Awakening, Scootaloo is immediately hit by the oder in the room. Mildew with a pungent sweat smell followed quickly by the faintest hint of some kind of unknown scent to her. The scent cacophony makes her want to hurl. Steeling herself; she looks around but finds herself in a concrete and metal building with an open metal door in front of her. She is laying on old nasty cloth formed into a kind of bed for her. Everything around her is either grimy, rusted, or both. Getting up she hears and feels objects fall from on-top of her, as they clink to the ground she sees they are needle like objects.

As she turns back to look at the doorway she sees a being slowly walking towards her, said being is burly and covered in some dirt over his clothes. “Ay, you're awake.” He says as he reaches to a shelf grabbing a bottle of clear liquid. When he gets close he twists off the cap of the bottle and holds the top out to her as if to offer her a drink.

“Wh… what is that?”

“Vodka. You're irradiated.” He says with a thick accent that is hard to understand for Scootaloo but without understanding what Vodka is or what irradiated means she drinks. Instantly she sputters and coughs as the liquid burns and stings down her throat.

“What, what? Can't handle that little bite? You best get better at handling your booze cuz you're going to need this to not die out there.”

Still reeling, Scootaloo rubs her muzzle and looks at the strange being who looks back. Taking a swing himself he pops the cap back on the vodka and shakes his head. “Die? What do you mean?”

“You were brought in by some Stalkers half a day ago. I've been mending some of the broken bones you had little Birdie but those medical supplies couldn't get rid of the radiation you absorbed. Vodka can though.”

Processing this Scootaloo thinks for a while before jolting upright. “Oh no, my friends are likely worried sick.” Scootaloo says as she gets up but before she can leave the man puts a hand on her chest.

“Hold it little Birdie, I don't know who your friends are but you owe me a good bit for fixing you up.”

“Oh, uh, sure. I can pay you back. I left my bits at home but I can get yo-”

“Sorry, ain't the first time I have been told that one. Nor is it the last. Tell you what, tell me where you came from and some other details and we will go from there.” The man says and he walks off across the room he was in to what looked like a metal chain wall. He grabs the chair there and comes back to sit down but as he does he presses a few buttons on a device he pulls out of his pocket and places it between them.

“So who are you little Birdie?”

“My… my name is Scootaloo.” she responds as she settles to sit on the ground.

“Alright, Scootaloo. My name is Sidorovich.”

“Si… Sidori… Sidorivich?” Sidorovich groans and pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

“Orovich. Anyways, where did you come from?”

“I came from Ponyville.” Scootaloo says with a hint of amusement because who hasn't heard of Ponyville at this point. The saviours of the world live there and are world renowned. However the snicker that comes from Sidorovich causes her to falter.

“You're pulling my leg, Ponyville? What's next to that place, gingerbread lane?” Puffing out her cheeks she looks away from Sidorovich.

“Fine, don't believe me.”

“Well I can say for certain, there isn't anywhere with that name in Russia… so either you're from another nation that could have poor naming skills… or you're not from here in a major way.” turning her head back, Scootaloo tilts her head slightly at this strange being.

“What? But you said I've only been out for half a day. I was at Ponyville yesterday, I was going to sweet apple acres then… a strange storm came out of nowhere.” Leaning forward Sidorovich looks at scootaloo with intrigue.

“A storm?”

“Ya, it was red, orange and black… it had some strange energy to it and it came out of nowhere.”

“An Emission… So you got sucked up by an Emission and found yourself here? What nation do you come from?” Sidorovich asks as he grabs his device and taps buttons on it hastily.

“i… it's called Equestria.” Looking at Scootaloo he pauses for a second almost questioning what he heard. After a moment of silence he looks back at the device as he places it back down slowly.

“It seems, you may be from an entirely different world or something. There is no nation on this planet called Equestria little Birdie.”

“that.. that can't be right…” Scootaloo says in a shaky voice. It isn't till Sidorovich snaps his fingers in front of her face that she snaps out of it. “I can't get home?”

“Not in the traditional sense. There is a way home for you Birdie… well, possibly but before I give you any information like that, you have a debt you owe me.”

“Please mister Sidorovich, I need to get home, please tell me.” Scootaloo begs him as she flings herself to him. Grabbing onto his greasy and dirty clothes with dear life, though her nose is assaulted by the stench of the man. Grumbling, he presses a hand onto her head and shoves her off.

“Everyone here doesn't get handouts. Repay your debt to me for fixing you up, then for the gear I'll be giving you to start with. After that we can talk about cost for information. Just know this information will cost you a good bit because only I have it.”

“But-”

“No buts. It's either that or you can still fetch a decent price. Everything in the zone has a price and that includes you.” Having the weight of those words sink in on Scootaloo she slumps down. Slinking back she recedes to the cloth bed she woke up upon as Sidorovich gets up to walk over to a cabinet. Slowly he pulls out clothes and a mask along with a few other objects before he closes the cabinet. Making his way over to a metal cabinet he opens it and pulls out more things. Scootaloo can't recognize any of these objects but once he closes this metal cabinet he comes over to her with the pile.

Placing them on the chair he kneels down, The first object he takes is the mask. Though it's odd she can tell it's been modified and reshaped to fit her face. “This is a gas mask. It helps to keep most chemicals out of the air you breathe. It also helps keep radiation out of you.”

“Radiation?”

“Layman's terms, It's an invisible killer, there are areas out there in the world that can and will kill you for being there and you won’t know it’s happening. If you want a better explanation go ask the science freaks in Yantar. They will talk your ear off about it.” He says with a wave of his hand. Scootaloo smirks slightly mentally thinking that The scientists sound a lot like Twilight. “Anyways, the cloth is standard issue Rookie Stalker stuff. You want better, then get the cash for it. I'm giving you two syringes in your medical kit. Stab and press the bulb, make sure you do so with an injured limb. Wasting this will just make you dopey. That is after you're done bleeding everywhere, because you are going to bleed… a lot.”

“B… bleed? Why, what? Is it really that dangerous?” Scootaloo says panic coursing through her veins. She begins sinking deeper into panic but a crack sound rips through the room as Sidorovich slaps her hard. The shock and pain snapping her out of her freefall while her head rests to the side from where it once was.

“I don't care if you have a dislike or even hate for blood. You will be losing and making others lose it. You aren't at home anymore little Birdie. You're in the Zone. So unless you want to end up dead come tonight then you best get ready to see lots of gore.” Sidorovich coldly tells her, causing her to recoil while her ears turn downwards. With no further protest from her he places the mask down grabbing a device with a screen and light.

“This here is your saving grace. Keep this or a better one on you constantly. It tells you if you walked yourself into radiation or are near some forms of anomaly. Well, that is if the anomaly shits out radiation.”

“So it's not a guarantee?”

“No, but It's still going to save your ass. Do you want it or not?” Sidorovich asks coldly as he looks at Scootaloo who nods silently. “What's the saying, don't look a gift horse in the mouth?” He says with a wry grin getting a look of annoyance from Scootaloo.

“I'm not a horse, I'm a pony.”

“Horse, pony, same thing. Look, survive a week and I might give a damn. Next the general anomaly detector, this will detect the rest of the anomalys that are common and might turn you from alive to a corpse. The more hidden and rare ones need a better detector but I'm not giving a rookie that.” He explains as he lifts a rusty metal device and shows it to her.

“So there are still some dangers that thing can't detect?”

“Oh there are many. However they don't show up often, even when they do they for the most part give off radiation or are very obvious. Only on super rare occasions do stalkers get minced due to the super special anomalies. That being said though, if I hear you died in a fire chimney I'm going to taxidermy your remains and have you as a decoration piece of what not to do as a stalker.”

“Fire chimney?” Scootaloo gulps, feeling her mind race with all this information. This whole situation feels like a strange form of classroom time with Cheerilee but instead of the kind mare a nasty mean old man.

“It's a common anomaly that is like a geyser but instead of water the thing spews out fire. Fire that cooks you faster than you can say ouch.” Placing the detector down he grabs the next object as he gives it a once over. Pulling the top slider back and letting go as it snaps back to where it was. “Now this here is going to become your best friend till you get better versions of it or other kinds of it. This here is a gun, don't know if your… Equestria has these but they are weapons. Only ever point them at things you want to die.”

“I… I don't thi-”

“I don't care if you don't think you can or anything little Birdie. It's either you do or you die. Got it?” Wilting slightly, Scootaloo rubs her foreleg and nods.

“G-got it.”

“Good, this is called a Makarov, it's also known as a pistol. It holds eight rounds or also known as bullets. These bullets shoot metal out the gun at high speed and the metal gets shoved into anything it is fired at. I normally would start stalkers off with another gun but seeing as you don't have any fingers in order to wield the gun I put that cost to something else.” He places the pistol down and grabs a small lavender teardrop object with a water ripple like surface that has been frozen in time.

“What is that?” Scootaloo asks as she watches the object, its shape mesmerizing her.

“This is a telekinesis artifact. A lesser quality one that's low on charge. I figured since you don't have hands or fingers you need a way to hold and use gear. To solve that issue I am graciously giving you this but it's going on your tab, don't make me regret this.”

“So this lets me do stuff like Unicorns? I can float stuff around and throw things?” Scootaloo happily says as if she is a foal once more, looking at the object with wide eyes.

“Unicorns?” He says in confusion but lets out a long exhausted sigh. “Know what, I'm not going to bother. Yes you can float stuff around but more importantly it lets you pull the trigger to this gun and use medkits without fumbling with your hooves or god forbid your mouth.”

“Hey I'm good at using my mouth.” Scootaloo grumbles, getting a cackling laugh from the man.

“Little Birdie, you really need to be conscious about what you say.” Scootaloo mentally thinks about what he means but before she can figure it out he places the object back down. His thick fingers wrap around a box of the bullets for the Makarov. “You have a full magazine, meaning eight bullets are in the gun and you have four backup ones. Don't waste them because they could mean the difference between life and death.”

“Okay, anything else I need to know?”

“Just that you have one pill, it gets rid of radiation better than Vodka but costs more. Then there is another set of pills here. One fixes up your limbs while the other fixes up your body and head. Use them in emergencies because they cause a crash after an hour or so. Meaning you will fall asleep hard. Oh and this.” He says as he gets up with some difficulty just to go over to a cabinet to bring out a bottle and two cans.

“These cans have meat loaf in them and this bottle holds water.”

“Meat? Like… meat from a creature?”

“Oh come on, don't tell me you are one of those prissy vegetarian freaks?” His words bite into Scootaloo like a dagger as she hesitantly nods. “Little Birdie, your going to need to get used to eating meat because it's the most prevalent source of nourishment here. Beasts in the Zone won't hesitate to eat you so don't second guess doing the same.”

“But…”

“What did I say, no buts. This is survival. Just ignore where it came from and focus on the greater good for yourself.” A few seconds pass before she dejectedly nods. “Good, now the last item for you, your clothes. Now it's not much but it will protect you, it's the standard fabric cloth with some leather padding to protect from any Beasties trying to chew you up.” Sidorovich laughs as he places the cans and bottle on top of the pile of gear but Scootaloo can just watch him in shock.

“You keep making jokes about death and harm… why?” Upon asking this Sidorovich stops and takes a few moments to think about a response.

“I've seen so many faces come and go from here, Birdie. I know what happened to many of them, many more have been lost to the zone mysteriously. There are the rare few I've watched that have been changed by the zone. That's not excluding myself, so I get a bit of brightness by cracking jokes. If you don't like them then keep that to yourself because I'll keep making them.”

Silently Scootaloo takes what the man said to heart and sits there as he gives a final look over her gear.

“Alright Birdie, you are ready to possibly survive. Suit up and come over to me so I can give you your first job, it'll help you get familiar with your artifact and your PDA.”

Author's Note

Sorry it took a bit longer to get this one out to you all. I hope you all enjoy and I'll be more on time this time as my pc had a few hiccups that needed to be ironed out but it's fully good now.

<3