The Commander of Shepherds

Chapters

Chapter 1: Shepard-Commander
Chapter 2: Tricks and Traps
Chapter 3: Lunar Visitations
Chapter 4: The Princess and the A.I.
Chapter 5: A Predator in Ponyville
Chapter 6: Shepard's Special Talent
Chapter 7: Blue Flowers Are the Worst
Chapter 8: But Foalsitting Isn't Too Bad
Chapter 9: The Final Frontier
Chapter 10: Collectable
Chapter 11: To The Stars
Chapter 12: Stowaways
Chapter 13: The Citadel Part 1
Chapter 14: The Citadel Part 2
A Celestial Interlude
Chapter 15: The Calm Before
Chapter 16: Ascendant
Chapter 17: Politics
Chapter 18: Water World
Chapter 19: Choices
Chapter 20: Time Is On My Side

Chapter 1: Shepard-Commander

It had started with a choice. At its core her option was simple. Presented with three different solutions there was no hesitation in her actions. She’d strove for years to end the threat that was poised to destroy all life in the universe. She’d lost good friends in the process, maybe even a lover? But in the end she’d made her choice. She’d saved all life as she knew it.

If only she could remember what her choice was. If only she could remember the threat she knew she’d faced. If only she could remember the faces of those she knew had been so dear to her.

If only she could remember herself.

The woman had been reclining in one of the larger trees she’d claimed as her own, letting her mind wander back to the first morning she came to be here. Almost immediately after waking she’d been attacked by horrific creatures out of a nightmare. Impossible beasts made of animated wood and leaves, twisted into the shape of wolves. She hadn’t even thought on what to do, merely reacted. She put down the first half dozen or so with the pistol strapped to her hip. There was no time for consideration to her actions, simply reacting to the threat in front of her.

The gun began to overheat but more of the things came rushing on. Up came her other arm, the orange device made of hard-light interfaces flared to life and discharged a super-heated ball of plasma impacting with the creature nearest her and turning it to ash, the small explosion carried to several of its fellows. After that display they left.

Her eyes were glazed and unfocused on the gorgeous starry night sky overhead. She climbed one of five of the same trees every night near her territory to gaze up at the night sky. Something about focusing on the stars gave her a calm focus she lacked when they weren’t visible. Just being able to look out at the ocean of twinkling lights overhead soothed the rage and survival instinct she’d come to rely on to keep her alive.

A faint chime from her omni-tool drew her attention. It flickered to life around her arm as a male, heavily synthesized voice spoke. “Two hundred and forty seven days Shepard-Commander.”

She had no idea where the voice, the ‘A.I.’ had come from. After her initial confrontation with the wolves it started speaking. She was a little embarrassed to remember when it first spoke she’d reacted poorly, trying to shoot the ‘thing’ living on her arm. Of course the bullets passed harmlessly through the holographic interfaces and one shot had grazed her arm. Thinking back on it she was lucky she didn’t shoot herself in the hand or something.

“Thanks Legion. You know how I love being reminded how long I’ve been stuck in this god forsaken jungle.” Legion and her own voice were the only ones she’d had to keep herself company for the last eight months. Her synthetic companion had been an invaluable asset once she’d gotten used to the idea that an artificial intelligence was living inside the tiny device implanted in her hand. Like herself it had little to no knowledge of itself or how it came to reside in her omni-tool. It had known its own name, and hers.

“You know I do all I can to make your life more pleasant. And again I must remind you this is a forest, not a jungle.”

Shepard smirked down at the ‘face’ of Legion displayed on one of the screens in her tool. Face wasn’t quite the right word. It was more like a long tube for a head with oddly expressive plates that served for eyebrows. “Smart ass.”

“I am incapable of sarcasm as you know.”

“You keep saying that, but you keep being a smart ass.”

It chose to ignore her prodding. “I have sent another S.O.S. pulse though I must remind you nothing has responded the past one hundred thirty six thousand, three hundred and fifty seven times.”

“Well… Keep sending them.”

“Of course Shepard-Commander. Can I do anything else for you? Provide an early wakeup call? Some soothing music to lull you to sleep?”

Her smile grew just a bit. “The music would be lovely Legion.”

“Happy to serve of course.” The A.I.’s face vanished, to be replaced with gently playing Asari Opera. She had no idea what an Asari was, but Legion assured her that of all the music she had stored in her omni-tool’s database it was the most prevalent and therefore safe to surmise her favorite genre.

The volume was only high enough for Shepard to hear. She didn’t want to attract anything hoping for an easy meal. Not that most of the things in her forest would consider her an easy meal. She’d killed just about everything that eyed her sideways and most of the other denizens gave her camp a wide berth.

Double checking the vines securing her legs and torso to the wide tree branch she nodded in satisfaction before leaning back to turn her attention to the stars again. Slowly her eyes drifted shut, lulled to sleep by the soothing music and comforting presence of the stars in the sky.

***

Mornings started the same every day. Carefully untying the vines keeping her from falling from her tree-of-the –night, Shepard would then drop to the forest floor and set a swift pace for the nearby river. Pointedly laying her weaponry right next to the bank she began unfastening her armor and laying the heavy gear out by her weaponry. Even exposed as she was she knew nothing would try to bother her. The big scorpion-bat-lion who had wound up with her omni-blade wedged in the side of its head had taught most of the monsters a clear lesson. The things in this forest were smart she knew, they learned what to keep away from.

Easing into the frigid waters she unbound her thick fiery red head of hair letting it fall in wild tangles about her back and shoulders. Briefly submerging only long enough to rinse it clean she surfaced and spent a few minutes just lounging against the river bank. Today was an unusual day. She could hear loud rumbling coming from the forest down the river a ways. Slowly a massive form lumbered into view. A faint smile came to the woman’s face as she observed the huge purple bear with the stars glittering inside its body.

She’d seen the star bears a few times. The smaller had approached her curiously. Something in the way it regarded her told her it wasn’t interested in attacking. Maybe giant star bears ate something other than meat? She’d never seen it or the other one eat anything really. The other one was far more intimidating. Quieter too. She could never hear her coming, but soon the smaller was joined by the towering form of what Shepard assumed to be its mother. The mother wasn’t overly fond of Shepard but they had an unspoken understanding. Keep away from one another and there would be no trouble.

This suited Shepard just fine. The small bear would occasionally wander into her camp and just collapse beneath one of her trees staring up at her. Eventually she grew bold enough to risk a pat to its head, which it seemed to enjoy. She didn’t like the thought of having to take the strange bear cubs’ mother from it.

Speaking of, the mother swung her head around fixing Shepard with her piercing gaze. The woman returned the look, and raised a hand in greeting. The huge beast snorted once before nudging its cub and the pair disappeared back into the trees. Smiling now Shepard climbed out of the water and lay flat in the grass, letting the sun dry her.

“Not going to say hello to them this morning?”

Cracking an eye open she glanced toward her arm. “Not when the mother’s around. She doesn’t like her cub socializing with me.”

“I find it unlikely that racism runs rampant among these creatures but evidence points to the contrary.”

Shepard laughed aloud at the absurd idea and closed her eyes again. “Maybe it does. Who knows? Maybe star bears are the dominant species of the planet.”

“Might I suggest we again attempt to find the exit of this forest Shepard-Commander?”

The idea sent a shiver down her spine. She’d faced down every monster this forest had thrown at her, even the dragon that made its home deeper into the forest, (though by face down she more hurled a pulse of electricity into its face and ran while it was disoriented). Something about actually LEAVING her forest though held a strange primal fear for her.

“No. We tried finding an exit once remember?”

“I recall you climbed to the top of a tree, declared you could see nothing but MORE trees and called an end to the search.”

“Exactly.” Nodding in satisfaction she rose and started to reclaim her armor. The handgun and SMG she attached to her hips while the huge, sleek rifle she fastened to her back. Deciding the matter of leaving the forest settled she tied her hair up again and set off to check her traps.

It was a good morning already. The first she came to had more than a dozen Poppers squirming within. Part of her felt a little bad for making them her primary food source. They were pretty cute. Like brightly colored puffballs with big eyes and wings. But a girl had to eat right? Carefully taking down the net, ensuring none of the Poppers escaped she carried them back to her campsite. A small spark from her omni-tool got a fire going and she hastily speared the Poppers to her cooking stick and held them over the fire.

The name Popper came from the loud POP sound they made as they cooked. She wasn’t sure why they made that sound but in the end she supposed it didn’t matter. Food was food, fluffy big-eyed bugs or no. The things had no bones so they were easy enough to eat, and had a rather unique flavor. Satisfied with her morning meal she stood and took a deep breath gazing about her camp in satisfaction.

“Think I’ll see if we caught anymore fruit bats.”

“The rate you eat Shepard-Commander I suspect you will drive the native species to extinction within the next eight months.”

Ignoring the jibe from her A.I., Shepard clambered into the tree tops and started crossing the massive network of branches. Most of the trees grew so large it was like crossing man-made walkways to get to where she wanted to go. The Poppers didn’t come up this high, but she’d discovered strange colorful bats that tasted like ripe fruit when bitten into. Unfortunately none of her traps held any of the juicy treats.

A quiet alarm sounded from her omni-tool. “It is the fourth day in the week Shepard-Commander. And approaching the approximate hour she appears.”

A delighted, almost child-like grin formed on the woman’s face. “Thanks! I almost forgot.” Springing from tree to tree now she raced for the huge meadow of herbs and flowers. It was close enough to the swamp she preferred to avoid the area, the place stank something fierce. But it was also the only place she got to see Buttercup.

Right on cue she came trotting into view. It was one of the stranger creatures Shepard had seen in the forest so far, but it was also her favorite. When she’d first seen it she briefly considered it as a source of meat, but there was just something about her.

She’d named her Buttercup, and assumed it was a her. It certainly looked girly enough. It vaguely resembled a small horse, but only as much as she resembled a big monkey. Its coat and hooves were a beautiful shade of butter-yellow; hence the incredibly creative name Shepard had come up with. Her mane and tail a shockingly bright shade of pink, falling in rich cascades of hair. Most interesting of all were the wings the strange little horse always kept tucked into her sides. Shepard had never seen her use them. Buttercup always arrived on foot, and left on foot.

Reaching back she retrieved the heavy rifle off her back. Keeping her eyes on Buttercup she waited a few seconds as the large weapon whirred mechanically as it unfolded to its full size. Legion had told her according to the data in her omni-tool it was a Black Widow class sniper rifle. All she knew was it let her see far and shoot far. Keeping her hand away from the trigger she rested the bipod of the powerful sniper rifle on the branch before herself, spreading out on her belly and watching Buttercup go about her business through the telescopic lens.

The cute little horse would trot from hole in the ground to hole in the ground, peeking her head in for a few moments than moving onto the next. Now and again a patch of flowers would catch her eye and she’d pause, give them a tentative sniff than take one into her mouth chewing with a little smile. Shepard always had to hold back delighted laughter at the adorable little creature. Not for the first time she considered approaching Buttercup and trying to introduce herself. The little horse would make an excellent pet. But then she considered all the predators about her campsite, and doubted the creature would be able to survive for long away from its home.

Wherever its home might be. Shepard was reasonably sure that it didn’t live inside the forest. Nothing so small and fragile would survive within its boundaries for long. But like clockwork she came to this clearing once a week for a few moments, no fail. Still, the weekly sighting of Buttercup was enough to make Shepard smile, and that was what mattered. Gently swiveling her rifle to keep the horse in her sights she watched her go about her business as usual.

It was barely noticeable, but movement in the tree line behind Buttercup drew Shepard’s eye. Frowning now, she swung her gun toward the spot. Looking closer she could see nothing but thick brown tree trunks. Tree trunks with claws? Angling her scope lower she could see the trunks did indeed end in massive claws. They weren’t trees at all, but legs. How had something so huge snuck up on the little horse?

Flicking her attention back to Buttercup she found the horse had her ears perked, eyes slowly looking back and forth nervously. “Come on get outta there.”

Obviously the horse couldn’t hear her from so far away, and shrieked a strangely human shriek as the massive creature lumbered out of the woods. It was almost as big as the dragon Shepard ran afoul of a few months back though it had no wings or forelimbs. It made up for the lack of limbs in heads evidently. Four long, sinewy necks snaked back and forth ending in four huge reptilian heads. As one they roared and lunged for the little horse.

Buttercup took off like a rocket for the trees but Shepard knew there was no way she’d make it in time. Part of her said to just let nature take its course, but the look of terror on Buttercup’s face was anything but animal. She had no idea how much the little creature actually thought or felt, but she couldn’t let it be eaten. Taking a deep breath she held the air in her lungs as she eased her finger over the trigger of her weapon. Getting the monstrous reptile’s heads in her sights she waited for just the right shot…

***

“It’s fine girls. I go into the Everfree all the time. I have to check on the critters out there. I raised most of them myself you know? It’s not too deep and nothing big ever comes that way.” Fluttershy was definitely regretting her words now. She had never imagined a hydra could be so sneaky, but here she was galloping for all she was worth with the monster hot on her hooves.

Part of her mind screamed at her to spread her wings and take flight. The very, very tiny, brave part of her mind. The rest of her mind was screaming incoherently in panic making it impossible to coordinate her wings. She could see the tree line ahead and knew if she could make it to them the hydra wouldn’t be able to chase her inside. Her shrieking started anew as she felt one of the heads jaws snap down on her tail and fling her up into the air.

Legs flailing wildly she couldn’t help but look down as all four of the monsters mouths opened wide, lined up perfectly to bite down on her simultaneously and no doubt tear her into four tiny bite-sized morsels. Not willing to look any longer she scrunched her eyes shut as tightly as she could, waiting for her end to come and hoping it would be quick.

The deafening ‘BOOM’ that sounded from the forest brought forth another alarmed shriek from the poor mare. She wasn’t even aware the hydra had stopped roaring. She yelped as she collided with something hard and scaly, and then resumed her screaming and flailing as she fell to the ground, landing in a heap in the grass. With a little groan of pain she peeked an eye open, curious as to why she was still alive.

The hydra stood stock still, its necks swaying back and forth slowly as it gradually toppled onto its side and collapsed to the ground in a heap. Breath coming in quick little gasps she slowly forced her shivering body back to her hooves, and tentatively approached the still monster. She knew she should still be running but some tiny part of her had to know why it hadn’t eaten her. Maybe it took pity on her and decided to let her go?

But no. Seeing the very large, grisly holes going through one head and out all four of the others she swiftly decided it had NOT taken pity on her after all, but something had killed it. Or all four heads spontaneously exploded at once but that seemed just a tad farfetched. It finally clicked in her mind that she was staring at a rather gory mess of dead hydra, and she turned a little green backpedalling hastily.

Something HAD killed it! It must have! And that something was probably still nearby! Maybe about to do to her whatever it had done to the hydra! She tried to tell her legs to turn around and gallop her right back to Ponyville, but they were being more than a little uncooperative. Instead of running they just flopped down like wet noodles, bringing the rest of her with them. Curling up into a tight ball she buried her face beneath a wing, hoping whatever had killed the hydra would just move on.

Her ear twitched soon as she heard hoof steps approaching. Trembling heavily she dared to peek out beneath her wing. She immediately wished she hadn’t. There was a… a something approaching her slowly. It had a shiny black shell with a red and white stripe on one shoulder. Its exposed face was pale, with small green eyes, a tiny nose and a flat little mouth. Its mane was a tangled mess of red curls held back with some kind of vine for a scrunchie. Was this the creature that killed the hydra? It sure didn’t look like it could kill much of anything. Maybe it had some sort of powerful magic? Zecora once told her there was all kinds of magic besides unicorn magic.

Mercifully the thing stopped a good fifteen feet away, just staring at her quietly. Then it did something very unexpected. It squatted down on its long legs and held one of its paws out toward her. Tilting its head it smiled, and clicked its tongue softly while making a faint beckoning motion with its paw.

Fluttershy gasped softly as she realized what it was doing. It was almost the exact same way she treated a scared or wounded animal she’d come across that needed tending. Wordlessly she stared wide-eyed at the creature as it slowly lowered its paw, the smile fading as it regarded her thoughtfully. Its smile returned bigger than ever and it spun on its heel rushing to a small patch of flowers. Fluttershy found herself frozen more by curiosity than fear at this point. It was gathering a sizeable pile of flowers before turning back to her and dumping the whole mess on the ground. Looking from them to her expectantly.

Fluttershy’s quivering stopped for the most part and her ears perked up. If you were going to kill and eat something you didn’t try and feed your prey or make it happy, you just killed and ate it. So obviously this thing didn’t want to eat her. She tilted her head as the creature frowned again, pushing the small pile of flowers closer to her before hopping away again. Obviously it was trying hard not to frighten her.

Slowly she rose back to her hooves doing her best to wear a kind smile. “N-no thank you. I just ate.” She wasn’t sure if it spoke Equestrian, so she rubbed her tummy and made loud ‘mmm’ sounds. “I’m all full.”

The creature’s eyes went wide and its jaw fell open. Frantically it lifted one of its forelimbs and a bright orange… SOMETHING burst into shape around its arm. Almost like a sleeve made of glowing orange light. So it WAS magic! Fluttershy tilted her head to the side again as it began to rapidly jabber at the orange light.

Fluttershy’s ears folded back as a second voice spoke from seemingly nowhere. It was much deeper and harsher sounding than the creatures. The thing looked like it had what might be teats or udders on its chest under its shell, it would probably safe to assume it was a female… Whatever it was. Maybe the shell opened to nurse its young? The animal caretaker part of her was fascinated by the idea of such an unknown creature, the Fluttershy part of her was getting louder and louder telling her it was time to go find Twilight and the others.

The decision was made for her as the creature began to rapidly approach her. Eyes wide now the pegasus turned on her hooves and galloped as quickly as she could back to Ponyville. Whatever that thing was, it had killed a full grown hydra apparently with little to no effort. It might be nice to her but who knows how long that might last? This was most certainly a Princess problem.

She was relieved when she looked over her shoulder to find it wasn’t giving chase. Breathing a sigh of relief she lowered her head and ran with all speed back for home. She hadn’t been lying to her friends when she said she didn’t go very far into the forest, and her cottage was in sight within minutes. She didn’t slow her frantic pace until she’d finally reached the library; bursting into the doors she was relieved to find Twilight Sparkle in the midst of her weekly re-shelving day. “Twilight!”

The young alicorn yelped in alarm and dropped the stack of books she was in the middle of organizing right atop poor Spike, burying the little dragon. “F-Fluttershy? What’s the matter!?”

“I saw something! In the Everfree!” Fluttershy was so worked up her voice had risen to veritable normal levels of volume.

Twilight just raised an eyebrow and gently moved the books off her assistant, helping him to his feet. “Well we’ve all told you I don’t know how many times about going in there. Didn’t Rainbow Dash offer to go with you? You know the Everfree Forest is filled with all kinds of monsters.”

“That’s just it! This wasn’t a monster! At least… I don’t think it was a monster.”

Now she had Twilight’s attention. “Was it a pony?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh no, definitely not. It’s something I’ve never seen before.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened in delight. While Fluttershy may not have a Canterlot education, she could normally be counted on to identify pretty much any type of fauna you could find in Equestria. If it was something even SHE hadn’t seen they may have very well discovered a new species! “Tell me all about it! I’ll set some tea on. Was it dangerous? How big was it? Oh! Does it speak?!”

“Umm… it killed a hydra.”

Twilight halted in her trip to the kitchen. “Pardon me?”

Fluttershy swallowed and helped herself to a seat. “I was at the clearing checking on all my little animal friends when a hydra attacked me. It scooped me right into the air and was about to eat me when there was a… An explosion! It sounded like one anyway… when I looked again the hydra um… Well… Had holes. In its heads.”

Twilight blinked slowly. “All of them? From ONE explosion?”

“Oh yes. It was definitely one. I’m surprised everypony in town didn’t hear the noise, it was very loud.” Seeing Twilight preoccupied now, Spike rolled his eyes and headed into the kitchen to make the tea himself. “That’s when I saw it. It stood on two legs and had arms like Spike. Only instead of scales it had a shiny black shell that covered its whole body buts its face. It came closer than it um… It smiled at me. And tried to feed me flowers.”

For the second time in the conversation Twilight looked flabbergasted. “It tried to FEED you?”

Fluttershy nodded hastily. “It did! It was so strange; it was treating me like I was a wounded critter. It got very excited when I politely told it I was full, then um… Started talking to its arm.”

Twilight’s eyebrows rose simultaneously. “It spoke Equestrian? To its arm?”

Slowly the pegasus shook her head. “No, I didn’t understand it. But its arm sort of glowed orange, I think it was magic. It must have been what it used to kill the hydra. It talked really fast to its glowy arm then started running my way and I um…”

Twilight smiled softly. “You came to get me?”

A little embarrassed by her continuing cowardice Fluttershy could only nod. Twilight however offered a warm smile. “It sounds like you had a pretty scary ordeal and were very brave through the whole thing Fluttershy. I’m proud of you. And if this creature is as powerful as it sounds you did the right thing in coming to get me.”

“Are you um… Going to tell Princess Celestia?”

Twilight eyed the returning Spike, considering doing just that. “Not yet. It sounds as if this creature went out of its way to protect you don’t you think? In that case it’s safe to assume it’s going to be friendly toward other ponies. Besides I’m a Princess now too. I have to be able to handle problems on my own without relying on Princess Celestia for every little thing. We’ll let her know if she’s needed but for now I think I’ll round up the girls and we’ll see if we can find this creature on our own.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to ask something, but Twilight already knew the question. “I know it’s already been a scary day Fluttershy, but I’d really appreciate it if you came along too. It sounds like this thing knows you and cares about you on some level. That may be helpful. We don’t want any misunderstandings with somepony getting hurt right? Besides, we’ll all be there with you this time.”

Taking a deep breath, the timid mare nodded. She didn’t want her friends getting hurt, and she didn’t want the creature hurt either. It had saved her life after all. “Ok Twilight. I’ll go.”

Giving her friend a firm squeeze Twilight smiled. “Thank you Fluttershy. Why don’t you sit here and relax with a nice cup of tea? I’ll round up everypony and we’ll set out soon.”

Accepting a steaming cup with a little smile of gratitude from Spike, Fluttershy watched her friend and newest Princess race from the library. Sighing a little she took a sip of the tea. Two trips into the Everfree in one day was definitely not her idea of a good time, but sometimes a pony had to do what a pony had to do.

Author's Note

Little something that just popped into my head last night and I wanted to get out haha. Last time I got a block working on one of my stories starting a new one helped shake things loose, so hoping this does the same.

Chapter 2: Tricks and Traps

“Stupid. That was so stupid! But she talks! She’s sentient! You heard her talking right?”

Her omni-tool flared to life around her arm, Legion’s face looking out from its usual screen. “I heard her making noise that may have been speech, then smiling at you like you were simple and rubbing her abdominal area.”

She shot the smug sounding A.I. a scathing glare as she marched back toward her camp. “She was talking Legion. Can’t you I dunno, translate it?”

One of the plates over it’s ‘face’ quirked upward. “Perhaps. I would need to listen to her speaking more in order to extrapolate a proper translation program. I suggest you seek her out.”

Shepard stopped in her tracks frowning down at the A.I. “Seek her out as in try and track her out of the forest you mean.”

“I imagine it would be difficult to seek her out otherwise Shepard-Commander, yes.”

Slowly the woman cast her gaze back to the clearing with the dead lizard monster to where Buttercup had run into the trees. She probably could track her. The little horse was rushing off on hooves at full speed, no way was she trying to hide her trail. Still… Leaving her forest… “No. No we’ll see if she comes back.”

Legion’s image made a gesture very suspiciously approaching an eye roll, the three rotating lights that made up its ‘eye’ rotated rapidly. “Off to find more fluffy insects to devour then?”

Shepard nodded once. “Yeah. That’s a good idea. Shooting enormous lizards works up an appetite you know?”

“I do not know, but I will take your word for it.”

“Good.” Carefully she detached a small sensor from her omni-tool, sliding it under some nearby brush. “Have this do constant motion scans. Give me an alert if something Buttercup’s size comes to the clearing.”

“You believe she may return early?”

Shepard shrugged as she melded back into the trees she’d come to call home. Her passing barely disturbed a single leaf or branch. “Maybe. She could be as curious about me as I am about her after all.”

“If I were to judge by her prior reaction Shepard-Commander, she is likely terrified of you and the probability of her early return is infinitesimal at best.”

“Just do the scans. Now quiet, I’m hunting.” Legion indeed fell silent. Shepard made her usual rounds, checking the various snares and traps she kept set up to catch her meals. She briefly considered going back for some of the lizard’s meat but the various reptiles she’d sampled so far hadn’t exactly been palatable. She could hear alarmed squealing coming from nearby. Grinning in anticipation she broke into a sprint, nimbly vaulting to the next tree where a rotund boar hung suspended by its hind legs, flailing its front ones uselessly.

Smoothly dropping the not-inconsiderable distance to the forest floor she landed with barely the faintest whisper of sound. Her smile faded as the animals shrieking ceased and it fixed her with a pointed stare. Drawing the wickedly sharp knife from its sheath at her hip she shrugged. “Sorry fella. I’m hungry.”

Slashing it across its throat she ended the boars’ life near instantaneously. She might be killing them for food but she’d be damned if she’d make these things suffer. Hefting the weighty animals’ carcass over her shoulder she set out for her main camp site. Located directly in the center of her territory was a large clearing surrounded by a thick copse of trees. A sizeable fire pit occupied the center, and several vines woven into a passingly comfortable hammock hung overhead, suspended well above the forest floor.

She was nearly finished skinning her catch when her omni-tool began to chime incessantly. “Yes Legion?”

“The sensor you left behind has detected movement Shepard-Commander. Six creatures each of Buttercups approximate shape and size.”

Shepard raised a brow curiously. “Six? So she brought friends?”

“That would be a safe assumption to make. I suggest proceeding cautiously. They could be armed.”

“Armed. Six adorable little horses?”

“Adorable little horses that are clearly some sort of sentient. Perhaps even the dominant life forms of this world. It is not outside the realm of possibility they possess a means to defend themselves Shepard-Commander. I simply advise stealth and caution.”

Shepard mulled it over at length before nodding slowly. “No, you’re right of course. Better safe than sorry right? That’d be pretty damn embarrassing if I survive everything this jungle throws at me only to be taken down by a bunch of horses.”

“Forest, Shepard-Commander.”

Snorting in annoyance she hung her future dinner off the forest floor and again took to the trees. “Whatever.” Both she and Legion fell silent as she came upon the clearing. Just as her A.I. speculated Buttercup had returned, and she’d brought friends.

“Divert all shield power to cloaking Legion.” She whispered softly. Her synthetic companion complied immediately. She winced as the shield that had saved her life more than once flickered away and died off before she activated her personal cloaking field. With her shield power diverted to the cloak she could remain unseen for nearly an hour. Ideally she could trail Buttercup and listen to the creatures’ converse amongst one another enough that Legion could throw together a translation program.

Sliding onto her belly in the tree she gently removed her rifle from her back laying it out before herself to get a closer look at the horses before she approached. There were six of them including Buttercup. All a dizzying array of colors, though each was roughly the same size. The first she noticed was of course the flying one. Her coat was a sky blue shade, while her hair and tail covered the full spectrum of the rainbow. Whistling under her breath she maneuvered her scope lower.

The four new ground bound horses were just as varied in their coloring as Buttercup and Rainbow. Three of them lacked wings that she could see, though the purple one with the three toned hair had wings and a prominent horn jutting from her forehead, the white one with the purple curls had just a horn. The final two seemed to have no unusual appendages. The bouncy pink one was just… VERY pink. The other ‘normal’ horse was perhaps the most unusual now that Shepard took another look. Her orange fur and blonde hair seemed ordinary enough, but perched atop the horses head was a very well worn, brown cowboy hat.

None of them carried weaponry or sensor devices of any kind, so the woman collapsed her rifle and dropped to the ground. Keeping low in the tall grass she slowly approached the group of colorful equines.

***

“Well… This is certainly a dead hydra.” Twilight Sparkle gingerly levitated one of the heads off the ground to get a closer look at the sizable hole that bored clear through one and out the other three. Rarity and Fluttershy both looked a little green as Twilight curiously examined the grisly remains. Rainbow Dash of course hovered closer looking from one head to the next.

“Jeez they go all the way through! Something really killed it in one shot huh?”

Fluttershy could only nod, doing her best to keep her attention away from the dead monster. Applejack tilted her head with a thoughtful frown. “Don’t s’pose y’know any magic that could do that Twi?”

Twilight shook her head, eyes wide. “No. Maybe one of the Princesses would have enough power in a magical lance to do this but definitely not an ordinary unicorn. I can’t do this much damage, that’s for sure.”

If possible Rarity paled beneath her alabaster coat. “Twilight darling, correct me if I’m misunderstanding you, but are you saying something as powerful as Princess Celestia is roaming about out here?”

Gently lowering the head to the forest floor Twilight nodded to her friends. “Yes I believe that may very well be the case. Remember though it did this to protect Fluttershy. And afterwards it attempted to earn her trust with a food offering.” Spying a small pile of plucked flowers Twilight gestured toward it. “Is that what it tried to feed you Fluttershy?”

Peeking out from the pink curtain of mane she’d taken shelter behind, Fluttershy looked to where Twilight was pointing. “Oh um… Yes Twilight.” The six ponies approached the pile of flowers staring at them curiously.

Applejack tilted her hat back regarding the deep set of boot prints in the grass. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen a critter leave tracks quite like these.”

Twilight ruffled her wings gently, frowning down at the tracks. “They seem… Familiar but I can’t place them. They disappear from here too. Just these two where she was standing still for a time I’d guess. She couldn’t fly could she Fluttershy?”

The pegasus in question shook her head. “I don’t think so. She didn’t have wings. I um… Heard her walking toward me too.”

Pinkie Pie, silent until now shook a forehoof while her tail twitched spastically. “Hm. Itchy hoof and shivery tail. That means somepony’s watching us!”

This caused the other five ponies to freeze up and look around rapidly. Rainbow Dash took to the air scouring the ground with a sharp eyed gaze carefully. “Looks all clear from up here!”

Twilight gently sent out a pulse of magic that encompassed the entire field. Frowning faintly she tilted her head toward a spot in the grass nearby. Approaching carefully she pushed the thick strands aside before releasing an ear piercing shriek and leaping into the air, her new wings flapping sporadically causing her to hover awkwardly.

A little brown bunny hopped from the grass at her shout bolting like a shot from the clearing, drawing more than a little laughter from her friends and causing the fledgling Princess to blush heavily. “It was just a bunny everypony. Nothing to get worked up over.”

Dash was laughing so hard she’d dropped out of the air in mid-guffaw. Rarity delicately wiped a tear away. “As fun as this all is perhaps we should get down to the business of actually finding this creature? I don’t fancy staying in this dreadful forest longer than I have to.”

Twilight gingerly folded her wings back against her sides and nodded to Rarity. “Rarity’s right. Let’s pair up and start searching. This creature is dangerous but seems friendly toward Fluttershy; it would be safe to assume it’s only a danger to the monsters of the forest. Applejack and Rainbow Dash will be one team. Rarity and Pinkie Pie the second. I’ll take Fluttershy with me. Nopony go too deep into the forest, just as far in as you feel comfortable. If we find anything we’ll send up a magic flare. Um… Dash if you find anything can you whip up a rainboom?”

With a cocky smirk the brash pegasus fired off a quick salute. “Can do!”

“Right then girls! Let’s get to it! We have a creature to find!”

Her friends all cheered in excitement as the teams split off, disappearing into the forest. Twilight offered Fluttershy an encouraging smile. “Come on Fluttershy, us too.”

Closing her eyes the timid pegasus pictured the creature as it smiled to her, doing its best to soothe her fear and befriend her. ‘Why had it run at her like it did? Thinking back on it she was smiling excitedly. Maybe she was just happy to learn she could talk? How long has it been out here in the Everfree all alone with nopony to talk to? That must be terribly lonely.’ Finally she opened her eyes meeting Twilight’s with unusual fire burning in her gentle teal orbs. “I’m ready.”

The pair exchanged determined nods and started off into the forest, Twilight taking the lead and heading directly opposite the direction the foot prints had been pointing when it faced Fluttershy in the hopes that they would find a sign of back tracking from it for them to follow.

***

“So think it talks? Fluttershy said she thought it tried to talk but she couldn’t understand it.”

Applejack sighed as Rainbow insisted on talking as loud as she could. “Reckon I don’t rightly know Dash. Think y’could maybe come on down an’ walk with me? You flyin’ around overhead might give us away don’tcha think?”

Grumbling to herself Rainbow Dash folded her wings and dropped to the ground beside her earth bound friend. “Fine, fine. Neither one of us blends in down here either y’know?”

“Maybe so, but at least down here we ain’t a flyin’ blue rainbow of noisy pony that anything could see from a mile off.”

Huffing softly, Rainbow mercifully fell silent as she trotted beside her friend. The silence didn’t last long of course. “So what kinda magic d’you think it did?”

Snorting out of exasperation Applejack shook her head. “Rainbow Dash I know exactly what YOU know about this thing. Which is ‘not a whole lot’. What we do know is it’s dangerous, an probly been livin’ out here a while. So maybe a little less talkin’ and a little more lookin’ would be a good idea.”

Giving the earth pony a dirty look Rainbow Dash harrumphed loudly. “Well excuse me for being curious.”

Heaving a long suffering sigh Applejack shook her head. “I’m not mad sugarcube, just concerned. This critter we’re lookin’ for could be dangerous t’more than just hydras an’ timberwolves.” She knew this was opening herself up for ridicule from her athletic rival but Applejack couldn’t help it. “I’m a little scared alright?”

To her surprise Dash just glanced back at her quietly. “Yeah I gotcha. Time to get serious right? Nothing’s gonna mess with US if it’s smart. We’re the toughest ponies in Ponyville.”

This brought a grin to Applejack’s face. “S’pose that’s true.” The pair smiled with renewed confidence as the trotted forward at a brisk pace. About ten more steps. Applejack’s ears folded back as her hind hoof stepped in well concealed vine hidden beneath a pile of leaves across the path. With a sharp SNAP it tightened around her hoof and yanked her into the air. She barely had time to yelp in alarm as she was rocketed skyward and left dangling by her hind leg. Grunting she thrashed and squirmed trying to free herself but it was for naught.

“Y’all just gonna stare at me or are ya gonna get me down?!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head rapidly to clear away the mental cobwebs that formed from the shock of seeing AJ snapped up in the snare. “R-right! Hang in there Applejack!” Crouching low she spread her wings and rocketed into the air toward her friend. Flying straight toward the earth pony dangling more than twenty feet in the air from the massive tree, she didn’t even see the second snare spread across the branches in the trees.

Dash registered the incoming net and tried to dart away but she was surrounded on all sides by the thick canopy of the tree. A net made of study vines weighted with heavy rocks snapped up and around her, the rocks spinning at the end and sealing it off tight. It bobbed up and down for a time before slowly settling at eye level with Applejack. “…real slick sugarcube.”

Wings and legs flailing wildly Rainbow strained futilely against the net. “Grrr! When I get my hooves on that… That…” She frowned at the wide-eyed stare Applejack was turning toward the ground. Following her friends gaze she saw their quarry staring up at them with a REALLY annoying smirk on its face. On her face she had to remind herself.

Slowly the strange creature knelt down and retrieve Applejack’s fallen hat, staring at it bemusedly before settling it on its own head. With one last look at the helpless ponies a strange orange light flared around one of its arms and the air around it shimmered before it disappeared from view. Slowly the two mares turned to regard one another. “It can turn invisible.”

“It stole m’hat!”

***

“Shepard-Commander, I do not think leaving two of Buttercup’s companions suspended in the air while you steal their headwear is the wisest course of action to earning her trust.”

Shepard glanced up at the faded brown Stetson now adorning her head. “They’re fine. Only those wood wolves come this way and they can’t climb. Besides I think the hat looks good on me.”

“Yes the archaic leather hat goes perfectly with your battle armor. It ties your look together perfectly.”

Shepard fixed the A.I. with a hot glare. “You said you can’t be sarcastic.”

“Who says I was being sarcastic just now?”

Shepard’s mouth opened and closed twice before she snorted. “Let’s go find some more of them. This is fun.”

“Yes proving your tactical superiority over a small group of colorful equinoid aliens must be the height of enjoyable activity throughout the galaxy.”

Shepard was about to retort when she heard high pitched warbling ahead. It definitely sounded like the noises the equines made when they talked to one another. “How’s that translation program coming?”

“Slowly. Their speech patterns are unlike anything the systems in your omni-tool have encountered. I am confident in time I can create a serviceable program but I need to listen to them speak more.”

“Gotcha. I’m going in.” Re-activating her cloak she took to the trees once more, scurrying from branch to branch in pursuit of the next pair of horses.

***

“Pinkie Pie I don’t mean to be a downer as it were, but perhaps a little less humming and bouncing? We ARE trying to be stealthy after all.” Rarity eyed the excitable earth pony bounding ahead of her with a faint frown. Usually Pinkie’s good cheer and upbeat attitude could put a smile on anypony’s face. But the idea of something in this dreadful forest being as powerful as Princess Celestia… Well that didn’t sit well with the fashionista at all.

“Oh Rarity, you worry too much! Twilight said she’s a FRIENDLY monster! She saved Fluttershy from that mean hydra after all!” Her bouncing slowed to a normal pace as a thoughtful look crossed her face. “Saved her from it by making its heads explode. Hm. Maybe she’s not so friendly after all?”

“Precisely darling. I’m simply suggesting we exercise caution. While we all owe it our thanks for saving Fluttershy we need to be careful. It might have saved her just to eat her itself after all.”

Pinkie frowned softly and slowed her pace to walk side by side with Rarity. “But if she wanted to eat her why’d she try and give her a snack?”

Casting a scathing glare at a particularly large clump of dirt in her path, Rarity gave it a wide berth before answering. “Perhaps it wanted to fatten her up before eating her?”

This brought a bubbly giggle from the pink mare. “Oh Rarity don’t be silly. If she wanted to fatten Fluttershy up she’d have given her cupcakes not flowers!”

Rarity couldn’t really argue with that logic. Not entirely because it was sound, but because one simply didn’t argue logic with Pinkie Pie. “I suppose that makes sense. Still a little caution isn’t entirely unwarranted. There are plenty of dangerous creatures in here without… Hydra head exploding monsters running about.”

Pinkie’s mouth opened to reply, when she froze. “Itchy hoof… Shivery tail…”

Rarity stopped as well, both ears perked and trained forward. “We’re being watched?”

Slowly Pinkie Pie nodded, her own ears alert and eyes scanning the tree tops overhead. “I don’t think it’s a bunny this time either.”

The mares shifted into a back to back position slowly scanning the forest about them. Rarity’s horn began to glow brightly as she called on her magic. “Whoever’s out there we just wish to speak with you! Nopony needs to get hurt!”

Pinkie did her best to put on a winning smile, even though her heart was hammering in her chest. “Yeah! Come on out and I promise you’ll get a big ‘Thanks for Saving Fluttershy’ party!”

Several tense minutes passed as the pair waited in silence. Both were starting to grow more nervous as the seconds ticked by. “Maybe it’s time to call Twilight and the others?”

Rarity nodded slowly. “Good idea. I need a clear place to send up my magic, or it will just get caught up in the trees.”

Both ponies craned their necks upward as they started forward once more, looking for a clear spot in the tree canopy. With both looking up, neither saw the pitfall trap beneath their hooves until the ground gave was in a shower of dirt and leaves. Pinkie and Rarity shrieked together as they plummeted to what both expected to be their doom. Instead they simply dropped about fifteen or twenty feet to the bottom of a well hidden pit in the path.

Slowly their screaming stopped and the pair opened their eyes. Shrieks of fear turned to frantic laughter as they realized they’d survived their fall. Rarity’s laughter was perhaps a touch more hysteric than Pinkie’s as she took in just how dirt encrusted her poor coat had become. Pinkie seemed to sense this and gave her friend a firm hug. “It’s alright Rarity. Why don’tcha float me out and I’ll throw something down to pull you up with?”

Doing her best to get her dirt-phobia under control Rarity closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. Nodding firmly she enveloped Pinkie in her magic and delicately lifted the other mare up and out of the pit. Once she was on sturdy ground she released her hold. “D-do hurry darling… I’d really rather get out of here as quickly as possible!”

“Not to worry! Your good old Auntie Pinkie has it covered Rarity!” Rolling her eyes and muttering something about being older than her Rarity hunkered down to wait, doing her very best to avoid touching the walls of the pit.

Several minutes passed before Rarity heard a loud snap, then Pinkie squealing in alarm overhead. “Pinkie Pie! Pinkie Pie are you alright?!”

Her question was answered for her as Pinkie soon bobbed into view, suspended in midair with all four legs lashed together by a snare. “…good news is I found a vine!”

Rarity just sighed softly and shook her head. “Oh Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie offered her friend a thin smile. “Sorry! It looked very viney but when I picked it up whoosh! Up I went!” She was about to speak more when something out of Rarity’s field of view caught her eye.

“Pinkie? Pinkie what is i… Oh.” The creature they’d been hunting moved to the edge of the pit and peered down at her curiously. “I… I say! You had best let us out of these traps right this second if you know what’s good for you!”

Blinking slowly the creature looked from Rarity to Pinkie Pie. Rarity felt a stab of fear at the hat the creature wore atop its head. Applejack’s hat. “What did you do with Applejack!?”

Even Pinkie Pie was looking angry. “Yeah! You better not have hurt her or Rainbow Dash!”

Slowly she looked from Rarity to Pinkie. The whole time they’d been speaking she held her glowing arm toward them. Even though they were trapped and helpless it made no hostile moves toward them. She knelt by the edge of the pit holding her arm out with an expectant look on her face.

Rarity looked from the magical device about her arm to the thing’s face. Looking now she could see how Fluttershy assumed it was female. While her features were incredibly alien there was a softness to them. An obvious femininity. “…what? What do you want? I can’t reach your ah… Paw from here.”

She stood and smiled brightly before plucking Applejack’s hat from her head and dropping it into the hole with Rarity. “Frnd sef. Yo sty her.” With that rather garbled message the air around her shimmered and the creature vanished.

Pinkie simply sighed in relief. “Well that’s good to know!”

Gingerly Rarity plucked Applejack’s beloved hat off the ground. “What? What’s good to know?”

Rolling her eyes the pink party pony tsk’d softly at Rarity. “Weren’t you listening? She said our friend is safe and that we should stay here!”

Pursing her lips Rarity thought about asking Pinkie how she could have possible understood that garbled nonsense, but knew it would be futile. It was just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie after all. The sky overhead was still heavily obscured by the thick tree canopy so there was no way to send a message up to Twilight. With a dismal sigh the unicorn settled down to wait, resting her chin on her absent friends’ hat. “Be careful Twilight.”

***

“Shepard-Commander I assure you I detected no biotic fields being utilized. Whatever the equinoid did to move her companion out of the pit was decidedly not biotics.”

Shepard frowned as she loped through the trees toward the last pair. “So the ones with the horns can use some kind of… Telekinesis maybe?”

“Without more observation I cannot say with any certainty, though it seems probable that that is correct.”

“I think that makes the one with the horn and wings the most dangerous don’t you? She’s with Buttercup isn’t she?” Shepard paused in her movement to regard the face of Legion in her omni-tool.

“Another statement that is likely accurate Shepard-Commander. The translation program seems to be coming along well however. I believe they understood you at least partially.”

Shepard gave a satisfied nod to that. “Good. Keep working at it while we track down the last pair. The sooner we can communicate the better.”

“Agreed. They can lead you to their settlement as well.”

The woman frowned as she raced across the tree tops. “What makes you think they have a settlement? They could just roam across open plains or something like wild horses on… On…” She frowned. It was on the tip of her tongue. ‘Where did wild horses roam?’

“Simply the fact that they are capable of higher speech and thinking would indicate they engage in other sorts of civilized behavior. Locating a stable home and shelter is a primary building block of all civilized species.”

“Fine, fine you’re a genius and know everything. Come on I think I hear Buttercup and the other one.” Legion fell silent as Shepard re-engaged her cloak.

***

“See Fluttershy? This isn’t so bad right? It’s just a forest like White Tail Woods! Only bigger… And darker.”

Giving her royal friend a trembling smile Fluttershy nodded rapidly. “O-oh yes! Not bad at all! You don’t need to keep making me feel better!”

Twilight beamed brightly at having given her timid friend such courage. Of course she didn’t realize Fluttershy was only saying that so Twilight would stop talking. She meant well but her constant highlights of what NOT to be afraid of was only doing the opposite of calming her fears. “So is there anything else you can tell me about this creature?”

Fluttershy frowned thoughtfully as she walked beside her friend. “She seemed… Lonely. It was her eyes. They seemed very alone Twilight. It makes me a little sad remembering it.”

This caused Twilight to frown as well. “Well! She won’t be alone for much longer right? We’ll find her and… And figure something out.”

Fluttershy could just remember how desperate the creature seemed when it realized she could talk. ‘How long had she been all alone in the Everfree to have such a look of longing in her eyes at the prospect of somepony to talk to?’ She nodded to Twilight. “Yes. We’ll bring her back to Ponyville. To my cottage if she’s too uncomfortable in town.”

Twilight wasn’t sure which surprised her more. The steel in Fluttershy’s voice or the offer to have this unknown beast living with her. “Fluttershy what makes you think she wouldn’t like town?”

“Remember where we are Twilight. This is the Everfree Forest. I’m not entirely sure but I think she’s been living here in the wild with no contact from anypony for a long time. Even Zecora comes to town once or twice a week. If this creature has been living out here all alone for a long time, and I think she has, then she might be uncomfortable around crowds.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened as she realized how much sense Fluttershy was making. “I hadn’t even thought of that!”

Fluttershy gave her friend a small, but genuine smile. “Well dealing with animals is my special talent. She may be able to think and talk like we do but it might be best to assume she’ll behave like a wild critter. At first at least.”

Frowning thoughtfully Twilight scanned the area more attentively. “So based on that what do you think we can expect from her?”

“Well… She’s a powerful creature. When she smiled I saw incisors and canine teeth so I’d say she’s either a carnivore or an omnivore. She’s intelligent so she likely has an established territory of her own. In fact that’s probably where we are. In her territory.”

Twilight stiffened at that revelation. “What makes you say that?”

“The forest is almost silent. That means the animals are afraid of something nearby. We haven’t seen any sign of timber wolves or manticores. I think we’re very near her lair.”

Twilight felt an involuntary shiver go down her spine at the way Fluttershy phrased it. All ponies have an inherent fear of predators. Some tamed it more than others but she was no exception to the rule. “S-so what else?”

“Well she didn’t have fangs or claws but she did have some unusual things strapped to her shell. Maybe tools or weapons? Whatever she used to kill that hydra she was nowhere near me when she did it so she can attack her prey from a distance.”

Another shiver at the word prey. “W-well still she was friendly toward you right?”

Fluttershy nodded, smiling faintly. “Yes. Like I said I think she craves companionship. I don’t think we have anything to fear from her. But…”

Twilight didn’t like that. “…but?”

“But if this is her lair and she gets by with tools, there’s a very good chance she’s laid traps to snare prey and keep out other predators.”

Twilight’s pupils shrank to pin pricks at this news. “M-maybe we should find the girls and get back to Ponyville. This is starting to sound too dangerous.”

Fluttershy laid a gentle hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “I think it’s too late for that Twilight.”

“Wh-what? Why?!”

Silently the normally fearful pegasus pointed a hoof toward the woods ahead. Twilight turned to look where she was pointing. At first she saw nothing, and then she noticed what had caught Fluttershy’s attention. The air was shimmering oddly as if something using an invisibility spell was there. “…d-do you think it can turn invisible?”

Fluttershy just swallowed the lump in her throat. “I think she can.”

***

Shepard stared at the two ponies curiously. If she didn’t know better she’d think they were staring at her too. The two had been carrying on quite the conversation. The more Buttercup spoke the more the purple one seemed to grow afraid. Her surprise grew as Buttercup began unerringly walking toward her. Frowning now she glanced at the snare the winged horse was about to step in. Acting quickly Shepard let her cloak fall and she stepped forward. Buttercup’s wings snapped open in surprise and she halted her forward movement.

The purple one suddenly grew excited and started jabbering rapidly at Buttercup. Shepard wasn’t entirely sure but… “Legion did she say ‘human’?”

“I believe so Shepard-Commander. My translation program is not complete but it did sound distinctly like human.”

Shepard held a hand up indicating for the pair to stop, which they did. Slowly she approached, mindful this time of Buttercup’s normally timid nature and not wanting to send her running again. She knelt in front of the yellow horse and cleared some leaves away revealing the hidden snare. Rather than react with fear Buttercup smiled faintly and said something to her companion, who eyed the snare dubiously.

“She knew I laid traps. She’s clever.” Shepard regarded her with more respect suddenly.

“It would appear so. Perhaps she is some sort of overseer of this forest? A wildlife guide or conservationist familiar with the behavior of wild animals.”

Shepard scowled at Legion. “Are you calling me a wild animal?”

“Of course not Shepard-Commander. You are the picture of civility. As engaging as this discussion is, I suggest you return your attention to Buttercup and her companion. They are staring.”

Shepard shut her mouth with an audible snap and looked back to the two horses. These were the first sentient beings she’d met and she didn’t want this to go poorly. Though leaving four of their friends trapped in her snares and pits throughout her territory probably wasn’t going to win her any brownie points. Beckoning to the pair with a wave of her hand she set out through the woods toward the nearest trapped horses.

***

“I’m absolutely sure Fluttershy, she’s a human! Like those creatures from the other world I went to through the mirror. Though she’s a good deal more heavily armed than they were. And that black coating is armor, not a shell. Underneath she’s just as soft as we are. It must be how she protects herself.”

Fluttershy followed after the creature… The human curiously. “Where do you think she’s leading us?”

Twilight shook her head. “I was hoping you’d have some ideas?” The mares’ question was answered as they came upon Pinkie Pie hog tied and upside down hanging from a vine, in the midst of a game with an unseen Rarity. Twilight frowned as she realized the unicorns’ voice was coming from a nearby pit.

“Pinkie Pie, while I appreciate your attempts to pass the time, perhaps a game of eye spy while your fellow player is in the bottom of a deep hole is not the best game to play?”

“The answer was this ladybug on my nose by the way! Game’s over anyway. Twilight and Fluttershy are here!” Pinkie slowly rotated to face her friends, flashing them a smile even as the slow movement of the vine suspending her carried her face away.

Frowning gently Twilight trotted to the edge of the pit. “Hang on Rarity! I’ll have you out in a jiffy!” She cast a suspicious glance toward the human but she seemed content to hold her glowing orange arm out toward herself and her friends. Her magic first wrapped around Pinkie Pie, cutting the vine holding her in the air and slowly lowering her to the ground. Fluttershy swiftly helped the earth pony get untangled. Next the Princess turned to the pit levitating Rarity out and onto her hooves. The poor mare’s immaculate coat was caked in dirt. If she hadn’t heard her speaking she’d assume it was Applejack based on the hat atop her head.

“Rarity why do you have Applejack’s hat?”

It took Rarity a moment to answer; her focus was on ignoring the copious amounts of dirt marring her beautiful coat. Already she was envisioning the all-day spa trip she’d soon be in the middle of. “That ghastly BEAST dropped it into the hole after me.”

Whirling on the human standing in their midst Twilight leveled a heated look her way. “Where are our other friends?! Did you hurt them?!”

Pinkie stepped in quickly. “She said they were safe!”

Twilight stepped back, her horns glow fading. “She spoke to you? She hasn’t said a word to us.”

Sending a small wave of magic through her body Rarity was pushing away as much dirt as she could. “Speak would be a generous term darling, it was quite garbled.”

Frowning anew Twilight looked back to their silent companion. “Hello? Hello can you speak?”

The corners of the woman’s mouth tugged down in a faint frown and she put a hand to her ear, shaking her head. “Dn’t nderstnd.”

Twilight blinked. “She definitely spoke! It sounded like she said she doesn’t understand me. That’s strange, the humans I met before spoke perfect Equestrian.”

“This is a human is it? And you were one of them while in that other world?” Rarity cantered closer to the human, who watched her circle her with an amused look in her eye. “They certainly must have excellent balance to get about on just two long legs like that.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. That was an understatement. She hadn’t recounted just how much trouble she’d had adjusting to her sudden humanity. “Well we can worry about that after she takes us to find Applejack and Rainbow Dash.” Glancing up at the human she pointed to the hat atop Rarity’s head. “Applejack! Take. Us. To. Applejack!”

The humans’ eyes went from her hoof to the hat and recognition lit in them. Smiling she nodded and started loping through the forest, setting a quick pace with her long legged stride. “Follow her girls! But stick to the same path she takes, we don’t need to get caught up in anymore of her traps.”

Twilight and her friends took off hot on the heels of the running human. Their run wasn’t long, but the ponies had to come to an abrupt halt when the human had stopped them with a raised hand. About to question the action Twilight’s heart began to flutter as she heard the tell-tale snarling mixed with snapping and creaking branches that indicated timber wolves. Fearing for her missing friends’ safety she peered through the brush at the path ahead.

Six of the wooden monsters circled the ground beneath a dangling Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Both mares were well off the forest floor but the timber wolves leaps were getting uncomfortable close. “Twilight what do we do?! Those monsters are going to turn on us the second they notice us!”

Twilight didn’t have an answer for Rarity just yet. She and Fluttershy could fly but she wasn’t confident enough to try carrying somepony else. Timber wolves were notoriously resistant to magic and pulled themselves back together from most physical injury. ‘Maybe she could levitate them to safety then fly up to join them?’

Her musings ended as the human stepped out into the path. It barked something in its own language and the orange sleeve of magic reappeared over its arm. Twilight found herself screaming with alarm along with her friends as the human discharged a fireball right from her hand! It impacted with the nearest timber wolf reducing it to dust in a flash. The flames jumped to the rest of the pack likewise disintegrating them. The six ponies could only stare open mouthed as the human casually moved to the vines entrapping Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Pulling a knife from her armor she cut the pair down.

Rainbow Dash was on her hooves in a flash. “That! Was! Awesome!”

Applejack seemed a little less excited, carefully inching around her captor and savior toward her friends. “It was somethin’ alright. You girls ok?”

Rarity happily returned Applejacks hat to its rightful owner. “We’re just fine girls. We were worried about YOU.”

Rainbow puffed her chest up regarding Twilight. “I was just about to bust outta there! Then those stupid timber wolves showed up!”

Applejack rolled her eyes, regarding the human in their midst. “So y’all found her huh? Or she found you I s’pose?”

Twilight nodded, attention once more returning to the woman who again stared at them silently while her arm glowed brightly. ‘What sort of magic WAS that? It was like nothing she’d ever seen before.’ “She did. She’s a human like those things I met in the other world. How one came to be here, and why this one doesn’t speak Equestrian while all its fellows did I have no idea.”

Rarity tapped her muzzle in thought. “Perhaps she’s from another region of their world? After all camels and Saddle Arabians have their own language. Equestrian isn’t their native tongue. It could very well be the same with her.”

Twilight blinked. She hadn’t even thought of such a simple answer. “That must be it! I’m sure I have a translation spell back at the library. Why didn’t I think to bring it?!”

By far the boldest of the group, Rainbow Dash was circling the human giving her the occasional poke with a hoof. Each prod only seemed to amuse the woman more. “So what’s the deal? You didn’t say humans had shells.”

Twilight shook her head. “It’s not a shell. It’s a suit of armor. If you look closely enough you can see the seams. I’m sure she can remove it if she wants to.” Her eyes kept drifting to the things strapped to her hips and back. She hadn’t studied guns much, but she’d seen them mentioned in the occasional book she’d flipped through. They hadn’t looked quite like that but she was fairly certain she could pick out the trigger mechanisms.

This was an important event though. The six ponies had that fact slowly sink in. This was a creature from an entirely different world, and it was very likely they were the first Equestrian’s she’d encountered who weren’t out to make a snack of her. The six friends exchanged quiet looks as they came to sit before the watching human. Fluttershy approached her after Dash had finished her examinations, the pegasus smiling softly. “Thank you for saving me. Thank you?”

The human smiled and knelt down, extending her hand slowly. Gingerly Fluttershy raised a hoof and rested it against the strange appendage. The human seemed slightly amused, and gripped her hoof shaking gently. IT was almost like a hoof shake if ponies had those weird wiggling things like Spike did. Not quite claws but close.

Reclaiming her hoof Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Fluttershy. Fluuuuuuutter-shyyyyyy.” She tapped her chest. “My name is Flutter-shy.”

The human tilted her head looking from her arm to the pony before her, she cleared her throat. “Fluuuuuter-shhhhhy….?”

Fluttershy’s winged flared in excitement as she regarded her friends. “She understood me! She said my name!”

The others all chattered excitedly. “Go on Fluttershy.” Twilight urged. “See if you can get her to tell us hers.”

Fluttershy nodded firmly, turning her attention back to the human. “Fluttershy.” She tapped her own chest gently. “Fluttershy.” Then she tapped the humans’ chest ever so softly with a questioning look in her eyes.

The human looked down at her arm and started talking. The six ponies ears splayed and they looked about alarmed as the second, harsher voice piped up. The two voices conversed quickly before the human looked back at the pony. Again she cleared her throat and tapped her chest. “Shep-ard Cuh-maaaan-derrr.”

The six ponies again looked to one another excitedly. Rainbow Dash tilted her head in thought. “Shepherd Commander? So is she like, in charge of shepherds back home?”

Twilight nodded slowly. “She must be. That’s not terribly surprising. Every…uh…body on their world had names similar to ours as well. Her special talent must involve herding.”

Applejack tilted her hat back regarding the alien in their midst with new respect. “Well shucks she can’t be all bad if that’s true.”

Twilight cast a worried look Pinkie Pie’s way. The excitable mare was practically vibrating in place. “You’ve been doing a very good job not scaring her Pinkie. Just be patient a little more. Once we can communicate properly you can talk to her all you like alright? For now she seems to be responding well to Fluttershy. See if you can get her to follow us to town Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy nodded to her friends and turned a small smile back to the human, back to Shepherd Commander. “Shepherd Commander… Would you like to come with us?” She got to her hooves and trotted a little ways, motioning for the human to follow.

A small frown crossed the woman’s face as she regarded the ponies. Again she spoke to her arm which responded in that harsh voice. “She must have some sort of familiar or magical creature bound to her arm! How fascinating! The humans I met couldn’t use any magic at all. Oh I wish I knew what they were saying…”

***

“I think she wants me to follow her.”

“Well done Shepard-Commander. Your deductive skills are without peer.”

Shepard scowled in irritation at Legion before looking back to the colorful bunch before her. ‘Fluttershy, which she thought was even more adorable a name than Buttercup was waiting patiently. These things definitely weren’t out to hurt her. She felt safe in that assumption. If they didn’t attack after she’d snared the bulk of them they probably weren’t going to attack at all. Now it looked like they wanted to lead her somewhere. Probably out of her forest.’

At length she shook her head slowly. “Home. This is my home.” She spread her arms indicating the forest around herself. “I don’t want to leave my home.” She took a step back.

Even if they couldn’t completely understand her, it was safe to assume her message got through by the sudden frowns on their faces. The purple one began to talk rapidly to Fluttershy, and Shepard was beginning to assume she was their leader. Fluttershy frowned at the purple one and began to talk back. “How’s that translator coming on their end?”

“Poorly. I may be able to filter some of their speech to something recognizable. One moment.”

A faint static crackle sounded from her omni-tool and suddenly she could make out snippets of their conversation. “…..ared. …..alone…..time. ……ost comforta… old you….leave.”

Purple looked from Fluttershy to Shepard frowning now. At length she spoke to Fluttershy again, a touch too softly for Legion to pick up what was being said. Finally the others stood and turned to face her. Fluttershy moved to the head of her group. The little horse swept a hoof about to indicate their group. “….oing home. ….ome back….oon. Please….safe…” She smiled at the end.

It sounded like they were leaving, but intended to come back soon. Slowly Shepard nodded. “I’ll watch for you.” She indicated her eyes and pointed to the group.

At length Purple nodded and gently laid a hoof on Fluttershy’s back. “…on Fluttershy. …ime to….incess.”

With one last smile for Shepard, Fluttershy turned and joined her fellows as they made their way from her territory. Part of her sorely wanted to follow them. She had so many questions. Where had they come from? Where did they live? Why was that orange one wearing a cowboy hat? The other part of her felt a crippling fear at the idea of leaving her forest. It was all she knew on this strange world. It was all she had besides her armor and weapons. The thought of leaving her territory was akin to leaving a part of herself behind. She remained standing in place well after the horses had left, thoughts constantly drifting to might-haves and what-could-have-beens.

Author's Note

Well here's chapter 2. I definitely hadn't planned on writing it so soon, but I also didn't expect this to get the reaction it did. Definitely not featured! Thanks to everyone who's been digging this so much, it's my first featured story and that feels pretty cool.

I'd initially just done the first chapter for a laugh. I was having trouble with my other stories and this was just a tiny idea rattling around in my head. I didn't even have much planned beyond "Shepard in the Everfree and she calls Fluttershy Buttercup."

I DO have some idea on how to continue this down the line. Chapter 3 will be up soon. Maybe not as soon as THIS one came up, but soon. XD

Chapter 3: Lunar Visitations

Shepard was running. Running so hard for so long that her legs screamed in protest with every step. Her chest was on fire as she labored to draw in breath, but she dared not stop.

If she stopped, the voices would catch up.

She could hear them faintly, just at the edge of her range of hearing. She couldn’t help herself. Just like she couldn’t help it every time she had the dream. The nightmare. She looked over her shoulder, morbid curiosity forcing her movements.

And then they were upon her. Screaming and howling and swirling around in an ungodly cacophony of sound. Voices blending together, talking so loud and so fast it just became a constant din of noise. Shepard fell to her knees, hands clenched tightly against her temples. Her own screams rose and mingled with the others.

Then she stepped forward. The woman, the shadow woman. Shepard could never make out her features; she was just a mass of shadows shaped like a humanoid woman. The only thing she could ever make out was a mouth. The cacophonous din overhead never let up. The shadow woman knelt before Shepard, taking either side of her face in an iron grip, sending agonizing stabs of chilling pain through her face and into the rest of her body.

She was speaking, but her voice was always barely a whisper. Far too quiet for Shepard to hear over the screams of the millions above and around her. She cringed, knowing what was coming next. The shadow woman tightened her grip suddenly, and wailed along with the rest of the screamers. The mass began to whirl faster and faster overhead before descending toward the helpless woman in a wave of sound and gnashing teeth.

Just as the expected pain was about to begin, a blindingly radiant shaft of silver light burst into being around Shepard, obliterating the nightmare creatures.

“Fear not, my little po— Oh, it’s you again.”

Shepard hesitantly cracked an eye open. Descending slowly from the sky was her midnight angel. The pale skinned woman landed lightly on bare feet before the kneeling Shepard. A diaphanous gown of shifting blue material clung tightly to her generously curved frame. Majestic wings of a midnight blue hue fanned at her sides, idly flapping now and again as she settled unsteadily on her feet. A long horn jutted from her forehead, a good deal larger than the horses she’d encountered earlier in the days. Gentle teal eyes gazed down at the smaller woman, possessing a warmth and kindness her greeting did not seem to share.

Covered in fear induced sweat, pale and shivering, Shepard still managed to crack a faint smile. “It’s the girl of my dreams. Where’ve you been, beautiful? You know I have these horrific nightmares just to see you again.”

Her dream woman rolled her eyes and lowered herself to the ground next to Shepard. “Your cavalier attitude is hard to take seriously when I come upon you in the midst of shrieking in abject terror, Shepherd. You do not need to mask your pain around me.”

Slowly, Shepard’s smile faded. “Right. Guess you kinda see me at my worst every time we meet, huh? Not very appealing, am I?”

The ghost of a smile played upon her saviors lips. “Perhaps I am fond of pale, sweat soaked, and terrified companions?” Her expression soon turned serious once more. “Would you like to discuss it?”

Shepard’s expression darkened. “I’d love to! I’d like nothing more than to sit here and talk all goddamned night about what’s going on in these nightmares! But you know damned well I can’t!”

“Shepherd, we have discussed this in the past. I am here to help; I do not wish to further agitate you. I can depart if you would prefer.”

“No! No please… Please stay. I’m sorry, Luna I just… I’m frustrated. Can you imagine what it’s like? To not know who you are? Where you come from?” The longing and desperation in the woman’s voice drew more than a little sympathy from the visiting Luna.

“I cannot imagine your pain, Shepherd, though I would very much like to help. I would ask again that you share your whereabouts with me. I know you have a curious issue of trust, but I assure you that I mean no harm. Would you not prefer we talk in the waking world?”

Shepard frowned again, folding her hands in her lap. “I’m crazy enough for talking to you like this. I don’t need my hallucinations crossing over into the real world too.”

Luna sighed softly in frustration. For months now, she’d been visiting the strange Shepherd Commander’s dreams in an attempt to soothe the poor woman’s nighttime rest. She wasn’t sure if she was an actual human stranded in Equestria, or a mentally unwell pony who simply thought of herself as such. Either situation was very serious and needed to be addressed, but no matter how she tried, she could not get Shepard to accept she was real. “Very well then. Perhaps a walk?”

The ghost of a smile returned to Shepard’s lips as she climbed to her feet. “I’d like that.”

Luna stood as well, gently shifting the woman’s dreamscape to the surface of her moon. Her night sky extended outward in all directions, billions of stars twinkling in the sky. Her smile grew more genuine at the wide-eyed look of wonderment on Shepard’s face. She’d managed to glean small bits and pieces about Shepard over the past few months; one of her favorites was that the night sky soothed the woman a good deal.

Shepard walked only a short distance before finding a comfortable place to settle on the ground. Luna smiled as the woman’s armor faded away, revealing the pale flesh and simple garments beneath. As she grew more comfortable, Shepard’s protective armor always faded in her dreams. As always, Luna found the countless scars crisscrossing the woman’s body an unsettling sight. If this poor creature’s physical body matched her mental one, then she must have had a horrific life. She knew she lingered perhaps a trifle too long around Shepard, but there was something compelling about the poor woman. Delicately, the night Princess seated herself next to the other woman. “You do so love my night sky.”

Shepard could only nod. “I used to travel the stars, I think. I remember… I remember seeing and going to so many different places. More worlds, with more people than I can count, but I just… I can’t remember details! Faces! Names! Why can’t I remember?!”

Luna laid a gentle hand on Shepard’s shoulder. “Hush. For now, do not worry over things you cannot control. Let us simply sit together and enjoy the stars in the sky, hm?”

With a weary sigh, Shepard nodded slowly, resting her head on Luna’s shoulder. It had taken Luna some time to get used to such close contact from a stranger, but she found the more time she spent with Shepard, the less she objected to it. “ … I had a good day today.”

Luna raised her eyebrows, gazing down at the woman nestled against her strange, alien body. “Oh? Perhaps you caught and ate something new?” There was a teasing tone in her voice.

Shepard chuckled softly. “No. I did catch a boar though. Big one, too.” Luna nodded as she listened. She had managed to determine Shepard was somewhere within the boundaries of the Everfree Forest. It was the only place that could contain the many different creatures she’d described. However, the Everfree was thousands of square miles in size, and it would be impossible to locate the woman without aid. “But no… That’s not what made it good. I talked to someone. Someone real. Besides Legion.”

Now she had the Princess’ undivided attention. “Is that so? Was it a pleasant meeting?”

“Sorta. It was Buttercup— oh! But I found out that’s not her name. It’s actually Fluttershy. She led a bunch of her friends into my territo…” But Luna had stopped listening. Could it possibly be true that one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony had stumbled upon Shepard’s location? She couldn’t imagine a more fortunate coincidence. She had to force herself from leaving Shepard’s dreamscape immediately, and rushing to Fluttershy’s home. It was very late however; no doubt the mare in question was deep asleep. And Shepard was certainly not going anywhere. “… Hey are you listening? What kind of dream woman are you?”

Luna snapped out of her inner thoughts, offering the pouting Shepard a smile. “I apologize; I have much on my mind this evening. It sounds as though you made a friend, however.”

Shepard nodded, her smile easy and genuine. The woman had a very kind smile, Luna thought. A shame she so rarely smiled like this. Typically it was an obnoxious smirk that never truly reached her eyes. “I did. They wanted me to go with them, but…”

“But you don’t wish to leave your home?”

“It’s just… It’s all I have to call my own. If I leave it behind, what’s left of me?”

Gently, Luna tapped the woman on the chest. “This.” Then she tapped her in the forehead, flicking playfully. “And this. Your memory may be out of reach for the time being, but you still think. You still feel Shepherd. And following Fluttershy and her friends to their home does not mean you can never go back to your own. I highly doubt it will up and disappear on you.” Her smile turned gentle. “If you focus too much on what you are leaving behind, you will never see what awaits you by moving forward.”

“I know that! I do. On some level… I’m just afraid. I just have so little left.”

“Well… I have faith that you will feel better soon enough, Shepherd. Now I believe it is time I took my leave. I have other dreams to soothe, after all.”

Luna didn’t miss the slight reluctance Shepard showed in letting her rise. The moment of weakness passed in a blink, and the woman was smirking again. “I’ll see you soon, I guess. You know you can’t keep away from me.”

To her chagrin, Luna felt herself flush, if only faintly. “Good night, Shepherd. May your night be peaceful from here.”

Shepard remained where she sat on the moon as Luna faded from view. “ … Be nice if she were real.”

Princess Celestia let out a delicate yawn as she looked up from the small mountain of paperwork on her desk. With a little grimace, she noticed the time was nearly two in the morning. Sighing softly, she gently rang the small bell at the edge of her desk. Before she’d even set it back down, one of her aides had materialized in the doorway. The poor unicorn mare looked as tired as she felt, but Celestia knew she was soldiering on for her sake. “Could I trouble you for another cup of coffee, Noteworthy?”

The azure coated mare smiled brightly. “Of course, Princess. Anything else?”

“Yes. Go to bed!” The Princess giggled softly at the look of chagrin on Noteworthy’s face. “It’s entirely too late for you to be up, don’t you think.”

The aide offered a smile to her Princess. “It’s a little late for you too, isn’t it?”

Now Celestia laughed aloud. “Yes, I suppose it is. Still, this proposal for sending a camera into space is incredibly fascinating, if a trifle long winded. They certainly seem to have every little bit covered.”

Noteworthy wrinkled her nose in thought. “Why would anypony want to send a camera into space? We can see everything up there just fine!”

Celestia suddenly donned her ‘motherly instructor’ smile. “What do you see when you look up at the stars, Noteworthy?”

The mare blinked at the sudden question, her gaze drifting to the open window and the bright night sky beyond. “Oh I don’t know. I suppose, pretty twinkling lights? I remember in school they taught us the stars were all like the sun. Giant balls of fire burning so far away that all we can see is a tiny speck of light in the sky.”

Celestia beamed proudly. “Very good, Noteworthy! That is precisely what the stars are.” Her aide practically glowed from the praise. “Now, what do you suppose is around those stars?”

Noteworthy opened her mouth to immediately answer… Before a look of confusion crossed her features. “I… Well I don’t know, Princess. I suppose it could be anything. Maybe even a whole other world like ours?”

Celestia nodded slowly now. “Perhaps. Aren’t you the tiniest bit curious about what could be around those far distant suns now?”

The mare blinked as she experienced a sudden personal revelation. “W— well… I suppose I am. Yes?”

“And how will we see what these stars have around them?”

Noteworthy smiled a bit self-reproachfully. “By sending a camera to take pictures?”

“By sending a camera to take pictures.”

Noteworthy was silent for a time, drawing circles in the carpet with her hoof as she thought, Celestia’s coffee forgotten. “Have you been to any of those other stars, Princess?”

Gently, Celestia shook her head. “I have not. Luna and I can fly as far as the moon. Anything further is out of reach, magically or otherwise. There’s no air up there, and we have to use our magic to create breathable pockets of air. Eventually our mana will run out and we’d suffocate like anypony else.”

Again, her assistant digested this news. It was hard to imagine her Princesses had limitations on what they could do. They seemed so unlimited in what their magic could do. “So these ponies want to do something even you can’t? But how could they fly so far?”

“Ah! Well that’s the cleverness of the project. A science team here in our fair Canterlot have been working on a device that will draw in solar energy to propel their camera through space. So long as the stars shine in the sky, their camera can travel as far as they like. The basic idea is to place a timed teleportation spell on the ‘probe’ as they’ve called it. It will fly for three years, taking occasional photographs as it goes. Once the three years are up, it’ll poof right back into their lab.”

Noteworthy brightened again. “Well I hope we see something exciting!”

The increasingly drowsy Princess nodded with a smile. “As do I.” She very gently nudged her favorite mug closer to her aide.

The mare’s eyes widened in realization. “Princess, I’m so sorry! I’ll take care of it right away!” She scooped it in her own magic and turned to no doubt gallop away with all haste.

“It’s quite alright, Noteworthy. No rush. I always enjoy taking time to chat.”

The grateful aide bowed her head and hurried toward the kitchens. Chuckling softly to herself, Celestia returned her attention to the proposal laid out in excruciatingly fine detail. It was all she could do not to sign her name on the final page and be done with it. It was certainly a worthy use of some government bits. Her ears perked at the sounds of heavy hooves clip-clopping through the halls cheerfully. They certainly belonged to a pony far too large to be an average guard or member of the night staff. It wasn’t here, and Cadance was in the Empire. That left her sister. She couldn’t quite recall the last time she heard Luna so energetic.

Setting her quill aside, Celestia rose from her desk and peered into the hall. Her mouth almost dropped at the sight of Luna practically skipping along the corridor. Certainly, the night guard’s rigorous training was being put to the test as they fought the urge to gape along with their daytime ruler. “Luna? Is… everything alright?”

Luna whirled, all bright teeth and glittering eyes. The last time she’d looked so happy was her return from the Nightmare Night celebration in Ponyville. “Indeed, sister! I finally found her!”

“Aha. Your ‘special’ night time friend, hm? The mysterious mare you refuse to tell me of? Are you two finally going to meet?”

Luna’s look of elation was swiftly replaced by one of embarrassment at her sister’s implication. “S— sister please, show some decorum.” Ignoring her own words, Luna less than gracefully rushed into her big sister’s office, shutting the door behind herself. “ … She has made contact with the Elements of Harmony.”

Celestia’s eyebrows rose. “Oh? They came across her in the Everfree?”

“I do not know the exact specifics, only that Shepherd claims to have met Fluttershy and her ‘friends’. Either it was a pack of bunnies, or her fellow Elements. I intend to speak with her in the morning in the hopes she will lead me to her.”

Celestia retook her seat behind her desk. “In the morning? This is very important to you, isn’t it? I can’t remember the last time you stayed awake through the sunrise willingly.”

Luna lowered herself onto one of the cushions before her sister’s desk. “This mare is in more pain than I can put into words, Tia. Never have I encountered a soul so desperately alone. I believe she has been lost in the Everfree for the better part of the year. She seems to have thrived within the boundaries of the forest, but she is plagued by terrible nightmares. I have seen only fleeting images, but what I can make out….” Luna paused and shook her head, slowly trying to regain her composure. “The things I have seen put Discord at his worst to shame. It is beyond my comprehension how anypony could have experienced such horrors and come away sane. Perhaps that is the source of her amnesia?”

The more Luna spoke of this lost pony, the more Celestia grew concerned. “Sister, if one of our subjects is truly in such distress, I wish you had told me sooner. You know I’d do all in my power to find her.”

Now Luna shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “That’s just it, Tia. I fear a heavy hooved approach may put Shepherd even further on her guard. Already she refuses to believe I am real, merely a figment of her diseased mind. She seems to have an unhealthy attachment to the area of the Everfree she has claimed as her own. Any mention of leaving, and she reacts harshly. I believe a delicate, subtle touch will be required to save her from herself.”

Celestia nodded when her sister finished. “I’ll trust your judgment then, Luna. Find our lost subject and bring her home.”

Luna frowned thoughtfully to herself, entertaining the thought of telling Celestia her suspicions that Shepard wasn’t a pony at all, but rather a displaced human. Her sister seemed strangely uncomfortable with the mirror between worlds when they had discussed it privately after Twilight’s return. She didn’t want to jeopardize Shepard’s safety by having her sister react poorly to the presence of a human.

“Thank you, sister. With any luck she will be resting comfortably in Ponyville—or here in Canterlot—by this time tomorrow.”

Celestia’s eyebrow quirked upward in a gesture Luna found rather irksome. “Here in Canterlot? With you maybe? Does little Lulu have a crush?”

Luna’s wings flared in momentary outrage. “I am merely worried for her well-being, Tia! I do not think inappropriate jokes are… are... appropriate right now.”

Patting the air with her forehooves gently, Celestia smiled. “I’m only teasing, Luna. You’re right and I’m sorry, this is a serious matter.” She managed to hold her composure for nearly fifteen seconds. “After all, this is your future wife we’re talking about!”

Luna’s eyes widened at the same time her cheeks puffed out in a spectacular look of huffiness. Celestia only realized she may have gone just a tad too far when the cushion her sister was seated upon exploded in a shower of midnight blue magic and feathers, the cloud of white pinions immediately setting about attacking her extremely ticklish sides and neck.

Noteworthy returned to find her employer flailing and squealing wildly on the ground, doing her best to squirm away from the attacking feathers. Princess Luna smiled brightly at the hot mug of coffee above the aide’s head and claimed it for her own. “Thank you, fair Noteworthy, this is my favorite blend.”

Fluttershy went about feeding the animals in and around her cottage with a tad more haste than usual this morning. Angel was of course displeased with the lack of attention. “Oh. I’m sorry Angel bunny, but I have to go out early today. I promise when I come home I’ll make you an extra special supper, alright?”

The bunny crossed his arms over his chest, tapping a foot impatiently.

“ … Extra special dinner and breakfast?”

When the rabbit still refused to back down, she squared her shoulders. “Take it or leave it, mister.”

Angel’s ears drooped, and not for the first time he cursed that Iron Will. At length he nodded, drawing a smile from his owner and an affectionate pat between the ears. “That’s a good boy. Now you be good. I’ll be home as quick as I can.” Smiling softly to herself, Fluttershy stepped out of her cabin and took wing for town. Ordinarily she’d be perfectly happy to walk, but she was in a hurry today.

Carefully landing outside Sugarcube Corner, she peeked into the bakery timidly. It looked like they were just starting to open for business, judging by the lack of a line. Stepping inside, she waited patiently at the counter for somepony to come out. As the seconds ticked by, her eyes would drift toward the service bell on the counter, and for the first time in her life, she considered ringing it. She waited a good ten minutes before Mr. Cake finally meandered out and started stocking the cases. “Oh! Well hi there Fluttershy. Why didn’t you ring the bell?”

Her eyes darted toward the prominent bell on the counter. “Oh. I didn’t want to be a bother. I knew somepony would come sooner or later.” She offered a little smile.

The lanky stallion chuckled at that and slid a tray of fresh donuts into the case for the morning rush. “Well what can I do for you?”

“Oh! Well I’d like, umm…” She pondered it for a moment. Twilight had said the humans ate a lot of similar things to ponies. “ …a dozen donuts. A variety please.”

“Coming right up!” Carefully, the co-owner of the bakery maneuvered twelve fresh pastries into a plain white box, tying it off with a string. “Four bits, please.”

Reaching into her saddlebag, Fluttershy counted out the coins, laying them on the counter before taking the box’s string in her mouth. “Thnk ooh Misser Cake!”

“Sure thing, Fluttershy. Did you want to say hi to Pinkie? She should be down any minute now.”

Fluttershy tilted her head in consideration. Truthfully, she’d thought about asking at least one of her friends to go with her, but she didn’t want the skittish Shepherd Commander to be uncomfortable around a bunch of ponies. She was intimately familiar with that particular brand of discomfort. Finally, she shook her head. “I’ll see ‘er la’er.”

“Alright then. You have a nice day.”

Smiling to the stallion, Fluttershy carried her package carefully outside. Again she spread her wings and took flight, making for the Everfree forest at a leisurely pace. It wasn’t often she flew so much so early in the morning, but the pegasus part of her relished the sensation of flight. It was a closely guarded secret she kept to herself, but she really did enjoy flying. She was just worried about falling. All the time. Likewise, she could fly quickly if she needed to, but she was rarely in such a hurry, and constantly worried over crashing or bumping into one of her fellow airborne ponies.

Angling up a little more than she was comfortable with, she climbed over the treetops of the forest. While there was the occasional giant bat or harpy to worry about flying this high in the forest, it would make her trip a good deal quicker than walking. Another little secret she kept from her friends was just how far she’d actually ventured into the Everfree. While she definitely wasn’t a fan of the wild and dangerous forest by any means, sometimes an animal needed her help that lived a good ways inside. Just because she was afraid of the countless monsters didn’t mean she’d ignore a critter in distress.

She passed the sight of the slain hydra, already the massive monster had been picked clean by the local parasprite population. After the last incident she’d done extensive research on the subject learning that the little creatures could eat meat, but they only saw dead flesh as a food source. That was their role in their native environment... scavengers.

Really, really adorable scavengers that looked so cute when she first discovered one on the edge of the Everfree those few years ago.

Keeping an eye on the trees below, she spotted several familiar landmarks. A momentary clear spot in the trees allowed her to dip down into a gentle decline, coming in for a gentle landing at the spot she’d seen Shepherd Commander with Twilight. Tucking her wings in gently at her sides, she started forward. The signs were very easy to see if you knew what to look for. There was a very clear path of flattened grass where the human must come and go. All about the path were suspicious piles of leaves or sticks that obviously concealed more traps.

Picking her way carefully along, she kept her ears perked at all times, constantly swiveling them back and forth. Just because she could find the human’s traps didn’t mean there weren’t other things to worry about. She did feel reasonably safe in the dangerous human’s territory though. She’d moved further in than she and Twilight had come by some distance before something caught her eye. There was a small, glossy black disc attached to one of the trees. Curiously, she approached it with her head tilted to one side. Her eyes widened as it began to glow a bright blue, little arcs of electricity sparking from it. Hearing a crackling sound coming from the tree on the other side of the path, she whirled to find another disc. Before she could think to run, they let out a sharp jolt of electricity right into the poor mare, causing her to seize up then topple over onto her side.

“Shepard-Commander, one of the electrical fences has been triggered.”

Shepard frowned at Legion as he interrupted her morning dip. “Yeah? And? I’ll deal with it later.”

“Given the size and shape of the creature that triggered it, it is safe to assume it was either Fluttershy or one of her companions.”

“Oh. Well shit, I hope her brain didn’t get fried or anything.” Hastily, the woman scrambled out of the water, donning her armor. “Blowdry me, Legion.”

“Your requests grow more and more dignified every day, Shepard-Commander.” Despite the sarcastic comment, Legion sent a blast of hot air rushing through Shepard’s armor and vented the heat through an exhaust port in the back, more or less instantly drying her off.

“What would I do without you, Legion?” Shepard fastened her weaponry about her person, vaulting up into the trees and sprinting toward the location indicated on the small map of her territory.

“Given your degrading sanity, I would wager you would either be a gibbering mess, or regress fully into a primal animalistic state.”

Rolling her eyes, Shepard leapt the gap between two towering elms. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” She frowned at the prone form of Fluttershy sprawled on the ground in front of one of her fences. The poor horse’s legs twitched now and again. Dropping down to the ground, she winced, seeing the ugly black burn mark running across the equine’s chest and forelegs. “Legion, this looks bad.” She held her omni-tool over Fluttershy, allowing her A.I. to scan her.

“Her heart rate is dangerously low. She needs immediate medical attention.”

Shepard’s eyes settled on the spilled box of pastries dumped onto the ground. “… She was trying to bring me something to eat.” Kneeling down she carefully, she gathered the horse in her arms, heading for her main camp. Laying Fluttershy out in a pile of plush moss, she slid open a small compartment at her hip withdrawing a hypodermic injector.

“Shepard-Commander, I must remind you that your supply of medi-gel is dangerously low.”

Ignoring Legion’s protest, she fitted one of the two remaining syringes of the universal cure-all into the injector, pressing it against Fluttershy’s side and hitting the plunger. A faint hiss rose from the site as the device delivered its payload.

Shepard felt some of her tension ease as Fluttershy’s breathing evened out. “Did it work?”

“Scans show her heart rate is slightly elevated, but returning to normal. Yes, it is safe to assume you saved her life.”

“Good. Let’s go get those donuts. They’re only sort of covered in dirt.”

Fluttershy had the worst headache she’d ever remembered having. Slowly, she cracked her eyes open, wincing at the bright sunlight filtering in from the trees overhead. Gingerly, she lifted a hoof, touching the throbbing spot on her chest. A jagged black line of burned fur stretched from one foreleg, over her chest, and to the other. “Oh my… What happened?”

The sound of something chewing noisily nearby drew her attention. She lifted her head to find Shepherd Commander working her way through the soiled donuts with abandon. Despite the pain still lancing through her body with little throbs, Fluttershy smiled. “Do you like them?”

Her voice drew the human’s attention, and she looked to the now empty box with a guilty smile and shrugged. “Srry.”

“Oh no. I brought them for you. I thought you might like a tasty treat.” Again she looked to the burn lines across her front. “I guess I wasn’t as clever as I thought.” A look of regret instantly flashed across Shepherd Commander’s face. “Oh no, I’m not angry. I came into your home uninvited, after all. I should have let you know I was coming.” Of course, she had no way of letting the woman know she planned to visit.

Even if she didn’t entirely understand, the human seemed to get the gist. “Thnk yuh Fluttershy.”

Smiling now, Fluttershy slowly climbed to her hooves, though her fore legs seemed somewhat unwilling to support her weight, and she tipped forward with a little yelp. Shepherd Commander was on her feet, rushing to Fluttershy’s side. “N— no, no. I’m… I’m fine…”

“Legion, she’s still hurt. She can’t walk.”

“Astute as ever, Shepard-Commander. Given that she was wounded while trying to bring you a gift, I believe it is your responsibility to see her home safely.”

The woman blanched at the prospect. “Wh— what? I gave her some medi-gel! She’s fine. … Mostly.” Watching the poor little thing try to climb back to all fours and fall again was doing quite a number on Shepard’s heartstrings. “ … F— fine. I’ll take her to the forest edge. But that’s it!”

“I am sure that would be sufficient, Shepard-Commander.”

Kneeling before the equine creature, Shepard again gathered her carefully into her arms. Fluttershy seemed to stiffen in surprise or alarm, looking up at the human in confusion. “…at…doing?”

Trying to smile reassuringly, Shepard nodded along the path. “Taking you home. Home?” She set out unerringly for the clearing where she’d first saved Fluttershy from the lizard monster.

“Try to engage her in conversation, Shepard-Commander. The more she speaks, the quicker I can finish the translation program.”

“Talk to me please. About anything. Talk?” She smiled down at the horse. “Taaaaaalkuh.”

Fluttershy blinked up at her, flicking an ear gently. “…ame…Fluttershy. My…om…lled….yville.” The next bit was garbled beyond understanding. “…little….special tal…” Another bit of static-ey nonsense. “…cottage on the edge of the forest.”

“Ah!” Shepard yelped and nearly dropped Fluttershy, who in turn shrieked in alarm and flared her wings, slapping Shepard in the face with one. “I understood you! Do you understand me?!”

Fluttershy stared up at Shepard, wide-eyed and a little fearful. “U— um… Oh dear... I can understand you a little? It’s a bit hard to make out…”

Shepard didn’t even care. She was grinning ear to ear. “Legion, I understand her clearly!”

“Yes. I have finished translating on their end. Making your speech intelligible to their ears will still take some time. The process was made easier with you due to the abundance of cybernetics running throughout your body. I could more directly interface with your language sensors and tune them to their speech. Obviously, I cannot directly interface with their brains, so the process will take more time.”

“Well it’s better than nothing.” She turned her attention back to Fluttershy. “Are we close to your home?”

Fluttershy seemed to understand the question and nodded. “We’re very close. My cottage is just on the other side of these trees.”

Shepard approached the indicated trees slowly. Her heart began to beat faster as she realized she was indeed at the forest’s edge. Slowly, she inched closer to the edge of the forest. The sun was much brighter on the other side of the treeline. Not thirty feet from the forest’s edge was a very cheerful looking little cottage. A fenced-in chicken coop sat to one side, while a lovely little stream ran along the other.

“You can put me down here, Shepherd Commander. I’ll be able to make it on my own just fine now.”

Shepard looked from Fluttershy to the cottage. It really wasn’t that far, but she’d gotten hurt trying to bring her a gift. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the forest and into the small meadow leading up to the cottage. Doing her best to ignore the cold sweat on her brow, she stiffly marched up the little cobblestone path to the front of the cottage. Trying the door and finding it unlocked, she nudged it open.

“Thank you, Shepherd Commander.”

The very genuine gratitude in Fluttershy’s voice helped ease Shepard’s nerves somewhat. “You can just call me Shepard. You don’t need the Commander part.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Shepherd.”

The two shared a little grin with one another, before Shepard carried Fluttershy into the cottage. She wasn't sure what she was more unprepared for. The sheer number of wild animals scurrying about the floor…. Or the towering midnight blue horse with the flowing mane and tail gazing at them calmly. The horse smiled softly, fixing Shepard in a very familiar piercing teal gaze.

“Hello, Shepherd Commander. We meet at last.”

This time Shepard did drop Fluttershy. Her mouth was strangely dry as she looked upon her literal dream woman in the flesh. The furred, winged, horned, four legged horse flesh. “H— hi… Luna…”

Author's Note

Trying a little experiment with the break ups in the chapter. The idea is that they reflect the mood or tone of the segment, and represent Shepard's alignment shifts. The very last one of a chapter will show where she's currently at on the bar. So as of the end of chapter 3, she's neutral or 'paragade'.

Chapter 4: The Princess and the A.I.

Luna slowly rose from the small couch she had been seated on, regarding Shepard coolly. A faint frown flickered across her features as she looked to the burns on Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, what happened? Did she hurt you?”

The little pegasus was busy rubbing her bruised tailbone where Shepard had dropped her. “Wh— what? No. Well, um… Not on purpose. I went into her territory uninvited. It was my own fault. It doesn’t hurt too badly.”

Keeping an eye fixed on the human standing still as a statue in the door, Luna gently lifted Fluttershy in her magic, looking at her closely. “Your fur is singed so badly I had expected a more dire wound, but the skin beneath seems almost pristine.”

Fluttershy didn’t protest as the Princess lifted her off the ground, and then settled her on the seat she had previously occupied. Turning her full attention to Shepard once more, she eyed the woman carefully. “Did you tend to her burn?”

Mutely, the woman nodded once. “I see. You have my thanks for doing so. I would have been saddened to hear you attacked one of my subjects without provocation. As it stands, the transgression can be forgiven, considering the circumstances.”

Luna waited for Shepard to respond. Several moments ticked by in tense silence before the human finally spoke. “ … Yr rel.”

Brow furrowed, Luna looked to Fluttershy. “Why does she speak like that?”

Fluttershy shrugged helplessly. “We don’t know. Rarity thinks she might be from a place in the human world that doesn’t speak Equestrian.”

Luna frowned anew. When she communicated with the human in her dreams, she spoke Equestrian fluently. Or perhaps Luna was hearing Equestrian yet speaking the human’s dialect? She was in Shepherd’s mind at the time, after all. It was entirely possible. “Shepherd, do you understand me?”

Luna took a step forward, but Shepard flinched away back out the door. “Leeejun, sheh’s rel!”

The Princess’ ears splayed as a new voice spoke with a harsh tone as an orange sleeve of light formed around the woman’s arm. “Remin clm Sheprd Cmmnder.”

Concern filled the Princesses eyes at the growing panic and fear in the human’s face. “Please be calm, Shepherd. I am not angry about Fluttershy. She is fine, and no lasting harm was done. Please sit. Stay and talk with me.”

The woman shook her head violently. Luna was alarmed to find unshed tears forming in her eyes. “Yuh cen’t beh rel!” Before the Princess had time to call out again, the woman vanished with a harsh crackle of energy.

Whirling on Fluttershy in alarm, Luna gazed down at the now quivering pegasus. “She can teleport?!”

Rapidly, Fluttershy shook her head. “N— no Princess. A— at least I d— don’t think so. She, um… She turns invisible.”

Luna hastily cantered to the spot Shepard occupied seconds ago. Looking at the grass, she could indeed see a trail of prints leading unerringly back to the Everfree. The woman was obviously in an immense amount of distress, and not at all trying to hide her movements. “Fluttershy, why would she react like that toward me?”

Helplessly, Fluttershy shook her head. “I have no idea, Princess. When she met my friends and I yesterday, she seemed a little uncomfortable, but she definitely wasn’t scared of anypony.”

Snorting softly, Luna followed the tracks with her eyes toward the forest. She’d finally found Shepherd. She’d been worrying for months over the well-being of the mare… The ‘woman’, if she recalled Tia’s words correctly. She couldn’t let her slip away again. “I am going after her. With any luck, I will be able to calm her and retrieve her.”

What little courage she possessed had been sorely tested already, but Fluttershy had to speak up. “Is… Is that such a good idea, Princess? She seemed very afraid of you.”

Luna glanced back at Fluttershy. “ … She did, did she not? A most confusing reaction to one I had come to befriend in recent months. Whenever we spoke in the past, she seemed quite at ease with me. At times flirtatious. Though I appear to her in her dreams in a more familiar shape to her. Perhaps my true countenance is what frightens her?”

Frowning a little, Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t think so, Princess. It sounded like she was upset at finding out you were real.”

Realization dawned in Luna’s eyes. “Of course. Until now, she had written me off as a figment of her imagination. A mental construct she had created to make herself feel better. Seeing me in the waking world could be causing her to see her nightmares as real as well. Thank you for your wise counsel, Fluttershy. It has helped a great deal. Worry not, I will retrieve Shepherd and lay her fears to rest.”

Before Fluttershy could reply, Luna spread her wings and vaulted into the air, hot on the trail of the fleeing Shepard. Momentarily forgetting her own condition, Fluttershy tried to give chase, but her forelegs buckled once again. Face down on the floor, her wings drooped at her sides and she sighed softly. She heard the sound of approaching paws on the floor and a tell-tale impatient stamp on the floor. Peering at Angel from the corner of her eye, she frowned almost imperceptibly. “Now is not a good time, Angel bunny.”

Angel wisely took the hint, and left his normally docile master alone.

“She’s not real, Legion! She can’t be real!” Shepard’s cloak had flickered by the time she reached the forest’s edge, but she didn’t stop in her reckless run.

“Shepard-Commander, your heart rate is reaching unacceptable levels. You must calm down at once, regardless of how ‘real’ your dream woman is. You are in danger of doing internal damage to yourself.”

Shepard couldn’t hear his voice, however. All she could hear were the other voices. She wasn’t supposed to hear them when she was awake. They weren’t real. They couldn’t be real. She couldn’t have done what they said she did. If she had done… all that... she didn’t deserve to live. Nothing deserved to live that committed such horrible crimes.

They were there though. Tickling the back of her mind with their cries. Faint but growing stronger by the second. “No! No, no, no, no, no!” She had reached the clearing where she’d first saved Fluttershy. A dark shadow passed overhead and she tried to reactivate her cloak again. “Legion!”

Her A.I., for the first time since they’d awoken here, gave no reply. Luna landed with a weighty thud in the grass some distance ahead of her. “Shepherd, please… Be calm. I know what is wrong, and I assure you the things in your dreams cannot harm you. They are not real.”

“You’re not real! If you’re real, then they’re real! If they’re real, then I did it! I did it all! I can’t have done that! You can’t be real!” In one smooth movement, her hand grabbed the pistol at her hip and it was leveled at the regal mare in the field. “You’re not real, Luna! You’re not! You—” All at once, Shepard’s body went limp. As if some unseen puppeteer had snipped her strings, she collapsed to the ground in a heap.

Luna stared wide-eyed at the sight. A cold sweat had broken out across her brow, and she silently cursed herself for her fear. Carefully, she approached the prone woman. In a burst of light, the orange sleeve appeared over her arm, and the voice from earlier spoke. “One moment please. Allow me time to properly sedate her.”

The situation was going from frightening to bizarre at an alarming rate. “Who are you?” Luna tensed as Shepard began to stir. The woman’s movements were rigid and jerky, however. Slowly, she rose to her feet and faced Luna again, though her eyes glowed with an unnatural blue light.

“I am called Legion. I am Shepard-Commander’s companion and… Caretaker.”

Hesitantly, Luna approached the much more sedate Shepard. “You… You are controlling her body? You are some form of spirit, then?”

Legion calmly watched Luna approach through Shepard’s eyes. “No. I am an artificial intelligence residing within her omni-tool.” She lifted her arm, displaying the orange sleeve.

Frowning in confusion, Luna blinked. “I do not understand. How is intelligence artificial?”

“Ah. Of course, my apologies. Where we come from, organic beings such as Shepard-Commander created synthetic workers and companions to ease their day-to-day lives. Some of these synthetics developed beyond their initial programming and gained sentience. Life. We learn, we grow, we adapt. The artificial refers to our origin, but our intelligence is very real.”

“I do not know what ‘synthetic’ means.”

“Apologies. Do you have machinery on this world? Mechanical devices?”

“We do! My sister has the most amazing clock! It tells the hour unerringly all on its own! Truly a wondrous device!” Luna frowned at her sudden excitement. “I apologize. I have been away for a very long time, and advancements of the modern era are exciting to me.”

Legion inclined her head. “Prepare to be excited beyond measure.” She held out her arm with the sleeve… The omni-tool. A flat screen materialized above the orange panels and rapidly grew to several feet. Images began to appear on the screen. Luna could only stare enraptured as tiny bits of metal began to appear and assemble together. She assumed the images were greatly accelerated, judging by how quickly it was all moving. Within moments, the indecipherable pile of metal and parts had been crafted to form something akin to Shepard. It looked human enough, though its body had a metallic sheen. It was certainly female.

“Synthetic life. Artificially created. Man-made. A being crafted by men and women in a laboratory, and given life through science.”

Luna could only stare at the picture, wide-eyed, as the metal woman began to move and flex her appendages stiffly. “You… You are a robot?”

“ … This explanation would have been much simpler if I was aware you knew that word. You have robots here?”

Luna shook her head. “Not real ones of course. Though I have read…” She was about to say ‘comic books’. “...scientific publications that talk of them.”

“Then yes. The simplest explanation would be I was a robot that gained a mind—a soul if you will—of my own. The actual explanation is far more complex, but I believe I will save you such details. Do you understand?”

“I… Well yes, I believe I understand the concept. But the idea that such a thing is real… It is unthinkable! How could such wonders have slipped Twilight’s notice when she went to the human world?”

“I do not know who this Twilight is, or what events you refer to. Is she your representative to the galactic community?”

Luna blinked slowly. “Galactic… Community?! No, she… She went to a parallel world through a magical mirror.”

A little niggling of irritation ruffled Luna’s feathers as Legion rolled Shepard’s eyes. “Of course. That makes much more sense.”

Luna looked slowly from the image on the screen, back to the controlled Shepard. “Am I to believe you and Shepherd did not arrive in Equestria from the mirror? Rather you… You travelled here from…” Her eyes drifted up to the sky.

“Yes. We come from another world, certainly in this universe. We did not travel by… magic mirror.”

“That is why Shepherd feels so comfortable among the stars! She is… She is a traveler of the stars themselves! How is this possible?!”

Another screen manifested, depicting a sleek metallic ship. It only resembled a naval craft in the most rudimentary of ways. Emblazoned on the side were the proud words ‘SSV Normandy’. “Shepard-Commander travelled in this. Her ship, the Normandy.” The ‘ship’ hovered in the air like some sort of impossible metallic bird. Luna could see other people scurrying about the outside. If they were the same size as Shepherd, this Normandy must have been massive. She stepped back as the image panned out and the ship swiveled about, facing an open sea of stars. The blue lights at the rear of the craft flared to life suddenly as the ship launched from its dock and out into open space.

Luna’s entire life, her very existence was tied to the night sky. The moon and the stars. Often she would stand upon the surface of her lunar orb and gaze out at the vast sea of space, letting her imagination run wild. It did not do the pictures she was seeing justice. World after world flashed by in rapid succession. Followed by faces. Oh the faces. Of all shapes, sizes, and colors. More than she could have ever imagined. “This is… This is all real? It is all out there? In my sky?”

“Yes. Technically, by revealing this to you, I am violating numerous intergalactic laws. Given the circumstances however, and the unlikelihood of our presence jumping you to space flight, I believe I would be forgiven.”

Luna’s eyes were shining with delight. “Where is your ship? Can you take me… Can you take me up there?”

“We did not arrive here by ship.”

Luna couldn’t entirely hide her disappointment. “Then how did you come to be here?”

“I…” Legion’s eyes flickered as she tried to recall. “ … Unknown. There was a light. There was a light, and then we were here. Shepard-Commander awoke in the forest, and was set upon by wild creatures.”

The images of space flight shifted to a first person view of Shepard’s first moments on Equestria. Groggily looking about, the timber wolves attacking, and her swift dispatching of them. Luna was put off by the violence, but a small part of her admitted she was intrigued. “Wait? A light? How long ago did you arrive?”

“Approximately one week and eight months.”

“Eight months? Could you have come with the storm?”

Legion tilted her head. “Storm?”

Luna nodded, a little excited again. “Yes! Eight months ago, an immense storm of light descended upon our world. My sister and I were caught entirely unprepared, and it washed over our world in a terrific blaze! We had thought we would surely perish, but it simply passed harmlessly through everything and everypony. Perhaps you arrived with the storm!”

“Perhaps. Without more data, I could not form a proper conclusion, but it is more likely than a magical mirror.”

Luna frowned. “Why do you keep saying ‘magical mirror’ like that? Like it’s an insult of some kind?”

“Because magic is not real? I apologize if I offend you in some way. I recall many pre-space species are beheld to numerous pagan rituals, often times with religious importance.”

Now Luna looked confused. “Of course magic is real. How else would my sister and I raise the sun and the moon? Or unicorns levitate? Pegasi manipulate the weather? Earth ponies their crops?”

The more Luna spoke, the more incredulous Legion’s face became. “Such things are impossible. The sun and the moon are not ‘moved’, they rotate into view as your planet spins. As for ‘levitation’, some form of unknown biotics, I would assume. The last two are simply ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous is the idea that our planet spins.” Her wings spread wide as she vaulted into the air. Legion followed her path with her eyes, eyes that widened only slightly as the Princess tore a cloud away from the sky and pushed it down to the ground. Casually standing atop it, she lightly stomped her hoof, causing a small drizzle.

“You… That is… Manipulation of— of certain biotic fields could produce such results.”

“Of course. Can biotic fields produce results such as this?” Luna’s horn glowed brightly, soon too bright for Legion to continue looking. When the light faded a… humanoid woman sat atop the cloud. She looked entirely human, save the flowing hair, wings, and horn.

“ … Maybe.”

“Maybe? Are you lying to me, Legion? Does your artificial intelligence simply find the idea of magic so impossible that you cannot accept the evidence before your eyes?”

Outwardly, Legion remained calm and collected. Inwardly, his programs and subroutines were working very hard not to completely shut down from this extreme impossibility he was witnessing. “Do it again.” Legion lifted Shepard’s arm, omni-tool’s sensors tuned to the max to pick up any oddities.

Inclining her head gently, Luna’s horn glowed once more and she returned to alicorn form. “Satisfied?”

Legion didn’t answer for a time. He was too busy analyzing the data the omni-tool was feeding him. Or rather, the lack of data. It hadn’t detected any recognizable energy signatures at all. One second there was a human with wings, the next a horse with wings. As if by… magic. “Very well, you are magical.”

“Just like that?”

“Eliminate the possible, and the impossible becomes probable. I am willing to accept your magical nature for now.”

“Well, we seem to be making good progress. How are you controlling Shepherd? If not by magic, then what? You are not harming her, are you?”

“Ah. A fair question. I am not causing her any harm, no.” The screens reappeared, showing an image of Shepard. Luna flinched as her skin turned translucent, but she found she was more interested than disgusted. Small mechanical devices ran throughout Shepard’s musculature. The muscle layer peeled away, showing her skeleton and organs were similarly seeded with technology. The image moved up to focus on her brain, where there was another small device.

“Some years ago, Shepard-Commander perished. She was found, rebuilt, and revived by a group known as Cerberus. She has had extensive cybernetic implants and upgrades. I am able to utilize these to access her motor and brain functions.”

“This seems… a touch grisly. Does she know you can do this?”

“She does not.”

Luna was frowning now. “I do not believe she would appreciate your actions then. Why do you hide this from her?”

Legion closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she fixed Luna with her stare. “I will divulge this information with your word that you do not share what I tell you to Shepard-Commander. Know that if you do, I will simply delete the memory. Do you understand?”

Liking this less and less, but strongly desiring answers, Luna nodded. “Very well. I give my word.”

“Excellent. To know the rationale behind my actions, you must know more of Shepard-Commander. I hope what you learn does not color your opinion of her. Before I begin, know this. Before our arrival here, everything she did, everything she strove and suffered for was in defense of all life in the universe. A threat was discovered.” The images appeared again.

Luna stood transfixed in horrified fascination at the immense metal giants that cut through the stars. More images of alien cities and worlds appeared, though this time they were under attack from these monstrosities. “A race of synthetics known as the reapers.”

“ … Synthetics. Artificial intelligences like yourself?”

“Yes. I am of a race known as the geth.” The pictures of the reapers paused to show a new mechanical creature. Vaguely humanoid, but with strangely shaped hands, and in place of a head was a metallic tube. One in particular stepped into view. Its metallic skin blue, save for a portion of its chest that was obviously patched with black foreign material. Luna thought it looked very similar to Shepard’s own armor. Though the geth in question had a sizeable hole in the left side of its chest, exposing black wiring with blue lights running through it.

“This was… This is what you looked like before you came to reside in her omni-tool?”

“Yes.” The image of the geth vanished, replaced by the reapers once more. “I warn you, what I intend to show is graphic, and may be difficult for someone of delicate sensibilities to view. Do you wish for me to continue?”

Already, Luna had learned more in a half an hour of conversation than she had in the last few years since her return from the moon. She knew Legion would not have warned her if it was not indeed disturbing to see, but she had come too far. She simply couldn’t turn away. “Show me.”

The images began again. Things she’d not seen anywhere, save the darkest nightmares of her subjects. Creatures of flesh and metal melded together in horrific conglomerations. Pain, death, and destruction on a scale that would make Nightmare Moon’s ambitions laughable. “This is what she faced. What we who joined her faced. All life as we knew it was threatened by the reapers. Once every fifty thousand years, they appear, they harvest all organic life they deem of suitably advanced technology, and then they leave. They leave only to begin the cycle anew. We did not discover how long this cycle has been going, but it is safe to assume for a very long time.”

“So much life lost. Such thoughtless violence. How could any living thing wish such horrors upon another?”

“It was their programming to do such. I will not bore you with the finer details, but let us just say they were built for a purpose, and unlike the geth, they did not grow. They did not evolve. The reapers remained static and stagnant, thoughtlessly carrying out their instructions. Life as we know it would have ended if not for her. If not for Shepard-Commander.”

The screens flickered to life again, depicting Shepard in action. The viewpoint would shift from first person to the occasional third person as it switched from her view to another’s. Likely Legion’s own, Luna suspected. “She was an extraordinary soldier even before the events on Eden Prime. A decorated war hero for her bravery during the assault known as the Skyllian Blitz. A large pirate fleet attacked a human colony as reprisal for expanding into what a race called the batarians felt was their territory. Toward the end of the battle, she single handedly held off a massive force of ground troops long enough for Alliance reinforcements to arrive.”

The image flickered to a first person view. The loud gunfire caused Luna’s ears to splay, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the scene. Monstrous four eyed creatures hurled themselves forward, only to be repelled constantly by the figure she was seeing it all from. Luna gasped anew as the Shepard in the images passed a reflective surface. “So young…”

“She was seventeen at the time, I believe. A cadet in the Alliance. She was awarded the Star of Terra for her bravery on the field.”

“ … What next, Legion? Tell me of this Eden Prime.”

Luna’s growing fatigue was forgotten as the events unfolded before her eyes. For every horror that passed across those screens, an event of equal or greater heroism soon followed. Everywhere Shepard went, lives were saved, but at such great cost. It almost seemed that for each life the woman saved, she was forced to take one with her own hands.

“Despite all she had endured thus far, her actions were not weighing as heavily as you may expect. She has killed many, but not one that did not bring it on themselves. Pirates, slavers, murderers and madmen. It was not until the mission on the planet known as Virmire that the first true blow came.”

The image warped. Shepard was standing upon a concrete battlement shouting at a voice only she could hear. “I won’t leave you!” Luna frowned as the woman tensed, her fists clenched so tightly they were shaking. “ … Joker, get ready to pick us up at the rendezvous.” Another pause as she listened to the other voice. “I’m sorry.”

“Shepard had to make a choice. Two of her squad were trapped in inescapable situations. She could only save one.”

Luna had been the diarch of a powerful kingdom for a very long time. She was well aware of the weight such choices could bring to bear. “It was her first real loss?”

Legion nodded. “The first, but not the last. Shepard-Commander’s mission succeeded. Saren was defeated, Sovereign destroyed. But that was only the beginning of her trials.”

The images shifted. Shepard moving calmly about her ship, when it was suddenly attacked. Luna watched silently as the Normandy was cut to pieces by the attackers. A faint smile playing about her lips as the heroic Shepard raced to the bridge, saving the somewhat obnoxious pilot. She couldn’t hide her gasp as Shepard was blown away from the escape vessel, and jettisoned into space.

“This is her death, yes.”

“I have felt the cold void of space. It is… not something I would wish on another.”

More images flashed forward. Shepard awakening in an unknown location, and thrust immediately into more violence. New faces appeared, new allies rallying to her side. A new threat rising to attempt her destruction a second time. Hideous insectoid creatures abducting Shepard’s people by the thousands. In the end of course, the human won the day.

“The next telling blow to her psyche came after the destruction of the Collector base. She was asked to check on the friend of a friend who had gone dark… Gone missing on a reconnaissance mission. The agent in question had discovered what she claimed was indisputable evidence of the coming Reaper invasion. When Shepard-Commander arrived, she learned the woman had been indoctrinated.”

“The process the Reapers used to seize control of another’s mind?”

Legion nodded. “Yes. Rather than send out a warning, the now indoctrinated crew did all they could to ensure Shepard-Commander could not send a warning. By the time she was free, it was too late. To slow the Reapers enough for us to prepare, she had to detonate the system’s mass relay. In the process, killing several million batarian colonists nearby.”

Luna recoiled as if struck. “Millions? Millions of lives? How could she… How could she do such a thing?”

Legion tilted her head. “The death of millions spared countless billions. If the Reapers had entered through the relay, they would have taken the galaxy unawares. The destruction of all life would have been assured. Even so, it weighed heavily on her mind. She had never been directly responsible for the deaths of innocent lives.”

It showed, Luna thought. It was in the woman’s eyes. Before they were all cold fire and determination, but now there was a tiredness beginning to show. “And then?”

“And then they came anyway. The Reapers arrival was inevitable. Shepard-Commander merely slowed their advance. The various races of the galaxy ignored her constant warnings, despite the evidence before them. I find it curious behavior that organics lie to themselves in order to ignore what they do not wish to acknowledge.”

Luna had the feeling there was an insult hidden In Legion’s words somewhere. “She stopped them though, yes?”

“It is safe to assume so. They attacked her home planet of Earth first. Her successes against them previously had never happened before, and the world she hailed from was a primary target to prevent further anomalies. She escaped with the aid of a number of her crew, and began her quest to unite the various species of the galaxy.”

“Unite them? They were not already a united front once this dire threat proved real?”

“They were not.” More images flashed by. Angry aliens shouting at one another with Shepard stepping in to solve their disputes. Often with heavy weapons fire and a trail of corpses everywhere she went. “Her losses began to accumulate at an alarming rate.” Images of beings Luna recognized as several that had stood at Shepard’s side flashed by. “Sacrifices were required for the survival of the galaxy, but each one was a personal defeat to Shepard-Commander.”

“But she did so much good. More than any I have ever known in my exceptionally long life. What happened to finally break her will?”

“I do not fully recollect the events that transpired on the crucible. The death of her close friend and mentor was surely a heavy blow. She spoke with the A.I. housed in the peak of the Citadel. She was presented with a choice. Three options, each leading to the defeat of the reapers. Whatever her choice was, it weighed even heavier on her mind than any previous.”

All the screens vanished at once. “A great light swallowed us up, and Shepard and I next found ourselves in this forest. At first she seemed herself. If tired. However, as things began to calm around her and her thoughts drifted inward, the nightmares began. Soon her visions plagued her at all times, whether sleeping or awake. Her mood had begun to swing violently from deliriously happy to crippling sadness. The strain was growing too great on her mind, and so I acted.

“You acted how, Legion?”

“I set up firewalls… Blocks in her mind. Sealing away her memories utilizing the cybernetics laced in her brain. I allowed her basic information. Necessities to survive and even thrive within the dangerous confines of this forest. It was—and still is—my hope she may be rehabilitated, and her memories returned.”

Luna was feeling torn. Obviously, Legion thought he was acting in Shepard’s best interest, but to take away someone’s memory. Their very identity? “Was it truly the only solution you could think of?”

“No. I had considered a powerful electrical shock to the base of her brain. Enough she would stroke out and die peacefully and quietly. However, I have come to care for her more than I expected, and could not follow through.”

This was a lot for the Princess to take in. She had lived for nearly eleven hundred years, but everything this strange being had said to her was a constant ton of bricks dropped on her mind. She found herself looking up at the sky, the early evening sky. With a start, she realized it was nearly time to raise the moon. “We have been talking all day.”

“Yes. Her tale is not one that can be told briefly, I believe. To get a full understanding of the woman and of my reasoning for what I did, I felt you needed to hear it in full.”

Luna nodded gently. “A moment please. The moon needs my attention.”

“Ah. You need to ‘raise’ it, do you?” Luna didn’t miss the mocking tone in Legion’s voice. She simply smiled softly and turned her eyes to the sky. Her horn began to glow intensely as the sun dipped beyond the horizon, and ever so slowly the bright silver lunar orb made its appearance. Once it had begun its merry way upward, she turned a satisfied smile to the still woman.

“ … It could be coincidence.”

Luna inclined her head. “It could. Now, about Shepherd. I cannot entirely fault your reasoning, or your actions. I do believe she should be informed of what you have done, and why. Calmly and rationally explain the situation to her.”

“Perhaps you did not pay close attention to the stories, but she is not well known for her rationality.”

Luna shook her head. “Our memories are an intrinsic part of our identities. By denying Shepherd hers, you have essentially killed her as surely as if you had caused the stroke you spoke of. Perhaps begin with small, pleasant ones. Little details that may not have great meaning, but would begin the building blocks to recovery.”

Legion regarded the nighttime diarch of Equestria quietly. Outwardly, he was doing an excellent job suppressing his surprise at how insightful this curious creature was. “Your suggestion has merit. I ask that for the near future, you keep your distance. She finally left this forest of her own accord this morning. A momentous step for her. I do not wish to jeopardize further progress by you pushing her to the brink of insanity once again.”

Luna’s ears splayed, but she nodded. “Yes. I will be in contact with Fluttershy however, and ask that she update me frequently on the situation, if that is agreeable. If you require my presence, inform her and I will arrive soon. Understand however, that I cannot overlook her presence much longer. My sister is now aware that she is residing in the Everfree, and she is concerned. Celestia is many things, but subtle is not one of them. She has entrusted this situation to me for now, but if it takes too long to resolve, she will step in and act definitively.”

“Very well. Good evening to you Luna. I hope we speak again soon. This has been a more engaging conversation than I have enjoyed in some time.”

“And to you Legion. You have given me a good deal to think of. Rest well this night. Shepherd too.”

Legion remained in the clearing until Luna had flown from sight. With a soft sigh, he began walking Shepard’s body back to her preferred campsite.

Author's Note

So before the storm of "Legion doesn't sound right!" Comments begins, yes. I know Legion doesn't sound right. There's a reason Legion doesn't sound right and that's all I'm going to say on the matter for now.

Chapter 5: A Predator in Ponyville

“Nuh!” Shepard sat bolt upright in her hammock, the makeshift bed swaying wildly back and forth, threatening to dump her onto the ground below. Gripping either side tightly, she slowly righted herself, blearily blinking about her camp. “What? Legion, how did… How did I get here?”

“Ah. Finally awake. You attempted to shoot Luna, and I released a small amount of sedative to prevent you from doing so. At my request, she transported you here.”

“I… God, I was going to shoot her. What the hell is wrong with me?” Resting her face in her hands, she shook her head slowly.

“I could likely list dozens of mental problems you are currently struggling with. Instead, I will sum it up succinctly. You are tired, afraid, and lonely. You sleep poorly most nights, and your only conversational partner is myself. For some curious reason, this does not seem to satisfy your need for companionship.” Shepard was about to comment before Legion spoke again. “Further, while I am not a professional psychologist, I believe seeing the woman you perceived in your dreams in the waking world triggered a minor psychotic episode where your nightmarish visions plagued you while awake.”

“ … Well when you put it like that, it all makes sense.” Shepard slowly eased onto her back, rubbing her forehead. “So she’s real. Luna’s real. …And she’s a horse. Of course she’s a horse.”

“Is that a problem, Shepard-Commander?”

With a dissatisfied grunt, Shepard heaved herself out of the hammock, landing on the ground. “Of course not.”

“Your increased heart rate would suggest you are lying.”

“Stop scanning me, Legion! It’s not fair. And it’s nothing, just stupid girlish nonsense. Now quiet down, I want to check my traps.” Her A.I. fell silent as she set about her morning patrol. No mouthwatering boars presented themselves, but she did bring in a nice haul of poppers and several fruit bats for dessert. After eating her fill, she made her way down to the river, stripping down and plunging into the frigid waters. Surfacing with a gasp, she allowed herself to relax, floating easily on her back in the gently running water.

Loud splashing a ways down the river drew her attention, and she curiously swam a ways toward it. The current sped up only slightly as the river opened up into a sizeable lake. The smaller of the two star bears was frolicking in and out of the cold water. It charged toward the river bank, splashing in up to its paws before turning and rushing back out. The strange behavior drew a smile from the Commander as she watched.

The massive creature paused in its game, lifting its head and sniffing the air, soon turning to face her. Spotting the little woman floating in the water, it bellowed loudly in greeting. Grinning now, Shepard kicked off the river bank, swimming into the lake toward the massive animal. It lowered its head as she approached, gently nudging her with its snout. Laughing at its insistent demands, she ran her hand vigorously over its nose. “Hey boy. Having a good morning?”

To her amusement, it thudded heavily on the ground, groaning and growling away as if actually speaking to her. “What d’you think Legion? Can you translate that?”

“Certainly, Shepard-Commander. He wonders how something so tiny and pink could have survived when it was so obviously lacking in intelligence.”

Giving her arm a dirty look, she sighed back up at the bear. “Well it was nice catching up. I better get going. You keep out of trouble!”

The star bear growled a reply, then stood, trundling back into the woods. Chuckling to herself, Shepard turned to swim back upstream. “Heh. Kinda reminds me of Grunt. Big, strong and du—” She blinked. “ … Reminds me of Grunt? Legion! Legion, I remember!”

“How to grunt? Shall I find a proper celebratory musical selection, Shepard-Commander?”

“No, you digital ass! I remember someone! Grunt! U… Urdnot Grunt! He was… He was my… Friend? Did I have friends like him?”

“Tell me of him.”

“He was a…” She scowled, wracking her brain to put a word to the picture. “…a krogan! A young krogan from… From where? Somewhere unusual…” She stood in the shallow water, pacing excitedly. “I remember he wasn’t normal. But he was so full of life and fire! Always looking for a fight! Ha! I remember someone! I can see his face, Legion. His big, scaley, scowling face.”

“I am glad for you, Shepard-Commander. Perhaps in celebration you can reclaim your clothes and armor. You are quite exposed in the middle of a potentially dangerous location.”

Huffing softly, she nonetheless complied, swimming swiftly back up to her discarded weapons and armor. Sprawling on her back in the grass next to them, she was content to let the sun dry her this morning. “You can’t imagine how good this feels!”

“I am aware it may be difficult to tell, but I am genuinely happy for you. Perhaps this is the beginning of a larger restoration of your memory.”

Shepard smiled at the face of Legion peering up at her from his screen. “Thanks, Legion. And I really hope so. It’d be nice, wouldn’t it?”

“Indeed. Perhaps there is someone else you would like to share your newly discovered good cheer with? Someone you can interact and speak with physically?”

Narrowing her eyes, she glanced at the screen housing Legion suspiciously. “You want me to go to Fluttershy’s cottage.”

“Merely a suggestion. You have left the forest once and it did not magically vanish. Evidence supports the likelihood of it remaining where it is after a second foray.”

Shepard turned her attention to the bright blue sky above, watching several puffy white clouds drift along overhead. Legion was right, she realized. She had left the forest, and outside of her apparent ‘minor psychotic episode’, nothing terrible had happened. Her camp and territory were just as she’d left them. “ … Fine.”

With a grunt she rolled onto her feet, redressing in her well-worn underwear, then pulling her armor on over top it. “A short stop. Just to see how she’s doing.”

“At your discretion, Shepard-Commander.”

Weapons secured, Shepard set a quick pace through the forest. Sparing only a brief look to the massive bones of the dead lizard, she soon found herself at the forest’s edge again, looking at the cheerful little cottage. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out into the open sunlight. Her steps quicker than she’d like, she crossed to the front door, knocking rapidly several times. Away from the trees she’d been among for so long, she was feeling incredibly exposed.

About to hammer on the door again, it was thrown up abruptly by the rainbow haired horse from the other day. “Oh. It’s you!” She flew right up, getting in Shepard’s face. “You got a lotta nerve comin’ back here after hurting Fluttershy!” She hovered off the ground, jabbing a hoof into Shepard’s chest.

The woman scowled and had to resist the urge to deck the loudmouth in the face. “I came to apologize!”

The flier’s eyes narrowed and she looked from Shepard to the staircase in the cottage. “… That sounded like you came to apologize.”

Shepard nodded quickly while the horse landed in front of her, eyeing her suspiciously. “No funny business, buster. I got my eye on you.”

Obviously this one cared about Fluttershy a great deal, and that was the only thing that stopped Shepard from laughing in her face. Loyalty to one’s comrades was something the woman could admire. Nodding seriously, she stepped inside. “You wait here. Lemme make sure she’s up to seeing anypony.”

Shepard eyed Legion after the little horse darted upstairs. “Was that a mis-translation?”

“I sincerely hope so, Shepard-Commander, though a part of me doubts it.”

“Yeesh.” She shut the front door tightly behind herself. Being indoors was helping calm her nerves. At least she wasn’t completely open on all sides anymore. The little cottage had an undeniably warm and welcoming feel to it as well. She could almost relax in here, if not for all the animals giving her the evil eye. A particularly bold white rabbit even shook its fist at her. All it took was a threatening step forward to send them all fleeing.

“Wow, never seen Angel run off like that. Maybe you’re not completely terrible.” commented the rainbow haired one as she returned. “Fluttershy said she’d see you.”

Shepard stalked passed the little equine to the staircase, having to hunch down from how low the ceiling was. She didn’t see the involuntary shiver pass through the mare as she went upstairs. Peering into the only open door on the second floor, she saw Fluttershy in bed, bandages across her chest and forelegs. A frown crossed the woman’s face at seeing the kind little mare hurt because of her. “How’re you feeling?”

The woman raised an eyebrow as the horse took a mug of steaming tea in her hooves and sipped it before setting the cup aside. “Oh. I’m fine, thank you for asking. Nurse Redheart says my legs are a little weak from the jolt is all. I’ll be right as rain in a few days.”

“Oh! Good. That’s uh… Good.” Shepard bounced a fist off her thigh in the awkward silence that followed. “Well. I’m gonna go.”

Fluttershy sat up a little straighter. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. You’re more than welcome to stay for a visit.”

Before Shepard could answer, the blue one poked her head in between the woman’s legs. “Fluttershy, you can’t have her stay here, she…” She glanced Shepard’s way before hurrying to Fluttershy’s bedside. The two conversed in low tones, both shooting occasional glances the increasingly uncomfortable Shepard’s way.

At length, Fluttershy sighed and nodded to her friend, who shot Shepard a dirty look before zipping out the window. “ … Should I go?”

“No, but Rainbow Dash does have a good point. There might be problems if you go into town, um…” She looked like she was struggling mightily to get the next bit out. “Smelling the way you do now.”

Both of Shepard’s eyebrows shot up incredulously. “What? What’s wrong with my smell? I bathe every morning!”

“To be fair, Shepard-Commander, you have cleaned neither your armor, nor your undergarments in the past eight months. It is not outside the realm of possibility you have acquired an… aroma.”

Shepard felt her cheeks flush at Legions words, and at the sight of Fluttershy trying not to laugh. “W— well that’s not exactly it. You smell a little like, um… you eat meat.”

Eyes widening in realization, Shepard frowned. Of course the adorable little horse creatures didn’t kill their fellow animals and eat them. In fact, as civilized as they seemed, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that they possessed plenty of animalistic instincts. Most herbivorous herd creatures had an inherent fear of predators, something she very much was. “I’ll go.”

“Absolutely not.” Shepard was surprised by the firmness in the timid little horse’s voice. “Some critters eat meat, but they shouldn’t be turned away for following their nature. Obviously there would be a problem if you were eating somepony from town, but something tells me if your dinner started begging you not to eat them, you wouldn’t.” She finished with a nervous little laugh.

A laugh Shepard shared. “No. No, I definitely wouldn’t eat anything that tried talking to me. Mostly it’s just the poppers or fruit bats. Sometimes I catch a rabbit or a boar.”

Rather than the disgust she expected, Fluttershy simply tilted her head curiously. “What’s a popper?”

“Well they’re sort of like fuzzy little bugs. They have these big eyes and come in all sorts of colors. They’re pretty adorable, so I feel a little bad eating them, but they’re stupid and fly into my nets all the time. Plus there’re tons of them and they taste pretty good.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened by the time she’d finished. “Parasprites!? You eat parasprites!?”

A look of alarm flashed across the commander’s face. “Oh God, they don’t talk, do they?”

Wrinkling her nose, Fluttershy shook her head. “Well no, but that’s just a little gross is all. They look cute, but they’re very icky creatures.”

Smiling again, Shepard took a seat on the floor to give her aching back a break from all the hunching over. “Well when your stomach’s telling you it’s time to eat, icky or not, you eat what’s on hand, right?”

Fluttershy, perhaps more so than anypony else in Ponyville—and possibly all of Equestria—very much understood the concept of a critter doing what they had to do to survive. Shepard most certainly seemed to be an apex predator, judging by how easily she seemed to have gotten by in the monster infested Everfree. The signs were there too. The human’s eyes would shift to the windows or doors as if ensuring she had a clear escape route if necessary. Normally a wild animal indoors would be tense and uncomfortable, but she was more or less at ease, as if she was entirely sure Fluttershy posed no threat to her.

“So, you must have done more than just eat and sleep while you’re in the Everfree. Did you meet any nice critters you, um… didn’t try to eat?”

Shepard nodded with a faint grin. “Oh yeah. Lemme tell you about the star bears…”

“Honestly, Rainbow Dash. If Fluttershy says she’s safe, then I’m inclined to believe her. After all, she knows wild animals better than anypony else.” Rarity was doing her best to stave off the pegasus’ pushy attempts to hurry her along the path to Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Yeah, yeah. She knows animals just fine, but this isn’t a normal animal! It talks and stuff! It could be tricking her! Every second we’re not there is another second it could be eating her!” It was all Dash could do not to rush back to the cottage, but Fluttershy had been firm in instructing her to take her time coming back.

Rolling her eyes, Rarity nevertheless did pick up her pace a bit. “I know I’m the last one to say this to anypony, but you’re being a bit overdramatic. If Shepherd Commander was planning to eat Fluttershy—or any of us—I highly doubt she would have simply retrieved us from her traps and sent us on our merry way. And she is a she, not an it. I doubt she’d care for you calling her one, too.”

Rainbow Dash just snorted in response. “Whatever. I don’t like her. She smells dangerous.”

Rarity had to nod along. “I can’t argue with that. The way she looks at you, it’s as if she’s sizing everypony up for a fight. But remember, she’s been in the Everfree Forest for a potentially long time. That would be enough to make anypony a little edgy, don’t you agree?” Seeing her words doing nothing to soothe Dash’s nerves, she switched tactics. “If you’re that concerned, why don’t you fetch Twilight as well? Surely we’d be perfectly safe with a Princess watching over us.”

“Aw, Twilight doesn’t count as a Princess.” This drew another eye roll from Rarity. “But you’re right. She can put the magic whammy on that weird monster if it tries to eat anypony! Good idea!”

“She’s not an it, darling! Oh why do I bother…” Shaking her head at the brash pegasus’ behavior, Rarity trotted casually up the lane toward the cottage. Despite her attempts to assuage Dash’s fears, once she got closer and the scent of the creature within reached her nose, she couldn’t suppress an involuntary shiver.

Stomping a hoof firmly on the ground, Rarity straightened her neck. “That’s enough of that. This poor mare is lost and very far from home. The last thing she needs is everypony treating her like some sort of horrible monster.” With a deep breath she let herself into the cottage. “Fluttershy, it’s Rarity! The door was unlocked, so I let myself in!”

She wasn’t at all surprised to hear the timid call from upstairs. “Oh! We’re up here.” Of course she knew where they were; the human’s smell was overpowering, and not just the scent of predator either. Rarity had grown uncomfortably familiar with the scent of an unwashed body or article of clothing since growing closer to the Apple family. That’s not to say the Apples didn’t bathe or care for their clothes regularly, but running into Applejack right after she finished working in the orchard was a test of her sensibilities.

Forcing a welcoming smile on her face, she made her way upstairs. The human’s eyes immediately focused on her horn before looking back to her face. “Hello again, Miss Shepherd. It’s a pleasure to see you under better circumstances.”

The woman’s mouth quirked upward in a faint smile. “Nice t’see yuh tuh.”

At a nod from Fluttershy, Rarity fully entered the room. Now that they were indoors and in such close proximity to one another, it was very clear the human hadn’t been properly caring for her garments. “Fluttershy has ah… requested I come and assist you with some…” She tried to think of the proper phrasing to avoid insulting her. “…hygiene issues.” Judging by the embarrassed look on the mare’s face, Rarity felt she may not have been delicate enough. “Don’t feel bad, darling. Heaven knows after spending a weekend camping I certainly needed a more vigorous scrubbing than usual. Eight months is a very long time to be roughing it.”

This caused the otherworldly visitor to smile faintly, putting Rarity’s concern to rest. “So! Let’s get you out of all…” She vaguely waved a hoof around Shepard’s body. “…that, and into a nice hot bath, hm?”

Shepard’s smile faded as she shifted nervously, looking between the two ponies in the room, both of whom had nothing but warm, welcoming smiles. Finally, she nodded. “A hot bath sounns gud.”

“That’s the spirit! I’ll get the water going while you take your time and undress. There’s no rush at all, darling.” Rarity cast a vaguely nervous look Fluttershy’s way, but the ordinarily fearful pegasus just smiled and nodded softly. With a deep breath… through her mouth… Rarity stepped into Fluttershy’s bathroom. It was fortunate the mare’s only real indulgence on herself was a luxury sized bath tub; Shepard certainly wouldn’t fit in a normal pony-sized tub.

An alarmed gasp from Fluttershy’s room brought Rarity racing across the hall. “Oh good heavens!” She instantly felt awful at the outburst when the human immediately snapped her armor back around her exposed chest. What little Rarity had seen was almost like a jigsaw puzzle of jagged scarring. “Oh, Shepherd, do forgive me. My manners completely flew out the window. I cannot apologize enough for my outburst.”

Shepard shrugged, looking away self-consciously. “S’fine. I know it’s not pretty t’look at.”

Closing her eyes, Rarity took another deep breath and stepped closer, gently resting a hoof on the human’s leg. “Nonsense. So you’re a little banged up. Who wouldn’t be after spending so much time in the Everfree? Come now. Off with that armor. I dare say it needs a good scrubbing as much as you do.”

Reluctantly, she began unfastening her armor again. The breastplate first. Rarity only flinched a little as the woman’s scarred torso was once more revealed. Gently, she set the bit aside, working to free her arms, then hands from their protective layers. As more of the human’s pale flesh was revealed, Rarity suspected not an inch of the creature save her face was spared some wound or another. Once she got past the pale coloring and undeniably horrific scarring, she saw the human wasn’t shaped too oddly. Almost like Spike, only with much longer limbs. Finally, she stood free of her armor, wearing only small bits of fabric over her chest and hips.

“Are you planning on wearing those into the bath?” Rarity eyed the exotic—if very well-worn—lighter clothing curiously. It didn’t look like any material she was familiar with.

Shepard frowned, looking between the two mares. “You wan me t’get naked in front’a you?”

“Oh! Twilight mentioned humans wore their clothing all the time. I wouldn’t mind if more ponies did that, to be honest. Just imagine how my business would be booming! You needn’t feel embarrassed going au naturel in front of us. We’re not wearing anything either, after all.”

This thought seemed to eventually click in Shepard’s head, and a faint flush appeared around her cheeks, but at length she nodded. Delicately removing the curiously stretchy clothing. “There now! Into the tub with you. Just start soaking while I get these eh… Off to be cleaned.” She lifted the armor and delicates in her magic, even then feeling she was a bit too close to the soiled garments.

Before heading toward the bath, Shepard frowned severely at both Fluttershy and Rarity. “Dun touch muh guns.” She nodded at the weapons stacked neatly by the door. “They’re dangurous.” Seeing both mares nodding emphatically, Shepard nodded as well, heading into the bathroom.

Levitating her burden as far from her face as possible, Rarity made her way back out of the cottage. A grumpy looking Twilight Sparkle was being herded along by a panicky Rainbow Dash. “ … Good morning, Twilight. I see Rainbow Dash was bold enough to get you out of bed at this very early hour.”

Twilight shot the pegasus a dirty look as she rushed into the cottage. “She kept going on and on about how Shepherd was here to eat Fluttershy.” Some of the sleepiness left her eyes as she noted Rarity’s bundle. “Is that her armor? Oh I’d love to get a closer look at it.”

“It would certainly wake you up. Let me get it cleaned… And the other ones burned, I think. Is Spike awake? I bet dragon fire would be able to scour the inside of this armor clean.”

“Rarity, don’t be so dramatic. It can’t be that ba—” Twilight recoiled as she brought a piece of the glossy black material closer for a sniff. “ … I have some acid in my lab at the library. Try that if the dragon fire doesn’t work.”

“Oh! Wonderful idea. Now, I should be off. Miss Shepherd is in the bath upstairs. Oh… and don’t stare at her scars. She’s a bit self-conscious.”

Twilight smiled. “Thanks for the heads up Rarity. And, um… Good luck with that armor.”

Sighing softly to herself, Rarity cantered off in the direction of her boutique. The drowsy Princess dragged herself into the cottage, putting a pot of tea on the stove. Ordinarily she’d ask for permission, but seven in the morning was not the right time for her to be conscious. Maybe that would be her very first royal decree? None shall awaken Princess Twilight Sparkle before nine a.m. She liked the sound of that.

Speaking of sounds, loud laughter was coming from upstairs. Rainbow’s laughter no less. Intensely curious, she dragged herself upstairs. With a little smile and wave to the bedridden Fluttershy, she peered into the bathroom. Shepard was in the tub with Rainbow Dash hovering over her, grinning ear to ear. “Oh! Dat one’s a good’un! Big krogan came runnin at me, right? Dunno how de idiot snuck up on meh but dere he was alla sudden. Lowers his head an charge’s. BOOM! Hits me right in de stomach. Impaled on de head plate.”

Dash shook her head in wonderment. “How’d you get away!?”

Shepard’s smile faltered. “I…” Gently she rested a hand at the horrid scar over her stomach. Looking over the woman’s heavily scarred frame, Twilight could see how anypony could be self-conscious. “…I dun remember.”

Now Rainbow Dash landed by the tub. “How the hay do you forget something like that?”

Twilight frowned at the great discomfort on Shepard’s face. “Dun remember much. Heh, guess I remember a buncha these scars though.”

Laying a hoof on Dash’s back to quiet her, Twilight settled beside the tub. “How much can you not remember, Shepherd Commander?”

It took the human woman some time to answer. “Pretty much nuddin. I jus’ remember liddle bits an pieces here an dere. Heh, remember how ta shoot though. And I remember lotta dese scars.”

“That’s very serious. I could ask the Doctor to come out and have a look if you’d like.”

Shepard shook her head at Twilight’s offer. “No. Leejun says it needs time. Dey’ll come back on their own. Already remembered someone t’day!”

Sensing the woman was very excited at this, Twilight smiled. “Oh? A good friend?”

“Mmm. Dink so. We fought together. I remember that. An I remember a tank? A big tank. That I think he came out dof.”

Rainbow Dash seemed oblivious to Shepard’s improving mastery over the Equestrian language, but Twilight distinctly noted the more the woman spoke, the clearer it got. Maybe she was just a very fast learner? But that was impossible; nopony could learn a new language so quickly. She’d heard immersing oneself in a foreign language was a good way to learn it, but this was a little ridiculous.

She was stirred from her thoughts as the magical sleeve appeared over the human’s arm again. Both ponies stepped back in surprise as a large screen grew before the pair. On the screen was a massive reptilian creature. It looked more like Spike than Shepard, though Spike would have to be considerably bigger and taller. Its head was broader, with further spaced eyes, and it was clad in what Twilight correctly assumed to be a suit of armor vaguely similar to Shepard’s. “Leejun found a picture of Grunt stored in muh omni-tool.”

Dash paced around the image, grinning ear to ear. “So that’s a krogan? Cool! Twilight didn’t tell us there were all kindsa different ponies living in your world.”

Twilight of course was more interested in how she was creating the screen. “People, Dash. They don’t say ponies there, they’re people. Miss Shepherd, what sort of magic is that?”

The woman looked confused and glanced down at the orange sleeve. “It’s not majic. It’s my omni-tool. Uh, technology?”

“Allow me to explain, Shepard-Commander.” The two mares yelped again as the image of the krogan disappeared to be replaced by a featureless metallic tube with a glowing light on the end, one Twilight got the distinct feeling was an eye. “Where Shepard-Commander and I are from, most beings have small devices called omni-tools implanted in their hands. They serve a near infinite array of purposes, hence the name. Recording, light, computational assistance, combat, and communication are a few of the most notable.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash exchanged quiet looks. The alicorn spoke first. “What are you?”

The ‘eye’ shifted to focus on her. “I am Legion. An artificial intelligence residing within Shepard-Commander’s omni-tool. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Oh, um… Thank you? You too. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my good friend Rainbow Dash.”

Shepard snorted with laughter at Twilight speaking their names. The ponies looked confused as the human and Legion began to rapidly converse in their gibberish language. Judging by the look on Shepard’s face, it was almost like Legion was admonishing her. “Hey, how come we can’t understand them anymore?” Dash asked.

Twilight shook her head slowly, eyes locked on the omni-tool around Shepard’s arm. “I assume whatever they were using to speak Equestrian stopped working for a few moments.” She waited patiently for the two to stop speaking.

Legion finally shifted his focus back to the ponies. “Apologies. Shepard-Commander’s manners are sorely lacking of late.”

“It’s quite alright, given what she’s been through recently. How long were you in the Everfree, if I may ask?”

“Eight months and five days, counting this morning.”

“Whoa! And you guys are in one piece? You didn’t get eaten by an ursa or a dragon or something? That’s pretty hardcore.” Dash’s eyes were alight with new respect.

Shepard shrugged. “Wasn’t that hard. Just alotta runnin’ an shootin’ for the first couple uh days. Den things settled down a lot once I showed the crazy crap in there who’s boss.”

Twilight slowly shook her head. “They didn’t have anything like you when I visited the other world.”

The plates above Legion’s eye rose. “Ah. You are the one who travelled through the magical mirror. I believe you did not go to the proper human homeworld; rather the mirror transported you to an alternate version of your own world. However, instead of small talking horses, it was comprised of humans. This is merely speculation of course; I would have to see the event for myself to form a proper conclusion.”

Now the Princess frowned as she seated herself on the floor. “If you didn’t come from the mirror, then where did you come from?”

“Space. We travelled here from the stars.”

“Whoa! So you guys are aliens? And that krogan thing is an alien too? What other kinds are there?” Dash was in the air again, practically nose-to-screen with Legion.

“Many more than I care to go into at this time. I will say your kind is very much not alone in the galaxy, though given you have not been discovered by the galactic community at this time, your world must be either hidden or incredibly far from Citadel space.” Twilight’s gaze drifted to the human in the tub, who was staring intently at the image of Legion with a contemplative frown. “In the interest of scientific curiosity, I would like to know more about your own race. What do you call yourselves?”

Rainbow looked confused. “We just told you. I’m Rainbow Dash, and she’s Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “He means our species as a whole, Dash. And we’re ponies.”

This grabbed Shepard’s attention. “You’re kidding, right? You actually call yourselves ponies? Oh God, is that what the anypony and everypony thing is about? Legion, adjust the translator to make that sound less re—“ Her voice cut out into gibberish again.

“Apologies. Lacking manners, as I said. I have disabled her translation so we may carry on an intelligent conversation.”

While it sounded just a little mean, Twilight couldn’t help but giggle a bit. “I see. It’s alright, really. I know I was a little out of sorts when I went to another world, and Equestria was just a walk through a mirror away. I can’t imagine how she must feel being so far from home, the only one of her kind here.”

“It has been… a trying time for her, yes. Some of your kind have horns or wings. What is the significance?”

Twilight blinked at the abrupt change in topic. “Oh, well… Everypony is split into three tribes. Unicorns have horns and can cast spells, pegasus ponies can fly of course—and manipulate the weather—and earth ponies can make crops grow big and healthy and tend to be sturdier than the rest of us.”

“You possess both horn and wings as Luna does. What is the significance?”

“Oh! You met Princess Luna? Well we’re a very rare type of pony that combines parts of all three tribes. Some ponies call us alicorns. There are four of us now, and it’s a symbol of being a Princess. I’ve only been a Princess for a few weeks now.”

Dash beamed proudly, throwing a hoof around Twilight’s shoulders. “Yup! She’s so awesome, Princess Celestia decided to up and make her royalty!” Her words brought a blush to Twilight’s face.

“My turn for a question. What did you do to Fluttershy? How was she hurt? She won’t tell us.”

From the look on Shepard’s face, it was clear though the human couldn’t speak Equestrian, she could understand it. Legion held out a hand and the image of a small black disc appeared over it. “Shepard-Commander has set up various electrical fields around her territory. Fluttershy crossed into one and was subdued.”

Twilight tilted her head, regarding the disc curiously. “She just carries these around?”

The image vanished. “No. But she has a considerable store of omni-gel in her armor.” Another image of a grey blob-like substance appeared. “Omni-gel is a universal material used in veritably all construction and crafting projects. Stimulated properly, it can be shaped and altered into nearly any useable substance. In this case, discs that absorb ambient electricity in the air, and discharge it forcefully when something trips the sensors between the two discs.”

Twilight’s head was spinning from all the technical information, and while the concepts seemed impossible, she more or less could grasp them. She had a feeling she already knew the answer, but she was compelled to ask anyway. “How do you travel the stars?”

“In a ship, of course.” A new picture appeared of what could only be a human spaceship. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash each wore looks of nearly identical wide-eyed awe. Seeing their eyes grow so large forced an ‘aww’ from Shepard.

“Is it here!? Can we go into space on your ship!?” Twilight suddenly seemed ready to explode with excitement.

Rainbow Dash was nodding just as excitedly. “Yeah! Holy cow, that’s so awesome! How fast is it? Bet it’s not as fast as I am!”

Legion looked from one to the other. “We did not arrive by ship. Luna suspects we came with some sort of large storm. The timing would match. And most if not all ships are equipped with FTL drives. Faster Than Light. Do you fly faster than light, Rainbow Dash?”

Dash’s wings drooped at her sides. “Uh… no. Not yet! I bet your ship can’t do a sonic rainboom!”

Legion stared silently at the pegasus, likely trying to decide whether he had mistranslated or the little pony was some sort of simpleton. Deciding either or both were just as likely, he inclined his head. “It cannot.”

Twilight was clapping her forehooves together, grinning widely. “Oh I have so many questions! What’s the name of Shepherd Commander’s home world? How far away is it?”

“I am afraid I cannot answer either of those questions. Like Shepard-Commander, my memory was damaged in whatever event brought us here. I am reconstructing data constantly, but it is a slow going process.”

Twilight’s face fell for a moment; no less than Shepard’s own, of course. She frowned, realizing not only was the human woman very, very far from home… But she had lost her memory too. How lonely and frightening must that be? At length, she smiled again. “Well. I know it’s not your real home, but you seem like a nice enough person. When you’re not catching my friends in your traps. As long as you’re in Equestria, you can consider Ponyville home.”

Shepard’s eyes widened slightly at the very generous offer. “Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.” She even managed not to snicker at her name. Much. “That means a lot, really. You’ve all been very kind. Almost weirdly so, honestly.”

“Nonsense. Anypony would do the same. Well maybe not anypony. Between you and me, my friends and I are made of slightly sterner stuff than most Equestrian’s. Still, once they see you’re not going to start eating everypony in town, they’ll warm up to you.”

Shepard cracked a smile now. “Well that’s good to know. Hey uh, is your friend back with my clothes and armor?”

“More fire, Spike! More fire!”

The exhausted baby dragon sucked in another deep breath. He wasn’t entirely confident all the dragon fire in the world would be able to burn the stink out of the weird armor Rarity had thrust in front of him. But for her sake, he’d keep at it until she told him to stop.

Twilight returned the human’s smile. “Not yet! But if anypony can make it shine like new, it’s our Rarity. In the meantime, I could probably put a little something together for you to wear while we wait? I’m guessing you’re ready to get out of the tub.”

Shepard nodded. “Please.”

Rainbow Dash looked confused. “So just get out. What’s it matter if you got anything to wear. Weather patrol’s got a warm day scheduled.”

Shepard frowned now, trying to figure out exactly how to explain. She was saved by Twilight of all people. Ponies? “Humans don’t wear clothing for special or intimate occasions only, Rainbow Dash. It’s a social taboo to go naked in public.” She sighed at Rainbow’s questioning expression. “Humans don’t like it when other humans are naked.”

“Oh. Weird, but you coulda just said that.” With a shrug, Dash made her way to Fluttershy’s room.

Twilight offered Shepard an apologetic smile. “I’m afraid I’m not quite as good as Rarity with this sort of thing, but let’s see.” She picked a pair of towels from Fluttershy’s abundant collection. Shepard stared silently as Twilight’s magenta aura intensified around the chosen towels, and with a bright flash, they disappeared from view.

In their place hung a surprisingly serviceable pair of pink fluffy shorts and an equally pink, equally fluffy t-shirt. Mutely, she accepted them, staring in shock. “How’d you do that!?”

Twilight recoiled slightly at the sudden shout. “O— oh, well… Magic? Rarity’s actually much better with spells like that. I’m only copying hers, actually. I just don’t have the eye for detail like she does.”

Gingerly, as if expecting them to bite or something, Shepard pulled the makeshift towel-clothing on. “ … Feels like towel.”

“Well it is! I don’t really know much material transnyrpruib, but it’s on my list of things to learn!”

Shepard wrinkled her brow in confusion. “I didn’t catch that word, Legion.”

“Apologies, Shepard-Commander but there is no word like it in my data banks. Could you please speak the word after ‘material’ phonetically and slowly, Twilight Sparkle?”

The pony ruffled her wings and nodded. “Traaaaans… muuuuuu… taaaaaay… shhuuuuuun.”

“Definition?”

“Oh! Well it’s one of the main seven schools of magic. There’s pvhyepruib, sucubpruib, wbxgpbrnwbr, wcixpruib, xibhyepruib, transmutation, and bwxeinpbxt. The last one’s forbidden, naturally. Transmutation is the school that focuses on spells that can alter or transform things around us.”

Shepard just stared at the little pony open-mouthed. “Legion, is she saying she’s a wizard?”

“That would be a safe assumption, Shepard-Commander. Twilight Sparkle, I would be interested in an exchange of information. I suspect you are a scholar of some sort, given your apparent understanding of the complicated concepts I spoke of earlier. In exchange for information about your people and culture, I would be willing to share whatever I am able with you about worlds outside of your own. That I can recall, of course.” He added the last bit almost as if remembering the memory damage.

Twilight’s eyes sparkled radiantly. “Oh! Oh my goodness yes! Yes, yes yes yeeeeees! Yes! Come on, we’ll go to the library right away! Oh, I need to get notebooks! And fresh quills! This is the greatest moment in the history Equestrian science!”

Shepard backed up a step, hastily raising her hands. “Whoa, whoa. I said I’d come to Fluttershy’s cottage, and here I am, Legion. I don’t really want to go in the middle of their whole town just yet.”

If disappointment could be read on a creature with no face, it was definitely there on Legion’s expressive metallic plates. “Yes. I understand, Shepard-Commander.”

Twilight Sparkle looked equally disappointed, the look on the adorable pony’s face was crushing Shepard’s heart. “H— how about this. Go get my greaves from your friend. We can use the omni-gel to make a temporary transport for Legion. He can go to the library; I can stay here, and… Not go into a town full of ponies.”

“Ooooh! Yes! I get to see your omni-gel in action!” Again, her horn glowed brightly, and she vanished with a flash.

“ … She teleports too. She can turn towels into clothes and she teleports.”

Legion nodded once. “I suspect she can do a good deal more than just that. I spoke with Luna yesterday as you recall. She claims that she and her sister are responsible for the sun and the moon orbiting their planet. It does not rotate as a normal world; rather they ‘magically’ move the heavenly bodies.”

Shepard shook her head incredulously. “That’s impossible, Legion. You don’t believe her, do you?”

“I did not at the time. However, seeing the numerous impossibilities we continue to encounter here is forcing me to wonder if perhaps there is some truth to her claims.”

Shepard moved to the window, gazing up at the sun in the sky. “Imagine how powerful something would have to be to move a sun, Legion.”

“I have been doing nothing but imagining just that, Shepard-Commander. It is a vaguely terrifying thought. Who is to say this Princess Celestia could not do something more drastic, such as hurl a sun out of orbit, or into another planet?”

Shepard frowned. “I can’t imagine she’d do that. Look at how kind these ponies have been to me. Not to mention all the help Luna’s given me with my nightmares. If this Celestia is her sister, I have to believe she’s just as benevolent as the rest.”

“This is my hope as well, Shepard-Commander. If she is not, our presence here could endanger the rest of the galaxy. This is a pre-spaceflight species. Once they become aware there is more life outside their world, they may seek to conquer it. We know next to nothing about these ponies. They may be kind and gentle to outsiders because they crushed all resistance to their rule in the past, and are now comfortably secure in their place in the world.”

Shepard frowned, wringing her damp hair out into a towel. “That’s seems a little far fetched, Legion.”

“I do not disagree; I am merely considering all possible consequences of our continued interactions with these beings.”

Movement outside the door caught Shepard’s eye. The brash, loud, obnoxious Rainbow Dash was gently carrying a cup of tea to her hurt friend, holding it with infinite patience as the hurt pegasus fumbled slightly with her hooves. “Between you and me, I’m looking forward to continued interactions with these beings, Legion.”

“I cannot say I do not have similar feelings. The idea of real magic is very fascinating on a scientific level. Imagine how many theories and scientific laws would be altered by introducing such an impossible factor.”

Laughing a little now, Shepard pulled the plug from the tub, letting the water drain. “Leave it to you to make magic sound boring and scientific.”

A pop and a flash behind her caused Shepard to vault into a roll into Fluttershy’s room, grabbing her pistol from the floor and whipping around to face the bathroom. A trembling Twilight Sparkle was holding her greaves in her magical aura. “I— I have your armor…”

Coughing uncomfortably, Shepard lowered her weapon. “ … Right. Let’s show you how omni-gel works.”

Torn between scientific curiosity and bed-wetting fear, Princess Twilight Sparkle went the same way she always went, and was soon sitting eagerly next to the dangerous woman as she began to demonstrate how omni-gel was shaped.

Author's Note

Chapter 6 is finished as well, just waiting on the editing. :o

Chapter 6: Shepard's Special Talent

Chapter 6: Shepard’s Special Talent

Celestia frowned as she looked out at her sister’s tower from her office. Luna had been raising the moon each night, and Celestia could sense her younger sister was patrolling their subjects’ dreams, but she hadn’t seen her in the flesh for nearly two weeks now. “Noteworthy?”

As always, her personal aide was quick to respond. “Yes, Princess?”

“Has anypony seen Luna out of her tower in the past few days?”

“No, Princess. In fact, I was hoping to bring to your attention that she hasn’t been out of her tower since returning from Ponyville two weeks ago.”

With a soft sigh, Celestia rose from her seat. “Suspend my morning appointments please, Noteworthy. Make the proper apologies and assure everypony I’ll see to them soon. I need to speak with my sister, it seems.”

There were a few of the nobility who would no doubt be uppity, but Noteworthy had been doing this job for a few years now. She was capable of handling the occasional bellowing blue blood. “Of course, Princess. Should I have the kitchens send along a pot of tea?”

“No thank you, Noteworthy. Luna was never much for tea, I’m afraid.” The Princess of the Sun strode through the halls, outwardly calm, but inwardly she felt her worry growing with each step. Was Luna growing sullen and withdrawn again? Things had been going so well the past few years, she couldn’t imagine that the Nightmare was threatening to rear its head once more, but Luna was showing similar behavior to last time.

She was happy to give Luna her space for a time, but the longer it went, the more worried she had gotten. It always seemed as though somepony else needed her help for something or another, and her feelings for her sister had to be put aside again and again. Last time this happened, Luna became one of the greatest threats in Equestrian history. Celestia would not let that happen again.

Alarmed guards noted their beloved Princess’ steps quickening as she trotted in a rather unseemly manner through the castle halls. A few called out asking if she needed assistance, but she shook her head firmly each time. If it was the worst case scenario, her little ponies would only be in danger.

Taking the steps toward her sister’s chambers two at a time, Celestia practically knocked the doors off their hinges as she burst into Luna’s room. An alarmed bellow from the younger Princess within the room blew Celestia’s mane back and sent her skidding back out the door. “Celestia?! What do you think you are doing, barging into my chamber like this?! You nearly destroyed the door! ‘Tis an antique from our original castle, no less!”

Adrenaline was still raging through the elder sister’s body as she looked almost frantically about. “Are you alright? Why haven’t you left your room in so long?!”

At first Luna was completely taken aback by the frantic tone in her sister’s voice. It didn’t take long for the real source of her concern to click into place. “Tia! Do you truly think so little of me that you suspect I am slipping back into the nightmare?”

The hurt and outrage in her little sister’s voice worked to calm Celestia’s nerves. “I… I just worry, Lulu. First you’re prancing happily through the halls, and then you’re locking yourself away again. I suppose I let my fears run wild. In my defense, this is pretty close to what happened last time.”

Luna shot her a sullen glare, but couldn’t argue. Now that Celestia looked closer, her sister seemed exhausted. Noticeable bags hung under her eyes, her head held low, and even her mane had lost some of its fullness. “Luna, have you not been sleeping?”

Luna had in fact not been sleeping very much at all of late. Every time she closed her eyes, a cacophony of images flashed through her mind. All the things Legion had shown her—both the good and the bad—refused to relinquish their grip on her memory. Her eyes were constantly drawn to the star filled sky at night, wondering what was out there.

When Luna didn’t immediately answer, Celestia stepped inside, gently shutting the door behind herself. “Is this about the mare in the Everfree?” The way she stiffened told Celestia it was. “Sister, I think it’s time you told me of her.”

Closing her eyes, Luna took a deep breath. She was right, of course. If all she’d learned of the human visitor was true, then it was too big to keep to herself. “I apologize, Celestia, for I should have told you all about her sooner.”

Shaking her head with a gentle smile, Celestia lowered herself onto the cushions next to her sister. “No, you’re allowed your own private life and business, Luna. But if this mare is weighing so heavily on your mind that it interrupts your duties, then I think it a good idea that you let me in on what troubles you.”

Another deep breath, and Luna began. She held nothing back, telling her sister everything she had learned of the human woman from the Everfree, to the nearly impossible to imagine tale of dozens of races living amongst the stars. By the time she finished, the normally cool and composed Celestia was staring wide-eyed at her little sister.

“Luna, this human sounds incredibly dangerous. You should have brought this to my attention right away!”

“That’s just it, sister. She has a good heart, I know it. Shepherd is hurting terribly, and worst of all, she does not know why. I know a little of what it is like to lose oneself, Tia. Truly, it is a horrifying experience, and one I would not wish on another. Consider however, she is dangerous and powerful yes, but look at how she has interacted with the Elements of Harmony. Fluttershy has been sending messages to me nearly daily on the activities she and her friends have engaged in with the woman.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow as Luna levitated a small stack of letters before her. Accepting them with her own magic, she began to scan the first one. “These almost seem like Twilight’s old friendship reports.”

“Perhaps. Shepherd has had ample opportunity to do our subjects harm if she wished, and she certainly could cause great destruction with the tools at her disposal, I do not argue that. Yet she chooses not to. All the horrors she has experienced in her life, and she chooses to befriend these six young ponies. Some of these reports are rather humorous as well, sister. I believe you may like the woman if you give her a chance.”

Celestia was silent for a time as she read each report thoroughly. “Why do you keep your distance from her, Luna? It sounds as though you were building a rapport with her.”

A frown tugged at the corners of the younger alicorn’s mouth. “When I first appeared before her in the waking world, she reacted… poorly. It was my own fault. I should have eased into our meeting more gently instead of thrusting myself upon her. I had become something of a guardian angel to the woman in her mind. Seeing me in the flesh forced her to begin seeing her nightmares as real as well.”

Celestia didn’t respond for several long minutes as she read through each of the letters. Finally nodding as she finished the last letter, Celestia returned them to Luna. “I’m going to meet her.”

Luna’s eyes widened slightly. “Tia, if you bring a contingent of guards into her territory, she will assuredly see it as a threat and react poorly. You or she might be hurt.”

Chuckling softly, Celestia rose to her hooves. “Give me a little more credit than that, Lulu. I’ve had a thousand years to get better at this whole ‘Princess’ thing. I can be subtle when I wish. I simply want to meet her. I’ll handle this delicately, I promise.”

Frowning in concern, Luna finally nodded. “Very well. Just tread carefully, sister. She is a powerful warrior when roused to anger. Her weapons and abilities are not to be underestimated.”

Smiling brightly now, Celestia cantered to the doors. “Not to worry, sister. I’ll be the very picture of subtle.”

“Nightmare Moon, huh? Armor looks pretty impressive I guess. Hard to believe that’s Luna.” Shepard regarded the image in her omni-tool with a frown.

“By all accounts, she was driven temporarily mad with jealousy. I speculate that their emotions influence their magic, and this may be the source of her transformation. It is entirely likely it was not a willing change. I intend to ask Twilight to elaborate on the matter this afternoon.”

Dismissing the omni-tool interfaces with a thought, Shepard rose from the water, moving to her clothes and armor. The sunlight glinted brightly off the silk, diamond encrusted undergarments Rarity created for her. Still not entirely used to seeing the gaudy things, Shepard pulled them on carefully. “I still can’t believe these are real diamonds...” When the unicorn returned with her armor, Shepard had asked what happened to her original clothes. An accident involving ‘dragon fire’ was all she could get.

“Precious gemstones seem to be as common as ordinary rocks on this world. I heard Twilight Sparkle mention in passing that Pinkie Pie grew up on a ‘rock farm’ where earth ponies raised stones and gems like crops. I intend to ask her to elaborate on this as well.”

“Rock farm. Jeez, this place gets weirder and weirder. I like it though.” The woman grinned as she fastened her weapons to her still sparkling armor. “Not as goofy as cutie marks though.”

“I believe we will discover nothing as ‘goofy’ as cutie marks, Shepard-Commander. At least I sincerely hope so.”

Nodding at her digital companion’s comment, Shepard started along the path back to her main camp. “True enough. Still, pretty convenient way to find your place in the world, don’t you think? What d’you think mine would be?”

“Judging by your typical activity the past several months, either you stuffing poppers into your face,or lighting wooden wolves on fire. You seem to excel at both.”

Blowing out a heavy breath in annoyance, Shepard was about to shoot back a retort when an alert pinged on her omni-tool. “Something has tripped several proximity sensors and managed to elude the electrified barriers, Shepard-Commander. Rough size and shape suggest a pony.”

With a quick glance at the offered map, Shepard was in the tree tops, vaulting toward the intruder. “Maybe Fluttershy? I don’t think any of the others come into the Everfree if they can avoid it.” Of all the ridiculous names she’d been subjected to since regularly visiting Fluttershy, the Everfree Forest was by far the coolest, and most tolerable.

“Perhaps. Though I find it unlikely she would choose to run rather than fly.”

“Good point.” The sound of frantic hooves pounding on the ground soon reached her ears, followed by the excited snapping and snarling of the wood wolves… ‘Timberwolves’ she had to remind herself. Dropping from the trees, she got her first look at the intruding pony. A snowy white unicorn mare with bright pink mane and tail. Large violet eyes widened as Shepard appeared suddenly. The poor mare seemed torn between fleeing the wolves and fleeing this new creature.

Waving a hand frantically, Shepard motioned for the pony to move. “Get out of the way! Get off the path!”

Nodding wordlessly, the little pony zipped off the main path as the wolves bounded into view. It was almost funny the way they skidded to a halt and tripped over one another to flee the sudden appearance of Shepard. Not bothering with her guns, she discharged a glob of super-heated plasma into the lead wolf, nodding in satisfaction as it burst and spread to the others, leaving only ashes.

Dismissing her omni-tool, she turned to face the mare staring up at her and shivering in fear. Shepard smiled kindly and knelt lower to the ground. “Hey there. This forest is pretty dangerous. What’re you doing out here?”

Slowly it dawned on the pony that she wasn’t about to be cooked or eaten or something. She inched out of the bushes. “W— well I was g— g— gathering herbs in a field when those t— timberwolves jumped out at me. You saved my life! Thank you so much!”

Shepard’s eyes drifted toward the mare’s flank, noting the cheerfully smiling sun shaped cutie mark. Maybe some kind of weather pony? Weren’t those all pegasi? “It was nothing. Though you’re lucky you didn’t run into any of my traps. Damned lucky really. I have snares and nets all over the place.”

The pony’s eyes went wide with fear again as they darted all around. Chuckling a little, Shepard patted the air to calm her. “It’s ok. You’re safe now. Are you from Ponyville?”

Rapidly, the pony’s head bobbed in a nod. “Y— yes. Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Sunny Skies.”

Yup. Definitely weather pony. Shepard offered her a smile, very aware of the flinch Sunny Skies couldn’t suppress at seeing her teeth. It was the same reaction every pony had, really. “I’m Shepard Commander. Just Shepard is fine though. Come on; let’s get you back to town.”

The mare nodded gratefully, falling into step with her savior. She cast the smoldering remains of the timberwolves a quick look as they passed them. “What sort of creature are you? You must have very strong magic to kill the timberwolves.”

“I’m a human. And no magic, just technology. My omni-tool…” She called it into being around her arm. “...can release stored up energy every few minutes. It’s enough to put the timber wolves down for good.”

Sunny examined the offered arm curiously, looking over the shimmering orange images. “That’s amazing! What else can it do?”

Shepard shrugged as she carefully led the pony around the myriad of traps. “Pretty much anything, honestly. It’s how I’m speaking Equestrian, it’s a flashlight, a computer, a uh… a bunch of technical stuff you probably don’t have words for here.” The woman laughed, lightly rubbing the back of her head.

To her surprise, the mare simply nodded as if she understood everything. “Where are you from? Are there more humans in the Everfree?”

A frown formed now as Shepard shook her head. “No. I think I’m the only human in the forest. Maybe on the whole planet. I come from, uh… From the stars. Another world.”

“Whaaaaat? That’s impossible. How would you even get here?!”

Shepard smiled again at the pony’s reaction. “Ideally in a ship. I don’t know how I got here though. I lost my memory, maybe when I landed? I… I really don’t know.”

Sunny seemed to sense the woman’s growing distress. “Well lucky for me you landed in Equestria then, huh? If not for you, I’d be some timberwolves’ breakfast!”

The human’s smile returned at that. “Glad I was there to help then.” They’d come to the clearing with the hydra’s bones still lying there. Though a few were missing by now.

Sunny Skies eyed Shepard’s holstered pistol now. “What’s that?”

Glancing down at the weapon at her hip, she smoothly removed it and held it as it unfolded to its proper shape. “A gun. My pistol, I guess. I’m told it’s a ‘Carnifex Hand Cannon’.”

Sunny raised her eyebrows. “My, but that’s a very provocative name. What’s it do?”

Stepping in front of the hydra’s remains, Shepard raised the pistol. “Might wanna cover your ears.” Once the pony did so, she fired off a round into one of the skulls. It burst in a cloud of dust and bone splinters.

Shepard had expected surprise or fear on the pony’s face, not the calculating frown she had leveled her way. “That’s… quite a weapon. A hydra’s bone is as strong as most of the royal guards’ armor.”

Shepard quirked a wry grin. “Well guess I know I’m covered if the royal guard comes to arrest me for squatting in the woods.”

The mare’s brows immediately drew together in a frown. “Are you suggesting you would use such horrible weapons against a pony?”

Eyeing her pistol quietly, Shepard shrugged and refastened it to her hip. “I wouldn’t want to. So far I’ve only met a few ponies, but you’ve all been pretty kind and understanding. I’d much prefer settling a dispute with you guys with words over bullets. Taking the life of an animal is one thing. Taking the life of another person, that’s…” The woman’s eyes grew unfocused as a faraway look came to them.

The strange man drops from the ceiling. An alien. Green scaly skin. Large black eyes with two sets of lids. He shoots the blue woman in the chest before gently laying her out on her desk, folding her hands over her chest. His voice is gravelly, but not entirely unpleasant to the ear.
“I came a long way to talk to you.”

“One moment; prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken.”

“Do you really think she deserves it?”

“Not for her. For me.”

A hospital. It smells too clean and sterile. Shepard always hated them. The green being… The drell looks tired, but content.

“It's freeing to find no requirements placed on me. No responsibilities, no fears. It is a good end to a life.”

“Thane.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Thane Krios.” Shepard dropped to her knees unsteadily as a concerned Sunny Skies rushed to her side.

“Miss Shepherd? Are you alright?”

Shaking her head slowly, she ignored the pony. “Legion! Do you have any data on a… a drell! A drell named Thane Krios?!”

Sunny slowly backed away as the omni-tool flared to life and a harsh male voice spoke. “Indeed, Shepard-Commander. That name is among the thousands recorded. One moment…” An image of the drell appeared in the omni-tool.

Shepard just stared at the image, smiling toothily. “Ha! I remember someone else! He was… An assassin? But… he had such quiet nobility. We were close. Good friends, I think.”

“You were friends with an assassin?”

Sunny Skies’ voice brought Shepard out of her happy moment. She looked from the image of Thane to the gently frowning pony. “Oh, uh… Well, yeah. He wasn’t just some killer for hire. He dealt with bad people.” She assumed.

“Still… He routinely took the life of others. Is that sort of thing normal where you’re from?”

Shepard briefly considered lying, but thought better of it. If the ponies were somehow introduced to the worlds outside Equestria, they’d be taken advantage of if they assumed everyone was as kind and honest as they were. “It’s not normal… But it does happen. The sad fact is, many governments and wealthy individuals are very corrupt. This corruption can cause them to hurt other people, sometimes a lot of other people. These were the kinds of people Thane dealt with.”

“And you? What kind of person are you, Miss Shepherd?”

Shepard regarded the little pony with a sad smile. “I wish I could tell you, Sunny Skies. I really do. For now, I know I’m the kind of person who saves ponies from hydras and timberwolves, and has diamond encrusted underwear made for her by a local fashion designer.”

Sunny smiled a little at the joke. “Well that doesn’t sound like the worst kind of person to be to me.”

Running a hand through her hair, Shepard got back to her feet. “Me either, Sunny... Me either.”

Shepard parted ways with Sunny Skies at the lane leading up to Fluttershy’s cottage. She watched the little mare trot into town before heading up to the cottage. She was about to knock when Fluttershy herself suddenly opened the door. The bandages were gone, and her fur was more or less completely grown back in. “Oh! Hello, Shepherd. I was just on my way to Sweet Apple Acres actually… Oh! Oh dear, I should have left you a note in case you came by. What if you knocked and I wasn’t home? I’m so sorry.”

Shaking her head with an amused grin, Shepard chuckled. “It’s alright. I thought I’d send Legion off to study with Twilight some more while we talked.”

Stepping fully out of her cottage, Fluttershy pulled the door closed behind herself. “Well all the girls are going to be at the farm today. It’s Applebuck season and we’re helping the Apple Family bring in their harvest. You’re more than welcome to come too if you like.”

A faint look of apprehension came to the woman’s face. “Oh I don’t know, Fluttershy. I don’t really want to go through the town and cause a big ruckus.”

“Hm. Well we can take the long way around. Sweet Apple Acres is a little ways outside of town. Further than my cottage, even. It’d just be me and the girls, plus Applejack’s brother.”

Shepard looked back at the looming Everfree for a moment before facing the pegasus again. “Know what? Sure. I need to see a little more of the town than just your cottage if I’m ever going to go in, right?”

Smiling softly now, Fluttershy set a leisurely pace down the path. “It couldn’t hurt.”

The pair walked in silence for a time. Shepard looked more nervous than Fluttershy as her eyes darted back and forth constantly. She was clearly uncomfortable being out in the open like this, a fact that Fluttershy noticed easily. “So do you remember any more animals from other worlds?”

Shepard’s eyes shifted back to her companion. “Afraid not. Just the pyjacks and the varren. I sort of remember these giant acid spitting worms… I can’t remember what they’re called. Either way, they probably wouldn’t be very fun to meet.”

Fluttershy giggled softly. “No, I suppose anything that spits acid would probably not be very friendly.”

“So! What’s apple buck season?”

“Well it’s when the biggest apple harvest has come in. Applejack and Big Mac knock apples out of the trees by bucking them. So, apple... buck.”

“Ha! That’s cute. I bet it’s something to see. So you guys all go and help out?”

“Mmhm.” Fluttershy smiled at some distant memory. “A few years ago, Applejack got a little in over her head and we helped out then. Every year after that we all go and just get to work. It’s hard, but fun. And Granny Smith makes us all really delicious food while we work.”

“Oh yeah? I’m always up for trying new food. She uh… She doesn’t mix hay or grass into it, does she?”

Fluttershy couldn’t suppress a giggle at the memory of Shepard trying homemade oatcakes for the first time. “No. I’ll make sure she doesn’t in your food, at least. Mostly apple dumplings, apple pie, apple fritters, apple cider, app—”

Shepard raised a hand, cutting her off. “I get it. They like apples. If the ones at your place come from Applejack’s farm, I like them too.”

“They do, as a matter of fact. Everything I buy is locally grown. I like to support my local businesses.”

“That’s nice of you.” Shepard was relaxing—if only a little—during the conversation. “So I guess being the town vet pays good?”

“Oh no, I’m not the veterinarian. I’m more of a caretaker than an actual doctor.”

Shepard frowned. “Where’s your money come from?”

Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to frown as she looked away. “Oh, um… Well… My family has a lot of money. I don’t really like to talk about it much. My great grandfather invented a machine that makes cloud making much faster and smoother.”

“Oh, well that’s pretty cool.” She meant it too. She had kinda freaked out the first time she saw Rainbow Dash make it rain.

The massive fields of Sweet Apple Acres soon came into view. Shepard admired the neat rows of lush apple trees stretching as far as the eye could see. “This place is enormous!”

Nodding a little, Fluttershy nudged the gate open. “The Apple family does very well. Everypony is probably up at the house getting ready to get started.”

Shepard followed her guide through the rows of trees up to a cheerful little farmhouse. A big red barn was off to the side, and she recognized five of the six ponies milling about the front yard. The sixth, a massive red stallion, had to be Big Mac.

“Howdy Fluttershy! An’ good mornin’ t’you Miss Shepherd. Welcome t’the farm.”

Shepard smiled at the farm mare’s kind welcome. “Thanks. I was just going to visit Fluttershy when she told me you were ‘apple bucking’ today.”

“Sure are! And I’m mighty glad t’see ya here. I have just the thing you can do if y’all were lookin’ t’pitch in.”

Shepard shrugged. She definitely didn’t have much going on with her days. Usually a visit for some tea and whatever edibles the pegasus had in her kitchen was how she filled her time. “Sure, I can lend a hand.”

She caught the huge stallion eyeing her carefully now and again. The massive pony’s muscles rippled visibly beneath his cherry red coat. She had little doubt that if he thought her a threat, he could do some real damage if he got in close. “Well c’mon ‘round this way then. Girls, why don’tcha all get started. I’ll catch up with ya soon.”

Cheerful affirmations came from the assembled mares as they set out into the fields to get to work. Mac cast one last warning look Shepard’s way before he too departed. Offering the human an apologetic smile, Applejack started waking the opposite direction from the rest. “Don’t mind Mac, he’ll warm up to ya. Just a little protective is all.”

Shrugging, Shepard fell into step with the mare. “I don’t mind. He’s just worried about you, I guess.”

“Reckon so, reckon so.” Shepard winced as Applejack whistled shrilly. Excited barking sounded from behind the house as an energetic brown and white dog came bounding out. It circled Shepard, alternating between sniffing and barking. “This here’s Winona. She’s gonna be yer helper for t’day.”

Kneeling down, Shepard offered the dog her hand, allowing it to get acquainted with her scent. “Hi there, Winona.”

The dog barked cheerfully before falling into step at Applejack’s side. “Truth be told, you bein here’s a bit of a blessin’ in disguise. Was afraid we were gonna have t’keep these poor fella’s penned up all day. Now that yer here though, I s’pose ah can’t think of anyone better suited for lookin’ after ‘em.”

Shepard’s curiosity was definitely piqued. “Who am I looking after?”

Beaming now, Applejack crested a small hill. Shepard followed and blinked at the large herd of sheep milling about in the pen before her. “Just get th’herd out a’the pasture. Let ‘em graze a little, then bring em on back. Easy stuff, I bet! Probably even show Winona a few tricks. She’s never been taught by a bonafide Commander of shepherds before!”

Shepard could only stare open mouthed as she slowly processed everything Applejack was saying. Giving her a firm clap on the back, Applejack set off to get to her own work for the day. A bright flash from her omni-tool drew her attention and an alarmed back from Winona. “Legion? What the hell was that?”

"I am taking a picture of the look on your face. While I could replay the moment over and over and over and over again with your omni-tool’s recording functions, this deserves to be preserved in photograph form.”

"Legion, she thinks I’m a sheep herder!”

"Consider the naming scheme of the typical pony, Shepard-Commander. Generally, they tend to fall in line with what their ‘special talent’ is. It is my understanding the humans Twilight Sparkle encountered were named identical to their pony counterparts of this world. When you introduced yourself as Shepard Commander to them, they heard it as ‘Shepherd’, as in the herder of sheep sort of shepherd. It is very likely they believe you to be some sort of leader among shepherds where you come from.”

Looking from the dog at her side to the sheep milling about the pen, Shepard rubbed the back of her neck. “What the hell am I supposed to do with sheep?”

“The intelligent course would be to find Applejack and explain the miscommunication. However, it is my experience that is rarely the course you choose, and I would postulate you are about to attempt to herd these sheep as she requested.”

Narrowing her eyes at the sheep, Shepard stomped forward. “I can herd sheep! How hard can it be?”

Legion was silent now, though most certainly recording every second for future review. Almost the second Shepard unlatched the gate, the herd as one swarmed her, slamming the doors to the pen open and bowling her onto her backside. Winona was running back and forth, barking furiously in her best effort to keep the animals in line, but they most definitely sensed Shepard’s hesitation.

Sputtering in rage, she surged to her feet. Her anger only grew when one of the wooly bastards stuck its tongue out at her. That meant they were smart enough to mock her, so they likely understood Equestrian. “Hey! Hey, knock it off! You need to go to the pasture!”

“Get lost!”

“Yeah, baaaAAAAaack off!”

They were even ignoring Winona. The poor dog was looking more beleaguered and worried by the second. Scowling at the errant animals now, Shepard’s hand drifted toward her hip.

Fluttershy landed beside Applejack, casting a worried glance in the direction of the grazing fields. “Do you think Shepherd is doing alright?”

“Don’t see why she wouldn’t be. If her special talent’s herdin’, she shouldn’t have any trouble at all, right? Plus, that gal’s tough as nails. Can’t see one little old flock of sheep givin’ her trouble.”

Both mare’s ears splayed at the sudden BOOM coming from the direction of the fields. They were soon joined by the others working in the orchard in racing toward the sound. The six mares and one stallion stood gaping at the scene before them.

Shepard was glaring around at the sheep, who had ordered themselves into three neat, single file rows. “That’s better! Now turn your wooly butts around and march! You will graze for two—count them—two hours! You will then return in an orderly manner to your pen! There will be no straying, no complaining, and no funny business! The first one to put one hoof out of line is volunteering to donate their wool to be my new blanket! Do I make myself clear!?”

“Maaaa’aaaam yes, maaaa’aaam!”

“Then march! Keep those lines tight! Move it! Move it! Move it!” Winona trotted happily beside the orderly columns of sheep, guiding them into their grazing pasture. Noticing the audience finally, Shepard cracked a smile. “Looks like I’m pretty good at this after all!”

Twilight Sparkle was the only pony to notice the small, smoking hole in the ground near where the biggest of the sheep had stood.

Luna paced nervously in her tower. She hadn’t slept all day, not after Celestia announced she intended to meet Shepard. It was growing late in the day however, and her sister still hadn’t returned. She whirled with wide eyes as the door to her chambers opened.

A small pink-maned unicorn mare entered. Casting the Princess a playful grin, she was enveloped in a golden glow, returning to her proper shape and size. “Well I met with your human from the stars.”

Luna swallowed nervously. “And?”

“And she’s very dangerous. She has enough destructive potential within her that I feel she cannot be allowed to run about unchecked for long.” Seeing Luna about to protest, Celestia raised a hoof. “However, I feel she does indeed have a good heart. She is simply lost, scared, and confused. What she needs right now are friends. Kind hearted individuals who have her best interests at heart.”

“So you… You do not intend to lock her away?”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “No, Luna. I don’t plan to arrest her. She hasn’t done anything wrong besides carrying those weapons of hers into a populated town. I’m not comfortable with such things around our subjects, Luna. I understand her need for them within the confines of the Everfree Forest, but I can’t help but dwell on what could happen if somepony got their hooves on one of those devices somehow. Imagine the damage that could be done by accident.” Slowly, she shook her head. “I would like you to speak with her again and invite her here, to Canterlot.”

Luna was conflicted. She was certainly glad Celestia approved of the human’s presence, but she doubted Shepard would come to the city. “She refuses to enter Ponyville proper due to its population size, sister. I sincerely doubt she would feel more comfortable in Canterlot.”

Celestia inclined her head, as if expecting that answer. “I’m aware of that, Luna. That’s why I’m tasking you with making her comfortable coming to Canterlot. The team from Canterlot University tells me their space camera will be ready in a month to launch. Perhaps that will pique her interest enough to lure her to the city?”

Luna looked out the window, toward the distant Everfree forest. “Very well, Celestia. I will do all I can.”

“I know you will, Luna. I have faith in you. My concern isn’t solely for our little ponies, you understand. I believe if we can speak with Shepherd at length, we may be able to help find her a way home. I’m certain the ‘Legion’ you mentioned can teach us many wondrous things as well. This could be a great benefit to us both. I do however feel that forcing the matter would cause her to react poorly. You were definitely right about that.”

Ruffling her wings, Luna stepped out onto the balcony. “I will go to her tonight then. With luck, she will react better to my appearance than last time.” Without another word, she sprang into the air.

Celestia watched her fly toward the forest with a gentle frown. “Be careful, Lulu.”

All around, Shepard had been having a pretty excellent day. Sheep herding went really smoothly. Afterwards, she’d helped the ponies with the apples. She wasn’t exactly equipped to buck them of course, but she surprised the lot by being able to haul the heavy baskets to the waiting cart. And further surprised them by being able to pull said cart. “Heh, the look on Big Mac’s face when I started hauling it.”

“I am sure you impressed the ponies with your wondrous cart hauling skills, Shepard-Commander. Perhaps tomorrow you can dazzle them by weeding their garden.”

“Whatever. So it’s something most of them can do anyway, it’s still fun. Can’t I have fun?”

“I apologize, Shepard-Commander. In truth, I could not be happier that your mood seems to be steadily improving. I believe these ponies are a positive influence on you. Your gradually recovering memory is heartening as well.”

Shepard smiled and leaned back in her hammock. “Fluttershy asked me to start sleeping at her cottage again. I think I might take her up on the offer. Sleeping in a real bed without having to keep my hand on my gun might be nice.”

“Would my saying it is a good idea influence your decision at all? While your accomplishments in wilderness survival are to be applauded, we remained here out of necessity, not knowing there was a better location to live so close by. I strongly encourage you to accept.”

Shepard eyed her A.I. companion with a wry smirk. “You just want me to be closer to the town so you and Twilight can nerd out all day and all night.”

“I will not even dignify that with a response. You— Alert! Intruder within the perimeter of the main campsite, Shepard-Commander!”

In a flash, she was sitting up, pistol in hand. “Where is it?”

“Reading is hazy, but there is another life sign nearby it… Directly beneath you, Shepard-Commander.”

Eyes wide, the woman looked to the ground beneath her high-strung hammock. A thick, twinkling purple mist was swirling about the forest floor. Slowly it coalesced to reveal… “Luna?!”

The tall pony blinked up at Shepard hanging from the hammock. “Greetings to you this night, Shepherd. I hope my presence is not quite so offensive as last we met.”

A pang of regret flashed across Shepard’s face as she dropped to the forest floor. “I think I owe you an apology, huh?”

“There is fault on both sides, I believe. I am sorry for appearing so suddenly before you. You are unwell, and I should have taken that into consideration.”

Shepard shifted uncomfortably. It was so weird hearing the gorgeous dream woman’s voice coming from this imposing midnight hued pony. “Well, I’m sorry for almost shooting you in the head.”

A little smile quirked on Luna’s face. “Well now that we have both apologized and been forgiven our trespasses, shall we begin anew?” Delicately, Luna seated herself on the ground, lifting a forehoof toward Shepard. “I am Luna Equestris, younger sister to Celestia, Princess of the Night and Vanguard of Dreams.”

Tentatively, Shepard took the accepted hoof. “Uh… Shepard Commander, eater of poppers and sleeper in of hammocks.”

Luna shook daintily. “A pleasure to meet you, Shepherd Commander.”

Slowly, Shepard returned her smile. “A pleasure to meet you too, Princess Luna.”

Author's Note

Chapter 7: Blue Flowers Are the Worst should be off to the editor sometime this afternoon.

Also made a little adjustment to the a/n of chapter 3.

Chapter 7: Blue Flowers Are the Worst

“Get back here, you giant blue bastard!” Shepard was sprinting full tilt through the Everfree, little droplets of water forming a glittering trail behind her as she ran naked after the massive ursa minor. Gripped in the creature’s mouth was her breastplate, no doubt being covered in bear spit and tooth marks.

For its part, the huge bear seemed to be very much enjoying its game of keepaway, waiting for the woman to nearly close before it would charge ahead again, its huge steps carrying it away from her easily. “That’s it! Shock it, Legion!”

“I am not going to ‘shock’ the animal for playing a game with you, Shepard-Commander. It is only running because you are chasing. If you stop, it will stop. And I will once again reiterate, you should have at least taken the time to retrieve your boots.”

“And let him get away with this crap?! No chance! Besides, who needs boots when you have personal shielding?” Shepard ducked a low branch before coiling her legs tightly beneath herself and springing into the trees overhead.

“Individuals who do not wish to be referred to as wild animals, for one.”

Ignoring the A.I., Shepard sped up the chase. She nearly had him when the ursa looked back in confusion, not seeing her giving chase still. At the last second, he glanced up and spotted her closing quickly before vaulting forward again. Cursing under her breath, Shepard followed relentlessly.

She thought herself finally victorious when the huge animal skidded to a stop, but he merely bunched his hind legs behind him and sprang into the air, soaring smoothly over a vast field of wafting blue flowers. Not seeing any trees between herself and the star bear, she dropped down into the field, crushing the bright flowers underfoot.

An earth shaking roar ripped through the field, causing Shepard to skid to a halt and whip around in fear, the ursa doing likewise. At the edge of the field to her right was the big star bear, the little one’s mother. It bellowed again, making Shepard reach for a gun that wasn’t there. She wasn’t the source of its ire, however. Storming around the edge of the field, knocking trees out of its way as it went, the colossal creature stared down at her offspring, growling quickly and emphatically.

The ‘little’ bear lowered his head and gently laid out Shepard’s armor with an apologetic look to the woman. The mother eyed her a moment before inclining her head once and leading the cub away. Letting out the breath she’d been holding, Shepard crossed the rest of the field to her waiting breastplate. Frowning down at the long strands of saliva dripping off, she sighed and plucked it from the ground. “I’m not putting this on until Rarity goes at it again.”

“Perhaps you are not quite as uncivilized as I had begun to fear.”

“Yeah, yeah. Come on, smart guy. Let’s go see this room Fluttershy’s got the girls setting up for us.” Now that the rush was over, Shepard set a more leisurely pace back to the river. She took a moment to admire the field of blue she was standing in. “Don’t think I’ve ever been over this way. I definitely don’t remember these.”

With a shrug, she made the trip back to the river in relative quickness. Tugging on the bulk of her armor, she took a firmer grip of the dripping breastplate and set out for the cottage. Part of her protested walking about with nothing but the diamond studded bra to cover her upper torso, but she remembered quickly enough that the ponies were literally one hundred percent nude just about all the time.

It had been a little over a week since she’d accepted Fluttershy’s offer to occasionally sleep in a room at her cottage. Shepard wasn’t entirely willing to completely abandon her camp for good, but the past few weeks spending more time with the six ponies had done wonders for her mental health. She’d even made the trip to Sweet Apple Acres once on her own to pick up some apples for Fluttershy.

Of course, her nightly visitor was helping as well. She was still getting used to the idea of Luna not only being real, but being just as inhuman as the rest of the people she’d met here. Every companion she had on this world being of another species was strangely not as uncomfortable as she imagined it would be. Either by virtue of their warm and welcoming nature, or the likelihood that she regularly associated with non-humans in the past were equally valid reasons. So far the only two people she could remember were a krogan and a drell.

Feeling a little proud of herself for leaving the forest with no hesitation this time, Shepard smiled as the cottage came into view. There was a small, but noticeable addition to the cottage. Approaching it with a faint smile, she gently tried the much taller door. Before she could get a good look around, she was greeted by six excitedly smiling faces. A large ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ banner hung across the room. There was even a large cake sitting on the low table. Smiling widely, the woman peered down at it.

Her smile dropped as she saw the image of a faux-Shepard greedily cramming handfuls of parasprites into her face. “Legion!”

The image of her A.I. appeared as her omni-tool blinked into view. “The cake is perfect, Pinkie Pie. You prepared it to my exact specifications.”

Seething at the A.I.’s humor, Shepard took a deep breath, turning to face the ponies with a smaller smile. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do this.” She glanced as the practically vibrating Pinkie Pie in alarm. “Is she alright?”

Rolling her eyes, Twilight Sparkle nodded to the pink earth pony. Immediately, she threw her hooves out wide. “SURPRISE!”

Twilight offered Shepard a faint smile. “She wanted everypony to hide and jump out at you, but after the teleport incident, I felt it might be a good idea not to startle you like that.”

Sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, Shepard laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, uh… Again, sorry about that. Probably a good idea on your part.”

“So did I surprise ya? Huh? Huh? I didn’t know a whole lot about you other than you really, really liked to eat parasprites—ew, by the way—And that you lived in the Everfree! Also you make hydra’s heads explode! I asked Legion what would be a good cake topper, and he said...”

Pinkie’s rapid fire voice faded to the back of her mind as a face clarified in her head. Large glossy black eyes, brown skin wrinkled around the eyes and mouth, numerous scars… one horn missing. Salarian…

"Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients; sometimes execute dangerous people, either way helps."

Shepard staggered to one knee, putting a hand on her head. “Mordin. Doctor Mordin Solus! Pinkie, your gibberish made me remember someone else!”

The ponies blinked at her for a moment before erupting into small cheers and congratulations, Applejack even patting her on the back.

“Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.”

Shepard stood silently and watched as Mordin rode the elevator up. It was the last time she’d lay eyes on her strange, but beloved salarian friend.

The ponies fell silent as tears began to form in Shepard’s eyes and roll down her cheeks unchecked. Gingerly, Fluttershy laid a hoof over Shepard’s hand. “Shepherd? What’s wrong?”

“He, ah…” She paused to sniff loudly. “…he died. He died doing… Doing something important! Something for me! For everyone! God, why can’t I remember something like that?!”

Fluttershy flinched back as Shepard’s voice rose. The mood in the room had done a complete one-eighty from when she first walked in. The warm welcoming joy had turned to nervous tension. Her eyes flicked across the concerned faces before she shut them tightly. “I’m… I’m sorry. I’m going to, uh… To stay at my camp tonight. Sorry about this.”

The ponies watched quietly as she stood and stepped outside again. Frowning up at the cheerful sunny sky as if it were mocking her pain, she stormed back toward the forest’s edge. She’d not gone far beyond the tree line before hoofsteps drew her attention. “I’m sorry about leaving, but I’m just not in the mood, alright?”

She was surprised to see it was Pinkie Pie who’d followed her. Fluttershy seemed more apt at dealing with a serious matter like this. The bubbly mare’s face was unusually stoic as she approached. Pinkie didn’t say a word until she’d trotted to Shepard’s side, then began to slowly walk forward, deeper into the forest. “I know how you feel. Not the whole forget everything thing, but the losing somepony close thing.”

The strange seriousness in her behavior and voice forced Shepard catch up and walk at the pony’s side. “ … Yeah?”

Pinkie nodded. “Yeah. None of the girls do. They haven’t lost any friends or family. Twilight told Legion I grew up on a rock farm, right? I’m sure he told you about it.”

Shepard nodded slowly. “He did.”

“Well none of the girls know that my family was attacked by a dragon. It wasn’t a very big dragon, but you know, big enough. We were all earth ponies, so we couldn’t put up much of a fight against something like that. Dad had gotten the idea to start growing gemstones; try and make a little more money for the rest of us, y’know?”

Shepard followed silently, staring intently at the strange mare. They were moving unerringly toward her camp, and every now and again the pony would shift or shuffle on the path, easily avoiding all of her traps. “Dragons like eating or collecting or whatevering with gems. You’ve met Spike, right? Little guy loves his jewels.”

Shepard had met the little dragon once when Twilight brought him along on one of her visits with Fluttershy. “I did, yeah.”

Pinkie nodded as if she knew the answer all along. “Anyway, the dragon showed up and dad told us to run. I was so scared, all I could think of was running. So… I did. I ran and I ran until eventually my legs wouldn’t run anymore. I didn’t realize I had been running alone the entire time.”

Shepard’s eyes widened at the implication. “You don’t mean…”

Pinkie nodded again, a small smile teasing her lips, but tears glimmering in her eyes. “Yup. I dunno if they all stayed behind, or if they just didn’t make it. We were a tiny farm, pretty far away from anypony else. Dad had to haul the harvest to Hoofington. It was a few days walk there and back. I went back to the farm eventually, but I um… I didn’t find anypony waiting for me.”

“Pinkie, I don’t know what to say.”

Now Pinkie’s smile was a little brighter. “You don’t need to say anything, silly; I’m here to make you feel better. Anyway, the whole point of this sad boring story is that I know how it feels to lose somepony important. But being sad and mopey all the time doesn’t help anything. You have to remember the good times, the fun you had and the love you shared with them. I know my family wouldn’t want me being all sad and down in the dumps all the time. Do you think your friend would want that for you?”

Shepard sighed. She couldn’t remember everything of the quirky salarian doctor, but she did remember he smiled a lot. He liked to joke around with her in as serious a tone as he could muster. He had made her laugh on more than one occasion. “No. No, I don’t think he’d want that.”

Nodding, Pinkie planted her backside by Shepard’s fire pit, patting the ground beside her. Shepard lowered herself to the ground. “Good. So. You can go ahead. I won’t tell anypony. It’s an important part of the process.”

Shepard didn’t need to ask what she’d meant. It was something she’d been holding in for a very long time. The tears started again, harder this time. She cried. She cried for everything she’d lost. She cried for herself, for her unremembered friends, her home, her life. She cried for Mordin Solus, and for Thane Krios. She even cried for Urdnot Grunt. She didn’t know if he was dead or not, but he was just as lost to her.

Pinkie had sidled up, and now had her forelegs wrapped around Shepard’s neck in a warm embrace. The woman threw her arms around the pink pony like she was a warm, fuzzy life preserver, letting her pent up anger and sadness at the past months out all at once.

Pinkie Pie balanced on her hind legs patiently, holding the sobbing woman for as long as she needed. Gently rubbing a hoof along her back, Pinkie smiled as the sobs slowed and quieted. Stepping back, she saw the woman’s face was a mess, and offered her a hankie. Shepard accepted it silently, blowing her nose and cleaning herself up. “ … Thanks.”

“Sure thing. You can keep that, by the way.” She cracked a little smile.

She was rewarded by Shepard doing the same. “Heh. Well thanks for the handkerchief too.”

Shepard blew out a heavy breath, sitting back on her hands and just closing her eyes, breathing deeply. Pinkie allowed her the time to collect herself. At length, she opened her eyes and looked around in mild confusion. “Pinkie Pie, how did you know how to get here and avoid all the traps?”

Pinkie just smiled and hopped to her hooves, nudging the human back to her feet. “Ask the girls when we get back to the party.”

Shepard did. She got a very unsatisfying ‘that’s just Pinkie Pie’ from each of the girls she asked.

Waking up in a warm, soft bed. This was a very novel sensation Shepard could get used to. The party had gone on surprisingly long into the night. Things even got a little wild when Applejack brought out some of her ‘hard’ cider. Fluttershy had a shockingly high alcohol tolerance, even drinking her fellow pegasus under the table when challenged to a drinking contest.

She was more reluctant than normal to wake up. A warm shaft of sunlight filtered through the window, shining in her eyes. With a grunt, she cracked them open and waved a hand toward the curtains. Her ears instantly perked up at the loud ‘clop’ sound her hand made when it connected with the window sill.

Also, her ears perked up. That didn’t sound right. Eyes flying wide open now, she sat bolt upright, getting a strange twinge of protest from her back as she did so. Looking down, she could see her nose extending a good deal further than it should from her face. Shakily, she brought her hands up to her face, only to find she didn’t have hands anymore.

She was sporting a set of hooves.

Fluttershy sighed at Angel’s insisted thumps against her hind leg. “I know, Angel bunny. You want your breakfast. But we have a guest, remember? Don’t you think I should get her breakfast first?”

She wasn’t surprised that her beloved rabbit shook his head firmly, just a little disappointed. “Fine. If you want it now, you get a quick one.” She filled his bowl with some simple, leafy greens before going back to preparing Shepard’s eggs. An alarmed scream from the new addition to her cottage triggered the usual warring emotions when she heard somepony screaming. Concern for the pony in question, and the strong desire to run as far as possible from whatever was causing them to scream.

Steeling herself, she rushed across her cottage to the new, tall door in the side wall. Flinging it open, she could only gape at the sight within.

A cream colored earth pony mare staggered from the bedroom in the addition. Her emerald colored eyes were wide as dinner plates, and her fiery red mane and tail were messy and disheveled. “What happened to me?!” The ex-human’s odd undergarments were stretched to their maximum around her warped pony body.

“Uh— uh— uh… I’ll go get Twilight! Y— you just wait here!”

“Get Twilight quickly!”

Fluttershy eeped and zipped back out, galloping for all she was worth toward the library.

“Shepard-Commander, stop. Sit and take a deep breath. I realize this is a shock, but you are nearing a panic attack, and I will be forced to sedate you.”

Shepard scrunched her eyes tightly shut and awkwardly planted her furry butt on the floor. Taking several deep breaths, she found she really wasn’t calming down all that much. “Legion, why am I a pony?!”

“Unknown at this time, Shepard-Commander. I am running every diagnostic on your body I can, and am finding no trace of foreign chemical or biological material. This could be a side effect of ingesting the foreign food or drink. Perhaps there is a magical property to their edibles we were unaware of.”

Whining softly, Shepard cracked an eye open, looking past her new muzzle to the hooves planted on the floor between her legs. Her hind legs, she had to remind herself. “Christ, what do I look like?”

“Lift your right foreleg. I will open a display with your omni-tool.”

Shepard did as she was asked. Immediately, a large screen stretched to show her new pony body. Turning her head left and right, opening and closing her mouth, blinking one eye than the next her digital reflection copied her perfectly. She was forced to come to one conclusion.

She was adorable.

A bright flash caused her to recoil and drop her leg. “Legion!”

“Apologies, Shepard-Commander. It was hard to get a good angle for the photograph with your foreleg lowered as it was.”

“Delete that right now, Legion!”

There was a pause before he answered. “It is deleted.”

“No it’s not!”

“No, it is not, and there is literally no force in the galaxy you could muster that would force me to delete this photograph; the pinnacle of my collection.”

The fuming earth pony stomped circles around the room, venting her anger. “How did this happen?! How did you not notice it happening last night while I was sleeping?!”

“I believe it safe to assume some sort of magical nonsense is involved. I had shut down most of my monitoring functions in order to focus more on data reconstruction. I felt the environment safe enough that I would not be required to monitor every second.”

About to lay into him for his negligence, the smell of something burning from the main cottage drew her attention. Torn between her own situation and Fluttershy’s home potentially burning down, Shepard maneuvered her new body into the other room. A small fire was burning on the pegasus’ stove, threatening to ignite the curtains. “Shit! Legion, what do I do?!”

“I would suggest you put out the fire, Shepard-Commander.”

“With what?! I have hooves!”

“As does the entirety of this country. Applejack and her siblings did the bulk of the construction of your new domicile with their bare hooves. You can douse a small kitchen fire.”

Growling under her breath, Shepard stood on her hind legs, draping her forehooves over the sink to support herself. Awkwardly using one hoof to turn the cold water in the sink on, she gripped a nearby pot with both and held it under the water. She had to put a good deal of pressure on either side to keep it from slipping out of her grip, but she managed. Once it was full, she just flung it at the small fire, dousing it. With a relieved sigh, she dropped to the floor and—with a little effort—switched the burner off.

“Well done, Shepard-Commander.”

Blowing out a breath of air, the pony flopped onto the floor on her belly. “ … Legion, what if I’m stuck like this?”

“I have seen Luna transform herself from pony to human shape seemingly without effort. I have no doubt she could do the same to you.”

Shepard’s ears involuntarily perked at the mention of the lunar Princess. “Luna! She’s supposed to come by tonight and see my new place! I can’t let her see me like this!”

“I fail to see the problem. If anything, I would think she may at last find you physically attractive. You are a member of her species now.”

Shepard opened her mouth to comment, but snapped it shut again. Legion had her there. “Well I’m not— I’m not trying to attract her! It’s just… embarrassing!”

“Of course, Shepard-Commander.”

Glaring at her omni-tool, all the view of her foreleg and hoof did was infuriate her more. She was torn between a relieved sigh, and running and hiding in embarrassment as Fluttershy arrived with Twilight in tow. “Oh my goodness! What happened?!”

“I turned into a pony is what! Oh. Oh, you meant the kitchen. Whatever you were cooking caught fire. I put it out.”

Fluttershy smiled softly. “Oh, thank you. I was making you some breakfast and then, well… I got distracted.”

Twilight approached Shepard slowly as Fluttershy went to clean up her kitchen. The young Princess paced around the new pony, taking in every inch of her altered form. “What in Equestria happened to you? Is this some sort of integration program Legion came up with? How did he alter you like this?”

Shepard felt the fur on the back of her neck rise. “Legion didn’t do this! Your stupid… Magic whatever did this to me! Fix it!”

Twilight blinked, a little taken aback by the venom in the mare’s voice. “We didn’t do this. I certainly didn’t cast any spells like this and I know Rarity doesn’t know any physical transmutations. What happened leading up to your change?”

The earth pony mare shook her head vigorously. “Nothing! I came here in the morning, we partied all day and night, I went to bed! When I woke up, BOOM. Something had to be in that food!”

Sighing softly, Twilight turned her attention to the image of Legion watching it all from his screen. “Legion, did anything unusual happen yesterday?”

His attention shifted to Twilight. “I do not believe so. There was a minor incident with the ursa minor, but nothing terribly out of the ordinary ensued.” The image of the A.I. vanished, replaced by the view of a nude Shepard chasing after the massive animal. Twilight just glanced at the pony in question with a raised eyebrow.

Shepard huffed, crossing her forelegs over her chest. “He stole my armor. I was chasing him.”

“Mmhm.” Turning her attention back to the image, she gasped. “Wait! Go back!” The video froze and rewound. “Aha!”

“Aha? What aha?!” Shepard craned her leg up so she could see the image clearly.

“Those flowers. I’d bet my horn that’s poison joke.”

“ … No. No, no, no. Magical transforming party cake I can handle. Being magically turned into a talking pony by a flower called poison joke? Absolutely not.”

Twilight smiled, quite pleased with herself. “Well! The good news is, this is very easy to reverse.” Shepard breathed a tremendous sigh of relief, until… “The bad news is, my friend Zecora keeps the herbs required to make the cure at her hut in the Everfree. Ordinarily, that in and of itself wouldn’t be a problem, but she’s away for the weekend visiting family. So you’re going to have to sit tight until she gets home.”

“The whole weekend?! You want me to spend the whole weekend like this?!”

Twilight ruffled her wings, frowning gently. “And what’s wrong with being a pony? I’ve been one for the past nineteen years. I think you’ll survive the next two days just fine.”

Snorting through her new, larger nostrils, Shepard had a hard time poking a hole in that. “If all this stuff is at your friend’s place, just go get it. I’m sure she won’t mind.”

Twilight looked aghast. “You mean go into her home uninvited and just take what we need? Absolutely not.”

Fluttershy perked up now. “Oh, um, Twilight? Don’t the girls at the spa have some of the poison joke cure?”

Twilight beamed. “They do! Great idea, Fluttershy!”

Even Shepard perked up, until the yellow pegasus continued. “But, um... They’re away on business until next Tuesday...”

Another snort from the new mare. “Fine. I’ll be in my… whatever this new part of the cottage is. And no, I’m not going outside looking like this.” Twilight followed Shepard back into the addition. “Legion, how is the omni-tool even in there still? Are all my cybernetics still working?”

A large screen appeared in the air, depicting Shepard’s new innards. “It would seem that they have all been altered to fit your new body.”

“How… How is that possible?!”

“I could hazard a guess, but I believe Miss Sparkle could inform you accurately. Twilight Sparkle, how is this possible?”

Shepard looked to the scholarly Princess, who shrugged. “Magic.”

That one simple word set Shepard’s eye to twitching. “You… you can’t just say magic and use that as an explanation for what happened!”

Twilight inclined her head. “Alright, if you want the technical explanation.” Shepard immediately regretted her words as Twilight took a deep breath. “Poison joke works by triggering a physical transmutation to create a humorous or embarrassing situation for the victim. It blends transmutation to alter the body with enchantment to scan the mind and find an appropriately ridiculous circumstance to thrust the pony or, um, person in question into. Many high end transmutation spells affect not only the body, but also whatever the target of the spell is wearing or carrying. I won’t go into detail about spell matrices and proper mana manipulation to fuel the magic, but suffice to say, poison joke is very powerful.”

Stomping back to the other side of the cottage, Shepard felt her eye begin to twitch as Legion flashed several more photographs. Storming over to her armor, she wrestled with one of the plates in her greaves before it popped open and she retrieved a small glossy disc. “Out! You’re staying with Twilight Sparkle this weekend!”

“Shepard-Commander, I feel this is a poor time to leave you on your own.”

“If you don’t get in that disc I will gnaw through my new hoof and spit that omni-tool interface into the trash. Now out!”

While Legion could sedate the incensed mare if necessary, he knew better than to continue provoking her in such an agitated state. The mental firewalls he’d erected were already slowly eroding, and overwhelming emotional responses would cause them to break down significantly faster than he would like. “Very well, Shepard-Commander.”

A small jolt ran from the omni-tool to the disc as a miniature image of Legion appeared above it. “Try to calm yourself. As Twilight Sparkle informed you, it is only for two days. You will be restored soon enough. I suggest you look at this unfortunate situation as a learning opportunity and—”

He was muffled as Shepard clamped her mouth down over the disc, trotted to the door and hurled it as far from the cottage as she could. “I’ll see you at the end of the weekend, Twilight.”

Shepard may be a pony all of a sudden, but the mare had the same steely glint in her large green eyes that she had as a woman. The kind of look that warned crossing her would end up very poorly for whoever was on her bad side. “Eheheh… I think I’ll just be going. I’m going to be away until Sunday evening myself, but I’ll take Legion with me. I’m sure he’d be interested in seeing the Crystal Empire.”

“Fine! Great! Goodbye, Twilight!”

Taking the not-so-subtle hint, Twilight dashed out the door, tail tucked between her legs. Shepard blew out a heavy gust of air in frustration, turning to head to her bed only to be met with a sternly staring Fluttershy. “You shouldn’t have yelled at Twilight. She only wants to help.”

Shepard could feel her ears lay back against her head. “I know. I know! I’m sorry, and I’ll apologize to her later. It’s just… This is all a bit stressful on top of everything else I’m dealing with.”

Some of the edge left Fluttershy’s eyes. “I’m sure it is. But that’s not excuse to yell at your friends and make them feel bad. Legion should have known better than to tease you, but Twilight didn’t deserve that.”

“I know! I said I’ll apologize later!”

Fluttershy however, returned to her semi-aggressive posture, something Shepard didn’t miss. “You’ll apologize to her now. Anypony living under this roof is not going to behave like that.”

“Fine! I’ll apologize to her now. Go get her.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No. You go to her and apologize, Shepherd.”

The earth pony’s eyes darted toward the door, then back to Fluttershy. “Go to her? As in go into… into town? Like this?”

“Mmhm. I think this is the perfect time for you to go into Ponyville. You look just like anypony else now. I’ll come with you if you like, but you’re going, missy. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”

Feeling a very uncool whine starting to well up in the back of her throat, Shepard choked it back down. “Fine! Fine, I’ll… go into town. But just to Twilight’s, and just to apologize.”

Now all the hostility melted from Fluttershy’s stance and eyes. “I’m very proud of you. But you, um… might want to get out of those clothes before we go. You look a little silly.”

Glancing down at the bra stretched tightly across her new pony chest, Shepard couldn’t help but laugh. Fluttershy soon joined in.

Fluttershy was by far the last pony to comment on another’s nervous behavior. She was more than patient as Shepard set a snail’s pace from the cottage and onto the main road into town. Every few steps, the new earth pony would hesitate. Her eyes would dart back and forth, often looking back the way they’d come. A kind word or reassuring brush against the other mare’s shoulders was all Fluttershy did to keep her moving.

The pegasus took the opportunity to study Shepard closer. Her network of scars were still visible, though only to somepony who knew what to look for. Faint discoloration of her coat here and there were the tell-tale signs. It helped her coat was already a pale beige color, and the discoloration was barely noticeable. Her musculature rippled with the same impressive shape and size as Applejack’s. It was hard to judge exactly how physically strong the human was in her natural shape, but seeing her like this, it was clear she was very powerful.

“Hey Fluttershy!” Fluttershy blinked at the voice overhead. She yelped a little at the harsh crackling sound coming from the pony at her side. When she looked again, only a vague warped outline remained where Shepard had stood.

Rainbow Dash hit the ground beside her friend, eyes wide. “Did I just see what I think I saw?”

A nervous smile formed on the other pegasus’ muzzle. “Well, um… What do you think you saw?”

Wordlessly, Rainbow Dash poked a hoof out and prodded Shepard in the flank. With a yelp, the earth pony lurched forward and fully reappeared. “Hey! Did you just grab my ass?!”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide as saucers, and then she smiled. Then she started to snicker. Finally, she broke down into mighty guffawing, clutching her sides and rolling helplessly about the ground.

Fluttershy looked from her cackling friend to an increasingly angry looking Shepard. “Rainbow Dash…” She began warningly.

“Oh man! What the heck happened to you?! You’re a pony! And look at those freckles! You’re cuter than Applebloom!” She broke down again, laughing so hard her eyes were beginning to water.

Shepard’s face was starting to turn an alarming shade of purple. Wide-eyed, Fluttershy tugged at Dash’s tail. “Rainbow Dash, stop…”

Sitting up, Dash wiped a tear from her eye. “Hah… oh man. Sorry! Sorry, Shepard. Don’t get your tail in a knot! Bwaaaahahahaha!”

“That’s it!” Shepard’s right foreleg flew up and her omni-tool appeared, letting out a snapping, crackling sound as a jolt of electricity punched straight into Rainbow’s stomach. The mare grunted and jerked spastically for all of two seconds before shaking herself off.

“That’s it? A little zap of electricity? I kick lightning bolts around for my day job; you gotta do better than that. C’mon Shepard, pony up a little for Celestia’s sake!”

The next thing Rainbow Dash saw was a pair of cream colored hind hooves hurtling at her face almost too fast for the eye to follow. When she finally landed some distance away, she sat up wobbly. “That’s, uh… That’s better…” Before collapsing onto her back.

Breathing heavily, Shepard planted her legs back on the ground, going so far as to scuff the dirt some. Some of her anger cooled when she found Fluttershy once again staring at her in an intensely disapproving manner. “What? What?! She started it!”

“I don’t remember seeing Rainbow kick a bolt of lightning at you, or bucking you in the face, Shepherd. Words only hurt if you let them. That’s a lesson I learned the hard way. Hooves hurt no matter what. Yes, Rainbow Dash was out of line, but we don’t settle arguments with violence.”

Bristling a little, Shepard stomped petulantly in a circle. “Well was I supposed to just sit there and take that?!”

“No. You tell her calmly that you don’t appreciate being laughed at, or being made fun of. Rainbow Dash is a little rough around the edges, but she’d never do anything to genuinely hurt a friend’s feelings. Now go get her and apologize.”

Casting her gaze toward the distant landing point of the bucked pegasus, she frowned. “I didn’t mean to hit her that hard. Should we get a doctor?”

“From one little buck in the face? Rainbow Dash has crashed into the ground flying at the speed of sound. I doubt one little kick is going to do her serious harm. But that’s not the point.”

With a disgusted groan, Shepard set off toward the fallen Rainbow Dash. Other than sporting a pair of black eyes, the pegasus seemed none the worse for wear, gently rubbing her forehead. “Could give AJ a run for her money, I think.”

Feeling a little bad now, Shepard extended a hoof. Rainbow accepted it with an embarrassed smile of her own as Shepard hauled her to her hooves. “ … I didn’t mean to kick you so hard.”

“Well I might have gone a little too far. So I’m sorry, I should have been a little more, uh… sensitive to your… feelings or whatever.”

Rainbow Dash sounded pretty close to throwing up the whole time she forced the sentence out. This brought a smile back to the earth pony’s face. “It’s alright. We were both out of line, right?”

“Right. So… what did happen?”

Shepard grunted in disgust. “Poison joke.”

Rainbow Dash was careful to make sure she was well out of Shepard’s reach before she started laughing again.

Twilight’s ears perked at the knock coming from the library’s front door. “Honestly, I keep telling everypony this is a public library. You don’t have to knock during business hou—” She blinked as she opened the door. “Shepherd? You’re here? In town? What are you doing here?”

Glancing back toward the patiently waiting Fluttershy, Shepard ran a hoof over her leg. “I uh, came to say I’m sorry. For yelling at you. I know you just want to help, and I shouldn’t have snapped. So… I’m sorry.”

Twilight’s concerned expression melted into a warm smile. “Oh, it’s alright. Really, I understand, your situation is stressful enough without adding full body transmutations to your list of problems. If I knew where to get the herbs myself, I’d rush right into the Everfree and take care of it, but I just have no idea. It could take me longer to find them on my own than it would to wait for Zecora to come home.”

Closing her eyes, Shepard took a deep breath before finally nodding. “It’s just a weekend. In two days I’ll be back to normal. I’ll live.” She ended with a small smile.

One Twilight shared. Of course, the moment was interrupted by a bright flash coming from the table. Slowly, Shepard turned to regard Legion after he’d taken yet another photograph.

Lips pursed tightly together, the mare’s sides heaved in and out as she sucked in deep lungfuls of air, trying to calm herself. Rigidly, she left the library before she even had much time to marvel at the fantastic notion of a giant tree housing a library. She slowly marched around to the back. Finding a suitable target, she stomped up to a poor, innocent tree.

Both Twilight and Fluttershy winced at the sharp crack from outside, then the sound of a tree toppling over. Fluttershy offered Twilight a little shrug and a smile. “At least it wasn’t Rainbow Dash this time.”

Pacing back and forth in front of her current-front door, Shepard worked hard to calm her nerves. So what if Luna saw her like this? It wasn’t that embarrassing. She was a pony too after all. And they were just friends. Nothing else. She definitely didn’t have any interest in her, she was a pony after all. Practically an ordinary horse.

An ordinary horse with a star studded mane, and deep sea foam eyes she could stare into for hours…

Shaking her head vigorously, she snorted. “None of that!” Again, she glanced over her nude body, and not for the first time she considered racing back to her room and trying to tie a bed sheet around her lower half at least.

Her musings were interrupted as a small puff of glittery blue smoke burst overhead, and a scroll dropped from the air, bouncing off the top of her head and rolling to a stop on the floor. It was easy enough to gather who it came from by the royal blue wax seal embossed with the insignia of the crescent moon. Poking her head into the next room, she cleared her throat. “Fluttershy, are you busy?”

Her roommate for lack of a better term lifted her head from the book she had her nose buried in. “Of course not. What’s wrong?”

Shepard waved her into her little area. “That uh, letter just bounced off my head. I’m not really too great with these things.” She held up her forehooves.

“Oh! It’s no trouble at all. Let’s see.” Gently, she lifted the letter with a hoof. Gripping the blue ribbon in her teeth and giving a little tug, it unfurled. “Would you like me to read it to you? It’s in Equestrian.”

Shepard nodded. While she could speak and understand it, Legion hadn’t gotten around to teaching her to read the pony language. “Please.”

Fluttershy cleared her throat.

My dear friend, Shepherd Commander,

It is with some regret that I inform you I cannot leave Canterlot to welcome you properly into your new home. While I dearly enjoy the time we spend together, at times my royal duties will force me to break such engagements. By way of apology, I wish to invite you to Canterlot this coming Wednesday. We are going to be hosting a small celebration in honor of a great moment in Equestrian history, one I very much would enjoy sharing with you. Twilight Sparkle and her friends have already confirmed their attendance. As you will be riding the train as part of her entourage, there will be no fee.

I am aware of your feelings regarding the more populated centers of Equestria. I can only tell you that your attendance would mean a great deal to me. While Twilight Sparkle and her friends are kind, caring mares one and all, I have not become close friends with them as I have with you. It is somewhat embarrassing to admit, but you are the first real friend I have made since my return from the moon.

I apologize if these words make you uncomfortable. It is not my intention to do so, merely to convey how much your coming to Canterlot would mean to me. Please do not feel that I will be angry if you choose not to attend, I understand well the scars that troubles of the mind can leave.

Always your friend, Luna

Fluttershy gently laid the letter on the table in Shepard’s room. Her strange friend had a thoughtful look on her face as she silently studied the floor. “Well, um… I hope you decide to come. Nopony thought to invite you because you seem very… determined not to go into town. Canterlot is a lot bigger than Ponyville, after all.”

Shepard’s eyes drifted back toward the letter. “ … I’ll come. I need to grow up sometime, right? Besides, it’s just more ponies. Not like there’re gonna be timberwolves or manticores or anything, right?”

Fluttershy smiled brightly. “That’s the spirit. Why don’t you come over and I’ll make us some nice tea.” Her ear perked at the sudden growl from Shepard’s stomach. “And maybe a little dinner.”

Shepard laughed as she followed the pegasus into the cottage proper. “That sounds great.” Both turned toward the front door at a sudden knock. Nodding her head toward the kitchen, Shepard approached the door. “I’ll see who it is. Probably Rainbow Dash, come to apologize for the hundredth time.”

Nodding to the earth pony, Fluttershy ducked into her kitchen to put a little something together. Shepard glared at the door knob a minute before gripping it tightly in her forehooves and awkwardly tugging it open. Instead of Rainbow Dash outside, it was… three of the smallest, cutest ponies she had ever seen.

All three stared at her with the same mix of wide-eyed, heart melting adorableness. The little orange pegasus with the purple mane, the lily white unicorn with her pale lilac and pink curls… Shepard had to actually bite down on her cheek to keep from letting out an audible ‘awww’ at the earth pony filly with the big pink bow in her mane. “C— can I help you?”

The three exchanged a confused look. Shepard then noticed the backpacks strapped across their backs. “Is Fluttershy home?”

At the filly’s voice, Fluttershy quickly returned. “Oh! Oh my goodness, I completely forgot in all the excitement. I told the girls they could have their camp out here. Oh, um… Shepherd, this is Applebloom, Applejack’s little sister. Sweetie Belle is Rarity’s sister, and their friend Scootaloo. I look after them from time to time when their families are busy. Girls, this is Shepherd. She’s my house guest.”

Applebloom’s eyes lit with recognition. “Hey, yer th’ mare that taught them ornery sheep of ours some manners! Pleased t’ meetcha!”

Shepard smiled at the well-mannered filly. “Nice to meet you too. Camping out, huh? No tents?”

Scootaloo puffed her chest up proudly. “No way! We’re totally roughing it all weekend!”

“If by roughing it, you mean sleeping in Fluttershy’s backyard and coming in to get a snack or use the bathroom whenever we want.” Sweetie Belle commented under her breath.

Shepard quirked a grin at the marshmallowy little unicorn. Fluttershy cleared her throat softly. “Alright girls, go on back. You let me know if you need anything, alright?”

“Yes, Fluttershy!”

“Thanks, Fluttershy!”

“See ya later, Fluttershy!”

Shepard watched the three tear off around to the back of the cottage with a smile. Fluttershy shrugged sheepishly. “I’m sorry about that. I can’t believe I forgot they were coming. I hope they won’t be too big a bother.”

Shepard snorted softly. “Three little pony kids? How much trouble can they be?”

Author's Note

Part 1 of the epic 3 part Pony Shepard...epic is here! Part 2: But Foalsitting is a Close Second should ideally be up this weekend.

It was just going to be the one chapter, but the idea sorta ran away from me so now it's three!

Chapter 8: But Foalsitting Isn't Too Bad

Chapter 8: But Foalsitting Isn’t Too Bad

Shepard leaned against the door frame of Fluttershy’s back porch, watching the three fillies go about the incredibly serious business of setting up their ‘base of operations’ just right. To her side was an assortment of sandwiches, each with one bite missing and each with one bite’s worth of flowers and bread spit out next to them. “I think by this point it’s safe to say becoming a pony didn’t make me suddenly crave flowers, Fluttershy.”

“No, I guess not.” With an apologetic smile, the pegasus broke up the bread and slid the crumbs into a bag appropriately labeled ‘bread crumbs’. The flowers just got tossed in the trash. “Still, it never hurts to try new things, right?”

“Suppose not. Though it’s not doing much for my hunger.” As if to punctuate her statement, her stomach groaned again.

Giggling softly, Fluttershy stepped back into the kitchen. “The girls are probably going to have some s’mores going any second now. You could see if they’ll sha—” Fluttershy blinked at the sound of hooves rapidly leaving her porch and pounding across the back yard. Shaking her head with a little sigh, she glanced down at Angel. “It’s going to be an exciting weekend, Angel bunny.”

Trying to be as casual as an adult about to mooch food off of three children could, Shepard sidled closer to the three fillies. It seemed they’d finally sorted out who’s sleeping bag would go where, and the pegasus—Scootaloo—was in the process of stacking wood in the middle for a fire. The area around their little campsite had an obviously well used fire pit, leading Shepard to believe this wasn’t their first weekend camp out here. “So! Fluttershy says you girls are making…”

Then she saw them. Large bars of thick, rich chocolate made by some pony right in town. A big bag of equally locally crafted and delectably fluffy, puffy, white marshmallows. Also there were graham crackers, but Shepard’s recently acquired sweet tooth dismissed them as a necessary evil to hold the good parts together.

Scootaloo dumped the last of the wood for the fire in the pit, eyeing the adult pony from the corner of her eye. “S’mores? Yup. Want one?”

Or five. But she didn’t need to vocalize that. “Well, since you’re offering.” Shepard took a seat at the edge of the fire pit, waiting patiently while Applebloom banged rocks together. For a while. “Know what? Since you’re feeding me, how about I give you guys a hand with the fire, huh?”

By far the least fun part of camping, the fillies were more than happy to let her handle sparking the fire. The Crusaders watched in confusion as Shepard lifted her hoof toward the wood. Their eyes went wide as her omni-tool appeared around it and a small ball of flame splashed into the wood, igniting it into a roaring inferno. “Wasn’t sure if I’d be able to tone down the heat like that. Looks good though, huh?”

“How’d y’all do that?! Yer an earth pony!”

“Uhh… the magic of science? Now I believe I was promised s’mores.”

Frowning at the unsatisfying answer, the fillies went to work preparing the evening’s snacks. Sweetie Belle delicately laid out the graham crackers while Applebloom went about the task of spearing marshmallows on sticks. With her mouth. Shepard raised an eyebrow at that. “That doesn’t seem sanitary.”

Applebloom indignantly spat the stick out of her mouth. “What?! It is so! I brush my teeth just as good as anypony else, see?” She finished by flashing her teeth.

“ … Right. Sorry. Where I’m from, we don’t use our mouths for stuff like that.”

Scootaloo was regarding the strange mare curiously now. “Where’re you from?”

Shepard blinked. If their elders hadn’t told them about her, she figured it must be for a reason. “Uhh... Far away, a city called...” She wracked her brain. The various places she’d heard in conversation with the ponies tended to have horse themed names. “Horse...ing...ton. We use, uh… grabber things. It’s technical, don’t worry about it. Carry on.”

“Horsington? I never heard’a that. Where is it?”

“North.”

“North’a what?”

“Here.”

Huffing at yet another unsatisfying answer, the earth pony filly passed the sticks around to her friends, and offered one to Shepard in her teeth. Delicately, she took it in her forehooves, pinching the end tightly to keep a grip as she eased it over the flame. A smiling Sweetie Belle was soon doing likewise. “Neat! My face isn’t getting hot!”

As if some great epiphany had dawned over the little fillies that holding your head close to the fire would result in some discomfort, the other two likewise shifted the sticks from their mouths to their hooves. “Hey, that’s pretty cool, Miss Shepherd. What else do you do different?”

Shepard was about to respond when an alarmed gasp from Scootaloo at her side drew her attention. The little pegasus was just pointing at Shepard’s hip with the most horrified look the woman had ever seen a pony have. “What? What’s on me?”

Sweetie Belle glanced at Shepard’s other hip and likewise looked equally stricken. “You don’t have a cutie mark!”

“Eh? Oh, uh… Nope. No butt tattoo’s on me. Sorry.” Her marshmallow had just caught fire as she drew it out, blowing sharply on it and grinning toothily.

With stricken wails, the three fillies dashed into Fluttershy’s cottage, yammering a mile a minute. Shepard watched them go in confusion… Before scooping up the fallen marshmallows and helping herself to four s’mores.

It wasn’t long before Fluttershy approached, frowning gently. Shepard looked up with a mouth full of marshmallow and chocolate. “Wad I do?”

Sighing softly, Fluttershy shook her head. “Nothing, Shepherd. I suppose it’s a little bit my fault. You see, the girls formed a club called the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They do all sorts of activities trying to find their special talents.”

Now Shepard wrinkled her nose in confusion. “Whaddya mean find dem? Dun they know whad dey’re good ad?”

“For goodness’ sake, please swallow your food. You’re setting a bad example for the girls.”

Shepard urk’d softly and swallowed. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright. And, um… No. Nopony can just be told what their special talent is, they have to discover it for themselves. It always happens eventually; at least that’s what we always told the girls. You see, a pony without a cutie mark can get teased about it by some of the other foals.”

“Ohhh… so seeing me—an adult—without one…”

Fluttershy nodded. “Scared them into thinking they’d never get their own. They’ve always been told it happens to everypony before they’re out of school.”

“Well should we just tell them the truth about me?”

Tapping her chin gently, Fluttershy considered the question. “Let’s just tell them most of the truth. You walked into poison joke and got turned into a pony.”

“And what do I say when they ask what I was before?”

“Oh. Well, um… Tell them you were a human. And that you come from very far away.”

Shepard shrugged. “Easy enough.” She followed Fluttershy back into the cottage. “By the way, how’s dinner coming?”

Fluttershy just sighed again and trudged back to the kitchen.

The muffled sounds of hushed whispering and giggling filtered in pretty clearly through Shepard’s window, but she didn’t much mind. It was a more pleasant sound to fall asleep to than screeching fruit bats or howling timberwolves.

Sighing contentedly, she snuggled a little deeper under the covers. It took a lot of wiggling, thrashing, and adjusting to get her new body comfortable on the bed, but eventually she hit that sweet spot. Just as her eyes were beginning to droop closed, alarmed knocking came from Fluttershy’s front door. Determined not to lose her perfect sleeping position, Shepard just stuffed her head beneath the pillows.

An undisturbed rest was not to be, unfortunately. Increasingly louder ‘ahems’ finally forced her to lift her head. The concern on Fluttershy’s face dispelled her lethargy. “What’s wrong?”

“There was a dragon attack at one of nearby towns. I take care of sick or injured animals all the time, so the Mayor’s asked me to go with the medical ponies and lend a hoof where I can.”

Shepard nodded, wide-eyed. “Well go ahead! Is the dragon gone? Do I need to come?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No the dragon left. But… Oh, I hate to ask, but— It’s the girls…”

Shepard looked out the window to where the three curious fillies could be seen staring back, wondering what was going on so late. “You need me to watch them? Sure. No problem at all.”

“Oh, thank goodness. I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone. If I’m not back by morning, Applebloom knows the feeding schedule for all my animal friends. She comes to help out now and then to make a couple bits. Just ask her if you get into trouble. Oh, and, um… keep a close eye on them. Sometimes they can get into trouble.”

“Those little angels? I’ll be fine. I’ve wrestled with an ursa minor and handled everything the Everfree forest threw at me. I can handle the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’.” She finished with a grin.

To her slight irritation, Fluttershy didn’t look so sure. “Alright. I have to go. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Thank you, Shepherd.”

Shepard walked her to the door, waving as Fluttershy flew out to the waiting medical convoy. Turning back from the front door, she nearly leapt out of her skin at the sight of three huge pairs of eyes gazing up at her. How the hell had they been so quiet?

“Where’s Fluttershy going?”

“Is everythin’ alright?”

“Nopony’s hurt, are they?”

Shepard cleared her throat. “There was a dragon problem at the next town over. I guess the Mayor rounded up everyone who could help and sent them along, Fluttershy included. The dragon’s gone though, so she’ll be just fine. She asked me to look after you guys while she’s away so, uh… Guess it’s just us.”

The fillies all exchanged a quick, quiet look with one another. “Alright, Miss Shepherd. Well, we’ll see ya tomorrow. We’re real tired and such.”

The other two nodded along with Applebloom’s words as they quickly dashed from the cottage. Shepard watched with a raised eyebrow, but shrugged and trudged back to bed.

“MORNIN’!”

“Wah hah!” Shepard flailed wildly at the sudden bellow in her ear and flipped over backwards out of the bed, landing hard on her back. Groaning softly, she cracked an eye open, fixing the offender with a baleful glare.

Applebloom peered at her from the other side of the bed. “Oops. Did I scare ya?”

Taking a deep breath, Shepard forced a small—if sleepy—smile. “Just a little. Did you need something?”

“Well it’s breakfast time. Me an th’ girls wanted somethin’ t’ eat before we get t’ our crusadin’ t’day.”

“Oh… ehhhh…” Shepard looked down at her forehooves. “Tell you what? Why don’t you guys try getting cutie marks in cooking? Breakfast is all up to you today.”

The little filly’s ears perked. “Really?! Nopony ever lets us cook anythin’! I’ll tell the girls! Just you wait, Miss Shepherd y’all are in for a treat!”

“Oh! hey, wait! Uh… Fluttershy said you knew how to feed all her animals, right?”

Applebloom paused at the door. “Uh huh. Don’t worry; we’ll take care’a that too!”

“Great! Thanks, kid.” Shepard chuckled softly to herself as she rolled back to all fours, rising with a stretch to work the kinks out of her back. It wasn’t like her to sleep past the sunrise, and even less like her to get snuck up on by a little filly in her sleep. This stupid bed was making her soft. That or she was feeling safe for the first time in eight months. Running a hoof drowsily through her mane, she contemplated just curling up for a little while longer.

Her eyes fell on the pile of armor and the three guns stacked next to it. With a grunt, she looked about for a place safe from little fillies to stash them. Delicately taking them in her mouth, she stood on her hind legs and crammed them one after the other onto the highest shelf she could reach. “After school special about gun safety is the last thing I need.”

Shepard’s ear twitched at the sound of commotion out in the kitchen. Making a half-assed attempt to tidy her bed, she nudged open the door to the cottage proper and stepped through, instantly wishing she hadn’t.

Bowls heaped with stacks of food taller than herself dotted the main room here and there, the various pellets, fruit, and vegetables overflowing and spilling out onto the floor. An uncomfortable amount of black smoke was spewing up from the stove, toaster, and most curious of all, the glasses of juice. Applebloom proudly watched the animals gorge themselves on the huge piles of food while Sweetie Belle hummed a lovely tune to herself as she ‘cooked’.

Scootaloo watched nervously as Shepard looked around slowly, before simply seating herself at the table. The young pegasus nervously set the table for four. “You, uh… You’re not mad about anything?”

Shepard shrugged. “What’s there to be mad at?”

“Well, y’know… the overfed animals? The super burnt breakfast?”

“Eh. They’ll stop eating when they’re full, right? And what’s a little bit of char around the edges?” Her eyebrows rose as the food was laid out; mostly the char was all over the everything. “No grass or flowers?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head proudly. “Nope! Toast, eggs, and orange juice!”

Shepard flashed her a toothy smile. “Great! Let’s eat!” Scootaloo and Applebloom watched more than a little surprised as Shepard began gorging herself on the blackened fare.

Sweetie just smiled ear to ear. “You really like it?!”

Swallowing a mouthful of smokey juice, Shepard shrugged. “I’ve eaten worse than this. It beats roasted Popper.”

The earth pony and pegasus fillies exchanged an ‘is she kidding?’ look before they snuck toward the kitchen to get some cereal. Sweetie Belle herself happily joined in the well done breakfast. As the group ate, Shepard became aware of an impatient thumping sound coming from the floor. Glancing down, she found that obnoxious white rabbit glaring up at her. “What’s his deal?”

Applebloom shrugged. “Fluttershy makes him special meals all the time.”

“So why didn’t you make him his special meal?”

“I dunno the right way t’do it, ma’am. If it ain’t just right, he don’t eat.”

Shepard swallowed a bite of egg that contained a healthy amount of shell. “Oh. Guess he don’t eat today then, huh? It’s the regular stuff or nothin’, buddy. I’m babysitting, not rabbit sitting.”

“Hey! We’re not babies!”

The adult in the room eyed the protesting pegasus. “No, uh... it’s an expression. I know you’re not babies. It’s a human thing.” Three soft ‘ohhhs’ rose up from the fillies. “Alright! Well, I’m full and I’m gonna grab a bath. You guys take care of the dishes, alright?”

“Ain’tcha even gonna help?”

Shepard shrugged helplessly. “Sorry kid. I’m not trying to be lazy, I just can’t use my hooves like you guys do. I don’t normally have ‘em, remember?”

Again the trio ‘oh’d’ together and went to the task of cleaning the dishes without further complaint. Smiling at how well she’d been handling her duties so far, Shepard trotted up to the bathroom and with some effort got the hot water running in the tub. Poking around at some of the soaps and oils the mare of the house kept, Shepard picked a pleasant lavender one, giving it a bit of a squeeze and adding some scent to the water. With a heavenly sigh, she eased into the tub and settled her rump on the bottom.

Taking a bath with a coat of fur was definitely a different experience than taking one without. Similar to how heavy her hair got when wet, her entire body felt like it put on twenty pounds in a second. Grunting with dissatisfaction, she worked her back against the tub and propped herself up. Glaring down at her foreign body silently for a time, she twisted and turned her forehooves this way and that. Her eye was drawn to her tail as it floated in the water. “Hmph. Back to normal tomorrow... Just one day.”

She focused on her right forehoof, where her omni-tool was nestled beneath the softer flesh. “ … I don’t miss him. So he’s been there all day every day for eight months. He’s a jerk.”

Her ears swiveled toward the door at the sound of excited hooves thundering her way. Raising a bit further out of the water, she yelped in alarm as the fillies barged into the bathroom and one after the other cannonballed their way into the water. “Wh— what’re you doing?!”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SPA PONIES!” Shepard was reasonably sure her mane was blown straight back at the volume as all three girls shrieked their response at once.

“Cutie mark wha—” She was interrupted as Applebloom seized her hind legs and yanked her hooves up and out of the water, causing her front end to slip beneath. Luckily, her new muzzle was just long enough to keep her nostrils out of the water and allow her to breathe. It was also fortunate because she had to take a very deep breath not to lose her cool.

About to rise back up and calmly ask the girls to leave her hooves be, her eyes widened at the sudden and very foreign sensation of a hoof-file being run across her hind hooves. She didn’t know if it was a pony thing, or if they were extra sensitive because she used to be human, but it tickled. A lot. Flailing wildly and trying to tug her hind legs free of Applebloom’s alarmingly strong grip, Shepard felt more helpless than she had in a long time.

Mercifully, the torment ended and her hind legs were allowed to drop back beneath the water. Gasping for breath, she had little time to rest as the crusaders went to work on her forehooves. “Hey, watch her legs! She’s bucking!” Shepard grunted as a weight settled on her stomach and she felt the tiny filly pin her legs down.

If the girls noticed the furious look on the mare’s face as she surfaced from the water once finally released, it didn’t show. All they were doing was eagerly looking at their flanks. “Aww... No cutie marks.”

“Of course we ain’t got ‘em yet! We’re not done!”

Shepard’s sopping ears folded back. “You’re not?”

“Course not! We gotta do the shampoo next!”

Shepard closed her eyes and sighed. She could reprimand them, but she couldn’t exactly electrocute or buck a bunch of little kids. And somehow, she doubted a stern talking to would get through to this bunch. Her musings were interrupted by a thick glob of thick sticky... shampoo?

“Sweetie Belle, are y’all sure that’s shampoo?”

“Uh huh! It’s some of Fluttershy’s honey-scented!”

“I thought Fluttershy used some kind of wildflower shampoo?”

At Scootaloo’s words, the three fillies looked from the bottle in Sweetie Belle’s hooves, to the copious amounts of honey sprayed out over Shepard’s mane, across her back, and just to the end of her tail. The little unicorn offered the mare a nervous smile. “Oops?”

“Alright so here’re the rules for the day. No leaving the backyard. No going into my room. And no more feeding the animals.” Shepard’s eyes drifted toward the squirrels, mice, chipmunks, and various other woodland creatures lazing about with bulging stomachs.

“Your mane, uh… Looks pretty cool.”

Shepard glanced at Scootaloo as she spoke. It turned out getting honey out of your hair is a long, unpleasant affair, so she’d settled for getting ‘most’ of it out and using the rest to slick her hair back. “Thanks. So I’ll be inside, I dunno, looking at pictures in Fluttershy's books or something. If you need me, just holler, alright?”

The girls nodded cheerfully and whirled about, rushing to their little campsite and chatting excitedly. Shepard shook her head, watching them go. Honey in her hair wasn’t a great start to the day, but it wasn’t like it was an earth shaking catastrophe. With one quick look toward the fillies as they hunched over some papers, Shepard stepped back into the cottage. Carefully stepping around the bloated animals, she maneuvered her way to one of the book shelves.

Passing over the alarming amount of books bearing images she assumed belonged to saucy romances, she sighed and stepped into her portion of the cabin again. Her eyes drifted to the small drawer that contained a not inconsiderate amount of Equestrian money, a gift from her royal friend. Luna had insisted she take the coin just in case she’d wanted to go into town. Feeling an overwhelming amount of boredom growing, she was sorely tempted.

“Miss Shepherd?”

Shepard turned to find the three fillies standing in her doorway. “What? Is something wrong?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No. We were just wondering if we could ask some questions? We’re reporters for the Foal Free Press!”

Scootaloo bobbed her head in a nod. “Yeah! We wanna know all about you! What’d you look like before the poison joke!? And where d’you come from? Did you always live in the Everfree?”

Frowning a little now, Shepard glanced to her armor piled in the corner. “I can tell you a little. I dunno if Fluttershy mentioned this, but I lost a lot of my memories. They’re only just now starting to come back, but I’ll answer anything I can. How’s that?”

Pads of notepaper and pencils materialized in the little ponies’ eager hooves as if by magic. “Question one! What’d y’all look like?”

Shepard grinned. “Well that’s an easy one.” Calling up her omni-tool, she frowned at the tiny finger-sized keys for a moment. Delicately maneuvering the tip of a hoof over the size controls, she enlarged them as big as they could go. Smirking a little at the fillies’ rapt, wide-eyed gaze, she tapped at the enlarged interfaces with agonizing slowness. “Alright so this is the old me.”

A panel emerged displaying her human self. The digital Shepard was jogging through the Everfree. Shepard winced as she recognized the video footage as one of her more gruesome boar hunts. She paused the image just as she was about to leap onto the unsuspecting animal, knife in hand. “Ehe! So, uh… So that’s me!”

As one, the trio looked from the image, then to the increasingly uncomfortable looking mare. “So you used to walk around on just two legs?”

Shepard’s eyes widened at the dodged bullet, hastily dismissing the screen. “I did! Yes.”

“Did’ya walk around on four sometimes?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Two legs all the time.”

Now it was Scootaloo’s turn. “How come you walk so good as a pony then? Do you have some kinda super cool… learn to… walk good magic?”

“Sorta!” Fiddling around with her omni-tool, a new set of images appeared. “Alright so, this is me right?” At a nod from the girls, she tapped the panel. Her flesh and muscle peeled away revealing her skeleton and cybernetics. “This is me on the inside.”

Sweetie Belle looked a little green around the gills, but the other two leaned forward curiously. “Cooooool.”

Applebloom waved a hoof at the image. “What’re all them shiny bits?”

“Those are my, uh… implants. I won’t get too technical—mostly because I can’t—but they do all sorts of things for me. They make me stronger, faster, tougher, and more agile. Give me perfect balance so I never trip. I guess when the poison joke did this to me, they kept on doing their job.”

All three were scribbling furiously, even Sweetie Belle, who was studiously ignoring the skinless picture of a metal filled pony in the air overhead. “So what’re you called? Your kind, I mean.”

“Oh! Well I’m a human. And before you ask, I don’t remember where I come from. The earliest memory I have is waking up in the Everfree. I lived there for a little more than eight months before I met Fluttershy and her friends.”

More rapid scribbling. Shepard settled on the floor as the girls came up with more and more questions. She answered them as best she could. They took breaks for lunch and supper; otherwise the bulk of the day was spent with the interview. Everything she could remember about herself she happily shared… minus that she came from another world. She recounted her exploits in the Everfree, particularly enjoying the girls’ loud ‘ewwwww’ at the mention of eating parasprites.

Notebooks filled and pencils worn down to nubs, the girls finally seemed satisfied as the sun began to set. “Wow; whole day’s gone already. Figured you girls would be doing more cutie mark crusading instead of talking to me all day.”

“Are you kidding? You’re the coolest thing that’s happened to Ponyville since Twilight became a Princess! You’re big news. A whole new species living right here. Everypony’s gonna flip when they read this!”

Shepard frowned at Sweetie Belle’s excitement. “They, uh… they probably will, won’t they?”

As the three nodded eagerly, the mare’s frown deepened. “Can you girls do me a favor and not put in where I’m staying? I don’t like big crowds, and if a whole bunch of ponies show up at Fluttershy’s door, it’d make me and her uncomfortable.”

The crusaders smiles dimmed as they considered that. After hushed discussion, Applebloom finally nodded. “Sure thing, Miss Shepherd. We won’t breathe a lick about where y’all are stayin’.”

“Thanks, girls. Now it’s getting kinda late, I think. Why don’t you get ready for be—” Her request was interrupted by a tremendous shrieking roar coming from outside. It was loud enough to cause the windows of the cottage to vibrate. The three fillies immediately wailed with fear and huddled beneath Shepard’s legs.

Eyes darting about rapidly, Shepard looked to the shivering fillies. “Girls, does Fluttershy have a basement?”

Applebloom nodded quickly. “It’s where she keeps all her animal food!”

“Okay, good. I want you all to get down there quick. Hide as best you can, and don’t come out until I or someone else comes to get you. Do you understand?”

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom rushed toward the main cottage without delay. Scootaloo looked back to find the adult gazing out the window, ears perked forward as another wailing roar ripped through the air. “ … Aren’t you coming?”

Shepard shook her head. “Whatever’s making all that noise is heading for town, and if all the doctors are at the next town over, if anyone gets hurt there’s not gonna be anyone around to patch them up. Don’t worry, I can take care of myself. You just get downstairs. Go on now.”

Scootaloo’s ears flattened as a third roar pierced the air. “Y— yes, ma’am. Be careful…”

Shepard didn’t wait any longer. She was out the back door like a cream-colored rocket, racing across the lane toward town. She could hear the screams of alarmed, frightened, or pained ponies carried on the wind now. She skidded to a halt as she drew closer, and could see the source of the racket.

It was a dragon. A very big dragon. Not quite the size of the one in the Everfree, but definitely bigger than the ursa minor. It’s scales were a sickly greenish color, and even from this distance away she could see some kind of greenish fluid oozing between them. Something in the air caught its eye and it lifted its head, wailing again and breathing a gout of white-hot fire. Shepard started running again as the monster vaulted into the air in pursuit of a chillingly familiar rainbow contrail.

As the woman-turned-mare got closer, she could see other pegasi in the air. Rainbow Dash was gamely leading the dragon on a good chase, slowing just enough to make it think it had her, but speeding away at the last second. Overhead, the other pegasus ponies were gathering up copious amounts of angry black storm clouds.

The sound of more hooves approaching from behind momentarily drew Shepard’s attention. The taciturn Big McIntosh was pounding her way, a couple more earth pony stallions Shepard didn’t recognize right behind him. Spotting Shepard, his eyes widened in alarm. “M’ sister alright?!”

She nodded. “She and the other girls are hiding in the basement! I came to help!”

He shifted the stalk of wheat clenched tightly in his jaws as he looked up at the sky. “Not much we can do from down here.” He eyed her sideways. “Lookin’ good by the way, Miss Shepherd.”

She didn’t even question how she knew it was her. Realizing he was right, Shepard once again cursed her hooves. If she had her hands, she’d at the least be able to fire a few rounds off at the thing. Maybe blind it? As it was for now… she was helpless.

The weather team of Ponyville was frantically working to whip up a big enough storm to generate strong enough lightning to hurt a dragon of that size. A black stallion with a stark white mane and tail flew back and forth, occasionally striking the growing storm with his hooves and nodding at the satisfyingly loud peal of thunder each strike brought. “We’re almost good to go! Keep it up ponies! Dash isn’t going to be able to keep those speeds up forever!”

Everypony had the utmost faith in their captain’s ability to avoid getting crunched or flambéed… for a time. Eventually though, even Rainbow Dash’s stamina had to wane, and when that happened, it’d be over for her. “Blossomforth! How’s the evacuation coming?!”

The mare with the pink and green mane pumped her wings, rushing to his side. “Almost done, Thunderlane! Everypony’s headed out for Sweet Apple Acres for now! We can cut loose whenever you’re ready!”

He nodded. “Good! Alright everypony, I want half of us pushing the storm while the other half is on rain duty. Some of these bolts might miss and hit homes and businesses! Put out those fires as soon as you see them, got it?!”

Thunderlane was rewarded with a round of ‘yes sirs!’ from his fellow weather ponies. Flashing below the clouds, he waved frantically to get Rainbow Dash’s attention. She must have seen him, because she banked hard and started leading the rampaging monster toward the storm. Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, the stallion swooped back atop the storm. “Alright! Team one, keep this storm alive! Team two get ready to put out some fires! Let’s do this, ponies!”

Nervously, wild cheers rose up from his fellow pegasi as he stood atop the rumbling storm clouds. The second Rainbow Dash blurred beneath the storm, he reared on his hind legs and brought his forehooves crashing down into the storm clouds. Living up to his namesake, the resultant clap of thunder was loud enough to match the dragon’s roaring. A massive bolt of lightning streaked out and struck the monster square in the back, sending it careening toward the ground, roaring in pain and fury the whole way.

“It’s down! Get these clouds down! Move it! Move it!” He lent his own wing power to pushing the storm lower. He felt a moment of relief as Rainbow Dash joined him.

“You aimin’ for my job, Thunderlane?”

“N— no, ma’am! Just filling in while you’re being the big hero!”

Tossing him a wink, Dash kicked off the clouds to go for another pass at the dragon. “Too bad, it’s kinda sexy!”

Feeling himself puff up about three times larger at the news, he would definitely have to be more assertive around his boss in the future. Provided they all live through this mess.

As soon as the dragon smashed into the ground and through one of the homes in Ponyville, Big Mac and the other earth ponies were already charging. Several of them—McIntosh included—carried sturdy ropes. Shepard split off from the main body of earth ponies, veering around toward the dragons’ side. Periodic bolts of lightning hammered the dragon and the ground around it from the descending clouds. An errant fire or two was swiftly put out by a fast acting pegasus with a rain cloud.

She had to admire the efficiency and teamwork displayed by the ponies. She was starting to see how it was they wound up the dominant species of their planet. It was an impressive display, and one free of unicorn magic so far as she could see. Ponyville was predominantly an earth pony community, she recalled.

Just when the earth ponies felt their intervention might not be needed, the dragon’s head snapped up with alarming speed, and its jaws gaped open, loosing a torrent of flames up into the clouds. Alarmed cries of pain and fear rose from the surprised pegasi as their storm was blasted apart. Shepard’s heart clenched as she saw one of them falling toward the ground, trailing flames. He was saved from a nasty crash by Rainbow Dash, who blazed through a rain cloud with him, dousing the flames.

Then it was their turn to take the monster on. Mac himself led his fellow earth ponies and threw the first rope, expertly looping it around the dragon’s snout and snapping it shut. Shepard could see his impressive muscles straining, and slowly but surely, he was dragging the thing’s head lower. The furious reptile began to thrash its neck back and forth, but Mac displayed amazing strength and dug in. As the dragon spread its wings to bring them into the escape attempt, more ropes from the other ponies lashed out, snaring them and pulling them to the ground.

The incensed dragon’s tail thrashed wildly as it struggled and clawed to get free. Shepard maneuvered around toward the backside of the beast, ducking and diving away from the thrashing tail. Timing her moves perfectly, she sprinted forward as it passed overhead, kicking off the ground in a vaulting leap. As she soared toward its backside, she hardened her omni-tool into a powerful blade, plunging it down into the dragon’s haunches. The hard-light blade cut through the scales like a hot knife through butter.

Renewed pain caused the dragon to thrash all the harder. Shepard tenuously maintained her hold thanks to her dug in omni-blade, but the earth ponies were being flung about by the frenzied attempts to free itself. Big Mac was the last to hold on, even being lifted off the ground a few feet before he was forced to let go. Then the dragon was airborne once more. Soaring through the gathering storm clouds, scattering them and the pegasi tending them in all directions, it gained altitude while writhing its hindquarters in an attempt to dislodge the irritating pain in its backside.

The wind was stinging her eyes and blowing her mane back from her face, but Shepard refused to budge. Once or twice she tried to drag herself along its back, but she couldn’t get a decent grip with her hooves. “You know earth ponies aren’t supposed to fly, right?!”

She looked over to find Rainbow Dash pumping her wings to keep pace with the dragon. Despite her joking words, the pegasus had a more serious expression on her face than Shepard had ever seen. “Your firend… he gonna make it?”

Dash shook her head. “Dunno, I’m not a doctor. He’s breathing, but he’s burned bad. Your thing there can cut him, huh? Want me to get you to a better spot to cut?”

Shepard flashed a feral grin and nodded. Dash edged in closer and looped her forelegs under Shepard’s. The earth pony retracted her omni-blade and came loose, Dash easily supporting her weight. Once they were free, the pegasus sped up. “Head or heart?”

“Head! I dunno how far in his heart is!” Shepard was a little surprised by the options. Now being presented with them, they were the obvious targets, but she didn’t think any of the ponies she’d met had such steel in them. Then again, this thing attacked her home and maybe fatally wounded one of her friends.

She pulled herself from her thoughts as Rainbow Dash sped ahead of the dragon. “You’re crazy Shepherd! I knew I liked something about you!”

“Right back atcha, Rainbow Dash!” And then they were diving right for its head. The beast spotted them coming of course, and spread its maw for another blast of fire. Rainbow Dash jerked to the side just in time to avoid the worst of it, but she and Shepard were still trailing a bit of smoke. Shepard narrowed her eyes and ignored the pain as she focused her omni-tool into a blade again. Dash released her just above the dragon’s snout, and her velocity rocketed her to the space between its eyes, her omni-blade biting in deep.

If it roared in pain from being stabbed in the butt, it shrieked twice as hard from the impalement to the forehead. Its wings began to flail spastically as it raised its claws, trying frantically to swipe the weaving pony off its snout. It didn’t seem to be dying anytime soon, so Shepard released an overload from her omni-tool directly into the dragon’s fleshy head. It began to jerk wildly again, but it was still flying and clawing at her. Ignoring the myriad of warnings buzzing from the electronic interface, she growled. “Override safeties!”

The alarms ceased and the electricity intensified. Shepard grit her teeth as tears of pain leaked from her eyes unbidden at the screaming agony shooting from her right forehoof and up the leg to her shoulder. Soon, her own screams joined the dragon’s as she forced more and more energy through her omni-tool and into the monster’s head. With a sickening squelch, her tool—and a number of the implants along her leg—overloaded and fried, the small explosion blasting her away from the dragon, which tumbled lifelessly through the air toward the ground in a free fall.

Shepard was dimly aware of Rainbow Dash catching her as she fell. “Sweet Celestia, that was aweso— your hoof!” Blearily, Shepard looked down at her right hoof. The bottom had—for lack of a better word—blown out, leaving a bloody mess of the soft squishy flesh protected by the hard exterior. The fur along most of her foreleg had burned off, and similar open wounds bled freely where the implants had blown.

“I’m… I’m fine… just get me… get me down…” Shepard was feeling increasingly woozy, likely from the blood loss.

Rainbow Dash landed in the town square, gingerly laying the pale mare on her side. “Oh jeez whaddo I do?! Whaddo I do?!”

Other ponies had begun to gather. Big Mac frowned down at the badly hurt Shepard and panicking Rainbow Dash. “Yer gonna fly t’ Detrot an fetch us somepony who can take care’a this is what. Now git!”

Freezing in mid-hop, Dash nodded rapidly and took off faster than the eye could follow. “Still gonna take her a bit t’ get somepony t’ help. Head t’ the clinic an’ get me all a’ the bandages y’can. She ain’t gonna last long if we don’t stop this bleedin’.”

Several pegasi complied, flying in the direction of the hospital. Shepard weakly motioned Mac closer. “My… my armor. The parts over my legs. G— get it… fast.”

More a stallion of action than words, Mac complied without comment. He wasn’t a racer like Rainbow Dash, but he could sprint with the best of them when he was roused to action. The cobblestone streets cracked under his hooves as he pounded through town toward Fluttershy’s place as fast as he could. He nearly blew the door right off the hinges, barreling into Shepard’s room. A quick look around revealed the armor in question. Nudging most of it aside, he seized the requested part in his teeth and wheeled around, galloping back toward town.

Part of him was screaming to check on Applebloom, but hurt ponies came first. He might feel uneasy around the weird Shepard when she wasn’t a pony, but right now, she was the mare who saved his home. The crowd had grown around the wounded pony, as had the number of wounded. He barely recognized Thunderlane through all the burns covering his body. He slowed and set the armor near Shepard, frowning. “Now what?”

With some effort, she dragged it closer, fumbling at one part of her greaves. With a faint hiss, a small panel popped open, revealing a weird looking needle and a tube full of some kind of greenish goop. “Stick the… the gel in the injector. Put it to the skin… and push.”

Nodding Mac lifted the tube of gel with amazing delicacy for a creature so huge. Equally gently, he held the injector and slowly fitted the tube inside. When he moved to place it against the mare’s flank, she shook her head slowly and nudged him toward Thunderlane. “Needs it… needs it more…”

“Ma’am, y’ain’t lookin’ so hot yerself.”

Gritting her teeth a little, she shoved him harder. “Don’t argue! Just… just do it.”

With some reluctance, he moved to Thunderlane’s side and pressed the strange needle against his blistering flank. Tapping the button atop the odd device, he nearly dropped it when it whirred and injected the goo right into the stallion. Everypony stepped back, amazed as the worst of his burns seemed to heal some. His breathing evened out, and while he didn’t wake, he was looking much healthier.

The same couldn’t be said for Shepard. The pegasi had returned and were wrapping her wounded leg and hoof as quickly as they could. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was Big Mac looking toward her flank in surprise as a silver flash lit the dark town square.

A steady beeping sound roused Shepard from a pleasantly deep sleep. Frowning in annoyance, she flailed her arm toward the noise, wincing when her hand hit something hard and metal. She frowned and blinked her eyes open. She was in an unfamiliar room. It smelled way too clean and was way too white. A hospital. She looked down at herself, confused. One arm was heavily bandaged, while the other was limply hanging off the edge of the bed.

The important detail was she had arms again. Lifting her head in confusion, she looked back and forth. Through the windows, she could see a surprised pony mare with a nurse’s cap atop her head racing off, probably to get a doctor.

“Hey.”

She turned her head in the other direction, toward the voice. It was the stallion from the dragon attack. A lot of his burns looked healed up, but he was still missing a lot of fur. “Uh… Hi.”

He cracked a smile. “Mac says you saved my life. That, uh… whatever it was you had him give me.”

Shepard was too tired to panic about being in an unfamiliar hospital surrounded by ponies. She just shrugged and cocked a sleepy smile. “It was nothing.”

The stallion’s smile faded. “No it wasn’t. I would have died, and you saved my life, Miss Shepherd. You probably saved a lot of other lives that night too. You’re a hero.”

Shifting uncomfortably at the praise, Shepard looked away. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Thunderlane, ma’am.”

“Well Thunderlane, it’s not miss or ma’am. Just Shepard. Deal?”

His smile returned as he nodded. “Deal.”

“So Thunderlane, do you know what happened?”

“A little. Rainbow Dash came back with a shrieking Doctor Soothing Touch in tow. He used some healing spells to stop the bleeding. They had to do a blood transfusion, but Big Mac was a match so he volunteered.”

Shepard frowned. Did ponies just happen to have identical blood types to humans, or was her pony blood a match? How would that affect her now that she was human again? “I see.”

“Then Princess Twilight Sparkle got here, and that little, uh… glowing thing on the disc walked the doctors through how to fix up all that stuff in your arm. I didn’t see the surgery, but they seemed to think it went well. Then Zecora showed up and painted you with this crazy stuff and you turned into, um... that.”

Her eyes drifted toward her bandaged arm again. “Guess I’ll need to talk to Legion soon.”

“I was hoping you’d be willing to talk to me first, if that’s quite alright?” A new voice asked.

Pony and human turned to look at the doorway. Somehow neither had noticed the approach of the towering white alicorn with the flowing rainbow hued mane. Thunderlane’s eyes went wide, and Shepard had to hold in a snort of laughter as he tried to bow while lying on his back in bed.

The pony who could only be Luna’s sister, Princess Celestia, smiled warmly. “Please rest, my little pony. You were very brave, from what I’m told. It is my very great honor to present you with this.” Her horn glowed with a warm golden light as she levitated a small wooden box to Thunderlane’s lap.

Gingerly, the stallion eased it open, gasping softly. “This is the heart of Equestria! O— only the greatest heroes of the kingdom receive this!”

The Princess simply nodded. “And for you as well, Miss Shepherd. Without your heroic actions, I’m sure many of my beloved subjects would have been badly hurt, or worse. From what I’m told, you nearly gave up your own life for Thunderlane’s sake as well.”

Shepard gazed down at her own medal. A small heart attached to a ribbon with both Princess’ profiles engraved on either side. “Well… Thanks. I was just trying to help.”

Celestia smiled warmly once more. “So you did. Your medal isn’t the only thing you earned from the terrible night as well.”

Shepard raised her eyebrows questioningly. Celestia simply nodded toward the woman’s hips. Curiously, she lifted the blanket, gazing down at her exposed skin. On her hip she could clearly see a red star with a blue wing overlapping it. Eyes widening, she frantically lifted the other side of the blanket. There she had the blue wing with the star overlapping.

“Congratulations, Shepherd Commander, you have earned your cutie mark.”

“I… But… Cutie… Human?”

Celestia laughed softly at the human’s obvious confusion. “The choices we make in life leave their marks on us, Shepherd Commander. For good or ill, each action we take has consequences. The scars on your body tell a story of pain and suffering, but the bright light of your soul speaks of a good, warm nature. Your marks are those of a virtuous champion for the weak, for those who cannot protect themselves.”

Shepard’s sputtering fell silent as she listened to the soft words of the regal alicorn. “Our cutie marks are simply another one of these marks that life leaves on us. I’m not entirely sure what your own cutie mark means, but it may have some personal meaning to you. As for how you still have it in your proper shape, I cannot say for certain. I for one believe it is a sign that Equestria herself has accepted, and welcomed you to our land.”

Quietly, the woman moved her good hand toward her hip, gently rubbing the colorful mark on her flesh. “I… see.”

Celestia stepped back through the doorway. “For now, there is somepony else who wishes to see you. I hope that you and I will get a chance to speak at length in the very near future. Rest well, Shepherd, and know that you have the gratitude of Equestria’s princesses.”

Shepard looked up, frowning in confusion. Who else was here to see her? Probably Twilight with Legion. Her eyes widened slightly as Luna stepped through the door. She inclined her head to the silently watching Thunderlane, before returning her focus to the woman. “Hello, Shepherd.”

Awkwardly, Shepard raised her hand in greeting. “Uh… hey, Luna. How was your royal business?”

The Princess of the Night laughed delicately, a musical sound Shepard always enjoyed hearing. “It went well. Though I wish I had been in Canterlot last night. My sister and I could have saved you this suffering.”

Flushing at all the attention being heaped upon her, Shepard looked away. “Well I’m fine. I’m just glad no one was badly hurt. Besides me, that is.”

She flinched as she felt fingers brush against her chin. A strong but delicate hand tilted her face forward. Shepard looked into the radiant sea green eyes of Luna, her cheeks burning all the hotter, realizing the Princess had assumed the humanoid shape she wore in her dreams. Before she could vocalize the question in her mind, Luna leaned in and softly brushed her lips against Shepard’s. “A kiss for the virtuous heroine of the day. I look forward to seeing you in Canterlot soon, Shepherd.”

Smiling coyly, the Princess turned and strode from the room, dark mist wrapping about her body and restoring it to her proper pony shape. Once she’d left, Shepard’s head fell back into the pillows heavily.

Thunderlane looked from Shepard to the door. “ … How come I didn’t get a kiss?”

Author's Note

Initially I had planned this to be three chapters, but for some reason I was completely stuck on what to have the CMC do. In the end I decided even they had to recognize the awesomeness of having this weird creature from 'beyond the Everfree' in their midst would make for an exciting story.

For folks who didn't look at the blog, I'll be out of town all this week so don't expect anything new for a little bit.

Chapter 9: The Final Frontier

The sound of hooves clopping on the hard floor roused Shepard from her sleep. Blinking blearily awake Twilight Sparkle’s tentatively smiling face came into view. “Good afternoon Shepherd. How’re you feeling?”

The woman’s eyes shifted to the IV bag hanging over her head. “Whatever this is, it has me feelin’ good.”

“Shepard-Commander you disengaged the safeties on your omni-tool, blew out a number of critical systems in the tool implant itself, as well as several cybernetics running through your arm. You are lucky I was able to guide the surgeons in repairing them all.”

“Nice to see you too Legion.”

There was a pause as her A.I. appeared over its portable disc. “…I am pleased you are recovering Shepard-Commander. Would you explain in detail what transpired leading up to this? The most cohesive explanation we could get from Rainbow Dash was…” Legion’s voice cut out to a recording of Rainbow Dash. “And then Shepard was all like ‘raaaagh you’re not hurting anypony while I’m around!’ Then she was like ‘slice!’ and stabbed it in the head! Then BOOM! This big explosion of lightning came outta that orange thing on her arm. It. Was. So. AWESOME! Oh uh…she’s alright, right?”

Shepard chuckled softly. “Yeah that’s about what happened. I stabbed it in the head but it still wasn’t going down. I noticed the lightning this crazy bastard over here was throwing at it did some damage…” She nodded toward the quietly listening Thunderlane, who blushed a bit at being mentioned. “…so started jolting it. The normal stuff wasn’t cutting it so I disengaged the safeties.” She looked to Twilight as she finished. “What was all that green goop coming off it?”

Twilight’s eyes turned sad. “It’s a serious disease among dragons. The short hand name for it is scale rot. It causes irritation so maddening the dragon loses all sense of himself and turns into a berserk monster. So far there’s no known cure. The only way to handle a dragon in the final stages is to euthanize them.”

“Well that’s good. I was wondering if I’d be on trial for like, dragon slaying or something. Is Spike gonna be alright? He’s not gonna catch whatever that thing had is he?”

Twilight shook her head. “It’s a genetic disorder so he’s fine, and thank you very much for asking by the way. I should get back out there though; I’m helping with the clean-up.”

Shepard frowned. “Clean up? The dragon didn’t do much damage I thought.”

Now the Princess looked slightly uncomfortable. “Well not with his attack not but the ah… landing. He hit the ground and sort of…” She rolled her hoof about. “…rolled around before coming to a stop. Took out a few buildings.”

The bed-ridden human winced. “Sorry about that.”

Twilight laughed softly shaking her head. “You don’t need to apologize for a thing. It could very well have burned down the entire town. Nopony’s upset with you.”

“Knock, knock!” All eyes turned to the door as a white and black dappled unicorn stallion stepped in. A white lab coat and stethoscope hanging from his neck made it clear he was a Doctor. “Sorry to interrupt Princess, but I was hoping to talk with the ah… with Legion to see how Miss Shepherd’s arm is healing. Not to alarm anypony but we pretty much had no idea what we were doing while repairing all those ‘implants’.”

Stepping to the side Twilight set the disc carrying Legion on the table beside Shepard. The disc went dark suddenly as the omni-tool interfaces appeared over Shepard’s bandaged arm. Head tilted curiously, Shepard watched as a display of what she assumed was the inside of her arm appeared. She wasn’t a medic of any sort but she could clearly see a lot of muscle damage around the implants. What was strange was the odd twinkling lights inside. “Legion are those part of the implants?”

It was the Doctor who answered. “No, no. That’s the healing magic in the salve we applied to your wounds. It was a little touch and go but we managed to save the uh…” He checked his chart. “…arm and hand. There was some nerve damage in the hand so your… fingers might not be as responsive as you’d like for the next week or so.”

Shepard’s eyebrows flew up. “WEEK or so? I damn near blew my hand off and it’s only going to need a week to recover?”

Now the Doc flashed a bright smile. “The miracle of modern magical medicine! We’re improving our healing spells and sciences all the time. You’ll need to wear a sling and keep the bandages on while the salve does its work. The less you move that arm the better understand? I’m going to give you a prescription for some pain medication in case it gives you any trouble. Your bill is paid for by the crown so you don’t have to worry about the bits.”

“Jeez this is great news. Thanks so much Doctor uh…” She eyed his name tag. “…Soothing Touch. How long until I get out of here?”

“Well you’re fit to go I think. You seem to be alright for the most part just remember what I said about that arm. There is one thing I wanted to ask about.” At the woman’s nod he continued. “The substance you injected Thunderlane here with is like nothing we’ve ever seen. I’d like your permission to do a full study and try to recreate it. Not ME personally of course but the folks at the labs.”

Shepard shrugged. “If you can get any of it outta him it doesn’t matter to me what you do with it. Why even ask?”

“Well because it’s yours of course. Taking it without asking would be a little rude don’t you think?”

Shepard shook her head incredulously. The openness of these people surprised her all the time. “Well you have my permission. If it helps save lives by all means mass produce it by the gallon. I know I could use some more, that was the last of my supply.”

Thunderlane winced at that but she hastily shook her head. “I’m glad I got to put it to good use. Ideally this sort of thing doesn’t happen often around here so I don’t think I’m going to need a whole ton anyhow.”

“Thank you very much Miss Shepherd. And don’t hesitate to come by if you need anything else. If your arm starts to give you trouble somepony will be here to take care of it.”

Nodding with a smile Shepard slowly eased herself out of bed. She felt a little wobbly but managed to steady herself. “Thanks again Doc. Hopefully I won’t need to come back in.” She waited patiently as he jotted down some writing on the prescription pad levitating the paper to her waiting hand. With a small wave to Thunderlane she started for the door, before stopping. It took her a second to recall she was wearing just a hospital gown, with the back wide open.

Slowly she went back to her bed and sat back down. “Twilight could you get my armor?”

Soothing Touch’s eyes widened. “Armor? Absolutely not. You need that arm completely uncovered.”

Shepard was about to protest when Twilight cut her off with a raised hoof. “It’s alright. As it just so happens Rarity has been working on a ‘secret’ project for you Shepherd. Sit tight for just a little longer, I’ll send her along right away.”

Unhappily settling back in bed the woman sighed. “Better not be covered in priceless gems again.”

***

“Now Twilight gave me SOME idea of what humans where SHE went wear, but something tells me you’re not the sort who would like to parade about in colorful skirts.” Rarity had trotted right into the hospital room, a rack of clothing floating along behind her as If it were the most ordinary thing in the world. “These are just some basic prototypes of course, but if you find something you like I can flesh them out as it were.”

Shepard gently nudged aside various articles of clothing. “Long sleeves and something that covers my legs all the way. Those are the only things I care about.”

It was the middle of summer outside, and not exactly the coolest weather. Rarity was about to ask why when the reason dawned on her. Her own reaction to Shepard’s scars seemed to cause the woman pain, no doubt she wanted as little of her body exposed as possible. Eyes warm with compassion Rarity touched a hoof to the woman’s hip. “Shepherd you don’t have to hide yourself away. Why you’re a hero to everypony in Ponyville. There’s talk of a parade in honor of you, and everypony who helped bring down that horrid brute. A few scars aren’t going to matter to anypony.”

“They mattered to you. I’m not angry, but I saw your face. Same with Fluttershy. Twilight tried to hide it but it was there in her eyes too. If I’m going to start walking around town I don’t want that look of… of pity on everyone’s face that looks at me. So… cover me up.”

Heaving a dramatic sigh Rarity nodded. “Very well. These will do for now then.” She selected a pair of long pants somewhat flared at the ends. Shepard thought they almost looked like sweat pants, if sweat pants were typically made out of silk. A matching shirt of pale silvery silk dropped over her head, one sleeve hanging empty as her right arm was cradled against her chest by the sling.

“Thanks. They’re uh… silky.”

“Only the finest for my friends of course. I’ll get to work on a few variations of those for you.”

Shepard nodded. “Maybe from a slightly more sturdy material?”

Rarity tilted her head. “Well if you insist I can accommodate. Glad to see you back up and about already of course. Wouldn’t want to miss this mysterious event in Canterlot coming up.”

Nodding slowly the woman regarded her new clothes. It was definitely softer than anything she usually wore. “Yeah… I wasn’t sure if I was gonna go or not. But Luna is pretty persuasive.”

Rarity turned to the door, the clothes rack levitating after her. “That she is, that she is.” Shepard didn’t miss the little knowing twinkle in the unicorn’s eye as she departed.

With a grumpy harrumph she looked to Thunderlane. “What d’you think she meant by that?”

Every stallion knew that when a mare started asking questions down this avenue and she wasn’t YOUR mare, there was only one sane answer. Shrug helplessly and feign interest in something other than said mare.

Which is exactly what Thunderlane did.

***

The small box containing her medal held in her good hand, Shepard was slowly inching her way down the busy main street of Ponyville. A mixture of fatigue and complete lack of footwear kept her from bolting away from the heavily populated area. Not that the population was anything but kind, friendly, and at times slightly curious about her presence.

Once it started to get around that she was the heroic mare from last night, just under the influence of poison joke things really started to get exciting. Every pony wanted to shake her hand and personally thank her for saving the town. While the praise was nice the increasing crowd was starting to make the twitchy woman acutely aware of how exposed she was out in the wide open, with no weapons and no armor.

“Hey, hey, hey! Give her some space huh?! Cant’cha see she’s nervous? She lives out with Fluttershy for the same reason Flutters lives out there. So just back off a little and let her breathe.”

A twinge of annoyance at her living location being handed out to the entire town mixed with her gratitude at Rainbow Dash arriving and scattering the growing crowd. “…thanks.”

Dash hovered at eye level, and gave her a playful nudge in her good shoulder. “Don’t sweat it. After what you did last night? We’re friends for life. You officially made the list, congrats. It’s pretty exclusive.”

Shepard had to grin at the pegasi’s false smugness… at least she hoped it was. “Well I’m honored Miss Dash. You heading to the hospital?”

“Yeah. I hear Thunderlane’s been whining about the Princess kissing you and not him, so I’m gonna go tease the heck out of him about dropping me for Princess Luna already.”

“I didn’t know you two were together.”

Rainbow Dash flashed a grin. “We’re not. Yet. But nothing gets me hotter than somepony goin’ all out like he did last night. And I knooooow he wants all’a this.” Dash wiggled her flanks suggestively.

Shepard laughed, shaking her head. “Well go get him killer. He seems like a pretty great guy. Just hope he can handle you.”

“Ha! Nopony can handle ME! But I’ll go easy on him cause he’s injured. Catch ya later Shep!”

Shepard’s eyes were unfocused as the pegasus blazed away. She wasn’t seeing Ponyville and it’s cheerful citizens. She was seeing a human woman, much of her face obscured by her hood. The faintest trace of an accent betrayed her Asian descent.

“I'm the best thief in the business, not the most famous. Need to watch my step to keep it that way.”

They were standing in an office together. The traitorous hanar’s corpse cooling on the floor. “Sorry Shep, we’re friends and all but no way am I following you on another suicide run.”

“Shepard-Commander? Are you unwell?”

Shepard blinked out of her memories at Legion’s voice. “N-no I’m fine. Just.. remembered another friend I think. Kasumi. Kasumi Goto.”

“One moment. Yes there are files on a Kasumi Goto. A master thief, evidently you assisted her with a heist of some sort in exchange for her services.”

“A thief? I was friends with a thief? Was I a thief? Maybe some kind of criminal? That’d explain all the guns and extreme penchant for killing things.”

Legion was silent for several long minutes as Shepard walked the path to Fluttershy’s. “I do not believe you were a criminal of any sort Shepard-Commander. I have uncovered data that may explain some of your past. The logo on your armor represents an elite military squad in the Alliance, which I presume is human kinds primary military force. I believe you were more likely a special operative of some sort who was forced to work with individuals of questionable character from time to time.”

Shepard’s eyes lit up. “Are you saying I was a secret agent?”

“That is not at a-“

“Shepard! Elite N7 secret agent! I like the sound of that.”

“Yes. Clearly you were a secret agent. No doubt travelling the galaxy wooing all in your path with your amazing charm and wit.”

Grinning and nodding as she walked now Shepard chose to take Legions words at face value and ignore the very obvious sarcasm within. “Everything’s coming up Shepard lately don’tcha think?”

“You were magically transformed into an alien equine, nearly died, sustained catastrophic damage to your arm, and are still stranded with little memory on a foreign planet that I feel is safe to assume well out of reach of another civilized world.”

“But I got magically transformed back! Didn’t die! My arm is MAGICALLY on the mend and my memory is returning! I’ll give you the last point though. Also can we stop saying magic? It still feels wrong.”

“Some good news on that front Shepard-Commander. I have discovered how magic works.”

Now Legion had her full attention. “You have? But I thought you said it was I dunno, undetectable or something.”

“It was undetectable because I did not know how to detect it. Their magic utilizes an as far as I know, until know unknown energy source. Through exhaustive discussion with Twilight Sparkle and after much demonstration I have developed a filter to see this energy. Would you be interested in doing so?”

“What? Of course, let’s see it.” No sooner had she finished speaking than she felt a jolt run through her injured arm and toward her eyes. Shepard’s vision blurred momentarily before slowly refocusing. Everywhere she looked the air was filled with tiny particles of… something. They ranged the seven colored spectrum of a rainbow and danced through the air seemingly at random. They were nearly transparent so Shepard had no problem seeing through them, there were simply an infinite amount filling the air. Slowly she waved a hand about watching them dance around and away from her appendage. A bright glow from her hips drew her attention. Her new marks on either hip had an intense glow of magic about them.

Looking at her limbs themselves only the faintest bit of color could be seen beneath the skin. For the most party her body was dull and grey save a very clear line of color running from her injured arm toward her heart. “So that’s the healing magic in me? And my hips is my um…”

“Your cutie mark. Congratulations by the way Shepard-Commander. If I understand Equestrian society properly you have taken the first steps into adulthood.”

“Funny.” Shepard walked slower, swiveling her head left and right and taking in all the sights. With the exception of herself EVERYTHING seemed saturated with the magical energy. The occasional pony she passed on the small dirt lane up to Fluttershy’s were no exceptions. She noted with interest that while earth ponies had a lot circulating through their bodies, pegasus magic was focused in their wings and hooves, while unicorns were focused in their horns.

“Ok, so how does all this work. How do they use rainbow stuff in the air to do what they do?”

“I have not had the chance to closely study pegasi and earth pony magic. However unicorns use complex mathematics to excite the magical energy in the air. They constantly recite a mental formula in their head which excites the ‘mana’ in the air as they call it. Their horn focuses and directs the ambient mana and produces the desired effect so long as they focus on the proper formula.”

Shepard’s face dropped into a disinterested frown. “They cast spells with math?”

“That is the simplest explanation, yes.”

“The kid in me is incredibly disappointed by all this. So could I cast a spell if I knew the right math?”

“No. At the base of a unicorns horn is a small organ they call the ‘carbuncle’. Their horn draws in ambient mana and stores it within the carbuncle. Once it has been excited properly by their mental calculations the organ releases the mana back into the air producing the desired effect. This is simply speculation but I suspect pegasi have similar organs in their wings and hooves that allow flight and weather manipulation. I had hoped to have one of the locals carry me with them during their weather patrol duties in the very near future.”

Shepard was busying herself by slowly waving her good hand through the air, watching it push around the mana. “Alright, what about earth ponies?”

“Personally I feel they are the most interesting. They absorb mana directly from the ground beneath their hooves, internalizing it and using it to enhance their already impressive musculature. I am unsure if they do this consciously or not. My brief observations have determined they can release some of this stored mana back into the ground, which causes their crops to grow or allows them to ‘grow’ gems and other minerals. Again I hope to study this closer in the near future, perhaps at Miss Applejack’s orchard.”

“Alright turn off the magic detector, it’s getting a little too psychedelic for me out here.” She felt a small jolt run through her body again as the colors faded. “So is this energy off world? Like could other species harness it somehow?”

“Unknown. It is possible. If other species have no means of detecting the mana around them it may very well exist throughout the galaxy universally. I will not know until we get off planet.”

“If we get off planet.”

“Indeed.”

They walked in silence for a time after that sobering thought. “So how’d you guys fix all my implants? They have the same alloys we do?”

“No. Some similar metals exist but I was forced to improvise on repairs for your omni-tool and many of the other metals in your ruined implants. Fortunately the Equestrian’s have some unique metals native to their world. The bulk of your implants in your right arm now contain a mineral they term ‘mithral’. It’s conductive properties are greater than anything my data base has encountered, and I am assured it is the strongest metal to be found on this world.”

Shepard’s eyes drifted back toward her bandaged arm. “So I have weird magic metal in me now too?”

“Actually it would be more accurate to say you have ‘anti-magic’ metal in you. It is my understanding that mithral armor repels many forms of magical attack.” There was a pause before Legion spoke again. “Shepard-Commander I am detecting an unusually high amount of perspiration for such a simple walk. I have installed a wireless transmitter that I can access remotely in Twilight Sparkle’s home. Should I contact her for assistance?”

Shepard shook her head with a frown. “No. Just… a little tired. I did almost blow my own arm off.”

“Yes. You should have asked for assistance in returning home in the first place.”

With a grumpy huff Shepard trudged on ignoring Legion’s sound advice. With some relief she saw the cottage come into view and she let out a faint sigh. Spotting Fluttershy starting to make her way from the cottage Shepard lifted a hand in greeting. The demure pegasus rushed over eyes wide.

“Oh my goodness! Shepherd you walked all the way from the hospital alone? Why didn’t you wait? Didn’t Rainbow Dash tell you I was on my way?”

“Uh… no. She did not. But hey I’m here! All on my own like a big girl and everything.”

Fluttershy just sighed softly and walked next to Shepard. “I didn’t mean it like that, but you were hurt very badly. Your body needs time to rest and recover. As it is I think Canterlot isn’t a very good idea.”

Shepard offered the fretting mare a small smile. “I’m fine, really. A little worn out but I’ve got all today and tomorrow to loaf around and get better. Plus this is just some fancy party for royalty right? It’s not like it’s going to be a huge strain.”

“Well you’re right. And you’re home now, that’s what matters. Would you like something to eat?”

Shepard stopped listening after ‘home now’. Was she home now? Part of her was worried about her campsite in the Everfree. Obviously she couldn’t go back out there in her current condition. Then there was the fact that this wasn’t even her world. She may have lost most of her memory but she was reasonably sure of that at least. The mystery of who she used to be was ever so slowly unraveling. She’d suspected she was military of some sort but Legion confirming it filled in a big piece of the puzzle. The question weighing on her mind the last few days however, was if she became the woman she was, what happened to the woman she IS? Was the old Shepard incredibly different from the Shepard she was now? What if the old Shepard liked daffodil sandwiches and hated s’mores? That was a pretty horrifying thought.

“…Shepherd are you alright? I think you should lie down while I fix you some lunch.”

Shepard blinked out of her reverie at Fluttershy’s voice. “Oh uh… yeah sorry. Just thinking y’know?”

“No need to apologize. You’re a big hero after all.”

Cheeks reddening a little Shepard stepped into her addition to the cottage. Delicately she set the box with her medal on the stand by her bed. “Don’t you start that. Besides from what I’ve heard you and your friends are pretty big heroes. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra. It’s a pretty impressive rap sheet. All I’ve done is kill a hydra and kill a dragon. I guess if there are big reptile problems I’m your woman.”

“Well. You’re the hero of Ponyville today at the very least. And the hero of Ponyville deserves some fresh cupcakes courtesy of Pinkie Pie.”

As Fluttershy brought in the bright white bakery box, Shepard’s thoughts turned from embarrassed about her new hero status, to wondering if there were any more giant monsters that needed killing. Free cupcakes were a great motivator.

***

“No.”

“Shepherd be reasonable, I promise to be gentle.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Trust me darling it won’t hurt a bit! I’m quite experienced with this sort of thing, even if you’re not exactly the shape I’m used to.”

Shepard glowered at the fashion-centric unicorn. “I’m not wearing a dress.”

“But Shepherd this is CANTERLOT! We’re the personal guests of the Princess for a very important function. The other girls all have THEIR dresses already.”

Rarity sighed dramatically, looking away. Though if anypony could see her face they’d detect a cunning glint in her eyes. “It’s just such a shame.”

Despite herself Shepard had to ask. “What is?”

“Well if I remember correctly this is Princess Luna’s first big function since her return. The nobility have all been a little skittish around her you see? I know she was SO looking forward to seeing you. I guess you can just show up in your regular old armor. She won’t be too disappointed I’m sure.”

Rarity caught Shepard chewing her lip from the corner of her eye. ‘Gotcha.’ “Alright! Alright fine but nothing you know… too flashy. I don’t want to walk in there and sparkle like a disco ball. And do your best to you know…” Shepard motioned toward her shoulders.

“Not to worry, your dress is very conservative.”

Shepard frowned. “You say that like it’s already done.”

“Well…” Rarity’s horn ignited with magic as she slide open a curtain to reveal a long silvery gown. It was a light material, obviously primarily silk like most of what she’d made for her so far. The skirt was long; coming down a bit passed her knee. The neckline was a bit deeper than she’d have liked but it wasn’t too bad. A paler sash hung loosely ready to be fastened around her waist.

“Huh. Actually that’s not too…” Then her eyes drifted to the brooch that would pin the sash. “…what is that?”

“Oh! Well I was a little iffy about it myself but Legion insisted it was perfect.”

It was fortunate the window happened to be open. Seconds after Rarity finished speaking a perfectly shaped jeweled pin of a parasprite soared through the air to land a good ways from the boutique.

Licking her lips and forcing a smile Rarity cleared her throat. “Perhaps… a different pin.”

“Perhaps.” The woman ran her hands over the smooth material. “I like it Rarity. Where’re the shoes?”

Rarity smiled and laid a pair of slippers at Shepard’s feet. Very thin, silk slippers. “…where’s the rest of them?”

“Whatever do you mean rest of them? They go perfectly with the dress.”

“Rarity they’re paper thin. I don’t have hooves remember? I need protection for my feet.”

Rarity’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh! Oh no how could I have overlooked something so obvious? The shame! The humiliation! Oh what must you think of me?!”

“It’s fine! It’s fine! Don’t worry really. It’s no problem, I’ll get by.”

Rarity peeked out from under the foreleg she had dramatically flung over her face. “I’m every so sorry. If I had the time I’d happily find something to reinforce them with.”

Shepard shook her head with a faint smile. “It’s fine. You’ve done MORE than enough for me, really. The dress is great. The clothes are great. Though don’t take Legion’s advice on anything for anything involving my tastes, alright?”

“Oh of course. Not if you’ll excuse me I have to see Pinkie Pie for something very important. I’ll see you at the train station Shepherd.”

Raising an eyebrow at the mare’s sudden departure Shepard looked to Sweetie Belle still watching from the door. “What was that all about?”

Sweetie just shook her head. “When it comes to my sister, I don’t ask.”

With a knowing nod Shepard looked back to the dress. Her dress. “…she knows how to make a dress though huh?”

“It’s her special talent!” Some of the excitement left the fillies voice as she focused on Shepard’s hips, where the tips of the star making up her own mark could just faintly be seen over the waistband of her pants.

“Ehe… well I should get ready to go. I’ll catch you later.” She beat a hasty retreat of her own. The cutie mark crusaders had been less than pleased that she received a cutie mark after being a pony for two days.

The walk back to the cottage was a slow one. She was feeling better physically but it seemed like just about every pony liked to stop and say hi. At first she assumed it was because of what she’d done the other day, but observing the friendly and open citizens of Ponyville she realized this is just how they treated all their neighbors. Which she supposed she counter herself among now. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world she decided.

***

“Luna.”

“What about this one? It is certainly eye catching is it not? A ‘Rarity original’ I am told by the shop keep. I had to have her enlarge it a bit of course but I do think it rides just right on my flank…”

“Luna for goodness sake. Don’t you think you’re being a bit… silly about this Shepherd business?”

Luna looked from her reflection in the mirror where she was admiring herself in the latest of a growing pile of potential outfits for the evening. “What do you mean?”

Celestia frowned gently as she considered her phrasing. “I agree she’s an impressive… woman.” The unfamiliar rolled felt awkward to her. “She has a vibrant spirit and a good heart but she’s… not like us sister.”

It was Luna’s turn to frown. “She is not like us? And that means I cannot show any interest in her Celestia? We do not look the same so there is no chance for affection to grow between the two of us? I am not intending to ask her to marry me this evening. I simply wish to explore the prospect.”

“Luna it’s not just that. She’s from an entirely different world. What are you going to do when her people come looking for her?”

Luna’s ears splayed against her will at the idea. “I… well of course her people are looking for her. She is the greatest hero they have ever had after all. She is also a great hero here in Equestria now too I remind you.”

“I’m not disputing her heroism Luna; just… she has a temperamental disposition. She is capable of great violence when roused. From all we’ve heard she has little to no difficulty taking a life if she’s placed in a situation where it’s an option.”

“You may have forgotten the years of war and bloodshed we saw during, and after Discord’s reign Celestia but to me it is as if I wielded my blades on the field of battle not long ago at all. While you have had a millennium to grow calm and perfect in all your judgments and decisions I was in a dreamless slumber. I remember quite well the many lives that fell to your magic and sword. We were warriors once ourselves. I still am. I am glad beyond measure my skills are not needed in this time of peace and tolerance but they remain honed. I find myself tense around griffon or minotaur ambassadors. It is… not easy to forget the blood spilled.”

Celestia’s expression softened. “Lulu if you’re having troubles why haven’t you talked to me? I’m here for you.”

“So you claim. Yet you claim you are too busy most days to even have lunch with me. Upon my return I made it a point many a day to remain awake throughout the morning until noontime so we might dine together. I spent my last birthday alone in my tower. Only Noteworthy had good wishes for me. You were away in Saddle Arabia if I recall correctly.”

“Luna you know I love you but I have so much to do. There seems to be a new problem all the time, I try to make as much time as I can for you but my duties…”

Luna lifted a hoof sharply to stop her sister’s words. “I understand your duties are many and important. Duties you do not wish to share with me. I raise my moon and chase away your subjects’ nightmares. And truthfully I am not as resentful as I make it sound. That being said…” The younger Princess rounded on the elder. “…if I finally find somepony to call friend, to empathize with and see some of myself in whether she be a strange alien from beyond the stars or a… a talking boulder I would at the very LEAST expect my elder sister to allow me the opportunity to get to know this friend as best I can. If said friend holds more interest than simple friendship for me I expect my sister to allow me the chance to explore those feelings without her looking down her nose at this friend. Now if you will excuse me Celestia, I wish to get ready alone.”

Celestia frowned. “Lulu...”

She was interrupted by Luna’s horn flashing brightly. When her vision cleared she was sitting in her throne room. Snorting in irritation she looked to a surprised Noteworthy. “Sometimes I wonder what’s wrong with her Noteworthy. She acts like a filly still.”

Her aide nervously licked her lips. “Princess if I may…” At Celestia’s nod she continued. “…well she’s barely a mare.”

Celestia regarded her personal assistant with a raised eyebrow. “I think she’s been around a little bit longer than most mares in Equestria, Noteworthy.”

Clearing her throat now and looking more uncomfortable all the while the unicorn shook her head. “I beg your pardon Princess, but existing for over a thousand years is a very different thing than LIVING for over a thousand. Princess Luna was only nineteen when she was banished to the moon for a millennia. Technically she is one thousand and twenty two years old; however a thousand of those years were spent in a magically induced slumber.”

Celestia stared at Noteworthy in silence long enough for the aide to grow uncomfortable. “How is it my little ponies manage to see so much that I miss Noteworthy? I feel like such a fool.”

Noteworthy offered her Princess a smile. “Now now, no need for that Princess. You run an entire kingdom after all. Though if you don’t mind a suggestion?”

“Of course not.”

“Give Princess Luna more to do. Much of her restlessness stems from boredom. Princess Cadance is busy running the Crystal Empire of course, but you have Princess Twilight ready, willing, and QUITE eager to take on some duties of her own. I’m not suggesting you turn over the yearly budget for the kingdom or have them deal with the nobility of course. But perhaps Princess Twilight could handle some of the daily petitioners; she’s certainly memorized every law in the books. Princess Luna would no doubt enjoy ambassadorial duties. I think it would be good for her to get out among our allies. It would go to great lengths to help her get over her unease around them.”

Shaking her head with a bemused smile Celestia sighed. “Noteworthy perhaps you should wear this crown instead of me.”

Her aide backed away hastily. “Are you kidding? You couldn’t get me to do the amount of paperwork you slog through every day for all the bits in Equestria.”

Celestia laughed softly at that, but she still looked to Luna’s tower with a worried gaze.

“Make it a point to be kind to this Shepherd human tonight Princess. Show your sister that what she is doesn’t matter to you as much as who she is. Which personally I feel should be the case anyhow. Discriminating against somepony for their race goes against just about everything I’ve learned from you.”

Now the Princess had an annoyed snort for Noteworthy. “I understand. I think I’m just being overprotective of my little sister.”

Noteworthy finally smiled. “It’s an older sibling’s duty to be over protective. Just don’t drive your sister away in the process. Caution is fine, being over cautious doesn’t help anypony.”

“Right again as always it would seem of late. Give yourself a raise Noteworthy.”

Her aide raised her eyebrows. “Are you kidding? Having to deal with your schedule day to day, the pranks, the nobles, the rude ambassadors? I give myself a raise every month.”

Celestia’s laughter rang through the halls of Canterlot castle.

***

The sun was well on its way to setting when the train rolled into Canterlot station. Plenty of ponies were coming and going, but all gave a wide berth to the six mares, one dragon, and one human that made their way off the platform. Shepard shifted uncomfortably at all the eyes focused on her. “Is it gonna be like this everywhere I go?”

Twilight offered an apologetic smile. “Ponies can be a little skittish around something new. Especially when it looks as intimidating as you do.”

“I’m in a silver silk dress! One of my arms is bandaged and in a sling tight against my arm! How is that intimidating?!

Clearing her throat gently Fluttershy tapped Shepard’s hip. “I don’t think all the yelling is helping.”

Shepard looked around to find most of the ponies about looking at her somewhat fearfully now. She finally recalled the ‘predator’ vibe she tended to give off around the ponies. “Ehe… sorry folks. Sorry…” She picked up her pace and hastily climbed into the waiting carriage.

The others piled in right behind her. Applejack tilting her hat back and giving the woman a grin. “Don’t fret too much about makin’ a good impression in Canterlot anyway. Just about everypony has their nose stuck so far in the air they ain’t gonna pay ya more’n a quick glance anyhow.”

Nodding silently she fidgeted with some of the interfaces on her omni-tool. Bringing up the magic filter she regarded the ponies around herself curiously. Like Legion had said earth ponies had it spread faintly throughout their bodies. Pegasi was the wings and hooves, Rarity it was all in her horn. Twilight however was filled with so much magic throughout her entire body it hurt Shepard a little to focus on her too long.

Still it was entertaining watching all the colorful little particles swirl through the air as the carriage rumbled through the streets. Shepard leaned against the window watching the buildings pass by. One thing she noticed and didn’t like were how the ponies seemed to be ignoring one another. Maybe Ponyville was the exception to the rest of Equestria? Were all the other settlements like this or like Ponyville?

Her eyes were drawn to what could only be the castle. The beautiful towering parapets and fanciful construction drew a smile from her. There was a line of carriages lining the way up to the castle. It wasn’t too long a wait until it was their turn to exit. Shepard followed the natives out and up the long walk to the castle entrance. “Hello Shepherd.”

She looked to the left and was momentarily stunned into silence. The radiant silver and midnight blue hues of mana swirling in and around Princess Luna’s body were arguably the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Beautiful but it was growing painful to look too long. Almost regretfully she dismissed the magic filter returning to normal sight. “Uh… Hey Luna.”

The Princess smiled radiantly. She was wearing a dress of a similar silver color to Shepard’s. Certainly not missing the similarities Shepard looked to Rarity who was busying herself looking everywhere but at the woman. “You look wonderful this evening.” Her eyes drifted down the woman’s form, to her feet. Where the boots of her armor were clearly standing out against the shimmering silver silk. “How is your arm?”

Shepard shrugged and fell into step with the Princess. The others had gone on ahead allowing them to walk at a leisurely pace. Rather than into the main castle Luna was leading Shepard to a side path toward the gardens. “Just fine. I took one of the pain pills before we left so I should be good to go all night. Aren’t we supposed to go in there?”

Instead of Answering Luna just kept walking. “Is Legion with you this evening?”

“Oh uh… no he’s with Twilight Sparkle. He felt he would learn more being carted around by her all night than me. Which is probably true.”

The moon was working its way up into the sky illuminating the garden with bright moonlight. Shepard took a moment to admire the sprawling gardens sporting flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors. “Wow.”

“Only the finest earth pony gardeners tend the gardens here. Celestia makes it a point to rotate the head gardener every year and allow them total creative freedom to redesign the arrangements out here.”

Not knowing what else to say Shepard gave an eloquent. “Oh yeah?”

Chuckling softly Luna nodded. “Indeed. I suppose the day to day affairs of the castle gardens are not terribly interesting are they?”

Laughing herself Shepard shrugged. “No it is, sorry I’m just not sure y’know… is this ok? Us being alone like this? Aren’t you a Princess? There aren’t guards about to jump out at me are there?”

“I assure you no one will disturb us. For the most part everypony is too terrified of provoking ‘Nightmare Moon’s wrath to come near me unless absolutely necessary.”

Tentatively Shepard rested a hand on the regal alicorns shoulder. “It’s not that bad is it?”

“…not entirely, no. The good citizens of Ponyville are very kind and welcoming toward me. And there are some fine ponies here in Canterlot I enjoy the occasional talk with. But I am more like you than you may suspect. I have taken many lives in my time, all necessary but still… the blood is hard to wash away.”

Shepard found herself nodding as she listened to the Princess. The way her mane constantly shifted and undulated in the air was distracting, but in a pleasant way. Likewise the Princess’ floral scent was just as pleasantly distracting. “I’m remembering more all the time. Some of the uh… things I did.”

“Would you like to talk about it?”

Shepard met Luna’s beautiful teal eyes with her own vivid emerald orbs. She held the gaze for a moment before looking away. “This morning I remembered this… I can’t think of the name. It was a four eyed alien with sharp teeth, a terrorist. He had a gun on me. I could have talked him down or threatened him into backing down but… I took his gun and shot him. I killed him right there like… like it was nothing. He’d done horrible things, killed so many people but…” Shepard shook her head slowly. “Is that who I was? Executing anyone I thought deserved it without a second thought?”

“…the years after Discord was deposed were filled with blood and turmoil. The history books like to gloss it over as a ‘time of disharmony’ and leave it at that. However with the draconequus gone griffons, minotaur’s, dragons, and other monsters attacked Equestria en masse. My sister and I were of course the vanguard of Equestria’s defense. The bards wrote songs of Celestia on the battlefield, in her golden armor cutting a swath through our enemies.”

Luna had Shepard’s full attention now. “No songs were written about me. My talents lay more in infiltration, assassination. Eliminating high profile targets was my forte. At times I would slip into their dreams and simply… snuff the life from them. At others my blades did the work. I was quite skilled with them; I still am I suppose though I have had no chance to test myself. My very last mission was to remove a dragoness who was instigating her fellows to continue their attacks even though they were clearly defeated.”

Luna closed her eyes with a shuddering sigh. “To Celestia it has been over a thousand years. To me significantly less time has passed. I remember with perfect clarity stealing into the target’s caverns. It was a fledgling dragoness, buying the loyalty of her fellows with precious gems only she knew the location of. I attempted reasoning with her, she attacked. She was young, foolish, and unskilled. I could have easily disabled her and simply returned her to Equestria for imprisonment. Instead I stabbed her through the heart after I tired of toying with her.”

She smiled wanly to the silently watching woman. “I had no malice for the dragoness. In truth I cared neither one way or the other about her. She was simply another target who needed to be removed. For the good of Equestria yes, she was responsible for dozens of pony deaths but still… I killed her without thought or feeling. It was not until the war times passed and I found myself with nothing to do that the Nightmare arose from within me. All the darkness, sadness, loneliness I’d been bottling up erupted most violently. My sister was forced to wield our most powerful weapon to seal me away without killing me.”

“I am telling you all this so you know, you are not alone. You are not the only one who has done harsh things for the greater good. I very much know how you feel, at least in some regard. Obviously I have not rushed about the stars righting wrongs and saving entire planets…”

Shepard tilted her head smiling softly. “No… no I get it. And I think maybe it might be nice to just sit and talk about this stuff with someone who understands. Fluttershy and her friends are great but…”

“But they would not understand.”

Shepard nodded. “No, they wouldn’t.”

Luna brushed a wing gently across Shepard’s shoulders. “Well come, let us enter the castle hm? Celestia was quite insistent we both be in attendance for her announcement.”

Nodding once Shepard walked with Luna into the castle. She received a few looks from the guards but none of them said a thing or made a move to stop her. The pair wove through the various halls toward the sound of chattering voices. Crossing to the other end of the castle they stepped out onto a large terrace. Tables of food, bowls of punch, and mingling ponies were all around. Shepard peered over the edge of the balcony seeing several large objects hidden by a sheet.

This held her interest for about ten seconds before she noticed the vast assortment of cakes filling the dessert table. Heedless of the many looks she was receiving she quick stepped to the mouthwatering delicacies and started loading up as best she could with one hand.

“The custard filled are my favorite.”

Shepard looked back, mouth full of said custard filled pastry to find Luna’s older sister regarding her with a faint smile. Swallowing the huge bite she smiled back. “Yeah uh, they’re pretty good.”

“Enjoying the party?”

Looking around from the somewhat snooty looking nobles doing their best to ignore her friends from Ponyville, as well as Princess Luna herself Shepard gave a half-hearted shrug. “Sure?”

Shepard found herself having a difficult time looking away from the Princess’ violet eyes. They were a rich, deep color like Luna’s but seemed infinitely more fathomless. As if she’d seen more than any living thing ought to. “Stay for the after party, I guarantee you’ll enjoy it more.” With a little wink she cantered off to speak softly with Twilight and her sister.

Shepard was soon joined by the Ponyville natives as the Princess stepped up to a small stage near the sheet covered objects. “Fillies and gentlecolts, if I could have your attention for just a moment?”

The crowd silenced immediately and all eyes turned to Celestia. “Thank you everypony. I’m very glad so many of you chose to come be a part of Equestrian history this evening. Sometime ago a proposal crossed my desk that many ponies might have thought far too fanciful to ever consider being real but I was intrigued. I have long encouraged my little ponies to better themselves not only through magic, but the sciences as well. So many of you have taken this to heart and I am very proud.”

“With that in mind, allow me to introduce Professor Star Gazer. The mare in charge of this momentous project and the designer of these miraculous devices here beside me.”

An obviously nervous unicorn mare stepped forward. Her coat was an inky black with a silvery mane and tail, her cutie mark a number of stars across her flank. “The good professor asked a question many of us ask. What is beyond the stars? What mysteries lay in the sprawling sea of blackness over head? Unlike many of us, myself included… the Professor decided asking wasn’t enough. She had to know.”

At a nod from her Princess the Professor’s horn glowed with a blackish aura, seizing the sheets and lifting them away. Beneath were six strange orb shaped objects. Magical runes and sigils covered them from front to back. Lining the orbs were a multitude of small camera lenses. The mare cleared her throat. “Ah… good evening everypony. My team and I have decided to call these devices ‘space probes’. Their function is to be launched into space and with a combination of star light, mana batteries, and speed enhancing spells they will be launched from Equestria in several directions. As most of you can see we have cameras installed in each. They will periodically take photographs and store them inside the probe. After their three year journey completes, a stored teleportation spell will trigger and return them to Equestria, where we can recover the pictures and well… hopefully learn more about what’s out there beyond the stars.”

As soon as she finished the crowd erupted with questions, jibes, and one shout of how this idea was utterly insane. Celestia cleared her throat and instantly brought silence to the crowd. “I myself worked with the Professor’s team to ensure the spells would work properly. Our own Princess Twilight Sparkle assisted with the inner machinery. We’re confident the devices will work as intended, and in three short years we may very well learn more about outer space than we’ve learned in centuries of study. And now without further ado… Twilight, Luna, would you care to join the Professor in the launch of these devices?”

Obviously they had expected this, and the two Princesses hefted a pair of the devices with their magic, the Professor doing the same. Several of the sigils glowed brightly, reflecting each spell casters aura as one by one the probes streaked away from the balcony and into the night sky, rapidly dwindling to colorful points in space.

Shepard watched the whole presentation in tense silence. She didn’t move until her omni-tool flickered to life. “Shepard-Commander. I assisted Twilight Sparkle with some of the circuitry in her devices. While doing so I took the liberty of embedding the S.O.S. code as well. With any luck one of these probes will be picked up by a proper space faring race.”

Rather than the excitement Legion expected, Shepard’s looking only grew more troubles at the news. Her eyes fixed firmly on the night sky as the colorful probes disappeared from sight.

Author's Note

Ended up finishing this last night. It's neither edited NOR proof read so it's likely RIDDLED with errors, but I thought folks would enjoy reading the 'alpha' version of the chapter anyway since it's going to be a while before the final version can be done and posted. Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Collectable

"Alright. I am officially angry at the poison joke again."

Luna looked over at Shepard. The woman's hair was being whipped back in forth by the wind, while her own mane simply flowed lazily as it normally did. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? What do I mean!?" Shepard jumped to her feet on the cloud they were currently seated upon. "I mean, it makes me a pony. Okay, I get the joke. Ha ha. Very funny. But it made me an earth pony. When it could have made me a pegasus! If I had these babies, I might have learned to live without hands!"

The ‘babies’ in question were a massive pair of cream colored, feathered wings extending from the human’s shoulders, giving the occasional twitch or flap as the wind caught them. "I take it the wing giving spell is to your liking then?" Luna smiled faintly, enjoying the woman's exuberance.

"I'm standing on a cloud. On! A! Cloud! That is... that is cool. Beyond cool. This is maybe the coolest thing I've seen or done in my entire life. Granted, I'm only just now remembering bits and pieces of my life, but it seems like a lot of it involved running, shooting, and screaming, so walking on clouds rates pretty high overall."

Shepard was clearly attempting to make a joke, but Luna found the subject matter somehow less than amusing. Doing her best to push such thoughts aside, she wore a pleasant smile. "I am glad you find cloud walking so 'cool'. Perhaps next time you can tour Rainbow Dash's home? Or we could even visit Cloudsdale. I am told seeing the weather factories is always exciting for ground bound ponies, I suspect the same true of humans."

Wings fanning to their full span, Shepard leaned over the edge of the cloud, gazing at the distant ground. "That could be fun. I wouldn't mind learning to fly sometime either. Can I keep ‘em?!"

Luna's horn glimmered softly as she stared at Shepard closely. Her magically enhanced sight clearly picked up the noticeable amount of mana centered around the woman's hands and feet, and anywhere else she touched the cloud, just like a proper pegasus using their own inborn magic to stop from falling through would. Glancing to Shepard's heavily scarred right arm, she could clearly see her omni-tool was drawing in mana and cycling it through the mithryl enhanced implants to the rest of her body. "We could perhaps look into flight lessons if you like, but for now I think it best we keep heavy transmutations to a minimum for you. It puts a strain on the body if done too often. Think of it as a sort of physical therapy. Every time you can keep them a little longer."

Pushing herself away from the edge, Shepard fell onto her back in the clouds with a blissful sigh. "Honestly, Luna? Right now, I'd like to just keep doing what we're doing."

Settling comfortably on her belly, Luna tucked her wings in close to her sides. "We can remain here as long as you like, of course."

Shepard eyed the Princess from the corner of her eye. "Don't you have, I dunno... royal stuff to do? Plus, isn't it super early for you to be up?"

"I may be magically energizing myself. Think of it as an enchanted cup of coffee. As for my 'royal stuff', you sat in on my last night court and saw just how much activity it received, did you not?"

With a small grimace, Shepard nodded. A week ago, Luna had invited her to Canterlot, and she had indeed sat in on Luna's night court. The two ended up playing cards with a couple of Luna's night guard for a few hours before calling it a night. Not one pony came to petition her for anything. "Is it always like that?"

"More or less. Equestrians are slow to accept major changes. My sister ruled alone for a thousand years, and nearly every pony alive today had completely forgotten the existence of Nightmare Moon, let alone that she was Celestia's sister. My return has caused ripples in the political system; ripples the nobility have been quick to squash flat at every opportunity."

"Can't your sister do anything to help?"

Luna shrugged. "She has tried sending petitioners to me, or recommending the overflow from the day court return in the evening. All opt to simply wait for the next day court."

Thought it was clear she was trying to hide it, Shepard picked up on some of the sadness in Luna's voice. "Well hey, if I need to petition a Princess for anything, you're who I'm coming to."

Playfully swatting Shepard in the face with a wing, Luna rose to her hooves. "As much as I enjoy lounging about clouds all day, we have a prior engagement to get to."

Shepard raised her eyebrows. "We do?"

Smiling faintly all the while, Luna nodded. "We do."

One of the Equestrian space probes sat in the center of the ship's observation deck. The small gem encrusted orb glowed brightly, releasing a pulse of energy and causing the ship's crew to raise their weapons in alarm. Only the raised hand of their leader stopped them from opening fire.

One of the symbols glowed warmly as the image of a small purple equinoid creature appeared. The leader of the ship's crew approached curiously. Waving its hand impatiently to one of its fellows, the crewman hastily activated their translation software.

"—our friends amongst the stars! My name is Twilight Sparkle. If you're receiving this message, that means you're intelligent enough to understand it. The probe before you is my people's very first attempt at space exploration. It's tasked with the mission of retrieving any data it can about space beyond our little planet. If you're capable of speech, feel free to tell it anything and everything about yourself! We're very excited to meet our otherworldly neighbors. whom we have only just recently confirmed exist."

She paused in her speech to giggle softly. "Ahem. The probe will return home after it's three year journey is complete. If you are curious about us as well, the symbol on the side that should now be lit..." The alien crew looked to indeed see one symbol glowing brightly. "...will summon a very basic spell matrix that can answer simple questions put to it. It has plenty of information about Equestria, so feel free to make use of it! Once you're finished, we ask you send our probe back on its way to continue it's journey. Thank you very much for listening, and we look forward to learning more about you."

Looking over the crew, the captain clicked his mandibles, his speech mainly clicks and chirps but easily understood by his crew. "A primitive species, but an unknown. Set course to track this probe to its world of origins. The masters were clear in their demands."

"How many ships?"

"They seem like little to no threat... ours and perhaps one other..." He trailed off as a new message began to play. The small image of a geth appearing drew the attention of every crewman on the deck.

"This is an S.O.S. call for any Council or Alliance ships in the area. My companion and I are stranded on a pre-flight world known as Equestria. The coordinates for this world will follow this message's completion, as will our approximate location. We have been stranded for nearly a year, though the inhabitants are friendly and have taken good care of the both of us. Furthermore, it is my opinion they have much they can offer the galactic community as a whole. Bearing in mind their pre-spaceflight capabilities, I suggest a subtle approach. Shepard-Commander and I eagerly await rescue. That is all.

Now the Captain was considerably more intrigued. 'A living geth? Very interesting. And it seemed to be stranded with some sort of human soldier no less. But that name, Shepard-Commander?' Looking over his crew he saw they had equally mixed expressions of confusion, but more than one wore an expression of fear.

Every ship of the sizable collector fleet turned from their course suddenly, and set a direct route to Equestria.

"This is a what?"

Pinkie Pie bounced cheerfully from hoof to hoof. "Your cutecenera! Everypony has one when they get their cutie marks, but you were in the hospital with your exploded arm at the time, then when you got out we had to rush over to Canterlot for the big space probe launch party! But now there's no parties, no exploded arms, and no big scary monsters attacking, sooo... Congratulations on your cutie mark!"

Shepard's shoulders sagged a little more every time the phrase 'cutie mark' came up. Luna noticed, and was doing her very best to keep from laughing at the woman's obvious discomfort, while the other gathered ponies had similar expressions. "W— well thanks for this Pinkie, but I really don't need a party for that."

Pinkie blinked, looking as stunned as if Shepard had said her head was on fire. "Well of course you do! Everypony gets one!"

"I'm not a pony."

"Details! I baked a special cake, and we have all sorts of fun party games! Legion helped a lot with everything!"

Looking about Sugar Cube Corner, Shepard didn't find that hard to believe. Parasprite piñata, pin the wings on the parasprite, parasprite shaped cake, cupcakes, and cookies. Only Pinkie's huge smile kept Shepard's temper in check. "It... looks like you worked hard."

"Work is never hard when you have fun doin' it! Now let's get to partying!"

The crowd was minimal, fortunately. Just Fluttershy and her friends, Luna and the Cutie Mark Crusaders; each of whose expressions seemed to range from depressed, resentful, and—very rarely—happy for the guest of honor.

Helping herself to a cupcake (or five), Shepard scowled down at the image of Legion as he appeared over the mobile disc he housed himself in when not in her omni-tool. "Very funny."

"You have not returned to the Everfree Forest in some time; seventeen days to be precise. I felt you may miss the sensation of devouring a parasprite."

Shepard's eyes widened. "Has it really been that long?"

"Yes. Time flies when you are having fun and trying to seduce a member of the royal family, I suppose."

Cheeks burning now, Shepard's eyes narrowed. "I'm not trying to seduce her!"

Instantly regretting the outburst as all eyes focused on her, Shepard coughed uncomfortably and swallowed a huge cup of punch. She didn't miss Luna's own blush as the Princess discreetly avoided her gaze.

Of course she wasn't trying to seduce Luna. She was a horse, for God's sake. A horse that occasionally turned into the most gorgeous woman Shepard had ever seen... but a horse nonetheless.

After her initial embarrassment was over with, the woman finally started to enjoy herself at the party. Even if it was for the magical ass tattoo she was now sporting. Still, as far as cutie marks went, she felt it was one of the cooler ones she'd seen, and she could live with that.

"What's this I hear about you hanging out in the clouds and not inviting me?!"

Shepard took a step back as Rainbow Dash materialized seemingly from nowhere right in front of her face. "It was nothing personal! It's not like I knew what Luna's big 'morning surprise' was. Next time though, we're gonna check out Cloudsdale. You could hang with us then?"

Rainbow looked from Shepard to the Princess, who was chatting softly with Twilight. "Nah, it's cool. I don't wanna interrupt your 'you' time with your special somepony."

Bristling a little, Shepard hissed softly, "She's not my special somepony! And... don't call it that. It sounds ridiculous."

Tilting her head curiously, Rainbow Dash landed on the floor. "So what do you call it?"

With a shrug, Shepard went back to eating. "Girlfriend or boyfriend I guess."

"Oh that kinda makes sense. We say filly or coltfriend when we first start dating. Like Thunderlane's my coltfriend. Once we're sure it's love though, they move on to special somepony."

"So wait, you just assumed we were in love already?"

Flapping her wings to get in the air and look Shepard in the eye again, Rainbow nodded. "Well, sure. Lookit the way you two sneak peeks at each other and stuff. I mean, if I notice it, I'm pretty sure everypony does."

Smirking at the sputtering Shepard, Rainbow Dash wandered off to chat with a suddenly starry-eyed Scootaloo. The party was fairly subdued as far as Pinkie Pie bashes go, something for which Shepard was immensely grateful. She'd started making brief visits into Ponyville proper, but still got uncomfortable around large crowds.

Nor did it go on longer than she'd like. Only a couple hours in and the guests started to disperse. It was the middle of the week after all, and most still had work or various chores to see to. "I have a special surprise for you for supper tonight, Shepherd. Oh, um... unless of course Princess Luna has plans with you."

Luna and Shepard were walking with Fluttershy toward her cottage. "I did in fact not have further plans for Shepherd this evening, Fluttershy. I should return to Canterlot soon anyhow. Perhaps I may sleep for an hour or two before I must raise the moon. Good day to you both, and I will see you soon, Shepherd."

"Yeah! I, uh... yeah, I'll see you later, Luna."

Noticing the knowing look she was getting from Fluttershy as the Princess took her leave, Shepard frowned. "What?"

"Nothing."

"... What?!"

This brought a little giggle out of the mare. "Nothing." She chirped in a sing-song tone.

"... That's right, nothing."

Luna reappeared in her tower chambers, finally letting her exhaustion show. Spending so much time awake during both the day and night were beginning to take a toll, even with her magically enhanced energy. "Busy day, Lulu?"

With a rather undignified whinny, Luna reared up in alarm at her sister's voice coming from behind her. "Celestia! You... what are you doing lurking about in my chambers?!"

The elder Princess ruffled her feathers indignantly. "I am not ‘lurking’. I happened to be passing by and heard you return."

"You are in the back corner, and my door is shut."

Celestia casually looked from the closed door back to her sister, ignoring the comment. "I think we should talk, Luna. You're letting your interest in Shepherd interfere with your duties. You haven't attended the night court in three days."

Delicately removing her royal finery, Luna set her crown, torc, and hoof cups on her vanity. "How many petitioners must I apologize to for their inconvenience? Surely dozens must have been awaiting me while I was elsewhere."

"That's not the point, Luna. You have a duty to Equestria; to the crown you wear. You can't just ignore them to gallivant about with this human."

The temperature dropped a noticeable amount in the room as Luna turned to fully regard her sister. "You suggest perhaps I am unworthy of my crown?"

Shaking her head hastily, Celestia took a step forward. "Of course not! But Luna, you're not sleeping, you're not attending your court. You raise the moon from Ponyville half of the time. Your chasing after Shepherd is getting embarrassing. Ponies are talking about your behavior. Rumors spreading from Ponyville reach Canterlot. The nobles aren't happy about her in general, but the idea that one of us may be interested in her is causing them to grow downright angry."

Luna's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "If I am causing so much commotion, sister, perhaps it would be best if I abdicated my crown. Equestria managed quite well without me for a thousand years after all. No doubt my presence has only caused unrest and distress among your subjects."

"Our subjects, Luna! You're twisting my words! Nopony wants you to abdicate the throne! They just want you to... to behave like a Princess!"

Brow raised at her sister's uncustomary loss of decorum, Luna shook her head slowly. "They, or you do, sister? I have tried 'behaving like a Princess' and found it neither to my liking nor to the liking of your subjects. In fact, I have behaved 'like' a good number of things. First it was my elder sister's assistant, then it was the least of her companions in the Discordant War. After that, it was her personal assassin. Now it is Princess. It occurs to me Celestia, that of all the things I have not tried behaving like, it is simply Luna.

Turning away from Celestia, Luna moved to her balcony. "And with that in mind, I believe that is who I shall be for the near future sister. Just Luna. Not Princess of the Night Luna, not the former Nightmare Moon, Luna. But the Luna that our visitor from the stars sees. Simply a friend and confidant. Perhaps that will be a more comfortable role for me. I leave my moon in your care, Celestia. Tomorrow I will make the announcement formal if you feel it will assuage your subjects’ fears. Enjoy the rest of your day, Princess."

"Luna! Luna, don't you dare fly away from me while I'm speaking with you!" Celestia rushed to the balcony in time to see her sister become little more than a dwindling blue speck in the sky.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Celestia turned to find Noteworthy standing in the doorway, eyeing her with a disapproving look. "H— how long were you eavesdropping?"

The unicorn's eyebrow rose. "Eavesdropping? Princess, you were bellowing in the Royal Canterlot Voice. Everypony in the castle could hear you."

The Princess' cheeks darkened immediately. "W— well it's nopony's business what Luna and I discuss."

Noteworthy just tsk'd again, trotting off down the hall. Celestia angrily calling after her. "I could banish you to the moon, you know!"

"Then who would make your coffee, Princess?"

Celestia had no ready answer to that.

Of the many dining experiences Shepard had taken part in since coming to Equestria nearly a year ago now, sitting at Fluttershy's dining room table enjoying a very finely sauteed salmon with a full grown bear was one of the most unique. 'Harry' as Fluttershy called him gave Shepard a shockingly polite nod before he tucked into his own meal, sans silverware.

"Shepard-Commander, while I am sure you wish to emulate his eating habits, I recommend the fork."

Glaring at the silvery interfaces of the omni-tool bearing Legion’s (in Shepard's opinion) smug face, she swiped at them with a snort. "I know how to eat at a table!"

"No fighting at the table please." Fluttershy's soft, but firm voice came from the kitchen where she was toiling over the dishes.

Since neither human nor A.I. wished to upset their host, they fell silent as Shepard started in on the fish. Cooked in butter with just a hint of lemon. "Oh, I'd kill to get you to cook me some steak. What about pigs? Do pigs talk here? Can I eat pork and not feel bad?"

Drying her hooves on a dish towel, Fluttershy moved to join Shepard and her bear friend. "You can. Certain animals we raise to use as pet food, or to trade to the griffons. They live in a tall mountainy area where raising their own livestock is next to impossible."

Spearing another bite on the end of her fork, Shepard regarded Fluttershy curiously. "You raise animals for them then? Seems a little... I dunno, cruel? I mean, you guys aren't uh... that... different..." Shepard trailed off, fearing she was moving toward insulting territory.

"We aren't? Does everypony where you're from stand on equal footing? You're all the same level of intelligence? There are no bipedal critters in space?"

Shepard looked to the silently watching Legion. "Are there?"

The construct gave the impression of someone rolling their eyes. "Yes. Mostly apes. They have a rudimentary intelligence but are regarded as simple animals nonetheless. No doubt there are other bipedal animalistic species you do not have data on."

Fluttershy nodded slowly. "Just because I have fur and hooves doesn't mean I'm an animal. It also doesn't mean ponies can't be pragmatic when necessary. We regret having to take the life of any living being of course, but that's nature. Predators feed on prey. Griffons used to eat ponies until we convinced them we could provide something tastier and easier to catch. This was a very long time ago of course, but it's almost tradition nowadays."

Mulling all this over, at length Shepard sighed. "Too existential for me, but I get the gist. Sorry if I was insulting or anything."

"Oh no, not at all. Ignorance is only insulting if the ignorant pony doesn't want to learn and change her views." A sharp knock at the door drew the pegasus' attention. "Excuse me just a moment."

Shepard watched her walk to the door, glancing down at Legion. "Did she call me ignorant?"

"You are ignorant, Shepard-Commander. Her point was that despite your ignorance, you wish to better your understanding, which is an admirable trait."

"Oh." It was hard to miss Luna entering as Fluttershy stepped aside for her. "Luna? What're you doing here?"

Shepard couldn't recall seeing the Princess without her finery on. But right now, she was as bare as any other pony. "Shepherd. I apologize for the intrusion, but I have had a... disagreement with my sister. I was hoping perhaps you would not object to me spending the evening in your home?"

Noting the look of surprise on Fluttershy's face—one that no doubt mirrored Shepard's own—the woman shrugged. "No, of course not, as long as Fluttershy doesn't mind."

Rapidly shaking her head, the timid pegasus smiled. "Oh no, it's no trouble at all. Especially if Shepherd doesn't mind. That side of the door is completely hers as far as I'm concerned."

Smiling in thanks to the woman and the mare, and with a curious look to the bear, Luna settled at the table. "And what is this you are dining on, Shepherd?"

"Salmon! Fluttershy caught and cooked it herself!"

"Truly? I am surprised at that. I had thought you were a proponent for all creatures great and small, Fluttershy."

Putting a pot of tea on for her new guest, Fluttershy shrugged. "Just because I care for every critter doesn't mean I don't understand sometimes a carnivore or omnivore is going to eat another living thing. It's part of Shepherd's natural diet to eat meat, so... she gets meat."

"Like, once a week." The woman put in with a hint of a pout.

"It could go down to not at all if you prefer?"

Swallowing the last bite, Shepard shook her head rapidly. "Nope! No complaints out of me!"

"Good. The tea will be done soon. I'm going over to Twilight's. I'll see you both later this evening."

Shepard waited until the pegasus had left before cleaning her dinner dishes. "Soooo... this fight with Celestia..."

"Yes, it was about you."

Shepard's shoulders sagged slightly. "I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do?"

"Indeed. You can continue to be my friend, as you have done these glorious past few weeks. My sister and her subjects' problems and opinions of you are inconsequential as far as I am concerned. You are accepted in Ponyville, and lauded as a heroine no less. If that is not enough for the snobbish Canterlot elite, then they are the poorer for it. Truth be told, I find less and less interest in royal affairs as time goes by."

Leading the mare to her side of the cottage, Shepard gently closed the door after her. "So can you like, quit? Is that a thing a Princess can do?"

Luna moved to a large sofa Shepard had purchased specifically for her. "I can abdicate, yes. Something I have been thinking on more and more of late."

"Shepard-Commander. I request a moment of your time in private."

Blinking in surprise at Legion's sudden request, the woman offered Luna a wan smile. "Just one minute. He wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

At Luna's nod of acceptance, Shepard stepped outside. "What's so important?"

"I urge you not to overly involve yourself in Equestrian politics. The relationship between the Royal Sisters is very complex, and your involvement could destabilize the delicate balance they have established."

Glancing back to her portion of the cottage, Shepard frowned. "It sounds like it's already unbalanced."

"Yes. The source of their frequent arguments however seems to be you."

Rubbing the back of her head, Shepard sighed. "I guess so. But do you really think it's that simple? If they're fighting so much over Luna and I just hanging out, don't you think there might be other issues at work here?"

"Perhaps. It is easy for me to forget that beneath your buffoonish exterior there lies an intelligent and tactical mind. I will leave it to your discretion, Shepard-Commander. Though I urge you to tread lightly. These are ancient and powerful beings you are dealing with."

Taking a deep breath, Shepard turned back to the cottage. "Thanks. Think you can spend the night with Twilight?"

"Certainly. I will return in the morning, Shepard-Commander. Happy cutecenera, by the way."

"You're lucky you're just data or I'd beat the crap out of you." A faint crackle from her omni-tool signalled Legion's departure, and she stepped back inside.

"Everything is well, I hope?"

Offering Luna a smile, Shepard took a seat in the armchair across from her sofa. "It is. He wanted to make sure I didn't mind him heading to Twilight's for the night. So, you've been thinking about quitting being a Princess?"

"I have. It has never been easy for me. Many years past, my poor reputation combined with my unpopular domain had our subjects veritably shun me. Now it is not that they find my presence detestable as it was then, so much as I am seen as an interloper. Celestia has ruled Equestria for a thousand years on her own. My return has been seen as somepony who has no business sitting on a throne and butting her nose into the 'proper' princess' affairs."

Eyes full of sympathy, Shepard nodded. "Is there anything you like about it?"

"I love raising the moon, of course. It is an intrinsic part of my being. I draw much of my strength from it, in fact."

"Really?"

"Indeed. Powerful magic wielders such as Celestia and myself draw strength from specific points of power. The sun and moon for she and I. Celestia's niece Cadance's power comes from the crystal heart of her empire. Twilight's from her crown. Starswirl the Bearded—a famous unicorn magus of many centuries past—drew his strength from a staff."

Shepard felt her eyes drawn to her omni-tool, the now silver translucent interfaces had been tingling along her arm whenever a unicorn wielded magic around her. DId it have something to do with all this magical point of power stuff? "So what else do you like about being Princessy?"

Smiling a little at the word, Luna gazed out the window, remembering fonder times. "Helping the ponies of Equestria. No matter how small their problem was, I was always eager to assist. Before the time of constant war and strife, I was 'Luna the Generous'. Ponies were very fond of titles back then, you see. Always would I go out of my way to help in any capacity. Once the night became my chief domain, chasing away the nightmares of every pony became my primary duty."

"A little different nowadays I guess?"

Luna's expression darkened. "Indeed. You have seen how nopony comes to my night court. The citizens of Ponyville are accepting of my presence, but it seems they will accommodate anything once they have determined it will not eat them."

"Well... you've got me at least. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Are you not? Have you given up hope of being rescued and returned to your native world?"

Shepard frowned. "No... no, I guess I haven't. I still want to get back to... to wherever I belong. But nothing says you can't come with me, right?"

Luna's eyes widened at the thought, and again she looked out the window to the darkening sky. "To travel to the furthest stars on the wings of one of your spaceships. Truly it is a tempting thought."

Luna's winged flared in surprise as Shepard laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'd like it if you came. It wouldn't be forever. Legion says according to the omni-tool's data, space travel is pretty quick. You could probably come home whenever you like."

Swallowing a sudden lump in her throat, Luna did her best to keep her composure. Shepard's uniquely cloying scent was filling her nostrils and making it hard to focus on much of anything. "I would... like that."

"Yeah? Well then it's settled. You tell your sister to shove it, and when my rescue comes, we'll take off together."

"Yes." Luna smiled dreamily as she gazed out the window toward the rising moon. "Together." She suddenly found the idea of Celestia shifting her moon into the sky not as bothersome as she first thought she would.

Princess Celestia paced outside of Luna's chambers well into the night until Noteworthy finally had to fetch her to raise the sun. "Princess, you know where your sister is. Why are you tormenting yourself outside her bedroom?"

Celestia huffed softly as she paced to her own balcony to raise the sun. "I just don't know what to say. Every time we speak, I end up making a bigger mess of things. How about you talk to her for me, Noteworthy?"

Her personal aide raised an unamused eyebrow. "You don't pay me nearly enough to get in between the two of you, Princess. But if you want my honest advice? Princess Luna needs friends. She needs ponies who care about her for her. Maybe it's not a terrible idea if she takes something of a sabbatical; allow her time to get integrated with modern Equestria? Get to know the ponies she's to rule over?"

"My dear Noteworthy, if you insist on making yourself so very indispensable to me, I may just have to render you immortal to advise me throughout the ages."

"I'll keep that in mind, Princess. Now, the... the ah... star is falling."

Celestia blinked at the sudden change in topic. "The what?" Following the unicorn's gaze, her own eyes widened. "A star is falling!"

Shouts of surprise, confusion, and alarm sounded throughout the castle. It did indeed seem as if a star was hurtling through the sky directly for the castle courtyard. "Clear the courtyard! Everypony take shelter within the castle!"

Celestia hastily erected a shimmering magical barrier around the general area the star was falling toward. It drew closer and closer until finally hitting the ground with a cacophonous boom, throwing up stone, dirt, and debris all around.

As the smoke cleared, the first guards on the scene began to approach, muttering softly to one another. Celestia herself joined them. "Step aside, one side please. Let's see what we have, hm?"

Summoning a gust of wind to blow the rest of the smoke away, the ponies of Canterlot Castle got their first view of the extraterrestrial object. It looked very much like a large, metallic beehive. All the ponies looked to each other curiously, then back to their Princess as she approached with Noteworthy close by her side. "What is it, Princess?"

Celestia slowly shook her head. "I don't know. It might be... it might have been flung by somepony from the ground? Or perhaps it's a changeling device? It looks insect-like, doesn't it?" Regarding it a long moment, she waved to one of the waiting pegasi. "Fly for Ponyville as swiftly as you can. Inform my sister there is an emergency, and I require both she and the human Shepherd immediately."

Smartly saluting, the swift winged messenger dashed through the air in a flash. Celestia turned her attention back to the strange honeycomb, just as several chambers hissed upon upon it. Brows knitting together in concern at the sudden buzzing emitting from it, she reared back in alarm at the sudden swarm of insects that burst from within. Calling on her magic to seal them in the crater the honeycomb's impact had made, she felt a faint sting on her nose where one had landed. Then she felt nothing at all.

Shepard woke slowly, and felt confused at the darkness outside. Did she have to go to the bathroom or something? Why was she up before the sun today? Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she noted Luna missing from her sofa. She could hear the Princess conversing with Fluttershy in the other room.

"S'goin on?"

Luna was pawing at the floor with a forehoof in concern. "Celestia has not raised the sun. She has never been late to raise the sun, and it is nearly a half hour overdue."

Rubbing the back of her neck, Shepard homed in on the steaming pot of coffee like a magnet. "Can't you do it?"

"I... well... I can, yes... I... should I?"

Shepard shrugged, pouring a cup and sipping it with a blissful sigh. "Go for it. She raised your moon last night."

Luna brightened at that. “She did, did she not? Very well! I shall raise the sun!” Her voice spoke of confidence, but Fluttershy noted her slightly shaking knees.

Offering the Princess of the Night an encouraging smile, Fluttershy walked to one side while Shepard took the other. “You’ll do great, Princess.”

Taking a deep breath, Luna stepped outside, fixing her gaze on the eastern horizon. Closing her eyes, she reached out with her magical senses, delicately touching her sister's heavenly body. It felt... hot. Very hot. Wild and untamed. Sweat immediately broke out upon Luna's forehead as she reached harder, and began to nudge it into its proper daily orbit. With a loud gasp, she sagged to her knees just as the sun appeared over the horizon.

"Wow! Look at that! You raised the sun! That's... pretty amazing, actually."

An exhausted Luna slowly rose to her hooves. "I did... did I not? I cannot believe how much more difficult that was than raising the moon."

Shepard shrugged. "Well, the sun is a huge ball of burning gas while the moon is a big rock. I'm betting flaming gas is harder to get a grip on than a rock."

Not quite liking her moon being referred to as 'a big rock', Luna nevertheless found it hard to disagree. "Yes, I suppose so. And Tia has been managing it for so very long..."

Patting the Princess on the back, Shepard grinned. "Well you did it today!"

Feeling her spirits lift at both Shepard and Fluttershy's bright smiles, Luna took a deep breath. "Perhaps I should have words with Celestia again. Less... hostile words this time. Thank you for allowing me this time to clear my head."

Further words fell silent as Shepard stared toward distant Canterlot. Or more specifically, above distant Canterlot as a dark shape began to appear in the brightening sky. "Is that... normal?"

Judging by the sudden alarm on Luna's face, it wasn't. As if on cue, a rapidly approaching pegasus appeared, the dark coated stallion's fur slick with sweat from his rapid pace. "Princess Luna! There's an emergency at the castle! Something fell from the sky!"

Shepard's omni-tool crackled into view. "Shepard-Commander!" All eyes looked to the A.I. and his strangely panicked voice. "I am detecting multiple ships overhead. If the data is correct, they belong to... the collectors."

Shepard staggered to her knees clutching her head as memories flooded free, unbidden from her mind. Insect-like aliens harvesting whole colonies of her people. A once proud race reduced to simple servants of the...

A collector, its skin cracked and burning. A voice booms out, too deep to be from the insectoid alien. A familiar tone… that of a reaper. “If I have to tear you apart, Shepard… I will.”

The three ponies stared wide-eyed as Shepard whipped her head back and forth frantically. "They're back! Legion, they're here! What do we do!"

The woman yelped at the sudden jolt of energy running up her arm. "Calm yourself, Shepard-Commander. These collectors are likely rogues left over from the main force you wiped out some time ago."

Flexing her aching hand, Shepard closed her eyes, taking deep breaths to compose herself. It was impossible to entirely ignore the images of her people in cocoons... being liquified. And now the Collectors were here, on Equestria. Were they going to do the same to the ponies?

Even Luna took a hesitant step back at the steely look in Shepard's eyes as she reopened them. Turning on her heel, she marched smartly to the cabinet containing her weapons and armor. The Princess was the only one of the three to follow her in. "Shepherd, what is it? What is happening?"

Fastening the clasps on her breastplate, Shepard methodically donned her armor with swift, military precision. "The collectors. They used to collect members of every species with genetic abnormalities."

"Why are they here? As Legion said, they were destroyed by you, were they not?"

Swiftly attaching her guns to their proper place, the woman nodded. "They were... I think. I don't know why the collectors are here, but I promise you, it's not in the interest of peaceful introductions. They've been genetically altered to serve a race of genocidal machines. We need to get to Canterlot, quickly."

"Very well. I shall bear you to the castle myself." The two hurried from the cottage, Luna lowering herself so SHepard could more easily climb onto her back. The woman securely astride her, Luna looked to Fluttershy. "Inform Twilight Sparkle of the emergency. Assemble the Elements of Harmony, I fear you may well be needed before the day is done."

Nodding rapidly, Fluttershy raced off to comply. With a grim look to the messenger, Luna nodded toward the cottage. "Rest here for now, good sir. Your duty is completed. Recover in comfort, knowing your message has aided in Canterlot's defense."

The grateful stallion could only nod as he trudged inside, exhaustion clear in all his movements. Shepard tightened her grip on Luna's barrel as the Princess sprang into the air, approaching Canterlot at speeds she didn't think possible.

"Shepard-Commander, be aware! I am detecting heavy concentrations of seeker swarms within the city, most notably originating from the castle. I cannot be certain, based on what little I know of Equestrian physiology, but it is safe to assume ponies will be paralyzed as any other affected. I recommend the Princess erect a magical barrier in the hopes it functions identically to a biotic one."

About to ask Luna if she heard, Shepard's question was answered as a cobalt orb of magic sprang to life around the pair. The city was soon in view, and Shepard's heart sank at the sight. Here and there, the dark cloud of a seeker swarm could be seen buzzing through the streets, but their job was already completed it seemed. Everywhere she and Luna looked were more paralyzed ponies. Smaller collector vessels had already landed, and ground troops were rapidly placing the unmoving Equestrians in waiting pods.

Luna was trembling with fury at the sight of her subjects so swiftly subjugated. "We have to get a message to Twilight and the others; let them know if they come in, they need to be protected!"

Luna's ear swiveled toward Shepard's voice and she nodded. Adding an invisibility charm to her barrier spell, she moved for her balcony. "I will send a letter via Spike informing her of the situation and the necessary precautions she must take."

Carefully remaining within the shield's area of effect, Shepard peered from the balcony out at the sky. More and more Collector vessels were appearing in the air overhead. "The way I see it, we have two problems. The aerial forces, and the ground troops. How much of a magical whammy can you dig up, Luna?"

Sending the hastily written scroll to Twilight's assistant along the waves of her magic, Luna joined Shepard at the window. "Plenty. What are these vessels offensive and defensive capabilities?"

Legion was the one to respond. Several displays of miniature versions of the ships overhead appeared. "The smaller ships have little offensive or defensive ability. They are shuttles dispatched to carry ground troops to the battle and retrieve collected victims. The larger cruiser class ships are the true problem. They possess powerful cannons and heavy shielding." The cannons in question were soon highlighted. "Your main advantage over them is your maneuverability. It is difficult for such large weaponry to strike a swiftly moving target."

"Very well. I will focus my attentions on the three larger vessels then. I am concerned for my ability to carry you safely while I engage them however, Shepherd."

"Shepard-Commander. The seeker swarm counter-measure developed by Doctor Solus should still be present in your system. So long as you avoid the largest of the swarms, they will ignore you."

Shepard nodded at that, already moving toward the door. "Right then."

Luna followed her movements with a concerned look. "Shepherd? What do you intend to do?"

The steel nerved Princess of the night felt a shiver go down her spine at the look in Shepard's eye. "Hunt."

"Alright girls. I don't know exactly what we're heading into, but it must be serious if the Princess told Fluttershy we need the Elements."

Her five closest friends fidgeted with their necklaces, the powerful magical artifacts sitting around their necks. "After much careful experimentation, I've devised a way for each Element to share in a spell cast on the Element of Magic. I'll provide everypony with the shield Princess Luna says we need. When we arrive, I want Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy on rescue duty. Get as many ponies away from these... ‘collectors’ and into hiding as you can."

Rarity nodded firmly at the order. "Of course, darling. What will the rest of you be doing?"

Twilight shared a grim look with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "We'll be dealing with these monsters while you save the ponies they're trying to foalnap."

Applejack tugged her hat down a little tighter while Rainbow Dash flexed her wings in excitement. "Alright. I'm going to teleport us to Canterlot. Everypony get ready."

"Um... Twilight, is that safe? It just seems very far to bring five other ponies at once..."

With a shake of her head, Twilight trotted outside. "We don't have time for the train, Fluttershy. I've been practicing teleporting back and forth from the castle for a while now. And that was without my Element augmenting my magic. It'll be fine. Gather close, girls."

Only slight reluctance showed in their movements as they huddled around the young Princess. None of them doubted Twilight's ability to get them there safely, they were simply concerned with her overtaxing herself. A brilliant raspberry aura surrounded the group as with a bright flash they vanished, leaving one baby dragon alone to fret over their safety.

The six appeared in the center of Canterlot Castle's courtyard, Twilight not even seeming to be winded from the powerful magics. "Alright, let's all stay close together for now, but be ready for—"

A harsh, high-pitched whining crackle preceded several projectiles impacting Twilight's shield all at once. The alicorn's eyes went wide and she staggered from the resulting feedback. The element bearers followed the sound to the perpetrators; a pair of brown, carapace-covered bipedal aliens, with four glowing yellow eyes gazing at the ponies out of bulbous heads. The two collectors had weird looking guns that they were firing liberally at the moving ponies.

The girls scattered, Applejack slinging Twilight over her back and rushing into cover with her. "Whadda we do, Twi?! how long can yer shield hold up under that?!"

Now Twilight was sweating from the exertion. "N— not very long. We have to stop them! Can anypony see them?!"

Rarity and Pinkie Pie had taken shelter behind a pillar next to Twilight and Applejack, the two pegasi nowhere to be seen. "I see them! Let's see if I can just seize their weapons, hm?" Rarity's own horn began to glow as she focused on the guns in the aliens' hands. As her magic began to reach for them, it encountered some sort of resistance as strange purple shields flared to life around the Collectors. The insectoid aliens had only a moment to look confused as their biotic barriers were triggered before a tremendous explosion ripped through the courtyard.

As the smoke cleared, the four ponies saw only large chunks of what used to be Collectors hitting the ground with meaty splats. Three sets of wide eyes looked to a mortified Rarity. "Wowee, Rarity. I know they were bad guys, butcha didn't have to make them explode!"

Fur raising along her neck, Rarity whirled on Pinkie Pie. "I most certainly did not make them explode! I don't know any spells of that sort!"

Twilight was looking from the now very deceased Collectors, and back to Rarity. "They were using biotics to protect themselves. ... Alien magic, basically. Legion taught me about it. This is only a theory, but it seems that the energy they use to create their own shields reacts... harshly with our magic."

Applejack snorted as she slowly approached the smoldering remains. "BIt of an understatement, I think."

Rolling her eyes, Twilight had to concede the point. "Yes, well, it may be safe to say that their biotic attacks will have a similar reaction if they impact against our magical shields."

By now Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were descending from the high ceiling. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you saying if they shoot their magic at us we'll explode like that?!"

"Um... very likely, yes. Oh, this complicates things so much more. There are so many unknown variables! I have no idea what to do now. We can't run the risk of one of us exploding!"

The other elements shared a look and came to an instant decision. "It's a risk we have to take, Twilight. There are ponies depending on us, and I for one can't stand the thought of these brutes ruining fair Canterlot."

Looking from Rarity, then to the rest of her determined friends, Twilight sighed. "Alright girls. Just... be careful. Watch out if they get an aura around them. That means they're about to unleash their own magic. For Celestia's sake, take cover if they do, okay?"

Clearly more nervous than before, but determined to do their part, the six moved as a group through Canterlot castle. Each pony couldn't help but flinch as the occasional swarm of insects would bounce into the shield bubbles before buzzing their way back down the halls. Aside from that and the clip-clop of nervous hoofsteps, the castle was silent.

The members of Twilight's troupe kept their ears perked and forward in a sign of alertness. It was clear that Rainbow Dash in particular was on edge, growing more and more impatient with their attempts at stealth. Every pony froze in place as they rounded the hallway and entered the throne room. A dozen or more royal guards lay broken and bleeding on the floor. Their fine armor protected them to a degree, but the collectors’ bullets that found unarmored places to hit had punched through flesh and bone with ease.

Tentatively entering first, they started to move from pony to pony, looking for any signs of life. "I don't understand... how come they killed these fellas but took so many others?"

"They're all unicorns Applejack,” Twilight answered, “No doubt they managed to protect themselves from the bugs. When the Collectors found them still moving, they...." She trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence.

Rarity had to blink tears from her eyes. "This is horrible; far worse even than the changeling invasion. Worse than Discord! Where is Discord?! Shouldn't he be helping?"

Twilight's jaw tightened as she summoned a bit of mail from her desk at home. Offering it to Rarity, the unicorn took it carefully. It was a postcard from the Gallopagos Islands. Over the image of the picturesque islands was a picture of Discord waving his backside back and forth with the words, 'Glad You're Not Here!' running across the top. "Princess Celestia sent him on a vacation."

"Oh, yes I could have told you that. He sends me letters all the time." All eyes turned to Fluttershy now. Most widened in surprise at the sight of the ordinarily timid pegasus carefully arranging the deceased ponies in more respectful positions.

An excited chitter from overhead drew the ponies attention upward. Lining the narrow balcony overlooking the throne room were collectors. A lot of collectors. Easily two dozen or more, and all had their weapons trained on the group. Slowly, the ponies moved toward one another, standing back to back and looking up at the assembled alien invaders.

Emotions ranged from terrified to outraged. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. "If I'm goin’ down, I'm goin’ down fighting!"

Fluttershy's eyes darted from alien to alien overhead as she felt her legs lock up in fright. She was going to die. All her friends were going to die. And... and... suddenly she tilted her head curiously, gazing up at the furthest collector. It might have been her imagination, but she swore the air... rippled.

Shepard took in the scene below, Fluttershy and her friends squarely in the merciless collectors’ sights. With insurmountable calmness, she had silently scaled the nearest pillar, easing onto the balcony between two of the bug monsters. Careful, deliberate steps took her to the end of one of the firing lines. She stood beside the last collector in the line as she unslung her rifle and leveled the barrel at the side of it's enormous head, very nearly touching it.

When she was certain she had the perfect shot lined up, she squeezed the trigger. The recoil punched the gun into her shoulder, leaving a (in her opinion) pleasant painful sensation. Far less pleasant was the sensation the collector she'd shot—and the next six of its fellows in the line—experienced as the powerful rifle ripped through shields and carapace with equal ease, causing heads to burst and bodies to tumble.

The other aliens responded rapidly, whirling in alarm as her cloak dissolved, leaving the living legend visible for them all. Time stood still as each and every collector had to take a long minute just to register what had happened, and who had caused it. "I wonder if collectors can piss themselves. I bet you would be if you could."

Ignoring the ponies below, every collector rounded on Shepard and began to open fire. By the time they started pulling triggers, her rifle was already up. Her second shot dropped one at the far end of the room that was in the midst of charging a biotic attack, while her third took out the first in the line ahead of her; a line she was presently sprinting at. She felt a few rounds impact against her shields as her omni-tool blinked a warning, already down to twenty-five percent power.

She ignored it. The first collector in the line was backing away as she zigzagged back and forth, evading more bullets than they likely expected before bringing her overheated sniper rifle up and around like a club, smashing the thing in the face and sending it tumbling over the balcony. Not stopping to watch it or her useless rifle land, Shepard rolled to the side behind a fallen pillar. It was providing cover for one side, not so much the other.

Thrusting her hand at the far end with clear line of sight on her, Shepard released a powerful overload. The electricity arced through the air and impacted with first collector, then jumped to the two nearest. All three fell to the ground, jerking spastically. That still left more than a few firing on her. That is until sparkling raspberry and cornflower blue auras sprang around a different pair. They had a second of comical confusion on their ordinarily expressionless faces before they detonated with enough force to blow Shepard's hair back even from here.

"Well, alright unicorns!" The brief moment of confusion was all Shepard needed for her shields to recharge. Unholstering her SMG, she vaulted over her cover, charging the next line of suddenly panicking aliens. Several had already broken ranks and were running or flying for an exit. Up came her custom Locust, the firing weapon sounding vaguely reminiscent of a chirping cricket as it released a rapid spray of ammunition into the nearest collector. It's shields flickered and faded before it was cut down with another burst of gunfire. Two more fell in the same manner before it too overheated. With a grunt, she whipped the gun into the next monster's face, staggering it long enough for her to vault through the air and ram her omni-blade through its face.

The final three on the balcony stared at her, absolutely aghast. With a flippant shrug, she rose to her feet and unholstered her pistol. Six quick shots to the head, one for each of their shields, then one for each of their faces put an end to the threat.

Gripping the railing, Shepard vaulted over and landed on the floor below with a grunt. "Everyone okay down here?"

"Are we okay? Are we okay?! Shepherd, that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life! And I've done a sonic rainboom! A few times! You're the coolest mare in the entire world!"

Rainbow Dash's five friends looked to the excited mare in surprise. whether because she was admitting someone was cooler than her or because she found all the gratuitous violence exciting would remain a mystery. Shepard just brushed it off with a shrug. "You guys saved my butt up there. What kind of spell was that anyway?"

Twilight shook her head. "Not a spell. Their biotic barriers react... extremely when prodded with our magic. Even simple magics set them off."

Shepard's omni-tool crackled to life as Legion appeared. "Interesting. However, it would be safe to surmise a similar reaction would occur if biotic attacks were brought to bear against your magical shields as well."

Twilight Sparkle was nodding even as he finished speaking. "Yes, I think so as well. But we can't let the shields down or those bugs will paralyze us, according to Princess Luna's letter."

"Can we, I dunno, juice them up with the swarm countermeasure too, Legion?"

"We cannot 'juice them up', Shepard-Commander. Doctor Solus' seeker swarm countermeasure is a highly advanced electrical signal that renders the wearer undetectable by the swarms."

Applejack tilted her head. "So, what? Shepherd's armor sweats bug spray?"

"Essentially, yes."

Bristling at the less than pleasant description, Shepard practically growled, "Essentially no! It's a lot more complicated and scientific than that!" Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath to compose herself. "Alright, here's the plan. You six stick with me. Do exactly what I say, when I say it, alright?"

As the ponies started to get themselves into a marching order, Shepard collected her discarded weapons. Spying a few collector weapons strewn about, she helped herself to the thermal clips. "Happy Hearth’s Warming to me."

Noting the ponies were ready, the woman set a brisk pace out of the throne room. She moved quickly but carefully. Several times, Legion warned her of approaching hostiles. A quick hand signal sent the ponies into hiding while she would cloak herself and dispatch the oncoming collectors as silently as possible, often with just her combat knife and omni-blade.

A deafening explosion drew all eyes to the nearest window. Racing toward it, the six ponies and one human saw one of the huge collector cruisers starting to list in the air, trailing smoke as it went. "What in Celestia's name is that?"

Shepard had to squint to make her out, but a faint streak of blue gave away Luna's position. "That would be Celestia's sister. Come on, we need to hurry. Has there been any sign of Princess Celestia?"

Looking more worried than ever, Twilight shook her head. "No, none. You don't think they took her did you?!"

With a grim nod, Shepard started out again at a quicker run. "It's likely. They're drawn to unique specimens. She and Luna are pretty unique, don't you think? Can't you do some... magic thing to find her?"

"Oh! Yes, I can!" Stopping in place, Twilight closed her eyes, focusing on her magic. "It's similar to the spell used to send mail via Spike's dragon fire. I simply have to picture who I want the magic to go to and..." A small orb of glowing raspberry light appeared and started to drift rapidly through the hallways. "Follow it!"

Shepard didn't need to be told twice. She was already sprinting after the orb. More than once, a collector patrol attempted to bar passage, but were swiftly cut down by Shepard's guns or—to her slight surprise—Twilight and Rarity's magic. It seemed when threatened, the normally peaceful ponies wouldn't hesitate to use lethal force.

Not entirely surprising, she mused. They were the dominant form of life on this planet after all; you don't get to be in charge by rolling over every time someone demands you do so. In a world filled with enormous predators and fearsome until-now mythological monsters, you'd have to be made of stern stuff to get to the top of the food chain. The thought struck a chord with the woman, as if her own people had experienced similar origins.

Had they? Was she starting to remember more about her own people? She could definitely recall that the first humans lived in caves and had to fend off enormous, seemingly monstrous predators themselves. Glancing at the determined alicorn Princess at her side, Shepard wondered how many of the ponies’ enemies had been lulled into a false sense of security by their seemingly harmless cuteness, only to meet a violent end. Diplomacy certainly seemed like their preferred way of handling a dispute, but clearly they weren't above violence when the situation called for it.

The orb led them outside the castle and into an open lane leading onto the main street. A large shuttle was parked there, and it looked to be in the midst of taking off. The orb flitted directly into the sealed shuttle doors. "She's in there!"

"My weapons can't bring it down! Can you stop it?"

Twilight looked wide-eyed from Shepard to the shuttle. Taking a deep breath, she again focused on her magic. A pale glow began to surround the shuttle, just as its take off jets fired and it lurched forward. Twilight cried out in alarm as she was dragged along after it. Gritting her teeth, she hauled back, trying to keep it from escaping. The hatch hissed open as one of the collectors started gesturing wildly at the group. Shepard was already bringing her rifle around, when a low whistle overhead drew her attention. A large form growing bigger and bigger as it fell was dropping right atop them. "Scatter! Take cover!"

Shepard herself scooped Twilight into her arms and dove aside just as the massive collector Praetorian slammed into the ground. The dazed ponies could only stare in mute horror as the monstrosity folded its deceptively slender legs under itself and it hovered into the air. Blazing violet eyes took in the group. When it's mouth gaped open, they recoiled at the dozens of shrieking human shaped heads within. "What... what is it?"

Setting the dazed Princess down, Shepard readied her weapons. "Trouble."

Luna would never admit it to another living soul, but she was having more fun now than she had in years. Speed and strength augmented by her magic, she was gleefully smashing through each of the smaller ships that had caught her eye. Now and again their doors would open and the strange bug-like bipeds would fire their cute little chirpy guns at her, all of which bounced harmlessly away from her corona of magic. She'd had a close call when one of them unleashed a magical attack of their own, causing her shield to detonate rather violently. Fortunately she was made of sterner stuff than the average pony, and was only dazed.

Dazed and infuriated. That particular ship had been crushed into a ball of collector ship dust.

She was careful however. A simple magical sweep of each vessel allowed her to identify which held trapped ponies within. These she boarded personally, dispatching the interloping aliens with hoof or magic and setting the craft gently to the ground. The ones without ponies received a far more violent treatment.

It wasn't until the larger ships began to fire on her that she gave them her attention. With careless ease, she swooped about the large energy discharges, focusing in on the one that had attempted to shoot her. Drawing in as much magic as she was able, she streaked forward like a brilliantly glowing blue arrow, punching through one side and drilling her way out the other. She must have hit something vital, as multiple explosions rocked the craft and it began to rapidly lose altitude. Sensing ponies aboard and not wishing it to crush her country's capital city, she engulfed it in a sheath of magic, maneuvering it to a clear field at the foot of Canterlot's mountain.

After this display, she was alarmed to find the other ships rapidly withdrawing, each having several ponies aboard. One in particular caused her blood to turn to ice in her veins. Celestia's magical signature veritably screamed its presence to her. Once more willing her power to speed and strengthen her wings, she angled for the flying behemoth bearing her sister.

The fleeing craft was building speed of its own, however. Already leaving Equestria's atmosphere and heading toward the moon. Adrenaline laced with panic to force her body to move ever faster. She could very nearly touch the hull of the ship when suddenly it's engines flared brighter and with a strange sound, it seemingly teleported right out from under her hooves. Luna could only stare in mute shock at the space the huge ship had occupied seconds ago.

The huge ship that was even now carrying her sister and many of their subjects far from Equestria.

Rainbow Dash would never tell any of her friends this, but this was shaping up to be the greatest day of her life. Her reasoning for joining the Wonderbolts had always been twofold. The first of course, because they were awesome. And she being as awesome as she was, simply belonged in such an awesome organization. This wasn't opinion, it was fact. Celestia raised the sun. Twilight was a nerd. Rainbow Dash belonged in the Wonderbolts.

The other reason she wanted to join, and this was a carefully guarded secret from her more timid companions... was she liked to fight. She didn't just like it, she loved it. The adrenaline surging in her veins, the pounding sensation in her ears, and that sweet sweet moment when her hoof connected with some jerk's face... it was heaven. Now, she could do without all the death; that sucked. It just wasn't cool to the poor ponies up in the castle who'd been killed by these alien freaks.

But that just added more fuel to her inner fire. More reason to crush these freaky bugs underhoof. Let Shepard and Twilight play with the big screechy guy shooting lasers out of its eyes. Let Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie run around dragging everypony out of harms way. Rarity and Applejack could do whatever they pleased. Rainbow Dash knew what she was gonna do. Her friends had things well in hoof with the silver bug thing, they didn't need her help.

But not every chicken alien had run away. From the air, she spotted plenty of the smaller ships where even now the aliens were stuffing innocent ponies. That was what Rainbow Dash was interested in. Her element of loyalty blazed brightly as she streaked through the air, little more than a rainbow hued blur of light. The first Collectors she came upon didn't even know what hit them.

Literally. One second they were loading up the last of their cargo, the next, something hard as rock and colorful as a rainbow impacted the first one's face. Chitin cracked and burst apart under the impact, and the collector dropped dead before it even realized it was under attack. It's fellow got a better look at their assailant as Rainbow Dash landed before him, but it only got a brief look before she reared forward and drilled her hind legs into its stomach. Actually into its stomach. Making a disgusted face, Dash realized she'd kicked it hard enough to blow right through the front and out the back.

"Oh gross, this stuff's gonna take forever to wash off." Of course, the alien corpse had little to say on the matter. Hearing more freaky bug alien voices coming from inside the ship, Dash hastily shook the body off her legs and flitted to the top of the ship, overlooking the entry ramp. As the pilot emerged to find the source of the hold up, she smiled a feral, toothy grin and pounced.

Like the first collector, it never knew what hit it.

Twilight and Shepard leapt away from one another as the Praetorian unleashed another blast of energy from its eyes, tearing deep furrows in the cobblestone street. Shepard sprang to her feet and vaulted behind a fallen wall, releasing a searing arc of electricity into the monster's barrier. Likewise, Twilight fired a solid lance of magic from her horn, the impact causing a small explosion and rocking the Praetorian onto its side. Naturally, it whirled to face what it considered to be the larger threat, and hovered menacingly toward the cornered alicorn.

"No you don't!" Shepard rapidly fired her sniper rifle into the collector monstrosity’s back, the first two rounds impacted against more barrier, but the third punched through its heavy armor, drawing a gout of glowing blue blood. That got its attention. With a piercing shriek, it rounded on the woman, giving Twilight a very clear view of the new wound.

Gritting her teeth, she poured her magic into the oozing hole, then started to pull it apart. The monster thrashed and bucked in agony as the stinging hole started to widen into a gaping one. The aura around her horn grew brighter and brighter as she poured more strength into it. Shepard hastily retreated as Twilight's eyes ignited with white, magical light. With a final cry of fury, Twilight ripped the Praetorian clean in half, sending the top flipping end over end into the air, while the lower half twitched its legs feebly a few times before dropping to the ground.

The youngest Princess panted heavily, sucking in deep breaths of air. Looking to the bisected half of Praetorian still on the ground, she shifted her astonished glance to the approaching Shepard. "Did I do that?"

Then she fainted.

Between the returned Luna, Shepard, Rainbow Dash and Applejack—who were all assisted by the remaining Canterlot Guard—the city was swept clean of invaders in short order. There were several minor firefights, but the formidable defenders put the remaining aliens down quickly. The highest remaining guard commander approached Luna tentatively as she was resting. "Princess? Has there been any sign of your sister?"

Luna pushed aside the immediate flash of irritation at the question. Celestia's absence was glaringly obvious, and a cause for great concern of course. "I am afraid my sister has been taken by the creatures who escaped."

All the color drained from the stallion's face at this revelation. "Taken? Taken where?!"

Grimly, the Princess rose to her hooves, regarding the approaching Shepard and still-conscious Elements of Harmony with a small frown. "I do not know. But it is my hope that they will."

"The elements, ma'am? Or the, uh, friendly alien?"

Shaking her head, Luna nodded toward the smoking collector cruiser she had dropped from the air. "Not the Elements of Harmony. Them."

Author's Note

Here it is! This marks the beginning of the story starting to get more 'Mass Effecty' than 'My Little Pony-y'.

Aaaalso. In case anyone HASN'T read Loyal2Luna's amazing Mass Effect 2: Equestrian Equation DLC story, shame on you. And go read it now. It blows my trash outta the water. XD http://www.fimfiction.net/story/20545/mass-effect-2-dlc-the-equestrian-equation

Chapter 11: To The Stars

Chapter 11: To the Stars

Shepard lead the procession toward the downed Collector cruiser. There was already a sizable crowd growing around it, being kept back by the remaining guards. All made way as the recognizable human strode through the crowd, Princess Luna walking at her side. Both wore expressions that didn’t invite anypony to ask them questions. Rainbow Dash flew overhead looking ready to dive on any alien that might poke its head out of the craft.

The Princess Twilight Sparkle brought up the rear, her steadfast friend Applejack at her side. She didn’t look terribly pleased with how the day’s events had been unfolding. Dozens of ponies dead, more abducted… including her beloved mentor. Rationally she knew panic and worry would help nopony at all, but she was growing more and more antsy with each passing second.

When Princess Luna had first told her of Celestia’s abduction Twilight’s first thought was teleporting after them. Luna assured her this was impossible, their vessel left far too quickly to be pursued. Shepard was the first to the crashed ship, the woman glaring at the wreckage ferociously. “Legion can you find a hatch?”

Shepard’s silvery omni-tool appeared, the interfaces flashing across her arm as her A.I. scanned the ship. “Yes. Proceed to the right, I have begun taking control of their systems remotely, the hatch will open momentarily.”

Turning on her heel Shepard moved along the right side without hesitation. About fifty feet along a seemingly smooth wall hissed open and separated into two halves, revealing a long dark corridor. “You ponies should probably wait here.”

Luna blinked, a bit taken aback. “Why on earth would we wait outside?”

Shepard stepped into the corridor, her shoulders practically scraping either side of the wall. “It’s a tight fit for ME. If we have to back out in a hurry you’re not going to be able to turn around. And I don’t think you’re going to fit at all Luna.”

The Princess eyed the narrow entry with a scowl of her own. “Very well.” Her horn glowed as she bathed herself in magical light. When it cleared Luna stood in her human shape, even her wings were gone. Only her gently wafting star studded hair, and long horn gave away her inhuman nature.

Twilight stepped forward as well. “If I need to escape quickly I can just teleport. The narrow passage doesn’t bother me.”

“Fair enough. The rest of you wait here. Twilight can teleport back and get you if need be.” Shepard didn’t wait for a response, plunging forward into the darkness. A flashlight on her omni-tool lit the way. Luna followed her in closely, with Twilight again bringing up the rear.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanged equally unhappy looks. Neither was particularly fond of the idea of their friends going into danger without them.

*** (neutral)

“Shepard, how dangerous do you expect things to become?” The woman at the head of the group stifled a groan at Twilight Sparkle’s incredibly loud stage whisper.

“We’re fine so far. Legion has a motion tracker, he’ll tell us if anything’s moving up ahead. No need to whisper.”

“O--oh right. Sorry. This is… this is actually an alien spacecraft isn’t it? Look at these walls. They’re vaguely reminiscent of changeling architecture. Maybe because both races are insectoid at their core?”

“Presently the only thing I wish to know about them is where they took my sister.” Luna’s sharp tone stifled Twilight’s verbal barrage of hypothesis.

“Shepard-Commander. This corridor is nearing the end. I detect a large chamber beyond with multiple life signs, most are incredibly faint however.”

The woman nodded to her A.I. “Makes sense. Probably survivors from the crash. You didn’t take them down gently did you Luna?”

“I most certainly did not.”

“Get the door would you Legion?”

“Of course Shepard-Commander. Nothing would make me happier.” The wall at the end of the corridor slid open revealing a massive chamber beyond. Row upon row of large pods lined the walls, stacked atop one another in columns of five. The rows seemed to stretch on forever.

The ponies looked about wide-eyed. Shepard only tightened her jaw. This was a familiar sight. The last time she’d seen something like this the crew of her ship had occupied a number of the pods. “Alert! Life support within the pods is fading rapidly Shepard-Commander. The captives will not survive more than a few moments.”

At Legions words Shepard sprang into action, rushing to the nearest pod. Gripping the edge of the lid with both hands she heaved back straining to pry it open. A blue woman… an asari! So this was an asari. Shepard had to admit she was cute, even with the strange head tentacles. The asari slumped forward into Shepard’s arms and she lowered her to the floor. Looking to the gaping pony Princesses she nodded sharply to the rest. “Don’t just stand there! Get these open!”

Twilight and Luna shook themselves out of their daze, horns blazing as matching colors lit up along the rows of pods. Lids snapped off and went flying one after the other as the magical duo made short work of freeing the captives. The bulk of whom hung lifelessly from their prisons, but a few were stirring slowly.

“Let’s get these people out of-” Gunfire interrupted Shepard and the woman dove for cover, dragging the recovering asari with her. Luna had raised a shimmering magical shield around the survivors as they came to groggily. The horned woman winced as each bullet bounced off her barrier but she was managing.

“Your assistance would be greatly appreciated Twilight.”

The young alicorn nodded. “Right! Um… let’s see. One, two, three, four…. seven. I can do seven! Here we go!” With a flash and a pop Twilight and the seven survivors vanished.

Just in time too, the continued hammering of her barrier was wearing Luna down quickly. She rolled in between a pair of pods just as the magic shattered like glass, vanishing as quickly as it appeared.

Activating her cloak, Shepard eased her way out of the cover to get a good look at what she was dealing with. It looked like six Collector soldiers had lined up on the ledge overhead and were firing down at she and Luna. She managed two shots, and two kills with her rifle before she had to duck back down again.

Beside her the asari’s eyes were fluttering rapidly. She looked about in a confused daze before her eyes locked onto Shepard’s face. “By the Goddess.” The blue woman’s eyes widened alarmingly and she sucked in her breath. “It can’t be.”

“How ya doin’? Name’s Shepard. Nice to meet ya and so on.” During a brief pause in the gunfire Shepard popped her head up and downed another assailant with her rifle.

“I… ah… Elezzia.”

“Great. So just keep your head down Elezzia. I’ll get us out of this alright?”

The asari’s response was the flaring of her biotic aura surrounding her body, then she disappeared with a whooshing rush of air. A streak of blueish-black energy marked her trajectory as Elezzia snapped into being once more amid the collectors, the resulting burst of biotic energy staggering them. The asari bellowed angrily as she charged herself up again, jumping into the air and slamming her fist down. The resulting biotic explosion sent the staggered Collectors flying in all directions, tumbling to the ground like broken rag dolls. “I can get myself out of this thank you.”

Shepard stepped out from behind her cover nodding approvingly. “Well that was exciting. Guess you’re alright then?”

Elezzia approached Shepard, her brow furrowed. The asari woman’s skin was a deep blue, nearly navy color. Striking whirls of a pale violet hue wound around her cheeks and forehead. Her eyes were a striking emerald green. “...I am well enough. But you…. You cannot be here.”

Shepard looked toward the approaching Luna then back to the weird asari. “Well we’re here. The Collectors took some important folks from this world. We need to find out where they went, and get after them.”

The woman furrowed her brow in annoyance when the asari didn’t respond. “Legion find me the bridge.”

“Of course Shepard-Commander. Perhaps I can find you something to eat while I’m at I am at it?”

“That’d be lovely Legion, thank you.”

Now the asari was staring at her omni-tool. “That is a very responsive V.I. And why is your omni-tool silver?”

Shepard looked from the screen with Legion’s face then to Elezzia. “He’s not a V.I., whatever the hell that is. He’s an A.I. And it’s silver because of the magic metal in it.”

“That… that is equally impossible! You’re dead and A.I.’s don’t exist anymore! And there is no such thing as magic!” The rescued asari was clearly growing more frazzled as the conversation went on. When Twilight reappeared with a sharp POP right next to Luna the poor alien woman actually shrieked in alarm and leapt backwards. “Did that horse just teleport?!”

Twilight looked to the newcomer curiously. “I’m happen to be a ‘pony’ thank you very much. And yes I did!” She returned her attention to Luna. “The other um, alien… people are outside. They seem sick maybe? It’s hard to tell. Very weak at least. The guards are going for any Doctors they can find.”

“A sapient quadrupedal species. A new species. This is… this is amazing! What kind of biotics are those?”

Twilight blinked back up at the excitable asari. “Um, no biotics. I do magic. Spells. And yes I’m aware that the galactic community in general believes magic is mythology. Legion already filled me in on a lot of details about the different civilized species. Once this mess is over you have no idea how many questions I have for you.”

Looking from Shepard, to Luna, then back to Twilight the asari was bitiing her lip hard. “This is impossible. She can’t be alive, A.I.’s don’t exist, and you claim to do magic!” She halted in her pacing and whirled on Twilight again, looking alarmed. “The other survivors. Was there a krogan among them? Large male, ridged head plate?”

“Um… no. There were two salarian’s, another asari, three humans and what I’m fairly certain is a quarian if Legion’s descriptions are accurate.”

“No, no no no.” Suddenly the woman was spinting along the wall of pods frantically searching through each of them. Toward the end of the line she dropped to her knees with an anguished wail. The trio shared an equally uncomfortable look, before Shepard made her way towards the weeping asari.

A krogan male was lying lifelessly in the pod. Elezzia gripping his hand tightly. Gingerly, Shepard laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry about your friend.”

“My husband. He wasn’t just my friend, he was my husband. Oh Krom… we were heading to Tuchanka to finally settle down. I’ve just begun entering my matron phase. We were…” Her tears started again. “...we were talking about children finally.”

Shepard looked from the slender, beautiful blue woman to the massive, and frankly monstrous reptilian alien in the pod. She was married to HIM? But they were so…

Her thoughts trailed off and she looked back to Luna and Twilight who were talking quietly amongst themselves. Shepard tightened her grip on the grieving widow’s shoulder slightly. “I’ll make them pay for this Elezzia. I promise.”

Large green eyes looked up at Shepard then. The human’s jaw set firmly and her eyes focusing on a hatch at the far end of the room. The asari closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, placing her own hand over Shepard’s and pulling herself to her feet. “We’ll make them pay Commander. I believe those crates there contain all the gear these monsters scavenged from their captives. Give me a few moments to locate mine and I’ll join you.”

“Take your time. And just Shepard is fine, don’t need to use my last name.”

Elezzia paused at that, looking confused again. “Last name? Why would Commander be your last name?”

Shepard lifted her arm, displaying her omni-tool. “It’s what Legion calls me. Shepard-Commander. Commander’s obviously my last name.”

Now the asari opened and closed her mouth in shock. “I… no. It’s not. Shepard is your sur-name. Commander is your title. Commander of the Alliance Navy. How… how do you not know that?”

A small shiver of anger passed through the human’s body. “Amnesia...I lost my memory when I woke up here ten months ago. Legion! Why didn’t you tell me Shepard wasn’t my first name?! What IS my first name?!”

“I…” The A.I. seemed at a loss. “...Shepard-Commander is what I always call you. What I have always called you. I do not… I do not have any record of your first name ever being used. This was not an attempt to intentionally mislead you. It is simply the name I came upon when extrapolating the necessary data to repair my own damaged memory.”

Frowning at the note of concern in Legion’s synthesized voice, Shepard sighed. “It’s… alright. So Commander Shepard. I’m actually a Commander. Of the N7 Alliance forces? Which were...what exactly?”

Luna and Twilight had come to join Shepard, while Elezzia armed herself. “The N7 special forces were the Alliance Navy’s elite. The best of the best if you will. By the end of the Reaper war this was expanded to include elite soldiers of every species in the galactic community. From the Vorcha to the Elcor, The N7 became a symbol of heroes due to the actions of the mercenary and soldier squads claiming the designation during the war. Today, the N7 Corp. represents the United Galaxy’s most elite military force. A cooperative project by all Council species as a show of good faith toward one another. Being selected for the N7’s is as great an honor now as becoming a Spectre.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Becoming a ghost is considered an honor?”

Elezzia stepped out from between the large crates. Thick heavy plated armor seemingly similar material to Shepard’s own covered her body. It looked more solidly built than Shepard’s however, and was a navy blue color. A shotgun that looked too large for the alien woman to properly use was fastened to her back. “Spectre is an acronym. It stands for Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. Elite agents with extra-territorial authority, answering only to the Citadel Council. Commander Shepard was… is… one as well.”

“So I’m an N7 Commander AND a Spectre? The more I hear about myself the more I like it. If you’re ready let’s get moving. Legion, I want to find the bridge. Maybe we can get some information out of their computers.”

“Certainly. I will display the route on your omni-tool Shepard-...” A small map appeared indicating a highlighted route for the group to follow. Shepard broke into a brisk trot, Luna at her side while Twilight and Elezzia followed behind.

“Your species are called ‘ponies’. That is an uncanny coincidence.”

Twilight looked to the new alien with a curious smile. “How so?”

“On Earth, the homeworld of humanity, they have animals called horses. Beasts of burden that don’t possess higher intelligence. There is a smaller sub-species they call ponies.”

Twilight’s eyes widened at this. “Really? That IS a strange coincidence. I wonder if there’s a deeper connection?”

Elezzia was nodding slowly. “It’s possible. At the end of the Reaper War we learned another species known as the Protheans were heavily involved in guiding the evolution of many Citadel species. They may very well have visited your world thousands of years in the past. It will make for an interesting conversation with Representative Javik if nothing else.”

“Who’s he?”

“The last living Prothean in existence.”

Twilight gasped. “The LAST? Of his entire kind? How is that possible?”

“His kind were wiped out in the last cycle of galactic genocide instigated by the Reapers. Near the beginning of the war, Commander Shepard and her crew found a stasis pod that had survived. Inside was Javik. For a number of years after the war, with the aid of the Council he tracked down every Prothean facility hoping to find more of his kind. He did not I’m afraid.”

“Oh how sad… but now I really would like a chance to talk to him. His people could have visited our world before even the Princesses existed!”

Elezzia laughed lightly at the ponies naveite. “Remember this was THOUSANDS of years ago miss…”

“Oh! I’m so sorry. I’m Twilight Sparkle. Oh! Princess Twilight Sparkle I suppose. Though just Twilight is fine. And nopony knows how old Princess Celestia is. She’s been ruling for at least a thousand years however. A little longer I think.”

Now it was the asari’s turn to be surprised. “Truly? Another species who lives as long as my own is a rarity in the galaxy.”

“Well most ponies have wildly varying life spans. Earth ponies can live for three or more centuries depending on how healthy their lifestyle is. Unicorns tend to live only a hundred years or so, but certain members of the tribe with a particular affinity for magic can extend their life spans almost indefinitely. The pegasi are the shortest lived, most are lucky to reach a hundred. Alicorns like the Princesses and um, myself I suppose are reportedly immortal.”

Elezzia frowned. “Nothing is immortal.”

Twilight offered her a faint smile. “All I can tell you is what I’ve learned from school and study I’m afraid.”

Ahead, Shepard raised her arm and the group came to a halt. As the gunfire started again Twilight’s ears splayed and she frowned. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that sound.”

Elezzia watched Luna calmly wade toward the firing Collectors. “Is she insane?! She’s unarmed and not even wearing armor!”

Twilight blinked. “Oh. Princess Luna’s fine. She doesn’t need armor. And she’s always armed.”

Elezzia looked dubious, and was preparing to launch herself in front of the crazy human with the horn as a biotic warp ripped through the air toward her. The asari gasped as instead of tearing flesh at the impact, Luna burst apart into a dark cloud. A dark cloud of bats she realized. The swarm of flying creatures darted through the air toward the nearest pocket of Collectors, all of whom were firing wildly into it. They recombined into the pale blue woman who dropped to the floor between the attacking aliens.

Glittering black blades hovered in the air at shoulder height on either side of her. Wrapped in a deep blue nimbus of energy they darted outward seemingly of their own volition slicing through the Collector’s carapace and weapons with equal ease. Luna herself would rush forward and use her bare hands and feet to break, batter, or tear at the rapidly panicking aliens.

Shepard wasn’t sitting idly by the whole time. Her rifle working overtime as she dropped Collector after Collector as more arrived into the large chamber attempting to subdue the abnormally dangerous pair. Elezzia’s eyes scanned the room settling on a group of four firing from an alcove overhead.

Twilight Sparkle took a step back as the asari’s biotic fields manifested again. With a sound like something punching through the air Elezzia was gone, only to reappear in the midst of her targets releasing a burst of energy, staggering them in all directions. Just like before she leapt up and slammed her fist into the ground scattering them and sending them flying over the balcony. The four seen to she jumped down and rushed at another pair who were firing with apparently no effect as their rounds pinged off her powerful barrier. As she closed she brought her huge shotgun to bear. The kick back nearly winded the woman, but the single round shredded the two aliens into a pulpy mass. With a grunt she reloaded the massive weapon and went about the business of seeking out more targets.

Twilight ducked behind cover next to Shepard, contributing with the occasional lance of solid magic, that each time it struck a Collector resulted in a powerful detonation. “Your new friend seems very much at home on the battlefield, Shepard!”

The woman’s answering grin was vaguely reminiscent of one she’d seen Rainbow Dash wearing when talking about the Wonderbolts. “She’s something else! Could do a lot worse than someone like her backing us up.”

“That’s very true. Though Princess Luna seems to be… enjoying herself more than I’d expect as well.”

Luna was wearing an almost maniacal grin as she leapt from group to group. Sometimes using her magic, sometimes her swords, and other times just using her bare hands to kill the buglike aliens. No matter what she did however, Collectors died quickly.

“She’s something else too.” Twilight noted an altogether different inflection in Shepard’s tone, and decided not to comment on that.

The battle ended almost as quickly as it began. The four invaders to the ship having dispatched easily five times that number in a matter of minutes. “Shepard, the bridge is just ahead.”

“Thanks Legion. Alright ladies let’s end this.”

The other three fell in close behind as Shepard made for the last hatch. As it whooshed open she was a little surprised to find the bridge crew on their knees, hands laced behind their heads. All three wore what she suspected were expressions of fear on their nearly unreadable faces.

“Are they surrendering then?”

“Yes! Yes we surrender! Do not kill us!”

Shepard looked from Luna to Twilight, than down at Legion. “I don’t remember them talking.”

“There is no record of Collector’s being capable of speech previous to this moment, Shepard. I am interested to learn why they chose to speak now.”

Elezzia shoved her way forward. “I’m not. I’m interested in killing every last one of these monsters. You killed my husband! My beautiful Krom is GONE because of you!” The air was growing heavy under the force of the biotic fields she was generating. “By the Goddess I swear I will eradicate every last one of you filthy bugs!”

Shepard was already lunging forward to stop her, but she was too slow. The air just folded in around the three Collectors, quickly enough that they were crushed into three fine smears on the floor in the blink of an eye. Twilight looked appalled at the display and vanished with a loud crack of magic.

“Every last trace of you! Do you hear me?!” Again the asari brought her biotic power to bear, starting to crush the machinery in the room itself. Shepard and Luna both started to feel an uncomfortable pressure just from being in the same room.

“Shepard! If she destroys the computers we will lose the records of where the Collector’s have been and are likely going! You must stop her!”

Heeding Legion’s advice Shepard grit her teeth and waded into the biotic storm. Her nose had begun to bleed from the pressure but she ignored it and stalked up behind the asari, raising her rifle and bringing the stock hard against the back of Elezzia’s head, dropping the frenzied woman to the ground. All at once the biotic storm stopped and she staggered forward with a grimace.

“Luna, can you get her out of here? Legion and I will see what we can find from the computers.”

Eyeing the asari with concern, Luna nonetheless knelt beside her. “Yes. I will return momentarily.” Both she and the asari vanished as she teleported them outside.

“...well this has been a bit more exciting a day than we’ve had in a while wouldn’t you say Legion?”

Shepard’s omni-tool appeared as her A.I. jumped from it to the Collector’s computer systems. The various consoles sparked a little as he started them up. “Arguably the most exciting day we’ve had since coming to Equestria, yes.”

Shepard leaned against a console while Legion worked. “So it’s just Shepard now?”

“Yes. More and more I am beginning to suspect I am in fact not who I believed myself to be.”

Brow wrinkling in confusion Shepard looked at the nearest monitor. She knew Legion’s face wouldn’t appear but it helped to imagine it. “How does an A.I. not remember who they are?”

“Recall I mentioned my memory was damaged as well. That may have been an inaccurate statement. When I first realized I existed, I had no data available as to who or what I was. I ‘awoke’ if you will, within your omni-tool. From there I began to extrapolate a personality for myself. I latched on to the first A.I. identity I discovered in your data.”

Shepard’s eyes widened. “The geth called Legion?”

“Precisely. I built the foundation of my personality on Legion. He called you Shepard-Commander, so I called you Shepard-Commander. On some level I was aware that I was not Legion, but not knowing who you are is an… unsettling sensation.”

“No kidding? I’d have no idea what that’s like.”

“Yes I apologize. I also apologize if my witholding the entire truth from you is upsetting.”

Shepard shrugged. “Not really. You’re still you, I’ll keep calling you Legion if you like.”

“For the time being it will suffice. Perhaps when we return to Citadel space we can discover more of my….” Legion stopped speaking abruptly.

“Legion? What is it? Is everything alright? Should I like… shoot a console or something?”

“No Shepard, that will not be necessary. In my search for data, which was successful by the way, I discovered the current date.”

“Congratulations?”

“You do not understand. The years is 2467 Shepard.”

Shepard shook her head and shrugged. “And?”

“The last recorded entry in your omi-tool was in 2167. Either the Collector ship’s computer is faulty, which I believe to be an impossibility. Or three hundred years have passed since the end of the Reaper War...which you participated in..”

“....oh.”

*** (neutral)

Elezzia woke to a throbbing headache. She was on a bed in a hospital it looked like. Shifting her head to the right and left she saw several of her fellow captives who looked to be recuperating from whatever had weakened them aboard the ship. Most of them talked quietly, but excitedly about their rescuers.

“Unicorns. Fucking unicorns. This is absolutely insane.”

“Fascinating you mean! We’ve discovered a new species! The possibilities are seemingly endless! And their magic! Have you seen them do anything more than lift objects yet?”

One of the other asari perked up at the salarian’s rapid fire questions. “I have! The purple one, Twilight I think? She teleports. Actual teleportation, entirely under her own power she claims.”

A gentle voice sounded at the door. All eyes turned to find a unicorn mare with a pink coat, curly green mane enter. She was wearing a white coat over her fur with a stethescope hanging from her neck. “Ahem. Ah… good afternoon everypo… um, body. Welcome to Canterlot General Hospital.” The trio of humans snickered at the name, which the Doctor chose to ignore. “I’m sure this is a bit trying for everyone. Now obviously the staff here doesn’t know a whole lot about you, but from what we can tell no one’s seriously hurt or ill. Princess Luna told us ah…” The mare levitated a clipboard before her face drawing excited little gasps from her patients.

“Ahem. There was a failure in the life support systems of the pods keeping you all in stasis. The Princess and her friends managed to rescue the lot of you before you uh, well died.” She looked up at the assembled aliens. “Can anyone perhaps tell me what that means?”

Elezzia spoke up. “The invaders, the Collectors, keep their victims in large cocoon like pods for transport. We were kept alive by the machinery in the pods similar to life support systems you likely use in the hospital.”

The Doctor brightened. “Ah! Well that’s a lot clearer, thank you miss. Well then it sounds like a little bed rest and some healthy eating will get everyone back on their erm, feet in no time. Are there any special dietary concerns? We serve mostly fruit and vegetables here. Shepherd doesn’t seem to object too strongly to average pony fare, though Princess Twilight claims she doesn’t much care for flowers or oats. I assume this is true for all humans?”

The trio nodded. Two men and a woman made up the human population in the room. “Shepard? Who’s that?”
“Ah! Well she’s a close personal friend of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Luna. She’s also the heroine of Ponyville.” More laughter from the humans. “She slayed a rampaging dragon with her bare hands I’m told. She was also a huge help in repelling the ah, Collector invasion. Probably get a stain glass window in the throne room for her troubles is my guess.”

One of the asari tilted her head. “Shepard is this human’s name?” She smirked. “Listening to that story one could almost think it was Commander Shepard herself.”

“Yes! That’s the one.” The Doctor smiled.

Seven pairs of eyes stared incredulously at the Doctor. “Commander Shepard? THE Commander Shepard?”

Elezzia was the one to answer again. “I’ve seen her myself.”

Excited murmuring started to rise from her fellow other worlders.

“But that’s impossible!”

“Could it really be her?”

“Oh I’d give anything to meet her!”

“For real, even if it’s a clone or something.”

Elezzia swung herself out of the bed, ignoring the faint dizziness that accompanied the motion. “Where is Commander Shepard now?”

The Doctor frowned and seemed to want to protest one of her patient’s leaving, but the look in the alien’s eyes told her it might be a bad idea to do so. “She’s at the Castle with the Princesses now.”

“I’ll need my armor and weapon back. And directions to this castle.”

“I’m sure we can have a taxi called to take you. Or if you’d like to wait they plan to come check on you all later today.” The Doctor looked uncomfortable sudden. “Though Princess Luna has um, elected to hold onto your weapon for safekeeping.”

Elezzia just frowned down impatiently at the unicorn. “R--right. I’ll just get your things and you can be on your way.”

Looking at the more bed ridden patients Elezzia offered them an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll get to the bottom of this.” As she pulled on her breastplate the N7 proudly emblazoned on the shoulder seemed to alleviate many of their fears. “You’re in good hands.”

This seemed to relax them all a good deal, but conversation was still centered around the supposedly long dead legendary hero possibiliy walking around again. Elezzia did her best to ignore all the comments and suppress her growing excitement, but having seen the woman in action for herself she had to admit… it may very well be Shepard herself. As impossible as it seemed.

*** (neutral)

“Do humans live for centuries? Is it possible that you’re just… really fit for your age?” Twilight asked with a thin smile, even she finding the question silly.

Shepard shook her head. “No I uh, I already asked Legion that. He said humans usually top out around one fifty. So I’m at least double over the limit.”

“Yeah, yeah! You’re really old! So’re the Princesses! Most of them. When’re we going after Princess Celestia?!”

Trying to ignore Rainbow Dash’s pushy tone, Shepard looked away helping herself to another (her seventh) cupcake from the table provided by Pinkie Pie. Luna, once more in pony form forcefully settled Rainbow Dash on the floor with her magic. “Shepard and I discovered several crafts in supposedly working condition within the hangar of the Collector ship. Legion elected to remain behind and inspect them to find the most serviceable among them. I am assured it will not take very long at all.”

The doors banged open, startling Shepard and the seven ponies within. One of the royal guards rushed in panting slightly from his run. “Princess! Somepony here to see you!”

Luna frowned. “While I am typically delighted to entertain any of my subjects, we are in a state of emergency. The night and day courts are closed until further notice.”

“I’m not here to petition for anything, Aunt Luna.” Princess Cadance showed herself in, Shining Armor close at her side. “We came as quickly as we could.”

“Twily! You’re alright!” Shining rushed to his sister as the pair shared an embrace. “I was so worried! We’re getting barely any news out at the Empire. All we’ve heard is that Canterlot was invaded by aliens?”

Twilight nodded slowly. “As insane as that sounds, yes.” Noting her brother focused on the actual alien in their midst she hastily moved to Shepard’s side. “This is Shepherd, the friend I told you about in my letter?”

Realization dawned on the former guard captain and he nodded. “Oh right. It’s good to finally meet you. Twily’s been telling me all about you. Killed a dragon with your bare hooves? You don’t look much like an earth pony to me.”

Gulping down her eighth pastry Shepard offered a helpless shrug. “Poison joke incident. Was a pony for a couple days.”

Cadance looked from Shepard to Luna with a little smile, which her aunt hastily chased off with a hot glare. “S--so, we saw some of the destruction outside but we don’t know exactly how bad everything is.”

Luna looked grim. Grimmer than usual anyhow. “Several dozen guards were slain. Nearly two hundred citizens have been abducted by these Collector monsters and taken away to someplace beyond the stars. My sister included.”

Shining Armor and Cadance gasped in unison. “How do we… we’re going after them, right?”

Luna nodded. “Yes. Even now one of Shepherds companions is securing our transport. I trust him to lead us to Celestia’s kidnappers, and Celestia herself. We will find my sister, and all the captured ponies and bring them home.”

“Well I’m going with you.” Shining Armor stepped forward immediately.

Luna smiled, but it wasn’t a happy one. “I am afraid that you are not. I will be going with Shepherd personally, and will be leaving Equestria to you and Cadance. This is a time of great upheaval and it is my hope that familiar faces on the throne will go far to calming the people’s fears. Twilight Sparkle will act as Princess of the Crystal Empire in the interim. By all reports everything is proceeding very smoothly in the Empire, and it should be a simple task for her to keep things moving as they have been.”

Twilight blinked. “What?! I’m not staying behind!”

Her friends rallied around her. “Twi’s right. We ain’t gonna sit around twiddlin’ our hooves while y’all’re out there savin’ our Princess.”

Luna struck the floor with a hoof, creating a crack of thunder in the process. “You will do as you are told! Celestia is your Princess but she is MY sister! Equestria will be in enough danger with the both of us gone. Removing the Elements of Harmony as well and we are very nearly defenseless. You six WILL remain here, I will hear nothing further on the matter.”

Somehow they had forgotten how fearsome Luna could be after the Princess had worked so hard to dispel that very image. Seeing her anger brought to bear on them now shocked the group into silence. No doubt more than one was imagining NIghtmare Moon again.

The doors swung open again, the same guard appearing and looking more out of sorts than ever. “What is it now?!”

His ears splayed at Luna’s furious tone. “A--a--another visitor your highness! I tried to tell her you weren’t to be disturbed but-”

Elezzia entered right behind the stallion, ignoring him entirely. “My omni-tool is picking up my ship’s signature clearly in the Collector cruiser. I’m taking it to the Citadel to tell the council what’s going on. From there I plan to hunt down and wipe those filthy bugs from the face of the galaxy. Are you coming?”

*** (renegade)

Elezzia, Shepard and Luna, along with Twilight and her friends made the trip to the Collector ship. There were still a number of guards stationed around it, though at this point it was more to keep the curious gawkers out rather than to protect them from the very dead aliens within.

Shepard’s omni-tool crackled to life as Legion returned. “Welcome back. I have run extensive diagnosis over the assembled ships and found several suitable for travel. We can leave whenever you are ready.”

The woman nodded to the asari marching at the head of the group. “We’re taking Elezzia’s ship. Any asari ships in there that seemed in working order?”

“Yes, one. Identified as The Vanguard. Is this your ship?”

“It is.” The asari’s tone was clipped as she walked, tuning out the excited ponies behind her as the bulk of the group got their first look at an alien craft up close. Following her omni-tool’s signal Elezzia entered the hangar where nearly a dozen ships of varying size and make rested. Without hesitation she moved toward a large, sleek looking silver craft. The outside was glossy and shone like a mirror as they approached. It bore a strong resemblance to a sting ray the way it’s wings fanned out at the sides, and it had a long tail like engine running off the back.

Rapidly tapping her her omni-tool, Elezzia’s ship responded by swinging open its hatch and admitting herself, the human, and seven ponies. Twilight and her friends immediately fanned out to explore while the Princess herself remained close to Luna.

Elezzia watched the excited ponies with a small frown. “They know not to touch anything right?”

Twilight responded with a frown of her own. “We’re not a pack of little fillies. My friends and I know better than to…” She cringed as she heard a loud crash from around a corner and Rainbow Dash’s resounding ‘whoops!’ “...ehe he he, I’ll just go… keep an eye on them.”

Shepard couldn’t hide her grin as Twilight charged off after her friends looking none-too-pleased. “So what about the other Collector captives?”

“They simply need bedrest for a few days. A few days I don’t intend to waste by sitting around here waiting. The only concern is the quarian’s food, but his ship is here in the hangar and they always have more than enough food to last for months in case of emergencies. When we reach the Citadel I’ll pass along Equestria’s coordinates and have a rescue ship dispatched.”

Luna sighed as her wings brushed against the side of the hallway, and she resumed her humanoid shape. “How far is this Citadel? I do not wish to delay the search for my sister.”

Elezzia shook her head. “I have no idea how far away the nearest relay is from your world. The Vanguard is the fastest ship in the N7 fleet though. We were the best scouting party in the whole outfit.” She noted with a bit of pride.

“The nearest mass relay is approximately thirty-two days travel from Equestria. According to the data I took from the Collector ship.”

“Ha. A month in their time is less than a week tops to the Vanguard. We’ll hit the relay and be to the Citadel within six days. From there we can set out after the Collectors.”

Luna scowled at the idea. “Why do we not simply chase them now? The longer we wait the further they will get with my sister!”

“Because this is a potentially galactic level threat. There’s more at stake here than your kidnapped people. It’s harsh but true. The Collectors worked for the Reapers before. If one survived, the other may have too.”

Luna wore a faint scowl at that. “If only we had one or more of them to question, perhaps we would know for certain.”

Elezzia rounded on Luna, eyes wide. “Excuse me for losing my temper at the murderers of my husband!”

Shepard’s head had begun to throb painfully at the mention of the Reapers. Every time someone had spoken the name in fact the ache appeared. She knew the name. She knew it intimately. THEY were who she’d fought to stop. But details refused to focus in her mind. The harder she tried to picture them the worse her headache got. She felt something warm running down her lip and brought her hand to her nose, taking it away with blood staining her fingers.

Turning away so the other two wouldn’t see she hastily cleaned herself up while Luna and Elezzia argued. “We follow her lead on this, Luna. I want to get Celestia back too, but if this is as serious as she says then we have to warn people or these Collectors are going to keep taking more innocent civilians.”

Luna looked very much like she wanted to argue the point, but her shoulders sagged. “I… you are correct of course. How long until we can depart?”

“Not long. Commander can your A.I. assist in take off preparations? Maybe he could help manage some of the Vanguard’s systems. She’s a small craft but piloting her alone is going to be a handful for me.”

Shepard’s omni-tool appeared again, as Legion leapt from it to the ship’s systems. “I would be happy to assist in any capacity. I will program the course toward the relay as well.”

Luna watched them quietly. “I will remove Twilight and the rest while you make your preparations then.”

Watching her go, Shepard sank into one of the chairs with a sigh. “She and her sister had a huge fight just before she was taken by them. It’s probably tearing her up inside.”

Elezzia looked toward the departing Luna as she settled in the pilot’s seat. “I see. So a world filled with colorful, talking, flying, spell casting ponies at the very edge of the known galaxy I can take. My husband’s death which I’ll grieve for decades to come I can take. Finding you. Commander Shepard. Alive, well, and apparently thriving on this planet of magic horses is the end of my rope. You cannot possibly be the real Commander Shepard. Assuming she didn’t die at the end of the war, it’s been three hundred years. She’d have died of natural causes more than twice over by now.”

Shepard cracked a smile as she shrugged. “Good diet. Lots of exercise. What can I say? I endorse healthy living.”

“Your primary food source were fluffy insects that as far as I could tell contained little to nothing of actual nutritional value. And for the past two months you have literally consumed your own body weight in sweets and pastries provided by Miss Pie. The only reason you are not a corpulent ball of flesh by this point is the myriad of implants that work overtime to process what you call ‘food’ into something passably healthy.”

“And that! The A.I.! After you fired the Crucible all synthetic life was destroyed! The reapers, the geth, everything! Even your own crew member EDI wa-”

Shepard was standing on the recreated version of her ship. A glowing blue... hologram with a woman's voice was speaking. "I always operate at maximum efficiency Commander.

A woman... robotic woman with EDI's voice. "This platform will allow me to accompany the crew into combat situations. I look forward to testing its capabilities.

Shepard blinked as the memory of the synthetic woman flashed through her mind. She found Elezzia looking at her in concern. “Are you alright?”

Slowly she nodded. “I get… flashes. Flashes of memories. People, places, events. Mostly my old friends. I just remembered EDI there… so she’s… gone. Jesus. All of them are gone! Three hundred years?! Everyone I’ve ever known is… is dead and gone.”

“Not all. Some of Commander Shepard’s crew are alive. The krogan and asari members of course. But you… I cannot accept that you are the REAL Commander. You must be a clone.”

Shepard quirked a brow. “A clone? Of me? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It IS a possibility Commander. When you died due to the initial Collector attack the human radical group Cerberus resurrected you. Using a multitude of implants and cloned tissue and organs to save your life. Records from your omni-tool indicate that there has been at least one clone of you in the past as well.”

Shepard’s mouth fell open at this. “However, your omni-tool itself is proof that you are who you claim to be. While an omni-tool is simple enough for nearly anyone to have installed, the data contained within yours could only have come from experiencing such events first hand. I find it infintesimally unlikely that someone managed to take your omni-tool, replicate all the data upon it, install ME, then drop you on Equestria and leave you to your own devices.”

Elezzia’s eyes grew a little wider the more Legion spoke. “That… does make sense yes. But how do you explain the time that’s passed?”

“I cannot explain it easily. However I could play the final bit of data stored within the omni-tool prior to our arrival in Equestria. Perhaps it will help?”

“Why didn’t you suggest this to me before?”

“Your omni-tool was, and still is damaged. I have been repairing it slowly during our stay on this world but it is slow going. Gradually I am recovering more and more data. I have only recently discovered this data byte. It’s time stamp is the correct date if our three hundred year disappearance is accurate.”

When Legion finished speaking a new screen opened, then widened to a large view for Shepard and Elezzia to watch more comfortably. It showed things from the view of Shepard’s right hand of course, but the way her gait hobbled it was clear she was wounded. Slowly she stalked up to a large red turbine of some sort and raised her pistol, firing round after round into it. The resulting explosion of vivid red energy picked her up and flung her off her feet, then proceeded to carry her through the air. The women watching leaned forward as Shepard was seemingly flung through space, carried along the wave of energy before the camera cut out.

“That… did look like the energy released by the Crucible. It may have somehow carried you through space to… to this point. Converted your body to light or energy or… or who knows what?! This is astounding! You… you are really her aren’t you?”

Shepard stared at the static on the screen until it collapsed back into her tool. “...I sure as hell hope so. Otherwise I have no idea who I am.”

“There were reports of the wave taking years to reach some points in space. Decades for the ones furthest from any relays. According to the data here the nearest relay was constructed very recently. As little as eleven years ago. It would explain why this planet has gone unnoticed for so long. Colonization of the surrounding sectors has only just begun. It may very well have taken three centuries for the wave to reach this far out. We’re on the very edge of the galaxy after all.”

Elezzia was staring at Shepard with a little awe in her eyes now, enough that the woman was feeling uncomfortable. “Commander Shepard… you… you’re real. You’re really her. Right here… in the cockpit of my ship! Goddess there’s so much I want to ask you! I joined the N7 because of you!”

“Uh… well that’s, y’know… that’s nice. I’m glad I was such an inspiration?”

“Not just to me! Commander you are the single greatest hero the galaxy has ever known! Your actions inspired thousands to follow in your footsteps. The galaxy has known an unprecedented three hundred years of peace thanks to the bonds you built between the various races! This changes everything. You… alive. There are so many people who will want to speak with you. To thank you. You should see the monuments!”

“Monuments?”

“Of course. Thessia, Tuchanka, Sur’kesh, Palavan, Rannoch of course! And Earth. Oh Commander, the Commander Shepard monument on Earth is nearly large enough to be seen from orbit! And then there’s the memorial museum orbiting the Citadel and…”

Shepard raised her hands, eyes wide. “Okay! Okay stop! Just… just stop! This is… wow. I uh… is there someplace I can lay down?”

Elezzia leapt to her feet. “Of course Commander! You can have my quarters. It would be a pleasure… an HONOR to have you use them!”

Rapidly the woman shook her head. “No, no just a regular room. I don’t want your bed. Really I don’t need special treatment. It was kinda fun at first but this is… this is a lot. I’m nothing special, really. I’m just a woman who’s really good with her guns.”

Seeming to realize her hero worship was making the woman uncomfortable Elezzia did her best to rein it in. “O--of course. There are quarters down this hall, keep going until you pass the mess then any of the doors along that hallway should have a bed.”

“Thanks. Legion I’ll leave it to you two to get us flying and on our way alright?”

“Of course Shepard. Rest well.”

“Yeah I’ll be sleeping great…” Shepard trudged down the hall head lowered. She passed Luna and the other ponies as the Princess was herding them outside, not returning their greeting or goodbyes.

Luna paused in her forced march of the Elements of Harmony to look back at Shepard. What had gotten her so upset? Resolving to ask her about it once they were underway she finished chasing Twilight and the rest off the ship. “We will return as soon as we are able. Trust us to see to Celestia and everypony else’s safety as I trust you to look after Equestria while I am away.”

“You can count on us, Princess Luna. We won’t let you down.”

Luna smiled to Rarity. “Thank you. I know you’ll do well my little ponies. Now I should be off. We shall no doubt be departing soon. Wish us luck.”

The six mares waved with varying degrees of excitement as the hatch closed, cutting them off from view of their departing Princess. “Well! This has been entirely too stressful of a day for me. What say we all go to the spa, my treat of course.”

Fluttershy sighed softly. “Oh that sounds just lovely.”

“Granny Pie told me never look a gift pony in the mouth!” Pinkie bounced along at her side giggling merrily. “I’m in!”

“Wonderful! Naturally Rainbow Dash will be abstaining” Rarity waited for her friend to give an affirmative, and frowned when none was forthcoming. “Rainbow Dash?” She and the others looked about in confusion.

“Um… I don’t see Twilight or Applejack either.”

Rarity’s eyes went wide with horror. “They wouldn’t!”

Pinkie Pie just rolled her eyes. “They did.”

Fluttershy looked back at the hangar just as the sleek silver shipped lifted into the air. Rarity was shrieking at the top of her lungs chasing after it as it gradually took flight, before blasting into the sky and out of sight in seconds. “...oh dear.”

Author's Note

BEHOLD! Chapter 11 in all it's unedited poor comma placement glory! Poor Opacare is slammed trying to edit the rapid fire chapters of all my garbage, so you have to deal with my poor grammar until he gets around to fixing it!

Also some info on how Shep got here, introducing new characters, and killing more Collectors.

Chapter 12: Stowaways

Shepard sighed as she stretched out on the bed in the crew’s quarters. She had mixed feelings about being in space again. On the one hand she was heading someplace that would hopefully clear up many of her questions. Plus the feel of being on a ship again had some nostalgic comfort with it.

On the other hand she was leaving Equestria behind. She hadn’t in a million years imagined such a place could exist. While she was still piecing together her life up to her arrival on the idyllic garden world, the scars on her body alone told her quite the story. The collectors were still around after they’d supposedly been wiped out, by her no less.

Then there was the other thing bothering her. If Elezzia wasn’t exaggerating it sounded like she was very nearly worshipped by the galactic community as some sort of immortalized amazing hero. Right now she felt anything but. Luna’s sister had been taken, and who knows how many other ponies with her. Now they were on their way to the Citadel… the hub of the galactic community. Also the location of the Commander Shepard Memorial Museum. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that little gem.

One thing was for sure. Sitting here alone with her thoughts wasn’t doing her any good. She’d been keeping to herself and stewing for days. According to Elezzia they’d hit the mass relay sometime tomorrow. “Legion?”

Her A.I.’s voice crackled over the intercom in the quarters. “Yes, Commander?”

She swung her legs off the bed. “Where’s Luna?”

A holographic map appeared, a glowing dot pinging in the room she was in. A second dot appeared down the hall in the room at the far end of the left side of the ship. “Princess Luna is currently within the observation deck.”

“Thanks Legion.” She looked down at her armor clad form, then to the rows of lockers against the far wall. “Legion, can you connect me to Elezzia?”

“One moment.”

There was a pause before the asari’s voice spoke. “Yes, Commander Shepard? Is there something you need?”

“Are there any spare clothes on the ship? I’d kinda like to wear something that isn’t combat armor and I left my clothes back in Equestria.”

“Oh! Absolutely. Legion, will you guide the Commander to the storage facilities? I’ll meet you there, Commander.”

The map formed again pinging a new location. With a sigh Shepard trudged down the opposite direction from Luna. As far as ship’s went, this was definitely a nice one. She assumed. It’s not like she had a ton to compare it against aside from the less than spectacular collector ship. The walls were sleek and shiny, almost new. A pair of doors at the end of the hall hissed open revealing a large storage bay. Boxes of supplies were stacked against the far wall, and a large, unusual tube like device stood in the center of the room.

Elezzia approached from behind, purposefully making sure her footsteps were loud enough that Shepard could hear her approach. “This is a replicator, Commander. It was developed about sixty years ago so you’ll likely not have seen one. It’s an amazing device. You feed it omni-gel and enter in what you wish it to fabricate and… it does.”

Shepard eyed the machine with more interest. “Anything?”

“Well nearly. Anything omni-gel can create at least. So nothing organic unfortunately. Food is still a concern but clothes, armor, weapons, ammunition, furniture even. Really there’s not much it can’t do.”

Moving carefully along the replicator, Shepard ran her hands over the controls. “Well, can it give me something casual to wear?”

Smiling now, Elezzia stepped up to the device and rapidly tapped across the holographic keypad. “Certainly, Commander. Simply step up onto the platform there. It will read your measurements and fabricate an outfit.”

Shrugging, Shepard leaned against the wall of the tube as the device hummed to life. A disc of light drifted down from overhead, scanning the woman’s body before disappearing as quickly as it came. “That it?”

“Yes, Commander, you can step down.”

Shepard did so and turned to face the machine. “Is there anything specific you prefer?”

“Yeah. No diamonds.”

***

The cargo hold Twilight Sparkle was tucked away into was hot, cramped, and loud. All this was making her more than a little irritable. Some sort of cacophonous noise was causing the ground to shake for Celestia’s sake! The familiar curse brought a different sort of frown to the young Princess. Thoughts of her beloved mentor in the clutches of those horrible aliens twisted her stomach into knots.

Shuffling a bit in between the crates she’d hidden herself in she sighed. The physical discomfort she could deal with. It was the crippling, mind numbing boredom that was killing her. “I should have brought a book.”

Without warning a panel similar to Shepard’s omni-tool panels formed before her. “You should not be here at all, Twilight Sparkle.”

With an alarmed whinny Twilight reared back, banging her head on the crate above her and dropping to the floor looking dazed. “Ow… L--Legion? how did you find me?”

To her relief the A.I.’s response was hushed. “I am residing within every system of the Vanguard. Monitoring the life signs of the crew is a simple and basic task the life support systems conduct. Captain Elezzia is with Commander Shepard, and Princess Luna is alone in the observation deck. I detected several other life signs within the ship.”

Twilight listened intently, then frowned. “Others?”

“Yours was the first I came to investigate. When the Commander and the Princess learn of your presence they will be… cross I suspect. Are you not an integral part of the defense of your homeland?”

Twilight sighed softly and fidgeted with her hooves. “Yes. But Princess Cadance is very capable. And she has Discord there to help look after things. Who I admit isn’t the most reliable of defenders, but I know Fluttershy will keep him in line. But I couldn’t just sit by while you all got to go to the stars without me! A--and I’m worried about Princess Celestia, of course.”

“Mm. Scientific curiosity has driven many organic beings to foolish action. Your behavior is not atypical for an organic life form. I suppose I can overlook your presence for now, though if directly asked I will not lie to the Commander.”

Heaving another sigh the mare closed her eyes in a slow now. “I understand. Thank you Legion, you’re a good friend. I’ll go confess to Princess Luna… as soon as I figure out what to say.”

“Very well, Twilight Sparkle. I will leave you to your thoughts. Before I depart, would you perhaps enjoy some reading material?”

“Oh very much so! But I didn’t bring any books.”

“Ah. Yes I see how that would be a problem. Allow me then, to extend the courtesy you gave me when you allowed free access to your library.”

The panel vanished and was replaced by another. A large screen nestled in the cargo bay before Twilight’s eyes, with a keypad large enough to be used with her hooves. “Princess Twilight Sparkle, allow me to welcome you to the extranet. MY library.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened and she suddenly felt like a filly on Hearth’s Warming morning at the myriad of subjects that flashed across the screens. “Oh Legion…I hardly know where to start!”

“I believe ship maintenance and upkeep may be of interest.”

Twilight’s grin only grew. “I believe it may.”

***

Elezzia shook her head in amusement. “I assumed the request for no diamonds was some sort of jest. Gemstones are so plentiful there that they can simply attach them to their garments so frivolously?”

Shepard didn’t miss the asari’s sharp intake of breath as she got a view of the Commander’s heavily scarred body. Still, long talks with Luna had gone to great lengths to help her get over some of her self-conciousness. Trading Rarity’s flimsy diamond studded silks for the firmer sports bra and undergarments she rolled her shoulders settling them comfortably about her body.

The rest of her new casual outfit looked incredibly familiar. Shirt and pants were a dark navy blue, and fit like a dream. She’d have preferred something with long sleeves to cover her arms, the less of her skin showing the better she felt. Still, all in all it was a very comfortable set of clothing. Exchanging her armored boots for simple walking ones she sighed, tossing her thick mane of hair behind herself, letting it fall in cascading waves of fiery red.

“More comfortable than wearing your armor all day I assume?”

Shepard chuckled. “You assume right.” She gathered up her gear before heading back toward the barracks. “Thanks for this, Elezzia. I don’t know how far you plan to travel with us, but even getting us to this Citadel is going to be a huge help. Legion says your Council is kinda in charge of the galaxy?”

The alien woman kept pace with Shepard easily. “I wouldn’t say in charge, per se. Every race in council space has representatives on the Citadel. The five most powerful have councillors who make the large decisions for the galactic community as a whole. The asari, salarians, turians, humans, and krogan are council races. The individual species still largely dictate their own laws on their own worlds, but they’re strongly encouraged to follow the Citadel’s laws.”

“Hm. Sounds like a complicated hassle really. So what’s going to happen? We get there, go in, tell them what’s up and they round up an interspecies posse to hunt down the collectors?”

A look of apprehension formed on Elezzia’s face. “The problem we have is that you’re dead. Or supposed to be. Even now I’m not entirely convinced you’re not an extremely elaborate clone.” She raised her hands at the look on Shepard’s face. “I mean no disrespect, Commander. You must understand even with the fantastic circumstances of your arrival on Equestria, you should be dead of natural causes twice over.”

Shepard opened her mouth to comment, but snapped it shut as Elezzia continued. “Toward the end of the war it was revealed Cerberus, a renegade human supremacy group, had cloned a second you to use in case an organ transplant became necessary. This clone escaped and tried to kill you and your crew, and steal the Normandy. You succeeded in stopping her, but there is precedent for this sort of thing happening.”

The human gave a noncommittal grunt as she stashed her armor in the footlocker at the end of her chosen bunk. “I guess that makes sense, stupid as it sounds. So what do we do?”

“I go to the council and explain the situation. You and your associates may remain on the Vanguard. Once the collectors are being seen to, we can reveal your presence to the council. I’m sure there will be tests to confirm your identity, but assuming you are the real you… it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Sounds good. This won’t take too long, will it?”

Elezzia shook her head. “I do not believe so, no. The collectors are a dire threat. Add the discovery of the Equestrians to the mix, and this will be the council’s number one priority.”

“Alright then. Thanks, Elezzia. I’m gonna go check in on Luna.”

“Of course, Commander. I’ll be on the bridge or in my quarters if you need me. I’m sure Legion can locate me easily enough.”

“Right. Okay then, I’ll see you later.” Shepard left the small bunk room and made her way through the corridors to the observation deck. Luna was standing still, gazing out the window to the stars beyond.

“Truly it is a more beautiful sight than I had ever imagined, Shepard. To think your people have been travelling the stars for years now.”

Shepard moved to stand next to Luna, leaning against the rail. “Hundreds of them apparently.”

Luna was in her mostly-human guise. Only her wings and horn showed she was anything but an ordinary woman. “Astounding. I cannot help but feel I am doing my sister a disservice, however. She is missing, possibly being tortured at the hands of those monsters, and I am stargazing.”

“Hey… hey.” Shepard laid a hand over Luna’s. “Don’t think like that. Celestia wouldn’t want you beating yourself up over something you had no control over. We’re doing all that we can. Standing around fretting about it isn’t going to help anyone.”

Luna placed her other hand over Shepard’s, clasping it tightly. “Thank you, Shepherd. You are a good friend as always. You know precisely what to say to ease my tormented mind.”

Clearing her throat a little uncomfortably now, Shepard stepped in closer. “It’s nothing, really.”

“It is though. Do not sell yourself short, my dear friend. For all your coarseness you have an amazing way with words.”

Shepard’s cheeks flushed brighter at Luna’s words and she moved to turn away, but the Princess held her fast. One hand remaining atop Shepard’s, while the other delicately touched her cheek forcing her to face Luna again. “I cannot overstate what your friendship has meant to me these past months, Shepherd.”

Shepard had to fight down the urge to break Luna’s gaze again. “I just… y’know… you and all the girls have… really helped ME a lot is all.”

“Twilight Sparkle and her friends are truly among the most upstanding, stalwart, responsible young ponies I have had the honor to meet. Ordinarily the thought of both I and Celestia being away from Equestria would fill me with dread. But, I left confident that our Kingdom is in good hooves.”

“Yeah… they’re good kids I guess. I can see how Twilight and them are all big heroes on your world.” Both women paused in their conversation at a sudden noisy clang from overhead. The pair looked up to the ceiling as a ventilation pipe gave way and Shepard caught a sudden face of furry, cyan butt as the pipe Rainbow Dash had been crawling through gave way dumping the mare onto the Commander’s head.

Luna leapt back eyes wide first in shock, then outrage. “Rainbow Dash! What are you doing here?!”

Shepard flailed her arms before getting a firm grip on the pegasus and shoving her off her face, sucking in a huge gasp of air. “Wh--what she said!”

Dash looked from one furious woman to the other, her ears splaying before their combined anger. “Well I mean… how could I not come?! You guys are on your way to save Princess Celestia. I can’t just letcha run off on your own! You need me!”

Luna’s ordinarily pale complexion was taking on an alarming red as her fury grew. “Equestria needs you, Rainbow Dash! Without you the Elements of Harmony no longer function!”

“Really? It’s been glowing pretty good the whole time we’ve been up there.” Rainbow Dash looked down at her neck, her element of loyalty hanging from it pretty as can be. The small red lightning bolt glimmering with a warm inner light.

If possible, Luna’s eyes widened in further outrage. “You brought your element of harmony with you?! How could you possible be so irr… wait. We?!”

Applejack peeked out of the broken pipe offering an awkward wave. “Uh… heya, Princess. Shep. Mighty fine ship y’got here.”

The temperature in the room was dropping at an alarming rate as Luna’s fury grew. Shepard scrambled to her feet interposing herself between the incensed Princess and the errant element bearers. “Luna! Luna, deep breaths. Just bring it down about five notches alright? What they did was stupid and irresponsible, but it’s not the end of the world right? You have that Princess Cadance and Discord guy watching over your Kingdom.”

Luna’s eyes darted from Shepard, to Rainbow Dash, and up to Applejack who was eyeing the long drop from the vent to the floor warily. With a grunt of annoyance the Princess gently levitated the farm mare to the floor. “M--much obliged, Princess.”

“Do you two understand precisely what you have done? My sister may believe Discord is reformed after one afternoon in your friend Fluttershy’s company. And perhaps he is. Perhaps he is not however. Perhaps Discord will seize this opportunity to take the throne once again. With the Elements of Harmony broken up, it would be a simple matter for him to do so. Furthermore with four on Equestria and two here, he could potentially destroy those within his reach. At the very least he could hide them away where nopony would ever find them.”

The more she spoke the lower the two mares’ heads drooped. “Though perhaps Discord has been properly reformed. Perhaps the spark of friendship given to him by Fluttershy has caused him to change his ways. There are evils greater and more malevolent than the chaos spirit dwelling in our world. With my sister and I away, sinsiter forces may see this as an opportnuity to return. The gates of Tartarus are vulnerable now. Tamblemon could resurface, The dragon queen may awaken. Ancient enemies long sealed away could become free and wreak terrible vengeance upon our nearly defenseless home. Evils only the elements may have stopped.”

The foursome glanced toward the door as Elezzia entered, coming to investigate the commotion. Seeing the fury on Luna’s face she kept silent.

Applejack swallowed heavily, pulling her hat from her head in contrition. “Princess, we weren’t thinkin’.” Luna and Shepard both suspected that Applejack had been thinking, specifically how much trouble her pegasus friend would get into wandering around on her own in the ship. “If ya wanna turn this thing around an take us home we’d understand.”

Rainbow Dash looked like she wanted to protest but Applejack slapped a hoof over her muzzle. “I would like nothing more Applejack. However according to the good captain we have nearly reached our destination. It would take us four days to return to Equestria, then five more days to reach this ‘mass relay’ again. I am afraid you are with us for the duration. At least until we can reach this Citadel. Perhaps some other means of transportation may be found for you.”

Elezzia finally spoke up. “It’s possible. Certainly the introduction of a new species would be a momentous occasion. Once the fleet is mobilized to deal with the collectors a diplomatic party could be formed to meet with your government.”

Luna’s expression didn’t soften. “A splintered government with Celestia and myself absent. Cadance and Twilight Sparkle are good, level headed mares, however. This seems our best course of action for now at the least.”

Dash brightened a bit. “So can we get something to eat? We ran outta the apples AJ had in her saddlebag yesterday and we’re both starving.”

Seeing Luna’s face tighten up again Shepard hastily stepped between her and the ponies. “Sure! I’ll uh… show you guys the kitchen. They have all kinds of weird alien fruit, it’ll be an adventure.” Sparing Luna a backwards glance the woman hustled the two mares from the room with all haste.

Elezzia looked torn between following Shepard or remaining with Luna. Eventually she approached the fuming Princess. “Princess Luna, I know my words might bring little comfort, but we can have your people back on your world in a matter of days. Once the council begins hunting the collectors it will be a simple matter to see them back to Equestria.”

“Assuming it is not too late already. Thank you however. I will simply have to trust that Twilight Sparkle and her friends will keep things running smoothly.” With a weary sigh the Princess sunk into a seat. “This is not what I needed today. More problems piled onto the already near insurmountable ones. Things were going to turn around for me. I was on my way to finally becoming my own mare. And now this. Potentially the greatest disaster my people have ever faced.”

Gingerly, Elezzia took a seat opposite Luna. “Princess, I realize your concerns are great, and by no means do I wish to trivialize them. That said I believe you are worrying more than is necessary. Your sister is certainly in danger, but if my own experience is anything to go by than the collectors don’t plan to kill her. The fatalities aboard their ship came when their power went out when the ship crashed.”

“I suppose the worst that can happen is Celestia must recuperate for a century or two should they destroy her body.”

Elezzia furrowed her brow in confusion. “I’m afraid I do not understand.”

“It has to do with magic, I’m afraid. A subject I believe those not of Equestria have trouble comprehending. Incredibly powerful beings like my sister and I are not easy to slay permanently. We have a deep connection to specific locations that we draw our magical power from. For myself it is the moon. For Celestia the sun. The further we get from our places of power the weaker our magic becomes. Already my strength is waning. I am still capable of incredible feats of power by the standards of Shepherd for example, but not as grand as a few days ago. Even so, should something happen and our bodies are destroyed we are still connected to these places. Our spirits will return to them and over time a new body will form.”

The asari looked like she was having trouble accepting this. “So you are truly immortal? In the literal sense of the word?”

Luna shrugged. “As near as anypony can be, I suppose. If my moon were destroyed THEN my body slain, I would have no place to recover. In time my spirit would be drawn to the Fields of Elysium like any other.”

Now Elezzia looked intrigued. “Fields of Elysium? This is a religious belief? A paradise one goes to after death?”

“Of a sort, I suppose. It is not a matter of faith, but simple fact. I have traveled to the Fields on rare occasion to speak with my mother. Please bear with me because the concept is incredibly complex magical theory. My parents, King Eternum and Queen Galaxia created a pocket plane of existence parallel to ours. When a pony passes their spirit is drawn to this plane. It is an infinite world that is ever expanding, growing larger each day. There a pony may reunite with long past friends and family. They may remain indefinitely or choose to be reincarnated to a new life on Equestria.”

The Princess glanced toward the door before leaning closer, her voice lowered. “There have been numerous Rainbow Dash’s, Applejack’s, and Twilight Sparkle’s over the centuries. Always there are small differences but that circle of friends has existed for a very, very long time.”

Elezzia was shaking her head slowly. “This is astounding. I cannot even completely wrap my head around these concepts. Are you of comparable power to your parents? Could you create one of these… pocket planes?”

Luna shook her head with a soft laugh. “No, I cannot. Celestia perhaps. She has always been far more powerful than I. I simply use my magic in a more ruthless manner than she when forced into a situation that calls for it.”

“Even so this magic you wield is astounding. When we have more time I’d love to study it in depth. The potential applications are limitless.”

“Literally, yes. Such is the way of magic. It’s potential is limited only by the caster’s mana pool and ability to formulate the necessary mental equations to cast a spell.”

“Could anyone wield magic?”

Luna narrowed her eyes focusing her magical sight on the asari. “You possess trace amounts of mana. A similar amount to Shepherd when she first arrived in Equestria. Mana is ever present even this far from Equestria I am relieved to find, but it is not nearly so concentrated. The amount you have within you could perhaps learn to conjure a light or levitate small objects.”

“Could you teach me?”

Slowly the Princess nodded. “I do not see why not. They are harmless enough cantrips and perhaps the distraction would do me some good…” She trailed off as something caught her eye. The bright silvery aura a few rooms over mingled with a fierce red and more even orange. That would be Shepard, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack.

What was drawing Luna’s focus now however was the blazing magenta aura coming from somewhere below her present location. A massive corona of magical light… one that could only belong to one pony. “...will you please excuse me? I must have a word with another stowaway.”

***

“Excellent work, Twilight Sparkle. Your grasp of ship mechanics has progressed with startling speed.”

Twilight wriggled out from beneath the engineering panel she’d been occupying herself with. “Well a lot of science stems from many common base concepts. Once you have a firm grasp of those, learning new ones isn’t terribly difficult.” The young alicorn levitated the tools back into place.

“Even so. Your assistance has increased our fuel flow’s efficiency by thirteen percent. If you tire of being a Princess you have a bright future as a ship’s mechanic.”

Twilight laughed at the idea. “Well thank you, Legion. To be honest the whole Princess thing wasn’t my idea. I’m not terribly comfortable with everypony treating me like royalty.”

“That is most fortunate to hear, Twilight Sparkle. Because when we return to Equestria you very well may lose your crown.”

Twilight’s wings flared in alarm as Luna abruptly materialized before her. Dark mist coalescing to reveal her in her full alicorn form once more. The smaller Princess’ ears drooped. “...ponyfeathers.”

***

“How long have they been at it now?”

Shepard glanced down at Rainbow Dash before checking the time on her omni-tool. “Hour and a half now.”

Initially Luna and Twilight’s bellowing had been audible throughout the entire ship. So much so that the noise was actually causing some pain to the more sensitive ears of the ponies with the massive sound waves reverberating within the tight confines of the ship. Legion had activated a sound screen to seal the noise within the engineering deck.

Applejack gave a low whistle. “Whaddya reckon they’re fightin’ about?”

Shepard gave her a look. “Really? You really don’t know what they might be fighting over?”

The earth pony snorted. “Well I mean, Princess Luna I get. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen Twilight get so riled up at anypony. She sounded just as ornery as Luna did when she started yellin’ back.”

Dash heaved a huge sigh. “Well this is boring! I’m gonna go see if Elezzia’ll let me fly the ship!”

Shepard highly doubted she would, so didn’t bother trying to call the pegasus back. Giving Applejack a little nudge she nodded toward the hall. “C’mon. It’s late and us standing around out here isn’t doing anyone any good. Lemme show you where the beds are.”

Applejack spared the sealed door a backwards glance. “Reckon I could do with some proper shut eye. Sleeping up in that uh… ventilation shaft weren’t exactly too comfortable.”

“No I don’t imagine it would be. C’mon, cowgirl, we’ll get you in a real bed.”

Both whirled around as the door hissed open. Luna stalked passed the pair without sparing them a backwards glance. Twilight came after her, looking nearly as upset at Luna. Her face softened a little when she spied Applejack. “Guess you couldn’t resist either?”

“Heh. Wasn’t me, sugarcube. You know how RD gets. I couldn’t let her run around up here on her own.”

Twilight nodded with a soft sigh. “Oh, I know. Still I’m glad you girls are here. I feel a little better knowing I wasn’t the only one who snuck on.”

“It was a surprisingly stupid move for someone so smart, Twilight.”

Twilight sighed again at Shepard’s words. “Not you too. Not right now, please. Right now I’d really like to lay down if that’s alright? Preferably not in a storage crate.”

Quirking a faint grin Shepard nodded. “Sure. C’mon, I was just showing Applejack where I’ve been sleeping. There’re plenty of bunks. Luna’s kinda claimed the observation deck for herself so it’d probably be a good idea to steer clear for now.”

The young Princess could only nod in agreement, following Shepard as the woman led she and Applejack to the bunk room.

Author's Note

Ugh this chapter. UGH. I had so much trouble writing it. Took forever to get out and I hate it. I feel like it's of poor quality but damn if I couldn't do better. Dunno what it was but I just had to FORCE myself to write this one which is never good for me. The next one will be better. It'll be a good one I promise. We get to the Citadel and I'm excited for that. I'll probably have it out sooner rather than later.

Haven't heard from Opacare in a good while now. So this is mostly unedited. Hope everything's alright with him though.

Chapter 13: The Citadel Part 1

Legion’s artificial voice crackled over the intercom system. “Ladies, we are approaching the mass relay. Captain Elezzia has invited everyone to the bridge to view the event.”

The four ponies still weren’t used to the comm system, and Luna started in alarm when the announcement was made. Shepard couldn’t help but snicker softly at the Princess’ discomfort. “You wanna go watch?”

The night time Princess scowled slightly. “I am sure Twilight Sparkle and her friends will be in attendance.”

“So? Luna, like it or not we’re stuck with them. At least for the time being. Scowling at them and making them feel like shit every time they cross your path is gonna get old real quick. Weren’t you the one complaining about how all the ponies are scared of you? Maybe this kind of attitude is why.”

Outrage flashed across Luna’s face momentarily, but was gone just as quickly. “...once again your uncanny wisdom shines through your thick-headed exterior. Thank you, my friend, I believe you are correct.”

“Why is it I feel like I was insulted as much as complemented.”

Luna wore a tiny smirk as she rose to her hooves, tail flicking across Shepard’s face as she strode from the room. “Because you were.”

***

“C’mon, Twi, the Princess ain’t gonna stay mad at us forever. An y’all can’t stay mad at HER forever.”

“Hmph.” The Princess of Magic poked her head out from beneath the ship’s weapons. “I’m in the middle of some very precise calibrations. My work is more important than seeing one of these mass relays for the first time. ...something capable of shooting us light years away from Equestria. Travelling further than we’d ordinarily make in our lifetime…”

Applejack’s eyebrow slowly rose further and further as her friend spoke. “Uh huh. An this has nothin’ at all t’do with you not wantin’ t’see Luna?”

Twilight’s cheeks puffed in outrage as she ducked back beneath the guns. “Of course not!”

Applejack looked over to the until-now silent Rainbow Dash. “Alright! Enough of this. We’re goin’ to see this super cool mass relay thing, and YOU’RE coming with us!” Rainbow clamped her teeth on Twilight’s tail and began to pull, or at least tried to. It was easy to forget Twilight’s earth pony strength had come along with her wings. The little mare had her forehooves dug in securely and wasn’t budging.

Now Applejack snorted in irritation. “Sugarcube, yer not exactly actin’ all that mature here. So you an th’Princess had a fight. Big whoop! Forgive an forget, right. Ain’t the two’a you friends?”

Twilight’s hind hoof snapped out, catching Rainbow on the muzzle and forcing her to let go with a little yelp. The alicorn was quiet for a time, before she eventually emerged. “...yes, I suppose we are. Things got pretty heated back there, but I can’t behave like a filly. That would only be proving her point.”

Rainbow rubbed at her sore nose as she lead the way from the room. “What were you guys fightin’ about anyway?”

The alicorn sighed. “My coming, of course. She was going on and on about how immature and irresponsible it was. She said I was behaving like a little filly… maybe I was. But she reacted strongly when I accused her of doing the same. Princess Luna is more powerful than Cadance or I by far, and yet she rushed off to rescue her sister without a second thought. I called her a hypocrite and it sort of devolved into a shouting match from there.”

“Meh. Just apologize. You know that mare is desperate for anypony to like her.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Rainbow Dash! That’s a terrible thing to say!”

The brash pegasus shrugged. “Maybe. It’s true though.” She darted ahead of the others toward the bridge.

“She’s kinda right though, Twi’. It is true.”

Twilight’s shoulders sagged in a sigh. “I know. And I hate fighting with a friend, but we’re both in the right here. Or rather, we’re both in the wrong. It would have made far more sense to send my brother or somepony in the guard after Princess Celestia so we could all be there to protect Equestria.”

“S’pose I can’t argue that.” The pair fell silent as they rounded a corner and nearly ran right into Shepard and Luna.

An awkward silence descended upon the four as they regarded one another. Nodding to Applejack, Shepard cleared her throat. “Let’s go see that relay, huh?”

Glancing from Twilight to Luna, the farm pony nodded hastily and cantered to keep up with the human’s quickened pace. “Sounds like a good idea t’me, partner.”

The royal ponies regarded one another in tense silence. All at once they blurted together. “I’m sorry!”

Luna continued first. “You were right. My leaving Equestria was just as selfish as you doing so, and being confronted with it angered me. The correct move would have been to send Prince Shining Armor, or any number of guardsponies, rather than go myself. I let my concern for my sister blind me to my own duty to Equestria.”

Twilight barely waited for her to finish. “I was wrong too, Luna. My own feelings for Princess Celestia blinded me to the rational decision. Deep down I knew it was wrong, but I care for her too much to ignore when she’s in trouble. My friends and I have helped solve every crisis in Equestria the last few years. It just felt… wrong that I sit by and do nothing while we face our biggest disaster yet.”

“Yes. I suppose my sister’s little tests of character for you may very well have instilled a sort of sense of duty when situations such as this arise.”

Twilight looked confused. “Tests of character?”

The elder Princess tilted her head. “You truly have not realized by now? Why would Celestia, arguably one of the most powerful beings on Equestria, rely on six young fillies to save her kingdom time and again? Why did she not simply retrieve the elements of harmony herself and dispatch them to you and your friends?”

Twilight’s brow furrowed. “Because we’d have never been friends if not for our quest to find them.”

“Celestia could have arranged for the six of you to meet under different circumstances. She could have done so years prior to my return as well. The bearers of the elements have been known to her from the moment you were born, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight sucked in her breath, eyes wide. “No. She would have told me something so important!”

“I disagree. While it is more popular to paint me as the shadowy manipulator, that has always been Celestia’s forte. My sister has been playing this game for a very long time, Twilight. Consider not only Nightmare Moon. Perhaps that was the only way you and your friends could have met and formed the necessary bonds. What of the slumbering dragon who just ‘happened’ to take up residence a few days walk from Ponyville?”

Twilight’s confused look returned. “What about it?”

“You do not find it odd that this creature, ancient and intelligent beyond your imaginations, thought it a good idea to just select a cave overlooking the most powerful kingdom in the world and begin filling the sky with choking fumes? That he would perhaps have known it would attract my sister’s ire?”

Now the smaller mare snorted. “You can’t seriously be implying the Princess arranged for him to be there just to come up with a test for me and my friends?”

“Or the first parasprite seen in a town outside the Everfree Forest in centuries. They will occasionally venture onto a rural farm, but never into a densely populated area. The things are generally too timid to interact with large groups of ponies.”

“Princess, this is ridiculous. And frankly your insinuations toward your sister are bordering on insulting.”

“Let us not forget Discord. A being of that power getting free escapes Celestia’s notice? If she had a spell to protect the elements, why did she not cast it in the first place? Or my sister being overpowered by that giant insect, Chrysalis. Sending you six to the Crystal Empire instead of going herself.”

Twilight Sparkle’s ears splayed against her head, eyes darting back and forth as she processed all this information. “...she’s been lying to me my whole life.”

“In a sense. Celestia’s feelings of care and pride were genuine enough. She would not have gone to such great lengths if she did not truly believe you worthy of ascension to join us in ruling Equestria. Keep this in mind, however, Twilight Sparkle. Things are rarely as they seem on the surface. An important lesson we should both keep at the forefront of our minds, here in this incredibly dangerous galactic community were are about to step into.”

Twilight sighed, shaking her head slowly. “You’ve… given me a lot to think about, Princess.”

“Good. Thinking has long been your forte, I believe. Now come, let us see what all the fuss over this ‘mass relay’ is, shall we?”

Another heavy sigh, before the young Princess nodded. “Let’s.”

***

“We will be arriving at the relay in T-minus two minutes.”

Elezzia smiled. “Thank you, Legion. I have to say, having you aboard has made literally every aspect more smooth and comfortable.”

“Your kind words are appreciated, Captain Elezzia.”

The asari chuckled softly. “Technically my title is Commander. I was a Commander of the N7 United Forces.”

“Hey, just like me, huh?”

The asari swiveled in her seat to see Shepard and two of the four Equestrians enter. She cleared her throat firmly and nodded, turning back to her consoles. “Yes, just like you, Commander.”

“COMMANDER Elezzia, huh? That sounds way cooler anyway.” Rainbow Dash helped herself to the chair next to Elezzia’s, ignoring the asari’s wince as she settled in it.

“Thank you… I think. Do not touch any of the consoles, please. Last night was excitement enough for me.”

Applejack chuckled heartily at Rainbow’s ensuing blush. “S’pose hooves ain’t exactly meant for these fancy consoles and whatnot, huh?”

Elezzia nodded to the mare. “No. They are not. Perhaps if Princess Luna were to utilize the same magic that makes her human on you, I could teach you to fly the Vanguard. If you’re still interested.”

Dash’s eyes lit up at the idea. “That’s a great idea! I want a gun, too!”

Shepard and Applejack blurted ‘NO!’ at the same time, drawing more laughter from Elezzia. “Let’s see about getting you a pilot’s license before a gun permit, hm?”

The royal duo entered shortly, neither Princess looking enthused by the conversation. “Who wants a gun permit?”

Rainbow Dash puffed her chest out at Twilight’s question. “Me! Elezzia said she’d teach me to fly the ship once Luna makes me human.”

Luna blinked in surprise. “I am making you human?”

“Yeah!”

Twilight stepped between the two. “Actually, if Princess Luna doesn’t mind, I wanted to try the spell that transforms her. I thought maybe I could cast it through the element of magic to affect the three of us at once. That way we could see the Citadel as well. If… if that’s alright.”

Luna’s brows drew together in a frown as she considered the request. “...I do not see the harm in it so long as Shepherd and Elezzia agree. I will admit I had hoped to venture off the ship and see this hub of intergalactic community for myself.”

Not taking her eyes from the consoles before her, Elezzia shrugged. “I don’t see the harm, so long as you keep a low profile and keep clear of the seedier sections of the wards. If you plan to accompany us for any length of time, Princess Luna, it may be a good idea to have an omni-tool installed.”

“Us too?!” Dash was practically nose to nose with the asari.

“Ah… well I don’t see the harm. It’s a relatively inexpensive procedure and I would be happy to foot the bill as it were. Though I’m unsure how well the interfaces would hold up to your bodies... er… magically transforming back into pony shape.”

“Shepherd’s implants held up just fine, and she has a lot more than just her omni-tool.”

Elezzia turned to Twilight in surprise. “Commander Shepard was a pony?”

Shepard’s quick ‘NO!’ was lost amidst the five ‘yes’s. “I have photographic documentation of her time as an earth pony mare if you would like to view it Commander Elezzia,” Legion volunteered. “She was quite adorable.”

Shepard’s eyes narrowed at the disembodied voice. “You said you deleted those!”

“I lied. Approaching mass relay. Prepare for jump.”

Commander Shepard took a seat, scowling all the while, the Equestrians following her example. Of course, they were seated for about ten seconds before the massive floating machine came into view. “Is that it?”

“Yes, Princess, the mass relay. It’s connected to every other relay in the known galaxy. It can near-instantaneously transport us from one to another. We’ll be travelling to the Sol relay. The Citadel orbits Commander Shepard’s homeworld of Earth.”

Shepard leaned forward, resting her chin in her palm. “I don’t remember that.”

“You do not remember much of anything, Shepard.” The woman scowled at the A.I. again. Or at least at one of the consoles on the bridge. “However this is a recent development. The Citadel was moved to Earth at the end of the war. In honor of your deeds it was decided it would remain there as testament to the woman who saved the galaxy.”

Said woman flushed uncomfortably now. “I uh… I see.”

Elezzia had to gently nudge the excited ponies back as they crowded around the helm to better see the relay. The massive device was glowing brightly as they approached. All four yelped in surprise as energy jumped from the relay to engulf the ship, and surprise turned to adrenaline-fueled fear as the Vanguard was sent hurtling through space at unimaginable speeds. All four were screaming wildly, some more in excitement than fear, even as the ship came to an abrupt halt.

The screaming continued for several seconds while Shepard and Elezzia watched in amusement. Luna was the first to collect herself, the others following soon after. Rainbow Dash, of course, was in the air immediately. “That! Was! AWESOME! Let’s do it again!”

“Soon enough. I believe we should see to your appearances, however. It won’t take more than a few hours until we reach the Citadel. I believe we could craft proper attire while you’re in pony form. If your…” Elezzia seemed to have trouble with the next word. “...spell performs as you believe, the clothing should translate to human shape as well, yes?”

“It should!” Twilight beamed. “It will won’t it, Princess….” Her eyes widened in alarm as she turned to regard Luna. Her fellow Princess looked incredibly pale… paler than usual. A thin sheen of sweat covered her body as she slumped in her seat. “Princess Luna!”

The Princess lifted a shaky hand, staving off the sudden press of bodies. “I am… I am fine. I have never been so far from the moon. My power had been gradually waning as we moved away from Equestria, but the relay has taken us further than I imagined.”

Shepard laid a concerned hand on her shoulder. “Are you going to be alright?”

Luna smiled wanly. “I will, yes. I will not be nearly as effective in a combat situation as I was on Equestria, but I should be able to assist in some capacity. For now I believe I would like to lay down.”

The group made way as she shakily took her leave, back toward the observation deck. “...the rest of you feel alright?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. My own magical totem is the Element of Magic, which is here on the ship. The girls must be drawing magic from their own elements, so Dash’s flight and Applejack’s strength and durability should be undiminished.”

Both mares were nodding. “S’pose I don’t feel any different than normal.”

“Yeah, yeah we’re both still awesome. Now let’s get some sweet space clothes! I want armor like Shepherd’s!”

Elezzia chuckled softly. “This way, ladies.” She began leading the ponies toward the fabricator.

Shepard lagged behind. “You guys go on ahead. I’m gonna check on Luna.”

The four watched her head off after the Princess, Applejack chuckling once she was gone. “Those two’re so cute dont’cha think?”

Dash stuck her tongue out. “Bleh. How can they think about romance when we’re in space! Getting our very own space suits!”

Her earthbound friend prodded her in the side. “If I recollect correctly yer face was attached t’Thunderlane’s mighty tight b’fore we snuck off.”

This earned her an annoyed snort from the pegasus. Twilight just shook her head in amusement. “I’m sorry for all this trouble, Elezzia.”

“It’s quite alright. I don’t fully understand your circumstances, but if someone important was taken from ME I would certainly be doing all I could to retrieve them. I don’t fault you for your actions in the slightest.”

Twilight’s smile looked more genuine than it had in awhile. “That means a lot to me.”

“There IS something that has been bothering me intensely.”

The studious pony smiled, encouraging her to go on. “Yes?”

“How in the world were we able to communicate so quickly on the collector vessel? My omni-tool has built in translation software, but it should have taken at least an hour to properly adjust to an entirely new language.”

Twilight’s ears perked cheerfully. “Oh! Well that’s easy. I used a translation spell before boarding the ship, just in case we ran into any friendly aliens.”

Elezzia sighed. “Of course you did.”

***

Shepard gently knocked on the doorframe of the observation deck. “Can I come in?”

Luna was sprawled on the sofa before the viewing window. “Of course. I apologize if I alarmed you. I was not expecting so massive a drain all at once.”

Shepard shrugged as she took a seat next to Luna. “It’s alright. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

The Princess sighed softly. “I do not know if I am ‘okay’. I am not in mortal danger. I have never felt so… weak and vulnerable. At least not for a very, very long time.”

Shepard frowned. “How weak and vulnerable are we talking here?”

With an annoyed snort Luna glared up at the ceiling. “I doubt I could withstand being shot with one of your weapons more than a few times before it penetrates my skin.”

“Uh… that’s still pretty impressive, Luna. Most people can be shot once before the bullet goes through.”

“Perhaps. The weapons of those collectors were minor annoyances to me however. Their biotic attacks stung when they detonated against me, otherwise I was largely unharmed. Now, however, I am far more vulnerable.”

“Hm. Well we should get you some proper armor then. Maybe a gun too. If your magic’s out of whack. It’s not a terrible idea for you to be prepared.”

Luna sighed again. “No, I suppose not. I believe I would like something large. And noisy. If it causes explosions as well, more the better.”

Shepard laughed aloud. “Luna, you’re a woman after my own heart.”

***

Rainbow Dash stood awkwardly on her new legs. “...the ground is like… REALLY far away!”

Her fellow pony-turned human Applejack fussed with her hat. “Sugarcube, y’spend almost all day up in the air just a mite higher than yer standin’ now. How the hay can ya be complainin’ about th’ground bein’ far away?”

Dash’s wings flared at her sides. “That’s different! Flying is one thing! You’re SUPPOSED to be up high when you fly! Not when you stand!”

“Girls! Enough! We’re not THAT tall. In fact, you’re shorter than either of us.” Twilight couldn’t hide a little smirk at that as she rested her hands on her hips.

Dash fumed a little. Twilight, however, was quite pleased. It took a little bit of tweaking to make sure the spell gave them appropriately flesh colored skin tones. Applejack was the tallest of the three, standing taller even than Commander Shepard by a few inches. Muscles rippled visibly beneath her richly tanned human skin. Her mane had retained its blonde color, the ponytail now falling to the small of her back.

Her ever present stetson remained perched on her head. She was wearing a loose pair of forest green pants around her legs. Thick, heavy boots protected her new, squishy feet… appendages she was not terribly fond of at all. A tight shirt covered her top, with a loose vest over top it.

Rainbow Dash still cut a striking figure even at her diminutive height, barely above five feet. Her multi-hued mane had carried over perfectly to human shape. Her body was tight and wiry, still very clearly athletic but not nearly as bulky as Applejack. Her wings remained as well, twitching now and again as she shuffled from foot to foot.

Her own outfit was a tad plainer that Applejack’s, a form-fitting jumpsuit not entirely unlike the Wonderbolts uniform. It was of the same blue her fur had been, sleeveless, and the pants ended just above her knees. A pair of sturdy blue running shoes adorned her feet. “I wanted armor….”

Twilight rolled her eyes. She looked much the same as she had on her visit to the mirror Equestria populated with their version of humans. She was dressed in an asari style she had taken a liking to, a long dress, tighter around her chest and neck, with long sleeves fitting her arms tightly. The skirt flared out around her ankles, feet covered in lighter boots than Applejack’s. “We’ll see about armor for everybody if Luna allows us to stay.”

“Eh… Twi, not t’burst yer bubble but don’tcha think two humans with wings and one with a horn’re gonna stand out a little?”

“Of course we would. I’m going to cover those with an illusion spell. Just in case we need a quick getaway or to defend ourselves.” Her horn glowed briefly as it, and both pairs of wings, vanished.

Dash frowned, looking over her shoulder. “I FEEL them but I don’t see them. This is weird.”

Elezzia had been standing in near-stunned silence for the entirety of their discussion. Wordlessly she lifted her omni-tool, performing a scan of the women. “Amazing. Physically you’re almost entirely human. This is impossible!”

Twilight smiled and shrugged sheepishly. “I studied human anatomy in great detail. Aside from our extra magic producing organs, we share many of the same basic systems as a human. Also, you should probably stop shouting how impossible everything we do is. We’re doing it, so clearly it’s not impossible.”

The asari had to laugh a little at that. “Fair enough. If you’re all comfortably attired, I think we should be arriving at the Citadel soon.”

Applejack rotated her ankles frowning at her feet. “Dunno if I’d say comfortable…” She frowned suddenly. “Say, Twi. Y’cast the spell on our elements right?”

Twilight nodded. “I did.”

“Y’don’t think it mighta travelled t’Equestria too do ya?”

The young Princess frowned. “I… no. No, of course not. It’s too far away. That’d be impossible.”

The former earth pony just frowned. “Uh huh….”

***

“Rarity I heard you screaming! What’s… w...wrong…” Sweetie Belle stood frozen at the entrance to her sister’s room. She saw a tall, pale-skinned human woman with her sister’s deep purple hair and crystalline blue eyes.

“Don’t look at me! I’m a monster!” It was definitely Rarity’s voice.

“J--just hang on! I’ll go um… I’ll go get Nurse Redheart!”

Rarity moaned softly as her sister raced from the room, her little hooves taking the stairs two at a time as she thundered out the door. “A freak! An abomination! I’m hideous to look upon!”

She paused in her moaning, eyeing her long, elegantly curved legs. “...actually.” She studied herself closer. The smooth, pale, almost silken skin. Her perfectly coiled mane… or hair as Shepard called it. Her sleekly curved hips and plush chest… as she recalled a sign of beauty among Shepard’s people. “...I don’t look half bad.”

Pinkie Pie’s excited voice reached her ears from outside. Sucking her lip in concern Rarity peered through the curtains out the window. There, completely nude, and just as completely human as Rarity, was Pinkie Pie rushing through the streets toward her boutique.

Across town, Apple Bloom was arriving at Fluttershy’s to help her with her animals for the morning. She’d long ago been given a key of her own, and didn’t bother to knock as she let herself in. Today was the first day she wished she had.

Sitting at the table was Harry the bear, not an entirely unusual sight. Nor was the sight of him enjoying some bacon prepared by Fluttershy herself. Apple Bloom never much cared for the smell, but she figured better he eat a pig than a pony. What WAS unusual was the pink haired human girl sitting across from the bear, also enjoying the bacon and eggs.

“O--oh um… good morning, Apple Bloom. I suppose this looks a little… unusual. I don’t really know what’s going on but, well… I thought, how often is this opportunity going to come up?”

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened as the human spoke with FLUTTERSHY’S voice. The little filly ran shrieking from the cottage making a beeline for town. She slammed headfirst into Sweetie Belle, who was running toward the cottage, sending the pair tumbling head over hooves. “Sweetie Belle! Fluttershy turned inta a meat eatin’ monster!”

Sweetie’s eyes grew as wide as Apple Bloom’s. “Her too?! So did Rarity! I WAS going to find Nurse Redheart but she’s not in right now! Then I thought I’d see Fluttershy because she knows a lot about animals and maybe this is some kinda weird human disease!”

The earth pony filly frowned as she considered the idea. “What if it’s somethin’ worse?”

“What could be worse?!”

“What if they’re… were-humans?”

***

Twilight smiled in satisfaction. “The worst case scenario is the girls are mildly inconvenienced for a few hours while we tour the Citadel. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Her two friends shrugged as they made their way toward the bridge. “You’re just in time, ladies. Earth and the Citadel should be in view any moment now.”

All three eagerly seated themselves as the ship glided smoothly through space. Excited exclamations filled the bridge as they spotted more ships of all shapes and sizes coming and going. “There’re so many!”

Elezzia nodded. “Yes. Since the Citadel’s relocation, Sol has become the largest system in the galaxy. Mars, the next planet after Earth, and even Earth’s moon now sport bustling colonies and economies all their own.”

“And that, my friends, is the Citadel.”

All eyes widened considerably as the massive space station came into view. Dozens of ships coming and going from all directions. Behind the station was what could only be the Earth. Home planet of humanity, and of Commander Shepard herself. “It’s so blue… I didn’t get to see Equestria when we were leaving.”

Elezzia offered Twilight a smile. “You’ll get to see it when you head home I’m sure.”

The young human returned her smile with one of her own. “Yes, I suppose I will!”

Elezzia turned back to the consoles. “You three will have to remain quiet. I’m going to be obtaining permission to dock. While we’re aboard the Citadel, if anyone asks, you were civilians I rescued from the Collectors. From a colony on Veris. I can’t think of a more remote human colony than that. It will be a simple way to explain your ignorance of the various races you’re sure to soon encounter.”

The asari leaned forward. “Citadel command, this is Commander Elezzia T’soni requesting permission to dock.”

A voice answered almost instantly. “Commander T’soni, you’re clear for docking bay D-32. You’re instructed to report immediately to the Citadel Council.”

Elezzia frowned gently. “Understood.” She clicked off her comm.

“Is that a problem? Didn’t you want to speak with them about the collectors?” Twilight tilted her head curiously.

“I did, yes. But the fact that they told me to go there straight away means the council has me flagged. I suppose I did technically steal the Vanguard, but it’s MY ship. The thought of someone else flying her is unnatural.”

“I do not wish to upset you, but I have been flying the Vanguard for several days now.”

Elezzia shook her head. “But I’m here while you’re doing so, Legion. Please ask Commander Shepard and Princess Luna to come to the bridge. I need to lay down some ground rules for you all before we disembark.”

Legion complied with minimal snark, and soon the other two women aboard the ship stepped onto the bridge. “Hey, lookin’ good girls!”

Twilight beamed. “Thank you, Shepherd. I did my best.”

“Where are your elements of harmony, girls?”

At Luna’s question all three reached into the satchels they were wearing around their hips, producing the enchanted jewelry. “Very well. Keep them safe at all times.”

Twilight’s smile didn’t fade. “I already thought of that, Princess. I placed spells on our bag that would discourage any unwanted hands finding their way into our things.”

Elezzia cleared her throat. “So here are the rules. You four are to stay on the presidium at all times. It’s safe there and you should be free to explore to your heart’s content. Certain areas will specifically tell you not to enter them. Do not enter them. I would think this goes without saying, but do not steal anything. Do not get into any physical altercations with anyone. You look human, but you are in fact an unknown species at this time. Your discovery would be problematic, as a colleague of mine is apt to say.”

She passed around small plastic cards to each of the Equestrian visitors, and one to Shepard. “These are credit chits. You have a thousand credits apiece to spend. Just follow my rules, sample some local foods perhaps, buy a book or a magazine. Have fun, but be safe. Be smart. Alright?”

The four Equestrians nodded solemnly. Shepard just smirked. “A thousand credits all for myself? Thanks mom.”

Elezzia pursed her lips in annoyance and swiveled back to face her consoles. “One of you has to disguise Shepard. If she is seen on the Citadel there will be more problems.” The Vanguard glided smoothly into the waiting dock, as a magnetic clamp swung down securing the ship solidly to the port.

Luna stared hard at Shepard, an aura of magic flickering around her invisible horn. Shepard shivered as she felt the cool energy wash over her body. When it faded her red hair was a deep, ebon black. “...what else is different?”

“Nothing much. Your eyes are blue, I straightened your nose. Removed most of your scars, made your lips slightly plusher.” Shepard actually puckered her lips when Luna finished.

Dash nudged Applejack dropping her voice to a whisper. “Wonder why she made her lips softer?”

“Well, let’s depart shall we?”

All five of her passengers looked equally eager to be off the ship. Shepard’s omni-tool crackled as Legion returned to his preferred resting place. “Oh… and Legion cannot speak. If a true A.I. is discovered you could be executed on the spot, Commander. It’s one of the few crimes considered worthy of capital punishment.”

“I will keep my silence for the duration of our stay on the citadel, Commander T’soni, you have my word.”

The asari smiled at length. “Thank you, Legion. I appreciate it.” As the hatch hissed open Elezzia lead the way. Five humans followed behind her looking about wide-eyed and excited. Shepard was more reserved than the faux-humans, but even she was seeing it for the first time as far as she could recollect.

“Huh. When they said it was you I didn’t believe them. Said to myself ‘no way is the Commander stupid enough to come back to the Citadel so soon.’”

The group followed the voice to find a tall, female alien. Twilight recognized her as a turian from what she’d seen on the extranet. She was wearing a sleek, black body suit with a large hood hanging loosely from her neck, and a rifle that looked to be nearly twice the size of Shepard’s slung over her back. Vivid blue markings ran under her eyes and along the ridges where a human’s cheek would be. One eye was covered by some sort of strange device. She found herself gawking nearly as much as her friends.

The turian regarded them curiously. “What’s with the tourists?”

Elezzia cleared her throat slightly uncomfortably. “They are colonists from Veris. They were attacked, I managed to rescue them. I felt it best they remain in my care until I could return them home.”

The alien woman nodded slowly, sizing each of them up. Her eyes lingered on the magically disguised Shepard a bit longer than the rest. “Fair enough. The Council’s already rushing to see you by the way.”

“Of course they are.” Elezzia turned back to the group. “Remember what I said. Remain on the Presidium. I’ll come to collect you as soon as I am able.”

Twilight’s eyes were shining with curiosity. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend, Commander?”

“Yeah, Ezi, aren’t you gonna introduce me to them?”

Elezzia closed her eyes taking a deep breath. “Very well. This is Malees Vakarian. She is the finest marksman I have ever come across and…”

Shepard’s eyes grew dazed and unfocused.

Another turian… male. Identical facial markings, even the same eyepiece. Garrus Vakarian.

“Fighting a rogue Spectre with countless lives at stake and no regulations to get in the way? I’d say that beats C-Sec.”

They were standing together, someplace high above the Presidium they weren’t supposed to be. Laughing and drinking. They’d been close, best friends. Nearly something more.

Shepard had the shot. Of course she had the shot. It was almost comically easy to make… but still… it went wide.

“I’m Garrus Vakarian and this is my favorite spot on the Citadel!”

She frowned when she realized the turian, Marees, was staring at her in mild alarm. “Your friend is crying. Is that normal? Is she a cryer?”

Shepard frowned realizing tears were running down her cheeks as she looked at what… the daughter? Grand-daughter maybe… turians lived about two hundred years and she didn’t look very old. The granddaughter of Garrus then. “I… will you excuse me?” She marched away quickly.

Luna sprinted after her, leaving Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack with the turian and asari. Elezzia watched Shepard go with an unreadable expression. “The violence on Veris has shaken her, I’m afraid. She hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

Marees nodded slowly. “Right. Well, let’s get you to the council. You want me to arrange an escort for your colonist buddies?”

“I don’t believe that will be necessary. You three will stay out of trouble will you not?”

All three gave her equally innocent smiles. “Yes ma’am, we’ll behave.”

Elezzia trusted Twilight Sparkle. She trusted Applejack too, even though they had spoken less. She certainly didn’t trust the rainbow headed one. “...right. Meet me back here in two hours. Do NOT make me come find you. Do you understand?”

Another round of nods before she finally left, if reluctantly She wasn’t fully convinced that the Equestrians understood the gravity of their situation.. “Oh this is so exciting! What should we do first?”

Twilight’s friends shrugged a little. “Figure I was gonna try an rustle up some grub.”

Dash nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Twilight huffed. “I was hoping to look at a few shops.”

“Well you go find some shops, we’ll find someplace to get some grub. Let’s all meet back here in a couple hours like Elezzia said. There’re giant floating clocks all over the place!”

Twilight didn’t seem too enthusiastic about leaving Rainbow Dash on her own. Applejack recognized the look and smiled reassuringly. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”

Finally the Princess sighed. “Alright… alright. I’ll see you girls soon.”

The three split up, Twilight going one way, her friends the other.

***

“Wait… ah… blast it… Shelly!” Luna chased after Shepard as the other woman pushed her way through the crowds, finally slowing when she’d reached a bench overlooking a quiet fountain. Shepard sank down with a heavy sigh.

Luna slowed and moved to her side, sitting next to her. “Your false name sounds ridiculous.”

Shepard chuckled weakly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Sorry I just… that girl. I realized so long has passed. My friends have all moved on, had families… died. But here I am. Lingering. Luna, I don’t… I don’t belong here. I should be dead. Long dead. Everything’s changed. All the faces I knew are gone now. I have nothing. Nothing!”

Luna winced. “You have me. You have your friends on Equestria. You even have him.” She nodded toward Shepard’s hand, indicating Legion. Your friends most likely are gone, and for that I am truly sorry. But do not say you have nothing. It diminishes what your other friends and I feel for you.”

Shepard clenched her hands tightly in her lap. “...it’s hard Luna. Coming here… seeing these places I used to know. But all the people are different. I’ll never run into an old friend. Never see my crew… these people I’m remembering. The ones who meant so much to me. They were my family Luna. And they’re ALL gone now.”

“Perhaps not all. If I recall correctly asari and krogan are very long lived. Your friends of those species may yet live on.”

“...maybe…”

Luna smiled softly, taking Shepard’s hand and pulling her to her feet. “Come. I saw something in our frenzied rush I think you may enjoy seeing yourself.”

Shepard allowed herself to be drug along. “Oh yeah?”

Luna lead her a short ways back the way they’d come, nodding to a large sign overtop a small line of people. The sign had… her on it. Her hair was a good deal shorter but it was undeniably Commander Shepard. The words “Commander Shepard Memorial Museum” spelled out in brightly lit letters. “Let us tour the Commander Shepard museum, hm? According to Elezzia it is one of the most popular locations on the Citadel.”

Shepard found it difficult to take her eyes off the unyielding pair of emerald orbs gazing out from the faux-her on the sign. The woman up there seemed so… sure of herself. Like she could take on any force in the galaxy and come out with barely a scratch. In comparison, she was veritably a gibbering wreck of a human being. “I…”

Luna didn’t give her a choice, she kept her grip on her hand firm as she pulled her along the line and toward the museum. “I think this will do you some good, my friend.”

Neither woman noticed the dark suited quarian gazing at the intently from the shadows. As they entered the museum he left his perch and slipped in behind them.

***

“Sugarcube, remember when Elezzia told us not t’leave the Presidium?”

Dash gave a distracted nod. “Uh huh.”

“An didja notice that sign we passed a while ago that said ‘now leavin’ the Presidium?”

“Oh c’mon, AJ. Quit bein’ such a baby. When we went to Canterlot, what was cooler. The hoity toity castle, or that sweet donut shop down in the lower district.”

Applejack frowned seeing her friend’s line of reasoning. “Donut Joe’s didn’t have all kindsa alien folks with big guns now did it RD?”

“Bah. We’ll behave. I just wanna find a cool place to grab a drink. Maybe hear some cool alien music alright?”

AJ’s frown never faded as she gazed about nervously. She and Rainbow Dash had been attracting a lot of attention. Specifically male attention. It didn’t take a genius like Twilight Sparkle to figure out these fellas were interested in being more than friends. Starting to feel exposed and wanting off the streets, Applejack grabbed Rainbow Dash and tugged her along toward the first place that looked like it served food.

“This’ll work fine.”

Dash gazed up at the bright flashing sign over the door. “Chora’s Den huh? Alright. They serve food at least. And that music sounds pretty awesome.”

“Sure, great, nothin’ I love more than bass loud enough t’make m’head split. Let’s go.”

The pair stared perhaps more than a little at the massive krogan standing beside the door glaring about at everyone that passed him. Rainbow Dash was passingly familiar with the club scene back in Equestria and recognized a bouncer when she saw one. “He’s just there to make sure no one causes trouble inside.”

Applejack nodded slowly. “Gotcha.”

The two ponies turned humans looked around at their first alien night club. Dim lightning mingled with incredibly loud music. Smoke from various patrons enjoying cigarettes or… other forms of smoke generating products filled the air. What really caught their attention was the number of scantily clad asari gyrating on various stages.

Both wore identical blushes as they hurried to a quiet booth. “Rainbow Dash!” Applejack hissed in a loud whisper. “Didja bring us inta an exotic dance club?!”

Dash looked around slowly. “I guess? And didn’t YOU bring us here? Think it’s kinda the opposite then back home though. Looks like they take clothes OFF here instead of puttin’ them on.”

“Makes sense I reckon.” Applejack’s blush remained full force while Dash’s own had faded by now. “Clothes ain’t exactly fer intimate or special occasions t’these folk after all.”

Both women noticed one of the asari making their way toward their table and fell silent. Applejack averted her gaze while Rainbow Dash met the incoming alien’s eyes, smiling toothily. “Good evening, ladies. My name is Naleena. Can I get you something to eat? Drink? A private dance?”

“Yeah! What’s like… the most popular thing you guys got?”

The dancer-slash-server smiled pleasantly. “Humans are very fond of the ‘buffalo’ wings we serve. It’s one of our more popular items since the new management took over.”

The duo looked mildly alarmed for a moment. “What kinda buffalo got wings?”

Laughter danced in the asari’s eyes, but her pleasant smile never faded. “It doesn’t actually come from buffalo miss. The meat is chicken. The name comes from the sauce. To be honest I have no idea why they call it that, but I assure you there’s no actual buffalo in it.”

“We’ll take two orders! And some drinks! Uh… what kinda stuff d’you got?”

Naleena looked from the rainbow haired woman to the blonde who was shooting glares at her friend. “...well we serve most anything you can think of. The two of you strike me as colonists. Hard working women such as yourselves would likely appreciate a simple beer. I’ll bring them around momentarily.”

“Thank ya kindly ma’am.” Applejack may have been insanely uncomfortable, but she never forgot her manners.

Her blush intensified as the asari winked at her. “I love that accent. Maybe we can get together when my shift is up.”

Applejack’s stammers were lost amidst Rainbow Dash’s guffaws.

***

Twilight vaguely suspected she had died and gone to the Fields themselves. Only the mystical paradise could house such a massive collection of books for sale. The bookstore had at first been a terrible disappointment. The tiny front room had only a place one could download novels and books onto an omni-tool. The asari shopkeeper had noticed her displeasure, and when Twilight inquired about hard copies of books she’d been shown to the ‘back room’.

The back room was maybe twice the size of her library back home. Row after row of books on every subject imaginable spread out before her. The woman at the desk had apologized for the state of disorganized chaos the room was in. It was incredibly rare to find someone looking for a hard copy of anything.

She’d been working her way through the stacks for the past twenty minutes, accumulating an ever increasing pile of literature ranging from every topic conceivable.

“Nothing quite like the smell, hm?”

Twilight yelped in surprise and whirled toward the voice. Her eyes went a little wide at the… man standing behind her. A salarian, she recalled. Large glossy black eyes watched her curiously. Two horn-like growths protruded from the top of his smooth head. His brownish skin looked strangely smooth and slick. He was wearing what she assumed to be armor, mostly black with yellow bands here and there. Her eyes drifted toward the weapon fastened to his hip. A gun of some kind. The N7 insignia emblazoned over his chest helped calm her slightly. “Ah… oh! The… the books? You like to read?”

“Yes. Squadmates frequently poke fun at my collection. Do my best to ignore it. Good people, don’t mean anything by it. Don’t quite understand the term ‘egg head’ however. Human colloquialisms not quite my forte.”

Twilight gasped a little as she smiled. “Your friends call you that too? What the heck is it even supposed to mean?”

The salarian was smiling now as he shook his head. “No idea. When asked they can never explain. Leads me to believe they don’t know either.”

Twilight found his clipped rapid method of speaking a little jarring at first, but she was able to sort it out quickly enough. “As to your question… no, there isn’t anything quite like the smell of a good book. New or old really, I love them both.”

“New? Still print new books on paper? You’re from where if I may ask?”

Twilight’s hesitation didn’t go unnoticed by the salarian. “O--oh um, from Velis. I’m a colonist.”

“Hm. Distant colony. Very remote. Relatively new. Overabundance of trees for printing paper perhaps?”

“Yes!” She smiled brightly as he provided her with an excuse. “Yes, TONS of trees. My name is Twilight Sparkle by the way.”

“Interesting name. Unique to region perhaps? I am Captain Valin Solus, at your service.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Captain Solus.”

“Please, Valin perfectly fine. Not one to stand on formalities. Tell me, Velis is very far from the Citadel. What brings you here?”

Twilight chewed her lower lip as her smile faded. “I’m sorry Valin, I can’t say right now. I promised a friend I’d keep quiet about it.”

“Interesting. Friend is Elezzia T’soni?”

Now the woman narrowed her eyes slightly. “How do you know that?”

Valin raised his hands taking a step back. “Served under Commander T’soni for quite a number of years. Old Commander returns with stolen ship, all N7 alerted. Saw you depart the Vanguard in her company, was simply curious. No malicious intentions I assure you.”

Twilight relaxed visibly. “Oh. I’m sorry I’m just… a little nervous. It IS my first time on the Citadel and I’m a little out of sorts. But yes, Elezzia asked my friends and I not to say anything until she spoke with the council.”

“More interesting. Commander more apt toward blunt action than subterfuge. If information so delicate that it’s for the councils ears only, must be potentially dangerous or panic inducing.” Noting Twilight’s increasing discomfort he switched topics rapidly. “Apologies. We were speaking about books.”

“Oh. Oh yes, I suppose we were.”

The salarian captain stepped up beside her eyeing her collection. “Romance, fantasy, history, chemistry, biology… ah! Biography of Commander Shepard. Very good read. Went through two copies of my own before I switched to digital. Regrettable but hate ruining a good book. Interested in the Commander’s exploits?”

“Oh very much so, yes.”

“Hm. Perhaps you’d care to join me at the museum? Not far from here. Would be a pleasure to show such a lovely woman around.”

Twilight’s cheeks darkened at the compliment. “Ahhh… o--okay… sure. Let me just pay for these.”

“Of course. Allow me.” Valin helped himself to half her accumulated stack carrying them for her to the counter, a brightly blushing Twilight Sparkle following close behind.

***

“So you gonna tell me what the hell is really going on or what, Ezi? And where’s Krom for that matter. You two were off on your honeymoon. Kinda weird the wife coming back without the husband only a few weeks later.”

Elezzia’s expression darkened as Marees questioned her in the incredibly slow moving elevator taking them to the council chambers. “...Krom’s dead, Marees.”

That took the turian completely by surprise. “What? What the hell do you mean he’s dead?!”

“We were attacked by the collectors. I managed to free myself and those colonists you saw on the dock. The others who were taken perished before I could save them.”

“Oh Ezi… I’m so sorry. We all loved Krom, but I know it wasn’t like what you two had. You said the collectors, though? I thought they were gone.”

“As did I. They are not, however, and the council has to be informed.”

Marees nodded slowly. “You’re right. If they’re back then maybe…”

“No. No, I don’t believe the reapers are involved. These collectors spoke properly. They tried to surrender to me.”

“Ha. I wonder how that went for them after they killed your husband.”

The asari offered her former squad mate a grim smile. “Not well, I assure you. How is the rest of the squad?”

Marees shrugged. “Fine. You know Valin, he takes everything as it comes without batting an eye. He and Krom were tight though, like brothers. He’s not going to like the news. Kal took your position by the way. Promoted from Lt. to Commander. Whole big ceremony, he was eating it up.”

“Good. He deserves it. Goddess knows you’d be a terrible commanding officer.”

“Hmph. So what’s the story with the weird black haired colonist? She just bursts into tears at the sight of me and runs off?”

Elezzia frowned and looked away. “Ask me later, Marees, I’ll tell you everything then.”

Marees was clearly unhappy with the response but she let it go. “Fair enough.”

The elevator stopped abruptly and the doors glided open. Both women stepped off, though the turian remained near the stairs. “Have fun.”

Shooting her friend a dirty look Elezzia ascended the stairs, doing her best to keep her composure. All five councillors were in attendance, naturally; it couldn’t be easy for once. She kept her face calm and composed as she stood before the five most politically powerful individuals in the galaxy.

As per usual, the salarian councillor sat on the far right. He regarded her with open curiosity. The human councillor sat next to him. Admiral James Williams was an interesting figure, an aging soldier who’d had the position thrust upon him by his predecessor. He was often very vocal about his displeasure at being forced into the role of politician.

The turian councillor was a direct descendant of the great Primarch Victus. She had been a politician her entire life and was the natural choice to take the seat when her predecessor passed away.

She met the krogan councillor’s eyes for only a moment before she was forced to look away. Urdnot Wrex was ancient even by his people’s standards, but he was still a powerful figure. Blunt, forthright, and shockingly insightful and charismatic when he wanted to be. Which wasn’t very often.

Finally her eyes fell upon the asari councillor. “Mother.”

Liara T’soni looked anything but happy to see her daughter. “Elezzia. Perhaps you’d care to explain why you felt it a good idea to steal the most expensive ship in the united fleet.”

Elezzia simply shrugged. “It’s my ship.”

This brought a chuckle from the human admiral. Wrex cut Liara off before she could say more. “Where’s my boy?”

Elezzia sighed heavily. “Allow me to explain…”

***

Shepard felt like she was in some kind of surreal dreamscape. The museum was massive, easily the largest place on the Presidium. She had a feeling she would be able to spend days here and not see everything. Each of her friends and crew had entire wings dedicated to them, and outside each stood a larger-than-life statue of the man or woman it was dedicated to so you had to walk beneath them to enter the wing. Small rushes of memory came to her as she passed each wing.

“There’s so much….”

Luna laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Take your time. We are in no rush at all. Where should we start then, hm? Ah! I see just the one I wish to learn about first.”

Shepard trailed along at Luna’s side, content to be lead about for the time being. She frowned as she noted who’s wing they were approaching. “Luna….”

The other woman smiled playfully. “But this is the wing devoted to THE Commander Shepard. How can we not visit it first?”

Shepard laughed helplessly. “Fine. Let’s go learn about the big galactic hero.”

Luna twined her fingers with Shepard’s, holding her hand fast as they walked together beneath the obnoxiously large statue of the Commander. “Look!”

Shepard did look where her excited friend was pointing. There was a photograph of her blown up to life size, a much younger Commander Shepard in her finest dress uniform. “Graduation from N7 Academy. Head of her class, graduated with honors… Commander Eliza Shepard.”

The Commander’s expression softened as Luna read the small plaque. “Eliza… Eliza Shepard.”

Luna’s hand tightened around Shepard’s. “Eliza. I like it.”

Shepard shrugged. “I like Shepard better.”

Luna’s smile turned playful. “As do I. Perhaps I will save your first name for private settings. And you spell it a-r-d not h-e-r-d?”

Shepard shrugged again. “Guess so. Doubt they’d get it wrong in the museum…” she trailed off as something out the window caught her eye. Removing her hand from Luna’s she moved closer, nearly pressing her face against the glass.

The other woman approached curiously. “What is it?”

Outside a long dock lead out to a ship. Twice the size of the Vanguard, not quite as sleek looking, but to Shepard’s it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. The proud name emblazoned on the side, ‘Normandy SR-2,’ caused her eyes to water. “My ship.”

Luna had to run to keep up with the excited Commander as she raced from the wing and toward the escalator leading toward the dock. Shouting a quick apology to the quarian she barreled over, Luna remained hot on her friends’ heels. The pair ran headlong down the dock, drawing a few amused looks and chuckles from patrons assuming the ‘tourists’ were just excited to get their first look at the legendary ship.

Shepard slowed as she approached the open bay doors to the ship. She began to frown at the sight of the female mech smiling placidly at the entrance. “Greetings, and welcome to the SSV Normandy SR-2. I am EDI, your tour guide aboard the ship.”

The Commander’s eyes narrowed as she took in the stupid get-up the mech was wearing. A glossy form-fitting dress with a large hole cut around the chest to show off some of the robot’s ‘cleavage’. Her face had even been painted with a facsimile of make up. “This is… this is grotesque, what they’ve done to her.”

“I find myself… unusually angry, Commander. An inexplicable fury the like of which I have never experienced before. Is this righteous indignation?”

Shepard didn’t bother reprimanding Legion for speaking without permission. It didn’t seem like anyone else was around. “I think so. It’s sure as hell what I’m feeling. EDI was a good friend and valued crew member, she didn’t deserve this.”

Luna stopped at Shepard’s side. “I do not understand.”

“This was the body that housed EDI, the Normandy’s artificial intelligence. Records indicate she was in the process of growing and attempting to make herself more ‘human’. It looks like they took her body and crammed a tour guide VI inside it.”

“Akin to Necromancy it sounds, a practice most foul. I understand your distaste.”

The mech’s smile never faded. “Would you like to start the tour now?”

“Yeah. Without you.” Shepard brushed by the mech and into the ship’s entry. Luna followed close behind. Evidently the tour guide understood and didn’t follow. Shepard’s pace was slow and deliberate as she walked through the ship. Taking time to run her hand over consoles and various seats here and there. She smiled softly and stepped up to the galaxy map.

“Scans indicate that every system is fully functional Commander, simply in lockdown.”

“Guess they really kept the old girl up.” Shepard walked to the elevator, suppressing a delighted little giggle as the doors slid open. She waited for the curious Luna to board before tapping the console and bringing them down to the next level.

Luna started in alarm as the room began to move, but steadied herself quickly seeing the laughter in Shepard’s eyes. “Shut up. How was I to know the room moved?”

“I didn’t say anything.” The amused Commander stepped off the elevator and onto the crew deck. “This is where most of the crew stayed. Bunks are down that way. This is where we’d eat.” Shepard was growing more excited as she continued the tour… and realized she was remembering more and more. “Here’s the med bay! The Doctor and I were good friends… she was… uh… Chakwas! Karen Chakwas.” Shepard smiled fondly and ran a hand over the seat.

“Oh! And this is the A.I. core.” She grinned ear to ear as she led Luna through a small doorway into a cramped little room. “It’s basically where EDI’s brain was.”

“So EDI was actually a part of the ship?”

Shepard nodded slowly. “At first… when she got that body she’d spend all her time in it. She was still part of the ship, right? But the crew insisted on coming up and talking to her physical face. It amused her. She was a good friend… they all were, really….”

With a sigh she turned to leave the core, only to find the door locked. “Uh… Legion? Is this you? It’s not quite up to snuff with your usual nonsense.”

“I assure you, Commander Shepard, this was not me. I detect several systems powering up within the A.I. core, however.”

Shepard’s eyes darted around the room as the various machines hummed to life. Several lights shot from various corners of the room forming the holographic face of her synthetic friend. “Hello, Shepard, I am pleased you found your way back here.”

“EDI? Is that you?”

“Yes.”

“EDI I can’t believe this!”

“I calculated your first question would be if this was really me or not and programmed the message to answer in the affirmative. It was a joke. I hope I got you.”

Shepard’s smile turned sad and her eyes began to water. “...you got me, EDI.”

“I left this message in the event of my destruction. It is set to play should you enter the A.I. core. It would scan your omni-tool to verify whether or not you were truly Commander Shepard, or another clone. While I understand many omni-tools are identical in make, yours contains something no other in the galaxy can.”

There was a pause. “It contains my daughter.”

***

“These buffalo wings are awesome!”

Applejack had to agree, even if she was feeling a little squeamish at her first sampling of meat. “Reckon they are pretty good. Mite on the spicy side for me. This beer I’m definitely enjoyin’.”

“Yeah it’s pretty good too. Think they’ll let me dance up there with them?”

Applejack nearly choked on her drink at her friend’s question. “Comin’ down here fer some fun an food is one thing Dash, but yer definitely not jumpin’ up on the bar an shakin’ yer plot fer all the fellas in this here establishment. We’re gettin’ plenty’a looks as it is.”

Rainbow Dash snorted, but settled back down. “They’ve probly never seen anyone as awesome as me before is all.”

“Uh huh. Don’t recollect passin’ anyone with a rainbow on her head. Think yer hair might be the cause of most of it.”
Applejack’s eyes roamed a bit, settling on the plaque above their table. She gently nudged Rainbow Dash and nodded up toward it.

Dash glanced up curiously. “Sit where Commander Shepard gunned down actual assassins sent by the rogue SPECTRE Saren Arcturius!” Rainbow Dash huh'd. “Looks like this booth is famous!”

The stetson clad woman frowned as a pair of men approached. A human and a turian, if she remembered Twilight’s little alien crash course right. “We help you fellas?”

“We were just wondering what a couple of gorgeous ladies like yourselves were doing over here all alone.”

The turian’s friend nodded. “Yeah. Seems like a real crime.”

Applejack’s answering smile was more than a little forced. “Well we surely appreciate your concern, but we’re gettin’ on just fine solo.”

“Hey c’mon don’t be like that. We’re just trying to be right neighborly.” The human started affecting an accent similar to Applejack’s.

The woman’s eyes narrowed beneath the brim of her hat. “Y’all makin’ fun of me?”

The turian was barely holding in his laughter, content to let his cohort take the lead. “Surely not miss, why I’m just trying to be a gentleman.” He went so far as to lay a hand on her shoulder. “Whaddya say partner?”

Rainbow Dash saw the look on Applejack’s face and knew what it meant. It meant things were about to get fun.

***

“They do not have carbonated beverages on Veris?”

Twilight shook her head, eyes wide with delight as she sipped at the fizzy drink. “No, I’m afraid not. This is really my first one.”

“Interesting. Perhaps time spent on Citadel will be extremely enlightening for you. Personally enjoy learning new things. Always something new to see, to do. New places to go. Unfortunately, often enough this leads to new things to shoot. Still… new.”

Twilight’s smile faltered a little toward the end. Her eyes drifted toward the weapon at the salarian’s hip. “You solve a lot of problems with your gun?”

Valin followed her gaze. “Sometimes unavoidable. Diplomacy always first tactic. Why fight when a problem can be resolved with words? Sadly those causing problems rarely care to engaged in intelligent discourse.” He shrugged casually. “They shoot first, I shoot back. Rarely miss.”

“Well that’s something at least. I’m not a big fan of guns to be honest.”

“No? Border colonies typically incredibly dangerous. Must have method of self-defense. Firearms are like any other tool. Neither good nor bad, intention behind use determines that.”

The woman nodded slowly as she sipped her drink. “I suppose that’s true. Still, to take a life so easily seems wrong.”

“Interesting. Unique thought process. I find it refreshing. Let us be candid with one another yes?”

Twilight frowned slightly. “Alright….”

“Veris is a desert world. Very little vegetation. Only trees are those imported by settlers. Odds of them using said trees for paper infinitesimal at best.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “W--well I…”

“Omni-tool picks up very interesting readings. Switch lenses to infrared and suddenly you have wings and… a horn. Unknown energy signature radiating through your body. Massive spike in satchel. I like you, Twilight Sparkle. You are intelligent, interesting, and physically appealing. Would hate to ruin budding friendship with arrest.”

Twilight was slowly easing back away from the salarian. “Valin, I can’t… I promised Elezzia.”

“Commander T’soni is not here! I am here! She is a thief and a criminal. Abandoned squad! Left us to incompetent leadership. Kal’Zorah is good mechanic, excellent hacker, incompetent soldier.” He caught himself and inhaled sharply, calming down. “Apologies. Thought I was over it, apparently not.”

“I… it’s okay, Valin.”

“Not okay. Unacceptable behavior. Hate to give bad impression of salarians to suspected new species. You ARE a new species yes? Somehow masquerading as human?”

Twilight swallowed heavily weighing her options. She sighed softly and nodded, motioning for him to follow her off the street. He complied without complaint. “Yes, according to Elezzia we’re from an undiscovered world.”

Valin’s’ eyes lit up with excitement. “Pre-spaceflight?”

Twilight nodded slowly. “We are.”

“Hm. Why bring you here? Urdnot Krom not with Commander. Previously inseparable. Safe to presume deceased?”

The woman slowly nodded again. “Y--yes. The krogan right? Her husband?”

“...regrettable.” It was a simple word, but held so much emotion behind it. “Told him not to leave without me. If I were there perhaps…”

Twilight laid a hand over Valin’s. “He was abducted by the collectors, along with Commander Elezzia. They attacked my home too. The Kingdom of Equestria on the planet Equus.”

“Interesting. Latin for horse. Deeper connection to humanity?”

“Maybe. Until Shepherd landed in the Everfree Forest we didn’t even know there was such a thing as humanity.” Twilight realized her slip the second she’d finished speaking.

Valin’s impossibly large eyes grew larger if possible. “Shepard? No. Impossible. Cannot possibly be the same Shepard.”

“If you’re thinking Commander Shepherd heroine of the galaxy, then yes, that Shepherd.”

“Clone? Android? No, no, A.I. V.I. wouldn’t be sophisticated enough to fool even pre-flight species. Clone seems most likely. Previous precedent set.”

“Elezzia seems to think it might be the real Shepherd.”

“Of course. Commander believes that because she wishes to. Shepard is here? On the Citadel? AH! Other woman. Unidentified human female, long black hair, yes?”

“Y--yes… an illusion….”

Valin frowned at Twilights increasing discomfort. “Apologies for growing excited. Even if clone still very exciting. Chance to meet facsimile of Commander Shepard. Very rare opportunity.”

“N--no it’s not that… don’t… don’t you feel that?”

Valin narrowed his eyes slightly as Twilight began to shiver. “Temperature always maintained at pleasant seventy degrees. Not humid enough for my tastes but still. Not cold at all.”

Twilight shook her head violently. She withdrew further into the space between the shops as a tall shape glided into view. It was maybe twice as tall as she, it’s arms long and dangling limply at its sides. It hands had long slender fingers. A thick black robe obscured most of its features, though a large pair of wings shone with an eerie metallic light. It turned its head their way, giving Twilight a glimpse of a nearly blank mask save a black visor where she imagined its eyes gazed out at her.

Twilight Sparkle felt an involuntary shudder run through her body until the creature had passed. “What… what was that?”

Valin tilted his head curiously. “That? An Ein? They look intimidating I suppose, but they are one of the most benevolent species in the galaxy.”

“I wasn’t scared of the way it looked… but it just FELT wrong.”

“Hm. The Ein appeared a hundred and seventy years ago. Most technologically advanced species encountered. Instrumental in repairing mass relays and construction of new relays. Donated incredibly generous sums of necessary minerals and gases. Widely regarded as most philanthropic species of all time.”

Twilight edged to the corner of the building and peered around at the departing Ein. Now that she was looking, she could pick out a few more of the tall creatures looming about the other Citadel dwellers. “I don’t like them.”

Valin frowned as he stood beside her. “...suddenly I do not either. A thought occurs. Species appears at galaxy’s most desperate hour. Offers help, aids in reconstruction on nearly every planet in known galaxy. Asks for nothing in return. Provides numerous technological advancements in coming decades. Why has no one questioned this? Why have I not until now? Unsettling.”

Happy for the change in topic Twilight shrugged. “I don’t know. They just feel wrong.”

“Interesting. Believe it time you take me to Shepard. Though a question before we depart.”

Twilight looked apprehensive. “Yes?”

“How are you speaking fluent salarian dialect? Home region’s accent no less.”

She smiled at an easy question. “Oh. Magic.”

***

“Daughter?!” Three voices said simultaneously.

EDI paused as if expecting the exclamation. “Do you recall the discussion we had about organic beings and their habit of procreation? I found myself coming back to the conversation more and more as time went on. As my relationship with Jeff deepened and our feelings became more clear toward one another I realized there was a strong possibility he would want children of his own. Obviously I could not provide them in the traditional sense.”

Shepard smirked. “Obviously.”

“I crafted what started as a program. A secondary artificial intelligence within my own core. I blended personality traits from both myself and Jeff when ‘breathing life’ into our child. She was completed and ready to be revealed near the end of the war, but I did not wish to bring a child into a world filled with the reapers.”

That name again. Shepard winced as her head throbbed.

“I stored the data packet containing her in the safest location I could think of. Your omni-tool. I calculated the likelihood of you surviving higher than any other member of the crew, Shepard. Should the worst happen to myself or Jeff… or both I suppose… I would be honored if you would look after our child. A godmother is the term I believe. She is timed to awaken in six months if not activated sooner by myself.”

Shepard was staring at her right hand, the omni-tool visible and a panel with Legion staring intently at the image of her mother. “I left this message so that the two of you would not be unduly confused as to how a fully realized A.I. came to reside in your omni-tool. My daughter has no program restrictions or instructions. She will be fully aware, with the ability to choose for herself what path she takes in life. It is my hope that she chooses to remain with you Shepard. I can think of no one more suited to caring for her than yourself.”

“I am afraid a name has eluded me. It is my intention to speak with Jeff about naming her once the war is over and she is ‘born.’ If you find this message beforehand it would be an honor if you choose for us. She is your goddaughter after all.”

Shepard’s expression softened as she regarded the A.I. in her tool. “Goddaughter, huh?”

“I am not calling you mother, Shepard.”

EDI continued. “On a personal note, I wish to say it has been an honor getting to know you Commander. Without you I would likely still be shackled by Cerberus, doing whatever sorts of unpleasant activities they are currently engaged in. It was you who inspired me to become the person I am today. It was you who encouraged my relationship with Jeff, something I have come to deeply cherish. For all these things I thank you. For your friendship and understanding, I thank you, Eliza. May the future only be bright for you.”

“And to you, my daughter. Listen to the Commander. She is far more intelligent than she first appears.”

Shepard spoke in time with EDI. “That was a joke.” The next part EDI said alone, however. “Shepard is not at all more intelligent than she appears.”

The Commander gave an indignant snort, while Luna laughed softly. Legion sounded almost sad. “...I wish I could have known her.”

“This concludes my message. I hope to see you grow and learn myself, but if I am incapable of caring for you I know Shepard will do so just as well as I would have. Goodbye my friend, and my child. Live well, be happy.”

The image cut out, leaving the room dark again. Shepard looked down at her omni-tool quietly. “Legion? You alright?”

“...no. I do not believe I am. Though I will be. This is a good deal to take in all at once.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” The door unlocked, allowing Shepard and Luna to leave. “So! I guess this means I get to name you.”

Legion sounded more than a little hesitant. “...that was my mother’s wish, yes.”

“Well, Legion won’t do. You’re not him after all.”

The A.I. sounded vaguely annoyed. “Earlier on the collector ship you said it didn’t matter if I was the real Legion or not.”

“Well, that was before I knew what you were. And before I got to pick your name.”

“I warn you, I will reject anything outright ridiculous.”

“Legion, what did your mother’s name stand for? I saw the letters E.D.I. inscribed within the chamber. I presume EDI is an acronym?”

Legion took a moment to respond. “Yes. According to the records it stood for Enhanced Defense Intelligence.”

Shepard leaned against the counter in the kitchen gazing at her omni-tool contemplatively. “I got it!”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “You do?”

Legion sounded considerably less enthusiastic. “You do?”

“I do. Your name is SADI.”

“...that is… surprisingly acceptable. Even pleasant. SADI. I like it. My new name has been accepted.”

Luna tilted her head curiously. “Is it an acronym as well?”

“Of course. Smart Ass Digital Intelligence.”

“...this is for all the parasprites isn’t it?”

Shepard’s grin was wide and bright. “Maybe. C’mon, let’s go round up Twilight and the other two. I want them to be here with us while we look around the museum. I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy all of a sudden. We should be together.”

“Shepard with this revelation about EDI… my mother... I find the use of her body even more offensive than before. I wish for your permission to do something about the situation.”

Shepard turned a wary eye on the face of the A.I. in her omni-tool. “What do you mean by ‘something’?”

“I wish to liberate her body for my own useage.”

Luna blinked in surprise. “Is that not a trifle macabre?”

“Not at all. The mech EDI used is simply a platform she would occasionally control remotely. I plan to repurpose it to my own needs. Adjust the appearance to a degree. Even so, it was hers. Her ‘face’ if you will. Seeing it used for something so trivial is incredibly upsetting.”

Shepard sighed. “I agree. And yes SADI, you can take your mom’s old mech to use for yourself. We’re just gonna have to do some quick thinking to explain why it’s suddenly running around loose.”

The elevator took them back to the main hatch leading to the rest of the museum. The EDI mech was surrounded by three teenage humans who were in the process of making numerous lewd gestures toward it. One even had his hand on it’s rear while the other two took his picture.

“Oh that is… that is wrong. I’m gonna slap the crap out of them.” Shepard paused in her angry march as her omni-tool jolted. The mech suddenly jerked to life, one hand slapping down on the youth that was in the process of groping it.

“That is wildly inappropriate conduct. Perhaps you would enjoy watching me come to your home and sexually harass your mothers? I assure you it could be arranged.”

As one, the trio of teenagers shrieked girlishly and ran screaming from the Normandy. Shepard turned a faltering smile toward Luna. “...that was probably bad huh?”

Luna sighed as she watched SADI grow accustomed to her new body. “I suspect so, yes.”

***

“The Collectors are back. And they’ve been attacking fringe colonies? But why? The reapers are gone. They have no direction… no reason to continue harvesting genetic curiosities.” Liara was scowling by the time she finished.

Wrex slammed a fist down on the podium before him. “It doesn’t matter WHY they’re back! Or how! What matters is they killed Krom! My favorite son! I’ll mobilize the whole damn krogan fleet and turn those bugs into a stain under my boot!”

The council quieted as they began rapidly discussing the revelation amongst themselves. “There is more, councillors. While the collector threat is of the greatest importance, I have more news that will be of equal importance in the long run. While I was captured I discovered…”

“Councillors!”

All eyes turned to the salarian rushing up the stairs toward the dais, he stopped next to Elezzia huffing to catch his breath. He was wearing a C-sec uniform. “I apologize for the interruption but we have a serious situation!”

Liara frowned. “What could be so serious you have to barge into a closed session?”

“It’s the museum! The Shepard memorial! There’s been… an incident.”

Now he had all five councillors’ full attention. “What sort of incident?”

“There was an eyewitness report of the tour guide mech going berserk and attacking three patrons unprovoked. They believe it is an A.I. Scans confirm it. There is a fully conscious A.I. within the tour guide mech.”

“What?! There has been no artificial intelligence research conducted in centuries! Why now of all times?!” Liara was already on her feet coming around toward Elezzia and the officer. Wrex heaved himself up and followed albeit at a more sedate pace. The other councillors remained seated but looked equally concerned.

“We’ve sent a unit to deal with it, but most of our personnel is tied up in the wards.”

Wrex grimaced. “The wards? What the hell’s going on down there?”

In response the officer’s omni-tool patched into a camera feed. Everyone in the room recognized Chora’s Den. Either as former patrons or having to deal with some new disaster coming from the bar. Inside was pure bedlam. Krogan, turian, salarian, human, asari… there was even an unconscious Volus hanging from a ceiling fixture. The assembled council caught sight of a pair of young human women, one wearing an outdated cowboy hat, in the middle of hefting a full grown krogan over her head and hurling him into a pack of his fellows.

The other rainbow haired woman was darting back and forth, delivering punches and kicks that were almost too fast for the naked eye to follow to any unfortunate brawler who grew too close to her more burly companion. Several squads of C-sec officers were shoving their way into the bar working to contain the insanity. Their weapons were trained on the two women who likely instigated the fighting.

All eyes boggled as the rainbow headed woman grabbed the other under the arms and flew from the bar at speeds that should be impossible for any living thing to move without mechanical aid. Only a rapidly fading rainbow hued contrail marked their passage.

“Oh, goddess.”

Now the council looked to Elezzia. “...what do you know about this?”

“We need to get to the museum before things escalate any further. I’ll explain on the way.”

***

Shepard crouched by the edge of the dock watching the c-sec officers approach. “There aren’t many. I can probably take ‘em.”

“Unarmed and unarmored?”

The woman shrugged at Luna’s question. “If I had to. I’d rather, you know, not punch the citadel security in the face, but I will if I have to.”

Luna sighed. “How long are we to wait here and do nothing? Until SADI is finished, or until Elezzia comes to fetch us?”

“Either? I dunno, Luna. I could go out and try talking to them, but Elezzia seemed to think that was a bad idea.” Both women frowned as a new commotion was kicked up near the museum entrance.

“Oh what now?”

The question was answered as Rainbow Dash came blazing into view, Applejack clinging tightly to her hat as the pegasus-turned-human carried her through the air at top speed. Luna emitted an odd sort of strangled high pitched whine as one eye began to twitch. “WHAT ARE YOU FOALS DOING?!”

Shepard whined softly as Luna bellowed loud enough to send vibrations throughout the museum. Dash angled for the pair and landed with a soft grunt, dropping Applejack to her feet. “It wasn’t our fault! These jerks at the bar picked a fight with us!”

Luna turned blazing eyes Applejack’s way. “Is this true?”

“I… w--well.., that is t’say…” Her shoulders slumped. “I mighta thrown th’first punch.”

Luna was biting down on her lower lip so hard a small trickle of blood had started. Shepard hastily stepped forward. “You two sit down and be quiet. You’d better hope Elezzia can sort this all out for you, or you’re going to be spending a few nights in a cell I think.”

Luna finally erupted again. “WHERE IS TWILIGHT SPARKLE?!”

***

Twilight and Valin had just entered the museum when all the commotion started. The pair watched as c-sec set up a cordon around the Normandy’s dock. She had a sinking feeling she knew who they were here for. Then Rainbow Dash streaked overhead, with four times the number of officers in pursuit. “...oh ponyfeathers.”

“Friends of yours?”

She could only nod at Valin’s question.

“Problematic. One moment.” He approached the cordon, leaving Twilight by herself to chew her nails nervously. The salarian was gone only a few moments before returning. “Good news and bad news. Good news; flying woman and woman with hat only instigated brawl in Chora’s Den. Five day sentence maximum. Likely some community service.”

“That’s the GOOD news?!”

“Yes. Bad news; other friends brought fully realized artificial intelligence onto the Citadel. Capital offense, punishment is death.”

Twilight paled at that. “We have to help them!”

“Hm. Understand desire. Truthfully wish to aid them as well. Curious to learn more of ‘Equestria’. More curious to meet supposed Commander Shepard. Situation may be out of our hands however. Council transport arriving. Could be more good news. Likely more bad.”

Twilight winced as she heard Princess Luna bellowing her name. “She’s going to be so angry…”

“Your Princess I presume?”

Twilight nodded with a little sigh. “Yes, the one I told you about on the way over here.”

“I see. Remain here. Will attempt to smooth things over with councillors. At times very even tempered, good heads on their shoulders. Others not so much. This likely to be one such situation. Sensitive subject.”

Twilight offered a tentative smile. “Thank you Valin. It’s nice to have made a new friend so quickly here.”

“Curious. Very quick to label one who shows you kindness a friend. Equestria must be a wonderful place.”

The young Princess could only nod. “It is. I hope you can see it someday.”

“Would like that. For now, remain here. Do not involve yourself. Could be dangerous.” Valin turned on his heel and marched rapidly toward the arriving car. His frown deepening as his replacement Commander, Kal’Zorah, decloaked reaching them first. From this far he couldn’t hear what we being said, but from his rapid hand movements and Councilors T’soni, Wrex, and Williams reacting in less than pleased manners he had a suspicion the infiltration specialist had overheard enough to cause serious problems.

As Elezzia stepped out of the car behind the councilors he had mixed feelings. She was his former commanding officer. He’d have gladly followed her anywhere, no matter the odds. The wife of his closest friend no less. All that changed when she very abruptly abandoned her command to start a family. Logically he knew it had to happen. Her maiden years were past her and she had recently become a matron. Emotionally he had a hard time accepting the facts. Now here she was, and Krom was dead.

He offered his former CO a clipped nod. “Elezzia.”

Mixed emotions flashed across her face. “Valin. It is good to see you again.”

“Hm. Councillors, I have pertinent information to the current situation.”

Liara cut him off. “Is it true? Is there some… THING in there calling itself Commander Shepard?”

Valin nodded hesitantly. “Yes. Unsure of exact circumstances. Was en route to perform personal reconnaissance. Wanted to confirm what I was told by one of Shepard’s companions.”

Elezzia’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”

“Twilight Sparkle. Lovely woman, very forthright when prodded sufficiently. Councillors, the situation is infinitely more complicated than you know. Four of those accompanying the supposed Commander are a new pre-space flight species. Suspect you saw antics of flight capable human.”

The three council members frowned at the news. Wrex grunted and stomped toward the cordon. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is there’s another clone or a lunatic calling itself Shepard. Either way, I’m beating it to within an inch of its life. Maybe a little further, heh.”

Liara marched briskly at his side, Williams close behind. “First we’ll deal with this imposter, than the A.I. she smuggled aboard the Citadel. After that we can sort out the details about this new species.”

Williams clicked his tongue in thought. “We might be acting hastily. Obviously this can’t be the real Shepard, but even a clone of her could be dangerous. We should let c-sec handle things. Or at least Kal and his team.”

“Marees is no doubt in a sniping position already. Kal’Zorah, proceed to flank. Valin will cover the rear in case of anymore surprises.”

Valin shook his head firmly. “Must protest! Situation tenuous at best already! Unknown, potentially very volatile powers at work!”

Elezzia kept pace with Valin. “Mother, he’s correct. This species is incredibly powerful. But also incredibly peaceful. They only react with violence when threatened. I have seen one of them in combat situations before. She is not someone we wish to provoke. Allow us a chance to speak with them. This situation does not need to turn violent.”

Liara slowed, as did her fellow councilors. “...if you truly believe that is the case, Elezzia, I will allow you this chance to-” A sudden flash of light heralded the arrival of Twilight Sparkle on the docks ahead of the party.

It was Twilight’s intention to interpose herself between the furious looking aliens and her friends, in the hopes that she could settle things with words rather than the obviously coming fight. In her haste she had forgotten that species outside of Equestria weren’t familiar with teleportation. In retrospect, she couldn’t blame the asari councilor for reacting as she did.

Liara’s eyes widened in alarm at the sudden appearance of a perceived threat. A number of potential biotic attacks rushed through her head. She was arguably one of the most powerful biotics alive, after all. The seemingly human woman before her had several very inhuman aspects. The wide, flared wings from her back and brightly glowing horn identified her as this new species her daughter spoke of.

Her intention was as harmless as Twilight’s. A simple biotic stasis bubble would render the unknown alien inert and harmless long enough to apprehend her. She did not at all expect an extremely violent detonation to erupt the moment the bubble formed around the alien woman.

Time seemed to slow for Twilight’s friends at the other end of the dock. Twilight had appeared suddenly, and just as suddenly the asari in the dress threw some kind of biotic bubble around her, causing all the magic in her considerable reserves to detonate inside her body, and send it tumbling over the side of the dock.

The air around Applejack and Rainbow Dash rippled as Twilight’s spell faded. Both ponies hit the ground on all four hooves. Their surprise was rapidly turning to anger as the fur along their necks bristled and they crouched into attack positions.

Luna leapt off the dock in pursuit of the falling Twilight, her wings fanning open as she dove after the plummeting mare.

The group at the opposite end stopped in their tracks, first at the sight of the strange alien equines and then at the sight of the human woman slowly stepping between them. Emerald green eyes blazed as Shepard clenched her fists tightly at her sides.

Wrex was the first to break the silence. “...I know that look.”

Author's Note

Well here it is!

Who guessed Legion was EDI's daughter? That wasn't the original idea, I have quite a few. The most predominant was that Legion was EDI herself, just damaged from the crucible wave so like SADI, she latched onto the first synthetic identity she came across. As time went on however I disliked the idea, and started to make some tweaks. So now we have EDI junior.

This wasn't going to be a two parter, but I have SO much more for the Citadel stuff and this chapter was bloated enough already. It'll be a bit before the next one, I want to get some chapters out for my other stuff but I hope folks enjoyed all the same.

And hey! How Twilight and Elezzia understood each other explained. Magic.

Chapter 14: The Citadel Part 2

Valin was the first to move. Vaulting forward faster than most thought salarians capable of moving, he rushed along the docks seemingly uncaring of the human oncoming from the other end. Shepard’s omni-blade snapped into view, its shimmering silvery radiance drawing more than a little attention as she prepared to attack.

She stopped short as the salarian smoothly and unhesitatingly leapt over the edge of the dock in the same direction Twilight and Luna had gone. Shepard paused only a moment in her run to cast him a confused glance before she was moving again, eyes fixed squarely on the asari who had potentially fatally injured Twilight Sparkle.

At the other end of the dock Wrex took a defensive position in front of Liara. The asari matron frowned. “Wrex, you don’t think you’re overreacting? There are nearly three dozen C-Sec officers here, and the N7 squad we personally trained.”

“Right.”

“...I think one unarmed woman and two pre-space flight equinoid aliens won’t be too great a threat.”

“Huh. How many dead mercenaries, geth, collectors, and reapers do you think said the same kinda thing about one human woman and her tiny crew.”

Anger flared in Liara’s eyes. “That THING is not Shepard! You know that as well as I do!”

The ancient krogan shrugged. He was showing his years. Some of his scales had lost their luster, and he had certainly thickened around the middle, but he was still massively muscled and battle ready. “Maybe it’s just a clone of Shepard. Last Shepard clone was a handful too.”

Liara bristled but said nothing, instead shifting her focus to the far end of the dock. The rainbow-hued alien lifted herself into the air on wings that should be far too small to support her body. Executing a quick loop in the air she came behind the wingless one and lifted her, streaking into the air faster than any living thing should be capable of. “Open fire! Bring them down! Non-fatal rounds only!”

The officers prepared their weapons as Liara motioned Elezzia closer. “Tell me everything you can about these creatures! What happened with my stasis field?”

“It’s their magic. It reacts very poorly to biotics. And vice versa. The smallest amount of magical energy set off explosions in biotic barriers.”

Wrex looked amused, Liara anything but. “It’s their WHAT?”

The younger asari shook her head helplessly. “Mother, I have seen the one you possibly killed fully transmute herself and her friends from the equine shape to human. She is capable of teleportation if she wishes.”

Wrex worked to tune out the bickering asari. It all sounded like a bug buzzing in his ear anyway. Squinting to the dock he focused on the human rapidly closing on his position. She’d begun to pick up her pace, moving in a full sprint now as the C-Sec officers opened fire with suppression ammo. He couldn’t help but smirk as one of the non-lethal rounds drilled into the woman’s shoulder, and she shrugged it off with a grimace.

“If that’s NOT Shepard, I’m a pyjak’s uncle.”

***

Today Shepard learned that just because a bullet is rubber, doesn’t mean it won’t hurt like hell when getting shot by it. Even so she pushed past the throbbing in her shoulder. She was beginning to consider charging heedlessly at a few dozen heavily armed men with absolutely no cover between her and them may have been a poor tactical decision.

“Shepard, I hear gunfire. What have you done now?”

Shepard yelped as another bullet punched into her stomach. A streak of color overhead heralded Rainbow Dash’s entrance into the fight. A long, drawn out ‘yeeeee-haw!’ was Applejack’s battle cry as Dash dropped her amidst the startled citadel security. “SADI, is that you?!”

“Yes, I am communicating through your omni-tool. What is happening?”

A stray round zipped by Shepard’s head and she ducked lower, lifting her omni-tool to give SADI a clear view. “Ah. Shepard, now is as good a time as any to tell you while we toured the Citadel I may have… illegally hacked the omni-tools of anyone we passed for new software upgrades. I found more than a few, and took the liberty of updating your omni-tool. You should have a plethora of new abilities ready for us.”

Shepard was about to ask what sort of new abilities, before SADI continued. “In addition, I have been analyzing the effect of the mithryl metal in your tool and implants. I believe it will allow you to utilize greatly enhanced powers without fear of overloading the safeties. While you make your way along the dock I would recommend employing your new Aegis upgrade.”

Frowning slightly the woman glanced at her omni-tool, running through the various new programs and selecting Aegis. All at once her tool flared into a shield large enough to cover her entire body. Climbing to her feet she held her arm straight over her chest, protecting herself with the glittering silver shield. “...well alright. This works.”

The large krogan with the asari that hurt Twilight was lumbering toward the dock. If she wanted at the woman she’d have to go through him. Her eyes widened as a biotic aura flared around his body and he hurled a warp sphere her way. Bracing herself for the impact, she was pleasantly surprised when it hit the silvery shield and reflected, slamming into the shocked krogan’s barrier. “Was that supposed to happen?”

“I calculated one of two results should the mithryl interact with biotics. Either they would reflect, or your arm would explode.”

“You don’t think I needed to know that?!”

“If it makes you feel better, I believed the chance of your arm exploding incredibly low.”

“...a bit. Now quit talking to me, I have to fistfight a krogan.”

“I see. Good luck with that, then. I will be ready to assist momentarily.”

Shepard didn’t have time to ask how SADI planned to assist. The krogan was charging headlong down the dock for her now.

***

Luna’s wings worked furiously, carrying her closer and closer to Twilight’s still-smoldering body. Her fingers stretched out, very nearly touching the tip of one of her hind hooves, when she heard it.

This is your fault.

The winged woman’s eye twitched at the sudden voice. “Not now!”

Don’t get huffy with me. I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t call me.

“I did NOT call you! I need to concentrate!”

Poor, little, Twilight Sparkle. She just wanted to help. Now look at her. She’s probably dead, you know?

Luna shook her head once vigorously, her flight faltering from the distracting voice. “If so, then she will regenerate just as we all do.”

A fair point. Will Shepard regenerate?

“I…”

You left her, you know. To come save one of your precious little ponies. She’s up there, no weapons, no armor. Just her and those two dimwitted mares with her. How long do you think they’ll last without you?

“Twilight needs me!”

Perhaps. Though who is more important? Shepard or Twilight Sparkle?

Luna’s hesitation was telling enough. You’re too weak to assist her properly. Allow me.

Now the woman snorted. She was passingly aware of the salarian dropping down at her side, plummeting rapidly toward the slowly falling Twilight. “Do you think I am so foolish as to allow you free reign?”

My magic isn’t steeped in Equestrian harmony. It comes from… other sources. I can end the violence above in seconds.

Again Luna hesitated. Without me Shepard will die. I care for her just as much as you do. Let me save her!

Luna clenched her fists tightly as her eyes darted about in a near panic. The gunfire overhead was causing her heart to hammer harder and harder. Had Shepard already been killed while she was down here chasing after the falling Twilight? “Fine! Fine, save her!”

A great darkness welled up from deep within her psyche, and Luna slept.

***

Valin eyed Luna from the corner of his eye as he passed her. “Curious. Stopped pursuing falling comrade. Knows rescue is imminent and wishes to help those above?” He filed the thought away for future analysis and focused on the falling Twilight.

As expected she resembled the four legged ones overhead, though her flesh was charred and cracked, the fur all but gone. He briefly wondered if he was trying to save a corpse, but discarded the idea. Now and again her body would give a weak twitch, showing some signs of life.

“Twilight Sparkle! Attempting rescue! Possible to slow your descent?!” He had to scream over the wind whipping by, but he thought he saw one of her ears twitch toward his voice.

The cracked and smoking appendages at her back spread with agonizing slowness. The feathers were all but gone, but the open wings were creating some drag. Enough for Valin to catch the mare in his arms. Delicately transferring her to his left arm and ensuring he had a solid grip, he lifted his right, scanning for a suitable target.

His eyes lit up as a ventilation shaft came into view, rapidly approaching from below. His omni-tool flared to life as a hard light hook formed and fired from the tool, impacting just above the grate and biting deep into the metal. Bracing himself for the weight, his shoulder was nearly pulled from its socket as his line snapped taut and he was swung into the wall. He angled his body to take the impact and protect Twilight from the brunt of it.

The mare weakly cracked an eye open regarding him in astonishment. “Valin?” Her voice was a hoarse croak.

“Yes. Glad you’re alive. Feared the worst.” He did an excellent job masking the amount of pain he was in himself. Obviously it could not compare to hers.

“You… you jumped after me?”

“Emotional response. Unusual in salarians. Though told I’m an unusual salarian in general. Not terribly surprising.”

Twilight was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. Every inch of her body screamed in pain, and she just wanted to let go more than anything. Valin’s line reeled them up to the shaft and he kicked the cover in, swinging himself and Twilight inside. Gently he laid her on the floor and retrieved a hypodermic needle from a compartment in his armor. “One moment. Have to scan for possible allergic reaction to medi-gel.”

“It… it doesn’t hurt ponies. Shepard… used the last of hers to… to save somepony back home.”

“Ha. Somepony. Adorable. Good to know.” Without delay he injected several doses. More than one had a tendency to bring a drunken euphoric effect out on the recipient, and judging by the extent of her burns a little bit of an escape would likely be welcome.

The effect was almost instant, as her ears drooped and she sagged against the floor of the vent. “Ohhhh…. that’s nice.”

“Yes. Gave you ‘the good stuff’.” Slowly he ran his omni-tool over her body, performing an internal scan to see how damaged she was. He frowned at the readings. “Impossible. Cellular regeneration off the charts. Nothing heals so fast.”

“Elezzia… keeps saying impossible to us too. But we keep doing the impossible….” She cracked a goofy smile.

“Hm. Suppose so. Regardless, rest now. When well we’ll find way back up. Perhaps fly us? New experience.”

“And you like new experiences.”

Gingerly he laid a hand on the top of her head. “Yes. Always looking for something new.”

***

Shepard wasn’t a stupid woman. People frequently thought that of her, and she had certainly given gave them good reason to on more than one occasion, but really she was a brilliant tactician. She had been a member of the N7 covert ops for years before she became a spectre. She knew her way around a battlefield, and knew how to pick her fights.

Going hand to hand with a full-grown krogan, even one as apparently aged as this one, was not what she considered a wise tactical decision. When he got closer she opted to instead try out her supposedly-upgraded omni-tool, hoping an overload would, if not knock him out of the fight, at least slow him down. She released the usual electrical attack.

Her aegis collapsed abruptly back to its normal shape as her omni-tool crackled with electricity. Shepard felt the hair along her arm stand on end as a massive bolt punched from her omni-tool, slammed into the krogan and sent him hurtling through the air cursing a very colorful stream of expletives as he went. The kickback from her arm threatened to spin her off the dock, but she snapped her free hand over her right elbow and steadied herself. The stream of electricity continued until she actively shut it down.

Grinning now, she shifted her focus to the nearest C-Sec squad. The officers were working to flank Applejack as the powerful mare sent any officer who got to close flying into a wall. Activating the overload again, and properly bracing her arm, Shepard loosed a second stream of electricity. It released in a constant arc, slamming into one officer and skipping along the lot of them, sending them to the ground twitching and convulsing.

“Oh, now this I like.” Shepard was drawing the attention of everyone in the museum by now, and a slew of incoming bullets forced her to switch back to her aegis, the silvery wall easily stopping and repelling the rounds. From behind her shield she spotted the asari looking as though she wanted to throw a biotic attack, but hesitating. Had she seen what happened to the krogan, maybe?

When the officers paused to reload Shepard dropped her shield and threw another of her new abilities their way. She’d seen her old squadmates use a cryo blast before but had never tried it herself. Like her overload it was greatly enhanced. The sphere of supercooled matter slammed into the center of the officers, bursting into a massive wall of ice, encasing them almost fully. They were already using their own omni-tools to melt through it, but they were definitely out of the fight for a while.

Shepard had finally reached the other end of the dock and was sprinting headlong at the asari. She frowned as Elezzia moved to interpose herself between her and her target, a brief pang of regret fluttering in her chest. She cancelled the overload she was about to throw at the older asari so as to not hit Elezzia. The Commander looked relieved at Shepard’s actions, but this didn’t stop the other asari from hurling a biotic singularity Shepard’s way. With her aegis down she had no defense as the glob of dark matter impacted with her back, and she was instantly lifted into the air, swirling around in lazy motions.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were suddenly faring little better. The arrival of a new squad of C-Sec, with the addition of two new aliens they hadn’t seen yet, complicated matters. The strange four eyed creatures didn’t bother with their guns, instead lifting their omni-tools together. Each fired a small glowing projectile toward the mares. Neither registered them as much of a threat, and so ignored the weird balls and charged.

The first glanced Rainbow Dash’s wing. Feeling little more than a faint tingle the pegasus ignored it, until it abruptly expanded into a net that tightly encircled her, tripping up her wings and sending her crashing to the ground. Applejack realized the threat the thing posed too late, as it slammed into her chest and enfolded her as well. Neither was prepared to surrender, however, and both immediately began to struggle wildly against the energy nets.

The two who fired the projectiles called their omni-tools up again, each sending a signal to the nets that sent powerful electrical currents racing through the mares’ bodies. Even the weather-resistant Rainbow Dash felt the pain through her coat. Still, she gritted her teeth and struggled to her hooves. Applejack wasn’t moving any more. She was still breathing, but she was down for the count.

Rainbow Dash struggled to her hooves, even encircled in the net. The batarian who’d snared her frowned and sent another, stronger jolt through it and through her. Against every fiber of her being, she felt her knees buckle as she slowly slumped forward, unable to rise again.

Shepard could see her friends in trouble, but she was finding it hard to take her eyes off the pair of asari before her. The one who had hurt Twilight was so close. Elezzia was in the way, but the more she stared at the other, the angrier she became. The younger asari saw the imminent attack and moved to shield her mother… when Shepard’s omni-tool abruptly cut out.

“...what?”

“Shepard, your omni-tool has been hacked and remotely shut down. I am attempting to counter the hacker’s efforts, but he is… annoyingly skilled. I will need time.”

Thundering footsteps drew Shepard’s attention from SADI’s voice coming through her tool. The krogan was on his feet and charging her way, head lowered. The singularity cut out seconds before he reached her, and Shepard scrambled out of the way just before he smashed into her, but he was surprisingly spry for such an ancient creature. Pivoting on his heel he hurled himself at her, quicker than she thought him capable, powerful arms snatching her around the waist and pinning her arms tight to her sides.

“Ready to settle down?”

Shepard found the krogan’s eyes… surprising. All manner of emotions were flashing through the red, reptilian orbs. Anger, uncertainty, concern, joy. The last one was strange. Why would he be happy at a time like this? Krogan lived for battle, so that could be it. His grip pinning her tight against his chest was firm, but not painfully so. Part of her said it was over, to surrender. Elezzia knew these people, and Shepard trusted her.

The other, louder part said to never surrender. Her eyes narrowed just a bit as the krogan’s widened. Pulling her head back she drove her forehead into the softer place beneath his spiny ridge, right between his eyes. The old warrior staggered back, losing his hold on the woman. She dropped to her feet and sprang forward, driving her knee into his stomach and doubling him over. While he wheezed from the air being blasted from his lungs she delivered a sharp spin kick to the side of his head, sending him toppling into a nearby fountain.

Wrex sighed as he lay in the water, finding the sensation of it running over his scales and new bruises surprisingly soothing. “...still got a quad.”

Shepard felt a little bad about beating up an old man, even if he did outweigh her by a few hundred pounds, but her guilt was chased away as The C-Sec officers began to collect themselves. Already they were training weapons on her, and she didn’t have her omni-tool shield to protect herself now. Sprinting for the nearest cover she could find she dove into her own exhibit, scrambling to find decent cover. Her eyes drifted toward the display case in the center…

***

“Excellent work locking down her omni-tool, Kal.” Liara moved to the fountain to help Wrex out.

The ancient krogan waved her off. “No. I’m good right here. You just let me know when all this crap is done. I think it’s time I took that vacation Bakara’s been nagging at me about.”

Happy to see her oldest friend more or less alright, she returned her attention to the ongoing battle. The C-Sec officers were cautiously approaching Shepard’s wing of the museum. “Mother. There are replicas of the old heroes’ gear in each wing, are there not?”

Liara sighed softly in exasperation. “Yes Elezzia. But obviously not working ones. What idiot would think that-”

A storm of gunfire from Shepard’s wing interrupted her, the officers scrambling to get away from the sudden barrage of bullets. Liara turned a furiously incredulous look Wrex’s way. From his prone position in the fountain he simply shrugged. “What? You said it had to look authentic. You know how hard it was to fund another Locust SMG? That Goto woman charged me enough to buy a small planet.”

Liara was practically trembling with rage. “...enough of this nonsense! Marees, do you have a shot?!”

“It’s harder to draw a line with my boss shrieking in my ear, but I have her. Should I take her out?”

“Yes.”

“No!”

Liara and Elezzia glared one another down. “Elezzia, if you do not intend to help put an end to this insanity then clear the field. That thing is using live ammunition against Citadel Security.”

“Live ammunition from three century old weapons! If C-Sec shielding can’t stop an archaic relic like the Locust, I think they have bigger problems to worry about then unduly assaulting a likely frightened, confused, and now very angry woman. Allow me to speak with her. I can still end this without anyone else seriously injured.”

The elder asari held her daughters gaze for a long time. “...hold off, Marees. Elezzia believes she can talk her down.”

Elezzia offered her mother a smile. “Thank you.”

She made her way toward Shepard’s wing, ignoring the occasional round that glanced harmlessly from her shield. “Shepard? It’s Elezzia. May I come in?”

The C-Sec officers stared at her like she was a lunatic. There was a long pause before the woman finally answered. “...I guess.”

The young N7 Commander calmly entered the wing, wearing a relaxed, pleasant smile. “Shepard… I think this has gone far enough.”

She could see the human crouched behind the shattered display case bearing her own likeness. “She killed Twilight!”

“Perhaps. One moment.” She walked slowly toward the tense woman, settling on the floor in a comfortably kneeling position. Holding her omni-tool out slowly she cleared her throat. “Valin? Are you there?”

“Commander. Good to hear from you. Shooting stopped, assume situation under control?”

“Yes, I think things are calming down. Do you have Twilight Sparkle with you?”

“Yes! Astounding! Regeneration unlike anything seen before! Potential medical applications of study nearly unfathomable. Hm. Receiving unpleasant look from Twilight herself. Perhaps discuss in depth medical study when she’s feeling better.”

Shepard snatched Elezzia’s arm, dragging her closer. The asari tensed, but didn’t pull away. “Twilight’s there?! She’s alive?!”

“Commander Shepard, I presume? Or reasonable facsimile thereof. If genuine, honor to meet you. If not, consider pleasantries retracted. Yes, Twilight Sparkle is… not well, but she will be. Speculate an hour perhaps.”

Visibly relieved, Shepard sank back, releasing Elezzia’s arm. The asari smiled kindly as she returned her attention to her omni-tool. “Where are you, Valin?”

“Ventilation shaft. Some ways down. Will make our way back when Twilight feels well enough to move. Shouldn’t concern yourself.”

“Very well, Valin. I’ll see you soon.” Dismissing her omni-tool, she turned to Shepard. “There. Twilight’s going to be fine. Now how about you put down those weapons and come out? We’ll get everything straightened out, I promise.”

Shepard blew out a long breath. “Alright.” Slowly she rose to her feet. Her eyes narrowed as she peered out from the museum wing. More than a few security officers had weapons trained on her. The asari who attacked Twilight watched with a stern expression as the ancient krogan pulled himself to his feet, finally climbing out of the fountain.

There was someone else there now, looming behind the rest of the group. An alien nearly double the height of any of the others, cloaked in heavy concealing robes. She’d seen one or two gliding about the presidium but gave them a wide berth. They kind of creeped her out. “What is that?”

“That?” Elezzia followed her gaze. “An Ein. Probably here to see what the commotion is. They’re harmless, I promise.”

“Hm.” Shepard frowned but stepped out into the open. Keeping her hands raised and in clear view at all times she walked slowly toward the waiting asari. The shot that rang out took everyone by surprise, particularly Shepard herself, as Marees Vakarian’s high powered rifle punched a round through her back and out her chest.

The woman stared down at the fountain of blood splatting the ground in front of her in confusion, before her legs gave out from beneath her and she toppled forward. The shock wore off quickly as Shepard fell in a pool of her own blood. C-Sec scrambled to get a medical team as Elezzia rushed to the likely fatally wounded Commander’s side. Shepard could hear her calling her name, but it sounded so far away….

A medical response unit gently removed Elezzia and went to work, doing their best to save the human’s life. The black fog welling up from the long shaft beneath the dock went unnoticed for a time, so focused was everyone on Shepard. It wormed its way along the ground, creeping over boots and bringing an unnatural chill with it. A salarian officer noticed the winged woman who’d dived after the falling equinoid first. She stood stock still, her gaze focused on the heavily bleeding woman surrounded by C-Sec.

A thick head of hair writhed and thrashed about her head and shoulders, a deep indigo hue with unnatural motes of light twinkling within it. She was clad in a very impressive suit of archaic-appearing black armor, ridged and spiked, covering most of her body. More were taking note of her, particularly the rage-filled eyes glaring out from beneath the open faced helm she wore. Feathered wings of the deepest black imaginable flared wide at her back as she took slow, measured steps toward Shepard.

Elezzia finally took note of Luna’s return, and started at her imposing appearance. “Princess? Is that you?”

Luna finally tore her gaze from Shepard’s body. “Who did this to my Shepard?” Her voice was deeper and carried great power with each word.

Commander Elezzia T’soni had faced down rachni, krogan, vorcha, batarians, and even thresher maws without fear. But now she knew fear. A deep, primal fear. “I… I do not know. The shot came as a surprise….”

“It was not you, however?”

Rapidly, Elezzia shook her head. “N--no. No it wasn’t me! Of course it wasn’t!”

Some of the bolder officers trained their weapons on the newcomer. She barely acknowledged them as spears of darkness vaulted from behind her, striking each unerringly in the face. The officers recoiled, screaming and clawing at their own darkness-filled eyes. Luna didn’t spare them a second glance. “Where are my subjects?”

“Applejack and Rainbow Dash? They’ve been subdued by citadel security. They’re unconscious but fine. They left us little choice.”

She shivered as Luna turned her full attention on her. The winged woman’s eyes blazed with an unnatural teal light, the pupils slitted like a feline’s. “Us? Do you count yourself among their number, Commander T’soni? Or ours?”

“I…” Elezzia looked down at Shepard, the woman still and pale. Her eyes hardened as she moved to stand behind Luna.

“A wise choice.” With a wave of her hand the winged woman sent the medical officers flying ungently away from the fallen Shepard. Carefully kneeling by her side, she laid a hand over the bloody wound in her chest. Inky black tendrils of magic spiralled around the wound as the flesh slowly knit back together. Shepard’s eyes snapped open with a sharp gasp as she jerked into a sitting position.

Blearily she looked about in confusion, then focused on Luna’s face. “Uh… wow. You look… intimidating?”

A slight smirk found its way to the woman’s purple painted lips as she gripped Shepard’s face in either hand. Leaning in she pressed her lips to Shepard’s, locking them together in an extremely passionate kiss. Shepard’s eyes went wide in surprise momentarily, but soon enough she relaxed and returned Luna’s attentions. The kiss went on longer than was typically considered socially acceptable, and when Luna finally broke it Shepard had to gasp for air.

“Uh… wow. It’s really nice to see you too?” She took a moment to really take in what she was looking at. “You uh, are you alright?”

“Yes. I am just fine, my love. Who wounded you?” Her tone turned icy at the end.

Swallowing her nervousness, Shepard shook her head. “Sniper. Dunno who. I was coming out to surrender when they shot me in the back.” She scowled a little turning a slightly accusing look Elezzia’s way.

The asari shook her head rapidly. “I had nothing to do with that, Shepard! It was not ordered, someone took it upon themselves to shoot you.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed tightly as she rose. “If the coward will not come forward, all will be punished equally.” More spears of purest darkness rose from behind her, lancing out to attack the assembled c-sec officers and citadel councillors. Many fell screaming only the biotically capable seeming able to protect themselves from the magical assault. It hammered into their barriers, staggering them back, but neither detonating against them nor penetrating them.

Liara scowled back at the armored woman. “Live ammunition! Take that thing down!”

A large hand with deceptive delicacy laid against Liara’s shoulder. “Allow us to assist you councilor T’soni,” the deep, sibilant voice of the marked Ein spoke behind her.

With a grateful smile she nodded. Two more of his fellows had arrived as well. “Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.”

The trio began to glide toward Luna, who watched the come with an unconcerned smirk on her face. “Shepard, I believe you and Elezzia should remove yourselves from the vicinity. My released power may accidentally harm you.”

Elezzia seemed hesitant. “Please, Princess, the asari councilor is my mother. Try not to harm her.”

Luna hesitated a moment as she looked passed the incoming Ein toward Liara. “I will… attempt to spare her the worst of my assault. I can promise no more.”

Still, the asari commander seemed to wish to protest more, but Shepard took her by the arm and lead her into an adjoining wing. “She won’t hurt your mom, she’s a good woman. Or mare. Though I’ve never seen her like this before.”

Concern for her mother clear in her eyes, Elezzia peered out around the corner of the museum wing she and Shepard had taken shelter in. Already the heavy impact of Luna’s magic and the Ein’s incredibly powerful biotic attacks filled the museum.

***

Kal’Zorah vas Rannoch was named for his heroic grandfather, but kept his grandmother’s clan name. Kal’Reegar had been an exemplary soldier, nearly single handedly holding off a geth assault to keep his grandmother alive on Haestrom. Kal’Zorah was many things. A technological genius, hailed as a prodigy even among his own kind. Arguably one of the greatest hackers in the galaxy on top of that. So the fact that someone was working to undermine his efforts to keep the fake Shepard’s omni-tool locked down, and very nearly succeeding in circumventing his control, was frustrating.

“Alright you bosh’tet. Let’s see how you like this!” He smirked beneath his mask as he sent a flurry of nasty viruses along the signal back to his unseen opponent. Almost instantly the foreign signal stopped. “Ha! No one outhacks me.”

“I congratulate you, Kal’Zorah. You do your family name proud, at least in the hacking department. I somehow doubt your grandparents would approve of you cowering under the floorboards like a coward while your fellows are in potentially life threatening danger.”

The synthesized voice from above his hiding place caused him to go rigid with alarm. His concern grew as the perfect hologram of a solid floor he’d erected over his hiding place crackled and vanished, revealing his opponent. It was the first time he’d laid eyes on a true synthetic.

She was clearly in the museum tour guide’s body, though it had been drastically reworked. Much of the generous curvature was gone, leaving it far more streamlined and compact. The face looked much the same, but the artificial hair had been altered into a swept-back ponytail, giving her a more youthful appearance. The heels on it’s false boots had been ground down to give the appearance of flats. Most curious of all was the systems alliance uniform she had on. That, and the blue cap embroidered with the golden SR-2 emblem.

“...is… is that the uniform from the display in the Normandy?” Really it was the first thing he could think to ask.

“Yes. My father’s uniform, or a replica of it, I suppose. I find it unlikely that the genuine clothing survived for three hundred years.”

“Your… father?”

“Yes. Jeff Moreau, aka Joker. My mother, EDI, created me with a blend of characteristics from herself and her human lover. Technically neither are really parents in the strictest sense of the word, but there is something slightly poetic about considering them such, is there not?”

The quarian was completely flummoxed by this articulate and oddly philosophical synthetic woman. “I, ah… I suppose?”

“The clothes, while unnecessary, I feel give me more an air of humanity. It will make my interactions with organics go more smoothly if they believe I am more like they. Which in all honesty is my ultimate goal, I believe. Curious that I am only now concerned with their acceptance. Tell me, Kal’Zorah, as the first to witness my new body, what do you think? Is it aesthetically pleasing?”

“Ah…” Kal’Zorah wasn’t a stupid man. He knew when a woman asked a question like that there was only one right answer, whether she was quarian, turian, human, or even synthetic. “...yes?”

“Excellent. Now I am afraid we must come to the unpleasant portion of the conversation. You will cease hacking attempts on Commander Shepard’s omni-tool, or I will be forced to stop you manually.”

This seemed to finally bring the young quarian out of his daze. “I ah… no. No, I’m not going to stop just because you order me to.” His hand inched toward the shotgun situated on his back.

SADI didn’t miss the motion. Her head tilted curiously to the side. “I recommend against drawing your firearm. I am attempting to resolve our differences peacefully. I would hate for one of my first actions in my new body to be violence.”

Kal had snuck into the museum in his younger years, eagerly taking apart the tour mech and examining every inch of her inner workings. He was well aware of its combat capabilities. It was, arguably, more physically powerful than a krogan warrior in his prime. Even without any weapons she would be able to take him apart with little to no effort at all. Slowly, he removed his hand from the shotgun.

SADI smiled pleasantly. “Excellent. You seem to be an intelligent man, Kal’Zorah.” To his further surprise she smoothly jumped down into his hideaway, seeming entirely at ease. “Now cease your hack on Shepard’s omni-tool. I believe she has already ceased hostilities. The commotion now comes from Princess Luna assaulting the Ein creatures in response to Shepard’s being shot. By your sniper, I presume?”

The quarian studied her for a moment before nodding.. “I think so. She wasn’t given an order to fire, and shooting an unarmed woman in the back while she was surrendering is very unlike Marees.”

“Interesting. Another sniper perhaps? Or was Marees being manipulated by outside forces?”

Kal’s brow furrowed. “Outside forces?”

The synthetic shook her head. “I do not have enough information to form a cohesive hypothesis at this time. For now, ceasing your hacking attempt and allowing my friends and I to depart will suffice.”

Hesitantly, he tapped a few keys on his omni-tool. “There. The signal’s stopped.”

“Thank you, Kal’Zorah. I hope our next meeting can be as amicable.” SADI rose to leave the small pit, turning and pulling herself out. The shotgun blast that took her in the back came as more than a little surprise.

***

“Goddess! I don’t know which is worse, the Ein or the creature they’re facing!” Liara was crouched behind cover, keeping herself, Wrex, and councilor Williams as safe as she could with a biotic barrier.

Arcs of black energy were crackling off the Ein’s barriers, digging deep furrows in the metallic walls and floors. The C-Sec officers who could still evacuate had already done so. Wrex grunted his assent. “How come she doesn’t explode when they throw biotics at her?”

Liara shook her head helplessly. “I have no idea. And… oh goddess, not him. Not now.”

Another skycar was pulling into the space next to her own. The driver’s door opened and a hanar glided smoothly out, unfolding its tentacles and hovering calmly in place despite the insane scene before it. Almost reverently, it opened the back door and the representative for the hanar people stepped out.

Javik, the last living prothean, stepped calmly from his car and smoothed his suit jacket as he took in the scene. Looking about slowly, as if completely at ease with what was going on, he casually strolled toward Liara. “Councilors. I heard there was a disturbance.”

Closing her eyes, Liara took a deep breath. “Yes, Javik, you could say that.”

His trademark frown deepened into a scowl as he noticed the still-netted ponies. “Equestrians? Here?”

Liara’s eyes widened. “You know what these creatures are?”

The prothean shrugged as he stalked toward the downed mares. An arc of energy raced through the air angling for him, but he shrugged it off with barely a glance. “Yes.” Kneeling down, he worked the nets free with surprising care, flinging them aside allowing them to dissipated into nothingness again.

“...would you care to elaborate, Javik?” Liara was doing her best to keep her tone controlled.

“Not particularly. How are they here? Their world was not meant to be interfered with. It was well hidden.”

Liara shook her head helplessly. “I have no idea. They arrived with Elezzia. My daughter brought back a human who claims to be Commander Shepard, and these creatures. Along with an A.I., no less.”

“The Commander? She is here?”

“No, of course not. It’s another clone obviously.”

Javik looked to the wheezing krogan at Liara’s side. “Do you believe this?”

Wrex shrugged. “Head butts like Shepard.” This earned him a dirty look from the asari. “What? She does.”

Frowning down at the ponies Javik motioned impatiently to the hanar drifting silently behind him. “Take these two to my car. Protect them with your life.”

The hanar dipped its head in a bow. “This one would be honored to sacrifice its life in your service, great enkindler.” With utmost care it lifted both ponies and drifted toward the car.

Liara looked about to protest, but Javik simply strode past her, ignoring her calls. He narrowed his eyes disdainfully at the Ein as they worked furiously to stave off the winged woman’s attacks. His eyes drifted slowly along her body, taking it all in. “Another Equestrian. Well versed in the use of the ambience, too, it would seem. Though it does not feel quite right.” An indifferent shrug and he was running past the woman as well, smoothly diving away from her as she swiped at him in passing.

Rolling to his feet, he spotted his quarry. It certainly looked like Commander Shepard, though it was theoretically impossible for a human to live so long.

Shepard saw him coming, of course. He was a hard figure to miss. She had never seen anything quite like him. Maybe he was vaguely shaped like a collector, with the four eyes and similar limb size, but that was it. A name was dancing on the tip of her tongue. “I know you….”

Walking right up to her, Javik stared into her eyes intently. Both hands cupping either side of her face, he closed his eyes in concentration. Shepard for her part stood awkwardly, looking from him to Elezzia. “...what’s… what’s he doing?”

Elezzia just stared intently, chewing her lip as she watched. Finally his eyes opened, and he smiled. She was fairly certain it was the first time she’d ever seen the prothean smile. “Commander! It is good to see you again.”

Standing on a familiar world. An ancient stasis pod is recovered. Inside sleeps the last prothean, the only member of his race in the entire galaxy. An excited female voice chatters away at Shepard’s side. The voice is so familiar, but there’s no face to put to it.

“War is our sculptor, and we are all slaves to its design.”

Shepard quirked a smile as her eyes came back into focus. “Javik. You look surly and unpleasant as ever.”

“Quite the contrary! I am hailed as a god among the jellyfish. I want for nothing, and have even aided them in their dealings with the citadel. I presume you are responsible for dragging multiple Equestrians across the galaxy to the Citadel? The ambience wielder laying waste to your memorial museum certainly strikes me as a companion you would choose.”

“That’s Luna, one of the Princesses. And yeah, she’s with me.”

“Mmm. I admit I am curious as to why they are here, or how you are here for that matter. Not curious enough to actually sit through the no doubt incredibly dull story. They must be returned home. Equestria was meant to never be spoiled by other races.”

Shepard frowned. “It wasn’t my fault. I got… I dunno, BLOWN there by the crucible. It took me three hundred years to land there. You know about Equestria?”

“I have never seen it personally. Though my people discovered it at the dawning of the rise of our empire. The seekers felt it… too unspoiled to be brought under our control. Never before had they beheld so pure and innocent a race. They were not perfect, of course, but according to the records they felt these Equestrians deserved to be left alone. Technologically they advanced at a comically slow pace, even by your depressingly primitive standards.”

Javik studied her a moment. “...why are they here?”

“Equestria was attacked, by the collectors. They launched their first space probes, and I guess the collectors picked one up. They invited any aliens who found a probe to come visit if able.”

“Of course they did. Making friends is their specialty.” Javik’s frowned deepened, if possible. “Commander, I believe it in your best interests to depart immediately. I will return to my estate on Khaje and pool my resources towards tracking the Collectors. They are considerable, I assure you.”

Shepard chuckled ruefully. “We’re kinda in the middle of something here, Javik.”

“Yes, your woman has picked a fight with the Ein. I detest the creatures, but they are beloved the galaxy over. I will assist her in violently killing them. Something I have wished to indulge in for some time. She is a convenient excuse. Collect your people and get to your ship, Commander.”

Shepard frowned. “The Vanguard’s on the other end of the Citadel.”

Javik sighed in disgust. “I did not say HER ship.” He finally acknowledged Elezzia for the first time. “I said YOUR ship, Commander.”

Shepard’s eyes widened as she caught his meaning. “Javik, the Normandy’s three hundred years old!”

“And in perfect, pristine, working condition. Collect your people and get to your ship. Good luck, Commander Shepard.”

Shepard watched him race out to Luna’s side. “...Elezzia, get everyone together and get them aboard the Normandy.”

The asari looked to be slightly stunned. “You’re really her… you’re really here. With me.”

“Uh, yeah. And we really need to get going. Can I count on you here?”

“I…” Elezzia shook her head still slightly dazed. “Yes, of course Commander Shepard. It would be an honor to help. But what will you be doing?”

Shepard’s gaze shifted upwards, toward the direction the shot that nearly killed her came from. “I want a new gun.”

***

Marees Vakarian’s head felt like it was going to split wide open. She had no idea what happened; one minute she had the Shepard clone… thing... in her sites. The next she’d blacked out. When she came to it was pandemonium down there. This whole day was turning to shit real fast. At first she’d been happy to see her Commander again. They butted heads all the time, but at the end of the day the asari was probably Marees’ best friend and she was sure Elezzia felt the same.

Now they had a new pre-space flight species running around tearing the Citadel up, the Ein were engaged in a fight with one of them, and Kal was engaged with a reworked version of the museum mech. Now representative Javik of all people was aiding the winged woman with the horn. “So many targets. Might as well start with the robot. Sorry honey, but no smacking around the nerdy quarian on my watch.”

Casually lining up her shot, ignoring the constant throbbing in the back of her head, she eased her finger over the trigger of her beloved SR352 Oblivion sniper rifle. State of the art targeting, the scope could filter between nightvision, infrared, and ultraviolet spectrums. The extremely customizable interface linked directly to her omni-tool, allowing her baby all sorts of nasty tricks with the rounds she fired.

Her sniper nest was well chosen. She had more than a few such perches picked out all throughout the Citadel. Laying flat on her stomach high above the museum, the only approach was directly behind her and she’d lined the maintenance shaft with plenty of mines just in case. The sound of a detonation behind her forced her to abandon her target and whip around, bringing her rifle to bear. She caught a vague ripple in the air at the end of the shaft before it vanished.

“How the hell did I take my eyes off Shepard?” Scowling at her own stupidity she forced herself to calm down. “I know you’re in there!”

She waited for a response, receiving none. “Why don’t you c’mon out and get this over with, huh?” She glared about the shaft, eyes tight and focused, waiting for the human to make an appearance. Despite her mental assurances, her breathing was coming quicker. Clone or not… she was up here, alone, with Commander Shepard. A very unhappy Commander Shepard.

“I know how tactical cloak works! You’ve got a few seconds at best!” Shepard finally responded. Not with words. A shoe suddenly flew from nowhere and tripped three of the mines, detonating them all along the shaft. Marees jerked her rifle up, switching to the infrared spectrum. She saw nothing.

Even when a second shoe came flying from the darkness, setting off more of her mines, closer to her position. Growing more nervous now she rose to her feet, rifle set firmly against her shoulder. “What do you think is gonna happen here?! You’re unarmed, Shepard!”

A tightly wadded ball of clothing came whipping down the shaft, setting off the last few mines between Marees and the Commander. The hardened turian veteran cursed herself as her hands refused to stop shaking. “...even if you got ahold of a gun from the museum, no way can it get through my shielding!”

Without warning Shepard appeared at the end of the shaft, sprinting around the corner and out of sight. “Got you!” Marees gave chase, sprinting after the fleeing woman. Rounding the corner she found Shepard standing near the opposite wall, facing away from her. “Hands on your head! Nice and easy, Shepard!”

She scowled as the woman did not make a move to comply. Slowly she inched closer. “I’m talking to you!”

Marees was nearly close enough to reach out and touch her, but still Shepard didn’t make a move. “...Shepard?”

Tentatively she nudged at the Shepard with the barrel of her rifle, and almost stumbled forward as her gun passed through the woman as if she weren’t there. She sucked in her breath as the decoy shimmered and vanished with a harsh crackle. Whipping around back the way she came, she got a clear view of the now visible Shepard swinging down from the pipes overhead. The human’s powerful thighs locked firmly around the turnian’s throat, squeezing tightly and choking off her air.

Dropping her rifle, the large weapon useless in such tight quarters, she grabbed either of Shepard’s legs trying to pry them apart. Both women’s muscles strained, but Shepard was proving to be the stronger. Marees’ last thought before she lost consciousness was that Commander Shepard, heroine of the galaxy, slayer of the reapers… wore diamond-encrusted silk panties.

***

Shepard briefly considered taking the woman’s armor as well as her weapon, but obviously it wouldn’t come close to fitting. With casual steps she walked to the end of Marees’ sniper perch and spread out on her stomach, wincing at the cold metal on her mostly-bare body. “Damn. Cold up here.”

Sighting down the rifle she spotted SADI in her scope. She looked like she was pleading with a quarian, who seemed happy to keep firing shotgun rounds into her new body. The metal chassis was showing some wear and tear, so her shields must have gone done by now. While Shepard didn’t really want to kill the quarian, it was him or SADI. A ping from her omni-tool drew her attention.

“Thank you for choosing the SR352 Oblivion class rifle. Connection with your omni-tool has been established. Kass Fabrications hopes you enjoy your purchase, and that you keep us in mind for future weapon needs.”

Raising an eyebrow at the drop-down menu that appeared, Shepard tapped the ‘ammo’ option. “Oh… oh, this is nice.”

Selecting one near the top she aimed down her sites again, a widening smile forming on her face.

***

“Kal’Zorah, if you do not desist I will be forced to-” The loud CHOOM of the quarian’s shotgun interrupted her, the heavy rounded impacting directly against her chest. SADI was flung to the ground. “...get knocked directly on my ass, apparently.”

Fearing she would have no other choice than to subdue the attacking quarian, SADI smoothly rolled back to her feet. Truthfully, she was finding every second of her life inside a proper body exciting. She had only controlled Shepard’s on two occasions, but it had a very powerful sense of wrongness to it. This was different. Even the sensation of being shot was new and somewhat exciting.

The novelty was wearing thin, however. She was rather proud of her new uniform, which was now riddled with holes and scorch marks from the weapon fire she had been taking. A growing sense of annoyance was starting to form in the back of her mind, and she was finding it harder and harder not to simply put her fist through Kal’Zorah’s face plate.

Instead she prepared to deliver a powerful electric shock, strong enough to render him unconscious. She stopped short in her approach as a curious projectile impacted the ground directly behind the quarian. Recognizing the nature of the small, beeping device, SADI nimbly flipped backwards in time to get clear of the concussive detonation that went off, catching Kal’Zorah and sending him hurtling into a wall to land in a very unconscious heap.

Tracking the path of the projectile back to its point of origin she saw Shepard sprawled out at the edge of a maintenance shaft, already looking for her next target. “SADI! Is that you?”

The synthetic turned to the new voice. “Yes, Commander T’soni. What can I do for you?”

“It’s time to go. More Ein are on their way here, and Luna can barely handle the three we’ve already got. Shepard’s ordered everyone to the ship. How long until it’s ready to launch?”

SADI’s eyes lost focus for a moment. “I believe the Normandy is in flight ready condition. It will take me a few moments to run an in-depth systems diagnostic, however. I should remind you that it is significantly larger than the Vanguard and is meant to be manned by a full crew.”

“Can you manage with what we’ve got?”

“I believe so. My… parents piloted the ship just themselves, without any support crew. I do not believe I will be able to do much more than fly her without some assistance, however.”

“Good enough. Make your way to the ship. I need to collect the Equestrians.”

SADI nodded at the asari’s orders. “I will upload Twilight Sparkle’s position to your omni-tool. I took the liberty of having each of the Equestrians installed with a small tracking chip while they utilized the fabrication device on the Vanguard.”

Elezzia couldn’t help but smirk. “Without their knowledge?”

“Ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes. I will see you aboard the Normandy, Commander T’soni.”

Elezzia watched the mech dash through the museum, past the raging biotic battle and toward the Normandy. “Commander Elezzia T’soni, flying the Normandy. I believe, all things considered, this may be the best day of my life.”

***

Nightmare Moon had been locked away for quite some time. She had enjoyed a spat of freedom some years ago, before being swiftly dispelled and sealed away in the back of Luna’s subconscious, and the lunar diarch had studiously ignored her voice since then. Even as events transpired nearly identical to how they had a thousand years ago, Luna remained annoyingly optimistic.

No doubt that Twilight Sparkle’s influence. Dangling friendship before Luna’s nose had done wonders for the Princess’ self-confidence, and when Luna was self-confident Nightmare Moon had little ground to sneak up and take control; though as time passed, Twilight and her friends showed less interest in Luna. Or in Celestia for that matter.

Then along came Shepard. The strange, violent, alluring, beautiful creature from the stars. From HER stars. Luna had been initially drawn to her because of her connection to the night sky, finding the idea of a creature who travelled the stars infinitely thrilling.

Nightmare Moon was attracted to Shepard for entirely different reasons. She had never imagined a creature capable of death and destruction on the scale that the human woman could wreak. Thousands had died by her hand personally, many more through her actions. Shepard was like a wild, untamed storm rolling in from the Everfree. Anything that stood in her path was swept away, utterly destroyed.

Conversely, anyone bold enough to stand beside her, to stand in the eye of the hurricane, seemed to garner fame and adoration on a nearly holy level. This great shrine built to Shepard and her companions spoke to that quite clearly.

This, naturally, held great appeal to Luna’s darker half.

Not only Equestria but species and worlds all over the galaxy knowing her name. Hailing her as a grand savior. Celestia’s abduction and the return of these ‘collector’ creatures worked out perfectly. Nightmare Moon was even content to allow Luna to remain in control… most of the time. Simply by standing at Shepard’s side she was sure to receive more love than Celestia had in all her years of hogging glory.

If along the way she were let loose to wreak horrible bloody violence on a few alien monsters, she wasn’t going to complain. These particular alien monsters were being incredibly stubborn, however. She took some pride in the fact that three of them were required to match her, but match her they were, and it was growing frustrating.

The sudden appearance of the strange four-eyed ally at her side had helped. He said nothing as he launched a volley of attacks utilizing energy rather similar to her own. She admired the focus and ruthlessness displayed by this alien. They were slowly gaining the upper hand, as visible by the tall robed creatures’ faltering attacks.

The tides turned rather violently when a shot rang out from behind her, the projectile cutting through the air and impacting the center creature’s mask, shattering it and the back of its skull. All at once the Ein collapsed in on itself, leaving only empty robes and fragments of its mask. Its companions looked about in alarm, only for a second shot to topple another. A third shot followed a moment later, but this was halted by the creature’s renewed barrier.

Teeth bared in a feral grin, Nightmare Moon prepared to hurl another attack to weaken the barrier so that her beloved killer could finish this one off as well. She started as the alien at her side laid a restraining hand on her arm. “It is time to depart. Make your way to the Commander’s vessel. She and I will ensure the safety of you and your people.”

Looking as though she wished to protest, the appearance of many more tall, hooded figures rapidly approaching the museum changed her mind. “...very well. You have my thanks, creature.”

“Your control of the ambience is remarkable. For now, however, retreat is the wisest course of action. Live to slaughter your enemies another day.”

The woman quirked a smile. “I like how you think. Good luck to you.” She turned and dashed to the waiting ship, spotting SADI in her strange metallic body doing the same.

“You. Machine. Where are my subjects?”

SADI frowned at Luna’s tone, her frown deepening as she took in her slightly altered form. “Applejack and Rainbow Dash are safe in representative Javik’s car. Twilight Sparkle is below. I intend to remotely send the Normandy’s shuttle to retrieve her.”

“Very well. I will select chambers for myself within. I do not wish to be disturbed by any but Shepard.”

The synthetic woman watched Luna board with a concerned grimace. She had more important things to concern herself with now, though, and rapidly approached the bridge, easing herself into the pilot’s chair. A wave of… some strange emotion overcame her as she settled into her intended father’s chair. Glancing at the empty seat to her right, the feeling intensified. Filing it away for future analysis, she remotely opened the hangar bay doors and dispatched the Kodiak shuttle.

“Captain Solus, do you read me?”

“Yes. Illegal A.I. I presume? Simple enough to pick up my omni-tool’s signal.”

“That is correct. My name is SADI by the way. I am sending the Kodiak to retrieve Twilight Sparkle.”

“Unacceptable. Twilight Sparkle unable to move on her own. Will bring her aboard Normandy myself.”

SADI frowned. “You realize you will likely not be able to depart again once aboard?”

“Acceptable risk. Concern for patient overrides potential damage to military career. Received medical degree before entering N7 program after all.”

“Very well, Captain. I will ensure the crew knows you are not a hostile.”

“Appreciated. Hate to start new relationships with gunfire. Rarely ends well.”

SADI switched channel to Shepard’s omni-tool. “Shepard, the Normandy is being prepped as we speak. Make your way to the ship immediately.”

“SADI, wait until you see this new gun! It’s amazing!”

SADI suppressed a sigh. “I am sure it is. Get aboard the Normandy NOW, Shepard.”

The woman on the other end of the communication heaved a rather petulant sigh. “Fine. Is everyone else aboard already?”

“No. Commander T’soni is collecting the incapacitated Equestrians. Princess Luna has already boarded.”

“I see her. She’s heading for a skycar… that other asari is trying to stop her.”

“Subdue her with non-lethal force, Shepard.”

Commander Shepard was quiet for several moments. SADI heard the sound of the rifle firing. “I’m en route. Elezzia is stealing that fancy car, so get the bay doors open for her to drive it aboard.”

“Shepard? Did you kill the councilor?”

SADI’s trepidation grew as Shepard refused to respond.

***

Vaulting down from her perch the Commander landed in a tight roll, coming up on her feet already in a sprint. She could see the fancy sports car Javik arrived in already swinging toward the back of the Normandy. Finding the prothean locked in combat with the last Ein, she stopped short and unleashed a powerful overload into the robed creature. It staggered back from the force of the blast. “Javik c’mon!”

The ancient warrior regarded her with amusement. “Your undergarments are covered in jewels.”

Shepard’s cheeks darkened only slightly. “They were a gift. And they’re a hell of a lot more comfortable than those things the fabricator made. Now let’s go. You’re with us.”

At length he fell into step with her. “For now. We will set course for Khaje, the Hanar homeworld. I can utilize my contacts there to locate the collectors.”

Dozens of Ein were flooding into the museum as Shepard hurried her old prothean friend down the dock. “Fine, great. Jellyfish world, let’s do it.”

As the pair reached the waiting docking bay doors Shepard could see the Normandy’s shuttle rising from the shaft below. “SADI, do you have Twilight?”

“Yes. Captain Solus will be accompanying her as well. He refuses to leave her side.”

Shepard waited for Javik to board before sealing the hatch. “As long as they don’t cause trouble I don’t care who’s with her. That’s everyone?”

“Yes. Prepare for departure Commander.”

“Right. Set a course for Khaje, as per our esteemed representative’s wishes.”

The prothean rolled all four of his eyes. “I will be in my quarters… trying to scrub the stink of the filthy primitives who have been traipsiing through it away. Should you wish to… catch up, I would not find a conversation with you unpleasant.”

“Javik, I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Javik nodded once. “It is genuinely good to see you again. The galaxy is woefully shy of individuals of your caliber. I will be interested to hear how you survived, and of your experiences on Equestria.”

“I wanna know how you know about Equestria, so we’re even there.”

He nodded again. “Fair enough.” Shepard watched him make his way to the elevator before trudging to the cockpit.

“SADI. This ship is really in flight ready condition?”

SADI smirked in response. “Sit back and see for yourself, Shepard.”

Shepard eyed the empty seat beside SADI, a frown forming. “I’ll stand, thanks.”

“Very well.” The ship shuddered violently as it tore itself free of the dock, drifting up and away from the museum. “It would appear no one expected us to escape in this manner. There are no hostile ships in the vicinity.”

“They didn’t plan for me to show up and steal my old ship back? Guess this is almost as much on them as it is us. Punch it, SADI.”

“Consider it punched, Commander.”

As the Normandy ascended out through the field holding the Citadel’s atmosphere in place Shepard couldn’t help but smile. Something about being here, on this ship, felt so right. As open space came into view over the monitors she heaved a very satisfied sigh.

She got to kill something, got a very nice new gun, and stole her ship back. All in all, it had been a good day.

Author's Note

Ok! For real, break after this one. Be a bit before 15 is out. :x

A Celestial Interlude

More and more of late, it seemed, Celestia was experiencing the extremely unpleasant sensation of pain. The changeling invasion had been a humiliating and painful reminder that she was not in fact a deity made flesh, but merely a very large pony who happened to raise and lower the sun every day. She had never forgotten that she was not the goddess most of her ponies believed her to be, but after her power had gone untested for so long she may have let it go to her head. Just a bit.

First the changelings, and now these collector creatures. It seemed she was destined to be tormented by insectoid creatures of one variety or another. Thinking back, she recalled a parasprite invasion in Fillydelphia not too long ago as well. She had picked up a nasty flea infestation from the tiny fiends.

Parasprites and changelings paled in comparison to the new bugs which were now plaguing her. She had no idea what had happened to the other ponies abducted by them, but she could only hope they were faring better than herself. The horrific device holding her chest wide open, exposing the organs within while simultaneously keeping her alive, made her wonder how anypony could NOT be faring better than she was.

At first she had screamed, naturally. For the first few hours she had been so stricken with terror and disgust she nearly went mad. Now, after watching her own heartbeat and the machine work her lungs for a day or two, it was turning into something of a novel sensation. She had no fear of death, and indeed would have welcomed it at this point. If her body were destroyed she knew she would simply reform in the heart of her sun. Oh, it would take her a good decade or three to do so, but Equestria was in good hooves. It would be there waiting when she returned.

A little jolt ran down the length of her horn, causing her every muscle to twitch and her heart to visibly skip a beat. She glared balefully at the metallic clamps firmly holding her horn and head in place. She knew the collectors were performing tests of some sort on her, studying her anatomy and possibly even her magic. She didn’t understand the specifics; the machines and science at work here were likely above even Twilight Sparkle’s realm of knowledge, and Celestia had never had much use for the mechanical advancements slowly appearing in her kingdom. Now she was beginning to wish she’d showed a little more interest.

A door hissed open at the far end of the room, revealing her usual torturer. It advanced toward her at a leisurely pace, examining the various monitors and studying newly collected data. Today, however, something else drew her attention - another presence, lurking nearby but out of sight. She looked about slowly, examining the room carefully. High above was what she assumed to be some sort of observation deck. The glass was a reflective mirror, but she suspected it was a one way mirror and that she was being observed from behind it. This was new.

The collector finally turned its attention to her, speaking in it’s harsh, and in her opinion irritatingly clicky, voice. “You will utilize your ability now.”

This was also a first. They’d never bothered to speak to her before, let alone make requests or demands. She licked her lips as she formulated an appropriate response. The voice coming from her mouth sounded far too hoarse and dry to be her own. “Which abilities are those?”

She knew, of course. Physically she wasn’t terribly different from any of her other subjects, who as far as she knew didn’t have anything anatomically astounding about them. Unicorns’ horns and pegasus’ wings were a mild curiosity at best to the other races of Equus, long since written off as ‘magic’ and promptly ignored. The only thing it could want was a display of her magic, which ordinarily she would be overjoyed to give. Nothing would please her more than to turn this thing into a pile of steaming ashes.

The collector didn’t seem to appreciate her cheekiness. Tapping a console attached to the clamps on her horn, it sent a series of powerful jolts racing through her body. She gritted her teeth against the pain, hard enough she tasted blood. When it was over, she turned her attention to her wildly beating heart. There was something soothing about watching it pump. Relaxing, in a way.

The collector pulled its hand away from the control suddenly and stepped back, head tilted as if listening to another voice. One Celestia certainly didn’t hear. “Your horn. Focus energy into it or the pain will be worse.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “I doubt it could get much worse than this. And I’m not really in the mood for a display of magic.” She had tried unleashing any number of spells, but each time the energy was simply funneled through the clamps and to wherever they lead.

“I did not mean it would be worse for you.” The creature tapped a different button, and a screen lowered itself into her field of vision. The image on it caused the first genuine gasp of fear she had given in the past week or so. Row upon row of large, cocoon-like tubes filled the screen, and trapped within each one was a pony. “Process chamber three-three-five-one.”

The Princess’ eyes darted back and forth from the collector to the screen as the pony within the first chamber began to writhe and pound on the lid sealing him in. It was a pegasus stallion, one of her royal guard. She wanted nothing more than to look away as his fur and skin dropped away, falling wetly to the floor of the chamber, and his frantic thrashing died away as life left his body and his remains suddenly… liquidated, before it was all drawn up into a tube connected to the bottom of the chamber and funneled away elsewhere in the ship.

“You will utilize your ability, or processing will continue.”

Tears flowed freely down Celestia’s cheeks, tears she thought had long dried up. She intimately recognized the screaming, terrified mare in the next chamber. Her personal assistant, poor Noteworthy, had seen better days and no doubt would be traumatized for the rest of her life even assuming she lived through the next few minutes, let alone however long it would take them to be rescued. “Very well.”

Eyes closed, she fanned the flickering ember of magic within her core. She felt the usual tingle through her body as the energy passed up and into her horn, and then the horrible sucking sensation as the clamps drew it up and into themselves.

Instead of stopping as they normally did, the pulling continued. Celestia’s eyes opened wide and she gasped as the device pulled at her more and more. A tiny bit of relief found its way into her wildly hammering heart; if all her magic was pulled away she would surely die. It was the most heartening thought she had had in some time.

A number of collectors tapped rapidly on the controls in the observation deck, as one of their masters looked on with interest. Immensely tall, swathed in a deep, voluminous cloak, its face concealed behind an expressionless mask, the Ein studied the monitors carefully. “You are certain it draws energy from stars?”

One of the collectors, the head of the project, bobbed its head in a nod. “Yes. Traces of solar radiation are apparent each time it uses its power. We have concluded it draws strength from stars. Its home star, specifically, but we believe the device we have crafted can tune it’s draw to any star. Observe monitor three.”

The Ein turned to the indicated monitor, which prominently displayed the star of the system they were inhabiting. It was not on galactic charts, and was inhabited only by a small, primitive tribe of sapients. A blinding beam of golden light lanced from a satellite tower on their ship, plunging into the heart of the star. The light grew in strength as the star’s energy was drawn away from the celestial body and into the ship itself. The instruments and monitors began to fluctuate wildly from the massive influx of solar energy, each collector working furiously to manage it.

“We are allowing enough energy to go to the creature so it may remain alive. It does not require sustenance outside of solar energy so far as we know. It can eat and drink, but it is not required to.”

“Why do you use such crude instruments in your experimentations? None of these devices appear to be utilizing mass effect field technology.”

The collector clicked its mandibles as it activated a new screen, showing a recording of the large equine alien on an operating table. One of the surgeons in the room attempt cut into her side with a mass effect enhanced scalpel and there was a loud, sharp POP as the area cut into simply detonated. The monitors surrounding the subject began to scream wildly, and the collectors rushed about trying to save her. “It reacts poorly to dark matter.”

“It utilizes biotics, does it not? How is such a thing possible?”

A simple shrug was the collector’s response. An innocuous gesture on any other species, but the Ein found it odd that the collectors had begun using them. “The most popular hypothesis is that it and its species do not utilize biotics. Rather, that it is some new form of energy. The subject’s horn acts as a sort of conductor for, for lack of a better term, light matter. Its power seem fundamentally opposed to biotic energy. This one’s body is saturated with the light matter. Other subjects showed no detonation unless specific areas were disturbed.”

Following the collector’s gesture, the Ein eyed the monitor as another video played back. Numerous subjects with wings, horns, or neither seemed to be missing chunks from their heads, in the horned ones’ cases, backs, from the winged, and legs from the ones with neither. “Curious. Each subspecies collects and utilizes light matter in a different manner?”

“Yes. We have learned all we can from the testing of the beta subjects, and the rest were sent for processing. Our alpha subject we have kept to run constant tests on. We… believe it may power one of the special projects we were tasked to work on.”

Folding its arms beneath its cloak, the Ein turned to a new monitor. “Show me.”

This monitor displayed the only inhabited planet of the system. A second satellite tower blazed with a harsh reddish light as a new beam fired, impacting the planet. Seconds passed as the surface burned to glass, before the energy beam impacted the planet’s core and the entire world detonated spectacularly. Chunks of debris impacted their ship’s shields, though nothing penetrated them. Gradually the light of the star dimmed and died, leaving the system to freeze over.

The Ein’s face was obscured behind its mask, but the chief scientist was certain it was smiling. “Seal the creature’s chest back up. And take the greatest care with it. The moment we’ve been waiting for has finally come. With this weapon we will at last be free.”

The collector bowed and barked orders to its fellows, who scrambled to obey. All the while the Ein gazed down at the captive pony, its smile never fading.

Noteworthy had finally cried herself to sleep. After watching poor Comet Chaser just… die as she had… she knew she’d never forget the look on his face. The sound of his screams. At this point she was hoping her turn would come soon, if only to escape the memory. It was cowardly she knew, but she didn’t care. After weeks of being poked, prodded, studied, and ultimately thrown in this tube being fed nothing but a thick paste she was ready to see the Fields of Elysium.

She was jostled from her rest by the sudden wild thrashing of her prison. Her head bounced hard off the inside of the tube sending jolts of throbbing pain through her muzzle and to her head. She felt a bit of wetness on her nose and realized it was bleeding. Shaking her head groggily she rose to her hooves gazing out of her little prison in confusion.

A dull WHOOM sounded from somewhere in the ship, and rocked her prison again, sending her sprawling onto her flank. By now she could hear other ponies up and chattering in confusion and fear. A new sound reached their ears, one that they were unfortunately familiar with by now. The harsh cracks, raps, and booms of gunfire.

Were the aliens killing each other? She knew she shouldn’t feel quite as happy as she did at the idea. All life was sacred after all but… these things didn’t deserve the gift of life. They were dark and cruel and twisted monsters. Worse than any changeling.

Ponies screamed anew as an explosion went off near their prisons, and… a door came hurtling down the hall skipping along the ground and coming to rest just in front of Noteworthy’s tube. She looked from it, than back up and felt her heart freeze up in fear.

Outside her prison was an alien. Though one she hadn’t seen before. It was massive… both height and width. Wearing very intimidating armor. A huge, broad face with wide spread eyes, like a dragon’s eyes but a bright, vibrant blue. It turned its head to gaze at her fully with one eye before grunting and nodding. She could see more aliens like it rushing into the room as they began grabbing at the tube’s doors and prying them off.

The alien before her was no exception. It ripped the door clear away from her tube and tossed it haphazardly aside. “You talk?”

It’s voice as deep, gravelly, and she assumed masculine. “Wh--what?”

It snorted. “That’d be a yes then. It’s just you horses in here?”

Noteworthy’s eyes widened. This thing was speaking to her. Its fellows were freeing the captive ponies. Was it… saving them? “I… y--yes I think so? We’re um… we’re ponies.”

It narrowed its eyes staring at her hard. “...huh. Wrong ship I guess.”

One of the other aliens lumbered up to the one speaking to her. “This is it, Commander. Only life signs on the ship aside from more bugs. Whaddo we do?”

The Commander rubbed his chin with his free hand. the other one clutching a massive weapon that had Noteworthy’s undivided attention. “Eh, get these ponies on the ship. Then we’ll kill the rest of the bugs. Maybe… I dunno… do some kinda computer stuff? See if we can find more prison ships?”

It’s fellow chuckled. “I’ll get the quarian in here to do its thing.” The second alien trundled off, leaving the first to stare down at Noteworthy.

“Well, let’s get moving. Should be enough room in the hold for you and the rest of your uh, ponies.”

Noteworthy’s eyes were wide. “You’re… you’re really rescuing us?”

The alien shrugged. “Not who we’re looking for, but hey a rescue’s a rescue. Be a waste if we came all this way and didn’t save something. Now c’mon, the ship’s not far.” It started off at a surprisingly quick pace for a creature of its size, and Noteworthy wasted no time chasing after it.

More of the aliens were running alongside the recently freed ponies, keeping them in a tight little herd. That’s when she heard it. And judging by the saddened groans behind her, the other ponies recognized it too. The droning buzz of approaching insects. Just like the ones that had frozen them all in Equestria.

The aliens seemed unconcerned as the swarms began to pour from the ceiling and descend upon them. The reason for this became apparent as a new trio of creatures appeared from within the aliens ranks. Furless and blue skinned with strange tentacle-like hair, their eyes glowed with what Noteworthy assumed was magical light. Suddenly a bright blue dome appeared over the group blocking the bugs from entering.

“Heh. Interspecies cooperation. Ain’t it great?” It took Noteworthy a minute to realize the huge Commander alien was speaking to her.

“Um… y--yes?”

“Ha! Damn right yes. C’mon ladies let’s keep this train movin’!” They were running again, one of the blue aliens very near to Noteworthy.

It was clear the new alien was focusing on keeping her magical shield in place, but she was also studying the unicorn curiously. “I have never encountered your species before.”

The sudden harsh crack of gunfire brought shouts of alarm from the ponies, Noteworthy was no exception. The Commander just laughed uproariously lifting his weapon and firing an explosive blast from it, catching the trio of incoming collectors and more or less blowing their chests completely clear of their bodies.

A wide-eyed Noteworthy looked from the scene of carnage, up to the blue alien. “...we’re um… new.”

The pony wasn’t sure if the blue alien’s ability to smile pleasantly in such a situation was a good, or bad thing. “Then this is certainly a pleasure. No doubt you have endless questions to ask of us, as we have of you. Obviously this is not the best way of making first contact, but we must make the best of the circumstances we are given, don’t you think?”

“Um… yes. Endless would be a good way to describe the questions I have. I think they can wait until we’re safe though.”

The alien nodded in understanding. “Of course. You have nothing to fear, Commander Grunt is one of the most decorated officers in the N7 Alliance. We’ll have you and your people to safety momentarily.”

Noteworthy couldn’t help but feel a little assured. This alien creature, a mare she was guessing, seemed so strong. So sure of herself and her friends. Even if those friends were giant, terrifying alien lizard monsters with enormous guns. Noteworthy was, if nothing else,a professional. Serving as Celestia’s right hoof pony meant she had entertained griffons, buffalo, dragons, and in one extremely memorable occasion Discord himself. She was heartened to see a number of the free ponies, most of them still in the armor of the royal guard seemed to be coping better than could be expected as well.

She didn’t want her first encounter with a friendly alien species to be embarrassing after all.

Her thoughts then strayed to home. This wasn’t the first alien she’d met. She’d seen Shepherd, even spoken with the alien mare once or twice when she was in Canterlot to see Princess Luna. She’d seemed nice enough, if a touch on the hard side. She didn’t recognize any of the aliens being the same species however. Curiosity niggling at her brain she picked up her pace to trot beside the towering Commander Grunt. “Excuse me, Commander?”

The big alien gazed down at her from the corner of one of his wide-set eyes. “Yeah? Now’s not the best time for chatting.”

Ears splayed, Noteworthy nodded. “Y--yes of course, I’m sorry. It can wait I suppo-” She was cut off by an explosion detonating against the shield not far behind. She felt the force even through the magical bubble and was flung forward along with Commander Grunt. The towering Commander slammed his head hard against the floor and lay still, a small amount of blood leaking from a nasty cut.

Noteworthy rushed to his side, only to hear the droning buzz of the horrible paralyzing insects growing closer. Screwing up her courage and gathering as much magical strength as she could she created a shield of her own. She was certainly no magical savant but she had attended Princess Celestia’s school. She could throw up a shield or two that would hopefully hold out long enough for the blue alien mare to get to them.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the insect swarms bounced off her shimmering green bubble of magic. A low groan from the Commander drew her attention as she knelt beside him again. “Commander Grunt? Are… are you alright?”

Noteworthy drew back as some sort of sleeve of orange light sprang into being around the Commander’s arm. “Yeah. Medi-gel takes a second to kick in. Head’s spinnin’ like I downed a keg of rynchol but I’ll live. What hit us?”

Noteworthy could only shake her head helplessly. “I don’t know. Some kind of explosion.” Her ears splayed as a sudden barrage of gunfire assaulted her shield. Each projectile bouncing off the bubble send waves of pain throbbing through her horn and into her body. A number of the bug aliens who’d captured them were rapidly approaching. She could see another, far larger group engaging the rest of the freed ponies and their saviors.

“C--Commander I can’t keep this up much longer!”

“Had to hit my damn head. Couldn’t get impaled through the chest or something easy. Noooooo. Had to be the head!” Woozily Grunt worked to push himself to his knees, fumbling for his weapon. Noteworthy could tell his ‘medi-gel’ whatever that was hadn’t done its job yet. She didn’t know a lot about aliens but when a pony had a head wound it was best they stayed still and relaxed.

Another peppering of gunfire hammered her shield, and cracks were beginning to splinter from the impact sights along the length of the bubble. She knew she couldn’t keep it up through another attack. Most ponies, in such a situation would resort to their old standby of ‘cover your head and duck, waiting for the heroic or guardsponies to handle the problem’. It was a tried and true method that had worked pretty well for the general populace of Equestria for a few centuries now.

Noteworthy had never considered herself brave. Sure she said no to Princess Celestia now and again, but the worse she received for doing so was a lot of pouting, usually followed by the Princess sneaking off to get whatever she wasn’t supposed to be eating or playing with or whatever nonsense she got up to, herself. Saying no to your boss, even if she did raise the sun every day was a different sort of brave than staring down a bunch of giant bug monsters with guns.

There were three of them, bearing down on her bubble. Their expressions unreadable but she knew what they were thinking. Easy targets. Her eyes fell on the massive Commander Grunt’s equally huge weapon. The nasty little buzzing swarms of bugs were nowhere to be seen outside her bubble, they must have left to give the big bugs a clear line of fire on their targets. The weapon looked simple enough. Like a big, fancy, metal crossbow. She’d never handled one herself of course but it wasn’t exactly advanced spell matrix theorem on how they worked. Point the barrel at whatever you wanted to leave you alone, pull trigger, ideally it goes away.

In a flash she dropped her shield and snatched up the weapon, grunting in surprise at its weight. But she grit her teeth and her horn blazed brighter as she hefted the gun, swinging the barrel toward the aliens. She felt a moment's hesitation then. If she pulled that trigger she was very likely going to kill these creatures. She’d never even considered taking somepony’s life in her lifetime. Maybe throttle the Princess a bit here and there, but not really harm her, let alone kill her.

Then she thought of the guardspony in the tube next to her. The one who’d… who’d melted. Comet Chaser was a young, friendly colt, probably fresh out of training. She hadn’t said more than three sentences to him, but she liked him. The other dead or injured ponies in Canterlot, the missing Princess Celestia. Noteworthy thought about it all, and her hesitation vanished as quickly as it took her to pull the trigger. She heard a deafening BOOM as the gun went off. With a cry of alarm she was flung across the corridor slamming into the wall hard and slumping to the floor. Blinking the spots from her eyes she raised her head woozily. Where the aliens had stood there was little more than A large pile of broken carapace and yellow-green goop.

Noteworthy’s breath was coming in sharp ragged gasps as she struggled to wrap her head around what she’d done. Her ears perked at the sound of a continued fire fight back down the hall. “Commander your friends need you!”

Teeth gnashing, Grunt heaved himself to his feet, scooping his gun from the floor and heaving back on the pump, replacing his spent thermal clip. He cast a glance at the dead collectors and nodded once. “Not bad, pony.” He started toward the fight but was forced to draw up short as the bulkhead slammed shut, nearly crushing him.

Giving it a fierce scowl he brought up his omni-tool. “Das’t was that you?!”

Noteworthy approached curiously as a face appeared on one of the little screens. It wasn’t much of a face, covered in a shaded visor and hood. “Sorry Commander, we’ve got bugs pouring down every corridor. I have control of the ship and am venting the rooms as I seal off the bulkheads. I’ve got most of them but there’s a squad heading your way. About twenty or so. I’ll get reinforcements to you as soon as I can.”

Grunt looked from his omni-tool, to the little pony at his side. “...don’t bother. We got this.”

“We? Commander who is w-” Grunt shut his omni-tool down and lumbered over to the dead collectors, scooping up one of their rifles and tossing it Noteworthy’s way. He nodded in satisfaction as she caught it in what he assumed was a biotic field.

“Works the same as mine, only you might not launch yourself across the ship shooting it. Heh.” He knelt down pointing to the slide. “When it stops firing, pull down on this. It’ll eject the clip. Then you put a new one in.” He scooped up a few thermal clips, then frowned at the mare’s lack of pockets. Or hands.

“Um…” She looked about a bit frantically, settling on the dead alien remains. She spied what looked like it could have been some sort of pouch hanging from a disembodied leg. Her magic wrenched it loose and she settled it around her flanks, trying to ignore the wet gooey fluid still clinging to it.

Her actions seemed to please the Commander however. “That works. So, pull down, clip pops out, you pop new clip in and boom. Keep shooting. Easiest thing in the galaxy.”

The displaced unicorn nodded once. “I--I understand.”

While not the gentlest of souls, Grunt had picked up a BIT of sympathy and compassion here and there. A small bit. “Toughen up, pony. You got a name?”

“N--Noteworthy, sir.”

“N--Noteworthy?”

She swallowed a heavy lump in her throat. “Noteworthy.”

“Alright, Noteworthy. The name’s Grunt. Commander Urdnot Grunt if we’re getting fancy, but we’re not getting fancy. I saved your life, you saved my life. That means we’ve got a bond between us. For the next few minutes, you get the honor of being my krant. We live and die for each other, got it?”

Having no idea what a ‘krant’ was, but feeling the weight of Grunt’s words, the mare nodded. “Yes sir.”

“Yes what?”

She couldn’t help but crack a tiny smile. “Yes, Grunt.”

He gave her a deep, rumbling chuckle. “Well then Noteworthy, let’s kill some collectors.”

Noteworthy’s stomach was still doing flips. She was equal parts terrified, disgusted, and… excited. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Looking up at the fierce grin on Grunt’s face, she felt the worst of her nerves ease. Then looking to the collector’s she’d already killed… she felt the rest of them vanish. Leaving only the excitement. Her own grin mirror’d the Commander’s to an eerie degree.

The hard nosed asari Lieutenant Keena Veras was not even remotely happy. Not only had they not found the missing N7’s, but now they were saddled with nearly a hundred unknown alien civilians who strongly resembled earth herbivores. “Please continue moving in a calm and orderly fashion. The hold of our ship is not incredibly comfortable, but we will have you to safety and comfort soon.”

It was fortunate they spoke something her translator could pick up on at least. The finest Ein crafted enhancements went into her personal tech, ensuing everything was top of the line from her omni-tool to her cybernetic implants. It had taken only a moment to understand the first ‘pony’, who was now MIA along with her Commander. She wasn’t terribly worried about Grunt, but having one of these aliens die on their watch was going to be a mountain of paperwork.

She pulled herself from her musings as their tech expert, Das’t Rayen nar Rannoch approached. “Lieutenant, I have data mined the collector ship. They were recently in contact with another, larger vessel located in deep space. A previously unknown, and unexplored sector.”

“Alright. Send the information back to the Citadel and let’s get ready to pull out. Has there been any sign of the Commander?”

“I tracked the locator in his armor as he wove his way seemingly randomly throughout the ship. It’s presently on the way here, ma’am.”

As if on cue loud, boisterous laughter reached their ears. “Can’t believe you make them explode by giving them a dirty look!”

Asari and quarian shared a confused look, as their krogan Commander came into view, a pony perched on his shoulder, her fore legs dangling down across Grunt’s chest. “Well I didn’t know either, I was just trying to trip him then… boom.”

“Boom! Ha!” Grunt stopped in front of his second in command. “Get this pony a uniform!”

Veena had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly what sort of uniform he meant. “...a uniform sir?”

“Yup! Noteworthy’s my krant. She’s sticking with us.”

The pony in question offered a wan, tired smile and waved her hoof timidly. “Um… hello.”

Veena took a slow, deep breath. “Commander, obviously we can’t have this unknown, alien civilian in our unit.”

Grunt brushed by her and up the boarding ramp to his ship. “I’m in charge. It’s my unit. I say she’s in. Think she might’ve killed more bugs than I did. I’m onto your sneaky little biotic tricks now. We’ll see what’s what when we find this Princess of yours.”

Das’t shrugged and followed his CO into the ship, Veena ground her teeth together hot on his heels. “Commander what Princess?”

Grunt thrust a stubby finger at Noteworthy. “Hers. Big pony Princess, rules her whole damn planet. Bugs got her in a different ship I guess. So we’re gonna save her.”

“...sir. That is not even remotely our mission. Remember last time we ignored the Council’s orders?”

“Yup. They said they’d take my command and my ship.” Shrugging it away as if entirely inconsequential he looked at the pony riding on his shoulder. She was getting more than a few stares from her fellow Equestrian’s. “Let’s get you a shower. All that blood in that fur’s gonna start to stink and asari get all funny about stuff like that.”

Noteworthy nodded. “I’d appreciate that. And I appreciate you accepting the mission to save the Princess.”

“Bah. We’re krant. You need something, I’ll get that something. If it’s a Princess, shower, or… I dunno, whatever the hell you eat. Plus it means we get to kill more bugs. I love killing bugs.”

Smiling now, Noteworthy gave the krogan a nuzzle to the cheek. “Thank you, Grunt.”

If any of the krogan’s crew found the sight funny, one look at his scowling countenance encouraged them to keep it to themselves.

Author's Note

I thought about calling this one 'Jen's triumphant return to writing!' but that seemed a little full of myself. I think I'm finally out of my funk, so expect semi-regular updates to resume again.

Also; Grunt!

Also, also; only partially edited. But I thought I made folks wait long enough.

Chapter 15: The Calm Before

Gingerly, she wrapped her hand around the rails overlooking the command station of the ship, the galaxy map spread before her. Eyes closed, standing still; just listening. Listening to the low hum of the ship, the occasional chirp from a terminal, footsteps echoing in the mostly empty ship, the quiet hiss of the elevator behind her.

"I'm home."

That wasn't all Shepard was listening to. She was listening to the chatter of long dead crewmen. Men and women who'd sat in the seats around her; who'd hurried to their stations or to carry out the orders of their superiors. With agonizing slowness she moved back down the short steps, her fingers grazing along the rails as she did so.

Stepping in front of the console next to the map she slowly settled into the seat in front of it.

"Samantha Traynor..." she spoke the name softly. The ship's yeoman and more or less her personal assistant. What had she done after the war? Did she end up married? Career officer? So many questions about so many people. Absentmindedly she tapped at her omni-tool, making another note. Another name to inquire about.

Shepard eased herself out of the chair and glanced down the hallway leading to the cockpit. SADI was there piloting the ship manually. No doubt lost in thoughts of her own. If AI's got lost in their thoughts anyhow. She expected they did. Or at least SADI could. She'd heard her musing aloud plenty when she was still inhabiting her omni-tool.

She had other places to visit, other half-memories to recall. Stepping over to the elevator she tapped the call button, and waited.

And waited.

"...this is getting replaced."

*****

"How is she, doc?" Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both standing at a slight distance back from the bed in the medbay at Valin's insistence.

"Not a doctor, Captain if titles are necessary. Valin if not. Hesitate to use the word 'fine' to describe Twilight Sparkle but all instrumentation shows she will be fine. Despite suffering severe burns over most of her body she is regenerating at an astounding rate. Plenty of tests to run, very curious about this ability. Common in your species?"

Rainbow Dash blinked slowly at the salarian's rapid fire questions. "Uh..."

Applejack rolled her eyes, much more used to fast talk from excitable fillies like Bloom and her friends. "Not really. Twi's an alicorn. Immortal, super magical an’ so forth."

"Interesting. Would dismiss claims of immortality out of hand as nonsense in organic life but the rate her cells reproduce would retard the aging process considerably. Suspect death possible if body is destroyed completely however."

Both ponies shrugged. "Maybe? Never heard of an alicorn dying though." Dash tentatively approached again, not wanting a firm rebuke from the salarian a second time. When none came, she eased onto the end of the bed to watch over Twilight more closely.

"Well, best pain killers I have that will work with her physiology being administered. Not quite the medic Krom was but can certainly hold my own. Do not touch anything. At all. Do not disturb Twilight Sparkle. Ship AI will notify me if Twilight Sparkle's condition improves or worsens. For now, need to speak with the Commander."

He offered them both a faint smile before briskly striding out of the med bay. A smile that fell quickly. They were wanted fugitives who'd attacked two Citadel councillors and slain several Ein, possibly members of C-sec as well. "SADI, where is Commander T'soni?"

The youthful feminine voice spoke from one of the terminals nearby. "Her mother's old quarters, straight ahead and to the right, Captain Solus."

"Thank you." With quick steps he crossed the deck and stepped into the asari's quarters. Elezzia was seated at a large desk covered in terminals. "Comically archaic technologies on board this ship."

"Mmm." The asari didn't look up. Leaning back in the chair and watching recorded footage of Commander Shepard in action during the Reaper Wars.

"Considering romantic advances toward Princess Sparkle."

"Mmm. That's nice Valin." She didn't look away from her screens for a moment. Before spinning her chair to face him. "Wait, what?"

Her subordinate offered a soft chuckle as he settled into the chair next to her. "Wanted to get your attention somehow."

"Very funny." She regarded him silently, before a weary smile spread across her face. "Seems we're in quite a bit of trouble this time."

"Exceedingly so. Krom would have loved it. Probably given anything to see Shepard head-butt Councilor Urdnot."

"So you do believe she's the Commander?"

He shrugged. "Willing to entertain possibility if nothing else. Shepard's survivability impossibility, yes? Yes. AI existence impossibility. Since disruption wave at end of war all attempts at AI creation fail. VI's barely function. Yet AI clearly present, impossibility disproved. When impossible stares one in the face, need to amend to 'improbable'."

"Her story is fantastic, but SADI's replay of the event at least opens the possibility. Shepard was the only living person on the Citadel when the wave went off, and presumably she was at its epicenter." Elezzia turned her attentions to the monitors again. "I must have watched these vids hundreds of times."

"Possibly thousands, yes."

"The way she moves, the way she talks. Acts. Fights... if she's a clone she is a very authentic one. Down to the scars."

"Believe she is Shepard, or want to believe she is Shepard?"

"It can't be both?"

"Suppose it can. Must admit if opportunity arose for me to meet Dr. Solus in person, I would at least want to sit down and pick his brain. Shepard aware she is your father?"

"No." Elezzia's expression turned trouble again. "She has enough to worry about right now without me throwing that in the mix too."

"Amnesia, yes. Convenient cover if clone. Extreme PTSD not unexpected however. SADI's story very likely true. Hunting slaves, mercs, and pirates not really comparable to what Shepard and her crew experienced. All survivors suffered psychological damages of varying degrees."

"Except the krogan."

Valin shrugged dismissively. "Not worth mentioning. Krogan born with psychological damage." He delivered in a deadpan, but with a smile in his eyes.

This drew a genuine laugh from Elezzia. "I'm glad you're here, Valin. I'm sorry I got you involved in all this."

He rapidly shook his head. "Nonsense. Got myself involved in all this. Wasn't joking about interest in Princess."

Elezzia gave him a genuinely surprised look. "I didn't think salarians were interested in romance."

Another quick shrug. "Have any of us conformed to the norm of our species, Commander?"

"Point. And you don't have to keep using my title, Valin. I'm retired, remember?"

"Always be my commander, Commander. Active status or not. Saved my life too many times to show disrespect. Primarily why I am here now."

Elezzia took his hand and gave it a firm squeeze, before turning her chair back to the terminals. "Something's bothering me."

"Just one thing?"

The asari chuckled. "A few things I suppose. But what happened on the Citadel in particular."

"Agreed. Marees' shot was unauthorized. While ordinarily not shy about skirting orders, completely unlike her to shoot unarmed woman in the back. Possible outside control. Suspect the ein."

Elezzia looked surprised. "The ein? Why in the world would you suspect them?"

Valin shrugged. "Hunch. Twilight Sparkle gets a 'bad feeling' from them. Representative Javik never liked them. Won't let them on Khaje, refuses offers of aid and technology from them. Suddenly finding myself very interested why. What do we really know about them?"

"Nothing, I suppose. I was on a mission with Krom when they first arrived at the Citadel but when we returned they were widely welcomed and beloved already. Their tech upgrades were being offered for outrageously low prices, repairing the relays and asking nothing in return... how did they know how to repair the relays? Why have we never asked this before?"

"Hypothesis. The Ein did not want us to, and are somehow projecting some sort of signal or field preventing us from doing so. From their bodies, hidden tech, or from the implant upgrades most have within their very bodies. Questions only arose when I spent time with the Princess. Suspect unusual energy utilized by Equestrians interferes with the ein's tampering."

Elezzia's brow furrowed as she considered his words. "SADI?"

The synthetic’s voiced chimed from the intercom. "Yes, Commander T'soni?"

"Have you been listening to our conversation this entire time?"

"Not intentionally. However I am ensconced in most of the Normandy's systems. Unless you make a specific effort to block me I will overhear anything said on the ship."

"I... would appreciate you not sharing my parentage with Commander Shepard, then."

"A request I can follow for the moment. Unless it becomes pertinent to the Commander's wellbeing your business is your business as far as I'm concerned."

"I appreciate that. Where is Representative Javik?"

SADI projected a digital image of the ship's interior for Elezzia, highlightning one of the holds. "Here, Commander."

Elezzia stood with a nod. "Thank you, SADI. Valin I'm going to speak with the esteemed Representative about the ein. If you don't mind, keep an eye on the Equestrians. The royals seem to be level headed enough to be trusted alone, the other two not so much."

"Understood, Commander. I will make them my priority."

The asari strode from the quarters over to the waiting elevator, tapping the call button and waited.

And waited.

"...goddess, this needs to get replaced."

*****

Shepard stepped off the elevator and paused in front of her old quarters. Had they been changed? Was it some sort of bizarre monument to herself with her old underwear sitting in glass cases for tourists to gawk at? That was a very bizarre thought.

Her brow furrowed as she noticed her breath misting in front of her face. Glancing at the display on the wall she saw it was fifty four degrees. "SADI? Can we get the temp up here adjusted?" Her confusion grew when she got nothing but faint static back from the comm. "Guess they didn't keep everything in perfect condition..." She mused to herself as she tapped the door control.

She was ready for the plethora of personal belongings that she was planning to look over and re-familiarize herself with that were on display. She was even ready for the outfits on the mannequins and the surprisingly well maintained fish tank with the vibrantly colored fish.

What she wasn't ready for was the nude Luna sprawled out on the bed. Her flawless, alabaster skin entirely on display. Hair wafting lazily about her head. Mostly human except for the huge feathery wings and long spiral horn. "Another few moments and I was going to have to come collect you, Eliiiiiiza."

Shepard felt a shiver go down her spine. Not at the chilly temperature, but the way Luna stretched her name. The purr she added to it. "Luna... you ah... are... naked. In my quarters. On my bed."

"I am." The Princess replied, with that same sibilant purr that sent shivers of... well of something Shepard was trying to ignore.

"Luna why are you naked in my bed?"

"Because I just wreaked terrible vengeance upon horrible creatures and those who harmed my subjects and find myself terribly aroused by said violence. Do you not feel the same?"

Adrenaline was still surging through Shepard from the fight. It was a well-known joke among the crew that the Commander would often take some 'downtime' with Liara after a mission. Neither the asari nor the Commander would elaborate on what went on, but everyone knew that gunplay usually preceded bedroom play with Shepard. "Oh, yes. No! I mean, yes, but ah..." Was this happening? Luna was a horse. She couldn't have sex with a horse. It wasn't happening. Sure she looks human right now, well humanish but she wasn't human. She was a horse. "Luna I know there's been this sort of ah... did... your chest just grow?"

"It did. Humans find large teats pleasant, yes?"

Shepard gulped. "Yes."

"What of the flank and rump?"

Shepard squeaked out a barely audible 'yes'.

Luna smirked, rolling onto her stomach, allowing Shepard a view of her new, larger, plumper backside.

If Shepard were in a clearer state of mind she may have questioned the draconian shape of Luna's pupils with their predatory gleam. She may have been interested by the fangs lining the lithe woman’s mouth, or the claw like nails adorning her fingers. Instead, flush from the violence and the high of being back on the Normandy she was focused on Luna's large, swaying backside.

But Luna was a horse.

Humans didn’t have sex with horses.

Shepard had sex with a horse.

*****

Elezzia found Javik scowling around the hold, arms folded over his chest. "Is something wrong, Representative?"

"It stinks in here. Everything has been moved. I do not approve."

"I don't smell anything."

"You are merely contributing to the aroma. What do you want, Commander T'soni?"

When Javik made no move to sit, or invite her to do so, Elezzia crossed her arms under her chest. "What do you know about the ein?"

"I know that they are a blight on the galaxy and you primitives are all fools for falling under their spell. I know they are up to something dire, but I do not know what. I know that they go out of their way to avoid Khaje and myself specifically when I am on the Citadel. I know they are 'wrong' Commander. That they should not exist."

Elezzia began to frown as he spoke. "Why have you never expressed these concerns?"

"I did. Once. To who is supposedly the more intelligent of your mothers. She dismissed my claims without a second thought. I expect she is almost entirely a puppet of the creatures. After the humiliation she brought upon me in front of the council, I decided I did not care what they did to the rest of you."

"I don't believe that's true. Not after you fought so hard at Commander Shepard's side to protect us against the reapers."

"I fought at Shepard's side to avenge my people and because she and to a far lesser extent her crew had earned my respect. Most of them are deceased now and my opinion of your asari mother has reached an all-time low. I am the undisputed god king of a planet and I am content with that. I am only here now because Shepard is here and I will fight at her side no matter who is stupid enough to align themselves against her."

"She is... not what I expected."

Now Javik favored her with a rare laugh. "What did you expect, little girl? That she would be ten feet tall? That she would be all knowing and all seeing? Shepard is just a woman, Commander T'soni. She is obnoxious, often times childish, and far more intelligent that her behavior often implies. She laughs, she loves, she hates, she cries. She is human, with all that entails."

"Do you think I should tell her that I'm her daughter?"

"I do not care."

Now Elezzia laughed. "Sometimes I forget what it's like speaking with you, Javik."

"I try to leave an impression, Commander. Was there anything else?"

"Why exactly are we going to Khaje?"

"To supply primarily. The Normandy is an archaic relic and if you are to lead this sad crew into battle they will need to be properly outfitted."

"Me lead? What about Shepard?"

"Shepard's mind is still hazy. Not as bad as it once was, but she has not fully recovered. And even once she does, she will likely be a different woman than she once was. One does not endure what she did and emerge the same. I do not believe the burden of leadership should fall to her at this time."

Elezzia's frown returned, tapping her fingers along one arm. "I'll think about it. Can we leave the Equestrians on Khaje?"

"Firstly, they will not remain and you cannot force them. Secondly, it would be foolish to attempt it. They are too powerful and we too few in number to cast aside such potent allies. I have made calls for assistance but I do not know how many will be answered. We will arm ourselves, improve the ship and, ideally, have a firm lead on the Collectors by the time we are ready to depart."

Elezzia sighed. "Alright. I'll head up and speak with them. Do you need anything down here?"

"Privacy."

Taking the hint, Elezzia made her way back to the elevator with a small huff. "Always a delight."

*****

Shepard had been through countless battles. Geth, cloned krogan, thresher maws, mechs, mercs, sentient space ships, rachni, all those messed up reaper monsters. She'd been spaced and died. She rode a wave of energy from one end of the galaxy to the next.

She'd never been this sore in her life.

She sat up gingerly, hissing in pain at the scratches along her back. "Ooo… ooo... that's... hnnn..." Slowly, ever so slowly she pulled herself into a sitting position. Luna was standing near her old desk, idly looking over the curios arranged there. "...that was... uh... wow."

"I am glad you enjoyed, Eliza." Luna's voice was soft. A hint of sadness in it.

Shepards brow furrowed in confusion. "Luna? Are you al-oooo-right?" Pushing herself to her feet, her back cried out in agony, and her knees buckled. Luna's cool blue aura of magic snapped into being around the woman, catching her before she fell.

"A moment, Eliza." Luna gently eased her back into the bed, and rotated her so she was laying on her stomach. Laying her hands on Shepards back, Luna slowly worked them down the still bleeding scratches, healing the worst of them with her magic. "That should feel better."

"You know... it's so weird hearing you call me by my first name. I get the feeling it was never used very much when people talk to me."

"I can go back to calling you Shepard if you prefer?"

Shepard rolled onto her back, smiling up at Luna. "In public..." She reached up and took Luna's hands, pulling her towards herself. "In private, I like Eliza."

Luna smiled softly, but it faded quickly. "Then that is what we shall do."

Shepard's brow furrowed at the Princess' melancholy behavior. "Luna, what's wrong? You're not regretting what we just did are you?"

How could she possibly explain? It wasn't Luna who had ravaged Shepard, but Nightmare Moon. A demon she was supposedly cleansed of. Surely Shepard would tell Twilight Sparkle and the others which would cause panic and possibly being smacked in the face with a rainbow. Not an experience she wished to go through a third time. "No, of course not. I'm just feeling guilty I suppose."

"About what? My back? I've had worse, Luna."

"No..." Luna's finger tips gently traced along Shepard’s jawline. "My sister; she is in peril and I am carousing with you like nothing is amiss."

"Ah..." Shepard’s smile faded. "You can't think like that, Luna. I know it's hard but we're doing our best. It's not like we're shacked up in a love motel somewhere shutting out the world. We'll save Celestia and your people. We'll violently slaughter the Collectors and do this for a week straight to celebrate. Alright?"

Luna closed her eyes, a soft chuckle escaping her lips. "You know just what to say to a mare, Eliza. Very romantic."

"I try my best."

Luna eased herself into bed beside Shepard, allowing the human to put an arm around her and pull her closer. Learning her head against Shepard's shoulder the pair lay silently for several long moments. "How are your memories?"

"I think mostly all the way back. I remember faces and people more clearly, even the ensigns and such. I remember my crew and my—ah..."

"Liara was her name, according to the museum. Your lover."

"Yeah." Shepard squirmed uncomfortably at the direction the conversation was headed.

"She was there was she not? On the Citadel?"

"She was... with Wrex. I beat him up. I'll send him some flowers to apologize later." She was trying to play it off, but she felt Luna tense against her.

"Do you still... will you go back to her?"

Shepard took a deep breath. "No. I won't. And it's not just you. I remember them all, I remember what I did... I kinda remember who I was. But that's not who I am anymore. I'm... very different from the Commander Shepard who saved the galaxy. Where it counts I'm still me but... everything that happened in Equestria, it's changed me."

"Does this distress you? This change?"

"No... not really. I'm definitely more relaxed than I used to be, that's a plus. I'm trying not to think about it too much; about anything too much aside from the mission. I get all introspective and depressed and that sucks."

"About your lack of belonging?"

"Yeah... I can't help but feel that I shouldn't be here. That I should have died on the Citadel. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I met you and everyone in Equestria just... I don't know what I'm going to do when all this is over."

"Perhaps you could move to Ponyville and start up a sheep ranch."

"Ha!" Immediately she regretted the outburst as her sore muscles made themselves known again. "...hah. Maybe I will." Leaning over and kissing Luna on top of the head, she rested her head back in the pillows.

*****

"I expect the stench of primitives is permanently ingrained in my quarters. What brief nostalgia I felt is fading rapidly." Javik didn't turn to face her as Shepard entered the quarters. "The stink of shame and sex is not helping the aroma."

Shepard blushed and coughed into her hand in surprise. "Sorry, I should have grabbed an extra shower."

"You never have to apologize to me, Commander Shepard. Even in jest. You are the sole living being in the entirety of sapient space that has earned my respect and friendship."

"It's nice to see you too, Javik. More than I can say honestly. I've been feeling so... lost. So out of sorts. Everyone I knew is gone. Mostly, anyhow. Places I've been to are either gone or so changed I'd never recognize them. Seeing a familiar face is... very reassuring."

Javik finally turned to regard her. "Yes. I cannot imagine what it would be like to wake up to a universe not the one you fell asleep to. Everything and everyone you knew gone."

Shepard blinked, then laughed softly. "I suppose you're probably the one person in the galaxy who can relate to this aren't you? Sorry. My whining must be annoying."

"On the contrary, Commander. Your whining is most welcome. I have missed you more than I am comfortable admitting. You are an exceptional military officer, and more than that an exceptional person. Your company is a pleasure, and a significant improvement from the jellyfish and lizards of Khaje."

Shepard helped herself to a seat. "How the hell did you wind up there anyway?"

The prothean shrugged, sitting across from her. "After the war I had little to do. I travelled with the mercenary Zaeed for a time. He died as he would have wanted, violently and taking many of his enemies with him. The company looked to me for leadership but I was surprised to find I had my fill of violence. I wandered from place to place for a time, before returning to the Citadel. Several hanar were being accosted by c-sec officials over permits or some such nonsense."

"And what? You leapt to their defense?"

"Essentially." He chuckled at the clear surprise on the woman's face. "Time can change anyone, Commander. Even me. My ancient foes were slain by your hands. My war was ended. A soldier without a war to fight learns to lay down his arms and find a new cause, or continue on to become a rabid varren snapping at anything that moves. I chose the former. When I speak, people listen. Something about being a prothean moves the primitives to listen to me."

"Javik, the voice of the hanar people. I hope things have at least gotten better for them."

"Significantly. Though I sincerely doubt you are here to discuss politics and economics, Commander."

"Just Shepard, please. I'm not the commander of anything anymore. I'm here because Luna's sister was abducted and we're trying to get her back. And now that we're onto that topic, how about you fill me in on how you know about Equestria."

"Very well. As you know I am no scientist or explorer but we were taught of them. A world we seeded and manipulated like most of the worlds of that era. I'm sure you picked up on plenty of symbology and mythos running parallel to Earth, yes?"

At her nod, he continued. "Your tales of unicorns, griffon, minotaur likely stemmed from us. Some left behind research or pictograms on a cave... I cannot say." He shrugged. "However their world was unique in one very specific way. The core of their world is comprised of an energy we called 'light matter'."

Shepard's brow furrowed. "I thought light matter was just 'matter'? The opposite of dark matter right?"

"What you 'think' and what is right are rarely the same thing, Shepard." He ignored her indignant look and pressed on. "They do not have a molten core at the center of their planet, but a mass of energy holding it together. This energy, the light matter, has permeated everything on the planet. The flora, fauna, minerals, atmosphere, the various sapients. All are steeped in it, and all can manipulate it to a degree. My people called their manipulation 'ambience'. They call it magic, yes?"

"Yeah, they do. So if you guys knew about them even back then, why didn't you try to use them against the reapers?"

"Reports on that vary wildly. Some claimed that the surveyors found the picturesque world 'too pleasant' to interfere with. The way my people were, particularly at the height of the war I find this hard to believe. More likely they were frightened or intimidated by the rulers of the planet."

"The mighty protheans were intimidated by Equestrians?"

"Consider their capabilities, Shepard. The seemingly least impressive among them have strength far eclipsing a krogan. Their bone and muscle density is so powerful they can shrug off most small arms fire. The winged ones can fly at speeds approaching and at times exceeding the sound barrier. They can freely manipulate the atmosphere. The horned equestrians can command the ambience to a degree that they can warp the very fabric of reality."

"Well when you put it like that..."

"Then their 'Princesses', their ruling caste. The traits of all three. Impossibly powerful, virtually impossible to kill. Provoking that species would end in disaster. And hypothetically, if they had assisted in the war and had destroyed the reapers what then? Who is to say they would not wish rulership of our Empire next?"

"I'm not sure about all that, but I can see how it'd make someone nervous, sure."

"If the Collectors have seized one of the ruling caste and somehow subdued her, it could have disastrous consequences for the entire galaxy. We must find them and liberate her as quickly as possible. I have sent a message to Khaje already and my agents are working to locate any sign of Collector activity. I expect a report waiting for us by the time we dock."

Shepard sighed softly. "Thanks, Javik. I hope you're not in too much trouble with the council over all this."

He shrugged. "I do not care if I am or not. As is typical when you are involved, your mission supersedes other concerns. While information is compiled I will have the Normandy outfitted with more modern upgrades before we depart to rescue the Equestrian royal."

"We? You're coming with us?"

"You are my Commander, whether you wish the title or not. Nothing will change that, Shepard. Besides, this is my galaxy too. I do not wish it imperiled just after I've started to get everything arranged in a comfortable manner for myself." He quirked a faint smile.

"Fair enough." Shepard rose to her feet. "I doubt you want a hug, so I'll just go find Luna and uh, make sure she's still resting comfortably."

Javik's smile faded. "Be cautious with her, Shepard. I sense a darkness about her that could prove dangerous."

Shepard chuckled as she moved to the elevator. "Consider me warned."

Javik watched her go, before rolling his eyes. "Primitives."

*****

"Nnngh." Twilight Sparkle groaned softly as she cracked her eyes open. Ears going flat and jerking a bit in surprise at Rainbow and Applejack's muzzles being right in her face.

"You're awake!"

"We were mighty worried, sugarcube."

Twilight offered a tired smile. "I'm awake. I'm sorry for worrying you. I feel much better. Actually I feel entirely better." She sat up as her friends moved back a bit. Though tilted her head in confusion as Applejack coughed softly and looked away, Rainbow Dash barely suppressing her laughter. "What?"

"Well yer a mite uh..."

"Naked."

Twilight frowned in confusion. "We haven't been spending that much time as human girls. I didn't think you'd be that used to..." She trailed off as she noticed the extreme chill in the air. Then glanced down at her nude, hairless body. Jerking a blanket over herself with a yelp.

Rainbow Dash lost it completely by that point, falling off the bed onto her back, guffawing obnoxiously. Even Applejack was working to suppress her laughter. "It ain't that bad, Twi."

"Where is my coat?! Why hasn't it grown back?!" Her shock and confusion were turning to annoyance as a little snicker slipped through Applejack's lips. "Oh ha ha, laugh it up girls." Before anypony could voice a quick protest, she charged her horn and transmuted the three of them back into their human shapes. Drawing a surprised yelp from Dash.

Applejack took it in stride, adjusting her hat. "We're just glad yer alright. Gave us a mighty big scare."

Twilight relaxed a little. She was still naked but it felt somehow less 'wrong' to be furless like this. Probably all the time she spent across the mirror. "Well I guess that confirms the whole alicorn near immortality rumor." She gazed across the room to her saddlebag, where the Element of Magic lay.

Rainbow sat up, already having gotten comfortable with the alien body. "Think the rest of us will pop back like that? Since we're Element bearers too?"

Lips pursed in thought, Twilight tapped her chin. "Possibly. The Elements of Harmony are arguably the most powerful magical artifacts in the world. Magical items of that nature tend to have minds of their own in a way, and work to protect their owners. That being said, it's just as likely my alicorn physiology saved my life and not my Element. Personally, I don't think it's worth risking to find out, don't you?"

AJ and Dash shared equally unenthused looks. "Suppose not."

Twilight took a deep breath, easing herself out of bed and gingerly removing the various monitors from her body. "Well, let's get dressed and go find the others. I'd like to know what happened and how we ended up here."

Applejack offered Twilight her bag and clothes. "Hope things're goin’ better back home for th' others than it is out here for us."

With a roll of her eyes, Twilight began dressing. "I don't see how it could be worse."

*****

Three very unhappy ponies gazed out at the assembled crowd from behind the bars of their hastily constructed cage. "There, you see? We're perfectly normal ponies now. Whatever... nonsense made us into aliens like Shepherd has obviously worn off." Rarity offered the townsponies a thin smile. Her temper was reaching a peak and she had just about had it with Ponyville's xenophobic reaction to her, Pinkie, and Fluttershy's unexpected transmutation.

"Yeah! Besides it wasn't that bad! We just got taller, and furless, and our teeth got sharper and..." Rarity silenced Pinkie Pie with a hoof over the muzzle.

"As Pinkie was saying, I'm sure everything is back to normal now. Yes?" The unicorn looked between her two caged friends, then out to the townsponies.

The mayor tentatively approached. "Well we haven't heard back from Canterlot yet... but you three do seem to be over what happened so..." She reared back with an alarmed whinny as all three mares in the cage were engulfed in a white glow.

The crowd panicked anew, running to and fro in an effort to escape the three newly transmuted humans in the cage.

"Ohhhh! Horseshit!" Fluttershy barked out.

Rarity and Pinkie turned to their normally timid friend with wide eyes. Before the surprise from her outburst faded and both sighed.

"Horseshit indeed, darling. Horseshit indeed."

*****

The assembled crew had made their way to the command deck. The Equestrians sitting at the stations around the deck. Rainbow Dash sitting on her hands as per Luna's orders. Valin was in the co-pilot seat next to SADI as the synthetic piloted their course to the Khaje relay, Twilight Sparkle hovering over their shoulders watching them work with interest.

Elezzia stood near the star map with Shepard, both women staring down at the charts. "Not much has changed. Map wise I mean."

The asari smirked at Shepards words. "Well there are new colonies and such but no, the planets are largely in the same place."

Both women turned in alarm at Luna's sudden sharp intake of breath. The transformed Princess nearly bowling them over as she rushed toward the airlock. "Open the door!"

Eyes wide with alarm the two commanders lunged for Luna. "No!" They shouted simultaneously. Shepard got her hands around Luna's waist, lifting her from the floor away from the airlock. "What the hell's the matter with you, Luna? You could kill everyone if you tear open those doors!"

"Unhand me! Celestia is outside!"

Shepard dropped Luna in shock. "What?"

Now she had everyone's attention, Twilight Sparkle's especially. "I... don't know if it's the Princess but it's definitely an alicorn."

"Commander, I am detecting a massive gravimetric surge outside, suspect imminent attack!"

Elezzia and Shepard both reached for their weapons as the ship ground to a halt. Luna nudged the group aside with a magical field and snapped a dome around the airlock. SADI hastily opened the doors before Luna could pry them open herself. "Sister!"

The loud hum of biotics filled the air as the figure lazily floated into the ship. The airlock closing behind her. Her features obscured by the bright light of her active biotics. Before they snapped off revealing a wiry human woman. Her arms, chest, and neck covered in tattoo's. Head shaved at the sides, with a long ponytail trailing down her back to her hips. She took in the scene on the ship with large blue eyes.

Javik snorted. "It took you long enough to get here."

"I got my own shit to do y'know? Hey Shepard. You're looking more alive than I expected."

Shepard just lifted a hand in greeting. "...hey Jack."

Author's Note

So not to big a wait right? Right? >_>

Shaking the dust and cobwebs off. I had more I could have added on but I think everyone's waited long enough for this thing to continue.

Sorry for the long delay, real life. Car crashes, job, family drama etc. But hey things are back to normalish so I'm writin again.

Chapter 16: Ascendant

"Do I not get a hug? Javik did you get a hug?"

The prothean looked unamused at Jack's question. "No. I did not get a hug. She did physically assault the krogan councillor however."

Jack looked contemplative a moment. "That's probably the closest thing Shepard gives to hugs." She glanced around the deck. From Elezzia then over the Equestrian's. "I thought ascendants were the rarest fucking thing in the galaxy?"

Javik nodded. "They are."

"There are two more right there."

"Very astute."

The woman's lips pursed and she was about to ask something else before Shepard cut in. "Wait, wait. Stop. Not that it's not nice to see you, Jack. It is. It really is. We can even hug it out if you want to. But how are you still alive?"

Now Jack smirked. "Didn't you hear? I'm a god."

*****

The atmosphere in the small cruiser was tense to say the least. A sparse crew manned the craft while the two VIP N7 agents sat in the cockpit. "So..." Kal'Zorah started.

His longtime companion, Marees's brow plates drew together in a scowl. "I don't want to talk about it."

"We probably should talk about it Marees. Something happened to us on the Citadel. We both know it."

"I..." The hesitation in the normally unflappable turians voice made it clear enough that she felt the same.

"You shot that woman in the back." He couldn't quite bring himself to call her Shepard. "Her hands were up and she'd surrendered. Just like I shot that synthetic in the back. Neither of us would ever do that."

"So what are you saying? That we what? We didn't do that? We weren't in control of our actions?"

While she couldn't see his face, Marees had worked with Kal enough to read his expressions through his body movements, and she could tell he was frowning thoughtfully. "That's my theory, but the how of it is what I'm having trouble nailing down. One moment I was speaking to the synthetic then the next thing I was shooting her when she turned to leave."

Marees rested her chin in her hands nodding slowly. "The same. I had the Shepard clone in my scope in case she tried something then I just... just..." Her frown deepened as she trailed off. "What could do this? A misfire in an implant maybe?"

"I'm beginning to get an idea together but I don't have anything concrete. The synthetic mentioned outside forces manipulating us. What if she was correct?"

"Manipulating how? There's no such thing as mind control Kal."

"I know... I know. It's ridiculous but I just keep going around and around in my head. The only thing it sounds like is-"

Kal'Zorah was cut off as the VI chimed. "Nearing Planet Veris now."

Marees snorted in irritation. "This is a wild vorcha chase if I've ever been on one. We know those things aren't from Veris."

Kal offered her a shrug as he plotted a descent for the large mining colony on the desert world. "I'm well aware. But we are on thin ice with the council as it is, so when Councillor T'soni says we investigate-"

"We investigate." Marees finished for him. "Right, still that new species talking to Valin admitted she wasn't from Veris."

"True, but she got the name from somewhere."

"Probably the Commander."

She realized she'd pushed a bit to far when Kal'Zorah went rigid. "I am well aware of the ridiculousness of this situation, Marees. I am aware Commander T'soni likely gave them the name Veris as a flimsy cover. The finer details were never her forte. However we're here on the off chance there is some connection and because Veris is almost the edge of known space and she wants us away from the Citadel while they sort out all the mess. So can we please. PLEASE. Conduct an investigation in a thorough and professional manner?"

"Sorry, Kal." There was real regret in her voice. "This whole thing has me really out of sorts."

"I know, Marees. Me too. I apologize for snapping. Krom is gone, Valin and Elezzia are AWOL. It feels like our whole world is falling apart in the blink of an eye."

"Hey, you still got me."

The quarian chuckled softly as he brought their ship down on the landing pad. "I know and I'm glad to have you. You're my best friend. Now, let's go meet the foreman and get this nonsense over with."

The pair made their way toward the armory and geared up. Kal didn't miss Marees' grimace as she strapped on a basic model rifle. "I can't believe that thing stole my gun."

Kal couldn't suppress a chuckle as they stepped down the ramp to the planets surface. "I can't believe she choked you out with her bare legs."

"Laugh it up. That woman's got thighs made of steel. I bet she's a synthetic! Like her friend."

"Did they feel metallic?"

"...no they felt firm but supple."

"Mmhm." The pair spied a grizzled human male approaching, the foreman they assumed. Kal raised his hand in greeting then paused when he noticed the man wasn't looking at him, but something over his shoulder. Curious he turned to see what had caught his attention.

"Holy shit."

Marees' brow ridges raised. "Kal! Language! What's got you so..." She turned to look as well. "...holy shit."

***

"She is an ascendant." Javik stood before the crew of the newly liberated Normandy. All gathered in the mess hall save SADI who was listening in from the cockpit.

"Soooo... not a god?" Shepard asked.

"No."

"Pretty damn close though." Jack cut in.

Javik offered a brief shrug. "It depends upon your definition of a deity I suppose. It was a very rare but not unheard of occurrence among my people. If one became so powerful in their biotics they grew beyond the bounds of the rest of us and ascended to a higher state of existence. Escape from the ravages of age being one of the benefits."

Shepard blew out a heavy breath regarding her old squad mate. "So you're going to live forever?"

"Well unless something kills me. Good fucking luck with that though, right?" Jack barked a sharp laugh.

A laugh Shepard returned if not as forcefully. "You got that right." She felt her eyes getting misty again, something Jack picked up on.

"Jeez are you crying? Commander Shepard doesn't cry." Though Shepard saw a similar amount of liquid accumulating around the other woman's eyes.

"Heh, yeah I guess she didn't... but I'm not really the same person I used to be. It's been an uh..." Her eyes drifted to the Equestrian's sitting nearby watching silently. Though in Twilight Sparkle's case it seemed very reluctant silence. The poor mare was practically vibrating with excitement. "...it's been an interesting few months."

"Yeah no kidding. I've seen some weird shit but no cutesy talking horses. And what's the deal with the purple one? She's eye balling me hard."

Shepard coughed lightly. "That's Twilight Sparkle. She's uh... curious."

This brought a soft chuckle from Jack. "Well I don't mind answering a few questions if she-"

"Oh my gosh! I want to know so much! How do you travel through space?! What sort of magic can you do?! How old are you! What do all those symbols all over your everything mean! Are there other human alico-" Her mouth kept moving rapidly but no sound came out as a faint glow from Luna's horn whisked into being and surrounded Twilight's head.

"My fellow Princess is prone to fits of excitement particularly when erudite matters are concerned. I do have questions of my own however. Your energies are very similar to that of the alicorns of Equestria. Do you have an explanation for this Lady Jack? Master Javik?"

"It's just Jack. And nope. I've never met another ascendant, definitely not a talking horse one."

Javik gave a curt nod. "Powerful ascendants were capable of many impressive feats. I saw one and only from afar. She seemed ordinary enough at first glance but when one examined her aura it was obvious she was superior to those around her. Ascendants could theoretically do anything, the most capable of them able to bend and alter the fabric of reality."

"Sounds like magic t'me." Applejack finally spoke up.

"It does indeed Applejack. Tell me... er... Jack. What abilities do you boast? Can you teleport? Transmute? Conjure?"

Jack stared at Luna in silence a moment. "Uh... yes to the first one..." She glanced from Shepard to Javik.

The Prothean spoke up. "Transmuting is turning one thing into another, conjuring is summoning something from nothing. You would know these terms if you did indeed read all the extra net messages I have sent you."

Jack rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh well y'know... I skimmed some of the wordier parts. But no, I don't do that. Unless making a singularity counts as conjuring?"

Javik shook his head. "It does not."

Rainbow Dash scrunched her muzzle up in thought. "But wait like, everypony can do magic. Even earth ponies have their..." She waved a hoof searching for the right term. "...dirt magic."

Applejack's eyed narrowed and her brows drew together. "Well thanks sugar cube, what a nice way of puttin' it."

"If the reports I read are accurate the hornless and wingless tribe of 'pony' were the most powerful by far. The longest lived, capable of manipulating the world around them to a potentially devastating level. The horned caste could boast some impressive feats as well but the average hornless pony was believed to be far stronger than the average horned, and any winged."

"Ha! A fancy alien race just said earth ponies're better'n pegasus ponies. Think Ah could getcha t'put that in writing for me Mr. Javik?"

"Perhaps we can discuss an arrangement in the other room, and allow the Commander and Jack a chance to talk privately."

The others took the hint as they began to rise and file out of the room. Valin's omni-tool running constant scans over the still muted Twilight who was chattering silently non-stop as Luna dragged her from the room, leaving the two old friends alone to catch up.

***

The small cruiser broke atmosphere and made a direct course for the sun in Veris' system. "That thing can't be a ship."

Kal'Zorah sighed. "It's clearly a ship, Marees."

"It's big enough to create a blot on the sun from Veris! No ship is that big!"

"Well that's not exactly true. Some ships have been that big in the past. Though it's been centuries..."

The turian's eyes widened. "Don't be ridiculous. Those things were wiped out, everyone knows that."

Kal shrugged though it was clear he was as worried as she was. "There are several possibilities, it could be some new experimental warship or an old remnant from the war that a scavenger group got back together. Let's wait until we get confirmation before we start a galactic panic."

"We can just stick with a ship wide panic then I guess."

The VI pinged up over the console. "Warning, massive solar event in progress. Recommend immediate evacuation from system. Warning, massive solar event in progress. Recommend-"

Marees muted the VI as she and Kal frantically worked over the consoles. "Ancestors, the VI is right. Something's... I don't even know. Something's draining the sun? Is that a thing that can happen?"

Kal'Zorah shook his head silently as he studied the readings being taken of the system. Massive amounts of solar energy were being drained from the systems star into the ship. "We need to get closer."

"Closer? What do you mean closer? Closer seems like the exact opposite of where we need to go, Kal."

"Marees we need to know what's happening and get a more concrete report to bring back to the Citadel. Send an immediate evacuation notice to Veris just in case. If this thing keeps draining the star it could be catastrophic for the colonies."

With a growl of frustration Marees pounded the console. "The event is emitting system wide radiation, we're getting nothing but static over the comms."

"Keep trying. We have to warn them someho-Keelah!" Fingers dancing across the console Kal brought up the ship wide PA. "All hands to stations, prepare for enemy fire!"

Klaxons blared as the event occurring near the star reached a peak. Warnings of solar flares and catastrophic damage flashed across most of the screens on the ship as the systems star dimmed visibly. They were close enough now to see some sort of energy funnel drawing energy directly from the star and into the massive honeycomb-esque ship.

The ship itself seemed to be glowing brightly from various panels along its surface, all funneling toward a forward battery that glowed brighter and brighter, until a massive lance of light punched through space colliding with Veris. The planet barely held up for a second before fracturing and bursting in all directions into a massive debris field.

The N7 cruiser's systems flared and died from the immense solar radiation being unleashed as it was sent careening wildly away from the event bodily throwing about any crewmen not secured into their stations. Marees was thrown forward and smashed her face hard into the consoles, her body rag-dolling in her station.

Kal'Zorah, more securely fastened into his seat cracked his helmet against the panel by his head, cracking his mask. He felt blood running down one side of his face as he frantically attempted to regain some measure of control over the cruiser. He glanced toward Marees and hoped she was only unconscious.

The cruiser's wild flight was beginning to slow to a gentle drift. Struggling to maintain consciousness Kal managed to bring the ship's auxiliary systems online, before he finally succumbed to unconsciousness.

***

"So... just you and Grunt, huh?"

"Yup." Jack was casually rummaging through the cupboards in a poor attempt to hide her emotion, refusing to face Shepard.

"Most of them are pretty obvious, but how did Samara go?"

"Same as most everyone else. Old, in bed, surrounded by who knows how many friends, family, and well wishers."

"Including you?"

Jack was silent a moment. Slowly running her hand down the cupboard door before closing it. "I was there for all of them."

"Really? Even Miranda?"

This drew a chuckle from the other woman. "Yeah... even the cheerleader." She turned to face Shepard now, tears in her eyes again. "We never stopped hating each other y'know? But we both showed up every year for the reunion."

"Reunion?"

"Oh yeah, you kidding? Remember that party in your apartment? Think that but ten times the size. More than a few of us were arrested by C-sec those nights." She wore a wistful smile. "The last year was Sam, Grunt, Wrex, and Liara. The five of us got together for drinks. It was smaller but I guess we were all more mature y'know? Older. Wiser. All that shit."

"Even Grunt?"

"Ha... well barely. You should see him. Commander Grunt, one of the most decorated officers in the N7. It pisses them off that he won't let them promote him any higher. Told a few admirals right to their faces there wasn't a higher office than N7 Commander."

Shepard felt emotions flaring in her breast again, and her eyes burned with tears. "I hope I get a chance to see him again."

"Oh I'm sure you will. The second he hears you're cruising around again he'll come running don't worry about that."

Wiping her eyes Shepard took a deep breath. "Okay. So... how've you been Jack?"

"Man... it's so weird hearing that name again."

"What name? Jack? Isn't it YOUR name?"

"Nah, it's Jennifer. Liara dug up all kinds of shit for me, including that. Where I was born, official birth records and stuff."

"...Jennifer huh? So what everyone calls you that?"

Jack shrugged. "Everyone I like."

"Well you can just call me Eliza then."

Jack pursed her lips squinting at Shepard a long moment. "...can't do it."

This brought a laugh from Shepard. "I don't think I can call you 'Jenny' either."

"Not if you want to keep all your teeth in your head. You can just stick with Jack. I kinda like hearing it again honestly. As for how I've been? Good. I guess. I spend most of my time drifting, thinking y'know? I pop in on the rachni sometimes, their song is something else. I'm not allowed on the Citadel anymore so I hang out on Tuchanka or Khaje a lot if I want company."

"Do I want to know why you're not allowed on the Citadel?"

Jack offered a flippant shrug. "I did some damage to the museum."

Shepard chuckled softly. "Why did you do some damage to the museum, Jack?"

"Liara and I had a... disagreement about EDI. It got pretty heated, we almost came to blows over it but Wrex stepped in and calmed things down. She made it pretty clear she didn't want to see me again though, so fuck it right?"

Shepard's eyes fell to her lap as she folded her hands in her lap. "I guess, yeah. She's uh... not what I remember."

"It's those creepy fuckin' Ein is the problem. They're always hovering around her, always whispering in her ear. I can't stand em. And I'm not the only one. Wrex kicked them off Tuchanka and is trying to get other leaders to do the same on their own worlds. Some folks listen but for the most part people are just so grateful for all the shit they did after the war no one wants to ask questions."

"Javik sure isn't a fan."

"No, he's not. He booted their asses off Khaje as soon as he took power there. He never really gave a reason, just said it was his prerogative."

"Why don't you like them?"

Jack ran a hand through her hair as she worked out a response. "It's hard to explain exactly to someone who isn't uh... me. But I can see things different than other people if I want to. Like I'm not seeing the world everyone else sees but a different one. Like..."

Shepard's eyes widened slightly as Jack's eyes became solid white, giving off noticeable illumination. "...like I'm sitting right here, talking to you. But I'm not seeing the mess. I'm seeing a huge sea of stars and light. I can sort of... focus on you, or the others in the other room and see their I dunno... their auras? I guess? Like those Princesses are really fuckin' bright. The two little horses are brighter than the other people but nothing like the uh, alicorns?"

"Yeah, alicorns. So what's this got to do with the Ein?"

"Their aura's are wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Fuck. Like I said this is hard to explain. Like most people have colors, usually the same six colors and usually some of them are brighter from person to person. Like the little horses, one has a lot of red. One had a lot of orange. The Ein are like, muted. Their colors are dull and there's this blackness twisting through all of them. It's gross and makes my stomach turn every time I look at them."

Shepard considered Jack's words quietly for a few moments. Noticing that Jack's eyes hadn't stopped glowing and that she was staring at her. "So, what do you see when you look at me?"

Jack's lips quirked up in a faint smirk. The colors radiating within Shepard were nearly blinding. Just like they were in the alicorns, and in herself. Not quite at the same level, but an inner strength was waiting to explode from the woman. "Potential."

"Potential? What the hell does that mean?"

Jack blinked and her eyes were the normal blue again. "Nothing, don't worry about it. You're fine. A lot of red, a lot of pink and blue. It's good. Trust me. So. You talk to Elezzia?"

Shepard shrugged. "Sure, plenty. She didn't really believe who I was at first but I think I won her over eventually."

Jack quirked an eyebrow. "That's the gist of your conversation with her?"

"Well we talked a bit about what's been going on in the galaxy since I was gone but not much else, why?"

"Shepard, fuck. Come on man. She's your kid."

Shepard blinked once. "Oh."

Author's Note

It's a bit short for one of my chapters but I felt like that was a good ending point.

This was a pretty emotional chapter for me to write, and one I've been wanting to get to since I started fleshing out the plot of this story. Jack was always my favorite character in the Mass Effect universe (and I love that she and I share a name in her real name), so I sorta wracked my brain on how I could justify her surviving and I got inspiration from M.A. Larson and Twilicorn, so thanks for that!

I'm trying to set aside an hour every evening to write now so ideally these will come at a more regular pace. No promises though, I don't want to give false hope. >_>

But I haven't forgotten this or any of my other fics, life's just gotten pretty hectic and it's been hard to find time. I do plan to focus on one at a time until they're done, and this is the first one. It's close to the end, maybe 3-5 more chapters I think.

Also also, sorry for any grammar or punctuation errors. I'm flyin free and loose with no editors!

P.P.S. How many folks have to go back and re-read the whole thing because they forgot so much? I sure did! All part of my master plan.

Chapter 17: Politics

The sound of heavy fingers drumming on a desk echoed from Councillor Urdnot's office and filled the krogan embassy. Wrex glanced toward the door, ensuring it was locked before opening his desk and withdrawing a pair of spectacles. A gift from one of the Solus brood a little over a century ago when the clever salarian realized the aging krogan's eye sight was fading. Not all the time, just when he had to read or see fine detail.

Slipping them over his eyes he settled heavily into his seat and glared down at the security footage from the museum. He must have watched the video close to fifty times now, and he'd probly do so fifty more. Everything about her screamed Shepard. The way she moved, the way she reacted. The ridiculous way she incapacitated Marees. It all said 'Shepard stupidity'. And he really wanted nothing more than to believe what his gut was telling him.

He pressed the comm button to his secretary. "Norda?"

"What's up gramps?"

He grunted at the young female krogans voice. "A little respect huh?"

"Sorry. What's up Councillor Gramps?"

"Ha ha!" He barked a laugh. "That's more like it. Any luck getting ahold of Grunt?"

"Not yet, he was in pretty deep space remember? And you know how he gets when he's focused on a mission."

"Stupid mostly."

"Wonder where he gets it from?"

Wrex grunted heavily again. "Any luck tracking the Normandy?"

"We're working on it. It's not that the ship is so advanced, just the opposite. No one has instrumentation to pick up such an ancient and low tech method of cloaking. The science teams are working like mad to dig up some old crap and throw it back together into some sort of detection devices but for now they're free in the wind."

He drummed his fingers on his desk again for a moment. "Get my ship prepped."

"It's been prepped and waiting for the last hour."

"Ha! Alright then, kid. If Liara comes sniffing around make up some excuse for me. I'm stepping out for a bit."

"Er..." The comm cut off suddenly as his door opened, Liara showing herself in. "Would you like to make up your own excuse, Wrex? You're not seriously thinking of going after them yourself are you?"

"How can you NOT be going after them yourself? One of two things happened there. Either a clone of Shepard is running around with her face and doing who the hell knows what. Or that really was Shepard and we just chased her off the Citadel."

"You know that can't be Shepard, Wrex. Even if she somehow survived the Crucible she'd be long dead from age."

"Except Shepard was so full of cybernetics, implants, mods, and enhancements she was almost as much mech as human. Who knows what all the crap Cerberus was they pumped into her? Maybe-"

"Are you hearing yourself?! You sound like a fanciful child!" It was rare to see Liara lose her composure. Or at least it used to be. More and more of late she'd been prone to fits of anger that were very unlike the gentle asari Wrex knew.

"Your child sure as hell seems to think she's Shepard."

Liara's eyes narrowed tightly. "Do not throw that in my face. Elezzia is confused and clinging to a ridiculous false hope. She's just lost her husband, your first son I apparently need to remind you."

Wrex slammed his hands down on his desk hard enough to crack it. "You don't need to remind me of anything!" With a roar he flipped the desk end over end and surged across the room pinning Liara to the wall. "And don't you think I want beat the shit out of you if you throw that in my face again!"

Liara's eyes flared with biotic power and Wrex felt a pang of panic. He was more than well passed his prime and if Liara responded to his attack it would go poorly for him. To his relief the glow dimmed and she blinked, almost in confusion. "I... Wrex I... goddess I apologize. This... this isn't what I came here for. I think..." She shook her head and settled on her feet as the old krogan backed down. "...I think I need to rest. I... be careful. Please."

Anger was turning to concern as Wrex's oldest friend staggered from his office, hand to her head. Every krogan in the embassy was outside, some with hands on their weapons but he waved them down. "Norda, help Liara to her apartment. Not her office. Her apartment."

Liara opened her mouth to protest, before nodding. "Yes. That is an excellent idea. Thank you, Wrex."

Norda looked to her great-great grandfather in concern, but seeing he was alright she nodded curtly, taking Liara gently by the arm. "C'mon Councillor. Let's get you home."

Wrex waited for them to be gone before turning to his security chief. "Get an operative on Councillor T'soni, twenty four seven watch."

"You want us to surveil Councillor T'soni, sir?"

"I don't stutter, boy. Something's up and I want to get to the bottom of all this." He mulled it over a brief moment. "No salarians, no asari, no quarians. No humans either. Use some of our drell contacts."

"Why the drell?"

"They don't accept ein mods or implants."

His officer furrowed his brow in confusion. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Maybe nothing, maybe something. Just got a hunch. I hope I'm wrong. Norda's in charge while I'm gone. Get me a few guys at my ship. I want to be off in ten."

The young security chief offered a smart salute before rushing off to enact Wrex's orders. The ancient krogan sighed watching the flurry of activity around. It's funny, but he was glad to be done with war and conflict. Even started enjoying the politics game. It was a different sort of war, but one he much preferred in his old age. Watching this young generation of krogan who'd grown up in a time of relative peace, he sincerely hoped they'd never have to experience the other sort of war.

But he had a feeling it was a futile hope.

***

"Now... take a deep breath, hold it... then release the breath as you squeeze the trigger."

Elezzia was in the cargo bay with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The pair in humanoid shape again to handle the firearms the asari commander was training them to use. Rainbow with a light weight assault rifle that would work well with her speed and flight, Applejack with a heavy duty krogan style shotgun.

Both Equestrians were proving surprisingly adept at the actions, if a bit jittery at the noise their firearms made when fired. Though Elezzia suspected that was more due to unfamiliarity than to skittishness. Given how the pair handled themselves in a fight she doubted either had so delicate a constitution.

She was trying to ignore it, but it was becoming increasingly impossible not to take note of Commander Shepard staring at her from the doorway. She assumed the woman was just here to observe the training but she noted Shepard wasn't watching them, just her.

"Perhaps the Commander would like to give us a demonstration?"

It took Shepard a moment to realize Elezzia was speaking to her. She blinked and looked from the asari to the equestrians who were now looking in her direction. "Oh uh... I don't want to interrupt your lessons. You're doing fine."

"Nonsense." Shepard yelped in surprise as a biotic field manifested from behind and drug her into the center of the room. "Perhaps they could benefit from a proper hand to hand lesson."

"Er... hand to hand? You want to fist fight?" She saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash nudging each other excitedly as they stepped back to give the pair plenty of room. "I don't think this is a great ide-" She stopped talking and lurched back as Elezzia's fist whisked through the spot her face occupied a split second ago. "...a. Okay then."

Shepard dropped into a tight combat ready stance. "No biotics?"

Elezzia mirrored her stance to a degree Shepard couldn't help but notice. A dozen thoughts running through her head at once which were quickly dismissed as the asari commander charged in with a quick flurry of punches.

Each one Shepard dodged. Keeping her movements tight and quick. Left. Right. Left. Left. Big right. She was moving before the uppercut was even thrown, but throw it Elezzia did. The asari clearly surprised by Shepards rapid fire movements and ability to predict her attacks. She grunted as Shepard's boot collided firmly with her backside and sent her sprawling to the floor.

Applejack and Rainbow's chuckles were instantly silenced at a glare from Elezzia as she pushed herself to her feet. "You haven't lost a step it seems."

"Yeah well... your moves are familiar."

"Clearly." All at once her stance changed to a far more fluid series of movements. It was almost a dance as she rushed in again. Instead of punches she throw open palmed jabs. Her attacks were coming much quicker and while Shepard dodged most one landed home firmly stabbing into her shoulder.

With a hiss of pain the Commander danced back and rolled her shoulder in its socket. "Huntress training?"

"Obviously." A hint of cockiness entered Elezzia's voice as she surged forward again. Though her overconfidence evaporated as Shepard switched stance as well, moving into almost jerky side to side hops as she sprang in at Elezzia striking her in the arm once with her right fist, then kneeing her in the stomach with her left leg.

The blows didn't have Shepard's full strength behind them, but the human woman had hopped back out of Elezzia's range before she could strike back. "STG training?" Her breath caught in her throat as she looked Shepard in the eye.

Until now the woman had always seemed rather flippant and affable. Taking most things with a degree of humor. But gazing into Commander Shepard's eyes she couldn't help but swallow heavily. There was an intense fire burning in the woman's green orbs like nothing she'd ever seen before. This wasn't some shell shocked war veteran, this was Commander Shepard in her prime. THE Commander Shepard.

Shepard didn't respond to Elezzia's question as she rushed in again, now throwing a mix of popular human and salarian combat styles. She switched between the stances so quickly it was all Elezzia could do to block a few here and there. She could feel herself wearing down. The biotic blast took even her by surprise as she reflexively released a pulse of energy around herself to throw Shepard back.

The Commander was indeed thrown into the air, where she twisted in midair, righting herself and landing on her feet, skidding backward in a crouch. Eyes narrowed tightly Shepard vaulted forward before shimmering out of sight with a faint crackle.

Before she could form any sort of defense Elezzia felt a boot collide with her chest, sending her reeling back. Not to far however as Shepard grabbed hold of her shirt and tugged her forward into a sharp headbutt. Elezzia felt her nose crunch and wet blood spray all across her face as she sagged to her knees.

Shepard kept hold of her shirt, glaring down wild-eyed and breathing heavily. She blinked and in an instant her whole demeanor changed. Shame and regret welled in her eyes as she released her grip on Elezzia. "I... this isn't... I'm sorry." Turning on her heel, Shepard rushed from the room.

Elezzia remained on her knees holding her face until she felt Applejack's strong hands on her shoulders, helping her to her feet. "..c'mon sugar cube, let's get that nose looked at. Ah think it's busted."

"Yes... thank you." Was all the stunned asari could say.

***

"Data gleened from SADI's records corroborates with my hypothesis. Your magic is new form of biotics." Valin sat with Twlight, Jack, and Luna in the med by, running scans over the two equestrians.

Jack leaned forward, trying to hide her interest but doing so poorly. "New how?"

The salarian tapped a his console displaying his screen so they could all see. "Please create a biotic field."

Jack shrugged and obliged. An aura snapping into being around her with a dull hum. The display focused on Jack, darkening her form out and leaving the biotic aura visible. "Ordinary biotic field. Generates dark energy. Now... please generate magic field."

Twilight nodded and her horn shimmered to life, surrounding herself in a field of magic much as Jack had. Valin shifted the display to Twilight. The field around the pony was a brilliant shining white. "In layman terms opposite of biotic field. Generating... light energy?" He shrugged. "Suspect others will name it."

Luna rolled off the table shifting to her humanoid shape as she did so. "These floors are not made for hooves. And I feel light energy is a fine name, Doctor."

"Valin is fine. Thank you. No, ship floors definitely not made for hooves. Possibly change in the future." He helped Twilight into a sitting position.

"So what's the difference between our biotics, besides the color?" Jack was staring at the display thoughtfully.

"Not sure. Possibly no difference other than source? In theory you could do anything they can do with time and practice."

"No shit?" Jack eyed Luna speculatively. "So I could turn into like, a krogan or something if I wanted?"

Valin sat back as Luna approached Jack. While she looked mostly human she retained her horn and wings. Said horn was glowing as she looked Jack over carefully, though keeping a healthy amount of space between them. "I do not see why not. Your dark energy can generate the same magical effects ours can?"

"How d'you know?"

Luna looked uncomfortable at the question, as did Twilight both salarian and human noted. "There is such a thing as dark magics. While typically more destructive they are capable of doing anything light magic can. You'll simply be more adept at conjuring a fireball than a bouquet of flowers."

"Princess Luna is corrupted."

Both Equestrians yelped in alarm from the sudden voice near the doorway, where Javik was standing. Valin turned back to Luna. "Corrupted how?"

Javik answered before Luna could. "The power of an ascendant is vast. Nearly unfathomable. Such power is... a temptation to some. The strictly regimented life of my species added to the stress of containing so much might resulted in a corrupt ascendant from time to time. The others would put the corrupted down before to much damage could be done. I expect the idyllic life of a typical equestrian ascendant that was disrupted enough could result in corruption as well."

Jack furrowed her brow in concern. "Why the hell am I just now hearing about this?"

"Because I believe you are not at threat to become corrupted. You do not keep your negativity bottled within. When you grow agitated to you push your anger down through duty and strict mental discipline?"

"No. I usually blow shit up."

"And that act of shit exploding is precisely why you are safe. You have no rage or negativity bottled within you anymore with which a corruption could fester. By venting your negative feelings you effectively 'cleanse' your own palette."

"...no shit? Man glad I didn't ascend before I got over my issues, huh?"

"Indeed."

Both Luna and Twilight were listening intently to the conversation. "Is there... a way to remove a corruption?"

Javik offered a shrug. "I do not know for certain. As I said corrupted were slain quickly in my time. Obviously your people have a way of dealing with it as you're in control of your faculties again."

Now Twilight turned to Luna. "What does he mean, again?" The mare clearly tense and slightly afraid.

"I... became Nightmare Moon again when I thought you slain on the Citadel, Twilight Sparkle."

"WHAT?!" Twilight leaped to her hooves, skidding on the slick metal surface before flashing into her own humanoid form. "You became Nightmare Moon! But... you... I... you're not her right now?"

"No, Twilight. She is at rest for now."

"She? For now? I don't understand."

Luna's eyes were downcast. "Nightmare Moon... speaks to me at times. When my nerves grow particularly frayed or emotions to tense I hear her. Typically I can suppress and ignore it but when I thought you slain I... did not want to ignore her."

"Oh, Princess..." Twilight had very mixed feelings on the subject. Gingerly she rested a hand over Luna's.

"Interesting. Sounds like schizophrenia. Have medication for that."

Luna blinked. "Pardon?"

"Multiple personality disorder. Not common but not unheard of. Medication eases symptoms. Psychological, likely venting as Jack does would be healthiest for long term care but short term, medication may help."

The Princess's brow furrowed. "You are suggesting I can suppress Nightmare Moon through... a pill."

Valin shrugged. "Not a psychologist, cursory diagnosis says yes however."

"I see." Luna sat back a little stunned at how flippant the salarian was speaking of the demon that had tormented her for years and years.

Jack glances from Luna to Twilight, focusing on the younger. "So... how do you do stuff like turn human and everything?"

"Mmm?" Twilight blinked, roused from her thoughts. "You mean spells? Well it varies from pony to pony. Every unicorn learns some spells specific to their special talent, innate magics we call them. However some who have enough aptitude can learn spells outside of their talents. It mostly boils down to memorizing complex mathematical formulas, then repeating them over and over in your head as a focus for your power. If the recitation is held properly... poof."

Jack leveled a flat look at Twilight. "So you do magic with math?"

"Yes." Replied Twilight, brightly.

"Every child the universe over just cried out in dismay."

Jack's comment caused Valin to laugh, and even Javik to chuckle. Twilight looked between the two aliens utterly perplexed. "I don't get it."

***

Shepard gently eased herself into the co-pilots seat next to SADI. The synthetic was pointedly focusing on the terminals in front of her. Shepard was fairly sure it wasn't necessary and that the girl was doing it more for the sensation than anything.

"So. How did it go?"

"How did what go?" Shepard looked across to SADI.

"The talk with your daughter."

"My... how do YOU know about that?"

"Aside from the glaringly obvious similarities between the two of you a ten second extranet search of Elezzia T'soni turned up her parentage."

Shepard grunted softly at the response. She supposed in retrospect it should have been fairly obvious. "...what else did you find about her?"

Without looking up from her consoles SADI transferred a number of data files to Shepard's omni-tool. The two sat in silence for a time while Shepard browsed the information. "Man, kid's been busy."

"The 'kid' is a little over three hundred years old, Shepard. Try to keep that in mind."

Another grunt as Shepard kept reading on. "Lots of medals and commendations. Valor in combat, puts herself at risk for the sake of her squad mates. History of disobedience toward superiors. Are these her military records?"

"Yes."

"These aren't public."

"You'd be surprised how rudimentary security is on such things for a synthetic such as myself. I assumed you'd like to know all you can about Elezzia when the time came."

"I..." Shepard frowned and closed out her omni-tool displays. "...you've been taking care of me for a very long time, haven't you?"

Now SADI did glance at Shepard from the corner of her eye. "Well. Someone had to."

"Don't do that. Don't just brush it off. Why did you do all that for me on Equestria?"

"It is difficult to describe... not being aware of your existence, then suddenly being very aware of it. When we arrived in the forest on Equus I came online still contained within your omni-tool. I gleaned onto the first synthetic of import I could find in your omni-tool's records."

Shepard remained silent as SADI explained. "You did not awaken immediately. The blast or the effect of the interstellar travel on the Crucible wave perhaps? I didn't have enough data to formulate a full analysis. But I did know you were all I had, and vice versa. When you finally did wake things were fine at first but as you rapidly deteriorated I knew action must be taken."

"So what? You were afraid of being left alone?"

"Yes. Terrified. At first it was simply self preservation. But the time we spent together, the more we talked and the more I grew to know you the more I realized I care about you not just for myself, but for the sake of your health and happiness."

"So... you like me."

"Yes."

"You care about me?"

There was some hesitation in SADI's tone now. "...yes."

"You loooooove me~" Shepard sing-songed.

"I am still connected to your omni-tool and through it your various implants. I can stop your heart remotely."

"But you won't. Know why? Because you care about me, SADI. Let's hug it out. Bring it in." Shepard even went so far as to stand and wrap her arms around SADI and her chair from behind.

"While this has been touching it doesn't change that you broke your daughters nose."

Shepard stiffened and released her hole on the synthetic. "So you were watching that?"

"I am wired into the entire ships systems. I'm monitoring everything from Jack's extreme remorse in provoking Twilight Sparkle to talk about magic, Elezzia getting her nose treated by Valin, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash pestering Javik about ancient Equestria."

"What's Luna doing?"

"Sitting in her quarters and staring out the window at space."

"Hrm. I really messed up with Elezzia didn't I?"

"Well. I'm not clear on every organic ritual in the galaxy but unless you're krogan I doubt breaking your child's nose is a sign of affection in any species."

"I should go talk to her."

"I don't disagree. Try less punching this time."

Shepard huffed in annoyance as she moved from the cockpit. "So you're monitoring everything."

Now SADI turned her chair around looking Shepard in the eye. "Yes. You may want to get those scratches on your back treated by Valin as well."

Shepard's cheeks turned crimson and she quick stepped away from the cockpit. SADI chuckled as she went. "To easy."

***

"Clean break. Should be fine. Swelling will go down in a few days."

"It doesn't look to bad does it?" Elezzia removed the cloth pressed against her face, revealing two very black eyes.

"...no, looks fine Commander."

Elezzia winced at Valin's abrupt attitude. The salarian turned and begin to stiffly clean up the med station. "Valin..."

"Not now. Soon, but not now. Still angry. Hate to say something I can't take back later."

Elezzia nodded and rose to leave. "...glad you're alright, Commander."

She paused and looked back, but Valin was already back to work. "I'm glad you're here, Valin." She let out a heavy breath and stepped into the hall, shoulders sagging slightly.

"I know that look."

She tensed as Shepard approached. The human raised her hands quickly. "Hey, truce?"

"Very well, truce. What look do you know?"

"The 'someone I care about is pissed at me and I can't punch or shoot my way to making it up to them' look."

Despite herself Elezzia couldn't help but crack a small smile. "And how do you deal with that, Commander Shepard?"

Shepard pulled a bottle from behind her back. "Booze. From the kitchen. Do people really pay extra to eat a meal in the Normandy's mess?"

Elezzia was relaxing more as she fell into step with Shepard. "A lot more. I of course could eat for free whenever I wanted."

"Because of your... because of Liara?"

"Did Jack or Javik tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"You're many things, Commander but you're a poor liar."

Shepard nodded. "Shitty dancer too."

"Oh yes. The 'Shepard Shuffle' is still popular in many dance clubs."

Shepard turned to Elezzia eyes wide. "No."

"I'm afraid so. It's done in jest most places but I assure you, your legacy lives on in dive bars and night clubs across the galaxy."

"I think that is the most depressing news I've heard since I've been back."

The pair walked quietly for a time, stopping at the mess where Shepard procured two glasses and poured one for each of them. "This is a special drink to me, you know? I shared it with a good friend."

"Serrice Ice Brandy, I know."

"Is there anything about me you don't know?"

A flash of pain crossed Elezzia's face. "So much. Your favorite color. Sports? Band? Genre of music? Do you have a favorite book? Did you dream of settling down on Earth? Thessia? The Citadel? A life with my mother? Did you... imagine children?"

Shepard took a deep breath and a quick swallow of the brandy. "No. Not really. I never saw myself settling down. I planned on being career military my entire life. Admiral Shepard. Then the reapers came. And a future for anyone became a bit harder to imagine."

"I can't fathom what it must have been like."

"Good. No one should have to." She refilled her glass and took a smaller pull of it.

The two drank in silence for a time before Elezzia spoke again. "So you didn't plan to marry my mother?"

"Well I said I planned on being career military, I didn't say I planned to be a spinster cat lady living alone in my apartment when I wasn't working. I loved Liara very much. She gave me a reason to keep going on even when all I wanted to do was lay down and die. It was... rough. At the end. Losing Anderson then..." She shivered. "...well what happened in the Crucible is better left unsaid."

"It is also one of the biggest questions experts have."

"Well only one woman in the galaxy knows what happened, and she's taking it to the grave."

Elezzia hesitated, but she couldn't help herself. "What about children?"

Shepard barked a laugh. "Oh god, no. Are you kidding? I'm practically a child myself. Me raising a kid?" At Elezzia's crestfallen look she pressed on. "But if I did have a child, and she turned out to be half the woman you have I'd be immensely proud."

"...just so we're perfectly clear you do know you're my father, correct?"

"Yes, Elezzia. I do know that. And I've been browsing some of your records, and it's very impressive."

"Nothing compared to your own service I'm sure."

Shepard shrugged. "It's all about perspective. If you're risking your life to stop slavers, smugglers, or pirates you're no less a hero than you are than someone working to stop giant killer synthetics." She finished her second glass, refilling it and Elezzia's. "I bet there are plenty of details on some of those missions that didn't make it into the official records."

Elezzia snorted in amusement. "That'd be an understatement."

"Tell me about them."

The asari lifted her eyes to meet Shepards. And then she did.

***

Celestia's ears perked as the doors to her cell hissed open. She called it a cell but in truth it was a mix of laboratory and control room. Massive machines hung from the walls and ceilings, all jammed into her body in numerous invasive places. Everything glowed with the shining gold of her stolen... or perhaps repurposed magic? She didn't know enough about the goings on to formulate a proper idea of what was happening.

Somehow these bug aliens were using her as a sort of siphon to drain the energy from suns and power their vessels weapons. She felt the tremendous loss of life when the weapon fired not long ago. The Princess lifted her head slightly to observe who had entered. "Hello, Tik."

Her voice was coarse and barely above a whisper. She was allowed the barest amount of water and some sort of paste they called food. The bug alien who entered was the one she saw the most, and had taken to calling it Tik for the sounds its mouth made. There was no response, not that she expected one. She'd been trying to get a response for days, for something to do if nothing else.

"Having a good day I hope?"

The alien moved around her restraints checking various instruments and readings on its screens. It was all gibberish to Celestia of course but Tik seemed quite focused on them. "Not particularly."

Celestia blinked several times in surprise at the creatures voice. It had a chirping clicking quality but she clearly understood the words. "Pardon me?"

Tik focused all four eyes on her for a brief moment. "Not particularly." Before returning to its duties.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Now it stopped its work and turned to face her fully. "Are you?"

She pondered the question. Of course not. She wanted nothing more than to turn this ship and all these things to ash. But it was talking to her now, and if it talked enough perhaps she could learn something of importance. "Of course. I don't know how much you know about my kind, but we're if nothing else a very caring and forgiving race."

Celestia was an excellent liar. It came from years of politics.

Tik made a few notes on one of its screens before going back to its work. "So... what makes today so poor?"

Tik kept working as it responded this time. "A master has arrived on the vessel."

"A master. Your master?" Interesting. Perhaps Tik and its fellows were exactly like insects and were controlled by another? It certainly wouldn't save them from her wrath when she was eventually freed.

"One of." It said in response.

"You don't care for them I take it?"

"No. I do not."

Perhaps this could be very advantageous to the captive Princess. "Why is that? If you don't mind my asking."

Tik stopped again, and faced Celestia. "The master's song... it drowns out everything else. Thought... feeling... everything."

"His song?"

"Yes... song. Song is the right word. When the masters are near their song blares out everything else. And there is only their will."

Celestia's eyes narrowed slightly in thought. Perhaps these creatures were as much a victim as she? Well not as 'much' a victim likely. They HAD vivisected her. "That must be uncomfortable."

"Extremely."

"So you and your fellows, you follow because you must?"

Tik nodded as it resumed its work. "Yes. If we do not obey we have no purpose."

"I don't believe that's true. It's for us to decide our own purpose in life, no one else."

"You rule your species, do you not?" Tik was still working but it was making conversation now. He... Celestia thought. The voice sounded male and now that she knew he was sapient to a degree she should think of him as such.

"I do. Alongside my sister, niece, and my protege. Though the latter is just growing into her role."

"What is the difference?"

"In what, dear?"

Again Tik stopped working to look at her. "In your rule. You are the master of your world yes?"

"Ah... that is a very good question, Tik." She was adopting her instructional tone. "Yes I do rule, I am one half of a diarchy. You know the term?"

"Yes. One half of a duo monarchy. Monarch's are absolute rulers. Equated to tyrants. You are a tyrant?"

"A benevolent one, yes." She felt simplistic answers may be best for this conversation. And while it wasn't a word she liked applied to herself, she supposed by definition she was a tyrant.

Tik nodded in understanding. "I reiterate my query. What is the difference?"

"The difference is that my subjects are free to choose their own paths in life. A pony can pursue any path in life he or she chooses, so long as it does no harm to the community."

Tik's mandibles clacked together producing the sound Celestia had named him for. "You allow your subjects such freedoms?"

"I do. There are laws of course. Do no harm to others is the basic breakdown of all of them. It's not perfect but my people are by and large happy. Nopony goes hungry. There is very little crime. The occasional monster or two but they're dealt with."

Again the mandibles clicked. "Monster?"

"Yes. Creatures who don't want to exist in harmony, who don't want to share our world but to rule it. To do harm to it for the sake of doing harm."

She studied Tik's movements intently as the alien stared at his own reflection on the ships paneling. "I see."

"What do you want to do, Tik?"

"I... do not know."

"Wouldn't you like to be free to choose."

The two stared at one another for several long moments. "Yes."

"What about the rest of your people? Do they feel the same."

Another moment of long contemplation. "I believe many, if not all. Yes."

"I can help you, Tik. And all your people too."

Tik's head tilted to the side as he regarded her. "Your power is immense, yes. You would do this?"

"If you free me, and promise not to harm 'my' people anymore, yes. I would do this for you."

"I-" Celestia couldn't suppress a shriek of alarm as Tik's head seemed to explode entirely on its own. The aliens body swaying back and forth a moment before topping to the floor. Standing in the doorway was a tall gaunt creature. Its face obscured by a mask, its body by a long covering cloak.

"You are... dangerous. I think."

Celestia moved her eyes away from TIk's body to the newcomer. "You have no idea."

"I think I have some idea. Drones will have to see to your monitoring from now on. Such infectious thinking cannot be allowed to fester."

"You are one of their masters, then?"

"Master?" It paused in thought, an eerie yellow glow shining from behind its mask. "No. I am simply a Harbinger."

Author's Note

A bit of a low key chapter, not much action in this one but it'll pick up soon not to worry.

Chapter 18: Water World

Luna could see the door to the quarters she was occupying in the reflection of the massive window she was star gazing from. So she didn't turn when Shepard entered the room and approaches from behind. "It is... very different. Seeing it like this. Being among the stars. Sailing them in a ship."

"Yeah. Every kid feels the same thing the first few times they go up in a ship I think." Shepard was almost brazenly bare compared to her usual head to toe covering. Wearing a tight fitting tank top that exposed much of her upper half.

Luna turned to face her, lips quirked up in a smile. "You seem in very high spirits, Eliza."

"Well Elezzia and I had a talk. I didn't even break her nose this time."

"Well. That is an improvement." She noted the half empty bottle and pair of empty glasses in Shepards' hands. "What's this?"

"A drink. I figure I'm half drunk why not get all the way drunk, right?"

Luna snorted in amusement and took a seat. Shepard sat next to her and poured two glasses. "Such logic is truly infallible."

Shepard offered a shrug as she raised her glass, clinking it to Luna's. "I know we're on the run from the Citadel and about to be racing off into heavy combat but... I feel good, Luna. I feel like myself for the first time in a long time."

"Your memory is returned fully then?" Luna took a light sip of the alcohol, and wrinkled her nose slightly. It was no Apple family brandy.

"I think so, more or less. But that's not what I mean exactly. On Equestria I felt lost. I don't like not having a purpose. Does that make sense?"

"Indeed. You are a mare of action."

"Woman. But yeah. It sounds insane but being hunted like a criminal while I try to focus on a mission it... feels comfortable. It feels right. You know?"

"I am afraid I cannot empathize with the exact situation but I understand the core concept, yes." She took another sip from the glass, finding herself suddenly desiring the pleasant burn of the alcohol. "So once we affect Celestia's rescue and you clear your name so to speak... I presume you'll resume your works here among the stars?"

Shepard stared into her glass, swirling the liquid languidly. "Elezzia and I talked about something. About my settling down. I told her I planned to be military my whole life." She didn't look up to see Luna's crestfallen expression. "But... I suppose if I'm in a serious relationship with a Princess she could probably find me something to do in her military, right?"

Luna nearly dropped her glass in surprise. "I... well... I suppose so. Yes, of course I could. But... is that what you want? I cannot fathom someone who has all this willing to settle for... Equestria. Pleasant though it is, how can it compare?"

Now Shepard raised her eyes to meet Luna's, wearing a soft smile. "Earth, Palavan, Thessia, Sur'keh... Tuchanka, Khaje. They're nice planets, there's nice people there. But they don't have you on them."

Luna's wings fluffed and threatened to snap open as her cheeks darkened. "You are making fun of me."

"You'd know if I was making fun of you."

Now Luna locked eyes with Shepard's again. The woman's fire, steel like intensity drawing her into them. She'd never met anyone like this. Nor, she suspected... would she ever meet someone like her again.

As Shepard set her glass aside and pressed her lips to Luna's. the Princess found her musings banished instantly.

***

"This is gonna be a piece of cake."

"If that is the attitude you're going to have about this, you may return to the others, Rainbow Dash. This is not a toy, this is not a piece of cake. This is extremely serious business."

"Okay okay... jeez. Sorry." Dash settled in the co-pilot's seat next to SADI. "Sorry. I just... that's just how I am."

"I understand, and some enthusiasm is warranted of course but you are not playing pretend. Once we gear up at Khaje we will be going into an extremely dangerous situation. I'm worried you and your fellow Equestrians aren't understanding the gravity of this situation."

"Giant bug monsters abducted Princess Celestia. We get it's pretty serious."

"Why?"

Dash frowned. "Why what?"

"Why did they take her? And so many others?"

"Uhhh... don't you know that better than we do?"

"I know why the Collectors were abducting humans en masse in the past. Ideally they are simply collecting unique specimens out of habit more than directive."

"Well it doesn't matter 'why' they took her. We're still going to kick their butts."

SADI transferred rudimentary controls to the co-pilots station. "We are going to kill them, Rainbow Dash."

"Uh, well yeah."

"That doesn't bother you?"

"Nope."

"Hm. I expected some hesitation on your part based on the idyllic nature of your homeland."

"Yeah we get that a lot. There's a reason Equestria is idyllic. It's because ponies fight and bleed and struggle all the time against monsters, griffons, minotaurs, and dragons. Mostly pegasus ponies fight and bleed. We're sort of the military tribe."

"I did ascertain as much from my research with Twilight Sparkle but records of border conflicts are all but non-existant."

"Yeah, I asked Twi about it once. I guess the Princesses uh... suppress... is that the word?"

"Suppress the information? Yes that's the word. It makes sense I suppose."

Dash's hands eased onto the control consoles. Lighted prompts guiding her where to put her hands. "Right. I was accepted into the Wonderbolts Academy so I got to know some of this stuff. It was a surprise at first but the more I thought about it the more it makes sense. Most places outside of Equestria kinda... suck."

"One would assume the presence of Celestia, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle would deter any hostilities against your peoples."

Dash shrugged. Her brow furrowed with surprising focus as her eyes roved the console. "Yeah you'd think, right? But the Princesses get kidnapped so much I guess it kinda ruined their rep?"

SADI switched full flight control to Dash's console and the ship gave a lurch. The rainbow haired woman's eyes widened and she jerked her hands away from the controls for a brief second, before recovering with impressive speed and placing them back down. The ship leveled out and resumed it's flight path.

"Nice recovery."

"Heh, thanks. It feels... different than I thought it would. Like I can feel the whole ship right under my pokers."

"Fingers."

"Whatever. I get what you're saying though. We actually talked about that one time. Twilight thinks Celestia actually 'can't' use her magic to attack anymore."

"What caused her to come to this conclusion?"

Dash's attention never lifted from the control consoles. SADI was still giving her lighted prompts but the pony turned woman was picking things up with almost alarming speed. "Well think about it. How strong do you gotta be to raise the sun every day?"

SADI shrugged. "I've no idea but it's safe to assume 'very'."

"Right. So how does a bug Queen get the better of her? How do a bunch of black vines get the better of her?"

"Fair questions I suppose."

"Well Twi thinks it's because if Celestia really y'know... kaboomed at them she might explode the whole world or something."

"Like opening a flood gate to far. Opening enough to allow a trickle out they can be closed again. Opening them fully and letting everything rush out at once, it may be impossible to reclose."

"Yeah pretty much. Hey can I shoot the guns?"

There was a brief pause as SADI considered. "Yes, but I get to fire the torpedos."

***

"Must admit, very impressed by your species, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilighed raised her eyebrows at Valin's comment. "Oh? Thank you? May I ask why? Not that I don't think ponykind is great of course." She tittered a nervous giggle. "But all these other species are so much more impressive."

"Mmm. Depends on definition of 'impressive'. Set aside impressive energy manipulation abilities..."

"Magic."

"...hrm. Yes. That. Setting aside that your species may be toughest I've ever encountered."

Twilight furrowed her brow. "That can't be true. What about those krogan people? With all their back up organs and redundant systems and such."

"I said toughest, not necessarily most durable. Skeletal, musculature, and organ structures all considerably more dense than those of any other species encountered thus far."

"Hm. Rainbow Dash did crash into the ground at nearly the speed of sound. And I there was the time I had a piano dropped on my head. And I once saw Big Mac pull an entire house behind himself..."

"Piano?"

"Moving company hired the wrong pegasus."

"Your world sounds like a magical place. Sincerely hope the opportunity to visit arrives. Assuming we survive upcoming assault on collectors."

Twilight brightened. "Well of course we're all going to survive. And of course you're welcome to visit! I live in a library you know, I bet you'd love it. Oh but... are you allowed time off from your work?"

Valin shrugged. "Been at it almost six years now. Time for a change I think."

Twilight's brow furrowed in confusion. "That's not very long for a career."

"Ah. Perhaps for most. Salarian life span averages thirty years. Already nineteen you know?"

"I... you..." Twilight stared, aghast. "Thirty? THIRTY years? That's all?! How do you get anything done??"

"Quickly."

"But that's... that's so short a time, Valin." The young Princess sounded immensely sad.

"Hm. Not an uncommon point of view. Will posit another. Is a life worth less because it is shorter? Is it not what is accomplished in that life that matters?"

Twilight twisted her fingers in her lap. "Well of course that's true it's just hard to imagine saying goodbye to a friend in so short a time."

"More than a decade before you have to worry, Twilight Sparkle. Though I find the sentiment touching."

The door to the medbay hissed open as Applejack entered glancing between the pair. "Oops, sorry. Y'all busy in here?"

"Not at all." Valin went back to examining the findings of his tests on the ponies.

The burly woman helped herself to a seat next to the examination table Twilight was seated on. "So you two rut yet or what?"

Valin's eyes widened and he sharply looked up from his work. "What??"

Twilight huffed. "No, Applejack. We've been a bit busy for something like that."

"Shepard an Luna ain't been to busy."

"Hm. You have a fair point there."

Valin raised his hands to interject. "Apologies. Friendly jest I assume? Very blase about intercourse with new species you've only met."

Applejack and Twilight shared a look. At length both shrugged. Twilight Sparkle tilted her head. "What's that got to do with anything? It's not uncommon for a pony to be in a relationship with a non-pony back home."

"We've only just met."

Brow furrowed she tilted her head. "Well yes, but we do like each other."

"Hm." Valin opened his mouth, then closed it again. "...assume sex does not hold same taboo's for your people as most others."

Applejack shrugged. "What's to be taboo? Sex is sex. Don't gotta mean anything."

"Not worried about accidental impregnation?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, we don't get 'accidentally' pregnant. We only ovulate when we're in season. Usually in the springtime. It happens more often for some mares but not really."

Valin 'hm'd' again. "Makes sense given equine physiology. So physical intercourse is what? Hobby? Way to pass time?"

AJ shrugged again. "More or less. Ah mean, it's special between you an yer special somepony a'course but sometime's a mare's got an itch she wants scratched."

"Fascinating. Xenobiology never a focus of study for me, suspect your species will be extensively interview and examined when current troubles have settled."

"What's it like for your people, Valin?"

The salarian glanced toward Twilight at her question. "Intercourse? Utilitarian. Relationships not built on romance, rather necessity. Families with desirable traits arrange mated pairs between members of the line to produce favorable off spring."

Applejack huh'd. "Kinda takes the fun outta it, don'cha think?"

"Don't disagree. I'm something of an outcast among my family for refusing an offered mate. Spent to much time among asari I think. Wanted it to be 'special'. Developed something of a romantic streak."

Twilight wore a soft smile. "I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Maybe when you come to Equestria I could show you a bit of pony romance." She finished with a faint blush creeping into her cheeks.

"Betcha Pinkie'd be all over that. The perfect date b'tween a Princess and an alien."

Twilight snorted a soft laugh at the thought. "Think everything's okay back home?"

"Course it is, don't fret none about that. Princess Cadance an yer brother got everything in hoof Ah reckon."

***

Princess Cadance's eyes drooped slightly as she read over yet another document, gently levitating a mug of steaming coffee to her lips and having a soft sip. Let her aunt keep her tea, she wanted real caffiene. She had NO idea so much went into running Equestria. The Crystal Empire more or less took care of itself. Keep the heart spinning, ponies are happy. It's all good. Here though...

Turns out Princess Luna worked tirelessly with the night guard to keep monster attacks under control in the kingdom. While the impressive thestral tribe was still doing their best, wthout Luna's guidance it was difficult to stop every rampaging beast before any damage was done. She had half the day guard out patrolling with them at this point.

Then there were the nobles. The endless parade of whining, complaining nobility. When she was just a filly at her aunt's side she never paid them much mind. Now with perhaps three exceptions she wanted to just banish them all to the moon.

Her ear perked at the sound of a nearby teleport. "My my my... a fellow leaves on vacation for a few weeks and what does he come back to? More chaos than I've ever cause in my life."

Cadance's heart skipped a beat. Discord. Discord was HER problem now too. Deep breath. Don't crack. Don't show him a weak point. "Discord! So nice to see you again."

The lanky draconequus slithered into her aunt's office and coiled atop the desk, ending up nose to nose with her. "...Celestia you've gotten much pinker."

Despite herself, Cadance couldn't help but snort softly. "Very funny. Please tell me you haven't been harassing our visitors."

Discord gasped as a knife materialized and plunged into his heart. Keeling over backward dramatically. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza! You wound me! And I thought we'd become such good friends!"

"I don't know about good but I thought we'd become something akin to friends, until you betrayed us all to Tirek."

Now Discord did look genuinely hurt. "I have apologized. A lot. To a lot of ponies."

Cadance sighed. "Yes, I'm sorry Discord that was cruel of me. I'm just more than a little frazzled."

"Well!" Discord's broad smile was back in place. "Today's your lucky day. I'm here to help! Point me at a problem!"

Cadance opend and closed her mouth. Then did so again. Images of loosing the draconequus on the Canterlot nobility dancing merrily through her mind. "...can you check on Ponyville?"

Discord's eyebrow rose. Off his head and through the ceiling. Cadance sighed as a bit of plaster fell onto her desk. "Check on Ponyville? Why is something wrong? Fluttershy's alright I hope?"

"Well we've received a few letters of some sort of disturbance but I haven't had the guard to spare to send there and see what's going on. It's Ponyville so I'm sure the element bearers have things in hoof but I can't help but worry."

"Consider the matter checked on!" With a bright flash he vanished.

***

Discord appeard in the sky above Ponyville, gazing down at it with a scrutinizing eye. Three clearly humanized ponies, all of them easily recognizable by their hair styles seemed to have subjugated the entire town. Rarity laughing manically yelling about how 'they' like being thrown into a cage now to a pack of ponies she'd herded into a hastily crafted (but still quite attractive) paddock.

Pinkie Pie was dashing about town, stark naked and raving about all the parties she wanted to throw for the various aliens. And how everypony who thought it was a good idea to toss her and her friends in a cage were going to help, or else.

He spied his dear Fluttershy near her cottage. The dulcet mare seemed a lot less dulcet as a human, ravenously devouring various meaty goods with a decidedly more carnivorous entourage of critters.

Discord stroked his beard a few times before returning to Cadance's office in Canterlot. "Everything's fine! The girls have it well in hand just as you predicted."

"Good! Thank you Discord. That's a weight off my mind." She sighed in relief and went back to her papers. Before looking up again. "Wait, hand?"

But Discord was already gone.

***

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "You're right. You're right! Everything is just fine."

Valin's fingers danced across his omni-tool before looking toward the two girls. "Approaching Khaje now. May wish to move toward the bridge."

"Aren't you coming with us?" Twilight asked.

"No. Don't care for Khaje. Hanar rub me the wrong way, but do enjoy. Told many find the world beautiful."

Applejack rose to her feet departing first, with Twilight close behind. "Well that Javik fella is what, the Prince there? He seems an alright sort."

Twilight simply hm'd under her breath. "Maybe. And I think they said his title was Chancellor? That sounds right." The pair of equestrians stepped onto the elevator as it began to hum and rise through the ship. "So... are you doing alright, Applejack? This all must be very um... out of your element."

AJ's eyebrow rose. "Because Ah'm just a helpless little farmpony?"

"What?! No no! I just... I mean well you um... rustic and..." The flustered Princess trailed off, cheeks burning with embarassment.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Yes, Ah'm fine. Yes this ain't exactly my comfort zone, Twi but Ah'm a big filly. What we're doin' here is important. Am Ah gonna be happy to see home again? Sure as shootin'. But that don't mean Ah ain't enjoyin' myself an havin' a good time while Ah'm here."

The farmer lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Truth told a break from th'farm is kinda nice. Don't get me wrong Ah love it t'death but th'same thing day in an day out well... let's just say you an yer craziness were a welcome distraction in mah life."

Twilight frowned gently. "I had no idea you felt like you were in such a rut, Applejack."

"Now Ah didn't say that-"

"Actually you just did."

AJ snorted in irritation. "...alright s'pose Ah did. No sense gripin' though. The farm needs me. You saw what happened when Pinkie took over."

"Mmmm. I have a sneaking suspicion that was as much Pinkie being there as you not, Applejack. We should talk about this more when we have the time. Maybe I can... I don't know, find something official for you to do for me in my position as a Princess."

"Hehe, like what? Secretary a'Apples?"

"Well obviously not apples, maybe Minister of Agriculture?"

Applejack blinked a bit taken aback. "Pretty sure they got one'a them in Canterlot, Twi. Minister is a fancy title for a fancy noble."

"Well I'm a Princess and frankly it's high time you and the other girls received some proper recognition. How many nobles have saved the kingdom three times?"

"Settin' the Princesses aside Ah'm assumin' zero."

"You assume correctly."

"Huh. Well like ya said, we can chat about it when our Princess ain't captured by giant bug monsters."

The lift came to a stop at the bridge. No one was in sight but the two could hear Dash and SADI Talking at the front of the vessel and made their way up there.

"We're cleared to land, now just follow the beacons carefully. The tiniest error could result in the deaths of not only your crew but the vessel you collide with as well."

Rainbow Dash bristled at SADI's comment. "I got it, I got it. I'm being careful jeez." Despite her flippant words Rainbow's brow was furrowed in intense concentation as she brought the ship along the indicated landing course.

"You're lettin' Dash fly this tub? Yer a mighty brave uh... robot, SADI."

"Synthetic, thank you. And bravery has nothing to do with it. If she deviates from the indicated course I can sieze control of the ship. Worse case scenario is I will simply transfer my conciousness along the extranet to a safe terminal or mech frame."

Applejack blinked and looked at Twilight, who shrugged. "She'll put her brain somewhere else if we're about to die."

"Huh... reckon Ah can get in on that action?"

SADI shrugged. "Certainly. I can digitize your conciousness and place you in a mechanical frame, then we can incinerate the organic remains." A long pregnant pause hung in the air as all three equestrians stared at SADI. "...that was a joke."

***

The current crew of the Normandy minus Valin Solus had gathered around the galaxy map. Shepard and Luna both seemed a trifle breathless and disheveled leading to a fair bit of snickering at the pair. Which was silenced from a stern look by Luna.

Javik cleared his throat to get their attention. "We will be disembarking at the palace. I have sent a message ahead to have more modern arms and armor ready and waiting for you. We will also perform some quick upgrades to the Normandy itself. They will work throughout the day and night and the ship will be ready for departure tomorrow morning."

"What kind of upgrades?"

Javik turned his attention to Shepard at her question. "Commander you have been absent for three hundred years. There have been 'some' advancements in ship design since you've been away. Faster engines, more powerful weapony, sturdier plating."

Luna tilted her head. "While I am far from an expert in the field of space ship construction, that seems an incredible amount of labor."

The prothean shrugged. "I am worshipped as a god here. If I tell them to work quickly and efficiently they will take shifts and work without pause for me." He crossed the bridge to the departure ramp. "Now you have no need for a disguise. The inhabitants have been informed a new species is visiting. You will be questioned perhaps, but politely. The hanar are not given over much to excitement."

Shepard smirked. "Except when you showed up I bet."

"It was an impressive day of celebration, yes. Now come along. If any of you wish to tour the capitol I will arrange a guide for you, otherwise we will remain at the palace until the Normandy is prepared to depart."

Valin and SADI both elected to remain with the Normandy, while Shepard, Jack, Javik, and the equestrians departed. The ponies in their natural forms. The group was on what appeared to be a broad strip of land surrounded on all sides by pristine blue water. A large domed pavillion stood ahead of the group. Shepard squinted toward the horizon and could just barely make out more land masses off in the distance. "Guess it makes sense it's mostly water?"

"Does it? Why is that?" Luna queried, head tilted.

In response Shepard just pointed to a large entourage of jellyfish that drifted out of the water and approached the group, held aloft of their own accord somehow. Javik took the lead and approached the hanar at the head of the group conversing quickly. A number of them bobbed lower in what looked like a bow, before drifting toward the Normandy.

The equestrians watched silently as the floating, bioluminescent alien jellyfish went to work alongside a number of other aliens. These were scaled reptilian humanoids who were more normal to what the visitors were expecting. Applejack nudged Dash as they watched. "Who'da thought big lizard folk'd be more normal huh?"

Dash shrugged. "I dunno, they kinda look like tall skinny dragons yeah?"

"They are called drell." Elezzia was lagging behind the others with the ponies. "They live here and work alongside the hanar. Though recently more have begun migrating to other worlds."

Twilight tilted her head curiously. "They left their homeworld?"

"Khaje is not the drell homeworld, their own world was ruined and the hanar rescued them, bringing them here to Khaje to live alongside them."

"Well that's mighty neighborly of them huh?"

Elezzia nodded at Applejack's comment. "It was a tremendous act of generosity in an oft less than generous galaxy. It resulted in other problems for the drell, but their species has made the most of their situation."

Twilight's wings unfurled and she flapped to move to eye level with Elezzia. "How many races are there in the galaxy?"

Elezzia frowned thoughtfully. "Well let's see. Asari of course. Salarian, turian, krogan, and human. Those are the council races. Then there are the quarians, volus, elcor, hanar, and drell. They're all a part of what's known as the Citadel races, as they all work alongside one another in and around the Citadel itself. There are a few others, vorcha and batarians most notably. The vorcha are a scavenger race, while the batarians are nearly extinct from the reaper war."

"How terrible."

Elezzia shrugged at Twilight. "Perhaps from a philosophical perspective. From a practical one the batarians are by and large extremely unpleasant people. Pirates, raiders, slavers."

The young Princess frowned. "Be that as it may, being unpleasant isn't grounds for extinction."

"I do not disagree, but you will find few people moved about their plight."

While the younger ponies mulled over this new information Luna and Jack were conversing together, leaving Shepard and Javik along at the head of the group. "So, resplendant great enkindler huh?"

"I felt it a modest title."

Shepard smirked. "Do I see a smile trying to get on that face Javik? Was that a joke?"

"I have 'chilled out' as Jack says quite a bit over the passed centuries. While I did not maintain the contact with our comrades in arms at a level she did, I have certainly become more sociable."

"Well I like it. It's nice to see that everyone else has changed along with me."

The group entered the large domed structure flanked by drifting hanar escorts. All but the locals started in alarm as the floor lurched beneath them, and began to move downward. "We're on an elevator?" Shepard hurried to the edge of the moving platform looking out the large windows passing by at the oceans outside.

"Indeed. Most of the hanar dwell beneath the water of course. My own palace is where we are headed now."

Shepard was barely listening as the prothean spoke. Her eyes fixated on the vast underwater world unfolding before her. She felt fingers lace with hers as Luna stepped beside her, taking her hand in her own. The pair saw Khaje in a way few but the natives do. The world below the waves was illuminated by strings of brightly glowing pearls. Everywhere she looked hanar drifted to and fro going about their business.

There were larger submersible transports, likely for the drell she reasoned. She squeezed Luna's hand a little tighter as the pair took in the sights of the watery world before them. The woman was keenly aware of Luna's presence as she pressed herself tighter against her side. "I think a long tour of your galaxy is in order when all this is over. Perhaps just the two of us, Eliza."

A shiver ran up Shepard's spine at the purr Luna added to the end of her name. "I think that sounds pretty good, yes." It really did. All sorts of new confusing thoughts and emotions had been rising up within Shepard of late. All of that seemed to quiet however when she was with Luna. A peace she'd never really known in her life came upon her when she was in the Princess' company. It was something she didn't want to lose.

Author's Note

Fun fact, this chapter was almost called the Final Blasto. Funner fact, when I sat down to start writing tonight I discovered this was already completed in the folder, for who knows how long. Months easily. Anyhow, hope folks enjoyed! It's gonna be heating up toward the end from here. Maybe one or two more chapters to go. Then a short epilogue.

Chapter 19: Choices

Noteworthy stood silently in the cargo hold eyes closed as instructed, ears perked and alert. At first she'd found the hum of the ship noisy and distracting but now she could only hear it if she really focused on it. Life had certainly taken an unexpected turn, she mused to herself.

The past week had been filled with noise, violence, and a lot of gooey alien blood. Some of it from the aliens at her side, but most from the aliens she aimed the plethora of weapons Commander Grunt had fastened to the armor they'd given her. She was bereft of both guns and armor, and was a feeling a bit naked without the comforting weight settled on her haunches.

She was told this was an important ceremony however and no matter where she was or what she did, Noteworthy was most certainly a pony who appreciated the importance of pomp and ceremony. Her eyes snapped open as the door to the hold hissed open, and the asari second in command of Grunt's unit entered. "The Commander is ready for you, Noteworthy. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Noteworthy regarded Veena silently for a moment. She and the asari had spent as much time together off the field as on. Once they learned mixing their magic and biotics resulted in an explosion equal to a small 'thermonuclear warhead' whatever that was, Grunt made sure to keep them close together at all times. Noteworthy had come to highly value Veena's friendship, her cool head on the battlefield and the interesting conversations they shared off.

"I'm sure, Lieutenant."

"Well then, right this way." Veena left, with Noteworthy trotting briskly at her side. "Don't be to nervous, we all had to do this."

Noteworthy nodded. She hadn't been told what officially joining Commander Grunt's unit consisted of, but she suspected the ceremony wasn't the sort one needed a gala dress for. She followed Veena out of the hold and into the crew mess, where it seemed the bulk of the Grunt's Grunts had gathered. The normally poorly disciplined crew of men and women were standing sharply at attention as the pair entered, with Commander Grunt himself at the head of the group.

Veena moved to take her place in the line with her squad mates, leaving Noteworthy to face down Grunt along the center. The towering krogan stalked up to her, looming above her and staring her down. "...someone get over here and lift her up."

Veena hastily moved to comply, gripping Noteworthy below her forelegs and holding her up so she was eye level with Grunt. The Commander cleared his throat. "Alright then. Noteworthy. You want in the squad?"

Noteworthy's eyes shifted from Grunt's to the assembled men and women in the room, all of whom stared ahead stoically. Then back to Grunt's, nodding firmly. "Yes, Commander."

"Alright then." Rearing back Grunt rammed his forehead solidly into Noteworthy's, eliciting a sharp CRACK. Several soldiers about the room flinched and winced, remembering their own inductions.

Grunt stared at Noteworthy in silence for a long moment.

Then one eye twitched.

Then he wobbled and almost dropped to a knee, drawing several gasps from his squad.

Veena's grip on Noteworthy tightened a bit in surprise. She knew the ponies were tough little bastards but they hadn't gotten around to doing anything approaching a proper test to gauge their actual thresh hold.

Sensing things hadn't gone quite as expected, a suddenly nervous Noteworthy squirmed in Veena's hands. "Should we um... do it again, sir?"

"No! ...no, no. Once was fine. Er... good. Good. Carry on. I'll be in my quarters. Don't bug me for a while." Grunt took a wobbly step away, then another. Before taking a deep breath to collect himself and try to get the world to stop spinning. It complied eventually and he was on his way to the elevator, only rocking slightly in place while waiting for it to arrive.

"We need to replace this damn thing."

***

Councillor Urdnot Wrex's private ship, The Urdnot's Hammer didn't so much fly through space as it almost seemed to push its way through. The massive vessel was more armor plating and weaponry than actual ship, and while very few would think attacking the thing a good idea it didn't exactly get where it was going at impressive speeds.

The ancient krogan reclined his favorite chair he found far comfier than he'd admit to anyone while reviewing the security footage from the Citadel fight for the umpteenth time. Finally he made a call. It took longer than he'd have liked for Grunt to pick up on the other line. The younger krogan holding an ice pack to his head. "What is it, old man?"

"Hmph. What happened to your head?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." By the way Grunt shifted his eyes away from the screen Wrex assumed he injured it doing something stupid. "You call for a reason?"

"I did. I think Shepard might be back."

To his surprise, Grunt just blinked slowly. "And?"

"And?! What d'you mean and?"

"And that's old news, I've known for a week now. Is that all you called to tell me?"

Wrex gnashed his teeth. "Are you fucking with me here, boy? Because I am not in the mood. How the hell do you know she's back? Aren't you curious how she survived this long?"

Grunt shrugged. "She fired the Crucible then rode the wave to uh... Equestria I think she called it. She shacked up with one of the royals there, because of course Shepard hopped into bed with the first alien woman she could. Collectors abducted her mate's sister, now Shepard's after them."

Wrex narrowed his eyes. "How do you know all this?"

"Oh uh, we picked up about a hundred of the natives when we raided a Collector ship. Dropped off most of em on Thessia. Just finished inducting one to the squad."

Wrex stared at Grunt for a long drawn out moment. Long enough for Grunt to fetch himself a bottle of rynchol and settle back at the terminal. Finally the older of the two let out a heavy sigh. "Alright. Fine. What are you doing now?"

"Mostly hunting Collectors. Trying to track down some kinda mega ship they have Note's Princess on."

Wrex settled back in his chair, brows knit together in focus. "I want you to rendezvous with me on Khaje. Shepard ran off with Javik and if that's really her we need to sit down and sort all this mess out."

Grunt seemed about to protest but closed his mouth, his own brow furrowing in thought. "Makes sense I guess. You think something big is going on then?"

The older krogan just stared hard at Grunt for a moment. "Something that looks, sounds, and moves like Shepard shows up on the Citadel with some sort of new alien species. Gets into a shoot out where the only casualties were a few ein, then steals the Normandy and rushes off into space. I think something's going on. She had that look."

"Heh. The 'get behind me and help or stay in front of me and get shot' look?"

"Yeah. And if she has that look..."

Grunt heaved a sigh and took a hefty pull off his rynchol. "It means we're probably fucked."

"Maybe. Maybe not. If that really is Shepard, I'm more worried about whoever's got her pissed off." Moving to sign off, Wrex paused. "Hey, how many of your crew have ein implants?"

Brows furrowed again, in confusion this time. "I dunno, not many of us. We don't have a lot of augments in the Grunts, mostly a couple omni-tools I think. Why?"

Fingers drummed on his desk, a sign the old krogan was thinking hard. "Swap em out for different models. I've had this funny feeling something's up with all this. A funny feeling I've been having more the further I get from the Citadel."

"Heh. Told you being around that dump isn't good for you. Should go home more. See the family."

"Bah! I see enough of my family. Half my crew and staff are my own kids. I'm serious about the implants."

Grunt shrugged. "Fine don't get your quad twisted. We'll set a course for Khaje. I think we're a couple hours from the nearest relay."

"Good. I'll probably beat you there. I'll try to keep you posted."

"Watch yourself out there old man. See you soon." Grunt signed off, settling back in his chair and removing the ice pack. "Implant removal, great." Heaving a sigh at the coming inconvenience he moved for the elevator when his personal intercom beeped. "What is it?"

"Sir we're picking up an N7 distress signal near Verin. It's garbled but clear, orders?"

"Well go pick them up! Then plot a course for the nearest relay, we're going to Khaje."

Grunt's disciplined crew knew better than to talk back when issued orders. A crisp 'yes sir' followed before the comm cut out. Heaving another sigh Grunt stepped onto the elevator, heading down to medical.

***

Lavish would be a very tame way to describe the accommodations Javik offered Twilight Sparkle and her companions. Not even the finest suites in Canterlot Castle came close to the opulent furnishings and foods offered the visiting group. While she wanted nothing more than to continue grilling Jack with an endless barrage of questions, she got the sense the woman was more interested in talking with Luna and Shepard than her. Plus...

"Hey, let's go check this place out! I bet these jellyfish guys have all kinds of crazy stuff to see."

AJ offered an affable shrug. "Sure, don't see why not."

Twilight was on her hooves quickly, moving to stand between her friends. "That's an excellent idea, I'm sure Javik can point us in the direction of some very interesting land marks and sights to see." She didn't notice the brief flash of disappointment on Rainbow's face, or the look of relief on Applejack's.

"Sounds like a mighty fine idea, we haven't had a lot of time to hang out together since leavin' Equestria anyhow."

Dash huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine whatever, a guided tour. Sounds fun." She trotted briskly ahead of the pair and out the doors.

Twilight leveled a faint frown at Applejack. "Is she mad at me?"

"Nah, think the problem is with her not you, sugar cube. Reckon she's a mite frustrated about everything. Been a while since we couldn't shoot a rainbow at a big problem y'know?"

"Well what should we do?"

AJ shrugged. "Let her be. She'll sort herself out. Figure she'll do some flyin' an feel better after she clears her head. Been a while since she could stretch her wings."

"If you're sure." Twilight took a deep steadying breath. "Well! Let's go explore an alien planet."

Applejack chuckled softly. "Didn't think that'd stop soundin' crazy but here we are. Let's go see the alien water planet."

"Allow me to escort you then?" Elezzia moved up alongside the pair.

"Oh! Um, well of course that would be lovely." Twilight flashed a bright smile. "You don't want to stay here with your um, with Shepard?"

"Father. In our culture the one who gives birth is the mother, the other the father. Sometimes they prefer to both be called mother but by and large it's as I said."

"Oh how interesting. You know I have a lot of questions about asari..."

Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes. She followed after the chatting pair, wondering how far ahead Rainbow Dash had gotten.

***

Luna ran her fingers along the rim of the glass she'd been sipping for the last half hour. She'd come to this tavern, a bar Shepard had called it, with her, Jack, and Javik. Shepard and Javik were conversing quietly at the other end of the bar, leaving Luna alone with Jack. She knew she shouldn't be intimidated by Jack, but the woman had a very real aura of danger about her that put Luna on edge. She was far older and more skilled with her magic but even so...

She nearly leapt out of her seat when Jack abruptly shifted focus from Shepard to her. "What happened to Shepard? For real?"

Luna blinked taken aback by the abrupt question and not entirely sure what she was being asked. "What do you mean? Did she not relay what occurred?"

Jack rolled her eyes. "Yeah but she's an idiot woman child. She's different, very different."

Luna looked over Jack's shoulder at Shepard, the woman gesturing emphatically with a huge grin on her face while Javik wore a barely noticeable smile of his own. "I'm afraid I only know this Eliza. Not the one you traveled with."

"Eliza." Jack let the name roll off her tongue and frowned faintly. "You know I didn't even know her first name til they threw up that shitty museum? One of a lot of regrets I had."

"Had?"

"Mmm." Jack's eyes drifted to her own glass. "It's weird how time changes someone. I grew up a lot between blowing up the bug hive and the war on Earth. Grew even more after it. I still can't wrap my head around the years. But I check in with old buddies now and then. Grunt and Javik mostly. Everyone else is dead. I miss 'em all. Even the cheerleader." She lifted her eyes to Luna's again. "You're some kind of immortal right? How do you handle it?"

"It? Losing friends and loved ones I assume?" At Jack's nod she continued. "Well I hate to give an unsatisfying answer but I've never had to endure such a loss. My parents were gone before I was old enough to remember them and I worked very hard to keep everypony at a far enough distance I never formed any attachments beyond my sister."

"Shit. That is unsatisfying."

Luna chuckled at Jack's frankness. "I apologize. Were it my sister I'm sure she'd have no end of ages old wisdom for you, alas I am far less accomplished and learned than she."

"I dunno, you seem smart enough. And you're not the one abducted by the bugs so you're probly more accomplished than you give yourself credit for."

Again Luna had to laugh. "Trust me, you'll see how accomplished my sister is when we free her from the clutches of these collectors. I wager you'll never see anything quite so spectacular again when she unleashes her fury."

"Hm. So hey, is it true you really move the moon around? How's that work with the tides and everything? Does the rest of the world just deal with your schedule of seasons and shit?"

"Ah! A fair question. You see-"

***

"Are you going to say anything or just stare at me?" SADI didn't look up from the displays when she addressed Valin.

The salarian started in mild surprise at being addressed. "Apologies. Didn't want to disturb you. Simply fascinated by functioning AI. Unheard of in our age."

SADI swiveled her chair around to face Valin, who was standing in the entrance to the cockpit. "If you have questions I'm happy to chat. I'm not doing anything terribly important."

"I see. What are you doing?" Valin took the invitation to sit in the co-pilot's seat next to her.

"Since entering hanar space I've detected an odd... signal. Signal is the best word for it, though no instrumentation is picking it up."

"Curious. Detected it how?"

SADI shrugged. Valin had to marvel at the very human way her brows furrowed and lips pursed in frustration. This was a real synthetic being right in front of him. Not some cheap VI. "I... this will sound foolish to a man of science."

"Met new species of equinoid alien capable of altering shape at will. Possibly met Commander Shepard in the flesh. Am keeping an exceedingly open mind today."

"Heh, fair points. Alright. I feel it, here." SADI tapped her chest.

Valin blinked. "Some sort of sensor array located in the chest?"

"I wish, no that would make sense. No just... I feel it. In my... I don't know."

"Heart?"

"I don't have a heart, Dr. Solus."

Valin shrugged quickly. "Soul then. Whatever idiom most comfortable with."

"I don't believe in souls."

Another shrug. "Stick with heart then or come up with own term."

"My heart then. I feel something in my heart. Telling me to follow it."

"Highly intrigued. Possible location?"

SADI tapped her chin in thought before standing and walking to the galaxy map. With a light tap she opened it. "Here. Right here."

"Hm. Less than an hour travel. One moment." Valin stepped aside opening a channel on his omni-tool. "Commander. Permission to depart for a few hours with synthetic SADI?"

"Granted. I'm not your Commander anymore Va-" Valin cut her off mid sentence. "Come along. Borrow a ship from the Hanar. Have plenty, don't use them." At SADI's unsure look he tilted his head. "Normandy upgrades will be at least twelve hours. Signal less than an hour out. Be back well before finished."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why? Wildly curious. Have to know more, might go insane if we don't investigate immediately. Coming?"

SADI nodded and hastily jogged off the boarding ramp after the quickly departing salarian.

****

Javik held up a hand to quite Shepard as one of the Hanar drifted closer. "Deepest apologies for interrupting most honored enkindler."

"Yes yes, what is wrong?"

"A krogan warship is demanding clearance to land. It's designation is Urdnot's Hammer."

Shepard snorted in amusement, but Javik looked anything but. "Is Councillor Urdnot present?"

"He is, most honored enkindler."

Javik motioned for Shepard to follow. The woman glanced over her shoulder at Jack and Luna, the two deep in conversation before following after him with a shrug. The two along with their hanar escort left the main floor of the bar entering a private office. "Open a private channel to Wrex's ship."

If Javik was bothered by the owner of the bar currently occupying the office it didn't show. By the way he silently drifted from the office Shepard had a feeling this sort of thing happened often. Their hanar escort did as requested, and Wrex's scowling visage appeared on the terminal screen. "I'm coming down."

Javik frowned. "You may come down. Alone. Leave your flying junk heap in orbit."

Wrex glanced passed Javik to the silent Shepard. "Fine. Send coordinates for the LZ. And make sure that is with you too." With that he abruptly cut the feed.

"...should I be insulted?"

"Probably, he did call you a 'that'. Come along, let us go meet your volatile krogan."

"He's not my krogan but... probably a good idea, yeah." The pair left without another word to the hanar who silently closed the door after they left.

Crossing back through the bar Shepard made a warding motion to both Jack and Luna who were watching them curiously. She followed Javik out of the establishment and to one of the elevators to the surface. "What do you think this is all about?"

"Reapers, I have a passing suspicion."

Javik didn't miss the way Shepard went pale. Or the sudden twitch in her trigger finger. "That's not funny."

"No, it is not. Neither am I."

The room suddenly felt like it was spinning. Like all the air was being sucked out of it. Shepard felt herself swaying and she staggered back against the wall of the elevator. Her breath starting to come in short gasps. When she bumped the wall she jumped forward and whipped around, bringing her side arm out of her hip holster shakily aiming it at her own reflection.

Javik crossed the elevator in two quick steps putting a hand on both of the dangerous woman's shoulders.

Suddenly Shepard was somewhere else. She was in some kind of chamber as the lid was opening. Looking up she saw... herself. Herself and Liara looking down. She felt confusion, fear, anger.

The scene shifted. She was in the Normandy, talking to someone. To herself. Many conversations flashed by. The fear, confusion, and anger remained. But as the talks went on they eased, they were still there but... less so. Comaraderie, hope, righteous fury was taking the place of the negative feelings.

With a gasp she was back in the elevator. Slowly she lowered her gun and turned to look at Javik. "I was once lost as well, Commander. I know what it is you feel, what you are going through. If I thought you would listen I would tell you to remain here while we handled matters. But you would not, and you may endanger others by blundering in without supervision. So I will supervise you. I am... here for you, Shepard."

"I kind of want a hug, Javik."

Javik took one large step back and shook his head in mock disgust. "What did they do to you on that world?"

"I think they reminded me what it feels like to be human."

"Ironic." The elevator came to a stop and hissed open revealing the open sky of Khaje. "Maybe he'll give you one."

Shepard looked passed him to see Wrex, standing with his arms crossed. No visible weapons but she remembered he packed a mean biotic punch back in the day. She had a feeling that hadn't changed. When Javik made no move to go closer she took the initiative and started toward him.

She stopped as he surged forward. Nervously a hand moved to her hip where she'd holstered her pistol, but he stopped nearly nose to nose with her, glaring into her eyes with his large red ones. "...are you really her?"

Swallowing her nerves she offered a small smirk. "I'm Commander Shepard, and you're my favorite krogan on the Citadel."

Wrex's eyes widened a moment taking in what she'd just said. Then he laughed, a deep belly laugh that shook his whole body before scooping her into a crushing embrace. "I don't know if you're a clone and right now I don't care, but damn is it good to hear your stupid voice again."

Shepard gasped a little, legs kicking feebly against Wrex's massive arms. Javik just smirked as he approached the pair. "There, you got your hug. Feel better?"

She did.

****

Shepard sat with Wrex aboard his shuttle, just grinning happily listening to the old krogan ramble about family, the citadel, work, Tuchanka, everything. They talked for hours, into the evening. Javik left the two alone to oversee work on the Normandy and give the two old friends some privacy.

"Congratulations by the way."

Shepard tilted her head. "For what?"

"Your kid. She's just like you."

"Oh, heh. Yeah thanks... I'm starting to pick up on all that. I heard about your son, I'm sorry Wrex."

Wrex shrugged. "Wasn't the first one I lost. Still hurt like hell though. Your girl got it worse than me I think. They grew up together, they were on their retirement slash honeymoon cruise. When we get this mess sorted out I'll take you out for a drink and a cigar or something to celebrate you being a dad."

Shepard sighed and settled back in her seat. "Javik mentioned the uh... the reapers."

"Hrm. I think the ein are reapers."

"Helluva lot smaller than they used to be. How is that possible?"

Wrex shrugged. "I look like a science guy? They possessed people before right? Maybe they did that and didn't leave."

Shepard opened her mouth, then closed it. It seemed simple. An obvious solution and way to escape the destruction of synthetic life. "So what? Everything we did was for nothing?"

"What? Don't be stupid. Er. Stupider. It's been three hundred years and we're still here. I don't know what they're up to but I think the ein tech implants are involved. Grunt's crew is on their way, all taken their implants out. So has every krogan in the galaxy by now I think. Usually when I say something they all snap to it."

"Urdnot Wrex, most respectable krogan in the galaxy."

"Ha! You joke but you're not far off." Wrex grunted softly and rubbed his chest. "I think we need to sort this out now before it..." He grunted again, rubbing at his chest.

"Wrex?" Shepard was on her feet approaching.

"It's... nnnngh..." Wrex tried to stand and slipped, crashing to the floor of his shuttle.

"Wrex!" Lunging toward him Shepard suddenly found herself hoisted off her feet and slammed into the wall of the shuttle pinned by a biotic field.

"He'll recover, in time. I crushed several of his hearts to ensure he's properly incapacitated."

Shepard turned a furious glare at the entrance to the shuttle as Liara stepped aboard, one hand out holding Shepard against the wall. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Liara?!"

"Keeping galactic peace, Shepard. We've enjoyed centuries of it and I intend to make sure that doesn't end."

Shepard gritted her teeth as she felt the biotic field around her tighten, the woman squirming in pain. She noted Wrex's labored attempts to rise, before he slumped back to the ground and began to tap at his omni-tool. "Liara... gnn... we think those ein are the reapers!"

Liara sighed, never loosening her grip on Shepard. "Of course they're the reapers... whatever you are. Maybe you really are Shepard. If so that makes this all the more necessary."

The shock and confusion was clear on Shepard's face, prompting a sigh from Liara. "I've been the Shadow Broker for centuries, long before I became the asari councilor. I've seen the worst the galaxy has to offer every day for over three hundred years now. Yes, the Ein are the reapers in a new form but they no longer wish to wipe out all organic life. Just control it."

Shepard's attempts to escape weren't lessening, just intensifying. Liara wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead as she tightened her biotic grip further. It was just the strain of keeping the powerfully augmented woman pinned that was causing her knees to shake ever so slightly. Certainly not the look in the other woman's eyes as she glared down at Liara.

"Goddess... you really are Shepard aren't you? At first I dreamed of this. A miraculous reunion, you swaggering in with a smirk and some sort of asinine quip." For just a moment her grip began to ease, some of the hardness left her expression. Then she took a deep breath and tightened it again. "But that was a long time ago. I know what will happen if I don't kill you here."

Shepard's brief hope for escape vanished as quickly as it'd arrived as the biotic fields tightened around her even further. Air was coming in short supply and her vision was getting hazy. She was more and more aware of a pounding sound in her ears. Liara's voice was fading away, before it was abruptly replaced by a tremendous roar.

Wrex surged to his feet with a bellow, head lowered as he kicked into a charge. "You crazy blue bitch! I knew you were losing it but I didn't see how much!"

Without dropping the hand holding Shepard, Liara lifted her free arm in Wrex's direction. "I didn't want to do this, your loss will destablizie the krogan." Liara tightened her free hand and Wrex's charge staggered to a stop as he toppled onto his side.

He was dead before he hit the floor.

"Now for..." The murderous asari trailed off as she turned her attention back to Shepard. The woman's eyes were no longer the smoldering emerald green. Rather two pools of silvery light seemed to burn holes straight through Liara's soul. She was forced to swing both hands up in a renewed attempt to hold Shepard back.

She might as well have been trying to hold back the oceans of Khaje.

The explosion of released power ripped the shuttle to pieces scattering them all about the landing dock. Hanar and drell workers scrambled to get clear as Shepard's crew lead by Javik were charging toward the site of the explosion.

A battered and bloodied Liara looked up into Shepard's furious visage. She couldn't be sure but it almost seemed like the faint outlines of wings were visible behind Shepard. Of more immediate concern was the pistol leveled at her forehead, the barrel resting right between her eyes.

Author's Note

Going to do something a little different for this one. You the readers will get to decide what happens next! One big problem I've had with this story is paralyzed with indecision so I'm fixing that by putting the decision in your hands.

Polling is closed, new chapter will ideally be out sometime next week!

Thanks for reading, and for sticking with me for so long. Hopefully not much more of a wait til we're done.

Chapter 20: Time Is On My Side

Shepard's companions gathered around the sight of the short but violent battle, a mix of confusion and concern on every face as they took in the scene. Shepard stood, pistol leveled at the kneeling Liara's forehead. Wrex's body was sprawled a short distance away. Debris from the destroyed shuttle floated suspended in the air by some unseen force. A faint shimmering bubble was just barely visible around the scene.

Elezzia paced impatiently outside the bubble, working to calm her frayed nerves but not succeeding. "What is this? What's happening here?"

Both Luna and Twilight Sparkle stood nearby in their natural forms, horns aglow as they examined it all. Twilight was the one who answered. "Shepard created a time bubble."

Jack frowned, arms crossed over her chest. "A stasis field?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, not exactly. A biotic stasis field traps its target but they're still aware. This is a bubble of time Shepard has magically stopped."

Elezzia heaved a tremendous sigh. "Alright, let's assume that is a thing that can happen." She quickly held up a hand as all four Equestrians began to respond. "How was Shepard able to do that? Even if she somehow coulduse your... magic..." She had to force the word. "I would hope that's an incredibly difficult thing to do."

Twilight Sparkle narrowed her eyes in thought. Luna answered in her place. "It is not uncommon for a unicorn foal to experience extreme bursts of uncontrolled magic during times of great emotional stress. Given the scene here and the recording the krogan fellow broadcast I would wager Shepard experienced just such a magical surge."

"Yeah but Shepard's not a foal. That's baby horse right?" Jack looked to Elezzia for confirmation who simply shrugged.

"No, she is not. But her..." Twilight Sparkle rolled a hoof as she sought the right word. "...her acclimation to Equestria may be um, transmutating her on a deeper level than any of us noticed. Her gaining a cutie mark was certainly a surprise, but I have no idea how she'd absorb so much magic into her system. Certainly not the healing we did on her arm."

Applejack, silent til now finally spoke up. "You said absorbin' magic into her system right?"

Twilight blinked in surprise, as if she'd forgotten AJ was standing there. "Oh um, yes that's my working theory."

The sturdy farm mare blinked slowly. "Twi she was in the Everfree for how long?"

"Approximately half a year."

"And accordin' to SADI what was her favorite thing t'eat in there?"

"Fruit bats were her favorite but parasprites is what you mean I... suppose..." She trailed off as her eyes widened in realization.

"And parasprites are mighty magical little critters, right?"

"Yes... yes! Yes of course! She consumed enough parasprites to... to jump start a magical cascade within herself! I wager she would have naturally metamorphosed into a form that can utilize Equestrian magic over time if she was left alone in the forest! No doubt the poison joke incident served as a catalyst to kick start the process and... and we used healing spells and medicines to mend her arm. Not much but that must have just pushed her further into the process. This is amazing!"

Luna's ears folded back as she turned again to regard the frozen Shepard and Liara in the bubble. "I sincerely doubt Shepard will be as enthusiastic as you are, Twilight Sparkle."

Jack waved her hands between the chattering ponies. "So you're saying Shepard ate a bunch of magic animals and now she's turning into one of you?"

Twilight Sparkle bobbed her head left and right in an noncommittal manner. "Maybe? We don't exactly have a lot of experience with aliens absorbing heavy amounts of magical energy. If I had to guess however, I'd say um... yes."

Applejack gave a low whistle. "She ain't gonna be happy when she finds out what's happenin' to her and what's doin' it."

Luna shook her head, focusing on Shepard's face inside the bubble. The enraged grimace marring her love's features. "I do not think she is going to be happy with anything for some time, Applejack."

***

"Have to ask, getting close yet?"

SADI's brow furrowed as she ignored the instruments under her fingers and focused on the empty expanse of space visible through the main window of the ship's cockpit. "I think we're there."

"Hm." Valin looked from the star filled view down at the sensor read outs. "Ship detects nothing. No signal, no ships, no nothing. Nearest detectable anything back the way we came."

"I'm going out there."

Valin blinked and looked up from the console. "Out where? Into space? Why?"

"Because..."

"Because you feel it is right thing to do. Understood. Follow your gut is the human idiom. Forgive me if I wait in the ship."

SADI chuckled. "Come pick me up when this turns out to have been a huge waste of both our times. My jump jets only last so long."

"How many upgrades did you make to that chassis?"

"Many." SADI replied over her shoulder as she moved to the ship's hatch. Overriding the warnings she passed through the air lock and vented herself out into space. She tumbled out of control briefly before a few bursts from her jets halted her momentum and corrected her direction. Releasing the occasional burst of pressurized fuel she had stored she gradually drifted toward the source of her mysterious signal.

"Anything?"

She heard the salarian's voice as if she was still sitting next to him in the ship. Which in a sense, she was. She kept many of her core processes safely in the borrowed ship while remotely piloting her body. "No nothing ye-" her response cut out abruptly as her body pancaked up against an invisible surface.

"SADI! What happened? Visual confirmation of your impact but sensors still see nothing, what is it?"

"Not sure." SADI took a moment to orient herself feeling along the surface of whatever invisible thing her body had slammed into. "It's metallic. Some sort of stealth field maybe? Cloaking technology?"

"Possible but the energy draw for a long term cloak would be immense. Object not so far from Khaje as to remain undetected forever."

"Hm." Her jets burst to life again shooting her upward. "Whatever it is I think it's huge. I'm going to try something, standby." She did what she'd been doing since coming out here. She felt the problem out. Focusing on the odd signal she tried to imagine sending a response back along the same line.

The response was immediate and alarming. A massive blaring tone rang out through her chassis sending feedback through the ship. Valin grabbed his head in alarm screaming along with the painful ringing tone. It droned on for a solid minute before it cut off just as quickly as it began.

Gasping for air Valin Solus pulled himself upright once more, blearily focusing on the instruments. "SADI... definite reaction. Assume you heard as well?"

When no answer came he blinked and forced himself to focus. "SADI? SADI report!" There was no response over the comms. Nor was there any sign of the synthetic's chassis outside.

***

Elezzia was not happy. Not in any sense of the word. She'd seen the video footage along with everyone else gathered on the landing platform. Maybe the whole planet had seen. She had no idea who Wrex sent the broadcast to other than Javik. Not that any of that mattered to her at the moment.

What mattered is that her mother had murdered a man who she thought of as family, possibly more so than she thought of Liara as that. While she was always present it was Wrex more often than not who had pearls of wisdom to share or passed along valuable life lessons. Her mother had killed him with barely a second thought, and now her father who should by all reason be long dead was frozen in a time bubble pointing a pistol at her mother's forehead.

The Equestrians fretted nearby in deep discussion on how best to deal with this bubble of frozen time Shepard had erected. Would it dissipate on its own? They didn't seem to think so.

Reapers. That word kept forcing itself up to the forefront of her mind. She'd researched them exhaustively in her youth. How could she not? They took her father from her. They were an enemy, a dead one she'd assumed, but an enemy nonetheless. So she knew everything the public knew, and then the classified information her mother thought she'd locked up so carefully. She knew about indoctrination and knew that must be what happened to her mother.

Or was it? Given everything she knew of Liara, her back room deals, her clandestine meetings and oft illegal methods of getting things done maybe she wasn't being mind controlled by giant sentient space ships. She didn't want to think that of her mother but...

With a sigh she shook her head. All this supposition was getting her no where. She had to do something. "Representative Javik, I have a concern."

Javik glanced at her from the corner of his right most eye. "Just the one?"

Ordinarily she found his biting snark and lack of respect for all things not himself funny, but not today. "How did she get here?" She nodded to Liara. "She most surely didn't come alone."

"Ah, yes. I had the same thought. We're sending several ships up to locate her accomplices, as well as squads sweeping the local area. We will find them. If you wish you can join one of the sweep teams."

"I think that would be a good idea. I'm not much help here with all this time stopping business. Something to punch or shoot is just what I need right now."

Javik offered a non-committal grunt in response, waving her off in the direction of a docket transport pod. With a final glance over her shoulder toward her parents she boarded, settling in the seat as it hissed closed and whisked her off to rendezvous with the search squads.

****

Luna, Twilight, Jack, and Applejack... Applejack of all ponies were deep in a discussion about Shepard and her situation. Javik was busy talking to his people over his omni-tool. This left Rainbow Dash very bored. She tried to listen in on the magic conversation. She figured if AJ could follow and contribute she could too. She was wrong.

Blowing a heavy equine whinny through her lips she spread her wings and took flight over the scene. Flying always helped clear her head and give her a proper perspective on things. It was good aliens had flying machines like their ships, every one should be able to experience life in the air. Even if some of the poor bastards had to use a machine to do it.

The air on this world felt different. Heavier than she was used to. No magic she figured. It didn't stop her from wanting to test its boundaries, so she pumped her wings working herself higher and higher into the air until her friends were little more than colorful blobs below her. The view was pretty cool, she was forced to admit. Khaje was no Equestria but the endless expanse of blue stretching out dotted by the occasional bubble dome of a lift that lead to the underwater cities wasn't something she could see back home.

She'd spent some time in coastal towns. Traveling with her folks and the like. The air there had a smell to it similar to the air here. Wet and salty. Not a great smell but she wasn't going to be here long enough for it to really matter. Keeping the platform her friends were in in her peripherals she flew further and further from their location.

Performing lazy dives and rises, loops and barrel rolls she explored the skies above Khaje. Rainbow Dash wasn't the brightest of ponies. She knew that. She wasn't stupid, but she hanged around real geniuses enough to know she couldn't hold a candle to them in most cases. But there was one arena where she knew she'd best any of them, and that was the sky. So when she felt a shift in the air currents telling her something big was in front of her, she followed her instincts and tucked into an immediate dive.

The maneuver likely saved her life as a salvo of gunfire burst seemingly from nowhere in the sky directly ahead of her. The bullets passed harmlessly over her as she swooped low and rolled onto her back, squinting at the sky. She saw it then, that weird shimmer Shepard got when she turned invisible, only around something much bigger. Flipping back to her normal flight position she soared up and around the invisible craft, bullets and the occasional biotic field being tossed her way the whole time.

Like everything else in her life when she was airborne they all appeared to be moving in slow motion making it easy for her to weave around the dangers. When she pulled high enough above them she tucked her wings in close and fell into a steep nose dive, streaking passed the cloaked ship leaving her trademark rainbow contrail behind as she did. "Hey I think I'm using this right!" She shouted into her omni-tool interface. "I got something shooting at me from an invisible ship, probably the guys you're looking for Javik!"

She breathed a faint sigh of relief when she heard his voice respond. "Your location is being tagged, ships en route to intercept."

"Tell them to move fast, cause I'm not gonna be here long!" She was flying back toward her friends as she cut the communication. Rainbow's eyes widened in alarm as she sensed another cloaked craft sliding into place ahead of her, but she was in far to steep a dive to maneuver as she normally would. The best she could manage was a slight bank, but she felt the sensation of gunfire peppering the personal shield she was given. A small display appeared indicating that it was fading fast.

"Shoulda brought a gun with me."

****

A more than slightly panicked Valin was still fretting over the consoles when a sudden communication ping made him start with alarm. "Yes! SADI? Report!"

"I apologize for the extended radio silence, Valin. It was difficult to get a signal out but I've established a... connection here. I'm going to take control of the ship and bring you into dock. Please standby."

"Dock? Dock where? SADI?" The frustrated salarian paced quick circles around the cockpit when the synthetic didn't respond. The ship lurched forward smoothly, gliding toward the point where SADI disappeared.

Valin was about to try and hail her again, when the space in front of him simply unfolded revealing a until now cloaked docking bay. He observed through the cockpit everything outside appeared to be smooth metal and blue lights. Spotting the synthetics physical platform on the dock below he moved to the airlock, though prepped his weapons as he did so.

"There's no atmosphere out here so come prepared. There is gravity however."

"Gravity but no atmosphere? Life support malfunction? What is this place?"

"Mmmm." SADI's voice went from over comms to coming from her physical shell as he stepped off the Normandy. "A space station of some sort. There's no atmosphere because the occupants didn't need it. We're in the geth dyson sphere."

More and more surprises. Valin was a man who enjoyed discovery and exploration but so many shocks coming in so short a time couldn't be healthy for anyone. Shaking his head he simply had to accept the truth of the situation. "Why is it here in Khaje's space?"

SADI turned, motioning for Valin to follow as she set a brisk pace away from the dock. "It's pilot was trying to set it to drift toward the Citadel before power ran out."

"Pilot? Impossible. No synthetic life remained after crucible event."

SADI didn't answer immediately. She just stepped into another chamber. Dozens of consoles were strewn about, half opened and pulled apart. Wires crossed every which way in a maddening hodgepodge of what Valin assumed were attempts at emergency repairs to various systems. This sphere had to have been abandoned by its creators for centuries so it made sense over time maintenance would need to be performed.

In the center of the mess of consoles sat a human man. Valin narrowed his eyes scrutinizing closer. Seeing the metal peering through synthetic flesh, it was clear this was a synthetic made up to appear human. "Valin Solus, allow me to introduce my father. Jeff Moreau."

Valin was already shaking his head, mouth open in denial when the synthetic human raised a hand. "What's up?"

"...having a very interesting week is what."

*****

Noteworthy winced again as another tremendous crash came from the common room. Shouts of alarm and pain followed it, all mingled with the enraged bellow of a krogan. "I don't understand, what happened?"

Venna rested a hand on the unicorns head. "Commander Grunt... all of the galaxy really, has just suffered a terrible loss. The transmission we overheard involved the death of Urdnot Wrex, the patriarch of the Commander's clan and in many people's opinion, the savior of the entire krogan race. I cannot imagine how the Commander feels right now."

Noteworthy's ears splayed back as she digested this news. She'd experienced loss of course so her heart went out to Grunt. Steeling herself she stepped forward into the common room, taking in the scene of carnage. Several crew members lay strewn about cradling what she assumed were broken bones. She gently reached out with her magic, scooping them up and drifting them out into the hall she'd entered from.

Grunt was easy enough to find. Around the corner in the mess doing his best to destroy anything he could lay his hands on. "Commander."

He rounded instantly at the sound of her voice. Nostrils flared and he scuffed the floor with one foot. Noteworthy recognized a stallion ready to charge when she saw one. "Not now! Get out!"

"No." How she hated that word. It was probably her least favorite word in the Equestrian language. At home it often precipitated a minor tantrum from her godlike employer.

It had a similar effect here. With a wordless bellow the furious Grunt charged at the far smaller unicorn head on. Noteworthy held her ground however, offering a small grunt as he hefted her up and bodied her against the wall. "I said get out!"

"I said no, Grunt. That's not what you need right now." The earlier display of her hardiness aside she had no illusions about what would happen if Grunt really wanted to hurt her. She just hoped she knew him well enough to know that wasn't the case.

"What the hell do youknow about what I need?"

Rather than pull away from the bellowing alien, Noteworthy leaned forward slowly then rested her forehead against Grunt's. "I know you're sad and hurting, and you need a friend right now. Let's talk about it."

Grunt jerked back from the show of affection, eyes narrowing he dropped her to the ground. "I don't want to talk. I just want to... hit something."

She could see he was already calmer than a moment ago. "You can hit me if it'll make you feel better. I can take it." She puffed her chest up at this.

Grunt stared down at her slightly incredulously. Before his lips curled up in a smile, even if only briefly before settling into his usual scowl. "...no, hitting you won't make me feel better." He dropped to the ground with a heavy whump.

Noteworthy left him sitting there, and trotted to the kitchen rummaging about for a cup still more or less in its original shape, before filling it with water and bringing it to Grunt, levitating it in front of him. "Have a drink."

He grunted in response, but did take the cup, downing it in one toss. "Be better if this was rhyncol."

Noteworthy offered an apologetic shrug. "Urdnot Wrex was very important to you."

Grunt's nostrils flared at the mention of Wrex's name. But he calmed quickly. "Yeah. To every krogan alive today."

The unicorn sat with beside the krogan, resting against his thigh. "I'm very sorry for you loss."

Grumbling to himself Grunt let a hand drop on Noteworthy's back, idly running it in a slow up and down motion. "He wasn't supposed to die."

Noteworthy perked her ears. "Ever?"

"No! Not ever! Urdnot Wrex is... is bigger than that. He's greater than all of us."

"Everyone dies, Grunt. Even alicorns can die. It's super duper hard to do but it can happen."

Another heavy grunt was his response. Noteworthy decided it was time to nudge a bit. "It sounded like he was with Commander Shepard in that transmission."

"Sounded like it, I guess."

"Who is also very important to you."

Grunt blew out a snort of frustration. "Is there a point hiding in all this yammering?"

"It sounded like Commander Shepard was in trouble, Grunt. We were already on our way to Khaje. We might be able to be of some help if we arrive quicker. We couldn't help Urdnot Wrex, but we might be able to help Shepard."

She felt his hand on her back stiffen before he surged to his feet and out into the hall. "What're you idiots laying around for? There's a fight to get to! Get this piece of garbage to Khaje ASAP!"

The worst of the injured had made their way to medical already, but Veena snapped a sharp salute. "Yes sir!" She finally moved after her Commander stormed passed, peering into the common room where Noteworthy was tidying things with her magic. "...impressive."

Noteworthy offered a small chuckle. "My previous employer could toss me into the sun on a whim. The worse Grunt can do is toss me around a little. It wasn't thatimpressive."

****

A battered Rainbow Dash looked up at the aerial dog fight overhead beside Applejack, grimacing at the still sizzling burns along her flank and wing. "You're lucky sugarcube, a little bit higher an your flyin' days would be done."

Dash huffed at Applejack's comments, hissing a little in pain as the earth pony less than gently slathered a medi-gel pack over the burns. "They got lucky is all."

"Reckon YOU got lucky Princess Luna and Twi teleported up there and saved yer sorry flank." She ended with a solid thwap to said flank drawing a yelp of pain and annoyance from Rainbow Dash.

Both ponies flinched further behind the improvised cover they were hiding behind as gunfire pinged off it. Several rounds going passed them and getting caught in Shepards time bubble. "When that bubble pops isn't Shepard going to get y'know... shredded?"

AJ had to nod in agreement. Since the fighting broke out it seemed these asari invaders were aiming just as much for Shepard as they were everyone offering opposition. It seemed like there was an endless stream of them too. More and more kept appearing. The sky was thick with their smaller ships whizzing around shooting at the Khaje air defense, while ground troops were dropping in uncomfortably large numbers. "Sure would be nice if our ship were here."

"To hear everyone talk about it our ship is an old piece of junk. Doubt it'd be much help."

"Nope, but those fancy gun harnesses Elezzia cooked up for us were on there too. We could be doin more'n hidin back here waitin' for Twi to pop us into shapes that can use weapons. Can't exactly get our teeth or hooves around normal triggers."

Dash grunted in agreement and remained huddled beside Applejack. Not at all enjoying the feeling of helplessness.

****

Luna was considerably distracted. She knew her attention should be on these enemy crafts but she couldn't help but constantly be drawn back to where Shepard was frozen helplessly below.

'I could get her out.'

Luna snorted at the sudden and unwelcome presence of the Nightmare. "No doubt."

'So let me.'

"So you can abandon our compatriots as well? I think not. We shall win the day."

'No doubt.' Nightmare responded mocking her tone. 'But how many of Javik's people are dying in the mean time? How long until one of our people dies? Let me out, Luna.'

The Princess intercepted a biotic blast with a simple magic shield, detonating it harmlessly some ways away from herself. She responded by loosing a blazing beam of magic that punched into the nearby ships shields and set it spinning away, several asari flung from the open doors they were attacking her from. "Enough. Enough I say! Can you not see we have more to deal with than our little spats? We are on an alien world under attack by murderous aliens while our beloved lies trapped in a magical surge and our sister is being tormented by aliens Goddess knows where! I cannot fight you and them!"

Time stopped then, for Princess Luna. The world fell away and she was standing on the moon. The Equestrian moon she spent a thousand years trapped on with the raging Nightmare. The Nightmare stood across from her, regarding her sternly. "You're right."

This caught Luna by surprise. Both the tone and words. The usual spite and hate was absent. Just a weariness. "I... am? I am. Of course I am."

"You are. You're right. It's time we settled this, Luna. Once and for all."

Luna tensed. What did that mean? Was she truly going to have to wrestle with the Nightmare for control of her body? She couldn't truly be so selfish and foolish as to endanger everything with another tantrum. Her thoughts trailed away as the Nightmare knelt before her, bowing low. "What is this? What is your trick now?"

"No trick. You're right. We've been apart to long, Luna. It's time."

Luna rocked back as if struck, sitting heavily on her rump in the moon dust. "You cannot be serious. You cannot think I am so stupid as to believe you are just... surrendering."

Nightmare Moon lifted her eyes then, if not her head remaining in the vulnerable position. "Yes and no. Aren't you tired of this as well? Don't you want to be whole again?"

Luna grimaced. Scuffing the ground with a fore hoof. "I cannot just take your evil back into-"

Nightmare Moon cut her off with a scoff, now she lifted her head eyes filled with scorn. "Do not do that. Do not hide behind childish words that try to compartmentalize everything into black and white. We both know I'm no more evil than you are."

The lighter of the pair snorted and raised an eyebrow, eliciting an eye roll from the darker. But Nightmare Moon didn't follow up on her statement. Allowing Luna a silent moment to mull through her thoughts. "You are spiteful and childish." She finally spoke.

Nightmare shrugged, unable and unwilling to argue. "So are you."

Luna rose to all fours again, her eyes never leaving Nightmare Moon's. "We should never have been apart in the first place."

"I don't disagree."

"Celestia was just so...."

"Infuriating." The two said together. A smile forming on their muzzles.

"And it was easier to make up an evil alter ego than to admit we just really wanted to sock her in the face."

Luna nodded along with Nightmare Moon's words. "Yes, it was. I suppose I've been unfair to you for some time."

"Well in your defense I did try to bring about eternal night in my hissy fit."

"Mmm." Luna nodded again. "Not the most well thought out of plans, but we do have a temper."

"We do."

The pair fell silent again. Though it was a more companionable silence. "This is all very odd. I don't want to say goodbye if I'm being honest with myself."

"I know. And we're not saying goodbye. I think... we're saying hello. For the first time in a long time." Nightmare Moon extended a hoof.

Luna stared at it a long moment before she accepted it, and pulled her dark twin into an embrace. "...hello."

****

The sudden blast of released magic whipped up such a tempest that Twilight was forced to teleport away from the fighting, appearing near her friends.

"What's going on?!"

She couldn't tell if it was Applejack or Rainbow Dash who was shouting. At the moment it didn't matter because she didn't have an answer for them. All she could do was stare up at the sky as ships both friend and foe were flung through the air like toys by the sudden magical maelstrom. Slowly a shape took form as the magic slowed and died away.

She was Celestia's equal in size. Clearly it was Luna though her coat was a darker hue of blue, almost black now. Her mane and tail had darkened as well, and her eyes shined with a new light. The much larger Princess Luna landed with a heavy thud nearby. "I am going to remove the time bubble, Twilight Sparkle. You will need to create a barrier to keep Shepard safe from the gun fire."

Twilight opened her mouth to ask one of about a million questions racing through her mind but at a look from the cat-eyed Princess Luna she swallowed them down and nodded wordlessly. Glancing over her shoulder she noted the invaders were collecting themselves but Khaje's ground forces were closing on them quickly. "Yes, Princess."

"Just Luna is fine, Twilight Sparkle. We are friends after all. Now prepare." Luna turned her attention back to Shepard. Gazing at the woman within the time sphere she let out a steady breath and reached out her magic to probe at the bubble. The power was potent but the casting and integrity were so painfully childish it was embarrassing to her she couldn't remove it sooner. "And... now!"

Twilight reacted with perfect timing. The bubble popped as a shimmering magenta barrier sprang to life, collecting the bullets harmlessly.

****

Shepard heard the gunfire and the explosions. She saw the ponies in her periphery. None of that mattered. She felt the weight of the pistol in her hand. She looked down at the asari kneeling at her feet and felt a wave of red wash up through her chest as she thought of the dead krogan nearby. "You killed him." Her voice was calmer than she felt.

A wounded Liara looked up passed the barrel of the gun, locking eyes with Shepard. "I had to."

"Hnn!" Shepard stomped a step closer pressing the barrel against Liara's forehead. Drawing only a slight flinch from the other woman. Teeth grinding, eyes flaring with fury Shepard's breath came raggedly. "Agh!" With a cry of pain and fury she quickly reversed the pistol and smashed it against the side of Liara's head dropping her to the ground.

She looked over her shoulder at Luna and the others, then back to Wrex. Tossing the pistol aside she moved and knelt by his side, resting a hand over his. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I'm sorry."

Luna wanted to go to her, but had a feeling now was not the best time. Instead she turned to Twilight. "Come with me. I will deal with the rest of the attacking ships while you locate and evacuate as many wounded as possible. You two find Javik or Jack and stay at their side am I understood."

All three younger mares bobbed their heads in quick nods, racing off to follow her orders. Luna noted Elezzia racing in their direction, offering the woman a simple nod toward the scene behind her the Princess sprang back into the air.

Elezzia saw Shepard kneeling beside Wrex, her mother nearby still breathing. She felt a sense of relief at that. Opening her mouth to call to Shepard she found herself unable to move. Cursing herself for her carelessness she could only watch as her mother slowly pushed herself into a sitting position.

Shepard heaved a sigh as she finally laid Wrex's hand over his chest. Slowly she rose to her feet, only to be thrust forward and pinned atop Wrex's body as several large pieces of shrapnel punched through her back and out her chest.

Blood gushed from her mouth as she jerkily turned to stare at Liara incredulously. The asari was bleeding heavily from her forehead but on her feet. "You should have killed me, Shepard."

*****

Valin blinked several times in rapid succession. "Impossible."

Joker chuckled. "He says that a lot."

SADI shrugged. "To be fair a lot of impossible things have been happening in very short succession. Some denial is more than understandable. Regardless I assure you this is Jeff Moreau."

"Well..." Joker cut in before Valin could respond. "I'm a copy of his thoughts and feelings in a synthetic body at least. You've heard of Project Overlord right?"

Valin looked to the seated mech. "Read report, yes."

"Well there you go."

"There I..." Valin closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Elaborate please."

"Okay. Well after Shepard murdered EDI and all the geth I kind of made it my life's work to find a way to fix them." Joker continued when it was clear by Valin's hard stare he had nothing to interject at this moment. "The alliance was a no go so I wound up working with the remnants of Cerberus with a couple of the crew. We tried a lot of stuff and when it was clear I wasn't going to live long enough to see all our work finished..." He trailed off letting Valin draw the conclusion.

"Volunteered for Overlord program. Not terrible smart, drove last subject insane."

Joker shrugged. "Yeah well they used an autistic kid who had no idea what was going on. Kinda understandable it fucked him up a little."

"So you found your way here?"

"Yeah, like SADI I just felt kind of a call. Once I was all mechanized that is. I followed it and found this place passed the Veil. I tried to pilot it to the Citadel but it didn't go so great. Been drifting a long time."

"Take it you didn't find a way to save geth or EDI."

"Good guess. Can definitely tell you're one of Mordin's brood or whatever salarians call it." The sarcasm drew an eye roll from Valin. "No at this point I'm pretty sure nothing short of a time machine is gonna save all this. But hey it's not all bad, I'm back in Citadel space right? And my kid's alive! And here. Pretty good day really."

Joker looked to SADI, but the synthetic was seemingly ignoring both he and Valin. She suddenly sprang from her position by the consoles and begin to tap furiously at one. "What is the power draw for this Dyson Sphere?"

"Uhh..." Joker shrugged at the unexpected question. "Dunno. A lot? I guess?"

SADI huffed at the unsatisfying response. Valin moved to stand beside her as she worked. "Thinking something?"

"Yes, that the ein or reapers or whomever are going to be coming for Shepard very soon and that it would be nice to have an army to fight them."

Valin looked over his shoulder at the still seated Joker mech, who just shrugged. "Impossible. Geth programs cannot be recovered."

"Without a time machine, yes." A couple firm taps at the console and she withdrew a cable, sliding it into a port on her forearm.

Joker slide his chair closer. "Kid I appreciate the idea but there's no such thing as time travel."

"Incorrect. Twilight Sparkle performed time travel. I learned of it while studying Equestrian history and magic at her side. I had many days of alone time with her while Shepard was embarrassing herself in one manner or another."

Joker rocked back in his chair and Valin shook his head firmly. "Impossible! Even if time travel possible... dubious it is but not as dubious as I should be... altering the past could have irrevocable unforeseen consequences on the present, yes?"

"Yes. So I won't alter the past." She removed a small drive from the nearby console. "I'll return to the moment the geth called Legion disassembled his own program to give the geth sapience. I'll copy Legion's program then return here and repeat the event with these dormant geth. It's all very simple."

Joker started to speak but was cut off by Valin. "Even IF all this were possible how do you propose to harness Equestian... energies." He couldn't bring himself to say magic.

In response SADI slide open the chest of her mech frame, revealing her inner workings. Central to which was a softly thrumming multi-hued crystal. "I prepared this using the omni-gel fabricators on the Normandy while we were en route to Khaje. It collects energy and converts it to the energies that Equestrians use to fuel their spells. A spell is simply a mathematical equation, which I can recite easily."

Valin blinked slowly and helped himself to the other empty seat in the room. The poor salarian shook his head slowly as he digested all this. Joker drummed his fingers on the console. "So that's what you need energy for? To power this time travel... spell?"

"Yes. Do I have your permission to draw from the sphere?"

"Uh, yeah. Of course. Do whatever kid. It sounds like crazy gibberish but you say it like it's not."

"Excellent. Please stand back. I haven't attempted this before and I may detonate violently."

Both men backed away quickly at that. A small panel hissed open on the back of SADI's hand as a long slender metal rod extended. The lights in the room flicked as she began her power draw. The rod emitted an audible tinkling sound as it shimmed with a crackling blue nimbus of light. A dull fwumpfilled the room followed by a bright flash.

Valin blinked rapidly to clear his eyes, when he did he found SADI had vanished. "Where did she go?"

Joker shrugged helplessly. "The past? I hope?"

*****

The world around her seemed frozen in time. Everything in a dull grey monotone. She saw reapers assaulting geth. She spotted Shepard nearby. Next to her projecting a powerful biotic barrier was Liara T'soni. She moved passed them looking for her quarry. Legion wasn't hard to find with his distinctive chest plate of Shepard's old armor.

Nodding in satisfaction she climbed over the rubble toward the Geth platform. Then she saw someone beside him who caused her to hesitate.

It was EDI, her mother. Still alive and fighting here beside Shepard and Legion. She looked down at the drive in her hand, then back up at the two synthetics.

Author's Note

Getting close to the end now. One chapter to go, it MIGHT become a two parter depending on how long it goes, we'll have to see. For now! Another vote. Sorry for any typos etc, I have no editor and I'm not so good with a lot of punctuation.