Sunny came over quietly, her hooves steps light on the sidewalk. Graphite was bent comfortably against the carved surface of the theatre.

She came up to him, catching him off guard, “What are you doing out here, Graphite?”

Graphite flinched, turning his head over to the sound of Sunny’s voice, “Oh- Sunny, I was just taking a little walk... collecting my thoughts...”

“Sounds like fun,” She snickered. “So what did you think about?”

“Just,” Graphite thought for a long moment, “Things.”

“Just things?”

“Yeah, just stuff - you know.”

“Well, why can’t you tell me what kind of stuff?”

“Yeah... wh- where are we headed next?”

Sunny paused for a moment, taking a few steps ahead of Graphite down sidewalk, “We’re going further downtown - I’m going to check on my family.”

Graphite bent away from the wall, getting in line with Sunny, “Your family lives downtown? Isn’t that a little dangerous for a family?”

“It is, but it’s the only place they can stay,” Without a glance, Sunny continued on the sidewalk.

‘The only place they can stay.’ There was miles behind them of free space that were safer than anything deeper downtown. There had to be somewhere back in Rossmore for Sunny’s family to stay - even if it was in the slums of the eastern side of town. It seemed odd, but then he realized why - Sunny said she was an orphan.

Graphite hurried to get beside Sunny, “What kind of family is this, exactly?”

Sunny slowed her pace, turning to Graphite, “What do you mean?”

“Aren’t you an orphan?” Graphite blurted out, starting to regret he did.

“Yes - I told you I was...”

Graphite took in a breath of air, taking a moment to think before he said anything else, “Well then, how are you related...?”

“I grew up in an orphanage. All the foals stuck together and, in time, we all were like a big family. Well, like a family with two sons, seven daughters and one mom - but still a family!” Sunny smiled.

“That’s a big family for an orphan. I’m guessing someone adopted you then?”

“No, no one. We all grew up at that orphanage together,” Sunny smirked, her smile getting slightly dimmer.

“Oh, so your family is just the ones you grew up with - staying somewhere deep in Buckago?”

“Yeah- Yeah! They, um, are all staying at the abandoned orphanage... it’s what they’re used to, so why leave, huh?”

Sunny’s voice seemed a bit choppy, almost worried. Graphite didn’t want to say anything, blaming it on the rudeness of his last remark. The two pressed on a couple of more blocks, watching as the buildings started to grow darker with ash and scorches. The buildings down the horizon started to look more destroyed, from small sections missing to entire halves of buildings toppled over. It seemed to be getting darker, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Graphite looked up the skyline, looking as the destruction made a nice gradient down the path of the street. Going from better to worse the deeper it went. Graphite continued glancing up the buildings, until a hoof hit his chest; Sunny was telling him to stop.

Graphite looked over to Sunny, then followed her line of sight forward. A side of a building had fallen over the street, creating a pile of rubble that obstructed the street and the next block over. It was daunting, Sunny looked speechless.

“Maybe we can go around?” Graphite suggested.

Sunny shook her head, “No, that will take too long.”

“Are you saying we just go over it?”

“Well we can’t go under it,” She giggled at another one of her jokes.

Graphite chuckled, then sighed shortly after, “Well, let’s keep going, shall we?”

“Yeah.”

Graphite went ahead first, starting with finding a good hoof hold to start climbing. The debris was loose and uneven, like a mountain made of sand. He grabbed onto anything that was big enough to grab, only to realize it wasn’t strong enough to hold. It wasn’t safe, but the path Graphite made was the safest he was going to get; Graphite waved his hoof to direct Sunny on.

Sunny came up to the pile, slowly taking one step at a time up the ruble and debris. She climbed on, bits of loose gravel starting to slide down from every movement she made. She lost her grip in one hoof and grabbed for something to pull up - but it came loose. The brick jerked from it’s place and she started to fall downward, but Graphite caught her just as she began to drop down with all the will in his levitation spell. Sunny gasped, caught in a daze. Graphite pulled her beside him, setting her down gently on the same ruble beside him. She found a grip in the fallen planks and pipes, then they started to climb again.

“How are you holding up?” Graphite grunted.

“From this iron pipe, obviously,” Sunny joked back as she pulled herself up.

Graphite chuckled, “You- you just can’t be kept down can you?”

“Huh?”

Graphite gripped a block of concrete that was once a ledge, “You’re just so happy - all the time, Sunny!”

“Is that- is that a bad thing?”

“N-no I guess not - just wondering how you... do it,” Graphite struggled.

One hoof to the next collection of bricks, another to the ruble least likely to crumble under the wait. They made their way up, the worry growing as they got higher. Graphite climbed just above Sunny, making sure he was close enough to Sunny just in case she slipped again. Another bit of loose gravel and a plank that couldn’t hold, Sunny fell again - but Graphite was right there with his magic to grasp her and set back just ahead.

Sunny kept climbing, stopping only when a protruding splinter caught her leather jacket.

“Ahg- come on...” She mumbled, pulling and jerking until the splinter pulled out and left a rip in her jacket.

Graphite poked his head down to Sunny, “You okay?”

“Yes- just got my jacket caught... then ripped it.”

“Oh... I’ll b-be sure to get you that... uh, that dress you wanted, eh?”

“You don’t even... know what kind of dress I wanted,” Sunny replied, reaching for another block of bricks.

“Sure I do- something girly, right?”

“Ha- no. I told you something- som- fit for a gala!” Sunny’s hind hoof dropped down, but she found another bit of gravel she could sink it into. “Something elegant and fancy, but still fitting for a p-pony like myself.”

Graphite stepped up a few more bricks before he could respond, “I think I know what you mean...”

“Uh huh...” Sunny sighed.

They neared the top; their panic was nearing it’s peak, but so was their relief. Graphite grinned, picking his pace up to get there as soon as he could. He grasped a metal beam, another row of bricks before both cracked under his weight. Graphite yelped, as his body suddenly dropped and gravity forced his insides up. Suddenly he stopped, his hoof clenched tight by something soft. He looked up, seeing Sunny hanging on by one hoof, her other holding onto Graphite’s arm.

Sunny grinned wide, Graphite smirked back, almost embarrassed. She swung him up while he extended his arm out for the nearest metal bar. He clenched it tight, Sunny let his hoof go. He stopped himself from swinging, a bit of ruble tumbling down the debris just as he stopped himself.

They grabbed the edge of the pile, pulling themselves over and stopping right along the peak of debris. Graphite slumped over, lying on his back in the jagged pile of bricks and gravel. He took in a deep breath, blowing out heavily. Sunny was nearby, panting just as much.

Graphite sat up, pushing aside a loose brick so he can sit comfortably, “Well... we made it...”

Sunny blew a sigh as well before leaning forward and finding a place to sit without slipping off, “...Y-yep...”

They took another moment of silence to catch up with their breath, which had slowly faded away after the climb. The looked out from the top of the pile of ruble, getting a better view of the road ahead. This was one hill in the valley of debris; the piles of fallen buildings didn’t seem as high, but they were smaller when the two were this far away.

It seemed only fit to take a break on the peak of this mountain of mortar. It was the middle of noon based on the sun’s reach over the sky. Graphite and Sunny got unusually cozy on a piece of ruble that could slip off at any moment. They kept their glee about them anyways, taking out canned peas for lunch. There didn’t seem to be a rush to be anywhere at anytime, time could keep turning and the duo would never know the difference.

They shared nibbles at the peas, taking all the can from the small meal. Sunny also took a strip of the jerky from her bag. Graphite recoiled a bit, turning away when she bit down and tore a piece with her mouth, chewing it loudly.

“How can you eat... meat...?” Graphite inquired.

“I bite it, chew it, then swallow- it’s just like eating hay, just hardier,” Sunny implied with another bite of the tough jerky.

“Yes, but... why do you eat- that?”

Sunny swallowed her bite before answering, “Well, Graphite, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s no vegetation out here in the wasteland - so your veggies are hard to come by. With hay and other plants like that being so rare, they’re a little more expensive - and by that I mean a lot more,” Sunny brought the half eaten jerky closer to Graphite and flaunted it in his face, “Meat, on the other hoof, is everywhere - so it’s cheaper and in larger supply. When you’re starving, you’d probably turn to eating meat too!”

“Somehow, ponies back at my time didn’t turn to eating the flesh of others no matter how hungry they were. I mean we didn’t. I heard some stories back in the war about how zebras started to eat their own dead after running out of food, but that must have been just a propaganda thing.”

“Graphite, the meat most ponies eat doesn’t come from our own kind. It’s usually some small critters like iguanas, sprites, and ants... some eat dog meat too - but I prefer them on my lap rather than in my stomach,” Sunny tapped her chin, “Uhh, I have heard some tales about cannibal tribes from traders at the bar, but no civilized pony wouldn’t dare to do such a thing.”

“What’s wrong with sticking to eating canned food?”

“Well, it’s two hundred years old and tastes like cardboard,” Sunny laughed.

“It’s still better than meat...” Graphite turned his head back over to the horizon, pouring more food into his mouth.

Noon had turned after, the sun beginning its first point in the race to the horizon - with the moon following in second. Graphite had finished off his meal quickly, tossing the can behind him to join the rest of the junk in the pile of ruble. Sunny finished her meal too, getting in a sip from her water bottle. They didn’t need to get anywhere soon, but Graphite was feeling bored sitting on the debris. He brought his head over the edge of the pile, looking down the rough and jagged sections of bricks and metal. He took a deep sigh - the only way down was down.

Sunny turned to Graphite, “You ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” He mumbled, starting first once again down the hill.

The grains of gravel trickled down the mountain of debris like water down a hillside, bouncing off bricks, metal pipes, and other grains of gravel. He slid down the first couple of sections, making the climb down as quick as he could without killing himself. Sunny followed close by, taking Graphite’s path and sliding down also.

Graphite stopped at a large piece of concrete, panicking as the block slowly started to seep down in the loose Gravel. Sunny slid down to his side, pointing out a safer block to jump to. Graphite prepared for the jump taking into calculations all the variables. The block he was standing on snapped from the gravel it was stuck in, so Graphite acted simply with a leap in the direction of the next one over.

Sunny gasped as he leaped. Graphite grunted as he jumped. The block cracked as it fell. Graphite landed on the small, broken block while his hoof clenched to a rusted metal bar. Sunny wanted to reach for him to make sure he had a good grip, but almost tripped herself in the process. She moved down another column of bricks, waiting for Graphite to move.

Graphite looked down, all his hooves were on something secure enough to hold him up. Graphite blew a sigh of relief, starting slowly down the next bit of debris. The trip down seemed to be going along faster and smoother; going down was easy, but falling was even easier. They kept their same amount of worry going down as going up, losing their worry as they neared the bottom.

Sunny spotted an opportunity to take the last leg of the climb down an open end of gravel. She scooted over, holding unto whatever wasn’t too sharp to grab. She took a deep breath, jumped down from he ledge, and slid down the rest of the way to the ground. Sunny wooed in joy before turning back to Graphite, who was still on the slope, “How are you holding up, Graphite?”

“Just dandy!” He hollered back, nearing the end of the hill.

Graphite looked down. He thought to himself, “It isn’t that far of a drop...” Desperate to get off the debris pile as soon as possible, he jumped. He fell down not too long before he landed on the ground, hitting it hard - his hooves holding him up just high enough so his cheek could scrape the ground.

Graphite grunted and groaned; Sunny came over, patting his back, “Nice fall - you alright?”

“S-y... yeah, yeah...” He moaned, slowly regaining his balance on all four hooves.

“Well if your fine, let’s get going,” Sunny lead on ahead, leaving Graphite to pick himself up as she left with a grin.

Graphite brushed his armour and his duster, galloping ahead to keep up with Sunny’s irregular pace. The road was was becoming darker, ash laying across it. The dust would blow away with every movement, the gust from their trot throwing it into the air. Graphite looked around the destroyed buildings, almost able to imagine the flames still going strong in each of the holes of the buildings. Shards of glass hid underneath the blanket of ash, making the road harder to cross.

Graphite needed his mind out of the hell it was imagining. He turned to Sunny, knowing she would brighten his thoughts, “Sunny...”

“Yes?” Sunny answered.

Graphite thought for a moment, searching for a topic, “Tell me more about Sierra, what was he like?”

“She was one of the nicest ponies I’ve ever met,” Sunny sighed.

Graphite’s attention beamed towards Sunny, his eyes wide with surprise, “She?”

“I thought you knew- Sierra’s a mare, Graphite,” She implored.

“No, I didn’t... I-I assumed she was a h-”

“-A he? Yeah, I understand... Well, yes, Sierra’s a mare. We met back in my days at the orphanage. She wasn’t one of the orphans, but occasionally her family would come by the orphanage after school. She would come by about every week - I think - and we would just play. Soon we grew older, eventually our friendship grew more into love. Our love just got stronger as we got older - when we were old enough, I moved out of the orphanage with her and we both moved into together in the same apartment.”

Graphite stepped over some ruble, continuing the conversation while keeping his eyes on the street, “I see. Well, I’m sure she was a great mare.”

Sunny looked up, finding the strength to continue this topic, “She was... I- I mean she was very gentle, very quiet - she was shy. I was almost the only one to talk to her at school when we were kids. She was nice, but it’s hard for a filly like that to be mean.”

“Of course, of course. How about her- um, talent?”

“She liked animals- actually, she loved animals. Sierra always cared for any critter that needed help; whether - she would care for it like a foal.”

“That’s nice,” Graphite uttered without any input to add or other words to say.

“At first,” Sunny sighed quietly, “It’s when she’s caring for the animals that you find out she gets too preoccupied with them to do anything with anybody - even me.”

“Really?”

“Yep...” Sunny looked down, the memory of her loved one was coming in - good and bad.

Graphite looked over to Sunny, spotting her sorrow starting to grow, “I’m- I’m sorry, Sunny. I di-”

“-It’s okay, Graphite,” Sunny brought her head from the floor, “You didn’t mean anything. It’s been years since Sierra’s been gone, I’ve... I’ve let go of that memory to keep myself from depression.” Sunny grinned, “Maybe you should try and do that too - letting go, I mean.”

“I guess that I’m trying to, but it’s just that most of the stuff that happened back in the war made me who I am today. To forget that is like trying to forget a part of myself.”

“Letting go is hard to do. It might take a few months, maybe years. Just make sure that you have the right ponies surrounding you and you’ll feel better in no time,” Sunny smiled and walked up closer to Graphite.

Graphite looked over to Sunny, a cheery smile growing on his snout. Graphite turned back to the road, watching for any small piles of loose junk or large shards of glass. Graphite’s eyes traveled up towards the sun, which didn’t seem to be out today. There was a dark cloud sitting idly just over this end of the city, the darkness inside so thick that the sun could barely shine through. The skyscrapers that once stood over everything else in the city were now sitting underneath it all. Most towers had toppled completely over; their rubble blockading the roads as before, or just burnt off the map. Any towers still standing tall were standing as skeletons, the bars and girders nearing their breaking point.

The mare and stallion hobbled over a short stack of rubble before moving into something odd. The skyscrapers stopped their sprouting, budding in every direction except this one area. This one area was large, burnt black by something more destructive than any fire. It was completely dead and barren, like all hope had gathered to this one spot in the middle of downtown and disappeared. This appeared to be true - it was Hide Park, and the epicentre of the megaspell blast.