Nightmare Moon is banished to Chernobyl, where she must learn to survive like a stalker.
Nightmare Moon has been banished once again by the Elements of Harmony, however this time she is not banished to the moon. Instead she arrives in the exclusion zone around Chernobyl, site of the greatest ecological disaster in recorded history.
Now she must learn to survive in one of the most inhospitable lands ever born or perish.
Alexei Sharov, unable to make a living in the outside world he has turned to the life of a stalker, a life where daily conflict is the means to survival. Like many stalkers he carves a living from hunting mutants and collecting artifacts – treasures spawned by the Zone worth their weight in gold.
Still being a rookie he has a way to go, but how will he fare when one of Equestria's most infamous villains comes crashing into his world.
The Zone, described as a land of riches by those who could make it, but more commonly described by everyone else as the man made hell. The exclusion zone around Chernobyl originated from the events of 1986 where on April 26th the 4th reactor failed during fail-safe exercise, resulting in the largest nuclear meltdown in history and amongst the worst ecological disasters, a 60 km exclusion zone was set up around the CNPP to prevent residents from returning to the area.
But what would further the infamy of the CNPP exclusion zone would be the phenomena in 2006, which would be come to be known as the first great emission, which would see the border of the exclusion zone jump out a further 5-km in size. Afterwards military forces hastily set up a new perimeter, what was now the Cordon which ran the edges of the zone.
By 2008 scientists were still unable to explain what caused the first great emission expeditions were rarely sent into the Zone usually with tragic results, accounts from survivors told of vicious mutated animals and unexplainable anomalies which would tear apart any unfortunate who disturbed them.
Rumors of rare anomalous formations which would come to be known as artifacts slowly seeped out into the world, which would attract the attention of daredevils who would enter into the Zone in hopes of obtaining these objects for profit. By 2010 the Zone was estimated to be home between one and three hundred unknown individuals calling themselves stalkers.
By 2011 the stalker phenomena is still growing in number despite military efforts to cordon the zone, open skirmishes between stalkers and the military prompt the military to shoot on sight. Open warfare between factions in the Zone breaks out causing widespread death amongst the stalker population. Without warning in October, a second great emission sweeps the Zone devastating the population further, the resulting loss in manpower, coupled with the reshaping of the Zones territories causes all stalker factions to broker for an uneasy ceasefire and consolidate their territories. Despite this new stalkers continue to breach through the Cordon.
The year is now 2012...
_____
The sun was beginning to set once again over the Zone, dark clouds rolling overhead. A thunderous boom was all the warning Alexei got as the first drops of ran began to fall. Hurrying his pace along he made his way up to the fence of the railway embankment, flicking his headlamp on he pulled out a pair of pliers and began to cut through the strands of barbed wire.
Rain was falling harder now, wind sending the icy droplets like shards against the man's face as he worked. Thankful for the heavy brown trench coat he had found earlier that day, it may have been several sizes too big for him, but he cared not for it kept the rain off of him. Finally cutting a large enough hole, Alexei tossed his backpack and rifle through, crawling under he stood up and examined the gap.
The hole he made was large enough to be seen to an alert eye, and this was a track he wanted to use again to make his way back to the local trader near the stalker village. Going to a nearby bush he pulled out his bayonet and quickly cut away several branches, placing them crisscross in the hole to make it appear an actual bush were growing there.
Satisfied Alexei picked up his kit and resumed his trek back to the small abandoned house that he made his home in. By the time he entered the ageing structure his coat was doing little to protect him from the torrent leaving him water lodged. Closing a makeshift door behind him he climbed up into the attic of the home where he now lived.
Alexei set about pulling a small box of matches from his supplies and lighting a small fire in an old oil drum which he had cut down to a quarter of its original size. He produced his spare set of clothing from a box which he had lugged from the workshops further south which most stalkers referred to as car park.
Sighing with relief he hung his drenched clothes near the fire. “At least I can say I've had a bath now,” he chuckled to himself.
Most stalkers went weeks if not months without ever cleaning, such a luxury was rare in the Zone, stalkers were more concerned with surviving the horrors of the Zone than worrying whether or not their smell would offend other stalkers. It wasn't something that was neglected altogether, as eventually the build up of filth would eventually begin to attract some of the lesser mutants, like rats.
Alexei shuddered at the thought of the poor souls who had met their end at a horde of rats brought on by the build up of various odours.
The storm outside was now near its full force, great claps of thunder roared outside like an angry beast, with blinding flashes of lightning, some bolts could be seen striking the landscape outside as if someone had offended god himself and he was unleashing his wrath.
Alexei threw a few more branches onto the fire. Pulling out a small tin of meat and a half loaf of bread he sat down and began to reflect on his time spent in the Zone as he ate.
He had entered just over three weeks ago. He had entered with only a handful of rubles, a couple of food cans, his family's old SKS rifle, two boxes with 30 rounds each, a small pack and the clothes on his back. He had breached through near the hills and ran through a ravine near the southern military outpost, dodging bullets from a heavy machine gun.
He thankfully made it to the nearby stalker village unscathed, if only exhausted. No one paid him any attention other than a sideways glance. A grizzled stalker wearing suit with a protective vest introduced himself as Wolf, the leader and mentor of the rookies at the village. Wolf had directed him to the local trader Sidorovich who had given him one look and only laughed at his equipment, saying he was one of the sorriest people he had seen enter the zone. He offered him a long barreled TOZ-34 shotgun in exchange for his SKS, he refused to which the trader only shrugged and told him it was his funeral.
Sidorovich did however give him a PDA and a half battered device known as an echo detector in exchange all Alexei had to do was produce three artifacts to pay for the devices. Alexei was also given a couple of extra batteries and a small hand powered charging tool, as well as a Markov PM and a box of rounds, being told that if he were going out, he might as well go with a chance.
He had been told the basics of finding artifacts by the trader, approach an anomaly field and toss bolts or other small metal objects around and identify where anomalies are, and raise the cover of the detector and follow the beeping to find the elusive treasure. Before he left Sid also gave him a small yet weighted lead lined case to store artifacts, lest he die of radiation before he makes it even halfway back.
Over the three weeks in the zone he managed to find two artifacts, a jellyfish and a nightstar. Upon returning them Sidorovich had given him the jellyfish back telling him he would find it useful for the time as he was contracted. Alexei was told that some artifacts may look the same with only slight differences, yet their abilities are vastly different. The jellyfish he had found had what felt like a slimy green coating, its power was to absorb radiation from whatever source it was exposed to, whereas its counterpart did not have the coating and instead emitted radiation, while providing a weak protective field around the wielder.
So far Alexei was euphoric for the artifact as it had indeed saved his life, he had tumbled down a slope further along the embankment after being attacked by a stray blind dog, he managed to use his rifle like a spear and kill the mutant and drive the bayonet into the chest, but the momentum from it's leap had unbalanced him enough where he had rolled down the hill. At its base was an old locomotive, rusting with age and a small anomalous field on the other side, he had smacked his head into one of the wheels driving him unconscious, upon coming to he noticed to his alarm that the built-in Geiger counter to his detector was crackling alarmingly loud.
Alexei had felt incredibly sick and had to drag himself away from the deadly area, it was then that he remembered what the trader had told him about the artifact, rummaging around in his pack he pulled out the artifact and held it against himself tightly for what felt like an eternity. After what he was surely more like a few minutes he felt well enough to retrieve his rifle and return to the rookie village.
Aside from hunting artifacts he had taken on jobs to hunt mutants from both Sidorovich and Wolf, which gave him enough money to buy food and even purchase a somewhat worn sawn-off shotgun. The shotgun had proved effective in killing the blind dogs and fleshes - heavily mutated pigs. However his rifle was undeniably better in killing the boars which roamed around, being capable of piercing their thick skulls. He only used his rifle sparingly however as the 7.62x39mm cartridges it used were fairly expensive, and they weren't in great supply either, a box only appearing in Sid's inventory once in a few days.
Over the past few days Alexei had been fortifying the small house he was now in. Blocking up windows with lengths of wood taken from a ruin right next to the house as well as making a makeshift door to keep mutants out. He had decided that it would be safest to camp in the attic and pull a ladder up at night just in case mutants did breach the house. Alexei had also been collecting various pieces of material, like the drum for his fire pit and some bricks, and a few boxes from the workshops over the embankment.
He had decided to camp here over the rookie village for two reasons, the first was it allowed him more time in the deeper sections of the Cordon, which in turn allowed him to search longer for loot. The second was some bastard had been stealing an item or two here and there each time he camped for the night in the village.
So far he was happy with the life he was carving out, he had begun saving a small amount of money from the jobs he did for the trader and rookie leader. He'd obtained an artifact that he could keep, a new gun, and a small saving of rubles. Things were going better here in this hostile place than they were on the outside in the world that had rejected him.
Pulling out a bedroll Alexei threw a couple more branches onto the fire and lay down to sleep, tomorrow was going to be another long day hunting for more elusive artifacts, and he'd be searching rain, hail or shine.
_____
Alexei awoke abruptly hearing the sound of an explosion followed by the sound of metal tearing and stressing. Looking around wildly he saw that the roof was still intact, and he could heard the storm raging outside still. Pulling aside some planks he'd used to cover a hole in the roof he looked out into the bleak night and saw a small glow of in the distance just up off the road.
Eyes widening Alexei realised that some vehicle must have been struck by the bolt of lightning. Alexei quickly changed back into his somewhat damp set of clothing and pulled a couple of medkits and bandages from his stash box, while they would only save a person with moderate injuries, he knew they were better than nothing.
While Alexei had come to realise that heroics in the Zone usually got a person killed, he couldn't deny the fact that a working vehicle could hold some decent loot, he was going to use the offer of medical aid as a means to get what he could. He wouldn't kill and steal from whoever was involved in the crash, he wasn't a bandit, but their could be something valuable there that the occupants might be willing to trade for.
Putting his headlamp on his head Alexei lowered the ladder and descended to the ground level and exited the house. Switching the lamp onto low beam he began to make his way to the crash site, sawn-off at the ready.
It took Alexei fifteen minutes to jog his way to the crash site, where he surveyed the damage the best he could between the flashes of lightning. The fire from the engine was almost extinguished from the rain which had begun to ease up, though that had really caught Alexei's attention were the numerous bodies scattered around the wrecked truck, each as unmoving as the last. Walking over he gave one a prod with his shotgun, it lay as still as it did before, he went over and began to shake the other bodies wondering if any survived. He beheld one corpse whose face appeared to have been clawed half away by some large predator, it scared Alexei that something deeper in the Zone was capable of tearing a man apart like this.
He moved over to another body, that of a bald man, he couldn't be sure from the bulk of his ruined cobalt suit but he appeared skinny and malnourished, yet intact. A strange tattoo was on the body's arm, a tattoo of seven letters spelling “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.” he gave the body a few shakes and even though he appeared unharmed unlike most of the bodies he had checked, the marked one did not stir either.
Standing up and sighing Alexei was about to leave when he noticed a large metal container attached to the flatbed of the truck, going over to it he undid a latch a few boxes fell out from the awkward angle of the container which rattled with the familiar sound of bullets as well as a compact gun which he identified as an AKM-74/2U, it was like the child between an AK and a SMG. Alexei picked up a pair of empty magazines from the mud and stowed them along with the ammo into his pack and slung the rifle over his shoulder.
Looking over the unfortunates once more he began to leave once more as he heard the dull groan of someone in pain near the front of the wreck. Quickly jumping around the front of the truck he looked around for someone to be rolling on the ground bleeding out from injury, however he saw before him some equine creature, the fur matted with mud and blood but still a majestic black. The equine was also sporting a pair of wings, one which looked bent out of place, most likely broken, the feathers looked severely damaged as well, a horn also protruded from what would be described as a blue-silver helmet. This wasn't the only other item the equine wore, around it's neck was a choker collar with a silver moon crest, on its hooves were what could be called slippers, all made from the same blue silver metal. Yet still this wasn't the feature that made Alexei double take, both the mane and tail of the equine shimmered like the night sky and softly flowed as if it were exposed to a gentle breeze; despite the moderate winds. Furthermore the eyes of the equine were large enough that he could cup his palm around the eyelids.
Looking on the creature, whatever it may be, sure as hell wasn't spawned by the Zone, of that much Alexei was certain, it maybe strange but it wasn't mutant. Leaning down Alexei looked over the wounds of the equine, there were a lot of cuts on its body though a few looked worse with the amount of blood that was pouring from them. Taking his pack off Alexei removed one of the medkits and a couple of bandages and set about cleaning the wounds the best he could under the now drizzle of rain. Once he had cleaned the wounds he began dressing the large gashes on the equines shoulders, he then moved onto the barrel and lesser cuts on the neck.
As he applied the last bandage on the neck, the equines eye shot open looking around wildly, the iris was slit shaped, much like a cats. Alexei recoiled at the sudden activity, it was then that the equine did something that took him completely off guard...It spoke.
“Get your filthy hands off me you ape,” the equine spoke indignantly, the horn beginning to glow softly.
Between the shock of it suddenly coming awake and speaking to him plain as day, the one part of his brain that was still function told him to run, run like his life depended on it. With that Alexei bolted in the opposite direction, sprinting back to the decrepit house called home in record time, as he ran he heard a scream of rage. Slamming the door shut he rammed a couple of loose boards up against the door where he then quickly climbed up into his attic.
There heavily panting and muscles trembling from the burst of adrenaline he realised that he had left his entire kit behind.
“Fuck,” was the only word Alexei managed to mutter to himself.
Looking over to his stash he saw he still had his trusty SKS and Markov, with the knowledge he still had those firearms he knew he was still somewhat safe, well as safe as you could get in the outermost reaches of the Zone.
“I'll head back in the morning and get my stuff back, horse-pegasus-unicorn thing or not” Alexei resolved to himself.
_____
Nightmare Moon groaned as she awoke, her mind fuzzy as she struggled to maintain consciousness, slowly things began coming back to her. She had finally broken free of her prison after a thousand years, and trapped her great enemy, the sun loving Princess Celestia, in her own prison.
She had then gone to Ponyville, the site where she was defeated so long ago to unleash her gift of eternal night. While she was there, Nightmare Moon had detected the faint tell-tale traces in the ponies present which shared the same power of the Elements of Harmony.
She had tried at every turn to discourage the ponies from making the journey to her old castle, yet they still made it, there they found and unleashed upon her the power of the elements...and beaten her.
Nightmare opened her eyes immediately as she realised that she was still alive and breathing. What met her sight was what looked to her like a monkey with its hands on her. Immediately she glared at the ape and barred her fanged teeth while powering up with what magic she had in her reserves for a kinetic blast.
“Get your filthy hands off me you ape,” Nightmare said in disgust, her actions had the desired effect and the ape promptly turned around and bolted off.
Sighing Nightmare sat up on her haunches, her body protesting with dull throbs, looking around taking in her surroundings. She was out in some wilderness, though none that she was familiar with, even in her time of imprisonment she was able to scry into Equestria.
Charging her magic again Nightmare looked over into a puddle and cast a scrying spell in an attempt to see something familiar, such as her ruined castle. The puddle glowed silver for a moment before fading back to normal. Nightmare had a sinking feeling now she was certain...she was no longer in Equestria.
“FAUST DAMN IT,” Nightmare shouted at the top of her lungs, causing her to curl over panting hard from the outburst in her already weakened state.
"Alright I need to find some shelter, then figure out where in Tartarus I am,” Nightmare thought glumly to herself.
Nightmare looked over to where the ape creature had been and saw a sack and metallic stick with a strap attached to both end of it as well as a smaller metallic tube attached to a stick. She also saw a small orange box that had various pieces of basic medical equipment, such as bandages, sterilising agents, syringes and pills to name a few. It was then she noticed the tight bandages on her body, red spots on a couple of them. Gathering all the loose supplies together into the sack she placed the sack onto her back only for it to erupt in pain.
Throwing the sack off she looked to her left flank to see her wing hanging limply at her side.
“How did I not notice that earlier” Nightmare wondered, mentally scolding herself for not taking full stock her health.
Sighing she charged her magic up, initially nothing happened, concentrating harder she enveloped her wing in her telekinetic grip, taking a deep breath she pushed the wing back into its socket causing Nightmare to scream out in pain.
Panting again Nightmare looked around taking in her surroundings in greater detail, where ever she was, she concluded that these lands looked about as welcoming as the Everfree did. Once again she pulled the sack onto her back, albeit more gingerly this time and strapped the two metal stocks to it as well.
“Luna I know we've had our differences over the actions I have taken, but are you paying attention to the situation we're in,” Nightmare asked her other half, after a moment of silence she finally notice that Luna's presence was completely absent from her mind.
“So I'm alone here then...I hope Luna is back in Equestria safe then” Nightmare sighed dejectedly. She knew that Luna did not agree with her actions in Equestria, but everything she had done, she had done for Luna, even if it made her into a tyrant.
For whatever world she was on, she knew she would need assistance, because if her assumption was right, these lands would be about as dangerous if not more due to its unknown inhabitants than what horrors inhabited Equestria. Further to her misfortune not only were her magical reserves dangerously low, there appeared to be some form of field suppressing her magic.
So far she had only come across one creature that seemed to have any desire to help her... she needed to find that ape creature.
Walking around the hunk of smouldering metal she was met with several decaying bodies strewn across the ground. Looking back at the smouldering metal she noticed a dent in its structure, looking back to where she lay then at herself she realised what must have happened.
“I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the flank” Nightmare sighed as she set off in the direction that the ape had fled.
Nightmare Moon was only beginning to follow the trail of the ape she had awoken too when she heard a growling come from a nearby cluster of bushes. Even though it was night and moon hidden behind the storm clouds above her enhanced vision allowed her to see a pack of dogs emerge, all growling at her.
Baring her own fangs she growled back at them. It took her a moment to realise that these dogs in fact had no eyes, just empty sockets.
Realising that the beasts wouldn't be intimidated by what they couldn't see, Nightmare instead focused her telekinetic grip on one of the sticks she had strapped to the sack on her back. Readying it out in front of herself like a club she took note of it's shape – as the blind dogs began to advance on her – how it reminded her much of a crossbow that gryphons used, it had a trigger after all.
Trying her theory she pointed her weapon at the closest dog and pressured the trigger. A thunderous bang struck Nightmares ears, causing her to flinch as plum of fire erupted from the weapon. Looking back at the beast she had attacked Nightmare now beheld a barely recognisable corpse which had been thrown back from the force of whatever this foreign weapon was.
Wasting no time Nightmare took aim at another dog and fired the weapon again, this time watching the result of the weapon. The vile looking dog's head exploded into chunks of bone and flesh before the rest of the body collapsed onto the ground.
Hearing a bark to her side Nightmare barely dodged as one of the dogs leapt at her, she tried to use the weapon again but to no avail; the weapon was mute. She jumped aside as another dog attempted to jump on her. Deciding to go with her original plan again she used the weapon as a club and slammed it on the head of the nearest dog stunning it, using her opening she quickly charged it and impaled it on her horn.
The disfigured hound let out a howl of agony as Nightmare raised the impaled beast with her horn, with a flick of her head she sent the dog into a tree; she heard a satisfying snapping sound when it impacted. The dog whimpers trailed off quickly, blood pooling around its broken body.
Looking back there were now only two dogs remaining, both were now keeping there distance, barking and whimpering to each other. Readying herself she unleashed a ferocious battle cry and charged them, causing them to sprint off with their tails between their legs.
Nightmare cut off her charge allowing the beasts to escape, she wanted to punish them for daring to attack her, but she also knew she was in a hostile land and needed all the strength she had. Nightmare sat down and allowed herself a moment to catch her breath, still trying to recover from when she woke up.
Once her breathing returned to normal she stood up and returned to following the trail left by the ape she had scared off. Sooner or later she knew she would catch up to it, Nightmare only hoped that it would still be receiving of her.
_____
Nightmare Moon had been following the trail for sometime now. Clouds were beginning to give way to the rising sun, the warmth was grudgingly welcome.
While Nightmare still wanted to bring the gift of eternal night to Equestria, she could not deny the warm sensation of the rays striking her cold damp coat. While being an alicorn Nightmare was reassured by the knowledge that she had a higher resistance to many things - such as temperatures - than the average pony; however this did not mean to say she was willing to be reckless, she knew that prolonged exposure to the elements would eventually cause her trouble, and right now she was only at a fraction of her former strength.
As the light levels began to increase with the rising sun, Nightmare noticed the outline of what appeared to be a small two storey house. With new found energy, she picked her walking pace up to a trot, she hoped to find her ape there or at the very least get into some shelter and spend some time resting.
As Nightmare approached the house she noticed a few things about it, firstly was its condition, the paint was faded all over and chipping off, the next thing she noted was how all the windows were boarded up, and finally the door itself appeared to be made of several pieces of wooden boards of varying length and shape, crudely built into the form of a door.
Walking up to the door, Nightmare knocked on it gently. Waiting a few moments she was rewarded with nothing. Somewhat annoyed she knocked again yet harder this time...still nothing.
Furrowing her brow she called out. “Is anypony home?”
Sighing Nightmare Moon decided to see if she could see in through a parting in the boarded up windows, only for a loud bang followed by the sound of splintering wood a moment later; causing her to duck down to the ground. Looking back she saw the door open up and the familiar ape creature walked out, a long length of wood in it's hands topped by a surprisingly long knife, she would have called it a spear, yet it resembled some features same as the weapon she had used to dispatch the twisted dogs earlier.
Upon noticing her, the creature raised its weapon at her, Nightmare's eyes opened wide with fear.
“WAIT wait wait wait,” Nightmare called out with desperation.
The creature cocked an eyebrow at her, lowering its weapon ever so slightly.
“I...uh, I believe these belong to you” Nightmare said shakily as she pulled the items off her back and levitated them over to the creature who looked at them for a moment, weapon still half raised.
The creature looked back up at her for a moment muttering something unintelligible to itself then sighing.
“...Come inside then, and no funny shit,” the creature spoke dully picking up the sack and two weapons and returning into the decrepit building.
Nightmare stood up and followed. Inside the house was barren except for a few things, in the far corner was a pile of sticks and branches; a small fire was flickering in a crudely cut barrel placed in the hearth. Pressed up against the opposite wall was a chair with a broken back and table which bore heavy scarring, two small papery packets and a small metal tray sat on top. To her immediate left was a ladder which lead to the upper reaches of the house, which the ape was climbing up.
Looking back down on her it spoke again, “Close the door, we don't want mutants barging in.”
Complying Nightmare closed the door, locking it with its steel bolt. She then went to sit next to the fire, throwing a few small branches on with her magic as she did.
Only now was she beginning to notice how weak her reserves were, branches trembling in her telekinetic grip. However as Nightmare was beginning to relax, she felt a magical presence from the upper floor...
_____
Alexei could hardly believe it, the equine creature had found him, not only that it had also brought back his kit and loot. Crawling up into the attic he sat down on his bedroll and began to examine his things. First he looked at the sawn-off, both hammers were now resting forward, flicking the latch he opened the barrels up, both shell popped out, looking them over they were spent.
Looking through the backpack next he pulled out it's contents, none of which had been disturbed since he had set out with it. Lastly he picked up the AKS looking it over, the weapon itself appeared to be corroded heavily; though from what he had heard, everything seemed to deteriorate faster in the Zone.
Alexei tried to pull the bolt back, but it refused to move. Trying again yet harder the bolt still stubbornly refused to move. Standing up he rested the rifle against the wall and kicked the bolt down, this time it opened slightly, raising his boot again, he slammed down harder, the bolt opened the whole way this time.
After giving the gun a brief look over he determined that it was worthless to him, it would cost more to take it to a technician and have it repaired than it would to just buy a new one; knowing the prices the Zones technicians charged. Sighing he set the gun down.
Alexei instead decided to attend to his guest, whatever it maybe he gathered it was female from its pleas a moment ago. Gathering a few fresh bandages and the remaining half loaf of bread he stuffed the items into his backpack and descended back down to the lower floor.
The equine was sitting in front of the fireplace, both of her wings were slightly raised, eyes closed. Alexei threw the pack onto the table, causing the equine to jump to alertness, he noticed how some of the bandages had red patches on them. Taking out the fresh bandages and bread he looked back at the equine.
“We're going to need to change those bandages,” Alexei stated pointing to the bandages before continuing, “and I assume you're hungry, yes?”
“I gue-” the equine began but was cut off by a low growl, who then looked away in embarrassment.
A small smile cracked itself onto Alexei's face as he held out the bread, a faint silvery-blue glow encased the bread as it floated over to the equine to mumbled it's thanks and sat back down in front of the fire eating the loaf.
Alexei himself sat down on the chair, pulling the bandages out. Busying himself he grabbed the pack of cigarettes and matches he kept at the table, lighting himself one while he waited. When the equine had finished he gestured for her to come and sit next to him.
Once next to him, Alexei began unwrapping around the shoulder...to reveal that the wound was now nothing more than a gently oozing cut. Alexei re-bandaged the wound and moved on to the others, which yielded the same results, the minor wounds had healed entirely, while the more serious were just shallow cuts.
“I have to ask,” Alexei began while putting his cigarette into an empty can, getting the attention of the equine, “who and what are you, and how is it that your injuries have healed this fast in such a short time? I've only been here for about three weeks, and even from the stories I've heard, you look nothing like what the Zone would spawn.”
“I am Nightmare Moon, the true ruler of Equestria. As for what I am, I am an alicorn; we have higher natural resistances and metabolisms,” Nightmare Moon said, holding herself in a higher stance, before deflating and continuing, “and I can only assume I am no longer on Equis.”
“Not even remotely, you're currently on Earth, in the country of Ukraine. Trapped inside the exclusion zone of the worst ecological disaster in recorded history,” Alexei replied with mock humor.
“Trapped? What's stopping me from simply walking out of this exclusion zone you speak of,” Nightmare Moon asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Aside from government forces guarding the perimeter, nothing much besides the mutants which will probably attack you on sight, and anomalies which will tear you apart if you unfortunately walk into one,” Alexei replied with a hint of sarcasm.
“These lands sound truly inhospitable, it sound like only a fool would dare remain here,” Nightmare spoke indignantly.
Alexei chuckled at her response before saying his own. “Fools we may be, but the Zone is a wild land, laws of the outside do not apply here, both those of the men who rule the outside world and those made by nature herself.”
“So you stay here because you do not agree with how your country outside of this Zone, it seems suicidal to me,” Nightmare said giving him a flat look.
“It's not that I didn't agree with the outside, it's more a case of it didn't agree with me,” Alexei responded, pausing to light another cigarette before continuing, “no matter where I went, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't make a life for myself out there, so I sold off what I could and brought a few things with me here. The life is free, yet dangerous, you must work each day just to survive.”
Nightmare Moon scrunched her nose up as Alexei exhaled a cloud of smoke.
“I still fail to see the allure here considering the perils involved,” Nightmare coughed while waving a hoof to clear some of the smoke away from herself.
“One thing that almost everyone here in the Zone shares in common is the hunt for wealth. But one must search far and wide just to find what one is looking for,” He replied.
“So everyone here is attracted to this forsaken place out of greed, pray tell; what is it that would drive you to this,” Nightmare asked, now curious to what would drive beings to such a place.
“Anomalies here spawn these things called artifacts, most usually emit harmful radiation, others can absorb radiation; all can provide benefits to the wielder, including the benefit of selling for a nice sum of money,” Alexei explained, a smile growing on his face.
“Have you managed to acquire any of these artifacts,” Nightmare asked pointedly, “you don't appear to be rolling in wealth.”
“Well as you can imagine getting supplies into the Zone is no easy task, considering the military cordon and all, so things aren't cheap,” Alexei shot back, “and yes I have found a couple of artifacts in my time, but because I'm on contract to the local trader I only get quarter value from them until I finish by deal. I even have two up stairs.”
“I'd like to see proof of this, O great treasure seeker,” Nightmare exaggerated, waving her hooves around with a mischievous look.
Glaring at the alicorn, Alexei put his second cigarette into the tin as well before replying. “Firstly, unless it's a bandit or a member of one of the major factions, everyone here is referred to as a stalker. A treasure seeker is some crock-pot bastard searching some old ruin for lost items from civilizations past.”
This seemed to only feed the alicorn's amusement.
“Secondly, stuff you I'll show you them right now” Alexei continued, going back to the ladder and climbing into the attic once again.
Alexei made for the foot locker where he kept his lead case. Pulling out the tarnished metal case as well as a small bag where he kept his slime jellyfish he made back to the ladder.
Sitting back down at the table he first pulled the cord on the small bag and pulled out the jellyfish, the slimy texture still sent shivers down his spine.
“This here,” Alexei said pulling out the precious artifact, “is called a slime jellyfish, most stalkers still just refer to it as a jellyfish, but there are two specimens to be had. This one here has a green slimy coating around it see, and it absorbs radiation from whoever is touching it; a real lifesaver. The other specimen is known as a crystal jellyfish, which does emit radiation, while providing a weak protective field around the wielder, slightly slowing incoming forces,” Alexei explained, his own expression becoming smug as the alicorn looked over the artifact in front of her, her expression changing to an odd one of wonder and revulsion.
Holding the artifact in one hand, he unscrewed the lid of the case and removed his second artifact and showed it to the alicorn, it was a rough disk shape with several smaller glowing disks within it.
“This is another multi-specimen artifact called stone flower, this particular one is also known as a stone petal, it grants the wielder a weak resistance to psy-fields; while emitting radiation. The other is known as a gold flower, it also emits a protective field, but one that makes the wielder more resistant blows against them; also emits radiation,” Alexei explained again.
“I have two things to say,” Nightmare said after a few moments of starring at the two artifacts in wonderment. “What is this radiation you keep speaking of, and why can I sense some magical power coming from that...stone petal?” Nightmare asked.
“Radioactive fallout is a harmful and invisible form of energy that can have severe negative effects to any living thing, it still lingers from the 1986 disaster, but is also emitted by artifacts. Radiation itself kills off cells in the body, small doses can be managed and cured with anti-rads or certain artifacts. Higher doses can cause serious sickness and lead to death, only heavy doses of anti-rads and the strongest of anti-rad artifacts can save someone, even then the effects of radiation sickness may kill them,” Alexei parroted, remembering one of Wolf's lectures.
“As for this artifact, I dunno, maybe you have natural psionic powers, I mean you were levitating that bread before,” he continued dismissively.
The alicorn hummed to herself for a moment, the look of deep thought on her face.
“I have a theory I wish to test, may I hold this stone petal for a moment,” Nightmare asked suddenly.
Alexei looked at the artifact for a moment before responding. “Well I guess, you'll probably want this one too” he said tossing the jellyfish in his hand.
“That shouldn't be necessary, I only want to inspect it for a moment,” Nightmare replied.
Shrugging Alexei handed over the artifact in question. Nightmare held it in her hooves concentrating all her attention on the artifact.
A moment later the stone petal began shining a brilliant white light, so much that Alexei had to shield his eyes as it gave one last great explosive flash. As his vision returned, Alexei heard a dull thunk, he beheld that Nightmare Moon was breathing heavily and the artifact was now laying on the ground, yet it was deformed into a rough ball emitting a soft white light.
Eyes wide in disbelief Alexei reached down and picked up the artifact, it took him several moments to realise what had happened.
Whipping out his PDA he quickly navigated to the encyclopedia and began scrolling through a list of commonly found artifacts , until he found one whose picture matched that of the artifact in front of him.
Cobblestone. The result when an artifact is put under too much stress, either from interaction with other artifacts, constant use, or life expires. Cobblestones emit a weak light source and look like nice decorations, otherwise serves no purpose. Scientists already have ample specimens, so the market is limited. Value – Very, very low. Current est. 200R Emits no radiation.
It took Alexei a moment to process what had just happened, anger quickly rose in him and he slammed a fist on the table glaring at the alicorn who jumped at his outburst, breathing still ragged.
“What did you do,” Alexei said in a dangerously calm voice.
_____
Nightmare felt like a bolt of electricity had just shot through her, while the experience was unpleasant to say the least, she felt like she had regained a portion of her magical power, yet she felt like she was about to loose the scrap of bread she had just eaten.
She jolted back to reality as the ape slammed a fist onto the table and gave her a cold glare.
“What did you do,” the ape spoke dangerously calm, seeming to try and restrain itself from any further outbursts.
“I...I told you I...felt magical power...coming...from the artifact” Nightmare said between pants, she took a moment to compose herself before continuing her explanation, “I thought that I might have been able to draw some power from it, much like how one would draw water from a pond. But the moment I made contact with it, all of its power rushed into me, I never expected nor intended it to happen,” Nightmare apologised shakily .
“DAMNIT! I had to crawl through shit and mud to get to that thing!” the ape shouted, lighting another one of the white sticks, taking a long draw before releasing two jets of smoke from its nose.
Silence hung heavily, with tension hot in the air. One of the apes palms was resting on the table, fingers drumming away, while the other was supporting the smoke stick.
After a few tense moments the ape groaned and rubbed his palms down his face.
“Alright, now I've gotta try and explain to Sid why he won't be getting his artifact, and try and get some for supplies by bartering with stuff I got from the crash site, as well as my savings,” the ape finally said, extinguishing the now stub stick in the tin, “and I'm just about out of cigarettes as well, joy.”
Nightmare felt a bad sensation rising in her, one which caused her to fidget in place. She couldn't place why, but the thought of ruining this creatures livelihood didn't sit well with her.
Is this guilt? Nightmare asked herself. Is this what ponies feel when they do bad thing...how do they live with themselves with such knowledge.
Staring into the fire she then reflected on how she nearly plunged Equestria into eternal night, and the effects it may have had on the land.
No...no the ponies shunned the night, they needed to be shown the beauty of the night, that it wasn't something to be frowned upon...besides I'm sure I could have solved any problem that may have risen, Nightmare thought to herself sternly. No she had to return to Equestria and finish what she started a millennia ago...But how though, she was trapped with only a scrap of magical energy, not anywhere near enough to perform anything as complicated as a warp spell.
Nightmare snapped back to reality again as she heard the loud clunk of the bolt on the door opening and the hinges creaking. The ape was just about to leave when she called out to it.
“Wait...I, uh...I'm sorry for ruining your artifact, I am...is there anything I can do to help you,” Nightmare apologised.
Sighing the ape closed the door.
“No there's not, if you come with me you'll get shot, either by the military that patrol near the railroad embankment, or by the rookie stalkers at the village where the trader Sidorovich is at,” the ape said.
“Well there's got to be some way I can help you,” Nightmare said.
The ape sighed again scratching the stubble under its chin before replying. “I dunno, there's not much you can do for me right now, just try not draw attention here. I'll leave you my shotgun seeing as how you've managed to use it, just in case anything tries to break in.”
Nightmare nodded slowly as the ape pulled the weapon out of it's large coat, with a few palms full of the red cylinders.
“In case you don't know how to reload this gun here's how. Flick this latch over like so,” the ape said while demonstrating the procedure, “and pull the sections apart like this, then remove the spent shells; all you need to do is load fresh ones in, close the gun up, and pull these two levers back, then you're ready to shoot again...got it,” the ape finished explaining.
Nightmare nodded in the affirmative.
“Good, I probably won't be back till later this afternoon, maybe drawing closer to the evening. While I'm out I'll see if I can get some equipment for you, if you're stuck here and really want to help me; you may as well help out there,” the ape spoke again, while gesturing outside.
As the ape unlocked the door again Nightmare spoke up again. “You never told me your name.”
The ape paused then looked back at her. “I didn't did I...the names Alexei Sharov, and before you ask, the name that my species use is human,” Alexei answered, almost having read her mind, and then continued speaking, “If you get hungry while I'm gone too bad you ate the last loaf, there's some water in the green case upstairs if you get thirsty however, bathroom is anywhere but inside here.”
With that the human left, closing the door, the bolt sliding shut and falling into its locked position.
Nightmare looked around the damaged house, noticing the fire was low again, she tossed some more wood into the hearth.
Looking back at the ruined artifact on the table she picked it up with her telekinesis and sat in front of the warm fire. She felt wrong for having destroyed the strange yet beautiful object.
What is this sensation...it feels similar to what Luna was experiencing during our imprisonment...is this what guilt really feels like, Nightmare brooded glumly.
She decided to try and make right her damage, focusing her magic on to the softly glowing orb, trying to reverse the effects.
Alexei had trekked for several hours, having to take large detours from his original route. The first was at the railway embankment where he had cut a hole through the fence the other day, a small herd of flesh and boars had decided to sleep at the same site as the breech. The only other way past he had learned was through a tunnel filled with electro anomalies, though it was dangerous, one could traverse it if they studied the pattern that the anomalies manifested and dissipated in.
As he reached the other end of the tunnel he was met with a pack of dogs upon detecting him, immediately tried to shred him, he had managed to kill a pair of with his pistol and spear a third before the pack fled, he cut the tails off hoping that Sidorovich might want them.
Deciding that going in a beeline to the village from their would only land him in a springboard anomaly – a gravitational anomaly that releases a powerful shock wave when something gets too close to the anomaly; most unfortunates who get trapped in such an anomaly first have their legs broken in the first blast, followed by the rest of themselves, leaving blood stains and compressed biomass – Alexei decided to instead circle around and go through the old cement factory and to the car park.
Only to have found that the car park was now inhabited by bandits, a large group no less. Not liking those odds Alexei gave the workshops a wide berth, keeping low he used the bushes as cover each time the sentries turned away until he safely passed. From there he keep to the bottom of the slope until he came to the bridge.
Passing underneath he saw the corpse of some stalker being ravaged by a pair of dogs. Using his rifle he shot one of the dogs in the head, causing the other to flee. Patting down the cadaver, he found a few loose rubles in its pocket, a slightly worn Fort-12 pistol, chambered in 9x18mm with a spare clip and the PDA which was unfortunately locked. Feeling close enough to the safety of the stalker camp he climbed the slope back on to the road and made his way down the dirt track into the village. As Alexei entered the village he passed by a stalker wearing a worn leather jacket, while the hood was up, he could tell that the man was either bald or balding, however the ragged face seemed familiar. Alexei didn't get a chance to take a closer look at the stalker as he jogged his way out of the village, dismissing the thought he moved on.
Alexei made his way towards the shutters Sid's bunker and descended the steps into its grey bowels. The steel door creaked with age and lack of proper care.
Sidorovich was sitting behind his counter as usual typing away on his computer, probably setting up more deals to buyers outside of the Zone. Looking up the old trader gave his typical greeting.
“So stalker, what've you got for me? Another artifact I hope,” Sid casually said.
“Uhh not quite...there was a complication with the artifact,” Alexei nervously replied.
“Well what's the matter, was it sitting in the middle of an anomaly, or did some stalker poach it before you could,” Sid asked in a resigned manner.
“Weeellll it kinda turned into a cobblestone,” Alexei answered, pulling out his PDA he flicked to a photo he took of Nightmare Moon while she was distracted. “You see, I found this creature here at crash site beyond the embankment, just off from the Northern Outpost. It was wounded pretty badly so I patched it up, and it kinda followed me back to where I was camping.”
“Alright so what does this thing have to do with the artifact,” Sidorovich asked, cocking an eyebrow as he observed the image. “It sure as hell doesn't seem to be a mutant, at least not any I know of, they're all disfigured and what not.”
“See that's not all of it, this creature can actually speak, she's about as intelligent as you and me, that's not all either, she has telekinetic powers too. I gave her a stone petal to look over on her request, and she like absorb its energy or something, turning it into a cobblestone,” Alexei answered.
Sidorovich handed back the PDA before leaning back in his seat letting out a long sigh.
“Alright so I'm going to take your word, the Zone's always pulling something new out all the time proving we don't know everything about it and what it's capable of,” Sid said leaning back on the counter top.
“Well what do we do about her then?” Alexei asked.
“Hmm, if I were you, I'd take her over to the scientists at Yantar to do some sciencey mumbo jumbo that I can't wrap my head around, and get a better understanding of this...What did it call itself exactly?” Sidorovich said.
“She said her name was Nightmare Moon, and that her species were called alicorns or something like that” Alexei answered.
“Hmpf, sounds like something straight out of a cartoon show. Anyways if you are going to take this Nightmare Moon to see the scientists, your best path would be to go up through the garbage and into Duty territory at the 100 Rads bar located in the eastern section of the Rostok factory. From there head west into the Wild Territory; be extra careful there, mutants of all kinds roam there,” Sid directed.
“Alright, but how will I get past the Duty guard posts though, last I checked they're not ones for creatures that aren't human. Also what will the scientists do with her, like she has psi powers after all, making her mad in anyway would probably be bad,” Alexei asked.
“Sharkov isn't some heartless machine like some of the other scientists that come into the zone, he wouldn't dissect her if that's what you're thinking, he'll probably just run a few basic tests,” Sid replied. “As for the Dutyers, I'll let the barkeep know that you're escorting a specimen to the scientists, and that it is completely docile, he'll pass it onto Duty's command
"Just try and keep the critter from pissing off anyone there you hear me,” he added sternly.
Alexei nodded as he put his pack on the counter and pulled a small dented case from it, pulling a small key from a separate pocket he opened the case revealing his small hoarding of cash.
“In the mean time she's going to need to make herself useful, which means I need to get her some equipment,” Alexei stated, not overly happy with the coming blow to his savings, Sidorovich on the other hand looked pleased at the sound of business.
“For starters I'm gonna need another shotgun, just one of those long barreled TOZ-34's should do, throw three boxes of buckshot and a box of slugs in with it,” Alexei said while mulling over his mental checklist, while Sid started collecting the declared gear.
“About three boxes of 9x18's for this spare Fort I found, also going to need another canteen too. Hmm, need food as well if were going all the way to Yantar and I gave her my last loaf of bread... Throw two loaves of bread, two tins of meat, a couple bottles of vodka, a pack of matches and some smokes in as well,” Alexei continued his checklist as he watched the pile of gear grow.
“That everything man,” Sid called as he grabbed a pack of cigarettes from a shelf.
“Actually I'll need a sewing kit as well, in brown,” Alexei concluded his list.
“That'll be Five-thousand and thirty-five cash,” Sidorovich said smugly, sitting back in his seat.
Counting the money out he realised he would fall short, he was really wishing that artifact was here now.
“Crap, I've only got forty-five hundred...ahh would you accept a short fall of three 5.45x39 boxes and two full horns?” Alexei asked.
“Let me have a look at them first, I don't take crap ammo,” Sid said, tone souring slightly.
Alexei complied and revealed the ammunition to which Sid looked over nearly every bullet.
“Well the ammo looks good at least...ehhh I guess I can allow the rest off,” Sid finally said after testing the springs in both magazines.
"Oh yeah, before I forget, I found this PDA on the body of some poor guy just near the small bridge a ways off," Alexei said revealing the PDA from his pocket. "You want to see if you can crack it for anything?"
Sidorovich grunted in response, plugging a jack into the device he began tinkering with his computer. A few minutes had past when Sid unplugged the PDA and handed it back, Alexei gave him a questioning look.
"I've already got enough of these sitting around here, and this one's a bit beaten anyway," Sid explained. "Besides, your new friend will be needing one. But I got some interesting bits out of this so here, on the house." Sidorovich pulled out two more bread loaves and vodka bottle.
Alexei gathered up all the gear for Nightmare and was about to leave when Sid called to him.
“Wait a minute stalker one more thing, seeing how you'll be passing through the Bar, I've gotta package that needs delivering there too, it'll pay well,” Sid said.
Alexei turned around and looked at the trader. “Alright, what is it.”
“This case contains documents and reports of expeditions made deep into the zone, I've read them over already and made a copy for myself, take them straight to the barman,” Sid replied while pulling a small white case from under his counter, a pair of padlocks clamped either side of the handle.
Alexei shouldered his rifle and took the case in hand, waving the fat trader off as he left.
Lord he charges like a bitch, but at least his stuff won't break or jam in five minutes, Alexei thought to himself as he began his trek back to the house, remembering the time a stalker had sold him a mp5 that jammed nearly every other shot.
_____
Nightmare Moon was slowly recovering from her ordeal, faster with the new artifact in her hooves.
After channelling her power into the ruined artifact she had fallen unconscious due to the magical burnout and overall fatigue from earlier in the day. She had awoken to a different artifact entirely.
The artifact was only the size of an apple, and bore a resemblance to the moon, pitted with craters and glowing softly. When she tried to better examine the precious orb, she exposed it to sunlight filtering through gaps in the barricaded windows; the small object dimmed until it went completely dull and grey.
While the artifact was active, Nightmare felt more energetic than she had been since waking up in these foreign lands, she had removed her bandages after seeing all her wounds were now completely healed, not even a scar marred her.
Nightmare had no idea how long she was unconscious for, she had assumed it had been for several hours at least given how hungry she was, yet when she looked outside the suns position had barely changed from when she had seen Alexei off.
Nightmare looked over the artifact in her hooves, once again marvelling at it's strange beauty. While she found the night and all its aspects to be beautiful, this mysterious object in her hooves what something else entirely.
While she was starring at the artifact another growl loudly protested her need for food, placing the artifact on the table she decided to leave the house and eat what ever foliage she could.
When Nightmare went to open the bolt on the door with her magic a sharp pain seared through her skull causing her to collapse on the ground, withering in agony.
After a short while the pain receded into a dull throbbing, Nightmare sat up removing her helmet and rubbing her temples in an effort to sooth her aching head. While she was trying to alleviate her throbbing head she noticed that her mane was no longer an ethereal mist but instead reverted back to a deep rich purple mane.
“Wonderful, that spell drained all my magical reserves. Changing this artifact had best be worth it, because now I can even open a simple door with my magic,” Nightmare grumbled to herself.
Now that Nightmare had the new artifact in hoof, she began to wonder what brought on such feelings. The human was merely a means to the end, and an ally that she would exploit to such time as he had either become a burden, or she managed to find a way to return to Equestria.
Opening the bolted door with her mouth Nightmare made her way outside, she took in her surroundings making sure no creature was lurking around.
After a minute of observing Nightmare made her way outside and began grazing on a longer patch of grass near the house.
I can't believe I'm forced to eat like a peasant, Nightmare growled to herself.
_____
Nightmare having found nothing better to do with her time had spent the entire day exploring every nook and cranny of the decrepit house, most things she had found were uninteresting; mainly cartons partly full of metallic casings similar to those that she had been given for her gun, except smaller.
Eventually Nightmare felt her magical powers comeback, if only fleetingly. She settled for tending the fire, levitating small branches onto the embers and watching as the wood withered under the heat, smouldering, cracking and becoming more hot ash.
Nightmares thoughts wandered once more; to home, she wondered what had become of dear Luna, she prayed that Celestia would be gentle and show leniency as her actions were not her own. She wondered if she would survive in this world long enough to return to Equestria, she wondered if it were possible to return to Equestria; surely it could be, she came to this world after all so a return spell shouldn't be out of the question.
Nightmare jumped at the sound of the metal bolt on the door screeched open, her eyes darted to the table where she had left the gun; she channelled as much power into grabbing hold of the weapon as she dared but her reserve was still too low to gain and effective hold, causing it to drop to the floor with a clunk.
Nightmare took a defensive stance lowering her horn, preparing to charge the intruder, flaring her wings to give herself that extra boost in momentum. Once the door began to open, she leapt at the would-be intruder--
"I'm back at last," the familiar voice of Alexei called.
--Once she heard his voice Nightmares eyes widened as she was about to impale the human on her horn. As quick as she had acted Nightmare gave a mighty beat of her wings to halt her charge, as well as slamming her hind quarters onto worn flooring; skidding to a halt mere inches away from the man, both looking in each others eyes.
At first the two stayed like this, then Alexei began to snort and giggle until he collapsed onto the ground, howling in laughter. Nightmare however shifted uncomfortably with embarrassment and looked away.
"Be quiet I almost impaled you, you stupid foal," Nightmare groaned with annoyance.
"Yeah, but yo...you looked like a...PUPPY...waiting for its...owner," Alexei managed to say between laughing fits.
A few minutes of laughter later at Nightmare's expense Alexei calmed down enough to close the door and deposit his pack on the table, as well as a scratched grey-white case and new weapon.
"So what's all of this, it seems a tad much," Nightmare asked, curiosity overcoming her embarrassment.
"Well I've told you how dangerous this place is, and you volunteered to help me, so I purchased an entire kit for you," Alexei explained while waving a hand over his pack "Even got you a new toy, so I'll be taking back that sawn-off."
Looking at the second weapon on the table over, the size of the barrel suggested is was similar to the one she had been entrusted with, the differences being the barrel was much longer and featured a under-over style rather than the side-by-side of the one still laying on the floor. There was still one issue that was starting to worm it's way into Nightmare however, one that was clear to her, and should have been to the human.
"This is wonderful and all, but I don't exactly have the means to carry all this, even with magic it be far too taxing to keep all this in a pocket dimension too long," Nightmare pointed out.
"Well even though I'm now broke, that's something I can solve without having spend more. When I came into the Zone I had a couple of small satchels - still do - that should be able to store most of your supplies," Alexei answered, splitting the gear from the pack into two piles. "All I need to do is make some adjustments to them and this coat and you'll be more-a-less ready for the Zone."
Nightmare flinched ever so slightly at his initial statement, reminded once again that in seeking out aid in this foreign world she had caused one inhabitant to give up all his wealth to provide her with provisions just to survive. While by no means she was ungrateful, however she began to think why he would so willingly help her; unless he had something to gain by helping her.
Abruptly her thoughts were interrupted by a prod and whistle.
"Hey you paying attention, I said I need you to lift your wing up," Alexei said. "These measurements won't take themselves you know."
"Apologies, I was thinking" Nightmare replied, stretching her wing out as instructed " Why do you need these measurements again?"
"Well like I said, I'm going to make some adjustments to this coat i'm wearing, it'll provide some protection from the crappy ass environment out there as well as some light protection against cuts and scrapes," Alexei stated as he measured her wing's movement. "Probably add in some buckles and straps to help hold the satchels and some other equipment, now...where are those needles at."
_____
Alexei tightened the last satchel to the buckles he'd sewn to the back of the modified coat Nightmare was now wearing. It had taken him a few hours to measure, cut and stitch the battered coat to the dark alicorn's shape and size, but he was happy with the result; it fit her at the very least.
"There, if you want to take these satchels off, all you need to do is loosen these buckles," He said.
"Thank you," she replied.
Alexei walked over to one of the boarded up windows and peered outside; the sun had already dipped below the hills, orange streaks reaching above them giving the only indication where it was setting.
"Alright lets get packed up, I want to make some headway while we can still see," Alexei declared.
"Are you sure? With what you've told me of this place surely it would be more wise to wait until morning," Nightmare said.
"True it's more dangerous at night, but I do know of a small cave on our way north that we can shelter in for the night, if we head off soon we should make it there before anything real nasty comes out," he replied.
Together they began packing Nightmare's supplies into her two satchels, testing their weight. Alexei then pulled out the last piece of gear she would need, the PDA he'd found.
"Here, you'll need this as well," Alexei said as he showed her the device. "It's called a personal data assistant or PDA for short. A few features that you'll find handy are like the map of the Zone, which will show your position in real time, an encyclopedia of commonly found things here and the message board for news happening around the zone."
"Surely something like this can not be cheap," Nightmare said, eyes widening at the device.
"Yeah, they're a bit expensive. This one's lucky to be in as good of condition as it is, the guy I got it off looks like he had been...well dead for some time," Alexei replied, much to Nightmare's revulsion.
"I didn't know grave robbing is common practice with your species," Nightmare said with some disdain.
Alexei shrugged. "Here you make use of what you can, even if that means taking stuff off those who have perished, it could save your life," he said.
Nightmare sighed, the PDA began to float out of Alexei's hand in a blue aura into Nightmare's satchel.
The only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the small fire. Alexei looked back at the table to pick up his pack when he noticed the small glowing orb on the table, it was about the same size as the cobblestone, but it glowed brighter and was pitted with craters, much like a miniature moon.
"What's that?" he asked pointing to the strange object.
Nightmare looked up and to the oddity. "Oh that...After you left this morning I tried to undo the damage I did to your artifact by putting energy back into it," she explained. "Instead of turning back into what it was, it turned into whatever it is now."
Alexei cocked an eyebrow, that was certainly something. He pulled out his detector from his pack and began to wave it close to the new artifact, sure enough the Geiger counter started to crackle but only faintly.
"What are you doing?" Nightmare asked.
"Checking to see if this one's radioactive," he replied. "It's only very weak, so I think we can handle it safely, perhaps even without my jellyfish."
"Have you seen one like this before?" she asked again.
Alexei shook his head. "Never, not even in the encyclopedia, and Sidorovich made sure it's artifact list was up-to-date. what did you experience while having it close?"
Nightmare looked thoughtful for a minute, rubbing her chin. "Hmm...I passed out after making it...but I felt full of energy, like I could run to the site I woke up at and back without tiring. My wounds were fully healed as well, not even a small scar, but I believe that would be from being an alicorn," she explain. "Oh, I did feel incredibly hungry after holding it for some too."
"Interesting, perhaps the scientists can have a look at it as well, they probably know what it is. For now I'll put it in a lead case just in case," Alexei said.
Pulling the small lead case on the table over he unscrewed the cap and gingerly placed the artifact inside.
"Now we best be going, that light ain't going to be around much longer," Alexei said, noticing the encroaching darkness.
Picking up their weapons they left the old house, locking the door behind them, then began making their way north.
Having traveled from the worn home Alexei had guided her past what he said used to be a farmstead, then north through a cluster of small hills and groves. There they found a small dug out cave with supports made from cut branches and a small cut barrel, much like the one back at Alexei's home. The pair had spent the night there, taking a shift each while the other slept.
They had set off in the early hours of the morning passing through ravines and underbrush, Nightmare had watched on with curiosity as her companion constantly checked a small device in his hands as they traveled, warning them of anomalies; even pointing a cluster out to her, yet she merely beheld what appeared to be heat distortion, which struck her has odd considering the morning had been a fridge one.
Nightmare sighed as she readjusted her new attire for another uncounted time that day as they rested. The coat that Alexei had modified for her had been chaffing all day, during a a couple of their rest stops he had taken the liberty to provide extra pieces of the finer fabric from the sewing kit to alleviate some of her discomfort. While she had to commend him for his efforts, it was obvious from the start his experience in the field of tailoring was limited. That wasn't to say his skills weren't completely inadequate, he had managed to make a series of straps to holster her shotgun - which also had pouch attached to it for extra ammo- along the right side of her barrel, as well as a holster for a pistol and knife.
Gazing up she watched as thick clouds rolled overhead, promising rain later in the day.
"Alright, breaks over time to get moving," Alexei's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Rather reach duty territory than spend a night out in the garbage, also that's another thing we're about to hit bandit country so be alert."
Nightmare nodded her head in response as she rose to her hooves and fell in behind her companion. Making their way through a stone tunnel they emerged to the sight of what could only be described as a metallic graveyard and hills of corroded steel and crumbling concrete.
"This place is a dump," Nightmare remarked in disgust, wrinkling her nose as she detected the scent of decay nearby.
"Well there is a reason why this area is called the Garbage and not the amusement park, " Alexei replied, oozing sarcasm.
"I wouldn't see the difference between the two," she replied dryly. "I can think of one who would find entertainment in a place like this back in Equestria."
Alexei made his way towards the field of what Nightmare initially thought were piles of twisted eroding metal, but as she approached she noticed they were once contraptions; many similar to the one she had woken up next to since coming here, albeit far more worn. One contraption however stood out from the rest, the main body was long and smooth with two shattered glass domes at the front, on top were five long blades drooping under their own weight; a similar set were found on the tail of the machine, on each side a pair of unusual cylinders pitted with holes hung from supports.
"What is that machine over there," Nightmare inquired.
"That? Depending on your outlook, it was a Hind gunship; nothing more than scrap now cause I doubt anyone will get it to fly again," Alexei answered.
"So I assume it would have been used by your military forces?" she asked
"Correct, they're capable of moving around squads of soldiers while providing heavy aerial support with rockets and machine gun fire."
"So why leave such a useful machine rotting here then?" she asked perplexed
"Probably was abandoned her after the first disaster back in '86 for being too radio-"
"Hands above your head asshole, or I'll remove them from you," a new voice threatened.
Before realising what was happening, she and Alexei were cornered by three thugs. The one standing directly in front of them wore a black coat wielding a sawn-off shotgun, the thug to her right wore a black jacket with blue pants with a pistol pointed straight at her face, the last to Alexei's right wore a maroon suit with a black tactical vest with a gun she had yet to identify.
Alexei grumbled to himself as he raised his hands slowly into the air.
"Now, you're gonna hand over your loot and there'll be no funny business got it," the thug in the coat demanded.
"The hell is this thing here anyway," The thug to her left asked while motioning towards her.
"Who cares, it's just a stupid animal, check those bags on it," the apparent leader answered.
Nightmare narrowed her eyes at the thugs. She then noticed how Alexei began to shake the rifle off his shoulder gently onto his arm, until the strap was nestled into the crook of his arm - the bayonet was still attached. The vested thug began reaching out for the rifle.
Knowing what to do, she played along; acting like a supposed animal she began backing away from the jacketed thug, which caused the lead thugs attention to focus on her in the process.
"Hey, keep that bitc- WHAT THE FUCK" The lead thug exclaimed, in the brief moment of distraction Alexei had swung the rifle up into his grasp and driven the blade into the vested thugs throat.
The lead thug re-aimed back to Alexei and fired both barrels. Instead of Alexei being cut down, he swung the body around towards his attacker; the thugs shots had instead landing in his now well dead comrade.
Taking the opportunity Nightmare pivoted in place and bucked the jacketed thug as hard as she could, sending him right over a decaying machine, hearing a loud grunt on the other side.
The loud bang of more gun fire caused Nightmare to spin around again, fearing that Alexei had been shot down this time; instead the sight she saw was of the leader having collapsed on the ground, several red blotches spreading on the chest while Alexei was holding his pistol at the twitching body.
Nightmare released a breath she had not realised she had been holding. Sitting down she took a moment to calm herself.
"What's the matter, not used to a bit of blood?" Alexei asked with a trace of mocking in his tone.
"Make no mistake, I'm well versed in combat, this was unexpected is all," Nightmare retorted.
Nightmare glared at the human as he hummed to himself at her response, busying himself by patting down the bodies for anything of value and stowing it away in his pack. She cocked an eye as he stripped the vest and coat off their previous owners.
"I reckon someone will be able to do a better job with this coat at the bar," Alexei said when he saw her gaze. "Alright lets keep moving, Duty territory will be around here somewhere."
_____
Day was gradually giving way to night as Alexei and Nightmare approached a fortified checkpoint, large concrete slabs had been positioned into makeshift walls, guards positioned near gaps and a large sheet metal gate.
Alexei knelt down near an old soviet statue by some ruins nearby, motioning for his companion to stay low. Nightmare moving surprisingly quiet, given she was wearing metal horseshoes, shuffled next to him. "Alright, here we are, Duty territory," Alexei said to Nightmare. "I'm going ahead to gauge how they'll react to you, just go duck down in those ruins somewhere and I'll give you a call if we can go or not."
"And what happens if we may not pass," Nightmare asked.
Alexei scratched his chin before answering. "Right now, I dunno. I've never come this far into the Zone before, only made a couple of peeks into the Garbage here, but I just never wanted to have a close encounter with the bandits."
The alicorn gave an exasperated sigh, muttering something he was unable to catch.
"If the Dutyers do block us from going to Rostok factory then I'll ask for the alternative, they're quite well traveled and know the Zone better than most," Alexei assured her.
Nightmare gave him another look before creeping her way towards the concealing shadows in the ruins, the closer to the darkness she got Alexei noted the immensely harder it got to see her.
If it were a moonless night, she'd be able to move anywhere unseen, He thought.
Rousing himself he began a slow walk towards the checkpoint. Once he got close enough the few guards that were in sight raised their guns at him, quickly he raised his hands.
"What's your business here stalker," the gravelly voice of one Dutyer called to him.
"I'm on a job from Sidorovich, to deliver some documents to the barman and escort a specimen to the scientists," Alexei answered.
"Come forward then, your shooters stay holstered while your in Duty territory understood," the guard called to him again.
Complying, Alexei kept his hands raised until he came to the guard who had addressed him.
"May I speak to your commander? It's about the specimen I'm escorting," Alexei asked the stoic guard.
"Warrant officer Kazakov should be inside or around the bunk hut," the Dutyer replied, pointing to the faded green-grey container by the gate.
Thanking the soldier he made his way towards the hut, peering inside he saw a couple of men resting in the beds, one stood out however. At the far back was who he assumed was the Warrant Officer, signified by his better than most suit and red beret. Upon noticing his entrance the commander motioned for Alexei to approach.
"Stalker I'm Warrant Officer Kazakov, what's your business here? Access into Rostok is limited due to recent bandit activity," the officer stated once Alexei was in front of him.
"I'm on a couple of jobs on Sidorovich's behalf. I've got to deliver documents to the barman, and I'm also escorting a specimen to the scientists in Yantar," Alexei answered.
The Kazakov's eyes narrowed at him. "What kind of specimen, Duty doesn't allow mutants into the factory area unless they're caged and heading for the arena's pens," the officers said suspiciously.
"The thing is this creature isn't a mutant, somehow it's arrived in our world-"
"Wait your the stalker escorting the non-terrestrial creature?"
Alexei nodded.
"The report that Sidorovich gave to General Voronin said that the creature was completely docile, is this true," the officer asked.
"Well it's docile when your not threatening it with a gun, but the thing is actually sentient, she can speak and think exactly like us, plus she's got psi abilities or something," Alexei explained.
"I can't allow your mystery creature to pass then. The general gave orders that should it present any possible threat that is was not to enter Duty territory until it has been inspected by the scientists," Kazakov responded.
"But I have to pass through the factory, it's the only way to Yantar," Alexei insisted.
"Not quite. While we were based over at the Agroprom Research Institute, I was apart of a few patrols that would occasionally deliver artifacts to the Yantar science bunker," Kazakov confessed. "There is a track hidden in the swamp north of the Institute, we placed scraps of cloth though the swamp and track north to show the safe route, should you go that way stay on the track if you value staying in one piece."
"Well it looks like I don't have much of a choice then, Agroprom it is," Alexei sighed, recalling the stories of the area and the notorious mutants that inhabited it.
A few moments of silence lasted between the two, interrupted by the snore of a sleeping Dutyer.
"Look, I can tell you're still very much a rookie, more experienced than most, but still fairly green. I'll deliver the documents to Barkeep on your behalf and have him wire your reward straight to you," Kazakov offered. "In return I'll need you to do a job for me, nothing serious."
"There's a problem with that, Sid never put any extra software onto my PDA," Alexei said.
"I can install the application easy enough, let me have a look," Kazakov replied.
Taking his PDA from his jackets inner chest pocket he handed it over to the officer. Kazakov attached a chip to the USB port and began tapping away on the screen, a few minutes later he handed the device back to Alexei.
"There all set up, now you can have money wired straight to your PDA, you can then get it converted into real cash by a major trader," Kazakov said.
Alexei removed his pack and pulled out the white case handing it over to the officer. "Now about this job," Alexei asked.
"While we were based over at Agroprom I was but a private, the sergeant of my squad had a modified Groza rifle. The under-barrel grenade launcher mount had been replaced with a pair of shotgun tubes which made it quite ideal in fighting close quarters. During our shift he was killed by a bloodsucker somewhere at the factory next to the Institute, I want you to find and collect the rifle then return it to me," Kazakov explained. "Do this and I'll throw a good word towards General Voronin's way, Duty honor."
"Nothing serious, what if that factory is a bloodsucker nest!" Alexei exclaimed, there was no way in hell or high heaven that he would go there if that was the case.
A yelp caused Alexei to quickly looked behind himself as the sleeping Dutyer shot up awake, looking around until he spotted Alexei standing next to the Warrant officer. Grumbling the man went and laid back down in his bunk.
"It's not a nest, that much we're certain, stalkers occupied it all the time, they still frequent it to my knowledge, it was just one of those moments that the beast had been hunting around the factory, anyway it was a good month ago," Kazakov reassured.
Alexei sighed, he just knew this was a bad idea. "Fine, I'll have a poke around, but if I see one of those bastards I'm gonna leg it, no arguing that."
"Very well, I wouldn't expect you to win a fight with one anyway, there is a reason why so few stalkers have the claim of killing one, usually accompanied by a set of scars," Kazakov replied. "Now if that's everything, I will have to ask you to move along."
Shaking his head, Alexei slung his pack about over his shoulders. "Then safe travel stalker," Kazakov concluded.
_____
Nightmare sat in the safety of the shadows of some ruined building, alert for any sound or movement nearby. Yet she found her mind wander and eyes drift up to the clear night sky, it was alien to her, but at the same time she recognised some of the constellations. The crescent moon that glowed dimly reminded her evermore of Equestria, of home.
Sighing she tore her gaze away from the sky and returned it back towards the checkpoint to which Alexei had entered, by her reckoning at least half an hour - give or take - and now she was starting to wonder if something had gone wrong.
Perhaps he's offended someone over there and now they're holding him prisoner, Nightmare thought, she didn't know anything much as to how humans socially interacted - today's earlier lesson with the bandits had shown that they are quite liable to be highly aggressive to one another - and most likely wouldn't get much of a chance to learn until she made it into this Rostok factory that Alexei had said they were traveling to.
She was contemplating on climbing higher on the ruins to see over into the camp as she saw a light bobbing its way out of the camp towards her general direction. taking the precaution just in case, Nightmare sunk deeper into ruins in an effort to hide her position.
The light began to scan over the layers of broken masonry, she could hear the crunch of boots on gravel as the owner made it's way around the site.
Then a voice called out softly. "Nightmare, you around here, you can come out now," The voice unmistakably belonged to Alexei.
Nightmare rose from here concealment, responding just as softly. The light emanating from his forehead was as bright as the sun itself, Nightmare hissed as she was blinded by it's intensity, raising a wing to shield herself.
"Would you mind dousing that infernal light," Nightmare hissed, the light quickly dimmed to a low level followed my a mumbled apology.
"So what happened, are we allowed to pass?" Nightmare grumbled, eyes slowly readjusting to the gloom.
"Unfortunately not, Duty's leader believes that since you pose even a slight threat, coupled with whatever unknown powers you may have that you're too dangerous to be allowed access to their territory," Alexei explained with a sigh.
"The officer at the check-point did tell me of another route to Yantar, but it involves going through the area around the Agroprom Research Institute and from the tales of the few veteran stalkers I've spoken with, the area is home to a few nasty predators," Alexei continued.
"Do they not realise that I'm not very capable of doing much of anything right now?" she asked.
"They don't care about what your capable of right now, it's what you might be capable of," Alexei replied.
Nightmare let out an exasperated sigh.
"Come on, lets get going, I'm sure the dutyers won't appreciate us hanging around here," Alexei said, turning his light back on and turning away.
Nightmare rose up and followed him into the night.
Alexei and Nightmare had been walking for a couple of hours now, clouds had rolled in from the north blotting out the night sky. Around her, Nightmare could hear various insects chirping and in the distance the occasional bark or howl, crows called out through the darkness.
Thanks to her natural night-vision she could see creatures moving about in the underbrush as they trekked along; some were digging into the ground, other simply ran away. Even from what she had learned about his land so far Nightmare felt an odd sense of calmness.
Nightmare heard a low hum somewhere far off in the distance, accompanied by a weak wave of energy that tingled her horn.
"We should come across an old train depot soon, we'll duck in there for the night if it's empty," Alexei whispered back to her.
"And if it's not empty?" Nightmare inquired.
"We take our chances in the nearby tunnels," Alexei replied.
Again she heard a low hum that grew into a deep rumbling and moan, this time the wave was stronger, the tingle turned to an almost unbearable itch.
"Alexei, what was that?" Nightmare spoke up.
"That rumble, nothing we should be worried of," he Alexei said. "The Zone does it on the occasion, if it was a couple days from now, then I'd be a bit paranoid."
"why is that?" she asked.
"Well you see everyone once in a while the Zo-" Alexei was cut off by a sudden explosive clap of thunder, the entire landscape lit up by the flash off in the distance.
"Oh fuck no..." Alexei mumbled, eyes wide and starring off towards a great cumulonimbus, erratic flashes of lightning lighting up the world around them.
"What's the matter?" Nightmare asked, unnerved by his sudden change.
"...Run..." He whispered.
The cloud began to emit a dull orange glow that grew steadily, but was loosing shape.
"What?" she asked again.
The cloud now collapsed, appearing to be on fire and expanding outwards. Orange aurora tendrils began to snake across the sky.
"FUCKING RUN, YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!" Alexei yelled, charging off.
Nightmare quickly gave chase, following the terrified human; her own fear rising as the winds quickly rose to gale force. Still deep groans came from the far off cloud like tormented wails.
Quickly she caught up to Alexei. "Where are we going!" She called at him, looking around wildly, the ground quaking beneath their them,
"The safest place I can think off!" he called back. "Over there, QUICKLY!"
Alexei abruptly changed his course and began making for the maw of a tunnel, half of an old rusted train stuck out like the tongue of some great beast.
Then she felt it, the light pulse she felt before compared nothing to this, she stopped just outside the tunnel and looked back. Nightmare's eyes widened to the point it hurt, but what she beheld terrified her like nothing else ever had, a great storming cloud crackling with red bolts of lighting rose over the hills from where they had come and washed down consuming everything in its path.
Nightmare felt wanted to move, but was to petrified to do so. She heard Alexei call her name, yet she couldn't turn her head.
The wrathful wave was quickly approaching as she felt herself yanked into the tunnel.
"MOVE IT YOU BLOODY IDIOT!" Alexei yelled at her.
Finding herself able to move again she quickly sprinted deeper into the tunnel, Alexei close behind.
Soon they stopped, panting out of breath. Outside the could still feel the ground trembling with the fury of the sudden storm.
"What in the name...of the stars was that?" She asked between breaths.
Alexei slid down the tunnel wall and sat on the ground. "An emission...one that should't have come...for a couple of days," he said equally exhausted. "They're like these periodic bursts of energy...from the center of the the Zone."
"And how often do they happen?" Nightmare asked.
"Sometimes they happen daily, sometime it can be up to a week," Alexei answered.
"And you stay here even having to deal with them?" Nightmare asked, unable to understand why any would stay in such a hostile land.
"Yep, they're only dangerous if you get caught off guard," he said
"You humans are crazy...all of you," Nightmare grumbled to herself. "And I'll be crazy to stay here."
"Don't worry you'll get used to it," Alexei assured.
Nightmare just snorted in response. Instead she looked back to where they had come, the shaking had now died down. She walked back a bit, inspecting some of the debris in the tunnel, then heard a dull crack behind her.
Quickly looking back towards Alexei she saw he was on the ground unmoving, surrounded by three figures head lamps shining around; two wore long black coats like the one Alexei had pilfered earlier that day, the other wore a black jacket and blue pants.
Nightmare quickly crouched down, hugging the wall of the tunnel amongst some debris.
"This is the asshole that killed our guys earlier," the figure in the jacket said.
"Lets take him to the boss, maybe we can put this cocksucker to work," one of the long coats said gruffly, stripping Alexei of his pack and weapons.
The other two bandits bound Alexei and began to carry him deeper into the tunnel.
"Didn't you say this wanker had some mule with him or something," the third bandit asked they were moving away.
"Yeah, not sure where it is, probably ran away from him the ugly bastard," the jacket bandit replied.
Nightmare heard their laughing echo as they moved deeper into the tunnel. She rose and gave pursuit, keeping a reasonable distance between herself and the bandits ahead.
Soon they arrived in a large open room, which appear to be an underground depot. A few locomotives and carriages sat on the rails, some tilted to the side by their damaged suspension. Boxes, barrels and sheets of either metal or planks were made into makeshift barricades around the platforms, a few fires burned brightly here and there with more humans loitering around them.
Nightmare trotted away from the tunnel she was in and took cover behind a few large crates in the corner of the room, scanning around she saw the bandits who had Alexei toss him into a crudely made prison.
How in Tartarus am I going to get him out, she thought to herself.
Looking around she noted the decrepit walkways around the room, most had fallen apart and were merely nothing more than loose platforms; however the depot was poorly lit, most of the light source coming from the few fires that the bandits hung around.
Perhaps, she thought, getting the idea to hide in the shadows and navigate around. I should be able to glide from one to another...but I can't take all of them on.
"Well hello," a voice softly spoke behind her. "And who are you I wonder."
