War...war never changes.
Since the dawn of mankind, when our ancestors discovered the killing power of rock and bone, blood has been spilled in the name of everything, from God, to justice, and to simple psychotic rage.
On October 23, 2077, mankind finally could no longer sustain itself. The Great War came and went, began and ended. It wasn't a war of rifles, or a war of a soldiers. It was the final war; the war of the atomic bomb. Whatever the bombs did not destroy was consumed by the wasteland they had created. But it wasn't what many had predicted, the end of the world. No, it was far from it. For even though man had succeeded in destroying the world, war never changes.
In the early days, thousands were spared from the horrors of the nuclear holocaust by taking shelter in the great underground shelters known as Vaults. On the day nuclear fire rained down from the heavens, the mighty steel doors of the vaults slung shut, sealing and saving the population inside. When they reopened, the inhabitants only had the hell of the wasteland to greet them.
The ones that were once called Vault Dwellers now became people known as Survivalists, establishing new communities and forming tribes in the new world that had emerged from the nuclear holocaust. As decades past, a group of survivalists banded together to form the New California Republic, a society dedicated to old world values of democracy and rule of the old world.
They sent their scouts across the Mojave Wasteland, to return with tales of the city untouched by the bombs, and a great wall expanding across the Colorado. NCR sent its forces to occupy Hoover Dam and restore it in working conditions to provide energy for the entire Mojave. But across the Colorado, another society had arisen from a different flag. It was an army of slaves, forged in the conquest of 87 tribes, Caesar's Legion.
Four years have passed since the NCR held the Dam against the onslaught of the Legion. Despite heavy casualties, the NCR stood victorious. The Legion, however, did not give up just yet. They spent the next four years across the Colorado, gathering strength, preparing themselves for the next battle at Hoover Dam. All the while, the New Vegas Strip stayed open under the control of its mysterious overseer, Mr. House and his army of rehabilitated tribals and police robots.
Four years after Hoover Dam, the Mojave was about to change from the arrival of a single man known as the Courier, who was given a job from the Mojave Express to deliver a package - a platinum chip to the New Vegas Strip. What could have seem to be a simple job turned out to be for the worse himself, leading to his death. After many turns of events, the Courier had miraculously survived and is now fighting for the good and free people of the Mojave Wasteland. As the Second Battle of Hoover Dam slowly approaches, the Courier receives a message, one that will explain the truth about the job he took and his whole past. The truth will be waiting for him in the heart of the Divide. But to find that truth, there was one road that remained in the way, and it was one that the Courier must walk alone.
I ask myself the same questions over and over again, why am I here? How did it come to this? And most importantly, why me? I was once a courier who did his job and got paid fair and square. To me, life in the wasteland was good. The next day, I get robbed and shot two times in the head over a package I was supposed to deliver. I should've died from then and there, but I somehow miraculously survive that whole ordeal. I recovered in less than a week or so before getting back onto my feet and traveling across the wasteland to find that man who robbed me.
During the course of time, I traveled to many places in the Mojave and made some friends and enemies along the way. I've also been to places that were not of this world and saw things that would have broken lesser men. But after weeks and months of going against all odds in the wasteland, I finally made it to New Vegas, taking my revenge on the man who shot me. And now here I was, living in the confinements of the Lucky 38 casino, getting ready to not only decide the fate of New Vegas, but the rest of the Mojave as well.
After everything that has happened, I still do not understand why it has to be me. Why should a mailman, who has no interest in politics and power, decide the future of an entire nation? What did I do back then that has brought me to where I am now? Perhaps one day, it'll all come back to me. Perhaps it will not. Either way, I'll follow the path that's laid out in front of me and decide what's best for the Mojave.
I probably should introduce myself now. My name is William – William “Bill” Davis, but most people just call me Bill. Otherwise, they just address me as the Courier. I was a courier with the Mojave Express, but now I serve as a civilian contractor for the New California Republic.
There's nothing to say much about myself. I'm 25 years old, about 6'3”, and somewhere around 130 lbs. I grew up with a younger sister and was raised by a mother who was a tribal and a father who was a businessman with the NCR. From my mother, I'm good at repairing just about anything, brewing my own stimpaks and chems, and cooking food from just about anything edible. From my father, I was very good at shooting and sneaking around places, followed by being a “renowned smooth talker”.
I support the NCR, if that wasn't obvious for you. There's a lot of good people with good morals with them, and that's why I support them. Even though I don't always agree with their ideals, I believe that with enough time, they'll learn to shape up and help make the world a better place.
So here I was, in my private suite in the Lucky 38 with all my companions, getting ready for the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, and I was still wondering about what my whole purpose in all of this was. In time, the answer would come in full view. For now, I should rest up and prepare for another new day tomorrow.
I checked the time on my Pipboy to see that it was 11:00 p.m. now. By now, everyone was probably asleep so I might as well join with them. Setting the Grognak comic book down on my night desk, I crawled underneath the sheets of my bed and fell fast asleep.
It was nightfall in the land of Equestria. At this time, most ponies would be at home spending time with their families before heading off to bed, preparing for another day tomorrow. But for Twilight Sparkle and her friends, they were up and about for a small assignment Princess Celestia had asked them to do.
Twilight had received a letter from Princess Celestia today, informing that there was some disturbance in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Yesterday night, ponies reported seeing something like a shooting star crashing into the Everfree Forest. Nopony knows what it is for sure, all they know that it could be a meteorite that crashed in the forest. One pony said that it was aliens from the outer world that landed here and are looking to establish contact with the population. So far nopony, has bought it.
Twilight was traveling deeper in the forest with her five friends accompanying her – Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. Spike, her young dragon assistant, would have normally tagged along with them. Tonight however, Twilight had decided to let him take the rest of the night off. After all, Spike had been working hard all day long, and the dragon deserved the rest he needed.
All six ponies were equipped with their own personal saddle bags. Each had a canteen of water and a generous amount of snacks, which were a few apples and a paper bag full of cookies provided by Applejack and Pinkie Pie. They also had an emergency medical kit and a blanket with them. Twilight had a map of the Everfree Forest levitating in front of her and a few astronomy books sat in her saddle bag. She lowered her map as they got near their destination.
Looking ahead, they saw a glow of blue light coming from the trees. They all knew, at this point, they had reached their destination.
"This is it girls." Twilight said, putting her map away. "This is where the ponies reported the disturbance coming from."
Fluttershy shook with fear as she hid behind Rarity. She did not want to know what was through those trees. From what she could tell, it was bad news.
"What do you think is?" Rarity asked, squinting her eyes forward to the light.
"No idea." Twilight shrugged. "The only way to find out is to go in there. Everypony ready?"
All except Fluttershy nodded in agreement.
"Alright then, let's move in, nice and slow."
The ponies slowly began to walk forward towards the light, except for Fluttershy, who was quietly trying to crawl away from the scene and run back home. But Rainbow Dash had caught her and pushed her right back into the group to follow along. Rainbow Dash then proceeded to overlook Fluttershy from above, to make sure she didn't try to run away.
"Rainbow Dash, I...I don't think that this is a good idea..."
"Don't be ridiculous," Rainbow whispered back. "I'm sure it's nothing scary or dangerous. Besides, if it were aliens, I'm sure they'll be cool to meet."
"Quiet!" Twilight hushed. "We're nearly there."
As they all walked closer and closer through the trees, the light was growing brighter and brighter until they finally stepped out from the trees and into the middle of the Everfree Forest. There, they saw it.
Pinkie Pie screamed in terror as she saw the source of the bright light in front of them. Fluttershy panicked and ran back, hiding inside a shrub.
"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight yelled, silencing her. "That's not an alien!"
Pinkie, silenced from Twilight's voice, looked closely at the crashed object that was producing the light. Pinkie took the time to relax, knowing that it wasn't an alien.
"Whew! For a moment there I thought that was going to be aliens. I mean, if it were aliens, I would throw them a “Welcome to Equestria” Party!"
Pinkie turned around to the shrub where Fluttershy was hiding in. "It's okay Fluttershy! It's just some weird-"
Pinkie once again screamed in terror as she saw something else that had spooked her. Fluttershy popped out of the shrub and walked over to Pinkie, who was frantically pointing her hoof up towards the trees.
"Um, Pinkie Pie...is something wrong?" Fluttershy asked.
Pinkie just continued pointing her hoof upwards, and as Fluttershy looked up, she too, screamed in horror. Rarity had also shrieked as she looked up to see what could have spooked them. There, up in the trees, was a gigantic eye projected up in the trees, looking down on them. Twilight had rooted to the spot while Applejack stood in front of her friends and went into a combat stance and Rainbow Dash flew up close to the eye, bringing her forehooves up in a fighting position.
Twilight however, wasn't frightened or anything. She looked at the eye projecting in the trees and back at the strange object. She then looked at where it was producing the bright blue light and found that it came from a bright blue orb in the middle of it, projecting the image of the gigantic eye.
"Wait, girls!" Twilight called out, but none of them heard her as three of them were screaming their heads off while the other two were preparing to fight a projection of an eye.
"You wanna get my friends, you'll have to go through me first." Rainbow Dash snarled.
She rocked straight towards the projection of the eye, getting ready to land a hard strike on it.
"QUIET!" Twilight yelled as loud as she could, releasing a bright, flare-like magical burst in the air. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie stopped screaming. Applejack froze while Rainbow Dash turned around in surprise just before crashing into the tree.
"That eye isn't real." Twilight pointed towards the object. "Look, it's like a movie projector used in the theaters."
Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity turned to look at the crashed object projecting the light, then right back at the giant eye projecting up in the trees. Rainbow Dash stuck her head back out from the trees and looked down at the crashed object projecting the light. She flew out of the trees to look back at the giant eye projecting onto the tree, realizing that it was just a projection.
"Oh," Rainbow Dash chuckled. "I knew that."
Twilight rolled her eyes and turned back her focus to the crashed object. The object was some grey, steel cylindrical shaped meteor with three glass-like panels sticking from the sides. The projector was at the top and front of the object, projecting the giant eye up in the trees. This was definitely not a meteorite.
"What do you think it is?" Applejack asked. "One of them meteorites from your book?"
"I... I've never seen anything like this before." Twilight whispered back. "In fact, I don't think this is a meteorite."
Applejack walked close to the crashed object and carefully brought her hoof towards it. She gave it a light tap and she can her a metal clang between her hooves and the object.
"Eyyup," Applejack nodded. "Ain't one of them meteorites at all."
The six friends stared in silence at the crashed object, pondering on what it was and why it had crashed here? Was this some kind of alien ship or alien technology that they did not know of?
"Alright," Twilight said, breaking the silence. "One of you has to go back and get the royal guards here. The rest of us will stay here and see what we can learn about this...thing."
"I'll go." Rainbow Dash volunteered as she gave a determined grin and salute. "You guys stay here and I'll be right back."
Twilight gave a nod as Rainbow Dash flew out of the Everfree to get help. The others took the time to rest for a bit, eat a little bit of the snacks to boost their strength up and drink some water to stay hydrated. Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Applejack sat down on the grass to enjoy their snacks while Rarity unrolled the emergency blanket and used it as a picnic blanket for herself on the ground. She didn't like to lie on the grass after all.
Twilight however, took more time to examine the steel object. After all, this was something she has never seen before. For all she knew, this might as well have been some ancient technology from millions of years ago. Whatever it was, this was interesting stuff for the curious unicorn to take a thousand notes on.
On the side of the object, there was an small insignia engraved at the back. It looked to be an image of a flag. It had red and white stripes, and on the top left corner was blue with one large white star in the middle and many other white stars surrounding it.
"This insignia...I've never seen anything like it before. Looks like the symbol for some flag, but it's nothing that I know of."
She then turned her attention to the part of the object where it was projecting the massive eye. Squinting her eyes, she brought herself a little closer to the glowing device. "What are you really?"
She brought her hoof up to the projector and tapped it. Suddenly, another bright blue light erupted from the object and shrouded Twilight her in the light. Twilight was momentarily blinded before she saw that she was trapped inside the light. Twilight rooted to the spot in horror, not knowing what she should do.
All of her friends turned around to see Twilight to be in some kind of danger. Applejack was the first to react by galloping towards Twilight. The others dropped their snacks and followed behind Applejack.
"Twilight!" Applejack cried. "Get away from there!"
"She's going to get taken by the aliens!" Pinkie gasped.
Twilight still remained rooted to the spot in horror as the beam of light engulfed her and within seconds, the beam shot back up into the sky and sent a massive flash of light towards her friends, blinding them momentarily. When everything was cleared up, Twilight was no longer there anymore. She had just vanished in plain sight.
“TWILIGHT!!!!” Her friends screamed in anguish.
I thought the nightmares would have stopped for good. I thought my time at the Sierra Madre was enough to give me something new to fear as I slept. I was wrong. So wrong.
For the past few months, I've been getting the same nightmares over and over again. They've been happening after I recovered at Goodsprings and have been occurring since then. Although each was different, it was always the same terrifying outcome that would wake me up in cold sweat. It was one of those nights where I wished I could just stay up until dawn.
I was standing in a vast and empty desert out in the middle of nowhere at night. There was nothing here – just sand. There were those occasional rock and cactus, but either than that, it was just another wasteland full of sand. Where was I anyway? Death Valley? No, Death Valley is never that close to Vegas.
Wherever I was, it looked like I was on my way to deliver a package because right in my hands, I was holding a compass and a clipboard with some coordinates scribbled down. I could tell I was carrying something important due to the weight in my bag. The coordinates tell me to keep heading north, where my destination was. So without further delay, I kept on trudging towards north until I reached my destination.
There was a strong wind tonight, which roused up a sandstorm that was weighing me down. Like that was going to stop me. I'm a courier for Christ sake! I make deliveries through the dangers and harsh conditions of the wasteland and I always deliver on time. One little sandstorm wasn't going to stop me.
I kept on walking until I had finally broke through of the sandstorm, and there it was, right in front of me, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life – a populated city. It glowed brightly like the shining oasis of New Vegas in the distance. Music echoed throughout the city whilst people were out on the streets, singing, dancing, and laughing. Everywhere you looked, there was life, and everyone was filled with joy, like there was not a problem in the world. I smiled as I realized where I was: home.
I then heard someone calling out my name from behind. Turning around, I saw that it was a little girl, at least 15 years of age. She wore a simple white sundress and had beautiful sapphire eyes, just like the moon. Her hair was a radiant color of honey gold, like the sun. My smile widened even more as I realized who that girl was. It was my little sister – Emily! Man, was I happy to see her! It felt like forever since we last saw each other, but there she was, smiling and waving at me to come over.
I quickly dropped my bag and ran towards her, my arms outstretched. How I missed my little Emily so much. All I ever wanted to do now was to hold her in my arms and just never let go of her. Her arms opened up for me as I got closer and closer until I finally swept her off her feet and hugged her closed to me. Within the embrace, I felt the warmth of her body as she hugged onto me tightly. I gave a gentle stroke of her hair. It felt very soft and smooth, like it always had been. It gave me assurance that this was all real and that she was really here.
I was about to get a good look at her face when all of a sudden, she vanished from my arms, like she had turned to dust. No more did I felt her warm embrace all over my body. My eyes widened with panic as I immediately began searching around for her. Inside my head, I can hear myself repeatedly screaming, "Where is Emily? Where is Emily?!"
All of a sudden, the sound of gunfire and screaming brought me out of my panicked thoughts. Turning around, I saw that once glorious city now burning as two armies on either side were clashing with each other. The two armies, based on the appearances of each soldiers, seem to resemble those from the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion.
Blood and bodies were everywhere. Everywhere I looked, there was just death and destruction from left to right. Buildings of magnificent stone and glass were blown apart like tissue paper. Various screams of death echoed in the once peaceful night, while I just stood there, shocked and horrified at the sight of the war.
"No..." I shook my head. "No, this can't be! This can't be happening!" I fell to my knees, closed my eyes and covered my ears. "This cannot be real...this cannot be real..."
I had to do something to stop this. I just had to! I couldn't just stand by and watch as more people die. Pulling out my binoculars and looking through, I could see the many citizens trying to escape from the war and among them, I saw Emily. She was on her knees, covering her ears and crying as people ran by her. Some fell dead beside her while others fell wounded, struggling to crawl away before being trampled by the crowd.
“Emily!” I had to get down there and help her! But how? All I had was a machete and a scoped .44 magnum revolver. But regardless of what I had, I still had to go on the offensive. Emily's life was in danger, and I couldn't let anything happen to her.
Picking up my bag, I took out my machete in one hand and my revolver in the other hand and began charging towards the city. I didn't care if I was going to get myself killed rushing in the middle of a battlefield. I had to save Emily.
The city seemed so far away, but I kept moving, no matter what was in my way. As I kept on running, I can hear a loud beeping noise coming from the package inside my bag. It sounded like a bomb collar was about to go off. The beeps grew louder and were more rapid as I got closer to the city. I was just behind the attacking army of the Legion, getting ready to slash and shoot my way through them when all of a sudden, it happened.
The ground beneath me began to shake as if an earthquake was going on. Soon the ground started forming large cracks in the surface before fiery explosions came pouring out from them.
It was as though the world was ending all over again. Looking down, I saw that many cracks were beginning to form around my feet as I got closer to the city. More explosions erupted from left to right, ripping people apart and cutting off everyone's escape. As I stood there, shocked at the destruction before my eyes, I was debating whether to run into the city and save my sister, or run like hell.
The ground beneath started to fall apart, and that was enough to me to turn my back on the city and run like hell. Some hero I was.
I felt myself about to fall through the cracks as they got closer to me. My feet were aching and my lungs were burning, but I still kept on running no matter what. I got back running up the high ground and I did not stop until a loud, deafening explosion and a force of 1000 bighorners threw me up in the air. I barely had time to scream as I soared in the night sky and fell down hard on the ground.
I laid there on the ground for a few minutes, my hands covering the back of my head as the ground continued shaking and explosions echoed around me. After what seemed to be like forever, the ground stopped shaking, giving some sense of relief for me. But when I got back to my feet and turned back to that city, a horrible sight awaited for me.
The city was now replaced with a large mushroom cloud. What was once that glorious city was nothing but a radioactive ruin. Everyone that once lived in that city – my sister, my family, was nothing more than a shadow of the past now.
My eyes shot wide open as I immediately sat up on my bed, gasping for air. It took me a few minutes to calm down and remember exactly where I was. I was still in my private bedroom, in the presidential suite of the Lucky 38. Looking at my Pip-Boy, it was three in the morning.
Giving a relieved sigh, I collapsed back into my pillows and bed sheets, taking deep breaths to calm myself. I heard a slight whimper from Rex the cybernetic dog as he brushed up against my right arm and licked my hand. I turned to face him and returned a gentle stroke on his head. Rex was the King's dog, but I'd still like to consider him as my own pet dog.
"Hey Rex, what are you doing up at this hour, boy?" Rex gave another whimper as he continued to lick my hand. I gave an assuring smile at him. "It's okay, boy. I just had a nightmare, that's all."
I then felt Rex snuggle underneath my arm. His warm, fuzzy face brushing up against mine. I smiled and hugged him close to me. The warmth of his body calming my beating heart.
"Thank you, Rex. You're a good boy." I gave a yawn, settling back underneath the sheets. "I'm going to try and go back to sleep now."
I felt my eyes droop as I drifted off into sleep, but not before hearing the rattle of gunfire and the roaring explosion of an atomic bomb within my mind. Yet I knew there were no sounds around me. Only the silence of a two hundred year old casino.