//------------------------------// // Picking Through the Rubble // Story: Mum's Diner // by Golden Tassel //------------------------------// Life for the ponies of Mum's Diner was supported by trade in scrap collected from the surrounding area. As the years passed by, the scavenging team had to travel much further to find enough to sustain their small community. At the end of a long trek through the barren sands, they came at last to the remnants of an industrial complex. Tall, windowless buildings of rusted iron and fractured concrete flanked an open courtyard. In the center was the collapsed form of a once-imposing unicorn cast in bronze, whose sculpted visage now lay half-buried in the earth. It was next to this toppled monument that the scavenging team unhitched their wagons. Jade climbed up on top of the fallen statue's pedestal to address her team. Her towering frame commanded their attention, and her wrinkled face secured their respect, owed to the many years of her experience and the success they'd had under her leadership. "We're all tired from the walk, I know. But we don't have the supplies to sit around burning daylight when we've got just as far to get back home with fully-loaded wagons on our backs. So get out there and start scouting. I don't want to see any of you back here before the sun goes down." The team hailed "Yes, ma'am!" in unison and trotted their way into the ruins. Off to the side, apart from the rest of the team was Starry Night. She had come to the diner several years ago, but had only joined the scavengers within the last few years. Starry had corralled the foals who had come along—their first time out—and while Jade had been directing the others, Starry was making sure the foals all knew what they were doing. "Who knows the first rule?" she asked. "Always stay with your buddy!" "That's right. Don't go anywhere that your buddy can't see you. Does everyone know who their buddy is?" Starry smiled as she watched them pair up. "Good! Now, who knows what 'recon' means?" "It means just looking!" "Very good! Don't take anything the first time you see it. Remember where you found it and keep looking. When we all meet back here for supper, tell everyone what you saw and then we'll all go get it together." Half a dozen excited young faces looked up at her and nodded. "And all together now: what do you do if your buddy gets hurt or stuck?" "Get help!" They all shouted. Starry waved her hoof and sent the next generation of scavengers out into the ruins in their parents' footsteps. Once they had left her, she sat down and heaved an anxious sigh. "With any luck, half of them might grow up to be good riggers," said Jade as she came up alongside Starry, alluding to the difficult and often dangerous job of running pulleys to lift and move heavy objects out of the rubble. "You've got patience for the little brats, I'll give you that much." "Thank you. My son, Chance, wasn't much older when I started bringing him with me in the city ruins around home." Starry cleared her throat and stood up. "I should go have a look around." "Stay," Jade said. "Help me set up the camp. There's something I want to discuss with you." After unpacking the tents and inventorying their supply of food and salvaging equipment, they started a campfire and sat together on one side, facing out over the ruins. Jade stared silently out over the skyline of abandoned industry. After a minute she spoke, "What was your job back home? You weren't just a scavenger; I can tell." "All the ponies of Precinct One-Seven-Three do scavenging. We were in the middle of a large city ruin, so there was a lot of scrap around that needed clearing. The rest of the time, though, I was an officer." Starry Night reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a polished metal pin and showed it to Jade. It was in the shape of a shield with the words "Serve and Protect" stamped into it. "We liaised with the civilians to coordinate where to focus the scavenging, what to look for, and if there was any trouble, we were there to deal with it." Jade turned the shield over in her hoof a few times and gave it back. "Tell me what sorts of trouble you dealt with." "Not much, honestly," Starry said, idly scratching at the ground with her hoof. "Mostly civilians getting into drunken brawls over who found what or who got to sleep where." She looked up to see Jade staring at her, patiently waiting for Starry to finish answering. "Ah, well there was one time when a squad of us were sent to break up a gang that had formed in one area. They weren't letting the civilians in to scavenge so we were told to, um. Deal with them." She cleared her throat and looked down into the fire, silently watching it burn. "That's what I thought," Jade said smugly. "I've been on the lookout for someone to replace me. I'm getting too old to keep doing this, and I won't be around forever. This lot needs someone like you who can keep them in line. Don't worry, I'm not throwing you to the wolves just yet. It'll take time to build up trust with the team, especially with Anchor and his haulers; they've got more muscle than sense, but as long as you can bring in enough trade stock for Chrys to keep them boozed up, he'll treat you right." Starry remained quiet, continuing to stare into the fire until she looked up and saw the cross look on Jade's face—it wasn't something she was supposed to refuse. "Thank you," she said. Her hoof absently reached into her pocket for a flask that wasn't there.