The earth pony stallion looked from behind the corner towards the building.
He did not see any enemies. Everything seemed calm. Still, he had his rifle at the ready, strapped to his battlesaddle. He needed to be careful while traveling through the raider's territory. He didn’t like to fight, but he was ready to defend himself and his friends.
"The road's clear," he said to his companion, a unicorn mare. She was a bit shorter and younger than him. Her coat was hazel, her mane was yellow and her eyes were bright green. She was wearing a simple scavenger outfit. The stallion was wearing a heavier and more armored version of the outfit. He had a dark brown coat, dark mane and similar bright green eyes.
"Let's see what we find there," the unicorn answered. She levitated her pistol. Together, they got out of hiding, and started walking across the road.
The two ponies carefully watched their surroundings, looking for any enemy that could prepare an ambush. They also had to watch out for mines. It was quiet, but in the wasteland, things don't stay quiet for long.
The cinema building was fairly intact. The red paint still covered most of it. Above the main entrance, "CI EMA" was written in big, yellow letters. Most of the windows were intact, and there were only a few holes from bullets in the wall.
The two ponies reached the entrance. They took cover behind a column. The unicorn opened the door with her magic. Nothing exploded. After making sure the way ahead was clear, the two entered the building.
In the main room, there were few vending machines. The stallion walked towards the one with Sparkle Cola logo. To his surprise, there were two intact bottles inside. He bucked the machine, and got the bootles out.
"Screwdriver, do you want some Sparkle Cola?" the stallion called.
"Yes, bro," the unicorn answered. She levitated one of the bottles and hid it inside her saddlebag.
The two ponies continued looking for anything of value. Screwdriver walked towards the cash register. Her brother was looking at other vending machines.
He found some candy bars. They looked edible. There wasn’t anything other of value inside them.
The stallion looked at the posters hanging on the wall. On one of them, he saw a pair of ponies. The mare and the stallion were looking at each other, smiling. They were standing on sand. Behind them, there were strange-looking trees and some wooden buildings. The sun was setting. The bottom of the poster was torn off.
On another poster, an unicorn mare in a strange suit was floating in space. She held a pistol with her magic. Behind her, in the distance, a black-and-white, bloatspite-like monster was lurking. In the bottom, the title was written: Scourge.
"Hammer, have you found something?" the unicorn called. The stallion stopped looking at the posters and looked towards his sister. She was standing by the cash.
"Some candies."
"Good enough, I guess. I got some pre-war money."
The stallion walked towards the cash register. His sister turned on the terminal that was standing on the deck.
"Something interesting there?"
"Just descriptions and time slots of movies. Nothing valuable," Screwdriver said, and turned off the terminal.
The two ponies walked away from the cash. They went deeper into the building.
Hammer looked at posters hanging on the wall. He wondered what the movies even looked like. He guessed they were like magically moving pictures. Ponies used to watch them in times before the war. Hammer never saw a movie himself.
"Wait!" Screwdriver shouted. Hammer stopped walking. Three meters in front of them, there was a trap wire. He almost walked into it. Screwdriver walked towards the trap. Her horn started glowing. She squinted her eyes, and carefully moved her magic around. After a while, she levitated three grenades that were hidden behind a banner.
"Sorry, I was distracted. I should pay more attention," Hammer said.
"It's nothing. Let's take a look around. There's probably something hidden here. Why set a trap in an empty building?" the unicorn said, and took the grenades into her saddlebag.
The two ponies continued walking the corridor. Eventually, they reached a large door. The unicorn opened it slowly.
Screwdriver and Hammer entered a large room. There were many rows of seats. There was also a large screen. That’s where the pre-war ponies watched movies, Hammer thought.
Screwdriver started walking between the lines of seats, looking for anything of value. Hammer, meanwhile, walked to the center of the room, turned around and looked at the large, broken screen.
The unicorn noticed a bunch of strange boxes in the corner of the room. She walked towards them, and carefully lifted them. The boxes were empty. However, below them, she noticed a hole in the floor was covered by some metal and a carpet. Screwdriver levitated the cover, and saw a metal crate. It was locked. Screwdriver took out some lockpicks. After a few minutes of carefully levitating them and after breaking two of her picks, she managed to open the crate. Inside, she found grenades and ammunition. She smiled.
"I got ammo!" she shouted towards her brother. There was no response. She looked towards him. He was still standing in place, looking at the broken screen. The unicorn became a bit worried. She walked towards her brother.
"Is everything alright?" she asked.
"This is not fair," he replied.
"What do you mean?"
"Look at this place. Ponies used to come here with their friends and loved ones. They ate candies, watched movies and were happy. And we? We came here to find ammunition, and we need to watch our every step, or we will walk into a trap."
"Well, at least we found something."
Hammer sighted. "Sometimes I feel like everything that was worth experiencing died two hundred years ago."
Screwdriver looked at her brother with a concerned look. She touched his mane with her hoof.
"Look at the bright side. Sure, the world kind of sucks now, but we can make the best of it."
"Ponies back then didn't have to worry about raiders, ghouls or getting fogswept."
"Yeah, but they worried about other monsters, and they still fell in the end," Screwdriver said. The siblings stood in silence for a while.
"There is no reason to just watch the remains of the old world and despair.”
"I know, sister. I am just sad I couldn't experience what they did."
"Well, there are plenty of things you can still do."
"Shooting raiders?"
"Well, yes, but not only. We can, for example, find some more supplies here and bring them to Scrapyard. They will find use for them, and we will get some caps."
"And that's all we can do. Searching through trash."
"We might find something useful, or turn this trash into something valuable."
Hammer looked at her sister, his eyes weren't as bright as hers.
“No matter what, I am here, and I will be helping you. We can find good things together,” Screwdriver said.
The stallion stood in silence for a while, but eventually spoke. "You know, you are right. Let's make the best of what we got."
Screwdriver opened her saddlebag and levitated the bottle of Sparkle Cola.
"For the future?"
Hammer smiled, and took out his own bottle.
"For the future," he said. The siblings hit their bottles together and drank the cola.
Hammer felt a bit better. His sister was right. There were still things to do, to experience, even given the circumstances. There wasn’t much point in regretting and holding on to the past of the long-gone world.
Who knows, maybe the future wasn't as bleak as he thought?