Fallout New Vegas: A New Road

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...