Sit and Dream
Sit and Dream
It had been about half an hour since their watch had started and Scarlet and Twilight were sitting next to each other with their backs to the wall of the room. Scarlet had Maria resting in her lap and her anti-material rifle lying in front of her, ready to be used. Twilight’s plasma defender sat in its place on her hip while her robotic eye scanned the darkness around their little campsite. The rest of the group were sound asleep and men’s snoring could be heard easily in the otherwise deathly silent room. Finally, tired of the silence Twilight turned to Scarlet and tried one of Ethan’s patented conversation starters.
“So um Scarlet, gotten laid recently?” the purple unicorn asked.
“No,” she replied coldly.
“Oh, sorry, that always works for Ethan when he wants to start a conversation,” Twilight said with a blush.
“I’m probably different from a lot of people you’ve seen; I don’t seek sex for comfort or for fun.”
“You’re looking for Love?” Twilight asked inquisitively.
“Not anymore.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” Twilight said looking away.
Silence fell between the two once more. Twilight rallied and tried another approach.
“If you wouldn’t mind me asking, what am I like where you’re from?” she asked
“Pretty much like Celestia, she tries to always see the positive side of everyone and tries to be nice. Of course she broke down when she saw Celestia stab a minotaur right through the heart. I don’t know about your Celestia, but their Celestia gained the image of being a just and fair ruler who’s never killed a single soul.”
“My Tia has taken lives before, she’s fought in wars and she and Luna were originally charged with fighting off demons and locking them in Tartarus. Of course not everypony knows that last bit, but the first part is fairly common knowledge. On the bright side it’s been many years since the last war in Equestria.” Twilight replied with a shrug.
“Well good for you, though I doubt your peace will last long.”
“Oh I think it will. It’s not every day that a country comes along who thinks they can attack Equestria, especially thanks to our tight diplomatic ties to the griffins, courtesy of Rainbow Dash.” Twilight replied with a small smirk.
“Water doesn’t carve a river in a matter of days, so war doesn’t have to be big and sudden. War through politics can be just as deadly as war on the field, and it can take its time. That’s how the Old World started to fall apart,” Scarlet replied.
“That’s true I suppose,” Twilight said with a nod. “Although I highly doubt that Tia would let that happen, she’s several thousand years old and by now she knows the signs of war on the horizons, and more importantly how to prevent them,” she added.
Scarlet scoffed. “Then explain how a single earth pony almost took down your entire nation right in front of Celestia’s nose.”
“It never happened in my Equestria, so I can’t tell you,” Twilight replied. “She probably just got careless, or something just slipped by her. Nopony’s perfect,” Twilight added with a shrug. “Even my Tia makes mistakes sometimes.” Twilight then muttered something and Scarlet thought she heard the words, ‘ucking wedding’.
“Still, it only takes one person to make or break a nation. I should know.”
“Heh, I guess you would if you’re anything like Ethan’s wife,” Twilight replied with a light chuckle.
“Wait, Ethan’s wife is the Courier from your world?”
“Well it’s more like my dimension or universe than world specifically, but yes, yes she is,” Twilight said with a nod.
“Hmm, interesting.”
“How so?” Twilight asked curiously.
“Because I find it so, and the reason is none of your business.”
“If you say so Scarlet,” Twilight replied with a roll of her eyes.
The still of air came between them once more; however, Scarlet asked, “So how’s ED-E in Ethan’s world?”
“The little eyebot?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah.”
“Apparently Ethan found his creator when he was cleaning out the Enclave in the Capital Wasteland and put the dots together once he met Cassandra and ED-E,” Twilight said. “He’s a very peppy little guy.”
A smile formed on Scarlet’s lip. “Yeah, even for a robot he has a noble soul. I’m happy to hear he was able to reunite with his creator. Maybe one day I’ll get my ED-E back East, if we get out of here of course.”
“If? Scarlet, this Kata bitch doesn’t know who she’s messing with.” Twilight said with a smirk. “I mean we have two goddesses with us, the fastest flyer in Equestria, me, and the four of you who fight armies routinely, even if it’s not easy we’ll make it through this.”
Scarlet remained silent. “That was his way of thinking too...” she mumbled under her breath.
“Who’s way of thinking?” Twilight asked inquisitively as her ears flicked forward.
“The Arroyo Tribal Boy I met, he always believed there was no situation that couldn’t be overcome. He was filled with the legends of the Vault Dweller and his Elder leader of how they took down two dangerous threats to the Wasteland. The Dweller in defeating the Master and his army of Super Mutants, and the Chosen One on taking down the Enclave and their Super Soldier. Now he’s buried under a ton of rubble.”
“Ah, the dark and troubled past,” Twilight said with a nod to herself. “You loved him?” she guessed.
Scarlet didn’t answer right away. “I’m not saying that I’m giving up hope, I’m just saying don’t solely rely on everyone’s personal legends.”
“It’s not exactly the same in this case.” Twilight replied with a shrug. “I’ve seen Ethan level more than one army before, and I know that I’m the most magically powerful unicorn in Equestria. From what you’re saying he was drawing on someone else’s legend instead of his own,” Twilight said dismissively.
“He was not weak!” Scarlet yelled unexpectedly, “He might’ve been foolish and stupid sometimes but the one thing he was good at was fighting. I saw him take down several Deathclaws singlehandedly. He could strategize attacks and be an inspiring leader. He...just got over his head, and now he’s dead.”
A sad smile crossed Twilight face. “If that’s not love speaking then I’m a stallion,” she said with a sigh. Then she shook her head. “I’m sorry for your loss Scarlet, but take it from me, the longer this festers the worse you - goddesses I sound like Tia...” Twilight interrupted herself with a facehoof. She took a deep breath before she continued. “Sorry, once you start routinely having sex with an alicorn a little bit of the attitude begins to rub off on you,” she said as a small blush crossed her face.
“The thing is Twilight, I can never forget it. Every night I see how he dies by...by my own hands... I can’t... I can’t forget how even in my hands he said it’s okay, how it’s not my fault...” Her voice began to grow unsteady. “And to make sure our daughter gets raised to know that he loves her...” Tears rolled down Scarlet’s cheek.
Before the woman knew what was happening Twilight had wrapped her in a firm hug.
“It’s okay Scarlet,” she said quietly as she held the woman.
Scarlet was a bit surprised, she was caught off guard by the unicorn’s action. “How can you say it’s alright? The day I lost him I lost everything, my home, my future family, my name. Katherine died that day, and Scarlet was left to watch her bleed out,” She pushed the unicorn away.
“Because I’ve been friends with Ethan long enough to know the look on your face.” Twilight told her sternly. “That’s self-loathing at its finest right there. Sure you made a mistake, yes people that you loved died and Hell it could’ve been your fault, but for fuck’s sake the longer you think like that the worse it’s going to get!” Twilight continued. “Do you think your love would’ve wanted to see you like this, crying your eyes out to a purple unicorn who you’ve known for less than a day because she asked you a single question? If so then he wasn’t worth your time,” Twilight told her coldly.
Twilight felt something cold rest on the side her head. “Don’t you dare fucking say that.” Scarlet’s voice was low and menacing. “Jason loved me, and I loved him. I just can’t let go of the wrong I’ve done, of how I let the Legion trick me into killing him. This is one sin I can’t forget, not ever. That’s why I took the name Scarlet.” The cold object left Twilight’s head. “Let’s get the next pair up.”
“It’s a little late for that, and if you ever put a gun against Twilight Sparkle’s head again I’ll decapitate you before you can pull the trigger.” Ethan said without a fraction of hesitation in his voice. He was standing beside the woman with his red sword held in a relaxed grip.
“I was wondering when you were going to announce yourself, I’m guessing you’re taking the next shift,” Scarlet said without any indication of Ethan’s threat.
“Nope, I’m just a light sleeper.” Ethan said with a shrug as he lazily fingered the hilt of his sword.
“Ethan, you know you don’t have to defend me right?” Twilight asked him. “If worst came to worst then I could’ve just put a small shield inside of the barrel of the gun so that when it fired the bullet would deflect off it. I also could’ve just broken her wrist,” Twilight added.
“Doubt it since your magic will have no effect on me,” Scarlet said as got up and walked towards Celestia so that she could wake her for her shift.
The second that she’d left Ethan whirled around and got on his knees in front of Twilight. “Just what the hell were you thinking egging her on like that Twilight, she could’ve killed you!” Ethan whispered intensely.
“I was doing what you’d do,” Twilight replied with a hard look.
“Twilight, I can survive a bullet to the brain, you cannot!” Ethan murmured with angry eyes
“Alright, alright. Settle down children. It’s my shift, so get settled in, will you?” Aeron asked as he rose to his feet.
“I trust you will heed my word next time Twilight,” Celestia said as came up into view.
“I would’ve been fine Sunny,” Twilight replied with a yawn. Ethan just sighed and shook his head before he went back to where he’d been lying, Twilight followed him.
“Thanks for being a good pillow Sunny.” Ethan added before he lay down again and Twilight snuggled up next to him.
“It was no problem, though don’t expect it to happen every time,” she replied.
“Of course not, we’ll have different shifts next time.” Ethan said with a chuckle before he leaned into Twilight’s chest. “Night Sunny, heh heh oxymoron.” He chuckled before he closed his eyes.
Aeron sat in silence as his eyes wandered around the room. Snoring echoed behind him as the others slept. He was paired up with Celestia to keep the watch for the next hour. Every now and then, he’d look over to Celestia, or back at Rainbow Dash, seeing if either were alright - never speaking a word.
“You really care for Rainbow Dash don’t you?” Celestia said while still keeping her eyes on guard for any threats.
“Indeed I do. She’s been through a lot, and I’ve been reassuring her lately. Especially with the others not approving of my actions. They’ll never understand.” Aeron sighed as he folded his hands in front of him.
“That’s because they only look at your appearance and not your heart.”
“My heart died a long time ago. If they really judged me on my appearance, I think they wouldn’t be able to see me.” Aeron joked at the last part of his statement and gave off a small chuckle.
Silence shortly grew upon them. Celestia decided to break it. “So you grew up in a vault?”
“Indeed. My father wasn’t there for my birth, and my mother died shortly after. He never told her his goodbyes as they turned her to ash.” Aeron looked at his Pip-Boy for a moment, before returning his gaze at the empty hallway.
“So you blame your father for your pain?” Celestia questioned.
“My father was a man of pride and work. He died for the Wasteland and was labelled a hero. I was just a curse for him, destroying his work by implementing a virus in the water to kill off half of the population along the East coast,” Aeron coughed lightly before continuing, “but, to answer your question, I do not blame him for my pain. My pain comes from what I let grow around me, and then spawn inside me. It speaks to me, sometimes. When I have no more things to think about.”
“I see, but you haven't fully let it control you. You still know what’s right and what’s wrong.” The princess stated.
“I do. But I fail to care. What’s the point of me being directed by someone labelled as ‘good’ to kill someone labelled as ‘bad’? It’s a crime either way, I’m only a little more liked because I killed a ‘bad guy’. It changes nothing with what I do.” Aeron was twiddling his thumbs currently - a sign of being nervous.
“True, but you care. You tried to prove something to someone, either to your father or to the Wasteland itself. If you were truly “bad” I don’t see any reason why you kept Dash alive. Any other person would’ve made a meal out of her.”
Aeron thought for a moment, thinking over her statement. He never questioned why he protected her whilst she was in the Wasteland and never bothered to do anything other than return her home.
“... I’ll get back to you on that one... I do not know why I kept her alive at all. I felt no reason to.”
“Take your time, besides, it’s not for me to know anyways.”
“I’ve only shared most of my life with Rainbow Dash. I don’t know why I did. Perhaps it was because she was a stranger, and I didn’t know her well enough at the time. I only bothered to get to know her on our trip to get her home.” Aeron pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing deeply.
“True friendship starts without knowing anything about each other. And through that friendship a strong bond of helping them out in time of trouble naturally comes.”
“I’m not sure what I consider her,” Aeron spoke softly, “she is more than a companion... But I’ve never bothered to make friends with anyone. I’m not sure what she considers me to be.”
“You could always ask. The way she defends you against the others, it shows that there’s already a strong bond between the two of you.”
“She defends me? I thought she would’ve been sick of me by now. Then again, I have been wrong before.” Aeron looked over at his Pip-Boy. Surprisingly, an hour had passed since they’ve started.
“The other accused you of being a heartless person, but she says they’re wrong. I can see why, you do have a heart Aeron.”
“Not much of one. I’ve been called many names, and heartless barely phases me anymore. I know it’s true.” Aeron stretched a moment before standing up and dusting off his leggings.
“An Old Man once told me names can be easily changeable, it just depends on the person, and on how they want it to be changed.” Celestia stated before standing up. “You’ve done a lot of wrong, but that can be fixed.”
“Destroying a town, nuking a portion of the Wasteland, killing innocent bigots, murdering a few hundred children, violating many laws of nature and polluting purified water can no longer be justified.” Aeron looked at Celestia with a cold look before returning to the small “camp” and waking up Ethan.
Celestia let out a small disheartened sigh before returning to the group and waking Luna.
“Ethan,” Aeron shook Ethan’s form, “your shift.”
Ethan awoke with a start and his hand darted for his magnum out of reflex when he saw the Talon Armour, then he saw the man’s face.
“Oh, sorry. Old habits die hard. Very hard apparently,” he muttered as he rubbed his eyes.
“It’s fine. Not the first time.” Aeron stated, laying back down next to Rainbow Dash and quickly falling to sleep.
Ethan sat against the wall, his red bladed sword across his lap, a rag in his hand moved up and down the blade as he cleaned a small smudge of abomination blood that had somehow escaped his notice earlier. Luna sat near him.
“So...” Luna didn’t really know what to talk about. She was used to keeping vigil at night, it had practically been all she had done before the Nightmare Wars. But she had typically done so alone, with others occasionally coming and going with reports.
“Yeah, it’s been a long night to go with a long day,” Ethan agreed with a shake of his head. Then he smiled and went decided to use his old fall-back conversation starter. “So Luna, gotten laid recently?”
“I fail to see how that is any of your concern,” she retorted. However, she couldn’t stop herself from glancing at Thomas, an expression of fondness briefly flashing across her features.
Ethan noticed the glance and chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes, more than casual?” He asked changing topics slightly.
“Again, that is not your concern.” Luna kept her expression neutral, staring straight ahead.
“Come on Lulu, give me the dirt girl,” Ethan said with a chuckle. “I’m not going to spread it around, I’m just curious is all, and honestly what else is there to talk about right now?”
“Firstly, you do not have the right to call me ‘Lulu’, and there are indeed other things we could talk about.” The alicorn turned to the man. “How? How could you do that?”
“The kids?” Ethan asked in a low sad voice.
“Yes. How could you just... just...” Luna trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.
“Would you rather us have left them there for that bitch to torture for all eternity? Would you rather us have attempted to disarm the collars that were obviously never built with a disarming feature? Would you rather us have to go through the pain of seeing their skulls explode?” He asked with a growl
“I would have wanted to find a way to get them home,” she replied sadly. “Especially those foals, I can’t imagine what their parents are going through.” She bowed her head, doing her best to hold back her tears.
“I wanted to find another way, I didn’t see one. I wanted to rescue them, I couldn’t. I didn’t want it to happen again but it did,” Ethan replied sadly in an angry voice.
“That is why it hurts so much. To see something like that again...” Luna sighed, letting a tear fall.
“You too huh?” Ethan asked sadly.
“I doubt it was the same for you, though. You’ve been to Equestria, so you know the tale of Nightmare Moon.” Luna didn’t give him a chance to answer. “I’m not sure how it goes in your Equestria, but for me, a demon possessed me, using my bitterness and jealousy to gain a foothold. I could only watch, a... a prisoner in my own body, trapped in a prison of my own making.”
Ethan gave her a broken smile. “I know the feeling Lulu, it almost happened to me,” he replied sadly.
“No, you don’t know the feeling,” she retorted bitterly. “You weren’t a prisoner for a thousand years, forced to listen to the words of a being of pure malice and hate as it tried to destroy you from within.”
“You’re right, I don’t,” Ethan replied with a sigh, he hesitantly reached out an arm and almost began to stroke her neck but Luna stopped him with a hoof.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but it would be best that you did not. Like you said, my magic is like the radiation from your world. There’s every chance that touching my mane could be fatal.”
“Right, sorry, thanks Lulu,” Ethan said with an embarrassed look on his face. “Anyways I take it that foals were a prime target for the Nightmare?”
“It... it was worse than that,” she replied. “A holiday, Nightmare Night, sprung up some time after my banishment.”
“I’ve been to one or two, not too bad.” Ethan said
“Then you know the belief that she would devour any foal who did not give her a suitable offering?” Luna asked, sadly.
Ethan’s mouth opened and then shut rapidly. “I- I thou-...” For once in his life Ethan was truly at a loss for words.
“The demon was a monster, even worse than Discord, at least in terms of the pure malice it contained. Under its control, I... I...” Luna burst into tears, unable to go on.
This time Ethan didn’t stop as he pulled the alicorn into a deep hug. “Fuck it, I can take a little radiation,” he muttered even as his Pip-Boy screamed at him.
Luna gently pushed him away, not wanting him to hurt himself for her sake. “Seeing those foals, it brought back terrible memories. I still remember the expressions of them, forced to watch as - ”
“Lulu, I’m hardly one to advise counselling, trust me I need almost as much as you do, but... you really need to talk to someone about this, have you tried Sunny?” He asked softly.
“My sister knows about this very well. She has tried to talk to me, but there’s no one who I can relate to. I am lucky, though, that it has faded into myth, a story parents tell their children to make them behave.”
Ethan let out a sigh. “Yeah, I can understand that. If the ponies remembered - never mind, let’s talk about something else,” he said quickly before changing topics. “So Lulu gotten laid recently?”
Luna couldn’t help but chuckle. “You are impossible,” she said, wiping at her tears.
“You’re damn right I am, and proud of it!” Ethan replied with a grin.
“If you must know, then yes. Alcohol was involved,” she answered.
“Now was that so bad?” Ethan asked with a chuckle. “So any chance of things being more than casual?”
“No, he has to prevent this Republic from making the people of his city too angry.”
“Ah, the NCR. Tell me about it. Cassandra kicked their asses out of the region and she still has to deal with the cunts,” Ethan said with a shake of his head.
“Thomas said he saw them as an asset, much how they saw him. That, and the invaluable tourism trade is helping rebuild the city.” Luna looked off into the distance. “He hopes to someday restore it to its pre-War beauty, he says.”
“Yeah, out of all the things that Cassie wants, a rebuilt Vegas is on the top of her list,” Ethan agreed with a nod. “Personally I think she’s thinking too small, but that’s just me, and I’m an idiot,” he added with a chuckle.
“I can certainly agree with that,” the alicorn replied, chuckling along with him.
“So, just out of curiosity, what’s your world’s Twilight like?” He asked.
“Compared to the one you brought with you? Much more innocent. She still has some difficulty believing that her brother is a deadly warrior.”
“Yeah, I kind of wrecked Sparky’s innocence. Of course I like to think that the Wasteland deserves more credit than I do,” he replied.
“Dominica told us about how she lost hers, on her first day no less,” Luna said. “I can sympathise.”
“Mine got destroyed when I killed the Overseer in a fit of bloodlust; not my proudest moment,” Ethan said with a sorry shake of his head.
“Dominica did not mention such a thing, she must have escaped his notice,” she mused.
“Well he had my fiancée, his daughter, tied to a chair and was interrogating her, violently. I just couldn’t control myself,” Ethan said.
“His daughter? Then she was likely in little danger, it takes a very special kind of evil to hurt one’s own child.”
“Tell that to my nineteen- year-old, testosterone-addled brain,” Ethan said with a rueful chuckle before his face darkened. “When she pulled me off of him there wasn’t much left of his face besides a bloody, bloody stain in the vault floor. Needless to say Amata called off the engagement,” Ethan said with a detached chuckle, but when Luna looked in his eyes she saw a great wave of grief wash over the man despite his apparent uncaring nature. Then the grief vanished and his face was once again cheerful.
“I am sorry,” Luna replied.
“Don’t worry about it Lulu, it was a long time ago, and I’ve been over it with both Cassie and Twilight a few times. It’s just an old bad memory of mine,” Ethan said with a sigh.
“Is she still alive?”
“Amata? Yeah, last time I checked,” the man said with a shrug. “She runs the Vault now and has been doing a good job of it from what I’ve heard.”
“Sounds like what Paladin Dominica told us. And you are luckier than her. I suspect she lost much more than you did,” Luna commented.
“Yeah, I know that there are people much worse off than me backstory wise, like Cassie for instance. Doesn’t change the fact that it hurts, but I’m not the type for self-pity,” Ethan said with a shrug.
“Yes, such behaviour befits no-one. All we can do is live with our failures. That was a lesson that Knight-Commander Armor learned the hard way.”
“He tried to kill me when he first met me,” Ethan told her with a chuckle.
“I’m sure Celestia would have done the same had she seen me in the same state Twilight Sparkle is in now,” Luna replied.
“Hell, if that happened to someone I cared about while they were traveling with someone else then I’d try and kill them too. Of course the fact that I insulted him and called him a horrible brother couldn’t have helped things...” Ethan said, trailing off with a slight chuckle
“You enjoy conflict, don’t you?” she asked flatly.
“Yep, it keeps me from thinking about things,” the man replied with a shrug.
“You must find another way to amuse yourself, such self-destructive activities aren’t healthy.”
“Well I tried drinking, but surprisingly that didn’t help much, so I think that I’ll stick to violence and self-deprecation,” Ethan replied with a toothy grin.
Luna rolled her eyes before refocusing on her vigil.
“Hey Lulu, sorry if this comes out of left field, but is your mother named Faust, or is that just from where my Twilight’s from?” Ethan asked, suddenly breaking the silence.
“I’m not sure ‘mother’ is the right word. In a way, we always ruled over Equestria, it was only quite recently that we were forced to play a more direct role. Faust is to many a story, the World-Mother, responsible for all who walk and breathe. Neither benevolent nor malicious, simply... there,” the alicorn explained. “As for how we are related, I am unsure. My sister and I may control the sun and moon, but the Griffon Tempesta has much control over the weather and the Diamond Dog Terra’s domain is the earth and mountains. They remain impartial parties to their races, simply content to watch, but we were forced to take part.”
“Huh, how about that, I met the Faust in Sparky’s world. She seemed nice, if a little busy at the time,” Ethan said with chuckle. “She almost spilled coffee on my crotch, although that may have been because of something I said about Sunny and Sparky being a bit too loud,”
Luna snorted. “I’m not surprised in the slightest.”
“That kind of thing seems to happen to me with a shocking amount of regularity, and yet I can never figure out why,” the man told her with another chuckle.
The alicorn turned to him and gave him a flat stare. Words weren’t needed to convey how stupid she thought he was.
“Well it’s been nice chatting with you Lulu, it looks like it’s time for the next watch,” The man said as he got up from his position against the wall. “I’ll get Dash.” The man said as he walked towards the pegasus and nudged her awake. She awoke with a slight start but calmed down once she saw Ethan and nodded to him before she took off towards where they’d been sitting.
“I shall wake Thomas, then.” Luna stood up and carefully walked to him. “Wake up. I said wake up.” When he reached out and hugged her leg, she carefully extricated it before leaning over him. Her horn touched him and suddenly he jolted awake.
“What the hell, Luna?” Thomas asked, rubbing the spot she had jabbed him.
“I had to wake you. So I did,” she said simply.
“That doesn’t mean you can electrocute me,” he growled.
“T’was a small shock, barely noticeable.” With those parting words, Luna lay on the ground and closed her eyes, ready to drift back into slumber.
“Oh young love, you’ve gotta love it kid,” Ethan told Thomas with a chuckle as he returned to his spot next to Twilight and lay his head against her back before closing his eyes. Thomas just glared at him.
Thomas sat calmly on the ground, his rifle resting on his lap as he looked into the darkness. “God I need a drink,” he mumbled.
Rainbow Dash looked curiously over at Thomas before shaking her head, “is it me, or do all people in the Wastes just drink too much?”
“Not much we can do for fun, unless you want to take pot-shots at animals or merchants. And they tend to fight back,” he added.
“I think I’ll pass on that one...” Rainbow sighed before resting her head within her hooves.
The pair sat in silence for some time, neither knowing what to say. Eventually, Thomas managed to break the silence. “Why do you trust him?”
Rainbow’s ears perked up a bit before she responded. “Who, Aeron?”
“Yeah. I’m not gonna take Ethan’s word for it, but I’ve heard stories about Talon Company. None of them good.”
“He’s not even a part of Talon Company. He just likes the armour. He joined up for a bit, but quit after killing the leader.” Rainbow’s eyes rolled in annoyance as she corrected the rumour.
“Huh.” Thomas kept quiet for a few moments. “Guess it’s not so bad then.”
“What else does Ethan oh-so-good say about Aeron?” the pegasus questioned.
“Frankly, I’m still trying to sort the facts from the bullshit,” the man replied calmly. “But I can tell you that as long as Aeron does good by me, then I won’t go out of my way to hurt him.”
Thinking for a moment, Rainbow Dash decided to answer the original question. “I don’t know why I trust him. Something about him just... I don’t know, makes me feel safe.”
“So you haven’t got a clue?” he asked. Thomas chuckled before continuing. “I just think you can’t put the words together. You remind me a bit of the Rainbow Dash I met, you know?”
“Uh, not--... Now you’re confusing me.” The pegasus shook her head back and forth. “I just don’t know why I trust him. Believe what you want.”
“I saved her life, and she did everything she could to try and defend me. Even after... Applejack, I think? Even after she kept labelling me a murderous psychopath, Rainbow kept arguing.” Thomas sighed and looked up. “You don’t really get that in the Wastes.”
“He saved my life. He could have just left me to die. Or be eaten by Jericho... Err, his companion, if he hasn’t told you yet.” Rainbow let off a small laugh.
“I don’t think he has. And the best friendships you have are the ones forged in fire.”
“I don’t even know what I consider Aeron to be at this point. I don’t even think he considers me a ‘friend’. He told me he only had one friend in his entire life.” Rainbow shivered slightly as she mentioned this.
“Everyone has friends. They might not admit it, or show it, or even know it. The fact that you call him a friend is enough.”
“Well... I don’t know... But, back to something you mentioned - you said you saved another version of me?” The pegasus moved her body so she was directed more towards Thomas, rather than away.
“Yeah. Don’t know how you ended up nearly getting eaten by a manticore, lucky I showed up when I did.” Thomas chuckled. “Of course, you freaked out when I killed it...”
“Pfft, I wouldn’t let a stupid manticore try and eat me. I’m not that stupid or weak.” Rainbow muttered.
“I think you’d just crash-landed or something. Your wing looked pretty bad,” he explained.
“Uhg. Don’t remind me of broken wings... Hated that week sooooo much...” Dash groaned softly.
“Heh, I know the feeling. I was stuck in a bed for days too. Absolutely sucks.” Thomas leaned back and sighed. “Still, two bullets to the brain, lucky it wasn’t worse.”
“Two bullets to the brain? What caused that one? Fall on your gun?” Rainbow giggled at her comment.
“I used to be a courier. Got ambushed while delivering a package. Woke up with my hands bound, a gag in my mouth and a man in a suit pointing a pistol at my head. Shot me twice, then had me buried in a shallow grave.” Thomas straightened up. “I tracked him down, and emptied every bullet from that same gun into his.”
“Guess that’s a simple way to do it...” She stated with a slight raise in her brow.
“Nothing makes revenge sweeter than a little irony,” Thomas said with a chuckle. “Got the package back, but then I was at a loss. Then I had to follow that damn radio broadcast...” he muttered angrily.
“Uh, do I want to ask about the second part...?”
“Imagine a place where the air is toxic, shambling unkillable horrors roam the streets and you’re stuck in a bomb collar that’ll go off if you get too close to the wrong thing. Couple that with barely any food or water, the nutjob that brought me there and three other people who might have killed me at any opportunity and you’ll get an idea.”
Thinking for a moment, she shook her head, “I’ll pass on that, too. Sounds worse than what I had to deal with.”
“Then there was the whole thing with the Big Empty. Fucking whackjobs took out my brain,” he said, pointing at his head. He parted his hair and found the scar, showing it to the pegasus.
“Why the heck would they do that?” Her eyes squinted as she examined the scar upon Thomas’ head.
“The phrase ‘because they could’ is the only way I can really think of describing it,” Thomas replied. “They were two centuries old and insane, that probably played a part.”
“I guess that sounds reasonable enough. Everyone is crazy in the Wastes, like Aeron told me.”
“There’s functional crazy, like Ethan, odd, like me and Scarlet probably are, and then there’s completely fucking insane. You’ve never seen a Nightkin, have you?” he asked.
“Aeron has told me about them, but, I’ve never seen one up close.” Dash answered.
“The first indication you get that there are any is when they appear three feet in front of you with a fucking sledgehammer swinging at your face. The only thing that saved me was Boone shooting it out of its hand.”
“Boone being your friend, or...?”
“NCR sniper. We travelled for a bit, helped him get over a few issues. Quiet man, though. Wouldn’t really say anything unless you started the conversation.”
“Ah.” Rainbow sighed, placing her head back on her hooves, staying quiet for the next few minutes.
Thomas looked at his Pip-Boy, frowning at the Geiger counter. “That’s not right.”
“Hmm?” Rainbow Dash looked over at Thomas in inquire.
“There must be something wrong, I’m at zero reds,” he muttered. “This thing is two hundred years old, of course it breaks now,” he complained.
“Aeron’s did the same thing. Didn’t he tell you, or were you not listening?” Thomas shrugged. “Makes sense.” Rainbow rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Well, what’s it matter, isn’t having lower better?”
“Yeah, just odd. Always seen it go up, never down without taking Rad-Away.” Thomas shrugged. “At least I don’t have to worry about Luna accidentally killing me now.”
“Killing you? What do you mean?”
“For some reason, Luna’s magic, and only her’s, is the same as gamma radiation, the stuff that makes this tick,” he replied, pointing at his wrist. “Nearly died from rad poisoning in Equestria.”
“Weird. I wonder if it would be the same for Aeron or not if he came to Equestria?” Rainbow then shrugged at the thought.
“No, every unicorn there has radioactive magic. Odds are, it’ll poison you too.”
“Weird. Oh well. Not like Aeron is coming to my place any time soon.” She giggled softly at her statement.
“Well, I brought a ghoul to my Equestria. You know what a ghoul is?” he asked.
“Yeah. They were usually mean to me, though.” Rainbow answered.
“They were dealt a bad hand, makes sense that they’re bitter. All they can do is try to make the best of it.”
“Well, how’d it turn out for the ghoul you brought to Equestria, then?”
“Took a while, but things went well enough. Still, you don’t piss off a woman who can walk off a broken arm and a knife in the throat.” Thomas hesitated for a moment. “I guess that guy deserved it, but still... Yeesh.”
“Again, do I even want to know?” the pegasus shivered for a moment.
“I’ve tortured people, but what Dom did... You’re lucky you weren’t there.”
“Uhhh... Yeah, I won’t ask.” Rainbow stood herself up and stretched out her legs and wings before lying back down again.
“The Rainbow I met was straight,” he said suddenly. “Or at least batted for both teams. That true for you?”
“I prefer just mares. Don’t know why, found them more attractive. What about you?” Rainbow yawned, looking over at Thomas.
“I like to keep my options open. No point in limiting how much fun I can have, right?” he asked with a smile.
“So, you’d screw a pony?” The Pegasus giggled softly.
“What do you mean ‘would’? Why do you think Luna’s here?”
Rainbow Dash burst into a fit of giggles and laughter, “ohmigosh, that’s great!”
“We were both drunk, at least three bottles of wine each. Something was bound to happen.” He began to laugh. “Good thing it was Luna, I bet Shiny would kill me if I touched his sister.”
“Pfft. I doubt you could handle her. Her magic... Well, let’s say it’s beyond orgasmic.” The Pegasus blushed whilst saying this.
The black man only raised an eyebrow. “The Twilight I met poisoned me by accident with her magic. Different rules.”
“Can’t take the heat, can ya?” Dash held back a smirk and a giggle.
“Oh ha ha. Like I said, the Equestria I visited, the magic is radioactive.
“What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger!”
“That’s up for debate. Haven’t really breathed the same since I got out of the Sierra,” he commented.
Behind them, scuffling of waking people could be heard. Dash looked behind her to see Ethan scratching his crotch area and Aeron giving him a disapproving look.
“Looks like we’re heading out.” Dash stated.
“Let’s wake the rest of them up,” Thomas said, standing up before going to Luna.
The rest of the group were awakened by Thomas and Rainbow Dash and they began to prepare for the no doubt difficult day to come. As Scarlet handed out the remains of the MRE from the other night to those who were hungry Ethan caught Thomas’s eye and waved him over. The black man walked over to Ethan with a raised eyebrow.
“What is it?” Thomas asked
“Thomas we need to talk, it’s about Luna,” Ethan said the last part as quietly as he could.
“Any chance this can wait?”
“Well she broke down on me last night so I’ll leave that up to you to decide,” Ethan replied with a shrug.
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he muttered.
“Alright, I just wanted to let you know that what happened yesterday really affected her badly, brought up memories of... well... Nightmare Night, and why it originated in the first place,” Ethan told him.
“Never heard of Nightmare Night. I can guess it has to do with Nightmare Moon, though.”
“It’s a holiday involving giving out candy to children, think Halloween if you know anything about the old world. The bad part though is that it was originally about giving Nightmare Moon candy or offerings so she wouldn’t ‘gobble up foals’...”
Thomas just stared at Ethan before glancing at Luna. “Fuck. That’s...”
“Yeah, look, I’m hardly the best person to give advice about this sort of thing. God knows that I’ve screwed up enough, but she needs you, she needs you bad Thomas. If for nothing else then just as a friend,” Ethan told him with sad eyes.
“Would not be the first time I’ve had to help someone get over a few issues in their past.” Thomas sighed. “Doubt it’ll be the last, either.”
“Cassie said that she spent a lot of time playing therapist, I guess you did too,” Ethan said with a shake of his head. “Anyways I just wanted to let you know that she’s not doing all that great right now.”
“Yeah, the only reason I’m keeping it together is because I’m avenging those poor kids. No-one deserves that,” he muttered angrily.
“Don’t I know it...” Ethan said with a shake of his head. “Oh, and Thomas; she really cares about you,”
“Then she lied to one of us.” Thomas chuckled briefly. “Said she didn’t want a relationship.”
“She told me that you were too busy running Vegas for one,” Ethan said with a shrug.
“Well, someone needs to keep the Republic from fucking the place over. Having the Kings run Freeside is helping, and the Followers over in Westside, but it’s not enough. At least the Chairmen, the White Glove Society and the Omertas are helping. Wouldn’t stand a chance if they sided with the NCR.” Thomas sighed. “I miss just walking around, doing odd jobs here and there.”
“My wife tells me that more often than you’d believe,” Ethan replied with a chuckle. “I’ve taken up enough of your time, but just remember to watch out for her okay? None of us here are exactly what you’d call mentally stable, except maybe for Sunny over there, and the last thing we need is Lulu breaking down in the middle of a fight,” Ethan told him. “Not that that’s the only reason I’m telling you, but it’s the most important at the moment.”
“I’ll do what I can, but if she pushes me away, there’s nothing I can really do.” Thomas wiped a bit of grime from the barrel of his brush gun. “I have to respect her wishes.”
“That’s the best I can ask for I guess, thanks for your time kid. Now let’s go eat,” Ethan said with a nod towards the food.
They returned to the huddle of bodies to find that Scarlet was completely ignoring Twilight’s attempts to start a conversation. Ethan caught the unicorn’s eyes and shook his head as he sat down next to her. The unicorn fell silent and an awkward quiet fell over the entire group.
“So, I hope everyone got some good sleep tonight,” Celestia asked.
“That’s one way to put it,” Twilight replied with a frown towards Scarlet.
“At least no-one invaded my dreams, a good way to start the day,” Scarlet said as she finished packing up her bag.
“It is an invasion if I derail what is already happening. I merely observe. I only interfere if they ask for me to,” Luna explained.
“I was speaking about Kata, still it’s not right for you to look into someone’s personal thoughts.”
Did somone -
“Fuck off; we’re talking,” Ethan said cutting her off.
Well that’s no way to treat your host, Kata replied, sounding a little hurt. I hope you all slept well, though. You’re going to need all your wits about you for today’s challenges. Things are going to get a bit...cloudy...
A low tone bell faintly rang out throughout the room. Scarlet frowned at the sound. “No...”
A door swung open and a red mist started to seep out of it.
“No no no...” Thomas muttered in horror.
“So that’s what it looks like,” Aeron muttered.
SURPRISE! Kata’s voice shouted in girlish excitement as the group stared at the oncoming mist in horror.
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I'm racking my brains for what that red mist means. I keep drawing blanks.
2422785
Dead Money. The Sierra Madre. The Cloud.
2422794 Ah. I never got that DLC, so I didn't know what it is.
Lol!
RUN FOR IT!!!!
Oh goody, nightmares for everyone! Now all we need is Dog/God showing up and yelling some crazy crap.
OHGODYES!
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Dead Money?!~
'cough' Anyway. Good fluffy bits. Can't wait for moar guys.
2422801
It's not the best.
RUUNN! It's the Cloud!
God I shivered when I read about the bell ring... Burrr....
Eh... Shouldn't you guys finish your respective stories first so we don't have to worry about spoilers?
Also, why do so many fics have Lauren Faust as goddess/creator of Equestria? Can't you just leave the 4th wall alone?
2423247
Because that would be BORING.
2423293
Boring? What do you mean?
And so the Madre comes into play. I wonder if Elijah will be there?
Wait... I was thinking about how Ethan would react to the Could, when I remembered.
If they have the fake heart from Big MT, can they still get hurt by the Cloud?
I mean, it prevents all poisons, right?
I know you could in the game, but...
2424442
The fake heart filters out anything in the blood stream. So, only animal poisons and poisoned weapons.
2423880
I already yelled at them for referring to Faust as the "creator". I never do it in my fictions. At all.
2423247
Faust in my universe was just a unicorn mentor for Celestia if that helps you.
Jesus, I was just replaying Dead Money too, Will you be bringing in the Ghost People? I can see them all covered in yellow-red blood trying to hack apart the Ghosties. Also, should totally have the radios ALSO come into play.
Awesome chapter, Keep it up.
oh fuck its the cloud
run for your fucking life!!!
damn cloud it was bad alone but with ghost people and radios bomb coller traps it made it worst. still love the dlc
2424615
cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/33824371.jpg
You think the worst we have is the Ghost People and the damaged broadcasters?
Should be a comma instead of a period.
This feels like a comma splice to me. I think it needs a period after 'happen'. (Could even use a semicolon, if you're feeling adventurous)
This is a really awkward sentence... On a number of levels.
I think it would be better to simply re-write it, rather than try to fix it.
Commas.
Needs a period after 'unexpectedly' rather than a comma.
This is generally written as 'single-handedly'
Missing a comma.
Should be "“The thing is, Twilight, ..."
Tense disagreement.
"Said" is past tense, but "it's" is a contraction of "it is" which is present tense.
Change both instances of "it's" to "it was" (Though the second one would be "it wasn't" because "it was not" sounds stiff)
e.g. "...even in my hands he said it was okay, how it wasn't my fault..."
Comma after 'happening'
I mentioned one of the golden rules of dialogue last chapter, but it's a common mistake.
Needs a comma after 'okay'
The comma after 'out' should be a period.
The period after 'face' should be a comma.
The period after 'trigger' should be a comma.
Comma splice. The comma after 'yourself' should be a period. (Also, bonus points for not ending an "I'm guessing" sentence in a question mark.
I die a little inside whenever people do that.)
The period after 'sleeper' should be a comma.
Golden rule. Needs a comma after 'time'
Same as above. Needs a comma after 'fine'
Both these sentences should end in commas.
The period after 'wrong' should be a comma.
This should be one sentence.
e.g. "I do, but I fail to care."
Should be single quotes around 'bad'
Not quite tense disagreement, but it sounds a little off.
Try, "If you were truly “bad” I don’t see any reason why you would have kept Dash alive."
It helps the flow a bit.
Repetition. You only need to say that he's thinking once.
How about, "Aeron thought over her statement for a moment."
Comma splice. Change the comma after 'time' into a period, and capitalize 'besides'
'But' doesn't need to be capitalized. It's not a new sentence, just a pause in the current one.
'Other' should be plural.
Also, tense disagreement. Should say '...she said they were wrong' to match with the past tense of 'accused'
Comma splice. Consider a semicolon.
Unless his name was Old Man, that shouldn't be capitalized.
The period after 'changed' should be a comma.
Please use the Oxford comma. (put a comma after 'nature')
Repetition. Try something like "Aeron shot Celestia a cold look..."
Or anything that doesn't say 'look' twice.
Should be single quotes around 'camp'. Save double quotes for dialogue only, just to minimize confusion.
The period after 'time' should be a comma.
Maybe this is just a headcanon thing, but was there more than one Nightmare War?
Comma splice. Change the comma after 'yes' to a period, and capitalize 'more'.
'He' should not be capitalized.
Also, should probably put a comma after 'asked'.
Comma after 'on'.
(golden rule, yadda yadda)
The comma after around should be a period.
I can see what he's saying, but a lot of bombs have no disarming feature. That's what makes them hard to disarm. Not impossible, though.
'He' should not be capitalized.
The period after 'bad' should be a comma.
'He' should not be capitalized.
'He' should not be capitalized. (I feel like a broken record...
)
Needs a comma after 'you'
This seems like it should be made into two sentences by replacing the comma after 'Lulu' with a period.
'The' should not be capitalized.
The period should be a comma, and 'The' should not be capitalized.
This needs commas...
Try, "She awoke with a slight start, but calmed down once she saw Ethan, and nodded to him before she took off towards where they’d been sitting."
It still sounds a little awkward.
How about, "She awoke with a slight start, but calmed down once she saw Ethan, giving him a quick nod before taking off towards where they’d been sitting."
I'm not sure, but the tense in that might be a little off.
Really, the best option might be to simply split it into two, shorter sentences.
"Dash awoke with a slight start, but calmed down once she saw Ethan. She nodded to him before she took off towards where they’d been sitting."
(I also changed the first 'she' to 'Dash' to avoid a bit of repetition)
Uh... Whoops! Went off on a bit of a tangent there.
Back to reading!
This could be one sentence by replacing the period after 'you' with a comma.
I'm pretty sure the apostrophe goes at the beginning in 'twas
This is because, in contractions, the apostrophe represents the left out letters. e.g. in "y'all", the contraction of 'you all', the 'ou' is left out of 'you' and replaced with an apostrophe. In the case of 'twas, the contraction of 'it was', the 'i' is left out of 'it' meaning that the 'i' should be replaced with an apostrophe.
That being said, I have seen it written as t'was before. It's just not the way that I was taught.
The dialogue here is a new sentence. Replace the comma after 'head' with a period, and capitalize 'is'
The period after 'weak' should be a comma.
This is a little awkward. I can see that this is meant to be a "He shot me in the head. I emptied every bullet into his" type of thing, but Thomas's head was mentioned so far back that it doesn't really work.
A few more things were mentioned in between that make the parallel a little less obvious.
For example, it could mean "emptied every bullet into his gun" or something, because the gun was the most recently mentioned object.
That, however, would make no sense.
simply changing the end to say "his head" or, preferably, "him" would fix this.
'She' doesn't need to be capitalized.
Put in a comma after 'opportunity'
No, it really doesn't. It's a reason, but it's far from reasonable.
The comma after 'but' is unnecessary, and the period after 'close' should be a comma.
'in inquire' is wrong.
Perhaps 'inquiringly' would be better.
Having one character perform an action in the middle of another character's dialogue is massively confusing.
This honestly makes it seem like Thomas is talking.
At the very least, move Thomas shrugging to its own paragraph. you may also want to add a bit of a description, just to avoid a two word paragraph.
The period after 'though' should be a comma.
In this case, 'the' actually should be capitalized. This is because the sentence is not a 'said tag'. It's describing an action independent of Rainbow's speaking, and should therefore be an independent clause.
'he' should probably be 'Thomas'. Simply because Thomas wasn't referenced immediately before, and there are a few male characters in this story.
The dialogue should be its own sentence. Replace the comma after 'laughter' with a period, and capitalize 'ohmigosh'
The period after 'out' should be a comma.
The comma after 'Luna' should actually be a period in this case.
Again, you should probably replace 'he' with 'Thomas'.
This could be misconstrued as Ethan muttering.
Again, 'Thomas'.
That's not a question...
I'm a bit hung-over at the moment, and I only read through it once, so I might've missed one or two things.
Once again, I'll post my thoughts on the chapter itself in a new comment.
I hope I'm not annoying you guys too much.
This was a great chapter.
It was a much-needed break from the action to have a laid-back chapter like this.
Also, I loved the interaction between the characters. That's exactly the kind of thing that should be taken advantage of in a fic like this.
you've got a lot of deep and interesting characters that would never interact in the normal world. Now, you have a chance to make them talk to one another, and you certainly made good with that chance.
From the sound of things, our heroes (and Aeron) will be facing off against a Sierra Madre style area.
This is gonna be good.
2425901
Why haven't we hire you as one of our editors?
Also, Old Man is the only name Celestia knew to call the wanderer she met when she was in the Wasteland. You can blame Star Trek: DS9 for giving me the idea.
2425925
Thanks for the help man. We wouldn't need it if our editors weren't always busy
Oh and any comment that shows that someone payed close attention to something like yours is appreciated so don't hold back
Edit
Btw this was written a little while ago before I started putting comas after all of Ethan or Twilight's lines which is why there are so many of them. It gets better as you go along
2426009>>2426606
Hey, if your editors are busy and/or you ever want me to take a look at these before they go up, I'd be honoured to.
Otherwise, I'm happy to offer my services in post.
Either way, you'll definitely hear from me on the next chapter.
I have a feeling that the red mist (and whatever other Sierra Madre stuff you throw at them) might prove to be quite the challenge, even for our intrepid heroes (and Aeron).
This is easy. Have Sunny, Lulu, and Sparky make a shield around Dash. Have Dash use her cloud manipulation to make it go away. After all, she stomped on clouds of water, and with a magic shield, clouds of dirty guck and hell-knows-what are pretty much the same. Have the humans shoot anything that tries to keep Dash from clearing the cloud.
2427145
images.sodahead.com/polls/002775161/1510804093_YouMustBeNewHere_vi_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg
2427145
Aww you're so cute
2427900
It WAS outright adorable.
2427900 Too easy a suggestion? Or does cloud now seep through magic, or negate it entirely? Be a interesting gimmick.
2432200
Shhh... Go to sleep, crazy lady...
2434899 Zerg do not sleep, if you refer to my avatar. If you refer to RL me, wrong gender. Also, why is it crazy? Compared to Bay12, this is NOTHING!
Nice chapter I give you all props. Thomas/Luna situation hope you do something with that. And for the the cloud you need to have a scared Thomas and Scarlet screaming and running through it and everyone/pony else like wtf was that.
I probably laughed too hard when Ethan cut Kata off.
2437782 Bay 12 buddys
Oh diggity dang doo, what is this foo?
SHIT!
I love it! such an epic combination of awesome!
Ethan is awesome! And so is Twi, and Dashie... and everyone else...
I LOVE YOU ALL! //cries
Keep it up!