Graphite had the can of vegetable soup in his spell, holding it near his mouth as he took it sip by sip. It was cold and slightly soggy, but it did taste better since they cooked it last night. He drank it down; but before he slurped it all down, he turned Sunny, who was sitting quietly just a scoot away.

Sunny didn’t eat anything, even when Graphite offered. For the rest of the morning, she sat with the gray metal holotape clutched in her hooves. She looked at it as if the soul of her loved one was trapped in there - it might as well be, because she wasn’t going to let it go.

It was painful for Graphite to see Sunny like this, even if he didn’t show it on the outside. After he finished his can of soup, he remembered about the Pip-Buck’s radio - perhaps some music could cheer up Sunny.

Graphite brought up his Pip-Buck and looked at the radio signals section. What he hadn’t noticed was that a new radio station had appeared - ‘89.2 FM’. Graphite put in his earbud and switched to the station.

The station played a cheery rock’n’roll song instead of the usual jazz and swing on the other station. This song had no lyrics, just a cheery tune made up from a guitar, saxophone, set of drums, and ponies clapping their hooves together in unison. It was just the upbeat tempo that could cheer any pony up, and make a room dance along.

Graphite removed his bud from the Pip-Buck and let the music fill the alleyway. The sound wasn’t that of a high quality since the recording was probably hundreds of years old, and his Pip-Buck wasn’t really meant for playing stuff out loud.

The cheery music did make Sunny look up at Graphite who was looking back at her and bobbing his head in the rhythm of the music. She wasn’t really amused by it and just sighed a low sigh. Sunny put the holotape back in her bag and looked over at her companion again.

“Listen, I’m sorry for what happened in the last evening. I didn’t mean to flow out in emotions like that. Just that-”

“It’s okay, Sunny. I understand,” Graphite nodded, “I also have some ponies who I miss.”

“Really...? Who?”

“Well, my friends from the army days. My mama and papa. The last I saw of them was my father’s remains lying on his bed, and I never found out where my mother had gone. I’m positive my friends must be dead by now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry...” Sunny frowned even further.

“Hey, it’s okay. It happened long before you were even born,” Graphite assured her and started to pack up the guns in his bag. “Listen, maybe we should go already. I think that this alleyway doesn’t seem to bring up the best in us.”

“I guess so...” Sunny groaned with a hung head as she also started to pack up.

Very soon, they were both ready to go and walked out on the street. Graphite left his radio on which kept playing some cheerful tunes to try and change their demeanor from low and hopeless to something just happy enough to get them through the day without feeling like it was the end of the world -- since that day had already come and gone.

The street looked just as abandoned as yesterday - and the day before. In the daylight, the area seemed different to Graphite; it seemed that if someone would bring up the map, he could pinpoint their location to the last inch. The city was open and bright, the sun’s reflections off the few remaining glass windows of the large buildings just made the city brighter. After a few seconds of thinking, he turned to Sunny.

“Sunny, do you mind if we make a slight detour?”

“Um- sure, why not? We have all the time in the world right now, right?” Sunny said with a sad smile before blowing a short sigh.

“Cheer up, I think that you might like where we’re heading,” Graphite smiled meekly.

Graphite then took up the role of the leader and Sunny followed him with a face that could make a grown stallion cry. Graphite tried to not look at her, but didn’t want to keep her secluded from their group of two. Graphite wouldn’t say a word, just look back for a moment to check on her - maybe pass a quick smile if she noticed. The music continued to play, skipping a few seconds every now and again. They moved down the streets, the streets that continued to be overshadowed more and more by the ever larger buildings along the sides of it.

After doing a long bit of walking, they both came up to a large gray building. It seemed like it was about four or five stories high. The one building that stood out from the rest. The front was was riddled with Gaelic designs, the carvings were laced around a large, arched window that was stained in a volley of warm colours; the actual walls of the building were dim white bricks that were also covered in the lacy, criss-cross pattern; all the designs and fancy linings were all trumped by a large, bright red sign that hung over the entrance like a canopy. The sign itself was as regaling as the building - golden laces that traveled across the edges of the sign and along the linings of the letter board, the golden ridges were mixed together with fiery colours of red and orange that made up wave patterns along the top of the frontward letter board; all of the designs consisted of little lights that weren’t going to turn on anytime soon. The bottom of the canopy’s underside was also made of dozens of little lights that would never going to turn on seeing as they had all been shattered, their remnants carpeting the floor below. Above the sign hanging over the entrance hung another sign - a long, slender sign that went up the height of the building and was made up of the same fancy and fiery design of the canopy. Both signs had in big, bright, and bold letters the name ‘Buckago’.

Graphite reached down to his noisy Pip-Buck, turning off the music before he opened the old wooden doors with a creak, entering into the building and letting Sunny go inside first.

“What is this place?” Sunny asked as she looked around.

“This is the Buckago theatre - or what’s left of it.”

The foyer was quite like a palace, the whole thing made of fine marble or red silk carpets. The inside had three stories available that could be accessed through one large staircase that was split into two sections by a golden rail that was capped off at the bottom by a marble end-piece - two golden rails were also going up each side of the staircase and customized in that regal Gaelic design. The foyer was very open, the second and third floor had catwalks that went around the middle of the room; the second floor had a marble railing along the ledge that was the same colour as the walls, while the third floor had a golden railing along the ledge. There were columns of marble that went up the corners of the room and along the sides that went up to the top of the building right before they were capped off along an edge and the rest was empty space for the large dome above. Below, in the middle of the room, was a large middle chandelier - it had fallen from it’s chains years ago. It made a great centre piece, though, it would’ve looked nicer if it was on the ceiling instead of scattered along the floor.

Sunny turned to Graphite, “...And what are we doing here?”

“Well, I wanted to see if the building is still standing. Now that I know it is - I have something else to show you,” Graphite told her, getting ahead and leading on again.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a surprise - don’t worry!”

Sunny just sighed and followed as Graphite showed that it was time to move again. They both walked up the first row of stairs, filing down through a big doorway into an abandoned hallway. The hallway was filled with old and dusty movie posters that were displayed along the hallway behind thick glass plates and a Gaelic, twisty wooden frame. There were posters for every great classic and posters for those amazing indie films by ponies who will now go forgotten. The celling had some cracks going along the ridges and linings of the red and gold striped wallpaper; the red carpet definitely looked like it could use some cleaning, but that wasn’t what had Graphite on the move. They continued until they reached another double door at the end of the hallway.

Graphite opened the door for Sunny, letting her go first once again, reveling a large room filled with rows of soft seats and a large set of curtains that could only foreshadow the grand stage that lay behind it. The room was dark - too dark - Sunny almost couldn’t see her own nose between her eyes.

“Okay Sunny, pick whatever seat you like and I’ll be with you shortly.”

“Graphite, wait-” Sunny tried to blurt out, but the door had shut behind her and Graphite had vanished.

Sunny continued down the room between the rows of seats with her hoof extended in front of her. She really didn’t like poking around the dark like this, but eventually she took a seat after wading around for a while and waited for what was about to happen.

Sunny sat on the seat for a few moments - when something started to move in the dark. She receded back into the cushion of her chair. She couldn’t see it, but she could hear something swooshing through the shadows. Suddenly and abruptly, a loud thunk of a noise came from somewhere behind her. She didn’t want to look towards the noise, but reflexes overtook her will and she flinched - turning her head behind her. The room was still pitch black, and nothing seemed to be lurking behind her.

Without waning, a beam of bright light fired through the room from behind the mare. Sunny turned her head and looked back again. The beam came from a small window at the back of the room, another story above her.

Amongst the beams of light she noticed a figure of a pony pointing her to turn back. She obeyed the strange figure and looked her front. The curtains had risen from the stage, the wall in front of her had lit up and saw an image projected on it.

It was a picture of three blue diamonds and a text underneath; “This film is brought to you by the Ministry of Image - safeguarding the freedom and minds of all Equestria’s citizens.”

After the short message, a reel started - narrated by a generic stallion with a crisp and deep voice. It was a newsreel for the Equestrian military, the announcer coming on as he reported on the current condition of the past war. There was a map of the Triolet Islands, arrows converging on the body of islands showed that the marines were moving in to the island along with the newly found commando regiment. It gave another quick line before it cut off and continued with the standard reel.

A faint smell of smoke had flown into the room. Sunny looked behind herself once more, facing the projector, and looked into the window to see smoke pluming out of it. Graphite was kicked back in the collapsible metal chair he had found next to the projector; he had a reel spooling around the projector and a cigarette popped in his mouth. It was going to be another minute before the reel had reset, so Graphite took this time to look about the abandoned projector room.

To his right was the cheap iron rack that had the film reels organized along the shelves. It was against the wall, slightly shifted outward after something had pulled it from the wall or something blown it away from the wall. To the left was another projector - smashed to bits for whatever reason some pony had smashed a perfectly good projector. Either way, its bits were swept against the left wall and the projector was left to rust in the forgotten room. Behind him was the door he had broken from its hinges.

Upon reaching the projector room earlier, Graphite found the door had been locked with two locks to keep anything from getting inside. The dust mites weren’t going to bother with the door, so it had been locked until Graphite had come by. With Graphite’s uncanny ability to break down doors, he thrust against the door and busted it open for him to freely enjoy a smoke while he started up a movie for Sunny - probably the first movie she will see in her life.

The reel had finished winding passed news section, and the projector had was starting the movie. A muffled crackle of speakers turning on after decades of rest came from somewhere near the stage. I bit of dust and dirt drizzled down the rafters of the stage, and the movie was starting up. The image on the screen was a countdown starting from five.

Four... Three.. Two.. A line going across a circle... A cross shape... Then a beep.

A quick flash, and the film started. Sunny was slowly coming up from the chair’s cushions. Her eyes widened, and her frights were starting to tumble away with the sounds of the film rolling through the theatre. The film came on with an amazing orchestra to back up the beginning credits. The credits had gone, and the movie was finally beginning. Sunny was about to jump up from her seat, residing just at the edge of her cushion. The film started out with a scene on a navy ship coming home from the old war effort of that time - three sailor ponies came off the ship with a spring in their step and their voices lifted high. The came out and broke into song - the movie was one of those great musicals that everyone can sing along to.

Sunny was in a fit of awe the entire length of the movie. Graphite had seen this one before, but there was always that good feeling you get when you watch a good movie. He looked down from the projector room, watching as Sunny started to bob her head and hum along to the tune of the songs. Graphite was burning through his cigarettes throughout the movie, staying right by the projector until the movie played out its final song and ended.

Sunny was at the bottom of the theatre clapping her hooves together, and wooing loudly and happily. Graphite smiled, taking his cigarette from his mouth and moving up the window, “How about another one?”

Sunny nodded her head and screamed back, “Of course!”

Graphite jumped back from the window, trotting over to the film rack for another movie. He examined through all the movies until he came passed the cartoons. He grabbed the first one that was set there and popped it into the projector. It rewound, paused, and starting playing.

A cheery song started to play, something like a foal’s piano and a light tambourine to a simply melody. A cute little bunny hopped on screen. Sunny’s smile was slowly coming back; from a smirk, to a grin, and then a beaming smile. The cartoon was just about little Angel the Bunny helping his forest friends with problems they couldn’t solve themselves and a short listen that could be learned from it - but it was just cute enough that Graphite could watch it with enjoyment. The show ended shortly, Graphite and Sunny couldn’t help but express a small ‘Aww’ from the ending when Angel had saved all his forest friends.

“Cute...” Graphite told himself.

“Another on-?”

“-Another one!” Sunny suggested right before Graphite could ask.

Graphite tossed his burnt out cigarette and went back to the rack for another movie. Rewind, stop, then play. The projector was pretty reliable, maybe a reason they threw out the last projector. The movie came on in a flash; a pony sitting on a train with his head in the clouds. His fantasies of being the captain of the largest ship on the waters, dreams of flying shows with the Wonderbolts, and wonderment of anything his mind could make up. He was caught in his dream long enough to ride right passed his stop - and the next one, and the next one. The movie had laugh after laugh every scene with the stallion’s day dreaming getting him into trouble. He caught a cab that was already taken by a wealthy mare, trying his best to not offend the lady - he was thrown out by the next block.

Graphite was kicked back in his chair guffawing loudly - catching a sudden puff of smoke as he laughed over the movie. Sunny was holding her sides as she laughed in tears. The movie was only half through, and Graphite was rolling around on the ground chuckling. The movie ended with the daydreamer solving a murder and ending a jewelery thief’s crime spree with the oddest set of circumstances any pony could find themselves in - then, he wound up marrying the rich mare he met in the cab.

They went through two or three more movies, enjoying the comedies and musicals, before hunger finally succumbed to Graphite. He dropped his cigarette on the floor and stomped on it to put it out. Then, he checked his cigarette pack - he had two left. He groaned in anger, throwing his pack into his bag before leaving the projector room - forgetting to turn the projector off. He came over to the electrical panel that was just beside the doorway he knocked down and flipped a switch to turn the theatre room’s lights back on.

Graphite stepped down the service stairs and back into the hallway, all before reaching the theatre where Sunny was waiting impatiently for another film.

Sunny was in her seat sitting with a smile, not noticing Graphite until he came right next to her and took the seat beside hers, “What’s up?” Sunny asked as she turned to Graphite. “Did the projector break - I wanted to see another film.”

“No, but I’m hungry,” He informed, rubbing his stomach softly.

“I guess it’s around lunch, right?” She giggled.

“Sure... uh, I got some canned corn left,” Graphite reached into his bag and picked out the can of corn that was in there. “It’ll be just like popcorn... more or less.”

“Popcorn? You mean like that the little puffs in the buckets -- like that one advertisement they have back at the bar.”

“Yeah, like that - except, I have no way of cooking these corn kernels into popcorn. The least I could do is heat them up.”

Sunny grabbed the can from Graphite, then swiped his knife from its sheath. She stabbed the top and shimmied the knife around the can until she could could wedge the knife beneath the cut and pop the cap right off. Sunny gave the can back to Graphite after taking a quick nibble on a some of the kernels, “Don’t bother heating it - I’m too hungry to wait that long.”

Graphite swiped his knife back, stuffing it into his sheath a bit stubbornly; but smiled again when he swallowed down a few of the cold kernels. “The closest thing to popcorn out here,” Graphite thought to himself.

The two went back and forth sharing bite and swallow of however much corn was in that can until they ran it down to a few soggy kernels laying at the bottom. Graphite tossed the can away, landing just a few rows down the theatre. Usually the janitors would come by and clean that up right after the show, but that wasn’t likely to happen - but, he didn’t have to worry when no pony else would be stumbling into a random building a start watching things they never heard of. Graphite took a swig from his canteen, gave a sip to Sunny, then the duo was off heading out the room.

They went down the hallway; the posters were still there, fading away under the dying lights on the ceiling. Sunny caught eye of a poster for one the movies they saw, pointing it out to Graphite and retelling her favourite moments. Graphite just listened, nodding his head or chuckling a bit from her quotes and scenes. They filed through the hallway, passed the shattered chandelier, and out the front entrance. They found they have been there longer than they realized when they saw the sun already starting to set down in the west.

Graphite looked towards the sun, then quickly looked away -- not the best idea to look at the sun. Graphite turned to Sunny, “We should start looking for a place to stay the night, Sunny,” He suggested, rubbing his right eye.

Sunny turned to Graphite, “Why don’t we just stay in the theatre - it’s a pretty stable place so you don’t have to worry about it falling on top of us.”

“So I don’t have to worry?”

“Yeah, you seem to be the worrying one of this group.”

Graphite couldn’t find a proper comeback, so he just nudged Sunny over the shoulder, “You,” He scuffed, trotting back into the theatre.

“And don’t worry, Graphite, I’ll keep you safe from any bad monsters that’ll come for you in your sleep!” She giggled slightly louder than she was comfortable with, but she held in the rest of her guffaw and trotted in after Graphite.

Graphite was standing next to the broken crystals of the chandelier, looking about the foyer and planning for the best spot to set up shop. Sunny trotted passed him, flicking his side with her tail. He looked over at her; she went around the chandelier, dropped her gear at the foot of the stairs. Graphite raised his brow, but shrugged to himself, following Sunny to the stairs. He set his stuff next to Sunny’s gear, taking a load off on the first stair and laying down across the next few steps. Sunny was laying sideways across one step, laying her head down on the soft, red carpet of the stairway. Graphite wasn’t ready to sleep yet, and by the looks of it, neither was Sunny. He looked down at her, her mouth still glued in a sweet smile. He looked away, staring up towards the ceiling. His closed his eyes, until he heard a peep.