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

by aegishailstorm

Chapter 24: Spur to Confusion

Chapter 24: Spur to Confusion

Nikolai was stumped for the moment, as was Willow, as was Flashpoint. The dark and dreading Synthwave coming from the Stalker's Radio wasn't much of an encouragement either. Although, it did set the atmosphere.

"We don't even know if those are Enclave pegasi." Flashpoint countered. "What if it's just some scavenging griffons or Dashites flying on by?" Nikolai facepalmed.

"Well, I no hear them I busy suffer for This thing!" He held up the gas analyzer. "Is was very fun! Much painful." The Stalker set his hands in his pockets.

"I am kidding, of course. Now! How do want to draw straws to go outside? Because is to crazy even for me." Willow, you are sneaky. You attempt, yes." The batpony sighed, and readjusted the straps on his battlesaddle.

"Fine Nikolai, you and Flashpoint head up onto the second floor-" The Stalker held up his left hand and chuckled.

"Oh, you think you go without me? Hah! I said you investigate, I follow for support. We are friends, remember? No question. Let us go and see who is up there." He turned to Flashpoint.

"You are backup, follow at distance behind me." Nikolai swapped magazines to one loaded with Steel Core Ammunition and chuckled softly, spinning his radio off as he did. But then deciding against it, and switching it back on. If he was going to get into a potentially unwinnable gunfight, then he at least wanted some nice and delightful music to soundtrack it.

"Nikolai, what are you doing!?" Flashpoint demanded. The Stalker drew a gloved finger to the tip of his mask's filter, then waved forward.

"Sh! Wait and see Flashpoint, this is good idea, I swear!" The Zebra murmured something under his breath as the trio stopped just a few meters from the grandiose front doors of the structure.

"It's louder here." Willow told them. "There's gotta be at least 4 of them, maybe more." The Stalker gripped his AK 101 and laughed.

"Blyat, awesome! I am feel bit of bloodlust! These things drive me insane! Nightmare, follow me. I cannot stand!" Willow glanced back at Flashpoint and motioned his slit eyes in Nikolai's direction. Flashpoint shook his head, though he understood what the Bat pony must have been hinting at. Their Stalker friend was insane, and he was once more pointing it out. As Flashpoint went back to his own thoughts, Nikolai's radio began to blare with static, and, after a few taps of the frequency knop, something peculiar began to filter thought.

"Make this as fast. It shouldn't be that difficult, command said this location is empty."

"They've been wrong before, be on your guard."

These two separate voices intrigued Nikolai, who turned it up, and listened intentively. Willow's right ear snapped to the Stalker's radio. "Who is that?" He asked him. Nikolai brought his finger back up to his masks filter, tapping it twice, before gesturing for them to back up and away from him.

"Anything with a spell matrix?" The voice over the radio asked. "Yep." A second, gravelly voice replied with a firm grunt. Nikolai turned his radio's volume up a bit more, and looked back at his friends.

"Чоловіки, я вважаю, що щойно відкрив комунікації Enclave! I was right after all! No other group I meet have flying ponies with radio, or power armor! Not even Steel Ranger's, to my own knowledge!" Willow nodded in agreement.

"We've gotta be cautious about this then- Nikolai? Nikolai!" The Stalker had crept off out of sight midsentence. Nikolai considered this a personal afair, and he intended to treat it as such and figure out just what these armored pegasi wanted.

"This who damn place is nothing but melted slag, so how is this one Ministry building still standing?"

"Best guess? Magical shielding. Intel says this place handled Balefire weapons before the war." Nikolai rolled his eyes at that statement.

"Could they trace me?" Nikolai asked himself. He thought about responding to them out of the blue, but then he recalled what that had resulted in last time. He wasn't sure he'd be able to get away so easily this time if he was discovered, plus, he had his two companion's who'd be caught completely off guard if the Enclave decided to rush in guns blazing.

"Ah, I got it! I pretend I am force of godlike power! They get scare, and fly away in terror! Da, sound like good idea!" Nikolai crept out into a room with windows the bordered the courtyard of the facility, he judiciously snuck over to the window and peered out through the mothballed curtains.

"Where are you, where are you?" Nikolai's eyes drew themselves upwards, towards the end of the road leading up to the facility, about 100 meters away, and flying at least 10 or so meters off the cracked asphalt, was 4 armored pegasi. But these didn't look like the ones he had encountered back at Sunrise Valley Airbase. For one, they seemed to be wearing armor that was much lighter and compact then those he had come across before.

"Hm..."

Nikolai brought his rifle up, resting it's stock on his shoulder and pressing the eyecup of it's PSO rifle scope up close to his eye to get a better look at the group. He noticed that first three's manes were exposed, bright arcs of color that stood out against the grey sky even from this distance. The armor seemed much less robotic. Like a thick bodysuit with bits of armor plate plastered over it, and. Their helmets seemed to bear some similarity though, and the weapons under either wing looked like more compact versions of the energy weapons the other's had used. They were definitely Enclave. The fourth one was different. Rather than an exoskeleton, this pegasus wore what looked like a bulky white hazmat suit with an orange visor.

"They came prepared. I could probably take them, but I do not need extra fight for now. Last resort Nikolai, last resort. " The Stalker reminded himself, cracking his knuckles, he proned out on the floor and listened to the chatter though his radio.

"You sure this place is empty?" A fourth voice asked, slightly muffled. "That must be the one in white." Nikolai murmured.

"This is a quick recovery mission, nothing more. We break in, search the place, retrieve our quota, and get out." Nikolai couldn't have that, his friends were in here. He had to divert these pegasi somehow before they discovered him... And potentially called reinforcements.

And so, with his hands tied, the Stalker did the only reasonable thing he thought to do in the instant. He activated his radio's transmitter on the same frequency as the receiver, and uttered an ominous, slightly sarcastic;

"Ooooo...."

Through the radio, repeating it a second time an instant later, just to be sure the group outside got the message.

"Which one of you did that?" A series of confused murmurs came through the radio's speaker. "Where is it coming from then?" Nikolai chuckled, and instantly regretted it.

"Who laughed!? Who the fuck was that!? It wasn't any of you, so who was it?" The Stalker bit his lip and swiftly answered back with.

"Eh... Is nobody- I mean nopony, go away please now friend! Is all good, over and out!" Nikolai swore under his breath, this was shaping up to be a repeat of Sunrise Valley from his perspective. For all his grievances, the Stalker wanted no part in another run and gun fight against magical creatures that both outnumbered, outgunned, and outpaced him in nearly every aspect. His only present advantage was that of radio communications, and surprise. These strangers from above the clouds didn't know where he was, and Nikolai intended to keep it that way unless he absolutely needed to start shooting. At which point, he'd go from zero to a metaphorical hundred and wouldn't stop fighting until he and his friends were safely out of harm.... And he'd blown through his emergency supply of Vodka.

"To hell with this, change frequencies." They did, and Nikolai followed them to the next. "Whoever you are, you're messing with a secure military transmission. Cease it immediately or you will be terminated." The Stalker laughed, and shifted his rifle. Getting another good look at the pegasi as the lead two grew closer and higher, whilst the 3rd armored one stayed back with the one in the containment suit.

"They're guarding that one, I bet if I could kidnap him. It would make good explanation! Plus, new flying friend, maybe? Hah! Nikolai, you must be on your best for this!"

The Stalker reached into his rucksack, and pulled out a bottle of Vodka, he uncapped it and took a single, short swig. Then redonned his mask, and waited until the pegasi left his immediate field of view. He quickly and clumsily scrambled out of the window. But as he did, he heard a crashing noise behind him, followed by;

"Nikolai, what are you doing!? They'll see you! Get back in here before-"

"Nyet! Is fine! I am very stealthy!" Willow tapped Nikolai on his shoulder. "Then stop yelling bud, please, for all our sakes. Come on back inside, we'll find another way out."

"Hey, back there! What was that?" A voice called out over his radio. His blood ran cold as the line echoed through his speaker.

"Nikolai... Who is that?" Two black shapes appeared almost out of nowhere from right above them. Without another word, Nikolai pounced back through the broken window and took off out of the room with Willow flying low right behind him, the two skidded right past Flashpoint, and then stopped and took cover behind some crates. Nikolai turned down his radio.

"What did you do?" Flashpoint asked his voice full of bewilderment.

"I make no excuse, please-quiet. I must speak with Enclave." He pulled the radio from his vest and held it up to his mouth, pulling his mask up just enough to be able to speak clearly though it.

"Hello? This is Enclave, structure is already clear. No need to come in, is all handle."

"Think they bought it?" Flashpoint asked Nikolai. The Stalker shrugged. "I do not no, I am simple Stalker, you see. Not impressionist. I can do pretty good Scottish accent though!" Willow looked at him in confusion.

"Who? What's Scottish?" Nikolai breathed out a heavy sigh. "Nevermind."

"What!?" The voice shouted back through the radio, "Who is this? What's your designation!?" The Stalker facepalmed, and then compulsively answered with a resounding and gallant "Bacon!" There was silence, followed by what worryingly sounded like a sonic boom, and a massive crash on the northern side of the building.

"Hey! What is going on?"

"Are you from another branch?" Another voice asked over the radio.

"Eh... Yes. Please, no ask question." A scoff filled the airwaves.

"We can settle it when we get inside. We're all after the same thing." Nikolai's radio clicked and beeped, and the opening notes of, "Come and Get Your Love." Began to play over both end of the channel. Nikolai heard heavy metallic hoofsteps down the corridor from which he had come.

"That ain't right, be on guard." Nikolai's radio cut to static.

"Blyat!" He stuffed his radio back into it's pouch and drew a grenade from another. He turned and looked at Flashpoint and Willow.

"I throw, we run, da? Good?"

"I'm starting to regret having met you." Willow grumbled. Flashpoint just chuckled. "Get used to it. He's like this all the time."

Willow pulled his cloak back up over his head, obscuring his entire face except for his faintly glowing slit eyes. "What!? Trying to get everyone killed in horrible ways? Those aren't just raiders, that's the Enclave!" Nikolai bid them both do be quiet, and then motioned for them to make a move for an office about 10 meters down the adjoining hallway.

"Hold on, if we're really gonna do this," Willow insisted, "You'll need a distraction." With that, the bat pony shrank away into the deep shadows in the far corner of the room, darting off and away. Leaving a confused Nikolai to fend for himself. The Stalker ducked up from behind his concealment, and was instantly greeted with the orange glare of a power armor visor. This was a new pegasus, clad in armor much bulkier than the others, almost like- but not the same as what he had previously seen back in Sunrise Valley. For a brief instant, the two simply stared at one another. Seemly unsure of what do to. Nikolai assumed that this one had simply heard a call for backup. They didn't know what he looked like.

Well, now they did. Nikolai panicked, and ducked down just as a arcs of laser light began to pulse over his head. Burning holes into the wall behind him. He pulled his grenades pin, and tossed it, he heard it ricochet off the ceiling, and then hit the floor below, and explode in an earsplitting crack of dust and fire, Nikolai was off with the grenades pressure wave, taking advantage of the dust filled corridor to make himself a quick getaway to the confused and angry shouting of the pegasi behind him.

"Drop your weapon! I'm gonna kill you! Asshole! And, the ever affectionate, 'Ground Humping Surfacer', were among the insults and commands hurled at the Stalker and his zebra companion as they fled door a corridor along the buildings southeastern wing. Nikolai kicked in a door after a few tries, and then rushed in, and smashed the reinforced windows with a combination of crowbar and rifle stock-work. Picking the armored Zebra up with both arms and practically tossing him through the window before jumping out on his own. It was then when Nikolai's radio crackled back to life, playing a song so fitting that not even Nikolai himself could have picked better if he had been given the opportunity.

" ...Swing as hard as hard as you can sing... It'll still mean nothing..."

"Where did Willow go?" He asked Flashpoint. "He said he had, 'distraction'. Where is distraction?" Flashpoint stomped his hoof into the dirt.

"Shoulda seen it coming, it had to happen sometime... But you went 'n brought a knife to an all out gunfight..."

"I knew it, that little night stalking star loving creep abandoned us!" A crashing noise echoed from within the building, followed by a painful sounding scream of pain and shock. The Stalker's grenade had worked. At least, it had hopefully incapacitated one or more of the lightly armored pegasi. The more heavily armored one he knew, would still be after them. And to add insult to injury, they began to take pulse laser fire from the escort guard across the courtyard. A red beam struck Nikolai in his chest, burning and charring away aramid layer and green cotton, and warming the armored plates and his chest underneath ever so slightly. Causing the Stalker to take cover behind a rusted out car with steel siding. He frantically patted out the flames and scowled under his mask.

"Blayt make friends! No want hospitality? Fine! I shoot!"

Nikokai raised his rifle, kneeling down and canting his gun off to the side, he peered through the scopes glowing reticle, sighted his target in at about 110 meters, set it's upper chevron on the brim of the Enclave pegasi's helmeted head. And pulled the trigger twice just as it turned to get a better shot. Two loud puffs of gunsmoke left the end of the AK 101's suppressor, followed by two sonic cracks and the sound of brass hitting the pavement. The pegasus dropped like a sack of potatoes. The first shot had found an unarmored spot in the pegasi's lower shoulder, and the second struck home right above the visor, splintering it and knocking them to the ground and out of sight. Nikolai turned his gun on the pony in the hazmat suit, but shook his head, and instead turned his attention to the front entrance of the building.

"Flashpoint, watch the sky above us, da? No want sneak up!" Flashpoint nodded, and canted his submachine gun up at a 70 degree angle, positioning himself by a hunk of concrete rubble in such a way so as to avoid direct fire from above. Nikolai kept his gun up, and pulled back to his friend.

"You know!?" Nikolai shouted at him, "It would be much simple if we had radio for all three of us!" He turned his rifle on the armored pegasi getting his bearings on the stone steps just 50 or so meters away. He took aim down his rifles iron sights, and fired off 5 shots in quick succession, directed around the pony's neck and head region. The steel cored rounds bounced off, and shattered in a bright shower of sparks and shrapnel. This did nothing but scratch the armor plates, and cause the pony to redirect his attention towards Nikolai. Who peeked up through his optic and took another shot at the orange visor. Getting the same effect as last time.

"Blin! Is practically M855! What do you want with me!?" Nikolai swore out loud and flipped off the armored, who turned, charged a weapon and fired off a bolt of blue energy which sent Nikolai scurrying back away from his cover as it melted and burned away.

"Hey, I have joke! Please, hold! The pegasus is directing directed energy weapon directly at me! Blyat! Good?" A volley of red laser beams fizzled against the piece of rubble Flashpoint had taken cover behind, Nikolai drew his weapon away, and sprinted over to Flashpoint, taking a knee to take a few shots at a second, lightly armored pegasus, who went tumbling away.

"See, I am good at fight! Even if they cheat with magic laser and-" Another bolt of plasma seared itself against the concrete, deforming and melting exposed rebar in the process. Nikolai drew another grenade, and began to advance closer to his intended target. Shouting back at Flashpoint, " need to take down this fellow before we can get out of here, otherwise, we'll be meat soup on the asphalt!"

All of a sudden, he caught a glimpse of a dark shape on the roof. A quiet whine echoed across the courtyard.

"Willow?" His mind asked.

The loud boom of a short barreled 12 gauge shotgun followed after. Striking the armored pony on the steps right in between the wings, arcs of lightning shot across the armors surface, and the suit stumbled and collapsed in a loud, 'thump!' The figure disappeared off the rooftop. And a few moments later, Willow Lamp walked up behind Flashpoint and tapped him on the shoulder.

"How- What's wrong with you!?" The Zebra shouted, almost being tempted to lower his gun to muzzle height with his Thestral companion.

"Helping you and Nikolai out of a bind, again! EMP Shotgun shells, curtesy of Iornshod firearms. Hey, Nikolai!"

"Willow! " The Stalker let his grenade fly in spite of an already downed target, sprinting back to the debris pile as it detonated, flipping the already paralyzed suit of power armor on it's side. In the distance, two sonic cracks echoed out across the landscape, and 4 additional armored equine forms left the cover of the cloudlayer, heading directly for the Ministry building, and, very likely, Nikolai and his friends. And then, almost simultaneously a pair of glowing green figures rose from the ground in the opposite direction and flew to meet them.

"Explain on road! I no want get caught in between alicorn and Enlcave! Would be very painful!" With no other introductory elements needed or wanted by any of the 3 for either faction. They all took off at full sprint, rounding the far side of the Ministry grounds and taking off town a wrecked and desolate city side street, after running and galloping for about 10 minutes, they decided to take shelter in the charred ruins of a department store. They settled right in behind some collapsed concrete pillars near the checkout section.

"Oh... Long short day, da?" Nikolai asked his friends. They both nodded in agreement. Flashpoint wiped the dust and concrete splinters from his armor.

"Here, have some Vodka for troubles." Nikolai offered Willow his bottle of Vodka.

"No thanks, I don't drink." Willow responded. Nikolai rolled his eyes.

"Blin, ok... Suit self!" He reclined back behind an dusty countertop, and removed his mask. "I enjoy fight! It was painful!" Nikolai cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck. Chuckling he took another swig of his drink, followed by a swig of water from his canteen. The Stalker reached into his rucksack and fished around until he held piece of stale bread in his left hand.

"Ah, I feast!" He stared over at his wearied friends. Willow looked well, but Flashpoint seemed exhausted. Even though he was trying to hide it. The Stalker sighed, and broke his bread loaf in two.

"Please, you want? You need?" He waved the bread in the air. Flashpoint shook his head. "No thanks, I'm not hungry." He rolled over onto his side and shut his eyes with a pained sigh. Nikolai's eyes shifted to Willow, who smiled awkwardly.

"What do you-" The Stalker adjusted his tone of voice." What is it? Please, tell me."

"Nikolai." The batpony sighed. " You were the reason those pegasi found us in the first place."

"Da? So what? Is no issue! We get away, and they..." Nikolai glanced up and over the counter.

"They no follow! Listen, only sound of light rainstorm outside! This is good, yes?" Willow sighed, and crept closer to Nikolai, baring his fangs.

"It's not the Enclave I'm worried about!" He said in a hushed whisper. Nikolai finished a third of the loaf, and washed it down with a bit of Vodka.

"What do you mean? What is it? Did you hear something else? Is it those alicorns we saw? Ghouls, perhaps? Look at where we are, would be no surprise, yes? Besides, be happy! We are one step closer to getting to Canterlot!"

"Nikolai, I've gotta ask you, don't you think others have tried?"

"Yes, other ponies! I am not pony! I am not magic creature! I am Nikolai an- Oh, blayt! you're right! I did hear something! What is that?" The Stalker quickly redonned his mask, and scanned the empty overturned shelves and burnt clothing racks behind him with his rifle light. The beam cast shadows across the linoleum floor as it cut through the dust. Sure enough, Nikolai had head a noise in the back of the store, just beneath the second floor's first floor overlook. His rifle reflected off of something as it darted around.

"Invisible alicorn!?" Nikolai kicked Flashpoint awake. "Hello!? Pst! Wake up!" Flashpoint shot upright, his ears on a swivel.

"What do you mean? What- What alicorn?"

"Watch our back. Hey, who is out there!? Speak!" Willow rolled his eyes.

"Nikolai doesn't know how to be quiet, does he? At least his charm makes up for it." The batpony thought to himself with a lighthearted chuckle as he uncovered his carbine and Nikolai braced his gun against the edge of the countertop.