Fallout New Vegas: A New Road

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...