Mass Effect: Crossroads

"... And that's about it." Twilight finished with a sad tone.

She had spent a good few hours with Shepard in the Lounge, explaining her homeworld and all of the things that she and her friends had done before they were attacked by Cerberus. It did get quite awkward when she mentioned their Cerberus, the three-headed dog, but was quickly resolved. Twilight had mentioned all of their adventures against dark forces and battling the God of Chaos, and occasionally about how they would over-exaggerate a small problem until it blew out of control only to be resolved then by what could easily have been done in the first place. Shepard listened with great interest, as it would be helpful to understand her world for when they do get there.

Shepard leaned forward on the leather couch, and looked out towards the black expanse of space, with a hand on his leg and his other under his chin.

"Wow. I've gotta say, that's impressive." he said with a smile.

Hearing his reply, Twilight managed a smile of her own, before she responded.

"Oh, please. I'm sure it's nothing like what you've seen. I mean, Equestria is beautiful, but you get to be in space! All the time! You can explore the entire Galaxy and go see places I couldn't even dream of! Why don't you share some of your stories?" she asked, lying down on the opposite couch.

Shepard let out a sigh as he leaned back into his seat, crossing his left leg over his right.

"Well, I haven't really been so much as an explorer as I have a soldier. The only places I've seen were mostly battlefields and ruins. I doubt they're that interesting to hear about."

Twilight frowned at this and laid her head down on her forehooves.

"Oh."

"But, that doesn't mean I haven't seen some nice things."

Twilight's head shot up with a renewed smile plastered on her face. Seeing this, Shepard chuckled and smiled himself, before starting again.

"When I was young, I spent most of my time exploring the area around my home on Rannoch, a nice little arid planet at the edge of the Rim. The landscape was nothing to be that impressed by, but what really stuck to me, was the sight of the cities being built in the distance."

"Oh? Why were the cities so nice? Were they made of something special? Like crystals?"

"No, not like that. Well, sort of. You see, a long time ago on Rannoch, my mother's people, the Quarians, created a race of Synthetics, or robot-people, called the Geth. The Geth were programmed to be servants of the people, hence the word used to name them. One day, the Geth began to form a collective network of sorts, and began to think like a living being. Eventually, they began to wonder things... Dangerous things. Then, one Geth unit asked a question that the old Quarians never thought any of them would ask."

He turned to Twilight to see that she was now in full-blown curious with the story, and stared hungrily at him, waiting for the question.

"'Does this unit have a Soul?'"

Twilight raised a hoof to her mouth as she gasped, some tears forming at her eyes. She blinked them away and looked to him.

"What... what did the Quarians do?"

"Well, some supported the growth of the Geth, showing that even a machine could be capable of thinking and feeling. A majority were scared of what they had done, and tried to exterminate the Geth. Unfortunately, the Geth were more than capable of fighting for themselves, with the way they were built to adapt, and drove the entirety of the Quarians off the planet. The remainder of the Quarians fled the system and formed the Migrant Fleet, a collection of vessels that served only one purpose: to house the Quarian people."

Twilight was nearly in tears, torn over which side to agree with. One only wanted to be free to think, but went to such violent means to do so, while the other wanted to destroy the first, but had nearly been given the opposite end of what they wanted, and had lost the one place they called home.

"W-what happened then?"

"About thirty years ago, the Quarian Fleet went to retake the Homeworld by force. The Geth were ready. My father, however, was not willing to stand by and let two great races burn each other down for the sake of one planet. They both wanted the right to live on the world they called home, and Dad saw an opportunity to make sure they both got what they wanted. He helped a Geth unit known as 'Legion' acquire a code that would make the Geth fully self-aware, truly alive.The Heavy Fleet Admiral, however, wanted to exterminate the Geth before they had a chance to recover. My father yelled down an entire fleet of nearly fifty-thousand ships, saying that the Geth only wanted to live in peace with them. After the code was downloaded to the Geth, the one known as Legion died. But, before anyone could react, the Geth fleet stopped firing, and sent messages to the Quarian fleets, saying, 'you may return to Rannoch, alongside us'. After that, the Geth and Quarians began to rebuild our world. Together."

He turned to smile at Twilight.

"The city I saw being built was the first joint city between the two races. They were tearing down the walls between the smallest of their ships, and joined them together to make something better, not only for themselves, but for everyone out there. If two races like the Quarians and Geth could find a common ground, and even peace, then there's no reason for any one-time enemies to keep hating each other."

Twilight smile widely as she heard the end to the tale of two races, once locked in bitter conflict over life-and-death, which was resolved and now looked as only a tale that would inspire more to do the same.

"That's... wow." she smiled.

Shepard nodded in agreement and smiled back intently at her.

After a few solid seconds of silence, the door behind them parted to reveal Celestia, accompanied by a Salarian and a Turian guard, with no weapon.

"Captain." the guard and Medical Officer saluted.

Shepard stood and returned the action, lowering it after a good few seconds. They lowered theirs and motioned for the Princess to come with them into the cabin.

"So," Shepard started, "looks like someone's got something they want to say."

Celestia chuckled a bit and waved her hoof at Shepard.

"Nothing bad about the staff. I can understand their concerns. If I had a powerful alien being in my court, I certainly wouldn't go about allowing it access to everything I had without knowing if it was safe to even let out of sight."

Shepard nodded once in agreement.

"I do, however, want to say thank you for helping us both, nonetheless. You were willing to risk a potential danger on the solitary fact that we were stranded in that... thing, and you knew that whoever took us did it without good intentions."

"Cerberus has always been a sort of magnet to trouble for every race since it first came up. Now it just so happens that they take one such as yourselves away from your home, and leave you stranded on a deserted planet? How am I supposed to let that go by without knowing I could have done something?"

"Well, I want you to know that I am forever grateful for your assistance. And even more so for comforting my most faithful student."

"Co problem at all. Twilight just finished telling me about your planet. It sounds like what a lot of us would consider paradise. When we kick Cerberus off of it, I've gotta make sure that I do some sight-seeing, or at least make note of it for Shore Leave."

"Well, I hope that we can end this violence quickly so that we may thank you appropriately for your services towards our people."

Shepard waved his hands out in front of him.

"Seriously, you don't need to focus on that. It's our mission to stop them, at every turn."

Celestia smiled warmly and nodded.

"Alright then. Thank you, still. I hope we can save as many of Ponies as we can."

"Knowing Cerberus, they'll more than likely try to take as many as they can alive, for tests. Hell, I wouldn't put it past them to have been given orders to use stun-rounds only, make sure they've got as many as possible."

Celestia's brow furrowed as her expression changed to concern.

"What kind of tests?" she asked.

"The kind that involves as many subjects as possible to make sure something works well enough for the majority of them. They won't try to kill them with anything, that'll put a damper on their goal. Before you ask, it's better if we make sure they don't get the time they need to even start the tests."

Celestia lowered her head with a sigh as she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she looked at Shepard and spoke.

"I hope that we can stop them as well, because if one of them is experimented on in any way-"

Shepard walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"They won't be. You have my word."

She looked into his face and smiled lightly before turning around.

"Twilight, stay with him. I need to go back to rest. If we get back, please wake me."

With that, she left the room, soon being followed by both the physician and the guard. When the door closed, Shepard looked back to Twilight. He walked back over to the couch he sat on and replaced his spot once more.

"So, any more stories you want to know?"

Twilight's eyes beamed as she smiled brightly at him. Shepard smiled back intently, confident that he would make sure that she had a chance to later see the Galaxy.

\\\//////

Rainbow Dash woke up with a soft moan, which then escalated to a pained scream as she tried to stretch her appendages. She tried to move to her hooves, but found herself bounded by some kind of metal that kept her wings clamped onto her sides. When her gaze went to her hooves, she saw a similar metal that kept them locked at separate spacings, as if she were frozen in the middle of a trot.

Then, next to her was a noise of some kind. Before she could look around, the traps on her hooves unlatched, and only then did she fully realize that she was being hung upside-down recently. Her face became acquainted with a white metal ground as she heard several more rhythmic thumps beside her.

When she forced her eyes open again, she saw in front of her was a group of about twenty or so Pegasi, including one Fluttershy. The room they were all in had about eight beds, all mounted on the walls around them. However, where a massive door should be, was a see-through wall of orange energy, that seemed to crackle and hiss with an unseen power.

From the other side of the light-screen, came several creatures that wore yellow and white armor, and stood on two legs. The one in the center had on a uniform that had several stripes on the shoulders, and had almost no fur, except for the beard and collection on it's head, both seemingly faded black. The one with the stripes came up to the screen and smiled when it saw Rainbow Dash.

"It seems we have a resilient one with us." It spoke.

It made a gesture to its left and a moment later, the field dropped. One of the armored ones came up to her with a staff and jabbed into her mass of fur and flesh. Brutally. She howled in pain as the electricity from the rod jolted through her body, awestruck that they could do this much electrical pain to a Pegasus.

As she lost consciousness, there was a collection of sounds that she heard.

"Don't have... need... least three days... indoctri... es, sir, General Petrovsky."

With the final mention of a name, her world faded to black, and she fell into a deep sleep, unaware of the scans being performed on her and her friends.

\\\//////

"Captain, you gotta see this." Joker called over the intercom.

Shepard looked to Twilight and motioned for her to follow. They got up and went to the elevator, where they met Traynor waiting for them.

"Traynor, what's going on?"

"We found a Mass Relay that's almost dead, and the signature behind it matches the data pulled from the downed Cruiser. We believe that it may very well be the one that leads to their world."

The elevator doors closed as the three were brought up to the control center for the ship. They walked past the main table, which was displaying both a Galaxy Map and the schematics of the Normandy, and went directly towards the Pilot's Bridge. Traynor saluted and went off towards her section of the CIC, as Twilight followed Shepard to the front of the ship.

They passed two more sets of doors and entered a small room filled to the brim with control panels, shared between only five seats. The main one being operated by none other than Joker. He swiveled the chair and spoke to the Captain.

"So, Shepard, this is one of our guests? Gotta say, it's a nice break from always coming back with something that knows 37 different ways to kill me with nothing but a ball-point pen. Lemme just say sorry that we had to meet you by the means of Cerberus abductions. Hope you enjoy your stay."

Twilight nodded at the Pilot's remark, happy to hear that she was welcomed by him.

"But anyways, take a look."

Joker waved some controls around as the holo-screens rearranged before them, giving everyone in the room a clear view of what was outside the ship.

Before them, in the coldness of space, was indeed a Mass Relay. However, this one was indeed different. It was almost a fifth of the size, and every time the gyroscopes passed each other, the color of the core changed. It was as if the entire spectrum of visible light was playing with the spinning parts of the Relay, only revealing one every pass. The light in the center, however, was flickering to the point of almost being unnoticeable.

"What is that?" Twilight asked, her eyes practically glowing with curiosity.

"That's a Mass Relay." Joker answered. "Basically giant sling-shots that send you from one point in the Galaxy to another. You see, our ships can only go so fast, and since there's one Normandy, and I don't plan on sharing it with an entire arm of the Galaxy, Relays are kind of like instant-travel points for more massive distances. I first thought of them as like massive teleportation hubs."

"Amazing!"

"What's really amazing right now is how Cerberus managed to find a way to power it down. Pretty soon, there won't be any way to your world. Unless we pass the point of no return without some back up."

There was a moment of silence as Shepard stared at the dying Relay, pondering about which option would be best.

"We're going, aren't we?" Joker deadpanned.

Shepard nodded as Joker rotated his chair back around to the controls.

"Well, I've done stupider. And deadlier."

He waved his hands over the controls as Shepard addressed the crew.

"Attention, all hands: brace for Relay Jump."

He turned back to the window with Twilight. They watched as arcs of multicolored light began to strike the ship as they got closer. The gyroscopes began to spin rapidly as the Normandy drew closer to its side, stretching out more and more until they were gone in a flash. Leaving only the dying light of a Relay becoming dormant once more.

\\\//////

Lights danced across the glass above the three occupants of the room as the ship began to settle in with the momentum. Joker turned his chair to them and spoke.

"Well, I've got good news and bad news. Good news is, we're on our way now, and should arrive in a new system in about two more days. Bad news, Relay's dead. We can't go back unless the Council finds the Relay and reactivates it. And well, you know how they are." he said with a wave of his hands.

"I know that some of them know when regulations are above all else, and when there's a job that needs doing. Hopefully, we won't need to deal with any moaning or whining about this until after we've dealt with Cerberus. Just make sure that everything goes smoothly when we transition back to normal space, alright?"

"Aye, aye." Joker saluted, turning his chair back to the controls.

Shepard looked down to Twilight, and saw that she was still frozen in awe, mouth agape in a child-like smile of wonder. He shook his head and reached to tap her shoulder. Her head jumped back at the sudden contact, but she smiled when she saw it was Shepard.

"We've got two more days before you get home. Anything you want to know or see?"

She raised a hoof to her chin and began to think. When she got an idea, her eyes widened and she raised her hoof to him.

"I would like to know if you have anything I could read. Like a library."

Shepard chuckled and pulled a drone sphere from his belt.

"Even better."

He tossed the sphere into the air in front of him, where it hovered for a few seconds. He pulled out his Omni-tool and activated the A.I. The sphere burst into a light-blue light with a holographic surface, and addressed Shepard with a frill mechanical voice.

"Greetings, Shepard."

Shepard motioned to Twilight.

"Spark, this is our guest, Twilight Sparkle. She wants to learn about our culture and our history. I give her the authority, as a Spectre, to be able to view whatever she wants."

"Of course, sir." Spark responded.

The Drone flew over to Twilight, where it began to introduce itself.

"Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. I am the personalized Artificial Intelligence for Anthony Shepard, codenamed: Spark. You may refer to me as such. I have been given orders to allow you any access to the files available on the extranet as well as our personalized databanks."

"Could you keep her out of my databanks?" Joker called.

Twilight beamed at the Drone with a wide smile.

"Oooh! So many questions!" she said while clopping her forelegs together.

Shepard shook his head as he smiled at her.

"Well, I'm off to check on the ship. Haven't really seen much of it."

Twilight looked between him and the drone, pondering.

"Um, if it isn't too much trouble, can I come with you? I'd like to see this ship for myself. Everything's just so fascinating."

Shepard smiled at her.

"Sure. You can ask Spark for any kind of clarification while we look around."

Twilight smiled brightly at the revelation, and made some sort of squeaking sound. Shepard turned towards the main deck and began walking. Twilight then followed closely behind him, determined to learn as much as she could about everything around her.