Red Dead Revival

by Crimson_Moon

A Matter of Perspective

Everything about the bar this mysterious stallion owned, heck, the entire company, just screamed to me "Blackwater but with horses". It unnerved me, that much was for certain. Still, he seemed nice enough to let us stay a bit, sending some of his men- er, stallions, to fetch the rest of the group. What got me the most was how a drop of liquor could turn that wallflower Fluttershy into another Uncle waiting to happen.

Fluttershy...

I really hope you get to read this someday, I been nothing but cruel to you. I never should have attempted to give you that first bottle...

"So, what can I do for you fine gentleponies while you're staying here in this establishment?" Woodstock grinned behind his desk, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and pouring himself a glass. He offered some to Big Mac and Arthur, but they both turned it down.

"We're just lookin' to resupply and move on." Arthur tipped his hat as a friendly gesture. "We'll offer what we can in services to pay for what we need. Our money is sadly in short supply."

The elderly pony took another sip from his glass, contemplating what to say. "I'm sure the boys could use an extra pair of hooves around the place. Nothin' too serious for such..." He eyed the gunslinger's satchel suspiciously. "Unique characters, such as yourself."

Arthur looked at Big Mac, hoping for some insight. As it usually was, he was as talkative as ever, only offering a small turning of the head in curiosity. "Well it seems my associate would like to know more."

"Hmm?" Woodstock turned to face the stallion. "Oh. Ohhh! Of course!" He chuckled before downing the last of his whiskey before pouring another round. "Nothing too serious, I promise! Just need you to strongarm some customers that forgot to pay is all." Woodstock finished with a small smile. "Well, do we have a deal?" He held out his hoof.

Big Mac eyed it for a minute before hesitantly grabbing it and giving his trademark "eeyup." Albeit less enthusiastically than usual.

"Good!" He chuckled, finishing off the last few drops of whiskey left in his glass. "Now let me introduce you to my boys. OHHH BOYYYYYS!" Woodstock hollered out. A rumbling of hooves could be heard from every direction; not only a show of numbers, but a demonstration of force as well. Grinning at the two stallions, the old horse chuckled dryly. "We got some fine stallions joining us for a while, be so kind as to let them be, ya hear?!"

A cacophony of shouts came from the army of mercenaries currently standing in formation around the bar, either in rude grunts and gestures, or in general murmurs of agreement. Smiling, the stallion shut the window. "Now that we got that settled, how's about we find a place for that Pegasus of yours to lay her head down?"

---

It was hours later when Fluttershy awoke. At first she had no clue where she was, but slowly the memory came back of her drinking, then getting real dizzy then... Something. Sitting up, she went to climb out of the cot she was nestled in when a large and very painful headache stopped her in her tracks. "Owwwwww..." she whimpered out, clutching her head.

"Well now, look who's awake!" Woodstock chuckled, entering the small one pony room she was in.

"Not so loud!" She held her head even tighter after the stallion shouted.

Seeing her reaction at him speaking nearly had him rolling on the floor in laughter. "Must be your first time with a hangover, heh heh!" Nudging his head towards the table next to the bed, Fluttershy took the hint and slowly sipped at the glass of water resting there. He slowly made his way further into the room, fishing out a large white tablet out of his pocket.

The mare jumped back in shock a bit, but the headache prevented anything beyond that. "Relax. It's a seltzer tablet. Here-" he motioned for the cup and dropped the tablet in when it was in reach, the water turning fizzy upon contact. "You just drink that up, it should help."

"...Thank you." The Pegasus barely whispered.

This is what my boys were terrified about? Clearing his throat, Woodstock sat down next to her for a spell. "You must have some sort of mean streak buried in ya if my boys are so riled up by a sweet little thing like you."

"Um sir, I'm sorry but I don't know who you are."

"Who, me?" The old stallion smiled. "I'm an acquaintance of Arthur's. Just think of me as the 'Mayor' of this little hole in the ground!" He chuckled. "Now, you mind bein' honest with me? What exactly you got buried underneath that sweet exterior?"

Fluttershy glanced over the old stallion once more, before sighing. "I don't socialize well with other... Ponies. I have a hard time being assertive." she took another sip of her water, the headache from before slowly clearing. "I tried to be assertive once before, but it backfired... I bullied all my friends and even made some of them cry. After that, I told myself that version of me wouldn't come out again... Turns out Arthur's whiskey brings it back out."

The entire time she was talking, not once did Woodstock ask what drove her to drink. To him, she was nothing more than another type of his kind; She just didn't know it yet. Unsure of what to say, he got up and adjusted his outfit- a trait he picked up as a fine businesspony. After all, you need to look the part every once in a while.

The old stallion cleared his throat and straightened up a bit. "Well, since everypony is too damn scared to work with you, I think it's best you pay back your tab by helping me with a job."

Curious, Fluttershy cocked her head. "What could that be, Mister Mayor?"

Woodstock chuckled again. "Oh, you'll see..."

---

A few minutes later…

"I don't trust him!" Mac exclaimed. "Stallions like that want one thing, and that's usually bits."

"You think I don't know that, big guy?" The gunslinger spoke calmly, eyeing the mercenaries they were passing. "We're here to restock and get goin'. Plus, they might have a lead on Applebloom, or did ya forget we're doing this for her sake?"

Big Mac stopped in his tracks. "Is this a game to you, Arthur?!" He snorted. "Our lives have changed! I can feel myself getting closer to a level I thought no pony could reach."

"Oh yeah?" Arthur snorted back. "And what level was that, Mac?!"

"YOURS!" He stamped his hoof in the ground, leaving a crack. Silence permeated the air after that. Even the nearby mercenaries stopped and stared at the two, either with genuine shock or increased paranoia.

“Well what are y’all lookin’ at?!” Arthur all but yelled. After most eyes pried away, he went to the nearby saloon where the commotion with Fluttershy first started, not for answers but for the stuff that put her into a frenzy. Right now, that’s better than worrying over everything. Besides, Big Mac knew better, he was just scared. The old gunslinger knew that feeling all too well. “He’ll turn around…”

Shaking his head of worrisome thoughts, Arthur pushed the doors open to the saloon and sat at the bar, not even bothering to look up. “Whiskey, and leave the bottle!” He said with a tone of frustration in his voice.

“Right away, Arthur. One whiskey bottle ready to go!” A familiar cream yellow hoof handed him the bottle and a shot glass.

“What the-? Fluttershy?!” He exclaimed, nearly falling out of his stool and earning a giggle from her.

“I didn’t mean to surprise you, teehee!” She smiled, cleaning the bar’s surface with a towel. “Mayor Woodstock was kind enough to offer me this job. At least until I pay off my debts…” True enough, there was probably a tab built after Fluttershy’s drunken brawl but he had no time to worry about that.

“Well… okay, then.” He said with hesitation. She poured the stallion a shot of whiskey and left the bottle. After eyeing the liquid for a minute or two, he drank the shot in one fell swoop. Arthur liked the taste of whiskey back in New Hanover, but tasting it here was… different. It didn’t quite have the bite he was used to, like it was missing that gritty burning sensation from how strong the proof was. Glancing at the bottle told him why- there was not a whole lot of alcohol in it to begin with.

“Say Fluttershy, just how many shots did you drink from your… incident?”

“Hmm?” She asked, wiping a glass clean from behind the counter. “I’d suppose at least three or four…”

“Just a few shots sent you into a frenzy like that?! Yer pulling my leg!”

“Oh no.” She giggled. “Three or four bottles.”

"Well no wonder you were so fierce!" He chuckled. Pouring another shot, Arthur continued. "Ya know, you remind me of a certain someone I knew a while back, heh. His name was Lenny..."

"Oh?" she poked further. "What kind of pony was he? I hope he was as kind as I was!"

Arthur took a long time to answer that, eyeing the bottom of his whiskey glass and seeing his distorted reflection. The stallion sighed, forgetting the shot this time and taking a swig directly from the bottle. "Well, he was young and naive. He didn't really know how to fit in the group much, on account of multiple things. Same goes for mingling with the city folk when me and a fella named Dutch along with a bunch of other folk like us would roll into town. He was a er..." He stopped for a second, trying to come up with a good way to explain how a person of color was treated to Fluttershy. This world of ponies didn't know much about racism, on account of everyone seemingly getting along. Clearing his throat he continued. " *ahem* Well, he just was treated different. Like how a regular pony might give you strange looks on account of your wings if he's never seen a Pegasus before."

Fluttershy gasped. "My goodness! I couldn't imagine being treated differently like that!"

He chuckled. "Yeah well, that was the kind of world I lived in." He took another long swig before continuing. "Too bad he got killed. His kindness and innocence was a nice change of pace."

"I'm sorry, Arthur." She grabbed a hold of his hoof. "It sounded like he was a good friend."

He gently set his other one on top of hers, glaring into her eyes with his own sad, weathered ones. "Thanks Fluttershy. This life, this... suicide mission, it can change you, turn friends to enemies. Just promise me you won't change too much."

"I promise, Arthur Morgan." She smiled back. "Now let's get my tab paid for! I think I hear the rest of our group rolling into town."

Author's Note:

Long time coming, but I finally got it done! Just a heads up, updates are gonna be sporadic due to a lot of life changes. Hope this will be enough to sate your appetite for a while. Until next time, keep commenting! I gotta know how I'm doing if I'm ever gonna improve :)

Comments

[Bronycommander]

better late than never

[Northern Star]

Hey an update on this one!

I'll have to complement you on keeping the same style, even with the two year gap. Most seem to have a dramatic change after that long.

Sporadic is fine, just not years please.