Lifetime Quarantine

Chapters

Syuzhet prolog
Poyezdka na poyezde
Kristal'naya imperiya
Shkola
Kholodno
Obnazhennaya i napugannaya

Syuzhet prolog

In a land devoid of hope far away from Equestria, a crisis brews...

From the quiet sandy shores of Skalisty Island whose sole inhabitants is it’s lone castle ruins. To the far off northwest regions of the black rocked mountains and forested lands of the Grozovoy Pass. The South Zagoria district of the Republic of Chernarus and her people have witnessed countless horrible acts that have been committed upon it's ex-Soviet soil. In fact the whole country and it’s millions of inhabitants outside of the region have too had unspeakable atrocities committed against them in the past by their Russian soviet leaders. Yet at the same time they too have knowingly committed horrendous crimes against themselves and others. Said acts against nature were overlooked by the civilized world, because they had no idea it was happening to begin with, as most media was censored inside the Iron Curtain. Genocides, cultural cleansings, and humanitarian atrocities were forced upon the civilian population by the Chernarussian Government or rebel faction groups. All of this happened without any repercussions from their leaders in Moscow, or the members of the United Nations.

For sixty nine long terrible years a cavalcade of endless violence had marched it’s villainy from one end of Chernarus to the other. The destruction of the country had progressed so far in it’s later years, that these deplorable acts of war were now commonplace. It was no longer a surprise to hear about a protest turned riot in the nation's capital, which resulted in the injuring and deaths of dozens, maybe even hundreds. It was no longer a shock to people when they witnessed a car bombing outside a police station, or a fortified government building. And no longer did the citizenry bat an eye when their youth radicalized or signed up for the military to fight one another in their bloody brother wars. It had become the norm for so many innocent people living day by day leading up to the country's independence, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Of course the nation gaining its own autonomy from the motherland only changed one thing, and that is to whom the blame would be directed to if there was ever another crisis that happened on it’s newly liberated soil. The rump state that was implanted by the soviets during the cold war couldn’t be held responsible for the crimes they committed against its people, as they were only puppets to their soviet commanders back in Russia.

But now? With their newly elected parties in power, and not to mention their immediate possession of former Soviet military installations and stockpiles? They, and them alone would be the ones responsible for anything that happened within its borders, and the people knew this.

With this new modern age of change and revolution arriving in the war torn slavic state, came a very important component of the western world's 21st century. It wasn’t American hamburgers or Pepsi Cola that radically changed the country, it was the internet and all of it’s infinite possibilities. In the first couple years of the nation's independence, and after the government established and accepted trade routes from the west based on the demands of their people, and multimillion dollar companies, the country was connected to the world wide web. Thousands of home computers and cell phones came flooding into the country as new Chernarussian internet and cell phone service providers were born from the people's new desires. Companies like Spektr and Graz Telefon quickly tapped into this newly opened market and erected communication towers all across the nation so the people could connect with one another, and connect with the world abroad.

Quickly after the nation was updated with internet service, stories and reports came in and flooded the web, all written by civil war survivors, and ex-military personnel as they detailed their experiences living within, and serving in Chernarus. The whole nation, outside of the government and the current Chernarussian Defence Forces, had something to say about what happened to their lives whilst living in this literal hell on Earth. News articles, photographic proof, video documentation, and all sorts of coverage of their blight began to circulate around the globe. For the first time in forever, Billions of ears and eyes were pointed towards Chernarus. The world bared witness to the mass graves, the torture, the grevious occupation and destruction of civilian settlements for the sole purpose of warding off enemy attacks, fire bombings and the razing of homes, farms, and factories, that were all committed evil men devoid of morality. Both the government and the defunct militias were at fault. Of course, none were more hated than the Chernarussian Movement of the Red Star or the ChDKZ.

The “Chedaki,” as they were commonly referred to, were the ones behind most of the conflict in the country, specifically in the South Zagoria region. They had been around as a political movement since the collapse of the soviet union, but it was only in early 2009 did they really begin physical anti-Chernarussian acts, by openly plunging the country into civil war yet again. Of course to the people living within the small pocket nation, this was commonplace, they had always had to deal with civil wars popping with nobody out there knowing about their pain. Only now, they had an outlet. They finally had the opportunity to show the rest of the world what was happening inside their country.

And this outlet would not go underutilized.

What started out in the mid 1990’s as a group known as the Working Man's Defence Alliance, founded by Gregori Lopotev and several other members of the Solnichniy Quarry Corporation, had later manifested into something much greater. The Chedaki truly came into their own when in 1999 Lopotev organized a violent protest over working and pay conditions at one of their mines, which led to the death of three protesters. After this the WMDA was dissolved by the government, and Lopotev went into hiding for several years. This was the turning point for what would soon become the ChDKZ, which would be formed from the ashes of the WMDA with one clear goal: the re-integration of Chernarus with the Russian Federation.

On the 27th of July in 2009, almost a full decade after the incident at the Solnichniy Quarry, Gregori Lopotev made his first moves against the Chernarussian government and her defence forces after coming out of hiding. They quickly occupied the northern half of the South Zagoria region, which is bordered by Russia, and held territory that was strategically important to their cause. With seized military stockpiles they secured by defeating the local Chernarussian Defence Force garrisons, they quickly got their hands on plenty of tanks and APC’s, which allowed them to steamroll all the way to the southern coast of South Zagoria by late August.

Barely a month after the crisis began, ChDKZ-backed militiamen stormed the town hall in downtown Chernogorsk and captured the incumbent Prime Minister of Chernarus, Alexander Baranov. The ChDKZ issued a public statement demanding that the Russian government accept their requests to be re-integrated with the Russian Federation. Their request was denied however, and Baranov was personally executed by Lopotev in retaliation; afterwards declaring the country as the "Chernarussian Socialistic Republic'' instead. Of course, the rest of the country beyond the South Zagoria Region was now without a government, so mass hysteria ensued with the general population as the government-in-exile tried to maintain an iota of control.

This event was well documented online, and was shared with the world, who responded with cries of sympathy and furious anger at the ChDKZ. New articles and reports were run in major news networks across the globe, and a demand to do something from people and even governments surfaced almost immediately, especially in the United States. The United States of America had already been at war in the middle east for roughly six years at this point, following the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York, and the nation's capital. They were accustomed to dealing with insurgent, guerilla, and asymmetrical type warfare. So at the request of the Chernarussian government-in-exile, to the United Nations for help, the United States Marine Corps was deployed to the country to aid in quelling the insurgency, under the guise that it was a peacekeeping operation.

But make no mistake, the USMC was out here for blood.

The remnants of the Chernarussian Defence Forces, and the Marines from the 27th Marine Expeditionary Unit, launched multiple invasions all across the South Zagorian coast, retaking both the island of Utes and the regional capital Chernogorsk, forcing the ChDKZ to retreat into the mountains in the north of the region immediately after facing defeats on all fronts. During the Battle of Chernogorsk, Lopotev is captured by the USMC after being ambushed during their hasty evacuation attempt from the city. Before they could be brought back to government lines however, a Chernarussian Defence Force double agent working for the ChDKZ rescues their leader, and Lopotev is safely evacuated from the area before additional U.S. forces could arrive. Regrouping into the northern regions of the province, the ChDKZ slowly assembled a new force with (what the CDF/USMC were unaware of at the time) covert Russian support from a fanatical Spetsnaz operative known only as "Karelin". But even with Karelin's support, the ChDKZ were on the brink of defeat.

Their fortunes are suddenly reversed after Karelin detonates a bomb in the heart of the Russian capital Moscow. Codenamed as "Operation Cobalt", the bombing kills fifty three and injures more than two hundred people. The terrorist attack is blamed squarely on the National Party (NAPA), a group of anti-Russian guerillas who constantly engaged in bitter warfare against both government forces and the ChDKZ. Not much is known about NAPA, only that they were an underground movement formed in the wake of the civil war. Much to their luck, the Russian government forces the withdrawal of all American forces from the country, and also demands that Chernarussian Defence Force troops return to their pre-intervention lines back at Zelenogorsk. With both the Americans and government forces out of the way, the ChDKZ quickly retake their lost territories throughout the northern regions.

What they weren't aware of however, was that a small team of USMC Force Recon operatives were still in the country providing support to the Chernarussian Defence Forces and eventually, NAPA as well. Despite their recent gains thanks to the "ceasefire" arranged by the Russians, the ChDKZ were still being slowly beaten back by government forces. Eventually, a large-scale offensive is conducted by joint CDF/NAPA forces against the ChDKZ. Striking eastward from the base of operations in Zelenogorsk, allied forces struck all ChDKZ-held towns and slowly drove them back again. It didn't help that despite their intervention, Russian forces refused to mobilise against the CDF. And if things couldn't get any more difficult for the ChDKZ, Lopotev himself is captured by the Force Recon team after they discover his whereabouts on Skalisty island.

With Karelin dead, being killed by an elite Spetsnaz unit, and Lopotev gone, the once-seemingly unstoppable insurgent army had become leaderless in a single stroke. Because of this, their results on the battlefield showed. The Russian military is forced to withdraw after their intervention mandate is revoked, and the USMC is even authorised to redeploy into Chernarus following unanimous approval in the UN Security Council. Now forced into a defensive war, the ChDKZ retreated on all fronts back to their main base of operations in Msta. This didn't go unnoticed by allied forces, who eventually tracked down the location of the main base and launched one final attack on it. Despite throwing everything they had at allied forces, the ChDKZ were overrun and their only remaining headquarters in the region was destroyed within five hours.

Small cells throughout the northern countryside continued to remain defiant and resisted the government forces, but ultimately lacked the leadership or manpower to challenge the allied offensive. What was left of the ChDKZ would be wiped out, and cleaned up by the end of October 2009. The whole conflict lasted roughly two to three months, depending on who you ask, and in that time, the world had their eyes glued to their computer and television screens. The whole incident was painstakingly documented on major news networks and online for everyone to gawk at as attention was only briefly taken off the conflicts in the middle east. Some people say it was the most well documented war in the whole ex-Soviet bloc at the time. But with the civil war over, and the region slowly licking its wounds as the casualty counts started coming in, and people started returning to their homes, and their normal lives, did something much larger, and much more terrible than a three month long civil war arrive on the horizon.

And here is where our story takes place, one year after the conflict and in another universe far, far away from Earth. It takes place in the magical land of Equestria, where friendship is magic, and all is well. In this world there is no concept of war, or genocides, or mass graves, or anything outside cartoon violence. This utopia is populated not by humans, but by little ponies that wouldn’t even come up to a standard man's waistband, if he were to stand beside one. Within this magical land there are many different kinds of ponies. Earth ponies can run very fast and are super strong. Pegasi can fly incredibly high and at speeds that can break the sound barrier. And unicorns, that can bend the fabric of reality to their whim with arcane magic. They live together in harmony and only have to face danger once in a blue moon, which to them seems like a lot. But to anyone else viewing their world from the outside, would see this as nothing more than minor inconveniences. It is truly a paradise.

Our story will be following one of these ponies, a Unicorn in fact, whose name is Starlight Glimmer. This is the story of how Starlight Glimmer, came to fear the human race, possibly even hate. Not because of what they've done in the past, but because of the things they are capable of doing to one another.

Poyezdka na poyezde

Author's Note

See any errors? Let me know! I'll fix them right away. Leave a comment.

Be sure to enjoy!

Also! Join the Discord if you want!
-Connect with fans of the story.
-Talk to me and my editor.
-And stay updated on the story!

Hope to see you there!
Link:
https://discord.gg/UVMPWudzrz

Poyezdka na poyezde

Starlight Glimmer sat alone on a railcar seat. Here she listened to the clicky clack of the railroad tracks as the train she rode, travelled along the mainline to the Crystal Empire. She had been looking out the window at the passing forested landscape, not saying a word as she watched the countryside swiftly pass her by, with her mind deep in thought. Of course this was her choice, she had sat alone in this moderately crowded rail carriage on purpose, to keep her thoughts to herself as she traveled. This wasn’t like her normally, she had always liked travelling with friends and would jump at the opportunity to do so but, on this occasion she decided to go alone. There was no legitimate reason for her doing this of course, she wasn’t on a secret mission or something as dire as that. She could have even taken assistant headmaster Sunburst with her given the circumstances of the trip, but then who would run the school of friendship in their stead?

‘Certainly not Trixie,’ she thought, ‘the place would have been reduced to a complete wreck by the time they returned. This is something I cannot afford, even if Trixie has matured over these past couple decades.’ She smiled remembering all the good times they had spent together, and how insufferable she was when they first met. Luckily they had gotten past that together as friends.

So, Starlight decided with her best judgement in mind, to leave her fully capable partner in charge of things while she was in the Crystal Empire. She was heading to the empire of frozen north, to visit Princess Flurry Heart and personally overview the new land development for the empire's very own friendship school. Normally this responsibility would have been given to Princess Twilight Sparkle, as she was the one who elected to make the school of friendship in Ponyville those many full moons ago. Unfortunately, as she usually wass, she’d been overly busy those past couple weeks, and needed Starlight to cover for her knowing she could handle it. Of course, Starlight knew the princess could count on her, so she sprung into orderly action, and caught the next train north as fast as she could, barely leaving enough time for her to pack her bags. Luckily Sunburst helped her with that. Such a nice stallion.

Plus, it had been a while since Starlight had time to visit the Crystal Empire and see Flurry Heart. After Flurry Heart had taken over the royal burden of ruling the empire from her mother, she hadn't any time to come down and visit her friends, Starlight being one of them. Of course not for lack of trying. Things just happen to find a way of messing with a princesses free time, in one way or another. Starlight learned this from Twilight. Of course her ascension to the throne was only two, maybe three years ago, and since she took over the empire, there haven’t been many things to report. In fact, their choice to open a friendship school was actually one of Flurry Hearts first decrees as princess of the realm. This was so that ponies didn’t have to travel all the way to ponyville from the north to garner an education at the esteemed academy. Now they could just go to the local campus they intended to erect, and get their education there. This would save time, energy, and in the long term, hundreds of thousands of tax payer bits.

In fact it was such a good idea, what when Flurry first announced it when she took over the throne, it was met with grand jubilation from the crystal ponies, and ponies and creatures abroad. It was even said that if outsiders, not native to the Crystal Empire, wanted to attend the school and brave the perilous journey through the frozen north, they would be rewarded with a scholarship for going that extra mile to want to study friendship at a royal equestrian sponsored school. This fact alone would definitely draw creatures in from all over the world to the Crystal Empire, something that excited Flurry Heart, and Starlight both! This school's campus was supposed to be twice the size of the campus in ponyville, for no other purpose than to drive up interest in the locals, and potential students from across the globe.

Starlight smiled in her seat as she looked away from the window to the other ponies in the rail carriage. A great number of them were younger than her, of course she had been getting up there in age. She watched how they talked, laughed, and smiled away with one another. Starlight saw herself and her friends in these strangers, their mannerisms, and the way they talked reminded her of simpler times. She could only imagine how many of these young bright minds would influence the next generation of friendship seekers. How they would bring forth a new dawn of intellectuals and leaders in the field of making friends. Of course, she could only guess how many of the ponies here were actually interested in enrolling, but she hoped that there were many among her.

During her time as head mistress she had seen many classes trot through her and Sunbursts halls over the years, many different faces and personalities that she had come to know quite well held a special place in her heart. In fact there were too many to count, every new year brought more ponies and creatures to their hallowed classrooms, and every year she would see ponies graduate and head on to greener pastures. It was a bittersweet cycle, but she knew she was making the world a better place. Even if it meant, her social life took a bit of a dive in the process.

While it was a good feeling knowing that what she and her partner were doing was the right thing, it was even a greater feeling knowing that the same sort of enlightenment was coming to the Crystal Empire within the next couple years after the school was finally finished. Of course there was still much work to be done. Land still needed to be chartered, resources needed to be gathered, and funds needed to be secured. The project had really only really begun these past couple months, and progress was slow.

‘Politics will be politics,’ Starlight thought as she scowled at the back of the rail bench in front of her, before sighing in annoyance, ‘hopefully when I arrive I’ll be able to get things settled much faster and easier, with the help of Flurry Heart of course. There’s only so much I can do, afterall I don’t know these ponies, but I’m sure I can manage the best I can with the cards Flury has been dealt. I’ve had to deal with worse in the past after all. This’ll be a cake walk!’

Starlight was confident in her abilities, or at least she thought she was, and why shouldn’t she? She had been successfully running the School of Friendship for just about twenty years, if anypony could help Princess Flurry Heart it was her.

Though she really wished Sunburst could have joined her on this journey, at least then she would have been able to talk to somepony instead of sitting here with her thoughts, completely alone. Then again, was that necessarily a bad thing? Ponyville being home to the only friendship school ment that free time was a thing of the past. Sometimes a pony needs a break from everypony else. Sometimes it’s healthy for a pony to get out and see new things once and a while, without surrounding themselves with friends.

While she had wished she had been able to bring Sunburst along, she also believed this alone time was good for her.

‘I mean, when's the next time I’ll be able to go on a trip like this?’ Starlight pondered to herself, a hoof rubbing her chin, ‘I’m always so busy at the school, and after that I have other social obligations I need to fill. So maybe, this is just what I need. I don’t necessarily want to call it a vacation but, yeah I kinda do. While I wish Sunburst could have come I also sorta don't, for me of course not because of him. He’s such an amazing stallion, taking on the workload the way he did. Much like Trixie, he too has matured quite well these past two decades. Of course I’ll always remember him as that cute loveable dork I knew as a filly. I’ll be sure I grab him something while I’m up here, a souvenir perhaps! Maybe a snow globe? Nah that’s too cheesy… A scarf maybe! No no… that’s even more cheesy. Oh! How about a-,’

Starlights thoughts were cut off quickly when a conductor pony pushed open the door to the carriage with his hoof, and loudly announced to the passengers:

“Next stop! Grand Crystal Station! All departing for Grand Crystal Station, be sure to take your personal belongings with you! I repeat, next stop is Grand Crystal Station!” Starlight smiled with excitement as she looked out the window again, they had arrived earlier than expected.

In the rapidly approaching distance were the gleaming city lights of the Crystal Empire. She watched the north lights dance across the midnight sky as the buildings themselves shone galiantly beneath the starry sky. The city looked as if it was glowing with a golden hue, like golden bits would shine in a pirates treasure chest. Only a few times in her past had Starlight visited the Crystal Empire, most of those times were spent keeping the empire itself from being taken by the evil powers that be. But even then, through all the madness, darkness and stress, she never forgot how absolutely beautiful the city was, whether it was in the daytime, or the night.

Turning away from the window she used her levitation magic to pull over her saddle bags. She quickly opened their flaps to check the contents of the bags. She looked over the books, scrolls, and feather pens that she had brought with her, before she quickly reorganized them just to make sure everything was indeed there. She knew she was prepared without a shadow of a doubt. While she wasn’t meant to see the ponies that were involved with the construction project until tomorrow, she was so confident in fact that she could face them right here, right now, and still deliver a slam dunk of a grand argument for continuing the construction, to get the school built ahead of schedule.

“I can't wait to Flurry Heart.” Starlight whispered to herself giddily, as she stood up from her seat.

Kristal'naya imperiya

Author's Note

See any errors? Let me know! I'll fix them right away. Leave a comment.

Be sure to enjoy!

Also! Join the Discord if you want!
-Connect with fans of the story.
-Talk to me and my editor.
-And stay updated on the story!

Hope to see you there!
Link:
https://discord.gg/UVMPWudzrz

Kristal'naya imperiya

The sound of steel grinding against steel filled the air as the train Starlight had been riding came to a swift halt at the main station platform. The sound of rushing steam could be faintly heard coming from the locomotive ahead of them as ponies amassed by the doors. She shuffled with the crowd that was exiting the train, and hurriedly stepped off onto the massive concrete platform below her. Starlight looked around in wonderment, soon finding herself surrounded by beauty. The terminal was lit up in this late hour, like a hearth's warming tree. The enormous crystal walls which were supported by steel support beams towered over the platforms and railroad tracks. The massive building that now encompassed Starlight glistened idly as the light from the ceiling mounted fixtures shown down onto everything below. Starlight's eyes were flooded by the amazing sights and lights of the station, she had never seen this building before, and she figured it must have been built recently.

However she was cut off from this sightseeing. The sounds of crowded talking and hoof clops filled the air as passengers from other carriages disembarked on either side of her. Before she knew it, she was being forced to walk in a massive sea of crystal, and equestrian ponies. Starlight quickly felt completely overwhelmed, not only because of the size of the building, but because she was now drowning in ponies.

“Uh excuse me! Could I just move out of the way please?!” Starlight pleaded as she was shoved and bumped as they moved along the station platform. She tried to push her way out of it, to no avail. “Could I have some room please?!” She asked loudly again. Her cries went unanswered by the crowd.

This continued on for a few yards before Starlight became frustrated and fresh out of patience. She used her magic… and levitated herself up and over the jumbled mess of ponies, receiving some shocked looks from the ones that were right next to her in the crowd. She took a few deep breaths now free of the suffocation before letting out an exhausted groan. Starlight then lowered herself down, now free of the pony prison her eyes glaring at them as she watched them scurry along down the platform. Landing back on the concrete, she dusted herself down and straightened out her wool hickory colored heavy winter jacket, and caramel colored dress as her outfit had become quite ruffled from being in the mass of equines. Letting out one final huff of contemptment, she looked around again at the building, taking in the sights.

While the crowd directed themselves up a steel staircase, and headed up onto another level, Starlight slowly trotted along, her head in the sky as she watched the crystals dance and shine against one another. Though she never saw this building before, Starlight could tell that the place was a testament to Flurry Heart's love for crystalized beauty. She knew that Flurry Heart was the one that had this place built, or if it wasn’t her then it was Princess Cadance who had it built in her honor. It didn’t matter to Starlight at the moment, she was just happy the place was here. She was marvelling at it so much that she didn’t notice where she was going. Instead of heading towards the stairs like everypony else, she was headed towards the front of the train, towards the end of the platform.

Fortunately for her, she didn’t walk off the edge and land face down in the deep winter snow of the frozen north. Instead her attention was shattered when a massive blast of steam rocketed out of one of the steam engines valves as it sounded it’s whistle twice. The massive driving wheels of the locomotive suddenly jolted as the train lurched forward, the massive pistons wheezed and clanked loudly as the engine puffed. The train slowly pulled out of the station, gaining speed quickly as it did so. Starlight, not aware of her surroundings, was completely swallowed by steam, leaving her confused and blind for a moment. It didn’t burn or anything, but it was disorientating. She found herself quite turned around in the cloud, and by the time the engine had left, and the carriages behind it departed the platform, she was the other way around looking back into the station proper. Only this time, a new pony was standing in front of her.

Starlight shook her head and rubbed a hoof against her temple, she blinked a few times while regaining her bearings. Starlight then noticed a pair of pink legs in front of her, and she sensed a pair of eyes looking down at her. She looked up and found herself face to face with the mare she had come here to visit. Princess Flurry Heart smiled down at her, her long purple, pink, and sky blue hair banked to the side as her head tilted innocently.

“Getting turned around are we, Miss Glimmer?” Flurry Heart said in a joking manner. Starlights eyes and face lit up with glee. With an excited gasp, she immediately brought the princess into a hug, which she eagerly returned in full.

“Flurry Heart! It’s so great to see you again, it’s been forever!” Starlight squeed happily. This tone and attitude was mirrored by that of Flurry.

“I know right?! I feel like we haven’t seen each other since Twilight had you take over the school of friendship! Oh my gosh it’s so awesome to see you again!” She exclaimed with utter joy in her voice at having her close friend with her again.

“I know, I know! I thought I’d never have time to come up here again!” Starlight said as she pulled herself out of the hug, holding eye contact with her friend to really hammer home the fact that she was with her again. “Thank Celestia for fate, am I right?” Starlight laughed, and Flurry joined her.

“Yeah! Thank Celestia for fate, even if fate has a funny way of doing things. I wish we could have met under better circumstances.” Flurry said with vexation in her voice. Starlight patted her on the shoulder reassuringly.

“Oh believe me I know but, let’s not let that ruin the night right? I mean while this may be a business trip, that doesn’t mean we can’t catch up on old times!” Starlight beamed, and Flurry followed suit.

Flurry and Starlight, after exchanging pleasantries, made their way from the edge of the platform towards the staircase that led to the second story of the terminal. As they did this, they both talked about what they had been up to these past two decades. The last time they met and spent time with each other was the years after Twilight's accession to the Equestrian Throne, and before Starlight became the official head mistress of the school of friendship. By that time, Flurry Heart had grown up to be an early teenager, and Starlight was in her early thirties. Now both of them, twenty years older and no longer separated by work and being groomed for the crystal throne, had so much catching up to do. And so that was exactly what they planned on doing. As the two of them slowly walked through Grand Crystal Station, drawing eyes and attention from passersbys they would continue to talk, unabated as they laughed out loud at each other's stories.

The pair would soon be joined by Flurry Hearts personal guard ponies, who were standing up on the second platform above the tracks, waiting for them to come up there. The ponies in question were two massive muscle bound grey stallions with arctic colored manes, and piercing magenta colored eyes. They were decked out in currently issued empire guard armor that clanked with every step they took. The two massive stallions, who were much taller than Starlight, but still smaller than their princess, kept the common pony folk away from their leader, in a respectful but hurried manner.

Their uniforms were a sturdy set of silvery knight-like steel plated body armor, with the crest of the Crystal Empire on their chest. The whole armor set, including a helmet that matched the armor aesthetically, practically glowed in the light of the terminal, Starlight could see herself in the reflection off one of the stallion's shoulder pauldrons. They looked magnificent to Starlight, she marveled at their new age uniforms and their impressive stature, she felt safe just being near them. Starlight would have commented on the professionalism of the empire's guards, assuming they were all this intense, but Flurry was talking a mile a minute and she kept on filling her ears with her endless words. So she decided to let the alicorn ramble on as much as she liked, seeing how much she enjoyed being in her company.

Starlight was overjoyed to be with her long time friend again, even if their relationship was a bit strange to outsiders. When they first met, she was naught but a foal still having her diaper be changed by her mother, and when Twilight took the throne neither of them had gotten that much older. But in between the time of Twilight's ascension and when Starlight took over as assistant headmistress of the school of friendship with Sunburst, and Flurry was crowned the ruler of the Crystal Empire, they had gotten to know one another quite well. Starlight even tortured her and helped Princess Cadance and Shining Armor raise her when she spent a couple years up in the Empire, right before her own ascension to the Crystal Throne. Starlight missed those days, she looked back on them fondly. But now, as she walked alongside her much taller and much more mature friend, she realized how far she had come. Everything about her had changed so much, physically and personality wise. But even with that Alicorn blood in her, and her time as princess, she was still that same little filly she took care of all those many years ago. She didn’t see Flurry Heart as the youngest ruler in Equestria, she still saw her as a student of her tutorings during those beautiful spring, and cold fall months. Even if Flurry now towered over her.

“My gosh Flurry how you’ve grown up…” Starlight said when she saw Flurry Heart take a break from her exposition. Flurry’s attention was brought away from storytelling and down to Earth again. She blushed a hot pink as she giggled. She brought a hoof up and adjusted her crown before talking again.

“Yeah yeah I know, I mean look at me! Mom says I still have a few inches still left in me but I think if I grow any taller, I’m gonna need the doors of the castle elongated! I mean look at this horn!” Flurry Heart said excitedly, quickly swinging her head down to Starlight, who recoiled away slightly and into the side of one of the stallions. Though her bump felt forceful to her, the guard barely moved, if at all. Of course Starlight paid no mind to this, as she now stared up at what was admittedly a very long and impressive horn. It was definitely bigger than the last time she saw her.

“O-Oh! Wow yeah that, heh, that sure is bigger, you could do some serious damage with something like that Flurry.” Starlight said nervously, as she remembered the things Flurry Heart was capable of when she was a newborn. In almost stress disorder-like fashion, she shook the memories from her mind and smiled as she watched Flurry pick her head up.

“Don’t worry, I have my magic well under control now. No more accidental mishaps, we can’t afford them. Eh-hem, I mean wouldn’t normally let them happen of course, I’m just saying. Money is a hot topic right now as construction with the new school of friendship has come to a grinding halt. Thus, that’s why you are here.” Starlight nodded.

“Yes… I suppose we should start talking about that hmm? I mean, I really do enjoy your stories, honestly I do, but we can continue them later once this mess has been taken care of, alright?” Starlight suggested to her young Alicorn friend, of which she agreed. And so as the two of them exited out onto street level and into the cold winter air, boarding a carriage bound for the castle, they discussed what to do about the school.

And by the time they had reached the castle about a half an hour later, Starlight had a pretty good idea on what to do. She was still confident in her ability to fix the issues they had been presented with.

Shkola

Author's Note

See any errors? Let me know! I'll fix them right away. Leave a comment.

Be sure to enjoy!

Also! Join the Discord if you want!
-Connect with fans of the story.
-Talk to me and my editor.
-And stay updated on the story!

Hope to see you there!
Link:
https://discord.gg/UVMPWudzrz

Shkola

2 Days Later...

A tired, and unorderly dressed Starlight shuffled into the room she was staying in while visiting the Crystal Empire. The room in question was within the Crystal Castle itself, high above the city, and behind many locked doors, and castle guards. She was considered an honored guest here, and so the guest room she was given was the same one Princess Cadance and Shining Armor used to house royal dignitaries from other countries. The room was similar to the one she stayed in while visiting Canterlot a long time ago, when she flip flopped the princesses cutie marks. It was massive in size, and only just a bit overwhelming for Starlight, who liked things simple and orderly. The first night sleeping in the huge king sized bed, was one of awkwardness as she found it hard to rest in a bed this big, and one that wasn’t her’s. However tonight she would have no issue with this.

She had been negotiating with construction companies and banks for the past forty eight hours, and she was exhausted. The burden and complexities of what was once a simple construction project, had turned into something chaotic and mind numbingly confusing. Numbers, quotes, dates, times, contracts, and all sorts of information had been thrown at Starlight and it wasn’t over yet, but she wished it was. Starlight was able to handle herself at the beginning, quite confidently so. But as time went by, and the list of names she needed to know grew longer and longer, and the papers detailing the worth of supplies and other deadlines began to grow… She cursed herself for not bringing Sunburst. Of course she had Flurry Heart with her but she wasn’t a great substitute for Sunburst. There was little synergy between them, and while they were able to work together well enough, she found that Flurry had a real knack of getting distracted at the most critical of times. Because of this, Starlight found herself getting distracted too by having to reel in the princess while trying to do her job. Of course once reeled in, Flurry got herself back on track as fast as possible, and the issue wouldn't come back unless something shiny caught her attention or, a rather handsome looking stallion passed her by.

After all, she was still a young ruler...

But here in the bedroom, three times the necessary size for her, she felt relief. No more talking, no more writing things down, no more hurrying from place to place. Here she could take her time. Starlight's eyes were heavy and she blinked slowly, her hooves ached as she dragged herself across the tiled floor, and her head pounded like a drum. Using her magic she slipped out of her clothes sluggishly, not caring if her hair got messed up in the process. Starlight left the clothing she removed right where she took them off, something she’d never do normally. But she was feeling abnormal right now, and just wanted to be out of her clothes, and into bed. Which is the next place she went. Once again, her horn lit up and the covers levitated themselves up and away from her as she pulled herself up onto the mattress. It took her a minute to climb up over the side, but after much angered grumbling, she hopped in and fell flat on her face, flank high in the air as she slowly sunk into the bed.

Grumbling again incoherently, she flipped herself around and pulled the covers over herself, her hooves flopping down heavily as she reclined on the pillows. Only for Starlight to realize, she left her door open just a crack, and a tiny bit of orange golden light was seeping into the bedroom. She stared at this for a moment, wondering if she should get up and shut it. She blinked a few times as she debated with herself in her head. Quickly however she grew tired of this and simply laid back and fell asleep, completely forgetting she could have used her magic to close it instead.

And here Starlight would lay for the next couple hours. The bed was cool, the night was still, and the castle, shortly after her falling asleep, had a guard change and it too fell silent.

Everything was quiet.

This was of course until Starlight was woken up by something. Her eyes fluttered awake as she sleepily looked out into the darkness from across her pillow. In her rudely awoken state, she saw nothing through the moonlight that had seeped in through her closed window, except the room itself. She blinked a few times, as she turned over slightly from laying on her side, to leaning upright against one of her elbows. She looked around the room more properly now, still not seeing anything. Then, she heard a noise, a low, almost barely audible sound. She could have sworn she heard her door, her massive chamber door, gently creek a bit. However, she must have just been hearing things of course, as it looked as if the door had hardly moved. Her mind must still be playing tricks on her as she wound down from the day. Starlight yawned as she rolled her eyes, clearly she was just stressed out. So she leaned back down onto her pillow, and closed her eyes…

*Creeeek.*

This time she knew she heard something. Starlight wasted no time, she rolled from her bed, and onto her hooves, her horn lighting up quickly and brightly as she looked at the massive door, assuming she’d be catching somepony sneaking around in her room. But to her surprise, she saw nopony. She checked the ceiling, under her bed, behind the curtains, in the closet, basically everywhere a pony could be hiding, before she looked back towards the door.

“Hm… Must just be the wind coming in from somewhere.” Starlight said out loud to herself quietly. However, when she looked out the window at a diamond encrusted potted bowl with a plant in it hanging on the window sill… She didn’t see any wind. Her eyes narrowed cautiously, as she slowly looked back over to the door. Slowly Starlight approached it, her hooves echoing only slightly against the walls of her bedroom. Ever so carefully she peered out of the doors threshold and looked around the hall, enhancing her horns brightness so that the whole hallway from end to end was lit. She didn’t see anypony, she only saw a dark empty corridor, after hours, with it’s torches extinguished, and it’s guards gone. It was cold out here, and very amonous. The arches and the crystal walls casted shadows around her wish she watched carefully, her paranoia growing as she continued to edge herself further out into the empty hall.

“Hello? Anypony there?” Starlight whispered softly as she tried to at least give whoever was lurking around here some warning. Nopony responded. Then, a noise, this time the sound of wind came from her right. Starlight spun around readying herself for anything, only to feel the bitter cold embrace of winter's cool breath on her face. Starlight shivered only slightly as she felt the wind pass over her fur.

“Oh… It was just the wind, silly silly me…” She quietly whispered to herself as she gently trotted down the hall in search of the source of the wind. Starlight figured these gusts were being corralled into the castle through an open window, one that she was intent on shutting, before heading back to bed. Plus Starlight considered it would be rude not to close the window, especially now that she knew about it. Plus, it would help her get back to sleep. And so, down the halls she trotted, following this now constant flow of cold, bone chilling wind. A few minutes passed and soon Starlight felt that something was off. This wind was incredibly strong for it to be coming in through a window that was out of sight and this far away from her room, but this was the frozen north, and the winter months have been known to create strange weather anomalies. Afterall, pegasi up here can’t control the snow outside the borders of the empire, so it’s not unheard of for blizzards to get out of hand up here once and a while. Though, as she pressed on, there was something else that was bothering her.

The wind smelled funny, it smelled off in a way she couldn’t so easily explain. She only noticed this strange scent when she got a bit closer to the source. Noticing it, she stopped for a moment, and took a few deep breaths through her nose. The wind smelt of brass, and iron. This was confusing to her, and Starlight felt a bit uneasy as she continued to follow the wind again. What was causing this smell to be so prevalent in the wind? Her whole time here she hadn’t noticed anything in the air that could have come close to the smell of brass and iron, so why was it so strong now? Starlight came to the quick conclusion that something was wrong, so she picked up the pace a bit, still not finding an open window to shut.

Eventually, Starlight rounded a corner, and saw an open door to a room that she hadn’t seen open before. She slowed her gait to a trot again as she approached the room in question. Her head rounded the corner and peered into the room, only for her eyes to squint as she was blasted in the face by this foul smelling wind. She ducked back from the door, and shook her head. At first she was completely awake, getting out of bed only to go to shut the window so she could go back to sleep again, but now she was fully conscious.

“What in tartarus is happening?” Starlight spoke out loud again to herself as she once again braved the wind by looking around the corner of the door frame.

With her eyes barely able to open, she saw what was causing the wind to roar through the halls of the crystal castle… and it wasn’t a window. Looking into the room she saw that it was filled with artifacts and relics much older than her, that had been collected over the years by the Crystal Empire. These treasures were worth millions of bits, they were worth more than her and everypony else in this kingdom combined. So with this startling realization in mind, it became clear to her what room this was. It was the royal family vault, and there were no windows in the royal family vault. The chamber was filled wall to wall with books and scrolls and all sorts of intricate and sensitive knowledge, but no windows could be seen. Somepony like Twilight could have a field day in here, learning everything she could from this place. Unfortunately Starlight was not Twilight, and the only thing on her mind, besides going back to bed, was finding out what was causing this wind. And Starlight, much to her surprise, had found it. Forcing her way into the room, and out of the way of the wind, she walked her way across the floor to see the human mirror. The ornately decorated and framed portal that she had travelled through once or twice before was causing this massive upset of blustering wind. She stared at this for a moment, never having seen anything quite like this fenomena.

Starlight was hesitant, she didn’t know what to do but she knew she had to do something. She didn’t need there to be a magical world ending crisis right in the middle of their contract negotiations. She wouldn’t allow it.

But then, Starlight remembered her age, she wasn’t that young filly who went about saving the world all the time, she was getting up there in years. She remembered a while back looking in a mirror and seeing crows feet in the corner of her eyes, and grey hairs forming around the base of her scalp. She remembered how tired she was just by walking around all day and trying to keep up with the younger ponies in her legal group. She remembered how Starburst looked when she saw him last just before leaving Ponyville, his beard filling up most of his jaw, his hair turning from it’s vibrant… beautiful orange, to a now less colorful hue. And finally Starlight remembered the three decades of peace coming after Twilights inauguration. She didn’t need to go on friendship quests anymore, she didn’t half to put her life on the line for Equestria. All she needed to do was run the school of friendship, and maintain her friendships, that’s it! And she liked it!

But here… right now, as she stood there looking back on her age, as she watched this torrent of uncontrollable wind blast though the human portal, something sparked inside of her again. The tired eyes of a mare in her fifties looked at this impending doom, and saw it as a challenge, not as an inconvenience. It had been a while since somepony or something challenged her. Starlight realized that she had spent the past thirty years on easy street, because compared to what she used to do, this was nothing. Desk work couldn’t compare to the rush of defeating her enemies, learning new spells, travelling to new countries and meeting new creatures and ponies alike. She missed it! And it was only here did she realize how much she missed it.

And so, even despite not knowing what to do, Starlight still did something as her confidence soared about the raging wind. Her horn illuminated as she surrounded the portal with her essence. She squinted her eyes as she began to cast as man stabilization spells as she could muster, hoping one would work. One after another she tried as she slowly got closer to the portal, as her magical intensity slowly but surely increased. She wasn’t going to back down, not now, not ever. Her eyes narrowed as she put everything else in her mind out as she focused deeply on the portal, staring at the surface of the mirror. Even as the wind surged around her even harder, she didn’t give up. She held her ground, and got her horn closer as the magical energy she gave off got stronger and stronger.

But her aged body, not being in the game for basically thirty years, had other plans in mind. As her will grew stronger and her confidence held on, her body did not. She was quickly getting physically drained as she fought against the strong current of blood chilling wind. Soon she could feel her back legs giving out, as her knees began to wobble from the pressure. Starlight began to take massive deep breaths as she tried to stand up straight, trying to get her blood to flow, but one more hoof step forward brought her progress to halt. The moment her left hoof touched the floor, her back legs gave out, and she went crashing to the ground, her horn and her magic instantly failing, while a paid yelp exited her mouth as her chest went down hard.

Starlight's chin hit the ground hard as she stared up at the portal with waning eyes, her confidence turning to hatred quickly. She could feel the muscles in her legs burning as they felt extremely exertered, yet she refused to give up. Starlight, through her sheer force of will, forced her body to stand up straight again, her legs locking into place as she rose up from the ground, not so easily defeated. Starlight, standing now a few feet from the entrance to the portal, almost touching the base, had one more trick up her sleeve. If this couldn’t do it, then she’d concede and go get help but for now, she was sure in herself it would work. Wincing and grunting in pain, she activated her magic again, and took hold of the mirror once more. This time, activating a reversal spell that she hoped would stop the flow of wind, as the opposite of wind, is nothing at all! Or at least that’s what she thought.

As the spell took hold, and was properly cast, the wind did indeed die. The almost hurricane-type wind came to a stop, and the air went silent around her. Starlight looked around the room as she slowly stepped in front of the mirror, seeing that the wind had stopped. She scanned her eyes at the frame of the glass, and saw herself, but nothing else. In this reflection, Starlight smiled smugly and gave out a single confident laugh, while bringing her hoof up close to her lips as she blew on them, signaling a job well done.

Then… The reflection faded, much to Starlight's horror. She looked at it horrified as the smugness drained from her face. She stepped back from the mirror as the light disappeared from the surface of the glass. Soon the mirror was replaced with what looked like a deep dark hole somewhere, as the wind started back up again, only this time, it wasn’t blowing in her face, it was behind her. She turned around quickly to see what it was, before she realized, this was no wind, this was a suction. The mirror went from blowing out wind, to sucking in wind, sucking other things in, sucking Starlight in.

Starlight suddenly felt light on her hooves as she felt the wind intensify around her greatly. Panicked, she activated the reversal spell again, in an attempt to try and stop herself from being forced through the portal. But the moment she tried, she heard a voice behind her, breaking her concentration.

“Starlight! What are you doing!?” She turned around to see Flurry Heart there, aghast with a selection of guards ponies with her. Starlight craned her neck and answered as quickly as she could.

“There’s no time to explain! The portal to the human world is crashing! I need… your-” Was all she was able to get out before Starlight was lifted up off the ground, and was sucked into the portal, the last thing she saw before she saw complete and utter darkness, was Princess Flurry Heart, looking at her in horror.

Kholodno

Author's Note

See any errors? Let me know! I'll fix them right away. Leave a comment.

Be sure to enjoy!

Also! Join the Discord if you want!
-Connect with fans of the story.
-Talk to me and my editor.
-And stay updated on the story!

Hope to see you there!
Link:
https://discord.gg/UVMPWudzrz

Kholodno

The first thing Starlight felt when she came too was the wind. In fact the freezing sub temperature gusts that blew hard and fast around her body was the only thing that Starlight could feel at the moment. It was bone chilling and panic set in as she felt as if her body was turning to ice as seconds passed by. She curled into a ball trying to conserve her warmth as best she could, however her frame shook and shuddered in protest. While starlight shivered she felt as if all the fur had been physically ripped off her body, and the pale skin she had beneath was being subjected directly to this ungodly torrent of wind. It was a sensation she had never felt before.

The next thing she felt was a soreness in her face. Starlight's eyelids had begun to ache as she had tightly pinched her eyes closed. Starlight did this on purpose as she thought her eyeballs would freeze the moment she opened them up. A side effect of this is she had no clue where she was at the moment, and this scared her. As far as she knew, she was stuck in the mirror in some magical mishap, something that she could fix or break out of with enough magical energy. Starlight figured this was the worst case scenario, and that she would be out of here in no time. Her confidence helped keep her warm. However, the cold and the wind was proving to be a bigger foe than she was used to. She couldn’t move, she could barely breathe, she was freezing up completely. Panicking, she tried even harder to keep herself warm, by coiling up harder. But, curling up tighter in the darkness with this wind blasting over her, she could feel a hard frozen earth beneath her, that had grass growing from it that was stiff like toothpicks that jabed painfully into her skin.

This wasn’t an empty void like she had anticipated, she had been taken somewhere, somewhere frozen over and merciless.

Starlight's ears began to burn as the sound of the wind began to deafen her. Worryingly she could feel her blood flowing slower now, she was freezing, quite possibly to death as her energy was sapped from her. She knew she needed to move but she couldn’t muster the strength to do anything. Well, maybe not anything at all. With her vigor waning and her consciousness fading she was able to pry open her eyes. Assuming all she would see is darkness, Starlight was surprised when she saw a landscape before her, it was fuzzy and unfocused, but she could tell she wasn’t in the Crystal Empire anymore. She could vaguely see that she was surrounded by fields and forests, none of which looked familiar. This was something that scared her in her clouding mind.

Using the last bit of strength she had left, Starlight forced herself up off the frozen dirt with her forehooves. She opened her eyes up a bit wider to see more around her while trying to blink away the fuzz she was suffering from. Her head slowly paned around and she beheld the landscape before her. The sky was covered with dark grey clouds that moved fast across the landscape, barely letting any of the setting sun light through. The fields and forests, which she already saw were intermittently broken up by farm houses and small towns, all of which she didn’t recognize. In fact, they didn’t look like pony villages at all, they looked barren and devoid of life. In fact the whole world before her looked drab and grey, as if all life and color had been drained from it. However it was what she saw next that really threw her for a loop. Trying to force herself up onto her hooves to move out of the wind, she was met with even harder resistance as her body's strength failed completely and she fell back down again. Looking at her hooves, she saw why.

There were no hooves.

Instead, she saw things that she had only seen on her body once, maybe twice before. The human appendages that Sunset Shimmer and Twilight called hands. She stared at these alien flesh claws and her blood ran even colder.

She was in the human world, but this wasn’t Canterlot High, this was someplace else that she didn’t recognize. Letting out an exhausted exhale, while her hands flopped to the ground she blinked as the fuzziness returned. She was trapped in the human world, and she was going to freeze here. She tried to force herself up again to try and make it to one of those farm houses she saw, but her body's strength once again failed as the fuzziness in her eyes got worse. She was beginning to black out as she could hear her own breathing in her eyes. She listened as her lungs drew smaller and smaller breaths as the light faded around her. This was it. She was dying, and she couldn’t do anything about it, she was too weak.

However in her blinking moments as her body began to freeze completely, her heart slowly counting down her final moments here in this foreign land, Starlight could have sworn she saw somepony running towards her. In her final moments of lapsing consciousness, this mystery person had arrived beside her and had knelt down. She could feel her body be effortlessly lifted up off the frozen ground, and then bounced against this person's own as this stranger carried her away to a fate unknown. Starlight made a valiant effort to open her eyes again to see who this mysterious person was, but she just didn’t have the strength in her anymore.

Perhaps her age was truly getting to her she thought, as Starlight felt the last remaining bit of confidence slip away from her. Her struggle was valiant, but the magic she had expended trying to close the mirror portal was simply too much for her aged body, and it had drained her completely dry, leaving her weak. The last thought she had before she truly fell away from herself into the darkness, was her wishing she had just stayed in bed, letting somepony else deal with the portal in the morning. Why did she feel so compelled to investigate? Why couldn’t she just leave it alone and stay in her lane like she had been doing for the past twenty years? She was in fact not an adventurer anymore. Damn her inability to seek out trouble and challenges, Starlight cursed to herself as her mind went out swinging.

Then darkness again… Things went quiet, no more wind, no more movement. Nothing.

Obnazhennaya i napugannaya

Author's Note

See any errors? Let me know! I'll fix them right away. Leave a comment.

Be sure to enjoy!

Also! Join the Discord if you want!
-Connect with fans of the story.
-Talk to me and my editor.
-And stay updated on the story!

Hope to see you there!
Link:
https://discord.gg/UVMPWudzrz

Obnazhennaya i napugannaya

Starlight’s eyes opened up weakly as her consciousness returned. There was a ringing in her ear that caused her to wince and grunt. She turned her head about trying to get it to stop, but to no avail it persisted. She went to cradle her head, but quickly found her arm unable to move. Blinking a few more times she looked at her arms, now gaining her vision back properly, only to find both of them suspended above her head. Her wrists were bound together by cold metal rings on a chain. The chain was interlocked with a metal bed frame, a bed frame that supported a mattress that she had been laid on. The metal on metal clanged and jingled against each other as she frantically tried to break either the cuffs, or the frame in order to gain freedom, as panic now set in. She wasn’t even sure where she was, it was dark now and there was no light, but she could tell by the lack of echo and contained sounds she was making, that she was in a room.

“Ladno, ty zhiv. Zdes' ya podumal, chto budu vyglyadet' glupo, spasaya trup.” Starlight suddenly curled up into herself as she let out a muffled gasp, now finding out her mouth too had been gagged. She looked at where the voice had come from, it sounded quiet and deep like the left end of a piano key being struck. In the darkness, after her eyes had adjusted, Starlight saw a broad bulky figure sitting in what she could only assume was the corner of the room. She could only see the upper half of its body but she knew that whatever this thing was, it was big, much bigger than her. More panic began to set in as she tried to scream and cry out for help as this creature did not bode well for her. And the worst part about it, was she didn’t understand what it was saying!

“Rasslablyat'sya. Ne borites' naruchnikami, vy tol'ko ustanete.” Starlight heard the voice again, it sounded male, a very large foreboding male in fact. Starlight coiled her legs close to her and sunk her head into her shoulders. She still had no clue what this man or man thing was saying to her, so she just stared at it with terrified eyes. She wanted to be anywhere but here, she felt so exposed to this thing, and it was probably this creature who tied her here and gagged her to begin with, what did it want with her. Starlight saw the creature turn it’s head to the side. It looked at her as if it was confused.

“Vy ne mozhete menya ponyat', ne tak li?” The creature spoke as if it was a question. It then turned its head back and sat there, as if waiting for her to respond. Starlight wasn’t sure how to respond, so she just stared at the creature and shook her head in protest and out of fear for her life. The creature seeing this nodded back.

“Maybe I, use English instead?” Starlight's ears and head quickly perked up as she suddenly understood this person, albeit it still had a thick accent. This seemed to garner the right response for the figure, for he spoke again. “Ah, so you are foreigner? This complicate things. How strange…” The figure then grew bigger before her, blocking out the windows behind him that she saw his figure in front of. The massive black shadow rose up from where it was sitting, and stood there for a second. She watched it’s head turn to the side, appearing to listen for something in the darkness, looking out the windows behind and beside it. Starlight, still scared of this person's intent, listened too, she tried to hear what it was hearing. However, all she heard was the sound of gentle gusts of wind, muffled cricket chirping, and her own breathing. The figure must have heard the same thing, as it turned back towards her and approached. It looked like it had grabbed something next to it with an arm, something wooden that scraped the floor beneath it briefly before it left the ground completely. Starlight assumed this was the chair it was sitting on. As it got closer to her it spoke again, it made heavy foot falls, it’s legs thumping hard on the floor of the room.

“What I say before is, I’m glad you are alive, as I would look silly, rescuing a corpse.” The chair the person had carried with him, landed firmly beside the bed she lay upon. Knowing that this man was about to sit beside her, Starlight pulled herself away as best she could to keep this massive brute away from her body. But as the chair creaked as the man sat down, instead of reaching out towards her, he spoke again.

“You are lucky to be alive. I find you, in wheat field north of here. Naked.” The word naked resonated with Starlight. This beast of a man has seen her naked, the utter and utmost indignity she had ever felt in her whole life! The fact that she was exposed to this man, and he had touched her, carried her, made her want to scream. But she couldn’t. Normally back in Equestria this usually isn’t that big a deal as most ponies don’t wear anything to begin with. But there she had fur, here she had none of that! Just exposed skin!

However, looking down as her eyes adjusted, she found herself in clothing that she didn’t recognize. She wasn’t naked… Looking back up that the man she listened to what he had to say.

“I pick you up, take you back into village, give you change of clothing, and put heater pads into your pockets, hoping that you would warm up. Also hoping that you are not dead. Was tense there for a little while. But feeling your pulse come back stronger I figure you would wake eventually. So I go and sit in corner, over there, and wait for you.” The man before her spoke with honesty, Starlight could tell this. With twenty years in the teaching profession she could tell a truth and a lie apart after dealing with many students who try and pull fast one’s on her all the time. She may be older, but she was much wiser. In fact she was so confident in her abilities, she didn’t even need to see this man's face to know he was telling her the truth.

“While sitting in corner I try and figure out how you end up in wheat field, naked, freezing to death.” The chair creeks slightly as the man leans back in it, a pause as he turns his head to look out the window again comes, before he continues talking in this hushed voice. “First I think you are survivor of plane crash. Y’know, aircraft stray into South Zagorian air space, get shot down by surface to air missile, crash into forest, and you wander from wreckage badly wounded and end up passing out in field. Then I think no, if was plane was shot down then, where is plane crash? Right? I saw no smoke trail, no explosion overhead, surely I would have seen something, Da?” Starlight cautiously shakes her head yes, not entirely understanding what he was talking about.

“Plus you would have cuts and bruises on you from impact and, I saw none. It would also still not explain your naked… ness… So I think again, maybe you… Victim of the Bandity-toporiki the Bandity from the cities. Maybe they, find you outside your apartment and, hold you up at gunpoint. Maybe they steal your stuff and, tear off your clothes for… y’know… to have their way with you, uuuh… rape. Then once you done satisfying their animalish, piggish desires they render you unconscious, dump you in field and leave you for dead.” Starlight was shocked and completely aghast at what this man was saying. How could this person be speaking of such terrible things like this with practically no filter or censor to her. It was… jarring to say the least.

“Then I think a bit and say no, it can’t be, Topori don’t come out this far, y’know in land and I could not smell any of their, influence on you.” The man leans forward again with another couple creaks from the chair. “Then finally I think that maybe it is Chernarussian Soldats coming from north western airfield or the towns around it. Like to ambush people who walk alone and hold them at gunpoint. Take what they want and kill people who try to stop them. Brutes you see. This was most likely case for you being left in field naked, and freezing.” The man then rubs his hands together and sighs in a defeated manner.

“But, you are not a native Chernarussian. No speak Russian. You are foreigner, a tourist delight. Which while, confuses me greatly, in end it not matter. What do matter is that you are in very much danger.” He sat back up straight and looked at Starlight, who of which had actually relaxed on the bed once he had explained the alternative circumstances to what she could have been in, compared to right now.

“I will assume that, you have no clue what is happening to you, yes? I mean you show up naked out of nowhere, you can’t speak Russian so you are most likely not from here, so chances you of knowing what happening here is low. Am I correct?” The man asked her as he leaned in slightly. Starlight thought about what he said, judging on if he was actually about to help her or not. Reluctantly she nodded.

“Yes, that… that is what I was afraid of. So, I will make this brief as we are probably running out of time as we speak.” Starlight paid attention as best she could. “You are in the town of Pustoshka, a town just outside of Gil'diya vyzhivshikh, or Gilda territory. Is my town, is my home, I lived here with family, up until the outbreak. Now I live here alone. Pustoshka is a far eastern town in South Zagorian District, of Republic of Chernarus. Home to uh… three million, eight hundred thousand people, of course that number is much lower as of year ago.” The man spoke with a defeated tone in his voice, Starlight could tell he was grimacing. “See, South Zagorian district is dying, virus outbreak kill many people very fast. Local government not able to contain lawlessness in region call for national guard. Once troops show up, they find area infested with, zombies, the… walking dead. Situation is effectively hopeless and food is running out, fast.” The man then suddenly let out a dry chuckle, something that caught Starlight off guard. “Ah yes, you are lucky woman, the luckiest lucky woman in the world.” The man exhales sharply and leans back into his chair again, Starlight still unable to say anything.

“Look, I want apologize for gagging and binding you. I am not like Topori Bandity, I will not indulge myself upon you or anyone, like they would. I have much self respect for me and others. While some may say that will get me killed,” The man thumped his hand against his chest, or at least that’s what Starlight thought he did, “I still live, so I stick to my guns. Reason I do this is to keep you from screaming… or running back outside before I speak to you. Because out there, are beasts, zombies. They will tear you limb, from limb. If not that you might get lost in dark, freeze to death before I find you again. This would hurt.” The man stood up from his chair as his presence now loomed over Starlight. She wanted to move, run away from this stranger yet, while his face and his body have been cloaked in shadow, she could feel he was… kind.

Starlight felt his hands rub against the sides of her face. He was ice cold, which made her jump. He spoke as his finger wrapped around the rag that was gagging her.

“If I take rag from your mouth, you promise not to scream? The man whispered to her, as his face and her own had now gotten much closer, she could feel his hot breath against her hair. She nodded almost instantly, wanting the rag away from her as fast as possible. But before he did anything to her. he spoke again.

“I hope so, because if you scream… I will not hesitate to kill you,” Starlights blood ran cold again, “There are those things outside, they hear you scream, they will come running. They will knock down that door, and smash through windows to get to you and I. They will tear us apart, limb by limb, with no remorse. So, if you scream, I will kill you to save myself, you must understand this. I don’t want to kill you, but I will if I must.” Starlight, frozen up for a moment at the bluntness of this man's words, nodded again, this time slowly.

Feeling her head move beneath his hands the man tugged at her rag, and untied it from her mouth. Starlight felt a bit relieved as the man pulled the cloth from her lips. Starlight took in and exhaled many deep breaths before doing anything else as breathing through her nose was becoming quite restrictive. As her chest fell still again, she spoke the only words she could muster at the moment, given everything that had happened to her or could have happened, and taking in everything he had said to her and told her.

“Th-... thank you. You really saved me, I’m sure I would have frozen to death out there if you hadn’t come along. Given the circumstances and the problems that you faced, I think you acted accordingly to the problems you were faced with. While I may not be happy with you, gagging and binding me, I understand why you did it.” Starlight, ever the more level headed and smart thinker of the bunch was able to reason with her friendly captor, seeing him as the best out of a very dire situation.

“Wow, you really are a foreigner. Uh- Yes. You are welcome. Glad you were actually able to survive frigid cold. Not many people do that.” The man said in return. “I think people the many people who die of cold, are as many people who die of gunshot wounds or zombies. It is, what you might say a, re-... reeeality check yes? Yes.” Starlight cuts in.

“So, Zombies they… Are real?” The man nodded his head.

“Yes. They are real. It was surprise to all of us, but when dead start to walk and eat people. You believe quickly.” The man said sadly. Starlight was at a loss of words.

The mirror had truly sent her to a place unlike anything she had imagined. This place wasn’t like Equestria at all, or the human world she had come to know about and visit in the past. This place was a nightmare, and she had only been here for a couple hours. In those couple hours however, Starlight had already succumbed to the fact that she had zero confidence left in her at this point, if anything she was at the mercy of whoever this man was. Speaking of which, who was this man?

“Uh- W-Who are you?” Starlight nervously asked, looking over at him. In the darkness of the night, the man responded bluntly.

“Alexi. My name is Alexi Konstantinovich Popov, son of Konstantin Popov. You?” The name rolled off his whispering tongue and into Starlight's ears like steam off a hot bath. It was such a long and exotic sounding name. Starlight liked the way it sounded, and so she responded rightfully.

“My name is Starlight Glimmer, pleasure to meet you Mister Popov.”