Chapter 2 - Greetings
Nightmare Moon was only beginning to follow the trail of the ape she had awoken too when she heard a growling come from a nearby cluster of bushes. Even though it was night and moon hidden behind the storm clouds above her enhanced vision allowed her to see a pack of dogs emerge, all growling at her.
Baring her own fangs she growled back at them. It took her a moment to realise that these dogs in fact had no eyes, just empty sockets.
Realising that the beasts wouldn't be intimidated by what they couldn't see, Nightmare instead focused her telekinetic grip on one of the sticks she had strapped to the sack on her back. Readying it out in front of herself like a club she took note of it's shape – as the blind dogs began to advance on her – how it reminded her much of a crossbow that gryphons used, it had a trigger after all.
Trying her theory she pointed her weapon at the closest dog and pressured the trigger. A thunderous bang struck Nightmares ears, causing her to flinch as plum of fire erupted from the weapon. Looking back at the beast she had attacked Nightmare now beheld a barely recognisable corpse which had been thrown back from the force of whatever this foreign weapon was.
Wasting no time Nightmare took aim at another dog and fired the weapon again, this time watching the result of the weapon. The vile looking dog's head exploded into chunks of bone and flesh before the rest of the body collapsed onto the ground.
Hearing a bark to her side Nightmare barely dodged as one of the dogs leapt at her, she tried to use the weapon again but to no avail; the weapon was mute. She jumped aside as another dog attempted to jump on her. Deciding to go with her original plan again she used the weapon as a club and slammed it on the head of the nearest dog stunning it, using her opening she quickly charged it and impaled it on her horn.
The disfigured hound let out a howl of agony as Nightmare raised the impaled beast with her horn, with a flick of her head she sent the dog into a tree; she heard a satisfying snapping sound when it impacted. The dog whimpers trailed off quickly, blood pooling around its broken body.
Looking back there were now only two dogs remaining, both were now keeping there distance, barking and whimpering to each other. Readying herself she unleashed a ferocious battle cry and charged them, causing them to sprint off with their tails between their legs.
Nightmare cut off her charge allowing the beasts to escape, she wanted to punish them for daring to attack her, but she also knew she was in a hostile land and needed all the strength she had. Nightmare sat down and allowed herself a moment to catch her breath, still trying to recover from when she woke up.
Once her breathing returned to normal she stood up and returned to following the trail left by the ape she had scared off. Sooner or later she knew she would catch up to it, Nightmare only hoped that it would still be receiving of her.
_____
Nightmare Moon had been following the trail for sometime now. Clouds were beginning to give way to the rising sun, the warmth was grudgingly welcome.
While Nightmare still wanted to bring the gift of eternal night to Equestria, she could not deny the warm sensation of the rays striking her cold damp coat. While being an alicorn Nightmare was reassured by the knowledge that she had a higher resistance to many things - such as temperatures - than the average pony; however this did not mean to say she was willing to be reckless, she knew that prolonged exposure to the elements would eventually cause her trouble, and right now she was only at a fraction of her former strength.
As the light levels began to increase with the rising sun, Nightmare noticed the outline of what appeared to be a small two storey house. With new found energy, she picked her walking pace up to a trot, she hoped to find her ape there or at the very least get into some shelter and spend some time resting.
As Nightmare approached the house she noticed a few things about it, firstly was its condition, the paint was faded all over and chipping off, the next thing she noted was how all the windows were boarded up, and finally the door itself appeared to be made of several pieces of wooden boards of varying length and shape, crudely built into the form of a door.
Walking up to the door, Nightmare knocked on it gently. Waiting a few moments she was rewarded with nothing. Somewhat annoyed she knocked again yet harder this time...still nothing.
Furrowing her brow she called out. “Is anypony home?”
Sighing Nightmare Moon decided to see if she could see in through a parting in the boarded up windows, only for a loud bang followed by the sound of splintering wood a moment later; causing her to duck down to the ground. Looking back she saw the door open up and the familiar ape creature walked out, a long length of wood in it's hands topped by a surprisingly long knife, she would have called it a spear, yet it resembled some features same as the weapon she had used to dispatch the twisted dogs earlier.
Upon noticing her, the creature raised its weapon at her, Nightmare's eyes opened wide with fear.
“WAIT wait wait wait,” Nightmare called out with desperation.
The creature cocked an eyebrow at her, lowering its weapon ever so slightly.
“I...uh, I believe these belong to you” Nightmare said shakily as she pulled the items off her back and levitated them over to the creature who looked at them for a moment, weapon still half raised.
The creature looked back up at her for a moment muttering something unintelligible to itself then sighing.
“...Come inside then, and no funny shit,” the creature spoke dully picking up the sack and two weapons and returning into the decrepit building.
Nightmare stood up and followed. Inside the house was barren except for a few things, in the far corner was a pile of sticks and branches; a small fire was flickering in a crudely cut barrel placed in the hearth. Pressed up against the opposite wall was a chair with a broken back and table which bore heavy scarring, two small papery packets and a small metal tray sat on top. To her immediate left was a ladder which lead to the upper reaches of the house, which the ape was climbing up.
Looking back down on her it spoke again, “Close the door, we don't want mutants barging in.”
Complying Nightmare closed the door, locking it with its steel bolt. She then went to sit next to the fire, throwing a few small branches on with her magic as she did.
Only now was she beginning to notice how weak her reserves were, branches trembling in her telekinetic grip. However as Nightmare was beginning to relax, she felt a magical presence from the upper floor...
_____
Alexei could hardly believe it, the equine creature had found him, not only that it had also brought back his kit and loot. Crawling up into the attic he sat down on his bedroll and began to examine his things. First he looked at the sawn-off, both hammers were now resting forward, flicking the latch he opened the barrels up, both shell popped out, looking them over they were spent.
Looking through the backpack next he pulled out it's contents, none of which had been disturbed since he had set out with it. Lastly he picked up the AKS looking it over, the weapon itself appeared to be corroded heavily; though from what he had heard, everything seemed to deteriorate faster in the Zone.
Alexei tried to pull the bolt back, but it refused to move. Trying again yet harder the bolt still stubbornly refused to move. Standing up he rested the rifle against the wall and kicked the bolt down, this time it opened slightly, raising his boot again, he slammed down harder, the bolt opened the whole way this time.
After giving the gun a brief look over he determined that it was worthless to him, it would cost more to take it to a technician and have it repaired than it would to just buy a new one; knowing the prices the Zones technicians charged. Sighing he set the gun down.
Alexei instead decided to attend to his guest, whatever it maybe he gathered it was female from its pleas a moment ago. Gathering a few fresh bandages and the remaining half loaf of bread he stuffed the items into his backpack and descended back down to the lower floor.
The equine was sitting in front of the fireplace, both of her wings were slightly raised, eyes closed. Alexei threw the pack onto the table, causing the equine to jump to alertness, he noticed how some of the bandages had red patches on them. Taking out the fresh bandages and bread he looked back at the equine.
“We're going to need to change those bandages,” Alexei stated pointing to the bandages before continuing, “and I assume you're hungry, yes?”
“I gue-” the equine began but was cut off by a low growl, who then looked away in embarrassment.
A small smile cracked itself onto Alexei's face as he held out the bread, a faint silvery-blue glow encased the bread as it floated over to the equine to mumbled it's thanks and sat back down in front of the fire eating the loaf.
Alexei himself sat down on the chair, pulling the bandages out. Busying himself he grabbed the pack of cigarettes and matches he kept at the table, lighting himself one while he waited. When the equine had finished he gestured for her to come and sit next to him.
Once next to him, Alexei began unwrapping around the shoulder...to reveal that the wound was now nothing more than a gently oozing cut. Alexei re-bandaged the wound and moved on to the others, which yielded the same results, the minor wounds had healed entirely, while the more serious were just shallow cuts.
“I have to ask,” Alexei began while putting his cigarette into an empty can, getting the attention of the equine, “who and what are you, and how is it that your injuries have healed this fast in such a short time? I've only been here for about three weeks, and even from the stories I've heard, you look nothing like what the Zone would spawn.”
“I am Nightmare Moon, the true ruler of Equestria. As for what I am, I am an alicorn; we have higher natural resistances and metabolisms,” Nightmare Moon said, holding herself in a higher stance, before deflating and continuing, “and I can only assume I am no longer on Equis.”
“Not even remotely, you're currently on Earth, in the country of Ukraine. Trapped inside the exclusion zone of the worst ecological disaster in recorded history,” Alexei replied with mock humor.
“Trapped? What's stopping me from simply walking out of this exclusion zone you speak of,” Nightmare Moon asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Aside from government forces guarding the perimeter, nothing much besides the mutants which will probably attack you on sight, and anomalies which will tear you apart if you unfortunately walk into one,” Alexei replied with a hint of sarcasm.
“These lands sound truly inhospitable, it sound like only a fool would dare remain here,” Nightmare spoke indignantly.
Alexei chuckled at her response before saying his own. “Fools we may be, but the Zone is a wild land, laws of the outside do not apply here, both those of the men who rule the outside world and those made by nature herself.”
“So you stay here because you do not agree with how your country outside of this Zone, it seems suicidal to me,” Nightmare said giving him a flat look.
“It's not that I didn't agree with the outside, it's more a case of it didn't agree with me,” Alexei responded, pausing to light another cigarette before continuing, “no matter where I went, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't make a life for myself out there, so I sold off what I could and brought a few things with me here. The life is free, yet dangerous, you must work each day just to survive.”
Nightmare Moon scrunched her nose up as Alexei exhaled a cloud of smoke.
“I still fail to see the allure here considering the perils involved,” Nightmare coughed while waving a hoof to clear some of the smoke away from herself.
“One thing that almost everyone here in the Zone shares in common is the hunt for wealth. But one must search far and wide just to find what one is looking for,” He replied.
“So everyone here is attracted to this forsaken place out of greed, pray tell; what is it that would drive you to this,” Nightmare asked, now curious to what would drive beings to such a place.
“Anomalies here spawn these things called artifacts, most usually emit harmful radiation, others can absorb radiation; all can provide benefits to the wielder, including the benefit of selling for a nice sum of money,” Alexei explained, a smile growing on his face.
“Have you managed to acquire any of these artifacts,” Nightmare asked pointedly, “you don't appear to be rolling in wealth.”
“Well as you can imagine getting supplies into the Zone is no easy task, considering the military cordon and all, so things aren't cheap,” Alexei shot back, “and yes I have found a couple of artifacts in my time, but because I'm on contract to the local trader I only get quarter value from them until I finish by deal. I even have two up stairs.”
“I'd like to see proof of this, O great treasure seeker,” Nightmare exaggerated, waving her hooves around with a mischievous look.
Glaring at the alicorn, Alexei put his second cigarette into the tin as well before replying. “Firstly, unless it's a bandit or a member of one of the major factions, everyone here is referred to as a stalker. A treasure seeker is some crock-pot bastard searching some old ruin for lost items from civilizations past.”
This seemed to only feed the alicorn's amusement.
“Secondly, stuff you I'll show you them right now” Alexei continued, going back to the ladder and climbing into the attic once again.
Alexei made for the foot locker where he kept his lead case. Pulling out the tarnished metal case as well as a small bag where he kept his slime jellyfish he made back to the ladder.
Sitting back down at the table he first pulled the cord on the small bag and pulled out the jellyfish, the slimy texture still sent shivers down his spine.
“This here,” Alexei said pulling out the precious artifact, “is called a slime jellyfish, most stalkers still just refer to it as a jellyfish, but there are two specimens to be had. This one here has a green slimy coating around it see, and it absorbs radiation from whoever is touching it; a real lifesaver. The other specimen is known as a crystal jellyfish, which does emit radiation, while providing a weak protective field around the wielder, slightly slowing incoming forces,” Alexei explained, his own expression becoming smug as the alicorn looked over the artifact in front of her, her expression changing to an odd one of wonder and revulsion.
Holding the artifact in one hand, he unscrewed the lid of the case and removed his second artifact and showed it to the alicorn, it was a rough disk shape with several smaller glowing disks within it.
“This is another multi-specimen artifact called stone flower, this particular one is also known as a stone petal, it grants the wielder a weak resistance to psy-fields; while emitting radiation. The other is known as a gold flower, it also emits a protective field, but one that makes the wielder more resistant blows against them; also emits radiation,” Alexei explained again.
“I have two things to say,” Nightmare said after a few moments of starring at the two artifacts in wonderment. “What is this radiation you keep speaking of, and why can I sense some magical power coming from that...stone petal?” Nightmare asked.
“Radioactive fallout is a harmful and invisible form of energy that can have severe negative effects to any living thing, it still lingers from the 1986 disaster, but is also emitted by artifacts. Radiation itself kills off cells in the body, small doses can be managed and cured with anti-rads or certain artifacts. Higher doses can cause serious sickness and lead to death, only heavy doses of anti-rads and the strongest of anti-rad artifacts can save someone, even then the effects of radiation sickness may kill them,” Alexei parroted, remembering one of Wolf's lectures.
“As for this artifact, I dunno, maybe you have natural psionic powers, I mean you were levitating that bread before,” he continued dismissively.
The alicorn hummed to herself for a moment, the look of deep thought on her face.
“I have a theory I wish to test, may I hold this stone petal for a moment,” Nightmare asked suddenly.
Alexei looked at the artifact for a moment before responding. “Well I guess, you'll probably want this one too” he said tossing the jellyfish in his hand.
“That shouldn't be necessary, I only want to inspect it for a moment,” Nightmare replied.
Shrugging Alexei handed over the artifact in question. Nightmare held it in her hooves concentrating all her attention on the artifact.
A moment later the stone petal began shining a brilliant white light, so much that Alexei had to shield his eyes as it gave one last great explosive flash. As his vision returned, Alexei heard a dull thunk, he beheld that Nightmare Moon was breathing heavily and the artifact was now laying on the ground, yet it was deformed into a rough ball emitting a soft white light.
Eyes wide in disbelief Alexei reached down and picked up the artifact, it took him several moments to realise what had happened.
Whipping out his PDA he quickly navigated to the encyclopedia and began scrolling through a list of commonly found artifacts , until he found one whose picture matched that of the artifact in front of him.
Cobblestone.
The result when an artifact is put under too much stress, either from interaction with other artifacts, constant use, or life expires. Cobblestones emit a weak light source and look like nice decorations, otherwise serves no purpose. Scientists already have ample specimens, so the market is limited.
Value – Very, very low. Current est. 200R
Emits no radiation.
It took Alexei a moment to process what had just happened, anger quickly rose in him and he slammed a fist on the table glaring at the alicorn who jumped at his outburst, breathing still ragged.
“What did you do,” Alexei said in a dangerously calm voice.
_____
Nightmare felt like a bolt of electricity had just shot through her, while the experience was unpleasant to say the least, she felt like she had regained a portion of her magical power, yet she felt like she was about to loose the scrap of bread she had just eaten.
She jolted back to reality as the ape slammed a fist onto the table and gave her a cold glare.
“What did you do,” the ape spoke dangerously calm, seeming to try and restrain itself from any further outbursts.
“I...I told you I...felt magical power...coming...from the artifact” Nightmare said between pants, she took a moment to compose herself before continuing her explanation, “I thought that I might have been able to draw some power from it, much like how one would draw water from a pond. But the moment I made contact with it, all of its power rushed into me, I never expected nor intended it to happen,” Nightmare apologised shakily .
“DAMNIT! I had to crawl through shit and mud to get to that thing!” the ape shouted, lighting another one of the white sticks, taking a long draw before releasing two jets of smoke from its nose.
Silence hung heavily, with tension hot in the air. One of the apes palms was resting on the table, fingers drumming away, while the other was supporting the smoke stick.
After a few tense moments the ape groaned and rubbed his palms down his face.
“Alright, now I've gotta try and explain to Sid why he won't be getting his artifact, and try and get some for supplies by bartering with stuff I got from the crash site, as well as my savings,” the ape finally said, extinguishing the now stub stick in the tin, “and I'm just about out of cigarettes as well, joy.”
Nightmare felt a bad sensation rising in her, one which caused her to fidget in place. She couldn't place why, but the thought of ruining this creatures livelihood didn't sit well with her.
Is this guilt? Nightmare asked herself. Is this what ponies feel when they do bad thing...how do they live with themselves with such knowledge.
Staring into the fire she then reflected on how she nearly plunged Equestria into eternal night, and the effects it may have had on the land.
No...no the ponies shunned the night, they needed to be shown the beauty of the night, that it wasn't something to be frowned upon...besides I'm sure I could have solved any problem that may have risen, Nightmare thought to herself sternly. No she had to return to Equestria and finish what she started a millennia ago...But how though, she was trapped with only a scrap of magical energy, not anywhere near enough to perform anything as complicated as a warp spell.
Nightmare snapped back to reality again as she heard the loud clunk of the bolt on the door opening and the hinges creaking. The ape was just about to leave when she called out to it.
“Wait...I, uh...I'm sorry for ruining your artifact, I am...is there anything I can do to help you,” Nightmare apologised.
Sighing the ape closed the door.
“No there's not, if you come with me you'll get shot, either by the military that patrol near the railroad embankment, or by the rookie stalkers at the village where the trader Sidorovich is at,” the ape said.
“Well there's got to be some way I can help you,” Nightmare said.
The ape sighed again scratching the stubble under its chin before replying. “I dunno, there's not much you can do for me right now, just try not draw attention here. I'll leave you my shotgun seeing as how you've managed to use it, just in case anything tries to break in.”
Nightmare nodded slowly as the ape pulled the weapon out of it's large coat, with a few palms full of the red cylinders.
“In case you don't know how to reload this gun here's how. Flick this latch over like so,” the ape said while demonstrating the procedure, “and pull the sections apart like this, then remove the spent shells; all you need to do is load fresh ones in, close the gun up, and pull these two levers back, then you're ready to shoot again...got it,” the ape finished explaining.
Nightmare nodded in the affirmative.
“Good, I probably won't be back till later this afternoon, maybe drawing closer to the evening. While I'm out I'll see if I can get some equipment for you, if you're stuck here and really want to help me; you may as well help out there,” the ape spoke again, while gesturing outside.
As the ape unlocked the door again Nightmare spoke up again. “You never told me your name.”
The ape paused then looked back at her. “I didn't did I...the names Alexei Sharov, and before you ask, the name that my species use is human,” Alexei answered, almost having read her mind, and then continued speaking, “If you get hungry while I'm gone too bad you ate the last loaf, there's some water in the green case upstairs if you get thirsty however, bathroom is anywhere but inside here.”
With that the human left, closing the door, the bolt sliding shut and falling into its locked position.
Nightmare looked around the damaged house, noticing the fire was low again, she tossed some more wood into the hearth.
Looking back at the ruined artifact on the table she picked it up with her telekinesis and sat in front of the warm fire. She felt wrong for having destroyed the strange yet beautiful object.
What is this sensation...it feels similar to what Luna was experiencing during our imprisonment...is this what guilt really feels like, Nightmare brooded glumly.
She decided to try and make right her damage, focusing her magic on to the softly glowing orb, trying to reverse the effects.
Gradually, the glow increased...
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Not all radiation is like that ionizing radiation causes sickness even then it takes a high dosage of radiation in a short time to cause damage, you can be in a Uranium mine and be just fine (so long as you don't breathe in the dust or get any in your blood stream via open cut), you can even touch Uranium and be fine so long as it's in it's natural state (once again as long as you don't have any open cuts) you even HAVE radioactive elements inside you body and you take in some from food, water and the air we breathe.