Stars Below

After such a tense first encounter, the greeting I received at the as-of-yet-unnamed train station being used as a "village" was quite a surprise. Natalia and Maksim led the way, guiding me through a short stretch of tunnel toward the inviting glow of the campfire that had shown me their shadows minutes ago. The closer we got, the more I was able to hear hushed conversations and the sounds of many creatures moving around. I couldn't hear anything distinct, but it was easy enough to assume they were speculating about what became of Natalia and Maksim. Hopefully, they weren't too anxious, given that neither of the Spartans used their weapons.

Natalia went first and warned the others that she and Maksim were bringing a friend, and I heard murmurs of confusion and doubt. Then, when Maksim led me around the corner, I was met with a wave of shock, disbelief, and fear. I froze where I stood as I looked each of the thirty or so bipedal creatures in the eyes, watching as they stared at me like I was some kind of monster. It was a long, tense silence that only broke when Natalia was brave enough to speak up. It was slow going from there, and most of them kept their distance, but a few curious souls stepped forward to speak to me - or, tried to.

It quickly became apparent that I did not understand their language, and Natalia and Maksim were the only ones present who could translate to and from Equestrian - or, as they apparently called it, English. Nonetheless, over the course of an hour or so, I was given a great deal of information to digest.

My primary questions about where I was and who I was speaking to were answered almost immediately, but the exposition that came with the former filled me with dread. Natalia explained, with the help of a particularly energetic young boy who liked making sound effects, that I was in - or rather, under - the city of Moscow in a nation called Russia. These people, and a few thousand others, lived in an extensive underground railway system that they called Metro. The reason for such a strange choice was what frightened me.

Their world was destroyed two decades ago in a war of unimaginable scale, claiming millions of lives and rendering much of the surface an uninhabitable wasteland. People spoke only very briefly of the surface, describing post-war Moscow as a deathtrap full of mutants created by the radioactive leftovers of the bombs that ended their world.

What was worse, the explanation painted an even more bleak picture for the few children I saw watching me with rapt attention. They were fascinated by me, watching my ethereal mane and fidgeting wings. The older men and women who were alive to see the world before the war told stories of a beautiful place full of sunshine and happiness without the countless dangers lurking in Metro. It sounded much like Equestria, at least based on what I was told, but I could never imagine a war on the scale they described.

Shortly after Natalia was done giving me a brief history of her world, I stepped aside with her to a slightly more secluded area and lowered my voice to ask about something else. "These children... they watch me so closely. I know I am something of a novelty in your world, but am I truly that outlandish? Even the adults seemed awestruck by my appearance."

Natalia laughed quietly, but I could sense a note of pain hidden behind the sound. She glanced aside at a little girl standing nearby who was acting as if she wasn't eavesdropping before turning her gaze back to me. "You're probably the most colorful thing they've seen in a while, Luna. These kids never knew life before the war. To them, Metro is all there is. It's not a good place for children, but the surface is even worse," she explained, no longer making an effort to hide the sadness in her voice. I felt myself deflate slightly, looking back over my withers at the same smiling girl Natalia had glanced at a moment prior.

She seemed happy enough, even with her dirty face and worn-out, oversized clothing. I had very little knowledge of what this world was like before the Great War, as some of the men and women called it, but I knew it wasn't fair to those children to live with the consequences.

The more I thought about this story, though, the more a bigger detail began to sink in. With the rush of so many new faces and so many questions, I'd barely had time to consider it, but now... it was all I could think about. My blood ran cold in my veins as the realization fell upon me like a pile of bricks. This world was ravaged by war, and these people had never seen a pony like myself before. That could only mean one thing, and it terrified me. Still, in my panic, I had one last hope. Nobody had mentioned the name of the world itself...

"Natalia?" I asked, wincing when I heard how much fear I allowed to slip into my tone. She looked down at me with a raised eyebrow, silently inviting me to continue. I swallowed hard. "What is the name of your world? I now know the name of this place, the city above it, and the country whose borders surround it, but... where am I?"

Natalia hesitated to answer, looking confused, before laying a gentle hand on my shoulder. The contact startled me at first, but the warmth of her hand helped to steady my heart again. "You really aren't a mutant..." she mumbled, more to herself than to me. "Where do you come from? You said before that you were a princess?"

The lack of a clear answer to my question was an explanation all its own. I knew the truth, deep down, but I could distract myself by focusing on her counter-question instead. "I am from Equestria. My sister and I, we ruled the land together as princesses of the Sun and Moon," I explained, my voice wavering, "this Great War... something like that could never happen where I am from. The last major conflict was..."

I trailed off, realizing what I was about to say. Natalia leaned forward, clearly intrigued by my words, but I couldn't bear the thought of revealing my true nature to her. Not now, when she knows so little about me. I feared it would turn my newfound friends against me, and I could not have that. So I lied. "... several thousand years ago. An evil wizard by the name of Sombra threatened the safety of our kingdom and our subjects, but even that war was short-lived. Your world was torn asunder by weapons the likes of which I can scarcely imagine, let alone the circumstances that might push me or my sister into using them."

Natalia's gaze hardened as she looked at me, and I suddenly felt very small despite being almost the same height as her. She narrowed her eyes at me and pointed, opening her mouth to say something, before Maksim suddenly spoke up and startled both of us. For such a large man, he proved to be quite good at sneaking up on others. "Wizards, princesses, and kingdoms? She sounds like she's from a fairy tale! And you remember a war from millennia ago? Come on..."

"What kind of person lies about something so outlandish?" Natalia snapped back, keeping her voice to a harsh whisper. The little girl crept closer, and I watched her straining to listen out of the corner of my eye. She stood behind Maksim as he stepped around the corner, joining us in our relative privacy away from the rest of the station's inhabitants. "It's... it does sound like something straight out of a book, I'll give you that. Care to elaborate a little more, Luna?"

Put on the spot again, I glanced between Natalia and Maksim's expectant faces. Slowly, I sat down on my haunches and curled my tail around myself. The station floor was cold and hard, but I felt more stable with something beneath me. "Perhaps I've been too vague," I admitted, frowning. "I am an alicorn, one of only four in my world. We are immortal beings that represent all three pony tribes - the unicorns, the pegasi, and the earth ponies. I protected our subjects during the night, in addition to raising the moon and placing the stars and constellations. All of this is possible thanks to my magic."

I paused and indicated my horn, demonstrating with a bit of telekinesis. Natalia, Maksim, and the young girl watched with wide-eyed fascination as I levitated a discarded tin can off the floor and spun it around in mid-air. What they couldn't see, however, was that I was finding out something new as well. I found that I could move the can with relative ease, but it felt... different. It was as though my magic was operating in a vacuum, rather than being accompanied by the ambient energy I was accustomed to.

I was sure Twilight would be fascinated by the opportunity to study such a phenomenon, but at the moment it added to my anxiety. At the very least, it explained why my magical attacks in the other tunnel weren't as effective as I'd expected them to be. That, or those beasts are more resilient than I assumed. Neither option was reassuring, but they would both require more testing to confirm.

"I'll be damned," Maksim murmured, shaking his head. "Maybe she's legit after all. I don't know, though... none of that explains how she's here, and we've seen anomalies that can make stuff float around before." Natalia scoffed at his continued dismissal of my abilities.

"Those same anomalies also kill you when you get close. This is different, and the fact that she doesn't know a single thing about our world should tell you that she probably doesn't know how she got here either." Natalia paused to look at me, once again silently prodding me to step back into the conversation. I set the can down before nodding slowly.

"Indeed. I merely awoke to find myself laid out on my back in a neighboring tunnel. Moments later I heard the sounds of Alyosha and the other guards battling those... watchmen, as you called them, and rushed to their aid. After that, I backtracked and came here. I have only been here, consciously at least, for an hour or two at the most."

Natalia spoke up first this time. "Like a fish out of water. To answer your question, then... this is Earth. If I had to guess, a long way away from your Equestria. I've also made up my mind- the scientists at Polis definitely need to see you. If you're willing to go, that is..."

I had to seriously consider the offer. On one hoof, this place was far from inviting. Traveling however far to Polis sounded like a dangerous endeavor, and I was hardly prepared to face the worst Metro could send my way. On the other, those scientists may very well be my best hope of returning home. After only a moment, I'd made up my mind. "I will go," I said, nodding once more. "But on one condition - you must teach me to protect myself in this new world. I will not merely be a princess in distress." Maksim chuckled, and at first, I thought he was about to cast yet more doubt. Instead, he surprised me.

"Hah! Maybe she's not so bad after all. A wom-... er, mare? Whatever. A mare after my own heart! Still... there's more to defending yourself in Metro than toting a big gun. You don't even speak the language," Maksim said, taking on a cautionary tone after his initial eagerness.

"Then she'll have to learn both on the go," Natalia replied simply, though I had my doubts. There was a good reason I was never first in line to handle diplomacy, especially when language barriers were involved. Here, though, I did not have much choice.

"I am willing to learn," I assured them, leaning forward and looking up to meet their gaze. "It is the only way to guarantee my safety. Or... as close to a guarantee as I may get. Surely the basics will suffice - er... a battle language, if you will. The rest I can rely on one of you to translate for me, yes?"

Natalia and Maksim exchanged looks, and then the latter shrugged. "It could work... all you'd need to know are the absolute basics, enough to keep your head in a firefight if one springs up. That just leaves our other problem - this station just lost its newly trained guard detail."

Natalia slumped slightly, shaking her head, and the little girl standing behind the two of them suddenly looked worried. Evidently, she was only just now finding out what happened in the other tunnel. Natalia looked back over her shoulder, motioned for the child to run along, and turned her attention back to Maksim. "We'd have to delay our return trip and see what can be done here. They really don't have the numbers to be taking losses like that, but we don't have the numbers to station Rangers out here to defend them all the time. Relocating again is out of the question..."

Natalia trailed off, and Maksim spoke up for her. "You had the most success training recruits the first time, I think you'll do better this time too. They all seemed scared of me whenever I tried," he said, somehow sounding equal parts offended and proud. "As much as this breaks the rules... I think splitting up isn't too bad of an idea. Someone will have to get word back to Polis about what happened - the successful relocation and the extended training mission - and Luna can't go by herself."

"How far is this 'Polis' from here?" I interrupted, cringing slightly when both of them looked down at me in mild surprise. "I gather that Metro is quite large, but I have yet to see a map of any kind. Are these train stations all connected?"

Natalia responded first, stepping forward and sticking a hand into one of the numerous pouches on her uniform. After a moment of digging around, she retrieved a folded and deeply-creased piece of paper. It was old and dirty, fraying at the edges, but it was in one piece. She unfolded it and held it up for me, and I took hold of it in my telekinesis to get a closer look. "The circled station is where we are," she explained, "Polis is near the center - clearly labeled. Or, mostly."

I squinted to read the map in the dim lighting, forced to tilt my head to the side to allow a weak lamp to shine directly on the paper. It was covered in a myriad of symbols I did not recognize, colors and shapes scattered across a nonsensical layout of lines and circles. Eventually, I found the spot I was looking for. There was a circle, evidently a train station, in the upper-middle portion of the map labeled 'Mendeleevskaya'. North of it, another station was marked out with a large 'X'. That one was labeled 'Savelovskaya'.

I then searched for Polis, only to come up short. None of the many stations labeled had a name that was even remotely similar, and Natalia clearly noticed my confusion. "Some help, please?" I asked, turning the map around for her to see.

"Oh! Right, it's... not one station, exactly. Polis is here," she said, pointing to a collection of four stations clustered closely together near the center. I nodded and relinquished my magical hold on the map to let Natalia take it back. She held it steady though, pointing to another detail. A large circle was highlighted with thicker ink, its diameter covering roughly half of Metro and ensuring that all of the "arms" were connected. "This is the Ring line - Hanza. They technically control the station we're in now, but they were willing to work with us for this little operation."

"Mighty unusual for Hanza, too," Maksim cut in. "Those assholes usually won't even give us the time of day unless their own lives depend on it. I'd bet my last bullet that they're getting ready to call in a favor from us in return already."

"Will we have to deal with Hanza on our return trip?" I asked, watching as Natalia stuffed her map back into her pocket. "For a collection of train stations and underground railways, Metro's political sphere sounds very... familiar." In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but draw parallels. The circumstances were different in Equestria, of course, but the attitudes were the same. How many times I wished I could give the arrogant Nobility a piece of my mind back in Canterlot...

But my musing is interrupted when Maksim answers my question. "Hopefully not. They don't patrol every inch of their tunnels all the time, and they should be fine enough letting us pass... assuming they don't take an interest in you." That was less than reassuring, but it was all I was going to get for now, apparently. Natalia didn't elaborate when she spoke up next.

"Regardless, time is tight," she said, suddenly sounding more urgent. "Maksim... terrible of an idea as that is, you're right. We'll split up and try to sort this out faster. I'll stay here and help train more guards, you will take Luna to Polis and teach her some basics along the way. Sound good?" She asked, and I appreciated that she seemed to be directing the question at me just as much as she was at her partner.

"It will have to do," Maksim replied simply.

"I am ready to do my best," I chimed in, "and it seems as though I have my work cut out for me. If nothing else, I will try to be a good student along the way. Are you sure you will be safe here, Natalia?" I couldn't help but ask, in part thanks to Natalia's own hesitation to put that plan forward. I did not fully understand the dangers of Metro, but these elite soldiers being hesitant was all the hinting I needed.

"I'll be fine," she assured me, putting a gloved hand on my shoulder once more. She looked me in the eyes for a moment before continuing, and I gathered that she was telling herself just as much as she was telling me. Regardless, she wasn't backing out now. She took her hand away, stood up, and glanced down as if checking to make sure her gun was still at her side. "You two head out whenever you're ready. I'm going to go to the other tunnel and collect whatever equipment I can from the dead..."

And with that, Natalia turned and swiftly marched away. I heard her booted feet stomping across the station floor long after she left our private little corner, disappearing past the small collection of scrap-built walls that divided the severely limited space into rooms and hallways. A moment later, I slowly got back up onto all four hooves and looked at Maksim instead. He was staring at where Natalia left his line of sight too, as if stuck in a temporary trance, but he snapped out of it as soon as he heard my hooves. "That's that, then. I have everything I need to take with me right here," he said, indicating the numerous pockets and pouches on his uniform, "and I don't presume you have anything of importance to carry with you, either."

I shook my head, but indicated the satchel I acquired in the neighboring tunnel. "Nothing that is my own. I collected this bag, and a curious lighter, in the aftermath of the battle earlier. I will return them if they are needed, though I might wish for a replacement..."

"Hah! No, we don't need an old bag back. Keep the lighter, too. Flashlights are nice, but everyone in Metro knows better than to bet on twenty-year-old batteries. A backup will save your life," he explained, before showing off his own lighter after digging it out of a pocket. He flicked the striker and ignited it, letting me see his grizzled face clearly for a moment, before tucking it away. "Before we leave here, though... you and I should pay the storeroom a visit. We're going to need some more equipment before we make this trip, and they aren't going to miss anything we're taking."

I raised an eyebrow at that, taking a half-step back and earning a frown from Maksim. "Are you absolutely sure? These people seem to be doing quite poorly even without considering their new casualties. I am in need of equipment to protect myself, but I shall not steal it from those who need it just as much."

Maksim rolled his eyes, already turning to start walking away. "Bah, we're not taking anything they can't replace next time traders come by. Hanza will probably hook them up anyway, now that they're under their banner," he argued, and I quickly fell into step beside him. He was taking me in a new direction, passing through tight corridors toward a part of the station I hadn't seen yet.

"If you are quite certain, then I suppose I can agree to this," I said, prompting Maksim to snicker. "What will we need to pick up?"

"I have everything I need," he explained, "but you have need of everything. Gun, ammo, knife, flashlight... I'd also say a gas mask, but I don't think we're going to find one that you can wear unless someone's just holding onto some weird pet mask." Now it was my turn to roll my eyes, and I scoffed just to let Maksim know I disliked being compared to a mere pet. Unfortunately, he seemed to find amusement in that, too.