Following up on that and the Motorwagon Orb, here is another offering from material written for my FoE: Stalliongrad roleplaying campaign. This time, I have a series of terminal entries, newspaper articles and a new memory orb. As before, the memory orb is written in second person, present tense as it is designed to be a game hand-out. Please note again that this is, at most, headcanon. It should not be considered canon, so nobody writing stories in that area needs to worry about conflict.

Enjoy.

Terminal Entries

The following messages were found scattered across several still-active terminals within the "new" Sparkle~Cola bottling plant in Stalliongrad.

Entry #123 (Re: Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 10,000)

From: Conner

To: Volte Face Hello. Thank you for your interest in purchasing six of our limited Super Speedy Cider Squeezy Ten-Thousands (special order only). Your harvesting motorwagons are currently being built. We estimate nor more than ten weeks for the order to be filled. As for your additional inquiries about industrial-sized cider-squeezing vats, I have personally passed your request on to my father. Our business contracts are for motorwagons, not heavy machinery. But because our patents cover the original and upgraded press designs, I think something can be worked out. I’ll be in touch. Enjoy your new motorwagons! Conner

Entry #778 (Re: Clear Product Test #23)

From: Right Mind

To: Volte Face This is a disaster. Three of the fifty ponies in our test group have died from severe radiation-related illness. Two more suffered health complications from the dissolving of their stomach lining. All families have been compensated and informed of the strictness of Sparkle~Cola’s non-disclosure policies. The formula should have been perfect. If there were health risks, they should have been negligible and easily written off, not lethal. I suspect the error may reside in a mixing error in one of the new vats. We have had several worker complaints about the new vats, claiming that their operation is significantly counter-intuitive compared to the old ones. I recommend looking into salvaging the older system, off the record.

Entry #779 (Re: Clear Product Test #23)

From: Volte Face

To: Right Mind The problem sounds like operator error, not an issue with the new vats themselves. Consider the reputation of the supplier. These are the same vat technology used for weather-making in Cloudsdayle. The pegasi don’t seem to have a problem operating this system. Perhaps Pony Resources should look into hiring some. In the meantime, identify the pony who was operating the vats when the problem occurred and give that pony her walking papers. Report back to me once it is done. It has come to my attention that you have also filed a complaint with the vat supplier. Might I remind you that there is no conscionable way we could continue to use the old vats after the accident? It would be morbid at best, and a public relations apocalypse if it ever got out. There is no point in rocking this particular boat. Expect to hear more about this at you next review.

Entry #783 (Re: Complaint #15467)

From: Service Department, Las Pegasus Industrial

To: Right Mind (costumer ID #3215) Thank you for contacting our complaint department. The company is not responsible for injuries sustained from recklessness or misuse of our product. Our legal department has concluded that drinking irradiated beverages qualifies under this statute.

Newspaper Articles

The following newspaper articles were found collected and preserved in an administrators desk in the Stalliongrad Sparkle~Cola plant.

The Standard “Big Industry Joins Rebuilding Effort” by Gabby Gums More than half a dozen nation-wide Equestria companies have thrown their bits and their reputations into the effort to rebuild and revitalize war-torn Stalliongrad after the end of the Zebra Occupation. Good Pony has promised to make Stalliongrad the new center of its manufacturing, promising a massive boost to jobs and the devastated local economy, while large corporations like Four Stars seek to hedge out local companies for the rights to major Royal contracts. But local businesses are also getting some outside help. Sparkle~Cola has promised to “invest locally”, including choosing Greener Pastures, a Stalliongrad architectural and construction company, to build a new factory. The newly created Ministry of Wartime Technology is focusing on providing subsidies to fledgling companies who are willing to choose Stalliongrad for… (More on page 23.)

The Royal Canterlot Voice Dragon Over Hoofington The Shadowbolts, lead by Rainbow Dash, engaged the dragon Brimstone over the skies of Hoofington last weekend as zebra forces managed their deepest strike into Equestria in the War’s thirteen year history. All rumors that the zebras have enlisted the aid of the dragons native to their homeland have been confirmed. Princess Luna vows to expand Equestria’s pegasus… (Continued on page 2.)

Equestrian Business Weekly Can Lightning Strike Twice? Industry rumors claim that Sparkle~Cola is attempting to duplicate the stroke of luck that, decades before, gave them now-Ministry Mare Fluttershy as a marketing icon for their world-beloved Sparkle~Cola carbonated beverage. According to a source who requested to remain unnamed, Sparkle~Cola has made entreaties to Rainbow Dash (Ministry Mare, leader of the Shadowbolts and heroine of Hoofington) to act as a spokesperson for a new product line. (More on page 5.)

The Royal Canterlot Voice Princess Celestia to Visit Stalliongrad Next Tuesday, announced the Royal Court, Princess Celestia will take an eight-hour stop-over at Stalliongrad on her way to the Sentinel. According to Her aids, while in Stalliongrad, the Princess intends to luxuriate in one of the city’s award-winning spas and to visit the seeding of Stalliongrad’s east-south-eastern fields. (Ever since Sparkle~Cola purchased the old battlefield east-south-east of Stalliongrad, drink-lovers everywhere have speculated that they intend to use the fields to grow an orchard for their new, mysterious, upcoming flavor… but if Celestia knows what they are planting, She’s keeping that secret close to Her breast.) Princess Celestia’s trip to the Sentinel is the first step in a planned series of diplomatic meetings with the heads of each of the zebra tribes with will cumulate with personal audience with the Caesar… (Continued on page 3.)

The Standard “The Death of Local Business” by Gabby Gums Today marks the groundbreaking of the new Sparkle~Cola factory, located directly across the street from Sparkle~Cola’s now infamous “Rainbow Factory”. Less than a decade old, Rainbow Factory is now vacant, lifeless and decaying. The company CEO claims the old factory is slated to be gutted and used for storage, but in the face of public protests, many employees predict that it will be dismantled completely. The stigma of the site is enough that they would have trouble selling it, so they will probably pave it over and use it for employee parking. And with the death of the Rainbow Factory comes the death of the local architectural firm Greener Pastures. Only a few years ago, Greener Pastures outbid Apple House Architecture for the design and construction of the now abandoned factory. Now, with fault for the accident that claimed the lives of sixteen ponies, including twelve pegasus foals, being laid at the hoof of their sub-par construction materials and engineering short-cuts, Greener Pastures has seen a mass exodus of prospective clients. The company has already begun filing for bankruptcy, and the national conglomerates are hovering like ravens eager to pick at the corpse. Already, Apple House Architecture, now a subsidiary of Stable-Tec, has negotiated the rights to design and construction of the new, new Sparkle~Cola factory. Likewise, rights to the Stalliongrad mass transit project have been stripped from Greener Pastures and hoofed over to Four Stars, who is promising “great things for Stalliongrad’s future”. Greener Pastures has attempted to divert the blame, claiming that they are victims and that the accident is the result of an inferior batch of concrete purchased from another local company. The question this reporter has to ask is: should the deaths of those children be laid at the hooves of a local business trying desperately to stay afloat in a sea of nation-wide sharks? Or should that blood be on the hooves of Stable-Tec, Four Stars, and other companies who use their massive funds and market influence to murder independent, local businesses?