Ruins
Primrose let out a frightened squeak from her position under Scarlet as a deafening blast of thunder rolled across the world. Scarlet grimaced, water running down her face in gratuitous amounts. Dark storm clouds were spread across the sky as far as the eye could see, unloading their contents onto the world without restraint or resistance.
Lens was to Scarlet’s left, his head down, and an uncomfortable scowl on his muzzle. He had it the worst out of all of them, considering his lack of a coat or cloak of any kind. All he had was a now-thoroughly sopping shirt and bandana, neither of which had done him much good in keeping the water at bay.
Scarlet sighed quietly before looking up at the sky, trying to gauge the time. The clouds had rolled in quick, too quick to be pegasus controlled, and the light of day was dulled and muted significantly. However, if she had to make an estimate, it was starting to get on towards night time. They would have to pull off to one side and camp, soon.
“We need to find shelter!” she had to shout to be heard over the roar of the rain.
Lens moved closer to her side to be heard better, his ears folding back from another boom of thunder. “Yeah, I know! But I’m not seeing much!” he shouted back.
Scarlet growled in frustration before looking out over the plains around them. They had gotten back onto the galloping road the previous day and had been following it since. While the straight path and smooth road were infinitely useful in traveling swiftly, it also meant carving through the heartlands of New Equestria, which were bereft of most things that could be helpful in a situation like this.
All around them for miles and miles were great, sweeping hills of verdant green grass. There was only the occasional patch of foliage, but they were too spread out and too thin to be of any use against a storm like this. By now, any such places would already be just as soggy as everything else.
“Wait, I think I see something!” Primrose suddenly spoke up, bravely poking her head out from Scarlet’s forelegs to squint at something in the distance. She yelped when more thunder erupted across the sky and ducked back, but a few seconds later, she re-emerged.
Scarlet slowed down a little, craning her neck down so her head was next to the filly. “What is it?” she asked, quickly scanning the horizon for whatever it was Primrose had seen.
“I dunno. It looks kinda like a bump or something,” Primrose replied, pointing. “Right there, see?”
Scarlet and lens looked where she was pointing. It took Scarlet a few seconds, but she soon caught sight of what the filly had spotted. It was small, but it gave off the impression of a building of some description. There were no lights, however, and the shape was not like anything she would expect from this region. “An abandoned ruin, perhaps?”
It was possible. Much of the land New Equestria occupied, particularly its northern half, had once been occupied by ponies back in the Three Tribes era. If she was remembering her history and geography right, then this was a tribe-era ruin and it would probably be an earth pony home.
“Well, it’s worth a shot!” Lens said before speeding up to a brisk canter. “I’ll scout it out, make sure it’s viable.”
“Be careful!” Scarlet hollered after him, but he had already vanished amid the rain. Scarlet huffed before resuming her previous pace. “Come on, Prim.”
Primrose whimpered and withdrew under Scarlet again, her pace matching the taller unicorn at all times. Scarlet wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about being used as a makeshift umbrella, but her cloak had done wonders to protect her body and legs. Her mane and head were not so fortunate. “Silver lining, I’m cleaner now than I used to be,” she thought.
The duo trudged on through the rain for several minutes, breaking away from the well-maintained stones of the highway and onto the grassy slopes. Soon enough, the structure that Primrose had spotted came into focus.
As Scarlet had predicted, it was a building. An old, dilapidated stone hut shaped vaguely like an igloo. Several holes had formed in the walls and roof over time and plenty of moss was growing along the sides. No door sat in the squat frame, having probably been removed centuries ago.
As they drew closer, Scarlet saw the cyan glow of Lens’ magic leaking out through the holes in the structure. The stallion himself came out a second later with a relieved smile. “It’s clear, and there’s a basement. It’s kinda musty, but it should keep us out of the rain for the night,” he stated with a big smile.
Scarlet let out a sigh of relief. She followed Lens inside and was greeted by the sight of one large room that comprised the entire upper floor. A pile of old, moldy, and largely-decomposed wood was pressed up against the far left end of the circular room, giving off a distinctly unpleasant aroma. Broken streams of water splattered against the floor through the holes in the ceiling. A square-shaped hole was dug into the back end of the room, just before the wall.
Lens pointed at it. “That’s the basement. You two head on down. I’ll be with you in a little bit,” he instructed before turning to the exit.
Scarlet glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow. “How come?”
“I’m gonna grab a few loose rocks and see if I can make a mobile set of proximity wards, like what I had back home,” Lens replied while poking his head out the door. “So that I can make sure we don’t get snuck up on again.”
Scarlet blinked in surprise. “Huh… that’s a good idea, Lens,” she said before starting for the basement. “Very well, take as long as you need. We’ll get comfortable while we wait.”
Lens offered up no response. Soon, Scarlet and Primrose were descending a pair of uneven stone stairs into the basement. The air was stale and musty, and an exceedingly thick layer of dust covered just about everything. There wasn’t much to be covered, though. Aside from the hard-packed dirt floor, the basement, while spacious, was completely empty. It was dark, but it was actually warmer than it had been outside. The walls must have provided at least a moderate amount of insulation.
Primrose ventured out from under Scarlet and shook herself, sending what little water had clung to her coat flying in all directions. “Whew! This is so much better!” she declared before looking around. “...This place is really old.”
“It is,” Scarlet said simply, her horn lighting up and projecting a small orb of amethyst light up to the center of the ceiling, illuminating the small space. “Easily over fifteen-hundred years old, to be precise.”
Primrose spun around to look at Scarlet directly. “No way! This place is still here after so long?!” she asked in disbelief.
Scarlet nodded, her eyes roaming over the old stones with slowly-building scholarly interest. “Indeed. This was constructed back during the three tribes era before Old Equestria was ever even founded. This small hut was made by Earth Ponies, and I imagine an entire family once called it home.”
Primrose looked around with her, her eyes wide. “Wow… how is it still here?”
“A combination of reasons, if I had to guess,” Scarlet said before setting down her saddlebags against the wall to her left. “First of all, at the end of the three tribes era, this entire region was covered in several feet of snow and ice. A lot of buildings would have collapsed under the pressure, but the Earth Ponies built their homes to last. Because of this, the ice almost served to protect and preserve constructions such as this. When the ice melted, presumably over the course of centuries as the Windigos moved on to new prey, there weren’t many incidents that would have caused any further damage. Natural erosion has done its work, of course. We saw plenty of that upstairs.”
“The holes and moldy wood and stuff?”
“Precisely.”
Scarlet trotted up to one of the walls and gently brushed her hoof across the ancient masonry. A small smile tugged at her lips. She was standing in the middle of a historic site right now, and inside she was grinning like a little filly yet again. “I think I’m going to have a look around,” she eventually said, glancing back at Primrose. “Why don’t you lay down and get some rest? It’s been a long day.”
Primrose nodded. “Okay, Scarlet,” she said before making her way over to where the unicorn had set down her saddlebags.
While the filly got herself comfortable, Scarlet took her time aimlessly wandering around the ancient ruin, looking at everything in close detail. Despite the lack of any furniture or records, merely getting to really look at something so old was beyond fascinating, and a million and one questions swirled in her mind. Who had lived here? What kind of lives had they led? What became of them? Did they survive the ice age the Windigos created? What were their names?
She must have been looking around for almost fifteen minutes before Lens finally stepped down into the basement, dripping wet and shivering, carrying a collection of fresh sticks behind him in his magic. “Whew. Okay, I got six runes scattered around our position. Anything gets too close, we’ll know about it in advance,” he announced before shaking himself wildly.
Scarlet turned back to him and nodded. “Good to know.”
Lens straightened himself up a bit and smiled. “So, who’s up for some food?”
Primrose pouted. “Please, not more grass…”
Lens chuckled merrily. “Ha! No, I’m not that boring,” he said cheerily before taking off his saddlebags with his magic.
Scarlet’s eyes widened as she watched Lens procure a collection of berries and nuts from his saddlebags, and then a pan and some mugs. They were a little old and dinged up, and looked kind of familiar, but seemed serviceable. Scarlet took a step forwards, eyeing the ensemble in shock. “Lens, where did you get all of that?” she asked.
Lens smirked. “I did a little snooping around while I was setting up the runes,” he said, spinning the pan in place, like a fancy dagger. “Found a few berry and nut bushes nearby. And I’ve been carrying these cups and the pan with me since we left Hoofrest Shire. It was a gift from the Apples for the road. I just haven’t had a chance to use them yet.”
“Does that mean Scarlet soup!?” Primrose asked, her ears perking up, and her lips curling up into an eager grin. “Please?”
Scarlet frowned in thought. “We don’t have any bowls with us, I’m afraid, so it can’t be soup, per se…” she said quietly before her eyes landed on the sticks Lens was carrying behind him. A thoughtful smile spread across her lips. “But I might have another idea…”
An hour later, a small but comfy fire was burning in the middle of the room, providing warmth and light for the three travelers. Lens had started a fire while Scarlet filled the pan with rainwater from outside. Once the fire was going, she put the grapes into the pan and let it come to a boil while working on the second half of her idea.
Specifically, she took a few sticks that hadn’t been used in the fire and used her magic to whittle down the ends into sharp points. She had then impaled the nuts and berries on those ends, making one for each member of the group. It was a simple meal — boiled grape juice with berries and nuts on a stick — but it worked.
Primrose had been especially pleased with hers, having eaten everything put in front of her rather quickly before asking for more. She had complained, briefly, when she learned there wasn’t enough for second helpings, but her displeasure was short-lived. Sleep came for her soon enough, and she was now curled up into a ball against the far wall, her tail held in her hooves like a blanket.
Scarlet sighed quietly before taking off her cloak and draping it over the slumbering filly. Primrose cooed quietly and snuggled into the newfound blanket, but did not wake.
“She’s really lucky she met you,” Lens said in a whisper behind Scarlet.
She was quiet for a few seconds. “...I suppose she is,” she eventually agreed before turning around to look at Lens. He was smiling at her, his head tilted subtly to one side. His shirt and bandana had been removed before they started eating so they could dry, leaving his glasses as his only form of clothes for the moment.
Scarlet didn’t say anything else for the moment. She merely let out a quiet hum before trotting up to the fire and settling down on her belly, making sure to keep Primrose in her line of sight. Lens joined her not long after, settling down close to her side.
The two were quiet for a short while. Scarlet lowered her eyes to look at her hooves, a solemn frown slowly appearing on her face. “And I am lucky that I found her…” she eventually muttered, the words almost inaudible over the crackling fire.
Lens heard her, though, and shifted a little closer. She could feel his side pressing up against hers, his body heat warming her up. “What do you mean?” he asked in a hushed voice.
Scarlet didn’t say anything for several seconds. She slowly lowered her head until her chin rested on her hooves and closed her eyes. “When our daughter died, I was… broken In many ways. It felt like my entire life had crumbled into ruins around me. I couldn’t even perform my usual tasks at the academy for months. I had only just gone back to work for the first time since the incident when I found Primrose in my cellar… small, skinny, frail, and so, so scared…” she began, shuddering. “She needed me… and I think I needed her.”
Lens remained quiet, but he did drape a comforting foreleg over her shoulders.
Scarlet hummed quietly from the contact, and some of the tension left her body. “...Nothing could ever replace Crystal,” she went on solemnly, her eyes opening just a crack and shimmering with regret. “Never in a million years. She was our daughter, and now she’s gone… No matter how hard I wish it were not so, nothing can ever change that. But… Primrose...”
She hesitated, unsure of how to put into words exactly what it was she wanted to say. She mouthed uselessly for several seconds before Lens finally spoke up. “She makes it hurt a little less?” he ventured timidly, hitting the nail on the head.
Scarlet nodded. “Yes, I suppose so… In truth, when I first met her, I wanted to be rid of her as soon as possible. Having her there, sleeping in Crystal’s old room… it reminded me too much of what I had lost, and what I couldn’t bear to lose again. I had every intention of dropping her off at the orphanage and never looking back. But when Silent came, when he had her cornered in that alley, poised and ready to strike, I…”
She screwed her eyes shut as the memory of that night came rushing back. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t let another filly die like that. It didn’t matter to me that I barely knew her, or that she wasn’t my own flesh and blood. All that mattered was that she was scared, about to die, and I could save her. So I did.”
She went quiet for a few seconds to collect herself and gather her thoughts. She opened her eyes, the flickering flames reflected in those deep purple orbs. “...And now I have a little filly I have to protect and take care of, again. She’s not my daughter, but… if I can help Primrose, then… maybe… just m-maybe, I can finally start to make amends for what happened to Crystal.”
The two fell into a thoughtful silence after that. Lens’ foreleg gave her a comforting squeeze, and the tremor that had worked its way into her voice and chest began to decrease. She let out a quiet sigh, leaning into him and closing her eyes. For a long while, neither of them said a word. But, as it always seemed to, Scarlet’s thoughts began to wander to dark places. She grit her teeth, shivering involuntarily.
“Are you alright?” Lens whispered, lowering his head to look at her directly. “Hey… Scarlet?”
“I’m scared, Lens,” she finally admitted, her voice hitching in her throat.
Lens blinked. “Huh?”
Scarlet opened her eyes and looked directly at him. “Silent already got to Primrose once,” she said, her eyes starting to shimmer. “And I couldn’t stop him… We got lucky that night. Next time we meet him, Silent will not be so sloppy in his work. I just...”
Scarlet groaned and set her face into her hooves, anxiety, and dread waging an offensive war against her hope and confidence. “...I’m scared that I won’t be able to save her, Lens. The thought of letting another filly down like that… of letting another foal die when it was my job to protect them… it… it scares me more than anything.”
Lens stared at her for a few moments, his eyes wide with shock at seeing her openly admit to her fears. It must have been a surprise, she thought, given how much she tended to internalize such feelings. Eventually, though, his brow furrowed, and his expression hardened somewhat. Then, to her surprise, Lens leaned over to offer her a comforting nuzzle.
Scarlet lifted her head and turned to look at him when he pulled back and found that his lips had curled up into a warm smile. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for Crystal,” he began softly. “More than anything, I wish I could have been there to shoulder some of the burden, to ease your pain,” he whispered to her. “I wasn’t there before… but I’m here now. I’m with you, and no matter what happens, you don’t have to carry the weight alone this time.”
Scarlet swallowed heavily, struggling to keep her face straight from the war of emotions raging inside of her. Finally, she closed her eyes again and leaned heavily into Lens’ embrace, letting out a long, shaking breath. “Th-thank you,” she finally choked out. “Thank you so much…”
Lens nodded quietly, pulling her close against his side and burying his face in her mane. “It is my pleasure,” he told her.
The two fell silent, after that, the dull white noise of the rain outside and the crackling of the fireplace being the only sounds in that quiet basement.
Soon enough, those very sounds were what finally lulled Scarlet and Lens to sleep in each other’s hooves.
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Wait....*rereads the "Primrose" chapter*...."excess food"? "Guest room"? Scarlet lost her daughter; she had food for two, and I didn't notice her hesitance at saying "guest room" when I first read that chapter. There was no "guest room". There's Scarlet's room, and her dead daughter's room.
All the same...I think Scarlet's right about her needing Primrose. She...was not in a good place when she met Prim. And yeah, her life is objectively worse now since she's on the run, but...she has a new purpose. A second chance.
9957577
See, shit like that is what I was talking about when I first dropped the bombshell about Crystal a ways back. The goal was to make many of Scarlet's behaviors up until that point suddenly make a lot more sense.
I guess Scarlet needed Primrose almost as much as Prim needed her, just in different ways. I wonder if Silent might have held back and waited a little while to go after Prim if he knew that Scarlet had recently lost a foal, and would have been all too willing to jump to another's defense.
Either this was scheduled, or New Equestria isn't as adept at controlling the elements as the old.
I'd be surprised if it was, Earth Ponies seemed to mostly work in wood and mud brick.
Well, guess I'll be surprised then.
Interesting to see PreEquestria stuff in New Equestria. Certainly a nice addition compared to that of Fallout: Equestria.