Finding Your Place With the Outcasts

by TikiBat

Chapter 11: Booting Up

While Zipper and the mover continued to unload Sine’s cabinets, the mare in question was now happily napping in the corner with a wing draped over her head. Before knowing her, Zipper might have been one to complain, though with the context of everything he had learned lately… and given her earlier outburst, maybe it was for the best that she just rested. Zipper knew better than to get between a tired night pony and their sleep.

Blue Spring had thankfully stopped by shortly after the work had begun, and with her help, it didn’t matter much whether Sine was napping or not.

The human however, didn’t seem to share the same sentiment, and he was more than vocal about his displeasure. “So she’s really going to raise such a commotion over a few small chips and then just nap while we do all the work?”

Zipper shrugged. “You ever piss off a tired night pony?”

“Does today count?”

“No, because you got her to calm down by apologizing about it. Trust me though, it could have been a lot worse.”

“I’m guessing you’re speaking from experience then?”

“You could say that,” Zipper smirked. He held out a hoof. “Name’s Zipper. Guess we didn’t get an introduction before.”

“Marshall…” he awkwardly bumped a fist against Zipper’s hoof. “Is your friend always like that then?”

“Depends on the time of day and whether you’ve wronged her during that. She’s actually pretty cool though, believe it or not.”

“Uh huh,” Marshall nodded and pulled the back of his truck closed. “I don’t plan to stay and find out, so unless you need anything else then I’ll head out.”

Blue Spring trotted out from inside the future arcade and looked around. “So we’re all set then?”

Zipper nodded, “Yeah, I think so,” He glanced over to Sine, who was quietly snoring, “Think we should wake her?”

Blue Spring shook her head, “I do, but I don’t think it’s a good idea… but the ball’s in her court now and I’d rather not mess with this stuff without her input.”

“That’s fair enough. Tell you what then, why don’t you go up to the office for a few minutes and I’ll test the waters. If you hear some grumpy shouting then you’ll know it didn’t work.”

Blue Spring stifled a laugh and shook her head. “As smart of an idea as that is, I think I’m going to stick it out here just in case you need backup… she can’t be that bad, can she?”

“You saw what happened when I wrecked her garden, I’ll let you be the judge.”

Blue Spring simply shrugged and stood her ground. Taking this as an affirmative, Zipper nodded and slowly trotting toward Sine. The mare was fast asleep, and a part of Zipper almost didn’t wan’t to disturb her. There were important discussions to be had though, so with a nervous gulp he gently shook the night pony awake, taking a few cautious steps back as she began to stir.

“What’s the deal bird brain?” Sine groggily asked.

“We’re all unloaded and set up,” Zipper explained. “Also, don’t worry. That mover guy is gone and Blue Spring’s here now.”

The sleepy mare slowly opened one eye and glanced toward Blue Spring. “Hello Spring.”

“Hello Sine,” Blue Spring replied. “Sorry to wake you right now. We’ve got everything set up though, all you need to do is hook it up.”

Sine let out a long yawn and nodded her head, “Got it. Do you mind if I do that later? I don’t think I’ll have the energy to get through it right now, not unless you’ve got some seriously strong coffee on you.”

Spring shook her head, “I wish I did. Unfortunately for you, that means we’ll have to get this done later.”

“Setting this up later works fine for us,” Zipper cut in. “So don’t worry about it. You’ve been a huge help so far and there’s no rush. It is a passion project between a few friends after all.”

Sine smiled as she started to rub the sleep out of her eyes. “That’s a good way to look at it. I’ll still get things set up ASAP though.”

“Want us to grab you anything from Ahab’s before you head home?” Blue Spring offered. “Zip and I were going to head there for lunch.”

The mare paused for a moment, before returning an appreciative smile. “Well… I wouldn’t mind a bowl of his famous mac and cheese… as long as you’re offering.”

Blue Spring returned a smile of her own. “Of course. We’ll see you back here tonight then?”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Sine stood up, reaching into her saddlebags and putting on a pair of sunglasses, “Gives me a chance to rest, and then I can do all my diagnostic stuff overnight so it’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

“You’re thinking about opening this tomorrow?” Zipper exclaimed.

“The sooner the better,” Sine nodded. As she began to trot toward the door, she paused for a moment and turned back toward Zipper, “For the love of all things that are good in this world… do NOT touch my cabinets until I get back, I don’t need anything else happening to them while I’m gone.”

“Don’t worry, I learned my lesson once,” Zipper laughed. “We’ll go ahead and lock things up so no one disturbs them. We’ll add you to the security panel so you can unlock it with your gauntlet later.”

“That works for me,” Sine yawned loudly and glanced down at her gauntlet. “Right. See you later.”

As Sine started out the door, Zipper glanced down to his gauntlet to glance at the time, “Ahab’s shouldn’t be too busy right now, mind if we take the scenic route?”

“I don’t see any issue with that, Blue Spring shrugged. “I’m guessing you’ve got a lot on your mind?”

Zipper trotted toward the door, opening it up and letting the bright sunlight in, “Yeah, I do. That night pony stopped by my dreams last night and we agreed on what the sign is going to look like. He sent me an invoice, I haven’t filled it out yet, figured I’d wait until you were around to see it too.”

“You want me to take a look at it?”

Zipper nodded as he led the mare outside, “Well yeah, you’re like my business partner, I think it’s at least fair to get your approval on anything big that we do.”

“Well if you insist on that then I guess it’s not a bad thing… what about Sine?”

“She’s handling the interior stuff, we're both in charge of this at the end of the day so it falls into our camp.”

“Alright well that sounds fair enough to me, why don’t we talk more about this over lunch?”

As if in response to her question Zipper’s stomach let out a loud growl, earning a laugh from the pair, “does that answer your question?”

Blue Spring let out another series of laughs and nodded, “I’d say it does Zip.”

The two pegasi started to trot down the path, in no real hurry to get to the restaurant.

---

The pair trotted through the carved wooden door and into Ahab’s restaurant, the moody atmosphere of the place giving it a peaceful and relaxing feel. Tropical music played around the cozy dining room, and the peaceful ambience worked it’s magic. It was almost impossible to not smile and feel at ease in the cozy restaurant.

Hearing the clip clop of new hooves on the wooden floor, the earth pony behind the bar turned around to greet them. “Aha, Zipper and Blue Spring, my two favorite customers! Here for your usual?”

Blue Spring nodded as she trotted toward her usual booth. “Yeah Cast, we’ll take a bowl of mac and cheese to go too, for Sine Wave.”

The pony nodded. “Gotcha, anything to drink today?”

“I’m good with water, how about you Zip?”

The gray pegasus looked over toward Perfect Cast and smiled. “The usual.”

“Rockin’ Punch?”

He nodded. “Yep!”

The earth pony nodded. “Coming right up,” He quickly pulled a few empty glasses toward the fountain, pouring their drinks. In a well practiced move that would have surprised any other pair of ponies, Perfect Cast slid the drinks onto a tray and carefully balanced it on his back, trotting toward the pair and dropping the glasses off.

Blue Spring smiled at the earth pony. “Thanks Cast,” She took a few sips and looked into the nearby aquarium, smiling at the fish that were swimming by. She turned back to her companion, “Well Zip, I’ve gotta give you credit, it’s really all starting to come together nicely.”

The gray pegasus nodded. “Yeah… it really is, isn't it?”

“Do you really think Sine will have everything all set up by tonight?”

Zipper shrugged as he looked around the cozy dining room. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see. It’d be nice if she can get that up and running though, we could start doing a soft opening soon and really drive up the hype!” He answered back in an excited voice.

Blue Spring laughed. “You’re really itching to open this I’m guessing?”

He replied with a laugh of his own. “Is it that obvious?”

“A little,” She paused for a moment. “So what’d Silver think of it?”

“I uhh…” He shifted his gaze around, earning a sigh from Spring.

“Zipper…. You have talked to him right?”

“I was going to… I’m just worried about what he was going to say.”

“Zip, you somehow coordinated a makeshift arcade that you’re planning on opening the second you can, and you haven’t thought about asking one of the main city planners if that kind of thing is okay to do?”

He looked away from her. “I… Look, I’m not a smart pony, I just want this to work.”

“Hey I never said you were dumb, you just have your own way of doing things. You should tell him as soon as possible though, preferably before we open and light the place up like a beacon… You’ve already got money set aside for a sign, but maybe we should hold off on that part for a few more days until we can make sure that we’ve got the right permission for this.”

“But Patrick seemed okay with it.”

She nodded. “Patrick might be okay with it, but Silver’s one of the main ponies in charge here, I think it’s only fair if you ask him too. He kind of has a right to know after all.”

“I…” He began to protest, letting out a sigh. “Okay, you’re right. I don’t think Sine’s going to stop the setup though, but at the same time I don’t think she really cares about the arcade’s operations as much.”

“You don’t think so?”

He shook his head. “She wants a place to house her collection, I think running it as an actual arcade is just a neat bonus.”

Blue Spring shrugged. “Well then I think we can wait until we get Silver’s blessing to run it.”

“Right… Well I’ll give him a call tonight when he’s awake.”

“Sounds like a plan. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to get this up and running, but we also need to make sure we’re not going to just get shut down the second he’s back home.”

Before Zipper could reply, Perfect Cast returned with a tray of food balanced on his back. With carefully practiced precision, he slid the plates in front of the pair, smiling as they looked down at the pasta dishes. “Everything look good?”

Blue Spring nodded, hungrily looking at her meal. “Yep, looks great as always Cast.”

The earth pony smiled. “Glad to hear, drop me a line if you need anything else, I’ll go get Sine’s started.”

“Thanks, Cast!” Zipper cheerfully replied back, grabbing the nearby fork with his gauntlet’s fingers.

Without much further conversation, the two happily dug into their meals, and before long, and much to their dismay, they had finished. Perfect Cast had dropped off Sine’s takeout, and Zipper had paid for the meal. Feeling relaxed and in a good mood, the pair stood up and trotted toward the door, thanking the earth pony on their way out, promising that they’d be back at the usual time next week.

---

The pair had taken the scenic route back to the warehouse, chatting about their future plans and just genuinely enjoying their company. Zipper had earned a few more laughs when he stopped to talk to the geese, and before long, the sun had begun to set.

As he pushed open the door, he was immediately greeted with a few muffled curses from the dark night pony who was working away on some of the cabinets. “Is everything alright Sine?”

A muffled thud was heard, followed by more curses. The pony backed out from behind one of the cabinets, brushing back her disheveled mane with a sigh. “Yeah no, everything’s all good here now. About time you two decided to show up.”

Blue Spring tossed her a bag, earning a happy squeak from the night pony. “Sorry we’re a little late, had to grab your dinner— er, breakfast?”

The night pony nodded. “Sorry I got a little snappy, I’ve just been getting this stuff set up for a while now.”

“Pulling an early day?” Zipper asked as he surveyed her handiwork.

Sine nodded, digging around the bag and pulling the still warm food out. “Mhmm,” She hungrily looked down at the mac and cheese. “Yeah, it should all be good to go soon, just need to get a couple more things hooked up.”

Zipper trotted toward the half-covered jukebox, pulling the cover fully off. “No way, you got us one of these too?”

The night pony suddenly snapped up from her plate as Zipper began to reach toward the choice selection. “STOP!”

He jumped back in a panic. “What?!”

Sine lowered her voice. “Sorry, didn’t mean to yell… Look, let me just get the last couple things hooked up and we’ll be good to go.”

“Why does he need to wait, Sine?”

The mare looked over toward Blue Spring. “It’ll be so much cooler when everything’s all lit up at once, trust me on this,” She quickly finished her meal and trotted toward the cabinet she had been working away on, poking her head behind it and fiddling around in the back of it for a few minutes. Seemingly satisfied with her work, she closed it up and stood up, taking a moment to collect herself.

Blue Spring looked toward her again and nodded. “Everything good to go now?”

Sine Wave slowly nodded her head, turning toward Zipper. “Hit it.”

The gray pegasi’s eyes lit up in excitement as he trotted toward the breaker box on the wall, reaching for a lever and excitedly pulling it. In an instant the whole room flickered to life with the sights and sounds of the cabinets turning on. Without a word spoken, Sine Wave quietly trotted toward the jukebox, flipping through the selections before settling on her desired song. Classic rock music rang out through the speakers she had meticulously wired up.

Zipper hovered up into the air, looking around at the seemingly magical place, a huge smile plastered across his face. “It’s… Perfect!”

Comments

[Numinos]

And this one is a nice story too : ) Nice to see some character development for the rest of Oasis denizens.

[ProgAltRocker]

I think Zipper should dress up like a pirate and take his parrot with him to Ahab's.