A stalker is torn from the Zone and thrown into equestria. Teaming up with another victim of the Zone, they aim to return. However, they are not the only displaced beings, and they have no intentions other that to ravage this new world.
Grygoriy, a deadeye Ukrainian, has been pulled from his inhospitable home and thrown into a world of peace and harmony. At least, it was peaceful at one point. Due to him and several other things arriving, chaos and violence is unintentionally spreading across the land of equestria. He must return and seal the gateway between worlds before something much worse can happen...
Grygoriy did not like the look of this. The once stable and frequently visited anomaly field, known as the Iron Forest, had changed after the most recent Emission. Word back at the Skadovsk was that the last Emission had not been a normal one, apparently it had carried another type of storm in its wake, a Psi-Storm or something similar. The Stalker did not know much about either of these strange occurrences. In truth, nobody really knew anything about the various emissions other than that they were lethal. For this reason, himself and many other stalkers in Zaton take shelter in the Skadovsk for any of these unnatural phenomenon and wait for them to pass. The grounded icebreakers steel hull prevented the ionising radiation from turning your body to ash. The most recent Emission was significantly potent, the usual static of the radio was replaced by some… disturbing sounds to say the least. Grygoriy shuddered at the recent memories of the bloodcurdling screams of something that was no longer human. The Stalker had just made his way to the anomaly field and was looking at it from a distance. To get a better view he had scaled a pine tree. Like many things in the Zone, the tree was almost dead and Grygoriy didn't have to worry about leaves obscuring his view. The patch of dead woodland he was in made no sound, the only thing breaking the silence was the occasional sound of distant gunfire and the wind.
Keen to return to the relative safety of the trading post, he raised his rifle to peer down the telescopic sight. His suit visor made it difficult to use, but closing his left eye he looked past the reticle at the piles of twisted metal. The tall pylons and antennae that stood reasonably undamaged before were now bent, leaning over and threatening to collapse. The crumbling brick buildings that flanked behind it looked a little worse for wear, he could see only two windows that weren't completely shattered. The perimeter fence looked the same, several openings in the concrete panels and the chain link fence allowed anything in or out. The train cars and various other bits of junk metal were unchanged. Focusing back on the steel towers, he saw that they weren't all bent in the same direction like trees in the wind, but instead they were leaning towards a point near the centre of the complex. He looked to see the cause of such strange activity and saw an unrecognisable anomaly, about halfway between the field of known electrostatic anomalies and the crashed military helicopter. The anomalous sphere glowed a pure white and seemed to cut away at the duller palette the Zone possessed, brightening colours that passed through its aura. Grygoriy decided to investigate this new anomaly, realising the potential gain outweighed the possible drawbacks. He scouted the complex again, this time looking for hostile mutants that may object to his presence. Occasionally a group of bloodsuckers would patrol here which made his job impossible, but they are either still hiding from the Emission or dead. He would kill them himself, but going one on three against these monsters was unadvisable, even for a hardy veteran such as himself. He chuckled at the thought, perhaps if he had an automatic weapon he may consider not just sprinting away like a chicken. No, he would need at least 5 experienced Stalkers so no back would be left unwatched. Either way, Grygoriy was going to investigate. With a quick check of the path ahead, as well as the surrounding area below him, he climbed down the tree he was perched in and began the short walk to the complex.
Grygoriy’s job was not an easy one. He is one of many Stalkers that prowl the Zone, a radioactive hell on earth produced by the infamous explosion in reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Since the Zones creation, people have fought tooth and nail against the Zone and its various horrors to claim the fruits of this unnatural world. They are known as Artefacts, and like everything in the Zone, they are radioactive. But that is just a side effect. Artefacts vary in form, but all of them have useful and well sought-after properties, ranging from advanced health regeneration to infinite stamina. They usually come at a trade off too, despite the obvious weight and radiation. For example, Grygoriy carried two Moonlight artefacts. These increase resistance to Psi, which is a mysterious and evil force wielded only by mutants and the Zone itself, but at the cost of resistance to electricity as they conduct it well - even attracting it in some cases. Grygoriy also carried a Bubble artefact which cleanses radiation from the body with no other notable benefits, other that an almost uncomfortable heat output. As much as he has come to hate artefacts, they constantly save him from horrible deaths at the hand, claw, or telepathic grasp of mutants. He hunts these artefacts and sells them to Beard, the local friendly trader. They are his income and only feasible way of survival.
Arriving at the perimeter, he walked through a missing section of concrete panelling and began to cautiously make his way to the new anomaly. From his first hand experience, anomalies often proved to be a great danger. He had countless near misses with them, and only once had he ever been harmed by them. He was lucky in the sense that most men do not return from an anomaly once its deadly grasp has touched you. He was still raked by its hand, leaving a large scar on his back. But he is a persistent man and has learned, learned to overcome his fears, the danger they spewed and most importantly, how to harvest them. Using an advanced piece of equipment created by the Ecologists he could scan anomaly fields and disrupt their electrical field and summon them in a burst of electricity. He had the second best piece of equipment available – a Veles detector. It had an internal catalog of all artefacts and can detect all that were previously discovered. As he approached the complex, he pulled out a brown burlap bag and fixed it to his belt. Slinging the rifle over his shoulder he pulled out the Veles and pointed it in front of himself. He heard the static crackle of the inbuilt Geiger counter steadily increase the number of counts. The anomaly detector however was silent. Good. With his left hand he reached into the bag he had equipped and pulled out a metal bolt. The bag was filled with various metal components such as these, as when they are thrown they react with anomalies, helping to identify their areas of influence and reveal any hidden ones. He had learned this trick from a progressive stalker who was rumoured to be a member of the Spetsnaz. As if to demonstrate the advanced technique, he threw one in between the train cars in front of him. As he had expected, nothing happened. The Stalker moved forwards until he came to the bolts new location. He picked it up and threw it again, attempting to identify unseen anomalies. He had realised that if one could just show up there may be more of them around. He repeated his actions, moving steadily forward, adjusting direction as the electrified anomalies sparked at the presence of the shrapnel. He stopped when a bolt struck an unseen sphere that rippled like water. It seemed like a dull rainbow coloured splash of a gravitational anomaly, but much more vibrant. He could now see that it was about four meters in diameter, and the white sphere inside was maybe two-thirds that. It rested on the ground like a partially deflated ball. The bolt he had used to find it had merely passed through the fog with no reaction, but the Ukrainian couldn't see whether it came out the opposite side. He scanned it with the Veles from where he stood and found no artefacts, no beeping to indicate its presence and it seemed to emit no radiation. He circled around the perimeter of the bright white sphere until he came to the opposite side, where he saw a curious sight. There was a small blood splatter on the ground, and right on the other side of the invisible border sat another detector. He recognised it as the newest, most powerful detector - known as the Svarog. He was currently amassing money to buy one from beard, but it was still far from his price range. It rested on its side, pointing harmlessly off into the distance, the screen displaying a small dot on the epicentre. It had a large crack down its casing as if it had been dropped.
“What the fuck?” muttered the Ukrainian.
Something didn't add up, and he wanted to know what had transpired here. However, even though he betrayed no emotion under his helmet, he was very excited. This was the big break he had been looking for, the detector before him was worth easily ten times as much as any artefact, but invaluable to him. He gently threw another bolt at the sphere, trying to land it next to the detector. The perimeter of the anomaly did its rainbow ripple, but otherwise remained calm. he poked a small corner of his detector into the anomaly, an action other stalkers wouldn’t advise. But, almost to his disappointment, nothing happened. The corner of plastic passed through easily, and it constantly pulsed the translucent technicoloured splash around the sphere. He put his detector back on his belt and considered his next crazy idea. Slowly, He then poked his leftmost finger through, ready to pull back at any sign of danger. Again, this time to his relief, nothing abnormal happened. He didn't even feel anything other than a pleasant cooling sensation. He figured he could grab the Svarog, as it would easily be worth the risk as it would be used to find an infinite number of other artefacts. Quickly, he plunged his hand back into the anomaly, grabbed the detector and snatched it back. The rainbow rippled much more intensely, as if a stone had been thrown in a pond. As he did so, the anomaly began to shrink. Grygoriy held his hands up, expecting it to explode or something equally harmful, but as he did so the ball returned to its original state only slightly smaller. He lowered his arms, and as he did so the anomaly shrank again. Thinking, he raised his right arm and nothing happened. He raised his left arm with the new detector in hand and it began to grow. It had something to do with this device, but what? He looked at it, trying to determine its unseen properties but he knew very little about it, other than its anomaly mapping feature. He pointed the Svarog directly at the anomaly and he immediately regretted it.
Instantaneously, the anomaly exploded outwards as its intangible surface formed deadly looking spikes that shot outward. A static humming cut through the calmness and an arc of cold lightning flew from its centre and struck the device, causing him to drop it. The sphere had grown rapidly and completely covered his vision. Even in his sealed suit he could smell the air ionising, matter becoming unstable. He shouted in fear and regret as the bubble enveloped him, leaving him floating in whiteness. From an outsiders point of view, the anomaly had merely grown in size consuming the Stalker. The detector lay on its side just on the border as it was previously found, dropped by its previous user as he was killed by the swell of pure energy.
But Grygoriy was not dead. He was floating at great speed as the fog began to distort. It was slowly turning blue. He suddenly hit the ground with a jolt, and instantly the remaining whiteness dissipated. Feeling as if he had just fell backwards, he blinked in confusion at the orb that had thrown him back out, clear blue sky taking up the remainder of his view. He noticed that the anomaly was slowly shrinking and after several seconds it disappeared and the noise of arcing electricity suddenly stopped with it. Silence once again returned, but it was a different kind of silence. No distant gunfire, no growling mutants. Actual, pure silence.
“Am I dead?” His speech cut through the quietness like a knife. The zone never had a sky this clear, this clean. He sat upwards and looked through the worn plexiglass visor of his suit and saw that he was in a clearing of a forest. He hadn't seen a natural, unpolluted woodland since he entered the wasteland he had been living in. The Stalker smiled, realising how much he had missed nature. To him, it looked like the Zone had grown tired of him taking its bounties and not dying to its mousetraps, and had created a new one specifically for him. He detached his helmet from the rest of the suit and pulled it into his large bag. Standing up and looking around in wonder at the alien sights, he stopped and frowned. Behind him, spotted a black boot resting on a dead log. He could see the sole of it, and saw an orange suit connected to it. He realised it was the body of another stalker, perhaps the previous owner of the Svarog. For a split second, he wondered what had happened to it as it was the most expensive thing he had ever briefly owned. Focusing back on the potential corpse, he approached. He sighed in relief when he realised whoever it was continued to breathe. As he stood next to it, he heard the person groaning, and whimpering. Scrutinising the body he noticed four lacerations on the right arm, just past the shoulder joint. It looked fairly mild and he gently kicked the humans side. “Wake up Stalker, the Zone bids you goodbye.” he joked. The person, perhaps not understanding Ukrainian too well, ignored him and continued his pitiful sounds. He tried again in Russian “come on man, get up. We need to talk.”
The body jerked “Are they dead!?” A male voice suddenly shouted, muffled by the orange hazard suit.
“What? Who should be dead? It's just us here.” He responded uncertainly. Looking around quickly, he saw nobody else around, not even any footprints.
“The bloodsuckers.” He whispered in fear.
Grygoriys’ blood turned to ice, he began to feel very afraid “Oh shit.”
He immediately swung his rifle from his back and raised the stock to his shoulder. He wheeled round, ready to make a large hole in anything that came too close. He swept the circular clearing with his gun and spoke in a raised voice “This better not be some fucking joke.”
Annoyed, the fallen man hastily responded “How do you think I got this scratch?”
The Ukrainian didn't respond, he continued to search for the white eyes the mutants possessed. They would stand out easily, and identify something to shoot at. He kept looking for motion for nearly a minute. With a final sweep, he lowered the rifle but kept it firmly in his grasp. As he searched he had been taking in his surroundings and didn't recognise anything. Understandable, considering he had spent a large portion of his life in a wasteland, but he could tell that these were not terrestrial. He pulled out his PDA to mark his position but couldn't access the map. Frowning, he noticed that there were no connected satellites. Perhaps the anomaly that was above them was interfering.
“We should move.” the Stalker spoke in a low, cautious voice. “Get up, we move now”. If there were bloodsuckers, he didn't want to be in the open like he currently was. He needed a wall to put his back against.
The orange suited man rolled over, cursing as he pulled himself to his hands and knees. Grygoriy didn't look, too busy continuously staring at various points in the much more sinister looking forest. The man behind him picked up the carbine he had been lying on and limply raised it to his waist. He could barely shoulder it and left the stock folded.
“Where to?” He asked uncertainly to the stranger.
“Follow me.”
The shorter, orange suited man was slightly intimidated by the others presence. He was 5’9” and the Stalker was easily 6’4”. He was currently stood several meters away, looking towards the treeline ahead. He saw that the Stalker before him was wearing a SEVA suit, the combat ready equivalent of the bright orange environmental suit he wore. He had his helmet detached and he could see the short, uneven mess of dark brown hair the man had. Under his hairline he could see the start of a broad scar that went below the neck of his suit. The man turned to face him. He looked serious yet serene, wearing a frown of concentration. His eyes betrayed his true emotion though, a hint of fear shimmered amongst his green iris.
“Come on. We can talk as we move.” He spoke commandingly, already walking away.
Silently, he followed. He was unsure of where he was leading him. Neither of them knew the area, and Grygoriy had simply began walking towards the sunset which he assumed would still be west. Both men were on full alert as the unseen threat of the bloodsuckers had certainly knocked the Ukrainian from his happy daze of escaping the zone, and the other man was still under pain from his injury inflicted by them. Much to Grygoriys’ disappointment it seemed that the mutants had simply followed him to this new land.
“So,” the orange suited man began, breaking the silence that had settled. “What do I call you?”
“I'm Grygoriy.” He responded after brief consideration. “And you?”
“My name is Zakhar, and as you can probably tell I am an ecologist”
“Really? You have come a long way from Russia to study the zone then?”
“I'm very dedicated” he chuckled. “As soon as I heard about the zone, I was entranced by it. I just had to go, so I finished university and applied to go there. I didn't expect much, but due to the low number of qualified scientists with the passion to study hell itself I was called on to come here. Been here since December 2015”
“Hm, almost a year? I was there for 4 years before we were rudely thrown out”
Zakhar stopped in confusion “Thrown out? We are still in the zone.”
The Ukrainian, hearing that his partner had stopped, turned to face the ignorant Russian “Open your eyes, does this look like the zone to you? Bright, colourful, the lack of radiation and anomalies make it clear we are somewhere else. Where we are, I couldn't tell you. But this is not the zone.”
“No, you don't understand. The anomaly that I was pushed in was a legendary Space Bubble anomaly, only one other instance has ever been recorded! When I was back in Yanov, the scientist team told me to go investigate the site as they predicted a new anomaly formation after the next Emission. I was given a crash course on the expected results, and a Svarog detector. They told me to report the results. I was doing just that, the Svarog pointed away to avoid agitating it but a bloodsucker pack had ambushed me! I thought I was dead as they began to attack, but the leader clawed my right shoulder. I fell back, the Svarog triggered the anomaly and it swelled to absorb everything. Next thing I knew you were kicking my side and the rest you know already. But my point is, because it is a Space Bubble, it can only appear in areas of intense Psi activity, and they only occur in the zone! We have to be here.”
Grygoriy took this information in. He knew the Russian wasn't telling him the whole truth, but he was occupied with formulating a timeline of events. “So, you say that you were pushed in and that the Svarog causes the anomaly to expand?”
“Essentially, yes.”
“Hm. I assume you were at the Iron Forest then?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Well, I have a story that ties into that”. The Ukrainian then described how he had got there as well, now with more information to connect the gaps he couldn't understand before. When he finished, he added “So you say we are still in the Zone then?”
“Yes.”
“Ok, so out GPS equipment should still work then?”
“Uh, of course. Unless the anomaly broke them.”
They both pulled out their devices, and quickly came to the same conclusion. Grygoriy checked the time, and judging by the suns position it was somewhat accurate.
“They work fine Zakhar, but I cannot connect to any satellites.”
“W-well, maybe-“
The Stalker cut him off with a dismissive wave of his left arm. “We are not in the zone! Maybe not even on earth! Look around! I'm no botanist, but these fucking plants are not from earth!”
“That's a poppy. That is from earth!”
“What!?”
“Come on, you may not be a botanist but that is recognisable as anything!”
And it was indeed true, before them grew a lone poppy in the soil. Grygoriy picked it, and scrutinised every detail about it before concluding that it was.
“This place is fucking weird.” was all he could say, all he could think.
The Russian could see the truth in that. He too had been observing the surroundings and the vibrant greens of the flora didn't exactly scream ‘radioactive wasteland’. He was certain that they were in the zone as he knew that anomalies can only form in the area of the zone. However, he needed the Stalker to be awake and alert though. He had to snap him out of it.
“Well, I suppose it doesn't matter if we are or aren't in it. We are lost, out of contact and low on supplies and resources in either situation. I suggest we find somewhere to rest for the night before we start losing vision. And if we are in the zone, I expect an emission in a few days. The science team predicted an emission to occur four days after the latest one. That gives us a maximum of three days to find that shelter and have a good safety margin.”
“Yeah, you're right.” responded the Stalker, regaining his determination.
Zakhar internally smiled. He knew appealing to his survival side would get him out of his endless thought train. Letting him handle survival would probably be better as the Ukrainian had far more practical experience, whereas he had been sheltered by the ecologists bunker for almost all the time he had been in the zone.
“Where do we go then?”
Grygoriy paused and seemed to be in deep thought. He was formulating plans, devising the best plan of action. After half a minute he briefly explained his plan.
“We head east, and stop as soon as we find water. There we can make a temporary camp for the night. Whilst resting we should refill water and figure out what our combined supplies amount to. We are in this together, yeah?”
“Of course.”
Both men knew they wouldn't last long without the other. Grygoriy was great at survival, but lacked the knowledge to return back through the portal. On the other hand, Zakhar probably could devise a way home, but had no skill in extreme survival. If either of them died or became separated it would be unlikely the survivor would actually survive for long. Not to mention they potentially had three bloodsuckers to watch out for.
“you ready then?” The Ukrainian asked, already knowing the answer.
“Hell yeah!” Replied the excited Ecologist.
“Then let's move out”
The duo had been walking in silence for almost an hour, each reflecting on their current predicament. Conversation was short and to the point, mostly conferring about location. Whilst deep in thought, they kept an eye out for resources but had not found anything useful. Both were growing more tired and in need of rest. When Grygoriy saw that they had maybe half an hour of daylight left, he gave the command to stop.
“Alright, we will have to stop up ahead.” the Ukrainian spoke. “I believe we have walked almost 3 miles in the last hour, which is good progress.” The Stalker probably could've jogged that distance in half the time with little effort. He was held back by the Russian intellectual, though he was far from unfit but at the same time nowhere near the peak fitness of himself. “We must eat and rest. After all, a tired and hungry Stalker is a dead stalker. You don't want to be a dead stalker.”
“But there is no water here” Zakhar protested.
Grygoriy grinned. “No shitting you, is there?” he said with a chuckle.
“You know what I mean.” was the annoyed response.
“Yeah, I see. We have enough for a day more at least, maybe 2 if we ration it a bit. Don't worry too much. I'm sure we will find water before we run out”
The Ecologist hoped so. “So, what's the plan now?”
“Well, I would normally make a campfire but that would only attract predators, and we have no food that has to cook. I suggest we sleep in our suits and await morning, then we can carry on. We will rotate shifts, I'll sleep for an hour now then you get six hours sleep, then we switch again for two hours. I don't need much sleep, but when I do go I don't wake up at little noises. Shout up if something happens, ok?”
“Alright then.”
“Now, lets see what we have…”
The pair then emptied their bags in front of them. They laid out everything; food, ammo, water, tools and materials. Grygoriy immediately noticed how ill-equipped his companion was. He had food and water in the form of canned and bottled goods, as he had expected, but after that things became less useful for the Zone. He had a gas camping stove with several bottles of fuel, a tent, a number of hardback books, a spare set of boots and a strange device with a glass folding top, almost like a mini table.
“It's a charger. It either opens out like this to gather sunlight or you wind this handle here” he explained as he extended the hidden crank. “I need it to keep my PDA and flashlight charged, and the Svarog needed it too.”
Grygoriy experimented with it and found that he could charge his Universal Power Device with it.
“What is that thing anyway?” The Ecologist had asked when he had connected it.
“This is a UPD. It's a Cold War pierce of technology that can interface with all common handheld electronics and provide a variable amount of power to it at different settings of voltage and amperage. I mainly use it for the night vision component of my helmet as the battery pack it came with was almost a kilogram in weight. In fact, I still have it and use it to top this up, just now it's not weighing my head down” he chuckled.
He continued to search through his things, resisting the urge to tell him what an idiot he was. He looked like he was going camping rather than traversing a hostile wasteland, and wondered how he had survived the journey from Yanov. However, he did have an impressive, if not excessive, collection of medical supplies. Two standard issue military first aid kits, anti-radiation drugs, sleep aids, Morphine and Metamizole, general painkillers and an epinephrine injector. The Ukrainian didn't doubt that the Ecologist knew how to use everything. Out of curiosity he opened the military kit to see what was inside. He found gauze in a wrapper; that indicated it was treated with some kind of healing gel, a scalpel, a small pair of metal tongs and some large adhesive plasters as well as a few other things he didn't recognise.
Meanwhile, Grygoriy’s pack had a much wider range of items and Zakhar was almost jealous. His pack weighed twice as much as his own but had at least 5 times as much useful items. He had a large looking weapon cleaning kit and several cleaning solvents, glue, tape, sewing equipment, pieces of tough fabric, a large hammer, spare electronics, a toolkit for said electronics, a handsaw, a large and powerful torch, an axe, an E-tool, waterproof matches, water purification tablets, a multitool, a survival machete and a simple first aid kit with painkillers and dry gauze. He also had several canteens and reusable bottles of water. He had very little food, only a single Ukrainian combat ration with 2 ‘days’ of food left. Like many stalkers, he had a decent supply of alcohol. two bottles of vodka and a half-full metal flask. They all claimed it helped remove radiation, but the Russian knew it was bullshit.
As for guns, Grygoriy had his Russian made SV-98 with 46 7.62x51 steel core bullets in a plastic waterproof box, and two 10 round magazines with one being empty, plus the loaded magazine that was in the gun. He also had a sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun with buckshot loaded, with 4 of the same 12ga shells on an improvised cloth rack on the left barrel plus 12 shells in the box. There was also a small flashlight duct-taped to the underside. He also had a black Beretta 92FS with a screw on suppressor that wasn't currently attached. He had 3 full magazines and 12 loose 9mm hollow point bullets in the plastic box.
On the other hand, all Zakhar had was a ‘borrowed’ black AK74u with tactical flashlight and three full 30 round magazines and a ‘half full’ magazine currently loaded.
After a brief discussion they decided to swap weapons: Grygoriy kept his rifle and took the AK as well, while the inexperienced Ecologist took the sawn-off and the pistol. This way Grygoriy had more firepower while taking on more weapon weight, and Zakhar had much less weight and easier to use weapons. He also claimed to be experienced with pistols due to his use with them on expeditions with his Ecologist colleagues.
They agreed that they should each have a military first aid kit, and Zakhar split the two rolls of gauze from his Zone-made kit. They also split the food and drink evenly between them so they were carrying even amounts. Grygoriy had separated the tent canvas from its metal poles and gave the material to the Russian to carry, stating he could carry the poles but drop them if needs be as they could use sticks instead. The Russian also carried his equipment from before except they decided to leave the camping stove on the basis that they could make fires easily and had little use as they had no utensils to cook with. He also left behind all the books except one for identifying edible and medical plants. He almost took the book on first aid but he knew over two thirds of the book and Grygoriy knew the basics.
The Stalker also carried all his equipment from before except he had his survival machete in its sheath on his belt, and the bolt bag went to the bottom of his backpack. The axe, handsaw and E-tool were secured to the outside so that the extra food could be kept safely inside away from animals and the weather. Whilst they weren't moving, Grygoriy quickly repaired the damage to his partners environmental suit. It was still a weak point and would require heavier work, but it was airtight and weather resistant which is all he could do for now. The Stalker wanted him to leave it as bright orange wasn't a concealing colour, but he never voiced his concerns. Once everything was put away and they had eaten the remaining portions of the ration pack, the Russian stood on watch whilst the Ukrainian went to sleep. He was bored fairly quickly and resorted to disassembling and reassembling the pistol to learn its internal structure so he could fix it later if needs be. Had the veteran stalker been awake he would've shouted something rude at him for intentionally disabling his own weapon while on guard duty. Soon enough an hour passed and they swapped positions.
Grygoriy quickly stood up and faced a seemingly random point in the forest. It was dark, about 3 hours into his rotation. a steady wind blew the leaves of the forest creating an eerie sound. Crickets chirped in the distance and every so often an owl hooted. But these were ignored, because the Stalker could see glowing yellow eyes staring at him through some leafless shrubbery. He turned on his headlamp to get a better view. The bush was about 20 meters away and the light fell short. He wanted to shoot the creature, but he didn't want to draw attention to his position. Instead, he pulled out his axe and stood in a ready stance, staring at the animal ahead. No sooner had he done this that he realised his mistake. Behind him rapid, four legged footsteps powered through the forest floor, scattering plants and sticks. He turned to face it, catching a glimpse of a brown wolf with the same glowing eyes tackling him. It snarled and collided into his chest. He fell backwards, his vision a blur and dropping his axe. When he landed he threw the wolf off him and rapidly stood up. He got to his knees and shouted “ZakhUUFFF!” But was interrupted by the other wolf charging into his side. It growled and he felt it clawing at his ribcage, but the tough material didn't receive any damage. He, on the other hand, felt as though his bones had cracked from the multiple impacts. He reached for his machete and was about to stand up again when one of the animals jumped on him, pinning his torso. In the milliseconds that he studied the creature, he noted that it wasn't a brown coated wolf, but a wolf shaped thing made of sticks and branches. Hesitating no longer, he plunged the machete into the creatures head. It yelped, but didn't die. That really scared him. He used his other suited arm to keep the wolf from biting his own exposed neck, and this time he hacked away at the creatures. The wolf didn't like this and whimpered with every impact, and began to withdraw after the third cut. Instead of allowing it to escape, he rolled over on top of it and finished severing its head until it dissipated into a pile of damp sticks. He turned around to face the other, but it was too late. It was a meter away from his head, claws outstretched ready to tear his thr-
BLAMF!
The creature yelped before sailing into his right shoulder as a pile of damp firewood. Knocked around by the blow, he regained his footing and turned left towards the source of the noise. Zakhar was stood upright, replacing a spent cartridge from his shotgun.
“Thanks.” the grateful Ukrainian said. “I thought that might've been the end for me.”
“No problem.” was the shaky response.
“You OK there?”
“Y-yeah I'm just not used to k-killing things.”
“Well, they were just bundles of sticks. You could call them faggots if you want” he chuckled at his own joke, but the Russian didn't respond to his weak attempt at humour. “Anyway, that was loud so I think we should move on, don't you?”
“Yeah. Lead on, I'll follow.”
And with that, the dangerous duo walked off, the Stalker joking that it hadn't even been a day and they have already had to kill something. Ironic really, considering that the wolves were never really alive, and judging by the slowly reforming piles of wood, they weren't quite dead yet either…
Grygoriy walked on under the bright moonlight. He had expected it to be much darker as it had been in the zone, but there was plenty of light to see where he was walking. Visibility was about 20 meters in either direction, any further and it became too dark to make out any details due to the thick canopy. He planned to walk until sunrise, then rest in daylight where more fearsome predators were likely to be sleeping. Not knowing where he was, he could be up against any threat, animal or mutant. To him, the recent attack proved that they were in some other world, and likely to be attacked again by more fearsome predators. He had re-equipped his helmet and was wielding the AK, not underestimating the wildlife again. In truth, he would've easily defeated his wooden foes had they been toe to toe, but the element of surprise had tilted the odds in their favour. Even so, he was certain he wouldn’t have died in that fight, but he appreciated the intervention anyway. Suddenly he motioned for his companion to stop, and he crouched. Zakhar quickly copied his movements and wondered what the problem was. He pulled out his shotgun as the Stalker peered into the blackness. He heard a near silent whine, and recognised it as a night vision unit being activated.
Grygoriy had seen a white sparkle in the darkness and was unable to identify it in the brief moment that it had existed. He had since pushed his NVG unit into position and was looking at the same scene before him, only enhanced. Everything was brighter and either a shade of grey or black. He could clearly see the bush in front and the trees around, his vision radius increased to about 50 meters. As the image got brighter from adjusting to the darkness, he could see a constant sparkling near the ground. After several seconds of observation he identified it as a stream. He turned to his comrade and spoke in a whisper.
“There is water over there” as he motioned to their right. “If it's a river or something, we should follow it either upstream or down, as will likely lead to civilisation” ‘if it exists’ he added in his mind. “For now we should keep moving till morning and then sleep till noon. Happy?”
The Russian merely nodded in response. He didn't want to make a sound, fearful that a predator would jump out at him if he made too much noise. The sound of their footsteps alone seemed deafening to him after the intense silence. The duo made it to the water and discovered that it was a small river, not quite deep enough to disappear below the surface when standing. Not that they would, the airtight suits they both wore would make them float with little effort, but would ruin anything exposed to the water. They conferred briefly, and decided to move upstream. Grygoriy turned his nightvision unit off, the water reflecting enough light to see even more clearly. He had to stop for a minute as his eyes had adjusted to the display, and needed them to revert. Once ready, he walked along the bank with the water on his right side. He felt better, as he knew no predator would be able to sneak across the water. He didn't even bother to look at it.
Unknown to them, a purple sea serpent was following them closely, observing the pair of odd creatures that walked along his rivers edge. He was just about to jump out and greet them as he would with any equestrian traveller, but stopped once he realised they weren't equestrian. Even he, bound to a narrow stream of water could see that they were alien to this land. Steven considered introducing himself anyway, but they made him uneasy. The creatures vaguely resembled diamond dogs, but one was a dark green and the other a bright orange! He took a moment to appreciate the bold colour, before deciding that he would tell his friend Fluttershy and let her handle it. ‘She is great with animals and could win over any creature’ he justified in his head. The pair were getting further upstream now, and it became harder to follow unnoticed due to the shallowness of the water. After brief consideration, he turned back and went to his original resting place. He would inform the birds to relay his message once morning came.
Zakhar heard a splash and turned to face the river. He saw nothing amiss, too dark to really see anything. He attributed it to a fish or something similar and relaxed a little. Turning back around, he saw a worn path cutting to the left back into the woods.
“Hey, hold on a second”
He saw that Grygoriy was stopping and so he turned to face the path and analysed it.
“Leave it man, it's just a game trail”
“I thought so too, but look” the Ecologist said excitedly.
The Ukrainian looked closer at the path, and noticed that it was made up exclusively of circular impacts. There were no other noticeable footprints and the path looked heavily used.
“So what animal makes those shapes? Nothing comes to mind”
“I don't know” he thought for a moment. “What if it's some kind of tiny elephant?”
The Stalker almost facepalmed “Are you fucking retarded or something?
“Sorry, I'm just throwing ideas out there. That's the only animal with circular prints”
Grygoriy thought for a moment. He determined that they must be on another world, since they have evidence of two aliens now. He was curious too, and wanted to find out what made such tracks.
“Alright, here's what I'm thinking. This track looks to be used regularly, maybe daily. If I go and hide on the other side of the river, I could scope out the creature from afar, maybe shoot it if it looks dangerous”
“Ok, I'll have to be doing something else though cause bright orange isn't exactly gonna blend in, and I'm not keen on splitting up”
Grygoriy thought again, he knew that the orange man couldn't be near to him, and it was clear that he wasn't going to take off his suit anytime soon. He suddenly had a great idea.
“Well, you could work on our way home” he said casually, a hint of excitement filtered through.
“What?”
“Do you know how the Svarog works?”
“Well, for the most part yeah, I think. I still have the manual, I could probably build it if I had the parts”
“Well, I have a Veles detector that is no good here in the anomaly-less world, could you use that?”
Zakhar grinned “Yeah, the Svarog is just a modified version of a Veles” He frowned. “I can't code it like the one before though, It won't be able to map anything onscreen”
“Well, hopefully we won't need it. It's can still use its advanced scanners to reopen the portal though can't it?”
“Yes!” The Russian exclaimed. “I can do that, we just need a few parts. I can get them from our electronics and you even have a toolkit!”
“Well, I suggest we climb a tree and try to sleep then. We have a long day ahead, and if we play our cards right we could be home before dusk”
The Ecologist didn't think sleep was possible in a tree, but doubted he would be able to sleep anyway due to the excitement of returning home. Although he hadn't amended his earlier statement, he had since agreed that they were on some other planet. They both climbed some short, but thick adjacent trees and tried to get comfy. He thought back over the last 12 hours and wondered how he hadn't immediately realised this was a different world. For one, the trees were way too short, Grygoriy had to duck under half of them. The other thing was the sun and the moon. He had been looking at them whilst travelling, and noticed the sun moved with seemingly random pace, speeding up to lower in the sky then slow down to give a long sunset. the moon had raised rapidly as soon as the sun had gone down and then slowed, remaining almost motionless in the sky. In fact, he couldn't tell if it was moving, he hadn't seen it change positions in the last hour. Lying down on a sturdy branch, he took out his PDA and tried to access the map again. Nothing. He expected as much, but wanted to check. The clock displayed that it was 1:13AM, and he set a quiet alarm for 8:00AM, giving plenty of time for rest. He saw that the other stalker had already fallen asleep. He had only one hour earlier, and had since been attacked by some weird wooden dogs. That was probably the only sleep he'd had for a while. He thought back to the stick animals. He had been utterly confused, and had actually been watching the fight in shock instead of helping. He felt guilty, but no harm had come of it. The creatures had turned to inanimate sticks when they were harmed and assumed this equaled death. He wondered if that's why the forest floor was not covered in sticks. He noticed that most trees had little in the way of visible branches, most split in to a Y shape and had none on the trunk or the arms save for the highest points, hidden up in the canopy. The flora was still green, though he hadn't seen many recognisable plants. He had seen types of flowers and mushrooms, some kind of grape vine growing against isolated trees and lettuce. He didn't collect them but mentally noted their locations. As for trees, he had identified Oak trees and apple trees, though the apple tree had no apples on it. He also saw a chestnut tree, its floor surrounded by spiky shells. He yawned, and closed his eyes, falling asleep after half an hour of his silent reflection. Hours later, the moon began to pick up speed and disappeared behind the horizon. Seconds later, the sun appeared in the sky, rising rather quickly. After 2 hours, Zakhar woke to his PDA vibrating. He looked over to Grygoriy and saw that he was still sleeping. Deciding it was bright enough, he climbed down the tree and walked over to Grygoriy’s tree. He pulled out the shotgun and smacked the base in to the wood. It made little sound, but the vibration woke the Ukrainian with a small jolt.
“Everything ok?” the Stalker asked groggily.
“Yeah. It's about time we got a move on though”
“Right” Grygoriy jumped down from his resting spot and pulled his pack down from where he somehow used it as a pillow. He pulled the SV-98 off his shoulder and began walking to the river. Zakhar followed behind, eagerly awaiting to get his hands busy. After a short walk they reached the stream. In the daylight they could see a shallow point where their boots wouldn't even get too wet from crossing. They did so and reached the other side uneventfully.
“Ok, I'm going to climb this tree here” Grygoriy said, gesturing to a nearby Y shaped tree. “I'll do my job, you do yours ok? The sooner you finish, the sooner we can get home”
“I'll sit at the base of the tree then, I'm going to need that toolkit though. And the detector”
Wordlessly, Grygoriy passed the requested gear to him and he climbed the tree. He perched himself so that he could see the path and about 60 meters down it. He set the zeroing to 100 meters after some brief guesswork using the size of the path, and waited. He was good at waiting, which was lucky for him because for 3 hours nothing happened.
“Damnit, I can't make it” said a frustrated Ecologist.
“What's the problem?” the sniper said, no emotion in his voice. He was focusing intently at the path.
“I'm missing some key components, I can probably make them but I need some materials we don't have here”
“What about PDAs, the charger, my NVG unit and the spare electronics I have?”
“No, it's a specific component unique to detectors. I have the one from your Veles, but it needs to be ten times as powerful, and for that I need platinum to make the electron accelerator”
“How difficult will that be to get?”
“Well, near impossible. It's found deep in the ground and on earth and is one of the rarer elements.”
“Is there even a chance of finding it? Any alternatives?
“Well, if we find a material that is immune to any direct Psy field interaction I could potentially use that if I can shape it. I don't know of any materials that have this property though”
Grygoriy was about to respond when the distant howl of a single bloodsucker pierced the air. He moved his scope to the direction and saw a large number of birds scattering to to sky. He was going to ignore the mutant, but he also heard a high pitched, feminine human sounding scream from the same place.
“Zakhar, pack the stuff up and grab your shotgun. We gotta help whoever is being attacked!”
Zakhar didn't respond. He didn't really want to interfere as that's what he was taught in the Zone. He couldn't decide if the rule still applied in other worlds, but did as he was told anyway. Grygoriy jumped down and replaced his sniper rifle for the AK, swapping the loaded magazine for a full one. Zakhar stood behind him ready to follow.
“Alright let's go kill that vampire freak”
With that he set of into a near sprint, followed closely by the Ecologist. He didn't know if he could keep up but as long as he was near he would be fine. They crossed the stream, disturbing the water with heavy footfall. They turned slightly and headed for the path he had been watching, realising the creature was attacking a traveller. He ran down the path at top speed, stopping to witness the bloodsucker in question claw at something yellow, sending it to the ground out of sight.
He raised the carbine and peered down the sight. He let off a volley of four shots in the creatures direction, hoping to avoid the mutants prey. Loud cracks filled the air and the barrel of the gun let off a small amount of smoke from the barrel. He saw two red splatters appear on the bloodsuckers back and it howled, whilst stumbling forwards. The mutant, realising it wasn't going to be dining alone, ran off into the treeline, turning itself invisible as it did so. The Stalker ran forwards, curious to see what it was assaulting. Zakhar was almost caught up with him when he set off again, the Russian panted heavily and swore under his breath having his chance of rest removed. He walked towards Grygoriy who was kneeling over a yellow animal.
The Stalker had not seen anything like this before. It resembled a small horse, maybe two and a half feet when stood up and about three and a half in length. It's general shape was normal looking, but it had a head almost bigger than his own, its snout very small in comparison. It also had wings that looked too small to even nearly fly. It had hair in a light shade of pink, both on its head and neck as well as its long tail. The creature had been raked vertically across the side of its chest just below its wings and was leaking blood at a decent rate. He inspected the wound and poked it gently. The creature tried to move away from his touch and neighed quietly. He had assumed it was unconscious but it must just be in intense pain. He stroked its head, attempting to calm it. The wound was starting to scab over slightly, the bloodsucker hadn't managed to inject its anti-coagulant. He couldn't see any major damage but he was no horse doctor.
“Zakhar! In need help with this!”
The panting Ecologist approached and followed a similar observation path to his comrade.
“Ok, er, we should clean the wound and bandage it. The military kits have disinfectant in the green bottle”
Grygoriy didn't hesitate and pulled out the kit, grabbing the mentioned bottle and sprayed it all over the wound, using half the contents. The creature shook from the cold, stinging liquid. The Stalker then grabbed the coated bandage pack and gave it to Zakhar.
“You bandage it, I'll hold it off the ground so you can get to it”
With that, the Stalker lifted the horse, allowing the Ecologist to cover the claw marks, stopping a lot of leaking blood. The animal put up very little resistance. Worrying, to say the least. Zakhar worked expertly despite the awkward location and soon the animal had a large white stripe of gauze across its torso, pinning its wings. a slight pinkish blotch appeared where the injury was hidden.
“Why are we saving it?” Zakhar asked in mild confusion. He didn't want the creature to die, but those supplies could've helped one of them. It was just a horse. A weird, alien horse.
“Well, for several reasons” he began. “Firstly, we brought the bloodsucker here and indirectly caused the harm to this thing” he said, pointing to the animal. “Secondly, look at it. It has bright pink hair and a cattle mark on its ass. It's clearly a pet or work horse for someone, and if we save it then we go into their good books. Maybe they can get us the platinum we need to return”
Zakhar agreed at this insight, but saw he was making a lot of assumptions. It was likely that the horse was belonged to something, but it may not be human. Secondly there was probably going to be a language barrier, considering that they were from a different world.
“Alright then, so what do we do now we have saved it?”
Grygoriy thought for a moment. “We should build a campfire near it to keep it warm and otherwise just wait until the owner comes for it, or we follow it back home when it is healthy enough”
Zakhar acknowledged the plan with a nod, but was focused on a point behind Grygoriy. He could've sworn he just saw a Zebra with a gold neck run off further up the path. He shook his head, confused at the hallucination. “I'll go and refill the metal canteens, we can boil the water over the fire to purify it. That stream looks clean enough to drink from as is though” he joked.
Grygoriy chuckled but otherwise said nothing. He was busy making the fire. Zakhar collected the empty canteens and began the walk to the river.
Fluttershy was terrified. The two creatures had scared off the other monster and now they had captured her! She could only lie there in tears, as they had tied her wings down and her entire left side hurt too much to walk. They must have known this as they didn't bother to tie her legs or do anything to stop her just walking away. They had built a fire next to her and she could feel the heat radiating to her back. It was comforting as without it she would be freezing in the cold night air. This only delayed the inevitable though, she was sure they would have her for dinner. The creatures were growling at each other, deep and bass sounds she couldn't understand. She guessed that it was some form of communication. The green one sat mere inches from her, and if she made a sound it would run its alien limb down her mane, causing her to be silent so it would stop. It took sadistic pleasure in making her uncomfortable. All she came to do was investigate some creatures that Steven the serpent had seen last night, but instead she had been attacked by a vicious bipedal squid monster that came from nowhere. It had screamed a terrifying noise, she could hear it approaching and jumped to the air, about to fly away when it literally appeared at her side and knocked her to the ground with its claws. It was scared off from a loud noise though which was lucky for her, it was going to carry on clawing her! She heard a rustling coming from a bush nearby, distracting her from reliving the horrifying scenario. Turning her head slightly, she was shocked and relieved to see her 5 friends plus Zecora expertly hiding in the shrubbery. The creatures continued their growling and snarling to each other, oblivious to the quiet noises. She smiled at her soon-to-be rescuers, silently thanking Celestia for watching over her. Twilight spoke silently to her, she didn't hear but her mouth and gestures were enough: “we will save you”. The six saviours then jumped out and tried their hardest to look threatening, Twilight and Rarity had a spell ready to cast, Rainbow Dash flew above them with Applejack and Zecora flanking them. Pinkie Pie was… gone? Regardless, her kidnappers quickly stood up and backed away, putting the fire between themselves and the ponies. Fluttershy allowed herself a small smile of relief. The orange one held up a shiny grey tube with a wooden handle, and was pointing it at each of her friends frantically. The green one stood there stoically, holding nothing but not backing down.
“Alright you monsters! Walk away and we won't hurt you!” shouted Twilight.
“Yeah, I'm gonna kick your flanks if you've even scratched Fluttershy!” added Dash.
“Don't you worry sugarcube, we’ll get these monsters off’r ya!” Shouted Applejack reassuringly.
The green creature quietly growled something to his orange partner, who nodded in response and slightly lowered the strange object. He raised his hand. Everyone was tense, Twilight and Rarity lowered her horns to point squarely at the creatures midsection. The green one, unfazed, continued and began waving his raised arm back and forth. The orange one was slowly backing up, something beeping and he was yipping and growling frantically.
“Uh, is that thing wavin’ at us?” asked a confused applejack.
“WHATS THE BIG IDEA, HUH? ARE YOU MOCKING US?” shouted Rainbow.
The green one continued to wave, its head turning to look at its accomplice.
“Right, that's it!”
Rainbow shot forwards towards the green animal, ready to punch it in the face. A light blue shield surrounded dash, courtesy of Rarity.
BLAMF!
Rainbow was launched backwards, a thin trail of red leaking from her. Every non-monster gasped as the blue pegasus tumbled midair and crashed in front of the would-be rescuers.
“Rainbow! You OK there partner?” Applejack shouted urgently.
Rainbow Dash’s left wing was indeed crumpled at a strange angle, and her body had several holes where blood slowly leaked out. The damage had been minimised thanks to raritys quick thinking.
“Don't worry darling, we will get you to the hospital!” Shouted the concerned fashionista. “Zecora, can you take us back?”
“Yes indeed, of course I can! It would be best though if we ran!” rhymed the Zebra. She then took off at a gallop, followed closely by Rarity with Dash floating above encased in a blue aura, groaning and holding back tears.
Meanwhile, the two creatures seemed to be arguing, the green one was no longer looking away, and it had grabbed a bigger looking object off its back. It was mostly black metal with bits made of polished wood.
Twilight realised that the objects were weapons of some kind, and had to disarm them. She focused and reached out with her magic and grabbed the objects. The small one was encased in a purple aura and pulled towards her, the orange one practically screaming at this point and backed away, hiding behind a tree. The green one however kept its growling consistent and firmly held the weapon in its claws. It had raised it and had it pointed at twilights head. Upon realising this she redoubled her effort, but saw only a slight shake and a brief purple glow before it sparked magically and the spell died. The creature steadied the object an-
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The tree behind twilight exploded outwards, wooden fragments hit her back doing no harm. Out of surprise her spell stopped completely and the retrieved object fell to the floor nearby. The green creature took advantage of this and was briskly striding forwards, still pointing the deadly weapon at her head. It stopped about a meter away and growled aggressively without raising its voice. The message: ‘Get away’.
“Applejack! We have to back off!”
“What! Are ya’ crazy! We can't leave Fluttershy here!”
“This creature will hurt us all if we don't leave!”
The creature, almost as if understanding, used the weapon again. It flashed yellow and two deafening cracks cut through the air. Two clouds of dust appeared from the ground in front of each pony and they briefly hesitated before running off. Fluttershy broke down into tears, wailing loudly, certain she was going to die a captive.
“Don't worry! We’re gonna’ come back! Stay strong Fluttershy!” Shouted a retreating Applejack.
The butter pegasus took no notice of the not-so reassuring words and continued to cry hopelessly. The green creature didn't come over to caress her like it normally did, instead it turned to the approaching orange creature and started shouting. If she thought the creature was terrifying before, it was a literal nightmare now. It's piercing roars made even the orange one falter. The creature raised its hands defensively as it backed off, but the green one strode forwards and shoved it. The orange animal was pushed backwards and almost fell. It snarled something back in an aggressive questioning tone, and the green one stopped his advance. It made a barely audible sigh and sat down next to the frightened captive. It growled softly to the orange one, apologetically. It then turned to look Fluttershy in the eyes and growled in the same apologetic manner.
“I- Its alright” she squeaked in response, not knowing what it had said. The creature nodded, and raised its hand to its head, twisting it slightly then pulling it off. A recognisable, animal face replaced the alien, emotionless façade it had worn. It's eyes looked conflicted, a sorry smile on its face as it stared at the captive Pegasus. Fluttershy responded by passing out.
Zakhar sat down, having recently filled the metal canteen and was trying to set it over the fire so that it would evaporate clean water into another, empty container. He had been doing this for the past five minutes with no useful result.
“This is pointless” he muttered.
“Just put the cap on and boil it, then it will be fine” the Stalker said dismissively
“Whatever”
“So, what do you think to our guest?” He said, attempting to keep the conversation going. “It looks fairly terrified” he mused.
“Well, it is wounded and at the mercy of two aliens. At least we have bright colours in common” chuckled the Russian. “I wonder if it's poisonous”
“Well, I'm not eating it. It looks too… human” he finished. “Though it probably does think it is our dinner”
He stroked its mane, wondering what was going through its head.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. It's not like we hurt it though, is it? If anything we saved its life!” He laughed. “Strange how animals see things”
“Yeah. Speaking of, this is the first mammal I've seen”
“How do you know it's a mammal?”
“Well, it isn't going to lay eggs is it?” laughed the Stalker.
“Fair point. I wonder if-
He was cut off though as five more technicoloued equines jumped into the clearing. Two unicorns, a white one and a purple one took the centre. Looking closely he could see that the purple one had wings too. He guessed that it was some kind of leader. Above, a rainbow haired blue pegasus hovered with its hooves in a boxing stance. The unicorns were flanked by an orange horse thing with no wings or horn, and a white stripy one on the other side. They had a formation and it reminded Grygoriy of a cartoon he saw once. Power rangers! He almost laughed, and the absurdity of the situation put him at ease. They weren't armed or wearing clothes, except the orange one who wore a cowboy hat and the stripy one who had some gold jewellery on its neck and head. Come to think of it, it looks more like a zebra than a horse.
“What the fuck are those!?” Yelped Zakhar, as he grabbed his shotgun.
“I don't know, but don't do anything stupid. Just defend yourself ok? It's first impressions that last” he said calmly. He had been in situations like this before, except the alien horses were other Stalkers. You had to show you were a threat, but not an active one else you were seen as easy prey.
The duo were stood behind the fire, staggered with Grygoriy up front and Zakhar behind on his right side. The purple horse neighed aggressively, and then the blue one threw out a challenging noise as well. The orange horse seemed to whinny to the yellow one in a comforting tone.
‘Hm, they must be sentient to a degree then. I can't see them doing this from instinct’ he thought to himself. ‘Maybe if I show that I mean no harm…
He raised his hand into the air, the intruders following it closely. The unicorns horns shifted to point at his chest, ready to gore him. He noticed that they were glowing slightly too. Simultaneously, Zakhars detector suddenly started going crazy. He pulled it out and spoke alarmingly.
“There is a large Psi reading in this area! It's directed our way, an seems to be coming from the horses!”
The blue Pegasus let out an even louder string of neighs and whinnys, and seemed to point at Grygoriy, who was still waving. He tuned to him and spoke with a trace of fear in his voice.
“Shit, how well protected are you from-“
But Zakhar wasn't listening. He saw that the blue one was going to attack Grygoriy while he was distracted. He had to do something. He had to shoot it.
BLAMF!
The Russian fired his shotgun at the charging rainbow blur, and it caught the full brunt of the shot. It sailed backwards and crashed, rolling to a dramatic stop in front of the invasive equines.
They gasped and started frantically chattering in horse-speak, but Grygoriy didn't notice. He had turned to face his accomplice and was laying into him.
“What the fuck! Are you insane? Reacting with lethal force is NOT a good way to make friends! We will be lucky if we aren't hunted down for posing immense danger! Plus we still have this damn yellow sack of shit on our hands! Want to add murderer to the list of crimes?”
Zakhar said nothing, he simply replaced the spent cartridge and took aim again. Grygoriy realised he should do the same, not wanting the horses to assault him again. Turning back, he noticed with relief that three horses were retreating, leaving only the orange one and the purple one. He pulled the AK off his back and levelled it with the purple Uni-sus thing. It had a sudden look of realisation and then intense focus.
“JESUS FUCK ITS GOT MY GUN! WE ARE BEYOND FUCKED! IT’S A FLESH AND BLOOD POLTERGEIST!” Screamed the Ecologist who was running to hide behind a tree. Grygoriy, meanwhile, was calm and focusing on keeping his gun steady as it visibly glowed and sparked.
“Don't worry, it won't be getting mine” he said confidently, knowing that his artefacts prevented almost all direct Psi attacks on himself. He realised that this could be a problem though and needed to get the two remaining horses away. Thinking quickly he fired three rounds into the tree behind the purple monster, showering it with hopefully harmless splinters of bark. It had the desired effect as its horn stopped glowing and the shotgun fell to the floor with a clatter. He took this opportunity to move up to his now defenceless enemies, hopefully causing them to at least back off. He stepped over the captive and strode directly in front of the purple thing, and pointed the gun at its head even more intensely, only half a meter away now.
“Ahem. Fuck off” he commanded.
Stupidly, it just stood there and chattered to its sole remaining crew member, the orange horse with the hat. ‘Jesus I take it back, no such thing as intelligent life in this place’ he mused. He fired a shot directly at the equines hooves, kicking a bit of dust and dirt into each of their faces. This got them moving as they galloped away, neighing loudly. Their captive was wailing now, tears streaking down its’ sorry face
Grygoriy, having dealt with the bigger and immediate problem, now turned to deal with Zakhar who was slowly approaching.
“WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT WERE YOU THINKING? WE ARE ALONE, OUTGUNNED AND OUTNUMBERED AND YOU WANT TO MAKE MORE ENEMIES?” He strode up to the flinching Ecologist and gave him a hefty shove. “Fucking think next time!”
Zakhar didn't appreciate this. “What the hell was I supposed to do, let it ram you? Knock you to the floor? Kill you?”
“I don't fucking know, but I've got a feeling we are going to wish we were dead” he said sadly. He smiled at the yellow Pegasus, before realising it hadn't actually seen his face. Understanding that they were somewhat intelligent, he had to say hello properly. “How rude of me, let me introduce myself” With that he took his helmet off and smiled half heartedly they yellow animal who promptly laid back, apparently unconscious.
“Even the aliens think you are ugly” muttered Zakhar. The Ukrainian just laughed at the genuinely funny remark.
“Anyway, we should move. Don't fancy doing that again, at least without tilting the odds in our favour” the Stalker grinned. “Grab your shotgun, I'll carry this yellow lump. My ugliness came in useful for once it seems!” He laughed.
Zakhar looked at the equine. The Stalker couldn't see his expression, but he he was frowning at the fact they were taking the pegasus.
“It's more trouble than its worth but at the same time it's our only bargaining chip” he explained.
With that, he slung the AK on his back and picked up the horse thing, draping its legs around his neck.
“What do we call these things anyway?” He asked the Ecologist, who likely knew the answer.
“Well, small horses are called ponies, so I guess that would be the most fitting name”
“Ok, so Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns. What the fuck is this place. What about the purple one?”
“Well, that had wings and a horn so I suggest we call it a... multipony”
“Eh, good enough. What about those stick wolf things? Oh wait, what about Logdogs! Ahahahaa!”
“Well, it's no better than multipony”
“True. Anyway, let's get going”
They both turned to walk back the way that they came when they saw another pony. This one was pink. Completely pink. It made the Ukrainian want to vomit. He held back his initial feelings and studied it a little more. It stood in the path, obviously trying to intercept them. It had a large smile on its… muzzle? Face? Whatever. It was smiling. It also had a tattoo of three balloons on its ass. But most importantly, once it had his full attention, it waved at him.
“Maybe you should wave back?” Suggested Zakhar.
He acknowledged by doing exactly that, the smile on the pony’s face grew in intensity. It started bouncing in place in a bizarre, happy fashion.
“Well, aren't you a strange little thing?” the stalker grinned. “What are you doing here?”
The pink equine stopped bouncing and cocked its head sideways like a dog would, its smile fading and replaced with a look of confusion.
“Well, we have to get going, see you later!” He said, waving at the bubblegum beast.
The creature just smiled again, and waved back.
“I don't think it understands, maybe you should scare it off?”
Grygoriy thought for a few seconds. “Nah, if it wants to hang out let it, its not exactly going to shank us in our sleep is it?” He briefly wondered if it could shank them in their sleep, but concluded it probably wouldn't. They had rotors where they watched each other anyway so they could keep an eye on it. If anything then it could calm the yellow one, and if the others see us being friendly and getting on they may not try to attack again. “If they see us getting along with this taffy equine, we might be able to have some friendly negotiations” he explained to his comrade. The pony in question had sat down and was listening intently to their conversation. Grygoriy began walking and soon Zakhar followed. The pink pony followed their movements with its head, smile beginning to fade. When they had walked passed it, Grygoriy turned to look at the equine. It's once poofy mane had de-poofed and it was walking away slowly, head hanging low. He briefly considered letting it go, but thought ‘ah fuck it’ and put his fingers to his mouth and let out a loud whistle. The pony turned around inquisitively, looking at the alien Ukrainian. The man grinned and motioned for it to ‘come here’. The effects were instantaneous. It's mane re-poofed and it began bounding towards the group, squealing with glee and smiling intensely. He gave it a good pat on the head when it got nearby. “Good dog!” He said loudly, and laughed at his own joke. Strangely the equine also laughed, perhaps trying to fit in. Or maybe jokes were the universal language. He didn't know, but this was going to be one heck of a story when he got back to the Skadovsk.
Fluttershy woke with a startled gasp. She was about to stand up when her injuries reminded her that they still existed, though much more suppressed than before. She looked at the wound on her side and saw that the binding had been swapped for a clean one, the red stain gone. She then looked around and saw that she had been lying on green grass under the shade of a large tree. In front of her was a large meadow with tall grass obscuring the ground.
“Hey there sleepy head!” Exclaimed Pinkie Pie who jumped out of said grass.
“Omygosh Pinkie! You startled me! Said the startled pegasus.
“Oh silly me, sorry!”
“Where are we? I don't recognise this bit of the forest. What happened to the m-monsters?”
“Monsters? What monsters?”
“The tall, two-legged, g-green and orange ones!”
“Ooooh you mean Whiskey and Marmalade? They aren't monsters silly! They’re our friends! Although they haven't said that-“
“Pinkie”
“ -but that's only because they can't speak equestrian! If they could they would be all like ‘Hey pinkie lets go-“
“Pinkie!”
“-hang out together, since we are good friends.’ In fact, I think that-
“PINKIE!”
“Oh, sorry!”
“What do you mean they are our friends? They kidnapped me and they were going to eat me!”
“WHAT! No, don't be silly. They saved you! They bandaged you after scaring off the monster that attacked you!” Pinkie looked a little annoyed “And they made a fire to keep you warm! Whiskey even kept comforting you when you were crying! You can't call them monsters!”
Fluttershy didn't know what to say. Has she really been so scared that she misinterpreted their actions that badly? They hadn't hurt her, but that's because she was already incapacitated, right? “But they attacked our friends! They put Rainbow Dash in hospital!” She spoke in frustration. “They do want to hurt us! They even captured you too!”
“I'm not captured silly! I came along to make sure you were OK! I did try to convince them to leave you back there but they don't understand us and Whiskey started drinking. And they only defended themselves from Dashie! She should be more careful! And after that they didn't hurt anyone!”
Fluttershy thought back, and concluded that she was right.
“Y’know now that I'm thinking, it hasn't actually stopped drinking since it took it’s helmet off. Maybe we should go check! It will be happy to see you up and walking!”
Flutttershy’s face screwed up at the memory. It looked less scary, but at the time it seemed like it was tearing its own head off. She wasn't keen on meeting the not-monster. “But I can't walk!”
“No, but you can fly! These bandage thingys have healed you up! You can take them off!”
Fluttershy did so, afraid that the wound wouldn't be healed like her friend said. But to her surprise, they had. “H-how did they heal me so fast?”
“They had some kinda cream on the bandages. Not like cream on a cake cream, but cream like a cream you get from a doctor to cure a rash kinda cream. But this cream-“
“It's ok pinkie, I get it” laughed Fluttershy. She was glad her friend had come with her.
“Okey-dokey-lokey! Let's go say ‘hi’ to our new friends!”
With that, pinkie began bouncing up and down while Fluttershy slowly stood up and gently flapped her wings a few times. They didn't hurt her, only a small ache from being tied a bit too tightly. She took off and hovered next to pinkie who bounded off into the forest, heading for a glow just beyond a short row of bushes. She could hear one of the creatures growling, and the other sounded… drunk? She gulped, and flew over the wall whilst pinkie just jumped through it.
“…So then I said ‘That sounds like a job for Freedom’!” Shouted Grygoriy, who couldn't stand it any longer.
Both humans burst into laughter, Grygoriy doubling over and slapping his knee. Zakhar, nowhere near as drunk as the Stalker, was on the floor in fits of giggles. They had sat down in the clearing and made a medium sized campfire in front of a log. Grygoriy had suggested they drink the vodka now, claiming that they may not get another chance. The Ecologist had been reluctant at first, not a huge fan of alcohol. They had traded a few stories and soon he was giggling and rambling like the Ukrainian, only he had well over half his first bottle left whereas Grygoriy was finishing his second.
“Oh man, your stories are too good! We should go on a… an adventure and make our own stories!” The Russian slurred.
“Hey, we should! We really should! When we get back we will go for, go on our first adventure! We need a name though, a group name. Hmm…”
“What about: the stalkologists!”
“Hm. Nah, it's too nerdy”
“Alright… what about...“
“The Drunkmen!”
“What, you want to recruit the whole zone!?”
Both burst into even harder laughter, hardly noticing the two ponies enter their camp.
“Oh shit, the guests are here!” yelled Zakhar, once he had recovered from laughing.
“Shhh! Don't swear! They are too innocent! Look at that face! Innocent as fuck!” The stalker urged, gesturing to the Pegasus’s confused face. Not that they could see it well since it was hiding behind a large pink bit of hair.
“Oh, sorry er… wait, what's their names?” The Ukrainian suddenly thought aloud.
“Well, I think this one” he gestured to the pink smiling pony “should be called Bubblegum!” He finished, beaming at his own genius. “You should name the yellow one”
‘Naming it after its colour?’ He thought. He was confident that he could do better. “Ok… what about…”
He stared at the custard-coloured pegasus. He studied it. It looked really uncomfortable, hiding behind its own mane. Shy, almost. It had a butterfly tattoo on its ass.
“I know!” He suddenly stood up and shouted, taking a swig of vodka. “It should be called ‘Butter-‘” he stopped abruptly and started coughing on the strong alcohol.
“Butter? Well ok, I guess it's good enough” muttered the Stalker. “Bubblegum and Butter” he mused.
‘I wonder if they have named us’ he thought. He looked back at Zakhar. He was lying face down on the floor, snoring quietly. He was probably called ‘Idiot’ to them. Butter had moved closer to the slumbering drunk and was inspecting him now that he was de-helmeted. It sniffed the bottle that he was holding limply. It's face screwed up and it backed off, obviously not a fan of vodka. He was almost offended. While he thought about it, he hadn't actually seen Zakhars face properly yet. He walked over to the Russian and gently kicked him over and stared at his face. He had short brown hair in a terrible, self-done haircut. His eyes were closed and he considered opening them to see but he didn't feel like violating the sleeping man. He wore thin, rectangular glasses. Butter had moved to stand next to him, continuing to silently observe his friend. So silently in fact, that he hadn't noticed the pegasus sneak next to him, and as he walked away he tripped over it. Butter squeaked in surprise and fell over too, pushed to the floor by the tall human.
“What the fu-“
Was all he could say in surprise before landing and smacking the back of his head on the soft dirt. He was out like a light, and had trapped Butter under his legs.
“EEP!” squeaked Fluttershy as she was forced the ground. “Uh, mister mon- er, mister Whiskey? Could you get off me please?” She begged, almost brought to tears. “Please! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to trip you! Please just let me out!”
“Silly Fluttershy, it’s asleep!”
“Wh-what? But it just fell over!” she stated in disbelief.
“Hey, I don't know why, but it is asleep. He was pretty drunk so that may have helped… Anyway! You were getting along great! It was happy to see you, it pointed at you and you didn't run off or anything! You even stood next to it!”
“Y-yeah, I just don't get why he fell asleep on me!”
“Well, you didn’t make very good conversation, and you are very cuddly.” Mused the mare. “And you didn't laugh at his great jokes!”
Fluttershy had been wondering about that. Pinkie had been laughing along with the monst- aliens and seemed to understand when they had said something funny, if their synchronised laughing was any indication. She nearly asked how she knew but just decided that it was just a case of ‘classic Pinkie Pie’. “Uh, not to be a bother but could you get it’s legs off me?
“Huh? Oh, sure!”
Princess Luna was rather concerned. She held the letter Twilight Sparkle had written to Celestia just half an hour ago, regarding a new species of animal spotted in the everfree. The scholar inside her was excited, but the more concerning part was that one of the two had hospitalised Rainbow Dash and captured Fluttershy, both bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Pinkemena Pie had also gone missing, but wasn't considered related to the monsters actions. There were more details that she wanted to read again, but the time to act was now. It was an hour before midnight and she had assembled her Lunar Warriors to locate and rescue the elements and potentially capture the monsters. She turned to the guards as they crossed the palace hall to the middle of the lobby. “Are you and your soldiers ready, Dusk Watcher?”
“Yes princess. Give the word and we will prepare for long range teleportation.” Spoke a confident earth pony.
Luna looked at the assembled squad. There were a mix of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns all dressed in the enchanted lunar armour she had assigned to all her personal military staff, which amounted to this squad and her 4 guards who were not joining them on this mission. Like the Solar Guard’s armour, the various enchantments included the increased strength and survivability of the wearer. What differed was a camouflaging spell that distorted the guards to look like Thestrals, a legendary bat kind of pony that had leathery wings and sharp fangs and wide, predatory eyes. It was, of course, just a legend but a fearsome one at that. She hardly got to use it and she was excited to say the least. “The word is given” she smiled.
“Squad! Form up! Prepare for teleportation!”
The light chatter stopped and the guards formed a tight circle around Luna so she would have to expend as little magical energy as possible. After a brief second of closing her eyes to find the rough location of the unconscious Fluttershy a bright flash enveloped them, and they disappeared.
Fluttershy awoke groggily. She felt like something had just flicked the back of her head. The campfire everyone was resting around had long since died down, giving only the faintest glow. Both mo- aliens had woken briefly to put their helmets back on and growl apologetically at the ponies. They then went back to sleep. Looking at the sky, she could tell it was close to midnight, so they had been asleep for almost six hours now.
A bright flash briefly lit up the grassland just beyond the woodland, near to her waking point. Fluttershy, not feeling remotely brave, opted to stay up and wake everyone if it was trouble. About 5 minutes later, there was a rustling of leaves directly in front of her. Then to her left. Then all around her. She saw nothing and it left her positively terrified, about to start crying and wake the others. But she stopped when she recognised a key figure that had appeared from the shadows. “Princess Luna! What are you doing here?” She whispered, walking towards the royal deity.
“Rescuing you from these monsters.” she responded coolly. “They have put you, and by extension, the entire world at danger.”
“Oh, er, thanks… but the-“
“It's ok Fluttershy, you are safe now.” She then motioned to the bushes and two Thestrals appeared and escorted Fluttershy away. “Ohh m-my…” she muttered at the scary appearance of the guards. Luna then used her magic to levitate the still sleeping Pinkamena Pie in the same direction as Fluttershy.
“Princess, we are all in position for capture and the civilians have been retrieved. Cast Heart is currently looking over them for injuries, though they don't appear hurt.” Reported Dusk Watcher “We will attack at your command, eight warriors have been assigned to this including me.
“Of course, Dusk. You have done well to organise this without a hiccup. But for the moment I will attempt to dream watch them to get a better understanding of their place in this world, and their intentions towards these and other ponies.” With that, she stepped closer to the sleeping creatures and let her magic feel their presence. With this extra information she could view their dreams directly with little effort. The orange creatures signature was found immediately as expected, but the green ones was not found. She tried again, focusing solely on it. Nothing. She frowned, not having come across this problem before. No magic has ever stopped her from dream walking and she couldn't even sense any. Shaking her head, she returned focus to the orange one, and entered his dream.
“Congratulations Zakhar, you have received this Nobel prize for your work on Biology in the inhospitable Zone of Alienation. Your selfless work has saved countless lives and changed the world, and our very understanding of it.” Said an enthusiastic, disembodied voice. An applause filled the air and the two men on the stage grasped each other's limbs and firmly shook them.
Luna was sat in an audience of bipedal creatures. As per usual with dreams, she couldn't really look at the features surrounding her as they were not in the focus of it. The men on the stage were, however. She stood up and began walking towards the aliens ahead, the applause dying down.
“Thank you, thank you all. I would like to firstly thank my comrade…” it stopped as its eyes landed on the princess. The audience, stage and everything else faded like it was smoke, leaving only blackness. This usually signified distress or discomfort due to her appearances, causing the dreams engineer to lose focus. “What the fuck are you?” It spoke angrily.
She hardly recognised the creature, its appearance drastically different to the orange form she was just looking at. “That is no way to greet royalty.” She said in an amused tone. “And I could ask you that very same question.”
“Yeah? Well I asked first.”
She smiled. “Fair enough. I am Princess Luna, and I am the co-ruler of equestria.”
“Of where?”
“The land you are sleeping in.”
“The land…” he muttered to himself “Ohhhh I get it, this is a dream” he laughed. “None of this is real then, damn. I really wanted that award.”
“Not quite creature, I am very much real. I am simply visiting your mind, your dreams.”
“M-my mind? What? You are in my dream. And you are real?”
“Yes.”
“What the fuck!? Get out!” He shouted, willing himself to wake up. Luna sensed this, but she hadn't finished yet and fought back the dreams collapse.
“Hold on I've-”
“NO! GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!” Panic joined the forces that opposed her resistance.
“Calm yourse-”
“YOU ARE A CONTROLLER! OH FUCK! CONTROLLER! SHIT! WAKE UP!” Desperation and fear joined the war against her control. She was going to lose grip on the dream. This creature obviously hated ‘Comtrollers’ whatever they were.
“JUST CAL-“
“YOU WILL NOT CONTROL MY MIND!” The dream began to collapse, the blackness slowly becoming whiteness. “CONTROLLER! CONTROLLER! Контроллер!” His screams turned to animalistic growls and roars, Luna sighed and gave up with the poor interrogation. With that the dream shattered, the dream speak broken and un-translated and everything exploded to white.
Luna recovered quickly and saw that the orange creature was stirring and about to sit up, and she was nearly face to face with it. Its head turned to see her stood a meter from where he slept.
“Oh for the love of-
But once again she was drowned out by the desperate and fearful roar the creature made, and it sounded all to familiar to the blue Alicorn.
“CONTROLLER!”
Grygoriy sat up and was just in time to see Zakhar blast a blue multipony in the face with both barrels of his shotgun. It sailed backwards, a small splatter of blood following its parabolic path until it landed on its back, limp but somehow head still intact. He didn't have time to dwell on it though as several bat-winged horses jumped out from above the treetops, and more horned and non-horned ones came from the bushes. He grabbed his machete from his belt and jumped up, taking the attention of 6 intruders. He wasted no time and faced the one charging at him, booting it in the face. It's shiny blue horn took the blow, its glow fading. The force (and intense pain) behind the kick knocked out the target after it neighed in defeat. He spun to his left and struck out with his machete at an approaching shadow, catching the body armour of a bat-pegasus. He shifted the machete down it, slicing the leathery wing from behind and causing brown feathers to fall to the ground. He didn't question it, but threw the whinnying creature to the floor, down but not out. He took this moment to quickly turn on his nightvision device. It activated just in time to see a regular pony try to kick him with its hind legs. He dodged to the left and noticed that the rear hooves had spiky looking boots on, It would likely puncture straight through his SEVA suit if it hit him anywhere but the head, neck, shoulders or chest. With two enemies down he was a little more confident but the next attack came in a team of two, the first pony charged at him, head butting him in the chest and knocking him back. He regained his footing and kneed it in the face then left hooked it, sending it to the ground. The second one had flanked behind to try to attack from two sides, but he had already dispatched that attacker. It took this opportunity to kick at him. It's front legs caught his knee, sending a spasm of pain up his leg. It then kicked his chest with it’s powerful back legs, sending him sprawling over the grounded bat-pegasi
Fortunately, the attack didn't go through his armour as he had suspected. He definitely felt the impact, and it would be badly bruised if not fractured. The three remaining creatures were each one of the three varieties, lead by the smirking regular pony. He realised that without his guns, they would wear him down. As he felt now, he could get one of them maybe but any of the remaining ones could finish him. He wouldn't last much more without seriously harming his enemies, he had little energy to waste in non-life threatening attacks. but anything was better than death. Even if it meant killing.
“COME ON THEN!” he roared and charged at the now scared looking group. The pony was the first to recover, it met his charge and reared up to kick him in the head with its front legs. This left his soft underside exposed. The Stalker ducked under the kick and sliced his machete across the belly of the animal. It screamed and fell on its side, blood oozing out of the deep wound. He hadn't meant to do that much damage, he had overestimated the toughness of the skin thanks to years of fighting mutants. Not that he particularly cared. He was suddenly lifted off the ground from behind by two arms under his armpits and thrown forward where he tumbled over his backpack, losing grip of the machete. He saw the pegasus fly over the top of him and realised the arms he felt were just legs of the animal. He saw the unicorn was charging up a spell, now that he was clear of its teammates. He grabbed a rock from where he landed and stood up, throwing it as hard as he could. He knew it stood little chance of doing any damage but needed to break its concentration as he had done before with the purple multipony. It worked, the small stone hit the pony in the face and the magic faded momentarily and it blinked in confusion, before its eyes widened at the charging alien.
Unfortunately, he was pushed forwards again by the pegasus and he was shoved straight into the unicorn. he howled in pain as he impacted the creature, it's horn had stabbed him just below his left shoulder and buried itself about an inch and a half past his outer layer of protection. He was really angry at this, intense pain causing him to seek revenge. Mercilessly, he grabbed the horn and pulled it out, causing the animal to howl in pain. He didn't let go, instead looking for the pegasus. He saw it hovering several meters away, a concerned expression on its face. He took this opportunity of momentarily relenting attacks to retrieve the machete of the floor. He dragged his unwilling captor by his horn, picked up the machete and raised it to the unicorns head. He put the saw blade against the base of the horn and sawed once. The unicorn then screamed even louder, tears running down its face. He motioned to the pegasus to land. It complied with an angry scowl on its face. He motioned for it to come forwards. It complied, neighing something to the unicorn. As soon as it was close enough he kicked it as hard as he could in the… chin? Snout? He didn't know the anatomical name but it sure hurt the pegasus, it fell over howling in a horselike fashion. He used the base of the machete and bashed the forehead of the unicorn, just below the base of the horn. It went limp and he allowed it to fall. He then walked up to the downed pegasus and kicked it hard in the face again. It too went limp. Anger subsided, he surveyed the scene before him and saw that one pegasus, the second one to attack, wasn't harmed too badly, just a cut on its right wing. He strode to it and pulled it off the ground by its neck, a terrified expression on its face. He growled at it and deliberately placed it to the stabbed earth pony who was still bleeding out. He then left it, and it shouted some kind of neigh. He turned to look at Zakhar, expecting to see him standing before his defeated enemies. Instead, he had a cracked visor and was unconscious, a pony and a pegasus stood either side of him with his arms over their back, attempting to move him. Not in the mood to deal with this shit anymore, he picked up his AK from beside his resting point and pulled the bolt, a perfectly good bullet flying out, indicating it was loaded. It made a satisfying ‘cha-chack’ sound, and he internally grinned. He raised the carbine and fired it twice at the legs of the pegasus. His injuries prevented him from stopping the gun swaying and in consequence only one bullet hit, its left leg splattering a spray of blood and causing it to crumple, screaming the entire time. He turned to the remaining pony who looked absolutely terrified. He slung the gun on his back with the strap and grabbed the axe from the outside of his pack. It glistened in the moonlight and had the desired effect, the unicorn in dropping to the ground in tears.
“NEIGH!” Boomed a commanding horse. He turned to see the Multipony had got up from the floor and had spread its wings in attempt to look intimidating, but it just looked defeated. It's head looked a bit worse for wear. It's right eye was swollen shut, a small trickle of blood leaked from the closed eyelids. It's snout had a tear on the left side, blood dripping onto the floor below. It's horn was missing its point and had two large chips in it and its left ear looked like an animal had torn the tip of it off. Out of respect, and a small bit of fear, he humoured the blue creature and stopped. He could only guess what it had said but it was probably something like ‘stop!’. He waited for the horse to say something but it just stared at him, its eyes had a pleading and terrified look to them. He turned his head away and dropped the axe back near his pack, walking towards his partner. The multipony had continued to neigh and whinny as he did so. He stopped in front of the cowering unicorn and leaned down. “Get the fuck away!” He snarled
It paused for a moment, then slowly got up. He continued to stare at it, doing nor saying anything more until it bolted away in an arc, standing behind the much larger multipony. He hadn't realised how big it really was, its horn was almost level with his forehead. Most others came to slightly below his torso.
“Zakhar get up you peice of shit” he said angrily, kicking the Stalker.
The Russian jolted up, patting himself all over. “What happened?” He asked, concerned and confused.
“Later. We have to leave”
Zakhar looked at the carnage strewn about before him. A collapsed bloody bat-pegasus laid down to his right, its leg bloody just below its joint. Across from him, behind the embers of the campfire he saw about 5 motionless bodies. He guessed they weren't dead, at least not all of them as he likely would've shot them all instead of leaving a third of them alive. One body was being cared by another blue pony as well as Butter. “Jesus Christ.” he exclaimed quietly at the utter carnage. He looked to his left and saw the ‘controller’ that invaded his mind. “JESUS CHRIST!” he shouted again, louder.
“Calm down, its n-“
“IT WAS IN MY MIND!”
“Just fucking calm yourself!” He commanded, getting in his face. “Grab the bags and anything useful these horses have. They have a little pile of gear behind that multipony. I'll round up the conscious ones and move them over by the one I slashed” he said, no emotion other than exhaustion detectable. He then strode to the large blue leader and pointed his AK at it, then used his left hand to point to the mentioned victim. The multipony nodded and walked towards the destination, the terrified unicorn following closely behind. He grabbed some saddlebags off the pile of gear they left and quickly tied them round his waist, as he couldn't spare the hands to do it. Zakhar had grabbed all their gear and was walking towards him.
“Lets go” he said, no emotion in his voice.
“Yep” he responded, disheartened by his poor attempts at self preservation.
Grygoriy set off, but stopped when Bubblegum appeared in their path, just as they had met. It looked sad, tears threatening to flow. He raised the gun slightly at the resistance, but stopped after remembering who this animal was. He walked up to it and patted it on the head, then pointed to the large blue winged unicorn. “Go.” He said, a small smile forming on his face. the horse returned him with a small smile of its own. It then trotted off, mane de-poofed. He paid no attention to its sadness or the slight tug on his chest at the happy connection snapping. “Lets go, these animals are nothing but trouble.”
He began walking through the tall grass and was soon not visible to the ponies back in the clearing. The wound in his shoulder still leaked a small amount of blood, but it had mostly clotted. He checked the rest of his suit and saw it was much worse for wear, the environment isolation layer breached in many places, much less protective. He would have to repair the damage as soon as they stopped to rest.
“What was that about a controller?” He suddenly asked. He saw the Multipony eat both barrels of the sawn-off, but he didn't understand why.
“She was in my fucking head. She spoke to me, started questioning me. I freaked out. Fuck, I still am freaking out.”
“She?”
“Yeah, it sounded feminine, so ‘she’.”
“But it spoke in your mind, and it had a voice?”
“No, she appeared in a dream I had. I then woke up, realised it wasn't just a dream and shot the bitch.”
“Fair enough. Mind-rape isn't exactly something to be encouraged. Hopefully it won't ‘visit’ you again, and I doubt they will be able to do it to me.”
“Ah yeah, your anti-Psi artefacts. I need to get myself some of those. That's how they got me you know, the bitch just threw me against a tree with Psi, and I was pretty much KO’d. Whole suit is compromised now and I don't think there is any way to repair most of it.”
“Damn. They looked really confused though when their telekinesis didn't directly work on me. I doubt they had that problem before which explains their confidence.”
“What do you think that was about though? Was that a hostage rescue mission? Or did they come to kill us? Maybe capture and experiment…” the Russian shuddered.
“I think they came as a hostage rescue and we were like a bonus. If you hadn't shot the blue thing who knows what would've happened. Maybe they would've left? No point dwelling though, nothing to do but learn from it.”
Zakhar reflected on this in silence. They had lost all leverage from their kind and without other humans they were fairly screwed in terms of getting platinum. Maybe if they went far away the equines would be more receptive of aliens. They may have been receptive of aliens too, but for whatever reason they thought we had harmed and kidnapped someone.
The Stalker interrupted his internal thoughts. “Looks like it’s desert beyond here. I don't know how big it will be, but there is some kind of mountain over there towards the middle.”
Zakhar looked down and the ground was no longer grass, but hard, sandy dirt. A few meters ahead and it was all sand. “This is a weird land border.” The abrupt change from grasslands to sandlands was not something that he had heard of, and doubted that there were any as abrupt as this on earth.
“Zak, should we cross it?”
He didn't know. He couldn't see if it ended. He couldn’t see much with the cracked visor.
“Sure. I guess it will be a couple of days travel at least. How much water do we have?” The pair then once again pooled their resources. The four saddle packs they had looted had enough water for about two days in the desert, four or five if they stay out. Combined with what they already had, he guessed with a safe margarine that they had 6 days of water in the desert. But he had a plan to ensure they made it.
“We can do this. But we have to do it this way. We travel only at night, as the sun will cook us. We ration the water, no more than two litres per day. If we stick to this, we will have about ten nights of water, plus one reserve. However, if we don't see the other side by the 5th day, we pull back unless we can replenish that water somehow, but we will need half the total water to make it back. You agree?”
“Alright, you're the expert.”
Zakhar nodded. He was the expert. He was very confident.
“Right. It will be daylight in about two hours. We may as well sort through the rest of these packs, repair what we can and then sleep after. We will set off tomorrow at sundown.”
With that, they sorted through the bags. They were largely the same, but had invaluable items. Some maps of the area, fresh fruit, basic first aid supplies and a lot of other items with weird text all over it. They left the written junk on the floor with the empty bags and ate the fruit and stored the first aid. The maps were useless as they weren't going to return, and they had no way to read them or figure out where they were as it was mostly green.
“Ohhh man, I haven't had fresh fruit since I got to the zone! Four years of canned vegetables and radiation rich mutant meat! I thought I wasn't going to see fruit again! Well, unless you count fruit punch anomalies.” The Stalker chuckled, biting into his second apple. “I forgot how good they tasted!”
“Heh, I've not had to deal with such hardships. The mobile lab gets supplies brought through the zone by some loners who want to make some easy money. Fruit comes every week.” He boasted, grinning at the Stalker.
“Yeah, your cushy life let you get soft though. When we get back I want half your fruit for the rest of your life in return for me saving your ass!” He joked, laughing at his comrades deepening frown. Though his smile faded when he realised he was frowning seriously.
“Do you think we will make it back?”
Grygoriy thought for a moment. He didn't know, but he was expecting the worst. All they had to do was find platinum, it could be already refined somewhere in this world. They just needed to find it.
“I'll put 10,000 Roubles on it”
“Heh, you're on!”
The Zoners finished their apples, the sun rising shortly after. In the light they worked on their suits, Zakhar decided to ditch his, beeping only the boots and belt. Grygoriy used some of the material to patch his shoulder and various other holes. It was suitably repaired and would do until they found better tools. Despite the potential danger and harsh light both of them went to sleep. In the past 48 hours they had very little and needed to catch up. The day passed without incident, and soon Grygoriy woke up to see the sun setting. He poked Zakhar in the chest with his foot.
“Its, almost time. Get up.”
Zakhar yawned at him and stood up. He grabbed his pack and slung it over his shoulder and ensured he had his weapons at hand. He took the pistol out of the pack and tucked it into his suits belt holster. The shotgun was held in his hand, ready to blast a new hole in any foe that came too close. He looked at the Stalker. “Lets go.” They then set off into the desert, not bothering to look back.
Princess Luna was almost crying. She had failed, became reckless and now her loyal guards had paid the price. All of them were injured in some way, two in critical conditions. The worst part was she had got it wrong. The two ‘captives’ were far from prisoners. Fluttershy, with pinkamena’s help, explained that she had been injured by something else and that the ‘monsters’ had saved her from it and then healed her injuries, only to be assaulted by twilight and her friends. In self defence they had hurt Rainbow Dash and then scared the others away. Less than 12 hours later Luna and her soldiers had attacked them, causing serious injury to both before they responded with near-lethal force. Dusk Watcher was going to be in recovery for a year at least, as his underside had been sliced open. Swift Wing would be lucky if he could walk properly again, he currently had no control of his injured leg. And it was her fault. She had told them to do this, and they had paid the price. She didn't even try to negotiate, only terrifying one of the two monsters and causing it to become violent. So many things that she could've done to ensure nobody was harmed, but she didn't. Princess Celestia had listened to her story and looked at her with sadness and disappointment.
“Luna, I understand that you have failed, but there is no need to cry. We can fix this.
“H-How are we going to do that?” Sniffled Luna.
Celestia frowned. “I don't want to have to subdue them with force, but that is the only way now. Leaving them in the midst of ponies would be disastrous, perhaps fatal for our subjects. We need to teleport them to a secure room until we can properly communicate. Obviously, I will need your help with the summoning, but our magic will be enough once your horn has recovered. I expect it to be done long before midnight, which is when I hope to teleport them. They should be sleeping then, and will come easier, less alert.”
Luna nodded. It would be a few hours or so before her horn had fully regrown, the hard bone-like material took slightly longer to recover than flesh and blood, which had already healed by this morning. Celestia had only just awoke when she had been informed. Celestia couldn't summon them by herself, only she could sense their residual magic imprint, or more specifically, their lack of it. She had informed Celestia that part of the reason she felt so confident was that the creatures had no magic. None. They simply showed up as a void, like an air bubble in an ocean. Almost impossible to find, but made easier once you know what to look for. The tracking runes in the saddlebags had been moving towards the badlands of the east. If they continued on, they would soon meet the local changelings. It was imperative that they were retrieved before they got harmed. Luna mentally sighed. It was more likely these creatures would wipe out the changelings. They were much weaker than they once were, supposedly running out of love to feed on. Little was known about their current condition but she was certain she would find out, as they would no doubt discover the aliens.
“Well then, go and rest up. I will inform twilight of the plan and prepare an area to hold them. We will be ready to summon them at midnight tonight. Get well, this is far from over.” Celestia then left Luna standing in the corridor, she had much more important things to do than stand around chatting. On top of the aliens, animals in the Everfree forest have been reportedly found drained of blood, and the carcasses were getting closer towards Ponyville…
-
“Wake up Zakhar, it is time to move.”
Zakhar grumbled in response. Ever since he left his suit behind he had began to sleep a lot easier, possibly due to the constant fresh air instead of the stale environment the suit provided. He felt a lot more rested and he fell asleep much easier, and actually looked forward to it. He stretched, yawned and eventually stood up. It was the second night of their expedition and it was about two hours from midnight, time to travel. The hadn't seen much on the first night, but large rocky outcroppings similar to steep mountains were in a cluster maybe three miles away when they had stopped to sleep. The plan was to investigate them as they travelled past. He picked up his shotgun and slung his backpack on, then followed Grygoriy who had already set off at a brisk pace. “What do you think we will find there?”
“Trouble.” Was the deadpan response.
“This whole place is multicoloured trouble, what else?”
“I don't have the slightest fucking clue, there could be anything. Hopefully not ponies or pony-related things.”
Zakhar silently agreed. He had reached his limit of equine tolerance and would happily never see one again. The rest of the walk occurred in silence, only the slight wind and sandy footfalls making any sound. It took almost an hour an a half to make it to the first rock. It was tall, five or six stories and was riddled with holes. Dark, foreboding holes of misery. They both looked like holes that snorks would leap from, which really put them on edge. Zakhar was fascinated by them. What had caused them? Were they natural? Perhaps old mines from the ponies? Maybe another race made them? Maybe they we-
“Shit, what's that!?” The Stalker yelled.
Zakhar turned to look. In a tunnel entrance above them a pair of green eyes widened in surprise as it was spotted. A dark figure, vaguely pony shaped stepped backwards when suddenly it dashed back to the shadows and made an odd chittering noise.
“I don't know, but it’s probably bad news. The thing looked surprised though, no hostility or fear on its face. Looked like a pony though, so that's pretty crap.”
“Well if it’s a pony we can keep going. No sense in going around as we will be even more exposed, and it will take longer. Let's just pick up the pace.”
And so they did, for a few minutes. They rounded the next corner to see a large crowd of the things. There must have been a few hundred, the small canyon was packed with them. In the moonlight they both saw that they resembled the ponies but mixed with ants or beetles. Their exterior looked hard and vaguely shiny, and resembled Swiss cheese. Their eyes glowed a faint green, their actual eyes barely visible due to the light source. Most had wings or a horn, very few without either. The one at the front dropped two pendants, and then the whole crowd lowered themselves to the ground.
“Are they… bowing?” Asked Grygoriy.
“Er, I guess. And what are these?”
“Look like necklaces. Maybe they think we are their gods or something?” He joked.
“Maybe.”
Zakhar had picked up the pendants and analysed one of them. The whole thing was gold and had a heavy weight to it. In the centre was a green gem of some kind, and written below was crudely written ‘Freedom’ and then a series of random numbers. “It has Russian Cyrillic on it”
“What does it say?”
“It just says ‘Freedom’ and then some numbers”
“Freedom? As in the faction?”
“Hey, yeah. What the hell is this all about?” He asked, rhetorically. He put the pendants over his head for safe keeping. “I wonder why they gave us these.”
“They allow us to communicate despite our large linguistic barrier.” Spoke the leading bug-horse, still bowing. It's wings buzzed slightly, and it generally seemed excited.
“Whatthefuck!?” Snapped Zakhar who stumbled backwards at the sudden voice.
“Ah, it wasn't that scary.” Spoke the Stalker.
“But i-it spoke! You don't seem too surprised!”
“Uh, no it didn't. It just buzzed a little. Maybe you hit your head harder than I thought…”
Zakhar was puzzled, until he reflected on what had just happened. “Wait, put this on.” He handed him one of the pendants.
“Is it gonna make me crazy like you?” He asked sarcastically.
“Maybe. Hopefully you will hear them too.” He waited for his comrade to put on the pendant. Once they both wore them, he spoke to the creature. “Can you say that again for my companion?”
“Certainly. They, the pendants, allow us to communicate flawlessly despite our linguistic barrier.”
“Woah. Didn't see that coming.” Grygoriy spoke, surprised.
“I told you it spoke! Now, why did you give us these? And why were you bowing?”
“You, strange creature, are a member of a great, powerful and merciful race. Our Queen, having lost a battle and being launched into the horizon, crashed and was severely wounded. She lay there for several hours before a bright flash blinded her. She spoke, begging for mercy as she feared her nemesis had come to finish her off. When she regained her vision, four of your kind stood before her. They were fascinated by her, and helped her recover. She owed her life to these strange visitors, but they left not long after she was able to walk. They left only a piece of impossibly smooth, torn parchment with strange scribbles on it. She tried to create a translation amulet, and this conversation proves it works.”
“Where are they now!? Are they the only ones? Where did they appear?” Asked the Russian frantically.
“Come, our queen is expecting you. I'm sure she will be able to answer your questions.” With that, the horse-bug began walking and the sea of them that filled the canyon parted to let the three pass. “She has dedicated a small part of the hive to investigate sightings and appearances of you and your kind, she could answer any questions you have.”
Zakhar suddenly flinched. “Did you just flick me?” He asked the Stalker.
“No. what's up?”
“I just felt.. Again! Something flicked my head! It felt wired though, like it was inside me.”
“What? Are you OK?”
“I'm a little warm… Ohhhh fuck this doesn't feel good. It like I'm pressured up… I think I'm gon-
FLASH
Grygoriy blinked. “Zakhar? Zakhar! What the fuck? Where did he go!?” He turned to face their guide. “What did you do with him!?”
“M-me? I d-didn't do anything!”
“He is telling the truth.” A new voice spoke, louder and more confident than it should be. It belonged to a taller bug-horse, including horn it came up to the stalkers nose.
“Oh yeah? Then where the fuck is my friend!?” He practically shouted, pulling his weapon up to aim it at the new arrival. He guessed that height somehow equated to authority in this world.
“He was taken by the combined efforts of the princesses. I can sense the aura of Celestia’s, Luna’s and Sparkle’s magic here. It still seeks you, but it cannot find you. How… peculiar.” It finished, sounding very interested.
“So, where do I find these ‘Princesses’ then?” He said, determination filling his voice. He couldn't lose his companion, no matter what.
“I admire your bravery, but marching in will do you no good. Their city is well fortified, even though your weapon’s technology far outclasses their own. Even with your magic suppression it would take only a single sword thrust to kill you.”
“Who says I'm gonna give them chance to do that?” He snapped challengingly.
The newcomer smiled, amused at the sheer bravery of this creature. “Never mind. I am Queen Chrysalis, leader of the changelings. And you are?
“Grygoriy, a humble stalker. If you will excuse me I have a city to invade.” He turned and began to walk off.
“Wouldn't you want some help?” The Queen asked, confident of his eventual answer.
“No. you can offer me nothing.” He said, dismissive of the ‘aid’.
“Are you sure? We have quite a collection of your species belongings.”
“You do?” He said, stopping to consider this offer.
“Oh yes. Ever since I discovered your kind I have been investigating any and all appearances. I can sense the forces that pull you between worlds. Most arrivals are in… gruesome conditions, dead or bordering death. You are the fifth, or sixth, arrival to this world that has arrived and not died instantly.”
The Stalker thought for a while. If she did have some things from earth – or more likely the zone – then it would be worth looking at. But at the same time he needed to rescue his friend. “All right, let's go take a look at your collection. I may need to borrow some stuff if it is actually from the Zone.”
“I'm sure we can come to some arrangement.” The Queen said, an excited grin on her face.
-
“Uhhh...” Zakhar did not feel good. He couldn't remember what had happened in the last few hours, and his whole body ached. It was as if he had fallen through another hundred anomalies. He kept his eyes closed and tried to return to unconsciousness. A neigh denied him of such bliss, the sound causing him to shoot up to his feet and grab his gun. Except he had none of his gear on him. Before him stood two multiponys, a white one whose horn slightly topped his own height by a few inches, and the dreaded mind invader who looked as sinister as ever, lacking all harm he had previously dealt.
“You fucking bastards! What do you want from me!?” He screamed at them, causing their horns to glow and the blue one shifted to a defensive stance. The white one neighed something at him, the meaning and purpose lost. He only feared the blue one and he took a boxing stance and faced it, ready to punch its face off. His hands began to glow gold and a familiar sensation of numbness and pain began to come from his hands. He screamed in anger and frustration, kicking the white one in its chest. The glow faded along with the sensation and he shook his hands a little before running towards a door between the horses. They stepped back in shock and let out a startled neigh. He was almost at the door when he collapsed, his whole body felt the numbness and pain now and a blue glow obscured his vision. He screamed in agony, then passed out from shock. His body was released from its psionic grip, and his vision turned to blackness.
-
“Jesus. How long have you been collecting this stuff?”
“Over the past year and a half I have gathered these items and brought them here. I would catalog them, but I know not their names nor their function.”
“What you have here is technically known as ‘A shitload of weapons’.” He grinned at the royal big-horse, who nodded with a smile.
“I have no problem with you taking anything you need, but on two conditions.”
“Name them.”
“You must not harm me or my subjects under any circumstances.”
“Guaranteed.”
“And secondly, your assault must be loud, but minimise deaths.”
“Hmm. That may be a bad combination of criteria. They will attempt to stop me, maybe kill me if I pose even non-lethal harm. I can't risk that. Why do you need such odd assurances anyway?”
“I plan to infiltrate their kingdom to feed on them. I can't have you killing my food sources, and I need a distraction to get my drones to intergrate properly.”
“Feed? You're a carnivore?” He asked, surprised. Sure, they had pointy fangs but he didn't expect horses to be meat-eaters.”
“Hah, not quite.” The Queen scoffed, looking a little greener. “We feed on their emotions, like love and happiness.”
“… I can't even be surprised at this world anymore.”
The Queen didn't understand and merely mumbled at him.
“how long will it take to reach this canterlot city then?”
“About a day. I suggest you gather required gear and rest. You can travel with my army as they move through the tunnel to canterlot. You will rest after nine hours for eight hours, then complete the journey. They set off tomorrow morning. I will wake you an hour before you are due to leave.” Chrysalis then left the room, leaving Grygoriy alone in the dim light.
“Fuck yeah!” He shouted, punching the air. All around him were hundreds of weapons, backpacks and clothes. He took off his helmet, and took in every item, determining his plan of attack. He started by replacing batteries and charging his UDP, it was near empty from the use over the last couple of days. He then pulled out two AKMs and stripped them both, assembling a new gun from the best of the parts. He would have to test it to be sure, but it should work. He grabbed the backpacks and searched through the contents, setting aside grenades, food, water, ammunition and some finer tools. He replaced his own gear with better quality or less worn items until he was sure he had the best possible pack. He then collected all the 7.62mm ammunition he could find, including the appropriate magazines. He found 139 bullets in good condition, an assortment of bullet types. He wasn't picky though, he needed what he could get. He also took a brick of explosives, likely C4, and the detonator. Checking it wasn't armed, he put it in his pack. He also put several F1 frags on his belt. He also removed his suit, now able to fully repair it thanks to the ample supplies. His years in the zone had allows him plenty of practice, and he could fully reinforce and cover up the damage and make it tougher than before. It took almost an hour to do the suit, but it was well with it in his opinion. Before he put it back on he grabbed a few Kevlar plates from the other suits and put them in the internal armour pockets. He usually avoided this as he didn't like the extra weight, but since he was going to be getting up close and personal he didn't think it such a bad idea. Satisfied, he reattached his helmet and laid down to sleep. He thought over his plan again and refined it in his head based on the reactions the ponies had to him, their combat abilities, as well as morale and durability. He smiled, it would be simple enough. Simple and effective, and would hopefully keep casualties to a minimum like the Queen had requested. His smile faded, thinking about Zakhar and the possible pain and fear he felt right now. He was a determined person though, and doubted anything too bad would happen to him. He was mostly worried about the ‘teleport’ that the princesses performed on him. He was unprotected from the effects of the Psi, and it could easily zombify him permanently. On these unsure thoughts he fell asleep, a frown still etched onto his face.
“Wake up, stalker. The squad will be moving out shortly. They will not wait for you.”
The Stalker mumbled and sat up. “Right, right, I'm moving.” He grabbed the gear he had laid out earlier and mock saluted the Queen. “Let's go” he said.
They walked down several dim corridors until they came to a large, rounded room where a group of 13 bug-horses stood around in conversation. They all had wings and horns, but lacked the height the queen and the blue alicorn had, only being a few feet high. On the opposite side of the room was a passage with no lighting.
“Attention!” Barked the Queen. “You are the finest infiltrators in the hive, hoof picked by me. While you have already been briefed, there has been a slight change of plan. To ensure the smoothest, undetectable integration I have made a deal with this creature, the Stalker. He will provide a distraction for you, once he is ready. He will tell you the details on the journey. Do not fail me.” She finished sharply. The crowd of changelings began to march off down the tunnel in a 3x4 grid with one at the front. The Stalker followed cautiously behind. The tunnel began to get a lot darker as they got further so the stalker pulled out his new wind up flashlight and lit the path ahead. The changelings turned their heads to look at the light source, blinking when it shined straight into their eyes.
“So, Stalker.” The leader of the group spoke. He didn't know if he was the leader but he was the tallest and only one who spoke to him. He didn't even know the gender, only that it sounded deeper than the Queen’s and thus assumed he was male.
“Yeah?”
“What are you?” He asked uncertainly.
“I am a human, survivor of the zone and the fifth or sixth person to enter this world and live.” He said dramatically.
The changeling paused, likely not knowing what a human is or where the zone is. “And why are you invading Canterlot?”
“To rescue my partner. He was kidnapped by their rulers.”
“Really?” He asked, interested. “Well, could you help us also?”
"I'm already helping you." The stalker remained silent for a moment. “What do you want me to do?”
“In the castle dungeons there are several changeling prisoners. If you could free them we would be extremely grateful.”
Grygoriy scoffed. “I don't want your gratitude. I will help you, but I need something in return.”
“What?”
“Information. I need to know where my friend is being held, where his gear is and how to get there quietly.”
“I can do that, but why do you need to get there quietly? You surely remember the queens deal?”
“Of course. But risk is still risk. I will be sneaking in, and then shooting my way out.”
“Hmm. Your plan makes sense.”
Grygoriy, of course, already knew that. He would have preferred to just sneak everywhere, but sadly the circumstances didn't allow for that. He didn't want to lose his only potential ally in this world. Especially one under possession of many materials they needed. They probably have the platinum needed to return home, but in his haste he had forgotten to ask. “How long would you need to get me the information?”
“When we get closer, I will be able to tell you. Through the use of our hivemind I can communicate directly with the captive changelings.”
"What the hell is a hivemind?"
"It's a communication method we possess from birth allowing us to communicate basic concepts or thought to each other."
“Ok. Why can't you tell me now then?”
“The canterlot dungeons have strong magic suppression. They know little about changelings, and cannot completely block all our abilities. We should be in range once we get to the city.”
"Great.” But internally he was disappointed. The lateness of the information would delay his rescue operation by a few hours at least, and he would need some sleep after the final 8 hour walk.
“So, this hivemind.”
“…Yes?”
“You can communicate with the queen now?”
“…Yes.”
“Ask her if she has platinum. Please.”
“…Ok. We have no platinum.”
“Fuck.”
-
The group had been walking for several hours through the tunnel, which had gradually gotten narrower and lower with roots dangling from the top. A little further and the tunnel became a lot wider and had baskets filled with metal water bottles on either side, obviously a rest point. The changelings drank the water and the stalker refilled the canteen he had been sipping from. They rested in silence for several minutes before continuing. They walked for another few hours before emerging out to a forested hill with a great view of a moonlit mountain range.
“So, that’s the city?” He said, pointing to the precariously placed city floating off the side of a really fucking huge mountain.
“Yes. And good news, I can communicate with the prisoners from here.”
“Really? Right, tell me everything about the layout, where Zakhar is, where the other changelings are, guard patrols and their threat level to me. In detail.”
“Right. Let’s get walking and I’ll tell you on the way.”
And so the changeling captain told the stalker everything he could. Grygoriy committed the information to memory, well-motivated to remember everything. There was a lot of missing info that he pressed for, but got no answers. Based on what info was given he formulated a plan, a backup plan and even a third, alternative plan. He tried to account for unexpected problems, false info and even if he had to face the ‘alicorns’. Most of the solutions involved a lot of shooting. By the time he was finished they had almost made it to the base of the mountain.
“Where do we go from here?” The Ukrainian asked.
“We will enter through their surface water drainage system. Behind the main waterfall is a large pipe system that all drains connect to. Lucky for us it’s not connected to the sewer system. We will climb up to it and walk through it until we reach our safe house. We will not be using magic at all until we are well within the city, they have a lot of perimeter detection spells so we will have to be cautious of any lookouts.”
They walked down the hill under the trees, reaching the river that was fed by the waterfall. Following the shore they came to the steep face of the mountain. The bug-horses didn't wait around and climbed up behind the waterfall. He was honestly impressed at how well they climbed considering they had seemingly smooth feet, or hooves. He followed them until they were in the centre of the waterfall. They then flew up to the large pipe that stuck out of the rock slightly. One changeling, the leader, turned and spoke to the leader.
"How will you get up?"
"Here." He said, passing it one end of a synthetic rope. "Fly this up and tie it to anything you can up there. Make sure it's not gonna come loose. Can you even tie knots with no fingers?"
The changeling rolled its eyes and took the rope telekinetically while flying up. Grygoriy groaned internally. Magic. The convenient solution for everything.
"Ok, it's tied." The bug horse shouted to him over the roar of the waterfall. Grygoriy began to climb the rope, slowly inching his way up. His equipments weight made it more difficult that the last time he had climbed, which was well before he ever came to the zone. Water from the pipe and waterfall splashed onto his visor, but being unable to free his hands he couldn't clear his view.
He reached the top and climbed over the damp lip of the pipe. It was dark, and so the stalker took his wind up flashlight out again and had a look around. The pipe was large, maybe two or three meters in diameter and was made up of large sections. It was angled upwards quite steep, and slowly curved around to the left. small amounts of water drained down the middle, making it slippy to climb, but by walking only on the dry areas either side of the stream he could walk up with ease.
He retrieved his rope which had been tied to a centeral indentation that was in both sides of each pipe section, likely access that would connect to street level drains. He then reattached the rope to the outside of his pack and followed the now single file column up the pipe.
It soon levelled off and occasional footsteps - hoofsteps - could be heard above. The pipes began to split into intersections that likely ran all over the city, handling all of its surface drainage. Suddenly the size of the pipe didn't seem so stupid. The changelings obviously had a destination in mind, and bee lined for it. They came to a manhole, or a ponyhole I guess, and took the lid off it. Orange sunlight filtered through, indicating it was early morning. The changelings flew up through it and Grygoriy was able to pass his pack and weapons up and then jump and grab the edge, then pull himself up.
He grabbed his gear and then looked around. It was some kind of junkyard or scrapyard judging by the amount of piled up crap that surrounded him. He followed the changelings to a run down building and entered, closing the door behind him. It was a single room with a candle on what looks like an office desk.
"What now?" He asked, as every changeling stared at him.
“We rest until tomorrow. Then at dusk you should approach the castle, as we discussed there will be less guards. As you approach we disperse in the city, and you will be alone at the castle."
Grygoriy grumbled. The plan he had was sketchy at best. He had survived the zone due to advanced knowledge on everything, and here he was relying on the word of an insect/horse hybrid for reliable information. Quite a drop in his standards, but a necessary one. But now, it was time to rest. Tomorrow he could curse himself and the situation he was in, after he had rescued Zakhar. He laid down in a corner and quickly went to sleep.
-
“Stalker. Get up.”
“Yeah, yeah, I'm moving...” Grygoriy grumbled. The Ukrainian stood up and grabbed his gear, swinging his pack onto his shoulders. He mentally double checked the plan he had made while eating an MRE. The changelings, apparently ready and waiting, stared at him as he ate. If he was less stressed he may have given it a second thought.
“Right.” He said, swallowing the last mouthful. “Lets go.”
He exited the abandoned house they had used to hide for the afternoon, coming out to a dim cobblestone alley. Faint yellow candlelight flickered into the alley, revealing enough detail to see where they were going. Grygoriy didn't want to waste his battery so early, and could see well enough without NVGs. He grabbed the AKM off his back, slid the bolt back and watched a perfectly good bullet tumble onto the ground, indicating the magazine was loaded and the gun was operational. He never did get a chance to test fire, but it certainly had bullets. Picking up the dropped cartridge, he inched forward and peeked around the corner of the alley. The street was deserted and the street lamps were all emitting that flickering yellow light, casting thick shadows between houses. Perfect to hide in.
He was initially worried that the changeling things were going to glow in the dark with their strange eyes, but as they entered shadows they faded to blackness. Even with his NVGs, he couldn't see them. He guessed it was a form of the psionic ability that plagued this world.
They slipped from shadow to shadow despite the lack of ponies, just to be safe. Once they were a dozen buildings or so from the castle they could see things flying overhead, presumably pony guards or police. The occasional citizen would also be strolling through the street, oblivious to their presence. Thanks to the amulet, he could hear conversations from passing houses, but they had little of interest to say. “Did you hear about the Everfree vampires?” and “I heard that the princess’s pupil is here with her friends.” seemed to be common conversations. But Grygoriy was focusing on moving undetected and cared little for the town gossip.
He had finally made it to the last street before the castle and he turned to face the changelings. But they had already departed. ‘So much for goodbye…’ he thought to himself. The changelings had provided information on the layouts of the building but they knew surprisingly little about patrols, considering their purpose. He took note of the guards, timing their routes. After about ten minutes of observation he was ready to move. They had a reliable two minute gap between patrols at this section of wall, and the gardens would conceal him greatly due to the large hedges and statues. He waited for the two ponies to walk off and then lightly ran across the cobblestone street making minimal sound. He then followed the grassy path between the hedge and the castle wall to the large gardens. There was much less lighting here and almost no guards so he could move around almost without hinderance. Eventually he came to the glass doors at the rear of the castle. A quick check of the handle revealed them to be unlocked, and upon further inspection there appeared to be no lock on the door at all. He could only hope that it would be this easy for the rest of the castle.
Slipping through the door his mood quickly changed to a more cautious one. There was little information on the interior of the castle and it was heavily populated and brightly lit. He wouldn’t have the remotest chance to blend in so now it was very much do or die. He took a left down the hallway as it appeared to lead into a much larger corridor. Poking his head around he saw it was empty save for a regular looking pony pushing a cleaning cart. It stopped outside a room, opened the door and then pushed the cart into it, following behind and closing the door shut. Grygoriy decided this would be a good chance to gather some vital information. He quickly closed the gap to the door and knocked on the door lightly three times.
“Squeaky? Is that finally you? You were supposed to help me clear this hall 15 minutes ago! Where have you been? And for Celestia’s sake come in here and help me!
Grygoriy slipped into the room and strode up behind the oblivious pony.
“You can start by cleaMFFFFFF!”
The pony was cut off by a large hand clamping her mouth shut. Grygoriy then forced the pony to turn around and it’s wide eyes became even wider. It fought hard against the hand but Grygoriy quickly spoke.
“Stop. If you make a sound louder than my voice, I will kill you. Understand?”
The pony tried to nod but was restricted by the appendage on her face.
“Good. I’m going to move my hand from you and ask you some questions. Let’s start with your name.” Grygoriy then released his grip on the equines mouth.
“A-amber Glow” the terrified pony whispered.
“Ok amber, I’m just a lost tourist. I need to know how to get to the dungeons.”
“Ok. Erm, you just walk o-out of this room and turn left down the corridor for a few yards and then turn right down the old stone staircase. Please don’t k-kill me…”
“No promises.”
Grygoriy then began to strangle the mare, covering her mouth and squeezing her throat. She kicked and struggled but was no match for the veteran stalker. She quickly went limp, and Grygoriy dropped her carefully onto the floor. With her unconscious he wouldn’t have to worry about her causing alarm for the next few minutes which was all he needed.
Grygoriy then slowly opened the door and peeked out, checking both directions of the hallway. After checking that it was empty, he stepped out and closed the door behind him. He then quietly jogged to the mentioned stone staircase and descended beneath the castle.
It got a lot darker due to the lack of windows and scarcely placed wall lighting, which would work to the Stalkers advantage. Ahead he could see a corridor with cells along both sides and an office at the far end of the corridor. He checked the lock to the door and saw there was no keyhole. Instead it had a bright pink-purple gem in place of a keyhole. Checking the rest of the nearby cells he saw they were mostly identical. He peered further down towards the office and saw that there were three guards, two playing some kind of board game, and the third cleaning a piece of metal armour. He knew that he would be spotted instantly if he walked further down, but due to the cells being indented into the wall, he could get a few cells closer. The first few had been empty but further down he saw that they had two occupants per cell, exclusively changelings. He stealthily moved to the nearest occupied cell and spoke to the inhabitants in a whisper.
“Hey”
The changelings looked at the Stalker, and then each other. The one on the left spoke.
“Are you the warrior? Sent by the Queen?”
“Eh, yeah I guess.”
“Great. Get us all out of here.”
“How do I get you out? And where is my comrade?”
“Your companion is in the cell closest to the guard station. On the left side. He hasn’t been conscious since he was put in there, but we can sense him."
Gregory cursed his luck. If he wasn’t awake that would ruin his escape.
“And to get us out you must overcome the magic of the lock.”
“I don’t do magic.” He stated, trying to think of another way to open the cells.
“No, but you negate it.”
Grygoriy processed this for a few seconds. Maybe if he put the Moonlight artefact close to the lock it would work? He pushed his belt towards the lock and shifted himself against it. The changelings stared at the stalker as he continued to grind his crotch on the door, until to their surprise, the lock clicked and fell to the floor with a clang. A loud clang.
“Hey! What’s going on over there!” A new voice shouted, presumably a guard.
“I’ll go check it out. Keep watch, alright. And for Luna’s sake stop playing that stupid board game.”
“Yeah, yeah, just go sort out Cell 16 ok?”
Then, footsteps – or rather, hoofsteps – sounded on the stone floor, gradually getting louder. Grygoriy pulled his machete out and prepared to face the foe. As soon as he saw the white fur of the pony creature he lunged at it, firmly grasped its neck and held the sharp knife to its throat. The two guards had meanwhile shot up and grabbed their own weapons, ready to fight.
“I’d suggest you put down your weapons…” Grygoriy spoke with a loud, confident voice. “Or your friend here is going to lose a lot of blood.” He said, carefully waving the blade.
“What do you want?!” One of the guards said, still holding their weapons.
“Drop your weapons.” He repeated, applying pressure to the pony’s throat. It struggled and moaned with the new pain, causing the other guards to hesitate. “You have three seconds to drop your weapons and open all the cells. One.”
The guard on the right dropped his weapon and walked to the wall, lightly touching his horn to a metal panel. Then, a chorus of clicks followed by clangs as the locks fell to the floor, allowing all of the changelings to exit. He counted 12 changelings, and Zakhar was nowhere to be seen.
“Alright bugs, tie up and gag the guards. Make sure they can’t wriggle out.” He spoke commandingly, releasing his captive to changeling custody. He then strode to the cell that his comrade was supposedly in. Sure enough, Zakhar was sleeping face down of the wall-mounted bed, his large body draping over the sides on the small object. He was also completely naked, but Grygoriy was a bit preoccupied. “Zakhar, get up.” The Russian didn’t move. Grygoriy kicked him and got a grunt for his effort. Again, this time Zakhar raised his head a little.
“Uhhg, fuck me…”
“You alright?”
“Fuuck no man, I’m practically dying here…”
“Well, suck it up. You can die later.”
“Yeah… Nice to see you too.”
“Where’s your stuff?”
Zakhar was about to respond but was interrupted by a very loud thump, vibrating the whole room and causing dust to fall from the stone ceiling. Then they felt lots of less powerful thumps, realising it was coming from below.
“Better question, what the fuck is that!?” Grygoriy exclaimed.
“You bucking idiots.”
Grygoriy turned to look at one of the tied up guards who had spat out his gag. “Someone gag this idiot before he loses his tongue.” He responded.
The guard continued to speak, unfazed by his threat. “You said open ALL the cells. So guess what just got released.”
“Uh.” Zakhar interrupted, standing up and tying a small bed sheet around his waist. “I’m pretty sure that my stuff was stored down there. And I really wanna leave with my equipment. And my fucking clothes.”
And just moments after he finished speaking some kind of loud air raid siren began wailing from above followed by a different alarm in the cell they were stood in.
“Well.” Grygoriy shouted, trying to be heard over the combined noises. “This is gonna get messy.”