Swamp of Damned Souls
Swamp of Damned Souls
Finally that little voidling pest is gone, Kata exclaimed with glee once Bob left the room.
“Yes, I’m sure that having another invisible voice around was really cramping your over-inflated ego,” Ethan replied.
No, I’m just furious that little vermin interfered with my last puzzle. I oughta have blasted that voidling back to where he belongs, but it would’ve been a waste of my powers.
“Implying that they’re limited,” Twilight said to herself with a slight frown.
I might be limited in my void magic, but my chaos magic is not, little pony.
“Yes, but that just tells us that you’re not very flexible,” Twilight replied
I don’t need to be flexible against foes I have nothing to worry about.
“Really now, that sounds fairly cocky for someone too cowardly to show her face,” Twilight said with a smirk.
A few seconds later and purple a circle formed around Twilight casting a dome around her. Then her mind screamed in pain as if millions of shards of glass were being dragged across her body, inside and out. A loud shriek emerged from her mouth and Twilight’s body shuddered closing her eyes for a moment before the scream abruptly shut off and Twilight’s eyes snapped open. Her horn became engulfed in a brilliant purple glow and the shield bulged as if something had hit the side of it.
“Odd construction, assuredly chaos magic, however it appears to be most unlike any that Discord taught me of,” Twilight said in a completely detached voice.
That’s because not one form of chaos magic is the same as another. It’s chaos remember? Now be a good little pony and don’t question my abilities. The circle disappeared and Twilight was released from her imprisonment, though pain still danced throughout her mind.
“That was excruciatingly painful,” she said, her voice still rather detached.
Celestia ran up to Twilight with a worried expression, checking for any injuries on her body.
“On the bright side it gave me a far greater knowledge about how her magic works,” Twilight continued, her voice sounding slightly less detached.
“I see no marks of any kind. That was just a powerful illusion type spell,” Celestia stated, though not very pleased with that discovery.
“Yes, a very pain-” Twilight replied before as her voice cracked and she winced in pain. “-ful one at that,” she agreed.
“We should not aggravate her,” Luna said cautiously. “We’ve yet to see her truly angry.”
“Agreed,” Scarlet muttered. “Who knows what else she could do.”
“Please don’t ask that Katherine,” Ethan told her.
Oh don’t worry Ethan, if you do what I say you won’t ever have to worry about what else I can do. Now... a doorway opened on a wall near them. ...your next challenge awaits.
“Goddesses, I had to create four separate personalities and split the pain evenly throughout them to withstand that,” Twilight grumbled as she looked towards the door wearily.
“It shouldn’t last long. While illusion magical attacks can be devastating to one’s mind, they fade away quickly if the person survives.” Celestia told the young alicorn.
“Tell that to those Diamond Dogs Trixie managed to trick into killing each other,” Thomas whispered to Luna, who nodded.
“You’ve told me that before Tia,” Twilight said with a slightly odd grin on her face.
“Well...that’s good then.” Celestia tapered off.
“Yeah, it was one of those early lessons when I frantically scribbled down every word you said and then underlined the important ones so that I could go back later and re-read them all...” Twilight trailed off, apparently lost in a memory of some sort.
“She’ll be fine in a minute,” Ethan said with a sigh. “It’s a side effect of the spell she was using, makes her go kind of loopy.”
“As long she doesn’t talk how about how addicting her Celestia is again, I’m fine with that,” Scarlet stated as she walked towards the door, taking a peek of what was in store for them. A frown appeared on her brow. “I hope no one is afraid of the dark,” she said as she reached to activate the torch function on her Pip-boy. “Because it’s pitch black in here.”
Luna poked her head through, her superior vision letting her see what others couldn’t. “Hmm. Looks like... a swamp.”
“Oh God. Luna please tell me that it’s not the kind of swamp that makes your brain start to scream STAY OUT just by looking at it, you know the kind with little voodoo dolls hung up in the trees and a serious sense of foreboding lingering around every curve so that when you turn a corner you could swear that something is watching you,” Ethan said erratically as his eyes widened. “The kind where mist obscures everything in sight and the sun is never in the right place, and your pipboy map is always wrong and your HUD starts to shake randomly and change color...” Ethan rambled.
“We get it Vault Boy,” Scarlet droned out, rolling her eyes. “Maybe you should sit this one out if you’re so afraid.”
“Fuck that noise, I’m just asking for a clarification is all,” Ethan replied, calming slightly.
“I can’t see anything but trees,” Luna added.
“Okay then, it could just be a perfectly normal swamp in the middle of a chaos goddess’s personal torture shop, yeah, that could be it,” Ethan said, muttering the last part.
Scarlet couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle while slowly shaking her head.
“Well if it is the swamp from Point Lookout then I’d recommend being careful where you step. The ground is a literal quagmire and one wrong step means that you’ll be spending ten minutes trying to get your entire leg out of the muck. Also if you spot any Punga Fruit grab it, I can make us some good food with those things,” Ethan told them. “Oh, and watch out for swamp folk, they’re giant mutated rednecks who have fun fucking their children to death with baseball bats and take four shots of some of my best guns to kill.”
“I highly doubt that she will be so merciful,” Luna muttered.
“Lights on, we’re gonna need it,” Thomas said as he adjusted his Pip-Boy’s brightness.
Celestia closed her eyes and forces on a spell. A small ball of light appeared next to her, casting a fairly decent glow all around it.
“Um guys, just a question for you, but if you’re in the dark, what do you aim for if you’re trying to kill something?” Ethan asked.
“Center of mass, easiest target,” Thomas replied.
“Sorry, I phrased that wrong. I mean if you’re hunting something in the dark, and you’re well adjusted to the dark, what is the one sure fire sign that your prey is nearby, especially if they’re intelligent and have naturally weak night sight?” Ethan asked.
“You seek the brightest area,” Luna muttered. “My sister’s forces made that mistake often during the Nightmare Wars.”
“Yeah, light, it’s going to be a double edged sword if we use it,” He told them
“Don’t worry, I have that figured out.” Celestia said. Several more balls of light were floating around her and she was still making more.
Hahahahahha, no. Kata laughed as one by one the lights flashed out, all but the one directly above Celestia’s head.
A frown formed on Celestia face, but she didn’t say anything.
“That small of an amount of light isn’t really worth it, it’ll just make it harder to adjust to the darkness,” Ethan said.
“I was making them so that they could fly out wandering this swap, trying to throw off our movement.” She stated. She closed her eyes and the ball of light increased in glow.
“Yes, and now we’re a giant target for anything that Kata has hunting us, and we won’t be able to see if it goes out,” Ethan said.
“One second Ethan, changing the waveform of light isn't easy.” The ball of light flickered and changed through several colors until it was a dark blue orb of light. Fitting well into the darkness, but still gave the group enough light to see a several feet in a 360 degree area. “There,” she stated with a smile.
“Better,” Ethan said with a nod. “Although I’m going to stand a little ways away from the center just to be safe,” he added.
“I could really use my Riot Gear right about now,” Thomas grumbled.
“Yeah, but that helmet gets so fucking sweaty, I’d prefer not to drown without my head touching the water first thanks,” Ethan joked, obviously attempting to break his own inner tension about the coming ordeal.
“It’s funny that this is the same person who got swallowed by a giant lizard, without being phased. But at the knowledge that’s he about to enter a single swamp makes his knees begin to buckle.” Scarlet jested.
“Yeah, but once you’ve been strapped to a log spread eagle style while a giant, mutated and inbred hick walks towards you with a ceremonial dagger ready to cut your heart out; while all around you his relatives chant for the ‘god of the swamp’ to accept your soul as an offering, your perspective changes a little,” Ethan replied. “Plus I got a rather large chunk of my brain cut out in the swamp...”
“And I got shot in the head and got my whole brain removed Vault Boy. Point is you’re letting your fear control you when it shouldn’t. I didn’t let walking back into the Cloud hinder my abilities or mind.”
“It’ll pass once we actually get in there and things start up. I’m just letting off a little steam at the moment,” Ethan replied. “And trying not to remember that conversation with what may or may not have been my father’s ghost...” he added.
“Ghost aren’t real, only memories,” Scarlet said.
“That’s not true, there are such things as ghosts Scarlet,” Twilight piped up, apparently recovered from her earlier ordeal. “In fact, the better someone is remembered the more likely the chance of a ghost being formed. The memories act as an anchor, keeping a part of them from getting all the way to the afterlife,” Twilight paused for a second before continuing. “Although in most cases those types of ghosts go on to become guardian spirits rather than anything malignant.”
“Whenever I saw any type of ghost, it was a hallucinogenic gas that was flowing through the vents of a vault. All the while it was showing my father or people I used to know.” Aeron stated simply. Ethan’s eye twitched slightly at the mention of that particular adventure but Twilight spoke before he could.
“Anyways we should probably get going into, wait what are we doing?” Twilight asked.
“Going into a dark, haunted, swamp full of God only knows how many monsters,” Ethan supplied.
“Sounds fun,” Twilight said with a sigh.
“It sounds like an adventure to me,” Aeron chuckled, unholstering his pistol. Twilight gave him the stink-eye, but instead of responding simply led the way through the doorway. The rest of the group followed and they found themselves standing on a tiny island located a little bit above the swamp. It was dotted with a selection of scraggly trees and wisps of mist clouded the air. A beam of light in the distance that slowly rotated across them before continuing on its way revealed the location of a lighthouse in the distance.
Upon entering, Aeron took a good inhale and then burst into a coughing fit. “Jesus Christ... That smells awful.”
“It’s rotting vegetation along with animal matter,” Ethan replied simply.
“With this much, there’s probably a buildup of methane by now.” Aeron coughed, gagging slightly.
“Oh right, thanks for reminding me, if anyone sees a large yellow bubble pop up out of the swamp don’t shoot it. It will explode,” Ethan said.
“Yeah, that’s the last thing we need. Although, it may be useful if we encounter anything too big.” Aeron noted. Unless Kata has other uses for it... He quickly thought to himself.
“So no fireballs...yet.” Scarlet muttered to herself as she stayed close to Celestia.
Your goal is the lighthouse, I’ve put a rather dangerous pet of mine in here to keep you company. Have fun, Kata said mockingly
“That’s at least a ten miles walk,” Scarlet stated as she judge the distance with a quick little trig calculation in her head.
“Probably, but it’s going to feel like fifteen to twenty miles when traveling through the swamp,” Ethan replied darkly.
“Then we better get moving,” Celestia said.
“Agreed, from here on out no talking unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Ethan commanded.
The party began to move down the slope of the island in the direction of the distant lighthouse. As they moved, the unnerving sense of being watched suddenly overtook the party. They arrived at the shore of the tiny island and Scarlet pointed in the direction of the next one they should head for. Thomas nodded and they had their first encounter with the swamp’s disgusting, brackish water.
Cold and slimy water swished into Scarlet’s boots, making her feet move sluggishly, but it didn’t phase the woman. She continue looking for a clear path to the lighthouse while keeping an eye out for anything out of place. Celestia kept up with everyone, doing her best to stay in the mid center of the group. Her main focus was on keeping her modified magelight from going out, thereby taking away their main source of light, not caring of the mud that was clinging to her hooves and coat.
Ethan’s boots sank into the mud as he walked, propelled downwards by the weight of his armor, but he moved along at almost the same pace as the others nonetheless. He knew how to pull out his legs quickly before the swamp could engulf him in its cold grasp. Twilight decided to avoid the swampy water entirely and simply began to fly alongside the group.
Thomas grimaced as the icy, brackish water seeped into his boots. He was glad that there was nothing like this within a hundred miles of Vegas, he did not like what he was doing. He gritted his teeth and made sure to tread lightly, not wanting to slip and fall. The water felt disgusting against his skin, he didn’t want to imagine what it tasted like. Luna similarly trod with caution, her eyes darting around to make sure they weren’t snuck up on.
Aeron watched as the others moved through the muck. Sighing, he knelt down and tied his boots tightly, stepping into the murky water. The mud quickly grabbed Aeron’s feet; to agitate him further, he could feel water sliding down his boots. Slowly and smoothly, he wiggled his boots out of the mud and eventually started to walk with the others. Dash simply hovered next to Aeron keeping up with the group.
Once they reached the far shore they squelched their way out of the water and onto dry land once more. They began to continue forwards, towards the direction of the distant light when suddenly Scarlet stopped walking and raised her right hand, clenching it into a fist. She then pointed a single finger up and to her right towards a bush. Her left hand was slowly making its way to grab her gladius.
Ethan nodded and silently drew his sword as well, holding it at the ready, while Celestia and Luna readied their weapons. As one, they all approached the bush; the sense of being watching increased with every step they took to an almost unbearable level. Ethan nodded to Celestia, whose spear had greater range than the rest of them. Celestia jabbed her spear through the bush making a small scorch hole; however, it didn’t seem she hit anything but the bush itself.
The feeling of being watched diminished slightly, but it was still heavily present in the back of their minds. Ethan growled in annoyance.
“There’s no point in being quiet, whatever it is obviously knows exactly where we are,” he muttered.
“Then we had better quicken our pace,” Celestia add in for conformation.
“Luna, did you see anything?” Twilight asked the other alicorn.
“No, but I certainly sensed it,” Luna said darkly as she cast her eyes around the dimly lit island.
“You know, I prefered it when it was a Russian guy doing the hunting,” Ethan muttered. “All this smoke and mirrors bullshit is starting to really piss me off.”
“Give me a desert environment any day of the week,” Thomas muttered unhappily as he shook his boot. To his annoyance none of the slime and muck came off. “Can’t hide in a desert.
“Underground it could,” Celestia pointed out.
“Yeah, but at least then you know where to look,” he replied, looking around carefully. “All these damn trees...”
“And the damn mist,” Ethan added with a slight growl. “Come on, we should get moving.”
The group set off down the slight slope of the island, heading for its shore, Scarlet leading the way with Ethan a few steps behind her. The trees creaked and moaned, while the wind stood still like a mountain. Small popping noises could be heard coming from the water as gases escaped the underground to the freedom of the air. However, the sense that something was following them never left the group. As they approached the shore Celestia’s light suddenly flickered rapidly, casting the group into semi darkness for several seconds before she regained control of the spell. A puzzled look crossed the white alicorn’s face.
“Something was interfering with my spell, and it didn’t feel like it was Kata’s doing,” she stated.
“I felt it too, it felt... slimy,” Twilight said.
“Whatever that was, it wasn’t natural,” Luna added quietly. “It felt like it was... twisted. Wrong.”
“Yes, and in pain, horrible pain,” Twilight murmured.
“No point dwelling on it,” Aeron stated politely. “Let’s continue on.”
They entered the water once more, their passage creating loud splashing as they pushed on. “How far did you say that lighthouse was?” Thomas asked.
“Normally ten miles, but in these conditions it’s more like twenty,” Ethan told him.
“It feels like twenty miles, but still is ten miles. We’re halfway there.” Scarlet clarified.
“Then why the hell does it look smaller?” Thomas pointed out.
Scarlet looked up and saw what the other Courier said was true. “But...it was just larger just a second ago?” Scarlet place a hand to her forehead.
“Kata’s doing probably,” Celestia said.
“Illusions. Woooo!” Aeron sang, waving his hands in the air for a moment, laughing softly.
“The hell is so fucking funny?” Twilight asked him in an annoyed voice.
“You,” Aeron smiled. “Just lighten up. We’ve all faced worse. A lighthouse looking smaller isn’t that big of a deal.”
“Depends on how you look at it. If that Lighthouse is an illusion, then there’s no way we can get to it. We’ll be chasing a rainbow.” Scarlet stated.
“We can always turn around,” Aeron suggested.
“Personally I’d like to get out of the water,” Ethan said dryly.
“Up to Captain Thomas,” Aeron waved over to Thomas. “He is the leader.”
“She said the lighthouse. Even if she moves the goal to the other side of this swamp when we’re ten feet from it, it’s our only option,” he stated. “Wouldn’t be surprised if the door to where we were is gone.”
“Sounds like her alright,” Ethan agreed. “Enough talking, let’s just get out of this muck before one of us gets pulled under.”
They continued in silence until they reached the next island and began to walk up its slightly angled slope. The sense of being watched increased until it felt like something was mentally shouting at them, begging for their attention. The closer they got to the center of island the more powerful the feeling got.
Suddenly the group stumbled into a complexing sight. Rotten, torn body parts, both from humans and ponies, were spread across the whole area. Several had clearly been alicorns although for some reason a large majority of those had been red and black. There were also a wide variety of equipment scattered around the clearing, all of it severely damaged. A bloated unicorn’s corpse along with that of a human took center stage along with the body of a small, familiar robot.
Scarlet pointed at the small robot. “That looks like a mini securitron, Muggy?”
“She killed Muggy?” Thomas asked, sounding like he couldn’t believe what he was saying.
“You bastard!” Ethan shouted.
“Muggy?” Luna asked, the name confusing her.
“Yeah, who the hell is Muggy and why is he important?” Aeron added to Luna’s question.
“He’s just a robot from the Big Empty meant as an insult to RobCo. He was obsessed with cleaning coffee mugs,” Scarlet informed.
“Yeah, kinda felt bad for the little guy,” Thomas added.
“I’ve seen people attach themselves to weird things. Guns, walls, cybernetics, people... But, this takes the cake.” Aeron shook his head in disbelief.
“Well, it’s just strange to see him out here, he normally never leaves the Sink,” Scarlet said.
“The Si You know what. Nevermind.” Aeron gave up, not questioning it further.
“What I’m most worried about are those,” Luna interjected, a hoof pointed at the corpses. “I’ve never seen ponies like that before.”
“Their colour palette is awful. It’s like a four year old made them,” Aeron stared at the corpses with distaste.
“This screams trap,” Ethan said.
“You don’t say,” Scarlet deadpanned. “Let’s find another way.”
“Ethan’s a great guinea pig. Let him walk through the piles of dead bodies.” Aeron suggested.
“As much as I enjoy taking shots for people I don’t feel like going through it if we can find another way around,” Ethan retorted
“As you wish. Any other suggestions, then?” Aeron looked to the others for responses.
“Skirt the shoreline, avoid this place entirely,” Twilight replied.
“Good idea,” Scarlet turned around, but the shore line was replaced by a tree tall wall that stretched neverending, east to west. “Fuck.”
“Wow. I think we’re losing our minds,” Dash said as she looked at the same wall.
“Been there, done that, got boring,” Ethan joked.
Thomas rolled his eyes and led the group, doing his best to avoid stepping on anything. “You might wanna not breathe,” he warned.
“I might as well go first, Luna please be on standby to pump me full of radiation when whatever the fuck this thing is tries to kill me,” Ethan said as he looked at the blood-drenched clearing. Luna nodded and readied her horn.
Ethan took a step forward into the clearing, and when nothing immediately tried to kill him he continued, surveying the wreckage as he went. A large trashed minigun lay among a pile of destroyed limbs and broken power armour. As he continued onwards he saw a small piece of armour bearing an unfamiliar logo, the letters N and 7, printed in white next to a small red triangle. For some reason there was no corpse nor bloodstains to go with it. Ethan shrugged, it looked like whoever had worn that armour had gotten away. That’s when Ethan noticed a pair of aviator sunglasses on the ground in front of him.
“Luna, be ready for it please,” he called over his shoulder, then he bent down to pick up the sunglasses. The man suddenly felt a cold spectral hand press against his chest. A pair of red lights appeared at his eye level, and an unearthly scream crashed against both his mind and his ears. Then it vanished.
He wasn’t the only one to suffer the mind-rending roar. The rest of the group fell to their knees, clutching at their heads in synchronised agony. “What the fuck was that?” Thomas asked loudly, looking around once he recovered.
“I don’t know, but I do know that that hurt like a bitch,” Ethan moaned, he’d fallen to his knees in the bloody clearing. “It’s fucking with us,” he growled. “This pile of bodies, it’s here for effect, to scare us.”
“Well, it’s not like we’ve seen dead, torn up, bodies before,” Scarlet muttered.
“Celestia, Luna, have you ever seen anything like that?” Twilight murmured. “Because it slightly reminded me of a banshee, but, not really...”
Celestia shook her head. “The only thing that I can think of that it was a weak voidling, but I didn’t sense any void magic.”
“It may have been a wraith, but they prefer the frozen north, where the Crystal Empire was,” Luna added.
“Hmm... it sounds more like a wraith than a voidling, but still not right,” Twilight said as she furrowed her brow. “The energy was definitely spectral in origin, meaning that we’re dealing with a spirit or ghost of some kind.”
“Ghosts do not consume flesh, nor display bodies,” Luna explained. “As for what kind of spirit, there is no telling. Wraith, lich, phantom, spectre, but none of them make their homes in swamps.”
Small doubts formed in Celestia’s mind, but she didn’t voice her opinion on the matter yet.
“Gah, I just don’t know anything about swamps, other than to avoid kelpies and the average water demons,” Twilight said with an annoyed scowl, then she turned to Celestia. “Can you think of anything Celestia? You’re the oldest one here after all.”
Celestia ponder the thought for a few more seconds before replying, “A spectral golem, made out of the memories of Kata’s past victims. That is the only other thing that comes to my mind. It would explain the sorrow and pain we are feeling.”
“Such a vile creation,” Luna muttered, using a little magic to help clear a path through the mangled bodies. “Something only the most twisted of beings could even think of doing.”
“Well, it certainly has terrible taste in art,” Ethan said, butting into the conversation. “Although oddly good choice in shades,” he mused as he put the aviators into one of his pockets.
“Any way to kill it?” Scarlet asked as she kept an eye out.
“Most shades, or creatures of the undead are adversely affected by salt, holy water, and occasionally silver or cold iron,” Twilight listed.
“Divine magic attacks also work too,” Celestia added. “However, my spear mostly does fire type attacks.”
“And my magic operates on the very things that sustain an undead,” Luna added.
“Oh good, so we’re up shit creek without a paddle,” Ethan muttered.
“And we don’t even have a boat,” Thomas added under his breath.
“Hell, at this point I’d settle for a life preserver,” Ethan added.
“Are we going to perform an exorcism or something? Because we don’t have a priest to do so, you know,” Aeron chuckled, mildly nervous, and with a slight shake to his voice.
“Where’s Daniel when you need him,” Scarlet added with a less frightened chuckle of her own.
“I don’t know, but I’ll pretend to be a priest if we need to,” Ethan replied with a matching chuckle.
“I think the Burned Man will disagree with you, Vault Boy.” Scarlet pointed out.
“Yeah, you don’t want to piss that guy off,” Thomas added.
“Honestly he’s one of the few men I’m actually afraid of. Well him and Ulysses anyways,” Ethan said with a slight shrug.
“Well, let’s get through here as quickly as possible. I’d rather not deal with whatever there is in here,” Aeron stated quickly.
“You look scared Aeron,” Twilight said, giving him a raised eyebrow.
Aeron raised a brow to her. “My dear Twilight, whatever gave you that idea?”
“Dilated pupils, an unusually nervous voice, and your breathing is elevated,” the alicorn replied simply.
“Okay, I may or may not have an overly heightened fear of high-pitched screaming,” Aeron responded simply.
“Nothing to be ashamed of, I personally can’t stand broken radios,” Thomas replied.
“It... Gets in the way of being normal, to say the least,” Aeron replied to Thomas.
“Normal? Us?” Ethan asked in disbelief.
“I consider myself normal, educated and somewhat better than most in the Wasteland. It’s usually a bunch of savage men and women fighting over what town to rape next,” He answered.
“After everything we’ve all been through, we ain’t normal, Aeron. We’re like centaurs. Those fuckers have two heads,” Thomas added.
“Plus I’ve lost my chance of being ‘normal’ at the Divide,” Scarlet softly added. “The problem of trying to be normal is that there’s no set standard for it, it’s different in everyone’s eyes.”
“It’s not that... But, as long as it doesn’t persist, everything will be fine,” Aeron took in slow, deep, breaths as he responded to them.
“We should get moving, the longer we stand around in this fucking swamp the harder it’ll be to get out of. Trust me, I know from experience,” Ethan said with a scowl.
“You’re not the only one, Ethan,” Aeron stated with a placid look crossing his face.
“I swear, if Obadiah suddenly shows up I’m going to punch him in the fucking face,” Ethan muttered.
“Ethan, he’s not a bad man,” Twilight argued.
“Fuck that, the man’s an evil asshole,” Ethan muttered. Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Yeah. He kind of helped Dash get home. Sure, he had to cut open a few people to do so...” Aeron tapped his chin for a moment then stopped the statement at that.
“Oi, vault dwellers, are we going or not?” Scarlet asked impatiently.
“Keep your panties on Kathrine, we’re coming,” Ethan said as inspected the now clear pathway through the bloody meadow. “Good work with this path Luna, now let’s get going.”
Scarlet gave the man a low glare, curling one of her hands into a fist, but letting it go shortly after it formed. Ethan quirked an eyebrow at her but shrugged and began down the cleared path with Twilight hovering behind him.
“Who the fuck carries around one of those?” Thomas asked, pointing at the twisted metal frame of what had once been a Winchester P94.
“I’m not sure, but hey, I have a civil war repeating rifle that I use to hunt ghouls sometimes,” Ethan replied with a shrug.
“Repeaters are practical, something like that -- wait, what? Civil war? What civil war?” Thomas asked, turning to the other man in confusion.
“The original American Civil War, the North vs the South. Fighting over slavery, freedom, and all that other jazz that we deal with today in the Wasteland but without the raiders and exploding collars,” Ethan replied with a slight shrug. “Of course, back then the slaves were all black so at least slavery has become more open minded out in the Wastes,” he added with a sarcastic chuckle.
“Black people. Black people,” Thomas repeated dumbfounded.
“Yep, it’s an awful part of history that was part of the country’s founding and is mostly forgotten about these days when people think of the old world,” Ethan replied.
“Why black people? What the fuck did they do?” Thomas asked angrily.
“Well apparently they were originally caught by the warlords of Africa and sold to the Europeans who then used them as slave labor. Eventually they didn’t need to bargain with the warlords because they had a big enough breeding supply of their own, after that... well it took about two hundred years for someone to realize that it was wrong. The old world wasn’t as perfect as some seem to think,” Ethan replied.
Thomas just fumed. “All right,” he said. “All right.” He took a deep breath. “All right,” he said a third time. “When I get back, I’m getting Oliver to put on Lanius’s armour just so I can beat the shit outta him.”
“Oliver, you mean that guy that my wife threw off the dam with a bungee cord attached to his leg?” Ethan asked curiously. “Also why are you so mad at him?”
“That fuck took all the credit for almost everything I did. He spent four years on his ass doing nothing in Hoover Dam, and I did more in a month than the NCR could in that time.”
“That is the problem with politicians, they like to do that,” Luna mused.
“That’s why I usually kill them,” Ethan said with a chuckle. “Or do what I did to Blueblood,” he added with a smirk.
“He’s a dick, but he’s smart,” Thomas replied.
“Yes, he revived an old pegasus military tactic that had been out of practice for centuries,” Luna explained.
“Mine must have been different, he was an absolute idiot. Of course she’s not a problem anymore,” Ethan said with another smirk.
“Oh god what did you do?” Thomas asked, his anger over learning about what his ancestors had likely gone through fading rapidly.
“Well, he kidnapped me, and then tortured me which was essentially treason because I’m a foreign ambassador. Then Sparky busted in, took down the guards, and we took him to Celestia. He challenged me to a duel to try and stave off the charges, I embarrassed him in the dueling arena in front of all of Canterlot, and then Celestia took his house, his name, his wealth, and his balls. She replaced all of his equipment and made him into a mare,” Ethan listed off with a chuckle.
Luna stared at him. “I knew the punishment for unicorn criminals was dehorning them, but...”
“Luna, your sister now completely terrifies me,” Thomas stated calmly.
“Honestly I still think that she should’ve killed him,” Ethan said with a shrug.
“There’s no gain in killing somepony without giving them a second chance,” Celestia pointed out. “Otherwise, there’ll be a lot more dead than living.”
“Yeah, Ethan you can’t just kill every noble in Canterlot who annoys you. Mostly because we’d run out in about a day and then there’d be nopony left to run things,” Twilight agreed with a shake of her head.
“Plus I don’t see the similarities with the Blueblood I’ve met,” Scarlet stated. “The one I met was at least decent to me.”
“Well like I said, mine wasn’t very smart,” Ethan said with a smirk. “I’m pretty sure that the only reason that Sunny didn’t kill him was because she’s all that she has left of an old lover. It’s turned out for the best though from what I’ve heard, she’s apparently settled down and started a family.”
“That’s nice for her,” Celestia said with little interest.
“She started a family. She started a family. Am I the only one who sees anything wrong with that?” Thomas asked, looking around.
“No, it feels... strange to me too. Not unexpected, given the circumstances, but...” Luna trailed off, not knowing what to say. Or think.
“I try and avoid thinking about it,” Ethan agreed. “At least Sunny was thorough.”
During their conversation they’d managed to get through the clearing and were on their way down the slope towards the waterline. The blue light from Celestia’s magelight flickered again as they neared the murky water, this time more intensely than before.
Celestia brought the magelight back under control, but a concerned look crossed her face. “It’s getting hard to keep it going. Whatever is affecting my spell, it’s getting stronger the closer we get to the Lighthouse.”
“Great,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Well we might as well press on,” she added.
“You can all fly, and we’re stuck walking,” Thomas grumbled.
“Missing your wings, Captain?” Ethan asked with a small smile as he stepped into the water.
“Kind of.”
“And what about you Ethan, do you miss having a phallic object on your head?” Aeron asked sarcastically, clearly having recovered from his previous freakout.
“Oh earth pony humour, so sophisticated,” Luna replied just as sarcastically.
“Kind of yeah, I’m sure that Cassie would’ve enjoyed it,” Ethan said with a chuckle. “Oh and watch out the water gets deeper to the right,” he added.
“Whatever Vault Boy,” Scarlet droned out. “A little water won-” In a flash Scarlet’s right leg went lower than her left causing her to lose her balance and fall face first into the water.
“You were saying?” Ethan asked as he reached over and grabbed her by the collar of her duster and pulled her back to her feet. “Oh, and you look good wet Katherine,” He added.
Scarlet just gave a bitter look at the man and shoved his hand away, muttering words under her breath as she continued on walking.
“It really accentuates your curves,” Ethan added with a slight chuckle.
“Shut up Vault Boy,” Scarlet growled out.
“Maybe you should listen to me next time I give you good advice,” Ethan suggested.
“Maybe I would if I ever heard one from you,” Scarlet replied.
“I’d suggest opening your ears then Kathrine,” the man said with a smirk.
“I have, all I keep hearing is you making fun of a dead woman,” the woman bitterly said.
“Twilight, can you shut him up? Permanently?” Luna asked politely.
“Trust me Luna, I’ve tried, nothing sticks,” Twilight said with a long suffering scowl. “Not even throwing him off Canterlot, although the results were pretty funny,” she added with a slight grin.
“Do I even want to know why you would do such a thing?” Celestia asked.
“He talked too much while I was studying an extremely advanced spell of ancient power and wouldn’t be quiet, so I threw him off the mountain,” Twilight replied simply. “It was very therapeutic.”
“You should’ve just made his vocal box not be able to vibrate anymore,” Scarlet pointed out. “I’ll like to see his ‘healing’ fix that.”
“Where would the fun be in that?” Twilight asked with a small smirk.
“Fun? So you both find it funny to cause pain to others now? I thought you were taught better than that.” Scarlet scowled
“Hardly,” Twilight scoffed, “I cast a spell to make him bounce all the way down,” she explained.
“Ah, so you just help draw out the pain instead. You’ll make a great torturer, the Legion could’ve used you, of course I doubt you could even improve crucifixion.” Scarlet babbled out, not carrying of what she was saying.
“The spell also made him immune to fall damage and scratches,” Twilight informed the redhead with an unamused roll of her eyes. “As for improving crucifixion, well you could use magic to slow down the rate that the victim died but keep the pain, almost indefinitely actually,” Twilight added thoughtfully.
“Like I said, you would make a great Legionnaire for Caesar.” Scarlet reinforced with the hard ‘c’ for Caesar.
“Except for the whole vagina thing,” Ethan joked.
“Why? With her powers, she could have just replaced it and torture to her delight.”
“I don’t know why you seem to think that I’m evil, but it’s rather annoying,” Twilight told her dryly.
“Then stop making it sound like you’re Kata, who likes to cause harm to others just for the fun of it.” Scarlet replied back in the same tone.
Before Twilight could respond they reached the next island and an earsplitting screech erupted above them, Celestia’s magelight flickered out.The group then could feel a soft chilly wind starting to gently blow through them, bringing in the stench of the dead with it.
“That’s not good,” Ethan muttered.
“I agree,” Celestia said as she tried to cast another magelight, but with no avail.
“Not good, not good, not good,” Aeron murmured to himself quietly.
Luna gazed around, using her advanced night vision in an attempt to see the mysterious spirit who had been chasing them. Unfortunately she found nothing. “I can’t find it,” Luna said, an edge of both nervousness and tension colored her voice.
The wind picked up speed and was soon blowing with enough force to make their hair begin to move restlessly. The effect was especially bad for the the three alicorns whose manes began to swirl wildly, astral locks or not. As the wind increased so did the high pitched screaming, until it was almost deafening. Then out of the darkness a pair of red orbs appeared and a moment later an all but invisible arm reached out and slammed into Celestia who was knocked off of her hooves and into the mud.
Scarlet immediately rushed over to Celestia, not caring about the dangers. An ominous laugh rang out through the clearing, somehow worse than the screaming, which then continued as if it had never stopped.
Scarlet ignored the noise as she knelt by Celestia, who bore no visible marks, and was just really dirty as her most of her coat was covered in mud. “You okay?” She asked the alicorn.
“Yeah, it was just a hard, unexpected, shove on my back,” Celestia replied as she worked to get herself up and out of the mud.
“Good,” Scarlet stated. She stood back up and started to look around the area. “I have a question, if this creature is ‘spectral’ then it’s mostly composed of magic. Right?”
“Not exactly, more tortured soul than magic,” Twilight informed her as a purple light emitted from her horn while she scanned the area with her robotic eye. “There’s a fundamental difference between the two.”
“Depends on how it came to be,” Celestia added. “Sometimes it is the soul of a being or the echo of the soul which was the magic that the being could use.”
Another scream echoed through the clearing and suddenly Ethan was knocked off his feet by the invisible hand as well. He rolled to his feet with a growl of frustration.
“Point is, magic is somehow connected in holding this thing together?” Scarlet asked again.
“Yes, if Kata somehow created this ‘ghost’, magic is probably holding it together,” Celestia answered. Her eyes then widened in why Scarlet was asking her question. “You think tainted magic can disassemble it.”
“No, Kata would have planned for that. There’s every chance any magic we throw at it will simply empower it,” Luna said. “It would certainly explain those dead alicorns we came across earlier.”
“It’s a good thing my magic isn’t like yours.” Scarlet pointed out.
“No offense Scarlet, but at the moment I don’t feel confident doing anything to make it stronger, Although I would kill for some salt,” Twilight told the woman.
“Look we don’t have much of a choice. It can kill us if it wants, and the Lighthouse is not getting closer the further we walk towards it.” Scarlet replied back.
“There’s only one thing we can do,” Thomas pointed out. “No telling if we can pull it off, though. We run. Run like the entire fucking Legion is after you.”
“I’ll substitute the Fucking Enclave, but I can get behind that plan,” Ethan said with a nod as he wiped mud from his chin.
“Run? Like hell. Where would we run to? Deeper into it’s lair, or to the never approaching Lighthouse?” Scarlet asked.
“We cannot turn back, we cannot fight it,” Luna explained. “Thomas is right, escape is our only option. No matter how unlikely.”
“That’s not an option for me. I’ll fight till I can breath no more.” Scarlet said in a determined tone.
“You want to fight something we can’t win against, be my guest. But I know when to walk away,” Thomas stated. “At least if we run we might get away.”
“That never ends well for the runner, it just exposes your backs.”
*smack*
Ethan reacted quickly to the developing argument and the pommel of his sword smacked into the base of Scarlet’s skull. Scarlet’s body fell violently forwards, but the woman braced herself up and gave a deadly glare at Ethan.
“Nice try ‘Brutus’.” She said in a low growled.
“I don’t see any daggers, and you haven’t been treating me like a friend, besides I’m not killing you,” Ethan told her. “I’m attempting to keep you from dying out here in this God forsaken swamp that you seem so keen to commit suicide in.”
“How the hell have you stayed alive if you don’t know when to back down?” Thomas asked loudly. “It’s like you want to die.”
The woman didn’t answer, Celestia then walked up to her. “Scarlet, we can’t fight this thing, we’re not equipped to do so.”
“We need earplugs for whatever the heck it is,” Dash stated simply.
Celestia continued on. “While I do agree running won't give us a better option, fighting it is not a valid option either. Even if you had a way to ‘kill’ it how are you going to hit it?”
“You got magical bullets?” Thomas asked sarcastically. Luna decided not mention how easy it would have been to put a minor enchantment on something so small.
“We don’t have the time, or the-” Twilight was cut off by another shrill scream before she continued “-focus to enchant your guns,” Twilight grunted, her ears ringing.
“Uhg...” Aeron covered his ears, pressing his palms against them forcefully. “Make this shit stop...”
“We can argue later,” Thomas pointed out. “The longer we stand here, the more time we’re giving that thing to finish us off! Follow me!” He took off at a sprint, holding his left arm out awkwardly to light the way.
“Umm Captain, it’s this way actually,” Ethan said with a slight nod in another direction. “The light’s reflecting oddly off of the fog.”
Luna looked in the direction Thomas had run off in, and then the direction Ethan was pointing in. “Of course,” she growled. “She wouldn’t make it that easy, would she?”
“Luna, go get your fuckbuddy before he gets himself lost please,” Ethan said with a slight sigh.
“Look,” she said harshly, pointing in the direction Thomas had gone in. “There is a lighthouse in that direction,” she pointed out, “and another over there.” She moved her hoof to point at the other lighthouse.
“Well fuck my life,” Ethan groaned.
“So, y’all still want to run?” Scarlet asked.
“Yes actually,” Twilight said as another ear splitting howl tore through the air. “More so with every passing second in fact.”
“We run or we die!” Thomas yelled. Luna took that as a message to follow, and she cantered after him.
Twilight and Ethan exchanged a long glance before Ethan said. “Fuck it, he’s the leader, let’s go!” Twilight sighed and nodded. Then as one they took off after Thomas and Luna at a run.
“No point staying here, Dash.” Aeron looked to the mare for a moment and began running after the rest of them.
“Uhg. So much shit to deal with.” Dash grunted as she flew off after Aeron.
Celestia and Scarlet were left. “So, what are you going to do Scarlet? Fight an impossible fight, or run to fight again?” Celestia asked.
“I’ve fought in many impossible battles Celestia, and have the scars to prove it. You want to run, fine, nothing stopping you. But I will still continued to fight when I still see a chance to win.”
Celestia let out a disheartened sigh. “You know, the Old Man once told me, if you keep on fighting with no purpose, then what are you truly fighting for? Survival? If so, then why fight to the death?” Scarlet didn’t answer. Celestia turned toward the path everyone headed down to and left Scarlet alone.
“So Captain, I really hope that you made the right choice with which lighthouse we’re aiming for,” Ethan told Thomas as he ran beside the man.
“Yeah, me too,” Thomas agreed as he jumped over a puddle. “If I’m gonna die, it’s gonna be from sexual exhaustion.” Luna shot him a disapproving glare.
“Personally I’ve always wanted to go out having an orgy with four identical twins and being crushed by a super mutant behemoth’s foot mid orgasm,” Ethan replied with a chuckle.
“Sexual fantasies aside, I think we made the right choice.” Luna gestured with her head towards the approaching building.
“Thank Faust,” Twilight groaned. “This fog is hell for my feathers,” she added in a slightly strained undertone trying to distract herself from the growing pain in her brain from both the strain of the spell that she’d used earlier and the creature’s screams.
The slightly muddy form of Celestia suddenly swooped down from the sky and landed next to the runners, Scarlet was noticeably absent.
“Oh great, we’re one gun short,” Thomas muttered. “Stubborn bitch.”
“Don’t disrespect the dead, it’s bad luck, especially in a place like this,” Twilight said with a sigh at the thought.
“Don’t give up hope so easy. She might be stubborn, but not stupid,” Celestia said. “I have faith she will rejoin us.”
“I should hope so,” Luna replied.
“Yes, given the form of that monster, if she does die then her soul will probably be sucked into it and become a part of it...” Twilight added with a wince as one of the veins on her forehead twitched.
“Let us not think of such thoughts at the moment. We have a lighthouse to get to,” Celestia stated.
“I think we’re getting closer!” Thomas yelled triumphantly.
“You idiot!” Luna yelled back. “Now you’ve given her reason to take it away from us!”
She’s right, you know. Kata began to laugh, but cut herself off. What!? Why isn’t it working!?
“Having performance issues Inviscunt? It’s a common problem for boys your age I suppose,” Ethan asked her sarcastically.
Shut up! she screeched. I will make this work! The lighthouse flickered like one of the Sierra Madre’s holograms, but remained solid. I said WORK!
Having problems, dear sister? a teenage male voice asked, the words loaded with malice and contempt.
“Oh great now there’s two of them,” Thomas muttered.
“Don’t complain when the nice gentleman is saving our collective asses, Captain!” Ethan scolded Thomas.
So look who finally decided to show his face. Kata’s voice was sour and low, full of great anger.
Well as much fun as watching you toy with people is, sister dearest, I think it’s time that I put a stop to your defilement of MY Labyrinth, the other voice said with clear anger evident within.
It was no longer your Labyrinth the moment I killed mother and father and cast you into the void.
Did you truly think that would stop me? the other voice laughed. You never were that intelligent.
“I’m liking him more and more,” Ethan told the others as they pressed onwards towards the lighthouse.
Oh you think you’re so clever, daddy’s little boy. So what if you prevent me from moving the lighthouse. You can’t open the door way, you’re forbidden to do so. And there’s no way they will be able to open it either. So once they’re all dead, I’m coming after you and finish what I started.
Forbidden? Yes, but there are ways around father’s rules, the voice stated.
Like what? The only way to open the door is to kill the banshee.
Who says the door has to be opened for them to get inside? he asked. Without any other warning, the wall to the left of the lighthouse’s door exploded inwards.
WHAT!? Kata, for the first time, was at a loss for words. But you - but - ARGH! You’ll pay for this!
Technically I already have. And I’m going to make sure that you feel so much MORE than I ever did before I kill you, my dear little sister.
“Into the hole!” Thomas yelled, changing course.
As the group got closer, the thing that had been after them started screaming again. This time, though, it did more than force them to their knees. The banshee appeared in front of them, thousand of faces formed it’s body, all of them in a never-ending state of fear. The screams increased in volume, making the group’s minds beg for relief.
“Make it stop!” Thomas pleaded, seeing images of the wreckage of the Divide, hours after its destruction, swim across his vision.
“No! No!” Luna screamed desperately, trying to suppress the horrible sensation and flavours of raw flesh in her mouth.
“Not again, not again, not again!” Ethan exclaimed as he saw MacCready’s dead eyes staring up at him.
“No, Tia, please, don’t, I-” Twilight began but broke off screaming in pain as the vein on her forehead throbbed even larger.
“G-get off of me! Please, A-Aeron, help!” Dash screamed for Aeron as the images of raiders grabbing her flooded her mind; relentless in their attempts to violate her.
“Dad! No, what are you doing?! DAD!” Aeron curled up into a ball as the images of his hallucinations from Point Lookout flooded his mind, showing him his horrid mistakes.
“No... I am sorry I wasn’t quick enough... I...” Celestia whimpered in pain as a dreadful memory was forced back to her mind.
A green fireball flew out and slammed into the monster, the screams turning to screeches of pain. “Hey fucktard, over here!” a familiar woman’s voice yelled out. The group was freed from the spell they were put under, and Celestia instantly turned towards the voice. Scarlet was standing on the clearing not far from the group, a dark green fiery aura dancing around her body.
“What are y’all waiting for? RUN!” She yelled out to the group, flinging another fireball at the banshee which had already begun to recover from the original assault.
Thomas pushed himself up clumsily and forced his way to the hole. Ethan was on his heels with Twilight clutched in his arms. Luna stumbled after them, tears pouring down her face, with Celestia was not far behind. Dash and Aeron brought up the rear.
The banshee let off another unholy scream aimed towards the woman. The woman flinched as she felt her eardrums being violently raped by the sound. A certain memory began to crawl into her mind, but she looked right at the banshee. “So what? I already relive that moment every night.” She flung another fireball, causing the banshee to be disoriented once more before making a run towards the hole.
The banshee let another screech of pain and Scarlet was able to get through the hole. Immediately after she crossed, the wall closed itself up and the air dropped to a peaceful silence.
Brother, when I get you I will make you wish you left well enough alone! You hear me!?
Odd, I had something similar in mind for you, except much, much, MUCH worse, the brother’s voice said contemptuously.
The group was taking in deep breaths, recovering from their experience with the banshee, expect for Scarlet who was intrigued about the new voice she heard.
“I’m guessing he’s the brother she’s so afraid of?” she asked.
“Y-yeah,” Thomas replied shakily.
My brother’s unexpected interference notwithstanding, did I mention that the swamp is only the first half of this challenge? Kata asked the group with an evil chuckle.
“Oh great, another three-parter?” Scarlet questioned.
“What is it this time?” Ethan groaned.
You’re about to find out, Kata said gleefully.
The floor vanished, and all eight of them fell into darkness without even a chance to scream.
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Oh man, this was a fun chapter to write... the next ones are even morefun
*morgan freeman steps out*
And so the plot thickens, will this brother of kata's be her undoing, Will Scarlet get to kick even more ghost thing ass. And will ethan and thomas ever stop comparing there "metaphorical" dicks?
toon in next time for another exciting chapther of..."The Labyrinth of Madness".
Absolutely great chapter guys, keep it um and i cant wait for the next.
But i got one thing...dash was mentioned like what...4-5 times through out this whole chapter?
you guys forget about her or somthin?
N7? NOOOOO! you bastards! you killed the biggest badass the galaxy will ever know! I mean I was half expecting zombie shepard to be the thing hunting them, that would have been terrifying.
and I was kinda right on the 'not Kata's maze' and 'two siblings fighting eachother for all eternity with no winner cause both their teams eventually get killed in the competition' thing.
3587320 Ya, I have noticed that through this entire story, she seems to be way out of her depth in every challenge, and even when given a human body she just sat back and let the others handle every challenge they came across. Dash may as well not be here from a perspective on how the outcome of the challenges has been going, she has been entirely useless.
3587608 Actually Ethan notes that there is no body or bloodstains implying that Shepard got away. And it may not have been Shepard in the first place as He wasn't the only person with the N7 logo on his armor.
3587320>>3587656 It's funny, the authors were thinking the same thing.
3588216
And now after months I've read FoE and several sidestories... and the Canterlot bits are a fave. There's some bit of irony in there somewhere.
3587984 your right! how could I lack faith in Commander motherfucking Shepard?!
3588533 3587984
Yep, good catch
3589444
To be honest, I think a malevolent Muggy attempting to kill them in the swamp would be MUCH better than the Banshee. Funnier too.
Well Muggy might have gained the ability to fly, or rowed around in a big coffee mug, also instead of making him bigger you could have made them smaller Oh shit! RUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!
Heh, I like Muggy.
i imagine muggy rolling after them screaming" im gunna clean your mugs" in a demonic voice..
MUGGY!
heheee, funny.
Awesome job you gaiz! :D
hehehehe, AHHH THE AST BRINGS UP BAD MEMORIES! D=
KEEP IT UP DUDES~