//------------------------------// // Day 1 Part 2 // Story: Dark Wanderings // by ed2481 //------------------------------// Day 1 part 2 The school had seen better days, well in a place called The Wasteland that seemed to be redundant, but it was the first thing that sprang to Twilight’s mind when she looked at the place that they’d be looting. What had once been a house of education had been torn down and replaced by a house of horrors, or at least that’s what the numerous dismembered corpses seemed to say as Twilight approached the entrance. Ethan stopped in front of the door and motioned towards one of the corpses. “This is what we are preventing Twilight, this is why I feel no guilt about killing raiders.” Ethan told her quietly. Twilight gagged slightly at the smell and sight of the corpses but her eyes hardened, she wasn’t a killer no matter the circumstances, there was always a better way. She’d learned that from Fluttershy and the manticore, and then from Rarity and the river serpent, and then finally against Nightmare Moon. Ethan caught her glance and sighed, he was starting to feel slightly guilty about giving her a plasma rifle… But this was a lesson that Twilight needed to learn if she was going to survive in the Wasteland. “Ready?” Ethan asked her. “As I’ll ever be, you can kill them but I’m only aiming for kneecaps.” She told him, Ethan nodded and pushed the door of the school open and walked through, Twilight followed him seconds later. The entrance hall of the school was covered in gray dust and the lights overhead flickered and occasionally cut off completely only to restart suddenly. Ethan drew a shotgun off of his back and crouched next Twilight. “Alright Sparky here’s the plan, you follow me and watch my back for raiders who try and sneak up on us. Shoot them in the kneecaps if you want but be careful, don’t let them get to close to you. Remember armor is always a good defense, but it’s never perfect.” He told her at a whisper. “After we kill all the raiders we go through the rooms inch by inch and I teach you what to look for. Stay close.” He told her before rising out of his crouch. They began their way down the corridor with Ethan walking fearlessly with a peaceful expression on his face. Twilight for her part stayed right behind him keeping her plasma rifle held aloft in a small field of purple magic. From up ahead she heard the harsh voices of raiders. “God dammit I’m hungry, we haven’t had any fresh meat in weeks!” One whined from behind a doorway. “Eat those potato chips and shut the hell up!” Another replied. “But I want meat!” The first protested. “I don’t give a damn!” The other shouted. The conversation stopped and Twilight heard disheartened munching coming from behind the door in front of them. After a few seconds it began again. “Hey you ever wonder why we’re here?” The one who had first talked asked the other. As if on cue Ethan kicked the door open and unloaded a quick blast into the raider eating chips. The raider’s head exploded in a wild fountain of blood and brain matter. Before he could turn to kill the next Twilight shot a blast of plasma at the man’s right kneecap. He fell to the floor with a howl of pain and Ethan finished him with a quick shot to the stomach. Much to Twilight’s disgust her face got caught in a stream of the blood that issued forth from the gaping hole in the man’s stomach. She scrubbed at it furiously and Ethan handed her a random napkin to help. “Sorry, you may want to stand back a little farther when I do that.” Ethan told her with a small smile. “Thanks for the warning.” Twilight replied dryly. “Anything to help a friend, now let’s see if we can’t find any others.” Ethan told her. They left the small room and reentered the hallway. Apparently Ethan’s shotgun blasts had alerted the other raiders to their presence because Twilight could hear raiders calling taunts. “Come out you pussy!” “They’re a real eloquent bunch aren’t they?” Ethan asked her with a chuckle. “Well they’re looking for us now, stay sharp Sparky.” Twilight nodded and leveled her rifle. They set off along the hallway again and Twilight had to stifle the urge to gasp at the number of small skeletons they were walking by. When she accidentally touched one of the skeletons Twilight flinched, this had been the body of a child who had come to learn. Now it was nothing more than a nameless skeleton inside a forgotten school, one among hundreds. Ethan softly placed his hand on her shoulder and waited patiently while she regained her breath. “Ethan this is…” Twilight began but couldn’t finish. “I know Sparky.” Ethan told her sadly while he shook his head. “Come on we have dogs to put down.” He added before gently pulling her away from the small skeleton. As they continued down the hallway a raider appeared out of a classroom and opened up on them with an assault rifle. Without missing a beat Ethan holstered his combat shotgun and drew a scoped magnum before shooting the raider in the head causing another showery explosion of gore. Twilight flinched again but said nothing as they continued down the hallway. Suddenly another raider stepped out of the room that they’d just and leveled his gun on Ethan’s head, Twilight heard the crunch of the raider’s boots on the crumbling tile and turned to see the raider about to pull the trigger. She reacted without thinking and sent a glowing green ball of plasma rushing towards the raider’s kneecap. The raider howled in pain as the bolt hit him and he fell over on the ground writhing in pain. Ethan turned and with a serene look on his face placed a magnum round between the raider’s eyes. One exploded head later they continued down the hallway. “I’m telling you man the Lone Wanderer is here and he’s going to kill us.” She heard a raider say through a door. “And I’m telling you that he’s not that tough, hell I could take him blindfolded.” Another said. “Both of ya shut your mouths; you’re bringing us bad luck!” Another told them angrily. “I wouldn’t say that exactly, mostly because I think you’d all probably be better off dead.” Ethan told them with a shrug from where he was leaning in the now open doorway. “You!” One of the raiders shouted pulling out a small pistol. “Me.” Ethan agreed with a nod as he placed a shotgun shell in the man’s chest sending the man flying backwards into the table where he’d been sitting. Twilight’s shot missed her target and impacted against the back wall with small hiss. The raider that Twilight had been aiming at shot her in the shoulder with a 10 millimeter pistol. But the tiny round dinged painlessly off of her armor, Twilight’s next shot struck true and dropped the raider to the ground. Meanwhile Ethan had already made short work of the last raider cleanly blasting the woman’s chest apart. Twilight looked at the three dead bodies and fought down the terrible urge to puke up her omelet. “Good work Sparks that’s all of them on this floor, now we head back to the entrance and comb through the rooms for supplies.” Ethan told her before walking back towards the entrance. “How do you know we got them all?” Twilight asked. “My pipboy has a HUD, or a Heads Up Display. It tells me if there are any hostiles present and right now it says that we’re clear.” Ethan explained showing Twilight the boxy thing on his wrist. “So you knew about the raider that was going to come out of that door didn’t you?” Twilight asked suspiciously as they walked past the corpse. “Yeah but I figured you’d catch him, great reaction time by the way.” Ethan told her with a grin. “What if they’d hurt you, or me?” Twilight asked. “Then I’d heal you with a stimpack.” Ethan told her with a shrug. “I mean sure they aren’t a miracle cure for everything, but they treat small bullet wounds very nicely.” He added. “Then why did you have to cut the last one out of me?” Twilight asked. “Because you weren’t wearing any armor and I was worried about the blood that you’d lost before I appeared.” Ethan replied. Twilight nodded and they walked back to the first room. “So what now?” Twilight asked. “Now we loot.” Ethan replied with a grin. “Open up any boxes that you see and bring anything that you find to me, I’ll teach you what’s important and valuable.” He told her with a smile. Twilight left his side and went over to a stack of metal boxes. She pulled the top off of one and found that it was empty. Another top went off and Twilight found a small crate of objects, with a shrug she picked it out of the box and set it on the floor beside her. Among the other few boxes she found a leather belt, a fission battery, a conductor, a small pistol, and a few bottlecaps. She pocketed the caps immediately (she still didn’t understand what possessed people to use them as money but she wasn’t going to argue). She brought the rest of her loot over to Ethan for inspection. “Alright let’s see what you’ve got.” Ethan told her with a grin as he kneeled down next to her. “Hmm a fission battery, these are valuable and usually go for anything from twenty five to seventyish if you’re smooth enough.” He told her tossing her the small boxy object. “A conductor, these are worth a little less than the battery but are still good enough to be worth taking.” He said tossing her the conductor. “Hmm a crate of cigarettes (I still don’t know why people in the Wasteland smoke when there are so many other dangers out there) but that doesn’t stop them from being valuable.” He said with a roll of his eyes before he passed Twilight the box. He threw the belt away without even explaining anything to her so Twilight assumed that it was worthless. Ethan’s gaze fell upon the small pistol that she’d found and he chuckled before he tossed it away. “Don’t bother with .32s, trust me they’re completely worthless, although .32 ammo is useful for hunting rifles so always grab some of that.” Ethan said with a smile. “Alright Sparky onto the most profitable part of looting, looting the dead.” Ethan told her gesturing at the two dead raiders who Twilight had been ignoring. “Isn’t that disrespectful?” Twilight asked. “I don’t think they had any self respect to begin with so I doubt that they’ll mind.” Ethan replied with a shrug. He walked over to the first raider and gestured for Twilight to look through his stuff. “Do I have to touch him?” Twilight asked looking at the corpse unsteadily. “You could hold him upside down and shake him like a bag if you wanted.” Ethan replied, and then facepalmed when Twilight did just that using her magic. “I was kidding Sparky, sorry but you’re going to have to touch the dead out here. If it makes you feel better he probably would’ve raped you to death, eaten your flesh, and then sewn your skins into his clothing. And if you were very, very lucky, he’d have done it in that order.” He added; Twilight turned to stare at him. “Did you see those bodies outside; who did you think did that?” “I, I’m sorry.” Twilight said softly. “Hey hey, don’t worry about it; you have my word that nothing like that will ever happen to you.” Ethan told her seriously while he gave her a small hug. “Now let’s get back to looting the corpses.” He said motioning towards the corpses. Twilight nodded slowly and looked back at the corpses. “Alright looting people is actually easier then you’d think; all you have to do is search their pockets and other belongings for ammo, caps, and the occasional sidearm.” Ethan explained as he began to pull out the pockets on the first raider’s ratty armor. He produced two small boxes of ammo and a 10 millimeter pistol which he tossed to Twilight. “Okay, I can do that, I thought you wanted me to touch their bodies.” Twilight told Ethan. “I didn’t know you were into that.” Ethan said with a laugh, Twilight threw an empty soda bottle at him. *** “Ah can’t believe that we didn’t find hide nor hair of Twilight.” Applejack said with a frown as the five friends (plus Spike) sat around the suite that they’d been given. “Don’t worry AJ we’ll find her!” Dash said with a grin. “Yeah silly it’s not like she’s in Hoofington.” Pinkie said with a shrug, the rest of her friends looked at her in confusion. “Oh right, ignore me.” Pinkie said with a grin. “Pinkie darling you are so random.” Rarity said with a sigh. “So let’s go over the situation again, Twilight’s disappeared, we can’t find any evidence of where she’s gone, and we have no way of knowing whether she’s alive or not.” Spike said drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “What’re ya gettin at Spike?” Applejack asked. “Nothing; sorry after living with Twilight for so long I’ve gotten used to ordering everything.” Spike told them with an unhappy shrug. “I just can’t believe that she’s gone…” He said trailing off. “It’ll be okay Spike; Twilight’s the most resourceful pony I know.” Fluttershy told him wrapping her arm around the baby dragon who sighed. “I guess you’re right, but I still worry, ya know?” He asked. “Of course we do Spikey, we all miss Twilight very much.” Rarity said with a small sigh. “I only wish that there was something we could do to help the poor dear.” She added with a shrug. “We can’t give up yet, come on let’s go back to the Princess’s room and see if we can find anything that we missed earlier!” Dash told her friends who nodded in agreement. “We’re coming for ya Twi!” Applejack whispered as they left the room. *** After her first bout of squeamishness Twilight found that going through the pockets of raiders wasn’t so bad, well as long as their bodies were still in one piece (she refused to touch the ones who had been completely obliterated by shotgun rounds). In the end Twilight collected four 10 millimeter pistols (Ethan promised to teach her how to take them apart for the best parts) around 75 spare caps, and an assault rifle along with an intermittent amount of ammo for the guns. “There are more raiders in this building right?” Twilight asked Ethan as they walked down the hallway. “Yeah, why?” He asked. “Well shouldn’t they have come running a while ago when we were killing their friends?” Twilight asked him. “To be honest I have no idea why they don’t, for some reason I’m never attacked by people from different floors.” Ethan replied with a shrug. “That is very odd…” Twilight said trailing off. “Sparky don’t question these things, it’s for the best regardless.” Ethan told her with another shrug. “Now we hit the basement.” The two of them made their way into the basement and quietly snuck along the darkened corridor. There were more skeletons down here and Twilight tried not to think about them but they just kept grinning at her out of the corners of her eyes. Twilight started to hyperventilate and she began to see more and more skulls grinning crookedly at her, all of them seemed to be asking her why they’d had to die. Then the corpses of the raiders she’d looted came crawling out of the shadows their eyes lifeless and black as they looked at her imploringly. Her eyes widened and sweat began coat her body underneath her armor which suddenly felt unbelievably constricting. Suddenly movement to her left spooked her and she screamed loudly and began to fire her plasma rifle at the shape in the darkness who began to walk closer and closer. Suddenly her rifle ran out of ammo and she started to scream louder while beating the shadowed shape with the butt of the rifle. Suddenly the shadow grabbed the rifle from her magic grip and tossed it away before staling closer. Twilight resorted to shooting bolts of pure force at the shape but it shrugged them off as it continued its horde bipedal advance. “Get away from me you monster!” Twilight shouted, a palm shot towards her face and Twilight fell to the ground where she lay and began to cry while she muttered. “I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home…” She was so caught up in her breakdown that she didn’t hear Ethan hiss at the pain of the plasma burns as he injected himself with several stimpacks. Ethan was extremely relieved that he hadn’t melted; he also took a few seconds to mine the hallway so that no one would be sneaking up on them before he headed back to Twilight. A few minutes passed while Twilight lay there begging to go home (a raider found himself missing a leg during that time as well) before she looked up and found Ethan sitting on the floor next to her with a sad expression on his face. “I shot you didn’t I?” She asked in a small voice. “Sparky, you’re a young woman a long way from home in a hostile environment. That’s the right response to have.” Ethan told her gently as he began to stroke her mane with his hand. “But I could’ve killed you.” Twilight said in a remarkably accurate imitation of Fluttershy. “Na, remember what I said about me being hard to kill?” He asked her with a chuckle (he wasn’t going to tell her about the random chance of turning people into goo at the moment). “But I, I just went a little insane…” Twilight said. “Sparky it’s the wasteland; we’re all insane in our own ways out here.” Ethan told her as he stroked her mane. “I didn’t hurt you to bad did I?” Twilight asked him with big scarred eyes. “No, I’m fine. Trust me I’ve suffered a lot of plasma burns in my time. I’ll tell you what, I don’t think that you’re up to finishing this building so why don’t we go back to Megaton for a while?” He asked her with a smile. “That sounds nice.” Twilight told him quietly, an explosion sounded from farther down the hall but Twilight didn’t hear it and Ethan ignored it… although he did make a mental note about making sure that he ran through latter once Twilight had gone to sleep, he wasn’t the kind to let a mine go to waste. *** Celestia looked on in slight resignation at Twilight’s friends began to once again ransack her room looking for any clue that could possibly tell them more about Twilight’s disappearance. “I think I’m going to leave you six to it, send a guard if you find anything.” Celestia informed them before teleporting out to the royal gardens. She sighed happily as she looked around the peaceful greenery of the gardens, she’d always come here to relax in times of stress and now was no different. She walked through the gardens until she found one of the more seclude spots. It was a small clearing with a magically created waterfall and a small pool. The trees surrounding the clearing cast leafy shadows but unlike the trees of Everfree these only increased the sense of calm about the place. Little birds chirped happily as they flew in and out of the leaves, and on top of the waterfall Celestia felt the respectful eyes of a falcon regarding her. “Don’t fear me friend, I’m simply here to relax my mind.” Celestia told the falcon. “Are you now, what’s gotten my Tia in a tizzy?” A voice off to her right asked. “Buzz off Discord; I’m not in the mood.” Celestia said with a huff as the spirit of disharmony and chaos appeared sprawling beside her on the grass. He wasn’t really there of course but it’s hard to keep a god of his strength fully imprisoned and his spirit was free to wander. Most didn’t notice him but neither Princess was that fortunate. “My, my; someone really is in a tizzy today.” Discord said with a slight chuckle. “What’s the matter my dear Tia, I do hate to see you in distress?” Discord asked her. (The unspoken words “unless I cause it” echoed in both of their minds) “I’m not going to tell you, you’d only laugh.” The alicorn of the sun told Discord who chuckled causing Celestia to glare at him. “I apologize Tia; it’s just that you know me so well at this point.” Discord said with another chuckle. “Yes I suppose I do.” Celestia replied before looking at the waterfall. “Then you should know that I am a god of neutrality my dear.” He told her with a slight grin. “Yes but you’re hardly lawful.” Celestia told him with a small smirk. “Well I do tend to fall into the chaotic side of the neutrality spectrum, I’ll give you that.” Discord consented with a shrug. “Yes, and you’re also a fan of mind rape.” She said glaring at him. “Not mind rape Tia, mind adjustment. If it were rape then you’re student and her friends would’ve been vegetables by the time I was done. In fact if they’d just solved the riddle in the first place I wouldn’t have been able to separate them and I’d have been turned back into stone much faster.” Discord told her with a shrug (he looked offended at the implications of rape) and his face became slightly contorted by sorrow. “Tia we both know that I’m no demon, and I certainly wouldn’t debase myself in that way.” “Stow the noble act Discord, we both know that you couldn’t care less about what happens to those whom you entertain yourself with.” Celestia snapped. “If this is about Luna I’d just like to say that I had no intentions of pushing her that far.” Discord said defending himself. “You forced me to trap her on the moon; can you possibly imagine what that was like for me? I had to send my only family to the moon for a thousand years!” Celestia shouted at him. “Tia my family is dead.” Discord told her simply. “Yes and the world is a much better place for it.” Celestia replied harshly. “That is true and I cannot fault you for it, they were terrible… I was simply stating the fact that I do in fact know what it’s like to lose a family member, at least you got yours back.” He told her narrowing his eyes slightly. “And now I’ve lost one of them again.” Celestia said with a sad sigh before her hoof flew to her mouth. “Why would you complain about losing that royal brat, I swear Tia you let that blonde little shit be brought up terribly.” Discord said scoffing. “Prince Blueblood is fine, as is Cadence.” Celestia told him. “Then who could possibly have you in such tizzy?” Discord asked in annoyance. “Who do you think?” She asked him darkly. “Sparky’s gone missing?” Discord asked in shocked surprise, Celestia raised an eyebrow (she hadn’t expected him to really care). “Yes, Twilight Sparkle has gone missing.” Celestia told him emphasizing her full name. “Drat, I liked her. She’s strong hearted and extremely talented, also she showed admirable courage when we fought.” Discord said. “You liked her?” Celestia asked taken completely off guard. “Of course Tia, I like you, I like Lulu, and I like any who can pose an interesting challenge. I like the yellow pink maned one too for that matter, but that’s not the point here.” Discord said with a grimace. “You actually care, I’m surprised.” Celestia told him and Discord blushed a little. “I care very much about those who can put up a fight, without them immortal life get’s impossibly boring.” Discord said with a sigh. “I know the feeling.” Celestia replied and they shared a quiet chuckle together. “So what happened?” Discord asked after a few moments of silence. “We were testing a new teleporting spell, she vanished in a flash of green fiery light and there hasn’t been a trace of her since.” Celestia told him with a sigh. “Tia I can only think of one pony who uses magic like that.” Discord told her. “And if I have to spell it out to you I’ll lose respect for you…” He added trailing off. Celestia thought about it, and smacked herself in the face with a hoof. “Why the hell didn’t I think of that?” She groaned. “Because you didn’t have anyone to point out the obvious, now run along Tia and make sure to tell me how it goes.” Discord told her before he disappeared. Celestia immediately teleported to Luna’s room and roused her sister, they needed to have words with somepony… *** Twilight looked much better then she had in the basement. Her eyes were no longer clouded with fear and she’d regained control of her emotions enough to smile and make small talk with Ethan as they made their way back out of the building. Just as she walked out the door a rough arm encircled her neck and Twilight suddenly found herself being held by someone wearing black combat armor while a boxy object was pressed to the side of her head. “Put her down .” Ethan told the man holding her calmly, but there was a very noticeable edge of solid steel underneath the calm. “We’re here for the unicorn, piss off.” The man holding Twilight said roughly. “Do you know who I am?” Ethan asked just as calmly as before. “You’re the pussy this little bitch is traveling with.” The man told Ethan arrogantly. “I’m the Lone Wanderer you idiot!” Ethan told him in exasperation. “Yeah and I don’t give a shit, this little bitch is very important to someone and we’re taking her back to the fort.” Her captor said. “No, you’re putting her down and then I’ll let you walk away with your lives.” Ethan replied simply. This drew laughter from the man and several who Twilight couldn’t see. “That’s not happening; we’re being paid seventy five thousand caps each to bag this bitch.” The man holding her said. “Where would you possibly spend that kind of money?” Ethan asked. “Vegas idiot!” The man told Ethan as if it should’ve been obvious. “My wife runs that city.” Ethan replied calmly. “And trust me she’d have you shot at the border.” He added. “Oh I’m so scared of the cunt in the leather duster and her army of windup toys.” The man said and several of his men laughed. Suddenly Twilight realized that she was being an idiot. She winked at Ethan whose face was somewhere between livid and absolutely terrifying, and then teleported herself next to him in a bright flash of light. “Ethan I think I wouldn’t mind killing these men.” Twilight said calmly as she raised her plasma rifle. “Okay, but the one in the middle is mine.” Ethan told her with a grin before he drew his magnum and shot the lead mercenary in the kneecaps. Twilight fired off four rapid shots of her plasma rifle aiming at the centers of mass of the other two mercenaries. To her significant surprise they both melted into green goo. “What in Celestia’s scorching solar mare heat was that?!” She shouted (Celestia randomly looked up from where she was putting on her golden armor and frowned) “Oh right I forgot to tell you Twilight, occasionally plasma rifle shots liquefy people, I’ll talk about after I’m done with the shit who called my wife a cunt.” Ethan told her offhandedly before turning back to the mercenary sprawled before him. With a quick flash he injected a stimpack into the mercenary who looked at him in surprise. Then with a wicked grin Ethan pulled out a 10 millimeter pistol. First he punched the merc in the face to stun him and then he methodically unloaded the pistol up and down the length of the mercenary’s legs. He repeated the process several times before he began kicking the man in the stomach. Twilight watched in horrified fascination as her normally calm and easygoing protector unleashed his anger on the prostrate man. When he was done kicking the man Ethan pulled the man up by his hair and forcibly stabbed a stimpack into the man’s neck before shoving him back to the ground where he kicked the man in the balls several times. Then as the man groaned Ethan pulled him back into the air by the front of his armor and held the man in the air in front of him. With a smile Ethan slammed the man into the ground face first. Twilight winced as she heard teeth break. Then Ethan injected yet another stimpack into the man’s neck and held him up again. “Listen to me and listen very carefully because I’m only saying this once and if you don’t do exactly what I tell you to then I’ll hunt you down and make this feel like a walk through the park.” Ethan told the man, who nodded rapidly (if somewhat unsteadily) “Whatever you say mister I swear it to you!” The man shouted. “Good, that’s what I like to hear. Tell your boss that he is to drop the contract against the unicorn, and if he doesn’t I will come to his base and crucify him on a railway spike!” Ethan told the man, his voice had returned to its normal calm but Twilight could tell how serious he was. “After you deliver that message you will join the members of the church at Rivet City and if I ever catch you out of uniform I will personally feed you to radroaches…alive .” Ethan told the man before tossing him to the ground. “Now get out of my sight before you make me really mad.” Ethan said with a glare. The mercenary scrambled to his feet and ran off heading exactly where Ethan wanted him to. “Ethan?” Twilight asked. “Sorry Twilight, it had to be done.” Ethan told her with a sigh. “God dammit, I came to close to killing him!” Ethan added and a small sob escaped his lips. “It’s okay Ethan, I’m fine and he’s alive.” Twilight said comfortingly. “It isn’t that Sparky, I let my rage get the better of me...again…” Ethan replied darkly. “Let’s go back to Megaton.” Twilight told him quietly. “Yeah, let’s.” They vanished in a flash of light. *** “She is here sir.” A man in plain combat armor reported with a salute. “Perfect.” The man behind the desk replied, his nose had been broken and set badly which caused his voice to come out in a cruel mockery of what it used to. “Orders sir?” The man in combat armor asked. “Let the fools wanderer for a while longer, the plan isn’t quite ready for them yet.” The man said adjusting his glasses. “As you wish sir, true to Ceasar.”