Gryphon Six

by Sunsong


Wild (Not-So) Wasteland

Catsglade was a very peaceful settlement, too peaceful. Especially for two Rangers. I quickly drew out my Sequoia out of it’s holster and aimed at the pony leaving the pub, only to see Sunset in the iron sights. I put down my gun focused on the pony as she approached my position across the dirt road. As she saw my Gryphon form, she slowly shook her head. Confirming that there was no work to be found in the town.

“We’ve only been here two days Gavin, things like this usually take time.” I knew Sunset was being honest, but the lack of work and/or travel was grinding my nerves, we were here for too long already.

I pulled out my map of the local area, there was a collapsed mine three hours walk from Catsglade. “There is a mine about three hours northeast of here. Abandoned for about three months due to a major collapse.”

“Sounds like a good place for a hideout, and even if there isn’t, there might be some good loot to be found.” Sunset looked over my shoulder and at the mine’s position. “Want to go?”

I looked around the dead end town, there was no work that didn’t involve menial labor for menial rewards. “Might as well, let's say our goodbyes to the caravan before we leave, I think Highest Bidder wanted to talk before we ditched town.” 

Sunset and I walked down the main street of Catsglade, ignoring the looks of fear from our exposed weapons. It tended to happen less in major cities, but the occasional crossroad town usually didn’t give a shit about how many weapons you carried, they saw too many mercenary bands to be scared by lone armed griff or pony.

As we approached the ponies camp, we were approached by Highest Bidder, the leader of the caravan. His green coat and betting sign cutie mark, paired with his gold mane gave the appearance of wealth, but in reality most of his wealth went to caravans like this. Supplying aid to foreign lands in need. He smiled as he caught sight of our traveling gear strapped on. “Rangers Gavin, Sunset, I wasn’t expecting a visit, but it isn’t unwelcomed. What brings you to my side of the caravan trail?”

Under my helmet I smiled at the stallion, he was much too charitable for his own good. “We are leaving today, and so we came to say our goodbyes, in case we don’t see you again.”

Highest Bidder walked up to me and shook my talons with his hoof, then gave Sunset a kiss on her outstretched hoof. “In that case goodbye, know that I will be forever in your debt for saving my caravan. I also have a gift for you.”

Sunset’s ears pricked up at the word gift, “You don't have to give us something, we just saved you guys because it was the right thing to do.”

He smiled, “I know, I just wanted to give you these as a gift of thanks, not a reward or payment.” He then slid over a small crate full of cans, the labels were obviously Equestrian, only they had labels that colorful. The labels showed a colorful picture of…

“Peaches?” There were twenty cans of sliced Equestrian peaches in the crate. “You know how much these sell for here?” Sunset was right once again, those cans were easily worth over thirty grims each. When a single 45-70 gov was only worth five or so. And the average griff only made about fifteen grims a week.

“They came from my personal supplies, so I won’t be losing any caravan funding for that.”

“Still, even though they are cheaper in Equestria, you could have sold them for so much more here.” I picked up one of the cans as I spoke, it had been a long time since I had any Equestrian foods.

“I’m not a greedy stallion Gavin, I bought these in Equestria as a treat for my daughter when we got here, but she was the one who told me to give you them!” We thanked the overly kind stallion, and then we walked a short distance away, so that I could put it away in my Pip-Boy without being seen.

Sunset and I started talking as we made our was northeast, sharing our pleasure at being able to enjoy peaches after a long days work. Two hours into our journey, we came upon an interesting sight. A gryphon was digging out a small trench with nothing but an old hand shovel. He had a light machinegun resting next to him, and a peaked helmet was on his head. I signaled to Sunset and then snuck into a small thicket on the other side of the road. Looking through the sight of my brush gun, I saw Sunset approach the gryphon.

He had paused in his digging when he heard Sunset’s approach, and I gripped my rifle tighter as he drew an old looking Luger from his side. As he looked at Sunset he put the gun back in it’s holster. Angling my ears towards the pair I listened in on their conversation.

“Hello there sir. What might you be doing here sir?” Sunset looked at the trench and saw that it actually stretched about a quarter mile into the woods, and only now was he digging into the road. 

The gryphon went back to his digging, but replied in an easy manner, but with a thick accent. “Digging. I'm still vaiting for mein squad, herr pony.”

Sunset looked at his uniform, outdated as it was, it was still clean and in shape. “Who do you fight for sir? I’m sorry to say that I’ve never seen a uniform like yours.”

“Mein army is far, and vhen it arrives, mein Fuhrer shall crush zee craftsmen and farmers beneath his boot. Vee are zee Nazi party.” He answered without hesitation, and without stopping his digging. “I remember mein Fuhrer telling us zat vee must dig his trench of var. Zen a flash of light, and zen just forest! I vas alone, so I dug, and dug. And I shall dig until mein Fuhrer says or mein var is von. So herr pony, have you seen a hammer crossed with a sickle around here?”

“Umm…” Sunset looked at me, remembering the old pre-war books on history, I started to violently shake my head, “No, I haven't. But I will tell you if I do, enjoy your… digging.”

The german soldier kept digging his trench and just nodded. Sunset walk back to me, shaking a little from her first wild (not-so wasteland) encounter. I got up and put away my rifle, my turn. I started to walk towards the german, ready to face either a vemnant fascist, or an open minded grunt.

“Are you an Aryan?” The question must have shocked the german, as he stuck his hand shovel into the trench wall and left it there. He turned and faced me.

“Are you an American?” I took off my helmet and nodded as he did the same. According to the old books, Germans, Soviet Russians, and the ‘Allies’ (which the former United States were apart of) fought in the second world war. I had to approach this carefully.

I decided to test the waters before diving in, “How fared the war before the ‘flash’?”

“It vas 1943, vee had just lost Stalingrad to zee Communists. Americans had only been involved for a few years, and vee vere being pushed back.” He looked at my side and saw the katana, “You carry zee veapon of zee japs. Why?”

“Think of it as vengance, for Pearl Harbor.” He nodded, then looked at my armor. 

Then he looked down, as if he were pondering a deep thought (very not fourth wall breaking, I know) “For how long have vee been defeated?” 

“Over three hundred years.” I saw the german grip his Luger,

“Ven I am... vhat is it called, out of time, yes?” He relaxed his grip and instead pulled his shovel out of the ground, then strapped it to his pack. Then slinged it onto his back. “Vhat am I? And you?” 

“We are gryphons, a hybrid of cat and bird in this new world. We are the most common species in this part of the world.” I looked at his eagle styled head and lion tail. “You are of the two most noble species, eagle and lion. Be proud Aryan, you are of noble blood in this world.”

He smiled and looked at himself, “Mein name is Arend, Arend Ludwig. Vhat is your name, and the name of your companion?”

“My name is James Gavin, and my friend back there is Sunset Shimmer. I was a Ranger back home, but I woke up one day in this world as a Gryphon. After that I started working as a Bounty Hunter and general wanderer, then I met Sunset drinking herself away in a bar. I talked her into joining me on my travels and we started working together.” 

Arend felt like a good, if lost, man… griff. A feeling I only got around certain people. Boon, Arcade, Veronica, Cass, ED-E, Chief Hanlon, most of them ended up traveling with me or ended up helping me in some way. And even though I had never fought at his side, Hanlon had given me his Ranger Sequoia after the Second Battle at Hoover Dam. A scope had turned the reliable sidearm into a deadly ranged weapon.

Arend picked up his machinegun and strapped it against his pack. I guess that one con of being quadrupedal was that you couldn’t carry weapons at the ready in your forelimbs. But the added wings easily made up for that. “Mein old life is gone now herr Gavin, and by your record, so is mein Fuhrer. Zee var vas lost, and mein life serves no purpose digging in a foreign nation. Vhere you shall go, so shall I.”

I was used to this happening, say the right thing, kill the right person, press a little too hard, and now you’ve got a company of warriors, soldiers, scientists, animals, robots, mutants, and drunkards following you. But I’ve never led a german before, “Why follow me? Why not go your own way and find a new life?”

Arend shifted his bandoleer of bullets and jumped out of the trench. “Something in mein soul says to follow you, vther you except me or not. Ve all have a part to play, and I feel zat mein own part shall be in your company.”

Walking back to Sunset with our new companion, she looked at Arend, and then back at me. “Picking up another stray?”

I smiled, remembering the memories I’ve built with my other strays. “Aye, he’s not the first, far from it. And I somehow doubt he shall be the last.”

I looked at Arend and noticed the large pack he was carrying. “Arend, I have a device that will allow me to carry a lot of items many times my weight without being laden down with them. If you want I can carry what you don’t need from that pack.”

Arend looked up at his near bursting pack. He dropped it and started to take everything out. He packed away his food, toiletries, ammo, and some personal items back into the pack, but gestured at everything else. The remaining pile was swiftly dematerialized into my Pip-Boy, and was sorted into a section labeled “Arend’s Stuff”.

Sunset saw Arend's slightly stunned look and was reminded of her own first time seeing Gavin’s gear in action. “Just think of what you need and it should appear, think of it going back to, well… put it back. Just remember, don’t try to overload it, there is a limit to how much it can hold. And it stops working if you surpass a hundred feet away, just in case you try leaving with your own, mini-storage.”

Arend nodded at the instructions Sunset gave. Now it was time to give my own, “You can only materialize your own stuff, or stuff your given. Same with Sunset and myself, we can retrieve our own stuff but not each others. And the limit is by weight, not number, so ammo shouldn’t be a worry at all.” “Unless you plan to carry a nuke.” “And like Sunset said, nukes are ill advised and way too heavy. Oh, and speaking of ammo, put your ammo in the storage and call a new magazine of ammo belt when your empty. It makes it much easier to manage without fiddling with refilling magazines.”

After some more discussion and planning we set off back down the road. We were still heading to the mine. Now we just had an extra gun. Arend had started experimenting with the ammo feature, materializing full belts of machinegun ammo before putting them back. I checked his max storage and nearly had a heart attack seeing the amount he could carry. It was nearly the same amount as Lily’s storage, but she was a super mutant and night kin! Thinking over it, it made a little bit of sense. He was a machine gunner with no assistant to carry his ammo, and he had been digging a quarter mile’s worth of trench by himself. Back in the waste, I was about 6’2. But he, judging by his frame here, he must have been 6’5 and wide at the shoulders. Probably a major athlete or career soldier before joining the army.

Halfway through the trip I stopped the squad and pulled something out of my storage. I had picked it up in the Vale but never used it. I turned and through the gun to the only other griff in our party. He caught the submachine gun in his claws before inspecting the model. “A Stein?”

“Close, the Gryphons down in the Vale call it a Gruunerstein. But it looks like a Stein, and should feel like it too. I already put the ammo in your storage, along with some… surprises I think your enemies will appreciate.”

With a grin on my face I saw him pull out a magazine for the Grunnerstein, and slid it in. But then he pulled out the surprises, a bandoleer of long handled grenades, marked with English letters. “Ps for Phosphorous, Em for electricity, Np for napalm, and Sh for shrapnel. Easy enough to use, unscrew the bottom and throw, all of them are designed to stick to their targets.”

“Vese grenades are like zee ones from mein home. I vould love to feel zee rush from blowing up a soviet tank again.”

I looked ahead, towards where our target was supposed to be. As we climbed the next hill, I spotted a partially concealed mine door against the side of the next hill. “Well, herr Ludwig. You might get the chance to use those soon enough.”

I couldn’t help but try and fit in a Dig Korps of Equestria joke here, sorry if it wasn’t obvious. Or if it was too obvious. And I am sorry for my butchered German. I have little experience with the language, so I went for comedic instead of realistic.