Present Day - The Zone. Ponyville, Equestria

Pinkie trudged through a twisted, unrecognizable part of the Zone. Her saddlebag was heavy with trinkets, and Pinkie was sure she should have turned around ages ago, for the heavier she is, the more immobile she became. Her hooves sunk into the ashen soil with each step she took. How many days has it been, Pinkie? Three? Four? A week? Her mind would ask.

She didn’t have an answer - not that it mattered. Her breathing is labored, each step a battle against her own creeping despair. The sky above her was a muted emerald, and it began to rain. The raindrops felt prickly against the mare’s fur, but she didn’t care. And then she sees her - the all-too familiar zebra, standing in the middle of her path. Zecora.

Pinkie could only find the strength to stare at her. Her dulled eyes held heavy bags. Her breath tasted of old chocolate, iron, and vodka. With a pause, she spoke, her voice hoarse. Either from the sleepless nights, her crying fits, or the trip overall.

“I…I don’t know if you’re real, Zecora. Are you…really here?”

Zecora stepped closer to the pink mare, though her hooves made no sound against the spongy ground. Her presence was almost haunting. Despite everything, Pinkie felt a strange comfort from it. The zebra replied to Pinkie’s question, in her usual rhythmic cadence, though it was softer and more distant - as if Zecora was speaking from fifty feet away and not right next to her.

“Real or not, what does it mean; when your heart’s been torn and keen? In the Zone, truths twist and fray - you must decide what you will pay.”

Pinkie found herself removing her saddlebag from her back and setting it in front of her - an offering for Zecora or the Zone, she did not know. Nor did she care at this point. She kneeled and pleaded with the zebra. “Why are you here? What do you want from me?”

The zebra’s eyes softened, her expression remained illegible. Her gaze lingered on the pink pony for what felt like a lifetime, unreadable and unwavering.

“I am but a guide, a fleeting shade; to warn you of the choice you’ve made. Beyond this point, there lies a test - a secret cradled in a nest.”

Pinkie’s heart leaped out of her chest. Could it be the answers she has sought?

“What I desire…it’s close, isn’t it?” asked Pinkie. Zecora nods in response, her expression darkening.

“Close it is, yet far in cost. Are you prepared for what you’ve lost? In seeking this, you leave behind - the safety of your fragile mind.”

Pinkie clambored to her feet, her gaze locked with Zecora. She knows she can’t turn back. Not now. Not when she’s so close. Even if she wanted to, there’s nothing left for her outside of the Zone - only the memories of her friends.

“I have to do this, Zecora. That's all I want now. It’s all I’ll ever want.”

Zecora nods slowly, then steps aside. Behind her is a seemingly normal path that wound deeper into the Zone’s depths.

“Then walk this path, your final vow; The Zone has claimed you, here and now. Pinkie Pie - beware the lie. For what you seek, not all survive.”

Pinkie Pie walked past the zebra, and after a few steps she glanced back. The zebra was gone. She didn’t care. It doesn’t matter.

Pinkie galloped deeper into the blind with all her might. The burnt trees whipped past her, with branches smacking against her body. She didn’t care. She kept running. Running until she hit a clearing. And in front of her, was her answer. The heart of the Zone.

It isn’t a place, nor a thing. It was a warping of the very essence of existence. A swirling anomaly that refused to be looked at directly. It flickered in-and-out of her sight. Colors and hues that shouldn’t exist bled into one another, wrapping themselves around something massive. A vast, oval-shaped form, faintly pulsating with a greenish glow. The surface this object “sat” on is blackened and molten. It leaked petrified, darkened lava into the ground.

No heartbeat. No breath. But she would call this object alive. Pinkie blinked, and the surface of this object rippled, almost like liquid. A faint cracking sound, like an egg about to hatch, became audible. But whatever lies within doesn’t emerge. Not yet. It was as if whatever it was bided its time, waiting for the moment when it would break open and unleash whatever is within.

She blinks again, and the object shifts and shimmers once more with colors too bright to stare at. Her breath is unsteady and shallow. Her fur bristles and tingles with a creeping numbness. She feels her bones ache, like something was rotting within her.

Whatever this is, is something far beyond her own understanding. As she set her Party Popper down in front of her, she too, felt compelled to sit. Sit and stare at the Zone’s core, bubbling and melting. Cracking and hardening. Waiting for the right moment to hatch.

For the heart’s birthday will come soon.

Author's Note

If you've reached the end of this fanfiction, thank you so much!

I started writing this in honor of STALKER 2's announcement, and accomplished my goal of finishing it before its release. This fanfiction is very much inspired by the same thing that inspired STALKER: Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, so much so, that the title itself is a synonym of the original book's title, and the cover art (drawn by me) is similar to its modern cover.

Rather than do what many fanfics do and "add ponies to X world" (and what younger me would have done in a FiMFiction account lost to time over a decade ago), when I finished reading Roadside Picnic over the course of a week (the game announcement really inspired the little Stalker in my heart) I pondered the thought of "what if this happened in Equestria?"

What if some unknown force visited Ponyville, but didn't acknowledge anypony? What if no one noticed their visit, and they simply packed up and left, leaving behind things waiting to be discovered, and (to the pony's eyes) an unknown magic that would change Ponyville, the Mane Six, Celestia and in large part Equestria, forever?

I chose Pinkie Pie as the main character for this fanfiction because "pink" is a lighter shade of "red" and "Red" is the main character of Roadside Picnic. I really recommend reading it if you're into sci-fi and horror - it is a fantastic novel that I took me years to get a copy, and a week straight to read. I simply couldn't put it down. I also listen to ton of music while I write, and towards the big climax, one song the little earworm latched onto was "Goodbye Horses" by Q Lazzarus, which seems very fitting for a dark story like this.

I'm currently in the works of writing a sequel to this story, as I view this story as "setting the scene" for post-Zone Equestria. I'm not done with the world Trailside Banquet has set up, and I hope many of you are along for the ride. I do this mainly for fun, so it will be a bit before the second entry, but I will publish it soon.

Until then, stay safe my friends!

Aureo