Prologue: A Kick to the Head
Prologue
A Kick to the Head
"You know I once tried to measure my charisma on one of those Vit-o-matic testers? Darn thing lit up like a Fourth of July firework."
Pain.
Not the 'Fuck, I drank way too much last night' pain. Nor the 'Why the fuck did I get into that bar-fight?' pain.
Not even the 'Holy hell I've been shot full of holes and I'm gonna fuckin' die!!!' pain (don't ask). This was a pain crafted by some unholy, evil little shit that rested right between 'night after alchohol poisoning' and 'non-anesthetic labotomy' who's sole purpose was to make me the most miserable griffin in the Wasteland.
Must be a Tuesday.
My stirring must've gotten somepony's (great, my boss' pony semantics are starting to rub off on me) attention, as a hoof came down on my head and a voice said, "Whoah, easy there. You've been through quite a bit, try to take things slow."
I cracked open an eye. Sitting next to me was an older stallion with a pretty awesome moustache, holding one of those stetho-whatsits to my breast.
I let out a weak, weezing laugh, "Heh, not even gonna take me to dinner first?"
The old unicorn raised an eyebrow, "Well, whatever head trauma you experienced certainly didn't affect your sense of humor," He tapped a part of my head, "That'd be right about there."
I grunted, "Still tender..."
"Sorry about that," He said, taking off the stetha-thingy, "My name is Doc Stitcher. Welcome to Dodge Junction." He sat back, letting me sit up a bit, "Now, you took quite a beating there and I need to see if all your faculties are back. D'you remember your name?"
I nodded, "Natascha. Natascha Nightwing, Marejave Express courier," I chuckled, "Through rads, taint, and raiders' flanks, and all that other shit." Yeah, I came up with it myself. How could you tell?
"Ya might want to put a hold on the attitude, missy. I had ta put a metal plate in that noggin of yours; stress out too much so soon and you might just black out again."
Damn. I had been killed and I couldn't even get pissed about it yet. I needed a drink.
Wait, did he say metal plate?
I blinked a couple times, "Metal plate?"
Doc nodded, "Ayup. Crushed skull like that ain't gonna heal right on it's own. Had to replace most of it," He got out a mirror, "I'm pretty proud of my needlework. Not too shabby, eh?"
I checked myself out. Other than a couple of surgical scars ("Those'll heal right up"), I looked just dandy. I handed him back the mirror.
"Well, I ran some tests on ya after the surgery. Your vitals are strong, I'll give ya that, but I still need to see if ya didn't come back to the land of the living nuttier than a Bighorner droppin'."
I... did not need to picture that. So, the doc asked a bunch of questions, did some free-association crap; you know, all the basic shrink stuff. Other than the plate in my head, I was a model of perfect health.
Yipee.
The doc took his last note, "Alright, you seem sane enough. Well, considerin' daily life out here." He put his pad and pen down, "Now- why'd you go and get your skull caved in for?"
"Well, I didn't do it on purpose," I began, "A little shit and his mooks got the better of me in transit," I swelled in pride, "Must've taken out atleast thirty of them before they got me, yessir."
The doc raised an eyebrow, nodding slowly, "Sure ya did, kid. So, what was the delivery?"
I shrugged, "Just a metal plated casino chip. Didn't think it was worth killin' somebody over," I tapped my head, gingerly, "You can see where that thinking got me."
He nodded, "Well, no sense keeping you here anymore. Before you head out of town, ya might want to talk to that bot what brought you in here. Maybe have a chat with Cherry Smiles over at the saloon, get in a bit of shootin' practice. Might be a few caps in it for ya."
After leading me down the hall, he handed me my saddlebags and barding, "So, what're you gonna do now?"
I checked my magical energy rifle, clicking the mechanism in place for emphasis, "Well, first I'm gonna go get a stiff drink. Then, I'm gonna hunt down the fuckers who killed me, and show them what the afterlife looks like." The doc nodded. I was a little bit surprised, "What, you're not gonna give me some speech on revenge or some bullshit?"
"Nah, I'm no preacher. I know what it's like to lose something," He said, turning to a hall cupboard, "But, if you're gonna go do somethin' that's gonna get you shot at, you might as well take this."
He floated out a... something. Is that supposed to go on my wrist?
"This is a Pip-Buck," He said, "I grew up in one of them Stables they made before the war, everypony got one." He looked at it sadly, like it brought back some old memories he'd rather forget, "Ain't much used to me now. Still, might help you out a bit. It's got an inventory storage spell, flashlight, monitor's your vitals and such. Even got some combat uses," He clicked it open, slipping it on my left arm, "It'll mark friendlies and hostiles with the Eyes-Forward Sparkle, and it's got an aiming spell too; makes the world seem like it's stopped."
Huh. Now that's something I could use. As he clicked it shut, it booted on. I felt a couple pricks as whatever syncing mechanism it used hooked up to me.
Pip-Buck 3000,
Operating System 7.1.3
Copyright Stable-Tec
Immediately the, what did he call it? Eyes-Forward Sparkle? Well, that came up; a health monitor and a charge-rate for the targeting spell (S.A.T.S.? The fuck does that mean?), and the friend/foe radar-thingy marking the doc as a non-hostile (No shit)
"Well, if you ever need a medic and you're in the area, I'll do my best," He chuckled a bit, "But try not to get yourself killed anymore."
"I ain't making any promises." I said, and headed out the door.
Footnote: Level Up (Lvl 1)
Natascha's S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
Strength: 5
Perception: 5
Endurance: 7
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 4
Agility: 8
Luck: 7
Tagged Skills: Repair, Explosives, Energy Weapons
Quest Perk Added: Hard-Headed: Thanks to your unfortunate accident, you now have a skull reinforced with stubbornite, making your head 20% harder. Any attacks to your head deal half damage, and any attacks made with your head have a higher chance of critting.
New Perk Added: Intense Training: Through sheer force of will and practice, you can increase one of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. by one point (Endurance).
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If I got a quid for every time I saw this on a Fo:E description, I'd be a very rich man.
1245184 Hey, it's a classic. Besides, Ron Pearlman's voice is too awesome not to use.
Although, I did only put it in as an afterthought...
1245184 It's like the mating call for the terrible Fo:Es. Not saying this is a terrible Fo:e, it's just bland and samey samey is all.
One last thing Sierra;
We're always open for business- The AOD
1245215 Well then, if it offends so.
1245225 It's not offensive or anything, it's just boring and overdone. There are only so many places you can take the dusty mojave road before you start revisiting the same places.
1245231 Mmm.... I'll have to keep that in mind for the future of the fic, then.
I'm sorry, but after reading this, it looks like it's shaping up to be nothing more than the plot of New Vegas set in the FiM universe. There are better and more original ways to write a Fo:E fic.
1245256 It's only the beginning; I have my own plans and twists to take.
You know, the point of Fo:E fics isn't to take the plot of fallout games and throw in a bunch of horse puns. Not to say that this won't be a decent fic, it just kinda bothers me that you really haven't thought that much up on your own.
1245281 Like I said before, this is only the beginning. I'm starting with the familiar, and then taking my own spin on things after the early point.
1245290 Well, that's fair enough I suppose. But from a writing/tactical standpoint I can't help but think it might have been a better idea to wait until you had actually written up until where things start getting significantly different before releasing your story.
1245342 That is a very viable viewpoint that I can understand and agree with, but I deigned to publish this in an attempt to get it out in the wild and get some feedback early on, so I don't disappoint with a long set of chapters that just don't agree with the readers.
Interesting... But I'm fairly certain that it is Las Peagus or Pegas.
1245445 I've always thought of "Las Pegasus" being "Las Angeles", what with the winged connotation. I think "Haygas" is better for Vegas, because ponies eat hay and what city better symbolizes depraved gluttony?
I C wat you did thar
but if you noticed during one of the episodes (Containing a grumpy donkey) that a location of I do believe a snowglobe (or where he aquried it) was Las Pegaus/Pegas. I my opinion that is a fair reference to FNV or at least an acciendental one.
1251017 Hmm... could be. But, 'tis simply one theory. I shall continue with this headcanon. I mean, there certainly wasn't any Ol' Olneigh or Maripony mentioned in the canon MLP verse, but we ponified those Fallout locations. Till we get more specific answers in the show, it's all speculation.
Hm, I woulda wished you hadn't used the whole new vegas start there artie, lots of people have already done it, and I'm a tad concerned that you'd rather break new ground then, write the story that many others are also writing. Although I actually like that your main character is a griffin, that would certainly be pretty interesting down the line somewhere. Also I should mention I do happen to enjoy your short and sweet writing style, moves the entire story along quickly :D.
So, I wish you good luck! -ictg4u
1328524 A lot have already done it? Well, darn.
Although considering what I have planned so far for next chapter.... well, this fic is DEFINITELY not gonna be like any other.
1338300
Well there's a problem with that, if other ponies like myself look at your fic as it is int he first chapter most will get the impression that its another one of the new vegas based ones, I would recommend starting with a completely fresh start, that way nopony says "Oh just another new vegas" *skip* also if you like I can give you a hand with writing, be it plotwise or a little bit of editing on the side. So actually this discussion might be more appropriate on da.
Hmm... Reminds me of that other FO:E fic I read. The one about the courier that got shot and is basically just New Vegas but with a coupld of tweaks...
See the problem there? That's like, a quarter of all FO:E fics. I'm gonna keep reading, but if there isn't something to make this a bit special soon, I'm just gonna forget about it.
On the bright side, I do like Natasha so far. I already have a strong impression of her character, and it's barely a few thousand words in.