The group complies, raising their arms slowly above their heads and turning. It's a rather short pony, holding a rather large, extremely over-decorated revolver. "Now, just get on your knees and I'll-" She is cut off by a crack that echoes down the way to the Red Line. Her eyes widen, and her gun falls to her side along with her arm. She sinks to her knees, falling over, dead. The group looks up in shock, finding one of the guards from Standout waving at them, smoke drifting away from her weapon.

"Well wasn't that nice of her!" Pinkie Pie exclaims, waving back energetically. They turn around again, ready to take on the tunnel and whatever comes their way in it. So leaving the comforting and incredibly secure light of Standout behind, Pinkie starts to sing an energetic tune. The one line of it she knows, anyway. Over and over and over andoverandoverandove-.

"Pinkie Pie! We get it! We 'spin you right 'round baby like a record'! I got it the first fifty times you sang it! Stop please," Dash loses it. The rest of the group breathes an unspoken 'thank you' to the sky blue mare.

"Okie dokie Loki!"

There is suddenly some extra sound in the tunnel. The sound of the group's hoof-falls and steady jumping is supplemented by more hoof-falls, and strange, foreign voices. The harsh-sounding conversation sounds light, and there is laughter lacing the voices. They can see the light of several head-mounted lights, and the conversation on both sides stops. One of the head lights turns to those on either side of it, and a voice rings clearly through the unusually well-lit air.

"Винтовки вверх!" There are several metallic clinks of bolts being primed, and the gleam of the metal on odd, ugly guns stings their eyes.

"Не стреляйте, не стреляйте!" Koldan's voice rings equally clearly, and the weapons seem to lower a bit. He raises his arms above his head, turning and closing his eyes against the light.

"Удерживайте положение. Почему ты здесь?"

"Мы имеем в виду ничего плохого. Мы, однако путешественников, желающих пройти через большие станции."

A murmur runs through the foreign group. The leader looks back up and motions to follow him. The adventurers do exactly that, following close behind their guides/ capturers. Before long, they reach a small, but still impressive looking station. There is chatter between the patrol that found them and gate keeper. Koldan takes the liberty of translating.

"There's nothing to report… Who are they, by which they mean us… Just a group of travelers who want to pass through, permission, yatta yatta yatta… We have until tomorrow at 10,00 to leave, any crimes against the Grand Union of Socialist Stations will be punished by death."

"Yay! More risk of death!" Pinkie shouts excitedly and a bit too loudly, attracting the attention of most of the guards in the area.

"Pinkie, shut up."

"Oops, sorry," she replies, hardly above a hoarse whisper, a grin still spread over her face.

"Okay, well I don't plan on spending that much time here anyway. This station makes me nervous, and… is that Fluttershy?" Rainbow can hardly believe her eyes. She runs in the direction of her old, shy friend.

"Fluttershy! Hey Fluttershy!" She turns around, her eyes growing with her smile.

"Oh! Rainbow Dash! Это ты?" the yellow pegasus opens her arms, letting her fillyhood friend run into a hug.

"Sorry 'Shy, I don't speak Russian."

"Oh, I'm sorry, old habits die hard after all, I suppose." Fluttershy's voice bears a heavy accent, similar to Bourbon's. And even stranger, it's mostly audible.

"Oh. My. GOSH! It's Fluttershy! We need to have a party! And there'll be-"

"Pinkie Pie, please!" Koldan's voice cuts the excited pink mare's stream of babble off, "Ponies around here aren't exactly used to having ponies yell and scream about parties, especially ones that don't honor the Union."

"Sorry again. But it's FLUTTERSHY! I haven't seen you in so long! What've you been doin' with your life?"

"Vell, I run a small infirmary on ze oser side of ze station, and I'm a part of ze Red Choir. But ozer zan zat, I'm not much different," Fluttershy explains.

"Well, I can tell at least one thing," Dash starts with a smirk, "this station has managed to raise your voice a little. How'd they manage that one?" Fluttershy's face brightens as she hides behind her mane.

"Vell, I guess it's part of ze Union mentality. I suppose it could also be ze Russian language. It'z not exactly a gentle language, if you know vhat I mean." They all share a laugh, Koldan nodding in hearty agreement.

"Ah! But vhere have my manners gone? Let's get out of vis cold and go to my place." They all follow Fluttershy through the small station, crossing almost the entire thing in a matter of seconds. They arrive at a small group of maybe five or six tents with a good fire in the middle of them.

"Does anypony vant some tea?"

"Fluttershy! Рад тебя видеть! Кто ваши друзья?" A masculine voice comes from in front of the tent next to them. Looking over, the group sees a middle aged colt with a shaggy look and a smile as warm as the fire.

"Ах! Господин багрянец, это приятно видеть вас." The colt and Fluttershy have a small conversation which Koldan translates for the others to avoid unnecessary awkwardness.

"Good man, that Mr. Crimson. Anyvay, how about zat tea?"

"Actually, some tea sounds nice, thank you," Koldan replies.

"So vhat brings you guys up here? I-if you don't mind my asking…" Yup, Fluttershy is still Fluttershy.

"Well, Twilight and I were sent on a bit of a mission to Central from Outreach, way down there at the bottom of the map, and we met Koldan here a few stations back. Good thing, too, he sure saved us when that patrol almost blasted little pieces of us all over the tunn-" Dash stops herself too late, remembering mid-thought who she's talking to.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to go into detail like that," she tries to save as Fluttershy's eyes widen, and she almost drops the kettle of hot tea she's holding.

"I-i-it's okay. You were almost…" she trails off, leaving a strong implication.

"Yup! But it's okay, Koldan here had us covered the whoollee tiiime," Pinkie blurts out, causing Koldan blushing lightly, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, maybe a proper introduction is in order. I'm Koldan, when the apocalypse struck, I was sucked into the Uprise station, just a few stations to the west, I'm sure you've heard of it." Fluttershy nods, knowing the station well, the station from which the Union rose.

"After a year or two, I left, going all over the station." Koldan finishes, extending his hoof. Fluttershy takes it, giving it a light shake.

"Well, I'm F-Fluttershy. I used t-to be from Ponyville, but vhen all of zis" she waves her hoof in the general direction of the station center, "happened, I vas stuck here, and I've been here since."

She looks down, slightly dejected, remembering the old times. Sighing, she looks up, plastering a fake smile onto her face.

"So vhat about you sree?"

"Well, when the apocalypse happened, Dash and I were some of the last ones in, and were put in the Outreach station. I am, well WAS, of course, a scientist there, and Dash was…" Twilight lets Rainbow take over the explanation.

"One of the guard ponies. We didn't have enough volunteers, naturally, so they started drafting all former weather pegasi. It was pretty boring, actually, my post was almost never attacked, but we always had to be ready, so it was still super stressful." Dash concludes.

A strong call comes crackling over the unrepaired intercom.

"Внимание! Все пони представить привокзальной площади!"

"Oi! I'm sorry, I've got to go. Here's your tea, Koldan. See you ponies later!" Fluttershy says as she's leaving the tent, "Or, I guess you could join us at the station square, if you want."

All ponies in the tent wordlessly and simultaneously stand, walking out of the tent after the yellow mare. When they get to the square, they see that the station, however small, is home to a good number of ponies. A stallion, probably well into his sixties, stands in front of the group at a minimalistic, almost impromptu, podium. He doesn't look like much to the ponies from out of station, but his authority is made clear when he quiets the quietly conversing group of ponies by the simple act of clearing his throat. He gives a small speech, motioning to the ponies on his sides, sitting in chairs, clad in very formal military uniforms. At the end of the speech, all the ponies applaud. They quickly quiet again though, when the old stallion raises his hoof to the crowd.

"И, пожалуйста, показать нашим уважаемым гостям некоторые из наших Союза гостеприимство." He motions to the group as he says this, causing everypony to turn and look at them, clapping lightly, those around them patting them on the back.

"What did he say that made them all look at us?" Twilight asks Fluttershy as they make their way back to the tent after the speech.

"He said, "And please, show our esteemed guests some of our Union hospitality'. He takes making our guests and passers-by feel welcomed and loved," Fluttershy says, smiling a happy smile.

"Zat's vhy ve all love him as a leader. He's so compassionate and varm-hearted. Not enough of zose ponies are around anymore."

"Well, I think I'm gonna metaphorically hit the metaphorical hay," Koldan says with a yawn when they get back to the tent, "I'll be back here if you need anything." He walks around to the back of the tent and sets up a small sleeping area.

"Oh, you don't need to sleep out zere, I've got plenty of room in here," Fluttershy offers.

"Plenty enough room for five ponies?" Koldan asks questioningly, "It's a very kind offer, but I'll be fine out here. Good night."

"Vell, if you're sure, good night." Fluttershy walks back inside, suddenly hit by a wave of tiredness of her own, her eyelids becoming heavier and heavier.

"Hey, guys, I tink I'm going to go to sleep now, if zat's alright vit you," Fluttershy manages with a yawn. She looks over, and sees that she is talking to sleeping ears. Smiling, she walks to her straw bed, laying down, trying to force her insomniac mind to rest. Somewhere across the now silent station, a small group of musicians is playing an old Cossack lullaby, and the soft notes and reassuring voice of the singer puts her to sleep.

---

Another hearty thanks to the programmers of google translate. On a somewhat related note, I will never be puting any Russian into pheonetics, I keep it in Cyrillic to drive down the element of unfamiliarity that the charecters would feel. Also, when reading through the older bits of the story again, I noticed how much the quality of my writing had lowered, so I will take a bit more time and *hopefully* bring it back up to its former standard. Thank you for reading. /)*(\