Fallout Equestria: Curse of Plenty

When Divinity woke up the next morning, she put on her normal outfit. While she appreciated Kehtel’s warnings about radiation sickness, she also wanted to be safe and comfortable. She couldn’t be either in a jumpsuit that looked like it had been made for behemoth ponies. She couldn’t help but wonder if ponies had been bigger before the megaspells dropped. It wouldn’t surprise her.

Divinity crept out of her quarters, and made her way toward the kitchen. She was hungry and thirsty, and she hoped Kehtel would be able to feed her more. She hoped the food from the night before hadn’t been a mistake or a fluke. Gretchen didn’t seem to have much food with her, and she knew she and Cappy didn’t have much food left. They’d had to leave most of their supplies back in the clearing.
Shuffling into the kitchen, Divinity was greeted by Kehtel. It looked as if he’d worked through the night, cleaning the place so everything shined under the fluorescent lighting. He spun around to face her.

“Good morning, ma’am. You’re the first to wake up on this fine day. Would you like some breakfast?”

“Yes, please,” Divinity smiled, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with a foreleg.

“Of course! Would you like to take breakfast in the entertainment room? There are many, many videos to assuage any boredom and homesickness you may be feeling right now. Or you can eat here.”

“Videos?” Curiosity piqued, Divinity stepped closer, “I’ll eat in the entertainment room if it isn’t too much trouble.”

“It’s not a problem, ma’am. May I ask your name? I need to start a record of everyone who is here.”

“I’m Divinity, the pegasus is Bent Cap, and the griffon is Gretchen,” Divinity replied.

“Excellent, ma’am. I’ll add that to the records while you eat. Is there anything you’d like this morning?”

Divinity’s mind pulled a blank. She didn’t know what ponies used to eat for breakfast. “How about you surprise me?”

“It would be a pleasure. The entertainment room is down the hallway, three doors on the left. Please make yourself comfortable, I’ll bring your breakfast the moment it’s done.”

Divinity nodded in agreement, then made her way to the entertainment room. It was one of the ones that they’d explored the night before, and Kehtel had cleaned it as well. An unsquashed couch was in front of a large monitor along one wall. Several bookshelves were half-filled with books. Several large chairs were scattered around, clearly meant for relaxing. There were four intact terminals in the room, the smallest one near the monitor.

Divinity sat on the couch, sinking into the plump cushions in a way that wasn’t possible on the surface. Divinity sighed, looking around. The amount of technology in the stable could earn her a lot of caps. She itched to take it apart and study how it all worked, but she wanted to see it all in action first. Celestia forbid she break something, especially if they were stuck down here for a while.
Just as Divinity’s stomach began to growl in earnest, Kehtel appeared, grasping a metal tray. He hovered over, setting the tray on a wheeled table, “Here you are ma’am. Cereal with milk, some toast with peanut butter, and some pancakes. With all of the accoutrements of course.”

The platter was huge, filled with more food than Divinity had seen for a whole day’s worth of rationing. Without really thinking about it, she used her magic to start eating. As she ate the thick toast with smooth peanut butter, she added whatever these ‘accoutrements’ were to the pancakes. A fat of some kind, old butter perhaps, and a delicate white powder. As well as a thick, brown syrup.

Taking a bite of a pancake, Divinity felt a part of her soul separate from her body. It was so sweet. Unlike Sugar Bombs, which just had a sweetness to them that made her teeth ache, these had flavour. Before she really knew what she was doing, Divinity had eaten the entire stack.

Divinity’s stomach felt heavy, but she felt compelled to keep going.

“Is there any preference for what you’d like to watch, ma’am? There are some wonderful documentaries about how fashion has influenced society in recent years.”

Divinity paused her eating, looking over at Kehtel with inquisitive eyes, “Are they from the Ministry of Image?”

“Of course they are! The Ministry of Image is doing it’s best to ensure the proper knowledge is spread all across Equestria.”

“One of those please. I don’t have a preference for what one.”

Kehtel went to the terminal beside the monitor and meddled with the controls for a few moments. Then, like magic, an image flickered to life before Divinity’s eyes. As she watched the bright blue skies and the paradise of the world two-hundred years gone, she ate the rest of her meal.

Bent Cap woke to the smells of something that smelled delicious. He didn’t really know what exactly it was, but it smelled amazing. Not bothering to put on his barding, Cappy left his room and made his way to the kitchen.

Gretchen was seated at the kitchen table, beak deep in some kind of...pie? Unlike the preserved pies Cappy had seen, this one steamed.
“Ah! Hello, sir. Miss Divinity has said your name is Bent Cap. Is that correct?”

Cappy looked over to Kehtel, who was busying himself by cleaning a refrigerator.

“That’s right. Most call me Cappy though, so feel free to do the same.”

“Of course, sir. You’re the last one to wake this fine morning, would you like me to prepare you some breakfast?”

“He’s not getting any of mine!” Gretchen squacked, her eyes narrow.

“Erm..sure. Please.”

“Would you like anything in particular today?”

“No..just surprise me please,” Cappy took a seat opposite of Gretchen. She was still glaring at him, slurping up the contents of the pie like it would be her last meal.

Cappy decided to ignore her, contenting himself to look around. Kehtel had been busy overnight. All the surfaces were now free of dust and gleamed in the light. Even the floors and walls outside had been cleaned, Cappy noted to himself, especially considering the Mr. Handy had only one real functioning arm while the other two had questionable purposes.

A tray of eggs, strips of fried hay, toast, and what looked like apples in some kind of sauce, was placed in front of Cappy. Curious, hoping for food as flavourful as the hay burgers the night before, he started eating.

Cappy wasn’t disappointed at all, much to his surprise, still expecting for there to be a ‘catch’ in this Stable. Everything was fresh, warm, and delicious. So like the food he knew, yet completely different. He finished the eggs, toast, and the apples, but couldn’t finish the hay. His stomach was too bloated and heavy.

“Thanks, Kehtel,” Cappy grunted, leaning back in his chair, “I think I’m done-”

“I’ll eat it!” Gretchen snatched the tray with her talons. She shoved the remaining hay into her beak at an alarming rate. Cappy didn’t really know what to do or say. She’d already eaten more than he had. The griffon kept eyeing Cappy, the pegasus thinking that she may be a bit loose in the head, or too heavily branded by the wasteland civilization. ‘Maybe she’s got a point’ Cappy thought to himself, seeing the griffon push food into her beak, groaning in slight pain, ‘maybe she’s preparing for when we finally get out of the Stable, already thinking ahead.’ He chuckled to himself, ‘a great survivor’.

“Miss Divinity is still in the entertainment room. Or I can take you on a tour of the rest of the stable if you’d prefer.” Cappy jumped, being interrupted from his own internal monologue.

“Can you show me where the systems are? I’d like to make sure life support and all other functions of our home are running properly.”

“Of course, sir. Follow me,” Kehtel led the way deeper into the stable.

Grunting, ignoring the pain in his stomach, Cappy did his best to follow, hoping not to hurt his overfull stomach as he walked. Behind him, Gretchen finished the last of her pie, and started to lick his platter clean. Crumbs stuck to her black cheeks and dark blue chest as she practically assaulted the platters with her tongue. She glared at Cappy as he trotted away, desperately attempting to ignore the pain of her overfull stomach. The smaller griffon pushed the plates aside so she could rest her head against the pleasantly cool table in a moment of weakness.

“They don’t know *ugh*...that I’m on to ‘em.” Gretchen groaned, rubbing her belly with her talons, “Playing nice and such, I bet they were looking for something to stab me with in the kitchen until that bucket of bolts arrived.” She huffed, her feathers fluffing in annoyance, “now it’s just a matter of time, playing nice and getting friendly so I don't suspect them. Clever.”

*BURRAAAAAP* A heavy blech escaped her beak, relieving some tension on her sensitive insides. Gretchen sighed in relief, her body sagging against the table. She’d never felt so...full before, and the pain almost felt good.

“Two… *huff* can play at ‘that’ game…” she grunted, “I’ll keep an eye on em, and make sure they don’t have alone time together to conspire against me, and that robot looks neutral, might want to keep it around as well. Hopefully the thing about robots attacking the aggressor is true and I can use him as a buffer to deter them from attacking.” Her mind swirled, numbed by the pain of her stuffed stomach, her beak grinding nervously. With a slight look of despair, she stared at the massive machine that provided them all food, and wished desperately she knew how to operate it. Just to get it to spit out something to deal with her immense belly ache.

Did it know how to make anything other than food? Was there pre-war food that would help with a stomach ache? Gretchen would need to ask. She’d need to ask Kehtel how to operate this machine too, in case the others took him out.

Gretchen was stuck down here, and Celestia would be damned before she just gave up.