> Luck and Ponies > by SoothingCoffee > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rick Brassen stood there in the middle of the Mojave Wasteland, he wore a fine padded leather brown duster-- reminiscent to the color of the wasteland—with an ash-black undershirt, a pair of dusty black jeans and a pair of brown leather boots, and all of them were armored. And needless to say, he is tired… mentally. His physical conditions are fine and dandy, but how could he not be mentally tired? He had been kidnapped in 7 consecutive rows by each different cults, now, he knew that cults had a thing for him, but never this far. Mostly it would happen for 3 consecutive rows and if he’s lucky (Praise the sun if he is), it would mostly petty cults that wanted him for sacrifices and whatnot. But he’s not lucky, not this time. On those 7 cults that kidnapped him, 4 of them were petty cults, mostly the remainder of the legion (he made them regret of doing so with painful death) that his boss destroyed and some raiders stuff that worships, either their leader or other weird fake god and 3 of those cults were bizarre. The first one was a cult that worshipped an alien, he had seen an alien cult before, but it was still taxing and he doesn’t like alien technology like laser or plasma, (which they were full of) he likes gun with REAL bullets. The second bizarre cult that kidnapped him were a group of nightkins that worshipped some kind of sex god, and their objectives on kidnapping him were to rape him… the one who ALMOST raped him got its genitalia ripped off, because apparently, they thought humans are weak. So, they didn’t do anything to restrain him. The third, the final and the most bizarre and taxing one were a group that worshipped an evil god, not an imaginary evil god, but a REAL evil god. And he were kidnapped to be one of the many sacrifices for the waking ritual, they failed. Rick destroyed the cult even before the ritual had begun, simply by killing the host. It was tiring, but at least he got a new magnum, replacing his old one. Though he said it’s a magnum revolver, it was more of a hand-cannon or a mini-sniper rifle, using .308 rounds instead of .357, though he still doesn’t know how it was possible. But however crafted it, he must be genius. Sure enough, it has a recoil equivalent of a shotgun, but for a man who uses a heavily modified sniper rifle while standing; it wasn’t that much. And not counting the raiders, legions and monsters he met and killed on the road to New Vegas where he would meet his boss or formerly known as The Courier. Meeting her was, perhaps, the most luckiest day he ever had… granted, it was the first day he got lucky, and then he took a double luck implant (Courtesy of his boss), granted, it wasn’t enough to keep him from getting unlucky but enough to not burden him while fighting. He took a look at his pip-boy (Courtesy of his boss too), and opened the world map. He still doesn’t know how he got this far-away from New Vegas, last he remembered, he was standing in front of Lucky 38, and then he’s in a vault… somehow. And he was held captive by a few remainders of the legions that survived their own destruction… how they got in the city or how he got there, he still doesn’t know. Perhaps he should tell her about it after he got back to New Vegas. And after 6 kidnappings later, now, he’s a couple miles from New Vegas. At least he would meet his boss soon. He is definitely not overly attached to his boss, or savior. He sighed, mostly out of stress. He needs a way to vent the stress away. He looked around the wasteland, hoping for at least some kind of a bandit camp to obliterate from far away with his sniper rifle or at least… His gaze locked onto one building he found near the horizon, a supermarket. He looked at his world map, the direction that the supermarket lay, were also in his way to the New Vegas. Well, there’s a new place to loot and raiders to kill… Maybe today would be an exception, a good day without the boss were rare. Perhaps this would be that ‘rare’ day. Today is not that ‘rare’ day. Today is just like every day. The moment he entered the supermarket, he seen something out of ordinary, albeit, he had seen crazier shit with his boss. This is rather unexpected. The interiors of the building were unlike any abandoned supermarket should be. The walls were covered with various and colorful wallpapers, and on the wallpapers were drawings of animated… ponies? He wasn’t sure. And on the floor are piles of pre-war toys, similar to the one on the wallpapers… this kind of pre-war toys would be expensive for the pre-war collectors. He still couldn’t understand why or how the kids in pre-war era plays with toys like that. He decided to pick them up after he killed or talk with whoever owns this place, he hoped he could kill them… he needed it. He advances to the cashier booth while crouching and with his hand cannon in his right hand; he had decided to call it ‘Kenny’, so that ‘Sheila’, his heavily modified sniper-rifle wouldn’t be lonely. He took cover behind the booth when he heard footsteps approaching the room from the other side; about six of them and as they began to talk, he cautiously listened. “Loyalty, are you sure this would work?” a female voice asked, the voice reminded Rick of those snobby brats that he and his boss decided to kill; something about a request from the bar to hunt him down; revenge and stuffs. “Of course! Magic says so, and shouldn’t you be excited? We’ll go to ‘Equestria’! and we’ll meet many ponies to befriend with! We will escape from this wasteland and live in there!” a raspy female voice answered “Yes, well I understand dear, I am to is excited, I just don’t want this to fail…” the snobby voice sighed “Come on, Generousity, cheer up! We’ll go there and we will have parties together with the princesses and our counterparts!” another female voice said, a cheery and bubbly voice. “Ah reckon it will go well, an’ even if it would fail, we could try again,” another female voice added with a southern thick accent. ‘Goddamnit…’ Rick cursed mentally, ‘can’t I have a single day without cults? At least there are only six of them or so. They’re females but they are not the boss.’ “I agree with Honesty,” Another new female voice said, “if this won’t work, we could try again and again… I am sure we are there, we just need the right timing and I think today is that time.” “Well, if you say so magic,” the snobby voice replied, “now, what do we do next?” “We’ll do our favorite part,” ‘Magic’ answered, “singing!” Sheperd took a double take on what he heard, he slowly took a small little peek, enough for his red and golden eyes to see the six females in the middle of the room, the shelves were cleared and on where the six females stood, was a pentagon circle and each points were a drawing of pictures; a cloud with rainbow, colorful balloons, purple stars, apples, butterfly and diamonds, the drawings were similar with the drawings of horses on the wallpapers, each of the horses had the same symbols on the pentagon. His gaze turned onto the six females who were talking earlier, he quickly scanned them, and they were wearing a normal –almost similar with pre-war— clothes. The one that took his interests were the one who wore a brown Stetson. He had decided to take it after killing them all, Rex wouldn’t be too happy about it, but it would worth it. As the six females began to sing a song that Rick could described as cheery and catchy but before they could finish the song, he immediately stood from his impromptu cover, grabbing the attention of the six females and all of them were looking at him with surprise and some of them were with fear. Perhaps it was the grin that was on sheperd’s face and the revolver/hand cannon on his right hand and without waiting for the female to break out from their stupor. He quickly aimed at females and quickly pulled the trigger. Five of them had their heads exploded in gooey and gorey, which was almost comical, way. Except for the Stetson wearing female, he only shot her at the chest, leaving a big hole on her and chunks of her tits were on the ground. It wasn’t much of a challenge… well, it was his fault for shooting them too quickly, but he did not want to tempt his bad luck anymore. And blame his natural high agility, strength (via intense training) and more-than-average perception for being too good. If they were his boss, or maybe 7 brotherhoods, he would probably be dead by the moment he pulled out of his cover though. He reloaded ‘Kenny’ before holstering (Thank the life-time worth supply of .308 rounds that he had bought from every merchant he had met that sells them) and vaulted over the counter, he approached onto one of the dead body wearing Stetson and took it and wore it. He looked at the dead expression of the dead female, her eyes still opened, and revealing dead green pupils. He looted the body, hoping for some kind of useful things… nothing, well, except for a SMG and a deathclaw’s claw glove… ‘Yep, they’re evil’ he won’t even bother how she got the claw. He stood up and began to take a few of those toys and left the building, unbeknownst to him, the pentagon circle began to glow and for a moment, the building was covered with bright and almost blinding light. Then, slowly but surely, the light faded away; leaving dead silence and six dead bodies in the building. Rick was nowhere to be seen. ~~~ “Yes man, where is Rick?” the female; the courier asked “It had been three days ever since he is gone, go search for him.” as she stood in front of the Lucky 38, looks and stares of respect and fear from each passerby that passed the Casino. The robot in question saluted, “Yes ma’am” he answered as he left the vicinity to the Casino “Shouldn’t you be glad that he’s away?” a woman wearing a coat besides her asked, The courier turned her head to look at her, eyebrow raised, “I mean, he’s always standing in front of here, heck, he even sleep here,” pointing at the ground in front of the Lucky 38 for the emphasis, “isn’t he a little bit too… enthusiastic?” The courier shrugged, “Well, Rex were always waiting here,” pointing her hand at the mechanical dog beside her, and before Veronica could retort, The courier cut her first, “and no offense, he is a better shot than you by far, and almost as good as Craig,” “None taken” Veronica shrugged The courier sighed, “I had an idea on why he’s not here, but that’s not the point, this mission I took will need a good sniper and Craig will be out of question, considering he’s off from the action.” She sighed in frustration and waving her hand to dismiss it “What’s the mission anyways?” The hooded woman asked “Killing the surviving legionary soldiers that were still alive, recent information were saying that they were regrouping and beginning to hunt me down,” she shrugged, “though I doubt that would work since I’m going to strike their camps first,” “And you need him because???” The courier huffed, “Well, I’m going to strike them close while he will cover me, not that I couldn’t go alone, but he got this Vendetta against the legion, a good company and he’s a walking lucky charm.” She shrugged “Wait I thought—“ “I’ll explain later,” she looked at the approaching robot that had the face of yes man, “how is he?” “Yes, I couldn’t seem to find him, he’s gone” the robot replied, giving a brief salute “What do you mean gone? Is he dead?” a twinge of worry on the courier’s tone, she’s not one to feel such emotions but things like this, but he is a loyal and a good friend among her other good friends (which is rare in the wasteland). “Uhm… not something I would normally say, but, no ma’am! He is well and alive, just gone.” The robot chirped The courier sighed, the twinge of worry were washed over with wave of relieve “Good, give me the last location he went,” the courier commanded Yes man replied with a salute, “Aye aye ma’am” he said, soon followed by a ‘ping’ sound coming from her pip-boy, the courier dismissed the robot as she checked her pip-boy. The robot’s digital face soon changed from a smiling face into an animated soldier and rolled away to its post. The courier soon closed her pip-boy and grinned at her companion, “Come on then, we got some investigations to do!” she said, as she walked away before coming to a halt and turned to Rex, “and you too boy!” before continuing her walk to outside of New Vegas. Veronica nodded with a smile and followed her friend, as well as Rex who responded with a happy bark, but before they walked out of the town, the courier stopped at one of the securitrons. “Yes man,” she called, the screen of the robot turned once more into those smiling face, “while I am gone, I want you to kill any legionaries nearing the city, and if you can, take one of them; strip them and dissect them for something in his body but keep him alive then put him in to a cell until I get back for a couple of ‘interrogations’, and also apply protocol 45: don’t let anyone speak to him and protocol 34: keep him alive, but don’t let him escape. Apply 24/7 security on him or her if you catch one. Higher ranks are much more preferable for easy information,” she let it sunk for a bit, Yes man nodded, “good, you’re dismissed!” Veronica looked at her in awe; she still couldn’t get used by her professional commanding voice. The courier glanced at her and her dog before signaling them to follow her. Which they obliged quite nicely. ~~~ Luna sat there, alone… well not alone, there are a few guards but they’re good as a breathing statue. The night court had been rather uneventful, only few would come, and all of them were all trivial matter. She let out a heavy sigh. It had been a few years since her return, but she just couldn’t help herself but to feel that she’s being scared, and most of the ones who would actually appreciate her are only a few (lunar guards don’t count). It also doesn’t help when nothing interesting would happen. When Discord’s broke out, she was in the bat-pony’s place where she was reforming the lunar guards. And then there’s the whole Canterlot Wedding fiasco, and she wasn’t there to help and she was there right AFTER the wedding ended. The event soon followed by Sombra’s return, whom she couldn’t even do anything… politic and stuffs, so instead they sent six fillies to battle a creature of pure hatred. Sometimes she would ask her sister about what the hell is she thinking… mentally of course. Granted, they did succeed. She let out another heavy sigh, “Night court has been dismissed.” She said in a regal tone and loud enough for the guards to listen as they leave the post they’re guarding. Leaving the Night princess alone in the middle of the court room, maybe a little bit of walk in the garden would help in venting this stress? As she moved her way to the door, she jerked to a halt instantly as the ground in front of her were glowing and leaving sparks of magic in its wake. The sparks quickly became larger and filled the room with an instantaneous flash of blinding light. The princess yelp in surprise inside the blinding light, and as soon as the light faded from existence; the room was filled with silence, in there, the princess of the night stood frozen and stoic, her complexion were those of surprise. Such complexion would be enough to make Discord to squeal like a filly. Her eyes were focused at the new ‘thing’ or rather ‘creature’ laying unconscious in front of her, it had four limbs and on each limb were digits of five. The creature wore various sets clothing, which if her experience as an immortal alicorn could tell, made of leather. Its skin was like the color of peach if not a little bit darker. The most noticeable thing was the familiar brown Stetson on its head, which a certain mare usually wears and the cropped ash-black mane on its head, a side-burns on each side and a goatee. Then there’s the thing on the creature’s hand, it was a long black stick of some sort (she figured that it was some sort of weapon), and for what it seems a satchel on its waist; she also noticed something shiny on its waist but obscured by the satchel. Luna, understandably was shocked, it’s not every day that she would meet a random creature that came out of nowhere to in front of her. Though, on the back of her mind, there’s something that were saying to her. ‘Ask and ye shall be given’ the back of her mind whispered Luna couldn’t help but smile as she turned into a royal canterlot voice mode and called the guards and probably waking up all ponies (her sister included) that were sleeping in the castle and some outside of the castle. But she didn’t care enough to care. At least it won’t be boring anymore… > Prologue [Rick's story] > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The trio walked in the middle of the Mojave wasteland, the sun shimmers on top of them. They walked in silence only for the occasional barking from Rex, the cyber dog. It wasn’t an awkward kind of silence; it was more like a needed silence; where noises are less important. “So…” The Scribe started, breaking the hot silence; the courier glance at her for second with a raised eyebrow before looking back at the road, “you said he was a lucky charm how?” “Oh, I forgot” The courier grinned although it was only visible for the wasteland to see, “well, for some reason unknown; when I’m with him, I got really lucky,” “What do you mean?” The scribe asked “Hmm…”, she tapped her chin with her leather-gloved right hand, “like for example I used a plasma gun around him, 7 shot out of 10, they melt; or this time I use my V.A.T.S on a stray raider from 2 kilometers away with a 10mm pistol and it hit on the head,” She shrugged and glance at the scribe’s face, revealing a very shocked and disbelieved look. “How...” The courier just shrugged, “like I said, ‘for some reason unknown’.”, a grin on her face. He is indeed a lucky charm. “So, what’s his past?” The scribe asked, her tone ranged from bewilderment to curiosity, to be honest, she didn’t knew anything about the guy; The courier just came back from her journey after the liberation of new Vegas and when she came back (give or take 2 years), the man was already following her. The courier’s grin dropped into a frown, “I dunno if he would like that…” she trailed off, but with a sigh she continued, “let’s just say that he has a very tragic past,” “All of us had tragic past, Cass, and I don’t mean to pry if he don’t want you to tell me or the others; but we all had a very tragic past.” The scribe said, somewhat becoming ticked off The courier sighed again and came to a halt before turning back to Veronica, while she looked at the courier with a surprised look, “Yes, I know, Veronica. But he is different, he had gone so much pain that I would break first if I was in his place,” The frowning courier looked at her companion’s eyes. Veronica exhaled the air that she didn’t know was holding, she nodded at the courier before nodding, “Sorry…” she said, an apologetic look on her complexion as she looked at the ground. The courier turned back to the road and continued on walking to the appointed waypoint, “I know, Ver, it’s okay,” she chuckled, “besides, I could tell you how I met him.” -- It was almost dark; the usual brown skies had turned into dark orange skies. The courier walked on the road; heading to the Capital Wasteland, she had heard of the Lone Wanderer, the messiah. She had heard many interesting stories and things about him. How he had saved an entire wasteland by purifying the water, how he was abducted by aliens and came back alive with new alien technology, how he saved many wastelander by doing good deeds for them and how he killed the super-mutants by helping the Capital’s brotherhood. And from the many stories, she could say that this ‘Lone wanderer’ is an interesting man; and she was seeking for adventure, so why not? Her thought was ended as she heard screamings and shoutings nearby, she pulled out Li'l Devil out from her holster as she cautiously following the sound. And as she got closer to the source, the screamings had become more apparent; it was the screamings of a male. She hid on one of the big rock for hiding and cover; she peeked out with her gun on her right hand, ready to shoot. The scene she seen would send shivers to normal people (or in this case, wastelanders); the courier wasn’t one of those people. It was five legionnaires forming a circle and what it seemed to be a bloodied, beaten and dying male sitting in the middle with a rope on its body, restraining every move. The scene was enough to make the courier angry, this kind of thing was one of the reason why she hate and destroyed them all, while torturing Legate Lanius in the end (who gives fucks for honorable death?). Without further notice, she entered her V.A.T.S and began to point at each of their legs. She would make them suffer first before giving them death, the only thing that would be proper for them. And as she’s out of her V.A.T.S, her hand and fingers moved naturally with precision and speed. And for each bullet left the chamber, it was followed by screams of pain and agony. The scum dropped like flies, but still alive. She walked closer to the scene and looked at the man while she reloaded her gun, which looked at her both surprise and joy. The courier cut the restrains of the male with her bowie knife, and gave the dying man with a few stimpacks and a medX. The man stood and smiled in gratitude, tears moistening his golden and red eyes as it flow to her chest and mixing with the blood, “Oh, thank you, thank you!” The man said, as he rubbed his eyes, trying to stop the tears from coming out, to no avail. “No, it’s okay,” The courier said, a grin on her face before turning back to the five legionnaires who laid on the drop, still conscious and in pain. The grin changed into an angry frown, “now, what to do with you guys?” “FUCK YOU!” one of the downed legionnaires spat, and screamed in pain as the courier stabbed her bowie knife into his wound on the leg, he screamed more as she twisted the blade and twisted it more. “Sorry, I like my men strong and cute.” She replied with a smirk Much to her surprise, the man she had saved stopped her from doing any far, “Please ma’am, stop.” Still frowning, but now with a slight annoyance, she yanked the knife and looked at the man, eyebrow raised, “Stop? You want me to stop torturing the one who tortured you?” A smirk on his face as he shook his head, “No ma’am, think you misunderstand me. Let me do the torturing, please.” The courier smiled, before giving him the ‘are you sure’ look, and he replied with a nod, “Please give me some stimpacks and borrow me your knife.” The courier nodded, giving her 7 stimpacks, and borrowed her knife to him, “Don’t break the knife, ‘kay?”, the man nodded with a grin as the courier walked away before coming to a halt, “I’m going to camp there!” She shouted, pointing at the nearby ground. “Okay!” the man replied with a shout, before looking at the terrified looking legionnaires, 3 of them begun to pray whatever Gods they worshipped. And as the courier set up her bonfire, she sat on one of the makeshift bed, the sun had already set down and replaced by the moon. The chilly wind whistled and the fire cracking around. Slowly but surely, a new sound joined the surroundings. Howling and screaming of pain and agony, she could even hear some begging to be killed but soon replaced by another howling of pain. The sound came in like a symphony to her ears, nothing is more soothing than the screaming and howling of pain by the legions. Whatever that man did, she already liked him. -- “Wow…” The scribe started in awe, “so what happened next? Or rather, what did he do to the legionnaires?” she asked. “Well, soon, the sound died and he walked to the camp, he gave me back my knife, already cleaned; although he was covered in gore and blood. Then he slept on one of the makeshift bed I offered. The next morning he was gone,” This prompted an eyebrow of the scribe, the courier noticed, “let me finish, so the next day I began walking again and found one abandoned supermarket, when I got closer, he sat in front the building with a sniper on his hand, and a new clothes; he said he was kidnapped by a cult of raiders that worshipped an imaginary gun-god.” The scribe and the courier shared a hearty laugh, “For the second question, he cut their dick off and shoved them in the anus and gave ‘em another stimpack, enough to stop the building and then he shoved the dick to their mouth with each different dick and then he opened the stump with the knife and also extracted a few balls while keeping the legionnaires conscious.” The courier laughed again, but the scribe didn’t. A look of disgust on her face as her face turned pale and sick green, she was ready to puke but decided not to as they continued to walk. “Oh hey, here we are!” The courier exclaimed, pointing at the abandoned supermarket, “Talk about de ja vu, ain’t I right?” > Don't punch her! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna paced back and forth around the room; it had been an hour since the new ‘creature’ arrival; she and her sister (after rudely awakening her) decided to take shifts onto watching the ‘new’ creature that suddenly appeared in the court room, she took the first shift. The room she was in right now was a special infirmary; it was designed and constructed their mother just in some cases of emergency. The room itself is white porcelain like any hospital room would be and a few medical furniture over here and there. Luna calmed herself down as she approached the right side of the bed where the creature unconsciously laid. She looked at the creature, they (she and her sister) had decided not to strip down the creature as we don’t know anything about this creature, for all they know, there could be tentacles spurting out of its chest. However, they decided to take the long metal stick, his satchel and the shiny L metal thing on its waist. They took it in a chest besides the bed because, for all things they know, it could as well be a memento or a lucky charm, its head was placed on a lamp-table on the bed’s left. Upon further inspection, she noticed that even though the creature doesn’t have any fur at all, she noticed thin hairs on its muscular – what she assumed – arms and legs, five digits on each of them, and there were no fur, and even if there was; it probably covered with its clothes. Though there is a noticeable mane on its head (she assumed), it was brown with slight black hue. Something about the creature reminded her of something… she can’t seem to put a hoof in it, but it is there… she shrugged, she would know after asking the creature. She poked the unconscious creature’s skin, she almost yelped in surprise as she was assaulted by weird textures upon touching the skin. It was soft, yet hard and warm. It was like a muscular Minotaur’s arm, but much softer… poke poke poke, it was weird… poke poke, squishy… poke poke… and fun, she should really stop doing it, lest she angers the creature upon waking up. And stop she did. Her head, however, bobbed up and down; tiredness was already visible under her eyes and her flowing starry mane deflated a little bit. She had been waiting for the creature to wake up; she was supposed to be asleep by now. In front of her, the creature’s arm looked like a small, soft, and comfortable pillow. But then she was snapped by a groan. The groan itself came from the creature, stirring itself out of the dreamless sleep (she knew), she immediately felt awake as she looked at the face of the creature. Its eyes slowly opened, to her surprise, the right eye was red while the other was golden, it was almost beautiful; but she wasn’t here to be mesmerized by a simple eye color. The eyes, upon looking at her, widened in surprise and shock; Luna expected that. She figured that if she and her sister haven’t seen such creature, who said the creature would? Fidgeting nervously under its surprised stare, she opened her mouth, trying to make out words. “Please calm down,” The princess asked, but nothing came out from her mouth. There is, however an immense pain on her left cheek; it only took a moment to realize that she was punched... hard. And it took her another moment to realize that she was careening to the floor- courtesy of the creature’s punch- as the painful and cold porcelain floor greeted her other cheek, making it much more painful. Last thing she realizes was that she was going to the sweet embrace of darkness. Her last thought was: I am going to change every fausting porcelain floors on this bucking castle. Midnight moon stood on the right flank of the door whilst wearing Lunar armor on her body, guarding the room where the ‘Creature’ and princess Luna was in, why she was told to guard a room when one of the most powerful pony were inside remained as a mystery, but she won’t question it, it is her job. Though, the weirdest fact is that, WHY her? She’s just a rookie. Deep inside, she was confused, and a little bit of panic. She has just signed up… for how long? 2 weeks was it? And she was already assigned with an important duty. Her physical appearance, however, just stayed still. Though, if you look good enough; her blue feline-like eyes were filled with utter confusion, her dark leathery wings and bat-like ears would occasionally twitches and her grey coat were sweating a little bit, not counting her azure mane condition which looked like a bed-mane while her tail just stayed still. A little nudge would what be needed for her to jump and yelp in surprise. SMACK And so she jumped and yelp in surprise with a strong hint of bewilderment, though it came out more like a Squeak that would make the hardest heart to melt a little bit in the inside. Her superior who were also guarding the room was not amused. Though she was also surprised, but she held it tight inside her heart. Midnight quickly looked at her superior, Lt. Moonlight, who also looked at her with stoic, albeit much more relaxed than the muscle heads that were called the solar guards, but nonetheless stoic. Lt. Moonlight nodded at the door. The gesture was tacit enough for Midnight to understand what her superior meant, in which she replied with a nod. Quickly, in a unison, they slammed the door open. Their jaws dropped slightly at the scene held in front of them. Their princess, were now laid unconscious on the porcelain floor; a bruise was somehow visible on her dark blue coat, mouth opens sloppily and drool were trickling out; a state inappropriate for a princess. And by her unconscious body stood a tall ‘creature’ twice and a half of a normal pony, he was now wearing a brown Stetson hat. He looked at the knocked horse, whom he assumed as the leader and probably a royalty (according to her tiara), and then he looked at the two bat-pony who slammed the door opened; spears pointing at him, and back to the knocked princess. Realization dawned on his face, he grunted and face-palmed. He cursed his bad luck, once more. The two mares’ shifted uncomfortably, palpable silence reined the room; the creature’s motions went unnoticed as they were looking at the unconscious princess, the silence however, was soon broken. “DON’T YOU DARE DO ANYTHING YOU BEAST!!”, Moonlight threatened, panic and fear evident on her voice The beast, or the human, decided that it would be wise to comply as he kneeled down and both arms on the back of his head. Before Moonlight could say anything about the beast’s act, “I surrender.” With a calm voice the beast said, as if this kind of situation had happened many times before. Midnight was still a nerve-wreck, standing stock still while pointing her spear at the surrendering creature. “Cuff it.” Her lieutenant said with finality in her tone. Midnight, who was still a nerve-wreck, squeaked once again in surprise. Gaining a few chuckle from the creature. She dropped her spear to the ground and reached for a magically enchanted cuff (Courtesy of Luna). As she reluctantly approached the creature, she noticed its eyes, red pupil on the right and golden on the left. She paused for a bit to stare at its beauty. The creature, noticing the mare’s action quickly winked its golden eye; prompting the rookie to squeaked again, ergo, making the creature to chuckle once more. Moonlight was still tensed and slightly unamused at her companion’s antics. Though she could barely blame her, what being new and in the face of possibly dangerous creature… she face-hoofed mentally. Why did she tell her to cuff it, instead of her? The creature however, already liked the rookie’s antics; he noticed its blue feline-like eyes, bat-like ears and leathery wings. She somehow reminded him of a certain cyberdog, which was ironic, considering its feline-like eyes, which he thought as beautiful. Midnight, breaking out of her stupor, quickly and cautiously advanced to the creature’s back, where its hands lay on the back of its head. She meticulously attached the cuff to the creature’s wrists and let it do its work. The enchanted cuff glowed with a purple aura as it tightened to the creature’s wrists, which flinched at the sudden movements of the cuff. The fuck was that? Both pair let out a relieved sigh, but still cautious (especially Moonlight who was still pointing her spear at the creature. Midnight immediately went back to where she stood before, before glancing at the creature’s eyes. She was sure that the creature couldn’t and hopefully, wouldn’t do anything to do any harm. The cuff was specially created with a special metal and personally enchanted by one of the strongest pony in the land. If the solar guards have their concealing armor that let them to stay aponymous, the lunar guards have their enchanted and (almost) unbreakable cuffs that would restrain any creatures that have arms (except for dragons). Midnight glanced at her superior, who was still pointing her spear at the creature, she couldn’t help but to ask herself, ‘Why would she do that when the creature had been apprehended?’ but shrugged it off as a safe precautions as she followed her lieutenant. “W-what are we going to do with ‘it’?” Midnight asked, still nervous about the current situation Moonlight thought as well, ‘what should we do with it?’ she opened her mouth, but then interrupted by a groan. A groan came from the downed princess as she slowly but surely stirred awake. As she was fully conscious, she winced at her bruised cheek before noticing that there were two new guests entering the room. Their eyes were focused on her, including the creature, who looked intrigued. Noticing her drool, she quickly cleaned it and blushed almost immediately, though it was covered by her coat, how her bruise didn’t, she doesn’t know; nor does she seek to. She immediately stood in four hooves and shook her head, trying to rid the slight headache from the sudden fall. She looked at the creature then at the two mares, and back to the creature. She noticed the cuff on the creature’s wrists and spears pointing at it. Luna gestured at the guards to put their spears down and motioned them to her, which the guards comply without hesitation. “What happened when I was unconscious?” The princess whispered, wincing as the bruise throbbed when she opened her mouth. Both guards looked at each other with an uncertain look, before Moonlight answered the princess with practiced stoicism, “We heard a sound from inside, we rushed in to find that you were unconscious and the creature was standing over there,” she pointed at the ground where the creature kneeled, “and then it… surrendered to us.” Luna glanced at the creature who was staring at her with mixed expressions, (he could hear them talking but refrain from saying things) before looking back at her lieutenant with an eyebrow raised questionaly, “How?” This time it was midnight’s to answer, “It just kneeled like that; putting its… arms to the back of his head and said ‘I surrender’, your majesty.” “I see…” she said, glancing at the creature again, “take it to the dungeon, and make sure that he’s secured.”, she dismissed the guards who immediately approached the creature(who still has its Stetson hat), biting its duster’s shoulder part and dragged it to the dungeon. The creature yelped in surprise but didn’t struggle. As the dragged creature and her guards fade away. She winced as she unconsciously rubbed her bruised cheek. I’m going to need to talk with sister… and a few healing magic And then, with a flash of light; she vanished out of existence… where she rudely awoken her slumbering sister… again -- The unlucky man didn’t expect this to happen, nor is he amused, and he had fucked up. He had woken up in a strange room, where he ‘reflexively’ knocked a royalty of god knows where; and then he was dragged to a cell. Both of his arms were still restrained with a strange cuff, and so his legs. He sat on the middle of the cell. On his left is a small cot, on his back was a small window, barred of course, and it was night, the cell was barred too, and on his left is a small bucket; he figured that it was for private uses, he was disappointed that there wasn’t any water in it, but all in all; the cell was quite comfy. He had expected to be put in some fucked up cell or worse, considering he did punch a royalty. And if his memory serves right, then he would be interrogated in the morning… violently. But hey! It’s a comfy cot! Albeit, it was too small for him. At first, he had opted that he was getting… crazier or that the wild wasteland syndrome had gotten worse. But then again, if the aforementioned were true, he would already kill these… alien. He still had his .44 auto in his underwear… don’t ask where he put it, or he would run away, screaming obscenities and naked, while his penis would be majestically dangling in the free wind. And so, he chalked that possibility. Then he began to remember the last thing he did before passed out, pony-worshipping cult… opening portal… and if he’s right (considering his entire cult slaying adventure), the ritual happened to need blood sacrifice… and he killed those six cultist… Fuck. He screamed curses (something about motherless legion, penises and vaginas) and banged his head to the wall, startling and paling the two poor bat-ponies who listened while guarding the cell. Then he began to wiggle his way to the small coat, and lay his head on it while his body lay on the ground and soon drifted to unconsciousness. He really needs it. “What do you think about this?” Veronica asked, pointing at the six dead female; five of them headless while one of them had its chest holed out. The courier pondered at the scene, she, Veronica and Rex had just entered the supermarket. Their first impression of the interior was ‘Creepy’, while Rex just whined. Though she picked a few pre-war toys, resembling a pony(?), pre-war toys are damn expensive and worth a lot of caps for those crazed collector. Then she found the dead six females. “Well, knowing ‘him’, he probably killed them while the one with the head must have a good hat…” she trailed off, admiring the handiwork, “and either he used his sniper up-close or he got a new gun.” “Why would he kill them?” Veronica asked, “They don’t seem to be ‘raider’ material.” “I don’t know much about cults, that’s his forte, but I would bet it had something to do with that.” The courier pointed at the creepy looking circle picture on the ground. “Right…” the scribe said, sheepishly, “what do you think all of this about?” her hands gesturing at the whole room. The courier, with her extensive medical, guns and perception said, “Well, looking at the wallpaper background and the whole pile of those pre-war toys, I would say that they’re some cartoon-pony-worshipping cult.” “Right.” The scribe nodded, “so what then?” The courier smiled, as she turned around to the exit, “Better ask Raul!”