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!