To say the place looked a bit abandoned would be one way to describe the bunker with a view's condition. Everything had a thick layer of dust on it. The chairs, the desks, the tables, the floor, everything. The dust was so thick, Searing could easily lift chunks of it up with her magic and just drop it into the chasm outside. The dust layer was, by her best guess, around five inches deep, and she could feel it get into the fur around her fetlocks with every step.

"How old is this place?" Searing asked herself as she kept excavating the dust, doing her best to keep it under control. Everywhere she looked, it was dust, dust, dust.

After cleaning out the first room, which looked like a cross between a workshop and a living room, Searing moved onto the next room, which looked like a kitchen. Excavation confirmed her suspicions.

She warily approached the fridge. She knew Discord had said there was fresh food and clean water, but anything covered in that much dust wasn't to be trusted so easily. After taking a cautious deep breath, she opened the fridge, prepared for mold, rot, and stink. Instead, she saw the groceries that were in her fridge, along with a dozen eggs, some hard drinks, and a couple Carne Den takeout containers. Front and center was a card from Discord. Naturally, she read it.

Dear Searing Victory,

The facilities this bunker is attached to are there for you to explore and, more importantly, loot. I have already found and restored some special saddlebags for you to use for this purpose. Anything you want, you can have. The only ones who would complain are Celly and Lulu, but they probably don't know about this place.

-Discord

"Loot, huh?" Searing looked back in the fridge and saw some oversized saddlebags there. "I don't think those weren't there a minute ago." She levitated the bags out and set them on a fairly clean section of the countertop. "I'd better finish cleaning first."

The next room she found, just as dusty as the rest of the place, appeared to be a dorm with four beds. The dust on them was incredibly thick, and she could feel what little was left of the bedding crumble in her levitation. The solid metal frames were intact, so she at least had somewhere to lay down. "What I wouldn't do for a cot around here. . . Why am I even going along with Discord's plan?"

Once the dust was dumped into the abyss outside, Searing continued her dusty exploration. She found a couple more easily accessible rooms. One was definitely a workshop of some kind. To her surprise, there were a few intact items, all gems of various types and shapes. The other one was a bathroom. Both got cleaned out.

Out of curiosity, Searing sent a small shot of fire at some of the dust that lingered in the air after she threw it out. To her surprise, it ignited, and she was briefly amused.

With the cleaning done and with nowhere to go, Searing was bored with nothing to do but try and lift more dust out of the place. "A small flood would work better. Or a broom."

Her gaze settled on the saddlebags and a heavy steel door that looked like something straight out of a tech fantasy comic. With a sigh, she went over to the door and tried opening it with telekinesis. Up, down, left, right, twisting, splitwise, none of it worked. "I guess I'll just have to cut it open. This won't be pleasant."

She stepped back, steeled herself, squinted, and sent a concentrated beam of heat and fire at the bottom of the door. Slowly, she worked the beam upward, doing her best to maintain her focus as the smell hit her.

After only a couple minutes and making it less than halfway up, Searing let the beam peter out. She was sweating, panting, and her horn was very hot. As much as she wanted to just turn on the cold water in the shower, she didn't. Memories of a cracked horn from similar experiences surfaced, so she did the next best thing: lay down next to the canyon and take a nap while her horn let off some steam.

Searing woke up thirsty. She stood up with a groan and went over to the fridge. With all the grace she could muster, she levitated the milk out and started chugging it right out of the bottle. Twenty seconds later, she put it back and licked the milk mustache off her lip, feeling much better. "Better get back to it."

Once again, Searing started working on the door with the cutting beam, picking up where she left off, slowly melting through the door. Just as she was about to reach her limit again, something happened. One part of the right side fell apart, landing with an echoing thud on both sides. "Well, that happened."

The opening was big enough for her to get through without the saddlebags on, but she knew getting her rear half through would take a bit of effort. She also knew that going through wasn't an option while the metal was still glowing. In the meantime, she would take care of some business.

Searing was not happy using a dusty toilet that had no seat, but she had no choice, as the only alternatives were to go in a corner of the room, which was not sanitary in the least, or hang her plot over the canyon and try not to fall to her death.

Without any toilet paper available to clean herself, the only other option was to take a shower. Thankfully, her horn had already cooled down to a safer level. "May as well get it over with." With a resigned sigh, she stepped into the open shower, pulled the door closed, and watched as it fell over and broke into lots of glass pieces on the floor. With a groan, Searing picked up all the fragments and shards, went through the bunker, and tossed them into the chasm.

The shower gurgled for a bit as the ancient enchanted pipes filled up with water. The water that came out, for a whole minute, was so full of dust and grime that it looked more like a mostly melted chocolate milkshake and was infinitely less appealing. Searing had the dubious honor of getting a facefull of the stuff as soon as it came out. As soon as it started flowing normally, and after washing the sludge down the drain, she finally stepped into the shower and started rinsing herself off.

With no towels available, Searing had to figure out some way to dry herself off. While shaking did get most of the water out of her fur, she was still damp. She did not want to become a dust rag and have to hit the shower again.

After a minute or so, she remembered that natural evaporation from heat was a thing, and she carefully started heating up her fur to get the water out. Once she was done, she looked herself over. "Well, it works, but it's just not the same as a fluffy towel."

When she left the bathroom, she checked the door and found that it had cooled down to a safe temperature. "May as well see what's in there." After levitating the saddlebags to the other side, she squeezed through, and swore she heard a popping sound once pulled herself across.

Author's Notes:

The ancient stuff may be tough, but it's not invulnerable.