STALKER

>You heft your backpack
>It is filled with the spoils of skirmishes, looting, and death
>It’s also filled with sausage
>Mm mm, sausage
>You look around at the veritable BURNING all around you
>It’s kind of beautiful in a way
>You know, if it weren’t so hot
>You’d take off this armor, but after that one Bloodsucker incident, it didn’t seem like such a good idea
>You make your way into the charred remains of a house
>You toss a bolt
>A massive gout of flame spews up a few feet away from you where it lands
>Perhaps you should go around that
>You sift through blackened, crumbling wood, looking for anything that could be of use
>Neat, a dead body
>Some wandering Monolith moron must’ve gotten too close to the fire
>Maybe he just had a fire fetish
>Regardless, you clear away some of the burnt debris and look in awe upon what you’ve found
>Well, it’s less awe, more surprise
>He’s holding a Wrenched in his hands
>You didn’t expect one of those to be around here
>You haven’t nearly been crushed by a Vortex yet
>You pry the strange, swiss-cheese-esque artifact from his hands, flicking off a few fingers that decided to come with it
>Maybe you could finally use that Moonlight you’ve been toting around all this time without feeling sick
>Maybe not
>This thing was quite ugly
>But some smarty pants back in the Skadovsk said that it’s like a radiation sponge, so maybe he’s right
>Perhaps beauty is in the eye of the beholder
>You hear your radio fizzling
>Weird
>It’s usually got such clear reception
>You take it out and give it a shake
>”*kzzt* -ion…*zzzt* …-ter. I rep-*kzzch* -ake co-…”
>U wot
>You give it some good ol’ percussive maintenance
>Still nothing
>Piece of junk
>You continue your looting
>Ammunition, sausage, vodka
>Pretty standard stuff
>You’re glad some of it was salvageable
>Mr. Monolith here took quite the crisping, so maybe luck was on your side today

>Your heavy breathing through your gasmask is the only sound you hear as you continue your work
>That and the sizzling of the Burner anomaly nearby
>You could probably cook up a mean meal here if it weren’t so dangerous
>How long have you been out here searching anyway?
>Time’s seemed to slip your mind at the moment as you slot your newfound Wrenched into one of your artifact holsters
>Along with the Moonlight you found a couple days back
>Today was a good day
>In fact, it was so good that you don’t even notice the sky starting to turn colors it shouldn’t be
>You’re only pulled away from the task at hand when you hear the sound of low, rumbling, distorted thunder
>You look up through the hole in the burnt roof
>Oh fucking hell
>The day just got a whole less good
>Thanks to your shitty radio and general incompetence, you were about to be caught in an emission
>People caught during an emission don’t generally live to tell the tale
>In fact, you’re pretty sure they just cease to exist
>Well
>Fuck
>You rush outside and look around frantically for a place to seek shelter
>THERE’S NOTHING BUT BURNT BUILDINGS HERE, DAMN IT
>You start running
>You aren’t sure where to, but you’re hoping you get lucky
>There’s no way you could outrun an emission, but maybe you could find shelter somewhere
>Anywhere
>As you sprint, you catch something shimmering in the air out of the corner of your eye
>You turn your head and look as what looks to be a perfect sphere distorts the air and world around it
>Smarty pants back in Skadovsk told you about these
>”Space Anomalies” he called them
>He said they were rifts in time and space
>He also said they were dangerous and could trap people inside
>But at this point, POSSIBLE death was a much better alternative to CERTAIN death
>You alter your course and beeline towards the anomaly
>As you hear the sounds of thunder and the world begins to tremble, you fling yourself into the sphere

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nl-ITnF1N8
>You awaken slowly, eyes cracking open and adjusting to the harsh light
>Were you alive?
>A crystalline city can be viewed through what appears to be a window
>Yeah
>You were definitely dead
>There’s no way a comfortable bed like this exists in the Zone
>And there’s no way such an intact and… Colorful city like the one you can see, exists there either
>On the bright side
>At least there was an afterlife
>You sigh and go to grab the covers, but stop as you see your hand
>Or rather, the lack of one
>All you see is a green hoof
>A hoof
>Hoof
>It repeats over and over in your mind
>You can’t even believe what you’re seeing
>You wiggle it in front of your face
>No, it’s still there
>You look around again, a feeling of confusion creeping over you
>There’s a mirror in the corner of the room
>You pull yourself out of the bed and land on the floor
>You try and walk normally, but it’s as if your legs don’t work the right way anymore
>You find yourself constantly at gravity’s will, being brought forward and landing on the ground with a thud every time
>>ou find that it’s easier to walk on all fours, with your hooves
>You almost dread seeing what you’ve become in the mirror
>But you close your eyes and soldier on, taking a step in front of the mirror and opening one eye
>What you see makes them widen like dinner plates
>You’re
>A pony?
>Small horse?
>Was that why everything seemed way bigger?
>You were considerably shorter than you were before
>And you didn’t resemble a human at all
>Did that Space Anomaly turn you into a mutant?
>You’ve got green skin
>Or… Well, fur?
>WHAT HAPPENED
>WHAT IS THIS PLACE
>You let out a yell
>It’s more of a scream really, seeing as how YOUR VOICE DIDN'T SOUND THE SAME
>You run back to the bed and look out the window, pressing your face against it
>Everywhere you can see these things
>The ponies
>The room’s door slams open
>”What? What, what’s wrong?!”

>In the doorway stands a somewhat panicked looking rose colored pony
>You turn and look at her
>Upon seeing you, she sighs relievedly
>”Oh, you’re alright, thank goodness…”
>You see her trotting over and you instinctively start to back away
>You reach for your holster, but it’s not there
>You’re completely naked
>You wonder how you would handle a gun with these hooves of yours
>You feel yourself being lifted up into the air by some sort of force
>You struggle about to no avail
>You’re engulfed in some strange energy coming from that pony’s horn
>She seems to be checking you over
>”Mhmm... You’re unhurt. Then what was all that screaming about?”
>She sets you down on the bed, where you sit and eye her warily
“Where am I?”
>”Where are you? Why, you’re in the Crystal Empire of course!”
“The Crystal Empire? And where’s that?”
>”We’re located in Northern Equestria, why?”
>Equestria
>What the fuck was this place?
>A land full of tiny horses?
>And now you were the tiny horse
“How did I get here?”
>May as well ask the most important question, right?
>”I’m not sure. One of Somby’s stewards found you unconscious with some strange objects around you.”
“My artifacts!”
>You jump up and nearly fall off the bed
>The pony looks at you curiously
>”Those things were yours?”
“Yes!”
>”Little one, there was a knife amongst them, are you sure they were yours?”
“Yes! Where are they? I need them!”
>She’s just looking at you confused
>”I believe Somby is currently studying them.”
“Who’s Somby? Where can I find him?”
>Somby’s just my nickname for my husband, Sombra. He’s the King of the Crystal Empire.”
>Kings?
>Ponies?
>All this is just too much
>”If you’d like, I can take you to meet him and we can go on a tour of your new home!”
>Well that doesn’t sound too ba- wait what new home?
“New home?”
>”We checked our census records, and we didn’t find you in there anywhere.”

>So now you’re trotting along with this pony
>All the while she’s asking you a whole bunch of questions
>”And what’s your name, sweetie?”
“Anon.”
>”Hm, what a nice name. My name is Radiant Hope. This confirms what we’ve found. We've no records of you ever living here in the Crystal Empire. Where are you from, Anon?”
“Uh… Earth.”
>”Hm, never heard of it before.”
>WHAT
>Was smarty pants right? Did the Space Anomaly really link to another dimension through a rift?
>You try not to think about it
>You’re actually surprised at how easy you’re taking to walking around on your hooves like this
>And this castle was impeccable
>Like, shit you missed Earth but this was WAY better than the Zone
>And nopony had tried to shoot you yet
>What?
>You blink a few times and rub your head
>No ONE had tried to shoot you yet
>That was strange
>You shake it off and follow alongside Hope
>You see a few other ponies milling about, probably performing castle duties
>”Somby should probably still be in his study. At least I hope he is. Finding anypony in this castle is difficult if you lose track of them.”
>You stick a bit closer to her
>As you head through the corridors, you eventually happen upon a set of lavish wooden doors
>”He should be just in here.”
>She knocks on the door before entering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NgEVTj-52U
>Sitting on a chair in front of a desk is a massive pony with a jet black mane
>He appears to be wearing some sort of royal attire
>He turns and greets the two of you with a warm smile
>”Ah, I see that our guest is awake!”
>You look past him, you see your artifacts sitting there on the desk
>You worked hard for those
>You gallop forward and jump for them
>But you’re caught by one of his hooves
>He pulls you close and ruffles your mane
>”Quite the excitable one I see! I suppose I can spare ONE hug.”
>You squirm as you try and get out of his grip
“Lemme go! That stuff’s mine!”
>He merely laughs

>”I’m sure it is. I’m just giving them a look over. I’ve never seen anything quite like them here in the Crystal Empire. Well… Some of your things, anyway.”
>He gives you back the two artifacts and the detector.
>You look them over
“There were more things, weren’t there?”
>Radiant Hope chimes in
>”Of course there were, but little fillies shouldn’t be wandering around with knives OR alcohol, for pony’s sake!”
“I’m not little!”
>Sombra pats your head
>”Of course you aren’t. Now run along. Barnes, please escort little Anon here and make sure she doesn’t get lost. And don’t forget to pick up my son from school, if you would.”
>A pony wearing a suit trots over and nods, speaking in a posh accent
>”But of course, sir.”
>He turns and opens the door for you
>”After you, Miss Anon.”
>She?
>Miss?
>You look at your body
>You look down, between your legs
>OH GOD
>IT’S GONE
>NO
>FUCK
>You’re just about to have a meltdown when Barnes nudges you along
>”Please do come along Miss Anon, King Sombra and Lady Hope have much to discuss.”
>BUT YOUR DICK
>YOUR DICK IS GONE
>AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
>NO
>You feel like you want to cry
>But
>Why?
>That’s not typically the reaction you’d have to a situation like this
>You shake your head hard
“Hey, where are we going?”
>”As His Lordship Sombra said, to pick up he and Lady Hope’s son, Crystal Dusk, from school. The King and Queen are busy ponies. I’m sure that you and he will get along fine.”
>You don’t want to get along
>You want to go home
>Or
>Do you?
>How bad was this place, really?
>There’s no raving lunatics trying to shoot you over their magical rock
>No mutants trying to mind control you or suck your blood
>And on top of that, everypony
>Every ONE
>Here seemed rather nice
>It wasn’t that fake nice that everyone in the Zone had, where they’d be all happy and smiles, but secretly they had 17 guns pointed at you

>You grumble a bit
>You’re having trouble balancing these artifacts
>You miss your cool backpack
>And your vodka
>Almost as if Barnes is reading your thoughts, you see a saddlebag come into view
>”Here Miss Anon, you appear to be having some difficulty.”
>You take it and drop the two artifacts in
>It’s a lot easier to trot along and not have to worry about them
“So what’s this Crystal Dusk like anyway?”
>”I suppose you could ask him that yourself.”
>He extends one of his scarlet hooves towards a dark gray colt that was currently bounding towards the two of you
>His mane was a bit wavy, and held a muted hue of blue
>”Hi Mr. Barnes!”
>”Good afternoon Prince Dusk, shall I take your bag for you?”
>”What? No, that’s fine, I’ve got it! Who’s this?”
>The colt is a little taller than you, but judging by your appearance in the mirror, he’s around the same age
>He walks around you curiously
>”I’ve never seen her at school before.”
“Because I just got here.”
>”Oh wow, that’s neat. What’s your name?”
“It’s Anon.”
>This pony seems a bit overly enthusiastic
>”That’s a nice name. It’s nice to meet you, Anon!”
>He extends a hoof and smiles
>You hesitantly meet it and give a little shake, doing your best to smile back
>”So where are you from, Anon?”
>”I’m uh, I’m from Earth.”
>”Earth? Where’s that?”
>Good point
>Where WAS Earth in relation to this horseland?
“Ah, it’s pretty far away.”
>”Oh, so you moved here?”
“Sort of, yeah. I um.. I think I’m gonna be living here for a while.”
>”Oh that’s awesome! You’ll love it here! There’s so many cool things to do! Maybe you could even come over to the castle one day!”
>”Prince Dusk, she’s currently occupying a room at the castle, per your mother’s request.”
>You see the colt smiling brightly
>”Oh wow, really? That’s even better!”
>You begin on your trek back to the castle, which thankfully wasn't too far

>You enter the crystal castle once more
>”Where’s mom and dad, Barnes?”
>”Most likely still having a discussion in the study.”
>”Come on Anon! Let’s go!”
>He grabs your hoof and starts to pull you along
>Why do YOU have to go?!
>You already met them!
>You do start trotting alongside him, if only because being pulled along wasn’t comfortable
>You follow him through the myriad of identical corridors
>This place was bafflingly confusing
>Seemingly for no reason other than to irk you
>But he seems to know which way he’s going, because the two of you have ended back up in Sombra’s study
>”Mom! Dad! I’m back from school!"
>”Haha, there’s my boy!”
>The colt jumps into his dad’s arms and gives him a hug
>You come in with a less grandiose entrance, simply observing the scene in front of you
>”Why didn’t you tell me that we were gonna be getting somepony new living in the castle?”
>”Well because she only just arrived today, honey.”
>Hope ushers you over
>”Now Anon, me and Somby have been talking while you were out with Barnes.”
>That doesn’t sound good
>You always got nervous whenever anypon- anyONE used any variation of “we need to talk”
“O-Oh?”
>”Mhmm. And we thought that seeing as how you don’t seem to have a home anywhere here in the Crystal Empire, and we’ve not heard any words from anypony claiming to be your parents…”
>Because they didn’t exist here
>Sombra pipes in
>”We’ve decided to adopt you ourselves, raise you like one of our own! Won’t that be grand?”
>…Wat
>It’s not really that far-fetched of a solution, but still
>Being adopted by ponies?
>Granted, you were kind of a pony right now
>You wonder
>How bad could it really be?
>You try and be as enthusiastic as possible
“Wow, really? That sounds great! Thank you so much!”
>It was spooky how naturally that came to you
>You suppose that
>Well
>It couldn’t be all that bad, right?
>If anything, it was better than the Zone

>And so you had become the new adopted daughter of the royal family
>You got your own room and all
>Right next to Dusk’s of course
>You wouldn’t put it past them to manage to lose you in this place
>But hey
>This place was comfy as hell
>It was better than sleeping sitting up at the top of a tower on the lookout for pseudogiants
>You still don’t know how you managed to find one of those
>Let alone make it angry enough to come after you
>You lay in bed, holding up the softly glowing Moonlight artifact
>The Wrenched lays on your chest
>You knew how to take the precautions for this sort of thing
>You know this thing could have fetched a pretty nice price back in the Zone
>It could here as well, you assumed
>But without these ponies knowing what else it gave them, they’d most likely only take it for a pretty bauble
>Your mom and dad-
>Er
>Hope and Sombra were going to take you to get you enrolled in school tomorrow
>You protested of course
>You’d already been to school
>But it was no use
>With this tiny horse body, you’d effectively regressed in age
>”All little fillies and colts have to go to school, Anon!” They said
>You roll the Moonlight about in your hooves, watching as it casts an almost hypnotic glow across the crystal walls
>It was like an art piece almost
>You sat up and put them both on your nightstand
>You’d already had to tell Dusk not to mess with them unless he was gonna take both
>You pull your admittedly somewhat girly covers over you
>Not that you would ever admit it, but you quite enjoy having a warm bed to sleep in, even if it IS a bit frilly
>It’s a welcome change from sleeping in a crumbling, Snork-infested building
>You even had a pillow
>You sigh contentedly, closing your eyes
>The more you stayed here, the more you realized that this place
>Equestria
>Wasn’t half-bad
>Even if you were now a little filly


>You close your eyes and snuggle into your pillow
>Did you really wanna go back to the Zone?
>No
>No not really
>Here you had a nice warm bed
>A hot meal
>And some strange, but loving parents by proxy
>They’re a bit dorky
>It doesn’t take you long to fall asleep
>In fact this is the fastest you’re able to fall asleep in a while
>As soon as your head hits the pillow, you’re out like a light
.
.
.
>”Anonnn…”
>You grumble a bit and turn over, pulling your covers tighter around you
>”Anon, wake up, we’ve got to go get you enrolled in school.”
>You groan loudly as your blinds are opened and sunlight hits your face
>You try and close your eyes even tighter than they already are
>You feel yourself suddenly pulled out of bed by that weird energy again
“AaaAAAH!”
>”Anon, sweetie, when I say wake up, that means wake up.”
“R-Right. Sorry Mom.”
>You’re finding it a bit scary how naturally that kind of stuff is starting to come to you
>”Now come along, the chefs have prepared a nice breakfast for you.”
>She finally puts you down and you trot alongside her
>Which is harder than it would seem, seeing as how she has longer strides than you do
>She slows down a bit upon realizing this
>”We’ve already sent Dusk along to school. Once you’re done eating I’ll take you to get enrolled.”
>Hope taps her chin for a moment
>”Though they won’t let you start on the same day. I’m sure we’ve got something for you to do here in the castle, or in the gymnasium.”
“There’s a gymnasium here?”
>”Mhm! The Equestrian Games were held there a couple times.”
>The horse equivalent of the Olympics or something?
>Strange
>It makes you wonder what other equivalencies they’ve got here in Equestria
>You step into the dining hall and are greeted by a stunning array of breakfast foods
>You honestly don’t think you could eat it all
>But damn it if you weren’t gonna try
>You haven’t eaten this well in years


>After breakfast, you find yourself trotting along the crystal streets, glancing at the passing ponies
>Who are also made of crystal
>Are you walking on dead crystal horses right now?
>Is this some horrible, unspoken rule of the Crystal Empire that the dead are repurposed as the buildings and the pavement?
>Your mind goes blank for a second as you try and remember what you were thinking about
>To no avail
>Surely it’ll come to you sometime later
>You’re led towards the school, where apparently it’s recess at the moment
>Shit
>You remember recess
>Granted, you were kind of the kind of kid that tried to get the teacher to let you stay inside and read
>You fucking nerd
>You’re hopeful at least that this might give you a chance to start over
>Tomorrow
>You head inside with your mom, where you sit in something almost akin to a waiting room while she fills out some paperwork
>You’re out there for quite a while, simply trotting around
>You occupy yourself for quite a while by simply staring at a picture of a pony that appeared to be staring back
>You start to trot away, then look back at the painting of the mare
“You talkin’ to me?”
>It says nothing
“You talkin’ to me?” You say with even more inflection
>It remains silent
“You talkin’ to me?”
>You look around
“Then who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here.”
>It continues to watch you
“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”
“Oh yeah? Yeah? Okay…”
>You whip out your detector from your saddlebag right as Hope trots out
>You almost end up flinging it out of your hoof, and you fumble with it for a bit before tucking it neatly away
>You feel your cheeks redden as your mother looks at you confusedly
>”Well… Now that’s all taken care of, we should head back to the castle. I’ve got some things I need to take care of with Somby.”
>What the hell were you supposed to do in the meantime then?


>And so you’re back at the castle
>You admit, it’s not a half bad place to be compared to the Zone
>But it was at least a bit exciting there
>You look at a nearby clock
>It looks to be around the time kids get off from school
>You step outside and the guard standing at attention outside of your door turns his head and looks down at you
>”Ms. Anon. Is there something you need?”
“I’m gonna go outside.”
>”I am under orders from Lady Hope to escort you wherever you need to go.”
>Great
>You just wanted to go out and explore for a bit by yourself
>But now you’ve got this armored gemstone following you around
>You trot outside, the clinking of armor echoing your hoofsteps
>Could be worse
>You find yourself wandering about the town aimlessly
>According to your bodyguard, the Crystal Empire is divided up into districts to make organization easier
>You were currently in the market district if he was to be believed
>The sound of a commotion drifts through the air, along with what appears to be the sounds of clanging metal
>You start to follow it along, your curiosity getting the better of you
>Last time this happened, you ended up in a land of talking horses
>Surely they didn’t have emissions here though
>Hopefully
>This place was too beautiful for one of those terrible things to sweep through here
>”It’s every day with you, always trying to shirk your responsibilities around the shop!”
>”Ah! Ah! Hey don’t swing that thing around, you could take my head off with it!”
>”Red, I keep telling you every day that you can go out to play when your chores and work are done.”
>You hear a groan
>”But Ironnnnn all the kids are long gone by the time I’m done!”
>”Well that sounds like a personal problem to me. If you put half as much effort into finishing your chores as you did trying to avoid them, maybe you’d get them done quicker. Now get going, we’ve still gotta continue with your lessons for today as well.”


>As you round a corner, you see the tail end of all the ruckus
>There’s a mare holding a hammer with that strange energy from her horn, and a colt dejectedly trotting away towards a door to the shop
>You look up at your bodyguard
“What’s all that about?”
>”That is the Crystal Empire’s resident blacksmith, Iron Kiss. A year or so ago she took an orphan colt in as her apprentice. Red Forge I believe his name is.”
>A fitting name for a blacksmith’s apprentice at least
>”Ms. Anon, do excuse me for a moment whilst I go speak with Iron Kiss. Do not wander too far.”
>You roll your eyes as your escort makes his way over
>One of your ears twitch as you hear a strange noise coming from out back behind the workshop.
>Ever the curious filly, you follow the sound until you’re out behind the building
>Just in time to see Red Forge trying to lower himself out the window
>You blink a few times
>As Red hits the ground, you speak up
“Hi there!”
>”Waagh!”
>He jumps a bit and turns around too quickly
>He ends up stumbling back into a trough of water
>Though you want to help him, the sight is just too much, and you start snickering, then laughing
>You sigh and trot over, helping him out of the water
>His silvery coat is drenched, and his blue mane is matted and dripping wet
“Eheh, sorry about startling you. I was just uh… Trying to introduce myself.”
>Hope did say that you should try and make friends
>”You sure got a strange way of doing so.”
>You extend your hoof
”I’m Anon.”
>He takes your hoof and shakes it
>”Red Forge.”
>The name doesn’t even match his colors
>What gives
“So you… Work here? Or something?”
>As Red is about to answer you hear that voice from before


>It’s Iron Kiss
>”Red! What are you doing back here? Were you trying to sneak out?!”
>He stammers, trying to come up with an excuse as the mare looms over the both of you
>You watch her horn glow as she uses that energy to grab his ear and start tugging him along
>”Alright young man, that’s it. YOU’RE going to take care of all of the orders today. You’d better get to forging if you want to be done by supper.”
>”M-Mom stop! Stop! Not in front of my frieeeeaaaaghh!”
>He flails as he’s tugged along
>RIP
>You hear the familiar sound of armor as your bodyguard trots over
>”Are you okay, Miss Anon?”
>Every single time someone calls you that you cringe a little bit on the inside
>But this time, it’s less so
>It feels somewhat natural
“Of course.”
>You watch the center crystal inlaid into the guard’s armor pulse a few times
>”It appears that King Sombra is summoning us back. Come along Miss Anon, if it’s urgent we shouldn’t waste much time.”
>The guard accompanies you back to the castle and the two of you end up back in Sombra’s study
>”Ah you’re back Anon. Apologies for cutting your time in town short, but I believe I may need your help.”
>Your help?
“My help? Why?”
>”Because of this.”
>Sombra turns around and holds out a Fireball
>The smoldering sphere rests gently in his hoof
>Until you smack it out of it, sending it rolling to the ground over into a corner
>”Anon! What in the world was that for?” Sombra stands, towering over you
>He’s quite intimidating
>You immediately drop your saddlebags on the ground and pull out the Wrenched, before shoving it against his chest
“Hold this for a while and don’t touch the other thing.”
>Your dad looks at it for a moment
>”Why is that?”
>You’re about to answer when you stop
>Do these ponies even know what radiation is?
>How would they? They don’t’ seem to even be at that technology level


>How would you even explain the concept of radiation?
“It’s just… These things can make you real sick if you stay around them too much.”
>”And why is the one you gave me any different. Anon, what’s going on?”
“Okay. So, these things, called artifacts, give off really bad energy that makes you sick, except some of them don’t, and can actually negate and remove that energy. Like the one you’re holding.”
>Sombra seems to nod along with your explanation
>”I see, so some sort of malicious magical energy is given off by them?”
>Magic?
>Is that what they’ve been doing with their horns every time?
“Er, yes you could say that. These things are all over the place in the place I come from.”
>”Why wouldn’t they be cleaned up or disposed of? It seems like quite the poor way to deal with these things if they’re dangerous to just leave them lying around.”
>”No you see that’s the thing, they’re dangerous, but they’ve got upsides to them as well.”
>Sombra raises an eyebrow
“Like the one you found just recently, it’s called a Fireball. If you kept that on you somewhere, you’d probably be able to put your hoof on an oven without getting burnt. Don’t ask me how it works. Because I don’t know.”
>”I see… So they all have different properties, I assume?”
>You nod
“Off the top of my head, I remember one known as Kolobok. Simply holding it is enough for it to heal wounds of any kind, but like most of these artifacts, they give off that harmful energy.”
>”Since you seem to be the expert on these “artifacts” would you perhaps have any advice on how to handle them and storage for safekeeping? I’d hate for any of my subjects to come across these and become sick.”
“Do you have anything made out of lead?”


>”Lead? Whatever for?”
“It’s a material that helps negate that harmful energy. If anything, storing the artifacts in something lead-based  would make them safe for storage and transportation.”
>”Verbose, but if you say so, I shall put an executive order in to our blacksmith at once. Until then.”
>Sombra takes the Fireball with his magic, keeping the Wrenched close
>”I’ll store this away somewhere safe until then. If more of these start appearing, I may need your assistance in the matter.”
>You scrunch up your muzzle
>More coming through?
>How’s that possible unless other ponies are tossing in artifacts?
>Other… Ponies?
>Other ponies
>OTHER PONIES
>No matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to think about that other word
>What other word?
>After a moment, the feeling washes away, and you can’t even remember why you were scared and confused in the first place
>Strange