Fallout Equestria - For a Sparkle Cola

Chapter One - Sparkle Cola World

The door of Stable 124 loomed ahead as Small Fry moved toward it. He looked behind him to see three bulbous forms being carried by a set of protectron ponies. Those three were the elders of Stable 124, the leading tribunal, since there wasn’t an actual Overmare. All three of them, ancient at the ages of thirty, forty-five, and forty-eight coughed before they used their magic to levitate up bottles of Sparkle Cola and drank heavily before tossing the bottles to the side. When they did, a group of robots moved to clean up the bottles, all to be repurposed later into new bottles of Sparkle Cola in the manufacturing area of the Stable.

“Small Fry! You’ve been given every chance to fulfill your role in the stable!” the first shouted.

“I tried!” Small Fry cried as he stood there.

The elder that spoke was a gray unicorn mare, although to look at her one would be hard pressed to tell the difference between her or to the two others that accompanied her. The other two, both stallions, were little more than huge rolls of fat simply layered on top of a pony frame. There were long stretch marks on their skin showing how tight and taut it had become due to the massive amount of overeating the three of them enjoyed. Behind them, in the Stable, dozens of others were the same.

All so obese that they could no longer move on their own. Each one reliant completely on the robots that ran the manufacturing section of the stable, and each had to rely on the robots to artificially inseminate their intended spouse when they came into season. Their lives were one of indulgence, dedicated to the idea of more is more, and completely uncaring or unfeeling for those who did not abide by their ideals. As such they saw Small Fry as a blight on their community. A pony that walked on his own, a Pony that had a thirst for knowledge greater than a thrust for Sparkle Cola. A pony that would eat only a single serving of Fancy Buck Cakes or a single bowl of Sugar Apple Bombs, and then wander off to look at some part of the stable nopony could get to anymore.

He was trouble, and for that reason it was decided that he would be tossed into the irradiated wilderness outside of the stable. He stepped toward them and a single protectron pony stopped him. It shot a single crimson beam of energy in front of him making him stop. He jumped back and the protectron resumed its silence stance near the elders.

“You haven’t tried enough!” the mare shouted, “ You’ve indulged your mind, but not your stomach!”

There was a coughing sound of agreement from the other two, “For that reason you are banished! Take your need to know from this stable!”

He looked at them, fear in his eyes, “Please, don’t make me leave,” he begged, “It’s death out there!”

The stallion to the far left laughed, “It’s death in here if you stay! Go ahead, we will have the Protectron Pony blast you, turn you to dust, and that will be the end of it!”

Small Fry backed up, “Okay… I’ll leave, but can’t I have anything to protect myself?”

The Protectron Pony moved forward, a compartment in its side opened, and it leaned over dropping a single pistol. Small Fry picked it up, and placed it into his saddle bags.

“There, now you have protection! Leave!” the mare shouted.

As she did the large gear shaped door began to open. Slowly it pulled back, the sound of scrapping metal echoing as it pulled open, and then it rolled out of the way. Small Fry looked to them, his hazel eyes reflecting the sadness he felt, and he stepped out into the wide unknown. The door closed behind him, and he looked at the vast nothingness in front of him. He felt a tremble of fear as he looked at the sky and saw stars. A rushing feeling of fear poured through him as he believed it was possible that he could potentially fall upward. He rushed toward the first thing he saw, an old wagon, and latched his legs onto it. When he did he breathed out.

“Smalls! Smalls wake up!”

He looked around for the voice, and saw nothing, then he felt something pushing on him and his eyes blinked open. He looked up to see his ghoul friend. Poetic Pen shook his head as he looked at Smalls and then looked around them. Behind them was the Unicorn mare they’d saved a few days back. For Smalls he’d been outside of Stable 124 for nearly three months. In that time he’d made friends with Poetic Pen and Cosmic Light. Of course he believed that Cosmic Light’s friendship was more due to the fact that she felt obligated to be friends because they saved her.

He smacked his lips and felt a driving thrust, “Ummm, do we have any Sparkle Cola?”

Poetic Pen rolled his eyes and passed him a single bottle, “It’s the last one so make it… Are you fucking serious?”

He looked as Smalls finished off the bottle. He shook his head, “You know, it’d last longer if you actually tried to taste it.”

Smalls grinned, “I know, but I was thirsty.” The three of them began to walk again, and as they did time began to pass. Twenty minutes later and Smalls groaned as he walked beside the two ponies he considered friends. Both of them looked at him as he looked in the distance. Anyone that was likely paying attention would have believed that Smalls was experiencing some kind of withdrawal, and they wouldn’t be wrong in that regard. He looked ahead at his two friends. Poetic Pen stood on the left. The ancient Pegasus stallion had been around since before the war, although Smalls hadn’t asked him how old he actually was. Beside Poetic was Cosmic Light. Cosmic was a Unicorn with a dark purplish coat, black mane, and the clearest crystal blue eyes that Smalls had ever seen.

That of course left Smalls himself. Despite his name Smalls was a huge Earth Pony. He was overweight quite a bit, even with the travel and movement out in the wasteland he was still exceptionally pudgy. His lime green coat had gotten dirty, muddy, and lost some of its shine. His blond mane had begun to look more sandy blond than true blond, but his hazel brown eyes were still just as excited and happy as they were the moment he came across Poetic Pen.

♫What if there was a place with all the zip of Sparkle-Cola

Wouldn’t that be the cheer-cheer-cheeriest place in all the world

Where the river’s made of Sparkle Rad and the mountaintops are fizz

With fun and games and rides for all the moms and pops and foals

Well it turns out there’s a place with all the zip of Sparkle-Cola

Come on down to Sparkle-Cola-World and see it for yourself

Kandy Kingdom’s lots of fun for foals like you and me

Daring Do's Adventures are full of animals to see

Blast off to Lunar Zone for otherworldly thrills

Down in Hangin' Ponies Corral there’s Cola up in them thar hills

The World of Refreshments the most wonderful place

The friendly streets of Sparkle-Cola-Town put a smile on your face

Now you know there’s a place that’s just as great as Sparkle-Cola

Come on down to Sparkle-Cola-World and see it for yourself

A vacation that refreshes a trip you won’t forget

A park with every minimum acceptable safety standard met

Quench your thirst for adventure at Sparkle-Cola-World!♫

“I’m really starting to hate that damned song,” Poetic grumbled as they walked.

Smalls smiled, “Sorry, but isn’t it great? There’s a whole place out there where traders are getting to work without worry, and an entire ride full of Sparkle Cola Rad!” Smalls said as he clopped his front hooves together, “Just think of how awesome that is!”

Poetic grunted as they walked together, “Yeah, I’m not sure I’d want to drink anything that’s been floating boats and had little foals most likely puking into it, but hey, knock yourself out if that’s what you want.”

Cosmic laughed, “Smalls, seriously, why do you even want that stuff? I mean sure, bottle caps are awesome, but that cola is iffy at best,” she said as they walked, “Personally I’d take a Sunrise Sarsaparilla or some clean water.”

Smalls shook his head as he stuck out his tongue, “Eww, no way, I love Sparkle Cola, and that’s the only thing that we had to drink back in the stable.”

Cosmic shook her head, “So, why did you leave your stable again?”

Smalls sighed as they walked together, “Because I was the smallest pony there,” he said, “It’s not my fault that I couldn’t get as big as the others! I tried!” he exclaimed, “But I liked working on stuff, and I liked walking to some of the older parts of the stable that the others couldn’t get to,” he said, “So I couldn’t get as big as them.”

Poetic shook his head, “And what stable was this?”

Cosmic grinned as she walked beside the two that had stumbled across the group of slavers that had captured her and about a dozen others. She was pretty sure that Poetic wouldn’t have jumped in to help set them free if it hadn’t been for Smalls. The big Earth Pony was brave, and intelligent for sure, but he did tend to act like a foal about things. Especially when he got excited and started to talk about his stable, or Sparkle Cola.

Of course that excitement made itself known again as Smalls grinned, “That was Stable 124, the Sparkle Cola Stable!” he exclaimed happily, “I found out that Mr. Horse commissioned the stable directly with Stable Tec, and he wanted to use it to test out the great impact of Sparkle Cola, Fancy Buck Cakes, and Sugar Apple Bombs on all of the inhabitants.”

Cosmic grinned and shook her head, “Okay, so what was the test?”

Smalls stopped and scratched his mane, “Ummm, I don’t know,” he replied, “The computer that had that info on it was kinda messed up. Somepony, from way back, had spilled a Sparkle Cola on the back of it. It kinda messed up some of the memory in it. I got it to working again, but I couldn’t see the rest of the test. I could make out a few words, and the best I could guess was something about life spans and mutations.”

Poetic shook his head, “Fuckin’ Stable Tec,” he grumbled, “I bet that they were testing to see how it affect the life span of everypony in there, and most likely it also tested to see if you experienced any mutations due to the trace amount of radiation that was in Sparkle Cola.”

Smalls looked at him and shook his head, “Naw, that can’t be right. Because there’s no way that Mr. Horse, who was contracted to sell Sparkle Cola, would do something like that.”

Poetic rolled his eyes, “Sure he wouldn’t,” he grumbled, “And I bet that he wouldn’t let everypony run a train on his mother if it meant that he could get another million bits out of it.”

Smalls looked at him, “Why would he want to let somepony run over his mama with a train?”

Cosmic grinned, “That’s not… You know what, never mind,” she said, “So, why are we heading to this Sparkle Cola World?”

Poetic groaned, “Because Smalls’ Pip Buck picked up that damned transmission, and then we happened across a pony that told us about how good things are there,” Poetic shook his head, “It has a feeling of the wasteland about rut us all in the tailhole with a sandpaper dildo.”

Smalls grinned, “Or it could be just like he said.”

Cosmic smiled, “Hopefully, but if it isn’t do we stand a chance of getting out alive?”

Poetic grunted, “Dunno, maybe,” he looked back at Smalls, “Smalls there seems to be stupid lucky,” he smiled, “I’ve seen him manage to sneak past a bunch of feral ghouls without them noticing once, and if that ain’t luck I don’t know what is.”

Cosmic smiled, “Then maybe we’ll be fine.”

Smalls looked around, “Wow, it sure is hot. I could really go for a Sparkle Cola.”

Poetic groaned, “You had one, twenty minutes ago,” he said as they walked, “And you downed it in less than two seconds.”

Smalls nodded, “Yeah, it was really good, but now I want another one.”

Poetic stopped, turned, and looked at him. His gold eyes looked slightly glazed over, and his sickly tan coat was blotching and falling off in places. Still, he looked like a father about to tell off a foal.

“If you wanted to drink one now, then you should have saved it!”

Smalls looked at him, and then looked at the ground, “But I was really thirsty..” he said.

Poetic shook his head, turned back around, and began walking, “Then wait until we come across another vending machine. Those damned things are all over.”

That seemed to pick Smalls up, and he began following them again. As they walked there was the sound of hoofsteps, and Poetic stopped them. He neared the top of the hill they had been climbing, opened up his saddle bags, and dug out half a pair of binoculars that he’d carried in there. He held it up to his eye, and then he grunted and began to back down.

“Good news is that we’re almost to the entrance of that damned park,” he said.

Cosmic could tell by the way he was saying that there was a huge but in there, “But what?”

Poetic held out the half of a pair of binoculars to her, and she took it in her magic. She climbed the hill, looked through it, and then silently swore that Luna had just raped them all with the bucking moon. She slowly moved back down to where they were.

“That’s a bunch of Enclave soldiers,” she said.

Poetic nodded, “Yeah,” he said, “I bet that they’re part of the remaining faction that wanted to stay separated. A whole park, with its security, supplies, and a training outpost to boot, I bet that it sounded like a great deal to them.”

Smalls looked at them, “Ummm, so why don’t we just sneak past them, or maybe we can walk up and talk to them?”

Poetic looked at him and shook his head, “You don’t get it do you?”

Smalls looked confused, “Ummm, no?” he asked, “They’re ponies right?”

Poetic sighed, “Yeah, they’re ponies, but they ain’t friendly,” he said as he checked his rifle. The fifty caliber sniper rifle was something he’d carried since before the war ended. He’d been a sniper in the army, mostly because he wasn’t a strong flyer, and he could get to the places that would be difficult for Earth Ponies and Unicorns to get to. He had about twenty rounds of ammo. Even though he could still shoot like he used to it didn’t mean much.

“There’s about thirty of them,” he said, “I’ve got twenty rounds of ammo. Even if I get one with each shot, and I most likely could if I had a great vantage point, it wouldn’t mean much because I couldn’t get them all.”

Cosmic rubbed her chin, “What about sneaking past them like Smalls suggested?”

Poetic looked at her like she had just managed to drop a load of bloatsprites straight from her mouth. He shook his head, “Did you happen to see the ones wearing the special goggles?” he asked.

She nodded, “Yeah, so?”

He grunted, “We had those in the army, or at least the special forces did,” he said, “They’re thermal goggles. They let a pony see anything that’s warmer than the background. Even if we managed to stay in the shadows all it would take is one of them to look toward us to see us.”

He looked at Smalls, “Sorry, looks like Sparkle Cola World is a bust.”

Instead he watched as Smalls rubbed his chin, and then began to look around. He watched as the Earth Pony walked toward what looked like an old sky wagon. He’d seen them everywhere, and to be honest most of them were nothing more than flying bombs. It took Smalls a few moments to manage to get under the left side of it, which was tipped up thanks to a busted up piece of pavement, and then after about fifteen minutes he crawled out with some part of it that Poetic had seen, but never seen taken apart before.

“What is that?” Poetic asked.

Smalls grinned, “Oh, that’s the spark generator for that Sky Wagon,” he replied.

Poetic looked at him like he was crazy, “What are you doing with that?!”

Smalls grinned, “They’re not friendly right?”

Poetic sighed, “That group,” he said as he pointed a mummified featherless wing toward the top of the hill, “No, they’re not friendly.”

Smalls nodded, “Okay, so what if I manage to sneak the spark generator over there, make some noise, get away, and you shoot it before they get too close to us?”

Poetic looked at him, “I… I suppose that would work,” he said, “But you would really have to move. Those things got a hell of a distance to them when they blow up,” he stated.

Cosmic shook her head, “How about I float it down there,” she said as she walked over to the rickshaw taxi and messed around for a moment before she pulled out its radio and then handed it to Smalls.

Smalls smiled as he wired the radio to the spark generator and it began to flicker to life. Cosmic grinned at them, “Then the radio gets their attention, they come out to see what it is, and you shoot it. It blows up, and we sneak inside while there’s confusion.”

Poetic grunted, “Fine, but don’t go crying if this ends up rutting us hard.”

Cosmic lifted the spark generator in her magic, which to her surprise was actually quite heavy. She’d done some heavy lifting before, but not quite like this. Still, she didn’t want her two new friends to die, at least not yet, and this seemed like the best option. She floated the spark generator out over the hill, down the valley, and then she let it drop. When it did the radio began to humm, and moments later the sound of music began to play.

“What’s that?” a distant voice echoed in the air.

Poetic moved up the hill and watched as about fifteen of the soldiers moved toward the generator. One of them looked spooked, but it was too late. He lifted the rifle, took aim, and a moment later he let it fire. The shell passed through the spark generator, and there was a crackle almost like lighting before it erupted in a rainbow of colors. Poetic dove down just before the sound crashed against the hill they were behind. The three of them moved up, and he could see about twelve charred skeletons around the blast itself.

That was enough to hope for, or it was until a howl echoed from the right of the minimega spell explosion. Poetic watched as not one, but dozens of feral ghouls came rushing out toward the sound. The other members of the enclave then began trying to fight them off, and Poetic smiled.

“Looks like we’ve got a chance,” he said, “Those ferals should keep ‘em busy for a while,” he said.

The three of them moved down the hill, side stepping the action by quite a ways, and then moved toward the entrance gate of the park. As they neared it the howl of the ferals sounded louder, and they turned around to see them breaking through the enclave soldiers. The three of them rushed through the gate, and Cosmic spotted the rusted control for the shutters. She used her magic and pulled as hard as she could and a moment later the shutters began to close. She watched in horror as they stopped, then there was a ping and the shutters just fell the rest of the way somehow managing to stay upright in their tracks.

She breathed out in relief as they closed, and then she turned around to see her two friends looking at a single building. It wasn’t the park, but instead it was monorail that ran to the park. The monorail station looked to be in decent condition and so the three of them moved toward it. They entered the building and heard somepony hitting something fleshy sounding. Smalls rushed down the steps and saw a white pegasus mare, tied up, a brand over her cutie mark of a cloud with a lighting bolt under it, and behind her was a pegasus buck.

He was big, easily as big as Smalls, but he looked like he was all muscle. From what Smalls could see he was still wearing his helmet, but his armor was off. The pegasus mare was crying, begging him to stop, pleading with him to not hurt her anymore. Smalls shook his head, anger began to surge through him, and he rushed forward. He pulled the old ten millimeter pistol he had been given when he left his Stable, and he tonged the trigger twice. The first time caught the pegasus buck in the shoulder, causing him to shout, and the second went through his neck. He stumbled back, a foamy broth of blood spilled out, as he tried to clutch at his neck with his forehooves, but after a moment he stopped thrashing and laid still.

Smalls neared the white pegasus mare that was crying, and she begged him to not hurt her. He stopped, not sure what to say. He’d seen some terrible things out here, but this was the first time he’d seen somepony doing that to another pony. Sure, Poetic had told him that it happened, but it was hard to believe that somepony would purposefully hurt another pony like that. He turned around and dug into his own saddlebags, both of which were branded with the Stable Tec logo, and pulled out a combat knife.

The knife had been something that he’d taken from one of the slavers after they saved Cosmic. He moved forward, shushing her as best he could with the combat knife in his mouth, and then cut the ropes that were tied around her hooves and the ones around her wings. She looked at him, then at Poetic, and finally at Cosmic.

“P...Please don’t h...hurt me,” she pleaded.

Cosmic stepped forward, “They’re not going to, and I’m not either,” she said as she neared the frightened mare, “What’s your name?”

The Pegasus mare shied away from her, “C...Clouded Hope,” she said.

Cosmic didn’t try to step closer, “Clouded Hope?” she asked, “That’s a pretty name.”

She pointed to herself, “I’m Cosmic Light, that big Earth Pony is Small Fry but he goes by Smalls, and then Mr. Grumpy over there is Poetic Pen.”

Poetic stepped forward, “Well since we’ve finished the introduction hour, you mind to tell us what in Luna’s tight snatch a bunch of Enclave Remnants are doing around here?”

Clouded Hope frantically looked between them, and Cosmic could see that she was thinking about flying off. She slowly moved toward her, “It’s okay, it really is,” she said, “We’re not here to hurt anypony.”

Clouded looked at her with concern, “I… I don’t know why they were here,” she answered, “I… I came down from Neighvarro since the clouds were open anyway…” she whimpered, “And… They… They caught me and said I was a filthy trader, and a Dashite.”

She began to cry, “There aren’t Dashites anymore!” she exclaimed, “The clouds are open now! We’re supposed to be able to come and go!” she cried out.

She felt something pull against her, and her first impulse was to fight, to run, but instead of it trying to hurt her whatever it was felt comforting. It was soft, and there were gentle shushing sounds. She buried her face into the shoulder of Smalls as he held her, and she let out all of the pain, anguish, and anger she had as she cried. Smalls just stood there, holding her, letting her cry, and letting her hug him back.

“They can’t hurt you no more,” he said.

She finally stopped crying after a few minutes, and then she looked at him. There wasn’t any expectation, he didn’t want anything, and instead he seemed like a nice stallion that just gave her a hug and let her cry on his stable barding.

“T...Thank you,” she said.

Poetic grunted, “Yeah, those bastards outside are most likely dead. What with the ferals getting to them,” he moved past them and looked at the monorail, “Looks like it's in once piece. If we’re going to this Sparkle Cola World we better get the Monorail up to running.”

Clouded looked at them, “You’re going there?” she asked.

Smalls smiled, “Yeah, it’s supposed to be full of Sparkle Cola, and I bet there’s a lot of other good food leftover, plus I bet that the Park’s Security robots are still working! And there’s supposed to be an entire training outpost there,” he clopped his forehooves together, “It’d be a great place to visit, and maybe we can even move there.”

Clouded looked at them, “Ummm, can I come with you?”

Smalls nodded, “Sure,” he said, “We can see what it’s like together.”

Poetic listened as he neared the maintenance and control booth. He walked toward it and saw that the generator still had a Spark Battery in it. He studied it for a moment, looked at the computer, and then touched the keyboard. For a moment there was nothing, and then the monitor switched on. When it did he looked at the command prompt. It was fairly simple. Activate Monorail system? Y or N.

He selected the Y, and he heard the buzz of power as it turned on all of the lights in the station. He walked out and saw the monorail’s doors open.

“Welcome to Sparkle Cola World!” the announcement said over the intercom, “We’re so happy that you have decided to join us today!”

He neared the monorail, “So just that you know Sparkle Cola is happy to announce that we’ve had,” there was a pause, “Zero days since the last accident at our park due to customer ignorance!” there was another pause, “It’s for that reason that Sparkle Cola Company wishes to remind you that entering Sparkle Cola World deems that you agree to our liability waiver. Any and all accidents due to rides, robots, animals, food, or Sparkle Cola itself will not be covered by the Sparkle Cola Company, and all injuries are the responsibility of customers young and young at heart!”

Poetic groaned, “Great,” he said.

“So board the monorail and come visit us at Sparkle Cola World for an adventure you’ll never forget!”

The four of them stepped onto the Monorail, and Smalls moved toward the front. He looked at the engineer’s seat, saw an empty bottle of Sparkle Cola and whimpered. He then looked at the controls and flipped the large power switch to on. When he, did the monorail jerked forward with them all. After it did that it began to move forward, and soon they were out of the station itself. Smalls looked around as the monorail rode on the two hundred plus year old track and was moving well above the ground.

The train clicked along as it began to move faster, and he turned to see Clouded Hope who was looking out of the windows. Below them he could see the ruined landscape, hundreds of dead trees, and what almost looked like ants, but he knew were ponies. There was shooting, and he shook his head. It was certainly different out here than it was in Stable 124. Back there all a pony had to do was worry about getting bigger, eating plenty of Fancy Buck Cakes, and drinking all of the Sparkle Cola that a pony could get their hooves on.

As they traveled the intercom on the train began to pump in the music from the advertisement, and Smiles couldn’t help as he sung along to it.

“♫What if there was a place with all the zip of Sparkle-Cola. Wouldn’t that be the cheer-cheer-cheeriest place in all the world? Where the river’s made of Sparkle Rad and the mountaintops are fizz. With fun and games and rides for all the moms and pops and foals. Well it turns out there’s a place with all the zip of Sparkle-Cola. Come on down to Sparkle-Cola-World and see it for yourself,♪” he sang before Poetic looked at him.

“Sing anymore of it and I swear to Celestia that I will personally break every single bottle of Sparkle Cola we come across. I mean it Smalls, every bottle.”

With that Smalls shut up, and Clouded looked at Poetic and began to hum the song.

“And don’t hum it either!”

Suddenly there was a buzz and the intercom went dead. Poetic sighed with relief, “About fucking time,” he said.

“Well, guess that somepony decided to step into our little trap,” a voice said.

Poetic groaned, “Who the fuck is that?”

There was a chuckle, “A friend actually,” the voice said, “My name’s Crusher, and you’re on your way toward the single biggest trap ever made by a group of degenerates,” the voice stated, “But here’s the thing. If you listen to me, and follow what I say then you won’t just survive, you’ll stand the chance to make a whole lotta caps.”

Poetic eyed the intercom, “how do we know that you’re not gonna just kill us the moment we get off of this thing?”

There was a laugh, “You don’t, but then what good is it going to do you to stay in there either?” Crusher asked, “You can either put a little trust in me, get out alive, and make a fortune, or you can try yourself and get yourself killed. It’s up to you.”

Smiles looked at the intercom, “Ummm, well, I’m all for trusting Crusher and not being killed.”

There was a laugh, “Good answer. Okay the moment you get out there’s a station, you’re going to go down stairs, and you’re going to be facing about six different turrets, and a few scattered fragmentation mines. The mines are mostly close to the left side, so keep to the right. There’s a downed Sparkle Cola machine in the middle, there was a mine there, but it’s already been set off. So that machine is your shield. Get behind it, and take out the first two turrets. When you do if you’ve got somepony with a Pip Buck have them rush over toward the first turret. Behind it is a terminal. Connect to it, shut down the other turrets, and then stroll on through the room,” he said.

“What about after?” Cosmic asked.

“After you’re going to be walking through a bunch of tripwires, so watch your step, step lightly, and stay to the right. If you stay to the right it will lead you to a small walkway. Stay in the middle of it, there’s a door at the end, it’s locked, so whoever is best a picking locks goes first, get through the door, go down stairs, and when you get to the next room there’s a stupid Cymbal Clapping Monkey toy set up. That damned thing is a trap. Shoot it. When you do it’s going to keep the alarm from going off, and it will keep the turrets in the room from opening fire. Go through that room, and into the maze. Walk straight, climb the ladder, go left, then straight, and then right and get out of there. Also, you might want to hurry.”

Poetic looked at the intercom, “Why?”

A chuckle sounded over the speaker, “Because it’s pretty heavily radiated; when you get through there go down the hall to the utility tunnel. It’s been mined, and the mines are all replaced, but lucky for you they’re in sight. Unlucky for you they’ve got a three second timer, so be quick about deactivating them. If you’ve got a unicorn with you I suggest that they do it.”

Cosmic sighed, “Alright, and then what?”

Crusher sighed, “Then you get to the hard part, and you need to choose the luckiest one of you. That one is going to have to follow my advice when you get there, and follow it to the letter, do you get me?”

There was a nod from Smalls, and then the monorail stopped. The moment it did over head the sound of the Sparkle Cola World song began to pump back out before being stopped again. This time it wasn’t Crusher, but another stallion coming over the speakers.

“Stallions, mares, and Raiders of all kinds stomp your hooves for our newest contestants! That’s right they’re here to risk life and limb for our entertainment, and you, all of you, I hope that you’re ready to die…”

“Let’s go to Sparkle Cola World, it’ll be amazing, it’s protected!” Poetic groaned, “Smalls, I swear that I’m never going to let you forget about this!”

Smalls looked at the floor, “I didn’t know that there were Raider ponies here.”

Cosmic sighed, “We know Smalls, but there’s an old saying about things being too good to be true, that kind of applies here.”

The group of them began to walk down, and Smalls stopped them before he looked around the corner. Sure enough he saw a couple of turrets, and he remembered Crusher’s plan. He rushed forward, dove behind the Sparkle Cola machine, waited for a moment, looked up and put a shot with his pistol through one of the turret’s aiming talismans. He then used his SATS, which he had used on the previous turret, and aimed at the next one visible and shot it through its talisman as well. He dove behind the first turret, and like Crusher had said there was a terminal. He quickly connected his Pip Buck to it, and a moment later there was a soft beep as the turrets shut down.

“Ah ponyfeathers! We got a cheater! Doesn’t matter, the rest of the gauntlet will get you!”

Poetic walked out toward Smalls. He looked at him and nodded, “Okay, well, let's hope that he was honest about the rest of it.”

They followed what Crusher had said every step of the way, with Poetic taking out the trigger for the trap with the other turrets, and Cosmic using her telekinesis on the frag mines that littered the floor in the tunnels. When they came up through the last door the group of them entered what seemed like an employee locker room. At that moment the speakers overhead shut off.

“Hey, over here,” Crusher said.

They followed his voice to the wall where there was another intercom. Cosmic pressed the button with her magic, “yes?” she asked.

“Glad that you followed my advice. This is where it gets hard. The last part is going against the overboss Ripper, and yes he gave himself that dumb name,” Crusher said, “He’s wearing some special Enclave armor. It’s designed to use the coils on it to throw out electricity. Look in the locker to your left,” Crusher stated.

Smalls did and smiled, “It’s a water pistol!” he laughed.

“Yeah great, glad that you’re excited,” Crusher said, “Look, that pistol will short out the coils on the armor, but only for a little bit. When it does that’s your chance to attack. Hit Ripper with whatever you got, and trust me there's more than enough weapons in here to do it. If you’ll check behind the wall there’s a decent combat shotgun and some explosive shells. That’ll chew through his armor real quick. There’s also a few spark grenades, and a couple of balefire eggs, no launcher, but if you toss it, get back far enough, and shoot it you won’t need a launcher.”

Looking it all over, Smalls went to the wall and found the combat shotgun like Crusher said. He also noticed that it was mounted on a battle saddle. He saw the pack of explosive shells, fourteen of them, and loaded them into the loading mechanism. When he was finished he studied the saddle for a moment, squeezed into it, and then stepped out. Poetic looked at him.

“Smalls, what are you doing?”

He grinned, “I kinda got us into this, so I thought that it ought to be me that gets us out of it. So, I found the saddle, the shotgun, and the shells like he said. IF you can help me find the grenades and balefire eggs I think that I can do it.”

Cosmic looked at Poetic, “He is the only one with a Pip Buck, and to be honest it’s likely he will get through it. Like you said, he’s stupid lucky.”

Poetic shook his head, “I ought to do it. I’m a better shot,” he grumbled.

Smalls nodded, “Yeah I know, but I got us into it, so I’ll get us out.”

With that they found the other weapons that Crusher told them about before they walked toward the door.

“Alright, get ready, because it starts now, everyone else, hang back here,” Crusher said on the intercom.

The door opened and Smalls stepped into the room. There was a roar of stomping as he did. The large pegasus at the end laughed, “Look what’s come to face me! A Stable Dweller, extra large!”

Smalls grinned. “Wow, thanks for the compliment!”

Ripper shook his head, “Whatever, the rules are simple, I win, and you die!” With that the door slammed shut and Ripper rushed forward.

Poetic had mounted the squirt gun on the other part of the battle saddle, and Smalls used his tongue to trigger over to it. He trusted Crusher, although they just sort of met, and bit down on the saddle’s trigger. When he did a stream of water shot out and hit Ripper. The Pegasus screamed as the electricity went from dancing around him to actually going through the armor itself. Smalls tongued the trigger back to the combat shotgun, bit down on the trigger, and felt the entire battle saddle back against him. It hit the armor and there was a spot where it punched through a piece of the brittle armor. He activated SATS and when he did it told him that he had the greatest chance of hitting Ripper’s head. He fired again, and the helmet Ripper was wearing went flying off.

“Buck! Kill him!” Ripper screamed.

One of the raiders neared the fence, “Ripper, rules of the gauntlet state that you fight yourself,” the mare laughed, “Hey new guy, take care of that wimp.”

Smalls neared him and Ripper began back peddle, “Please, I’ll leave, I swear, I’ll just go.” he said.

“Really?” Smalls asked.

“Yeah,” Ripper said before he grinned and jumped toward Smalls. The action caught him by surprise and Smalls bit down on the trigger. Even without SATS activated a distance of four feet wasn’t enough to miss with a combat shotgun. It hit Ripper in the throat, blowing off his head and causing him to land in the heap on the floor. Smalls looked at him and shook his head before the door behind him opened and the door in front opened as well.

They looked as a caramel colored Unicorn with a single eye stepped out. “Well, overboss, welcome to Sparkle Cola Land,” Crusher said.

Smalls smiled, “Cool, can I have a Sparkle Cola now?”

There was a bit of silence before everyone erupted in laughter, “Sure boss, There’s plenty of cola, plenty of everything really,” he said, “Come on in, we’ve got a lot to discuss, and I’m sure that you’ve got a lot to do, but you’ve potentially got help for it.”

Author's Note

*Congratulations! You’ve unlocked Curious Colt. You gain a +1 to heavy and small arms, robotics, and science. This can be stacked with all +1 items found.*