The Journey Begins
New Vegas. The shining star of the Mojave Wasteland. Untouched by the nuclear devastation that destroyed the rest of the world, many flock to it in an attempt to find protection from the harsh wasteland. Or to gamble their hard earned money away.
Long ruled by the enigmatic Mr. House and protected by his Securitron robots, New Vegas has managed to stay independent and safe from all outside forces. But the arrival of two new players may soon change who controls New Vegas.
First, from the west, come the NCR. The “New California Republic.” A federation based on the old world values of democracy, liberty, and the rule of law. It’s goal to restore order, progress, and safety to the wastelands. Hoping for more land, water, and power, the NCR had occupied Hoover Dam with the goal to restore it to working condition. And hopefully, annexing New Vegas.
But from the east came another faction, Caesar’s Legion. A large slaver society ruled by a man known as Caesar, the “Son of Mars.” Forged from the conquest of over 80 tribes, Caesar wants nothing more than to create his own Rome. And New Vegas was the perfect capital. So he set his sights on Hoover Dam.
The NCR were able to hold the dam from the Legion’s onslaught, barley. Despite their loses, the Legion did not retreat. They instead held on the other side of the Colorado river, slowly building up their strength for another attack on the Dam, for whoever controls the Dam, controls New Vegas.
The fate of whoever controls Hoover Dam however, doesn’t belong to the soldiers of the NCR or the Legion, not even Mr. House himself will decide who will control the Dam. No, it belongs to two people. A simple courier who happened to be carrying the wrong package, and an unlikely traveler from another dimension. Their actions will determine who will control New Vegas. And this is where our story starts, in the small town of Goodsprings.
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Lying on a small bed, a young man wakes, opening his eyes for the first time in days. Through his blurred vision, he sees a ceiling fan slowly rotating, trying to cool down the warm room. A moan escaped his lips as he attempted to push himself up.
‘Ahh god, what the hell happened?’ He thought when a voice called out.
“Whoa there! You’ve been out for a couple of days now. You should calm down for a second and try to get your bearings.” Setting up straight and with his vision finally clearing, the figure saw that the voice came from a old man sitting across from him.
“Glad to see you’re finally awake. I’m Doc Mitchell.” The old man introduced himself.
“Uhh, hello.” Answered the disoriented man.
“Hello to you to, so can you tell me your name?” Doctor Mitchell asked, leaning in.
“...Huh, oh sure. Adam, my name’s Adam.” Adam replied, taking a second to respond as he attempted to clear his head.
“Adam? Well, I can’t say that’s what I’d have picked for you. But if that’s your name, it’s your name.” The Doc said as he crossed his arms. “Now, can you remember what happened to you?”
Adam looked down, eyes narrowed as his memories came rushing back.
‘Truth is, the game was rigged from the start.’ *Bang!*
“Yeah, I remember.” He said, as he looked back up at Doc Mitchell who seemed pleased to hear that.
“That’s good, means you don’t have any memory problems. And you don’t have to tell me what happened, that’s your business.” Doc Mitchell said as he leaned to his side to pick up a mirror.
“Now, I had to go rooting around in your head to get all the bits of lead out. I take pride in my needlework, but you better tell me if I left anything out of place.” He said as he gave the mirror to Adam.
Adam looked down at his reflection. His dark brown eyes stared right back. His black colored hair was fine if cut slightly shorter than what was usual. And his tanned skin he got from traveling all over the southern states was normal, except, of course, for the new circular scar in the upper left portion of his forehead.
“Gotta say Doc, you were right when you said you had a good needle hand. Everything's fine.” He said, giving the mirror back to the Doctor.
“Thanks, it’s good to get praise every now and again.” Doc Mitchell replied as he stood up from his chair. “Now, lets see if we can get ya outta bed.”
Using Mitchell as leverage, Adam hauled himself up with a grunt, taking a few seconds to steady himself as the blurriness returned but quickly subsided.
“Good, now that you’re standing, follow me to that Vigor Tester Machine at the end room. And don’t over do it, it’s not a race.” The Doctor stated and walked over the machine that rested at the far end of the room.
Stretching to get a few of the kinks out, Adam followed him over to the Vigor Tester and gave it a quick look over.
“So, I grab this handle, and the machine will calculate my stats?” He said, sounding a bit unconvinced at the machines abilities.
“Yup, more specifically, your “SPECIAL” stats.”
Adam looked at the Doc with a raised eyebrow, the look on his face saying ‘My what?’
“SPECIAL” is an acronym. It stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. They’ll show up on the machine as values from 1 to 10. 1 being utterly dismal and 10 being the absolute best.” Mitchell explained.
Adam looked back at the machine before shrugging. “If you insist.” And gave the handle a tight grip.
The machine made a slight whirring sound for about ten seconds before the screen lit up.
S:6
P:4
E:5
C:5
I:7
A:6
L:7
The Doctor looked over the results and nodded. “Well most of those are real standard scores from what I’ve seen before. Though you would think your Luck would be higher since you survived that gunshot to the head.”
“If I was luckier Doc, I wouldn’t have gotten shot at all.” Adam replied as he looked at his stats one last time.
“I guess you’re right. Now while your vitals may be good, that doesn’t mean that gunshot didn’t leave you nutter than Bighorner droppings. If you could take a rest on my couch, we see if your mental health is fine.” Mitchell said walking into his living room with Adam right behind him.
“Now, please take a seat.” Gesturing toward the couch in the middle of the room.
However, as Adam was about to sit down, something at the end of the room caught his eye.
“Uhh, Doc, what the hell is that?” He asked, pointing over to one of the smaller seats at the end of the room.
The chair was currently occupied by the strangest looking creature Adam had ever seen. It’s fur was a light shade of purple and what appeared to be it’s hair and tail were primarily dark blue with streaks of pink and purple going down the middle. On it’s side was a mark that looked like a pink star surrounded by smaller white starts. It’s four legs ended in hooves and lastly, on top of the creature’s head, was what appeared to be a five inch long horn. It’s rather large eyes were closed and it’s chest was rising and lowering slowly so he assumed it was sleeping.
“Huh, oh that little thing? It was found out in the fields about two days ago. The person who found had no idea what it was so they brought it to me.” Doc Mitchell explained.
“Do you know what it is?”
“Unfortunately no. I looked over all of me notes about wasteland creatures and never once seen anything that looked like it.”
“So maybe it’s a robot or a mutant.” Adam offered
“It ain’t a robot. I did a scan and it’s all flesh an blood. The mutant theory is possible but I don’t know what it could’ve possibly mutated from. I honestly think it’s not from the Mojave.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well just look at it. It doesn’t have claws, fangs, nothing that would could possibly let it survive in the wasteland except for that horn on it’s head.”
“So it’s not from around here then?”
Mitchell nodded. “Until we find something else that’s our best bet.”
Adam walked up to the creature “Did you try to wake it up?”
“Well I did give a few good shakes, but it didn’t work. And I don’t want to waste any of my meds in case they don’t work, so I just left it there with the hope it won’t attack me if and when it wakes up.”
Adam kneeled beside it, trying and failing to think of an explanation of what it could possibly be. ‘What are you?’
“So,” Mitchell’s voice once again caught his attention “you want get this exam done?”
Adam looked back at the creature before replying “Sure.”
However, as he got up and walked towards the doctor, a shuffling and what sounded like a yawn came from behind him. Turning around, he saw the creature was starting to move and appeared to be stretching it’s limbs.
“Doctor it’s waking up.” He said, backing up to the doctor in question who looked on with interest.
Both men watched as the unknown creature stopped stretching and sat up in a way similar to a dog. It’s now opened eyes revealed purple irises, which then narrowed as the creature started to look around the room in confusion. However as soon as it’s gaze fell on the two men in the middle of the room, it’s eyes widened in fear as it’s pupils shrunk into pinpricks. It pushed itself into the back of the chair as much as it could and when it became clear it could go no further, it stopped and instead just sat there, quivering at the two.
After watching it’s reaction, Adam leaned into the doctor's ear. “Hey Doc, I think it’s afraid of us.” He whispered so as not scare the creature even more.
“I agree with you, we should be careful of what we do next.” Mitchell whispered back.
“I’ll see if I can calm it down.” Mitchell looked at Adam in disbelief.
“You can’t be serious. You don’t know what that thing will do. For all we know it could charge and stab you in the gut with that horn.”
“Relax, I’ll be careful. Besides, I think that things too afraid of us to do something like that.”
Mitchell gave Adam a long stare before sighing. “Fine, but don't go blaming me if you get hurt.”
Adam nodded before facing the creature. Keeling down in an attempt to look less threatening, he slowly walked forward. When he saw the creature tense up and close it’s eyes, he realized he would have to try a different approach.
“Hey now, listen, we aren't going to hurt you, okay? We just want to help.” He said in the most soothing voice he could make.
It seem to do the trick as the creature’s trembling calmed a bit. It’s eyes opened again as they looked into his, as if trying to find a hint of hostility.
Deciding to push a little further, Adam took another step forward. “We really don’t want to hurt you. Look, I don’t even have anything in my hand, see.” He said while raising his hands to show he had nothing in them.
The creature relaxed even more at that, it’s shaking all but gone. Adam took another step, preparing to say more calming words when the creature beat him to it.
“W-who are you people?” It asked in a soft feminine voice.
If it was physically possible, Adam jaw would have hit the floor. And although he couldn’t see Doc Mitchell, he was certain his expression mirrored his own.
“Doctor?”
“Yeah boy?”
“Are you sure you put my brain back together correctly, because I swear to god, I just heard that thing talk.” Adam asked the equally shock doctor.
“If I didn’t, then that means there’s something wrong with the both of us.” Mitchell replied.
Adam however, was knock out of his stupor when the creature asked again.
“Please, can you tell me who you are?”
“Umm, my name’s Adam and this is Doc Mitchell.” He replied while pointing over to the doctor, who simply waved at the two, his mind still struggling to comprehend the talking creature.
“So, what’s your name?” Adam asked.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle.” The newly name creature said.
“Okay...Twilight. Good to meet you.” Adam said, stopping a second to get her name right.
“It’s good to meet you too. Can you please tell me where I am.” Twilight asked him.
Before Adam could say anything, Mitchell answered instead. “I can tell you that. You two are in the town of Goodsprings.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed in confusion again. “Goodsprings? I never heard of that town before.”
Adam looked at Twilight for a few seconds before asking. “Well, have you ever heard of the Mojave Wastelands before?”
Twilight looked up at Adam before shaking her head. “No, I haven't.”
“Well, where are you from?” He asked.
30 Minutes later.
“So, let me get this straight.” Adam said while rubbing his head. “Your name is Twilight Sparkle. You come from a planet called Terra. On said planet, you live in a country known as Equestria, which is populated by a species known as Ponies. The ponies are divided into four groups along with a few subgroups. The first are the Earth Ponies which don’t have any real special abilities, but have higher strength and endurance compare to two of the others. They are typically the farmers and heavy workers.” He looked at Twilight before continuing.
“The second group, known as Pegasus or Pegasi, are ponies with wings. This allows them to fly and they control the weather in Equestria. The third group are the Unicorns which you are one. They have horns on their heads which allows them to use and control “magic.” He added with air quotes.
“Lastly, the fourth group are known as Alicorns. They are fusions of all three pony races and have all of their traits. Two particular alicorns, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, are the rulers of Equestria and control the planet’s sun and moon.”
“Actually, no they don’t, but that is a common misconception. You see, our sun is far smaller than a normal star. It’s only about the size of a large city. It hangs just outside the atmosphere of our planet and the same is true for the moon. What the princesses do is charge each one with magic when it’s time for them to rise or set. After which, they move on their own.” Twilight corrected him.
“Riiight.” Adam said looking at her.
Twilight, on the other hand, sighed and lowered her head. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“Well, you really can’t blame me. It’s just such a crazy story that I think anyone will have a hard time believing it. The only reason I don’t think I’m insane is because of the fact that the Doctor see too.” Adam said while Twilight continued to look down with a downtrodden expression.
“So,” Her ears perked up when she heard him talk again. “How did you get here anyway?”
“I was testing a new mass teleportation spell for the princesses when something went wrong. I don’t remember much, but I guess that’s how I ended up in your dimension.” She explained.
“Why don’t you just teleport back?”
“I would try, but it won’t work.”
“Why not?”
“That spell requires a large amount of magical energy in order to perform it. Our planet is saturated in this energy. While unicorns, or rather, all being from my planet naturally make their own supply, we normally absorb most of it from our planet. Your planet however, doesn’t have any magic, so I’m going to have to wait until my body makes enough for me to use the spell.”
Adam thought of something. “Is that why you were unconscious when you were found?”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, since the spell used up all of my magic, my body forced me to sleep so I could make enough to function right. In Equestria, it would take me about a week before I could use that spell again. Here, it’ll probably take me a few months before I’ll be able to.”
As if to prove her point, she closed her eyes and scrunched up her face in concentration. Her horn lit up in a violet glow as did a cup sitting on the table in the middle of the room. However, the glow surrounding Twilight’s horn suddenly flickered out, as did the glow on the cup.
Twilight’s eyes opened as she lowered her head and sighed again. “I can’t even perform a basic levitation spell anymore.” Tears started to come to her eyes as the reality of her situation hit her.
Adam, feeling sorry for the poor girl, kneeled down and raised her head with his hand. “Hey, don’t start crying now, ok? While you may be stuck here, I’m pretty sure the good Doctor here will be willing to take care of you. And besides, Goodsprings is a safe place, trust me.” He reassured her as he wiped the tears from her eyes.
Twilight gave him a hug and said. “Thank you.” However, they were cut off by Doc Mitchell, who was sitting back and listening to the whole conversation.
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” Both looked at him.
“What do you mean Doc?” Adam asked.
“The war going on between the NCR and the Legion is starting to heat up.”
“Shit, I forgot about them.” Adam muttered angrily.
“The town can handle small things like Geckos, but a Legion raiding party will be too much for us. Hell, a group of raiders would be too much.”
“So where is she suppose to go?”
Mitchell looked at Adam for a few seconds before stating. “Why doesn’t she go with you?”
Adam stood there before simply replying. “Me?”
“Yes, you. You’re planning on leaving Goodsprings to find the man who shot you right?” Adam nodded. “So let her come with you. You can teach her how to fight, how to survive in the Mojave. I’m sure she’ll be safer with you than here.”
“Whoa, hold on a second Doc. You know just how dangerous it is out there. And it’s just not the wildlife, what about all the people. Who knows how they're going to react to a talking pony.” Adam said.
Mitchell looked at Twilight. “Twilight, are ponies related to horses by any chance?”
Twilight was confused by the odd question but answered. “Yes, we the same species but a different breed.”
“Doc, what does this have to do with anything?” Adam asked
“I did a bit of research in a old book about pre-war animals. I found out that horses used to exist in the states to the northeast. You could say that she’s a mutant and that you found her out there and taught her how to talk.” Michell explained.
“I don’t think anyone is going to fall for that Doc.”
“Even if they don’t, would they bother to attack you? She doesn’t look like she could be of much use to anyone.”
“But Doc-”
“Look, how about instead of us arguing some more, why don’t we let her decide who she wants to stay with.”
Adam thought about it for a few seconds before relenting. “Fine.” He said turning to Twilight. “Twilight, do you want to stay here in Goodsprings or follow me in the Mojave?”
Twilight looked down, considering her options. After a few minutes, she raised her head and looked towards Adam. “I want to go with you.”
“Alright then,” He said, accepting her answer before kneeling down to her face.. “but, let me warn you Twilight. The Mojave is very dangerous place. There are things out there that will kill you without a thought. There are people who would kill you without a thought. Either because you have something they want or because they just want to kill you. So if we face someone or something that want’s to kill us, don’t hesitant to fight back. Because. They. Will. Kill. You. If you give them the chance, do not give them that chance. Okay?” He explained.
Twilight in turn seemed very shaken up by Adam’s description of the Mojave, but nervously nodded her head, understanding the danger of the Wasteland.
“Alright then.” Adam said and turned to Doc Mitchell. “You still want to get that mental evaluation done, right?”
Mitchell nodded. “Yeah I do, but we should also get her SPECIAL stats and do a check up on her too.”
Adam thought for a moment. “Are you sure it’ll work on her?”
Mitchell smiled. “If it works on dogs and robots, I’m pretty sure it works on her to.”
Adam looked at Mitchell before shrugging “Alright, follow us Twilight” Twilight nodded and got off the chair. Now that she was standing up, Adam saw that her head reached up to his stomach. He was 6 foot 2, so that made her around four feet tall.
She followed them to the Vigor Tester and she eyed it curiously. “What does this thing do?”
“It calculates your SPECIAL stats.” Mitchell stated.
“My what?”
Mitchell sighed and explained. “It’s an acronym. It calculates your Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. They’ll show up as values from 1 to 10. 1 being bad and 10 being perfect.”
“This machine can do that.” She said, looking at the machine in awe.
“I’m going to assume you don’t have stuff like this where you’re from.” Adam said as he chuckled at Twilight's amazement of a simple machine.
“Of course we don’t. If only I could bring something like this back to Equestria, everypony would line up around the block to use it.”
The two men looked at each other and said. “Everypony?” Their confusion was interrupted by Twilight.
“How does it work.” She asked while she tapped her front hooves in excitement.
“Just touch the handle with your... hoof.” Mitchell said.
Since the Vigor Tester was slightly taller than she was, Twilight had to stand on her hind legs to be able to grab the handle. When she did, the machine once again made a whirring noise before her stats came up.
S:4
P:7
E:4
C:7
I:9
A:6
L:4
Mitchell let out a whistle as he looked at her stats. “Well I’ll be. Twilight, you are the only person so far that I’ve seen that has an Intelligence score that high.”
Twilight looked down, blushing. “It’s nothing, really.”
“It is something. Those brains will do you a lot of good in the Mojave. Now then, please follow me so I can make sure both of you are okay mentally wise.” The two nodded and followed the Doctor.
15 minutes later.
“Alright, we’re done.” Mitchell said as he looked over the evaluation.
“So, do we check out Doc?” Adam asked.
“You two did fine, no problems with your psyche. Really don’t have anything to compare you to though.”
“Are we ready to go?” He said as he got up from the couch with Twilight.
“Sure, you two go on over to the front door while I get your things.” Mitchell said as he left to gather the courier’s things while the new duo waited by the front door.
The Doctor came back a few minutes later.
“Alright, you’ll be given everything you had on you when you came in. First up is the clothes you had on.” He said as he gave Adam a jumpsuit along with a pair of black boots and gloves.
Adam looked over the jumpsuit he had just gotten a few months ago. It was a standard Vault 13 jumpsuit that he had made some modifications to. Pouches were sewed onto the belt. Several plates of leather armor added on to the right knee, thigh, and upper arm. And a single shoulder guard was added on to the left side. He quickly put it on.
“Where did you find that anyway?” Mitchell asked.
“The suit I found a few month ago in California, the modifications I made myself. Why?” He asked as he laced up the boots.
“I was just wondering. As for you weapons you have this 10mm pistol along with 50 rounds of ammo and this machete.”
Adam holstered the 10mm and put the machete into the sheath he wore on his back.
“And you have a few other small things as well. This canteen, 5 stimpacks, 12 bobby pins, 143 caps, and these binoculars.” Mitchell said as he handed the items to Adam who put them in the various pouches on his belt.
“I’m sorry, but I went looking through your stuff to see if I could find something that could point to a next of kin, because I thought you wouldn’t make it, but all I found was this note.”
Adam looked over the note and saw that it was the paper detailing the item he was suppose to deliver for the Mojave Express. The Platinum Chip.
Adam shook his head as he crumpled up the note. “It’s okay Doc, I'm still surprised that I survived that gunshot.
“Thanks, oh and one more thing.” Mitchell said as he walked into the next room and came back.
“Here, put this on. It’s a Pip-Boy 3000.” He said as he gave the computer to Adam, who put the device on his left arm.
“I’ve heard of these. They were only given to people living in Vaults.”
“What are 'Vaults'?” Twilight asked.
“They’re basically massive underground shelters that were built to protect people in case a nuclear attack happened. Were you in a Vault?”
Mitchell nodded “I lived in Vault 21 over in New Vegas. That is until Mr. House took over and striped it for anything valuable and filled in cement.”
“Sorry to hear that. So how does this thing work?”
“The first screen shows your condition and if you're injured. It’ll also tell you your radiation level and if you’re under the effect of chems or stuff like that.
“The second screen gives you the detail of all the weapons, armor, medical items, and ammo you have on you. It’ll also tell you any miscellaneous items that don’t fall into any of the other categories.”
“The last screen gives you a full map of the area you’re in, will record any notes that you pick up and can also play any holotypes you find. And it also has a built in radio, flashlight, and Geiger counter.”
“Damn, this thing does everything for you.” Adam said as he flicked through the various functions of the Pip-Boy. When he looked down at his companion, a thought entered his head.
“Doctor, do you happen to have another one of these?”
“Yeah I do, why?”
“I was wondering, could you maybe give it to Twilight?”
Twilight looked at Adam in shock. Doctor Mitchell, on the other hand, kneeled down and examined Twilight's left fore leg.
“Hmm, I'm going to have to modify it so that it could fit her leg and change the anatomy data, but yeah I could. Come back in a day or two and it should be ready as long as nothing major happens. Okay?”
Twilight quickly nodded. “Yes, yes, I understand. Thank you so much considering.”
“No problem.” He stood up and gave Adam handshake. “I suggest that you head over to the salon and talk with Sunny Smiles, she'll help get reacquainted with the Wastes, and maybe even teach you a thing or two. Good luck.” He turned to Twilight, gave her a smile which she returned, patted her on the head and walked off, leaving the pair by themselves.
As he took the doorknob in his hand, Adam noticed Twilight started to tremble again.
“Hey,” he said as she once again looked up at him. “you ready for this?”
Twilight closed her eye’s and took a deep, solid breath. Her trembling stopped and when she looked back up, her eye’s held a determined look.
“I’m ready.” She said confidently.
Adam smiled and opened the door as the two took their first steps outside.
New traits gained!
Adam
Trigger Discipline: When using Guns or Energy Weapons, you fire 20% more slowly, but are 20% more accurate.
Skilled: You’re skilled, but not experienced. You gain +5 points in every skill, but suffer -10% experience.
Twilight Sparkle
Good Natured: You’re Good Natured at heart, solving problems with your mind then with violence. You gain +5 in Barter, Medicine, Repair, Science, and Speech. But have -5 in Energy Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Melee Weapons, and Unarmed.
Small Frame: Due to your small size, you have +1 Agility, but your limbs are more easily injured.
Current Skills.
Adam
Barter:36 Tag
Energy Weapons:19
Explosives:19
Guns:38 Tag
Lockpick:34 Tag
Medicine:25
Melee Weapons:23
Repair:25
Science:25
Sneak:23
Speech:21
Survival:21
Unarmed: 21
Twilight Sparkle
Barter:23
Energy Weapons:13
Explosives:13
Guns:11
Lockpick:18
Medicine:27
Melee Weapons:8
Repair:42 Tag
Science:42 Tag
Sneak:16
Speech:38 Tag
Survival:12
Unarmed:8
AN: Well, here it is, my first story. All criticisms are accepted and please point out any mistakes you see. Hope you all like it.