Wolves and the Shepardby ChemtestChaptersBeginAwakeShepardPonyvillePlanningAll OutEncounterBeginThe Void, a dark place for any not accustomed to it. It is lucky, then, that the only beings that survive going through are. The Void has been called a place of growth in the darkness, and of corruption. Such is true for the few that inhabit it. ”M̻̯̝͈̜y̟̩͙ͅ ͍p͏o̵͔͔͙̲̝̼w͏͙͇̟̟̲̖̳e̖͈͉͉̼̠r̡̳̱̜͚͍͔ ҉͖̞g͙̫̣ŕ͙̫o̢̲̖̠̺̩͓w͚̣̟͚̘͙̦s ͚t͖͔̟ͅo͡o̸ ̝͖̝s̼̬l͡ọ̠̱̕w̝͖̩͎̞l̗̺͞y͓̰̣̘.͓̩̰̗̲͔ ̨͙̞͙̣̥Á̮̰ṱ͙̰ ̡̟͕͙̹ṭ̶͉̫h̢̗̗̺i̼̻̗͔̕s̞ ̶̭r͖̭̺̩͔̱ḁ̤͕͖̝t̺̘̀è͙,̘̺͚ ̹̹̱̦̝̣̭i̡͚̣̖̪̬̼t̲͙̼͔̫̜̮ ̺͈̰̮̱͙͟ẃ͕̟̱̪i̢͕̗͔l̮̳̱̤̞͕̦l̫͚͉̗̕ ͉̱̺̼̮̳͇b̠̰̩͈͕e̳̦͓̖̤̗ ̢̹g̳e̙ṉ̱͎͕̳e͇͓̰̩̺̠̻͠rạ̙t̹͓i̪̬̹͖͚o̲̱̗̬͡n̤̘̱̝̪͖̮s̷̰͇͈͇̮ ͉̘̣͓̣o͓̫̟͍͔ͅf̀ ҉̳w̴̹̠̝ͅa͚̣͍̠̘̗i̟̫̟͇͡t̮i̝̞̭͢ǹ̪̣̗͉̼̲g͔͍̱ ̖̹͖̱̲̲̀b̢ȩ͔̳̹̩f̗̜͉͝o̦͔͉̰̯ͅṛ͡e͈͔̪ ̵̯͇͖̤̝I̼̰̫͈ ̶͔̼̦c̮a̸͖̻n͉̤̰͖͇͠ ̫̼͈͎̱͖ͅm̹o̷v̖̬̦̖̠̣͢e̮̠̞͇!̨̭̹͍̠̥ ̺͇̭̩͙M͎̫̯͡y̭͇͕̩͉͍ ̕o̭̹̞̱̺͘t̩̕h̠̟e̴r͇̲̲ ͎̲̤͢a҉͍ͅg̕e͇̜̲n̶͔̻͖̖t҉̭ś̥̯̖͈ ̖̕àr̺e̛͇̪̦ ͓͖a̞̩̝͕͠ct̟̮͎u͓̯̯ͅa͔͠l̺̟͎͟l̩̳̝̦̺y̶͍̪̻͚ ̧̤d͉̮̩̖o̖i͚̺͚͞n̤̪̹̣̜͎g̺̟̰̠̠͜ ͈̳̯̬̮͞t̨͓̥̠͈͇͚ͅḥ͞ę̰͖͓i̸r̷̭͇̱ ̲͜j̤͖͖̜͙̺͜o̪͠b̯͉̦̻̭̙̬,̧̠͙ ̸̰s̘̫̮̮̻o͇͍̯͍͇̹ ̬̬w̸͉̖ḩ͎̪͓̺̠̯a̘̲̖̮̘̫̕ͅt̳̥̠̳̭̗͓͡ ̤͇͎̬d̟̦o͔̫̩͎̩͖̹͠ ̡̮̲̤͈̟y̭͕̩̯o̟͈̲̳̜͇u ̫͇t͙͈h̩͖͓͇͉͢i̤ṇ̱̟̳͓͉͎k̸̲͎ ̱͓̳y̳̪͓̣ͅo͓̩͕̪̲͇͎u ̵̗̯͓̗̭̠̫t̨̙͖̼̲͓̠ͅh̷ṛ̙̼̳e̜̤̘̘e ̜̬͖͓̠̺͢a̡̮̺̣̟͚̳r̘̘̣͎̗e ̥do̻̫i͔̪͈̣n̛̩̪̻͇̣̮g̡̬?͈̯̺̼͘” The three beings all jump at the annoyed voice of their master. One of the alicorns, Blueblood, immediately bows, “I- I have been coming up with ideas and growing my power, my lord!” The other two look over at his groveling, and take pity upon the creature called Blueblood. Neither of them particularly liked the Element of Greed, and liked to look at his rotting alicorn form even less. The other alicorn, who is about two times bigger than Blueblood, turns to face their master. Ordirus sticks with his same expressionless face, “I have been restoring my physical form to fight once more. Not my idea to allow Nerazîbûnê so much time before ascending him, or I would be back already. I have, though, been experimenting with something I call Element Zero within machines.” The final member shakes his head, he never liked the Element of Order, but merely tolerated his presence. He could be very ruthless, but never showed joy in the killing. Khorn slowly faces his master, standing side by side with Ordirus even if bipedal, “I have been planning the best way to make blood flow.” Blueblood raises, and faces Khorn with barely hidden disgust. It is no secret that he hated getting anywhere near Khorn. Always covered in blood, as to be expected from the Element of Blood. But, getting blood of the innocent in the skin of Blueblood is never a good time. Blueblood hated the senseless violence from him, always preferring to have some outcome or reason to order hunts. Blueblood faces his master, dwarfed by his company, “We have all forged an idea. We are going to need a fleet if we are to win in the quickest way.” Khorn smiles, “We devised a weapon-“ Ordirus interrupts, “A program that can be used for weaponry. Installed into a flotilla of ships, it could be devastating. We could, in fact, target a universe to create a cycle of destruction to power you. By only targeting one, the Creators won’t suspect a thing, and the cycle is sure to be endless with the weaponry and AI in charge. We have targeted a certain universe, one with a large central galaxy.” Blueblood smiles, “I can work my magic into the heads of the beings living there. The so called Leviathans shall make the AI itself, so it seems like part of the universe instead of something from us, to the Creators.” Khorn nods, “I can implant ideas for weaponry and efficacy within Blueblood’s manipulation.” Ordirus ignites his magic, holding up a blue rock, “I can give the AI ideas for Element Zero based technology so they may exterminate as quick as possible.” Their master stares at each of them with a different head, ”T̤h͙͉͙e͚͙͍̲͚̝̖̕ ҉̱̪͖n̫̠̪a͙̥̻̳̝m̷̭͚͈̟̬̖̪ḙ̩̳̤ ̙̖͎̥̜͝o̭̖̲̬̞̲͕f͖ ̡t̡̟͍̺̝̻̫̹h̬i̦͘s͈̱̮ ̺̣̣͎͈̞ͅA̠̦͓̹͙̖I̸̝͈̖̜?̵̺͚̯̹̮̯” Blueblood smiles at the name he came up with, “Reapers.” ——— An escape pod flies into the distance, away from the flaming wreckage of the Normandy. Two sit on this pod. A krogan in red armor sits in the seats, as a turian in blue armor flies the pod. He speaks into the comms, “This is Garrus, does anyone have Shepard?” A male voice responds, Joker, “No, he sacrificed himself to save me. He was in the ship when it was hit last. He... he is probably dead by now.” The comms speak right after him, a female voice this time, Liara, “Wrong, Joker. Garrus, I see him out near the wreckage. His biotic signature seems to be fading quickly though!” Garrus stops his piloting as he hears of the news, putting his head in his hands and lamenting over the decision he might have to make. He is stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turns around to face Wrex, who simply gives him a nod. Garrus nods bad, and puts on his helmet, “Wrex and I are going after Shepard!” Joker then cuts back in, “Don’t risk it. There is a very high chance of you both dying! Is this what Shepard would want?” Garrus and Wrex both think over their long careers. The battles fought alongside one another with Shepard leading them along, the decisions he made. The armor... the Doctor. Garrus responds, “He would sacrifice himself for any of us. Only right for us to do the same.” Wrex even cuts in on his own, “He is a warrior the galaxy needs. We would gladly fight for him, and we will gladly die for him.” Garrus turns the pod back towards the destroyed ship, still being shot at by their attackers. He puts the acceleration to maximum, and races through fields of debris towards the figure in grey armor. Wrex takes a tether cable, and attaches it to his armor. He stands at the back door of the pod, ready to go. Wrex looks back at Garrus as they race towards Shepard. He smiles, something that would never usually be seen on the krogan, even with his helmet on, “You know, Garrus, don’t think I ever said it. You’re good, for a turian. I think you would have made a great krogan.” Garrus looks back at Wrex with minor shock, before quickly returning to dodging rubble, “That’s unexpected of you to say, Wrex. You are also pretty good for a krogan. You’d make a great turian.” Wrex turns back to the door, “Now, let us save Shepard.” Garrus turns the ship around all of a sudden, as they reach the floating body. He shares a nod with Wrex, and opens the door of the pod. The vacuum of space would’ve immediately sucked Wrex out, if not for the tether and his armor. He takes a gentle jump out of the ship, allowing his momentum to lead him to Shepard. He grabs the body, and pulls a return lever on the tether. He is slowly pulled back to the ship. He eventually gets back in, and sets Shepard in one of the seats, and takes a seat in another. Garrus closes the doors, before looking back through the window. He sees the enemy ship take aim towards them, and has to think quickly. He eventually brings up his omni-tool and turns to Wrex, “Hold on, I’m going to try something!” Wrex immediately doesn’t like it when Garrus isn’t blunt, “What?” Garrus turns back to the enemy ship as it prepares to fire, “FTL travel on a pod!” Wrex doesn’t have any time to react before Garrus presses a final button. The pod listens to commands, and zooms off at speeds never before heard of. ——— Equestrian night is one of the most beautiful and peaceful things in all the universe. The races of Equestia are the only one to experience it, though. The Milky Way nearby had never advanced far enough to reach them. Ponies in the city of Canterlot sleep peacefully through the night, just like every other night. Those that aren’t enjoy their time at nightclubs and bars. Guards roam the street, and Luna watches over the darkened city with care. One thing that was not planned by the Night Goddess, though, was a meteor shower. Imagine her shock when she saw a bright, brurning object start falling from the sky. Ponies all over Equestria look into the sky at the odd object as it descends, one object not supposed to be there. The object crashes into the middle of Canterlot Square, waking everypony in the city with the bang it made. Luna herself flies over to it, only to see a metallic pod of some sort. Until a bang sounds from it, and the metal starts to bend. Then another, then another. On the fourth bang, the metal at one end of it flies off. A huge creature emerges from within. A reptilian-ish face covered in blood and scars, armor the color of blood, towering over even the Princess herself. It carries two similarly bipedal creatures on each shoulder, and walks away from the wreckage. He takes ten steps away from the pod and toward the Princess, until his injured catch up with him. He passes out on the spot, allowing him and the two other creatures to collapse to the ground. Luna immediately calls guards to get the best doctors in Canterlot, and to carry them to the infirmary. AwakeCelestia channels all her magic into healing Shepard for the third day in a row, connecting to the L3 biotic implant in his head. Unicorn doctors in another area of the infirmary do the exact same to the other two, connecting to some odd magical aura around Wrex, and to Garrus’s omni-tool. They pump all their magic in, acting like medi-gel to the aliens. Their wounds are finally healed after a while. The doctors then call in someone known for her ability to take care of unknown creatures. Their physical wounds may be healed, but they will not be rested when they wake. ——— The fourth day dawns, sunlight catching itself within Wrex’s eyes. He sluggishly moves his arm to try and block the light to no avail. His memory then kicks in after his primal instinct to sleep longer. His eyes open, and he shoots up, as fast as he can being so tired. He looks around the room, it reminds him of one the Normandy’s medical room. Only not in space and a lot less bright, but a lot more white. He glances around until he sees a odd quadruped sleeping on a nearby chair. He immediately draws conclusions to the only other quadruped race he knows. Though quite odd colored, he shouts out to the figure, “Hey, elcor!” Fluttershy is shook awake by the force in Wrex’s voice. She sits up, and smiles as she sees Wrex sitting up, “Oh, your already awake? That’s very good.” Wrex hears her voice, and instantly locks onto something, “You’re not an elcor.” His hands grasp around his hip, only to grasp not even a single holster, “My guns! What’d you do to my guns?!” Fluttershy is almost blown back by the force of the krogan’s voice, and she tries to smile calmly once more, “We had to remove all your equipment for you to lay evenly in your bed.” Wrex growls, “You creatures stole my guns? You’re dead.” Fluttershy shrinks into her chair as Wrex gets out of his bed. His massive form can easily cast her in it’s shadow, even from across the room. She shrinks further and further, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you needed them...” Wrex cracks his knuckles, “I recommend you get them for me before I wring your neck with my own hands.” Wrex is stopped by a hand on his own shoulder. Garrus shakes his head, “Wrex, please, just sit back down. Frightening our doctor is not a good first impression. If you did kill her, they might not heal Shepard.” Wrex thinks for a second, before plodding back to his own bed. He slams down on it, “I want my guns. And food.” Garrus turns and smiles at Fluttershy, “I apologize for Wrex. He isn’t good in peaceful situations. Now, I will ask you kindly where he failed to. To the guard putting his ear against the door to listen in; we want our guns. Oh, and some fish would be lovely.” Garrus smirks as he hears the guard in the hallway scramble away. Fluttershy slowly stops her cowering, “I’m Fluttershy. Who, and uh, what are you?” He nods at Fluttershy, “He back there is Wrex, a krogan. I assume that the Commander is around here as well. Commander Shepard, human. I am Garrus Vakarian, turian, C-Sec officer. I can see you are the same shape as a creature on Earth. Might I assume your race are ponies?” She nods, “Yes, we are ponies. I, specifically, am a pegasus.” He smiles, “Wonderful. Now, onto the more important stuff. What system are we in?” Fluttershy scrunches up one eye, “System? Like, solar system? Oh, well, sorry. I don’t exactly know. If you wait, though, I’m sure Princess Luna will know.” Garrus absorbs the fact, “And Shepard? What’s the situation with him?” Fluttershy smiles, “The Princesses have been healing him to the best of their ability. He was a lot more injured than you two though, so it might take a few more days. I am here as a caretaker for the three of you.” Garrus nods, “Okay then. Thank you for the information.” He then turns back to his bed, and lounges out on it. ——— Fluttershy looks up from the magazine she is reading, and looks with curiosity at the glowing orange arm on Garrus. After getting back their weapons and eating, he’s just been messing around with the glow. She smiles, “Mister Vakarian? What exactly is it you are doing, if you don’t mind?” He looks up at her, and smiles, “It’s a human game called ‘Chess’. I’ve always enjoyed it.” Fluttershy lights up, “Oh, Chess? I love that game.” Garrus smirks, before rising to walk over to her. He pulls a chair in front of her, and creates a glowing orange chess board, “This is different than regular Chess though. It has the same structure, but different rules. They call it ‘Max Effect’ edition. It is based off the Geth invasion of the Citadel.” Fluttershy smiles, “What exactly is different?” He creates some holographic dice, “The game starts off with each player rolling a die. It determines whether Shepard’s mission was successful or not. If the Citadel player rolls higher than the Geth, they get Shepard and Alliance reinforcements half-way through. If the Geth player rolls higher, than they get Saren to spawn right next to the Citadel. If they tie, then the Citadel starts with reinforcements and Shepard immediately, and the Geth get Saren and more ships. There are many win conditions. If Saren and Sovereign reach the Citadel, than the Citadel player loses. If Sovereign is destroyed, then the Geth player loses. Each ship also has a different use. The Destiny Ascension moves like a Queen in the original, but if destroyed, then the two nearest pieces will flee with the exception of the Alliance reinforcements. Saren is the same, and if destroyed, then the Geth have to destroy every other Citadel piece instead of going for the Citadel. Saren and Sovereign can also merge into one, giving the movement of Saren to Sovereign, and if hit then Saren will die first.” Fluttershy backs her head away slightly, “Oh, that’s quite a lot to remember.” Garrus smiles, “Don’t worry, it will tell you how each piece can move on the board. Why don’t you go ahead and play as Geth first? I’ll take it a bit easier to begin with since you aren’t all that familiar with he rules. I’ve only played five times, myself.” ——— Fluttershy looks over her moves, the best move made obvious to her. She moves her Saren/Sovereign combo forward, right into the exposed Destiny Ascension, causing two other ships to flee and leaving the path to the Citadel clear. She smiles, “Check. You just got rid of your best piece.” Garrus smiles, “Sometimes, sacrifices must be made to achieve victory. Even if valuable, the Counc- Ascension is a sacrifice that must be made.” He taps the top of the Normandy, “You forgot that the Normandy can kill both Sovereign and Saren at once. Now, you just moved right into it’s vision.” He taps on top of Sovereign, and a cutscene plays of the Normandy loading the dreadnaught full of every ammunition imaginable. It ends with a huge explosion, signaling the end of the game. Fluttershy shakes her head, “But was it really worth it? Sure, you won this war, but what about the next? Without the Destiny Ascension, your entire fleet would fall flat.” Garrus counters, “And without Sovereign or Saren, your fleet falls flat. If he were to get to the Citadel, then it would bring around the end of our civilization. The Ascension was a trade for two more valuable targets.” Wrex yawns from his bed, “You make a game about killing sound so boring. Who cares about the morals, you killed the enemy, you won.” Fluttershy smiles, not noticing the setting sun behind her, “Do you have any game you would like for us to play, Wrex? Maybe you could join in?” He rubs the back of his head, “Well, there is one thing.” Fluttershy smiles, “Yes?” Wrex pulls out a data disk, “It’s called Tombs and Protheans. It’s something I played back when I was young.” Garrus smiles, “Tombs and Protheans? I never thought you would enjoy that.” Wrex frowns, “You get to be a krogan warrior and kill bad Protheans if you want. There is nothing wrong about that.” Fluttershy smiles, “It sounds fun. Why don’t we try it?” Wrex marches over, pulling up his own chair, “If you tell Shepard about this, you’re dead.” ShepardThe sun rises, eight days after the crash. Seven days and nights worth of magic from the Princesses, and the human has finally been healed. Celestia moves into his room as he wakes up. He is hit by a burst of energy from the extra magic coursing through his biotics. He immediately stands from his bed, not caring about the pain in his legs. He locks onto the Princess of the Sun, and starts speaking, “Aliens, unknown as well. Was supposed to die, maybe teleported here? Wait, memory, Wrex and Garrus saved me right before I died. Wrex is probably awake before me. Did he kill anyone? No, not likely, wouldn’t have healed me without restraints otherwise. Garrus probably fine as well.” He stops his pacing, “I need to go for a run. Too much energy.” He then looks over at Celestia, “Sorry, energy has got me thinking too quick. Want to go for a run? I’m going for a run. Who are you anyway?” ——— “The elcor guard stands at the gates, blocking your way. He doesn’t so much as spare your party a glance. ‘Expository statement: my master is through those doors, and I protect him. Confidently: come at me if you dare. With strength: you will fall before the power of my prothean enchanted elcor strength.” Wrex smiles as he sees the holographic elcor, and looks at his own character, “I charge the guard with my hammer, and swing it into his head.” A holographic die appears, “Please roll.” Wrex grabs the die, and throws it at the hologram, bouncing it all over their barrier zone. It eventually stops, and lands, showing a glowing ‘1’ at the top. “Azgan charges the elcor with intent to strike, only to slip on a tiny puddle. His hammer goes flying into the air, striking the ceiling with enough strength to knock a few pieces loose. These pieces hit all the players party, roll for dexterity.” Garrus smiles as he rolls his own die across the hologram, rolling a ten. Fluttershy rolls the die using her wings, sending it across the board. She rolls a twenty. “The heavy human warrior manages to be only grazed by the rubble, taking five damage. The asari rogue manages to dodge all the rocks raining down around her, taking no damage whatsoever. It does, however, give the elcor his turn. The elcor charges towards Azgan, wanting to stomp down upon his head. He rolls a die, and lands a seven. The elcor misses by an inch, only stomping down on the krogan’s armor, rather than him. Asari, take your turn.” Fluttershy is about to say her action, only to be interrupted by a voice behind all of them, “Tombs and Protheans? Never thought either of you’d be into that.” Wrex quickly spins around, and rushes back to his bed. He takes a seat on it, and looks to the side, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Shepard.” Fluttershy turns around, her first time seeing the odd looking human. His hair is cut neatly, a red-ish brown color. His eyes are bright blue. His cheeks, though, is where everything turns odd. For some reason, his cheeks seem like they are being sucked in. Like if someone decided to make his bones as a child go to opposite way. What makes it even worse is the fact that he has a big, and very strong jaw bone. So his cheeks are sucked in while his jaw sticks out far further than it. Like what malnutrition would do to a stomach, is what has been done to this man’s cheeks. His cheeks, however, are the only real odd thing about him. The rest looks like a well built soldier should. He smiles, “Don’t worry Wrex, I played that back when I was a teenager. Was a group that played it during the six months I was on that station.” Celestia trots into the room, a tiny bit of sweat on her brow, “I must say, your Commander is quite the runner.” Shepard turns to her, “Perhaps you should go ahead and tell them about where we are going to be?” She nods, “Yes, of corse. Fluttershy, I have contacted Twilight and your other friends. Twilight has agreed to take in Shepard, and Raeity has taken in Garrus. Do you want to take in Wrex?” She looks at the krogan, sitting on the bed with his arms crossed. She smiles, “I would love to house him.” Celestia smiles, “Then all is settled. Fluttershy, I have paid for all four of you to take the train to Ponyville in five hours. I ask you catch this train so I don’t have to lay again, please. Oh, and if you don’t mind, inform their new landlords about their unique biology. I will send all three of you some bits to cover them and the hassle of taking care of them.” Wrex growls, “We don’t need to be ‘taken care of’, pony.” She smiles, “Sure you don’t.” She faces Shepard, “Until we meet next, Commander.” He nods back, “Good day, Princess.” ——— Far away, a changeling bows to it’s queen, “Queen, the ones you asked for are here. Are you sure this is wise? Would Chrysalis want this?” Queen Messorem turns to her subject, “Chrysalis is dead, need I remind you? What she wanted was the extinction of the Changeling race. Her attack on Canterlot and death because of it was a obvious sign. I am your Queen now, drone. I saved our Hive from extinction wrought upon us by our previous, incompetent Queen.” She takes a deep breath, and shudders, “The voices speak ever louder, telling me exactly what to do. The enemy is strong, and has a team of strong beings. So, we must hire these three to fight them.” The drone quivers, “I’ll show them in, my Queen.” Messorem turns to face the three as they enter, “Nightmare Moon, fallen from glory and here to reclaim it. Captain Shearwater, best captain on the Griffonian sea, and here to become the best pirate of the entire world. Morad Brighthorn, said to be the best Minotaur wizard to ever live, and here to use his powers for one who appreciates them. Come, you three, touch the beacon. It will grant you wisdom and strength unknown to our galaxy for a long time.” She smiles, “Come, and allow them in for the first time in millions of years.” PonyvilleThe train pulls into the Ponyville station. Garrus remarks from the squad’s cart, “These ponies have such old technology. It looks like something right out of a movie on ancient history.” Fluttershy looks over at him, “Well, I’m sorry that we aren’t exactly space-fairing yet.” She smiles, “Perhaps you three could teach us?” Wrex grunts, “A race of aliens without guns? Sounds like a horror movie to me.” Shepard smiles, “What that means is enemies that have to charge us.” He instinctively reaches to his waist, where his shotgun sits, “All the better for us.” Fluttershy shakes her head, “No need to worry, Mister Shepard, there aren’t any ponies around who would want to harm you. There are no enemies around here.” Wrex frowns, “Then I will make enemies.” Shepard shakes his head, “These are peaceful creatures, Wrex. Wait until we have a geth to shoot at.” Wrex grumbles, “Fine.” Garrus stands as the train comes to a stop, “We’ve arrived.” Shepard looks out the window, and sees four other ponies on the station, “I assume they are your friends?” She smiles as we step out, “Yes, they are.” She looks at the four, “They are Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie is gone for some reason.” She motions to us, “Girls, this is Wrex, Garrus Vakarian, and Commander Shepard.” Shepard takes a step forward to Twilight, holding out a hand, “Pleasure to meet you, Sparkle.” Twilight allows him to take her hoof, and they shake, “And it is a pleasure to meet you, Commander.” He smiles, “Call me Shepard, please.” Garrus moves past Shepard, and up to Rarity. She offers her own hoof, “I’m Rarity, Mister Vakarian, pleasure to invite you into my home.” Garrus quickly examines the body language of Rarity, before deciding upon a greeting. He bends down, and slightly kisses her hoof, “And I am glad for your genoristy, Miss Rarity.” Wrex looks at Fluttershy, “We ready to go?” She looks at the sky, and at the rapidly setting sun, “If you really want to, I suppose we can.” Garrus looks as Wrex leaves, “Well, Miss Rarity, I suppose this is time for you to show me where I will be sleeping.” Shepard also looks at Twilight, “Well, seems like it’s time to go.” ——— Garrus fades into his dream, on a bed in Rarity’s attic. But, he is not alone in his dream. For a voice whispers to him. “Destruction comes, Vakarian. The darkness shall consume all. All shall be remade. You can stand with us as we rebuild.” Garrus looks around the dark void he floats in, “I don’t know who you are, but I won’t listen to you. The Reapers will never get the chance to win.” The voice growls, “Fool.” Garrus finds himself in the middle of a destroyed town, buildings toppled over and sand blowing through the air, “Palaven has already fallen. The turian home world is only dust.” Garrus turns around, “These don’t look like turian design. You cannot lie to me, voice. This is human design.“ The voice fades, “Then you will be suffocated by the dark instead.” It leaves Garrus in the middle of the destroyed town, where he turns as he hears footsteps running down the street. He comes face to face with something else. It’s as tall as him, with a strange bird like mask on, and a dark coat disguising the rest of them. He stops and looks Garrus in the eyes, “What are you?” Garrus opens his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by loud, old gunfire. The man rips a pistol out of a holster, and fires two shots into a nearby alley, “Why are you here?” Garrus tries once again to speak, only to be once again stopped as four long knives pierce him from behind. He starts to wake from the strange dream, only to hear the man fire off a few more shots, “Hiding behind other dreamers now, Freddy?” Garrus wakes in his bed with the dream still in his mind. He eventually shrugs it off, and goes back to sleep. PlanningFluttershy awakens, the morning sun shining into her room. She climbs out of bed, and prepares her normal morning chores. However, as she arrives downstairs, she remembers her new guest. As she looks around for him, she starts to hear a banging noise from outside, like a quiet firecracker. She checks outside, only to see Wrex messing around with an odd looking device. Wrex fires his shotgun at the far target, managing to hit every bullet. He spins around, and fires at another behind him. He passes it through his holster to his left hand, pumping the gun with the holster, and firing again at the first target. Fluttershy approaches him, “Hello, Mister Wrex.” He looks at her, and lowers his shotgun, “Fluttershy.” She smiles, “What’re you doing up so early?” Wrex grunts, “Some flash of light in the forest. Been out here ever since.” Fluttershy notices the gun in his hand, “What’s that?” Wrex holds it up, and smiles, “My shotgun. Pride and joy of my equipment, and the tool I know the most about.” Fluttershy nods, “How do you use it?” Wrex points it at a target, and nods, “Point at what you want dead, and fire.” It goes off, and the figure of hay is filled with five more holes. Fluttershy shakes her head, “Dead? Why would you want anything dead?” Wrex looks over at her, “When you are a Krogan, there are many who want you dead. So you have to make them dead before they can make you dead. And when some insane Turian is sending an army of super advanced AI Geth at you, you make them dead.” He sighs as he sees Fluttershy slowly back away from him, “It does have other purposes than death, though.” She stops her retreat, “Like?” Wrex smiles, “Well, if you and your friends grab a few drinks and go for a drive, you can find a lot of fun by shooting your guns. Throw a bottle up in the air, and boom, you can shatter it with a simple pull of the trigger!” He laughs, “Oh, others may have their pistols, rifles, or submachine guns, but there is nothing more satisfying than a shotgun blast!” Fluttershy smiles again, “Wow, you make it sound really fun.” Wrex looks over to her, and tosses the shotgun over, “Let’s see if you peace loving ponies can match up to Krogan.” She catches the gun, and tries to hold it the best she can, “Oh, uh, how?” Wrex moves to the far side of the field, and readies his biotics. He smiles, “You will shoot until you hit the targets.” ——— Shepard opens the door to the library, only to be stopped as a bag of gold is tossed to him. He catches it, and Twilight smiles, “If you are going out, can you pick me up a quill? There’s also some extra in there, so enjoy the town.” Shepard smiles back, “Good day, Twilight.” He steps out, his light armor still over him. He strides through the town, quickly absorbing it’s layout. However, as he arrives in the marketplace, he is stopped by two ponies having a shouting match. He walks closer to them, seeing a young mare and old stallion. The mare shouts, “This is obviously overpriced! They were only two bits the other week!” The old stallion snaps back, “Well, that’s the price the fish are now! So either pay up, or move along!” The mare glares at him, “I think the Guard will have a lot to say about this extortion. So how about you lower the price back to something reasonable?” The stallions narrows his eyes, “This is reasonable. I have a family to feed, and a grandfoal to get a gift for Hearth’s Warming! They are five bits, and that is the end of this discussion!” Shepard joys up to them, “Whoa, maybe I can help. What seems to be the problem?” The mare looks, and glares at him, “And who are you, exactly?” Shepard smiles, “I am Commander Shepard, Spectere given supreme authority by the Council.” The stallion smiles, “A Commander? Well I am honored, really, but I don’t think anything could change that mare’s mind.” Shepard turns to the mare, “Please, tell me, why exactly do you want this fish for such a low price?” The mare smiles back at him, his happiness seemingly infecting all around him, “Well, I have a friend coming down from Griffonstone with the rest of his family, and I want to make his favorite meal. So I really need at least four fish, but it would cost twenty bits at this price!” Shepard nods, “Alright, I can see why you would want to get it. Now, how about your story?” The stallion nods, “I would love to sell my fish at the price she wants, true, but it is currently impossible. There’s something in the Forest that’s disturbing the fish, so I can’t catch as many as usual. I have to spend longer out there, and I get less fish then I would before. I had to increase the price so that I could continue making a profit for my time and supply.” Shepard looks between them both, “Alright, how long until your friend arrives?” The mare thinks, “Well, it’s about... two days?” Shepard smiles, “So, how about I go and clear out whatever is disturbing the fish, and then you can sell her the fish at normal price?” The stallion nods, “Okay, sure, if the fish can return to normal.” Shepard nods, “Well, I will go take care of that, then.” The mare takes a step forward, “Wait, why don’t I come with you? I couldn’t just allow you to go alone.” The stallion also steps forward, “Let me come as well, I can help with the fish.” Shepard smiles, “How about your names, first?” The stallion motions at himself, “Sharp Hook, Shepard.” The mare smiles, “Amber.” Shepard nods at the two of them, “Alright, lead me to the forest.” ——— Garrus takes a sip of tea, sitting at the breakfast table with Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Yet, despite the conversation the other two are holding, his mind is only focused on one thing. Rarity and Sweetie get up, and Sweetie sets off for school. She then turns around, surprised to see the usually observant Garrus staring at nothing. She walks up to him, “Mister Vakarian, is everything fine? You seem quite troubled.” Garrus sighs, “Sorry, it’s just this dream I had.” Rarity sits from across him, “Please, tell me about it. If anything is disturbing you, then it becomes my business as well.” Garrus looks down, remembering, “There was a planet, one in ruins, yet one of obviously human build. A man came along, with an odd bird mask, and a gun in hand. He looked like he was running from something, yet he instantly asked me who I was, instead of opening fire. And the voice, telling me it was Palaven, trying to get me into a state of dispair. Telling me that I should give up and join them on some mission. To stand with them as all falls to darkness, and be a builder of a new world. Yet the whole time, my mind seemed to be shouting something into my head. A name, I believe it was.” He looks up at Rarity, “Miss Rarity, have you ever heard of Nightmare Moon?” All OutWrex batters shrubbery out of the way, stamping down any vine stupid enough to get in the way. He grunts in annoyance as a branch whips him in the face, forcing him to kick the entire tree down. As it falls down, Wrex growls, “Stupid forests. Only good thing about the war is that we got rid of them.” Fluttershy trots up next to him, “Now, did you really need to do that? You might have hurt a bird! Do you know how many animals make their nests in those trees?!” Wrex merely blinks at her shout, “Bit louder, and maybe I will listen.” Wrex punches a branch off a tree before it hits him, “And if a few birds get knocked down, that’s their own fault. Shouldn’t have built their house in my way.” Fluttershy responds, but Wrex stops paying attention. He looks all around, and draws his shotgun. He holds up his hand, and Fluttershy quiets instantly. He points it towards a random bush, and gets his finger on the trigger, “Show yourself or I will kill you.” Two hands come up from behind the bush, and a huge creature emerges from within. Blue fur is covered by a camouflage vest, with bows and various hunting weapons all over his body. On his head is a brown hat, with a blue feather going through part of it, and two horns rising out the middle. The minotaur smiles, “Well, you managed to spot me! Honestly, congratulations, that’s very rare. Name’s Leon, Leon Greateye. Premier minotaur hunter, renown through the entire Everfree!” Wrex squints, “Yeah, yeah, I don’t care. Look, you can either help us, or you can become the hunted.” Leon gains a nervous twitch to his smile, “Uh, hunted? Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we?” He throws it aside, and adopts a cocky pose, leaning forward and placing his arm across his knee, “Tell me, how could I help you out?” Wrex grins, “I saw a bright flash from somewhere in these woods. Take me to whatever did that so I can kill it.” He looks back at Fluttershy, and sighs, “Or tell it why it needs to be more careful.” Leon claps his hands twice, “Oh, I know what you’re talking about! Nasty bugger earlier today woke me up, and I went to hash out some base rules with him. Turns out, it was actually a rather fine fellow by the name of Morad Brighthorn!” He looks at them, pleading in a way, “Don’t mess with him.” Wrex lowers his gun, “Where is he?” Leon sighs, “He was walking towards the town, preparing his magic.” Wrex looks at Fluttershy, and nods, “Sounds like trouble to me.” He looks back at Leon, “Take me to him.” ——— Garrus takes a sip of tea as Rarity describes the first time her friends used the Elements of Harmony. He nods along, “Eternal night is a really bad idea, so I’m glad you put a stop to it.” Rarity nods, “Oh yes, I’m also so glad to be rid of that brute and instead have our own Princess Luna. She is the one who rescued you and your friends, after all.” Garrus smiles, “Wrex might take issue with that statement.” Rarity smiles, “Oh, of corse, Wrex did pull you out of the fire, but Princess Luna got you to the hospital.” Garrus is about to speak, and he raises the tea. But as he is about to take a sip, he finds it impossible to see anything. Rarity shreks as everything goes dark, and Garrus rushes over to the window, “Miss Rarity, get down!” She jumps into her table in an attempt to get under it. She shouts, “What happened?!” Garrus takes out his sniper rifle, and looks out the window. He sees the problem instantly, “Miss Rarity, the sun is gone.” Rarity looks from the table, “What?” Garrus puts on night vison, and nods, “The sun has just disappeared out of the sky.” He looks all around the outside, until he notices something, “Hold up, I see a light. Miss Rarity, I need you to stay calm, and listen to what I tell you.” Rarity walks up beside him, “Okay, I’ll listen Mister Vakarian.” He vaults out the window, and reaches in to pull Rarity out as well. He gets on his knee, and looks into her shining eyes in the darkness, his own glowing armor lighting her up, “You are going to get Miss Sweetie Belle, and you are going to run as fast as you can.” Rarity nods shakily, “Shouldn’t I help you?” He shakes his head, “No. You and your friends are the most powerful weapon we may have against any threat, so I need you all to survive just in case.” Rarity shakes her head, “You don’t know what caused this. I cannot just let you go off alone.” Garrus stands up, “You are going to, Miss Rarity. In a time of emergency, a C-Sec Officer can order civilians on the best action to take, so that is what I will do. I have my gun, and my training, I will be fine.” He smiles at her, steadying her nerves, “Besides, this is what I signed up for.” He pats her shoulder, “Now go get your sister, Miss Rarity, I’ll cover you.” Garrus then turns to a nearby building, and climbs his way up it. Rarity starts to move through the streets below, and Garrus decides to take the period of safety to scout a little bit. He takes out his binoculars, and zooms in on the town hall, where there is a bright source of light. Garrus sees the outline of a huge pony, one with both wings and horn. She wears blue armor, and glows a bright purple that serves as the only source of light. She seems to be mid laugh, and Garrus turns back to watch Rarity. ——— Leon rushes between the forest, “Quickly, you haven’t much time!” Wrex bowls down the forest, making anything in his way move. He moves at the same pace as Leon, and the rush towards a bright red glow at the end of the forest. They emerge, and see another minotaur there. He stands much taller than Leon, at least nine feet tall. He wears simple brown robes, and carries a complicated staff. He glows bright red, and his staff glows even brighter. Wrex stops, and looks beyond him. Where Ponyville one was, is nothing but a crater. The farm, Fluttershy’s cottage, everything is now just gone. Wrex fires a shot at the minotaur, only to have a red force field deflect it as the wizard turns to face him. “So, a challenger comes to face the might of Morad Brighthorn? Allow me to teach you the meaning of magic.” EncounterHook and Amber trudge through the Everfree, their bickering replaced by kind chatter. They don’t notice as Shepard stops suddenly behind them, but they do when he speaks, “How close are we to the river?” Hook looks back at him, “Uh, about a minute.” Shepard gets the two close, and starts to whisper to them, “Okay, I need the two of you to trust me. No matter what happens, do not give me away.” Amber shares a look with Hook, before turning back to him, “Why?” He smiles, “Because I have to hide, and I need you two to act natural. Okay?” Hook nods, “Sure, I trust you.” Shepard pats him on the head, and hops up a nearby tree, swinging off a branch and into the canopy of leaves. The two below turn to continue, only to discover why he hid so quick. A group of Griffons come out of nowhere, wearing loose clothing and fancy hats. Three of them draw their hand cannons, and the fourth draws their cutlass. The Griffon smiles, and holds it up to Amber’s neck, “Well what have we here? Looks like a grandad and his daughter got lost, don’t it lads?!” The other pirates all cheer, drowning out the protests of the two ponies. The female pirate in charge motions to the others for them to calm down, and cups her ear, “Sorry, what’d you say?” Amber speaks, “He is not-“ The pirate laughs, “You want to be sold into slavery? Well why didn’t you just say so!” Hook steps forward, “I will not allow-“ The pirate moves her cutlass over to his neck, “You don’t have room to speak, grandpa. If you keep on jabbering on about what I can and can’t do, I might just have to shut you up permanently.” She leans in real close to his face, “Besides, won’t your precious Princess save you? She does care about every pony under the sun, don’t she?!” She laughs, “What a fool! She’ll forget about you as the tides rise and drown the sun in their deadly embrace!” She leans back in, “But seriously, come on, and don’t complain anymore. I really don’t want to clean your brains off the forest floor.” Hook sighs, “Amber, let’s go.” Amber looks over at him, “What?! But what about-“ He stomps, “Let’s go!” The pirate smiles, moving her cutlass back and only cutting a few hairs off his neck, “There’s a good pony.” ——— Wrex smiles in genuine joy as Fluttershy shoots another of his biotic illusions out of the sky. He looks over at her, only to see her hold the shotgun in a much better position than before. Her feathers wrapped around the trigger and pump, but her body supporting the recoil. But as he looks at her, his keen eyes spot something beyond her. A quick flash of red, which just as suddenly stops. Wrex growls upon sight of the familiar flash. He moves up to Fluttershy, “My gun.” Fluttershy places it in his expecting hand, “Did I do something wrong?” Wrex moves past her, “No, you did good. But I am going to investigate this damned flashing. It woke me up, and I want payback.” Fluttershy rushes after him, “What if it is just some harmless animal that accidentally flashed?” Wrex smiles, “Dinner.” He then stops, and looks at Fluttershy’s horrified face, “It was a joke, grow a quad.” He doesn’t see all the fear disappear, so he sighs, “If it is an animal, then we need to get it away so I can get my damned sleep.” Fluttershy follows along as he continues forward, “How will you get it away?” Wrex looks at her, “Well, since you seem to be following, might as well use you. Since you can understand those creatures back there, why not this one?” Fluttershy smiles, “Alright, but no killing.” Wrex looks into her eyes, “I can’t make that promise.” His eyes meet Fluttershy’s, and find an impenetrable wall of will. He glares a little longer, before sighing as he sees no effect, “Fine. I will try not to kill anything.” Fluttershy smiles, and they walk along, “You know, I think I’m making some progress on you, Wrex.” Wrex grunts, “The you standing up to me shows that I’m making progress on you.” ——— Shepard moves through the trees, each action practiced and learned from hard days in forest specialization training. His armor sprouts little hooks that allow him to latch onto every branch, and for him to move sneakily and without much effort. Sadly, the pirates were quicker than him, and are a minute ahead of him. However, they do leave behind a pretty noticeable trail with two prisoners. Shepard comes to a stop as he reaches the final tree before the river, and he swings up to sit on a branch. He looks down, and sees a pirate boat parked within the river, it’s crew returning belowdecks for the night. Shepard observes for another fifteen minutes, noting patterns and where Hook and Amber were taken. He finally reaches to his back, and takes out his assault rifle. He fits in toxic rounds, and deploys the spikes in the bottom of his boots. He uses them to keep himself attached as he swings to the other side of the branch. From his upside down perspective, he aims down at one of the pirates. He fires three shots, a sound like three quiet firecrackers sounds off, and the pirate melts into nothing. He uses this new hole in the guard system to drop down to the ground, and sneak aboard without any issue. However, as he steps into the deck, he is taken by suprise. A blast of some black beam takes out the gangplank to land, forcing Shepard onto the boat proper. Pirates come out of every hole on the ship, moving to surround Shepard. Shepard doesn’t allow this. He whips around with his assault rifle, making every pirate that shows themself into nothing. He fires until his assault rifle overheats, which is when he draws his pistol instead. He fires with one hand, turning pirates to ash with fire hotter than a star. With his other hand, he summons his biotic power. He throws pirates overboard, pulls their neck and not the rest of their body, and tears them apart at a molecular level. Eventually his pistol overheats as well. Shepard cracks his neck as he puts his pistol away. He activates his biotics, and gathers it all around him. He charges at a nearby pirate, the built up biotics send the pirate flying, breaking all their bones as they are. He stops a swing from a nearby cutlass, and punches the offender with even more built up biotics. He turns to find another pirate, only to see the deck empty. With one exception. A pirate, taller than all the others, and bigger in every way. His eyes glow black, and he glares at Shepard. He draws his cutlass, the thing buzzing with dark lightning. He laughs, “Welcome, Shepard. I see there is no one with you. No marines to hide behind, just you and some slavers.” Shepard draws his assault rifle, now cooled down, “What do you want?” The pirate breathes in, shifting the winds around, “I want to fight you, Shepard. I know you want the ponies, so I will offer you a fair challenge.” Shepard moves his finger onto the trigger, “I will not bargain with pirates.” The pirate takes a step forward, almost cracking the boards beneath his talons, “As I shall not parlay with the Butcher of Torfan!” Shepard braces himself, “How do you know that name?!” The pirate glares at him, “For I am Captain Shearwater, the greatest pirate of the entire universe! You slaughter pirates, you butcher my brothers! So I shall butcher the Butcher of Torfan!”
BeginThe Void, a dark place for any not accustomed to it. It is lucky, then, that the only beings that survive going through are. The Void has been called a place of growth in the darkness, and of corruption. Such is true for the few that inhabit it. ”M̻̯̝͈̜y̟̩͙ͅ ͍p͏o̵͔͔͙̲̝̼w͏͙͇̟̟̲̖̳e̖͈͉͉̼̠r̡̳̱̜͚͍͔ ҉͖̞g͙̫̣ŕ͙̫o̢̲̖̠̺̩͓w͚̣̟͚̘͙̦s ͚t͖͔̟ͅo͡o̸ ̝͖̝s̼̬l͡ọ̠̱̕w̝͖̩͎̞l̗̺͞y͓̰̣̘.͓̩̰̗̲͔ ̨͙̞͙̣̥Á̮̰ṱ͙̰ ̡̟͕͙̹ṭ̶͉̫h̢̗̗̺i̼̻̗͔̕s̞ ̶̭r͖̭̺̩͔̱ḁ̤͕͖̝t̺̘̀è͙,̘̺͚ ̹̹̱̦̝̣̭i̡͚̣̖̪̬̼t̲͙̼͔̫̜̮ ̺͈̰̮̱͙͟ẃ͕̟̱̪i̢͕̗͔l̮̳̱̤̞͕̦l̫͚͉̗̕ ͉̱̺̼̮̳͇b̠̰̩͈͕e̳̦͓̖̤̗ ̢̹g̳e̙ṉ̱͎͕̳e͇͓̰̩̺̠̻͠rạ̙t̹͓i̪̬̹͖͚o̲̱̗̬͡n̤̘̱̝̪͖̮s̷̰͇͈͇̮ ͉̘̣͓̣o͓̫̟͍͔ͅf̀ ҉̳w̴̹̠̝ͅa͚̣͍̠̘̗i̟̫̟͇͡t̮i̝̞̭͢ǹ̪̣̗͉̼̲g͔͍̱ ̖̹͖̱̲̲̀b̢ȩ͔̳̹̩f̗̜͉͝o̦͔͉̰̯ͅṛ͡e͈͔̪ ̵̯͇͖̤̝I̼̰̫͈ ̶͔̼̦c̮a̸͖̻n͉̤̰͖͇͠ ̫̼͈͎̱͖ͅm̹o̷v̖̬̦̖̠̣͢e̮̠̞͇!̨̭̹͍̠̥ ̺͇̭̩͙M͎̫̯͡y̭͇͕̩͉͍ ̕o̭̹̞̱̺͘t̩̕h̠̟e̴r͇̲̲ ͎̲̤͢a҉͍ͅg̕e͇̜̲n̶͔̻͖̖t҉̭ś̥̯̖͈ ̖̕àr̺e̛͇̪̦ ͓͖a̞̩̝͕͠ct̟̮͎u͓̯̯ͅa͔͠l̺̟͎͟l̩̳̝̦̺y̶͍̪̻͚ ̧̤d͉̮̩̖o̖i͚̺͚͞n̤̪̹̣̜͎g̺̟̰̠̠͜ ͈̳̯̬̮͞t̨͓̥̠͈͇͚ͅḥ͞ę̰͖͓i̸r̷̭͇̱ ̲͜j̤͖͖̜͙̺͜o̪͠b̯͉̦̻̭̙̬,̧̠͙ ̸̰s̘̫̮̮̻o͇͍̯͍͇̹ ̬̬w̸͉̖ḩ͎̪͓̺̠̯a̘̲̖̮̘̫̕ͅt̳̥̠̳̭̗͓͡ ̤͇͎̬d̟̦o͔̫̩͎̩͖̹͠ ̡̮̲̤͈̟y̭͕̩̯o̟͈̲̳̜͇u ̫͇t͙͈h̩͖͓͇͉͢i̤ṇ̱̟̳͓͉͎k̸̲͎ ̱͓̳y̳̪͓̣ͅo͓̩͕̪̲͇͎u ̵̗̯͓̗̭̠̫t̨̙͖̼̲͓̠ͅh̷ṛ̙̼̳e̜̤̘̘e ̜̬͖͓̠̺͢a̡̮̺̣̟͚̳r̘̘̣͎̗e ̥do̻̫i͔̪͈̣n̛̩̪̻͇̣̮g̡̬?͈̯̺̼͘” The three beings all jump at the annoyed voice of their master. One of the alicorns, Blueblood, immediately bows, “I- I have been coming up with ideas and growing my power, my lord!” The other two look over at his groveling, and take pity upon the creature called Blueblood. Neither of them particularly liked the Element of Greed, and liked to look at his rotting alicorn form even less. The other alicorn, who is about two times bigger than Blueblood, turns to face their master. Ordirus sticks with his same expressionless face, “I have been restoring my physical form to fight once more. Not my idea to allow Nerazîbûnê so much time before ascending him, or I would be back already. I have, though, been experimenting with something I call Element Zero within machines.” The final member shakes his head, he never liked the Element of Order, but merely tolerated his presence. He could be very ruthless, but never showed joy in the killing. Khorn slowly faces his master, standing side by side with Ordirus even if bipedal, “I have been planning the best way to make blood flow.” Blueblood raises, and faces Khorn with barely hidden disgust. It is no secret that he hated getting anywhere near Khorn. Always covered in blood, as to be expected from the Element of Blood. But, getting blood of the innocent in the skin of Blueblood is never a good time. Blueblood hated the senseless violence from him, always preferring to have some outcome or reason to order hunts. Blueblood faces his master, dwarfed by his company, “We have all forged an idea. We are going to need a fleet if we are to win in the quickest way.” Khorn smiles, “We devised a weapon-“ Ordirus interrupts, “A program that can be used for weaponry. Installed into a flotilla of ships, it could be devastating. We could, in fact, target a universe to create a cycle of destruction to power you. By only targeting one, the Creators won’t suspect a thing, and the cycle is sure to be endless with the weaponry and AI in charge. We have targeted a certain universe, one with a large central galaxy.” Blueblood smiles, “I can work my magic into the heads of the beings living there. The so called Leviathans shall make the AI itself, so it seems like part of the universe instead of something from us, to the Creators.” Khorn nods, “I can implant ideas for weaponry and efficacy within Blueblood’s manipulation.” Ordirus ignites his magic, holding up a blue rock, “I can give the AI ideas for Element Zero based technology so they may exterminate as quick as possible.” Their master stares at each of them with a different head, ”T̤h͙͉͙e͚͙͍̲͚̝̖̕ ҉̱̪͖n̫̠̪a͙̥̻̳̝m̷̭͚͈̟̬̖̪ḙ̩̳̤ ̙̖͎̥̜͝o̭̖̲̬̞̲͕f͖ ̡t̡̟͍̺̝̻̫̹h̬i̦͘s͈̱̮ ̺̣̣͎͈̞ͅA̠̦͓̹͙̖I̸̝͈̖̜?̵̺͚̯̹̮̯” Blueblood smiles at the name he came up with, “Reapers.” ——— An escape pod flies into the distance, away from the flaming wreckage of the Normandy. Two sit on this pod. A krogan in red armor sits in the seats, as a turian in blue armor flies the pod. He speaks into the comms, “This is Garrus, does anyone have Shepard?” A male voice responds, Joker, “No, he sacrificed himself to save me. He was in the ship when it was hit last. He... he is probably dead by now.” The comms speak right after him, a female voice this time, Liara, “Wrong, Joker. Garrus, I see him out near the wreckage. His biotic signature seems to be fading quickly though!” Garrus stops his piloting as he hears of the news, putting his head in his hands and lamenting over the decision he might have to make. He is stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turns around to face Wrex, who simply gives him a nod. Garrus nods bad, and puts on his helmet, “Wrex and I are going after Shepard!” Joker then cuts back in, “Don’t risk it. There is a very high chance of you both dying! Is this what Shepard would want?” Garrus and Wrex both think over their long careers. The battles fought alongside one another with Shepard leading them along, the decisions he made. The armor... the Doctor. Garrus responds, “He would sacrifice himself for any of us. Only right for us to do the same.” Wrex even cuts in on his own, “He is a warrior the galaxy needs. We would gladly fight for him, and we will gladly die for him.” Garrus turns the pod back towards the destroyed ship, still being shot at by their attackers. He puts the acceleration to maximum, and races through fields of debris towards the figure in grey armor. Wrex takes a tether cable, and attaches it to his armor. He stands at the back door of the pod, ready to go. Wrex looks back at Garrus as they race towards Shepard. He smiles, something that would never usually be seen on the krogan, even with his helmet on, “You know, Garrus, don’t think I ever said it. You’re good, for a turian. I think you would have made a great krogan.” Garrus looks back at Wrex with minor shock, before quickly returning to dodging rubble, “That’s unexpected of you to say, Wrex. You are also pretty good for a krogan. You’d make a great turian.” Wrex turns back to the door, “Now, let us save Shepard.” Garrus turns the ship around all of a sudden, as they reach the floating body. He shares a nod with Wrex, and opens the door of the pod. The vacuum of space would’ve immediately sucked Wrex out, if not for the tether and his armor. He takes a gentle jump out of the ship, allowing his momentum to lead him to Shepard. He grabs the body, and pulls a return lever on the tether. He is slowly pulled back to the ship. He eventually gets back in, and sets Shepard in one of the seats, and takes a seat in another. Garrus closes the doors, before looking back through the window. He sees the enemy ship take aim towards them, and has to think quickly. He eventually brings up his omni-tool and turns to Wrex, “Hold on, I’m going to try something!” Wrex immediately doesn’t like it when Garrus isn’t blunt, “What?” Garrus turns back to the enemy ship as it prepares to fire, “FTL travel on a pod!” Wrex doesn’t have any time to react before Garrus presses a final button. The pod listens to commands, and zooms off at speeds never before heard of. ——— Equestrian night is one of the most beautiful and peaceful things in all the universe. The races of Equestia are the only one to experience it, though. The Milky Way nearby had never advanced far enough to reach them. Ponies in the city of Canterlot sleep peacefully through the night, just like every other night. Those that aren’t enjoy their time at nightclubs and bars. Guards roam the street, and Luna watches over the darkened city with care. One thing that was not planned by the Night Goddess, though, was a meteor shower. Imagine her shock when she saw a bright, brurning object start falling from the sky. Ponies all over Equestria look into the sky at the odd object as it descends, one object not supposed to be there. The object crashes into the middle of Canterlot Square, waking everypony in the city with the bang it made. Luna herself flies over to it, only to see a metallic pod of some sort. Until a bang sounds from it, and the metal starts to bend. Then another, then another. On the fourth bang, the metal at one end of it flies off. A huge creature emerges from within. A reptilian-ish face covered in blood and scars, armor the color of blood, towering over even the Princess herself. It carries two similarly bipedal creatures on each shoulder, and walks away from the wreckage. He takes ten steps away from the pod and toward the Princess, until his injured catch up with him. He passes out on the spot, allowing him and the two other creatures to collapse to the ground. Luna immediately calls guards to get the best doctors in Canterlot, and to carry them to the infirmary.
AwakeCelestia channels all her magic into healing Shepard for the third day in a row, connecting to the L3 biotic implant in his head. Unicorn doctors in another area of the infirmary do the exact same to the other two, connecting to some odd magical aura around Wrex, and to Garrus’s omni-tool. They pump all their magic in, acting like medi-gel to the aliens. Their wounds are finally healed after a while. The doctors then call in someone known for her ability to take care of unknown creatures. Their physical wounds may be healed, but they will not be rested when they wake. ——— The fourth day dawns, sunlight catching itself within Wrex’s eyes. He sluggishly moves his arm to try and block the light to no avail. His memory then kicks in after his primal instinct to sleep longer. His eyes open, and he shoots up, as fast as he can being so tired. He looks around the room, it reminds him of one the Normandy’s medical room. Only not in space and a lot less bright, but a lot more white. He glances around until he sees a odd quadruped sleeping on a nearby chair. He immediately draws conclusions to the only other quadruped race he knows. Though quite odd colored, he shouts out to the figure, “Hey, elcor!” Fluttershy is shook awake by the force in Wrex’s voice. She sits up, and smiles as she sees Wrex sitting up, “Oh, your already awake? That’s very good.” Wrex hears her voice, and instantly locks onto something, “You’re not an elcor.” His hands grasp around his hip, only to grasp not even a single holster, “My guns! What’d you do to my guns?!” Fluttershy is almost blown back by the force of the krogan’s voice, and she tries to smile calmly once more, “We had to remove all your equipment for you to lay evenly in your bed.” Wrex growls, “You creatures stole my guns? You’re dead.” Fluttershy shrinks into her chair as Wrex gets out of his bed. His massive form can easily cast her in it’s shadow, even from across the room. She shrinks further and further, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you needed them...” Wrex cracks his knuckles, “I recommend you get them for me before I wring your neck with my own hands.” Wrex is stopped by a hand on his own shoulder. Garrus shakes his head, “Wrex, please, just sit back down. Frightening our doctor is not a good first impression. If you did kill her, they might not heal Shepard.” Wrex thinks for a second, before plodding back to his own bed. He slams down on it, “I want my guns. And food.” Garrus turns and smiles at Fluttershy, “I apologize for Wrex. He isn’t good in peaceful situations. Now, I will ask you kindly where he failed to. To the guard putting his ear against the door to listen in; we want our guns. Oh, and some fish would be lovely.” Garrus smirks as he hears the guard in the hallway scramble away. Fluttershy slowly stops her cowering, “I’m Fluttershy. Who, and uh, what are you?” He nods at Fluttershy, “He back there is Wrex, a krogan. I assume that the Commander is around here as well. Commander Shepard, human. I am Garrus Vakarian, turian, C-Sec officer. I can see you are the same shape as a creature on Earth. Might I assume your race are ponies?” She nods, “Yes, we are ponies. I, specifically, am a pegasus.” He smiles, “Wonderful. Now, onto the more important stuff. What system are we in?” Fluttershy scrunches up one eye, “System? Like, solar system? Oh, well, sorry. I don’t exactly know. If you wait, though, I’m sure Princess Luna will know.” Garrus absorbs the fact, “And Shepard? What’s the situation with him?” Fluttershy smiles, “The Princesses have been healing him to the best of their ability. He was a lot more injured than you two though, so it might take a few more days. I am here as a caretaker for the three of you.” Garrus nods, “Okay then. Thank you for the information.” He then turns back to his bed, and lounges out on it. ——— Fluttershy looks up from the magazine she is reading, and looks with curiosity at the glowing orange arm on Garrus. After getting back their weapons and eating, he’s just been messing around with the glow. She smiles, “Mister Vakarian? What exactly is it you are doing, if you don’t mind?” He looks up at her, and smiles, “It’s a human game called ‘Chess’. I’ve always enjoyed it.” Fluttershy lights up, “Oh, Chess? I love that game.” Garrus smirks, before rising to walk over to her. He pulls a chair in front of her, and creates a glowing orange chess board, “This is different than regular Chess though. It has the same structure, but different rules. They call it ‘Max Effect’ edition. It is based off the Geth invasion of the Citadel.” Fluttershy smiles, “What exactly is different?” He creates some holographic dice, “The game starts off with each player rolling a die. It determines whether Shepard’s mission was successful or not. If the Citadel player rolls higher than the Geth, they get Shepard and Alliance reinforcements half-way through. If the Geth player rolls higher, than they get Saren to spawn right next to the Citadel. If they tie, then the Citadel starts with reinforcements and Shepard immediately, and the Geth get Saren and more ships. There are many win conditions. If Saren and Sovereign reach the Citadel, than the Citadel player loses. If Sovereign is destroyed, then the Geth player loses. Each ship also has a different use. The Destiny Ascension moves like a Queen in the original, but if destroyed, then the two nearest pieces will flee with the exception of the Alliance reinforcements. Saren is the same, and if destroyed, then the Geth have to destroy every other Citadel piece instead of going for the Citadel. Saren and Sovereign can also merge into one, giving the movement of Saren to Sovereign, and if hit then Saren will die first.” Fluttershy backs her head away slightly, “Oh, that’s quite a lot to remember.” Garrus smiles, “Don’t worry, it will tell you how each piece can move on the board. Why don’t you go ahead and play as Geth first? I’ll take it a bit easier to begin with since you aren’t all that familiar with he rules. I’ve only played five times, myself.” ——— Fluttershy looks over her moves, the best move made obvious to her. She moves her Saren/Sovereign combo forward, right into the exposed Destiny Ascension, causing two other ships to flee and leaving the path to the Citadel clear. She smiles, “Check. You just got rid of your best piece.” Garrus smiles, “Sometimes, sacrifices must be made to achieve victory. Even if valuable, the Counc- Ascension is a sacrifice that must be made.” He taps the top of the Normandy, “You forgot that the Normandy can kill both Sovereign and Saren at once. Now, you just moved right into it’s vision.” He taps on top of Sovereign, and a cutscene plays of the Normandy loading the dreadnaught full of every ammunition imaginable. It ends with a huge explosion, signaling the end of the game. Fluttershy shakes her head, “But was it really worth it? Sure, you won this war, but what about the next? Without the Destiny Ascension, your entire fleet would fall flat.” Garrus counters, “And without Sovereign or Saren, your fleet falls flat. If he were to get to the Citadel, then it would bring around the end of our civilization. The Ascension was a trade for two more valuable targets.” Wrex yawns from his bed, “You make a game about killing sound so boring. Who cares about the morals, you killed the enemy, you won.” Fluttershy smiles, not noticing the setting sun behind her, “Do you have any game you would like for us to play, Wrex? Maybe you could join in?” He rubs the back of his head, “Well, there is one thing.” Fluttershy smiles, “Yes?” Wrex pulls out a data disk, “It’s called Tombs and Protheans. It’s something I played back when I was young.” Garrus smiles, “Tombs and Protheans? I never thought you would enjoy that.” Wrex frowns, “You get to be a krogan warrior and kill bad Protheans if you want. There is nothing wrong about that.” Fluttershy smiles, “It sounds fun. Why don’t we try it?” Wrex marches over, pulling up his own chair, “If you tell Shepard about this, you’re dead.”
ShepardThe sun rises, eight days after the crash. Seven days and nights worth of magic from the Princesses, and the human has finally been healed. Celestia moves into his room as he wakes up. He is hit by a burst of energy from the extra magic coursing through his biotics. He immediately stands from his bed, not caring about the pain in his legs. He locks onto the Princess of the Sun, and starts speaking, “Aliens, unknown as well. Was supposed to die, maybe teleported here? Wait, memory, Wrex and Garrus saved me right before I died. Wrex is probably awake before me. Did he kill anyone? No, not likely, wouldn’t have healed me without restraints otherwise. Garrus probably fine as well.” He stops his pacing, “I need to go for a run. Too much energy.” He then looks over at Celestia, “Sorry, energy has got me thinking too quick. Want to go for a run? I’m going for a run. Who are you anyway?” ——— “The elcor guard stands at the gates, blocking your way. He doesn’t so much as spare your party a glance. ‘Expository statement: my master is through those doors, and I protect him. Confidently: come at me if you dare. With strength: you will fall before the power of my prothean enchanted elcor strength.” Wrex smiles as he sees the holographic elcor, and looks at his own character, “I charge the guard with my hammer, and swing it into his head.” A holographic die appears, “Please roll.” Wrex grabs the die, and throws it at the hologram, bouncing it all over their barrier zone. It eventually stops, and lands, showing a glowing ‘1’ at the top. “Azgan charges the elcor with intent to strike, only to slip on a tiny puddle. His hammer goes flying into the air, striking the ceiling with enough strength to knock a few pieces loose. These pieces hit all the players party, roll for dexterity.” Garrus smiles as he rolls his own die across the hologram, rolling a ten. Fluttershy rolls the die using her wings, sending it across the board. She rolls a twenty. “The heavy human warrior manages to be only grazed by the rubble, taking five damage. The asari rogue manages to dodge all the rocks raining down around her, taking no damage whatsoever. It does, however, give the elcor his turn. The elcor charges towards Azgan, wanting to stomp down upon his head. He rolls a die, and lands a seven. The elcor misses by an inch, only stomping down on the krogan’s armor, rather than him. Asari, take your turn.” Fluttershy is about to say her action, only to be interrupted by a voice behind all of them, “Tombs and Protheans? Never thought either of you’d be into that.” Wrex quickly spins around, and rushes back to his bed. He takes a seat on it, and looks to the side, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Shepard.” Fluttershy turns around, her first time seeing the odd looking human. His hair is cut neatly, a red-ish brown color. His eyes are bright blue. His cheeks, though, is where everything turns odd. For some reason, his cheeks seem like they are being sucked in. Like if someone decided to make his bones as a child go to opposite way. What makes it even worse is the fact that he has a big, and very strong jaw bone. So his cheeks are sucked in while his jaw sticks out far further than it. Like what malnutrition would do to a stomach, is what has been done to this man’s cheeks. His cheeks, however, are the only real odd thing about him. The rest looks like a well built soldier should. He smiles, “Don’t worry Wrex, I played that back when I was a teenager. Was a group that played it during the six months I was on that station.” Celestia trots into the room, a tiny bit of sweat on her brow, “I must say, your Commander is quite the runner.” Shepard turns to her, “Perhaps you should go ahead and tell them about where we are going to be?” She nods, “Yes, of corse. Fluttershy, I have contacted Twilight and your other friends. Twilight has agreed to take in Shepard, and Raeity has taken in Garrus. Do you want to take in Wrex?” She looks at the krogan, sitting on the bed with his arms crossed. She smiles, “I would love to house him.” Celestia smiles, “Then all is settled. Fluttershy, I have paid for all four of you to take the train to Ponyville in five hours. I ask you catch this train so I don’t have to lay again, please. Oh, and if you don’t mind, inform their new landlords about their unique biology. I will send all three of you some bits to cover them and the hassle of taking care of them.” Wrex growls, “We don’t need to be ‘taken care of’, pony.” She smiles, “Sure you don’t.” She faces Shepard, “Until we meet next, Commander.” He nods back, “Good day, Princess.” ——— Far away, a changeling bows to it’s queen, “Queen, the ones you asked for are here. Are you sure this is wise? Would Chrysalis want this?” Queen Messorem turns to her subject, “Chrysalis is dead, need I remind you? What she wanted was the extinction of the Changeling race. Her attack on Canterlot and death because of it was a obvious sign. I am your Queen now, drone. I saved our Hive from extinction wrought upon us by our previous, incompetent Queen.” She takes a deep breath, and shudders, “The voices speak ever louder, telling me exactly what to do. The enemy is strong, and has a team of strong beings. So, we must hire these three to fight them.” The drone quivers, “I’ll show them in, my Queen.” Messorem turns to face the three as they enter, “Nightmare Moon, fallen from glory and here to reclaim it. Captain Shearwater, best captain on the Griffonian sea, and here to become the best pirate of the entire world. Morad Brighthorn, said to be the best Minotaur wizard to ever live, and here to use his powers for one who appreciates them. Come, you three, touch the beacon. It will grant you wisdom and strength unknown to our galaxy for a long time.” She smiles, “Come, and allow them in for the first time in millions of years.”
PonyvilleThe train pulls into the Ponyville station. Garrus remarks from the squad’s cart, “These ponies have such old technology. It looks like something right out of a movie on ancient history.” Fluttershy looks over at him, “Well, I’m sorry that we aren’t exactly space-fairing yet.” She smiles, “Perhaps you three could teach us?” Wrex grunts, “A race of aliens without guns? Sounds like a horror movie to me.” Shepard smiles, “What that means is enemies that have to charge us.” He instinctively reaches to his waist, where his shotgun sits, “All the better for us.” Fluttershy shakes her head, “No need to worry, Mister Shepard, there aren’t any ponies around who would want to harm you. There are no enemies around here.” Wrex frowns, “Then I will make enemies.” Shepard shakes his head, “These are peaceful creatures, Wrex. Wait until we have a geth to shoot at.” Wrex grumbles, “Fine.” Garrus stands as the train comes to a stop, “We’ve arrived.” Shepard looks out the window, and sees four other ponies on the station, “I assume they are your friends?” She smiles as we step out, “Yes, they are.” She looks at the four, “They are Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie is gone for some reason.” She motions to us, “Girls, this is Wrex, Garrus Vakarian, and Commander Shepard.” Shepard takes a step forward to Twilight, holding out a hand, “Pleasure to meet you, Sparkle.” Twilight allows him to take her hoof, and they shake, “And it is a pleasure to meet you, Commander.” He smiles, “Call me Shepard, please.” Garrus moves past Shepard, and up to Rarity. She offers her own hoof, “I’m Rarity, Mister Vakarian, pleasure to invite you into my home.” Garrus quickly examines the body language of Rarity, before deciding upon a greeting. He bends down, and slightly kisses her hoof, “And I am glad for your genoristy, Miss Rarity.” Wrex looks at Fluttershy, “We ready to go?” She looks at the sky, and at the rapidly setting sun, “If you really want to, I suppose we can.” Garrus looks as Wrex leaves, “Well, Miss Rarity, I suppose this is time for you to show me where I will be sleeping.” Shepard also looks at Twilight, “Well, seems like it’s time to go.” ——— Garrus fades into his dream, on a bed in Rarity’s attic. But, he is not alone in his dream. For a voice whispers to him. “Destruction comes, Vakarian. The darkness shall consume all. All shall be remade. You can stand with us as we rebuild.” Garrus looks around the dark void he floats in, “I don’t know who you are, but I won’t listen to you. The Reapers will never get the chance to win.” The voice growls, “Fool.” Garrus finds himself in the middle of a destroyed town, buildings toppled over and sand blowing through the air, “Palaven has already fallen. The turian home world is only dust.” Garrus turns around, “These don’t look like turian design. You cannot lie to me, voice. This is human design.“ The voice fades, “Then you will be suffocated by the dark instead.” It leaves Garrus in the middle of the destroyed town, where he turns as he hears footsteps running down the street. He comes face to face with something else. It’s as tall as him, with a strange bird like mask on, and a dark coat disguising the rest of them. He stops and looks Garrus in the eyes, “What are you?” Garrus opens his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by loud, old gunfire. The man rips a pistol out of a holster, and fires two shots into a nearby alley, “Why are you here?” Garrus tries once again to speak, only to be once again stopped as four long knives pierce him from behind. He starts to wake from the strange dream, only to hear the man fire off a few more shots, “Hiding behind other dreamers now, Freddy?” Garrus wakes in his bed with the dream still in his mind. He eventually shrugs it off, and goes back to sleep.
PlanningFluttershy awakens, the morning sun shining into her room. She climbs out of bed, and prepares her normal morning chores. However, as she arrives downstairs, she remembers her new guest. As she looks around for him, she starts to hear a banging noise from outside, like a quiet firecracker. She checks outside, only to see Wrex messing around with an odd looking device. Wrex fires his shotgun at the far target, managing to hit every bullet. He spins around, and fires at another behind him. He passes it through his holster to his left hand, pumping the gun with the holster, and firing again at the first target. Fluttershy approaches him, “Hello, Mister Wrex.” He looks at her, and lowers his shotgun, “Fluttershy.” She smiles, “What’re you doing up so early?” Wrex grunts, “Some flash of light in the forest. Been out here ever since.” Fluttershy notices the gun in his hand, “What’s that?” Wrex holds it up, and smiles, “My shotgun. Pride and joy of my equipment, and the tool I know the most about.” Fluttershy nods, “How do you use it?” Wrex points it at a target, and nods, “Point at what you want dead, and fire.” It goes off, and the figure of hay is filled with five more holes. Fluttershy shakes her head, “Dead? Why would you want anything dead?” Wrex looks over at her, “When you are a Krogan, there are many who want you dead. So you have to make them dead before they can make you dead. And when some insane Turian is sending an army of super advanced AI Geth at you, you make them dead.” He sighs as he sees Fluttershy slowly back away from him, “It does have other purposes than death, though.” She stops her retreat, “Like?” Wrex smiles, “Well, if you and your friends grab a few drinks and go for a drive, you can find a lot of fun by shooting your guns. Throw a bottle up in the air, and boom, you can shatter it with a simple pull of the trigger!” He laughs, “Oh, others may have their pistols, rifles, or submachine guns, but there is nothing more satisfying than a shotgun blast!” Fluttershy smiles again, “Wow, you make it sound really fun.” Wrex looks over to her, and tosses the shotgun over, “Let’s see if you peace loving ponies can match up to Krogan.” She catches the gun, and tries to hold it the best she can, “Oh, uh, how?” Wrex moves to the far side of the field, and readies his biotics. He smiles, “You will shoot until you hit the targets.” ——— Shepard opens the door to the library, only to be stopped as a bag of gold is tossed to him. He catches it, and Twilight smiles, “If you are going out, can you pick me up a quill? There’s also some extra in there, so enjoy the town.” Shepard smiles back, “Good day, Twilight.” He steps out, his light armor still over him. He strides through the town, quickly absorbing it’s layout. However, as he arrives in the marketplace, he is stopped by two ponies having a shouting match. He walks closer to them, seeing a young mare and old stallion. The mare shouts, “This is obviously overpriced! They were only two bits the other week!” The old stallion snaps back, “Well, that’s the price the fish are now! So either pay up, or move along!” The mare glares at him, “I think the Guard will have a lot to say about this extortion. So how about you lower the price back to something reasonable?” The stallions narrows his eyes, “This is reasonable. I have a family to feed, and a grandfoal to get a gift for Hearth’s Warming! They are five bits, and that is the end of this discussion!” Shepard joys up to them, “Whoa, maybe I can help. What seems to be the problem?” The mare looks, and glares at him, “And who are you, exactly?” Shepard smiles, “I am Commander Shepard, Spectere given supreme authority by the Council.” The stallion smiles, “A Commander? Well I am honored, really, but I don’t think anything could change that mare’s mind.” Shepard turns to the mare, “Please, tell me, why exactly do you want this fish for such a low price?” The mare smiles back at him, his happiness seemingly infecting all around him, “Well, I have a friend coming down from Griffonstone with the rest of his family, and I want to make his favorite meal. So I really need at least four fish, but it would cost twenty bits at this price!” Shepard nods, “Alright, I can see why you would want to get it. Now, how about your story?” The stallion nods, “I would love to sell my fish at the price she wants, true, but it is currently impossible. There’s something in the Forest that’s disturbing the fish, so I can’t catch as many as usual. I have to spend longer out there, and I get less fish then I would before. I had to increase the price so that I could continue making a profit for my time and supply.” Shepard looks between them both, “Alright, how long until your friend arrives?” The mare thinks, “Well, it’s about... two days?” Shepard smiles, “So, how about I go and clear out whatever is disturbing the fish, and then you can sell her the fish at normal price?” The stallion nods, “Okay, sure, if the fish can return to normal.” Shepard nods, “Well, I will go take care of that, then.” The mare takes a step forward, “Wait, why don’t I come with you? I couldn’t just allow you to go alone.” The stallion also steps forward, “Let me come as well, I can help with the fish.” Shepard smiles, “How about your names, first?” The stallion motions at himself, “Sharp Hook, Shepard.” The mare smiles, “Amber.” Shepard nods at the two of them, “Alright, lead me to the forest.” ——— Garrus takes a sip of tea, sitting at the breakfast table with Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Yet, despite the conversation the other two are holding, his mind is only focused on one thing. Rarity and Sweetie get up, and Sweetie sets off for school. She then turns around, surprised to see the usually observant Garrus staring at nothing. She walks up to him, “Mister Vakarian, is everything fine? You seem quite troubled.” Garrus sighs, “Sorry, it’s just this dream I had.” Rarity sits from across him, “Please, tell me about it. If anything is disturbing you, then it becomes my business as well.” Garrus looks down, remembering, “There was a planet, one in ruins, yet one of obviously human build. A man came along, with an odd bird mask, and a gun in hand. He looked like he was running from something, yet he instantly asked me who I was, instead of opening fire. And the voice, telling me it was Palaven, trying to get me into a state of dispair. Telling me that I should give up and join them on some mission. To stand with them as all falls to darkness, and be a builder of a new world. Yet the whole time, my mind seemed to be shouting something into my head. A name, I believe it was.” He looks up at Rarity, “Miss Rarity, have you ever heard of Nightmare Moon?”
All OutWrex batters shrubbery out of the way, stamping down any vine stupid enough to get in the way. He grunts in annoyance as a branch whips him in the face, forcing him to kick the entire tree down. As it falls down, Wrex growls, “Stupid forests. Only good thing about the war is that we got rid of them.” Fluttershy trots up next to him, “Now, did you really need to do that? You might have hurt a bird! Do you know how many animals make their nests in those trees?!” Wrex merely blinks at her shout, “Bit louder, and maybe I will listen.” Wrex punches a branch off a tree before it hits him, “And if a few birds get knocked down, that’s their own fault. Shouldn’t have built their house in my way.” Fluttershy responds, but Wrex stops paying attention. He looks all around, and draws his shotgun. He holds up his hand, and Fluttershy quiets instantly. He points it towards a random bush, and gets his finger on the trigger, “Show yourself or I will kill you.” Two hands come up from behind the bush, and a huge creature emerges from within. Blue fur is covered by a camouflage vest, with bows and various hunting weapons all over his body. On his head is a brown hat, with a blue feather going through part of it, and two horns rising out the middle. The minotaur smiles, “Well, you managed to spot me! Honestly, congratulations, that’s very rare. Name’s Leon, Leon Greateye. Premier minotaur hunter, renown through the entire Everfree!” Wrex squints, “Yeah, yeah, I don’t care. Look, you can either help us, or you can become the hunted.” Leon gains a nervous twitch to his smile, “Uh, hunted? Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we?” He throws it aside, and adopts a cocky pose, leaning forward and placing his arm across his knee, “Tell me, how could I help you out?” Wrex grins, “I saw a bright flash from somewhere in these woods. Take me to whatever did that so I can kill it.” He looks back at Fluttershy, and sighs, “Or tell it why it needs to be more careful.” Leon claps his hands twice, “Oh, I know what you’re talking about! Nasty bugger earlier today woke me up, and I went to hash out some base rules with him. Turns out, it was actually a rather fine fellow by the name of Morad Brighthorn!” He looks at them, pleading in a way, “Don’t mess with him.” Wrex lowers his gun, “Where is he?” Leon sighs, “He was walking towards the town, preparing his magic.” Wrex looks at Fluttershy, and nods, “Sounds like trouble to me.” He looks back at Leon, “Take me to him.” ——— Garrus takes a sip of tea as Rarity describes the first time her friends used the Elements of Harmony. He nods along, “Eternal night is a really bad idea, so I’m glad you put a stop to it.” Rarity nods, “Oh yes, I’m also so glad to be rid of that brute and instead have our own Princess Luna. She is the one who rescued you and your friends, after all.” Garrus smiles, “Wrex might take issue with that statement.” Rarity smiles, “Oh, of corse, Wrex did pull you out of the fire, but Princess Luna got you to the hospital.” Garrus is about to speak, and he raises the tea. But as he is about to take a sip, he finds it impossible to see anything. Rarity shreks as everything goes dark, and Garrus rushes over to the window, “Miss Rarity, get down!” She jumps into her table in an attempt to get under it. She shouts, “What happened?!” Garrus takes out his sniper rifle, and looks out the window. He sees the problem instantly, “Miss Rarity, the sun is gone.” Rarity looks from the table, “What?” Garrus puts on night vison, and nods, “The sun has just disappeared out of the sky.” He looks all around the outside, until he notices something, “Hold up, I see a light. Miss Rarity, I need you to stay calm, and listen to what I tell you.” Rarity walks up beside him, “Okay, I’ll listen Mister Vakarian.” He vaults out the window, and reaches in to pull Rarity out as well. He gets on his knee, and looks into her shining eyes in the darkness, his own glowing armor lighting her up, “You are going to get Miss Sweetie Belle, and you are going to run as fast as you can.” Rarity nods shakily, “Shouldn’t I help you?” He shakes his head, “No. You and your friends are the most powerful weapon we may have against any threat, so I need you all to survive just in case.” Rarity shakes her head, “You don’t know what caused this. I cannot just let you go off alone.” Garrus stands up, “You are going to, Miss Rarity. In a time of emergency, a C-Sec Officer can order civilians on the best action to take, so that is what I will do. I have my gun, and my training, I will be fine.” He smiles at her, steadying her nerves, “Besides, this is what I signed up for.” He pats her shoulder, “Now go get your sister, Miss Rarity, I’ll cover you.” Garrus then turns to a nearby building, and climbs his way up it. Rarity starts to move through the streets below, and Garrus decides to take the period of safety to scout a little bit. He takes out his binoculars, and zooms in on the town hall, where there is a bright source of light. Garrus sees the outline of a huge pony, one with both wings and horn. She wears blue armor, and glows a bright purple that serves as the only source of light. She seems to be mid laugh, and Garrus turns back to watch Rarity. ——— Leon rushes between the forest, “Quickly, you haven’t much time!” Wrex bowls down the forest, making anything in his way move. He moves at the same pace as Leon, and the rush towards a bright red glow at the end of the forest. They emerge, and see another minotaur there. He stands much taller than Leon, at least nine feet tall. He wears simple brown robes, and carries a complicated staff. He glows bright red, and his staff glows even brighter. Wrex stops, and looks beyond him. Where Ponyville one was, is nothing but a crater. The farm, Fluttershy’s cottage, everything is now just gone. Wrex fires a shot at the minotaur, only to have a red force field deflect it as the wizard turns to face him. “So, a challenger comes to face the might of Morad Brighthorn? Allow me to teach you the meaning of magic.”
EncounterHook and Amber trudge through the Everfree, their bickering replaced by kind chatter. They don’t notice as Shepard stops suddenly behind them, but they do when he speaks, “How close are we to the river?” Hook looks back at him, “Uh, about a minute.” Shepard gets the two close, and starts to whisper to them, “Okay, I need the two of you to trust me. No matter what happens, do not give me away.” Amber shares a look with Hook, before turning back to him, “Why?” He smiles, “Because I have to hide, and I need you two to act natural. Okay?” Hook nods, “Sure, I trust you.” Shepard pats him on the head, and hops up a nearby tree, swinging off a branch and into the canopy of leaves. The two below turn to continue, only to discover why he hid so quick. A group of Griffons come out of nowhere, wearing loose clothing and fancy hats. Three of them draw their hand cannons, and the fourth draws their cutlass. The Griffon smiles, and holds it up to Amber’s neck, “Well what have we here? Looks like a grandad and his daughter got lost, don’t it lads?!” The other pirates all cheer, drowning out the protests of the two ponies. The female pirate in charge motions to the others for them to calm down, and cups her ear, “Sorry, what’d you say?” Amber speaks, “He is not-“ The pirate laughs, “You want to be sold into slavery? Well why didn’t you just say so!” Hook steps forward, “I will not allow-“ The pirate moves her cutlass over to his neck, “You don’t have room to speak, grandpa. If you keep on jabbering on about what I can and can’t do, I might just have to shut you up permanently.” She leans in real close to his face, “Besides, won’t your precious Princess save you? She does care about every pony under the sun, don’t she?!” She laughs, “What a fool! She’ll forget about you as the tides rise and drown the sun in their deadly embrace!” She leans back in, “But seriously, come on, and don’t complain anymore. I really don’t want to clean your brains off the forest floor.” Hook sighs, “Amber, let’s go.” Amber looks over at him, “What?! But what about-“ He stomps, “Let’s go!” The pirate smiles, moving her cutlass back and only cutting a few hairs off his neck, “There’s a good pony.” ——— Wrex smiles in genuine joy as Fluttershy shoots another of his biotic illusions out of the sky. He looks over at her, only to see her hold the shotgun in a much better position than before. Her feathers wrapped around the trigger and pump, but her body supporting the recoil. But as he looks at her, his keen eyes spot something beyond her. A quick flash of red, which just as suddenly stops. Wrex growls upon sight of the familiar flash. He moves up to Fluttershy, “My gun.” Fluttershy places it in his expecting hand, “Did I do something wrong?” Wrex moves past her, “No, you did good. But I am going to investigate this damned flashing. It woke me up, and I want payback.” Fluttershy rushes after him, “What if it is just some harmless animal that accidentally flashed?” Wrex smiles, “Dinner.” He then stops, and looks at Fluttershy’s horrified face, “It was a joke, grow a quad.” He doesn’t see all the fear disappear, so he sighs, “If it is an animal, then we need to get it away so I can get my damned sleep.” Fluttershy follows along as he continues forward, “How will you get it away?” Wrex looks at her, “Well, since you seem to be following, might as well use you. Since you can understand those creatures back there, why not this one?” Fluttershy smiles, “Alright, but no killing.” Wrex looks into her eyes, “I can’t make that promise.” His eyes meet Fluttershy’s, and find an impenetrable wall of will. He glares a little longer, before sighing as he sees no effect, “Fine. I will try not to kill anything.” Fluttershy smiles, and they walk along, “You know, I think I’m making some progress on you, Wrex.” Wrex grunts, “The you standing up to me shows that I’m making progress on you.” ——— Shepard moves through the trees, each action practiced and learned from hard days in forest specialization training. His armor sprouts little hooks that allow him to latch onto every branch, and for him to move sneakily and without much effort. Sadly, the pirates were quicker than him, and are a minute ahead of him. However, they do leave behind a pretty noticeable trail with two prisoners. Shepard comes to a stop as he reaches the final tree before the river, and he swings up to sit on a branch. He looks down, and sees a pirate boat parked within the river, it’s crew returning belowdecks for the night. Shepard observes for another fifteen minutes, noting patterns and where Hook and Amber were taken. He finally reaches to his back, and takes out his assault rifle. He fits in toxic rounds, and deploys the spikes in the bottom of his boots. He uses them to keep himself attached as he swings to the other side of the branch. From his upside down perspective, he aims down at one of the pirates. He fires three shots, a sound like three quiet firecrackers sounds off, and the pirate melts into nothing. He uses this new hole in the guard system to drop down to the ground, and sneak aboard without any issue. However, as he steps into the deck, he is taken by suprise. A blast of some black beam takes out the gangplank to land, forcing Shepard onto the boat proper. Pirates come out of every hole on the ship, moving to surround Shepard. Shepard doesn’t allow this. He whips around with his assault rifle, making every pirate that shows themself into nothing. He fires until his assault rifle overheats, which is when he draws his pistol instead. He fires with one hand, turning pirates to ash with fire hotter than a star. With his other hand, he summons his biotic power. He throws pirates overboard, pulls their neck and not the rest of their body, and tears them apart at a molecular level. Eventually his pistol overheats as well. Shepard cracks his neck as he puts his pistol away. He activates his biotics, and gathers it all around him. He charges at a nearby pirate, the built up biotics send the pirate flying, breaking all their bones as they are. He stops a swing from a nearby cutlass, and punches the offender with even more built up biotics. He turns to find another pirate, only to see the deck empty. With one exception. A pirate, taller than all the others, and bigger in every way. His eyes glow black, and he glares at Shepard. He draws his cutlass, the thing buzzing with dark lightning. He laughs, “Welcome, Shepard. I see there is no one with you. No marines to hide behind, just you and some slavers.” Shepard draws his assault rifle, now cooled down, “What do you want?” The pirate breathes in, shifting the winds around, “I want to fight you, Shepard. I know you want the ponies, so I will offer you a fair challenge.” Shepard moves his finger onto the trigger, “I will not bargain with pirates.” The pirate takes a step forward, almost cracking the boards beneath his talons, “As I shall not parlay with the Butcher of Torfan!” Shepard braces himself, “How do you know that name?!” The pirate glares at him, “For I am Captain Shearwater, the greatest pirate of the entire universe! You slaughter pirates, you butcher my brothers! So I shall butcher the Butcher of Torfan!”
