"Come on, I can still help somehow," Jigsaw pleaded to Short.
"Sorry, Jigsaw, I can't allow that in your present condition," a worried Short Circuit replied.
She had taken up the burden of carrying the twisted metal wagon through town. It was difficult, but not as hard as keeping it from shattering during its short usage. Gravity and concrete already overruled any magical efforts she and Jigsaw could have summoned to hold the thing together, and the slab of broken metal was still losing parts.
"Actually, I think you can help with something," Jigsaw's ears perked up at the statement, "Could you pick up the scraps that fall off the machine?"
Jigsaw seemed slightly downtrodden that he couldn't do more, but he took what he could get. Slowly, he began gathering the bread-crumb trail of loose wire and scrap as they made their way through town.
"So, what do you think of the place so far?" Short said, hoping small talk would distract him from his disappointment.
"It's a lot different than Manehatten. I mean, it was a fine city, but this place seems cozier. What do you think?"
"I agree, it is definitely calmer than Manehatten. Plus, you don't need a carriage just to get to the grocery store when everything in town is within walking distance," Short answered while Jigsaw nodded in agreement, "It's just a short train ride into Canterlot, so anything we can't get here we can probably get there. As an added bonus, the train ride is probably faster than trying to find a cab in Manehatten," this statement was greeted by a quiet chuckle from Jigsaw, "and all the ponies here are so much nicer than a lot of people in the city. It almost seems like everyone there was too busy to care about being nice."
"Plus, It was a bit awkward cramped in that dingy little apartment with my sister. I still can't thank your parents enough for that, by the way," Jigsaw mumbled, dragging his good hoof in the dirt.
The two trudged along in silence for the next few blocks until they arrived at a clearing, Short setting the massive pile of scrap far enough away from the town to appease the ponies who wouldn't want an ugly, burnt pile of twisted steel taking up space in their front yard. Jigsaw set his pile of scraps next to the bulk of the pile, and watched Short Circuit try to fish out his satchel of bits from the wreckage. She finally found a blackened pile of what was at one point cloth covering a pile of the shining golden currency.
Short turned to her friend, holding the small pile with a golden mist, and wearing an expression of pure relief, "Jackpot! You know, these must be magically sealed in some way. It would explain both how they are nearly indestructible, and how they might be able to detect counterfeits," she stated while holding one of the bits up to her eye, as if expecting to see the magic somehow imbibed into the piece of metal.
"Why do you always overthink things?" Jigsaw asked with just a hint of sarcasm.
"Why do you always over-complicate things?" Short replied, mimicking Jigsaw's tone as she focused her attention away from the bits she was holding and gestured toward the pile of scrap sitting behind them.
The pair shared a laugh at each other's expense, before grabbing the bits and making their way back through town.
"Is my jacket in there?" Jigsaw raised his head, trying to look through the rubble from a distance.
"The satchel didn't make it, so I doubt your jacket did," Short Circuit bluntly replied, causing Jigsaw to go silent.
Short Circuit broke the silence with a question that had been bothering her, "Have you given any thought as to where we're sleeping tonight?"
"No," Jigsaw answered, "Why should I?"
"We should consider it unless you want to sleep in an alley tonight."
Jigsaw turned to look at her, eyeing her as if he were silently asking seriously?
Short noticed his glare and quickly tried to correct herself, "I mean- Well- I don't want to sleep outside, and I definitely don't want you to have to, either."
"Right," Jigsaw grumbled as he turned from Short Circuit to look at the local scenery, "I think that big round one is the town hall. They might know of any homes that might be for sale."
"Alright," Short replied with a small, almost apologetic, voice, "I- I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine."
"I just meant-"
"It's. Fine."
Jigsaw glared at the road in front of him, holding himself as high as he could. His once happy face had turned into a slight scowl. Meanwhile, Short seemed to appear as quite the opposite, bowing her head town, eyes darting around as if she were waiting for some miracle to bring the bronze stallion out of his mental slump.
Finally, she decided on a way to cheer him up, "That looks like a restaurant, down the street. Do you want to stop by and get something to eat?"
Jigsaw sighed, looking down before a small smile returned to his face, "Sure, I don't think we've eaten since we left this morning, and it's..." he turned to look at a clock hanging overhead, "-almost one-o-clock. I think we could both use some lunch."
"How's your leg holding up?"
"I've broken bones before."
"That isn't an answer."
"Alright, then, it feels terrible. I've been in this town for a little over two hours, and I'm already useless," Jigsaw's dark expression returned as quickly as it had disappeared, "Does that answer your question?"
"I was just trying to help, and you're not useless," Short said as they approached the restaurant, sitting in the table farthest from the front door.
The two maintained a short silence before Jigsaw set his head down on the table, quietly muttering, "I'm sorry, it's just been a very long day."
"For both of us," Short finished.
Jigsaw brought his gaze back up to meet his friend's, allowing a grin to form on his face once again, "You know I don't like ordering in restaurants, right?"
"Yes, but why did you agree to it?"
Jigsaw stood up, taking a few steps away from the table, "What I said was 'we could both use some lunch'"
"Please tell me you didn't just come here to-" Short paused as Jigsaw peered into the garbage can, "You're disgusting."
Jigsaw returned a moment later with a half-eaten hayburger floating in front of him.
"Please tell me you aren't going to-" Short once again paused as Jigsaw slowly inched the burger toward his mouth, a bigger smile forming on his face for every second Short looked on in disgust.
Eventually, he stuffed part of the burger into his mouth, taking a large bite and savoring every bit of the nausea Short appeared to be receiving.
The two had been so intently concentrating on Short's obvious disgust neither of them noticed the waiter inching closer with a pad of paper and a familiar question, "May I take your order?"
Jigsaw smiled at the waiter and answered with a mouth full of burger, "No, thanks!"
The waiter turned to Short, "Anything for you, madam?"
"The furthest thing from a hayburger that you have," Short replied, still disgusted by Jigsaw.
The waiter hesitated for a moment, before leaving and returning with a salad.
"Can I eat, or are you going to start picking through the garbage again?"
"Hey, you call it disgusting, I call it recycling."
"Well, your recycling is disgusting, so we're both correct."
Jigsaw laughed before popping the last chunk of the burger into his mouth, "So, if we do manage to find a house up for sale today, what's the plan? We don't have nearly enough bits to afford one, and we won't be able to go to the Fillydelphia conference if we have to take straight jobs. That's assuming we can even get a mortgage without straight jobs to begin with."
"There's one other option you've looked past," Short said, a mischievous grin sliding up her face.
"What's that? Paying for a construction team to build us one? That would cost-" Short began giggling as he had said that, which could only mean one thing.
Jigsaw's eyes lit up with his realization, which only made Short Circuit continue to smile like a cheshire cat.
He slowly began to mimic his friend's manic grin, "Alright, when do we begin?"