The Wanderer, the Eccentric, and the Diva

Chapters

Chapter 1~ Troubles a' Brewin'
Finishing The Guide Part One
Finishing The Guide Part Two
Finishing The Guide Part Three

Chapter 1~ Troubles a' Brewin'

The wasteland certainly loves to give me giant fuck yous doesn’t it? I stand over the bodies of two creatures, if I remembered correctly they were ponies. I used the barrels of Eugene to poke one of the bodies, getting it to roll over and sigh, almost as if it was tickled.

“Okay so what the hell are these two…?” I mutter to myself, both of them really stood out amongst the barren look of the wastes, pink and alabaster were two colors one rarely saw here in the wasteland. I holster Eugene, the large minigun easily attaching to the slot on the back of my armor. Quickly picking up the two of them, which to my surprise weren’t as heavy as I thought they were going to be, I turn and start the walk back to Megaton, with the two ponies draped on each of my shoulders.

The only thing I could think to say is, “Moira is going to have a field day with these two…” I almost sigh, at the trouble I was going to cause for both the animals and myself by bringing them near the woman, who so far has been quite helpful in my endeavors but quite a pain in my ass with her book she wants help with, mainly for the fact I had to have most of my body crippled in the name of the greater good.

Upon reaching the gates of Megaton, I’m let inside and greeted by the usual people I came across on my way to my home. Entering, Wadsworth is floating down the stairs.

“Ah hello Sir I see you’ve returned early from your expedition. And you seem to have come back with company…” I take the two ponies and set them down, quickly moving to remove my heavier armor and replace it with my simple duster I wore when not actively doing anything beyond Megaton or the cleared path to GNR or the Citadel. Tucking the armor and Eugene into the corner next to my workbench, I grab the Blackhawk and place it in the hip holster, I tried to always carry some kind of weapon.

“Yes, I found them over by the Mart, they’re really odd aren’t they.” I tell my butler as I kneel next to the two of them, starting a closer examination.

“And this one seems to be mutated.” Wadsworth pips as one of his arms pokes at the alabaster pony’s horn.

“Well that’s a very unexpected mutation… Reminds me of Unicorns from the old fairy tales.”

“Right, so what will you be doing with them?”

“Put them up on my bed, I need to go see Moira about them, she’d be interested in putting them in her guide more than likely.” I turn back to the door and leave, making my way across town once again up to the Craterside Supply.

Entering I hear the bubbly words of Moira call to me, “Oh, Alex! Welcome back! Did you see about those Mirelurks yet?”

“No Moira, but I did find something interest on my way though.” I walked fully inside, giving a nod to her bodyguard.

“Oh? What did you find?”

“Two ponies, and they are some really odd colors too.”

“Really!?” She was clearly excited.

“Yep, you can come see them if you want they’re at home right now.” The shopkeep squeaks in glee and I can’t help but laugh. Following her out of the shop and back to my house.

However as we approach my home, yelling suddenly erupts from my home.

“This place is horrendous! What kind of animal lives here!?” Almost immediately I go into combat mode, drawing the Blackhawk, motioning for Moira to stay put, I open the door slowly slipping inside.

“Please calm down Miss, Master will be very angry if he comes home to his house a complete mess!” I hear Wadsworth shout from upstairs in my room. I slowly walk up the stairs, my pistol aimed towards my bedroom door. I spot a movement of alabaster color, Is one of the ponies awake?

A deep gasp comes from behind me, “Rarity! There’s a weird creature out here!” I swing around and see the pink pony, a giant smile plastered on it’s face.

“You just talked didn’t you?”

“Yep!”

“Wadsworth! Get me a drink right now! Oh and tell Moira to come inside, I need to speak with our guests.” I holster the revolver and look back to the pink pony, it was gone. I look to my bedroom door and it walks out with the who I assume to be the ‘Rarity’ it had spoken of.

Everything sits in silence for a few good moments, till Rarity opened her mouth to speak.

“What are you wearing!? It looks horrible!” I resist the urge to facepalm and just look at the two ponies.

“So you can talk? Or am I really high on chems right now?”

“Of course we can talk, and I don’t know what chems are but they sound weird!” The pink one exclaims as it walks forward and sits at my feet, “Hi my name’s Pinkie Pie and it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Pinkie sticks, and by the sound of her voice I’m assuming Pinkie is a she, her hoof out and I take in my hand shaking it.

“Okay this is probably the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me.” I almost immediately felt a sense of regret for saying that, but shook it off. “Why don’t we go downstairs and talk about what you two are and why I found you out where I did hmm? Cause I really need a drink before I go crazy…” We head down the stairs, more complaints from Rarity were given as I sat down in my chair.

Wadsworth comes over with a Nuka-Cola Quantum, a bottle of Scotch, and a glass, “Thank you Wadsworth.” I tell him as I take the items from him placing them on the small table next to my chair, moving to pop the cap off the Nuka-Cola and removing the cork from the Scotch, mixing the two drinks in a glass, producing a bluish-amber drink with the telltale radioactive glow.

I look to the two ponies, Pinkie whose smile hasn’t changed and the look of disgust directed at me from Rarity.

“What?”

“That drink...it looks horrible.”

“Well alcohol and radiation are really good for the health but nothing time or Rad-Away doesn’t fix, not that being radiated really affects me all too much anymore.” I shoot a glance to Moira who plays it off with a smile.

“Anyway, why don’t the two of you take a seat and we’ll talk.” Pinkie takes a seat but Rarity remains standing, “Rarity take a seat.”

“I’d rather not take a seat…” I got the sense of disgust in her voice.

I made the choice to ask why, “Why won’t you?”

“This place is simply filthy, I don’t want to soil my fur.”

This answer was quite irritating and drove a bit of anger pent up to the forefront, “Take a seat.” I tell her setting my glass down with a bit more force than necessary, the glass breaking.

“Son of a bitch!” I shout as I stand up tossing the remains of the glass across the room. I walked into my small kitchen, looking down at my hand which a single cut from a piece of glass. I sigh as I turn on the faucet and run the hand under the water. “Wadsworth get me a stimpak!” Quickly the robot stuck an arm out a single needle hung from it. “Thanks.” I grab it and quickly inject it at my wrist.

“What is that?” I hear Pinkie ask from beside me.

“A syringe with medication to heal my cut, didn’t really need it but I’d rather not take the chance of infection.” I turn off the faucet and walk back into the living area, Rarity sitting a little ways from my seat. I can’t help but see the look of fear and I do feel bad about getting pissed, “I’m sorry for snapping Rarity.” I sit back down and grab the Nuka-Cola downing the rest of it, leaving the Scotch. “Okay can we please get on with talking?” Moira opened her mouth but didn’t speak, she shuts probably trying to think of what to say. “Moira you have anything or can I ask how these two came to be out near the Mart?”

“Go ahead, I’ll just take a second to think…” She mumbled, still half in thought.

“Ok so...how did you two come to show up outside the Mart in the first place?”

“Well...we were with our friend Twilight who was trying a mass teleportation spell, it opened some sort of portal and she was sucked in. Our other friend Rainbow Dash almost immediately dove in after her, and we followed moments later. Our last two friends I have no idea about them, maybe they stayed to talk with the Princesses…” Rarity explained with a fair wind.

“Ok so another question where is this Canterlot that you spoke of?”

“In Equestria.”

“Hmm...I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you’re definitely not from this world. Also a mass teleportation spell?”

“Yes Twilight is a Unicorn like I am and as such we are able to perform magic.”

“Magic…” I cast a glance to Moira whose actively taking notes instead of thinking, so that’s her game, use this as a chapter in the Guide. “Alright so you can do magic, what about Pinkie here can she do anything special?” I look to where Pinkie is sitting but she’s not there, suddenly I see the pink poof of her hair to my right and I look, she has my Scotch in her hooves. “Oh no...you can’t have that.” I tell her, taking the bottle from her.

“Why? It’s a drink isn’t it?”

“Oh! I should have remembered something like that, you two are probably quite dehydrated from being out in the sun. Wadsworth!”

“Already done Sir.” He returns with two bottles of purified water.

“Alright drink up and if you can try not to drink all my purified water, while it may seem I have a lot I really don’t and the amount the town goes through I sometimes have to hand some of mine out, so if you can drink the regular stuff, I’ll make sure to check you for Rads till I can figure out a way to get you two Pip-Boys or something like that, be a lot easier than doing all the medical stuff by hand.” I stand up and start moving across the room going to my random piles of gear and loot. “Which also means I’ll have to give you stuff so you can make it on your own and teach you…That’s fucking great, I’m certainly not the best teacher, especially with how my life out here has been going for the most part.” I grab a few things from a few piles and toss them into a new pile behind me. Finishing with finding things, I start to go through the new pile, meticulously picking pieces of armor out moving them to the workbench. “I don’t suppose any of you know how to make clothing for the two of you, if such a thing even exists.”

A small gasp from Rarity and I have the Unicorn standing next to me, “What are you trying to make?”

“Well if you’re going to do anything in the Wasteland, outside of just sitting around town, you’ll need armor and weapons. Other skills will come as you go along, but that’s a something else to talk about later. So I would appreciate some help in doing so.”

“Of course!” I scoot over so she has room beside me and the two of us set to work, creating very and I do mean very basic armor, probably equivalent to Moira’s Armored Vault Suit she made for me, when I first came into Megaton.

Smiling as I hold up the finished product, the armor actually having Vault-Tec Suits been used in it’s making being the base material. “Alright, why don’t the two of you get these on and you’ll want to get a feel for wearing them a lot...and I do mean a lot I rarely switch armor or clothes, when I’m out.”

“That sounds horrible! Why would you wear the same thing over and over!?”

“Probably because it keeps me from getting killed.”

The room went silent and both ponies looked at me, “What?”

I had an odd feeling that where they’re from, killing things isn’t an everyday occurrence “Yes, out here you can be killed, not just by natural forces but by it’s inhabitants. I wouldn’t worry though, anything that sees you except for maybe those Enclave bastards will probably leave you alone as long as you don’t have anything on you...well...they might try and eat you...yeah you should probably wear something and carry weapons.” With my small ramble done, Rarity just stares in disbelief.

And Pinkie, “Okie Doki Lokie! Wear armor and have weapons and we’ll be ok!”

I shake my head, “You have to know how to use your weapons otherwise you’ll probably just kill yourself. That problem though I should be able to fix, at least with a few days and the rest you can learn as you go.”

The two ponies quickly slip into their new armor, only after Rarity makes a few adjustments to hers, to make it more fashionable. I tried to argue with her of course but she’s quite obdurate. I gathered up a few of my spare weapons mainly a few melee weapons, a couple of conventional weapons, a few explosives, and I got the only heavy weapon I think they could maybe fire, my Fatman.

“Alright so take what you would like to try out and we’ll head out, I’ll probably just take you out by Springvale and let you shoot. Don’t worry I’ll tell you how to fire everything once we get there.”

Rarity and Pinkie set into searching for weapons, no idea on what they were doing whatsoever, however that didn’t stop Pinkie from grabbing my Fatman, which she commented as reminding her of her ‘party cannon’ I didn’t question it after a look from Rarity who had decided on my Chinese Officer Sword and the Reservist’s Rifle.

“I think I have about what I’ll take…”

“You sure? That’s only a really close range weapon and one long one…” I look at Pinkie who has my Fatman strapped across her back, a ripper on her side, and a belt of assorted grenades, and to top it off a combat shotgun as well. “All of you set?” A round of nods, “Alright!” I start to leave the room, when I remember something. “Moira? Would you like to come along, you could maybe document a chapter about weapon usage or something? Add it in for this chapter and I’ll make sure to do the rest as the next thing on my list.”

The woman smiled, it was quite hard to anger her, “Sure.”

I quickly grab, Eugene deciding I may as well spend a little time practicing, I hadn’t been shooting many things lately. The four of us walk out of my home and leave Megaton, a few whispers from the townsfolk about the ponies following Moira and I were heard but nothing negative from what I heard.

“How do you carry that?” Rarity asks as she trots, I believe that’s the right word, alongside me.

“What, Eugene?” She nods, “I’m just strong that’s pretty much it. I can and I do.”

“Not very elegant are you?”

“When I want to be, sure otherwise nope.” I give her a smile, something I hadn’t genuinely done it at least two weeks.

The walk to Springvale was short, about five or ten minutes. Upon reaching the few houses, I stopped in the middle of the road, my Pip-Boy clicking with a notification.

“What the?” I bring it up, and stare at the screen, a new radio frequency has been picked up and the Pip-Boy labels it as ‘Vault-101 Distress Signal’. I listen to it and I let my arm fall back into a neutral state.

“I’m sorry you three but we need to go back to Megaton right now.”

“Why?” Moira questions as I turn and start making my way back.

“Home called and they need my help.”

“What do you mean ‘Home’!?” Pinkie called from behind me as they caught up to my quickened pace. “Isn’t your house your home?”

“Now it is but originally I came from a Vault up that way,” I jerk my thumb in the direction of one o’ one, “I left after my father left the Vault one day and the Overseer tried to kill me.” I look back and a slightly confused look from the two ponies gets me to elaborate a bit further, “The Vaults were giant underground shelters that Humanity used to survive the Apocalypse, each one has a Overseer who is the leader, and the one in my old home tried to kill me because my father left.” I continue to move and make it back to the house immediately walking to my power armor, removing my duster, and putting the armor on. I put Eugene back in it’s spot and went to another one of my lockers. Grabbing Lincoln’s Repeater, Blackhawk, and a few pouches of forty-four rounds, about three hundred. “Moira you don’t need to come, and you two just put the weapons upstairs on the bed, you’ll be coming with me, but I don’t need you walking in there with a bunch of weapons strapped to you.”

“And you are bringing your weapons why?”

“In case talking everything out fails, and for me it occasionally does.” I strap the Lincoln’s Repeater to my back and holster Blackhawk, snatching up my helmet. “Alright, let’s go. Moira I’ll be back and then we can do the weapon usage segment ok?”

“I understand.”

“Where I would be without you…” I mumble as I leave the house, the two ponies on my heels. We leave Megaton and make our way across the stretch of land I had once crossed weeks earlier. Coming to the door to the Vault Door, I stopped and turned looking at the ponies, “Alright I’m going to tell you right now, if things get rough don’t try and help me. Go hide and keep yourselves safe, I’ll be fine. If I think this is how it is, then I’ll take you two to Amata, a friend of mine, she’ll take care of you while I take care of this, alright?” The two of them nod, “Good now try not to bring a bunch of attention to yourselves, I should be able to talk you two by most of the people, well the one’s who don’t hate me anyway.” I spin back around and draw the Blackhawk, holding it in one hand as I proceed through the door and into the tunnel. Clicking my Pip-Boy light on, the bodies from when I first left were still there, I walked over them with little change in emotion, but I could tell that Rarity and Pinkie weren’t doing so well, so I quickly got the door to open.

“Alright let’s get inside and we can--” The door opens fully and a Radroach jumps out towards Rarity, I quickly line up a shot using V.A.T.S. and blow it away, the chunks of Radroach smacking into the rock across from me. A bit of the gore showered on Rarity who fainted. Pinkie quickly grabbing her, putting the Unicorn across her back.

“You going to be ok carrying her?”

“I’ll be fine.” I noticed her hair had slightly unpoofened, if that’s even a word, her hair just doesn’t seem as lively as we pass the threshold and enter the Vault. Moving across the to the door, we enter moving through the halls.

“Identify yourselves!” I heard a familiar voice call, from further down.

“Gomez?” I continue along, motioning for Pinkie to stay put for a second as I continue forward, Officer Gomez coming into my view.

“Who are you!?” He shouts a weapon trained at me.

“Gomez it’s me Alex, James’s son!” I tell him trying to be as calm as possible.

“Alex? What in God’s name are you wearing?”

“No time for that, I need to go find Amata, if anyone asks you didn’t see me or my friends.”

“Friends?” I whistle and call for Pinkie to come forward, the look on Gomez’s face turning from uncertainty to fear. “Mutant ponies!? What the hell Alex!?”

“No they aren’t mutants, I don’t fully understand this, but they have the technology to travel between worlds and these two are stuck here.” I half-lied.

“So they’re aliens?”

“Something like that.”

“Alright whatever I didn’t see you three, just get moving.”

“Once again, I knew you weren’t a bad guy Gomez, and I’ll try my best to settle this.” I tell him as we pass him, I take a guess that I should avoid the Overseer’s Office, and head to the Clinic. As we walk through the halls, my old memories of the Vault layout floating back to the forefront of my mind, the pops of gunfire hit my ears. We quickly stop and I motion for Pinkie to not move. I walk down the hall and notice a guard firing at a Vault citizen. I wave to Pinkie, and Rarity who chose this time to wake back up.

“Come on we just have to get to the Clinic.” We make a mad dash by the guard and navigate through the halls.

“Alright it’s just down here.”

Butch stepped into view and I passed him, “Well...look who waltzed back in--what the hell!?” His sentence warped as he caught eye of the ponies on my tail.

“Amata!” I hollar into the clinic as I step inside.

“Alex! Thank God you’re back!” She runs out of the back office and stops as she sees my armor and the two ponies peaking from behind me.

“Amata, don’t freak out these are two talking ponies I found out in the wastes they’re from another world, and are here because of a mess up with their technology.” The lie expands more as I tell it, doesn’t it?

She stares at them, but quickly shakes her head. “You have to help us, Alex. After you and your dad left, we figured out about how the Vault was open.”

“How?” I asked confused, as I still knew very little about my father’s exploits around that time.

“After the two of you left...Wally’s dad said something about how we should have never let you two in here in the first place.” So what made the Overseer close the place up?

“Ok I’ll help you but what do you need me to do?”

“You need to stop my father, just go and talk with him or something! Just don’t hurt him, he may be crazy but he’s still my father.”

“I can’t promise anything, but if I’ll exhaust all my other options before it comes to that. Now I have to ask you a favor, can you watch these two while I do this? I really don’t want to see them hurt.” She nods and I turn to the ponies, “Alright Rarity, watch after Pinkie ok? I’ll be back after I run some errands.” I say in a mock parental voice.

“Not funny.”

“Of course, but I was serious watch after Pinkie for me please, I don’t want her running around here on her own.”

She sighs and nods, I give a last look to Amata who is already talking with Pinkie about who knows what.

I leave the room, and make my way to the Upper Levels, the guards eyeing me the entire time. I get to the Server Room and I’m stopped by a Officer.

“You should have never left boy, and now I’m going to make sure no one leaves again!” Confused at his words he steps back and raises a ten millimeter, and I react quickly my hand going to the Blackhawk and drawing firing at bullets ping off my armor. The forty-four round pierces right through his chest plate and tosses him to the floor, dead before he hit the ground. I continue on, moving to the Overseer’s office. I stand outside the door, and I reload the spent round, I had no knowledge of how this was going to turn out so I wanted to be prepared.

I open the door and step inside, “I see you’ve returned…”

“Yes I have, Alphonse. And I have come to make sort out this mess.”

“So I’m assuming you’re helping Amata.”

“Yes, Alphonse I have to agree with her, all of you will not survive down here by yourselves!”

“That’s what you think...I know we can survive, we just have to work for it.”

“And isolating yourself and lying is the way to do so?”

“I did what was necessary for the greater good of the Vault.” I was getting tired of hearing his for the greater good of the Vault bullshit he spout all the time, but I decided to try and use it against him.

“Alphonse, what you’re doing isn’t for the greater good of the Vault, you’re just hurting the citizens.”

“I am not hurting them, they are hurting themselves by not going along with my leadership, I will quell this rebellion one way or another. And I’ll start by ending you!” A ten millimeter comes up from behind his back, and I quickly lower the Blackhawk, firing and the bullet splattering his head against the window.

“You just had to try and kill me…” I knew everyone probably heard that gunshot, and if they didn’t the blood splatter would be enough. I started back to the Clinic, when the sound of footsteps emanate from behind me. I quickly turn ready to fire another shot off, only to have the shocked look of Rarity hit my view.

“Alex...what did you…”

I quickly holstered the Blackhawk and walked over, “Rarity...I had to he was going to kill me, and the rebels if he had to. I tried to talk him out of it but I couldn’t…” Her eyes were locked on the corpse and I quickly blocked her view, “Come on let’s get back to Amata…” I start to walk but I don’t hear her walk after me, I look back and she hasn’t moved. I walk back over, removing my helmet, and crouching down next to her, “Rarity...come on...Rarity!” I scream in her ear making her jump.

“Ah! What!?” She shakes her head, looking at me bewildered.

“Rarity we have to go back to Amata, stop staring at the body and let’s go.” I tell her sternly, hoping she would listen now, as I place my helmet back over my head.

“Right!” She says, almost exclaiming now seeming eager to leave the presence of the dead. Heading back through the hall and into the server room Kendall enters his gun drawn and trained at Rarity and I. I quickly grab her and roll to the right as he fires, a few bullets pinging off my armor and one hitting the joint, piercing my skin. Letting go off Rarity, and grabbing the Blackhawk I lean out and spot a bit of Kendall, he is hiding behind another part of the server. I step out and close the gap, closing in on the officer, and when enough of him is in my view I fire the round hitting his shoulder and knocking him down. I fire another round into his chest, ending him. I call to Rarity, who comes out of behind the far server wall and walks out before me, not casting a glance at Kendall’s corpse.

Returning to the Clinic, Pinkie bounces into our view, “Hey Alex look I have the same hoof thingy you have!” She gleefully exclaims, showing off her hoof now adorned with a Pip-Boy. I look to the Clinic door, Amata and Stanley are there, Amata looking depressed and Stanley has a look full of despise, and it’s projected at me.

I walk over, “Hello Stanley. Thanks for getting the Pip-Boy for Pinkie.”

“I have another one that I can put on her.” She motions to Rarity.

“Yeah go ahead, take your time.” He gives a small nod, and moves past me. “Amata.”

“I… I just heard. The Overseer… My father is dead. What’s more, some of the people are saying I should be the new Overseer. It’s all so sudden.”

“That’s the way these things go. Now do the right thing for your Vault.” I tell her, my time in the Wasteland really showing true here, death was a simple piece of my life as eating was.

“Oh, I will, believe me. We can open up limited trade with nearby settlements and other areas, and see the world we’ve been missing. But it’s still important that I protect our Vault, and keep the people within it safe from the dangers of the Wasteland. Even when those dangers have helped us in the past. And that makes the rest of this even harder.” She spoke softly, she sounded like she was trying to stop herself from crying and with the last part, my mind started to let the pieces fall together.

“I’ve got a bad feeling I know where this is going.” I said, my fear starting to show.

“You saved us. But that doesn’t change the fact you killed one of us to do it, and I can’t let that sort of thing stand here. I guess it’s a bit familiar. You’ve already been forced out of the Vault once before. At least now you know what’s out there. I’m sorry. You’re a hero… and you have to leave.” She told me, finality in her voice and with that I didn’t say anything, I just turned and walked out. Seeing Pinkie and Rarity, with their new Pip-Boys waiting for me. I walk down the hall and they follow.

“Alex what happened?” Pinkie asked as we walked past everyone, there looks differing in emotion, all of my reactions hidden by my helmet.

I didn’t respond.

“Alex? Come on tell us what happened and stop being so quiet!” She exclaimed as we walked into the Vault Entrance, I stopped and turned around.

“I’m never going to be able to come back to this Vault ever again, I have been exiled by Amata.” I quickly tell them, my voice full of anger, with that I left Vault 101 for a final time, never looking back as the great steel door shut as I reached the threshold of the Wasteland and the entrance tunnel. My last thought as we left? It’s been one hell of a day.

Stats~

Alex~ Level 12 Tag Skills: Big Guns, Repair, and Medicine

S ~9 (+2)

P ~6

E ~7

C ~4 (+1)

I ~6

A ~5 (+1)

L ~7

Pinkie~ Level 1 Tag Skills: Explosives, Melee Weapons, and Lockpick

S ~ 6

P ~ 7

E ~ 7

C ~ 5

I ~ 4

A ~ 7

L ~ 4

Rarity~ Level 1 Tag Skills: Small Guns, Sneak, and Speech

S ~ 4

P ~ 8

E ~ 4

C ~ 7

I ~ 6

A ~ 5

L ~ 6

Finishing The Guide Part One

Finishing The Guide

A few days after being banished from Vault 101...

I sat at my desk a bottle of Scotch and Nuka-Cola Quantum next to me. I held my head and wallowed in my own self-pity, while it had been a few days since my banishment and I had gotten my mind off the fact with training Rarity and Pinkie, a few hours ago, we came across Susie Mack on our way back. She told us that the Vault was doing much better since we went in, then reminded me I was banished and gave me some purified water. I’ve been able to take hard hits, I watched my father die right in front of me, and moments after was leaving his body.

Pouring another glass, a knock on my door sounds, “Come in.”

“Alex? Are you going to be ok?” It was Rarity and from the sound of her voice, she actually cared.

“Eventually I will be…” I sigh, sipping at my drink. Sitting next to me, I cast a look to her catching her eyes. I just sighed a bit and went back to my drink. Rarity continues to stare at me, at least I think so who knows but eventually I felt a hoof on my shoulder.

“It’s ok Alex, it must be heartbreaking to have to be kicked out of your home again, especially after you helped them.” She almost cooed, probably trying to make me feel better of course.

“Well it’s something that comes with being me, not everything I do ends up good for me… I try and do the good thing, I’m not always able to do so, but I try…” I mumble taking another drink.

“At least you’re trying, from what you’ve told us around here you’re one of the only people who fight the good fight.”

I couldn’t help but think back to when I first met Three Dog, he set me on my way, not only to finding my dad but also starting a relationship with me and the Brotherhood. Of course this really didn’t have much to do with my current mood beyond the tie of I try and do good things and bad things happen. I set the glass down, “You’re right…” I notice her hoof is still on my shoulder, which she quickly removes, a hint of red crossing her face. I stand, my mind thinking of what to do next. I could always go after the G.E.C.K. or maybe continue doing stuff for Moira and the Guide…I decide to go with the Guide option, as I had learned that the G.E.C.K. was in a place I’d really don’t want to take Rarity and Pinkie too, even with the few days of training I had given them, they were at least decent with their weapons now, but I had no idea if they would hold up in a fight. With how Rarity acted at seeing the Overseer’s body, I had some fears but they slowly dissolved as I watched the two of them train. I was stopped at the top of the stairs, when Rarity’s hoof into my thigh brought me out of thought.

“Are you alright, Alex?”

“I’m fine I was just thinking what we’re going to do next.”

“What did you decide if you have?”

“We’re going to finish the Wasteland Survival Guide that Moira is writing, I was actually on my way to do a piece of it when I found you two.” I tell her as we walk down the stairs.

“So what will we have to do?”

“Well I finished the mole rat stick of doom, so I guess we could just continue from where I left off...I believe it was putting an observer in a Mirelurk egg clutch. Shouldn’t be too hard, but we can’t kill any of them though…”

“And why does that sound like such a problem?”

“Well in the confines of the Anchorage War Memorial and the fact that there is probably not just Mirelurks but also Mirelurk Kings which are a whole nother shit storm to deal with, but who am I to complain? Should be fun trying to sneak through the place.”

A few hours later and a trek that was more like a tour…

“Run god dammit run!” I pushed Pinkie ahead as more Mirelurk joined in the chase, “Keep moving we have to buy Rarity more time!” As to why I had agreed to this plan, I’ll never really know beyond that Rarity persuaded me to do it. When we arrived at the memorial Rarity had voiced a plan she had come up with, she could take observer and get it into the clutch but only if Pinkie and I could distract the Mirelurks.

“This definitely wasn’t a good plan!” Pinkie screamed, terrified of the monsters behind her.

“Don’t I know it!?” We keep running the Mirelurks bumbling behind us, slowly we outrun them, even though I’m carry all of my gear and wearing my armor we legged it around a few corners and outran them.

We slow down and make our way outside, to meet up with Rarity who should be waiting there. We exit the building and Rarity is standing there covered in mud, a very mean look on her face.

“I hate you right now…” She hisses giving me a glare, that I couldn’t help but shy away from.

“I wouldn’t really get mad, you’ll only get dirtier the longer you're out here. Now come on we have to get back to Megaton and tell Moira we plan--” The quick crack of a Hunting Rifle and the round grazing my shoulder makes me drop to my knee and pivot, already reaching for my Chinese Assault Rifle, that I oh so graciously took instead of Eugene, under the concern of how fast I could move with it and my armor. “Get in cover!” I start to fire at Raiders who were firing from across the bridge.

“What cover is there!?” I heard Rarity yell as she looked down her scope and Pinkie ran forward, suffice to say I was surprised at their swift actions, however Pinkie is quickly blown back by two raiders with sledgehammers. Rarity starts to fire, but misses more than enough shots to get a few laughs from the Raiders.

“Calm down Rarity, just breath and focus!” I shout as I stand and move forward firing at the Raiders beating on Pinkie, blowing their heads apart. In the corner of my eye a Raider appears to have tossed a grenade which is confirmed by the sound of metal on concrete at my feet. “Son of a bi--” The explosion cuts me off and sends me flying back, everything moving quickly and coming to a stop as I hit the ground. I sit there for a second as my ears stop ringing and my eyes become less blurry. I reach into a pocket and grab a stimpak, quickly jabbing it into my leg. I start to get up when a something smacks into me, putting my head back into contact with the ground. Seeing it’s a pink body, I fear the worst till Pinkie rolls over. I finally get to my feet and see the Raiders come rushing up, my rifle knocked from my hands I reach down to Blackhawk and bring it up, aiming for the closest Raider and spreading his brains onto the faces behind him. I looked back spotting Rarity hiding behind the edge of the bridge, grabbing Pinkie I bee-lined it back and dove to the side, hugging the small wall. The few remaining Raiders, which I confirmed to be three as I look over the wall. Setting Pinkie down and reaching into my pockets for some stimpaks and quickly administering them to the battered pony. I looked back to Rarity who was probably close to curling up into a ball, I had to do the obvious thing and grab a few grenades off of Pinkie’s belt. Quickly tossing them short of the advancing raiders they walked into the explosions, there legs being blasted away.

I quickly checked on Pinkie who was still at my feet, her wounds were healing pretty well thanks to the stims. I grabbed her and gently hoisted her over my shoulder. I walked over to Rarity who was leaning back against the concrete of the bridge, breathing heavily.

“Are you alright Rarity?”

She looked up at me, “I...I don’t know.”

I offer her my hand, “Why don’t we head home? The both of you probably need a bit of rest.”

We walked back to Megaton, I dropped Rarity and Pinkie off at the house and quickly ran over to Craterside, telling Moira that we got the observer in place and without killing anything, of course I made about how they really didn’t seem to fight amongst each other, so I didn’t see any kind of struggle for leadership. After that I quickly returned to my home, heading upstairs to the my room where I had put Pinkie. I had gotten them some actual bedding two days earlier, really it was just an old mattress, that I was able to buy off the Common House. Pinkie was still on my bed and Rarity was next to her as well both asleep. Deciding on a bit of sleep myself, I leave the room and walk into the other, laying down on the mattress, shutting my eyes and letting the usual sensation of sleep overtake me.

When I awaken I can hear voices downstairs, getting up and blinking the sleep from my eyes I open the door and all the voices hush. Stepping down the stairs, I see Pinkie, Rarity, and Moria sitting at my table watching me.

“Good whatever time it is…” I groggily say as I reach the bottom of the stairs and walk straight to my refrigerator, grabbing a bit of mole rat meat and a plate. With food in hand, I sat at the table and ate, while everyone just kind of looked at me oddly well save for Moira of course.

“What are you eating?” Both Pinkie and Rarity asked.

“Some Mole Rat meat.” I answered with the same groggy voice.

Their faces shifted to a twist of horrified and disgusted. But I really didn’t give a damn, since I was too tired to really deal with anything.

“Um Alex?” I heard Moira speak up.

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“We’re on the last piece for this chapter...and well it deals with injuries.”

My eyebrow fell and I started chewing slower.

“Also we could get the best results if you broke a limb or two…”

At this point I just kept eating, my eyes turned to slits and staring at the women before me. She just stared back, a small pout forming. I kept up my stare and she went into a full blown pout, which had no effect and I laughed on the inside, till I saw Pinkie...oh god...I should have died right there, her face...I couldn’t help it.

“Fine...I know I’m going to regret this…”

I found myself standing on the edge of the railing outside the Craterside Supply, planning to jump to the pool where the bomb is. Moira said it would be the best place that wouldn’t kill me.

I felt a slight nudge at my back, and I looked back to see Pinkie with her adorable face on. Ok what the hell that face is just too adorable and she’s using it to get me hurt! Why!? What the fuck is wrong with her!?

Rarity had a bit of a smile and I knew she might see a bit of joy in seeing me get hurt, since I kinda dragged her into the mess to begin with, well after she got transported here anyway, better than a person’s stomach or an animal’s.

I stepped up to top of the railing balancing, when I felt another nudge and I fell forward, the first thing coming to mind as I started to fall.

“Rarity you fucking bitch you pushed me!” I hit the ground on my right arm, I could hear the bones crack, my head was tossed about and I feared that I would have broken my neck, right leg hit the ground and then was smacked back into the ground by my left leg, those cracked too. I didn’t feel like moving so I sat whimpering. When the three of them came down to check on me I looked at them.

“I will fucking kill all of you if you ever make me do something like that again. That bomb is always jury-rigable.”

Moira flashed a face of fear and then back to curiosity and concern, her thick-headedness showing so well with this question, “How much does it hurt?”

“I’m sure it hurts but you know after all I’ve been through I’m starting to not feel pain.”

“Really!? That’s sounds like a good thing!” Pinkie beams, her face in that almost neverending smile of hers.

I looked at Rarity, “You pushed me…” I put on my best hurt face, “I’m guessing you enjoy other people’s pain then right? Is this just with me or everyone? Ooh, perhaps in bed too?” Rarity went red and I couldn’t help but laugh, well laugh by coughing at a stab of pain that went through me, when I moved by crushed limbs, “Oh don’t worry Rarity I’m just pokin’ fun at cha’.” With a huff she started to go back up to Craterside supply, “Um Rarity think you could carry me? I’m not in the best shape with crushed limbs.”

I swore I should have just had Moira carry me, would have been less painful…maybe.

After Moira fixed me up, which I still have no idea where she learned the medical skills to do so, and why she never mentioned she could do any of these things before, it would have been nice to know, since Doc Church is a dick.

Anyway, after getting patched up and my bones mended by the saving grace of medical technology, we spoke about the last chapter.

“Alright well there are three things I need you to do for the last chapter. I want you to find out the history behind Rivet City, I need some help with robots, and I want to figure out about Pre-War knowledge.”

“Okay…so let me hear about the robots bit.”

“Well I need you to go to the RobCo Facility and install this widget into the mainframe, so I can learn about the robotics they made and what not.”

“How about I just write that section for you. Trust me I’m an expert when it comes to robots.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

I spent about the half the day writing down what they would need to know about robots with Moira. Rarity and Pinkie sat around bored, save for when the occasional customer came inside and traded, they always talked with them, even with the people who had started coming to Megaton from elsewhere, and the caravanners. All of them surprised to see two talking ponies, usually had to quickly explain unless they were so off their rocker on jet that they just excused it as a hallucination. But when we finally finished with writing the section about robots, I signed us up to head out and find out about Rivet City’s history, I needed to drop by there anyway and get a few things from the marketplace.

With our new objective I walked out to the main room, where Rarity and Pinkie were talking with a few caravanners.

“Rarity, Pinkie let’s go! We’re going to Rivet City!” I called as I walked past the caravanners, meeting their eyes. Stepping outside into the cooling day, the ponies following behind me.

“Alright you two let me just stop back in at the house and get my usual stuff and we’ll head out.”

With that we walked back to the house and they waited outside while I ran in, changing into my power armor and grabbing more gear, alongside the Blackhawk I have Eugene, usual setup all in all, but hopefully now I wouldn’t be taking as many rounds with these two ponies watching my back, and Rarity proved herself at the bridge… at least in my mind she did.

Post Chapter Statuses:

Rarity and Pinkie leveled up!

Rarity~ Level 3

Two new perks~ Black Widow and Swift Learner

Pinkie~ Level 2

One new perk~ Little Leaguer

Everyone is feeling rested and much better after the fight at the bridge, however Rarity isn’t feeling well unknown to her companions, and Pinkie is feeling a bit useless. Meanwhile Alex is thankful to have the new companions by his side and ready to take them wherever he goes.

Author's Note

Hello everyone! Sorry for the large gap of time, I like to have more regular chapters but haven't been able to keep that. Plans have changed from how I was going to do the Survival Guide quest, I was going to do it all in one go, but have decided to break it into parts and then continue from there. So please enjoy and bear with me!

Finishing The Guide Part Two

Finishing The Guide Part Two~

We’ve only been walking ten minutes and I’m already about to grab Pinkie and strangle her, she really gets on my nerves with how much she talks.

But that got all quiet when we got into the subway tunnels, no matter how many times I go through here, more ghouls tend to show up, along with the occasional raider or mutant, nothing I can’t handle of course but it’s annoying getting interrupted mid conversation by bloodthirsty Ghouls. However it does wonders to keep one’s anger in check. After that I really didn’t have the twitch every time Pinkie spoke...till a minute later when she started back up.

“Pinkie will you be quiet! I swear only time I hear silence from you is when we are fighting or you're not in the room!” I cracked finally, blurting that from the front of the group.

I expected Rarity to yell at me, but the both of them said nothing as we continued on. I felt kinda bad, but that didn’t explain Rarity, every time I complained about Pinkie’s talking Rarity was quick to defend her, so what was different now. I planned to ask them at the next stop, I didn’t need them breaking down while we were out at least if that was what was going on.

After another twenty minutes we resurfaced and had taken a wrong turn, we ended up a lot closer to the Mall than I wanted and we’re deeper in D.C.

“Son of a bitch…” I muttered as I lowered my Pip-Boy.

“What’s wrong?” Rarity asked to my left.

I looked to her, “We took a wrong turn, it was my fault really…we’re deep within D.C. fairly close to the Mall. I spun on my heels heading back down into the Metro, “Maybe if someone didn’t keep distracting me by playing eye spy…” That got some laughs from Pinkie and Rarity. As I was about to push through the gate, I heard a few blasts of laser fire and the screams of super mutants. Probably nothing...Brotherhood scouring the area… I heard a Vertibird and I started moving quicker with more purpose.

“We need to hurry.” I told them, my tone quiet and harsh.

“Alex what’s that sound?”

“Something we don’t want to deal with. Now get moving, we need to get out of here.” I ushered them back into the metro and prayed they wouldn’t follow us.

After backtracking and finding the right way to go, we end up at Anacostia Crossing, a few bodies littering the entrance, black combat armor adorning the bodies. I didn’t look at them as we walked by however Pinkie had stopped, as I didn’t hear her bouncing or the fact that it was all to silent and Rarity seemed to be able to walk like a ninja.

“Pinkie?” I looked back and she was looting the bodies, well at least trying to.

“I can’t find anything on these guys…” She sighed, I guess she wanted to impress me perhaps?

“You wouldn’t I took what was useful to me when I killed them a few weeks ago.”

“Shouldn’t they have decomposed?” Rarity asked, I was taken aback that she was adapting quickly, she seemed like the one to fret over dead things.

“They probably have already started...we can’t see under the armor so decomposition may be bad under there. Otherwise they might not be, there skin was more than likely cooked when I killed them with my Flamer…”

“A Flamer?”

“Shoots fire, well it sprays fuel that is lit on fire near the tip of the barrel but that’s deeper than anyone really needs to know.”

“Then why do you know it?”

“I’m an expert in all things big and heavy, using them and keeping them in good condition.”

“So you like heavy mares hmm?” She snuck in.

“Good one...you're still a sadistic bitch though.” She rolled her eyes and we continued on, Pinkie falling back into her bounce pace. Surprisingly quiet for bouncing but whatever, enough gunfire makes you only hear the loud stuff. We walked over to the tower that led up to the bridge across to Rivet City, we passed by Doc Hoff who just stared in what I thought to be a look of am I really high or am I actually seeing this. Pretty much my reaction when I heard them talk...so yeah.

“Alright I have to warn you, the security around here are a bit rough, and some of the people may not take kindly to you trying to talk with them. So just keep your heads down and let me do the talking unless you are asked a question.” I explained as we climbed the tower and started across the bridge, passing Carlos the usual poor wastelander that sits at the top of the tower begging for purified water. I had given him a pretty decent amount, but he still begs. He has nothing, and I don’t know if he’ll accept any caps, or if I had any to spare really usually I have to keep all of my caps for repairs and to buy anything and everything I need. When we reach the two entrances leading to the different parts of Rivet City, I knew the security was eyeing us. They knew I was reputable enough, that anyone with me could be trusted but seeing two ponies, in armor and with guns probably spooked them a bit.

We entered into the Marketplace and I headed straight for Flak’s, catching him as he was walking out.

“Hey Flak! Did you get any new power armor pieces yet?”

“Nope.”

“Damn...Alright, any five millimeter ammo?”

“I have three hundred rounds left.”

“I’ll take them.”

“Alright it’s five hundred and thirty seven caps.” I reached down to a small bag tied to my leggings. Quickly pouring out it’s contents and counting out the needed caps. He kept his eye on the two ponies as they looked at various things about the shop. “What’s up with these two?”

“I found them out near the Super-Duper Mart out near Megaton, it’s a fairly long story how they got here and really neither of us have the time. By the way do you perchance know anything about Rivet City’s history?”

“No I don’t. You could go try and talk with Bannon or maybe Belle down at the Muddy Rudder.”

“Thanks Flak.” I whistled getting the attention of Pinkie and Rarity, who fell back in behind me as I walked back through and down to the Muddy Rudder.

Entering the place I could have swore I saw a flash of a jacket I had back home...and very few people had it. I walked through the bar the two ponies going off once again and I stop at the bar.

“Hey Belle.”

“Welcome back. What’ll it be?”

“Scotch” She turned to grab the drink, “also I wanted to talk to you, about Rivet City’s history Flak told me to talk with you or Bannon and I really don’t like talking with Bannon.”

She turned back setting the bottle down, “What makes you think I know anything about this dirty old tub?”

“I don’t know you run the bar around here. I really don’t have any sound logic for this, I was just following a rumor it’s worked well in the past.”

“Well it so happens I do know a bit, but you could learn a lot more if you found Pinkerton.”

“Who?”

“The old coot who lives in the broken bow.”

“He lives in the bow?”

“Yep, he’s got some kind of set up there’s a door with a bridge but the things locked and nobody has been able to get it open. You could always try and see if one of the doors under the water is unlocked.”

I sigh and look at her, “You have got to be kidding me…” She shook her head and I let out yet another sigh. “Alright thanks for the info…” I take a quick swig from the bottle and reach down to my pouch grabbing a few caps and tossing them to the bar. “And thanks for the drink.” Walking off, my eyes scanning for Pinkie and Rarity. I find them, but I find them talking with none other than…

“Butch!” I can’t help but exclaim as I walk up to the group.

“How you doing Alex?”

“Good. Considering, but what I’m wondering is what are you doing here?”

“Looking for a place to go, start up a new gang, you know...the usual.”

“I can’t help like I’ve missed some bigger talk and I’m only getting the short version…” I looked at Rarity and Pinkie who had smiles on their faces. “Well we shouldn’t keep you busy we have to head out anyway. Come on you two.” I wave my hand and start back towards the exit, hearing a bit of a whisper exchanged between Rarity and Butch, I can only imagine what was shared, and really I probably don’t want to know. It was nice to see Butch again, sure he was an ass for the longest time, but he’ll be different soon enough, the Wasteland tends to change people, not always for the better but I just have to hope. We left the main piece of Rivet City and started back towards the shore. I kept my eyes locked on the broken bow, hoping I really didn’t have to swim to get inside.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, life just loves to give me fuck yous. This time in the form of a locked door at the end of a bridge leading into the broken bow, and Rarity pushing me off the side with her magic, “Well have fun Alex, don’t forget us when you get inside!”

I hit the water like a ton of bricks due to the power armor, practically dropping to the bottom. Getting my bearings from that drop I start to swim towards the broken edge, hoping to find a way inside.

I found a way inside, had to swim through a few corridors and what not, oh and kill two Mirelurk Hunters that were sitting at the staircase I needed to go up, but otherwise easy time getting in, you know besides being soaked and in heavy armor. Looking around I found the door that led outside, at least I thought it was, I had to go through a few traps and they were more setup so you wouldn’t notice them coming from the way I was going. Looking about the room the door was situated in, I finally found a switch and got the door open, ushering the waiting ponies inside as we headed deeper into the bow, in the search for the enigmatic Pinkerton.

We found him in a back room lab, he was a crazy old coot but he gave me what I needed after a little persuasion, which I failed at only to be saved by Rarity and the cuteness that is Pinkie Pie. I swear if she had been anymore cute Pinkerton would have had a heart attack right there.

The walk home was uneventful, a few passing mutants that I pointed out to the girls, some more ghouls. I had to admit, when I wasn’t killing anything and just walking, the Wasteland could be kinda calm and nice, at least that little bit that I had slaughtered the inhabitants of earlier. We got back home and I turned over the info to Moira, getting that bit finished we headed back home and settled in for the night, with a bit of a party. Not much of one, Pinkie complained she had lost her party cannon on the way here and so she didn’t have everything she needed but she tried her best and I still had fun, invited some people to come as well. I think half the town came, at one point I think I even saw the Confessor chatting with Moriarty, the Confessor looked drunk and well Moriarty...was being Moriarty. I danced around with Pinkie and Rarity, we all had a good time, and by the time it was over, well tomorrow was going to be a hell of a wakeup.

Post Chapter Statuses:
Rarity, Alex, and Pinkie leveled up!
Rarity~ Level 4
One new perk~ Scoundrel Lever One: Speech - 45 Barter - 35
Pinkie~ Level 3
One new perk~ Swift Learner Level One
Alex~ Level 13
One new perk~ Size Matter Level Three: Big Guns - 85

One step closer to finishing the Guide, everyone had fun and got to know each other outside of the 'formal workplace'! Good for them!

Finishing The Guide Part Three

The Part Where They Actually Finish The Damn Thing...

I really need to start either asking crap about these two and their world or start telling stories, because I’m getting tired of listening to Pinkie ramble on playing eye spy with herself. Walking for over thirty minutes with that next to me is enough to drive me insane, hell the stuff in Vault 92 would be easier to ignore. But I digress; we were headed out to the Arlington Library to work on the final piece of the Guide. Once we finished this, we were done and we could move on. I am still thinking what we’re going to do after this but I’ll figure it out later, more than likely we’d move on with getting the G.E.C.K. but there were other things.

Upon arrival at the Library I stopped at the threshold of the doorway, turning around, “Pinkie, Rarity, I’m going to need you two to stay close, with you two coming along things could get hairy with the Brotherhood, they might get aggressive.”

“Why would they even get aggressive?”

I grumbled a bit, “The Brotherhood is anti-mutant. Some a bit more than others, most of the ones I met will shoot any mutant.” I slipped Blackhawk out of its holster. “So just stay behind me and let’s hope we can get through this pretty quickly.” I push on the door and step inside immediately gaining the attention of two Knights and a Scribe.

“Who are you and what the hell is behind you!?” She starts off calmly till Rarity and Pinkie come in behind me. The Knights bring their weapons to bear at the sight of mutants.

“I am Alex, and I’m just here to get some info, and these two are Pinkie and Rarity. They are friends of mine.”

“You’re Alex?” One of the Knights asked.

“Yes I am.”

“I heard about you and what happened, I’m sorry.”

I give a bit of smile in thanks for his condolences, “Thank you, anyway Scribe you wouldn’t happen to know anything about the card catalog for this library or perhaps the archives?”

At the mention of the knowledge she brightened up a bit, “Of course! We have the card catalog here, but we cannot get to the full archives, as raiders have been held up in the back of the library, and we can’t get them out.”

“How about I deal with them for you?”

“You can try, they are dug in there, and they even got some of the old turrets online.” Another Knight said moving to the door that leads to the back, leaning in to check what would be a hall.

I turn to Rarity and Pinkie, “Are you two going to up for this? This will be intense close range fighting, and Rarity I’m sorry but you are going to get blood in your coat and I don’t want to hear one god damn word about it.” A sheepish smile from Rarity and another one of my patented glares, she gave me a nod, signaling her willingness to get dirty. Pinkie was ready for anything usually, signaled by her incessant ramblings of how she was going to teach those mean raiders a lesson. I look to the Knights; they are grabbing their weapons, looking as if they are going to follow us in. Of course they are both eyeing Rarity and Pinkie, their training to kill all mutants being a major thought; however since I am standing with them I held doubt that they would try anything, my influence overriding their orders.

“If you three are ready then we’ll head in.” The Knight who had been speaking told us as he and his counterpart headed to the door, standing on either side weapons held ready. I holster Blackhawk and reach for Eugene on my back, pulling the body down and into my hands. Giving the barrels a quick spin, I nod to Rarity and Pinkie who have gotten their weapons out. Rarity armed with her sword and Pinkie with her shotgun. I push through the doors, the Knights behind me and behind them are Pinkie and Rarity.

Fighting had started, and I shit you not a minute in, I stepped into a room and a raider somewhere shouted me out, which in turn gave me the warm welcome of a grenade. Thankfully I kicked it into a doorway across from me, killing a raider an arm and a leg coming from the door way being a great sign of that. The Knights started firing alongside me, cutting down almost every raider that decided to pop up. While Pinkie and Rarity had dashed towards another door, and were moving about trying to get up on the upper level so they could flush the rest out. I heard a few screams and a few shotgun blasts as raiders dropped into view from the balconies; a bit of pink moving about, along with a flash of purple and alabaster swishing about almost as if it were dancing around the pink. I looked further down, seeing more doors to head down, and clear.

I split away from the Knights, putting Eugene back into its slot, pulling Blackhawk from its holster, upon passing the threshold of the doorway and into a hall; I am grabbed from behind by a raider. His arm tries to slip around my neck, but I quickly grab him and toss him over my head, dropping him to the floor and bringing Blackhawk up to his forehead.

With a pull of the trigger his head explodes and I start down the hall, any Raiders that pop out of a door or out of an alcove get a bullet to the face. A few minutes later I end up in a spot of trouble as I found the back room, the turrets and the Raiders had me stuck at the door. I didn’t have any grenades since Pinkie took all of them. I brought up my Pip-Boy which had the layout of the Library already up, moving it around I found the two blips that were Rarity and Pinkie, they were still a floor above me, and seemed to still be on the balconies. I made the trip up a floor and stumbled across the bodies of raiders’ ragged holes still oozing blood and gore, their throats slit. Following the trail I heard a few shots and a scream, rushing forward I find Pinkie and Rarity behind a few toppled over bookshelves and a group of dead and dying raiders along with a few lives one hiding behind their own shelving, one popped his head out and I raised Blackhawk looking down its scope and lining up a shot. A quick squeeze of the trigger and a bullet in an eye-socket later, the raiders had their attention on me along with the girls.

“Watch it! One of them has a Flamer!” Pinkie exclaimed in her always cheerful voice.

I hustle over and crouch next to them, “Really!?”

“Why do you sound excited?” Rarity questioned her tone more monotonous, and not having her usual refined accent.

“Cause a fight with a Flamer is always fun!” I stood holstering Blackhawk and grabbing Eugene. Giving the barrels a quick spin out of habit, and a few bullet pings on my armor I started forward, waiting for the raider with the flamer. “Come here buddy, let’s dance!” I taunted, in my short time out in the wastes I learned that raiders were usually dumb, and taunting worked.

Which it did, he moved out of a room and started spewing flames in my direction, the armor was doused in the fuel while I fired, spraying him with rounds tearing his flesh apart, leaving little more than a ragged carcass. Moving along I turned the last few raiders into bullet riddled bits, at times I could never believe dismemberment was so much fun, then again giant fucking minigun versus people with barely any armor. What do I expect, that they’ll be like Super Mutants and take rounds and just keep on fighting? Nope, these guys are easy. With the last one a bleeding mess, I may have overkilled him a little, anyway going about and thinking if I should even try and loot these guys seeing as if they had anything I may have destroyed it turning their bodies to mush, which was currently getting all over my boots… and Pinkie’s hooves.

“Are you looking for something Pinkie? I think I may have overdone it here.”

“Yeah actually I tossed a grenade in here without pulling the pin!” She looked at me with a smile, “Rarity reminded me to pull the pin and count to three but I just counted to three and tossed, well actually I counted to five and skipped three and four, but—“

“Pinkie that’s enough just find your grenade and let’s get going I found the room with the archives and I need your grenades.” I told her with a small smile, I remember when I forgot to pull the pin on grenades. We headed back to the archive room; the raiders were still there, as when Pinkie poked her head around the turrets and raiders fired out of the doorway, I having to yank Pinkie back so she didn’t get her head torn off. As I pulled her back I reached down to the makeshift bandolier Rarity had crafted for her, since I one I had didn’t fit her, grabbing a plasma grenade. Dropping the pink pony behind me and pulling the pin, I tossed the grenade through the door, hopefully tossing it in the direction of the two turrets. A few seconds and the static like sound of the plasma grenade going off, I rush in the girls hopefully following behind as I find the turrets turned into molten slag, and a raider crawling away from a pile of green goop that was more than likely the arm and leg he was currently missing. I let them take care of that I pushed forward, the few raiders that were left had somewhat barricaded themselves in the furthest point back in the room; I could see a terminal next to what I assumed to be the archives. I walked forward, and they raised their weapons against me, I just shot them giving little care at this point, they only had ten millimeters anyway. With the room cleared, I walked over to the terminal booting it up and downloading the complete archives to my Pip-Boy.

“So can we go home now my hooves are killing me?”

“Getting real tired of your shit Rarity.” I say cheerfully, knowing that I was done with the Wasteland Survival Guide. “But yes we can go home now, I’ll give the archives to Moira, and then we’ll do something at home. I’m finally fucking done with this research and I want to take a load off.” I say thinking on what we could do once we get home, maybe drink some more like last night, I still can’t believe that Pinkie threw a party and the whole town practically came. I’ll give it to her she knows how to make a party.

We headed back home, watching a few Vertibirds go over head as we walk, heading into D.C. proper. Probably towards the Mall or even the White House, Penn Avenue had been covered in Enclave at one point.

We reached the gates of Megaton a little before nightfall, I headed straight to Craterside Supply to give Moira the archives, and I let Pinkie and Rarity do whatever they wanted till I rounded them up. I expected Pinkie went up to Moriarty’s he had taken a real shine to the pink pony. And who knows where Rarity went, she didn’t really fit in with anyone here, she probably went home to be with Wadsworth, I’d guess he’s more than likely the most refined ‘person’ here.

I opened the door to Craterside Supply, “Hey Moira, I’m back with the archives!” I yelled into the shop, not surprised to see smoke about the whole shop. I fully stepped inside, letting smoke spill out into the open air, “Moira!?” I yelled again, hoping she didn’t finally blow herself up. Her guard and Moira were in the back room, Moira coughing while the guard just sat back, a Nuka-Cola in his hand.

“I got the archives from the library Moira.”

She looked up at me and put on a real big smile, “That’s great! That means were done!”

“Yep, unless you need anything else?”

“Well I need you, Rarity, and Pinkie to sign the draft so when I get it published everyone will know who helped!”

“Really, you aren’t going to take all the glory for this?” I ask sarcastically.

“That would be cruel and heartless Alex, you of all people should know I am not either of those things.” She scolds.

“I know Moira, just being sarcastic. Alright I’ll get the girls and we’ll sign the book.” I turned on my heel and walked out the shop, checking my Pip-Boy for Rarity and Pinkie. The both of them were up at Moriarty’s, with a quick walk up I found the two of them at the bar talking with Gob, Rarity a bit drunk and I don’t even think Pinkie can get drunk.

I walked up behind the two ponies, nodding to Gob getting a nod back, “Come on you two Moira needs us for one last thing!” I say a little loudly, placing my hands on their shoulders ushering them out of the bar. “I’ll be back to pay for the drinks Gob, just tell Moriarty to put it on my tab!”

With the grunt of acknowledgement from Gob, and a seemingly pissed off looking Moriarty leaning his head out of his office, we leave and head back to Craterside Supply. Moira was sitting behind her counter with a stack of papers.

“Ah there you are! Well all you have to do is sign this and then I can get it published!”

“You know I would ask how your going about getting this published…but I can only think it’ll lead to me having to deliver things. And I am not a courier.” Moira hands me a pen and I quickly write my name on the front sheet, handing it off to the girls, “Just sign and we’ll go home.” I start heading for the door.

“Oh and Alex I’ll be giving you the first copy when I get it!”

“Just stop by whenever and drop it off then, I’m headed home for a drink.” I say as I leave the shop and cross town quickly. Heading into my home, and stripping my armor off. Grabbing the single bit of unarmored clothing I have, which was a Vault suit and the lab coat I had taken off of Jonas. I never understood what told me to take it, but perhaps I just wanted something to remember him by. Anyway, I ordered my usual drink with Wadsworth and sat at my table, letting out a long sigh. It’s been a rather long week, not just three weeks ago; I was in some god awful simulation controlled by that Braun asshole. But I guess that’s my life tons a fuck yous.

End of Part 3~
Post Chapter Statuses:
Level Up
Alex Level 13-
New Perk: Pyromaniac
Rarity Level 4-
New Perk:Educated
Pinkie:Level 4-
New Perks:Child At Heart and Little Leaguer Rank 2

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long with this one, I had to take a bit of time off from writing. But now I'm back and I hope this chapter brings a bit of enjoyment to ye'.