Prologue: A New Princess.... (Part one) (Rewrite 2023)
Author's Note
Ok like I said this is Helljumper206's idea, of course, I didn't copy and paste what they did and use that for the prologue as I feel that would be cheap. So instead I wrote it in my own way. It is a rough chapter, I don't have an editor yet, but I wanted to get this started.
As always I welcome constructive comments that helps me improve my writing for the enjoyment of all of us. But please refrain from spreading hate. Also if you don't like this and want to down vote it please I beg you to leave a comment of your reason for the down vote. Even if you don't ever come back and give it a shot after I get it cleaned up and fixed I don't care I just would like to know why you didn't like it.
That being said I more than welcome comments from people who enjoy the story and give it a thumbs up. Those are what drive me to write more and how soon the next chapter will be written.
Anyway take care
~Chief
(Update)
I came back and rewrote some of this chapter and hope it flows better now.
Prologue: A New Princess.... (Part one) (Rewrite 2023)
After a long day of sorting out the mess I made by casting that unfinished spell of Starswirl's, I give a breath of relief as the final friend was put right. With the town's ponies joining in on the heartsong as I lead the girls back towards the library. As the heartsong comes to a close we end it with a big group hug, and that is when I realize I know how to fix the spell so I tell the girls such. "That's it! I know how to fix the spell!" After my declaration, I break from the hug and rush into the library where this all started.
Soon after I am bursting through the door of my personal library with my friends close behind and I levitate a quill to may hand and begin to make the needed changes to the spell. Reading it out as I write it so that my friends can keep up, I begin.
"From all of us together,"
"Together we are friends,"
"With marks of our destiny made one,"
"There is magic without end."
As I finish reciting the final line I begin to turn to face my friends with a smile when I suddenly feel a spike of magic in the air. Soon the ambient magic was so thick I felt like I was underwater, by which point I stopped turning around when the first of the Elements lights up and a beam of pure harmony magic rushes towards me. Of course, like any sane being I tried to dodge but I was stuck in place as each following element grew bright and fired a beam of magic at me.
I could hear over the thrum of magic the girls freaking out about this, and to be honest, so was I. As the magic grew so did the light around me until it was too much to look at and with a sudden flash that blinded me even through my closed eyes as I felt myself being pulled by a teleport to somewhere else.
I open my eyes blinking away the dots from my vision as I find myself in a lush forest that reminded me of whitetail woods it even had a dirt path leading into the trees. With that, my curiosity grew to be too great and I began to make my way down the path. I nearly screamed between the trees as I neared windows opened up showing me my memories all the way back to the first summer sun celebration where I saw the Princess raise the sun.
As I continue down the path showing me my life so far I come to a stop as between two trees that look more like the ones from the Everfree forest with their knarled bark and dark foreboding leaves. Sending a shiver up my spine as this window look different it reminded me of one of the tall mirrors Rarity uses to show her designs to the customers. I felt an odd pulling towards this strange window, taking a step forward I lift my left hand to touch it expecting to meet resistance. When I find none I stumble through the window and into another forest similar to the last.
Though as I look around from the ground having landed on my muzzle, I can't shake the feeling that I've been here before. It's a dark and foreboding forest similar to the two trees I found that window in between. There was even another path but instead of dirt this one was stone and in the distance, I could see a bench. Shivering as the feeling of deja vu continued to grow along with the sense that I don't belong there I turned to return to that other woods, the one that was happy and welcoming to me.
Turning I nearly fall onto my face once more as I turn to find the window I had stumbled through was no longer there instead was more of this foreboding forest. As I feel my heart rate being to rise in time with my panic forcing me to take more shallow breaths I hear something, something that stops my panic attack cold. It was the crying of a young child, a filly by the sound of it, and it was close.
With a determined look on my face, I set off at a brisk pace to find this lost filly and comfort them. I listen as the crying grows louder as I move further and further down the path I can make out pleading as well. The kind of pleading that breaks your heart of a terrified child wanting their parents, as they watch everything thing they know fall apart before them.
Soon I round a tree and stop cold at the sight of the filly whom I had come to comfort. She was barely older than a foal, with her fluffy lavender coat and dark blue mane with a pink stripe. Her eyes were closed but I saw the tiny purple horn poking out from her mane. She was clothed in a simple outfit but of the colors that made it up I couldn't tell as it was torn and dirty, the fringes of the skirt looked to have been burnt!
I gaped as I knew her, for it was me when I was younger. I tried to work my mouth but no sound came from it so the only sound in the area was the filly me's cries and sobs. Finally, I find myself stepping forward, with a swift motion I am kneeling next to the younger me and I softly put my hand on the filly's back drawing her attention to me which stops her crying.
That's when I noticed it wasn't the usual lavender-colored hand that I usually had rather I noticed it was clad in black gloves which met with sleeves on my arms that were armored with black metal with a red stripe on it.
Before I can pull away in shock the filly jumps up and wraps her forehooves around my neck as I feel her body land against my chest but it was muted. Looking down as I stood up, with my arms moving to support the filly as she cries tears of relief I notice my whole body was covered in black armor.
Before I could question what was going on I felt like I got hit by a train making me stumble backwards and fall to a knee still holding the filly me. I grunt with effort as memories of another life fill my mind, I remember playing with my friends in the fields on Mindoir when the Batarians attacked. I remember my mother shoving me into the closet and shutting the door before the front door was blown away. I can see through the crack of the door and the door frame as the slavers storm in and shoot my father before he could even get a shot off from his old service pistol.
I nearly screamed as tears ran down my face but my mother told me to be as quiet as I could so I put my arm up to my mouth to bite it to hide my scream as they turn and shoot my mother, some of her blood has found its way in between the crack to land on my face. As I sit there whimpering and crying the Batarians begin to ransack our home and as they near my closet I hear from outside a storm of gunfire and explosions which catch the slavers' attention to the door as it did mine. Standing in the door was a tall man in Alliance marine armor with a rifle in his hands which he fired at the aliens.
I see him turning to leave as he nods, speaking on the radio when I burst out from my hiding spot startling him into raising his weapon at me for a second before lowering at finding me human. I run to him sobbing all the way with tears flowing down my cheeks as I hug him tightly.
David Anderson was startled as a little red-headed girl bursts from the closet on the far side of the room he had just cleared. He lowered his rifle as she practically lept across the room to hug him. Her face having blood on it making the marine realize that this girl must have just watched her parents get gunned down. He quickly radioed his squad that he found a survivor before kneeling down towards her level. He removes his helmet to show his dark-skinned face to the child as she sobs into his chest piece while holds her trying to comfort the distraught child.
Finally, after gently comforting the girl for some time, she falls unconscious from the emotional strain of what just happened. So Sargent Anderson grabs his helmet and gently carries the girl out to his squad who had finished clearing the area and reported no other survivors.
Soon as he and the rest of his squad met at the Rendevous they repeated to their sergeant that they had not found any other survivors in their section of the colony that they were to clear. After confirming the report from before the squad of Alliance Marines headed to the evac zone with the unconscious child.
I remember feeling how heavy my eyelids felt as I came to on the Alliance curiser. How at first the bright light burned making me hiss in pain. But as I was getting adjusted to the light I remember when I first truely set eyes upon David Anderson. He was a tall man even in his early years of service. He had a fresh scar on his cheek from a previous battle that was slowly healing over. I never heard what he said after he told me that my parents were dead and that I was one of the only survivors of the raid on the colony. I remember him holding me to his chest as I balled my eyes out and tightened my hands into fists and began to lightly punch him in the chest. I remember how he was always there for me to be the rock in troubled waters. He may not have been my father biologically, but he stepped up and filled that role after the attack.
I shake my head as the dark forest comes back into focus and tears are running down my cheeks just like in the memory as I hold the purple filly closer. Before I can think on what that was more memories begin to fill my mind though only the important ones stand out.
Like how Anderson volunteered to be the one to take care of me after the SSV Marigold returned to Arturous station and I was released from the hospital. How Anderson and I grew close as he helped me through my grief of the slaver raid, but soon he was recalled back to active duty. But a close friend of his was able to take me in and adopt me before I had to go into the foster system.
Over the following years of my childhood, I saw David Anderson often when he was back from a mission or a tour on a warship. He always did his best to visit me on important days like my birthday, Christmas, and anytime he could get leave while on Station to visit me. He came to my graduation and held a proud smile and moist eyes as I accepted my diploma and it was announced that I had been accepted into the Naval College and had plans to pursue a future in the Alliance Navy.
He was there when I left the Acadamy and was issued a rank of Lieutenant in the Alliance Navy. But after I was away at officer school and for several months after I never heard a word from him. And finally just before I was about to leave for my first tour on an active Alliance vessel did I receive a message from him that he was Alive but beyond the basic apology for not contacting me sooner and also was light on the details of what he was doing and where he had gone. As I finally asked he told me that it was highly classified and that he would be unable to see my first posting.
A few years later I had, through hard work and determination, I had risen to the rank of Commander now along with having earned the designation of N7. When the brass offered me a position on a classified assignment though they informed me that my superior would be Captain David Anderson. So I took it and soon found myself aboard the Turian-Human stealth frigate the SSV Normandy and our mission was to head to Eden Prime.
The whole mission seemed a bit 'fishy' to me and most of the human crew who voiced their concerns to me to pass on to the Captain. But as they say, nothing is ever easy, which of course was proven right once more as we found Eden Prime to be under attack. From there it was a mad rush on the ground finding Gunnery Sargent Williams to finding out the Geth were the ones attacking. From that point on my life was seemingly non-stop action, from becoming the First Human spectre to hunting down the Turian spectre Serran. To the Battle of the Citadel where I ordered the human fleets to aid the defense fleets in fighting the Geth to save the council.
After the battle, it was about two months later when the Normandy was attacked by the Collectors and I was killed. The next thing I know I am waking up in a medlab on some station, with the security systems going haywire and attacking any human alive. I fought my way through the station that I soon learned belonged to a shadowy organization I had fought before, Cerberus. After fighting my way off the station I found I had been dead for more than two years, and in that time hundreds of thousands of human colonists had begun to vanish without a trace. I also found that Cerberus had spent a very large sum of credits and time into bringing me back and rebuilding the Normandy with upgrades to build up a team to take on the kidnappers which we had found to be the Collectors.
After several missions and reunions with old crewmates, I was able to complete my team and when the time came to hit the Collecter Base they were all loyal and ready to give their lives for the mission. After a grueling fight, I was able to rescue the captured crew that the Collectors had taken while I and my team was away. However, we soon learned that we were too late to save any other kidnapped victims. So sending them back to the Normandy SR2 with an escort to ensure they made it safely I and my team fought on deeper into the Collecter stronghold.
At the heart of the station, I found something that to this day sends chills up my spine, a Human Reaper beginning to form from the countless humans they took. After an intense battle with an incomplete Reaper, we were able to set the station to self-destruct, against the wishes of the Illusive Man who wanted the station for 'The betterment of Humanity' as he called it. Well, my whole team and my whole crew were able to reach the Normandy in time and we all survived the following detonation of the Collector base.
Soon after most of the crew and my team left the Normandy as I had explained that I was going to turn it over to the Alliance along with myself. Then finally after about three months of being under house arrest and observation, a massive fleet of Reapers assaulted Earth. I was forced to flee after being reinstated by the now Admiral Anderson who stayed behind on Earth to lead the remaining forces in a resistance movement against the Reapers. And so began the final page of my life, or so I thought. As I ran across the Galaxy doing everything I could to rally every species and fleet along with resources to build our only hope. The Crucible, was the largest undertaking of any race in our most desperate hour as star systems fell one after the other to the Reaper forces.
But I had done the Impossible before and I managed to do it again as I rallied my allies and lead an assault on the Reaper Controlled Earth while countless ships from every corner of the Galaxy escorted our only hope into place as I went groundside to get aboard the Citadel which the Reapers had moved to above London and I had to find a way to board it and initiate the final part of the plan and fire the Crucible.
After fighting my way to the Citadel with Anderson by my side, we were both wounded greatly and the radio chatter was haunting as ships and ground units were wiped out in seconds. But the Crucible was delivered, though what happened after Anderson and I arrived on the Citadel is empty beyond that I had to make a choice on the fate of the Galaxy.
That was the end of my life as Commander Shepard.
