My saddlebags bounced around by my hind hooves, my umbrella occasionally tapping against my leg as Crash Dive shifted on the back of the mini-tank. The city of Maple Creek grew smaller behind us as we travelled along the long roads, soon arriving at Jericho Beach and the shore of the reservior. “So, why is it exactly you didn’t decide to just use both of the bombs? It’s not really like you to go for the smaller explosion.” I asked as we made our way back towards the flattened crater that was the Shady Shores outpost. Scouring gave a soft chuckle as he leaned against the trailer’s side.

“Didn’t think it’d be the best idea, seeing how it’d probably end with us being easily mistaken for the stuff Gumbo uses in his stew. Not to mention we’d probably flood part of Hopeville with the shockwave. 'sides, stacking bombs together doesn't cause a bigger boom, anyways.” I shrugged as we continued along the shore, a twisted root bumping the trailer up roughly as a wheel rolled over it. “Don’t worry about radiation, unless that facility was keepin' barrels of glowing goo out of sight, there shouldn’t be any. One upside to Fuel-air Bombs, lots of boom without the rads.” Scouring said, as if reading my mind.

A large blackened spot of the earth with the remains of a concrete foundation nearby could be seen as we rounded the side of the lake, drawing closer to the blast site. Pulling up to the edge of the crater, I could see that the side lip of the crater that faced the lake was being slowly eroded away by water flowing down from the reservoir. “Ach, nuts!” Scouring hopped out of mini tank, rushing over to the edge of the water filled crater. He dug around near the edge of the crater before glancing back over the edge. “Suppose the sand was softer'n I thought. I think the other bomb wound up sucked into the middle of this…” He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to do.

“Well, Crash Dive could probably at least find it in the water. Aerith can probably get it the rest of the way.” Night Strike said, passing on a small shrug. I hopped out of the mini tank and trotted up to the side of the crater, peering into the murky water inside. Crash Dive stepped over and peered down into the crater herself, giving off a grunt of displeasure. “It’s either you go down in there or give one of us that armor to use, y’know.” Night Strike said, catching on to Crash Dive’s disapproval. Crash gave another grumble, staring at the pegasus for a long moment, but stepped over the edge of the crater, slowly slipping down the soft sand and mud and into the muck below.

She waded into the center of the crater, the water rising ever so slowly up as the small stream from the reservoir filled it up. She flicked on the light of her armor before slipping beneath the surface of the dirty pool, her silhouette faintly visible along with the beam of light as she swam around in the water somewhat. As she did, a faint figure could be seen floating in the water near her. The figure suddenly lashed out, Crash’s light flailed about as she wrestled with the creature. “Oh, shit!” Night Strike cried, running back over to the tank and grabbing one of the rebar shafts for Crash Dive's cannon. She flew down into the crater, stabbing downwards at the unknown creature.

The pegasus lost her grip on the harpoon as it was yanked down into the water, her wings just barely keeping her aloft as muddy spray splashed over us. Crash Dive managed to break away from the creature and jabbed the rebar deep into it somewhere, the water splashing as they jerked away from each other. A deep crimson began to pool in the water as the creature thrashed about wildly before swimming deeper into the crater away from Crash Dive. The power armored pegasus swam back to the surface, quickly making her way over to the edge of the water. She climbed up one of the sides, flicking her helmet light off and breathing heavily behind her mask. “Well, I think I felt the bomb down there, but you’re going to just have to search for it yourself. I’m not going back in there with... with -that- thing.” She climbed back up to the lip of the crater, slipping a few times on the muddy side.

Aerith shrugged, one of her screens popping up again. ‘Just try and tell me where it is as best as you can. I don’t want to end up pulling whatever that thing was up onto land.’ Her horn began to glow as Crash Dive tried to describe where she’d found the bomb. Aerith concentrated for a moment before a large object began to surface which was quickly revealed to be the metallic casing of the device, a few weeds dangling off of it. She levitated the bomb over to us, brushing off the weeds with her hooves before placing it into the trailer of the mini tank. Scouring inspected the explosive, rolling the large casing around in his magic before setting it back down to rest lengthwise.

“Looks like it kept fine to me. Suppose we’ll see if any water leaked in whenever we try to set it off.” Night Strike said, walking up behind Scouring to take a look at the bomb. We all piled back onto the mini tank and trailer, the engine rumbling to life as I began to head northwards, the tank bumping along the uneven terrain. We soon came across a dirt road, the ride becoming a little smoother as they rolled onto it and followed it northwards. Night Strike flicked on her radio, a soft, upbeat jazz tune played from her Pip-Buck as I turned to follow the path. “So, according to the map, it looks like it’s gonna be a couple days of driving to get up to Maple Station… well, unless you feel like driving a full 24 hours.” Night Strike said, fiddling with the knobs on her Pip-Buck.

“No thanks, I can’t stay up for a full week like you can, and I’m not going to start drinking that RAD stuff to try.” I responded. Night Strike rolled her eyes and went back to her map, humming along with the tune a little. The tank went over a small bump in the road, the suspension bending and creaking as we landed with a thud, the front wheel kicking up some dust in the road. “Where’s the closest place we could camp out, then?” I asked. Night Strike flipped a few dials and scrolled along her Pip-Buck.

“Ahm... there’s a small pre-war town a little east of the road, we should be there in a couple hours. It’d give us a little time to explore the place too, not sure if anypony’s still living there.” I nodded and twisted the handle, speeding up slightly as we reached a long straightaway. The sky grew a little darker as a few clouds rolled overhead, the road becoming slightly harder to distinguish from the surrounding countryside… not that it was really that much smoother of a ride.

Looking up at the sky, Scouring’s expression grew a little concerned. “Let’s just hope that storm doesn’t hit before we can find somewhere to stay.” Light streamed down through the clouds as we continued down the road, Aerith stretching her wings out and giving them a few flaps. The ground beside the road began to gradually fall away as we came up to a swamp, the long cattails swaying in the stagnant water. A loud crack rang through the air as Night Strike shot a bloatsprite out of the air with one of the unsold pistols from the police duffel bag - how have we not sold all of those yet? - the insect falling into the water, only to be dragged down immediately by some unseen creature.

After a while, the edge of a town could be seen rising up in the distance, the road splitting in two. I took the road heading towards the collection of buildings, the smaller homes on the outside of the town slightly obscuring a much larger factory sitting in the center of it. I slowed as we entered the town, looking around at the houses along the side of the road, their paint peeling, their metal mailboxes having rusted over long ago. “Doesn’t look like anypony’s living here anymore.” I said, slowing the mini-tank to a stop. We all hopped out, trotting around the neighborhood. I glanced inside one of the cracked windows, only to see a skeleton sitting on a dusty couch, a busted up radio next to it on a table. Yeah, definitely no one home anymore... well, maybe they’ve got something useful in the garage. I trotted over to the large door, which squeaked loudly as I hoisted it up.

The garage sported a large workbench at the back of it, several tools hanging up on a board behind it. I trotted up to the bench and flipped open the toolbox to peer inside, the various bits of metal rattling as I dug through them. Nuts, bolts, spark batteries, screwdriver, socket wrench… I picked up one of the old batteries. Well, it’s worth something if it’s still charged. I dug around in the cupboards of the work bench for a moment, looking for a battery tester. Come on, at least a garage remote or a laser pistol, I don’t want to carry around dead metal. I grumbled a little when I was unable to find anything, bringing the battery up to my mouth. Well, there’s always Greasy’s old testing method. I gently stuck the two prongs of the battery to my tongue, a quick jolt rushing through me before I quickly took the battery away from me. Gah, yeah, yeah, that’s still live. Bluh, that’s probably a lot easier to take when you’re a ghoul. Not gonna taste much for a while...

I slipped the batteries into my saddlebags and trotted back outside where Scouring was sitting on the back of the mini-tank with Crash Dive. Suddenly the door to the house across the street flew off its hinges, landing with a thud onto the porch as Night Strike stepped out backwards, firing off another grenade as flames spewed out of the house. The sound of tearing metal and another explosion rang through the neighborhood, Night Strike panting a little as Aerith came rushing around from the backyard. “Alright, lesson learned, some of those Mr. Handy bots might still be set to patrol in these pre-war houses.” She beat a small flame out of her singed ponytail before trotting back to the mini tank. “Ahm, anyways, how about we go see what that big factory is? At least that thing might have something worth looting over these houses, eheh...” I climbed into the driver’s seat of the mini-tank as Night Strike and Aerith hopped onto the back.

We were soon speeding towards the center of town, the buildings growing larger yet more decrepit the closer we got. As I turned down one of the downtown streets towards the large factory, a large bottle could be seen sitting beside the shattered glass doors along with a large sign ‘Sunrise Sarsaparilla Bottling Company’ emblazoned on the weathered bricks. I heard Night Strike groan. “Ugh, forget I said anything, there’s not going to be anything good in there.” I rolled my eyes and pulled the minitank up to the doors, parking it and hopping you. “Oh come on, there’s all these other places we could look around! I mean, shouldn’t there be something better in…” She looked around, spotting another smaller brick building. “Shirt folding store?” She stood for a moment with a confused expression, before hearing me push open the door and reluctantly following the rest of us.

“Hey, if my dads ever found out we stopped by a Sunrise factory and didn’t at least swipe the formula, they’d probably disown me, adopt me, and then disown me again for good measure.” The lobby of the building was expansive, the desk built into the far wall with dirty class cabinets beside it housing several bottles of Sunrise Sarsaparilla. I jiggled the knob on one of the cabinets, the lock breaking easily and allowing me to grab a couple bottles. Scouring grabbed one as well, Aerith and Night Strike giving a disgusted look. Sheesh, it’s soda, you can’t screw up soda. I took a swig from the pop and trotted over to a door leading up to the offices. “Suppose we ought to check the boss’s office first. I doubt they’d keep the formula out on the factory level.”

We began to make our way through the hallways past several cubicles and small offices. As we turned the corner, we came face to face with a large robot, its mounted Gatling laser moving between us. “Unauthorized personnel. Please identify or vacate the premises.” We stood for a moment, the robot’s laser scanning again. “You have fifteen seconds to comply.” The robot said. Oh crap. Hearing the rest already starting to ready their weapons, I quickly ducked down and slipped behind the robot, umbrella at the ready. Quickly jamming it into the robot’s power supply box, the electricity shorted it out without much fuss, causing it to fall to the floor, its droning threats dying out.

“Well, let’s just hope that didn’t send some sort of automatic security signal.” I said, stowing my umbrella. We began to trot back through the offices, making out way towards the staircase leading up to the second floor. The staircase opened up into a large server room, the metal behemoths still beeping and whirring away softly. I walked through the server room, inspecting one of the terminals built into the server. Alright, let’s see if this thing has the formula stored on it... I flicked a switch and punched in a few keystrokes, a screen coming up. I selected an option, a small list of ingredients being shown. Recipe page one out of two? Sheesh, I know the companies could be secretive with their formula, but that’s going a little far. I plugged my Pip-Buck into the terminal, downloading the half of the formula onto my Pip-Buck.

“Alright, you got your formula, can we go now? I don’t want to breathe in whatever chemicals it is they use to make this stuff.” Night Strike said, poking an empty bottle laying on a nearby desk. I rolled my eyes and stepped through the door to the hallway, looking for the boss’s office. We turned down the hall, Crash Dive kicking a busted robot out of the way as we came to an office with a large ornate desk sitting in the center, a terminal sitting on top. I trotted around to the other side of the desk, spotting a safe built into the decoratively carved wood. I bent down, twisting the dial a few times in each direction. Bluh, now is a time I really wish I bothered to learn how to pick locks... No point in asking Night Strike, she’ll just end up blowing up all the contents.

I grumbled, giving the dial a spin before looking up as Aerith tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a note. ‘This might help’ her sign read with a small smirk on her face. I glanced down at the scrawled note, reading ‘Note to self, changed code to 15-42-33 to keep Gemstone out of safe. Eat note later when memorized.’ Well, that is rather helpful, thank you Chairman Lack-of-foresight. I quickly twisted the dial, the safe opening with a satisfying clunk, only to open and reveal the contents of the safe seemed to be haphazardly thrown about. I raised an eyebrow, reaching in and pulling out the contents, only to see there were all business ledgers and sales reports.

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why the heck would some boss own a safe and have nothing in it?” I wondered aloud, standing back up. Night Strike shrugged, wandering over to a small bookshelf and pulling a copy of some faded book detailing the history of trading caravans. I glanced over to Night Strike as she rummaged around, then back to the safe. The books and knickknacks on the shelf seemed meticulously placed… at least, about as well organized as they could be after a bomb fell nearby. “I think someone got into this safe... it’s way too sloppy for whoever was in here.” I trotted back towards the door, the others following me.

“Uh… you sure you’re not just being paranoid? I mean, what would somepony want with the recipe for this crap?” Night Strike said, pushing over an empty bottle and kicking it away from her. I ignored her and started to make my way towards the factory floor. She begrudgingly followed, the others sharing similar looks of confusion. I pushed open the door, revealing the large warehouse filled with six large silver vats, each branded with the Sunrise logo. I trotted down the catwalks towards the vats, the metal beams shaking a little under our weight.

“Well, if we can’t find the recipe, I’m going to at least find a jug of the syrup to take home. I’m sure dad can find some way to turn it into hard candy or something... mmm, Sunrise Sarsaparilla flavored rock candy...” As I continued along the catwalk next to the vats, I noticed the lid of one was hanging open widely, something glimmering slightly inside it. I slowed down, walking along the branch of the catwalk to the vat, glancing over and catching Night Strike disinterestedly looking at the walls. Reaching the vat, I peered inside, my eyes widening as I saw a pony in intricate armor floating in the vat, face down.

I bent down and leaned over into the vat, attempting to pull the pony up and onto the catwalk, Scouring’s horn lighting up to help me. “I knew it! Sunrise Sarsaparilla is ponies!” Night Strike proclaimed as she watched the body come out, shuddering as she did. The body fell onto the catwalk, the armor sticky from floating in the soda for so long. The armor seemed to be made of some strange thick silky material, a few metal plates covering the chest and legs. A small box was connected to the chestplate and the haunches, a few wires running from it along the length of the body connecting the two. My reflection stared back at me in the shiny orange glass that covered the face of the helmet. “What the hell is that?” Night Strike said, finally looking down at the body.

“Hell if I know, I haven’t seen any sort of armor like this before.” I said, wiping my hoof onto my coat. I tugged on the helmet, trying to pull it off. Sheesh, it’s like it’s built into the whole suit, how did this pony even get into it in the first place? Reaching around the back of the helmet, I felt a small button and pressed down on it. The ring around the armor’s neck clicked and fell apart into two halves, no longer clamping down on the neck of the suit and allowing me to pull the helmet off. A rotting face met me, causing me to lean back and gag. Oh, jeez, how old is this body?

I stood up and stepped back away from the body, Night Strike choking a little at the stench. Crash Dive stepped around me to get a better look at the body and the armor. “Looks like some kind of stealth armor. It doesn’t have the proper plating to be any good in direct fire.” She bent down, inspecting the skeletal remains. “I think this used to be a zebra spy. This looks like some of the same technology we have in the Stealth Bucks.” I raised my eyebrows, staring down at the armor.

“You mean this thing has a built in stealth field?” I asked, a grin spreading across my face. Who cares if it’s been worn by a rotting corpse for 200 years, I’m not leaving this suit behind! I bent back down, turning the body over and attempting to find some way to remove the body of the suit. Scouring gave a look of disgust as I pulled open a magnetic seam on the back, revealing the decaying body of the unlucky zebra spy. Ugh, ok, I’m going to need to wash this thing out with Abraxo about twenty seven times before I wear it, but whatever.

“Well, it would, but I doubt after years of sitting in even as weak of an acid as soda the components are still going to work.” Crash Dive replied, doubt apparent in her voice. I paused in removing the armor, noticing a small hatch built into one of the legs. I flipped it open, revealing some surprisingly dry papers. I pulled them out, scanning over them. No… I started to giggle, flipping the pages over before slipping a few into my saddlebags. “What is it?”

I shook my head, slipping the rest of the papers into my saddlebags, save one. “It turns out this spy just sacrificed their life in an attempt to steal the formula for a soda and an unreleased flavor.” I handed the sheet over to Night Strike, who stared down at it in disbelief. I turned back around and went back to work removing the suit, my grin turning back into a grimace as some of the zebras skin peeled away sickeningly. “Well, I’m certainly not complaining. I’m sure we’ll find a way to fix this up, and I can’t wait to see my dad’s faces when they see I’ve got a formula for a new kind of Sunrise nopony’s ever tasted before! And I think they’ll be willing to help sell it if I offer a portion of the sales, too.” I managed to get the top half of the zebra’s body loose, pulling the suit down, along with a few strands of its tail.

“Uh, Static? Your ‘New’ Sunrise Sarsaparilla formula… this is the exact same recipe for standard Sparkle Cola.” Night Strike said, scanning over the paper before handing it back to me, a smirk on her muzzle. I looked over the sheet of paper, taking it back from her, the pegasus chuckling as she leaned back against the railing. “Hey, at least they were finally trying to sell something that tastes better than kissing that zebra would be like. I’m sure the look on Minty’s face will be pretty funny too when he tastes it.” She snickered. I started to fold up the foul smelling armor, wrinkling my muzzle a bit. Ech, yeah, this is why I shouldn’t loot armor off of dead ponies.

I slipped the armor and helmet into my saddlebags, having a bit of trouble with the button. “Yeah, whatever you say, Night Strike. I expected something more along the lines of it being made with organs harvested from fillies from you, that one’s hardly creative.” Night Strike simply rolled her eyes as we began to make our way back through the factory floor towards the entrance to the plant.

“Fine, don’t believe me. I doubt you’re going to make much off of it branded as New Sunrise, though. You sure drinking that stuff hasn’t made your brain all fuzzy?” Crash Dive an annoyed sigh as we trotted into the main lobby again. I swiped a few more bottles of soda and slipped them into my saddlebags before following the others out of the building. Climbing into the driver’s seat, my back eased itself out as I slid my saddlebags off, holding my breath as the flap opened up slightly. Blugh, what I wouldn’t give for some flowers or something to cover this smell. Should’ve seen if that Shady Shores place had some formaldehyde.

As I started up the mini tank and spun us around, Night Strike sat up a little straighter, staring off into the distance. “Hey, hold up, what’s over there?” She pointed westwards towards the sinking sun. In the distance was another small collection of buildings, the town curving around a small quarry. On the opposite side, near the edge of town was a large plant with a large cooling tower standing on one side. Half of the cooling tower was scorched black, a few faint shadows burned into the side, barely visible from our location. She grinned before looking back. “Oooh, can we explore it? Pleeaaase?” She pulled a puppy-dog face. I raised an eyebrow at her in response - exploring some old radioactive arcane power plant? Yeah, maybe we can get a fifth leg from the bubbler. “Come on, we got to explore your stupid soda factory, how come we can’t go look at this? Besides, we’ve still got a while before sundown, and we can just sleep in one of the abandoned houses.”

I rolled my eyes, turning the mini-tank around and starting to trundle off towards the factory. I’m really going to regret this, aren’t I?

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