The Dark Ones

*Are you injured?*

Twilight's mind was racing, not only from the adrenaline still running thick in her bloodstream, but from the stranger’s question as well. She knew alternate realities would have at least some similarities to Equestria, but landing in one where the inhabitants spoke a language she understood baffled her. The odds were absurdly low, but somehow, it had happened.

*Yes-er, no, no, I think we’re fine,* she finally said with a little hesitation, unable to stop herself from pondering whether her annunciation was off.

The creature approached until the light of the fungi illuminated his face, showing the warm smile on it. *That is good. There is enough blood running through these tunnels as it is; it does not need the ghosts of visitors haunting them as well.*

She stood in awe. She, Twilight Sparkle, was the first pony in recorded history to make contact with another universe and communicate with its inhabitants! This was a ground-breaking find!

And then it hit her: her assignment had just become an official diplomatic mission. Oh dear, she had to make a good impression. ‘Okay, Twilight, breathe…’ she remembered, breathing steadily in and out. In, and out. Just like Cadence had taught her.

"Uh, Twilight, dear, how can you understand what it is saying?" Normally the elegant unicorn would be burning the clothes before her with her eyes for being such a terrible fashion statement – nay, a crime against all good taste! –, but she was far too shaken by the previous experience to even think of tailoring.

The alicorn opened her eyes from her exercise. "Somehow, he’s speaking Avian, girls. I was studying that right before we left for Canterlot."

*So,* the being interrupted, *I believe a few introductions are in order. I am Khan.* He bowed slightly, slowly so as to not scare the little blots of vivid color.

Twilight returned the gesture. *It’s a pleasure, Khan. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, and these are my friends: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack...* she said, enunciating each of the ponies with an extended hoof, but trailed off as she realized something. "Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy! They’re missing!" she exclaimed in Equestrian.

A hand landed gently on her back, between her wings. *If you are missing members of your party, I saw two more of your kind on my way through. I’ll take you to them.*

Khan took a few steps into the darkness of the tunnel before he lifted his hand and pressed a button on his headgear, and the beam of his headlamp illuminated a colorful mane inside a side entrance. Instantly, its owner darted out from her hiding spot, setting herself between her friends and Khan. "Quick! Get away while I distract them!"

Pinkie Pie giggled wholeheartedly. "Silly Rainbow, you don’t have to be afraid! He's friendly!" All of a sudden, she appeared behind Khan and wrapped him in a hug, nuzzling his side for half a second before pulling back, a little green on the face. “Ew, doesn’t smell so good, though…”

Khan's reaction at the curious display was awkwardly patting the mare’s head once and taking a step back.

"See?" Pinkie spoke again, this time from the middle of her herd, smiling proudly and oblivious to the confused stares from all around.

*… do your people adhere to physics?* Khan asked with slight trepidation.

*Most of us do,* was the alicorn's answer, spoken between quiet giggles. *But Pinkie? No chance.*

__________________________________________________________________

"So, let me get this straight.” Rainbow Dash was slightly incredulous. “That thing got rid of those other things, and Twilight gets what it’s saying, in this 'avian' language? How does it even know some old griffin tongue?" She shook her head. “What do you guys think it is anyway?”

Applejack shrugged. "Why don'tcha ask Twilight yourself, sugarcube? We don't know that much more than you do."

Rainbow huffed. "Fine... We'll do things the easy way."

She hovered towards her royal friend, gaining Khan's attention. She ignored the way he contemplated her as she inched toward Twilight. "Hey, uh... Twilight. Do you know what this thing is?"

The librarian turned to her with a reproachful glare. "He is a human, Rainbow, the dominant species of this planet."

Rainbow tilted her head a good seventy degrees. "Okay, I don’t get it. If you’re the dominant ones, why stay down here? This space is cramped even for things that don’t fly!"

Twilight turned to Khan and spoke in gibberish, which he returned with even more of it. Her expression contorted into a grimace as he spoke. Rainbow watched the spectacle, confused, poking the alicorn after Khan went silent. “What's he saying, egghead?”

When Twilight turned to the pegasus, her facial lines were upset by a deep, sad frown. “He said that the surface isn’t what it used to be anymore, and the only safe place for his species is this network of tunnels.”

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow. “Hm? Eh, I don’t know, Twi, that sounds kinda absurd. I mean, how bad can it be out there?”

“You know those things that were chasing Fluttershy, Rainbow?”

“Yeah, what of them?”

“They’re almost at the bottom of the food chain.”

“Wha, seriously?” There was shock in her words, but also disbelief. “That’s… I don’t know, Twi. It kinda makes sense, but...”

Twilight nodded glumly. “I'm not kidding, Rainbow. Things are really bad for them.” She pointed at the bones bathed in green light. “That skeleton over there? Khan said that person must have died here, alone. There was nopony with them, not even to give them a burial later. They're all too busy keeping themselves alive…”

Their eyes met. The purple pair was filled with tears. “No one deserves to die alone, Rainbow.”

The winged unicorn might not have known how much her words affected her friend at the time she finished her explanation, but she did when she was wrapped in a silent, unexpected and gentle hug. “Sorry, Twi,” Rainbow Dash whispered in her ear. With that and a squeeze that told of her regret for upsetting Twilight better than words ever could, she was off to join the others, leaving the librarian pony to her personal space.

The next one to approach was, to Twilight’s surprise, Fluttershy. Not only that, there was blood on her hooves, blood that wasn’t hers. She came to a stop sitting before Khan, and mumbled something that they had to lean forward to hear. *... did they really have to die?*

Twilight was too shocked at the pegasus’ fluency to say anything. Khan took a breath; when he spoke, his tone was solemn. *Life in the Metro is cruel and unforgiving, little one. Everything must be fought for by all of those who live in it, civilized or not. These lurkers were so desperate for food, they hunted far from the safety of their burrows. They would not pass up on any sort of prey, be it easy pickings or a suicidal hunt.*

Fluttershy sniffled and looked down.

Khan closed his eyes. *If they do not get their meal... death is still a relief. Between it coming certainly as starvation at the warrens or only probably as injury from game too large to overwhelm, they had a choice to make. Any creature in this position has very little to lose.*

Two droplets fell to the dust on the wood of the sleeper under her. *This is so cruel…* Then, she took a deep breath and faced up again, and Twilight was pleasantly surprised to see her smiling, even if it was the saddest smile she had ever seen. *But I guess I have to thank you for saving us.*

Khan returned the small pegasus her smile, and as she walked back to Rarity and the rest, Twilight broke off her stare of incredulity. *I don’t know what to say…*

Her new friend’s eyes twinkled. *The world is full of surprises and bright spots, Twilight. Remember: for every shadow to exist, there must be a light to cast it. Just be ready for them to shine in your eyes if you don’t want to be blinded.*

She had a feeling that Khan had more than experience in life to back up these words, but he did not elaborate. He stood back up. *We should move. These were not the only hungry creatures around, and fresh blood tends not to stay unnoticed for long. I have an encampment nearby; we can stay there for a few hours and get our issues sorted out.*

Twilight nodded and turned to the whispering mass of ponies behind her. “Girls? We’re leaving.”

“Ugh, finally!” Rarity practically sprung in her direction. “I have just about had enough of this environment!”

With the herd assembled, they fell in step with the leading human. “Where we goin’ now, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Khan has a camp around here. We can settle down there while we figure out what to do.”

“Ooo, a camp!” Pinkie perked up. “Does that mean we’ll make a camping party? Are we gonna roast marshmallows and tell ghost stories and set up tents too?”

CRACK!

The party pony looked down at the dry dust of the rat skull she had inadvertently crushed underhoof. “This place could use a little more fun after all, it’s so gloomy and moody and… do we have any other words with –oo and –y?”

“I don’t think this will be much fun…” muttered Fluttershy.

_______________________________________________________________

“Shit, those were traders,” Bourbon said, shouldering his AK and stepping closer to a few fresh bodies. He turned one over with his foot, showing the black holes on his torso. “This has ‘bandit job’ written all over it. Stay on your toes, boy.”

The hidden passage he talked about was a door to an abandoned tunnel, concealed by a large crate. It was mostly empty, save for one small mutant that ran away the moment the light shone on him. As I hated rats and anything that resembled them, the sight sent shivers up and down my spine. Father told me Exhibition was infested by a rat swarm once when I was young.

Seconds after he entered the tunnel next to the scene, Bourbon stopped dead. “Ah, here’s the alarm system.” I looked over his shoulder, and he pointed to a few sets of cans hanging from a rope in the ceiling. “This trick is ancient, but very efficient. Unless you want them to know we’re here, stay away from the cans.”

He sidestepped around most of the can sets, grabbing one he couldn’t avoid so it wouldn’t make noise. I imitated his actions, and soon we were back in the clear. He stopped me once more, before we passed through a door. "These guys also like broken glass, gravel mounds, pretty much anything that can give you away when you step on it. Keep your eyes peeled."

We found ourselves in a vacant room with ammunition and a lit oil lamp. “This is a guard post if I ever saw one, Artyom. Whoever was here left just recently, probably with the intention to come back.” Bourbon put his head to the door to listen, and pulled back from it almost instantly. "Quick, our host’s back. Get into that corner and I’ll show you how Uncle Bourbon works."

I stepped into the shadows and crouched to keep hidden while he snuffed out the lamp and ducked in the opposite corner. Just as I was going to ask him what he was planning, the door opened and a drunken bandit stumbled into the room, singing gibberish. He neared the table, and I saw Bourbon throw something. The drunk fell to the floor, a small knife lodged in the back of his neck. "You can keep that as a trophy," Bourbon half-joked.

We entered the next room in utter silence, hiding in the shadows cast by nearby crates. As I peered over the top, I counted six men sitting around a fire. Bourbon slowly made his way to me and withdrew something else from his pocket. I eyed him curiously until he made a couple of gestures with his hands that had me tilting my head confusion. He facepalmed, leaned towards me and explained in an annoyed whisper, "I need your lighter, kid."

The moment I revealed it, he took it and lifted the flame to a small cylinder with spikes on it, which he threw as soon as the wick caught flame.

“What the- GRENADE!”

Bourbon pulled me down to the ground with him right before the pipe bomb exploded. When we stood back up, the campfire was a sickening sight: five of the bandits were dead, ripped to shreds by the blast. The sixth was trying to crawl away, his right leg bleeding severely.

Bourbon stepped in front of the injured men, crouched, took out his own revolver and handed it to him, grip first. The bandit looked at it in confusion.

Then, he grinned, put the gun to Bourbon’s head and pulled the trigger.