Daring Do and Atom's Wrath

The knotted pine Daring and Six stood under jutted into the sky like a jagged tooth. It was devoid of pine needles and had twisted into an unnatural shape. A circle of dead grass surrounded the tree and crunched easily under hoof as Daring got closer.

She gave a low whistle and she looked up into the dead branches, “Mint Leaf wasn’t kidding when she said we would know which tree.” She placed a hoof on the bare trunk, the bark having been long stripped away by time. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“This is what radiation does to living things,” Six stated from behind Daring. “It can ruin acres of land for hundreds of years,”

Daring’s ear twitched as she thought, “This is what happened where you’re from, isn’t it?” She shot a look over her shoulder and saw Six nod.

“The whole world, turned to ashes and dust in an instant, leaving the survivors to rebuild with this,” Six gestured to the tree.

Her eyes widen, and her breath hitched. She turned back to the tree, “I… Can’t even imagine. What could cause that?”

Six paused, he glanced back down the road they had just walked down, “I hope you never find out.” Six turned back around and walked past the tree. Daring took a final moment to take at the dead plant before following.

“So what are we looking for?” Daring asked matching pace with Six.

“From his description, power armor,’ Six replied as he scanned the area around them. “More than likely with a cracked fusion core.”

“What?”

“The fusion core powers the armor, usually it doesn’t emit radiation, but if it was damaged..” Six trailed off as they crested a large hill. The ground ended abruptly. Broken, and rotted timber logs littered the mouth of the cave they were now standing on top of. Daring hopped off the cliff and glided down to the ground.

“Yep, this must be it,” Daring’s head swiveled as she looked around. “Definitely looks like an old mining cave. My guess would be gems of some sort. Musta gone dry a while ago.”

Six slid down the side of the hill and walked over the Daring so he could look inside. The mouth of the cave was wide, a long stretch of rusted and broken tracks lead deeper inside. An old minecart was titled on its side next to the tracks. “I wonder why no one’s tried to clean this up?” A soft click-click was heard from Six’s pip-boy.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Daring said, worried leaking into her face and voice.

“It’s not too bad yet,” Six pulled out a small bottle filled with pills from under his coat. Popping it open he quickly downed two pills before grabbing two more. He held them in his hand and gestured for Daring to get closer. “Take these.”

Daring looked at the pills in Six’s hand for a moment before leaning forward to scoop them into her mouth. She tilted her head back and swallowed them with a grimace. “Ugh what the tartarus were those?”

“Rad-x, it’ll protect your body from the effects of radiation for a short time,” Six looked back to the cave. “We shouldn’t be here long, just need to confirm a few things then blow the entrance so no one else can get in here.”

“Could they make the pills any nastier?”

“I gave you the especially nasty ones,” Six moved into the cave before Daring could react. She shook her head a bemused smile on her face, then followed him inside.

Six’s pip-boy emitted a harsh green light cast eerily shadow across the walls of the cave. With every movement Six made the shadow jumped, causing Daring hair to bristle. “Alright, I’m calling it now, the creepiest place I’ve ever been.” The tracks had continued as the duo moved deeper into the tunnel. A few minecarts were still scattered about at random intervals.

“It reminds me of a vault,” Six continue looking forward even as Daring’s eye flitted between shadows.

“Like a bank vault? How are those creepy?”

“No, just a vault,” Six glanced at Daring making eye contact for a quick second. “They were built before the great war. Designed to hold a thousand people and keep them safe from whatever was thrown at it.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, only a few were actually designed for that purpose. The rest were sick experiments made by the creators of the vaults.”

“Right I think I’m going to stop asking questions right about now.” Daring made a gagging noise. “Seriously, the more I hear about where you’re from, the more I wonder if you really want, or should go back.”

Six didn’t answer, his gaze never left the darkness of the tunnel, the only sound from the gravel crunching under Six’s boots. Unable to stand the silence anymore Daring broke it, “So why did you tell that mare your name?”

“What do you mean?” Six’s helmet tilted down slightly, his body stiffening.

“You know what I mean,” She returned the unblinking stare of the helmet with a fierce glare of her own. “You gave Mint Leaf your name after what? An hour?”

“Is there a point to this?”

“I'm just curious,” Daring broke eye contact with Six, tilting her head and lets one ear flop down as she stared ahead. “Why didn’t I get your name?”

“I didn’t ask you to leave,” Six’s voice was low and calm, and coming from behind Daring instead of beside her. She stopped and look over her back. The man was standing near the wall of the cave, staring at something giving off a green glow. “What is this?”

Shaking off the change in topic, daring trotted closer to get a better look. She realized that the green glow wasn't from the object but was being reflected back from Six’s pip-boy. “Those are gems,” She took a quick glance around, noticing for the first time that similar clusters spotted the walls and ceiling of the cave. “Guess they must have grown back after the mining stopped and no one noticed.”

“Gems don’t grow.”

“They do here,” She scuffed the floor of the cave revealing another cluster of gems. “Unaided it takes a couple of decades, but you get a good rock farm going with the right ponies that can be shaved down to only a few years.”

Six shook his head and backed away from the gems, “This place is strange.” As he walked further into the cave Daring took note that while the glow from the pip-boy died down, the gem didn’t entirely lose that green glow. She turned away, hoping in the air for a moment and flaring her wing to catch up with Six.

The clicking from the pip-boy picked up and the light flashed on something metallic. A large figure appeared as they rounded a small corner. It was tall, a good foot on Six’s height, and had a silvery-white finish, untouched by the age the minecarts showed. A small, olive green, blocky device laid on the ground next to the figure as well as a few round yellow cylinders.

A red light blinked in and out of existence on the back of the figure. It was surrounded by a yellow ring and a small four spoked wheel. Six approached the back of the figure while Daring trotted around to the front. The black visor drew her attention. It glared down at her, the green glow from behind giving it a haunting look. She could almost imagine how that visor would strike fear into whoever it was arrayed against.

Scrape, clunk. Daring jumped at the noise, her wings fluttering and giving her enough lift to perch on top of the helmet, “What was that?!” She rasped out, the pitch of her voice going just a bit too high for it to handle.

Six held up a long yellow cylinder, allowing the light from his pip-boy to reach it. “Fusion core, a cracked one at that.” He twisted the cylinder, giving Daring the chance to see the crack that ran down the length.

“That’s it?” Magenta eyes narrowed at the core. “That’s what almost killed that colt?”

Six bent down and placed the core on the ground, “It shouldn’t have, even damaged like that a fusion core shouldn’t release the amount of radiation I’m detecting. He brought the still clicking pip-boy to his face and fiddled with a few buttons before an identical fusion core appeared in his hand with a pop of static. “We need more information.” He then slammed the new core into the suit, startling Daring off the armor.

“Whoa, shouldn’t you be more careful?”

“These were designed to take a beating,” Six said as he grasped the handle on the back of the armor and turned it. At first, nothing happened, the handle was stuck in position. Six stepped back and examined it before grabbing the handle again with just his right hand. A quick jerk caused the handle to screech in protest, flattening Daring’s ears in the process, before it finally gave with a thunk.

Both Daring and Six stepped back as the armor hissed long and low. The sound of metal gears and pistons working reached Daring’s ears as the backplate, arms and legs all opened up. Another sound, much quieter than the other, also reached the ear of the explorer. It was sound she had heard many times before, in old forgotten tombs. The clatter of bones.

As the armor finished its opening, the skull fell out of the helmet, landing on the ground and breaking like a vase. Daring took an involuntary step back as she stared into the empty sockets of once had been a face. The jaw bone had landed at a strange angle, giving the remains a lopsided grin. The back of the skull has shattered from the impact with the fall.

Six’s only reaction was to nudge the bones to side with his boot, away from the pegasus breaking the hold the skull had on her. He then stepped where the pile had been and reached into the depths of the armor, pulling a holo-tape similar to the one that was already in their possession.

“Hopefully this has answers,” the low tone of Six’s voice snapped Daring’s attention to him. With a deft movement, he inserted the tape into his pip-boy. A couple of seconds of fiddling with the buttons and a harsh voice filled with gravel emitted from the speakers.

“Fucking shit, this whole op has gone to hell,” Daring ears tilted forward, allowing her to make out the voice better. “Ever since Captain Winters talked with that damn giant horse. We were supposed to claim this land for the United States to start a new colony here, not make friends with animals.”

Daring’s eyes narrowed and a growl came out of the back of her throat. A quick look from Six quelled that reaction as the voice continued.

“But Captain Winter,” Venom laced the man’s words as he spat out the name, “Had different ideas. She took one look at the cute ponies and decided our mission was suddenly too cruel to continue with. This is why women shouldn’t be in leadership, they’re too damn soft. Of course, when I voiced my opinions what do I get?! Exiled for my insubordination!” The sound of glass breaking, as if a bottle had been thrown at a wall, with heavy breathing followed that statement. “Stupid women, we needed to secure this land for America, people back home are depending on it.”

Six stopped the recording and started scrolling through the rest of the recordings on the tape. Daring stared at the pile of bones, “You know I usually don’t hear from the dead I find. This is a little creepy for me.”

Six didn’t respond. Instead, he selected another recording from the list. “they have God damned dragons here. Like fairy tale fucking flying dragons. And I just killed one. It was attacking a town not too far from this cave I found. I happened to be walking in when it showed up to. Damn thing spotted me and decided I would make a good challenge. Picked me up and tossed me around like a ragdoll. Thankfully I had my power armor on. Its claws nearly ripped right through. Craked the fusion core too And I don’t have a replacement for that. I'll have to conserve it then. Though now I’m getting off-topic where was I.” A pause in the recording gave Six enough incentive to turn it off.

“Hey, I was listening to that,” Daring glared at Six

“Dragons?” Six’s fist was clenched tight, his whole body was taught like a bow ready to release.

“Yeah,” Daring said slowly. “You don’t see them much anymore, They mostly keep to themselves. Live down south from here,”

Six shook his head as the tension drained out of him. “That at least explains how the core got damaged.” With that Six selected the last recording.

Heavy breathing filled the cave and the sounds of someone struggling in a tight place followed closely. “Damnit, damnit all, stupid… I don’t know if anyone will hear but if you are listening get out right now. Your life depends on it.” Six and Daring shared a looked before the voice continued. “Months ago, a dragon damaged my fusion core and it’s been leaking radiation ever since. Wouldn’t be too big of a deal. Wasn’t releasing enough to be that dangerous and I didn’t have any other choice but to use it.” A racking cough filled up space. It was a full minute before the voice continued. “But this damn world doesn’t follow the same rules as ours. The gems here aren’t just for show. They can store and amplify energy, any kind of energy.”

Six’s head shot up, turning every which way as he took stock of the gems all around. He flipped his pipboy light, leaving Daring and himself in the sickly green glow of the gems. “I got in my power armor to try and move it out,” the voice continued oblivious to Six and Daring rising trepidation. “But apparently the damage was worse than I thought. I can’t move, and I can’t get out. Not enough power from the broken core to do either. I don’t know what’ll take me first, thirst, hunger, or damn radiation. It doesn’t matter I guess. Again if anyone is listening get out now.”

“Shit,” Daring stared at the pile of bone again, “That’s a shitty way to go.”

“We should get out of here,” Six turned on his heel, reigniting the light on his pipboy. “Radiation isn’t too bad yet. A couple of rad-aways will set us right. But we need to leave now.”

Taking one last moment to look over the damaged power armor and bone pie, Daring nodded and took off after Six in silence.

Once outside the cave, Six spun again grabbing the broken fusion core and an intact one. In a few deft motions he twisted the tops before throwing them into the cave. Another spin and he was sprinting away from the entrance. Quickly catching on, Daring’s wings unfolded. A single flap later found her right beside the human.

It was only a moment of warning. A shifting of wind that had Daring diving to the ground out of instinct. Then the world around her shook. The air ruptured around her, the ground moved, sending her onto her side instead of her hooves like she had been planning. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Six in a similar predicament. Having been thrown to the ground by the wave that had just passed them.

Ears ringing, eyesight blurry Daring failed on the ground for a moment. Through the haze, she could feel a hand on her shoulder. Blearily she turned her head to see the outline of Six couching next to her. A small sting and a hiss, then pain, Daring’s eyes closed as she screamed out. When she opened them again she could see and hear, though her body still ached. She laid there, panting, for a while. Six still hovering over her, helmet laying on the ground next to them. He broadcasted concern as he watched silently.

Daring peeked around the man. The entrance was completely collapsed. The only indication there had been an entrance was the rather large expanse of newly created gravel and dirt that was still settling.

“Next time, give a mare a bit of warning before you go rearranging a hillside,” Daring smirk up a Six whose breath came out of his nose in a short huff.

“I usually don’t use cores up like that,” He dragged a hand through his hair and twisted back to look at the used to be the entrance. “Underestimated the explosion.” He snatched up his helmet as he stood.

Daring stood as well, her legs only wobbling slightly. “We should probably get back to town, let them know what happened.”

Six nodded, “You ok to walk back?”

“Yeah, yeah,” She waved a hoof at him as she trotted past. “The walk’ll do me some good. It’s just been a while since I’ve been thrown around like that.” Shaking her body and fluffing her feathers to shake out any loose dirt she turned to the road and started trotting. Six followed standing close enough to nearly touch her.

The duo made their way up the hill, away from the collapsed entrance, and soon found themselves standing in front of the tree again facing the road. Daring once again looking at the dead branches. “How did your people survive this?” She asked of Six. There was no answer so she turned her head to look at him. “Oh come on- no,” She gasped out that last part as she took in the sight before her. An orange glow, flickering angrily in the moonlight, bathed the horizon from the direction they had come from.

“Go!” Six shouted out as he once again sprinted away from Daring. “Fly and see if you can help, I’ll be there shortly.” Daring didn’t need any more encouragement. A powerful flap of her wings got her airborne, another shot her past Six and towards the burning town.