//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Light Wanderings // by ed2481 //------------------------------// Edited by TacoTown This is the point where the story earns its dark tag, oh and I foreshadowed almost everything in this chapter at some point or another so I hope you were paying attention, also please don’t hate me Chapter ten The sky chariots landed right outside the town of Ponyville, which looked thoroughly trashed. Ethan spotted several ponies helping the injured, and also attempting to sweep up the ash from several buildings that had apparently been put to the torch. A severely old looking pony walked up to Shining Armor. “I hope that you’re here to get our children back.” She told Shining; Ethan noticed that a tear was forming in one of her eyes, but she ignored it in favor of giving Shining a very stern gaze. “Why else would we be here?” Shining asked with a straight face. “How many are dead?” He asked, changing topics. “None, thank the goddesses.” The mare replied with a relieved sigh. “We can recover from damage like this easily enough, but you need to focus on rescuing those foals and fillies.” “Could you give us some directions?” Shining asked. “They ran off towards that old mineshaft out near the woods, I believe that Miss Sparkle knows where it is.” The mare said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to oversee the repairs before somepony hurts themselves with a hammer.” She said before walking away. “Can you lead us there Twily?” Shining asked his sister, who nodded. “Yes, I know the way.” Twilight replied before she started off towards the diamond dog mine. “What can you tell me about these dogs…?” Ethan asked Twilight. His expression was still angry, but it was more like a bed of coals than the ragging inferno that it had been back at the castle. Twilight however, saw through that and she could see the rage just below the surface bidding it’s time until it could be released. “They’re strong, stupid, and like to burrow underneath you when you’re fighting them. Other than the fact that they’ll outnumber us by a lot we should be fine.” Twilight explained. “So in other words we’ll kill them all within a few minutes and then mount their disgusting heads on the walls of their cave.” Ethan said darkly. He received several nervous glances from the nearby guardponies, while the griffins and hippogriffs nodded appreciatively; they both used that particular practice to keep raider activity at a minimum. “Whatever works.” Twilight agreed with a tiny smile that got her a surprised gasp from some of the older guards. They’d known her since she was a filly, and they’d never thought that they’d hear Twilight Sparkle speak so dispassionately about death. Twilight hadn’t spoken much to people outside of her close friends and family about what she’d gone through in the wasteland. But it was easy to tell by the way that her robotic eye was always scanning the room for threats and the odd stance she’d get whenever something surprised her had been excessively stressful. Now however, it was more than apparent enough that something much worse must have happened. However, Shining Armor’s reaction surprised them even more. Instead of protesting, the Captain of the Solar Guard just shrugged as if he’d allow something like that to happen. “I’m just glad that the letter said that Spike was fine aside from a bit of minor head trauma from when a wooden beam hit him in the back of the head.” Twilight told Ethan, who nodded curtly. “He’s your younger brother, right?” Ethan asked. “Not quite, but almost.” Twilight replied with a slight chuckle. “He’s a dragon.” She added. “Knowing you, I’m not all that surprised. Bedding gods and raising dragons. That’s quintessential Twilight.” Ethan said with a chuckle as he regained a bit of his humor. Several of the griffins and hippogriffs were startled by this exchange, but then they thought it over and shrugged. They’d heard of stranger things happening. Conversation died down until they came to the entrance of the mine, which had been covered by a large reinforced metal door. “How are we going to get this open?” Shining asked as he inspected the doorway and gave it a firm smack of his metal shod hoof, which produced a dull bang. Several of the other guards along with one or two of the griffins had stepped forward to inspect the door, and they could find no way through it either. “I suppose we could always look for another way around.” One of the griffins suggested. “Step aside please.” Ethan said as he pushed his way through the growing crowd and began to apply small metal items to the door. “What are those?” One of the hippogriffs asked. “C4 plastic explosives.” Ethan replied as he continued his work. “What do they do?” Shining asked. “I’d like everyone to take a few dozen steps back; I wouldn’t want any of you vaporizing.” Ethan said instead of directly answering the question. “What?” One of the guards asked in confusion as Ethan pulled out an odd metal object, otherwise known as a detonator. “Either move out of the way or be instantly vaporized as the modified C4 I placed on that door explodes.” Ethan repeated. “Oh, and hurry because I really want to kill something.” He added casually as he flipped the cap off of the detonator. The guards exchanged worried glances and then quickly moved around twelve feet backwards. The door didn’t explode so much as simply cease to exist under the power of the heavily modified explosives. They’d been enhanced by the power of ten Nuka Cola Quantums, and the lingering blue radiation caused his pipboy to click lightly against his hearing; he hardly cared. He pushed through the still clearing fog of blue and found an oddly dog shaped biped staring stupidly at the large hole that he’d blown in the door. Without stopping to think he unloaded a shell of flechette rounds into the dog’s head, and then closed the distance to deliver a kick to the dog’s center of mass that sent it flying to the ground. Another two dogs stood a little bit farther down the hallway clutching spears. Ethan let out an angry snarl and raced towards them. One of the dogs threw his spear at the man; it smashed into the chest piece of his armor and the tip broke in half. Ethan’s shotgun blasted once, cutting a large hole through the now spearless dog’s chest, unleashing a shower of gore. The third dog turned to stab Ethan, but the man had already grabbed the spear out of its paws and shoved it through the dog’s neck. This all happened within a few seconds of the door being blown open. The guards along with the griffins and the hippogriff attachés stared in open shock at the now blood covered man who stood before them. They’d never seen anyone kill that swiftly and proficiently before. The guards were slightly terrified, the griffins and hippogriffs were impressed. “Sparky, stay with me. The rest of you focus on getting the children out, I’ll handle the dogs.” Ethan told them stiffly before he set off down the tunnel with Twilight trotting beside him. “Sir, do you think it’s safe to let her go with that… that thing?” One of the other Solar Guard asked as the two walked downward into the cavernous dark of the diamond dog lair. “Would you like to volunteer to get her away from him?” Shining asked as he started forward. “No Sir.” *** Twilight and Ethan began to head towards the main cavern where the highest number of dogs was likely to be when suddenly the ground in front of them exploded and four heavily armored diamond dogs leapt out of the hole and began to charge at Ethan and Twilight. Twilight and Ethan acted simultaneously, a wave of purple energy sliced out from her horn and opened up two deep gashes across the chests of the two dogs on the right, sending them stumbling away as a river of blood began to cascade from their chests. She finished them off by sending them hurtling head first into the wall, splitting their skulls. Ethan acted with equal speed as he ran forward and shoved the barrel of his shotgun into the nearest dog’s face and decorated the nearby wall with the canine’s brains. Then, he whirled on the second one and smashed the camouflaged stock of the weapon into the dog’s nose, breaking it instantly and sending the dog backwards, howling in pain. He followed up by kicking the dog in the crotch and while it bent forward reflexively, Ethan shot it in the head producing an explosion of grey mater. “I like the new spell.” He told her, before setting off down the corridor again. “Thanks.” Twilight replied quickly as her metallic leg clomped along the earthy ground beneath her hooves. “I’m going to lose it Twilight.” Ethan whispered to her before taking a swig of whiskey. “What do you mean?” Twilight asked in surprise. “Once we get to this main chamber I’m going to lose it. Stay out of my way, please. I don’t know what I’d do if I accidentally killed you.” Ethan told her as a tear leaked out of his right eye. “Ethan…” Twilight was about to add more, but they were cut off by the sound of a mare’s voice. The voice was coming from behind the wooden doorway to one of the dog’s bedrooms. “Stay away from me!” The mare shouted; Twilight recognized that voice. It was Cheerilee! “You’re a pretty mare, with everyone distracted no one will-” A voice began at a low growl; it was interrupted by Ethan breaking down the door with one kick. With an angry roar Ethan charged forward, blue bladed knife in hand and leapt onto the dog’s back. He began to stab the dog repeatedly in the neck and the back along with the back of the skull, until it collapsed onto the floor in a bloody heap. Ethan quickly cleaned his knife on the dog’s fur and then slid it back into its sheath before turning to the mare who was staring with a mix of wide eyed fear and extreme gratitude. It was then that Ethan noticed that she’d been manacled to the bed and that she was spread in a very compromising position. With an angry snarl Ethan reached into the diamond dog’s pocket and pulled out an iron key. He then went about the process of unlocking the locks of the manacles and releasing the mare while Twilight watched for more dogs from the door. “Thank you.” The mare whispered. “He was going to rape me.” She added unnecessarily. “Do you know where they’re keeping the children?” Ethan asked. “The main chamber, they’ve got them mining gems in the main chamber. I’m Cheerilee by the way, the school teacher.” The mare added. “Stay here then Cheerilee, the others should get here soon.” Ethan told her with a comforting smile before he turned back to Twilight. “Alright Sparky, let’s kill these sons of bitches.” “Yes, let’s.” Twilight said grimly. “Twilight?” Cheerilee asked in surprise; she hadn’t recognized the unicorn at first glance. “Sorry Cheerilee, but we don’t have time to waste. My brother should be in that direction.” Twilight said, pointing towards the exit of the mine. “Sparky, come on.” Ethan told her as he walked out of the room and headed towards the main chamber. Twilight gave Cheerilee an apologetic shrug, and took off after the man as he strode down the hallway. The school teacher stood there silently for a few moments while her mind processed what had just happened, along with the terrible alternative. She began to shake violently and almost threw up, but then she reigned in her emotions and began to breathe deep, calming breaths. Her students would need her soon, and Cheerilee would do almost anything for them, including being raped by a diamond dog. *** Rescuing Cheerilee had slowed Ethan and Twilight down, so they arrived in the main chamber slightly behind Shining’s group who were currently fighting against thirty or so diamond dogs. Ethan ignored that, they looked perfectly capable of defeating the enemy before them; instead he turned to the other group of fifty or so dogs who were preparing to charge Shining’s position. That’s when Ethan saw the foals and fillies; they’d been chained in place next to large gem deposits, and were being forced to mine the gems with pickaxes held loosely in their teeth. Many had deep cuts and lacerations crisscrossing their backs from where the dogs’ whips had struck repeatedly. A part of Ethan broke; he let out a roar that could match even the loudest manticore, and charged straight towards the dog formation. One of the dogs turned around in time to see the man streak towards him. It was the last thing that he ever saw. Ethan’s shotgun blew his head to smithereens. Ethan fired into another dog, shredding his chest as the flechette rounds smashed through the armor and into the flesh underneath, leaving nothing but bloody ribbons of skin behind. As he fought, Ethan continued to scream in anger. His shotgun ran empty, but instead of reloading it he simply holstered it and drew A Light Shining in the Darkness along with Blood-Nap. Four diamond dogs turned on him, each holding a large two handed claymore; Ethan sprang inside the guard of the nearest and slit his throat with a half dozen slashes before emptying a round in the dog’s brain. He evaded a strike from the next closest dog, and shouted as he unloaded two rounds into the dog’s muzzle before driving his knife deep into the dog’s chest and slicing downward. He pulled the knife free with a flourish, and a streak of blood shot off of it and landed on his chest armor, streaking it red. “DIE!” Ethan shouted as the last two diamond dogs charged him simultaneously. He ran forward to meet them and ducked underneath their clumsy sword stroke. His knife slashed out and cut off the arm of the dog on the right from the wrist down. The dog stumbled back clutching at its wrist, but Ethan reached out and pulled it into the sword thrust of its friend. The last dog looked down at his former friend hanging limply on his blade, along with the man who had just killed three of its pack mates in less than thirty second and did the only thing it could think of. It pissed itself and tried to run away while letting the sword fall to the ground. Ethan let out another incomprehensible shout and shot the fleeing dog in the back of the head four times, before reloading his pistol and switching into VATS. Ethan spent four seconds lining up shots, and then ended the session. Five dogs dropped almost instantaneously as the .45 auto rounds blew their heads open. Twilight was handling herself as well, although not nearly as violently as Ethan. She sent out a burst of purple magic that ripped through the armor of the dog directly in front of her and shredded the flesh beneath in a small self-contained whirlwind of magic. Another dog carrying a spear charged her, and Twilight caught the spear mid stab with her magic before yanking it out of the dog’s paws and impaling him through the chest. Four dogs charged her at once and instead of confronting them she grabbed a nearby stalactite from the ceiling and sent it crashing down through the first’s head. The other three exchanged an uneasy glance and tried to back away, but it was a bit too late to take that option. Twilight’s horn flashed once and a glowing purple ball of magic hit the dog at the center of the group in the chest. The ball exploded in a flash of heat that literally melted the skin of the dog, while at the same time superheating the dog’s armor so that it now resembled a messy puddle as it burned its way down the dog’s legs. The other two dogs were also dealt a similar fate and died screaming. Ethan had run out of spare clips for his pistol and didn’t want to go through the trouble of reloading the shotgun, so he simply holstered Light and charged a diamond dog holding a short sword. The dog took a swing at him, but Ethan blocked the blow with the edge of his knife before his knife hand shot out and impaled itself in the dog’s paw. The dog let out a pained whine as it dropped the sword. Before the sword could fall to the floor Ethan was already stabbing the dog in the throat with the knife; his free hand shot out and grabbed the short sword out of the air. He then spun around and stabbed the sword through the chest of a dog who thought he was being sneaky. At this point Ethan had begun to cry, salty tears rolled down his face intermixing with the blood. “Not again, never again!” He shouted madly as he slashed through a dog’s arm and then stabbed it in the stomach with the knife. A dog got lucky and stabbed Ethan through his lightly armored sword hand. Ethan didn’t even seem to notice the blade as he jerked his hand to the right, pulling it right out of the dog’s paw. His hand healed the second that the blade was no longer imbedded in it, while Ethan’s knife rained a flurry of slashes across the dog’s face, cutting out its eyes along and tearing a vicious slash along the side of its muzzle, revealing yellow stained teeth. Twilight was running out of magic for the moment, so instead she drew her plasma defender and began to rain green death upon the dogs closest to her, causing several to dissolve into glowing green goo. Shining and the other guards looked up in time to see Ethan’s newly acquired claymore split a dog in half from head to crotch while Twilight’s plasma defender blasted a dog into glowing plasma, starting with its head. The eyes of the guards bugged out as Ethan shouted again and tackled another dog, throwing it to the ground while stabbing it in the stomach. As he withdrew the knife a thin string of intestines flowed out with it, but Ethan just tore it off before targeting another dog. “What is he?” One of the guards asked in terror as Ethan’s hands broke a dog’s arm before the man stabbed the dog through the bottom of its jaw and slashed downward opening up its throat for all to see. “I think that they’ve got the situation under control, we should focus on the children.” Shining said, just now remembering that there were children in the room watching the bloodshed. That unfroze the guards as they noticed the foals and fillies who were watching with open mouthed horror as Ethan and Twilight dismembered their way through the crowd of diamond dogs. The smell of death had filled the air, and several had thrown up where they’d been sitting. The guards hustled to the job of unchaining the children and getting them back to their feet. He noticed two familiar fillies standing so that they obscured most of a third. “You’re Rarity’s sister, aren’t you?” Shining asked the small white unicorn who nodded uncertainly. “And you’re Tax Checker’s daughter, aren’t you?” Shining added turning to the little pegasus. “Yeah, that’s us.” The unicorn said and then winced as Ethan let out another blood curdling roar and roughly bisected a diamond dog with a sword he’d picked up. “Ignore them; what’s wrong with your friend?” Shining asked turning to look at the filly on the ground. She was a normal earth pony with a red bow in her hair. Right now she was curled up with her back to the wall, and her eyes closed tightly. “They whipped her because she was defending Pip.” Sweetie told Shining and then winced at the memory. “Move.” Shining ordered, the two fillies exchanged a look and then stepped aside so that Shining could get a better look at their friend. Shining fought down bile as he carefully picked the filly up in his magic and exposed her backside. Her back was covered with dozens of long lacerations from the places where the whip had struck repeatedly, many of which had yet to scab over and were still bleeding profusely. “Fuck!” Shining exclaimed, while completely forgetting about the two impressionable fillies right in front of him. “Is she going to be alright?” Scootaloo asked worriedly as she looked at her friend in concern. “I do- of course she’ll be okay!” Shining said as he gave them a big smile. “I just need to get her to one of the combat medics, follow me.” Shining told them as he set off with Applebloom tucked securely in his magic. The two other fillies followed him closely. *** Ethan’s eyes were still tearing up as he tackled the final dog to the ground and began to punch it mercilessly. If he’d been paying attention than he would’ve noticed the fact that the dog’s eyes were dead and black, and the fact that the heart had stopped beating, but Ethan was beyond that by this point. “Ethan, we won. The dogs are dead, you can stop now.” Twilight told the man gently as continued to smash into the dog’s face. His blue eyes were out of focus and tear strained while his breathing came in short angry bursts. A thin line of foam was working its way down from his mouth. He ignored her and continued to smash the dog’s now thoroughly destroyed head in. “SNAP OUT OF IT!” Twilight shouted, causing Ethan and several of the nearby guards to jump in surprise. “What… did you say something Sparky?” Ethan asked, turning to her in surprise. His eyes had refocused and he wiped away the string of drool with his right sleeve. “I said you can stop, we killed them all.” Twilight told Ethan. “Well, what do you know, we did…” Ethan said, looking around himself as if he was coming out of a daze, then he quickly took out his flask of whiskey and took a long sip. Suddenly he felt the whiskey being torn out of his grip by Twilight’s purple magic. “No! No more whiskey!” Twilight shouted. “Twilight, I need it!” Ethan told her desperately as he snatched at the flask. “I need it to keep me sane Sparky, if don’t have I than I’ll start to think about it!” Ethan exclaimed as he pulled the drink away from her. “You’ll think about what? Ethan, you were never a drunk when I in the Wasteland. What the hell could make you drink this much?” Twilight asked softly. “That’s none of your business.” Ethan snarled. “Bullshit. Ethan, you went fucking insane back there. Either you tell me what it is that you want to forget so badly or I’ll send you back to the goddamned Wasteland myself!” Twilight shouted. Ethan stiffened and his eyes narrowed for a second, before he let out a sigh and all of anger drained out of his body. “Fine, I’ll tell you Sparky…” Ethan said as a melancholy look crossed his face. “…but not here, not in front of them.” Ethan added with a glance towards several of the guards, along with a griffin or two who did their best to appear uninterested in the conversation. “No. Ethan, I think you have a problem but you have to tell me what’s wrong now. If you don’t I’m not sure that I’ll feel comfortable bringing you around anyone, let alone my friends and family.” Twilight told him, and Ethan shuddered. “Twilight, I-” “Ethan, I saw you go through a lot in the wasteland while I was there. I almost died… a lot. The only one who I had to depend on was you; I took down all of my barriers and told you everything about myself. You saved me in more ways than one Ethan, and I want to return the favor now.” Twilight told him gently. “Can, can we at least get away from this place? It makes me sick.” Ethan asked as he gazed around the room at the mutilated diamond dog corpses. “Alright Ethan, close your eyes.” Twilight told him before she turned to one of the guards. “Tell Celestia that we’ll be fine, I’m taking him to a special place.” Twilight told the guard who nodded from behind his visor. Twilight and Ethan vanished a second later. *** They reappeared in a surprisingly gloomy place. Ethan had been expecting someplace sunny, perhaps a forest glade, or a babbling brook. Instead Ethan found himself standing underneath a single beam of light that illuminated what must have once been a magnificent throne room of some kind. Ethan looked around but found that most of the room was obscured by darkness. It wasn’t a threatening kind of darkness. No, it was the kind of darkness that wraps around you comfortingly and protectively, keeping the monsters who walk the light at bay. “Where, where are we?” Ethan asked Twilight who had laid down on the broken cobblestone floor beside him. Ethan joined her on the ground, and found it to be surprisingly comfortable. “We’re in the old palace hidden deep in Everfree forest.” Twilight replied easily. “Nothing should disturb us here; now tell me what the hell happened to you.” “It was a couple of months ago…” *** Ethan Smith trailed the raider silently. He was wearing his Chinese stealth suit, in order to completely avoid detection on the off chance that his quarry turned around or showed some unexpected burst of intelligence and decided to actually look for some form of pursuit. Ethan was happy, it was almost time for him to go and visit Cassandra. She’d been pregnant for around five months and it was showing. She needed Ethan around for support, but he knew he couldn’t just leave the Capital Wasteland abandoned and without his special selection of talents. He’d been trailing this particular raider for an hour as the fool made his way across the wasteland’s brown landscape. Apparently there had been some kind of big raid planned, but if Ethan’s source was right then he’d be able to stop it before things really got going. At last the raider approached a baseball field, and much to Ethan’s shock he turned and looked straight into Ethan’s eyes through the mask of his stealth suit. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” The raider asked with a chuckle, then he tossed a pulse grenade at Ethan and suddenly Ethan’s world was filled with static. *** Ethan awoke some time later tied to a large metal stake with thick titanium chains that even he couldn’t wiggle or break out of. The stake was driven into a rough concrete floor, and a large tent stretched over top of them .The raider stood in front of Ethan with a wide smile on his face as he fingered a long tube like gun that Ethan recognized. It was the railway rifle. Oh, this was going to suck…The raider removed his psycho tick helmet, revealing a surprisingly intelligent face that Ethan knew from somewhere, he just couldn’t put his finger on it. “Ah, hello. I was wondering when you’d wake up.” The raider said in a chillingly calm voice for someone wearing a suit of blood and spike covered armor. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I’ll do better next time.” Ethan said with a smirk, he’d been in far worse situations than this and knew that all he had to do was buy himself time. The raider smiled coldly. “I don’t believe that there will be a next time for you.” The raider replied. “Aww, and here I was looking forward to a nice game of cat and mouse before I sent a bullet through your head.” Ethan said with a pout. Instead of replying, the raider’s gun whistled once and Ethan found that a large railroad spike had been driven into his chest. Ethan looked down at the stake in his chest and winced, that wasn’t going to come out easily… “If you’re smart you’ll stay quiet.” The raider told him before shooting another stake into Ethan’s chest with a small explosion of blood. “Sorry, but I don’t listen to pricks.” Ethan said as he spat a stream of blood at the raider’s feet, earning himself another stake to the chest. “I see, how unfortunate for you.” The raider told him as blood poured down Ethan’s chest. “Yeah, you wouldn’t believe how many pricks live in the wasteland, and for some reason they all seem to get hard around me.” Ethan replied with a pained cough as a streak of blood flew from his mouth. Another stake in the chest later and Ethan was beginning to wonder if he should stop talking. Nah, you should never stop talking when tied to a rod with stakes coming out of your chest. “You’re an impudent fool.” The raider said venomously. “Would you mind telling me your name? After all, I’ll need something to carve into your gravestone once I kill you.” Ethan asked. “My name is Sinclair Autumn, you killed my father, and I’m going to kill you.” The raider said, and Ethan suddenly realized why the man before him looked so familiar. Add a few years and you got an almost perfect copy of Augustus Autumn. “A real chip off the old block, ain’t ya?” Ethan asked with a smirk. “I can’t believe that it was you who did it, how could someone as stupid, ignorant, and disrespectful ever do what you did?” Sinclair said; he appeared to be talking to himself. “Well your father kinda forced me to.” Ethan replied, earning a stake to the stomach. “Would you cut that out? It’s beginning to sting a bit.” Ethan asked causing the raider to fire a stake into his right shoulder. “You destroyed everything that I loved; you killed everyone that I loved. I’m going to kill you slowly and then sell your body to the Institute, I’m sure that they’d love the chance to turn the man who’s destroyed so many of their toys into an android.” Sinclair said before he sent a wad of spit onto Ethan’s face. “As nice as that offer sounds, I think I’ll have to say no.” Ethan replied earning yet another stake, this time it buried itself into his left shoulder. “But before I kill you I’m going to make you witness something truly horrible.” Sinclair continued as if he hadn’t even heard Ethan’s remark. “Bring him in.” Sinclair called over his shoulder. Ethan heard the sounds of a scuffle and another raider entered the tent holding a struggling, child sized bag in his arms. Ethan could hear muted cursing coming within the bag, and a chill traveled down his spine, he knew that voice. The raider grabbed the sack and uplifted it, spilling Mayor MacCready out onto the floor. The child’s hands were bound behind his back and his legs were tied together. His face was covered in bruises and Ethan could tell that his nose had been broken at some point recently. He’d been stripped to the waist and to Ethan’s intense anger it appeared that someone had been practicing their knife skills on his arms and chest. “Fucking mungo! The hell do you think you’re doing to me? I’ll gut you and then fuck your goddamned-” MacCready began but he was cut off as Sinclair kicked him in the stomach, silencing him easily. Ethan struggled against his bonds but it was to no avail, he was stuck. “You see Mister Smith, there are consequences to every action that you make and for killing my father I’m going to make those consequences very very dire.” Sinclair told him as he rolled MacCready onto his stomach facing Ethan, so that he could look straight into the young man’s eyes. Sinclair then placed one of his feet onto MacCready’s back, holding him in place. Bothe MacCready and Ethan struggled, but neither one could get free. “No funny remark? No arrogant comeback? No pointless little quip?” Sinclair asked as he pointed the railway rifle’s barrel at MacCready’s head. Ethan glared at him, but remained silent. A smirk crossed Sinclair’s face. “As much as I hate to ruin a pureblooded vault dweller I think that I’ll be making an exception in this case. Oh, and just to let you know I already dispatched a squad to kill the other children, I just thought that you’d like to see this one die in the flesh.” Sinclair told Ethan as he prepared to fire. “If you do this I’ll make what happened to your father look like a walk through the park. I will literally tear you apart with my bare hands until ther-” Ethan began, but was interrupted by sound of the gun going off. A railroad spike now protruded from the back of MacCready’s head, nailing it to the floor. Ethan stared in shocked silence before twin lines of tears formed on his face and he began to pull and strain against the metal stake even harder than before. “And now you see your fate, doomed to watch as everyone that you love is ground down under the boot of the Enclave. You’ve always thought that you were better than us, that you were smarter, that you were stronger. Well, I guess that we both know the answer to that don’t we?” Sinclair asked with a sinister smile. “Yes, I suppose we do.” Ethan said with a wide, slightly insane looking grin as the chains holding him fell away, the lock picked. “Oh shit!” Sinclair shouted as he leapt backwards trying to get away from Ethan. “You just killed one of my friends, and apparently you’ve also killed some of my other friends.” Ethan said as he rose to his feet and stalked towards Sinclair, who was pointing his railway rifle at Ethan. He pulled the trigger and another stake slammed into Ethan’s chest, but the man was too angry to even notice it. “Do you Enclave fucks even realize that you could’ve been the saviors of the wasteland?” Ethan asked as he moved forward towards Sinclair, who turned to run out of the tent. Ethan reached forward and grabbed the man by the shoulder. “Instead you’ve spent your time terrorizing, destroying, and killing it.” Ethan’s smile stretched all the way across his face as he turned Sinclair around to face him again. “Your father was a piece of shit. Hell, he was the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever met.” Ethan punched the man in the chest, cracking several ribs. “But you surpass him. Not only that, but you’re stupid.” Sinclair tried to fight back by punching at Ethan’s jaw, but Ethan caught the fist in midair and broke the knuckles of the man’s hand. “You really thought that your chains would hold me? I’m the LONE FUCKING WANDERER YOU ASSHOLE!” Ethan said as he smashed his foot into Sinclair’s. “I’ve broken out of your highest security prison. Hell I’ve escaped an alien fucking spaceship. You really thought that FUCKING chains would hold me?!” Ethan shouted as he broke Sinclair’s arm with a simple twist of his wrist. Sinclair was sniveling in pain at this point, but Ethan’s eyes were hard blue glaciers of hate. “Please.” Sinclair managed to choke out. “Please what? Don’t kill me? Don’t give into your thirst for vengeance? Don’t tie your intestines around your neck and strangle you with them? Well you should’ve thought of that before you KILLED MY FRIEND!” Ethan shouted as he slammed his knee into Sinclair’s groin and cast him to the floor with an almost indifferent air. “And surprise surprise, here you are lying on the ground face first like the little bitch that you are.” Ethan told him. Suddenly, another enclave soldier dressed up as a raider burst into the tent carrying a plasma rifle. Before he could even blink Ethan had disarmed him and shot him in the face with his own rifle. Then, Ethan turned back to Sinclair. “For what you did I should do horrible things to you. I should keep you alive and in agony for years before finally killing you. But I’m not that kind of man. Any last words you filthy piece of trash?” Ethan asked as he readied the rifle. “Fuc-” Sinclair began but Ethan’s foot was faster. It slammed down into the man’s neck, snapping it. Then the Lone Wanderer made his way back to where MacCready’s lifeless body lay on the ground, and began to weep. *** “Ethan…” Twilight said as she leaned into the man’s side offering her warmth; the man was outright weeping at this point and the front of his armor was soaked with a mixture of recently undried blood and tears. Twilight now realized where all of those new scars had come from. They’d been from where Ethan had had to pull the railroad spikes out of his very body. Even for him, the pain must have been almost intolerable. “There’s more.” *** “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!” Ethan shouted. The main barricade to Little Lamplight was broken and covered with the bodies of each child who had lived here. Their bodies had been torn apart by rippers and scorched by laser and plasma fire, but the heads of the bodies had been left untouched and Ethan could easily name each and every one of them. And they all stared at him with their dead eyes, asking him why he hadn’t been there to save them… *** “Ethan, I’m so sorry.” Twilight said as she turned to hug the man who was still crying. Ethan rocked gently back and forth as Twilight held him. “It was all my fault Sparky, if I’d been a second sooner.” Ethan said in-between sobs. “Then you would’ve only saved MacCready.” Twilight soothed. “It wasn’t your fault Ethan, and that’s certainly no reason to turn to this for comfort.” She added before throwing the flask of whiskey out of one of the nearby windows. “Dammit Sparky, it was my fault. I should’ve listened to you. They were vulnerable; I should’ve done something to defend them!” Ethan shouted. “Ethan, these things happen in the Wasteland. Didn’t you always tell me that it’s constantly looking for a way to bitch slap you? I’d say that what you’re doing right now is just opening yourself up to more pain!” Twilight replied heatedly. “Shut up Sparky, you have no idea what it means to go through what I’ve gone through!” Ethan shouted at her, turning his tearstained face to glare at her. “I lost my mother, my father, my first love, and too many to count and all you’ve ever lost is your goddamned eye!” “Have you asked Cassandra to sit down and talk about this alcohol problem?” Twilight asked, ignoring his previous comment. “Of course not, she has too much on her mind without having to worry about me!” Ethan said angrily. “Besides, she’d probably get mad at me about it. I helped her get clean and now I’m a hypocrite.” Ethan said with a dejected angry sigh. “Are you angry at her about that?” Twilight asked carefully as if her voice was standing on thin ice. “It’s not her fault, I’m just a horrible husband… and I’ll be a horrible father too.” Ethan said miserably. “Stop it Ethan! You’re a great husband and you’ll make a great father too!” Twilight told him. “Then why am I here instead of back in the wasteland looking after my family Sparky?” Ethan asked quietly. “Because I needed you Ethan.” Twilight replied softly. “Well, I guess there’s that.” Ethan said softly as he pulled Twilight closer to him and buried his face in the soft coat around her neck. “Ethan you’ve got to get over this and becoming a drunken wreck isn’t the way to do it.” Twilight told Ethan softly. “I know Sparky, but how else can I do it?” Ethan asked. “Whenever I’m not buzzed I see MacCready’s head staring at me.” He added with a half sob. “I think I might know someone who can help.” Twilight replied, pulling her neck away from Ethan’s face and giving him a smile before she kissed him on the cheek. “Come on Ethan, let’s get back to Canterlot. You need a nap… and a bath.” “I’m not really ready yet; can we stay here for a little while?” Ethan asked her, Twilight nodded, and then she unexpectedly began to sing and a phantom guitar joined in. Some roads are straight and narrow, some paths are high and steep Some ways are slow and heavy, Some tracks are dark and deep But this trail's the one I follow, no matter where it leads And I know I'll never wander... as long as I heed Unconsciously Ethan found himself joining in the and their voices mixed together in the ruined castle as the light from outside began to fade No matter where or how far it goes, I'll walk it without fail Because I know that no matter what I'll lay my burdens down at the end... of this trail My load is mine to carry along, I packed it all myself I chose what to leave behind on that old and dusty shelf Though memories may follow, I'll pay them not a care My troubles are all my own, my treasures I will share No matter how sore my hooves, I know that I'll go on So though I may be weary, I will still move along Because no journey lasts forever, there's an end to this tale And I will lay my sorrows down at the end... of the trail. Though rocks may trip and slow me Though rain may lash my mane Though love may call out to me Though mud may bog my passage Though snow may chill me through Though dust and wind may blind me There's one thing I must do. I look ahead and find myself at the journey's end And finally I see again both family and friend And those that still walk along, please don't weep and wail For I have laid my troubles down at the end... of the trail. Yes to those who still love me, please don't weep and wail I'll be waiting for you at the end... of the trail. “Where did you learn that?” Ethan asked quietly. “Pinkie was singing it once; she said something about blackjack and started to cry while she sang it.” Twilight said with a sigh. “I can see why, it’s beautiful.” Ethan said reverently. “What’s it called?” He asked “At the End of the Trail.” Twilight replied. “So Ethan, are you ready to go?” She asked. “You know, I think I am.” Ethan said as a small smile settled across his face.