Creepy Crawlies
Creepy Crawlies
The group walked back into the bland gray walls hallways. Only in their absence it had changed, the ceiling so high up it couldn’t even be seen. However at one end of the hallway was a bright light. “You know what they say about the bright light at the end of the tunnel...” Thomas muttered uneasily.
“Yeah, but what choice do we have?” Scarlet said.
“None at all, so let’s get going. I’m sick of this place, not of the people, but the decor is really starting to get on my nerves,” Ethan growled. “And don’t even get me started on the service!”
Luna just stared. “I would ask you to take things seriously, but I’d have better luck convincing a Diamond Dog they could fly.”
“To be perfectly honest, Lulu, they’re not very smart so you might be able to pull that off,” Ethan told her in a snarky voice and a chuckle, then his expression sobered. “But in all seriousness I really want to get home, I miss my wife, and my kids.”
“Why is the ceiling so high?” Thomas asked.
“I don’t know, it seems odd,” Twilight said with a frown.
“Does anyone else feel a draft?” Celestia asked.
“Yeah, there’s definitely a draft in here,” Rainbow Dash said with a frown.
“I swear if Kata takes us to the Divide...” Scarlet muttered.
“No, doesn’t feel right,” Thomas replied. “Feels more like the Big Empty.”
The group continued towards the light, and they soon found themselves standing out what look like a landing platform overlooking a canyon entrenched in the earth. A single vertibird was waiting for them, but it looked a bit different from the ones the NCR or Enclave owned. It seemed to have two small bulbous pods on either side, each containing what appeared to be a machinegun nest.
“Oh, you are beautiful!” Ethan said as his eyes devoured the vertibird.
“Did I mention the idea of flight scares me?” Thomas asked. “Because it does.”
“You’re not the only one soldier boy,” Scarlet muttered as her eyes wearily looked at the vehicle.
“But just look at her, she’s gorgeous!” Ethan said with a wave to the vertibird. “Although I’ve never seen one with that configuration of machine gun nests,” he added.
Yes, I’ve never understood your kind’s fascination with energy weapons. Bits of metal are just as effective, Kata said suddenly.
“I’m curious as to why you haven’t dropped the ceiling on us,” Luna said calmly. “Surely you’re upset about your brother.”
Oh, you have no idea how tempting that is right now, but I have to let the maze finish you off and give you a ‘fair’ chance of succeeding, Kata bitterly stated. But don’t worry, you’ll be finished off before you’ll even get to the end, she said with much confidence in her voice.
“Mhm,” Ethan said, not really paying attention to the voice as he walked up to the vertibird and began to check the engines.
It will fly, I haven’t sabotaged the engines to cut off in mid flight, she said in a bored tone.
“Mhm,” Ethan said again as he began to climb onto the top of the vertibird to investigate the rotors.
“Does he even know what he’s doing?” Scarlet asked.
“Yes, he’s very good with tech. I know it’s surprising,” Twilight said dryly.
“Can he fly it?” Thomas asked.
“Yes, very well,” Twilight said with a nod.
“Why does that not inspire confidence in me?” Scarlet muttered.
“We’ve been given a modified vertibird with enough firepower to kill half the Legion,” Thomas muttered. “Why do I feel that won’t be enough for whatever’s coming next?”
“Because then it wouldn’t be fun!” Ethan answered with a grin as he hopped off of the vertibird.
“I am not getting in that,” Luna muttered. “I refuse to encase myself in that flying metal death trap.”
“I’m of a similar feeling,” Twilight said. “I’ve hated them ever since I got my wings,” she added giving her wings a flap.
“I have to say the same, my skills are not going to be useful inside an enclosed metal area.” Celestia said.
“Yeah, I’m Rainbow Dash, I don’t need some machine to fly for me!” Rainbow Dash agreed.
“Well then, looks like it’s all humans in the vertibird,” Ethan said with a nod to Thomas and Scarlet. “Sounds fun.”
“No,” Thomas mumbled. “She’ll have planned for this. That’s why there’s a pair of machine guns. We’ll be using them. Whatever we’re using them against will be able to take out anyone else easily. Whoever’s not inside isn’t going to survive.”
“Well... the seats aren’t going to be the right shape for them. And I doubt that we’ll want three alicorns and a pegasus tumbling around inside with us,” Ethan said with a frown. “Besides, we might be too heavy for takeoff.”
“Hey, who’re you calling fat!?” Rainbow asked angrily.
“Well... the three alicorns... I mean, they’re heavier right?” Ethan asked.
“I can’t understand how you got married if you fail to understand the most basic thing about communicating with females,” Luna said venomously. Celestia and Twilight shot a pair of matching glares at him.
“Almost dying together helps,” Ethan replied with a shrug. “Anyways, fat jokes aside, I still have a point.”
“We tear the seats out, it’ll give them room, lighten the load a bit,” Thomas mused.
“We’re going to need to do more than tear the seats out,” Scarlet said. “We’re going to have to tear out the machine guns and the ammo they have.”
“Which’ll leave us defenseless,” the other Courier pointed out. “What’s the maximum carry weight for one of these things?”
“I’m not sure, is it one of the Republic’s, or the Enclave’s?” Ethan asked. “The Enclave’s ones can usually carry more.”
“The Enclave’s have a great big ‘E’ painted on the side. Can’t see it, but there aren’t any NCR markings either.” Thomas walked around the vertibird, trying to find some sign. “Looks like it just came off the factory floor.”
“Pre-war tech?” Scarlet suggested.
“No, they weren’t manufactured until the Enclave nearly wiped out the West Coast years ago,” Thomas corrected. “The Enclave had manufacturing plants, though.”
“Well, I don’t think that the ponies would fit regardless,” Ethan said. “Not that I want them to have to be out there...”
Luna closed her eyes and pulled her magic within her. When she opened them, her mane and tail had become normal, powdery-blue hair. “We can only try,” she stated.
“I guess it’s flying time then, Faust how I’m not looking forward to this,” Twilight said, gulping.
“Why do I get this feeling we’re all going to end up crashed and burned before we get halfway through the air?” Scarlet muttered.
“Eh, I get that feeling a lot Scar, you’ve just got to kick it in the balls and keep on walking,” Ethan said as he pulled down the ladder and opened the hatch before stepping inside. The others shrugged and followed him in.
The interior of the vertibird looked like most others, with the exception of the cockpit which featured three main consoles. The one in the middle was obviously for piloting as evidenced by the dozen of controls while the other two were more ambiguous. Ethan took the seat in the middle and began to press the buttons.
Rainbow took a step back when the ramp in the back opened, revealing the cargo bay. “Yeah, I think he was right. We’re not gonna fit.”
“As much as I trust Ethan’s piloting skills, I would prefer to fly myself anyways,” Twilight told her.”What about you, Luna?”
“I do, but... we should not separate for any reason,” Luna pointed out. She leaned in and looked at the seats. “Celestia, can you help me remove them?” she asked, pointing with a hoof.
Celestia nodded. “Yes, let’s do this quickly, Luna,” the alicorn replied with a nod as her horn began to glow and the bolts holding the seat in were unscrewed simultaneously. Luna didn’t bother with such trivialities and just tore the seat out, accompanied by the sound of protesting metal.
Celestia arched an eyebrow at Luna but said nothing. “What?” the smaller alicorn asked. “It worked,” she pointed out. Celestia seemed to sigh to herself before she continued her task of undoing the bolts. Twilight joined them in the task, using a bit of both of the other alicorns’ techniques. Rainbow Dash just watched.
“Never seen anything like this before,” Thomas muttered, sticking his head into the small, clear plastic dome that housed the machine gun nest.
“Just use it like you would any other .50 cal you find,” Ethan called.
“Who the hell makes a .50 cal machine gun?” the black man asked.
“Men with extremely tiny penises,” Ethan replied. “I mean, have you seen some of those old desert eagles? They’d break the average man’s wrist if he wasn’t careful.”
“I remember seeing one of those out west once. Stupid, over-complicated piece of crap.”
“Hell, if you think that that’s bad, I one time found the designs for a gauss minigun,” Ethan replied with a shake of his head.
Thomas just grunted in disgust at the idea of something so stupid and turned to Scarlet. “What do you think?”
“I prefer rifles,” Scarlet muttered. “But I can work with this. And yes, both of those are stupid.”
The last of the seats was torn out with a particularly loud screech. “That should do it!” Luna proclaimed loudly. “Now there is space for us all!” she added as she led the other ponies in.
“Awesome!” Ethan called back. “Just be careful back there, I have the feeling that we’re not going to be flying straight the whole time and I don’t want one of you getting hurt when I do a reverse corkscrew somersault.”
“As long as Twilight doesn’t start anything, there shouldn’t be a problem,” Scarlet said with a smirk.
“Hey, it was one time!” Twilight said.
“Yeah, but pressed right next to her, in a small tight space...” Thomas trailed off deviously.
“Har, har, har,” Twilight laughed fakely. “How about you switch places with me, Thomas? I bet you and Luna could have some alone time back here, the others would just be the icing on the cake!”
“Don’t give him ideas,” Luna replied icily. Twilight shot the man a smirk of her own and said nothing else. Then Ethan found the intercom button.
“Stop horsing around back there, ladies,” Ethan said, his voice amplified by the intercom. “Anywho, mares, gentleman, Scarlet, welcome to Air Ethan, this is your captain, Ethan Smith speaking. I’d just like to remind everypony to keep their arms, legs, tails, manes, horns, wingboners, and any other part of your anatomy inside of the vehicle at all times, have fun, and enjoy the ride as we plunge towards almost certain death.”
“NOT HELPING IN THE LEAST!” Twilight shouted up at him.
“Mares, so easily frightened,” Ethan said with a sorrowful shake of his head. Then he turned to Thomas and Scarlet. “You guys ready?”
“No,” the man replied.
“Let’s get this over with,” the redhead stated.
“Well then, bonzie!” Ethan shouted as he pulled down on the thrusters and the vertibird began to rise into the air. Then he pushed forwards and the vertibird began to power through the air.
“I AM REGRETTING THIS DECISION!” Luna yelled in a very close approximation of the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY ONE!” Thomas yelled back from his nest.
“The captain would like to remind the occupants of the back seats and the co-gunner that yelling loudly could distract him enough to make him veer off course and crash into the canyon walls at any second,” Ethan said into the intercom.
The vertibird unexpectedly swept under a large intersecting piece of the canyon that seemed to have been hollowed out, leaving only the top half. Ethan let out a cry of excitement as they plunged downwards only to pull up at the last minute.
“ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US!?” Thomas screamed.
“Well, the way I see it, the closer we come to death before the other foot drops the less likely that situation is to phase you,” Ethan replied calmly. “Plus this is fun!”
“GO FUCK YOURSELF ETHAN!” Twilight shouted from the rear of the vehicle where she was squeezed between Luna and Celestia.
“Love you too, Sparky!” Ethan called back, then he turned back to Thomas. “Better?” he asked.
“Just keep us flying straight and I won’t shove your head up your own ass,” he growled.
“Want help with that?” Scarlet asked.
“Guys, if you do that then you’ll probably get a whole three seconds of personal satisfaction before you crash into the side of the canyon,” Ethan pointed out. Then he returned his gaze ahead. “Umm guys, please, please, please tell me that I’m high...” he said.
“Oh no,” Thomas muttered, poking his head around to look out the front of the aircraft.
“Are you kidding me?” Scarlet asked.
“FUCKING CAZADORS!” Ethan shouted.
“How big is that thing?” Thomas asked quietly.
“Twice as big as this vertibird,” Ethan replied in a slightly quieter voice.
“Can you not yell through this device?” Luna asked.
“There is a giant fucking cazador out there, I’m allowed to yell as loudly as I want!” Ethan shouted back, turning his head this time instead of using the intercom.
“Guys, what’s a cazador?” Rainbow asked.
“Picture the biggest wasp you’ve ever seen, multiply that by ten. Add poison strong enough to knock out a bighorner, and the tenacious urge to kill that’s unmatched by anything else on earth, and that’s a fucking cazador,” Ethan replied. “They’re what Satan uses when he needs to have someone stung.”
“How close is it?” Thomas asked.
“I can’t tell, but it’s getting bigger...” Ethan said.
“Then what the hell are we waiting for!?” Scarlet yelled, swivelling the turret around and opening fire.
The large bullets slammed into the cazador’s head, drawing a bit of blood and seeming to succeed only in attracting the monster’s attention.
Thomas just stared out the side. “You notice anything about the walls?” he asked timidly.
“That they’re nests, yes, yes I did,” Ethan answered nervously.
“Nests for what?” Luna asked.
“Cazadors,” Thomas said. “We are flying through the biggest cazador nest in existence.” The man sounded unnaturally calm.
“Excuse me for a moment,” Ethan said before he shut his eyes and closed them tightly. The vertibird remained on course despite his closed eyes and when he opened them again he had a small smile on his face. “Soooo, who’s up for a game I like to call ‘fly or die’?”
The sounds of Scarlet’s machine gun had alerted almost every other cazador in the canyon to their presence. As the ungodly buzzing began to fill the air, Thomas gritted his teeth. “Get us the fuck outta here,” he said lowly as he opened fire.
“Aye, aye!” Ethan shouted as he cranked the thrusters forwards and the vertibird began to rocket through the canyon and towards the giant cazador.
As the vertibird and the giant cazador flew towards each other, the walls of the canyon came to life. Hundreds upon hundreds of normal-sized cazadors flew out of the nests, filling the air, the combined drone of their wings drowning out the sound of machine-gun fire. Scarlet’s machine-gun fired a steady burst of bullets, as she shot down the cazadors who were making their way to the vertibird.
Thomas swung the barrel of his gun around in an arc, taking out cazadors as they approached. “There’s too many!” he yelled.
“Tell me about it, I’m guessing that there are at least several hundred thousand out there, and that’s a conservative estimate,” Ethan said with a frown. “God, I need flying music for this shit.”
The sound of the cazadors throwing themselves against the sides of the vertibird soon filled the air. They didn’t seem to be doing much damage, but the constant buffeting was making controlling the aircraft a challenge. Then a rather large silvery stinger stabbed itself through the metal a few inches away from Luna’s face.
The Princess of the Moon let out an undignified squeal as she tried to back away. Unfortunately, she didn’t really have anywhere to go, backing right into Rainbow Dash.
“Hey, watch it!” Rainbow Dash shouted in annoyance, pushing the princess away.
“How did that thing penetrate the metal!?” Luna asked loudly
“I’m not sure, it appears to be wrapped in a metallic substance of some kind,” Twilight replied as she eyed the stinger with a cock of her head. “I kind of want to examine it... is that bad?”
A jolt of energy hit the stinger, shocking the cazador and making it pull its stinger back out. “We should cast a shield around the ship,” Celestia said to Luna and Twilight in a calm and orderly tone.
“On it,” Twilight said, her horn suddenly exploding with purple light as a purple shield sprang into existence around the exterior of the craft.
“Who put up the purple blinds?” Ethan asked as his vision turned purple.
“The ponies did, trying to keep us from being randomly impaled by a stinger,” Scarlet replied before shooting down six more cazadors.
“Well I’m thankful for that, and don’t get me wrong, I love the color purple, but it’s kinda hard to SEE when it’s like this,” Ethan said with a grumble as he avoided a rather dense knot of cazadors.
“I want some damn fire!” Thomas yelled angrily.
“I’d kill for a pair of nose mounted flamers,” Ethan agreed, swerving the vertibird to the side.
Celestia looked at her spear, and frowned a bit, but she levitated it up and contracted on a spell. Dozens of cazadors were suddenly making a beeline right towards the cockpit until a roar of fire from somewhere near the center of the nose pushed them away, or fried them. “How’s that?” Celestia asked while still focusing on her spell.
“Well Sunny, it’s not quite morning anymore, but I still love the smell of napalm,” Ethan shouted back to her.
“Good,” Celestia replied before unleashing another torrent of flame.
Thanks to the efforts of Celestia a large swath of their current problem was no longer in any way a threat to them and there was only one real danger, the giant cazador that was only increasing in size as they neared it.
“Just how big is that thing?” Thomas muttered, swivelling around to fire at it.
“Is it too big to play chicken with do you think?” Ethan asked him.
“It looks about the same size as... Oh god no.” Thomas’s eyes went wide in horror.
“The size of what?” Scarlet asked in an annoyed tone. She then finally glanced at the giant cazador and realised what Thomas was talking about. “Ah, that’s what,” she said, still annoyed by the fate.
“Okay, seriously, what are you two talking about?” Ethan asked, his own annoyance beginning to rise.
“Big Empty.The Forbidden Zone. The X-42,” Thomas mumbled.
“The giant robot radscorpion?” Ethan asked.
“Yep, and I think the Pulse Gun ain’t going to help us defeat it,” Scarlet said.
“Stupid, temperamental piece of shit,” Thomas growled. “Why the hell does a pistol need all that junk to work?”
“That thing is useful as all hell, are you telling me you don’t like it?” Ethan asked as he began to angle the vertibird as far away from the giant cazador as possible.
“Give me a gun that I can feel I fired. Doesn’t feel right otherwise.”
“I don’t know man, seems like you’re limiting yourself,” Ethan told him as he gazed at the giant cazador that seemed to have finally noticed them.
“I don’t think this the proper time to discuss Thomas’s taste in weapons,” Scarlet said.
“Well, it’s distracting us from our internal terror, so I’d say that it’s a good idea,” Ethan told the woman with a small nervous chuckle.
“It’s times like this when humans confuse me,” Twilight muttered to Luna, her horn still blazing as she held up the shield.
“At least that infernal racket has ceased,” the other alicorn replied.
“Yeah, although this shield is draining me really fast, it’s too big,” Twilight said with a worried frown as small beads of sweat began to form on her face. “I’ve been using too much magic for too many days in a row... not sure how much longer I’ll be able to keep up the pace that I’ve been going at... pretty soon I’m not going to have anything left at all.”
“Concentrate Twilight. Don’t think about events from the past, focus on the current, and push on till we are out of this,” Celestia assured the purple mare as she continued to help keep a clear path in front of the vertibird.
“Right,” Twilight said quietly, her nerves slightly soothed by the sound of her ‘teacher’s’ voice. “Just like destroying and reassembling a mountain.”
Celestia mentally blinked at the statement. “Yes...I suppose so.”
“As heartwarming as this is, perhaps we should be more worried about the hydra-sized insect that is on a collision course with us,” Luna snarked.
“I think we’re all plenty worried about it,” Ethan replied, leaning around in the seat and steering with one hand. “But... there’s really not much we can do except try and shoot it to death.”
“Yeah, if we could fire mini-nukes like bullets,” Scarlet commented.
“Aim for the wings, we might be able to knock it out of the air,” Thomas suggested.
“Okay, just hold on, this is going to be a bit... tricky,” Ethan added as he turned back around and sent them rocketing towards the giant cazador, more specifically one of its wings. “Oi Sunny, you’re the one with the flamethrower, try and do some damage on that bastard’s wings!”
Celestia nodded and concentrated on her magic. The glow from the red gemstone on the spear intensified, waves of heat started to escape from edge of the shaft of the weapon.
The other ponies did what they could to get away, but the small space didn’t give them much room. “Turn it down, would ya?” Rainbow asked loudly, fanning the heat away from herself with her wings.
“One second,” was all the response the alicorn gave as continued to charge her spell.
Her eyes then snapped open revealing pure white glow and she lowered the spear and thrust it through the air, away from hitting anyone of course. Outside of the vertibird a huge crushing wave of fire burst out and soared towards the giant bug, arcing slightly as it curved behind it and slice through its wings. One of wings were sheared off easily, and the cazador started to violently tumble in the air.
“Well, good news is that it’s going to crash,” Ethan stated, his tone oddly hollow as he jerked down on the controls. “Bad news is that it’s going to be crashing into us... all passengers brace for impact... and explosions.”
“Bloody hell...” Scarlet muttered in utter horror.
“Hold onto something!” Thomas screamed.
“What!?” Luna yelled back. “We tore everything out!”
“THEN GET OUT!” Ethan turned to shout back at them even as the giant cazador hurtled towards the ship.
“Luna grab Scarlet, I can carry Thomas,” Celestia said as she looked at the hatch to the vertibird, her aura started to warp around the black man .
“Ethan, open the door!” Luna screamed, her horn glowing as she prepared to grab Scarlet.
Twilight diverted her attention to grabbing Ethan, but to her horror found that she couldn’t grasp him in her magic. The man turned and gave her a small shake of his head while mouthing the words ‘hard to kill’ at her. The mare nodded solemnly, and prepared to make her escape.
“Opening,” Ethan replied, pressing a button. “I hope you’ve all enjoyed your first and last flight on air Ethan!”
The ponies could see the door opening, of that there was no question. But it seemed to move at a snail's pace. Celestia frowned at this and quickly turned her spear to it’s butt end and plowed it at the door. There was a mighty ‘thong’ sound as the force of the spear bust the hatch wide open, letting a torrent of wind to gust through the aircraft. “GO!” Celestia shouted.
Right as the alicorn said those words, crunching sound of metal crackling in every ears and the vertibird jerked downward and to the side. It soon was spinning out of control in a spiraling dive, making the whole party get all pinned to the opposite end of the wall. “MOVE IT!” Celestia shouted again as she fought against the forces pushing her down, dragging Thomas with her.
Luna grunted as she pulled Scarlet with her, trying her best to keep on her hooves. “Come on!”
Rainbow Dash was the first to reach the door, long ago used to fighting even the most powerful of G forces. She leapt out from the crashing vehicle and noticed something rather odd, there were no cazadors around her. She didn’t have much time to ponder this however as she was too distracted by the other members of the party attempting to escape. Twilight was next, followed by Luna and Scarlet, and then last came Celestia and Thomas.
The last two escaped just in the nick of time, and the vertibird along with the giant cazador plowed into the ground, bottom edge first. There was a great thundering sound as well as a symphony of bending metal... and then all was silent.
The group took a few moments to collect their breaths, as they watched the wreaked for a few moments.
“Where’s Ethan?” Scarlet asked, ignoring the clicking from her pip-boy.
“I... I couldn’t get him,” Twilight murmured softly. “I didn’t have enough magic to grab him. Come on, we need to find him.” she then winged off towards the crash site.
“Or what’s left of him,” the woman muttered.
“Ethan ain’t dead,” the other Courier said. “He’s too stubborn for that.”
The group arrived at the crash site to find it strewn with pieces of metal and broken steel along with hissing electrical wires. The giant cazador had been split in half, and the vertibird was even worse. Yet as they approached the cockpit, they saw something that managed to top that. Ethan was impaled through the chest by a six inch wide, several foot long piece of metal.
Twilight let out a low gasp and turned away for a moment, a sob working its way through from within her throat. The others stood there, too shocked to say or do anything. Then suddenly, the man’s mouth opened and he brought in a struggling breath. The man’s body jerked several times, releasing a bit of blood with each jerk from his chest wound.
“HOLD STILL YOU IDIOT!” Twilight shouted up to him, her voice a mixture of relief and terror.
Celestia was next to react as the tip of her spear rested against the metal spike jutting from the front of Ethan’s chest and cut it into a short stump. Next the mare quickly moved the man off the stump, gushes of blood pour out as the seal from the spike was broken, and she laid him down on the ground. Without being directed to act, Luna channeled magic into him. “Hold still, Ethan,” she said softly.
Ethan held still as the radiation filled magic poured into the wound and before their eyes the man’s skin began to knit back together. It took several minutes of intense effort on Luna’s part, but eventually he was whole again. The man, whose eyes had stayed open throughout the entire thing, painfully leaned up and gave Luna a light kiss before falling back again.
“Oww...” he moaned. Twilight was beside him instantly and began to murmur softly into his ear, none of which he really reacted to, instead focusing his gaze on the sky above. “Thank you Lulu,” he finally said in a fragile detached voice after a moment or two.
“Thank goodness,” Luna muttered. “I do not know what we would do if we lost another.”
“Yeah, especially since you still owe me a drink,” Scarlet joked with a soft chuckle and a shake of her head.
“How the fuck is he still alive?” Thomas mumbled, still unable to believe what he had just seen. “I swear, you’re harder to kill than one of the Ghost People.”
“Practice,” Ethan answered in a tired but wry voice as he began to pull himself back up, using Twilight’s head for support. “Lots and lots of practice... this was almost as bad as the obsidian shards... more pain at once but less in the long run... I think.”
“Yes... at least it’s not in your feet right?” Twilight added with a small strained smile.
“Yeah, good point, I’ll take giant piece of metal over obsidian shards in my feet any day,” Ethan agreed though he winced with every word.
Oh, poo...I thought that would at least take one of you pests out, Kata’s voice rang in their minds. Oh well, there’s always the next course, she added with a bit of a devious chuckle.
“Oh yeah? We can take anything you’ve got!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“Don’t taunt her,” Thomas warned.
The pegasus submitted to the man’s wishes and simply began to grumble under her breath.
“So... what now?” Ethan inquired, making it to his feet but then falling forward only to be steadied by Celestia’s golden aura.
Oh, just continue walking forwards, the little girl replied as a doorway opened in front of them. I’m sure something will pop up soon, she added in a sly tone.
The hallway faintly echoed with each step Aeron took, aimlessly wandering down what seemed like an endless corridor.
So Aeron, have you thought over my offer? Kata’s voice asked him.
The man remained silent as he continued to walk down the hallway.
What do you care about them anyways? Kata goaded him. They’ve done nothing but threaten and insult you this whole time. Do you honestly give a single solitary shiit about any of them surviving this outside of Rainbow Dash?
Aeron’s eyes glance down sideways, his mind slowly going over Kata’s words.
Come now Aeron, you’ll get out of this hell, and Rainbow Dash can return to her precious Twilight. Everyone wins, she pressed. Well, everybody important, anyway, she added.
Aeron’s the head hang down slightly and stay like that for a good minute. “What do I need to do?” he asked, bringing his head up and stopping in his place.
Something so deliciously simple that it’s absolutely idiot proof, Kata answered. All you have to do is press a button. You and Rainbow Dash will be sent to your respective homes and the others will get left behind. She then paused and let out a maniacal laugh which echoed throughout the hallway as a simple pedestal appeared in front of him. Embedded into it was a red button.
Aeron stared at the button for awhile, slowly reaching his hand out while extending his thumb to push it. His thumb stopped an inch above the glossy surface of the button. “Dash will be returned to her home?”
Of course, Kata said with a scoff. It’s not as if I have issues with her... she hasn’t exactly done much to raise my ire. Unlike some men and mares I can think of. In fact, it’s like she wasn’t there at all sometimes.
The man lightly emitted a single chuckle. “Yeah... that did seem to happen,” he muttered before looking back down at his thumb waiting to push the button. “Well... let’s get it over with.” He lowered his thumb on the button and pressed in.
The man vanished.
“I’m so sick of this place,” Ethan muttered as he took a sip from his water bottle. “At least Drek’s tournament was interesting.”
“I’m sorry the fact someone is trying to kill us is boring you,” Scarlet said flatly. “And where the hell did you get that water bottle?”
“Pocket,” the man answered with a slight shrug as he reached in and pulled another out. “Want one?”
The woman stared flatly at the man. “No... thank you.”
“Alright,” he said with a shrug, sliding it back into the pocket. “Anyone want grenades then? I’ve got a nearly unlimited supply.”
“Those may have been helpful earlier,” Thomas muttered. “And are you sure you should even be walking?”
“I was saving it for a trump card, but you know, honestly after being spitted, I can’t muster up a fuck to give about subtlety,” Ethan replied darkly. “And no, I shouldn’t be. It’s only thanks to Luna there that I’m still breathing at the moment for which she has my thanks,” he added before giving Luna a small nod.
The alicorn nodded. “We need everyone alive to get through this,” she pointed out. “It would be better if you weren’t as severely injured, though.”
“I’ve fought through worse,” Ethan answered tersely, absolutely no humor in his voice.. “But thanks for the concern.”
“Still, we should be more cautious,” Celestia stated. “These ‘rooms’ of her are becoming more ill-conceived the further we go through them.”
Twilight just nodded her head, her mind a bit elsewhere at the moment. “Yes... it’s becoming worrying.”
“You can say that again,” Dash said from the back of the group. “I’m worried what happened to - ” She didn’t so much stop in mid-sentence so much as vanish completely from existence.
Scarlet glanced back and stopped in place when she noticed the rainbow mare was gone. “She’s gone!” she stated.
And then there were six! Kata crowed from overhead. Soon to be zero!
There was a sudden rumbled down the hallway and the sound of stone grinding against stone screeched through the air. The sides of the hallways began to slowly slide together into what obviously be a-
“Oh no, a death trap,” Ethan intoned dully in a deadpan voice.
“A bit cliche isn’t it?” Scarlet said.
“She hasn't exactly been original,” Thomas pointed out. “She stole my idea earlier.”
SHUT UP! Kata’s voice roared, her tone becoming more girlish than ever before. I AM MORE ORIGINAL THAN ANY OF YOU PATHETIC LITTLE SLIMES WILL EVER BE!
“Yes, sure let’s go with that,” Ethan said wearily. “Can we speed this up a bit? I’ve got a poker game to make.”
Fine then mortal, so be it! Kata stated.
The walls came to a stop.
*thud... thud... thud.. thud*
The sound bang from behind as everyone turned to see the source. They saw a section of the wall nearly instantly slamming together, cascading down to them.
“You just had to open you big mouth,” Scarlet said to Ethan sourly.
“As if it wouldn’t have in a second anyways,” he said, rolling his eyes before he and the others began to run down the corridor. “And like I said, I’m out of fucks to give.”
Luna simply sighed. “It really does say something when I’m too tired to be scared. This is actually boring.”
“Agreed,” Twilight said before shaking her head and flapping her wings to boost her speed. “Let’s get out of this hallway.”
“If we can have a hole in the wall or something, that would be great,” Thomas muttered.
NO! MY STUPID BROTHER IS NOT GOING TO SAVE YOU THIS TI- Kata was cut off as an explosion blasted out from the wall a bit ahead of where they were running. OH FOR THE LOVE OF THE EIGHT!
Can, and have, Van’s mocking voice called to her with a dark chuckle. Oh I can’t wait to make you squirm little sister.
ROT IN VOID YOU LITTLE PRICKISH BASTARD! Kata’s voice roared in fury.
Been there, tried that, got bored, Van called back. Also I’m older than you!
I DON’T BLOODY CARE!
Meanwhile, the group ran through the hole they’d been offered. They found themselves in a plain white room... as if it hadn’t been finished.
“Now what?” Thomas asked.
“We wait until she’s done with her bitching and gets back to trying to kill us,” Twilight answered with a small shrug.
“That’s always fun to wait for,” Scarlet muttered as she armed herself with her rifle.
“So anyways, grenades anyone?” Ethan asked, resuming his previous thought. “I’ve got all types.”
“I’m fine,” the woman replied.
“Keep a hold of them,” Thomas replied. “If we take them, they’ll just get taken from us anyways.”
“Fair enough,” Ethan said, nodding slightly before letting out a sigh. “You know, the worst thing about this place is that there aren’t any beautiful women around to distract myself with. Other than Scarlet, but she’s off limits.”
Scarlet gave the man a flat, unamused, glare.
“And what about us?” Luna asked in mock-indignation.
“Eh, I got over my pony thing a while ago,” Ethan replied before looking at Twilight. “Somepony got a little frisky after we were stuck in the wrong bodies for a while. Also, no offense Luna, but if I had to bang a pony again, it would be your sister.”
Celestia tilted her head towards the man with a raised eyebrow.
“Better hips and much more rounded in the back,” Ethan informed her with a small smile. “Lots of cake.”
Luna smirked. “What if I were to look like this?” She was hidden behind a cloud of smoke for a few seconds. When it dissipated, the woman she had turned into before when Kata had forced the changes on them was there. “Hmm?”
Ethan smiled. “In that case I think I like you more,” the man said with a small chuckle. “Sorry Sunny.”
“It’s okay,” Celestia said shaking her head slightly and chuckled. “Besides, I rarely eat cake, so my hips aren’t round for the reason you think they are.”
Scarlet rolled her eyes and glanced at Thomas who had been quiet for some time. Her face deadpanned as she saw the man ogling Luna with his mouth hanging open. “Oi, Thomas, might want to close your mouth before something makes a home in it.”
The man didn’t respond, instead slowly reaching out towards Luna. “Ow!” the mare shouted when the illusion fell apart. They both stared at the finger currently residing in Luna’s nose. Before he could say or do anything, he was on the ground, clutching his jaw in pain.
“When groping women, always remember to watch out for slaps,” Twilight advised him sagely while Ethan just let out a short wry snort.
“Still, it’s what you deserved for making a move like that,” Scarlet stated with a small shake of her head. “You’re lucky she didn’t buck you in the groin.”
“Let’s not go there,” Thomas said quickly, picking himself up. “It’s happened before, wasn’t fun.”
“Well, at least you do have a very beautiful mare who puts up with your bullshit,” Ethan added with a nod to Luna. “So, a little pain’s not that big of a deal, right?”
“Let Applejack kick you in the dick, then tell me that it’s only a ‘little pain’,” the black man growled.
“Easy, Thomas,” Ethan replied, his voice becoming a litter... sterner? “Just be glad for what you’ve got. It’s all I’m saying.”
“What crawled up your ass?”
“What crawled up my ass?” Ethan repeated, his voice growing even sterner. “What crawled up my ass is the fact that we just lost a mare with absolutely no warning for absolutely no reason,” he continued. “What crawled up my ass is the possibility that you, or Celestia, or Twilight is going to just disappear without warning. So. When I say be grateful for what you have, I mean it,” the man finished, his eyes glimmering with a combination of barely controlled rage and extreme worry.
Scarlet glanced at the man and raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of personality.
“What about Aeron?” Luna asked. “Isn’t it strange that he walks out, and hours later his companion disappears as well?”
“A good question,” Celestia said. “I suspect they are linked in some manner.”
“I wonder how...” Twilight murmured.
Thomas kept silent, staring at Ethan who stared right back. The whole time he’d been treating everything like a joke. But now, Thomas realised it had been a mask, an act. Ethan had been trying to keep everyone distracted from the bleakness of their surroundings. Maybe even himself. “Aeron did something. I’m sure of it.”
“We can hope that Dash is still alive,” Ethan said softly. “But until we know for sure, make every moment you have with your friends count. They could be your last.” As he said that, he softly placed a hand on Twilight’s head and the mare looked up at him for a moment before she gave his hand a gentle nuzzle.
“Agreed,” the purple alicorn said quietly.
Thomas and Luna looked at each other. The mare’s mane shimmered for a moment before she began to nuzzle him. The man smiled as he pulled her closer.
Scarlet and Celestia looked at everyone then at each other.
“Don’t expect me to go all sentimental,” the woman said glancing away from Celestia.
“Of course,” the alicron replied with a faint smile.
Ethan glanced at the two, a small frown forming on his face before he shook his head. “Alright then everyone... just remember to be smart. We’re almost out of here. Just a little more to go and we’re home free.”
We’ll see about that, Kata said, her voice low and menacing. Time to face your ultimate challenge.
“Okay,” Ethan said flatly. “And then we’ll cut off your head and mount it on a pike.”
“Forget that, why not just crucify her?” Scarlet asked. “Let her suffer.”
“I think that for once I can get behind crucifiction,” Thomas stated in a dark tone.
Kata chuckled in deranged amusement. Oh... I think not. What will you do when your greatest foe is yourself?
The ground rumbled violently, shaking everyone down to their knees. Walls sprouted up from the ground and cut everyone off from each other. Trapping them in small rooms with a single door in front of them.
Let the final game begin.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- ed2481 · 89k words · 461 19 · 6k views
- Shadowflash · 53k words · 415 36 · 5.3k views
- ed2481 · 67k words · 843 48 · 12k views
- ed2481 · 15k words · 175 13 · 2.7k views
- Omega_code · 55k words · 598 38 · 9.1k views
- Silent Scout · 35k words · 345 35 · 5.9k views
- Omega_code · 9.6k words · 396 11 · 6.4k views
- ed2481 · 160k words · 1,584 66 · 20k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.208 seconds
Total duration
944 users online
122,792 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
On the plus side, almost out! On the downside, fuck your cazadors. I hate them all and the best thing for them is a gauss round or a .50 explosive round.
oh cool were going into the endgame here i cant wait to see how this plays out
I like where this is going here, not to insult your originality, you've done good so far, but I see where your headed.
zeldawiki.org/images/thumb/c/c4/Dark_Link.png/180px-Dark_Link.png
gonna be epic though... if its gonna happen at all, you've already thrown me off with quite a few curve-balls already.
about Dash and Aeron leaving all I have is this.
24.media.tumblr.com/aa6fa95181f799b1d97c1f1e01142c68/tumblr_n2jy7vJ81y1rd23b5o1_400.jpg
4130688
It's not gonna be as simple as that.
4130737
so this then? with power armor?
static.fjcdn.com/comments/A%20Deathclaw%20Cazador%20where%20is%20your%20god%20now%20_bc6247e90ea411b826a737f42bccc33a.jpg
I kid, I'm actually very interested to see what you mean.
At first when the virtibird was described I thought that an airborne challenge that would have basically have been tailor made for Rainbow Dash would have been in the making, instead the fact that she was basically an escort quest for the others was lamp shaded then she was removed from the maze. I mean come on she could have had a moment to highlight her skill set before the end, the stage was set for Rainbow "element of loyalty" Dash to pull a "never leave a man behind" and pull Ethan from the Virtibird before the crash instead of forcing Luna to heal him before disappearing to at least to have been able to do SOMETHING. To be fair this is my only real grip with how the story has been unfolding so far, and it really is a nitpick in comparison to the quality of the writing and the interactions between the different characters.
4131297
Well, the others barely got out before the crash, and as she was first out she wouldn't have realized Twilight hadn't grabbed him until too late.
the one thing im confused about is the scaling of the vertibird compared to the cazador, because scarlet and thomas where freaking out about it being the size of the giant robo scorpion. but if i remember the giant robo scorpion is just bairley larger than a vertibird, so in there travels, is the giant robo scorpion like, a hell of a lot larger than it was in the game???
4132059
Still a fucking huge cazadore. I'd say their reaction would be justified if it was even half as big as they made it out to be. Cazadores are scary, man.
4130737 the Gauss mini gun is the greatest creation
Ed did you motherfucking just. Did you just find a way to work a freaking idea from the Ask Ethan page into a story?
Are you sure it wasn't an i.imgur.com/49xtj.gif
Well, look at it this way, there won't be an insensitive ass, and compared to the others, practically useless mare slogging them down. So, theres that.
P.S. No offence ment to the owner of the characters.
To be honest, I hated that guy. He just seemed pointlessly callous, not really having any justification or reasoning for all his evil acts beyond his dad.
I think remaining team will work better together. Better to have everyone call Ethan an idiot, rather that Aeron calling everyone else one.
I think it would be cool if all of them were aged back to when they just left the vault/hadn't went to new vegas/gotten transferred to the wasteland and had to fight themselves when they were most powerful.
Maybe i just want to see little boy ethan take down power-armor-tank-ethan, but can you blame me?
update?
5505586
90 weeks
Da fuck you replying to something from NINETY weeks ago? XD
Any chance this collab is going to make a triumphant return?
5622355
I'll take that as a no, Sir Sandcroft.
And so it was, just a year ago the most recent chapter to this great work of universe crossing was posted. It is unkown to the readers of what transpired during the heroes final battle, whether or not the Invisa Cunt was crucified or had her head impaled upon a pike. but there is one thing they do know, and it burns into there eyes upon seeing the brown "Hiatus" icon. And what they know is that there is still a small burning hope of seeing this great story reach its completion.
Yes, there is still hope, and it continues to burn within those whom love the authors and the characters that they have created / portrayed.
Oh sweet lordly luu I FUCKING HATE CAZADORS! Goddamn it all, they are the worst possible insect in the game...
in my personal opinion man, they're fucking scary as shit!
And damn it! Dash is gone... I'm sad now ;w; and so's Aeron, dang it...
UGH... sonuvabitch... update was so long ago... and that DAMN BROWN HIATUS SYMBOL... you be the bane of mine existence!
//sobs
This was one hell of an awesome read! I will be sure to check out the other stories and writers soon.
Damn I hope this gets updated soon, this was too awesome... too awesome.
Nicely done my friend!
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!
//cries in pit of self loathing
5827186 You do realize I posted that 67 weeks ago right?
6237438 Reply to a 2 year old comment wut?
That is weirder than the fact that you have a penis in a jar.
Welp, I guess I'll never know if all that insanely awesome torture ideas for Invisicunt ever came to pass. 'Tis a sad, sad day.
Could someone explain why its in hiatus like did the authors need a break or did they get into a fight or something?
7091837
IDK about Omegacode and Shadow Flash, but ed officially quit writing fimfiction (Loss of interest) and Speven Dillberg (tony) put everything on hold (loss of motivation).
... Yeah.
This dead?
If this is dead at literally the second to last chapter in tracking the author (s) and kicking their collective rumps
8776731
That's a real great way to talk about someone suffering severe suicidal depression.
8777026
Oh, shit. Well it appears someone needs to pep talk with him
https://youtu.be/4fiPZBQqRFY