Metro 2033

(This is a grimdark rp.)

The sun on your face. Fresh air in your lungs. Grass under your hooves. These are all things you will never experience. A generation ago a great magical explosion wiped out most of Equestria. It seems that the only survivors of this catastrophe were those who happened to be in the Stalliongrad metro tunnels as nopony else outside of the city has been contacted. Everypony on the surface was destroyed in some fashion or another, whether turned into potted plants or vanished from the earth. Either way, they are no more.

Over the course of 20 years, the government maintained by the Metro Authority has largely collapsed, but has not completely died. It now operates within the hub of the metro, the central station now known as Polis. The name pays homage to the ancient pegasi city naming conventions. As far as everypony is concerned, Polis is the largest 'city', boasting the largest sustainable population and wealth of any individual station. To some, it is seen as the last bastion of civilization, especially since it has the largest readily accessible library.

All of the other stations now function as their own 'city states' that for the most part largely trade and live in harmony with each other. Some stations specialize in food cultivation, while others become centers of production, trading back and forth with each other through the main tunnels and maintenance tunnels. The Commonweath of the Stations of the Round Line, Round Line, or simply the Horsna (named after a league of ancient pony trading cities) is the largest and successful of the mercantile stations, since each station within the Round Line crosses with every other line within the metro.

Just as stations will ally and trade with one another, sadly they will go to war with each other. The most notable conflict within the metro is that between the Royal Line, and the Reich. It's largely assumed that every nearby station is at war with the Reich as they are universally hated for what they do to nonponies and non native Stalliongrad ponies, albeit to a lesser extent. Anypony caught by a pony of the Reich can look forward to being used as either slave labor, or target practice. In comparison the ponies of the Royal Line can be considered saints, though they're not much better. Anypony who insults a soldier within the Royal Line will be detained, and sometimes even killed. Conversely soldiers are often sent to their deaths in droves against the entrenched Reich. However, with the largest and often starving population due to food shortages, the Royal Line can afford to sacrifice ponies by the dozen without second thought. The leadership of the Royal Line seem to have forgotten everything that was good about the Princesses and have modeled their society around the often fictitious negative side of royalty. Outside of these larger figures, there exists many different combinations of stations of different resources and ideologies.

Even inside dark and cramped tunnels, life always finds a way. Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns still live in (relative) harmony with each other. Even in the dark corridors and artificial lights, earth ponies can still breathe life into a pile of sand and turn it into a garden. They ensure the survival of the metro's inhabitants. A typical diet consists of different varieties of fungi, moss, and not much else. Fruits and vegetables are still grown, but availability largely depends on a station's wealth and distance from the plantations, as does everything of necessity.

With the weather in an absolute mess, completely dictated by the swirls of rogue magical energy, the pegasi fulfill their second ancient role as the protectors of the ponies who reside in the metro. Rather than live in the cramped confines of a station, most pegasi will don weaponry and protective equipment to patrol the tunnels and to fly on the surface. For this same reason many of the more adventurous pegasi find work as stalkers, daredevil ponies who comb the tunnels and surface, looking for anything of value despite the dangers of the magic induced anomalies, mutated monsters, and other hostile ponies like bandits. These ponies are seen as heroes to the general populace since they risk their lives to get required materials that allow life to continue on. Unicorns will also find themselves in these roles, though as a whole they provide the manufacturing backbone of the metro as well as maintenance officers for all the different systems that keep everypony from suddenly suffocating to death.

With bits being both difficult to find and produce, they've fallen completely out of favor. In search of something to fill the void, station leaders have taken to paying their administrations and soldiers with a very sought after commodity. Alcohol. Bars in every station serve as exchanges for the liquid currency, converting between mushroom vodka, moonshine, and smooth pre disaster booze, milliliters at a time. Consider their relation to be like pieces of copper, silver, and gold. Most ponies will carry a double chambered hip flask for their money. Even rarer is the three chamber variety. Although alcohol has found itself to be a currency, it is still consumed though more readily in the case of beer and cider.

It was a fairly decent haul. A couple books, a package of sunflower seeds, some toys and crayons for the foals. The greatest prize however was a wax sealed bottle of whiskey. All of this was in addition to a couple of miscellaneous goods swapped at a solitary station cut off from the rest of the metro due to a tunnel collapse. It definitely wasn't a place you'd want to move to, but it made for a decent port in the storm when out scavenging in the nearby ruins.



Cedar, the eldest of the group stayed stoically quiet, as he always did, as the group descended the stairs leading to the surface entrance of their home station. Ever since he went exploring and got lost in the tunnels as a foal, he was never quite right in the head. Most especially since unlike other ponies who had had traumatic experiences in the dark, he was not afraid of it. He silently stepped to the side to allow the much lighter colored Icicle forward who then gave the great metal doors a solid buck on the solid metal emergency doors.



"Hey, open up in there! It's just a couple of bandits here to make everypony miserable and drink up the money supply!"

A third pony among them kept mostly quiet, feeling a bit winded from the journey. The brown unicorn with blonde and white streaked mane had packed far too heavily, being his first time out. He had spent so many hours the night before thinking about everything he might need,

While he was a pony of 'education', thanks to his mother, he had a thirst for adventure. Both his interest collided in such a way that he had to bring both his curiosity and his preparedness with him, neither of which did well for him this trip.

"Is....that wise?" Brown huffed at Icicle. That was the last thing he figured you would want to say.

Brown was also very nervous to see his mothers reaction on his return. She had been very negative about his desire to go outside, even though she had done so many times on her own. Considering how much trouble she gave him, he bet that despite her promises, she had probably drank a little. Usually he worried about that, but on this occasion it made him smile.

Icicle laughed and punched his friend in the shoulder. "Hey, everypony in the station knows me! They know I'm just joking!" He turned back around to pound his hoof against the great metal door. "Right guys? Hey! Open up already!"

Cedar shuffled on his hooves. Even with his clothes he still felt the chilling bite of winter. His ears hung low on his head in misery. They quickly perked back up when he heard the doors begin to open. He quickly shoved aside his friend to make his way to the fire the gate guards had set up.

Icicle followed with a big grin under his mask, only to be stopped by the firm hoof of the gate captain. "You're here to make everypony miserable, eh you snake in the grass? Boys, haul this criminal off to the jail." The older stallion gives the other two boys a smile as Icicle was hauled off by two soldiers while protesting heavily. "I'm glad to see you both made it back in one piece. I hope you found your fortunes so you don't have to do it again... Well go on, ponies like you don't deserve the same fate as that blowhard. Bookworm! Close the doors already!"

"Wait!" came a voice from the stairs. A lone pony was sprinting towards the enterance, hoping to make it through before the doors closed. The pony in question was Bullet Magnet, and he was running from something that could be heard bearing down on him from behind. He had a pistol strapped to his leg and every so often he would turn, tense his shoulder muscles to fire it, but it was jammed.

"I've got 3 watchers behind me and my gun won't work!" Behind him, 3 wolf/rat beast appeared. They saw the potential for more prey and howled.

"They're signaling others!" Bullet shouted. "at least give me a gun that works!"


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Brown looked back and went wide eyed. Their whole trip they hardly had many run ins with any trouble, but now it was here right on their doorstep. Right where home was.

He stuttered for a moment before giving up words all together and fumbling with his bag on his saddle. He wasted precious seconds trying to get it open before yanking out his revolver and aiming it at the watchers. It shook nervously in his magical hold. Hardly able to even get his aim on it. He knew he would be a crappy shot like this and was smart enough to not waste any shots until he knew he could aim.

"S-somepony get the door." He said backing up, nearly tripping over himself in his adrenaline flooded state.

Before Cedar could get his own weapon, the station guards had all ready sprung into action. An over entusiastic earth pony armed with two Bastard guns strapped to his sides stood in the middle and let loose a hail of bullets at the incoming watchers while a unicorn quickly pulled the strange pony in with his magic while two others worked to close the doors fully.

With the doors shut, the guard captain stood over Bullet. "So, what brings you to our station, eh?'

Cedar slowly came up to his brother and patted his shoulder and waited for him to settle.

Bullet was out of breath for a few moments. When he could speak, he looked up at the guards.

"Thanks for back there." Bullet said, "I've come here to trade. I heard that toys sell for a high price here, well higher than my home station at least, so I went out and scavaged some. That's when I was unfortunate enough to run into those watchers. If only my bucking gun didn't jam!" He unstrapped the pistol from his leg and began to look it over. "Ahh here's the problem: some dirt got stuck in the chamber." Bullet poured out the dirt from the weapon before reloading, and restrapping it.

Bullet looked back at the guards, "So, wheres a place to trade around here huh?"

Brown spent a few moments shaking, still holding the revolver aimed at the now closed door. He took a few deep breaths before putting away the gun.

"...I'm....Okay...I'll be-"

"BROWN! CEDAR!"

Brown winced at the sound. He knew exactly who that was. Usually it meant he was in trouble.

"...Here comes mother."

The light yellow cream colored pony with blue mane trotted up to Brown and Cedar. Eyes narrow, she stopped just short of them and glared at them both.

"....Brown...You left without waiting for me to see you off..." She said. The older pony leaning in toward him. "Both of you did."

Brown smiled nervously. "Oh...But there was a caravan leaving and everyone said we had to go with them or miss the opportunity to travel together and-"

He was cut off when Shala's horn lit up and a belt with a few speed loaders of ammo floated off her back. "And this?"

Now Brown knew he was in real trouble. "Oh...Uh...I guess if forgot to load it-" But he was quickly cut off when Shala rushed forward and grabbed them both in a hug.

"You stupid pony. You had me so worried." She pulled them in tightly together. "I should have sent you to some gun school or something. Or maybe given you a gun when you were younger so you weren't so shy about it." She pulled back and gave them both a quick nuzzle. "I love you too much to let you get hurt. But don't forget your ammo you dunce. Or I swear I'll graft that to your leg." Brown winced at the idea.

"I saw Icicle being dragged off like a clown. How was your first trip? Get anything?"

Cedar hugged and nuzzled her back. Though his eyes remained dead as they usually did, he was happy to see his adoptive mother. "It was mostly peaceful on the surface, until one of the others stepped in the way of a wayward burst of magic when I told him to freeze." He turned his head back to his saddlebag. "Some seeds, Daring Do novels, some crayons for the foals and we did some trading when we reached Counting House Station. Some ammunition, filters, pain killers. But the most valuable thing we found coming back..." he lifted the flap of his saddle bag and held a bottle of unopened whiskey in his mouth before his mother.


The captain snorted. "Didn't you also hear we don't like strange ponies bringing monsters to our gates? I hope you have enough vodka to pay off the ammunition spent saving your ass."

Bullet lazily checked his hip flask.

"Well that depends on the ammount." Bullet said, frustrated. He just wanted to trade his goods and leave. "of course if you told me where I could trade my goods then I may or may not be inclined give you generous hosts a bit of my profits." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Shala's face lit up at the sight of the bottle. She took it in her magical hold and carefully inspected it. "Now this is promising. Lets see. Booker, aged 9 years in the barrel. This is fine stuff. A premium." She looked to them both and smiled. "Well, looks like your trip paid off. But that still doesn't forgive the worry you put me through. Next time i might just have to go with you."

Brown winced at that. He loved his mother, but having her with him all the time was a little awkward. "It's okay mother. I think we are okay on our-"

Her deadpan stare at him quickly made him reconsider. "O-or you can come if you like...." Shala then smiled.

"I'll let you go on your own with comfort eventually, but you keep Cedar with you. He has that simple solutions perspective that your father sometimes lacked." She frowned at her mention of him. Brown knew she didn't like to talk about him.

A slim form meanwhile emerged from the darkness of the metro tunnel. Her step was proud but she was visibly downtrodden, and so advanced she in quite a mechanical manner.

The armed escorts with which she had been dispatched had taken their leave somewhere along the length of the previous tunnel, for she had been set forth as part of her station's secret desperation, and her return was not valuable. Despite her travels, her coat remained in pristine condition and her furs, dry. Even the rust on the bayonette strapped to her hindleg had been sanded off.

Image was everything. It differentiated between life and death; prosperity and ruin.

Fascined to her left epaulette was a great flag boasting an immaculate red, indicative of many years of ginger handling. It, in turn, sported a profound ensemble of stylized spear rods, bound together amongst an axehead - a fasce.

Now, alone before the iron doors painted red in the dim light, Victoria erected her profile. Her melancholy demeanor, in moments prior so dissoluble, suddenly transmutated into joyousness.

"Magnificent tidings, gentlecolts!" she exclaimed in a feminine contralto voice, lifting her right hoof enthusiastically. "Your friends of the National Party wish to engage in goodly intercourse. I entreat you to admit me on the behalf of interstate commerce!"

The mare maintained her posture and waited intently for the ensuing response.

Cedar smiled just faintly at seeing her light up. With his business concluded, he slinked off into the station proper.


The captain pushed him firmly. "You'll pay up, or you'll work the mushroom farm until you work it off. Cheapskate, make sure our 'friend' here doesn't cause any trouble." The pony in question came up from behind the captain. He was a cream colored weasley looking thing. The only way a pony like him would become a soldier would either be due to a lack of career options, wanting to have power over ponies that his small frame couldn't have otherwise, or that the station had a conscription program.

"Yeah, I'll take care of him. The market's down the hall."


Victoria found herself being bathed in a bright light from above. "Well heyheyheyhey! What do we have here? We don't get ponies like you out this way! How much did that coat cost you, little lady? Five flasks of bourbon?" Then came the sound of a hoof striking a metal helmet.

"And you wonder why you're still single. We'll have the gate open in just a second, miss."

The floodlight was shut off and the great metal doors began to move. The area just beyond the doors was lacking in military hardware except for a few guards. The rails were clear except for a couple rail cars, one of which two ponies were loading crates into via a pulley. A separate soldier at Victoria's height came up to her. Beneath her helmet she had the rounded curves of a mare instead of the hard lines of a stallion. "Welcome to Latent, miss. What's your business here?"

As Bullet was being led to the market, he saw a door to one of the tunnels open, and a pony stepped through it. Bullet stopped and stared. The pony was a mare. Mysterious, yet familiar at the same time.

"Hey, watchdog" Bullet said to Cheapskate, "who is that fine, fine mare over there?" Bullet felt like he knew her from somewhere, but he wasn't sure where. He then saw the knife strapped to her hoof.

"She certainly can take care of herself, how did she get through a tunnel with eveything still looking decent?" Bullet thought to himself.

Shala watched Cedar go off, being his silent self. She knew he had a different way of being social. All the same she took care of him just like Brown.

As Cedar left, Brown tried to slink off and follow, but Shala put a hoof to block his path. "Son, I have been meaning to talk to you about something. It needs to be private."

Brown immediately winced, thinking that she might have a swearing fit to share with him like he had over heard on some of his mothers occasional bad days. But her distant smile told him that this was something serious.

They both moved not to far away to the entrance of their worn down home. It was conveniently still in sight of most the market and gate. It was not too terrible to other ponies standards, but Shala had her share of good liquor finds and had to house two others.

Brown felt an immense wave of anxiety coming over him as his mother looked down with a troubled frown. "Mother, is everything alright?"

Shala reached into her mane and took out her banged up flask, her personal reserve of liquor, and quickly took a swig. She never drank so much unless it was something really troubling to her.

"...Its...about your father. There is something you need to know about him that I have been hiding...."

Victoria eyed her counterpart and was immediately displeased by her sex - it was known to her wherefore mares were all too often less agreeable with what she had to say. While these regards she would not express, the mare did what she could to mitigate their conversation.

She spoke in an audible, pious tone; one which she had refined through years of deployment, and which successfully did away with her previous fatigue.

"Good day, comrade, and thank you for your time. I'yull be quite concise: I, as a representative of the provident National Party, have been allocated to your station to inform you and your associates of our new economic intrigue." Victoria paused grandly to set the flag, which extended high above her head, into the nearby hole of a dislodged rivet. It stood beside her imposingly.

"We operate a glorious domestic arms manufacturing facility which shall solely produce the next generation of defensive war machinery. It is then that we seek to be your benefactors. And these benefits will be tremendous, if you will allow me to detail this endeavor amidst your superiors." She punctuated the last syllable in a disseminating manner and met the mare's eyes confidently.

Victoria also minded the eye of a stallion as he passed into the marketplace, but chose not to react.

"I've never seen her before. No pony in that fancy of clothing ever comes here. Now do your trading so I can go back to the fire."


The guard pony just stared at her, not understanding half of her words. "Soooo you want to see the administrator?"

Bullet walked through the marketplace, taking his time to examine the various items being traded. He found a stand selling toys, and began to barter his haul. It was a good variety, so he was paid a good sum of vodka and a little moonshine. The trader didn't have much to say, except

"Get outta here, i got more customers." Bullet weaved back through the market untill he found Cheapskate.

"Alright, I think im good." Bullet said.

Meanwhile, another pony had made his way in from the front entrance. Immediatly, ponies could see that this one spent most of their time outside. His duster draped over his body was full of holes and fraying cuts around the edges. His flat brim hat had a deep cut in it. His mane was greying along with wrinkles showing on his aged body. His duster wafted softly as he took slow steps, a ringing of spurs with each hind leg impact. Whatever he may be carrying was hidden beneath his cloth.

The pony known at Silver scanned the inside of the station after walking in, his pale blue eyes narrow and sharp, even in a darker underground.

One of the guards at the door who let him in had to ask. "...Are you looking for something?"

Silver scanned for a few moments more before he saw what he was looking for and answered. "....I'm looking for a pony named Shalaska Woods...." And slowly began to walk toward the blue maned pony in the distance.


Shala's gaze looked over her sons shoulders, catching sight of the old stallion. She immediately went pale. "...To soon...Brown, go find Cedar and have some lunch. We can talk later." She shoved the whiskey bottle from earlier into his face and was already trying to show him out the door.

"What? Wait, whats wrong? What about dad? Is something-" Shala gave Brown her most intimidating stare, making him hold his words and back up. "I....Okay...Ill be back later..." He turned around and left very confused. He had to tell Cedar.

Shala watched him go before looking at the approaching stallion and rushed back into her home.

The blunt response, while somewhat off-putting, did justice to her purpose.

"Yes ma'am, if you please," Victoria replied with reproachful formality.

Within any opportune moment she would begin taking inventory of her environment. Undoubtedly Victoria would not be returning to her origin on that same day cycle; in fact her intent was to negotiate a night's stay amongst these station-dwellers, and so this was important.

First, she took note of each guard's armor pieces as they stood in sight. For reasons unspoken, this observation was apparently vital to her cause.

Subsequently, she reconsidered the passing phrases of that stallion as he was conducted along some passageway. The mention of trade suggested two significant truths: one, that this establishment was indeed commercially inclined, and two, that there had to exist some public marketplace beyond her field of view. Aside from these, the dark tendriled stallion appeared particularly cognizant of her presence, which inspired concerns in itself.

Lastly, she identified the distant sound of youthful voices. The station therefore likely hosted a multifaceted community as opposed to, she deduced, a wholely militaristic society.

And so Victoria took into account this seemingly impertinent knowledge as she assumed the soldier's lead.

Cheapskate looked back from a mare he was talking to that obviously didn't want his attention. He promised her that he'd be back before he lead him back to the guard captain who was no sitting at the fire along with the other guards.

"Well I hope you've got enough. That'll be five shots of 'shine. Or we'll just lock you up and say we caught you sneaking into the station. Your choice."



The guard pony looked her up and down and decided that a pony as fancily dressed as her had to be here for a good enough reason. The concept of an assassin was completely foreign to her as the only threats she knew of were too rowdy stalkers and the mutants that roamed the tunnels. "Right this way, ma'am." She lead the fancy pony through a small section of the market. It was mostly full of ponies sitting around a few fires and candles talking, suggesting it was a meeting area as much as it was a place of business. Military presence was fairly light. The administrator's office was guarded by two other militia ponies. Its door was also just a board of plywood. "This pony needs to see the boss."

A stallion on duty knocked on the board with his hoof. "Hey boss! Some fancy foreign pony wants to speak with you!" He grinned at the new mare and slid the door open.

The office was relatively small, though it contained a couch, a desk, a mat in front of the desk for visiting ponies to sit on, and a small shelf with few books at the back. The administrator typed away at a typewriter on her desk, not seeming to pay the foreigner much heed.



Cedar sat in his spot. A tiny nook that lied between the entrance to the cramped residential areas and the station's small restaurant. He usually sat here because he enjoyed listening to the records one of the neighboring ponies liked to play. he looked up at Brown with his foreboding eyes. "Pony blood is going to spill today."

As Bullet was walking back to the captain of the gaurd, he again saw the mysterious pony that had arived earlier.

"Where have I seen her before?" Bullet wondered to himself. Then it suddenly hit him.

Faces, a crowd of faces was blocking Bullet's view of the scene. Ponies were running from a body that was lying in the middle of the marketplace. Guards arrived, and began pushing ponies back, away from the body. acusations began flying, shots were fired, and confusion, and chaos broke out. Bullet ran, but not before he saw a mysterious pony slipping into a tunnel enterance. The pony was grey, neatly dressed, and had a knife strapped to her leg. The knife was covered in blood.

"That'll five shots of 'shine." The guard captain said, snaping him out of the memory, "or we'll just lock you up and say we caught you sneaking into the station. Your choice."

"Forget my payment for now!" Bullet said, "there's an assassin here, and she could be targeting anypony, and everypony." Bullet was shaking as memories of that day flashed through his mind over and over again.

Brown was hardly pleased to hear those words from his usually silent adopted brother. "Cedar, something is wrong. Mother was about to tell me something, then a very shady pony showed up and....Wait, what did you say?" The dots began to connect in his head. He didn't care of logic said otherwise, he was very worried.

"We have to get back to mother. Now."

---

Shala was in the deepest part of her home. Away from the public. Away from sight. She knew who the pony approaching her was. She knew what he was here for. With her hatchet out and on the counter next to her, she waited.

Silver hardly bothered to keep his footsteps quiet. The door was left open. He moved slowly, either as a result of age or restraint. Until finally, he broke into view of his target. He came to a stop before her, not 20 feet from her. Silent.

"I didn't think my number would come up so soon. I guess its pretty public now isn't it?" Shala said with a sigh.

Silver nodded.

"Well, I think we know how this goes."

"...You ready?" Silver said.

"You want me to take a bath first? I wonder if YOU are ready. Can you make it past the guards on your way out? Or have your wings not given out yet?"

"I'll manage. I still got some left in me."

Shala looked about her and sighed. "Brown is not going to forgive me. Cedar....is himself....Alright. Lets get this underway." She said and lowered her head, the axe floating up off the table.

---

"Cedar. I think that guy was bad news. He just had some intimidating look to him, even though i think he was more ancient than sin. Like something from the outside only-"

A loud crack of a gunshot could be heard ahead of him. It sounded like a shotgun, slightly muffled behind a wall and door. Brown felt terrified.

"Oh no. No no no no." His heart felt like it locked up in his chest.

Upon rounding the corner a few moments later, Brown's worst fears burst into view. Their home was on fire. Fire had just begun to build up from the inside, and trotting out the door at a medium quick pace was Silver, heading toward the nearest surface exit he could get to.

Brown screamed.

A mare oversaw Latent? It told her much, thought she, about the state of the hegemon by whom she had been enacted with such limited intelligence.

Amidst the persistent clangor of the typewriter, Victoria could but broach the discussion in a bold fashion. She bowed her head - a habitual gesture - and spoke purposefully.

"I foremost apologize for the interruption, ma'am. I hold, to the highest esteem, the integrity of your business; notwithstanding, I come with a proposal which I believe will ultimately serve the greater interests of your facility. Now if you would care to listen, I will-"

The faint echo of a weapon being discharged permeated the office walls. It was, to her, the terrible sound which set her enterprise at risk of delay.

"-elaborate. Say, is your station perhaps conducting drills?" she inquired dismissively.