The first light of the rising sun bathes a small wasteland farm in its gentle glow. The warmth of the light shining through the windows of the post-war house slowly rouses the pair of ponies sleeping there. The first to wake is a pale white unicorn unicorn stallion with a blue and white striped mane, he gives a yawn before gently nuzzling the large green alicorn next to him. His gentle and loving nuzzle slowly wakes her up, and earns him a wing hug and a kiss. The pair stays like this for a minute or so before they have to get up.
The green alicorn uses her magic to carry her lover with her as she walks to the bathroom. A short shower later and the pair of them head to their daughter’s room. Laying in her bed, with the covers half tossed off, is a beautiful little alicorn filly with a white coat and a tri-colored mane of blue, green and white. Her hooves twitch as her father slowly lifts her onto his back, as they head outside.
The gentle warmth of the sun makes the pair smile and rub against each other as they walk toward the large workshop behind their house. As they reach it the green alicorn uses her magic to open a large door revealing a large cart stocked with various bits of produce and animal products. The squeaking of the door brings their daughter out of her sleep.
“Mmm… Morning Mom, morning dad.” She says with a yawn as she stretches on her dad’s back.
“Good morning my little Angel.” Her mother says as she leans down and nuzzles her cheek. “Did you sleep well?”
“I sure did!” Angel says as she takes to the air and makes punching motions with her hooves. “I dreamed I was helping take down a bunch of raiders. They all fell down like dominos.”
“Good job sweetie.” Her dad says as he uses his magic to ruffle her hair and plug in several spark batteries to the cart. “I know you’ll make an excellent hero some day.”
“Thanks dad!” She zips over and hugs him. “So we’re headed to the Cloud Reach market right?”
“That’s right. Why don’t you help your mom get hooked up?” He suggests as he closes a panel on the cart.
“Okay!” Angel zips back to her mom and starts helping her get attached to the cart.
It takes them a bit to get everything ready, but they’re in the air and on their way to the town of cloud reach before too long. Flying along over the remnants of the old world city of Seaddle provides a wonderful way to pass the time, as they watch the various different buildings and small settlements pass by under them. The hour-long journey seems to take a tenth of the time with the tales, jokes and cool things they spot shared between them. Setting down at the entrance, the guards wave to them with big smiles.
“Power Flow, Emerald Dawn, little Angel, it’s good to see you again.” One of the guards, a rather sparsely armored stallion with a sword and a pistol holstered on his sides says as he approaches.
“Likewise Steel, hope things have been good here.” Power Flow says as he hops off of the cart and gives Emerald a kiss on the cheek as he undoes the harness.
“Hey Uncle Steel!” Angel says as she slams into the stallion, giving him a big hug.
“Hey kiddo, how’s it going?”
“Great! Dad’s started training me how to be safe around weapons, and mom’s been letting me help with carrying stuff around the farm. Mom always says, ‘You need to put your magic to use or it won’t get stronger.’” Angel says with a big grin. “And she’s right.”
Angel lifts Steel up into the air and spins him around in a full circle before setting him back down.
“Whoa, that’s certainly something!” Steel ruffles her mane. “She sure is a smart one, your mom.”
“Uh-hu.” Angel nods vigorously.
“Come on Angel, we need to get to our stand and get set up.” Emerald says as she uses her magic to pull the wagon along behind them. “It is good to see you again, Steel.”
“Enjoy your day here you three.” Steel calls as they start towards the market.
The three of them arrive at their stall and spend some time setting up. Emerald sets up boxes of produce ranging from Mutte-Fruit to tatos in slots along the front of the stand, and hangs price plaques from each of the boxes. Power Flow sets up a couple of boxes of components and a display stand with a custom energy weapon on it. Angel helps here and there by passing boxes to her parents as well as organizing the extra stock in the back. Once everything is set up and the cart is stored in the caravan depot, their day truly begins.
Angel acts at the store’s poster filly, waving ponies over and giving them a big smile. Most of the ponies are very happy to see her, and her parents, back at the market. Sales are made, ponies come and go, and the morning flies by rather quickly. Eventually Emerald takes Angel around the market to get them all something to eat. The pair of them return with brahmin kebabs, and Sparkle Cola’s. As they finish eating a ghoul, clad in salvaged power armor sans helmet, clunks up to their stand.
“Hey smoothcoats, I hear you’ve got the best magical energy weapons around.” The ghoul rasps and gives them a toothy smile, though a good number of their teeth are missing.
“You heard right,” Power Flow says with a nod as he scoots up to the counter. “Name’s Power Flow.”
“Gem Spark,” Gem Spark nods to Power flow. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise, now, down to business. You’re looking for a magical energy weapon, custom or modded?” Power asks as he pulls out a couple of clearly modified energy rifles.
“You do custom rifles?” Gem Spark asks, tilting his head.
“I do indeed. My special talent is working on and making magical energy weapons.” Power gives him a smirk.
“Not a lot of us unicorns specialize in building things.” Gem says, raising an eyebrow. “Rather odd actually.”
“I’m not your average unicorn. I grew up working with this stuff, I became the go to pony for magical energy weapons in my hometown.” Power says as he uses his magic to disassemble one of the modded rifles with perfect precision.
“That’s impressive, but you need specialized equipment to make them-”
“I have that back on our homestead.” Power says, cutting off Gem Spark as he floats over the custom energy weapon he has on display. “This is an example of my work, it’s one of my more recent models.”
“This is impressive, it’s lighter than I expected.” Gem floats the rifle up and looks it over. “It doesn’t have a port for energy cells.”
“That’s because it’s equipped with a sparkle-breeder, the core component of recharging energy weapons.” Power beams proudly. “It uses a two gem lens system to enhance its punching power, and that’s before being pumped into the focuser on the muzzle.”
Gem Spark stares at Power Flow dumb founded as he floats the weapon back over to it’s stand. “M.A.S. would have loved you.”
“I’m sure they would have.” Power clears his throat. “Now, do you want to get a modded rifle or a custom rifle?”
“Can I put in an order for four custom ones?” Gem Spark asks somewhat sheepishly.
“I can do that, it will take me some time but it’s doable. The most important question is do you want four unique ones or four of the same model?” Power asks as he pulls out a notebook and sketch pad.
“Four of the same design would be best, I use two at a time most times and having backups has always proved to be useful.”
“Alright, energy cell type?” Power Flow asks as he jots down a few notes.
“Uh, how powerful can you make a recharger energy rifle?” Gem asks as he looks back to the rifle on display.
“Depending on the configuration anywhere between a normal energy rifle and a plasma caster. The more power the more risk though, if things go wrong they go really wrong.” Power looks up from his notebook. “I do everything I can to mitigate the risk of things going wrong but it’s not perfect.”
“Standard MFC would be fine, but can you do the double lens thing on it?” Gem asks after a moment.
“Yep, I can also attach a splitter or a focuser for you.” Power Flow’s pencil moves to the sketch pad and begins to move across it rapidly.
“A focuser would be best.” Gem watches as a design for the weapon is quickly sketched out, including the beam focuser.
“Lastly, any custom colors, either weapon or beam?”
“Nah, standard military colors are fine.” Gem says watching as Power notes down several equations on the sketch pad.
“Right, this should hit about twice as hard as the average energy rifle with a focuser.” Power tucks away the notebook and sketch pad. “I should have them done in a couple days.”
“Thank you, I’ll be around town for a week or two, so there’s no rush.” Gem gives Power a toothy grin.
“Good to know, though they will still be done within a couple days. This design isn’t super complex and making the parts is relatively easy.” Power says with a smile. “Enjoy your stay in Cloud Reach.”
“I will.” With that Gem Spark bids them farewell and walks off.
The rest of the day passes rather slowly, a few good sales here and there, but as late afternoon rolls around things slow to a crawl. Eventually they decide to call it a day and pack up their unsold produce and products, what little is left, and return home. As the sun sets over their homestead they sit around their fireplace enjoying a meal and listening to the evening news from Java Jive, the local radio host and DJ.
