Missing Magic

by Coda Singer

Chapter 4: Nothing Left

Steel's eyes were downwards, his long hair hanging over his eyes. He was walking in a straight line behind other captured ponies. The raiders from Blood Field had attached shackles to Steel's fore and hind hooves, he was trying his hardest to walk at the same pace as everypony else. He feared somepony might beat him if he walked too slowly.

Steel should've been thinking of an escape plan but he could only think about Iron Rose. He didn't know if the undertunnels were safe but it was all he could think to do at the time. He wondered if she was okay, if she made it outside the tunnels and back up to the surface, if she met up with Cable and the others.

"STOP!" A voice yelled. Steel looked up and saw Ignatius Blackwood Standing next to the line, looking down at a small communicator. The technology in Blood Field was pretty primitive, the most privileged ponies have simple communicators which can only send short messages, the range the communicators have are incredible however. Ignatius smiled and looked back in the direction of Crater Ville.

"What is it sir?" Asked a guard, walking over to Blackwood and looking at his amused face. Ignatius smirked.

"You're going to want to see this." Everypony in the line looked behind them, scared and curious. Steel turned around as well, trying not to be tripped by the shackles. He looked to the horizon, barely able to see the tips of Crater Ville's tallest buildings. They were many miles away, Steel's hooves were sore and he was exhausted. He heard many ponies groaning in pleasure as they finally received a break. Everypony stared for what seemed like minutes before there was a bright flash of light. the ground began to shake, a thunderous rumble sounded from far away before what sounded like a lightning strike echoes through the field.

A large, purple mushroom cloud engulfed the city. Steels jaw dropped and he stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over the shackles. He felt the remnants of a shock wave tug at his body. But it passed. Steel simply watched. Ignatius laughed.

"WOW!" He yelled. "That bomb was made by a very special Alicorn Princess, and it certainly lived up to it's expectations. I've gotta get my hooves on more of those! Alright." Blackwood wiped a tear of joy from his eye. "We should get going, but I'm going to remember this." All the ponies began walking except for Steel. He just looked back at the mushroom cloud, feeling empty.

"Get moving!" A guard yelled, he walked forward and struck Steel with the hilt of his sword. The sword hit Steel in the eye. He jumped backwards, seeing spots as the vision in his left eye went dark. He quickly turned and began walking, resuming his downward stare, but a hoof on his shoulder stopped him. The guard who had struck him turned Steel around and looked down at his hoof, noticing Steel's E.U.D. The guard reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a small, flat, metal rectangle and placed it on Steel's E.U.D. There was a sudden spark and the E.U.D screen went black rather than it's usual green. The guard removed the metal rectangle and shoved Steel, making him start walking again. He had never experience an emotion like this. For the first time he found himself unable to think. His mind was empty as he walked, tears hitting the dirt path.

They walked for miles, never taking a break. Many ponies fell and when they couldn't get up they were killed. Steel didn't watch, he just kept looking at the dirt and grass. after many hours of walking a guard yelled for the now shorter line of captured ponies to stop. Steel looked up from his downward gaze causing his neck to pop.

The line of ponies were standing in front of a crude metal fence with a wooden plank of wood hanging from it. The words "Blood Field" Were painted in red on the wood with the symbol of a red tree above the title. Below the sign was a gate which was being opened by two ponies. Everypony began walking into Blood Field. The town was small, compact, lots of ponies were walking in crowds. Angry shouts sounded from the town as ponies bumped into each other, there were vendors stands selling stale bread and bruised fruit, ponies traded weapons for other goods and nopony looked happy.

A few guards were clearing the cloud giving way to the line of ponies. Steel tried his hardest not to bump into anypony. Ponies glared out of the corners of their eyes as Steel and the other captured ponies passed. Steel looked straight ahead, avoiding the crowds gaze. Steel spaced out for a moment, he was trying his best not to think about Crater Ville so he thought about his friends instead. He wondered if Iron Rose made it to Cable and the others and if the others even made it out in time. If they did, where were they? Steel just hoped they were alive.

Steel grunted and jumped as he bumped into the pony in front of him. He quickly stepped back and looked up. They were standing in front of the only metal building in the city. One metal gate was set into the wall in front of them. The word "Containment" was painted in red above the gate. Ignatius turned around and began speaking to the crowd.

"This is where you're going to stay until you die... Not gonna sugar coat it. You will live here, you will sleep here, you will eat here, you might even die here. So you might as well get comfortable." Two ponies opened the gates and the line of ponies began walking into the metal box. When Steel entered he saw just under a hundred mattresses on the ground, it seems either Ignatius knew ponies would die on the way to Blood Field. The building looked like it was a little to small to hold all of the captured ponies, when Steel looked around 86 ponies left, including himself. In the corner of the room there was a hole in the floor. Upon closer inspection Steel found it was a waste pit.

"Welcome home!" Ignatius said in an almost cheery tone. "Pick a bed, make some friends... Don't get too attached they might die in the morning." The guard ponies began leaving but something caught Ignatius's eye and he stopped them. "You there!" He shouted, holding a hoof outwards. Steel noticed his hoof didn't have a hook in it.

"Me?" Asked a mint green Pegasus. Ignatius nodded.

"Come with me." The Pegasus looked at the pony next to him, presumably his friend, before following Ignatius and the other guards out of the Containment room.

Steel looked away from the gate and gazed around the room at the other ponies. The mint green Pegasus was apparently the only other Pegasi in Crater Ville besides Dale. Everypony had the same expression of mixed feelings. Fear, anger, sadness, hopelessness, confusion. Steel realized he had that expression as well. A few ponies were walking towards different mattresses and sitting down, now that Steel got a better look at the ponies he realized there were at least twelve fillies and foals, all of them terrified. Everypony else were around thirteen to twenty two, however there was one elderly pony with dark grey fur and a white mane, he looked to be around 48. At his age he must've lived through the war and watched the eleven cities be built. Steel walked to the nearest mattress without a stain, laid down and closed his eyes. Two ponies began talking to each other while Steel rested.

"I... I can't believe Crater Ville is gone." Said the first pony

"I know. I was born and raised there, it's where I spent my whole life. What about you?" Asked the second pony.

"I moved there from Pit." The first pony responded.

"You were born in Pit?" Said the second pony incredulously.

"Yeah."

"I've heard Pit is a beautiful place." Said the second pony in a distant voice.

"Not really, all you see are stone walls, I lived about half way down the pit itself but my house had a window leading into it." The first pony explained.

"Is it true it's bottomless?"

"Can't be..." The two ponies voices muffled as Steel slowly drifted to sleep.

He dreamt he was in a restaurant, he was well dressed with a tuxedo. He examined his newly cut hair in the reflection of his E.U.D. He had spiked his mane up and he had surprisingly done a good job. A waiter walked over and handed him two menus and a bottle of Old World champagne, he didn't know how he could have possibly been able to afford something from before the war, let alone a bottle of champagne. He examined the bottle, "délicieuse boisson cul". He had now idea what it said but he pretended to be impressed as not to seem out of place.

"Hey." Said a lovely voice. Steel set the champagne down and looked up to see Iron Rose in a beautiful red dress. She had done something with her mane, it seemed curly and straight at the same time, light reflected off of each wave of her mane. She had a hoof-crafted, metal rose pinned to the shoulder of her dress. Steel smiled before realizing he must look like an idiot. He stood up, moved to her chair and pulled it out for her.

"You look beautiful." He said as he watched her sit down. She smiled and blushed. Steel moved back around the table and sat down, he slid her a menu, opened the champagne, poured two glasses and handed one to her. She picked up a straw off of the table with her mouth, due to her lack of an E.U.D, placed it in her drink and sipped it. Judging by her smile Steel had chosen the correct bottle. They paused and stared at each other for a few seconds before quickly looking down and opening their menus. There were a bunch of foods listed in different languages that Steel didn't understand. He looked up nervously, Iron Rose seemed to know exactly what she was doing.

"Excuse me?" He asked a white coated waiter as he passed. The waiter stopped and turned to Steel. "Are there any specials?"

"Well we have the repas gastronomique." Steel paused.

"I'll take that." The waiter nodded and walked away. Iron Rose giggled and Steel blushed. Iron Rose's giggles slowly became muffled and they didn't sound like giggles anymore. Slowly the sound got louder and Steel realized they were screams. The ground began to shake, slowly getting more and more violent. Suddenly the roof was ripped off of the restaurant, causing Steel and Iron Rose to fall out of their chairs. Steel got to his hooves, helped Iron Rose off of the floor and looked up. Through the hole in the roof Steel saw a massive purple mushroom cloud merely a few blocks away. Steel looked to Iron Rose.

"Steel." She said to him. "Wake up." Steel watched as a wave of energy reduced Iron Rose and all the other ponies to a pile of ash and bones. Steel screamed and woke up. He was sweating profusely. Luckily it seemed he hadn't actually screamed in his sleep seeing as nopony else was awake.

"You alright kid??" Asked a higher pitched, gravelly voice. Steel turned around to see the older pony he had noticed earlier, he apparently didn't fall asleep. The old pony had eyes the color of steel, which twinkled in the dark.

"No." Said Steel, rubbing his head with his hoof. "But I doubt anypony is these days." The old pony let out a short laugh.

"How right you are young stallion. You'd better get used to those nightmares, I bet you'll have plenty more." Steel nodded. "I'm Gear by the way." The old pony added.

"I'm Steel." Gear nodded.

"Tell me young Steel. What did you do before you were captured?" Steel paused, not knowing if he should answer. "If you'd pardon my forwardness." Gear added, seeming to notice Steel's uncertainty. Steel shrugged and decided to speak.

"I was a metalworker." He responded.

"Aaahhh." Sounded Gear. "What did you specialize in?"

"I had just gotten my permit to install E.U.Ds. But other than that I crafted weapons." Steel found that talking about Crater Ville, rather than make him sad, calmed him down.

"Did you have any partners?" Gear asked. Steel's calmness turned back to sadness in response. Gear seemed to notice. "I'm sorry, A dear friend I presume?"

"Something like that." Responded Steel. Gear nodded.

"I lost my wife and grandson." Gear spoke. Steel turned to look at Gear, he was looking downwards, staring at a stain in his mattress. "I took him to my shop, I was a watchmaker. I made him a watch before Blood Field attacked, it was his birthday." Steel stood up and walked over to Gear, trying not to step on other sleeping ponies. He sat down next to the sad old stallion and looked at his face, Gear kept his gaze downwards. "My wife was killed when Blood Field first arrived, my grandson was a few ponies behind me when we walked here from Crater Ville. He tripped and couldn't get up, so a guard shot him in the head." Steel noticed Gear's eyes weren't sad, they seemed detached. He patted Gear on the back.

"I'm sorry." He spoke.

"Not your fault." Said Gear, looking up from the stain and looking into Steel's eyes. He made immediate eye contact, Steel respected that in a stallion. "When you've lived as long as I have, you learn to separate yourself from such emotions." Steel nodded, that skill was useful in the apocalypse. Steel decided to tell his story, it was only fair.

"I worked with a mere. She was my partner." Gear's eyes contracted in curiosity.

"What was her name?"

"Iron Rose." Steel almost struggled to say. Gear nodded. "I sent her into the undertunnels before the bomb detonated." Gear straightened instantly. Steel heard several pops of the old pony's spine.

"The what?" He asked quietly.

"The undertunnels." Steel repeated. Gear chuckled softly.

"I helped build the entrances to the undertunnels. You worked at Hammer and Nail's didn't you?" Steel nodded. "Glad to see the undertunnels are still useful." Gear's smile slowly turned into a face of seriousness. "But... I'm afraid her chances of survival are slim." Steel looked up at Gear who looked back almost apologetically. "My dear boy, in the apocalypse you must accept the worst. Hoping for the best leads to disappointment." Steel knew Gear had a point but he felt like with the lack of disappointment came some other form evil. However the sadness Steel still felt inside was eating away at him.

"Can you teach me?" Gear looked at Steel confusion. "Everything you know. I'm sure you have plenty knowledge on fighting, seeing as you lived through the war."

"Lived through it... I FOUGHT in it!" Steel was surprised.

"But... You're a watchmaker." Gear chuckled.

"Just because I make watches doesn't mean I can't fight. I was trained by the Masked Lord of Fallen Sky and became a commander." Now Steel was shocked. "I retired after the war of course. seventeen years of fighting doesn't really give you an emotional attachment to a job." Steel laughed quietly.

"So can you?" Steel asked suddenly. Gear tilted his head in thought.

"I can." Gear responded in a stern voice. "Can you swear to me?" Now Steel tilted his head in confusion.

"Swear what?"

"Swear that you can and will learn to detach yourself from emotion, you can and will learn to rely on speed rather than strength, you can and will learn to rely on your wit rather than your weapons. And when the time comes, you can do what's right." Steel paused for a moment, Gear seemed to see Steel's pause as a sign of weakness. Steel noticed and responded,

"Yes... I swear." Gear looked Steel in the eye, then nodded.

"We'll begin tomorrow. For now you should get some sleep, we have a long day of work tomorrow." Steel moved as Gear laid down. "And you have much to learn." Steel moved to his own bed and laid down, thinking about Iron Rose and his friends. He smiled softly and drifted back to sleep, to dream of better times back home, and the terrible times to come.

Comments

[Skarsnik]

Interesting story.

But it's quite hard to read when you mix someone speaking and the other reaction in the same sentence/block