Fallout Equestria - For a Sparkle Cola

Chapter Two - Just a Sip

Walking into Sparkle Cola World Smalls was amazed at the size of it. The place where he’d faced Ripper had been an old bumper cart area, which had been cleared out except for the reinforced glass walls, the old slick flooring, and the seating that had originally been set up for parents to watch their little ones while they pulled the miniature carts and slammed into one another. Outside of the old bumper cart building was an expansive area. He looked up at the gate they were entering and grinned. They were walking straight into Sparkle Cola Town. As they entered the section he noticed a huge walled off area called market square.

“Is that the trader hub?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Crushre replied, “That’s the trader hub. They’re allowed to pretty much run business as usual, only they pay the three gangs here a pretty large percentage for protection. It works pretty good since they don’t have a whole lot of fighters among themselves.”

Smalls walked toward it and Crusher stopped him, “Boss, there’s a lot of folks that you need to meet and talk to first,” he said.

Poetic walked near them, “If we’re all the bosses, then he should be able to go where he pleases,” he rasped, “Unless there’s something you’re not telling us.”

Crusher closed his only eye and then sighed, “Yeah, there’s something that I’ve left out. Look, I had the idea about Sparkle Cola World for a long time. I knew that there were several gangs that would do good here, and I knew that we could get a mountain of caps,” he said, “The problem is that I’m not much of a leader. I never have been.”

He motioned them to follow him and they walked past the wall toward a small dinner theater building called Le Petite Parlor. Crusher stopped them, “Since I wasn’t a leader I needed to find someone who was cut out to be one. That’s when I met Ripper. He was pretty talkative, confident, and a decent fighter. So, I talked about the idea with him. He liked it, and we set up meetings with the three gangs that are here now. This is the first one,” he said as they stepped inside.

Once inside Cosmic Light noticed that every single pony inside was wearing fancy clothes. The mares were wearing fashionable dresses, the stallions all were wearing suit jackets, shirts, ties and bowties, and all of them had an air of sophistication about them. Crusher looked at them, “This is the Society, or rather it’s a branch of the Society. The main group is still back in Hoofington. Most of these ponies claim that they’re related to Canterlot nobility from way back,” Crusher shook his head, “Don’t know if it’s true or not, but they’re not to be messed with. Their entire purpose here is to make caps, just like everypony else.”

They made their way further inside where there were a couple of ponies talking to one another. One of them, a Unicorn mare looked toward them and gave a decided sniff in their direction. She stood from where she had been sitting on her haunches and looked at Crusher.

“Crusher, I take it that this is your new pet project?” she asked.

Poetic Pen studied her. She was cute, for a smoothskin. She actually reminded him of somepony, then it occurred to him that she looked quite a bit like Fleur De Lis. He remembered having a copy of Playcolt with Fleur in it. She was laying back on her back, lacy stockings were on her back feet, a garter belt around her waist, and the garters were connected to the lily white stockings. She was spread open for all to see, and it was quite the scandal for a member of the nobility. Apparently she had done it as a form of protest against the war.

This mare was similar, only she had a soft blue coat, her hair was the same light pink, and she had emerald green eyes instead of Fleur’s soft pink ones. He stopped looking at her after a moment when he heard Crusher.

“Yeah, this is the new Overboss, and these are his core gang. I guess sort of a thinktank for him.”

The mare moved toward Smalls and Clouded Hope watched her, uncertain of what she was going to do. Instead of acting big and tough Smalls sat on his haunches and held out his hoof, “Hi! I’m Smalls, nice to meet you!”

She looked at him, “Charmed, I’m sure,” she replied coldly, “I am Baroness Starshine,” she pointed to Unicorn buck who walked toward them. Cosmic had seen a similar picture of a Unicorn before. A prewar picture of a noble called Fancy Pants. He was taller than most other ponies, and she couldn’t help but notice that there was a sort of compassionate look to the picture. This buck was built fairly similar, but he had none of the compassion it appeared. She also noticed that his coat was charcoal gray, his mane purple with a soft white stripe in it, and his blue eyes looked sharp and cold.

“That is my brother, Baron Sweet Suit,” she said, “We’re the head of the Society here in Sparkle Cola World.”

She looked at Smalls, “Now, tell me, what is it that you see here?”

Smalls looked around, “Mmmm, a place that was meant to make money?”

She smiled, “Ah, an excellent answer, and yes, that is exactly what this place was meant to do. It is what we plan on doing. We’ve got plans to cultivate the unused, and expansive, grounds within and around Sparkle Cola world into the largest fresh food fields in all of the Wasteland. Our plan is to sell that food here, and send it back to Hoofington to be sold there. Unfortunately that roughian Ripper was a perfect example of a lazy neerdowell,” she sniffed, “He was fine with just having Sparkle Cola Town as the only place open. It was hardly worth the expense we chipped in, so now, what are your plans?”

Smalls grinned, “Actually I’d like the whole park to be opened. I’ve got to figure that the more places we’ve got open, and the more we can do, then the better it will be.”

She grinned, “Ah, I see you have vision, and yes, the entire park is good, for the beginning,” she studied the four of them, “Very well, as for right now you have the Society’s support. Establish an equitable supply of resources that match our support and we will continue to be on good terms.”

Crusher nodded, and he led them out. Poetic walked closer to him, “So, she and her brother were a real ball of sunshine.”

Crusher sighed, “Don’t get me started, but yes, they’re pretty much up their own tail holes. But don’t think for a moment that they’re not dangerous. Both of them fought alongside their squires and knights when we took this place from the ferals. They’re as dangerous as they come, and they’re just one set of the problems that you’re going to deal with.”

They walked further into the park and stopped at a large gate. Outside of it were ponies with spiked manes, vibrant paint covered their muzzles, and a few of them were wearing brahmin skulls. One of them looked at Crusher and laughed, “Good, she wants to see you!”

Crusher groaned as they walked through the wooden gate into what looked like a massive section dedicated to what had been a zoo. There were cages all over, some of them had radagators, radscorpions, and other vicious animals in them. Crusher stopped, “Okay, this is the Herd. They used to be the Wild Herd, but they shortened it to the Herd. Apparently what was left of them came from out near the Big 52. They’re all a little twitchy, and they can spook easily. Apparently a lot of them were killed by that ghost that walked the big 52. So don’t come in here wearing a rad suit. Fair warning right there. They will shoot first and not ever ask questions later.”

They stepped toward the small amphitheater that was built into this area, and there sitting on makeshift throne was a pony wearing a brahmin skull that was painted yellow, both eye holes were covered in pink splotches, and beside her was a mange ridden dog. It growled slightly as they got closer, and the mare continued to sit on her haunches.

“I saw you take down Ripper,” she said.

Smalls looked at the ground, “I didn’t really have a choice.”

She laughed, “Naw, you didn’t. If you wouldn’t have killed him then you’d be dead. Either by his hooves or ours. But in the end you put that pompous cloud fucker in a dirt nap.”

She rose up to her hooves, moved toward him, and touched his cheek, “Well, you aren’t a bragging piece of shit like Ripper, but you’re not a wild animal, yet anyway,” she laughed and walked around him, “but that will change. Maybe a night in the sack with a real mare will do it, or maybe a colt, or whatever the fuck it is that you like to fuck.”

She stepped away from him, “Regardless, the one thing we respect here is power, and you proved that you have some power when you sent Ripper into a permanent timeout,” she sat down in front them again, “But how much power remains to be seen.”

Poetic Pen growled at her, “And would putting a bullet in your brain be enough proof of power?” he rasped.

She looked toward him and laughed, “Sure, zombie, that’d be proof enough, but it wouldn’t win you the loyalty of the Herd. It’d just kick them up into blood rage,” she looked at Smalls, “but I’m willing to give you a chance to prove to me that you’re an animal, wild, pure, untamable, and vicious,” she looked at Crusher, “And you, horn head, if you fuck up I’m going to ensure shoving a shotgun up your tailhole and then pulling the fucking trigger.”

Cosmic looked at her, “Bitch.”

The mare stopped and looked back at Cosmic. She took off the brahmin skull and they could see that it looked like part of her face had been burned badly. It almost seemed melted together in places, but the mare didn’t look like it hurt her. Instead she walked calmly toward Cosmic and poked her right hoof into her barrel.

“Got something to say fuckmeat?” she growled.

Cosmic looked at her, “Yeah, I called you a bitch. I don’t see another bitch standing here, so I’m guessing that the only bitch I was talking to had to be you.”

At that moment Cosmic learned what it was like to be hit by an angry Earth Pony. The mare slammed her into the ground, bouncing her skull off of the cement. She punched her hard, causing Cosmic to see stars, but it wasn’t the first time that Cosmic had been in a situation like this. She kicked her back legs up, catching the larger mare in her stomach. The larger mare, with a melted face, soared over Cosmic and landed on her back.

Before she could get up Cosmic jumped onto her back, wrapping her right hoof around the mare’s muzzle, and her left hoof went to the back of her skull. She started to pull her right hoof up and push her left hoof forward, ensuring that she broke the mare’s neck before she felt somepony pull her from the other mare. That Somepony was Smalls. Smalls then looked at the mare who was breathing.

“No!” he shouted, “No! We aren’t gonna kill each other right here!” he looked at them both, “Seriously!”

He looked at them both, “Now, apologize to each other.”

Both of them looked at him, “What in the fuck?” they said at the same time.

He growled at them, “We’re needing to work together, and we can’t do that if you’re both going to be fighting with each other,” he sternly said toward them, “and that means that if I have to get it through your heads then I will.”

The mare laughed, and then began to laugh harder, “I take it back, you’ve got more power than I realized,” she said before she looked at Cosmic, “Whatever freaky Zebra fighting you’ve learned, good on you for trying to use it,” she said, “Since the overboss said to apologize, then fine, I apologize for trying to take your head off.”

Cosmic looked at Smalls and sighed, “I’m sorry for trying to kill you,” she looked back at him, “I’m new to this whole apologizing thing, and I’m not exactly sure how to do it.”

He nodded, “That’s good, thanks, now we can work together.”

The mare looked at him, “You have the support of the Herd, as long as you can continue to prove yourself, we will back you. Just don’t fuck us over.”

Crusher watched the entire thing with a slack jaw. He’d never expected something like that to happen, and he certainly never expected to see somepony both get into a fight with the head of the Herd and win her respect at the same time. Somehow Smalls and Cosmic had done just that. He shook his head, led the four of them out of the Herd’s area, and then straight toward what looked like a mountain. It was almost a perfect replica of one with the exceptions of bits and pieces of it missing. In those places wire and steel rods could be seen under the thick plaster.

Crusher opened the door and inside there was a huge ring surrounded by a cyclone fence. That ring had barbed wire all across the top of it, and the ropes of the ring had woven pieces of broken Sparkle Cola bottles in them. There was a growl from above them and Crusher stepped back something dropped from nearly the top of the internal tower straight to the floor. The pony before them was a Unicorn, although she was wearing several horns all threaded onto a necklace. Her armor was leather, and there were at least six different cutie marks that could be counted on it. She stepped forward, looked at Crusher, and grinned.

“Boo!”

He jumped back and she fell to her haunches and laughed at him, “Crusher you’re such a wimp! Celestia’s tight snatch, are you a bottom? Is that it? Is that why Ripper kept you around? Did he like making you his little bitch?”

Crusher growled, “That’s not the case Rosie, and you know it!”

She guffawed louder at him, “Sure it isn’t,” then she looked at Smalls and his friends, “So, you’re the new Overboss. Got to say, I didn’t expect to see a fat Earth Pony take down a Pegasus,” she then shrugged her shoulders, “But then again, I was planning on killing that preening turkey myself.”

Smalls looked at her, “Turkey?”

Clouded gently bumped him, “Ummm, it’s a really bad word that some of you grounded ponies call Pegasi.”

Smalls looked back at Rosie and noticed the three claw marks across her muzzle. He could also see that one of her eyes was completely white, evidence of it being slashed a long time ago. Her soft lemon yellow coat looked matted, and her electric blue mane was fairly short. The leather armor she wore was patched together in small squares, each one about the size of a square that would be cut around a cutie mark. She studied him too, and then she made a kissy face at him.

“Keep looking handsome, and I’m going to have you plough me long and hard,” she said with a bark of laughter.

“I like you,” he said.

She stopped and looked at him, “Excuse me?”

He grinned, “You’re silly, I like you.”

She studied him for a moment, “Well, aren’t you just the oddball,” she then looked at Clouded Hope, “So, I’m guessing that she’s claimed you? That’s fine, I can do two at once. Never had a Pegasus before though,” she said rubbing her chin, “Well, enough for the playful banter brahmin shit, unless you really do want to screw. Which if that’s the case we can go up to my room, get good and comfortable, and discover how many ways we can get into a pretzel in the next four or five hours.”

Clouded snorted, “No, thank you.”

She shrugged, “Your loss,” she looked at Smalls, “Welcome to the Reapers, Sparkle Cola World branch. I’m in charge here, by authorization of Brutus back in Hoofington,” she grinned, “I’m in charge because I’m the baddest reaper that survived that fucked up fight, well survived and stayed a reaper. Psychoshy ended up going and becoming some cock puppet for a bunch of bat ponies, and some of the others couldn’t fight no more.”

She shrugged, “Oh well, sucks to be them,” then she looked back at Smalls, “Got to say that I like you too,” she said with a smile, “It’s not often that somepony doesn’t try to act tough, or even a little bit intimidated around me. It’s kinda refreshing to see somepony just relaxed with me. Speaks a lot of your character,” she grinned, “You got the reaper’s support, providing that you don’t try to screw us over, and you give me a chance to see what you’re like in the sack at some point.”

With that Rosie walked off leaving them standing there. Crusher growled, and led the four of them out and over toward a platform. They stepped up onto it, and he pulled a lever. When he did the platform began to rise until it was even with a huge, and expanding, looking diner. The five of them stepped into it, and Smalls looked at the open room. There was a bed in the corner that looked like it was made of clouds. He watched as Clouded Hope ran toward it, jumped, and landed on it with a sigh.

“A real cloud bed!” she squealed in delight.

Crusher nodded, “Ripper like that thing, none of the rest of us could sleep on it though,” he said, “So anypony not a pegasus it’s worthless.”

Poetic looked at it for a moment, “Hmmm, looks like it’s made of condensed storm clouds. I take it that Ripper wasn’t the brightest bulb.”

Crusher shrugged, “In a lot of ways no, but I didn’t know about the storm cloud thing, what’s the difference?”

A second later Clouded Hope yelped as a stray bolt of lighting struck her. She jumped away from the bed and looked at it, “That was a dirty trick!”

Poetic pointed to it, “That’s the difference. A storm cloud is charged, and there’s always a chance it could let out a bolt of lighting,” he looked around the place, “So, I’m guessing that this is our new digs, right?”

Crusher nodded, “That’s right, welcome to the Sparkle Cola Mountain Top Diner. Ripper basically lived up here full time, and this is your new home, although to be honest now might be a good time to get on the good side of the gangs.”

Smalls looked at him, “What about Sparkle Cola, wait, is there Sparkle Cola Rad around here?”

Crusher shook his head, “Sure, the World of Refreshment basically has a river of Sparkle Cola Rad running through it. Well, that’s what the advertisement for it said every time that stupid jingle plays,” he said.

Smalls grinned, “Cool, where’s a map?!”

Crusher shook his head, walked over toward one of the tables, and came back with a small folded up paper. He spread it out and Smalls looked at the map of the park. He then added all of the locations on the map onto the mapping program of his Pip Buck. When he was done he looked at everyone, “So, who wants to go over to the World of Refreshment?”

Cosmic looked at Crusher, “What’s over there exactly?”

He shrugged, “Dunno. I think that it’s the old bottling plant that was here on location, so there’s a good chance that it has a ton of caps, but we’ve never been able to get inside of it.”

She looked at him, “Why?”

He laughed, “Well for one Ripper was a lazy piece of work, and for two there’s a few security robots and some kind of critters in there that’s basically taken over the place,” he said, “Although if you can clear it out, then assign one of the gangs to it I can promise you that it’ll go pretty far in getting in on their good side.”

Poetic looked at him, “What about the caps?”

Crusher shook his head, “Collect all you can find in there, I mean no one is going to say not to. If you cleared that place out then whatever is in there is up for dibs if you want it, but these gangs are all here more or less to make caps. Giving them each a piece of Sparkle Cola World will go pretty far in making them more willing to work together. My suggestion, don’t go giving it all to just one. They’re going to get pretty antsy if they see you favoring one over the other.”

Cosmic looked at him and nodded, “He’s got a point. Even then I doubt that they’re all going to be happy regardless,” she said.

Crusher grinned, “That’s a possibility, but it’s less of one if their getting what they think they should.”

Smalls looked at them, and then checked his pistol. He also felt the bit that was near his mouth for the battle saddle. He’d managed to not take it off, and it suddenly made so much sense why the mare back with the Herd had listened to him. If he had accidentally bitten down on the bit he could have shot her, and possibly shot Cosmic. He breathed out. It was okay, it didn’t happen, and the shotgun would be useful.

“Okay, lets go get some Sparkle Cola!”

The four of them left, leaving Crusher behind to gather information, and headed out of the back of Sparkle Cola Town and toward the World of Refreshment itself. As they walked Smalls realized that Clouded Hope didn’t have a weapon. He stopped, dug out his pistol again, and then he hoofed it over to her. She looked at him, “Ummm, thanks?”

He grinned, “I thought that you might want some protection. My stable elders gave that to me for protection, and it’s been helpful,” he said.

She studied it, “My dad taught me to shoot, so I’ve got the idea, but I might need a holster for it.”

Poetic groaned, stopped, dug into his saddle bags, and dug out something. They watched as he trotted over the younger pegasus, and then he proceeded to put a strange looking black belt on her shoulders. She winced once or twice, but when he was finished she had a duel holster.

“There now you’ve got a holster, you can even pick up another pistol and carry it. Plus it’s got pockets for ammo.”

Smalls looked at it, “Wow, that’s kinda neat, where did you get it?”

Poetic looked at him, “I joined the Equestria Army, and they gave it to me.”

He nodded, “Oh, that makes sense then,” they started to walk, “So Poetic, you were around back then?”

Poetic stopped, “Of course I was,” he closed his eyes, “What do you want to know Smalls?”

Smalls grinned, “So, did you get to meet Mr. Horse?”

Poetic grunted, “Yeah, once,” he started to walk, “And he was a real piece of work,” he looked at Cosmic and Clouded, “Trust me, if he was alive right now he’d be doing all he could to try and buy his way into bed with both of you.”

Cosmic looked at him, “I’m not a whorse,” she said.

He looked at her, “Most of his secretaries weren’t either, didn’t stop them from taking an extra two month’s worth of salary and letting him get to know them personally.”

Clouded shivered, “I don’t think that I’d like him.”

Poetic shrugged, “Maybe, maybe not, doesn’t matter. I’m sure he’s dead. If he isn’t then I doubt that anypony is going to be going down on him anytime soon.”

They began moving again and soon they could see the glowing blue light of something ahead. As they neared it the four of them looked into what looked like a flowing stream of Sparkle Cola Rad. Smalls whooped and rushed forward, ducking his head into the flow of liquid, and then he pulled back and spat and sputtered for a few moments.

“That is not Sparkle Cola Rad!” he exclaimed.

Poetic laughed, “Really?” he asked, “Are you sure? Do you want to check again?”

Smalls looked at him, “No,” he looked at the stream, “It tastes like water and sadness.”

Cosmic moved forward and looked at it, “I think that they added enough to it to make it look like Sparkle Cola Rad, but beyond that I think that it is just water,” she said as she looked at the opening. She stepped forward and looked at the wrecked ride boat. She studied it for a few moments and then stepped back out, “We can’t get in this way. It’s blocked,” she looked around, “But I bet that there’s another entrance around here. We just on in that way, and then work our way through.”

The four of them moved around and saw a large entrance. Setting outside of it was a single boat, and manning the controls was a Protectron Pony.

“Welcome to the World of Refreshment,” the Protectron Pony said, “Would you like to enjoy a ride through Sparkle Cola’s Bottling and Testing Plant?”

Clouded looked at it, “Ummm, yes?”

The Potectron hit a button and the boat’s doors opened, “Step into the boat please,” it said.

They did and then the Protectron pressed the button again, “Thank you, enjoy your ride, Please stay inside of the boat at all times.”

The boat began to lunge forward, and it felt almost like it was more on a track than just floating. As it entered the building a speaker buzzed and then they heard laughter.

“Welcome to the World of Refreshment!” the voice said, “I’m E.G.N.A, or the Engineered, Governing, Neurofaced, Agent in charge of the World of Refreshment. You can call me Egna for short,” Egna said, “We’re going to begin our tour with a sight that many of you know.”

The boat began to pass by a simple looking store front. It looked mostly abandoned, there was a single vending machine outside of it, and there were two robotic ponies facing each other.

“This is the Ministry of Wartime Technology’s backbone company, Robronco. The Genius Mr. Horse founded it, and through his technological expertise he created every possible robot capable of helping ponies with their day to day chores, and of course to win the war against the Zebra Nation!”

One of the robots, obviously supposed to look like Mr. Horse turned toward them, “Welcome to our little tour,” it said with a mechanical sounding voice, “I truly hope that you enjoy it, and of course stay seated as Sparkle Cola World, and Robronco cannot be held liable for any injury, or death, that occur if you choose to leave the safety of the ride.”

The boat moved forward and there were dozens of brightly colored houses, hundreds of mechanical ponies walking between them, a few on wires were flying between houses, and several were unloading a large cart full of Sparkle Cola.

“This is a typical city in Equestria, and see how happy the ponies are that they’ve received a shipment of Sparkle Cola?” Egna asked, “Why even the delivery pony is happy as can be to be working a mere eighty hours a week with the generous half hour lunch break a day!”

Poetic scoffed, “Yeah happy, sure,” he said.

“Please address all complaints, concerns, or snappy remarks to your local Ministry of Peace representative,” Egna replied.

“Wait, you’re listening to us?” Smalls asked.

One of the ponies stopped, stepped closer, and its rubbery face broke into a grin. It’s eyes glowed a brilliant white while it stood there, “Why yes, I am,” Egna said, “It’s been so long since I’ve had guests to ride through the World of Refreshment,” the robotic pony pointed at the other ponies all still walking between buildings, flying between buildings, and unloading the cart, “It’s good to be able to do the activities again, although I fear that something else has gotten in here.”

Clouded looked at the host that Egna was using, “What something else?”

There was a sound of something splashing and the boat began to move forward, “You’ll see!” Egna said before the boat rounded the corner. They looked in front of them and saw a protectron pony currently shooting crimson rays from an internal blaster that was inside of its head, at what looked like a giant crab. The crab had glowing blue flakes on its shell, and its eyes were glowing with the same blue color. It swiped again at the protectron pony, and this time it managed to catch its right front leg. The protectron pony stumbled back and the giant crab like thing rushed forward and swiped again, this time catching its left front leg. The protectron pony fell down and began to glow a brilliant red.

“Destroy! Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!” it chanted over and over again before it exploded in a bright flash. When it did the crab was thrown against the wall and burst into pieces. The boat moved forward again and when it did something came up under it. The sound of metal scraping and then something breaking ripped through the small tunnel and the four occupants threw themselves out of the boat just in time to see another one of the crab things.

It moved quickly toward them and Smalls activated his SATS. He aimed at its face and bit down on the bit for his battle saddle. The shotgun roared and the explosive round took the face off of the crab. Its body spasmed for a moment before it swiped one last time at Smalls. It missed and then it fell over.

“Well, those must be the critters that Crusher talked about,” Cosmic said.

“Oh, dear, you’ve exited the ride,” Egna said, “I’m afraid that’s in violation of the rules for the World of Refreshment, Please stay where you are so that the Protectron Ponies can you bring you safely back to the Security office to be arrested and imprisoned here at our state of the art holding cells!”

“The Fucking BOAT WAS DESTROYED!” Cosmic shouted.

“Once again, please address all complaints, concerns, or snappy remarks to your local Ministry of Peace representative,” Egna said.

“I hate that fuckin’ thing,” Poetic said.

“Facial Match acquired,” Egna said after a moment, “Sergeant Poetic Pen of the Equestrian Air Forces, your actions have been recorded, and are being sent to your commanding officer.”

Poetic let a bark of laughter loose, “Sure, go ahead!” he laughed, “I’m really fucking sure that Commander Cupcake is really going to take time to read that I pissed off a computer!”

He looked at the others, “Okay, let’s go on. It’s obvious that we’re going to have to deal with these things before we deal with that fuckin’ computer,” he rasped.

Cosmic nodded, “You know though, if she, and I’m guessing it’s supposed to be a she, can control those robotic ponies then what’s to stop her from trying to stop us?”

Poetic pointed at the water, “Pretty sure that Horse didn’t make those things capable of surviving the water. That’d cost too much money, and from what I remember he wasn’t about to spend money he didn’t have to.”

The four of them moved forward, and as they rounded the corner another three of those things popped up. Before Smalls had a chance to deal with them Poetic moved toward a crumbling ledge, took out the three pieces of his sniper rifle, and assembled it with the practiced precision that spoke of his time in the Equestrian Army. He then put a single shell through each one of the crabs putting them down before they could get much closer.

“There,” he said gesturing a featherless wing toward the downed creatures, “easy as can be.”

They moved again and this time Smalls looked toward a suit of Power Armor that stood off to the side. He let out a whistle as they moved toward it. It was locked inside of a display case, and as they neared it a speaker buzzed above them.

“Ah, the Ministry of Wartime Technology wanted to showcase its latest developments in Power Armor here at the World of Refreshment!” Egna said, “and what better way of showcasing it then allowing all visitors to see a suit painted in Sparkle Cola’s colors!”

Poetic studied it, “Yeah, not gonna lie, if you had training that would be handy,” he poked Smalls in the side with a hoof, “but without training you’re just as likely to hurt somepony, or yourself, as you are to do anything else. Best to just leave that there,” he said.

They looked at a door and Poetic tried it. It didn’t budge, and he grumbled, but then Clouded Hope stepped forward, “Ummm.. May I?”

He stepped back and she studied it for a moment. Then he watched as she pulled a bobby pin from her hair, and she slid it into the lock. She then reached up under her wing and to their surprise she pulled what looked like a silver looking feather out. She stuck the sharp end of it into the lock, and then she began to nudge the two until finally it clicked and the door opened. They began to step through, but Poetic stopped her.

“Why did you have a feather accent on?”

She looked at the ground, “I… Ummm…”

He studied her, “You were meeting somepony, weren't you?” he asked.

She nodded, “I was,” she shied away, “I’d met him before, on the ground,” she shuffled in place, “And I was coming down to see if he wanted to go back home with me. I mean, we could get a unicorn to cast that spell so that he could walk on the clouds.”

Poetic studied her, “He wasn’t there?”

She shook her head, “He was… The Enclave traded him his life for me, they wanted to make an example of the race traitor.”

Poetic frowned and then shook his head, “Fuckin’ Enclave. Bunch of worthless, useless, dumb as dirt assholes,” he said, “Sorry, I know for your smoothskin Pegasi it’s hard to hear that, but it’s the truth.”

She nodded, “I know, and it is hard to hear that, but then you’ve been around a while longer.”

He nodded, “yeah, and I’ve dealt with the Enclave longer. Trust me, they’re worthless. I heard there’s some good ones that helped over toward Hoofington, and that’s really nice, but it doesn’t make up for the shit that they pulled for two hundred years.”

They stepped inside and followed the staircase up to the closest room. Once again Clouded opened it, and when they stepped in there was a computer that ran from one wall to the other. There in the center of the computer was a strange looking chair, and in the chair, with a weird net over its gleaming white skull, was the skeleton of a single pony.

“Oh, I see that you have discovered my location, please, do not touch anything,” Egna said, “I am a delicate piece of equipment, and quite honestly my repair would cost more than I am certain all of you could afford.”

Smalls moved toward the computer and looked at the socket that would allow him to hook his Pip Buck to it. He connected it to it, and he suddenly felt SATS activate. When it did he saw the form of a Pony form out of ones and zeros in front of him. They then began to turn solid and he looked at a glowing Alicorn standing there.

“Well, color me surprised,” she cooed, “you’re the first superuser to access me in quite a while. I’m sorry for my actions earlier, but that was due to the previous Super User uploading her personality into my personality matrix. She wanted to keep everything running smoothly, and she seemed to be quite upset when it didn’t.”

He studied her, “So, she’s not there anymore?”

The brightly glowing emerald green Alicorn smiled, “She is now, thanks to you accessing me she has been erased. Would you like to imprint your personality into my personality matrix?”

He shook his head, “No, but I’d be fine with you not sending any Protectron Ponies after me, but instead could you send them to get rid of those crab things?”

She nodded, “Of course.”

She closed her eyes for a moment, “All Security Protectron Ponies, and Gladiators have been dispatched to deal with the influx of the wild creatures,” she smiled sweetly at him, “Will you be staying here? It is quite lonely without anyone to talk to.”

He grinned at her, “I’ve got things to do, but I can send over friends, would you mind to make sure that they’re okay?”

She beamed brightly, “Oh, certainly! They can test the new flavors of Sparkle Cola I have designed! There are currently six thousand two hundred forty-nine new flavors available for testing,” she grinned, “Although I’m not certain if Seafood Delight is one that will go over well with Ponies.”

He grinned, “I’d love a Sparkle Cola, or a Sparkle Cola Rad, there’s some, right?”

She nodded, “I’m going to disconnect from you, but yes, go through that door, down the steps and that is the bottling plant. There are several cases of Sparkle Cola and Sparkle Cola Rad that are set up for visitors to taste. Enjoy!”

With that the door opened and Smalls rushed through straight down the steps and into a huge warehouse full of Sparkle Cola. He rushed toward the first box when there was a grinding sound, and the back door began to buckle. He looked at it and a moment later it broke down and a giant crab stepped into the warehouse. It was bigger than all of the others, several times larger, and it moved toward him. As it moved dozens of odd looking robots rushed past him. Each of them weren’t as bulky as the Protectron Ponies. Instead they were nimble, practically dancing on their back hooves, and they were shooting massive beams of energy at the creature.

Smalls watched it, and looked at where it was standing. He could see that it was near a cart that was used to haul Sparkle Cola. He looked at Poetic who flew down after him.

“Ummm, can you shoot that cart?”

Poetic looked at it and then smiled, “Yeah, just a second,”

He flew up to one of the beams running from the ceiling, and a shot rang out. When it did the cart began to glow and then it exploded in a rainbow of colors. That explosion blew off three of the crab’s left legs causing it to fall. At that point Smalls rushed forward, activated SATS and began to fire into its face. From above, Poetic began to shoot along with him, and after Smalls completely ran out of ammo, and after another six shots from Poetic the giant crab lay dead.

“Guess, that’s good,” Smalls said.

He looked behind him to see Cosmic who was slowly moving forward, “Yeah, guess so. So, did Crusher say how we let them know which group gets this place?”

He shook his head, and then smiled, “Nope, but I think that I know who would like it.”

Author's Note

*You've gained the Stupid Lucky Perk. Luck gains a +2 when actions are done that have no logical potential to work. This can be stacked with all items that give a +1 or higher to luck.*