S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Discordant Emissions

The Camp

As I crested the second of the two small hills between the gate and the newbie camp I felt the weight of something pony sized on my back, after bucking it off my back and spinning around ready to fire at the mutant, I came face to face with another pony rather than the mutant I was expecting.

“Oh you’re not dusk, I’m sorry if I startled you, I just thought you were somepony else, I wouldn’t have sat on your back otherwise” said the earth pony mare, who’s coat was a dark blue like the night sky over a well lit city and mane was a confusing tangle of curls, that reminded me of the logo of the old granny twists confectionary company, of a blue like a midday sky, her cutie mark also appeared to be a bass and treble clef. She spoke at a speed that nearly made whatever she said incomprehensible, “you must be new here, let me introduce myself, I’m Lightfoot or my friends also call me Silent Night, and because you’re new here you need to come back to the camp to join in on my daily ‘I survived another day in The Zone’ party I guess for now it will also have to double as your ‘First time in The Zone’ party, but I promise I will throw you a separate party for it at a later date.”

“Sorry to disappoint you Lightfoot but this isn’t my first time in The Zone” I said to her slightly shocked at the mare’s energy, and sure enough she did look slightly disappointed at this new information, until she smiled again.

“That’s alright, it’ll be a ‘Welcome back to The Zone’ party instead then, and if you don’t come to my party now then I don’t know what I’d do, it would be a very sad situation if someone rejected an invitation to a party in these troubled times.”

“You said it was at the camp right? The newbie camp?”

“Yes, I see you know of the camp then? That’s good! Less explaining for me and my fellow mentors to do” and before I could accept or decline her party invitation she bounced off to the left, where the newbie camp was located. I let out an exasperated sigh as I started to follow her path; it seemed like her over active energetic personality could have been a side effect of The Zone with how it left me drained of energy just to be near her for that short time, to me it just felt unnatural for a pony to contain that much energy.

Looking around as I entered the camp, I noticed that it hadn’t really changed since I was last here; the camp was ten old houses, five on each side of the central road. The houses had seen better days, and as such were quite run down now; they had all been blown open in various different places, riddled with bullets, and set aflame. The road lead down to a well and a bunker that had been made to withstand a very big explosion, which is why it is used as storage now, and where the trader is usually located, at least he was two years ago, but things change, the current trader might be a different pony and prefers to set up shop somewhere else in the camp. There seemed to be a few new stalkers here, they always seemed to stand out pretty easily, they were the ponies who didn’t seem ready for a mutant attack to come from anywhere at any time, although it could be forgiven as the newbie camp always has very experienced sentries and powerful detection enchantments all around it. I saw Lightfoot enter the last building on the right, which I remember as being a recreation room, a good location for a party, I just cantered down to follow her into the building. As I walked into the building I noticed that it wasn’t a rec room filled with couches and tables for card games, now it was a bar, they kept some of the old couches and tables but now the room was mostly taken up by the bar and the few stools that lined its length. In these stools I saw a couple other ponies and Lightfoot, and in the booths they had now set up there was just one of them occupied by a few stalkers playing poker, wagering both money and artefacts.

“New meat for The Zone?” I heard someone say, and while looking around I noticed the pony that Lightfoot had sat down next to was the only pony in the bar paying me any attention so I assumed it was this red earth pony stallion. He seemed to be quite large and muscular even for an earth pony, his cutie mark was a whistle; I wonder if he used to be a sports player or a professional weightlifter with his build.

“I’m not new to The Zone, I’m a returning customer” I replied walking over to him and taking the stool next to him.

“I figured, you don’t look like, or have the feel of a new guy, also those aren’t the sort of guns that you find when you first enter The Zone, that pistol is quite rare til you get in pretty deep, I like that I don’t have to teach you anything about The Zone, more time for me to sit in here and drink” he said, taking a swig of what I’d assume to be vodka as he finished talking.

“So, what’s your name then?” I asked the stallion while I ordered a bottle of vodka from the bartender, they were quite handy to have with you bottles of vodka, and somehow the alcohol had properties similar to anti-radiation drugs and was very useful in a pinch.

“The stalkers round here call me Coach, probably because of my role as a general teacher of The Zone around these parts, also I used to coach marathon runners before I came here, so I guess it fits pretty well. How about you? If you aren’t new then you should already have a stalker name.”

“Of course, mines Spectre.” As I mentioned my name Coach dropped his vodka and aimed his gun at me, while the bartender and stalkers in the booth seemed to duck for cover and seemed shocked, the only pony that it seemed my name didn’t have an effect on was Lightfoot who just sat and drank her vodka behind the red stallion.

“Why would you just walk into the camp like this Spectre, you should know that your murderous ways would end up in you being shot.” Coach said as he prepared to shoot me where I sat, but before he could a certain dark blue mare appeared in between us holding the stallion’s gun down and away from anypony.

“Oh silly, he’s not that Spectre, he’s a different Spectre, he just came from the gate where the guard let him in” cheerfully said the mare looking at the stallion; I now had a glimpse into how Lightfoot got her name as I hadn’t even noticed her move in between us, nor had I heard her. The stallion seemed to look at the mare for quite a while before he lowered his gun and turned away.

“I trust your judgement Night; you always seem to know a pony’s story before they tell you anything anyways. What were you doing being let in by the guard then? They don’t associate with us stalkers” I let out the breath that had been caught in my lungs when Coach had turned on me; thank Celestia for this hyperactive mare.

“I’ve been hired by the guard to collect information about The Zone, because over the past three months emissions have been able to kill ponies outside the perimeter, and as such it’s considerably problematic because an expanding zone is the last thing we would want. Anyways who’s this other Spectre then, there should only be one pony with each name” I asked the two ponies noting the looks of relief on the bartenders and other stalkers faces as they went back to their job and games respectively, I must of had the same look on my face after that.

“Nopony really knows who he is other than his story, that he came here originally to recover some stuff that he left here when he was evacuated from the area during the meltdown three years ago. When he got to his old house he apparently lost it and started to burn everything he could before trying to and failing to kill the stalker he took with him before he ran off into The Zone. The stalker said then after Spectre had ran off, his shooting had alerted a few mutants in the area who came to investigate and tore the place apart looking for him while he hid in the closet. Ever since Spectre has been running around killing anypony he finds, rumours are that about four months ago he took off for the center of The Zone.”

“Sounds like quite the dangerous pony” I said looking away, this Spectre knew me, it wasn’t an accident that he had taken my name on purpose; he also took my story and reason for entering The Zone. If what Coach said happened according to this mysterious stalker that was with Spectre, he had also destroyed what I had entered The Zone for, all except my photo. I took out my photo to look at it while I thought about whom this imposter could be and if his trek into the center of The Zone could be what’s causing the expanding emissions.

“I see, he took your name on purpose” said Lightfoot looking over my shoulder at my photo, “the stalker talked about how because of the mutants only half of one of the photos had survived the blaze, and he would have picked it up if he didn’t hear hoof steps coming towards the room so he fled thinking that Spectre was coming back to make sure he was dead. But if you have the photo then you would have to be the original Spectre, I’m sorry that you had to hear about why that’s all you have left of your reason to enter The Zone.” I looked back at her, she had seemed to have changed colour, she now looked like the darkest patch of the night sky, and her curly mane had seemed to have deflated a little. It seemed she really did know more about me than she really should.

“Who was she?” asked Coach also looking over at my photo, he also seemed saddened by the new information and short insight into my past.

“She was my wife, we lived here while I was working at the ENFPP, we were out having dinner for our sixth year anniversary when the call to evacuate came in, we didn’t have time to go back to our house and collect anything, so we had to leave all of our possessions, but at least we still had each other. Half a year after the evacuation and meltdown, we decided that we’d move to Ponyville, our dream location, after getting enough money working while staying at her sister’s house in Fillydelphia, but a week before we were planning on leaving, my wife fell ill, she died just one month later. The doctors said that the illness was brought on by magical and nuclear radiation and that it was too advanced to stop it. I took the job at the ENFPP out of greed because of the high pay, even though she said that we didn’t need to, that we could just find work in Ponyville and budget to get by, but I didn’t want that, by working at the ENFPP we could make enough to move to Ponyville and live peacefully. The result was that by taking that job, I had killed my wife; I came to The Zone to collect those pictures because she said it was her only regret that we couldn’t take them with us.” After I finished my story I looked back to the two stalkers, it seemed the stallion could barely hold back tears and the mare somehow looked even darker than before and her curls were nearly hanging straight down.

“I suppose you’ll probably go looking for Spectre, he seems to be the cause of the expanding emissions because he’s the only pony I’ve heard of that’s approached the center in recent times, and I’d assume you would want to kill him for burning your photos and at least find out why he took your name and such” said the red stallion finally able to recompose himself properly.

“I came to the same conclusion about the expansion, and yes I do want to know who he is and why he took my name, finding him will be my mission for now” I replied looking at the stallion who had stood up while I was talking.

“I’ll come with you, I want to see the pony who’s been killing all of my friends and students in The Zone” said Coach, doing a once over check of his gear to make sure he was ready for a long foray into The Zone. “I need to grab a few things before we leave though, I should be ready within the hour.”

“Thank you, the help is appreciated” I said softly back to the stallion before hearing somepony say something from behind me.

“Glomp” Said the voice and I felt the weight of a pony on my back again and when I looked over my shoulder I could see Lightfoot lying on my back hugging me, “Lightfoot?”

“I thought I told you my friends call me Silent Night or any various combination of it, and I’m not going to let this party be just for the two of you, I’m coming too” she had seemed to brighten up to her normal colours while she was talking.

“Thank you Night; I appreciate your help too. You two should make sure you have everything you need for a long trek through The Zone, it’s quite a walk to the center of The Zone” I said as I placed some bits on the bar to pay for the vodka but the bartender who was almost a blubbering mess on the floor pushed the bits back to me saying that the vodka was on the house.

Coach and Night had decided to go and get a couple of things before we left, so I decided it would be a good time to go test the detector, and possibly find an artefact or two. The stalkers in the bar pointed me to an anomalous area filled with burner anomalies, this far out on the edge of The Zone I’d only expect to find a fireball at most, and while it did provide thermal protection, the fact that it emitted radiation while in use made it useless to me until I got another artefact that draws radiation into itself like a bubble or similar. I found the area quite easily as the scorch marks around the anomalous field showed that there had either been some careless stalkers or mutants around, typically the mutants could avoid the anomalous fields quite easily, but it wasn’t impossible for them to walk into one. Taking a bolt out of the bag, along with the prototype detector, I looked at the display to see where it said the anomalies were. The icon they used for the anomalies were large enough to easily stand out, gauging where the closest one was according to the detector I threw the bolt to where it should set off the jet of flames that were known as burners in The Zone, and sure enough there was a burner where it said there would be. So it had proven that it can find anomalies, but can it find every anomaly in the field, to test it I walked through the field waving a bolt around with my magic to see if there were any hidden anomalies, when I took a quick look at the display I could see it displaying a small green dot about fifteen meters away slightly to the left of directly in front of me, I figured that must be the visual display for an artefact, picking the spot where it should be according to the detector, I walked towards it, still waving the bolt in front of me. When I reached the spot where the detector displayed the artefact I heard a small fizzle and the sound of something hitting the ground, looking down a Crystal had materialised, I put the low tier artefact in my saddlebag, it would fetch a small pile of bits, but they were practically useless, fireballs weren’t that much rarer, and had a greater effect with the only trade off being double the radiation. My search through the rest of the field yielded in no more artefacts, and seeming proof that the detector could find all the anomalies in the field, it was time to head back to the camp and see if Coach and Night were prepared to leave yet.

Not a minute after I got outside the anomalous field did I hear voices coming from the road that lead to the burners, I could also hear their hoof steps growing louder, not knowing who was coming I decided to hide off to the side in the bushes. Just seconds after I had settled into my hiding spot did I see the source of the voices, bandits, as characterised by their leather coats and balaclavas, a stalkers worst nightmare, as they often didn’t ask any questions before they open fire on anyone that isn’t one of them. Where stalkers preferred to help each other out of comradeship and respected the work that it takes to retrieve certain artefacts and such, bandits didn’t care how much trouble you went through to get something as long as you gave it to them if they asked, it was rare to see bandits searching anomalies for artefacts, they normally just waited for us stalkers to get them then either take it at gunpoint, or off our bodies after they had shot us. There was no honour in being a bandit in the zone, they were also considerably tribal, each bandit usually worked for someone above them up to the heads of the different groups or clans of bandits, but they were rarely hostile to each other, only if they wanted something the others didn’t want to give up. The lowest ponies under each leader usually would talk to the other bandits freely and as such were usually all together unless they were doing a job, but the higher ups stayed at the base unless they were on a big job, as it usually wasn’t them doing any of the hoofwork.

“Alright you two get a looking in there while I sit here and wait for you to bring me your findings” said the bandit at the head of the group, obviously he was the leader in this small group, the bandit then proceeded to do as he said and dropped to the ground looking the other way in case another group got the idea to check the field for artefacts.

“Yes boss” replied the two henchponies as they took out their basic detectors and spat the bolts in front of them to check for anomalies in their path. Seeing them having to take a bolt in their mouth and spit them out made me glad to be a unicorn, sure they could just tie a string to them and reuse them, but that method was quite useless in a burner.

“I think somepony has already been through here, boss” said one of the ponies in the field, pointing with his hoof at the still cooling puddle of metal that had been the bolt that I had used to test initially.

“Impossible, we would have seen them leave, and would have heard gunfire from the post down the road if they went the other way” said the bandit leader as he stood to stare fiercely at the bandit who found my bolt, until he saw the pool of metal, “they’re still here, go find them and bring them to me, I want whatever they found here” shouted the leader at the two bandits before peering around at the bushes looking for me.

I didn’t have much time, taking a quick look at my detectors display I noticed the two ponies in the field were in a narrow space between a couple of burners, if they turned to fire at me they’d each trigger one, the only problem was the leader who was looking directly at my bush, eyes closing as he strained to see me. I prepared myself for what should be a short firefight, checking my rifle was loaded and ready to be fired, I wouldn’t need to use any of my spells so I didn’t need to keep it in the mount, or summon my book, knowing that the leader would no doubt see the glow of my magic when I picked up my rifle, I just hoped that I’d be able to raise my gun and fire faster than him. The glow of my magic lit the bush

“There he is! In that bush with the white glow!” shouted the leader as he raised his gun at my bush before his skull was split and the shot that hit the base of his skull to create a feedback of magic resulting in a small explosion inside his skull, causing it to split into its separate fragments and for his head to collapse in on itself as a result, a truly gruesome sight for a unicorn to behold. I broke from my cover, needing to leave as quickly as possible before the other bandits at the post down the road came to investigate the shots. I galloped down the path towards the road back to the camp, I could hear pained screaming from behind me as the two bandits triggered the burners as I had predicted, maybe this detector was going to me more useful that I originally thought. As I rounded the corner onto the road I heard feint shouting coming from further down the road, the bandits had heard the shots and screaming and were hurrying to investigate, I didn’t have much time before they would be able to see me, but a small mound that would hide me from their view was approaching fast slightly to my left, I could take cover behind it and continue my gallop back to camp when the bandits went down the path to the burners.

I leapt over the mound and lay as flat as possible, when I didn’t hear gunfire following me I knew that they hadn’t seen me, allowing me to be able to look over and watch the small group of bandits run down the path, when the last one of the five was out of view I stood and turned to continue my gallop. Little did I know but a sentry that had stayed at the post just in case had seen me when I stood up, he raised his rifle, taking his time to calculate the range and speed I was moving at, then he fired.