Fallout: Diaries of Cadence
by PyraBlue Heart
First published
Cadence walks the Commonwealth in search of the man who took her son and killed her husband. While making her way through Vault 111, she comes across another cryo pod and the person inside is still alive. These are the entries of their journals.
After waking up from an unexpected cryo sleep, Cadence watches in horror as her husband Shining Armour is killed and her son kidnapped before being frozen again. Once the pods malfunction she is set free and sets out to avenge her lover and find her child.
During her trek through Vault 111 she comes across a cryo pod separated from the others, with the person inside still alive unlike the others. The pony and the young human set out across the Commonwealth together, one looking for her child, the other looking for answers as to how he even ended up in that lonely pod in the first place.
Their journey is fraught with tests of trust, morals, choices and battles the two have never faced before. These are the journal entries of the Damned Duo.
Set in a Fallout 4 where ponies and humans coexist. Magic spells are no longer accessible to unicorns other than simple levitation. Contains spoilers for Fallout 4. Some of the games physics apply like the inventory system through the pip-boys. If you have a disliking for Fallout Equestria fics please avoid this story, I dont want to be having to deal with hate comments. Lastly canon characters will be separated among the four factions of the game
The Minutemen
The Institute
The Brotherhood of Steel
And the Railroad
Introductions
The sun beat down on the Commonwealth, the brown patches of grass flowed freely in the soft morning breeze, the remaining orange leaves on the trees provided little shelter from the harsh sun, any other trees were either bare or dead. Nearby a small river flowed with the soft relaxing sound of rushing water. Along the gravel path two figures walked the wasteland, this place, destroyed by the nuclear radiation which had faded over the two hundred years that had passed since the worlds governments fired every nuclear bomb at their disposal.
This is not the world you know, no, it is a little different. You see, hundreds of years ago humanity discovered the ponies, unlike their horses, these ponies were intelligent, could communicate with humans and were just overall adorable. And no, there were no powerful alicorns that controlled the sun and moon. Alicorns were classified as a birth defect, a foal was either born with a fully developed horn and underdeveloped wings or vice versa, to avoid any medical problems the underdeveloped limbs had to be treated with care until they could catch up with the rest of the body.
Pegasui did not control the weather at will, but instead specialised in making sure that things such as tornadoes and storms didn't become too powerful to the point where extreme levels of damage would be caused. In the wasteland however they now had the advantage of being able to fly above any hostiles and were extremely hard to take out in combat.
Unicorns could not use high level spells as the magical energy in this world was very limited. They were kept to basic telekinesis, low level spells and in some cases teleportation, however they could only teleport to places they had been. Before the war they were mainly used in scientific studies, able to manipulate certain chemicals and nuclear materials without worry of extreme levels of radiation proved useful for researchers of the modern day. In the wasteland they faired well, able to walk through radiated areas without worry for long periods of time without a hazard suit allowed many groups to hide out in areas most surface dwellers would not dare enter without the proper protection, which was hard to come by.
Earth ponies were generally used for hard manual labour, with their enhanced strength and endurance they were perfect for doing jobs that required a lot of heavy lifting and long hours. They were also mainly found around farms, due to their strange ability to allow plants and crops to grow at a greater pace. They fared better than the other two subspecies of ponies, as their natural toughness and abilities with plants were unaffected by the nuclear apocalypse, in fact over the years they had become even more resilient due to the harsh conditions.
In pre-war society they were not treated like animals, far from it, they were treated with equal rights as humans, in some cases you would find a human and pony in a romantic relationship. The idea of interspecies romance did make people uncomfortable, but over time it became part of daily society.
These two figures wandered this dead world, each of them looking for something. There were still survivors in this world, although most of them turned to violence and formed gangs of raiders as a way to survive, others worked together in small settlements or movements such as The Minutemen or The Railroad. Then there were the Vault Dwellers, people born and raised in underground bomb shelters made before the Great War by a company known as Vault-Tec, who had advertised these Vaults as safe, friendly environments to help prepare for the future. In truth, most of these Vaults had sick, twisted purposes. Places where the survivors of Vault-Tec could study the dwellers that were placed in inhuman experiments that tested their mentality, responses to certain situations and their very humanity.
In a particular Vault, Vault 111, the experiment was to see the effects of humans put in long-term cryo sleep, but those that had been assigned to monitor this Vault had soon perished due to unknown reasons. With no one to monitor the cryo pods, the pods began to malfunction, killing all of the subjects by freezing them to death. There was however three survivors of this Vault, the two figures walking along the gravel path and an infant that was stolen from one of the pods.
One of the figures, a mare with pink fur and a mane consisting of purple, light red and yellow with large bouncy curls at the ends, with a unicorn horn on her head and Pegasus wings on her back which had a shade of purple along the feathers. She wore a blue bodysuit with yellow numbers on the back '111,' there was also added pieces of armour like steel shoulderpads and a combat armour chest plate. This was Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence.
The second figure was a young human male, about seventeen years old in looks but in reality he was nineteen. His medium long white hair slightly blew with the breeze. His eyes were purple, piercing as they were focused. He was about six foot two with a slightly over medium build, but his muscles were still noticeable. He two wore the blue bodysuit, with the addition of metal pads on his left arm while his right arm had a heavier set of pads, with the shoulderpad being spiked and the gauntlet on his forearm having a blade that faced forward. He also wore a combat armour chest plate as well as knee pads and brown armoured boots. This was Neo Rayleigh, or Symbol as he preferred to be called.
These two figures had built up a reputation through the Commonwealth, travellers speaking of the two Vault Dwellers that helped anyone they could on their journey. In most cases the people of the wasteland believe that offering help to others outside of their own circles will get you killed, so the two of them quickly achieved their nickname, The Damned Duo.
The mare carried a modified pistol in a soft light blue aura, with her horn covered in the same aura, which had added glowing sights and a longer barrel for increased accuracy. The human carried a modified combat rifle in his arms, with a small holographic sight, larger stock and extended magazine. These two had shared many adventures and witnessed a lot, now, you get to read their journal entries of these conflicts and adventures.
...
{Cadences Journal: Entry 1}
These past few weeks have been...interesting...to say the least. Who would have known that my life would go from happy, peaceful and just perfect to a life where you could be killed at any moment in a wasteland riddled with monsters and only a fragment of humanity and ponies left to rebuild society...doesn't help that most of the time they're trying to kill each other for the silliest things. I've been able to hold my own out here, with the combat training that my...late husband...had me go through in case of another war starting back before the bombs fell.
It takes a lot, but I manage to keep on going despite my situation and location, I have to, for my own sake and for Shining Armours. It helps that I'm not traveling alone though. I've got my new friend by my side all the way through, and to be honest, I wouldn't have anyone else with me at the moment. We occasionally travel with a third member, like my robot butler Codsworth or one of our allies like Preston Garvey, leader of the Commonwealth Minutemen and Minutemares.
Symbol, he has a certain sense to him, like he knows what he's doing out here, he told me that his parents made him do survival training, combat training and made sure that he knew what to do in a life or death situation. Yet...I had never seen him before the bombs fell, he didn't live in Sanctuary Hills or any nearby towns, plus he wasn't with us when we went down to Vault 111 where we were tricked by Vault-Tec and frozen in a sort of cryo stasis. His pod definitely wasn't there when we entered and it was separated from the others in a locked room. It's lucky I found him when I did, because I needed all the help I could get. But, he wasn't wearing a vault suit.
When he had saw me for the first time he looked confused, questioned if I was real and if he was really in that room. He looked like he had never seen anything like me before, and something about him felt...wrong, like he was misplaced. We sat in the room for awhile, to let him get a grip on things. After he calmed himself down he found a vault suit of his size and put it on, claiming it would provide better protection than his clothing. We then proceeded down through the vault where we came across giant roaches, which Symbol had informed me that they were Radroaches. Strange, he seems confused about being in the place but yet knows about the creatures, strange indeed.
The bugs were quickly dealt with, as we continued Symbol took another break to clear his head, saying he'd meet me at the vault entrance after he thought about a few things and looked around for any leftover supplies. When I tried to refuse as I didn't feel comfortable leaving him there he reassured me, saying that we would only leave the vault together, he just needed a minute and that I might as well clear the way to save time.
As I ventured further into the vault I came across a 10mm pistol and a few ammo magazines. Figuring it would be useful I took it and held it in my magic, in the room I had found the pistol there was also a strange looking gun locked in a case that I couldn't break. Deciding to come back for it later I pressed onward. Using a terminal to open a locked security door I used my new gun to pick off the Radroaches in the tunnels.
I passed multiple tools and various other pieces of junk along the way, something told me that I should pick them up but I had nothing to carry them in at that moment so it presses onward, maybe Symbol would find some kind of use for them if he passed them. As I had fought a few more Radroaches I had gained a few injuries but nothing that would stop my progress.
I finally reached the vault entrance where I found a Pip-Boy on a skeleton that I could wear on my left foreleg. Placing it on I began to get myself accustomed to its controls and functions, one of which was watching my vitals. There was a small bar at the bottom of the screen, it seemed to be half green, a part black which separated the green bar from a small red one. I then saw that it had an inventory system, showing how much I could currently carry and displayed my weapons, appeal and various other stats.
Symbol walked in through a different door, he too had managed to find a Pip-Boy and held a pistol in his right hand. He walked over to me and asked about my vitals, pointing to his own Pip-Boy and the little bar at the bottom of the screen. Understanding what he was asking I showed him my own bar. He squinted his eyes to look at it and his eyes widened. He then tapped something on his Pip-Boy and a syringe-like object appeared in his hand which he stabbed into my back. It hurt at first but I suddenly felt replenished, I looked to my 'HP bar' where I saw the black had disappeared and the green now dominated the display, but the little bit of red still remained.
When I asked Symbol about it he said that he didn't have an item capable of fixing that, and told me not to worry about it for now. He walked up to the main console of the vault entrance, connected his Pip-Boy to it and pressed a large red button, resulting in the vault door beginning to open. Once we were on the surface again, I would ask him how he knew so much but still seemed confused about his current situation.
As we were about to board the lift to the surface I found two books, all with blank pages and a strange symbol on the covers as well as two pens. I then suggested the idea of keeping journals of our journeys, I'm not stupid, I know that the bombs would have made the surface a wasteland. Symbol shrugged and took one of the books and pen.
I could tell that this was the start of a lasting friendship. That was good, I would need someone with me on my journey...
A journey to find the man who took my son and killed my husband.
As the large elevator reached the surface we were both blinded by the light of the sun after being underground for awhile. As our vision returned we looked out at the ruins of my old home, Sanctuary Hills. Everywhere the grass was brown or grey, the trees were bare and tha buildings lay either in shambles or were only just holding together. As I looked out in sadness I felt a hand be placed on the spot just above my wings. Looking back I saw that Symbol was looking down at my apologetically, asking if I was alright.
I told him I was fine, he didn't look convinced, so in an effort to cheer me up he began scratching my right ear, earning a satisfied purr from me. We began looking around the vault site trying to find some more supplies, finding a few medical supplies and some more ammo for our pistols. As we were searching we came across multiple skeletons of humans and ponies that hadn't been able to reach shelter in time.
We walked across an old wooden bridge into my old street, hoping to find someone that could help us. As I looked around I frowned as I found my home in such a state, I never thought I'd see the world fall to this. I remember when the children and goals would play in the street, how the lovely couple at the bottom of the street would come by to visit every so often with their adopted pony child.
As I started shaking from the sadness I felt Symbol place his hand on my back again, he pointed up the street telling me to look around there while he looked around the lower part of the neighbourhood and to keep a lookout for anyone that may have made this place their home.
I nodded and we split up, as I walked up the street I saw Symbol walking over to some kind of workbench under the porch of a damaged house, he placed his pistol on it and began to place various pieces of junk onto the table. I couldn't focus on what he was doing for long as I saw someone very familiar to me floating about.
Author's Notes:
Hope you like this folks, more to come soon
Same place, different person
{Symbols Journal: Entry 1}
At first I was a bit sceptical about using this thing, but the more I think about it, the more using this book makes sense to me. With what's going on and what will happen, it's probably best to document my journey on paper than on a holotape. Might as well start this thing while Cadence is busy up the street talking with that Mister Handy robot I saw her running towards. I guess I should start with when I woke up in the pod.
I had been awoken to the sound of some automated recording, saying something about a malfunction. That didn't make any sense, I didn't live in a place that had that sort of warning system. As I opened my eyes I felt cold, very cold. As I found myself in some sort of pod I started to panic. Where was I? What was I doing there? Who put me there? When I had fallen asleep I was in my bed back at my camp. Now, I was in a pod, confused and frightened. I knew there was only so much air these things could hold, I had limited time, not only that but if I stayed in there for any longer I would freeze to death, not how I want to die.
Luckily, someone had managed to come across my pod, or I should be saying somepony if you want me to be specific. My pink saviour opened the pod and I fell out, landing on my hands and knees, trying to take in some of the rooms freshly circulated air as Cadence looked down at me with worry. I managed to get up and walk to the end of the room, where I placed my back against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor as I tried to get a handle on my thoughts.
Once I had calmed down I stared at the mare before me, as I looked at her I immediately knew that I had to protect her. The way she looked, it was exactly like my camps elders had described the mare I would one day travel with. Symbol isn't my real name, it's a title given to me by the village that raised me and my three brothers. I can't go into detail right now, but I will soon. I need to get this pistol modified and search for more supplies, hopefully there is a Radaway or a few more Stimpaks around here.
...
Ok, I was able to get another chance to write in this thing. Quite a bit happened, but I'll continue of what happened with me in the Vault.
We introduced ourselves, I didn't give her my real name though, I gave her my title name. She seemed to accept that despite obviously being a little confused at the name, in honesty she did her best to hide it, but I was able to see it, ponies show a lot of what they're feeling through their faces.
Anyway, after getting a handle on my situation, having been preparing for the start of this journey most of my life, I found a Vault Suit that would provide better protection than my usual attire, which consisted of a purple t-shirt, blue jeans and purple shoes with a grey jacket made for me by the ones in my camp.
Pressing forward we encounter a few Radroaches, easy enough to take down. Cadence used her telekinesis and I used my foot and a wrench I had found, which I planned to use as a spare source of steel later on when modifying my weapon. I stared getting a headache, thoughts of my chosen path and how long I was in that pod flooded my mind. I told Cadence to go on, to clear a path and to also allow me to take an alternate route and make sure if there was something of use to us.
She hesitantly agreed and walked out of a sliding door which closed behind her. As I took an alternative route I managed to find a Pip-Boy on a dead body, which I was grateful for. In my camp I had learned all the functions of the device, including how the inventory system worked. You see, there was a supply of magic energy in the device that allowed you to place a good amount of items in a pocket dimensions for sorts, also allowing you to take an item out if needs be by just selecting it from an inventory menu.
Walking around I picked up as much junk as I could fund, it would come in handy later, as I had been taught how to modify weapons and armour with scrap by local smiths and fighters that lived in the camp. I needed these skills of I wanted to survive the wasteland, and if I wanted to protect Cadence.
As I went along I fount a few more Radroaches. I managed to find a pistol and some ammo in a locker, also managed to find some Stimpaks and Bobby pins with a screwdriver, handy in case I needed to pick a lock. Luck on my side I came to the overseers office where a weapon lay in a locked cabinet. Figuring it would be useful I began to pick the lock, but found it too difficult to pick at this time, so I decided to come back when I had grown in skill. After that I met up with Cadence at the entrance of the Vault and healed her with a Stimpak as she had been injured from her fights with the Radroaches.
As we boarded the elevator to the surface and reached the top it felt like I had been hit by a flash grenade, my eyes adjusted to the new light quickly though. As my vision returned I looked to Cadence and saw her distraught expression as she looked out at the wasteland for presumably the first time. I could tell that the street down the hill was her home, so I did my best to comfort her. I placed a hand on her back and looked into her eyes apologetically, to make her smile I scratched her ear, ponies love that.
We made our way down the hill, passing multiple skeletons that had been there since the bombs fell. As we entered the street which I had learned was called Sanctuary Hills Cadence began to get upset again. In an effort to distract her from the sadness I told her to go search for supplies up the street while I searched the lower half for food, water, first aid and the currency of the wasteland, bottle caps.
Right now I'm sitting at a campfire with Cadence and a group of other humans and ponies known as the Minutemen and Minutemares. More info on them next entry, right now I need to eat and get to sleep before my watch starts.
Author's Notes:
First entry of Symbols journal, hope you enjoyed
Codsworth
{Cadences Journal: Entry 2}
You ever get that feeling, when you see someone you know and it feels like forever since you've seen them but it's only been a short while? Well that's the feeling I got when I saw my old robot butler Codsworth floating about the ruined Sanctuary Hills. I couldn't believe it, after everything, the bombs falling and however long I was stuck in that pod, Codsworth was there, he was alive.
I rushed up the street after looking down to see Symbol had somehow modified his pistol with a confident smirk on his face. Turning my attention back to my robot I ran up to him. As I approached one of his three eyes turned around and he spotted me, causing him to stop trimming the dead bushes.
"As I live and breathe!" He and exclaimed as he approached me. I will just write down how the conversation went for anyone that finds this in the future. "It's...It's really you!" The sound of relief in his British voice was evident, like he hadn't seen anyone in years.
"Codsworth...you're still functional?" I asked, wondering how he managed to survive the bomb dropping.
"Surely you didn't think a little radiation would sully the fine craftsmanship of General Atomics?" He replied jokingly. "Just a few dents here and their, the odd bit of rust but the inner workings are in tip top condition. You on the other hoof look worse for wear, best not let the master see you in that state." He said with a happy tone. "Where is your other half by the by?" He asked with a lower tone with curiosity.
I didn't know what to tell him, but there was no point in hiding the truth so I should just say it but put it gently right? "He's...in a better place."
"These things you are saying mum...th-this terrible thing. I believe you are suffering from a lack of nutrition, how about I whip you up a snack? Let's see, you are...approximately two centuries late for dinner! You must be famished." He said in disbelief.
"Wait...two centuries? I was down in the vault for two hundred years?"
"A little over two hundred and ten, judging from a few dings from the old chronometer." I couldn't believe that so much time had passed in that vault, but if that was true, when I was unfrozen the first time when I watched Shining Armour die, when was that? How long ago was that point in time? Questions that would need to be asked later, I had more pressing matters to deal with. "Now, how about we find the master and young Glowing Heart? They are sure to be around here somewhere." He looked at me waiting for an answer, but one of his eyes drifted down the street where he spotted Symbol walking into one of the standing houses. "Who might that young fellow be?"
"That's Symbol, I found him in the vault and he's joining me on my journey." I explained while looking down at my human companion.
"Oh, so you seek to venture further into the wasteland? Why might that be?" Codsworth asked with great curiosity.
I hesitated at first but let out a sigh. "Glowing Heart...was kidnapped."
"What?! This cannot be true! The master would never allow such a thing to happen!" Codsworth said with confidence.
"The ones who kidnapped Glowing are the ones who killed Shining Armour...he tried to stop them but...they had a gun...and..." I couldn't finish the sentence and just wiped a tear from my eye. I then heard a few gunshots coming from the house that Symbol had entered. He yelled out to me telling me that he had just come across something called a Bloatfly. Watching him walk out of the house with a few items in his hands I turned back to Codsworth. "Luckily, I seem to have someone with me that will be able to help track the one who took my son down."
Codsworth stared at me for a few seconds before speaking in a heartbroken voice. "They're...they're really gone aren't they?"
I saw that he was shaking slightly, despite being a robot Mr Handy's alwayy seem to have free will and proper emotions. "Codsworth, are you ok?"
He shook his three eyes. "Oh mum it's been just horrible, two centuries with no one to talk to, no one to serve! I spent the first, ten, years trying to keep the floors waxed, but nothing gets nuclear fallout out of vinyl wood, nothing! And then don't get me started on the futility of dusting a collapsed house. And the car! The car! How do you polish rust?!" His voice was now filled with sorrow and loneliness.
"Hey, Codsworth, it's ok, I'm here now, you don't have to be alone anymore." I comforted him by wrapping a wing around him.
He stayed quiet before reaching into a small compartment and pulled out a holotape. "I...I found this holotape, it's from the master. I believe he was going to present it to you...as a gift but then...well, everything happened. You should be able to play it on that Pip-Boy on your arm." He shook himself before straightening himself. "Now, enough feeling sorry for myself. Why don't you and I search the top half of the neighbourhood for clues or supplies? It doesn't seem fair to let your new friend down there do all the work now does it?" His tone was happier but still sadnes s was present.
"Alright Codsworth, lead the way."
"Proud to serve mum!" He exclaimed as he began floating over to a house with me following behind him. We searched the top half of Sanctuary Hills, or what was left of it. We encountered large flies that shot out some kind of toxic substance at us, which I think are their maggots. We didn't manage to find any clues to where Glowing Heart was taken, but we found a few supplies. After figuring out how my inventory system worked on the Pip-Boy I was able to finally collect some junk, figuring that Symbol could use it. I also found small containers that kept small stashes of Nuka-Cola bottle caps. Codsworth explained that it was the most common currency in the wasteland so I stored them in my Pip-Boy.
Surprisingly they did not add weight to my carry limit, but instead had their own little display of a pixilated bottle cap with a number beside it. Not questioning it I moved on, finding some more ammo for my pistol and a few more cap stashes. I also managed to find a bowler hat which I placed on Codsworth's head, making him look even more adorable.
Soon Codsworth informed me of possible friendly survivors in the next town over, Concord. He wished to stay behind to keep a lookout in case Glowing somehow returned. I didn't argue with him and said my goodbyes, but promised to come back after my business in Concord was finished, thinking that I could make one of the houses somewhat liveable, it would be nice to have a little place to return to after a long journey.
I met Symbol at the entrance of Sanctuary and saw he had somehow found a purple fedora and was wearing it on his head. When I tried to suppress a giggle he just riled his eyes and we began walking across the damaged wooden bridge that stretched over a small, now radiated, river.
Author's Notes:
Not every conversation is going to follow the games dialogue, I'm throwing my own stuff on there
If you would like to see Symbol and Vadence do a certain quest or get into a situation feel free to suggest something in the comments below.
Searching
{Symbols Journal: Entry 2}
As I looked down to my newly modified 10mm pistol, I smiled with pride in my work. With the scrap I had collected I was able to add glowing sights, a hardened barrel and a quick eject mag to the gun, excellent. Leaving my remaining junk in the workbench I held my pistol in my right hand and began to scavenge for supplies.
As I stepped into the house where I had found the workbench I heard a faint buzzing and immediately readied my gun. Suddenly a Bloatfly buzzed out of one of the rooms in the house and tried to shoot its maggots at me. I ducked to avoid being hit and activated one of my Pip-Boy's most useful functions, the V.A.T.S function, or more specifically the Vault-Tech Assisted Targeting System. My vision zoomed in slightly on the Bloatfly and time seemed to slow but not stop. Suddenly it seemed like the parts of its body were labelled and I could see the chances of me shooting a specific part of it.
Playing it safe I targeted the body, which had about a seventy percent chance of hitting the creature. My breathing slowed and became more focused as I pulled the trigger. The sounds around me were slowed and blurred out slightly, all focus being on my target. Planting two buckets in the bugs body was enough to take it down.
As my attention was drawn away from my dead enemy things returned to normal and I took a moment to catch my breath. V.A.T.S was useful but it had its downsides, like it took a bit of your energy to use so you had to catch your breath afterwards, and you have to be standing still to use it.
After I caught my breath I yelled out to Cadence to stop her from worrying over nothing. As I searched the house I cam across a lone Radroach, which went down by the heel of my boot. I managed to find a bottle cap stash, and it was pretty big, having about 200 caps inside. Taking the money I put them in my Pip-Boy before continuing to look for anything useful. I found a few food items in the kitchen that were still edible if cooked, some dirty water and purified water and even a bottle of Nuka-Cola. I managed to find two Stimpaks under a bed and a few bobby pins.
After picking up a few pieces of junk and placing them in the workbench I continued onto the next house. I found a few more food items, a Nuka-Cherry, another caps stash only containing twenty one caps this time and a Radaway. When I walked out of the house I saw that Cadence and a Mister Handy robot were starting to search the other houses, however they seemed to just ignore the house that they were in front of, so I decided to investigate it for them, and thank whatever deity is watching over me I did.
As I entered I immediately saw a copy of Gronark the Barbarian, a comic from before the war. Now you may be thinking "What's so great about some old comic book?" Well the thing is with these comics if you scan your Pip-Boy over it you will gain some kind of enhancement, like extra damage or something. So I grabbed the comic and out it in my inventory. As I looked through the house finding yet more food and some scrap I came across a room which broke my heart...a room that belonged to a baby.
I walked in and looked at the ruined crib. "This must have been Cadence's house." I remember thinking, she had told me her reasons for venturing out into the Wasteland before we left the vault, I had yet to tell her mine, and I'm not going to write it down just yet.
After sighing and patting the edge of the crib I went to walk out of the room, until something caught my eye. A You're SPECIAL book was lying on the ground underneath a box. Picking it up I scanned it with my Pip-Boy before placing it in my inventory. It brought up my SPECIAL stats and told me to add one point to my skills. It wasn't really an automated system that allowed you to alter or enhance your body, it was more something that told you how your body's condition was and what 'special' skills you have.
Strength: 6
Perception: 4
Endurance: 5
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 7
Agility: 4
Luck: 3
Choosing to add a point to my low Luck stat I pressed on, leaving the room and the memories that Cadence had shared with her husband and son behind to either be one day remembered or forgotten.
I began to loot the remaining houses, killing a few more Radroaches and Bloatflys in the process. I came out with a good supply of food, drink, caps, junk and medical supplies. As I exited the last house my eye caught sight of a hat underneath a desk. Pulling it out and dusting it off I found it was a purple fedora. Placing it on my head I found it was a perfect fit. Smiling happily I adjusted it a bit to be placed firmly on my head and walked to the entrance of Sanctuary Hills, waiting for Cadence to finish whatever she was doing.
Once she was finished she came trotting down the road until she reached me. She saw the fedora on my head and giggled slightly, causing me to role my eyes. We stepped onto the damaged but yet still sturdy wooden bridge that connected the small island of Sanctuary Hills to the rest of the Commonwealth. As we reached the other side we were shocked at what we found. There lay two dead bodies of drifters, one man and one mare. I walked over and saw the cause of death was a bite to the neck, they had been attacked by wild mongrels, they didn't stand a chance.
Not allowing their supplies to go to waste I began searching the mans body and told Cadence to search the mares. I found a pipe pistol in the mans pockets as well as some caps, some ammo for the pipe pistol and some Jet...a chem, or drug if you will. I put it in my inventory, not for use, but to sell at a market or to a passing trader. I wouldn't be caught dead using that filth, the only chem I would ever use would be Rad-X, a pill that helps your body temporarily fight off radiation.
I looked over to Cadence to see she had found a tire iron that she was holding in her magic. I told her to keep it in case she ran out of ammo and she nodded before placing it in her own inventory. I then took the drifters overcoat and put it on, having to have as much protection as I could get.
Cadence had a similar idea and took the mares vest, placing it on herself and poking her wings through makeshift holes. We took the bodies to the side of the road and buried them, I personally would have left them but Cadence felt more comfortable if they weren't just lying around. As she was finishing up on the makeshift graves I searched the area, finding a duffle bag in front of a statue of some man I didn't know. I found some ammo and Stimpaks, a good find.
Cadence seemed ready to go so we continued onto our next destination, Concord. But first we would have to make a stop at the local gas station, Red Rocket.
Author's Notes:
Hope you enjoyed. As usual if you want to see these two do a certain quest please let me know.
Agendas
"Symbol what are you doing!?" I yelled as I watched my friend, piloting a suit of power armour, grab the synth courser by the neck and slam him into the ground. Before the courser could react Symbol crushed his head under the metal boot of his armour.
A nearby synth saw the attack and aimed it's rifle at him, only for it to be shot point blank with a combat shotgun.
"Why are you doing this?! What's wrong?!" I pleaded.
"How could you side with these murderers!?" He snapped back while ripping the head off of another synth.
"What are you talking about?!" I aimed my pistol and shot the gun out of his hand. "Tell me!" I began to run up to him to try and reason with him. But what happened next caught me completely off gaurd.
He punched me. He punched me right in the chest. The impact caused me to be thrown into the air, only for him to punch me agin, this time sending me crashing into the ground. I looked to my HP bar, and saw it was getting low. He stood over me, I could see the anger in his eyes even through the armours helmet. "If you've joined the institute...then you do not deserve to hear why I am doing this. So stay down, I don't want to kill you, you're my best friend...but this is something I have to do." Was all he said before he picked me up and knocked me unconscious, I was only able to hear one more thing before blacking out. "Do not look for me..."
Yep, that just happened, just a little teaser of what's to come. There is a lot planned for this story, I know I haven't updated it in awhile, and to be honest it will be another while before this gets a proper update. But I'm taking it off hiatus. It will continue. There is far too much to do with this as you can see. Now I'm sure you're curious as to why Symbol is acting like this, well, you'll have to wait to find out.
A new friend
{Cadences Journal, Entry 3}
Seeing those two dead bodies at the end of the bridge left me feeling depressed. This world was filled with death and was unforgiving, something that would be hard to get used to. I always believed love was the answer when I was growing up, and I my belief in the power of love was only strengthened when I had met Shining Armour. Although, now that I'm in the wasteland, it seems as if violence is the answer. I wasn't eager to kill anyone, human or pony, but I knew it's what I would have to do to survive and find my foal.
It seemed that Symbol was unaffected by the sight of the corpses. My guess is that he's from another area of the wasteland and was forced into the vault some time after Shining was killed. I'm not sure, neither is he. We're both out here looking for something. He wants answers, I want my son.
The first step was Concord, the place that Codsworth had told me about. I had been there many times before the bombs fell, but I knew it was going to be a very different place. Over 200 years, things will have really changed there. However, it seemed we'd be making a short stop on our way there. As we walked further down the road, we came across one of the Red Rocket gas stations, which was still standing. How it didn't explode when the bombs hit I don't know, but Symbol seemed glad that there was somewhere we could potentially find supplies in.
Before we could enter the building though, we stopped in our tracks as we heard the bark of a dog. We turned to see a full grown German Shepard sitting behind us waging it's tail as it looked to Symbol. What followed was simply adorable, and brought a genuine smile to my face. Symbol knelt down to greet the dog, only to be pounced on and have his face repeatedly licked instead. Symbol tried to escape but that only excited the dog more, making him more playful.
Thinking that Symbol had been tortured enough, I lifted the dog off of him with my telekinesis, resulting in his ears foldin back in protest. Symbol got to his feet and did what he could to wipe the dog spit off of his face and dusting down his new drifter outfit. After the dog calmed down, I let him go and he sat down in front of Symbol, looking at him expectedly. Symbol pat his head and scratched under his chin, electing happy barks from the dog.
Symbol asked him where his owner was, then he realised that he was sniffing the outfit a lot, resulting in a few whimpers of sadness. We both put two and two together, the drifters we had found dead were his owners. It seemed that love was the answer in this situation as Symbol offered to take him with us, saying something about the benefits of having a dog like this one in the wasteland. I just smiled and let him take him along with us, he seemed more than eager to follow us anyway.
After that was settled, we began to search the gas station, with the dog, now named Dogmeat, sniffing about trying to find anything useful. Symbol yet again went about collecting junk to tinker with later while I looked for other supplies. I managed to find a duffle bag with some ammo for Symbols pipe pistol and a few carrots we could either eat or use to grow food if we settled down somewhere.
As Symbol walked out the back, he spotted a Nuka-Cola machine and rushed towards it. As he rummaged through it, he took out a few Nula-Colas, which were in rocket shaped bottles before looking disappointed and closing the machine. He gave me two of the four colas he had found and we put them in our inventories. I asked why he was so disappointed, but he said it didn't matter and that's it was best we get back on the road.
As we were about to leave, we heard Dogmeat growling. When we rushed over to him, we saw him just growing at the parking lot. I figured he just spotted a bird and had panicked, so I stroked his back and told him it was ok, but when I felt Symbol place a hand on my withers and saw him pull out his pistol I knew something was wrong. I took out my new tire iron and looked out in caution. Suddenly, a group of strange, furless rats burst out of the ground and screeched at us.
As one charged me I swung my tire iron at it and knocked it's head off. Two others ran towards up, one being shot in the side by Symbol and the other being bitten by Dogmeat who shook it about before slamming it into the ground. I knew the little guy would be helpful.
A few more burst out of the ground, but they were easily dealt with. Symbol told me they were mixtures of moles and rats, appropriately named Molerats. First giant radioactive roaches now mutant hybrids? This wasteland just kept getting scarier and scarier. When I made a comment like that Symbol just chuckled, patted my back and told me to be glad it wasn't a Deathclaw. The name alone made me think twice about ever trying to fight one, at least without a suit of power armour.
Symbol scratched Dogmeats ear and told him he was a good boy before we got back out on the road. It was nice having a third in the group, not to mention one that walked on four legs like me. With my human and canine friends at my side I pressed on, feeling confident that we could overcome anything as lomg as we worked together. I tried to lighten the mood by giving us a nickname, like "The Triumphant Trio" or "The Troublesome Three" only for Symbol to laugh and shake his head, Dogmeat barking happily as his new master laughed.
One thing Symbol says interested me though. "Cadence, if we ever get a nickname its gotta come from the locals or at least someone with more wisdom than us."
Oh how right he was.
Author's Notes:
It's back! After playing a load of Fallout 4 I got motivated to write this again, with much better writing to boot. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you spot any mistakes please let me know and I'll get right on it.
Also, if you'd like to see Symbol and Cadence do a certain quest, let me know. Know that they will be doing the Automatron quest sometime in the future.
Also, since I suck at describing things, here's what the drifter outfit looks like
Concord
{Symbols Journal, Entry 3}
Never expected to meat such a healthy looking dog so close to where one of the bombs had fallen. Yet there he was, a full grown healthy German Shepard, trained too. Seemed Lady Luck was on our side, for awhile at least. After the Molerat ambush I had put up my gaurd permenatly, things had been too easy since we left the vault, nothing but smaller creatures like Bloatflies and Radroaches. I assumed we were just in an area devoid of any humans, since there were a lot of those in the wasteland, usually populated by Ghouls, Super Mutants, Mirelurks or the occasional Deathclaw.
Considering we were entering a town we'd most likely end up coming across a gang of raiders or, if we were lucky, a group of survivors. After heading down the road for another few minutes from the gas station, we came to a spilt in the route, with one road leading into Concord and the other stretching out into the wasteland. In the middle of the split lay a dead Brahmin, a two headed cow of sorts. It's corpse was pale and Dogmeat began to growl, Cadence covering her mouth in disgust. Suddenly, two Bloodbugs emerged from the corpse and flew towards us, intending to suck as much blood from us as they could.
Cadence reacted quickly and grabbed one in her telekinesis, slamming it into a stop sign before crushing it against the tarmac. Dogmeat made sure it was dead while I handled the other, pulling out a wrench I had found and smacking it out of the air before blasting it with my pipe pistol. I had seen what a group of these could do to a person if they all attacked at once...I'm just glad we didn't have to see that this time. Not something Cadence had to see this early on.
After that, we headed into Concord, the houses seemed to actually be more intact than I expected. Seemed like the place could actually be used to create a full functioning town if enough people were willing to work on it. A few patched holes, some defensive posts around the outskirts and a few farms in the dirt patches if enough earth ponies were gathered. There were even some abandoned stores filled with a few supllies. Guess it was something to consider. What I didn't expect was to see a strange chapel-like building with the symbol of the sun on it. I knew that before the war there was a large pony religion worshipping a pegacorn named Solaris, some sun God or something. To be honest I'd believe its teachings over the Children of Atom shit any day.
Anyway, as we were walking down the road through the wrecked town, we started hearing gunshots and sadistic laughter. Raiders. Dogmeat ran on ahead with a growl, sensing the danger, causing Cadence and I to run after him, both of us holding our 10mm pistols. Once we entered the towns Main Street we saw a group of raiders shooting up at a man and a mare on a balcony. We took cover behind a building next to a Nuka-Cola machine. As Cadence looked out I quickly looked into the machine, only finding a Nuka-Cherry. Once again I'm disappointed at the rarity of what I was looking for.
Nonetheless I had something more important to focus on. I placed the drink in my inventory before looking out at the combat area. I could see that Cadence was looking at her pistol with worry, looking from it to the raiders with hesitation. I knew that feeling, despite what many people think, you can't just decide to start killing, there are mental barriers that prevent that which need to be worked through. But for the likes or Raiders, their lifestyle and experiences destroyed those barriers, now ruthless and without mercy.
I took Cadence to the side, place my hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye, explaining that the Raiders weren't people, they were no better than the beasts we've encountered. They maybe don't choose the life they're living, but in the wasteland even they know it's kill or be killed. I reminded her of why she was out here, why she was fighting. In the wasteland, there was no way to get what she wanted without shedding blood.
She still looked unsure, so I told her to get to the roof of a building further down the street while me and Dogmeat got their attention and took the main force of the attackers. Before she could get a word in I patted her cheek before running off with Dogmeat sat my side. Dogmeat tackled a raider mare to the ground, catching her by suprise before ripping her throat out. As one of the raider men turned around he started firing at me with an automatic pipe pistol. I pushed Dogmeat into cover and shot back, hitting the guy in the shoulder before shooting him in the head.
Dogmeat snuck around and grabbed a raiders leg, holding her in place while I used the vats system to shoot the gun out of her hands before Dogmeat tackled her too. A large raider stallion rushed towards me with an aluminium baseball bat and hit me in the stomach with his shoulder, knocking me down. He was about to swing his bat at my head when he was shot in the neck. I looked up to see Cadence on the roof of the building, the barrel of her gun smoking. I gave her a comforting smile and gave a thumbs up before rolling into cover, with Dogmeat retreating back into a building. Smart dog.
I got to me feet and began firing at the last remains raiders, with Cadence backing me up. The two on the balcony realised the attention was off of them and began shooting the raiders from behind with laser rifles. Once the street was clear, Cadence flew down to me and gave a sad smile. I scratched her ear and picked up the raiders baseball bat, giving it a few swings before smiling and placing it in my inventory. Then, the mare from the balcony yelled down to us.
"Hey! We appreciate the help! But we've got more raiders inside and we can't hold them off for long! Please, help us!" She called before retreating back into the building, the man tipped has hat to us and pointed to a laser musket at the entrance to the building before heading inside to assist his friend.
When we got to the entrance we found two dead bodies, a stallion and a man, one with a pipe pistol and the other holding the laser musket. I sighed as I closed their eyes and gave the musket to Cadence, seeing as she seemed to be good at sniping. I quickly gave her the rundown on how it was loaded and how to fire it before we headed inside with Dogmeat.
At least we found some friendly survivors out here.
Author's Notes:
Thank you for reading, please make sure to point out any mistakes you may find and met me know what you think in the comments.
If you'd like to see Cadence and Symbol take on a certain quest feel free to request it.
Through the museum
{Cadences Journal, Entry 4}
Today was the day I took the lives of other sentient beings. Even if they were bloodthirsty savages, I still regret that I had to resort to that. After the whole incident in Concord, Symbol had reassured me that what I did was right, by saying that he would have died if I didn't pull that trigger, and that it was one less gang of raiders that the innocent survivors of the wastes would have to deal with. I'll admit, it did make me feel better. I know I'm soft, probably too kind for my own good, but that's why I have Symbol by my side, he acts as a guide, helping me through this unfair and unforgiving world. He is kind but has the strength and will necessary to do whatever it takes to survive.
Speaking of Concord. After the mare had called down to us and ran back inside, Symbol handed me the Laser Musket from one of the two corpses at the entrance to the building the other raiders were currently occupying. He gave me a brief description of the weapon, how to fire it and how to load it. He said it was best to use it at a distance and that it seemed sniping was my strong suit. I did seem pretty accurate with the pistol at long ranges, so I trusted his judgment.
He gave me the energy cells that were lying around before we charged in with Dogmeat at our side. When we entered the main lobby of the building we found it was an old museum, displaying mannequins of ponies and humans is old military uniforms and old musket rifles. There was a locked gate blocking us from reaching the main staircase that would lead us to the next floor, with a convenient little box of bobby pins sat on the top of an old cigarette dispenser. Symbol grabbed the pins and tried to unlock the gate, only for the bin he was using to break. He backed away and pointed to an open door, telling me it would take too long to unlock the gate so we would have to go around.
Once we made our way through one of the interactive exhibits we found a room with three Raiders. We his behind a display case just beside a duffle bag full of ammo and a few grenades. Thinking quickly, I grabbed one of the grenades in my telekinesis, pulled the pin with my teeth and floated it into the middle of the three. I closed my ears as I heard the grenade go off to block out the screams of pain. Symbol just sighed while he pulled out his pipe pistol and shot a surviving raider in the head.
"Cadence, I know it hard, but in this place you need to focus, trying to drown out screams won't work." He said softly, with Dogmeat barking in agreement. "You're a kind soul, and I know it's going to take a long time for you to get used to this way of life, but you can't protect the innocence in you forever."
He said much more than that, a lot more than I'd like to write, but that's essentially what he had said in a nutshell. He wa right, it would take me a long time to adjust. I always believed that if a person or pony had love in their lives they could be happy and peaceful. This world is without peace, for the majority of it at least. A mare like myself doesn't belong out here, then again, does anyone?
After his little lecture, Symbol and I picked up the am o dropped by the raiders and continued on. Dogmeat ran ahead and tackled a mare to the ground, she punched him off with her hoof only to have Symbol pull out his new bat and bring it down on her head. When we got out to the main staircase we found the floor had collapsed, revealing a nuclear power generator that held a Fusion Core. Once we had dealt with the raiders in the area Symbol made his way towards the locked security door with a terminal beside it. He tried to get access to the doors controls but the terminal was locked.
I told him to go on ahead while I worked on the terminal, when Shining was out fighting in the war I had taken some time to study the new technology that companies like RobCo were coming out with so I could keep up to date with everything. Symbol nodded and ordered Dogmeat to stay by my side while he ventured onwards to the trapped survivors.
He scratched behind my ear before taking out his 10mm pistol and moving onto the next floor. Dogmeat sat behind me, protecting me as I went through the various passwords on the terminal. It was just a four character password so it was easy enough to figure out. After selecting the right passcode the screen went blank before giving me a few options. I selected the "Open Security Door" option and stood back from the terminal.
I was then able to push the preciously locked door open and retrieved the Fusion Core. I didn't know why Symbol wanted it, but he knew what he was doing up here so it must be important. It actually suprised me that he had trouble with the terminal, given his experience with picking locks and getting into places he shouldn't be.
As I walked out of the generator room I noticed the gunshots and yelling had stopped, only the slightest sound of a conversation now in the background. I assumed Symbol had cleared the building and made his way to the ones that were trapped, it would be nice to see something that wasn't trying to kill us for a change. Well, Codsworth and Dogmeat could be counted, but we'd get to actually talk to a pony or human since we left the vault.
I heard the sound of footsteps coming from above and saw Symbol walking down the stairs while holding his arm, asking if I had the core. I quickly showed him the core and asked about his arm, he said that when he was fighting he was hit by a pipe rifle in the forearm. But with his arm busted he couldn't reach his Pip-Boy to get a Stimpak. I quickly got one out of my own inventory and stabbed it into his arm, watching as the wound pushed the bullet out and closed up.
He flexed the muscle slightly before nodding and taking the core from me, telling me to follow him up to the others, saying that they had a plan to fight off the remaining raiders that were around Concord. From my limited experience in the wasteland, I knew it would have something to do with big guns, explosions or something completely insane. Well, I was married to Shining, so I was used to a little insane.
Author's Notes:
The Symbol being good at lockpicking and not being able to hack terminals is kind of from personal experience, as I could never really get passed a locked terminal other than wth sheer luck.
Anyway, if you see any mistakes please let point them out and I'll fix them whenever I can.