Chapter 2: First Contacts
Chapter 2
First Contacts
Strider was a pragmatic and phlegmatic man, always calm and calculating in the face of the unexpected or immediate danger. Measured, focused accurate. He was a trained marksman and sniper after all, and knew how to keep his emotions in check. Well, most of the time.
Rare were his outbursts, but were they powerful when they happened, and they seemed to all have a thing in common, or rather, someone: Celestia. When she appeared in the Zone, he killed not one, but two Bloodsuckers singlehandedly to save her. When she had felt depressed, alone and sad, he had been there to care, comfort and provide for her. When she had been kidnapped by Bandits, he had rushed at her rescue, slaughtering, torturing and crippling dozens of the men who had been unfortunate enough to work for the Bandit who dared hurt his Princess - not that she actually needed his help to escape his clutches anyway. When she collapsed after blabbering an incoherent string of words, he had been the first to rush at her side and had carried her all the way to Canterlot Central, guided by no other than Luna.
Even she, Celestia’s sister, had left with the others half an hour after the white alicorn had been admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with severe thaumaturgic backlash aggravated by intense emotional stress. And so, the Dawn Colonel was sitting there at his alicorn’s bedside in that hospital room in Canterlot, worried sick about her health, alone with her immobile form laying on her side, holding one of her forelegs in a hand.
The room was spartan and void of any decoration, which initially surprised Strider, considering the usually overcomplicated pony architecture. To an extend, it seemed human in design. The walls were white, seemingly enlarging the small room smelling of caustic detergent and everything was designed with the ‘function over form’ mindset. Even the bed was made of metal, reminding Strider of the many beds that were in the barracks back at his faction base in Yanov.
Even the life support machinery was disturbingly reminiscent of human ones.
To Strider, It didn’t make sense. As far as he knew, Equestria’s technology level was way below Earth’s, as the ponies did not even master the basic concepts of electricity.
Huh. Maybe they use magic instead, he idly thought.
It had been nearly two hours now, Celestia hadn’t woken up yet and Strider was still as worried.
The stalker let out a sigh as and glanced at his weapons that were piled in a corner of the room, thinking about leaving too.
Celestia’s world was drowned in a blinding shade of white. Her whole body felt numb, she couldn’t see, hear, feel, smell or even taste a thing.
Then, she heard a faint, regular beeping in the back of her mind, like if a refrain was stuck in her head, only it seemed to grow louder and clearer.
As her hearing came back, so did her other senses: her vision cleared, revealing a white ceiling; her tongue felt dry and heavy, sign that she was dehydrated. She could feel bedsheets over her body, her nostrils revealed the caustic smell of a hospital, indicating her she was indeed laying in a hospital bed.
The alicorn let out a breath and looked around. On her right, there was a stand with life support machines. Then, she noticed something- no, someone was holding her hoof. She turned to her left, catching sight of a smiling and relieved Strider, gazing lovingly upon her.
“Hey there beautiful,” the alicorn began.
Strider let out a laugh. “Welcome back, solnyshko,” he replied, leaning over and kissing her on the lips. “How do you feel?”
It was Celestia’s turn to smile. “A bit dehydrated and my head aches slightly, but I’m fine.”
Her lover let out a relieved sigh. “I am glad you are feeling alright. The doctors said that exposure to normal thrauma… thaumatrug- magic levels is dangerous after a being in a deprived environment.”
“Ah. Thaumaturgic backlash. Should’ve thought of that.”
“Yeah, that,” Strider replied, awkwardly clearing his throat. “How about I get you some water?” he added, standing up.
Celestia nodded happily. “Good idea.”
Celestia gazed at her boyfriend as he stood up and went to the bathroom, only to emerge seconds later with a glass of water in hand. Instantly, Celestia lit up her horn, intending to grasp the glass, only to be met by Strider’s expression of disapproval.
“Tsk tsk, the doctor said you should avoid using magic for a day or two when you woke up,” he scolded, approaching his alicorn’s bed and sitting next to her.
With a sigh, Celestia leaned towards the glass of water offered to her and took long gulps of the refreshing liquid, slowly downing it the glass as her boyfriend kept it level.
“There you go,” Strider said as she finished the glass, before he put it on the nightstand and sat back on the bed.
Celestia sighed. “It’s so surreal.”
“What is?” Strider asked, petting her mane.
“Being here. I’ve always wanted to come back, ever since I ended up in the Zone, so much that now… I can’t believe it’s actually happening.”
Stride chuckled. “Hey, I made you a promise, did I not?”
“And you kept it. Thank you,” Celestia thanked, burying her face in her lover’s chest. “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me, you know.”
“I don’t care. Thank you.”
Strider chuckled as he kept stroking Celestia’s head.
The clock in a corner of the room kept ticking and the hospital equipment kept beeping, barely disturbing the peacefulness of the moment the two lovers shared.
“You know, I prefer your real mane, actually,” Strider admitted after a moment of silence.
“Really?”
“Yeah. This immaterial version is visually stunning, but… it is not as satisfying to the touch. It feels almost like water. Warm, soft water, yes, but I prefer the sensation of hair strands… and their smell, too.”
Celestia felt a pang of hurt at her lover’s blunt comment, but decided to humor him. Without a word, she lit up her horn. Instantly, her mane and tail returned to their depowered and regained their normal turquoise hue, turning into the physical, disheveled pack of hair Strider loved so much. “What do they smell like?”
Strider buried his face in his girlfriend’s mane and took a deep, long breath. “Sweat, 5w50 and gunpowder. I love that smell,” he replied, earning a giggle from Celestia.
“...”
“Want me to call the doctor?” Strider asked, his head still buried in Celestia’s mane.
The alicorn giggled. “Yes, please.”
Luna was impressed. These humans had arrived barely a few hours before and already they had a whole base running. Hundreds of men were running around, talking, shouting, carrying crates, weapons, parts… all of this was new and overwhelming even to the dark alicorn, despite being used to the life in Canterlot. To her, it looked like complete chaos, something she knew a certain recently reformed and self-proclaimed god wouldn’t mind.
After careful examination of her surroundings however, she noticed that every man who passed by was doing something: they all had a task, a purpose. It wasn’t chaos, no, it was… organized- better yet, disciplined chaos. The whole base was a hive, buzzing with activity and, despite lacking structure at first glance, relied on invisible chains of command. As a result, it kept running perfectly.
“We-I have to admit major, this is most impressive,” the night Princess commented. “We are afraid that such levels of logistics surpass even that of the Royal Guard.”
One of the guards surrounding the Lunar Princess harrumphed, gaining a glare from her.
Vano glanced at Luna. “You can say that again, Princess-”
Luna held up a hoof, interrupting the giant. “Please, call us Luna. Any friend of my sister is a friend of mine. Besides, we-I prefer being called by my actual name.”
“And with these ponies seeing you as a fucking goddess, that doesn’t happen very often I bet,” Snag chimed in.
“Sadly this is true,” Luna replied, unfazed by the hooded stalker’s profane language. “Although we try to partake in social events as not to alienate ourselves to our subjects.”
“The people’s ruler, eh?” Runner asked, eyebrow raised. “That’s cool.”
Vano cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the others. “As I was saying, Moony.”
“Moony?”
“He likes to give nicknames to everyone,” Snag explained. “He keeps calling your sister ‘Celly’ when off-duty.”
Luna threw her head back and let out a genuine mirthful laugh at the absurdly cute nickname the gruff, tall man had given his sister. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA-”
“AS I WAS SAYING.”
Luna cleared her throat and turned her attention back to Vano, wiping a tear of laughter. “Yes. Quite.”
“This is only the beginning,” he continued as if nothing happened. “We only have two hundred personnel here, Halo actual went back to bring in even more hands and ordnance. Gotta put a supply line in place,” the giant explained, scanning the area as they walked towards the center of the camp, towards, the two big bunkers. “But as impressive as this is, it's all been possible thanks to your sister. She's the one with the talent for logistics and global command.”
Luna nodded silently, slightly taken aback by what the Ranger told her. "Is that true that she and you friend-"
"Strider?" Snag asked, turning towards the alicorn. "Yep. They're together."
The alicorn smiled. "Twas about time she found a partner; honestly she was worrying me, I had begun to think she was suffering of some manner of depression. Even I managed to reconnect with our subjects better than her after-"
She froze.
"We heard the story," Runner tactfully interrupted.
"-a thousand years abroad," Luna deadpanned, gazing at the ground.
The night Princess sighed before she noticed a big, four wheeled vehicle covered in tarpaulin sitting next to a BTR. “What's that?" she asked, decided on changing the subject of conversation.
The vehicle was taller than her, but smaller than any of the other vehicles she had seen so far, even the eight-wheeled ones with a turret on top - BTR, she remembered the humans calling it. It was boxy in design, longer than it was large and seemed to sport a manner of cabin that formed a bump in the tarpaulin roughly twice as high as the rest, while the back of it ended rather abruptly and was almost vertical.
"Hah! You'll have to wait until Strider and Celly drive it around!" came a new voice as Runner and Luna approached the vehicle.
The group turned around, noticing Rookie who was walking towards them, clad in his usual armored suit. The lieutenant was holding a notepad in one hand, a pen in the other, and his weapons were clanking against the big sniper rifle strapped to his back.
“Princess Luna, this is lieutenant Rookie from the Dawn Spartans, Strider’s second in command,” Vano announced
“Pleasured to make your acquaintance,” Luna said, extending a hoof in what she had learned was a proper human greeting.
Rookie walked up to the alicorn, grasped her hoof and leaned forwards. “The pleasure is mine,” he replied, kissing the appendage, leaving Luna confused and inexplicably flustered.
Once the stalker let go of her, the Princess gave Vano and Runner an interrogative glance, trying to grasp the meaning behind Rookie’s actions, only to receive a shrug and a wink in answer.
"It's a project these two have been working on for as long as we had vehicles in our faction," Rookie explained, turned towards the vehicle as if nothing happened. "We all know what it is, but we’ve been instructed to keep it a secret. All I can tell you is that it’s an old car they restored and modified, but that's about it," he added, before turning towards the covered car.
Runner clapped his hands together. "I can't wait!” he exclaimed, a huge smile on his face, eliciting strange stares from the others. “What? If it is what I think it is, the lines suggest it's been heavily modified and I've always been kind of a car nut," the free stalker admitted, scratching the back of his head while glancing at the tarpaulin covered car.
"Lieutenant! Major!" a new voice called, interrupting the free stalker's tirade.
"Yes what is it sargeant?" Vano asked, turning towards the power-armored newcomer.
"She's awake."
“Oh well. Hermann and Kruglov can wait.”
Luna gave Runner a sideways glance. “So what is that ‘car’?” she whispered
“Shh don’t wanna ruin the surprise,” the stalker replied with a smirk.
“BLAGH.”
“Well, your vitals are good Princess, and any traces of thaumaturgic backlash have already disappeared,” the glass wearing pony doctor stated, scrutinizing the screens on the life support machinery hooked to Celestia,“which disturbs me. Even with your alicorn resilience, I know for a fact that shouldn’t be possible.”
“Well Strider was holding my hoof the whole time,” Celestia stated.
The labcoat-wearing doctor stopped and stared at the day Princess as if she had declared breathing illegal. “How to put this… while moral support can be useful in some cases, I’m not sure that’s what cut your recovery time by a factor of nearly one thousand,” he snarked.
Strider cleared his throat. “You are mistaken doctor, you see, I-”
“Mistaken?” the doctor guffawed, offended. “I know my job, sir, and I will not let a hairless monkey-”
“Doctor?” Celestia interrupted calmly. “That’s enough.”
The doctor harrumphed and glared at Strider, but kept his mouth shut.
“Now, Strider,” Celestia told her boyfriend, a small smile adorning her lips.
The Dawn Colonel shook his head, smiling condescendly at the pony doctor. “As I was saying, I have a condition.”
“Condition?”
“Yes. I can heal wounds that would be fatal to anyone else in a matter of seconds and, via simple touch, heal others, albeit at a slower rate.”
“You’ll excuse me if I have trouble believing you. What you are saying suggests that your metabolism and your organism are capable of accelerating their activity at will, which is impossible,” the doctor explained, pacing around the room. “Even our most advanced healing spells cannot recreate such a phenomenon and- excuse me what are you doing?” he inquired, staring at Strider.
During the doctor’s tirade, the stalker had unclamped the power armor from his left forearm, letting its armature dangle from the joint at elbow level. Then, he had rolled up the sleeve of his anomaly-resistant jumpsuit, exposing his bare skin and his ‘S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’ tattoo and unsheathed his combat knife from its holster on his shoulder.
“Making a point,” he deadpanned, suddenly jerking the sharp polymer blade across his forearm.
The pony doctor could only stare in horror as the knife easily dug deep in the human’s flesh by his own doing, drawing blood that began trickling down his arm, only to be bewildered as the seemingly dreadful wound healed itself perfectly. The knife had barely left stalker’s flesh that the wound was already closing, only leaving a pale scar where it had been seconds ago.
“H-How is that possible?” the doctor stuttered.
Strider stopped as he took out a tissue to clean his knife, deciding that eluding would be the simplest course of action. “It is… a long story,” he simply said. “Even where I come from, it is considered impossible,”
“I… see. Point taken then,” the doctor stuttered, warily backing off from a laughing Strider. “Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Nah. I know my nerve endings are in perfect condition. Maybe my Thalamus or my frontal lobe that got damaged… either way, I do not feel pain. At all,” Strider shrugged.
“I see,” the doctor deadpanned, disturbed. “I’m gonna leave now, you’ve got a visitor.”
Celestia’s ears perked up. “Visitor?”
“Princess Twilight Sparkle, your highness.”
Celestia’s mind froze at the doctor’s words. Instantly, she was reminded of the last thing she remembered from before the blackout: Twilight Sparkle, her prized pupil, had come to meet her… as an alicorn.
The solar princess gulped. “Twilight… she’s an alicorn, now, isn’t she?”
The doctor gazed up from his notepad. “Yes! Her coronation was something to behold, really! She may be young, but she’s done a wonderful job in her duties of Princess of the Day!” he exclaimed, smiling brightly.
Celestia’s whole world shattered in this very instant. She knew she had been away a long time. She knew that things would certainly have changed and that she would have a lot of catching up to do.
But she never expected that she ever would be replaced.
Her bottom lip quivered as she tried to keep her composure. “P-p-p-princess of the d-day?” she stuttered, fighting to keep the storm of feelings that kicked up in her chest.
The doctor nodded, oblivious to Celestia’s distress. “Well actually, her official title is ‘Princess of Harmony’ but she did a very good job with taking care of the Sun and the day court,” he volubly continued. “She’s so wonderful...”
Celestia opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water, desperate to a thought to hold onto as she realized that her very purpose in her very own homeworld had been taken from her by none other than her dear student, the sweet and innocent Twilight Sparkle.
Her shoulders sagged, her ears dropped her gaze dropped to her bedsheets and a sigh escaped her lips. She flinched involuntarly when she felt a weight lean onto her bed and a hand gently press onto her chest.
Unlike the doctor who had continued droning on about how Twilight Sparkle was perfect and how she was a great princess, Strider had noticed Celestia’s distress. Giving his girlfriend a comforting smile, he sat on her bed and put a hand on her chest, gently ruffling her soft coat with his fingers. His calming gaze met hers, and, in this very moment, Celestia knew everything would be alright. She remembered that no matter what had and would happen, he had been and would be there for her, forever thanks to his ‘condition’.
The white alicorn sighed and leaned against her boyfriend, who in turn wrapped a comforting arm around her.
“Doctor?” Strider asked, interrupting the labcoat wearing pony’s praises about Twilight Sparkle. “You can let her in.”
The doctor shook his head and stared neutrally at Strider, before his gaze lit up. “Ah! yes.”
The glass-eyed pony went to the door, opened it and exited the room, letting in muffled sounds of conversation reverberating in the corridor.
Twilight Sparkle was happy. Tired, but happy. After over a chaotic year without her mentor, and several months ruling the country at Luna’s side, the lavender alicorn was glad to see again her beloved teacher and Princess and couldn’t wait hear all the wonderful stories about her adventures in -according to Luna- what was an actual alien world.
She was worried, though. For some reason she didn’t understand, Celestia had fainted promptly after her arrival.
I hope she’s okay, she thought, passing the door.
The light coming from the window on the opposite wall of the room revealed the lavender alicorn, tailed by the doctor who couldn’t pry his eyes away from her.
“Thank you. You can leave us now,” the lavender alicorn stated, oblivious to the doctor’s attitude.
The glass-eyed pony bowed deeply. “Yes Princess,” he replied, bowing respectfully.
Strider watched with incredulity as the glass-eyed pony backed out of the room, bowing all the way as if he was talking to royalty.
Well, technically he is, the Dawn colonel thought, but still. That is preposterous.
“You too,” Twilight said, snapping him off his thoughts.
Strider’s disbelief only grew as he looked at the lavender alicorn. She was staring at him, a frown on her face, obviously trying to look commanding - which she hilariously failing at, mainly because she was less than half as tall as him - but what troubled the scarred stalker was that she had been ordering him around, not inquiring as to who he was and even overlooking basic politeness rules.
The Dawn Colonel blinked twice, staring at the small princess with uncertainty. “I am afraid I cannot,” he stated in an even tone, eliciting a frown from Twilight.
Obviously, not the refusing to comply to Royal orders wasn’t common.
Twilight gave Celestia an interrogative glance.
“He’s staying,” the alabaster alicorn stated, wrapping a wing around her lover for emphasis.
The young Princess groaned in exasperation. “Very well then.”
The little Princess took a step forwards, only to stop in shock as she finally took notice of her mentor’s features against the light. She gazed in horror at her depowered mane, numerous scars and half bitten off ear, mouth agape and eyes wide.
Her companion wasn’t faring any better, but she didn’t care.
“W-what happened to you?” she asked.
“It’s a long story,” Celestia sighed. “But it’s still me, I’m in one piece. I have Strider to thank for that,” she added with a smile, nuzzling his chest. “But enough of that,” she continued, smiling at her student. “Approach, Twilight,” she invited in a warm tone. “It’s been too long I haven’t seen you.”
Twilight smiled jumped at Celestia, not able to contain her excitement anymore. “Princess! You’re back! Oh I missed you! I missed you so much!... I-I-I even wrote you letters when you were g-gone… I needed it. I missed you so much,” she cried, wrapping her forelegs around her mentor, startling Strider in putting his hand on his holstered Beretta 92.
Celestia glared at him. “No need for that,” she scowled.
“Blyat'. Sorry,” the stalker apologized. “She startled me. You know how I am. Reflexes.”
Twilight dried her tears. “What’s that?” she asked, curiosity overcoming her emotions.
Strider shrugged. “A heavily modified Beretta 92, made to resemble physically and mechanically a 93R,” he explained, unholstering and unloading the pistol before showing it to the little alicorn. “The ‘R’ stands for ‘Raffica’, or ‘burst fire’ in English, but I like to call it ‘Replica’, because… well, that’s what it is,” he added with a laugh.
There was a moment of silence, where Twilight gazed at the little L-shaped piece of metal with incomprehension.
“And what is it exactly?”
“...”
“It’s a weapon.”
Twilight’s horn lit up. “I’ll let you know that weapons are forbidden in my city. Please relinquish it.”
Celestia frowned. “Your city?”
Strider gave the purple alicorn a deadpan look. “No can do, ma’am.”
The little Princess snorted and her magical aura surrounded the gun. Immediately, Strider’s left hand went to a small device on his belt, right next to his exoskeleton battery and pushed the red button on it.
Celestia reflexively dropped any magic she was using and covered her head with her hooves.
There was a whirr and a sound comparable to a discharge of static. To Twilight’s horror, she felt her magic failing and her telekinetic grip on the pistol vanished just as she felt a tremendous headache leaving her dizzy for several seconds, leaving Strider free to reload his gun and flick it into burst fire mode.
When Twilight came back to her senses, she was staring down the 9mm diameter barrel of the machine pistol.
“Strider? Lower your weapon,” Celestia ordered, still disorientated by the device’s effect.
The stalker took a deep breath and complied, slowly lowering his pistol but keeping it in hand.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Twilight shouted, hysteric.
“Psychotropic radiation disruptor. A little gadget put together by Hermann’s team,” Strider explained, his eyes still locked on the lavender Princess. “Harmless to humans but very effective against any and all creatures with a strong affinity to the Noosphere like Controllers, Burers, Poltergeists, Bloodsuckers... and ponies. Disables them for several seconds.”
“Why would you do that?! Why would you even invent such a thing?!”
Celestia held out a commanding hoof, silencing both parties. “There is something you must know about the world I have been, Twilight. It’s dangerous. Any and all means of survival are justified there. The humans needed a countermeasure to magic, and I willingly gave them the information they needed to create these devices,” she evenly told her former pupil, who suddenly felt very small in front of the authoritative alicorn. “Your reaction was understandable but disproportionate. While these weapons are dangerous if handled wrong, we are not letting anyone but trained professionals anywhere near them, which you aren’t,” she berated. “I trust the men under my command and I trust Strider with my life. While what Strider did was dumb,” she added, glaring at the now silent man, “what you did was even more idiotic. Surely as a Princess you must be aware that forcibly taking a weapon from anyone is an outright declaration of hostilities, aren’t you?”
The lavender alicorn opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came, she kept staring at Celestia, a look of incomprehension on her face.
“Now Strider, I want you to apologize to Twilight.”
“But-”
“That’s an order, colonel.”
The Dawn Colonel sighed and rubbed his brow, before he gave Twilight an apologetic look. “I’m sorry miss. I acted on instinct. Shouldn’t have pulled a gun on you.”
“Good! Now Twilight, apologize to Strider.”
Twilight’s expression changed from befuddlement to outrage and she opened her mouth to protest, but was silenced by the stern look Celestia was giving her. For several seconds, it looked like she was going to burst in flames, until she turned around and left without a word, angrily slamming the door shut behind her.
“That was… interesting,” Luna commented, jumping off the chopper.
“I’m surprised how well you’ve been taking this,” Runner commented, walking along with Vano and the Princess. “Can’t say the same of your guards.”
“We-I am used to flying and being flown. This is… new, but not overwhelming,” the midnight alicorn explained, glancing back at the chopper she, along with the group, had exited. “I cannot say the same of my guards,” she added, giving her five bodyguards a concerned look.
All of the golden-clad day guards had a sick look on their faces and leaning on their spears as they fought to keep their balance.
Luna sighed. “Uhh, you are dismissed,” she announced to the guards’ relief, who didn’t lose a second and bolted in the distance, probably to the nearest bathroom.
Vano raised an eyebrow at the spectacle. “I don’t get it, they are pegasi, eh? Aren’t they supposed to like flying?”
Runner shrugged. “Figures.”
“One thing is for sure though,” Luna sighed. “These guards are not as tough or as well trained as the ones from a thousand years ago. I will have to talk to my sister about this,” she added, taking off towards the main street of the city. “Follow me.”
“Just like that? No guard whatsoever?” Vano asked, surprised.
“I trust you. You are a friend of my sister’s, therefore thou art my friend.”
Runner raised an eyebrow. “Thou art?”
“Thou speaketh ye olde English?” Vano chuckled.
Luna blushed in embarrassment. “An old habit of mine. Even after all this time, I still slip in those antiquated mannerisms,” she explained with a sheepish smile. “Another reminder of my...”
The stalker nodded. “...Misadventures.”
The midnight alicorn nodded. “Yes, quite,” the midnight alicorn nodded, resuming her walk. “But I digress. Walking through the city without a squad of guards watching my every movement is a nice change from the usual routine. I like it.”
“Still though, why can’t we just teleport to the hospital?” Vano asked.
Runner’s eyebrows skyrocketed. “Teleport?”
“Yeah, you can teleport, right?”
“Yes, but-”
“I know you wanted to try the chopper,” he added, causing Luna to give him a sheepish grin, “but even though your subjects they must know that something is afoot - what with us flying over the city - but I doubt they would react very well to armored, armed bipedal beings three times as tall as them walking through the city and everything.”
“Oh for goodness’ sake fine,” Luna grumbled, her hirn lighting up. “We simply would have preferred walking.”
Runner’s vision was flooded in light just as his hearing was by a loud, annoying ringing and he felt a sensation of weightlessness come over him. Then, without warning, he felt something tugging at his chest and he fell forwards. Instinctively, he put his hands in front of himself to avoid hitting his head on the ground.
Suddenly, there was a popping sound and his vision returned at once.
He was greeted by the sight of a paved road coming rushing at him and promptly faceplanted, despite his outstretched arms.
Vano landed heavily on his feet, his more than two hundred kilos of muscle, steel and titanium easily maintained under control as he controlled his fall caused by teleportation. When he looked back up, his gaze met Luna’s who was staring at him, impressed.
“Th-you managed to keep your momentum under control,” she observed. “Impressive, coming from somepony who never teleported.”
Vano smiled. “Thanks, but it is not the first time I teleport,” he replied with a hint of smugness.
Luna raised an eyebrow. “I thought your world didn’t know magic,” she recalled.
“I walked into a few anomalies in my time,” Vano told the lunar Princess, helping Runner up. “I did fall flat on my face the first time I teleported,” he recalled, laughing.
“I see.”
“Thanks, man,” Runner breathed, leaning on Vano’s shoulder.
When the stalker looked up, he noticed they were in the hall of what looked like a modern-day hospital, except that one was populated not by people but by small, four legged ponies who were staring at them, which unsettled the stalker a great deal.
Runner swallowed nervously. “How about we go visit your sister, Princess?” he asked, trying not to stare back at the ponies present.
“Quite.”
With these words, Luna raised a hoof and signaled a nurse, who then proceeded to guide them to Celestia’s room.
“How is she?” Vano asked as he walked behind the pony nurse.
“...”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “How is she?” she repeated.
“Very well actually your Highness,” the blouse-wearing pony replied. “She’s with Princess Twilight in her room and hasn’t stopped speaking ever since she woke up.”
“That is most reassuring.”
“Yes. her vitals are normal,” the nurse pursued, leading the little group through the corridors of the hospital. “Which is worrying, considering that she shouldn’t have woken up before a few days considering the thaumaturgic trauma she sustained, but doctor Faircare dismissed the fact, saying your friend had a gift that explained the situation.”
“Oh yeah, he can lend his healing factor,” Vano commented. “It’s like he’s an artifact himself, quite peculiar actually.”
Luna nodded. “I see. Interesting,” she deadpanned, not quite sure what to make of what the stalker had just said.
“This is her room,” the nurse stated, stopping in front of a door and motioning towards it with a hoof. “Do you need anything else?”
“No, thank you, my little pony,” Luna told the nurse, “have a nice day.”
“You too, your highness,” the nurse replied, bowing deeply before she turned around and left the group in front of the door.
Before any of them could make a move, the door burst open, letting out an angry Twilight Sparkle. Without a word, the little alicorn walked past the two stalkers, Luna and stomped angrily down the corridor.
Vano scratched his head, watching the little alicorn disappear at the corner of the white corridor. “What was that about?” he asked, disrupting the silence.
Runner shrugged. “Dunno.”
“I have the feeling that we will find out,” Luna added, approaching the door to her sister’s room.
As she passed the door, Luna caught sight of her sister and another human - Strider if she remembered right - both sitting on the bed. Celestia was occupied sorting through a pile of equipment the midnight Princess assumed was hers, while the human was talking in a small, rectangular device attached to his shoulder.
“Dawn Actual, Dawn Actual this is Charlie Echo, do you read me?” he asked in the little device.
The others entered the room behind Luna, but she paid them no mind, fascinated by the conversation Strider was having with his device. Much to her surprise, the little black box replied.
“Cold Eyes, Dawn Actual. I read you, over,” it crackled.
“Advise all hands to prepare for eventual visit from Tango Sierra. If engaged, you are not cleared to use lethal force. Stun and subdue only, how copy?” Strider replied.
“Solid copy Cold Eyes, wilco. Actual.”
“Good. Issue the patrols and checkpoints with tasers and bean bags. Charlie Echo out.”
Strider released his radio and grunted in exasperation. That Twilight Sparkle was bad news. With a sigh of frustration, he turned around, finally noticing the new arrivants.
“Oh. You’re here Princess,” he stated, giving Luna a nod.
The lunar Princess rolled her eyes. “I told you already, just call me Luna.”
“Okay Princess,” Strider replied with a small smile, sitting down.
Luna amusedly shook her head, turning her attention to her sister who had already started to gear up. The alabaster alicorn was currently wearing a simple black bodysuit made of a stretchy material Luna had never seen before, making her figure stand out from the whiteness of the room. She also noticed that her sister’s mane and tail had regained their normal blue color and that both were neatly tied in short ponytails like a workerpony’s, instead of their ethereal multicolor state.
But what surprised the lunar Princess the most was her sister’s physique. While Celestia had been pudgy and showed some fat in the past, her body was much thinner and yet gave off an impression of power as her now well-defined muscles could be seen under her skin, coat and even bodysuit, the groups of myofibres visibly rolling and contracting as she moved .
“Dear goddesses, Tia, you’re actually in shape!” the lunar Princess exclaimed, giving her sister an appreciative glance.
The white alicorn chuckled. “Well, when you’re trekking, fighting and giving orders all day long every day while carrying half your weight in equipment and eating barely over the vital minimum, you tend to lose some fat and replace it with stuff more useful to your immediate survival,” she replied, giving her sister a mirthful smile. “Now you’re the fat one. Better start working out sister,” she added, blowing Luna a raspberry as she walked past her, the rest of her equipment held aloft in her telekinesis.
Luna laughed at her sister’s remark and followed her sister only to stop as the words sank in. With a hoof, the dark alicorn tentatively poked her belly.
I’m not fat, am I? she asked herself, giving her flank a glance.
Vano watched the exchange between the two alicorn sisters in amusement before reporting his attention to Strider, who was currently observing the sunlit inner hospital courtyard through the window.
“What was that with purple fury?” the bearded stalker asked, eyebrow raised. “She just stomped down the corridor and disappeared before we could say a thing. She looked angry, too.”
Strider sighed and turned around, leaning backwards on the window frame. “She tried to take my weapons away from me and I responded with the force I deemed necessary,” he explained. “But that is not what I think really upset her.”
Runner came up to the two. “Really?” he asked, sitting on the bed Celestia had previously occupied.
“Huh. You are here,” Strider observed, giving Runner a surprised stare.
The stalker shrugged. “I was done helping Hermann and had nothing better to do.”
“I think he wanted to stay with Luna,” Vano teased.
Runner rolled his eyes. “As if. Can we come back to the matter at hand?” he asked, eliciting a playful glance from Vano.
“Of course. So that Twilight... I think what surprised her was Celestia’s reaction. When she asked her to apologize to me, she had a strange reaction,” Strider recalled.
“She took it like a rejection,” Runner analyzed.
Strider nodded, scratching his stubble. “Maybe.”
“I’ll go talk to her, head to head,” Celestia said, garnering the men’s attention. “Let’s go to the castle.”
The group walked out the room. After a nurse checked Celestia out, they exited the hospital. From the parvis of the hospital, they had a view down one of Canterlot biggest streets, giving Runner his first view of the city from the inside.
It city appeared to be built in a very ordonned way, the street was clean and he square angle intersections could be seen in the background. While the buildings themselves were simplistic in form and followed the rigid organization of the cityscape yet they were overly ornamented in a slightly chaotic way, he noted. Golden spires covered the towers, golden ornaments were inlaid in the pristine white façades around the doors and windows, and the roofs were made of strange blue/purple tiles.
The whiteness of it all reminded him of another city on a mountain, for some reason.
The shops, restaurants and other establishments were just as exuberant: they often used a lot of space on the street itself, causing the many ponies stroll around, examining the goods on sale or stopping at a terrace and order a drink.
Speaking of the ponies, most of them were wearing clothes, to Runner’s puzzlement. He just didn’t see the point, considering the Princesses he had seen went everywhere stark naked save for their regalia and that the clothes these ponies were wearing were anything but practical.
Probably a sign of social status, the stalker thought.
“So, where to?” Vano asked in the air, pulling Runner from his thoughts.
“The castle,” Celestia replied, lighting up her horn.
Once again, Runner’s vision was flooded in light just as his hearing was by a loud, annoying ringing and he felt a sensation of weightlessness come over him, only this time he knew what was coming. The moment the teleportation spell tug at his chest, he leaned backwards, letting his own weight cancel out the pull.
When his vision returned, he was propelled forwards and stumbled, but managed to keep his footing.
He victoriously threw his arms in the air. “Yeah!” he exclaimed looking up.
As he did so, he was greeted by the sight of two amused alicorns, a laughing Vano and a Strider who was laying on the ground flat on his face.
With a laugh, Runner approached Strider. “It happens to the best of us,” he chuckled, squatting down and offering the downed stalker a hand.
“I admire your modesty,” Vano snarked, mirrorring Runner’s actions.
“Yes, well we can’t be as perfect as you,” the stalker replied, helping Strider out with Vano’s assistance.
“I think you broke your nose,” Vano observed, giving Strider a concerned look as he helped him up.
“Whatever. It will be healed in a few seconds,” Strider dismissed, resuming walking behind the two alicorns in front.
Runner and Vano looked at each other and shrugged, following their friend.
Celestia watched the exchange between the men and chuckled, shaking her head. “Boys...”
Luna smiled, trotting next to her sister. “We like these humans. They’re entertaining. Meeting new faces who don’t treat you like a literal living goddess is... nice.”
Celestia nodded. “I can only agree. Didn’t miss that one bit during my stay in the Zone.”
“Speaking of which, what have you been up to during your absence?” Luna asked. “Judging from the base camp the humans have established in the plains and how they listen to your every order, thou have been busy.”
“That I did, dear sister. When I first arrived in their world, I almost got killed by two mutants,” Celestia casually remembered. “From then on we had a few adventures and decided to create our own faction. Started small, a dozen or so people but the climate was favorable and we expanded faster than anything we had imagined. It was a hard, but I take pride in these achievements.”
Luna arched an eyebrow, having stopped at one word in particular. “Mutants?”
“Beasts which ancestors used to be human or animal. Too much exposure to radiation, chemicals, psychotropic radiation or anomalous formations transformed them in… things. Some pounce you from the shadows, others just charge you , alone or in packs.”
“That sounds… horrible.”
Celestia let out a cynical laugh. “And that’s not even the worst of it! Some can become invisible to approach you silently and suck you clean of your blood, others can tank so much punishment you’d think they’re made of solid steel, and-”
Luna blinked in incomprehension. “Steel?”
“An alloy humans discovered hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Slightly more brittle than iron, but much stronger, harder and somewhat lighter. By now there’s thousands of different alloys,” Celestia shrugged as she kept walking. “These humans are much, much more technologically advanced than Equestria.”
“Interesting… I wonder how a sword made of steel would hold up against an iron sword.”
This time, it was Vano’s time to enter the conversation.
“Steel wins, without even trying,” he laughed. “It’s much lighter and I doubt an iron sword could even leave an imprint on a steel one, not that two swords should ever make contact.”
Celestia nodded. “Against a standard, fresh-out-of-the-forge iron sword? No doubt. Now, if it were enchanted… I’d still take the steel sword though. Cheaper to produce. Master unicorn swordsmiths are too expensive to equip an army. Still, I’d rather have a gun and a knife than a sword.”
“You and me both,” Strider said, returning a Royal Guard’s stare as they walked through a big double door. “Why do they keep looking at me like that?”
Vano pursed his lips, eyebrows raised in a faked pensive expression. “What could it be… bipedal, almost three times as tall as them, armed to the teeth, and that big-ass scar across the side of your head, discounting the one that runs down your face?” he rhetorically asked, scratching his beard.
“Oh, fuck you.”
Runner frowned, concerned. “I think it’s got something to do with that other Princess of you ask me.”
Luna glanced at the stalker. “We shall see,” she said, before stopping in front of one of the several stained glass windows ornamenting the room the group was walking across.
The window portrayed a frontal view of an alicorn Twilight Sparkle wearing her trademark tiara as she was striking a regal pause. Her wings were extended and she was flying in the skies, the ground surface seemingly hundreds of meters beneath her, judging from the green hills in the background. The purple alicorn’s horn was alight in a way that called back to her cutie mark and behind her was a cloud partially hiding the Sun, which was surrounded by the alicorn’s purple magic.
Celestia stopped next to her sister and examined the window. “It’s well crafted, I’ll give that to whoever made it,” she commented in a neutral tone.
So she is in charge of the sun, the alabaster alicorn thought.
“How did she become an alicorn?” Strider asked.
Luna rubbed her forehead and sighed. “She finished one of Starswirl’s spells.”
“Who?”
“A skilled, wise and powerful unicorn mage of times long past,” the midnight blue alicorn replied. “He is the sole inventor of a myriad of spells and he contributed more to ponykind than anypony else in his time. A great stallion, if a bit of a rambling old mule once past his prime.”
“Then why isn’t he an alicorn?” Vano pointed out. “Seems like that guy invented a lot of magic, yet when this Twilight Sparkle tweaks out one of his spells-”
“I don’t know, and probably never will,” Luna interrupted. “All I know is that I had an alicorn on my hooves and had to train her to rule the country and-and-and” she stuttered, before bursting into tears. “I-I’m sorry, sister. I thought I had lost you forever and-d-d I couldn’t bear the weight of the whole country on my shoulders.”
“Shhh, shh. It’s alright sister, I understand,” Celestia soothed, nuzzling the midnight blue alicorn. “You did what you had to do,” she added, wrapping her in a comforting wing hug.
The humans present watched the scene unfold, glancing at each other and feeling more and more awkward as the hug lasted.
Finally, Luna’s sobs quietened and Celestia let go of her sister, who took a deep breath and wiped a tear with her hoof, laughing.
“At least she lightened my workload.”
Suddenly, Luna was swooped off her hooves and lifted in the air where she was restrained by an immutable force. Panicking, the alicorn didn’t even think on using her magic, instead opting to flap her wings and flail her hooves uselessly in the air.
“RELEASE US AT ONCE!” the lunar Princess boomed in the antiquated Royal Canterlot Voice.
“Can’t not hug something that cute when it’s crying!” she heard from her tormentor.
“Vano, put the Princess down,” Luna heard Strider say.
“No.”
“...That is an order.”
“Rah fine.”
With these words, Luna was delicately set down upon the castle floor, where she could only look around dumbfounded, blushing in embarrassment.
“Oh look, she’s blushing now!” Vano squealed, joining his hands under his chin. “She’s sooooooo adorable!”
“Stop it!” Luna ordered. “We are a Princess and thou shall address us as such!”
The giant folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. “What happened to ‘just call me Luna’?” he teased.
“Vano?” Celestia called before Luna could even stutter an answer.
“Yes?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Aye ma'am.”
“So! Stained glass huh? I guess that’s one way to embellish a castle,” Runner commented. “How come you aren’t on any of them Luna?” the stalker asked the Princess, pacing around the room, looking at the windows. “Or even you, Celestia? Oh wait, you’re both on that one,” he added, stopping in front of one that represented both alicorn sisters orbiting a white, glowing figure. “Who’s that guy? He’s on most the windows here.”
“Oh, yeah. Discord,” Celestia commented, stopping at the stalker’s side. “This scene represents his first imprisonment, a long time ago. Luna and I had to team up on his ass. Barely came out on top, too.”
“Why?”
“Art thou familiar with the concept of Eldritch abomination?” Luna asked, walking up to the two. “Discord is strikingly similar to what you would-”
“He’s just a lunatic sociopath with too much power than he knows what to do with,” Celestia interrupted.
“Sounds like you’d go well together, eh Strider?” Vano quipped, a shit eating grin on his face.
“Oh, fuck off,” the buzzed stalker grumbled, hitting his friend upside the head.
Celestia glared at the two. “So powerful, in fact, that he can quite literally will things in and out of existence,” she continued. “In hindsight, I think we’ve only been pawns in his game up to this point.”
Luna visibly flinched at her sister’s words. “Y-you think?” she asked, nervously pawing at the ground.
“Judging from his previous displays of power and his behavioral patterns, absolutely. He can will things in and out of existence, levitate entire cities upside down, radically alter one’s personality,” Celestia listed, “and don’t get me started on his favorite hobby: body alteration. I swear, if he does anything to my tail, wings or anything else, I’ll- screw that, if he ever breaks out again, I’ll fucking kill him, one way or another.”
Maybe we’ll finally find a use for these Bulgarian bombs, the alabaster alicorn thought.
Luna cleared her throat and gave her sister an awkward smile. “Eehhh, about that… we may have freed and reformed him.”
Celestia’s head whipped around, her face twisted in an expression of utter horror. “WHAT!?”
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Finally!
4461176 Yay update! Dat chapter title.
4461176
I concur
HAH! twilight is such a hardass.How dare she think herself superior to celestia?
That fillyfaggot needs to be kicked in the teats
Cue cosmic horror.
4461176
Of should be if other than that, its perfect if your not actively looking for errors.
Celestia's head is gonna explode after all this.
Oh my, time sure flies when trapped in the zone.
Great chapter!
it livessssss hahahahahahahahahahahah cough cough ahahahahahahahahahahahah ok im done contine now
Oh celesia.... so many things you dont know... its like when luna came back. XD
4461263
*you're
UPDATE!!! I totally forgot this Story in the deeps of my Favorite list. AND NOW IT IS BACK!!!
Awesome Chapter! I hope we will see what Twilight had upset so much. I don't think it was only Tia's comment that she should apologize to Strider.
And I'm interested how the other elements will react to the Humans.
Finally! I was wondering when this one would come out! And wow... Twilight's such a bitch now that she has power.
Think I will be amused if Celestia finds out that Twilight has been doing far better then her at doing everything for the Country.
Also how is it backwards? It's just another form of technology in a different manner. Magical progress is a sort of technical progress within a field.
Instead of electricity or discovery, why would they need to when magic easily replaces such? Magical Batteries issue forth instead of electrical, learning how to harness magic easier in a place where magic is a common thing means that you study properties that can use magic better, or more advanced magic that can process things in a better fashion.
If warfare had progressed pony society, we may have seen teams of Unicorns learn how to create a nuclear weapon from magical technology.
LFW
II
V
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This made me smile... thanks I needed it.
Twilight just get to be a Sun Princess for little time and she already become a bitch from all this power.
Nice.
enjoyed this very much. loved how Luna turned out. bitchlight spankle was a bitch and only seems upset cos Celly chose her lover over tiny purple.
Because I asked nice?
Err... ok I'm going to have to declare BS on the whole magic replacing everything. Somepony would have bound to have discovered steel by now, even by accident.
Still I can see two of the sources of conflict with this: Celestia finding her place in Equestria, and her butting heads with Twilight. Though I do wonder... where is Cadence?
4461540
Celestia might also be pushing things away considering how often she prefers the stalkers over everything else, to the point of insulting everything else that's in the kingdom and allowing gun-happy soldiers free reign in a city. Which in most cases would pretty much be a declaration of hostilities right there despite her words on the matter to Twilight, seeing as she herself has been letting herself and her friends ignore the laws of the city they rest in.
Also Cadence might be in her own Crystal Empire now, depending on where we are at continuity wise.
The only thing you really need to worry about in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is that fungus that feeds on gamma radiation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus
If you piss it off it turns into Goombas and attacks you
4461551
Point, but there seems to be more going on on Twilight's end. Plus only Her and her escorts, who are under guard, are in Canterlot. And so far they had done all they can not to threaten the locals beyond just being there.
This chapter.
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4461601
Moving what amounts to an army and base into local borders can usually be constituted as an act of war.
4461738
Who are lead by the ruler of said nation, thus in a way are guests there at the invitation of said ruler. They arrived in an unpopulated part of Equestria and except for the away team, they have kept out of the way of the locals after making contact.
4461785
One of the rulers of said nation.
The others may not be happy about it.
Cadance is in the Crystal Empire with her husband and yes, we'll see them in future chapters.
4461540 urr i maek metalurgy
4461738 Isn't Celestia still a Princess? So technically she's simply relocated a portion of the Equestrian army.
Bitch twilight must learn tsktsk just noticed this, guards can have weapons but no one else? Tsktsktsk
I have a feeling Twi is going to go over bored with this and wreck something, and it's going to be a big mess that Celly is going to have to clean up. I hope Twilicorn gets shot in the hoof if that happens, is it mean to think that? Sorry but I think she may need to be taught a lesson of 'Don't mess with Celly's humans'.
As for how the Ponies are reacting to the Humans? classic racism, 'if it's not a pony treat it poorly', 'if it's not pony you can steal from it', and lest we forget 'if one turns violent start a panic and attack all of them'... okay that last one hasn't happened... yet.
4461823
The stalkers would not be considered an army of Equestria at all, simply a mercenary army recruited by Celestia.
Though at the same time considering how trigger happy this group is, and Celestia's fondness for insulting her own people despite following the rules actually set forth for the city
A declaration of hostilities provoked because she's trying to get others to follow the orders of the city they live in, and the fact that he was about to KILL her for it. Shows that she might not be competent enough to lead the kingdom regardless, considering her favoritism in allowing the stalkers to gleefully break rules left and right as she'd feel more towards them.
Celestia's acting a bit odd..
Discord... maybe he is even less truly reformed in this story than in show canon?
Twilight may be mildly discorded... or the power is just going to her head.
Twilight enacted a stupid no weapons policy? Or is she just attempting to enforce an old one? Is it even on the books in the first place, or is she just pulling the "because I say so" stunt?
The youg pocket dictator should get a little more mentoring...
4461874
You don't say.
4461873
Well, he wasn't about to KILL her here and there. Also, you need to know more about Strider's character to understand his reaction.
He's literally programmed to respond to a perceived unknown/threat with extreme prejudice.
4461802
Luna may be on her sisters side with this, Luna may also now what it's like for a Vet after a war and may feel for her sister, I'm only worried about how Twilight is going to react.
4461874
Could be in shock from being overloaded by the stress of the "thermaptic"? shock, Twilight taking her place(plus saying the city was hers) and now the idea of Discord being free and acting 'good'.
4461968
Putting a loaded barrel to her forehead isn't about to kill her after disabling her magic?
4461989
Not if he had the Safety on and was just trying to scare her into not touching it... it is a GUN after all.
4461989
And forcibly taking your weapon away is not a threat, of course.
Celestia is such a boss. "Vano? Shut the fuck up" lol
4462046
Having the weapon within bounds of city custom that doesn't allow for it is a threat in itself, she was getting him to comply, while Celestia seems to not care at all and lets him bend it.
I keep wanting to compare his actions to a modern military, which I know STALKER is really not due to the survival in the zone, but hnngh it trips everything I know about military service to be hostile in that sort of state to a local custom.
4462062
The thing is, you're seeing it from only one point of view. Sure, Twilight said Strider wasn't allowed to have a weapon. But think about it: how could Strider know? How can we be sure that's the truth and not something she made up on the fly? I'm just trying to make you see the issue from another POV here.
As you pointed out, Stalker =/= military. That's true. Now, if you knew Strider's character more, you could understand his actions. He's literally wired to respond to the events that way. Unknown = wary, weapon at ready; threat = kill with fire, no matter where, how, when, who or what it is. Simple as that. If anything, Twilight is lucky to still be alive.
It's all explained in StZaS.
4461813
WE HAVE THE BEST SCIENTISTS IN AMERICA, JAPAN, AND GERMANY WORKING TO FIGURE OUT WTHAT YOU JUST SAID!
4461423 the problem with magic is that it is totally dependent of the unicorns and in most cases limited only to then, you will not see many issues about this on a city like canterlot since it is pretty much an unicorn city, unlike ponyville which is majorly an earth pony town where such technological advances are almost nonexistent to the point that some houses still use candles or torches for illumination, also i dont think twilight is OOC after all the only being that was able to truly make her stop being OCD she is was gone from that dimension for a year, and noone besides luna having the authority to tell her that she was wrong has made her fall into the "I am a princess therefore i am perfect, and whatever i do is right" mentality
4462127
Bah I have no clue what I was trying to say with my previous post.
As it is, I suppose Celestia's personality has been grating on me with her point of view simply enough. That and the fact that they have only iron despite having trains and the like, where-as magical technology could have progressed in another way..
I suppose I'll simply have to read on.
4462240
Except for the fact that other ponies have a passive magic of their own, as Tirek has finally confirmed. Not to mention the fact that several technological advances one wouldn't need in a post-magic society that has differences in magic tech.
Remember ponyville has a HYDRO-ELECTRIC dam nearby with trains for long ranged goods. I'm pretty sure their technology is skewed because of what advances the magic the three tribes can produce, while in some area's they'd be behind, in others they'd be ahead. Unlike humans they can tame the land down to creating their own seasons and goods and control the weather far easily, while at the same time producing far more crop goods then your average human, and that's just getting into what the Earth and Pegasi can do.
Also as for Twilight, she has to deal with an alien race that isn't well known while her Princess seems to be favoring them in quite a few area's while bending things for them.
i have noticed that this story is starting have to tendency to end each chapter with a surprised exclamation from celestia
4462246
All according to plan then.
4462321
I suppose so then.
Sorry if I'm being nitpicky, I nitpick things I enjoy and want to keep reading.