Fallout New Vegas: A New Road

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...