//------------------------------// // Highschool Wanderings Part 2 // Story: Other Wanderings // by ed2481 //------------------------------// “So... want to start looking at that place?” Ethan asked, nodding his head in the direction of the large building in front of them. “Seems like a likely place to go...” Twilight mused, still slightly distracted by Ethan’s hand which was firmly gripping her own, allowing a warm sensation to spread up her arm. “Right,” Ethan said with a grin as he led the way. “By the way Ethan, you know that your duster changed right?” Twilight asked him. “What?” Ethan asked in confusion before he looked down at himself. Instead of his normal elite riot gear armor reworked with a layer of mithril chainmail, he was wearing a dark leather jacket and a pair of dark green military pants, the steel toed combat boots however had stayed. He paused for a moment to further inspect the attire, and he grinned as he discovered that a layer of kevlar had been worked into the jacket’s inner lining, as had the mithril chainmail. “Huh, that’s convenient,” he mused with a chuckle. “I won't stand out as much I bet,” he added. “You know... I’m kind of surprised that no one noticed us fall out of the mirror,” Twilight said, frowning. “I mean, look around, there are plenty of people out here.” She gestured around at several people who were walking their dogs or simply walking towards the same destination as them. “Remember the rules of the Wasteland Sparky?” Ethan asked her with a raised eyebrow. “When something bad doesn’t happen, don’t question it. If you do, the Wasteland will bitch slap you.” “But Ethan... I really doubt that we’re in the Wasteland,” Twilight pointed out. The man frowned for a moment before reflect that was true. As the pair made their way forward towards the strange building, the man had noticed that their surroundings, at least to him were rather... alien in a surreal way. For starters, there was almost nothing brown and for some reason, the lack of that color made Ethan feel homesick. For another... the world around them appeared to be modeled after Springvale or one of the other prewar neighborhoods which had been destroyed in the war... which led Ethan to assume that the building they were heading towards was a school. This theory was backed up by the multitude of teanagers walking towards it. Finally, Ethan shrugged. “Well yeah, I guess... but still, would you like to be bitchslapped by whatever this place’s equivalent is?” he asked her with a raised eyebrow. Twilight blushed a little. “I guess not,” she mused. “It’s just... I feel like someone should have noticed us.” “Don’t question a good thing Sparks,” he told her, shrugging again. “I thought my nickname was Sparky,” Twilight said, looking over at the man with a small frown. “It is, Sparky,” Ethan said. “Do you not like being called Sparks?” Twilight looked down, a small blush on her face. “Umm... I’d prefer Sparky, I like it more,” she said. Ethan chuckled, a little bit of nervousness in his voice. “Alrighty then, Sparky,” he told her as he led her carefully up the steps, which she almost face planted on three times. “And they say chivalry is dead,” Twilight said with a small chuckle. “Hey, I’m an honest to god Paladin. I can be as chivalrous as I damn well please,” Ethan replied with a smirk before he walked up to the door and held it open for her. “After you, milady,” he said in a very bad cockney accent. Twilight blushed again, but walked through the door regardless with Ethan following close behind. “Wow... this is really underwhelming,” Twilight said as they looked around the near empty hallway. It was fairly plain, a few banners adorned the walls and there was quite a lot of horse imagery floating around. Other then that, there wasn’t much to make note of. Suddenly a loud ringing noise rang out, causing Ethan to fall into a fighting stance and pull Twilight behind him. This proved unnecessary, as soon as the bell rang, the hallway was filled with teanagers and Twilight was jostled to her knees; or she would have been at any rate if Ethan hadn’t kept a firm grip on her wrist and kept her from falling. The purple haired girl shot him a thankful glance and through a combination of artful dodging, precise elbows, and a few more ‘interesting’ swears the two made their way out of the main thoroughfare. A teenager with spiky blue hair passed them by without comment. “Well, that was annoying,” Ethan grumbled. “Yes... very,” Twilight agreed. “Thanks for getting us out of there Ethan,” she told him with a smile. Ethan smiled back before looking away. “Eh, you know I’ve always got your back Sparky,” he told her. “Still... thanks,” she said. “Now... let’s find my Element and get back home shall we? Tia and I have... things we need to do.” “Together, or to each other?” he asked her with a smirk. “Both,” she answered, a small blush on her face once again. “Oooh, maybe I can j-” Ethan cut himself off and facepalmed. “Sorry...” Where the hell did that come from? he mentally asked himself, confused by the odd turn of his thoughts... he’d never really thought of Twilight that way. Twilight looked down, her blush getting deeper. “I’ll... ask Tia.” Wait... what am I saying? she asked herself, equally confused. Ethan paused for a moment, stunned. “Really?” “Maybe,” Twilight replied before setting off at an increased pace, forcing Ethan to take several long strides before he could catch up to her. The two continued down the hallway, encountering several people who looked very similar, if not identical to ponies they knew. “Am I the only one getting a really weird feeling about this place?” Ethan asked Twilight. “You and me both,” the teenager replied as perfect replicas of the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran past them. Suddenly, they heard a pair of familiar voices from up ahead. “Oh, I’m really sorry. I-I just found it and I thought I should give it to her,” a voice suspiciously like a certain yellow mare’s stammered from up ahead. “I didn’t know you had dropped it.” “Well, I did,” a bitchy voice replied. “And I was about to get it before you swooped in and ruined everything!” Twilight and Ethan rounded the corner to see a humanized version of Sunset Shimmer angrily scolding a humanized version of Fluttershy who looked extremly nervous. “You shouldn’t pick up things that don’t belong to you!” “It-it doesn’t really belong to you either,” Fluttershy’s double said, unable to make eye contact with Sunset. “EXCUSE ME?!” Sunset suddenly exclaimed, lurching forward and trapping Fluttershy against the wall between her arms. “What did you just-” She was interrupted by an enraged, if extremely clumsy, punch from Twilight which caught her in the side of the face. Sunset staggered back from the blow, a look of confusion on her face until she regained her balance and saw Twilight glaring daggers at her. “Leave her the hell alone you bitch!” Twilight exclaimed angrily, her hands bunched into fists. “What the fuck gives you the right to speak to her of all people like that you red haired skank?!” Sunset stared at Twilight for a moment before an arrogant smile spread across her face. “Ha, you think you can take me here little Princess?” “I don’t really give a shit,” Twilight replied with a glare. Meanwhile, Ethan helped Fluttershy to her feet. “You should probably get going Flutters, or watch if you’re into that type of thing, this is going to get good,” Ethan suggested. Fluttershy looked at him in complete and utter confusion, though there was a large amount of fear in her gaze. “How... how do you know my name?” she asked, and then a blush crossed her face. “And... um no... I’m not into ‘that’ type of thing.” Ethan shrugged. “I get around,” he replied before turning back to Twilight and Sunset who were still squaring off, a large crowd was beginning to assemble. The chant of ‘cat fight’ was beginning to fill the air. “Give me the crown,” Twilight muttered beneath the growing noise. “And I won’t have to hurt you.” “I don’t have it, and as if you could,” Sunset replied with a smirk. “Bring it on!” Twilight replied angrily. “Fine, have it your way!” Sunset replied as she stepped and threw a punch at Twilight’s face which the teenager fumblingly tried to block. The punch connected, and Twilight stumbled backwards. In response, the purple haired teenager threw herself at Sunset. The two girls collided, and Twilight knocked the unprepared Sunset to the ground. Ethan watched this with mild amusement which warred with his protective instincts... however this was Twilight’s battle to fight. That, and he knew that if Twilight really needed him then he’d step in. Twilight and Summer exchanged several punches, a kick or two, a bit of hair pulling, and even a little scratching with neither side having much luck in damaging the other. Well, that wasn’t strictly true. Twilight was definitely on the receiving end of most of it, her lack of coordination costing her crucial points, but if there was one thing besides magic that Twilight had in spades it was endurance. All the while, the crowd had grown bigger and shouts of ‘get her’ were flying from all sides along with the aforementioned ‘catfight’ chorus. “What in God’s name is going on here!?” A familiar maternal voice suddenly shouted over the noise of the chanting children who, much to Ethan’s surprise, fell completely silent as their eyes turned to two women who were rapidly approaching. Perfect replicas of Celestia and Luna were walking down the hallway,righteous anger in their eyes. Ethan’s eyes ran over them before his teenaged brain thought several very impure thoughts involving them, Cassandra, a bed, and a lot of sweat. Twilight looked up in surprise at the voice, her fist in mid punch towards Summer’s nose. As she gazed over the Celestia replica her mouth began to fill with saliva. The massive breasts, the firm athletic body, the full lips... she was gorgeous. “Tia!” Twilight exclaimed in surprise, gaining a confused look from the woman which was quickly replaced by one of irritation. “That’s Principal Celestia to you,” the woman said in a severe voice before looking at the other students in the hallway. “Everyone get to class or you’ll all get detention!” she added at a louder volume. The crowd dispersed with a surprising amount of speed, leaving only Ethan Twilight, Sunset, and the two older women in the hallway. Fluttershy had also stayed behind, but she was hiding behind Ethan’s considerable ‘bulk’ to avoid detection, too terrified to leave. “Now...” Celestia said looking back down at the two girls. “What is the meaning of this?” she asked in a severe voice. “This... girl attacked me without provocation!” Sunset exclaimed, rolling away from Twilight and rising to her feet. “Bullshit!” Twilight exclaimed, spitting a bit of blood on the floor, drawing stern glances from both of the Principles, though Ethan wasn’t sure if it was for the language or for new blood stain on the floor. “Watch your mouth or I’ll give you a detention!” Principal Celestia scolded her. To Ethan’s immense surprise, that cowed Twilight into silence. “Now... you’re both going to come with me to the nurse’s office, and then you’re going to be speaking with me separately in my office.” Twilight nodded meekly and Sunset shot her a smug smirk. “I’m sure you’ll find that I’m in the right,” the redhead said. “That remains to be seen,” Celestia replied with a shrug. “Now come,” she said, gesturing at them with a hand. The two followed her off down the hallway while Luna turned to Ethan and Fluttershy. “Are you both okay?” she asked, more speaking to the timid pink haired girl. “I... yes, thanks to that purple haired girl,” Fluttershy said in a low voice. “She was just defending me from Sunset... she won’t get expelled will she?” “I do not know, Fluttershy,” Luna answered with a frown. “We will have to review the video recordings to know for sure; but your approval means a great deal. I have never known you to lie.” “Oh... thank you,” Fluttershy replied, looking down. Luna then turned to Ethan who was taking a nice look at her cleavage. “And you are?” she asked with slightly narrowed eyes. “Ethan Smith... new student here,” Ethan replied smoothly, offering the Principal his hand. “And I’ve got to say Lu, this is a good look for you,” he added with a grin. Luna stared at him for a moment and then shook her head. “You will address me as Principle Luna, and... thank you,” she said before frowning. “You should both get to your next class.” “Umm yes,” Fluttershy said nervously. “Umm... let’s get going... Ethan,” she said grasping the man’s wrist. “Right,” Ethan said with a nod before giving Luna a wink. “See you around Lu,” he added before walking off with Fluttershy The Principal stared at the man’s retreating back and shook her head before walking off back towards her office. The paperwork alone from this was going to give her a headache. Besides... she didn’t want that type of trouble springing up on her again... even if he did look eighteen