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

Chapter 43: Roadside Picnic

Inside of the hour Nikolai and his compatriots were out of camp, and were now making their way across the low grasslands outside of Hoofington. After a while the grass thinned out, and they once more began to see signs of civilization. An oil derrick or a radio tower, or a telephone pole here, a little ruined building there. An enormous six lane highway snaked its way across the barren landscape towards the city, he could see more roads off in the distance, to the far west and far east. though it was too hazy to make them out well. From time to time, they would come across skeletons-or even decayed corpses. All potmarked with visible signs of physical altercations-usually gunshot wounds.

Something Nikolai noticed almost right away, typical of the roads leading into big cityscape ruins in this world, was the enormous traffic jams. The others didn't really care. They knew what cars were, they'd all seen vehicles before. But even to Aurora, who came from the closest thing to civilization, was estranged to the idea of civilian owned transportation for recreational purposes. She was a pegasus though, and if everyone in your own little corner of the world can fly and walk on clouds at a whim, then it really wouldn't make sense to have automobiles, or... Anything like them.

The Stalker's errant sing-along to that song that plays in very single zero gravity scene in every single space movie ever, "The Blue Danube" in accented, slightly broken English broke the pitch silence. The others didn't really pay him much attention.

They passed by the cavernous ruins of an old wind turbine: Its formerly white hull turned a dull shade of brownish red, with only pockets of original paint remaining along its non windswept side. The entire top half of the turbine had been ripped off and burned away, and its blades were scattered across the surrounding prairie. The music ended.

Nikolai stood in the middle of the group, Willow and Flashpoint stood behind him. Aurora walked in front, her tail blade brushed the ground with each wide stride forward.

All was quiet for a moment. They had turned onto an overgrown dirt road headed towards a chain link fence barrier that ran the length of their direct front from east to west.

Nikolai snapped his fingers inquisitively. "Would you guys like to hear a joke?"

"Shoot." Willow's voice radiated from behind him.

"Ok, so-It goes like this: A Stalker got lost in the woods. So he started wandering around shouting: "Any body?! Help! Can anyone hear me!?... Help!" Suddenly someone taps him on the shoulder... He turns around and sees this really big, scary creature! The creature says mournfully: Why the hell are you shouting? So The Stalker replies; "Ah... I got lost. Thought someone might hear me."

"Well I've heard you. Do you feel better?"

Aurora snorted with laughter. Infectious laughter that quickly spread to the others until they were all giggling like idiots.

"Oh-hah! That was a good one Nikolai." Flashpoint trotted forwards and cordially bumped up against Nikolai's left leg. The Stalker gently kicked him away and pointed off towards chain link fence in the distance.

"Hey, hey-What's that thing?" Nikolai pointed off at a little buzzing blip in the distance. Willow lowered his brow and his neck.

"A bloat sprite?"

"Let's keep walking."

"Ok..." Aurora enunciated to herself as Nikolai took the lead. "What are you going to do now?"

The Stalker beckoned for her to stay quiet.

At thirty meters the demented sack of buzzing flesh noticed him, and began to hover in his direction. Nikolai reached into the side pouch of his rucksack, withdrew his plasma carbine, took it off of 'safe', and turned the bloat sprite to ash with a single blast. He turned around to look at his friends for a moment, then, back to the glowing remains on the ground. He smiled: That was just what he needed to remedy his boredom. None of the equine trio asked any second questions as he stuffed his carbine back into its pouch. They walked through a broken segment of the fence, Nikolai stopped for a moment to examine a corroded radiation trefoil sign which had been nailed to a wooden post long ago.

The others had already traveled a fair distance beyond the fence line-they looked back at Nikolai in confusion as he ran up behind them, waving his arms.

"Guys! Stop! Stop what you're doing, blin."

Flashpoint took a step forward into a puddle and the rad counter lit up on his PipBuck, Nikolai's Geiger counter lit up too, with that same 'wavy' sound that was indicative of Balefire. Flashpoint pulled his fetlock away from the puddle as a glowing multicolored liquid seeped from the ground beneath the puddle.

"Blyat!" Nikolai announced muffled over the sound of panting in his mask. "I guess we aren't going this way after all!" Aurora's mask slid down over her face and she bounded into the air, hovering about a meter off the ground.

"What was that all about?"

Nikolai waved the wand of his Geiger counter across the ground near his feet, then dug a little hole in the ground with the steel toed tip of his right boot, revealing the tip-top of a rusty barrel.

"We're in the middle of toxic dumping ground; that shit seeping out of the earth is taint!"

Something groaned. In the distance stood a row of dump trucks, the ghouls out there were all the convincing they needed, the four of them backtracked out past the perimeter of the chain link fence and continued on a parallel path until it ended and the dead grassland began again. They stopped for a quick snack underneath an ancient power pylon, then continued west until they found a dirt road which took them to a larger, paved one. Here the grassland gave way to barren ground.

He began to see more buildings, burnt out, charred, flattened. They walked through the remains of a quaint little town. Mutant rats scurried around in the collapsed post office, a rad scorpion walked across main street and paid them no mind. All the while they kept their eyes on those black towers at the center of Hoofington. About thirty minutes later they found the route which led onto the main highway. A blank, dusty expanse of open road which was an all but straight shot into the city. A few moments later they spotted a sign which marked the city limits, marred by the ruins of an old shot up caravan nearby.

Willow hung back with Flashpoint, after a moment of walking in silence he suddenly turned to his friend and asked him: "How far do you reckon we are to that settlement Nikolai keeps going about?"

The Stalker examined his PDA map and spotted the town of Flankfurt on the road towards Hoofington. Only about four kilometers down the road from where they were.

"Hold it-wait- everyone off the road. Now." He shooed them into a ditch and scoped out motley of ponies in the distance. Wagons, wooden and metal alike, some built out of old cars or truck beds. At least a half dozen, and at least three times as many ponies to boot. Nikolai could clearly make out a minimum of a half dozen long guns spread across them, likely more out of sight.

"Are they friendly?" Flashpoint squinted his eyes and tried to focus on the figures three hundred meters away.

"They certainly look like it. Not like raiders, I mean." Aurora informed them.

"Let's go ask them." They all looked at each other, and climbed out of the ditch.

"Cover your face and your tail, Flashpoint." Willow told his friend. "I'm willing to bet that tensions are still pretty sour this close to the old frontlines."

"Too late," Aurora whispered to him. "Don't say a word-let Nikolai do the talking."

"Why?" Flashpoint asked her, eyes full of heavy skepticism. It took his mind a few moments for all the wheels to stop turning. "Ah, that's why."

"Hello! Name is Nikolai!" Nikolai gave the caravan guards a curt wave. The guards didn't notice him at first, but when they did, Aurora, Willow, and Flashpoint could see the usual mish-mash of emotions that followed one of Nikolai's "Introductions" swell up amongst them. Curiosity, worry, suspicion.

"What are you?" Was a fairly common question that arose. He would go up to them, and ask them if he could travel with them. They reluctantly agreed, and Nikolai would usher out his compatriots. All masked and hooded and cloaked. They, all except Nikolai, remained quiet as they walked with the caravan. Nikolai learned that they were headed for someplace called "The Megamart". Which gave him hope: The Stalker was looking for a little scrap of actual civilization to rearm at. He also desperately craved information, and answers- something that seemed to be in short supply at the moment.

He paced up beside one of the guards, a unicorn mare armed with a single shot rifle.

"Hey." He began.

"Hey." The mare droned gruffly. "Do you need something?"

"Yes, my compatriots and I are new to Hoofington, can you give me a quick rundown of the situation here?"

"The situation?" She retorted, sounding a bit dumbfounded at his question, "Is fucked."

Nikolai shook his head. "That isn't good enough. Can you tell me any places where raider gangs or-generally unsavory creatures tend to congregate?" He gesticulated in hand motions that were alien to the guard, but she gave him a good answer:

"Stay away from the old Hoofball Stadium, it's run by a nasty bunch that calls themselves "The Reapers". They're the biggest group of raider's you'd have to worry about." The Stalker kept on listening intently.

"O'course, you've got a bunch of other ones, The Pecos run things further out northeast, you've got Slavers every-which way, and-Ah recokon ah can't speak for you but-The raiders here ain't like the one's you've seen anywhere else- they're caused by this 'sease, y'see. Turns a ponies eyes all yellow and white, make 'em crave blood 'n what not. Nasty stuff."

The Stalker nodded, jotting the information down in his mind for later.

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"That's 'bout all, pal. You look 'ike you've been through 'ell an back. You don't need mah know-how. Ask the fellows at the Megamart, they'll help you better. You'll be looking for a group called "The Finders" They run the joint."

They walked in unnerving silence through the throes of raider territory. Off in the distance Nikolai heard explosions and gunfire-but he never saw it. This wasn't Manehatten, here the violence was still there, but it was spread out. Like a proper warzone. They passed through more abandoned military checkpoints, Nikolai spotted a few ponies headed the other direction, away from Hoofington, here and there. The guards, the ponies, driving the carts, and those few riding in them eyed the strangers with warranted suspicion. Nikolai and his three friends kept back, away from any drama that might ensue towards the front of the caravan.

The wagon ground to a halt all of a sudden. There was a commotion towards the front as somepony in heavy leather barding hurried out and shot at the middle of the road. Something exploded, and the group kept on going.

"Mines," The guard informed him. "Raider's 'll stick 'em all over the place just to spite us." The caravan started up again.

"One last thing, watch out for blanks, and-for the love of Celestia... If end up on the strech of road northwest of here that leads up to Manehatten, if you happen to come across a segment with skeletons and bones piled high on either side-don't touch the wreckage." Nikolai nodded. "I wasn't planning on going that way anyhow."

They passed through the remains of old suburbs, flattened and blackened. Blocked roads filled with rubble, collapsed overpasses, and more urban sprawl. Here, up close, Nikolai and the others got their first good look at Hoofington, specifically its Core. The buildings of The Core were unlike anything The Stalker had ever seen before. Black, angular spires which stretched up from the island they sat on into the clouds. Some ended in jagged, broken off husks while others sat toppled over onto one another. The island was ringed in a vast wall and a wide river of green fluids and multicolored contaminants from centuries of neglect. The whole Core glowed with an eerie green light that pulsed and shifted from time to time.

Nikolai walked besides the guards with his rifle at a low ready. The builds around them began to look more brutalist, more industrial. To their east lay more barren ground and dead trees. Up ahead, just beyond an overpass was an enormous square building ringed in a berm of dirt, concrete barriers, ruined vehicles, carts, wagons, and a hundred other things. The Stalker's eyes were drawn to the armored turrets which sat atop these berms. Giant anti aircraft auto cannon barrels like the ones Nikolai had sometimes seen on Ukrainian Army IFV's on the outskirts of The Zone of Alienation. Their barrels swept back in forth, scanning for anything that might try to show the structure beyond the berm the slightest bit of trouble.

A giant neon sign glowed nearby, reading "Megamart" And just below that, in red paint, "Finders Keepers".

They were here.

They came up to a small traffic jam of carts and ponies looking to get into the berm, a half dozen bored looking armed guards stood around the entrance, taking caps from ponies as they stopped momentarily. Nikolai and the others broke away from the caravan they had become a part of and got into the line on their own.

"Entrance fee," A unicorn mare who had the same fur color and pattern as Nikolai's pants told them before they crossed the threshold. "Five caps each. If you don't wanna pay, pick a direction and start walking." It must have taken her a hot minute to notice the tall, bipedal thing standing amongst the three cloaked equines, because when she did she backed away in visible surprise. A break in the monotony of her daily routine.

"I-Uh... Um..." She stuttered warily. "I eh-I'm... Not... Sure I can... let you inside?"

The Stalker raised his left hand again in a show of peace and spoke softly, "Ohohoho! Ah, lady. You not worry, I'm not in the business of causing trouble for anyone. I like money, I understand this is some sort of trading hub." He pointed back and forth at himself and the building beyond the berm with both index fingers. "Is all good, yes? I give you caps. You let me and my comrades in, yes? Ok?"

"Eh-I'm going to need a little more than that." She replied.

"How about a joke?" Nikolai asked her.

"Sure. I could go for a laugh. Price doubles if I don't find it funny though." Nikolai contemplated the offer, he was saving his good jokes for later-he couldn't waste them now. So he made the mare at the gate another offer.

"How about a shot of Vodka?"

"Sure- I'll cut it down to four caps for you." He fished out an old mess tin and a bottle of spirits and poured the camouflage mare a bit. She swallowed it down and grinned at him. Nikolai already had the caps in hand, and passed them over to her.

"Have fun." She chuckled. Nikolai waved to her as he passed by.

"Why do you always have to barter at every gate?" Flashpoint asked casually. Nikolai put his hand on his gut.

"Because I, am frugal! I thought this was well established. I need to save my savings for... Stuff."

"You mean more vodka and pickles?" Willow joked with a bounce of his wings under his cloak. Nikolai gave him a thumbs up and an obscured middle finger to boot.

"Hey-Love of salt is universal-don't deny it, friends." Nikolai told them. Aurora looked up at the open front of the building as they walked inside. A far cry from the clean and orderly grocery stores she had know up in the clouds, and the little marketplaces and shops out in the Wasteland. This place-with its size, its volume-it was something else. At least a dozen or so odd meters to the ceiling, and at least a hundred meters by a hundred meters each side on either end.

At least four times the size of any supermarket Nikolai had ever seen in The Wasteland-this place almost put Walmart to shame. Most of the old shelving and isles had been cleared away to make room for much larger individual shops. Willow halted for a moment, and jabbed Nikolai in the thigh as he pointed up at something.

There, mounted to the ceiling, was a enormous lone automated turret. It was larger than any weapons emplacement Nikolai had ever seen before. It must been the size of a T-72 main battle tanks' turret. With a cannon that Nikolai was fairly certain he could fit his arm into if he had a ladder.

"Gun" Was the name the locals gave to it. Meaning it was probably still operational.

"Wow." Willow grinned up at the piece of machinery as they walked by it. "I'd hate to be in here if that thing ever fired."

Nikolai slung his rifle over his shoulder and rested his hands on his belt. "Ho-Could you imagine the muzzle flash? Blya... Say goodbye to your hearing! And the thing you were shooting at! Good grief, what were they thinking!?" Nikolai stood under it and stared up at the barrel, contemplating something.

"It's still awesome. I wouldn't mind using it." Nikolai rolled back his coat arm and checked his watch while still in motion.

"Well-I can't say I've seen you around here before, anything specific you're looking for?" A grey earth pony stallion in a leather coat laden with a dozen separate mass pouches and a brown cap with a pair of welding goggles which hung around his neck. Nikolai scratched his neck and rolled his shoulders.

"Radiation treatment, plenty of it. Ammunition, maps, and information. I go by Nikolai, nice to meet you."

"Leather Back." They awkwardly shook hand and hoof. The earth pony turned around and looked deeper into the store. "If it's questions you've got then I'd suggest that you and find Bottlecap. She runs the place." The Stalker noticed the hulking armored form of a Steel Ranger a short distance to the right of Leather.

"I overheard the lady at the gate call you folks "The Finders". I eh... I suppose you guys are in the business of looking for cool stuff in the rubble?"

"Pretty much." Leather replied. "Anything useful or valuable we either keep for ourselves..."

"Or bring right back here to try and turn a profit." A mare ahead of them finished his sentence. Lemon yellow fur and a blue mane with a blue vest and a nametag that read; 'Hello, My name is Bottlecap, your Megamart Manager.'

"You're in the business of making money?" Nikolai asked her, sounding very "up front" with his tone of voice.

"Yes. Yes we are." She replied confidently. "I certainly haven't seen you around here before, or anything that looks remotely like you. You new to Hoofington?"

"I am. I need things, I need money. You have both." She laughed. "Aren't you straight to the point? You and your, I'm assuming those are your friends, you all look like you've been to Tartarus and back."

"Something like that." Willow pulled back his shades to reveal his glowing eyes and his slit pupils. Bottlecaps perked up and looked at him in what must have been amusement. "I haven't seen too many thestrals down here, you guys show up on my doorstep even less than pegasi do." Aurora tried hard not to stir her wings under her cloak.

"By the way, is it true that bat ponies drink blood?" Willow started to answer Bottlecaps question but Nikolai very quickly and very wisely cut him off.

"Anyway! I need help putting together a sort of shopping list-provided you overheard my conversation with Leather-"

"I did. Firearms and weapons are that way, medical supplies are that way, and if you're looking for information well-just ask me. For a price, of course. Information is as much of a commodity as bullets or armor. What are you looking for? Locations of valuables, old stashes of equipment, tips for dealing with raiders or ghouls or mutants? Good things to eat? A copy of The Wasteland Survival Guide?"

"No more free replies, a shame." Nikolai thought to himself.

"Do you have any map data of the Core?" The Stalker blurted out. "Spell matrix based map data? Like, the kind you could plug into a PipBuck?" Bottlecap had by now already spotted the metal device strapped to one of Flashpoint's forelegs.

"You've got a Stable Dweller with you?"

Flashpoint cocked his head. "No. I found it... At the top of a mountain." Of course, he didn't specify which mountain.

"I found it." Nikolai corrected jovially. "And then that nice Canterlot ghoul technician fixed it up for you."

Flashpoint pulled back his hood enough for Bottlecap to see the stripes on his nose. She quickly rushed up to him and urged him to pull his hood back up. "Woah, woah. I wouldn't go doing that here. Maybe that's ok further up north but down here ponies are still pretty salty about The Great War. The old frontlines are only a couple of miles from here." Bottlecap took a step away from them and looked at the four all together, then up at Nikolai, then over at Aurora.

"Let me guess, you're probably an alicorn." Aurora huffed quietly and didn't say a word. Her barbed tail curled up under canvas cloak and bulged slightly.

"She's not, I can assure you. Otherwise... Ok, this is a long story but if she was an alicorn we probably would not be having this conversation right now." Bottlecap looked between them all and smiled. "Well, I'm not going to keep you any longer, I've got other customers to attend to. I hope you find what you're looking for and-if you do... Please come back!"

Nikolai stepped out in front of the trio of ponies and began pointing to different vendors and shops.

"Alright, Willow, Flashpoint. You guys sift through the clinic. If you find anything that we could use... Buy it, make an offer on it. Bargain until you have the best price. If you can't, or if you need help. Come get me, ok? Aurora. You are on rations. Get us as much food as possible, at least four or five days worth. I am not picky, really-No Stalker is picky. But can you get things that all of us can eat? No preserved hay, alright?"

"Alright. And what'll you be looking for?"

Nikolai rested his hands on the old magazine pouches on his vest "Bullets, ammunition. Just a bit, and hopefully some information."

Nikolai turned and started towards the firearms vendor. An older stallion wearing a battle saddle with an AR pattern looking carbine on either side greeted him.

"Hey there Stranger, what can I do you for?"

Nikolai pointed at one of the olive green ammo cans on the table behind him. I need five-five six by forty five. Armor piercing rounds, preferably overpressure."

"Well howdy-do. You sound like you know what you're talking about." The stallion floated one of the cans behind himself over to Nikolai. The Stalker pointed at the can, "Would it be alright if I examined it?"

"Sure, go right on ahead." Nikolai pried the top off the can and found a stack of old carboard boxes with red markings inside. He popped one open and took a single cartridge out of it. He rapped an index finger atop its sharp black tip, and palmed it back and forth.

"Steel cored? Tungsten tipped?"

"Yup, loaded with extra powder too. Is the barrel in that Gryphon rifle you've got there ratted for it?" Nikolai unslung his AK, withdrew the magazine, took the safety off, ejected the round in the chamber, and held it out for the unicorn to take a look at.

"Huh, this doesn't look like any rifle I've ever seen before." He spotted the serial number and the manufacturer's logo on the side and frowned at the strange Cyrillic lettering.

"Kalashnikov Concern." Nikolai translated politely, "It's not for sale."

"Interesting." The unicorn murmured. "It looks vaguely like a Zebrican rifle, but-the controls, the trigger, the magazine release, the stock... It looks more like something a griffon would use." Nikolai flexed his hands and removed his mask.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I am not a griffon." His pale, whiskery, odd looking face was proof enough of that.

"I can tell, dontcha worry sonny. I've been around a fair bit. Those and any other munitions are yours at asking price, but I can't help but be a little curious. What do you need overpressure rounds for?"

"I'm going to the core, and I figured I should treat myself, hey-what's that? That pistol over there?" The unicorn brought it over to him. "It's griffonian, it takes nine millimeter. Its sat here for months and no pony's bothered to ask about it." Nikolai held his hand out and the unicorn passed it to him. It looked like a Swiss P226, only fitted with old, worn wooden grips instead of a polymer one. Nikolai pulled his own sidearm and pointed them both up at the ceiling, inspecting their sights.

"Can I dry fire it?"

"Sure you can. Most customers don't even bother to ask me that." Nikolai thanked the merchant, and, only after removing the magazine and ejecting the chambered round in his Makarov, pulled the trigger on both.

Click! Click!

The one on the griffon pistol felt smother, almost jagged. The one on the old hunk of Soviet steel just felt like a sponge. And its sights were only rudimentary. Nikolai had once heard a story about a police man who had gotten high off of amphetamines' and used an old PM pistol to bludgeon a boar to death.

"Maybe later," He resolved. "Do you have any grenades?"

"Sure, plenty."

Nikolai considered his next few words carefully. "What do you have in the way of shotgun shells? Twelve gauge?"

"You don't look like you've got a shotgun on you."

"I'm asking for my friend over there in the clinic. Do you have any of those, fancy-shmancy magical pulse shells that can take out a robot's electronics?" He glanced over and saw a Steel Ranger staring at him. Gawking, was more like it. "I like you guys, I wasn't talking about you anyway, friend. Don't worry about a thing."

"Friend?" The stallion asked him in a low whisper, leaning in close. "Be careful with who you call friend, word has it those Hoofington Rangers are even pissier than the local Enclave Garrison over at the Skyport. At least their leaders are."

"I'll take that under advisement but, blin-I like making friends. I get along great with almost everyone I meet. The key, you see-is relatability."

"I saw you talking with Bottlecap earlier, sounded like you two had stuff in common."

"Well, I just met her but we both like money. And we both like using money to make more money. The Finders-I take it you are one as well? Honest business? You are all-right as far as I am concerned."

"Don't suppose you'd be up for joining us?"

Nikolai shook his head: "I am a loner, you see. A Stalker-Let me put it like this, I look at something, something, that no one else will touch, and I try to figure out how to make money out of it. I want money, you see. And I have the know-how to make it." The bearded stallion chuckled and nodded.

"Truth be told I never really believed that, 'money doesn't buy happiness' crap either."

"I know, right?" Nikolai replied amicably as he reloaded and holstered his Makarov. "It's insane-how can you be happy if you don't have the means to live a happy, good, fulfilling life? By being a victim and complaining? No! You are your own man, you make a life for yourself. But never shy away from any good opportunities when they come up." He scratched his chin.

"Trust but verify, goes the proverb, right?"

"Exactly. Thanks for the small talk..." The Stalker surmised that the stallion was looking for a name.

"Nikolai. Just Nikolai."

"Nikolai, that'll be four hundred and eighty one caps." Nikolai tapped his knuckle to his lip. "Ah, eh-hold that thought, I need to convene with my compatriots. I will be right back, don't sell any of this stuff, ok?" He briskly walked over to the clinic and spotted the remains of an old blackboard with various remedies to Wasteland ailments advertised on it for assorted amounts of caps. Inside he spotted Willow, hoofing over a dozen caps for a pack of hemoglobin and an IV drip line that he was definitely going to discard as soon as he left this place. Flashpoint exchanged money and odds and ends that he had collected in exchange for four packets of Rad-away. He wondered how things were going for Aurora, he hopped she had found something sweet for him to get at later. The Stalker felt as if he could kill for a piece of freeze dried chocolate.

"Have you guys found everything?"

"We've found plenty in the way of Rad-away and healing potions, but this places' stock is fairly limited. And until the next band of Finders comes in from their scavenging run this is all they have available. Which apparently won't be any time soon given the stuff about Raiders we overhead near the old checkout isles. Did you find the ammo you were searching for?"

"Plenty, but it's on the expensive side."

"And information? That map?"

"I'm certain they've got the know-how to provide me with that. It'd just cost a bit."

"Everything costs a pretty cap here." A stallion wearing bloody surgical rags stepped out from behind a curtain. "We're downright desperate for stuff. Hope goes for about as much as clean water and bullets these days."

Nikolai snapped his fingers and his eyes widened. He had an idea.

"Clean water?" He asked the pony." How much?"

"Well... It really depends-but it's more valuable than most other things. Last I say it was something... Oh, I can't quite remember but it's worth a lot. So much so that oftentimes our scavengers will prioritize it over food and healing supplies. Twenty, thirty, right now it's around forty caps per gallon."

It was there, in those words, that Nikolai determined how he was going to make his money to pay for the things he would need for the expedition into the Core. Water was valuable here, valuable as gold. It was probably worth even more than gold. Because a creature didn't necessarily need gold to keep it functioning. To keep it alive, but water did that. Water was the lifeblood that kept the living things of this world living.

And he had a talisman in his backpack that could create a nigh infinite amount of water out of thin air.

A thin smile spread across his face as he took his friends out of the clinic, towards Aurora, and back out into the open air. "Мої друзі, my friends. I have here, an answer to our debacle! Water is precious here, and I have a device which can make it out of nothing, all we need are some clean containers and an easy way to transport it and we will have all the caps we need in no time at all, truly, this is ingenious, yes?"

"That's a fantastic idea," Willow agreed. "But how do we do it discretely? Wouldn't we draw some eyes if we just-came out from behind the Megamart with a bunch of pails and jugs of water?"

"We are going go and find an office supply store, find a ton of those massive water casks, and a trolley, and we are going to roll that shit all the way back to this place and sell it for a ton of caps. Then we will have all the money we need! And we can progress to the next phase of the plan."

"What's that?"

The trio turned back into the Megamart and very nearly ran straight into Aurora.

"Did you find some food?"

"I did. But it's expensive."

"Money is no object."

"That's a funny thing to say, a few minutes ago you were telling us all to be frugal."

Nikolai waved Aurora's comment off, "That was before I came up with this idea, come! Come! Come!" He ushered them away from the building, gesturing behind himself with a thumb. "Let's go make some caps."

**

"No, it is not dangerous-it's a valid, respectful source of income. How could that be dangerous?"

Another gust of dry wind blew past Nikolai, warm and sickly. To the others it reeked of decay and rust. But all Nikolai could smell was opportunity. He pulled his PDA away from his face and looked up at the partially collapsed department store ahead of them. It's name was lost to time, but The Stalker was almost certain it had what he needed. They crossed the open two lane road across from the store's parking lot and stopped behind the remains of a destroyed fire engine. Nikolai surveyed the store front through his optic, and signaled for his compatriots to move up to the far side of the lot.

"Hei-hei!" A voice arose from near the checkout lane, "Haha!" It sounded like a weird mix of shrieks and giggles coming from the checkout lane.

"Let's be careful." Aurora stopped beside him. "That laughter sounds funny."

"Maybe they just have a positive outlook on life?"

"Nikolai, Aurora means that whoever's in there is probably being disingenuous. They're either laughing for no reason, or they know we're out here and they're tryin' to lure us in. What do you think?"

"Hey, who's there!?"

"Hei-hei-hohohoh!" The voice continued to laugh. Nikolai looked at the glass store front.

Too open.

He looked over the loading dock a little ways off to the left. That might work. He took a quick peek through his night vision device and spotted no one within the direct interior.

"Cover me, if something moves-shoots, whatever... " He made a finger gun, "Ka-put." He tagged Flashpoint on the shoulder and ran to the entrance. The metal garage door had long since fallen into into disrepair, so all Nikolai just strolled inside. He heard the sound of sick laughter, certainly. But he also heard something else; squelching, tearing, chewing.

"Що тут відбувається. What is going on here?"

He sprinted forwards and stopped at what looked like an old salad bar. The noises were coming from behind it, and they were shifting from side to side. He heard hooves scraping on the ground and vaulted over the bar with his rifle raised.

Blood and bodily fluids were everywhere, sitting in between two scraggly looking ponies was the desecrated and discombobulated body of a third, covered in bite and tear marks. The ponies around the corpse looked up at The Stalker with feral, yellowed eyes. The one on the right twitched and laughed again.

"Frien-'ome o 'oin 's?" The other one gargled, her mouth filled with pony flesh. Nikolai's eyes furrowed under his mask, he stood there for a moment until one reached for a rebar spear, then, he fired two shots. And two bodies hit the floor. Aurora flew in through the entrance and nearly threw up beneath her mask.

"The only two foreign life signs on My E.F.S. just disappeared-Sweet Celestia were ere they-"

"-Eating that poor fellow?" The Stalker finished her sentence coolly. "They were. Were, not anymore." He looked past her and clapped. "Hey! Willow! Flashpoint! Come on in!" He waved to the two ponies parked outside with their gun barrels facing into the store. "Let's get to work!"

His pace slowed a bit once his compatriots had traveled deeper into the office supply store, at the edge of earshot. Aurora sighed and looked over at Nikolai.

"That was reckless." She rebuked him.

Her voice turned to defeat. "Nikolai, I don't want to die."

Nikolai looked down at her, and pulled back his mask just enough to smile at her.

"I know, no one wants to die, you do not need to worry about this, yes? Your friend-What was her name? Vivacity, right? I don't know if you'll ever find her but I'm confident that, if she is still alive, you will. Pegasi are rare down here under the clouds, you have told me this. And I have seen the proof with my own eyes. The only few I've seen have been ghouls or Enclave soldiers, I've told you this before. Don't worry about it." He took a knee and pointed over at the delivery segment of the store.

"Why don't you try and find us one of those push-trollies, I will go help Willow and Flashpoint gather up the rest of the stuff." Nikolai turned and began to walk off into the depth of the store, when he suddenly heard Aurora ask warmly:

"Hey...that scene over there didn't entirely kill my appetite, when's lunch?"

"Ohohoh!" Nikolai's laughter boomed over the old appliances and furniture. "Oh, that must be earned, yes!? Come on! Go get that trolley!"

Nikolai followed his compatriots away from the storefront and into a back storage room that was a plethora of eighteen liter plastic water jugs lining freestanding metal shelves. He grabbed the ones off the top shelves while Willow and Flashpoint took the ones down low. All in all they came to understand that they would be able to fit and haul along about six in total, meaning that they would only be able to return with so much. But their supply of water was infinite, at the front of the store Nikolai inspected the containers, filled them all to the brim, and capped them.

"We'll be bogged down by it, it'll take time to skirt around the rubble."

"We'll do this quickly then. It's only a kilometer to the Megamart, then we're home free."

"Shouldn't we have done this a bit closer to the Megamart then?" Nikolai facepalmed at the realization as the cart rolled and bumped and skirted across the corroded asphalt. "Well, I'm not going to dump it all out now, that would be wasteful. We'll suffer through this-and, Flashpoint. We will take your advice the next time we do something like this, ok?"

The walk back home was more chaotic than they had anticipated, between keeping all of the jugs in place and actually moving several hundred kilos of water across some of the most raider infested territory in Hoofington with what amounted to a glorifies shopping cart, they were all on edge, and all exhausted when the turrets of Megamart came back into view. The Stalker paid the entrance fee. They were crossing the parking lot, choked with carts and resting caravans, when all of a sudden Nikolai heard a mare's voice somewhere in the crowd of ponies call out;

"Hey, I know you!"

He turned with his rifle dangling on its sling around his chest. Who could possibly have recognized him? Obviously any number of people, he wasn't the most inconspicuous- and anyone who had met him for any length of time would almost certainly remember his appearance, if not his personality and his demeanor. Nikolai wasn't quite so interested in long conversations of morality, and in all bluntness he didn't expect everyone in the world to stoop to or rise to his level. But he had learned early on in life that relatability was the easiest way to befriend anyone.

An all yellow-bronze unicorn stood a little ways away from him.

"You said you'd return, but you never came back. Don’t know what I expected. I thought you were dead."

It took Nikolai a moment to realize who he was talking to, but once he did it came back to him, clear as day.

"Thrifty. Oh, hey! Thrifty Goldenhoof! What's up? How are you?" The mare trotted back and forth. "Oh, I'm alright. Ditzy's alright as well. Things were pretty hectic in Salt Cube City for a few days after you had left. Salt's goons were patrolling the street, but none of them had the gall to go near The Glow. Eventually he gave up on finding you, more like he just... Stopped caring."

Willow bounded in between The Stalker and the unicorn. "Ditzy? Like-Derpy, Ditzy? The pegasus ghoul who can't speak? The owner and founder of Absolutely Everything?" Nikolai nodded. "Yes, I... Eh-I met her, she was the first ghoul I ever saw, a strange thing-to be sure. But she was plenty friendly and she even gave me that copy of The Wasteland Survival Guide."

"Did I miss something?" Aurora stepped up beside Willow. The bat pony turned and shook his head. "Nope." They looked over at Flashpoint.

"Don't look at me," The zebra protested. "I've never seen that mare before in my life." Nikolai rubbed his temples through the bridge of his gas mask. "Are you here on business, or something?"

"Yep." Thrifty replied curtly. A couple of travelers going the other way recommended that I go to Paradise or Flank instead-but all those slave traders-"

"Creep you out? Disgust you?" Aurora suggested. "Horrify me? That would be a good way to put it."

"Yes. So... I'm here instead. What brings you here?"

"A boat-load, well... Cart-load of clean, unirradiated, purified water. It's worth more than gold here."

"I'll leave you to it then." The Stalker watched as she waved goodbye and disappeared amongst the carts and wagons in the parking lot. They maneuvered their way through the groups of traders and scavengers and bounty hunters and normal ponies who filled the store's interior until they came across Bottlecap again. She hadn't quite expected them to return so quickly, but, now that they were here, she could see what it was they had been doing. And a small smile broke across her face.

"Ten caps a bottles worth, forty five bottles worth in one of those jugs..." Nikolai did the math in his head. "Four hundred and fifty caps per jug. I have six in total... Two thousand, seven hundred caps. Please and thank you."

"Where did you get this all?" She remarked.

"That's a secret. One that I'm not willing to sell." He told her finally. The mare with the name tag shrugged and went into a back room, only to return with more bottlecaps in a few sacks than Nikolai, or any of the others had ever seen before.

"I know you all are going to stick all these right back into the economy as soon as I pass these over to you. And it's not every day I find that somepony's wheeled in enough water to keep a half dozen ponies alive for a week in one sitting. Water talisman's might be a dime a dozen in some places up north, but down here-well... I'll tell you this, you'll be more likely to trip over a zebra invisibility cloak or-a functioning artillery piece, especially with the Rangers hoarding all of them."

"If you're about to ask me if I would be willing to take double payment for requisitioning a few of those-"

"Oh Goddesses no!" Bottlecap laughed grimly. "I might as well tell you to try and swim across the river into The Core!"

"Good, because I was not planning on it. Now," He clasped his hands together. "I eh-I'm going to eh... Hop to it, ok? Ok."

He really wished that there was some way to lump-sum the value of all those caps together into something that was a little easier to carry around because, contrary to what certain people might believe, several thousand little metal chips can add up rather quickly if a person isn't careful with what they're doing.

Though those caps, Nikolai went directly to the firearms section of the store and bought the ammunition, and the handgun that he was searching for. It was a shame (not really) That he had to "decommission" one of the only two firearms he had from earth, but it was, in the most earnest of respects, a hunk of soviet steel with a trigger that felt like the choke of a five decade old chainsaw that took a caliber which was all but nonexistent. The weird griffon made P226 clone was a much better use of his money, he sawed the strange looking over sized trigger guard off and bent the remainder into place until it felt useable. He bought two magazines for it, ten rounds each, and just barely managed to squeeze his new pistol into the holster of his Makarov. He set his old PM pistol and its magazines into an absent and neglected pouch in his rucksack, loaded, with no round in the chamber.

Nikolai methodically inspected all of his rifle magazines, including the ones which he had DIY'd with a combination of hand tools, know-how, references, and 5.56 caliber magazines taken from other rifles. No springs loose, no structural damage. He checked his AK 101 again, field stripping it and checking the various components over and over until he was sure that nothing was broken. Nothing was. He packed the ammunition into his rucksack and the few magazines which were empty. Partway through this The Stalker went over to Flashpoint and asked if he could exchange the zebra's submachine gun for a carbine. Flashpoint agreed, reluctantly. And Nikolai returned a little while later with a rifle that vaguely resembled an ar-15 with a wooden stock. Flashpoint had of course, turned down Nikolai's proposal to bestow upon himself a grenade launcher which was sitting on one of the counters.

Nikolai sold his last remaining missile. He didn't have a launcher for it, those were either too uncommon, or-in this place, too expensive. It was a glorified spear-suicide weapon that was unlikely to work as well as it had in Manehatten. It pained him to do it, but he found a Hoofington Steel Ranger knight who paid him thirty five caps for it, and that was that.

He looked into getting himself some armor to compliment his vest and the miasma of steel and titanium plates held within it, but couldn't find anything that would fit him. Go figure, everything here was meant to fit a pony. He would find another way to upgrade his personal defenses.

Food: Well, Aurora had never been much of a cook. But in her careful observations of the things which Nikolai prepared for them almost every night. Speaking of which it only now just hit her, Nikolai was the only one amongst them who seemed to do any real cooking. She was grateful for that, his culinary skills, alien as they seemed to her, weren't actually the worst thing she had ever seen or tasted. Granted, that was only once she had gotten over her phobia of eating meat. And she was glad she had, in all earnest. His preparation was a grade above the rations she had been issued before she went off in search of her friend. Beans, potatoes, old dried apples and oranges, and other vegetables would make a good supplement to any game that The Stalker, or Willow would manage to shoot.

Information, that was the last thing that Nikolai sought out. It should have come first, but the bedazzlement of things that went boom and food both filled his mind before he went after maps. And maps he found, through PipBuck interface spell lattices he was able to acquire an almost full and mostly up to date map of the immediate region surrounding Hoofington. Ramshackle settlements, hazards, and post apocalyptic landmarks alike. The only spot that remained unfilled on the map was The Core. The only map he had of that was the prewar roadwork layout that he already had on his PDA.

They didn't feel like staying for very long in the Exchange, though Bottlecap assured them that if they continued to drag in mass amounts of valuable material that they would be welcome there. They didn't exactly intend to become Finders, but the paltry gate fee they were charged was offset with ease by the degree by which they could turn a profit here. And turn a profit they could.

Dark crept over the horizon, and before long it was night. The four set out in the darkness towards... something. Megamart security; the few armed guards which patrolled the parking lot and store interior watched them leave as if they were just another group of shoppers.

It was almost midnight, and the glowing skyline of Hoofington's core grew ever closer. Up ahead, Nikolai spotted a little mess of hill, and a bridge. A large, industrial looking bridge that led towards vast scorched concrete walls. Beyond that, further-much further to the southwest stood a titanic dam.

"You know," Nikolai piped up all of a sudden.

"What?" Aurora asked him.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong but-If I recall correctly, the Wasteland Survival Guide said to avoid Hoofington's Core at all costs. Then again... It also said to avoid Canterlot and Splendid Valley at all costs." He laughed at the thought, Flashpoint didn't laugh quite so much.

"I wish we'd have followed its advice!" Flashpoint complained behind them as they went off the main road. Hoofington was close now. So close that they could hear the incorporeal hum of god-knows-what out there beyond the glowing toxic rivers and the walls of the island. They weren't ready to try and make it to the Core, not yet. They still had preparations to make. They were only here to see it up close. And it was grand.

"Ah, you see, then we would not have had such-eh... Enriching life experiences. Besides, this will be different! I promise! I have-eh, blyat. How do you say this? Ah! Yes-yes, a verbal affidavit from one of The Wasteland's most respected figures!"

His voice echoed out into the darkness. There was quiet for a while, as he and the others found a log to sit on, up against a large boulder. Nikolai pulled out his PDA and passed it around to the others so they could see the map for themselves.

"How about dinner? Or, is it breakfast? Goodness, it's so late." You know we've gone about twenty or twenty five kilometers today? My feet aren't sore at all, how about you guys?"

"Yep."

"I met ponies above the clouds that couldn't even fly for a whole mile without getting tired," Aurora threw off her cloak and stretched her wings. "And here we are, hard charging across an entire continent like the world's coming to an end all over again."

Nikolai patted her on the back. "Hey, how about a song?"

The mare under his hand stopped and turned to look up at him. "You're joking."

"I am not. Come on! When was the last time we've listened to some music outside? A week? It's been a week-goodness... I've lost track of time."

"Aurora," Willow proposed. "If you don't get those rations out of your pack in under thirty seconds Flashpoint and I'll vote yes on letting Nikolai sing us a song." The power armor clad mare froze, and then began to scramble through her saddle bags. As Nikolai coughed a bit. And began to warm up his singing voice.

The Stalker dialed up his radio and found the station he was looking for. But they had overstayed their welcome for the night.

A warm wind blew by. Something growled and hissed behind them. Four tight knit glowing eyes. Nikolai rocked his sidearm from its holster and fired a single shot into the blackness. Something hit the ground, a brass casing bounced off a cobblestone. And all was quiet.