Fallout Equestria: A New Hope (On Hiatus)

Chapter Seventeen

I woke up with a yawn the next morning. A golden hue filled the hotel room Pallet and I were staying in while Lead and Sweetie were in the room right across from us. As I got out of the bed, Pallet whimpered as she held me. "Don't go." she said. I smiled and lie back in bed, and wrapped my hooves around her. She happily snuggled into my chest. Two sharp reports of a high powered sniper rifle, probably a semi-automatic, ring out. Pallet was scared awake, and I jumped. As Lead enters the room, he drops to the floor crawling on the ground in pony form. "Shit! Talon mercs. Looks like ex-Spetsnaz. Why'd it have to be the bucking griffon special forces?" He whisper yelled, cursing.

Sweetie then burst into the room cowering hopping up in the bed nuzzling in between Pallet and I. "What?" I asked, now on high alert. A round comes through the window and dings off my visor, knocking me back. "Talon Company is just a bunch of mercenaries. That's not the issue. It's the sniper. Spetsnaz, better known as Pre-War Griffin Special Forces. Talon musta gotten some training programs up and running. So they are not the easy type." Lead says. I groan and Sweetie then notices the smell of our sex. She takes a deep whiff covering her nose. "What's that smell?!" She whines. "There's no time for that now." Pallet tells her.

Without even leaving the bed, I roll on my stomach, pick up Leads sniper, and aim down the sight. "Cover your ears." I say. A moment passes before I pull the trigger. BLAM! A shot rings out through the entire hotel, and a muffled scream from me afterwards as I shove my face into the pillow. The sniper dislocated my bucking shoulder! Lead grabs the rifle and moves into the corner of the room and takes aim. BLAM! Another shot. A distant chink is the only reply. "Beautiful." He smirks. Meanwhile, my horn lights up. Along with my left shoulder. It starts to move, but immediately stops. I am in too much pain to help myself. Lead trots over. "Ready?" He asks calmly as if nothing within the first minute of our day ever happened.

My horn flashes twice telling him yes. His horn then lights up taking control of my shoulder. "On 3-" I butt in, "Wait! On 3, or after 3?" Lead rolls his eyes, "On 3. It's always quicker." He announces as he swiftly and very painfully moves my shoulder back into place with a blood chilling crunch. "Oh buck!" I scream through the pillow. Sweetie and Pallet shiver at the sound of my bone being forced back into its original position. Lead thumps me on the head, "You'll be fine, buttercup." then trots out of the room. But Pallet then stops him as she looks to the high powered sniper. "How did you even get that into the room? It strictly says no weapons." Pallet queried. "Its called disassembly, hon." He cracked a grin, and shut the door to our room. I lifted my head from the pillow groaning in pain. Pallet held me close and I held Sweetie in my hooves as she snuggled into my chest.

I hoofed her over to Pallet, and she held her close. "Are you OK, daddy?" Sweetie asks as I hop out of the bed, my shoulder stinging. I choke on my own breath as pain shoots up my left leg. "Yeah. I'll be fine." I reply as I limp over to the door. I look back to the pair still in bed. "You two also may want to come with incase the mercs find out their sniper is dead. The two got out of bed, and trotted out of the room, and over to Lead's room knocking on the door. The door opened a moment later. The stallion in his NCR garb. "Grab your shit. We're Oscar Mike." Was the only sentence uttered before trotting out of the room and down the hall. The door to our room opening and the damned sniper floating out in his magics grasp. I glared at the sniper as it floated past. Pallet giggled and I looked to her, my expression instantly softening as the door to our room remained open.

As we exited the hotel, the pony at the front desk looked ashamed. "I heard a sniper upstairs. There is a sign that clearly says 'no weapons'." he said as he pointed each a hoof to said sign. Lead laughed before getting up in his face. "We could have died. I have an idea. Why not leave a bad rating on this place? Hm?" He asked. The pony looked like another Megaspell was dropping from the sky. He chuckled. "Alright then." he smirked and kicked the sign over with his back leg. "Buck your sign." he chuckled again before he regrouped with us. We all then walked out of the hotel. "You didn't have to get up in his face." Pallet said. "Wouldn't gotten through to him otherwise. And if we didn't have the sniper with us, we'd all be dead." he replied. "So where are we going now?" I asked. "We're gonna have a meeting with the Talon faction." he replied as he continued walking. We all followed close behind him. I gulped. Not really knowing what gryphons were like as I had never been outside but that all changed as of a few weeks ago.

Sweetie dove behind Pallet. Afraid of what was to come when we were inside the Stable. Stable twenty-seven to be exact. They had taken over an abandoned Stable after the ponies were overrun from a full scale invasion. They used to be a nomadic faction. That is until they came across the Stable. I looked to Sweetie. Her head poking out of Pallet's saddlebag. I chuckled before looking to Lead. "We just killed one of their snipers, so I don't think they will be too happy with us." I stated. Lead, being the cocky stallion he is, rolled his eyes, and trotted up to the console just beside the door, and pounded the button. "Dasher 7-1. Flying Theodosius Lead." He said as he released the button. "Nothing happ-" Pallet began, but was cut off by the orange rotating light above the door going off. The door the slid out from its casing with a bone chilling hiss, and slid to the right into the facade with a loud clang. The Stable was now opened.

Immediately, two gryphons in guard armor pointed gun in his face. Lead chuckled. "Boys, I don't want to start a bloodbath." He said as he looked to the gryphons. His eyes flashing a rich red color. They did not look like it, but they were trembling on the inside. They stepped aside, and allowed him to pass. He walked inside the Stable, and Pallet and I followed suit. The gryphons stopped us. "They're with me." He said. The gryphons again stepped aside, and let us pass. We quickly regrouped with Lead. The gryphons themselves were not intimidating. It was their silence that scared me. We then began to trot through the corridors of the Stable. Now teeming with life. Gryphon life that is. Lead shifts into his human form, his strides can only be described as angry. Any griffon that passes us by moves out of our way. He shifts back into his pony form, bucking in a Stable door. "SURPRISE, MOTHERBUCKER!" Behind the desk was none other than the Talon Company's most notable merc: Clawdia Grimfeathers. Cousin of Gawdena Grimfeathers. The gryphon rolled her eyes. Or at least the one she had as the other had an eyepatch over it. "You could have knocked." She replied. Her voice annoyed and a little impressed that a pony managed to kick a steel door down.

"Why did you send out one of your snipers?!" Lead asked drawing his knife. The guards instantly drew their rifles. "Lead, can we settle this diplomatically instead of starting a bloodbath?" I asked. He looked to me and slowly sheathed his knife. The guards slowly lowered their weapons in time with his knife. He then slowly pulled his knife back out. The gryphons slowly raising their rifles. He then slid it back down. The rifles descending again. He chuckled and fully sheathed his knife. The rifles were fully set at their sides. Toying with others always made Lead feel a bit better about the current situation. Clawdia's usable eye twitched, "Can we focus?" she asks sternly. He sits at the desk kicking his hooves up onto said desk. "Can you tell me why you sent one of your snipers to kill us?" He asks. His voice using the same stern tone as Clawdia. Said griffon sighed, "I didn't send any of my mercs out there. Not against you, not when we have to keep caps and bits on a near stranglehold." Lead nodded, seeing her words were true. "Not to mention the sniper was obviously Spetsnaz," Lead added.

Clawdia froze, "Spetsnaz. As in the Griffon's attempt at the 666th Royal Guard Division? THAT SPETSNAZ?!" Lead lit a cigarette, "The same. Why do you ask?" Clawdia sighed, "Because the few Spetsnaz griffons we did have got axed a few months back for having ties to Zebras. I assumed they were killed after leaving here." Lead sighed as he exhaled smoke, "Assumptions are what took your eye and your cousin." Clawdia tensed but did not move. Lead continued, "Now then. Here's the deal: the Talon Company is going to close its doors. After that, all of your employees and yourself are going to be under my command. Don't like it? Too damn bad."

"I will not be under command of a gryphon." I said under my breath. Clawdia looked to me. "What was that?" She asked not quite hearing the sentence that came out of my mouth. "I will not be under control of a gryphon." I replied a bit louder so she could hear. She chuckled and looked to one of her guards nodding. Said guard raised his rifle. On the inside, I was terrified but on the outside, I looked unusually calm. She chuckled. "Oh don't you?" She asked. My horn lit up and the muzzle of the gun inherited the same color and began to slowly descend. "There is no need for violence." I said as I looked to Clawdia. "A pacifist, eh?" She asked rhetorically. I nodded. "Yes. Well, aside from a few weeks ago. Now I have to kill to survive. Now, it's either kill or be killed." I replied. She nodded. "Though, I really don't kill that often. Lead here is the one that fills others full of lead." I added. "Damn right." He chuckled. He then looked back to Clawdia. "If he doesn't want to be apart of the Talon faction, or any faction for that matter, he doesn't have to." He said. Clawdia gave him a look. A look that can only be described as considerate. She then looked back to me. Finally back to him another time. She actually agreed. I breathed an internal sigh of relief. I didn't want to be part of any faction whatsoever. That is unless I made one which might not ever happen. But I looked to Lead silently thanking him for getting me out of this.