Chapters Commander Jane Shepard, Miranda Lawson, and Grunt were running from a brigade of Husks. The soldier wasn't one to back down from a fight, but her and her two squad members agreed they were outnumbered. Shepard ran onto the ramp of the Normandy. Miranda and Grunt followed.
The bad news was that the crowd was getting nearer the ship. Shepard and Miranda glanced at each other, and she nodded. The young biotic blasted the center of the group with a powerful singularity, decimating the majority. " Get us out of here, Joker!" Shepard shouted into her radio.
" Working on it, commander." a male voice replied. The entrance closed up, and the Normandy blasted into air, decimating the remainder of the Husks.
The trio was politely greeted by the crew. One may expect a better greeting, but this kind of stuff did happen almost every day. Jane's latest mission was to recover any survivor's of an attacked human colony. Sadly, they were too late. The only beings found were husks, if you could call them beings. This wasn't the first attack.
During Shepard's death, creatures known as Collectors began raiding human colonies. The suspected reason involved Reapers, though no one knew why they were working together.
At least no major injuries were sustained for the duration of the mission. Well, Grunt accidentally set of an explosive while Shepard was still in its range, but the worst that happened was that the young human became coated in gunpowder.
Thankful for a chance to clean up, Shepard retreated to her cabin.
Ten Minutes later, Shepard had a cleansing shower, gotten dressed, and was washing her face with a moist towelette. A few seconds later, there was a knock at her door.
Kelly Yeoman was standing in the entrance. " Commander." she greeted.
" Kelly." During her short time on the Normandy v.2, Shepard had gotten quite friendly with her assistant.
" I just wanna say you have a knew e-mail. I know how many you get, but you may wanna pay attention to this one." She walked away. Meanwhile, the soldier headed to the computer.
Shepard opened her email.
Shepard,
I don't usually call upon forces like spectres, especially deceased ones, but I feel that drastic calls call for drastic measures.
An entire exploration fleet has disappeared in the equinus system after a mission to chart the area. The Council refused to send aid, so I'm calling on you.
Anonymous.
Here we go, again, she thought.
The woman fled back to her cabin, suited up, and walked to the cockpit. " Joker, set course for the Equinus system." she ordered.
" Hah, hah, Shepard. Not even you are crazy enough to want to head to the Equinus system." Joker glanced at Shepard " Oh, You're serious. I don't mean to offend, commander but you do realize that any ship that goes there doesn't come out, right?"
" So I'm going to find out what downed them." Joker had no choice but to comply.
Shepard watched as the Normandy zoomed past the Relay. The ship slowed as it slingshotted towards the system.
The Equinus System was…odd There were no gas clouds, no satellites or shuttles, and no asteroids around the planets, making it look like a ghost town. The alignment and sizes of the planets were similar to the Sol System. The only planet that seemed to harbor life was slightly larger than earth.
There were no hostile signs of life around, nor was there a shipwreck. It wasn't until the Normandy went further into the system when it happened.
What no one could could identify blasted the elevators. Nothing was around, no ships, no asteroids, nothing… The elevators just gave. The sudden jerk away from its trajectory unsteadied everyone who wasn't sitting down.
It was the attack on the original Normandy all over again. Red lights were flashing, but EDI was here. And she was inadvertently making things worse.
" Joker, What happened?!" Shepard cried.
" Dunno, commander. Nothing from the outside could've done this, it's all internal damage." Joker shielded himself from a blast of shrapnel.
" Elevators down, Shields down, Life functions giving. Evac dead. E-everything down!" Joker's hands scrabbled across the dashboard, in a fruitless effort to keep the Normandy afloat. " We're going down! Everyone, to a seat!"
People screamed and ran to sit, with nothing but a clinging hope they'd live to keep them from breaking down.
Jane still stood, her muscles tensed as a familiar turian crossed the scene. " Vakarian!" she called. Garrus ran to her.
Another blast within the ship rocketed the two across the floor. Garrus got Shepard to her feet, but she couldn't complete her words. Soon as she tried making verbal sounds, she clutched her chest and crumpled. He got her back up. She coughed, splattering blood on Garrus's armor. She had obviously sustained internal damage. Garrus feared her lung had been punctured, or worse.
He dragged her to a seat, and immediately sat next to her. Allowing her semi-conscious body to lean against him.
" This is the Normandy, requesting rescue! I said Reques-" Static followed Joker's radio. He cussed incessantly as he gripped the steering wheel roughly. He pulled upward as the Normandy broke the atmosphere of the planet.
Shepard glanced to Garrus. " N--no," she swallowed thickly. "No Sh-Shepard. with-without Vakar-Vakarian." she muttered.
He frowned, at least, she thought he did. Vision was blurring. He gripped her hand. " No Vakarian without Shepard." He threw himself over her.
Shepard's vision blacked out.
She heard an explosion, then nothing.
It was long before Shepard regained consciousness. When she did, she could feel life fading from her body. She could hear little, save an intense ringing in her head. Her vision was intensely blurred, still, she could make out the blaze and mangled wreckage of the normandy. She was beyond the point of pain.
Shepard knew she was going to die. Again.
Then, a small window of chance left her a spark of hope.
Six, colorful beings…no seven. A smaller blur joined them. She couldn't make out their shapes, but they were pulling bodies out of the wreckage. Their words were extremely muffled in her perception, but a purple blur seemed to be in charge.
Shepard began a pitiful attempt to drag herself away. She was making slow progress, and life was seeping out more the further she went.
She collapsed. In one last ditch effort, she tried calling for help. Unfortunately, she underestimated the amount of blood in her mouth. Her cry sounded in a thick, guttural noise.
But it was still heard.
A yellow-and pink mass gathered to her position, and began tugging her away from the wreck. As she blacked out again, she regained hearing for a few seconds. Giving her enough time for her to here the mass speak.
" It's gonna be okay."
Shepard was lost. Lost in an abyss.
Of course, she didn't know this.
She was in the middle of a heavy fog. Pain ripped through, deterring her ability to think.
A wave of force struck her chest, forcing her to sit down. She assessed herself. She felt the same, despite the pain. Same short red hair, same emerald eyes. Same face.
She called for help, but no one heard. She huffed. Was she dead? Forever this time? She thought about Garrus. He saved her, tried to anyway. She wondered if those creatures pulled him out, saved him.
Shepard was originally Kaiden's lover, but….
The normandy crew were caught in an effort to destroy a krogan breeding facility. Saren, the rogue spectre, had found a cure for the Genophage, a disease that made only one in one thousand krogan births viable. Saren planned to use this cure to create pure soldiers.
An atomic bomb was the only solution.
Both Gunnery chief Ashley Williams and Kaiden Alenko needed help.
And there was only time to save one.
Shepard hadn't loved anyone since that day.
The soldier was sent to find an agent known as Archangel not to long after her resurrection. All she knew was that Archangel was a turian with a habit of ticking off major gangs.
It was not
After defeating a legion of Blue sun members, and a helicopter ( which had shot him multiple times), she remembered the fear she experienced for him after seeing his lifeless body. And the relief that came when he managed to pull through. It was then she realized that she cared for him. That she loved him...
If she was dead, he'd never know.
Then there was a noise, it was muffled, but it sounded like talking. She was immediately brought to.
She didn't immediately jolt upward, or gasp, or even make a sound.
No, she pretended she'd been unconscious the whole time.
She bit her lip, pain still rocketed through her.
The yellow being, the one that saved her, it was speaking with a purple being. As Shepard's vision cleared, her heart skipped a beat.
The beings looked like something out of a fairy tail, The yellow being had wings, a long, pink mane and tail, and three butterflies on her flank.
The purple being had a neat, purple mane and tail, and A horn as well as wings adorned her. The voices she couldn't make out, but the purple one handed the yellow one bandages.
As she trotted towards Shepard, she shut her eyes, hoping it wouldn't notice she was awake.
The being unwrapped the bandages around her chest, and replaced them. The pain was immense. Whatever wound Shepard suffered felt awful when it became exposed. She couldn't stop the light squeak of pain from slipping from her mouth.
The being squealed and cowered away. Her innocence provided Jane proof that she didn't intend to harm her. She sat up, but collapsed back into the bed as an electric pain jolted through her chest.
Shepard took a breath, then cried out as she completely set herself up. Her headache resurfaced.
She put her hand to her head and cringed, but something felt off. Her hand felt firm, and…fuzzy!?
Shepard gasped as realized her hand was a hoof. Starting a chain reaction of gasps.
She was a light red, everywhere. She was coated in fur, but two feathery appendages protruded from her back. Shepard noticed two white marks and a red mark forming the N7 logo on her flank. She had a dark red mane and tail now. They were likely straight, but were now ruffled after days in a bed.
Shepard hyperventilated, but easily calmed herself. She noticed the frantic being, who had curled up in the corner. After feeling a strange sensation in her leg, she realized a rabbit was kicking her.
Hesitantly, the being grabbed the rabbit and scolded it. Shepard glanced around, realizing the room was filled with animals.
The being shyly approached Shepard. "I'm flutter shy." she muttered.
Shepard barely heard. At least these creature are universal, she thought. She didn't know what to say. But a single, persistent question slipped from her newly-formed muzzle. " How did I get here?"
"Fluttershy" spoke a little louder. "Th-there was a wreck. The h-hhospital wouldn't b-believe us. So m-me and my friends helped y-you and any there sur-survivors. Th-there were so many st-strange ponies. We thought w-we found every living b-being, but then I-I heard you. I-I had the smallest home, so I o-only took you in.
[size=0.75em] " You w-were so lucky. T-Twilight didn't th-think you'd make it. N-not even she had s-seen such severe injuries. She w-wanted to k-kill you. But I f-felt a steady stream of l-life in you. I-I wouldn't let her extinguish it."
" I was..holding on for someone. Someone who may not be here anymore." Shepard shook her head and looked to Fluttershy. " Thanks. For the rescue and for not giving up on me."
Fluttershy smiled. " So, what's your name?" she asked, confidence in Jane restored.
" My name is Jane Shepard."
" Why were you covered in armor?" Shepard blushed heavily as she realized she was naked. But felt relieved when she recalled that Fluttershy wasn't wearing anything, nor was the purple being.
" I'm a soldier." Shy nodded.
" Why did you hang on?"
Shepard didn't answer this time. Everything stilled with tension. " Why didn't the hospital believe you, again?" she asked.
" We reported a ship crashing with aliens in it."
Shepard slammed her hoof against her face. " I- I…" Shepard took a breath. " I was one of those aliens. I'm not pony ," it felt odd calling herself a pony. " I'm a specter, elite soldiers for the council. The council are a series of "aliens"," it felt weird calling her friends aliens. It had become an insult of a sort recently.
" Not long ago, I'd been resurrected after being KIA. I had a mission to come here to investigate the disappearance of an exploration fleet. I guess... I guess I know what happened." Fluttershy listened quietly.
" While the ship was crashing, I tried to tell…someone, how I felt about him. I couldn't, but..he saved me. And if you were correct on the severity of my wounds, he-" she frowned while blinking back tears. " He didn't make it."
"my condolences." that was all Fluttershy said.
" I may expect someone to act a little differently upon hearing something like that."
" Oh, I-I know. I've just seen so much in my life, it's difficult to be surprised. I hope that doesn't bother you." It was the young mare's turn to tell her story. And Shepard had to admit that she was a little skeptical about how much magic was in her story, but after becoming a pony, she was willing to believe anything.
Shepard cleaned herself up in Fluttershy's bathroom. Fluttershy, having a feeling Shepard wouldn't be comfortable in armor or nude, took the soldier to see Rarity for more casual clothes.
Diamond heart, oh and a murderous biotic.
Jack was a biotic. It wasn't a common thing, but it wasn't a very special thing either.
It was her past that made her so…unorthodox would be a nice way of putting it. Jack was a murderous, violent, killing-mechanism.
She had been tested on, drugged, never got to play outside, or ever really. She's killed so many, and as she grew, as she understood more, the guilt grew as fast as she did. Other test subjects came to despise her, though it was never her fault.
She may have stayed that way forever, if Shepard hadn't saved her.
Jack would never admit it, but she'd trust Jane with a lot more than her life. She kept her calm, and helped her blow up her prison. Because of their alignments, the two often argued heavily about things, but she'd always silently forgive Shepard. True, Shepard made her hopeful there was more to life than hatred.
She woke up to tapping. Jack immediately allowed her powers to rev up, ready to fry whatever threat that dared to come near. She backed down when she realized the source was a child. Maybe not any kind of child she'd seen, but still a child. Jack had recently discovered that she enjoyed the simplistic innocence of a child.
She smiled, and the little kid's eyes twinkled when she was acknowledged. She ran into another room happily, bringing back three, unicorn mares. One With a fancy purple mane, one with a cloak and a suit, the last with long, black hair.
Unfortunately, that's when she noticed her new appearance. She blasted the mare with a powerful attack that would've killed most, or at least maimed the small percentage that could survive…
The white mare was simply thrown across the room, but was now cornered.
The black haired one, likely Miranda, Shielded the other three in the room. The suited one, probably Tali', protectively hugged the filly.
Jack put her hoof on the mare's chest, prepared to crush in one motion. "What did you do to me!?" she shouted to her. The mare went pale and mumbled fearfully and incoherently. Jack lifted her hoof, and the mare braced herself fearfully.
Miranda sent a chair in Jack's direction. She easily dodged it and faced her new target.
Jack smiled as she faced the cerberus operative. " I've been waiting a LONG time for an opportunity like this."
" Like what? Stuck in a strange form while beating an innocent mare?"
Jack retorted with a table in Miranda's direction.
The next few moments were an all out war consisting of furniture and biotics, but Jack proved to be far more skilled. She slowly began crushing the air out of Miranda, ravishing in her enemy's suffering.
"JACK! I COMMAND YOU TO CEASE! " a firmly punctuated voice called from the door. Jane Shepard was unrecognizable, but her voice was exactly the same.
Jack instantaneously stopped, she'd never disobey Shepard, no matter what she orderer. Miranda coughed and choked as she struggled to regain her breath.
The two stepped up to each-other, and Jack accepted a sharp punch to her face as a consequence.
" Shepard!" Tali' was happy to see her friend was alive.
" Well, glad to see we won't have to put you through project Lazarus once more, commander." Miranda didn't have her usual sharp tone. She glared at Jack.
A few moments after Shepard explained that the ponies had no intention of harming Jack, AND explaining that Jack attacked because she was confused to Rarity, the element of generosity had made a comforting outfit for Shepard.
Miranda thanked Shepard for her help, and so did Sweetie Belle and Rarity.
Jack apologized to Sweetie, though the apology was less sincere with her sister. Jack told the others to go without her as the group went for well-deserved food at Sugarcube Corner. She needed to sort what had happened to her out in her head.
The only comfort Jack had now was Shepard. She let out a nod of concern towards her, but Jack looked away. Shepard limped to the group.
Jeff Moreu, or Joker as everyone called him, didn't want to be alive.
He was on the Normandy one week, then bunking with the most annoying thing ever the next. As a horse…
When the ponies found Joker among the wreckage, he was not a pretty picture. Few Of his bones weren't broken, but he managed to survive.
Sadly, his savior was everything he disliked. She never stopped talking, this made her more annoying that EDI, and that's saying something. Truly, Pinkamena Diane Pie would've been better off if she never witnessed that rainbow in Joker's opinion.
Pinkie was yapping on about something called a Draconequess, When Mister Cake called for her aide.
Mrs. Cake walked up to the counter, providing extra sweets for the display case. He lifted up his head from the table. " Are you sure you don't have any drinks?"
The blue mare scowled at him. " This isn't a winery, it's a Bakery. Besides, we have two foals who aren't a year old! What would happen if they got into it?''
Joker groaned and slammed his head back into the table.
Mrs. Cake sighed. " I recall that Kelly had a flask, but the poor dear seems to need it almost. I thought she was going to take Jacob's hoof off when he tried taking it from her!"
Sometimes Joker forgot that Jacob, Kelly, and Mordin were also here. They were always exploring, studying, or trying to find out exactly where they were. Joker braces were obliterated in the crash, so he was limited to the bakery.
Pinkie skipped back to him. " Where was I? Oh Yeah! So I turned GRAY!" She giggled incessantly. She continued yapping on and on.
Joker was about to let loose all the sober annoyance when Pinkie pulled out a paper bag. " Oh! I nearly forgot!" She pulled out a large bottle of wine.
" You've seemed stressed lately. Also, Twilight says she needs it to get through a full day with me. You've been here almost a week with me, so I was like " Hmm, He should get a bunch of Wine!"
He looked at her funny, then to the bottle.
With little hesitation, he popped the top off and chugged a sixth of the bottle. He wanted to meet this Twilight, He believed she would agree with her on a lot of things, according to what Pinkie Says.
The bell that announced customers sounded, and a group of mares walked through the door.
Two fit the description of Fluttershy and Rarity, ponies Pinkie talked constantly over. The others, felt strangely familiar. It was Tali's Suit that confirmed that they were his allies.
" Well, it's been a while." He piped, his voice beginning to slur. Miranda smiled.
" Good to know you still belong to the world of the living." she said.
" Well, the fact that your drunk is probably making things more tolerable around here… Kee'lah, I wish I could Drink," Tali' mumbled.
" Oh, umm, Jane told me to say she said hello…" Fluttershy said, quietly.
A small weight fell off Joker's shoulders. " Where is Shepard?"
" We dropped her off at, what was her name? Rainbow Dash? It feels…odd saying it." Tali' explained. " Rarity said she should learn to fly,…because Shepard has wings now. "Dash" can fly better."
High above Ponyville, Shepard was failing miserably at flying.