The Last of Us Ponies

Chapter 4: What Equestria Needs

Applejack knew she would be late for work but she was determined to know a bit more about her neighbor Clockwork. She didn't know why but what she had seen of and heard about the stallion intrigued her. The gloomy sky shrouded the streets in a gray light as Applejack walked. The air felt thick and watery and smelled like that of a river. Even though it was summer, it was surprisingly cool. The marathon of rainy days was most likely the thing responsible for this.

After a few minutes of walking, Applejack finally found herself approaching the Red Oak Schoolhouse. Taking a close look at it, Applejack felt a sense of familiarity. The door to the schoolhouse was open so Applejack decided to politely let herself in. "Uh...hello? Anypony here?" she asked.

"Yes, there is," replied a friendly voice. Applejack looked to see the stallion known as Clockwork sweeping a mop over the schoolhouse floor. The desks had been stacked up against the windows and the floor was sparkling like a batch of freshly cleaned apples. A series of black trash bags were stacked in the far corner and a strong scent of pears lingered in the air. "Well hello again, Applejack. What brings you here?"

"Curiosity," Applejack replied.

"Curiosity? About what?"

"You."

Clockwork raised an eyebrow as a slightly worried expression appeared on his face. "Has something serious happened?"

"Nah...I just kinda wanna be fair here."

"Fair?"

"Yeah. This probably sounds stupid but I've recently noticed that you've taken a bit more effort in knowing me than I have in knowing you and I just figured that...maybe I could know more about you."

"Why this sudden interest in me? We've lived in the same apartment building for practically an entire decade."

"Nothing really pulled me in to learn more about you until now, no offense."

"None taken. I'm definitely not one of the most interesting ponies in this city."

"Well, from what I've heard, you apparently kick some major ass as a teacher."

Clockwork chuckled as he placed the mop away in a small custodial closet. "Well, I try to be a good teacher. Equestria knows children need some good role models."

"Couldn't agree with ya more."

A few seconds of silence fell amongst them. "I...I want to let you know that I remember as well," Clockwork said suddenly.

"Remember what?" Applejack asked.

"What you used to be. What you were known for all those years ago." Clockwork walked over to his desk, pulled out a bottle of water from one of the drawers, and began to drink some. "I still remember the day you and your friends defeated Discord when he was still evil and such. I was at the ceremony. I picked quite a time to visit Canterlot."

Applejack shuffled her hooves and glanced at the floor. "Yeah...I remember that day too." Applejack gave a quick smile before wiping it away. "But that was a long time ago."

"I understand. I try not to think of those days either. Even the good memories make me feel sad." Clockwork placed the water bottle down and leaned against his desk. "But...perhaps it's good to remember them every once in a while."

Applejack looked down at the cloth wrapped around her right foreleg. "I love you, Applejack," echoed the voice of Apple Bloom from within Applejack's mind.

Applejack vigorously shook her head and turned her attention back to Clockwork. As she did so, she took in a great whiff of the pear-scented air. "So where are the pears?" Applejack asked with a grin.

Clockwork appeared confused for a second. "What? Oh! That! Yes...well...I would have preferred another scent but the only collection of air fresheners I had were pear-scented. The place was starting to stink up a bit," he replied.

"Ah. Makes sense." Applejack's eyes trailed over to a nearby clock. "I better get moving then. I don't want to be too late for work."

"Okay...well it was nice talking to you."

"Yeah. See ya around." Applejack spun around and made her way out of the schoolhouse. As she walked away, out of the corner of her eye she could see Clockwork dragging the trash bags outside and pulling them into one of the nearby alleyways. She didn't pay much attention to this and began to quickly trot her way towards her job. As she thought over her brief conversation with Clockwork, she found herself smiling a bit.

He remembered those days. He actually gave a damn to remember what me and my friends used to be, she thought as she ran. Equestria could use a few more stallions like him.

"Hey, Luna?" Luna heard Babs ask. Luna was sitting quietly on the couch in the lounging room. She had previously been napping but Babs's voice had brought her back to the world of the awake.

"Yes?" Luna asked as she turned towards Babs, who was standing in the lounging room doorway.

"I'm gonna head out and get a few things. Could you watch over the store while I'm gone?"

"Sure." Luna shrugged her shoulders as she stood up, yawned, and made her way towards the cash register.

All of the children had left by this point and the bakery was now completely empty. Babs trotted out through the front door and Luna watched Babs walk away until she was out of sight. Luna quickly found herself trapped in another period of silence and loneliness. It was whenever Luna was completely alone when she realized that she despised the feeling with a passion. She hated being alone. She hated being in the dark. She especially hated it when she was alone in the dark. Occasionally, a pony would walk past the store but not one ever came it. This only made Luna feel more anxious and unsure, for Babs's Bakery normally had at least some amount of business. Even on the rainy days ponies had come in. Today, however, there were no customers. It was just Luna and the bakery.

Before long, an hour had passed and Luna was still standing at the cash register in the silent bakery. Just then, the door opened and Luna nearly attempted to jump into the air due to her excitement. "Hello! Welcome to Babs's Bakery! How may I help you?" Luna asked happily. A young gray-blue filly with a brown coat had entered the bakery. Instead of approaching the counter to order something, she walked over to one of the tables and sat in one of the chairs. An action like this didn't really surprise Luna. Occasionally, some ponies would come into the bakery just to relax and neither Luna nor Babs had any problems with this (as long as they didn't stick around for the entire day); but Luna couldn't help but sense a strange aura coming from the young filly. She appeared sad, confused, frightened, and...lonely. Luna walked back into the kitchen and grabbed one apple turnover from a fresh batch. Shen then walked back into the eating area, approached the table that the filly was sitting at, and placed the bagged turnover in front of her.

"What's this?" the filly asked.

"One delicious apple turnover," Luna replied with a smile.

"But...I didn't order anything."

"It's on the house. You looked a bit sad so I thought that something sweet would cheer you up." Luna leaned in closer to the filly and brought her voice down to a whisper. "Just don't tell my boss that I gave it to you for free or else my ass is grass." The filly smiled as Luna took a few steps back. "Enjoy the turnover."

"Thank you," said the filly as Luna turned around. Luna walked back to the cash register and leaned against the counter as the filly began to bite into the turnover. Luna felt a sense of happiness from watching the filly eat the turnover with a joyful, childish look on her face. The filly quickly devoured the turnover and tossed the bag into the nearby trash can.

"Done already?" Luna asked as she approached the table.

"Yeah. It was really good," the filly replied. "Thank you again."

"No problem. Do you come to this bakery often?"

The filly shook her head. "Not really. A lot of my classmates like to though."

"Were the others in here earlier your classmates? The ones from...oh...what was his name? The ones from...oh! The ones from Mr. Clockwork's class?"

The filly's ears shot up. "Yeah!"

"So you're in Mr. Clockwork's class?" The filly nodded. "I've heard that he's a really good teacher."

"He is...and he's really brave."

"Brave?"

The filly's eyes widened a bit. "Nevermind."

Luna found it odd that a student would describe their teacher as 'brave' but she decided not to press things further. "So, what's your name?" Luna asked.

"Ivy," the filly replied softly.

"Ivy? That's a nice name. I'm Luna Ray."

"That's a nice name too."

"Thank you." Luna smiled at Ivy. "You know, you act a bit...different from your classmates." Ivy looked at Luna sadly. "Not in a bad way! Just in a...different way."

"Well, I am different. But aren't we all different from each other? What two ponies are exactly alike? The answer is: none. We can look and act alike slightly...but we are all different at heart."

Luna gave an impressed grin. "And you're much more mature than your classmates."

"I do a lot of reading...and thinking. Probably more than what my classmates normally do."

"That's good. My father always told me that knowledge is power. And, from the looks of things, you might just be the most powerful pony in your class."

"Maybe." Ivy returned to giving a sad look that made Luna feel that there was something serious going on in this filly's life. Luna felt Ivy's gaze drift over to her metal wing and she shuttered a bit. "What happened to your wing?"

Luna was silent. She felt the memories flooding back to her: the attack, the rescue, the lab, the moment when everything went wrong. Ivy gave off a powerful vibe that almost made Luna want to spill everything out right then and there. But that would be wrong. She and Ivy had only just met and she figured that the filly probably had enough on her plate at the moment. Too much to also think about some strange mare's tragic backstory. "An accident...and that's all anypony needs to know," Luna replied as she stood up. "I hope you come back and visit the bakery again soon." Luna marched back over to the cash register. Ivy sat at the table in silence for a moment before getting up and marching out through the front door. Luna watched quietly as Ivy walked down the street and disappeared from view. Before long, Luna once again found herself alone.

She was quite a mature young filly, Luna thought as she leaned against the counter and continued to wait for Babs's return. Equestria needs more children like her.

It wasn't until he was finished placing the desks back in order that Clockwork decided to lock up the schoolhouse and make his way home. He sighed as he looked up at the gloomy sky. "Could use a nice sunny day right about now," he stated. As he rounded a bend, he saw a familiar mare walking towards him. "Babs?"

Babs Seed looked up and gave a surprised smile upon noticing Clockwork. "Well this is a nice surprise," she stated as she struggled to hold the collection of bags she was carrying.

"Go shopping for supplies today?"

"Of course. Thankfully, a new shipment came in today. Applejack may be bored with her job but it sure does make getting supplies easier for her and the ponies she knows."

"Applejack?"

"Yeah. Speaking of her, did she come by and visit ya?"

"Actually, she did. How did you know?"

"I'm the one who convinced her to go."

"So I guess I have you to thank for her finding some interest in me."

"You bet!"

"Well, I hope you're not trying to set us up or anything. Last time I checked, she was taken and I'm not interested on getting on any boyfriend's hit list."

"Hey, don't worry! I like Vick and I have no plans to bring somepony else in between him and AJ. I just thought that AJ could use some more friends outside of me and Vick."

"Does she have any other friends here?"

"In Manehattan, not really. She knows a fair amount of ponies but isn't extremely close to any of them aside from Vick and me. Now she definitely has a large amount of friends but most of them are spread out amongst Equestria. She probably doesn't even know where most of them have ended up by this point."

"A lot of us are in the same situation."

Babs sighed and shook her head. "Yeah. You're probably right."

"Well, I best be heading home. It appears that I have the rest of the day to myself."

"As do I unless I start getting some more business. Hardly anypony has stopped in my bakery today aside from you, your students, and a couple others."

"Here's to better business then!" Clockwork raised a hoof as if to give a toast with an invisible glass. Babs chuckled and followed suit.

"Take care then. I better get back to the bakery to help Luna out."

Clockwork nodded and he and Babs parted ways. It had definitely been a crazy morning for him with the thugs, Applejack's surprise visit, and the situation with Ivy; and he was ready to get home. Clockwork scratched his head upon thinking back to what the thugs had said. Could it really be possible? Was Ivy really infected? Could she possibly be immune? Clockwork didn't want to think about it. The discovery of an immunity could mean a new start for ponykind...but potentially an end to a kind and intelligent filly. Besides, if it were true, it wouldn't be wise to let a cure fall into the hooves of the ponies that ruled Equestria now. They would never use it fairly.

All the thinking about Ivy and immunities and such began to make Clockwork's head hurt. He quickly decided to turn his mental thinking towards more positive things. He found himself thinking about Applejack and Babs. Two ponies that he wasn't particularly close to but was starting to get to know a bit more. He thought back to what he had told Babs earlier about ponies not wanting to have such strong relationships in these dark times.

Perhaps that is true...but maybe a few strong relationships are good to have, he thought as he walked through the entrance doors of his apartment building. Equestria needs more mares like Applejack and Babs Seed.

It didn't take long for Ivy to walk from Babs's Bakery to the orphanage. The building was surprisingly empty today. She figured that most of the other colts and fillies were out playing amongst some of the abandoned buildings in the safe zone. Ivy made her way up to her room and locked the door behind her. This wasn't an abnormal routine for she always locked her door, but the locked door made her feel a bit safer today. After tossing her bag in a corner she turned and looked out her window. She could see a large portion of the Manehattan safe zone as well as a portion of the danger zone in the distance. Ivy felt her stomach twitch with guilt as she stared out upon the danger zone. Tall buildings rose up from the ground. Vines, flowers, grass, and other various plants ate out their insides to make them appear to be massive skeletons.

The sound of thunder echoed off in the distance and Ivy fell back onto her bed. Old drawings and pictures hung from her bedroom walls and a small bookshelf was situated next to her bed. She turned over to look at her collection of novels and such. She had already read all of them several times over. Ivy thought back to stories she heard about how there used to be buildings that were home to many kinds of books. They had been called libraries. Ivy often had dreams of walking into a library and jumping into a pile of books, ready to start reading them. She longed for more knowledge. She wanted to know more about the world beyond Manehattan and maybe, in turn, learn a bit more about herself.

I wonder...if there's somepony out there like me, Ivy thought as she rested her head on her pillow and closed her eyes. She thought back to the pegasus mare with the metal wing she had met at the bakery. She looked like she had seen her share of stuff too and had been through a lot of tough times. She was a mare with a lot of sadness but who was able to reach out to try to ameliorate the sadness in somepony else. Somepony who probably hadn't suffered as much as she had. Equestria needs more ponies like her.