All Quite in the West
As we left the woods and stepped onto the flat plains of the peninsula, I had to admit… I’ve seen better. Eaglecrest is bigger than New Vegas (not the original Vegas though), but nowhere as nice as New Reno (one of the nicest places west of the Rockies outside of good ole’ California). Eaglecrest was tucked up against the water, with the nicest part of town closest to the docks, with the buildings getting worse and worse the further away you got. The slums that made up the city on the edge of town were in bad shape, but bad shape is still better than wasteland shape, each wooden ‘building’ still had four walls and a roof, doors still stood in their frames, and the alleys were full of drunkards not corpses.
Leaving behind the comic duo after collecting our pay we made our way into said slums, the cobblestone roads clacking under our boots. Arend wisely made the decision to jump over the stream of mystery substance that flowed into his path from a nearby alleyway.
Upon coming up on an intersection I noticed a couple of criers standing on the corners, each one trying to hawk their stores goods; the one on the left was a smiling pony in a cook's apron and oversized hat holding a sign that said “Roadkill Café; Free Eats; Donations Accepted;”... definitely staying away from that pony and any Roadkill Café.
The other crier was a Gryphon, and the closest thing I’ve seen to a Kings Member in this world, his leather jacket and slicked back head feathers gave me some warm nostalgia, and he was leaning on the wall of a bar if the Beer Glass sign was any clue, some good music was playing on the inside. He opened an eye and spotted us, giving a small grin he waved us over to him. “First time in Eaglecrest? You’ll want to head inside and talk to the barkeep, tell him that Bucky sent ya.”
Walking into the bar was like walking into another world, out of the dirty slums and into a well cared for and beloved bar. The wood was stained with beer and ale, while the seats were being held together with duct tape and elbow grease, but people were laughing and good times were being had.
As we took our seats on the bar, I took off my helmet and set it down on the bar. An old gryphon walked up to us from behind the bar, his leather jacket and cowboy hat barley drawing away the attention from the long silver scar over his left eye. “Howdy young’uns, I’m the keep of this ‘ere shithole. Names Tuk but most ‘ere call me Uncle, what can I get for ya?”
I smiled at the old timer, “I’ll take a whiskey Uncle, the older the better.”
Sunset looked away from the colt playing a tin whistle in the corner, “Umm… you got a martini back there Tuk?”
“Sure do young’un. And you lad?”
“Vhatever is on tap Onkel.”
Uncle smiled and walked away taking three glasses from beneath the bar, a shot glass, a cocktail glass, and a stein. He poured a 1/2 oz of some vermouth and 3 oz of gin into a mixer as well as something from a smaller bottle, shook it, and poured it into the glass, he then garnished the glass with a lemon twist. He then took the large pewter stein and filled it with a dark beer from one of the taps against the back wall. Then he filled the shot glass with a labelless bottle from his own jacket.
“ ‘ere you go young’uns, enjoy.”
Sunset took a small sip of her glass with a sigh on contentment, before smiling at the old gryphon, “Perfect, thanks Tuk.”
Arend nodded at Uncle and took a long drink, I picked up my glass before taking a small sip, yep, it was pretty old with a solid burn..
“Thanks Uncle... by the way Bucky at the door told us to talk to you,”
“Ah, my grandson. He watches the bar at night when this old coot needs ‘is nap. Good kid, if a bit of a light weight, but he’ll make a good ‘keep when I’m gone.” He smiled at the doorway where Bucky would be standing. “First time round these here parts, right?”
“Bullseye Uncle, we’ve been walking these roads for some time now but not round here. More out east near Catsglade and Feathercliff.”
“Right then, few things you ought to know bout Eaglecrest, the docks in the west are neutral ground for the gangs round ‘ere, no one messes with anyone else there and the trade continues to flow in. The Vanderhock Boys run things in the north while ol’ Ridgeclaw’s crew stay in the south part of town. The two casinos in the center part of town belong to the Blackfur and Goldpaw families, Goldpaw’s honest so long as you got the cash. And Blackfur will never go back on a deal, he’s from one of them tribes up north, they take their vows very seriously they do, even heard they have a death penalty for oath-breakers.” He set down the glass he was cleaning before leaning in close, “Now, if ya want ta get rid of somethin’ that ain’t yours head for the store with a Bronze Bit on the sign, then tell the colt ‘I’m in for a copper,’ he’ll take it from there.” What did I say? One in every Gryphonian town.
“Thanks Uncle, by the way, what can you tell me bout the bank here?”
Uncle lifted a brow, causing the scar across the eye to stretch painfully if the grimace was any clue. “The bank? You mean Green Circle… you’ll want tah stay as far away from them as ya can. Last griff to go asking more bout them then they were comfortable with was found ah couple of days ago missin his feathers an ‘alf his fur, ah circle branded onto his slit throat. Worse then all the gangs together them lot, but even the King is too scared to go against them.” Uncle sighs before taking a drink from a hip flask, “It’s an open secret to everyone in the city what they trade, from exotic treasures lifted from Equestrian Museums to the ponies that worked there. But ‘alf the politicians have worked with ‘em and the other ‘alf are too scared teh do anythin bout em.”
He took another long draft from his flask, a bit of the whiskey inside spilling out onto the wooden bar. “But that’s not what your asking are you? I knew your type when you walked in, I was like you once, but I got too old, my gun felt too heavy in mah talons and mah coat had too many holes… but I know who tah talk too. Come back tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll get the men yah need to talk to, Luna knows how many hoops I had tah jump through when I was your age, might as well spare you the pain at least once.”
We ordered some more drinks and spent some more time talking to Uncle about much less serious topics… like guns, drinks, and bullet proof coats. “Wait, wait, wait… Uncle, you used an M1 Gryphon chambered in .30-06? How the hell did you get such an old gun, and how the hell did you get the ammo?”
“Got the gun from mah Grandaddy, he fought in the Gryphillio Valley Revolution, and ah made the ammo mah self. Ain’t too hard, just .308 fired from ah .30 caliber. Like whiskey, the older the gun the better, infact look at this here beut,” Uncle reached under the bar and pulled out an old fashioned Trench Shotgun, “This here 12 gauge has settled more bar disputes than any talk,”
We started comparing our 12 gauges, his Trench Gun (Winchester 1897) and my Hunting Shotgun (Remington 800), our various ammo types (slug, buckshot, birdshot, dragon’s breath, plasma, pulse), and various situations it had saved our tails in… which was more than we would have liked.
After a few more drinks and stories we left Uncle’s Bar and headed for the inn to sleep the night away. In the morning we headed back to the bar and nursed our headaches with a round of drinks; a coffee, a shot of whiskey, another coffee, and then a light beer. The coffee was brewed so dark you could see the abyss within its depths. Bucky was sitting next to me, an IPPA (an Indo-Ponesia Pale Ale) in his talons. We started talking about the city, but more casual stuff then we had with Uncle, like where the best places to eat were (the Minotaurian BBQ on the corner of Market Street was supposedly the best MBBQ in the world).
As business started to pick up, Sunset, Arend, and I left the bar and started looking for the shop Uncle mentioned where we could fence our stuff (the contents of that Mule Jeweler's safe I totally don’t have are a little too hot to put on the open market). We wandered the streets for a few minutes before finding a little shop with a copper coin for a sign tucked up in between a tea shop and a shop with a quill and a sofa (a sign in the window advertised that it was their “First International Location!”).
Heading on in the place reminded me of Chet’s General Store back in Goodsprings, with a whole bunch of merchandise on shelves in the front (food, armor, some guns, and a whole bunch of miscellaneous gear,) and a counter in the back. But instead of a cap hungry trader we saw a unicorn colt sitting behind the counter, a newspaper in his hooves and a bored look on his face. He looked up from the paper when he saw us and greeted us with a small smile, “Looking to buy? Just got some new merchandise from Coltukett and Winferrey.”
I walked to the counter and took off my helmet, “Yeah kid, I’m in for a copper.”
He raised an eyebrow, “Wait here,” He jumped up from his seat and walked to a door in the back, he knocked three times before waiting… and waiting… and waiting. The colt gave a huff before he pounded the door three more times but much louder than before. After a second the door opened to the sound of rock music being blasted up to eleven, how a wooden door three inches thick insulated the sound that well I might never know. A large unicorn with soot stains on his copper fur walked out, a welding mask lowered over his face.
Seeing us he raised the mask and a cheerful smile crossed his face, “Customers! It’s been a while since Ol’ Tuk has sent anyone my way! Names Steady, feel free to look around if you want, most of the good stuff is kept in the back but you still might find something you want up front. If you want to offload anything head into the back and I’ll make you an offer.”
Sunset and Arend started to look through the store’s selection while I headed into the back, Steady had turned the music down and it looked like he had been working on a large steel frame of some sort before we came in. There was a large wall of gun racks on one side of the room while the adjacent wall was lined with armor racks. The last side had another counter, but this one was cluttered with metal scrap and spools of copper wire.
Steady scraped a bunch of the scrap from the counter into a bin and put it under the counter, before gesturing at the open space. I walked over and started unloading, the Jeweler's safe had contained the best cut gems in his store, as well as his cash and an old revolver. The gryms joined my own while the gems made their way to the counter alongside the gun.
After getting those appraised and paid for, I started pulling out the gear the bandits had so generously donated to our cause. Arend and Sunset had already taken what they wanted, the money, food, and ammo joined our growing stockpile, the body armor that could be used to repair our own also stayed. But the mass produced guns and cheap body armor got tossed onto the counter. Leaving us with a hefty profit, even with Steady’s fencing tax (which was surprisingly reasonable for someone in his trade).
Walking back to the store front, I found Arend and Sunset at the normal counter talking to the colt (probably Steady’s kid now that I think about it, same color coat), on the counter there was a pile of loot they had pulled out of the shelves. Some quality of life stuff more than necessary equipment, like paint, a guitar, some packs of gum, a salt rock enchanted to glow at night, and a painting of an ugly looking cat… why would we even… you know what, they put up with my bullshit so I can try and return the favor.
When we paid for the goods I dragged the two into the back room before they bought something even weirder. I convinced Sunset to look at the body armor, the boiled leather she was wearing was the best we could get for her without the weight becoming too overbearing. But after a couple of months of traveling together she was strong enough to wear proper combat armor. But unfortunately most of the armor we find is either worse leather armor than her own, or heavy plate mail left over from a bygone era (but unlike back home it works about as well as power armor at stopping bullets, either stronger steel or magic bs… I’m going with magic bs. But unlike power armor it held none of it’s own weight and couldn’t give a strength boost, so you had to be an active earth pony, well trained gryphon, average minotaur, or a fucking bear to wear it effectively).
So now was our best chance at finding her a proper set of combat armor, among the sets of pony armor we found some that would fit her and wouldn’t clash with her brown duster, bandana, boots, and cowboy hat. The first was most of a set of thin enchanted steel armor (like a royal guards armor but thinner and made for a mare, also not intended to just be for ceremonial use like modern day royal guard armor), it was the heaviest option (though not even a tenth as heavy as normal steel armor) but could turn away everything except armor piercing rounds, stuff as big or bigger than 50. Bmg, or plasma. It was either only intended to protect the main body, lacking a helmet, boots, grieves, and boots, or was just incomplete.
Pro’s: Good protection (except for the head, legs, and ass of course...)
Con’s: Conspicuous as hell, and expensive as all hell.
The next option was somewhat similar to an armored skin-tight jumpsuit (only going halfway down a pony's legs) styled outfit with some grey fitted armor plates, the plates themselves were pretty strong, but the jumpsuit itself was weak, built to disperse the kinetic energy from the impacts the plates took. The plates covered a pony’s shoulders, forelimbs, flanks, as well as a small chestpiece (once again no helmet, boots, or hoof guards, it seems like this is a recurring style with Equestrian style armor).
Pro’s: Lightweight, Adequate Protection, Concealable,
Con’s: Hard to repair, Armored areas are well armored but the others are basically defenseless
The last set was a more standard set of combat armor, kevlar uniform with an ablative-plate carrier, steel hoop guards, and built-in armored saddlebags.
Pro’s: Easily repairable/replaceable, Mid-weight,
Con’s: Armored areas are well armored but the others are just covered in kevlar, not the most comfortable.
After laying out the options Sunset tried on each set.
“How’d they feel Sunset?”
“I like them, but the steel’s a bit awkward to wear, and I can’t really lay down in it. So it’s out, but I like both of the other two, the jumpsuit's comfortable, and my magic should be able to repair it if it gets too heavily damaged (Magic! Why did I forget to account for that?!). and while the kevlar isn’t the most comfortable, it’ll protect me from most shrapnel.”
I looked at both options, I myself would have taken the uniform with the body armor, but I was biased, since it reminded me of NCR uniforms from back home. Plus the body glove has its own benefits, it was really light with good protection, and Sunset could summon a magic shield if she was ever caught in a truly deadly rain of fire or shrapnel, so the extra armor was almost superfluous.
“I think I’ll go with the jumpsuit. What do you think Gav?”
I blinked as she looked at me and replied with total honesty, “Whatever you like Sunset, you’ll look good in anything.”
She smiled at me before putting on the black body glove again, she then pulled on her tan combat boots, dark brown duster, and as she tied her red bandana around her neck (more out of habit than vanity, after all, due to good medicine and magic the hanging scar was almost completely invisible) I grabbed her black cowboy hat in my talons before setting it on her head.
She smiled again and looked in the mirror, “Lookin’ good mare.”
I chuckled, no matter where you go, mares will always care about their appearance. “Like I said Sunset, you’ll look good no matter what you wear, hell you don’t have to wear anything to look nice, and your tail covers everything anyways.”
She smiled with a blush and smacked me with said tail, “Well unlike you I wasn’t born into the scruffy rouge look, Canterlot has a way of making anyone not wearing their dress clothes feel inadequate... And stop talking about what's under my tail when there's other creatures around.”
I gave a small smirk and leaned in close, “What about when we're alone?”
Her tail whipped me across the face but it was worth it, cherry red blushing Sunset was almost as cute as sleeping Sunset (wait that sounds wrong…).
On the other side of the room Arend looked up from the massive ammo bins, “Herr Shimmer, are you zick? I can vetch a medikus if you need one.” I gave a short laugh when I saw Sunset’s face. Only to collapse into a full laughing fit when she turned to glare at me before storming out of the room.
By the time I recovered, Arend had walked over a confused look covering his normally stoic face, “Vhat did I say wrong Herr Gavin, Herr Shimmer’s face vas as red as zeh sunrise. Zhat is not a normal color for Herr Shimmer’s face…” he frowned in realization “her mane however.”
I rolled onto my belly and stood up, still gasping for air, “It’s...*huh* It’s nothing Ar…*huh* Arend, just mares being…*huh* mares.”
“If you zey so Herr Gavin.”
Behind the counter Steady was chuckling, “Ah young love…” But upon realizing that Sunset had walked out with an unpaid for suit of armor, glared at us. “You better be paying for that.”
“Sure thing Steady, I was the one who was going to pay for the stuff anyways… Mind if I look around a bit more paying?”
After spending another 10 minutes browsing the armor selections (the ones built for gryphons instead this time) and paying for our new gear. Arend walked out of the back room with some new gear. He still wore most of his old gear, his world war 2 field-grey uniform, trench coat, helmet, and weaponry. But from the armor racks Arend had grabbed an armored chest piece and metal vambraces for his front legs from a matching set, back home these would have been worthless on a battlefield (his or mine), but here people use close combat a lot more, making metal gear a much more viable option, if not a necessity.
After looking extensively at the available gear, I had to admit. Nothing I could buy here would help me in any way, the armor that was stronger than mine was too heavy, the light and flexible armors were paper mache compared to my modern gear, the more unique armors didn’t suit me (though I doubt that anyone could be comfortable in that combination NASA space suit/buccaneer’s outfit), and there were even extremely idiotic armor sets out here (what idiot decided that their armor should consist of nothing but a leather harness and a single shoulder pauldron?). Even their middleweight armors were less versatile than my own, requiring either a constant supply of magical power (like that one armored gauntlet with the big ass ruby in it), or were simply inferior.
My own Elite Riot Gear was perfect for me, with thick armor protecting my back and torso, shoulder pauldrons that barely restrict my range of motion, and vambraces that cover my fore limbs from the wrist of my talons to the elbow of my arms. Even my armored knee pads survived by being converted to hind leg armor by my world hop.
My coat was made to be worn over the chestplate but under the pauldrons and with the back armor laying over the back of the coat. The purpose was twofold, by having the armor on top of the coat, the coat (above the waist) wouldn’t flap in the wind, and it would also be protected from gunfire by the exposed armor. And my helmet came with integrated night vision (green for night time operations and red for indoor low-vision operations), a highly advanced gas mask filter (upgraded with my rebreather’s tech so I could also breath underwater), and a mostly unused built-in radio antenna.
All in all, not a wasted trip but less useful than I would have liked. Sunset (minus the cherry red glow) rejoined us in the front room, and from there we headed out, ready to take on the cruelest villain in the world… boredom.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Astral Aegis · 11k words · 142 7 · 2.9k views
- Regis Stella · 73k words · 74 8 · 2.9k views
- Zhe Pydoh · 2.3k words · 32 3 · 1.2k views
- YuCheng Huang · 34k words · 53 5 · 2.1k views
- Pyrolich66 · 17k words · 20 2 · 809 views
- aegishailstorm · 23k words · 78 30 · 1.7k views
- Lady Maria · 1.4k words · 29 15 · 1.8k views
- Narlax · 108k words · 56 17 · 3.2k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.142 seconds
Total duration
1,067 users online
1,811,683 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This whole section reeks of 2011 fanfiction. And not in a particularly good way.
10664129
Like I said on the author's notes. I felt really meh about this. Most likely it's going back to the scrapping table to be reworked 12 times in 3 weeks. Then heavily edited before I rerelease it.
When I read that, I thought He-Man, but I think I'm wrong...
Nice, things are progressing I'm guessing they're going to take out the green circle eventually?
10664154
Well He-Man works too. But I was thinking of every 4'10" japanese anime protagonist with a dark backstory and hidden power. The shoulder pauldron was just a generalization really, most rely on just a secret weapon or their invisible plot armor.
10664129
Probably going to delete most of the references and clean up the meta. Then polish the in between sections for a smoother read.
10664276
That might be for the best, I have to be honest.
10664322
Thanks for being honest, criticism is good for the soul. And critical for improvement.
10664322
Some heavy editing was done, most of it a bit hack and slash style (too be honest though, I wasn't the most happy with this chapter anyways I might have taken it down for editing even if nopony said anything).
10722780
1. How does "Gryphon 6" tie in to fallout?
2. I didn't look at the tags.
10722830
Gryphon 6 is ment to alude to the character Courier 6 (who is Gavin in this story). Your character's title in Fallout New Vegas, the other games had titles like the Lone Wanderer, the Sole Survivor, the Chosen One, etc. But in Vegas? Your the son of a gun who got shot in the head and want to know, "Why the hell did you shoot the mailman, and how many shots does it to kill you?".
Don't know why I read your name Samsung
Really hoping this isn’t dead, there are not many good Currier Six transformed fics on this site and even fewer that feature Sunset and that are good!
10955468
Not dead... just slow. Classes are rough and sleep comes very late. Credits unfortunately outrank chapters.
10955555
Oof yeah I understand! Class comes first!
love the story
o how i wish this story would come back