The Day The World Exploded

by TheMajorTechie

5 | Scouting

Author's Note:

What? An update? For this story?!

"Over here!"

I looked up, wiping a bead of sweat from my brow. Jewel was pointing eagerly at an unassuming pile of tangled branches, likely flattened by the blasts.

"Jewel," I grumbled, "You can't just focus on whatever shiny thing it is that keeps catching your eye. We need to be on the lookout for any stragglers, and if possible, food. We haven't even factored in how much drinking water we have ye--"

"No, look!" Jewel interrupted, grunting as she struggled to move the branches out of the way, "This'll probably be pretty useful if you ask me!"

I turned my attention back to the sack of goods we'd scavenged thus far, only to be magically slapped in the face in response.

"Alright, fine," I groaned, dropping the sack and trudging towards my marefriend, "What is it?"

With a grunt, Jewel finally shoved the rubble out of the way, revealing glimmering shards of shredded metal and twisted piping.

"Huh."

"I know, right?" Jewel beamed, "I didn't expect to find a wrecked train here, either! I already checked it for survivors, by the way, It was completely empty, so I figured it must've tumbled all the way down the mountain from a shed or something."

I scrunched my muzzle. "So... what do you want to do with it though?" I began, stepping closer to the exposed metal peeking from underneath the rubble, "It's not like we have any functioning railways anymore, y'know."

Jewel shrugged. "I was thinking that we could either scrap it for material or somehow convert it into a rail-less engine.

I snorted, brushing a layer of dirt off the mangled body of the engine with a hoof. "That'd take more resources than we could ever hope to acquire."

"Either way, Rusty," Jewel continued, "It would be a waste if we just left this here..."

"We'll figure it out later Jewel. Just help me carry these back to the bunker."

The sound of rustling and cans clinking hit my ears. I spun around, eyes widening as I spotted another pony making off with our scavenged goods.

"Jewel!" I shouted, taking off after the cloaked thief, "Jewel, c'mon, we can come back to the train later. We need to catch that pony!"

"Hm-oh!" Jewel gasped, following close behind, "I-I think I know something to get 'em!"

She lit her horn, the familiar aura of a shield spell flickering to life as she fired at the thief. With a very visible face-to-magic collision, the pony slammed into the side of the inverted shield, falling to their haunches in a daze.

Jewel and I finally caught up to the perpetrator. I stood back, inspecting the pony from afar as Jewel passed through her shield's boundaries.

I couldn't quite tell what they were saying on account of the shield being spellproof, but it seemed that some sort of agreement had been made.

The shield dematerialized within seconds. Jewel helped the cloaked pony to their hooves. Behind them was the bag of things we'd scavenged from earlier, its contents spilled out onto the ash-dusted ground.

"So." I growled through my teeth, "Anything they had to say?"

"He's just a scout like we are," Jewel quickly responded, "His group's been camping out in one of the more intact pieces of Canterlot Castle that tumbled down here."

She paused for a moment, waiting for my response.

"Eh, whatever." I dismissed, silently hoping that my actions came across as cool.

Short to say, it didn't work.

"Rusty, stop it with the facade. Don't you understand our situation right now?" she scolded, "Now is not the time to try impressing me, or anypony else for that matter. We're literally living out the apocalypse right now. Don't you think it'd be better for our survival if we built up our connections with others?"

The cloaked pony beside Jewel slowly backed away, seemingly unsure of the situation they were just dragged into.

"Fine," I sighed, dropping the act. I glanced towards the other pony. "Hey, if you want, you could stay at our place for the night."

The cloaked pony shook his head, pulling off his hood.

"Hey..." Jewel began, catching sight of his face as she turned, "I know you... yo-you're that guard who had the hots for Princess Twilight, weren't you?"

Oh. It's this guy.

Comments

[nothingtoseehere]

9453594
Damn. That actually makes a lot of sense, both in universe and irl. To take it a bit further, what if all of that tectonic energy is the reason the sisters built Canterlot Castle in its current location: tapping into that tremendous well of power is what allows them to control the planet's satellites?