Fallout Equestria: S.T.A.L.K.E.R

by aegishailstorm

Chapter 18: Long Way To Go

Chapter 18: Long Way To Go

Nikolai and Flashpoint made their way across the expanse of bare concrete that separated them from the various support structures that constituted the minority of the Whiskey Springs Water Treatment Plant. They walked below an overhang, dodging hanging bits of florescent lighting tube and rebar as they went along. The two through a pair of smashed glass doors. They were greeted by the reflection of ambient light from their Steel Ranger escorts helmet visor. She waved a hoof at them and began to walk further down the hallway. Before uttering a single phrase.

"Have at it Nikolai, I don't have any need for it myself." He glanced down the hallway. Past a rusty drinking fountain, was a set of vending machines. Contained within, was a wide selection of a strange sparking beverage labeled as "Sparkle Cola". Nikolai looked at the ancient soda with a degree of intrigue. But didn't stop to try and pry the machines open. Rather, he continued on down past the bones of long dead ponies until he came to what appeared to be a break room. Inside, was a water cooler, the liquid within was only mildly irradiated. But it wasn't quite what Nikolai was looking for. That was when he threw open the cabinets and behind one very angry radroach, was roughly 20 liters of clean, unirradiated drinking water.

"Blin, Flashpoint! I found it! Come and see!"

"Nikolai!?" The zebra's voice called in excited surprise. "Why did you walk past this stuff!?" Nikolai paused, and walked back out into the ruined hallway.

"What has you so worked up?" He asked, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and stepping further back the way he came in. Flashpoint was trying to break his way into one of the machines.

"It's Sparkle Cola!" Nikolai raised a curious eyebrow behind his mask.

"Yes, that is very apparent. But why are you so interested in it?" The Stalker walked forward, until he was by Flashpoint's side. Nikolai unslung his rifle and swung it through the glass barrier, sending shards flying everywhere and exposing the glass containers within to almost jittery Flashpoint's hooves. He instantly began to shovel glass after glass into his saddlebags, carefully organizing each one in between other loose items for safekeeping.

"Whoa, whoa, what is big rush? Is just weird looking orange soda. Probably warm, and iradiated, and... Well, it might not be rotten. Because of airtight bottle and machine seal, but still. That is nasty."

"Easy for you to say." Flashpoint murmured, preoccupied with his current endeavor. "I can't remember the last time I had something sweet. These things almost taste like real carrots!"

"You've never had real carrots?" Nikolai asked suspiciously.

"Fresh fruits and vegetables are worth their weight in caps and bullets in the Wasteland. Although rumor has it, the Pegasi- wherever they went off too, can grow them up in the clouds and on the peaks of mountains!" Scorch Mark's mechanical voice echoed down the hallway. Before immediately adding;

"HEY! Did you morons find that water I told you about!?"

"Da, yes! We did, can you please stay little longer?" Nikolai shouted back. He heard the clanking of metallic hooves, followed by:

"Oh FUCK YOU!" And a downtrodden, "Fine. It's not like I have anything better to do." The Stalker got the feeling that the Steel Ranger was rolling her eyes as she said that. Nikolai left Flashpoint to sort his newfound treasures out while he went to look for Scorch Mark. He found her just down the hallway, halfway through disassembling a computer terminal with more precision than any exosuit user he had ever met.

"Is there any reason in particular why you are so interested in that thing?" The terminal beeped and sparked, then, down the hallway, he heard what sounded like a metal grate sliding open down the hall.

"Protectipony activated. Die. Zebra scum!" And the noise of heavy metallic footsteps echoing down the corridor.

"Hey, I'll bet you 5 caps that you can't kill that thing." Nikolai peaked out into the hallway. "Flashpoint, take cover!"

"What!?" The zebra cried back, still in the process of stuffing himself with carrot flavored Sparkle Cola. Nikolai turned back towards the robot pony, watched as a bay door on either side of it opened up. Each revealing a set of gun barrels and a feedlink of ammunition.

"Zebra detected." The voice within it chirped, a mechanical arm chambered a round within both weapons. Flashpoint noticed this clear and present threat to his life and scurried for the building's exit.

"Cyka что вы наделали!?" The Stalker exclaimed angrily. He hastily dropped the pin on a grenade and tossed it down the hallway towards the mechanized monstrosity. The ensuing blast not only destroyed the robot sentry, but also caused its power core and munitions to cook off, resulting in sent heated pressure wave down the hallway which kicked up dust and debris, cracking the door frame Nikolai was standing behind in the process.

"Well I'll be a radroaches ass." Scorch Mark said with an exaggerated chuckle. She reached into a nearby puddle of rubble, and fished out 5 dusty metal bottle caps. She opened the claws on her Power Armor's hooves and extended it to Nikolai.

"Expected something more entertaining, but, you earned it." The Stalker took the little trinkets, wide eyed, he responded with a simple affirmative grunt.

"Hey, you!" Flashpoint's angry voice called out, Nikolai stepped back out into the corridor after a quick glance in both directions. He was met with a very unhappy Zebra. He stomped right past Nikolai and marched right up to the Steel Ranger. Tapping her right in the center of her chestplate. She stood firm, looking down at him, but not reacting.

"Don't think that just because you have that armor you can mess around with others like that like it's nothing. Some of us actually enjoy-" He turned to Nikolai, who wavered his hand in the air and pointed back at Flashpoint.

"-Actually prefer being alive!" He murmured harshly. The Steel Ranger laughed. " Nothing happened, and your weird friend here made 5 caps. Pretty good if you ask me. And besides, you look intact. " Nikolai stepped in between the two bickering Equines.

"Listen, I see no reason why you should not become friends. You might like each other, but... Is for another time, I find that if I wait, I lose opportunity. Follow me, Flashpoint. Let us fill up the canteens and get back off on our journey to..." Nikolai paused for a moment.

"Somewhere! Da, somewhere sounds nice. Is much better than nowhere! Unless you are the introverted, then, is very nice. " He gave an awkward thumbs up. An expression which did nothing but confuse the both of them.

"Well? We can do the walking and talking!" Nikolai waved at both of them, beckoning them to the stash of clean water he had found. Still intact, even after the explosion in the hallway. The Stalker checked the water for any impurities, and, when he found none, began to carefully refill the several canteens in his possession. Any spare clean, sealed, and unused container was filled to the brim. Flashpoint did the same thing with his. Although, Nikolai noticed that he seemed to be more interested in the 'Sparkle Cola' he had procured a moment earlier than actual clean water.

" What should we do with the rest?" Flashpoint asked Nikolai, without saying another word, the Stalker removed his mask, waved it back and forth in the air for a few moments, then pulled back his hood, exposing his bare head. He leaned over, took a 1 liter bottle of water, and poured it over his head, drying it off after a few moments with a jacket sleeve. He looked back at Flashpoint, who seemed almost agast at what he was doing.

"What?" He asked cheerfully. " Is getting stuffy in mask, and besides, I haven't had a shower in... Let me think. Two weeks now, is least I can do with water I cannot take." Scorch Mark shifted slightly, then answered with an overtly sarcastic;

"Only two weeks mister Wastelander? You sure you didn't just pop out of a Stable or some secluded mansion bunker somewhere?"

The Steel Ranger drew closer, almost as if trying to determine if the patched holes in his jacket and dirt on his boots were real. Flashpoint looked almost sick at the action. But Nikolai just ignored the both of them, redonning his jacket hood and mask in silence. From there, the three wasted no time whatsoever leaving the building and heading off towards the lakeside. A body of water only slightly less contaminated than what Nikolai had seen back in Dodge City, but not as bad as the 'stuff' he had encountered in the water wells around Splendid Valley.

"I'll acompany you into town, but no further. Got that?" Nikolai checked his watch. And began to walk away absentmindedly down the hill towards the barbed wire perimeter fence and Whiskey Springs. The others followed behind him.

"Hey, what did I say about the walking and talking?" The Stalker blurted out as he stepped out onto the road he had previously followed to the Treatment Plant.

"Well, what's on your mind?" Flashpoint asked him. Nikolai pointed up towards the cloud layer.

"Earlier, you were talking about how those winged ponies- the pegasi, can grow things up in the clouds, how does that work? And earlier still, you said that they had entire cites up in the clouds? Did you mean-"

"No one knows what the hell it means because no one's ever gone up there to see it. The only things you'd ever be able to find out about it is stuff from old, prewar archives and, if you're lucky, a Dashite." Nikolai halted, and held up his left hand.

"A who and what?"

"Ex Enclave members, fugitives, outlaws, ect." Scorch Mark responded. Trotting up and ahead of Nikolai. " For some reason or another, they left the cover of those clouds up there. And decided to live life on the surface. I've only ever met one. And he said it was the worst decision he had ever made. "Nikolai chuckled. "Well, if I could fly and was given a choice between this and cloud paradise kingdom. Well... Is not big choice." He laughed again to the discomfort of both Flashpoint and their Steel Ranger escort. Nikolai noticed this, and stopped.

"But it is not like they would even take me. I sort of..."

"He got into a gunfight with them." Flashpoint answered quickly. "I wasn't there to see it. But he definitely seems sure of it." The Ranger slowly turned her head back to Nikolai, who nodded.

"Yes, it is true. But I was at that airfield first! I did nothing wrong." He crossed his arms. "Self defense. And self preservation."

"How did you get away?" Scorch Mark asked him, just as they passed by a corroded sign that signified the city limits, and a dump of old vehicles.

"Running. I shot a few times, and ran."

"And... They didn't give chase, they just let you go?"

"Da, exactly." He could almost feel the uncertainty radiating off of Scorch Mark. She was thinking that something wasn't right. " They could be watching you, right now. What other reason would they have for letting you go but to spy on you?"

"Eh... Incompetency?" The Stalker suggested, tapping the trigger guard of his rifle as they entered into the city proper. They were immediately greeted by an assortment of armed guards carrying a mixture of shotguns and pistols and wearing surprisingly uniform grey armor adorned with a green 4 leaf clover emblem.

"You! Steel Ranger! What brings you here? And why do you have a Zebra and a..." The off putting pink and white unicorn examined Nikolai curiously.

"What are you?" Nikolai set his hands in his pockets. "I should find a nametag and write; Pryvet, my name Is Nikolai, I am a Human. I am friend. And, in big red font: PLEASE NO SHOOT AT ME! Emphasis on the 'No' part." This statement seemed to get the point across to the guard, and he and his dozen associates stepped aside to let the 3 pass. Most appearing to try and hold in their fear at the sight of Scorch Mark.

"You aren't gonna be any trouble now, are ya?" The guard asked again.

"Nope." Nikolai uttered. "No trouble to be found."

"Hold on, before we leave," Flashpoint stopped one of the guards." Would it be ok if I asked you where you got those sets of armor? They look much nicer than what I am wearing right now. " A couple of the adjacent ponies laughed.

"Well they ain't for sale. We found them at an old Ministry of Wartime Technology facility that's about a day's walk north of here. There's still stuff there, if you care to try your luck, but it's right along a pretty well traveled route, so you might have company." Nikolai gave them a thumbs up, and continued along in silence.

"So... This is where I leave you." Scorch Mark uttered, stopping just 100 meters past the checkpoint.

"Are you sure? We could use the company." Nikolai asked. Flashpoint kicked him in the boot. The Ranger turned around.

"I have a package to deliver to somepony in town. It's a private affair. You'd be better off not trying to follow me."

"Yes, but... Are you sure?" Nikolai asked again. The Ranger let out a sigh. "Yes, Nikolai. I am. Perhaps our paths 'll cross someday. But for now, I have to go. My fellow Ranger's need me." With that she turned around, and began heading west. Her armored hooves kicking up dust ask she disappeared down the street.

"She never even once thought to ask you why your eyes were glowing." The Stalker muttered.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Flashpoint asked his friend. Nikolai cracked his knuckles, and then his neck.

"Let's go and see if we can find a marketplace to see if we can sell off some of the things that we have found on our journey. I would also like to acquire some more 5.56 by 45 ammunition for my gun. Another 100 rounds should suffice." Nikolai checked the magazine in his rifle, raddling it around a bit before inserting it into his AK 101. He then the various pouches around his plate carrier while still walking. He couldn't replace his rifle magazines or buy new ones here, but he could keep the ones he already had in good order and well fed. He looked around at the various Wastelanders eyeing him with suspicion. He went to approach one.

"Hello, my name is Nikolai. Can you please tell me where I can find-"

"Keep following the road, you'll find it soon enough Nikolai. " A passing red and yellow earthpony responded awkwardly.

"Thank you for calling me by name!" He shouted back, waving to the stallion, who hurried away without saying anything. The Stalker shrugged. " Is nice to meet polite folks. Even if they are scared spineless."

The two made their way through the ruined portion of town until they came to what few buildings seemed actually intact. That being the center of town and everything northward of it. They walked past several more uniformed town guard. A few of which nodded to Nikolai, but otherwise, none attempted to approach him. They stepped into the town square, and began to look around the assortment of improvised shops and old storefronts.

"Whiskey Hotel, quite creative." Nikolai grumbled, gesturing to the tallest building around, an old fashioned 6 story hotel with a barely functioning lit up sign out front. Right off to it's side and past a handful of stumbling, intoxicated, and heavily armed ponies was an open half tent with a painted sign out in front of it with the base silhouette of a pistol painted on it and above, the words, " Guns And Ammo." And below, in smaller font, the words, " No refunds".

"Well that isn't concerning." Flashpoint said with a smile, turning to Nikolai, who walked up to one of the 2 salesponies and began to glance over the piles of assorted ammunition, organized into old produce containers and arranged on tables and on the floor. He walked over to a stack of brass cased full metal jacket 5.56, and turned to ask the shady looking salesponies how much it was per round.

"Our fella's raided an old Survivalist's stache just on the other side of town for the shotgun shells and .308's. Everything else came from some very generous, hehem... 'Bulk donations'. We're selling per the pound. 10 caps here and now and you can take however much you can carry stranger." The Stalker paused, then reached into his rucksack and set 10 bottle caps on the table of the two salesponies, then proceeded to shovel an armful of 5.56 into the loose corners of his rucksack. Drawing a few chuckles from the nearby customers.

"Easy there partner, what do you need that much ammo for? You planning to kill every raider in the Wasteland or something?" He turned around, and was met with a strange stallion covered in brown drab robes. A set of googles covered his eyes, and a torn cowboy hat adorned his head, the only uncovered part of his body was a pair of bushy brown ears which perked up out of his long, bulky coat.

" Well... No, just some of them friend." Nikolai answered. The masked stallion shook his head and flicked his ears. " Planning on going out into the Wasteland, huh? You're one of them explorin' types, you look the part, alright. That's a pretty nice rifle you've got there." Nikolai chuckled, and raised his gun up from it's sling. The stallion took a closer look, and then pulled back some drapes on his side, revealing a carbine and a revolver mounted on opposing sides of him. A battle saddle, if Nikolai remembered correctly.

" Is not for sale, if that is what you are asking."

"Heh, no, no. I wasn't. I have my own. " There was an awkward pause, and, as Nikolai had learned, if a person didn't walk away after the first 5 seconds of conversation, or start shooting. Then they probably wanted more conversation. Nikolai knelt down and reached out with his gloved left hand.

"Please to meet you, my name is Nikolai. What is yours?" The cloaked stallion reached out with his right hoof and shook it.

"Hello there. It's nice to meet you, I suppose. You know, you're the first creature in this town who hasn't shied away from conversation."

"Hey, pal! Either buy somethin' or get lost!" The salespony shouted from behind the counter. The stallion simply tipped his hat, and calmly began to walk away. Nikolai turned to say something to defend the stranger, but when he turned around, he saw the stallion, trotting about in the middle of the street, a wagon passed by, and, when it was gone, the pony was nowhere to be seen.

"Чекай, чекай... що? Wait, wait... What?" The Stalker scratched his head in confusion. He looked around again, the stallion was nowhere to be found. He considered trying to see if he could get a technician at the in town clinic to examine him. But quickly decided that it wasn't worth the money. And he doubted they were worth anything anyhow. They'd probably just prescribe him some psychedelic drugs that would make him end up as pile of hellhound food on the side of the road.

"Oh well, now... Where the blyat is Flashpoint?" He zipped and buttoned up his rucksack, and left the Guns and Ammo shack with very little on his mind. He headed across the street to the closest bar he could find. Just inside, was Flashpoint, attempting to mix a shot of Whiskey with Sparkle Cola.

"Nyet!" Nikolai cried, pulling him away from it. "Is bad idea!" He looked at the Barkeep. A rather suprised unicorn mare, who furrowed her brow at him.

"He already paid for it." Nikolai sighed, and facepalmed.

"Blin, fine. This one drink, and then you meet me outside. I want to get going. Although..." He glanced past the barkeep at the shelf of alcohol.

"Do you have any Vodka?" The mare stared back at him. "Indeed we do."

"Can I take a... Bottle to go?" The mare levitated a 12 ounce bottle off the shelf, and passed it to Nikolai. "Here, nopony else seems to have any interest in it. It's just sat here the past... I don't even know how long. But it ain't like it'll ever go bad. " A few patrons laughed, and raised their glasses as well as a creature with hooves could. The Stalker stood up, took the bottle from the mare's magical embrace, stuffed into a paper bag, and then stuffed that into a padded section of his rucksack.

"Thank you." He turned to his friend, "будь ласка, please be fast." The Zebra turned back to stare at the strange concoction on the table. Quickly, Nikolai reached for his friends gun and took it from him.

"No drinking and shooting at same time."

"But you do that all the time!" Flashpoint protested. The Stalker simply shook his head, and walked out. "You can have gun back when you leave." The Stalker sat down on a bench outside and tapped the corroded wooden boards on it's backrest until Flashpoint eventually stepped out of the bar 15 minutes later.

"We have been in this market place for almost an hour man, and this is what you've done with you time? Just what were you doing in there? I heard shouting." The Stalker asked his friend."

"I would rather not talk about it." Flashpoint grumbled, winking at his friend. "Can I have my gun back now?"

"Sure." The Zebra took it in his hooves, and slung the sling back around his neck, racking the action. "Never take this from me again."

"Alright, alright. Not that you have a problem with that, since you seem to keep losing them so often." The Zebra tried to come up with a counter, but simply replied with;

"Yeah, you are right."

After they had gotten everything sorted out in town, and Nikolai had made back the money he spent on ammunition through selling what he had salvaged from his raid on the raider village. The two set off North of the town, on the outskirts, they came to the range of hills on the far side of town. Nikolai was first to scale them, and stopped at it's crest.

"Hey, Flashpoint!"

"What?" His friend asked. Nikolai waved to his companion. " Come and see." The Zebra trotted up the crest, and stood by his friend.

"It sure is a lot to take in, right Nikolai?"

Ahead of the two Wastelanders, lay the vast expanse of the Desolate Equestrian heartland. The highway that stretched through town faded off into the distance, with the hulking wrecks of hundreds old cars lining the sides like a scene out a war movie. They could see everything for hundreds of kilometers around in every direction. The distant peaks of barren mountains, the crests of rotting cityscapes and power pylons in dozens of different locations all around, a massive white spire stretched up above the clouds off to the Northeast. And, in the center of it all, a massive mountain range whose peeks just barely scraped the cloud layer. A thick pink haze covered a faint outcropping of ruins atop a solitary mountain which stood front and center off the entire scene.

"That, is Canterlot. Equestria's pre apocalyptic capital." Flashpoint said. He looked up and over at Nikolai, who slowly removed his mask and muttered.

"Holy mother of God. This... This is something else. We are done! Done! Finished! Screwed!" He swore something under his breath, and stomped his boot. Before calmly breathing out, redonning his mask, letting his rifle fall on it's sling, checking his PDA and his watch, and finally saying to his Zebra companion.

"Well... I do not know where we are going друг. But we have a long way to go." Nikolai sighed, and stretched his legs out, kicking corroded asphalt underfoot.

"And a short time to get there. Well... Is not really true, but is fun to pretend, yes?" Flashpoint just laughed, and raised his right hoof.

"I will never understand you. Will I?"

"Here, have the music for your troubles my friend. " Nikolai's radio began to faintly play 'Bandit Radio' again as the two walked off down the road in a cheerful demeanor. The Stalker silently wishing he had a camera to capture the moment.

Comments

[WindigogoGadget]

Man they've crossed some serious distance. Tsundere Steel Ranger, ain't that new.

[Ciphers]

"Well... I do not know where we are going друг. But we have a long way to go." Nikolai sighed, and stretched his legs out, kicking corroded asphalt underfoot.

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