Fallout 4: Angel's Pip-Boy Diary #6 · 9:10pm Nov 24th, 2015
art by Vector-Brony
The next installment of Angel’s Pip-Boy Diary is after the break. My next blog will be focused on Thanksgiving, as has been my tradition. So since the next part of this won’t be until the weekend, I’ve got a long one for you today. :rainbowdetermined:
But first, I just had to share this:
Yes, that’s right. It’s a Fallout: Equestria reference in Fallout 4! 
And now, squeeing aside, I bring you...
Angel's Pip-Boy Diary
Days 10 - 11
Day 10 – Midnight
November 2, 2287
So far, so good. My midnight infiltration of the Corvega factory is going almost too smoothly. These guys get relaxed about gunshots in the night far too easily. If I had a silencer, or if Dogmeat wouldn’t keep charging into gunfire…
I’m astounded he hasn’t been shot and killed. Dogmeat is magic. There is really no other explanation. I have a magic dog.
“Only a coward hides.” Yep, that’s me. Unlike Dogmeat, I don’t charge into battle. I don’t want to get shot. I don’t like pain. And despite my current activities, I am not a soldier. I can’t really do what my husband did with the bravery he could summon. I’m terrified. Being scared isn’t going to stop me, but it makes me fight very conservatively.
That said, I am one hell of a shot. Nate would be impressed. I hope he is watching from where he is now. I like to think Nate is with me somehow, seeing me through everything.
You would think these raiders would realize they are getting picked off.
I’ve cleared most of the exterior, although I suspect there are some parameter guards that I have missed. I came in through a gap in the fencing around back. There was no way that I was going to brave the killing zone that these raiders had made out of the front entrance. Took out the spotlights, kept to the darkness, dropped the enemy at long range, stayed near cover whenever possible. All, I must admit, with the classical radio station playing into my right ear. God, the music is just too perfect.
As I went around the back, I briefly picked up what I believe as a military channel. But the broadcast was nothing but static.
My one-woman-plus-dog “cancer” plan may be going more smoothly than it has any right to, but I’m still utterly convinced this place could be a castle. You could easily hold off a bandit force laying siege, at least until you ran out of ammo or provisions. Think of what the Minutemen could do with a place like this.
I’ll be going inside shortly. I found a way in half an hour ago. Right now, I’m at the highest point on the roof catwalks. I need to catch my breath, let my nerves settle… and it really is a magnificent view.
Day 10 – Early Morning
November 2, 2287They know I’m in here. They just don’t know where. I thank my newly “shadowed” armor, and the general cowardliness mentioned before.
I left Dogmeat outside, guarding the door so I don’t get flanked… but mostly because I didn’t want him running into a combat, forcing me to engage at his pace. I want to be able to hide and continue hiding, even if my enemy is only a few feet away. Dogmeat is a great hunting dog, but playing cat-and-mouse really isn’t within his doggy mindset.
Part of me is glad I did, since that means I can hole up in this position for hours if that’s what it takes to make these guys think I’ve left. However, the irony is not lost on me that I had him wait outside so that I could be stealthier, and I almost immediately alerted everyone in this section of the factory that they had an intruder.
Crud, they found me. Or, at least, they’ve narrowed my possible whereabouts to very small area. And since can’t shoot through my cover, they are lobbing grenade. Fortunately, being way up here, my hidey-hole is a bitch of a throw.
There are so many of them! Even if I can continue my pattern of single-shot kills, will I run out of bullets before they run out of bodies?
New Perk: Gun Nut Rank 1
Day 10 – Late Evening
November 2, 2287Still inside. The Corvega factory seems mostly cleared. I can’t be certain though. Every time I think I’ve killed the last one, I discover two more. This place is huge. I think it’s actually bigger on the inside.
After I got the last of that first, grenade-happy group, I’ve been able to pick them off one or two at a time with the benefits of stealth and cover. The biggest challenge turned out to be a raider and his pet turret. Shotgunning the turret has eliminated any element of surprise I had left.
As a side note: the cymbal-clanging monkey things are creepy as hell.
I try not to think about the body count. I know it troubled Nate sometimes, despite the righteousness of his cause. Right now, my conscience doesn’t feel particularly troubled. Can your conscience be in shock? Maybe I’m traumatized by everything that has happened in the last week and a half. Or maybe years defending scumbags withered my conscience to the point that this doesn’t phase me.
I can’t fall back on self-defense; I’m the one shooting first. I have made no attempt to parley. I am an assassin. Or, in the best light, a proactive action heroine.
My lack of remorse is justified. These bastards slaughtered three caravans in the last month alone, and they were gunning for Preston’s next. Humanity is dragging itself back from the brink of extinction – circumstances that makes every life precious, if you believe the boilerplate. Am I diminishing the number of precious human lives when the people dead at my feet held no regard for the lives of others? Especially if they prey on caravans or others actively helping us rebuild society?
Also, the music helps.
I had to take out two more turrets to get at this gang’s leader, Jared. Breaking into his personal terminal, I learned that he has history with Mama Murphy, and has been attempting to duplicate “The Sight”. His journals suggest that Mama Murphy’s prophetic visions are not induced by the drugs themselves, or any cocktale of side effects, but that it is an inherent gift. Either way, Jared’s journals strongly indicate that Mama Murphy’s prophecies are legitimate. Shaun is alive.
I’m headed home, but I will be back to scavenge everything that I am leaving behind. The Corvega factory held such a huge encampment that I couldn’t carry out all their weapons in one go, much less their armor or the junkyard wealth of valuable leftovers. It might take me a few days, but I’m going to scavenge the holy handbasket out of this place.
In the meantime, I have activated a Protectron and set it to patrolling in Law Enforcement mode. That machine should deal with any raiders inside who I have missed. I’ve also left a turret untouched in the basement. There is a way in from the Lexington sewers, and ghouls have been crawling into the plant from it. The raiders’ turret has proven quite adept at managing the problem, so I am more than happy to let it continue. I’m going to pitch giving this place to the Minutemen. If Preston agrees, I don’t want Corvega to be overrun by ghouls when they get here.
I’m certain that there are still some guards on the front entrance that I’ll have to deal with on my way out. Now that I’m fairly confident everything else is clear, I know of a spot on the roof that should be perfect for dealing with them.
I’ve been in here all day. I hope Dogmeat is all right.
Day 11 – Morning
November 3, 2287It doesn’t feel like November. Maybe the doomsayers were right about global warming. Nothing like atomic annihilation to ramp up our nuclear footprint.
The journey back from Corvega was eventful. I spotted a nice black bat on the way out. Dogmeat is fine and was waiting faithfully outside. After taking out the last two guards and a turret, we were on our way back home, again skirting Lexington.
It wasn’t hard to Wicked Shipping’s delivery truck and put the key I had acquired to good use. Inside, I found what an analysis from my Pip-Boy revealed to be ammunition for an energy weapon, although not any kind that I am familiar with. I am guessing powerful, or at least rare. I am disappointed; I was expecting pallets of fuel.
Nearby was a much more interesting prize. On the flatbed of a derailed train, I found a set power armor sealed in a cage. Or, at least, most of one – a few pieces were missing, but the exoskeleton and the majority of the armor was fully intact. I was able to hack a terminal in an adjacent shipping container to gain access. It doesn’t appear that anyone else got into the cage, so I suspect the armor was incomplete during transit. Perhaps it was en route to be repaired or upgraded?
I will come back for it later. With Starlight nearby. If I do turn that place into a Minutemen base, it would be easier and more core energy-conservative to take it there. I would need to construct a repair station for it first. All of which is long-range planning. For now, that baby isn’t going anywhere.
My path took me by the famous (once-famous?) Walden Pond. I didn’t stop to sightsee, but I did notice a two-story shack which appears to be used by bandits. I’m really not looking for another fight this morning, but I am noting this place on my map. I’ll be back to give it a closer look, and deal with the bandits if they are bandits, after I check in with Preston. I prefer the Minutemen be proactive, not reactive. The Commonwealth would be much better off if we could identify threats to the people and deal with them before settlers and caravaners get killed.
I also chanced across some sort of bunker. There was an eyebot hovering just inside, but it paid me no attention. The bunker had a few supplies and a sealed cage holding a skeleton in the remains of military garb. I couldn’t be sure what side he had been on in the war. But if it was a cell, why was he locked in there with a weapon and ammo? If it was a supply depot, why was he locked in there at all, when you could only open the door from the terminal outside?
I wonder if Nate knew. I suspect a lot of things out here would make much more sense if he was with me. And we could share together in being confused at the things that don’t.
Dogmeat is nice company, but it’s just not the same as emotionally- and intellectually-connected human companionship.
The most interesting part of the trip back, however, was a chance encounter with some scavengers camped beneath a bridge. When I came upon them, one of them was holding another at gunpoint, and would have killed him if I had not intervened. The man had revealed himself to be a “synth”, believing the group of them had grown close enough in their travels to be accepting of this revelation. Instead, he got a face full of muzzle and paranoid-sounding cries that he was a spy for “the Institute”.
(There are two hundred and ten reasons I could be wrong, but I cannot help thinking that name must refer to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.)
As far as I can fathom, “synth” means “guy from the Institute.” The synth in question, Jules, admitted being one, but insisted he was running away from the Institute and just needed to get to Bunker Hill. Personally, I would have gone with “ex-synth” if I was breaking ties from a faction and fleeing. But the way they used the term sounded less like a gang or group name, and more like a very familiar sort of label. Is “synth” the new “commie”? Is there a cold war going on: the Commonwealth vs M.I.T.?
One more thing to keep an ear out for. I’m still building a mental landscape of this time. I’ll need to understand the factions and pervading mindsets if I’m going to help rebuild the Minutemen into a group that can protect the Commonwealth effectively.
Right now, I’m spending some time in Sanctuary. I cooked breakfast at the Abernathy farm. (I really like that family.) And now I’m just talking with the settlers, checking our garden, and fixing up my hunting rifle into something that I can use.
Day 11 – Sunset
November 3, 2287A heavy fog rolled in mid-morning and lasted until about noon.
I talked to Codsworth and ended up asking it to accompany me on my trip back to Tenpines Bluff. Codsworth commented that we feel more like acquaintances now, noting that I’m not behaving like the woman it knew.
I certainly don’t feel like the housewife that it knew. Helping found Sanctuary, and the work I do there, is probably the last vestiges of Angel the Happy Homemaker. I feel both more and much less like me each day. I’m getting back in touch with parts of me that I had put aside for the suburban married-with-child life. But I’m also called to do things that I never imagined I would, and with both alarming frequency and disturbing ease.
As an attorney, I’ve had clients who have killed people because they were in a gang, and the other person was part of a rival faction, or crossed them, and it was “just what you had to do.” I can empathize with that in a way I never could before. I’m also thrilled to know that is the part of humanity that seems to have survived the best.
I was reminded of some of my clients when I met Sully. I was passing back through Thicket Excavations. I had already stumbled across a holotape of his which mentioned traders as “easy pickings”, heavily suggesting he is part of a bandit group.
Sully wanted my help draining the water from the quarry. I decided to take up the offer, but only after talking him into a much better paycheck for the effort. I’m not adverse to doing fair work even for people whom I suspect to be guilty. It wasn’t difficult: just a little Rad-X and a little swimming, and I soon had the old pump running again. Codsworth and I made short work of the Mirelurks that came up out of the water when the pump started.
We’ll be back this way within the week to see what develops. If Sully is working with bandits, this should flush them out. No pun intended.
Whoa! Okay, what the hell? Codsworth just went hyper-hostile on one of those weird two-headed mutant deer. It’s screaming “This is my cup of tea!” and chasing it around with a flamethrower!
And it talks of me acting differently. The animal wasn’t a threat. I am again visiting concerns about Codsworth’s sanity. (True, “sanity” is the wrong word when speaking about a robot, but I am drawing a blank on what else to call it.) Maybe bringing it along was a bad idea.
Day 11 – Night
November 3, 2287I delivered the good news to the husband up at Tenpines Bluff (while the wife ooh’ed at Codsworth). He has agreed to support the Minutemen. This is definitely progress.
Meanwhile, I’m working my way back through Concord with Codworth. We’re cutting through the Concord Speakeasy, and I have to say… someone had fun playing with the dead.
And now back to squeeing. 
And playing more Fallout 4.
art by Vector-Brony
You just acheved a whole new level of horse fame...
I wonder if someone on the development team read the book. How pony references are in the game?
I prefer the sniper route meself...
Also: the red dress and gun suit you.
I can't wait for the mods.
I've got to say, it's pretty neat you get to play with power armor early in the game and you can tool around with several settlements if you are inclined to and have the parts of course.
Congratulations are most definitely in order, Kkat. This is the kind of recognition most fan content creators can only dream of.
Also, I don't know if this is the first I've seen of Angel, but I'm not at all surprised to see that she appears to be humanized Littlepip.
3566326 I think one of the settlers in one of the minutemen missions says something about ponying up
Holy crap, that is so cool Kkat!
Hahahaha! That is a whole new level of awesome!
Also, fantastic work on this entry, loved it!
Dat Red Dress, hnnnng.
Whawhawhawha, whaaaat? They actually threw a Fallout: Equestria reference in the game? No less after the main storyline is complete? Holy cow that is very awesome. Made my day. So cool, Kkat. Congratulations indeed on that. It's been some time since I have read the story the first time but that is for sure a reference with 'sunshine and rainbows'.
Wow, and I wonder just how many FiM references did they do? I know about the terminal entries EQD covered but damn that is so cool and just subtle enough at the same time. The fandom and the Fo:E fans are going to explode when this news spreads like wildfire.
Oh she'll get a pony alright.. the mods will see to that.
Awesome blog, I love that art Vector Brony does. Fitting header and footer images. That Concord Speakeasy though, damn mannequins everywhere, thanks for the machete
3566326 There are several bronies at Bethesda. http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/10/bethesda-confirms-their-awesomeness-by.html
3566481
well that's Bethesda for ya, always loving it's fans. kkat story may be more than horse famous now.
Codsworth knows, it were the deer all along.
3566381 It's called the Commonwealth because the State of Massachusetts, as a political entity, no longer exists.
3566326 There is an entire quest line that sends you to a Giddyup Buttercup (robot ponies) factory where you end up fighting a Super Mutant named Big Mack. The computer terminals there are loaded with MLP references.
http://imgur.com/a/3yo41
A log elsewhere mentions designing pegasus and unicorn models.
Also the Four Leaf security passcode is "Applejack"
3566513 Yeah, though I think the bigger takeaway from this is that Bethesda is a team full of ordinary people like us who themselves are fans of things, just like we are fans of them.
I want to believe that reference is 100% on the ball. Someone please ask Bethesda!
wow, of all the things bethesda do, i never suspected they even knew about FE let alone put referances into the game......jesus
3566637
are you joking? the only way they could sneack up MORE pony was finding a vault entry saying the all-time-classic "this wall needs a mural"!
that, and the fact that officially they know nothing of the OvermareStudios project, even if many (loud) haters claim the contrary
Would someone mind pointing the reference out or explaining it? I get that it's a pony reference, but I don't see how it relates directly to Fallout: Equestria.
Unless it's obvious, aside from the word "pony" being used, most references go right over my head. 
I knew there'd be a FoE reference in there somewhere. There's no way there isn't at least one fan inside Bethesda.
3566878
the ending battle where Little pip clears the skies is called the day of sunshine and rainbows.
3566956 That is awesome!
Thanks for clearing that up for me. 
I'd give the reference given about a 25 to 50% chance of being truly a reference to FO:E
The phrase is seldom used but not unheard of in terms of describing some sort of hunky-dory world.
The whole Giddyup Buttercup Factory and HQ are filled with references to the show.
References include: Derpy's catch phrase, Watching paint dry with pink ponies, and the clock is ticking!
Not to mention the ones mentioned above
3567154 Even if it's a coincidence, I'd say it a pretty neat one.
Though I do find myself wondering if those monkeys and departments store dummies might have a little more to them then what they appear?
3567154 I would say there really isn't much chance that it is not a reference. Especially in a game that already has several other blatant pony references. The people in Bethesda are aware My Little Pony memes and episode details, and haven't been shy about including them in Fallout 4 elsewhere.
As such, the use of "sunshine and rainbows" in that specific context would alone be enough to suspect a reference, especially considering how strongly Preston Garvey's statement mirrors the sentiments of Littlepip regarding Equestria post-GoE. However, they go a step farther and hammer home that it is a reference by immediately following it up with a mention of ponies. Chances of a coincidence are almost null.
When he talks about "sunshine and rainbows", I thought "maybe". It's a pretty uncommon phrase, and they did slip in several other pony references, so it was possible, but I thought there was the possibility that I was reading too much into it.
Then they immediately followed it up with talk of ponies, and yeah, it's a reference
Congratulations!
That reference is just crazy and amazingly amazing, that Pinkie Pie reaction sums mine up pretty nicely.
I even remember thinking "what if this happened? What if there was a Fo:E reference in fallout 4?" And oh boy it did...
A solid congratulations for all the Fo:E people, especially you Kkat.
Kkat, this is incredible! I can only imagine what you must be feeling at that reference! Even years later, your work continues to be idolized by bigger and bigger folks.
3567364 Well you'd know better than anyone, while still skeptical in most part because a fanfic being referenced is practically never done, I'll go with it because why not.
I almost wonder if Bethesda is secretly asking for more FoE.
Hey Kkat! I was wondering if, say, someone were to recreate Lil Macintosh in a Fallout 4 mod, aside from the scope, which mods would it use? Also, since it would be a unique legendary, would it have any extra effect? Say, a bonus to damage and limb damage (the gun is a beast in the story like holy shit) but also an increase in recoil? Thanks in advance!
3569258 That would make sense. SteelHooves does note that Li'l Macintosh is so powerful only AJ could mouth-fire it and handle the recoil.
3569767 Alright, all that would be left is then mods, then. I believe that, since it is such a powerful weapon in the story, the most powerful receiver is in order. The scope is obvious, i believe the gun in the fic used a standard long barrel instead of the bull one, and since it's a custom-made weapon, the best grip would be good too. The location would be, obviously, the Buttercup factory. C'mon, pony references everywhere, a factory, that literally makes robotic ponies? No-brainer. Stick it in the Administration Office (if it has one, still haven't got to it) in a Master locked safe and an Advanced/Expert terminal nearby, with a stack of .44 ammo, some Pre-war money and the recording (will see if the guy who made the mod for NV could lend it to me) and we've got good ol' Li'l Macintosh! Approve?
Ну, отсылки к FoE в новом Fallout притянуты за уши, ибо их могут заметить только брони. Простым смертным не дано понять такого хайпа вокруг слова "пони" в четвёрке. Упс... Я забыл, что нахожусь в английском блоге:)
Well, references to FoE in a new Fallout far-fetched, because they can see only a brony. Mere mortals can not understand this hype around the word "pony" in the game... Oops... I forgot that I was in an English blog:)
Yeah, that's an annoyance with all the companions and settlers, as I'm sure you have experienced since the time you wrote this entry.
It's a side-effect of the way the devs implemented the RadStag behaviour, setting them as "hostile but cowardly". Thus, when you get close enough to a RadStag, they technically initiate combat, but will prefer to flee rather than attack – hence the companions react as if in combat with a hostile.