• Published 19th Nov 2013
  • 5,935 Views, 470 Comments

Other Wanderings - ed2481



A group of short stories about Ethan the Lone Wanderer and Twilight Sparkle continuing the adventure after the events of Light Wanderings. Needless to say those who haven’t read either Dark or Light Wanderings will be flying blind. Expect silli

  • ...
19
 470
 5,935

Drekzone Part 2

Twilight was pacing back and forth frantically beneath the worried gaze of Celestia.

“I just don’t get it!” Twilight growled, not for the first time, angrily as she paced. “Gone without a trace, my tracking spells have been cut, even the one I attached via the crystal I installed in his chest!”

“Twilight, you need to calm down and think about this rationally,” Celestia said, placing a calming hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. The young alicorn shook it off.

“Calm down? Ethan’s been kidnapped-”

“Hardly a new occurrence,” Celestia pointed out, cutting her off. “And we will find him, I’m sure of it. I already have my mother looking into the matter. I’m sure she will be able to find him soon, she is a member of the Divine Court after all. They are adept at solving this sort of issue.”

Twilight let out an explosive breath and deflated. “I... thanks Tia,” she said, giving the white alicorn a nuzzle.

“You’re very welcome My Little Sparkle,” Celestia replied, giving her a soft, comforting kiss on the lips. A sense of warmth and calm spread through Twilight and she felt the rage and anger that had been racing through her blood begin to subside. Celestia broke the kiss and looked down at Twilight, despite being an alicorn, the mare was still quite a bit shorter than her. “Now... have you told Cassandra about this?”

“Yes... she’s angry at whoever took him, but is confident that he’ll fight his way out eventually,” Twilight replied with a small nod.

“Well then... I suppose there is nothing we can do but wait for my mother or her contacts to locate him, is there not?” Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow as she walked over to the bed and sat down upon it.

“I guess not,” Twilight grumbled as she joined her and curled up next to the elder alicorn. “I just don’t like it.”

“I do not expect you too,” Celestia stated softly, leaning over to give Twilight another soft kiss.

Twilight sighed and leaned her head into Celestia’s neck. “I just hope he’s doing alright... I know that it’s Ethan but still...”

Celestia let out a slight snicker. “Twilight dear, it’s Ethan. I almost pity his current captors.”


“So, what’s your story?” Ethan inquired of the man leading him, they were walking up a featureless grey corridor. “I mean, you don’t exactly strike me as the ‘I’m evil’ type and you're not the stupid ‘MOVE’ type... so...”

“I work for Chairman Drek under contract,” Kharon replied.

“Ah, so you’re a mercenary,” the Wanderer said with a small nod. “Shitty kind of guy to join up with if what’s going on is any indication.”

“It’s none of my matter to judge,” the merc replied. “I just do the work to keep agreement of the contract up.”

“Huh,” Ethan mused. “So, who’s he got over you? Wife, daughter, husband? I don’t judge.”

“You’ll find out,” Kharon replied as they neared a large pair of black doors, with a pair of heavily armed robotic guards on each side. Ethan looked at the guards for a moment and then chuckled.

“He’s insecure enough to need that kind of security outside of his office?” Ethan inquired.

“No,” a smooth male voice spoke through a set of speakers. “More like just not wasting a gift given to me. It makes a bad image you know?” he explained with a small chuckle. The doors opened and Kharon lead Ethan through.

On the other side was a high class fancy room, with velvet rugs covering the metal floor and a minibar set up on one side of a room that was just a wall of glass that over look an arena below. There were also dozens of vid-screens showing different battles going down on each screen.

Overlooking it all was a willow thin almost man shaped being, his skin was pale as snow and had a head so bald that it was almost blinding. He was wearing a high end black business suit with a glass of brown liquid held between his four finger hand. He turned his head to glance over at Ethan, giving the man a good look at his face.

A pair of squinty bright golden eyes looked at Ethan from below hairless brows and instead of a real nose, he simply had a pair of slits for nostrils. He smiled slightly, stretching his inhumanly thin lips taught till they looked like they’d break. The alien did have ears, though they were rather pointed and obviously not human.

Ethan took one look at the ‘man’ and started to chuckle.

“So, is everyone of your species evil, or were you just trying to be edgy?” Ethan asked the being.

Drek, as it was clearly obviously, chuckled lightly as he swirled the glass cup in his hand. “Ah, so this is the wit of the famous Ethan, nice to know it didn’t fade away during your recovery,” he said before gesturing towards a oaken like desk at the other end of the room. “That would have been such a pity,” he added as he walked towards the desk.

“You know, as much as I enjoy having fans, this is a bit too stalkerish for me,” Ethan replied. “Please tell me you don’t have a shrine built to my ‘honor’ somewhere at home and you’ve been waiting for some of my hair to sniff.”

“No, I don’t have any such thing,” the pale alien replied. “Though I do have your name already registered for fights and have high hopes you’ll bring in a lot of money, as well as lot of excitement to the torments.”

Ethan frowned for a moment and tapped his chin. “Huh, you know, this whole place is really nicely appointed,” he complimented, looking around the office.

“I’m glad you approve,” Drek said.

“Which is going to make it a real shame when Sparky gets here and tears the place down all by her lonesome,” Ethan continued with a chuckle. “Now neither of us want that, so I’d suggest that you let me go right about now because I’m sure she’s already on her way.”

The alien smiled deviously at Ethan. “Ah yes, your magical friend,” he said, chuckling a bit. “You don’t think this is my first time-”

“You sure look like a virgin,” Ethan quipped.

“I see...well, let me tell you, you are gone from the face of the world, literally,” Drek informed him. “You have no magical trace. False trails and hints of where you are have been spread throughout the universe, and you are in a zone where the only laws are made with the ones who have the most money, power, and leverage.” Drek tilted his head up with a pondering thought. “Which just so happens to be me,” he said with smile.

“Neat,” Ethan said with a slight shrug. “You do realize that I’ve done this song and dance before right? I’ll get out of here somehow, always do, and when I’m free I’ll kill you. Like all the others, simple as that. So how about we skip it and you just let me out, kay?”

“And let a criminal into the streets? Then I’d be a very bad warden,” Drek said. He then pointed towards a screen showing Ethan fighting and killing the two aliens. “Killing inmates is a very serious crime here, and mostly is punishable by death.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Huh. So I either do what you want or you have the ‘right’ to kill me, eh?”

“That and other things,” Drek said, pointing towards another screen, showing Ethan’s browned Earth. “You see, I do a lot of things other than conduct this tournament. I also give suggestions on where some weapon company friends of mine can test their new bombs.”

“You’re a little late to the party there tall pale and penis shaped,” Ethan replied casually. “We kind of already got bombed.”

“True...but there’s still people you care on that world, am I correct?” Drek asked. “Like your lovely little wife, and child I presume you talked about while killing two inmates?”

Ethan’s eyes darkened. “Of course you realize that if you do hurt my family in any way I’ll tear off these cuffs and strangle you with them; right?”

“And if you do that, my dear friend Kharon will take you down before you get the chance,” Drek saiding, pointing at the man standing behind Ethan. “And you know how well he can fight.”

“Hmm... well because this is what all this really boils down to, I’d just like to go on record and say that I’m bigger than you... then again, your whole body looks like a penis, so I’m not sure if it really counts,” Ethan said with a slight shrug. “As for your little merc, he took me by surprise.”

Drek chuckled lightly. “So you say, and the rest of the heavy hitters he brought here too,” he told Ethan. “Still, you know the conditions now, and your match is going to start in thirty minutes. So you better get ready.”

"Alrighty then, I look forward to destroying your leverage and killing you,” Ethan told him cheerfully with a smile before looking over to Kharon. “Come on Steamboat Captain, lets get out of here.”

Kharon just stared at Ethan flatly before turning around and guided Ethan out of the room.

“He is going to make me so much money,” Drek chuckled to himself as he took another sip of his drink and turned towards one of screens. “Not only that, but I might have new top gladiator...if he plays along.”


“You actually work for that talking penis?” Ethan asked Kharon incredulously.

“So do you now,” the man replied. “As well as does everyone else here on this station.”

“Na, I’m just biding my time,” Ethan said with a slight chuckle. “The second I see an opening, I’m taking it, just like I’m sure you are.”

“The only opening you’ll have is death,” Kharon said. “Else I would’ve done it long before you.”

“Eh, I’m not sure, you’re kind of too normal to find the right type of opening,” the man said, shrugging his shoulders.

“I’m no more normal than you are Ethan,” the man stated.

“Then you’d have already left,” Ethan pointed out with a smirk.

“No, because there’s no way out,” Kharon stated firmly.

“Give it time,” Ethan said casually. “There’s always a loophole to this type of thing.”

“I've spent thirteen years working for him,” Kharon said in a low and harsh voice. “Bringing chumps like you in. There is no loophole that Drek hasn’t already filled.”

Ethan shrugged again. “And that’s quitter talk, or pussy shit, whichever you’d prefer,” he said.

Kharon rolled his eyes. “I can see that lump in your brain is already affecting your thoughts.”

“Na, that’s just the radiation,” Ethan replied. “I’m probably going to be a ghoul one of these days y’know.”

“My point exactly,” the man said as they reached a lift and Kharon shoved Ethan on to it. “Your match is an advancement round, meaning you’re fighting the heavy vets of this tournament. Don’t take this lightly.”

“Aww, Kharon I didn’t know you cared,” Ethan said in a sing-song voice. The lift began to go up, cutting Ethan’s vision of Kharon off; though as he rose Ethan caught the man just shaking his head before he completely lost sight of him.

“Well... this should be interesting,” Ethan mused to himself as he leaned against the side of the lift. “I hope they give me a weapon of some kind.”

The journey on the lift went for another three minutes before it came to a stop and opened into a completely dark room. Without thinking Ethan flipped on his pip-boy light and walked inside, but as he did the lights were turned on and in front of him were his armor, sword, and weapons sitting on a table. The energy chain in the hand curf also turned off, giving the man full range of arm motion again.

“Now aren’t you guys a sight for sore eyes,” Ethan chuckled as he quickly pulled on his armour, letting out a sigh as the comforting feeling of his forty pound duster settled over his shoulders.

Ethan then drew his sword from its sheath, making sure that it was still good to go. It was, flawless as always. He kissed the blade lightly before sheathing it again and putting it across his back. As for the other weapons, he picked up a 12.7mm submachine gun and the Novasurge, foregoing the Blackhawk and the second submachinegun. Ethan stretched his back and did a few more little routines before looking around.

“Okay, let’s kick some ass,” he said with a small chuckle.

Another door opened, allowing a large a very bright room and the roar of a crowd to seep through. Ethan also heard an enthusiastic voice shouting.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” the voice roared. “ARE YOU READY TO SEE THE CRAZY SON OF A BITCH?” The crowd roared their approval. “WELL THEN YOU CAME TO THE RIGHT PLACE! AND OH BOY DO WE HAVE A SHOW FOR YOU TONIGHT?!”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “When the hell did I get so famous?”

“HE’S THE MAN WHO STOPPED A LEGION OF POWER ARMOURED BOY SCOUTS IN HIS UNDERWEAR, HE’S THE ONE WHO LED AN ARMY AGAINST A NECROMANCER, HE’S THE ONE WHO ROUTINELY MOCKS A MEMBER OF THE DIVINE, FAUST HERSELF! HE’S....”

The floor beneath Ethan began to rise and came to a stop, depositing the man in a large circular arena. The edge of the circle was ringed by lava and above that were stands full of millions of spectators, most of whom Ethan didn’t recognize, but he did spot a few humans among the audience.

“ETHAN SMITH!” the announcer roared, and getting a roar of response from the crowd. Ethan stood there for a oment, gathering his wits about him before he took a deep bow to the crowd.

“Well it’s nice to know I’ve got fans at least,” Ethan mused. “Question is, do I have any fan girls yet?”

“ETHAN SMITH, ARE YOU READY TO FACE THE FOUR ARMED BUTCHER!” The announcer shouted at him. Ethan raised an eyebrow, but gave the crowd a thumbs up, eliciting what sounded like a squeal of awe from several female members of the crowd.

“God, I am sexy,” Ethan grinned.

Another lift rose up on the other side of the arena, bringing up a creature that caused Ethan to raise an eyebrow slightly. The alien was clearly near seven feet tall, with bright red skin, four arms nearly the size of cannon barrels and four yellow pupil-less eyes. It wore heavy power armor for protection and held two curved sword in its lower hands. The other hands were wielding a pair of large metallic guns with glowing spots on their tops, each weapon bigger than an anti-materiel rifle.

“AS YOU KNOW THE FOUR ARMED BUTCHER HAS OVER THIRTY KILLS TO HIS NAME AND IS LOOKING FOR HIS THIRTY FIRST. HE’S SMOTE SUCH FIERCE WARRIORS AS ULFRIC STORMCLOAK, THE NINJA TURTLE DONATELLO, AND THE MOST DANGEROUS OF ALL; THE MIGHTY SNARF WHO COULD KILL WITH THE POWER OF HIS VOICE ALONE!”

The crowd roared a cheer at the four armed alien who didn’t really acknowledge it but was cracking his neck side to side and rotating his arms.

Ethan observed this for a moment before raising an eyebrow. “So, do you have four of all appendages?” the man asked the alien with a chuckle.

“Humph, you humans are all alike, you talk big but are truly small,” the Butcher scoffed.

“Heh, small eh? I don’t remember your sister complaining last night,” Ethan said with a chuckle. “Of course, that may have been because of all the bondage stuff, hard to scream with a bit in your mouth.”

The Butcher just snarled at the man as the crowd, the women in particular, cheered their approval.

“GLADIATORS, FIGHT!” the announcer shouted.

The Butcher made the first move, both of his machine guns firing simultaneously, unleashing fast bolts of hot burning plasma towards Ethan. Ethan nimbly strafed around the incoming bolts, sending a stream of 12.7mm rounds into the gun in the Butcher’s right arm. Half a dozen or so bullet impacted the gun, but the Butcher held his gun firmly in his hand and it continued to fire as he trailed the man with it.

Ethan weaved in and out between the blasts of plasma, firing his own gun at when he had a good shot, the bullets hit the Butcher’s armour, not doing much damage. Then, the man got closer to the four armed being and reached into his pocket with his free hand, drawing out a pulse grenade and throwing it at the Butcher.

The grenade went off, causing a small shock to course through the four armed being, but he shook it off; however his guns seemed to stop working. The red man snarled harshly at Ethan.

“Aww, what’s the matter Butchy, your fancy guns not working right?” Ethan cooed at the being, letting out a chuckle. “What a shame.”

The Butcher just charged towards the man instead of replying, bringing both his swords down in matching overhead swings. Ethan just chuckled again and sidestepped, causing the swords to slam into the ground.

“Come on Butchy, you were talking all that good shit a second ago,” Ethan mocked, holstering his submachine gun and drawing his red bastard sword off of his back. “Aren’t I ‘all talk’?”

The Butcher recovered from his failed attempt and quickly went into an assault of deadly duel swings coming in at every sort of direction at Ethan. The man blocked one blow after another, throwing in a parry or two as well just to keep things interesting. However, he was being slowly forced back across the arena floor, closer and closer to the lava. The crowd oohed and there were several nervous titters from among them as they saw the man being pushed back.

The pair of sword clashed vertically against the red blade and then came at Ethan from both sides, forcing the man to jump back away from it. The Butcher grinned and slashed again, Ethan parried the first blade and then the second before closing the gap between them and slashing the Butcher across the chest, earning a few drops of red blood. The Butcher snarled and sent his blades flaring out at Ethan who was once more forced to jump back.

As he did so Ethan realized that he was almost at the edge of the metal floor, the heat from the lava nipping at his heels. The Butcher smiled as he unleashed a hard horizontal swing and went to slice into Ethan’s chest. The blades slammed into him, going straight through and coming out Ethan’s back.

The red blade fell from Ethan’s hand and he slumped against the blade. The Butcher didn’t stop as the other bade went in for a stab and pierced into the man’s guts. The four armed alien raised Ethan up and over the lava.

“Where’s your talk now huh?” he asked with a chuckle as he was prepared to dump Ethan’s lifeless body into the lava.

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

The Butcher collapsed backwards, his head melting into a gooey ball of plasma which dripped down his shoulders. Ethan pried the sword out of his chest as well as the one in his stomach and chuckled before kicking the Butcher’s body into the lava.

“Well, that was fun,” he said with a grin as the holes in his chest closed up. The holes in his armour did the same, thanks to a particularly helpful enchantment from Rarity... along with bottomless pockets, he loved that one. “Really had you guys going there for a moment with the possum act, didn’t I?” he added, looking up at the crowd with a smirk on his face.

“THE CRAZY SON OF A BITCH IS VICTORIOUS!” The announcer shouted, followed by a cheer from the crowd. Ethan took a bow and blew on tip of his Novasurge before holstering the pistol and giving the crowd another bow.

“Thank you, thank you all, you’re all beautiful,” Ethan said with a smile, playing to the crowd.

“HEAD BACK TO THE LIFT NOW VICTOR; ENJOY THE FEELING OF LIVING ANOTHER DAY!” The announcer shouted.

Ethan did so, and as he stepped onto the lift, gave the crowd a final wave. The lift began to lowered as the crowd gave the man one final roaring cheer chanting his name.

“ETHAN! ETHAN! ETHAN!”

If only I was a narcissist, the man thought with a small chuckle.

A door closed, cutting nearly half of the sound off and the lift brought Ethan back into the room where he geared up.

“Please return your gear,” a female synthesised voice spoke through a set of speakers. “Or face imminent disintegration.”

“Aww, and here I was thinking I’d stroll into Drek’s room and shoot him in the face,” Ethan grumbled as he stripped out of his armour and then put the brown clothing back on. “Good?”

A thin blue line of line started to slowly scroll over Ethan’s body. Once it was done a green light flash.

“You are clear to proceed, have a nice day,” the voice said. A set of doors open to show another lift and the man got on to begin the slightly long trip back down. In order to entertain himself, he tapped a few buttons on his Pip-boy, and ‘Let’s go Sunning’ started to play.

“Best twenty minutes of figuring out how to copy files I ever spent,” Ethan mused as the bright song played.

Three minutes pass before the lift stop and opened to the shared living quarters. There was a small group of aliens who, when they saw the man on the lift, began to mutter to whoever was next to them.

“That was some damn fight there,” Glen’s voice spoke from the side of the lift.

Ethan looked down to see the dark brown earth pony with her hazel mane covering the right side of her face standing against to the wall. “Meh, I give it a three, I baited that moron and he didn’t even notice it. But thanks.”

“Hell, I didn’t notice it,” the mare said. “Taking a sword in the gut and being able to shrug it off like nothing? Hell, you must be mutated or something.”

“You think that’s impressive?” Ethan asked with a small chuckle as he started to walk away from the lift, walking at an easy pace so that Glen wouldn’t have to work hard to keep up with him. “I’ve been bathed in dragon fire, fun times.”

Glen let out a low whistle. “Dang, that’s bloody impressive,” she stated. “I’ve never seen a dragon, but heard about their fire. Could melt steel like it was plastic.”

“Yep, lost all my skin,” the man agreed with a nod. “Most of my organs too. Then me and Jonathan, the dragon, drank mead and told awful jokes.”

“Heh, that’s one way to make things up,” Glen said with a small chuckle. “Still, it’s pretty sweet you got that ability of yours. Kind-of make sense why Kharon was the one who got ya. He mostly deals in bringing in the high end ‘volunteers’ to this little home of ours.”

“I guess,” Ethan replied. “Is there any food here, or do I have to sleep with someone first?”

“Nah, food should be arriving for you shortly since you won and all,” she replied. “Though if you’re looking anything for the latter, be careful who ya choose,” she said with a small chuckle.

“Meh, I’m married,” Ethan said, shrugging. “I only sleep with other people when my wife is around to join in; that’s our rule.”

“Smart rule,” Glen said with a smile.

“I’ve always enjoyed it,” the man agreed as they arrived and took seats at the small table he’d been walking towards. “Even got to sleep with Tia and Sparky once... strange night.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” the mare told him. “Though speaking of nights, got a bunk yet?” she asked.

“Nope,” he answered. “You got a free one?”

“Yep,” she replied. “Previous owner got a different place to sleep as he lost his Offworld Event.” She shook her head slightly. “Takes the saying sleeping with fishes to a new level.”

“Neat,” Ethan mused. “And convenient.” He then let out a sigh and brought his pip-boy up to his face for a moment, flipping to a particular picture before a determined look crossed his face and he lowered it back down. “So, when do we break out and kill our way to the living penis?”

Glen gave Ethan a flat look. “If that was possible, I doubt you’d be down here boy-oh,” she told him.

“Hey, status quo only lasts for so long, and I’m one for destroying it,” the man replied with a shrug.

Glen scoffed slightly. “Then I’d like to see you come up with an idea that hasn’t already been thought,” she told him. “Cause I’ve been down here for a year probably, and seen several attempts to get out of this hell hole and seen the same amount of failures.” She shook her head. “Hell, even I tried and got lucky in the punishment, not like the others...” she said slowly with a sigh.

Ethan reached over and gave the mare a scratch behind the ears, to which she responded to by letting out a soft pleased humm before her eye snapped open and she shook her head. She glanced over at Ethan.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked.

“Scratching you behind the ears,” Ethan answered innocently with a shrug. “Sparky always liked it.”

“Well...stop it...I’m not some filly who needs to be coddled,” she said, though not sounding as if she fully meant it.

Ethan gave her a raised eyebrow. “Come on Glen, you know you liked it,” the man said, giving her a grin.

The mare rolled her eye. “Well...your food’s here,” she said, pointing a hoof over the man’s shoulders. Ethan turned to see a very simple robot hovering next to him holding a large pan filled with oatmeal looking food.

“Thank you kindly,” Ethan said as he reached around and grabbed the pan and a small spoon that lay next to it.

The robot turned around and flew away with any words and Ethan inserted the spoon into the slop and brought it up to his mouth. He chewed for a moment and then swallowed before casting a slightly baleful frown in the direction of the plate.

“It tastes like molerat ass,” he grumbled before taking in another few spoonfuls and glancing at Glen and moving the plate between them. “Here, have some, that way we’ll both get food poisoning.”

“Nah, already ate,” she replied with a small shake of her head. “Plus you’re going to need all of it to keep up your strength. You won’t get any more food till you win your next round and who knows when that will happen tomorrow.”

Ethan looked over the mare, she didn’t appear to be wasting away, though she was obviously a little underweight.

“No, I insist,” Ethan said. “I don’t really need much to keep up my strength. I took over an alien mothership surviving off of nothing but snack cakes because I couldn’t stand their food.”

Glen raised an eyebrow at Ethan. “Really? You’re just giving some of it away to a mare you barely know?”

"Yep,” the man replied before taking another spoonful. “It’s what friends do.”

The mare gave the man a long studying look. “You know...you’re not exactly the person I thought you would be,” she said.

“The best people usually aren’t,” Ethan replied sagely. “Now eat up.”

The mare nodded her head. “Hope you don’t mind me eating it straight up, can’t really hold a utensils,” she asked the man.

Ethan shrugged. “I spent the last twenty years of my life living in the Wasteland, I’m not afraid of a few germs or a little pony spit.”

“Fine by me,” Glen said as she leaned her head down and lapped up a bit of the food into her mouth.

The two shared the meal together in relative silence as overhead beings died for the entertainment of the crowd.


Drex studying a screen as it show him the result of Ethan’s fight. The ratings were the highest they’d been in years, the betting quardirible in proffitt, and the crowd were demanding more. The pale alien chuckled delightedly as he took a sip of his drink.

“Oh how plentiful you are Ethan,” he whispered to himself. “And how potent you are going to be to my tournament.” He tapped a button to bring up a screen of the man eating with the pony. “And I know just how to do it,” he said with a devious smile.

Author's Note:

For those of you wondering, Omega and I can write about 5000 words a day if we’re inspired enough, so you’re probably going to be seeing near daily updates of this (And don’t worry, I still work on my others as much as I do on this at about the same pace). Anyways comments are very welcome.