Chapter 4: Don't Shoot the Messenger
Ryan woke from his dream with a start. He relaxed his tense muscles and let out a shaky breath. He didn't have nightmares anymore, not like the years before, but every now and then he would get a couple of snippets of his bad days in the Mojave. The one he just had the pleasure of reliving was the time he got into a small-ish bar fight in the Atomic Wrangler. James and Francine were good acquaintances of his at the time though, so he was banned for only a week.
He sat up in bed to reach a hand up and smooth back his hair. He looked over to see his authority glasses sitting on the nightstand and his uniform hanging on the wall beside it. He swung himself out of the bed and walked over to lay a hand on the garment.
With a blank face and a shake of his head, he tugged the duster off the wall and shrugged it on. He walked back to the bed and felt around the underside of the pillow he had laid his head on. His hand brushed warm metal and he pulled out Lucky from beneath the folds of fabric. It had been a while since he felt it necessary to keep a gun with him while sleeping, but after last night's "episode," he didn't want to take chances.
He opened the door to his room to be greeted by the neutral face of a guard pony. "The Princesses would like to invite you to breakfast. If you would just follow me...?" He took a step back and held his hoof out to the right. Shrugging, Ryan set off walking. The guard trotted a step or two in front of him and lead the way.
After moving through a labyrinthine set of hallways and corridors, the two arrived at a door. Ryan could hear muffled giggles coming through the thick wood. The guard put a hoof on the door to shove it open, letting Ryan into a large room. Most of the space was occupied by an almost comically long dining table that currently sat two ponies at one end.
Upon seeing Ryan enter, Celestia and Luna calmed down quickly and suppressed whatever remaining giggles they had caught in their throats. Clearing her's, Celestia called to Ryan. "So glad to see you're awake! Come join us!" She beckoned him with a gold-clad hoof. She continued to speak as he got closer. "I was just telling Luna here about the little 'accident' you had with the teapot yesterday." She grinned at the dark blue pony. "She says it reminds her of when she was learning how to use magic."
"We all have to start somewhere, right?" Ryan joked, even though he had hardly any idea if that was true with magic.
"Yes, that is very true. Though I believe that your start was a bit more extravagant than mine." Luna offered a small smile. "Oh!" she said, as if suddenly realizing something. "We have not yet been formally introduced." She stood from the table and walked around to where Ryan was sitting. "I am Princess Luna of Equestria, Mistress of the Moon, Mare of the Night." She offered her hoof up for Ryan.
Reacting quickly, and recalling what he knew about chivalry, he delicately took her hoof in his hand and gave it a gentle kiss. Luna giggled, her face turning slightly red, as Ryan smiled on. Your sister told me you have an... interest in other species. I do suspect that she was correct."
Luna's face turned a much darker shade of red and she glared at Celestia, who was trying hard to not to laugh. "I-" she coughed once, trying to get words together, "I find species other than ponykind to be fascinating, that is all." She turned around and walked back to her seat with as much dignity as she could muster at that point, which wasn't too much.
"But now that you're here we can get down to—hold on, what would you like for breakfast?" Celestia asked politely, beckoning a member of the castle staff out with one hoof.
"Eggs, scrambled, and an apple, please," he said to the waiter as he retreated towards the kitchen. He had to give the pony credit, he kept a pretty straight face upon seeing him for the first time.
"Now we may get down to business." Celestia placed both her hooves on the table and leaned in. "What can you tell me about the one who sent you here. Atë, I believe it was?"
Ryan considered the question for the moment before answering. "There's not much to say. She was disguised as a man named Joseph Wayland, who led me to believe he was a member of the Couriers," he said the words with a bit of bite, "and when we reached a destroyed town, he transformed into Atë."
"What about the power she used? Anything pertaining to that?" Luna asked.
"She caused a bolt of lightning to crash down, and I'm assuming she's the reason why storm clouds moved into the area after we arrived. She summoned the portal that landed me here, and used some sort of 'spell,' I suppose, to drain my Luck. And it still is affecting me." He paused for a moment, then interrupted the princesses with his next words. "Which is why I'd like to find a solution to track her down as soon as possible, then get back to my world. I don't want to know what happens when my Luck hits zero."
The princesses' brows furrowed, each deep in thought. While they were considering their next words, the staff member from earlier walked in with a tray holding a plate of eggs, an apple, and a glass of water. Ryan thanked him with a nod, then began to eat slowly.
"This is a strange predicament we find ourselves in, Courier," opened Celestia, "We have not had to deal with... extraterrestrial lifeforms on this planet for many, many years." She took a breath. "And never one that was friendly," she added darkly. "So I find it in our best interest to help you find a way home, and give you aid in defeating Atë to reclaim your Luck. Based on what you told us of her power, we estimate that she is somewhat weak, for a goddess, but she will grow stronger in time. We will give you aid where we can, but understand that we can only go so far with that, as we do not wish to start a war amongst divine beings."
"I understand completely, and I thank you for your help. I can only imagine being in your situation right now, and I would probably have killed me already if I were in your place." The princesses did a good job keeping a neutral face at Ryan's frankness. "And I do hope we can get this resolved as quickly as possibly. I do not wish to stay here just as you do not wish me to stay here."
"I don't recall saying—"
"It was clearly implied. Though I understand that you bear no ill will towards me, you don't want me on your planet. It's very obvious that I don't... fit in around here." Ryan leaned back in his chair, finished with the conversation.
"I—alright," Celestia started, wanting to state the negative, but found that she couldn't. He was correct, even if he was blunt, that she had no desire to invite him into Equestria. He was a creature of war, and as such had no place in a peaceful country on a peaceful planet. Besides, given how he acted when they talked the other day, she figured he was most akin to a ticking time-bomb. She just had no idea when he would explode. "Luna? How is the War Room?"
The Princess of the Night startled from her musings. "Our engineers finished renovating it late last night. We can move there if you wish."
"Sounds like a good idea. Courier, could you follow us?"
Ryan looked up from his empty glass at the magenta eyes of Celestia. "The War Room?" he asked warily.
"We shall be able to speak there uninterrupted and unheard by others. Not to mention it now possesses the most advanced technologies Equestria has thus far invented."
"Lead the way," he said standing up.
The princesses led him through a maze of twists and turns through archaic stone passageways and corridors, then finally up an exceptionally large spiral staircase. Celestia opened a very heavy-looking wooden door with her hoof and let the group in. Ryan took a look around, noting the strangely-familiar computers and equipment lining the walls and the map in the center of the rooms. Everything sparkled like it was brand-new, and sunlight streamed in through the polished windows, lighting up the room better than any florescent lighting could ever do. The room was so clean he couldn't even see any dust particles floating around in the beams of light.
"Now, Courier, if your information is anything to go off of, your Luck status drains of one point per day, roughly," said Celestia as she walked to the map in the middle of the room.
"That's what I believe, yes," answered Ryan.
"And right now it's currently at 8, correct?"
"Yes."
"Which means that gives us..." she paused to do quick math in her head, "Six days at most before you must be sent back to Earth to deal with Atë."
"Also correct." Ryan gathered his thoughts as the two princesses discussed something together quietly. "Although, if it's possible, I'd like to leave in four or three days."
They looked up at him, each scrutinizing him with their eyes. "I figured you would ask to leave immediately. Why the change in mind?" Luna asked.
Ryan looked down at his hand as a light green glow encompassed it. "I've been allowed to use these new powers. 'Magic,' as you say it is, and it might as well be, because I don't have any other explanation for it, and I do intend to practice with it as much as I can before leaving this world. It could give me the upper hand I need in the fight against Atë, since I won't be at the height of my Luck."
"That's... a very wise decision, Courier. We shall see to it that you are instructed by the best teacher we can find." She put a hoof to her chin in thought. "I have an idea of who, actually. And you've already met her."
Ryan frowned. "One of the seven I met at the library, I presume?"
"My student, Twilight Sparkle. Who witnessed you learn how to use magic in the first place. I feel that it will be an excellent opportunity for her to both have a positive teaching experience and also learn a bit about your physiology. She is quite the scientist." She smiled warmly at him. "You both will get along very well."
Ryan considered the suggestion. He could learn how to use the gift he has obtained and at the same time learn more about the world he arrived in. He figured Twilight Sparkle could easily be a gold mine of information, and that's not counting the fact that she lives with hundreds of books that he can gather knowledge from. He saw no downsides in the situation.
"Well, that sounds wonderful, actually. I'd be happy to go learn from her."
"Excellent. We shall see to it that you leave for Ponyville within the next few hours. But, before that happens, we'd like to discuss some things with you, hence the reason why we came up here," Celestia said, gesturing to the room they were in with one hoof.
"What would you like to talk about?" inquired Ryan politely.
Celestia and Luna shared a glance, then Luna stepped forward. "We would like to see your magical capabilities before sending you to Twilight. My sister tells me that when you were trapped in Twilight's spell, you were able to not only escape but shatter her hold on you." She shot another look to Celestia and then locked eyes with Ryan. "Given Twilight's magical prowess and power, that should have been incredibly difficult, but you managed to do it with apparently little effort. We wish to make sure you are not dangerous with your new power."
Ryan blinked. "Well, you obviously know far more than me on the subject... What do you want me to do?"
The Princesses smiled at his cooperation. "Here," Luna said, looking around quickly, "Levitate this." She grabbed a coffee mug next to a computer with her magic and set it down on the center table.
"...Alright," Ryan said, looking at the object. He stared at it intensely, trying to focus his mind and narrow its view to just the cup. After a few moments of mental straining, he let out his breath and relaxed, then looked up at the sisters and shrugged.
"Perhaps if you try holding out your," Celestia glanced at his fingers, "hand?" Seeing Ryan's nod at her use of the term, she continued. "Hold out your hand to it and try focusing like that. When unicorn foals are first learning levitation they are taught to point their horn at the object and use it to aim."
Ryan nodded at her advice and held up his hand, keeping it a good few feet away from the mug. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a brief moment, then felt a small flash of power spark through him. He reopened his eyes when he heard two short gasps and the sound of something shattering.
He winced slightly as he felt shards of ceramic splash into his face and then clatter to the ground. The Princess were staring at him open-mouthed. "I, uh," he searched for the words, "whoops," he finally settled on.
"Tis quite alright. T'was a most offending cup regardless," Luna said hastily, picking up all the shards of the mug with her magic.
Ryan just stood there awkwardly with his thoughts, taking note of Luna's sudden change in speech. That was an odd slip of the tongue. I've never seen that sort of speech impediment before. It's far worse than a simple stutter, going so far as to even affect diction. What sort of traumatic event could have caused that to happen?
Luna cleared her throat. "Sorry. That happens sometimes when I get... surprised." She trailed off with the sentence while staring at the pile of broken coffee mug.
Celestia, however, had a mean poker face on. Ryan looked over her features, but even with a pony's remarkably expressive face, he couldn't tell what she was thinking.
She looked back at him, breaking out of whatever thoughts she was having. "There's something else I'd like you to try, Courier. Something that might be a bit more suited to your..." she let the sentence derail, unsure how to finish it.
"What is it?" Ryan picked up for her, preventing another awkward silence from taking over the room.
"I'd like you to try making a shield," she said. "Like this." A glowing golden half-sphere of energy phased into existence directly in front of her, slightly distorting her features.
Ryan looked at it for a few moments before nodding. "Alright, I can try."
He looked down at his hands, slightly unsure of what to do with them. Hesitantly, he raised them up to his chest, then crossed them to form an 'X' in front of his body. He concentrated on forming a shield like Celestia's and tugged at his mind to focus. Then, just like that, a faded-green semi-sphere appeared before him.
Celestia and Luna looked at it curiously. Then Celestia gave a nod to Luna, and the mare lowered her horn. Ryan saw it light up and a bit of energy flow to the tip.
"Wait, what are you—" he was cut off as a thin bolt of blue energy suddenly shot out of Luna's horn and fly towards him. Acting on reflex, he crouched backward but kept his arms crossed over his chest. The bolt then bounced off his shield and reflected back at Luna.
She took the impact of the magic with an "Oof!" and stumbled backward a bit, her fur singed slightly where the energy hit her. Ryan immediately dropped the shield and started forward, holding out a hand.
"Luna, are you alright—"
"—I'm fine," Luna cut him off mid-sentence. She rolled the socket of her right foreleg, where the magic impacted her. "It's been some time since I've had to bear the brunt of one of my own attacks, but I'm still used to it." She looked at him while rubbing at her fur. "Shields with reflective properties—"
"—Luna," This time Celestia cut her off. "Let me do one more test before we tell him about his magic," she said quietly to her sister. Luna looked at her in puzzlement, but said nothing.
"One last thing, Courier," Celestia said, cutting him off from his thoughts.
"Alright, but, is she—"
"—I will be just fine, thank you. No need to worry."
He breathed a slight sigh of relief. He didn't find it appealing to be sent to a jail cell for harming one of the monarchs of a country he just arrived in.
"For the last test, Courier, I'd like you to try wrapping your hand in magic," Celestia said, gesturing to the extremity.
"Like this?" he asked, lighting his hand up in his green glow.
She looked at it for a moment. "No, tighter. More magic. Imagine that you are putting on... what are they called? Gloves. Yes, gloves." She looked at him, embarrassed. "Sorry, the only species on Equis that has hands are the Minotaurs, and they don't come to visit all that often."
Ryan had mostly ignored what she was saying about the Minotaurs and instead focused on doing what she wanted him to do. He could practically see the glow around his hands getting darker and darker with each layer of condensed magic being wrapped around it. "Is this enough?" he finally asked, holding up his fists for the sisters to see.
Both nodded approvingly, if a bit warily. "That should do," Celestia said. She took a step backwards and lowered her horn. Remembering what happened when Luna did that, Ryan put up his hands in a block to raise a shield. "Relax, I won't try to harm you," she said soothingly. Hesitantly, Ryan lowered the shield and put his fists down by his sides.
Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, and a golden flash lit up the room. When Ryan's eyes returned back to normal, he noticed that there was now a wooden pony dummy in the room with them.
"I hope that the guard won't mind me borrowing this for a moment." Then, to Ryan. "I want you to strike it. Use as little or as much force as you want. We'll get results either way."
The last sentence seemed a little foreboding to Ryan, but he went with it anyway. He raised his fists in a fighting stance, reeled back his right arm, then let it fly. The compounded magic let an afterglow burn through the air as it sailed to the dummy. When it struck, all gathered there reacted in major surprise.
The wooden dummy didn't just break, it shattered into pieces upon his fist impacting. The shards were flying at such an intense velocity that they shattered through two of the windows lining the tower and rained down upon any pony roaming around below.
All three were motionless, besides letting their jaws drop and eyebrows shoot up. Ryan couldn't even find the presence of mind to retract his arm, so he just let it sit where he made contact with the wood. After a few moments, his jaw reconnected with the rest of his head and he swallowed hard. "So... that just happened," he said in a shaky voice. Without a power fist, no less. That's a lot of power contained in one punch.
Celestia was the next to recover. "Yes... it did." Her jaw shut and she sat down on the floor.
"We think we shall go lie down," said Luna finally. "This frivolity with magic has excited mine heart beyond acceptable measures. Good day." And with that, she exited the room.
Moments passed, and Ryan was finally able to move his arm back to rest. He unclenched both fists and let out a breathy sigh as he felt the tension from holding magic dissipate. "So, what was that you were saying about results?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
Celestia stared straight ahead, her jaw working.
"Celestia?"
She paid him no attention.
"Celestia!"
That seemed to startle her. "Hmm? Oh, yes, results." She looked a bit absent, but continued to talk regardless. "I find that you possess... almost comically large amounts of magical strength, but lack almost any control over them. You remind me greatly of Twilight Sparkle, when she first unlocked her potential while trying to test into my school. Great raw power but nothing to rein it in."
Her eyes focused in on him. "You are going to study with her for the remainder of your time here. She will be able to train you just as well as I could, if not better, given how she has gone through something similar with her magic. I feel that it will be a positive experience for the both of you."
"I hope so. She seems quite nice." Ryan looked out the windows he had shattered when he punched the dummy. A harsh breeze was now whipping through the open space, and several shards of broken glass still clung to the frame. Something about it seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"We should depart soon." She followed his eyes to where they lay. "Don't worry about the windows, they're not too big of a problem. If all the pieces were still in the room then I would just reassemble it myself, but the staff shouldn't find the task too difficult." She motioned towards the exit and began walking.
Ryan followed the movement and turned away from her, his eyebrow having climbed up his forehead slightly. She has fine-tuned her magic so much as to be able repair a window from a hundred individual shards? What other secrets does this new power hold?
They crossed the threshold and Ryan started to descend the stairs, but paused while Celestia closed the door with her hoof. Why doesn't she just use telekinesis to shut the door? Ryan wondered.
The wooden door shut and he took few steps down.
"Courier?"
He stopped again and looked back up, having to lean halfway around the center of the spiral staircase to meet Celestia's eyes. "Yes?"
She looked him straight in the eyes with a very serious expression. "I trust you recall our teatime yesterday afternoon?" she asked.
He chuckled. "Yes, I do. What about it?"
She took a step forward on the landing and beckoned him come closer with a hoof. When he had ascended the few steps he had taken, she spoke again. "Then you also remember the small 'bout' you had, where the guards closed in on you?"
Ryan's eyes darkened. "Yes, but I believe I was entitled to—"
"—Do not allow it to happen around Twilight Sparkle," Celestia cut him off, dangerously. "I do not know what happened in your past to cause such a storm of rage within you, nor do I pretend to. But if you get out of hoof even once around my student, you can be assured that you will not be receiving any of my help afterward. Keep yourself under control, and there shall be no issues."
They stared into each others eyes, fighting a silent battle. During her speech, Celestia had unknowingly leaned in slightly, reducing the distance between their heads. Both sides had faces completely blank and devoid of emotion, Celestia hoping she didn't set him off and Ryan formulating his response. A tense minute ticked past, neither party backing out.
"H'okay."
Celestia blinked. Ryan had leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head. Before she had a chance to say anything, he was already heading back down the stairs.
"Excuse me, what?" Celestia called down to him before chasing after him.
"I said okay," he called over his shoulder. "I know I was out of place back there, but I was mad. Luck is my everything, and it hurt to see it disappearing like that. Besides, I'm well aware that you're my most valuable asset on this planet, and there isn't anything I would do to ruin that." He paused. "I can't promise you that I won't get frustrated, or angry, but rest assured that I will not hurt or threaten one of your 'little ponies.'"
Celestia stopped, stunned. She couldn't understand how he could just switch moods so quickly. One minute he was glaring at her with fire-filled eyes, and the next he was relaxed as if he was taking a vacation. What kind of response was I trying to get out of him anyway? It's not like he would have just said that he wouldn't keep his anger in check. With each passing hour the man was more and more of a mystery, but she would figure him out.
"New World Blues" [Completed]
-Test your strength [Completed]
-Sleep [Completed]
-Go with your captors to speak with the Princess [Completed]
-Rediscover civilization [Completed]
"Magic and Might"
-Return to Ponyville
"Tell me something else about your world, Courier," Celestia offered, trying to spark a conversation. The two had given their brief farewells to Luna, Discord nowhere to be found, and departed on another carriage back down to Ponyville. The flight so far had been completely silent, besides the occasional 'whumping noise of Ryan channeling magic into his hand and causing it to light up.
But he stopped in his concentration to look up at her, the glow around his hand disappearing. "What do you want to know?" he asked back.
"Hmm..." Celestia thought for a moment, then her face brightened up. "Tell me how your country came to be at war with the other ones."
Ryan looked at her, one eyebrow having made its way up his face. "Alright, if you insist." He took a deep breath and summarized what he knew about the past concerning China and America. "Well, long story short, there wasn't enough resources to go around for everybody. China and America, my country, were the two biggest powers on the planet, and both of them wanted what little the planet had left to offer.
"Now, and I'm sure you know this, petroleum is incredibly, remarkably useful. But it's also limited in access. So as the last few oil drilling spots on Earth dried up, prices for trade went up, and relations that were already pretty bad got even worse. We all had nuclear weapons at that point, it just became a game of chicken to see who would use them first." He sighed. "China got the best of us with a preemptive strike, taking the northernmost state of the Unites States, Alaska, for their own. They claimed our biggest oil pipeline before we knew anything was wrong. Alaska became the front lines, we pushed them back and got pushed back, then invaded China's homeland with our best weaponry. The first bombs launched, and the rest is history."
He studied Celestia's expression. There was no doubt she had asked the question to see if the problem his world had could be avoided by her. "There is always a lesson to be learned in history," he said, drawing her attention back to him. "It is always better to shoot first than not shoot at all."
Celestia considered the words. "But what if shooting was wrong?" she asked, easily raising a counterpoint.
Ryan shrugged. "Then bad on you, but its better living with guilt than not living at all. China shot first, and we lost because of it. If America had brought out the nukes right away, then the Wasteland might never have needed to exist."
That stopped Celestia in her thoughts, slightly aghast at how casual he seemed about what to her was a moral atrocity. Surely firing first without considering the consequences was bad, right? She thought back around in circles. His words did have merit, she knew that. He might have also been correct, saying that his world might not have turned into a wasteland if his country had fired first. But would that have been the morally right decision to make? How many would have lost their lives like that? She couldn't even guess.
"You make an... interesting point, Courier. If the nations of Equis were in such a situation, I'm not sure if I could make a decision such as that," she admitted. "For fear of being wrong in my thinking would always plague my mind, if my country had survived. Though you have seen what has happened to yours, so perhaps it could have been different," she commented, attempting to stay neutral in tone and not reveal how foreign the concept sounded to her.
"Yeah..." he trailed off. What could it have been like, if there were no Vaults, no mutants, no radiation, no Wasteland? Who would I have become without the world I know the most? Would I have even been able to call myself a Courier? He grunted in frustration. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Anything else you want to know about?"
"Hmm... What does that mark on your back mean?" she finally asked.
Ryan froze. "My mark?"
"Yes, the 21 and the spade on your back," she clarified.
Ryan sighed and averted his eyes. "If you recall, yesterday, I told you about The Couriers?"
"Yes, you told me about what you did with them, but you didn't mention what the mark on your jacket means."
Ryan didn't talk for a minute, thinking about how to put his thoughts on the subject into words. "I... it's a little hard to say," he admitted, hoping Celestia would let up on the subject so he didn't have to dig up his past.
She blinked. "Well, I don't want to push you into anything, but I really am curious...?" she trailed off, hoping to spark his interest in furthering the conversation.
Ryan heaved another sigh, fully emptying his lungs. He stared out the window, almost fully turning his back to Celestia. She looked at him for a moment before deciding to let the conversation die. The silence between the two stretched on, unhindered.
"It was... a gift... of sorts." Celestia's ears perked up when she heard his voice again. Her interest returned directly to him, unwavering now that he decided to talk about something clearly painful. He shifted in his seat so she could see half his face while he was still able to look out the window. He propped his head up on his hand took a breath to continue.
"The first time I received this duster, it only had the numbers on it, no spade. It was a gift from the Couriers, a symbol of my... membership, I suppose. As I said before, there was twenty-one of us, and I was number twenty-one, which I suppose is funny, given how I live in Vegas..." he chuckled softly, trying to lighten up the mood slightly. It didn't work. "Ah, anyway, I wore this around everywhere so I could be recognized by the other twenty Couriers while on the road, despite the chances of that happening being relatively low.
"After a few years of defending towns and running packages, I got contracted by some officials in the New California Republic to deliver a package to a little settlement nestled in a canyon called The Divide. It was a nice place, just setting up, beginning to put roots down; I was happy for the few hours I was able to relax there." The tone of his voice began to sound drier as he went on, sounding more fragile. "I rented a room in one of the buildings there with some extra caps I had been saving. I put up my feet and took a nap..."
He took a breath and looked over to see if Celestia was still listening, hoping that she wasn't and he could just drop it. Of course, she was staring at him intently, with rapt attention. "I woke up later because the ground was shaking. Earthquakes are common enough, but this one seemed bad. I remember grabbing all my stuff, pausing at the package. It was beeping, and I could see a faint red light through the cloth it was wrapped in. I decided to leave it, along with my Courier duster. I'm still not sure why...
"I got out of the building as quickly as I could. It was just... pure chaos outside. Buildings were collapsing, fissures forming, you name it. It was like the world was ending. So I booked it out of there and into the Mojave as quickly as possible, escaping just as the entire area collapsed and sank hundreds of feet deeper into the canyon." He fell silent.
Celestia waited for more. None came. "That sounds... horrible, Smith. But I'm confused. What was in the package, and you never explained how you got your 'duster'."
Ryan stared her directly in the eyes. She looked back to find that his were empty, devoid of emotion. When he next spoke, his voice was as cold and sharp as a knife's blade. "Later on, after I took over New Vegas, I got a message from a man named Ulysses, the Courier that was supposed to carry my package to Mr. House; that's another story. He was calling me back to The Divide, saying he wanted to 'settle things'.
"The place was in horrible shape, buildings in rubble, statues and monuments that had actual meaning smashed, all the inhabitants... mutated. The place was a shadow of its former self, and I felt nothing but guilt for it." He stopped again.
"But... why did you feel guilty?" Celestia tried.
"Because the package was a detonator for all the nukes buried just under the surface. I escaped with my life, Ulysses wasn't so lucky. We were the only two survivors out of hundreds, if not thousands." His fists clenched. "Because I unknowingly destroyed a new civilization, his chance at a clean slate, Ulysses wanted to destroy mine. So I was forced to stop him and destroy the last of the missiles, allowing one of my closest friends to... sacrifice himself for it. For the second time, I walked out of The Divide with my life mostly intact.
"But Ulysses... he had to land the last blow, even from beyond the grave. At the entrance to The Divide, a footlocker was waiting for me, with a message and a gift from him." He stopped again to change the course of the conversation. "You see, Ulysses was a Courier like I was, though he fought for the opposite side, Caesar's Legion. I don't even know what number he was, but he knew mine.
"So, as a final, cruel joke, he left me this duster, my number twenty-one over a spade, marking me as property of New Vegas. He knew I'd never leave the Mojave again, so he sought to anchor me to the place forever, making a joke out of my work with the Couriers." He paused to take a breath, his voice close to breaking. "I never had the strength to break free from the chains of the past, and I still wear this duster, so I never forget."
He stopped, the will to continue talking having evaporated completely. He looked away and checked the clock on his Pip-Boy, fighting back blurry-eyes. It was barely three in the afternoon and he was already spent. He leaned out the window to see that Ponyville was fast approaching.
"Why do you keep the past so close to you even though it hurts so much?" he heard Celestia ask quietly.
"Hmm?" he turned back around, surprised that she still on the topic.
"I would think that you would just want to forget it all and move on. Leave it behind, because it just hurts." Ryan looked closely at her face, studying the expression. With 2,000 years under her wings, she must have made mistakes somewhere along the way. Maybe she could know how he feels?
"The past teaches lessons that I will always need to remember. While it's true that it hurts, I've moved on, honestly. I've moved on, but never forgotten," he said slowly, making sure he was still under control of his words. He had gotten dangerously close to letting his emotions get the better of him during his story, but he wasn't about to show weakness.
Celestia didn't respond, instead choosing to let the conversation die as they glided down into Ponyville.
The town was in a lazy sort of bustle, pegasai maneuvering clouds to provide some limited shade and other ponies meandering around and doing their business. Even so, all were able to pause and show respect to Celestia with deep bows, each keeping their distance as they noticed her company. Still, none were too surprised, as visits from one of their princesses was becoming more and more frequent due to their own resident princess.
The two stepped off the chariot close to the Ponyville library: Golden Oak. They approached the door together, each wearing a carefully-guarded neutral face. Before they even had a chance to knock, the door was enveloped in a lavender glow and opened to reveal the smiling face of Twilight. "Princess— oh." Her face fell quickly, as did her ears, as she noticed the facial expressions of her new guests.
As if suddenly recalling her surroundings, Celestia's face brightened. "Hello, dear Twilight, sorry about that, we were just having a... conversation." She kept her tone as neutral as possible, but Ryan could detect some emotion coloring it.
He tuned out their conversation briefly as he wondered about how she said that last word. If he wasn't mistaken, she sounded slightly worried. But what for? She doesn't know me, I don't know her. It's better that way. He caught his moniker mentioned in Celestia and Twilight's conversation and listened long enough to determine that they were talking about him staying under the tutelage of Twilight. But still... I wonder how she could sympathize with me. I doubt someone as benevolent as her has destroyed an entire settlement. He thought the words with conviction, but couldn't seem to completely convince himself of it. Perhaps she had some darker secrets herself.
"—and so he will be staying in the Shady Glen hotel in the center of town for the time being." He reentered the conversation just as she turned to face him. "I hope you like it there, it's one of the newest hotels in the town. You will be staying under my name, so you'll have the royal suite to yourself. Twilight?"
"Yes?"
"Please ensure that he knows where the building is. It would probably be best that you two begin your lessons tomorrow as well, as we have had a... taxing morning. You know how long he is here, so I hope you'll both be satisfied with what you learn when he departs." She backed up a few steps and began to walk out the door. "I am sorry I cannot stay longer, but I have prolonged Day Court for long enough already. Twilight." She gave her a nod. "Smith." She gave him a nod and made eye contact, being sure to reiterate her message about not harming Twilight through the look.
"Bye Princess— oop, I mean, Celestia!" Twilight waved as the door shut from Celestia's golden glow. Twilight turned to look at Ryan. "So, I figured if we leave now— what are you doing?" she stopped mid-turn to stare.
Ryan had already pulled several dozen books from the shelves and had stacked them up around him, forming a respectable book fort without even meaning to. Two books were sitting open in front of his crossed legs, and he seemed to be speed-reading both simultaneously. "Reading," he said simply.
"But, don't you want to see the town?" Twilight asked, bewildered at his course of action. Sure, she was overjoyed to see somepony besides her taking such a huge interest in reading, but she didn't take him for the intellectual sort when they first met.
"The town will still be there tonight. I'm here for about 4 more days, and I want to learn as much as I can before I leave. So, until then, Ponyville can wait, you can wait, and sleep can wait. Even though I got a brief oral history of Equestria from Celestia, there's still more to learn." He paused and looked up. "I'm on an entirely different planet, so can you blame me?" He shrugged, then patted the floorboards beside him. "Come on and sit down. I'll answer any questions you have. We didn't get too much time to talk yesterday."
"I... alright!" She moved quickly to sit down next to him, trying not to let her eagerness show too much. "So, what's the purpose of..."
They had gone on like that for hours, Ryan mechanically answering most of Twilight's questions. He had skipped over or vaguely answered any having to do with his personal past, but he found himself enjoying talking about his life with his friends in the Mojave; before they left, that is. He tore through the stacks of books as fast as he would tear apart raiders that got close to New Vegas, making sure to store more important information in his Pip-Boy; namely, anything having to do with great feats of magic that he might be able to copy. In addition, he read over more than one book on magical theory, but still couldn't make much sense of the occasional spellbook he found. All in all, the new world he was in was fascinating, even if it was much less violent than his.
Twilight seemed to be just as enraptured with his world as he was with hers. By the type of questions she was asking, Ryan was able to hypothesize that she was a very studious pony, almost obsessed with the sciences. Most of what she asked had to do with Vault-Tec and some of the Pre-War electronics that he had fixed himself. During the course of the conversation she was doing the same thing as Ryan: taking down copious notes. By the time 10 o'clock had hit, Ryan had finished many of the books and Twilight had just about run out of questions to ask. Ryan had gotten a feel for her personality, and decided that he liked her. Maybe because she was like a more upbeat, less sarcastic Arcade Gannon.
"—so that's the last of what I heard going on in the East. Some figure going around called "The Lone Wanderer" had been credited with restarting a water purifier. New Vegas was lucky enough to not have its water supply contaminated by radiation, and I've hired mechanics to repair most of the pipes around the city, so most of the Mojave has clean water running everywhere." He chuckled. "Even toilets are safe to drink out of now."
He looked up to see Twilight scrunching her face and sticking her tongue out. Then, voicing her thoughts, "Eew. Why would anyone want to drink out of a toilet anyway?"
He elected to just stare at her. She stared back, head tilted to the side, confused. Then she blushed as she remembered one of the stories he told her was when he needed to drink out of a toilet out of desperation. "Eh heh heh heh. Ah heh. Sorry. We don't typically have to deal with stuff like that in Equestria, so I wasn't really thinking, and I'm really sorry."
Ryan shook his head and closed the final book he had picked out. "It's alright, I know I would forget about it if I could." He stood up, stretching his legs for the first time in hours. "Oh, man, it's getting late. Can we still do a quick tour of Ponyville?" he asked hopefully.
"Hmm..." She levitated the quill and notepad she had been using to a table in the center of the library. "I suppose, if we keep it brief. Spike should be getting to bed soon... Aww, what the hay, let's go!" She jumped up and led Ryan to the door. "The first place we'll be going is..."
Twilight had led Ryan to the workplaces of all her friends, even treating him to a cookie from Sugarcube Corner. He had remarked that it was the best thing he had ever tasted, and Pinkie had given nothing but a knowing smile in return. After a full hour of wandering through the darkened town, they ended heading to the Shady Glen hotel.
"Though I will say, Smith, you seem to be taking this all really well," Twilight said happily, still calming down from the unintentional joke Ryan had made in front of Town Hall a few moments before.
He sobered up from his laughter and looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean," she started, lifting a hoof to aid in her speaking, "you just got here, what, two days ago? A completely different planet. Like, different species, different customs, different environment, different everything. So far you seem to be taking it all in stride. If it were me, I'd have had at least five different panic attacks already, and it doesn't seem like you've had one."
They walked into the lobby of the hotel, surprising the bored-looking mare behind the desk. "Reservation under 'Princess Celestia,' please," Ryan said before turning back to Twilight. "Let me let you in on something my friend told me a long time ago." He leaned in closer to her as the mare behind the desk grabbed a key off the wall.
"'True strength lies in the ability to see past immediate hardship, to peer into the darkness ahead and believe that things will get better.' Good night, Twilight Sparkle." Ryan accepted the key as the mare handed it to him, and walked off down a hallway to go to his room.
"Good night...!"
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He is.... the most threatening man in the world.
I'm just reading the story's description and then I was thinking, Chuck Norris?!! and then I read
And then I thought, Awww
But I still read the story, mind you, and it was great! Keep it up!
I read the description and though: Vash the Stampede
I now wonder; is the Lone Wanderer is like Ryan? Would be interesting to see a meeting between the two if that's the case.
I remember his name as "guy with the meta-name."
4673074
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How did I not see that before?!
I thought doc mitchel gave him the 21? Since doc came from vault 21 as I recall from the wikia
Hm, from the description (and not from seeing the picture), I can guess this couriers firearm of choice is Lucky . But, how did this courier break the Strips casinos banks twice? Should not the casino staff stop him?
4673074
Haha! Aw, man, I never thought of that!
4673081
Sorry to disappoint on the Chuck, but there is a fic on this site centered around him. Also, you seem to have commented twice.
4673575
A friend of mine watches that. Now I really should.
4674386
I'll decline commenting on the Lone Wanderer meeting up with Ryan. And "guy with the meta-name" is now how I will always think of Arcade.
4677443
Doc Mitchell gave him the Vault 21 Jumpsuit and the Pip-Boy. As I believe I mentioned, he was talking about the Courier Duster at the end of Lonesome Road. It's just a crazy coincidence that he was Courier #21 and he went to New Vegas, home of Vault 21.
4677608
Well, there's that and the fact that he spent some time in the first chapter talking about Lucky. And maybe it was just me, but in my game I was able to break the banks twice. I got banned once from the Gomorrah, and then I got extra chips from completing its questline, so I tried to gamble again and it let me. Then I tried the same with the other casinos and it let me break the banks all over again.
4678231
Hm, interesting, never knew it would do that.
4681233
I think you replied to the wrong comment.
4682646
...Okay then! By the way, your image is broken.
4683783 Nope, still broke.
4683783
It's still busted, dude. Maybe try using another source?
My only problem is that, canonically, the events of the Divide (and all the DLC) take place before the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.
4753746
Just when I thought I had the timeline chartered out too...
To offer an excuse, I played the DLCs after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, (like most people, I expect) and that's the order I had Ryan experience them all in. Besides, I believe it makes more sense that the events of the Divide happen after the Second Battle, when Ulysses would have even more reason to notice The Courier.
As a side note: you have no idea the sound I made when I saw you commented. I'm a huge fan.
4753777
... Except it isn't actually possible to play the DLC after the Second Battle in-game. You can either complete the main story, or get the entire conflict to get put on hold just for your sake.
Of course, news of a large number of Caesar's plans in the region falling apart suddenly and catastrophically would get his attention. And/or the NCR's, depending on how you play. After all, he was already watching the Mojave to see if the Courier would survive or not, seeing just what he was doing in the region.
4753800
True. True true.
Of course some canon has been edited in this story, but I think I stayed close to everything else.
love the story so far! :D
4792014
Thanks, Twily!
... Yeah, okay, I can't get over how Gary Stu this thing is. So he's the son of a god, has luck so supernatural that taking a wild shot in the dark can get him a kill, started learning magic mere minutes after discovering it existed, without having even the barest HINTS of how one might go about using it... I just... I've yet to see evidence of a single flaw in the guy, and the only argument for him not being a gary stu is that 'well yeah but his luck is being drained', WHICH DOES NOT MAKE HIM NOT A GARY STU.
Oh, and in case all of that wasn't enough
WHAT.
Okay, so, first of all, that's not 18th century.
Second of all, from Luna's perspective, HE JUST SWORE FEALTY TO HER. While this CAN be a romantic action, she is an equal ruler to Celestia, and further more, not in a relationship, so Courtly Love is out of the question. WHY DID SHE BLUSH. Look, if you're going to try and include something like this, please, do some bloody research. Kissing the hand is an act of Fealty, not of romance.
Thirdly, you gave him the Ensemble Dark Horse as a love interest. How much more Gary Stu can you GET?
The only way this could be more blatant is if next chapter he gets sent off to Ponyville to stay with the Elements, Rarity spends the entire chapter swooning over the fucking clothes, Rainbow doesn't trust him at first but then suddenly does, and Fluttershy falls for him after he saves her from an attack by Gilda or something.
I'm all for crossovers(though, given the existence of Fallout Equestria, I'd say the well is probably dry on this one), but c'mon man.
As far as good- I didn't notice any extravagant spelling/ grammar problems, and at least SOME of the story seems somewhat interesting- the character it's about, however, does not.
Seriously, it's not that hard to balance a character like this. He's confident, yeah, but we haven't seen it fail him, so he can't be overconfident. He's impulsive, but the only time he faced a situation where he had even the slightest problem, he instantly knew he couldn't win, and his impulsiveness got him out of it. He doesn't seem to have good impulse control, but he's not on drugs, and there's no mention of anything that might imply alcoholism, and, as for gambling, we're told he's banned from every casino on the strip- seems to me it's not a problem.
If his wild shot had missed, and he'd had to take the ghoul a bit more seriously, or if his companion(who you have revealed was a literal god) had noticed before he had, and he'd been a bit slower standing up, so that he knew where it was by the firelight, if he had chosen, on a whim, to go with the courier, rather than having to be convinced, any of these things would point to a flaw that I could point at and say 'Yeah, he's not perfect', but instead we have a harmlessly impulsive, confident but careful, and he doesn't abuse any vices.
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4840380
Alright, fair fair, I'll retort.
He's not the son of a god, which I guess I need to state even more clearly since people keep missing it.
And yeah, he's got godly luck. That's the biggest part of his character. He has so much Luck, life is a cinch for him; I did that entirely on purpose. Because while this site has a fair amount of crossovers with Fallout, but I haven't seen one that tackled Luck. But I didn't want to stop there, I wanted to break the scales ridiculously in his favor, and then let everyone see how he reacts when he loses the biggest part of who he is.
It's nice to see you and others forming all these impressions, and only select ones are correct. We're approaching the halfway point in the story, and things will change. So continue reading.
But if that's not enough for you, I'm not shipping him with Luna, and he's not staying with the Elements. The 18th Century comment will be altered, but nothing more. Thank you for commenting.
As a side note: as expressed by Luna's speech patterns, she has at this point been brought up on modern-day etiquette, and therefore does not believe he just swore fealty to her.
4842148
It's not the luck that's a problem, it's the character. He's all pros, no cons, all superb-over-the-top-ness, no flaws. He's boring to read, and while you could probably do something interesting with a supremely powerful being losing said power(Oh Hey Neil Gaimen, why are you waving Sandman at me?), it would be built off who the character is outside of that power- and you haven't shown us ANYTHING to tell us who he is, aside from 'perfect'.
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In all seriousness, why would I care even the slightest? If you don't like reading, this website devoted to fiction is clearly the right place for you.
4843206
Then I shall suggest for you to continue reading, for the story is not yet half finished.
I will not go into detail because Joural has pretty much hit it on the head. Usually even if i hate a story's plot i try to survive until the end of the chapter but i just couldn't help but skip halfway through.
The introduction you are putting through (ponies are curious but not friendly) has been beaten to death almost as much as being completely friendly. I find the character familiar (not in a good way) and not at all that fresh. IMO his comment about them killing him on sight would have made an intensly more interesting way for him to discover magic given it would be a reaction. Then spinning it so he can only use it when he needs it most (aka instinctive only) and slowly gaining control as his luck fades, so all in all he'd be losing one power to gain another.
However i will give you credit that most stories are not of this caliber when it comes to length plus no grammar errors continuity errors and general errors that affect the flow of the story.
I believe i have already thumbed up this story because i feel that someone fairly new to this site will enjoy this story very much and i do not want to deprive them of that. I believe this story has its own good side, but unfortunately a well seasoned (does not mean 'all knowing' it just means i have no life and have read too much) reader such as myself can find no enjoyment in this story. Please continue, i hope you do well with this story but i can't bring myself to continue.
Good luck and god speed.
This story Reminds me of the time my brother beat Fallout 3 with just the BB gun and the Baseball Bat on the hardest difficulty.
Well, there is also Russia's dead hand system.
I didn't think that a guy can just live on luck.
6703896
Every time I play NV I always set luck to 10, or 9 so I can max it out with the implant. It’s an important stat for scoring critical hits and it allows you to rob all the casinos blind. I’d say the only stat more useful is strength so you can wield all the weapons, or intelligence for more skill points on level up.
And even then, low int runs are fun, and a strength of six let’s you wield most weapons with an additional perk. But luck, I don’t think I’ve ever had a run where it wasn’t maxed out.