The Stranger With a Big Iron on Her Hip

by Omega_code

Chapter 23

Thanks to PiquoPie for proofreading.

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The ground reverberate under the pounding of the griffon’s feet as she ran. She lashed forth at Celestia, bringing her claws down at a full swing. Celestia quickly moved her shield in the way, letting the griffon’s claw bounce harmlessly off the shield. Celestia quickly bashed her shield against the griffon’s body, knocking the griffon back a couple of feet.

The griffon’s head vibrated violently, making her vision of the world shake back and forth. Her vision refocused just in time to see a hoof making its way towards her face. The hoof struck with great force, causing the griffon’s neck to brutally bend backwards. She fell on her back; her wings sprawled out on the ground, her blank eyes staring out into the sky.

Celestia let out a suppressed sigh before putting her hind right hoof back on the ground, straightening her pose. Her body was griped with pain, especially in her left wing where a griffon had gotten a lucky shot, but more importantly she was getting very exhausted from all the fighting. She was not as young as she used to be and had been out of practice for many decades. Add to that the effects of the radiation poisoning from the corrupted magic the griffons were spreading throughout the town and you get one very tired Princess.

Stay strong Celestia, she thought to herself. You can’t fail your subjects a second time. Celestia made her way where her spear was imbedded in the ground. It was soon wrapped in a yellow glow and pulled free. You need to finish this battle quickly; these griffons aren’t like the changelings. They have no intention to keep your subjects alive. You can’t hold back your power any longer; you have to end them.

Celestia reassessed her last thought. “No, I won’t; I’m not that kind of pony any longer.”

Celestia heard the flap of wings behind here along with the sound of someone landing on the ground. Thinking it was a griffon trying to ambush her, Celestia spun around with her shield and spear up in the air and charged forth.

“Your highness!” A stallion’s voice shouted out.

Celestia stopped. In front of her was a grey pegasus that she had never seen before. He was holding up a single hoof in the air as if he was about to block the spear with it. Celestia, realizing what she had almost done, drew her spear away from the pegasus and relaxed her pose as the grey pegasus lowered his hoof. “You shouldn’t be here my little pony. You need to get to safety,” she said wearily.

“Actually it should be quite the opposite; you need to get safety while I handle Cadbury’s forces.” Celestia gave the pegasus a strict look. “Save your questions for later. Right now you have more pressing matters.” Something caught the pegasus’ eye. A green magical blade extend from his hoof and he flew pass Celestia. A squawk of pain and the sound of flesh being stabbed filled Celestia’s ears. Celestia slowly turned her head to see a griffon she’d knock out earlier with the pegasus’ blade protruding through his neck. The grey pegasus jerked his blade to the left, freeing it from the griffon’s neck while dislodging the griffon’s head. Celestia watched in horror as the head roll around on the ground. “You didn’t have to do that,” she said in a shock tone.

“There’s no other way your highness. Any pain you inflect on them, they can just shrug off. You have to end them; otherwise...,” he pointed his hoof behind her. Celestia turned around and saw the other griffons getting back up. “...they will just get back up.” A griffon lashed forth at Celestia, wanting revenge for getting bucked in the chest. The grey pegasus intercepts the griffon, and tackle him to the ground. The magic blade once again extended from the pegasus’ hoof and he embedded it into the griffon’s neck.

Celestia didn’t know what to do. She wanted to protect her subjects, but wasn’t getting anywhere with her passive fighting. Even worse, the griffons were out for blood and were not holding back on who they were attacking. A griffon leapt towards the grey pegasus; Celestia held up her spear and threw it.

*********************

“You’re doing fine Twilight; don’t give up now,” Applejack reassured. Twilight only responded by grunting as she continued to concentrate on keeping her magical shield dome up. Inside that dome (along with Twilight and Applejack) were Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Braeburn, and half a dozen or so Appleloosa’s town folk.

Outside were two griffons Twilight was trying to keep out. Each of the griffons took turns in lobbing fireballs at Twilight’s shield; enjoying the torment they were causing the ponies inside as they chipped away their protective shield. The shield cracked and strained with each strike it took. Twilight’s horn flickered at the effort to keep her spell up. She didn’t know how long she could maintain it.

One of the griffons, a dark gray one, saw Twilight’s predicament and stopped the other from attacking. The other griffon was a bit confused as to why he was being stopped, but the gray griffon only gave a reassuring smile as he walked up to Twilight’s shield and stood on his hind legs. He then engulfed both of his claws in the green taint of corrupt magic.

The griffon began to furiously swipe his claws against the shield. Sparks of energy flew out of the shield with each strike, and the cracks grew larger. Twilight moaned as she tried to keep her shield together, but it was too much this time. The griffon held his claws high in the air and gave a final powerful downward slash. His claws sliced right through the shield, which shattered, and Twilight was greeted by a backlash of magic and a splitting pain in her head.

Twilight began to fall to the ground, but Applejack caught her before she could hit it. “Twilight, are you alright!?” Applejack asked. Her only respond was a soft, exhausted moan. “One down,” Applejack heard the griffon taunt. Applejack took her gaze away from Twilight and looked at the griffon. He and his friend both had sinister grins on their faces as they looked at the terrorized group of ponies.

“I’m not going down that easy,” Rainbow Dash shouted back. She shot forth from the group and tackled the grey griffon to the ground. Dash rained blows down upon the griffon. The griffon reached up and placed his claw underneath Rainbow’s chest and fired a fireball. The force from the fireball knocked Dash high into the air as she let out a cry of pain. She landed a few yards away from the griffon with smoke rising from her chest. She tumbled around in the dirt for a couple rotations before stopping; her body remained motionless.

The three standing mares all looked at Dash’s body in horror, fearing the worst. However, Rainbow propped a single hoof on the ground as she tried to push herself back up. Fluttershy began to rush to Dash’s side to help, but the other griffon got in her way. He made a ball of fire in his claws. “Wait your turn,” he said menacing. Fluttershy stopped in her tracks, to unnerved to move back with the group.

The grey griffon posed himself over to the weaken Dash. Dash turned her head to see the griffon raised up its sharp claws in air.

*Bang*

The griffon’s claw exploded, making Rainbow clinch her face as blood rained down on her. The griffon roared in pain as he withdrew from Dash and clinched his missing claw. However, the air was quickly filled with the sound of rapid mini explosions. The griffon body rippled as small burst erupted from his body. The rapid exploding sounds soon ceased, and the griffon’s body stopped jerking. Gravity soon dragged the body down, making the griffon fall over to his side.

Everyone looked to where the sounds were coming from. Standing there was a bipedal figure somewhat familiar. While Braeburn and the three standing mares recognized the body and the armor of Scarlet, her face was now covered by an expressionless mask with green eyes. Scarlet pointed her weapon over to other griffon before he could retaliate, and fired another long burst of fire from her weapon.

The griffon reacted quickly by leaping out of the way, but the lower half of his body got hit by a spray of bullets. The griffon slid across the ground for a few feet as Scarlet tracked her gun on him. Sudden the gun stopped firing and Scarlet looked down at it. She swiftly released the trigger and pulled again, only getting a single clicking sound from the gun.

The griffon wasted in no time and lobed a fireball at Scarlet. Scarlet saw the fireball coming at, and quickly turned her back to it. The fireball hit the lower part of Scarlet’s right shoulder. It exploded with the force akin to being hit by a rebar club swung by a Knightkin, and caused green flame to spread across her back.

Scarlet stood her ground and ignored the heat from the fire along with frantic ticking from her Pip-Boy. She pulled out the empty magazine, letting it drop to the ground, and quickly reached for the fully loaded one. She snapped in the mag and pulled the small lever on the gun; a satisfying click reaching her ears.

She turned and faced the griffon. Her weapon then fired several precise rabid bursts. Bullets hit the griffon’s chest and part of his wing, creating small bursts of fur and blood with each contact. The griffon collapsed to the ground, and didn’t get back up. Scarlet walked up to the body and pulled out Lucky. She aimed at the head and fired three rounds into it.

The ponies shuddered, with the exception of Fluttershy who rushed over to Rainbow Dash’s side. “Rainbow Dash, are you alright!?” Dash’s only response was a very weak moan. Two more shots filled the air, and Fluttershy took her gaze away from Dash. She saw Scarlet standing over the other griffon body with her gun pointing down on it. Scarlet holstered her weapon and began to walk over to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. She knelt down opposite from Fluttershy and placed two fingers on the side of Rainbow’s neck.

After a few seconds passed Scarlet reach down to a pouch and pulled out the other.

Scarlet then began to gently roll Dash on her back, which caused Dash to moan some more. Scarlet then raised the small device in the air, and stabbed the needle into Rainbow Dash’s chest. Dash’s eyes widened at the sudden pressure, and she let out a small cry of pain. Fluttershy let out a startled gasp, concerned that Scarlet was doing more harm.

“She’ll be fine,” Scarlet’s muffled voice spoke out. “They’re only minor second degree burns; the stimpak should be able to heal most of it.” Scarlet pulled the stimpak out of Dash’s chest and discarded it to the ground. The sound of fast clopping hooves came up from behind. Scarlet turned her head to see Applejack and Braeburn rushing up to them.

“Fluttershy, Scarlet!” AJ called out. The two southern ponies stopped as they reached the human and the ponies. Applejack looked at her passed out injured friend. “Is she going to be all right?”

“She will be.” Scarlet stood back up. “You need to clean her wound of dead and burnt skin.” She pulled out another stimpak. “Then after that, inject this into her chest and bandage the wound, if you can.” She held it out, waiting for somepony to grab it. Applejack reached out and took it.

“What are you going to do?” Braeburn asked

A small explosion burst from the other end of town, catching everyone attention. “Y’all need to head back inside and keep low. I have some griffons to kill.” Scarlet rearmed herself with her previous weapon, and walked off towards the recent explosion.

“But what if we’re attacked again?”

Scarlet stopped and looked back. “Then y’all better hope you can fight better than your friend did.” Without saying another word, Scarlet continued on walking, leaving the ponies to fend for themselves.

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Fallout New Vegas is copyrighted Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks.
MLP: Friendship is Magic is copyright to Hasbro.
All characters that belong to their companies are rightfully theirs. This writing is for fun and nothing else.

Author's Note:

Oh look something new for me to play with.

Not much to say here other than the mane six are not going to be spare lightly in my fights. Like Scarlet said earlier,"There will be blood", and she didn't meant there will be only griffon's blood.

Comments

[MoldyShishkabob]

BADASS MODE.
…
ACTIVATE.

[Grey Warden]

Go Scarlet and doesnt she have rad away to use?

[Krenshaw]

Radaway gives you diarrhea when you use it though.

[TacoTown]

Vance's 9mm submachine gun and Lucky? Personally, I prefer Oh, Baby and That Gun.

[Obsidian]

A few rads ain't gona kill her. She can eat up some, she may well be mutated to the point where radiation is actually helpful up until that terminal level.

[Piquo Pie]

Question for viewers.

As a pre-reader/editor I am hoping that I am doing a acceptable job. Has anyone scene a drop in quality in the past few chapters? Possibly anything I need to focus on?

[Omega_code]

1807942
Actually it's a Tommy gun with Lucky in this round of the battle.

[TacoTown]

1808895...ok then.

[Reaper1oo]

1808040 I noticed a few words that were not in the correct tense, or the one case of too being to.
Very minor, and I've already forgotten where they were (sorry )

[Piquo Pie]

1826394

Thank you.

[SkyfireHero]

Sleepytyme is my SMG of choice from the Gun Runners' Arsenal DLC