CP. I – A wonderful new world
“Why do these people fight over charred remains of civilization? Why they are so interested on the Zone ? Surely, it must mean more than simple trinkets, to draw them deeper and deeper into it…”
Just a fraction of light reached me. Each bone of my body was aching with pain. Something to do with being beneath a pile of rubble. It was far too heavy for me to lift. The mere effort I was doing to keep myself breathing was downright draining me.
The light grew stronger and stronger through the crack. Something was coming toward me, of which the mere realization made my mind burst from pain, incapable of holding a conscientious level of thought. When the sound of voices drew nearer, I collapsed in exhaustion.
Pain. I guess, after everything I went through, the feeling itself was welcome. It meant I still had a miserable life ahead of me. Slowly, I opened my eyes, letting them grow accustomed to my surroundings.
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My body was resting on an old bed. Above my head, another light. This one was static. It took some time to set my vision to focus it, but I did it anyway. Numbness kept a strong grip over my body, which somepony dragged out from under that accursed broken wall. My head still ached from insane pain.
I figured a change of scenery was needed, moving my head toward the other side of the room, to get a look at it.
It was raining through the window. A black coat of clouds filled the whole of the sky, as the water relentlessly hit the roof.
From my somewhat limited perspective, I concluded that I was being kept on the top floor of an old farmhouse. Ancient rural props and dust littered the place, the walls shown some holes, covered with planks of wood or even covered with solid furniture.
By this point, the sound of the rain made me fell asleep again.
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The two mares talking nearby the bed wake me up. Hopefully, they were so absorbed by their conversation, that they had not noticed it.
“… but it is downright insane. You know we can’t have everypony hoofing around, especially after the raiders overtook the docks and the eastern scouting tower. Heck. They nearly drove us out, it is only a matter of time before they corner us up.”
“Look at him, see if he is at any state of running off the perimeter. Even if, by some dumb luck, he is able to sneak past the guards, the swamp itself will get him sacked in five minutes flat. If not the mutants, the raiders themselves will perforate him like a bath sponge. Besides, he wasn’t hoofing around. He was found. Iridox’s party bought him.”
“I do not need to remind you about that other unicorn she brought to us.”
“Do not mention him. I do not need to remind you that all of us regret the day that one walked inside the compound. But this one does not seem like him at all.”
“Iris reported she found it while raiding the X-58 vault.”
“A government plaything ?”
“Seem likely. Although the fact that they came up with a long lasting life support unit and used it to only safeguard experiments is ironical on itself. Also, Iris picked up the trail of mutants, a very peculiar trail."
“Why so ? these bastards always infest every little hole of the zone…”
“Because, it wasn’t really a trail, and it wasn’t made by normal wildlife mutants, it was made by the bigger ones. It looked like they trashed the place apart, looking for something. “
“Him ?”
“Not likely. If he had been at the life support unit, they would had spotted him fairly easily.”
“How long does it take to process his DNA tracing results ?”
“About a couple of hours. Then we’ll act accordingly.”
I opened my eyes just a bit to peek at them. The two mares were pegasai, one of them with a maroon fur, long hair on a ponytail style and dreamy green eyes, while the other one was dusk-colored with dark eyes and short silvery hair.
I had succumbed to sleep yet again.
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Waking up after what seemed like a thousand years nap, I was feeling good enough to propel myself out of the bed. As I landed my hooves on the cold, wooden floor, I shook off any dizziness which was left.
After descending from the stairs and crossing the corridor, a voice beamed at me.
“Leaving so soon ? not even a “thank you, kind pegasai lady, for saving my ungrateful unicorn arse ?””
That maroon pegasai lady was bashfully smiling at me from her office, which door gave a direct look toward the corridor I was going through.
Without waiting for her to repeat the invitation, I stepped in.
Standing this close to her, I came to the realization she was even prettier form up close. Now I even got a glimpse of her cutie mark. An eagle.
“Thanks pegasai lady, you have my eternal gratitude, etc. now, can I ask for your permission to leave, or do you plan on keeping a grown stallion grounded ?”
Her eyes shifted to an even more naught glare. She was enjoying this.
“Why in such a hurry ? you got to be somewhere ? meet someone ? perhaps a date ? do sightseeing ? where do you plan on going ?”
She had a point. I did not had the slightest idea of where I was, or where to go. But again, I just said those things to tease her. Now, I was limited to stare her blankly.
“As I’ve thought. While I admire your brave eagerness, it wouldn’t do harm to do some reasoning, should we?” she smirked.
“First things first, unicorn, do you have a name ?”
Had I? all my memories, my past life, I just couldn’t reach them. For all I strained my mind, I could not find the answer to this simple question. It was all a haze now.
She crossed her hooves, glaring at me. “by the looks of it… we know more about you than yourself”. She put a device on her desk. It was a PDA.
I had reached it, touching the screen to read the current entry
“Lead researcher Nilos Hydrospin, report N-23. Project Mergequine.
Dear princess, the project specifications had been followed and we have very prominent results upon us. We’ve been able to improve gene strains at the rate of 3 days of work each one, rather slow due to the lack of field usage of the mentioned strains.
However, our attempts to reproduce a single strain had fell upon a problem: compability. As the three ponykind that populate equestrian, each individual has it’s own individuality, both of attitude and genetical, which thins down compatible exchangers.
We are currently developing two independent genetical strains in order to solve that issue: the first one, would be to modify ponykin reproductory system, to allow it to mutate toward the exchanger’s race equivalent, thus allowing a new individual to be created by sharing the features of both races.
The second one is meant to modify pony biological clock, making a particular individual age faster. With it, we wouldn’t have to wait after the subject reaches adult age, wasting valuable resources to grow a filly or a colt, which would eat like parasprites and give nothing back.
By my calculations, in a month we shall have useful strains of those particular genes in a month, still experimental, but nevertheless, will aid us in the long run. However, they drain resources which meant to be allocated on the main project
I also require a new batch of specimens in order to further advance the project. I know, your Mare-ness, of your displease of use of live subjects, I know that with each child that “disappear” in Equestria gives more and more fuel to the oppositionists of the monarchy, but our results are solid. Soon we’ll come with an useful batch, of courageous, relentless and obedient guards.”
“Lead researcher Nilos Hydrospin ,report N-24 . Project Mergequine.
Reporting in, your Mare-ness , the new batch of subjects arrived. Fortunately, they all seem healthy enough to be of use for the project. Accounted in 2 (two) pegasai, 2 (two) earth ponies and 1 (one) unicorn
Data on the subjects:
Subject N. 533
Race: pegasai
Gender: F
Name: Perina Cleverglass
Subject N. 212
Race: earth pony
Gender: C
Name : Rick Buckrigger
Subject N. 569
Race: pegasai
Gender: F
Name: Sarien Flourfetcher
Subject N. 817
Race: unicorn
Gender: C
Name: Boshan Hollowbane
Subject N. 230
Race: earth pony
Gender: F
Name: Valeria Brightmane
…”
There was more on the entry, but I simply lifted my eyes from it. I had spotted whenever the pegasai wanted me to see.
“Such a strange tale, isn’t it ?” she said. “to see that your whole past life is set on only four lines.”
“What is this “mergequine” project ? and what they have done to me ?”
“Calm down, boshie.”- great, I had been given a name two minutes ago, and she was already using it to call me in an embarrassing way- “first off, do you remember anything of your past?”
Now that I already knew my name, my line of thought slowly recalled long-forgotten memories, tracing down images, senses, people. Now I had an answer, a tangible one.
“I only recall the moment when I was just a little colt, playing off on the streets of Canterlot. Back then, it seems like a million years ago.Me and my friends would enjoy all day the sun that Celestia brought at us, disregarding the adults and their discussions about politics or taxes.” I’ve spoke on. “But one particular conversation with my mother, I can restructure. She was talking with my father about leaving Canterlot, and moving into the quick-growing cosmopolitan Ponyville, apply for a job onto the NPP. It was on that very day, I was around Canterlot, heading back home, but someponies found me first... the wrong kind of ponies”
“Explains quite a bit. Now, according to the data here, you’ve been onto a secret lab’s underground chamber for thirty one years”
“Thirty one ? but how they kept me alive through all this time ? food, water, air ?”
“According to our good doctor on the PDA, all of your needs were supplied by a life support unit. You just stood there in inanimate state, while they played with your gene pool.”
“But why ?”
“The data we digged already on this project “mergequine” suggest that it was an experiment to create super-ponies, to be used as genetically enhanced and overobedient royal guard, to deal with the threats of anypony who was opposing the monarchy. Luckly, the scientists had not survived off to see their offsprings, or either, to produce an adequate result to the project. They died of starvation after the first blowout trapped them underground”
“Blowout?”
“Come with me, you should see to understand.”
She walked toward outside the room, and I followed. Once outside the farmhouse, I could see.
The sky was now overcast, towering over the decrepit swamp.
Foul gases, humid air, bubbling noises. All of this things could be seen, most prominently outside the gates, where even once and now I could hear the wildlife, every time, it sounded like no animal I knew
Inside the gates, ponies worked, or to be more correct, pegasai worked. Some of them had a strange blue and white camo armor, they were working on, what I saw now, was a camp. One of them was cutting wood, other was feeding a campfire, and all sorts of trivial tasks.
The building we just left was the biggest of the camp, probably serving as headquarters for the authorities. The other buildings looked like a mishmash of decades old farm buildings with strange green clouds.
“Tell me, what do I see ?”
“What do you see, my friend, is limpid skies, us.” she paused a moment to draw breath on the humid air. “forsaken, homeless pegasai that made our home on this putrid landscape”
“Homeless pegasai ? but don’t you have a magical cloud city , with every luxury of civilization in it ?”
“You see, back in your colthood, there was a terrible accident at the NPP. This happened on the turmoil of a very delicate political situation. The princess herself was hard pressed by opposition groups to leave the throne and end an thousand-years monarchy in order to leave space for democracy, a republic, or whenever they had in mind. Of course, they used the NPP’s accident as political fuel to criticize the monarchic regimen. The accident itself modified the surrounding area of the NPP, changing fauna and flora, also, about fifty employees of the NPP were caught when the first explosion hit. So far, Celestia’s reign had no mortality rate, the accident changed the situation. It may look meager, but the implications of the accident had forced all of ponykind to abandon nearby civilization. it also meant the death or mutation of several animal species, as they food sources had been contaminated with biomagical radiation. But, to cut story short, Celestia herself decided to try to somehow fight back the biomagical waste, or at least, its byproducts.”
“So, all this flora and fauna outside…”
“Yes, it has been tainted. Not only the one on this swamp, but pretty much everything on a 75 km circle from the center. We name it, the Zone. Originally, the Zone only had 30 km. it somehow… grew. Creatures became more violent, anomalies more frequent, radiation more devastating. So, as I was saying, Celestia spearheaded the very first expedition into the NPP, the first of many led by the monarchic council. Thing is, not one of them had ever came back. And a few months after an expedition was sent, the Zone itself seemed to react to the defilement. It grew, changed, adapted… just like a living being… I would say that the Zone isn’t even part of this world, it is an different, detached and unnatural dimension.”
“Very interesting, but where does this link to limpid skies?”
“A few days after the second expedition into the Zone, all pegasai were sick. It started as atrophy, numbness, itching, but it was far worse. Something, or someone, was draining the wingpower from all of Equestria. Eventually, we couldn’t even maintain Cloudsdale up. The city came down crashing, and with it, us. From that day on, we were land-bound. Those sickly green clouds are all that we could salvage from our beloved Cloudsdale. So, we built the settlement you have your feet on, Swampsdale, and formed limpid skies, a faction which conglomerates most of the Equestria’s pegasai, since then, we are working down here, searching the zone, learning about it, so one day, we can finally get our lost wingpower back and reclaim the skies again”
“I once learned that pegasai were responsible for the weather, without Cloudsdale, how does it regulate?”
“By itself. On our first months down here, we were really freaked out by it, but somehow, it has some regularity. Although the swamp only seems to offer dark clouds and rain.” She shivered.
“Some things you mentioned early, anomalies, mutants and radiation… I would like to know more.”
“So be it then. Anomalies are a physical manifestation of the zone energy. They seem to defy the very own laws of physics, being able to injure or even kill you off the bat. Which is why you should be really careful when walking around. Some of my boys had recklessly rushed to an artifact sprouting in the middle of a boiler. The thing pretty much charred them up into a pile of ashes. Sad, really, but teaches us a lesson.”
The image on my head about it seemed as vivid as her words, I could hear every single scream those unfortunate souls yelled
“Now that I mentioned artifacts, it would be a good advice to keep an eye for them. They are worth a fortune, small trinkets that modify your metabolism, one of the most powerful of them is worth piles of gold, diamonds or even pure plutonium, they give off to the wearer supernatural powers, like, being able to withstand electric shock, radiation pockets, or even swerve bullets fired at you. The more dangerous anomalies you find, you can be sure they contain more powerful and rare artifacts.”
“Now let me guess, as I go closer into the center, higher the stakes?”
“Yes, more dangerous anomalies, more valuable artifacts, more interested the other stalkers become in controlling the land… and a whole shitload of rising radiation”
At the moment, an ominous howl soared from the depths of the swamp
“Damn, another pack of those beasts… we’ve been trying to clear the swamp perimeter, but they just keep coming back…”
“So, these are the mutated wildlife ?”
“Right. Common animals that had been touched by radiation, their very appearance changed, behavior, the whole physiology was corrupted, and they eventually became little more than mindless , rabid beasts. Keep your eyes open while battling them, they always seem to have a dirty trick or two up their sleeves” she nodded.“I guess that pretty much summarizes it. You should take it easy now, have a walk around and fix yourself a drink at the bar. If you need me, I’ll be at my office.”
She smiled at me again and turned to enter the building again.
“Wait. You have not told me your name yet…”
“Ah… i am Ameara“
“Well, thank you, Ameara. For saving my ungrateful unicorn arse”
She laughed while disappearing over the doorway inside.
I had a lot on my mind to digest then… all my relatives, acquaintances, friends that I had on my past life had now been long lost. Probably killed by the horrors of the zone, or long forgotten me inside it. This new world now laid before my eyes, a corrupted, tainted shadow of our once glorious Equestria, just stood as a melancholic mockery of the past.
I needed a drink.
“So, one horn-bearer isn’t enough, she brought another…”
The bar (really, just a modified tool shed with a balcony and benches) served as refectory for the limpid skies, with several stump tables and wooden benches. A radio nearby was playing a strange, sad tune.
“I guess… I actually do have a name, you know?”
“Look… just because Ameara is the trusting type, it doesn’t mean that you are welcome here, unicorn. Don’t make yourself too comfortable”
The barmaid was a olive colored pegasai mare, with bored blue eyes and a deep green mane. She was doing her hooves.
“Look, I just want something to make me forget…”
“Aren’t we all ? here, have your poison. You can thank our officer for this one…”
I took the glass and stared at it… probably vodka. It had a nice fragrance.
I’ve emptied it on two sips. The alcohol burned down my throat, distracting my head.
“You said, other horn-bearer… which unicorn came here before I did ?”
“Well… let’s just say that he wasn’t exactly what we thought he was, and backstabbed our whole community, for his own gain”
“But I am not like him”
“You’d best be not. Otherwise, whenever the swamp could manage to throw at you would be like puppies compared to our retribution.”
“Sure thing.”
As I said those words, gunshots were heard from deep onto the swamp. A fire or two appeared on the horizon.
“Those out there are our men… dying, because of him.”
The radio nearby halted the music and a voice came to life.
“ …coordinates are 87 – 51, we are currently under attack, if any stalker nearby can hear this, aid us. Repeat, our post has been overwhelmed by a pack of mutants, our coordinates are 87 – 51, we are currently un…”
“Is this normal ?”
“More than you think. There are just some rookies that cannot keep their feet out of our swamp.”
Ameara’s head popped from the window of her office, and she shouted at us
“Softmane, send the unicorn to me ASAP.”
The olive mare just shrugged and resumed polishing her hooves
“If the boss want to see you, you’d better not keep her waiting.”
I nodded and went to Ameara’s office.
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As I removed the blindfold, the decrepit swamp quickly came to focus. half an hour walking blindfolded , into circles, back and forth, led by a pegasus, was no fun at all. Through all the travel I had to hear him snickering every time I fell on the water or tripped over a stump, which I could swear he led me to ,just to make a fool of myself.
As I shook out the water of the jacket which was issued to me, I drew closer to the nearby pond. As I crept closer, the Geiger counter started to beep. The water from the swamp was contaminated with minor radiation. Looking at the whole area form there, it surely didn’t look like it was originally a swamp, but instead, like fields from a farm, which time and the severe rainy weather had been able to drown the fields and humidify the crops , ultimately leading to the formation of the bog. I glared at the waters.
And I stood there, examining my reflection. A grey-furred unicorn with an unkempt dark mane, with persecuting dark brown eyes, wearing a worn leather jacket and carrying beige saddlebags. On my flanks, my cutie mark was visible, it was my first time actually eyeing it. It was a black gas mask. Also, across my neck was a necklace with a gun attached to the end. Of course, I didn’t needed it, since as a unicorn, I’d would just TK the gun and fire at will, unlike pegasai or earth ponies, which would need to move their necks to grab the weapon attached to the necklace in order to fire, since it would be highly impolite to keep walking around with an firearm attached to their mouth everywhere they went, or, the other way around, the time which would be spent unsheathing a weapon could pretty well mean the meantime a barrage of bullets hit their flank. But at my current state, I’d doubted my capacity to effectively aim a weapon through TK.
The other possessions i had been given were amounted to:
- A hoofbag full of bolts
- Two ammo mags
- A combat knife
- A compass
- Five bandages
- Two handfuls of anti-radiation drugs
- Two medkits
Ameara told me to go south once I’d been released from the blindfold, to reach the stalker camp and aid them, or, if it was too late, clear the area of mutants.
Using the compass, I set my course toward south. Walking softly and cautiously, I had been able to spot it. An anomaly.
It looked like a big protuberance of air, enclosed by some kind of translucent gust-made power field. I flew a bolt off my pack and threw at it, just as Ameara instructed me.
The anomaly’s power field temporarily broke, releasing a shockwave, rustling leaves from the ground and some dust. I took the time to define the anomaly’s extension.
After assuring myself of the anomaly’s size, I’ve been able to find an alternative route. As soon as I went toward it, my Geiger counter started beeping insanely. I’d landed near another of these anomalies. backing up a little bit , I threw another of those bolts at it, and like the other, it activated.
Only this time, there was a bright stone floating inside it. An artifact
At the time, I analyzed my options… waddle carefully from both anomalies right through the middle, or… throw a bolt at one and hop onto its position while it was active.
The second option, besides being more risky, seemed more attractive for me.
Keeping my TK sharp, I floated the bolt above the anomaly, while stretching myself to rush through it.
3… 2… 1… Now !
As I saw those clouds of dust rising from the earth, I rushed toward the epicenter of the anomaly, my belly mane feeling the gravitational disturbance as I hoped over the shockwave. At the epicenter, I merely spared a second to grasp the artifact. But while escaping the anomaly, one of the waves hit my back right leg.
Fortunately, it was just bruised by it. after tending to my leg, I decided to take a closer look to the artifact.
Shaped like a plump plastic bag filled with air, the stone had several holes, upon each one I could spy it’s softly glowing core. At the moment I drew it close, my Geiger counter started to build up the rad counter. It built up my radiation level while used. I just stored the stone on my bag and went on, later off, I’d ask one of the limpid sky guys about it, it was risky wearing it without actually knowing if its benign effects would be of use to me.
As I traveled further south, I saw a faint smoke rising from some hills nearby.
Rushing toward the hills, I relied on only my Geiger counter to avoid the anomalies. I couldn’t just spare a moment to safely probe them, seeing as the stalkers were still holding out against the mutants.
The closer I had gotten to their camp, the louder the howl of those beasts blasted my ears.
While running toward the makeshift camp, i gestured my neck, propelling the pistol handle toward my mouth. With the trigger safely kept between my tongue, I aimed at one of those abominations
Bang… Bang… Bang…
As the three shots broke through the mutant’s flesh, it lifelessly stumbled to the ground.
The other five beasts were attracted to the noise. As they faced me, I was able to discern them.
They were huge meat bags, standing over four slim legs, each one ending on a single sharp protuberance. The “head” was compromised of two swine ears and three large eyes, each one of them featuring small holes which closed and opened, while the pupil was on the middle of the circle formed by several of these holes, while the nose was completely absent, and the mouth was literally a toothless orifice. The back of the body ended on a stump tail.
As the pack moved toward me, I was able to strike a few more shots at them. Three or four actually hitting a mutant and the rest of the clip missing them.
At that moment, they came up on me. Lifting a leg and using it to rip my body, the first two of them scratched hard my face, dripping blood all over it. but after I bucked them away, I was able to raise my combat knife in order to defend myself against the others.
Moving the knife menacingly on a wide arch, I was able to keep them at bay and get close to the container that marked the encampment. Atop it, the body of a stalker was laid, I couldn’t tell if he was simply unconscious or out cold.
I simply reached the back of the container, where a wooden stair was hastily put to allow access toward the top. As I climbed it, I still kept my TK strong enough to keep the mutants at a safe distance.
Once I was out of their reach, they readily went back to the corpse they were scavenging before I arrived. It was a nasty job, since they used they sharp mono-claws in order to “tenderize” the meat of the dead stalker. Unable to see such desecration, I reloaded my gun and shot a few bullets at them. Unable to reach me, they scurried away, except one that was trying to drag the dead body with him. A few bullets later, the stubborn monster was dead.
From atop the container, I observed while the four remaining mutants fled to the nearby woods, leaving behind a terrible mess. In the middle of the encampment, broken pieces of what were a ham radio could be seen.
By checking the nearby stalker’s signals, i discerned he was alive, although suffering from massive blood loss, the result of several claw scratches from the mutants. By floating one of the medkits and using it to stack those wounds, i was able to bring him back to conscience.
“What, what… happened ?”
“It’s okay, do not move much. I’ve mended you up, buddy”
“But the striders… they go.. got Bas-Bassiliev”
“I’m sorry, but there is nothing I can do for him…”
“I can…cannot hear them anymore, you killed al…all of them ?”
“Two. The four others ran away”
“Bu…but they would never leave f…food behind… they were n…not running from you… there is ju…just… not enough ti…me”
“Do not fear, I will lead you to my friends and they will help you. In a few days you’ll be back on your four hooves.”
He coughed violently, then strongly pulled me closer to his face, glaring at my eyes fiercely
“Y..you simply… do…not…understand… there is… no..t…enou…enough ti..me… it is too…late… f-for… both of…us. here it…co...mes”
The weather changed violently.
Wind roared insanely, the sky was tinged with red and the earth seemed to shake incessantly as if it shuddered in anger at the world above.
Then, a deafening thunder brightened the horizon.
With horror, I noticed that the very whole sanguine-colored horizon was coming toward me, crackling with thunder. The mere instant I took to realize this fact was enough for it to reach me.
First came the darkness, even while I kept my two eyes wide open, all I saw was black, endless void.
Then, my thoughts were interrupted by a stiff, cool breeze passing over the encampment. For a brief moment, everything around me was completely silent.
And as the last thought I could grasp, came the pain. It felt like my heart was stabbed by a thousand rusty knifes at the same time, so intense and exhilarating the experience was.
After instants that seemed an eternity of torture, my conscience blacked out.
…
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PDA entry:
The zone encyclopedia
#/filefolder- Bestiary
#/filenam - Strider
#/filedescript – a common sight on the zone, the striders are an example of the most abhorrent changes that the animal residents of the zone underwent due to it’s influence. Years of adaptation on a harsh, radiated environment has deeply modified the genes of what were once mere domestic pigs. The biological changes are the development of keratin compounds, such as claws and a thick exoskeleton, a deep increase on the creature’s nervous system capacity, allowing it to effectively cover distance with ease and an enhancement on the regenerative capabilities. also, the mutant pig has shown a curiously interesting feature, the development of a third eye and the interconnection between their photosensitive sensorial receptor with the olfactory ones, the latter being incorporated on the other. As a result of this, it is theorized that striders can actually smell through their eyes, helping them to keep track of a prey and “sense” potentially dangerous anomalies. On the psychological changes underwent by the mutant pig, the most noticeable are a sharp increase of territorial behavior, along with aggressiveness. Striders usually form packs of four to eight individuals, with omnivore diet, it is not particularly picky about its meal, ranging from small mammals of any kind to ill-prepared stalkers.
My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic Intellectual propriety belongs to Hasbro
All S.T.A.L.K.E.R. installments Intellectual propriety belongs to GSC game world
I do not own, neither lay claim to the intellectual properties that this fan-fiction is based on. This work was made entirely for entertainment and appreciation, and should not be distributed for profit
This is a My little pony : FiM fan fiction Made by Hoghound.