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It had become clear very soon after the bombs fell that Celestia and Luna weren't going to swoop down and fix everything. No-pony knew where they were, or even if they were alive now. The few thousand ponies who huddled in the Metro after the attack had to deal with their entire world being shattered, then having the guts ripped out of their very faith. I wondered how they'd survived. How they hadn't just torn each other to pieces in a panic. But that was the nature of faith, I supposed. Its incredible resilience in the face of impossible odds ensured its survival. Belief in the Princesses and in the virtues that made us good ponies was still strong in some parts of the Metro. I too had faith that Equestria might someday become green again. It wouldn't be faith if there was always a clear cut reason to believe, would it?
-Lockbox

After the Apocalypse, the Stalliongrad Metro shelters what remains of ponydom from the mutant, radiation-infested wastes of the surface world. Lockbox, born in the Metro, has always been a rather private pony who liked to collect things, particularly things that remind him of the time before. When his home station comes under threat, a promise spurs him onto a quest to preserve the ramshackle remains of pony civilization, but can he find a reason to save what remains amid the violence, corruption, and depravity of the Metro?

My Little Metro is an incomplete fanfic on FiMFiction by RedSquirrel456. It is a crossover between the popular My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic animation series, and the videogames Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light. As such, it contains many tropes from both universes, although the story and setting are rather on the grimdark side, and include death, gore, language, and some sensuality. The story was last updated in mid-2014 and has since been marked "On Hiatus."


My Little Metro provides examples of the following tropes:

  • After the End: Set decades after a horrible war involving magical nukes has destroyed and poisoned the surface of Equestria (and presumably the rest of the planet).
  • A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Warden (a magical mind-altering expy of Adolf Hitler) and his mooks, and by extension likely the rest of the New Lunar Republic administration.
  • Anti-Hero: Lockbox, who often lampshades the irony that he seems to keep murdering ponies for the sake of saving ponies.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Expected in-universe when Lockbox challenges Steel Crescent to single combat for the freedom of Sidewinder. Averted when Lockbox actually wins, to the shock of nearly everypony present.
  • Eldritch Location: Many places in the Metro, besides being filled with unworldly anomolies and mutants, have their own strange properties, such as a tunnel that extends much longer than the physical space between stations should allow.
  • Enemy Mine: Many alliances are forged in the name of mutual survival, notably Ruby Red and Lockbox sliding back and forth between Teeth-Clenched Teamwork and Friendly Enemy.
  • Giant Spiders: Although the spiderbugs aren't necessarily "giant", they can still reach the size of a full-grown pony and clog entire metro tunnels in thick web.
  • Grey-and-Gray Morality: While not quite on the far hopeless side of Idealism vs Cynicism, this trope is extremely prevalent. Nearly everypony in the Metro is willing to do anything it takes, up to and including murder, to stay one step ahead.
  • Have We Met?: When Lockbox helps kill a bandit patrol, their leader Ruby Red swears to find and kill him, but doesn't get a good look before he escapes. Later when he's captured in an unrelated event, she notes he seems familiar, but can't place why.
  • Hearing Voices: Lockbox is particularly haunted by what seems to be the thoughts and voices of the Dark Ones.
  • Made of Iron: Even with magical healing in effect, Lockbox and many of his companions should be dead multiple times over. Often lampshaded by other ponies, noting that whatever Lockbox is trying to accomplish must be supernaturally important.
  • Nightmare Dreams: These haunt Lockbox very often, ramping up the intensity to undiluted Nightmare Fuel levels after he unintentionally enables the horrific assassination of Sweet Dreams. The poor guy does get a break with at least two partial erotic dreams. Unfortunately the first is prematurely interrupted, and the second goes horribly wrong.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Employed many times by ponies all over the metro to enforce subservience. Ruby Red's methods are noteworthy for being particularly vicious.
  • The Nondescript: Nopony, in addition to his black armor and omnipresent tinted gasmask, seems to have the ability to blend in and appear wherever he wants, with no questions asked or anyone wondering where he came from. His name of choice also makes talking about him difficult.
    I groaned and shoved him away, wincing as my injuries twinged. "Nevermind, we need to find a way out of here and Nopony said the Diamond Dogs would help."
    "Who?" he asked.
    "Nopony," I said, only realizing how crazy I sounded when he looked at me like I'd grown a second head.
  • Not Always Evil: A tearjerking example when Bric-à-brac, one of Ruby Red's bandit henchmen, nobly and voluntarily sacrifices himself for sake of helping Lockbox's mission.
  • Pinball Protagonist: While far from being a Useless Protagonist, Lockbox often falls into this. He has the overreaching goal of saving his home station from the Dark Ones, but continuously gets roped into dangerous schemes and errands. To his credit, Lockbo usually manages to turn these situations to his advantage, getting ever-closer to Ponyopolis with each tangent.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: While almost all have committed some horrible atrocity in the name of survival or power, most ponies aren't outright evil, but simply doing the bidding of more powerful ponies.
  • Rising Conflict: Nearly every couple chapters. Many side missions end up failing or being forgotten for sake of sheer survival, and some are intentionally abandoned to get closer to the final goal, but are always replaced with newer and more urgent issues.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: The stance taken by the fanatical New Lunar Republic, which enslaves "undesirable" ponies for grunt work and mining gems, while regaling in the stronger more useful ponies with grand visions of a future Utopia. See also A Nazi by Any Other Name.
  • You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: Used almost word for word by Sidewinder to Lockbox after a vision of the as-yet unknown pony haunting his dreams.


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