Lost without the Fallout

Jack woke up with a groan, trying not to vomit as a pounding headache hit him with waves of nausea. He tried to sit up, only to find himself pinned down by the immense weight of his deactivated power armor. With a sigh, he struggled to lift one hand up to knock at his T-60’s helm. On the third ear ringing thump, the HUD finally flickered to life, along with the rest of the battered power armor. Finding it much easier to move, especially since the armor wasn’t just dead weight anymore, Jack sat up. Flicking on his headlamp he took a look around and tried to get his bearings.

He was obviously underground, the damp stone walls, and dusty air made that abundantly clear. Grunting, he stood to his feet in the unwieldy mechanized suit. Jack took stock of himself as best he could in the dim, flickering light of his cracked headlamp. His T-60’s pressure seal was broken somewhere, letting an unpleasantly damp draft into the armor and unless he got out of the protective mech there was no way he would be able to find the leak. More importantly, his Tesla Rifle was nowhere to be seen. Thankfully, his trusty army painted 10mm was still magnetized to his hip and his combat knife was still mounted on his right pauldron, so he was at least somewhat protected.

Jack swung his head around, letting the light from his headlamp trace over the walls and floor of the dank cave. On the second or third pass something glinted in the light, and he suddenly found himself very relieved at the sight of the big green plate sport the white arm star. He stomped his way over to the form curled in the dirt and did his best to shake them awake.

“C’mon Daisy, I need you on your feet.” He said as gently as he could through the crackling speakers of his helm. “We gotta’ go find Sturgis so I can kick his ass for teleporting me into a hole.”

The large form shifted but didn’t rise, instead letting out a puff of air big enough to stir the dust around them. Jack could only roll his eyes and rap his plated knuckles on the oversized combat armor with a huff. “Don’t give me that you sleep all the time. Let’s go.”

With a groan the large form shifted to their clawed feet and Jack had to take a few stomping steps back as to not get flattened. The light of his lamp flickered over the scaled hide of a very large, and very tired looking Lizard. The forest green beast groaned, reaching up with one wickedly clawed hand to clutch at its head as the strange speaker box mounted onto the collar around its neck crackled to life.

“My skull is pounding.” Came the staticky feminine voice.

“Mine too.” Jack nodded as he measured out a trio of aspirin from a tin bottle. He carefully took one for himself before holding his hand out to the combat armor clad Deathclaw. “Here. Ain’t much, but it should take the edge off.”

“That isn’t a word.” The Deathclaw grumbled, her speaker box whining slightly as she leaned down to lick the chalky pills from his armored hands.

“I’d show you that it is, but I don’t have a dictionary handy.” Jack mumbled as he swallowed his own pill, before slipping his helmet back on and locking it in place. “Besides, everyone says it so who cares if it’s actually a word.”

“I do.” She huffed, turning her snout up at him. “I didn’t spend years learning English just to listen to everyone butcher it.”

“Yeah well, humans invented English so we can butcher it all we want.” He chuckled as he turned around. “Now help me find my gun so we can get the hell out of here.”

For a few moments, the odd duo was quiet as they searched the dusty cave’s floor for the energy weapon, only for the larger of the two to suck in a breath suddenly. “Jack, Wait!”

Jack stopped as quickly as his power armor would allow, but not before his armored heel smashed down with a metallic crunch. The thirty-year-old’s shoulders sagged, made all the more noticeable by his large pauldrons. “Daisy, please tell me that wasn’t my gun.”

Daisy could only sigh as she padded up beside him, her large tail swaying gently. “Sorry, I would have warned you sooner, but it took my eyes a few seconds to adjust.”

Jack sighed again and took a step back, wincing at the sound of broken metal clattering off his heel. He reached down, plucking the mess of construction yellow metal off the floor. He turned the crushed weapon over in his hands for a moment, doing his best not to break off any of the battered parts. “Well… I’ve fixed worse.”

With that he slung the weapon onto his back and let the magnetic clip lock it down before he started walking deeper into the cave. “C’mon, let’s get moving.”

Daisy let her amber irises roam over the relatively large cave before following the armored human with a sniff. She could smell fresher air further ahead in the tunnels and made sure to tell her partner just that. Jack only nodded and kept stomping further into the dank cave. Eventually things slowly started to get brighter as the ground started to slope upwards, and Jack was glad to see that his Geiger counter was starting to rise. Hopefully, they’d been Teleported somewhere relatively close to Sanctuary by Sturgis’ rebuilt array. That way he could get there and kick the tinkerer’s ass that much faster.

After a few more minuets of walking, the pair found themselves standing in front of a wall of hanging moss and ivy that had light pouring between the gaps. Jack almost had to do a double take at just how green the plants were. The last time he’d seen a plant that green it had been in the Institute. Daisy was quick the nearly shove past him, taking deep drawn out lungful’s as she smelled the air.

“Daisy wait!” He yelled as she forced herself past him and slipped through the wall of plants. Jack groan and followed her, shouldering through the plants as he drew his pistol.

Only to freeze in shock at the sight before him. Daisy was standing there, in the sunlight of the clearing. Her battered green combat armor and forest-colored scales blended well with the lush and vibrant forest around them. Tall healthy trees surrounded the clearing, brimming with big flat leaves. Jack glanced down, finding himself standing in ankle high grass that was full and luscious.

“What the hell…” Was all he could mutter in his shock.

A few seconds later Daisy giggled. The sound was odd, partially because the little voice box wasn’t really made for noises like that, and partially because he’d never heard her do it before. “Everything is so green! And the air is so clean!”

While his Deathclaw put her nose to the breeze, drawing in all the scents of the forest, jack reached up with shaking hands to unlatch his helmet and pull it off. A sweet, clean breeze ruffled his brown hair as it blew past. The acrid tang of smog and ozone was just… gone. Even the electric taste of background radiation was absent.

For a long while the two just basked in the glory of a normal forest. Jack could almost feel tears pricking at the corners of his eyes when he looked up and spotted big fluffy white clouds floating through the clear blue sky. He’d almost forgotten how blue the sky had been before the bombs had tinged it all yellow and green.

“Is this what it used to be like before?” Daisy finally asked, breaking the silence as she turned to look at him with her slitted amber eyes.

Jack just nodded dumbly, still too shocked to form proper words.

X===X

A few kilometers away, high in Canterlot Castle, Celestia got that feeling again.

It started as a shiver that ran down her spine, making the fur on her scruff stand on end, then her stomach dropped, as though she had been given awful news about a loved one. With a sigh she set down her quill, letting the golden halo of her magic release the writing utensil back into the inkwell. Slowly she stood from her desk, leaving behind the mountain of paperwork as she nearly dragged her hooves across her private study to stand beside the window that overlooked Canterlot proper. With a tired glare she wondered just what sort of ancient horror had been let loose on her poor kingdom this time. The last time she'd gotten this feeling had coincided with the return of the Crystal empire, and more importantly, King Sombra.

Sometimes the solar diarch wished she'd gotten slightly stronger precognitive abilities. Her own sister had the rare premonition in her dreams, though Luna's visions were far and few between and often held little to no pertinent information. Still, she wondered if it would be better or worse if she had more than just a 'bad feeling' every time something awful was about to happen. The fact that her ability wasn't even consistent, and hadn't warned of things like Discord or her sister's return just made it all the more frustrating when ever it cropped up.

"Ms. Task?" She eventually called, her secretary and aid popping her head through the door of her office.

"Yes Princess?" The beige mare asked, her violet eyes just as tired as Celestia's, likely from a similar load of paperwork.

"Bring me a large cup of coffee and a slice of cake. I have a bad feeling it's going to be a long day."

"Yes ma'am." Ms. Task sighed, knowing full well that when her Princess had a 'bad feeling' it was usually for good reason. "Red velvet or Angel food?"

"Chocolate."

The secretary winced, but trotted off to do as she was told. It really was going to be bad this time. "Faust help us all." She muttered as she disappeared into the hallways, trotting towards the kitchens.