Rainbow Dash flew up into the collapsed building that rested just above her and Applejack. After her little incident with the "sand-alanche" prior to this, she decided to actually take part in the learning expedition, and was now checking out the damaged building for something she and Applejack would be able to obtain a source of knowledge from.
"Do yah see anything?" Applejack called out, her voice being amplified through the rooms of the building, ensuring Rainbow Dash could perceive her sounds of shouting.
"It's kinda hard to see in here," Rainbow shouted back. "But the light coming in through the broken parts of the wall is showing me some stuff."
"Well, do yuh see anything worth learnin' about?"
"Well, I don't know what kind of stuff we're looking for, but all I'm seeing is a bunch of sand and broken stuff," she let out a hefty sigh."This isn't really what I had in mind when Twilight first told me the story about these towers. I wanted to find something actually cool to look at when I went inside one of these things," she stated grouchily.
"Well, what did ya expect us tuh find?" Applejack retorted.
"Considering that this post fell over, I was actually hoping to find some skeletons of ponies in here. Now that would be cool to learn from," she said with an unpleasant grin.
"Awww, c'mon, Rainbow Dash," Applejack responded in disgust. "That's just disgustin'."
"Disgusting but cool!" she ardently responded back, to which Applejack just slapped her hoof to her face in frustration.
~~~
"Oof!" Spike went as he plummeted face-first into the ground. Pinkie Pie hurriedly rushed to his side the instant he fell.
"Spike! Are you okay??"
Spike lifted himself up off the ground. "Yeah, I'm okay," he replied as he brushed the sand off his face.
"Are you sure?" Pinkie asked, walking up to Spike and moving her face right up to his. She then lifted up her hoof and pointed it at his face "Does it hurt when I do this?" she poked him in the face "Or this?" she poked him again. "Or this? Or this ? Or this?" she said over and over as she repetitively poked him in various places of his face, much to his growing exasperation.
He finally grabbed Pinkie's hoof and pulled it down and away from his face, shouting, "It doesn't hurt!!" back at her.
There was a short pause from Pinkie Pie, "...okay, then!" she responded, happy knowing Spike was fine.
After dealing with Pinkie, Spike sat down on the ground, rubbing his partly aching foot. "I must have tripped on something," he stated. He then looked back at the spot where he had stumbled over, and saw only a single metal object protruding from the sand. He swiftly turned around and crawled over to the object, examining it more closely. "This must be the thing I tripped on," he proclaimed, and he promptly took hold of the object and began to pull. The object was not coming out so easily, as Spike was barely budging it, even with both hands. "Whatever this thing is, it must be pretty big," he said, clenching his teeth. Spike halted his lugging for a few moments to catch his breath. Realizing this way was not working, Spike decided to try a different method: instead of pulling steadily and continuously, Spike started doing several shorter, but stronger, tugs on the object, so that more strength would be placed within each pull. This proved to be quite effective, as with each passing pull, the object was lifted more and more out of the earth that grasped it so firmly. Then, with a final yank, the bulging object came bursting out of the ground, dispersing sand outwards in all directions. Because of the force used to haul the object from the ground, Spike sent himself flying backwards and impacting the ground with acute force.
Spike groaned as he clasped the back of his head, currently aching from the hard fall. He shook off the pain, and now turned his attention towards the object, which was still being gripped firmly in his other hand. Taking the object in both hands, Spike was now able to take a look at exactly what this previously unidentified item was.
"Hey, look," he said to Pinkie Pie.
"What is it?"
"It looks like a shield...a really old shield," Spike examined the exterior of the shield more thoroughly, and could see how much that time had affected this armament. "It's pretty beaten up—and it's completely rusted all over. There's no way this thing could ever be used to defend anybody again."
"Ooh! Let me see it!" Pinkie Pie appealed as she moved her head right next to Spike's. Pinkie then stared intently at the shield, not speaking a single word or moving a muscle. Spike, as one might expect, was mystified by exactly what Pinkie Pie was attempting to accomplish by merely staring at the shield.
"...okay, I'm done!" Pinkie stated as she trotted away, having finished as quickly as she began.
"Wait, what?" Spike inquired, bewildered as to what had just occurred.
"I'm done learning from the shield, silly!"
"Learning? What did you learn from it?"
"Duh! I learned that it was a big, rusty shield! What else is there to learn about it?"
Spike reflected on Pinkie's explanation very meticulously, and attempted to clarify for her, "Pinkie, I don't think that's what Twilight meant when she wanted us to lear—"
"Oh! look over there!" Pinkie cut in, pointing towards something a short distance away, and promptly sped off towards the site of her point of interest.
"Hey, wait!" Spike called out as he dropped the shield and ran after Pinkie, endeavoring to keep up with the energetic mare.
~~~
"I do believe I've done enough as is necessary on this little outing," Rarity asserted as she stopped in her tracks(though she had waited until she was in the shade of one of the sentry posts before stopping).
Fluttershy stopped shortly after Rarity had done so, stumbling a bit because of the sudden halt. "What do you mean, Rarity?" she asked.
"I mean that we have been out here for quite some time now already, tiring ourselves from all this walking, getting to the point of almost sweating, and burning our sensitive skin due to this constant dreaded sunlight. So, as you can see, we've both done more work outside than a pony should customarily perform."
Fluttershy was not mutual with Rarity on this thought. "Gee Rarity, I haven't been thinking any of those things while we've been out here."
"That's because you haven't been as educated as I have in these matters, dear" she replied as she patted Fluttershy's cheek.
"...yeah, I guess you're right."
"Indeed I am," Rarity continued "And besides, it's quite clear to anypony that there is absolutely nothing out here that is worth 'learning' about. It's just a dreary, barren landscape devoid of any means of enjoying oneself, and any pony who could actually find a way to have a pleasurable time in this wasteland has obviously been standing in the sun for too long."
Fluttershy was speechless in the wake of Rarity's rant. Such a harsh mindset was a bit bitter for this pegasus' tastes. Even so, she decided to hear Rarity out further, not wanting to appear rude by remaining silent. "Well, what do you think we should do instead?"
Rarity was quick to respond, "I elect that we return to that decrepit train station and wait for the return of the others there. At least then we will no longer be exposed to this dreadful weather conditions."
"Well...I know how much you care about being tired and hurting your skin out here, and I don't want that to happen to you, but I also don't want to tell Twilight that we didn't learn anything at all while we were out here. I know that would make her sad after all she did to take all of us on this trip."
Rarity sighed heftily. "Let's just find something quick to learn from," she quickly looked at the area around her, and found a broken spear in the ground—but it was only the bottom half, so it looked more like a broken pole to them. She pulled the broken from the ground with her magic and presented it to Fluttershy. "Here we go: the ponies in the past must have somehow broken this pole and dropped it on the ground right here—that's what we've just learned," she stated, sounding a bit haughty.
Fluttershy stared blankly at the spear fragment in front of her, and then she looked at Rarity. "...umm...I don't want to say you're not good at knowing what to learn, but I would be lying if I said you were... and I don't want to disappoint Twilight by telling her that...sorry..." Fluttershy sounded quite disappointed in herself for talking in such a way to Rarity.
Rarity became more testy upon hearing this, feeling like she was never going to get out of here and reach her safe haven at the train station. "Well, this was the best I could do!" she shouted, making Fluttershy cower in fear. "How much more are we even supposed to do??" she said crossly, making Fluttershy feel very fearful and nervous, as she didn't want to upset Rarity even more than she already did.
It was difficult for Fluttershy to build up the courage to form a response to Rarity's irate question, but she still managed to force the words from her mouth, "...well...umm...I don't think we're supposed to do a whole lot while we're out here...just enough so that Twilight will be happy we've learned something...I'm pretty sure that's it..." Fluttershy then reverted back to her submissive state, just in case Rarity became mad and loud again.
Rarity did not answer immediately. The only thoughts presently floating in her mind were of her growing more and more flustered by all this lingering about. She knew she needed a way to get to her safe haven and still allow Fluttershy to be pleased. What she needed was some crafty thinking, and it was that type of reasoning that formulated the plan that she believed to be quite shrewd.
"You know, Fluttershy: since everyone else is already searching about the sentry posts, there's most likely nobody searching the train station to see if it holds any valuable information."
Fluttershy halted her cowering and looked up towards Rarity, showing interest in her idea.
"I'm quite certain Twilight would be impressed if we found a unique source of knowledge within that very station. What say the two of us go and check it out?" she suggested very slyly as she leaned towards Fluttershy with a big grin.
Fluttershy stared back at Rarity, looking to be deep in thought. But, only after a few seconds, Fluttershy smiled and let out a big, "Okay! Let's go!" the merry pegasus happily flew up into the Rarity, and she and Rarity began their walk back to the train station from whence they started. Fluttershy was happy in knowing she would satisfy Twilight, and Rarity was happy in knowing she was so cunning–and that she was finally able to get out of the sun and into the more pleasurable shade.