//------------------------------//
// The Capital, Love, and Past Memories. 
// Story: Knight of Steel 
// by Alpha777 
//------------------------------//

	The Princesses took me and the six to their capital, Canterlot, to meet Princess Cadence and her husband, which I found out is also Twilight's big brother, Shining Armor.  We arrived their by Celestia teleporting us there and it was a weird experience.  I look around me and thought, 'We must be in some sort of a palace.'

From what I was able to gather, Princess Cadence was known as the Princess of Love, considering she can easily sense if anyone is in love or something of the sorts.  I then thought, 'Someone who can sense love from anyone is something I never expected.'

We wander through the halls for a bit and of course the 'Royal Guards' thought I was some sort of monster, but until the Princesses notified them immediately.  Then we came up to a woman, which I figured was Princess Cadence, and all of a sudden, Twilight and Cadence greeted each other by singing something about ladybugs or something.

Cadence said to Twilight, "It is so good to see you, Twilight."

Twilight smiled and replied, "Same here, Cadence!  Wait?  Where's my BBBFF at?"

"Right here, little sis!"

She smiled and hugged who I presume was Shining Armor.  I was standing there with a confuse look on my face, if it weren't for the helmet on my head, thinking, 'BBBFF?  And what's with that singing about ladybugs about?'

Applejack noticed it and said to me, "Cadence was Twilight's favorite foalsitter an' BBBFF stands for 'Best Big Brother Friend Forever', Mr. Vaughn."

I nodded and answered, "Ah, I see.  That actually explains it.  Thank you, Applejack."

"Think nothin' of it." She replied.

Princess Cadence notices me followed by Shining Armor and asks me, "And who are you, strange creature?"

I stepped up, saluted, and answered, "I'm Paladin Knight Vaughn of the Brotherhood of Steel, your highness."

Shining asks me, "Brotherhood of Steel?"

I answered, "We scavenge throughout the Wastes for high-advance technology, study and learn their purpose, and keep them from falling into the wrong hands and destroying all of us again.  But from the Brotherhood lead by Elder Lyons, our leader, we use some of the technology like this power armor that I'm wearing and the weapons I use to protect the people who tries to survive day to day from threats like Super Mutants, Raiders, Slavers, and the like.  The saying in the Brotherhood is that 'The only Salvation this tortured planet and it's people have.  Without us, Humanity is sure to perish.' But on Elder Lyons' word, I will carry his orders and do what I can to protect the people who needs us the most."

Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were surprised b my answer.  But then Cadence asks me, "Then how and why are you here, far from these wastes that you speak of?"

I answered, "Well it all started when I was being sent on a lone mission to investigate the strange occurrences that was happening for almost 2 months at the abandoned base known as Fort Constantine.  There, I was almost gotten killed by 2 of the many robots that occupy the fort like the Protectron, which was not really a threat, and the Sentry Bot, which was a really big threat, and then afterwards, I investigated throughout the base and then all of a sudden, a portal opened up right under me and that is how I arrived here in your world."

Again, they were surprised by this except a little less of out it.  Shining then asks me, "So you have no intentions to harm us or the sort?"

I responded, "Even if I knew how to get here, harming innocent people goes against my codes of the Brotherhood.  We exist to protect the innocent, not to harm them."

"I see, well if my sister and her friends trusts you, as well as the Princesses, then I will trust you too, Paladin."  Shining answered.

As Fluttershy flew up to hug me for being respectful and truthful to them, Cadence said, "And I had a feeling that you having a crush on Fluttershy.  And I gotta say, you two kinda make a good couple."  as she ended with a giggle.

Fluttershy's cheeks glowed a rose-red color after hearing what Cadence just said.  I thought, 'I was not expecting that.'

I don't know what to say and was forced to only respond back by rubbing  my hand against the back of my head while Fluttershy rubbing her arm as a sign of shyness.  The others were a little surprised by this but not as much considering they kinda knew I had taken a liking towards Fluttershy.

Cadence giggle again and said, "I guess I should of thought before I spoke, sorry."

I was about to respond until Fluttershy said, "I-it's alright.  I guess this was bound to happen.  But never thought it would be someone like him...." as then she turned towards me and said, ".....I-I mean tha-that uh....uhm..."

I knelt to her and said, "I knew what you actually meant.  You were never expecting someone from a different dimension, who is a fighter like me, would fall in lo-love with you, with your kindness, your beautiful eyes, and all of that.  If you just want to be just friends, then I understand."

Fluttershy then hugs me and said, "I....uhm...I actually like you too, Vaughn.  You're very kind and caring as well."

That is when my heart stopped for a brief moment when she told me.  I didn't know what to say or even think, except by nodding and...well hugs!  After that moment, Celestia came up to me and said,  "That was a very heart-warming moment and I hate it to end it but we came here to see your past, the events that you've been through."

I nodded and said, "Of course, but how will you do that?  Do you have a machine to do that?"

Celestia said, "No, we have magic but from what we have learned, magic does not exist in your world and instead, you use technology as a substitute, right?"

I said, "Well not for everything, but yeah, more or less.  But since this is not the world I'm from, the possibility of this world having magic is probably 50/50, so I'll have to go along with it."

She nodded and said, "When you're ready, let us know."

I took a deep breath and said, "Do it."



   

In a flash, Celestia, Luna, the Mane 6, Cadence, and Shining appeared on top of some cliff near what looks like a road of sorts.  Over the horizon, they see before them is the Capital Wasteland.

http://threepartstheory.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/2011-10-09_00001.jpg 

Below, they see a young boy with pale skin, green eyes, and auburn hair, searching in a storage of a machine with wheels on the side of the road, but then a group of 5 people wearing power armor came and notice the boy.  Two guys was wearing T-45 b's and two wearing T-51 b's.  The fifth man was wearing a similar t-60b that Vaughn was wearing.  The one in the T-60b came up to the boy, who notices them, and asks, "Excuse me, but what are you doing out here, alone?  Where are your parents?"

The boy answered, "I don't have any parents, never knew them.  And I was scavenging for something useful to use.  Who are you guys?"

The man in T-60b was silent and then said, "We're with the Brotherhood of Steel.  Do you want to come with us?  I really don't want to leave you here all alone without no one to take care of you."

The boy looked at him with wide eyes and said, "Really!?  Why would you want me to come with you?"

"Well Elder Lyons gave an order to us that when we find any children and that they are willing to go with, then we should bring them and train them to become a member of the Brotherhood.  So what do you say?  Would you like to come with us?"

The boy cheered and answered, "Yes, of course I would!"

The other 5 of them laugh from the boy's enthusiasm and the guy asks the boy, "What is your name?"

The boy answered, "My name is Vaughn."

The ten of them were shocked when they found out that the boy was Vaughn himself.  Then a flash came and they were at a different location and they concluded they were in a courtyard.  They saw Vaughn being congratulated for passing his training by a man in a bluish robe.  Vaughn was now older and at the age of 19 years.  There also stood 3 sets of power armor: a T-45b, a T-51b, and a T-60b.  They overheard the man in the robes talking to Vaughn, "Congratulations on your training, Vaughn.  You have earned the title of Paladin Knight and you get to choose which of these three you want to have."

Vaughn stood there for a moment and picked the T-60b Power armor.  The man nodded and showed Vaughn a table with weapons on them.  The man then said, "Now choose 4 weapons that you want to have."

Vaughn picked the multibarrel device that the 10 found out to be called a 'Minigun', a metallic object called a 'Laser Rifle', a trench knife, and a small gray device which is called a '10mm Pistol.'

The man nodded and shook Vaughn's hand and said, "May Steel be with you, Paladin Knight Vaughn."

The man continued, "Ever since Knight Sergeant Wilson and his squad came back with you, I did not know what to think except that now I am glad that they did, for I see greatness within you and I do trust that you will not disappoint."

Vaughn answered, "Do not worry, Elder Lyons.  I will not fail you or the Brotherhood.  You can count on me."  He ended with a salute.

Then another flash came and they were in the middle of the ruins of the city.  They see Vaughn, now wearing his T-60b, and a few others that are with the Brotherhood was mowing down the large, brutish yellow beasts with his 'Minigun.'  Twilight thought back when they first met Vaughn and was wielding his 'Minigun' and the fact he put it away, making himself unarmed, kinda.  She thought, 'At least he didn't try to attack us with his weapon.'

Her train of thought was interrupted by one of the yellow beasts yelling, "DIE METAL MAN!"

Then was immediately mowed down by Vaughn.  Then everything was silent until one of the Brotherhood member said, "This area is clear of Super Mutants now.  Is anyone injured?"

Vaughn replied, "Nada."

The others replied with a 'no' and with that, Vaughn and the others went on with their patrol.  Then another flash came upon the ten and then was fighting a bunch of people wearing some sort of power armor which was later revealed as the 'Enclave.'  Vaughn killed off the last of them and inspected them.  Another Brotherhood member came up to Vaughn and asks, "Who the Hell are they?  What the Hell are they wearing?"

Vaughn answered, "Enclave.  It has to be, considering the are wearing XO-2's, as well as the Hellfire and Tesla series.  And look, they have a more advanced weaponry.  It looks like they use plasma."

The other members started to chattered and the one who came up to Vaughn asks, "Please tell me you are joking..."

Vaughn replied, "I'm afraid not."

Then another flash came and the ten were at some sort of a building with pipes and such.  They noticed a lot of Enclave troops in the area and then a large metal golem, followed by the members of the Brotherhood, plus Vaughn.  They also noticed a young man with some sort of a device on his wrist and wearing a blue and yellow jumpsuit, which had a big '101' on his back.  He was also followed by a dog and a slightly different and also friendly Super Mutant.  They heard the giant metal golem quoting, "COMMUNISTS DETECTED ON AMERICAN SOIL, LETHAL FORCE ENGAGE."

They then heard Vaughn quoting, "I'm glad he is on our side, at least."

Then the young man with '101' said, "Same here dude, same here."

Vaughn nodded and together continued up towards the building.  Then another flash came and the ten are now somewhere with a lot of concrete, as well as buildings.  They saw Vaughn, again, mowing down Enclave troops with his fellow members following behind him.

Vaughn yells out, "To arms, brothers, to arms!"

After they eliminated all the Enclave troops, Vaughn notices a female Enclave scientist cowering behind an old military truck.  One of the members was about to fire until Vaughn said, "Wait!  I think she's trying to surrender.  Look."

They realizes this and the ten heard the scientist saying, "Please, don't shoot!  I surrender.  I'll do anything to help you defeat the Enclave.  Besides, after what the Enclave have done to all those innocent people, I rather be on your side than theirs."

Vaughn nodded and said to one of his fellow members, "Contact one of the Vertibirds we've capture and tell them we have a surprise guest who is willing to help us fight against the Enclave and that not to shoot her, got it?"

"Got it, sir."  a member replied.

Vaughn turned towards the scientist and said, "Don't worry, I'll make sure you'll get to the Citadel safely so that you can start helping our Scribes with the Enclave tech.  You have my word as a Paladin Knight.  What is your name?"

The scientist looked up and replied, "Thank you, thank you so much!  And my name is Mary.  You?"

"Vaughn.  It is nice to meet you, Mary."  he answered.

Then a flying, metal thing that was known as a 'Vertibird' arrived and the Vaughn and Mary climbed aboard and flew off.  The the ten were overcame by a white flash and showed that Vaughn was walking up towards a gate to a facility.  Vaughn stood there for a few moments until he was being attack by a metal man.  Vaughn shot it's 'head' off, then walked up to it and said, "That there was rude of you, you stupid bot."

But then he was attacked by a more menacingly metal man and heard Vaughn replying, "Fuck this shit, I'm out."  He ran for cover and stayed in cover until he pulled out a strange object.  He pulled a pin off of it and threw it at the metal man and it blew up.  He peeked around the corner and sighed in relief.  He muttered, "That was too close for my liking.  How can this Vault Dweller be able to go through here so easily."

The ten notices a glow on top of the hill and saw Vaughn going up towards it.  He stood there to find nothing and said, "Well where the Hell was that glow coming from?"

Then a portal opened up right under Vaughn with him yelling, "HOLY SHIIII-"

After the memory ended, there they stood, back at the palace, staring at Vaughn with surprise.  Vaughn simply said,  "Sweet Jesus!  This headache is extremely bad.  Does anyone have something for this headache?"

After they gave Vaughn something for his headache, Celestia said to Vaughn, "You surely have endured all that time and not gave in to the violences that had taken over your world."

"Of course.  You can't really give up when there are people depending on you."  He answered.

Shining asks, "Who were those men that were with you?"

I answered, "My squad.  We treat each other like we're family more than squad members."

"Really?  Why?"  Shining asks with courteousness. 

I replied, "There is an old saying we use, 'If you treat your men as if they are your beloved sons, then they will follow you to the deepest valley of the world.'  I use this not just because of loyalty, but because we've been through a lot together and having closest friends is better then having people you rarely know about in your squad, which I really care for."

Shining nodded and smiled at my answer.  In-fact, all of them are happy with my answer.  I thought, 'I guess they learned more about me than I learned more about them.'

I smiled at that thought until a guard came running up, exhausted.  Celestia asks, "What's wrong?"

He said, "The Changelings are attacking Canterlot, your highness."


To be continued....