The Ambassador

The first thing that Lightning Strike registered as he awoke was pain.

"Ow!"

He scuttled back, his cheeks stinging.

"Stay with me, pal."

"What the-?" Lightning sputtered, gasping for air. He was still in the office. A rotten smell hung in in the air, making his nose wrinkle. He was joined by a human in full body armor.

As his head cleared, the memories came rushing to him.

"Oh Celestia, what's happening?"

"I think you should tell me." The woman responded. "So, first thing's first: how did you get here?"

Lightning rubbed a cheek with a hoof. "I, w-we came here by spaceship. We were going to... wait, I know you!" Lightning's eyes widened as he stared at the face behind the visor.

"What do you mean, 'we'? There's more of you?"

"You're Andromeda!" Lightning jabbed a hoof at her, ignoring the question. "I've seen pictures of you!"

"That's nice, kid. Now could you answer the fucking question?"

Lightning shivered, suppressing his awe. "I, um... I came here with a party. A little over 30 ponies. Princess Twilight lead us here to help the humans."

Andromeda squinted at Lightning. "So do you know what's going on?"

"Frankly, no. No, I..." Lightning gagged as his gaze landed on the source of the smell. "I don't suppose it has anything to do with..."

Lightning felt his stomach rolling as his lunch came rushing up. He coughed, the bile stinging his throat.

"Sorry you had to see that, kid." Andromeda patted Lightning on the back. "But at least there's one less to deal with."

"There's more?" Lightning groaned.

"At least two." Andromeda nodded. "I've been staying in the vents to keep away from them. I'm pretty sure they're crew members who starved until they ate each other."

"Lovely," Lightning muttered.

"Good news is, there's not many, they usually just fight each other."

"What's the bad news?"

"The bad news is they probably heard all that noise," Andromeda sighed, dropping the mechanism in her hands. "And I just ran out of ammo."

~~~

"Momma?"

The words only just escaped Shortstack's lips, which were dry and cracked. Every attempt to move resulted in searing pain. She thought she would keep crying, when Shortstack felt a soothing wave wash over her.

The feeling of somepony stroking her mane reassuringly. Like Momma did every time Shortstack would come home with a scratch or a scrape. Momma always made Shortstack feel better. She always protected her.

She coughed, setting her skin ablaze. It felt like her chest was exploding. Something was pressed up to her lips as her head was tilted back. Cool, delicious water trickled into her mouth.

Shortstack remained still. She didn't want the comfort to leave. "Please stay, Momma. It hurts."

Something scratched at her ear, then went back to softly stroking her coat. She shivered. It was almost enough to quench the burning pain.

~~~

"We're going outside the city limits."

Twilight cocked her head at Roman. "Is there something I should know?"

He rubbed the back of his head. "It's going to be a lot hotter. We'll be able to spot threats easier, but that means we can be spotted easier, too."

"So, we take caution."

"More than usual, yes." Roman nodded. "On the bright side, we can't be cornered out in the open. And we can find Muffin faster... provided, she went in one direction."

Yes, there was always that. Frankly, Twilight wondered how they could be sure Muffin flew this way altogether. Stud seemed very focused. He hadn't so much as breathed a word to anypony.

Twilight knew, of course, that he was laden with guilt and disgrace. As much as Twilight wanted to blame him for Ash's death, she simply couldn't. Stud was a hunter. Not a murderer.

How quickly I can mark that distinction.

Just nights ago, the thought of killing anything would have been preposterous. In this world, killing was the only way to survive. It was wrong. Maybe not here. But Twilight wouldn't. She couldn't.

Killing was wrong.

~~~

The boy raised his hand to block the sun from his eyes. Not so far away, a group of people, and 4-legged things were emerging from the outskirts of the city ruins into the desert. Towards him.

"Pass me the binoculars." The boy muttered. Another smaller boy fished them out of a bag, handing them over. The first boy raised the lenses to his eyes. He got a much better view of the group. He vaguely recognized some of the men.

Upon closer inspection, he saw that the weirdly colored animals were horse like, some with wings or horns.

"Shit. I think these are the ones we're looking for." He frowned, shoving the binoculars at the young one.

"Why do you sound so pissed, then?"

"Cuz it's Caine's guys. And he's with them."

The junior of the two widened his eyes. "That's not good."

"No. It's not." The boy pursed his lips. "Come on. We got the water. Let's go back."

"But wait," his partner protested. "Shouldn't we do something?"

"Maybe. I don't know. We'll figure it out."

Feeling unsure, the youths turned around, making their way back. God knows it wasn't safe to be out in the open. Especially when there's a psychopath on the loose.

~~~

"So... how old are you, exactly?"

Lightning Strike wriggled forward, following Andromeda through the vent. It was hot and cramped, but infinitely better than facing more of those... things.

"Shit if I know." Andromeda muttered sourly.

"Well, it's just, you landed in Equestria when my father was a foal. But you look like you've barely aged."

"Look, the ambassadors spend the entire trip in cryogenic storage, okay? I really have no idea how old I am. Happy?"

Lightning pondered for a minute. "So... the scratching sound I heard earlier. That was you?"

"You're a talker, I see." Andromeda groaned. "Yeah, that was me moving around up here. I try to keep tabs on these guys so I know when it's safe to come down."

"So, why did you come down if you knew it wasn't safe?"

"Because I heard your noisy ass and assumed I was being rescued."

Lightning took that into consideration. "How long have you been up here?"

"I dunno. Maybe a year."

Damn. And I thought I was going crazy after a day.

~~~

Food.

Food.

So much of it.

Out there.

In the open.

In the light.

Wait for dark.

For food.

So, so much food.