Closing the Barn Door

by David Silver

17 - Third Stable

With a jingling bell, Stan saw a merchant wandering with a big brahmin behind him. Strangely enough, he had no guards with him. He held up a hand to keep the ponies back and advanced by himself. "Hey!" Calling out loudly wasn't just polite, it made it clear he wasn't sneaking up on the guy. "You're in the middle of nowhere, alone. That ain't safe."

The merchant reached for something, but their hand didn't finish getting a grip. They fell backwards with a sudden new hole through their middle and hit the ground with a pained wheeze. "And then things like that happen. Show me what you were drawin' an' ah may let you go."

Daffodil cringed back. "You didn't even see what he had! It might have been nothing."

Twilight inclined her head. "She isn't wrong. They haven't provoked us yet. Avoiding them seems more logical, overall."

Stan wasn't listening to the neigh-sayers in the bushes. He advanced on the prone human and nudged them over onto their back, causing a pistol to weakly flop to the ground from the man's numb grip. "That was just dumb. You a bandit kicked out of yer club or somethin'?"

"Fucking ghoul." The man was holding his wound as tightly as he could, his arm shuddering. "Just savoring the kill?"

"Nah, ain't a psycho or nothin'. Ah was really hopin' you'd prove me wrong, that I shot too fast. Looks like I wasn't wrong, which is kinda depressin' really. Want me to finish the job?" He lined the rifle with the man's head. "A lot less painful."

With a deep low, the brahmin reminded everyone that it was still there. It was watching Stan with two eyes, the other head looking off at some tasty grass it was more interested in. "Well, shoot. Gonna have to see that's taken somewhere safe. The cow didn't do nothin' wrong."

The man jumped, then went still, a sharp report echoing with it as Applejack emerged from her hiding place. She tucked her side iron away as she moved closer. "You were right."

"Didn't want to be." Stan dropped to a knee and closed the false merchant's eyes. "But there was too much to be nervous about. Ain't a merchant in the wastes that don't have some kind of guard. Ain't safe..." He stood up and waved at the Brahmin. "Weren't jokin' there though. Brahmin ain't known for bein' survivors. We abandon it, it dies, likely. Don't know much of a feral population an' all that."

Giddyup approached the fellow hooved creature, even if they were very different. He had no brahmin noises to offer. Those didn't exist when he was constructed, to his temporary chagrin. "Do you have a child?" The brahmin wached him evenly, with no answer to offer.

Applejack let out an aborted laugh at Giddyup's attempts. "That there's a brahmin. Ain't ya never met one before?"

"No," let out Twilight and Daffodil in unison.

Skyline shrugged softly. "You see them in human settlements often enough, or helping haul things for somebody."

Twilight approached the big two-headed bovine. "Is it sapient?" She inclined her head. "It's watching me, but not running away, as most non-sapients do when they're not intending to attack me."

Daffodil knocked Twilight aside. "If your expectation is that it'll attack you if not running away, why are you getting closer?!"

Stan chuckled softly at the exchange. "Daffodil ain't wrong, but she's harmless." He patted the brahmin on the head without objection. "She's a domestic critter. Used to humans takin' care of her, seein' to her basic needs. She probably figures I'm just a human, waitin' to take care of her."

The other head suddenly noticed Stan and leaned in to lick his side, lowing in a long sound. "Think she's alright with me."

Skyline raised a brow. "Right, but none of us are human, to be clear. Even if we were, none of us live where other brahmin are. We're not prepared to take care of... her?" He leaned off to the right a little. "How can you even be sure of that?"

"She's got an udder, and she don't have horns." Stan shrugged softly. "Proof enough in mah book."

Applejack tilted her hat back as she looked over the cow. "She's like us, but even less picky. So long as we let her browse as she goes, she'll be happy 'nough. I say we take her along. Reckon she knows how to follow critters friendly enough to ask, so we can keep her until we happen on a settlement, or we gotta run."

Twilight trotted forward despite the attempt to keep her back. "She seems friendly. So this is a domesticated animal? We don't have any in the vault." Her interest was laid out bare to see. "Do you have a name?" She offered a hoof, just for it to be sniffed at. "Hm... I suppose not one you can share."

"Unless she's wearin' a collar." Stan checked for just such a thing. There was no collar, but there was a jingling bell, and her previous owner had written something on that. "Ah ha." He lifted it into view, eyes scanning. "Brownie. That's a sweet name." The brahmin seemed to focusing on him a little harder. "You know your name? Good, we gotta go, Brownie. Follow us."

"You're forgetting something." Skyline was already looting the dead body of its belongings of note, including the gun. "Here's a pistol for you." He offered the pistol and the ammunition he had found for it. "Not my style, but we were just talking about it."

Stan accepted the dead man's weapon. "Hopefully, it'll serve me better than its last owner." Despite that, he tucked it away where he could draw it at a moment's notice. "Bet he thought I was just as alone as he was."

The others fell in around Stan in a cloud of friendly faces. Skyline raised a brow at that. "Figured his odds of putting you down were good enough if he got the shot out quick enough?"

"'Xactly. He didn't know you were there. Even if he got lucky, you woulda taken care of him. Feel sorry for him, really, but that ain't change much."

Applejack prodded at Stan, almost making him trip with her hoof crashing into the beck of a knee. "Sorry to interrupt yer feelin' bad or whatnot, but why'd you even go say hi to him? Avoidin' him was still an option."

"Two things." He extended a finger as he straightened himself out into a proper walk. "One, he woulda pounced the next person that looked ready to be pounced. Two, we got his stuff--" Skyline grinned at that. "--and a brahmin. Not a bad day's haul for keepin' the wastes a little more clear."

Daffodil frowned softly. "Alright, this is me trying to think like a wastelander. Three, he could have been a real merchant, and trading with a merchant would have made you both happier."

Stan snapped his fingers, punctuated by his palm and fist meeting. "Got it in one. An extra stash of supplies never hurt, and pretty sure if he were a real merchant, woulda been real happy to find business roamin' out here. Speakin' of that." He glanced over his shoulder. "Since you like Brownie so much, Miss Sparkle, why don't you check her saddlebags for stuff. He may have loaded her up."

Twilight's horn began to glow as she opened Brownie's pack and began sifting through it. "Food... water... What are these?" She pulled out a curious object and hurried to Stan's side. "Please identify this."

Stan eyed it and grabbed some of it to thrust at Skyline. "Bet you know what this is."

"Isn't... that something they." He paused as Brownie licked at it and Stan's fingers along with it. "Yeah, a thing for them to lick. I don't know why."

Stan let Brownie work at it a moment longer before pushing her back gently. "At least this guy was taking care of Brownie, for whatever faults he had." He tucked the salt lick away back where it had come from. "That's all supplies to keep Brownie happy. Anythin' else?"

"This." She drew out a bag jingling with a small collection of caps. "The local denomination, is it not?"

"It is. Say, what do vaulters use for money." Both Twilight and Daffodil looked at him oddly. "Do you even have money?"

Daffodil shook her head quickly. "The overseer asks us to do something, and we do it, and the vault stays safe. Nopony gets 'paid' like you get paid."

"That sounds right." Twilight floated the bag within grabbing distance of Stan. "We do things because we want to, or because they need to be done. Like this trip; I want to see that other vault very badly." She danced in place. "So I came."

"And some of us have to," grumbled out Daffodil with a forced smile. "Let's just hope we don't run into any more crazy rats, alright? One swarm was more than enough."

Applejack whistled appreciately. "Glad we ain't seen a single other molrerat since we left 'em. 'Course, if we did see one, they'd probably be the one runnin'. They ain't that dumb, and there are enough of us to send 'em packin'."

Skyline nudged against her. "That makes the bandit we dealth with dumber than some mole rats. Sure, I can see that." He laughed as he ambled along, seemingly pleased with the day. "Anything else in that pack?"

"Just a pack." Twilight closed it properly with a nod. "Plenty of space if we need to carry anything. Better than weighing Giddyup down with it, considering Giddyup has other uses besides that."

Giddyup jiggled with the rustle of held supplies. "Should we begin that transfer? It is good that all members of this family have found a use."

Stan shoved Giddyup, even if he didn't go very far. "Brownie is a guest. She ain't a part of any family, if this can even be called one." He hiked a thumb at Twilight and wagged it towards Daffodil. "We're keepin' them company, remember, to check out that vault. Applejack and Skyline's doin' the same. Once we get word back one way or the other, we scatter."

"I cannot accept that decision." Giddyup accelerated slightly. "If the third vault is ideal, we have to accompany all existing ponies to it. That will require returning to their vault and Skyline's former tribe. Until they have been relocated, we have not completed Yellow's business."

Stan curled his fingers at his forehead. "You know, you didn't even know about this business before, an' you were completely happy about it."

"But then I knew." Giddyup inclined his head. "And I must act. When Yellow's files can be put to rest again, I will be satisfied."

Aunt set a grasper on Giddyup's trotting back. "You're growing."

"I am? My height has not changed." It was not like Giddyup couldn't check that.

Aunt ruffled the unfeeling mane of the robot, knowing he knew she was petting him and that was good enough. "You're growing as a person, Giddyup. Your programming didn't have room for that, so that's entirely your choice and you, Giddyup. You decided to do this. Nothing is forcing you to."

"Nothing is forcing me?" Giddyup was silent in his marching for a time. "The conditions seem identical to when I am compelled by my programming. Explain the difference."

"You could say no." She clapped the metal fingers of her grasper. "But you decided not to, because that doesn't feel right, to you. That was a decision you made. You could have decided differently. Now, if your child was in trouble, you'd help them. That isn't even a choice, you'd just do that. Any Giddyup unit would. That isn't you specifically, though it is a part I admire."

He could not smile, but his step did become a little animated. "I am glad to hear that, Miss Aunt. I am uncertain if admiration is the correct word, but I am glad you joined us."

Author's Note:

Did you know robots could have a heart to heart? That happened!

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

They needed a bit of Moosic to Moove along to, so they just added cowbell?

Or am I just trying a bit too hard for Brownie points?

[David Silver]

11202125
You go to the corner and think about what you did.

[Starlight Nova]

Are you ever going to write a Fallout: Equestria story?

[No one is home]

11202172
I can answer that. Sadly nope. For that he would have to read FO:E. Which he will not do.

[David Silver]

11202191
11202172
This is not entirely true. If someone wanted me to write in that verse and patronized me to make it happen, I would consult their wikis and things, and still not read it. It would count as other-verse.

[FridayPie]

11202203
Well, pretty much of all FOE are other-verses of each other, because different authors, styles, theories. Exception may be are FOE, Pink Eyes and Project Horizon, because a) authors know each other and consulted Kkat, the original author, b) they made their work non-conflicting and set in different places.

[David Silver]

11222754
This isn't FoE, note.

[tsaukpaetra]

Bet he thought it clever to try looking the part, but critical thinking saved the day.