Fallout Equestria: Tales of a Courier

by a friendly hobo

Chapter 4: Stitches

Chapter 4: Stitches.

“To array a man’s will against his sickness is the supreme art of medicine.”

The lobby of the town hall certainly made for grim viewing. Bodies were spread across the floor; most of them had been mangled under the jaws of relentless hounds. They were missing chunks of their necks and two of the corpses had no heads. If I had anything in my stomach I probably would have lost it after this sight. I pulled up my EFS. Ahead of us where three red ticks.

“Three up ahead…” I whispered as I hugged the ground. “Try not to fire. We don’t want to attract any unwanted attention.”

“I don’t see anything,” Ace whispered as she mimicked my movements. I had learned to be quite the sneaky little rascal from playing hide and seek with Shamrock and Dad as well as from getting Shamrock out of trouble countless times. Ace was right. There was nothing ahead but two corpses that had been ripped apart. I tried to ignore them.

“They must be above us…” Either that or my EFS was acting up and that seemed unlikely. I drew Silent Reaper from from its sheath on my upper-foreleg. This rescue attempt would require stealth instead of just running in guns blazing. We had no idea how many dogs were in here.

“Are you sure there are any survivors here anyway? I mean look at the place. It looks like hell.” As soon as she said that, as if on cue, two white ticks appeared. Apparently they were at the end of the lobby. We snuck towards them just for them to zip to the right. They had appeared behind us. I turned around to see nothing. I looked up.

“I count two friendlies above us, right beside three…four…six reds.” They kept appearing.

“Six, eh? Are they together?” I nodded, “I guess we’ll have to lure them away one by one.”

We proceeded up the blood spattered stairs. They stayed mercifully silent as we got to the top. The white ticks were up one more flight of stairs that were on this floor somewhere. We just had to find them. I opened the door to the floor and before us stood a dog almost the same size as me. It was muzzle deep inside the chest of a pink mare. I walked up behind it as silent as possible.

Our luck with silent floorboards ran out as I positioned myself behind the beast, ready to strike. I looked to my hooves and back up. The bloody face of the monster was staring right at me. He pounced. His teeth finding their way through the stable barding that covered my right foreleg as I tried to protect myself. I gritted my teeth around Silent Reaper as I plunged it into the dog’s throat. It quit growling instantly. The monster tried barking, but it only produced a strangled yelp as it slumped to a heap beside me. The damn thing had bitten right into my scar. I gave it a kick for good measure before falling to my haunches holding my foreleg. The pain was unbearable.

“Here, let me see that.” Ace said as she examined the injured foreleg. Blood was dripping from six holes around my scar. “Youch. Alright, I may not have extensive medical knowledge, but I know it looks a lot worse than it is.” She pulled out one of our healing potions, “drink this. It’s a bit too deep for just a healing bandage, that’s for sure. He could have torn your foreleg off.” I downed the potion and after a few seconds the holes began to close. By my count we were down to five potions left. My foreleg still hurt, but I put that down to my scar. According to my Pipbuck my arm was down to 75%.

“It’s a good thing there’s a lot of dead in here. The smell should mask us. That is if these guys hunt by smell,” Ace whispered. We kept going.

We rounded another corner to a door that was marked Armory. There were four bodies around it and there were marks and scratches around were the ponies had tried to get in but they were too late. I looked at the door and turned around. It was locked. There would be time to scavenge from this place once we had purged it. To my left were two stationary red ticks, along with the three behind us that I noted must be upstairs.

I opened the door to the office containing the red blips on this floor. Thankfully both of the dogs were asleep. One appeared to be holding a doll as it slept. I immediately backpeddled and gasped as I realized it wasn’t a doll. It was a dead filly who had not even been old enough to have her cutie mark. What do you know? I guess I could throw up some more. Even Ace looked pained, shocked and disgusted when she realized.

I steeled myself as I approached this sick bastard dog. He was sleeping like a log on top of the bed he had claimed. I reached out and slit his goddess-damned throat. He didn’t even wake up. Pity I can’t say the same of his friend on the other side of the room. He woke up when the filly’s body, whose neck was chewed wide open, fell onto a silver platter beside the bed with a crash.

The raging canine was charging at me and Ace wasn’t quick enough to get to him. The dog crashed past Ace, knocking her on to her back, and continued running towards me.

“Let me handle this,” a voice in my head said and without even thinking I threw Silent Reaper. It spun through the air before its blade hit home between the dogs eyes. Blood splattered out from around the knife as the limp body of the hound collided with me. The dog bled over my barding.

“Ugh. You got blood on my suit,” I muttered as I shoved him off and pulled my knife free. The blood dripped off its surface, leaving it clean. How it did that was beyond me.

Ace was getting back up as I brought up my EFS and saw three rapidly approaching red ticks. “Ace, shotgun, now.” She grinned as she levitated out her trench gun while I pulled out one of the Magnum revolvers I had pieced together in the rest stop.

The first dog rounded the corner and went down with a hole through his eye. The second and third dogs didn’t come through. They were waiting for us. Wasn’t much of a trap but then again, they were dogs.

I pulled one of the apple-shaped grenades Ace had given me from my saddle bags, pulled the pin and rolled it out the door. With my hoofs, I might add. Ace and I leaped behind a fallen file cabinet as the hall outside erupted into glorious light and the two red ticks on my EFS disspeared.

Our ears were ringing which continued for a few moments. We looked over the cabinet to see the door had been blown off as well as some parts of the wall. Small holes had appeared all along the cabinet and the wall from shrapnel impacts. We walked into the hall. Bits of dog meat and other…bits…were littered around the place. I holstered my revolver.

“Fucking animals,” I said, “burn in hell.” Ace was looking at me oddly again. I turned to her, “don’t start. We have ponies to save.” And with that, I stepped over the bits and pieces and started looking for the stairs. Ace followed after a few moments.

The stairs we had found were just like the others but instead of spattered blood there was a long streak of it going up them.

“I don’t like the look of this…” Ace said as we walked up the stairs. We had given up all stealth when we set off that grenade but with it we managed to kill the last of the dogs. For a 200 year old building, the halls could sustain considerable damage without collapsing.

I walked up and looked through the door at the top of the stairs. There were two white blips at the end of the hall. I figured it was the mayor’s office. Two corpses of ponies who hadn’t made it were sprawled out on the floor. We walked up to the door. It was locked.

“Hello?” I said as I knocked. There was a voice on the inside, muffled through the door. It sounded like ‘Don’t you die on me!’ “Do you need help in there?” I called through.

“Fuck off, Legion fuckers!” the voice on the inside yelled.

“We aren’t Legion!” I yelled back. “Ace, get the door.”

“Then…who...are…you?” he shouted back. His voice sounded strained.

“Travelers. We’re here to help.” Ace’s horn lit up and a bobby pin and screw driver came out of her saddle bags. She inserted them into the lock and started twisting. The lock opened with a small click. One of the white lights had disappeared.

I stumbled over Ace to get in. Inside the room and backed up against the wall was a vanilla pony with a light yellow mane that was easy to make out despite the blood; sorrow ached out from him as he continue to look down at his lap. Across his lap was a light blue mare. The mare was wounded in multiple areas, jagged bites all over her torso were still sending trickles of blood onto her companion’s hindlegs, her eyes were hollow, a sense of loss still reflected within them. The vanilla pony shut her eyes with his bloody hooves.

“I couldn’t save her,” said the pony as he looked at us. He closed his eyes and looked down again before saying, “damn it,” the loss heavy in his voice. He looked at the mare and whispered something that sounded like a prayer.

“I suppose the dogs are dead and the Legion bastards are gone?” I nodded, “good.” He picked up the body and carried it past us. We followed him.

------ ------ ------

As we stepped out into the street even the warmth of the setting sun was a welcome change from the chill of the Town Hall. The vanilla pony walked outside and froze. He stared out across the long street.

“By the goddesses. What have they done…?” I could see a tear roll down his face before he slowly walked down the steps. “This is an atrocity,” he whispered as he scanned each pony nailed to a cross, beheaded or still engulfed in fire.

I sat on my haunches, the sight of the town finally hitting me. Tears formed in my eyes as I looked to Ace while she watched the vanilla pony walk down the road, whispering to each body as he passed. She too looked haunted by the horrors surrounding us.

“You’ve seen this sort of thing before?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“I’ve seen much worse.” That I found hard to believe. “This is bad, but still a step down from raider work…”

“How so?” I asked, fighting back the tears and trying to focus on the conversation and not the desecrated bodies around us.

“The worst here is decapitation, Crucifixion and ponies burned while they were alive enough to scream. Raiders see that as underachieving.”

“What do…?” I stopped myself. Did I really want to know?

The vanilla pony had returned to us, “Can I ask you to help me give these innocent souls the funeral they deserve?” We nodded. “Good. You can start by gathering the bodies from inside.” We started going back into the town hall. “Give me your revolver and ammo, please.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Just give me it. I would rather you didn’t know.” Ace levitated my revolver out of my holster and handed it and its ammo to him.

“Hey! What...?” She looked at me with a stern face before shooing me inside as she nodded to the vanilla pony.

“What did you do that for?” I asked.

“He’s a desert medic. There aren’t many around these days. He needed your gun for a reason you won’t understand until he wants to explain it.” I could see that she didn’t want to explain either. I let it be.

We worked in silence as we collected the bodies from inside and lay them outside. It was a gruesome task, one that will haunt me for a long time. We had cleared the lobby and had laid the last pony on the ground outside. I was about to return inside when I heard a gunshot, the gunshot of a .357 magnum revolver. The revolver Ace had given the vanilla pony. I turned to see him standing in front of one of the hanging bodies. The body had a hole in its head.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I yelled as I ran up to him. He looked at me and lowered the magnum.

“If I were to get these ponies down, they would suffer in excruciating pain until they died. If I left them up there, they would have suffered until they suffocated. I took mercy on thier poor souls.” I stared at him in disbelief. Ace had appeared and seemed to understand. “It’s not something I enjoy, but if it means I can end the suffering of another I will do it.” I continued to stare. I understood, but I still wish I could have avoided what I had seen. Ace guided me back into the town hall.

“Clove, I don’t like it either, but it needed to be done.” I nodded in understanding. “Besides, they are in a better place now.” That did make me feel a bit better. “Come on, there’s an armory to loot.”

------ ------ ------

We had cleared most of the bodies from the first floor before the task of moving the desecrated filly away. I couldn’t even enter the room; Ace was reluctant but had mercy on me as she reached out with her magic and wrapped the corpse in the sheet from the bed. The blood was dripping through the fabric as she levitated it out. I choked as it floated past me and down the stairs.

She came back upstairs and slunk into the armory. There was barely anything inside the room except for four boxes and three ammo boxes. I opened the first box to find three grenades inside which I slipped into my saddlebag. My Pipbuck immediately added three grenades to the tally while Ace picked the lock on one of the ammo boxes as I moved onto the next.

This one held casings, powders, and other small objects that I didn’t recognise. I placed them carefully into different pockets on my saddlebags. My Pipbuck told me that the mystery items were lead, pistol and rifle primers. All the things I needed to make a bullet. Right after I found out how to make a bullet, that is. The next box was empty, and judging by the squeals Ace made I assumed she had found some shotgun shells. I was half right. She did find shotgun shells but a lot more than some. She gathered them up and put them in her saddle bag before starting on the next lock.

The last box the room contained was locked. Time to put my new found skills to the test, I thought as I pulled out a bobby pin and the spare screwdriver Ace had given me. I placed them into the lock and twisted. The lock moved slightly then stopped. I moved it to the left but the lock wouldn’t move so I tried pushing a little harder and the bobby pin broke.

“Dammit,” I mumbled, placing a new pin inside and turning it to the right. The lock clicked and the top sprang open. Inside was a light grey pistol with a wood mouth piece and beside it were three clips for it. I gingerly pulled them out and holstered my new gun. They were marked as .45 caliber rounds by the Pipbuck. Scavenging was fun when you didn’t have to go through anypony’s personal belongings.

“Right,” said Ace as she took the contents of the last box and put them in her saddlebags. “We got a carriage load of shotgun shells, thirty-two .308 caliber rifle rounds, and twenty-one .45 caliber rounds. The last two we have no use for.”

“Not anymore.” I said I nodded to my new gun. I don’t really like using pistols, but it was better than the old revolver I had given the vanilla pony.

“Impressive,” She said, “Forty-five pistols aren’t very common out here. You mostly find them in the north east. Find anything else good?” I showed her the grenades and bullet pieces. “Ah, want to make a bullet, do you?” I said nothing. “Come here.” She said as she led me to a bench with a large press on it.

She then proceeded to take the pieces she needed from my saddlebag. Before us on the bench were ten cases, some powder, some lead and pistol primers. She then began to work her magic around the pieces and started pulling things apart, pouring the powders into certain parts and added a primer. She had created five before I tried my hoofs at it. Thankfully the tools available let me negate the use for magic, and after a few tries I had made my first bullet. Four more followed. I was starting to feel proud of myself.

------ ------ ------

We left the town hall to find the vanilla pony carrying bodies to one of the bigger fires which he had decided to use as a funeral pyre. One by one we carried the bodies of the Lipton town’s people to the flames that would mark their departure from this world. I said the task of moving the bodies would stay with me for a while, but this would probably last longer. The heat from the fire was bearable, but the smells and sights of the bodies burning were horrible.

The sun had retreated over the western hills as we stood watching the fire burn. It was comforting to believe that these ponies were now going to a better place. A place without Legion, malevolent dogs, bandits and violence. The vanilla pony was sitting and holding a medallion that resembled the sun around a crescent moon; he was offering a prayer for their safe passage into the great beyond.

“Fucking Legion…” he said as he finally got up, “always screwing things up. I decided to settle here just over three weeks ago and now there’s nothing left. I’m Stitches by the way. Doctor Stitches.”

“I’m Clover, and this is Ace,” I said while Ace nodded to him.

“Under different circumstances, I would be pleased to meet you. Given what’s happened, I’m more thankful.”

“What are you doing here in the first place?” Ace asked, “I thought desert medics roamed the wastes.”

“We do. I’ve been roaming for ten years, and after that long you grow tired of everything. You help one group of ponies one day, to have them die the next. You save a town, and as soon as you leave it gets razed to the ground. It’s just…so tiring. I came across Lipton three weeks ago and decided that I would stay and help. Hopefully then this town would survive. Then the Legion showed up. I would have killed them all…”

“What stopped you?” Ace asked. It seemed a bit insensitive, but then I realized it, he had an old SMG sticking out from his barding.

“My SMG jammed,” he had a ten millimeter SMG tucked away in it holster. He pulled it out and looked at it. “I didn’t have time to fix it before the damn dogs came down on us.” He took out the clip, and when he pulled the bolt back, a bullet flew out. He put the clip back in. “Dammit, always the same. The feed keeps jamming.” If it were I rifle, I could have fixed it; SMGs however… “Where are you headed?” he asked.

“Well, we don’t actually know yet,” I said, “we were hoping to find some information about a group of ponies that might have passed through here.”

“Let me guess. Was their leader wearing a checkered coat, had a greased back mane, and was followed by a bunch of tribals?” The image of the night I was tied up danced in my mind. I shook my head before answering.

“Yes, that would be the one.”

“Yeah, he passed through here. He couldn’t leave fast enough if you ask me; always trying to get everything ‘on the house.’ Why do you ask?” Ace braced herself.

I stared into the fire. “I have a package for him,” I growled and Ace cringed. I was going to my little dark place. I didn’t like it, but I couldn’t stop.

“Oh? What might that be?” I pulled out my knife and shoved into the dirt in front of me. “I see. May I ask what the payment for this package is?” Ace shook her head while mouthing ‘no!’

“He killed my brother and tried to kill me.” Ace bit her lip in silent anticipation. The air went cold around us. Hello dark place. Stitches looked at me oddly and Ace looked scared. It must have been my dark stare and bloody attire. Not to mention the light of the fire playing over my face and glinting sharply against Silent Reaper’s blade.

“Well…” Stitches said, “I can’t tell you where he was planning to go but wherever he’s going has to be over the mountains. He has to have gone through the Black Mountain pass.” I stood silently, watching the fire flicker over the bodies. I was picturing Double Down burning amongst them. “You two aren’t planning on heading out in the night, right?” he asked Ace.

“Nope.”

“Then you should stay here until morning. The house behind mine is empty. I’m sure you can take that one for the night.” He looked at me before saying, “You two can join me for dinner if you’re hungry.” I was transfixed on the flames. He looked at Ace with a confused look.

“We’d be glad to,” she said.

“Right, well when he’s snapped out of it, my house is the one at the end of the road…” Stitches looked back to me before walking down the road.

“Clover?” Ace asked as she waved a hoof in front of me, “You okay, Clove?”

“Yes,” I looked at her, “fine…perfectly…fine…”

”Not in here it isn’t,” said the voice in my head. I chose to ignore it.

“If you…say so…” Ace said, cautiously. I gave her a forced smile. “Right, we’ve been invited to dinner with Stitches. You are either coming out of your own free will, or I’ll drag you there.” I nodded as she turned and started walking down the road to Stitches’ house. I took one last long look at the fire before I trotted after her.

------ ------ ------

Stitches’ home was rather cozy. Ace and I sat on an old patched-up sofa while Stitches made dinner in the kitchen. He came out for a while and sat on a large armchair in front of us.

“So, where are you to from?”

“Bitter Roots,” said Ace, “Clover’s from the Apple Plains back west in NCR territory.”

“NCR, eh?” Stitches looked at me, “army?”

“No.” I said.

“Then why the hell would you leave the safety of New Canterlot to come to the Ponave Desert?”

“Package delivery.”

“Oh, the whole knife thing?”

“No...that came after.” Ace was starting to fidget. She didn’t like where this was going.

“So what were you delivering?”

“My brother and I…” I stopped for a second, trying not to show any sorrow, “were hired to take a package to the ‘Lucky Bucky’ casino on the New Neighgas strip. Then Double Down came along...”

“I see. Well, the city of New Neighgas is miles away to the north. I suppose the only way up north now is the Black Mountains, what with the things moving in on this side of the Spine.”

“Spine?”

“That’s the mountain range that cuts through the Ponave. Hmm, dinner must be just about ready.” And with that, he disappeared into the kitchen.

He came out holding a large pot by the handle and set it on top of a table nearby. Ace and I took our seats as he began serving us our meal. It was a delicious broth made from the freshest vegetables I had had in a long time. We continued to eat and make small talk before Ace and I went to the house Stitches had claimed was empty. If it wasn’t for the radroaches, he would have been right.

After stomping a few roaches, Ace and I found the bed room. It was a small room with two beds and a small table. I took off my saddlebag and bloodied barding before climbing into the bed and burying myself under the blankets.

“Clover, can I ask you something?” Ace said as she climbed into the other bed. I didn’t like where that was going.

“I’d rather you didn’t, but go ahead.”

“You know how you went into the town hall and stuff?” She said as she rolled onto her side to face me. I grunted in acknowledgment. “How did you manage to kill those dogs so easily?” Well I guess I saw that coming…

“Easy. They were animals. The fact that they were absolute monsters helped too, plus I used to pick off the odd hostile creature back on the ranch.”

“Not all animals are brainless killers, you know?”

“I am aware of that. Show me one that isn’t looking to bite my legs or my face off and I will gladly holster my weapons.”

“Not if I have anything to do with it” A voice whispered in the back of my head. What was going on with that? I hadn’t really thought about the voice until now, I dismissed it as something I would deal with when I wasn’t exhausted and aching.

I looked at Ace but she was already asleep. I decided she had better judgement than me and settled into the comfort of the bed.

------ ------ ------

I awoke with a start. I could feel a blistering heat beating down on me, and I found it hard to breath. I couldn’t see the ceiling through a thick cloud of smoke. The house we were staying in was on fire.

I jumped out of the bed. The floor was coated in a thick black mist; I couldn’t see my hoofs as they touched the ground. I pulled the blanket off of Ace to find that she wasn’t there, just the heads of several ponies staring blankly at me.

“What the fuck?” I shouted as I covered them back up. I ran into the main room of the house. The flames seemed to slow before coming to a complete stop. “Seriously, what the fuck…” I whispered to myself.

The Black Mist started to swirl around the low table in the center of the room. I could hear an insane laugh that started at a barely audible pitch but erupted into a deafening laugh as the mist took the form of a pony. The jet black pony in front of me grinned unnaturally through sharp teeth. Its glowing red eyes were giving me an evil stare as the mist radiated off of its body.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked.

“My dear Clover, do you not recognize me?” The pony said in a low dark voice. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t put my hoof on it.

Then it hit me like a flower pot, followed by an anvil, then a hay cart and finally a piano. No wonder I recognized this pony. It was me.

“Bravo, my dear meat sack,” the other me said, “it took you long enough.” This was getting weirder.

“Who are you?” I asked again.

“I don’t have a name yet,” he said before he assumed an exaggerated thinking stance, “I suppose I’m kind of a pioneer inside your mind. But Pioneer sounds too sappy, too silly. Let’s think of a synonym, shall we?”

“Okay, I seriously need to get out of here!” I said as I galloped to the front door. I opened it to find it led right back into the room I was already in. I turned to face to the other me.

“Oh, I know. How about Trailblaze?”

“That isn’t a synonym for the pioneer you claim to be!” I said.

“Correct. The meaning of pioneer I was referring to is to lay the ground work. A verb, if you will. And trust me,” he said as he floated up to my face, staring deep into my core with his glowing red eyes, “there’s plenty of ground work for us to do.” He charged at me and leaped leaving me no time to move out of the way before I absorbed him. I could feel him seeping into me through my eyes, nose and mouth. I could even feel it move through my ears as a wispy sensation of cold.

I awoke with a gasp. Ace shot up and looked around bleary eyed.

“Who? What? Where?” She mumbled while looking around. The moon was still in the clear desert sky, and the bonfire had burnt out. I looked at my Pipbuck to see it was just about three in the morning.

“Thank the goddesses; it was just a dream…” I sighed before lying back down.

“More nightmares?” Ace said as she lay back down in her bed.

“I don’t rightly know. That one was just…weird…” I said before rolling over and facing the wall, “nothing to worry about, go back to sleep.” Within minutes I could hear Ace’s gentle snoring. I found it adorable and comforting as I drifted back to sleep.

------ ------ ------

I fell to the floor in panic as a loud clanging woke me up. It was Ace banging her cooking equipment together.

“Rise and shine, Clovey, time to get up!” she shouted. I kicked her in the leg as I clambered back into bed and pulled the blanket over me.

“Go away,” I mumbled. Ace ripped the blanket off of me and drenched me with cold water. “Fine!” I shouted as I got up to hit her. She bolted out the door, laughing so I put on my stable barding, collected my saddlebag and varmint rifle. I really needed to get something with a little more stopping power.

I walked through the doorway to see Ace grinning at me while she peeked around the sofa. “That was just plain rude,” I said as I walked past her to the front door. “What’s the weather like today? Firey and burny as usual?” I opened the door to see a thick blanket of cloud covering up the sky. “Well this is a change…”

I saw Stitches trot out of his house. He was wearing an odd set of barding and helmet. His barding was a dark olive and green with numerous pockets; his saddle bags, helmet and foreleg bands had a red cross on them which I realised was the same as his cutie mark was his cutie mark. He waved at me before coming over.

“Morning, folks,” he said as he peeked into the house. I turned around to see that Ace was about to tip an old bucket of water over me.

“Don’t you dare…” I said. She didn’t heed my warning and tipped it over me. I was soaked. “Damn it, Ace, what was that for?” I asked as I moved my soaked mane from my face.

“You needed a shower, mister.” Well that was true; I hadn’t had a shower or bath since I’d left the Apple Plains. Or did Cloud…I’m not even going to think about that.

“I see you two had a good night’s sleep.” Stitches chuckled as he walked inside and sat down on an armchair. “Have you two thought of where to go now?” he asked. Honestly, I had no idea where to go. I was hoping someone here would have information on where he went in Lipton, but we all know how that turned out.

“Nope.” I said as I stretched out my neck, hearing several satisfying clicks from my spine. I continued to stretch out my body before sitting on the sofa, keeping an eye on Ace. Her little antics seemed to be over.

“In that case, come to Iron City with me. I’m sure the radio guru there will help you out in you predicament, given the circumstances.”

“Mr. Ponave?” I said as I clicked on my radio,

“Gooooood morning, Ponave Deseeeert! Hello campers, remember: today is Rad Away day, so don’t forget to drink some of that orange liquid and prepare for aftertaste-alley. Welcome to the Mr. Ponave Breakfast Show, bringing you the best tunes I can get my hoofs on and all the latest news as it happens. I guess we’ll start with the news.

“Sources claim that Lipton has gone silent after a visit from Crusader’s Legion. If anyone in the area has any idea what went down, contact your nearest Ponave Radio agent, if you can find them, or send a mail pony to the station.

“Now for our wartime correspondent, me. All quiet on the eastern front for the moment. Casualty reports from the last skirmish increase the death toll for NCR troops by five, their bodies have been recovered and are on their way home. Legion casualties are unknown.

“That’s it for news this morning but be sure to tune in later for the Twelve O’clock News. Now for the weather broadcast. Dust storms have started to swirl just south of Eastside, up near Bitter Roots and the Ponave Desert heartlands. Heavy storms and rain are expected to come down on us within the next twenty-four hours so duck ‘n’ cover people.

“Now for the best part of my program, the tunes. Here’s Sweetie Belle with ‘Maybe’”

“That’s the one,” said Stitches as I clicked it off.

“So Iron City it is. So why are you heading to Iron City?”

“I heard there’s a clinic out there, and I’m hoping that they have an opening for an experienced surgeon.”

“So shall we get going? Try to beat the bad weather coming in?”

“Sure thing, I’m ready, but are you two?” Stitches asked.

“I know I am.” Ace said as she dug through her saddlebag and pulled out a set of goggles and a bandanna. “Dust storms are fun!”

I searched through my belongings. Nothing but the stuff Cloud had given me, minus some food, water and a health potion.

“Umm, I’m not.” I said, sheepishly.

“I’m sure the general store will have something you can use,” but wasn’t Lipton deserted? “If we don’t take anything, bandits will roll up into town and take it all, no need to make it seem easier for them, right?”

I suppose leaving the store unguarded and unlooted would be a bad idea. Plus I needed something to wear other than the stable barding. It was still slightly blood stained and had a torn sleeve with threads that made me think a fly had landed every time the wind or my movement caused them to brush against the hairs on my foreleg. Never mind the memory of the jaws that had caused the tear.

------ ------ ------

The store wasn’t the biggest of places but still contained what anyone would need to survive in the desert; water, food, bandages and protective gear. The first thing to catch my eyes were three boxes of Pinkie’s Pies and a small box of Party Cupcakes. The cupcakes had “Now 20% cooler!” written in bold writing across the top. Something seemed iffy about them so I gave them to Ace. Before long we had stripped the store of food and water; our saddlebags were bulging. Not only did we find food and water but we also found a small sack of explosive powder, no doubt sold to the store by a Blammo.

“That’s more than enough to get us to Iron City.” Ace claimed as she closed her saddlebag.

Then came the task of finding some new barding. I searched the shelves and cabinets around the store but found nothing. It was then that I noticed a hooflocker tucked under the counter. Needless to say, it was locked. I plucked out my screwdriver and bobby pin and began to work. After I broke five pins, I realized I only had three left and gave up.

I asked Ace to try and pick it, but it seemed to be too complicated for her. Stitches claimed that he can remove bullets from flesh but couldn’t pick locks. I was about to give up completely before I remembered the explosive powder. The gears in my head started to grind as I formed an idea. I pulled the powder from my saddlebag and poured out a small mound onto my hoof. I then placed the mound into the lock and poured out a small trail around the counter. Ace and Stitches exchanged concerned looks.

“Duck ‘n’ cover!” I said as I dove behind a table having finished with the trail. Ace and Stitched stumbled over the table as I pulled out a match with my teeth. I lit it against the striker that I fumbled between my hoofs. ‘There has to be an easier way to do this…’ I thought to myself as the smoke from the match found its way up my nostril. I lit the small white trail and watched the powder sparkle as sparks danced up the trail. I ducked behind the table with a grin. Stitches and Ace had gritted their teeth and had their hooves in their ears.

I waited anxiously before I heard a rather loud bang. I peeked over the side of the table. There was a small trail of smoke coming from behind the counter and the wall behind it was partially scorched.

“Hooee! That was awesome!” I yelled, probably because my ears were ringing. If I had covered them up with my hooves like the others I wouldn’t be having that problem. You live and learn. Ace and Stitched looked at me as if I was nuts. “What? I was curious!” I said.

I walked around the side of the counter to see that the hooflocker had been blown open. The contents seemed to be surprisingly well protected from the blast as I lifted a package out. I opened it to find a long, brown leather coat and a red bandanna, perfect size too.

“Well it would seem your ingenuity exceeds that of your foolishness,” Stitched nickered when he saw the box blown open. I turned to show him and Ace the coat. “And it would seem your work has born fruit. Nice coat.” It was quite a nice coat but not barding which is what I really needed. I voiced this issue to Ace and Stitches.

“The store didn’t really deal in barding. The closest they had were neckerchiefs and bandannas,” Stitches told me.

“I guess I’ll have to improvise before my sleeve drives me crazy,” I said, grabbing the strands of the barding and ripping the sleeve off three inches from the shoulder. It felt much better now that I could move without it flapping in the breeze. I dumped the strands on the floor.

“Now don’t do that, with a bit of magic or antiseptic I can make tourniquets and bandages from them.” Stitched said as he gathered them up and popped them into his saddlebags.

I put the coat on over my barding. It was incredibly comfortable inside and had four pockets. The back of the collar rested just off the back of my neck.

“Looking snazzy,” Ace said, followed by a whistle, “now, are we ready to go? Or do we have to blow anything else up?”

“Well…” I started. The looks Ace and Stitches gave me cut me off. “…no…”

“Tally ho, to Iron City and beyond!” Ace shouted as she left the store.

“Is she always like this?” Stitches asked.

“I dunno. I hope not,” I said. He gave me an odd look before trotting after Ace.

------ ------ ------

We passed the smoldering remains of the bonfire. Stitches and I stopped and looked at the large pile of ashes.

“Goodbye, friends,” Stitches said before walking after Ace. I stared for a few more moments before trotting after the others.

We walked out of town and started heading into the hills. I turned and looked at the town of Lipton. It seemed quite peaceful from there, regardless of the now empty crosses, smoke and bloody spikes. I turned around and looked up at the hills, I was about to encounter the next obstacle on my journey.

Black Mountain Pass.

Footnote: LEVEL UP!
New perk: “Running with Scissors.”
You are able to use and throw melee weapons with greater precision.

Thanks to Logician, Errantindy and the good folks over at the FoE Proto doc for the help and edits.

More special thanks to Kal for the revisions.

Comments

[lol1759]

umm just wondering is this validated by Kkat?

[a friendly hobo]

26489

Nope.

Doubt it will be. But I'm not writing for his/her approval. I'm doing it for the challenge!

[a friendly hobo]

Reviews and comments are much appreciated, even if they are bad. I can always use input so I know where to improve.

26489
Theoretically, only Project Horizon is approved, mainly because Somber is one of the heavy hitters in the fiction department of the fandom.

This, and other side stories such as Pink Eyes, Gardener and other are simply made by fan of the work, an effort you can join and help them succeed at.

[a friendly hobo]

27184

Your comment just made my day!

This really motivates me because I was starting to loose confidence in it.

Spending the rest of this week revising my plan so it can only get better!

Here's a moustache for you all.

[Scully]

awwwwww ya this is awesome i had doubts but now that i actually read it i am not loven it this is pretty freaken awesome. Clover sounds like me i like to blow stuff to lol.

[Scully]

lol i meant now loven it lol o well

[Scully]

And i meant blow stuff up i dont do blow jobs lol nop not this guy.lol

[a friendly hobo]

29213

Ha ha. Some of the other FO:E side fic authors had a good laugh about that.