Chapter 37
I stepped into our bedroom, ducking under the door frame as I did so. Being close to seven feet tall was an adjustment for half of me, since the other half is used to being 6’3.
With a groan, I stretched my arms above my head, hitting the ceiling. Then I saw myself in the mirror attached to the bathroom door.
A wide grin spread across my face as I flexed, watching the muscles ripple along my body.
(Fucking sexy.)
<You’re damn right we are!>
I raised my claws, watching as I brought out my Ego blades. They seemed to spread over my existing claws, turning my claws into indestructible talons of death.
Looking back to the mirror, I flashed my already razor sharp teeth. My Ego blades did the same thing to my teeth, covering them and making me look extra frightening as the starry metal coated them.
(We look like an apex predator now!)
With a twirl, I struck a pose, flexing my muscles again.
<Now, how do we go about ending this?>
(Aww, tired of me already?)
<Quiet you.>
I laughed out loud as I hugged my arms to myself. As we willed ourselves to split, a weird feeling fell over us.
ooo000<^>000ooo
We stumbled away from each other, a bit confused at first. But as we looked at each other, we broke into giggling messes.
“That was amazing!” I exclaimed as I jumped into her, the two of us embracing.
“We are so overpowered together! With all your technical knowledge and my Thorn, I don’t think anyone stands a chance against us!” She yelled happily as she spun me around in circles.
As we broke our embrace and she sat me down, I gave her leg a playful punch as I walked around her and headed for the door to the hallway.
“Going to check on him again?” she asked as she took off her clothes and began to get into her comfy attire.
I sighed with a little smile, “Yeah, if he’s doing his memory trip again, I’ll be coming back.”
“I await you then,” she said with a wink as she flopped back onto the bed and grabbed her little gaming device, one given to us by Greg after he used the fabricator Lance had set up.
Trotting through the house, I came to the kitchen and opened the fridge. I scanned the few bottles of alcoholic drinks I had. Deciding on a bottle of Everclear 190, I pulled it out and smiled to myself. I’m not much of a drinker, but it's nice to take a few swigs while checking on Lance. It helped calm my nerves and allow me to sleep mostly uninterrupted. The others weren’t the only ones who’d have night terrors.
Stepping outside, I took a test sip from the Everclear, coughing a bit as I did so. Tasted like straight lighter fluid. Shaking it off, I took another swig and walked down the back steps into my dark backyard. Walking across it I came to my fence and leaned on it, staring straight out into the mostly blank, grassy area that led to a cliff that overlooked an ocean.
It didn’t take me long to see Lance at the edge of the cliff, his usual spot. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, other than he seemed to be talking to someone.
Squinting my eyes, I could just barely make out the little fairy form of Castor, floating in front of Lance.
“Hm,” I grunted as I took another swig of my beverage. I debated on whether this counted as checking on him and if I should head back to Mallogory. But at the sight of him seeming upset, and then hearing him yell something loudly. I sigh.
I wait a few more moments before hopping my fence and walking in his direction.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“It’s forbidden, Lance,” Castor said calmly as Lance huffed in frustration. “I could help you create this card, but by doing so, and you using it, you’ll lose all your Ego based abilities and be forbidden from ever leaving your home dimension again once you return to it.”
“I don’t care, it’ll be worth it,” Lance responded, shaking in anger.
“It also can’t be used the way you think it can be; it has many rules and limitations. And if you do actually use it, every single being in existence will know it happened, and will remember everything. The effects are unfathomable,” Castor continued, unwavering in his tone and facial expression.
“But it can be done?” Lance pushed. “How about you let me worry about the drawbacks and negative outcomes.”
Castor blinked at him, a small frown appearing on his little face. “I’ve grown fond of you, Lance. I do not want to see you hurt or punished for using an ability like this.”
“Castor, please,” Lance said, looking at the fairy before him with tired eyes. “Just… please.”
With a deep sigh, he gave a nod.
With a flip of his hoof, a card appeared between them. Castor eyed it sadly as he raised his hand and infused it with a touch of his powers.
Lance smiled in relief as he took the card back, “Thank you, Castor.”
“I must warn you though; when I said it had limitations, it does. You can not use it in the way you intended. It has a ten minute max limit on it, no more.”
“TEN MINUTES?!” Lance screamed out, eyes ablaze with fury.
“I told you, it is impossible to fix the mistakes of the past in the way you intended. I give you this power to use, but it can only be used once. After that, the UAD will know what you have done and they will instantly take your Ego and place a ward on you. The moment you return to your home dimension, you will be locked there till your death.”
Lance growled, “And is my home dimension the earth that God took? Or Equestria?”
“The one true being took your original dimension and made the dimension of Equestria your new home dimension, so once you return there, it’ll be where you’ll stay.”
Lance grumbled, shaking his head. “Well this card is just useless then! I can’t use it to save my family, so this whole thing was just a waste!”
“I am sorry, Lance,” Castor said, glancing to the side and seeing Scamp approaching them. “I take my leave. Just,” he looked at Lance with sad eyes, “try not to have to use that card.”
“Sure,” Lance rolled his eyes and stared out at the ocean before him, clearly upset.
Castor disappeared just as Scamp reached them.
“Everything alright?” she asked as she came up beside him and sat down beside him.
“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “Just talking strategy with Castor.”
“And it didn’t go the way you hoped?” she questioned with a sympathetic look.
“It did not,” he replied, shaking his head.
She offered him a bottle of something, “Want a drink? It tastes like death, but it’ll help.”
He looked at the bottle and took it with his wing. Tilting his head back, he took a very large gulp of the alcohol within, not even gagging. He returned it to her, having drunk at least a fourth of the bottle in one go.
“Shit tastes like rubbing alcohol,” he grumbled, still looking out at the ocean before them.
“Yeah, it does,” she chuckled, taking another drink from it. “Want to talk about it?”
“No,” he said flatly.
She took the hint as she went silent and stared out at the endless ocean before them.
The two of them sat there in silence, occasionally sharing a drink of the bottle. Twenty minutes passed as they stared out at the water.
“How are you and Mallogory?” he suddenly asked as he returned the bottle to her.
“We’re good,” she replied, a smile crawling onto her face.
“It’s really good to see you this happy,” he said, returning her smile a bit, but still looking extremely sad. “You two are really good together.”
“Thanks,” she said as she took another sip. “I just want to get you and your family back together at this point so you can return the favor. I really hate seeing you this down, Lance.”
“Trust me, I feel the same way,” he said with a half hearted chuckle. “Are you two serious yet? Or still figure that out?”
“We think we’re serious,” she replied.
“What do you think? On your end at least?” he asked, pressing a bit like he usually does.
She just chuckled, starting to feel a bit more loosened up thanks to the alcohol starting to do its magic, “Want my honest answer?”
“Of course.”
“She’s the one, Lance,” Scamp said with a gleeful smile on her face.
“I’m happy for you, Scamp,” Lance said, giving her a one hoofed hug.
“You’re an expert on relationships, right?” she asked suddenly, causing him to laugh in response.
“I am definitely the person to ask about relationships,” he joked, but she didn’t seem to realize it was a joke.
“Good, I want to ask about kids,” she started, causing him to go wide eyed.
“Oh shit, Scamp, that’s a-”
“How did Grace and Octavia have their kid?” she asked, seeming very focused as she stared at him. “I mean, did they use magic or something?”
“Uh…” Lance coughed, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Well, it’s really simple… there’s some doctors in our world that can use magic to help couples have a baby. That’s what they did at least… Are you two talking about kids?”
“Yep,” she said, seeming to loosen up a bit too much as she leaned back, taking a larger swig from the bottle. “We’ve spoken on the subject a bit. Seven months living together has really put things into perspective, ya know?”
“Uh… yes?” he said, clearly not sure how to handle this situation. The alcohol was not affecting his body like it did hers, on account of him being part Angel.
“I want a kid, Lance,” she said, smiling up at the fake moon above them. “If a doctor has to use magic to make it happen, then screw it, we’d be down for that.”
“And Mallogory is on board one hundred percent?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“She’s the one who started the conversation,” she chuckled, finishing off the bottle and tossing it over the ledge. “Ever since she brought it up, I’ve been thinking about it. And I’m sure she’s the one I want to spend eternity with.”
“But, she’s not immortal?” Lance carefully said.
“For now,” she said with a wink. “We’ll figure those details out much later.”
Lance sighed, as he was not used to Scamp being this free with information. He felt wrong hearing such intimate details of her personal life. “Scamp, I think you should head on home.”
She laughed, slugging his arm, “Can’t handle me being all open and shit?”
“No, I can not,” he conceded, sighing loudly.
“Oh you poor man,” she chuckled, standing up and swaying a bit. “Ooo, yeah, I may have drank too much. Probably SHOULD get home before I actually transition to being drunk.”
“Be careful,” Lance said as she began to walk away, swaying side to side as she did so. She stumbled a bit, but he watched her till she made it to her fence.
She started to struggle to climb the fence, but seemed unable to figure it out. She also seemed to forget she had wings.
“Mallo!” he heard her yell, sitting on the ground looking defeated. “Mallo!!”
He saw Mallogory run out of the house and jump over the fence. The two of them seemed to be laughing as she picked Scamp up and jumped the fence, heading for the house.
“Those two…” Lance said with a chuckle.
Turning back to the ocean, he pulled out the card Castor had helped create, and frowned.
This card had no use now. He thought about removing it from his deck, but decided to at least hold onto it just in case.
Putting it away, he leaned back, staring straight up at the artificial sky.
“Screw all this shit,” he mumbled, eyes tearing up a bit as his family's faces flashed before his vision.
With a reluctant sigh, he laid back and entered his mind, deciding to head down memory lane yet again.