//------------------------------//
// Wubs on a Trip 
// Story: Wub me or Hate me 
// by Vesperia 
//------------------------------//

"You sure you don't want somepony to come along with you?" Twilight asked me while we waited for the train to Manehatten to begin boarding.

I shook my head, "Nah, I have a feeling I should do this alone. Besides, I got plenty of protection with me. Wubnades, and that awesome laser beam thing you showed me. Plus... that experimental brown wub device if things get kinda dicey." I waved her off, "I'll be fine Twilight. I should be back in a few days tops, if I'm not back by then you can start a search party for me."

She sighed, her head hung a bit low and her ears flat against her head, "I guess there really isn't any stopping you. Just be safe please."

I gave her a thumbs up as I heard the train whistle blow and the train's ticket collector shout out to the small gathering go ponies and me, "I will Twilight, make sure to keep my laptop and iPod safe." I was silent for a second before adding, "And don't try to fiddle with it please, they are the only original ones I have."

"Of course." Twilight said. She looked over at the train, "Well, it seems your train is ready to leave. Have fun! And don't forget to read those books I gave you, we can discuss magic when you get back!" She cheerfully clopped her hooves together.

I waved goodbye and chuckled out, "Yeah, I will Twilight. Later!"

She waved a hoof goodbye as I adjusted my backpack and disappeared into the train.


♫♫♫


The train came to a stop at the station with a loud hiss. I got up and stretched my limbs, train rides always made me feel like I need a good massage afterwards, I don't know why. After giving my neck a good crack I picked my bag and board up, and quickly half jogged off the train, giving a nod to the train's ticket pony.

I stepped off the train and looked around, the train station wasn't anything special. If you think of 'Big City Train Station' and put a bunch of horseshoe and horse head decorations around, along with some bright colors, then you've got a good idea of what the train station looked like. I never understood the need for the ponies to have all of these horseshoe decorations or horse themed decorations in  general. I once asked about it, I never got a clear answer. The question really just confused whoever I asked.

I walked over to a nearby empty bench and set my bag down on it. I unzipped the top and rummaged through my stuff until I pulled out the newspaper article that had all of the stores that were robbed. I zipped the bag back up and slung it back over my shoulder. I looked around for a map stand of some kind, I found one next to a help desk being worked by a blue mare and headed over there.

"Does a map cost any bits?" I asked the mare working the help desk.

She shook her head, "Nope! Help yourself!" I nodded and grabbed one. "You need anything else?"

I smiled at her, "No thanks. This was all I needed."

I parted from the desk with my new map of Manehatten in tow. I scanned it as I walked out the door of the station, trying to find where I currently was. I took a small pause of my map reading to open the double doors to the outside, I jogged down the steps to the sidewalk and turned around. I looked up and read the large letters on the building I just left.

"Feather Station huh?" I muttered to myself. I looked back down at the map and tried to spot the name of the station, considering it was a train station it should be clearly marked. My search was quickly over when I spotted the tiny blue letters on the map with the name of the station I was currently at.

"Alright. So I'm here." I thought to myself. I didn't get to think more when I heard a loud yell off to my left side.

"Move, Celestia damn it! I'm walkin' here!"

I was roughly shoved aside by a random tan, earth pony stallion. He continued his path without even giving me a second glance. That kinda ticked me off. I put the map and newspaper article against my board and held them together. Without hesitation I yelled back at him with my now free hand's middle finger in the air, "Oh yeah?! Is that what ya call walkin'?! Looks more like a sissy's prance if ya ask me!"

"Buck you too!" He growled out, shaking a hoof as he went back to what he was doing.

With that settled I leaned against the metal railing of the stairs I just came off of. I grabbed the papers and went back to looking for the nearest shop. I found one just a few blocks from the station I was currently at, destination in mind I set my board on the ground, and stuffed the article back in my bag since I already memorized the shop's name. I activated my board's bracer control, turned on a song I liked, and rose into the air. I put more volume into the song and flew down the street.


♫♫♫


I arrived at the first shop in only a few minutes. Wubboard travel was such a convenient way to travel, I was glad that I was not stuck simply walking around. I pulled my board up a bit more vertically and slowly came to a stop as I killed the volume at the same time.

Once the volume and the power of the board was killed I jumped off the board and grabbed it before it could hit the ground. Everything is about style right now. I secured my board under my armpit and looked at the shop in front of me. It didn't look too well, the windows were boarded up and the door was missing all together. It just had some yellow police tape barring the entrance.

I grabbed some of the crossing tape and yanked it down before throwing a leg over it and finding my way inside. Once I was standing straight up I slowly walked into the store, looking at everything. The shelves were empty and a few were even collapsed.

“The hell? It's barely been a few days since the robbery was reported. Why are the shelves collapsed like in some sort of apocalypse movie or game?” I thought to myself as I wandered down the aisles, taking a brief mental note of each item stolen.

I came to a stop in front of a rather large stage like area. It, like the shelves before it, was completely barren. I looked down at the tiny sign at the edge of the mini stage and read:

“Grand Equestrian DJ Stage, Mark V”

I crouched down to get a better look at the small sign. I rubbed my chin as I simply stated at it and said quietly to myself, “I thought just stereos were stolen. Why take a DJ stage too? This doesn't make a whole lot of sense…”

I stood back up and leaned back to crack my back. I turned around and gave the store one more once over. Once again I only saw that stereos and the like were taken, actual instruments were left behind. Even microphones were taken, though it seems that the people who stole them didn't have a high need of them. A couple were left behind.

I scratched my head, “Ah geeze, I can't make much head of this.” I sighed and hung my head. After I just shook my head and started walking back out, “I’ll try and figure this out more when I look around the other stores.”


♫♫♫


I dropped down at the next store with an unnecessary flourish of my board. Nobody was even around to see it, and I have to admit I was a tad disappointed about that. Shrugging, I looked at the front of the new store and took in the state of the entrance.

The entrance was clearly stylized, the doorway used to be a large, vinyl record. Now half of it was cracked, fallen over, and leaning against the wall. The door itself was somehow still mostly intact, except for the lock. The windows were shattered, but the glass seemed to be mostly cleared up. This stores windows weren't barred with planks, just police tape that was somehow stuck to the brick walls.

After taking in the external sight of the stores entrance I walked forward and pushed the door open. It swung open with a sharp and mighty creak that nearly made my ears bleed. I rubbed my ears with a frown and walked through the now open doorway. As like the previous store this one had basically the same thing happen to it. The only real difference was the fact this store had stylized decorations here and there that got beat up or destroyed.

After seeing what happened to the main room I was about to leave until I noticed something new. There was a door that lead to a nearby alley just past one of the back aisles. I walked over to it and have it a once over. The door was wide open and had several scorch marks surrounding it and even had a few on the door itself.

I looked out the door and swiveled my head to my left and right, examining the alleyway. There wasn't much going on out here, though I did take note that there were scratch marks on the walls leading out into the street. Likely from a cart the robbers used to haul everything away with. I continued to look around the alley until I saw a small light shine from behind a trashcan.

Curious, I walked into the alleyway and towards the trashcan. I shoved the trashcan aside with a foot and crouched down to get a better look at what caught my interest. What I saw shocked me to the core, what was causing the light was a small segment of a blue wub chip.

I picked the piece of broken wubtech up and held it up to my eye with a shaky hand. I licked my now dry lips as I swallowed hard. This was not good, someone or something has access to the same stuff I used. I understand that pony me could have this kind of stuff, and she also wouldn't advertise or show this specific stuff to the general public. But I didn't know how anyone else could have it.

The only consolation I had was the fact that this chip was obviously broken. And that it was rapidly losing any power it had. A fact that the chip was barely glowing right now was proof of that. I tucked the broken piece of the wubtech chip into a pouch on my backpack. I turned around and headed back into the store, I found one thing interesting here so I might find another if I look harder.

I made it just past the threshold of the doorway when a voice came from the hallway to my right and announced itself loudly with the soft glow of what had to be magic lit up the hallway. “Who in the name of Celestia are you?! And what the Tartarus are ya doin’ in my shop?!”