Graphite was still lying in bed - awake, but too groggy to start getting out of bed. Sunny was starting wake, getting up as soon as she finished her morning stretches. Graphite flipped over, watching Sunny grab her worn leather jacket and slipping it on before stepping into the kitchen. Graphite groaned, deciding a few more minutes in bed wouldn’t hurt anyone. He grabbed the bed sheets and pulled them over his shoulder, closing his eyes to try and fall asleep again. It didn’t work, he was still awake, and the bunker was still uncomfortably cold. He tossed the bedsheets away, slowly sliding over the edge of the bed on unto the ground. He stretched out his back, planting his hind hooves on the floor as he pulled his body forward - stretching out forward until it cracked back into place. With a sigh, he moved over to the kitchen.

Ligature was wide awake. She was in the kitchen by a steaming pot; it smelled like coffee was brewing in it, Graphite was pleased by the smell. The last cup of coffee Graphite had was back in Stripe’s Bar, when he first came into that dreaded place. He wouldn’t forget that moment he saw Sunny bring him his morning coffee and oatmeal. It was a good coffee; not great, but after a long night’s battle with the raiders, it helped perk him up. Graphite waved a hello to Ligature as he passed by, “Morning, Graphite,” Sunny spoke out from the chair. Graphite waved to her too, slowly making his way to the bathroom. He stepped into the damp room, the air was thick with moisture that was still trapped in the room with only the drains to run down or the holes in the leaky pipes. His armour was still sitting by the doorway where he left it, gathering dust from the musky bathroom. Pulling the armour to him, Graphite shook off the dust before stepping in to each section of armour. Pants, chest-plate, and the duster to go over. Graphite tugged his duster to his view, looking at all the bullet holes, tears, and the bite marks that were on the end of the duster. It’s amazing how much a stallion could ruin a suit in only a few days.

Graphite stopped himself for a moment, realizing the time. After a pause, Graphite realized it had been no longer than two weeks since his trip from the exhibition to where he was now, sitting in the bottom of a bunker. Time just seems to find ways of bending itself; whether it’s going by when you’re doing what you want, or dragging on when you’re doing what you need. Graphite caught a glimpse of himself in the mirrors above the sinks, spotting something he didn’t remember having. There was a bruise on his cheek, and he wasn’t sure where he got it from. It could have came from the hike over the rubble, the fight between the Talons he had recently.

The smell of the coffee was fluttering through the bunker, filling the air with its strong scent. Graphite trotted out the bathroom quickly to catch the first batch of coffee.

He trotted out to the kitchen. Ligature already had her hooves on a cup of coffee, she had her dirty cloak on to keep her warm through the cool morning in the bunker. Graphite grabbed his mug and trotted over to the pot. There looked like there was only enough for one more cup; Graphite had the pot in his levitation spell and was about to pour, but he remembered Sunny who was still on the chair with some buttered toast on a paper plate. Graphite was focused on Sunny chewing her food with his cup in his telekinesis, when a plate appeared under his view, “Here’s some toast - I have it all ready for you, Graphite,” Ligature smiled as she pushed the toast towards him.

Graphite grabbed the plate of toast and said, “Thank you, Ligature.”

“Of course,” Ligature replied before trotting away to the bedroom. She probably went to make the bed. Graphite grabbed one of the chairs from the table again and slid it over to Sunny. He rested the plate in his lap and took a large bite of the buttered toast. Sunny faced towards Graphite, swallowing her bite of toast, “Boy, Graphite, I feel like I’m eating a pre-war breakfast - like the ones they show on posters. Did you eat this a lot?”

“You mean toast,” Graphite mumbled with a mouthful of the bread.

“Yeah, toast. It seems so simple, but it’s really good.”

“Yeah, we had it a lot; it’s something that’s really cheap and really easy to make.”

“Oh, ‘cause I like it. What else did you eat for breakfast, Graphite?”

“Well besides toast,” Graphite took another mouthful of his toast and continued, muffled, “We also had oatmeal, and usually cereal - those are the basic breakfast meals.”

“Those do sound pretty basic, there wasn’t much else I guess?”

“Nothing we could afford; but, on holidays, my papa would take me to the nearby diner to order some hotcakes-”

“-Cake? For breakfast?”

“No no no, it’s not like cake,” Graphite asserted, finishing off his last bite of toast and his last sip of coffee. “Oh, did you want me to get you some coffee?”

“No, I’m fine. Thank you, Graphite - just tell me about the uh, ‘hotcakes’.”

“Oh yeah, um- well, hotcakes are like flat... um, cakes made of-”

“-Oh, so they are cakes, eh?” Sunny scoffed with a grin.

“No, it’s not- it’s like a cake, though. It’s made with flour, milk, eggs, and stuff like that. Then you take the batter, pour it in a circle on a pan over the oven, and wait until it cooks to a golden brown.”

Sunny stepped off the chair and took her plate to the kitchen. She grabbed a drink of her canteen water then walked back over to Graphite, “Well when you put it like that, it sounds pretty good.”

Graphite just chuckled, placing his plate over Sunny’s and setting the cup in the sink. He rinsed it out of the coffee that was sitting in the bottom of the cup. Just about that time, Ligature came back from the room, “Looks like you lot finished your breakfast - I hope you enjoyed the toast, dears,” She affirmed.

Sunny came by, still smiling as wide as ever, “Oh yes, it was delicious, Ligature - thanks for the meal.”

“Oh yes, thank you for the food, Ligature,” Graphite added as well.

Ligature grinned through her wrinkles, showing a bit of her teeth - or whatever was still dangling from her gums. They looked rotted and almost black, and chipped too. It was a bit hard to look at, but a smile was a smile, and made Graphite feel a bit happier with himself, “Oh, it’s no problem at all, just keeping my guests happy,” Ligature said as she trotted to the living room.

“I imagine you two will be going your way soon,” She guessed, sighing a bit.

“I think we will do that just now,” Sunny replied.

“Yeah- yes, we should,” Graphite answered with a stammer.

“I wish that you both could stay here for a while longer. You’re the first guests I’ve had in over fifty years.”

“We’d really love to stay, but we should head out while it’s still morning,” Sunny commented.

“Okay,” Ligature sighed, “Don’t let me keep you then.”

The duo grabbed their things and made their way towards the rusty ladder leading to the surface. Sunny turned to Ligature one more just before they left, “Maybe some day we can come back and visit you -- if we ever find the time?”

“Yes - visit me whenever you want, I don’t mind at all. I’m happy to know someone out there will remembers I still exist,” Ligature assured with they biggest smile a ghoul could muster without tearing her cheeks.

She came over to Graphite and Sunny, wrapping her wrinkled and charred arms around their bodies and hugging them close. The two didn’t say a word; caught off guard by the sudden hug and the disturbing feel of her dead skin on their bodies. Sunny tried to ignore it, but Graphite had every bit of his body curdle with an uneasy feeling. Even through the suit, the oddly warm feel of her arms were seeping through.

Ligature soon leaned away, a tear almost forming in her dried eyes as they started to leave. Sunny waved by as she started her way up the ladder, the bars creaking with every step. Graphite stepped up to the ladder, but Ligature stopped him just before he started climbing, “Wait,” She implored with a hoof on his shoulder.

“Yes, L-ligature?” Graphite stammered, looking back at the aging unicorn.

“Don’t forget what I told you last night, Graphite - don’t miss your chance on her.”

“I know, Ligature. I remember.”

“But don’t forget,” Ligature left him off with a pat on his shoulder. “Goodbye, Graphite.”

Graphite rested his hoof on the ladder, looking back to Ligature. The hood covered her face with its shadow. If Graphite didn’t know any better, she was just another old mare. He worked a small smile, “Goodbye, Ligature.”

The mare waved him off as he climbed up out the light, into the darkness, and back into light. Sunny was waiting for him just outside the trap door; she helped Graphite up with a firm grasp on his hoof. She pulled him up as he pushed himself out, joining with each other again on the surface.

It was just at the start of morning outside, the sun beaming more rays through the daunting skyscrapers and the thick cloud of ash, shimmering off the dust that filled the streets, the air, and everything else. The two ponies closed the hatch to the bunker, sealing Ligature safely inside the cold bunker. It made a loud thunk as closed the only entrance in or out of that small home below the earth. The weaved passed the destroyed counters and out the rubble of what was once a wall.

They walked down the middle of the street, continuing in what seemed the best direction out of the epicentre. They stepped through more sheets of ash, and over more shadows of the lives burnt down by the blast. There were more casts of ponies’ shades across the walls along the buildings. One building was covered in a dark shade of black, a crowd of ponies all wiped out unto this one wall. They both stopped to look at the grim picture painted on the wall, standing silent with respect to those lives lost in an instant.

“This wall needs a mural,” Sunny said softly and somberly, looking down towards her hooves just for the moment. Graphite was silent, taking another moment to stare at the wall, “Was there nothing I could’ve done for these ponies,” Graphite uttered quietly.

Sunny turned to him, “No, but you were fighting for these ponies - you did enough.”

“No, it wasn’t enough... These ponies still died even after I’ve risked my life to save them.”

Sunny turned away from the wall and towards Graphite, “There’s nothing you could have done, Graphite-”

“-That’s the problem,” Graphite interrupted. “The least I could do is be there with them in their last moments; be another victim and join them to wherever they’ve gone.”

“You would rather be known as just another statistic than a national war hero?”

Graphite paused, the thoughts growing deeper in his mind, “Maybe I would - I wouldn’t have to carry this guilt on my chest if I died in the blasts.”

Sunny sighed and turned back to face the mass grave burning in the wall, “You can’t save everyone, Graphite. It’s war, there’s nothing to war if a few ponies don’t lose their lives. You’ve helped more ponies than probably any other pony in Equestria, why do you feel guilty about this?” Sunny turned about, leaving the conversation and the crowd of the dead that was listening.

Graphite was still stuck in his spot, his eyes glued to the wall. He turned to Sunny’s direction, watching as she slowly fleets away from him. Back to the wall, and back to Sunny. Graphite turned to the ends of the streets, then followed after Sunny. They moved on and on down the lonely road together, taking the burdens of being haunted and stalked by the shadows of past lives on their shoulders. Their pace steadied out into a gentle stroll; they were walking side by side down the ash covered road.

“So, Graphite,” Sunny said to fill the void of silence, “I heard Ligature talking to you right when we left her bunker, What were you two talking about?”

“Nothing, she was just saying her goodbyes,” Graphite answered.

“A special goodbye just for you, Graphite? Maybe a kiss on the cheek for the big boy,” Sunny giggled while she made a face at Graphite.

“It was nothing,” Graphite chuckled.

“It had to be a very special nothing to have to be kept secret, eh?”

“Why do you want to know, Sunny?”

“I’m just curious,” Sunny smiled.

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

“What?” Sunny turned to Graphite with her brow raised.

“Curiosity killed that cat -- it’s a, uh- saying.”

“That’s a very sad saying, Graphite; I don’t see how curiosity could kill a cat.”

“It’s just a saying, Sunny - don’t worry about the cat,” Graphite assured stubbornly.

“Okay, I just don’t approve of such a saying,” Sunny chortled.

Graphite wasn’t sure if she was serious or just pulling his leg, but it did help to lighten the mood. The two daring ponies continued on their journey through the wretched city. They were starting to leave the heart of downtown, the ashes covering the broken streets was starting to ease away. The level of debris and destruction was starting to ease away as well, moving from whole buildings blown away to just half of the building blown off. The blank sky looked just the same - blank. Graphite stared up towards the barren sky, looking on as the ash plume had stayed behind them and leaving only one cloud floating in the wind.

“That’s strange,” Graphite mumbled to himself.

Sunny kept her pace ahead of Graphite, but looked back when she heard him speak, “What’s strange?”

“There’s a cloud coming in, I thought there weren’t any clouds in this part of the city.”

Sunny looked up at the light sky, covering her eyes from the rays of sunlight, “There isn’t,” Sunny announced. “It’s probably going rain soon.”

“You mean that black rain?”

“Maybe, most of the time it’s the clean stuff, but every so often you get that black rain.”

“I don’t think I can remember what real rain was like; it rained once since I got out of the exhibition - it was black rain of course,” Graphite made a sort of pout with his snout, looking back up at the slowly passing cloud.

“Aw yes, my first black rain wasn’t so pleasant either, I was caught outside playing in it and the stuff was stick in my fur for weeks - luckily I didn’t stay out in it too lon-”

Sunny was cut off by a distinct noise coming from somewhere in the down turned buildings. Sunny stopped in her tracks, looking about every corner and alley of the dead buildings. Graphite came up beside her slowly, preparing the shotgun he had buried in his bag and had almost forgot about. He pumped the handle, seeing it was loaded already, “I have a pretty good idea what that noise was,” Graphite whispered to Sunny.

“Yes, I’m pretty familiar with it, Graphite,” Sunny commented, moving her hoof over the top of Graphite’s gun and lowering it.

“What are you do-”

“-Trust me, Graphite.”

Graphite would usually swat away the hoof and bring his gun back to the ready, but there was unruly amount of trust he felt towards Sunny. He lowered his gun, but still standing in a solid fighting stance by force of habit. The noise echoed out again, it was a low growl - something like a dog’s heavy howl. The growl was joined by a loud bark, then a loud orchestra of woofs and barks. The pack of four hounds rolled out of hiding, darting towards the two ponies.

Graphite brought his shotgun back up, but his reaction was denied by Sunny again, “No, Graphite!”

“They’re coming right for-”

Sunny galloped away, leaving Graphite confused. He was going to fire, but he might hit Sunny - but the dogs would surely kill her. He went back and forth incessantly in his mind, figuring out how to react to the situation. Sunny was already halfway to the pack of feral hounds, and they were halfway to her. Graphite tried to run after to her, but he couldn’t move his hooves any further in any direction. He was caught between going after Sunny and saving himself.

The dogs were nearing Sunny, but were starting to slow their pace. They stilled were snarling and drooling over themselves, but were slowing down as they came closer to Sunny. Sunny was also slowing down her pace, gradually moving from a gallop to a trot. Graphite gnashed his teeth, wanting to call out, but knew the dogs would run after him.

Sunny slowed down her trot to an almost stop, moving ahead one hoof at a time. The dogs were almost dragged down by Sunny; as she slowed down, so did they. Graphite could barely see Sunny at his distance now, but he could tell that she was still beaming with a bright smile. Graphite was just left even more confused, watching as Sunny smiled just before meeting her doom.

Graphite remembered how her smile could brighten up any pony’s day, he remembered this when he saw the looks of the dogs turn flip from wild killers to calm puppies. Like her own pets, the demon dogs came up to Sunny with complete care and nuzzled their rotted snouts against her legs.

Graphite dropped his shotgun, the peak of his confusion had been meet at this moment. Sunny was petting the animal’s heads and rubbing their burnt and molted bellies. Graphite found his sense of motion, and began a trot towards Sunny.

He came up behind Sunny as the dogs played at her hooves; but as Graphite came by, the dogs suddenly became defensive again. Sunny calmed them down quickly, shushing them and warding them away from Graphite while she assured the animals Graphite was a friend. They came to quickly, Sunny directing Graphite to pet the wild dogs as she kept them still.

Graphite was very reluctant to even get near the radiated hounds, but the trust he felt from Sunny was still overpowering him. He brought his hoof out to the nearest pup, feeling as it guided itself to brush against his hoof. Graphite eased up, knowing the dog wasn’t going to bite that same hoof right off of his arm. He lowered himself down to Sunny, sitting down as the dogs laid with them.

Graphite sat almost nervously, letting the hounds brush against his legs, “I can’t believe this, Sunny,” Graphite stated in surprise.

“Well, believe or not, Graphite - it’s happening,” Sunny smiled wide as the dogs playing around her.

“I just don’t understand how you tamed these damn dogs, I had to fight of a pack just like this right when I got into Buckago.”

“Well it’s really kind of easy, Graphite - everyone, and everything, just wants a little bit of love. Once you show them your compassion, they’ll turn a new leaf in a snap.”

“I wish ponies knew that before the war,” Graphite scolded.

Sunny just smiled, picking herself up to run around with the tamed hounds. Graphite stayed put with his dog by his side, resting with Graphite’s hoof on his head. He watched Sunny play with the dogs as the words delved into his mind. He thought about love as a weapon, how it could subdue even the hellish of creatures. He also thought how a lack of it could stir up those same beasts. Love is one of those things that makes the world spin, and one of those things that could make it tilt. It can be used for good, then twisted for evil. It was a confusing emotion, and Graphite didn’t enjoy emotions - he was just a victim of them.

Sunny grabbed one of the long splinters that came from the rubble of a building, using it as a stick to play fetch with the wild dogs. They two dogs playing with her would sprint haphazardly to grab the stick, then bite and scratch at each other to get a hold of it. The third dog was still resting gently under Graphite’s hoof, while the forth dog didn’t appear to be in sight. Graphite looked up to the skies, staring at the dark cloud tumbling into the area. The mist of rain in the distance showered the air in a dark haze. The skyline of the outer ends of the city was obscured by the mists. Graphite heard something dragging across the street; when he looked back, he saw the forth dog dragging a large plank across the street in his mouth. He could barely keep it up himself, but he carried with him anyways.

Suddenly, a loud boom - like an artillery firing of a round. Graphite flinched, whipping his head towards the air in search of the shell. There was no shell, and no artillery, just the sound of thunder cracking in the wind. The dogs whimpered then scattered at the loud noise, making their way to the refuge of the fallen buildings. Graphite got up to his feet, with Sunny coming by with her eyes staring at the storm cloud, “We should find some shelter before that storm comes,” She suggested.

“Yeah, maybe if we go further up the road we could find some building still intact.”

“And of course, that’s going towards the storm...” Sunny sighed to herself.

They moved on passed the next street corner and over another intersection, the next building looking no better than the last. They came across a bank that seemed to still be standing, but upon looking inside, the ceiling had caved in on itself - rusted bits scattered in the rubble. There was enough loose bits in the wreckage to buy out one of these buildings -- a toppled over building didn’t go for much anyways. They scooted back out, going back on the streets to look for a safe building to hide from the rain.

The storm cloud was closing in, the sound of the rain rushing through the air came into hearing. Their pace picked up greatly, taking no time to search around the buildings. They passed another intersection, a tall building was standing at the end of the street to the right. Graphite took the lead, moving with Sunny up that street to the building waiting for them.

They got up to the building. It was a tall building with a store sitting at the bottom. The store had a sign winding across the border of the store; the sign was half destroyed, only the ‘Boutique’ portion still legible. There were windows stamped across the store front, all of them broken and boarded up with old wooden planks. The storm was coming in; Sunny took the lead again and pushed the door open after a small struggle. They huddled inside, closing the door again as they ran inside.