//------------------------------// // They Shot the Sherriff Pt1 // Story: Fallout: Equestria - Lovely New Pegasus // by No one is home //------------------------------// They Shot the Sherriff Pt1 -=-=-=-=-=- Their hooves beat against the inside of that door.  They thought they were gonna keep me out as I kicked the third body into the barricade.  “I told you where I was goin’.  Even camped out and gave you an extra day.  You done picked a fight with the Marejave Express.” “Run, Sugarcube,”  I can count on Jack-E to keep Princess safe. “Celestia said, ‘Walk in harmony, my little ponies’.”  Three dead raiders who chose their cosplay to be prison jumpsuits and dynamite on this side of the door.  Eight to twelve on the other side banging at it to try and get out here to me.  I strike a match.  “Luna said, ‘Vengeance is mine.’  But the goddesses done up and bombed themselves to death.  So you lot are stuck with me.  But not for very much longer.” Everything next is all about the galloping and the fire and the noise.  And I somehow did not foresee this much debris.  I hope Jackie and Princess make it into the Glim Glam casino, across the street.  At least that’s where I think they were running.  I duck behind a wrecked sky waggon and pray to Celestia, Luna, and at least six Zebra spirits I also don’t really believe in.  Then there’s a moment of silence cut only by defenningly loud tinnitus. The entire front half of the Historic Gladmane Casino collapses into the cross-roads.   At least the roller coaster was in the back half. “Mr. Courier?!?!  Are you alright?” At least I think that’s what Jack-E just said.  Ears are still ringing and all. “Number Six?”  I recognize my boss’s voice well enough, and I got the sense to lay my ears back as she squints at me.  “I guess you done seen what they did to poor number nine,  But did you have to blow up the whole damn casino?” “I only blowed up the front half.  The roller coaster should still be okay.”  I feel like a colt caught with his hoof in the cookie jar of vengeance. “Excuse me ma’am?” Princess does a great job of diverting my boss lady’s angry squints.  “How did the Powder Gangers wind up in control of the Gladmane Casino?” “She’s the PostMaster,”  Jack-E whispers as well as you can whisper with external speakers. “Madame PostMaster, if we bein’ official, which we ain’t.”  Boss Lady Chuckles.  “I’m Courier Four to my work friends.  Which we ain’t.  My employees call me Boss Lady.  Which you ain’t.  You can call me PostMaster.” “She got a good question, though, Boss Lady.  How come I just had to blow them dumb bucks up again?”  I feel like I’m making a really good case hear.  “I just got finished beating them to death in Good Springs, like yesterday.  I loved the Gladmane!  You know that.  They have a roller coaster!” “Huh, that answers a few questions.”  The old grey nag fixxes me with her squintiest glare.  “Begs a few more.  But you ain’t wrong.  About around a week ago, the Marejave Express got a batch of jobs delivering ridiculous nick-knacks to that stallion up the hill in the Strip who collects those stupid snow globes.  Didn’t seem that odd at the time.” Despite her age she walks through the settling dust of my tantrum with a slow and deliberate grace.