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

Other Wanderings - ed2481



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

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Drekzone Part 12

Ethan raced down the hallway behind Kharon, pulse gun in one hand, Novasurge in the other.

“EMPs won’t work,” Kharon told the man as they ran. “They’re shielded by their armor, it would take too long to knock them out and your pistol doesn’t have enough punch to break through it.”

“Cheating sons of bitches,” Ethan replied as he holstered the pulse gun and pulled out his Blackhawk. “Anything else I should know?”

“Don’t destroy their arms, we’re going to need them,” the merc replied. “We need a pair to manually open the doors.”

“Sounds good,” Ethan said with a nod. “So, is it too early to say ‘I told you so’?”

“Does it serve any purpose to rub it in,” Kharon answered flatly.

“Not really, but it helps, after listening to everyone tell me how pointless escaping was, it feels good,” Ethan replied with a chuckle.

“We haven’t escaped just yet,” the merc said. “We need to stop the self activation of the self destruct, or at least stop it. Otherwise this ‘rescue’ is going to be pointless.”

“One second,” Ethan replied before projecting the thought. Hey, Wistala, you anywhere around here? The man frowned when he got no response. “Damn, they must be out of range,” he muttered.

Kharon frowned at the man slightly at the man’s words, but didn’t comment as they rounded a corner. At the other end was the sealed doors to Drek’s office and the four heavily armed robots guarding it.

INTRUDERS, OPEN FIRE! one of the robots stated. All four robots revved up their gatling laser guns and a wall of red death dance towards them. Kharon took cover against the wall out of the their view while Ethan simply charged forwards.

“Fuck off!” the man shouted, firing his pistols at them while dodging the incoming laser fire. He closed with them and drew his sword, decapitating one with a single slash and pivoted to do the same to the next. Laser fire slashed into him, but he ignored it as his armour ate up the incoming beams. His sword slashed out again, and another of the robots fell. The last robot turned at Ethan, but a loud *bang* ranged out and it’s head was yank off it’s body.

Kharon walked down the hallway, holstering his pistol. “Reckless, but effective,” he noted to Ethan.

“Thanks,” Ethan replied as he cracked his neck and his armour began to repair itself from the damage it had sustained.

Kharon walked up to one of the robots, unsheathing his sword and making its edge turn blue. He slashed down through one of the robot’s shoulders, his blade cutting through it like butter and leaving melted metal in its wake. The merc glanced up at Ethan and tossed him the robotic arm. Ethan caught the arm in his free hand and chuckled.

“You had a lot of time to think this out, didn’t you?” he asked as the other man.

“For thirteen long years,” Kharon replied as he cut another arm off for himself. He glanced and pointed at one end of the door. “Go over there and look for three holes in the wall. Plug the robot fingers into them and at my single turn counterclockwise,” he instructed Ethan before going to the other end of the door.

Ethan did as instructed and on Kharon’s single turned the arm to the left. There was a loud whirring click and the doors unsealed and parted for only a foot.

“Good, the magnetic seals are disabled, now let’s pull the doors open,” Kharon said, tossing the arm aside and walk to the small gap.

“Alright,” Ethan said as he walked up to one side of the door and began to pull. The door was bloody heavy, resisting to move barely an inch for the first few seconds, but after a few more seconds of effort it began to slide with the man. The gap between the doors grew till it was big enough for both of them to squeeze into Drek’s office.

Before they could go in, Ethan held up a hand of warning. He reached into his pocket and pulled out four grenades, two plasma, one incendiary, and one fragmentation. Then with a toss he threw them through the opening. The grenades went off, and the two rushed in.

As Kharon and Ethan enter the now werk office, their eyes turned to Drek’s desk. Surprisingly, the businessman himself was sitting at an unharmed side of the room, typing away at a holo keyboard.

Drek glanced at the two, a dark scowl formed on his face. “You really think you’re going to take me down this easy?” he asked, mostly at Ethan.

“Eyup,” the man the replied, mimicking someone. “In my defense, I did tell you this would happen, repeatedly.”

This shouldn’t be happening in the first place,” Drek remarked with an angry hiss. “But no matter… I’ll just start over. There’s other sectors to hide in, other sectors where the law is meaningless, and where a man like me can rebuild,” he stated as he glanced back at his screen.

“I mean all offence when I say this, are you really stupid enough to think that my friends aren’t watching this entire sector like hawkes?” Ethan asked him with a raised eyebrow. “Are you really arrogant enough to think that you’ll get away?”

“I’ll get away...beside it’s not like I’ll be in this dimension for much longer,” he said standing up. As he did so, Ethan saw he was wearing some sort of robotic looking armor that cover his entire body sanse head, and wasn’t very bulky or cumbersome. “And neither will you,” the man finished while pressing one more key.

Self destructed active. Station detonation, five minutes. This is your only warning,” the synthetic female voice spoke through every speaker.

“Scheiße,” Kharon cursed.

“Goodbye Mr. Smith, have fun floating in the void of space,” Drek said turning around and walking to a part of the wall.

He lifted up a hand and pushed a part of it aside, showing a secret hallway which he proceeded to walk down. Ethan fired his Novasurge at the man’s retreating back to no avail as the plasma balls bounced off of an force field projecting in front of the desk. Ethan brought his sword up and slashed into the shield, slowly cutting through it.

“A little help would be appreciated,” Ethan muttered to Kharon as he continued to slice through the shield.

“This is a class seven force field,” Kharon muttered. “The only way to get through it is to deactivate it’s power source,” he stated, his head glancing around the room.

“You work on that,” Ethan replied, his sword beginning to make some headway on splitting the shield down the middle.

It took him a few more seconds of careful work, but he managed to force open a hole large enough for himself and Kharon to get through. He stepped through and Kharon eyed the hole with slightly narrowed eyes before stepping through. Ethan withdrew his sword, causing the hole to shrink back and Kharon immentily went to Drek’s desk.

“I’m going to try to disable the self destruct,” he said, his fingers typing away at the keyboard.

“Good,” Ethan replied with a nod. “See if you can shut down all the robots out there too,” he added.

Lines of script crawled across the screen as Kharon typed in one command after the next. “I’ll work on that...but it seems that’s already been taken care of,” he said. “Someone else is already in the system.”

“Hmm, must be Wistala and her bondage partner,” Ethan mused. “Think you can send them a message?”

“Maybe, but I need to deactivate the destruct,” Kharon said. “The nuke isn’t hooked up into the rest of the network and can only be accessed from here.”

“Well, focus on that first, when you’re done tell them that Drek is getting away and planning on jetting out of here,” Ethan replied. “Oh, and tell them that Omega is fighting a giant cyber-dragon, they may want to know that.”

The merc continued to type before letting out a relieved sigh. “Self destruct deactivated… now to message the hacker,” he said, his typing still quick, but less frantic than before.


“Stop righ-” a commando ordered before David’s hand phased in and out of his chest. The armored trooper collapsed to the floor, leaving David standing in a room full of knocked out aliens.

“Well that was easy,” the man mused as he went back to the terminal he was working on. How’s it going on your end Wistala? he mentally asked.

I’ve dealt with with everyone on every floor, she replied just before she passed through the floor and flew onto the man’s shoulders.

“Good,” David muttered as he monitored the terminal's screen. A small frown formed on his face as a certain line of text scrolled onto it. “Huh...seems like Drek is trying to escape via by spacecraft,” he commented. His fingers began to dance on the keyboard. “Not, any, more,” he said as he enter a command to sealed all hangar doors and active all of their force fields.

“There, no one can get in, and no can get out,” David said. “Also disabling the transporters too, just in case,” he added.

Wistala nodded her head and looked down at the screen, reading the last part of the message. “It also seems Omega is fighting a cyber dragon… think we should help him out?”

“Maybe,” David replied with a small nod of his head. “But we need to get over there anyways, we’re done here,” he stated looking around the room. “We can pick them up once we capture and detain Drek,” he said, adding a note about the unconscious aliens in the room. “Now let’s go.”

His body sank through the flooring and soon he was in the void of space. Doing a 180 flip, he zoom out into the nebula and back towards the station.


“Good, Drek is trapped,” Kharon said reading the message David sent back.

“Chalk one up for bondage guy,” Ethan said with a smile. “Now, let’s go kill Drek, eh?”

“With pleasure,” the merc said getting up from the seat, gesturing towards the secret hallway. “Let’s pay back the kindness he deserves.”

“Gladly,” Ethan replied and the two set off down the hallway at a run.

The two bolted down the hallway, their feet rhythmically pounding away at the metal floor.

“Drek is wearing an exo-armor suit,” Kharon said. “It makes him stronger, faster, and resilient to lot of attacks, mostly plasma and small calibers bullets, but my sword should cut through it with ease.”

“How does it do against rapid fire explosive rocket barrages?” Ethan inquired.

“Don’t know… but I’d be careful using them. This hallway leads right into a hangar bay. One stray rocket hits a fuel line and the whole hanger can explode in a fiery inferno,” Kharon explained.

“Gauss rifle it is then,” the man replied, taking out said rifle. “Think this’ll work?”

Kharon glanced at the rifle for a few seconds before looking out. “Aim for the legs, arms, or head if you can. The armor protection is weaker there,” he informed Ethan.

“Works for me,” Ethan replied as they closed in on the hanger and found a small array of ships dock inside. Drek was nowhere in sight but Kharon held up a hand.

“He’s in there,” he stated, pointing at a slim spacecraft with cockpit containing Drek, who was frantically pushing at buttons while his mouth was clearly cursing.

“He seems mad,” Ethan observed as he lined up his first shot.

“Well, he’s trapped like a rat, he should be,” Kharon said with a small smile.

“Heheh, just be ready for anything, trapped rats are usually the worst kind,” Ethan replied. “Also, I don’t really expect these gauss round to penetrate, but it’ll get his attention sure enough. You’re on team defense.”

Kharon nodded his head and drew out his pistol in one hand and his sword in the other.

“Always wished I could have gotten one of these things to have a two shot clip,” Ethan grumbled as he finished lining up the first shot. He pulled down the trigger and the large slug crashed into the cockpit window right beside Drek’s head. The window spontaneously sprouted cracks as it caught the slug and Drek’s head whipped up at the sound of the snapping window. His eyes rested upon Ethan and Kharon and an angry scowl formed on his face. He mouthed the word ‘you’ before a helmet unfolded and encased his head.

Just in time too, because Ethan’s second shot slammed into the cockpit, shattering it and continuing into Drek’s newly helmeted head, barely hitting as it was deflected by the glass. However, Kharon’s shot rang true as an explosive round scored a hit on Drek’s forehead. Drek’s head jerked back, but his suit protected him and he recovered from the hit. He then bolted into action, leaping out of the cockpit and landing on the floor. His right arm thrusted up and fired a single shot.

A dart flew and hit Kharon in the neck, making the man wince. He quickly reached up and pulled it out. The man tossed the dart to the ground and held up a hand up to his neck, his skin rapidly becoming pale. The man suddenly collapsed to his knees, and he used his other hand to support himself.

Ethan barely spared his companion a glance as the dart hit, instead firing off another gauss round, nailing him in the head and sending him flying head over heels down the hangar floor. Then, with Drek temporarily busy, the man turned to Kharon.

“You dying?” he asked with a small frown as he tossed the man a super stimpak.

“No.... just infected with a virus,” the merc muttered. “It targets regen capabilities and turns it against the host,” he explain in a strained voice. “It should pass… but not soon enough.”

“Can you fight?” Ethan inquired, turning his eyes back to Drek who was getting up, rubbing his head. Another round to the head sent him spiraling away again.

“No… my body is literally fighting against me… I can barely stand,” Kharon replied.

“Then sit, I’ll just take your sword,” Ethan commanded. “My gauss rifle only seems to be ragdolling the fucker, and as funny as that is too watch, I’d like to kill him at some point,” he added as he targeted Drek again and let fly. However this time the alien dodged it and his helmeted head glared at the two. “Shit, he seems to have gotten a bit wiser,” Ethan observed. “Anything I should know about your sword?”

“Don’t touch the edge...and it can be heavier than it looks,” Kharon informed him with a strained wince.

“No touching the edge, got it,” Ethan replied before tossing Kharon the gauss rifle and retrieving the sword. “Now you get to some place and lay down cover fire while I filette this mother fucker.”

Ethan then twirled Kharon’s sword once in his hand to make sure he knew the balance, finding that it was a bit heavier than he’d been expecting, more like holding onto a short bumper sword then a one handed sword. Still, the balance was good, and Ethan was used to wielding Blades of the West so the added weight was not too big of a problem. The man then charged towards Drek who held up his arms and fired piercing laser beams at him.

Ethan brought up the sword in his hand and slashed through the lasers, sending them ricocheting off the blade at perpendicular angles. Huh, that’s nifty, Ethan mused to himself. Wasn’t actually expecting that, but I won’t complain, he added.

Drek continued his barrage of laser before Ethan ran up to him and attempted to hack his right arm off. Drek dodged to the side and leapt high in the air as the armor emitted small jets to aid him. The alien landed on top of one of the ship’s hulls, and fired a round of mini rockets at Ethan.

Ethan tucked and rolled to the side, causing the rockets to explode harmlessly behind him.

“Oh now you’re just being a spoiled brat,” Ethan called up to Drek. “Did Ethan break all your little toys? Aww poor widdle Drekky is having a tantrum.”

“I will toss your bloody body into the void of space!” Drek roared as he fried off another volley of rockets.

Ethan rolled to the side again, avoiding the rockets and as he got to his feet again he called. “Aww come on Drekky Wekky, just remember what your papa always said when he was fucking you and ‘suck it up’!”

“You will pay for yo-” Drek was cut off as the sound of a gauss rifle *pang* rang out and a slug slammed into Drek, pushing him off of the ship and onto the floor. Ethan took a quick glance at Kharon, who was leaning against a ship’s landing leg, shakingly holding the rifle up to his face. Ethan shot him a thumbs up before charging after Drek.

The armored alien was already getting up, and once he was on his feet Ethan brought his shimmering blue blade slashing down and through his right arm. The blade cutting straight through the armour and the flesh beneath it like butter. A wailing scream of pain emitted through Drek’s helmet as the man fell to his knees and held up a hand to his bleeding yellow arm.

“Oh don’t be such a bitch,” Ethan stated, chopping downwards with the sword, finishing the job on the arm, lopping it clean off. Drek let out another scream, but that was cut off as Ethan kicked him onto his back and cleanly swept through his left knee. “Why are you screaming so much? It’s only a flesh wound, right?” Ethan asked the profusely bleeding alien. Then he bent down and injected Drek with a stimpack. “Can’t have you bleeding out on me this early, I’m just getting started,” Ethan growled before he slashed Drek across the chest, opening up the suit and creating a large gash across the alien’s chest.

Drek wailed piteously in agony as he tried to crawl away from Ethan. The man stabbed the sword into his remaining arm, anchoring him in place. Then the man smiled at Drek who was forced to watch all this through his helmet.

“You know, I think there’s some kind of irony at work here,” Ethan said conversationally. “You kidnap people and watch as they helplessly murder each other and make a profit, and here you are, down on the floor like a bitch while one of them carves you open.” The man then pulled out his red blade and set about carving his initials into Drek’s chest.

“Oh, and this is for taking Glen’s eye you son of a bitch,” Ethan added as he withdrew Kharon’s blade from the alien’s arm and stepped on his neck to hold him still before he slowly and deliberately sank it through the helmet’s left eyehole. Drek screamed and wailed in pain while Ethan chuckled. “Look on the bright side, now you’re twinsies,” Ethan said with an evil smirk.

Just then a hand grabbed Ethan’s and pulled it up along with the sword. With a twist and deft swipe, Kharon’s sword was yanked out of Ethan’s hand.

"I think that’s enough,” a male voice said flatly.

Ethan looked to see a tanned curly brown haired man with a dragon on his shoulder with an unamused expression plastered on his face.

“I take it that you’re Wistala’s bondage buddy?” Ethan asked with a raised eyebrow.

Bonded, and yes,” David answered.

“Alright,” Ethan replied before directing a kick at Drek, only to have it stop by an invisible wall. Ethan gave the man a raised eyebrow before shrugging slightly “Fair enough, I think I’m done, maybe let Kharon have a turn, he was this guy’s bitch for thirteen years. If anyone deserves a few quiet minutes with Drek it’s him.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” David said, his tone unchanged.

“Neat,” Ethan replied before turning back to Drek. “Oh and Drekky dear, I do hope ever so much that you remember who it is that gave you every warning of what would happen to you and several chances to let him go before it came to this,” he said in a singsong voice.

Drek only moaned in reply, but David held up a hand over him, causing some sort of phantom force to make the alien to pass out.

“I think you’re done here,” David said. “Please head back to the center of the station so we can help you get back home.”

“Sure, send Fausty along when you get a chance, okay?” Ethan asked with a smile. “Oh, and can I get your name please?”

“David, David Trombley” the man replied.

“Nice to metcha, I’m Ethan Smith,” Ethan replied, holding out his hand.

“And you as well, I guess,” David said, keeping his hand to himself.

Ethan glanced down at it then shrugged, withdrawing his own. “Alrighty then, feel free to drop by the Wasteland sometime, drinks are on me. Same with Omega,” he said with a chuckle before he headed over to where Kharon was lying before he grabbed the merc and helped him to his feet before heading out of the hanger, Kharon leaning against him.

David watched to the two leave. “Ethan,” he called out.

Ethan turned and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

David held up Kharon’s sword and tossed it in the air. It soar through the air and hover in front of the other man. “That belongs to your friend I think,” he said.

Ethan grasped it out of the air and nodded. “Thanks, see you around,” he said with a casual wave.

“Yeah… see ya,” David replied as Ethan turned and continued to walk out of the hanger. The man watch the two for a bit with a neutral stare, though his mind was far from neutral.

You okay David? Wistala asked. Your thoughts are...

I’m fine Wistala, the man replied. It’s just… I didn’t like the way he treated Drek… even if he did deserve it. He turned to the alien. He deserves either trial or a quick death… not to be tortured to death, he explained as he held his hand out Drek was lifted up into the air and the man began to walk out of the hanger.


“Stay calm and orderly as you exit the stadium,” Omega shouted with is magical projected voice. “Make your way to the locations your cards say and wait till you’re called upon. Work with us and we can all be done before day is over.” The fox stood in the middle of the arena, a large sleeping robotic dragon not far from him. He let out a small huff of breath as he still recovered from all the running he did to avoid the dragon’s fire, claws, tail, and arsenal of weapons and rockets.

“A Rook has less weapons and it’s more of a challenge to take down than you,” he muttered to the dragon with a small shake of his head. His ears perked up to the sound of foot steps walking up to him and he turn his head to see David heading towards him with Drek’s body floating next to him.

“I see our mark got a bit scuffed up,” Omega commented, glancing over the clearly mutilated Drek.

“Yeah...” David said with a small frown. “You contact Jonathan yet?”

“Just did… he’s a bit steamed at us for not reporting to him about this before hand... but we’re going to get some help sorting all of the victims soon,” the fox replied.

The man nodded his head. “Good, add to that Drek is going to need some medical care before we send him off to the proper authorities.”

“Noted,” Omega said, holding his left arm to show a metal bracer with a gemstone fastened around his arm. “Anything else?” he asked glancing up at David.

“Only that he should contact Simon...it will be nice to have someone from the Divine Court to help us out,” the man commented.

“You called?” A female voice asked from behind the man. David glanced back before slowly swiveling around to see a tall, white alicorn with a flowing brown mane standing behind him with a gentle smile on her face. “Hello David, Omega, Wistala...” she lingered on the last name for a second and gave Wistala a strange look before continuing. “My name is Faust, I’m the Divine who sent out the call for help in the first place.”

“I see,” the man said with a small nod, though Wistala was looking at the alicorn with a perplexed stare. “Well, I hope we did okay in aiding that call,” David added, glancing slightly at Wistala.

“You performed your tasks splendidly,” Faust replied with a smile as a small bowl of strawberries appeared floating in the air in front of Wistala. “Now, I must be off to retrieve Ethan, the Light alone knows what that man can get up to if left unattended,” she gave them all a last pleasant smile before adding. “Chaos Knight, Shadow Knight, Wisty,” then she walked away, vanishing before they could react.

The three blinked blankly at each other.

“Divines,” the fox muttered as he went back to his bracer, calling up a small holographic interface. “Never really differ from each other.”

“Sometimes,” the man agreed slightly as he glance at the hovering blow of strawberries and the confused dragon staring at them. “You okay Wistala?”

The black dragon stared at the bowl for a bit longer. “Yeah...I’m...fine,” she replied hazly. “It’s just… how did she know I like strawberries?”

David gazed back at the spot Faust was standing on. “Don’t know… but we’ll figure that out later. Let’s finish up here,” he told her.

Wistala nodded her head, but she used her powers to pluck two strawberries from the bowel and tossed them into her mouth, enjoying the sweet flavor they gave. David smiled lightly before turning to face Omega and wait for the portal to open for them.


Ethan and Kharon made their way back to the cell room, the merc’s status lighting up a bit as he was able to walk on his own now. Though his face was still a bit pale and his walk was slow and took more effort than it should.

“So, Drek’s been mutilated and is off to multiverse prison, what’re you going to do now?” Ethan asked the merc with a small frown. “Thirteen years is a long time to be gone.”

Kharon glanced down as he pondered the question. “Don’t know really...I would be declared dead in my home by now and I’ve got a lot of people to make amends to.”

“Well, best of luck Kharon. If you need any help with anything, just look me up,” Ethan said with a small nod.

“I doubt I will need it… but I will keep it in mind,” Kharon replied.

“Alright,” Ethan nodded. “Think you can make it back to where you’re going by yourself or do you need my help still? No offense, but I want to check on Glen.”

“I’ll be fine,” the merc replied. “The virus is starting to be repressed by my immune system. I should be back to normal in a couple of minutes.”

“See you then,” Ethan said, giving the merc a light pat on the shoulder and began to walk away. “Look me up if you’re ever in the Wasteland,” he added over his shoulder.

With that Ethan walked away from the other man and made his way to the room he and Glen had been sharing, he knocked on the door twice. “Hey Glenny, you still alive in there?”

“Yeah, we’re still alive,” Veria’s voice answered instead of the mare.

“Awesome, mind opening up?” the man asked with a chuckle.

The sound of a metal lock being fiddle with faintly emitted through the door before it swung open. The tall dark green orc stood on the other side, holding what look like a makeshift shiv. “Come on in,” Veria told the man, gesturing her head inward.

Ethan nodded and walked in to find Glen still lying on the bed. She glanced up and gave a slightly pained smile at the man. “Hey, still alive and kicking,” she said with a strained chuckle.

“So I see,” the man replied, smiling as he sat down beside her. “By the way, we’re all officially free, oh, and I stabbed out Drek’s eye for you.”

The mare chuckled a bit more only to wince as pain spike in her chest. “Thanks,” she said. “I guess you're waiting to say ‘I told you so’ huh?”

“Was going to wait until you were better, but kind of yeah,” the man replied with a smile.

The mare shook her head as a small smile formed on her lips. “So...how do we get out of this hell hole?”

“I have no ide-”

“That would be my job actually,” a new voice said from the doorway. They all turned to see the tall white form of Faust standing there. “Hello my little pony,” she said, looking at Glen kindly, her horn glowing slightly as a healing spell wrapped its way around Glen’s ribs, repairing them.

Glen stared at the alicorn with a mix of fear and awe, barely noticing that her ribs were mended back together.

“And hello to you as well, Daughter of Akatosh,” Faust added, nodding to Veria while Glen stared at her mutely.

Veria gave the alicorn a raised eyebrow but nodded her head. “And hello to you.”

“Give Sheo my regards next time you see him,” Faust said with a chuckle before she turned back to Glen. “So my little pony, are you ready to go home?”

“I… I… oh… ah...” she muttered out, her mind still a bit fuzzy. “Ah...yeah, yeah. I’m ready to get out of this hell hole,” she answered once she got her mind straightened up.

“Excellent,” Faust nodded.

“Fausty, she’s coming home with us,” Ethan interjected. The mare gave him a raised eyebrow.

“I know, that’s what I said,” Faust said with a small smile. “I’ve already told Tia and Lulu about it and they’ve approved.”

“Oh... good thinking Fausty,” the man said with a small chuckle.

“I like to think so,” the alicorn replied, grinning mischievously before turning back to Glen. “Are you alright with that dear? Not returning to the Equestrian Wasteland.”

Glen nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m fine with that… don’t want to get out of one hell hole into another.”

“Very wise,” Faust said with a grin. Then she turned back to Veira. “Do you have a particular part of Skyrim that you’d like to be set down in? Martin would be annoyed with me if I didn’t ask.”

Veria shook her head. “No not really… in fact I don’t think I really want to go back to Skyrim,” she said. “I’ve been gone a long time and out of touch, plus with what I know now about this multiverse, it would boring to head back and do dozens of fetch quests. I’m ready for something else.”

Faust raised an eyebrow but nodded. “Well then, I’d recommend that you seek out David Trombley and Omega in the main lobby. Ask them if there are any openings in the Order and tell them that you’ve got my recommendation.... I think you’ll enjoy the work.”

Veria nodded her head. “I’ll go try that. Thanks.”

“Happy to help,” Faust replied before the orc made her way out of the room leaving Ethan and Glen alone with the mare. “Glen dear, if you don’t mind, we’re going to be dropping Ethan at his home first, then heading to Equestria.”

“Alright,” the mare replied with a nod of her head.

“I’ll stop by some time later... after I spend the night catching up with Cassie and the kids,” Ethan added before he bent down and ruffled her hazel mane. “In the mean time, you can pal around with Sparky and Tia. Oh, and if you’re looking for a good time, ask Lulu if she’s available, last I heard she was still working off a bit of her ‘moon stress’.”

Faust gave Ethan a flat look at that, but shrugged slightly. “Most likely true,” she said with a shake of her head.

“I’ll… keep that in mind,” the pony replied.

“Then we’re all settled,” Faust said with a nod of finality. The world suddenly shifted before their eyes.


The three appeared in a clean office room.

“DAD!” Two voices shouted simultaneously and Ethan was unceremoniously knocked to the ground as a pair of small bodies crashed into his legs. Ethan let out a merry laugh at his children whose hair he ruffled and hugged back. Then his eyes wandered up to find Cassandra looking down at him, a happy look in her eyes.

“What am I going to do with you?” she asked him with a small shake of her head.

“Not in front of the children dear,” Ethan replied with a grin as he struggled to his feet and met his wife for a kiss.

“Blargh,” Ash commented, looking away while Shade just giggled.

“Thanks Faust,” Cassandra added once she’d broken away from her husband.

“Any time,” the alicorn said, nodding her head. “I have to get Glen here home, see you later Cassandra, Ethan,” she said.

“Laters, see you soon Glenny,” Ethan added before the two ponies vanished.

“So dad, where’d you go this time?” Ash asked curiously.

“Oh, you know, intergalactic gladiator tournament,” Ethan answered, smirking.

“That’s... kind of cliche isn’t it?” Ash inquired, raising an eyebrow slightly.

“Heh, it’s all about the execution,” the man said, tussling his son’s hair. “Now, I need to take a shower...”


Glen appeared standing in the grandest room she’d ever seen. The floor was covered in a soft red rug, and the windows were made of stained glass. Standing in front of her was a large white alicorn, not that different than Faust who stood beside her, except for her mane which was like an ever flowing rainbow.

“Hello, my little pony,” Princess Celestia said with a majestic smile as she looked down at Glen with incredibly kind eyes.

“Uh… hi ya,” the earth pony replied, clearly rendered speechless by merely being in the presence of somepony who she considered a Goddess.

Celestia chuckled softly at the mare’s reaction. “I am Princess Celestia, Miss Stonecutter and it is a pleasure to meet you,” Celestia told her with a smile. “Now is it true that you are the one who kept Ethan company while he was trapped?” the alicorn asked her, smiling pleasantly.

“Yeah...” Glen said, not really able to say much more than that.

“Well then, you will be rewarded for your service,” Celestia stated. “How would you like to live here in the Castle? Or anywhere else in Equestria for that matter. Name it, and it shall be yours along with enough wealth that you need never work unless you want too.”

The pony blinked her eye blankly. “That’s… that’s...” she was shocked speechless at the offer.

Celestia let out a small chuckle and smiled. “I’ll give you a bit of time dear, in the meantime, I’ve alerted our chef’s to your arrival and they’ve told me they’re preparing you a feast,” the alicorn told her.

“A feast?” the brown mare asked, finally, something she could respond intelligently to!

“Indeed,” Celestia replied with a nod.

Glen’s eye glanced in a far off distance as she thought about a table full of food, her mouth already being to salivate. “That’s… a lot of food....”

Celestia smiled benignly at her. “If you’d prefer something else I’m sure the chef’s could accommodate you. Perhaps some gruel?” the Princess joked.

“What? No, no,” Glen stated shaking her head back and forth quickly. “I’m fine with that… it’s just that’s a lot of stuff to give to one mare for just hanging around someone... ”

Celestia shook her head. “It is hardly a concern. You kept a dear friend of mine safe, as well as a dear friend of my love. This is the least I can do,” she explained.

“Safe? But I was-” the earth pony protested, near frantic at the thoughts, here was a Goddess seemingly accepting her without a second thought. What if it was a trap? What if she was like the false alicorns and would do horrible things to her?

“I’m aware of your transgressions,” Celestia said, cutting the pony off with a stern... yet kind voice. “But it was through no fault of your own and nopony here will hold it against you.”

“Oh… okay,” Glen said in a soft voice... this was... unexpected in the extreme. “Sooo… where’s the food then? If you don’t mind me asking of course!” she added hurriedly.

Celestia let out a tinkling laugh and smiled. “Right this way,” she said, starting out of the room. Glen nodded her head and follow Celestia, leaving Faust to smile at their retreating flanks.

“Well... time to go help with the rest of the ferrying,” Faust mused before she vanished.


Ethan lay beside Cassandra on their bed, his wife beside him wearing her nighty.

“You know, if this happens to you again I’m never letting you leave the casino,” Cassandra said, jabbing Ethan in the side, a bit harder than he thought was necessary.

“It’s not like I ask for it to happen you know,” Ethan complained, wincing slightly.

“I know, and yet it keeps happening,” the red headed woman said, giving Ethan an irate look.

“Well yeah...” the man said, looking down. “But hey, it’s worked out for the best so far right?” he asked, chuckling a little.

“Damnit Ethan,” Cassandra said with a long suffering sigh. “If you keep doing this, then Ash and Shade are going to grow up without a father,” she continued, giving him a hard stare.

Ethan was quiet for a moment as he reached out and pulled Cassandra closer to his chest. “I… know. I know,” he said softly. “And that’s something that neither of them deserve,” he added.

Cassandra gave him a level stare. “And what about me? This kind of thing drives me crazy, Ethan,” she said in a low tone. “Every time you leave... there’s always the chance you won’t come back… and there will have been nothing I could do about it,” she finished with a sigh.

“Hey,” Ethan said, gripping her by the chin and tilting her face up for their eyes to meet. “I’m not going anywhere Cassie... I promise.”

“You know you can’t keep that one,” the woman muttered.

“You never know, I might,” Ethan said with a small smirk.

“Yeah... and I’m actually a man,” Cassandra replied, rolling her eyes.

“Wow, I’ve never noticed,” Ethan said with a glance down her body. “You must be really good at hiding it.”

She smacked him.

Author's Note:

Hey guys, it's your lucky day, I'm updating at midnight! Why? Because it's technically the next day so there! Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed this mini-series and I'd like to send a BIG thank you to Omega_Code for thinking up this plot, and for putting up with me and Ethan (and for letting me get away with a few things, heh). Epilogue will be up tomorrow, and then I'll probably finish the EQG story in 1 to 2 chapters, maybe 3, not sure yet.

So, read and comment, I'll be asleep if anyone needs me.
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