• Published 13th Apr 2012
  • 27,018 Views, 1,615 Comments

Mass Effect 2 - DLC: The Equestrian Equation - Loyal2Luna



In this exclusive DLC, what begins as a simple search-and-rescue mission unveils a mystery millions of years in the making. Your choices are Commander Shepard's choices, and all of Equestria is at stake.

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Part 6: Fog of War

"I already know what I'm going to do," Shepard bit back grimly, his eyes closed as Discord leaned forward, his single fang and asymmetrical features twisted back in a terrible grin.

There was a moment of pause as the red pony’s eyes suddenly opened, an undeniable fire burning in their steely grey color. Pushing his weight back, Discord was caught off guard as the pony fell backwards, pushing his legs back and stiffening as he rolled weightlessly…

*CRACK*

…and his hooves connected sharply with the bottom of Discord’s elongated snout, giving the embodiment of chaos a moment of pause as he reeled back, rubbing his chin in surprise.

“LET ME GO!” the pony Commander demanded, as he came spinning back right-ways up, having clearly come to terms with the amount of force needed to manipulate his currently massless state.

For Discord, there was the temptation, just for a moment, to renege on his offer. To strike back at the insolent creature for his blasphemous assault; a whim that nearly won over until Discord seemed to register what was said.

Then his mischievous grin returned.

“Ohhh, such a poor choice of words,” Discord snarked, snapping his eagle talon fingers.

The disorienting feeling faded in an instant, and for a moment that felt like it lasted an eternity, Shepard hung in the air with a sluggish realization.

Then, with a short, startled cry… he began to fall.

“HAVE FUN!” Discord called down after the falling pony, snickering wickedly as he rolled in the air on his back with his goat leg kicking a bit in amusement before vanishing in a burst of white light.

————————————————————

Commander Shepard had trained for many things in his career.

From pressure extremes, from arctic chill to blazing heat, from zero-gravity to the physical stress limits for humans; N7 Marines were masters of versatility.

However, no amount of training could prepare a man (or pony, at the moment) for the terrifying, panic-inducing sensation of plummeting from a great height with no means of slowing his descent. Sure, he could use air resistance to slow his fall slightly by spreading his body out, but that might only buy him a second or two.

Doing some quick math in the part of his brain that wasn’t panicking, Shepard realized that although the seventy-five to one hundred foot altitude that he was held up at might not sound like much, it was more than enough to shatter every bone in his body… Assuming the impact didn’t just kill him outright.

"Reboot Diagnostic online."

Shepard’s heart jumped as he heard a familiar, calm female voice in his embedded earpiece and a faint hum against his skin indicating his armor was somehow receiving power. But even in his current situation, he was able to recognize that the voice didn’t belong to his armor’s V.I.

"Kinetic barrier generation sequence initiated… Online… Charging."

“Well that’s one less thing to worry about!” Shepard rolled his eyes in spite of the impending danger, the ground rushing towards him… although admittedly taking longer than he had supposed.

Even fully charged, his personal shields were only designed to stop projectiles and small concussive impacts. Slamming at near terminal velocity into something solid would only overload them.

"Don’t sound so ungrateful…"

Shepard, feeling strangely calm in the face of imminent death, noted the amusement in her voice.

“…Who are you?”

"Deus ex machina inbound."

“What?” Shepard was too stunned to be frightened as he turned his eyes downward.

Wait… this was odd. He still felt like he was falling... But the ground… didn’t look nearly as close as it should have been by now…

*FLUMPH*

Shepard felt something impact him from behind, suddenly altering his momentum into a forward shift, gliding over the scene of chaos below.

“Gotcha!”

“Fluttershy!?” Shepard was stunned as the yellow pegasus gripped him under his forelegs, keeping a firm grip despite having only hooves. Internally, he marveled at how her tiny wings could hold herself aloft, much less another…

And then he felt it, the subtle disorienting shift of gravity around him generated by his rescuer… enveloping both himself and the pegasus in an imperceptible mass effect field.

A scream from below tore Shepard from his revelation as the battle below was laid bare.

Twilight’s horn was ablaze, attempting to maintain the attention of two of the wooden wolf creatures as she assaulted them with what looked to be raw kinetic blasts. While ponies still ran for shelter, Rainbow kept bringing herself up in the air and dive-bombing the attackers, using her own body as a weapon and sporting more than a few cuts and bruises for the effort.

Neither method was proving very effective, as there were still multiple wooden wolves that were running amok, and those that were being burst apart from impact seemed capable of pulling themselves back together; the branches and twigs that made up their bodies defying everything that Shepard knew about xeno-biology.

For a brief moment, he was certain he saw Rarity running into the fray, stopping short as she was confronted by a sap-snarling, thorn-clawed beast before he lost sight of her. But more troubling and immediate… Shepard took note of the largest of the attackers, an enlarged lion-like beast with a scorpion tail, completely unopposed as it bore down on a grey-coated blond pegasus mare and foal that had been backed into a corner, cut off from the rest of the herd.

“What are those things?” Shepard asked quickly.

“Timberwolves. Carnivorous plants that can tear ponies apart in seconds,” Fluttershy answered quickly. “The big one is a manticore. Those are tough… REALLY tough. Oh, no! Ditzy!” she squeaked as she struggled to catch her breath, horrified at the scene before her. “Oh my goodness… Shepard, what do we do?”

The red stallion’s expression hardened.

“There's only one thing to do…”

————————————————————

“Mommy…” Tears of fear rolled down the small unicorn’s eyes as she cowered.

“N-no… Please…” The grey mare shook her head, attempting to shelter her filly with her body as the manticore bore down on them, the monster’s eyes gleaming in a sadistic amusement that was all but alien to the wall-eyed mother.

A tear ran freely down her cheek as the monster brought up a clawed paw, positioned for a devastating swipe.

*BLAM*

The mare winced, turning away as something fell from the sky, impacting the manticore with such an explosive force that it was forced back several steps before falling back on all fours. The stunned beast shook its maned head in shock before narrowing its vision on the interloper.

Looking back up, Ditzy's mouth fell open as she watched the red-coated, black and white-armored pony stand defiantly between them and the creature. After sparing her a look back, allowing her a moment to see his eyes and recognize him as the pony that Trixie had dragged up on stage, the strange stallion stood on his hind legs, pushing his hooves together to crack his fetlocks slightly.

“Just try it…” he stated, his tone menacing as he brought his hooves up in an aggressive, but awkward-looking position and a flickering light shimmered around him, his barriers entering recharge after their forced detonation.

The creature did not hesitate, driving forward as the stallion held his ground.

Right until the last second, when instinct took hold and the Commander dropped to all fours, twisted around…

*KRACK*
*SNAP*

...and bucked two back hooves into the creature’s face with such force that its head bent backwards with a sickening crack, its momentum sending it barreling off to the side before it fell over, twitched once...

...then laid perfectly still.

“Holy sweet Celestia…” the pegasus uttered under her breath, her eyes unable to turn away from the dead creature as Shepard surged forward.

“Twilight! They're made of wood! Start a fire!” he shouted, rushing forward at full tilt towards one of the wolf creatures menacing another stallion, who was covered in wicked cuts.

“Where am I supposed to--”

“Fireworks! In the stage setting! GO!” Shepard crashed into the timberwolf with his shoulder, sending it sprawling as he attracted more attention, the pack of plants clearly recognizing him as a threat. Turning his eyes skyward, he caught sight of the blue-coated pegasus that was starting to slow, looking as if she had been running through a briar patch. “You! Rainbow! Stop hurting yourself! Rush in front of stragglers! Cut them off and help me round them up!”

“What!?” Rainbow, stopping several feet above Shepard as she darted by, looked pained and strangely insulted as she glared down on Shepard. “Who the hay are you to be giving me orders!?”

“DO IT!”

There was such force and authority in his tone that Rainbow nearly fell out of the air, her wings flapping as her eyes went wide and she gulped, snapping her foreleg up in a salute before diving forward without another word. A rainbow-like beam trailed after her as she zipped around faster than any living thing Shepard had seen, diving in front of the various creatures while Shepard pulled away, walking backwards as several of the creatures started to pace towards him aggressively, snarling tree sap.

“Come on, Twilight…” Shepard uttered under his breath as a quick glance around revealed that many of the ponies that were still capable had fled, either running to hide or in some cases turning back to help, as he saw several of the candy-colored equines returning to aid their injured neighbors.

Rainbow zipped overhead again before coming down to the ground next to Shepard. Panting for breath, she fell into step beside him.

“Okay… I think that’s all of them.”

“You should get out of here,” Shepard advised, noting how the pony looked to be on her last legs, her limbs twitching with exhaustion while her coat was stained with several lines of red, surprisingly human-looking blood.

“Like hay I will… I’m not backing down from a fight. I’m in this to the end or my name’s not Rainbow Dash.”

Shepard, in spite of the savage, impossible creatures surrounding him, couldn’t help but smile; giving the mare an appraising look over and admiring her spirit.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Shepard… Commander Shepard,” he introduced himself, still walking back as they drew the creatures closer to the stage.

“Wait, you’re the alien stallion Pinkie Pie was talking about?”

“Now… may not be the best time…” Shepard huffed, noting how the semicircle of predators was closing in on them, clearly searching for some sign of weakness in the two ponies.

*Thunk*

Then a ball of canvas landed between the ponies and the timberwolves, causing a moment of pause…

*FIIISSSSSSSSSSSS*

...before sparks erupted from the ball, sparkling fiercely like a fuse as Shepard recognized the improvised incendiary for what it was.

*FWOOOOSH*

A revelation the timberwolves never had a chance to reach as they were suddenly engulfed in a torrent of colorful fire. Bursts of color snapped and flared in the flaming gout as the metallic explosive powder was packed into a shaped charge wrapped in the canvas. The timberwolves, clearly vulnerable to the flames as their bodies were literally made of dried tinder, howled in terror and tried to escape, their thin legs snapping as the joints popped in the heat and their hides blackened.

“Okay, that’s… impressive,” Shepard admitted, feeling only a slight backwash of heat as Twilight’s device created a light-show that was likely visible for miles, burning the creatures to a crisp.

“…AND WHO PUTS WILLOW WOOD TOGETHER WITH CHERRY!? DO YOU HAVE ANY SENSE OF COLOR COORDINATION!? AND ANOTHER THING, ARE THOSE LEAVES GREEN OR GREY!? GREEN OR GREY!? MAKE UP YOUR MIND! DON’T MISMATCH YOUR MOSSES!”

The sound of the howling was put to shame as Shepard looked past the flames to see Rarity, her expression indignant, chasing after one last remaining timberwolf, who was rushing away from her at top speed, whimpering with its vine-like tail between its legs.

Whether in blind panic or merely escaping the bright white pony, Shepard couldn't be sure as the plant creature charged almost directly into the fire… making no effort to avoid it as the tailor came to a halt.

Much to his surprise, he heard Rainbow Dash snicker beside him.

“Heh… Rari-cide.” she shook her head, sitting back on her haunches in an exhausted manner while Fluttershy daintily came to ground.

“Is it over?” she asked, looking between her friends, drawing Shepard’s attention from the blaze to its instigator, the purple unicorn that stood looking out over the stage, watching the blaze as it started to die down.

Shepard huffed slightly, running over everything he had been presented with in the past fifteen minutes.

“Not even close…”

————————————————————

“It’s a puppet…” Twilight shook her head in disbelief, her magic lifting the figure of the once "Great and Powerful Trixie" from the stage where it hung limply in the grip of her magic. “A life-sized pony doll with full articulation…”

“But how's that possible?” Rainbow Dash asked, shaking her head as she looked over the aftermath of the fight. Although there were plenty of injuries and a few close calls, Ponyville had made it through the attack without losing anypony. Already, Mayor Mare was ordering an "investigation" of the incident. An investigation that would rather conveniently wait until morning.

Rainbow shifted her shoulders, wincing a bit as her own cuts stung and silent in the realization that as bad as it had been… it could have been worse if the red stallion hadn’t gotten involved when he did. A lot worse.

“I don’t know… I mean, she was alive… or she seemed like she was alive. The dramatic flair, the ham-hooved acting, the over the top flourishing movement. It was her,” Twilight considered as she looked in Trixie’s eyes, which were now obviously lifeless and made of glass. “I mean, was it just a ploy…? A distraction? Or has Trixie always been a… a fake?”

“Twilight… If Trixie was a fake pony made by Discord, then how could we have met her before he broke free…? For that matter, when did he break out again? I thought he was turned into a statue after the last time we tangled and the Princess took him back to Canterlot.”

“I don’t know, Rainbow…” Twilight shook her head, gently setting "Trixie" back down.

She wasn’t a friend… Heck, Twilight never even liked Trixie. But still, it was hard to see… this… in her place… Worse perhaps than viewing a cold, lifeless body… She now was in possession of an object that had never been alive to begin with.

“I don’t know what to think anymore…” the unicorn sighed, looking out over the stage and down past the smoldering, scoured spot where her quickly-rushed firetrap had managed to end the timberwolf threat.

There she saw Shepard talking with Rarity and Fluttershy, the three of them speaking animatedly, although she couldn’t hear the conversation. But she could guess its meaning though, as Shepard bowed his head and his lips pulled back in frustration.

“Whatever's going on… he’s right in the center of it all,” Twilight stated aloud, more to herself than to Rainbow as the pegasus moved beside her.

“Who is he?”

“That’s just it…” Twilight shook her head again, watching as Shepard pulled away from a concerned-looking unicorn and pegasus and trotted towards her. “I don’t really know.”

“Twilight… They’re gone… Patch and Milligan have both been abducted,” Shepard explained quickly.

“Oh, my…” Twilight brought a hoof to her mouth. “Okay… so we’ll try to find them… and we can--”

“No… First I need some answers.” Shepard shook his head, his eyes narrowing as he came up to the edge of the stage, pushing himself to his hind legs as he set his forelegs up on the lip of Trixie’s setup. “Who is Discord? And while we’re on the subject… who are Celestia and Luna?”

————————————————————
Normandy: Briefing Room

“How long do you expect us to wait, Miranda?” Garrus Vakarian paced back and forth in the meeting room, making the seated Joker more than a bit uncomfortable as the scarred turian’s tone became more agitated.

“As long as it takes until we can figure out what the hell is going on, Garrus,” Miranda Lawson put it sternly, keeping a level head, but clearly not caring for his insubordinate tone.

She had never approved of "Archangel" being included in the list of possible recruitment dossiers that the Illusive Man had sent to Shepard to begin with, thinking that a turian vigilante would never be able to properly follow someone else’s orders. But when she learned that the mysterious "Bane of Omega" was an old friend of Shepard's who had helped defeat the traitor Saren and foil his Reaper allies’ plot to take the Citadel two years ago, she had been even more concerned.

His loyalty to Shepard was unquestionable; and in this situation, a very dangerous liability.

“It’s been hours already and we’ve been sitting up here... how do you humans say it? ‘With our thumbs up our asses’?" Garrus responded glibly, earning him a stern glare from Miranda. "Look, I’m not saying we rush in without thinking. I have a plan.”

Miranda sighed as she set one hand on her hip before looking at Joker. Now she regretted letting Shepard take the two biggest brains on the ship with him as either of them might be a valuable asset in their current situation.

“Joker, where do we stand?”

“Well, I’m not standing anywhere if you’re asking me personally…”

“I’m not the Commander, Joker… And I’m not amused by your prattle. Just cut to the chase,” the Cerberus officer responded coldly.

“Alright, jeez. I’m just not used to this whole personal briefing thing. Usually when the Commander wants to talk, he comes to the helm and talks… Okay… look. Damage was minor. Donnelly and Daniels have everything patched up already, but we were lucky.”

“Lucky? I wouldn’t call being fired on by an unknown and obviously advanced adversary as ‘lucky,' Joker.”

“We’re ‘lucky’ because they only grazed us with the first shot. Stealth systems probably muddled whatever they were aiming with, just enough to keep it from being a bulls-eye, but they knew we were there.” Joker shook his head. “Kinetic barriers went down almost instantly even with our upgrades. I don’t know about you, but I don’t wanna have ‘shot down by Space Rainbow of Death’ written down in my obituary.”

“We’re fortunate we found a blind spot in its targeting range…” Garrus added, sighing as he remembered the frantic few moments as they tried to dart around the moon and realized that its effective range was far greater than they would have liked. “As far as we can tell, the Lagrangian Point is the only safe zone. I fired some probes to test its targeting capabilities… Take it from me: From a dead stop… there’s no way we’ll make it more than a few hundred kilometers from this spot.”

“And communications are still jammed?” Miranda asked.

“Yeah, last signal we got out was you trying to warn Shepard, but we don’t even know if he got that. Everything else has an effective range of about a dozen meters,” Joker explained. “Beyond that... not even static.”

They were nailed to a wall, unable to call for assistance, and most damning…

“What about EDI?” she asked, sitting down at the conference table.

“Still unresponsive. It hasn’t said a word since the attack started. According to our diagnostic, EDI’s putting all of its computing power into cyber-warfare to defend the ship from something, but we can’t even detect what it is. Legion managed to ‘ping’ her wirelessly…”

“I am still against that idea, by the way,” Garrus spoke up.

“...and said EDI was ‘engaging hostiles.’” Joker finished. “We couldn’t get anything else out of it.”

Miranda let out a short, aggravated sigh as she looked over to the turian, already knowing what he was going to say next.

“Not that I don’t have confidence in EDI’s abilities, but if something else manages to take control of Normandy, we’re all as good as dead anyways,” he stated grimly. “Whoever's down there could move us into their weapon’s range, decompress the entire ship or simply overload the engines and watch the fireworks.”

“And what do you suggest?” Miranda scowled, hating feeling so trapped that she had to give in to the alien’s logic that "sitting and waiting" wasn’t going to help.

“We fire all of our probes at once… and then launch the Hammerhead for high-altitude drop,” Garrus started, moving to the table to bring up a holographic representation of his plan. “I measured the weapon as having an almost fully inclusive target on anything in orbit, suggesting a large, articulated cannon of some kind… but it can only fire a single beam at a time. While it’s distracted, I can take a small team and try to reach the surface... Hopefully below the weapon’s range. We’ll investigate, disable or destroy whatever is powering the device, and then at least we’ll have a chance at trying to extract Shepard’s team.”

“Assuming they’re still alive.”

Miranda regretted this very realistic statement in an instant, although she didn’t show it as both Garrus and Joker glared at her, silently condemning her for such blasphemy.

Miranda didn’t have the luxury of such blind faith in the Commander. As impressive as he was, Shepard was just one man. She knew all too well what went into bringing Shepard back the first time he had died… and she didn’t think that there would be a second version of the Lazarus Project.

“Who are you taking with you?” Miranda asked, eager to change the subject.

“Thane is an expert in improvised infiltrations, so he’s the obvious choice... And as much as I hate to admit it, Legion should be able to deal with any technical issues we come across, if we’re lucky.”

There was a moment of silence as Miranda looked to the holographic interface, watching the simulation run of the lunar-based weapon decimating the probes.

Of course, she also realized that regardless of her answer, this plan was already set to be put into motion and the only man who could talk Garrus out of it was the one he was trying to save.

“Do it.”

————————————————————
Books and Branches Library

“…and so now these ‘Princesses’ rule the land, ringing in the day and night?” Shepard asked, his tone neutral as if he had run out of things to disbelieve in the walk that had led him back to where he had woken up earlier that day.

It was already dark out, the silvery moon absent from its perch high in the sky as the stars had come out, any light pollution caused by the earlier fireworks now gone and allowing for a spectacular view.

“Oh, yes… They’re the kindest, most gentle and wisest ponies ever…” Fluttershy explained, Twilight having grown silent as the two mares had shared with herself and Shepard the circumstances in which both Patch and Mulligan had been taken, and the fact that neither of them had been alone in their abduction.

This was getting to be too much… And as she usually did when she had run into the limits of her own abilities, Twilight felt she had to seek out aid from the one mare that would certainly have all the answers.

“Spike! Where are you?” she called out as Shepard, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow walked into the library.

“Okay… So what you’re telling me is that they… like Discord… have nigh-godly powers… pretty much bending and warping the most fundamental laws of reality on a whim. Is that about right?”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it quite that way, but…” Rarity started before an irritated groan took all their attention away, Rainbow stomping a hoof.

“What is wrong with you all!? Applejack got dragged off into the Everfree by a fracking URSA and you’re talking history!?” she shouted, pointing hoof at them accusingly.

Shepard was about to speak when Rarity stepped forward, cutting him off and allowing him to observe the dynamic between these apparently close friends.

“Well, technically we’re talking current events and a who’s who of Equestria, Rainbow Dash… I don’t suppose that--” Rarity never managed to say what she supposed as the athletic cyan mare was suddenly right in front of her, pressing her snout against the white-coated unicorn’s.

“We’re wasting time! Ursas are almost as bad as dragons! Who knows what’ll happen to AJ… Or this Patch filly!? They could get eaten or something, and we’re just sitting here!?”

“I know it looks bad… but Applejack can take care of herself, Rainbow. You know that…” Fluttershy interjected, moving up beside Shepard. “Pinkie Pie was helpless, and so was Milligan. And if they were being taken to Canterlot in a padded wagon… that can only mean one place… Bedlam.”

“So what!? At least we know there aren’t any URSAS in Canterlot!” Rainbow shouted back, quite surprised when the normally-timid pegasus pony stood her ground. “Giant monster… or mental hospital... Yeah, kinda easy to see--”

Spike!” Twilight stomped a hoof, watching the stairs leading up to her loft a moment longer before Shepard’s attention was pulled towards the figure that was sleepily stumbling down the stairs.

It was shorter than he was, although he had little reference for actual height given his altered shape and the scale of the things around him. But coming up to about the size of his legs, a bipedal reptile with purple and green scales as well as large, slit green eyes, came down the stairs stifling a yawn.

So this was "Spike"… According to Rarity, he was Twilight’s live-in scribe and a baby dragon… A concept that Shepard had trouble believing until now.

Of course, that was on top of all the other things he was having trouble believing.

“Jeez, what’s all the hubbub?” the dragon asked in a scratchy, tired voice before stretching and reaching behind himself to scratch his tail with a set of short, but sharp-looking clawed fingers. “First fireworks, now yelling… How is a dragon supposed to sleep around here?”

“Spike! This is an emergency, I need you to take a letter immediately.”

“Okay, okay… Gosh… Uhhh... Hey girls, what are you all doing here at this time of night?”

“It’s still early…” Shepard was surprised, looking over the young reptile alien as he so casually accepted the Commander's presence. “The sun only set an hour ago… Why were you asleep?”

“Oh, he’s a baby dragon…” Fluttershy explained, pulled away from her "disagreement" with Rainbow for a moment. “He needs his sleep.”

“Uhhhh, yeah… I kinda do…” Spike looked over to Fluttershy with a strange confusion. “But everypony knows that…”

“Spike! Letter!”

“Oh, right… Sorry.” Spike moved to a small desk, taking stationary and a quill from it before dipping the feather into an inkwell. “What’s the rush, Twilight? Is it just that good of a friendship report or--”

“SPIKE! Ponyville was just attacked by Discord and somepony is taking Shepard’s friends! We need to contact the Princess, now!”

Spike, paper and quill in claw, gave Twilight a strange, confused look.

“Who’s Shepard?”

“Him… That’s Shepard.” Twilight waved a bit towards the red-coated pony, who waved a hoof in acknowledgement. “Fluttershy brought him by earlier while you were out on errands.”

Spike looked at Shepard a moment, following where Twilight’s hoof had pointed.

“Uhhh… Who’re you talking about?”

Twilight, Shepard, and the other ponies all reeled back a moment in shock.

“Him... There... I know you’re sleepy, Spike, but he’s kinda hard to miss.” Twilight pointed again… the dragon following her direction to look right at…

No… Right through the stallion.

“Are you talking about… Rarity?” Spike sounded confused, drawing a stunned silence from Twilight.

Shepard felt Rarity set her hoof up on his back, patting him as she watched the young dragon with concern.

“Spike… he’s right here… Can’t you see him?”

“There’s nopony there…” Spike shrugged, beginning to grow uncomfortable. “Are you girls… okay?”

Twilight shook her head, her mind grasping for answers.

“You can’t see him? At all?” She tilted her head, stunned. “But... half of Ponyville watched him get dragged up on stage… Trixie and Discord and…”

“Spike…” Shepard stepped forward, interrupting the unicorn and watching the dragon for any sign of response, but there was none. “Can you hear me?”

“Aaaaaand… what?” Spike kept his eyes on the unicorn. “You… kinda trailed off there.”

Moving over to the dragon’s side, Shepard waved a hoof right in front of his face.

“Why are you girls lookin’ at me like that?” Spike asked, growing more and more concerned.

What happened next took the air out of the room as four ponies gasped in shock, when Shepard went to tap the dragon’s shoulder…

...and his hoof passed right through the dragon’s scales and body.

“What’s wrong!?” Spike almost panicked with their reactions, the four mares staring wide-eyed at him.

“Spike… do you feel…” Twilight winced as Shepard went a step further, waving his hoof… which passed right through Spike’s head as easily as if it were air. “…a-anything strange… right now?”

“I’m starting to feel creeped out with the way you girls are looking at me… Maybe I should…”

There was a sudden shimmering in the air, Shepard pausing as a haze tried to descend on his mind.

“No! Oh, no you don't!” Shepard shook his head violently, looking up to note that the young dragon was gone, the inkwell and stationary he was holding back in their place on the desk a few feet away. “Twilight… Just now: Who was standing here?”

Twilight shook her head, disoriented.

“What…? I... Oh... We were talking to… uhh…” she stumbled a bit, pausing and bringing her hoof up to her neck. “…My heart’s racing… Were we running?”

“Talk to me… What do you remember? What just happened? Do you remember Spike?”

“Spike? Yes… of course. We were just talking to… No… he... He’s out of town… Has been for days… on a visit to--”

Shepard set a hoof to Twilight’s mouth.

“Rainbow Dash… Where's Spike? When did you last see him?”

“Uhh…” Rainbow looked likewise confused, her mind a hazy fog as she shook her head. “This afternoon… he was running errands when I went by Sugarcube Corner for lunch… Wait, I could have sworn...”

“It’s weird…” Rarity also seemed a bit befuddled. “Like… when you have something in your hooves and… then you suddenly don’t know where it went…”

Shepard turned back to Twilight, lowering his hoof as she looked around wildly.

“But… he went out to… to visit…” She paused. “Who did he go visit? I can’t…”

“Twilight… It’s alright… Calm down.”

“We were just talking to--”

“Twilight, stay calm.”

“I can’t remember…” A tear rolled down her cheek. “Oh, sweet Celestia… Something… Something was inside my MIND!?”

“It’ll be alright, Twilight…” Shepard tried to keep her calm, catching her eyes and locking them with his own.

Twilight had never actually looked before… but now that she did, she couldn’t pull away.

Those eyes had seen so much… Done so much. They were full of kindness… of hope… but also of pain and loss on a scale she could barely comprehend.

“I… I’m not afraid you might be crazy anymore…” Twilight barely whispered, fighting back tears as her friends watched sadly. “I’m afraid you might be right…”

————————————————————

“We have to go see the Princess…”

Shepard had given the ponies time… Time enough to come to terms with the revelation that something was tampering with their memories. Something that for some reason was unable to remove him from their recollections.

So it was a shock when Twilight spoke up a mere ten minutes later.

“Princess Celestia will know what’s going on,” she explained, looking to her friends with an expression of absolute certainty. “I know it... She’ll be able to explain everything.”

“I don’t know about that, Twilight,” Shepard started, going over the last things he remembered from before he had woken up as a pony. “As I recall, Celestia was the name given to the voice that wanted me ‘terminated.'”

“That’s not true!” Twilight objected. “Princess Celestia is the kindest, most generous, most amazing pony in Equestria… She would never--”

“We don’t have time to go to Canterlot,” Rainbow Dash objected. “Applejack got dragged into the Everfree Forest. Even if she could somehow escape from the ursa with Patch, the Everfree is filled with monsters. She needs us... And she’s a lot closer and in greater danger than--”

“By now, Pinkie Pie and Milligan have reached Canterlot,” Fluttershy spoke up, surprising her friends yet again with her forwardness. “From there, they'll be taken to Bedlam Hospital… It… won’t be pleasant...”

“Fluttershy, dear…” Rarity looked to the pegasus. “I have to agree with Rainbow Dash… Applejack and Patch are both in much greater danger… Bedlam is a hospital, just like Ponyville General. Why would they be in danger there?”

“Because it’s NOT!” Fluttershy snapped in a harsh tone most unbecoming of herself which caused Rarity to take a frightened step back and away from her.

“What do you mean?” Shepard asked, watching the yellow pegasus for a moment as she turned away, hiding behind her hair.

“I don’t… I don’t know. I just… I remember going there… back when I was filly… before I came to Ponyville… and… It’s a bad place... Somewhere I never wanted to go back to.”

“Why not?”

Fluttershy looked away, shamefully.

“I can’t remember…” she admitted, her voice tinged with fear and pain.

“The Princess can solve everything…” Twilight repeated again, like a mantra that was devoted to keeping her calm. “She has the power, the resources, and the knowledge. We can find out exactly what's going on. And she’ll certainly help us get Applejack and Pinkie back safely. Right? Right...?”

“That’ll take too long! We can go see her after we get Applejack and then Pinkie back!” Rainbow stood, aggressively stomping her hoof. “Our friends need us, and while I agree that we need to get them both, Applejack is in more danger.”

“Applejack is the most capable pony we know. But poor Pinkie Pie... We have to get both her and Milligan out of Bedlam before it’s too late…” Fluttershy spoke up again.

“Too late for what?” Rarity asked.

I DON’T KNOW!!”

Fluttershy’s loud, angry response was enough to cause Rarity to draw back, afraid to come closer to her friend.

For a moment, just a moment, Shepard heard something familiar in Fluttershy’s voice as she shouted… An angry, volatile rage that he had come to identify with Jack, the tattooed, loudmouthed, explosively biotic-powered woman that tended to keep to herself in the darkest, deepest, most secluded part of the Normandy.

Untempered emotions such as those were hardly born without reason. And in the case of Jack, it led to her wanting nothing more than to blow the place in question to hell with a thermonuclear device.

There was no doubt in Fluttershy’s voice: Pinkie and Milligan were far from safe.

“Girls!” Shepard spoke up, getting all four of their attentions on him. “I know you’re all frightened and scared… and I’m sorry for bringing you into this… but our first priority should be to...”

Choices:

"Save your friend from that monster." (Everfree Forest)

"Have a chat with this 'Princess.'" (Confront Celestia)

"Get Milligan and Pinkie out of that place." (Bedlam Hospital)