Regret and Conflict
Chapter 2: Grief and Conflict
It was something that she’d only seen in photos and in books; green pastures as far as the eye could see. She tore her gaze away from the magnificent ground and focused on the white, fluffy cloud she stood on. The fluffiness was so strange yet so incredible. She pressed her hooves into the thing, pushing right through until she started to fall through the white mass.
Before she tumbled down to the ground, something grabbed onto her wings.
“Whoa there! I don’t want to have to explain to your mother how her little princess ended up as a pancake,” a deep voice said.
“Wings!” Dawn pouted, sticking up her small wings.
“I know you have wings, but you can’t fly well with them yet.”
Dawn looked at her wings and frowned, tears threatening to spill out.
“Hey there, don’t worry. You’ve got a mighty fine set of wings there, much bigger than any other foal's. Much prettier too.” Dawn giggled as her father put her on his back. “Since mommy said that I can’t teach you, I’ll take you to my friend who’d love to! Just don’t tell mommy, okay?”
Dawn giggled and held tightly around her father’s neck as he leapt off the cloud and glided towards the ground. He occasionally beat his wings, jostling her as he did so...
“...and his great power will protect us! He knows what we need to survive and prosper!”
Dawn felt something prodding her between her wings. She groaned, burying herself further into her sleeping bag. The prodding persisted.
“Dawn. Get up.”
“G’way.”
Her botherer snorted and grabbed the zipper with teeth. Dawn responded by reaching a leg out and flicking the invader’s snout.
“You little...”
Dawn’s eyes shot open as she felt somepony wrapping their legs around her sleeping bag and lifting her off the ground.
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”
Dawn hit the ground with a yelp. She scrambled out of the bag and glared at her stepmother. “I hate it when you do that!”
Scootaloo laughed. “I hate it when you don’t wake up, so I guess we’re even.”
“I just finished my shift!”
“Five hours ago,” Scootaloo said, raising a condescending eyebrow.
“Why would you wake me up so soon?” Dawn sighed.
“We’ve got a guest.” Dawn frowned. “You can catch up on your sleep later. Get ready and meet us outside.”
“And I hear you ask, my brethren! Why would a god care for us?” somepony yelled outside.
“Sweet Celestia, another preacher,” Scootaloo sighed irritatedly.
“I thought the council voted to ban any preachers entrance,” Dawn said groggily as she walked over to the side of their tent where her clothes were.
“They did. Canterlot didn’t like our new policy and ‘suggested’ that we changed it.”
“Wonderful being part of the Harmony line, isn’t it.”
“Better than being under the New Order’s banner or anypony else’s,” Scootaloo said with a shrug. “I’ll see you outside.”
“Under his omniscient eyes we will purify the surface and-”
“This is the living area, fuck off!” somepony yelled, which more ponies quickly joined in, forcing the preacher to leave.
Dawn smirked. Preachers were an annoying lot. It was funny really how all of these new religions preached the same things yet were vehemently against one another.
She looked inside her wardrobe. It wasn’t especially large, just slightly taller than her, nothing like the massive ones she’d seen in photos of old Ponyville, but it was a luxury nonetheless. That was one of the benefits Dawn enjoyed of having Scootaloo as her stepmother.
Scootaloo was Ponyville’s head of security and because of that she had some more benefits than the average pony did. A larger tent was another benefit. Dawn looked around the tent that she and Scootaloo shared. She’d always thought that it was a little too big for just the two of them.
When she was younger, she often wished that Scootaloo would find a stallion and they could be a happy family. But for whatever reason, Scootaloo never found a partner, male or female, that she introduced to Dawn. It was sad really, Dawn could tell that Scootaloo wanted a family, her own, biological family. And while Dawn and Scootaloo’s relationship good enough for the both of them, it wasn’t exactly what they both desired.
“Dawn! Can you bring out some tea?” Scootaloo yelled from outside.
“Sure thing!” Dawn yelled back. She quickly put on a heavy, grey jacket. Not because it looked nice, such vanities had no place in her life, but because it was practical. It served to keep her warm, protected against anything sharp and, because of the holes she cut in the back, it allowed her to fly.
She trotted over to the pantry part of the tent and looked at the tins and boxes on the little shelves. Mostly dried fruits, breads, mushrooms and canned goods. She opened the cupboard and found the little box of Ponyville station’s home grown tea.
Unlike teas of the past which were made from various kinds of plants, Ponyville station’s tea was made of ground up mushrooms. It had quite a bitter aftertaste, but compared to the rest of the station’s attempts at tea it was decided that Ponyville’s was the best. It was for that reason that Ponyville was one of the better off stations. Traders would often come to Ponyville to swap weapons, clothes and magi-gems for the stuff, meaning that Ponyville was always well-supplied.
Or used to be really. After the Dark Ones appeared last year the flow commerce had severely fell. More and more ponies were being made the make the now very risky journey from Ponyville to other stations the trade tea for whatever the station needed.
Dawn grabbed the box and trotted out of the tent. She leapt into the air, flapping her wings once to leap over the head of trade’s tent and land on the other side by the communal fire. Scootaloo smirked as Dawn landed and Bloom chuckled.
“Much better flier than you ever were,” she teased.
“She’s probably much smarter than you ever were too,” Scootaloo answered, picked up the kettle of boiling water.
Dawn placed teabags into the three metal cups. Her stepmother poured the water in and watched the water turn a murky brown.
“I always thought that tea was a posh pony thing when I was little,” Bloom said as she graciously as she picked up the cup.
“Mmm,” Scootaloo grunted as she took a sip. “I remember.”
“Funny how things change, ain’t it?”
“I was training for the Wonderbolts and you were busy fixing up Ponyville, quite a big change.”
There wasn’t a stool for her, so Dawn sat down on the floor and grabbed her tea. That was the first time she’d ever heard of the Wonderbolts. What were they?
“You seen Rainbow Dash lately?” Bloom asked.
“Not since she left for Whinnyshire last month. How ‘bout you? How’s AJ and Mac?”
“Mac’s still in Canterlot. Captain of the Guard now.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Heard about what happened to Shining Armour. Shame.”
Bloom frowned. “Yeah.” Her hoof scuffed the ground as she stared into the cup. “Princess Cadance ain’t doing too well. Even her son can’t make her smile.”
“How’s the lil’ tyke? Scootaloo asked.
“Just finished his first Kirin trip before I left.”
Scootaloo smiled. “Shining would’ve been proud.”
“Yeah. Cadance wasn’t happy though, tried to convince me to stop him becoming a Kirin. Couldn’t do it though. AJ told me never to refuse anyone who was good enough.”
“Wait,” Dawn interrupted, getting the attention of the older ponies who had seemingly forgotten about her. “You’re a Kirin?”
Scootaloo’s frown went unnoticed. “Damn right I am. One of the best out there,” Bloom said with a grin.
“You mean a Kirin who goes to the surface, fights mutants and saves stations?” Dawn asked, excitement and awe creeping into her voice. She was talking to an actual Kirin!
“The very same.”
Every pony in the Metro held the highest respect for the Kirin; the Dragon-Ponies. The movement started in Canterlot two years after the event when supplies were running low and mutants were becoming more daring.
Princess Luna and Celestia created the Kirin order so that they could scavenge for whatever supplies remained on the surface and the take the fight to the mutants. Every foal dreamed of becoming a legendary Kirin. Apparently, if a Kirin thought that you had the potential, they’d take you under their wing. Maybe Bloom would...
“Don’t you dare,” Scootaloo said firmly. Dawn couldn’t tell who she was talking to, but decided that it was to both of them.
“Scoots, she’s in excellent shape. Looks like she’s even got stronger wings then RD.” Dawn wasn’t really sure who RD was, but the way Bloom said it made her feel pretty proud.
“You think I don’t know that!” Scootaloo snapped.
“Are you jealous?” Bloom said teasingly. “My offer's still open you know.”
“And I am still saying no.”
“Come on Scoots you an’ Dawn could come back to Canterlot with me and train and become Kirin.”
“I can’t. I’ve got to protect my home. Our home.”
Bloom sighed. “I understand.”
“I don’t think you do.” Bloom raised her brow.
“Enlighten me then.”
“You’ve seen a Dark One right?” Scootaloo asked, already knowing the answer.
“Killed one too,” Bloom said smugly.
“Me too, whoop-de-do,” Scootaloo said bitterly.
“Really?” Bloom asked.
“Yeah, Scootaloo was the first one to,” Dawn said proudly.
“And you think you aren’t good enough to be a Kirin,” Bloom said with a smirk.
Scootaloo scowled. “I wasn’t quick enough, and because of that Derpy’s messed up and I have the blood of five of my friends on my hooves.” She knocked back the tea, grimacing as she swallowed some of the mushroom sediment. “Finish up and come with me.”
“Where we going?” Dawn asked. She felt a creeping dread as she anticipated her stepmother’s answer.
“The ward.”
Moans, weeping and the smell of urine flooded Dawn’s senses. Normally, she’d be holding a wing to her snout, but not today. She had to look strong in front of Bloom to prove she was Kirin material.
Scootaloo walked in front, a cap bearing the Ponyville watch’s emblem sitting upon her head. The medical staff would nodded respectfully to her or frown understandingly at her. None of them greeted her. They saw her enough to know why she was here.
She turned a corner, Bloom and Dawn following. They walked past makeshift rooms made of cloth walls. From within they could she the shadows of ponies, rocking back and forth, bitting their tails or just simply sitting unnaturally still. Tied in with the constant moaning coming from them, it was hard for Dawn not to trot closer to her stepmother. She didn’t like coming here.
They stopped outside one of the rooms. The shadow they saw on the bed was sitting very upright, wobbling its head from side to side. There were two other shadows in the room that were leaning together, talking in low voices and chuckling.
“Why are we here?” Bloom asked, looking at the dirty floors and dark stains on some of the curtains. Not the most sanitary of places.
“So you can see what we’re up against.” Scootaloo coughed loudly. “Dinky? Turner? Is it all right if I come in?”
“Huh?” Time Turner said, his shadow turning around. “Oh, Scootaloo, of course.” He stood up and pushed open the curtains. “Hello Scootaloo, Dawn. It’s nice to see the two of you.”
“Hey Dinky,” Dawn said to the grey unicorn. Dinky nodded, making the tear stains on her cheeks glimmer in the dull light. Remembering the encounter with the Dark One from earlier, Dawn realised just how much Dinky must’ve been scared.
“How is she?” Scootaloo asked, stepping in after Dawn.
“She’s looks like she isn’t hurting anymore,” Time Turner said weakly. “Nothing like when it first happened.”
Scootaloo leaned in to nuzzle him. She looked at him with sympathetic eyes. “It’s an improvement.”
“Yeah...”
Dinky frowned as she saw Bloom silhouette on the curtain. “Who’s that outside?” she asked Dawn who had taken a seat next to her.
“Oh, that’s Scootaloo’s friend and the one who saved us earlier,” she said with a wing draped around Dinky.
“I should thank her,” Dinky said, holding back a sob.
“You can come in Bloom,” Scootaloo said.
“Bloom?” Time Turner said. “As in little Apple Bloom?”
“Not so little anymore,” she said, gingerly stepping into the makeshift room.
Time Turner smiled, albeit a subdued one. “Derpy would’ve loved to see you again.”
Bloom looked at Derpy’s swaying form on the bed. The joyfully, energetic eyes she once had looked glazed, vacant, like something hard sucked her soul out. She occasionally muttered something, too low to hear, but she wasn’t doing it on purpose.
“What happened?” she asked.
Time Turner sat down next to Dinky and rested his head tenderly against his daughter’s.
“The first Dark One surprised us,” Scootaloo said. Dinky sniffled and Turner planted a kiss on her head. “I was on duty at the two-fifty point and Derpy was at the five-hundred point. I don’t know what happened, but we heard a scream. I was the only pegasus there so I flew on a head with a sniper rifle. I stopped halfway, looked down the scope and saw it look around at the bodies of the five other ponies then pick up Derpy, who was just shivering.” Scootaloo grit her teeth.
“I shot it in the head and it went down. If I was faster I could’ve killed it before it touched Derpy and she’d be alright!” Scootaloo kicked a metal tray and then wheeled around on Bloom. “That was a year ago. Derpy was the first and now there’s a hundred other ponies just like her! Totally fucked!”
Dinky whimpered and nestled further into Time Turner. Dawn wanted to tell her to stop, but she knew she’d only get yelled at. Both she and Time Turner knew that they had to let Scootaloo vent her anger.
“There’s nothing we can do to help them! We've used thousands of magi-gems to try and fix ‘em but it never works! None of them get better in their own time and to top it off, more and more are falling ill! Sometimes, when they’re not even near a Dark One!
“At any second any one of us could break down. Don’t you understand how terrifying that is? That there is nothing we can do to protect or help ourselves. We’ve killed some of them, yes, but another always comes. We’re waging a war a new kind of war. We have weapons but they break our minds without trying! We’ve lost to the new species.”
Bloom frowned. “So you’ve given up.”
Scootaloo’s wings flared up in rage. “Not given up, resigned. There is nothing we can do, but there is no way I am leaving my town like you and the damn Elements of Harmony did! No. I am going to die where I lived,” she said firmly.
“You think I abandoned my home?” Bloom shouted, starting to show her anger too now.
“You, your family and our so called Keepers of Harmony.”
Bloom stepped towards Scootaloo. “We left to help ponies.”
“You left to because you were scared.”
“I help ponies. I’ve made their lives better by getting them food, shelter and weapons to protect themselves. What have you done, huh?” They were nose to nose now.
The three other ponies in the room were terrified now, Dinky crying into her father’s coat and Time Turner hugging her tightly. Dawn wrapped her wings around Dinky to further reassure her and noticed that the low chatter from the hospital staff had stopped and that they were all focusing on what was going on in the room.
“I’ve helped my hometown. Unlike you,” Scootaloo spat.
“But your too scared to really do anything to fix the problem. You could take the fight to them!” Bloom yelled back, pressing forward, making the pair of them strain their necks as their foreheads struggled against each other.
“We can’t fight them.”
“You just haven’t got the guts to. After all this time, your still a coward. Still a chicken.”
Scootaloo narrowed her eyes. “Outside. Now!”
She stepped around Bloom and stormed outside with Bloom close on her heels, an equally angry look on her face.
Dawn, Dinky and Time Turner remained seated. Dinky was soon only sniffling into her father’s coat. With a guilty expression on her face, Dawn removed her wings and stood up.
“I’m really sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s okay,” Time Turner croaked. He cleared his throat. “You should go calm them down.”
Dawn nodded and turned to leave. She paused and looked once more back at Dinky. She looked miserable. With a shake of her head and a determined look on her face, she hurried outside two find her stepmother and Bloom.
All of them were too distracted to noticed that Derpy had stopped swaying and had been staring at Dawn with a tilted head. As soon as the pegasus left, Derpy started to sway and mumble again, as if she had never stopped.
Dawn looked around as she left the hospital. It was just beyond the town square where meetings were held. She told a wild guess and jumped into the air and flew there.
“You’re a pathetic coward!” Dawn heard Bloom shout. Her hunch was right then.
“Coming from somepony who abandoned her home!” Scootaloo yelled back, panting heavily.
She put on a burst of speed and hurried towards their voices.
“I didn’t abandon anypony!” Bloom roared.
Dawn saw a large crowd and in the centre was Scootaloo and Bloom fighting. She touched down at the front of the crowd next to two ponies she recognised; Stroke and Dew.
“What do you call leaving your home and friends then!” Scootaloo yelled, as she spun around, trying to buck Bloom.
Bloom jumped back, Scootaloo’s hooves just missing her snout. “I left to help more ponies than just the ones in my town!”
She charged forward to ram into Scootaloo. The pegasus jumped up and fluttered her wings. Bloom kept going forward, straight under Scootaloo. She skidded to a stop and Scootaloo landed. They glared at each other as the circled each other.
“Why are they fighting?” Dewdrops, her unicorn friend, asked.
“I don’t really know,” Dawn sighed exasperatedly. At least they didn’t look hurt.
Scootaloo spat at Bloom. “You followed your sister like the little dog you are.”
“At least I have a family that loves me,” Bloom retorted with a snarl.
Scootaloo tensed up and the crowd fell silent. That was a low blow and everypony knew it.
Roaring, Scootaloo charged at the earth pony. She leapt and flipped in the air, pumping her wings and headed hooves first at Bloom.
The earth pony tried to dodge to the side but was kicked on the flank. She yelped as she was knocked to the ground. Scootaloo prowled over to Bloom, who was wincing as she stood up.
“At least my mother didn’t die in childbirth,” Scootaloo scowled.
Again, the crowd was silent.
Bloom glared at Scootaloo before screaming and whipping her leg at Scootaloo. It hit her square on the jaw, sending her reeling. Bloom launched herself at Scootaloo who was dazed and shaking the spots out of her eyes. She planted her front hooves and spun on them, then bucking with her hind legs.
She misjudged the distance and didn’t hit with full force, but it was still enough to knock her backwards. Clutching her bleeding snout, Scootaloo hovered on the opposite side of the circle.
“We need to stop them before they really hurt each other,” Stroke said.
“Your right, I think they’ve let off enough steam,” Dawn said.
As the two older ponies charged at each other Dewdrop’s horn lit up a pale blue, encasing both of the mares in her aura when they were a few metres apart. She grunted and strained as they struggled to get out of her grasp.
“Stop ‘em!” Dewdrop managed to force out between gritted teeth. A few of the other unicorns watching joined in her attempts to subdue the mare, but found that the were struggling too much for them to get a good hold.
Stroke and Dawn ran to Bloom and Scootaloo respectively. Bloom was balanced on her hooves ready to buck Scootaloo and the pegasus had one hoof drawn back to punch the other mare. Both of them had their eyes screwed shut and were sweating as they strained against the magic holding them.
“Miss Bloom! Calm down, please!” Stroke pleaded.
“Scoots! Stop it! You’re gonna hurt each other!” Bloom yelled at the same time.
Both mare couldn’t hear them through the magic shells they were encased, nor could they see the ponies in front of them. All they could focus on was breaking free of their bonds and finishing their fight.
Dewdrop screamed as her magic shattered. When the base layer of magic broke, the other unicorns that were helping her weren’t prepared for the force they competing against. One by one, layer of magic broke.
Scootaloo was freed first, and her hoof came crashing down, slamming straight into Dawn’s face. The young pegasus went careening towards Bloom who broke free of her binding a second later.
Her heavy iron-shoed hooves collided with Dawn’s back. Dawn screamed as she felt the bone-shattering impact. She hit the roof of the station with a crack.
“Dawn!” Scootaloo screamed, pure terror lining her voice.
The mare fell to the ground quickly, too fast for anypony to catch her. She landed on her neck and lay motionless in a crumpled heap.
“Sweet Celestia! Dawn! Dawn! Can you hear me,” Scootaloo cried, tears starting to spill out from her eyes.
“Get a doctor quickly!’ Bloom shouted at Stroke. The stallion scurried towards the hospital, yelling for help.
Scootaloo knelt next to Dawn. Her breaths were shallow and infrequent, blood was trickling from her mouth and a nasty bruise was swelling up on the side of her face. Where she had hit her.
She’d hit Dawn. She’d hurt the filly she had promised to take care of. The guilt was crushing.
Scootaloo wanted nothing more than to cradle her daughter, but she didn’t, her experiences with neck injuries telling her not to touch her without a stretcher and brace nearby.
Instead, she covered Dawn with her wings, to keep her warm and to just be close to her.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.
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I'm going to read this, remembering full well what the game and novel was, as the description you put down STRONGLY reminds me of metro's storyline with almost zero difference or changes made.
-Dark ones threatening a home station(ponyville), leading the protagonist to be sent to seek help from a distant station(Canterlot)
It's like you just renamed polis, artyom and his home station and added ponies.
Let's see what we got...
Right, so you got the rats, flamethrowers at the gates, rangers are the guards/ tunnel seekers...
Not unlike the protagonist of metro who had pictures of the old world plastered around his bunk because he daydreamed about it often.
'Demons' I assume...
Shit nigger that's some fast engineering.
How come the guns weren't designer more practically? Say, for example, they could be held in the mouth for better accuracy/ mobility due to them not requiring them to be held out on a hoof?
Nazis and Communist reds i'm guessing?
2:16
I stand by my previous comment.
I can appreciate that you're trying to differentiate it, but from what i've read so far it's just metro with ponies.
Call me a wuss if you want, but I cried.
1. Derpy is what broke my cool, and made me cry.
2. Dawn getting injured by Scoot, and AB...
I love this story, every bit of it. Please, please make the next chapter soon!
By the way, I forgot the game before I read the story for best affect.
2589246 I understand where you're coming from. As I said, the first three chapters are trying to establish the world above anything else, should start to diverge more from there.
2589345 Thanks mate, almost finished it.
A Metro fic with characters replaced by ponies?
Eh...
2589447
No problem! I'm going to be here all the way from the beginning to the end, I will comment my thoughts on every chapter!
I have to ask will all the weapons be use or only like 2? becasue i would love to see the Tihar or the Bastard gun, i would love to see how twilight will say about the guy about that gun
Submachinegun, 5.45 cailber-It's got poor accuracy and overheats like hell-That's why they call it a "Bastard gun" hahah.
Hey man, where do you get the cover art from? Just curious.