The Stranger With a Big Iron on Her Hip

by Omega_code

Chapter 24

Thanks to PiquoPie for proofreading.

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While it might have been cruel to leave a dozen defenseless ponies to themselves in the middle of a battle, Scarlet was no babysitter and didn’t plan to become one. She hurried down the street, passing by burning homes and either dead or passed out ponies. She took a left down an alleyway and saw her target; a single griffon just finishing off some random pony.

Scarlet quickly pinned herself to the side of the nearest wall before the griffon could had a chance to see her, though if had good ears her Pip-boy’s ticking would have already given her away. She took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. While one thought told her to just mow down the lone griffon, another told her to make sure he was alone and to reload Lucky too. Scarlet carefully let go of the .45 machine gun, letting the leather strap hold the gun as she reached to her right side to pull out Lucky. Her left hand also reached for a pouch that held her .357 magnum round. Her two hands began to work on reloading Lucky with what was second nature to them and her eyes look over the compass of her Pip-boy.

Built in the compass was the Friend-or-Foe radar which helped her “see” were people are and if they are hostile or not. Right now there were three red marks appeared among a scatter of yellow marks. Making a mental note to keep an eye out for other griffons, she flipped the loading compartment of Lucky closed and holstered it, and then rearmed herself with the .45 machine gun. Scarlet took in a deep breath and slightly leaned out to the side to check on the griffon. The griffon had its back to her and was about to take off.

Scarlet quickly acted. She stepped out and pointed her weapon at the griffon and let loose a small burst of fire. The bullets tore through the griffon’s back, and the griffon let out a roar of pain. He turned around to see the imposing woman and charged. Scarlet didn’t move, allowing the griffon to advance to her spot. Then at the last few seconds the griffon leapt towards her with his claws fully extended, but Scarlet quickly took refuge behind the wall letting the griffon grabbed nothing but air. She then pointed her weapon at the griffon and dispatched him like all of the rest.

Scarlet smirked inside her helmet. They always fall for that trick. Scarlet took out the round magazine clip, figuring it didn’t have many bullets left, and went to grab a fresh regular rectangular clip for the weapon.

The moan of wood faintly reached Scarlet’s ears. Scarlet tilted her head up to see a griffon pouncing on top of her. The griffon dragged Scarlet to the ground, clawing at her back and trying to bite into her neck. Scarlet struggled with griffon trying to knock it off her, but the griffon didn’t seem to be phased by her blows.

The two fought, rolling around in the dirt, each of them raining blows at each other. Scarlet was finally able to shove the griffon off her back by grasping a hand around the griffon’s neck and her other hand at one of griffon’s front claws. She then braced her knees on the ground and began to pull both of her hands down, flipping the griffon onto its side. Scarlet promptly reached for a pistol, pulling out Maria and fired five rounds at the griffon.

The griffon’s body went slack, and Scarlet took in deep short raspy breaths through her mask. She fried two more rounds for good measure, since the gun did have a record of once failing to kill. Scarlet then scanned around her area, making sure there wasn’t another griffon waiting its turn to leap off a building. She couldn’t see anything with her eyes, but her Pip-boy still had one red mark left.

Scarlet grunted as she stood back up, and wince in pain from the cuts the griffon made. The cuts ran through her neck to her shoulders where the griffon tried to rip into her; however, there were also cuts running along the back of her legs. Probably made by his hind legs, figures that they have sharp claws at both ends.

Scarlet holstered Maria and reached for the .45 machine gun, only to find it not at her side anymore. She reached behind to also find her 12.7mm SMG was missing too. Scarlet frantically looked around to find them lying on the ground, probably knock off with her struggle with the griffon. She walked over and pick up the 12.7 SMG and was glad to see it was relatively undamaged; however, when she went over to the .45 machine gun she found not only a torn leather strap, but also a bent barrel. It was only a minor bend at the end of the barrel near the tip, something that she could fix if she had the right tools and the time, but she didn’t have either right now so she just left it hoping to find it once this battle was over.

She armed herself with 12.7 SMG, making sure it was fully loaded before heading off to face the final griffon. Scarlet walked out onto the street carefully scanning for the other griffon. However, her eyes spotted something completely different. If the symbol of the Legion and a Super Mutant had an offspring it would probably look like the creature that was standing on the far side of the road. It had a buffed torso of a human supported by two tiny legs with hooves instead of feet. There was also a bull's head sitting on top of the body, with two white pointed horns ejecting out from the side. It had a grey fur coat barring several grayish pink scars, and it was gripping an axe, the head of which was resting on the ground, firmly in his hand.

"It appeared my master was wrong about you for his plan to fail," a ruffed male voice spoke out. "To let a young filly die to save your skin can be seen as a very disgraceful thing in the eyes of many. Yet I'm happy that you did it otherwise I wouldn't have the pleasure of taking you down myself."

I guess he hasn’t heard about Alpha’s interference. “Well I’m happy to make your last battle end on a happy thought.” Scarlet brought up her 12.7 into firing position. “Say hi to your friends will ya.” Scarlet quickly enter VATS and selected her actions, hoping to beat the shield the bull could pull up. Her Pip-boy carried out her actions and all of her bullets hit their marks.

The bull staggered as his chest was hit by a barraged of bullets, but he did not fall. The bull looked up at Scarlet and smiled wickedly. “I think you have the wrong idea there human.” He took one of his hands off from the axe and began to swap down his chest with it. “It will take more than your mere weapons to take me down.” Flattened bullet heads began to fall of the bull’s chest, making small thumps as they hit the ground. “This is not going to be my last battle, it will be yours.”

The bull gripped both of his hands back around the axe’s handle and lifted the head up from the ground. He turned the axe around so that the axe’s head was now pointing up in the air, and the bull got himself into a stance rearing the axe for a swing. The bull then charged at Scarlet with rushing speed equivalent to that of a Deathclaw. Scarlet barely had enough time to get out of the way before she gotten sideswipe by the blade of the axe. The air made a swooshing sound as the axe swung inches away from her chest. The bull abruptly stopped in his charge, his hoofs carving lines in the ground as he recovered from his missed swing.

Scarlet briskly continued to sidestep away from him while unloading the rest of her magazine, hoping it would damage at close range. Unfortunately her attack ended up in the same result as before. The bullets flattened when they made contact with the bull’s skin. The bull let out an annoyed snort and prepared for an overhead swing at her. Scarlet quickly stepped out the way, letting the axe’s head get embedded in the ground, and she discard her SMG and pulled out her gladius. “I thought your master wanted me alive!” She shouted out through her mask.

“True, but in reality he only needs your body to complete his project.” The bull pulled the axe out of the ground with one strong tugged of his muscular arms. “He will have to find someone else for the mind to power it later.” The bull prepared his axe for another sideway swing. Scarlet barely dodged it and got in close to the bull as he was finishing his swing, thrusting her gladius at the bull’s chest. The blade didn’t make the slightest mark, only being deflected upward. The bull smirked at Scarlet’s failed attempt to kill him. He brought one of his hands off the axe, curled it up into a fist, and backhanded Scarlet.

Scarlet staggered backwards, nearly losing her balance. Her head was aching and she could taste blood inside her helmet. “I’m impressed in your will to fight, even when all of your attempts of harming me fail; normally anyone else will either be fleeing or begging for their life.”

“I’d rather be crucified to a cross than giving up.” Scarlet bitterly answered.

“Hmph, you should give up. My master’s gift gives me an enormous amount of strength, skin tough as hardened steel and endless stamina to run on. You have no chance of ever taking me down.”

Scarlet emitted a soft chuckle as a faint smile grew on her inside the mask. “So you have to rely on cheating to win your battles? I guess your own strength was too weak for you to even throw a simple punch.”

The bull scowled at Scarlet. “I assured you, I don’t need my master’s gift to win all of my battles or to aid me. That punch I’ve gave you is a taste of my true strength without any aid.”

Scarlet let an amused scoffed. “You called that a punch? I know a grandma who is over two hundred years old who can hit harder than you.” Her grip tightened on the gladius as she held it up preparing for a fight. “She’s a lot prettier than you too.”

The bull’s scowled intensified. “Very well, I shall give you the slow and painful death you have wished for.” The bull impaled his axe in the ground and curled up both of his hands into fists. The bull then dashed forward, jabbing his right fist into Scarlet’s chest only to give an uppercut with the left shortly after. Scarlet stumbled, but was still standing. She retaliated back lashing her gladius; however, the bull grabbed her arm and twisted it, forcing her to drop the blade. While still holding Scarlet twisted arm, the bull gave a hard blow to her head, only then to release his grip.

Scarlet slammed onto her back, knocking the wind out of her. Scarlet started to rasped for air, but found out the filter was broken and the air flow being restricted. Part of the helmet’s eye lens was also cracked, making her version distorted. Scarlet frantically moved her hands on working of removing the helmet. She succeeded by ripping her head out taking a deep breath, followed by coughing up blood. She rolled over, propping herself up by a single arm and spitting out more blood.

A shadow grew over her. Scarlet looked up to see the bull got its axe out the ground. “You put up a valiant fight. I can see why my master would want you alive.” He raised his axe over his head. “However, you are too much of a threat to his final plans.” The bull swung the axe down in a full overhead swing, letting the axe’s head swoop towards Scarlet’s neck.

A round shield placed itself between Scarlet and the axe in blink of an eye. The axe slammed into the shield, and the resonating sound of clashing metal filled the air. The axe bounced off the shielded and the bladed shatter into pieces. Both Scarlet and the bull were surprised to see the shield block such a might blow, and had no sort of mark made on it. The shield started to move away from them and flew back to its owner, Celestia, who looked as if she was been through a ruff fight.

Her body bore some cuts and scorch marks, her mane didn’t seemed as lively flowing as before, and there were blood stains spatter across her legs and lower part of her chest. Her face was no longer showing that compassionate face Scarlet had always seen her carrying, but was now showing one that bared fierce determination of anger and vengeance. “I will only say this once, leave Appleloosa and your life will be spare.” She said in a calm calculated voice.

The bull blinked a few times in disbelief, then he started to chuckle. “Oh you don’t know how many times I’ve dreamt of taking down the ruler of Equestria.” He cracked his knuckles and neck as he walked towards the Princess. “Cadbury will be very pleased if I bring the human and your head when I get back.”

Celestia eyes closed as her horn increased in brightness. “Very well,” her eyes opened reviling a blinding glow, “then your life will end now.”

The bull grinned at the challenge. He dropped his broken axe and rolled his hands up into fists. He then charged at Celestia letting out a war cry. The magic aura around Celestia’s spear began to hum as the glowed gleamed even brighter; the metal tip of the spear now looked as if it was engulfed in flame. The bull was getting closer; his eyes became delusional as they zeroed in on Celestia, his body began to emit an eerie green glow. Celestia stood her ground, not budging a single inch, waiting for the right moment. The green glow around the bull began to look like a fire dancing on top of his skin. He was a few yards from Celestia when he leapt, throwing his fist towards Celestia face. With a bright flash Celestia disappeared, making the bull’s fist hit the ground.

A small magical explosion burst harmlessly, leaving a small fist-size crater burrowed into the ground. Enraged, the bull quickly got up and looked around for Celestia. “I knew it; you’re just a pathetic weak coward! Your kingdom will fall and there is nothing you can do to stop it!” He savagely yelled out.

“You’re wrong,” Celestia voice menacingly said from out nowhere. Instantly she appeared behind the bull and plunged her spear through his chest. The bull let out a labor gasp as he eyed the spear coming out of his chest. “I will not fail my subjects again. I will do everything in my power to stop Cadbury and make sure he will never harm anyone ever again.” She drew her spear out as the bull fell to the ground.

Celestia let out a tensed sigh as she relaxed her body. She looked over at Scarlet who was now standing with one of her hands clinching over a chest injury. “About bloody time you showed up,” she said in pain. “I didn’t know how much longer I could’ve held him off.” Scarlet began to slowly walk forward. “I must say, you fight well for a pony who abhorred killing.”

Celestia rest her spear in the ground and rushed over to Scarlet’s side. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Don’t worry about me, I had worse injures than this before. Shot in the head remember?” Scarlet spotted something off in the distance. “Though I think you have more pressing matters to deal with.”

Celestia turned her head around and spotted a group of ponies gathering, and among them was Twilight. Twilight’s face bore shock and horror and she was shaking her head in disbelief. She slowly backed away from the group, and galloped off in the distance. Celestia stood there with a heavy heart. They have the won the battle, but at what cost?

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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:

Random Lilly reference FTW

Comments

[Jess887cp]

Update? YES! :D

And a good battle scene too

[TacoTown]

I know where to get every weapon you mentioned here, as well as recognized th' character references. Lily is a good companion, but i much prefer Boone or Raul.

and get a proofreader.

[Grey Warden]

I loved taking lily with me!!!

[Deactivated 001]

I lol'd the moment I saw the lilly reference.

[MoldyShishkabob]

Wait, if the minotaur was like the right-hand man of Cadbury, then how hard would it be to actually kill Cadbury himself?

[Omega_code]

1922021
Who said that was Gamma? And considering that Celestia herself had a tough time in taking down Cadbury when she banish him to Tartarus, you figure that one out.

[MoldyShishkabob]

1922044 Wait that wasn't Gamma?!
Well… balls…
That just makes it worse!

[Reaper1oo]

Yup, Lilly is best grandma.

Nice chapter, if a touch rough.

[The Libertarian Brony]

2058746 Huh?

[Celestias Paladin]

th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/356/4/2/epic_celestia_by_omegasunburst-d5oqcev.png

[primeoetgrunn]

I loved being Lily's "Little Johnny"...
Until I met Cass.