The Day The World Exploded

by TheMajorTechie

4 | Wait it Out

Author's Note:

Oh? I'm actually using a background pony as a recurring character for once?

The door shut with a heavy thud behind us. As we descended the stairwell, the flickering light of Jewel's horn guided the way, casting long shadows of our group onto the walls surrounding us.

We paused for a moment as we heard the door rattle.

"Probably more rubble," Jewel dismissed, continuing onward. "Or some poor sap who just got blasted."

Finally, we reached the bottom... and another reinforced door. Jewel raised a hoof.

"This one, however, has a lock."

"Oh." Jewel deadpanned, stepping back for the rich-looking stallion to unlock the door.

Click.

The hum of electric lights burst into our collective ears as he pushed the door open, Jewel once again leading the way for us.

"There should be enough rations in here for at least a couple months," the stallion began, shutting and locking the door behind him. "After that, we'll probably have to send out some scouts. I didn't expect to take in so many ponies at once, after all."

He walked past me to Jewel, giving a simple nod before continuing onward to who-knows-where inside the bunker.

"So," I grumbled as I cantered up to Jewel, "Who is that guy?"

Jewel shrugged. "He called himself Fancy Pants when we bumped into each other in front of the library. He seems pretty nice compared to some other nobles I've run into before."

"Blueblood?" I smirked.

Jewel rolled her eyes. "Yeah, him," She groaned, "I swear, ask anypony around here and they'll agree that Blueblood's just a stuck-up little--"

"Okay, okay," I agreed, cutting off whatever profanity she was about to spew, "We get it, Blueblood's a jerk. Don't forget that I was next to you when that happened."

'Fancy Pants' returned right then, a trail of steel cans floating behind him.

"Rations," he mumbled, dropping two cans for myself and Jewel before continuing onward, "we must make sure these last us for as long as possible."

A wave of agreements rolled through the rest of the group as they waited for their own cans.

Clank. Clank. Clunk. Clank. The sound of cans dropping onto the concrete under our hooves echoed through the bunker.

"You'll have to excuse the taste, these were meant to be emergency rations for the Royal Guard to distribute in case of attack. They may be a bit... old."

Another roll of murmurs from the Fancy Pants posse.

Far above us, we quieted as another rattle shook the trapdoor, its noise reverberating into the lower levels. It seemed as if a moment of silence had been decided upon while we listened, as if we collectively decided to mourn for Equestria.

"Alright, alright," Jewel began, breaking our silence after nearly a minute, "if we want to survive, we're gonna want to check around the place. We're in an underground bunker during a volcanic eruption, so there's a good chance that there's some toxic gas or another seeping into our shelter this very instant."

She lit her horn as she began to focus on another spell. This one began to balloon outward, passing through ponies and plastering onto the stony surroundings around us.

"While I cannot guarantee that this spell will be a hundred percent effective, it will at the very least keep us protected from the more notorious ones. It's essentially a sealing spell that binds itself to stone and concrete."

"Hey," I nudged her on the shoulder, "since when did you learn that spell? I thought the most you could do were shields and some levitation."

"I didn't," Jewel shot back in a whisper. "It's just a variant of the slow-fall spell combined with some mass-levitation."

"I--"

"Just let me have this!" Jewel retorted, turning her focus back to the spell. Her body shook as she strained herself, struggling to conjure the energy needed to supply the spell. Her horn slowly grew brighter as the faint glow of her magic seeped into the surroundings, fading away into the hairline cracks.

"...There..." she panted, the last wisps of the spell drifting from her horn, "It's finished."

"So, what now?" a pony from the group asked, "For all we know, we're the last ponies alive!"

Jewel glanced at Fancy Pants, who set down the rest of the cans in a stack before gesturing for her to answer.

"There is nothing else for us to do," she responded, "So we wait."

Comments

[Dustin Lange]

I haven't read this story yet, but I have a feeling you'll be interested in this theory of mine.

It is most definitely relevant to this story. (And it may even help you!)