn’t mind having a few less mice runnin’ around... I can point ya towards where some of their hidey holes are!”

“Sounds good to me,” the Courier nodded.

“I’ll come along!” Cherry Berry piped up.

“To watch me hunt mice?” he said, turning towards her in confusion.

“Yeah, why not?” she offered with a smile. "Saves us from having to wait until we get back to Ponyville to hang out, anyways."

“Your call,” he replied, shaking his head.

The pink mare continued to smile up at him.

Inside another guest room of Cherry Jubilee’s lovely home, Bon Bon fluttered her eyelids a bit as the ever-rising sun beamed in on her and her lover. She and Lyra laid, huddled up together in the same bed, with her mint-colored wife’s head resting against her own cream-colored chest.

She let loose a small exhale of annoyance. Tried to keep it nice and quiet and unnoticeable so she didn’t wake her little sugar rump-

“Didn’t get good sleep either?” Lyra said. Not exactly tired in her tone, but a bit drained. As she spoke, the exhales from her words and the heat of her breath billowed warmly against Bon Bon’s coat.

The earth pony wasn’t exactly cold but had a bit of a chill in her. Did spend the night in a desert after all. They got pretty cold, even inside a house.

“You think we would, given we fought off a pissed-off donkey and his army of pigs,” Bon Bon replied as she rolled her eyes.

“Think that…” Lyra snickered, “...’Donkey Fuck’ will be back any time soon?”

Bon Bon didn’t share in the amusement despite the crude nickname, instead remaining serious and alert.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that villains don’t just give up,” she said sternly.

“Did the agency know about anything like him?” the unicorn asked with a frown, a hint of worry visible in her expression.

“I wish,” Bon Bon said, shaking her head. “I’m wracking my head trying to think if I’ve heard of anything like him before but… I’m coming up empty.”

“Think Twilight might know about him?” Lyra questioned. “She was always big into books and ancient stuff when we were friends.”

“I hope,” Bon Bon said. “If she or the princesses don’t know, then I doubt anypony else will.”

“I just hope he doesn’t get to hurt anypony else,” Lyra huffed, rolling away from her lover and onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. “I hope Equestria doesn’t wind up having another giant battle on its hooves.”

“If worst comes to worst, I’m fine with linking back up with the Royal Gu-”

“We can join the guard,” Lyra interrupted. "Both of us."

Her wife sighed, taking a few moments to speak.

“I know you want to keep everypony safe, Lyra, but if anything happened to you, I-”

“We’re not having that talk,” growled the unicorn. “After the Bugbear thing, I know you’ve been worried, but I’m not a defenseless foal, Bonny.”

“We could be facing a threat like no other, even worse than whatever monster we've had thrown at us in the past!” shot back Bon Bon with a deep frown. “Who knows what that bastard has planned. I’d rather you be out of the way of whatever Tartarus he brings.”

“After our fight back at the stage, really?” the unicorn rolled her eyes. “I didn’t marry you just so I could run away from our problems when they got tough. We stick through this together, Bonny, just like we did all the other times.”

There was silence. Bon Bon looked at her wife the entire time, a frown on her muzzle. Lyra turned over, looking back at her wife with a serious expression. For the past week Bon Bon had to bottle up so much. Her love never wavered since the day they were married. As of recently though, it felt like no happy moment would just play out without getting some type of interruption, be it from a monster attack or a friend’s mental breakdown.

At the moment though it was just the two. Nice and alone and away from it all. Just a few mares in a quiet room, disconnected from the rest of reality, letting Bon Bon just soak in her lover's beauty. Even with her worries, they were together now. Just them and a comfy bed and some peace…

Bon Bon let her emotions take hold then and there, letting her fears and worries meld away, turning to love and want.

“Oh Lyra…” she leaned in, and shocked the minty mare with a passionate kiss, embracing her wife with love and heat and desire and a want to protect and to feel the spark that she'd felt so many times before.

Lyra was shocked, but immediately leaned back against her, embracing the mare. She ran her hooves down her back, feeling Bon Bon’s more toned earth pony muscles in her delicate unicorn grasp.

There was another kiss, a deep breath, a moan, a hitch.

And from there, it was a whirling blur…

The Courier reached his hand into a deep burrow. Cherry Berry stood a few feet behind him, watching the human with curiosity. It was completely alien, seeing a creature actually have to hunt for food. Still, the mare was curious. He’d saved her (and a good chunk of the town) with his actions, so there was no need to fear him. Still, watching him pull a squealing rat from the hole in the ground felt a bit… wrong?

Its hairless tail flicked this way and that, as it tried to gnaw its way out of the human’s grass. It was a fat rat, excessively healthy from the cherries it had consumed. Six responded by its hissing bites by adjusting his mask, lurching down and biting the rodent’s head off.

“Sweet Celestia!” growled Cherry in shock, jerking back and looking away.

Six just swallowed the creature’s head as blood sprayed out from the numerous veins he’d severed.

“What, you came here with me,” the human shot back, pulling out his knife, before he got to work on flaying the animal.

“I know but… Give a mare a warning next time, please!... Sheesh,” Cherry managed.

He just shrugged as he cleaved away the skin of the creature expertly. Could use the fur and such to make extra gloves? Winter maybe? Mmm.

“Nature’s cruel, Cherry,” he said, pulling himself from his own musings as he stripped the animal down. “It’ll kill you when you least expect it.”

“Sounds like something one of those Everfree hermits would say,” Cherry said with uncertainty. “Or some old savage tribal in the comics I read as a foal.”

“Those things can be a lot more useful than you’d think; for something made for pure entertainment, anyways,” Six said, as he began creating a small firepit. Didn’t wanna fuck up Cherry’s orchard after he’d saved it, so he only used a few small twigs and leaves as kindling. Surrounded it with rocks too.

Took just a few seconds longer and by then he was roasting some rat. The scent couldn’t break through his filters, but it would’ve reminded him of home if it had.

Cherry just stood back, flinching away every now and then as the scent hit her. Still, she stayed by his side. He was her friend, after all… Even with his weird diet.

“I could’ve bought you some hayfries, you know,” she offered.

“Ehh that shit just ain’t right for a human to eat,” Six said, poking the fire with a stick. “Need protein in us.”

“I’m sure we could get you some supplements or something,” she offered.

“Nah, this is more natural. Fills me up better. Besides, it’s doing Jubilee a service anyways,” he shrugged, pulling out a small red packet, opening it as he did.

Cherry watched as he rubbed ketchup over the rat as it cooked. The majority of the fat of the creature had been rendered from the muscle, but the pieces that remained added to the juiciness of the meal. The added ketchup further flavored the corpse.

“Not too much of this stuff back where I’m from,” he said, opening another pack. “I snagged a few of these from a cafe a while back. Adds some flavor.”

“I guess,” she looked away.

“Right, right, sorry,” he shrugged, rubbing more ketchup on the rat. “Look Cherry, if you wanna go do something that… isn’t this, I won’t blame ya.”

“I’m fine Six, really,” she said. “I figured it’d be for the best if I stayed with you until we got back to Ponyville.”

“Ahh right, get behind the guy with the gun and all,” he chuckled.

“I-I’m not like that!” she scoffed. “You’re my frie-”

“I’m fucking with ya, Cherry,” he smirked. “Look, Lyra, Bon Bon, and I don’t leave until tomorrow night. We’ve got plenty of time to do non-rat hunting activities or whatever. Chill, maybe, as they say.”

“Well… alright,” she huffed back.

“Just do me a favor and don’t develop a crush on this ‘date’ of ours,” he teased, remembering her joke from last night. “I’m a heartbreaker.”

“As if,” she snickered. “I doubt anypony could go on a date with you after seeing what you eat.”

The Courier just impaled the cooked rat with a sharp stick, and then brought it up to his mouth, chomping into it as he smirked. Enjoyed the juices and the crunchy texture of charred animal flesh.

Not bad!

Author's Note

We’re back, baby!

Chapter was super, super low energy, because I was turning the dial back to zero for now. Will try to get back into the groove of writing soon enough! Felt weird for such a long break, but I am a bit refreshed! I will say now that this might not update as quickly as it did before the break, just working some stuff out personally.

Regardless, hope you all enjoy!

Into the Skies

Some of the ponies looked at him with respect and a hint of reverence. That was the first thing the Courier noticed as he looked over the stage.

Was on a hilltop nearby, more towards the Cherry Hill Ranch than Dodge. Seated in a shabby plastic lawn chair. He could tell that every now and then, one, two, even half a dozen ponies would stare up at him at times.

The only ones who approached reliably were the old-timers. Some asked for a hoofshake, and he’d deliver. Though rarely he’d get a curious tourist who asked for a picture. He obliged but didn’t make much of an attempt to smile for the camera… Not that it’d change anything of course.

The human for his part just overlooked everything. He’d had a minor amount of rest and a “meal” of a few rats now, and was back to basically full power, albeit with a faint limp and a pain in his arm where his flesh had been gouged out earlier. Both should be gone by the end of the night, at least.

Every bit of debris been picked up, cleaned as best as possible by this point. Given it’d now been a good several hours since the great brawl, it wasn’t a major shock. He might’ve helped out the cleanup had he not been exhausted.

Can’t do much now anyways now that the majority of the work had been done. Six leaned back in his lawn chair, giving a sigh. Below the reporters had started rolling in, taking notes and interviews. While they were initially here for the concert, it seemed the brawl between pony, monster, and human was a lot more of a scoop for them.

“Feeling alright?” Cherry asked, sitting nearby on an old tree stump. She was faithful to him, at his side the entire time, even remaining silent when he was.

“I’d feel a lot better if the .308 put that bastard down last night,” the human said. “Now I gotta worry about deliveries and an evil necromancer running about.”

“Not the first time Equestria’s had an evil, power-hungry tyrant running around,” chuckled Cherry.

“That supposed to make me feel better?” Six snarked. “The roast rat was better at doing that than you.”

“Oh quit it,” the mare eye rolled. “We’re supposed to be having fun, hanging out like you said! Not worrying about some old saggy-butt donkey!”

“Well I’d have fun hiking out into the desert and collecting water from cacti and living off the land for the day,” Six began, rolling his own eyes, his tone turned from annoyance to a playful tease as he continued, “but somebody said that was ‘two hawd!’”

“I’m an aviator, not Daring Do!” the mare groaned. “Besides, there’s nothing interesting out there to see. Just a couple of old rocks and plateaus.”

“One man’s rock is another man’s lifesaver, I learned that in the wasteland. You never know what you can find in a good hollowed out rock,” Six pointed a gloved finger at the mare.

“Whatever,” sighed Cherry, as she pondered what to do. After a moment, she had an idea. “Hey uh… since the show’s not until tonight, maybe we can try to fix up my chopper? Cherry helped me tow it into her barn.”

“I doubt we’re gonna get much done until we get back to Ponyville, but sure,” Six shrugged, before taking a swig from his trusty Vault 13 canteen and standing up. “Personally though, I could skip the show; no Marty or anything worth hearing.”

“Actually…” Cherry pondered. “I think we might be able to get a lot further than you’d think.”

“Lead the way,” offered the human.

He followed the aviator into the town proper from there. He got the glances back at him, as he did basically any other time he was in a public area. As with earlier at the ranch, the occasional pony would ask for a hoofshake or a picture.

The Courier and Cherry soon arrived at the blacksmith though, which was obvious as the building had several anvils out front. The building was as old and dusty as the rest of the town. Had an air of age about it, with the wood being partly worn and the windows with the occasional crack in them.

“A blacksmith?” Six asked, recalling seeing anvils in the several old magazines and comics he’d read. “How is that going to help?”

“I figured if I give him the specifications, he might be able to forge some new parts from my chopper!” Cherry Berry smiled up at the human.

“You sure about that? Does he even have a mold to work with?” Six asked.

“We have magic to help, remember?” she pointed out.

“Hopefully this works. For your sake, anyways,” he shrugged. “Otherwise you’ll be down a couple of bits.”

“Well, I was thinking you could help on that as well,” she said slyly.

“Oh yeah?” he cocked a brow under the helmet, looking down at her. “How?”

Cherry Berry looked behind Six, seeing a small crowd of reporters having followed the two the entire time. He just looked back, and then turned towards the mare once more.

“Corporate shilling?” he asked.

“Corporate shilling,” she replied confidently.

“I can’t even keep my dignity in this place,” huffed the human, putting his gloved hands on his hips.

“Come on Six, please!” she squeaked.

“Get woken up early and now this,” he complained.

She was on her knees, giving him a puppy dog face.

He stared down at her with a scowl.

She quivered her lips back.

He leaned down, his mask a few inches from her face.

She just made her eyes go bigger and cuter.

He grunted, straightening back up.

“Ah fuckin’ fine, whatever…” he growled, crossing his arms.

“Yay!” she squeed, reaching up and giving him a hug with her forehooves. Given her shortness, her cheek was awkwardly pressing into his stomach as she hugged against him.

“Hey no need for that shit,” he growled, gently pushing her away. “Fuckin’ hell… you owe me for this one!”

She nodded with a smile at that. From there, the old-timer blacksmith was decently easy to convince to give a heavy discount. Business for him surely would be booming if the two-legged “hero” of Dodge Junction would shill his shop to the numerous news reporters that flocked to the human like seagulls to a mound of trash.

In truth, the Courier felt like an obnoxious crier for the Atomic Wrangler or the Silver Rush.

Either way though, business was business. And a friend was in need. And so on and so forth…

“Sir, where did you come from?” asked a unicorn, a notepad magically held up to write down any detail the human had to give, along with a camera.

“Uh… The Everfree near Ponyville,” wasn’t technically a lie.

“And what exactly are you?” was the follow up from another reporter.

“I am a human,” the Courier said simply, almost robotically. Not the best interviewee.

The crowd scribbled several words down in their notepads. Some even took pictures, which slightly pissed off the human, making him look away or squint due to the glares of the numerous flashing cameras.

“And what exactly are these hoomans?” asked another one, pressing her pen to her lip in thought.

“They’re… what I am?” he said back. “What kind of question is that? Do you want me to sit here and explain the entire origin of humanity to you?”

“Woah that’d be a scoop! Do go on!” the mare replied.

He blanked at her for a second, before shaking his head.

“Look, listen…” he said, with the crowd perking up. “All that matters is that I’m here, and I helped protect Dodge.”

“Why did you do it though?” asked another. “Do you have some secretive origin? Did your parents die tragically? Did your uncle tell you the importance of great power?”

The Courier blinked.

“What in the fuck are you talking about?”

From there it was a continued inpouring of questions. Ultimately, he tried to steer the whole thing back on track… That track being shilling of course!

“So would you say that your victory over those monsters attacking the stage was due to Brass Cannon’s Smithy shop?” a stallion questioned.

“Uh… sure, yeah,” nodded the human, “let’s go with that...”

It was about an hour or so later and the parts had been forged. The Courier sat with Cherry Berry back in the orchard, looking down on the stage one last time.

“You know I came here for the concert and everything but now… I guess I don’t really care about seeing it as much,” she mused.

“Dealing with an army of evil pig demons will do that to you,” Six said, a large backpack filled with rattling metal pieces on his back. “Come on, let's get to the barn. I’m sick of lugging this shit around.”

“Right,” nodded the earth mare.

It was a bit later they were inside the barn in question. In the center of it sat the aviator’s barely held-together helicopter. The tail rotor was almost fully broken off, and many chunks of the exterior plating had bowed out, snapped off, or dented immensely.

“Sure did a number on it,” the human said, sitting down the large backpack.

“Tell me about it,” the mare sighed, grabbing a small toolbox from the corner. “You know how to use a wrench?”

“I’m the only one here with fingers, you numbskull,” the human said, flexing his gloved digits.

Cherry just rolled her eyes at that, giving a small smirk.

“Prick,” she shot back.

She popped off an exterior panel, and soon enough the two were looking intently at the internals of the large, pink machine.

“This is what I get for not taking flight lessons with the Boomers,” Six grunted. “I can barely recognize any of this shit.”

“Come on Six, you’re the smartest… human I know!” Cherry Berry confided.

“Oh well that’s a reeaal relief,” he spat, turning on his Pip-Boy’s light to get a better interior view of the machine.

He began to try and break it down mentally. Work on the very basics of it all. The sprockets, the chains and the cores of the machines. He’d worked with more advanced shit, fixed a damn food processor with a bunch of bobby pins and a pocketknife; surely he could do something here! The Courier’s gloved hands danced across the machinery inside. He traced over a piston here, screwed in a bolt there. Slowly and steadily everything small coalesced together.

Cherry herself was working it over with him. She used a wrench to tighten a bolt, working expertly and deftly with her hooves. A minor amount of sweat dripped down her face, and she wiped her brow with a nearby rag as she and the human continued.

They would occasionally speak, though little words were needed due to the expertise of their repair process. Took a few hours, but the internals were coming together somewhat, with several parts replaced. There was a big, long chain that the Courier had to set inside. Reminded him a bit of an old bicycle he’d seen in the magazines he’d read.

Before long, the barn door opened, and Lyra poked her head in. Her horn was alight with magic the whole time.

“Yo Six, Cherry Jubilee told me you’d be in here,” she said, as she trotted inside. Four bottles of chilled sarsaparilla were levitating in her golden grasp. “Wanna come watch the show with me and Bonny? It’s about to start properly.”

“I’m gonna finish fixing this big piece of shit up first,” he said, grabbing one of Lyra’s condensation covered beverages.

Cherry Berry herself stepped back; more concentration induced sweat coating her brow. Before she could do much though, she tensed up, as something extremely cold pressed into the back of her neck, causing her to scrunch up.

“Gah!” she huffed, turning around to see the Courier was the cause, with him having pressed the icey soda against her fur. “You prick!”

“What? I’m just cooling you off,” snickered the human.

“Cherry, you wanna come?” offered Lyra with a snort at the display. "Bon Bon wouldn't mind catching up."

“I would... but I’m not just gonna leave Six here to screw everything up,” eye rolled the pink mare as she took another one of the soft drinks from Lyra’s magical grasp, popping it open and taking a swig a moment later.

“Well, suit yourselves,” shrugged the unicorn, turning to leave.

“Thanks for the drinks,” the human offered, tossing a few bits from his satchel at her.

Lyra caught them, giving a wink and a devious grin.

“Don’t worry, they were free,” chuckled the minty mare as she left, the door soon shutting behind her.

“Pfft, what a scumbag,” Six said, taking a sip from his fizzy drink.

“You’re just mad you got ripped off,” Cherry winked.

“I’ll rip that smirk off of your face if you don’t zip it,” he grunted, sitting the soft drink on a nearby wooden crate. “Now help me finish this.”

“I’ve been the one leading you this whole time!” Cherry retorted.

“Yeah fuckin’ right,” he snorted.

It was a minor squabble, bickering and grunting and growling from there. He twisted a bolt into place, she snapped a gear back on, he tightened it, she rotated the machinery to make it move. Both were a team, themselves being like a machine in a way, working effectively with only the occasional insult being thrown at one another.

Another hour had passed, and the sarsaparillas didn’t last. The machine was close to complete on the internals anyways, but even still, the Courier didn’t have any answer to fix the destroyed exterior panels… outside of hitting them with a hammer to ding them back into place, of course.

He took another sip of his soda, the last one left, as he looked on in thought. Cherry tapped at his thigh, and he looked down at her with annoyance as she held out a hoof.

“Aw come on,” he grunted.

“Just give it to me, cowpon-… human,” she managed.

He hissed but handed her the drink and she took a deep swig of it, downing a fourth of the soda. Wasn’t as cold as it was an hour or so ago, but it helped moisten her lips and slightly parched throat.

“Ah,” she said, giving the classical satisfied sigh to sipping a good beverage.

He shook his head in annoyance, grabbing the bottle from her grasp. She gave him an annoyed pout as he took a deep swig of his own from it and sat it off to the side, with it being on a crate that was just slightly too large for her.

“You prick!” she repeated the insult once more.

“Shut it,” he shot back, adjusting his helmet.

She just blew a raspberry at him, crossing her forehooves with a scowl.

“You mad you look like an oversized vulva?” he insulted.

“Jeez, no need to get lewd about it,” she shook her head with a grunt.

“What? It’s funnier than any of your standup routines,” snarked the human, pressing a bolt back into place.

“That is low,” she growled.

“So is your helicopter,” he replied. “Now get into the damn pilot seat.”

She rolled her eyes but did so, hopping in and putting her bottom hooves to the pedals.

“Watch your uh… pokey, bendy things,” she said.

“Fingers?” he grunted back.

“Yeah those!” she agreed with a nod.

As she slowly turned the bike-like pedals of the machine, he examined it. Nothing seemed out of place, as the gears and the pistons and the chains inside moved about. He looked over it in thought, nodding to himself as he did.

“Look good?” she asked.

“Yeah, you double check though,” he replied.

Minutes later, he traded places with her, with him slowly working the pedals as she examined the machinery inside moving this way and that.

“Smooth like butter! Exactly what I wanna see!” she snickered, pumping her forehoof in victory as the human hopped out of the chopper seat, his jacket billowing as he did.

“Alright,” he nodded, adjusting his jacket, “let’s get some snacks, I’m fucking famished.”

“As long as it isn’t rat, we’ll get whatever you can pay for,” she snickered.

“Think you’re slick, eh?” the human retorted. “You aren’t gold-digging me.”

“Pfft, a girl can try,” she winked, before the two made their way out the barn door.

An hour or so later and the show was about eighty percent over, but even still, Cherry Berry barely managed to convince the human to sit down and watch it with her. The two were at the edge of the orchard, sitting back in the plastic lawn chair and stump they’d used prior. Only this time, the Courier held a large pretzel in his hand, along with a tub of mustard he’d occasionally dip it in as he snacked. Cherry sipped at her extra-large soda as he did.

While technically the two weren’t supposed to be watching the show without having bought a ticket, it wasn’t like anypony was going to stop them, especially after the night prior.

“I don’t know how you can stomach that bitter crap,” she said, taking her mouth off her bendy straw to speak.

“What, mustard?” the Courier asked, his mouth partly full.

“Yeah, it’s all tart and nasty,” she said, scrunching her face at the thought.

“Hey shit on it all you want, a pack of crackers and a bit of mustard helped me through the desert once. Kept the saltines' taste from being too bland,” he said. “Only condiment to last for years in the desert heat.”

“What?” she blanked. “In a situation like that, taste’s not that important.”

“Look,” he pointed a mustard-coated, gloved finger at the mare. “Flavor’s an easy morale booster. They gave chocolates and sweets and shit to the soldiers in World War 2, helped give them a small thing to look forward to.”

“Good thing I’m not a soldier then,” she mused. “That sounds awful.”

“Yeah…” he nodded, looking away, back towards the stage.

Fireworks danced above it, with the music blaring as he just sat, still partly unsure of what exactly to do next. Delivering mail was obvious, that would never change, but he still had that ass to deal with… The donkey. He'd kick that ass’ ass when needed.

Alright, enough of that!

He shook away the buffoonish thoughts and finished his pretzel. While he could do little at the moment, when he got back to Ponyville, he’d have to make some plans. Cherry Berry just sipped noisily on her soda as he pondered, her eyes wide and reflecting the lights and colors of the stage and fireworks.

The morning sun’s rays beamed down as the Courier hoisted up a large duffle bag and sat it in the back of Cherry Berry’s helicopter. He’d gotten a new one after the uh… explosive fate of his prior bag. Regardless, given there was far less to hold now, he was able to fit everything inside it, Laser RCW, stripped down Garand, and the meager scraps of ammo he had left. He even kept the remnants of the lunchbox!

“That everything?” the aviator mare asked, cocking a brow.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” he snarked.

“Always gotta get a one-liner in there, huh?” she huffed back.

There was a pause.

“...Why wouldn’t I?” he grinned, making her snort in annoyance.

A small group of stallions walked away from her and the human, having helped them tow it out to a barren portion of the field. Cherry Jubilee herself approached.

“Well I must admit I’d wished ya folks would stay for a bit longer,” she smirked. “Especially given all you’ve done for us.”

“Ah it’s fine. I’ve got deliveries to attend to,” the human said, adjusting his gloves.

“Ya sure ya don’t wanna stay for just one last meal?” offered the mare. “I made a couple o’ cherry pies.”

“I’m-”

He was interrupted by his squeaky earth mare companion.

“I wouldn’t mind!” smirked Cherry Berry, making him sigh. “It’ll be a few hours before we get back to Ponyville!”

Jubilee looked up at the human with a warm smile.

“I’m still full of the rats I got last night,” he nodded. “But you two Cherries go on.”

The two mares chuckled at that, and before long, they headed back to the farmhouse. Six himself just examined his luggage as the left. A few minutes later, heard hoofsteps coming up behind him. He soon turned, seeing a white unicorn mare trotting over.

She had a prim and proper disposition about her. Hair was done up in a bun, both her mane and tail. White collar around her neck with a red ascot connected to it. Given that she was magically holding a large quill and set of papers, he knew she was likely here to ask questions, so he spoke first.

“Look, listen toots, I already did the local shilling and interviews yesterday, alright?” the Courier huffed.

“I’m not here on account of any frivolous magazine or tabloid,” huffed the mare. “I’m here on official Canterlot business.”

“Uh huh?” he nodded.

“I am Raven Inkwell, official secretary and aide to Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she elaborated, puffing out her chest a bit, as if she wore the title like a badge of honor. “I am here to get an official record of events from first-hoof witnesses.”

“Why don’t you go ask everyone else then?” he grunted, leaning against Cherry’s helicopter.

“Who do you think led me to you?” pointed out the mare.

He rolled his eyes, groaning in annoyance.

“Mister Six, this is serious!” she said, her tone raised. “Mrs. Heartstrings and Mrs. Drops say that you’ve seen the villain who caused this ruckus. You’re the only creature here who knows the most about him!”

“Mrs. Drops?” he asked.

“Ah yes, you’d know her as Bon Bon,” the mare said, before suddenly rushing forwards. “That’s not important right now! What is important is the safety of Equestria. Please, is there anything you might know that no pony else would?”

The Courier huffed once more, shaking his head and looking around at nothing in particular, as if in thought.

“Please, sir,” she pleaded. “All I know is that this menace is a donkey, but beyond that, the others had little to offer.”

He finally nodded.

“I didn’t get a name or anything, alright,” he said. “All I know is that asshole is a donkey, but he walks on two legs. Even had hands, claws, sort of like me.”

“Impossible, no creature like that has ever walked Equestria,” said the scholar.

“Well guess there’s one now,” Six grunted. “Do you want my statement or not?”

“I’m sorry, please do continue,” she said, scribbling down what he said with urgency.

“The bastard himself looked like a damn zombie, skull was visible and everything…” the human thought back, remembering glaring up at the monster’s glowing green eyes. “No eyes in the sockets just… green blobs of fire or something.”

Inkwell didn’t speak, nodding as she gave an unsure, curious gaze at him.

“Had a large glowing staff, glass orb on the end of it, had the same green as his ‘eyes’ I think,” Six continued with a shrug. “Used it to do magic and shit, summoned a shield that blocked my bullets. Even created those pig fucks with it.”

“Yes, the monsters the others talked about. He must have some type of magical artifact,” Inkwell said, still writing.

“Whatever it was, he seemed to run out of juice whenever I killed enough of his guys,” Six added.

“Strange… a magical artifact like that shouldn’t have a limited energy pool,” she pondered to herself with uncertainty.

“The weirdest part of all of this is uh… he knew what I was,” nodded Six. “Knew I was a human, I mean.”

Inkwell stopped, looking up at him in bewilderment.

“I… the only creatures to know about humans are the current and former princesses and a few other well-trusted officials,” she explained. “It is a very closely guarded secret in Equestria.”

“Not guarded enough it seems,” the human replied.

She frowned, her brow furrowing in deep thought.

“Is there anything else you can tell me?” she requested.

“I wish I did,” he said. “You guys ever dealt with necromancers before?”

“Necromancy is an extremely taboo and unknown magic, every instance attempting it in Equestria’s past has failed,” Inkwell pondered. “I’m not as gifted in magic compared to Princess Twilight or her former student, but to create creatures like that on such a scale… he must be an immensely powerful sorcerer or have an immensely powerful artifact.”

“Well, whatever it is, you’re dealing with a bipedal donkey zombie who’s also got an army of equally undead pigs,” the Courier summarized. “He seems weak to bullets, at the least.”

“Bullets?” she questioned.

Six just pulled a .357 round out of his satchel, one of the handful he’d managed to scrounge up after the fight.

“Bullet,” he pointed at it with his other gloved hand. “Guess even he couldn’t outsmart one.”

She furrowed her brow even further, scribbling a few final notes down.

“I suppose he’d be weak to physical combat then,” she nodded. “Arrows, swords, magic… at least he’s not invincible.”

“I could’ve put him down,” Six nodded, putting the bullet away, “if I’d been a bit more accurate.”

Raven Inkwell remained silent.

“Princess Twilight will definitely want a follow up meeting with you, especially after all of this and your prior visit to the castle,” mused the mare after a few moments. “Can we trust you to come? Your dealings with this creature could help save Equestria and numerous other countries from heartaches in the future.”

“My schedule’s a bit busy with my job at Ponyville Postal but uh…” Six shrugged, looking down. “Give me a shout, I guess.”

She nodded at that.

“Do you have a home address?” she asked. “For us to send mail to?”

Ironically, the mailman didn’t, though he soon had an idea.

“Just send it to Lyra and Bon Bon in Ponyville, that or any of the uh... former Element Bearers?” he nodded. “They’ll make sure it finds its way to me.”

With that, she nodded, and within a few minutes, the secretary mare was gone.

He had a smoke break while he was alone, running a bit low on cigarettes, but he’d grab more back in Ponyville. He looked around as the breeze picked up, causing his jacket to billow a bit. Felt decent, though after the talk with Inkwell, he wasn’t exactly in the best of moods. Killer donkey being the obvious reason.

It wasn’t much longer before Cherry Berry arrived back, carrying a small pastry basket in her mouth. She sat it into the chopper and smiled up at the human.

“You really should’ve had some of her pie,” chuckled the mare.

“I’m ready to get back to the post office,” he grunted.

“Now are you sure you wanna ride with me?” she asked, hopping into the pilot seat. “I thought Lyra and Bon Bon were gonna take you.”

“Change of plans and all that,” he shrugged, looking around. Soon though, he saw the two mentioned mares trotting up. “Speak of the devil…”

“Six, our train leaves in the next half hour, ready to go?” asked Bon Bon.

“Of course… just not with you two,” he chuckled.

“You’re taking the helicopter, aren’t you?” Lyra deadpanned with a face of minor annoyance.

“Absolutely,” he replied, hopping in beside Cherry, who slowly began to pedal, lifting the machine off the ground a few inches.

“Wait, I already pre-purchased the ticket!” the minty mare shouted up at him in annoyance.

“Consider it payback!” he laughed back at her, reminding her of the bit he’d given her last night.

The chopper was several feet off the ground now, and Cherry was almost ready to chuckle at the exchange.

“You motherbucker!” Lyra huffed, with Bon Bon herself holding back a giggle.

“Later losers! Catch you on the flip side!” he teased as his airborne ride ascended, leaving the two mares in the dust below.

“A guy does one good deed, and it goes to his head!” Lyra rolled her eyes as the two flew off into the distance.

Bon Bon just snorted.

“Maybe you’ll get him next time,” she offered with a smile, patting her wife on the back.

The minty mare managed a small, devious smirk of her own at that.

The town got smaller and smaller as the human looked down at it. His jacket billowed in the wind as he hung halfway out of the helicopter, with the breeze rushing by him.

“Now be careful, Six,” grunted Cherry Berry, her goggles now on as she pedaled. “One wayward turn and you’ll be a pancake by the time you hit the ground.”

“Yeah, yeah…” he nodded. It wasn’t that he was writing her off, but instead his mind seemed clouded, as if it were somewhere else.

He enjoyed the sights, the feeling of being so high. Unlike the fight back at the stage, there was no franticness, no hectic battle, just… the wide-open sky and the clouds and the air and the ground below and the beautiful sights…

Must’ve been why Daisy loved her Vertibird so much and the Boomers their plane.

“I can see why you like flying,” he nodded.

“Hm?” she questioned. She was unable to turn towards him properly, but she flicked her head back for a split second before refocusing her vision on what was ahead.

“Feels serene…” the mailman elaborated.

“You guys never had anything like this?” she asked. He was silent, as if pondering how to answer.

“Humankind spent millions of years grounded, Cherry,” he spoke, his voice shockingly soft. “Almost all of them throughout human history; they never saw the world from this view. Best they could do before the invention of aviation was look off cliffs and mountaintops. They eventually got it right. Had it in their hands, the ability to soar... and they just fucked it all up…”

The earth mare continued pedaling, frowning as she did.

“Sorry to hear,” she offered. He nodded silently at that.

As they flew, he was silent for several long minutes, still using his impressive strength to hang partly out the side of the helicopter. They soon soared by a small patch of low-hanging clouds, at which the human reached out a gloved hand. He watched in wonderment as the watery vapors parted from his palm. It was ethereal, seeing the ripples and the condensation droplets press against his skin.

“This… this is something special,” he said to himself.

The mare pilot’s smile drifted into a minor smile at her friend’s happiness. He was happier now than he had been snacking on that family of rats he’d found earlier!

As she continued pedaling and focusing on what was ahead, the human soon reached his hands up to his helmet…

Cherry Berry couldn’t see it, she only heard a minor click echo out, but soon brushed it off, thinking it was likely some internal component of her helicopter popping or creaking. Her goggles also blocked her field of view, making it harder to see anything from her peripheral vision. It did keep her focused on what was directly ahead though.

Had she not been wearing them… she might’ve noticed when he sat the riot helmet aside and leaned out of the side of the chopper once more. He felt the breeze, the vapors, the air and the water all press into his face, against his skin. The horizon ahead, and the sun above, and the trees and the grass and the lively world bellow. It billowed against him, made him feel like he was gazing on something bigger, which he was!

Made him feel good, feel… free.

Only lasted for a few minutes though…

By the time Cherry Berry turned back around to glance at the Courier a few minutes later, his same helmet-covered face just stared back into hers.

“What?” he questioned.

“Nothing just thought you did something I guess,” she shrugged.

“Nah… Nothin’ important anyways,” was the simple response, his voice muffled from the mask.

Same as it always had been.

Author's Note

Hey guys, this update was a bit later than intended due to me working on my AU one-shot for Lucky Seven's Non-Pony contest! If that interests you, feel free to check out my other fic and even do your own entry for his challenge!

Shameless promotion aside, new chapters hopefully won't take as long to arrive!

The (Carrot) Top of the Rose

Smoke trailed up off the blazing, ashy end of the cigarette as it hung from his lips. A decapitated, plucked pigeon was being rotated over a blazing fire, slowly roasting the animal’s corpse. Six had torn the organs out of the bird, hollowing it out and allowing him to shove items like jalapenos and crushed spices inside of the creature. He’d even added some butter he’d managed to buy earlier.

He sat on a log just a foot or so away, flicking some ash off the cancer stick as he watched the avian’s sizzling skin crisp up due to the flame’s heat. Before long he was digging into his meal, barehanded, with him ripping apart the small creature and consuming it quickly. The freshness of the animal meant that juices ran down his mouth as he chewed.

The inherently unappealing flavor of the meat (it was a pigeon, after all) was covered by the herbs and the seasonings, letting the human enjoy it. Though, even without them, it likely wouldn’t be the worst he’d eaten.

The flesh was gone within moments, but he didn’t stop there, snapping the hollow bones apart and sucking the marrow from them. He even considered boiling them, but there was only one body’s worth, so the resulting broth would barely be flavorful. He crunched one of the bird’s femur bones between his teeth, snapping through it with a loud, satisfying crunch! Juice ran down his chin as he consumed the rest of the bird’s body, bones and all.

When he finished, he grabbed a nearby rag and wiped at his gloved fingers, removing the liquids and the grease that coated them, even wiping his mouth with it as well. As he sat there alone, chewing the remnants of the bird, he looked around at his small clearing. His wooden house sat in the corner, still as shitty as ever but still fully functional. His plants were doing better, as he had used the guts of the bird as fertilizer, along with a few fish heads.

Overall, it looked nice…

Well, it did until a rainbow streak flew in.

“Yo dude, you got a letter,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering down and offering him the aforementioned mail in her forehoof. “Bon Bon told me to give it to ya.”

He sighed, sitting aside his rag.

“Can’t even enjoy a nice meal without an interruption,” he snarked.

“I could’ve just crumpled it up, you know, instead I was nice enough to bring it here!” she growled.

“Thanks Dash,” he said, dropping the assholish attitude as he grabbed it from her hand. She lightened up a bit at that, giving him a nod as he read it over.

“What does it say?” the speedy pegasus eventually asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Thank you for your services to Equestria, we will keep in touch, expect a reward for your bravery, the following is a personal thank you note from Princess Twilig- blah blah blah,” he huffed, folding it up and shoving it into his jacket. “One of those generic speeches of valor. They’re pretty cool at first, but they get a little boring after a while.”

“That’s pretty disrespectful,” huffed the pegasus. “I mean Twilight is probably super thankful for the stuff you did at Dodge last week.”

“So are a few dozen others,” the Courier shrugged. “Sometimes the crowds of thankful peo- uh, ponies, can get a bit much even for me.”

“So it’s their fault you’re a hermit?” she snarked.

“No, that one’s entirely on me,” he shrugged. “When a guy goes out into the middle of the woods and builds a shitty log shack, you think everyone would get the hint he doesn’t want a parade gawking at him.”

“Hey it’s not as bad as it was when you first arrived here, gotta look on the bright side,” offered Dash. “Maybe if you took off the mask and the scary jacket and all that crap, you’d look approachable.”

“I’m still more approachable than you,” he snarked, dousing the fire that he’d cooked the pigeon in with the water from his Vault 13 canteen.

“Pfft, fine, be that way,” she crossed her forehooves, hovering in midair for a few more moments.

There was a pause.

He sat on a log looking up at her. She looked down at him with a frown.

Silence...

“Wanna go hang out with me and Scootaloo in the park later?” she finally offered, giving in with a huff.

“I would, but I can’t. my shift starts in the next hour,” he explained, standing up.

“They really need new hires,” Dash huffed. “I’ll catch up with the kid… maybe later this afternoon,” he said with a nod.

“Whatever. You want a ride into town?” she offered.

“Think I’ll walk,” he replied, looking out at the thicket ahead.

“Suit yourself,” she shrugged. “Catch ya later, Six.” He gave a singular wave and then she was gone, zoomed off into the treeline, back towards the town. From there, the human stretched his muscles a bit, and then began following the small trail he had carved out in his numerous tracks to and from Ponyville.

He was in the backroom of the post office within the next half hour. The human walked into the dingily lit, wooden room, surrounded by numerous parchments and letters and packages. A few mares and stallions hustled and bustled about, overworked and understaffed as always. While initially, they’d be spooked or shocked by his appearance, given how good of a worker he’d been, they all had come to see him as one of them.

A fellow courier, if you will.

Several ponies were clocking out as he went up to his personal employee locker. The human produced a key, unlocking the metal door. Moments later, the Courier pulled out a saddlebag, at which he soon began to collect numerous letters and a few packages, shoving them into the bags.

He walked over to an out of the way corner, soon clocking in with an old-timey punch card. When he was finished with that, he turned, spotting Derpy at her own locker, taking off her uniform, no doubt the gray mare was ready to clock out soon.

“Yo Derpy,” he said, giving her a small wave.

“Hey Six!” she squeaked, putting her uniform into her locker. “Be safe out there!”

“I always am…” he shrugged, spending a second to pause and look down at her. “Tell Dinky I said hello.”

The mare nodded, beaming up at him, her crossed eyes looked up into his lenses. She had nothing but fondness and respect for the human evident through her gaze alone. He gave her a small thumbs up, and then he was gone, leaving the smiling mare just a tad bit happier at her friend greeting her. She was so excited to tell her sweet little Dinky too, it’d make her filly’s day!

From there, Six’s shift was just an average mailrun. After his dealings in Dodge, it seemed that the old, crotchety heads of the post office were willing to wait a bit before sending him outside of Ponyville, so he had it easy for now. He just went about, putting packages in mailboxes, and hand-delivering notes and letters when possible. The ponies had become relatively used to him by now, though on occasion a few would refuse to open their door to him or keep their foals away from him or even shout at him on occasion.

Oh well, was better than them crowding him…

He did partly miss the hoofshakes from the old-timers though, those weren’t bad.

Was still a bit annoyed at those who would gawk at him, whispering about all the deeds he’d done. Killing a Bugbear, killing pigs, fighting this and fighting that.

The papers better find something new to report on soon. Didn’t need a fanclub forming up! He just knew a certain pegasus filly would be behind it if he ever got one... maybe a little gray unicorn too.

Amidst his mail route, he delivered to Sugarcube Corner and soon found himself standing outside a floral shop nearby. Numerous roses and daisies and lilies and daffodils and other plants and flowers he didn’t remember the name of sat before him, potted and resting on several large, wooden displays. The building itself was a deep green color, with a pink door and pink sign with painted-on flowers dangling before him.

He looked at the package, addressed to one Roseluck. He rattled it for a second. Probably seeds or fertilizer or something. Wasn’t that uncommon given Ponyville was a very farm-centric town. Six didn’t see a mailbox, so he just shrugged and walked right in. Figured they were still open, business hours and all that. Even if they were closed, he had a delivery to make!

Inside it was just as filled with flowers as the exterior, with there being several ailes worth of them. The human looked around for the front desk and saw a cream-colored mare bending down behind the counter, rummaging through something he couldn’t see. He heard the clangs and the clatters of ceramic though.

“J-just a second!” she squeaked as he walked over, his heavy boots and bulk creating loud thuds with each step.

“Are you uh… Roseluck?” he questioned, watching as her deep, maroon colored tail swished about.

“Yeah, that’s me! Sorry, just getting somethi-” she paused mid-sentence, rising up with a small flowerpot in her forehooves.

He stared down at her, his red lenses staring into her bright, horrified eyes.

She just continued staring at him, her mouth agape.

He soon realized what was likely to happen.

“Don’t you fuckin' do it-”

“AAAAHHHHHH!!!” the mare shrieked, stumbling back, dropping her pot.

Had the Courier not bent over the counter to grab it, it would’ve shattered against the ground. However, this usage of his cat-like reflexes, just spooked the mare even more, as he was now bent over the counter looking down at her. She fell onto her back with a squeak, looking up towards him in fright.

“Ah come on,” growled the human as he straightened up, sitting the pot onto the countertop. “I’m just here to deliver your package!”

“B-but you’re s-so… horrifying!” she managed.

“And you sound like someone fed you nothing but helium since birth,” he growled, before leaning back down, offering the mare her package.

She reached a pair of shaky forehooves up to grab it, just standing there wide-eyed at the human. His deep red lenses glared back into her pinprick-sized irises. He just shook his head and turned away, soon checking over the numerous flowers once more.

“These are for sale, right?” he asked, pointing to a bouquet of multi-colored, blossoming plants.

Roseluck just remained on her back, giving a shaky nod. The human checked the price tag, before nodding. He pulled out a handful of bits and tossed them onto the counter.

“Keep the change, assuming that a tip isn’t too horrific for you,” he said, wiggling his fingers at the mare, putting on a mock scary voice. Moments later, he grabbed the bundle of flowers and made his exit, his duster billowing behind him.

As Roseluck continued to lay on her back due to the terrifying creature she’d just witnessed, a bright pink mare with a green mane and tail entered from a backroom, a small pail of flowers in her mouth. She looked down in shock and sat it aside.

“My goodness, Roseluck, what happened!” questioned the florist to her sister.

“Daisy, th-that human thing the newspapers were talking about came in…” said the downed mare. “He was just so tall and mean-looking and scary… I-I couldn’t help it! The horror! The horror!"

“That’s awful!” shouted the other earth mare, joining in with her sister’s fearful ramblings. “The horror! The horr-”

She cut herself off, noticing the bits on the countertop nearby.

“-Oh hey, he left a great tip!” squeaked the pink mare, perking up instantly as her cream-colored sister remained petrified.

Courier Six stood in the Center of Sweet Apple Acres. The sun above hung a bit lower as it was later into the evening. Was on the last delivery of the day now. The human looked down at a clipboard to see the last pony on his route. He flipped the page up a bit to see a small map and nodded to himself. The final name was… Golden Harvest. Just a quick double check and he was back to advancing towards her home.

It was quite tall, a deep orange coloration, with numerous carrot-based decorations adorning it. Six stepped along the trail through the carrot-filled fields, making sure not to disturb the crops, and before long he was standing at her front door. After a moment, he knocked, as there was no mailbox in sight to leave the mail in, and unlike Roseluck’s shop, he was respecting the privacy of her domicile.

“Hello!” he called out. “Package here for Golden Harvest!”

He heard a feminine voice call back.

“Ugh, just a sec!” she replied.

Six just stood there, waiting in silence as he looked around the farm, instinctively examining it. He reached up a hand and scratched his upper forearm as he just stood there awkwardly.

A few dozen seconds or so later, the door swung open, revealing an orange-colored mare. She looked up at him, stepping back in surpise as she realized he definitely wasn’t a fellow pony.

“Woah! You’re that uh… that thing who killed the Bugbear back at the dam!” she said in shock. “I was there! I-in the crowd I mean!”

“A lot of others were,” he shrugged, offering the mare her parcel in an outstretched hand.

“Wait, I thought you helped AJ on her farm,” she pondered, not grabbing the delivery as she stared at him in a mixture of awe and curiosity. “You’re a courier now?”

“Always was,” he shrugged, thrusting the box forwards. “One with a package delivery for Ms. Harvest,”

“Gah! Fooey with that old name,” she huffed. “Just call me Carrot Top! Everypony else does anyway.”

“Right, well then, delivery for Carrot Top,” the human said with a huff. “Y-yeah! Sorry!” she said with a chuckle, finally grabbing the cardboard box from his hand.

He checked off the final name on his clipboard as she looked at his fingers.

“Those uh… claws of yours look cool, bet they could dig up carrots real good!” she shouted with a smile.

“Sometimes,” he said, putting his notes away.

“That’s pretty cool!” she offered, still with a smile. “Maybe when the harvest comes in, you could help? I-if you’re fine with it!”

He stared down at her, no emotions visible due to his mask, though his red lenses gave off a sense of dread to the mare. She looked up at him with uncertainty, as if she was trying to figure out whether to speak, or apologize, or slam the door in his face... or some combination of the three.

“Maybe one day,” he offered, giving a small nod, easing the tension.

She let loose a sigh of relief.

“Well that’s nice of you!” she said with a smile. “Maybe you can watch my standup routines sometime too!”

“You’re a comedian?” he questioned.

“Sometimes… it just feels right to do stand-up sometimes,” she said, giving a small, slightly embarrassed blush.

“What, like Cherry Berry?” he chuckled, taking a jab at his friend though she wasn’t here to get equally embarrassed as the mare before him.

“Oh you know her? I love her donkey jokes!” squeaked the carrot farmer.

“Oooof course you do,” he droned, almost giving a dry chuckle at that, before he soon turned to leave. “Take care, Carrot.”

“Don’t you mean take carerot?” she snickered.

The Courier just remained still, turned away from her. He was unsure exactly what to say to that, and he felt himself blink a few times under the mask, as if he didn’t even know that joke was real or not. From nowhere he swore he heard the faint sound of drums being hit, creating a ba dum-tss! sound, however, he was also sure it was an auditory hallucination.

“I guess my standup stunned you into silence, huh?” the mare giggled.

“Sure… we’ll go with that,” he nodded, finally speaking and breaking his looming silence. “Take ca- See ya.”

With that, he was gone, leaving the smiling earth mare to give him a wave with one of her forehooves as he vanished into the orchard, back towards Ponyville.

“Is he gonna be here soon?” asked Scootaloo, her wings fluttering like that of a hummingbird’s as she looked up at her rainbow-themed idol.

“Squirt, he said maybe,” pointed out Rainbow Dash as she lazily hovered a few feet above her little sister. “Don’t be too disappointed if he doesn-”

“There he is!” squeaked the filly, pointing a forehoof towards the edge of the park. Cresting a nearby hill, they saw the bipedal, jacketed frame of the human. In one hand was a large bouquet of numerous flowers, and in the other was… a pack of bread.

He himself soon spotted the two pegasi and began to make his way over to the duo. Trailing behind him were Cherry Berry, Dinky, and Derpy, with the two adult mares carrying large saddlebags.

Before long, Cherry had set out a checker-patterned picnic blanket beneath a large tree, and the group, and Derpy decorated it with numerous muffins for the group to eat. Scootaloo was munching on a blueberry one as the Courier ripped open the bouquet, letting anypony make flower sandwiches with the bread.

“Those from Roseluck’s?” she asked, wiping away some crumbs from her muzzle.

“Yeah, you guys eat uh… daffodil sandwiches and all that shi-... stuff,” he nodded as Cherry Berry made a small sandwich for herself.

“Oh Six, we told you that you didn’t have to pack anything,” smiled Derpy.

“Ah it’s fine,” the human said, grabbing some bread and flowers for himself.

Dash munched on a sandwich of her own as she and the others watched him make his, picking flowers at random and shoving them between the bread slices.

“I thought you guys mainly ate meat,” pointed out the blue pegasus after she swallowed her bite.

“I figured why not try something new,” shrugged the human, before he adjusted his mask.

The others watched in anticipation, leaning in. Dinky even paused herself, her open mouth hovering just a few inches away from her own sandwich as she watched the ordeal.

The human took a large bite from the food, crunching through it with ease. As he chewed, they couldn’t see it, but his face scrunched up a bit. Had he been a weaker man who’d eaten less disgusting stuff, he would’ve spat it out. As it stood, he groaned as he chewed. Soon the mailman forced down the plantlife and bread mixture down his throat with a strong swallow.

“That tastes like fucking shit…”

Everything was silent, dead quiet to an eerie degree…

No noise, not even the scuttling of insects or the squirming of worms sounded out in the darkness.

Soon enough, an inky black smoke enveloped the already dark room. The walls were made of ancient, cracked stone, with the occasional droplet of dampness and condensation dripping down off of them. Several vines and patches of dirt had come through the cracks and the faults, yet they still held, sturdier than ever despite their age and weathering.

In the center of the room was an old wooden table, with several pieces of metal holding the old, damp wood together. From the smog came a single, gnarled hand, which slammed down, palm-first onto the tabletop. Five claw-like nails dug small trenches through the wood as the palm balled into a fist.

The black mist began to take shape, and before long, an equine skull glared down, as if something that he despised sat on the wooden piece of furniture. A pair of donkey ears hung down, gray, shaggy fur dangling off them. He growled, breathing heavily. No doubt he’d taken quite a while to get back to his dingy hideout, possibly multiple days, even.

“That bastard!” he hissed, smoke billowing from his mouth as the tiny, greenish fireballs of his eyes continued to glare at the tabletop. If looks could kill, his definitely would’ve. “Humans, always getting in the way.”

His small, frail frame soon paced through the room, a large, gnarly wooden staff materializing in his right hand as he did. He used it like a cane as he glanced around the room. No decorations or pieces of furniture adorned the room, other than a few overturned wooden chairs, one of which he grabbed and forced back up, letting him take a seat.

He pointed his staff towards a dusty, dirty corner of the black room and grunted, the tip of his staff lighting a deep green as he pumped some magic into it. He huffed and hissed as soon enough, something slowly began to take shape as the wind picked up, billowing about.

Before long a skeletal, piggish beast stood before him, though he was deeply panting in exertion. Had he still had sweat glands, he’d likely be forced to wipe his brow by this point.

The boar just stood there, no green embers in its eye sockets. For the moment, it was just an elaborate statue, no different than the table he’d raked his claws across earlier. He scoffed at his creation’s uselessness, reaching out a hoofed foot to kick the pig beast down. It fell to the stone floor with a dull thud, making no attempt to get back up.

“Not back at full power yet, soon though...” he growled, clutching his chest through the robe.

He didn’t finish his monologue and instead put some more of his dampened magic into his staff, with it sparking from overuse as he growled. He soon had to grab it with both hands, huffing even more as he did.

“Come on now!” grunted the donkey.

Green smoke and embers whirled about in the spherical tip of his staff. Soon, the glassy ball’s interior took proper form, and soon displayed an image. It was a strange image, being one of a statue. However, this wasn’t a beautiful, or pristine statue. No, it was bizarre to look at.

Three forms were sculpted in stone...

One, a cowering, frail, male centaur with tiny, barely-there horns. He looked weak, pathetic, not powerful at all. A disgraced tyrant, no doubt.

Another, a buggish, pissed off, pony-like creature, obviously feminine, a long, gnarled horn adorning her head. No doubt she was a failed ruler hissing at all of the world as she remained eternally in stone.

The third was out of place, being a small pegasus filly. Had she not been frozen in time one would even call her cute and not threatening in the slightest. Useless by herself, all things considered.

He gave a small series of chuckles at their misfortune, though remained scowling, his skeletal head literally morphing to accommodate his emotions visually.

“Plan B it is then,” growled the donkey, his hateful fireball eyes glaring at each of the trio’s visages. Truth be told, he was disgusted by them, by their… subparness… But he was willing to swallow his pride! After all, everything would fall into place soon!

Just needed a bit more power; needed to stack the deck first...

Sidequesting and Digressing

The stars above lit up the train station as Derpy sat there, waiting and looking out at the tracks and the rolling hills beyond Ponyville. Canterlot was illuminated high above, many miles away. It was as glorious as always. Currently, she was on a waiting bench, with a certain mailman and little gray unicorn next to her.

The mailmare let loose a grunt of discomfort, stretching her neck out and rubbing the back of it with one of her forehooves. However, she didn’t quite get the tenseness out. Soon Derpy felt immense relief as a palm pressed into her tender muscles, massaging them gently. The pegasus let loose a thankful purr of satisfaction almost like a cat as the Courier rubbed the soreness out of her spine.

“Your muscles are tense as hell,” he said. In one hand he held a large, fizzy, sarsaparilla float, with the icecream staying relatively cool due to the night air.

“I’ve just been a bit stressed, worrying about the Doc and my deliveries and all,” she sighed with a frown.

“Chin up, he should be back soon, like you said,” he nodded, removing his hand from her back to adjust his mask a bit, letting him enjoy his sugary drink. Already her neck felt better, as the human’s knowledge of muscular anatomy and pressure points helped ease her pain.

“Woah, your hand thingies are like magic!” sighed Derpy. “You should work at the massage parlor!”

“Eh, I’m needed on the mail runs more,” he offered, sipping at his float.

“Thanks for waiting with me and Dinky, Six,” she said with a genuine smile. “It’s nice having a friend here, for both of us.”

“Ah it’s nothing,” he shrugged, soon sitting aside his half-finished drink. Dinky herself was sitting to the right of the Courier, slurping on her own fizzy drink as well, giving a few satisfied sighs at the delicious taste of the beverage. He’d bought it for her on their way over, with her holding it in her magic and slurping on it the whole trek to the station.

“Now careful my little muffin,” Derpy said matronly, “you don’t wanna get a brain freeze!”

“Now there’s an uncommon affliction, at least where I’m from,” added the human.

“I’m fine, mom!” asserted the filly, though the two adults gave minor chuckles at that.

From there, it was just a waiting game. About half an hour of sitting and checking his Pip-Boy occasionally out of instinct, the Courier and the others heard a loud train horn. Soon enough, it pulled into the station, and about a dozen late-night riders began to depart from the numerous carriages.

The trio stood up by now, with Dinky trailing a bit behind as Six and Derpy examined the crowd. While the groups dispersed about, dragging their luggage behind them, the mailmare’s crossed eyes straightened up a bit as she looked around for one stallion in particular. Six kept himself keen too, eyeing around and using his reflexes to help him quickly find Whooves; he was getting off three carts down, about thirtyish feet from the group.

“Ah, there he is,” the human tapped Derpy, pointing to the brown stallion.

Moments later, the Doc began approaching with a wave of a forehoof. Numerous saddlebags slung over his back clattered about as he trotted along.

“Oh Doc!” shouted Derpy, and immediately the pegasus mare bolted right at him, leaving both Dinky and Six in the dust.

The human watched as she practically slammed into the Doctor, almost knocking him over as she embraced him deeply in her forehooves… And then came the kissing. He scrunched his face behind the mask as the two basically began sucking face. And- yeah? Yep! There was definitely tongue in there!

“Jesus…” the human said.

He could practically feel Derpy’s love and passion from here, but damn they were just going right at it. As the two embraced deeply, the Doctor’s hooves even began trailing down Derpy’s back, rubbing against her wings for a few seconds before continuing towards her flank.

Upon seeing this, the Courier took action and bent down a bit. Immediately Dinky’s gaze was obstructed by a large, gloved hand, thoroughly blocking her sight.

“I think they used to do this in old holotapes,” the mailman smirked.

“Thanks…” the unicorn filly stated, finally turning around, so she was facing away from the whole ordeal, “...not like I’ve seen it a million times before...”

The human just managed a small “heh” in response as the filly began slurping down her partly melted float.

As he watched the two ponies swap spit, he couldn’t help but imagine this was what the hundreds, thousands of WW1, 2 and NCR veterans did the second they arrived back home. No wonder the baby boom happened… He soon blinked, reminding himself he was in Equestria, as the hardcore kissing session seemingly came to an end, with the two finally pulling away to get some air.

“Jesus, you can cut the pent-up sexual desires with a knife,” the human muttered to himself.

“Huh?” Dinky squeaked, pausing her slurps to look up at him.

“Nothing,” grunted the mailman.

Both Whooves and Derpy were blushing by this point, though the duo gave faces of relief as they realized basically nopony was around to see their public display of affection. Well, no pony at least.

“Ahem,” the Doctor managed, before waving to the Courier. “How are you, Mr. Six?”

“I was a lot better five minutes ago,” he snarked.

The two just blushed deeper, with them looking away and scratching the back of their heads in embarrassment.

“Well yes… it’s been a while,” admitted the Doc with a cough. “I know that was very ungentlecoltly of me, so you have my sincerest apologies!”

“I think the kid needs it more than me,” he looked down.

However, Dinky was too busy slurping her float to notice, as if the mixed flavors of ice-cream and soda had stolen all of her attention away. That was possibly for the best all things considered!

Whatever, he just shrugged it off.

“Listen, I’d love to stick around and watch you two suck faces with each other-” he cut himself off, blinking in realization at what the hell he had just said. “Actually, NO, no I would not!”

The two continued to look sheepish around the human, though Derpy managed a small giggle.

“Look, I have mail to deliver tomorrow, and since I don’t need to be an insomniac anymore, I’m gonna go get some rest,” he pointed behind his shoulder with a thumb. “I’ll catch up tomorrow when you’re less ho-... that.”

“Do you really have to phrase it like that?” huffed Derpy, rolling her eyes.

Dinky took an extra deep sip, still not paying attention to the “boring adult stuff” as she’d say. Her sucking the soda and icecream through the straw even made loud suction noises, covering up the conversation as is.

“Probably not. Either way though, I’m outta here,” the Courier said, turning and swishing his duster as he walked away, he brought up two fingers over his back as he left. “Peace.”

The two waved him off as he left and collected Dinky before long. Within the next hour, the human was flat on his back, asleep in his tiny wooden shit-shack.

Tonight was a dream night, but not a typical fun one with the Brain. Instead, something dark bubbled up into his mind. Most would call it a nightmare, or even some type of symptom of a mental disorder…

For the Courier, it was just fun and games.

Ahhh the moon. Yeah, that was familiar and ohhh yeah, the Lucky 38 in the distance. Mhm, never seen that before. Oh yeah, uh huh, and there’s the Khans and then there’s Benny. He felt the dirt under his knees, and the uncomfortable pebbles pressing into his shins as he was still forced down into the same kneeling position he’d had his brain blown apart in.

He wasn’t even listening to what the suited asshole had to say anymore. It was all a repeat. A memory that he’d seen and witnessed what felt like a thousand times. Too ingrained in his mind for it to ever dull or vanish, truthfully.

However, it did get a lot less threatening with each repeat. Sometimes he did it when he slept, in the rare dreams he did have, others he’d just drift off mentally, with the scenario forcing itself into his brain.

Sometimes... sometimes he’d even use lucid dreaming to cause the Tops chairman to say something else. Something goofy. It was almost tarnishing such an important moment in a way, but he was the one who got shot by the prick! As far as he was concerned, this fake dreamscape version of Benny would say whatever the Courier damn well pleased!

“Did I fire five shots or six?”

“Hope this doesn’t cause a Fallout between us!”

“You got too close, Shamus!”

And so on, and so forth…

The Courier sighed, his voice muffled by his mask as he looked up at the tribal with a sense of boredom of all things. This time, making Benny say something goofy didn't seem to work. Guess he wasn't lucid enough for the dream.

“Let’s get this over with,” he growled.

Through all of his repeated dreams, he couldn’t ever break the damn cuffs. Doomed to get shot in the head over and over and over again.

Fine! It was a part of him now anyways.

However, as Benny leveled his pistol at the Courier’s skull… Something strange happened. It was as if the dream itself took on a different air. It was hard to explain, but the world around him felt heavy. It felt more grounded and yet also slightly floaty at the same time. It was utterly bizarre.

The landscape around the Courier and Benny began to morph, became blurry, as if he'd gotten water in his eyes. Of course, the mailman blinked to clear his eyes. However, when they opened the Khans were... gone. Just disappeared from his vision within an instant. Even when he looked around, they didn't wander off or anything, they just weren't there.

He was a bit unsure of what to do or say from there. Eventually though, the blurriness came back, and he blinked again. He was quick though, jerking his eyes open in an instant. Yet that didn't fix anything...

Now the background was gone. New Vegas, Goodsprings, nothing but the cemetery and the hill and himself and… Benny, of course.

Six went to speak, to say something, insult the tribal, or shout a swear, (or likely some combination of them all) however, he just wound up coughing a choked gasp, as smoke billowed from his mouth and out the filters of his mask. The Courier began to cough, almost gagging as his lungs began to burn a bit. He tried shaking it off, tried getting up, tried growing fucking wings and flying away but as with every other time he tried escaping his fate...

It didn't.

Fucking.

Work!

After Six's failed escapes, Benny leaned in, looking into the Courier’s eye lenses. He cracked a smirk, though it wasn’t devious, like one would expect. It was a strange emotion to describe. Felt partly sad, even. It was as if Benny was as resigned to shooting the Courier as the mailman himself was to taking the bullet.

Moments later, everything slowed, as if he’d overdosed on Turbo. The wind, the chill, the dust, all of it just paused. Even particles of dirt hung in midair as Benny leaned further in.

And then, he spoke.

Not like a dream or a memory replaying itself to him. No, this was far, faaar different. Six felt as if he was listening to a real, thinking, breathing human being speak.

…

“You know… I don’t think that blue horse is gonna be anywhere around here to give you a therapy session this time,” Benny sighed. "Shame... I kinda liked her."

There was a click of the fated 9mm round entering Maria’s barrel.

The Courier was so stunned, even with his mask on, Benny felt his shock.

“What, you thought you were the only one knocking around up here?”

He didn’t even get a chance to reply befor-

BANG!

Two eyes shot open, and a bulky body jolted up, his chest heaved, and he grabbed at it, growling and grunting all the while. He even tugged off the mask to let himself chug a good portion of the contents of his flask, but the dryness of his mouth remained as he wiped his brow with a cloth.

“Fuck,” the Courier grunted through chapped lips. “What the fuck!”

He felt sick, partly like he needed to vomit. Checked the Pip-Boy, only a bit past four. Ah hell, He had another four hours until his shift! Didn’t feel like sleeping again and thus just rubbed his eyelids with his gloved fingers.

He soon shoved on the helmet and was outside, brewing more coyote chew into strong coffee. He checked his clock again as the minutes passed, and as he sat there on a stump, he soon felt something crawling against his right leg.

Six looked down to find a large spider scuttling up his pants. Was quite large, easily the size of a small tarantula, as long as his pointer finger. Hmmm.

He reached down, grabbing it with his large palm, the creature’s eight legs grasping at nothing as he adjusted his helmet and brought it up to his mouth…

Crunch!

He felt its legs get caught in his teeth as he snapped his jaws down on it. He rolled around the chunks of the arachnid in his maw with his tongue, nodding in satisfaction. He soon pulled a small salt packet from his satchel, sprinkling the twitching, oozing corpse of the creature with it.

From there he took a second chomp, fully biting off the front portion of the eight legged freak, and leaving only its thorax. He felt the juices of it dance on his tongue, the poison and the guts of the arachnid.

He just shrugged and finished it with a third bite, with another wet crunch! ringing out as he then washed down the creepy crawly with a long sip from his coffee. From there, he was honestly feeling a lot better. He had a minor meal in him and half a cup of boiling hot coffee. Made the fact he’d been insulted by a somehow sentient Benny easier!...

Okay, it didn’t, but still.

Maybe he could get to feeling better soon. Maybe. Possibly…

Ugh fuck! Just focus on the mail route first!

And thus, he did. For the rest of the early morning, he focused on his upcoming shift, and when he was needed, he arrived almost a full hour early at the post office! He wasn’t exactly as exhausted as he had been in the past, but he was slightly groggy. Was getting too sloppy, had been having too much sleep recently.

Gah, always something!

As he sat waiting in front of his locker for his shift to begin, he noted Derpy hadn’t come in. Right, day off, Doc fucking, probably. Yeah. Anyways, tasks at hand, focus on them. From there, he had his saddlebags, his route, and he clocked in, and he was gone.

The town of Ponyville rushed by him in a blur, with him delivering the same old mail. Magazine subscriptions, Wonderbolts adverts, the occasional brochure and retirement letter, and so on, and so forth.

No Roseluck or Carrot Top today. Probably for the best. No freaking out or bad puns. However, he did soon take note of a particular occurrence as he stumbled through his deliveries.

As he walked towards a house on the edge of town, he saw a deep purplish mare standing outside of her front door. She swayed two and fro, and he could see a variety of berries adorning her flank. He checked his list as he advanced, looking for her assumed name.

“Uh… Berry Punch?” he offered.

She turned, a drunken blush adorning her muzzle.

“Who wants ta kno?” she slurred.

“Your mailman,” Six replied, making her perk up, offering her a package.

She blinked a few times, and finally took it, speaking as she did.

“Yer that ah… thingie that did the thing!” the mare nodded.

He was silent for a few seconds.

“...yes. I am the thingie that did the thing,” he flatly replied.

“Yeah uh, thanks for that and stuff,” she managed.

There was a pause between the two. If it wasn’t for the mask, he would’ve smelt the alcohol wafting off of her breath. Even still, he knew she definitely wouldn’t pass a sobriety test. Jesus, it was only about one thirty or so by this point.

“You alright?” he offered.

“I’m fit as a-” she hiccuped, “-ahem, fit as a fiddle!”

“So why are you just standing outside?” the human asked, motioning to the front door.

“I uh, forgot my keys again,” the mare grunted.

He let loose an annoyed, disappointed sigh.

“Step aside, wine-hound,” he grunted, pulling out a screwdriver and bobby pin from his satchels. Before long, he was on his knees, fidgeting with the lock.

“Oh thanks a bunch mistah,” she slurred. “Yer a kind uh… thingie.”

“Thank me by going to a sobriety clinic,” he grunted, popping one of the tumblers inside, moving to the next.

“Hey, I don’t have a problem!” she defended.

“You locked yourself out of your own house an hour past noon and now you’re having what amounts to an alien acting as your locksmith,” the human pointed out.

She was silent at that, giving a deep frown.

“I-I’m sorry ‘bout that,” she replied softly after a few seconds of silence.

He sighed again, popping another tumbler as he looked back towards her. Through the booze he could see her genuineness. Seemed embarrassed, unsure, and thankful, all in one. Had seen stuff like it before, especially in Freeside. Though she wasn't nearly as bad off as your typical junkie there. Thank God for that... even if he wasn't exactly religious.

“Just… work on yourself,” he replied, his tone softer as he went back to fidgeting with the lock. “Not for me, but for yourself.”

Berry Punch nodded once more at that.

He contemplated offering a Fixer, but he didn’t think it’d be a good idea. Besides, maybe the mare could curb it herself. Didn't seem that bad off- Gah fuck! This began as a mailrun!...

Guess the packages could wait a little bit.

He finished up the lock, opening the door for the mare. She looked up at him with awe as he removed his makeshift lockpicking tools and slid them back into his satchels.

“I’m not an adick- addict you know,” she assured. He believed it, as she sounded honest, though she continued. “I just… go a bit too far sometimes.”

“Lay off that for a bit,” he assured, his tone almost like a doctor soothing a patient.

She nodded, fidgeting a bit, with her hoof gently kicking up a cloud of dirt. She honestly looked cute, just needed less booze in her. After a few more moments, he shook himself back to the task at hand.

“Look, I’d hang around for a bit longer, but I’ve gotta finish my mailrun,” he explained.

“W-wait! Uh, look, would you wanna swing by sometime in the future for a uh…” she paused, forgetting the word, before clicking her hoof on the ground, further knocking aside some dirt and pebbles, “...a reasonable amount a’ drinking?”

“Maybe,” he shrugged.

She nodded once more at that, giving a small, thankful smile. From there, she soon went inside, turning just one last time to give the human a small wave as he left. He returned it as he walked away.

Another hour or so of mailrunning later, and he soon found himself with only a small handful of deliveries left to make. He crossed off the name Noteworthy from his list, and then checked the next stop. He himself ceased walking for just a second, giving a sigh as he looked over the name.

Lyra Heartstrings.

Right, had been a bit since he’d seen her and Bon Bon. He continued on from there…

The house looked nice, was more towards the center of town, but overall, a decent two storey home to raise a family in. Either way, as he walked up to the mailbox, the front door shot open, revealing the minty mare.

“Six!” Lyra shouted.

He nodded, giving a bit of a courteous wave back, though didn't say anything.

“This is the first time you’re seeing our place!” Lyra mused happily.

“Yeah, and I won’t be here for long,” he chuckled back, opening their mailbox and stuffing in a bundle of letters. “Deliveries first, friendships later.”

“Lame!” huffed the mare, trotting over to get her letters and packages.

“Well maybe next time you should…” he paused for a moment at that, his voice going a little groggy, “fuck!”

“Who?” she snarked back, however the snarkiness quickly left her as she watched him lean down with a hiss of genuine agitation.

The Courier lurched forwards, grunting as his hands grabbed harshly at the mare’s mailbox. He growled once more. Fucking hell! Felt as if he’d suddenly gotten a strong headache. The world around him looked strange, the colors blurred together as he tried to blink it off, having no luck at the moment. It almost reminded him of the dream he'd had last night...

“Woah, you alright Six?” asked the unicorn, concern evident in her voice.

He didn’t respond right away, as he reached up one of his palms to his head, grabbing the upper portion of his helmet, as if that would somehow ease the sudden uncomfortableness. He was a master of powering through bullshit, so he was putting his concentration into that, at least long enough to finish his shift, anyways.

“I’m fine, just a little tired,” he paused, straining and then shaking it off, forcing himself back to normal as best he could. The spinning, hyper-colorful brightness around him seemed to fade.

She didn't buy it, obviously.

“I’m fine!” he repeated.

Lyra frowned at that.

“Come on, I’m your friend, I’m not just gonna let you sit here and suffer!” she replied stubbornly. “Now do you need some tea or something?”

He stood back up straight, looking around. The headache and symptoms were gone. He honestly felt perfectl- well, decently fine now! Of course, getting her to believe it was the harder part. And even still, he pondered to himself just what the hell happened.

“No!” he grunted. “I’m alright now. I have to finish the mail rou-”

“Forget the route!” she spat back.

“You wouldn’t understand,” he shook his head, turning away.

“Come on Six, don’t be like that!” she called after him as he walked away.

His gait was straight and determined, he just waved at her over his shoulder, heading onwards to finish his deliveries, leaving a worried unicorn behind him. From then on, it was strange. He felt much better now. No headaches, and no dread over his dreams. It was as if all the negative emotions and sensations had just poofed out of existence, for lack of a better term.

A bit later, he was basically at the end of the route for the day, and as he checked over the names one last time, he saw two. He recognized Fluttershy but… Discord?

Who in the hell was that? Gah, nevermind, he’d find out later, when he finished his delivery!

The delivery addresses were both to Fluttershy’s cottage anyways, maybe it was a boy(or girl)friend or someone close to the cream-yellow pegasus? The human just shrugged, continuing onwards towards her cottage, package in hand.

As he walked on, he felt as if something strange was going to happen.

Could even describe it as Chaotic sensation bubbling up deep in his stomach...

A Chaotic Meeting

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The three dull thuds rang out as the Courier stood there awkwardly holding his final packages. He tapped his foot, even checking his Pip-Boy as he heard a soft voice ring out.

“…just give me a minute,” Fluttershy called out, her soft voice muffled even further.

Had the human not been equipped with such keen ears, he likely wouldn’t have heard her. He almost went to check his Pip-Boy again, but realized he’d done it the first time and just shrugged in minor annoyance. As he stood waiting, he wracked his brain thinking of the name.

The name Discord did sound a bit familiar but… just wasn’t fully ringing the bells. He could’ve sworn one of the ponies had talked about him before, but at the moment, the human was a bit clueless.

Still had the chaotic sensation inside him though, but he shoved it deep inside, buried it like he could so well by this point. Either way, he waited a bit longer and soon enough the cream-colored pegasus mare opened her front door, looking up at the mailman with a smile.

“Package delivery, Fluttershy,” he offered her the box.

“Oh goodness mister Six, thank you very much,” she said with a gentle smile. “This is that carrot extract I ordered, this stuff is very hard to get your hooves on!”

“Right, uh… there’s one more package here for a-” he paused, checking the notes again, “-Discord?”

“Huh?” she questioned for a moment, before a look of realization crossed her face. “Right, he recently put this down as his address.”

“What for?” he questioned.

“Every time some mailpony went to deliver to his actual house they’d… get lost,” she explained.

“He live out in the Everfree or something?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“No,” she said, as if she was figuring out what exactly to say. Eventually though, she just shrugged. “He lives in his own dimension.”

The Courier just stared at her. She stared back, feeling a tad uncomfortable at his red-lensed gaze.

“Excuse me?” the human asked.

"Well, he’s a being of pure chaos magic that has the ability to jump between dimensions and do a lot of other strange stuff,” elaborated the mare, her voice soft as ever. “But don’t worry, like I said when you were here a few weeks ago, he’s really, really sweet when you get to know him! He's the absolute nicest draconequus I’ve ever met. He just has a… unusual sense of humor.”

“Right…” Six nodded, only partly recalling the last time he was here.

There were a few seconds of silence.

“I still need to deliver this package to him,” the Courier pointed out.

“I can grab it for you,” she offered.

“I would, but I’d prefer to give this directly to the recipient in question, or at least his mailbox,” the Courier shrugged. “Professionalism and all.”

In truth, it was more than likely self-induced perfectionism, but who was keeping track, right?

“I am supposed to have a tea party with him today...” Fluttershy said in thought, raising a hoof to her chin. “I guess he wouldn’t mind an extra guest, just for a few minutes.”

“This is the last delivery for the day... You don’t mind me waiting then?” the human questioned.

“Of course not,” she said, giving a kind smile.

“Alright, I can just wait here for him to arrive an-”

“Actually, it’d be better if you did it inside,” she explained. “Typically he just teleports himself directly into my cottage.”

“...right,” the human shrugged.

“Just come in and give me a moment to get the snacks ready,” she said kindly, backing up so the bulky man could enter.

“You don’t have to worry about that, I ate this morning,” he replied, ducking down a bit to enter.

“It’s alright, I always make extra,” she smiled. “Besides, if you try some of my teacakes, I’m sure you’d understand why a vegetarian diet is better.”

“Uh huh…” the human nodded. Before long, he was seated at the same small table he’d had been in a few weeks prior.

Fluttershy was in the kitchen making tea and finishing up the confections, humming to herself as the human was skimming his memories. While sitting there, he began to recall their previous conversations, likely jogged by the familiar surroundings this time, along with his brief conversation with the soft-spoken pegasus.

Discord?

Discord.

Discord…

Right, right! He remembered now, a bit at least.

The Courier had forgotten about him in truth. As he pondered over it, he remembered that Pinkie said this ‘Discord’ was the Lord of Chaos or something? The insomnia induced stupor he’d been in at the time likely clouded his brain. He only remembered bits and pieces of the prior conversation. The bullet wound to the head didn’t help either.

He soon shook himself from the past, faded memories into the present, and looked back up to see Fluttershy fly into the room, a tray in hoof. After she sat it on the table, the mailman looked around, examining the cottage. Most of the animals had scattered from his presence, as they did last time he was here.

“So, when will he be arriving?” asked the human.

“All I have to do is call out for him and he’ll appear,” she explained with a smile. “He always keeps an ear out for his friends, like me, Spike, and Big Mac.”

“What is he, omniscient?” Six asked.

Fluttershy thought for a moment, rattling the word around in her head, before she seemingly remembered what it meant, her ears perking up a bit.

“Ooh! Uh… no,” she answered. “He can use his magic to do a lot of things, but he’s not all-knowing.”

“Guess it makes sense, given he didn't know he had a package,” Six muttered, sitting the small cardboard box in question onto the table.

“I’m sure he’ll be extremely thankful about you bringing his packa-”

Immediately, the mare was interrupted as right between the human and the pony, a portal opened. It was like someone literally tore a hole through space-time and the air itself; no different than one would rip their way through a wrapped present or thin piece of cloth.

From the hole in reality came a very strange creature. Goat-like head, goatee, crazy yellow eyes, but the horns were mix-matched, one being more deer-like. Had a lion’s paw and a bird-like hand as well. Very, very strange, reminiscent of something like the Nightstalkers. Honestly the creature would look right at home in the Big MT… like a lot of other things he’d seen around here, actually.

“A package! For me!?!” the creature excclaimed, his voice masculine and jovial. “Why, you shouldn’t have!”

The chimera-like being, no doubt Discord, slithered his body fully out of the rip in reality. Very serpent-like. He just floated in midair as he reached out his forelimbs to grab the box off the table. It was then the Courier noticed he had a Hawaiian shirt on, the kind he’d seen in numerous old magazines and such.

“Discord!” Fluttershy exclaimed with excitement, her wings flapping a tiny bit as she hovered up to hug the still-floating chimera. “It’s so great seeing you again!”

“And I can say the same for you, dear Fluttershy,” he said, gently embracing her with his right arm, his lion’s paw resting on her back as he took her into a hug. “I would’ve been back from the eighth dimension sooner, but that monkey man gave me more trouble than I expected; was gone for a few days longer than I intended!”

Fluttershy giggled at that and Six just watched as the draconequus literally zipped the hole in reality back up, as if it were the fly on a pair of jeans. The human blinked a few times, staring blankly…

Had the tea been spiked? Probabl- no, wait, he hadn’t even taken a sip! Ah shit.

Can’t even use the hallucination excuse either! Fuck.

Six just sat there in silence, mentally grappling with the fact he was watching what amounted to a demigod hugging a miniature horse. Discord himself had set his red pupils on the package the mailman had brought. Fluttershy broke off the hug as the draconequus began to look over it.

“Ooohh, it’s from Tree Hugger!” the chaotic creature said with a smirk.

He then reached out his bird-like foreclaw, running his sharp pointer-talon down the side of the package. After a second, Discord flattened his palm to paper thin proportions, reached inside the small slit in the box, and then pulled out the contents. Somehow (likely via magic) it had survived the trip, and in the chaotic creature held a small bonsai tree. It even had a tiny pear growing from it!

“A bonsai, how thoughtful!” chuckled Discord, before snapping his fingers, causing the small pear to grow easily to the size of the tree itself… and also turn blue. “I just love blueberry-flavored pears, this will go perfect with our tea party!”

“It looks delicious,” Fluttershy giggled at that, nodding her head in agreement. “Let me get the cutlery, I’ll be right back!”

As she flew into the kitchen, the human was just trying to… take it all in, for lack of a better term. Magic was one thing, but this was far, faaar out there, even for him. Just roll with the punches, no need to ponder.

He exhaled.

Upon hearing the noise, Discord’s gaze snapped over to him. The draconequus noticed the burly mailman for the first time now that his beloved pegasus was out of sight. As he stared at the human, his face was one of concentration, perhaps a smidge of confusion in there?

“Do I know you?” asked the large serpent.

“I would honestly be concerned if you did,” Six replied.

Discord managed a small chuckle.

“Ahhh, a dry sense of humor, is it?” he questioned with a smirk, his singular sharp tooth hanging out of his mouth as he did.

“I was just here to drop off my deliveries. With that out of the way, I can head home,” Six said, scooting back in his chair to stand up.

“What, do I ‘scawre’ you?” Discord chuckled, putting on a mocking voice.

“Not particularly,” Six replied as he remained seated, giving a tired, annoyed sounding sigh. “I would just rather go home and get some rest after a day of work.”

“How about we get into proper introductions… you’re a courier, right?” Discord mused, his elongated body slithering around in the air as he began to look over every inch of the human.

“Could also say mailman but Courier Six, yeah,” the human nodded.

“And I suppose you can already guess my name,” smirked the draconequus.

“You’re Discord, the Lord of Chaos or whatever,” he nodded.

“You flatter me,” chuckled Discord, waving his bird-like claw with a smirk. “Why, I’m turning red just from hearing your compliments!”

The Courier watched as the chaotic creature turned a deep, beet red, his entire body taking on the same shade.

“Right,” the mailman said flatly.

“Though I must admit, it is quite bizarre a human found its way into Equestria,” mused Discord.

The Courier minorly perked up at that.

“And what would you know about humans?” he asked.

“Hmmm, what do I know about humans?” the draconequus smirked back, pressing a finger up to his chin in faux thought. “Well that depends, are we talking about the ones from the mirror or the ones from other Hasbro properties?”

“...what?” blanked Six.

“You could consider Equestria Girls its own property. Hmm. I also know that there are some that love going ‘Yo Joe!’ and then there’s the ones who had their planet invaded by giant transforming alien robots, and then there’s the-”

The Courier reached up a gloved hand and clamped it around Discord’s muzzle.

“I don’t have time for your quirks,” growled the burly mailman. “Just answer the question.”

Discord grew a scowl, before suddenly, the Courier felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned to see a second Discord sitting in a formerly empty chair right beside him.

“Huh?” grunted the human, turning back to see what he held in his hand was a life-sized replica of the draconequus… Which was fully made of chocolate.

“It’s very rude to touch others without their permission, you know,” Discord scolded, wagging a pointer finger.

Six just increased his grip, shattering the muzzle of the fake Discord.

“Manners aren’t particularly as important where I’m from,” the human said, before adjusting his helmet and biting into the chocolate.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Manners maketh man,” Discord replied with a scolding, almost teacher-like tone.

“There’s a lot more to make a man, namely nerves and flesh and muscle and internal organs,” the human countered.

The draconequus rolled his eyes at the snark. Discord could see it in his… lenses, even when faced with what was the closest thing to a deity Equestria had, the human wasn’t going to play along, at least not in a fun way.

Unfortunate.

“I’ll have you know I have a theoretical degree in physics, and I will not put up with this snark!” Discord boasted. “I can make a million men with a snap of my finger, flesh and bone and all!”

“Guess you’re not as dumb as you look, then,” snarked the human.

“Oh yeah? Easy for you to say with that mask on!” growled the chaotic creature, before suddenly reaching into his Hawaiian shirt’s pocket and pulling out a large, camcorder-like device. It was a bright orange color and had the words ‘Face-Revealer 3000’ emboldened on it.

He pointed it right at the Courier’s face and pressed a comically large red button on the side, as if he was recording something. However, as he looked at the flip-out screen, all he saw was blackness. The serpentine embodiment of chaos huffed and smacked the side of the camera.

Still nothing.

He smacked it again, and finally the screen lit up!...

...Only to reveal nothing but static.

“Doh, I knew I should’ve tried this thing before I bought it!” he spat, finally throwing aside.

From out of nowhere a trash can magically poofed into existence, catching the orange camera, before they both vanished in a cloud of magical dust.

Six didn’t even question it at this point.

“You done?” he asked monotonically, sitting aside the leftover piece of the chocolate muzzle before checking his Pip-Boy.

“I figured you’d be less boring to be around, given you’re basically an alien,” the annoyed trickster said. “Tell me, are all the humans from your world as flat and as dull as you’re shaping up to be?”

“Only when we need to be,” the Courier replied. In truth, he was chuckling on the inside, having a bit of fun with the whole ordeal.

“...You do know I could turn you into a gopher, right?” Discord threatened.

“That’d only be the… third weirdest thing to happen to me,” Six shot back. “And that’s being generous.”

“I have no idea why Fluttershy would invite a buzzkill like you to our tea party,” Discord said.

“Like I said, I was just here to drop off the mail,” defended the human. “She roped me into this.”

“Gah, sometimes she’s too kind for her own good!” the draconequus huffed, slumping down a bit.

“I can just sneak out the front door,” offered the human with a smirk.

“After she so graciously invited you in?” Discord shot back.

“You don’t even want me here,” pointed out Six.

“I’d rather have you here than make Fluttershy disappointed,” the chaotic creature retorted. "Unlike you, I know what it's like to be a good friend."

“Whatever,” shrugged the human, reaching for a cup of tea.

Discord himself just turned away with a “hmph,” crossing his arms as he did.

From there, the Courier sipped at his drink, and Discord tapped his bird-like claws on the table. Each time one made contact, a dull thump would ring out, and the tablecloth would change color. It went from pale pink, to a fiery red, forest green, deep purple and so on and so forth. Six just looked at him in thought as he continued turning the cloth into various colors.

He briefly turned to look into the kitchen, he could faintly see Fluttershy butchering the large blueberry-pear hybrid thing Discord made with a big meat cleaver. After that, he looked back to the chaotic creature in question, staring at him. The inner biologist in the human almost wanted to ask how… well, any part of him worked. Though for now, he just remained silent.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Discord huffed, before snapping his fingers.

Immediately a polaroid camera appeared, snapping a shot of him and the Courier. The human’s lenses helped keep him from being blinded fully by the obnoxious flash, and a moment later, the chaotic chimera grabbed the resulting photo as it slid from a small slot in the camera.

“One second,” Discord said, shaking the photo in question. However, as it developed, the picture looked off.

As the Courier looked, he realized it was all in a photo-negative coloration. Discord grunted in frustration and shook the picture again. Now everything was too bright, with the Courier wearing a deep pink set of the riot armor, with Discord being a strange shade of blue.

“Pfft, cheap fifth dimensional junk,” huffed the draconequus, before he folded the picture into an origami crane, and it flew away.

Discord then looked to the camera, and casually tossed it behind himself, with it slamming against the wall. Several small squirrels and mice scattered as it exploded into confetti on impact.

"What is with my luck with electronics today?" bemoaned the chaotic overlord.

“So... You can do basically anything with your magic, huh?” Six asked.

“Anything as long as it’s chaotic,” Discord replied.

“Including jumping dimensions, apparently,” the human followed up.

“Bah, that’s child’s play!” smirked the mix-matched chimera, waving his lion-like paw with a snicker.

There was a pause as the human pondered something.

“So why exactly can’t you send me back to mine?” growled the human.

“Like I said, I can only work within certain confines. I’m not really knowledgeable on Bethesda; Hasbro never did any cross promotional brand deals with them to my knowledge, so Fallout isn’t my forte,” he replied.

The human was silent.

…

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Jeez, watch the potty mouth; some of us have manners, you know!” Discord huffed.

The human just remained silent this time. He was wanting to go back to the ‘maketh man’ comment, but he felt like listening rather than snarking was actually more important for the moment.

“Look, I didn’t summon you here, and that’s all you need to know. And I don’t think I could get you back either, even if I put my all into it. As I've said there’s only certain universes I can hop through and time travel around, alright!” he explained. “I blame copyright laws for that one.”

Six blinked his eyes closed, shaking his head to see if he was dreaming or not. After a second, he opened them. When he didn’t appear back inside his shit-shack, he just gave a sigh, realizing this was real.

Weirder than the Big MT?... Maybe? Possibly.

He just remained silent at that, and before long, Fluttershy came back in with an assortment of desserts made from the large pear-blueberry thing. Little pies and crumpets and whatnot.

“Sorry for taking so long, I didn't expect to be making these,” she explained, wiping a small bead of sweat from her brow.

“Fluttershy, dear, you do realize I could’ve whipped this all together in a literal snap of my fingers, right?” Discord said, his tone a lot less devious, sounded genuine, at least to the Courier.

“Oh no, it’s alright, really! You are my guest after all!” she replied with a small blush.

Discord smiled softly back at her.

Ah, so that’s how it was. Snake-goat-deer-bird-thing and shy pegasus.

Wonder what the kids would look li-

He felt a tap on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, but are you going to rudely sit there in silence the entire time, or are you going to join us for this tea party?” Discord said, moving his long, slithering tail away from the Courier, who saw that the tip of it had morphed into a hand-like appendage. Again, he didn’t question it.

“Oh yes, I’d love to hear about the wildlife back where you come from,” Fluttershy said, before going behind her mane a tad. “If you don’t mind, I mean.”

Six leaned back in his seat.

“Lotta giant insects,” he said in thought. “I think I tried studying them on occasion but uh, I was a bit too busy eatin’ em to do much else.”

Fluttershy frowned at that.

“I know it’s gross, but that’s just how life is as I said,” the human shrugged. “But really though, we humans are decent at working with most creatures. Got good at taming them. Had dogs, cows, and cats back in the day, some people even kept stuff like lizards and birds and whatever.”

“Would you say you’re good at that?” Fluttershy asked. “Keeping animals safe and in check, I mean.”

“A bit yeah… I remember helping a guy, uh, Chalk. Yeah, helped him and his tribe herd some Big Horners back in my time in Zion. I used to go on cattle drives too… I think?" the human shrugged. "That memory’s a bit fried but, I think I can keep even big ones in check.”

“You did… fight that Bugbear,” Fluttershy mused quietly, though more to herself.

“Why do you ask?” the human questioned.

“No specific reason,” Fluttershy added, though she spoke a bit too quickly. She definitely had a specific reason in mind.

Was hiding something. Likely not something bad. Probably wanted a favor actually… Wouldn’t press it for now, not directly anyways.

“You uh, run that sanctuary thing?” the human asked. “That’s what that carrot juice or whatever was for, right?”

“Yes, those poor little bunnies I take care of can work themselves to exhaustion when running around, especially in the summer heat or when they’re avoiding predators before I bring them to safety!” she said, her lip quivering a bit in thought. “It’s a wonder poor little Angel Bunny can handle it when I’m gone!”

“Well at least now that I’m back, I can help at your sanctuary when needed,” Discord offered, before grabbing a small teacup and sipping on it. However, the cup seemed to never end, filling the Lord of Chaos’ mouth so much that his cheeks began to puff a bit, before he finally swallowed.

“No no no! Discord, I could never burden you with my problems!” Fluttershy squeaked. “Especially when we have those dinner plans coming up so soon!”

“Pish posh! I can handle all of this with a literal snap of my fingers!” the mix-matched creature pointed out.

“But we both know your chaos magic scares the animals,” Fluttershy said with a considerate tone. “They think it’s unnatural!”

“They’re just being overdramatic,” Discord replied, waving his lion-like claw. “I know they could get used to it.”

“But what if-”

Fluttershy was cut off when a loud clinking sound rang out, silencing the couple’s quarrel.

Both her and her draconequus companion looked over at the third member of the tea party.

The Courier moved his spoon away from the teacup and laid it down onto his tray. He sort of felt the same song and dance coming. A classic distraction, a sidetracking quest given by the wasteland. Er- Ponyland, in this case. Oh whatever. Just get it out of the way!

“When is the date?” he asked. Both Discord and Fluttershy looked between each other, and then back to the human as he grabbed a miniature pear-blueberry pie.

“This Saturday,” answered Discord. “But I don’t see-”

“Shhhh,” the human hushed him calmly, his mask making his tone sound a bit garbled.

“I’m not a foal you know,” Discord growled back.

“I’ll make it nice and easy; I’ll watch the sanctuary while you guys go,” the human said casually.

“But why-”

He cut Fluttershy off.

“Because that was the exact idea you had on your mind,” he said bluntly, pointing a gloved finger at her.

A moment later, he adjusted his mask and began eating the mini pie she’d made. He shoved the bite into his cheek with his tongue as he continued, speaking with his mouth full like some type of uncouth hooligan.

“Your line of questioning is one I’ve had to deal with a thousand times before,” he said, his voice a bit warbly due to the strange fruity pie in his mouth. “Let’s just cut to the chase and we’ll say… friends help friends, I’m your friend, I’ll help you, don’t be afraid to accept help… or whatever other lesson-of-the-week those old children’s radio programs would have in them, alright?”

The two non-humans looked between each other for a few seconds and then finally back to the human once more.

“…I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” Fluttershy admitted softly.

“Fluttershy, if you’re fine with it, then so am I,” Discord agreed.

“Alrighty then, just lay the schedule on me and we’ll be good to go,” nodded the human, finishing his small confection.

Fluttershy nodded, and the burly man watched as she went into a different room. She soon flew back in and had a gigantic scroll in her forehooves. She went to unfurl it, however one portion of it slipped from her grip. It fell to the ground and cartoonishly rolled out a few feet along the floor of her cottage.

The Courier leaned sideways out of his chair, his eyes widening in shock as he followed the list. By the time it stopped rolling, it wound up being nearly ten feet long! She blushed in both embarrassment and annoyance and turned to Discord.

“What’s wrong?” he said with a devious smirk. “I just added a few extra tasks, might as well make sure our parcel-delivering friend here finishes all of them!”

“Discord, we do not take advantage of our friends!” growled Fluttershy, her soft voice becoming shockingly stern.

“Ohh alright,” the draconequus relented.

A moment later, he snapped his fingers, and a bit after that, Fluttershy went over the list with the human. A bit after that, he left the cottage (and the tea party) behind him, the parchment in hand, going off back down the trail towards his own small shack to rest up for the day...

A Chaotic Menagerie

As he advanced forwards, the Courier watched from the sidelines as Roseluck grunted, giving it her all as she slammed a large shovel into the ground, holding the wooden handle with her mouth. Currently she was digging out the dirt and grass around a large tree stump, obviously intent on moving it when she loosened it up enough. However, despite her earth pony physiology, she found herself straining immensely as she attempted to uproot the damned thing!

The human paused at that. He briefly looked around, however no other ponies seemed to take mind of Roseluck’s plight. He looked down to the small saddlebags he was currently carrying and soon approached, cursing himself and shaking his head as he walked over.

“Hey, Ms. Faints-A-Lot,” growled the Courier as he approached. “Need help?”

Roseluck turned her head towards him, before almost immediately freezing up in shock as she took in the sight of the terrifying human. She stepped back, dropping the shovel as her mouth gaped open.

“Don’t pull that ‘horror’ bullshit with me or I’m going to let you finish this on your own,” the human growled, before he reached down.

She took a few more steps back, flinching as she felt like the human was going to reach for her...

Obviously that didn’t happen, and he just grabbed the small shovel from the ground.

Roseluck watched as he quickly went to work, slamming the circular end of the spade into the ground, snagging the metal edge under a bundle of tree roots. The human slammed it even deeper with his boot, and then began giving a strained grunt as he put his metallic back into it, his muscles bulging a bit in effort as he bent downwards. Using the shovel as a lever of sorts, he flipped the stump partly out of the ground, with the underside of some of the roots being visible as he held it in place.

“Come here and grab this,” he managed, his voice a bit strained.

Roseluck snapped out of her shocked stupor. She was too shocked to really argue, so instead the flower pony trotted over, using her forehooves to grip the handle this time. She held the shovel in place for the human, making the large stump stay relatively still. In its current position, it had just enough give between the roots and the dirt for the human to lean down further and shove his hands under it.

The flower pony put her own non-metallic back into it, as the combined power of the human and her fully upturned the large remnants of the tree. There was a loud CRAAACK! sound that rang out as the human basically shoved the tree stump onto its side, upturning it and causing a large cloud of dirt and dust to billow into the air.

“Got it,” he said with satisfaction, taking only one small second to breathe before he stood back up. He dusted his gloved hands off as he looked at the redheaded pony. “What the hell were you even messing with that stump for anyways?”

Roseluck flinched back.

“W-well, Mayor Mare offered me some bits to plant a few flowers along the trails to make the town look nicer… and for the occasional snack of any hungry pony out jogging,” She sheepishly admitted. “That stump just so happened to be in the perfect spot for a rosebush.”

Six just stared down at her, his slightly-less dirty hands on his hips. His gaze was unflinching for a solid few seconds, though it felt like hours to the nervous mare. A few seconds longer and he finally relented looking away and shaking his head.

“Next time you should get someone who can actually help with that heavy lifting shit,” the human replied. “Someone who isn’t me, that is.”

“R-right,” she nodded.

“Welp, I’m outta here,” he shrugged, before he continued on his way, past the mare and down the trail. A few steps into his jog, he turned back towards her, raising a hand.

“Catch ya later, Orphan Annie!” he cockily called back over his shoulder, and then went along his merry way to finish up his mail route.

Roseluck just watched him, looking confused as he strutted away.

“B-but I’m not an orphan…” she stammered to herself.

As the Courier laid down that night, he stared up at the ceiling of his wooden shit-shack. There weren’t any cracks in it thankfully, so if it ever began to rain, nothing would leak in on him. He just stared up, laying there awake for a bit, blinking on occasion. He kept the helmet on, so he couldn’t reach up and rub his face or wipe the sleep from his eyes.

Had to wake up reasonably early tomorrow. Do the shit at Fluttershy’s animal sanctuary. He kept going over it in his head on occasion, remembering her instructions and such. It took about another half hour, but as he repeated it in his head, he soon began drifting off to sleep…

…

“Alright, so there’s not going to be any surprises from a certain checkered asshole this time, right?” the Courier asked, leaning back on his long pool chair. He and his brain were currently seated on a beach, overlooking a nice sunset. Seemed scenic, absolutely from one of those Old World postcards the mailman would occasionally stumble across.

“Not to my knowledge,” the Brain iterated.

“What in the goddamn was he even doing there last time?” the body asked.

“Again, you’re asking yourself,” the Brain replied, before bringing up its fleshy stem, rubbing against the lower portion of its frontal lobe, as if it were no different than a man scratching his chin in thought. “But truthfully, it’s gotta be some rogue mental delusion… We both don’t want it to be the other option.”

The Courier was silent, not reiterating what said option was out loud.

“Nightmare creature, the kind Luna was talking about, maybe,” he said with a tone of finality. “Anything we can do to stop it?”

“I guess I can lock it out on occasion,” the Brain offered.

“Worked so well last time,” snarked the body.

“We were both caught off guard on that one,” the Brain shot back. “Before I could even do anything, I was locked right in that imprisoning skull of yours. Saw the whole thing. And the bullet, eeeuugh, still gives me shivers.”

“Alright let’s focus on the topic at hand,” the human said, suddenly bringing a glass of icy sarsaparilla to his mask, with him slurping it through the filters without issue.

“Right, those mange-ridden creatures Fluttershy wants us to take care of,” the Brain said.

“Bring up the to-do list,” Six said.

“You’re the boss,” the Brain shrugged, summoning a floating list in front of itself. “Let’s see….”

The brain suddenly began to pulsate, with two large golf ball sized pieces bulging out from under the organ’s frontal lobe. The Courier looked over, cocking a brow under his mask as the exterior flesh of the brain gave way. A large pair of comically large, bloodshot eyes popped out. They absolutely weren’t needed given it was a dream. Said eyes began scanning over the fine print of the list the floating organ had summoned.

“What the fuck?” the body asked.

“What? Am I not allowed to try new things?” the floating fleshy mass scoffed.

“I’m just not particularly in the mood for body horror at the moment,” Six replied.

“Bah, buzzkill,” the Brain grunted, its eyeballs suddenly rolling backwards, retreating inside the organ like a pair of marbles being fed through a set of respective tubes. Moments later the two gaping holes in the Brain closed up, sickly wet noises sounding out as the ball of neurons went back to normal.

“Alright enough dicking around, seriously,” the human replied, finishing his sarsaparilla, which immediately refilled itself.

“We’ve been over the training aspect at least three times by now,” the Brain rolled its now nonexistent eyes. “But whatever.”

“Just to be safe,” the Courier replied.

“Alright,” shrugged the Brain.

A moment later, everything flashed and then the Courier was in front of a large python. Its jaw unhinged as it was attempting to swallow a baby elephant. Said elephant’s entire head was in the throat of the massive reptile.

"Now An- Anthony- no... Antoine! Antoine is going through his shedding process, and apparently snakes need a good deal of food during this process, best source would be an elephant, don't you think?" the Brain offered. Would've smirked if it had the ability to.

The Courier just walked over, and then reached his large, gloved hands out, grabbing both the bottom and top jaws of the snake in question. He placed his boot onto the kicking elephant’s front shoulder and then tugged, putting his back into it as he grunted.

“I hope it won’t be this rough in real life!” the human mused aloud, actually feeling like he was having to tug a powerful snake away from its prey.

“Gotta be sure of everything, remember?” the Brain mused.

The human just put more effort into it, and before long yanked the snake away. The Courier held the limbless creature by the back of its neck, looking it over.

“I think this is how they did it in those old nature magazines,” he mused to himself.

“Something Irwin, wasn’t it?” the Brain mused back.

Six just shrugged his shoulders, trying to loosen them up after straining them. A moment later, he tossed the snake aside, with both it and the elephant disappearing into puffs of smoke.

“What’s next, I think there was something about a bat with a broken wing?” the mailman pondered.

“We should try to collect its guano when possible,” the Brain added, before it took on a horrified tone. “With gloves I mean! Er… DIFFERENT gloves! The disposable kind!”

“Yeah yeah,” the body portion of the duo shrugged. “Let’s just work through the rest of these, we’ve got like a dozen things on the damn list.”

“Right,” the Brain said, further morphing the dream around the duo…

Twilight’s sun rose above Ponyville as it had dozens of times before. In the town, at a small cafe, the Courier sat across from three of his equine friends, two earth mares and a minty unicorn.

“You sleep alright Six?” Bon Bon asked, setting aside her mug of coffee as she looked at the human.

“I’m just peachy,” spat the mailman, poking at his eggs with a fork.

“I’d offer to help you with those animals but me and Bonny have got some… important business to attend,” Lyra said, her tone trailing off a bit as she didn’t explain exactly what type of business that she and her wife were going to do.

The human considered if it was safe for work or not, but then he just shrugged, realizing he didn’t care if the mares were out to cop a feel or anything. For all he knew, they also could've been super-secret spies or something. He himself was dealing with his own issues, after all; didn’t need a pair of pintsized lesbian horses (who might've been secret spies) distracting him!

“I don’t think he’d accept the help,” Cherry Berry said, before leaning down and taking a bite from the human’s hayfries. He’d just decided to give them to her it seemed. She continued speaking with a partly filled mouth, chewing on occasion. “Believe me, I tried.”

“None of you know anything about animals,” the human pointed out, taking a bite of his own plate of eggs. “I’m not exactly vet of the year, but I can patch them up. Dealt with tamed molerats before, surely unmutated wildlife will be easier.”

“Whatrats?” Cherry questioned.

“Gesundheit,” Lyra offered, magically grabbing one of the Courier-turned-Cherry’s fries and munching it for herself.

“I only have about another half hour to dick around before I gotta go,” stated the Courier, checking his Pip-Boy.

“Could go for a walk in the park? Clear your mind before work?” Cherry suggested.

“That’s the fifteenth time you’ve said that,” the human replied, shutting her down.

“Not my fault you’re a buzzkill,” she muttered, crossing her forehooves.

“I’m fine with just chillaxing here,” Lyra pointed out, leaning back into her chair.

“Chillaxing? You people need to stop Frankensteining words together,” the human replied.

“Frankensteining? What in the hay does that mean?” Cherry shot back.

“Makes as much sense as saying ‘hay’ or ‘buck’ every five minutes,” snarked back the mailman.

“Yeah well-”

“Alright seriously, do you need any help we can offer, Six?” Bon Bon interrupted, cutting off Lyra’s no doubt scathing reply.

“Like I said, I’m just peachy,” was the reply, as he crossed his arms, looking out at the streets of Ponyville.

Bon Bon nearly rolled her eyes, though the other two mares did just that, even groaning at the human’s unsatisfying response. It was almost like something was on his mind—something other than taking care of a literal zoo that is. No, that was the easy part. Getting it out of him… well, that was the hard one, obviously.

He remained silent and pondering through the rest of the meal, paying for it, saying goodbye to his pony friends (Lyra took the remainder of the hayfries in a to-go tray) and he even still pondered as he began making his way through the town. After a few minutes, he’d reached where the large animal sanctuary had been.

It was a good ways outside of town, almost on the edge of the Everfree actually. No doubt this was to keep any curious or mischievous ponies a good deal away from the enclosure, and the animals themselves away from the noise and light pollutants.

The Courier did remember reading that numerous small creatures were often killed quite easily in crowded areas, seen as unsightly for the Pre-War world anyways. In the Mojave they’d be lucky to not instantly be gutted and devoured, most likely raw. Animal care wasn’t exactly the top priority of any of the major factions. Six soon forced the daydreaming thoughts back, throwing the rat-eating children aside as he focused on the topic at hand; said topic being the creamy yellow mare hovering right at him, a bunny riding on her back as she did.

“Mister Six! You came!” she said as loudly as her soft voice could manage, though even still she merely sounded like she was whisper-yelling than shouting in excitement.

“I promised ya didn’t I?” the human shrugged.

“Of course, but uhm, are you absolutely sure that you really want to-”

“You gonna sit here and be nervous all day?” the human asked, cutting her off. “Thought we were past that. I’ve been ready to go all week.”

“Are you sure?” she responded simply.

“...Mostly,” he answered, looking around for the small rabbit he knew she loved so much. He figured the little bunny would be with her at all times. Guess he was busy for the moment.

What was his name again? Angle? Angie? Ange- Angel! Right, right!

“But uh, you know I was thinking… can’t that mismatched asshole do basically anything with his magic?” the human asked. “Including say… turning the town inside out and cloning himself and shit? Why not get a duplicate of him to help me… for efficiency's sake?”

Suddenly, a miniature Discord appeared in front of the human, floating in midair as he pointed a bird-like claw up at the bulky mailman.

“Alright, one: rude! And two: I’m going to pour my focus into Fluttershy here, she deserves my undivided love and attention!” said the little draconequus, his voice squeaky and chipmunk-like.

“It’s good you’re here, I was worried I’d have to repeat the mismatched asshole line back to your face,” the human said.

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all?” spat back the tiny Discord, before he began to grow, becoming his full-sized non-squeaky self.

The Courier just remained completely silent. Fluttershy looked between the two awkwardly. Discord raised a brow, leaning in, his face a few inches from the human’s mask.

“You really don’t have anything nice to say to me?” Discord asked.

Six nearly smirked under the mask but remained utterly silent.

“Wow, that’s cold,” the draconequus managed, his tone one of slight hurt, hard to tell if it was fully genuine or really good acting.

The human relented either way.

“Enjoy your date,” he said blandly, as if he were a call-center worker answering his fiftieth customer of the day. Meant it too, but emotions weren’t running high at the moment.

“Ha! You do care!” Discord pointed his lion-like paw at the human, with it growing extra-large, almost like one of those big foam fingers he’d seen in Pre-War sports mags. “I got you! Oh I wish I had been recording! I’d post it all ov-”

“Discord, Six, enough, please,” Fluttershy said sternly, trotting up between the two. “I know you two act a… certain way around each other, but you could scare the animals.”

“...he started it,” Six said, his tone a bit joking and playful, as he crossed his arms like a pissed off kid.

Fluttershy didn’t find the ordeal amusing, and instead gave him a sideways glare. Under the mask the human winced, forcing himself to look away. He felt like he’d been hit with some type of flashbang, or the fuzzy, static-like sensations of a pulse grenade when he’d set one off.

What the hell was that?

Discord snickered.

“Ohhh looks like she hit you with The Sta-”

He was interrupted as she glanced back towards him.

Usually the chaotic creature would be immune to the effects, but his time around Fluttershy had recently seemed to make him grow more… susceptible to its effects. Like a husband cowering away from a pissed off wife, he slinked back.

“Y-yes dear,” he rolled his eyes, growling as he too crossed his arms.

The human was considering flinging another insult, but at the same time, he did have work to do, and the two lovecreatures had a date to enjoy.

“Alright, are we done with the staring stuff?” he asked, breaking Fluttershy’s gaze off her male companion.

Discord wiped a small bead of sweat from his brow, and Fluttershy perked up, going back to her happy, kind self.

“Of course, sorry for using The Stare on you, but I need to make sure you both are on your best behavior today,” the pegasus explained.

“Why, that was just boys being boys,” the human defended.

Even Discord nodded in agreement.

“I’d prefer no forms of aggression while in the sanctuary,” Fluttershy pointed out. “Sometimes it can lead the animals to think that kind of behavior is alright.”

“A shock collar would do better on that,” the human joked.

“Six,” she said sternly.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” the mailman defended. “Look I’ll lay off the humor, before I go about my day making sure these cute and cuddly creatures are safe, is there anything else I need to know?”

“Well Muriel needs-”

“Her daily trunk massage, I know,” Six said.

“And Harry needs-”

“His claws manicured,” the mailman repeated.

“And Antoine-”

“Is going through his molt or whatever you call it, need to help him take off his skin,” Six said, fidgeting with his Pip-Boy.

“Goodness, you really did memorize it,” she said, a bright smile on her face.

“What can I say? I’m good at reading,” he smirked back.

“Oh thank you, Six!” she said, surprising him by flying over and giving him the softest hug possible. Felt like he was being embraced by a cloud or something. “I know it can be hard to learn so much so quickly, but you went above and beyond!”

“Yeah, jus-just back off,” he said, gently shoving her away.

She nodded shyly at that, blushing as she backed off and hovered in the air, giving the human a few feet of personal space. Typically she’d break a hug when somepony went overboard, was awkward to be on the receiving end of it.

Fluttershy didn’t linger on that long, as a few moments later the group heard some rustling of the grass nearby and turned. The trio watched as Angel came hopping over a small hill.

The tiny lagomorph rushed right up to Fluttershy and began chittering to the pegasus, who nodded at each of his squeaks and gestures. Giving the occasional “yes” and “I know” and concluded it with “don’t worry Angel, Mr. Six is here for that!” After the conversation concluded, she led the bunny over to the human.

“If you need any more help, Angel here can offer it. Dr. Fauna will be here within the next few hours as well to deliver some medicine,” the pegasus explained with a smile.

Six looked down at the rabbit, who began chittering and playing charades, wagging his forepaws this way and that as he pointed about. Even though he could speak robot, dog, and robot-dog, speaking bunny was a different story for the human, who cocked an eyebrow under the mask.

“What, don’t speak rabbit?” Discord asked, floating a few feet in the air as he lounged about lazily.

“Do you?” the human retorted.

“I’m more partial to platypus myself, it's a very misunderstood language,” Discord replied, checking his paw-like claw’s nails. “But if you need help, I suppose I can make this a lot easier.”

The draconequus snapped his fingers. A flash of light enveloped the still-chittering Angel. And when it cleared a voice… honestly quite similar to Fluttershy’s rang out. Though one glance to his right revealed the mare herself wasn’t speaking, and this voice sounded slightly deeper and yet partly higher pitched at the same time, as if it were coming from a smaller set of vocal chords.

“-and we have to make sure Antoine has plenty of cooki- Why am I talking now?” Angel asked, stopping his hyperactive tone to question his new-found voice.

“Discord! What did I tell you about making the animals talk?” Fluttershy sternly scolded, turning to the chaotic creature in question.

“Hey, for once I am trying to help,” defended the chaotic overlord.

As the two bickered amongst themselves, the Courier took a knee, leaning down so he was closer to Angel’s level, though he still towered over the tiny rabbit.

“I guess you’re not that much weirder than a talking toaster,” the human mused.

“What’s that supposed to mean? You’re the weirdo here!” growled Angel, thumping his left foot on the ground as he scowled.

“Just as fiery as one too, a fluffy bundle of rage you are,” Six chuckled.

“Tell me about it,” Discord agreed with exasperation.

“Discord, change him back!” pleaded Fluttershy.

“Actually, this might be a good thing,” Six replied, raising a hand. “I’m not exactly the most familiar when it comes to exotic animals. As Discord said, Angel could help me on that front.”

“See?” smirked the draconequus.

“Why’d you have to give me Fluttershy’s voice though?” Angel huffed.

“And just what is wrong with my voice, mister?” scolded the pegasus in question.

“Gah, nothing, nothing!” defended the bunny.

“Hmph, I’ll have you know that kind of behavior is very rude,” said the Element of Kindness, her tone becoming much more matronly and teacher-like. “I understand you might not like having a feminine voice, but that is no reason to-”

“Don’t you two have reservations to get to?” Six pointed out.

“Eh, I rented it out for the whole night, but you are correct in that the sooner we get there, the more time we have to enjoy the dinner… and each other’s company,” smirked Discord, before turning to the smaller pegasus, who giggled at his suave tone. “You ready, dear?”

“Well as long as Six has his list of chores then I’m-”

“I’ve got it,” the human said, pulling out the paper in question, cutting her off.

“I guess I’m ready to go then-”

She was cut off yet again when Discord snapped his fingers and the two disappeared. The Courier just stood there, looking at the empty spot where the duo had been. He and Angel then turned at each other for a second, and then back to the same empty spot.

“Those two absolutely do some freaky shit when no one’s around,” he mused aloud, letting the intrusive thoughts win out.

“Gah, that’s disgusting! She’s like, my mom, dude!” Angel hissed.

“What? Am I wrong?” Six asked.

No answer…

“Let’s just get this over with,” Angel growled, turning away and hopping a few feet away, deeper into the wide-open sanctuary.

“Wait up, fluffball,” the human replied, stepping over to him, before shocking the little rabbit by reaching down and grabbing him.

“H-hey!” squeaked the lagomorph.

“Shut it,” Six said, sitting Angel on his right shoulder. The small rabbit was easily supported by his broadness, standing up and bracing himself almost like a parrot though instead of a beak, he only had big ears, and fur instead of feathers. The human continued walking as he spoke. “This’ll be easier for us both.”

“Right, I forgot how easy you bigger creatures have it,” sighed Angel, leaning his forepaw against the side of the human’s helmet.

“Personally, I only have it easy because I’ve got a gun, but that’s neither here nor there,” the mailman joked flatly.

Angel cocked a brow at that.

“What’s a gun?” he asked.

“Right…” the human muttered, not explaining anything beyond that…

The first few tasks went off without much of a hitch. The Courier’s deft hands managed to massage Muriel’s trunk, easing any tension or pain out of the long, tentacle-like organ. He also helped with the broken wings of a few bats and birds (wasn't able to collect any guano though.) Other than that, he fed several avians, restocking their feeders with numerous types of grain and sugar water for the hummingbirds. Angel sat diligently on his shoulder the entire time, watching him in silence in case he did anything out of line.

Currently though the duo were seated on a stump, taking a small moment to look over everything as a certain playful wolf was getting her fill.

“So do any of these cookie things actually taste good?” the human asked, throwing one of the cookie-like meat substitutes out so Sandra could scarf it down. The wolf wagged her tail, panting her tongue in a doggish manner to basically beg for another one.

“Apparently, though I don’t really eat those things, I prefer normal cookies myself,” answered Angel, dusting himself off of any stray bits of dirt and grime.

The Courier shrugged and threw out a second snack for the wolf, letting her devour it as well. She even walked over, sniffing at the human as he outstretched his gloved hand, offering it to her in response. She whined and pressed the top of her head into it, rubbing her furred scalp against his palm as his fingers began trailing over her head, rubbing and scritching behind her ears as she stayed still, giving soft growls of pleasure.

“Those finger things you’ve got are pretty cool,” Angel said. “Discord’s got them too but his are always sharp, scratches the crap out of anyone he tries to pet.”

“Couldn’t he just magically make them softer or something?” Six pointed out, rubbing his hand down the side of Sandra’s neck, she was leaning further into his rough, satisfying petting session.

“Sometimes he does, but other times I think he’s just being a dick,” Angel rolled his eyes, crossing his forepaws.

“You know I find it ironic that you’ve got the filthiest mouth I’ve come across so far,” the human replied, with Sandra now panting as he scratched several itches down her back, giving her immense relief.

“You’d have a lot of swears to say too if you were a rabbit,” Angel Bunny replied.

The two soon left a satisfied Sandra to nap as they went about doing a few other chores. One was simple, fixing up a wooden climbing post for the koalas. Weird little bastards: never would’ve figured something like that could’ve survived in the Wastelands. Before long though, as the Courier crested the top of a hill, he examined his list, getting a nice vantage.

“Got trouble at six o’clock, big guy” Angel said, gently thumping him on the side of his head.

The Courier looked up and quickly turned around, spotting…

Absolutely nothing in particular. Just the same open menagerie the sanctuary always was.

“What?” the human asked.

“That way,” Angel huffed, forcing the human to look further to his right.

“That would’ve been my nine, you little prick,” the Courier explained and insulted (explainsulted?)

“Whatever, I only know it from comics anyways,” the rabbit chittered.

Regardless of what o’clock position the ‘trouble’ in question was, Six soon realized what the bunny meant. He saw a certain fashionista unicorn approaching him, a large, white, ball of fuzz of a cat resting on her back.

“Rarity?” the human questioned.

“Hellooo darling!~” her voice rang out. “How are you?”

“I’m-”

“I’m in quite the rush,” she cut him off. “I don’t mean to intrude, but my poor, sweet little Opal here needs somepo- uh, someone to stay with while I make a quick run to Canterlot; Sassy Saddles sent me an urgent message.”

The Courier looked to his right, with Angel meeting his gaze. The only thing the little bunny could do was shrug his shoulders. After a second he turned his gaze back to Rarity, as she magically levitated her fluffy cat to the ground. Six could see a large series of bandages at the base of Opal’s tail.

“Why don’t you just take her with you?” the human questioned.

“I would, but last night the poor dear fell off the dresser and sprained her tail,” Rarity explained. “I figured if I brought her here, she’d be in better hooves than being left alone with Sweetie Bell. Um, where exactly is Fluttershy, dear?”

“Explains the tail cast,” shrugged the human. “But she’s not here today, you know? Went on a date with Discord for the rest of the evening. Me and Angel are the only ones in charge.”

“...Oh dear heavens,” Rarity gasped, the thought of leaving her little Opal alone with the rabbit and the human not being the most satisfactory outcome.

“Look I can take care of a damned cat, alright? Just let me look her over, give her some yarn or whatever,” the human pointed out. “Surely she won’t be that bad.”

“Well, I don’t know, Opal can make quite the fuss when she’s cranky,” pondered the unicorn, briefly getting lost in her own thoughts.

“Tell me about it,” Angel whispered into the Courier’s ears.

“What was that?” asked Rarity, snapping back to reality.

“Nothing,” the human said. Explaining a talking rabbit would just complicate things, might as well keep Angel quiet… in front of the talking horse. Riiight.

The unicorn cocked a brow.

“Look, you can trust me, alright?” the human offered. “I’ll make sure that Opal gets all the pampering and massaging and uh… whatever else she deserves.”

“Well…” Rarity deliberated, looking back down at Opal, who stared back up at her. The feline held her traditional grumpy resting bitch face all the while, “...alright.”

“Great-”

“Just follow this list of rules and everything should go alright!” Rarity interrupted, pulling a scroll from her saddlebags and thrusting it into the human’s hands. “I’ll be back by tomorrow morning, surely to goodness Fluttershy will have taken over by then.”

The human unfurled the scroll, only to find it annoyingly long, easily over several feet. ‘Set her bath water to 76 degrees specifically.’ ‘Fluff her tail before bed.’ ‘Ensure she exclusively sleeps on her sateen weave sheets I have provided, lest she get cranky.’

“Is this a cat or a picky politician?” the Courier questioned.

“I’ll handle Opal for you, she’s a bit of a bitch sometimes but she’s mostly harmless,” Angel whispered.

“What was that?” Rarity said, turning her attention away from adoring her little cat and back up to the human and rabbit duo.

“Nothing!” Six replied, feeling deja vu as he rolled up the scroll. “Don’t fret Rarity, this’ll all work out well enough!”

“Well if you insist, then I am satisfied!” Rarity smiled, giving a determined nod.

Opal just meowed lazily.

Before long, the unicorn mare had left, eager to catch her train, and the human had decided to let Angel deal with the cat for now. He wasn’t particularly a feline expert, so he supposed that was for the best. He did know a bit about snakes though, and Antoine still needed help shedding by this point. Might as well check on the reptile.

The snake in question was in his own closed off enclosure for the moment. The Courier remembered that shedding skin drained a lot of energy. Made creatures far more vulnerable and lethargic, which was likely the reason for it. Six strolled through the menagerie until he saw a small door sticking out halfway up a large tree’s trunk. There were even a few small stairs leading up to the entrance, fit for a mouse, rabbit, or snake to get to.

He’d heard from Angel earlier that this was Antoine’s temporary molting room. The rabbit said that the interior of the tree was fully hollowed out. Guess it felt more natural than making a proper square-shaped home.

Regardless of its shape, the mailman opened up the small door and was immediately met with a gust of warm air. The human ignored it and peaked his head in, being able to fit only his arms and a small portion of his upper body inside the cramped, warm space. There was no lighting, but the sun’s rays peeking in, and the Courier’s own night vision made that point moot.

Antoine looked up at him, his eyes milky and clouded from the shedding process. The snake let out a small hiss, flicking its tongue at the human. However, the Courier had little time for the creature’s defensiveness; he lifted his hand up slowly but surely moving it towards the reptile. Made sure Antoine could see his hand, so that he wouldn’t accidentally startle the animal with surprise movements.

“I’m here to help you big guy, come here and let me peel that skin off of you,” the human said, his fingers mere inches from the creature’s mouth.

Antoine bared his fangs and snapped at the mailman. Six jerked his hand away from the strike and then began snapping his fingers several times, keeping it all within the snake’s vision as he began scolding the scaled creature.

“Hey, hey, hey, you little bastard! No biting, alright? No biting,” he snapped his fingers again and pointed right at the snake’s face. “You want me to bite you? You threaten me again and I’ll fucking eat you, got me?”

Antoine actually cowered back at the threat.

“Listen, I’m here to help, not fuck you up, understand?” the human bellowed.

The snake cocked a brow at that, but slowly nodded.

“Now uh…” the human pondered, before realizing something. He reached into one of his satchels and pulled out yet another cookie-like meat substitute, “...how about one of these?”

The snake nodded frantically.

“Ah ah, you let me peel the skin off, and this is yours,” the human offered, wagging about the cookie.

After a moment of hesitation, Antoine finally gave in with a sigh and slowly slithered over to the human.

The Courier fed the reptile the cookie bite by bite as he pulled out a small rag with his free hand. From there the mailman rubbed over the snake’s body, rustling the loosened scales in an attempt to further ease the snake into the shedding process. He was slow and shockingly gentle, picking and prying at particularly stubborn portions of skin. He was standing there, his upper body partway into the tree for a solid ten or so minutes, picking and loosening up Antoine’s loosened scales. He even tugged at the caps coating the snake's eyes, slightly ripping them open to give him some vision underneath.

“There you go,” the human said, as Antoine’s vision became less clouded. Once that was over, the Courier pulled out a small bottle of water.

This was fresh, taken from the storage room earlier. Nice and warm from being left out, perfect for a cold-blooded snake. He found a small bowl in the corner of the enclosure, and poured the water in, filling it up nicely after the majority of it had been emptied. After that, he picked Antoine up and slowly placed him into the small puddle, letting him soak his scales.

“Bet that feels good,” the human offered.

The snake’s disposition was far softer now, and he even licked at the Courier’s fingers, almost like a dog would. The human rubbed his gloved hand along the snake’s underside, helping to further loosen any stuck scales and also pet the reptile. After a few minutes of softly petting him over, the human finally slinked back and left the snake alone to finish the shedding process by himself.

“Alright, that’s Antoine done,” Six said, pulling out the list to add a checkmark. As he went out to examine the rest of the sanctuary, he soon spotted more trouble on the horizon.

“Again with this,” he growled, before quickly approaching a pair of ponies who trotted past the edge of the sanctuary.

Well, one of them trotted. The other slowly flew over, hovering in place.

“AJ, Dash, what are ya doing?” he asked loudly as he made his way towards the duo, though a moment later, he noticed the animals in tow. Behind Applejack was a farm dog, a large cast adorning her neck. In Dash’s hooves was an oversized turtle that had a large splint on his left foreleg. Great, more chores.

“What does it look like?” scoffed Dash. “We’re here to drop off our pets, duh?”

“Fluttershy’s not here,” the human said flatly.

The mares looked to each other for a moment and then back to him.

“That don’t change much,” Applejack stated firmly. “I’ve still gotta round up an extra-large order of apples and I don’t need Winona runnin’ around the farm and gettin’ her cone ripped off in all the commotion.”

“And I can’t practice my stunts with Tank home alone!” Dash added, stretching out her forehooves and putting emphasis on her pet turtle.

“How the hell can a turtle break a leg? It’s literally its own armor!” growled Six.

“Uh... he fell out of his helicopter pack,” Dash admitted sheepishly.

There was a pause, him just staring at her for a few seconds, before finally sighing in annoyance.

“Of course he did,” Six scoffed, before pointing at Winona. “And what about that one then?”

“She er, she sprained her throat real bad trying to eat an apple whole,” the farmpony admitted.

“Right then, let me see the salmonella-ridden prick,” Six uttered, holding out his hands towards Tank.

“Hey don’t be rude!” growled Dash, before rubbing the underside of Tank’s shell, holding him close to her chest. “He’s sensitive!”

“Alright; let me see the salmonella-ridden little guy then. How was that?” snarked the human.

The pegasus just glared back.

“Look I’ll keep good care of him, okay? I just gotta finish up my list of chores and I can sit down and sing kumbaya with him and the mutt too,” the human explained.

“Who ya callin’ mutt?” Applejack defended.

“It’s a term of endearment back where I’m from,” the human replied back. Not exactly the full truth, but who cares.

“Oh, heheh, right,” Applejack said, reaching up a forehoof to scratch the back of her head. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, let’s just hurry this up,” the human grunted.

A bit later, he held Winona’s leash in his right hand and Tank hoisted up under his left arm. He casually strolled about, leading the two as the dominant member of the trio. Only paused for a second to turn back around and watch as Applejack and Dash trotted away, discussing something to each other. He even saw Dash reach her wing over Applejack’s back, giving her a reassuring hug with it.

Hmm…

He wasn’t able to dawdle on it much though, and instead continued back to his chores, dog and tortoise in hand…

Tank wasn’t even remotely a worry. The old turtle was more than comfortable with passing out and basically just lazing about. The mailman had even put him into one of the hollowed-out trees, with the warmth soothing the reptile’s injured leg and leathery skin.

Angel Bunny soon came back. Opal had become a bit quieter herself when the rabbit made a small bed up for her. From there the last major step was feeding the animals, and then every major thing on the checklist would be done.

Obviously the Courier made sure every animal was well-fed and stocked for seconds before he decided to partake in his own lunch, with the sun above having gone down, casting the sky in a deeper red. Passed out kibble and bits and leaves and veggies and those same meat-replacement cookie things. Only after all of that was done did he feel the pangs of hunger eating at his own stomach.

“Now Angel, don’t freak out,” he said, reaching into one of his satchels. “But humans like me literally have to eat meat.”

“I kind of figured that,” the rabbit rolled his eyes.

“I’m going to cook up some chicken,” the human explained. “Can you make sure the predators don’t get all riled up and know this is just a onetime thing?”

“You can’t just go out into the woods to do it?” scoffed the bunny.

“I’m just gonna be here in case shit goes down. After all, do you wanna be looking over this place without help,” the human pointed out.

Angel huffed, remembering the several other times he’d taken up the jobs of the sanctuary by himself.

“Alright, fine! Let me down and I’ll go make sure they don’t bother you,” the rabbit offered.

The human did just that, gently leaning down so the rabbit could hop down his arm and onto the ground, letting him scamper off. A bit later, Six had set up a small fire pit and cast iron skillet he’d purchased from the town a few days back. The meat was sizzling in the pan as he poked at it with his stick.

As the fresh scent of frying chicken wafted through the sanctuary, soon enough, it began to draw a bit of attention, as a certain white furball of claws and teeth and anger scampered up towards the firepit. Seemingly Opal had slipped past Angel’s attempts to quell the predators, and she was sidling her way up to the pan. However, given she was snow white, the human spotted her instantly amid the green grass.

"Now fuck off, guy!” growled the Courier, “I mean, girl... Peri- Lap- Opal, whatever the fuck your name was. Your name's gonna be dead if you touch this chicken. Don't you dare go near my chicken; you got me? Don’t even go there!"

Opalescence narrows her eyes at the Courier, giving an annoyed hiss.

"Don't you gimme that look!" he spat back, reaching down and grabbing his cast iron; yanking it off of the flames and out of the feline’s reach in case she tried to bolt for it.

The Courier stared down at her, holding the hot as hell frying pan in his hand. The handle was uncomfortable for sure, but nothing he couldn't handle, especially with his gloves offering some support. He had to yank it away from the little cat to keep herself (and his tender chicken) safe.

Suddenly he reached into his pocket, holding the pan one-handed with ease before he pulled out a dead mouse. It was to be fish-bait due to it being too small for the mailman him to eat in a satisfying manner, but now he just tossed the limp rodent at the cat, striking her in the face with it.

"Take that and scat, you little bastard," he proclaimed as the mouse fell onto the dirt, sliding off of the cat's muzzle like a sack of potatoes and landing with a soft thud in the grass.

Opalescence shook off the sudden brunt of the rodent being flung at her before glaring back at the Courier, its vocals producing an irritable grumble before the fluffy cat lowered its head and picked the mouse up by its tail. She proceeded to scamper off while Six sighed with relief.

"I'm starting to see why dogs outlived you..." he groaned with exasperation.

He was soon devouring the chicken after it had been fully cooked, digging into it with a small, banged up fork. Meal was decent, not really flavored with anything other than salt and he didn’t grab any spare ketchup after using it all on that rat back in Dodge. Oh well, not every meal could be as extravagant as that one. Otherwise, the chicken itself was rather juicy. Had hunted it the night prior and despite it being sat in his hot satchel all day, it was still decent to eat.

When he was down to just a few more bites, he heard a whine and then a hiss. He sighed, turning his gaze upwards to see just what he expected. Winona and Opalescence. The human rolled his eyes, looking around to make sure no other animals were watching him. Not even the birds or the mice were anywhere nearby, so he finally caved in.

Like the primal humans hundreds of generations before him, he tossed out small scraps of his food for the cat and the dog, letting them share in their own respective helpings of the chicken. Winona scarfed hers down, tearing into it, though Opal took delicate, lady-like bites, same as her owner would.

“Now don’t you little bastards go around telling anyone else I’m feeding you meat,” whispered the human. As if the animals would rat him out- Well, they could, but still!

The only response he got was a mixture of a yip and a purr, from the canine and feline respectively.

Once the meal was over and the smell of cooked avian had settled, everything had become a bit more peaceful. The human just lazed around, sitting in a large wooden chair in an almost peaceful fashion. On his shoulder rested Angel, who remained seemingly more diligent than the human. Every half hour or so, one of the two would do a quick perimeter sweep, making sure all their ducks were in order (literally) and that none of the animals were having a cow (not literally; that would be very strange.)

Either way the human was free to sip from his canteen, which he’d filled with sarsaparilla that morning.

“Hey, is that spiked? Give me a swig!” Angel grunted, tapping him on the side of his helmet with a forepaw.

“Jesus Christ are you a fucking drunk?” growled the human, pulling the drink from his lips to offer the lagomorph. “It’s just soda.”

“Hey, I’m not an alcoholic!... I just hang out around Berry Punch’s place a lot, that’s all!” defended the rabbit, taking his own sip from the canteen, his little whiskers and muzzle chittering about as he did his best to slurp down the sugary substance.

“You’d better not be allergic to that or some shit, I don’t feel like giving CPR to an asshole like you,” the human said.

“I-I’m fine!” sputtered the rabbit, soda leaking down his furry white cheeks as he finally pulled his lips away from the human’s canteen. “Tartarus, that stuff might taste good, but it’s way too warm.”

“Sorry it doesn’t bend to your taste mister Small and Fluffy,” the human replied, going back to sipping some more of his drink and then screwing the cap back on it.

“Yeah, yeah,” Angel crossed his arms, rolling his eyes as he looked out at the sanctuary. He was silent for a few seconds, examining the scenery all the while.

The human could tell something was bugging the rabbit but didn’t exactly push him. However, Angel caved all by himself, finally sighing.

“You know, it sucks being a little rabbit. Nocreature respects you half the time, and everything’s always out to eat you,” Angel vented.

“I don’t see what you’re mad about, you yourself have got it made,” the Courier pointed out.

“I know!” the bunny growled, before softening his tone. “I know… But aside from Fluttershy, I’ve got no one to talk to.”

“What about the other animals?” Six questioned.

“They’re cool at times, but they just aren’t the best conversationalists,” Angel admitted with a sigh, though after a moment he perked up, giving a smirk. “Well, except Owlowiscious. Now that guy was a good talker!”

“Who?” Six asked.

“Exactly!” laughed Angel.

“Right…” the human didn’t question it. “What happened to him?”

“Moved away with Twilight,” said the bunny, his ears drooping a bit.

The human nodded at that, and remained silent, letting Angel sit alone in his thoughts for a few moments.

“Aside from him though, you’re about the only thing I’ve been able to talk to in years,” the bunny said. “You’re not bad either. Helping us out like ya did.”

“Never heard that before,” Six muttered.

“Can you let me be sentimental for a moment? I’m not like this often!” Angel defended.

“Go right ahead, don’t let my assholery stop you,” the Courier offered.

Angel rolled his eyes.

“You’re a pretty cool… hooman?” Angel admitted.

“You’re the coolest rabbit I’ve met, so it balances out,” the mailman offered, not bothering to mention the fact Angel was likely the only rabbit he’d ever seen that wasn’t from a magazine.

“Thanks bro,” Angel said, sitting down fully onto Six’s shoulder, letting the burly human’s bulk support his light weight.

“Yeah…” the Courier replied, leaning back and allowing himself to enjoy the slowly setting sun.

Angel Bunny enjoyed it too, a small smile slowly formed on his muzzle, partly revealing his buck teeth.

The sun had almost fully vanished beneath the horizon by the time Dr. Fauna had arrived. Angel had gone off to do one final check over the animals before settling in for the night, leaving the human sitting on his chair to greet her.

“You’re Courier Six, I presume?” asked the veterinarian, a large saddlebag slung over her back. No doubt it was filled with dozens of medicines and clinking bottles.

“The one and only,” the human tiredly replied, standing up and stretching. Truthfully, he’d nearly passed out from basically sitting and doing nothing the past few hours.

“I read about what you did back at the dam and in Dodge, too!” admitted the vet with a smile. “You’re a real hero, you know!”

“Truthfully I should've probably charged them for interviewing me, but I wasn't thinking monetarily at the time,” the human snarked. “Damn journalists, always slipping their way into something."

“Pardon?” she questioned, cocking a brow.

“Ah it’s nothing Doc, just ignore me,” the human said, waving her off. “Ramblings of a madman and all that.”

“You don’t look mad to me,” the mare replied.

The human let out a small “heh,” and remained silent as he looked her over. She had a ponytail, which was kind of ironic given… well, yeah. However, his musings over the veterinarian were cut off whenever he felt nature call.

“Excuse me for cutting this short and all, but I have to go piss like a racehorse,” the Courier explained.

The Doctor’s eyes widened at that, her partly blushing at the unexpectedly crude comment.

“S-Sir, ‘I’ve gotta go use the restroom’ would’ve sufficed!” she stammered.

“Yeah, right,” he nodded, walking away.

Went to the edge of the sanctuary to do his business, crouched behind a few bushes, going deep into the thicket of trees surrounding the perimeter of the menagerie. He swatted aside a branch, shoved over a loose bush, accidentally uprooting it, and continued on a few meters deeper into the woods. With his privacy intact, he went about undoing his belt. It was just a simple piss behind some bushes, nothing exactly gratifying or extravagant to mention…

Well, at least not until he heard the loud, near eardrum bursting HOWL! ring out.

Quickly, he pulled up his pants and rushed through the underbrush and back into the sanctuary proper, swatting aside any branches or foliage in his way. When he reached the clearing, he looked around, and rushed up a small hill to get a better vantage. After scanning the surroundings, he saw it. Was massive. Easily over a dozen feet or so tall, give or take. Definitely bigger than a few smaller Deathclaws he’d tango'd with. It was entirely made of wood and canine like…

Wait…

This was one of those wooden bastards he’d dealt with the night he’d met Scoots! Except it looked like the fucker had been hitting the Buffout, to say the least! He was so enraptured on looking over the bizarre sight, that he didn’t notice Dr. Fauna rush out from the supply room.

The mare looked around to see what the commotion was about, before immediately shrieking in terror as she too spotted the giant beast. The woody bastard was currently trying to rip its way into the bird enclosure! The wooden shack would only hold for so long!

“T-that’s a g-g-giant timberwolf!” shouted the veterinarian mare, cowering back. She ducked low, making herself look small as she sidled behind the Courier.

“No fucking shit!” the human exclaimed, reaching under his jacket to fish out something that would help. “Any other brilliant observations, doc?”

“Th-They typically only exist after several normal timberwolves have been smashed a-apart!” she managed, using her knowledge on animals to help the mailman as best she could.

“...Oh that’s just fucking dandy!” the human growled in realization.

“W-What?” she squeaked.

“Nothing,” grunted the human, finally pulling out a suitable weapon. “You just get as many of the animals to safety as you can!”

“W-what about you?” she questioned.

“What about me?” the survivalist asked, his red lenses glaring into her expressive eyes.

She didn’t answer that, instead nodding her head rapidly despite remaining silent. With the human’s commands affirmed, he quickly rushed right at the large monster. From her vantage, Dr. Fauna had no idea what the object in the mailman’s hand was, but she just hoped it’d help slay the beast…

Angel’s perimeter check was going perfectly fine...

Key word being was.

It all went to shit the moment a gigantic wooden wolf came bursting in. Typically at moments like these, he’d turn to Sandra and make some type of smartass remark, but at the moment, he was too busy trying to tug open the door of the bird enclosure. On the other side opposite to him, the timberwolf was ripping into the wooden walls of the small building.

Quite frankly the bunny was utterly shocked it was still able to hold up, but he was just thankful that it gave him time to use his dexterous paws to unlatch the lock on the door. Half a dozen multicolored birds quickly leapt towards him. Most of them had bandaged up wings, making flying either difficult or impossible. They just hopped instead, and the rabbit held the door open so the toucans and the blue jays and the parrots and such could all escape. He ushered them out with his forepaw, holding the door wide open for them.

As the group rushed forwards though, a woodpecker stumbled, falling beak first onto the grassy interior of the large bird box. Angel just groaned in frustration as he saw the dazed avian try to stumble to his feet.

“Come on? Really!” the rabbit grunted, before hopping over.

By this point one of the wooden walls was ready to give, about to collapse in on itself as the timberwolf clawed and bit into it. Angel had no time to waste, picking the bird up with his forepaws.

“Let’s go, featherbrain!” Angel shouted, forcing the bird to hop towards the exit.

As the wall gave way, the roof itself began to collapse around the duo, with a large plank of wood slamming down behind the two. This launched them into action, with the bird hopping his way out the door in a flash, with Angel’s bunny agility leading him onwards as well.

The giant timberwolf reared up and then slammed into the buckled wall one final time. A loud CRACK! rang out as the entire enclosure collapsed in on itself, Angel turned at the last second to check the damage, only for his little eyes to widen in terror as a large hunk of wood flew towards him!

He turned to roll out of the way, however one of his long unwieldy ears got the full brunt of the impact. The second his right ear was struck by the plank, he let out a bunny-like squeal of pain, tumbling over from the impact. He landed face down in the dirt, groaning as he checked his injured ear.

It was bleeding, a (thankfully) small gash had cut into it. Due to the floppy nature of his ears though, it hadn’t been fully sliced through, but it did have some splinters embedded in it. No doubt it’d be a bitch to pluck out later. However, splinters would be the rabbit’s smallest problem for the moment, as he heard a deep, rumbling growl ring out.

The bunny managed to force himself to roll onto his back, and as the smoke cleared, he saw two deep yellow eyes glowing back at him. Angel was paralyzed by fear. Despite his attitude and all of his big talk, he still was ultimately a rabbit. He had fight or flight instincts like anything else.

Seeing a monster the size of a small house definitely took the wind out of his sails, assuming the ear injury didn’t… Luckily though, the little prey animal wouldn’t be ripped to pieces today.

BANG!

Every animal in the sanctuary who hadn’t fled before had definitely done it when that rang out. The sound was so… alien. It was deep, powerful, shocking. Sounded more threatening than even a lion’s roar (which Angel had heard in the past.) Made his ears ring, with them flattening down in irritation from the noise.

At the same time, the gigantic timberwolf’s head jerked to the left, as several chunks of wood flew off of its jaw. It growled, obviously pained by the impact, however its durable body withstood it, and it turned towards the source of the sound...

Smoke billowed from the end of the Winchester 1887.

The weapon was immaculate, a wooden-finished classic from the glory days when the Wild West was alive and kicking. Now though, it was held in the hands of a man from a Wild Wasteland instead. Despite the weapon’s beauty, the slug itself only did so much damage. It was just a 20-gauge after all. Even still, it was a damn shame that wood was about the best damn stoppage for guns that you could get, short of water, dirt, and Power Armor.

Regardless though, the Courier flipped the lever action of the firearm with his right hand. He successfully twirled the shotgun around in one fluid motion, both ejecting the spent shell and chambering a new one. In truth he looked like that of a 90s action hero, or a classic cowboy; possibly a combination of both as he stared down the monster. Thus that made the oneliner less of a shock.

“Hey two-by-four, step away from the bunny!” he said, leveling the 20-gauge shotgun at the monster once more.

The wooden wolf for its part did indeed turn its attention to the human. It stared him down, its eyes narrowing as it seemed to realize just how familiar the human looked… and smelled.

“Yeah, I know it’s me you want you woody prick, let’s rock n roll!” the mailman replied, sensing the beast’s malice as its eyes narrowed hatefully.

He fired off a second shot, backing up as he did. The slug struck the monster’s shoulder, making it growl but did little else to stop the beast as the gigantic wolf turned fully towards him. It let out a deep, thunderous roar, and the human responded by putting the Winchester under his jacket pulling out a bright orange object.

A road flare! Not the most common sight in the Mojave, but he scrounged up a few on occasion. He lit it, and waved it around, further catching the monster’s attention.

“Come on asshole, follow me!” the human shouted before turning and sprinting away.

The wolf let loose a deep roar once more and began charging at him. Courier Six quickly booked it past the sanctuary’s borders and out into the wilderness. He was heading towards Ponyville, he knew that, but at the same time he was far, far more focused on the gigantic wolf made of tree bark that was currently chasing him down. Thankfully for him, the human was more nimble, weaving through trees and such. Sadly, the big bastard could barrel through any obstacle to keep pace, uprooting trees and smashing through thickets.

As the human unwittingly used the monster to literally carve a path through the thickets, Angel managed to quickly recover from his fright. The little bunny could literally feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins as he leapt up, and began to rush around the sanctuary, making sure no animal was hurt.

Thankfully most had fled into the woods nearby, with even the likes of Harry having been scared off by the giant wolf. Without any injuries, the rabbit made his way to the supply room. Out front Dr. Fauna was slowly working her way to standing up from her crouched down position as the bunny rushed by her. She peaked in as she watched him pull a large bandage from one of the medkits she’d brought.

“A-Angel?” she questioned, but her eyes widened on seeing his bleeding ear. “Oh my goodness, you’re hurt!”

“Yeah no duh!” growled the rabbit in his Fluttershy-like voice, quickly attempting to wrap his injured ear with the bandage. However, due to the shortness of his paws, he had a hard time properly fashioning it. “Gah, crap! A little help?”

“Y-you can talk!?!” she cried.

“Discord,” he explained flatly. “Now can you just help me?”

“R-right,” she nodded, shaking herself from her shock.

An animal was in danger, and she’d be the same perfect vet she’d always been! A few seconds later, she’d secured the bandage to his ear with some tape, making sure it’d absorb any blood. Angel would worry about the splinters later.

“Are you hurt in any other way?” she questioned.

“No, but Six is going to be if we don’t help!” Angel quickly squeaked.

“Wh-what can we do?” Dr. Fauna asked.

“I’m gonna go catch a ride to Ponyville, maybe we can get the guards or Discord or somepony to help take that thing down!” shouted the bunny, before quickly rushing off.

“Wait! What about me?” the mare questioned.

Angel stopped his hopping, turning towards her.

“Just make sure all the animals are alright, get them back into their enclosures, all that crap!” he pointed out, before turning back and rushing out into the sanctuary proper.

“R-right,” nodded the doctor, still utterly baffled by what had gone down.

She took a bit to catch her breath, and a few moments later, the mare peaked her head out of the supply closet. In the night sky above, she could faintly see a large hawk carring Angel off towards Ponyville. The entire time she watched, her face was one of worry.

“Please be safe,” Dr. Fauna whispered, though neither the human nor rabbit in question could hear her...

A Chaotic Date

Ponyville was slowly wrapping up, with a majority of the outdoor vendors having closed down for the night. However, a small number of them remained, especially the one with a large sign, which proudly displayed a crudely drawn carrot.

A portion of bits were sat down on the counter in front of the orange mare. She smiled, ducking down behind her vendor stand to pull out a bag of carrots, which she handed off to her mulberry customer.

“Thanks a ton for your purchase! We carerot a lot about your support!” beamed Carrot Top.

“You really need to work on your jokes, Top,” Berry Punch replied, her tone and face both flat.

The orange mare’s ears fell a bit, minorly disappointed at the lack of a laugh.

“Well, maybe next time,” she managed after a moment, perking herself right back up.

“Yeah uh… you wanna go grab a bite?” the purple offered.

“I would, Berry, but I’ve gotta remain here; don’t close for another two hours!” the farmer explained.

“You’re not closing until twelve?” the other mare questioned.

“Of course not! Have you ever wanted a late-night carrot and been denied of it?” replied the orange earth pony.

“...No?” Berry Punch replied.

“Hmph! Well, others have had their dreams of midnight carrots crushed! I cannot stand for that!” boasted the determined Carrot Top, her face taking on a look of pride and… patriotism?

Berry Punch just stood, staring at her with an utterly baffled expression.

“...Right then,” said the mare, turning away. “Well, I’ll leave you too… that then.”

“See ya tomorrow, Berry!” Carrot Top called excitedly.

“Yeah, maybe then we can actually have dinner together,” Berry Punch nodded, trotting away.

As she advanced down the street and out of Carrot Top’s vision, she rolled her eyes.

“Why do I even bother…” she huffed to herself.

The Courier didn’t have time to change direction. That was the unfortunate part of it.

As he breached free from the forest, he could see Ponyville just about a quarter mile ahead at best. He was surrounded now by the unwieldy, rolling hills that surrounded the town. He paused only for a split second to look around, and then immediately his brain got to firing its synapses, trying to think up a good plan.

Well, ‘good’ was subjective, but still a plan would work at the moment.

He heard the thunderous sound of a tree being uprooted behind him and didn’t even turn back. He wasn’t some cheap bimbo from a horror film. He knew how this went down! Just bolted straight ahead. There was a pathway nearby, less rugged, dirt was smoothed down from hundreds, if not thousands of hooves hitting it over the years. Was less unwieldy than following the grassy hills, where any wayward hole or rock could trip him up.

Ah fuck, what the hell man!

Leading a three ton wolf into a town of colorful pastel ponies. Bad idea! But it’d be just as bad of an idea to turn into a different direction now. Getting eaten wasn’t on the bucket list; how would a wolf of wood even eat anyways?

Gah, focus!

As he rushed ahead, he saw a unicorn trotting towards him. Said stallion immediately widened their eyes upon seeing not only the bizarrely dressed human rushing at him, but also the massive timberwolf chasing said human. He froze up like a deer in headlights, and thus the Courier booked it towards him, deciding on the only logical course of action!

Six reached out, grabbed the stallion by his face and just tossed him off to the side, sending him tumbling between some bushes.

“Stay down you fuckwit!” the human shouted, running on ahead as the wolf focused on him instead of the now disguised unicorn.

As the stallion laid there, he brought his forehooves up over his head, defending himself as the extremely loud thuds of the timberwolf rang in his ears. All the while this happened, the Courier had pulled out Lucky.

He didn’t exactly have time to aim, so he just arched back a bit and blind-fired the old revolver as best he could. The .357 was decently powerful, broke off some woodchips, but it didn’t hit anything vital, and so the beast continued on.

By this point he was at the edge of town, with some of the houses becoming much less spread out. He could see the occasional pony draw open their windows to check what the loud commotion was, only to immediately slam them shut or cower back into the safety of their own private domiciles.

As he reached the weaving streets of Ponyville proper, he saw a slightly familiar mare turn the corner. She noticed him as soon as he noticed her. The wolf was a couple dozen meters back, so he had a moment to spare.

“Courier Si-” Berry Punch was cut off as he literally placed his hand right onto her muzzle and shoved her backwards. For the second time that day, the human manhandled a pony, and the earth mare sputtered about as she fell to the ground, kicking up dirt and debris. “Gah! What the-”

“Giant monster chasing me,” the human said, finally getting the chance to holster the emptied Lucky. He replaced the revolver with his Winchester 1887, and then fully focused on aiming it down the street. “Stay out of the way so you don’t get hurt.”

With that explanation, he rushed off away from the mare and towards danger. Had to make sure the big wooden fuck stayed focused on him, after all!

The timberwolf had been partly distracted by several screams of panic, and currently it was sniffing at the window of a small home. With few ponies on the streets, the monster was focusing on the houses, where the scent was freshest. It seemed the only thing that overshadowed its hatred for the Courier was its own appetite.

Needless to say, the human put an end to it, firing out a slug at the monster. Everypony that heard the gunshot quickly flattened their ears against their skull. Despite the fact most of the equines were inside their houses, the gunshots were still quite loud. The sounds were alien, unnatural to them, like miniature cannon fire, and most ponies weren't exactly familiar with cannons in the first place anyways!

The 20-gauge slug embedded itself into the monster’s neck, making it howl once more as it turned to face the human. Had it been an organic creature, that likely would’ve dropped it, or at least put it on the path of bleeding out. Given the timberwolf… that obviously didn’t happen. Instead, it let loose a second thunderous ROAR! and turned fully to the human. Oh well, at least none of the ponies were in its path.

“Yeah, come on you woody prick!” the Courier shouted, flicking the lever-action with one hand, doing yet another badass loop with it that spit the used shell onto the ground.

He didn’t run this time.

There were nooks and crannies to use as cover when needed. An old cart to duck behind, or a closed down fruit stall to use as a chance to reload. It was less unwieldy than the forest had been. No reason to not make the stand here… minus the fact he was in a residential area, but honestly, property damage was worth it.

It rushed him down instantly of course, and he didn’t have much time to ponder potential collateral beyond that. He quickly rolled to the right, out of the giant charging beast’s path. Felt the air whiz by him as the monster’s attack missed. The human’s roll quickly ceased, with him on his knees as his duster billowed, dirt having been kicked up by the dodge.

Six heard a loud CRACK! and as he turned on a dime, he saw the beast had smashed into a wagon, turning it into useless planks and small metal chunks. Thankfully this had the unintended effect of partly stumbling the timberwolf. Six used this time to unload several slugs into the creature’s tail end, hitting its upper thighs, its knees, he even aimed down and shot it in the back of its ankle.

The timberwolf howled, rearing up and turning, tossing several large planks of wood that clunk to its large claws about. Some of them flew at the human. Whether or not it was intentional was up for debate, but what mattered is that Six quickly began dodging out of the way, rolling once more.

He then refocused on the timberwolf, which was charging again. As it rushed him, it brought back its right claw, ready to swipe at the human. Six smirked at that, he held the Winchester in his left hand, reaching down with his right to pull out his Big Iron.

Ranger Sequoia was unsheathed like a legendary sword from the days of old as he aimed down. The mailman went to activate Implant GRX, would get the bastard in the eye-

“Gah! Fuck!” the human managed, his head instantly being filled with a painful migraine out of nowhere!

Even though the world slowed around him, he instinctively dropped his 1887, sending the shotgun tumbling to the ground as he reached up and grabbed at his head. He managed to let loose three shots at the timberwolf as his vision went partly staticky, like an old television set giving out or the face of a securitron shutting down. The world’s colors blurred about uselessly as it felt like someone was playing around with his brain, running their disgusting fingers over its wrinkled folds.

To his credit, he did land the three rounds.

Two of them slammed uselessly into the sturdy wooden chest of the timberwolf, and the third impacted the beast’s muzzle. It howled in pain as large chunks of wood were knocked away, however it still let loose its swat at the smaller human.

The Courier’s upper chest was impacted, leaving several large scrapes up the front of his duster as he was sent skyward. He was knocked uselessly into the air like that of a ragdoll, with his Big Iron being knocked from his grip by the attack.

He didn’t have time to curse the Sequoia’s loss as he flew aimlessly into the air. The sheer strength of the monster sent him flying easily the distance of a small city block, dozens of meters down the street and towards a particularly large, fancier building…

"Oh my, this dinner looks absolutely lovely," Fluttershy said, looking down at the carefully decorated plate of veggies.

It was a high class, five-star gourmet, even if the serving portion was small. Even still, Discord didn't roll his eyes at the fact that this pittance was barely enough to cover even half of their usual tea-parties. Still though, the whole thing made Fluttershy happy, and if that were the case, well then he was just glad to see his marefriend smiling and taking in the moment!

"Of course my dear Fluttershy, nothing but the best for-"

The Lord of Chaos was interrupted as the nearby window gave way, the loud sound of shattering glass rang out. The shrill noise cut off the soft, divine-sounding music that was being performed by Octavia on a nearby stage. Her and her band looked on in wide-eyed horror as a distinctly human-shaped object flew into (and across) the room.

As the glass rained down on the two lovebirds, Discord quickly snapped his fingers, and it became a cloud of confetti that harmlessly drifted downwards, sticking to his face and in Fluttershy’s mane. Despite his quick thinking, their meal was still ruined as a flailing boot accidentally knocked their table over, sending their tiny meals clattering to the floor.

The Courier's arms and legs continued to flail and jerk out wildly as he attempted in vain to grab something, anything to stop his airborne form! He had no luck sadly, and of course his flight path sent him dozens of feet across the room, careening right towards the marvelous display of confections that were expertly laid out along a long, rectangular table.

Dessert time was ruined as the Courier slammed back-first into said table, utterly shattering it in half, and sending a mixture of cupcakes, eclairs, and other pastries into the air... and then right back down onto him! Even still, his momentum kept him sliding another few feet, before he slammed the top of his head into the one table that hadn't been demolished. Yet sadly that was the table holding up a decently sized, decorative chocolate fountain...

Of course, given his bullet-resistant helmet met with the sturdy, yet thin wooden leg of the piece of furniture, it was obvious what was winning the resulting clash. A loud SNAP! of the wooden leg was the last thing he heard before his world was engulfed in a swamp of chocolate. The fountain was upturned, and dumped itself right onto him, leaving him in a puddle as some marshmallows and strawberries, (initially intended for dunking in said chocolate) were now floating about or stuck to his duster.

The Courier had raised his hands to defend himself, but they just stayed there, pointing upwards at nothing as his open palms were filled with chocolate and the occasional piece of frosting or cake. He could slowly see his vision returning as the melted chocolate leaked off of his eye lenses, leaving him to stare at the ceiling for a moment. Under the mask he blinked a few times, almost comically.

Fluttershy had instinctively jumped up from the crash earlier, and was now hovering, wide eyed, only the sound of her wings letting anyone know of her existence as she was covering her mouth with her forehooves, obviously out of shock and concern. Under any other circumstance, Discord would've hacked out a lung from laughing, but he just stood there, scowling, a twinge of concern on his face, though it wasn't fully certain if it was for the mailman, his pegasus date, or both.

There wasn't much time to decide either, as the two watched the Courier's open, defensive palms clench into a pair of balled fists. They could visibly see the anger boiling up in him. While Fluttershy was initially going to fly over to help the human, she remained hovering, partly because she sensed it too, and partly because Discord brought up a defensive arm to keep her from moving any closer.

The human in question slowly stood up, first by rising up to a sitting position, letting the ponies around see the cake and sweets stuck to him, before he adjusted and pulled himself up to his feet. As he did this, more and more sickly sweet, sugary goods leaked from his coated body. As he rose, the Courier must've caught something out of the corner of his eye, because his head jerked to the side so quick, his neck popped, his tense muscles feeling a bit more relaxed from the impromptu chiropractor session.

He didn't pay the “relief” any mind as he walked over to a nearby red metal box attached to the wall. It had a large plate of glass in front of it that said ‘In case of fire, break glass!’ The instructions were followed, (minus the fire part) as the mailman's fist shattered the glass into pieces, before he yanked out the massive fire axe that was inside of the box.

The Courier examined the sharpness of the never-used blade, before he reached down, pulled out one of his many revolvers, one chambered for .44 magnum. The black steel of the weapon was now coated in a mixture of bright oranges, pinks, and blues, with plenty of sprinkles on top too, which truly added to the once-decorative icing.

He flicked open the cylinder one-handed, examining the fact it was filled with rounds. After giving a low, annoyed growl of confirmation, the human flicked it shut again and cocked it. Even if the smaller iron likely wouldn’t do as much against the beast, a gun in the hand felt natural in this chaotic moment.

Regardless, the human soon began advancing back towards the window which he had shattered making his grand entrance. It was obvious he was seeing red by now.

Discord and Fluttershy looked at him as he walked over to the two. It was as if some vague part of the Courier's currently headache and primordial anger-fried brain recognized the two, as the second he got up next to their downed table, he stopped, looking at them.

His gaze made Fluttershy slink back for a moment in his terrifying presence. Her gusto and willingness to stand up for herself faded away as, for just a moment, it seemed the Courier himself could match The Stare.

Even Discord recoiled a bit as he saw the eyes behind the lenses of the Courier's mask. They looked... dark, maddened, almost chaotic, and very definitely pissed.

However, the Courier soon broke the staring competition, looking down at the table. With a hefty grunt, he swung his axe up, letting it rest on his shoulder. He put his revolver into its holster, before then using his newly freed hand to pick up the table.

The cloth that covered it was still on the floor, along with the two's former meals, however the minor adjustment seemed to be enough for the human. With the anomaly righted, the Courier looked back up at the two, and gave the faintest of nods, barely moving his head a quarter of an inch.

“Enjoy your meal,” he growled, finally shaking off the headache and jostling he’d gotten from the timberwolf, enough to speak at least.

He then made his way back towards the impromptu entrance he made, the confetti crunching under his powerful boots. The two lovebirds watched from behind as he hopped clean over the windowsill. Even his duster cleared the remnants of broken glass, not getting caught on anything. Now outside, the mailman walked off into the darkness of the night, clearly ready to put down the wooden bastard that had sent him here.

"Oh goodness... Should we help him?" Fluttershy finally asked after a long silence, almost startling Discord.

Even having just recovered from the shocking series of events that just happened, she felt worried for her human friend, her element shining through even in the strangest of times.

"I... think he would rather have us enjoy our dinner," answered the draconequus, looking down at the recently righted wooden table. He was filled with a mixture of emotions, notably, annoyance, from the ruination of the date, happiness, obviously due to Fluttershy being alright, and a lingering feeling of horror, from having stared into the hollow eyes of a pissed off mailman…

A bit later and said pissed off mailman was watching as the giant timberwolf shoved its snout through the window of the house, shattering the glass and forcing a good portion of its muzzle inside.

The Courier just whistled, his loud, shrill sound being easily picked up by the timberwolf’s powerful ears. The beast stopped its hunger-filled rampage, pulling its head away from the house and leaving the scared colt inside alone.

“Yo toothpick,” the crazed human said, readying his axe with both hands, his gloved fingers tightening around the long wooden handle as he gripped it like some type of 80s slasher villain, “let’s tango.”

It rushed at him with a growl, not needing any more convincing!

The human quickly shifted to the left, considered activating GRX but didn’t want to risk another skull-pounding headache. The bigger monster was a bit unwieldy, and the human used this to his advantage. Like a lumberjack (or rather, a limberjack,) he swung the axe downwards and slammed it into the back of the timberwolf’s left ankle.

Given the beast was moving quicker than a bat out of hell, he only managed to get it partially into the big creature’s leg, being unable to properly embed the weapon into the monster. Thus as its leg moved upwards, the Courier stumbled back, axe still in his hands, with a new indent on the beast's ankle.

After a moment, he tightened his grip on the melee once more. At least his attack took a small chunk out of the monster’s ankle, being enough to make the wooden behemoth stumble.

It growled and soon turned, trying to reverse its momentum and skid to a stop. It kicked up some dirt and nearly tripped over itself as it reoriented itself, stopping for a moment to stare down the mailman. Moments later, it rushed for him again, however this time, as the human readied himself to dodge out of the way, the timberwolf reared up onto its hind legs, swatting at the mailman with one of its powerful claws.

Courier Six had to step back a few times, but as he did, he instinctively swung his axe outwards. It clashed with the sharp stake-like nails of the ragged beast, and the metal of the axe’s blade won out, knocking several of the monster’s toes out of alignment.

The wooden beast howled as it came back down onto all fours, but by then it was met with the Courier’s axe being slammed into the right side of its partly damaged head. The human used the axe like a hook and steadied himself, trying to drag the unnatural beast’s head down further to the ground!

He was putting up a shocking display of strength against the timberwolf, as every time it tried jerking back, he tugged it down further. He even managed to take his right hand off of the axe’s handle, reaching into his duster and fishing out the .44 magnum. He unloaded all six shots into the unwieldy beast’s face.

One round slammed into its right eye, sending sap spewing out. The others bounced uselessly off the blood in the tug of war. A moment later though the monster finally tugged back with all its might, rearing up once more as it growled in pain, like so many other rabid dogs the Courier had heard. He wasn’t able to focus on that though, as the beast jerked him upwards!

Gravity took over, and he was sent flying, though thankfully, the axe remained in his hand. The .44 though was accidentally let loose, tumbling off to the side and impacting against the dirt with a dull, metallic thud.

Six really didn’t mourn its loss for the time, as he tumbled upwards. The timberwolf had basically flipped him over its back, sending the human spiraling several dozen feet into the air. He swung his axe and hand outwards in an attempt to grab or hook onto something, a roof, pole, statue, anything.

No dice.

He impacted hard against the ground, slamming roughly onto his stomach and actually bouncing upwards from the impact. He flew solid foot into the air before finally gravity forced him downwards and he impacted once more, right onto his ribs.

His durable torso had taken the brunt of the blow, near-unbreakable back and ribcage took the impact. Stomach though? That was shot. Nearly threw up in his mask as he forced himself back onto his knees. He even used the axe like a cane as he shakily got fully onto his feet.

The beast was already charging, not giving him a moment to rest. However, the Courier was readied by this point. As the monster barreled down at him, he gripped the axe tightly, holding on for dear life, he brought it back, and then swung it forwards with force that even the mighty Paul Bunyan would be proud of…

KA-RACK!

The Courier’s attack managed to heavily injure the beast. His axe blade sliced clean through the wooden menace’s already-battered lower left leg. He heard the bastard howl in utter pain as it stumbled forwards, walking on the stump where its paw used to be.

He wasn’t able to enjoy this minor victory though, as the beast used its forward momentum to try and barrel him over. Its back legs continued surging towards the human, trying to slam into him. He managed to weave, ducking between them, however the monster lowered its tail downward.

Normally a dog’s tail wouldn’t be an issue, however given the size of the creature, its tail was like that of a thick branch. It slammed right into the Courier’s face. A loud SNAP! rang out as three things happened: First, the creature’s tail broke fully in half on impact, secondly, the Courier tumbled back, slammed to the ground by the force of the blow, third, his precious fire axe flew off to the side, out of his grip and to God-knows-where.

He was moderately dazed, felt no different than the times he’d taken a baseball bat to the skull. He was just about to shake it off, but the wolf turned on a dime as he turned to roll to his feet. The human looked up and even he was shocked at the monster’s agility, as all he saw was its open maw barreling right at him…

CRUNCH!

“FUCK!”

He couldn’t help but shout in pain and annoyance at that. Its jaws clamped down over his body. He felt its wooden teeth dig into both his stomach and lower spine. The riot gear’s durable plating and alloys actually broke some of them off and bent a few out of place. However, the ones that made it through were enough. He felt several inch-long punji sticks basically jab themselves into his gut and back.

The world would’ve gone dark had it not been for his night vision kicking in, letting him see the inorganic interior of the monster’s maw. WInd was knocked out of his lungs. Felt like he was on the receiving end of a wooden bear trap. He kicked his legs as he felt himself lifted off of the ground.

Ah shit; he knew what was coming…

The gigantic timberwolf began to shake its head about. Like any other dog that had found a prey animal, it jerked the Courier left and right, digging its teeth deeper into his flesh and armor. Its head lurched this way and that, and in all of its thrashing, it accidentally slammed the Courier’s legs into one of the nearby house roofs.

Six grunted in pain as his right ankle slammed hard into a solid piece of wood. He didn’t know if he heard or felt a crack, but he couldn’t focus on that right now! The human pulled Blood Nap from his satchel and began slicing and dicing at everything he could! He jammed it into the upper roof of the wooden beast’s mouth, managing to dig the knife shockingly deep.

“These damned things can penetrate metal, fido!” growled the human, intent on inflicting as much damage to the monster as he could before the ride stopped.

His jabs were powerful, his muscles flexed. He didn’t stop, neither did the ride. The human dug his knife in particularly deep, and attempted to use it as a pick, digging out the softer vines and interior chunks of the wolf. Maybe he could dig his way to its brain!

Only when he reached his gloved hand up and pulled it back covered in sap did the monster finally let go, though, this was mid-shake, so as the Courier’s darkened world went back to normal, he could only see the spiraling image of a few houses looking back at him. He could only faintly hear the wooden fuck howling in pain as he tumbled through the air.

Good. Fuck ‘em.

He would’ve insulted the beast more, but sadly he finally landed…

CRASH!

Wood gave way beneath him; he landed shoulder first into what was likely a vendor’s food stand. The Courier grunted, taking a second to just lay there and breathe as the rest of the vendor collapsed down on top of him. He growled, his vision obscured by a crudely drawn carrot, which he soon shoved aside. It was replaced with the horrified visage of the owner of the stand. A familiar visage, sadly.

“Holy moly, it looks like you’ve ran into an eighteen-carrot run of bad luck!” the worried mare exclaimed.

The human stared blankly at the orange earth pony.

“Why couldn’t that fall have killed me…” the human growled tiredly, not only addressing Carrot Top, but instead the world itself.

“Oh goodness, oh goodness, oh goodness!” Roseluck panicked, sprinting about the town.

The last time she’d dealt with a monster attack, she was too distracted by a wedding to worry, however this time, all she had to focus on was a barn-sized wooden abomination ready to rip apart anypony in its path!

Currently she was trying to rush back to her shop. She was out for a last-minute stack of pancakes (don’t judge, Sugarcube Corner was this close to closing for the night!) when of course a gigantic beast ran through the streets. Now she was on her way back to her shop to lock up (and hide under her bed, eating her sweet treats in the hope it’d all go away by morning.)

As she turned a corner though, a purple hoof reached out and tugged the earth mare into a back alley. “EEEKKK-” she was silenced by the same hoof being shoved into her mouth.

“Shut it Roseluck, it’s just me!” came a familiar voice, with the hoof slowly being removed from the creamy flower pony’s muzzle.

“B-Berry Punch?” Roseluck asked, examining the alcohol-loving mare in question. “Why in the hay did you scare me like that!?!”

“Because if you run around shouting ‘Oh my goodness’ that’s just asking for a monster to chase you!” the fellow earth mare huffed back.

“...right,” Roseluck said sheepishly.

“Look, Rose, stick to the back alleys from now on, alright?” explained the more rugged mare. “Unless you wanna wind up dog-chow.”

“W-what is that thing even doing here?” Roseluck asked.

“Dunno… but I’m gonna try and stop it,” Berry Punch replied.

“You? How!?!” squeaked the red-headed mare.

“That thing’s made of wood, right? Alcohol is flammable, especially when applied to wood, you follow?” Berry asked, getting a slow, uncertain nod from the flower pony. “I figure a barrel of my own special stuff can scorch that big bastard.”

“You’re just gonna sacrifice your collection like that?” Roseluck questioned, her tone one of shock.

“Listen, that one uh… that human thing, the Courier or whatever. I saw him fighting it earlier. He needs some help, that thing can smoke him if he’s left all alone,” Berry Punch explained.

“B-But what about Starlight, or Rainbow Dash, or even D-Discord?” questioned Roseluck.

“We can’t expect those bozos to always help us! Besides, by the time they get here, Six or whatever could be toast!” replied Berry.

Roseluck nodded, not fully sure on what to say.

“Look, you go on home, alright?” Berry Punch said, peaking halfway out of the alley. “I can grab my stash real quick and get back here in just a few minutes-”

“W-wait,” Roseluck called softly.

Berry turned back to her, raising a brow.

“I…” the flower pony gulped, but soon steeled herself with a nod. “...I’ll help you.”

Berry Punch beamed at that, a proud smile crossing her muzzle.

The bitter drink didn’t un-break his ankle, but it definitely dulled the pain. No damned Stims on him. From now on he’d carry the fuckers. Got too cocky. Got too complacent to use them.

Carrot Top had helped him back to his feet, and remained at his side, with his hand resting on his back as he steadied himself.

“Did you see where my axe went?” the human questioned.

“I don’t think that’s the important thing right no-”

“Putting that thing down, is the important thing,” the human grunted, brushing her off.

He scanned around for the weapon in question. It had a bright red head, surely it’d be easy to spot!

He broke away from Carrot Top to look around more in depth. As he went to take a step though, he partly buckled over, before forcing himself back up straight. Right, broken ankle, almost forgot due to the dulling numbness he forced himself into, the rage and annoyance also clouded the sensations of pain as well. After a moment of truly steadying himself, the Courier fully straightened up, dusted himself off.

“Uh, Six? You alright,” a worried Carrot Top asked.

He just took a deep breath, inhaling in a long, drawn-out manner. Something deep inside him began to burst forth. Like he was drawing on powers that weren’t his own. Made him feel warm. Made him feel… strange?

It was probably just the bitter drink, in all honesty.

The Courier adjusted his jacket, back in the game properly. No folding this time.

“Yeah,” he replied, taking a few more steps forward. He walked with only a very faint limp this time, ignoring his broken bones, as something greater was at stake than his own body. “Never better.”

Behind him Carrot Top just cocked a brow, the orange mare giving him a funny look. Didn’t have time to dwell on it, as several screams of panic soon sounded out, turning the Courier towards it. Axe or no axe, it was time to rock n’ roll… Again!

The Courier soon walked over to Carrot Top’s demolished vendor stand and pulled a massive plank of wood from it. After swinging it around in his right hand and assuring its sturdiness, the human nodded to himself.

Moments later, he made his way to a cart filled with supplies nearby. Top herself watched as the human just tugged one of the wheels off it, and grabbed some rope out of the back of the wagon. He loosely fastened it to his wrist and then to the wheel itself. After assuring it was sturdy, he nodded to himself once again.

“I’d complain about vandalism, but I think we’ve got more important things to attend to?” Carrot Top asked.

“You know it,” he battered his two-by-four against the wooden shield and then made his way towards the chaos like a knight on a budget.

With his new weaponry in hand, he and Carrot Top joined the fray. About a block or so away, through the winding streets of the town, they found the timberwolf. It was currently jamming its paws through the bashed down front door of a house.

“Alright, take three, this time I’m putting this fucker down,” growled the Courier.

“Anything I can do to help?” Carrot Top asked.

“I’d say go get everypon- everyone out of the way,” the Courier replied.

She just rolled her eyes.

“I mean in the fight, Six,” she replied. “I’m more than just a carrot-based comedian, you know.”

“God I’ve gotta have brain damage by now,” the human growled, his Brain would’ve likely been offended if the situation wasn’t more dire. “Go for the back legs, keep yourself out of the way of the claws and teeth an-”

Immediately, the human heard a loud shout from down the street. “Hey you big meanie!” the voice sounded out. The Timberwolf turned-

SPLAT!

And was met with a double-decker cake splattering into its face, blinding the beast and making it howl in anger. Six looked around, spotting a certain earth pony baker who was stationed next to a literal cart filled to the brim with every concession one could imagine.

“Pinkie!?!” the human shouted. though the pink mare in question likely didn’t hear him, nor respond.

She was too busy flinging numerous pastries at the giant monster, splattering its wooden body with cupcakes, eclairs, and donuts, among others. She was like a damned machine gun, her forehooves being a blur as she would scoop up hooffuls of her “ammo” and throw them at the beast.

The Courier turned questioningly to Carrot Top, who shrugged.

“She’s an element bearer and all that cool stuff, they got into fights with giant evil monsters all the time,” she explained.

“Alright, well, still go for the hind legs, help her out, just stay out of the way, mostly,” the human quickly planned.

“Gee thanks,” the mare huffed. “What about you?”

“I’m going in, cakes can only distract that fucker for so long,” the Courier braced, before turning and charging in.

Pinkie continued pelting the monster, which was slowly getting used to the barrage of icing. She knew she should’ve packed extra! Even with her cart, she could only do so much. With her eyes focused on the crumb and icing covered mess that was the timberwolf, she didn’t get much time to examine her surroundings, especially in the darkness of the night. So, whenever a bipedal figure slammed into the extremely damaged left leg of the monster, even she was shocked.

Courier Six used the wagon wheel-turned shield as a battering ram, bashing it into the monster’s knee with enough force to hear several faint cracks ringing out. Didn’t really know if it was the shield or the timberwolf’s leg, but either way it was satisfying.

The monster howled, its other front leg buckling as it didn’t have a stump to help support itself anymore. As its front end fell to the ground, the Courier began to bash its head. It was therapeutic, given he himself had been knocked down by the beast’s branch-like tail earlier.

All those times he’d bashed the heads of Fiends and White Legs in paid off. Swung around the sturdy wooden plank as if it were a war club. He’d make the Dead Horses proud. Each powerful strike against the creature’s head made it keel over more and more, with the human not letting up.

It howled again, turning towards him, only to get its head knocked to the side, with a few wooden teeth flying out of its bashed in muzzle. It growled, launching out its right paw. It impacted into the human’s chest, kicking him away and raking its claws against his armor, sending out sparks as he was launched backwards.

He slammed onto the ground, however turned his momentum into a roll, allowing himself to tumble back a few feet further before he fully came to a stop on his knees. He quickly forced himself upwards to his feet as the ragged timberwolf did the same.

It lunged to quickly bite at him, using its immense size to strike, however, the Courier brought up the wagon wheel and the monster’s jaw locked around the circular object. Its remaining left eye widened as it found its maw stuck wide open, its remaining teeth firmly embedded into the wood.

From there the Courier bashed at its face, poking at its left eye in an attempt to fully blind the beast (assuming gouging them out did anything of course.) Either way, the human bashed at the beast several more times before it finally tugged away, taking chunks of the wagon wheel with it.

However, as it reared up, the human readied himself. He shifted his weight to his right and got into a warrior-like stance, causing a sharp pain in his ankle. He ignored this and then launched his shield forwards. The rope was still attached to his wrist; however, he’d used enough of it so that the wagon wheel could be launched outwards and yanked back to him if needed.

Like a cheap bolas, it wrapped itself around the giant monster’s neck. Six growled, dropping his plank to hold onto the rope with both hands. The beast tried jerking back, but in its weakened state, the Courier’s muscles won out, and he tugged its head downwards, knocking it off balance.

Carrot Top and Pinkie had been on the sidelines for this entire scuffle. While the party pony herself wanted to throw more cake, even she realized that the beast wasn’t exactly taking much damage from it. Still, she motioned for the carrot farmer to help her as she reached into her pastry wagon.

Top did so, rearing up and using her forehooves to help the pink mare lug out a gigantic quadruple decker cake one might find at a wedding. It required both earth ponies to use their enhanced strength to lift.

“Golly, how did you bake this so quick?” Carrot Top asked.

“I always keep extra cakes for emergencies!” Pinkie cheerfully replied. “Now help me load it into the party cannon, Sixy needs us!”

“R-Right!” nodded the orange mare.

A bit later, the two shoved the cake partly into the party cannon. Well, into wasn’t a good term. It was so large that the cannon itself’s muzzle was only about a third of the size of the cake’s round bottom, meaning the entire icing-covered monolith was sticking comically on the end of the cannon.

Regardless, Pinkie quickly grabbed at the firing mechanism with her forehoof and nodded to Carrot Top, who covered her ears. The party mare aimed right at the struggling timberwolf’s face and fired…

KA-POWIE!

The cake flew outwards, right at the giant beast like a bullet. Both it and the human were too distracted to see it coming, so this time when it impacted into the side of the wooden beast’s head, it actually managed to nearly knock the giant monster over. However, the giant cake, combined with the Courier fully managed to tug the monster off of its remaining feet, and it fell to the ground with a loud thud, thrashing its limbs this way and that.

It wasn’t over yet for the beast though, as while it was down, a familiar pony rushed out from an alleyway nearby. The human noticed her at the last second, as she ran from his left side and past him.

“Roseluck?” he managed.

The creamy earth mare in question didn’t pay him attention, as she reached into a small saddlebag she’d brought. She pulled out a hoofful of seeds, and then reached back, grabbing a packet of what looked like dirt.

She ripped the pack open with her teeth and then shoved the seeds inside, before hucking it right at the downed timberwolf. Just as the monster was managing to get to its remaining three feet, the seeds and fertilizer landed right in front of it.

The human watched as from the packet gigantic, vine-like tendrils soon grew out. Given that vines instinctively attach themselves to trees to grow higher and get more sun, these were no different, and the leafy tentacles grabbed at the struggling wolf.

The growing roots were easily an inch-thick, possibly more than that, thus they managed to restrain the beast’s forelimbs, growing up and wrapping around its face and neck as well. The beast went to howl, but its jaw was clamped shut by the vines.

Six briefly looked to Roseluck, who only noticed his gaze after a few seconds.

“Oh uh, it’s Buku Fertilizer; you delivered it to me on your mailrun,” she explained. “Mixed from the finest Saddle Arabian dirt, ash from the Dragonlands, and plenty of magically enhanced minerals and nutrients-”

“Alright enough botanical lessons,” the mailman cut her off. “We need to kill that thing now, this fight’s gone on long enough!”

“Well, Berry Punch should be coming in soon,” Roseluck replied.

“Berry Punch?” the human quickly wracked his brain, seeing if he recalled the name. “Wait was she the drunk-”

Immediately on a rooftop nearby, just behind the struggling timberwolf, he could see a mulberry mare stand onto her hind legs. She raised a large, wooden barrel over her head. The human could see it had the XXX symbol.

Ah, moonshine.

Like a giant gorilla, she tossed the barrel downwards, and it flew right at the timberwolf. The barrel impacted against its back, making the monster roar in anger more than pain. However, the barrel itself exploded in a shower of alcohol, fully coating the wolf and the roots covering it.

“Now, Strawberry!” shouted Berry Punch, motioning her forehooves.

A pegasus mare with a poofy, deep red mane and tail that heavily resembled Carrot Top’s flew downwards, a black, thundering stormcloud in her grip. She hovered a few feet above the struggling timberwolf, who managed to rip through one of the vines by this point.

With a grunt of effort, Strawberry Sunrise bucked the cloud, causing a blast of lightning to rain down onto the wooden wolf. Immediately, the monster roared in pain as the flammable liquids coating its body became an inferno, burning the beast. Given the monster wasn’t made of flesh or blood, it lit up like any other tree would, howling as it did.

While its body burned, so did the vines holding it, and it used every ounce of strength to struggle as it tried to loose itself from its foliage-based prison. The Courier noticed this, and reached out his hand, gently pushing Roseluck out of the way.

“Hey- what gives?” she huffed. “That thing’s going to be dead soon anyway-”

Snap!

A large vine snapped apart as the beast reared back, tugging its neck this way and that.

SNAP!

Another did the same, with the one around its burning muzzle giving way.

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

Like a bunch of metal wires holding up a suspension bridge, each and every root gave way as the monster fully freed itself. Immediately the beast lunged towards the two closest targets, namely, Roseluck and the Courier.

The gardener’s eyes widened, as all of this happened in an instant. However, the Courier himself was able to grab the mare by the scruff of her neck and tossed her aside like she was a misbehaving kitten.

He himself wasn’t able to move much, broken ankle and all, so he was scooped right back up into the charging monster’s jaw. The timberwolf snarled and growled as it managed to force the human’s entire body into its mouth, seemingly in an attempt to swallow him. Its jaws slammed shut like the top board of a grand piano, fully engulfing the mailman.

There was a thick, tense silence from there, as the monster remained in place, its head held high, its jaws clamped shut…

Everypony present watched on with horror.

Pinkie dropped several cakes from her grasp, with them splattering uselessly to the ground. Berry Punch’s face took one of a stern hatred for the beast. Carrot Top pouted.

Everything remained silent for a bit longer, the crackling of the burning, struggling beast being the only sounds present…

And then, there was a grunt…

The giant wolf took a few steps back, as its mouth was slowly, but surely forced open, by merely a few inches at first. It growled, putting more effort into shutting its jaws, however, every inch it gained, its mouth opened two inches wider.

The horror of the ponies turned to shock, as they realized what was happening.

Another loud grunt of effort rang out, and the Courier was visible once more! He’d planted both feet on the monster’s bottom jaw, and was using his powerful, metallic spine and upper body to lift the creature’s top one off of himself.

Like some type of pulp hero, he shoved the monster’s jaw wider and wider, giving strained growls of effort each time. There were several loud pops and snaps as the monster’s jaw began to weaken, small woodchips snapping off as its mouth was bent open unnaturally.

As the human was slowly forcing the beast’s jaws wide open, the ponies were snapping back into action.

“W-we gotta help him!” shouted Carrot Top, before immediately rushing in.

She slammed her hind legs into the monster’s own rear left foreleg. Bucking as hard as she could, she actually stumbled the beast, with the fire-licked wood giving way far easier than the monster’s normal, healthier self.

The creature howled, with the force of said howl causing the Courier’s duster to billow forwards, however he just kept forcing the jaws further and further apart, giving a few strained breaths as he put all of his effort into his strong back muscles.

From there, the others dog- or rather, ponypiled the timberwolf. They kicked at its legs and even its stomach where possible.

“Bad Mr. Giant Evil Timberwolf!” Pinkie shouted, reaching back her forehoove and basically punching the beast in its stomach.

Berry Punch used a bottle like a makeshift melee weapon, slamming it into the creature’s upper right chest until the bottle broke. She ignored the flames licking the beast’s wooden body and began stabbing at the creature’s weaker points with the now-sharpened weapon.

Roseluck gave a few unsure kicks at the beast, being careful not to get singed by the flames. Carrot Top grabbed the wooden stick the Courier had dropped earlier and got to pummeling the beast’s hind legs.

Even Strawberry Sunrise flew up to the ever-widening muzzle of the beast.

“Hi, uh… whatever you are! Do you need help?” she offered the Courier, his red eye lenses staring at her from behind the beast’s wooden teeth.

It almost looked like they were prison bars on a makeshift cage. The human just responded by really putting his back into it and shoving upwards!

CRUNCH!

Broken ankle be damned, the human fully snapped off the monster’s lower jaw, his legs and body fully straightening out. The useless wood clattered to the ground with several small thuds, joined shortly by the Courier, who tumbled down a few feet and landed on his hands and knees.

Strawberry and Pinkie rushed over to his aid first, dragging him out of harm's reach as the heavily injured timberwolf stumbled around.

“Sixy, you alright?” Pinkie Pie squeaked squeaked.

“Yeah, that was a rough fall,” added Strawberry Sunrise.

“I’ll be alright when that thing’s dead,” growled the human, forcing himself up.

“Well… I might have something to help with that,” Pinkie pondered, before reaching into her mane.

The Courier watched as the pink party pony pulled out an honest-to-God chainsaw…

It was yellow, well maintained, and definitely ready to rip and tear. Strawberry actually backed away a few steps on the weapon’s reveal.

“Where did you get this?” asked the human, casually grabbing the zombie-busting weapon from her forehooves. No reason to question it anymore.

“The hardware store, silly,” she giggled.

The human examined it for a few seconds. Wasn’t exactly like how the nuclear battery-powered ones back in the Mojave, but it would suffice. Grabbed the starter chord of the weapon and tugged it. Once, twice, third times the charm, with the magically powered motor humming to life!

Vrrrrmbrmbrmbrmmmmm!

…

“Groovy.”

With the party really started, the human rushed forwards. He didn’t feel the pain in his ankle anymore, for he had the natural bane against all wooden beings everywhere.

The ponies surrounding the beast cleared the way, obviously not wanting to be anywhere near the spinning death machine.

The timberwolf himself was in bad shape, only able to swipe uselessly at the air and stumble about now. The Courier went ahead, ready to put the dog down. He quickly slammed his chainsaw into the upper right leg of the beast, fully hacking it off within just a few seconds of sawing, the weakened, scorched wood giving away. It fell down onto its side with a loud growl, trying to claw at the human with the stump that was its left paw.

The Courier stomped downwards, holding its left leg in place with his broken ankle. Even with the painful jostling, the human held steady, raising the saw above the monster’s large, wooden head...

And then he brought it down!

Vrrrrmmm-KA-CRUNCH!

Woodchips and sap and twigs flew out, with the monster’s skull being shredded apart by the saw. It was split fully down the middle by the Courier’s powerful swing. What the axe had started, the chainsaw finished…

The Courier stood there, inhaling and exhaling deeply, his breathing was ragged, and his chest heaved. He could feel the bruises on the underside of his armor, and he could feel his right ankle beginning to swell now.

It seemed that the second the battle was over, all that adrenaline had switched off, and there he stood, finally having to lean down. The chainsaw stopped revving, and he used it as a makeshift crutch to support himself.

The others though? They seemed to be in higher spirits.

“YEAH! Take THAT you overgrown bundle of sticks!” Berry Punch shouted, hoofpumping the air. “We earth ponies started this town, and we can damn sure defend it!”

“Didn’t the Courier technically kill that thing?” Roseluck pondered.

“And I helped you light it on fire,” Strawberry Sunrise pointed out, crossing her forehooves as she remained hovering in the air.

“Don’t ruin the moment,” said Berry, her tone a lot less pumped now.

“Well, I gave him the chainsaw,” Pinkie chuckled, trotting by the duo and up to the human, who was balancing on said chainsaw, as if it were a cane. “Come on Sixy, I’ll help you get to a nice sturdy seat.”

He just nodded, using the chainsaw-cane with his left hand while placing his right one on Pinkie’s back, using her as a secondary aid as he made his way over to a small bench nearby. As this happened, Berry Punch still seemed hyped to the verge of shouting in glee.

“Gah, I’m still not over how awesome that was! Especially with those vines! Rose… I could kiss you right now!” the mulberry mare snickered.

The cream-colored earth mare in question just blushed, taking a step back.

“L-let’s keep this professional!” she stammered.

“Group hug!” Carrot Top shocked both mares by popping up between them and enveloping the two fellow earth ponies into a hug, Berry on her left, and Rose on her right. As the trio embraced, (with Roseluck blushing all the while) Stawberry Sunrise hovered above them, rolling her eyes.

Meanwhile, the Courier just sat on his bench nearby, looking around and examining the area in which the battle had taken place. The burning remains of the timberwolf helped brighten up the night, though he himself didn’t need it. In the air he saw a familiar pegasus flying in for a landing.

“Alright, now what in the hay is going on here?” she growled, winded likely from both her stunt-practicing session and the trip to Ponyville. “I was in the middle of practice, and I suddenly get word about a giant timberwolf attacking Ponyville!”

“Oh it’s alright Dashie, we got that covered!” Pinkie said with a smile, pointing towards the smoldering corpse of the beast.

Rainbow Dash frowned.

“Is everypony alright?” she questioned. “Tank, Scoot-”

“Tank is back at the sanctuary and Scootaloo… she’s probably alright,” the Courier said, checking his Pip-Boy with a deep, ragged breath.

Before Dash could respond, a burst of magic interrupted her, and she, Six, and Pinkie looked over to see Starlight, who had just teleported onto the scene. Her horn was alight with magic, and her face was battle-hardened, clearly ready to fight whatever beast that had laid siege to Ponyville this week.

“Alright everypony get indoors, I will handle the…”

She trailed off, looking around to see the burning corpse of the timberwolf, the injured chainsaw-wielding human, and Pinkie Pie waving at her.

“...Monster,” she concluded, her horn’s light dying off.

The Courier just groaned in annoyance.

“Alright, does anyone else wanna show u-”

Instantly, another teleportation blast interrupted him, and he turned, seeing a gleeful Fluttershy, and a not-so-pleased Discord standing a few feet away, with the draconequus crossing his mismatched arms. Angel Bunny and the hawk from earlier hovered between the two.

After a moment, Discord snapped his fingers, and the wreckage caused by the timberwolf was poofed out of existence, along with the beast’s smoldering corpse. All the broken windows, the partly destroyed homes, and the smashed-up carts were fixed and cleaned up in one big go.

“Oh this is all so wonderful!” Fluttershy beamed at her coltfriend, looking around at the newly cleaned scene.

“Easy for you to say,” Discord huffed, crossing his arms “Fixing things isn’t exactly chaotic, you know!”

“Ah shut it you old prick,” the Courier casually replied, not truly meaning his insult. He reached down, rubbing at his boot. Through all of this, his ankle was still broken.

“Bah, you just lost bone-fixing magic privileges!” the draconequus shot back.

“Never wanted it,” the human growled, handing off his chainsaw back to Pinkie Pie. “You guys seem way too dependent on magic anyways.”

He and the others watched as Pinkie shoved the powerful weapon right back into her mane, with it vanishing in the mare’s forest of hair. Even Discord cocked an eyebrow. The Courier strangely was the only one who didn’t question it.

“Pinkie… why was there a chainsaw in your mane?” Starlight asked.

“I need something for self-defense… other than cake I mean!” squeaked the mare, waving a forehoof, as if the explanation was obvious.

The magical prodigy just stood there in silent shock; her eye twitched a little bit. A very annoyed Rainbow Dash at her side. Suddenly, from around a corner, came a familiar farm mare.

Applejack was without her hat for the moment, her ponytail billowing about as she rushed over.

“I’m here everpon-”

“You’re late, these bozos already killed it,” Dash rolled her eyes.

“Dagnabbit, Bloom woke me up an’ everything!” growled the farmpony.

“I can fly you back home I guess,” the blue pegasus said with a huff. “Once my wings stop cramping that is.”

Back on the bench, Pinkie Pie was pressing her forehoof gently against the human’s swelling ankle. It was quite large now, even bulging out the human’s boots and pants a bit. Didn’t have a stim at the moment, kept forgetting the damn things.

“Sixy are you alright? Do you need anything?” Pinkie offered the injured human, her tone one of obvious concern.

“Eh… pint of fudge ice cream, maybe?” the human snarked.

“Oohh, I love fudge too!” Pinkie offered, immediately pulling out an entire tub of (somehow) chilled ice cream. The exact flavor the snarky mailman had said.

By this point he didn’t question it, just grabbed it out of her forehooves.

“Got any clean spoons?”

“You know it!”

And thus, they ate...

Blue Lyra

The Courier gently pressed his spatula underneath the sunny side up egg as it sizzled satisfyingly in the pan. He didn’t really know how the magical stove worked. There was no gas, and to his knowledge, this particular home wasn’t on the power grid. Didn’t really question it.

As he waited for the egg to fully finish cooking, he adjusted himself, shifting his weight onto his right ankle, feeling some tenseness in it. It was tender, and the swollen flesh pressed against the inside of his boots. He refused to take them off and refused any medical help much to the chagrin of Redheart, who actually arrived on the scene to check for any injuries.

Still though, he wanted to trek back to the woods, get some Broc flower, Xander root; make a stim if possible. However, for the time being he was utterly exhausted, needed some rest. Several ponies invited him in, wanted him to rest up, offered him guest rooms.

He refused everyone…

Well, almost everyone.

“I’m perfectly fine with cooking for you, you know,” Cherry Berry said, standing behind the human. She looked as if she were waiting for him to fall at any moment, ready to spring up and catch him.

“If a man can’t cook for himself, then what good is he, exactly?” the human rhetorically replied.

“That sounds like some old stupid saying right out of a fortune cookie,” Cherry said, giving a rhetorical answer.

The human just rolled his eyes, plating the egg and handing it off to the smaller mare. She grabbed it with a forehoof, rolling her own eyes.

“Will you move aside now? Lyra and Bon Bon can be here at any minute, and I have to make enough oats for all of-”

“I have to make my toast first,” the human replied back, putting a few spoonfuls of butter into the cast iron.

The pan continued sizzling as he waited for the dairy product to melt, before throwing in a few pieces of bread behind it. As he cooked, he recalled the married mares’ worry of him the night before, when they arrived at the scene of the fight.

It was the same spiel as the bugbear incident, but this time he was awake to hear them worry over him. Even though it felt nice to have friends, it didn’t exactly feel great having someone proverbially breathing down his neck and fretting over every decision he made-

“I have a toaster, you know,” Cherry huffed from behind him, knocking him out of his thoughts.

“Those things are mentally unstable,” he replied flatly.

She just raised a brow at that, looking at him as if he were insane. Which to be fair, he probably was.

After a bit, the human was seated at the earth mare’s small dining table, with the cloth spread out over the circular wooden frame and everything. There were only four chairs, one for her, one for him, two unoccupied, with the human and pony sitting across from one another. In the center of the table was a larger pot of cooked oats, enough for the expected guests.

Cherry Berry spooned some oatmeal into her mouth, as she watched the Courier apply generous amounts of pepper to his eggs and toast before cutting into them with his fork. She considered trying to stare at him to see if she could find a slipup, something to partly expose his face. Six just ate stealthily, looking away or hiding behind his napkin as he took bite after bite of the small meal.

Her face scrunched, she looked up at the clock on her wall. It was one of the few decorations of the small, homely kitchen. Other than a calendar that was covered with various types of hot air balloons beautifully lit against an evening sun. Every month had a picture of the glorious vehicles, actually. Except for the ones that had helicopters. Glorious, glorious helicopters…

What was she doing again?

Crunch.

Ah right, toast eating alien in her home.

“Ahem…” she courteously managed, raising her hoof and coughing into it in a lady-like manner. Might as well be soft as Rarity for the moment.

There was no reply.

She coughed again, trying to be courteous.

He just took another loud bite of the toast he made from her bread.

She knew he was ignoring her by this point…

Then again, this was-

“Six!”

He leaned back, she could tell he was rolling his eyes.

“The leg is fine, Cherry,” he growled. “Don’t pull this deja vu repeat shit on me, especially after what happened back in Dodge.”

“Fighting big brawls like that every other week isn’t a good thing, Six!” the concerned mare growled back.

“You think I wanted to get my limbs smashed?” he tiredly replied.

“You just ran in without a plan!” she scolded. “Didn’t even wait for anypony else to help you!”

“What did you want me to do? Just step back and let everp- everyone get eaten?” he replied, raising his voice. “That what you want? Huh!”

She bit her lip, silencing herself as she looked away. She stared at no particular corner of the room, just a dark, shadowy part behind the fridge.

“Look…” she managed with a huff. “I just… I care for you, alright?”

“Never heard that before,” he replied, crossing his arms, crumbs from the toast flaking off of his dark black gloves.

“Why are you always such a prick!?!” she snapped.

He snapped up a bit straight at that.

“You’re a fucking asshole to everyone an-” she stopped, took a deep calming breath, and then finally, after a few moments, managed to continue. “Six you’re my friend, alright. I know we’ve said that and talked together about it, but you just act like… like it doesn’t matter that others care for you, alright?”

She leaned down, a small number of tears welling in her large, expressive eyes.

“I can handle you getting hurt a few times, you’re tough, I get it, but fight after fight, when does that luck wear out huh-”

She was silenced as he reached across the small table and gently placed his right gloved hand on her cheek. He gently rubbed at her face with his thumb, wiping away some tears from her ducts.

“Cherry…” he himself paused for a moment, as if unsure of what to say. “You’re just taking this too hard, alright? We bantered before, back at Dodge-”

“You didn’t have a broken ankle and refuse medical help back at Dodge,” she shot back, leaning into his hand.

“Look just… trust me, alright? Trust in the process,” he said, gently patting her cheek with his palm. “And I guess I can tone down being an asshole and everything.”

“You can worry about your assholery whenever I help you back to your camp,” she said, giving a coy smile.

“Christ you’re not actually thinking of going ou-”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked, a trace of fire in her voice, she reached up a forehoof and grabbed at his hand. “You’re my friend. We’re having a moment right now, aren’t we?”

Courier Six just grunted.

“My God, fine, if it’ll make you feel any better, you can be my glorified crutch back to the damn shit-shack, alright?” he caved.

“Oh yeah!” she hoofpumped. “It’s alright Six, it’ll just be an hour-long trek with you and me and nature. It’ll be so awesome!”

“Yeah, whatever you say,” the human said, obviously enthusiastic and in no way dripping with sarcasm.

She just beamed at him with a smile, though even after it slowly faded, she found herself staring at him in silence for almost half a minute or so. Or more specifically, the hand that was still in her grasp.

“Can I help you?” he asked, snapping her back into reality, trying to pull his hand from her forehooves.

“A-ah! Ah shit…” she said, looking away as she finally let him go. “Sorry.”

“What is it?” he asked, pulling his arm back.

“Don’t make me answer Six, it’s embarrassing,” she said, a faint, nearly impossible-to-spot blush on her already pink muzzle.

“I swear if you’re thinking about some weird shit, I’m out of here,” he threatened, scooting back in his chair to stand up.

“N-no!” she shouted quickly. “No, no! I…”

The reply died in her throat.

“Mhm?” he muttered.

“Can you pet me again?” she asked softly.

“Fucking hell, really?” he hissed back.

“I’m sorry alright!” she repeated. “I figured I’d be honest with you. Those pets you gave me they… It just feels good, okay. Not in that way, before you go off and call me a weirdo. But the way your fingers move, they make me feel great.”

“Hoooly shit, are you repeating what you saw out of an old nudie mag?” he grunted, nearly laughing.

“I’m not like that!” she defended vehemently. “I don’t know what you humans classify as weird or sexual or whatever, okay? I just think your hands and fingers genuinely helped me work out some tenseness, alright?”

“Probably worked out something else too, knowing my luck,” he snarked back.

“Six!” she growled.

“Alright, alright,” he held out his palm to her. “If I’m going to go out and use you as a glorified walking cane when you help me back to base, I guess I can help prevent your scoliosis and neck cramps.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she said, this time becoming a bit shy.

“Okay don’t pull this back-and-forth bullshit with me,” he said directly. “Do you want me to rub your back or not?”

Cherry Berry went deep into thought for a moment, her eyes looking down at the table. After a little bit of mulling it over, they darted upwards, and she set her gaze on him, opening her mouth to reply.

A bit later, he was pressing his knuckles into her upper spine, running his gloved hand down her back. She was the one sitting this time, with the human balancing on his feet, broken ankle and all.

“Your spine is pretty thick,” he pointed out.

“W-wha?” she managed, currently sounding lost in the sauce as he rubbed over her back, removing any tenseness her muscles had.

“I mean that you’re like, a fourth my size and your spine feels thicker than mine, all of your bones are pretty dense,” he elaborated. "Even when compared to my upgrades."

“Y-...yeah it’s uh…earth pony biology stuff,” she explained, as if she were half asleep due to the relieving sensation his hands brought.

“Can you actually wake the hell up? You look like you’re about to drool all over the damn tablecloth,” he scoffed, putting his back into massaging, well, her back.

“Sorry Six, it just feels… really nice,” she said, still out of it.

“You need, like, an automatic back massage machine or something,” he huffed. “This is getting annoyi-”

The front door swung open, cutting him off. While the kitchen and living room were separated, the doorway connecting the two together was visible from the front door. So, as Lyra and Bon Bon entered, they both saw Courier Six, standing over a nearly conked-out Cherry Berry, his hands roughly gripping her back. Immediately the two froze, and the Courier ceased his actions.

Bon Bon blushed a bit at the surprising sight, stifling a chuckle. Shockingly though, Lyra herself remained calm. Only when Cherry Berry perked up and realized what was happening did she too put on a face of embarrassment, scooting out of the way of the human’s hands.

“Alright, can you two just bang already?” Lyra said flatly.

“What the fuck, man?” the Courier retorted, stepping back and putting pressure onto his feet, causing him to hiss a bit.

“Lyra it’s not like that!” Cherry further defended.

“That wouldn’t even work, she’s a horse,” the human pointed out, shifting off of his sore ankle as he had to pull out a chair and sit down.

“Yeah, yeah. Say whatever you want but I know what’s going on,” Lyra replied, however she got a light bop on the back of the head from Bon Bon immediately afterwards. Not enough to really hurt, but enough to slightly sting, like a dog getting smacked with a newspaper. “Ow! What was that for?”

Her wife just rolled her eyes, before refocusing her attention on the two others.

“We came to check on you, Six, but I guess you’re alright now; enough to give backrubs anyways,” Bon Bon said, snickering a tad.

“Oh, so you can make jokes on it, but I can’t?” Lyra complained.

“I wouldn’t call myself fully back to normal,” the human said, having to lean against the table. “I slept, and that helps the flesh heal, a bit of the bones too, but I need to get something more potent.”

“Well maybe you would’ve been alright if you’d let the hospital tend to you,” Cherry Berry pointed out, coming back to normal to glare up at him.

“You’re not getting any more pets or massages from me,” he growled, turning his gaze down towards her, making the mare slink back as his red eyes seemed to glare into her own expressive ones.

After a few seconds though, she narrowed her own eyes back at him. No doubt the earth mare was ready to retort with a scathing comment, however before she could, the minty unicorn of the group spoke up.

“Can we have breakfast now?” Lyra asked, basically interrupting the stare down, with the human and mare breaking off to look at her. “That cool, Cherry?”

“Y-yeah Lyra, it’s fine,” she soon replied. Lyra and Bon Bon soon looked between each other, and then back to Cherry, who gave a nod. The two mares then fully entered into the kitchen, taking seats at the table.

“Thanks a ton for this, Cherry,” Bon Bon smiled warmly at her old friend, while Lyra herself had already eaten a spoonful of oats.

A moment later, the Courier reached down a hand and gently patted Cherry Berry on the back, as if he was silently apologizing for the snap at her.

That or he was just using her to balance himself; he did shift his weight off of the swollen ankle, after all.

Regardless, Cherry soon got up from her seat, standing on all fours at the human’s side. She tried her best to make sure he was steady. The mare briefly considered how much it must suck to only have two legs to work with, unable to use the three extras in the case one was crippled.

“You okay, big guy?” she asked.

“When am I not?” he replied.

She brushed him off, turning towards the other two mares.

“I know we were gonna have a whole breakfast and everything, but I think Six needs to get back to his medical supplies, especially since the big goober isn’t going to accept medical help,” Cherry Berry elaborated with a roll of her eyes.

“Who are you calling goober, you’re the goofy one here,” he retorted, flicking her nose, making her muzzle scrunch back.

She reached up a forehoof, waving his hand out of the way of her face as she continued.

“You guys don’t mind just doing the dishes and cleaning up after yourselves, right?” she asked.

“Of course, Cherry,” Bon Bon assured.

“Yeah sure, why not?” Lyra shrugged, eating more oats, her mouth partly full. “But uh, you wanna be back here for when Minuette arrives? She’s supposed to visit today. Figured we could all hang out and stuff if his ankle gets better.”

“Well, I guess we cou-”

“What are you speaking on my behalf for?” the Courier interrupted dickishly. “We’re not a couple.”

“I guess I could, assuming Captain Prick here doesn’t break another ankle,” Cherry shot back.

“Then I guess I will too,” he crossed his arms. “On my own behalf.”

Cherry just wanted to roll her eyes again, but she’d done it so much by now she felt they’d roll right out of their sockets, almost like a prank by Discord.

“Now do you wanna be pedantic about anything else, or are we allowed to go?” Cherry said simply.

“Hmm… I don’t know, I’m sure I could find more to nitpick,” he snarked.

“By Celestia, you’re lucky you’ve got fingers, otherwise you’d be useless,” Cherry huffed.

“Are we back to that fetishization of my anatomy?” he quipped.

Lyra raised a brow, her oats making her cheeks puff out as she slowed her chewing. Bon Bon was silent, looking between the two.

“...Let’s just go before I change my mind,” Cherry finally growled.

“I’ve heard of worse ideas,” he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “Try to keep up with me, sis.”

“Like that’ll be a challenge,” she replied, before looking down at his swollen right ankle. It seemed to bulge out his pant leg a bit. Definitely must be uncomfortable, at least with those shoes digging into his flesh anyways. No doubt he'd stumble quite a bit during the trek...

He was ahead of her a few paces as they advanced onwards through the greenery.

While the human couldn’t manage a full run, he did keep up a light jog all the way out of Ponyville and through the Everfree. Even when the foliage got denser, he pressed his way through without issue. At one point, a low hanging branch flicked backwards, making Cherry back up a step.

“Watch it, you prick!” she shouted.

“You must’ve sucked at recognizing math and postmanship if you think Courier and Six are synonymous with Prick,” he said casually, noting her reused insult. “That or you’re bad at listening.”

“You almost hit me in the face with that branch!” Cherry yelled back.

“Yeah, and I didn’t, now did I?” he pointed out, looking back at her over his shoulder. “I could’ve, if I had moved it a half inch further, but I made sure not to; otherwise, it would’ve had enough force to fly back and catch you on the muzzle.”

She just made a “hmph” at that.

He continued on ahead, turning away and shoving aside more foliage as he trekked ahead.

“I thought I was supposed to be your ‘living crutch,’ what happened to that?” she asked.

“I could use the exercise,” he replied, looking forward. “Camp’s only a few hundred paces ahead anyways.”

As the Courier reached the top of a small hill, he looked downwards. There was a bit of an overhang of rock and dirt, and when he went to descend, his ankle gave out. He attempted to take a stumbling step backwards to catch himself, however his entire leg buckled, and he tumbled forwards instead, his duster swaying this way and that as he did.

“Six!” Cherry Berry shouted, grabbing at his billowing jacket, however, to her shock, instead of the typical earth pony strength letting her hoist him up, his bulk brought her along for the ride!

She let out a squeak of fear as she and the human wound up rolling down the shallow hill. The duo wound up crashing through the overhang and slamming through a bush, with branches getting caught in Cherry’s mane and dirt showering the Courier’s jacket. All in all, the ordeal took a mere few seconds, with the world around the two becoming a rush of green and brown.

When Cherry’s world stopped spinning, she found herself lying flat on her back, looking upwards at the forest canopy. She groaned as her vision spun about, only finally returning to normal when the mask of the Courier came into view. His sturdier nature had allowed him to shrug off the tumble and get to his feet.

“You alright, Cherry?” he asked.

She narrowed her eyes up at him.

“What do you think?” she rhetorically growled.

“I think you’re bleeding a little bit, got a scratch on your lower left thigh,” he replied.

“I’ll be alright,” she growled. “Just give me a moment to get to my hoov-”

She felt his powerful hands reach down and grab her, lifting her up and hoisting her over his left shoulder. After balancing himself, he began to carry her off as if she was some type of damsel in a 50s monster movie.

“Aaand you’re carrying me…” she said, looking down at the ground, with it swaying with each step the human took.

“I could throw you instead,” he offered. “It’d be a lot easier on me.”

She soon just sighed, going limp against his body, fully giving up by now. Might as well enjoy the ride, assuming this qualified as a ride, anyways.

He just continued on unabated. Even with the injuries, the Courier carried the mare with ease, and before long, he managed to breach the clearing, finding his base.

“Shack sweet shack,” he grunted, finally swinging Cherry up and sitting her roughly down onto a log, rump first.

“Gah, you pri- dick!” she grunted, smoothly thinking up and using a different insult this time as she reached a forehoof down and rubbed her sore tailend.

“You’ve got a real original mind there,” the Courier replied.

A moment later he was at his small garden, picking a small handful of flowers and roots the earth mare was unfamiliar with. He looked them over, squinting his eyes as he examined them. It seemed they grew rather nicely in the woods when compared to the Mojave, as the flowers were blooming, and the roots had multiplied. He only took a small amount, so that the plants could continue to grow and thrive.

When he was done, Six had picked out enough to heal himself… and her.

Cherry was just wiping the grime from her mane as she examined her scar. All the while this happened, he quickly started a friction fire with some dried-out bark and a few planks. After that, he got out a pot from his shack and poured some water in it, courtesy of his canteen. He then crushed up the roots and flower with a few large rocks nearby. While it wasn't as effective as using a mortar and pestle, it still worked, with him throwing most of the life-giving dust into the brew.

However, he did set aside a small amount of the powder, no bigger than a few teaspoons worth, which he scooped carefully into his hands.

“Here Cherry,” he said, stepping over and offering it to her.

“What’s this?” the mare questioned.

“Eat it,” the human answered.

“Whenever strangers offer you strange things and demand you to eat it, it’s typically not a good idea,” she snarkily pointed out.

“It’s Healing Powder, alright? It’ll fully clear up that cut. Won’t even need bandages or anything since the wound is only skin deep,” Six replied.

“The catch?” Cherry questioned.

“It’s a small dose but it might still fuck with your perception a bit, make you a little woozy, you know?” he replied.

“I don’t know…” she cocked a brow, sniffing at the powder. “It smells a bit funky.”

“You wanna sit there bleeding?” he growled with finality. “I’m fine with eating this myself if you don't want it!”

After a few seconds of silence, she caved, leaning in. She ate it from his palm like an actual pony would. Well, if there still were ponies left to feed in the Mojave. Guess a Bighorner calf would be a better assumption. He resisted the urge to pat her head as she lapped it out of his palm, though Cherry herself wasn't having as pleasant of a time.

“Guh! It tastes like boiled cabbage mixed with dirt!” she said, leaning back after finishing eating the crushed-up mixture, sticking her tongue out in disgust. Almost reminded him of a cartoon in a way.

“Just give it a few seconds, and it’ll kick in,” he said, looking down at his Pip-Boy before he began counting down the seconds.

“Yeah right! I bet it was just a-”

“Now,” he said, raising his index finger.

Immediately Cherry’s vision went a bit woozy, however the minor pain in her thigh dissipated almost immediately. While she didn’t see it, her blood clotted, and her flesh under her fur coat was working overtime to close her wound.

“W-woah…” the mare managed.

“It typically does,” he nodded. “You shouldn’t even need a bandage; it’ll heal you fully within the next few minutes.”

“This feels… kinda cool,” she replied, watching as colors blurred into one another. Her senses felt heightened, almost catlike.

“You’d better not get the munchies,” the human growled, going back to look over his boiling brew.

She leaned back, closing her eyes partly as she felt a numbing sensation overtake her. She didn’t fall asleep, but she felt as if she was on laughing gas or something. Felt floatier than a pegasus for the moment.

Cherry just remained there in silence for a while. The only sounds she heard were the bubbling pot and the occasional chirping of birds or the rustling of the bushes by a hungry squirrel. Overall, she felt nice.

After a good few minutes though, the effects of the powder slowly began to wind down and suddenly the silent calmness of the world was interrupted by a strange odor hitting her nostrils. Cherry sniffed a few times and finally opened her eyes, looking around at the clearing.

“Hey Six?” she asked.

“Yeah?” he replied.

As the earth mare looked around, trying to find the source of the odor, his eyes were focused on the root and flower mixture boiling in the pot. He soon inserted the end of his used (but sterilized) Stimpak’s needle into the mixture and slowly began to pull back on the plunger. He made sure there were no air bubbles in the solution as he sucked it into the barrel.

“What’s that… that weird smell?” she asked, sniffing a few more times

“That bucket over; bat guano,” he said, casually pointing over his shoulder to a wooden bucket set off to the edge of the camp. It currently had a circular lid over it, thank Celestia.

“...WHY!?!” she shrieked.

“I learned from the Gun Runners-” he paused, realizing she had no idea who they were, “-I learned from some guys back where I was from; that and a few magazines. It’ll come in handy if I ever need any extra ammo.”

“What?” she questioned, not even seeming to understand the explenation.

“I was gonna ask Fluttershy to see if she could get them to all go in the buckets I left out over Applejack’s fields and in the caves, but I didn’t have time,” he continued, basically speaking more to himself as he watched the healing liquid slowly but surely drip-feed into the Stimpak. “After I do though, I can melt down some tin cans and mold them into balls-”

“Six, can you at least like, put some sage or some good smelling spices over it?” she asked.

“Why would I do that?” he asked, turning to her, his gas mask filters on full display.

Cherry scrunched her face at him, looking away.

“Nevermind,” she huffed.

Before long, his Stim was full, and he turned away from her, rolling up his pant leg a small bit, allowing himself to inject it into his heavily injured ankle. He made sure the entire needle’s worth of liquid was flushed into his veins.

As he waited for it to take effect, he rolled down his pant leg and rubbed at the flesh underneath, ensuring to massage the tenderness out of it. After a bit, he felt a cooling numbness spread over it, all the way down to the bone. A moment later he stood up straight, putting more pressure onto it as he sighed comfortably.

“Feel any better, Six?” she questioned, sounding a bit less woozy. “I know you used one of those things back at Dodge.”

“I’ll really feel better whenever I mass produce the damn things,” he said, sitting the used needle into one of his satchels to sterilize later.

“Think you can make it to the train station now?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said, turning away, “come on, lets-”

He was interrupted by the sound of her falling to the ground, and he turned to see the mare flat on her stomach and sheepishly smiling up at him.

“Oops, guess that powder stuff is still more active than I thought,” she grinned.

“Don’t tell me you want to ride on my back now too,” he hissed.

“What, me? Nahhh…” she said as her smile just grew.

Courier Six just growled in annoyance as he looked down at her…

As the healed human entered into the outskirts of Ponyville, those who weren’t working (and even several of those who were) turned towards him, watching as he carried Cherry Berry in his arms. It was almost like watching a groom carrying a bride in a way, as she relaxed against his chest.

“I could get used to this,” she said, crossing her forehooves behind her head.

“You’d better find someone who isn’t me to do it for you then,” he spat back.

For once he was getting stares that were out of shock for different reasons. Didn’t exactly know how to feel about that, but oh well. Only whenever he arrived in front of the train station about half an hour later did he let her go.

Literally.

Lyra and Bon Bon were approaching the two when suddenly he let his arms give way under the pink mare. She basically rolled out of his grasp, letting out a shout of surprise as she landed hooves first onto the ground, though given she wasn’t quite ready for the sudden action, her own legs buckled a bit, and she found herself nearly faceplanting into the dirt.

“Give me a warning next time, you prick!” she growled, straightening herself up.

“You seem fine enough to walk, I don’t know what you were complaining about back in the Everfree,” he snickered back at her as she blew a stray yellow hair from her mane out of her face.

“Real funny,” she spat, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Can you two not want to kill each other for once? Minuette’s supposed to get here any minute!” Lyra said, before pointing a forehoof towards the station’s platform.

Once everything was in order, (and Cherry was assured she could properly walk) it didn’t take long before the group were waiting on the benches nearby. The Courier had found a loose magazine on the floor and was currently flipping through it as he sat at the far edge of the bench. Cherry was sitting to his left, and Lyra and Bon Bon sitting further down the bench to the pink mare's own left.

“Princess Twilight found to be not addicted to cake, unlike her predecessor,” the human read aloud, sounding confused. “Who the fuck publishes this gossipy trash?”

“That’s modern journalism for ya,” Lyra answered, rolling her eyes.

A bit later, and the train soon steamed into the station, with the Courier sitting aside the magazine as he straightened up, watching on as the doors of the carts opened, letting off their passengers. After a few minutes, a certain mare stepped off of the train carriage, with Lyra happily pointing towards her.

The Courier cocked his eyes under his mask. The mare looked familiar; strikingly familiar. He looked between the ever-excited Lyra, then up to the mare, then back to Lyra, and then so on for a few times. He knew mane styles were similar, but she was basically just-

“Isn’t she just a Blue Lyra?” he asked, pointing out at the new arrival, who magically sat down her suitcases.

She cocked a brow at him as he had at her, staring on with uncertainty. However, given this tall, bipedal creature was next to one of her best friends, she approached.

“Actually, my name is Minuette,” the unicorn corrected with uncertainty.

“You know… I might’ve preferred Blue Lyra compared to that."

Back on Track

“What’s wrong with Minuette?” questioned the deep blue unicorn, her tone taking on one of defensiveness.

“Yeah, Six,” Lyra spat, turning towards the human with a stern glare. “What’s wrong with her name, Mr. Number Cruncher?”

“Too many vowels and too many syllables,” he replied. “Like, Min-OOH-ette? You’d be better off at calling yourself Minty or something.”

The unicorn looked between Lyra and the Courier, her face one of bafflement, as if she was trying to be offended by Six’s strange critique… and partly failing.

“Did he get hit in the head or something?” the deep blue mare asked.

“I wouldn’t be shocked,” Lyra added.

“Close,” answered the human with a shrug of his shoulders. “You’re technically correct.”

“With those charming introductions out of the way, can we move on?” Cherry asked, butting in. “If you two sit here trying to understand his logic, we’re going to be here all day.”

“I second Cherry on this one,” Bon Bon said, stepping forwards, standing between Six and Minuette. “And I must also say, it’s great to see you again, Minuette, your teeth look as awesome and sparkling as always.”

The hostility in the unicorn faded due to the earth mare’s compliments.

“Ah well thanks, Bon Bon,” she managed with a smile, showing off said deep white teeth. “It’s nice seeing somepon-creatures around here still have some manners.”

“Hey what I was just being honest,” Six snarked. “You guys literally have an entire magical element devoted to that sh-”

“Further snarky comments aside, what do you girls plan on doing today?” Cherry asked, interrupting any further conflict. “Kinda had to rush past the explanation when Lyra and Bonny were over!”

“Just lunch, walking around town, a bit of shopping,” Lyra explained. “Nothing insane, really.”

“What about a hot air balloon ride?” Cherry offered.

“You can just give those?” Minuette asked.

“I am Ponyville’s number one non-pegasus aviator,” the pink earth mare smirked.

“That’s pretty awesome actually,” Minuette replied. “I never really got a chance to ride an airship or anything like that back in Canterlot.”

“Always for the upper crust assholes I presume?” Six asked.

“Like you wouldn’t believe," the unicorn replied with an exasperated sigh. "Every time I went for tickets, they’d be sold out!”

“Yeah, high society is a scam,” the Courier nodded, getting a chuckle from the minty mare.

As he looked at her, she reminded him almost of several toothpaste product placements in old magazines he’d read. Guess that explains the teeth.

“Hey guys, I know you’re not arguing with each other, but I think we should get Minuette's bags to our place,” Lyra said.

“Right, but shouldn’t we schedule a time for the balloon ride?” the other unicorn asked.

“The Weather Team said there'd be a clear forecast today, so we can do it sometime this afternoon,” Cherry Berry explained. “But we gotta do it today, tomorrow calls for rain and all that crap.”

“Alright Cherry, we’ll go ahead and run Minuette back to the house, should give you time to prepare everything,” Bon Bon offered.

“Yeah, we should leave before Six here insults my name again,” Minuette snorted.

“Mhm, whatever you say, toothpaste,” the human spat back, getting a laugh from the mare, whose teeth seemed to sparkle as she chuckled.

Before long, he and Cherry were away from the train station and wandering through town, splitting off from the other three. Currently the dynamic duo were heading through towards Cherry’s air balloon booth, the bustling of the town fading into the background as they continued ahead. While they walked, the human fidgeted with his Pip-Boy, flicking the knobs uselessly, as he knew the map was still kaput.

Cherry trotted beside the human, trying to think of a way to make small talk with the bulky biped. After a moment of pondering, she turned, looking up towards him.

“I don’t think I ever asked, but how are the mailruns going?” she questioned. “Before the broken ankle put you out of the job for a bit, I mean.”

“Ankle’s fine, I probably could’ve gone on a run today if they’d accepted me when I asked this morning. Honestly, I need to pick up the pace on those deliveries. The damn place is backed up to hell and I need to go to more places than just dodge an-”

“Six you need to calm down,” Cherry groaned, rolling her eyes. “You sound like one of those overworked Neighpon salary ponies.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” the human questioned, snapping away from the Pip-Boy and fully looking at her.

“I run an air-taxi service, Six. I get to meet a lot of different ponies from all over Equestria, from Manehatten to Vanhoover to Trottingham-” she paused herself before going on a full off-topic discussion of her own, shaking off the thoughts. “Nevermind, that’s not important! What is important is you cooling it.”

“This is basically the same conversation we had this morning,” the human growled. “Let’s stop repeating ourselves here. I’m alright and I can handle it.”

There was a pause as the two continued walking in silence, Cherry leading the way as the human followed at her side. After a few seconds of taking time to just look around at the town and the several ponies who passed by the two, the pink mare shook her head with a sigh.

“Fine,” she said softly.

She felt his gloved hand patting her back a moment later, rubbing the nook between her shoulders.

“There you go, keep it smooth,” he encouraged with a snicker. "It's all okay."

Cherry gave a half-smile at that, almost wanting to melt backwards against his hand as she had that morning, but she (reluctantly) shook him off.

“H-hey quit it, gotta keep myself focused!” she huffed.

“Whatever you say,” he replied, adjusting his jacket.

As they continued on, the duo were passing through the market, closer to Cherry’s air balloon stand. The Courier spotted a strange sight out of the corner of his eye though, and his head snapped to the left, looking down the street to see…

“Is that a zebra?” the human managed, holding a finger towards the equine in question.

“Hm?” Cherry managed, looking around, finally following the direction he was pointing in. “Oh, it’s Zecora!”

“Horses and donkeys and now zebras, huh?” the human shrugged, looking at the striped mare, who now seemed to notice him as well.

Zecora raised a brow at him, noticing he was pointing at her. After a moment of looking around with uncertainty, she shrugged to herself, and put on a small smile, approaching the burly human.

“Hello, bipedal being,” she said, waving a forehoof, “my, with your attire, you’re quite a threatening thing.”

“Huh?” he cocked an eyebrow at that.

“So you are the strange creature I’ve heard so about in the much in the news-”

“...Why are you talking like that?”

“Relax my friend, I am not putting on a ruse!” assured the zebra with a chuckle.

He stared at her in silence, before turning and looking down to Cherry Berry for help or explanation, at least.

“Zecora rhymes,” she said flatly, turning her gaze up at him.

“Yeah?” he asked, with the answer not helping.

“I dunno if it has to do with her culture or being a zebra or just because she wants to, but she rhymes everything she says,” added the mare factually.

“Thank you, Cherry Berry, for being a good translator,” Zecora said, smiling at the pink earth pony in question. “Then again, I would expect nothing less from Ponyville’s top aviator.”

“Ah thanks, Zecora,” said the mare with a grateful smile, looking away with a shy expression. “I dunno if I ever apologized in person for what happened all those years back, but again, sorry about how we acted.”

“They shunned you too huh?” Six asked, catching on.

“My friend, you are quite deductive!” Zecora nodded. “Ironic, considering your adventures are destructive.”

“It’s collateral damage,” he responded. “Not my fault exactly.”

“Relax, Courier Six, I’m just teasing,” the zebra said. “I do hope you don’t find my method of speech displeasing.”

“Yeah it’s uh… fine?” he managed, sounding confused.

“I have to get back to my potions, so I suppose I should leave before I put your head further into a spin,” Zecora snickered, giving a nod at both the human and Cherry. “Hopefully we shall meet again.”

With that, she trotted off, a saddlebag with numerous plants sticking out of it slung over her back as she made her way down the street, leaving the mailman to just watch her as she went.

“Okay, Cherry, am I high at the moment?” he asked.

“If it’s anything like a dream, a strong enough hit could snap you out of it… Want me to check?” she chuckled, rearing back a forehoof to hit him in the thigh, however he just grunted; his lenses glared down at her making her look away with a nervous chuckle, becoming a bit more serious. “Right, sorry.”

However, the human was quickly back into his own thoughts, bringing up a hand to rub at the bottom of his mask. It didn’t make contact with his chin due to the bulky filters, but it was the best he could manage at the moment.

“She said she can brew potions, right? I read in old Grognak comics about that kind of stuff,” the human pondered. “She could make something like a healing brew or fire resistance drink, correct?”

“Heck if I know,” shrugged Cherry. “I’m into planes and sometimes trains… not automobiles though- anyways, potions and magic aren’t my forte. Maybe ask her yourself, or someone like Starlight?”

“What, just waltz on up to her school and request a meeting?” the human questioned.

“Or wait until after hours,” added Cherry. “You got that pseudo fatherly-bond thing with Scootaloo, could do that.”

“I’ll worry about that later,” the human decided. “For now, let’s hurry up with this damn air balloon shit.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” chuckled the earth pony.

The two ascended within the basket of the hot air balloon itself. Cherry Berry had turned on the burner, and the human watched the machine with a cocked eyebrow. Only after the duo were a couple dozen feet off the ground did he turn and look out at the town.

Despite his prior chopper ride, the flying was an unfamiliar, strange sight. Towered over the buildings by a couple of meters, and like last time, he again felt… maybe peace? Maybe a bit of vertigo in there too; looking down gave him the dizzy sensation, though he blinked a few times, forcing it away.

“You alright, Six?” Cherry questioned, standing behind the bulky human.

“Fine,” he said, squinting, looking down at Ponyville, spotting a few of the multicolored horses he’d expected.

Before long though he was looking out at the vast, rolling hills, the trees, the Everfree off in the distance, and so on. Looked nice, as the first ride over here had been. Cherry herself was looking at the back of his duster, which billowed as a small gust of wind blew in. She watched as the stars and the stripes swished this way and that, her eyes remaining only partly focused, as her mind seemed to partly be somewhere else.

“Be careful,” she said with a sense of sternness, breaking up the silence between the two. “As much as I love flying, it can be dangerous.”

“Our experience with a helicopter crashing kinda tells me that already,” he snarked, turning towards her.

She chuckled softly.

“More than just that I mean,” she offered with a small smile. “Hot air balloons aren’t as sturdy as a helicopter, just takes one really bad gust of wind or a small tear and the balloon and…”

She sighed to herself, looking away.

“...Yeah,” she concluded, sounding a bit uncomfortable.

“Seems like you’ve got something on your mind,” he said, fully turning his attention towards the mare.

She was silent, looking down at her hooves, only occasionally glancing up to check on the balloon’s burner, making sure it was operating smoothly. The Courier could see the slight twinges of discomfort tugging at the edges of her face, evident in her eyes.

“Come on, you can tell me,” he offered.

She looked up at him, remaining silent, yet her gaze was more hopeful, vulnerable, even.

“We’re friends, aren’t we?” the mailman said softly. She finally sighed, turning her gaze towards the burner as she spoke.

“Few years back… one of my balloons got a tear in it,” she explained. “Now that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing, if I wasn’t a few hundred meters in the air.”

“Ah, near death experience,” the human nodded. “Sorry to hear about that.”

“A hero named the Mysterious Mare Do Well saved me at the last minute,” she added further.

“Mare Do Well? What’s next, Anon E Mous?” the human chuckled.

She just glared at him, making him stop mid-laugh.

“Sorry, Cherry,” he said, his tone genuine.

After a few moments, his apology made her gaze soften as she groaned to herself, finally continuing.

“I know I’ve been a bit clingy with you this morning Six, but I know what it’s like to have everything just flash before your eyes... If Mare Do Well hadn’t saved me-” the aviator stopped, looking down at her hooves with a deep, grumbling sigh. “Ponyville would’ve been down more than just an air balloon.”

The human was silent, looking out at the world. He could see Canterlot in the distance. He could see the clouds, just a few dozen feet above him. He could see lakes and rivers and green forests below. He could see it all, just as he had with Cherry on their last aerial adventure. And to think there was a chance she wouldn’t have been here to talk with him if just one thing was a bit different. If one pony had been a bit slower. If one mare had been a bit unluckier…

Felt familiar.

He nodded his head to himself as he continued looking at the landscape. He ran his tongue over his teeth. Blinked a few times, still nodded to himself once or twice more. Finally, he looked down at her, she was still balling her face in her forehooves. Wasn’t crying, shockingly. Just trying to be alone with her thoughts.

Tough little mare.

“Cherry… you know how I said I got hit in the head to Minuette back at the train station?” the human asked softly.

“Y-yeah?” she asked, looking up at him.

“That’s not exactly wrong,” he replied. “You know those bullets, uh, the things my guns fire. You know?”

“You got hit with one?” she asked in shock, remembering just what his pistols and rifles had done to the boar beasts back in Dodge.

“To the head, yeah,” he nodded.

“Oh Six-” She went to hug him but was softly shoved back, with him patting her on the cheek affectionately instead.

“Hey, hey cool it, alright. That was a long time ago. As you can see, I got better…” he trailed off in thought, before snapping back to himself. “Look, I just am the way that I am because of that, I guess. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be alright. No matter what anything here hits me with, I’ve been through worse.”

“See that’s what I thought too, but then my air balloon’s envelope ripped,” she countered.

“They call it an envelope-” he stopped his question, focusing on the more important topic. “Look, Cherry, that didn’t stop you from flying now did it? Same way a bullet didn’t stop me from fighting.”

She nodded, turning away from the human and moving over to the edge of the basket.

“I know, but it’s still hard to not worry for you,” she added.

“Could say the same for you,” he pointed out.

“I guess it’s just because there’s no malice in flying,” the earth mare explained, propping her forehooves on the edge of the basket and hoisting herself up to get the best view she could, looking out towards Canterlot. “If someone dies, it’s always an accident, well, mostly. Just some bad wind from a weather squad, or a careless pony not taking the right precautions. But fighting, that’s… well, you know how that is.”

“Hey, you helped me fight back at the concert,” he said, stepping over to the pink pony’s right side.

“And I’d do it again to protect you and my fri-” she stopped suddenly, rolling her eyes and looking away with a partly defeated chuckle. “Right…”

“See, it’s not so hard to fathom when you put it that way now is it?” he said, giving a small laugh of his own.

She turned back towards him, giving him a small half-smile, her white teeth partly visible behind her lips.

“You’re still a prick you know,” she teased.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he snarked back, with the two enjoying the vista ahead.

The light of the afternoon sun glistened off of the rivers and the mountains in the distance. While watching, the Courier gently placed his left hand onto her right forehoof, giving a small, reassuring pat to it...

"By the way, is the Mysterious Mare Do Well still around?" he suddenly asked. "You know, in case there's another giant monster attack or something."

"Oh no, she wound up being all of the Elements of Harmony, who all banded together to teach Rainbow Dash a lesson about being bragging and boastful and all that jazz," she answered.

"...What?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think I'm the only one who even knew about that, I accidentally dropped a flowerpot which nearly landed on Dash during their big friendship lesson... it was a whole thing," she brushed it off.

He just stared blankly, his hand still on her forehoof.

Neither seemed to mind though, as they didn't move away from each other for a good while...

To Get a Letter

Red lenses peered down the locker-lined halls and a large, clothed beast advanced ahead at a slow and unwavering pace. The smaller of those around the hulking bipedal being split and parted like the Red Sea. Given they were all students, basically everycreature present was smaller than the bulky human. While the vast majority were ponies, several hippogriffs and changelings, even a few dragons were in the school’s halls.

All had been recently accepted into the School of Friendship, after the resounding success of what the school had dubbed the “Student Six.” None were acquainted with Ponyville or Equestria proper, (Hell, this was their first semester) so it was quite a sight when they saw what seemed to be a bulky, raggedy-clothed ape approaching. The younger (and thus, punier) students in the hall were especially frightened by him.

While word had spread of the mythical mail delivering figure, given your average youth wasn’t really interested in reading newspapers or keeping up with the now, those who did assure others of his existence were typically brushed off or ignored. Even though he’d been in the town for well over a month now, this was the first sighting of him anywhere near the School of Friendship.

For the majority of the youths, he was a bizarre sight. Something to be feared, though the occasional child might look at him and think “woah” or even “cool.” Though they were the minority; to most of them, he was a strange sight. Well, stranger than dragons, and ponies, and hippogriffs… and yaks… and changelings… and griffons living together.

For the Courier, this was just another delivery.

As the students either split or turned tail to walk away from the approaching creature, Gallus himself seemed to be the only one who was too lost in thought to run. He’d recalled Smolder confiding in him about her meeting with the hooman thing. She’d been uh— totally not getting a dress from Rarity when he and Dinky had made themselves known.

And now, when he’d finished his mental recap, he’d realized everycreature was gone. Right. Great.

Yes indeed, the halls were basically barren from the numerous students having rushed to class or the bathrooms or somewhere that wasn’t in front of the red-eyed monster thing… or they had gone to lunch. Either way, Gallus was basically alone, a few stragglers still trotting at a decent pace down the corridor; no running in the halls, after all.

The red lenses were focused on the blue bird and within a moment, the Courier approached Gallus. For his credit, the birdbrain stood his ground. His beak partly scrunched at the corners, his eagle-like foreclaws making a tap, tap, tapping sound. While he wasn’t exactly scared per se, griffons didn’t exactly have the best relationships with bipedal creatures… well, they didn’t have the best relationship with any creature, but that's besides the point.

He almost looked as if he was bracing himself to get smacked or something. However, it’d be kind of hard to do, as the two-legged being was carrying a small box in his hands.

Six stared down at him, and once he realized the blue bird-like creature wasn’t gonna speak, he did so himself.

“Hey featherface, you don’t happen to know where I can find… Phyllis?” the human asked, having to scan his memory banks for a second to remember such a dull name, especially in a land of ‘Sunshine Lollipops’ and ‘Rainbow Dashes,’ among others.

Gallus cocked his eyebrow in response, his tone uncertain as he spoke, “Why are you asking me?”

“...You’re a student, aren’t you?” the human asked back, his tone deadpanned.

Gallus stood for a second, his beak partly opening to speak, but he stopped himself. To be fair to the mailman, he was a student.

“I’ve been wandering this place for a good few minutes and to be honest it’s… almost more confusing than the last time I was in a school… less of me being shot at though,” he casually said, thumping his fingers on the small cardboard box in his palms. “Anyways, shit’s like a maze; you cool with helping a bit?”

Gallus snickered at the swear word. While it wasn’t uncommon for griffons (and dragons, as he’d learned) to belt them out, hearing other creatures casually swear was quite amusing, at least according to his juvenile sense of humor.

“Ah uh… you know what, sure,” he nodded, having snapped himself from his chuckling. “I’ve got nothing better to do anyways.”

“Thanks kid,” the older of the two said.

“Hey, no ‘kid’ stuff! I’m not that young!” spat the griffon, rolling his eyes. “Anyways you said you needed to deliver the package to… Phyllis?”

“Yeah, what about it?” the human questioned.

“For Boreas’ sake,” the griffon huffed, facepalming.

Six looked over at him, “What?”

“Nothing—just… follow me,” he huffed with exasperation, before spreading his wings and taking to the air, flying several feet above the human.

“Lead the way… kid,” the older, gruff creature replied with a playful bite in his voice.

Gallus rolled his eyes as he flew a few paces ahead, leading Six towards the main office. All the while the human’s eye lenses were shining bright, illuminated especially by the sunlight pouring in from the windows. Though as the two continued down the mostly emptied hallways, Gallus couldn’t help but feel the human’s eyes examining him.

“Okay dude, you looking me over is starting to feel a little weird,” the lion-eagle hybrid said, remaining in the air as he turned, staring right back down at the mailman whilst hovering in place.

“Ah sorry kid,” Six said, still examining Gallus, eyeing up his tail and claws. Not the first mix-matched creature he’d encountered, even while not counting Equestria… A lot fluffier though. “You’re just… kinda familiar in a weird way.”

“So you’re gonna drill a hole into the back of my head by looking at me?” huffed the teenager.

“Could be worse,” the human replied. “I could literally be drilling a hole in your head.”

The griffon gave an unsure look, his tone somewhat snarky as he replied, “I don’t know whether to laugh or be horrified by the thought.”

“It’s whatever you make of it, kid,” the Courier offered, giving a faint shrug of his shoulders.

It wasn’t exactly an eventful journey; those who would’ve ran away already had. The rest of the trip to Starlight’s office was merely the Courier occasionally examining the scenery, looking out windows and examining the view of Ponyville and Twilight—er, Starlight’s incredibly large crystal castle.

Gallus thought he was sort of a tool in a way, but didn’t say it.

Finally, they reached the office, with the large wooden door being knocked on by Gallus. There was no immediate reply, so the griffon turned to the human, “Give it a sec—”

Six grabbed it and jerked it open, entering into the book-laiden room. Inside, Starlight sat behind her desk, in the middle of watering a decently-sized potted plant.

“—Or just do that,” Gallus said, tailing in behind the mailman.

“Special delivery for… Phyllis?” the human questioned, looking over the box again. “And uh… beakboy back there helped me find my way here so give him a sucker or don’t ground him or whatever you guys do.”

“Beakboy?”

Starlight herself was temporarily overloaded by the humans' words, but quickly shook it off, going back into headmare-mode.

“Thank you for helping him find his way, Gallus,” she said, quickly jotting down a small permission slip which she handed off to the griffon.

He gave her a nod and a faint smile, before quickly leaving, however he stopped halfway out the door to look back at Six, “Uh… see you I guess… whatever you are.”

“Take care, kid,” Six replied, waving him off. Seconds later, the door shut, and the two were alone. He handed off the package to Starlight, “So… you’re going by Phyllis now?”

“What?” she squealed, before realization crossed her face, making her give a faint snort. “Oh my Celestia…”

She then pointed a forehoof at a small potted plant sitting on the corner of her desk. The unicorn was too busy holding it in to explain…

Six looked at it for a moment, and then back to Starlight, and then back to the plant. He reached out a gloved hand, pointing at the plant, “She’s Phyllis, huh?”

“Yes,” she said, fully stifling her laugh. “Sorry I… didn’t expect when I ordered the plant fertilizer, they would actually address it to, or rather, for Phyllis.”

“Right… So, she’s not a magical talking plant then?” the human questioned.

“N-no?...” was the uncertain response.

“I figured I’d check. There’s still a shitton of stuff here that’s utterly new to me—”

“Mister uh… Six, can you please not swear? I know we’re in the privacy of my office but there are children here,” Starlight replied.

“Alright, I get it… go ahead and sign this and we’ll be alright,” Six said, offering her a clipboard.

As Starlight brought out a quill and ink, The Courier seemed suddenly focused on something. After a few moments, he reached out his hand in a sudden, jerky fashion. The mailman clamped his fingers shut around something Starlight couldn’t see, however the swiftness of the action made her pause, looking up from the clipboard and slinking back as the human brought his hand towards his face and unfurled his fist.

It revealed a dead, splattered fly.

A rather plump one.

“You guys have an insect problem; this is like the fifth one I killed on the way over here,” he said simply.

“Yes well,” Starlight paused to clear her throat, “I will tell the exterminator an- WHAT IN CELESTIA’S SAKE ARE YOU DOING!”

She interrupted herself with a shocked shout as she watched the human pull up his mask and lick the invertebrate’s messy guts off the palm of his hand. He adjusted his helmet as he finally replied to her banshee-like howl, “Free snack.”

Her eye just twitched a bit at his actions, her face plastered with a look of abject shock, her mouth partly open as if she was going to speak, however nothing came.

At least he left shortly afterwards…

The Courier marked off a name on his clipboard as he trekked through the empty halls of the school. After a moment, he turned the corner. Immediately he pulled down the paper and looked straight ahead. The smaller creature staring up at him was fluffy, with wings.

She looked like a pegasus and griffon combined. Six limbs, beak and such. Had a pair of saddlebags on too, like a backpack. First time he’d gotten to examine one of them without it bolting. They were called… hippogriffs. That was probably righ— oh she’s talking.

“—and I saw you and I thought ‘hey, you’re the weird two-legged mail-delivering thing Smolder told me about’ and since Gallus said you were here, I thought I could give you my letter and then—”

“Woah, slow your roll kid,” the human said, reaching out a hand and softly clamping her beak shut mid-sentence. Suddenly though he reached back. Placing your hands on a student in a school was… probably not a good idea. “Sorry kid, just… keep it simple, you know?”

The hippogriff gave a minor blush, reaching up a foreclaw to scratch the back of her head in embarrassment as her large, expressive eyes seemed to focus on anything but the Courier himself, “Heh… sorry.”

“Nah it’s alright,” the human said, flipping over the rest of his notes. “Go ahead and start at the beginning, but try and keep it brief, work and all.”

“Oohh oh oh right, uh well I know you’re the uhm… hughman? Did I say it right?” the teenage hybrid squeaked. “I mean, I’m not trying to offend you or anything. After meeting all these new creatures the last thing I wanna do is make you feel unhap—”

“Yeah kid, it takes a lot to make me feel unhappy,” he said, holding out a gloved hand. “But to answer, I’m a human; that’s how it’s pronounced—“

“Woah! HuuuuUUUUuuumaaaaan. Rolls off the beak nicely!” the creature said.

“Yeah, and I’m Courier Six,” the ‘HuuuuUUUUuuumaaaaan’ replied, “and given the name I’ve gotta get some mail delivered, so—”

“Uhm sorry about interrupting you… again, but I’m Silverstream!” she introduced excitedly, giving a great, wide smile.

Beaks weren’t the most common thing in the Mojave, minus the odd bird, though Silverstream’s face was far more expressive… same as most other creatures were. She was tapping her foreclaws on the floor for a moment.

“Alright, good to meet you… You need anything, Sliverstream?” the human asked. His tone was gruff, rushing in a way. “Like I said, busy day today.”

“Jeez, sorry for being a bit nervous, I think it’s the eyes, they make you look… unfriendly,” she said, her tone excited, cheery, as always, though quite honest. “Oh, is that rude, again I’m sor—”

The human fiddled with his Pip-Boy for a moment, tapping and wiping some accumulated grime off the stream, “It’s fine.”

“Right. Anyways, uh, sir. I really would like you to deliver this letter for me!” Silverstream said, reaching into her bags. She quickly pulled out a small envelope, offering it to the human.

“You asking me to do this because your typical mail-deliverer got sick?” the human asked, perking up. He’d remembered the info-dump from the boss yesterday. ‘Outgoing mail to Seaquestria is currently suspended due to the current sickness of—’ ah… what was the name? Something about splashing. Didn’t matter.

“Yes sir,” the student replied. “I haven’t heard from my parents, my brother, my aunt, my cousin, General Seaspray—”

The human cut her off, holding out an open palm, “Alright, tell you what, kid, you tell me who exactly you want it delivered to, and I’ll get it there by… another three or four days, tops; sound good?”

“Sounds perfect!” she smiled, giving the human the envelope. He quickly stashed it into his coat as she looked back down the hallway. “Alright, deliver this letter to Sky Beak or Ocean Flow; they’re my parents! If you can’t find them, General Seaspray will be fine too.”

“Alright, got it,” the human replied, taking a quick series of notes in his Pip-Boy.

She continued looking down the halls as he did, seeming a bit nervous now as she spoke “I’d love to sit here and ask more about you Mr. Six, but—well, classes.”

“Yeah uh you do that… stay in school, whatever,” he offered.

Well, schools which weren’t filled with killer robots, at least.

He quickly turned, rushing the opposite direction of Silverstream. Couldn't give a wave, had to do his job.

“Take care Mr Six!” she called, turning away herself.

“Yep!” was the simple reply.

Fuck, gotta pick up the pace now... Come on, damn it! Worry about the beak-horse’s problems later. Got other mail to deliver. After bailing out through the front doors of the school, the day blurred into a flurry of ‘Yes sir,’ ‘Sign here ma’am,’ ‘Thank you for you,’ and ‘no, that’s not—what? No, wrong spo—please listen—okay now you’re pissing me off…’ and so on.

The evening began when the Courier headed out of Ponyville, into his little section of the Everfree. Before much time had passed, he was frying a small plate’s worth of potatoes, checking the bat guano as he did. Just needed some sulfur, get a few good wood fires burning, and so on, so forth. A lit cigarette hung from his mouth the whole time, billowing smoke all the while.

As the sliced potatoes sizzled in oil, the human checked inside of his shitshack, opening the barley-qualifiable door as he stared into it. Eyed over the tools, Knock-Knock, the All-American, everything else.

Camp wasn’t exactly the most inconspicuous, even out in the woods. Few bastards would come out here looking for him. Could stumble on it…

“Ah damn it!” he growled, turning back to flip his charred potatoes, quickly finding a deep black burn spot on them. He flicked the cancer stick with one hand as he further poked at the burned potatoes. “Goddamn it…”

After a deep sigh, he pulled out a fork, rolling his eyes beneath the mask. No ketchup left, gotta buy more. Guess extra salt would work too... Gah, shit.

Whatever.

Cherry Berry leaned back into her soft, fluffy couch. The mare sighed at being pleasantly embraced after a day of work. It had been a nice shift for her; lots of rides, nice chunk of change, weekend was coming up. Overall it was a sweet time, and it was going to be made even sweeter with her eleventh reading of “A Brief History of Aerodynamics in Equestria: Volume 2!”

However, the second the mare opened the front page, and began reciting to herself, “The laws of aviation should be theoretically imposs—”

A knock knock knock came, echoing around the house and drilling right into her ears, which twitched at the sound.

Her face of happiness dropped into a frown, the words shriveling into dust on her tongue. Mouth felt dry now; great! With a deep groan of annoyance, she hopped up, almost considering dragging her hooves before more—

Knock knock knock’s rang out, and the same ear twitch occurred.

With a roll of her eyes and a flick of her tail, she hopped up and quickly strutted over to the door.

“Alright this better be…” the sentence died in her throat.

Courier Six stood before her, utterly packed with bags and knives and axes and more of those gun things he loved. Ah right, this bastard.

“Cherry…” he stopped himself, as if he wasn’t quite sure on what to say. I mean, trusting several pounds of firearms with a cute little pony would never end with anything bad, right?... Least he left the bigger stuff back home. Enough dilly-dallying, he spat it out. “You mind watching my stuff for a bit?”

Of all the mares, in all of Ponyville, it had to be her.

She let out a deep, annoyed sigh, “...Come on in, Six.”

“Hope you cooked something better than burnt potatoes,” the human replied with a grin as he hobbled past her.

She let loose a snort that was also a laugh, though quickly she tried hiding it as one of annoyance, “In your dreams.”

“Trust me, you don’t wanna be anywhere near those.”

Author's Note

We're back!... Relatively speaking.

Tracks to Seaquestria

The Courier leaned back against the soft fabric of the train’s interior. He had a small saddlebag’s worth of mail in his lap. After thumbing through everything to quadruple check it was in place, he nodded silently and looked around.

Not many passengers on the ride. Then again, guess not too many ponies wanted to visit Seaquestria given there were only half a dozen letters in the pouch. Most of them were fan mail addressed to one… Queen Novo? Yeah. It was paltry, even including Silverstream’s letter.

There were a couple tourists with cameras and sunglasses and beach gear a few seats behind the human. Not really much to note about them; guess they were brave enough to go to another country for a day of fun in the sun. Heard them occasionally talk about him, ignored it. Not really worth listening to.

Damn, he wished there was some Robbins or Cash to enjoy. Without any music or anything in particular to focus on, his mind partly buzzed with thoughts of Cherry Berry having access to numerous firearms and many, many rounds of ammunition. Again, it should be fine. The earth ponies didn’t have the magic of a unicorn or the weird flexibility of a pegasus’ wings.

“Why me?” she had asked.

“Why not you?” had been the reply. “Would you rather me trust Lyra or Scootaloo with this stuff?”

And then there was a back and forth, and he’d cooked her dinner (steamed veggies) and she finally agreed to it, pretending to hate his cooking, (it was an act; besides, it’s EXTREMELY difficult to fuck up steamed veggies) and now here he was. Sitting alone… And being a bit bored.

Thankfully, the human had a wood-finish, lever-action rifle sitting beside him, though. Couldn’t give Cherry all of the goodies, especially when the rifle he had was the classic Trail Carbine, complete with a durable leather strap. A cowboy’s weapon. Fitting. The .44 firearm just sat there. He’d checked the scope’s sights on it, adjusted when needed. It was calibrated nicely and equally chambered as nicely.

Unfortunately, there was little else for the mailman to do except to occasionally strum his fingers along the firearm. The other passengers (and even the hostess who’d occasionally come out and offer complimentary peanuts to the other creatures) all seemed to ignore him. One or two would sneak stares at him, as if he wouldn’t notice. Didn’t matter.

It was time for him to just sit and wait… and wait… and wait.

He remained in place like a statue the entire time, only occasionally moving to take a sip from his canteen. Otherwise, he remained frozen solid for the next several hours. The sun outside was much further along in the sky now. The voyage was supposed to take quite a while. A good few more hours, overnight even.

Maybe he could close his eyes for a couple of seconds; minutes tops!…

Yeah. That wouldn’t hurt.

Just for a couple of minu-

He stood on a hill, amongst an endless sea of green, rolling fields. He was small, and insignificant in the grand scheme of it all. No trees were in sight, aside from the single, picture-perfect old oak that rose above him. It gave him shade, protecting him from the sun’s harmful rays.

As he looked over the wide, open grassland, something… felt off. A chill rushed up his spine. Felt like a damn animal being hunted. Something was watching him; however, he couldn’t even begin to spot it in the never-ending landscape surrounding him. The grass, which had once seemed nice, not too tall nor too wild was now growing, as if the blades were reaching up to grab at him.

“Goddamn it!” he grunted, pulling out his Ranger Sequoia.

The second he pulled the trigger, from the weapon came a stream of fire. The pistol was now a miniature Flamer in his dreamscape. He was trying to blink away the dream, force himself back to being awake or being in the dull box the brain had kept him in.

The grass continued advancing at him, having morphed into gigantic vines now. Many of them had large Venus flytrap-like mouths which were similar to those acid-spitting plant bastards he’d dealt with in the past. One rushed behind him, going in to chomp onto his shoulder, only for the Courier to turn, pulling a machete out of nowhere and slicing the monster’s head off.

More tendrils came at him, unabated as they hissed and snarled and whipped. They descended on him at once, however he used the flames to push them back, making them squeal as they were turned to ash. He then leapt into the fray, his blade at the ready.

There was a distant feeling about it all, as if he was disconnected from the dream, looking at it through a distorted camera or something. The sensation was fuzzy, as if being poked and prodded by needles while under anesthetic. The carnage seemed almost like background noise.

Soon enough though after burning down more and more hills worth of grass, everything faded. The bright greenness ceased to be, and the mailman was left alone in darkness, no longer having any weapons.

“Sorry about the delay, it’s a mess to navigate these days,” a familiar voice rang out.

The human grunted in annoyance, turning to see the Brain once again. “You gonna tell me what the fuck that was?”

“It wasn’t me if that’s what you were thinking,” the Brain replied.

“Then what was it?” he spat, sounding partly manic.

He looked around a few moments later, as if readying himself for something else to jump out at him. Thankfully it never seemed to come, leaving him and the floating organ alone in silence and darkness.

As he managed to calm himself, his Brain raised its long stem up, scratching the underside of the Courier’s frontal lobe as if it were a chin, “I’ll have to try to look into this a bit further… Everything’s been a bit strange recently.”

“Yeah? Like the time dream-Benny pulled the 'I have sentience' shit?” Six questioned.

“Don’t be alarmed, I remember that too… unfortunately,” the Brain shivered, obviously not enjoying the memories of being shot. “Regardless, it will take a bit more time for me to figure up any type of explanation for this. It’s all, well—fractured feeling lately; distant, you know?”

“Better than I’d like to,” the body of the duo sighed back.

“I will say our dreams have been getting stranger, at least from what I can latch onto… and I don’t simply mean Benny coming back to shoot us again,” the Brain said, his tone one of (fittingly enough) deep thought.

“Dreams?” Six perked up. “What dreams? This is the only one I’ve had in a few days!”

“Ah, you don’t remember.” the Brain stated matter-of-factly. “I will try to explain more later. Whenever I’ve collected more data; can’t go out on limbs when we’re discussing scientific facts, after all.”

“Alright you know as well as I do, we hate this cryptic crap, so cut it out!” the human growled.

“I’m not trying to be cryptic, I am gathering data, as any good brain should!” boasted the brain.

Beneath the mask, the human rolled his eyes, soon crossing his arms in annoyance, “So now what?”

“Well, you have roughly…” the Brain paused, soon pulling a wristwatch out of nowhere; it was wrapped around the organ’s stem as if it had always been there, “...five seconds until arrival.”

The body merely stared blankly.

“And we’re likely about to be awoken by the horn,” the Brain replied.

“What—”

Choooooo—

—CHOOOOOOOOO!!!

His eyes snapped open and he sat up straight. The short dream had obviously been interrupted. A headache pounded inside of his skull, making him feel like he’d taken a blow from a hammer and directly to the brain. After a few seconds, he managed to force it down to manageable level; took a few sips from the canteen, got a bit of water in him. Always helped.

With the pain subsiding, he blinked the sleep from his eyes as he stared out the window. It was the next morning, evident by Twilight’s sun battling away the darkness of the night. As he stared out the train window, all he saw was nothing but a deep sea of blueness. He took a glance over towards the other side of the train and saw the ocean there too. The waters weren’t like anything off the coast of California. No. This was brighter, more vibrant and clear and… alive.

He popped his neck, sitting up straighter as he forced his body back into its waking state. His foot was partly asleep, so he applied some pressure on it, managing to get to his feet as the ponies and griffs began to gather up their luggage. The Courier himself grabbed the carbine immediately, flinging it over his shoulder. After a few moments of patting and checking himself, he nodded before checking back out the window.

The train was fast approaching a behemoth of a mountain, as expected, given he vaguely recalled something about a Mount Aris. Regardless, he was still utterly surprised at just how impressive it looked. It wasn’t anything like back at Zion or even the plateaus one could find in the great desert of the Mojave. This was different. Much different.

A pair of utterly gigantic stone-carved wings cradled the steep cliffs, with a sea of green and the faint specs. Said specs were no doubt houses dotting the rising hillside of the titanic earthen peak. It was a strange sight. Almost ethereal in a way. Sorta like Canterlot in its own right—guess all four-legged creatures thought cliffs were the best spots to park their capitals.

The snark in him subsided after that thought though and he took it in. Took it in right up until the train doors opened and the passengers exited out, pouring into the wooden floorboards which made up the seaside town’s train station. As the sun began to rise even further, its brilliant rays bounced off the water.

Cherry had been here before; told him it’d make a great spot to retire and raise a family.

He remembered he’d made a joke about centaurs or something, but she didn’t get it. Explained it, and all the fun was sucked right out of it since she only gave him a cocked smile and a pity chuckle. Didn’t matter though. What did was he’d made it, and he was here to dish out some mail.

After stepping down some stairs which were cut into the natural stone at the base of the mountain, the human began to examine his surroundings properly. He noticed the eyes of some of the griffs were on him. They had uncertain looks on their faces.

He checked the Pip-Boy one last time, looking over his notes.

“Letter for… Terra—terra—terrafin? Terramar!” he looked up from the RobCo “junk” and spoke, his gaze swept over them. The griffs looked between each other with the same unsure looks. “Or how about uh… Sky Beak? Ocean Flow?... Familiar to anyone?”

A deep pink femgriff spoke up, pointing a foreclaw out to the sea as she did, “I don’t think you’d be able to make it to Ocean Flow, sir, she lives in Seaquestria.”

He followed her pointer claw, staring out towards the ocean. After a few seconds of silence, the Courier blinked.

“You guys live out on a raft?” he asked.

“N-no sir,” chuckled a pale white malegriff as he stepped up beside the female. “Some hippogriffs decided to keep their seapony forms and live under the waves.”

The human continued staring out at the swirling blue water for a moment, “You know, with a name like ‘Ocean Flow,’ I guess I should’ve expected it… but then there’s ‘Sea Swirl!’ What does that even mean?”

The griffs merely looked at him in confusion, staring between each other and then resetting their gaze back at the biped.

“Are you alright, sir?” the male called.

“Yeah, just forget it,” the human shrugged, turning his attention back to the hippogriffs. “You two know Terramar or Sky Beakface or whatever his name is?”

“They live up in the village,” the female answered, now pointing her index claw upwards.

The Courier turned, looking up the winding trail which led to the summit of the gigantic cliff. The path was splayed out before him, as if it were challenging the human to make the trek.

He just balled his fists and took a small breath, “Alright… let’s rock.”

The Courier took a moment to catch his breath as he leaned against the exterior wall of the hippogriff village. He stared down the mountain at the landscape below. The rolling hills below stretched out into the distance. Most of the land remained untouched, though a few small burgeoning villages were off in the distance. Damn, could see half of Equestria from up here.

Or would it be Seaquestria? Or would the ocean be Seaquestria? Was all of the ocean Seaquestria, or just this specific section of water? Where would the borders end and begin? Why—

…was he overthinking this?

He shrugged it off, blinking a few times before he turned and peered beyond the gates, into the village proper. The architecture was immediately striking, being a totally different one from the medieval village style Ponyville had, the rickety wooden builds of Dodge, or the fancy, ballroom-like decor he remembered from Canterlot.

The trees themselves were utterly gigantic, much broader and more impressive than most of the ones he’d seen in the Everfree. The large branches were big, strong enough to support entire room-sized huts of their own. Each of them had several large, open windows that were several feet wide, no doubt to both look over the village and allow for ease of access to the interior while flying. The man—er griffmade structures blended with the nature surrounding it more than most of the pony-crafted towns he’d seen thus far.

The human rolled his shoulder a bit, finally turning and properly entering into the village. His duster billowed as the wind picked up a bit, with the human looking around, his deep red lenses reflecting the sun. Numerous hippogriffs were already staring at him by this point. The armored guards were especially paying close attention to him.

Only thing of note that immediately caught his eye was a small kiosk a few dozen meters ahead. It looked as if it was made from a large, hollowed out stump. A wooden sign hung down from it, displaying the image of a fish with two X's for eyes. After a second of contemplating, the human went for it, advancing towards the fishy food stand and taking a seat at a padded wooden stool sitting out front of it. A small bell was sitting on the countertop.

The human peered over and inside of the kiosk itself. In the corner was a wood burning stove, along with a rack of dried seasonings and spices. As he scanned over the inside a bit longer, he spotted a small hatch. Moments after he found it, the small square door flung open, and griff poked her head out. She paused the second her head craned out of the underground entrance, with her flinching back upon seeing his deep red lenses staring back at her. She remained silent, and the human didn’t speak at first either, as if contemplating on what to say…

Finally, he broke the silence, “You sell fish?”

“Y-yeah?” she nodded, confused. He could see she was partly shivering now. She held a small bundle of fish in her foreclaw, with the deceased picines wiggling about due to her nervous movements

“You take bits?” he asked, offering a small handful of the little golden coins. Hopefully it’d ease the tension.

“You’re from Equestria?” she squeaked; her fear being slightly replaced by excitement. He could see a sparkling glow in her eyes as her wings spread out a bit, failing to fully open due to the cramped space she was currently in. “That’s so cool!”

“Right…” the human said, his tone unsure as he sat the bits down onto a counter. “Can I have some fish now?”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” she squawked, quickly jumping up, shutting the cellar door with her back claw and causing it to shut with a small slam! “It’s just—well, everytime we get visitors from other countries, they don’t really come to me!”

As she spoke, at a near-hypersonic pace, she pulled out a large cleaver and began to filet the fish, quickly deboning it and removing the scales with a few flicks of her nimble wrist. The human raised a brow as he watched her work, “You’re pretty goo—”

“I mean, why would you?” she cut him off, making the Courier lean onto the counter, placing his left palm under his chin. “This is just a little out of the way fish stand and there’s like dozens and dozens of other places which are way, waaaayyy more interesting to experience than my little restaurant.”

“I’m shocked as to why no one wants to visi—”

“But now you show up and you’re a… well, I don’t really know what you are but you’re super cool looking!” she continued, pulling out a skillet and throwing a small stick of butter into it. She rambled on as she instinctively seasoned the fish and threw it into the pan. “You have those deep red eyes and you walk on two legs! Are you a dragon? Do you know any dragons? Were you abandoned by your parents and raised by dragons—”

“Are you related to Silverstream?” the human belted out, raising his tone and causing the griff to stop right in the middle of expertly flipping her fish, with it landing in the pan with a small, sizzling splap!

“Huh?” she asked, blinking, before a smile immediately crossed her beak. “Silverstr—Bwahahah good one Mister Dragon! No! Pffft. If I was related to royalty, I’d probably be down in the palace dancing with Queen Novo or something.”

“Do you know about any officials or anything then? A post office maybe?” the human questioned.

She looked at him with a quizzical gaze. “Post office… ooh is that some type of Equestrian thing? That is so totally awesome!”

The human wished he could rub his temples at the moment, but instead he settled for a simple exhale, “Alright, let me start over; I am a courier—”

The griff blinked.

“—I am a guy who delivers messages written on paper to peo—er griffs and ponies and such.” he corrected, his tone slow and precise. “Do you know any official I can talk to or somewhere with documentation of the hippogriffs living here?”

He pulled out his bag of mail and the femgriff “ooh’d” at it as he flicked through it.

“I have a message to one Terramar, Sky Beak, Ocean Fl—it’s from Silverstream to her family!” he grunted, looking through the papers. “And then there’s another note here to one Updraft and then a uh… Down Stream. And then a Nimbus… Jetstream. Luminescent Abyss—”

“I’m Jetstream!” she squeaked, with her sitting down her frying pan onto the countertop. The Courier looked down at it, but before he could tell her it’d likely damage the wood, she grabbed the letter out of his bag, holding it up like her firstborn and giving a mesmerized, “Woooaaaah!”

The human looked around for a second, before sighing and grabbing the frying pan, holding it up in a gloved hand as he then pulled a small metal fork from within his jacket, “Can I get some lemon?”

She was half paying attention as she pulled out a whole lemon and penetrated it with her claw, squeezing the entire juice contents of the citrus fruit right into the still-hot pan, causing it to sizzle as it mixed with the fish.

“Great, now the acidity’s gonna overpow—ah fuck it,” he shrugged, adjusting his mask and taking a forkful of fish and horking it right into his mouth.

He ate and watched on as the griff quickly (yet shockingly delicately) peeled open the letter with a sharp talon. She quickly tossed down the letter’s exterior and looked at the invaluable contents. The femgriff gasped with utter shock, almost to the point it sounded like her lungs were about to burst!

“Golly!” she exhaled finally, “Flim and Flam’s Used Carriages have offered me a coupon to get half off of my next purchase! Oh my gosh this is so exciting!”

“Riiight…” the human said, biting down another mouthful of fish.

“Uhm… what’s a carriage… or a coupon?” the griff asked, her excitement falling into confusion.

His tongue probed around the inside of his mouth, gliding over his teeth to remove anything stuck in them. He then fully closed his jaw, a small, metallic clink coming from within his mouth, “You know, I think they were trying to scam Silverstream with that one; figured they’d mooch off her wealth given you said she was royalty and all…. It’d explain why it wound up in Ponyville in the first place and didn't ship directly here.”

“Ooohhh I’ve never been ‘scammed’ before!” the griff said with curiosity. “What’s it like?”

“I tell you what… how about I explain what a ‘scam’ is and in return, you let me know the whereabouts of anyone you know on my list here?” he offered, pulling out a small clipboard and pen.

She stared at him in excited awe.

The human adjusted his jacket as he continued through the village. He had the aftertaste of fried fish and lemon on his tongue. Honestly, not a bad taste, all things considered. He ran his tongue over his teeth inside the mask one final time, as he didn’t have a toothpick at the moment. With the deed done, he continued on through the small yet vertical town.

As he approached the center, more and more of the griffs were taking notice of him. They cocked their brows and occasionally averted their gazes as they examined the bipedal being. The human himself was paying little mind to them, as he was currently looking upwards at one of the large tree branch-mounted houses.

“Alright so Nimbus should be right—ah fuck!” immediately he was interrupted by the sound of trumpets directly behind him.

The human turned, watching as half a dozen hippogriffs were blowing on large seashells. Somehow this action sounded exactly like an actual proper instrument… right, magic. Regardless, the human continued to stare on as the griffs raised a flag. He heard the flapping of wings and looked skyward. A golden armored, blue figure slowly flew downwards, landing softly as he stood up straight, looking around at his fellow brothers and sisters.

Blue? Check. Armor? Check. Leadership role? Check. Yep…

Definitely Sky Beakface.

“And now everygriff, I once more open the Glad to be a Hippo—”

The mix-matched creature was cut off by a loud whistle. His proud face immediately became one of surprise as the human quickly jogged over, waving the letter around in his right hand. “Hey, hey, Sky Beak—”

He was himself cut off whenever two more armored hippogriffs suddenly surged forwards, a pair of spears in their foreclaws. They pointed the sharp tips at the bipedal creature, who skidded to a stop, kicking up dust under him.

“Woah what the hell’s with this?” the Courier growled in annoyance, raising both of his arms, though he kept the letter in hand. “Do you assholes treat all your guests this way or do you just hate mailmen in particular?”

“Stand down you two!” Sky Beak ordered rushed over, gently shoving his guards aside. They got the hint, backing off and lowering their spears back to a resting position as they stepped aside. The older griff himself gave the human a sheepish grin at the actions of his colleagues. “Sorry, stranger! Everygriff around here’s been a bit… jumpier than usual recently.”

The human stared at him for a moment, looking the feathered father over for a second, “Wanna go ahead and explain why?”

“Oh it’s nothing—really! We’ve simply been having a problem with a kraken recently, but our navy is on the case!” he replied proudly; almost reminded the Courier of the patriotism one would occasionally see for the NCR. “We’ll show that beast what for before it can interfere with another festival!”

“...Right,” the human nodded, before offering the hippogriff the letter. “Well uh, Silverstream said to give you this. It’s for you or your wife or son or whatever else.”

Immediately the bird-dad grabbed the letter from the Courier’s hand. It marked only the second time today where one of the beakfaces did such an action. Sky Beak’s excitement even matched Jetstream’s! “My dear sweet baby wrote to me again! This is fantastic!”

The human shrugged, pulling out an old mint from his jacket and popping it into his mouth, “Yeah yeah, always happy to help a family and all that. Now just give me a few minutes to deliver the rest of my mail and I’ll be out of your hair—uh, feathers.”

“Please stranger, let us repay you; perhaps you could join us in the festival?” Sky Beak offered enthusiastically, a bright smile on his beak. “I’m sure you’ll find our culture just as wonderful if not more so than Equestria’s!”

“Eh… I would but I’ve got plenty of other mail to deliver once I’m done here. Tomorrow I’ll head back an—”

The griff’s face dropped into one of uncertainty and he interrupted the human mid-sentence, “Wait, you intend to return to Equestria tomorrow?”

“...Yeah?” the human replied, raising an eyebrow under his mask.

“Did your train station not tell you?” Sky Beak asked, his face still dripping (metaphorically) with uncertainty.

The human merely sighed. Knew that face. Knew it well. Sort of annoyed him by this point, enough to sigh at least, “Tell me what?”

“The train only runs to and from Seaquestria thrice a week…” the griff explained. “The next one won’t be in for another three or four days I take it.”

“Well fuck.”

Fun in the Sun

The small pebble skimmed across the still seawater a couple of times before sinking into the lake, sending minor disturbances across the sparkling water, which was shimmering thanks to the bright sun overhead. The Courier sat on the beachside, lowering his arm as the water shifting ever-so-slightly, wetting more of the sand that rested a few feet ahead. His rifle pressed against his back as he reached into the small pile of stones he had gathered and plucked out another rock. After giving a brief wind up, he chucked it with a large amount of power and deftness. It skimmed about five and a half times, before giving out and tumbling below into the briny deep.

Six scratched his wrist a few times with his gloved hand, sighing. For a moment, he thought about Ponyville—town was simple, quiet. Better than the beach still, though. Had Scoots, Dash, Lyra, Bon Bon... Cherry Berry. The thoughts died as he refocused on the ocean; he sniffled and then grabbed a third rock, tossing it out into the sparkling waves once more, sending ripples across the water. As he threw the stone, he heard the sound of sand crunching behind him.

“Woah! Dad wasn’t kidding!” said a youthful, masculine voice from behind the human.

Six looked over his right shoulder, staring back at the voice’s source. He found a white-feathered hippogriff staring back at him. He was smaller, about Silverstream’s height, if not a tad shorter than even her.

“And you are?” Six growled, before turning and tossing a pebble yet again.

The griff looked at him in surprise, before quickly gathering himself, “O-oh right! I’m Terramar—Silverstream’s brother!”

“You here to talk my ear off?” the Courier snarked, collecting the remaining rock pile in his palm before standing up. He towered over the youthful griff as another tiny wave came in, splashing against the sand and occasional mossy rock.

The beakface frowned at that, “N-no—No sir! I actually came here to thank you for the letter you know? My uh, my sister hasn’t been back in a good while and it’s nice to hear she’s alri—”

“Yeah, don’t mention it, birdboy,” Six replied, tossing out another small stone.

The griff looked offended at his words, stamping a foreclaw into the sand, "Birdboy? Just what is that supposed to mean?"

"You're part bird, and also a boy, right? Makes sense to me," the human replied, before throwing out yet another pebble.

The young pony-eagle's annoyance seemed to drift away into confusion over the Courier's action, with Terramar raising a brow, “Uhm… what are you doing?”

“Skimming pebbles on rocks?” the human said, cocking a brow of his own. “You guys live around the ocean don’cha? Figured you’d have done this before.”

“Well, we kinda-sorta haven’t been above the water for a long time,” the bird-horse said, taking a few steps closer to the mailman, leaving marks of his claws in the sand as he did.

The mailman turned, looking down at him, “Hell does that mean?”

“I mean that we hippogriffs once turned ourselves into seaponies, used an artifact known as the Pearl of Transformation; removed all our feathery bits and became pony-fish instead, you know?” he explained, watching the waves out in the ocean as he fiddled with his necklace—which the Courier just now noticed as he turned and stared at the griff, leaving the beakface to stare into the Courier’s red lenses.

“You know Terramar? NO. I don’t know what it’s like to turn oneself into a half-fish,” the human said after a few more seconds of silence, before turning and tossing out another stone. Only had three left.

Terramar watched it skip across the waves intently, childlike wonder adorning his face, “Woah! That thing went really far out there! Can I try?”

“Knock yourself out, kid,” the human said, leaning down and offering his handful of rocks to the griff, who eagerly took them.

Terramar quickly brought back a foreclaw and tossed the rock hard out into the ocean. However, it immediately slammed into the water, sending out ripples as it sank instantly, “Ah dang it!”

“Throwin’ too hard birdboy,” the human said, pulling out his canteen and adjusting his mask. He took a swig and then put it away as he continued. “You gotta turn your wrist, sorta like this.”

Terramar stared at the biped as he repositioned himself a bit, leaning more into it as he thrusted his forearm forward at a slight angle. He repeated the motion slower this time, making sure to show the griff how to maneuver. The avian-equine then attempted to adjust the human’s movements for his own bipedal frame, even going as far to sit on his haunches and then follow the mailman’s technique.

After a few warmups, he threw the second pebble!

Splash!

“Crap!” the birdboy said, before immediately he looked up at the mailman, “Sorry mister, I didn’t mean to swear—”

“I’m not your grandma,” snickered the Courier. “Say whatever you damn well please.”

The beakface gave a small chuckle of his own, smiling, “You’re pretty cool… uh… Six?”

“Yeah you got it,” the human said with a nod. “Now throw the last one, and don’t screw it up!”

“R-right!” the griff said, rapidly shaking his own head. He went back to lining up his toss. He flicked his wrist about, trying to find the perfect angle. After bringing it back one final time, he thrust forwards and—

Thik thik thik! Sploosh!

“Nice going, beakface! That was one in a million!”

“Woah, really?” the griff questioned, his eyes filled with awe.

“No,” the human replied. “But if it makes you feel better, you can keep thinking it is.”

The griff gave a disappointed sigh, looking down, though the mailman reached out and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, chin up kid, you did good,” Six complimented.

That lightened the young hippogriff’s mood, making him give a small smile, “T-thanks.”

“Alright, give me a few minutes and I can go collect some more stones,” Six said, turning and looking along the beach for any pebbles.

“Haha, no need, Six!” the hippogriff said, before he grabbed at his necklace. “Just let me go under the water and grab some!”

“What the hell are—”

Before he could finish, Terramar leapt into the ocean, his body being enveloped in a flash of magic before immediately the Courier saw him become a strange, fish-like creature.

“Seapony, remember?” the former-griff chuckled, pointing to his necklace with a forefin, before he ducked under the water.

“You didn’t say anything about still being able to become a fish, you numbskull!” shouted Six as he watched the seapony swimming deeper into the sea.

When Terramar resurfaced, he had a large collection of smoothed over pebbles and rocks reclaimed from the sea. The two stayed on the beach for about half an hour, with the griff working on his throwing angle each time. It wasn’t until the human saw a large, ancient-looking ship approach. Reminded him of something from an old pirate comic.

He skipped another stone and then turned to Terramar, who was currently extremely focused on angling his pebble, to the point his tongue hung out of his beak in concentration, “Kid, what the hell is that?”

“Huh—oh!” Terramar gasped in shock, dropping the stone as he was shaken from his task. “Oh it’s one of our navy's ships!”

“You know I forgot to ask Sky Beakface but why do you need a navy when you can, you know, become fish?” the Courier deadpanned at the younger creature.

“You ever tried fighting an enemy ship when all you have are swords and spears? Magical cannons don’t really work the best when underwater,” pointed out the hippogriff, bending down and grabbing his stone.

“Ah. Guess that makes sense,” Six replied as the ship parked itself on a wooden pier nearby.

He watched on as several armored hippogriffs stepped off of the ship and onto the docks. He noted the armor they wore differed from Sky Beak’s. Instead of being a faint golden coloration they were a deep green. Probably to distinguish the navy? Eh, didn’t matter. They all looked partly haggard as they moved along the planks, their bodies seeming tired and bags being under their eyes. The one at the front (he was of a pale blue coloration) reached up a foreclaw, rubbing his reddened eyes. Minor sleep deprivation. Not uncommon at sea, at least according to the ancient books the human had occasionally read.

“Tell you what, Terramar,” the mailman said, glancing over his shoulder at the young griff. “You keep at it with the rocks… I might be back later.”

The griff in question looked at the Courier in surprise, “O-Oh—Well, good luck with whatever it is you’re doing, Six!”

The Courier nodded, adjusting his jacket as he made the relatively short trek over to the docks. Eyes were on him again, with the weary hippogriffs staring over the human as the boards creaked beneath his larger, heftier frame. The same pale blue one stepped forwards, as if to halt his advances.

“Identify yourself,” he, for lack of a better term, squawked. His voice was regal yet tired sounding.

The biped straightened up, making sure his trail carbine was still secured to his back, “Courier Six. Guess you guys are the Seaquestrian Navy?”

“Yes, we are,” he said, his tone unsure as he raised a brow at the human. “You’re a courier? Do you have any mail for us?”

“No, I delivered all my packages before you guys even got to port,” the bipedal being replied. “But I’m here on account of the train schedule sucking absolute dick, for lack of a better term. Feels like this place is managed by the NCR or something.”

Seaspray took a step back at his crass words, though he did soon raise a foreclaw, coughing into it, before nervously scratching the back of his head, taking off his helmet to do so, “Well, vile wording aside, you are not completely wrong about the scheduling being quite abysmal, but I am unsure who this NCeeAree you speak of are.”

“That doesn't matter, just forget I said that. What matters is, you're a captain, right?” the human asked, crossing his arms as he leaned partly against one of the pier’s small support beams, with him nearly being tall enough to sit on the flat top of it.

“General thank you very much,” the griff corrected, a sense of pride in his voice. “General Seaspray of Her Majesty Queen Novo’s Navy.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, General,” Six said courteously, leaning down a bit to offer a hand to the smaller hybrid.

The beakface only looked at the stretched-out palm for a second, before it all clicked in his mind, and he extended a foreclaw, shaking the human’s palm awkwardly, “You must forgive me, it’s been quite a while since I’ve had claws. Still getting used to them and such.”

“Ah don’t sweat it,” Six brushed off, letting the quick claw-handshake trail off before the two let go. “You guys are the only place I can get some decent meat without having to go kill it myself. Not really much of a pescatarian though, never got a lot of fish back where I’m from.”

“Where exactly are you from?” Seaspray questioned. “I’ve never seen a creature quite like you.”

“A place where you don’t get a lot of fish,” the human answered. Seaspray stared at him for a moment, before Courier Six chuckled. “I’m from the Mojave. Don’t bother checking your maps, it’s not there. What matters is I’m currently under the employment of Ponyville Postal.”

“Really?” Seaspray responded, wide-eyed. “Why, I figured a being of your stature would be a soldier of some sort! I bet you could wrestle a bull shark.”

“Guess you could say that. Sorta always liked the term ‘militaman,’ but the distinctions don’t really matter—Anyways, I’m getting off track, General. You and your boys are probably here for a restock or something. That weird festival thing Sky Beak—” he paused, considering adding the ‘face’ but didn’t this time. Sky Beak was technically royalty. “...started a few hours ago.”

“Ah yes, the ‘Glad to be a Hippogriff’ festival. Such a beautiful occurrence… even if it has been a tad overplayed recently,” Seaspray shook off the critique. “I assume he’s invited you? He does love meeting new creatures.”

“Eh, yeah, sorta. I don’t know. I’m not one for big celebrations and all that crap.”

“If it makes you feel any better, you can be seated next to me,” Seaspray offered. “I wouldn’t mind sitting next to a fellow chivalric warrior!”

The human flinched back in surprise, both from being called ‘chivalric’ and the extreme openness of the military. NCR was a bit open about having ‘outside help’ but this was even more sudden, “Really? Just like that?”

“Of course!” the griff said, stepping past the mailman a few paces, “Unless you’re a spy sent here to sow mischief or steal our secrets.”

“Pffft,” Six stifled a laugh, stepping up behind the griff, who suddenly turned to stare him down.

“You aren’t a spy, are you?” he questioned, dead serious. There was a twinge of something in his eyes, however the Courier couldn’t quite tell if it was bullshitting or madness. The griff should play poker, that was for sure.

“I think if anyone wanted to send a spy, they wouldn’t pick the guy with glowing red eyes and very distinct clothing,” the human played it safe.

Seaspray stifled a chuckle of his own now, turning away. “Got you.”

“You prick.”

Tables dotted the center of town for the feast. The griffs loved their seafood. Not really a shock—coastal town, plus they were also part fish and all. The mailman himself didn’t mind this. The salmon was good; though most of the hybrids were eating theirs raw, Six had a nice smoked one. It was thin sliced, with lemon and crackers and such. Wasn’t really hearty but that’s fine. Tasted a lot different from most things in the Mojave. Even the fish there too. Not exactly less fresh but more… healthy? Saw a few ponies here and there trying it too. Guess they were only herbivores by choice. Then again, most things were.

“Enjoying the salmon?” he heard Seaspray, before he felt the griff pat him on his right shoulder, turning the human’s gaze to the mix-matched creature.

Courier Six wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, dusting away crumbs and spices while nodding. “Kinda wishing I got it fried now but, yeah.”

“Ah, I understand! I am more of a cod griff myself!” the eagle-horse chuckled.

The human gave his own minor laugh, partly joining in with the quadruped. As this happened, Terramar was trotting up behind the two, carrying a large plate (which was just a gigantic sand dollar which was roughly a foot across) stacked with several filets and other bits of seafood in one of his foreclaws. Six turned to the young beakface when he sat the shell-plate down on his left.

“Is this seat taken?” the young griff nervously asked.

“Not at all dear Terramar! Please, have a seat!” Seaspray answered.

Six merely shrugged, popping another cracker covered in salmon into his mouth, speaking as he chewed, “Whatever the oldtimer says.”

“Awesome!” Terramar squeaked with a smile, now boxing the biped between two bird-ponies.

The mailman swallowed his fish-cracker, “So what brings you, beakface?”

“Dad said you’re from Ponyville! I figured I’d get to know what it’s like since the Crusaders are from there!” the young griff exclaimed.

“Crusaders?” the human pondered for a second. “Oh, you mean the weird little play outfit Scootaloo and her friends do with the capes and stuff.”

“Weird? Play outfit? No sir, the CMC are some of the most helpful individuals in Equestria!” Terramar praised. Six could see his eyes sparkle from simply talking about them.

“I like the kids too, but I didn’t figure they’d have reach like this,” the human said, biting into another cracker.

“Oh, they do! Many creatures, beyond even just ponies, adore them!” the young griff replied.

“Well, that’s good for the kids, whatever makes Scoots happy,” the mailman said, running his tongue along his teeth.

“You know, they didn’t really tell me much about Ponyville itself last time they were here,” Terramar said slyly, shoving the large shell-plate towards the human. “I’d love to get to know more about the place. It sounds so awesome, especially with the School of Friendship... which I’m still not able to go to.”

Seaspray chuckled at the young griff’s angst, but the human simply looked across the stack of food. Had piles of shrimp, a few small lobsters, and crab legs, even a smoked eel. Stuff the Old World dined on as luxuries. The human grabbed two of the jumbo shrimps and quickly crunched them (tail and all) chewing through them with ease. He spoke with his mouth full, “Okay, the town itself isn’t much to write home about. You sure it’s that important to you?... Sidenote, you got any garlic butter or cocktail sauce with this? Never had the stuff, figured you guys might’ve.”

“Butthair? Sounds gross. I don’t even wanna know about the cock-stuff,” Terramar said, sticking out a tongue in disgust.

“No, it's butter—you know what, just forget about the sauces,” Six sighed, while Seaspray’s chuckles had ceased, him now giving a facepalm. Right there with ya. The human grabbed an entire fried filet, before taking a massive bite out of it. “What do ya wanna know?”

“What’s it like? I mean, there’s no ocean to go to. Maybe a few lakes and stuff but I guess being on dry land basically permanently is… weird—and also boring—but still exciting maybe?” Terramar’s typically normal tone was now rivalling Silverstream.

“Okay beakbrain, stop channeling your sister, jeez,” the human said, tugging off the back end of a lobster, before he fiddled with it, eyeing the food over as he spoke, “Living in Ponyville means there’s a lotta uh… green and grass and stuff. Sort of like this place but a lot more hills and rolling fields and farms.”

Terramar was starstruck. Kind of cute in a way, him being excited over something so trivial. “Like our kelp farms? But you would grow uh… apples and stuff, right?”

“Well they do. I grow potatoes on occasion,” Six said, looking around at the bustling festival. “You know, why don’t you go ask the other ponies? I mean, I’ve only been in the town for a few weeks or so.”

“They don’t really like it when a random griff runs up and pelts them with questions,” the young quadruped chuckled, a minor blush on his feathered cheeks. “Believe me, I know. Besides, they’re usually here on vacation anyways.”

“Yeah, and I’m stuck here, so might as well pelt me, right?” the human said, chomping through a crab leg with a loud crunch! devouring it, shell and all. Didn’t seem to hurt the human though, as he continued munching on it.

“W-well, I figured we were friends—”

“I’m screwing with you, kid,” the human hand waved. “You’re fine, unlike captain—where’d he go?”

The Courier noticed the trio was down one less, turning his gaze about until he soon spotted Seaspray in the crowd, being led by a small trio of armored hippogriffs. He watched intently as they ducked into a small shack built inside a gigantic hollowed-out tree stump.

“Six, you alright?” Terramar questioned.

“Yeah uh, give me a second kid,” the human said, getting up to follow the general. “I’ll tell you more later, alright?”

This was a dumb idea. Like, pretty dumb. There was no reason to go after him. Navies weren’t exactly a common thing in the Wasteland, even when factoring in the NCR’s might. To go and offer his help to them would be kind of completely stupid and useless. Still, might as well listen in, at least. That was the thought process going as he quietly entered into the large stump. He wasn’t exactly sneaking, but as he walked, his footsteps were far lighter, to the point the floorboards didn’t creak as he listened in.

“You know, I think you could mount this on a wall somewhere, General,” he heard a feminine voice muse with a chuckle.

“Please be serious about this,” the voice of Seaspray sighed back, followed by the clicking of his foreclaws on something wooden, either a table or flooring.

“I must agree,” a much more regal voice sounded out. It was stuffy, older than even the General’s, and masculine. “We can’t rest until the beast is dealt with.”

Six peered into the room. There was no door to open, thankfully, so the Courier looked in. Easily almost a dozen griffs were surrounding a round table with a large, severed portion of a tentacle laid out on it. It had the suckers on it; wasn’t wiggling any. Was that… octopus—no—the Kraken. Right. Same slimy bastard Sky Beak had mentioned.

“I managed to stick a few harpoons into the bugger, but it dived under, and you know how Krakens are when we’re in our seapony forms,” explained Seaspray to the older hippogriff. Said griff had the upper portion of a damned tuxedo on. Likely some delegate or high-class whatsit.

There was a small round of nods and agreements. The femgriff (only one in the room) poked at the tentacle with a foreclaw a few times, her yellow feathers shimmering as she did, “Can’t wait to see the rest of this thing out on a table.”

“It’ll happen by tomorrow, I intend on taking another voyage and not coming back until we have the monster’s body strapped to our hull,” Seaspray sighed. “I only need some proper rest, just for tonight.”

“Of course,” the older griff said, he had a small goatee of fur, looked a bit strange, though he reached up a claw and gently plucked at it in thought.

Six continued staring at the group. Could go back, enjoy the feast, leave this all be and such. Have some simple fun with Terramar and Sky Beakface and just… relax…

He saw a chalkboard in the corner of the room. Didn’t have much written on it, however he smiled internally as he spotted it.

Then again, calamari did sound nice…

…

Ah to hell with it.

He pulled out a bowie knife as he stepped over towards it.

SSSKKKKRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

The small round of voices had fully silenced themselves to the worse-than-nails-on-a-chalkboard sound the Courier’s knife made as he ran it against the grain. Every hippogriff in the room turned to the bipedal being, who was now already stashing his knife away under his coat as he spoke.

“You all don’t know me, I assume?” he asked.

Obviously, the crowd stared at him with a mixture of cocked eyebrows, disbelief, intrigue, (from the femgriff) and even annoyance (from the oldtimer) Seaspray himself was uncertain, not making any movements.

“Right…” The human nodded, rubbing his gloved hands together, wiping the chalk dust off of the black leather of the gloves. “You all don’t know how I earn my living, then. Don’t know about the oddjobs I’ve taken.”

“Are you—are you offering to go out and kill that beast?” a hippogriff piped up from the back of the crowd, one of the ones the human didn’t pay attention to before entering.

“I’m not offering, it’s just what’s gonna happen. I was a pro-hunter in a way, made the Wasteland Omelets to prove it… not that you guys would know what those are,” he said, chuckling to himself. “Anyways, I’ll go out and kill this cephalopod of yours, but I want something in return.”

The quadrupeds looked between each other, still not certain.

Seaspray finally spoke up, his tone one of annoyance, “What do you want, Courier Six? Bits? Are you just some mercenary for hire after all?”

“No Seaspray, I don’t want your money,” the mailman replied with a smile. “I want to eat it.”

Seaspray stepped back in surprise at his words. “You want to eat the kraken?”

“You assure me I can do that, and I’ll bring its body right back to ya, on the beach, the head, the tentacles, the whole damn thing,” the human answered, giving a nod.

Immediately, the room began to laugh. It started with those in the back, and then slowly, but surely everygriff present cracked up. They chuckled and began to howl with laughter. Only Seaspray and the Courier remain silent, with the general looking over the jacketed figure with uncertainty, all the while the red eyes of the helmet glared back.

After almost a minute had passed, Six finally made his move.

BANG!

He had pulled out Lucky and unloaded a round into the ceiling of the room, with the round getting stuck in the thick wood. The ringing in everygriff’s ears silenced any further laughter, and they all stared at him in shock as he spun his ancient firearm in his hand, soon stashing it away in its holster.

“You all might find the concept funny, but I am a firm believer of keeping, and eating what you kill. That’s what a hunter does. He doesn’t waste,” he said, his tone was authoritative, not a hint of humor in it. “Do you all find the concept of wasting perfectly good meat funny? The concept of throwing away your own survivability because you’ve not had it rough enough to worry about your next meal?”

Seaspray’s eyes partly narrowed, a patriotic duty to speak swelling within him. “We are no stranger to famine, Courier Six. After a horrid dictator known as the Storm King forced us into our state of hiding, we had to learn how to adapt, to survive as you put it… Excuse my compatriots here, but I do think they find it strange a creature like you would somehow have the capacity to kill a monster which measures in the length of no less than forty claw paces.”

“If I can’t kill it, then you won’t have to worry about explaining about how wrong I was, now will you?” was the mailman’s simple response.

“So, you are willing to potentially put your life on the line for Seaquestria?” Seaspray questioned back, standing up as straight as he could, looking into the mailman’s lenses.

The human just pulled the rifle off his back, sitting the trail carbine down like a cane, resting his forearm on it as he leaned down a bit to match the hippogriff’s height. “I’m ready to go when you are, General.”

There was a long silence between the two. The only sound in the crowded room was the occasional deep breaths of the griffs, who looked between the two with uncertainty.

Finally, though, the quiet was broken. “I suppose you would make a fine addition to our navy.”

“I suppose so too, General.”

Author's Note

I know this is late but given this fic is a tribute to the show and anniversaries as a whole, happy 14th birthday, MLP: FiM! And happy early 14th birthday to New Vegas itself! Both of them definitely helped define 2010s online culture and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Call Upon the Seaponies!

Cherry Berry’s day was normal. She woke up, tended to her balloon, gave several ponies their rides, got their bits, and the entire time she was totally not worried about Courier Six’s beach-based adventure. No sir. Not in the slightest…

Why wasn’t he home yet—

Nah, he’s fine.

It went on like this for a while. Just a swirling haze of her job, the ponies paying her, telling the little ones no you can’t touch that. So on and so forth. Thankfully there weren’t any trips scheduled for today. She didn’t exactly want to deal with a several hour ride to Las Pegasus again. Instead, the day went swift, and easy, with everypony just wanting a nice trip into the clouds above Ponyville. One or two pegasi with broken wings, another a unicorn. Just a nice, quick day of helping others get some form of happiness.

Before long, she was out of customers for the day. It was well past afternoon, but the sun remained out, bright as ever. Just as the mare had begun to pack up for the day, she heard the pitter patter of tiny hooves on dirt.

She looked up from her bag with a sigh, turning to give a speech which felt immensely rehearsed, “Sorry but Cherry Berry’s Wild Balloon Rides is closed for the day. Please come back to—”

The earth mare stopped when she looked down, seeing a bright orange pegasus filly, who had a small hoofful of bits in her mouth.

“Scootaloo?” Cherry questioned, raising a brow.

“Yep!” she managed, however, her bits fell from her mouth as she spoke, making her give a minor blush. “Uh, sorry.”

“That’s fine kid—” she stopped herself, nearly biting her tongue. “It’s fine, Scootaloo.”

The little pegasus just stared up at her for a moment. Cherry Berry felt a heated sensation along her cheeks. She even brought up a hoof to rub them, yet she still felt them tingling. She groaned and decided to ignore it. She needed to address the filly in the nonexistent room. She could address her cheeks being on fire later.

“I’m closed for the day anyways,” Cherry said casually, further packing up her supplies, which were small canteens and flasks, into her bag.

“Awww,” Scootaloo pouted, looking down and kicking a small pebble.

Cherry looked at her for a moment. Seeing a filly’s sadness wasn’t anything new to the mare. Plenty of them had either gotten spooked by the ride or disappointed at not getting another. Different strokes and such.

Normally she’d write it off. Tell the kid to go home, give a sucker (when she had them) or something. But this time, she frowned, looking intently at the tiny pegasus. She eyed her wings. Eyed her frown.

Maybe it was because of her demeanor, or maybe it was because of the filly’s connection to Six—Nope, he’s fine!

Cherry Berry just managed a sigh, stifling her thoughts as she uttered, “Alright, come on Scootaloo…”

Immediately, the filly lit up.

“Woah! Really? Just like that?” she squeaked.

“Yeah but it’s gonna be a quick ride, so you’d better hurry,” Cherry warned, turning back towards her balloon.

Scootaloo rushed over, offering her bits to the older mare, in her hoof this time. The same sugary sweet smile she’d given so many times before was plastered on her muzzle yet again.

Cherry just looked at her outstretched forelimb and scoffed, “Keep the change, k—Scoots. It wouldn’t even be enough for a ride anyways.”

The filly gave another blush, chuckling in embarrassment. Felt like Six had rubbed off onto the pink mare!

It wasn’t long before they were in the air, feeling the breeze and hearing the chirping of various flocks of birds. When they got to a decent height, Scootaloo leaned over the side of the air balloon, looking far out into the distance. Her large eyes squinted as the bright sun above beat down upon her, catching the corner of her vision.

“I guess that’s why you’ve got the goggles, huh?” she chuckled, blinking as she raised up a hoof.

Cherry Berry gave a small, soft chuckle, standing behind the tiny filly. “You’ll get used to it quick… assuming you wanna come up on more rides?”

The orange pegasus’ head snapped towards her immediately, a wide, partly manic expression on her face.

“I do, I do—” she caught herself, giving a small blush and a cough into her hoof. “I mean, that would be nice.”

“Heh, it’s a better way to fly than rocketing yourself off some oversized ramp on a flimsy scooter, don’t you think?” Cherry offered, patting the filly on her head, ruffling her purple mane.

“Y-yeah,” the pegasus said, even more embarrassed at the memories of her smashing into Cloudsdale, or attempting stunts with the Washouts compared to her prior outburst of giddiness.

Cherry merely kept a small smirk on her face as she too looked out into the distance, enjoying the faint breeze in her mane and the tingling she got whenever she gazed out upon the land. The rolling hills near Ponyville, and the mountains near Canterlot. It was a glamorous sight.

“So this is what it looks like for all those other pegasi, huh?” Scootaloo mused. “I mean, I’ve looked out at the sky and stuff, whenever I was in Cloudsdale and everything, but to see it like this…”

“I know what it’s like, Scoots, to want to go out and fly and never have to look down. Just let the wind drift through your hair and soar and feel… free.”

“Guess neither of us were made for flying, huh?” Scootaloo said, giving her a halfhearted chuckle.

“I wouldn’t say that,” the earth mare responded. “We’re both flying right now, aren’t we?”

“Well… yeah?” Scootaloo scoffed, as if it were obvious. Cherry remained silent, but grinned at the filly, as the cogs began to turn in her head, slooowly. The obviousness turned to a slight twinge of uncertainty, and then, to realization. “Y-yeah— Yeah! I guess we are!”

“No guessing about it kid, we’re doing it right now!” Cherry replied, a bright expression on her face.

Scootaloo didn’t reply at first. She remained smiling and looking out over the clouds and enjoying everything. However, after a moment, she blinked. And then blinked again. And then she turned, like some type of slowly moving rock statue, her gaze turned to the older mare. The word “kid” echoed in Scootaloo’s mind over and over again. Cherry brushed past it though, with Scootaloo soon moving on as well, deciding to not press the issue further.

After a few moments of silence, Scootaloo went back to looking over the landscape. The breeze picked up, causing her mane to billow out in the wind. Her heart swelled as the prior awkwardness was fully lost.

“I’m finally able to soar!” Scootaloo exclaimed as she allowed the excitement to overtake her. “It’s not with my wings, but I’m still soaring!”

“You never needed wings to fly, Scootaloo,” the pink mare comforted. “There’s always another way to do things, no matter how impossible they seem. Not having wings never stopped me, after all!”

The little filly nodded at the older mare’s boasts. “Yeah and— well…”

She suddenly got cold hooves, looking a bit uncertain as she fidgeted around in the basket.

Cherry gave an eye roll, though kept her smile, not annoyed in the slightest. “Spit it out, Scoots, I’m your friend, right?”

“I guess…” Scootaloo’s muzzle scrunched up, before she closed her eyes. A tiny growl escaped her. “I don’t know. Are you sure it’s okay?”

“Of course it’s alright, Scootaloo,” the older mare offered, leaning in a bit.

Scootaloo still seemed unsure. However, after pondering for a few moments, something did stick out. Cherry Berry was a mare who was close to the Courier. She was definitely his friend… maybe even more?

She snapped herself away from the thought, being reminded a bit of her misadventures with Big Mac as she suddenly blurted out, “Can you teach me how to soar?”

The older mare recoiled in surprise at the sudden outburst. After a moment, she managed a smirk.

“That’s… one way of putting it,” Cherry Berry replied with a giggle. “Sure k—filly, every now and then you can ride up with me and I can show you how to operate the balloon!”

The orange pegasus gave a small squeak, smiling up at the earth mare with a starstruck gaze. When that died down, and Scootaloo managed to contain her glee, she began looking over the landscape once more. She went from enjoying the mountains to now gazing upon the rivers, the individual trees below, and the occasional pegasus or bird that flew past. Still though, everything was a bit hazy, with her gaze seemingly concentrating on something she couldn’t quite see. Her mind was adrift, with thoughts of a certain non-pony (and featherless) biped.

Cherry glanced down at her briefly, before her gaze returned to enjoying the view as well. “You miss him too?”

“Well, yeah I mean—wait…” Scootaloo’s expression became one of sly deviousness. “...‘too’ huh?”

It was Cherry’s turn to blush, though her pinkness did a better job of hiding it as she totally played it cool.

“What? He’s my friend!” she defended with a grunt of annoyance. “Am I not allowed to have emotions now?”

“I’ve played matchmaker enough to know when ponies view each other as ‘more than just friends,’ Cherry,” Scootaloo teased.

“Oh pipe it, pipsqueak, or you’re going overboard.”

The tiny pegasus didn’t seem scared at all, and merely giggled, giving a brief pause before speaking, “With how you act, you two were made for each other!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cherry said with a sigh, waving off the smaller pony’s words. “Keep talking and you’ll learn to fly real fast.”

Scootaloo stuck out her tongue, but stopped teasing the older mare. She just let the breeze become the only noise the duo heard. Before long though, her ear flicked, and she questioned, “You know… I gotta wonder, what do you think he’s up to?”

Cherry smirked. “Knowing him? Probably something really dumb.”

The sword’s blade sliced through the top portion of the tentacle with ease. A faintly blueish ichor squirted from the partial stump, however, there were still plenty more feet of the barbed, squirming mass as a stump pulled away, slithering downwards to join the much larger mass that had pulled up beside the Seaquestrian flagship. A freak storm had met the ship just before the beast surfaced, so rain washed away the blood. Thus the Courier had no time to decide on whether or not cephalopods actually had blue blood—not that it mattered in this life or death moment!

The beast was easily twenty feet long, give or take; maybe even thirty or forty counting the tentacles. Bigger than a Deathclaw, maybe even more deadly due to the water. Didn’t matter much though. Would die all the same.

Courier Six’s hand tightened around the sword’s hilt. It was based on an old (for him) style, like some type of cavalry blade or something one would see a pirate wield. Around him the hippogriffs flocked about, trying to aim their harpoons and their cannons down at the beast as it ducked beneath the waves, making the water bubble and hiss as the salty liquid sprayed upwards.

“Good work!” Seaspray shouted, water dripping from his feathers as he stood beside the much larger biped. “With a few more blows like that, the beast will be felled in no time!”

Several griffs hammered the water, spearing portions of the large cephalopod’s giant, durable mantle. They did little as the beast swatted upwards, its hook-laden tentacles clawed at the ship’s hull, leaving deep divots in the wood.

“Not if he sinks us first,” the human casually replied, sheathing his blade. Had gotten the thing from Seaspray. Nice guy—er, bird-horse.

“This ship’s tougher than she seems!” assured the griff as Six pulled his rifle off his back.

Six walked up to the edge of the ship, looking over the railing. A tendril came up at him, but the Trail Carbine was chambered and fired quicker. A .44 round slammed into one of the tentacles, splattering off some flesh and making the sea beast below rock a bit.

“Guess .44 will hurt no matter how big the target is,” the postman mused to himself before flicking the lever of the rifle and then loosing another round downwards. Didn’t really have time to see if it struck much, as a large, beaked maw came up in the midst of all of the flailing tentacles.

“Get down!” Seaspray growled, tugging the Courier back.

Immediately after he spoke, a large gout of thick, mucous-like gunk sprayed upwards. The tarrish-colored ink slammed down, splattering over the deck and partially making contact with the Courier’s duster as he moved aside. Would just add another stain to the old jacket. No big deal, adds character.

The other griffs had taken cover as well, but some were not so lucky. Some were hit by the ink, falling to the ground. They tried to claw themselves out of the tar, but it seemed to make a black cocoon around them. Leaving them writhing and thrashing as they were stuck to the deck.

“Right, they can do that,” Courier Six remembered. Squids weren’t exactly the most common things in Nevada, after all. Closest he could compare it to would be some type of horrifically organic Mr. Handy.

“Nasty stuff,” Seaspray replied, waving a hand and silently ordering more of his sailors to help out the gunked up griffs who were currently plastered to the wooden deck. With his crew taken care of, he motioned towards the firearm with a foreclaw. “Almost as nasty as that claw-cannon you have there.”

“You guys got guns too?” Six asked, going to load two rounds, topping off his rifle.

“Well, it was only a concept to fit every troop with a—” Seaspray paused, clearing his throat, returning his gaze down to the giant, slimy problem at hand. “Nevermind, that’s not important right now. We have much bigger fish to fry!”

“We’ve gotta kill the bastard first!” Six hissed as he shoved the final round into the rifle. He flicked the lever to chamber the bullet, only to grunt in annoyance. “Damn, now I’m wishing I had brought something a bit stronger than this! Slimy fuck’s gonna take everything I got to die.”

His phrase was not one most would use when referring to .44 rounds, but he didn’t care about semantics that much. Rain hammered down onto the two, pooling in the mailman’s lenses as he looked back over the edge of the deck, glaring down at the monster.

“We did come equipped with plenty of harpoons, you know,” Seaspray offered, readying a harpoon.

“More mass, but that can be thrown off by the rocking of the ship,” Six responded. “Not really used to fighting in this terrain.”

“I thought you were an expert hunter,” the General eagle-pony snorted, before throwing his spear downwards, glancing off one of the monster’s tentacles as it dove downwards, moving below the hull and under the waves completely.

“That thing’s not gonna bite out the bottom of the ship and sink us, is it?” the human growled.

Before he’d even finished speaking, the ship itself had begun to take evasive maneuvers, steaming forwards and slicing through the waves, not giving the cephalopod the chance to hide.

“There are a few recorded cases! Krakens can bite through sperm whale hide after all,” mused Seaspray, bringing a claw up to tap the underside of his beak. “But if we don’t give it an easy target, it should be dead long before it poses an issue!”

Six soon looked over the railing of the side of the ship, staring out behind the swirling, bubbling trail the vessel left in its wake. He saw the shadowy, blob-like shape of the kraken following behind. The boat itself seemed a bit faster than the beast, but the oversized squid didn’t give up, as tentacles shot out, trying to latch their powerful suckers onto the ship’s rear.

Both the Courier and Seaspray rushed towards the captain’s quarters, along with several other crewmates. Six jumped up the stairs while Seaspray and several other griffs soared up behind him. The mailman looked over the rear railing, as several of the hippogriffs readied their spears.

The human raised a gloved hand. “Hang on!”

Seaspray looked intently out, his eyes narrowing. After a few seconds, the body of the squid breached the wave, its huge, beaked mouth on display. The Courier himself even managed to briskly fire off a few rounds.

“Now!” the feathered equine shouted out, and immediately, there was a volley of sharpened metal thrown with deadly accuracy at the beast.

Its squishy skin broke beneath the serrated spears, which was further softened up by several rounds the Courier pumped into the thing. Cloudy blood leaked out of the monster’s hide. It gave a deep, guttural hiss as it swiped out its long, powerful tendrils. Most of the griffs ducked down, however, some were a bit slower to react to the sudden attack.

The long, whip-like appendage slammed into the upper rear end of the ship, striking both wood and a few bodies alike. Several hippogriffs were knocked backwards, landing harshly on the deck with heavy thuds, grunting and shouting out in surprised pain as they did.

Courier Six felt woodchips cut into his jacket’s sleeves and embed themselves into the skin of his forearms as he instinctively raised them to block any shrapnel. The action did little to save him from the large, fleshy tendril which was on a direct collision course with his chest!

Even when his implant activated, everything was quicker than he expected, like the tentacle had been slingshotted towards him with the force of a catapult. He didn’t have time to chamber his rifle let alone get a clear shot, so he dropped it, reaching his hand down at immense speeds, he pulled out a bowie knife and swung!

SWISH!

THUMP!

His blade tore through the beast’s flesh, as there were no bones to stop it. However, at the exact same time, the kraken’s flexible limb slammed into him. It was a rough sensation, and as the beast’s tendril impacted his chest, it jarred him backwards.

In that moment, two things happened: first, the monster’s limb fully ripped itself apart as it slammed into the Courier’s durable, metal chestplate, the force of the strike rattling his enhanced bones underneath, with the tentacle's end hanging uselessly by a few strands of flesh. Secondly, it launched the mailman away, sending him sailing upwards through the hail of rain!

Wind and water swished around the Courier’s back, making his soaked duster billow as he flailed about. He had let go of his knife, choosing to survive by trying to grab onto anything he could. Unlike the hippogriffs, who all managed to land on the deck, the power of the kraken’s blow had shoved him at a right-leaning angle, which made him fly upwards in an arc. Gravity soon took hold of him and he then tumbled downwards towards a small, wooden boat which dangled off the starboard side of the ship.

The Courier slammed back-first into the tiny vessel, giving a loud “Fuck!” as his reinforced spine smashed through the boat’s seat and central thwart. His impact jarred the entire rigging holding it up, causing the rope holding up the rear end of the small boat to snap loose!

Six reached up, grabbing the gunwale of the small rowboat in an attempt to force himself into a sitting position. The instant he did this, the second rope gave way, causing the entire thing to lurch downwards, with the whole right portion of the pulley system snapping loose, sending the boat, the rope, and the human down into the foamy seawater.

A loud SPLASH! echoed out as seawater sprayed up around the boat, mixing with the rain itself and splattering down onto the Courier as he finally managed to force himself into a sitting position. He growled, shaking the blurriness from his vision and wiping the water off of his lenses as he looked around. The ship was trailing ahead, leaving his small boat adrift beside it.

“Shit!” he hissed to himself, immediately looking around for anything useful in the tiny boat.

The only thing inside was a wooden chest, which took up the majority of the vessel’s free space. The upper lid was partly splintered, having large chunks of wood broken off of it. No doubt the damage was from when the Courier had slammed into it. Without much hesitation, he popped the chest open and peered inside.

There was a small wooden oar, which he immediately grabbed. Yet the second he removed it, he paused, looking at the container’s remaining contents…

It was filled to the brim with metal fishing spears and harpoons. There had to be dozens of them, easily packed the chest full.

Six blinked.

The rope still attached at the front end of the tiny ship seemed to stir, breaking his concentration away from the spears. He looked overboard and saw a dark mass stirring underneath the rowboat. Tentacles flailed, causing ripples in the water as he examined the depths more intently. His night vision allowed him to see quite well, even in the darkening thunderstorm.

Lightning cracked the sky as a large, glassy eye looked up from the sea, as if it were glaring directly into the Courier’s own red lenses. There was almost a strange slowness in the world, not caused by the Courier’s implants this time. Everything seemed to pause for just a brief second, as the human could almost sense the creature’s rage, like a deep boiling sensation.

Maybe it was nothing… Probably was nothing. Even if it was something, it wasn’t much weirder than talking ponies.

Suddenly, he was yanked from the brief moment of contemplation as the beast lurched, hissing as it flailed forwards. Blood further clouded the water as it really began to speed away. Yet as it swam towards the hippogriff’s naval ship, the Courier’s own rowboat seemed to follow along, making him look around in surprise.

Something must’ve snagged the monster… but what?

The rope of the boat was taught, stiff as a board, as if it were latched on to—

“Son of a bitch!” he hissed.

For a second, he reached for another one of his many knives to cut the beast loose but paused. He gazed back down at the chest, and then up ahead, as the kraken was now basically tugging the boat along behind it. The sea-beast stayed a few feet beneath the water as it chased down the hippogriffs’ ship.

Six reached down and grabbed a bundle of spears in his left hand, before then grabbing a final one in his right. He steadied his aim, even with the rickety nature of the tiny boat, he was able to concentrate. As the monster went to breach the foamy waves, he threw a harpoon!

It swished through the air, and immediately struck the beast right in its large, oversized mantle. The metal pierced its fleshy hide, digging deeply into the monster’s body. Blood pooled up into the foamy seawater as the creature squealed. The Courier already had thrown another spear out, hammering it in its soft flesh yet again. The two harpoons stuck upwards, peaking out of the water as the squid continued following the hippogriff vessel.

“Alright you bastard, it’s time to make calamari!” the human shouted out, as another thunderous ripple of lightning rang out, lighting up the sky behind him and briefly coating his body in an almost violent, ethereal light. His red lenses seemed to stick out even more in the sea of murky blue than they ever had before.

The monster turned its attention towards him for a moment, however it was then hammered with spears and harpoons from the griffs behind it, making it flail even more! Some stuck into its already battle-ravaged body, while others trailed into the water, leaving bubbles as they uselessly floated into the depths. The kraken reached out a long, powerful tentacle towards the Courier, however in the middle of the beast’s attack, he activated V.A.T.S. and readied another harpoon, hoisting it up over his shoulders quickly and throwing it with shocking accuracy.

Despite the harsh rainfall and the violent waves, the harpoon flew forwards through the torrent of water, striking its target! Immediately the beast hissed again as the spear skewered its tendril, going fully through its appendage, with the barbed tip poking out the other side. It growled and backed off for a moment, flailing in the water again, but the Courier kept throwing spears into it. One stuck into it just above the eye, leaving a trail of blood oozing out. Another penetrated just above its beak. He continued throwing, piercing its mantle when he could, all the while the griffs helped, attacking the beast when they had a clear sight.

He didn’t let up, relentlessly stabbing at the monster. Even when it dived below the waves, he kept a bead on it, throwing out more harpoons and striking it whenever it was in his range. He threw the weapons with accuracy someone would expect from a person trained in such a primitive combat style…

More blood pooled out of the beast and into the water, creating a cloud. It breached again and sprayed its mucousy ink towards the human, but Six ducked down, with the small boat being a hard target to hit given the awkwardness of the whole situation. Still, some globs of the stuff splattered down on the interior of the tiny vessel. It did little to slow the Courier though, as he popped right back up and lodged several more harpoons into the behemoth.

After a few more volleys of spears striking it, the kraken glowered and hissed. Blood poured from its wounds as it seemed unsure of what to do for a moment. While at any point the monster could’ve backed off and retreated into deeper waters, it seemed too late for that now. Maybe it was past the point of return, or maybe it was just pure hatred at the tiny beings that had turned it into their next hunt. Regardless, nogriff (or human) had time to consider its motives, as it breached upwards one final time and then charged at Six’s small rowboat. Seemingly the monster was tired of being struck constantly by the human.

The Courier braced, getting low in the boat as he held a harpoon tightly in both hands this time, dropping the others as he prepared himself. His muscles tensed, as if he could jump up and strike at any moment. The sea monster broke through the water like some type of horrible speed boat, its jet black, bone-breaking beak gnashing and its tentacles flailing towards the mailman.

Its two large eyes glared at Six while it surfaced, rocking the boat as its immense mass barreled right at him. Its body of pure muscle strained for only a moment before it then leapt up, acting like some type of demented trout more than a cephalopod! The monster’s massive maw was positioned in such a way that it was coming right towards Six, open and ready to chomp down on its prey!

The mailman pulled back and then thrusted forwards, his spear braced in his powerful grip. It slammed into the creature, piercing a few inches to the right of its beak. The mass of the beast and the power of the human holding the harpoon in place easily made it penetrate through the monster’s flesh. The kraken’s own weight forced it to impale itself on the spear tip, with it penetrating directly through the underside of the mantle, and into the sea monster’s internals. The Courier wasn’t exactly an expert on cephalopod anatomy, but he was pretty sure he felt something important get shredded as the spear tore through the squid.

For a moment, the storm seemed to subside, with the rain ceasing, the wind calming, and the blood of the beast painting Six as he stood dauntlessly. It was like some type of Renaissance-esque painting about some brave fisherman striking such a gigantic, unimaginable creature of the briny depths.

Everything was paused perfectly, with the Courier’s lenses glistening deep red, the water covering them reflecting the light even brighter. His jacket was billowing, water droplets cascading off of it. His muscles tensed to such a point that the duster’s sleeves seemed to bulge, only barely able to contain the power underneath.

Everything was truly picturesque…

And then, it all came back.

The rowboat shattered under the weight of the monster as it slammed down on top of both the vessel and its bipedal occupant. The impact left a mound of tentacles and broken wood and harpoons swaying about in the toiling waters. Only a few moments later did the wreckage begin to sink below the waves. The violent water engulfed them, taking the evidence of the battle quickly into the briny sea’s depths.

Seaspray and many of the others had witnessed the entire ordeal, with them looking down upon the wreckage in shock. The General's beak hung open in surprise for a few moments, before the swirling rain and wind came back to him. He blinked a few times and instantly the naval soldier in him snapped to life.

“Well don’t just stand there! We have to help him!” he shouted over the wind, motioning to his crew.

Immediately, he jumped overboard, flaring his wings out as the necklace around his neck flashed to life, transforming him moments before he slammed into the waves below. Others soon followed, with half a dozen griffs taking on their seapony forms and following their General under the surf.

Only a few moments later did the quick-swimming school of seaponies reach the kraken. Seaspray was the first to attack, slashing at the creature with his saber. Several others joined in, jabbing the rear end of the monster’s mantle, making sure to stay clear of its tentacles. He continued slashing and hacking at the monster. Its body lazily turned in the water, seemingly jostled by the blows. Yet, aside from that, there was little movement in the beast.

Even whenever the General jammed his blade into the kraken’s hide and carved a great gouge in its skin, it didn’t react. After a moment of closer examination, he backed up, looking over the creature more thoroughly as the water settled and the seapony’s eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Bubbles billowed upwards as the body of the creature sank even further, tentacles limply drifted in the swirling liquid, as murky blood continued billowing out from numerous wounds on the beast. Scavenging fish had already begun to circle, looking for their next meal. Witnessing this, Seaspray cautiously approached the beast’s front end, seeing its glassy eyes were now glassier, glazed over…

The monster was dead!

With this revelation, Seaspray suddenly shouted out, looking around.

“Courier Six!” he squawked, his voice magically echoing under the waves.

After not getting a reply, he dived downwards, further towards the front end of the behemoth. His face was stern; however, a smidge of worry was evident in the General’s eyes as he shoved a few tentacles out of his way, getting a good, clean look at the underside of the squid’s body…

Courier Six impaled a small scavenging fish on his knife, before slicing it in half with ease. He then turned and began carving into the flesh at the base of one of the squid’s tentacles. Due to the resistance of the water, the slipperiness of the ink coating him, and the thickness of the monster’s tendril, he strained a bit, slicing through it slowly like a butter knife attempting to rip through a meaty turkey.

Nevertheless, Seaspray just gave him a raised brow as the human was now literally ripping at the creature’s flesh, using his own hands to pry the tentacle from the kraken’s body. He grunted, bubbles drifting up from his mask. Yet, he seemed unbothered, taking a breather after he made progress on tearing the deceased sea-beast’s flesh.

“Courier Six?” Seaspray asked, though it was more like a statement than anything.

The human turned to the General, looking at him in surprise, with bubbles drifting upwards from the holes in his mask.

Seaspray gave him a small salute. “Job well done! How about you come up for some air?”

Six pointed to the corpse of the beast with his knife, and then towards his mouth a few times.

The bird-horse stared at him for a moment, before finally sighing, bubbles coming from his maw. “I guess a deal is a deal…”

After a moment of deliberation, he simply shrugged, rolled his eyes, and then handed the Courier his saber. Seemingly the mailman’s own blade had been lost in the battle.

Six immediately turned, slashing through the partly severed tentacle with ease thanks to the longer blade.

Seaspray backed up a bit, giving the Courier some space. He spotted the other griffs, who stared at him with uncertainty and weariness. “Everygriff who’s in the mood for squid, now’s your chance to get some!”

After a moment, the entire squad of hungry, battered sailors descend on the beast, carving it up like a Christmas dinner. They took to shredding its corpse with their claws, beaks, and spears. All the while this happened, the Courier pondered what would best be paired with the meat for such a feast…

A Heroic Exit

The moonlight beat down as the Courier took a bite out of the tentacle he’d carved off of the beast. It was almost comical to watch, as the tendril itself had to be at least a dozen feet long, give or take. It laid limply along the deck like a decapitated snake. Along the boat, many other members of the crew had taken to their own helpings of kraken. Mostly they devoured it raw, though a few did fry it up in a small cooking station below deck, enjoying the crisp, juicy meat as their beaks cleaved through it.

Six sat on a small stool as Seaspray stepped up beside the human, taking a seat of his own directly onto the deck. A wooden bowl, filled with monster pieces was snuggly gripped in one of his forepaws. The General snacked on the meal, chewing apart raw, thinly cut pieces of the beast’s main body. A weird looking organ that looked like a cross between a liver, a lung, and a stomach sack all in one sat in his dish. He impaled it, using his free claw like a makeshift fork, bringing it up to his mouth, and chowing down on it hungrily.

The Courier pressed his tongue into his cheek to wipe away any squid debris from it before speaking with his mouth partly full, “You know… after spending so much time with the ponies, I guess I just assumed everycreature here were all just vegetarians.”

“Hmm,” Seaspray mused, looking over to him. The birdhorse swallowed before continuing. “Oh right. Well, that’s our bird-half, and aside from kelp, there’s little else to eat under the sea.”

“Yeah, had a bit of fish back in town… say uh, that Storm King guy?” the Courier snapped his gloved fingers in thought. “He’s dead, right?”

“Deader than a doornail, as they say,” the General replied with a smirk, taking another bite of his food. “Why do you ask?”

“Who stopped him?” Six asked, before bringing up the tentacle and taking another bite out of it.

Seaspray smiled back, beaming in pride. “Why, that was the fine work of Twilight and the Elements of Harmony!”

“Wait, wait. So Twilight and her friends just… executed the guy?” Six questioned, chewing his food.

“Oh no!” Seaspray squawked, shaking his head. “Well, I can’t say for sure as I wasn’t there but from what I remember hearing, his death was a smidge—ahem—accidental and also terribly self-inflicted.”

Well, sorta added up. Ponies didn’t seem to be the killing type, especially the Elements, obviously. Not really a surefire way to do things… but it made a lot of sense.

“This place needs more executioners,” the Courier stated with a small chuckle, even though it wasn’t a joke.

“Perhaps so,” Seaspray nodded, looking out at the open waters, which reflected the stars and the moon above. He gazed out at it for a few moments, before turning. ”I must ask, how did you survive underwater for so long?”

“Rebreather,” the human replied, going to point at his mask, however the calamari slipped from his grip, with the human accidentally dropping the gigantic tentacle onto the deck. He gave a small sigh, bending over to grab it again as he further explained. “Got it from a guy you wouldn’t know. Built it into my helmet in case I ever needed it.”

“You’re a sharp engineer as well?” Seaspray questioned, raising his eyebrows, a hint of surprise in his voice.

The Courier just chuckled, wiping his hand on his jacket. “What, shocked? I dabble in a lot of things.”

“Port ho!” a sailor shouted, stirring the two from their conversation.

“I’d love to discuss more with you about killing our enemies and your crafting abilities, but I will have to tend to my crew,” Seaspray said, reaching out his claw to tap the human on the shoulder. “Feel free to leave the ship any time you want, Courier Six. After what you’ve done, you’re welcome in Seaquestria any time you want!”

The Courier nodded at that, adjusting his mask. “Yeah uh, thanks and all but… try to keep this thing a low profile type ordeal. I don’t wanna get mobbed by everyone every ten minutes.”

“As humble as you are brave, I take it?” Seaspray winked.

“If that’s how you wanna put it,” Six said, rising to his feet as the ship pulled into port. He stared down at the birdhorse for a moment, before giving a small salute. “Guess I’ll see you around, General.”

Seaspray returned the gesture, a faint smile on his beak. “I hope so, Courier Six!”

With a nod, the Courier was off. His eyes glimmered in the darkness as he stepped onto the dock. Several hippogriffs were already anxious for the ship’s return. Several hippogriffs, both young and old, were standing there too, anxious for the ship's return. All likely family of the sailors.

They stepped back upon seeing the human, who drug along a gigantic octopus tentacle in his right hand. Six simply picked up the tendril, and wrapped it around his shoulder. It was so big that it circled around his muscle a few times, like some type of fleshy, oversized piece of organic rope. The hooked suction cups dug into his jacket, but he ignored them as he made sure his rifle was strapped in place over his back. With that, he walked straight past the griffs, who gave him uneasy looks. Was likely due to the mask, or the fact he was carrying the limb of a gigantic, horrid monster.

He continued along, lost briefly in his own thoughts as the moon continued beating down onto the beach. He got a good ways away from the dock by this point, with sand crunching under his feet as he plodded along. Soon enough, he heard the sound of more sand being disturbed a few feet behind him.

“Six, you alright?”

The voice was youthful and immediately familiar to Six. He scanned his memory briefly, wading through the events of the past few days before it clicked! Terramar. Right!

The human stopped, looking over his shoulder for a moment, confirming to himself as he saw the young griff staring up at him. He then answered Terramar’s question with a question of his own. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You… just came back from a kraken hunting party?” Terramar pointed out as if it were obvious, with the griff cocking a brow in confusion. He even raised a foreclaw to point at the human, emphasizing his point. “Kind of a normal thing to ask!”

“Oh yeah uh… the crew took care of the thing,” the mailman shrugged. “You guys are gonna have a mighty fine feast once they haul what’s left of that slimy bastard up the trail.”

“Woah,” the young beakface exclaimed breathlessly. “You helped kill it, didn’t you? Did… did you get the killing blow?”

“It was rainy; hard to tell,” the human said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a soggy pack of cigarettes, and then sighed to himself, crushing the mushy box in his hands and jamming it back into his jacket. “Why are you so curious anyways?”

“You helped protect Seaquestria! Of course I’m gonna be a bit giddy!” Terramar excitedly pointed out. “...and also, you’re carrying the severed tentacle of a kraken!”

Six looked at said limb in question, before sighing dryly. “You can go talk to the other crewmates you know.”

“Oh Six come on, you’re my friend!” Terramar bemoaned.

The Courier looked down at the beakface, who gave him the puppy—er, horse(?) bird(???) eyes. The only sound was the calming ocean waves crashing into the beach.

The biped sighed. “Alright beakbrain, I’ll tell you the details, but don’t go around gossiping to your friends, alright?”

“I’m not a chatterbox like my sis, Six!” Terramar said with a chuckle. “Now, let’s get to the good stuff.”

The Courier took a seat on a nearby rock, and after taking a bite out of his calamari, he began to speak about his battle…

Terramar was with him on the beach for a good while. Even as a small festival broke out on the top of the mountain, he listened to Six’s retelling of the fight with a trace of awe. As he spoke, he paid attention to the feathered quadruped’s faint motions. He could see the glimmer of excitement in his eyes, and the faint tapping of his claws on the sand. Despite being a bit older than Scootaloo, the Courier got a similar childlike wonderment from him. One could even call it cute if they desired.

Even after the story had concluded, the two stayed on their perch. Six wondered if he needed to stand up soon as sitting on a rock totally wasn't making his right leg go numb. However, it looked like Terramar wasn't having any issues, his gaze cast out towards the sea. Every so often Six spotted Terramar sparing a glance over at his armored-clad body, and it made Six wonder if Terramar thought he was some gigantic action figure or pulp hero come to life. He might’ve chuckled if he was anyone else. As it stood, he only gave a faint smirk under his mask, not drawing any further attention towards himself. Six just let himself enjoy nature; the sounds of the ocean spoke better for the both of them anyways.

It was nice to finally relax—

"Seems I've finally found where you two wandered off to!"

The Courier craned his head to see Sky Beak landing on the sand. The older griff beamed at him; a smirk plastered on his beak. Six just shrugged, fully turning towards him, with Terramar doing the same. "Not like we were far."

"No, you weren't,” Sky Beak replied as he approached Terramar. He ruffled his son’s mane, much to the young beakface's chagrin. A groan escaped his beak as his father just continued giving him a good natured grin.

"Dad..." Terramar bemoaned, raising a foreclaw to gently swat at his father. Finally his father finally backed off, giving his son a small wink.

Sky Beak chuckled before turning to Six.

"Seaspray told me about what you did out there,” the hippogriff said, giving the human a smile. “Helped out a lot in the fight.”

“He sure did, dad!” Terramar exclaimed. “He just got done telling me—”

“I’d prefer we keep things a little quieter,” the Courier interrupted. He wiped some leftover condensation out of his goggles, holding back a minor yawn. He slumped down a bit, taking another bite out of his claimed kraken tentacle.

“Your actions helped feed Seaquestria,” Sky Beak replied, his voice a bit softer than his normally loud, jovial self. “Is there anything we could do for you?”

The Courier nodded silently for a moment, looking down at the sand. The waves softly collided with the beach, with the water coming close to the trio, before the tide receded once more. As the human watched on, he could see a small mound of sand moving. He stared at it intently, observing its every movement. At first, the mound continued to rustle, but as the human squinted at it, he noticed that something began to poke its way out of the loamy substance. The father and son duo watched as Six grabbed a small knife from under his jacket, leaned down, and in a strike as swift as a snake’s, impaled a palm-sized crab just as it emerged fully from the silt.

“For one,” the Courier paused, taking a bite out of the crab, with his teeth crushing through its shell with shocking ease. He crunchily chewed as he finally gave his reply. “Getting a better train schedule would help.”

Sky Beak smiled at this, giving a minor chuckle. “I suppose that could be arranged…”

He didn’t even really have time to process that he was dreaming.

Everything beforehand was ironically a blur. While normally the train schedule wasn’t the best in Seaquestria, a couple of requests from royalty made an exception (and hopefully in the future would change it.) to the rule. It wasn’t exactly a big train, just a small one that likely had been on standby from Equestria itself. Probably was made more for transporting luggage and supplies than people—or rather, ponies.

Still, it seemed reasonably comfortable. He was the only one in a small row of seats. Normally he wouldn’t really take such an offer, but he did wanna get home. The mail wouldn’t deliver itself, after all. So whenever he checked everything out, made sure he was alright, and denied a royal meeting with the queen (thanks for the gifts but no thanks!) he was in his natural state, passed out on a small bench inside an old, cramped train.

The dream itself wasn’t even easy to visualize. He had brief snippets of it thanks to a hazy, blurriness that had filled his dreamscape this time, unlike before where he had felt scatterbrained, for lack of a better term. It was a wonder he even knew what was happening!

The haze partly lifted whenever he saw he was in Ponyville, looking down a nondescript street of the town. Seemed empty, so he went to take a step and—no—now he was on the outskirts of the town. He blinked a few times, a dull, thudding sensation rattling around inside his skull.

“Goddamn!” he said, rubbing his lenses, as if that might help.

He paused, giving everything one last, long blink before he opened his eyes. Six stared out again, and tried to focus; tried keeping everything in line—as much as he could, anyway. The blurriness seemed to lift for a moment and then…

Ponyville was on fire.

“Oh shit!” he growled to himself, rushing down the hill towards the town.

His body felt weightless, and as he approached it, the buildings ahead distorted with each step. Sugarcube Corner shifted, becoming a small keep, and then featureless red brick house, and then a wooden shack, held together with small pieces of scrap tied with some rope and prayer. He could hear his footsteps and his heart beat in tandem as he continued approaching.

Thud.

His head pulsed, felt like he was gonna vomit. He choked down the bile as he saw a figure approaching him, bashing through the wall of a small, flame-engulfed cottage nearby. Looked like one of the piggish bastards Bray had. Yet, it shifted as well, being almost amorphous and shadow-like in the dream. As it got closer, the Courier could almost make out a Legionnaire charging him, raising a machete to slice him apart. Six brought up a fist to strike the beast. His arm felt like solid concrete as he raised it, attempting to strike in what felt like slow motion.

SHINK!

His own machete sliced the Legionnaire’s head apart at the jaw, spewing an obscene amount of blood. The bottom half of the man’s skull became like a geyser as it showered the mailman in the crimson liquid. Six blinked, and somehow that made his lenses clear as he stepped back. He was in the center of town now, with all of the buildings having changed. The corpse dropped to the floor as nothing but a pile of chewed up pieces of gore.

The inferno was surrounding him now, and the flames seemed to part briefly, allowing all sorts of beings to rush the human down. Some were the pigs he’d killed and some were even Legion, but there were more, much more, that Six hadn’t even encountered yet in Ponyville. They took shape inside the inferno and emerged with their eyes on him. Despite the flames, everything seemed almost shadowed, hazy, and damp. A variety of gangs approached: Fiends, Vipers, Powder Gangers. Not just that though, as even NCR were mixed in. Felt like everything in the Mojave was barrelling down onto him.

He raised his fists to fight, but everything hit him, a wave of bodies and darkness tackled him. He felt himself fighting. He swung and he shot and he punched and he jabbed and he sliced and he ripped and he gouged and he bashed and he struck and he burned and blasted and he maimed—

Felt like they were ripping and tearing at each other. Not just him, but the Legion were stabbing the NCR recruits, who unloaded their rifles into Fiends, who incinerated the Powder Gangers who blasted apart the Securitrons who—

He was punching the darkness itself now. He was throwing blow after blow into nothing but hitting something despite it all, as he felt his knuckles connect with flesh, or was it metallic armor, fabric perhaps? Maybe it was some mixture of the three. Maybe it was none of them. Nothing made sense, and each blow he could almost hear a different material impacting against his knuckles. Sometimes it was a thud! or a clang! and others it was a crunch! or a squelch!

He paused for a moment, trying to clear himself from it. He closed his eyes and growled to himself, forcing the darkness to become even darker as he felt a dozen hands grabbing at his body, tearing and ripping at his duster. They groped his mask, trying to yank it back, get to his head and—

…

“Blue Moon… you saw me standing alone…”

Sinatra’s voice faded into the background as he seemed to come to. The Courier’s hands were wrapped around someone's (or something’s) throat. Now though, he was slouched over a blackjack table, his gloves rested on the dash as he gulped down air. His brain hadn’t caught up yet, so he just remained there, deeply inhaling, and then exhaling, and then inhaling again.

He managed to choke out a single, exasperated “fuck…” as he leaned back in his chair, grabbing at his helmet, which somehow felt as if he were rubbing his bare scalp. The dull pain in his brain remained, but was duller now.

“Feel like I took half a ton of Jet.”

“Tell me about it!”

The Courier snapped up, seeing the Brain floating ahead of him, on the dealer’s side of the halfmoon shaped table. The casino he now found himself in was utterly empty, with the slot machines occasionally rolling themselves. Sinatra continued murmuring in the background, with the hustle of the nonexistent gamblers being just another strange, ignored portion of the nightmare.

With that, Six asked the question on his mind, “What the hell is even happening?”

“Take a moment to catch yourself, Six. Relax,” the Brain replied, tossing out a few cards.

“I’ll relax when you explain what the hell that was!” the Courier snapped, shoving the cards away.

The Brain somehow seemed disappointed for a moment, before it shrugged its nonexistent shoulders. “Overall, I know about as much as you on why this is happening… other than that, you seem to have forgotten some things.”

“Some things?”

“Yes. Many things, the most important being: what’s been in your dreams?”

“Like I’ve said last time; I’ve not been dreaming!” the body shouted.

“You’ve not remembered you’ve been dreaming,” corrected the Brain. “Remember, I’m tied to your subconscious… sort of, I th—WE think!”

“So what can you tell me?” Six asked.

“Well, yo—OUR dreams have been a lot more, oh what should I say? Fractured, perhaps?” offered the Brain.

The body took a few deep breaths. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that whenever we were positing about something else being up here with us, we weren’t exactly wrong. Though, I don’t know what caused it,” it brought up its stem to rub its nonexistent chin as it continued. “Feels like something external in a way, but also more internal this time compared to Luna’s visitation with us… Gah, we’ll have to make sure to study this when possible!”

“So what, split personalities?” the body offered.

“Perhaps, more than likely. That or something else we can’t diagnose yet! Hm… Blast it! If only we had an Auto-Doc!”

“After last time I don’t think—”

“You— or rather we’re right. We don’t need an Auto-Doc, not after last time. Perhaps we can just diagnose ourselves! Oh, maybe it’s so rare we get to name this one!” the Brain considered excitedly.

“That’s not helping either,” Six growled.

“Right! Right…” the Brain nodded. “Well, regardless of any horrific, undiagnosed medical anomalies, I think we should form a plan.”

“Yeah, go run around my mindscape beating my alternate personalities and false memories and God-knows-what-elses back into their proper place,” the Courier said, grunting as he stood up. He turned away from the Brain to examine the slot machines, which continued playing themselves. He placed his hands on his hips as he pondered.

The Brain floated over the table, hovering behind the body. “It might help with the headaches at least.”

“And the dreams…” the Courier paused, swallowing a lump of saliva. “I hope.”

The Brain vibrated. “Me too, for my—uh, OUR sake, anyways.”

“Alright, guess we should head out soon,” the Courier asserted. “Drop the barricades and try to get some sense back up here and… whatever else.”

Suddenly though, something made both of them pause their plans of a dreamscape field trip.

“That’s not a bad plan…”

A third voice rang out around the casino room, giving pause to the other two inhabitants. The air became a bit thicker, more tense as the voice continued.

“There’s just one problem in it…”

The Courier’s eyes widened as he heard the lighting of a cigarette. He hoped it wasn’t true, pleaded with everything he could that it wasn’t true. Wasn’t what he thought it was. Oh come on, don’t do this—!

The casino’s lights dimmed, and the Brain was floating, frozen in place. Six felt the bile boil up from his stomach again, and this time it began to burn the back of his throat as his headache returned. The dulled pain was sharp and jagged. It felt like an icepick was being shoved into his skull. His body felt like stone, yet he knew what he had to do.

He sighed.

He turned.

In the darkness of the box he could see a white and black checkered suit, slicked back hair and—

Ah shit!

Ah fuck!

Damn it!

He didn’t want it to be, but it was, even his Brain would agree!

The light from a lit cigarette seemed to be the only thing illuminating the once bright casino lounge now. Footsteps approached the two, and the third figure finally seemed to reveal itself. The haze of the dream was now fully gone, replaced by this hyper focused sensation. Six could feel the dryness of his mouth, the tightness of his blood vessels, the subtle movements his body made as it instinctively inhaled.

It was as if both the Courier and his Brain were running logistics to try and prove what stood in front of them wasn’t real!

Yet, regardless of their desires, the stunned mailman and his floating organ looked on, watching as he leaned against a roulette table, attempting the cool, suave pose. He was mere feet from the two by this point, with the room seeming to almost close in on all three of the beings inhabiting it now.

…

“You forgot to account for the wildcards,” Benny said with a smirk.

There was a tense silence for a solid few seconds. Everything was so completely and utterly muted that it’d be possible to hear a pin drop.

…

The silence was destroyed when the Courier pulled out the Ranger Sequoia and shot him.

And shot him.

And shot him…

Author's Note

A massive thank you to everyone who has continued to support and read this fic! Thank you for 500 likes, and I hope you guys enjoy everything to come! I have a lot more in store!

Dazed and Confused

Cherry Berry had just finished tying off her balloon. A small breath forced its way out of her, something she didn’t know she was holding onto. The rope that she held onto in her maw fell from her muzzle, no longer held by her teeth. She examined her balloon for a brief moment.

“Break time,” the mare mumbled, with no other pony around to hear. A faint rumbling in her stomach echoed throughout her body. She hadn’t had breakfast, and after spending all day in the sky, a daffodil sandwich was sounding pretty great right about now!

She turned, flicking her tail as she made her way through Ponyville. It was pretty busy today, with her having to bob and weave through a few crowds that periodically popped up through town. It wasn’t long before she had reached the market, finding a food stand almost immediately thanks to her hypersensitive nose and her empty stomach.

The mare took her space at the back of the stand’s line. She absentmindedly examined the ponies in front of her: a brown stallion, already checking out and taking his baggie of food, and behind him was a deep beige mare, with a bright green mane, and right in front of Cherry was a filly and mother duo.

Cherry Berry was already being a bit impatient, as her front right hoof tapped while the beige mare ahead squinted, staring at the food stand’s small menu for what felt like hours, though in actuality it was maybe a minute tops. Either way, Cherry had to wait, and stand, and wait, and she looked around, trying to spot something interesting, like a clock or… something. Briefly she could’ve sworn she felt something rising up in her chest, stifling her breathing, however, Cherry just snorted, giving a faint growl to herself.

She was in control, after all. There was no reason to worry about anyon—thing. It was all gonna be alright. Even still, her eyes had faintly glazed over. She could almost see him now, fighting off some horro—

“Miss?” a stallion’s voice rang, bringing her back to reality.

She blinked.

The line ahead was gone, and now she was holding it up.

With a nervous blush and a faint “sorry,” she soon got her order wrapped up and put in a small baggie. She began to make her way towards a more quiet, peaceful portion of the town. Needed air, and grass, and beautiful trees to look at. She felt cramped as she had to squeeze her way through a particularly crowded street. Why were there so many ponies out today? Couldn’t they just… not?

Dumb question.

She was on the relative edge of town now, and immediately seated herself nicely on a bench atop a hill. From her vantage point she could see the train station. The pink mare unsurprisingly eyed the place intently. A new train had arrived about half an hour or so ago.

Currently, she was more focused on her meal. The mare raised up her sandwich in her forehooves and took a large, hefty bite out of it. She chewed slowly and monotonously as she almost began tuning out the surrounding world yet again. Her intent eyeing of the arriving train ceased and she instead focused on her taste buds. The bread was airy, sweet, and the flowers added to her enjoyment. It almost took away her stress, her worries about him.

However, it wasn’t to last. A series of shouts and screams alerted her, jerking her back to reality and making her ears perk up. Her gaze quickly jerked towards her right, her wide expressive eyes filled with uncertainty. Initially she wondered if it was another monster attack, be it parasprites or Diamond Dogs or Celestia-knows-what-elses. What she saw immediately filled her with a sensation of utter shock, more so than she would’ve gotten seeing any of the aforementioned creatures, ironically.

It was Six! Normally that’d be a good—no—fantastic thing! However, judging from the looks of terror on the other ponies currently surrounding him, they didn’t share Cherry’s pleasure. She was quickly on her hooves, her sandwich dropped and forgotten as she intently observed the situation.

A cart filled with produce laid knocked over, one of its wheels had been ripped off, and was being held by the human’s gloved hands. The Courier looked… off, for lack of a better term. Even without any facial features or any visible skin, Cherry could see he was barely balanced, visibly swaying back and forth, as if his feet were barely able to hold his weight.

He dropped the wheel, and shouted something non-distinct that Cherry didn’t quite make out. He didn’t seem to be focusing his gaze on any one pony; matter of fact, his lenses were staring above their heads, as if he was addressing a creature which was his own size. Without any further warning, he swung out a fist at the invisible being, with his knuckles obviously connecting with nothing. Several of the ponies near him ducked down even though the blow was nowhere near their heads, and immediately they began to further scream and panic, getting out of the way and creating a large circle around the stumbling human.

Cherry Berry stared in awe briefly. Her mind raced, trying to mentally justify the Courier’s actions. She looked around, like there was something she could grab to try and fix the situation, some type of Deus Ex Machina that’d fall right in her hooves. Yet, after a few seconds, she stopped, paced herself, and the logical side took over…

“Oh you’d better not be drunk or I’m going to buck you so hard!” she growled, said logical side immediately snapping to one obvious conclusion.

If she had time she would’ve attributed it to spending several years around Berry Punch (Berries had to stick together, after all!). However, she currently focused on rushing down the human, trying to get to Six before he got himself or, even worse, any other pony hurt!

He swung at nothing again, and the crowd lurched back even further despite his attack being nowhere near any of them. He let loose a strange noise. Cherry definitely hadn’t heard that from him. It was almost like a cross between grunt and a growl. Like some dog or, even worse, a pissed off bear that was about to dig into its prey animal. It didn’t sound like Six... not her Six, anyway.

The reaction from the other ponies was what one would expect. Several quickly began to rush away. Mothers and fathers grabbed their foals, trying to rush for shelter or cover. Others just booked it, abandoning or dropping their luggage to bolt off down the streets unheaded. In the commotion, a nearby stand was knocked over, sending a large group of fruits and carrots to the ground. They continued to scatter, all in an attempt to get away from the seemingly maddened man.

Despite the chaos and the immediate panic, some did stay. It was a shock. Cherry herself didn’t really know why or have time to question them, obviously. A piece of her picked up on it, and considered it briefly, mentally. Stallions and some more sturdy looking mares were in her way, forming a large circle around the Courier. They still did keep their distance, that being twenty or so hoove steps.

As the remaining hind portion of the crowd either looked on in bewilderment or retreated in fear, Cherry pushed her way through it. She rushed quickly, her goggled cap nearly falling off her head while she ducked down and shoved aside several ponies. She didn’t have time to mutter the courtesy “sorry’s” and “excuse me’s” like she normally would.

Now that she was in earshot, she could hear his babblings more clearly.

“—pid motherfucker! Think you could fucking come back and take me?” he growled, swinging out again.

She was thankful he didn’t go for a knife or one of those explodey-fiery things he kept on him. At the moment her brain was too stressed to remember they were called guns. Despite this, what she did have was her earth pony strength. While Cherry wasn’t the most powerful pony mare, her muscles noticeably tensed as she rushed down the Courier.

Several ponies behind her cried and shouted out for her to stop, especially when he swung again, battling nothing. However, she ignored them, and leapt up. Her hooves left the ground gracefully and she practically launched herself right at the dazed, stumbling human.

It wasn’t exactly the best conceived plan, not by a long shot, but it was what she did. Her hooves outstretched in front of her, and it looked as if she was diving into the human for a big hug.

It technically was a hug, in a way…

She slammed into him, her cheek bashing against his chest plate while her forelimbs wrapped around his broad chest. She ignored the newly forming bruise as she put all her strength into tackling him!

The Courier was already shakily balancing himself, and having a hundred plus pound pony slam right into him wasn’t exactly helping matters. Thus it was no shock the human stumbled back, instinctively grabbing at Cherry as the balls of his feet gave out, causing him to go from a teeter into a full on tumbling fall!

He let loose a loud grunt as the both of them slammed into the dirt, with the crowd gasping at the whole ordeal. The human’s body impacted the earth mightily, his head nearly bouncing off the ground while a big cloud of dirt was kicked up from the impact. He laid there, sprawled out, with a small pink horse on top of him. Had it not been for his brutal outburst, it might’ve been comedic, but as the situation stood, the ponies continued looking on in shock, unsure of what to do.

He wasn’t exactly sure when consciousness came back to him. It might’ve been the horse slamming into him. It might’ve been the impact with the ground. It could’ve even been whenever he heard the familiar, pleading voice of Cherry Berry pierce his eardrums.

“Six! Six! Snap out of it, please!” Cherry shouted loudly, clinging to him, her hooves wrapping around him even tighter, making him growl.

“Wha—? The fuck…” he managed to gasp, the wind knocked out of his lungs.

He blinked. The sun bounced off his lenses as he took a few deep breaths. He went to reach up to wipe away the matter from his eyes, yet his mask obviously didn’t allow this. Instead, his chest heaved, rapidly lifting and falling as his eyelids shut and parted several more times. As he did this, his vision partly returned, yet when Six tried to examine everything closely, it continued to swim and blur. Everything was still splotchy, with shapes bleeding into each other, and colors dancing about aimlessly.

The Courier snorted and then closed his eyes deeply this time, letting them settle for a few seconds, silently counting to himself. His breathing steadied, and only once he was sure his eyes weren’t rattling in his head, he opened them again, finding everything back to… maybe sixty, seventy percent or so, as the colors were no longer fighting for dominance. A sigh escaped him, choosing to not wait any longer. Carefully, he anchored himself and tried to push himself off the ground and into a sitting position, only to be forced right back down by the weight on his stomach.

Six forced his head up so his chin pressed into his chest, filling his vision with the concerned face of Cherry Berry. Her eyes were filled with… fear? He could almost spot a faint few tears in them.

At first, he wasn’t even sure he was out of the dream, or if this was some other part of the nightmare, however the warmth of her body immediately snapped him out of any doubts he had. After blinking a few more times, he spoke, “Cherry, what the fuck?”

“What is wrong with you!?!” she responded back, anger and fear in her voice. “Going around assaulting ponies like that!”

“What the hell are you talking about!?!” he shouted back, matching her intensity.

“You were bumbling around trying to punch everypony, that’s what!” she explained.

He could only stare at her, blinking a few more times to get the debris out of his eyes. It sort of worked; ‘sort of’ meant grunting while avoiding getting the dried gunk permanently stuck in his eyes. He could make out a bit more of their surroundings, including the several faces behind Cherry. He watched them, seeing a crowd of distraught and terrified ponies looking at him. It was a mixture of fear, and even some anger.

“Fuck,” was all he could manage to choke out, as he tried to remember what exactly had happened. The memories of the dream came back. The fighting, the brutality, the killing. He gave a sudden exhale, his breath ragged.

“Ah fuck…” he repeated, slowly forcing himself into a sitting position. Some of the crowd backed up even further, though Cherry Berry herself loosened her grip, letting the human rise fully. “Look uh… everbo—pony. Everypony—”

He gave an awkward cough as the crowd stared on. He wasn’t formal, at all. His throat was dry, gravelly. Even as he gave a few more coughs, it still felt parched like the Mojave itself.

“It’s alright everypony,” Cherry called out, trying to calm the crowd as the human was currently unable to speak. She backed fully away from him, letting Six stand up as he continued to get some moisture back into his mouth. “He’s alright now!”

As she spoke, the Courier had already taken a drink from his Vault 13 canteen, finding it nearly empty. He sighed as he looked over the gathered group, before speaking, his voice clearer, less monstrous, “I hit anybo—pony?”

Might as well try to adapt to the language, make them feel at ease.

There was a series of headshakes and murmurings of “no” among the gathering.

“Just the cart?” he asked loudly, getting nods back. He growled to himself. “Alright… where’s the owner?”

There were a few seconds of silence. The crowd looked around, amongst itself. The Courier stood silently, giving a glance down at Cherry, who frowned as she stared up at him, into his lenses. He could see the worry in her face, but he shrugged it off for now as the group parted, a bright orange earth stallion approaching.

“I-it was mine, sir,” he stammered, still obviously nervous at the bulky, armored ‘monster’ standing before him.

Six reached into his jacket, pulled out a small cloth sack. He looked into it in contemplation, before simply shrugging and gruffly offering it to the pony, his gloved hand outstretched. “About two hundred bits.”

The stallion looked at the bag, nervousness adorning his face. Six jangled it in response, making the coins inside jingle about. After a few more tense seconds of contemplation, the pony took them with a forehoof. When the bag was out of his hands, Six immediately began to walk away, trudging past Cherry and several members of the crowd, who parted as he approached.

His hands were in his pockets, almost like the Courier was trying to make himself seem smaller to some degree, as if he could sneak through the streets in broad daylight. Cherry Berry herself gave the crowd one last glance over, seeing the ponies had varying degrees of confusion on their faces. She then turned her gaze to the Courier, who continued to slink down the street and out of view.

“Celestia damn it!” she growled, before she trotted on after him…

He’d reached her house before she did.

Cherry flung open her front door and as quickly as she opened it, she slammed it shut, even making sure to latch its lock. The Courier was in her living room, a series of bags strewn out on her couch as he double and triple checked everything.

She was out of breath, taking a few seconds to catch her breath before she growled sternly at the human, “Six, you need to tell me what happened!”

“I had a bad dream,” he replied simply, looking over a 1911. He took out the magazine, locked the slide back, and made sure the barrel was cleared of debris for a few seconds.

Cherry Berry stared dumbfounded at him for a second. She blinked once, twice, a third time. Finally, the fire inside her flared up again. “Bad dream? I think that was a lot more than just a bad dream, Six!”

He was inspecting the magazine. It had no bullets in it, and he immediately pondered about reloading it here and now. Instead, he held off, placing the mag back into the pistol and then shoving the empty weapon into his bag. He didn’t respond as he continued shuffling through his firearms.

“Are you just going to sit there and ignore me?” Cherry Berry shouted, her voice louder, more aggressive. She trotted up to his side, glaring up at him.

“I’m leaving Ponyville for now, Cherry,” he replied. “I’m better off back in some shack in the woods than here.”

“That doesn’t explain anything, Six!” she hissed.

“Look—!” he turned towards Cherry, but suddenly paused, nearly biting his tongue as he stared down at the mare. After letting the silence settle, he soon broke it, continuing. “My dreams have been getting worse lately, alright? I didn’t think it’d ever get this bad but it has. Now me breaking up a cart is enough, but if I go around hurting people…”

He stopped himself, giving a growl. His shoulders slumped. Cherry didn’t say anything, a trace of sadness in her eyes again.

“Everyone’s better off with me outta the way, until I get this under control at least,” he pointed out.

“You can go to Luna!” Cherry Berry shouted. “Or, maybe therap—”

“That doesn’t work for me,” he shut her down, “and Luna was already in my dreams.”

“But you’re my friend, Six!” she grunted, stamping her forehoof to emphasize herself. “The least you can do is let me or some other pony help you!”

“We are friends, Cherry,” he asserted, his voice softer. Her anger and sternness seemed to almost fade away at that, though he continued. “Look, sleep deprivation is one thing, but this is a whole other shitshow. It’s something I’ve gotta do myself.”

The mare was silent, her face tinged with sadness. She gave a few soft breaths, her voice coming back to her. “You’re not just some monster, Six. Let me help you, please.”

“You already have,” he replied.

He stared down at her as silence once again took over. The only sounds Cherry could hear were her own heartbeat, and the faint ticking of a clock on her wall. Her own breathing barely registered as she gazed into his lenses, almost seeing her own reflection in them. She tried to conjure up something to say, but she couldn’t. Her hooves felt like they were stone.

After some hesitation, the Courier made the first move; he reached his gloved hand down. Much to Cherry’s surprise, she felt his palm slowly caress her cheek. She couldn’t feel his skin, but she felt his warmth. His thumb glided through her fur, massaging the side of her face as he almost seemed to lose himself, gazing into her eyes.

Suddenly though, he snapped out of it, pulling away. Cherry barely caught herself from giving a disappointed gasp as he brought up his hand to feel inside one of his pockets. He suddenly pulled out a partly crumpled letter. The mailman unfurled it and looked it over.

‘From: Sky Beak

To: Silverstream’

“I’ve gotta deliver some mail,” he muttered, going to move past the mare.

She jumped in front of him, and surprisingly forced herself up to her hind legs, spreading her forehooves out so she blocked as much of his path as she could. “Oh no you don’t! You’re not running off and making an excuse, especially after what happened. A school full of innocent kids is the LAST place you need to be!”

The Courier paused, briefly looking down at her in complete silence.

“Don’t try to fight me on this, Six!” she growled, wobbling unsteadily as she did.

He continued staring on, but eventually he looked down at his boots, giving a deep sigh. “It’s supposed to be neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom…”

“Huh?” she questioned, barely keeping her balance.

“The sad part is Cherry, I actually agree with you for once,” he said with a nod, “but I can’t just let this letter go undelivered.”

She remained standing, her face softening further. “Well… why not let me take it to her? You trust me, right?”

“You’re not a certified courie—”

He stopped as Cherry suddenly began to tumble back, giving a little “woah!” as her uneasy balance giving way to a full on fall. Her hooves flailed out, trying to catch herself uselessly as she continued backwards!

Right as she was about to slam into the wooden floor, a hand latched onto her right forehoof. Her descent immediately stopped as she was tugged upwards, into the powerful grasp of the Courier.

He held her almost like one would hold a dance partner, gripping onto her back with his other arm to steady her. The letter softly billowed downwards, landing onto the ground as Cherry remained upright, staring up into the Courier’s lenses yet again. Just as she had when he caressed her cheek, she almost felt as if a heat was radiating from him as he supported her. Despite his unfeeling armor and worn duster, she could sense him. It actually made a faint blush appear on her cheeks as her mouth remained partly open in surprise, still not having fully processed the event.

“Are you gonna get back on your feet or do I have to drop you?” he rudely growled, snapping her back into reality.

She just nodded, and moments later, the Courier let her go. Cherry quickly returned to her natural stance, thanking Celestia that she was already pink, so her blushes weren't easily visible. He dusted off his jacket, and a piece of her felt the gesture was almost rude. Then again, her forehooves were on the ground more than his hand-things.

“So…” he paused, giving an annoyed grunt. He swallowed some saliva in his mouth and continued, “you know who Silver Stream is, right?”

“Yeah—” Cherry cut herself off, scanning her brain, before giving a more confident nod. “Yeah, I read about her and her friends helping save Equestria awhile back.”

“Does every group of friends have some latent ability to save the planet here?” he scowled, before offering the letter. “Whatever, just give this to her. From her family.”

“Why don’t I just leave it at a drop box?” she questioned.

“Because that lacks quality assurance. As a true courier, you don’t consider a job done unless the object is directly in the hands of the person requesting it, understand?”

She just cocked a brow. “Uh huh… and why is that so important?”

The Courier stared at her. He silently straightened his jacket before speaking.

“Because Cherry, throughout history, there have been major events, terrible stuff that could’ve been avoided if the right message was given to the right person at the right time. If you take a half-measure to deliver something, or don’t give it to the right person, something as small and as miniscule as some missed mail can lead to pretty bad shit happening. Death of someone, all of a country, war, you name it.”

She stared back. Her brain processed his words as she remained silent, blinking in surprise a few times. It was almost quiet enough to hear a pin drop. “You… you can’t believe just one letter like this not getting to a student would mean the end of the world, right?”

“Maybe not, but if I’m going to ensure everyone gets equal treatment in delivering mail, no reason to stop at getting the messages to just the most important people,” Six shrugged.

“I guess that makes sense,” she admitted, before giving a small chuckle. “You’re probably the only creature on the planet who thinks this deeply about mail.”

“If I’m the only one here who guarantees impeccable service, then so be it,” he replied, looking briefly back at his bag of firearms.

“You’re still leaving?” she asked with a frown.

“You know I have to,” he replied. “Just until I can figure stuff out at least.”

“Oh so you wanna move in with me permanently, huh?” Cherry Berry teased, her smile replaced with a coy grin.

The Courier turned back towards her and suddenly leaned down, his masked face close to her own. “You know, if you were anyone else, I’d probably have slapped you for that.”

Instead, he reached out his hand and flicked her on the nose.

Cherry took a step back, her muzzle scrunched. She gave a minor glare up at the human, however he was already holding the letter out, offering it to her again.

“You’re a real asshole, you know that?” she sighed, grabbing it from his hand with a forehoof.

“I’ll get everything cleaned up, just uh—... don’t take too long. Maybe we can have coffee or something when you get back. I’d go out now but maybe I should lay low for today,” he said.

“You should be fine, Six, especially after all you’ve done for Ponyville,” Cherry Berry offered, fetching a saddlebag from a nearby hook on the wall.

“You’d be surprised how quickly people can turn on someone, even if it’s just a mistake,” the Courier replied flatly, before walking over to a window and peeping out of it. She stared at him as if he were a paranoid lunatic for a moment, before shaking it off.

“Alright just calm down,” she huffed, putting on her bags and stuffing the letter into them. “I’ll get this delivered and I’ll be back before you know it.”

She hurriedly opened the door; however, she turned back at the sound of the human’s voice. It was... soft. Not typical of him.

“Thanks, Cherry.”

The mare in question stared at him briefly, before giving a small smile, and then a nod. However, she didn’t leave immediately. After a few seconds of silence, she gave a single chuckle to herself. “Don’t thank me yet. I’ve still gotta make the delivery, roomie.”

He gave a dry, half-hearted laugh back. “Roommate is a… strong term.”

She just rolled her eyes at him, a faint trace of a smile on her face as she turned. With a flick of her tail, she headed out, the door shutting behind her.

He stood there, staring at it as it clicked closed, leaving him fully alone...