Metro: Retribution

by RF and AG

Chapter 5: Who Art Thou?

A/N: There is a massive slice of Russian ahead. It has little to do with the plot like I said in the story description.

        My sister and I sat at her tea table within her room. Normally, I would have been asleep before noon, but today my sister had wanted to spend some time with me. Such times were becoming more common, which was a good thing. I had no issue with spending time with Tia, it helped to make things more interesting around the castle, aside from Discord and his mischievous activities. He wouldn't be a problem for a few more days though. It seemed like yesterday that he told us he wanted to travel the world before having to settle back down in Canterlot; that was nearly two weeks ago and he was due back soon.

It was rather quiet for that moment, both of us were focused more on the tea we had then actual conversation. Well, Tia was more focused on the tea. My mind was centred on the strange being I saw last night. Such an odd looking beast and such a strange landscape. I couldn't tell if it was the dreamer, or merely just a projection from the dreamer. If the latter was to be believed, then somepony truly has a wild imagination. Yet, the former had it’s own appeal to me. It was not a pleasant one, instead it had a ominous overtone. A feeling of darkness and change rolled into a ball of flesh, finally formed into a beast that looked like nothing anypony had ever seen in Equestria before.

At this time of day, it wasn’t my concern though. With Tia’s enormous sun shining rays down among the country, I was pushed into the back seat. A thousand years ago I would have been beyond angry at such a thought, but now everything had changed. I realized my mistake and my foolishness. Tia had forgiven me for what I did, and by her request I had forgiven her for how she had handled me, before the Nightmare took hold. So instead of fighting like we did in the past, we sat quietly and enjoyed our tea and each other’s company.

A small pop from the other side of the table brought me out of my trance-like state. A rolled up piece of parchment was being steadily held within my sister’s golden aura. “What is it, Tia?”

“It seems Twilight has sent another friendship letter! Odd that it is so early too. She usually sends them later in the day.”

I gave a small shrug of my withers before taking another sip of my tea; Jasmine today. “So what does it say, sister? I do enjoy hearing about her new discoveries.”

At first, Tia said nothing, she just had a small smile on her face. Yet, as she continued to read the letter to herself, the smile she held began to fall farther and farther until a look of utter shock was adorned on her muzzle. Wordlessly she rose from the cushion she had been sitting on and moved to her desk. My puzzled expression went unannounced to her as she began to scrawl something on parchment.

My curiosity overtook me, as I grabbed the left behind letter in my own magic and hovered it in front of me. My eyes darted across the page reading the letter in almost blinding speed. Just as my sister’s face did, shock quickly grew on my face. From what she was saying, something akin to the beast from that dream last night had taken her friend Fluttershy hostage! Wait, Fluttershy... I knew that name. She had helped me... lower my voice on Nightmare Night.

Not dear Fluttershy!

I looked up from the letter to find Celestia sending another letter off via her magic. “Tia, something must be done!”

“I know, Luna, I sent a letter to Shining Armor. He will get this sorted out.”

“Why Shining Armor?” I said confused, “he is in the Crystal Empire.”

Tia shook her head, “He came to visit yesterday before heading off to Ponyville. He was supposed to leave this morning to visit my student, when she sent a letter about a disturbance. He offered to lead the guards to investigate the Everfree before visiting Twilight. His investigation into the Everfee will have to wait, this obviously takes precedence. He’ll handle this.”

I rose from my seat and stomped my right front hoof hard against the marble flooring. “That is not good enough! This beast must be dealt with swiftly, before it can enact harm among our subjects!”

Without saying another word, I flung Tia’s balcony doors wide open with my magic, before galloping out them. My sister called out to me, but I mentally blocked her out, stopping her from contacting me telepathically. My entire focus was on saving Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy. A quick spread of wings and leap off the balcony left my gliding across the courtyard below. I had to fly fast if I was to cover the distance from Canterlot to Ponyville. With a quick succession of powerful flaps, I rose high above the city and the cloud line. A jet stream was nearby and that would be my key to rescuing two of the Elements in time.

A couple more beats of my wings and I was engulfed in the jet stream, picking up speed as the air pushed me farther and farther from Canterlot and my sister. My eyes looked ahead, searching for Ponyville through the random cloud breaks. It seemed the Ponyville Weather Teams were slacking a little today. That, though, was the least of my current issues. With each passing moment, my mind began to worry about what the beast did to my new friends. A deep fury began to rise, my anger nearly consuming me, before being forced back down. Now was not the time to let my emotions get the better of me. I had to stay calm and deal with this as a Princess should.

Aha! A break in the cloud cover revealed Ponyville being just a short distance away from me. I flared my wings back to slow me down before dropping from the jet stream. Like a dart, I shot down towards Ponyville. My eyes searching for some clue as to where this creature would be.

A loud bang sounded off near the forest followed by a shrill scream, I snapped my head to peer in that direction. A group of Royal Guards were chasing something; something tall and lanky covered in... it was the creature! A smirk grew on my face as I dived down towards the beast.

Before I could stop it, though, the thing entered the Everfree Forest. Now I needed to be meticulous with my search, I needed to ensure that this thing was caught and subdued.

My wings were outstretched as I glided over the forest, searching for any signs of the beast. It couldn't have gotten far on its two legs, surely it must have been caught by the guard by now.

I did another glide over the beginnings of the forest, ready to turn back when my eyes caught sight of the monster again, stumbling out of the thick brush into a clearing. I smirked at this opportunity, knowing that I needed to act now or lose this thing forever.

I quickly cast a teleportation spell, placing me behind the beast. Whether it heard me or not wasn’t on my mind as I quickly grabbed the beast within my aura. The thing was heavy, but was still of little effort for me as I forced him to levitate off the ground. It seemed confused by what was happening, but I cared little. With a quick flick of my magic, I launched the beast at a nearby tree, hoping to at least wind it so I could subdue it. After the first collision I could feel the beast still wiggling slightly in my aura, so I did what came naturally; I hurled it into more trees. Each impact further injuring the creature until one last throw ended the incident.

I was overly effective on the last tree as it nearly snapped in half when the monster collided with it. The beast didn't move; it just lay there, slumped up against the tree. I instantly assumed it was a trap, yet I needed to move closer to subdue it. I prepared another telekinesis spell as I slowly inched towards the slumped being. My resolve to face down this creature was practically radiating from how I held myself.

Once I had gotten close enough to the monster, I quickly cast a medical reading spell to check if the thing was just pretending. I was quaintly surprised to find out that his little bout with the tree had rendered him briefly unconscious. Making sure to be cautious, I quickly applied a sleep spell to ensure he remained knocked out.

The medical spell also noted that his lungs were struggling to find oxygen. It took me less than a moment to remember Twilight Sparkle’s letter. The beast needed filters apparently. I rolled it over with a hoof, to find that its enclosed helmet had major cracks along the glass eye slots. With another quick flash of my horn, I put a small sealing spell on the glass. Not fixing it but instead stopping it from letting air leak in. The spell wouldn't last and if the helmet were to be used then it needed to be fixed first. With that taken care of, I stepped back a bit, keeping minor distance from the now sleeping being.

I smiled, somewhat gleefully, before looking around the clearing quickly. Finding that I was alone, I quickly gave a pump with my right front leg in victory. A quick and easy victory, but a victory nonetheless. A light blushed encased my cheeks, before I picked the beast up in my magic.

“Princess!”

The voice caught me off guard, as I almost let the beast drop from my magic. I spun my head to where the voice came from to find that Shining Armor and his small contingent of Royal Guards had finally found me. They had all rushed into the clearing rather quickly, except one that seemed to be limping. His face told me all I needed to know as surprise and shock was more than abundant. It seemed that the former Captain of the Guard had forgot his history lessons. I used to deal with matters like this first hoof, back before the Nightmare Moon incident.

“Ah yes, Shining Armor. Thou seems to be a little late. Dost not worry, though. We have subdued thy target. We will take it back to the castle with thine contingent of Royal Guard. Go, find thy sister.”

He was speechless, mouth opening and closing, like a fish out of water, in an attempt to find some sort of reply. Instead, he opted to simply nod and head back the way he had come. I smiled as he ran off to comfort his sister. Once he had left the clearing, I nodded to the rest of the Royal Guards. They quickly closed in on me, as I summoned a teleportation spell again.

A quick snapping sound, and we had reappeared in the dungeons of the castle. My telekinesis spell dropped as a feeling of light-headedness swept through me. The creature landed with a dull thud on the ground beside me, but was quickly lifted back into the air by the two unicorns that were part of the squad with me.

“Place it in a maximum security cell, inform us when it wakes up. Dismissed.” With that I trotted up the stairs leading from the dungeon. A large smile grew on my face as a thought entered my mind. Celestia was going to have a field day with this. When she gets mad, it can be quite funny if she isn't truly angry at least.

I groaned as my mind slowly overcame the darkness that had consumed it earlier. My eyes fluttered open slowly as I started to regain feeling throughout my body. My everything hurt, especially my jaw. I pushed myself up into a seated position, my environment must have changed for all I saw was outlines of four walls. The cold ground beneath me felt like concrete... concrete!

I instantly became more aware of what was going on. There wasn’t concrete where I was before! Did that mean I was back home? Back where I belonged? The ponies then... were just a hallucination! With aching muscles, I gave a small fist pump. My joy overshadowed the pain of the motion luckily.

My celebration was cut short though as a slit of light appeared in front of me, roughly half my height from the ground. Before I could say something to the person on the other side, the slit was closed once again. A muffled voice said something that I couldn't make out. These walls had to be extremely thick for that to be the case. Whoever was outside must have been ordered to tell someone when I was awake, that was what I would have done at least.

No more sounds could be heard through the concrete, so I was left with my thoughts. They drifted towards a grim thought. I quite possibly had been captured by the Red Line. That would mean that I had failed everyone and we lost the Metro to those bastards. That meant... Anna; I lost Anna to those bastards. I lost everything I loved to the sick fucks that couldn't control their greed.

I shook my head violently at those thoughts. I could not let them get to me, the moment they get to me is when they have truly won. I ran my hands over my head, feeling my hair bristle under my gloves. Those bastards had even taken my mask, probably as a trophy. No doubt one of them was claiming he had bested me.

I decided that I might as well see what they had left me with. I reached to check if they had left me with my weapons. Of course, the answer was a resounding no. My pistol holster was gone as well as the my shotgun and assault rifle. After patting down the rest of my body, I came to the conclusion that the only thing they had left me was my under-shirt, pants, socks, and boots. Those would offer me no help if I ever tried to make a break for it. Hopefully the bastards didn't learn from last time and left my gear close by.

My mental check-list was halted, as a nearly blinding light pierced the darkness of the room. I used my right hand to shield my eyes from the light, while my left continued to prop me up. I squinted my eyes to see if I could tell who my captor was, but I couldn't even make an outline out of the overly bright light.

“Get up, beast!” The order was firm and seemed to carry some hatred behind it. Calling me a beast was little much for those Red Line суки, though it might just as well be the Nazis, but I cared little. I closed my eyes hard to stop the light from shining through. I spoke no words, as I forced myself from my propped up position to a standing one. Those pigs were not going to get a word out of me.

They mustn't have wanted me to see where they were since I could feel a bag being pulled over my face. Only then did my eyes open, to my relief I could see some semblance of light shining through, thought I couldn’t see any shapes of anything near me. At least this allowed me to adjust to the light of wherever I was. Before I could reach a hand up to touch the bag over my head, my hands were moved quickly behind my back and locked into place with rather cold feeling cuffs. It was to say the least since the cuffs didn't feel... right. There was something off about them, but that also applied to the Red Line itself.

Something pushed me in the lower back, forcing me to stumble forward slightly. I was lucky to be facing the open door, or I would have smacked right into a wall. I picked up my feet and walked slowly down what I assumed was a prison hall. After maybe two minutes of walking, a pull of something cold forced me to turn right.

After sixty-three steps, and yes I counted, the guards by me forced me to stop by tugging on my handcuffs. Something prodded my side and forced me right again. I was pushed forward again, before being forced to sit on what I assumed was a chair. Being blinded by the bag was getting annoying, as I was more than eager to see what faction had captured me, since a small part of me refused to believe that it was The Red Line; maybe the Nazis instead. At least the Red Line had the courtesy to not make you feel subhuman. Well, most of the time anyway. They still treated prisoners horribly, but at least it was equal. From what I had seen, the whole genetic elitism that the Nazis displayed was barbaric. Those who failed to meet their standards were nothing but vermin, especially commies from The Red Line. That would actually explain the name calling.

Either way, I was forced to sit on a metallic chair. A rather loud scraping noise rose from in front of me, before the top of my thighs brushed against something. My guess was that they moved a table up. It didn't matter at that point, it was just another passing thought.

So, I sat there for what seemed like half an hour before I heard muffled voices again. Probably the interrogator outside talking to the guards. A clack of shoes echoed before another chair was moved on the concrete. This was followed by nothing, an almost maddening silence.

Finally I felt a small pull at the top of the bag over my head. Finally I would get the answer to who my captors were. Maybe it was just Miller playing a prank for all I knew. It didn't matter though, I just needed to see another human face after that horrible hallucination.

In one swift motion the bag was pulled off my head, leaving my eyes squinting under the light again. I shut them tightly, keeping my eyes closed for a few moments before daring to take a look at the bastard that sit across from me.

Instead of the gruff Red Line soldier or shaved head Nazi I saw a dark blue horned pony with wings tucked at its sides, sitting across from me with a deep glare. My first reaction was completely justified.

“Да ладно, блядь!” I yelled in sheer rage. I was ready to slam my head into the table before me, just to end my misery. That would probably only help the pony though, so instead I just visibly seethed at the pony.

So, there I sat, doing my best to glare through the pony as if I could make it explode just from staring, while the pony was, probably, doing the exact same to me. Her eyes were narrowed, staring at me as though to read me like a book. Whatever her hair was, seemed flow in an invisible river off to her left. Her posture was upright and stiff, probably from a stick shoved up her ass. I was more than a little ornery about the whole thing and the sneer I was giving her in response probably spoke for itself. The tension in the air was thick enough to be cut by a chainsaw. In fact, I think a chainsaw would have been a nice weapon choice right then.

More than a few tense moments passed, each of us continuing to stare at the other. Finally, it was broken though as the pony raised a hoof to its mouth and politely coughed into it, all the while maintaining its glare.

“Who art thee?” I forced back a whirlwind of laughter by using my feeling of sheer contempt for this place. The end result of trying to stop laughing so hard was me giving out a small snicker at the way she spoke. This pony was speaking in what could compared to Shakespearean language. The only reason I knew of Shakespeare was because of that same man who told me stories of the moon. He actually taught me a lot when I was growing up. That was beside the issue though.

“Dost thou perceive this as jest?” She had risen a little to place her hooves on top of the table. Her voice came off with a sneer, forcing me to stop my smiling. Of course, this did little to change the actual mood of the conversation. “We ask again. Who art thee?”

The second time she asked snapped the camel’s back, as the old saying went. “Сейчас вся моя жизнь похожа на дурацкую злую шутку! Я лучше сдохну, чем с этими пони дело иметь! Нет, ну пони, пони, блядь!! Что это за ёбнутый на голову мир, что пони говорят на сраном английском? Это же просто дурь, ни в какие рамки! В метро я был хорошим парнем, говорят, мол, герой. Героем, который за других жизнью рисковал! А тут меня в маньяки записали, бляха-муха! Нет, ну, по ладно, зря я того пегаса в заложники брал, и вообще, не подумал я, до сих пор херово от этого, но ведь выбора у меня не было! И вот теперь я тут сижу на жопе смирно, напротив какой-то сраной голубой лошади с каменной мордой! А дальше что? Этот сраный поезд стену протаранит?!”

I huffed a little, slightly winded from nearly yelling my head off during my little breakdown. Probably freaked out my company, yet the pony across from me just looked at me with an odd, almost quizzical look. It was obvious enough that I had confused it by speaking my native tongue. Slowly though, as I waited for a response, my memories caught up to me. The yellow one, Fluttershy, had said that the ones with a horn and wings were Princesses.

I was screwed.

I was sitting only a few feet from one of the highest royalty of the land, a Princess who could probably have me killed on sight. In a way, she had all the cards, but I still had my language to muddle what I tell her. Maybe I could interest her enough for her to spare my life. Of course, if this was my last day alive... again, then maybe I could toy around with her. It all depended on what this Princess did.

What the blue one did next surprised me though. She hopped off whatever seat she was using and trotted to the door. She gently opened the door a slight bit and slowly peaked her out of the door. After a few moments of what I could only assume was hushed whispers, she removed her head from the door and moved back to her seat across from me. A quick flicker of light from her horn appeared and disappeared all in the same moment, which I would have missed, if I didn't make sure to keep a level glare on her.

The Princess leaned forward slightly, scooching her chair closer to the table in the process. How she did it I had no idea but that was beside the point. From the slight frown on her... muzzle, I could tell she wasn’t up for dancing around the subject.

“Listen you... human. Not a soul can hear us now and we won’t be interrupted any time soon. You have been out for many hours and in that time I have learned a few things from your hostages. I’d like to make it clear, I do not have the time or patience to listen to you ramble in your native language. The quicker you answer my questions in Equish, the sooner I can decide whether you need to be hung or thrown off a cliff. So I will ask again, who are you?”

Only two times in my life I had been truly afraid. The first was when I was just a young boy and the bombs fell. I thought I was going to die in that moment, and so I had every right to be afraid. The second time was when I had to defend Exhibition along with my father Alex and Hunter. Never had I needed to be apart of the defence until that day. It was also that same day that I realized that in the end I was going to die somehow, so I might as well do everything I could to take as many evils with me.

Now though, now I could say that I was scared. Her voice had carried a tone that was beyond cold, drifting towards the realm of an unforgiving and ruthless even. I refused to talk when the bastards of the Red Line tortured me, but this pony invoked a true sense of fear and a need to speak. Her stare and frown remained consistent; eyes trying to burrow through my head and into my soul. For all I knew, she was succeeding in doing so and could answer the question for herself. The idea that this pony could read my mind and soul was bone chilling, causing a small shiver to run up my spine.

I worked my mouth a few times, trying to formulate an answer that would appease her. My first few ideas which were thrown aside, as they were were snarky quips in Russian. One of them questioning what happened to her Shakespearean dialect. A few more plots ran through my head before I decided that giving her just enough information to stay alive would be the best route.

“My name is Artyom. You know what I am. Just a human,” I spoke in a slow and steady voice, making sure that my English was less broken than before and my voice didn't show how nervous I was. Hopefully it would appeaser her a little, or at least that was the idea.

“Good. Now, why are you here?” Her voice seemed only slightly less cold this time around, but her glare stayed true. An ominous feeling grew in the pit of my stomach, one that warmed me that she would follow through with her plans if I didn't cooperate. That question though, could quite possibly be the downfall of my extended existence. There was no chance that she would believe my answer, I hardly believed it myself but it was the closest explanation. I had to try though and hope for the best.

“I died.”

The look upon her face did not change. There was not a hint of emotion showing behind that steely gaze and iron tight frown. We sat there for a few minutes, at least felt like it, in complete silence. I was withering slightly under her gaze, but nonetheless keeping my own eyes on her. Her face never shifted as she rose from her chair and moved to the doorway. Never looking back at me, she opened the door and left. The door itself remained open for a little longer, until a small plate of food was pushed in, along with a glass of what looked like water. The moment the food was inside the room, the door closed hard once more.

I sat in the chair for a few moments before slowly making my way to the plate of food. It was weird enough that I was physically fine, but being fed this well as a prisoner was a whole new level of odd for me. These ponies were probably the nicest captors I would ever experience. Even the food itself was not that bad for my situation. There were two pieces of toast and an egg sitting on the plate. I was being served a breakfast only the privileged got in the Metro! Well the privileged and those who owned chickens. So basically the same thing.

With the plate and glass of water in hand, I sat back down and the table. They obviously wouldn't trust me with a knife and the plate was made of a flexible plastic, so the only way I could escape was to maybe invite the guards in for brunch and run when they weren't looking… which sounded just as stupid as when I first thought it out. I started to wonder which Princess I was talking to, and if she would follow through with the death threats. I couldn't make an assumption on her based on a small conversation like that, and I couldn't judge the rest of the country based on three rooms and a forest.

It didn't matter that much right there though. I had toast and eggs to deal with first.

The walk to the Royal Archives had been uneventful; that was good. I needed to think more about this human. Maybe I had been abrupt to leave, but my sister did agree that we needed to talk after an answer like that. She had been watching in on the ‘interrogation,’ all the while keeping a mental link to me. Sometimes it was good to be this powerful.

I stopped walking for a second before snickering. It was always good to be this powerful. More so now than a thousand years ago; at least now I wasn’t susceptible to evil entities that corrupted my thoughts and turned me against my sister due to constant jealousy. I finally found ponies who loved what I do every night, subjects who I could smile at and they wouldn't think I was going to banish them for no reason. This new age was something that I could actually enjoy.

I was taken out of my reverie when I heard two guards snap to attention and salute at me. I stared for a moment, a blank look taking my face. I must have spaced out for longer than I thought, since I was now standing in front of the Royal Canterlot Archives, while two Royal Guardsponies stood at attention. Both of the pegasi stood stock still with their right fore-hoof saluting me.

I gave a small nod before proceeding through the doors and into the Archive. The towering shelves of books would be a little intimidating to a normal pony. Centuries of valuable information was stored along each shelf. This place is different then the Library. The Library has all the copied volumes that we let open to those who want to enter. Meanwhile, the Archives sit behind a constant guard rotation and under a magical signature lock. Not a normal magical cast lock spell, but instead one that read it directly from a pony’s body. Tia told me it took her nearly a century to fully develop the locking spell for the door.

Once I was fully inside, the door shut quickly behind me. Another part of the spell, I was told. As I walked down, my eyes gazed at the rows of books and scrolls. The sheer daunting amount of information would make my sister’s pupil go into her little “yes dance” as I liked to call it. I do hope that we still get to go to Ponyville like we planned; it would be nice to see those who I am indebted to, again. As Tia likes to say, “your friends.”

I neared the end of the Archives, where the shelves suddenly stopped and instead gave way to a few desks, chairs, cushions, and cabinets. There sat my sister, staring out a window that was hidden by magic; a window in which only those inside could see through.

Her attention was focused entirely out the window, in fact, if the situation wasn’t as dire as it was now, then I would have taken the opportunity to startle her. I, instead, opted to just walk casually up alongside her and pull a cushion next to her with my magic. Once my rump was settled on the cushion, I followed my sister’s gaze out the window, deciding to mimic her and just stare off into the distance. The sun was on its path to setting but still had four hours to go before it touched the horizon.

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Tia spoke up. “Do you believe it?”

I mulled the question over a few times in my mind, recalling the rather short interrogation. Telling the truth, that was my principle from when I was young. It led me to wield the Element of Honesty once before. I still found it wrong to lie and cover up what I truly thought. I turned my head to look at my sister, who was looking back at me already, “Yes.”

“Then what brought it here? Neither you nor I caused its soul and body to be brought through the barriers protecting our world and no pony alive or dead could have done this.”

I wondered if she would realise that she was implying something. Even though Tia always was more knowledgeable beyond anypony, but me, she did have moments of mental lapses. “Are you implying something sister?”

“I hope not, Lulu. I hope that this was some fluke. Something we have overlooked.”

“What if you’re right though? What if this is no fluke?” My eyes widened a little. I didn't like where this was going, even though I already knew the outcome.

“It would mean that our visitor is part of a larger scheme than we thought. It would mean that they have returned.” She stood slowly, moving from the cushion and heading back into the rows of knowledge. I followed suit, staying right next to her. Her emotionless mask was left behind, as a hint of fear was visible on my sister’s face. I, no doubt, had the same look to me.

“What should we do then? Should we remove the human permanently?” I hesitated on the second question; I never truly enjoyed taking a being’s life, yet I would not hesitate to do so if I had to. If it had to be done though, then I would see it carried out.

“Let’s ask it what it intends to do. Maybe it will lead us to them. The worst thing we could do now, though, would be to kill it. We should talk to it in a non-hostile environment, as well as the Elements and Prince Armor. The Archives will be suitable.” She stopped at the doors, turning to face me, a foreleg wrapping around my withers, pulling me into a hug. A few seconds of silence passed as I hugged her, neither of us wanting to break the little moment we were sharing. Eventually she let go of me, with a small smile, “Don’t frighten him too much when you bring him here tomorrow.”

“I’ll try not to, Tia,” I said with a small grin. “I’ll see you again at supper?”

She giggled gently, before opening the door, with me following her out. “Of course, sister.”