Fallout: Harmony and Steel

Chapter Three: Remnants of the Old World

May 30th, 2279

Journal of Knight Isaac Ward

I don't know what to think of the girl I saved. She told me her name is Fluttershy and she claims to be from a settlement called 'Ponyville'. I'm not sure what to believe about those names, as they both sound as ridiculous as each other. To her credit though, she could speak perfect English and looked like a perfectly normal girl. Almost too normal if you ask me. Her clothing reminded me of the residents of Tenpenny Tower or even a pre-war citizen, it looked that well made. I decided it was worth accompanying her back to her settlement, who knows, maybe they actually have something that is worth reporting back to the Citadel.

I've been walking through these woods with my new-found companion for about an hour now. She was still bruised and shooken from her encounter with the raiders, but she was ok enough to travel. I had offered her one of my stimpaks for her wounds, but she visibly paled at the sight of it and politely declined. She remained very quiet, occasionally glancing my way and retreating her gaze back to her feet if it met mine. She almost seems to be scared of me, I couldn't say I blamed her for that. She had witnessed me kill at least seven of her captors and now I had told her I was coming with her back to her settlement. She was doubtfully comfortable with that. If any conversation was started, it was by me, asking her questions about the village she said she came from or about her captivity. She always answered me quietly and even with the enhanced external speakers of a T45-d, I struggled to hear her at times. She told me that the raiders had taken her from the forests edge when she was with her 'squirrel friends'. I felt this was getting stranger by the second. We continued our walk through the woods in silence but the quiet didn't really bother me. I needed to concentrate where we were going anyway, we weren't out of the woods yet. Surprisingly, she eventually broke the silence with a question.

"E-excuse me, I-Isaac?" She spoke quietly.

"Yes Fluttershy?" I turned my head to acknowledge her.

"I-if you don't mind me asking, w-who exactly are you?" She asked, as if the question would offend me.

I paused before answering. I had been travelling with her for about two hours now and I had not even told her anything beyond my name.

"I am Knight Isaac Ward," I told her, "I'm with the Brotherhood of Steel."

She dropped her scared look for the first time and swapped it for a one of confusion.

"Who are they?" She asked in a confused tone.

This did not surprise me much. The Brotherhood was known to most people back in California, but we weren't out west anymore. Most of the locals to the areas out east had never even heard of who we were. This definitely did not help with trying to establish ourselves with the locals, as they would panic, run and even shoot at the sight of a power armored knight. I decided I would tell her about the Brotherhood. What harm could it do?

"The Brotherhood of Steel is an organisation dedicated to preserving the past and all its technology. I have lived my entire life within its ranks." I informed her.

This apparently did not help as she still looked as if she had no clue what I was talking about.

"Preserving the past? What do you mean by that?" She asked, clearly not understanding.

Again, I had to pause before I answered as I wasn't entirely sure how to word the Brotherhoods mission correctly. After a brief moment of thinking I answered her.

"Ultimately, I suppose we keep technology from destroying humanity again. I'm sure you've seen the world outside this forest, all of that is the direct consequence of misusing technology. We mostly collect pre-war military technology and keep it in the hands of people who know how to use it and keep them in working condition." I said, satisfied that I had given her a good enough answer.

She fell quiet as she thought about my answer. After a moment of silence, she asked another question.

"So, do you help people with the technology you collect?" She asked me curiously.

This made me pause for a third time, but this time I actually had to think carefully about my answer. The Brotherhood I was from definitely used the technology to help people, however, the original Brotherhood out west considered Wastelanders to not even worth the ammunition used to defend them. I decided to leave the original Brotherhood out of my answer. They weren't going to be of concern for a long time, so why bother telling her about them. They disavowed and broke off contact with the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood anyway. After a moment of collecting my thoughts, I answered her.

"Elder Lyons made it the mission of the Brotherhood to keep the citizens of the Capital Wasteland safe from harm. I trust my Elder and I will do my duty and follow his orders." I said with pride.

This seemed to do the trick as she gave a small smile at this answer.

"That's nice." She said, a small smile gracing her lips.

I gave her a strange look from underneath my helmet. Just moments ago she was scared to half to death of me, now she was engaging in polite conversation. I just couldn't understand this girl. How could anyone in the Wasteland be so friendly? Was everyone in her town like her? These thoughts drove me to speed up my pace in the direction she told me, I was eager to see this 'Ponyville' and see just how different it was from the rest of the Wasteland.

The walk through the remainder of the forest was long and tedious, Fluttershy would forget many times which way she came from and we would have to backtrack and retrace her steps until she remembered which way the raiders took her. We didn't encounter anymore of the raiders, but I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched. While my HUD and external speakers weren't picking up any activity, I knew they were out there somewhere. Perhaps they had found their courage and were observing me from the safety of the heavy foliage, plotting ways on how to deal with their new-found adversary. While I could easily deal with a band of ill equipped tribals, I couldn't guarantee Fluttershy's safety. We couldn't linger in this forest for any longer, it wasn't safe. I even considered giving her my laser pistol, but thought better of it. She looked like she hadn't even held a gun before, let alone something as advanced as a laser pistol and we didn't have time for any lessons on how to use one.

After a long and tiresome journey through the forest, we had finally made it to the forests edge. A vast open field of grass awaited me but before I could take in the miracle that there was grass in the first place, I noticed what lied ahead in the field. What I saw beyond took my breath away. There were buildings. Not like the rubble that made up D.C's buildings, these ones were completely intact, colourful even. Each one of the houses was adorned with a solar panel on the roof, each house varying on where it was placed. Fluttershy spoke up as we both took in her home town. The whole place looked like a real pre-war American town, albeit a bit colourful.

"Here we are, Ponyville." She said with a smile.

She waited for me to respond and turned my way when she did not hear one.

"Are you okay Isaac?" She asked me.

I shook my head from my thoughts and turned my attention to her

"I'm fine. I just didn't imagine this place to be so... Untouched." I told her, still somewhat in awe over what I was looking at.

She smiled at me before responding.

"Oh yes, I've lived here all my life, it's a lovely town and the people are even friendlier." She said cheerfully.

That gave me pause. If this town was really the tranquil paradise she said it was, then how would they react to me? A power armored soldier. It is likely that they have never even seen anything like me or the other members of my order. For once, I told Fluttershy to take the lead into town. I felt that if they saw her first, they would assume I was with her and they hopefully wouldn't panic. Hopefully. Fluttershy took the lead with a gentle pace and I made to follow her. Before I did that, I marked Ponyville's location on my map. Apparently, being back home had brought Fluttershy out of her shell a little bit, as she was speaking about her friends.

"I'm sure my friends would love to meet you, I hope they're not too worried about me." She said to me.

I just hope it's only you they'll be worried about I thought.

I took a deep breath and followed her into town.