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

by aegishailstorm

Chapter 32: The Big Rock Candy Mountain

Chapter 32: The Big Rock Candy Mountain

Sure, Nikolai could have spent more time right where he was. Perhaps he could have taken time to recover from his multiple gunshot wounds to his arms and legs that still itched like a flaky cactus from time to time. Perhaps he could have found a way to clean himself up. He finally removed his jacket and undershirt to reveal that he was absolutely caked in filth. But he had already decided that nothing like that would ever dissuade him from his daily goal. The thing he had been making his way across the Wasteland for since he had first left Salt Cube City. Whether he knew it or not back then.

Canterlot.

After a filling breakfast which thankfully didn't lead to any sort of food poisoning, and a hurried series of goodbyes with Winding Sprocket and his family, Nikolai and his companions were ready to leave town. And leave town they did. They made their way out of Garden and headed Northeast, over the raised highway that led over the hills just before Mount Canterhorn. The closer and closer they drew to the city on a mountaintop, the more the roads became clogged with the hulking wrecks of ancient vehicles whom had tried in vain to escape the bombardment of dark magic that had consumed the city. About an hour into the day, the scaled a boulder speckled hill above a collapsed tunnel that led to the bridge over the now empty Canterhorn river.

As they drew closer, the true size of mount Canterhorn finally reared it terrible beauty. At well over two kilometers in height, it was the largest thing around from horizon to horizon. The massive swirling maelstrom of Pink Cloud pulsed from time to time with bursts of light and what Nikolai could only describe as pink lightning. Every time a titanic bolt of dark magical energy arced about the cloud, thunder followed soon after. Even after the Radstorm, and the Emissions in the Zone, it was something to behold. And he intended to take it all in for what it was worth. Regardless of the terrified opinions of the ponies around him, and the very vocal concerns of his two friends. Regardless, both of them were in full support of their bipedal friend.

"Nikolai, I'm hesitant to ask, but what exactly is the plan for when we get there?"

"We shall debate that when gates of city are in sight. Do not worry!" Flashpoint chuckled uncomfortably at Nikolai's reply, and scratched behind his head.

"Ok... Willow? How about you?" His question was returned with an answer in the form of an absentminded chirp.

The bat pony seemed almost entranced by the sight of Canterlot. In all truth, Willow was, he had flow across the Equestrian Wasteland with the city as a backdrop for over a decade since he had left his den. But never once had he actually even contemplated the act of trying to visit it. Even the mere proposal of it sounded insane to him. But he had learned that with Nikolai, that word could very quickly become warped. Any sense of conventional planning was quickly lost below The Stalker's fiercely optimistic outlook on the world. All of which seemed to be brought on by little more than his persistent good mood, and rampant alcohol consumption, the inner workings of which seemed to allude everyone around him except him. It wasn't a large issue to him, of course. But, 'large' under that matter of context takes on on a different meaning when a man is standing face to face with a mountain riddled with biohazards, radiation, magical weather, and God only knows how many monsters. Yet, all Nikolai could think about as they crossed the massive 6 lane bridge across the now barely present Canterhorn river, was money.

But money is only money. On it's own, it might be gold, or paper, or cloth, or a bottlecap. But it on it's own, it is not the root source of happiness. It's a physical good, sure. But... It can be used to 'acquire' items to ease the burden on ones life. And that was exactly what the Stalker in question intended to do.

"But what should-"

"Willow, Flashpoint?" The two stallions looked up and over their shoulders at their friend. " Yes?" They both answered. Nikolai fumbled with the tower on his radio, and spun it on.

"I wonder what the battery life on this thing is? It hasn't died yet. And I have put it through hell. Radiation, beatings, fire, rain. It is load of nonsense. But... It still works. Is miracle of science- What else can I say?"

"Maybe you could try and take it apart?" Willow inquired. "I mean, if it's worked for this long and this far from any strong signals... Then it's gotta be something special, right?"

The Stalker laughed as his fumbling with the knop struck home, and he was awarded with the haunting sound of an old song, barely legible through his radio speaker and filled with static. One that seemed far to fitting for his predicament. It resounded with the name of, 'Big Rock Candy Mountain'. It took a minute or two to realize the irony of it, but when he did. The Stalker couldn't help but roar with laughter. It's a small wonder why:

One evening as the sun went down..

And the Jungle fire was burning...

Down the track came a Hobo Hikin'...

And he said "boys I'm not turnin'...

I'm heading for a land that's far away besides the crystal fountains...

So come with me we'll go and see the Big Rock Candy Mountains..."

The song described a veritable rural paradise. In stark contrast to the mountain ahead of them; toxic irradiated ruin filled with all manner of horrors, twisted beyond recognition by the necromantic Pink Cloud chemical weapon which struck the city. It now stands as a glowing landmark, visible for miles around. A cold reminder that some places are best left forgotten. Except when it came to certain profit bent Stalkers of course. Nikolai drew his PDA once they were across the bridge, and examined his map. All of a sudden, he felt a tug at his jacket. He turned to see Willow and Flashpoint slowly backing away from him.

"Nikolai... Look." Flashpoint tapped on his leg and pointed at something. He glanced up from his device, and was met with a handful of pinkish wisps that hung in mid air. At the same time, his Anomaly detector began to tick, slowly... But, as he stepped closer to the aberration, it whined ever so louder. The patches of Balefire Radiation the trio had had to avoid on the way to the base of the mountain from Garden made his Geiger counter drone in it's typical fashion. But a softly wailing Anomaly detector indicated that they were closer than they anticipated.

"It's mesmerizing, isn't it?" Willow asked his two friends. Nikolai shook his head. "That, is just errant wisp of Pink Cloud. We have not seen anything yet." He waved them back over, and invited them to examine the screen of his PDA.

"We are right near place called Zebratown. Flashpoint, may seem strange- but do you know anything about it? Seeing that you are a Zebra?" Flashpoint curled his brow. "No... I'm not familiar with it." Willow butted in.

"Ah, ah! But it wouldn't take a Zebra to assume that Zebratown has something to do with Zebras!"

"Ok.. So it would thus be safe to assume that it will be something like the Zebras we met a few days ago? All spooky and mystical with cool cloaks? That sounds entertaining." There was a pause in his talking, before he resumed with, "Flashpoint, what is your thoughts?"

"Nikolai- I just told you, I... Don't know." He shrugged." I was raised in an almost constant state of captivity and fleeing. How could I know? Perhaps your map has more information?" Nikolai hung his head, and let slip a fit of temper.

"Is not that kind of map damnit! What? Do you think I have internet connection or something? Blyat! Is miracle it works the way it does already! I would kill for one of those fancy shmancy three dimension full color maps with the ability to call in air strikes! Air strike...." The Stalker trailed off.

"Well, I suppose we have Willow for that, no? But just think about it- Remember Enclave? Or Steel Rangers? Imagine missiles and artillery falling from sky- whenever you need! No price tag! How cool would that be!? Well... We can keep dreaming, no?" He raised his mask and took a swig of Vodka out of enthusiastic spite. The Stalker returned the bottle to his rucksack and stared up at the towering mountain and it's myriad of toxic waterfalls, sparkling and crackling with more of that same entrancing pinkish lighting.

"It is about a kilometer up this road.. And, it lies directly below Canterlot- That cannot be right, no-no... We go straight to Canterlot. We cannot bare to waste any time." The Stalker gazed out across the unsown ruins of what once would have been verdant farmland, but was now little more than flooded rows of toxic liquid.

After a little while, the sounds of the roaring waterfall of Canterlot began to make themselves known, stained with the same pinkish oil slick-like substance that polluted the river and farmland they had just passed by

"It is some thing to behold. I will give it that much, where I am from... Mountains are a rare sight. We have Caucasus and Carpathian Mountains to Southeast, and Alps to the Far West. I have seen a few waterfalls in my life. But this... this is something else! Blyat! My detector really does not like this place already!"

"Which one of them? It's getting hard to keep track." Willow quipped. Nikolai laughed, and discreetly flipped him off behind his back. All of a sudden, Willow shot up into the air, almost as if reacting to the Stalkers gesture. But he wasn't, the little Thestral had spotted something odd off in the distance.

"What is it!?" Nikolai shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. The bat pony swiveled his head around for a few moments, and then set himself back down where he had taken off.

"It's flooded." He told them.

"Flooded? How?" Flashpoint asked him. Willow shrugged, and motioned towards the pulsating magical waterfall in the distance.

"I'd wager that waterfall and it's constituents had something to do with it." The Stalker shook his head in defiance.

"No, no. I don't think either of you can swim, and I have had too many bad experiences in Swamps fighting mutants and avoid toxic puddles to put up with that! I would rather we put up with toxic air than toxic floodwaters. Plus, it is already balls-off freezing cold out here! Do you seriously think that is good idea- Oi Blyat get down!" He snagged his friends and tossed them into a ditch before diving into the thankfully dry ditch himself. An instant later, an alicorn flew overhead, headed right for Zebratown. Which, now closer than before, seemed to be more of a small city than anything else. Either way, the Stalker wanted no part in it. He had his mind on, 'higher things'.

"I wonder what they were doing?" Flashpoint asked his friends as Nikolai helped him back out of the ditch, and dusted his back off for him.

"Is beyond me. And, if alicorns are here. Is best not to bother them. Come, we go to Canterlot proper, and not nonsense zebra look-alike." He once more took up his PDA and examined the topographic map of the local terrain around him.

"Is nothing else of notoriety... And, provide for us that we don't go and try to poke those alicorns on their, 'all important mission of bullshit'- we should be in the clear."

Flashpoint rolled his eyes at the little bit of irony. "Should be? Oh, I suppose it is better than won't be. Unless that 'won't' in question were to apply to us getting out and away from trouble rather than into. But I don't suppose it will make any difference for us in the end."

"I can fly, and... Nikolai," Willow humored him, "You are the best non winged get-out-of-trouble troublemaker that I have ever met. And you can still play the sarcastic type while doing it."

"I thank you for high praise! Maybe I will make you assistant to the assistant regional warlord once I become Cap Emperor of the Wasteland!"

"Assistant to the assistant regional warlord?" The bat pony questioned him. "I take it Flashpoint will eventually be your assistant then?" Nikolai facepalmed and shook his head.

"I don't know! Ok? I work out! These things take time, you know?" Willow once more went on and rolled his slit yellow eyes, cracking a discrete smirk as he did.

About twenty minutes of walking later, and the ground and cracked asphalt under their feet and hooves had begun to take off at a slight incline. Then, a slightly shaper one. Until they were all forced to contend with a long 30 degree climb up hill until the ground eventually began to level out again. It was official, they were on Mount Canterhorn. Nikolai checked his watch, and came to the conclusion that they had just enough time for a brisk snack before it was too late to do so.

With some fumbling, The Stalker took a ravenous hold of a loose protein bar in his pack while his friends helped themselves to some interesting tasting canned fruit from the supermarket two days prior.

"I would suggest you savor it. You no eat up there. Is... How do you say, detrimental for health?" Flashpoint raised an eyebrow.

"And strolling through a magical biohazard isn't? I don't follow Nikolai." The Stalker spun his finger about in the air, motioning for them to get up.

"Hand signals... Do you ponies and such have hoof signals? I never really think too deep about it. Please, we make conversation filler on way to city of opportunity!" He waved the slightly belligerent zebra and, 'supportive' bat pony along as he began to continue onwards at an increased pace.

"So... What kinds of monsters do you reckon we'll find up there?"

"I do not really know." Nikolai responded." I read bit of Wasteland Survival Guide before we left Garden."

"Ghouls? I plead that it won't be like Splendid Valley." Flashpoint shuttered.

"Hopefully not." Nikolai replied cheerfully. "Though... I would say, you probably should put on that chemical suit helmet now. It looked like it had built in filters. Common sense would tell any sane person that, when venturing into such an environment- It would be best if you had no exposed skin. Willow?" The Bat pony took up a strange painters mask and a set of goggles.

"All good... But... I have my doubts. Isn't Pink Cloud supposed to melt and decay everything it touches?"

"Like sulfuric acid... I suppose. Or Fruit Punch Anomaly back in Zone. Is no issue! He reached into his rucksack once more, and booted up the Gas Analyzer, extending a little wand from it as he did.

"Our protective equipment is more than adequate provided we do not venture into area with too high concentration. Basically, mentality go like this: Faint pink or no pink, good! Modest pink... Eh, start to worry! Look like foggy morning... Start run away. Thick cannot see hand- hoof in front of face... Eh, you probably screwed. So... Let us make like drunk houseguest and not overstay welcome! Like Splendid Valley! God, I hated that place. Hey, maybe we meet new Eldritch thing to befriend here, no?"

"That Goddess thing wasn't a friend, she tried to kill me, Nikolai!" Flashpoint commented. "Eh... Aggressive friendship?" Nikolai looked up from the Gas Analyzer that he was busy trying to pin to his utility belt, right beside his Makarov holster on his right hip. All of a sudden, it started to whine.

"N-Nikolai?" Willow asked in a hushed tone, sounding rushed and impatient as the words left his mouth. "There uh- There's a- A ghoul up ahead." Nikolai glanced up from his belt, and was greeted with the delightfully horrifying sight of a little ghoul, sitting on the side of the road and coloring some sort of image on a piece of paper. As typical of a ghoul, it's mane and tail had all but fallen out. And, it was filled with holes. But that wasn't the weird thing about it. A ghoul, even a young looking, somewhat self aware seeming ghoul was uncommon. But nothing that Nikolai hadn't yet seen. What was particularly disturbing about this one, and very likely the thing keeping Willow and Flashpoint behind Nikolai and away from the creature, was the wisps of Pink Cloud emanating from the holes in it's body. Every single one, it was like a putrid flesh balloon leaking poison gas.

The Stalker watched the ghoul for about a minute. He just stood there, watching as she elegantly colored in a piece of yellowed paper with an array of crayons she kept beside herself.

"What do we do?" Flashpoint asked him. "That thing is emitting Pink Cloud!" Nikolai put his finger to his masks filter.

"That thing looks to be Canterlot Ghoul. It eh... Emits Pink Cloud." Willow slowly reached for his Crossbow, but Nikolai slapped it away.

"Don't shoot her yet!"

"Why not?" Willow asked him, "And how can you tell it's a she?"

"Jaw line?" He responded. "I have been here two weeks now. I would think that I know how to tell mare and stallion apart."

"Ok... But what happens when it decides to shuffle over here and turn us into blood pudding?" Willow demanded.

"It does not look like she even notices us. Perhaps she is def?" Flashpoint was decidedly curious, something he probably shouldn't have been, as almost immediately afterwards, Nikolai had dropped his rifle to low ready, and began slowly edging his way up to the filly, until he was just 3 meters from her. Right at the edge of the Pink Cloud that flowed from her body like a leaky tap.

The Stalker planted his boots firmly on the ground and waved timidly. "Um... Hello! Name is Nikolai! I am please to meet you! What is your name?"

No response.

"Um... Excuse me ma'am! Name is Nikolai-"

There are times in a persons life where one regrets having ever introduced ones self to another person. Usually, on account of the now present obligation to address that person in whatever mental capacity they themselves are in at the time. Other times, they could moody, or apathetic, or violent, or to more bluntly put it, they might be complete assholes. Other times, they might simply not be interested in a conversation. This was definitely not the case with the little toxic filly Nikolai had just met.

"Hiii! She replied in a high pitched, hollow voice. "I am SO sorry, but I wanted to get this drawing of mine finished! I didn't see you there! My name is Spring Blossom! It's nice to meet you Mister Nikolai!" Nikolai looked back at his friends, who seemed just a little bit concerned.

"Is nice to meet you Spring! What are you drawing?"

"Mommy says I can't be near regular ponies." She replied. "She says I might hurt them." Nikolai dramatically shrugged, resulting in a little giggle from the filly.

"Oh- Oh! Is ok! I can see it from here! Is really good! Where did you come from?" Spring Blossom had gone back to her drawing, Nikolai patiently waited for another 30 seconds, and then repeated his question.

"What? Oh... I'm sorry! Mommy says I have trouble staying focused. Ummmm... Up there!" She threw an absent minded hoof up in the direction of Canterlot.

"Cool! How old are you, and where is your mother?"

"Oh... My mommy is dead!" She replied cheerfully, going back to her drawing once more.

"I am sorry little one."

"Oh, don't be! I don't like being all mopey dopey! I have a new mommy! She lives in Canterlot and she's just like me! Oh... It seems like she's been with me since forever!!" Nikolai smiled under his mask, and gave her a double thumbs up.

"Fantastic! I will... Leave you be for time being! Goodbye!"

"Byeeee! She replied, her rotten face twisting into a blooming smile, before returning to her drawing.

"Well, that was horrifying." Willow whispered. "Nikolai shrugged again. "What are you going to do about it? At least she seems happy and not like evil tortured soul! Eh... Glowing greenish eyes mixed with all shades of pink and grey look sort of cool. Come! We go to big city to make rich!"

"I do not know what we else might encounter in there, but... It will have to get through wall of grenades and bullets to get to us!" He pumped his fist in mock enthusiasm as the group rounded the the edge of the mountain pass they were on, and came face to face with the massive crumbling walls of Canterlot and the swirling Pink Clouds around them. It was at that moment that Nikolai noticed something that seemed vastly out of place.

A massive unicorn horn, stick up out of the middle of the city, with a faint adjoining pair of mock wings.

"Ohoho..." Nikolai's mouth almost fell open below his mask as all three of his detectors began to tick at once. The parts per million rating on his Gas Analyzer was still far under the safe limit, and there seemed to be little, if any radiation that would be worth worrying about.

"To hell with second thoughts! Let's go!"

Nikolai waved them forward, taking the lead as he marched ahead with his rifle in his hand. At the very edge of Pink Cloud, he suddenly halted, realizing that his friends were still several dozen meters behind him. Probably still mindful of the fact that the both of them wished to stay whole and unmelted.

"Fine, fine." He drew the small sampling wand from the gas analyzer and waved it through the faint wisps of Pink Cloud. The reading came back at just being a mere 10 parts per million. Nothing more that an a mild inconvenience, though, if it were to grow any higher, there might've been a problem had he and his companions not been wearing what they were wearing.

"Is fine! Is fine! He responded. "

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Flashpoint galloped up to him, and Willow followed soon after.

"Count to three?" The Stalker roared with laughter.

"Cyka Blyat!" Nikolai plunged into the Cloud, and Flashpoint dove in after him. Willow, not wanting to leave his friends hanging, followed along with him. Their body shapes leaving impressions in the cloud just outside the city gates as lighting and thunder boomed overhead.

They were here.

Bigger on the inside, truly rang true for Canterlot. Far above them, grey clouds and pink mist fused to create strange weather patterns, below, Pink Cloud pooled in every low and confined place. In the the corners of alleyways, beneath collapsed buildings, in storm gutters and runoff drains. The ground itself was covered in only a thin shroud of the stuff, which Nikolai's boots knocked and waved aside as he trod down the ancient cobblestone road. All around them, the devastation wrought by the Cloud was apparent. Buildings had been stripped of paint, alongside most of their exterior materials. The substance soaked through and into everything. Nikolai heard the distant noise of a building collapsing. It was like the entire city was falling apart at the seems. All of that marble looked to be much, much past it's expiration date.

"All of this damage-it was caused just by the Pink Cloud?" Nikolai and his two friends walked on, amazed by what they were witnessing.

In truth, none of them had ever seen anything quite like it. There really was no other place, either in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, or the Equestrian Wasteland, that could quite compare to it. Lampposts, their glass shattered, seemed to have been almost frozen in time. Little orbs or blue and green light danced about them, as if some magical force was still trying to maintain what had been destroyed long, long before Nikolai's time. With the massive, albeit sort of creepy decaying horn and wings off towards the city center, and the crumbling gilded towers of the Castle beyond that, the entire city brought with it a cold, dangerous, ominous beauty. Not 20 meters past the city walls, the sickening remains of the the Cataclysm that had taken place here finally made themselves known.

Twisted, rotted and melted pink bones lay strewn everywhere Nikolai, Willow, and Flashpoint looked. Sometimes accumulating in piles along the corners of walls. The dead plants and the black trunks of trees still stood in mostly upright positions, all looking like they had been submerged in stomach acid for the past two centuries.

"Is nothing to worry about." Nikolai assured them, "Bones are just bones, they cannot hurt you. But, I guarantee the other things here probably can. Let us hurry up and not push our luck." With that, they continued to push forward.

Nikolai had correctly assumed that they were on main street. It was what ran right from the city gates, up to the Castle in the distance. It was massive, and, in spite of the fact that it had clearly not been designed for automobiles. It was still almost 80 meters across, easily enough to fit a four lane highway. And the trio was making their way right down the middle of it. Where the Pink Cloud seemed the thinnest.

"I wonder what that thing was. I mean, seriously. I get that you are proud of alicorn and all that- But, do you really need to show it off by erecting giant what do you even call that- Urban Art? Blin... I... I am on the fence about this one."

"I..." Flashpoint squinted his eyes. "I actually like it. It's... Fascinating. It would have been amazing to visit this place before The Bombs fell. It's a real shame."

"I agree with you Flashpoint." Nikolai replied. "You know, Chernobyl disaster ruined huge swath of beautiful forest. Boom! Just like that, unusable for next millennium." Lightning arced across the sky, and an eerie, almost song-like wind blew through the city, ruffling Nikolai's jacket hood as he opened his PDA and zoomed in on Canterlot.

"Alright, here is game plan. We need to try and find designated map of city. Then, we pick out spot with highest potential value- We loot, and we run away! Capisce- I I am not Italian, and- Neither are you, is fancy word for 'understand'. So... Do you understand me?"

"Yes, yes. We get you Nikolai."

"We shall try finding map of city over by the giant decaying horn thing. Does it sound weird when I say it like that? Because I am certain it must."

"No. It doesn't Nikolai." Willow assured him. "It's all in your head."

"I have done and seen a lot, I think I know when it is, and is not in head. Does-"

"-Anyone else hear that noise?" The Thestral tilted his head back and forth, and then, pinned his ears back and winced. Nikolai rushed over to him and set a gloved hand on his back.

"What is it? What's happening?" An instant later, Flashpoint pinned his ears back and almost dropped to the ground. All of a sudden, Nikolai's anomaly detector began to scream and whine. Out of the darkness, a Sprite Bot hovered down the road, pulsing waves of white and pinkish energy. It's speakers resonated with white noise, as it lumbered closer, the music on the Stalker's own radio crackled and distorted itself. At about 25 meters, a sudden wave of nausea washed over the Stalker, and his head began to thump with pain. He hadn't felt like this since he had been transported to Equestria. Or since he had accidentally wandered through Controller territory in the Zone, at least. The damned thing was emitting some form of psychic energy.

"Ahh!!" He screamed in rage and took his rifle off safe.

"W-What is it!?" Flashpoint shouted. "Sprite bot!" Nikolai shouted, he raised his rifle, took aim at the corroded speaker system, and and fired four shots into it. All four rounds passed through the rusted speaker system, and, with a crackle, the Sprite Bot sparked and began a decent to the ground. Willow drew his shotgun and fired off a disrupter round that tore the machine's spell matrix asunder, and it crashed to the ground in a loud metallic crunch.

"What was that!?" Willow stumbled back onto all fours with Flashpoints help, and Nikolai rubbed his temples under his mask.

"Cognito hazardous signals. Brain scorching stuff. I cannot stand it. But that thing..." Nikolai walked up to the destroyed Sprite Bot and gave it a heavy kick with his boot, jeering at it as he did.

"We should get going. Willow! Your ears are the most sensitive, you are now living deadly noise detector!" He waved them along, and continued as though nothing had just happened.

As they made their way down the road and ever so closer, they began to grow ever more weary. Between the horrid sights around them, the toxic atmosphere, and the magical aberrations. It was almost as bad as traveling through the center of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Each passing restaurant front or store brought with the paranoid shifting of gunsights from the trios weapons, and the sporadic flicker of Nikolai's rifle light as he switched it on and off.

Finally, after about 15 minutes, The Stalker and his companions arrived at the edge of some Grandiose Park, with the massive Horn and Wings rising up out of the ground directly ahead of them. Past it was a field strewn with blackened grass and skeletal trees. Off in the northwest was Canterlot Castle itself. In all its long past, now irradiated glory.

"Yada, yada, something, something, one small step for man-"

Flashpoint gestured him over, "Nikolai, I found something." He pointed to a corroded plaque which had been mounted to a piece of formerly white marble. It read;

"The Celestian Monument: Dedicated to One Thousand Years of peaceful and harmonious rule by my dear sister." Nikolai gazed up at the hideous crumbling remains of the Monument.

"Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair. It lasted a millennium, a millennium! That just puts things into perspective, does it not?" Nikolai turned to his friends.

"It lasted a thousand years, maybe even more. But, it all ended in two hours. Over what? I may never know. But one thing is too be sure- This has been the greatest-" Flashpoint broke Nikolai's spell of 'speechifying'.

"Hey... Look over here. We've found a map of the city!" Nikolai was led over to a concessions cart, and was awarded with a literal laminated placemat with a map of the city, complete with street and location names.

"Odd... But, map is map! Let us see, we are here." He pointe to the massive white outcropping on the map. "Castle is over there... School for Gifted Unicorns is that way, courthouse over in that direction... And... Oh! There is place called Ministry Walk! Right over there! Across field of death! He folded the ancient map up and stuffed it in the gas mask pouch atop his ballistic vest, then furrowed his brow as he spotted the the small lake of pink cloud tainted water and the small river that snaked through the park and off towards the western side of the city, right off the edge of the mountain.

Nikolai was about to walk away from the concession stand, when he suddenly heard growling. He turned about, and there it was, the damned thing was just standing there, staring back at Nikolai with dead eyes in a puddle of irradiated corrosive Pink Cloud, it was pony-like in appearance only. Pony-like. It shuttered and twitched when it saw him, growling and moaning. Nikolai froze for a brief moment. This thing didn't seem at all like Spring Blossom. It was a proper Canterlot Ghoul.

The Stalker addressed his friends in a firm, soft tone of voice. "Back away... Slowly-" His voice turned dire, "Cyka blyat! Run!" His Gas Analyzer, reading a firm 80 parts per million now, seemed to concur with him that running away would be a fantastic idea.

He turned around and began made dead bolt for the other side of the pavilion, almost tripping over a partially dissolved skeleton, and right to the edge of the dead grass, where he was quickly overtaken by his two companions. Nikolai swiveled around and took a knee, resting his rifle on his right knee, he swapped fire modes from semi to fully automatic and leveled the rifle's red optic chevron on the creatures head.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!" The rounds left vapor trails in the Pink Cloud as they flew through the air.

He fired off three shots in quick succession, all struck home on the stumbling creature, one even tore through it's left eye. But still, it kept shambling forwards towards Nikolai and his companions, now, only about 100 meters off. Nikolai raised his gun again, took a shaky heavy breath through his masks filter, and pulled the trigger two more times. The Canterlot Ghoul stumbled, but then, something odd happened. He watched as the pink cloud around the creature shimmered and worked to repair a portion of the flesh Nikolai's rifle rounds had blown away. Another round struck it dead center. This time, from Willow's Carbine. The shot tore off a portion of the monsters face. And, with one more shot from Nikolai's rifle, it's skull was a shattered mess of jelly esque pieces, and it's mostly headless body was left to wander about aimlessly. The Stalker struck the magazine release paddle with his left thumb and let the magazine fall into his hand, he gave it a quick shake, and determined that it was about half empty, so he stuffed it into a pouch on his vest and replaced it with a fresh one.

"Willow!" He stood up and ran over to his companions, waving the bat pony down in particular. "What kind of ghoul can take five shots of armor piercing ammunition to head and keep trying to kill you? That... Was something else. Another unicorn Canterlot ghoul shambled out of the shadows on the other side of the park, right where they had just been.

"Which Ministry should we-"

"We will hide first, then we will go on and pick place to loot. Yes?" Willow's eyes beamed with sudden light under his goggles.

"I find it hilarious that you can be in a place like this, and still only think about money." The Stalker pulled back the bolt back his rifle as the trio set themselves down behind a dead, claw-like tree and examined the round inside.

"I wonder if that drum magazine would run... I know it will fit, but will it cycle? Oh... I will find out soon! Up first, Ministry of Wartime Technology. I visit place of Arcane Sciences, I do not want to visit another. Is perfectly fine by me." Willow and Flashpoint looked at one another, then back at Nikolai's masked face, and nodded in unilateral agreement.

"Wartime Technology, then Peace, Then... Best for Last, Awesome!" He struggled to his feet and began to make his way across the large expanse of melted and blackened flora towards Ministry Walk with renewed determination.

Another bolt of lightning arced out across the sky as Nikolai and his friends finally made it to Ministry Walk, on the Mountainside half of the park sat a road, and beyond it, six buildings. Each appeared slightly different from one another. Strike that, vastly different. The sidewalk and road alike were dotted with hundreds of skeletons, all frozen in various poses like something right out of the volcanic ruins of Pompeii back on Earth Nikolai ran up to the front doors of the building, and was caught off guard when an alicorn swooped overhead and landed on a nearby building. Followed soon after by two more.

"Willow! Flashpoint! Down! Alicorns!" He barked, pointed over at the glowing mutants which were headed towards the Castle.

"What are they doing here?" Flashpoint stuttered. "I- How!?" Nikolai tried to calm him, "We need to get indoors and out of the open! I do not know! And I do not want to and ask them either!" He waved his friends over and onto a side street, dodging a patch of thicker pink cloud and taking up a position atop a dumpster.

"Look, they cannot be following us. They must be after something else, I say that we let them have their way with whatever it is they want. We will simply have to be a bit sneakier than before, is no issue, really!"

"You say that a lot."

"Is no issue." Nikolai repeated. "Now... Ministry of Wartime Technology." He took a peek out of the side street, and watched as an alicorn flew right on over the building.

"Ah..." He clasped his hands together and turned back to his friends. "No Ministry of Wartime Technology. But! Ministry of Arcane Sciences is right next door! Maybe we could find something worth a few thousand caps in there! Preferably something to deal with monsters here!"

"I though we just debated this out in the park. Do you recall the last two MoAS facilities we've been to?"

"Yes... I saved you in both. Is fun! Is fun! Come on, quick, before the Cloud thickens and whatever is moaning and gurgling on the next street over decides to come over here and try to grab bite of us foreigners! Quick!" He led his friends back up to the threshold of the side street and the greater road ahead of them, and canted his rifle up against the northward wall, looking towards the far side of the park and the direction that the alicorns had flown off in.

"The Ministry of Arcane Sciences is about a hundred meters South of our location, past Ministry of Pease. Make a break for the front doors. I will cover you and be right behind you. Do not stop for anything, understand guys? Now go!" He commanded them, waving his hand down the road. With his gaze fixed on the road, Nikolai listened as his friends brisk hoofsteps faded into the background. He threw a rushed glance back behind him, then peeked a gaze up at the swirl of blue and greenish orbs of light that floated about the smashed lamp post above him.

His eyes were then drawn to the form of another stumbling broadcaster off in the distance, it seemed to be headed away from him, so he didn't worry. He backed up, knocking aside a bleached purple skeleton that was half fused into the concrete, and took off across the street at a hurried jog, he could feel the Pink Cloud vapors rush past his jacket as he sped up. He didn't stop until he was back within sight of his friends.

He bolted up the the double doors and took a look at the adjacent security terminal, prying the corroded hoof of a skeleton off of it with a hefty amount of effort.

All of a sudden, the sudden fuzzy white noise returned, he dropped the foreleg out of confusion and took up his rifle out of a readiness to flee back across the street as another wave of painful nausea washed over him. He pied a glance down and noticed the little arcs of pinkish magic that were being emitted by a device on the dead unicorns leg.

It was a PipBuck. Wasting no time on account of the swarming headache, he gave the thing a firm kick, tearing the leg bones from the rest of the body. He drew his hatchet and gutted the device with a blow right though the screen.

"What was that?"

"Corrupted radio signals." Nikolai answered Willow's question. "Be on the lookout for any broadcasting devices. Unless you want your brain to turn to jelly, he picked the strange device up and looked it over. Most of the circuitry and the now exposed, 'Spell Matrix' was now little more than corroded bits and pieces of scrap and wire.

"Worth it?" Flashpoint raised a hoof. "I'll take it if you don't want it-" Nikolai stuffed it into his rucksack after brushing the rest of the magically corrupted bone off, he set his hatchet back in it's sheath, and gave double paned bulletproof glass a firm kick, it caved in, and a flood of Pink Cloud rushed inside the structure. Nikolai reached for the door handle, and opened the door like normal.

"It was unlocked the whole time, who knew?" Willow cried. Nikolai rolled his eyes. Though they couldn't see it under his masks lenses.

The front room of the structure consisted of a massive set of arcing staircases that ran up along either side of the room, with metal doors leading off to either side, and directly ahead of them. Before that, was a reception desk. Propaganda posters and promotional material lined the walls. Other than peeled pain and faded colors, and the distinct lack of indoor lighting, it seemed almost pristine compared to the rest of the city. Little bits of Pink cloud strained the lower bits of carpet, but it was nothing like the street outside. The Stalker walked up and over to the terminal, and was relived to find neither a skeleton or a ghoul behind it. The ventilation systems 4 stories overhead occasionally emitted stray pink wisps, but other than that, his Gas Analyzer read a mere 1.9 parts per million by the time he was at the staircase.

"Let us see... Oh!" He swiveled the terminal about towards his confused friends, and began addressing them in a singsong voice.

"Someone forgot to lock it in their hurry to get away from Chemical weapon!" He moved the damaged swivel chair aside.

"Do you know how to use one of those things?" Willow asked him.

"Do you? There... That was what I thought." Nikolai replied with a ere of definitive confidence.

"Oh... We have a video! Security footage... And... It seems old. Oh... It has been a while since I have used a proper digital device, let us see! Come!" He waved his friends over, and... With some fiddling, managed to figure out how to access the ancient footage.

"Alright, those cameras out there in the street might be shattered, but any footage that was on them was probably sent to this device, and given it is still intact- It should be able to show us the final moments of those cameras." Nikolai informed his friends.

File Log: Last Recorded Motion Incident...

"C'mon! We have to go!" The footage depicted a much nicer looking version of the room that Nikolai was now standing from the upper left corner.

"Yeah- Yeah- I know! I'm almost done!" A mare by the desk cried, snagging a stack of strange glass orbs.

"That shield above the city won't hold for long! Hurry! Before they close the Stable Doors for good!" The mare finished whatever it apparently was she was doing and took off out the door along with a cluster of other ponies. Two seconds later, a massive shadow blacked out the building exterior.

Nikolai swapped cameras to an exterior view, hundreds of ponies crowded the streets, soldiers, construction workers, emergency personnel, and regular ponies. Mares, stallions, little colts and fillies. The camera panned up reveal a massive soap-bubble like field of magical energy that swirled above the city, stretching from visible horizon to visible horizon. Missiles struck the shield intermittently, snuffing themselves out in brilliant arcs of blue, white, and green like stones thrown into a pond.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a massive cloud of pink smoke appeared, and began to cascade through the city like a giant pyroclastic flow of dark magic. Ponies panicked, and Nikolai noticed that the mare and stallion in jumpsuits from before were nowhere to be seen.

It had to have been one of the most disturbing things Nikolai had ever watched. The Cloud consumed everything it touched. Pegasi frantically took to the sky to try and outrun it, but, with the magical shield enveloping the city, and the large skyline, there was no place to go. Most ponies fled in the opposite direction, some stood still, probably frozen in terror. Others simply embraced one another and awaited the inevitable. Then, the Cloud struck the camera, and everything went to black.

Even for a slightly jaded and thick skinned Stalker like Nikolai, he couldn't help but feel a little sick in his stomach. He recalled his Grandfather's stories of how the exposed core of Chernobyl Reactor Number 4 had made the air around the plant glow blue with ionizing radiation on the night of the first disaster. He was seen what happened to those unlucky enough to be caught out in an emission in the aftermath of the second.

He couldn't quite relate to Magical Nuclear Apocalypse, but this, this struck too close to home, he looked about on the terminal, and found something that resembled a memory box, he took the magical tape recorder and stuffed it into his rucksack.

"I think this is worth taking. For their sake." Willow and Flashpoint solemnly nodded in agreement, Nikolai looked through the desk, knocking off locks with the butt of his rifle. Finally, he found something useful.

"Check this out!" He set his treasure on the table. " Terminal Maintenance and Repair for Dummies." He stuffed it into a side pocket of his rucksack.

"Reading material for later." He began looking about the remainder of the lobby for anything of worth. Other than a few scattered bits of uniforms, there was nothing in there worth taking. He pointed up at a poster which depicted Twilight Sparkle in a lab coat, and gave her the finger.

"This idiot... No better than Soviet Scientists. Have I told you that Eastern Europe back on earth has some of the most dangerous toxic sites in the world? Because of those дурні ідіоти. Shitbrained Idiots. If you make a mess, you at least owe it to home owner to clean it up for them. But no! They just screw stuff up and leave their trash for next people! How inconsiderate!" He shook his fist in anger.

"Shame on you purple lady! You deserve it!"

"Six Ministries, six mares. All that history stuff isn't really my wheelhouse." Willow informed him, ruffling his bat wings as his eyes glowed in the dim light of the building interior. The stairs seemed stable enough, so, with Nikolai at the groups vanguard, they dove into the structures depths.

Dark, cold, and stuffy. Four words that fit perfectly into the interiors description. An interior map of the building revealed a fairly simplistic floor layout. A dozen or so office rooms, with the remainder dedicated to research facilities, along with a massive grand hall and a tremendous library. Corroded and barely distinguishable oil paintings hung on either side of the hallway. He rounded the corner, and spotted his first bit of quarry, some sort of energy rifle, just laying on the ground in an adjoining laboratory. Nikolai slid the failed airlock aside, and took a knee besides it, carefully scooping it up and examining it. It had a large boxy design, with a strange stock and a massive trigger that looked more like the lever on the business end of a staple gun than anything fit for combat.

"This is... Awesome!" He looked about the room.

"Check the remainder of the laboratory-" All of a sudden, an alarm sounded, and the overhead lights began to flash red, a moment later, the strangest thing happened. A voice resounded through the room, and a metallic owl appeared in mid air. Nikolai nearly jumped out of his boots and scrambled for his gun.

"Прокляті хулігани!" He raised his rifle and nearly overrid the selector lever as he swapped from safe to full auto.

"Sir! Sir! Please! There is no need for violence!" The metallic owl croaked. The voice sounded calm and mature, but Nikolai knew better than to trust a talking metal owl.

" What do you think you are doing stealing from this place?"

"Is not steal." Nikolai replied, gesturing his head towards a nearby laboratory island table. His two friends snuck behind it. "Everyone here is dead! I am simply putting this to new use mister Owl Person!"

"My name is Woodsworth." The machine told him. "Twilight Sparkle's junior, junior, junior assistant." Nikolai cautiously lowered his rifle.

"Look sir." The Stalker replied in a firm tone. "We- I really mean no trouble." Willow peaked out over the table, and the owl turned to face him.

"A Thestral! What a surprise! And... Who is the other one?" The pair of stallions guiltily trotted out from behind the table.

"I'm Willow, this is Flashpoint." Nikolai snapped his finger, and waved the owls attention back over to him. The last thing he wanted was for the owl to believe that his zebra friend was some kind of threat, and for him to turn some sort of automated defense system on them.

"Sir. Please," Nikolai pleaded with the owl. "We have come here to strike it rich. We mean no harm, it is clear you do not need any of this stuff, yes?"

"Airborne Magical Contaminates Detected." Woodsworth's voice resounded. Nikolai scratched his neck through his coat hood.

"Eh... That was us. I was unaware the front door was unlocked. Sorry!"

"It's no matter- Really." The voice resounded, sounding apologetic. Sanitation protocols have already initialized. Please exit quickly this time around. Or would you rather I teleport you out?"

"Teleport?" Nikolai's eyes lit up behind his mask.

"Teleport!?" Flashpoint exclaimed, flinching and recoiling backwards.

"Well, how far could you teleport us?" Nikolai cupped his hand over Willow's mask. "Sorry sir, but- We have no intention to leave. The things in this place are far to valuable."

"What of the Zebra spy?" Nikolai facepalmed. "He is not a spy. Look, 20 minutes, in and out. Quick adventure of scavenging. And then we go, yes?"

"Um..." The Robotic owl sounded hesitant. "Sure, I suppose but please- don't cause too much damage. And, if you need any help-" Nikolai held out the strange rifle.

"What is this thing?"

"Oh! It's a Plasma Rifle. It channels magical energy stored in one of those cells over there to... Well, melt stuff!" Nikolai stared at it as though it was a gold mine.

"I hate Canterlot less now."

He took it up on it's sling, and with some effort he managed to fold the stock over and strap it to the side of his rucksack. It was another 2 kilograms, sure. But it was worth it. The half dozen energy cells he found for it would, according to the diagram, last for at least 80 to a hundred shots each. It's ergonomics were odd. But his mind was set on putting it to use in the near future. He turned to discover that Flashpoint had found himself a strange new item. It was black metal rod, about a third of a meter in length, he stuck a button on it's side, and it expanded outwards to twice it's size. The far tip flickered with arcs of reddish energy.

"A magical energy lance, awesome!" Nikolai clapped in praise.

Scavenging in the Equestrian Wasteland was a bit like looking through a box full of assorted Lego building blocks for the once piece that you actually need. There is a lot of 'low quality' common items that you can find essentially anywhere. Slightly more uncommon bits, but... The one or two little pieces that really have the potential to change something and make it greater than the sum of it's parts. Well... For those, you need to be in the right place, at the right time. And Nikolai just hit the nigh veritable goldmine of one. Having emptied the laboratory of anything worthwhile, Nikolai spread out the internal map, and began to examine the building layout. On the bottom floor was a location labeled 'Alpha Technologies'. The rest was blacked out.

"Hm... I wonder what's down there?"

"It would be wise if you did not journey down there sir. The defense turrets with most certainly tear you asunder if you do." Nikolai shrugged. "Ok... How about Spell Crafting? It is just below us according to the map."

"None of us have horns." Willow pointed out, "What would be the point?"

"I am sure there is something down there we can use. " Nikolai pointed out. "Maybe we find cool spellcasting device that lets us levitate things on our own, or teleport! Or shoot death beams! Or instantly heal even lost limbs? Speaking of which-" He passed a healing potion to both of his friends.

"Drink it all, God only knows what that Pink Cloud does to bodies- so do it quickly."

The metallic owl disappeared, leaving Nikolai, Willow, and Flashpoint alone in the laboratory. They grabbed everything useful and everything that looked useful, and made their way downstairs and into the 'Spell Crafting' branch of the building. Nikolai and his two companions practically tore the place apart as fast as they could. Most of it was beyond his understanding.

Something that had particularly taken him off guard was the presence of an unfinished Megaspell. No bigger than a basketball, though very likely capable of atomizing a few city blocks if it was ever completed and detonated. He wanted to take it, but decided against it. Not only was it emitting some pretty hefty levels of errant magical energy, but it could not have possibly been stable or small enough to fit into one of Nikolai's lead lined containers. Though, the report log alongside it hinted at the possibility that there might be different types of Megaspells. God only knew what this one was.

Becoming swiftly disinterested in the Spell Crafting Department, he ushered his companions to leave. When out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a safe. A bit of hacking and a firm fist to it's roof led to Nikolai backing away in concern.

It was another PipBuck, but, as he prepared to make a break for the exit, he realized that he felt fine. He walked up to it an illuminated the screen with his rifle light.

"It's safe. Hm... And, it looks intact as well. Cool." He took it and stuffed it into his rucksack, which, between the ammo, his bare essentials, his other stuff, the leaded containers, magazines, and scavenged odds and ends, was quickly reaching it's maximum capacity. He would have to watch his weight carefully. All this stuff meant nothing if he couldn't get it down the mountain.

"Anyhow!"

"Nikolai... Check these out." Willow set a pair of items on the table.

"StealthBucks."

"Hmm... Take them." Nikolai told his friend. "They may have a use beyond odd name!" Nikolai led his trio back down the maze of hallways back towards the front doors. They reentered to find that, to their own surprise, a pair of fixed doors, and a Parts Per Million air toxicity rating of 0.15."

"That Robo man- owl thing said that we have contaminated this place. "Perhaps it has some sort of NBC air filtration? Either way, that has probably decayed over time. This damn stuff melts everything."

"Speaking of that, 'damned stuff'. We're about to go back out into it! Yippie!" Willow exclaimed, ensuring that the seal on his mask was tight and that all of his fur and mane was covered by heavy barding. Flashpoint, between his light blue and grey guard armor, and chemical helmet, was ready all the same.

"We will make mad dash for front doors of Ministry of Wartime Technology, ok? Is great idea! Trust me! We can do this!"

Willow and his striped friend both knew exactly what they were going to do.

His enthusiasm was a shinning light in the miasma of Pink Cloud that surrounded him. All the same as his weapon light. If he was secretly angry, or displeased. Then he didn't show it. They didn't understand it, but, one thing was for sure. When Nikolai threw those doors open and dove out into the toxic storm and the corroded ruins with his gun raised and his rifle light blaring, the two stallions were right behind him. They tore Northward up the street until the glass structure of the Ministry of Technology came into full sight. More pink lightning arced overhead and thunder boomed. When the shadow of an alicorn appeared overhead, he didn't slow for a moment. All of a sudden, another wave of nausea hit him, and then another.

<MORTAL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? THIS PLACE IS NO FOR YOU! BEGONE!>

The Stalker ignored the telepathic voice and dashed up the skeleton strewn steps to the Ministry, he threw open the doors and entered the massive interior foyer. All too late, he realized the pile of skeletons inside. Each one bore a corrupted PipBuck.

"What the fuck!?" Nikolai screamed, wincing in pain as the wave of necrotic psychic energy washed over him. He heard something hum behind him.

Struggling to keep his balance and mental faculties, he reached over into his rucksack and dug through it until he had set his hands on the leaded container that held his gravitational Artifact. It pulsed with unnatural light from within. And And an irritable wail echoed through the entire foyer. All of a sudden, the psychic noise dimmed, and Nikolai pulled his friends to their hooves while they were already in the motion of galloping towards the far side of the room. They ran past the receptionists desk to the massive elegant doors on the other side. His Artifact pulsed with Energy once more, and the pain began to return. Just as the static hum seemed like it was about to overtake them, he burst through the doors, and tore into a new room. Though his pounding head and chest, he scarcely had the time to realize that he was looking at a set of fortifications. Turrets, barricades, armored walls, and gun nests.

"Move! The Stalker and his friends struggled over to the left hand side of the massive, shopping mall like building and took cover behind a support pillar underneath a mezzanine. Just in the nick of time, as a red beam of energy shot across the room from one of the turrets and seared a hole into the pillar.

"Who's there!? Come out!" A deep, ragged voice cried.

"Is someone there!? This better not be some preplanned asshole recording! You don't sound as nice as the owl thing from the Ministry of Arcane Sciences!"

"What!? You- You can talk? Come out! Don't do anything stupid and we won't shoot you!" Nikolai glanced around the other side of the pillar, and then awkwardly walked out into the open.

"Who is this?" He asked curiously, giving a homely wave with his non dominant left hand.

"I could say the same thing." The Canterlot Ghoul Guard stepped out from behind his concrete barricade, and Nikolai's eyes grew wide once again, and he swiftly hid the Artifact in his coat pocket from the mutated and decaying stallions deep glowing green eyes.

"Whoa-hoho!" Nikolai clasped his hands together. "Hello!" He noticed that his Gas analyzer's rating had dropped to almost fully clean air.

"Who- What are you?" The Canterlot Ghoul asked, shifting his battle saddle with uncertainty.

Now this was a bit of irony. Nikolai knew exactly who and what he was looking at. At the very least, he didn't seem to be producing Pink Cloud. On the other hand, the Ghoul seemed to be nothing if not very, very concerned about the strange bipedal, gun-toting, armor wearing creature standing before him. Not to mention the very odd fact that the he was hiding two ponies from the Ghoul's own gaze, and also- And this was perhaps the most bizarre part of it all, seemingly unfazed after having run through a veritable minefield of broadcasters.

"Identify yourself!" The Ghoul demanded, sounding slightly bewildered.

"Hello!" Nikolai waved once more. "Name is Nikolai! I am friend, yes? Please no shoot. We go through lot of stuff to get here."

"He's selling us short." Willow thought to himself. "He's selling us short... To a Canterlot Ghoul. Wow... What a day. I wouldn't be surprised if I met the former Princesses of Equestria right here and now-" Willow received a sudden tap on his shoulder, and was greeted with a faded poster adorned with Celestia's portrait and the words:

"For Peace and Harmony." Witten above it.

"Ha- Ha." Willow deadpanned.

Nikolai and the Canterlot Ghoul stood on opposite ends of the barricade. Not 20 meters away from one another, and seemingly unknowing of how to proceed.

"Well, I tell you my name, may I please know yours?"

"You're wearing a mask... Those broadcasters... The Pink Cloud, the alicorns- How the hell are you not dead?" Nikolai began to stroll closer.

"That's far enough." The Ghoul warned him. "Look, I do not want to hurt you. It is all alright, please."

"Hey, quick question. If my friends come out of hiding, do you promise not to shoot them?"

"Um- Friends- Sure... Nikolai." With his eyes still locked on the Ghoul, he motioned for his companions to come and join him.

"Hello." Flashpoint greeted the Ghoul. "Hi there." Willow rasped, trying to sound upbeat.

"Flashpoint and Willow Lamp." He informed the Guard. "Now... Your name?"

"Blunted Stone. Provided you lot keep your guns down... I suppose there's no harm in letting some breathers in." The brightest points of glowing light in the ghouls eyes shifted back to Nikolai as though he was staring at a ghost. As the trio began to walk forward, more ghouls trotted out from behind the barricades, all staring at Nikolai with odd and uncertain looks.

For being surrounded by a swarm of such usually terrifying creatures, Nikolai was abnormally calm. Willow and Flashpoint just did their best to keep calm. Flashpoint removed his helmet, but Willow kept his hood on. And Nikolai still wore the same GP-5 mask he wore everywhere. The crowd whispered among themselves as Nikolai trekked across the floor. Their gaze was akin to a group of villagers watching someone come back from the dead.

"A zebra..." One of them whispered. "What is that thing? It doesn't look like any mutant that I've ever seen." Another murmured.

Nikolai snaked his way along the ground floor of the building. After about 45 seconds of walking, he and his companions were out of the edge of the Atrium and onto a high ceiling office, and from there, they headed straight to a place which had been designated as the, 'Artistic Commons'. All of a sudden, the ceiling became much, much lower, though it was still just as wide open along the horizontal plane. At just about 3 and a half meters up, enough for the giddy Stalker to tap the plaster with the tips of his fingers if he jumped straight up in the air. It was like a giant collage art studio. The end of the room widened up into a massive gear shaped door. A massive 1 sat emblazed across it.

At least it was well lit. Nikolai still doubted he'd feel comfortable removing his mask. He noticed that the room was filled with a sort of music. A pair of Canterlot Ghouls were playing a harp and a thing that looked like a glass harmonica over in the corner. It was an eerie, peaceful sort of noise. Though Nikolai wasn't particularly into it. Willow and Flashpoint, in contrast, seemed almost soothed by it. Neither had heard anything quite like it.

"So..." He waved at a random ghoul in the crowd. "Do you... Have a leader?" None of them said a word, the room remained silent except for that haunting orchestral noise in the corner.

Finally, a stallion trotted up. His laboratory coat fused right into his putrid back, his horn was almost hollowed out, yet it still sparked with magic. And his leg, well... A PipBuck was fused right into it. There was no telling where the ghoul ended and the accursed device began. As unseemly as it might have sounded, none of the trio felt the least bit disgusted. Life in dangerous places tends to bring with it a certain desensitizing aspect to it. People will adapt, regardless of the calamity, and, if not acclimate, then at least learn to work around the new obstacles in their path. Which meant that they weren't the least bit surprised at any of the Canterlot Ghouls- at least, Nikolai wasn't. The others just did their best to try an obscure it.

"A breather? Wow... I... I don't believe it."

"Breather? Yes, I suppose that would be accurate description! Hello friends! Name is Nikolai!" The Doctor held up his hoof.

"I'm sure you have, oh screw it- How are you not dead!?" Nikolai scratched his head.

"I do not follow. Oh- Ohoho!" He gave them a hearty laugh. "Well, funny story actually- I wander up mountain-" He paused.

"Do you want short version or long version?" The ghoul returned his question with an empty, soulless expression on his fetid face.

"Well, Nikolai. We have nothing but time here. So go on ahead and give us the long version. Make yourself as comfortable as you can. We... Never have breathers here. Much less... Whatever it is you are. First, answer me a question. How did you past those broadcasters- And... How are you and your friends not dead right now?" Nikolai looked about, and he noticed that most of the ghouls wore one alongside their PipBuck, again, similarly fused to their bodies.

"Eh... Luck? Skill? Faith in God? Magic Rock? Gun? I do not know." He shrugged dramatically. "I come here to loot city! Make tons of money in process... Eh, I was unaware someone was living here in Ministry of War Tech stuff! You've got a pretty nice pad here! My friends and I were not looking for you, if that is what you wanted to hear!"

"Yes- But still, these things can make an alicorn go insane. And yet you seem fine." Willow slowly removed his mask and hood, revealing his Thestral face. Which, when contrasted against the Canterlot Ghouls, seemed suddenly mundane. It was so odd and unsettling that it almost canceled itself out. Nikolai was amused when he had first encountered a pony some two weeks ago. If this had been the first thing he had seen, he probably would have started shooting without trying to start a conversation.

After all, he had just been caught in an Emission. A weather phenomena that left behind things not so unlike the ones he had seen in Canterlot. This Ghoul he was now talking to would not have looked at all out of place on a Duty Live Leak video from Pripyat as it was gunned down by some steel faced soldier wearing a powered exosuit and slinging around an automatic shotgun.

But lucky for him and his friends. The ghouls all seemed to be somewhat reserved around them. They even seemed timid. Though, oddly enough, they gravitated towards Nikolai. Not like the Followers of Balefire had, but more like students in a Primary School classroom as he told them about his entire adventure. Diving into all the details and holding nothing back as Willow and Flashpoint stood among the crowd of ghouls, looking manifestly out of place.

"You have been through a lot to get here. I'm not going to disparage the things you've done. And, by the sound of it, you're about as fond of alicorns and the Unity as we are. Dare I say even more so since none of us have ever actually seen the 'Goddess' herself. Like guard up front said, you're free to stay here as long as you don't do anything stupid. And don't expect price cuts on anything you might want to buy down in the marketplace. It takes a lot of effort to run one in a place like this. Otherwise... Welcome to Stable City? It's been a while since we've seen anyone.." The Ghoul gestured to all of him.

"I have a few questions of my own about this place. Please, tell me everything you know about Canterlot. Including why an alicorn just chased me across the street, or why there are alicorns here at all... Or why I hear all of them mumbling insanely."

"I'll tell you downstairs."

"Wait... Pink Cloud pools in low places." Willow pointed out. "If you are all wearing PipBucks then, the Pink Cloud down there must be far above lethal levels, right Nikolai?" The Stalker nodded. "The logic makes sense." For the first time in a long while, the Canterlot Ghoul cracked a smile.

"Don't worry, the air's clean in here and down there. It doesn't really matter to us. Like I said, we don't get guests or tourists here. It's just more convenient to be able to actually see where you're going. Consider it a blessing, there aren't many here these days." With that, the ghoul doctor left him. All of a sudden, a question popped into Nikolai's head, and he ran for the doctor. Neglecting to try and tap on his shoulder.

"Yes?" He asked Nikolai, his torn ears perking up. "What is it?"

"I told you I am a Stalker... I told you what I do for a living. I am curious, would it be possible to find such a thing in Canterlot?"

"You're asking the wrong walking hunk of rotting meat Nikolai. I don't get out much. And I doubt any of my compatriots that do will be keen on talking to you. Even if you are supposedly an alien from a different dimension. You're a friend to ghouls, and an enemy of the Unity. That's all we need to know. I don't care what your goal was coming here. Just mind your own business and don't go around pestering us. And by the way, free advice? Pink Cloud distorts an alicorns connection to their hive mind. Some of them have been wandering around Canterlot for decades without any direction." Nikolai wanted to say something that would probably turn the good doctor feral, but he abstained from it after he heard the bit of helpful information about the alicorns.

"What's on your mind?" Willow asked him as they made their way down into the belly of Stable City. The first thing that caught Nikolai was a water fountain. He had been told that if it was better if he didn't questions, but he couldn't help and ask a passing stranger about it. A ghoulified earth pony mare.

"Excuse me, but... Is the water clean here?" She smiled humbly. "Yes, it is. Believe it or not our water talisman still functions normally." Nikolai stepped up to the fountain and pressed the activation panel. Just like she had told him, it worked. Clean water, in the Canterlot Ruins.

"Now this is the real prize. Too bad we cannot take it with us." He unpacked every single empty water container he had on him, and refilled them to the brim. He wasn't going to miss an opportunity like this, and neither were Willow and Flashpoint. He finally removed his mask and lowered his hood, not wanting to touch his face with his possibly Pink Cloud covered hands, he bent over and washed his face, asking Flashpoint to help him towel it off.

"I wonder if the showers work here..." Was his next thought. The idea of a hot shower after over two weeks of trekking and hacking through the thicket of a wasteland. He thought he deserved it, even if it would only be a minute long and cost him 100 caps. He would still do it. He turned back to the mare.

"Question... Are the showers similarly unpolluted?"

One evidently well deserved, almost scalding hot shower later...

Evidently, it did. The trio took turns showering. And, luckily, none of the ghouls seemed to care. They didn't need water, and it wasn't like there was a line either. Nikolai hadn't realized quite how nasty things had gotten after almost a month of virtually no personal hygiene. Everything was caked in crystalized sweat and grime and stunk to high heaven. Oddly enough, Willow and Flashpoint didn't smell as bad. In spite of the fact that they had been in Equestria their whole lives. And Flashpoint had never even had an actual shower, he claimed the experience was... 'astounding'. With Nikolai, it lasted all of 3 minutes. With the others, it took 15 minutes easily, Nikolai was patient. He figured they deserved this little bit of calm before going back outside into pink hell. He dressed himself back up in his full kit and waited for his companions to do the same. It seemed like the hot water had finally washed the dirt left by years of neglect on Flashpoint's hooves, leaving just a few imprints. The trio was clean, warm, and happy. And for a moment, nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the occasional passing ghoul with their faded grey, pink, and purpled patchwork of fur, skin, holes, and soulless looking green eyes.

"See? I told you this place would be worth it! Come! Let us see if we cannot find anything of value in that market." They left the bathrooms and headed straight for the atrium, now a thriving marketplace surrounded on all sides by curved grey metal walls. Though, there wasn't a food vendor in sight. And scarcely anything medical-related. His eyes were drawn to something that would always have caught his eye, and would have probably made a Redneck black out from euphoric happiness. A storefront labeled: "Caliber's Guns and Ammo." Nikolai opened the door and stepped inside. It took him a moment, but he realized it was being run by a little earth pony colt. "

"Hello?" Nikolai asked him. "My name is Nikolai... I should mention, I like the store name. Creative title."

"Thanks," The Colt mumbled. "It's also my name." Nikolai looked the small creature up and down. It took a moment for his mind to come to the conclusion that he was probably born back in the time of his forefathers. To put it simply, it was a grumpy mature man in a mutated child's body.

"Well isn't this a surprise? An alien, a bat pony, and a zebra! What do you what?"

"Well..." Nikolai browsed the racks behind the little colt. Pistols, rifles, magazine fed shotguns, a rocket launcher, a few magical energy weapons, a belt fed machine gun, a minigun, and... Strangely enough, a massive bolt action fifty caliber rifle with a scope so large it could probably see into the future, and fitted with a muzzle break large enough to insure that everyone in two kilometer radius would your first shot though it.

"Well..."

"Well what? Are you going to buy anything?" Nikolai eyed a modern esque AR 15 style platform, silently cursing the fact that his rifle didn't have an optical mount. From there, his eyes snapped to the indistinguishable front half of what could only have been an AK style rifle.

"Can I check that out?"

"This? It's an old Zebra Infantry Rifle, come to think of it it looks similar to that gun you've got slung across your chest."

"Kalashnikov Model 101. Chambered for 5.56 by 45, and... Adorned with a few addition of my own. I don't need a bunch of different guns." He held the two up side by side.

"Similar receivers... Though this Zebra one? It looks more like a Chinese reproduction. It has angled edges and everything." Flashpoint trotted up and snagged it off the table.

"Public enemy number one." Caliber scoffed. "Now, are you going to buy anything?"

"Do you have any 12 Gauge Spell Matrix Disruption Shells?" Willow asked him, his slit pupils dilating as he drew closer to the ghoul.

"I do... But.. I can't sell you any. You'd have to look elsewhere."

"Can't, or won't?" Willow cocked his head off to one side and raised an eyebrow. The Canterlot Ghoul behind the counter scoffed.

"I can't, you see, all of my ammo is stored in an ammo vendor. And I can't get the damned thing to work." Nikolai winced, and rocked his head back and forth. "Well, I don't how to help you. I am a mechanic... Just not that kind of mechanic. I don't do vending machines."

"Vending machines, haven't you ever seen an ammo vendor- Well, I suppose it is a vending machine in the conventional sense. You press a button, you stick in some money, and it spits out ammunition."

"That is pretty cool!" Nikolai blurted out, "Is it you invention or..."

"Oh, they're all over the place. Even in pompous Canterlot." Nikolai nodded again. "Wow... I either haven't seen any yet along my route, or I did- and I just didn't know what it was. I am all good on ammunition anyway. No worry. But hey! Cool! Is once and a lifetime chance to visit place like this. And, I got a few souvenirs.

"Oh really?" Caliber asked, " Do tell."

"Well, my friends and I have come into the possession of a few magic energy weapons- You probably saw the one strapped to my rucksack, yes? Eh... Stealth thing, and... He reached into his rucksack, and pulled out the PipBuck from the Ministry of Arcane Sciences.

"This thing! I'm not a pony, but I'm sure one of my friends could use it, I also found this." He pulled out the smashed broadcaster- PipBuck, and laid it out in all it's hatchet torn glory.

"Don't tell me, your doing?" Nikolai nodded slowly once more. The Canterlot Ghoul shrugged back. "PipBucks aren't my thing. Go ask someone else. I sell guns and ammo. Not Spell Matrixes. Nikolai gathered his things.

"Ok," Nikolai tapped the counter twice to signal goodbye. "Farewell Mister Caliber. It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah, yeah. Nice meeting you to I suppose. It's nice to meet someone that knows their guns." Nikolai nodded one last time in Calibers direction, and stepped back out into the marketplace.

"Alright... PipBucks... Where can I find that? Who am talking to? I'm holding one, everyone here but me and my friends has one seared into their damn flesh!" He mumbled to himself and tapped his head against his fist.

"Maintenance! They must have something for fixing these things! Maybe if I go down there, I will find just what I need to turn this into new useable toy for friends! Plus... Automatic targeting. Built in tracker, radio, it gives me and PDA run for my money!" He made his way over to the closest ghoul and asked them where he might find PipBuck maintenance, he would rather he learn to do it himself, and perhaps he could get a brief overview. But right now, he just needed to get it functioning again.

PipBuck maintenance, as it turns out, was a very intuitive process that was almost as complicated to Nikolai as reassembling an I-phone. Though, if anything. Those PipBucks certainly seemed like they were built to last. Nikolai's hatchet through the screen had been due more to centuries of corrosion than anything else. The Canterlot Ghoul unicorn attending to their needs demanded only a few dozen caps for his services. And helping a creature like Nikolai was certainly a break out of his usually mundane tasks which he preformed each day, every day since before Nikolai's great grandparents had been born.

Something that The Stalker still hadn't asked any of the ghouls was for a telling of how things were back in ancient Equestria. He was curious, he had seen so many things, but he wanted to hear it all first hand. Of course, he knew he and his companions couldn't stay much longer. However intriguing and fascinating it's immortal residents might be, or however comforting and delightful the hot showers were, one still had to be reminded of the fact that it was a city of the dead. Outside it's mostly airtight reinforced glass exterior was nothing but death for any normal biological being. It just didn't make sense, after such a long trip. It seemed less than right that he should leave after just 3 hours in Stable City, the one place in Canterlot he had found which he thus far enjoyed. But the Sun was beginning to set, and he had to get going before the darkness of nighttime made the hell outside five times worse.

As he strolled back through the marketplace, quietly debating his choice amongst himself while his friends lay curled up asleep on a padded bench, he suddenly came upon the solution to his problem. Or rather, his solution arrived right in front of him as he walked through the door of a store labeled: "Optics, scopes, and surveillance equipment."

That solution, came right in the form of a strange set of what was obviously a night vision monocular. Or, it had the shape of it. The truth was much stranger. Closer inspection revealed that it's outward facing lens was comprised of dozens of little hexagonal screens, all were a faint, faint shade of orange and yellow. It reminded The Stalker a bit of the helmet visor on suit of Enclave Power Armor. His staring seemed to invoke an impromptu conversation with the ghoul mare behind the counter. It dawned on Nikolai that, being the center of the Equestrian ministries, almost everything here was either in short supply everywhere else, in some sort of prototype stage, or one of a kind.

"Memories?" She asked, tapping a glass sphere on her side of the table. Nikolai chuckled, and looked up at her, stifling his nose.

"Oh? Yes, yes. But also, this looks like Enclave Helmet visor.

"Enclave helmet? What are you talking about? That was a little co-op project between the Ministry of Wartime Tech and The Ministry of Awesome in their effort to create power armor for pegasi. That thing'll make you see in the dark pretty damn well. You deal in bottlecaps, right? You can check for yourself, it works like a charm. Of course, I don't have much use for it these days." The ghoul smiled awkwardly at her surroundings.

"Yes, I suppose so." Nikolai replied slowly. He tapped his boot against the ground. "Three hundred... Would you take a smashed PipBuck and 250 Bottle Caps?" The mare contemplated it.

"That's basically junk for me. Anything useful?" Nikolai thought of the piece of strange jewelry resting inside his rucksack.

"No.. I don't know what that is... How about... A can of freeze dried cookies?"

"Ghouls don't need food." She replied. Nikolai looked down into his rucksack at it's wide gallery of contents. "Well how about... I am out of ideas." He returned the cookies to his pack, and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. All the constant physical strain he was enduring finally seemed to be catching up with him now that he was just beginning to relax. To his surprise, the mare lit up with joy at something she spotted.

"What was that?" She asked him.

"Oh? That?" He reached into his rucksack and pulled out a small sketch book which he must have taken from the supermarket in a drunken frenzy. "Is book with blank pages. Do you want it?"

"We're always short on paper you see- And my stepdaughter Spring Blossom-"

"Spring Blossom? Makes Pink Cloud? Hard time paying attention? Likes drawing? That one? I met her outside Canterlot a little while ago, has she returned?"

"No... Not yet, but I'm sure she will. She's still much older than you, she knows all the safest routes into and out of the city. The alicorns won't touch her."

"You have been a fantastic parent, she seems to be doing great!" If Canterlot Ghouls could blush, Nikolai was certain the mare in front of him would be doing so.

"She told me she's glad she has a mother she can hug without hurting... I can see why." He set the Sketchbook down on the table.

"I'll give the sketchbook in exchange for the night vision device, and carrying container."

"Deal." Nikolai replied, almost forgetting that toxic ghouls tend to make poor hand-shaking partners. He turned around, and was about to leave. When a thought popped into his mind, and he decided to express it.

"Tell your daughter I said hello, and that she is good artist and has wonderful mother!" The mare smiled and waved goodbye. "I'll be sure to Nikolai." He had one more question to ask.

"By the way, what is that glass orb you have right there?" She levitated the murky sphere up with her pinkish magic.

"Oh this? It's a memory orb. You're not a unicorn, so... I suppose it's not any use to you. It's... Hard to explain- But it can copy down memories and allow you to experience and live through them whenever you want. They're scattered all over the place, little bits of the past and what not." It sounded fascinating, but it meant nothing to Nikolai if he couldn't use it.

The Stalker left the marketplace, jogged up the stairs, and headed for the bench his friends were resting on. He arrived to find themselves snuggled up asleep besides one another like a pair of fluffy pillows. Each unaware of the others presence. Nikolai took a seat besides them, being careful not to wake them up. He reached over with a bare hand and gently patted them on the head.

"It is adorable." Nikolai thought to himself, "I cannot think of any other word. Though, I can also imagine scene that will unfold when they wake up. Oh well, I am last one awake again. I suppose..." Nikolai yawned. "I suppose I should figure out how to work this thing." The mare had given him a pony sized head harness for the monocular, which, though some shots of Vodka, and a bit of Slavic ingenuity, Nikolai was able to get the head harness properly sized for going over the top of his mask, and the eyepiece working like a charm.

Well, one thing was certain. It worked. He stood up and went to look for the darkest room in the Stable he could find, then lowered it over his head. He decided that the clarity was somewhere in between Generation one and two. And that it worked off of some magical light amplification technology rather than the fiber optics earthy tech used. This was smaller and more compact. The other had better clarity. But, the other also wasn't here. And it cost a fortune. This was worth an emotionally charged sketchbook.

It was a clear win and a huge new addition to his own capabilities in the Stalker's eyes, which, upon returning to his still snoring friends, blacked out right alongside them. Just as Willow and Flashpoint awoke and stumbled off of one another. The Stalker slowly sat himself up with his restless head hung low.

"Oi... Pillow. Come back here." He mumbled, his arms going limp on either side as he slumped back.

"Is he calling me a pillow?" Flashpoint turned to his grey friend. The Thestral's pupils shifted back towards Flashpoint. "No, I'm pretty sure he's calling me a pillow."

"Blyat! I'm tired- You woke me up!" Nikolai slapped his knee. He cursed under his breath, rose to his full high and cracked his neck. "Alright, let's go."

They finally had a chance to put all of their new weapons and equipment to use. Nikolai, Willow, and Flashpoint made their way back to the edge of Stable City. A few ghouls had been nice enough to deactivate the broadcasters in the foyer just long enough for Nikolai and his companions to get across to the glass doors and check their equipment as they Stalkers Gas Analyzer once more began to read out low readings of the pink substance outside. It was dark outside. Though, between the overcast skies above and the already thick Pink Cloud that hung over the city, the lighting really didn't change all that much. The only thing was that now there were absolutely no shadows.

"Alright." Nikolai told his friends. "We will go out the way we came in. Straight back through park, and towards main city gate. Yes?" No murmur of complaint rose up from either stallion as Nikolai barked out the last bits of his plan.

"I would rather not put it on now." Flashpoint spoke about the PipBuck. "I'd rather not have it fused to my leg."

"Alright, got it? Get it? Good. We go!" The Stalker adjusted the headstraps on the bug eyed night vision device, and slipped it down over his left eye. Willow's eyes furrowed under his goggles as he covered his wings with his cloak. Nikolai shifted the straps of his rucksack. And, with heavy sigh though his mask filter, pulled the door open and stepped out into the Pink Cloud.

With all of his protective equipment, it was really no different than stepping into a bank of heavy fog. He and his friends made their way back down the front steps of the Ministry of Wartime Technology, and out into the street. The Stalkers Gas Analyzer read 38 parts per million. It was getting worse. He quickly looked both ways, and shepherded his friends across the street and away from Ministry Walk in the almost pitch darkness. The strange night vision device illuminated everything within the field of view of his left eye in a lime-like light. Something he hadn't noticed about the monocular earlier was that it also outlined visible shapes, including those which were distinctly pony shaped.

Willow led Flashpoint towards the far side of the park, past the lake of Pink Cloud, while Nikolai remained behind by a dead stag and provided cover. That was another thing that the PipBuck would help with. Radio communications. Two way, radio communications. On any frequency his radio could access, except Zone FM oddly enough. That was Nikolai exclusive as far as he could tell.

The silhouettes of 4 alicorns swooped over the ministry, and one of them ate a bolt of green energy from below. Probably those Canterlot Ghouls waring with them over control of the literal city of the damned. All of a sudden. another alicorn came up and arced right past the Celestian Monument. It was nothing out of the ordinary looking, and Nikolai made a break for his companions, now some 150 meters away, about halfway across the skeletal field of death, he suddently watched his shadow flash before him. His friends began to point and gesture up and away from him. He turned about, and was greeted with the horrifying sight of a Purple alicorn, hovering just over the Pink Cloud lake, not 20 meters away. It had teleported right beside him.

<WHAT A CURIOUS THING!> It spoke, Nikolai could see the little wisps of pink cloud in his right eye as they floated up from the lake and warped around the alicorns shield.

"Shit!" Nikolai thought to himself, he took off running.

<MORTAL, DO NOT FLEE!> The voice of the alicorn boomed. It sounded exactly like the Goddess back in Splendid Valley. The Stalker could only imagine what was going though Flashpoint's mind. He had no mind to listen to anything the perverted excuse of a creature had to say to him. He dove behind a crashed Sky Wagon and whipped his rifle around to open fire on the creature who was leisurely floating just a meter off the ground, as if it had all the time in the world to reach him an instant later he disengaged.

"My rifle is useless against that thing! But, maybe this isn't!" He unstrapped his strange Equine made Plasma rifle and brought it to bear against the alicorn. But then wisely decided that it wasn't worth it, and rather decided that trying to lose it would be better. He ran to his friends and practically shoved them in his bid to get away from the creature.

<THERE IS NOWHERE YOU CAN GO> The alicorns voice spoke once more. Nikolai gave her the finger, but, as the alicorn drifted through a particularly dense patch of Cloud, she suddenly stopped, landed, shook her head, and wandered away like nothing had happened.

"What just happened!?" Willow asked Nikolai as The Stalker finally caught up with his companions.

" Pink Cloud makes them go crazy! Useful? I think so! Blin, let's hurry up!" As they passed the Celestian Monument, they were met with a screeching notice from above, high in the exposed frame of the top of the horn, something was moving. Nikolai hardly had time to react as it unfurled it's massive torn wings and began to leave it's resting place. They ran past the Monument and back onto main street. The city gates were less than a kilometer away. Nikolai shifted his gaze upwards, and his night vision highlighted the horrid form of a small dragon. It swooped down from the top of the Monument and began to make it's way directly towards the Stalker.

"Bakery!" Nikolai ordered, the trio jumped over a cluster of skeletons and barged into an old two story bakery. The dragon crashed against the street behind him as they made their way in between overturned and shattered dinning tables. A Canterlot Ghoul wearing a bakers outfit shambled out from behind the counter. The others darted away from it, but Nikolai had other plans. He unslung his brand new Plasma rifle as the denser level of Pink Cloud within the structure made his Geiger tick alongside his Gas Analyzer. Which now read 50 parts per million.

"Cyka!" Cried, he raised the energy weapon when the monster was just meters from him, and pulled up on the strange trigger.

"Fwosh!" A bolt of ice cream cone shaped violent green energy left the emitter on the end of the weapon and cascaded into the mutant. He watched as it practically burned the top half of the ghoul away, turning it to little more than glowing ash as his night vision lit up from the flash.

"Damn! This is awesome!" He held the gun in his hands like he was staring at a goldmine. He looked outside and noticed the 'small' elephant sized dragon shambling towards.

"Let's go!" Willow called to him as he and Flashpoint bolted up the stairs to the bakery's second floor. The Stalker left his violent trance and backed up towards the stairs. Fired off a burst of green plasma at the abomination trying to break through the Bakery's exterior wall, and it recoiled back out into the street as the magic from the shot splashed out across it's scales. Nikolai scarcely had time to process what was happening as he dashed up the stairs, tore the roof access door off it's hinges with a club from the stock of his AK 101, and scrambled out onto the red shingles.

"Come on," He panted, "It's gone for now."

What followed was perhaps the most James Bond thing he had ever done in his entire life. Half an hour of nonstop jumping from roof to roof. Until they were at he westernmost edge of the city. Not 50 meters beyond, sat the corroded observation deck that had once served to provided visitors with a clear view all the way to the horizon. They scaled back down onto ground level through the use of a balcony which creaked and groaned as Nikolai helped Flashpoint to the ground.

"Alright, let us keep going south."

<WE HAVE FOUND THEE!> The Stalkers blood ran cold, and he began to run. The two alicorns which were chasing them were subsequently tackled by the same dragon from earlier.

"What the fuck!?" Nikolai turned his AK 101 on the dragon and squeezed off several shots as he stumbled back. Willow and Flashpoint opened fire as well, the bat pony opened his leathery wings and pulled his friend back. That just left Nikolai out in the open. The Stalker made a mad dash southeastward. But the dragon spotted him, he was helpless as a wave of deep pink fire struck the ground only meters from him, searing and glassing the cobblestones. He kept running, thinking nothing of it. He made a break for Willow and Flashpoint as bolts of alicorn magic landed behind him.

So, when his friends shouted at him that the ground ahead of him had given way, it was too late. Another breath of the dragons fire knocked him off balance, and send him careening into the inky pink darkness below.

Every single detector he had screamed and flashed red as the air around him turned to almost solid Pink Cloud. A quarter second and 12 meters later, he hit the ground in a shriek of muffled pain as the Cloud swirled around him. He realized that he couldn't see the rest of his body, and began to panic. His Gas Analyzer crackled and fizzled. Spitting out readings that would have made the city above look like a sterile hospital room. Everything hurt, and his vision blurred. He shifted, and winced in pain. It was almost too much to bare, and he nearly blacked out from the pain. Every bone on side must have been broken, and, from what it felt like, he probably had a concussion as well.

"Oh..." He moaned, trying to sit up. He sat there in the dense patch of fog. Seconds felt like minutes as he tried to move his hand. And realized it was still there. He slung his arm over, and ended up on his stomach as his eyes watered from the pain of his dislocated shoulder.

"Ah!" Nikolai cried as searing hot pain arced up and down his body. His night vision device was no use down here. But he couldn't move his arm enough to snag it anyhow. The Pink was everywhere. He couldn't even tell where he was. But he also realized something else.

He wasn't melting.

Sure, The Stalker was in sheer pain from the three story fall. But he wasn't melting. He heard a hum behind him. And realized that it was coming from his Artifact. The thing had shown a capacity to ward off magic and even stop it in it's tracks back in Splendid Valley. It seemed the Cloud down here was thick enough to the point where it was having the same effect, even through the leaded container.

"Wo-Oh!" He patted around as gently as he could, and came to the grip of his rifle, he moved his hand forward until he felt his thumb right over the flashlight he had duct taped to the side of his rifle. He pressed the activation button, and was awarded with a torch-like beacon in his right hand. He moved it away, and his eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness around him. He cautiously moved his arm though a fit of searing hot pain, and the Pink moved with it. It was like he was in a swimming pool of the stuff.

He looked off to his side and spotted something odd at an angle. He crawled forward, and reached out at it. It was a pentagonal rock. The Pink Cloud seemed almost solid around it.

"Well, I'm all to shit anyway, what have I to loose?" He snatched it with his left hand. Instantly, the rock... For lack of a better word, ignited like a Pink flame. And Nikolai began to feel a strange feeling course through his arm. Almost like the bones were rearranging themselves back into place, and the bruises were healing. He gripped it in the palm of his hand, and it continued.

"What the hell?" He murmured. His anomaly detector whined.

"It's... It's an Artifact! Down here... Fascinating." He hesitantly removed his glove, and held the stone in his callused bare hand. Wisps of bright pink arced from about it, and he suddenly realized that the pain from his broken ribs was gone. Five more seconds later, and he realized that his legs no longer hurt. He struggled, and stood up. Staring down at the strange rock in utter astonishment.

"What kind of sorcery is this?" He wondered. All of a sudden, the rock started to ache in his hands. And he dropped it in a panic and redonned his glove as a sore-like imprint appeared on it. He reached down and picked it up again. Practically cradling it in amazement. All of a sudden, he heard a muffled crash behind him, and the dark form of the dragon from earlier broke through the hole in the cavern. It's massive wings blew away the wall to wall pink, and Nikolai could see now that he was standing in the middle of an once grand subway station.

His radio crackled back to life with the sound of Bandit Radio as he pocketed the stone, he could barely hear the cords as his head pounded with fury. His eyes were now bloodshot with rage as the wall of adrenaline hit him, Nikolai cracked his fists. He felt like he could take on the world twice over. Aggressively, he stashed the stone into his coat pocket.

"Cheeki Breeki!"

He unslung his rifle, swapped to his drum magazine, and opened fire with a blood curdling laugh. A wall of armor piercing rounds stuck the creature as it charged The insane Stalker. Any sense of self preservation had left him. It was like the only thing he wanted in the world was to end this dragons life. It swiped at him with it's claws, but he was out of reach. He dumped 20 rounds into it's thorax. Causing the creature to spring all sorts of little bodily leaks.

Nikolai bolted around it and, pulling out his knife, dashed up it's back. It roared and thrashed in annoyance as he jabbed the searing hot suppressor into it's head and held down on the trigger. Sending hunks of scale and flesh every which way. The monster shot into the air, blowing away great clouds of Pink Cloud as it headed for the surface. Nikolai hung onto it's horns, trying wildly to stab out the damned things eyes with his combat knife, it barrel rolled and dove back towards the city. Willow and Flashpoint were nowhere to be seen. They probably thought he was dead. Then he spotted them wandering along the cliff-edge of the city, and waved to them. They didn't see, to didn't notice him right away, however, they did notice the massive mutated dragon heading right for them. He pulled hard on the wounded monsters horns, and it went into a downward spiral right off the edge of Canterlot and into the valley below. Passing his motionless friends as they watched his actions in complete shock. Nikolai reached back and yanked hard on a wing, pulling the dragon away from one of the smaller Pink Cloud laden waterfalls.

The bloodthirsty Stalker and the dragon careened towards the ground. Though realization that he was thousands of meters off the ground didn't occur to him. He snagged his Plasma rifle and burned two holes in the exoskeleton of the dragons right wing, and then his left. It turned the monster into a veritable torpedo that Nikolai had no idea how to stop.

"Nikolai!? Nikolai!" A voice shouted from above. He swiveled his head away from the monster and spotted Willow's glowing yellow eyes diving right beside it.

"Grab onto me!"

The Stalker dug the tips of his gloves into the monsters corroded scales and drew a grenade. He unpinned it and stuffed it right into the monsters nostril. Then, to Willow's complete disbelief, the Stalker bounded away from the Monsters back. Willow swooped over and grabbed him with his forelegs as the dragon dove in an uncontrollable spiral and hit the ground moments later in a massive fiery explosion.

"Put me down!" Nikolai demanded. Then he saw that he was still well above the ground, and followed it up with, "Don't put me down! Do not put me down!" Stuggling to hold onto him, the batish equine shakily wound himself down to the ground, and set Nikolai down right beside him, the Stalker dropped to his knees and kissed the ground with reverence.

"Willow! It's good to see you again!" He looked up, but the bat pony was gone. About a minute later, he returned with Flashpoint, who removed his helmet as soon as all four hooves were on the ground and stared at Nikolai.

"Oh, I am so happy you are not dead. You are not going to believe what I found down there-" The still adrenaline filled Stalker was met with a crashing hug that almost knocked him over.

"I-We thought you were dead!" Flashpoint and Willow sobbed, "Never do something like that again!" Nikolai tore his mask off and looked into the tear stained faces of his friends and wrapped them in both arms. Nearly smothering them in the process while he ruffled their manes and curled his mouth into a giant, pained grin.

As the Stalker embraced his friends right there on the poisoned dirt below Mount Canterhorn, a new song began to play through his radio's speaker:

"Here's to us happily and never after all

ain't gonna waste one more night missin' wantin' you back

no I ain't gonna cry another tear in this glass

you didn't waste any time findin' somebody new

so I ain't gonna waste another drop of whiskey on you."

They were done with Canterlot. And, for the first time in a while, Nikolai felt like a burden had just been lifted off his chest. Or perhaps that was just the adrenaline burning off and being replaced with a flood of endorphins. Of course, he still had problems. The sunrise above the clouds would soon come, and The Stalker still had his loot to sort though. Most mysterious of all perhaps, was that magical stone which had healed his broken bones under Canterlot.

But none of that mattered now. He and his friends were safe, and alive. And that was all he cared for at the moment.

Comments

[Diamondized]

Bigger on the inside, truly rang true for Canterlot. Far above them, grey clouds and pink mist fused to create strange weather patterns, below, Pink Cloud pooled in every low and confined place. In the the corners of alleyways, beneath collapsed buildings, in storm gutters and runoff drains. The ground itself was covered in only a thin shroud of the stuff, which Nikolai's boots knocked and waved aside as he trod down the ancient cobblestone road. All around them, the devastation wrought by the Cloud was apparent. Buildings had been stripped of paint, alongside most of their exterior materials. The substance soaked through and into everything. Nikolai heard the distant noise of a building collapsing. It was like the entire city was falling apart at the seems. All of that marble

All of that marble what? Great chapter. I can only imagine how much shit the gang's gonna go through becauss of that helmet and PipBuck.

[harts fire]

ok i am now up to date with this story.
i can say this is a really good story and i will be watching for more.

but question witch Fallout is this based on?
to me it is a blend of 2 or 3.

[aegishailstorm]

11793286
The same pairing as the original FoE. Mostly 3. But... With a boatload of Stalker dumped on top.

[harts fire]

11795356
i was wondering as it felt like a bit of Big MT from new Vegas. in places.