PONYSHKA

by Reviewfilly

6. Goodbye

Mir’s glow seemed to wane as she stared at the grisly scene in front of her. She glanced at Maxim and upon noticing that he was wounded her ears flopped down and she rushed to him, avoiding the corpses and the blood as much as she could.

“Are you okay?” she asked with her mouth hung agape. Her eyes flicked between his face and the bullet hole. “What happened in here?”

“It hurts like hell, but I’ll live,” Maxim echoed Sergei’s words. “Don’t worry about anything. I’m just glad to see you’re okay.” The pony’s cheeks slightly reddened and she averted her eyes. Maxim weakly turned to his friend. “Hey, Aleksei, a little help please?” he grunted with a weak chuckle.

“Oh. Right. Sure.” He stepped to Maxim’s side and allowed him to put his left arm over his shoulder for stability.

Sergei gave them a silent nod and turned towards the far end of the hall. They hadn’t noticed in the confusion of the fight, but just like the old soldier had said, something shifted there. “Guess that’s what we’re looking for. Let’s move.”

It took them quite some time to reach the other end of the warehouse due to Maxim injury, but as they finally approached the anomaly, it slowly revealed itself to them in its full glory. The three stalkers and the pony found themselves in front of a massive, vaguely round, black spot which hung in the air in front of them. Its undulating edges glowed with a bluish light that twisted and turned in mesmerizing patterns like a whirlpool that wanted to suck them in whole. A quiet whooshing sound, like the wind was blowing from the other side, emanated from it.

“Well. We finally made it,” Aleksei said quietly. His voice was more relieved than triumphant. He grunted as Maxim shifted his weight on him.

“Yeah. We did.” Sergei turned to the mare. “Well, what are you waiting for?” he asked expectantly. “There’s your portal, you can go back to your little cartoon world of bullshit.”

Mir shifted between her hooves and eyed the anomaly with some worry. Her tail flicked. “What if something else got through?” she asked.

Sergei cast her a completely unimpressed look and shrugged. “I really couldn’t care less,” he replied matter of factly and reached into his pocket for a cigarette. He carefully lit it and pulled deeply, before exhaling the smoke with a glacial pace. He pointed the burning end of the cigarette towards the mare for a moment. “We got you to your portal, that’s all we promised.” He then turned around and took a seat on a nearby box which already had some radio equipment on top of it.

For a few seconds only the portal’s quiet noise and the radio’s droning ambiance broke the silence.

“The soldiers said they sent someone over, didn’t they?” Maxim pointed out between two grunts. “If that’s true, we can’t leave her alone now. What if she runs into them?”

While Mir looked at him with gratefulness, Sergei’s face darkened from rage. He threw away the half of his still-lit cigarette and pushed himself off the box. He walked right up to Maxim’s face. The two found themselves staring at each other again. Even without saying a word Sergei looked like he was about to tear Maxim’s injured arm off. Aleksei watched their silent standoff nervously. He was still supporting Maxim’s weight, but he had absolutely no interest in taking sides or getting in the crossfire.

“So what?” Sergei hissed. “Do you have any idea how much we’ve risked just to get this stupid horse here? We killed five people, who we would have never even met otherwise! Do you think I enjoy killing innocents? What’s more, you are injured and it is only by the grace of the Lord that you’re not dead right now!” His voice quickly rose in volume to a bellow, as he screamed into Maxim’s face. Both he and Aleksei shrunk back slightly. “And now you’re expecting me to step into an unknown anomaly? For what? What’s so important about this shitty animal? Just look at it!” His eyes snapped towards the pony, who slowly backed off and hid herself behind a small crate. “Helping it isn’t gonna earn us tomorrow’s meal! It’ll fuck off back to its life of ease, while we’ll be back hunting for scraps!” His voice trailed off in exasperation.

“Fine! If you aren’t willing to do it, I will,” Maxim shouted back leaning towards him. His wound flared and he almost collapsed. Aleksei grunted under his weight, but kept him standing.

Sergei stared at him with wide eyes for a second. His wrinkle-ridden face contorted into a scowl as he turned around and walked up to another box. He kicked it, breaking a few of the planks with a loud bang.

As he turned back his glasses reflected Mir’s yellow glow for a moment. His face dropped and he reached into his pocket for a new cigarette.

Nobody said a word while they waited for him to light it. Mir glanced out from behind her crate with a wary look. Aleksei and Maxim stared at the portal. Sergei stared at his boots as he inhaled the smoke deeply, then exhaled. When he spoke again, his voice was eerily quiet and reserved.

“Maxim, sit down and wait for us here.” He turned to the other man. “Aleksei, help him to the radio and grab two headsets. You’ll come with me. We’ll go through, make sure there’s no one around the entrance on the other side, then come back immediately.” He turned back. “Is that enough reassurance for you?”

Maxim couldn’t find the words for a second. He just stared at Sergei. “T-thank you, but are you sure I shouldn’t come as well?” His voice lowered to a whisper. “I kind of want to see what their world looks like.”

“No. You will stay. You couldn’t even raise your rifle in your condition, you’d just be in our way.”

Maxim hung his head. Obviously what Sergei said was true, but he still felt disappointed. However, he didn’t find it in himself to argue any further.

“Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute, Sergei! Now you’re saying we should go through the portal after all?” Aleksei cut in, looking at the two in absolute bewilderment. “What the fuck, man? I thought you told us it’s too dangerous. Go through if you really want to, but as much as I want her to return safely, I ain’t gonna step into that creepy thing over there.” He wildly flung his free arm towards the portal. “What if it turns us into horses or something?”

Sergei threw his cigarette away and reached into his pocket before picking out a screw. He tied a small piece of string to it then threw it into the portal. Instead of exploding or violently disintegrating, it simply disappeared into the blackness without any fanfare. A few moments later he yanked the string and the screw returned completely unharmed.

“Are you still questioning my judgment?” Sergei’s glasses shot yellow sparks in Aleksei’s direction. “Have I not brought you this far alive?”

“I-” Aleksei’s conviction visibly faltered. He continued in a quieter tone. “Yes, you have and I’ll be forever grateful for that. But still, this is totally unlike you! And what about Maxim? He could still be useful for spotting stuff, no?”

“Next time you take a bullet for me, I’ll let you sit out a mission too.”

Aleksei opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. He sighed. “Okay fine, let’s get this over with then. Come on, Maxim, let’s get you to the box.”

The two men ambled over to the crate and Maxim took a seat with a grunt and took out his headphones from his coat. He plugged them into the radio. Aleksei picked up two of the small transceivers from next to it and put one on his head.

“Can you hear me?” he spoke into the microphone.

“No, it’s just static. It’s probably still tuned to the previous soldiers’ channel. What’s written on that?”

Aleksei took off the headphones and read the label on the side.”Six,” he said, before putting it back on.

Maxim twisted the knob a few times. “Try now.”

“Uhm, okay. Can you hear me?”

The headset on Maxim’s head echoed the words very slightly distorted.

“Yeah, now it’s good. Signal’s loud and clear.”

“Gotcha.” Aleksei walked up to Sergei and passed him the other headset. “Well, guess we’re ready.”

“Come out,” Sergei called out to the pony. “It’s time to go.”

Mir slowly emerged from behind her box. “Okay. Just let me say my goodbyes first,” she replied. She turned to Maxim and leaned against his legs hanging off the box. He placed his hand on her head and gave her mane a few soft strokes, while also scratching under her ear a few times. “Thank you. You saved my life,” she purred quietly. “I would have starved without you. I will not forget this kindness. Goodbye.”

Sergei rolled his eyes and stepped in front of the portal. He whistled. “Move already, we don’t have all day. Aleksei, you with me first, then the horse.”

Mir broke away from Maxim and the two shared one last look. She stepped behind the two stalkers.

Maxim furrowed his brows for a second as he thought about the last thing Mir said, but then he dismissed the thought.

The small group walked into the portal which shifted and pulsed as they touched it. The smell of ozone filled the room as they slowly disappeared behind some invisible veil.

A few seconds later the radio crackled into life.

“Okay, we’re through. Shit, I can’t see a thing,” Aleksei’s voice spoke.

“Yeah, fucking dark in here. Horse-thing, do you have no Sun or something?”

“No, no, you’ll see. Just go a bit further, we’re almost there,” Mir’s voice responded. Unlike before it was strangely calm.

A few seconds later the radio transmitted the faint sounds of weird crunching and something wet tearing. Maxim rapped on the device a few times. Must be some interference, he thought.

“The fuck was that? Aleksei, did you hear it?”

“Uhh yeah, I did. I have no idea.”

“Hey, horse, what wa-” The transmission suddenly cut out.

For a moment there was stunted silence.

“Sergei? Sergei, are you playing some shitty joke on me? It’s not funny at all. This really isn’t the time.”

A moment later Aleksei screamed in horror.

“Jesus Christ! Sergei, he’s-! I- I just bumped into his body! He’s dead! Oh, mother!” His voice wavered. “Oh, Jesus fucking Christ! What the fuck!” he screamed between two errant gasps, as he ran. Maxim could hardly understand his words as he coughed and sputtered. “He was right next to me just a second ago! The horse is gone! I knew this was an awful fucking idea! I’m coming back! Fuck, fuck, fuck! I- I can see the portal!” His voice turned almost maniacally happy. He laughed like a madman. “Oh God! I’m almost out of here! Maxim, pick up your rifle and be ready to shoot whatever is after us!”

Before Maxim could even properly process let alone react to what he just heard, the noise of a large object slamming into flesh came through the radio. Aleksei cried out in pain and let out a gasp before the wet thud of a body collapsing on the floor rung out. He whimpered once or twice before something cracked and his voice faded into static.

Maxim forgot about his arm and hardly even noticed the pain as he threw himself off the box. His headphones slid off his head and fell to the ground, their plug falling limply after them as the weight yanked it from the radio’s socket. He stared in horror at the dark orb in front of him. It continued to shift peacefully, its blue frills expanding and contracting in hypnotizing patterns, giving no clue that anything out of the ordinary happened.

He was about to forget everything and run not knowing where or what to do next, when suddenly the radio picked up another voice. Maxim froze in place and slowly turned back towards it. The voice was familiar, one heard just a few minutes ago. It should have been calming, welcoming even, but instead it sent a cold wave of terror and stinging pain into his heart.

On the other end of the portal, hanging in a world of perpetual night and five dead men, a being laughed with the soft, yellow voice of a pony.

Comments

[MayhemsLement]

So in the end the pony kills everyone.

[ItsYaBoiSatan]

God fuckin dammit, I was betting on the pony not being an eldritch abomination.
-Ya Boi Satan

[ItsYaBoiSatan]

11384865
At least I know a good twist when I see one.

P.s. Excewwence comes when we weast expect it.