{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.