Fallout Equestria - For a Sparkle Cola

Chapter Three - Ah, now that’s Fizzy!

“I kinda like it,” Smalls said as he drank from the bottle of Seafood Delight Sparkle Cola.

Cosmic watched him and shook her head. The bottle smelled like someone had bottled the juice from cooking sardines, mixed it with crab meat, and then stuffed the entire thing into a blender with original Sparkle Cola. She breathed through her mouth, which was mildly better, as they walked from the World of Refreshment back toward their new home. She also couldn’t help but notice that the small wagon Smalls had found inside of the World of Refreshment was stocked full of some of the new flavors of Sparkle Cola. And she noticed that the box of Seafood Delight had been broken open.

“Why don’t you try something else besides that?” Cosmic asked.

Clouded looked at her, and then at the bottle she was holding, “Actually, it’s pretty good.”

Cosmic groaned, “Am I the only one here that thinks that it smells horrible?”

Poetic shrugged as he sipped on a bottle, “Actually, I think that this would have gone over pretty well with the Air Division. I could see several ponies enjoying it.”

Cosmic shook her head, “It smells like a mare that hasn’t taken good care of herself back there, and has something nasty going on.”

Clouded looked at her, “Does that what you smell like when that happens?”

Cosmic stopped, turned, and looked at her, “NO!” she exclaimed, “It was an example, sweet Celestia, I try to take care of myself, and on rare, and it is rare occasions, I couldn’t because I was too concerned with staying alive instead of staying fresh, I didn’t smell like that.”

Clouded neared her, “Well I don’t smell like that. I get to smelling like sweaty, stinky, and left out too long pony, but I don’t get to smelling like this,” she said as she waved the bottle under Cosmic’s muzzle.

Cosmic’s muzzle scrunched up, her face almost turned a light shade of green, and she turned her head and nearly lost the contents of her stomach. She looked back at Clouded hope, her eyes staring daggers at her.

“That’s horrible!” she shouted, “That’s horrible and it should be thrown into the deepest hole there is in the wasteland, then that hole filled up with cement, and then a fucking house built on it so that nopony ever has to smell it again!” she shook her head, snorted, and looked back at Clouded again, “It’s still in my nose!”

Poetic laughed as Cosmic acted like she wanted to puke her guts out. In truth the two arguing reminded him of better times. Times before the bombs, before he was forced to watch the world that he’d grown up become a shriveled up corpse of its former self. Since that time he’d watched the world reflect what he looked like. It was almost like a corpse that scavengers were still trying to pick some meat from its bones. There had been some changes, and he’d begun to notice that there was some green coming back.

The Stable Dweller, not Smalls, but the one that faced the Enclave, he rolled the clouds back, and she had brought back the sun. There were fields growing now, and there was a small sense of beauty forming. It wasn’t much, and it certainly didn’t seem like it would end up being the answer to everything. Yet, there was a sense of hope that Poetic hadn’t felt in a long time. He felt some hope for the future. Oh, his future was secured, and he knew that. Eventually everything that he knew, all that he was, and everything that he would ever be would simply be wiped away.

He wasn’t delusional enough to think that he would escape becoming a feral forever. There were a few other ghouls out there that were as old as he was, and some of them were just fine. That mare that wrote the survival guide for instance. He knew that she was over two hundred years old, and he knew that she had been around well before the bombs. Somehow she had maintained her sanity, and it was a testament to the will power of a pony. But there had been others that gave in. They lost themselves years ago, and they lived to satisfy the most basic of needs at this point. They deserved to be pitied, he knew that, and honestly death was a much better alternative than becoming a feral.

The one thing he knew that kept the insanity of becoming a feral away was doing something familiar. It was keeping up what a pony had done, and it was thinking about the actions. It wasn’t enough to just go through them, but to actually think about what was being done and why. For Poetic it was being a soldier. He’d been one when the bombs went off, and even though he was traveling with a different group they were his platoon. They were his flock, and he was determined to ensure that they would be taken care of.

He looked over toward the arguing mares, and then he looked at Smalls who was studying the entrance to Sparkle Cola Town. He walked near the large framed Earth Pony who took in a deep breath. He stepped forward, and Poetic decided to match his trot. The other two soon noticed that both Poetic and Smalls were leaving them, and they began to follow them. The argument about Sparkle Seafood Delight Cola was still on going, but neither wanted to be left outside of the safer area. They walked into it, and Smalls walked not to the diner above them, but instead he seemed to head toward the theater.

He made his way inside, and Poetic watched as he walked straight toward Baroness Starshine. The Unicorn studied him for a moment before Smalls opened a box, took a bottle, and chunked it at her. She caught it in her telekinesis, and for a moment she simply studied him, opened the bottle, and then took a drink. Her eyes widened, and she took another swig before she lowered the bottle.

“What is this?” she asked.

Smalls grinned, “It’s a new flavor of Sparkle Cola. There’s a fancy computer over at the World of refreshment, and it has kept the factory running since the war,” he smiled, “And it came up with six thousand new flavors.”

Baroness Starshine smiled, “New flavors?” she asked.

He nodded, “Yeah, and I got to thinking about it. You want to make caps, and you want repeat business, what better business than new flavors of Sparkle Cola?” he asked.

She rubbed her chin, “It is an interesting idea,” she stated, “What is it like?”

Cosmic stepped forward, “There’s a broken down ride that needs to be fixed, but most of the factory and warehouse are fine. You’ll need somepony to work on the ride, clear the debris away from it, but I’d bet that ponies would like to ride it, see how the cola is made, and then buy it.”

The Baroness seemed to mull it over for a moment, “And I take it that if we are given the World of Refreshment it will be our job to get the ride going again?” she asked.

Smalls nodded, “Yeah, but think about the caps you’ll make.”

She nodded, “Very well,” she said, “The Society accepts the charge of dealing with the World of Refreshment,” she said, “We will get it into perfect working order, and then we shall make it presentable. At the same time we shall sell the new flavors of Sparkle Cola at exuberant prices.”

With that a few of the Society ponies began to move toward his wagon to unload it. Smalls looked at them, his eyes wide, he walked toward the wagon, and unloaded three of the two dozen boxes. One of which was the Sparkle Seafood Delight that hadn’t been opened yet. The Baroness looked at him, and then she let out a laugh.

“Ah, I see. Our Overboss enjoys Sparkle Cola,” she looked toward the ponies looking confused, “This is his private stock, and he’s giving us three boxes from it. Pass out what is in the boxes to those here, allow them to try it, and then we will determine who will go over to the World of Refreshment.”

She looked at Smalls, “We will get it up and running. That is a promise.”

With that they left, and Smalls took the wagon over to the lift that led up to the diner at the top of the artificial mountain. Once they were at the top he pulled the wagon inside, walked behind the counter of the serving area, and he began to load the boxes of Sparkle Cola back there. When he was done he opened two boxes, put the soda in them on display, and then looked at everypony that was there with him.

Clouded and Cosmic were looking at the old trifolded maps of the park. Poetic was looking over the cloud bed, and if Smalls were to guess he was trying to decide if he could salvage it or do something else to it. Smalls was about to say something when the lift started back down. He waited for a few minutes and then Crusher came in with what looked like an empty suit of armor. He piled it up near the display case and then looked at Smalls.

“Here’s Ripper’s armor boss,” he said, “You beat him, and that makes his stuff your stuff.”

Smalls looked at it, and then he looked at Poetic. A smile crossed his lips, “Poetic, can you work that armor?”

Poetic walked near the Enclave armor and he studied it, “I suppose, but this is different than the normal armor I dealt with,” he said as he looked it over, “It’s similar to the armor that the Air Division under the Ministry of Awesome used, but there’s some differences here,” he said.

He looked at it, “Hmmm, it’s got lighting coils all over it,” he studied it a bit more and then he went to getting the armor on. Soon he got the helmet on and he stood there for a moment. “Well, this explains why Ripper was so powerful in it.”

Smalls walked toward him, “Oh, why?”

Poetic stood there for a moment, looking ahead, almost as if he was trying to see something else out there that no one else could see. Finally he looked toward Smalls. A faint smile crossed the ghoul pegasus’ lips.

“It’s a prototype suit of armor. It needs work, and a lot of it, but what Ripper had and was wearing was a prototype suit of armor that most likely was designed right before the bombs dropped,” he said, “It allows the wearer to gather up bolts of lighting and store them in the coils around the suit. Then the wearer can eject the lighting out in a single large blast,” he said, “It’s brilliant in that it will allow the wearer to actually electrocute everypony within a fifteen yard radius.”

Smalls looked at him, “So why did the squirt gun stop it?”

Poetic began taking the suit off, “My guess is that the genius that came up with it didn’t consider the aspects of rain getting to the suit. A lot of the connectors are bare wires. A stream of water is enough to short it out, and cause the lighting it has collected to refocus itself back on the wearer. It’s insulated enough to not kill the pony, but it’s certainly enough of a jolt to disable them for a while.”

Smalls looked at him, “So, you want it?”

Poetic looked at it, and then back at Smalls, “I’ll fix it up, and I’ll use it,” he said before he looked at Clouded, “But I think that it needs to go to a Pegasus that can fly better than I can.”

She studied him, “But I’ve seen you fly,” she said.

He shook his head, “Yeah, up to ledges, onto catwalks, and other places,” he admitted, “The whole reason I was with ground forces in the army was because I wasn’t a strong flyer. I was good for short bursts of speed, and getting to places where Unicorns and Earth Ponies couldn’t, but I was never a very skilled or powerful flyer,” he looked at her, “The pony that uses this needs to be a strong enough flyer that they can charge the armor by flying up to a storm cloud and gathering wild lighting into it. I’d be lucky if I could make the cloud before I felt drained.”

Clouded studied him for a moment, and then her eyes looked at the ground, “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t realize that you weren’t a good flyer.”

He showed no signs of offence, and instead simply studied her, “I haven’t seen you fly yet,” he said.

She looked at her flank with the Dashite mark on it, “I haven’t tried since I was branded by those Enclave soldiers.”

She stood there, uncertain for a moment before he neared her, “Were you a good flyer before?”

She beamed proudly, “Yeah, actually I came in forth in the young flyers competition,” she said with some pride, “And I was the only one that was able to cloud sculpt while I was doing it.”

He nodded at her, “Then you should do fine in it,” he looked at Smalls, “Is it okay if she takes it?”

Smalls nodded, “Sure, I want to learn how to work that Power Armor we saw in the World of Refreshment anyway.”

Poetic smiled at him, “Well, you might want to trim up a little more. It could be a little cramped in there until you do.”

Smalls shook his head, “Maybe I’ll wait then,” he said.

Crusher looked at him, “Boss, you can modify the armor to fit just about any frame, and that includes one like yours,” he said, “You just have to have the tools and know how to do it.”

Smalls rubbed his chin and nodded, “Alright, although I won’t be able to operate it until I learn how to use it.”

Poetic rolled his eyes and looked at him, “technically it’s not that much different from your Pip Buck, at least in processing it isn’t. The whole walking and doing thing takes practice, and yeah, it’d be better if you had training,” he looked at Clouded and then at Smalls, “I’ll train her first, because I know how to operate that kind of armor, and then I’ll learn the one you’re wanting to use, and I’ll teach you how to use it.”

Smalls smiled, and then he looked at his Pip Buck. The World of Refreshment hadn’t been bad, but that was because he’d made friends, sort of, with Egna. She’d used the Protectron Ponies, and the Gladiators, to fight those crab things. He looked at Crusher who looked off at the distance.

“So, what kind of critters were in the World of Refreshment?” Crusher asked.

Smalls shrugged, “Some kind of giant crabs, and there were a bunch of them, and then there was a really giant one that knocked in the loading door to the warehouse.”

Crusher looked at him and then grinned, “Swamplurks,” Crusher said, “Sounds about right. It’s a water ride, so it made sense that the would be Swamplurks in there.”

Cosmic looked toward them and walked over, “Those things are called Swamplurks?”

Crusher nodded, “Yeah, the thing is that they mostly gather in irritated swamp areas, so they got the name Swamplurks. They tend to lurk in the background, waiting for something to come by that sounds like lunch, and they pop up and try to snag it,” he looked at her, “And if there was a giant one that meant that there was one that had been here since about the time the bombs fell.”

Cosmic looked at him, “Do you mean those things tend to get bigger the older they get?”

Crusher nodded, “From what I’ve heard of them the really old ones end up creating an entire brood of the things,” he smirked, “But Swamplurks are good eatin’, and their eggs make really good omelets.”

Cosmic looked at him and shook her head, “I’m not sure that I’d want to eat anything that tried to eat me, and besides, they smell terrible.”

Crusher looked at her, “Maybe, but if you gut out a Swamplurk and then take its shell and put it on a wall it’ll stop most bullets,” he grinned, “There’s tell of entire towns that hunt swamplurks for the sole purpose of using their shells and eatin’ them. I’d bet that the Society will most likely take the shells from the ones that you’ve killed and see about making them into some kind of protective plating.”

Smalls listened as Crusher explained the Swamplurks to Cosmic, but he was studying the map on his Pip Buck. The World of Refreshment was reclaimed, and that was good, but he didn’t want to stop there. It wasn’t just the Sparkle Cola that he’d found, but more to the point it’d been fun going through and taking care of it with his friends. That’s what he’d really like to do again. He looked at the other parks, and his eyes set on the Lunar Zone.

He looked to everypony and then smiled, “Who wants to keep exploring the park?”

Cosmic looked at him, shrugged, and nodded. Poetic gave a curt nod, and Clouded smiled. He took that as a yes. With the three of them agreeing to go with him he walked toward the lift, and they followed him. The four of them left Crusher up in the Diner as they rode the lift down to the ground. Once it landed he saw Rosie. She walked toward him, and he saw that she was studying him fairly hard.

“So, you gave the Society the World of Refreshment?”

He nodded, “Yeah, but I figured that they could get the ride going, and there’s caps to be made with the Sparkle Cola.”

She looked at him, “Sure, there’s money to be made, but what about loyalty?”

He grinned, “Well, I was going out again, and I gave them one, so how about I give you the next one?”

That caused her to smile, “Really?”

He nodded, “I don’t mind to, and we’ve got some choices. There’s Hangin' Ponies Corral…” he started before she stopped him.

“That’s the wild west one right?” she asked.

He nodded, “Yeah,” he replied.

She grinned, “Perfect, that’s the one the Reapers want. Tell you what, how about I come along with you?” she asked as she moved up beside him and nudged his hip with her own, “I can show you just how well I can fight, and we can see what all there is to see in that little park.”

He grinned and nodded. The five of them walked toward Hangin' Ponies Corral, and he saw at the entrance there was a robot pony like there had been in the ride at the World of Refreshment. Walking toward it he noticed that one of its eyes had turned black, but the other one seemed to be a vibrant blue. The robot pony was wearing a vest with a tin star on it, there was a stetson on its head, and its green mane was made into a Prench braid. As soon as they neared it the robot pony smiled.

“Wooowie! Welcome ta Hangin' Ponies Corral partners! I’m Sheriff Tulip Snips!” she said excitedly, “And we’re plump happy to see so many potential deputies coming in!”

Rosie laughed and neared the artificial pony, “Well Howdy Sheriff, what’s the problem?”

Tulip’s face turned sour, “It’s those no good verments over at Mad Morning Star’s Mine!” she spat, “They done went and stole a whole load of Sparkle Cola World tickets, and they’re holdin’ Swift Breeze, the prettiest Pegasus singer ya ever did see, hostage! Why, we gotta save her so that she can sing the Sparkle Cola Anthem, and besides, she’s likely to give whoever saves her a kiss!”

Rosie laughed, “Well, I think we can take care of that.”

“Thank ya partner! But I got ta warn all of ya, that mine is locked, and the only key to it is held by the fastest draw in the west, Slippery Sunrise Twist! She’s over at the amphitheater, and ya got ta get that key from her first. Fair warnin, she don’t cotton ta letting people jest take things, so yer gonna have to out drawl her for it.”

Rosie’s eyes brightened at that, “Oh, that sounds like my kind of fun!”

Without another word Rosie began rushing into the park, and Smalls chased after her. They rounded the corner and there was a huge section of track that had fallen from above them. They looked at it, and stepped over the rails, and moved toward the other side of it. When they did something large popped out of the ground. It was worm-like, and its head split open to reveal several small tentacles. Those tentacles shot out at both Smalls and Rosie. It grabbed Rosie by the rear hoof, and pulled her toward the waiting mouth.

Smalls started to bite down on his bit only to remember that he’d taken the battle saddle off. There was nothing to shoot with. Instead he looked at the ground, saw a long piece of broken glass, activated SATS, and then targeted the tentacles. The moment he did he shot forward, slicing through the first tentacle, then the second, but the third was tougher and he only managed to break the sliver of glass. However, it was enough for Rosie who slammed her front hooves down hard on the tentacle causing the creature to roar in pain and then dive back into the ground.

“What the fuck was that?!” Rosie asked.

Suddenly there was a rumble and they moved just as another two shot up from where they had been standing. Before either could open their mouths there were two shots, and both of them went through the heads of the two worm-like creatures. Smalls looked to see Poetic, sitting on top of a concession cart, his sniper rifle in his hooves.

“Okay, first, we need to find Smalls a weapon, second, Don’t fucking run off like a filly at a carnival!” Poetic shouted.

Rosie looked at him, “Whatever Dad,” she said before she flicked her tail at him.

Clouded hovered in the air, which in and of itself was a good thing. That meant that she was able to fly, and more to the point she was able to get off of the ground and away from those things. Cosmic finished climbing over the broken piece of track with what looked like mining carts on it.

“No, sure, I’m fine. Never mind waiting for me, or helping me over the stupid carts.”

Rosie looked back at her, “Wow, you really like to hear yourself bitch don’t you?”

She looked at Rosie, “You could have waited, like five seconds, and we all could have faced that thing together.

Rosie looked at her, walked toward her, and poked her in the barrel with her front left hoof.

“Look, I’m a reaper, and while that means that I’ll keep my word, and I’ll play nice, it also means that I do what I want, when I want, and how I want. If you want to become a reaper and try to put me in my place, fine, go for it. Challenge one of us to a fight, kill them, and then you can take their place,” she grinned, “Otherwise, you can take that snooty attitude, and fucking horn, and shove them both up your tight flank.”

“Guys, maybe we should move,” Smalls said.

Both of them looked toward him, and then they felt the ground rumbling. Seeing what he meant the five of them rushed toward the amphitheater and rushed into the building. They closed the doors behind them, and then looked at the hall leading toward the amphitheater itself. They started to follow it when Smalls saw a door to the side. He stepped toward it, pushed it open, and saw a bottle of Sparkle Cola sitting on the desk. He moved toward it, knocked the cap off, put it in his saddle bags, and then drank the warm Sparkle Cola down. He didn’t notice Poetic until the ghoul Pegasus stopped near him. He looked where he was standing and saw a skeleton of a Pegasus leaning against the wall.

Smalls neared him, and saw a Pip Buck lying there. He connected his to it, and then he began to access the other Pip Buck’s saved files. He hit the first one.

“Shit,” a girl's voice said, “The bastards did it,” she sounded scared, “They went and launched the bombs at each other. Well, that’s just great. I get a job at Sparkle Cola World, and my first day on the job is the last one ever!”

There were sounds of tears, “Why?” she asked crying, “Why was this it? Didn’t they realize that we could have lived in peace?”

She coughed, “We’re lucky that we’re pretty far away from everything. I mean the magical radiation shouldn’t even hit here, if we’re lucky.” She sighed, “The guests all panicked, and I can’t blame them. From what I understand management is trying to explain to them that they need to stay put, but most of them are trying to get out.”

She cried, “I want to go home, but I’m not even sure if Cloudsdale is even there. I haven’t wanted to listen to the radio because I’m afraid that I’ll find out that mom and sis are gone.”

“I just want to go home.”

There was silence and then Smalls activated the second recording, “It’s been three months, no one’s coming. I went over to Kandy Kingdom last night to visit with the Amazing Azure Blaze, and she was doing tricks for the few folks that did stick around. The kids that were watching seemed to be entertained. I’m sure that she didn’t intend to get stuck here either. I heard that she actually got a job offer from Las Pegasus a few weeks ago. Something at the Silver Cloud as a main act,” there was a wet cough, “Sucks that she’ll never get to go now.”

She breathed in, “It’s weird, there was a green cloud that came floating in over there. I saw it and Azure tried get me to go into the castle with her, but I ran back here,” she laughed, “I ran home like a dumb foal. Home, that’s what this place is now.”

She coughed, “I breathed that cloud on the way, and I’ve been pissing blood,” she cried, “I feel sick, feverish, and so tired.”

There was a soft cough and then Smalls activated the last one.

“Been a year since that last entry. So, the cloud was radioactive fallout,” she coughed, “and whatever it was has been causing my mane to fallout. I’ve been noticing that its getting hard to think, and the only thing that keeps me going is checking the security monitors and checking the stupid stands,” she laughed, “The only thing that helps is doing the job I was hired to do. Guess that I’m still an employee. I wonder if that means I’m going to get a year’s worth of back pay?”

There was a wet cough, “I keep,” a soft growl escaped her, “No, I keep feeling like something’s wrong… I can’t explain it, but,” another growl, “I… hurt.”

The line went dead for a moment before there was another sound. “Miss?”

“There was an inequine scream and then there was a single shot.”

Poetic looked at Smalls, “Stop it,” he said.

Smalls nodded, and he watched as Poetic sat down in front of the Skeleton, “Sorry that happened to you,” he said, “You couldn’t keep it together huh?” he asked before he got up and looked to the right of her. He grabbed a pistol, carried it to Smalls, and passed it to him. Smalls took it and put it into his saddle bags.

“Wow,” that was a fucked up story,” Rosie said.

Poetic nodded, “And it’s one that usually happens to every ghoul,” he replied.

Smalls looked at him, “Wait, you to?”

Poetic shrugged, “I don’t know. I’ve been around two hundred years, so maybe not,” he said, “But I honestly don’t know.”

Smalls looked at him, “I think that you’ll beat it.”

Poetic studied him for a moment, “Maybe, I don’t know.”

Rosie shook her head, “Whatever, lets get that key, get rid of those things, and take this place over.”

Author's Note

*you’ve unlocked borrowed strength. Now your companions will stand by you and attack in your place if you are disabled.*