//------------------------------//
// Chapter Five (JPHyperX) 
// Story: Operation Exquisite Corpse 
// by The Red Parade 
//------------------------------//

"I'll take... this one!" said Derpy and put a tiny little gun in her hoof.

"Oh, good choice!" said Pear Butter. "Well, off you go now, don't let him get away!"

Derpy nodded and was ready for takeoff.

But Bright Mac jumped up, "Hold on! You'll need this too!"

He put sunglasses on Derpy. The grey mare touched her new glasses in confusion, "What do I need those for?"

"You'll find out," said Bright easily, "Besides, it came with that gun when we ordered this arsenal, didn't it, honey?"

Derpy flew off into the skies over the city. The trail, the monster left behind was clearly visible. Some buildings were damaged or flattened.

The lizard stomped through the street, ignoring every traffic light and street sign. The oval cars braked sharply to avoid hitting the lizard's legs. But the mass accident was inevitable. Mr. Crab laughed like a madman.

Derpy flew after him quickly. Through her sunglasses she could see which way the lizard and the crab in the suit had gone.

Even better, the glasses adapted to her visual impairment. Suddenly, a synthetic voice spoke to her. It came out of the glasses, "Hello! I'm Anita! How can I assist you?"

“Who is this?" Derpy shouted, as she flew through the canyon of houses.

"Anita! The talking sunglasses! I am an artificial intelligence! I'm available for 29.99 Bits at any Kaspro Store, and if you take out our one year's subscription, you'll also get free updates."

"Ah, okay," Derpy just said. Gradually she came closer to the three-eyed lizard. She could already see the crab sitting on her back.

“Anita, I’m almost there! What should I do?” Derpy called.

“This lizard is a Lazer-Lizzard 3000, it shoots deadly lasers out of its four mouths”, Anita talked, “Available on any Kaspro Store!”

“I didn’t asked, what it is! I asked what I should do, to hold this thing on”

“The Lazer-Lizzard 3000 is nearly indestructible. Only the driver can control it, Anita explained in her always polite sounding voice.

Derpy decided to stop this thing himself. She still had her mini-gun on her, hoping it would do some damage.

She aimed at the back of the lizard and fired a small shot. It made a "ping" noise as it bounced off the metal butt of the lizard. Mr. Crab had heard the sound and turned around: "Holy mackerel! Now I gotta step on it!"

Mr. Crabs' monster accelerated. "You ain't gettin' that package!" yelled the crab.

Derpy struck her gun in frustration. "I guess this thing is broken!"

"Thread connected to Lazer-Lizzard 3000!" said Anita. Derpy looked closer in surprise. A wafer-thin thread led from the gun barrel to the lizard. Out of instinct and intuition, Derpy pressed the trigger again and she was hurled against the lizard's butt at breakneck speed. This made another sound, but a much louder one. It went, "Bam!"

Mr. Crab looked back again. First, he saw nobody, but then two grey hooves crawled up the lizard’s back.

Derpy stood on both hind legs and stared angrily at the crab. "Give me that package, you phony crab," she yelled, “It belongs to Pear Butter and Bright Mac!”

"Try it, you mule!" called Mr. Crab and jumped off the lizard. From the crab's back, a collapsible jetpack expanded. He flew away laughing.

Derpy wanted to fly after him, but the lizard was still at top speed. It stomped through the neon streets of the Twilight Zone. He was heading straight to a large bank. It had just been robbed by two eggs with faces, legs and arms. One was already cracked in the shell.

Derpy tried to get the lizard to stop. She found a big red button in the cockpit. It was the first button he pressed, of course. From the mouth of the mechanical laser lizard a bright beam of light shot at the escape vehicle with the eggs inside. The car blew up into smithereens.

"Ooops! My bad!" Derpy shouted after them.

But Derpy suddenly had a better idea. She flew around the eight legs of the lizard and shot with her mini-gun at one of the mechanical legs.

Anita called again, "Thread connected to Lazer-Lizzard 3000!"

"Yes! I know!" Derpy moaned and flew around the lizard's legs several times. Eventually, the monster slowed down. The thin, sturdy strings made it stumble. The lizard made a howling noise and fell on its snout.

Then it also exploded and dark smoke rose, which could be seen all over the city. Creatures of different kinds flocked around the fire and watched the accident with amazement.

 Derpy stood next to it and looked for that thieving crab. He was gone.

"Do you want to know where Mr. Crab is?" Anita suddenly asked.

"Oh, I'd love to," shouted Derpy in relief, "I have to take the package for Pear Butter and Bight Mac back from him. I wonder what he plans to do with it."

“He is in the Kaspro Headquarters. I’ll show you the way!”

In front of Derpy’s eyes a hologram showed up. A blinking yellow arrow showed her where she had to go.