Fallout Equestria: Viva Las Pegasus -- Tails of New Pegasus

Chapter Nine: Re-assignment

"I swear to Celestia, you're going to WISH you were dead when I'm done!"

"Calm down old man!" Sundown held me back as I charged to smash the pony tied to the bed frame in front of us. "He's more useful to us alive than dead," he coldly says, eyeing the pony with indifference.

"I- you know, fine," I said, calming down a bit. Good ol' Sundown, the colt's always been there to keep me in check. "We know you had something to do with the threats. If you want to get out of here with all four legs intact, you'll talk!" I threatened the pony, but he only stared back with dull, cold eyes.

He was in a bad shape. His yellowish coat soaked red with his own blood, dripping slowly from all of the cuts we gave him. Any part that wasn't cut probably had my hoof-outline bruising it, black skin peppering him all around. He was tied to a bed frame, each leg attached to each corner, leaving him belly open for me to do what I do best. Despite all of this, his face betrayed no emotion. He didn't seem the least bit worried about anything.

Using the file that Misfire made, we were able to piece together ponies involved, interrogating various ponies, from junkies from cardboard boxes in the slums, to rich caravaneers who seem to have a hunger for power. The most promising lead, was this one, however. He worked at the Clops after the Ferraturas left as a cashier, but word around town says that he’s in tight with the underground, an illegal arms dealer and whatnot, cutting into the Buckmare market secretly.

"Why don't you say anything!?" I screamed at him, frustration of a three-hour interrogation getting to me.

CRRCK! "Uurk!"

The pony coughed out blood as I hammered my legs into his belly, cracking a few bones by the sound of it.

I didn’t have to worry about subtlety, because we were in a wooden shack far from New Pegasus, somewhere in the Neighvada. The night was cold and pitch, with no sound coming from anywhere but here. The only visitor we ever got in these past three hours was a lonely tumbleweed zooming through the fields. It would have been a peaceful, relaxing night, if we weren’t beating the shit out of this pony. Unfortunately, we are.

CRRRCK! “URK!” The yellow pony coughed out more blood, leaving his muzzle dripping crimson. All he did in response was look up to us and smile.

“You want to hear what I have to say?” he smirked, sounding so confident that you wouldn’t believe he was tortured for three hours.

“No loose ends,” he softly muttered.

“What?” Sundown asked. “Can you say that again?”

Smiling through a bloody mouth, he smugly whispered, “Go fuck yourselves.”

“That’s it!” I had enough of this. I had fucking enough this. I was going to beat this stallion within inches of his life until he started to talk.

“Wait, Boulder, no!” Sundown cried in panic as I approached the pony with my hooves looking for blood. Sorry Sundown, I thought, we’ve done it the civil way too long.

Little did I know that he wasn’t worried about the prisoner. He tackled me down, and as I fell, I saw a red laser pointed at the prisoner’s head, coming from behind where I was standing. A split second after Sundown pushed me away from the laser, I heard glass shattering, then our little friend’s head exploded like a watermelon.

“SHIT!” I shouted, levitating my trusty shotgun off my back and cocking it. Chh chh!

Sundown took out his bolt-action rifle and took a position by the window. He peeked outside through his scope, only to get back into cover quickly as a flurry of bullets rained through the window.

“Did you get a good look?” I asked, sliding into the side opposite of Sundown.

“They’re just ponies in some sort of weird, black, leather armor,” Sundown shouted a reply, “But they don’t look like- hang on.” He peeked out and fired a few shots to the direction the bullets . were coming from, then got back down quickly. This caused the enemy to stop firing at us for a while. “That’s better. Anyway, they didn’t have any markings on them, and the armor looked legit, not some junkie trash.”

As soon as Sundown finished speaking, we were flooded by the deafening hail of lead once more. “Alright, you think you can surpress them?” I asked loudly, trying to get him to hear me over the barrage of bullets.

“I think so, why?” He replied just as loudly.

“I’m going to flank them!”

“How? The only door is the front door, and you won’t make it out there without turning into swiss cheese.” He questioned.

“Oh, kiddo, you underestimate me. Anyway, start shooting!” I barked to Sundown. My young orange friend looked at me with curiousity, then he simply gave a sigh and magically placed his rifle on the window, pointing towards the direction the fire was coming from. Without even looking outside the window, Sundown closed his eyes and began firing, still slumped against the wooden wall.

BAM! BAM! BAM! His horn flashed a brighter light blue light as he fired each shot.

Now’s my cue, I thought, as I lined myself up to a wall at my right. Tapping it a little with my hoof, I calculated my odds.

Calculation: This is going to hurt. Oh well, better get it over with. I backpedaled a bit, just for momentum.
“Boulder, what are you-?” Sundown opened his eyes for a while, struggling to concentrate on firing his gun. I turned and winked at him, knowing that my plan is going to surprise him. I charge forward, running straight to the to the wooden wall. “Boulder!” he cried, as I crashed through the wooden wall.

“LEEROY WINGKINS!” I shouted as fragments of wood flew past me. Next thing I knew, I was laying in the dark of night, barely able to see anything except the gunshots coming from outside and inside the house. Apparently, Sundown’s surpressive fire is doing a good job of keeping them occupied. Great, I thought, as I began to crawl on my belly towards the gunfire, now time for the element of sur- wait, why’d they stop firing? I lay perfectly still as the sound of bullets stopped from both sides. It looks like Sundown stopped firing as well. Oh dear Celestia, I hope they didn’t get him, I thought, cringing at the fact.

RATATATATATA!

“Oh shit!” I yelped as I rolled twice to the left, proning behind a large rock. I guess I wasn’t as silent as I guessed, I thought as bullets were now whizzing over my head.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

I tilted my head slightly to the side and saw that the rifle fire was coming from inside the house. I could see Sundown’s horn glowing through the window, so I assumed he was aiming right, which meant bad news for these flankbites. Unfortunately, the night was too dark and the assailants were hiding in bushes, so his shots never found his mark. The assassins took note of this and began redirecting fire towards the house. Now’s my chance, I quickly pop up from the rock I was in then offloaded shells into the bushes.

BOOM! BOOM!

I slump down under the rock, waiting for gunfire to come my way. However, it doesn’t come. I cautiously move out of the rock and walk to the bushes, shotgun primed. “Alright, hooves up!” I shouted as I charged through the bushes, only to see that nopony was there. I take out my radio and press the red button. “Sundown, you there?”

“Yeah, I’m still good,” he replied from the other end.

“Come ‘ere, lad. They’re gone,” I informed him.

Minutes later, Sundown was approaching, his horn glowing a bright blue. “So, why’d you think they leave?” I absently asked my partner out loud, staring at the blackness engulfing the spot I assumed the shooter bunkered down.

“That might be why,” Sundown pointed towards the puddle of blood that trailed towards the expanse of the Coltjave Wasteland.

“Looks like you got one of them, so they turned tail to avoid capture or something.”

I sighed, because if they escaped, that only meant one thing. “No leads?”

“No leads,” Sundown agreed in defeat. Three months later and we’re back to square one.

The early morning chill was lost on me as I walked in the Kubwa Kahawa. The nice, beige walls kept me warm, as it had many mornings. It was a small building, only one coffee bar with some stools in front of it, and a couple of tables. The glass door of the building was surrounded by huge windows on both sides, letting in a lot of the orange sunlight. The barista who stood behind the counter was busy wiping mugs dry, and he probably would not have noticed my arrival if his door didn’t come with chimes.

CLANG!

The barista turned around and greeted me with a warm smile. “Ah, my old patron Brawny Boulder! The usual?” The zebra greeted with a thick accent. He had his mane shaved off, but he had a growing goatee, and he wore his trademark circle shades that only covered his pupils, so the purple tint still allows for the white of his eyes to be seen.

“Sure,” I grinned at my black and white friend, “you know me too well Xarin.” I took a seat at one of the stools, facing the zebra. “One Luna special.” Minutes later, a hot steaming cup of coffee was in front of me, with whatever the hell Xarin puts in his coffee. I don’t really care, it’s pretty fucking good. I took a sip of it, savouring the flavor go down my throat. “Mmm, still as good as ever, Xarin!” I complimented.

“Thank you very much,” Xarin replied, “I try. So, anyway, how’s work going?”

“Back to square one,” I tell him as I take one more swig from the mug.

“Oh, I assume your boss isn’t too happy about that,” the zebra sympathetically replied while he still scrubbed some mugs clean.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m here early morning. I imagine Brass is going to chew us out for having another lead’s brains blown out.”

“Oh, that’s- oh.” Xarin put his mug down for a second, realizing what I just said, before returning to wiping them again. “So, I imagine you and Sundown aren’t going to have jobs after this.”

“Well,” I glumly thought about it, “this is a special assignment, and the chief said we’d have regular duties on top of it. Ours is… uh…”

“Wow, you seem to be dedicated employee Equestria needs,” the barista chuckled.

“Yeah,” I laugh in response, “Lucky I’ve got Sundown to keep me straight.”

“Where is he anyway?” Xarin inquired, “Last I saw, he was a little colt, hanging by the big, threatening Stringers enforcer who came
to the ol’ coffee cart of Freedom Fields whenever he could.”

“Heh, yeah,” I smiled at the nostalgia. “Where have the times gone?”

CLANG!

“Good morning, Xarin,” a voice behind me benevolently greeted.

“Good morning to you to, madame. I’m honored to have you here,” the zebra politely said, bowing his head slightly, as if he were
addressing royalty.

Taking her seat beside me was a light gray mare dressed up sharply in a crisp suit, with a long darker gray mane falling graciously
behind her head. She put ten caps on the counter, “One Luna special please,” she ordered, her voice brimming with kindness.

“Oh, ma’am, you don’t need to pay, it’s on the house!” Xarin exclaimed as he fell all over himself to bring the customer her coffee.

“It’s alright, I don’t mind,” Miss Cleff smiled. “Any friend of Nadyr’s is a friend of mine, and I’d hate to be a burden.” The zebra knew better than to oppose a big politician and a former gang member, especially since I, her former enforcer who’d break legs at her whim, was sitting right next to her, so he took her caps and got to work on the order as she took the stool beside me.

“Well, if it isn’t Brawny Boulder,” she smirked as soon as she noticed me.

“Hello Miss Cleff,” I smiled.

“How are you today?”

“Haha, Dee, you’ve known me long enough to have a general picture.”

She chuckled, “Haha, let’s see now…” she playfully rubbed her chin in thought, “So by know, I’d say you’re going to get chewed out by Badge?”

“Oh Dee,” I acted touched mockingly, “you understand me so well.” Then we both started laughing.

“How long has it been since we talked like this?” I asked, enjoying catching up with an old friend.

“Oh, the last time we talked like this was with…” her voice trailed off, shaking a bit. Her smile was replaced by a straight face and
her eyes portrayed sadness.

I guess I didn’t do a good job of hiding my sorrow too, because I simply looked down at my coffee, sighing deeply. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry for bringing her up. It must hurt you a lot-”

“No Dee, it’s alright,” I cut her off, offering a weak smile. “If anyone should be sad, it should be you. You were there for her more than I was.”

Dee opened her mouth, about to say something, but she quickly shut her mouth, giving second thoughts on what she was going to say. She shook her head and changed the topic.

“So, I trust you take good care of Sundown?” she inquired with concern.

“He’s a stallion now, he can take care of himself,” I replied nonchalantly, taking another sip from my hot coffee. “Though I have to admit, it seems now that he can take care of himself, it’s just me he’s watching over,” I chuckle to myself.

“I remember when you found him as a colt, you never did tell me what exactly happened.” Dee giggled mischievously, “Have you been lying this whole time and he was yours all along?”

“Do you think I’d have a son that quiet?”

“No, if he were really your son, he’d be as idiotic as you.”

We both laughed again. This Dee Cleff was different from what most ponies see. While others know her as a benevolent yet firm
mayor of Freedom Fields, she can sometimes be the most lighthearted pony you know, depending on the company. Only a few ponies have ever managed to break Dee’s ever serious demeanor like this. I gladly count myself as one of them, being a trusted enforcer of Dee. Being a personal bodyguard of her closest companion Metronome, I spent a lot of time with Miss Cleff. While we didn’t always see eye to eye on my… errr… methods, and I didn’t share the same passion for music she and my sister had, but we liked to have fun. Aside from my sister, before I found Sundown, she was the only other pony I had closest to being family.

“Actually, you never did tell me where you found the little prodigy,” she said, probably referring to the fact that Sundown had been a very gifted student in the music school ever since he enrolled.

“Oh, I found him being beaten up by a couple o’ other colts. Something had happened to his parents and he was all alone, so I guess I sort of took him under my wing.”

“Wing? But you’re a unicorn,” Dee smiled as she took another sip from her coffee.

“You know what I mean,” I rolled my eyes. “So, enough about me, how have things been going with you, Ma’am?”

“Oh, it has been quiet enjoyable. A few years ago, I would never have guessed that I would have a family and end up as a big figure in all of Las Pegasus,” she told me. “I guess it’s a blessing in disguise, now I have my little foals, Atreid and Harko. Oh, they look so much like Nadyr,” she cooed lovingly.

“I still can’t believe you settled down with Mister Black,” I smirked. “Actually, I thought no stallion would ever bite on your hook.”

“Why would you say that? You’ve seen that a lot of stallions had their stud on for me,” Dee mockingly whimpered like she was offended, giving me a pouty look.

“Well, I always thought…. you know…” I muttered, realizing what I was about to say would probably be a bad idea.

“Know… what exactly?” Dee inquired, eyes closing in on me.

“That you… trotted the other way?”

“What-” Dee’s eyes widened as the realization struck her. “What!? No!” she exclaimed, flustered, and all I could do in response was
laugh.

“Relax, I’m kidding,” I told her, still grinning.

“I know, I know…” she smiled back.

“Wait, did you really think I had a thing for mares?”

We both burst into laughter again.

“Long story short, the time Misfire, Lemonsage, Orange Shores and I were missing for one week was totally justified.”

“Wow,” Dee looked at me eyes wide open. “That was entertaining, but you are aware that I would have punished you for acting so idiotic had I known back then.”

“That’s why I made sure to keep it a secret until now,” I smirked. “Anyway, I should really get going,” I muttered, glancing at the
scratched up pocket watch. “I’m going to get my flank chewed off for fucking up the leads, so I’d rather not add to that.”

“Goodbye Boulder,” Miss Dee said as I began walking out of Kubwa Kahawa.

“See ya Dee,” I replied, heading towards the big gray building of the NPPD.

“I see,” Brass said, his eyes looking out his big grand window. “Nothing else? No information?”

We had spent the past hour in Brass’s office in the second floor, being debriefed on our latest loss. Unlike the rest of the building, this place was well furnished. Various antique Appletree wood furniture decorated the room, and the wallpaper was a nice, grassy green, a lot like Brass Badge himself. We were sitting in front of his desk, ornately decorated and chestnut brown, with papers and pens stacked on one side, and mementos like picture frames or medals in the other. There’s no way he doesn’t dip his hoof in taxpayer money, I thought, examining the expensive looking room.

“Nope,” I reply, “seems every door leads us to more turns.”

“And the attackers?”

“Escaped,” Sundown said quietly, eyes to the floor.

Brass let out a deep sigh and lowered his head, then faced us with a stern, authorative look. “Gentlecolts, I’m sorry, but I’m taking you off the case.”

“Yes sir, of course,” the orange colt bowed his head ever so slightly, a bit because of shame and a bit because of disappointment.

“Yeah, I’ll leave my badge and gun in your office with my resignation tomorrow morning,” I scoffed, even though I saw this coming.

“What? No,” Brass cut us off, “one, real policeponies don’t use that line, only those in the holomovies and two, I said I was taking you off the case, not the force.” He waved his hoof in front of our faces as he said this, dismissing my worry.

“Sweet,” I smiled, but I quickly stopped as soon as the horrible realization dawned upon me. I may befall a fate even worse than death… “Holy Applebugs, are you sending us back to the archives?” Oh dear Celestia, days and days without doing anything but
standing at a doorway in the corner of New Pegasus where almost nopony passes by, I think I’m going to kill myself.

“You really are a dedicated and informed agent, Boulder,” the moustached pony rolled his eyes in disappointment. “Sundown,” he
pointed the young orange pony, “please tell me you know what I’m talking about.”

The blond rubbed his chin with his front hoof in thought, “We’re… going to be Miss Rose’s bodyguards, am I right?”

“Good student!” he laughs, “Boulder, why can’t you be more like your companion?” he teased me.

I playfully pouted towards Sundown, and stuck my tongue out like a sour foal, and in response, he simply rolled his eyes while
smirking. “You two, dismissed,” the chief said with authority as he made a shooing motion with his hoof.

“Wow, no mind numbing briefing by Brass?” What? I couldn’t leave without pissing off the chief, that’d break my streak.

“I’m sure the two ponies you’ll be working with can brief you on their own. You’d enjoy theirs more than mine,” he laughed, leaving Sundown and I confused.

“What do you think he meant?” Sundown asked as we exited the building, “He seemed to be hiding something from us about our new assignment.”

“I’m not sure,” I told the colt, “but I think I won’t like it…”