S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Unity

by Corn Caiks

Prologue

A snow white Alicorn lazily laid down on her side across a purple, over sized floor cushion, exposing her pristine fur to affectionate warmth resonating from a fire, fueled by many sturdy logs of Maple wood. The Princess pony gingerly tucked her hooves beneath herself for extra warmth. It was a cold autumn season, and every soul in Equestria has been preparing themselves for long winter months.

Princess Celestia glanced out from the huge window of her chambers and smiled as her eyes fell upon the Moon.

“Yet another beautiful night,” Celestia commented with a satisfied half chuckle. The Princess began to levitate a gold plated hair brush over to herself when the most unexpected voice arose from the nearby exit. Cringe worthy in volume.

“Big sister!”

Little Princess Luna had burst into her older sister’s chambers and announced herself with almost a Royal Canterlot Voice yell. Celestia was mildly surprised by Luna’s entry, but more concerned for her well-being.

Her expression unchanging, Celestia set the hair brush down and gazed at Luna who was still anxiously waiting by the door, seeming as if she had galloped through the entire castle. Luna let out a heavy breath and slumped against the door frame, a trickle of sweat running down her forehead, considering herself seriously out of shape.

Celestia quickly stood up and approached her little sister, planting a hoof to the side of her jaw and carefully tilting her head upwards. Luna’s eyes transformed into tiny pin-pricks as her big sister’s motherly gaze fell upon her, a questioning eyebrow and a disappointed smirk layered across the tall Alicorn’s face. Luna had almost forgotten what she had to report.

“Luna, sister…” Celestia began, her hoof leaving Luna’s jaw, “What have I told you of self-containment? Have I need remind you again, little sister, I shall gladly do so,” Celestia finished, still holding Luna in her scrutinizing gaze. Luna stammered for a moment before leaning away from the door frame, taking a cautious step away from the large Alicorn.

“B-B-B-No,” Luna took a deep breath before continuing, “Something has appeared near the Royal Garden Courtyard entry. It-it seemed to do nothing at first, but then it had started devouring the grass beneath itself! Prince Shining Armor has it contained. In a way…” Luna trailed off, desperately staring up at her sister. She didn't want to mention that Shining failed twice with a shield bubble spell. Celestia pondered for a moment.

“Has anypony been injured?” Celestia asked, but to Luna it sounded like more of an immediate demand.

“N-No, not that I know of,” Luna bit her bottom lip, waiting for her big sister to speak again.

With a tilted head, closed eyes and a warm smile, Celestia chuckled, obtaining a shocked expression from Luna.

“Little sister, I do not doubt Prince Shining Armor’s magical capabilities-" Luna cringed, "-he is more than capable to suspend a thrashing Hydra. Now, tell me about this thing that you had so hastily described,” Princess Celestia had expected Luna to describe a enormous beast of some sort, but as it turned out her expectations were slapped down.

Luna rubbed her forehoof, searching for a way to not sound silly. If she did, Celestia would just wave her hoof and tell the Guard to deal with it, deeming it inferior.

Celestia tapped her hoof on the marble floor, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“Ah, right! I apologize, merely side tracked by thoughts,” Luna cleared her throat, acquiring a more fitting stance for conversation; “It was… air, warping into and around itself,” Luna smacked her lips, eyes darting around; it was obvious she couldn’t find the right words to describe what she had seen.

Celestia pivoted her head to the side, seeming in thought. Luna stood there, awaiting action or response from the Alicorn.

“Last time Prince Shining had tried to interact with it, it tried to devour him,” Luna smiled sheepishly, shrugging, “He said it’s a, quote; ugly sucky thing.”

Celestia failed to suppress a small chuckle.

“I’m sorry?” Luna's ears perked up at the sound, “You know what that is?”

“Little sister, I have seen such appearances before, but none that are violent or try to -as you said, devour ponies,” Celestia explained quickly, “But it does appear to be causing disturbance in my castle; I do not appreciate that,” the Alicorn finished, a ‘hmph’ escaping her throat.

Luna glanced around, “So, I take it that we’re going down to the garden?” the blue princess swallowed, grinning awkwardly. Celestia nodded, and ushered for Luna to step outside into the corridor. Once out, Celestia magically shut and locked her chamber’s doors and began towards the garden with Luna by her side, trotting along the white marble and gold lined hallways.

__

“How are you holding up, dear?” Princess Cadance stepped beside Shining Armor, giving him a worried glance. The stallion gave her a wink and a small smile. A pink aura obscured his horn, and a large pink bubble had formed itself around what seemed like another bubble, only this one had active electrical energy pulsing through it, creating the illusion of water separating when a stone is dropped, but with electricity.

“Great, actually, since King Sombra’s attack, I think my magical reserves have doubled!” Shining beamed, averting his focus away from the bubble for a while.

The bubble pulsed, sending an electric shock throughout Shining Armor’s protective field.

*crackkkle*

The protective field cracked a bit at the top then shattered like glass. Shining deadpanned.

“Oh boy.”

Just as Shining’s magic had shattered around the bubble, Princess Celestia’s hoof steps approached them. They were loud enough to be heard both by Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, along with a pair of Royal unicorn guards.

They all bowed at the approach of Princess Celestia and Luna.

“My Majesties! I’m glad you came down as soon as possible. We… have a little problem,” Shining began, pointing at the large pulsing electric bubble with his snout.

Princess Celestia carefully examined the bubble from a distance; the grass underneath it had been completely unearthed, blocks of dirt were floating around it, defying gravity. Celestia looked at Shining Armor who had been intently glaring at the bubble. To Celestia it didn't look so intimidating. Luna noticed the pink shattered glass floating around the bubble and immediately took the hint.

“So it cannot be contained by your magic?” Luna asked Shining Armor. He turned around and nodded shamefully, “Cadance tried, too, but with similar results. It seems to be immune to containment or shield spells. It just causes any nearby magic to crack like glass,” Shining Armor sat down on his haunches with a sigh, but Cadance came over to affectionately nuzzle him into a better mood. It worked; the stallion smiled and stood up, giving his wife a small hug with one hoof.

“You’re the best, Cady,” Shining commented, drawing an audible ‘aww’ from Princess Luna. Shining flushed, eyes darting away.

After that little ordeal, Princess Celestia approached the bubble and turned around, standing just a few meters away from it. She raised her hoof, silencing everypony. Princess Celestia seemed confident in sending this anomaly back to where it came from. It showed, even the two guards looked surprised. Luna just smiled while Cadance and Shining stood close to each other.

“Luna has already raised the night, and I see that everypony is eager to return to their chambers. Tomorrow is a big day, after all. We all need rest for the day ahead of us. Now, I will store this anomaly away so our researchers can investigate our new friend whenever possible,” Celestia turned around, and glanced behind her as she saw Luna approaching with a smile.

“Be careful, big sister,” Luna warned, staying by the large Alicorn’s side. Celestia nodded as her horn lit up in a blinding golden aura, illuminating her relaxed facial features with a warm yellow.

The Princess lashed out with her magic towards the floating electric bubble with a simple ‘Secure. Contain. Protect,’ spell for later studies. The bubble didn’t seem to be disturbed at first, but after Celestia had stepped back a bit, lowered a protective wing over Luna’s form, the bubble began to violently sizzle like boiling water.

Only Luna’s horn and eyes poked out from above Celestia’s wing as the bubble simply ceased to be. No magic show, no fireworks; nothing. Celestia blinked in surprise, taking a cautious step back.

“That seemed easy,” Shining Armor commented, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. I could’ve done that! Shining harrumphed; envious.

Princess Celestia sighed in relief. Nothing had happened for an entire minute, her outstretched wing refolded itself by her side and she leaned down to nuzzle her little sister on the snout. Luna smiled excitedly, glancing up at her big sister.

“I was worried there for a second,” Luna said, still smiling.

“No need to be worried now, my sister. Let us return to our chambers, enough time was wasted,” Celestia offered and Luna immediately agreed, turning their backs to where the electric bubble once was at the same time.

Big mistake.

Shining Armor’s yell didn't arrive soon enough for the two Princesses to react; the bubble had reappeared moments after they have turned their back on it. This time it was quickly floating towards the two ponies trotting away from it.

*BZZZPT*

Princess Celestia was the first to go. The bubble had shot out thick, jagged electric strings that had attached themselves to Celestia’s flank, wing, and horn. The Princess felt her body withstand a strong electric current, but not for long. Soon she felt her magic reserves abandon her and her muscles fail her. Being consumed by an unnamed, unexplored anomaly sent the large Alicorn panicking.

“L-Luna!” Celestia called out weakly. Never has she felt so weak before, even when Queen Chrysalis had overpowered her not so long ago. The Princess’s horn refused to co-operate with its master even if she tried poured all of her concentration into one tiny pool.

What was left of it, anyway, her vision had begun to succumb into darkness, and she feared that she might fade away from existence any moment.

Celestia reached out with her left forehoof towards Luna, her golden horseshoe slipping away from her hoof and clunking down on the grass not so far away from Luna’s position.

The smaller pony Princess just stared up at her fading sister in horror like a filly who had just been scolded for doing something bad; her ears were splayed backwards against her skull, eyes wide and teary. Luna was frozen by fear. Celestia was miles ahead of Luna when it came down to magic, and this bubble had taken it all in a matter of seconds.

Shining Armor charged at the bubble as soon as he was broken from the same trance Luna was. He jumped like a spring over Luna and formed a grip around Celestia’s hoof with his magic, beginning to pull the Princess back.

*CRACK … FFFPEW.*

The sound of a miniature explosion was heard in the distance, and less than a second later Shining Armor had been sent tumbling backwards over his head, gushing out dark, red liquid out of his right shoulder.

“Shiny!” Cadance flew over to him as quickly as possible.

He screamed in pain.

Shining Armor lost concentration on his magic, thus, losing his grip on the Princess. She proceeded to be dragged inside the bubble, her body limp, head hanging low.

Princess Luna suffered a similar fate to her sister’s; the only difference between the two is that little Luna had already fainted before being consumed by the bubble.

The bubble remained stationary after having consumed probably the most powerful magic wielder in Equestria. No pony else had tried to approach it.

Shining Armor struggled up with the help of two Royal guards and his wife; he turned his head towards one of the guards.

“Set the entire Royal Guard on alert… the Princesses have been abducted! Bring all the equipment for teleportation magic!” Shining yelled out the order. The guard galloped inside the castle without any hesitation.

Shining turned towards the bubble, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. He slumped; Cadance was already nurturing his wounds. It looked like a small, high velocity object had been shot at him.

‘Shot’ being the right term.

As Captain of the Royal Guard, he had currently failed the ones he had sworn to protect. He had failed and he knew it. His stomach twisted and turned, and it wasn't long before he had to bend over to vomit his guts out.

“Cady… I don’t feel so good.”

Author's Note:

So yeah, for those who read my "Gone Unnoticed" story, I've been working on this instead of that. I didn't even have a chapter planned out for that story, I just wrote as I went along.

As for this, I had the prologue and chapter 1 planned, now working on chapter 2's plan.

Writing in Word was a mistake, if you see something out of place don't feel shy to comment about it.

Comments

[RoadRunneR]

Oooh. Me likey.

[abdcdweawrbitwaihjtolwtj]

In Word? Wow, that's surprising, this was pretty well written.
Also, Stalker, never played it, is it all it's said to be? I've seen various commenters say it's terrible, and others say it's amazing.
(Too lazy to see on the Steam forums)

[Balnar]

3464500 should i even be surprised to see you here ?
Not bad first chapter btw

[RoadRunneR]

3464538
IT'S AMAZING.

Riddled with bugs, courtesy of slav programming but once you're into it, you can't let go. Plus, the modding community does a great job of keeping the games alive, either by fixing bugs or adding new content, even if the franchise is technically dead in the water.

Once a Stalker, always a Stalker.

[Corn Caiks]

3464538 3464624
Yep. As of right now I'm playing with the Misery 2.0.2 mod. It's really cool.

[RoadRunneR]

3464647
Ehhh, I'm not a fan of Misery. I'm playing Zone of Alienation right now and duuude. That mod will make you batshit crazy. You think Misery is difficult? HAH!

That said, it's got even more bugs than vanilla SoC. Gotta make dem hard saves regularly.

[Elitrino]

I like it. Hey RoadRunner!!! THANKS MAN :D