//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Hit me! // Story: Fallout Equestria: Deductions in New Pegas! // by Hugo Reed //------------------------------// No one can vanquish an Ursa Major! I just made the whole story up to make me look better! Chapter 18: Hit Me! Ok, it was official. If the other stores in New Vegas were anything like this one, this place rocked! My eyesight was drawn immediately to a beautiful gun mounted behind the counter where Dried Apple stood, eyeing me carefully. John was being stubborn, insisting we couldn’t afford the 1700 caps that he was asking, but was that such a price to pay for a gun of amazingness? It was titled Luna’s Cry, and was a revolver holding 5.56 mm bullets, which I had plenty of from my rifle. I traded every bit of equipment I’d been gathering and an extra 950 caps of our money for that gun, but dammit all, I was gonna get it! John shook his head, stating that it was a stupid purchase. “This gun has made me at least 10% cooler, maybe 20%!” “And I’m sure that will stun our enemies.” “They’ll be stunned by my coolness, my awesomeness and radicalness!” “Those are all the same thing!” “You would say that, which is why you’ll never have a gun as cool as this.” “I have twin rifles named after one of the best flying teams in all of the Equestrian war effort!” “And my pistol is named after the princess who lead Equestria through most of that war.” “And lost!” “She didn’t lose! She just didn’t quite win.” John snorted, finishing up what trade he had with Dried Apple and pocketed a share a caps before heading with me back into the broken streets. We hadn’t gone a block when two malnourished ponies charged at us, using flimsy knives that wouldn’t have pierced my armor, let alone done much damage. I calmly took out my new pistol and took aim. Blam! Blam! Dead. Dead. “Don’t reckon they have much on them,” said John, spitting on one of their bodies. As we went into the next quadrant, it was clear that the area became a little nicer, but not by much. However, there were a few well-lit buildings and I didn’t see any dead bodies through the streets here. We moved forward and saw a… well… provocative mare on the corner who winked at us. “Hey there boys,” she said in a sultry tone. “If you’re looking for a good time I’d see you both at Winona’s Bedding!” “No thanks ma’am,” said John, military brush in full. “Trying to behave ourselves right now.” “Awwww…” she said, acting truly put out. “There’s so much more fun in being bad! Well, don’t be a stranger.” I looked at John, questioning. “Winona’s Bedding is actually a good stop to make. It’s got a decent bar and… other services… but the main reason I’m suggesting it is the gambling ring the back. One of the few places with tables you can find outside the main strip.” “You want to gamble?” “Well somepony went and blew most of our caps on a shiny new gun!” “Fair point. So what, we each take a hundred caps and see what we get?” “Sounds fair to me. I suggest you try blackjack, roulette is a tougher game.” I nodded, pocketing the caps. Winona’s bedding was pretty straight-forward for a gambling den. There was a cashier who traded my caps for club tokens and I used those to join the blackjack game that was going on at the moment. The dealer passed out my first two cards. Seven and two… not great, but playable. I tapped my hoof down to indicate another card. Five… That brought me up to fourteen, a weak hand but it was a bit dangerous to hit. However I knew I’d lose for sure on such a low hand and tapped my hoof again. A queen. “Fuck!” I swore, giving up my chips. I got dealt in again and felt a surge of happiness. I got a ten and a king. Total of twenty which wasn’t easy to match for the house! And yet, the house did match it and I broke even. I snared. I was going to beat this damn table! Next hand, next loss. Another hand, another loss. Before long, I was out of chips and thoroughly irritated. The game followed no logic or reason whatsoever! It was all just luck and I was not a lucky pony! I left the table, grumbling to myself about a stupid waste of caps and how John had wasted more money than I had be coming here, right as he came towards me, bright smile on his face. “Hey Sherclop! How’d you do?” “I lost! You?” “I hit it big!” My mouth dropped. John had thousands of caps in chips… Literally thousands. “But I… and you…” “Guess the tables aren’t too kind to you, huh? Oh well, we can’t all be gamblers! Come on, let’s cash in and see the beards!” “We will never speak of this again,” I said solemnly. John lead me to large building that reminded me of the stage for plays and shows that the ponies had before the war. “Hold it,” said a gruff pony at the enterance. “No one sees the Bearded unless you’ve got business with him and I don’t think you do.” John pulled out 50 caps, handing to the doorguard. “He’ll want to see us.” “Well I guess you do have some business. The Bearded is that bored-looking guy at the table there.” We went inside and could see the back of a pony sitting at a table. Even at this distance I could see he wore an expensive white coat, much nicer than most clothes I’d seen in the wasteland. Cautiously, I walked over and sat down at his table, John sitting next to me. “Behold there Gladstone, it seems we would have vistors.” He spoke with an obvious appreciation for old English, but my knowledge of it was limited at best. “I take it you’re the Bearded then,” I said. “Indeed I am, and unless my eyes deceive me, I see John Trotson sitting before me.” “Hey there,” said John, carefully. “You charging people to see you now?” “Ah, I see my underling must be up to his earning rackets again,” he said to John. “Take this with my apologies. However learned I am of you John, I am uninformed of your companion. Who might he be?” “My name is Sherclop Pones,” I said. “The Detective of the Wasteland.” “Detective? Now that would indeed be a happy accident.” “You don’t believe in accidents,” said John. “We’re here to offer our services in exchange for a favor.” “Always straightforward you were, Mr. Trotson, and that is a trait not lost on me. Very well. It so happens that I have a couple of issues that could use your assistance. However, I will not ask something for nothing. What is it you would want of me?” “You have connections in the New Pegas Strip?” I asked. “I want to start a business there. I don’t need large or grand, just a base of operations.” “Ah, I see. Now that is an interesting implication. Very well, I shall make contact with some of my friends over the gate and will have an office set up for you, on the condition that you help me with my struggles in Hillside.” “I am glad to assist you with your troubles, but know this: My goals here are to benefit ponies and lessen bloodshed as much as possible. I will not extort anypony or harm them just because you say so.” “We have the same goals in mind, Sherclop Pones. There is a chance for you to help out ponies here in Hillside. One of my scouts has reported and stringcy at the eastern gate into the city. I am sure you noticed the bodyguards that are for hire there…” “Yes.” “One of them, a stallion by the name of Odin charges twice as much for safe passage through Hillside, and yet he has much more business than anyone else, and once someone has used him once, they never use anyone else. I want you to find out what it is he’s doing that makes him so valuable.” I smiled widely. “I accept your case.” It didn’t take us long to make it back to the main gate, and Odin was almost leaking with smug satisfaction when I said we’d changed our mind and could use an escort. John slid him 200 caps for the transport. “Keep close you two,” Odin said. “I don’t dilly-dally.” Odin led us at a brisk pace through Hillside, revolver clutched in his mouth. It wasn’t very far past the beards’ hangout that he held up a hoof to tell us to stop. “What is it?” I asked, peering ahead. “I don’t like the look of this group ahead, let’s go around to the side.” I turned to John and flicked my head at my pipbuck to indicate he should check EFS. It showed no sort of threat whatsoever. Never the less, we followed him through a back alley and came up almost alongside the group that Odin had pointed out. There were four of them and they came running at us, unarmed. Odin quickly fired off shots and I smiled, realizing what this was. He fired just three shots and all four ponies went down, and he turned to us, smiling brightly. “Well my little ponies,” he said. “It’s a good think you brought old Odin along. If you used one of the other guards, you might be dead right now.” “Not likely,” I said. John turned to me, confused and I could tell he hadn’t seen what I had. “What do you mean?” asked Odin. “There were four ponies… you fired three shots.” “Oh,” Odin said, nervous as John perked up, going to the bodies. “Well I aimed for the fleshy parts of one of them, took two out with one shot like that.” “No one can accurately predict the travel of a bullet through a pony’s body,” said John. “And something I may have forgotten to mention: I’m an army medic. Granted, I haven’t done patch-up work in a little while, but I don’t know of any dead bodies that are still breathing and are without injury… Unless you count ghouls.” Odin noticeably shook and began sweating. “Well uh… You see…” “You’re a sham.” I said. “Get the hell out of Hillside before I have to track you down again!” Odin quickly galloped away and we head back to the bearded to give our report. I couldn’t help but smile. Oh sure, they’d been very simple and straightforward, as far as cases went, but I’d now solved two (three if you count dodge junction) cases since I’d been topside, and that felt like plenty of cause for celebration. Once we explained what had happened The Bearded smiled at us, and slid several caps across the table. “For your troubles and the expense you two incurred. I must thank you Sherclop Pones. I admit I hadn’t expected to get such a through result so quickly. I will say there have been others like you before. There were ponies who say they wanted to help others. Some managed to, bit by bit. But none I’ve ever met have the spark I see in you.” “That’s because, despite the ponies you’ve met, there is no other pony quite like me.” John chuckled slightly at my cockiness. “Alright Mr. Pones. I have one more job for you and should you be as impressive in this work, I will help you with your new office, as well as any intel you should want in Hillside and The Strip.” Instantly I realized what good having Hillside spies could be. Hillside was a cesspool of information and gossip ran rapid in places like New Pegas. I hadn’t expected the bearded to add onto my request, perhaps this was actually a good pony, even if he had his faults. “You name the job, and consider it done.” “There are two ponies in the slums of this town that could really do some good here, but they’re both made completely incompetent due to their reliance on chems. I need you to do what it takes to sober them up and get them helping the ponies of Hillside.” “What are their names?” asked John. “Blazing Glory and Silver Spectacles. Glory is a brilliant motivator and particularly good at helping ponies put their talents to good use for the public, but after the years of crime that came to New Pegas, he lost the will to fight and downs himself in Dash and Mint-als.” “Yeah,” said John snidely. “Reminds me of somepony.” I glared at him. “And what can you tell me about Silver?” I asked. “A great chemist, and capable of actually helping out the Ministry of Peace fort on the western end of Hillside, but he’s too busy trying to drink away everything he’s seen done to other ponies. Both are sorrowful men.” “I thought the MOP ended after the war did,” I said to John. “It got revived in Hillside when the crime rate started to head up,” he explained. “They try as best they can to implement the MOP leader’s attitude towards healing and care. For a lot of ponies, they’re like a small beacon of hope.” “Well then, guess we’ve got to slap two druggie ponies out of the slums then. Consider it done!” “Best of luck to you both,” said the bearded, petting Gladstone softly. Note: Level up! Perk: Anope – You’re a hoof combat expert. +5 DT against melee and unarmed attackers and you can’t be knocked down!