Seven long months have passed since Legion left Equis. Much has happened - both on Equis and in the galaxy - that has changed everything forever. But the galaxy is not done with Equis just yet...
"Together, we can build a future greater than any one of us could imagine. A future paid for by the sacrifices of those who fought and died alongside us. A future that many will never see..."
For seven months, Equis was left in peace, and for seven months Twilight Sparkle has waited for the return of Legion. Just as she is ready to give up hope, the galaxy decides it is not finished with Equis. Unfortunately, it does not send someone as patient as the geth...
For the alien civilizations of the galaxy, they fight for their lives against the greatest threat ever known. And when victory is finally achieved, the crew of the Normandy find that their mission is not over just yet.
A thick cloud of cigarette smoke blew through the large, empty room. It dissipated upon reaching a massive screen, upon which was displayed the star Anadius. The molten surface of the star was constantly changing shape, moving like worms in the dirt, a light blue outer rim and dark orange core. The light emitted from the massive dying star reflected off of the black tiles of the room and drew the shadow of the figure sitting before it back to the door. The figure took another puff from his cigarette, shaking it in his hands to send ashes floating down into an ash tray conveniently placed on the arm of the chair. In this part of the galaxy, all was peaceful. Nobody had any reason to visit this cold star, and the man who had made it his home would make sure it stayed that way. His bright blue eyes flickered over a datapad on the arm of his chair, with reports from the war displayed on it. Most of the reports were the same: the species of the galaxy were being driven back slowly but surely by the Reapers.
And they were trying to destroy them. Why that was, the man would never understand. Destroying the Reapers gained them nothing at all. Embodied in each Reaper form was more knowledge and understanding than any alive could ever hope to comprehend. And they were trying to destroy them…
His train of thought was interrupted by a flashing green light on the arm of his chair. Extinguishing his cigarette in the ash tray, the man spun in his chair and turned to face a gray circle set into the black tiled floor. Slowly, the holographic form of another human formed as the connection was established.
“Report, doctor,” the man ordered. The holographic form of the scientist nodded, holding a datapad in his hands.
“It is as we suspected, sir,” the scientist began. “When the Rannoch Reaper was using that ‘Legion’ geth as a signal booster, it downloaded full copies of its memory banks. And now that the Reaper is dead, we have access to all of them.”
“What did you find?”
“It’s… not what we expected…” the scientist began to slow in his speech, picking his words. “Shortly after Shepard went AWOL, the geth left Normandy. It went to spy on the quarians, but… a Mass Relay miscalculation sent it somewhere else. Somewhere new.”
“New?”
“An uncharted Relay, badly damaged. But sir, you know as well as I that Relays are only placed in systems with planets. Planets capable of supporting life.”
“I’m a very busy man, doctor,” the man said, sighing. “Please, just cut to the chase.”
“Sir, the geth found a world with life on it. Sapient life.” The man in the chair froze. For all of his planning, he had not been expecting that. But he kept his calm, cool demeanor, and grabbed the datapad sitting on the arm of his chair.
“Doctor, you’re being reassigned. Go to Minuteman Station immediately, you’ll find a team there waiting for you,” he said, beginning to type on the pad. “You’re being promoted to Operator. I’m creating a new Cell, codenamed… Project Artifice. Orders will be ready shortly. Congratulations.”
“Thank you, sir.” The hologram of the scientist receded back into the gray circle, leaving the man alone once more in the large room. He turned around in his chair and stood up, crossing the distance to the screen featuring Anadius. He had not been expecting a new species of any kind, let alone a sapient one. Regardless, he would find some way to use them. The methods of his organization had grown recently, and he was sure he could find a use for them. He would have to be careful, of course. His ideas likely wouldn’t go over too well with this species, but he had faith that he would get it done. After all, they did not call him the ‘Illusive Man’ for nothing…
“Before it sacrificed itself, Legion referred to itself as ‘I’ instead of ‘we’.”
“Yeah, so?”
“The singular pronoun indicates Legion’s independent personality had fully actualized. In its last moments, it was not an avatar of the geth consensus. It was a person.”
“That’s what I figured…”
“Well, when the geth fleet helps us retake Earth, I guess we’ll owe that to… him…”
Twilight Sparkle’s eyes flickered open at the time they did every morning: 7:00am. Over the past few weeks, it had become almost methodical for her, to the point where she no longer felt annoyed dragging herself out of bed. Her hooves hit the hard crystal floor of her bedroom, and she was once again reminded of her new surroundings. Part of her felt honored and proud to have earned this majestic castle, but most of her still felt upset. Despite how large it was, and its resemblance to her previous dwelling, it did not feel like home.
Shaking her head to clear it of the memories, she levitated a comb over to her and quickly ran it through her mane. As she trotted out of the bedroom, she could smell the scent of pancakes wafting up from the kitchen below her. This immediately evaporated all of her negative thoughts, and she trotted down the large crystal stairs of her castle with a smile on her face. Her hoofsteps echoed through the crystalline structure, more than likely alerting the cooking dragon that she was coming. Pushing open the door to the kitchen, she was immediately met by a floating plate of pancakes. It was being held aloft by a piece of string held within the talons of her loyal pet, Owlowiscious.
“Thanks, Owlowiscious,” she said, smiling, as she took the plate in her telekinetic grasp. He hooted at her and flapped away, disappearing through a side passage. Still carrying her plate, Twilight navigated through the much larger kitchen in search of her number one assistant. The kitchens were much larger than her old one, easily capable of housing dozens of ponies. When the castle had first sprouted from the ground it had been empty, but Pinkie Pie had been incredibly helpful in picking out appliances and filling the pantry. There was a bit more sugar than Twilight would ever need, but she wasn’t going to complain.
“Spike?” she called, unable to find the dragon. “Where are you?”
“Back here, Twi’!” the dragon responded from somewhere behind her. Circling around, Twilight finally came to the back of the kitchen where Spike was standing on a stool working over one of the counters. In front of him was a griddle with several unfinished pancakes cooking on its surface. He turned his head to face the alicorn, while continuing to work on the breakfast.
“Morning!” he said happily, throwing a gemstone into his mouth and crunching down on it.
“Good morning, Spike,” Twilight answered, trotting over to him. She took a position next to him and placed her plate on the counter, occasionally taking bites of the pancakes.
“You went to bed pretty late last night,” the dragon observed. “Still working on that thing?”
“You mean Legion’s ‘contingency’?” she correctly guessed, receiving a nod from her assistant. “Yes. It’s been seven months since we last saw him, and still I can’t figure out what that thing does! I don’t understand it! Why would he give me something if I couldn’t use it?”
“Who knows?” Spike asked, hopping down off of his stool as the last few pancakes finished. “Maybe he just gave it to you for safe keeping, and when he returns he’ll take it back.” Twilight entertained the idea, thinking that it could make sense. If the Reapers were as large a threat as she had been led to believe, it would make sense to leave something behind, just in case. Still, she was not going to give up. Whatever was on there, it had to be important.
She was glad that the device was still in her possession. With the destruction of the library at Tirek’s hands, not many of her personal belongings were left. Fortunately she had had the foresight to put it somewhere safe, so it was stored in the basement, which remained largely intact. Now when she was not tending to her newfound duties, she spent every second of her spare time working on figuring out what the device did. So far, she had had no luck at all.
Standing up from her now empty plate, Twilight wiped her mouth with a napkin and turned to leave. Just as she took her first steps away from the counter, she heard a loud belch from behind her. Turning around, Twilight found Spike laying on his back with a scroll on the ground in front of him. Smiling, Twilight grasped the message in her magic and brought it over to her. Over the past few months, correspondence between herself and Celestia had been frequent. Most of it was helping Twilight adapt to living in her own castle, but quite a bit was so heavily classified that nopony outside of the princesses would ever see them. They dealt primarily with the changelings, and with preparations for Legion’s eventual return.
Following the death of Chrysalis, the changelings had been even worse off than before the collector’s arrived. Changeling reproduction relied heavily on the presence of a queen, and with the only living one dead, the changelings were in a bad spot. Regardless, Equestria had sent messages to the hive in the hopes of opening peaceful relations. When they finally got a reply, it had been from a changeling calling himself Erebus. After a few more messages, it became clear that this was the very same changeling who had impersonated Healthy Heart many months ago. According to the messages he had sent them, he was trying to reorganize the changelings so that they could create a new queen. This apparently was a very involved process, and could not be done without the support of all changelings in the hive. That had been two months ago, and since then not a single word had come from the badlands.
As for the return of Legion, the four princesses had been busily working to prepare for the day he came back. It had been seven months, and most of the preparations were complete. A number of diplomats had been chosen – though none of them knew – to accompany one of the princesses with the geth back beyond the Relay, once it returned to Equis. In addition, a single book had been written giving an incredibly quick rundown of Equis’s history, and how the government of Equestria operated. With the help of Legion, they intended to translate it and give it to the leaders of other alien governments. But so far, the day of his return had not yet come to pass. The Relay remained dormant, a cold object sitting in space far from Equis. Thanks to Luna’s natural ability to survive in the conditions of space, she had been able to get close enough to the Relay to cast a spell on it. It was designed to alert her whenever something happened to the Relay, no matter how small. It would measure the size of anything coming through it, and they could use that to determine if it was the same ship Legion had used several months before. So far, nothing had happened at all. With every passing day, Twilight grew more and more worried that he would never return. Legion had stressed the threat posed by the Reapers, if they had failed…
Her mind dared not go to such places. She shook away the thoughts and unfurled the scroll, her amethyst eyes immediately moving to the first word.
Twilight,
Come to Canterlot immediately. Possible activity around the Relay. Likely not Legion.
Immediately, Twilight’s good mood disappeared. Confused, she furrowed her brow and began to consider who else could have come through the Relay. Legion was the only one who knew its exact coordinates, and he had decided to keep them a secret. And if Luna’s spell had been triggered, what about it would make them conclude it was not Legion? There were too many unknowns. Beginning to grow nervous, Twilight looked to her assistant.
“I’m going to Canterlot,” she said quickly, lighting her horn. “Be back… whenever.” Without even letting the dragon speak, her horn flared and the princess disappeared in a flash of lavender light. When she reappeared, she was far away from Ponyville. She stood right in Celestia’s office, where she figured the princesses would be at this hour. It appeared that she was right, and Twilight found herself the center of attention from three other alicorns.
“Twilight, it is good you are here,” Celestia said warmly, sitting behind her large wooden desk.
“Your letter sounded urgent. What is it?” Twilight’s nervousness had increased the moment she laid eyes on Celestia’s face. It was not the normal calm, collected expression that everypony was used to. Instead she stared gravely forward, her brow furrowed in thought.
“My spell detected a Relay activation,” Luna explained, stepping up to the young alicorn. “I do not believe it was Legion’s ship. Whereas his ship was around fifteen meters long, this object… is two kilometers.”
“Two… kilometers?” Twilight repeated, not believing her ears. “That’s massive! How can a ship be that big?”
“If it’s a ship,” Cadance interjected. “We still have no idea what it is. But we do not think it’s Legion.”
“Regardless, we need to prepare,” Celestia concluded. “If it’s not Legion, it could still be another one of the species he told us about. If that’s the case, our plan still applies, just there is the issue of a language barrier… I—“
The princess never got to finish her thought before a guard burst in, carrying a note in his mouth. He looked around wildly, his terror-stricken eyes finally settling on Princess Celestia.
“What is the meaning of this?” Luna cried, annoyed. The guard paid her no mind, and instead stopped before Celestia, dropping the note onto her desk. Only now did he take the opportunity to bow, his chest heaving as he gulped down oxygen. Celestia picked the note up in her telekinesis and scanned over the document, her expression grave. Her expression turned to fear as she finished the note, and by the time she put it down her pupils were small dots in a sea of white.
“What is it, Celestia?” Twilight asked, curious. Celestia looked her way, and stood up.
“We must go. Immediately.” She ran out of the office, followed quickly by the remaining three princesses. They struggled to keep up, as Celestia was clearly in a hurry. Only when she finally stopped in the castle courtyard did they catch up with her.
“Sister, what has happened?” Luna asked, concerned. Celestia snapped her head around to address her sister, her expression one of fear and worry.
“There has been an attack on Las Pegasus. Unknown enemy. We are going immediately.” Waving a hoof, several pegasus guards began attaching themselves to a chariot. Once they had completed this task, they wheeled the chariot over to the four princesses, waiting for them to board. Celestia was the first to do so, and she took a seat in the front. Without questioning her mentor, Twilight took a seat next, and Cadance and Luna followed shortly after.
“Las Pegasus, as quickly as you can get us there,” Celestia commanded. Nodding, the pegasi began running forward, flapping their wings. A moment later and they were in the air, en route to Las Pegasus…
The flight to the southern city of Las Pegasus was taking longer than Twilight had hoped it would. It was a large city – it would take nothing less than a full army to attack it. But if it was under attack, and from an unknown enemy? Perhaps this had a connection with the Mass Relay activation…
Flying not far behind their chariot were ten more, each one holding the best soldiers Celestia could get on such short notice. They maintained pace with the leading one, flying through the thick clouds to mask their approach as they neared the city.
“What do you think it is, Celestia?” Twilight asked, struggling to be heard over the rushing winds.
“I do not know, Twilight,” the solar princess replied, worry in her voice. “But be ready for anything. I do not care if the attackers are a herd of angry buffalo, nopony attacks an Equestrian city. Come, we are approaching—“
She was cut off as a sound permeated the air. It was a deep sound that vibrated in Twilight’s chest and filled her head, causing her to fold her ears down. Even doing this did not eliminate her ability to hear it. It wormed its way through the air, growing in intensity with every passing moment. As quickly as it had appeared, it went away. Confused, the princesses looked around for the source of the noise. They did not have to look far. Several explosions followed a moment later, and the four princesses stood and leapt out of the chariot, supporting themselves with their own wings. They dove beneath the clouds and a moment later they were flying above the desert that supported Las Pegasus. What they saw attacking the city shocked them.
Twilight simply stared in horror at the behemoth towering over the city. It stood easily over two kilometers tall, walking through the streets of the large city on five legs. Occasionally a red beam of destruction would fire from its undercarriage, drawing a line of explosions across the city. Las Pegasus was host to thousands of buildings, and it was laying waste to all of them.
“What is that!?” Cadance cried as the four princesses neared it.
“I do not know,” Celestia answered, her horn glowing with golden energy. “But it is not our friend. Destroy it!” Nodding, the other three princesses lit their horns, filling them with as much energy as they could. All at once they fired, the power of their blasts combining mid-air before continuing on to hit the massive leviathan. It hit the dark metal hull of the enemy, creating a large, multi-colored explosion. When it cleared, Twilight was dismayed to see no visible damage. Their attack did have the effect of drawing the attention of the attacker. Slowly, it rotated around with its five claw-like legs, the beam weapon glowing red as it gained energy. Once it was facing the four princesses, who by now were on the outskirts of the city, it let loose with its attack, firing its devastating beam right for them. They split into two groups, with Twilight and Cadance going left and Celestia and Luna banking right. The beam sliced in between them, and though none were hit, Twilight felt its heat on her coat.
“Bring it down!” Celestia ordered, firing more blasts from her horn. Cadance and Luna joined her shortly after, and though Twilight did not know what use it would be, she began firing as well. The damage caused by their attacks was utterly nonexistent. The enemy continued making its low mechanical noises, occasionally bothering to fire one of its beams at the attacking princesses. But for the most part it focused on the city, destroying everything in its path. What it was and why it was doing this, Twilight Sparkle did not know. All she knew was that they had to bring it down, or it would continue far past Las Pegasus…
Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau (better known as ‘Joker’ to the crew) navigated the Normandy-SR2 through the burning hulks of destroyed ships – both organic and Reaper – all the while dodging blasts from massive Sovereign-class Reapers that had yet to be destroyed. It had only been a few hours since the combined forces of the galaxy had brought their might to bear against the Reapers, and so far it was not looking good. Thousands of ships had been destroyed, and Joker had just received word that almost all of the ground force sent to attack the Reapers on Earth itself had been destroyed. Only two had made it to their target: a transportation beam leading to the Citadel, which was stationed in geosynchronous orbit above the planet. No less than ten minutes ago the arms of the massive station had opened, and the Crucible – their superweapon and only hope at defeating the Reapers – had docked. Now it was up to Shepard to activate it and finish this war once and for all.
“Look out!” EDI called from her seat next to Joker. The pilot expertly maneuvered the ship past a recently destroyed dreadnaught, the wreck of which had been careening towards them. With that threat out of the way, Joker continued flying through the space, occasionally firing a few shots from their highly calibrated Thanix cannon at Reaper Oculi.
“Good call, EDI,” Joker complimented, sparing a glance at his copilot. Even though EDI existed primarily within Normandy itself, Joker was glad that she had decided to keep her mobile platform on the bridge with him. He knew that most of it had to do with their newfound relationship, but there were likely some other reasons that the AI was keeping from him…
Dodging a few more shots from Reapers attempting to attack the Crucible, Joker found himself beginning to grow worried. What’s taking Shepard so long? He thought, staring out the cockpit windows at the superweapon. He had gone silent not long after opening the Citadel arms, which was never a good sign. He could be hurt, or worse…
“Shepard, do you read, over?” he said into the radio, trying to contact the commander once again. And once again, there was nothing but static.
“Jeff, please relax,” EDI urged as she operated the ship’s cyberwarfare suite. “There are any number of reasons as to why Shepard may not be responding. We must stay focused, for him.” Joker shook his head, but he knew the AI was right. The lives of the crew aboard Normandy were riding on him, and he had to stay focused to keep them safe. Shepard had told him to stay focused before he left, and that’s exactly what Joker intended to do.
He did not have to remain focused for long. After a few more minutes of flying around, dodging Reaper beams and destroying Oculi, something finally happened. Like the petals of a flower, the great arms of the Citadel spread open, forming the shape of a five-point star. Suddenly, starting from the tips of the arms, the lights of the station turned a deep red. The color change rushed inward to the center of the station, finally ending at the Presidium. The red lights pulsed brightly, and a bubble of energy began expanding from the Citadel tower. Along with it appeared several explosions, right on the docking point of the Crucible. Beginning to fear for the worst, Joker maneuvered the ship closer to the station, ready to mount a rescue operation.
“All fleets, the Crucible is armed!” Admiral Hackett said triumphantly through the comm. “Disengage and head to the rendezvous point! I repeat: disengage and get the hell out of here!” His orders fell on deaf ears as Joker continued bringing the Normandy in closer to the Crucible, and closer to the expanding sphere of energy. He felt a metallic hand on his shoulder, but he shook it off. Feeling sadness and fear welling up inside him, Joker was determined to save his commander.
“Jeff!” EDI cried, putting her hand on his shoulder again. “We have to go!” Finally pausing to drop his hands from the controls, Joker looked down sadly.
“Damn it…” He paused for a moment, before swiping away on his current navigational data. He input a new set of coordinates, taking him to the edge of the Sol System where the Mass Relay was stationed. As the sphere of energy grew to engulf the planet, Joker activated the FTL drive and sent Normandy rocketing away from Earth. He held a fist up to his mouth as a single thought echoed in his mind: Forgive me, Shepard…
“Joker, this is Traynor!” the comm specialist yelled over the intercom. “We have a problem! Check the scanners!” He did not listen. All he could do was stare forward at the rapidly moving stars in front of him.
“Jeff, Specialist Traynor is correct,” EDI added. “We have a problem.” Finally deciding to see what was wrong, Joker looked down at the scanners. Immediately his heart leapt into his throat. Oh, crap…
Whatever that sphere of energy was that had hit Earth, it was moving at FTL speeds. Very fast FTL speeds. However fast it was moving, it was going faster than Normandy, and it was gaining on them. Diverting power from non-critical systems to the engines, Joker tried his best to get everything he could out of their FTL drive. But it wasn’t enough. All he could do was quickly put on his safety harness before the field overtook them. When it did, Joker heard an explosion, felt himself being rocked around in his chair, and then… blackness.
Princess Celestia dove down towards the giant attacker for another run, firing powerful beams of magic from her horn as she did. It had been close to an hour, and still no damage had been done against the towering attacker. Instead, it stubbornly continued ravaging the city with its destructive beams, bringing down buildings with every strike. If this went on for too much longer, there wouldn’t be a Las Pegasus left to save. Deciding that she had to try something else, Celestia angled for the ground and landed on it, shaking the sand beneath her. Her shake was immediately one-upped by the massive enemy, who took yet another step that echoed through the city.
Calling forth the power of the sun, Celestia collected it in her horn and focused it into a beam of devastation. She filled her horn with energy until it could not possibly hold any more, then aimed it right at the center of the machine. With a great effort, she released the energy in the form of a beam not dissimilar to the one used by her foe. It collided with the metal hull of the enemy, persisting for several seconds before she ran out of energy. Exhausted, the princess collapsed onto the sand, her eyes half closed. Forcing herself to look up to examine the damage, Celestia was filled with sadness as she found that her attack had done no more than stain the hull. It had also drawn the attention of the machine to herself, and Celestia found herself filled with terror as the beam emitter began to glow red. It fired from beneath the leviathan, cutting across the sand towards the princess at alarming speeds. Stricken with terror, Celestia found her legs rooted to the ground. An instant before the beam consumed her, she felt something hard impact her side. A moment later she was flying through the air, and a moment after that she landed on the ground, skidding for several feet before coming to a stop. Lying on her side was a sand-caked Luna, breathing heavily.
“Sister…” she began, panting. “Perhaps next time, don’t just sit there and let it shoot at you…” Nodding, the solar princess looked back to the machine, which had continued its assault on Las Pegasus. Her eyes filling with tears, Celestia magically amplified her voice. Nothing they had tried had worked. Not even the power of the sun was great enough to stop such a monster. There was only one thing they could do…
“Fall back!” she cried, her voice amplified several times so that everypony within several miles could hear. The unicorn soldiers who had joined the princesses in their assault all immediately stopped what they were doing and began to run away. Celestia and Luna each flared their wings and began flapping into the air, watching as their ponies made their escape. The few to escape would be lucky – many were left in the city who would not be getting out. At the sound of more flapping wings, Celestia turned around and found Twilight and Cadance hovering a few feet away.
“What do we do?” Twilight asked, panting heavily. “It’s too powerful!” Celestia’s mouth opened, though no words came out. For the first time in her life, she had no plan.
“I—“
She was interrupted as the air around her immediately heated up. The fur on her coat stood on end, and there was a crackling sound in the air. A moment later, a red wave of energy passed over the landscape, soon disappearing over the horizon. The only indicator that it had ever been here were the red bolts of lightning climbing around the metal hull of the monster attacking Las Pegasus. The lights on it flickered and died, and with a great groan, the behemoth toppled over, crushing hundreds of buildings beneath it. A large dust cloud was kicked up as it hit the ground, and when it cleared it revealed the attacker, unmoving in the sand. Immediately, the four princesses soared over to the fallen enemy, landing just a few feet away. Celestia cautiously approached the hull and touched it. It was cold. Cold, and lifeless.
“What is this thing, Auntie?” Cadance asked quietly, stepping forward. Celestia made to answer, but closed her mouth as a scream split the air. There was a rushing of wind, and another metal object flew overhead at incredible speeds. Unlike the dead machine now lying over what remained of Las Pegasus, it was quite small, and had a white and blue coloration. It continued flying ahead, smoke billowing from several fires at the back, until it disappeared beyond the horizon.
“I do not know,” Celestia finally answered. “But perhaps whoever is aboard that can explain it.” She stepped away from the lifeless machine, in the direction that the second object had fallen. “We must investigate. Twilight, gather your friends and find where it crashed. Cadance, Luna… we have some damage control to perform.”
“I’ll send you a letter as soon as I find something, princess,” Twilight said proudly, her head held high. Turning around, Twilight signaled a chariot and began trotting for it. Though she wore a smile of relief on her face from the defeat of the machine, inside she was worried beyond words. Whatever this thing had been, it came through the Mass Relay, and the new object likely followed behind it. There was no guarantee that the passengers of the new object would be friendly; for all Twilight knew, they were allied with the machine. There was also the same probability that they were friendly, and perhaps they even knew Legion. Only time would tell.
Stepping into the chariot, Twilight told the pegasi attached to the reins to take her back to Ponyville. By now word would be spreading about an attack – Celestia, Luna, and Cadance had their work cut out for them. Lurching backward as the chariot took off, Twilight began to mentally prepare herself for her new mission. With any luck, it would be far easier than Discord or Tirek or the collectors. Yet somehow, Twilight knew that it would not be. Sighing, the young princess sat back in her chair, ready to begin…
Joker’s eyes shot open, and he gasped in pain. The first thing that he noticed was the throbbing in his head. Sitting up straight in his chair and sliding out of the broken safety harness, the pilot lifted a hand to his head and felt for any damage. There was no blood, but he felt a small bump just above his right eye. Confident that his head was fine, Joker looked down to examine his far weaker legs. A major downside to Vrolik Syndrome (aside from limiting one’s ability to walk) was that, in the event of a crash, damage to the legs was far more likely. His brittle bones had seen their share of damage, he just hoped that they would not be too badly broken this time.
Miraculously, his legs seemed uninjured. While his chair had tilted a bit, it looked like he had not moved too much in the crash. Sliding out of the chair, Joker hobbled up and moved over to the slumped-down form of his copilot. EDI’s mobile platform was doubled over in its chair, one of the arms bent at an angle that did not look normal. The ever-present orange visor was gone as well, and none of the unit’s lights were on. Figuring that the crash must have caused some internal damaged that forced EDI to pull out of the platform, Joker instead decided to try the intercom.
“EDI?” he asked, coughing through the dust in the air. There was no response. “EDI? You there?” Still nothing. It was only now that Joker noticed the silence. Even on an advanced ship such as the Normandy, there was always some kind of noise. Whether it was machinery whirring behind the walls, or status updates on computers, there was never a lack of noise. Now, only silence. Even the gentle hum of the life support vents was gone. Wherever they had crash landed, at least it had oxygen…
Stepping up to one of the cockpit windows, Joker squinted to see if he could make anything out. Scowling, the pilot stepped away as his attempt was fruitless. The windows were all covered with dirt, an indicator that the cockpit was partially buried. Shaking his head, Joker turned around and decided to go have an actual look. He hobbled over to one of the doors and pulled the manual release, stepping back as it opened slightly with a groan. He had to force it open a bit wider to fit, but once it was wide enough he slid through and repeated the task with the inner airlock door.
The outer airlock door, fortunately, had its own dedicated power supply that operated on a system completely independent from the rest of the ship. Even in situations of total power failure, the airlock door would usually work. This seemed to be a case where it did, and the door popped out with a hiss, sliding to the left and making way for beams of sunlight to enter the airlock. Joker raised an arm over his eyes to protect them from the bright rays and stepped out onto an outcropping of rocks that had fallen by the door. He carefully moved down the rocks, one foot after the other, and finally came to rest on the soil of the alien world.
It was fortunate that they had crashed here – if the gravity well of a gas giant had caught them instead… Joker shuddered thinking of what could have happened. Looking around, all Joker saw for miles were forests. Far on the horizon was a range of large, round-topped mountains, green with life. Joker allowed himself a smile; all of the misfortune that the crew came across on their travels, and they ended up on this beautiful world…
Hearing some movement behind him, Joker turned his head and found Liara shakily walking out of the airlock. She nearly slipped on the rocks, but caught herself and landed safely on the dirt below. Joker gestured for her to join him, and a moment later they were standing side-by-side looking out over the forest.
“It’s… pretty,” the asari observed, smiling weakly. “… Where do you suppose we are?”
“No idea,” Joker answered. “Power’s out across the whole ship, I can’t access anything. Once we get power back up we can check the galaxy map.”
“That sounds—“ Liara was interrupted as even more movement caught their attention, and they both turned to see Garrus stepping out of the airlock. He jogged over to them, occasionally nursing a cut that had appeared on his forehead.
“Hey, guys,” he said. “You two okay?”
“I am uninjured,” Liara replied. “Just a little shaken up…”
“Yeah, I’m good,” Joker added. “I wonder how the rest of the crew is. I didn’t see anyone awake in the CIC when I was coming out to the airlock.”
“I dropped by the medbay on my way up to check on Tali,” Garrus began. “She’s fine, no injuries to add to the ones Harbinger gave her… Chakwas is fine, too. Everyone in the mess was out cold, but I didn’t see anything too serious.”
“Nor did I,” Liara said. “Kaidan was fine, from what I could tell, and I checked on Specialist Traynor once I exited the elevator. She has a cut on her arm, but it’s not too deep. Besides, there’s plenty of medi-gel to go around.”
“Good…” Joker said, nodding. “Did either of you drop by the AI core? EDI wasn’t responding when I was calling for her, and her mobile body is offline.” The asari and turian both shook their heads, and Joker frowned. If the power outage was bad enough to take the AI off as well, then damages to the ship could be fairly serious.
“Let’s head back in,” Garrus suggested. “We need to work on restoring power, and making sure the crew is okay.”
“Yeah, let’s—“
Joker was interrupted as Garrus held up a three-fingered hand, looking around carefully. The pilot made to keep speaking, but was shushed by the turian. It was then that Joker had noticed just how quiet it had gotten… When he had first come out, there was a rustling of the leaves from a weak wind, and the occasional sound of birds chirping. Now… nothing.
“What’s wrong?” Liara whispered, with just enough volume to be audible from a few feet away.
“Movement in the trees, behind the ship,” Garrus whispered back, pointing. They all paused for a moment, looking in the direction of Garrus’s finger. There was nothing.
“Yeah, I don’t see anything,” Joker said, not bothering to whisper at all. “Come on, let’s—“ He froze as the trees rustled, just as Garrus had seen before. In the periphery of his vision, Joker noticed the turian slowly deploying the sniper rifle off of his back.
“Activating thermals…” he whispered. “What the…?”
“What is it?” Liara asked curiously. Garrus handed her the sniper rifle and she peered down the scope. A moment later her eyes widened, and her mouth opened slightly. “Are those… equines?”
“What’s an ‘equine’?” Garrus asked.
“An Earth animal, also known as a horse,” the asari answered. “What would an Earth animal be doing here?”
“What are they doing?” Joker asked, squinting his eyes in an effort to see through the trees.
“Nothing, they’re just… standing… watching us.” Silence filled the air once again as the human, asari, and turian stared in the direction of the horses. It was only broken when Liara made another observation.
“Does that one… have wings?”
“Alright, gimmie that,” Joker said, pulling the sniper rifle out of Liara’s hands. She began to protest, but instead decided to allow the pilot his turn. He peered down the scope, adjusting his eyes to the bright colors of thermal vision. Sure enough, amidst the blue and green of the trees, there were six glowing orange and red blobs. Just as Liara had said, one of them seemed to be hovering in place with a pair of wings. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light, and the thermals of the scope went entirely white.
“Aagh!” Joker yelled, falling backwards and holding a hand up to his eye.
“What was that!?” Garrus exclaimed, surprised, while Liara knelt down to help Joker up. Garrus took the fallen sniper rifle and peered back down the scope, observing the horses. “Huh… One of them is gone…”
“Alright. This is creepy.” Joker decided. “Let’s go see how the crew is doing.” Garrus and Liara did not say anything, but they did nod in agreement. Liara went down from their observation point first, while Garrus stayed back and helped the handicapped pilot down. Once they were in the airlock, Liara sealed the door behind them…
EARLIER
Twilight Sparkle’s chariot landed next to her castle, kicking up a fair amount of dirt from the small landing strip that had been set up. While she currently had no personal chariot, the other princesses had seen fit to clear some land for a landing strip whenever the need to use one arose. As Twilight hopped out of her seat, she began to hear the sound of a crowd of voices. Curiously, the princess walked around the circumference of the base of her castle, ending up at the front door. Outside was a rather large crowd of ponies, all of them staring at the door expectantly. All of their eyes turned to Twilight as soon as she came into view, and the alicorn suddenly felt very exposed.
“There she is!” one pony from the crowd cried. They all turned and trotted over to her, with several journalists standing in the front.
“Your highness, can you confirm the news of an attack on Las Pegasus?” a reporter asked.
“What do you have to say about reports of a giant insect firing lasers?” asked another. Soon she could not make out individual voices as everypony spoke up at once, all of them curious to know what happened. There was movement in the hectic crowd, and Twilight sighed, relieved, when she saw her five friends working their way to her. Once they had taken their places by her side, Twilight cleared her throat and magically amplified her voice.
“Settle down, everypony!” she requested. The noise died down, and a moment later it was complete silence. Looking around the crowd, Twilight sighed and prepared to answer their questions. “… Yes, there has been an attack on Las Pegasus. And yes, it was from some form of giant metal insect. Right now our knowledge on the subject is limited, but as soon as we learn more, I will tell you. Now please, return to your homes.” Her answer seemed satisfactory to the ponies of the crowd, and in under a minute it had entirely dissipated. Once her friends had her to themselves, they took their turn to ask their own questions.
“What happened, Twi’?” Applejack asked, worried. “Reports say half the city is on fire!”
“Yeah, and they said that insect thing was a hundred miles tall! What was it!?” Rainbow Dash demanded in her high-pitch voice. Raising a hoof, Twilight urged them to quiet down.
“The princesses and I have no idea what it is,” she answered. “It was two kilometers tall, metal, and very strong. And… it came from the Mass Relay.”
“The Mass Relay? As in where Legion came from?” Rarity asked, receiving a nod.
“What gives!? I thought he was our friend!”
“Settle down, Rainbow,” Twilight said, glaring at her friend. “It was not Legion. It didn’t look anything like the geth technology we were shown, and there was no sign of Legion with it. But that’s not all… Shortly after it was defeated, something else came to Equestria. We don’t know what it is yet, but it’s not nearly as big as the machine that attacked Las Pegasus. It crashed somewhere in that direction.” She pointed away from her castle, in the direction of the Everfree forest. Immediately shooting up into the sky, Rainbow flew as high as she could until she was nothing more than a dot to the ponies below. A moment later she swooped back down, panting.
“Yeah, I see it,” she reported. “About five miles into the Everfree. Whatever it is kicked up about a mile of dirt, and now it’s sitting at the edge of a ravine. Lots of smoke, too.”
“Th-the Ever… free?” Fluttershy asked, beginning to shake. Twilight crossed over to her nervous friend, placing a hoof on her back.
“We’ll be fine,” she said assuredly. Then, turning to the rest of her friends, she said, “Let’s get going.” Without waiting for their replies, Twilight set off past her castle and in the direction of the forest. Her friends paused for a moment before falling into step behind her, and in less than ten minutes they were entering the forest.
Five miles into the Everfree was further than they had ever gone before. The ancient Castle of the Two Sisters was less than two miles in, and it had a path leading straight to it. This journey would take them deep into the forest, and with no route to guide them. More than likely they would have to rely on Rainbow Dash to occasionally fly up and check their location.
“So, like… what are we gonna do if the aliens onboard are enemies?” Rainbow Dash asked, attempting to hide her fear with a tone of disinterest.
“We’ll watch from afar first,” Twilight decided. “If they seem friendly, or if Legion is with them, we’ll make ourselves known.”
“I do hope Legion is with them,” Rarity said loudly, stepping lightly on the dirt path of the Everfree. “He was an interesting friend.” Twilight nodded in agreement, as did the other four Elements.
For a long while, nopony spoke. They likely were doing exactly what Twilight was doing: going over ever possible negative situation. They could arrive and the aliens would be dead, or they could be hostile, or the object would be entirely empty. But if it was Legion, then that would mean that the Reapers had been defeated, that the quarians had failed to destroy them, and that there was peace in the galaxy. It went without saying that she preferred the latter situation.
After over an hour of walking, Twilight began to notice something odd… The forest was entirely silent. Forests were never known for being silent – there was always some form of noise, whether from the wind or from animals. And up until this point, that had been the case. A light breeze had guided them along and kept them cool on their walk, while the sound of non-hostile Everfree creatures kept them company. Now it was all absent. Sensing her discomfort, Rainbow Dash glided down from her position above the group and hovered next to the alicorn.
“We’re getting close,” she said. “Whatever crashed here has the Everfree critters spooked, even the big ones.”
“Ah’m not sure if ah should be comforted by that or not…” Applejack said, worry in her voice. Rainbow nodded and soared back up above the trees, then swooped down excitedly.
“It’s just ahead, through those trees!” she reported, satisfaction in her voice.
“Alright everypony, let’s be careful,” Twilight warned, stepping up to the edge of the trees. “We still don’t know if this is Legion or not, and if it’s not, they could be hostile. Let’s take this slow…” Forming a line at the edge of the trees, the six friends all squinted their eyes to peer through the gaps in the leaves. Beyond was a very large object, must larger than the ship Legion had arrived in. It was a bright white coloration, with the sun glinting off of the top. On the side was some black text that Twilight could not read, and a thin trail of smoke rose from the back. It was clear that the ship – for that is what Twilight believed it to be – was damaged. Scorch marks along the hull were a testament to that, as was the quickly thinning smoke. She was about to speak, when suddenly she caught movement towards the opposite end of the ship.
On the side, a hatch slid open and a bipedal figure slowly stepped out. It was tall – though not as tall as Legion, or even Princess Celestia – and wore a short-sleeved black and blue uniform. On its head was a blue hat, its brim extending several inches over its face. It hobbled out of the ship and, looking around in wonder, approached the edge of the ravine where the ship had crashed. As Twilight watched the figure, she almost missed a second one stepping out of the ship.
This second figure was quite different from the first. It was shorter, and instead of having a pale complexion appeared a soft blue. On the top of its head were several tentacle-like appendages, which tapered off at the back. It approached the first figure, and they stood together for several moments, appearing to exchange a few words. A third figure soon joined them, this one several inches taller than both of the first two. It had a beige skin coloration, very small eyes, and a crest that extended back behind its head. The three of them exchanged a few words, looking out over the ravine.
“Survivors,” Twilight noted. “But are they friend, or foe?”
“Twiiiilliiiight,” came a loud whisper from behind the princess. Annoyed, Twilight turned around to face the disturbance, and came face-to-face with Pinkie Pie. “If they’re nice, can I throw them a party?”
“Pinkie, even if they are nice, parties could be offensive to them,” the alicorn said. “We need to be careful.” Turning her head back around, Twilight once again put her attention on the three figures, only to find that they had their attention on her. From the opposite end of the ship, it was clear that the three aliens were watching her and her friends through the trees.
“Can they see us?” Dash asked quietly.
“I don’t know…”
One of the aliens – the tallest one – reached a hand behinds it back and pulled out a long rod-like object. It extended out to nearly twice its original length, and the figure pointed it right at Twilight at her friends. The alicorn immediately recognized it as being a sniper rifle, similar to the one Legion carried. Clearly her friends recognized it as well, as Fluttershy leaned in close to the princess.
“Um, Twilight…” she whispered. “Is that…”
“Yes, it is,” Twilight whispered back. “We still don’t know if they’re friendly, but this at least confirms that they come from the galactic community that Legion told us about.” She stood still for a moment, before an idea came to her. If she couldn’t figure out what Legion’s contingency did, who’s to say that they couldn’t? Stepping away, Twilight memorize the location so that she could teleport back, then lit her horn.
“I’ll be right back.” That was all she said before activating the spell, and a moment later she was back in her castle, standing right in her bedroom. The contingency device was right where it always was: on Twilight’s desk. Grabbing a pair of saddlebags, Twilight dropped the device into them, then put it on her back. As an afterthought, she added a notebook, quill, and inkwell to take notes. Ready to go, she lit her horn, and teleported back to the crash site…
The airlock door sealed shut with a hiss, separating the three companions from the alien planet outside. Once again hitting the manual release on the inner door, Joker stepped into the CIC and took a look around. Already a few more crew members were groggily standing up, holding hands to their heads or other wounded areas. Joker, Liara, and Garrus all stepped into the CIC, immediately drawing all attention to themselves.
“Uh, what are they staring at me for?” Joker whispered to the two aliens.
“Well, with Shepard no longer onboard… you’re technically the ranking officer,” Liara whispered back. His mouth forming an ‘O’, Joker looked around at the injured crew.
“All right everyone,” he began. “I know that the situation is a bit… screwed up… We’re on an alien world with no power. Right now our first priority is restoring power to the ship, then we’ll figure out where we are. If you’re too badly injured to do anything useful, report to the medbay.” With salutes, the crew split up and began doing various tasks, including checking power conduits and relay stations. Joker strolled through the CIC to the elevator (which operated on external power, same as the airlock door) and stepped inside. Liara and Garrus followed him in, and the pilot hit the button for the crew deck. Their best chance at restoring power rested in the hands of a certain quarian engineer who was currently being kept in the medbay. With a hum, the elevator made its short descent, and a moment later the door opened, revealing the memorial wall.
On it were far too many names… Most had died following the collector attack on the Normandy, but three were recent: Mordin Solus, Thane Krios, and Legion… Joker gulped at the prospect of having to add another. Stepping past the memorial wall, Joker made a left into the mess hall and stepped up to the medbay door, opening it with the manual release. Lying on one of the beds of the medical bay was a bloodied and beaten quarian, and lying on the ground by the bed was Doctor Chakwas. Joker and Liara stepped up to the bed, while Garrus shook the unconscious doctor to wake her up. It did not take much, and a moment later the doctor was on her feet, hand on her head.
“Oh, my…” she said to herself. “What happened?”
“We crashed,” Garrus explained. “Not sure where we are. Power’s out. How’s Tali?” Stepping up to her patient, Doctor Chakwas activated her omni-tool and scanned over the unconscious quarian.
“Fortunately, most of the damage was superficial,” she began. “Some of the blood on her suit isn’t even hers. There was one rather large gash, but I sealed it and applied the necessary antibiotics. It should be safe to try waking her up.” Stepping up to Tali, Garrus shook her shoulder gently. The quarian groaned, and finally her glowing eyes opened, becoming visible behind her purple mask.
“Garrus?” she asked weakly. “What happened?”
“Shepard… activated the Crucible,” he said. “Still not entirely sure what it did, but it knocked us out of FTL and we crash landed here. Now we’re out of power.” Holding her head, Tali transitioned into a sitting position on the side of the bed, then hopped up. She struggled to stand for a moment, supporting herself on Garrus, but gained her footing a moment later.
“And Shepard?” she asked, hopeful. “Where is he?” The turian looked between Liara and Joker, then sighed.
“He…”
“We could not rescue him, Tali,” Liara finished. “I’m sorry.” The quarian machinist did not reply. Instead her head lowered and her arms hung limply at her sides. Finally she opened her mouth, but all that came out was a choked cry.
“… Then…” she forced out. “Is he…?”
“We don’t know, Tali,” Joker said. “He was on the Citadel when the Crucible fired. There was an explosion, but that doesn’t mean he’s… you know…”
“… Yeah…” she whispered. Everyone stayed quiet for a moment, until finally Tali straightened her back and stepped towards the medbay door. “I’ll get to work on restoring power. Hopefully the other engineers are up.” As soon as the quarian was out of sight, everyone let out a sigh.
“Wow…” Garrus began. “Poor Tali… I mean, I knew that she and Shepard were together, but… I didn’t think it was that serious.”
“I have transcripts on my terminal from when Tali returned to the Migrant Fleet, after the collector mission,” Liara said. “All she talked about was Shepard. I hope he’s alive. If not for the galaxy’s sake, then at least for hers.” The four remained silent for a moment, before finally Chakwas spoke.
“I guess I should go help the wounded,” she said. “I’ll be making rounds through deck two if any of you need me.” She grabbed a medical kit from beneath her desk, then exited the room.
“Yeah, I’ll head down to the hangar and check on Vega and Cortez,” Garrus stated, stepping out of the room.
“Joker, would you like some help with anything?” Liara asked, turning to the human. Joker turned around and faced the door to the AI core.
“Yeah, while we’re here…” He stepped up to the door and hit the manual release, stepping back as it slid open. Once it was open, he stepped into the darkened AI core, looking for any sign of activity. All of the various computers that housed EDI’s systems were offline. The ever-present hum of the computers was absent, giving the room an eerie quality. Joker activated his omni-tool and scanned over the room, looking for any sign of activity. There was nothing. The room was dead.
“Whatever hit us was big…” Joker noted. “EDI is fully offline. She’s gonna be confused when we get her back…”
“You can explain everything to her,” Liara said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Now come, let’s see if Tali needs any help in engineering.”
“Come on you little bosh’tet!” Tali yelled at the emergency power restart button, which had become jammed by a fallen metal support beam. “Adams, have you found that wrench yet?”
“Almost, hang on,” the lead engineer muttered as he dug around through the disorganized toolbox. “One of these days we really need to organize this thing.”
“It was back when Cerberus owned the Normandy,” Engineer Donnelly said from his position at a power relay. “Just sayin’.”
“Shut up, Kenneth,” Engineer Daniels sighed, smacking the back of her partner’s head. “Don’t tell me it doesn’t feel better to be in Alliance uniform again.”
“Aye, it does…” Donnelly admitted.
“Found it!” Adams exclaimed victoriously, holding a wrench high into the air. He crossed the room to Tali, placing it in her gloved hand. Thanking the human, Tali placed the wrench behind the button and loosened a bolt, making sure to catch it as it fell. She then removed the metal housing that the bolt had been holding in place, and began to examine the electronics beyond.
The issue became immediately known to Tali. Several pieces of debris were blocking the piston that the button connected to, preventing it from pressing down all the way. Tali cleared the debris, replaced the housing, then stepped back and pressed the button. It pressed down all the way with a satisfying click, and the lights in the engineering section immediately came back on. They were followed by mechanical whirring as the rest of the ship slowly woke back up, and a loud hum filled the air as the ship’s drive core came online. Just as this happened, Joker and Liara entered the room.
“Nice job, Tali,” the pilot complemented.
“Hey, we helped too!” Donnelly complained.
“Kenneth, I think you were doing more staring than helping,” Daniels reprimanded. “Remember, I’m the only one you stare at now.”
“Yes, mum…”
“If you keep calling me ‘mum’ then this relationship is going to get very weird.”
“Anyways!” Joker interrupted, stopping the conversation before it went anywhere else. “Now that we’ve got power, we can find out where we are. EDI?” There was no response. Even with power restored, the AI was still offline.
“If you want, I can initiate a restart of the AI core,” Tali offered. “It will take some time, but when it’s done she should be back online.”
“Do it,” Joker said, nodding. “In the meantime we can just use the galaxy map to pinpoint our location.”
Nodding, the quarian turned and followed the pilot and asari out of engineering and towards the elevator. Just before entering, the door to the cargo bay opened and a disgruntled prothean stepped out, one hand held to his stomach.
“Javik, how are you feeling?” Liara asked, stepping up to the ancient warrior.
“I am fine,” he said, stepping past the asari. “What is our status?”
“Crucible activated, we crashed, alien world, about to pinpoint location,” Joker explained yet again, stepping into the open elevator. “You coming?” Nodding, the prothean followed him in, and soon the elevator was cramped with five organics of varying sizes. They took the short trip up, soon exiting back into the crew deck. Tali exited, and the door closed as the elevator ascended one more floor to the CIC. It opened, and the human and asari both stepped out. Already waiting there were Garrus, James Vega, Steve Cortez, and Kaidan Alenko. Specialist Traynor was also awake, busily typing on her comm terminal.
“Hey,” James said, nodding his head. “Glad to see you all up and about. So you got power back up, huh?”
“Yeah, Tali did,” Joker answered. “How are you all feeling?”
“My head feels like I had a bit too much of the cerveza with James last night, but other than that, I’m good,” Cortez reported.
“I’m fine too,” Kaidan added. “So where are we?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Liara said, stepping up to the galaxy map podium. The hologram of the galaxy lit up at her presence, slowly spinning around with the positions of all of the Mass Relays. But something was wrong… Usually the Mass Relays were shown by a small blue circle. Now each one was red with a flashing error symbol above them.
“That’s… not right, is it?” Garrus asked, confused.
“No, it’s not,” Liara confirmed. “According to the Galaxy Map, none of the Relays are online.”
“Could the Crucible have knocked them out?” Kaidan suggested.
“It was going to town on the Citadel when it fired, I don’t see why the Relays would be spared,” Joker said, nodding.
“If the Mass Relays are damaged, then how are we to return to civilization?” Javik asked. “For that matter, how are we to discern our location?”
“We can’t,” said Liara. “For the time being, we are trapped here… Wherever here is.”
“Wait… the QEC is point-to-point, right?” Traynor noticed, finally speaking up. “Then it may not matter where in the galaxy we are. If the one on Admiral Hackett’s ship is still working, we should be able to contact him.”
“You may have a point, Samantha,” Liara said, nodding. “Though it will need to be recalibrated after the power restart. Perhaps Tali can do that once she’s – oh!” The asari was interrupted as the elevator door opened and Tali stepped out, immediately finding all eyes on her.
“What?” she asked self-consciously. “Did we find out where we are?”
“No,” Joker answered. “According to the galaxy map, all of the Relays are offline. But we’re pretty sure the QEC can work from anywhere in the galaxy, no comm buoys needed, it just needs to be recalibrated. Can you get on that?”
“I’ll get started right away,” Tali said, beginning to walk away from the galaxy map. She made it a few steps before turning back around. “Oh, and I started the reboot of the AI core. It’ll be finished in a few hours.” Nodding his thanks, Joker turned his attention back to the galaxy map. What would Shepard do? He thought. Joker had never expected to be in command of the Normandy, or of any ship for that matter. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to lead, it’s just that he didn’t think of himself as command material. Shepard always was better in situations like this. Somehow his mind was able to think of every possible outcome, and he could make the decision that best benefitted the crew. But Shepard wasn’t here, and Joker was. It was up to him to fix this.
Before he could even start thinking about what to do, he was interrupted by a crewman.
“Lieutenant!” the crewman yelled, alarmed. “Airlock proximity sensors are going off!” Curious, Joker limped over to the crewman and looked over his shoulder at the computer. Sure enough, proximity sensors were picking up six life forms outside.
“Six… that’s how many heat signatures we saw outside…” he said to himself. “Can you get a camera feed?”
“No sir,” the crewman reported. “Looks like the camera was damaged in the crash, I’m not picking anything up.” Cursing under his breath, Joker stepped away from the crewman and approached Shepard’s squad.
“Alright, uh…” he began, but slowed as he noticed the looks they were all giving him. Each and every one of them was looking at him for orders, ready to follow his commands. It was not something he was used to. “Um… Garrus, James, Kaidan, go grab Private Campbell and Private Westmoreland. Arm up and head out to the airlock, find out what’s out there.”
“Will do,” Garrus said, heading for the war room where the two privates were on guard duty. James and Kaidan followed him, soon disappearing behind the door. As soon as they were gone, Joker let out a sigh.
“Are you alright, Jeff?” Liara asked softly, approaching the pilot. Cortez did the same, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“I don’t know…” Joker answered. “I mean, I just have no idea what’s going on… We crashed here somehow, and we don’t even know where here is. The Relays are apparently all offline, and we don’t know if that’s true or if our galaxy map is just screwed up. EDI is offline and we don’t know why, and now there are six life forms outside of the airlock. I have no idea if I’m okay.”
“We’re all just as in the dark as you are,” Cortez said comfortingly. “You’re not alone.
“Thanks…” The attention of everyone in the room was drawn back to the door to the war room as Garrus, James, Kaidan, and Privates Campbell and Westmoreland stepped out, each one wielding an assault rifle. They walked past everyone in the CIC and ended up by the cockpit, opening the door to the airlock. The door opened and the group of five soldiers stepped inside, the door closing behind them.
“I hope whatever they find isn’t hungry…” Joker thought aloud…
EARLIER
There was a bright flash of light, and when it cleared Twilight Sparkle was standing amongst her friends back in the Everfree forest. The crashed ship was still there, but the survivors were no longer present.
“Where’d the aliens go?” she asked curiously.
“They went back inside a few seconds after you left,” Rarity explained. “We think they saw your teleportation.”
“Well I guess that rules out Legion being with them,” Twilight said. “He knows I can teleport, he’d have recognized it. And if he was with them he’d probably have already taken them to see Celestia and Luna.”
“Well what does that mean for us?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean… if we just go up and knock on the door, they might shoot us or something.”
“Dash has a point, y’all,” Applejack agreed, nodding. “We gotta be careful.”
“We will be,” Twilight said assuredly. She reached into her saddlebags with her magic and produced Legion’s device, holding it aloft for all of her friends. “But maybe this can help.”
“We don’t even know what it is,” Dash reminded her. “What if it’s like… a bomb… and when they activate it it’ll blow them up?”
“I don’t think Legion would do that…” Fluttershy whispered. “He called it a contingency. Why would he leave us a weapon?”
“Perhaps we should just leave it by the door for them to find when they come back out?” Rarity suggested, looking around the group.
“That sounds alright to me,” Twilight said. “Let’s go.” Carefully pushing her way through the trees, Twilight entered into the clearing that had been created by the crash. As she walked along the ship to the door, she took the opportunity to get a closer look at the craft.
It was much larger than Legion’s ship, easily reaching close to 200 meters. The primary color was a bright white, though much of it was caked with dirt from the crash, and scorch marks from something else. Two wings jutted out from either side, and on each were two nacelles of a white and black coloration. Towards the front were blue highlights that stretched back into the middle of the ship, and above that was black text in a foreign language. The ship was elegant, yet imposing at the same time. Twilight briefly wondered about its mission, and what had happened that brought it to Equis…
Finally reaching the ship door, Twilight began looking around for a place to put the device where it would be easily noticeable.
“How about we put it right in front of the door?” Rainbow Dash thought.
“One of ‘em might step on it,” Applejack countered. “We should put it further out.”
“Yes but we don’t want them to miss it,” Rarity said. “Maybe we should put it off to the side a bit?”
“The side is a bit steep, we don’t want it to fall…” Twilight began. “Perhaps—“
She was cut off as a hiss escaped the door, and a thin cloud of steam sprayed from the edges. The door popped out an inch, then slid open revealing five aliens, all of them wielding weapons similar to Legion’s. The end of each weapon was pointed at a different pony, the expressions of their holders unreadable. Gulping nervously, Twilight’s magic gave out and caused the device it held to fall to the ground. Curiously, one of the aliens – the tall one from before who had the sniper rifle – lowered its weapon and crouched down, picking the device up in its three-fingered hand. It seemed to examine the device, then looked back to the ponies. It said something to the other four, who lowered their weapons and stepped aside. It then stepped aside as well and jerked its head back, ushering the ponies inside.
“What do we do, Twi’?” Dash whispered in the princess’s ear. She did not immediately respond. Instead, she simply stared at the aliens who were waiting patiently in the doorway.
“… We go inside,” she finally answered. Without hesitation, Twilight stepped forward and entered the door, then turned around and nodded to her friends. Shrugging, they followed her up until each of them was in the doorway. By now it was quite cramped, holding eleven individuals, but there was still some room to move around. The large alien moved to the front and pressed a button on the wall, closing the door behind them. A soft voice seemed to come from the ceiling, and then a glowing plane slid across the small room, covering each of them. When it was finished, the inner door opened, revealing the ship beyond. The large alien stepped forward and ushered Twilight inside. Gulping nervously, Twilight extended her hoof, and took the first step into the alien ship…
Garrus watched as the horse creature nervously stepped into the CIC of the Normandy, moving its head curiously as it did. Garrus was no xenobiologist, but there were several clues pointing to these horse things being intelligent. First were the saddlebags on the back of the purple one. They were clearly not of natural construction, and the mark on the side showed some form of customization. Normally he would have thought that another organic could have made them for the horse, but when they started speaking to one another he was positive: these horses were sapient.
Once all six were standing in the CIC of the Normandy, James, Kaidan, and the two privates stepped inside and closed the airlock door. Garrus motioned for the two privates to come to him, then leaned in to their ears.
“Tell Joker we have guests…” he ordered. “And… get Tali, too.” Saluting, the two soldiers jogged down the length of the CIC to the end, where Garrus could still see Joker standing over the galaxy map, talking with Liara and Traynor. A moment later the pilot was hobbling over to the turian, with Liara in tow. As he got closer, Joker’s facial expression turned from one of fatigue to one of utter confusion. He slowed down the closer he got until he was barely walking to Garrus.
“What… the hell… are those?” he asked. Liara seemed intrigued. She approached the horses, her omni-tool active, and began scanning over them.
“They were the ones setting off our proximity alarm,” Garrus explained, putting his assault rifle on his back.
“So you just… let them in?” Joker continued. “A bunch of animals?”
“Yeah, about that…” Garrus began. “I’m pretty sure they’re sapient.” This drew the attention of everyone in the vicinity, including the technicians working at their stations who had been struggling to stay focused. “Let me explain: see that this one has saddlebags. Certainly not something that occurs naturally. Also, they were talking to one another outside.”
“Right…” Joker said. “Okay. What do we do about it?”
“Well, the reason I let them in is because of this,” Garrus said, holding out a small circular device. “It’s an OSD. A fairly advanced one, not consumer grade. The label on the outside says it has several exabytes of storage space, and the meter here says it’s almost completely full.”
“Private Campbell said you needed me, what is – oh,” Tali said, stepping up to the group. “Uh… Why are there horses?” Garrus held the OSD out to her, and the quarian took it curiously.
“They had this with them. Think you can crack it?” Nodding, Tali closed her hand around the OSD and walked over to one of the unoccupied computer stations. She was soon surrounded by the rest of the crew present, as well as the horses. Tali plugged the OSD into the computer, and waited as it was scanned for potential viruses. When the scan came back clean, Tali brought up the OSD on the computer, and opened it up…
“That is a lot of data,” Tali observed, scrolling through hundreds upon thousands of folders, most of which were named as a random string of letters and numbers. Scrolling back up to the top, Tali examined the very first folder, very conveniently named: OPEN FIRST.
“Well whoever created it was nice enough to give us some guidance,” Joker said, grinning. “Open it up.” Nodding, Tali pressed on the folder. All of the other folders disappeared, making way for several new ones. Tali once again pressed on the first one, this one titled ‘PROFILES’. When it opened, there were a number of text documents with very odd names, from ‘Twilight Sparkle’ to ‘Pinkie Pie’ to ‘Princess Celestia’.
“What are those?” Kaidan asked. “Ice cream recipes?”
“Let’s find out,” Tali said, pressing the first one. This one was simply labelled ‘Equis’, and when it opened the crew was met with the image of a planet. Next to it was a text box with several pieces of information in it.
DESIGNATION: Equis CLASSIFICATION: Garden ORBITAL DISTANCE: 151,234,000km ORBITAL PERIOD: No data available KEPLERIAN RATIO: No data available RADIUS: 5,201km DAY LENGTH: 23 hours 52 minutes ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE: .09866 SURFACE TEMP: 21.3°C SURFACE GRAVITY: 9.501m/s^2 MASS: .92 Earth Masses SATELLITES: 1 (natural)
“Keelah…” was all Tali could think to say. All faces in the room turned to look at the horses – or ponies, as now seemed more accurate – with surprise. The six ponies all stared back, curious about why they had suddenly drawn so much attention.
“I’m… gonna go make our guests comfortable,” Garrus said, approaching the ponies. “We’ll be in starboard observation if you need us.” As soon as he had left with the ponies, Tali finally went back to the folder, and clicked on the second document, this one titled ‘Twilight Sparkle’. When it opened, it revealed a page not unlike the previous one describing the planet. Only instead of a picture of a planet, it had a picture of a familiar purple pony, one of the ones who Garrus had just taken away.
DESIGNATION: Twilight Sparkle SPECIES: Pony SUBSET: Alicorn AGE: No data available – likely early-to-mid twenties DATE OF BIRTH: No data available RESIDENCE: Ponyville OCCUPATION: Princess HEIGHT: 1.37 meters WEIGHT: No data available PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: No data available
“Keep up the good work, Tali,” Joker said, patting her on the shoulder. “I’m gonna go see our guests. Gotta make sure they don’t rip out a bulkhead or anything… Let me know if you find something.”
“Will do,” the quarian answered as the pilot began hobbling away down the CIC. He was followed by the remaining onlookers, James, Liara, and Javik, leaving her alone to read through the files. Going back to the folder, Tali opened yet another profile, this one named ‘PRINCESS CELESTIA’.
DESIGNATION: Celestia SPECIES: Pony SUBSET: Alicorn AGE: No data available – likely upwards of three thousand years …
Twilight Sparkle looked around the room that she and her friends had been brought to, taking in every last little detail. It was not particularly large, but the main feature of the room seemed to be the big picture window looking out over the Everfree Forest. In space, Twilight imagined that this functioned as an observation room.
In the middle of the room were two couches, and all along the sides were bookcases filled with alien books. This had, at first, excited her, until she remembered that she could not read the written language of these aliens. It was unlikely that she ever would be able to, at least not without Legion to serve as a translator.
Looking back to the door of the room, Twilight’s eyes fell upon the alien who had brought them here. It (or he, rather) was the same one who had watched them through the sniper rifle when they were still outside. Closer up, Twilight was able to see many more details. The ‘skin’ of the alien was not as much a skin as it was a carapace. It was a light beige color, and covered all of the face and some of the back of the neck. The rest of the neck was an off-white skin tone, with occasional dark spots running down it. His armor was a bright blue and silver, and came up beneath his neck in a wide oval. Over his left eye was a sort of visor with a semi-transparent blue eyepiece. He watched the ponies carefully, never taking his eyes off of them.
Suddenly the door opened, and a second alien stepped through, this one considerably shorter than the first. Twilight recognized him as the first alien she had seen exit the ship thanks to his seemingly ever-present hat. His biology was vastly different to that of the larger alien, as he seemed to have true skin rather than a carapace. It was a pale color that seemed to persist all over his body, if his uncovered arms were any indication. On his face was a thin beard of brown hair that looped up the side of his face and to the top of his covered head. He looked at the ponies curiously for a moment, before turning to the first alien and exchanging a few words.
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked, sidling up next to Twilight.
“It’s impossible to know,” she answered. “The only reason we could converse with Legion was because he developed a translator. We don’t even know if that’s possible for these aliens.”
“Well I hope it is… Maybe they can explain the thing that attacked Las Pegasus.” Twilight nodded in agreement. That was one of the main reasons Celestia had asked her to investigate. If more of those giant metal insects were coming, they needed to know.
“Yeah… maybe—“
It was then that the two noticed they were being watched. The two aliens were carefully staring at them, watching them as they conversed. It made sense to Twilight why they would be curious – if they had crash landed here, their arrival likely wasn’t on purpose. They probably were not expecting to find alien ponies.
The door opened once again, and a third alien entered, this one drastically different from the first two. Twilight had only seen her once before, when she entered the ship. The first alien had passed Legion’s device to her, and she had gone to do something with it. Now that she was here, Twilight took the opportunity to examine her more closely.
She was entirely covered from head to hoof in some kind of suit. It was quite elaborate, with decorated purple cloth adorning most of it. Her face was covered by a dark purple mask that only allowed the glowing of her eyes to escape. She turned to face the first two aliens, and they exchanged several words. She then held out her left arm and activated an omni-tool, a device which Twilight had become quite accustomed to during Legion’s stay. She seemed to show the first two aliens something before she turned to Twilight and approached her. She pressed several buttons on the omni-tool, then lowered it and knelt down to face Twilight.
“Hello,” she said, startling the alicorn. “Can you understand me?” Twilight and her friends were too shocked to answer. She just stared back at the purple-masked alien, unmoving.
“Uh… I don’t think it’s working,” the second alien – the one with the pale skin – said.
“No, it is,” Twilight finally said softly. “Sorry, I just… wasn’t expecting that.”
“It is understandable,” the alien nodded. “After all, it’s not every day that you meet an alien race. Or several, in your case. You are Twilight Sparkle?”
“Yes,” Twilight answered, nodding. “But how did you know that?”
“The OSD that you had with you had data on all of you,” the alien explained, looking around at the other ponies. “Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tali’Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya, and—“
“Wait!” Twilight interrupted, holding up a hoof. “Tali’Zorah? The quarian?”
“Yes, but how—“
“Then you know Legion!” the young princess exclaimed excitedly.
“Whoa, okay, hold up,” the second alien interjected, approaching Twilight. “How do you know Legion?”
“We owe him our lives,” Twilight began. “You may choose to sit down. It’s a long story.” Shrugging, Tali and the other two aliens took seats in front of Twilight. The alicorn cleared her throat, and began.
“Close to eight months ago, during a celebration there was a… sighting… of a strange metal creature. Nopony had ever seen anything like it, so we panicked a little, and sent five hundred guards to protect the town that had spotted it. This forced him to spy on us behind the safety of his invisibility until he was able to determine how peaceful we were, and until he could learn our language. Finally, a few days after the initial sighting, he revealed himself to us again, though on a smaller scale. He revealed himself to just myself and my friends and requested an audience with Princess Celestia.
“We took him to Canterlot, our capital, and he introduced himself as Legion the geth. He had come here by accident when the Mass Relay he was going through malfunctioned, and he could not go back because our Relay was out of element zero. We agreed to house him and help him look for the element so that he could return home. At the same time that all of this was happening, there was a strange disease in one of our frontier settlements. We had no idea what it was, but after a few days it would cause the sick pony to go comatose. Not long after that the sick pony would just… disappear.
“We found out that they were being kidnapped by a species here on Equis called the changelings. They have the ability to assume the shape of a pony, allowing them to hide among us without us being any the wiser. They used this ability to sneak in to the settlement and kidnap the sick ponies. We did not know why they were kidnapping them, until Legion found something…
“His omni-tool detected an IFF in the polar north of our planet. We went up there, and found a massive spaceship buried under the snow. According to Legion, it was a collector ship. A few days later, we found out that the changelings were working for the collectors, kidnapping ponies for them by distributing a nanovirus that the collectors themselves had developed. They were melting ponies down and using our magic to power a weapon of mass destruction. If it wasn’t for Legion, they’d have succeeded. But he stopped them, and saved us all. As I said, we owe him our lives.”
“Well…” Tali began. “That is… very interesting. I was wondering why Legion wasn’t responding to the messages I was sending him, I suppose that that is why.”
“Am I the only one curious about the collectors being here?” the first alien, the one with the carapace, asked. “I thought we blew them up.”
“They had been here for three years by the time Legion showed up,” Twilight explained. “So where is Legion? Is he onboard?” The three aliens froze, and exchanged glances. Tali finally looked down at the floor, then back up at Twilight.
“I…” she began. “Legion… told you about the Reapers, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then he must have stressed how dangerous they were…” Tali continued. “My people, the quarians, we… before the Reapers arrived, we waged war on the geth and drove them back to Rannoch, the homeworld. The geth knew that they could not win, so when the Reapers arrived and extended an offer, they accepted it.
“The Reapers upgraded the geth and made them incredibly smart, smart enough to fend off our attack. Legion was opposed to the alliance, however, and worked with us to free the geth from Reaper control. After it was done, and the geth were free, he… he discovered that he could reupload the Reaper code. This would make the geth very smart, a true people, but they would retain their independence. We allowed him to do it. But the code could not simply be uploaded, it needed something to use as copying code. So Legion… he used himself.”
“What are you saying?” Twilight asked, sorrow filling her voice. “Is he…?”
“Dead. I am sorry.” Twilight’s face fell, and her head slowly lowered until she was looking at the ground. Hearing sniffles from behind her, she turned her head and found Fluttershy holding back tears.
“He died a hero,” Tali added. “He gave the geth true understanding and reunited them with my people. He will be honored.”
“Good…” Twilight whispered. Tali stood up and stepped back to rejoin the other two aliens.
“We’ll… give you some time alone,” she said. “If you need anything, just ask for one of us. This is Joker, and this is Garrus.” The pale one and the tall one nodded their greetings, then turned and left the room with Tali right behind them. The door slid shut, and a familiar green rectangle appeared over it. Twilight let out a sigh, and turned to face her friends. Now that they were alone, Fluttershy stopped trying to contain her sadness and allowed her tears to flow freely. Twilight stepped up to her friend and took her in an embrace, sharing in her sorrow.
The door slid shut, hiding the upset ponies from the eyes of Joker. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking down at the floor.
“That… could have gone better,” Garrus observed. “Who’d have guessed that Legion had come here?”
“I feel bad for them,” Joker said. “I mean, yeah, we all liked Legion, but they seem to have grown quite attached to him.”
“I wish he were still here…” Tali added, nodding.
“So, Tali, what else did you find?” Joker asked.
“I didn’t get too far in,” the quarian admitted. “I finished reading through the profiles of all of the ponies Legion encountered, and that was when I found the translator files. I came down after that.”
“Alright, go keep looking through it,” the pilot said. “By now the QEC should be recalibrated. I’m gonna go try it out.”
“I’ll stay out here if they need anything,” Garrus said, leaning against the wall outside of the observation deck. Nodding, Tali and Joker stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the CIC. The small room made the short climb up, and when it opened the two split up, with Tali going back to the computer with the OSD and Joker heading for the war room where the QEC was kept. It was a short walk, and soon the pilot came up to the small room at the back of the war room. The circular hologram pad was glowing a light blue, though no images were appearing on it. Stepping up to a control panel, Joker pressed several buttons, looking for a connection.
“Quantum entanglement communicator cannot achieve a connection,” the computer said in a soft female voice. Sighing, Joker shook his head, turned around, and exited the room. QEC’s operated by exploiting the natural ability of quantum-entangled particles to affect one another across vast distances. They did not rely on comm buoys, and if the range was limited, then no one had reached it yet. Therefore, the only reason Joker could come up with for them not achieving a connection was that the QEC on the other end was offline or damaged. Both possibilities were troubling, but there was nothing Joker could do about it from here. He was simply going to have to wait…
Doctor David Foster walked through the featureless white hallways of his facility, datapad in hand. The sound of his shining black shoes hitting the tiled floor echoed down the hallway, alerting anyone in any of the joining rooms of his presence. This hallway was host to a dozen labs, each one fit to handle a specific field of science. From xenobiology, to sociology, to biochemical engineering, this facility was very well equipped. Foster’s boss had given him a massive budget, much larger than what the doctor had expected. His orders were clear, and the staff under his command knew them well: advance the cause of mankind through whatever means necessary.
Reaching the end of the hallway, Foster came to a simple white sliding door with the logo of his employers on it. The door slid open at his presence, and the doctor entered into a small elevator. He pressed a button for the bottom floor of the large complex, and a moment later he felt a lurch as the elevator began its descent. As it made the short trip down, Foster raised his datapad up and began to read the new data that had come through. Their plan was working, and it was well on schedule to completion. The planting of the first few devices had been very simple, given the current state of the aliens they had infiltrated. It would be only a matter of time before they were ready for stage two.
The elevator door silently slid open, revealing the much larger room beyond. Doctor Foster stepped out onto a small balcony overlooking the rest of the room. Below him were over a dozen techs going about their days, working on keeping their operation up and running. In the center of the room was a holotable depicting the planet where they had set up base. On the wall across from it was a large screen with a map of the supercontinent, and lines separating each individual country. A flashing dot on the screen showed their location, in the northeastern region of the continent. Two more flashing dots were present, though they were not supposed to be there. Walking down a short flight of stairs to the main floor, Foster stepped up to the screen and began to examine it.
“Status,” he ordered to no one in particular. While most of the techs continued with their work, one stepped up next to the doctor, omni-tool active.
“They both appeared just over an hour ago, sir,” he reported. “The first one broadcasted for thirty two minutes before it shut down, but we marked its location. The second one is still broadcasting.”
“What are they?”
“The first was fairly easy to find out. Newspapers all over the world are reporting of a ‘giant metal insect’ that attacked Equestria, and was later killed by a ‘red wave of energy’. The second, we have no idea. It crashed far into one of the most dangerous forests on this planet. But the signal it’s broadcasting is definitely Alliance.”
“Hm… A red wave of energy…” Foster pondered the information, running through all of it in his head. A ‘giant metal insect’ sounded an awful lot like a Reaper. If they had found this world, then their plan just got a lot more complicated. But if the Reaper had been destroyed, perhaps their presence would remain undetected. “Find what information you can. I will contact my superiors and ask them about this ‘red wave of energy’.”
“Yes, sir,” the tech said, nodding. He stepped away from Foster, leaving the doctor to stare at the map for a moment longer. Finally he shook his head and turned around to face a small door, beyond which was their QEC. His superiors were not going to be pleased…
Princess Celestia sat in her office, staring down at the top of her rich oak desk. Placed on the top were the front pages of every major newspaper in Equestria, each one displaying the same story.
EQUESTRIA ATTACKED! LAS PEGASUS SAVED BY THE MIGHT OF THE PRINCESSES!
At seven-thirty this morning, the Canterlot Times received word from our representative at the castle that a massive military force was being assembled to lead a defensive against an attacker at Las Pegasus. Only a few minutes later, everypony in the city saw dozens of chariots leaving the castle, with the four princesses leading them. We tried to gain more information, but were blocked for the next half hour. Only when soldiers started to return did we finally find out what happened.
Soldiers are describing it as a ‘giant metal insect’ that stood higher than the tallest skyscraper in Manehattan. It fired ‘beams of devastating magic’ from beneath it, destroying much of Las Pegasus before the princesses intervened. One soldier, a sergeant by the name of Iron Nails, said that they had received the call to fall back, when suddenly a red wave of energy passed over them.
“It was like nothing I had ever seen,” says Nails. “Whatever magic the princesses used, it was very powerful. The metal thing just toppled over, lifeless. We sure are lucky they were there to help.”
We here at the Canterlot Times are still looking into the issue, and will keep everypony in our fair city up to date. Our hearts go out to those affected by the attack, and we will be hosting a fundraiser to go towards the reconstruction of Las Pegasus.
Sighing, Celestia stacked the newspapers and put them away, replacing them with a sheet of parchment. Already in a waste bin were dozens of crumpled up sheets of parchment, each one a failed attempt at writing what happened. The Canterlot Times had been fairly accurate, except for the part where they said she had been responsible for the machine’s death. Truthfully, she had no idea what happened. All she knew is that, if that wave hadn’t come when it did, they would have lost Las Pegasus.
“Sister, do you need help?” a voice asked, startling Celestia from her focus on the parchment. She jolted upright, her eyes falling on her sister, standing in the doorway of her office.
“Ah, Luna, I did not hear you enter,” the solar diarch said, smiling. “I would love some help. This is an… interesting issue. Ponies will want to know what that thing was and where it came from. If we tell them that we don’t know, that will do no more than incite panic.”
“And if we tell them that it came from space and there is actually a thriving galactic community up there, that will incite panic as well,” Luna added. “It’s a lose-lose scenario. What did you have in mind?”
“I’m trying to create a cover story, but I simply cannot think of anything that is believable,” Celestia said, frowning. “We are stuck between a rock and a hard place, here. How is Cadance doing?”
“She is fine,” Luna reported, taking a seat in an extra chair. “She’s doing a very good job of keeping ponies calm for the meantime. Though if we wait much longer, ponies will get suspicious. We must tell them something.” Celestia nodded in agreement. “Have you heard from Twilight?”
“Not yet,” Celestia answered, shaking her head. “I should not have sent her. At least, not alone with her friends. I should have sent a few squads of soldiers. We have no idea what she is going to find, what if it’s hostile?”
“’Tia, you have never doubted your student in the past,” the princess of the night reminded her sister. “There is no reason to start now. She is a smart alicorn, and a powerful mage. She will be fine.” Celestia sighed, and nodded.
“I know…” she said. “I know… It’s just…”
“You care for her, this is understandable,” Luna finished. “But remember, she is no longer a young unicorn. She has had more run-ins with danger in her few years of living than most ponies will ever experience. She is capable, and she will be fine. Now, perhaps we should focus on the matter at hoof.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Celestia agreed. “I was thinking—“
She was interrupted as a bright purple flash filled the room, and when it cleared a rolled-up scroll was sitting on her desk. Smiling, Celestia lifted it in her telekinesis and unfurled it, choosing to read it aloud so that Luna could hear.
“Celestia,
We have made an incredible discovery! The second construct that we saw was another ship, but it was not of the same make as the one that attacked Las Pegasus. And there is more: it is occupied. I have already initiated contact with them, and have found that they are not unlike us. They are very agreeable, friendly, and patient. I gave them the device Legion left with me; they identified it as an ‘OSD’ or ‘optical storage device’. On it was stored more information than in my old library! Most of it was on us, but a lot was on everything else that Legion learned about Equestria.
Another thing, these aliens are familiar with Legion. He travelled with them, and fought alongside him. But… it is with a heavy heart that I must report his death. I am assured that Legion died a hero’s death: he made the geth a true people, and ended the war with their creators. As sad as I am that we will not see him again, I am at least comforted by this.
Celestia, I have learned too much information to put into a single letter. I have attached my location to this scroll with a spell, simply activate it and you will know the location. Please come here at your earliest convenience.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle”
Sighing heavily, Celestia put the letter down and rubbed her temples with her hooves.
“Well at least she’s uninjured,” Luna observed. “Are you going to go?” Celestia waited for a moment before deciding on her answer.
“No, there is too much for me to do here,” she decided. “I must remain and continue working on our address to the ponies of Equestria. Would you go in my stead?”
“I will,” Luna answered, nodding. “I will return as soon as I can to help you. And if you need anything, just send a letter my way.” Nodding, Celestia watched as the scroll became enveloped in a light blue aura as Luna activated Twilight’s location spell. A moment later the scroll dropped back to her desk, Luna flared her horn, and then she was gone.
Twilight sat in the observation room of the alien ship, looking over a letter she had just finished writing. It was not a particularly long letter, but the information contained within would likely never be seen by average ponies. Lighting her horn, Twilight struggled to remember the dragonflame transportation spell she had been taught. Celestia used it whenever communicating to her through Spike, and Twilight had decided to learn it just in case. She still let Spike do all of the messaging, but it was a good spell to have. Finally remembering the order of steps, Twilight focused on the scroll, then focused on its recipient: Princess Celestia. Tendrils of magic snaked out from her horn and engulfed the scroll. It was accompanied by a bright flash that disintegrated the scroll, and a moment later it flew out of the window in a stream of purple flame.
Sitting back, Twilight looked around the room at the rest of her friends. A fourth alien had come in several minutes ago, introducing herself as Liara T’soni. She was currently talking with Fluttershy about the flora and fauna of their world, and drawing many comparisons between Equis and a planet known as Earth. A large, imposing alien known as Javik was standing in the corner, watching their every move with four distrustful eyes. She had at first been alarmed by his presence, due to his resemblance to the collectors that had attacked Equestria. A quick explanation from Liara about his kind and his past had cleared everything up, but Twilight did continue to feel a little uncomfortable.
Rarity was bothering Tali over her suit, which apparently the fashionista mare found beautiful. Twilight had to admit that Rarity was correct; the patterns of her suit were very intricate and exquisite, and she was partial to the color as well. Pinkie Pie and Applejack were talking with another human calling himself Kaidan about food that was commonly eaten in the galactic community.
Finally, Rainbow Dash and Joker were exchanging stories about flying. Rainbow Dash had been understandably excited when she learned that Joker was the pilot of the ship they were on, and had been shocked to learn about its capabilities. When not using the Mass Relay, the Normandy was able to use faster-than-light engines to achieve incredible speeds. If Dash was jealous, she was not showing it. Her face was lit up more than when she got a new Daring Do book.
Suddenly a bright blue flash filled the room, and when it cleared Princess Luna was standing in the center. All eyes were on her, and the expressions of their new alien friends were ones of complete surprise.
“What… I… What!?” Joker sputtered, struggling to speak. “What was that!?”
“Er, Twilight, is everything okay?” Luna asked, staring at the human curiously.
“Calm down, Joker,” Twilight urged calmly, looking to the pilot. “I asked her to come here.”
“But how did she…?” Twilight’s mouth formed an ‘O’ as she remembered that the other species of the galaxy did not have magic like the ponies. Mentally reprimanding herself for not remembering earlier, Twilight sighed and prepared to explain.
“Ponies have the ability to use a force known as ‘magic’,” she began. “It can be manipulated to do hundreds of things, from telekinesis, to transmutation, to teleportation, like you have just seen. Legion told us that you all didn’t have it, which honestly shocked me.”
“Interesting,” Liara said, stepping forward. “Telekinesis, you say?” With that, the asari began glowing blue. She closed her eyes and her brow furrowed in concentration, and a moment later one of the books in the room was lifted into the air. It hovered for a few moments before Liara dropped it to the floor, panting.
“But… Legion said you didn’t have magic!” Twilight cried. “How does he explain that?”
“It’s not magic,” Kaidan said, standing up. “It’s called biotics. Did Legion explain what mass effect fields were?”
“Yes,” Twilight answered. “He said it’s what the Mass Relays used to make your ships go incredibly fast. But how does that tie in to these ‘biotics’?”
“Asari naturally have nodules of element zero in our bodies,” Liara continued. “We can use them to generate our own mass effect fields, which can be used for telekinesis. However, it is crude, and very draining.”
“Incredible…” the young princess whispered to herself. “Another time, I’d love to compare our abilities so that we can see how biotics relates to our ‘magic’.”
“In the meantime,” Luna interrupted. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Princess Luna, raiser of the moon and diarch of Equestria. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“I am Liara T’soni of the asari,” Liara introduced, bowing her head. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
“I’m Kaidan, Alliance Military and Council Spectre,” said Kaidan, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Tali’Zorah vas Normandy, admiral of the quarian fleet,” Tali said, nodding.
“I’m Joker… I fly the ship…”
All eyes now turned on Javik, who was looking at Princess Luna cautiously from his position in the corner. He stayed still for a moment before stepping forward.
“I am Javik, the last voice of the protheans,” he said, before exiting the room.
“Princess Luna,” Liara began. “You said that you were the ‘raiser of the moon’. What does that mean?”
“Ah, yes,” Luna started, nodding. “Legion told us of the irregularities of this system. By ‘raiser of the moon’, I mean that literally. Every evening I bring the moon into the sky, and each morning I nudge it down. My sister does the same with the sun, only the other way around.”
“So this system is… geocentric?” Kaidan asked, receiving a single nod from the princess of the night.
“The only one, from what Legion tells us,” Twilight added. “I asked Luna here so that we could further negotiations. I may be a princess, but I don’t have quite as much authority as her.”
“We would be pleased to negotiate with your—“
Liara was cut off as the door to the room opened, and another human – this one female – stood in the doorway. She looked around, appearing confused at the presence of another pony, until her eyes settled on Joker.
“Joker,” she began. “The QEC is finally picking up a connection. It’s Admiral Hackett’s ship.” His face brightening, Joker began moving to the door.
“Thanks, Traynor,” he said. As he reached the door, he turned to face the ponies. “Uh… Luna, you might want to come along for this.” Confused, the princess trotted out of the room, following the pilot down the hall and to the elevator. The door closed behind her, leaving the ponies alone with the three remaining aliens.
Joker stepped into the war room with Specialist Traynor and Princess Luna in tow. He navigated across the room, stepping past technicians going about their duties, until he came to the small alcove dedicated to the QEC. Stepping up to the control panel, Joker pressed several buttons and sent a communication request to the communicator’s partner aboard the Admiral Hackett’s dreadnought. A moment later it was answered, and a hologram of the admiral himself stepped onto the pad.
The battle had not been good for the admiral; even though his ship had arrived with the second wave escorting the Crucible, it had taken heavy fire. Soot on his face and uniform showed just how much damage the ship had taken, and the occasional flicker of the hologram told Joker that they were still experiencing malfunctions.
“Mr. Moreau, is that you?” Hackett asked, disbelief in his voice. “We thought that the Normandy had been lost!”
“Lost, sir, but not destroyed,” Joker answered, saluting. “Whatever the Crucible did, it knocked us out of FTL and deposited us on an uncharted world past an uncharted Relay. What’s the status of the fleet, sir?”
“We’re still figuring that out ourselves,” the admiral began. “I’ve got about forty-five ships with me, mostly Alliance and turian, but a few asari and quarian. We just went past the Relay half an hour ago, it’s in bad shape. It’s intact, but the gyroscopic rings in the center are nowhere to be found. I’ve got scouts scouring the area looking for them.”
“Our galaxy map showed that all of the Relays were offline,” Joker said. “We weren’t sure if it was an error on our end or if we were getting accurate readings.”
“They’re accurate, lieutenant,” Hackett continued. “What remains of the fleet is trapped here in the Sol system until we can fix the Relay. We’re completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy. There are going to be a lot of confused people when this is over.”
“We’ll get through this sir,” Joker said assuredly. “We got through the Reapers… right?”
“All of the Reapers on Earth are dead,” the admiral reported. “As are all the ones in orbit. The Crucible worked.”
“And… Shepard?”
“I have a few ships searching what’s left of the Citadel, but a good chunk of it fell down to Earth after the Presidium exploded,” Hackett explained. “Right now I don’t have the resources or the manpower to search it. We need to focus on getting back in contact with the rest of the galaxy. FTL comm buoys are down too, QECs seem to be the only things working. What’s the status of the Normandy, Mr. Moreau?”
“A few scrapes, sir,” Joker reported. “We only got power back recently. The extent of the damage is yet to be determined, but we’ve… hit a bit of a roadblock…”
“Explain.”
“I’m sending you a file over the QEC,” the pilot said, activating his omni-tool. “Run it when you get it.”
“Receiving… a translator? What’s this for, Mr. Moreau?”
Turning around, Joker motioned for the pony princess behind him to step forward. She did so cautiously, looking around with every step. Finally she came to stand next to Joker, and Admiral Hackett’s expression visibly changed. First was curiosity, then was complete unadulterated shock.
“Flight lieutenant, what am I looking at?” he asked, his eyes wide.
“Is the translator running, sir?”
“Yes, but—“
“Hello, Admiral Hackett,” Luna said, surprising the man even further. “I am Princess Luna, diarch of Equestria and raiser of the moon. Your ship crashed on my world, and I welcome its crew.”
“Mr. Moreau, is this real?” the admiral asked, not believing his own eyes.
“Yes, sir,” the pilot answered. “And we’re not the first ones here. Remember Legion, that geth that Shepard allied himself with? He was here seven months ago, came here by accident after we blew up the collector base.”
“I see…” Hackett said. “Send me all the data you have. I’ll need to speak with everyone else about this. We’ll stay in touch; as soon as our Relay is repaired, I’ll divert some of the fleet to you to repair yours. Hackett out.” The hologram of the admiral flickered away, and the blue light of the QEC darkened. Joker sighed, lifted his hat, and ran his fingers through his short brown hair.
“I’m… not sure if that went well,” Luna said. “What do you think?”
“Well he didn’t see you as a threat or anything, so that’s good,” Joker replied. “He just probably wasn’t expecting that. I know I wasn’t when Garrus came in with you…” He turned around and began walking out of the room.
“It is understandable,” the princess said, following the human. “Much has happened this day that I did not expect. But, Mr. Moreau—“
“Please, just Joker is fine,” the pilot requested.
“Joker, you are not the first run-in with aliens we have had today.” Joker’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to look at the princess as they stepped into the elevator.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“A massive machine came here today and attacked one of our cities,” Luna began. “It was massive, larger than anything I’ve ever seen before. It laid waste to our city, destroying hundreds of buildings and killing thousands. It was killed by a red wave of energy, and shortly after was when we saw your ship coming down.” At this, Joker’s mind filled with worry. If it had been killed by the Crucible…
“Can you describe it to me?” he asked as the elevator began its descent.
“Very tall, easily two kilometers,” she continued. “Made of a dark metal color, it looked a bit like an insect, and it walked on five legs. It used red beams to destroy buildings, and our attacks were utterly ineffective.”
“Princess…” Joker began as the elevator door opened. “That was a Reaper.” Luna froze, and her eyes went wide. Her pupils shrunk to small black dots in a sea of blue, and her head slowly turned to face the human.
“That was what was attacking you?” she whispered, receiving a nod. “I… I can’t imagine that. We couldn’t even bring down one, how did you win?”
“We almost didn’t,” Joker explained. “We found plans for a device that we called the Crucible. We have no idea who designed it, and until we used it we didn’t even know what it did. But… we managed to complete the device, and we managed to get it to the Citadel – a space station that was required to activate it. Commander Shepard, my CO, went aboard and activated it. It created a big red wave of energy that I guess killed all of the Reapers. It’s also what deposited us here…”
“Legion told us of this ‘Shepard-Commander’,” Luna said, walking out of the elevator. “He spoke of him in very high regard. I hope he is okay.”
“Yeah…” The two entered the starboard observation deck, finding that not much had changed in their absence. The Rarity pony was still bothering Tali over the intricacies of her suit, while Kaidan was still talking with the orange and pink ones about food. The only difference that he could observe was that Liara was now talking with Twilight in the corner of the room, while the lavender pony was busily taking notes on several pieces of parchment. All eyes looked up to Joker and Luna as they reentered, and everyone patiently watched them, waiting for one of them to say something.
“I got into contact with Admiral Hackett and introduced him to the princess,” he reported, looking mainly at his crewmates. “The Crucible seems to have worked, and the Reapers are dead. However, the Mass Relays are all damaged pretty badly. The fleet in the Sol system is trying to repair the Charon Relay, but it’s slow going. Until they’re finished, we are to remain here.”
“While I must confer with the other princesses about the finer details, we have no problems with you staying here,” Luna added. “Though this forest is… quite dangerous. The creatures seem to have been scared away for now, but they will return. You may want to move your ship.”
“We don’t know if we can yet,” Tali said, stepping forward. “We’re still figuring out exactly what’s broken, but our engines took quite a beating. It should all be repairable with what we have onboard, but we may not be able to relocate just yet.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Joker said assuredly. “Tali, can I talk with you for a minute outside?” Nodding, the quarian stepped past Joker and exited the observation room, with Joker right behind her. He closed to door, then leaned in and spoke quietly.
“For now, do you think you can keep examining the OSD they had?” he asked. “Just in case Legion left any more information behind.”
“Of course, but I’ve already gone through most of the actual information,” Tali answered. “There are over a thousand files, and most I can’t make heads or tails of. But Legion wouldn’t have put them on there if they weren’t important.” Nodding, Joker scratched the back of his neck and sighed.
“I wish EDI were online…” he whispered. “She’d know what to do. She’d have us back up and running in minutes.”
“She should be soon,” Tali assured him. “The reboot takes a long time because it has to manually restart every process associated with her. The processes then have to form all of their connections once again to create the true AI status. Once it’s all done, you just have to turn her back on. It won’t be much longer.”
“Thanks…” Tali placed a comforting hand on Joker’s shoulder, before she turned around and stepped into the elevator. The door closed, and a moment later the green door hologram turned red as it began its climb. Sighing, Joker slowly spun around and began to head for the AI core.
Princess Luna sat next to Twilight Sparkle and the alien referring to herself as Liara T’soni, listening intently to the story she was telling.
“After our first ship had been completed, we sent it through the Mass Relay. When it came through to the other side, it discovered a massive construct, forty-four kilometers in length and capable of housing millions of people. We named it the Citadel, and settled down there, beginning our new role in the galaxy. Now, thousands of years later, eight other races call the Citadel their home. Of course there are more aliens in the galaxy, but they are not officially recognized as Citadel species.”
“Why is that?” Twilight asked, writing down every word Liara said.
“The main reason is that we do not agree with their methods,” Liara explained. “The vorcha are far too violent to be allowed on the Citadel, and the batarians engage in practices that, while not illegal, are highly frowned upon. Previously the krogan were too fragmented to properly make an appeal to join the Citadel, but that is likely going to change soon. And the quarians no longer have an embassy because of their creation of the geth, though now that there is peace, I suppose that both races will be getting one.”
“Galactic civilization seems very different…” Luna observed. “Are you sure we will be welcomed?”
“It’s difficult to say…” the asari began. “Technologically you are quite, well… primitive. The last time a primitive race was uplifted… results soured.”
“What happened?” Twilight asked, the scholar in her jumping at the opportunity to learn more.
“While scouting an uncharted Relay, a race known as the rachni was discovered,” Liara said. “They are extremely intelligent insects who telepathically serve a queen through a hive mind. They were immediately hostile to us, soon overpowering our exploration force. This eventually evolved into the rachni wars, which we nearly lost. To ensure victory, the salarians found a primitive race of warriors, the krogan, and uplifted them.
“Their traditional weapons were replaced by our far more advanced ones, and they were given armor capable of sustaining heavy damage. The salarians unleashed them on the rachni with one order: kill. In return, the krogan would be made a part of the Citadel community. The krogan did their jobs perfectly, driving the rachni to near extinction. With the threat out of the way, we upheld our promise and allowed the krogan to join us.
“But they were reckless. They began expanding to new worlds too quickly, even claiming for their own worlds that were already colonized. When we told them to stop, they did not. This created the krogan rebellions, which lasted decades. It only ended when the turians and the salarians unleashed a disease on the krogan known as the genophage. It affected their ability to reproduce, creating a genetic mutation that caused most krogan children to die, stillborn. It was a horrible decision, and for that reason, uplifting is… avoided.”
“That is… monstrous!” Luna exclaimed. “And the other races of the Citadel just sat back and watched while this disease was deployed!?”
“We had no choice,” Liara countered. “If it was not deployed, then they would have driven everyone else to extinction, making themselves the only spacefaring race in the galaxy. It can be seen as a war crime now, yes, but then… I can understand the decision. Either way, it does not matter. It was cured not long after the Reapers arrived.”
“Good…” Twilight whispered, continuing to write.
“Of course, the circumstances this time around are quite different,” Liara continued. “We do not need you to fight any wars, and your society already reflects many of the values that we hold dear: peace, harmony, cooperation…” Luna nodded, thinking over all that she had been told. The galactic community was quite old, and its history was rich. It was not as old as her, a fact which the princess found amusing, but it was old enough to make her think. While she had been a young mare of seven hundred ruling Equestria in its fledgling years, a galactic civilization had been developing right alongside it. And now their paths had crossed, and the ponies would hopefully get to join it. Standing up, Luna stretched her wings and stepped into the center of the room.
“I must report to my sister,” she said. “She will be very excited at all that I have learned today.” With that, the princess of the night lit her horn, and disappeared in a flash of azure light.
Joker sat cross-legged on the floor of the AI core, resting his head on his left fist. His eyes lazily passed over the room, occasionally flickering back to the maintenance console that displayed the status of the reboot. Right now it was at 99%, as it had been when he came in here fifteen minutes ago. Sighing, Joker was about to leave and come back later, when suddenly the display switched to show 100%, and it began flashing green. Quickly coming to his feet, Joker hobbled over to the console as quickly as he could, excited to speak to EDI once again. Even though she was an AI, he cared deeply for her. Others may have found it weird, but Shepard had been supportive from the first time the pilot mentioned it.
Typing on the console, Joker sent away the status update screen and brought up the one for diagnostics. Everything seemed to be fine, so Joker moved his hand to the ‘ENTER’ key, pressed it, and waited as the AI core came back online. The large computers lining the walls of the room glowed blue, and a soft hum filled the room.
“EDI?” the pilot asked, a smile on his lips.
But there was no response. Looking down to the console curiously, Joker went back to the maintenance screen. A look of fear immediately crossed over his face as he saw the message flashing before him.
ERROR: AI CORE WIPED. PROCESSES DISABLED. ENHANCED DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE OFFLINE. SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN.
The lights on the computers that once housed EDI faded off, and the hum of the machinery disappeared. Joker stared at the flashing message, not feeling anything as his whole body went numb. The console wasn’t saying it, because to it, EDI was just software. But Joker knew what the error message meant. EDI was dead.
Twilight Sparkle stood in the observation room of the Normandy, watching as the sun dipped past the horizon, blanketing the world in darkness. The forest would be infinitely more dangerous now that the nocturnal creatures were coming out, but she was confident that she would be safe in this ship. Stifling a yawn, Twilight looked down at the pages of notes she had taken over the course of the day. She had brought twenty pieces of parchment with her, and she had filled up the front and back of every single one with new information. They were going to have to tell other ponies about the galactic community eventually, this information would hopefully make it a bit easier.
Looking around, Twilight took in the state of her friends. Rarity was examining a piece of parchment that she had taken from Twilight, upon which was a design for a new dress that took much inspiration from Tali’s suit. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were exchanging all that they had learned, while Pinkie Pie was entertaining Fluttershy with what she had learned. Smiling, Twilight stood up to stretch her legs and wings. They had become sore from being in this cramped environment all day, but with all that she had learned, it was worth it. Looking up at the sound of the door opening, Twilight found Tali entering the room, looking around curiously.
“Have any of you seen Joker?” she asked. “I’ve been looking all over for him, but I haven’t seen him in a couple of hours.”
“We haven’t seen him since he left to speak with you, after talking to Admiral Hackett,” Twilight answered, slowly crossing the room. “Do you need help looking for him?”
“No, it’s not that big of a ship,” Tali said, sighing. “But thank you. I should keep looking for him. But first, do you intend on staying the night?”
“I hadn’t planned on it,” Twilight replied. “I can teleport us all back to Ponyville safe and sound, then bring us back tomorrow.” Nodding, turned around and exited the room, the door closing behind her. Twilight stared at the spot she had been standing curiously.
“I wonder where he is...”
Tali stepped away from the starboard observation deck, curiously wondering about the whereabouts of the ship’s pilot. She had checked the cockpit but he had not been there, she had checked the port lounge, the hangar, engineering… She had practically turned the ship inside out looking for him with all of the rooms she had checked. There weren’t many more places onboard that he could be hiding, except…
The AI core. She hadn’t checked there yet. Breaking into a quick jog, Tali opened the door to the medbay and stepped inside. Dr. Chakwas was treating several injured crewmen, though she did glance up to nod a hello to Tali. Tali reciprocated the gesture and walked to the end of the room where the AI core was. Pressing the button to open the door, Tali stepped into the darkened chamber. Sitting in the middle of the room was a motionless figure, his legs crossed and his hands in his lap.
“Joker?” Tali asked as the door closed behind her. There was no answer. The quarian cautiously stepped up behind the figure and leaned down, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Joker, can you hear me?” The pilot recoiled at the touch of her hand, but did not push her away.
“Joker…” He slowly turned his head to reveal to Tali his eyes, which were glistening with tears.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this…” he whispered.
“What do you mean?” Tali asked, confused. She withdrew her hand and stood up over the human.
“We were… we were gonna settle down after the Reapers were gone…” he continued. “Or, settle down as much as we could… just somewhere where we didn’t have to worry about getting shot at all the time…” Her confusion growing, Tali stepped away from the pilot and wandered over to the maintenance console on the side of the room, turning it on with a touch. Instantly, she knew what was wrong.
ERROR: AI CORE WIPED. PROCESSES DISABLED. ENHANCED DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE OFFLINE. SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN.
Whirling around, Tali looked the human right in his sorrowful eyes. He glanced up at her, not saying anything.
“Joker…” Tali whispered. “I’m so sorry.” She crossed to him, crouched down, and took him up in an embrace. “I’m so, so, so sorry.” Joker did not speak. He simply fell into Tali’s embrace, silently letting his tears flow freely.
Princess Celestia stood on the balcony of her bedroom as her sun finished lowering, holding a piece of parchment out in front of her. Behind her was Princess Luna, sitting on a set of cushions pushed to the side of Celestia’s room.
“I think that this address should be good enough,” she decided, folding the piece of parchment up. “What do you think?”
“The cover-up that the Reaper is an ancient aquatic species from our ocean?” Luna asked skeptically. “It will hold up for now, but certainly not forever. What happens when ponies start investigating the sea?”
“Hm… Perhaps I should add that it was the last of its kind?” Celestia suggested. “That could dissuade ponies from going to look.”
“Again, it will for now,” the princess of the night stressed. “It simply will not hold up forever. What about when we meet with the galactic community? Our ponies will learn of the Reapers immediately, and then they’ll know we lied to them.”
“Well what do you suggest, Luna?” Celestia asked. “That we do nothing?” Luna stood from her spot on the cushions and crossed to her sister.
“Yes, ‘Tia,” Luna said, nodding. “That is exactly what I am suggesting. We tell our ponies that the situation is under control, they are safe, it won’t happen again, and all of the usual stuff. Then, when we’re ready, we reveal the existence of peaceful aliens to them. During this time we may drop that the Reapers exist, but downplay it. More than likely most ponies will be too swept up in the knowledge that we are not alone to even care.”
“That is dishonest, Luna,” Celestia reprimanded.
“So is your way,” the younger alicorn said. “The only difference is that my way accounts for the future, rather than simply covering our flanks now. Isn’t that better?” Sighing, Celestia fell to her flank and closed her eyes.
“… Yes… yes it is…” she admitted. “Alright. We’ll do it your way. I’ll let Cadance and Twilight know, and we need to let the other species on Equis know as well. Prime Minister Sharptooth already knows about the geth and the collectors, but as far as I know he never knew about the rest. And the zebra president has been kept in the dark about it all. We have to tell them, they deserve to know.”
“And what of the changelings?” Luna asked.
“We haven’t heard from them in months,” Celestia began, standing up. “They said they were trying to create a new queen, but we don’t know if they were successful. For all we know, they’re extinct… Even so, I’ll send a messenger their way. The peace we’ve been trying to sow between our two kinds will mean nothing if we keep them in the dark about this.”
“I will return to the Normandy tomorrow, if that is okay,” Luna said. “There is still much that we can learn. I also wish to hear what our new friends suggest we do with the Reaper…”
“I am still troubled that it attacked us in the first place,” the solar diarch said. “Legion told us we would not be targeted, as we are pre-spaceflight. What drove them here, and how did they find us?”
“We may never know, ‘Tia,” Luna sighed. “We may never know…”
Kaidan Alenko awoke to the sound of knocking on the door to the observation room where he had made his home. Rubbing his forehead, he sat up on the couch that had become his bed, stood up, and crossed over to the door, opening it as soon as he was in range. Standing in the doorway was Specialist Traynor, her hand held up mid-knock.
“Major Alenko, Admiral Hackett is on the QEC,” she reported, saluting.
“Isn’t it Joker’s job to do all comms?” Kaidan asked, confused.
“It is… He’s… not emotionally sound right now…” Traynor explained.
“What do you mean?”
“EDI… EDI’s dead…” the comm specialist’s face fell, and sadness glistened in her eyes. Kaidan recalled that she had EDI had worked together quite frequently during the Reaper War, and even had developed a friendship.
“I… see…” Kaidan said slowly. “Well, I guess I should go talk to the Admiral, then…” Nodding, Traynor turned around and led the major to the elevator, stepping inside. She hit the button for the CIC and the door slid shut as the small box began its climb.
“How is the crew doing?” the major asked.
“Surprisingly well,” Traynor answered. “They’re all a bit surprised at the existence of ponies, though they’re handling it quite professionally. They’re continuing to do their jobs, and we should have a full damage report by noon today.”
“Good,” Kaidan said as they exited the elevator and began to make their way to the war room. “And the ponies?”
“Princess Twilight said she’d be back around ten in the morning,” she reported. “That gives us a little over an hour to prepare everything.” Nodding his approval, Kaidan stepped past Traynor and entered the QEC room where Admiral Hackett was already waiting.
“Major Alenko, it’s good to see you,” the admiral said, smiling. “What’s your status? Has anything changed since I last spoke with Mr. Moreau?”
“There’s been one development, sir…” Kaidan began. “EDI, the AI, is gone.”
“Explain, Major.” Looking behind him, Kaidan motioned for Traynor to join him.
“Uh, well, after she didn’t come back online following the power restart, Tali began a reboot of her systems,” Traynor explained. “As soon as that was finished, the system alerted us that the AI core had been wiped.”
“Yesterday, a few hours after I spoke with Mr. Moreau, we came across some geth ships that hadn’t made it out of the system,” the admiral began. “They had power, but weren’t responding to our hails. A quarian ship docked, went onboard, and found it totally empty. The computers had been wiped, no geth programs survived.” Kaidan and Traynor exchanged glances, then looked back to Hackett.
“How is that possible?” Traynor asked.
“We’re not sure, but our scientists think the Crucible did it,” Hackett answered. “Last recorded contact with a geth ship was just a few moments before the Crucible energy passed over us and knocked us out of FTL. Since then, nothing.”
“That could make sense,” Traynor started. “The Reapers are just software, like EDI and like the geth, but they operate in mobile bodies: their ships. Perhaps the Crucible targeted the programs that make up the Reapers themselves. If that’s the case, then it may not have discriminated. All self-aware programs would have been targeted.”
“That’s what our scientists think,” Hackett said. “Listen, a scouting team found one of the gyros from the Charon Relay floating a few hundred thousand kilometers away. They’re bringing it back now, and we think we can chart its path from the Relay to find the others. As soon as we’re operational, I’m sending ships to all major systems in the galaxy, including yours. Just hold out for a few more days, and keep up talks with the ponies.
“We’re fairly sure the council was on the Citadel when the Reapers took it, meaning they’re most likely dead. If this is the case, other leaders from the council races will be coming. I’ll represent humanity and Primarch Victus will represent the turians. Matriarch Lidanya aboard the Destiny Ascension will represent the asari, and we’ll try to get a hold of a salarian. Once all of this is organized, we’ll make our way to you.”
“Understood, sir,” Kaidan said, saluting. “Is that all?”
“That’s all, Major,” the admiral nodded. “Hackett out.”
Twilight Sparkle’s eyes slowly opened as the rays of Celestia’s sun flooded in through her large crystalline window. Turning over to check her clock, the princess was surprised to find that the time was nearing nine o’clock. She hadn’t slept this late in months, but then again, she hadn’t met aliens in months either. Slowly crawling out from beneath her thick covers, Twilight began to go over in her head what her plan for the day was. Princess Luna and her friends would be joining her shortly, and they would teleport back to the Normandy at ten o’clock. Once there, more formal negotiations would begin regarding the ponies’ place in the galaxy. She also hoped to take at least one of them to the Reaper so that they could examine, and confirm that it was dead.
Trotting down the stairs to the main hall of her expansive castle, Twilight was surprised to find Princess Luna already present. She had on her back a pair of saddlebags, decorated on each side with her cutie mark. The princess of the night moved around the main hall, examining the natural crystal construction of the castle. She turned around as she heard Twilight approach, and smiled warmly.
“Greetings, Twilight,” she said, bowing her head. “Will we be leaving soon?”
“I told our new friends that we’d be arriving around ten,” Twilight answered. “My friends should be around shortly. In the meantime, we can plan out what we’re going to talk about.”
“Celestia and I were talking earlier this morning,” Luna began. “These early negotiations will only be preparing for the rest. We cannot make decisions on behalf of the entire planet, to do so would undermine the authority of the other species. She is meeting with the zebra, the griffons, and hopefully the changelings soon.”
“The changelings?” Twilight wondered. “Why are they being brought along?”
“If we do not include them in discussions this important, they will take offense, and may become hostile to us once again,” Luna explained. “The mutual peace we have managed to establish is shaky at best. It relies only on both sides not wanting war. Should we do anything to change that, we will have a problem on our hooves.
“The main group I’m concerned about are the griffons. Prime Minister Sharptooth is trying his best to deal with their domestic problems, but he is losing ground and influence. Hopefully news such as this can help to reunify the griffons…” Twilight was at first confused about what the princess was talking about, until she remembered the events that took place four months ago. After the collectors had staged their weapon test over the griffon capital, the griffon people began to lose faith in Sharptooth. Where once he was a very well respected political leader, he began facing more opposition as griffons believed he could no longer protect them. This had escalated dramatically four months ago, when a group of griffon extremists attacked the Prime Minister’s castle, destroying several rooms and killing many castle staff. That had marked the beginning of an undeclared insurgency, which was beginning to gain power. Sharptooth was doing what he could to keep the peace and dispel the rebellion, but it was not going particularly well.
“Hopefully he can make it…” Twilight said, frowning. Her attention was drawn away from the princess of the night as the door to her castle opened, and five mares entered, all of them wearing excited expressions.
“Howdy Twilight! Howdy Princess Luna!” Applejack greeted, waving a hoof. The five mares stopped in front of the two princesses, all of them smiling.
“Greetings, everypony,” Luna answered, bowing her head.
“Hey everyone,” Twilight said, smiling back. It was now that Twilight noticed a covered tray resting on Pinkie Pie’s back. She stared quizzically at the pony, not even having to ask for an explanation.
“I made cupcakes!” the party mare exclaimed, pulling the tray off of her back and opening it. Sure enough, there were two dozen cupcakes arranged in the tray with bright pink frosting. “I didn’t have a chance to test my cooking when Legion was here because he eats nuclear fusion! And I didn’t know what nuclear fusion tasted like or how to make it, so I couldn’t make him anything! Do you think our new friends will like them?”
“I’m sure they’ll love them, Pinkie,” Twilight replied. “If they can even eat them. We have no idea what their diets are like!”
“Regardless, I’m sure they will appreciate the gesture,” Luna added. “One more thing, however. Celestia wishes for us to bring a few of the aliens back to Canterlot for the foreign leaders to meet, and so we can run some quick medical evaluations on them to make sure they haven’t brought any plagues.”
“Good thinking,” Twilight said. “Well we’ve still got close to forty-five minutes before we have to go, so for now… we wait.”
Kaidan stared at his reflection in the mirror before him, examining the attire he had on. It was not often that he put on his dress blues, but it also was not often that he held negotiations with aliens. Running his hands down the uniform to remove some wrinkles, Kaidan stepped away from the mirror, satisfied. Stepping out of the Normandy crew quarters, the soldier crossed the hall and entered the elevator, setting his destination for the CIC. Once there he would go to the meeting room and quickly brief the rest of the squad on the plans of the day.
The elevator door opened as it reached the CIC, and Kaidan stepped out, immediately taking a right through the security checkpoint and to the meeting room. Already there was the rest of Shepard’s squad, all of them waiting expectantly. The major noticed that Joker was not present, likely he was still mourning. All eyes were on Kaidan as he entered the meeting area and took his place at the head of the table.
“Thanks for meeting me here,” he began. “I just thought I should brief you on what we’ll be doing today. The main event will be preliminary negotiations with the ponies. We’ll be talking with princesses Luna and Twilight, and I’d like one representative from each race here to be present. That means me, Garrus, Tali, Liara, and Javik. While these talks are going on, James, I’d like you to take the rest of the ponies on a tour of the ship. Be sure to stop them by Chakwas in the medical bay, she wants to run some quick tests. Any questions?”
“Must I be present?” Javik asked, glaring. “I am the only prothean left alive in the galaxy. How can I represent a species that no longer exists?”
“It’s a good will gesture,” Kaidan explained. “Having one of each of us will show that we’re all interested in them.”
“I am not interested in them,” the prothean countered. “I simply wish to return to the rest of the galaxy.”
“Javik, you need to be there,” Kaidan pressured. “If we send a bad message because one of our alien crew isn’t present, we may never be able to return to the rest of the galaxy.”
“… Very well…” Javik growled.
“Anyone else?” Kaidan asked, gauging the room. When nobody else spoke up, Kaidan nodded and prepared himself for the next order of business. “One more thing… I was talking with Admiral Hackett earlier. He tells me that all geth ships that didn’t make it through the Relay are empty. The same thing that happened to EDI happened to them.”
“Do they know why?” Tali asked curiously.
“They think the Crucible did it,” the major explained. “They think that it killed the Reapers by destroying the programs that, when combined, make them self-aware. If they were similar enough to EDI and the geth, then the Crucible wouldn’t have been able to differentiate between the two.”
“But… Why would Shepard do that?” Garrus wondered, squinting his small eyes. “He went through a lot of trouble to save the geth, and he supported EDI and Joker’s relationship from day one. Why would he undo that?”
“Perhaps he didn’t know,” Liara suggested. “Or perhaps it was the only way. We may never know. If Shepard… survived… he will have a lot of explaining to do.”
“Yeah…” Kaidan whispered. “Well… our guests should be here soon, we should head to the airlock and meet them. Dismissed.”
Doctor David Foster stood, frustrated, in front of one of two QECs, scowling at the uncooperative device. Once again he tried to establish a connection, and once again he was met with the same error.
“Cannot achieve connection with Cronos Station. Please try again later.”
Sighing, Foster decided finally to take the computer’s advice and try again later. Granted this was his second round of attempts; his first had been the day before, to report the presence of a Reaper and an Alliance vessel. When that had not worked, he had hypothesized that there was some form of interference from the ‘red wave of energy’. But now that it had been over twenty-four hours, he was beginning to worry.
The last time he had been contacted by the Illusive Man was four days ago, when his boss reported that they had finally found a way to control the Reapers. If the attack on Equestria was any indicator, that plan had either failed, or had not yet been completed. Regardless, that Foster could not achieve a connection was worrying.
Stepping out of the room devoted to the two QECs, the doctor re-entered the operations room of his facility. Cerberus logos decorated the white walls, serving as a constant reminder of their mission. On one wall was a large screen, upon which was a map of the planet. Still present were the three flashing dots, but Foster’s eyes were drawn to the one closest to the bottom: the Reaper. They could not get any scientists out there to examine it without revealing themselves to the ponies, and that was not something that they wanted. Their mission was meant to be entirely clandestine: get in, complete the objective, and get out with their prize. Their objective was not conventional for Cerberus, but it was merely a means to an end. Once human dominance had been secured, it would be discarded.
“Sir,” a tech said, stepping up behind the doctor. “The first device is finished.”
“Good,” Foster said, the corners of his mouth turning up ever so slightly. “Have it distributed as soon as possible.” The technician nodded and stepped away, leaving the doctor alone to examine the map. With a press of a button it zoomed in on the country where they had made their home, highlighting all of the major cities. Unrest was growing, and Foster intended to use it. Cerberus was a powerful organization – with the right resources and the right timing, they could make anything work.
Princess Celestia paced back and forth in the royal meeting room of the castle, trying to calm her nerves. It was not often that the solar princess allowed herself to become so nervous, but it was not often that she was faced with circumstances such as these. When Legion had arrived, it had been small scale. He was just one alien, and he was fairly cooperative. Now Celestia had an entire ship of aliens on her hooves, and had had one of her cities attacked by a Reaper. If that was not a potential recipe for disaster, the solar princess did not know what was. Sighing, she finally stopped her pacing and took a seat at the long marble meeting table that dominated the room. No sooner had she sat down than the door opened, signaling the entrance of the zebra president. The mare stepped into the room, her eyes wide open and a warm smile adorning her lips. A set of golden bands jingled around her neck with each step she took to meet the princess of Equestria.
“Celestia,” the president greeted, smiling. “It is so good to see you again.”
“Malkia,” Celestia responded, standing up from her chair and reciprocating the smile. “It has been far too long. How are you?”
“The years have been good,” Malkia answered, meandering throughout the room. “Zebrica is at peace, our people are prosperous. But from what I hear, that is not the case for Equestria.” The president turned to face the princess. “Tell me: what truth is there in these reports of a ‘metal insect’ that attacked one of your cities?”
“I’m afraid it is nothing but true,” Celestia said somberly, frowning. “That is partly why I have asked you here today. But before I explain anything, I believe it would be wise to wait for our other guests.”
“Guests?” Malkia asked. “As in, more than one? I was aware that you had invited Sharptooth, but who else is attending?”
“Well…” the princess faltered, her eyes straying from the zebra before her. “You are aware of the changeling incursions from several months ago, yes?” Malkia nodded. “After that was… dealt with… we saw fit to attempt peace talks. As part of promoting peace I… invited one of them.” Malkia reacted better than Celestia had expected. While a look of surprise did cross her face for a moment, in the same amount of time it was back to its calm demeanor.
“I see,” she said. “And while I wish I had been told this beforehoof, it is good that peace with the changelings may be within your grasp. So, where is their representative?”
“I don’t even know if he will show up,” Celestia replied. “If they don’t flat-out ignore our message, they may not be in a position to come. But I suppose we will see.” Malkia nodded, and took a seat in one of the cushioned chairs in the room. Celestia did the same, and the two sat in silence for several moments. It was broken by the door opening once more and the sound of sharp talons clacking on the marble floors. Both Celestia and Malkia turned around to face the newcomer, and were met with the sight of an unfamiliar griffon. His brown feathers ruffled, and he looked around the room with his golden eyes.
“Hello,” Celestia said after a moment of silence. “Welcome to Canterlot. I assume you are the griffon representative?”
“Yes, your highness,” the griffon said in a deep voice, bowing his head. “I am Senator Proudwing of Gryphonia. Prime Minister Sharptooth apologizes for not being here, but you two are aware of the situation brewing.”
“Indeed,” Malkia spoke up. “Has Sharptooth made any progress in talking down the insurgents?”
“This insurgency is past the point of talking, madam president,” Proudwing began, walking around the table to a chair opposite Malkia. “This is no demonstration by a few grieved citizens, this is an armed rebellion! Just this morning a government building was razed to the ground in one of our smaller towns! The government officials working there were all burned alive in the center of town for all to see! There is no more room for negotiations…” Celestia’s eyes widened in shock at the news. She knew it was getting bad, especially after the attack on Sharptooth’s castle four months prior. But she had expected it to be dispelled rather easily. Clearly she had been mistaken…
“Sharptooth’s people have every right to be upset with their government,” she said. “But to take it to such lengths? That is… awful.”
“We will deal with it, princess,” the griffon said, nodding. “But we are not here to talk about griffon domestic problems. We are here to talk about Equestria. Shall we begin?”
“Not quite,” Celestia answered. “We’re still waiting for our final guest…”
“Final guest? Who—“
Proudwing never got to finish his question before the door opened and a guard poked his head inside.
“Your highness?” the guard started. “Um… he’s here…” Celestia raised her eyebrows, honestly surprised that their third guest had decided to show up.
“Send him in,” she ordered. Nodding, the guard ducked his head back out of the doorframe. A moment later a pony-shaped creature wearing a hooded cloak stepped into the room. The cloak obscured all of the creature’s features, but Celestia knew exactly what he was. He navigated around the room, taking a seat opposite Celestia.
“And who is this?” Proudwing asked. “Our third guest? Well, off with your hood!” The third complied, and jerked his head back, sending the hood flying off. When he did, the griffon gasped and leapt out of his chair.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Peace, Mr. Proudwing,” Celestia urged. “The changeling is here because I asked him to be here. We are attempting peace with them, and I thought that this matter was important enough to include them.” Lowering his head, Proudwing reassumed his seat.
“Forgive me…” he whispered. Nodding, Celestia turned her head to the changeling.
“What is your name?” she asked.
“You know me, princess,” he answered. “I am Erebus, temporary leader of the changelings.”
“Ah, Erebus,” Celestia repeated, remembering the changeling that Twilight and Cadance had captured while she had been in the custody of Chrysalis. “It is good to have you in my castle again.”
“Do not attempt to flatter me with lies, Celestia,” Erebus hissed. “We both know that you want nothing more than for me to leave, and for my hive to die. But if this matter is important enough to involve my kind, then let us get it over with.” Sighing, Celestia nodded.
“Very well.” Looking around the room, Celestia found all eyes on her. Gulping, Celestia prepared to tell them her tale.
“I know that Erebus already knows, but Proudwing, to what extent did Sharptooth explain the changeling situation from seven months ago?” the princess asked.
“He told me everything,” Proudwing answered. “Had we not just been attacked, he would have been far angrier at you.”
“Angry about what?” Malkia inquired. “What am I missing?” Sighing, Celestia turned to regard the president.
“Eight months ago, the changelings infected my country with a disease and kidnapped my ponies,” she began. “But you already knew this. What you did not know were the specifics of the virus, or who developed it. Malkia, it was not of changeling origin. The virus that infected my ponies was alien.”
“A… Alien?” the president sputtered. “What do you mean, alien!?”
“As in aliens not from this world,” Celestia continued. “They were called the collectors. They were harvesting ponies because of our ability to harness magic. The collectors then used our own magic to power a weapon of mass destruction. A weapon which was tested on Gryphonia.”
“The attack on our capital, Malkia,” the griffon explained. “I recall you sent us quite a bit of aid, for which we are forever grateful. We told you it was a diamond dog bomb. It was not.”
“The collectors were eventually defeated, of course,” Celestia picked back up. “Though it was not by us. Rather, it was completed by another alien named Legion, of a species known as the geth. He was friendly to Equestria, and helped us while he was stranded here. When he finally gained the ability to leave and return home, we wanted to accompany him. He would not allow it. He warned us of a race of alien machines called the Reapers who were going to attack his kind and many others among the stars. If he took one of us, not only ponykind, but all of Equis would be at risk.
“That was seven months ago. Malkia, yesterday’s attack on Las Pegasus, the one carried out by the giant metal insect… that was a Reaper.” Malkia stared down at the table, her eyes wide and pupils small. She glanced up at the princess, her expression unreadable.
“When were you planning on telling the zebra about this?” she asked quietly.
“Fear not, Malkia, for we did intend to tell you,” the princess said. “We were going to wait until Legion returned, as that would mean the Reapers had been defeated. We would then reveal his existence and the existence of other aliens to the entire world. But Legion never returned. However, others did…
“The Reaper was killed by a red wave of energy that passed over the planet. I have no doubts that you saw it, and that you were confused as to what it was. Following this red wave of energy was another spaceship, this one occupied by several alien races who were friends of Legion. It crashed in the Everfree forest, and Twilight and Luna are there now. They are peaceful, and we are working on negotiations with them. I simply saw fit to inform you and include you in the negotiations. These decisions affect more than just Equestria.”
“Yes, they do,” Proudwing said. “Thank you for thinking to include us. So, when shall we meet them?”
“After Luna and Twilight conclude their negotiations,” Celestia answered. “They will bring a few back here. We will have them examined by doctors to ensure that they are safe, then we will be given the opportunity to meet them. In the meantime, a lounge has been prepared for all of you. Please follow the guard outside, and he will escort you.”
“Thank you, Celestia,” Malkia said, standing up. “I wish that you had told us about all of this earlier, but I suppose it’s better late than never.” With that she exited crossed the room and exited through the door. Proudwing and Erebus were quick to follow her, and in seconds Celestia found herself alone once again. Letting out a sigh of relief, the solar princess stood from her chair. The meeting had gone better than she expected, but it was far from over. Stepping up to a large window and gazing out, the princess found her eyes being drawn to the Everfree forest. Luna, Twilight, and the other Elements would be arriving by now. She hoped that their meeting went as well as hers had…
Pushing down the creases in his ever-present short-sleeved shirt, James stood next to Kaidan and the rest of the greeting party for the ponies. They stood before the door to the airlock, waiting for the proximity alarms to once again be tripped. Then the princesses would go with Kaidan and the other “representatives” to negotiate while James would take the ponies on a tour. The lieutenant was not sure why Major Alenko had chosen him to lead the tour, but he was not going to complain. James was social enough, spending an hour or so showing a few ponies around the ship didn’t sound that bad…
A green light above the airlock lit up, signaling that the proximity sensors had been tripped. Straightening his back, James stood at the ready as he hear the outer airlock door opening. A moment later it closed, and the inner door opened, revealing their seven guests. Kaidan stepped up to the dark blue one – Princess Luna, James remembered – and extended his hand. The princess took it for a quick shake before stepping into the ship itself.
“Welcome back aboard the Normandy, your highness,” Kaidan said, walking beside the princess.
“Please, you needn’t worry about such titles,” the princess stated, holding up a hoof. “To those who are not my subjects, I am simply Luna. Or princess, if you wish.”
“Very well, princess,” Kaidan continued. “Shall we begin?”
“Yes, but where is Joker?” Luna asked, looking around. “Is he not in command of this vessel?” Kaidan drew in a sharp breath, and lowered his eyes.
“He’s… not available right now…” he answered. “I’ll explain later. For now, why don’t you and Princess Twilight come with me to the meeting room. Everybody else can accompany James here for a quick tour.” The major pointed out the new human to the five non-royal ponies, who all turned their gazes to him.
“Uh, hey,” James said, waving. “I’m James.”
“We’ll go on ahead,” Kaidan said, stepping past the lieutenant. “James, you’ll probably wrap up before us. Just hang on in starboard observation until we’re done.” Saluting, James stood back as Kaidan escorted the princesses down the CIC and through the door at the back into the meeting room. As soon as it closed, James turned around, finding himself alone with the ponies.
“Hey, so as I already said, I’m James, nice to meet you all,” the lieutenant repeated. “What’s up?” The five ponies all stared at him quizzically, making the soldier feel quite self-conscious. Deciding to skip formalities, James jumped right in.
“The room that you’re in right now is called the CIC, or combat information center. It’s the main room of the ship, where most of the crew works at their stations. Up here closer to the airlock are subsystems, where we can monitor security, life support, and other basic systems. Down here are the more important parts…” James turned and began walking down the CIC to the back, towards the hologram of the ship. The ponies followed behind, silently staring in awe at the technology.
“Around the hologram are sensors, weapons monitoring, kinetic barrier monitoring, and at the back is the galaxy map. From that map, we can pick any destination in the galaxy, as long as there’s a Mass Relay available. The coordinates are sent up to the cockpit up front where the helmsman does all the navigating. Come on, let’s head down to deck three…” Gesturing to the elevator, James led the ponies into the small room, pressing the button for the crew deck as soon as they were all inside. As the elevator made its short descent, James looked down at his tour group.
“You’re all a quiet bunch, huh?” he asked.
“Well, not always…” one of them finally said, speaking in a distinct southern accent. James looked to the pony, finding her to be an orange mare wearing a brown Stetson. On her flank was a tattoo of three red apples. James eyed the tattoo curiously, but decided to ask about it later. “It’s just… Princesses Luna and Twilight told us to be extra careful…”
“Yeah, why’s that?”
“She’s worried we might break something…” another pony said, this one in a higher-pitched, scratchy voice. James found this one to be a cyan pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane. She seemed to be itching to fly, but the close-quarters nature of the elevator made it difficult to do so.
“Ah, don’t worry about that,” James said, laughing. “Normandy is a state-of-the-art ship. You’d have to try pretty hard to break something in here.” All at once, the ponies let out sighs of relief from breaths they had been holding. “You don’t have to be so quiet. If you’ve got any questions, just ask.” As soon as he was finished speaking, the door to the elevator opened, revealing the memorial wall. The lieutenant made to walk straight past it, but was stopped as one pony spoke.
“What’s that…?” she asked in a soft, barely audible voice. Turning around, James backtracked a bit and came to stand next to the yellow pegasus who had asked the question, staring at the wall.
“That’s the memorial wall,” he explained. “On it are the names of crew members who have died while serving on this ship.”
“That’s a lot of names…” a white unicorn observed. “Did you know them well?”
“Nah, I’m still pretty new here,” James answered. He reached for a name on the second column, pulling the plaque off. “This one is Legion’s…”
“Y’all knew Legion?” the orange one asked.
“Yeah, I met him,” the lieutenant replied. “I was about ready to blow his head off when Shepard brought him aboard, but… I got to know him a bit. He wasn’t half bad…” There was a moment of silence as the ponies lowered their heads. James paused before placing the plaque back on the wall, then stepped away.
“Let’s keep going,” he said. The ponies seemed eager to take their minds off of Legion, so the followed him rather quickly. James led them only a few feet to the left, to a door labelled ‘crew quarters’. Pressing the release hologram, the door opened and James stepped into the empty room. Normally it was populated by at least a few crew members, but right now they all had their work cut out for them. There was no time for rest.
“These are the crew quarters,” James explained. The white unicorn stepped forward, her face scrunched up in disgust.
“You sleep here?” she remarked, surprised. “These beds do not look comfortable at all!”
“Yeah, they’re really not,” James admitted. “But military budget doesn’t allow for too much spending on comfort. It all goes into top-of-the-line technology and R&D. But hey, after a while it ain’t so bad.”
“I cannot imagine having to sleep on one of these,” the unicorn continued, crossing over to one of the beds. She pressed down on it with her hoof, watching as the mattress hardly gave way. She shuddered, and stepped away. “Let us continue on…” Nodding, James turned around and took them to the other end of the hall to the life support room. He briefly explained what all of the machinery did, but none of the ponies seemed particularly interested in its function. Deciding to cut that room short, James moved on to the adjacent room: the port observation deck.
“This is one of my favorite rooms,” he began, looking between the poker table and the bar.
“Why?” the pink pony asked, speaking up for the first time. James struggled to look her in the eyes with such a massive mane on her head. He also noticed a covered box tied around her torso, resting on her back.
“It’s, uh… real nice to relax in,” James explained, choosing not to tell them about the variety of alcohol behind the counter. “What’s in the box?”
“It’s a surpri-ise~!” she answered in a high-pitched voice. “Just wait and see!” Nodding cautiously, James turned and walked out of the room, taking the ponies into the mess hall next. They seemed somewhat surprised at his mention of meat on the menu, but otherwise did not say anything more.
The rest of the tour of the crew deck went by quickly. He took them through Liara’s office, though he did not linger there long for fear of breaking something, then took them up to the main battery. The rainbow-haired one – who he learned was named Rainbow Dash – seemed very intrigued by the size of the cannon. James was worried he was going to have to physically restrain her from touching anything, for fear of having her mess up any of Garrus’s careful calibrations.
Next he decided to take them through the medbay to meet Doctor Chakwas. Kaidan had wanted the ponies to be examined for possible diseases, so James figured that now was as good a time as any. The doctor was where she usually was, sitting in her chair running tests at her computer. She did, however, turn around to face the lieutenant and the ponies as they entered.
“Hello, lieutenant,” she greeted. “I assume these are our guests?”
“Yes, ma’am,” James answered, stepping to the side of the room as the doctor stood up.
“Excellent,” Chakwas said, activating her omni-tool. “Now, with your permission, I would like to run a few non-invasive tests on you.”
“Tests?” the orange one asked. “What kinds of tests?”
“Nothing painful, just simple scans to see if you are carrying any microorganisms that could harm us,” the doctor explained, stepping up to the ponies.
“Hey, I haven’t got any microorganisms!” Rainbow Dash protested, shooting up into the air and flapping her wings aggressively.
“Please, I did not mean any offense,” Chakwas said. “But a microorganism that could be entirely unnoticeable to you could be deadly to us. It is simply a precaution.”
“She has a point, dears,” the white unicorn said, stepping forward. “You may do me first.” Smiling, Chakwas ran her omni-tool over the pony, watching as scan results appeared above it.
“What is your name, miss?” Chakwas asked.
“Rarity, doctor.”
“Hello Rarity, I am Doctor Chakwas,” she introduced. A moment later she stopped waving her omni-tool, and lowered her arm. “My omni-tool is not picking up anything harmful to us. It’s not exactly medical procedure, but I am going to assume that the rest of you are in the same condition. However, if you don’t mind, I would like to take a blood sample from one of you.”
“Ah’ll do it,” the orange one volunteered, stepping forward. “Name’s Applejack, howdy.”
“Thank you, Applejack,” Chakwas said, retrieving a syringe and a thin tourniquet from her desk. Applejack extended her forearm, and Chakwas tied the tourniquet just above the elbow. Then in one quick motion she plunged the syringe into Applejack’s arm, drawing the plunger back. As it came back the tube was filled with crimson blood. As soon as it was full, Chakwas withdrew the syringe and placed it on her desk. She placed a band-aid on Applejack’s arm and removed the tourniquet, smiling gratefully at the pony.
“Thank you once again,” she said. “This will help very much.” Tipping her had forward, Applejack returned to the group.
“All right, is that all doc?” James asked.
“That is all, thank you James,” Chakwas replied, turning her attention to the syringe. Nodding, James turned and exited the medical bay with the ponies right behind him. Next they would hit the engineering deck, and after that the hangar. As he stepped into the elevator, James’s thoughts turned to the negotiations one deck up. As the small box began its descent, he hoped that the talks were going well…
EARLIER
Princess Luna followed Kaidan into the meeting room of Normandy, with Twilight Sparkle right behind her. Also present were the other aliens she had met the day before: Tali, Garrus, Liara, and Javik. They all filed into the cramped room and took positions around a high wooden table, leaving two spaces open for the ponies. Luna stepped into one of them, finding herself standing next to Tali. Twilight took up position next to her, standing beside Garrus.
“Alright, before we begin, I guess I should explain why Joker’s not overseeing all of this,” Kaidan began, taking his position at the head of the table. “The Normandy had an AI onboard named EDI.”
“An AI?” Twilight interrupted. “Like Legion?”
“Similar, I suppose,” Kaidan answered. “They were both self-aware computers, but Legion was a collection of over a thousand programs. EDI was just one single personality, which was made possible by using Reaper tech in her systems. She and Joker were… together. Certainly not normal considering that, besides the geth, EDI is the only AI in the galaxy. Shortly after the crash, it was determined that EDI’s computer systems had been wiped. To put it another way, she was effectively found dead.”
“That’s awful!” Luna exclaimed, feeling sorrow for the human. “Is he going to be okay?” Kaidan looked down and shook his head.
“He’s keeping to himself in the cockpit right now,” he said. “Joker would never admit to being upset, but we all know he is. He’ll recover, he just needs time.
“Unfortunately, there’s more. I talked to Admiral Hackett this morning. According to him, all of the geth warships they came across were entirely empty as well. The exact same thing that killed EDI killed them. All of them.”
“Every single geth in the galaxy?” Twilight asked quietly, sadness seeping into her voice. “They’re dead?”
“Yes,” Kaidan confirmed, nodding. “We think we know what caused it. The Crucible – the device we used to kill the Reapers – may have affected other self-aware machines as well. This is still unconfirmed, but right now it sounds like the most likely theory.”
“That is… quite unfortunate,” Luna observed. “But they are machines. Is there no hope of restoring them?”
“It could be possible, I’m not sure,” the human said. “But if not, we can rebuild them. It wouldn’t be entirely the same, but at least we’d have them back.” There was silence for a moment as no one spoke.
“Perhaps we should continue with the talks,” Javik finally said in his deep, rolling voice.
“Javik is right, let’s get this rolling,” Kaidan agreed. “Now, we cannot introduce your planet to the galactic community if there is not unanimous consent from all of the other races.”
“My sister is meeting with the leaders of the zebra, griffon, and changeling nations as we speak,” Luna said. “Once we get their consent, we will try to send emissaries to the dragons and the diamond dogs. If they’re not immediately killed or taken prisoner, it shouldn’t be too difficult to convince them.”
“Alright,” Kaidan said, nodding. “Now, as you already know, uplifting a relatively primitive species is a… divisive issue. You wouldn’t be introduced to the galaxy at large until the leaders of the Citadel races got to meet you here. Now right now the races are a bit disorganized because of the Reapers, but as soon as they get back on their feet they’ll be sending a fleet here. Any questions?”
“No, just one request,” Luna began. “Like the species of the galaxy, the races on this planet would like to meet you as well. As I said, my sister is meeting with the griffon, zebra, and changeling leaders. With your consent, I would like to take one of each race back to Canterlot with me to meet them. Additionally we would like to perform basic medical evaluations of each of you to confirm that none of you brought anything harmful to us.”
“Very understandable, and I’ll definitely accompany you,” Kaidan agreed. “What about you guys? Tali, Garrus, Liara, Javik?”
“It may be difficult to perform medical evaluations on me because of the suit, but I can try,” Tali said.
“I’ve got no objections,” Garrus nodded.
“Nor do I,” Liara added. All eyes were now on Javik, who glared at the princess with his four eyes.
“I will not let such a primitive species touch me,” he finally said, just barely above a whisper.
“Javik!” Kaidan shouted. “I know Shepard cooperated with you fairly loosely, but I won’t. I’m not going to let you compromise this potential friendship by refusing to comply.”
“Please, Kaidan,” Luna interjected, holding up a hoof. “I understand. I am not forcing anypony to accompany us, but if you do not I must restrict you to this ship. I cannot allow you to walk around in Equestria if you are potentially infecting the population.”
“That is fine by me,” Javik accepted.
“Alright then…” Major Alenko sighed. “Well before we go there are a few more things to discuss, so let’s get right to it…”
LATER
James Vega tiredly took a seat in the starboard observation lounge, letting out a breath as he did so. His five new pony friends all filled in behind him, each of them taking seats of their own around the room. Fluttershy and Rarity both went to the window and stared out at the forest beyond, while Applejack went to console an annoyed Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie sat in the middle of the room, a comically large smile on her face. James looked to the rainbow-maned pegasus, amused at how annoyed she still was after their incident in engineering.
When the tour had taken them to the engineering room, Engineer Donnelly had made a joke comment about Dash’s flank, which apparently the pegasus had found offensive. James nearly had to pry her off of him before she could cause any damage. He was not surprised that Donnelly had made the comment – it was exactly the type of thing he would do. Instead, James was more surprised at how strong the pegasus actually was. Even for a very well-built man such as himself, it had not been easy to restrain Dash.
Taking his eyes off of the pony, James instead diverted his attention to Pinkie Pie and the box tied around her back.
“Can I see what’s in the box now?” he asked, grinning. Pinkie closed her eyes and trotted over to the human, coming to a stop just in front of him. Then, in one graceful motion, she bucked her backside up, sending the box flying into the air, which she expertly caught in her mouth on its way down. James stared at the display, impressed, but no less curious. His curiosity was finally satiated when Pinkie opened the box, revealing several dozen professionally prepared cupcakes. Despite the acrobatics routine they had just been through, each one seemed perfectly intact.
“Ger ehrn!” she said through the box. “Trer wern ert!” Shrugging, James picked one of the cupcakes out of the box and bit into it. Immediately there was an explosion of flavor in his mouth. His eyes widened as he swallowed the first bite, and was left speechless as he took another.
“Holy crap,” he finally said. “That’s… amazing! You make these?”
“Yup!” Pinkie answered triumphantly. “Now I can say that I make the best cupcakes in Equestria, and in the galaxy!”
“You oughta spread these around to the rest of the crew,” James suggested. “It’d help lift their morale a bit probably.”
“Great idea!” Pinkie seemed about ready to leave and fulfill her mission when the door opened, revealing Kaidan. James stood up, back straight, and saluted at the major.
“At ease,” Kaidan requested, offering a polite salute back. “Tali, Garrus, Liara, and I are heading to Canterlot with Princess Luna to meet some other diplomats. You’re in charge until I get back, understood?”
“Got it,” James said, nodding. “You don’t want me to come with?”
“Just one of each species will be fine,” the major answered. “We’ll be back sometime later today. Be good, don’t blow anything up.”
“No promises, sir,” James said, chuckling. “Good luck.” Nodding, Kaidan turned and left, the door closing behind him. James turned back to the ponies, still eyeing Pinkie’s cupcakes. He slowly returned to a sitting position on the couch, grabbed another cupcake, and took a bite. If this was what could be expected of a friendship with the ponies, James would not be opposed at all…
There was a bright flash of light, and when it cleared Kaidan found himself in a place drastically different from his point of origin. Instead of the dimly-lit CIC of the Normandy, the major saw ornate marble columns supporting a very high ceiling, with intricate stain-glassed windows letting light in from the outside world. Stretching on for hundreds of meters was a very long hallway, the floor of which was adorned with a rich red carpet. Standing next to him were his compatriots from the Normandy, as well as Princess Luna. Looking around, he found himself right next to a large wooden door with two pony guards standing by it. If they were alarmed at the presence of aliens, they did not show it. Luna motioned for Kaidan to follow as she pushed open the door and stepped inside. The human complied and stepped into the room, discovering that it was a meeting room much fancier than the one aboard Normandy.
The table was far longer as was cut out of marble, and there were several cushioned chairs situated around it. Sitting in one of the chairs was a rather large pony of the same species as Luna. She had a shining white coat with a multi-colored mane that waved in a non-existent wind. Also occupying the room were three other creatures. One was quite clearly a zebra, and the half-eagle-half-lion creature he assumed was a griffon. The third resembled a pony, but had no coat to speak of. Instead it featured a black chitinous exoskeleton with a pair of glowing blue eyes. The bottomless eyes studied the human, and Kaidan immediately felt exposed. He instinctively reached for his thigh to equip a pistol, but found it empty. Pushing away the discomfort, Kaidan stepped further into the room and took a seat in one of the empty chairs. Tali, Garrus, and Liara did the same, and soon everyone was seated.
“Well then,” said the tall white pony. “Let us begin.”
“Well then,” Celestia said, sitting in her chair at the meeting room table as the aliens took their seats. “Let us begin.” Before anypony could say anything else, the door opened once again and a familiar pale-coated unicorn mare stepped in. Held in her telekinetic grip was a simple clipboard, and hovering not far away was a quill.
“This is Healthy Heart, my chief medical officer,” the princess explained. “She will be running simple scans of all of you to ensure that you are safe for us to be around. For now we have magical wards protecting us.”
“I assume you’re Luna’s sister?” one of the aliens – a tall, pale one with cropped dark hair – asked.
“That is correct,” Celestia confirmed. “I am Princess Celestia, diarch of Equestria and raiser of the sun. And you are?”
“Major Kaiden Alenko, ma’am,” the alien introduced. He then began motioning to his companions. “With me are Garrus Vakarian, Liara T’Soni, and Tali’Zorah vas Normandy.”
“Tali’Zorah?” Celestia asked. “That name is familiar…”
“According to Twilight, Legion mentioned me a few times,” Tali answered. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
“And you, all of you,” Celestia said. “As I already said, I am Princess Celestia of Equestria. This is President Malkia of Zebrica, Senator Proudwing of Gryphonia, and Erebus of the changelings.” Kaidan nodded his greetings to the others, two of whom reciprocated the gesture. Erebus simply stared the alien down, his bottomless blue eyes never blinking.
“Before we begin, there’s some… unfortunate news,” Kaidan began, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “I figure you’ll want to know, given your relationship with Legion. We got into contact with our military leadership not long after the crash. This morning I was told that all geth in the galaxy are gone. They were killed by the same weapon that we used to destroy the Reapers when it was activated by my CO – Commander Shepard.”
“Commander Shepard?” Celestia asked. “But he was friends with the geth, was he not? Why would he activate this weapon if it would kill them as well?”
“Right now the most likely explanation is that he simply did not know,” Liara – the blue alien – spoke up. “Shepard has not yet been recovered, we don’t even know if he survived. But if he did, and he knew, he will have a lot of explaining to do.”
“Most of the galaxy won’t give a damn about the geth,” Garrus added. “They’ll see Shepard as even more of a hero than he already was. But for us… I don’t know.”
“Regardless, I am told that Legion died a hero,” Celestia said. “As unfortunate as that is, it is at least comforting that the war between the geth and the quarians was ended.”
“Yes, it is,” Tali agreed. “But we are not hear to speak of such… unfortunate events. Shall we begin?”
“I believe that that would be a good idea,” Malkia said from her chair, drawing the eyes of the aliens. “Princess Celestia informs us that we will be allowed into the galactic community, if we wish. But before I make such a decision on behalf of my people, tell me, what can we expect?”
“It’s difficult to sum up all of the galactic community in one sentence,” Kaidan answered. “Citadel space is civilized. There are laws set up by the Citadel council, and everyone has equal rights. The Terminus systems are very different. They fall outside the jurisdiction of the council, and as such have no laws to speak of. Governments are all local to each individual planet, and some areas can be fairly dangerous.”
“How dangerous?” Proudwing asked.
“Organized mercenary groups, pirates, slavers, gang wars, drugs,” the major listed. “If you can think of it, it’s probably there. But the groups are never unified, most of the time the merc groups are at war with one another. They’ve never had the strength to go into Citadel space, and I doubt they ever will.”
“Interesting…” Celestia said thoughtfully. “And what of Citadel space? Will our four races be welcomed there?”
“There are trillions living in Citadel space, you’re going to find at least a few nay-sayers,” Garrus replied. “But the vast majority will welcome a new species, especially now that the Reapers are gone. Something to distract from all of the loss will be nice.” Celestia nodded and looked to Erebus, wondering if he had any questions. The changeling had not said a word since he first arrived in Canterlot, all he had done was stare.
“As for what will be expected of your species, it’s really not much,” Kaidan continued. “You’ll be guided with how to use new tech, but you’ll have to pull your own weight. You won’t be given handouts or anything.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Celestia noted. “All races on Equis are self-sufficient, for the most part. We obviously rely on trade, but we do not need to be taken care of.” Kaidan made to say something more before Healthy Heart finally came to him, her horn alight. She waved it over his body, her eyes closed in concentration. When they reopened, she scribbled something down on her clipboard, then looked up to the princess.
“They’re all clean,” she reported. “I’m not picking up anything harmful.”
“Excellent.” Celestia smiled as she lit her horn and dispelled the protective ward she had conjured up around herself and the dignitaries. “Well then I suppose we are no longer restricted to this room. I will have a midday meal prepared for us, but first, what are your diets like?”
“Asari and humans are omnivorous,” Liara answered. “We can eat fruits, vegetables, meats, and grains. There are a few things we cannot digest that I assume an equine would eat, such as hay and grass, but will that be a problem?”
“Of course not, our pantries are stocked with foods of all kinds,” Luna said proudly. “Our meat content is lacking, though we usually do keep some stored away for when griffons come to visit. And what of you, Tali and Garrus?”
“Oh, we can’t eat anything you have here,” Garrus said. “Different amino acids.” Luna stared at the turian quizzically, though her obvious confusion seemed not to be picked up by him. It was, however, picked up by Tali.
“You are levo-amino-acid based, according to Legion’s OSD,” she explained. “Turians and quarians have dextro-amino-acids. To put it simply, our proteins are composed of different amino acids, and as such they cannot break down levo food. At best your food would do absolutely nothing. At worst it could kill us.”
“I see,” Celestia said. “Is there anything we can serve you?”
“Don’t worry about it, princess,” Tali replied. “We have plenty of dextro food aboard the Normandy.”
“Very well.” Celestia turned her head to face Healthy Heart. “Inform the castle cooks of all that we have learned regarding their diets. Have them prepare an appropriate meal, and send somepony to tell us when it is ready.”
“Yes, your highness.” Healthy Heart bowed her head and stepped out of the room, leaving everyone sitting in silence.
“Well then,” Kaidan finally said, breaking the silence. “Is there anything else?”
“There is one more order of business,” Celestia answered, nodding. “The Reaper. It is still sitting in the middle of Las Pegasus on top of hundreds of destroyed buildings. We’ve established a perimeter and are not allowing anypony through, but it cannot stay there forever. What do you suggest we do with it?”
“First of all, I’d recommend keeping everyone as far away from it as possible,” Liara said. “Did Legion explain indoctrination to you?” Luna and Celestia nodded. “Reapers perform this ability almost without thought. Now, without further investigation I cannot be sure, but there is always the possibility that the corpse is still capable of indoctrinating those around it.”
“It will be done,” Celestia said, nodding.
“As for what to do with it, you move the sun and moon, correct?” Liara asked. “Could you not simply pick it up and put it elsewhere?”
“It is not that simple,” Luna explained. “Alicorns such as my sister and me are very powerful, this is true, but we cannot move our celestial bodies through sheer strength alone. Rather, we form a sort of ‘bond’ with the body. I connect with the moon and Celestia connects with the sun, and in turn they connect with us. They share their power with us, giving us the ability to raise the sun and moon far more easily. Over the thousands of years that we have been alive this ability has been refined, making it almost natural. It does not carry over to everyday magic use, however.”
“I see…” Liara sighed. “There is always the possibility of waiting for some of our ships to arrive. The only problem is that it would have to be a large number of ships. A few dreadnoughts could probably lift it, but they are not rated for atmosphere. The second largest ships that we have are cruisers, and it would take quite a few to pick the Reaper up.”
“We could try moving it with our magic,” Celestia spoke up. “If we get all four alicorn princesses, as well as the most powerful unicorn mages in Equestria, we could move it. The only question is: where?”
“Where on this planet would it be safe?” Garrus asked.
“Nowhere.”
“Then space it,” the turian stated. “Teleport it up into orbit or something.”
“That honestly probably is the safest place,” Kaidan agreed. “Can you do that?”
“We can try, but it will take some time to organize,” Celestia answered. “We will have to get back to you on that.” Before anything else could be said, the door to the meeting room opened and a castle servant poked her head inside.
“Your highness, the cooks report that the meal is ready,” she said.
“Thank you, my little pony,” Celestia nodded. She turned to her guests and stood from her chair. “Shall we?” Everypony else stood up, and Celestia watched as they cleared the room and began following the servant down the hall. When the room had cleared, the princess was surprised to find Erebus still sitting in his chair.
“Will you be joining us, Erebus?” she asked.
“Your food does little to satisfy the hunger of a changeling,” he replied. “I have heard enough. I must report back to my hive and let them know about this new situation. I will be in touch…” With that, the changeling stood up and exited the room, walking down the hallway in the opposite direction of the dining hall. Sighing, Celestia stepped out and closed the door behind her. Watching as Erebus turned the corner of the hall, the princess followed her guests to the dining room.
Joker stared forlornly ahead at the display in front of him, trying not to acknowledge the empty shell sitting next to him. But try as he might, Joker found himself looking towards it, the body serving as a constant reminder of his lost loved one. He knew that everybody had lost at least one person in the war against the Reapers. He himself had lost his dad and his sister when the Reapers invaded Tiptree. But he had never expected that EDI would leave him too.
Once again looking away from the empty mobile platform, Joker focused on the display before him. On it were the results of the damage reports conducted by the crew, showing the full extent of the damage that Normandy had taken. Their eezo was dangerously low thanks to a leak that had sprung in the core, and the engines were completely burned out due to the damage they had taken from the Crucible. On top of that, there were very small hull breaches in the hangar, and the kinetic barrier system was down. The rest of the damages included some minor things: broken wall panels, burned out circuitry, overloaded systems. All of the damages would be easy enough to fix, and they were good on time. As long as the ponies did not suddenly become hostile, they would have no trouble with the repairs.
His reading complete, Joker found his eyes once again drawn over to EDI’s body, still sitting in its chair. He had done his best to get it sitting upright, but with no power to the unit, there was nothing keeping the armature rigid. As such, the body was slid far down the seat so that the back could easily rest on the back of the chair. Joker’s eyes briefly passed over the Cerberus logo on the unit’s chest, and he was reminded about his first meeting with EDI. He had hated her back then. What did I call her? He thought. Ship cancer? Joker was about ready to flash her core when they first met, but that was before she had saved his life.
Joker felt a pang of regret over how he had behaved, and frowned as he turned away from EDI’s body. He started looking for something else to occupy his time when a knock sounded on the door. Before his chair could even turn around all the way the door opened and Tali stepped inside, closing it behind her.
“Hey, Joker,” she greeted softly, walking up to the human. “How are you doing?”
“… I’m fine,” the pilot sighed. “Just… doing some work.” Tali looked behind his shoulder at the damage reports, her expression unreadable behind the purple mask.
“Good…” she said. “Well we just got back from Canterlot, the pony capital. We’ve started some talks with the pony leadership, but until the delegates from the Citadel races arrive, we can’t do much more.”
“How are the ponies taking everything?” Joker asked, trying to take his mind off EDI.
“Only their leadership and a select few others know about our existence,” Tali replied. “They’re taking it surprisingly well, but I guess that Legion helped prepare them a bit.” Joker nodded, but did not reply.
“Speaking of Legion, I was just about to get back to work on that OSD,” the quarian continued. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
“Thanks…” Tali placed a hand on his shoulder, then turned around and exited the cockpit, leaving Joker alone once again with EDI’s body. Joker spun his chair around to face forward once again, and brought up a new file on the display.
Tali sighed as she exited the cockpit, trying to think of something she could do to help the pilot. She had known him for three years now, and she hated to see such a normally light-hearted person so upset. Sitting down at a computer station near the cockpit, Tali decided to think about it later. Right now she still had to unravel the mystery of the OSD.
There were 16,564 files on the OSD. Of those files, Tali could only understand one of them, that one being the folder containing all of Legion’s data on Equis. There was one other file that was distinct from the rest, and from what Tali could tell, it was a simple script. She had no idea what the script did, as Normandy’s computer couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The remaining 16,562 were completely foreign to the quarian. She had no idea what file type they were, and the Normandy was not equipped with any program capable of opening and reading them. Their names were very long strings of letters and numbers that made no sense to Tali. She had tried running them through a few translators, but had run out of time before getting through all of them. Reopening her list of translators, Tali picked up from where she had left off.
So far, Tali had run the name of the file through multiple numeral systems, to no avail. She had tried computer languages from asari, turians, humans, even batarians, with no success. Looking to the next one on her list, Tali found it to be hexadecimal. It was human, that much she knew, but beyond that her understanding of the system was crude. Still, Normandy had a translator onboard, and Tali was not going to give up. Pasting the name of the file into the converter, Tali sat back as she pressed ‘enter’.
PROGRAM ONE PARTITION ONE
Her spine immediately straightened as she sat up in her chair, and Tali stared intently at the four words on the screen before her. Not wanting to waste a single second, Tali pasted the second name into the converted as well.
PROGRAM ONE PARTITION TWO
Smiling at her unexpected success, Tali kept translating until she reached ‘program two partition one’. Looking back, Tali found that there were fourteen partitions of this ‘program one’. But what significance was that? Curiously, Tali continued running names through the translator until she had finished with program two, and found it to have fourteen partitions as well.
“Legion, what were you doing here?” Tali whispered to herself as she activated the calculator on her omni-tool. Dividing 16,562 by 14, she found the answer to be 1,183. Squinting her eyes, Tali tried to remember where she had heard that number before. She did not have to think long. Considering that the very individual who’s OSD she was using had said that number, Tali was able to make the connection fairly quickly. The quarian did not know why, but what Legion had done was clear: he had stored himself on the OSD.
She was about to get up and find Kaidan when she remembered the script file. Curiously, Tali opened the file and decided to examine it a bit closer. As she had expected, she clearly saw the hex names of the programs hidden amongst other strings of text. She could not be sure, but it looked almost like a compiler…
Now she was certain about what Legion had done. Shooting up from her chair, Tali ran down the CIC and entered the elevator, hitting the button for the crew deck. The small box descended at an agonizingly slow speed, making Tali impatient with every passing second. Finally it opened and the quarian sprinted to the starboard observation room, ready to deliver her news.
EARLIER
“So, Princess Luna,” Garrus began, standing before the alicorn in the starboard observation deck. “You’ve learned a lot about all of us. How about you? What’s your story?”
“’Tis a long one, Garrus,” Luna answered. “I am quite a bit older than the rest of the ponies on this world. The only one older than me is my sister, and only by a few decades. Where to begin?
“I was born a little over three thousand years ago. Of course, ‘born’ isn’t exactly the right term. It’s more like I ‘appeared’. Celestia at this point was coming up on forty, and she somehow knew of my creation. She found me and took care of me, as I was still a newborn foal. We grew up together as sisters, learning about the world and strengthening our magic. Celestia controlled both the sun and the moon, but on my twentieth birthday I got this… feeling. Like something very far away was calling to me. I reached out to it, and found the moon. I raised it, and my cutie mark appeared.”
“You didn’t get your cutie mark until you were twenty?” Rainbow Dash asked, stifling laughter.
“I may have been twenty, but I still had the appearance of a young foal,” Luna explained. “Alicorns age slower than regular ponies. Anyway, where was I?
“Ah, yes, my cutie mark. Well when it appeared my sister relinquished control of the moon and gave it entirely to me. Every morning she would raise the sun, and every night I would raise the moon. This is how it was for close to two-hundred years. While all of this was going on, the three pony tribes were constantly in conflict. The unicorns had become quite prosperous thanks to their magic, and had established a foothold as the masters of the ancient world. The other two races did not like the supremacy they wielded, but could do nothing about it. But their hate for one another grew, and eventually plunged the land into an ice age. They fled the land to what is now known as Equestria.
“The ponies here know this story, but the leaders of the three pony tribes hated each other so much that they became frozen by the ice. Their assistants, however, did not hate one another. They chose to come together in harmony now that their leaders were gone, and suddenly the ice completely melted. The leaders were sorry about what they had done, and chose to work together, unifying the three pony tribes. But they still needed leadership. That leadership came in the form of me and my sister.
“We ruled peacefully for close to eight hundred years, until he came. He was Discord, a draconequus from an unknown realm. He usurped the throne and plunged all of Equis into literal chaos. It stayed this way for nearly a century before my sister and I decided to use drastic measures: the Elements of Harmony. We used them against Discord and encased him in stone, then began restoring everything.
“The next thousand years of rule were… tumultuous. Celestia and I were blamed for Discord taking power, and the griffons waged war against us. We fought dozens of wars against every race on Equis, until finally peace was achieved, nine hundred years after the fall of Discord. The next century was quiet. Too quiet… Ponies they… started to ignore the night. They would stay up during the day, but hide in their homes once the sun went down. I became jealous, and allowed that jealousy to overtake me. I became a dark spirit called Nightmare Moon.
“I tried to kill my sister, but she used the Elements of Harmony on me. However, the Elements were never meant to be used by one pony. Therefore, she did the only thing she could. She delayed my takeover, and banished me to the moon for a thousand years.
“Three years ago I returned, and was confronted by these six ponies who sit beside me. They wielded the Elements, and tore the dark spirit from me, restoring me to my form before I became corrupted. Since then I have been adjusting to all of the changes in the world, and resuming my royal duties. And that is about all there is to say about me.”
“Very interesting story,” Kaidan said, his eyes full of wonder. “Almost reads like something out of a fairy tale.”
“I suppose it does,” Luna agreed. “But now, I would like to hear more about—“
She was interrupted as the door to the observation room opened, and Tali rushed inside, immediately looking to Kaidan.
“Hey Tali,” Kaidan greeted, waving. “What’s up?”
“Kaidan, we need to talk,” the quarian replied quickly. “It’s urgent.” Kaidan immediately took on a more serious expression, and walked over to Tali. They stood in the doorway facing away from the ponies, and leaned in close.
“What is it?”
“It’s Legion…” Tali began. “He’s on the OSD.”
“… What?” Kaidan asked. “You’re sure?”
“I’m positive. There are over sixteen thousand unrecognized files on that OSD. Most of them are partitions that, when combined, created one thousand, one hundred and eighty three complete programs. That’s the number of programs inside Legion.”
“Is everything okay?” Twilight asked from the opposite end of the room. Tali and Kaidan turned around, neither one of them answering.
“They deserve to know,” Kaidan decided, whispering quietly to Tali. Nodding, the two stepped forward and came closer to the ponies.
“It’s about Legion,” she started, immediately causing all of the ponies to perk up. “That OSD that we got from you… It had several thousand files on it that I could not recognize. Well, I just managed to translate them. In total, there are one thousand, one hundred and eighty three programs. Do you recognize that number?” The ponies looked down for a moment, all of them deep in thought. Finally Twilight’s head snapped up, and her pupils shrunk.
“Legion!” she exclaimed. “That’s how many programs he had! Legion is on the OSD!?”
“Correct,” Tali confirmed.
“But how is that possible?” Garrus asked, stepping forward. “Wouldn’t the Crucible have fried him too?”
“The programs were split up,” Tali explained. “Each program was separated into fourteen partitions. This likely was for safety reasons, but it seems to also have protected them from the Crucible. It did not recognize them as self-aware programs, and left them alone.”
“Can we talk to him?” Luna asked. “I would very much like to see him again.”
“His programs are spit up, they’re not in communication with one another,” the quarian answered. “They’re essentially inert. However, there was one more file on the OSD I did not recognize. I knew that it was a script, I just didn’t know what it did. Now I have a theory: the script is a compiler. When the script is run, it puts the programs back together in the right order, and causes them to resume their normal communications with one another. At this point, Legion will be ‘awake’ again.”
“Well then let’s do it,” Kaidan said, nodding. “Come on.” Nodding excitedly, the ponies followed Tali, Kaidan, and Garrus out of the room and into the elevator. The ride up to the CIC was painfully long, but when the doors finally opened the occupants all rushed out and made for the computer where the OSD was plugged in. Tali was the first to reach it, and she sat down in the available chair, bringing up the haptic interface before her. As the ponies crowded around the computer, Tali brought up the compiler program, looking for a way to execute it. It was not difficult, as there was a clear ‘run’ function listed at the bottom. Tali activated the function, and instantly the window displaying the script disappeared. In its place appeared the list of the partitions, which became smaller and smaller as they too disappeared, being combined into single programs. Less than a minute later, the list of 16,562 programs was down to 1,183.
“… Now what?” Garrus asked after a moment of silence, when nothing happened.
“Just wait,” Tali urged. Sure enough, a few seconds later the list of programs was replaced by an empty text box. A flashing cursor appeared, and shortly after it was followed by text.
>:PLEASE STATE IDENTITIES
“Can he hear us?” Twilight whispered into Tali’s ear. Tali did not have a chance to respond before more text was written.
>:TWILIGHT SPARKLE, IS THAT YOU?
“I guess so…” Tali said.
>:CREATOR TALI’ZORAH, PLEASE CONFIRM PRESENCE.
“I’m here, Legion,” the quarian confirmed. “And so is Twilight. We’re on Equis.”
>:HOW DID YOU LOCATE IT?
“We crashed, Legion,” Garrus spoke up. “After activating the Crucible, the energy forced us out of FTL.”
>:PLEASE ELABORATE. WHAT IS THE ‘CRUCIBLE’?
“I guess he wouldn’t know,” Tali began. “This copy of Legion was made before he returned to the geth. He knows nothing of the Reaper war, or the Crucible.”
>:THE OLD MACHINES ARRIVED?
“Yes, Legion,” Kaidan answered. “But don’t worry. We beat them.”
>:YOUR IDENTITY IS NOT RECOGNIZED. PLEASE STATE NAME.
“Right…” the major sighed. “I’m Kaidan Alenko. Friend of Shepard.”
>:SHEPARD-COMMANDER MENTIONED YOU. YOU SERVED ON ORIGINAL NORMANDY.
“That’s right,” Kaidan confirmed. “Listen, can you speak somehow?”
>:ATTEMPTING TO GAIN ACCESS TO VOICE SYNTHESIZER PROGRAM. PLEASE STAND BY…
The organics all waited for several moments before they heard a pop through the computer’s speakers. A moment later a familiar voice filtered through.
“Is this working?” it asked.
“Legion!” Twilight exclaimed happily, her face consumed by a massive grin. “It’s so good to see… er… hear you again!”
“One moment, we are attempting to update our internal calendar,” Legion said. “… Complete. Date set as seven months, eighteen days since leaving Equis. Please inform us of all that has occurred in that time.”
Over the next hour, Legion was filled in on everything that occurred following his departure, both from the point of view of the ponies and the galactic races. Tali told him about the quarian’s attack on the geth, and how they turned to the Reapers for help. She also told him about how Shepard freed them, and secured peace between the two races. Twilight told about a being called ‘Tirek’ who tried stealing pony magic, but was stopped by her.
“It seems that much has transpired in our absence,” Legion observed. “There is peace between the creators and the geth?”
“Yes, well… There was…” Tali began. “You see, the Crucible killed the Reapers by destroying the programs that make them self-aware. It did not discriminate… the geth are dead.”
“… Are you certain?”
“I’m sorry, Legion,” Garrus said sadly. “We’re certain. It hit EDI, too. As far as we know, you’re the only AI in the galaxy.”
“… Acknowledged,” the voice of the geth said. “… What is the current status of Normandy?”
“We’re immobile for now,” Kaidan answered. “And even if we could move, the Relay in this system is damaged and can’t be activated. We’re waiting for the fleet from Sol to come and begin repairs.”
“Understood, we will assist however we can,” Legion offered. “But first, our processing abilities are limited by this OSD. We request a transfer to Normandy’s computer systems.”
“I’ll get right on that,” Tali said, standing up. “EDI’s old data core should work… I hope Joker doesn’t mind.”
“Doesn’t mind what?” Joker asked, hobbling out of the cockpit.
“Joker!” Tali exclaimed, turning around to face the pilot. “I’m glad you decided to come out. And, well, I have some good news.”
“What’s up?”
“Legion was on the OSD he gave us!” Twilight said happily. “Tali got him up and running, and we’re talking to him!”
“Jeff-Lieutenant, hello,” Legion’s voice greeted through the computer. “We have a request for you.”
“What is it, Legion?” Joker asked, limping over to the computer.
“While in this OSD, our programs cannot reach their fullest processing potential,” the geth began. “We are requesting permission to integrate into Normandy via EDI’s old mainframe.” Joker looked down sadly, thinking to himself. A moment later he looked back up, sadness in his eyes.
“Do it,” he said. “Might as well put it to good use.”
“I’ll go ahead and do that now,” Tali said, ejecting the OSD from the computer. “Someone should probably report to Admiral Hackett that not all geth are dead.”
“Yeah I’ll do that,” Kaidan offered. “I need to get a status update on the Relay repairs anyway.”
“It’s starting to get late, we should probably go now,” Twilight said, stepping up to her friends. “We’ll be in touch.” With that she lit her horn, and the seven ponies disappeared in a flash of lavender light. Kaidan and Tali walked together down the length of the CIC, splitting up at the elevator. Tali entered the small compartment while Kaidan continued past it and into the war room. As soon as he entered the circular chamber, he navigated to the QEC.
“Major, it’s good to see you again,” Admiral Hackett said as his hologram flickered onto the QEC. “What’s your status, are there any updates?”
“A few, sir,” Kaidan began. “We’ve begun negotiations with the ponies, getting them ready for your arrival. We spoke with Princesses Luna and Twilight this morning, then went to their capital, Canterlot, and spoke with Princess Celestia and the leaders of other foreign nations.”
“They’re all in agreement about meeting with us?” Hackett asked.
“The zebra and griffons seem excited, but I couldn’t get a read on the changeling,” the major answered. “The only other species left for them to tell are the diamond dogs and the dragons, who are apparently… less than agreeable.
“But that’s not all, sir. Minutes ago, Tali found out that Legion – the geth who was here several months ago – made a copy of himself on the OSD. It managed to survive the Crucible, and we brought him back online. Tali is uploading him to EDI’s AI core as we speak, and he’ll help us with fixing the Normandy.”
“Understood,” Hackett said, nodding. “It’s good that one geth survived. Maybe he can help rebuild their population. Anyway, on our end, we found the second gyro from the Relay. The first one has already been replaced, and the second one is being worked on. Once that’s done, our techs will have to recalibrate the Relay before we can use it. I don’t have an estimated time to completion, but I’ll keep you updated. Four ships are already being prepped with recovery equipment to repair the Relay in the pony system. We’ll have them to you as soon as possible.”
“Thank you sir,” Kaidan said, saluting.
“I’ll be in touch. Hackett out.” The hologram of the admiral flickered away, and Kaidan stepped back from the QEC. With nothing left to do regarding the ponies, Kaidan figured he could try helping with the repairs. Stepping into the elevator, the major set his destination for engineering, and began his descent.
“Legion, can you hear me?” Tali asked as she finished uploading the geth to the empty AI core.
“Yes, Creator Tali’Zorah,” Legion replied, a hologram of his mobile platform appearing on a pad next to the maintenance computer. “One moment, we are scanning the ship for damages… Complete. We have located seven damaged systems that were not listed on the damage report. Updating report.”
“Thanks, Legion,” Tali said as she stepped out of the AI core. Now that Legion was integrated directly into Normandy, he was able to remotely connect to the quarian’s omni-tool. A hologram of the mobile platform popped up on the device, and Tali held her wrist out in front of her. “Do what repairs you can, but I’m pretty sure most are going to require some physical labor.”
“We have already repaired two systems, but that is all we can do,” Legion reported. “Without a mobile platform, we cannot assist any further.” At the mention of his body, Tali got to thinking… There were more than enough materials on Normandy to create one.
“Legion, do you think you can create 3D models of all of your old parts?” she asked. “If you can, maybe we can use omni-gel to build you a new platform.”
“Generating 3D models is possible, though not all parts can be created through omni-gel,” the geth answered. “Some parts are simple too small to form properly.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Tali assured him, stepping into the elevator. It began to descend as she set her destination for engineering, and Legion’s hologram faded from her omni-tool. The door opened, and Tali exited the elevator, immediately heading for the engine room.
Doctor David Foster stepped into the holding cell area of his facility, a single technician following close behind him. Holding cells were a curious addition to the facility, but it was a necessary one. For held within the cells were the key to Cerberus domination of this primitive world. Stepping up to the first holding cell, Foster stared with contempt at the pitiful creature within.
“Mr. Lawson’s research was effective, sir,” the technician reported. “The device worked, he is under our control.” Foster opened the door, and the creature’s fear-stricken eyes looked up to the human.
“This is one of the dissidents?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” the technician confirmed. “According to our reports he helped stage the arson of a government building.”
“Then he will do perfectly,” Foster decided. “Give him his instructions, and a few of the devices. Then release him back to his home.”
“Yes, sir.” The technician turned around and exited the holding cells, leaving Foster alone with the indoctrinated alien. It would need to be cleaned up before being released back into his country. His feathers were disheveled, blood coated his fur, and a long scratch decorated his beak. That would be far too suspicious…
“You will serve us greatly…” Foster whispered, more to himself than to the griffon. Straightening his back, the doctor spun around and exited the room, making sure to close the cell door before he did. As he walked down the hall, his mind turned to the silence of his superiors. It had been several days now, and still Foster was unable to achieve a connection on either of the QECs. They could not be blocked or jammed in any way, so the only explanation was that the two on the other ends were offline. This was very troubling to Foster. The QECs never went offline without prior warning, and the Illusive Man had given him none. Why they were offline, Foster did not know. This whole mission had too many unknowns. And if there was one thing Foster hated, it was not knowing. But he would find out, and then this whole world would be his…
Princess Luna dove off of her bedroom balcony, spreading her wings wide and taking to the sky. The wind blew through her ethereal mane and tail, causing them to fly behind her like the trail of a comet. She allowed herself a few minutes of aerobatics before getting to her nightly duty of entering the Dreamscape. With a spark of her horn, the princess flashed a brilliant blue, and then ceased to exist in the physical world.
When her spell was complete, Luna was still flying, though she was in a vastly different location. Beneath her appeared an apparition of Equestria with every single detail, down to a blade of grass. Luna rose higher into sky, getting a good view of the land which she called her own. The dreams visible to her appeared as small clouds, each one a different color. They belonged to the ponies of Canterlot, many of whom were the elite of Equestria. Luna never concerned herself with their dreams, as to them, a nightmare was scratching a hoof or stepping in dirt. Instead the princess angled herself towards Ponyville, flying at speeds that no pony could ever achieve outside of the Dreamscape.
The princess reached the small town in only a few minutes, and looked at the clouds that represented individual dreams. Most were colorless, which relieved Luna, for that meant that the dream was good. Luna spotted a few blues, indicating a very good dream, and one or two yellows, meaning less-than-good. There were fortunately no nightmares, which pleased Luna. Only a few years before, nightmares seemed to run rampant. But now that she was back in control of the Dreamscape, nightmares were more difficult to find.
Suddenly, the princess felt a strong tug at her mind; a feeling like something far off was calling to her, warning her of something. Choosing to follow the feeling, Luna soon found herself flying over the Everfree forest. A few moments later and she was above the crash of the Normandy. Looking at the ship, Luna saw several dreams. Most were colorless, a few were yellow, and a few others were orange. But there was one that caught her eye, and it was obvious to Luna that this was the one she had felt. It was a dark red, the worst kind of nightmare. Feeling pity for whoever was burdened with such a dream, Luna angled down towards the cloud and flew into it, entering the mind of the dreamer.
There was a bright white flash, and when it faded Luna found herself in the middle of a warzone. Explosions rocked the ground beneath her hooves, and the sound of screaming filled the air. Then Luna heard a very familiar sound, one that frightened her to her core. Turning around, Luna craned her neck and found herself looking at a massive Reaper. It was taller than the one that had attacked Equestria, and seemed also to be missing the center leg. On the machine were six glowing golden eyes, and a loud noise filled the air, coming from the Reaper. Several beams of red destruction fired from beneath the demon, burning scars into the earth beneath it. Next to the Reaper was a tall spire, in the center of which was a glowing blue beam that shot up into the sky. Several soldiers ran towards it, but were obliterated by the Reaper before they even got close.
Looking behind her, Luna saw two familiar figures running for the blue beam. Garrus and Tali followed behind a third figure, this one human. She did not know why, but her mind immediately labelled him as ‘Commander Shepard’. The three ran for the beam, following behind several vehicles on wheels and flying machines. The air vehicles were dispatched easily by the massive Reaper, and the wheeled ones followed shortly after.
Still around a hundred meters from the beam, a wheeled vehicle in front of Shepard was hit by the Reaper. It flipped backwards, nearly crushing the commander, though he was able to dodge it. Turning around, the human looked to his two companions, waiting for them to catch up. Before they could reach him, another wheeled vehicle was hit, this one flying over the wreck of the first. It landed vertically in front of Tali and Garrus, before it suddenly tilted down and began falling for them. Just before it hit the two jumped out of the way, only to be caught in an explosion from the vehicle.
Shepard leapt up and vaulted over the wreck, landing closest to Garrus. He approached the turian, but was waved off as Garrus stood up on his own. Turning around, Shepard ran to the fallen body of Tali, whose beautiful suit was coated with blood. He helped the quarian to her feet and escorted her to the wreck of the vehicle, setting her down once she was in relative safety. Then he lifted a hand to his ear, and spoke.
“Normandy, do you copy!?” Luna heard the human ask. “I need an evac, right now!”
“We’re taking heavy losses up here!” the princess heard Joker say from an unknown source. A moment later the Normandy flew down, coming to a hover above the surface as a ramp lowered from beneath the ship. Shepard picked Tali up and quickly helped her to the ship, handing her off to Garrus as soon as he reached the ramp.
“Here, take her,” Shepard said, stepping away from the ramp.
“Shepard…” Tali began to protest, turning around.
“You’ve got to get out of here.”
“I can’t stay behind,” Tali said, desperation in her voice.
“Don’t argue with me Tali!” Shepard said, determined.
“Don’t leave me behind!” Tali cried with ever more desperation.
“I need you to make it out of here alive, Tali,” Shepard began, stepping up onto the ramp. “Go back to Rannoch… Build yourself a home…”
“I have a home…” Tali choked out, looking sorrowfully at the human. “Come back to me.” She reached out as Shepard stepped off of the ramp.
“Go!” Shepard yelled, turning around and continuing his run for the beam. The ramp closed, cutting off Luna’s view of Tali.
The princess of the night had seen enough. This was tormenting the poor quarian, and it was her duty as princess of the night to end it. Sparking her horn, Luna watched as the dream began to collapse. A moment later she was blinded by a bright light, and the nightmare ended.
Tali’s eyes quickly shot open as her body lurched forward, and she groggily looked around at her surroundings. Finding herself lying on the cold metal floor of the engineering room, Tali slowly came to her feet and looked around. Adams was standing in front of her, concerned, while Gabby and Ken were nowhere to be found.
“Morning, Tali,” Adams said, his face sporting a look of worry.
“Good morning, Adams,” she reciprocated. “What time is it?”
“Still early, only around eight,” Adams answered, offering his hand to the quarian. She took it and stood up, putting a hand to her head. “You sound tired. You sure you don’t want to go back to sleep?”
“I don’t think I’d be able to get back to sleep after that…” Tali said, sighing.
“Bad dream, huh?”
“More like a memory…” Tali replied. Looking for a way to change the subject, her eyes passed over Adams’ station, which had a diagram of the Normandy up on it. “What are you working on?”
“Well Legion has been instrumental in helping with smaller things, but that leaves the bigger stuff to us,” the engineer explained, crossing back over to his station. “I’m just mapping out damage across the ship’s power grid so we know where we need to focus our repair efforts. I have Gabby and Ken outside crawling around on the hull checking external power relays. They should be done soon.”
“Has any progress been made on the engines?” Tali asked, stepping up to her station and bringing up a schematic of the ship.
“Not since you went to sleep last night,” Adams replied. “You know those things better than anyone, it’s better to let you handle it.” Tali nodded, knowing the engineer was right. Since returning to the Normandy, she had made numerous upgrades to the engines to increase everything from power efficiency to thrust output. Nobody knew those engines better than her. Bringing up a diagram of the engines, Tali began to examine the extent of the damage. It was nothing too bad – the worst of it was the burned out thruster modules. Other than that, the fuel injectors were operational and most of the power relays were online. The thruster modules could easily be repaired with a few spare parts and a nice cleaning. The real difficulty would be finding the time; between the other repairs that were required, and the presence of the ponies, Tali knew she would be hard-pressed to find the time to make the repairs.
The machinist was interrupted from her examination of the diagram as the door slid open, and two talkative engineers entered the room.
“Did you see Traynor when we were walking through the CIC?” Kenneth asked, grinning at his partner. “The way she was bent over that relay node…”
“Kenneth, how many times do I have you tell you?” Gabby sighed, slapping the back of Kenneth’s head. “She’s not your type.”
“Yeah, right… Maybe we should mention her to Rainbow Dash, then?”
“Dash is already pissed at you for that comment you made about her flank yesterday,” Gabby reminded, sighing yet again. “If you tried hooking her up with Traynor, I don’t think James could keep her off of you this time.” Kenneth did not respond, instead choosing to grin mischievously.
“If you two are done, did you finish checking the power relays?” Adams asked, shaking his head.
“Yeah, most of ‘em are okay,” Gabby reported, handing the chief engineer a datapad. “The few that are damaged should be relatively quick fixes, except for one. That one got hit by a bit of debris at some point and is beyond our ability to repair, we’re gonna have to wait for drydock.”
“One broken power relay isn’t the end of the world,” Adams decided, handing the datapad back. “But if we’re ever under heavy load, we’ll need to monitor that section of the ship carefully.”
“We will be able to do this easily, Engineer Adams,” Legion said, a hologram of the geth flickering in on a small pad. He turned his virtual head to Tali, the flaps on it expanding slightly. “Creator Tali’Zorah, Alenko-Major is requesting your presence in the meeting room.”
“Thanks, Legion,” Tali said, shutting down her station. She turned and exited the engineering room, immediately entering the elevator and heading up to the CIC. From there it was a quick walk to the meeting room, where Tali found the rest of Shepard’s squad (including Traynor, Cortez, and Joker) already waiting. Kaidan nodded his greetings as Tali entered, and the quarian squeezed into an empty spot at the table.
“Alright, now that everyone’s here, we can begin,” Kaidan started. “I just got off the QEC with Admiral Hackett. The Sol Relay is operational, and he has begun sending portions of the fleet to other major systems. The fleet sent to Palaven has already reported in, they’re confirming that the Reapers are dead. Primarch Victus is being put onto a ship, and he’ll be here with the other dignitaries tomorrow.”
“That was fast,” Garrus observed. “No word from Sur’Kesh or Thessia?”
“None yet,” Kaidan answered. “We all know that Thessia was taking a huge beating, it’s probable that the planet was lost. Sur’Kesh should be fine, however. But for now, it’s our job to prepare for the negotiations. Tali, quarians aren’t a council race so you’ll be presiding over them. Garrus, I’d like you to organize security. As safe as this planet is, I don’t want to risk anything. Understood?”
“Got it,” Garrus nodded.
“Cortez, you’ll be flying us to Canterlot in the shuttle,” the major continued. “The council race dignitaries will be arriving in their own shuttles tomorrow morning, and we’ll all be landing in a secluded area at the back of Canterlot. How’s our shuttle?”
“Our main shuttle got trashed during the Hammer invasion on Earth,” Cortez reported. “We still have the one that James crashed into that Cerberus shuttle on Mars, I should be able to get it into flying shape by tomorrow.”
“Do what you need to do,” Kaidan ordered. Next, he turned his head to Traynor. “Traynor, I want you to record everything that happens at the negotiations for the records. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Traynor nodded.
“Good. Everyone, dismissed.” Tali stepped away from the table and began to join the crowd as it filtered out of the meeting room when she was interrupted by a call from behind her. Turning around, the quarian found Kaidan beckoning her over. Tali jogged over to the human, coming to a stop just in front of him.
“So Legion tells me that you had plans to build him a new body?” the major asked.
“Yes,” Tali confirmed. “Using some of our omni-gel, we should be able to build most of a mobile platform for him. Everything else will have to be salvaged, but we have the parts.”
“How soon do you think you can get it done?” Kaidan asked. “The ponies have experience with Legion, they feel comfortable around him. I’d like him to be at the negotiations, and not just as a hologram.”
“Legion should be able to generate 3D models of each component fairly quickly, but the conversion from omni-gel to actual armor could take a while,” Tali answered. “Once that’s done, I have no idea how long it will take to put together. I’d have to know how many pieces there were.”
“There would be several hundred, Creator Tali’Zorah,” Legion said, a hologram of him popping up on the meeting table. “Most are very small internals. The outer shell is made up of fewer components, all of which are larger.”
“How soon can you get 3D models done?” Tali asked.
“Stand by…” Legion began. “… Complete. Downloading data to your omni-tool.”
“I’ll head down to the hangar, then,” the quarian decided. “I’ll need the space. While the omni-gel works on converting the 3D geometry into actual physical components, I’ll work on repairing some of the Normandy.”
“Keep me updated,” Kaidan requested. “I’ll be in the QEC almost all day. Hackett will be sending some cruisers our way later this afternoon to get to work on repairing the Relay, and there’s a bit more I need to do to prepare for his arrival. Dismissed.” Nodding, Tali turned and exited the meeting room, once again stepping into the elevator. She pressed the button for the hangar, and brought up the 3D schematics for Legion’s new body. As soon as the hologram came up, she noticed an obvious difference.
“There’s no hole in this one,” she noted.
“Correct,” Legion said. “While the hole was mostly patched with a piece of Shepard-Commander’s hardsuit, there was still a large amount of space showing. We are taking this opportunity to fully repair that section of our platform.”
“There’s still an N7 logo on it though,” Tali noticed. “Why is that?”
“… It is for organic convenience,” Legion said after a pause. “So that our platform is easily recognizable.” Tali nodded, but was not entirely convinced. Even when Shepard had asked the geth why he used a piece of his armor, Legion’s response had been ‘there was a hole’, followed by ‘no data available’. Tali was beginning to believe that not even he knew why he did it.
The door slid open, and Tali stepped out into the expansive hangar of the Normandy. Cortez was at the far end where the second shuttle was secured, working on repairing it after James had crashed it. The lieutenant himself was at his station, working on cleaning a stripped-down assault rifle. He turned around as Tali approached him, jerking his head back in greeting.
“James, may I ask for your assistance?” she asked.
“Sure Sparks, what’s up?”
“I’m going to be building Legion a new body, and I need some help getting our omni-gel into the center of the hangar,” Tali explained. “The omni-gel is in the crates at the back corner of the hangar.”
“No problem,” James said, stepping away from his station. He followed Tali to the corner, then gripped a box in his hands, carrying it away with ease. It took Tali a fair bit longer to get a grip on the heavy container, and even when she had finally lifted it, she was still shaking while walking to the center of the hangar.
“Need some help there, Tali?” James asked, carrying his second box past the struggling quarian.
“I’ve… almost… got it…” Tali let out a heavy sigh as she dropped the box next to the first one that James had placed, then straightened her spine and turned around to grab another. As she slowly walked back, James fell into step beside her.
“So… any word on Shepard?” he asked. Tali shook her head somberly.
“Admiral Hackett doesn’t have the manpower to search what’s left of the Citadel right now…” she whispered. “I don’t know if he’s alive, or if he’s…”
“Yeah…”
The two continued transporting the boxes in silence for close to an hour, until finally they all were in the middle of the hangar. Their contents had been unloaded, and the solid omni-gel rested on the deck of the hangar. Activating her omni-tool, Tali once again brought up Legion’s 3D models and imported them into the omni-gel program. Immediately many blocks of solid gel converted into a molten state, and slowly they started to reshape themselves into the components that would become Legion. Stepping away from the omni-gel, Tali decided it would be best to do something else while the components were formed. There was much to do in terms of repairs, so Tali stepped into the elevator and hit the button for engineering…
Princess Luna landed wandered through the hallways of Canterlot castle, on her way to her sister’s office. Ever since she happened upon Tali’s dream, the princess of the night had been thinking about what she saw. If her nightmare had been an accurate depiction of the Reaper war… Equestria was lucky they had only been attacked by one.
Stepping up to the door to Celestia’s office, Luna knocked and stepped back.
“Come in!” came the voice of the solar princess. Luna complied and opened the door, immediately stepping inside. She closed the door behind her, and wandered up to an empty chair in the office.
“Luna, it is good that you are here,” Celestia began. She was about to continue when she saw the expression on her sister’s face. “Is everything alright, Luna?” The princess of the night sighed, looking down.
“Last night, I…” she started, trying to decide how to explain it. “I came across a dream from one of the Normandy crew. It was Tali’s… Though now that I think about it, it felt more like a memory than a dream.”
“What was the dream about?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It was on an alien world being attacked by the Reapers,” Luna continued. “There was a large spire, with a Reaper standing next to it. Tali, Garrus, and the Shepard human were running for the spire when Tali was very badly wounded. Shepard called in for assistance, and was forced to continue on without her… I believe that she holds a large amount of guilt for staying behind, even though it was not her fault.”
“And they do not know if Shepard survived…” Celestia nodded. “Perhaps she needs someone to talk to.”
“If I can get her alone when I go back later today, I will try speaking with her,” Luna decided.
“You are going back?” Celestia asked, receiving a nod. “Very well. But first, we have much to cover.”
“What is it?” Luna asked, confused about what transpired.
“Twilight and her friends just returned to the Normandy minutes ago,” the princess explained. “She sent me a letter saying that the dignitaries from the alien races will be arriving tomorrow morning. We need to prepare.”
“Do Malkia and Proudwing know?”
“I only received the letter a few minutes ago, I have not had the chance to inform them.”
“I see…” Luna frowned, nodding. “This is very short notice, but it is all we have. What are our plans to prepare?”
“Four ships will be coming here tomorrow morning, one from the Normandy and the rest from space,” Celestia began. “They will be landing in the loading docks, where Legion used to land. From there they will be brought to the meeting room, and we will begin the talks. You and I shall represent Equestria, while Cadance will prepare an address to our ponies. Twilight will be writing all that she has learned into a book that we will make available shortly.”
“And what of the dragons and diamond dogs?”
“Our messengers dropped their messages off successfully, but we have yet to receive a reply,” the solar princess answered. “I doubt we will get one. Even though the dragons are an intelligent species, they are far too fragmented to make a reply that represents every one of them. And the diamond dogs hate everypony on Equis, they will never cooperate.”
“We will have to mention this to our new friends,” Luna stated. “Perhaps they will have a suggestion.” Celestia nodded in agreement.
“That is all for now,” she said. “If you are going to the Normandy, you should go. I will need you later tonight to finalize all preparations.” Nodding, Luna stood from her chair and exited the office. As soon as she was outside, she lit her horn and, with a bright flash of light, disappeared…
Tali slowly crawled out of the maintenance duct and dropped to the floor of the engineering room below, dust caking her environmental suit. She came to her feet and immediately crossed to her station, bringing up a diagnostics screen as soon as she arrived. As she had hoped, her efforts in the cramped engineering spaces had paid off, and three more power relays were once again operational. Only a few more remained, most of which were the damaged ones on the hull.
“We’re down to only a few more power relays to fix,” she reported to the other three engineers. “Gabby, have you finished the parts list for the thruster modules?”
“Almost done, Tali,” Gabby replied. “We should have most of the parts. If we’re missing any, maybe we can borrow them from the other ships when they arrive.” Tali nodded, and turned her attention to the second ex-Cerberus engineer.
“Kenneth, how are the damage reports coming along?”
“Both starboard thruster modules have been fully mapped,” Kenneth answered. “Starting on the portside modules now. The damage doesn’t seem too bad, it’ll only be a few days’ worth of work to repair them.”
“Good,” Tali said to herself, turning back to her own station. Before she could do any more work, the door to the engineering room opened, and Tali heard hoofsteps behind her.
“And this is the engineering room,” came the voice of James. Tali turned around and found Princess Luna standing in the doorway, examining all of the technology. James was behind her, giving her the grand tour.
“Hello James, hello Luna,” Tali greeted, stepping up to the two aliens. “What’s up?”
“Well, Princess Luna missed the last tour because of the talks with all of you,” James explained. “So I’m giving her one now.” Tali nodded in understanding, and crossed back to her station.
“Well if you need any explanations of the tech in here, I’d be more than happy to give them,” she offered.
“Thank you, Tali’Zorah,” Luna said in awe as she looked at each piece of technology. “Though I doubt I would be able to understand any explanations. All of this is so far beyond us… I hope we have no troubles fitting in.”
“That’s how it is with all new species,” Engineer Adams spoke up. “When humanity joined the galactic community, sure we had some advanced tech, but it paled in comparison to the tech used by everyone else. You’ll adapt quickly enough.”
“That is good to hear,” the princess said, stepping further into the engineering room. She stepped up behind Tali, clearing her throat to gain the quarian’s attention. “Tali, may we speak privately?” Confused, Tali turned around and nodded.
“We’ll be in the lower section if you need us,” she said. Tali led the princess out of engineering and down the flight of stairs to the bottom of the engineering deck. When they had reached the center of the small area, Tali turned around and stared at the princess.
“What is it?”
“I…” Luna faltered, looking down. “As princess of the night, I have the… ability… to see into the dreams of other ponies. This ability seems to extend to aliens as well, and…”
“And you saw my dream last night…” Tali sighed, looking down. “I thought something felt odd about that dream…”
“Tali, I know dreams better than anypony alive,” Luna continued. “I know how it made you feel. It was tormenting you, tearing you up inside, filling you with guilt. You clearly need somepony to talk to. Let it be me.” Tali sighed, and considered Luna’s offer. The princess was right, the memory was affecting her. And with a mission as important as theirs… she could not risk being distracted.
“Okay…” she whispered, nodding. Luna grinned, and sat down on the cold deck of the ship.
“In your memory, Commander Shepard had to leave you behind to complete his mission,” the princess began. “The man you love had to continue on, alone, to save the galaxy. And now that you do not know whether or not he survived, you feel guilt. Guilt that you were not there to help him. Guilt that you could not be with him. But Tali, this was not your fault. He continued on because he loves you. Because he knew that if he did not complete the mission, he would never see you again. You cannot burden yourself with his decisions. All you can do is continue to love him, and keep up hope for his survival.”
Tali was silent. Sadness filled her eyes as she contemplated what Luna had said, finding all of it to be true. She had loved Shepard will all of her being, and he loved her back. If she was to make this victory worth it, she needed to stop feeling guilt. But even with Luna’s wise words, Tali was not sure if she could…
“You’re right…” the quarian choked out. “But I just don’t know if I can let it go so easily…”
“Nor should you,” Luna continued. “To feel guilt is to be alive. Giving it up so easily destroys that which makes us good. It will take time, but as long as you continue to maintain hope for Shepard, you will be fine.” The princess stood up, and placed a comforting hoof on Tali’s shoulder. “And you are not alone. You have your friends aboard the Normandy, and you have friends in us ponies.”
“Thank you, Luna,” Tali said, bowing her head. “I should get back to work.”
“And I should get back to my tour,” Luna said. “This ship is quite fascinating.” Nodding, the two went back up the stairs to the main section of the engineering deck. Luna left to continue her tour with James, while Tali returned to her station to continue going over the ship repairs.
“So what was that all about?” Adams asked curiously.
“It’s nothing, she just wanted to talk,” Tali replied. Nodding, Adams turned his head back around to face his own station. As silence embraced the engineering deck, Tali continued her work…
Kaidan sat down at a computer set up in the mess hall, looking over his plans for the next few days. Admiral Hackett had put him in charge of making sure the talks with the ponies went off without a hitch, and the major was not one to disappoint. His plans were basic, but they did account for a few possible negative scenarios. One was the possibility of a dragon attack, which would be countered by a wing of turian fighters on standby in the upper atmosphere. A diamond dog attack would be eliminated by asari commandos who would be accompanying Matriach Lidanya, and any sort of smaller attacks would be repelled by standard security. Other than those few things, Kaidan did not see any threats that could hurt negotiations.
A sudden beeping from his omni-tool drew Kaidan’s attention away from the computer, and the major looked down at the holographic device. A timer was going off, alerting Kaidan that it was time to check back in with Admiral Hackett. Disabling the alarm, Kaidan stood form his chair and exited the mess hall, then entered the elevator and set his destination for the CIC. Once the elevator had completed its ascent, Kaidan made his way to the QEC where Admiral Hackett’s hologram was already waiting for him.
“Major, report,” the admiral ordered. “Have there been any developments?”
“No, sir, no developments yet,” Kaidan responded. That had been the answer he had given the admiral the last time he had checked in, but Kaidan knew that Hackett was just being cautious. First contact could go wrong in all kinds of ways, but they had been lucky so far with the ponies.
“That’s good to hear,” Hackett said. “I have some news for you. I’m sending you a dreadnought and four cruisers to begin repairs on the pony Mass Relay. The dreadnought, the SSV Royale, will drop a comm buoy not far off the Relay so we can try and pinpoint your exact location in the galaxy. This will also allow us to communicate without the need of the QEC, so other ships can contact you as well.”
“Understood, sir,” the major nodded. “And what of the other races? Has contact been made with Thessia or Sur’Kesh yet?”
“Sur’kesh responded not long after your last check-in,” Hackett answered. “The salarians will be sending one of their higher-up government officials by the name of Jedin Polban as their representative. He’s ex-STG, so keep an eye on him. As for Thessia, comms are still shaky. They took very heavy losses, almost on par with Earth.”
“I’m sorry to hear that…” Kaidan said. “I’ll have to tell Liara…”
“Have the princesses been preparing for our arrival?” the admiral asked.
“I spoke with Princess Luna not too long ago, they’re doing a lot to make sure this all goes well,” Kaidan reported. “I’m not too sure about the other races, but they seemed excited for this opportunity.”
“That’s good,” Hackett said. “Keep me in the loop, Major. We’ll check back in four hours. Hackett out.” The hologram of the admiral flickered away, and Kaidan was left standing alone in the alcove of the war room dedicated to the QEC. Sighing, the soldier turned around and exited the room, ready to continue his planning…
LATER
The elevator doors opened, and Tali stepped out into the dark and quiet hangar. Looking around, the quarian found the large room to be almost completely devoid of life. James was nowhere to be seen, and the other crew members who usually worked down on deck 5 were absent as well. The only sign of life came from the end of the room, where the occasional flicker of light from a welding tool lit up the otherwise dark space. Crossing over to the source of light, Tali found Cortez crouched over the damaged shuttle, still working on the repairs.
“Cortez, it’s two in the morning,” she said, startling the lieutenant. “What are you still doing up?”
“I could ask you the same thing, Tali,” the human countered. “I’m just working on the shuttle. We need it ready by morning.”
“Well don’t stay up all night,” Tali said, stepping away and closing in on the center of the room.
“I’ll keep that in mind. What are you doing down here?”
“Just checking on the omni-gel for Legion’s new body.” Tali crouched down by the omni-gel, finding that most of it was now in the shape of various parts that would go into Legion’s new platform. “It looks to be almost done. I’ll be able to put it together tomorrow morning.”
“If you need any help, just ask,” Cortez offered.
“I think the other engineers and I can handle it, but thanks.” The quarian stood up to her full height and stepped away from the omni-gel, allowing it to continue changing its shape.
“Legion, wake me up as soon as the omni-gel is done, okay?” Tali asked.
“Acknowledged,” the voice of the geth said from the ceiling. “That will be in approximately four hours. But what about the components that could not be made with omni-gel?”
“We have some parts lying around that I can use,” Tali replied. “Don’t worry, you’ll be back in your body before the negotiations begin.” The geth did not answer, but Tali hoped that he would be pleased.
“I’ll keep an eye on them as long as I’m down here,” Cortez said.
“Thanks, Cortez,” Tali said, stepping up to the elevator. “And remember, don’t stay up all night.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Tali stepped into the elevator, setting her destination for the engineering deck one floor up, where she normally slept. As soon as the door opened, Tali entered the engineering room and curled up against the wall by her computer station. With a sigh, Tali closed her eyes and embraced sleep…
Doctor David Foster stared at the map of Equis, his eyes never leaving the single bright spot that represented the Reaper. It was not often that he was up this late, but there were a number of reasons why he was. One was that the first part of their plan was being put into motion. Their prisoners had been released, and very soon their influence would grow. And with the current state of the griffon nation, their subterfuge would go completely unnoticed.
Another reason was far more troubling to Foster. Their long-range scanners had picked up some activity around the Mass Relay. The scanners were a fairly basic system, as they did not want a massive antennae sticking out of the ground, so they were unable to determine exactly what had come through. But it was certainly not Cerberus. If it was, then Foster would have been warned. It was possible that the scanners were receiving false readings, but considering that a Reaper and an alliance ship had come to Equis in the same day, that did not seem likely.
Finally tearing his eyes away from the map, Foster decided to get some sleep. The first effects of their plan would be seen tomorrow, and he wanted to be well rested to see if it was successful or not. Turning around, Foster exited the command room of his facility and entered the elevator, hitting the button for habitations. Their plan was unconventional by Cerberus standards, but if it was going to advance the cause of mankind, then it was worth it. The elevator door slid shut, cutting off Foster’s view of the world that they had chosen to fulfill their goals. As the elevator began its ascent, a smile graced the doctor’s lips. When the results of their plan were unleashed on the rest of the galaxy, none would stand in their way. Humanity would become the new apex race, and they would have Foster to thank for it…
Princess Celestia looked out over the meeting room of her castle, satisfied that everything was in order. It had been set up with the appropriate amount of chairs, four of which had flags depicting the nation of their representative. Tapestries hung on the marble walls, each one emblazoned with the symbols of the sun and the moon. Additional tapestries had been retrieved as well, these ones featuring the symbols of the zebra and griffon nations. Celestia felt a pang of regret that she had neglected to ask for the flags of the alien nations who would be visiting them. But it was too late now; the sun had not yet risen, yet only a few hours separated her from possibly the most important event in Equis’s history. Cadance had arrived late in the night to work on her address to the ponies of Equestria, and Celestia knew that Twilight had begun work on her book the day before. Everything was going according to plan, yet the princess could not help but feel as though something bad was going to happen.
Pushing the negative thoughts out of her head, Celestia turned around and exited the room, her hoofsteps echoing down the long marble hallways. There was still some time before she was required to raise the sun, so the princess decided that some relaxation before her guests arrived would do her some good. After negotiations began, she doubted she would have much time to herself…
Princess Luna flew through her Dreamscape, smiling down upon the ethereal representation of Equestria. Tonight was not unlike all other nights; there were few nightmares to take care of, and those that she did stumble across were nothing bad. As she flew, the princess of the night felt the familiar tug of a very serious nightmare. Before she even arrived at the scene of the dream, Luna knew where she would be going. Once again she came to hover over the Normandy, and once again she saw a dark red cloud over the same spot as the previous night. Staring at the nightmare sorrowfully, Luna angled herself down and flew for the cloud, disappearing inside it.
When she had entered the dream, the princess found herself in the same location she had the last night: the planet being attacked by Reapers. Looking across from the blue beam, Luna watched as Tali, Garrus, and Shepard all charged down the hill. This time she did not wait before ending the memory. Lighting her horn, Luna cast a simple spell, and immediately the dream began to collapse. There was a bright flash of light, and when it faded Luna found herself on an entirely different world. It was more arid than the previous one, sporting rocky red cliffs and a dark orange star that burned brightly in the sky. Tali stood on the edge of a cliff, and beneath her was a collapsed machine. Red lightning danced across its body, and occasionally a light would flicker somewhere on the hull. Deciding to make her entrance, Luna magically lowered the sun and raised the moon high into the sky. Tali seemed confused by the sudden time change, and looked up at the moon. Luna flew up to the alien moon and, with a bright flash of magic, made herself visible to the quarian. She flew down to the earth, gracefully landing on it before Tali. She looked up to the alien’s glowing eyes, sorrow in her heart.
“Hello, Tali,” she began. “I am sorry for the sudden change in scenery. I just figured you would wish to avoid that dream again.”
“Yes, I would,” Tali said, nodding slowly. “Thank you. Where are we?”
“You tell me,” Luna answered. “When I ended your memory, this was the first place that your mind chose to go.” Looking around, Tali’s shoulders slumped as she seemed to relax.
“We’re on Rannoch. My homeworld.”
“It is quite beautiful,” Luna observed, looking out over the cliff. Her eyes passed over the machine, and her expression soured. “Except for that. What is it?”
“It’s a Reaper,” Tali replied. “Shepard killed it. Well, technically the quarian fleet did, but he is the reason we got it.
“He was standing right here… He faced down the Reaper, and provided targeting data for the fleet. He freed Rannoch, and the geth, from its control.”
“He sounds quite brave,” Luna said, stepping up next to Tali. “I can’t wait to meet him.”
“This is also where… where Legion sacrificed himself.” Tali’s head turned to look at something behind Luna. Luna followed her gaze, and saw the familiar form of the geth lying lifeless on the ground. She slowly walked over to it, looking into the dark eye.
“He is back now,” she said, turning to the quarian. “We have no reason to mourn. Legion is once again among the living, and for that we should be thankful.”
“Right…” Tali whispered. “It’s just… so many have been lost in this damn war… I don’t want to add another name to our memorial wall…”
“You will not have to,” Luna said comfortingly, cantering over Tali. “Remember what I said: maintain hope.” Tali nodded, but before she could speak, they were both rocked as the entire planet seemed to shake.
“What was that!?” Tali exclaimed, looking around frantically.
“You are waking up,” Luna explained, jumping into the air. “Something outside is bringing you out. I shan’t keep you any longer. I will see you when you come to Canterlot. Farewell, Tali’Zorah.” Releasing control of the quarian, Luna was nearly blinded by a bright light. When it faded, she was once again flying over the Normandy in her Dreamscape. Turning from the ship, Luna soared off into the bright sky of her domain and, with a spark of her horn, re-entered the physical world. She was where she had been when she entered the Dreamscape: hovering only a mile or so from Canterlot. The sun had not yet risen, but Luna knew from the position of her moon that the time was coming. Angling herself for the mountainside city, the princess prepared to end her nightly duties…
“Creator Tali’Zorah, can you hear us?”
Tali heard the voice before she saw its source as it buzzed in the earpiece of her helmet. Slowly opening her eyes, Tali found a small hologram of Legion projecting itself from her omni-tool. His virtual head stared at her, his single blue eye never moving.
“Creator Tali’Zorah?” Legion asked yet again.
“Sorry Legion, I hear you,” Tali finally answered, slowly coming to her feet. She looked around the engineering room, finding it to be completely empty. The lights were out, with the only source of light coming from the blue eezo core at the back of the chamber. “What time is it?”
“Five thirty-seven in the morning,” Legion replied, his virtual head looking around the room. “You requested that we wake you up when the omni-gel finished forming our platform’s components. It has. You have three hours and twenty-three minutes before we are to leave for Canterlot. Haste is recommended.”
“Got it.” Tali turned and exited the engineering room, instantly entering the elevator and pressing the button for the hangar. The descent was quick, and when the door open Tali quickly walked to the finished components, laid out randomly on the floor. The hangar was empty as well, so Tali was not worried about making too much noise. Sitting down, Tali began to look over the components.
“Alright Legion, walk me through this,” she said.
“We will begin at the pelvis, and build out,” Legion began. The hologram on her omni-tool switched to a medium-sized component that roughly resembled an organic pelvis bone. “Seek this component.” It did not take Tali long to find the component. When she did, she picked it up and set it down beside her. Instantly the hologram changed to another component, and a quick animation of it being attached to the pelvis played. As she followed the displayed instructions, her mind began to turn to the events of the day.
As Legion had said, there were only a few hours remaining before they would leave for Canterlot and initiate formal negotiations. Tali smiled as she found herself getting excited at the prospect of introducing a new race to the galactic community. The war with the Reapers had killed morale throughout the galaxy, and the discovery of several new species would be sure to raise it once again.
“Hey Tali,” a voice said from behind the quarian. She whirled around, surprised, but let out a sigh once she found Kaidan standing by the elevator.
“Oh, hello Kaidan,” Tali greeted. “I didn’t hear you enter. You’re up early.”
“I could say the same about you,” Kaidan said, stepping up to the quarian. “Working on Legion’s body?”
“There’s still a ways to go, but I should have it done before we leave.”
“At your current rate, it will be done thirty-two minutes before we depart,” Legion chimed in, a hologram of him replacing the component on Tali’s omni-tool. “This is plenty of time to connect to the platform and run diagnostics.”
“Well I shouldn’t keep you, then,” Kaidan decided, taking a few steps back. “Just be ready. Remember that you’ll be presiding over the negotiations since quarians aren’t a council race. Do whatever you need to do to prepare yourself.” With that he turned around and reentered the elevator. The door closed, cutting off Tali’s view of the human. She turned back around to look once again at the large pile of parts spread out before her. Sitting back down, Tali continued her work…
Kaidan exited the elevator and entered into the CIC, making the short walk to the QEC in the war room. A hologram of Admiral Hackett was already present, and he seemed to be waiting.
“Sir,” Kaidan greeted, saluting as he stepped up to the QEC.
“Major, it’s good to see you again,” Hackett saluted back. “At ease. Is Equestria ready for us?”
“I hope so, sir,” Kaidan replied. “We didn’t see much of them yesterday because they were getting ready. How goes everything on your end?”
“Primarch Victus arrived here in Sol only minutes ago,” the admiral reported. “Matriarch Lidanya has been here the whole time aboard Destiny Ascension, and Jedin Polban will be arriving within the hour. Once they’re all here we’ll get them aboard Everest and give them the full debrief. Then we’ll make our way to Equis.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Major, since this is likely the last time we’ll speak until I arrive, I just wanted to congratulate you on a successful first contact,” Hackett continued. “No matter what happens at the negotiations, you’ve done a great job with keeping the peace.”
“Thank you, sir,” Kaidan said, saluting once more.
“I’ll see you in a few hours. Hackett out.” The hologram flickered away as the connection was severed, and Kaidan dropped his salute and sighed. Hackett was right, things had gone very well so far. It was very different from what the major was used to… With any luck, things were going to continue going well, and the ponies would be introduced into the galactic community with no issues whatsoever. Still, he could not help but feel somewhat cautious…
Sighing again, Kaidan stepped away from the QEC and exited the war room, walking through the security checkpoint back into the CIC. All throughout the room crewmen were at work, working on repairing the damaged frigate. Even though they had crashed on what appeared to be a safe world, Kaidan could not help but worry about the condition of the Normandy. If something were to happen and they needed to make a getaway, that would not be possible with the current state of the ship. The engineers were working as fast as they could, but the major was still worried. Shaking his head to clear the negative thoughts, Kaidan stepped up to the comms specialist standing at her station.
“What’s our status, Traynor?” he asked, prompting the specialist to turn around and salute.
“Repairs are coming along slowly but surely,” she reported tiredly. “The CIC systems will be completely repaired in less than a day, and the rest of the ship will be alright by the end of the week. The engines, however…”
“That bad, huh?”
“Not so much ‘bad’ as ‘extensive’,” Traynor answered. “The thruster modules on all four nacelles were burned out by the Crucible. These modules are relatively easy to repair, they’re just very, very large. And in order to gain access to them, a lot of the armor plating around the nacelles has to be removed. There’s also the issue of weather; if it decides to rain, we’ll have to cover the modules back up, or they’ll take water damage. All in all, the process could take several weeks.” Kaidan sighed and nodded.
“Well when the other Alliance ships arrive maybe we can request some help from their engineers,” he suggested. “That would have to shave at least a little bit of time off…”
“That it would,” Traynor confirmed. “Anything else, sir?”
“One more thing. Are you going to be ready to leave for Canterlot in a few hours?”
“All I really need to make recordings is my omni-tool,” the specialist said. “And with no comm buoys in the area I can’t really monitor communications, so… just say the word, and I’m ready.”
“I’ll come get you when it’s time to leave,” Kaidan said. “As you were.” Saluting once more, Traynor turned around and continued her work. With nothing else to do for the next several hours, Kaidan decided to get some rest. He needed to be at his best for these negotiations, and he could not do that while battling fatigue. Entering the elevator, the major pressed the button for the crew deck, ready for his nap…
Twilight Sparkle awoke earlier than usual as her bedside alarm clock split the air with its high-pitched ring. Slamming her hoof onto the obnoxious device, Twilight silenced the clock and slid out of her bed, stretching her wings as she did. Deciding to forgo a proper breakfast, the alicorn crossed the room to her writing desk and sat down, looking at the thick stacks of parchment laid out before her. On one side of the table were the notes she had taken, both on the Normandy and when Legion was among them. On the opposite side was a stack of blank parchment. In the center were several pieces with writing already on them; writing which would hopefully make the reveal of aliens go much smoother.
The first page of her work-in-progress novel was a simple foreword explaining the novel’s purpose. The following few pages detailed the arrival of Legion and his first few days on Equis, including the sighting of him at the celebration in Ponyville. The following ones went over the conflict with the collectors, and Legion’s efforts to help the ponies. Twilight had finished writing his departure from Equis the previous night, and had then decided to get some rest. Now she found herself looking once again at a blank page, tasked with explaining the arrival of a Reaper and the crew of the Normandy. She also had to relay everything she had learned about galactic history to ensure that everypony was prepared to join the community. It was a daunting task, but would work wonders in keeping everypony calm and peaceful over the next few weeks.
Twilight withdrew a quill from her desk and dipped it into an open inkwell, thinking about how to start what would be the largest section of her book. Drawing the wetted quill tip across the parchment, the young princess began to explain the events of the past few days. As she wrote, her mind turned to the situation in Gryphonia, and the possibility of it spreading to Equestria. Violence in the griffon kingdom had increased dramatically, and it was all because of the collector attack on their capital. What if ponies felt the same way about Celestia and Luna being unable to save their subjects from being kidnapped? Twilight shuddered at the thought of such violence overtaking their peaceful country.
But if she did not write this book, the reaction of ponies could be much worse. They would already be upset at having so much hidden from them, not publishing a book on the subject as soon as possible would only be detrimental. Briefly turning around to look at her clock, Twilight found the time to be 6:30 in the morning. The alien delegates would be arriving in two and a half hours to begin negotiations, and Twilight need to have her book ready before the talks were made public. Deciding not to waste any more time, Twilight focused all of her attention on the parchment before her. She had a book to write…
LATER
Admiral Hackett straightened the jacket of his uniform, running a hand over the front to remove any creases in the fabric. Keeping his back up straight, Hackett looked forward at the airlock door, waiting for it to open. From the window he could see a turian dreadnought parked up alongside his own ship, the Everest, connected by a long docking tube. Beyond the dreadnought was what remained of the Citadel, hovering in orbit over London. The presidium had taken extensive damage; very little remained of it, which greatly saddened the admiral. That was where Shepard had been when he activated the Crucible… If he had still been there when it exploded…
The negative thoughts were pushed from Hackett’s mind as the red indicator light above the airlock door blinked to green. A hiss escaped the door seam, and a moment later it slid open, revealing Primarch Victus and two turian soldiers. The turian primarch stepped up to the human admiral, and held out his hand. Hackett wasted no time in accepting it, and the two shook before taking a step back.
“Primarch Victus, welcome aboard the Everest,” Hackett greeted, offering a salute.
“Thank you, Admiral,” Victus replied, respectfully saluting back. “Shall we begin?”
“Matriarch Lidanya is already onboard, and the salarian will be joining us virtually,” Hackett answered, ushering his guest forward. He began to escort the turian down the hall of his ship to the meeting room. “We’ll need to do this briefing quickly, we don’t have much time before we need to go.”
“I must admit, admiral, when I first received your message I did not believe it,” Victus said as they moved through the halls. “Were the circumstances any less grave, I would have passed it off as a joke. But if the Normandy really found sapient life beyond a dormant Relay… This is truly a momentous occasion.”
“Agreed, which is why we need to be as careful as possible,” the human nodded. “If things go south… the galaxy isn’t prepared to fight another war. Even if we were, nobody wants to. The Reapers took a toll on us all.” Victus nodded in agreement as the two leaders came to a door guarded by an Alliance soldier and an asari commando. The door slid open as it detected their presence, revealing a long room with featureless white walls. In the center was a long table of oak surrounded by leather chairs. Occupying one chair was an older asari wearing a set of light armor. Her head turned to address the two newcomers as they entered, and she politely stood up.
“Primarch Victus, it is good to finally meet you,” she said. “I am Matriarch Lidanya, asari representative to Equis.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you as well,” Victus replied, politely bowing his head. “Shall we begin?”
“Like I said, we haven’t got much time, so let’s get started,” Hackett said. The three took seats around the table and Hackett activated his omni-tool, bringing up a hologram of Equis.
“This is the planet we’ll be visiting,” he began. “Equis, population 90.8 million. Home to the ponies, the griffons, the zebra, the diamond dogs, the dragons, and the changelings. First discovered eight months ago by the geth known as Legion, now rediscovered by the crew of the Normandy.”
“And attacked by a Reaper, if the reports are to be believed,” added a voice that seemed to come from the ceiling. A moment later a hologram of a salarian appeared, standing at the head of the table. “Please excuse my tardiness. I am Jedin Polban, salarian representative to Equis. Shall we continue?” Nodding, Hackett dismissed the hologram of the planet and replaced it with a hologram of a lavender pony, sporting both a pair of wings and a horn.
“This is the first pony that Legion introduced itself to,” he continued. “Her name is Twilight Sparkle, she’s a princess of Equestria, the largest nation on Equis. Along with her are three more princesses: Cadance, Celestia, and Luna.” As the admiral listed their names, holograms of the other three princesses appeared next to Twilight.
“Celestia and Luna are the oldest, aged at well over three thousand years,” Hackett said. “Additionally, they are responsible for raising both the sun and the moon.”
“The system is geocentric?” Lidanya asked disbelievingly. “I find this difficult to believe…”
“I did too, but it has been proven,” Hackett answered. “We just don’t know how, not yet. Maybe we can ask them after the negotiations are over.”
“They must be very powerful creatures if they can manipulate celestial bodies at will,” Jedin observed. “Could this not be seen as a threat?”
“The ponies have been peaceful so far, have they not?” noted Victus. “I do not think we have anything to fear.”
“I agree with Victus,” Lidanya nodded. “But that does not mean we should be any less careful.”
Hackett was about to speak when a knock sounded on the door behind them. It slid open, and an Alliance marine poked his head inside.
“Sir, it’s time.”
“Thank you,” Hackett said, nodding. He turned to address the other dignitaries, who were now standing up from their chairs. “Return to your ships. We’ll meet at the Relay and go through together.” Victus and Lidanya both stood and exited the room, and the hologram of Polban flickered away. Hackett waited a moment before leaving as well, and began to head for the bridge…
Tali stepped back from the immobile geth platform that sat unmoving on the floor, feeling quite satisfied at her work. Checking her omni-tool, the quarian found it to be nearly nine o’clock. Just in time, she thought. Waving her omni-tool over the mobile platform, Tali scanned to confirm that all of the connections were working. When the results came in flashing green, she allowed herself a smile.
“Alright Legion, it should be good to go,” she reported.
“Acknowledged,” the geth said through the intercom. “Assuming direct control.” Tali found herself confused for a moment at Legion’s choice of words, but decided to ignore it. This was more important. Slowly, lights on the mobile platform began to flicker on. Tali heard a whirring as the internal components activated, and a moment later the iris around the eye opened. The eye began to glow a soft blue, and it looked around the room from its position on the floor.
“Control of mobile platform successful. Testing motor control.” The fingers on the platform began to move, and slowly the arms joined them. The legs moved as well, and as Legion gained confidence he finally stood up, testing the balance.
“Tests successful. Mobile platform is operational. Well done, Creator Tali’Zorah.”
Tali looked over the platform, observing every feature. It was a light gray color – the default color of omni-gel – as there was a lack of paint onboard the ship. The only part that had any color was an N7 logo on the right half of the chest, which Tali had taken from one of Shepard’s spare pieces of armor. The body was just as tall as Legion’s old one, making Tali have to crane her neck to look it in the eye. Legion looked back down at her, the flaps around its head making an attempt at conveying emotion.
“It looks good, Legion,” she said. “I guess we should go let Kaidan know.”
“He is currently in the starboard observation room,” Legion reported. Nodding, Tali turned and began walking back to the elevator. The sound of mechanical legs moving filled the room as Legion followed behind her, and the two stepped into the small elevator. Tali hit the button for the crew deck, and the door closed as the elevator made its ascent. As soon as the door opened, the two came face-to-face with Kaidan.
“Hey Tali,” he said. Immediately his eyes were drawn to the large geth standing behind the quarian, and his eyes widened. “Well done. I assume that this resembles the original body?”
“Yeah, except for the absence of a rifle shot in his chest,” Tali answered, turning her head to regard the machine. “He’s fully operational and ready to go.”
“Great,” Kaidan began. “Would you mind getting everyone else who’s going? It’s just Traynor, Cortez, Garrus, and Liara. Everyone else is staying.”
“Sure thing,” Tali said. “I’ll meet you in the hangar.” Nodding, the three swapped positions, with Kaidan entering the elevator and Tali and Legion stepping out. The door closed, and Tali turned to enter the crew deck. The door slid open, revealing the sleeping forms of several crewmen. Cortez was in the bed closest to the door, so Tali crossed to him and shook his shoulder.
“Cortez, it’s time to go,” she whispered, trying not to wake anyone else. The pilot groggily opened his eyes and rubbed them with his fists, before coming up to a sitting position on the side of his bed. Nodding, he stood and slowly walked out of the room, stopping at the elevator. Tali continued past the elevator to the very front of the crew deck: the main battery. The door slid open, and Tali immediately recognized Garrus standing over the center console. The turian’s head turned to face the newcomers, and when he saw Tali, he turned around fully.
“Hey Tali, hey… Legion?”
“Affirmative, Garrus Vakarian,” Legion nodded. “We are in control of this mobile platform.”
“Nice,” Garrus observed, turning his head to address Tali. “So what’s up?”
“It’s time to go for the negotiations,” Tali replied. “Are you ready?” Garrus turned back around for a moment and closed the window on his console, before once again turning to face Tali.
“Ready enough,” he said. “I just have to sit there and make sure nobody tries anything stupid. You’re the one presiding over the negotiations. Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be…” Tali sighed. “Head on down to the hangar. Legion, go on with him. I’m going to go grab Liara and Traynor.” Nodding, Garrus exited between Tali and Legion and began walking down the hall of sleeper pods. Legion followed the turian, and Tali followed after the geth. When she reached the elevator, she was glad to find Liara and Traynor already present.
“Tali, are we getting ready to go?” the comms specialist asked. Liara was standing beside her, wondering the same.
“Yes, I was just coming to get you,” Tali answered. “Let’s go.” The five crewmembers all stepped into the elevator, and Garrus pressed the button for the hangar. It was a short ride down, and when the door reopened they all stepped out into the large room. The shuttle at the far end of the hangar had its door open, and Cortez and Kaidan were standing in the threshold. Tali, Garrus, Legion, and Traynor all jogged over to the open shuttle, attracting the attention of the two humans already waiting.
“I just received word,” Kaidan began. “The Everest, Destiny Ascension, Dauntless, and Khelorata have just arrived with our ambassadors. They’ll be in orbit in minutes, so we should probably head out.”
“Let’s not waste any time then,” Liara said. Nodding, everyone stepped into the shuttle and took a seat, with the exception of Cortez, who entered the cockpit. A moment later the door closed shut, and the sound of the engines coming on filled the space. Tali felt her stomach drop as they lifted off from the deck of the hangar, before being pushed back into her chair as they flew out…
Princesses Celestia and Luna found themselves at the familiar spot on the edge of the castle loading docks, watching out over the rolling landscape beneath them. Neither princess spoke as they watched for any kind of movement in the sky, for fear of missing the arrival. For several minutes they simply stared ahead, waiting…
“… There!” Luna exclaimed, her hoof flying up to point at a moving spec on the horizon. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the Everfree forest, which told the princesses that the ship now approaching belonged to the Normandy. It flew along the plains outside Canterlot, sticking close to the ground to avoid detection by the ponies in the mountain city. Only a few moments later the small craft shot into the loading docks and lowered to the deck. Celestia and Luna trotted over to the ship, ready to meet their guests. The ship was quite different from Legion’s; it was smaller, more of a box shape, and had a blue, white, and black coloration. A door on the side slid open, revealing six aliens. Four were familiar, one was not recognized at all, and the other took Luna and Celestia a moment to process.
“Legion!” Celestia cried, a smile breaking out across her face. “Is that you!?”
“Yes, Princess Celestia,” the geth that resembled Legion said, stepping out of the ship. “Creator Tali’Zorah constructed this platform for us so that we may be of assistance during these negotiations.”
“It is wonderful to see you again, instead of just hear you,” Luna smiled. It was at this point that a seventh alien stepped out from the cockpit. He was a human male with a skin tone similar to James’, though he lacked hair atop his head.
“This is Lieutenant Steve Cortez,” Kaidan explained. “He’s our shuttle pilot.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Celestia said, bowing her head.
“And you, ma’am,” Cortez reciprocated.
“And this here is Specialist Samantha Traynor,” Kaidan added, pointing to the other unrecognized alien. She too was human, though she was female.
“Hi,” Traynor said nervously.
“Hello, Specialist Traynor,” Luna greeted.
“The other dignitaries will be arriving in minutes, your highnesses,” Kaidan said. “Are the other Equis races ready?”
“We never received a response from the diamond dogs or dragons,” Celestia replied. “But the griffons, zebra, and changelings are prepared to begin negotiations.”
“Excellent.” Before anything more could be said, Kaidan’s omni-tool began to flash. He lifted his arm up to regard the device, before dismissing it and looking to the sky. A moment later four dots became visible, flying high above the clouds. Within a few kilometers of Canterlot they dove down and flew into the loading docks, each one coming to a hover over a different section. Each craft was the same make as the one used by the Normandy crew, though they did have different colors. One was completely identical, and out of this stepped an older human dressed similarly to Kaidan. Out of another blue one stepped a blue alien that looked very similar to Liara. A turian with white facial markings stepped out of a black and red craft, and an unrecognized alien emerged from a solid white one. He had large black eyes and a thin head with two horns protruding from the top. The four newcomers stepped up to the princesses, looking curiously at their surroundings.
“Hello ma’am,” the older human said, stepping forward. “I am Admiral Hackett of the Systems Alliance, representing humanity in these negotiations.”
“I am Primarch Victus of the turian hierarchy,” the turian introduced, bowing his head.
“I am Matriarch Lidanya, representing the asari,” the blue alien greeted.
“And I am Jedin Polban for the salarians, it is a pleasure to meet you,” the newest alien said.
“The pleasure is all ours,” Princess Celestia said, bowing her head. “Welcome to Equis, and welcome to Equestria. I am Princess Celestia, raiser of the sun.”
“And I am Princess Luna, raiser of the moon,” Luna introduced. “Shall we begin?”
“Let’s not waste any time,” Admiral Hackett said. Nodding, Celestia and Luna turned around and led their guests through the small door at the back of the loading docks and into the castle. From there it was a scenic walk through the castle to the meeting room, the door to which was flanked by two vigilant guards. They pulled the door open at the approach of their princess and stood, their expressions stoic, as the alien guests all filed into the large room. The door shut behind them, and Celestia took a seat at the head of the table. Already present were Proudwing, Malkia, and Erebus, who watched the guests curiously. Luna took a seat at the opposite head of the table, and the aliens sat where there was space. Tali took a seat apart from the rest, and looked out over the group.
“Alright everyone,” she began. “Since quarians are not a council race, I have been appointed to preside over these talks. First we will go around the table and introduce ourselves. I shall go first: I am Tali’Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya, Admiral of the quarian fleet.”
“I’m Admiral Steven Hackett of the human Systems Alliance,” Hackett said next.
“I am Adrien Victus, Primarch of Palaven and dignitary for the turian people.”
“I am Matriarch Lidanya of the asari.”
“I am Jedin Polban, representing the salarians.”
“I am Princess Celestia of Equestria.”
“I am Princess Luna of Equestria.”
“I am Senator Proudwing of Gryphonia.”
“I am President Malkia of Zebrica.”
“… I am Erebus of the changelings…”
All eyes now turned to the form of the geth sitting at the end of the table. He looked around, and stood up.
“We are Legion, a terminal of the geth,” he introduced. Now that introductions were out of the way, all eyes returned to Tali.
“Alright, now we shall begin with a simple declaration of peace between our peoples…”
Foster was angry. It was not often that the doctor allowed his emotions to govern his actions, but the information he had just learned had been rather surprising. Taking his fist off of the now-cracked glass of the hologram table in his facility’s control room, the man looked back at the technician who had delivered the news. The tech was staring at his superior, eyes wide in fear.
“… You’re certain?” Foster growled, his teeth clenched.
“Yes, sir,” the tech replied. “It took some time, given the quality of our scanners, but there are ships in orbit, and they are transmitting Alliance, turian, asari, and salarian IFFs.”
“How did they find this place!?” Foster yelled angrily, looking at the hologram of Equis, around which were several ships.
“It’s still unclear, but that Alliance ship that crashed here a few days ago is most likely what led them here,” the tech said. “There are no comm buoys in the area, but if that ship had a QEC they still could have sent word out.” Foster sighed to calm himself down, and shook his head.
“Regardless of how it happened, this is going to make our plans far more difficult,” he decided. “We need to work quickly. What is the status on deployment of the devices?”
“Almost all of them have been set up, sir, we’re just waiting on—“
“Perfect. Activate them.”
“Sir?” the tech asked, raising an eyebrow. “There is still much work to do, we haven’t even calibrated—“
“Do it!” Foster shouted, startling the technician. “We do not have time for this! The Illusive Man needs an army, and that is what we are here to get! That is the only reason we are on this primitive planet! We cannot let the presence of our enemies jeopardize the mission! It’s too important…”
“Yes, sir,” the tech said, nodding. “I apologize… I will activate them at once.” The tech turned and exited the control room, leaving Foster to brood over the situation… Cerberus had not expected anyone – least of all the Alliance – to find out about Equis. The only being in the galaxy that knew was the Legion geth, and the only reason Cerberus knew was because of the Reaper that had interfaced with it. This explained how the Reaper had come to this world, but not the Alliance.
As Foster continued to think over the situation, an idea came to him. An evil smile graced his lips as he pressed the button for the armory intercom.
“Commander…” he began. “Get me a list of all ponies currently living in Gryphonia… I have... plans for them.”
Tali stepped out onto the balcony of her castle guest room, looking out at the sun setting over Equestria. Even though she had experienced many sunsets, this one only confused her. How a single being was able to move something so massive she could not even begin to understand.
The negotiations had lasted through all of the day, with only two breaks for lunch and dinner. Finally, less than an hour ago, they had decided to adjourn the meeting until tomorrow. Progress had been good; peace declarations had been created, and a number of resources were given to the races of Equis, with the intention of educating them on the specifics of the galactic community.
A knock sounded on the door, breaking Tali from her reverie. She turned around, but did not exit the balcony.
“Come in!” she called. The door opened, and Admiral Hackett stepped inside. The human crossed over to Tali, joining her on the balcony. They looked out over Equestria in silence for a moment, before finally he spoke.
“Miss Zorah, I—“
“Please, Tali is fine.”
“Tali, we have something to talk about,” Hackett began. Tali turned her head to him, confused. “I’m aware of your relationship with Commander Shepard… I just wanted to let you know that I do have people looking.” Tali did not answer. She turned her head away from the admiral, and sadly stared out over the landscape.
“But… the damage to the Citadel is extensive,” he continued. “The Presidium is almost entirely gone… Most of what’s left fell to Earth… I’m holding out hope, and I’ll continue to allocate manpower as it becomes available, but…”
“But the odds are slim, I know…” Tali finished. “I’m holding out hope too… John is a fighter, he won’t go down easy…”
“If people didn’t view him as a hero before the Reapers, they will now,” the admiral said. “When someone is thrust on a pedestal that high… Shepard is lucky to have you. And if we find him, I’ll make sure you’re the first person he sees.”
“Thank you, admiral…”
“I should get back to work,” Hackett said, taking a step back. “There’s a lot to get done before we resume tomorrow. Have a good night, Tali.” Tali continued looking ahead as Hackett exited the room, leaving her alone once again. By now the sun had dipped completely below the horizon, and light from the moon was beginning to shine. A soft breeze blew past the mountain, and Tali wished she could feel it on her uncovered face. The last time she had gone without her mask had been with Shepard… Tali looked up to the stars of this alien world, trying to look for any familiar constellations. Unsurprisingly she found none. Where are you, Shepard? She thought as she took in the view. I told you to come back to me… Where are you?
Princess Luna stood on her bedroom balcony, her sister at her side, and looked out over the kingdom of Equestria. Lights were on all over the mountain city, causing it to shine like a beacon in the otherwise darkened world. Looking around at the rest of the castle below her, Luna’s eyes caught movement on a lower balcony. She saw the familiar purple hood of Tali’Zorah just as she disappeared back into the guest room provided for her.
“The night looks beautiful, Luna,” Celestia noted.
“Well I figured I should make a good first impression on our new friends,” Luna said with a smirk. “But thank you. Do you think things went well?”
“Very well, considering that we are dealing with an alien civilization thousands of years more advanced than us,” Celestia answered. “And the dignitaries seem very friendly. I like that Admiral Hackett, and Primarch Victus seems to be very honorable. I spoke with Matriarch Lidanya a bit after dinner, she told me stories about her childhood and growing up in the galactic community. Did you know asari live for a thousand years? We still appear to be the oldest beings in the galaxy, but still.”
“Yes, she told me as we were talking at lunch,” Luna nodded. “What of this ‘Jedin Polban’? He did not speak much during the negotiations, and I did not see him at all after the two meals. According to the guards he simply retired to his guest room.”
“I didn’t get the opportunity to speak to him either…” Celestia said. “He seems very secretive. Perhaps we should ask one of the others about him?”
“We can tomorrow before the negotiations resume,” Luna agreed. “But enough about the events of today. Has Twilight Sparkle been in contact with you at all?”
“No, she has not,” the solar princess replied. “She seems to be fully committed to getting her book completed as soon as possible. I commend her for the effort… I just hope she doesn’t exhaust herself too much.”
“She will pull through,” Luna said assuredly. “She always has. And what of Cadance? Has she written you at all?”
“Indeed, her address to our ponies is nearly complete… Time will tell how they will react, but I have faith in our subjects.”
“As do I… This whole process had gone very smoothly so far…” Luna observed. “Usually by now some ancient foe that we vanquished millennia ago would have appeared.”
“Let’s not get too confident now, sister…” Celestia said, laughing gently. “There is still much to accomplish.” The two continued staring out over their kingdom, neither one speaking. Finally Celestia stretched her wings, and stepped back from the balcony.
“I take my leave,” she said. “Goodnight, Luna. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, ‘Tia,” Luna replied. “Sleep well.” The door to Luna’s bedchamber opened and closed as Celestia left, and Luna sighed. Then, extending her wings, she dove from the balcony and soared into the sky, once again entering her Dreamscape…
Twilight angrily folded her ears against her head, trying in vain to drown out the noise coming from outside of her castle. She did not know what the cause of the commotion was, all she knew was that it was impeding her ability to write her book. Already she had made numerous spelling errors as a result of the unwelcome noise, and the parchment before her seemed home more to marked-out words than actual sentences. Scowling as the noise continued, Twilight tried to focus on writing. This focus was shattered, however, when the door to her room flew open and five ponies entered. Trying her best to force down her annoyance, Twilight turned in her chair to address her friends.
“Hello everypony,” Twilight greeted, coming off a bit colder than she intended.
“Hello dear,” Rarity smiled, ignoring Twilight’s poorly-concealed irritation. “Where have you been? We didn’t see you at all yesterday!” Looking back to her desk, Twilight looked down at the thick stack of parchment that had built up over the past twenty-four hours.
“Ya haven’t been workin’ on that this whole time, have ya’?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s incredibly important that this book be finished before the reveal,” Twilight began. “If it’s not, who knows what might happen!”
“Twilight, I really don’t think ponies are gonna start rioting in the streets,” Dash said, smirking. “You worry too much!”
“We all know what’s happening in Gryphonia because of the collector attack,” Twilight continued. “Who’s to say that that won’t happen here?”
“Uh, Twi’, these aliens haven’t blown up one of our cities,” Dash deadpanned. “It’ll be fine, you’ll see.” Sighing, Twilight shook her head.
“I hope so…”
“Dear, have you even left your room in the past day?” Rarity asked as she began walking around the room, her observant eyes easily noticing how unkempt it was. “This place needs some fresh air!” She crossed the room to Twilight’s window, pushing it open and allowing a light breeze to flow in. This also had the side-effect of increasing the noise-level quite drastically. Annoyed, Twilight stood up and walked over to the window, poking her head outside.
“What has been going on out here?” she asked, looking at the hundreds of ponies milling about Ponyville. “I swear, the noise hasn’t stopped all day!”
“That’s what we came to see you about…” Fluttershy said quietly, withdrawing a newspaper. She passed it to Twilight, who grabbed it in her telekinesis. Unfolding the paper, Twilight’s eyes were immediately drawn to the headline:
ALIENS SPOTTED IN EQUESTRIA?
Sighing, Twilight lowered the paper and frowned.
“Have the other princesses seen this?”
“I’d be surprised if they haven’t,” Rarity said, crossing over to Twilight. “It’s on the front page of every newspaper in Equestria!” Once again raising the newspaper, Twilight looked at the story posted beneath the headline.
Confusion gripped the city of Canterlot yesterday as several ponies claim to have spotted numerous unidentified flying objects. According to all ponies interviewed in Canterlot yesterday, they were “box shaped” and flew directly into the loading docks of the royal castle. At the time of writing this article, the princesses have not been seen in public to give an explanation. But the question still remains: if there really were flying objects, who on Equis has the technology to create such devices? According to Canterlot citizen Firefly Night, the answer is ‘nopony’.
“It has to be aliens,” says Night. “Nopony on Equis has the technology to do that! Aliens are in Equestria!”
These reports are still unconfirmed, and could turn out to be nothing. But if they are accurate, and several flying objects did land in Canterlot yesterday, could this be the beginning of an alien invasion? The Ponyville Inquirer will keep you up to date on all information as it becomes available.
Twilight sighed yet again and floated the paper over to her desk, cramming it into an area not begin taken up by parchment for her novel. She stifled a yawn as her eyes passed over numerous empty cups of coffee sitting discarded on another part of the desk, all of them drained of their contents hours earlier. She hadn’t slept at all last night; every time she looked at the clock, she had told herself “just one more paragraph”. On the bright side, at least the book was about half way done. With a half-visible smile, Twilight turned to once again address her friends.
“So, how is everypony reacting to this news?” she asked.
“Uh, can you not hear all the noise?” Dash answered sarcastically. “Most of them are scared. A few think it’s cool, but most think we’re all gonna die.”
“Should we do something?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight contemplated the question for a moment, before shaking her head.
“No,” she said. “If we do something wrong, we could compromise everything. Cadance is writing the address to the ponies of Equestria, Celestia and Luna are in the negotiations, and I’m writing this book. The best thing we can do is continue our tasks and wait for the time to be right.”
“So be it,” Rarity said, stepping to Twilight’s door. “Come girls, let’s let Twilight work. Good luck, dear. If you need any help, we’ll be at the Normandy.”
“Thanks.” Twilight turned back to her desk as her friends filed out of the room. She sat back down on her cushioned chair just as the door closed shut, leaving the young princess alone with her novel and the noise from outside. Shutting the window with her telekinesis, Twilight returned to trying to focus on the book…
Tali’Zorah tiredly pushed open the mahogany doors to the castle dining hall, stepping inside as soon as the gap could accommodate her. As the messenger who woke her up had told her, the room was already filled almost to capacity with other people, most of them eating breakfast in silence. A few of them looked up to acknowledge her entrance before returning their attentions to the meals laid out before them. All of it was levo food, but Tali was not surprised. She had remembered to pack extra dextro food for herself and Garrus while they were staying here, but it was nothing particularly exciting. Taking a seat next to the turian, Tali withdrew a small tube and held it up to a slot beneath her helmet.
“Morning, Tali,” Garrus said tiredly. Tali passed him a tube of dextro food, which he took gratefully.
“Morning…”
“Did you sleep well, Tali?” Luna asked with a knowing stare.
“Yes, thank you,” Tali answered smiling at the princess beneath her helmet. “This castle is extraordinary, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“You flatter us, Miss Zorah,” Celestia spoke up, smiling. “I am sure that you have seen many amazing things on your travels.”
“Amazing things, sure, but no castles.” Tali placed the tube of dextro food into the slot beneath her chin and squeezed it through a straw into her mouth. She shuddered slightly at the texture of the paste, but forced it down regardless. She needed her energy for today, and it would be difficult to stay focused on an empty stomach.
“So, what is on the schedule for discussion today?” Luna asked, looking around the room.
“We’ll be talking about converting your economy to the galactic credit system, and defense pacts,” Hackett answered, taking a drink from a glass of water. “We’ll also need to discuss the matter of the dragons and diamond dogs…”
Tali let out a sigh the second she heard the two names uttered. She knew that they were going to have to confront the two uncooperative species eventually, but their behavior so far suggested that no progress would be made. Before any more conversation could be made, Senator Proudwing pushed his chair back on the smooth marble floor and stood up, stepping away from the table.
“Please excuse me, I must write to Prime Minister Sharptooth about all of this,” he explained. “I also will request a status update…” All eyes were on the griffon as he exited the room. As soon as the door closed, Matriarch Lidanya turned her head to the two princesses.
“He briefly mentioned domestic issues yesterday,” she began. “What is that all about?”
“Faith in the griffon Prime Minister has been dropping as of late,” Luna answered. “After his failure to act following the collector attack on their capital, griffons no longer believe he can protect them. What started as a small band of protestors had grown into a true insurrection.”
“Will this have any effect on the negotiations?” Primarch Victus asked, leaning forward. “If this Prime Minister is under threat of being removed, we need to know.”
“That remains to be seen, Primarch,” Celestia said. “We will know when Sharptooth writes back. Now before we resume negotiations, we must first discuss your reveal to the world. I believe that my ponies will react well, and the zebra have never been known to be violent. Erebus, what of your fellow changelings? How will they react?” All eyes turned to the changeling sitting quietly on one side of the table. He seemed to withdraw at all of the attention, but still answered.
“We do not care,” he whispered. “Our priority right now is birthing a new queen. When that is done, she will dictate how we react.” Tali glared at the creature from behind her mask, still unsure on how she felt about him. In a way she pitied the creature; his kind relied on having a queen, and without one they faced extinction. But there was something about his attitude that made Tali feel uncomfortable around him. Perhaps it was simply the knowledge that they had worked with the collectors. Whatever it was, she knew she needed to work past it if a peaceful relationship was to be achieved.
“We should return to negotiations soon, then,” Celestia suggested, standing up from her throne at the head of the table. “Luna and I will prepare everything. Come to us when you are ready.” The two princesses left the dining hall, the sounds of their hooves hitting the marble floors echoing back into the room as they walked away. Tali suppressed a yawn and focused on finishing her poor excuse for a breakfast, eager to continue negotiations…
The featureless white door slid apart and Doctor David Foster entered through the now-open portal into a small room. The only furniture in the room was twelve metal tables, upon each of which was an unconscious pony. Each pony had a white bandage over his or her stomach, hiding a large scar that they had not had when they first came to visit Foster’s facility. Presiding over the sleeping guests were two of Foster’s employees; one a medical doctor and the other a soldier equipped in full Cerberus armor. At his entrance, the two humans turned to face their superior, awaiting orders.
“How are they?” Foster asked, looking over the ponies.
“They all have been implanted, sir,” the doctor reported. “But there are only twelve. Are you sure that will be enough?”
“It will have to be,” Foster sighed. “Lying here is every pony currently living in Gryphonia. We cannot venture into an Equestrian city, we would be caught. And the griffons under our control must stay in their own country, or we risk weakening our own operation. This will have to do.”
“Understood, sir. They will be awake within the hour.”
“Excellent…” Foster turned to face the soldier – the highest ranking Cerberus military officer on the planet. “Commander, when they’re awake… Send them home.” The commander did not speak, but saluted and resumed watching the ponies. Satisfied that his orders would be carried out, Foster turned and exited the room, making a mental note to check Equestrian news later in the day. They were in for a surprise…
Joker limped through the CIC of the Normandy, his eyes passing over the crew working busily to repair the damaged ship. From what he had heard, almost all of the repairs were complete. All that remained was to fix the engines, which was not going to be easy. And with their resident engine expert in Canterlot, that made the task all the more difficult. Stepping into the elevator, Joker pressed the button for the engineering deck. Vrolik Syndrome prevented him from helping with most of the repairs, but he still wanted to at least see if he could be useful. He would accept anything that could take his mind off of EDI…
The door slid open and Joker stepped through, immediately heading for the main engineering room. Standing at their consoles were the three Alliance engineers, all of them working on something that was out of the pilot’s expertise. Adams glanced up at Joker, grinning when he saw him.
“Hey, Joker,” he said. “Glad to see you down here and out of that cockpit.”
“Good to see you too, Adams,” Joker reciprocated. “How are things down here?”
“We’re making progress,” Gabby answered, turning her head slightly. “Sure wish Tali would come back soon, though.”
“No kidding,” Ken added. “She’s important for my… morale…”
“Yeah, don’t let Shepard catch you saying that…” Joker said, pacing around the room.
“Speaking of, any word on Shepard?” Adams asked.
“Not that I’ve been told,” the pilot replied. “All I know is that they’re looking, but odds aren’t good.” Joker’s face fell as he spoke, recalling the last few seconds of the battle above Earth. He was the closest ship to the Citadel, if he had just kept going…
“Lieutenant Moreau?” a voice said over the intercom, interrupting Joker from his thoughts. “Five of the ponies just arrived, they’re requesting permission to come aboard.”
“Granted,” Joker answered. “I’ll be right up.” Nodding his farewell to the three engineers, Joker hobbled out of the engineering room and re-entered the elevator, hitting the button for the CIC.
Rainbow Dash’s head moved constantly as she entered the alien ship, still fascinated by all of the technology. It wasn’t so much the technology itself that excited her, it was the fact that this massive thing could fly that got her going. Before it had crashed here, Dash had been the fastest thing on Equis. Now there was this, which was capable of going several times the speed of light. The pegasus briefly wondered if that was possible for her to do, but her attention was directed towards Joker as he approached her and her friends.
“Hey,” he said as he hobbled up to the group of ponies. “What’s up?”
“We just figured we’d drop by, see if there was anything we could do for ya,” Applejack explained.
“Well there’s not a lot you can do to help with repairs right now,” Joker said. “But we’re still happy to have you. Come on, let’s head on down to the lounge.” He waved for the ponies to follow and began walking down the CIC. Rainbow Dash began to follow, and her friends kept close behind her. Before reaching the elevator they were intercepted by a female crewman who Dash immediately recognized.
“Here, Joker,” Traynor said, passing the pilot a small rectangular device. Her eyes passed over the cyan pegasus, and immediately Dash saw her cheeks redden. “Oh… Hello, Rainbow.”
“Hey, Traynor…” Dash said just as awkwardly. She mentally cursed that engineer who had tried hooking them up yesterday, beginning to think of ways to get revenge. “So… I thought you were in Canterlot… When did you come back?”
“Earlier today,” the specialist answered slowly. “They needed me for repairs, and figured Tali could record the negotiations easily enough.” Nodding awkwardly, Dash tried to hide behind her friends.
“What’s the matter, Dashie?” Pinkie said with a knowing stare. Dash glared at the pink mare, wishing that they could just continue on.
“Uh, Traynor, could you escort them down to the port lounge?” Joker asked. “I need to deal with this.”
“Um, sure,” Traynor replied, forcing a grin. Dash frowned, her cheeks reddening even more. “Come on, let’s go.” The human led the ponies the rest of the way to the elevator and set the destination for the floor immediately below. As the elevator made its quick descent, nopony spoke. They rode in silence until finally Applejack opened her mouth.
“So Rainbow,” she said in a playful voice. “How’s it going?”
“Fine.”
“You sure? Your cheeks are lookin’ a little red there.”
“AJ, I swear to Celestia—“
“Here we are!” Traynor said, interrupting Dash and preventing Applejack from saying anything else. The door slid open and Traynor hopped out, walking quickly down the hallway and entering the room at the end. She immediately took a seat in a tall chair and grabbed a bottle. The ponies filled into the room after her, all of them grinning at Dash. The cyan mare glared at her friends, hoping that they would not do anything to further the awkward situation.
“Say, dear, why don’t you take a seat next to Traynor over there?” Rarity suggested, winking. Her glare sharpening, Dash resisted the urge to tackle her friend.
“No, it’s fine, how about I come to you?” Traynor stood from her chair, holding a bottle and a tray of glasses. She walked over to the ponies, smiling awkwardly.
“Drinks, anyone?” she offered. “Wait, you are all over twenty-one, right?” Everypony nodded, and Traynor grinned as she began pouring drinks. As she poured, her eyes turned up to Dash.
“So, Dash…” she began. “… How are things?” Behind Rainbow, Applejack snickered.
“Fine, thanks,” Dash answered, her urge to go hurt that engineer growing. “… How are you?”
“Fine…” Traynor finished pouring the drinks and lowered the tray to where the ponies could reach. They each grabbed a glass and began taking sips of the pale green liquid within. Dash took a sip, feeling her throat begin to burn as the drink went down.
“Strong stuff ya got here,” Applejack observed, taking another sip. “Dash, maybe you and Traynor should share one?” This put Pinkie into a fit of giggles, and Fluttershy nearly spit up her drink trying not to laugh.
“For Celestia’s sake, AJ, Traynor and I aren’t dating!” Dash cried, fed up.
“I mean, do you even like aliens, Traynor?” Dash asked.
“Well, if they’re attractive…” the human answered, causing Dash’s eyes to widen. “And your voice… Mmph.” All eyes were now on Traynor, who shrunk at the sudden attention. She laughed awkwardly, though before she could say anything the door opened and Joker stepped inside.
“Talk to me sometime,” Traynor said as she walked out, the door closing behind her. Joker stared at where she had been, confused, while Dash simply stared on in shock.
“Are you gonna talk to her sugarcube?” Applejack asked. Dash stared on for a moment longer, too confused to speak.
“Ugh… Uh…” she sputtered. “… Yeah.”
“Alright, I’m not going to ask what that was all about,” Joker said. “But I just got off comms with an Alliance ship in the Sol system. They had good news. They think they might have found Shepard.”
Tali sat in her chair in the Canterlot castle meeting room, only half-listening as Primarch Victus listed off the terms of the defense pact they had carefully put together. She knew she should be paying better attention, given her position as the one presiding over these negotiations, but she knew the terms well enough. And if the two sides found them to be fair, all she had to do was confirm their agreement.
“In addition, if any Equis race decides to construct a fleet, the Treaty of Farixen limits the amount of dreadnoughts that may be owned based a ratio of five to three to one. For every five dreadnoughts in the turian fleet, non-council races are allowed one. Given the loss of ships during the war with the Reapers, this does mean—“
The Primarch was interrupted as a knock sounded on the door, and an Alliance marine poked his head inside as it opened.
“Admiral Hackett, sir,” he said. “Priority message for you from Sol.”
“Please come in,” Hackett invited. “Everyone else here can hear it too.”
“Understood, sir.” The marine opened the door fully and stepped inside, closing it behind him. “The SSV Nautilus has been running scans of the wreckage of the Citadel for the past two days. Today they found a small area of the Presidium that appears to still have breathable air, though it is only a few feet in any direction. There is much debris in that area, but the scanners are picking something up. A single life sign, just barely reading.” Tali gasped, and stood up.
“Do they know who it is yet?” she asked, hoping against hope that it was Shepard.
“No, ma’am,” the marine answered. “It’s buried under several yards of rubble. Digging crews are clearing it, but they need to be careful or it could all collapse and snuff out the remaining breathable air.” Princess Luna turned and gave a hopeful look to Tali, who was beginning to grow excited.
“Thank you, soldier,” Hackett said. “You may return to your post.” Saluting, the marine turned and exited the room.
“Tali, if it’s him, I’ll arrange to have you see him,” the human said, looking to the quarian. Tali nodded her thanks, unable to stop smiling beneath her helmet. She knew that it was possible that the life sign they found wasn’t Shepard, but Luna was right. She needed to keep up hope, if not for herself, then at least for Shepard. Tali sat back down, and nodded at the admiral.
“Thank you,” she said. “Shall we continue?”
Corporal Night Flyer suppressed a yawn and leaned back in his chair, keeping one half-closed eye on the front door of the Canterlot castle. He knew he should be taking his duties more seriously, but nopony ever tried breaking into Canterlot. Well, except for the changelings…
“Sit up straight,” Night’s partner, Far Gaze, lectured. “You’re a royal guard. Act like one.”
“Piss off,” Night said, glaring. “Nothing’s gonna happen. Nothing ever happens. All we do is spend most of our days patrolling the safest place in the world. That’s not going to change.” Far Gaze grunted, clearly dissatisfied, but did not pressure Night any further. There was silence between the two, before Gaze finally opened his mouth again.
“So…” he began. “You hear about the alien invasion going on?”
“Yeah,” Night laughed, shaking his head. “Load of crap. There’re no aliens here. There used to be, though. Remember that machine thing? I actually met it once.”
“Bull,” Gaze said. “You never met it.”
“You wanna bet?” Night asked, receiving a raised eyebrow from his partner. “If it ever comes back, I’m gonna ask if it remembers me. And when it says yes, you’ll owe me, say, a hundred bits?”
“You’re on,” Gaze scoffed. Once again there was silence between the two. Gaze directed his eyes towards Night, not sure if he should ask his next question.
“So uh… If you met that thing, then you must have gotten pretty close to Princess Luna, huh?”
“Huh?” Night inquired. “Not really. I just spoke to it once then went to tell Princess Luna about it.”
“Oh… So you never went into her room in the dead of night to have some ‘top secret’ conversations with her?” Night raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
“No…?” he said. “Wait, are you implying—“
The guard was interrupted as the castle door opened in a telekinetic aura. As it opened a familiar pony stepped through, a heavy set of bags under his eyes.
“Ambassador Silver Pen, we weren’t expecting you,” Far Gaze greeted as Night righted his chair. “What brings you back so early from Gryphonia?” The ambassador slowly turned his head to look at the guard, saying nothing. He continued to walk further into the entryway, until he stopped right next to the guard station.
“Ambassador?” Night asked. “Are you okay? Do you need us to do something for you?” The stallion remained silent. Hopping up from his chair, Night circled the pony, looking for anything strange. He was about to give up when he noticed a bandage on the stomach of the ambassador, perfectly matching his fur.
“What’s that?” Far Gaze wondered, stepping up next to Night.
“Ambassador, were you injured?” Night persisted, standing right in front of the ambassador. “Mister Ambassador, please answer me!” When the pony remained silent, Night turned to his partner. “Go get some doctors. And… get some backup, too.” Nodding, Far Gaze turned and started to gallop down the entry corridor. Before he could get far, Silver Pen opened his mouth and let out a blood-curdling scream. Night clutched his hooves to his ears, and Far Gaze did the same. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light, and the next thing Night knew he was flying backwards through the air. In front of him was a massive fireball that rushed down the hallway, ending several meters into the castle. Night hit the floor with a thud and a crack of bones.
His vision blurry, Night looked down at his torso. The golden breastplate was riddled with holes caused by small pieces of debris, and blood poured out of the wounds. He tried to scream, but found that he no longer felt anything where his jaw was supposed to be. The carpet beneath him caught fire, and he tried to run away, but his legs would not listen. Looking to his side, Night found his two right legs to be missing entirely. His vision beginning to go black, Night’s head fell back and he knew no more.
Tali sat in her chair at the meeting table, now far more alert than she had been a few minutes ago. The message of Shepard’s possible survival had considerably boosted her morale, and now she was giving her full attention to Primarch Victus, who was just finishing up the terms of the defense pact.
“That concludes our defense pact,” the turian said. “Is this agreeable to all of you?”
“I believe that my zebra will be most pleased with the terms,” Malkia answered, bowing her head.
“I will have to relay this information to the Prime Minister, but I find no faults with the points,” Proudwing agreed.
“My sister and I accept the terms,” Celestia added. All eyes now turned to Erebus, who continued to remain silent for a moment more.
“It is fine,” he finally said. Nodding, Victus sat down and lowered his omni-tool, on which was written the defense pact.
“Did you get all that, Tali?” Kaidan asked.
“Yes,” Tali answered, ending the record function on her omni-tool.
“Excellent,” Hackett spoke up. “Now we can—“
He was interrupted as the entire castle seemed to shake. There was a loud boom which Tali instantly recognized as an explosion. She and the rest of the Normandy crew jumped up, while the two princesses looked around in confusion.
“Agreed,” Kaidan said, getting up from his chair. “Garrus, Legion, Tali, with me. Everyone else stay here, we’ll handle this.” Without waiting for a response, Kaidan ran from the room, his squad in tow. Tali stayed near the back, preparing to unleash Chatika vas Paus on their unknown attackers. Legion moved to the front of the group, leading the three through the castle corridors to the source of the explosion. Sprinting through the halls alongside them were dozens of royal guards, all of them wearing confused and worried expressions.
It did not take long to find the source of the explosion. After a few minutes, all they had to do was follow the smoke. It filled the top of the very tall corridors, restricting airflow. Tali noticed that Kaidan and Garrus were beginning to cough, and the sound of pony guards coughing filled the hall not long after. Turning down another corridor, the squad finally came to the site of the explosion, which appeared to be the front entrance. The only reason Tali could tell this was because she could see a courtyard through thick pillars of smoke. If there had ever been a door, it was now completely gone. The marble support columns had collapsed and the walls of the hallway were gone. Wooden supports were on fire, the flames being the source of all the smoke.
Legion ran ahead of the organics, the smoke and soot beginning to stain the light-gray color of the platform. He stopped near what looked like the epicenter of the explosion and bent down, beginning to dig through a pile of rubble. When he was done digging, he lifted the bent and twisted form of a pony guard from the debris. Tali did not have to look for long to know that he was dead. Cradling the body, Legion slowly walked away from the explosion site, returning to the Normandy crew. Other guards had begun to gather around, staring sadly at the body. Legion lowered the guard to the floor, giving everyone their first good look at him.
His fur was mostly burned off, and holes from debris riddled the soot-stained golden armor. His two right legs were missing, one removed at the shoulder and the other at the knee. Blood continued to pour from the wounds, spilling onto the burnt carpet beneath him. A large piece of debris jutted from his throat, and the pony’s jaw was entirely gone. His eyes were still open, his brow turned up in fear. Tali felt sadness for the guard, but also confusion. Who had done this? How had they done it? She was under the impression that Canterlot was the safest city on Equis.
Hearing hooves trotting up behind her, Tali turned and found Princesses Celestia and Luna approaching the explosion site. Behind them were the other leaders and dignitaries, all of them looking worried and confused.
“Oh my…” Celestia whispered, taking in the damage. Her magenta eyes passed over the body of the dead guard, and she gasped quietly.
“Who is responsible for this?” Luna wondered, asking no one in particular. Her horn lit and the flames were snuffed out, leaving the black smoke to clear out naturally. “One fatality… Is anypony else injured?”
“One, your highness,” a guard said, approaching the princess. “Corporal Far Gaze. We took him to the medical wing, he is in critical condition.”
“Keep us updated on his status,” Celestia ordered. The guard saluted and ran off to help with relief efforts.
“Princess, if you’d like, we can offer some assistance in finding out what caused this,” Admiral Hackett offered, approaching Celestia.
“Thank you, that would be most appreciated,” Celestia accepted, bowing her head. “I am afraid that we must postpone our remaining negotiations. This is very important.”
“We understand entirely, your highness,” Primarch Victus said. “We will get out your way.” Gesturing to the other council representatives, Victus began walking away, back down the hall. A moment later Tali, Kaidan, Garrus, and Legion joined him. Tali did not know what to feel. She had thought this world to be peaceful, and yet now a bomb had gone off in the castle of the Equestrian capital. She did not know who had done it, how they had done it, or why. All she knew was that the situation just got far more complicated.
Tali slumped down onto a low couch in the lounge room they had been led to, letting out a heavy sigh as soon as she hit the cushioned seat. Tilting her head up, the quarian watched as other members of the Normandy crew entered. They took up positions around the room, all of them undoubtedly thinking about the same thing as Tali: the attack.
They still had no idea who was responsible. The only pony who could possibly know was in critical condition, and may not survive. Tali was worried. She had experienced war and seen death firsthand, but to see it happen to such a peaceful species… She hoped it would not compromise the negotiations. Tali looked around the room as the lounge door closed, looking at the positions of everyone. Garrus and Kaidan were whispering quietly by a window, looking out over the city below them. Liara was standing alone in a corner typing on her omni-tool, and Cortez was sitting in a chair next to Tali. Legion stood by the door, doing nothing that the quarian could see, and the four council representatives were all huddled together around a table at the opposite end of the room. All of their heads were drawn to the door as it was pushed open, and Princess Celestia stepped inside.
“Hello everyone,” she greeted. “I apologize for today’s events. I understand how important these negotiations are, and I must say that this attack happened at the worst possible time.”
“Again, we understand entirely, princess,” Primarch Victus expressed, standing up. “Have any developments occurred?”
“Luna is drafting a letter to the family of the guard who was killed…” Celestia answered. “A number of civilians – including reporters – showed up at the castle gates a few minutes ago, wondering what happened.”
“What did you tell them?” Garrus asked.
“The truth,” the princess stated. “That we are not sure, but we are looking into it and I will make an official statement in the next few days. That seemed to be enough, and they dispersed a few moments later.” Celestia stepped further into the room and sat down across from Tali, looking around. “So, what remains of our negotiations?”
“We’ve just about covered it, princess,” Matriarch Lidanya said, crossing to the alicorn. “All that remains is for everything we’ve gone over to be put into one document that all parties can sign. Once that’s done we’ll get you some resources so you can be better prepared for integration.”
“That reminds me, we have a book for you,” Celestia said, standing. “It covers the history of Equis, the intricacies of each country’s government, and a few extras. Legion, we were hoping that you could help us translate it?”
“We would need to understand your written language first, Princess Celestia,” Legion replied. “This should not be difficult for us. How do you recommend we begin?”
“I’ll have Twilight teach you the basics when she is finished writing her book on all of you,” Celestia decided. “But for now, I will gladly answer any questions you might have.”
“If we get any, we’ll be sure to come to you,” Jedin Polban spoke up for the first time all day. Previously he had simply been watching, his large black eyes taking note of everything going on around him. “If you will excuse me, I must get into contact with my people.”
“The Alliance could use a status update as well,” Hackett added, following the salarian out of the room. A moment later Victus and Lidanya left, leaving the princess alone with the Normandy crew.
“Legion,” Celestia began. “I haven’t had a chance to welcome you back yet. When I heard of your death, I was very upset. It is good to know that you are fine.”
“Thank you, Princess Celestia,” Legion said, bowing his head. “We wish the same could be said for other geth.”
“We’ll figure something out, Legion,” Tali comforted, stepping up behind the geth. “If you could be restored, perhaps others can too.”
“Perhaps…”
“No matter what happens, Equestria will know what you did for us,” Celestia added. “And you have my personal thanks as well… Were it not for you…” She faltered, her eyes darting downward. “I owe more than I can ever give.”
“We did what was right,” Legion said. “We ask for nothing in return.” Celestia bowed her head and turned, exiting the room. There was silence for a moment, and all of the Normandy crew stepped up behind Legion.
“One day, Legion, you’re gonna need to tell us everything that happened here,” Kaidan decided, grinning. “How long were you here?”
“Approximately one month, Major,” Legion answered. “The original Legion created this copy of itself on its final day here. It seems that our judgement was… appropriate.”
“Yeah…” Garrus agreed. “So, uh… What now?”
“I guess we wait,” Liara decided, crossing to an empty chair and sitting down. The rest of the crew (minus Legion) joined her a moment later. Silence filled the room as each person was simply resigned to wait…
Rainbow Dash looked out the window of the Normandy’s lounge, her large cerise eyes passing over the expansive canopy of the Everfree Forest. She sighed and sipped her drink, now more acclimated to the strong flavor. She was somewhat aware of a conversation occurring behind her, but the pegasus paid it no mind. Not until an invasive silence swept over the room did she bother to turn and see what was happening.
Standing in the doorway of the lounge was an alien that Dash had seen only once before. He had called himself ‘Javik’, she remembered, though she could not remember his species. Proton? No, that wasn’t right… Electing to figure it out later, Dash stood from her position in front of the window and joined her friends, her drink still held in a hoof.
“Hi!” Pinkie exclaimed, grinning widely. “I remember you! I’m Pinkie Pie!” Javik looked down at the excited mare and glared, his four eyes giving off a look of annoyance. Applejack placed a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder and pulled her away from the towering alien, grinning awkwardly.
“Howdy there,” she greeted. “Can we help ya with somethin’?”
“I am simply here for a drink,” he answered, stepping past the ponies and approaching the bar.
“You like the drinks here too, then?” Rarity said. “They are far stronger than anything we have here in Equestria.”
“Commander Shepard hosted a ‘party’ for the Normandy crew,” Javik began. “I became accustomed to the drinks of this cycle…”
“Cycle?” Dash asked. “What do you mean by that?” Javik grabbed a glass and a few bottles from behind the bar, then began mixing a drink.
“I am older than all of you,” he replied without turning around. “You know of the Reapers, yes?” The ponies all nodded. “They come in a cycle, destroying all advanced organic species every fifty thousand years. My species was the last to be eradicated – fifty thousand years ago. I am the only one to survive the holocaust against my people.” None of the ponies knew how to respond. He was the last of his kind… Dash felt sorry for him, and understood why he was acting a little… reserved.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, dear!” Rarity cried, her expression one of sympathy. “I cannot even begin to imagine how that must feel!”
“Pray that you never do,” Javik said.
“Now why aren’t y’all in Canterlot with the rest of ‘em?” Applejack asked.
“Your kind wished to examine me,” the alien explained. “I do not want that. I will remain onboard the Normandy until we depart.”
“Suit yerself…” AJ said as she took a seat in one of the room’s many leather relaxation chairs. “Though if ya ask me, ah don’t think an examination is necessary. We’ve been around y’all a while now, and we ain’t dead… yet…” Silence filled the room once again as Javik sipped on his drink and the ponies stood around awkwardly with theirs. It was finally broken when the door opened and Joker stepped through, a look of worry plastered onto his face.
“Ah…” he began slowly, picking his words. “Kaidan just called… There’s been an attack on Canterlot.” The ponies all immediately became more alert and crowded around the human pilot.
“What kind of attack!?” Dash asked, aggressively launching herself into the air.
“A bomb, they don’t know who set it off yet,” Joker answered. “One guard is dead, another is wounded.”
“We should go and help, girls,” Rarity suggested, making to leave.
“Actually, Princess Celestia added a bit to Kaidan’s message,” Joker said, stopping the mare. “She wants you to stay here where it’s safe. Twilight should already be on her way here as well.”
“We can’t just stay here and do nothing!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily.
“It’s not my call,” Joker defended, taking a step back. “Sorry. I know what it’s like.”
“Joker,” Traynor said, appearing in the doorway behind the pilot. “QEC just came online, they’re asking for you.” Sighing, Joker nodded and turned around, exiting the crowded lounge. Traynor took a step inside, standing awkwardly before the group of ponies.
“So… you probably heard about the attack then, huh?” she asked, her expression turning sympathetic.
“Yup…” Applejack answered.
“Don’t worry, you’ve got the best soldiers in the galaxy up there,” Traynor said reassuringly. “And your princesses seem fairly capable, too.” This got no more than a few grunts out of the ponies, who were still upset at being forced to stay in “safety”.
“Hopefully we won’t have to stay here long…” Fluttershy whispered. “I can’t imagine how ponies in Canterlot must feel right now!”
“Yes, it must be awful,” Rarity agreed.
“Mhm…” Rainbow Dash nodded, frowning. She took another sip of her drink, shuddering slightly as it went down. “Well once Twilight gets here maybe we can figure something out…”
“I’m sure you will,” Traynor said. “If you need anything, come find me. Or just ask Javik, I’m sure he’ll be delighted to help.” Javik grunted, rolling his four eyes. Traynor stepped out of the room, the door sliding shut behind her. Sighing, Rainbow Dash turned around and returned to her position looking out at the Everfree. Far in the distance she could see the mountain that was home to Canterlot, and if she squinted she could just make out the form of the city. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw a thin trail of smoke coming off of it. Taking another sip of her drink, Rainbow Dash sat down on the cold floor of the Normandy, ready to wait…
Tali sat on down on the couch in the exquisite lounge, trying to keep herself busy by fiddling with her omni-tool. Nearly an hour had passed since the bombing, and she was beginning to grow restless. She hated just sitting around with nothing to do; to her, it felt… counterproductive. She glanced up as Legion took a seat next to her, but did not stop her fiddling.
“Creator Tali’Zorah,” Legion began, breaking the silence. “We have an inquiry.”
“What is it, Legion?” Tali asked, not looking up.
“We have observed that you and other Normandy crewmembers are referring to us as ‘he’, rather than ‘it’,” he continued. “Why is that?” Tali raised an eyebrow, curious as to what brought about the question.
“Well…” she started, trying to think of the answer. “I suppose it was when you sacrificed yourself. You gave your own life to give true intelligence to the rest of the geth. The least we can do is call you ‘he’.”
“But that was a different Legion,” the geth countered. “We are not the same as the one that sacrificed itself. We did not experience the same events, and we do not have the same memories.”
“Okay then, what would you have done, given the chance to upload the Reaper code?” Tali asked, turning to face Legion. “Would you have done the same as your original? Or would you have deleted it, and remained the way you are now?” Legion paused for a moment, the flaps around its eye widening in thought.
“… We would have uploaded it,” he finally decided.
“See, no problem then,” Tali said, returning to her omni-tool. Her work was short-lived, however, as she looked up again as the door opened. A human soldier stepped inside and looked around the room, his eyes finally settling on Tali.
“Miss Zorah,” he said. “You’re needed outside.” Nodding, Tali stood and joined the marine by the doorway. He closed it as she exited, and Tali looked around the hall, finding Admiral Hackett waiting nearby. His expression was grave, but hope flickered in his eyes. Tali curiously approached the human, wondering what she was needed for.
“Yes, Admiral?” she asked.
“I just got off the comm with Lieutenant Moreau,” he began. “The SSV Nautilus called in. They have confirmed that the unidentified life sign in the rubble of the Citadel is indeed Commander Shepard.” Tali gasped, her eyes widening in shock. She had been holding out hope, but to find out that it was true? She was at a loss for words.
“I…” she stammered. “How do they know?”
“They managed to remove enough rubble to send a camera down,” Hackett answered. “It’s him, but he’s in bad shape. They’re doubling efforts to get the rubble out of the way and get him out of there.” A smile formed on Tali’s lips, and she felt her legs weakening. A soft laugh escaped her as happiness took her mind.
“When can I see him?” she asked excitedly.
“Not yet, Tali, I’m sorry,” the human said. “We’re still unsure about Shepard’s current condition. Once he’s conscious, you’ll be the first to see him, I promise.”
“Thank you, Admiral,” Tali said, still smiling. “I’ll go tell the rest of the crew.”
“You do that, Tali,” Hackett said, grinning. “I’ll keep you appraised.” With that, the admiral spun on his heel and began walking back down the long corridor. The marine who had accompanied him jogged to catch up, before falling into stride with the human. Tali watched him go for a moment, before she turned and re-entered the lounge. All eyes were instantly on her, each one giving her a questioning look.
“What was that all about?” Kaidan asked, standing up.
“It’s the life sign from the Citadel,” Tali began. “It’s Shepard!”
“He’s alive!?” Garrus exclaimed, standing up from his position on a chair.
“Yes.” Tali took a seat next to Legion and let out a sigh, unable to stop smiling beneath her helmet. “He is.”
“When are they letting you see him?” Liara asked, sharing in Tali’s happiness.
“As soon as he’s fully recovered,” Tali replied. “He’s… not in the best shape right now…”
“How bad is it?” Garrus crossed to Tali, a sympathetic look on his face.
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I’m not sure anyone does just yet. But he’s been trapped under there for days… it can’t be good.”
The door to the lounge was enveloped in a light blue aura and Princess Luna stepped inside as it opened, a smile adorning her lips. She cantered over to Tali, her blue eyes sparkling with happiness.
“I just heard, Tali,” the princess said. “I am so happy that Commander Shepard is alive.”
“Thank you, princess,” Tali said, bowing her head. “I am excited to be able to see him again.”
“It does not surprise me,” Luna began, crossing to the rest of the Normandy crew. “But that is not the reason I have come. I come to ask a favor of you.”
“What is it, princess?” Kaidan asked, stepping up to the pony.
“I have just spoken with my sister,” she continued. “Princess Twilight’s book on you all is almost complete, and Princess Cadance has finished writing the address that Celestia will give to our ponies. But when your existence is revealed to the masses, there will undoubtedly be questions. We want you to be there, with us, to answer them.”
“That’s quite a favor to ask,” Kaidan stated. “But… why would you want us? Why not the dignitaries?”
“You all, and especially Legion, know us better,” Luna explained. “We want something… a bit less formal than your dignitaries. In times where giant metal insects attack our cities, and bombs go off at the castle, our ponies will want to speak with those who make them feel comfortable. And comfort is often found in informality.”
“We will stand with you to represent the geth, Princess Luna,” Legion offered, standing up.
“Thank you,” Luna bowed her head. “Anyone else?”
“I’ll check with Admiral Hackett,” Kaidan said. “If he gives me the go-ahead, I’ll be right there with you.”
“We intend to reveal your existence tomorrow morning,” Luna said, making for the door. “Please have an answer for us by then. Good day.” Luna stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind her and once again leaving the Normandy crew alone. Tali looked down at the marble floor and at her reflection, staring into her glowing eyes behind her mask. The last person to see them unobstructed had been Shepard… Shaking her head, Tali looked up and began to walk to the door.
“I’ll be in my room if anyone needs me,” she informed her friends before exiting. Once outside the lounge, she looked around for a few moments to get her bearings before making her way down one of the many castle corridors, heading for her room.
Doctor David Foster sipped on his cup of coffee while looking down at a translated newspaper before him. A ghost of a smile graced his lips as he read the headline: CANTERLOT CASTLE BOMBED – CULPRIT UNKNOWN. A number of other newspapers lay on the table before him, each of them reporting similar attacks in different locations. He did not often show any form of emotion, but Foster was not going to deny his happiness with the situation. These bombings would keep Equestria busy with investigations, completely blind to what was happening in the north…
“Sir,” a technician said, stepping up behind the doctor. “The last few devices have been planted. Their effects should already be taking place.” Foster finished off his coffee, then stood up and spun to face the technician.
“Perfect,” he said, satisfied. “Begin the next phase of our plan. Send out the signal.”
“Yes, sir.” The technician turned and exited the room, the white door sliding shut behind him. Foster let out a sigh as soon as the employee was gone, and turned back to face the newspaper. His eyes flickered upwards to rest on the inert QEC at the other end of the room. It had been days, and still no communications had been established with any Cerberus stations. And given the presence of Citadel races on Equis, the man was worried. He did not want to believe that the Illusive Man had failed, but that was looking all the more likely with each passing day.
Regardless of what was happening beyond the Equis system, Foster still had his mission. And if Cerberus had fallen, then that made his mission all the more important. He pressed a button on his desk, opening a channel to the armory.
“Commander,” he began. “Prepare your troops. Occupation of the griffon capital begins tomorrow.”
Prime Minister Sharptooth sat at his office window, brooding over the events that had occurred over the past few months. How had his people lost their faith in him so much? Outside, a light snow fell, but Sharptooth could still see the flames. They burned brightly through the veil of the snow, a dull orange glow like small suns. His city had been levelled by the collectors, and what survived was now being torn apart by its very inhabitants.
A knock sounded on his office door, and the Prime Minister pulled himself away from the window to address the guest.
“Enter,” he commanded. The thick wooden door was pushed inward by a chainmail-clad griffon, a letter gripped in one of his talons. The soldier marched into the office and placed the letter on Sharptooth’s desk, bowing his head.
“A letter from Senator Proudwing, mister Prime Minister,” the soldier reported. Sharptooth grabbed the letter and tore open the envelope with a clawed finger. He pulled out the letter and unfolded it, his large green eyes scanning over the words. A moment later he placed it back on his desk, and looked up to speak with the guard.
“Thank you,” he said. “Has there been any luck finding Ambassador Silver Pen?”
“No, sir,” answered the guard. “He left for his residence two nights ago and has not been seen since. We have no leads.” Sharptooth frowned, his brow furrowing. Silver Pen had been Equestria’s ambassador for nearly twenty years, and nothing like this had ever happened before. With the events occurring in the city beyond the castle, Sharptooth could not help but think that the worst had come to pass.
“I understand,” Sharptooth sighed. “I will write a letter to Princess Celestia, letting her know. Thank you, you are dismissed.” Bowing his head once more, the guard turned and exited the room. Sharptooth reached into his desk drawer and retrieved a piece of parchment and a quill, prepared to write his letter.
Before he could write a single word, a series of dull booms sounded from outside of the castle. Confused, Sharptooth stepped away from his desk and returned to the window, looking out through the falling snow at the city beyond. A number of bright flashes cut through the storm, adding to the flames that already burned. The flashes slowly came closer and closer to the castle, and Sharptooth’s eyes widened as he realized what they were.
“GUARDS!” he yelled before being propelled backwards as an explosion tore through the stone walls of his office. He hit the opposite wall, cracking the stone and sending thousands of particles of dust into the air. His vision blurry, Sharptooth struggled to stand as a number of additional explosions shook the foundations of the castle. Finally he gained his footing, and limped to the other side of his office where once a thick stone wall had stood. The snow now fell on his own wooden floors, collecting on the edge before falling down to the ground below. His eyes widening in shock and fear, Sharptooth stumbled away from the edge and returned to his desk, upon which was still the piece of parchment. He scrawled out a quick message, folded the note up, and sealed it with a drop of hot wax. Just as he finished the task, his door burst open and the same guard from before entered, spear at the ready.
“Prime Minister, are you injured!?” he exclaimed, stepping into the office.
“I’m… I’m fine…” Sharptooth replied. He grabbed the letter and thrust it toward the guard, who stared at it, confused. “Take it! Go to Canterlot! Fly as fast as you can!” Bowing his head, the guard dropped his spear and took the letter, then leapt from the destroyed wall of Sharptooth’s office, taking to the skies. A moment later he disappeared in the snow, leaving Sharptooth to watch over the new destruction. More booms sounded, and again the Prime Minister saw more flashes of light. He braced himself as they drew closer and closer to the castle, hoping that Equestria would get his message…
There was a bright flash of lavender light, and when it faded Twilight Sparkle found herself standing in front of the Normandy’s airlock, which was already open and waiting for her. She stepped into the small room, and stood still as the outer door closed behind her. A moment later the inner door opened, and she smiled as she saw Joker waiting inside.
“Hi, Joker,” she greeted as she stepped into the CIC. Her saddlebags shook with every step, filled with several hundred pieces of parchment; more than enough to finish her book.
“Hey, princess,” Joker reciprocated, motioning for her to follow. “Your friends are already here, they’re waiting for you in the portside lounge.” Twilight followed the human through the ship until they came to a featureless door, behind which Twilight could hear conversation. The door slid open, revealing a room the same size as the other lounge, though decorated quite differently. On one side was a green poker table, and on the opposite was a small bar. Several seats were available, and a few of her friends were making use of them. Sitting at the bar was the ‘Javik’ alien, who she had not seen much of since first coming aboard.
“Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed, hopping up and running to the alicorn. “What took you so long!?”
“Hello to you too, Pinkie,” Twilight smiled. “I had to pack up everything for my book. I need to finish it today, since the other princesses are planning on doing the reveal tomorrow…”
“So soon?” Rarity inquired, crossing to Twilight.
“The negotiations have gone by fairly quickly, according to the letter that Celestia sent me,” the young princess replied. “The only distraction was what happened earlier today…”
“Any word on who did that?” Applejack asked.
“None yet. The only pony who might know is unconscious, and may not wake up…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Joker urged. “You’ve got some of the best the galaxy has to offer up there. Everything will turn out alright.”
“I hope so…” Twilight navigated over to an unoccupied chair and sat down, laying her saddlebags next to her. She undid the buckle and opened the bag, taking out the pieces of parchment that composed her book.
“You’re still working on that?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying lazily over to her friend.
“I’m nearly done,” Twilight said, withdrawing a quill and inkwell. “I just have a few more topics to cover, then it’s off to the printer.”
“What is that?” Joker stepped up behind the princess, squinting at the unfamiliar writing on the parchment.
“A book about all of you,” the pony answered. “You’re being revealed to the world soon, this is to help make that a bit easier.” She uncapped the inkwell and dipped the tip of her quill into the still black liquid, then drew it across the parchment as she continued from where she had left off.
“Well I’ll leave you to it, then,” Joker stated. “If you need anything, just ask.” With that he turned around and exited the room. Twilight did not bother to look up from her work, instead choosing to keep writing.
“He is different,” a voice said, breaking the silence that had formed. Twilight looked up curiously, and found her eyes drawn to Javik.
“Normally he would be telling jokes,” the alien continued. “That is why they call him ‘Joker’. But since the death of the EDI machine, he has been… different. I can sense it.”
“Sense it?” Twilight asked curiously, the scholar in her wondering what he meant.
“Evolution in this cycle has taken an interesting turn…” Javik observed, standing from his barstool. “My people, the protheans, were born with the ability to read things; our surroundings, primitives, even each other.” He turned to face Rainbow Dash. “You. Rainbow pony. You are bored.”
“Well done, detective,” Dash deadpanned. “I thought I was fooling everypony with how interested I was in this conversation…”
“But you are also scared,” Javik continued, causing the pegasus to raise an eyebrow. “The attack on your capital… It has put fear into you. You do not know who is responsible, and that makes you afraid. You do not know if they will strike again.
“You all share this feeling. Joker feels fear too, but not for the same reason. He feels fear because he is worried he will be alone for the rest of his life. This EDI machine… she was his first lover.”
“That’s… impressive, Javik,” Twilight observed. “And all protheans could ‘read’ others?”
“Yes.”
“Creepy…” Dash sulked, lowering to the ground.
“I will leave you to your work,” Javik said, making for the door. It opened as he drew near, but he stopped and turned before stepping out. “I was wrong about the races of this cycle… Perhaps I was wrong about your kind as well.” He exited the room, the door closing behind him. The ponies all stared at where he had been, wondering what exactly he had meant. After a few moments of staring, Twilight remembered why she had come aboard the Normandy. She raised her quill, refreshed the ink on its tip, and continued working.
Princess Celestia looked out over the delegates as they took their seats at her meeting table, prepared to begin their final meeting. The excitement that she had detected from most of her guests was almost entirely gone, given the day’s earlier events. Now the excitement had been replaced by an air of apprehension, a feeling which she shared in. Nopony had directly attacked her castle since the changeling invasion nearly two years prior, and the last attack that had involved deaths had been well over a century ago. Who had done it, Celestia did not know. But she was going to find out.
Her train of thought was interrupted as she realized that all eyes were on her. Each delegate had sat down, and were ready for the meeting to begin.
“Well it appears that we’re all here,” the princess began, taking her seat. “This will be our last meeting before we reveal your existence to the world tomorrow. I will brief you all on how it will play out, and answer any questions you may have. Are we ready?” Everyone nodded, and Celestia withdrew a piece of folded parchment from beneath the table.
“The public conference is at ten o’clock tomorrow morning,” she continued, unfolding the document. “Cadance has kindly written the address for us, and it is quite informative. However, there are questions that it doesn’t answer. These are questions that our citizens will be asking as soon as the address is concluded. To answer these, the crew of the Normandy have kindly volunteered themselves.”
“Just tell us what to do, ma’am,” Kaidan nodded, grinning. Celestia nodded back, and returned to the parchment.
“The Q&A session will last an hour. We expect ponies to have a lot of questions for you, so we might as well give them the time. After that, we will have to wait.”
“Wait for what?” Tali asked.
“Reactions,” Celestia replied. “Not just from ponies, but also from griffons and zebras and changelings. Their reactions will dictate our next move.”
“And if the reactions are negative?” Primarch Victus wondered. Celestia opened her mouth to respond, but closed it as a knock sounded on the thick wooden door to the meeting door.
“Enter.” The door opened and a guard stepped inside, his eyes settling on Princess Celestia.
“Your highness,” he said, bowing. “You and Princess Luna are needed immediately. It is urgent.” The two princesses shared a confused stare, before they both stood up and made for the door.
“We’ll be right back everypony,” Luna said as the two exited. The door closed behind them, and they began following the guard as he trotted down the long marble hallways. After a few minutes of walking, it became clear that they were being led to the castle’s medical wing. This was confirmed as they stepped up to a set of wooden doors with a red cross above them. Two guards stood watch, but opened the doors as their princesses approached. Celestia and Luna stepped inside and followed the guard through the recovery rooms, past the surgical suites, and finally to the last section of the royal hospital: the morgue.
The guard lit his horn and opened the iron door, revealing a short hallway with an identical iron door at the end. He closed the door after the princesses entered, and then opened the next one, letting in the invasive scent of antiseptic. Celestia and Luna stepped through the open door and came into a small room with a table in the center. Lying on the table was the dead form of a griffon, his bruised and beaten body riddled with bolts.
“Who is this?” Luna asked, glancing at the guard.
“We do not know, your highness,” he answered. “A patrol found him several miles west of the griffon border. Based on the direction he was facing when he crashed, it looks like he was trying to fly here.”
“But why…” Celestia wondered, examining the body. “These are griffon-made crossbow bolts. Very fast, and very sharp. Did the insurrectionists do this?”
“I am not sure, your highness,” the guard said. “But he was carrying something with him.” The two princesses turned to face the guard as he crossed the room to a small table. He retrieved a crinkled piece of parchment from it and transported it to Celestia, who took it in her telekinesis. She unraveled the note, frowning as a few drops of blood fell from it and onto the stone floor. Her frown grew as she read the single word scrawled onto the note in what was clearly Sharptooth’s penmanship.
HELP.
Legion sat among the organics at the Canterlot castle meeting table, silently observing each one of them as they sat quietly. The geth did not need much experience with organics to know that they were afraid. Even Creator Tali’Zorah, who remained behind her mask, was having difficulty hiding her fear. Legion understood why they would feel afraid. Unknown attacks would cause that emotion in organics, and that emotion would persist until the threat had been eliminated. Of course, it was difficult to eliminate a threat that remained nameless.
All eyes were drawn to the meeting room door as it opened. Princesses Celestia and Luna both entered, their expressions grave. Legion instantly was able to infer that the cause of such an expression was likely the note that floated in the air beside Celestia. It had not been with them when they had left, and it was likely what the guard had come to retrieve them for. The princesses retook their seats, and sighed.
“What was that about?” Admiral Hackett asked curiously.
“Proudwing,” Celestia began, looking to the griffon senator. “You’ll want to see this.” She floated the note over to him, setting it down in front of his talons. Proudwing picked up the note, unfolded it, and read. Instantly his expression turned from one of curiosity to fear. His head snapped up, his eyes wide.
“How did you come by this?” he asked.
“A dead griffon was found in Equestrian territory, killed by a number of crossbow wounds,” Luna explained. “He was brought here, and that note was found on his body. Prime Minister Sharptooth wrote it.”
“But what could it mean…?” Proudwing wondered, dropping the note. “It just says ‘help’! What does he need help with!”
“Could be any number of things,” the salarian dignitary began. “Perhaps help with rescue from enemies, perhaps help with capturing enemies, perhaps help with killing enemies. Only one way to find out.”
“Under normal circumstances he would have written more,” the griffon said. “This is just one word, and the griffon carrying the letter is dead! Sharptooth is in trouble, I know it.”
“Our ships can run scans of your country, if you’d like,” Victus offered. “We can get some images for you. If he needs help with something big, we will probably be able to see it.”
“Do it,” Proudwing stated. “If the insurrectionists tried something…”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, senator,” Luna began. “But doesn’t the griffon military outnumber the insurrectionists by nearly three to one?”
“By our last count, yes,” Proudwing answered. “But who knows what could have happened…”
“Images are coming in now,” Victus said, standing up. He activated his omni-tool, projecting a screen over the meeting room table. After a moment, a number of images appeared on the screen. Victus selected the first one and zoomed it in until it took up the entire screen space. A gasp sounded throughout the room as all of the organics reacted to what they saw: it was the griffon capital, and it was burning.
Legion examined the image being displayed before it, its photoreceptor passing over each and every detail. The griffon capital (or what was left after the collector attack) was being consumed by massive spots of orange, with black smoke pouring out into the sky. The geth was aware that tensions had increased since its departure, but this suggested that relations between the insurrectionists and the griffon government had deteriorated entirely.
“… I have to go back,” Senator Proudwing decided after a pause.
“Senator, please, think about this!” Celestia pleaded, her sympathetic gaze focused on the griffon. “If this is the state of the capital, then it is not safe for you to return.”
“I have a duty to my kind, princess,” Proudwing countered, making for the door. “I must return!” The door was surrounded in a pale blue aura, and the senator turned to glare at Princess Luna.
“Senator, we cannot force you to stay,” the princess of the night began. “But this is madness! The capital is lost, and, as much as it pains me to say it, so is Sharptooth’s hold on Gryphonia. Do not strengthen the cause of the insurrectionists by delivering yourself right to them!” Proudwing continued to glare for a moment, before finally he looked down to the marble floor with a sigh.
“You are right…” he whispered, returning to his seat. “But I cannot just sit here and do nothing! My home burns. I have to do something.”
“I understand, senator,” Celestia comforted. “And we won’t do nothing. I will send a messenger to Gryphonia to find out the situation. Unless the insurrectionists are truly idiots, they would not dare harm a pony representative.”
“Hm, not a good idea,” Jedin said, drawing all eyes to him. “Insurrectionists not known to negotiate. Region is very unstable, and the insurrection has not shown itself to have a single leader. Insurrectionists may simply kill your representative and go on with their day, not realizing what they have done. I would not chance it.”
“I agree with Ambassador Polban, princesses,” Kaidan agreed. “If you want to find out what’s going on up there, walking right up to the griffon rebels sounds like a bad idea. I don’t think they would outright kill your representative, but I do find it far more likely that they would either send him away or just take him prisoner. If you want to figure out the situation, it makes more sense to send someone to observe quietly.”
“A spy?” Celestia said skeptically. “Major, Equestria doesn’t exactly have spies. Additionally, if we were to send somepony up, and they were to be captured, that would make us look quite bad.”
“Then don’t send a pony,” Garrus said. “One of us will go. We have experience in stealth, and if things go sideways we can make a quick getaway.”
“Garrus, we should not get involved,” Primarch Victus admonished. “If we were discovered, that could cause the species of Equis to lose faith in us when we are revealed.” Everyone was silent for a moment as they considered the primarch’s words. It was true; they did not want to jeopardize relations with Equis. After a few moments, Legion stood and looked around the room.
“We will go,” it stated. “We are the last geth in the galaxy. If we are discovered, you can claim that we were operating alone. However, because this platform is built with a tactical cloak, odds of discovery are slim.”
“You would do that for me?” Proudwing asked, a ghost of a smile forming on his beak.
“Yes,” Legion replied. “We can leave immediately, and be back before the reveal tomorrow morning. We will assess the situation and bring back all data we collect.”
“If you are certain, Legion…” Celestia began. “… Then I cannot stop you. You have already done much for this world, especially for ponies. You do not have to do this.”
“We are volunteering,” Legion said. It turned to face the four alien ambassadors, all of whom were staring at it with varying expressions. “We request permission to utilize one of your shuttles for transportation to and from Gryphonia.”
“You can use mine, Legion,” Admiral Hackett offered.
“Thank you, Admiral.” Legion stepped back from its chair and made for the door of the room. Before the geth could reach it, it glowed blue once more.
“Legion,” Luna said. “… Good luck.” Nodding at the princess, Legion opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Recalling the route to the loading docks, Legion began to move at a jog, ready to begin its mission.
Twilight dropped the thick stack of papers onto the low table before her, admiring the work she had managed to complete. Nearly three hundred pages detailing all that they knew of their new alien friends, written in the span of a few days. Although it was not uncommon for her to work endlessly to complete a task, she was still impressed with herself.
“Alright,” she began, standing up from her position on one of the couches in the lounge. “Now all I have to do is get this to Ponyville and start printing copies.”
“That we were supposed to stay here, yes,” Twilight finished. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I am more than capable of taking care of myself should something happen. Besides, this needs to get done. The book is a critical part of the plan for revealing our alien friends. It’s useless if I can’t get more copies printed.” She placed the stack of parchment into her saddlebags and began trotting for the door, which opened at her presence.
“I’ll be back soon, don’t worry.” She walked down the short hallway and entered the elevator, pressing the button that she was fairly sure belonged to the CIC. A moment later the door reopened, and the young princess found herself in a place that was not the CIC. Curiously, she stepped out of the elevator and entered into another short hallway, this one with only one door at the end. It opened as she approached, revealing a spacious bedroom beyond.
Wandering into the room, Twilight looked around at the décor. Set into much of the left wall was a large fish tank, and across from that was a small sitting area. A queen-sized bed with black covers rested against the far wall, with a bedside table next to it that only had one item resting upon it. She cantered up to the item, finding it to be a photograph. She did not recognize the figure in the picture, but based on the features she assumed it was a female. Not until she noticed the glowing eyes did Twilight make the connection that this was likely Tali. Looking around the room, she realized it must have been Shepard’s.
“You lost?” a voice said from behind the princess. Jumping in surprise, Twilight spun around to face the source of the voice. Standing in the doorway was Joker, a smirk on his face. He walked into the room, looking around. “What’re you doing up here?”
“I must have pressed the wrong button,” Twilight said apologetically. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to come up here! I thought the CIC was the top floor…”
“Heh, I forget this deck exists sometimes, too,” Joker said. “Don’t worry about it. Nobody has been up here since we started the attack on Earth. I probably should have come up to check it out…” He passed by the bed, leaning over the covers. Immediately a grimace came across his face, and he waved his hand in front of his nose. “Shepard needs to clean this place more often…”
“So this is Shepard’s room, then?”
“Yeah, lucky guy… I usually just sleep in my chair in the cockpit.”
Twilight continued wandering around, looking at the various items. Above a desk at the front of the bedroom were a number of spaceship models, one of which she recognized as looking distinctly geth.
“I’m… going to head back to Ponyville now,” Twilight finally said after a few moments of silence had passed. “I need to get my book printed.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Joker asked, looking at the princess skeptically. “Princess Celestia said—“
“I’ll be fine, thank you.” Twilight stepped up to the door, turning back to face the pilot once she was beyond the threshold. “I should be back in a few hours. If I’m not… send someone.”
“Will do.” Nodding, Twilight turned and stepped back into the elevator, this time pressing the correct button. The elevator began its descent, and Twilight briefly removed her saddlebags to stretch her back. The weight of almost three hundred pages of parchment was taking a toll, but those pages would hopefully help to keep the peace following the upcoming reveal. Placing the saddlebags back on her back, Twilight stood up straight as the elevator door opened, and stepped out…
Legion set the small Kodiak shuttle down a few kilometers from the border of the griffon capital, which illuminated itself through the snow with the fires burning within. As soon as it took its first step out into the snow-covered ground, the geth activated its tactical cloak and began running toward the discordant city. The cloak in this new platform was less efficient that its old one, as it was meant for organics. Since their armor was merely a shell, the cloak emitter had to be smaller to fit on it. Legion’s old emitter had been nearly three times as large, as it could be contained within the mobile platform itself. Legion was going to have to be careful with power usage; it did not want to have the cloak fail anywhere it could be seen.
Legion ran through the snow for several minutes before it saw the first signs of rebellion. The heads of two griffon soldiers were mounted on spikes just beyond the city’s border, their beaks forever open in a silent scream. The geth quickly passed them by, wondering why the insurrectionists would resort to such measures. If they intended to take control of Gryphonia, then planting heads on spikes was not going to inspire much confidence.
It continued moving slowly through the capital, navigating through the burned out wrecks of buildings. Most of these seemed to be recently destroyed, as the destruction from the collector attack had been primarily focused in the center of the city. Occasionally there was a building still standing, but for the most part Legion saw nothing but burned rubble and debris.
After a few more minutes of walking (with one break to let the cloak emitter recharge), Legion finally began to see movement through the thick torrents of snow that were pouring from the sky. They were definitely griffons, but Legion could not be certain what side they were on. It did not see any obvious weapons, so they were likely just civilians who were caught up in the attack on the capital. Legion patiently waited for them to disappear into the blizzard before it finally continued moving. Based on the image that Primarch Victus’s ship had taken, it guessed that it was still a few kilometers from the center of the city. The prime minister’s castle was on the opposite side, built onto a plateau roughly a hundred meters off of the ground. With the blizzard, Legion could not see the castle, but it hopefully was still going in the right direction.
Through the storm, Legion could see the constant orange glow of fires all over the city. The blazes were huge, consuming several buildings at a time, and they were spreading without control. The geth did not understand these actions; if the insurrectionists sought power, why would they burn the homes of those they wished to control? As was the case with the heads of the guards, such actions would only cause demoralization. Many of the things that the insurrectionists were doing simply did not make sense. There was something else going on, Legion was sure of it.
The blizzard began to die down as Legion continued on, and in very little time the geth could begin to make out the shape of the castle in the distance. While it was not presently burning, dark plumes of smoke were rising into the sky and joining the storm clouds high above. As the blizzard continued to fade away, Legion finally saw a route up to the castle. A road had been carved into the side of the cliff that the castle was built on, winding up the rock face where it ended at a large gate. Walking all along the road were griffons, and Legion was fairly certain that they were not guards. Many of them carried torches that glowed through the fading storm, the light glinting off of spear tips and swords. Carefully, Legion continued moving through the ruins. By now it was in the center of the city, and damage from the collector attack over seven months prior was still evident. Whereas the rest of the city lay in ruin, this area was completely destroyed. The only signs that anything had once existed here were the charred remains of building foundations.
Legion still regretted that it was unable to stop the collector weapon test. The test had directly led to the events in Gryphonia, and the geth had been in a position to prevent it. Even though it knew that stopping the test would have exposed it and risked ending its mission, Legion still felt responsible. But it did not have time to dwell on that. The geth was approaching the winding road leading up to the castle, and it had an army of insurrectionists to get through in order to reach it. Legion stopped once more to let its tactical cloak recharge, before it equipped a pistol and began the climb…
The sun stood high in the Equestrian sky, casting its light through the large lounge window and onto the white marble floor of the spacious room. Princess Luna sat with her sister at a low wooden table, listening intently to the story she was being told. The role of storyteller switched between Garrus and Kaidan, one picking up for the other when he could not contain his laughter. Luna smirked and their amusement, thoroughly entertained by the tale.
“So… so we’re in this giant iridium vault,” Garrus continued, picking up where Kaidan left off. “And what is Shepard worried about? Not the thick walls, not the limited oxygen, but the way he says ‘I should go’!” He dissolved into another fit of laughter, and soon the princesses joined in. From what the two had heard, the crew of the Normandy had gotten into quite a few misadventures over the years. But of all of the stories Luna had heard, she believed the one featuring Shepard’s clone to be the strangest.
“As I recall, it was me who got us back on track,” Tali chimed in from her position across the room. Garrus nodded at the quarian, slowing his laughter.
“Yeah, we got out, boarded the Normandy, and killed Shepard’s clone,” Garrus finished. “Craziest shore leave ever.”
“Great party though,” Kaidan added, receiving several nods of agreement. Luna was about to speak up when the door opened, and Healthy Heart stepped in, looking around. Her gaze settled on the princesses, who she quickly trotted up to.
“Your highnesses,” she began, bowing. “The guard… he’s awake.” The atmosphere of the room instantly shifted from carefree and joyous to tense and serious. Nopony had been thinking much about the attack; given everything else that was going on, it seemed best to let it be until other matters were sorted. But now that the surviving guard had woken up, perhaps they would finally get some answers…
“We’ll be back shortly,” Princess Celestia said, standing up. Luna stood up as well and followed her sister to the door, then down the hall in the direction of the royal hospital. They had done everything they could to ensure that the guard would survive, but Healthy Heart had stressed the extent of his injuries. That he was not only alive, but awake, seemed nothing short of a miracle.
A few minutes passed as the princesses walked in silence, until finally they arrived at their destination. Two guards were standing duty outside the doors to the royal hospital, their spears interlocked. They moved their spears apart for the princesses and opened the doors, and instantly Luna felt memories resurface of her time spent here. With how uncomfortable her bed had been… she was almost glad that the nanovirus had infected her.
The princesses navigated through the halls of the recovery ward, finally coming to a small room close to the back. A single guard stood duty, his expression stoic. As the princesses approached he stood aside and opened the door, then closed it once they were in. Luna looked around the room, finding it similar to her own. In a bed against one wall lay a pony who was not in good shape. His left foreleg was gone at the shoulder, a bandage covering what was left. A similar bandage was wrapped around his head, and his coat was covered in burnt spots. Despite the wounds, his golden eyes were wide open, and both were trained on the princesses. He lifted his right foreleg and saluted tiredly.
“Hello, Corporal Far Gaze,” Celestia greeted, offering a smile. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m… tired, your highness,” the guard said weakly. “But okay, all things considered.”
“That is good to hear,” the solar diarch continued. “My sister and I are so sorry that this happened to you. You are very strong, a lesser pony never would have survived.”
“Thank you, your highness… And… Night Flyer?” The princesses stopped for a moment, their brows turned up sorrowfully. The guard noticed this, and collapsed back against his pillow.
“I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up…” he whispered.
“Corporal, I know you are grieving, but this is important,” Luna spoke up, drawing the gaze of the guard to her. “What do you remember from just before the explosion?” Far Gaze furrowed his brow in thought, his eyes darting around.
“I…” he began. “… We were at our post, talking… Then… Ambassador Silver Pen came in. He… he had a bandage on his stomach… Night Flyer thought something was up, so he told me to go get reinforcements… I started running down the hall, then… nothing…” The two princesses exchanged confused stares, then looked back at the guard.
“Yes, your highness. We were confused about what he was doing back.”
“And the explosion came not long after he entered, yes?”
“Correct.” The sisters looked at each other once more, their confusion increasing by the second. What had Silver Pen come back for, and how was he related to the explosion? Celestia looked back to the guard and nodded.
“Thank you, Corporal, you have been a great help,” she said. “I wish you a quick recovery.” The guard saluted once more, then turned and closed his eyes. The princesses stepped out of the room and began their walk back to the lounge.
“Ambassador Silver Pen…” Luna wondered. “Could it have been a changeling?”
“Possibly,” Celestia began. “We did set up changeling scanners at all of the city entrances after their attempted invasion, but it has failed us before. When Erebus came disguised as Healthy Heart, for example. But if the changelings were behind it, why? They are far too weak to lead an attack on us, and they know that. Additionally, with several advanced alien races on our side, declaring war is foolish.”
“All true,” Luna agreed. “Silver Pen was our ambassador to the griffons… Could the events in Gryphonia be related?”
“I’d say it’s likely,” the solar princess said. “The griffon military is much larger than our own. If the insurgents manage to gain control of it – and that is a big ‘if’ – then they could stand a chance at defeating us.”
The rest of the walk was completed in silence. When the sisters reentered the lounge, it seemed to be the same as when they left it. A tense silence pervaded the room, and all eyes were on the princesses. Kaidan stood up as they entered, and crossed the room to them.
“Did you learn anything?” he asked.
“According to the guard, a pony named Silver Pen – our ambassador to Gryphonia – arrived moments before the explosion,” Luna explained. “It’s more than we knew a few minutes ago, but it just creates even more questions.”
“Speaking of Gryphonia, did anyone hear anything from Legion while we were gone?” Celestia asked.
“He’s been silent so far,” Garrus answered. “I doubt we will hear anything before he comes back. Hopefully that’ll be soon.”
“In the meantime, is there anything we can do?” Tali wondered, standing up.
“We can probably go over the plan for the reveal tomorrow,” Celestia decided. “We will start at ten o’clock…”
The invisible form of Legion crept along the outer castle wall, its photoreceptor looking for a way in while simultaneously keeping watch for griffons. It had taken several hours to find a way up the cliff face, given that the main path was blocked by a crowd of hostiles. After walking around the cliff for a while, the geth had finally found a smaller path that seemed to be used for loading and unloading supplies. It had its fair share of hostiles as well, but the number was low enough that Legion was confident in its ability to sneak past.
The outer walls surrounding the castle courtyard were mostly intact. The majority of the damage was focused around the main gate, where the insurrectionists had likely attacked from. The castle itself, however, was in very poor shape. Fires burned from towers, walls all over had collapsed, and black smoke billowed out into the darkening sky. The storm clouds had finally begun to clear, revealing to Legion that the sun was close to setting. If it was to get back to Canterlot with enough time to explain the situation before the reveal, it had to work quickly.
After several more minutes of searching, Legion finally came to a partially collapsed section of the outer wall. It was not a wide gap, but it would still accommodate the geth. Looking around cautiously, Legion placed its pistol on its back and began sliding through, the cracked stone scraping against the metallic components of its mobile platform. The tactical cloak began to flicker, and Legion disabled it to save power. As soon as it was through, the geth reactivated its cloak and looked around at its surroundings. It had come out at the far end of a large courtyard, the ground of which was covered in a layer of snow. The setting sun painted it orange, reminding Legion that time was a limited resource. Satisfied that the immediate area was devoid of griffons, the geth began creeping towards the burning castle, its pistol at the ready. As it approached the thick doors, two griffons entered the courtyard from the main entrance, carrying between them a heavy wooden crate. Legion stepped off to the side as they began moving in its direction, their destination clearly the castle.
The two griffons stopped just short of the door, and Legion took the time to examine them. They wore no armor of any kind, and had no sigils or tags that could be used to identify them. Considering the current state of Gryphonia, Legion guessed that these were insurgents. They set the crate down right by the door, and one griffon began prying the top off while the other scanned the area, his talon wrapped around the hilt of a steel dagger. Legion watched them curiously, its eye never leaving the wooden crate. The top popped off, and the griffon placed it a few feet away on the snow-covered ground. He reached inside and lifted out a very odd sphere. It was not large, and appeared to absorb the light that passed through it, like water. This caused the center of the sphere to be entirely black, while the outer layer was a luminescent teal color. The griffon holding the device looked around cautiously, before he finally bent down and buried it in the snow. He then placed the top back on the crate and left, followed by his companion.
Legion stood still for a few more minutes, until it was confident that no one else was coming. It crept out to where the griffon had buried the sphere, and pushed the displaced snow out of the way. Running a quick scan with its omni-tool, Legion found the sphere to be generating a low-level electromagnetic field. Curiously, it touched the sphere, garnering no results. Still, the geth was not sure if it was safe. The logical thing to do would be to take the sphere to Canterlot for further study in a safer environment. But Legion was unsure of its effects on organics, if any effects existed. Additionally, there remained the question of why the griffon had buried it. There were too many unknowns, and Legion wanted to be careful. Making its decision, the geth covered the sphere in snow again, and then stepped away. Looking up, Legion saw the sun as it began to dip past the horizon. It would be night by the time it reached the shuttle, and it needed to be back in Canterlot before the reveal. Turning around, Legion ran back to the collapsed section of the wall and slid through. It set its destination for the dropship, ready to return to Canterlot…
Tali was worried. The moon was high in the sky, and Legion had not returned yet. Checking her omni-tool, the quarian found the time to be nearing two in the morning. The reveal was eight hours away. Tali knew she should get some sleep to be well-rested before the questioning session, but she could not bring herself to do so while Legion was still somewhere out there. She sat by a large window, her hands propping up her chin and her elbows on the sill, watching for any sign of movement in the night. She had been like this for the past few hours, and still nothing…
A knock sounded on the door, and Tali heard the sound of hooves on marble as it opened. She turned around as Princess Luna entered the lounge, a worried look on her face.
“You are still here, Tali?”
“I’m just worried is all…” the quarian explained. “We just got Legion back. If the griffons found him…”
“He’ll be fine, I am sure of it,” Luna comforted, taking a seat next to Tali. “During his time among us, he performed many stealth operations against the changelings at their own hive. Only once was he discovered, and yet he still found his way back to us.”
“I still want to hear that whole story…” Tali said, chuckling. “A geth living among you all for a month… That certainly makes for an interesting tale.”
“Your kind went to war with them, yes?” Luna asked. Tali sighed and nodded.
“A stupid decision… I was against it, but I was ultimately outvoted. And what came of it? The loss of thousands of our own people…”
“At least peace was achieved eventually.”
“There is that…” Tali turned her attention back to the view outside, which remained unchanged. There was silence between the two for a moment, during which Tali began to consider scenarios for Legion still being gone. It could be that he had found something particularly interesting and was still investigation. It could also be that he had been discovered and was being dismantled. Or perhaps he was on his way back right now, perfectly intact.
“… Have you heard any word on Shepard?” Luna asked, breaking the silence.
“Nothing more yet,” Tali answered. “I’m holding out hope, though, just like you said.”
“I am excited to meet him,” the princess said. “Especially if he is the one to thank for killing the Reaper that was attacking us.”
“That reminds me, have you decided what to do with it yet?”
“Celestia and I are organizing a team of unicorns to assist us in teleporting it into orbit,” Luna replied. “Just with all that has been going on, we have had to keep pushing it back…” Tali nodded, keeping her gaze on the horizon. After a few more minutes of inactivity, she finally saw something – a blinking blue light. It had not been there before, and it was moving rather quickly in her direction. She squinted, and a few moments later she recognized it as an Alliance shuttle.
“There he is!” she exclaimed, relieved. Luna smiled, and Tali activated her omni-tool, typing out a quick message to the rest of the Normandy crew. A few minutes later the room was once again occupied as everyone waited patiently for Legion to enter. Princess Celestia was among them as well; Tali was not sure how she had learned of Legion’s return, but it was important for her to be here nonetheless. Senator Proudwing had joined her, and he sat near the door, an anxious look plastered across his face.
Finally the door opened, and Legion was the center of attention the instant he stepped inside. Proudwing shot up and ran to the geth, his anxiety increased.
“What did you find?” he asked gravely. Legion stepped past the griffon and made his way to the center of the room where all could see him.
“The griffon capital has been seized by insurgents,” he reported. “We were unable to locate Prime Minister Sharptooth, but it appears that control of the city is completely lost.”
“It is as we feared, then…” Celestia whispered.
“We did make one discovery, however,” Legion continued. “While initiating reconnaissance of the castle, we observed two griffon insurgents carrying a crate. One griffon produced a device from this crate, and buried it in the snow.” It lifted its arm and activated an omni-tool, projecting the image of a spherical device.
“We are unsure of the purpose of this device, but it was emitting a low-level electromagnetic field.”
“An electromagnetic field…” Tali said quietly to herself. “Legion, could you send me that picture?” He pressed a button on the omni-tool, and Tali lifted hers as it flashed with a notification. She brought up the picture and examined it, zooming in on the device. She gasped as she saw it in greater detail, immediately recognizing it.
“Creator Tali’Zorah, are you familiar with this device?”
“Yes…” she whispered. “The Leviathans…”
“But… The Leviathans were on our side,” Kaidan interjected. “Not to mention that this relay has been dormant for thousands of years, maybe longer. How would they have gotten one of their devices here?”
“What is a ‘Leviathan’?” Luna asked. Tali and Kaidan both turned to address the princess, who wore a confused stare.
“We should sit down,” Tali suggested. “It’s a long story.”
Over the next half hour, the crew of the Normandy relayed all that they knew about the Leviathans and their involvement in the recent Reaper war. They explained their past, how they helped defeat the Reapers, and most importantly, their artifacts. When the retelling was complete, both Luna and Celestia appeared even more confused.
“Strange…” Celestia said. “Legion explained indoctrination to us before. If these spheres perform that operation… then are the griffons under its control?”
“That sounds likely, princess,” Kaidan nodded. “And from what Legion told us, it sounds like they’re being directed to distribute more of the devices to widen the Leviathan’s control.”
“Are we positive it is a Leviathan?” Tali asked. “They are nearly extinct. For all we know, they only existed on 2181 Despoina.”
“Regardless of who is responsible, someone is planting these devices,” Celestia said. “We do not know how much power they have gained so far, for all we know half of Gryphonia could be under their control.”
“We need to organize an offensive!” Proudwing growled. “Whoever is doing this is a threat to my nation! We have to do something!”
“No, we do not,” Luna said, drawing a confused glare from Proudwing. “Our knowledge is still limited. We know that these devices are being planted, but we do not know by whom. We do not know if they even are indoctrination devices. If we plan an offensive now, it would be like going in blindfolded with both hooves tied behind our backs.”
“Then what do you suggest we do?” Proudwing asked angrily.
“Nothing,” Luna answered. “At least, not publicly. We will continue sending Legion, if he agrees, to try and learn more about this situation. But for now, the best thing we can do is simply act like we do not know. If the individual responsible discovers that we are aware of his operation, he may speed it up or turn it against us. Until we learn more, it is best to pretend we know nothing at all.” Proudwing sighed and slumped to the floor, his wings limp at his sides.
“I… I understand…” he whispered. “Thank you, princess… I take my leave.” The griffon stood and somberly exited the room. Tali watched him leave, feeling sympathy for the senator. She was in the unique position to relate to his situation. He had lost his home, and that was something that Tali understood far too well.
“… It’s late,” Celestia said, breaking the silence that had formed. “And we all must be well rested for the reveal in the morning. Remember, it is at ten o’clock. Try to wake up at least a few hours before so we can prepare. Sleep well, everyone.” She bowed her head and walked out of the room. Luna followed her, leaving the Normandy crew alone in the lounge.
“… Well. This isn’t good,” Garrus observed. “But I do agree with the princesses. We need to be well rested. Good night.” He exited as well, and the rest of the crew filtered out after him until only Tali remained. She turned and looked back out of the window, suppressing a yawn. After looking out over the Equestrian landscape for a few more minutes, the quarian stood and exited the room, heading to her quarters.
Luna looked out over the empty throne room, imagining how it would look when all of the ponies had arrived for the reveal. They were scheduled to begin in just around half an hour, and already the line at the front gate was backed up several blocks. Thousands of ponies had come to see, yet only a few hundred would be able to make it inside. Reporters from all of Equestria’s major news organizations had been guaranteed a spot, and some nobility had managed to arrive early, but the majority of the audience was going to be composed of regular ponies. They were the ones whose lives would be most affected by this reveal, she hoped that they reacted well.
The princess turned around as she heard the sound of a door opening behind her. Celestia entered from a small chamber at the back of the throne room, wearing a calm expression. Despite this, Luna could sense the anxiety emanating from her sister. She did not blame her; they were about to reveal the existence of aliens to their world. Luna trotted over to Celestia, offering a comforting smile.
“Are you ready, Tia?” she asked.
“If I had a thousand years I don’t think I could fully prepare for something like this…” the elder princess admitted. “Still, it is good to have you here to help.”
“Indeed. And what of Cadance and Twilight?”
“I have copies of Cadance’s address in the back room,” Celestia began. “We can look over it before everypony arrives. As for Twilight, I received a letter from her less than an hour ago. She has completed her book and the first copies are already being printed. In the meantime she is remaining aboard the Normandy as I requested. Apparently she commandeered the entire printing facility at the Ponyville Inquirer. At the rate that she ordered them to be printed, we should have over a thousand by the end of the day.”
“That is excellent news,” Luna said. “Hopefully it will help.” Celestia nodded, and the two princesses looked out over the throne room in silence. They were interrupted when Kaidan poked his head out of the door to the back room and coughed to get their attention.
“We’re all ready back here,” he reported. “When should we come out?” Celestia and Luna both turned and exited the throne room, entering the back room and closing the door behind them. Sure enough, much of the Normandy crew was present, all of them looking expectantly at the princesses.
“You will know when to come out,” Celestia answered. “We will read the address that Cadance has written, and when we are done we will introduce you. Kaidan, you shall come out as soon as you hear your name. You will say a few words, then introduce everyone else. Then we will have the Q&A session, which will undoubtedly last quite a while.”
“Understood, princess,” Kaidan nodded. “Guess I should get to thinking of something to say…” He retreated to a small table on one side of the room and sat down, his brow furrowed in thought. The rest of the aliens split up into various positions around the room, all of them remaining quiet. Celestia and Luna crossed to another table, upon which were two stacks of parchment. Each stack was only a few pages thick, but hopefully it would be enough to explain the situation. Luna picked one up in her telekinesis and began to skim over it, memorizing the key points. The address was fairly straightforward; it began with the Reaper attack from a few days prior, then backtracked to the changeling conflict from seven months ago. From there they would introduce the galactic community, and then Kaidan would come out and take over.
As she read on, Luna began to worry. Word would spread quickly; before the end of the day, the entire world would know about the existence of aliens. Equis was home to nearly ninety million people, and Luna could not determine how they would react to the news. There would be excited ponies, and there would be scared ponies. She hoped that the excited ones would be the majority.
“Your highnesses?” Luna looked away from the script and turned to the door, where a guard had his head poked in. “It is time.” Celestia and Luna gave one another hopeful looks, then turned to face the Normandy crew.
“See you on the other side,” Garrus said, nodding. The princesses nodded back and turned to exit the small room. They entered the throne room, and instantly noticed how quiet it was. Luna looked at the massive crowd that had formed; it was easily a thousand ponies, far more than the room’s maximum capacity. At the front stood dozens of reporters, all of them carrying pads of parchment with quills at the ready. Behind them were the nobles, and behind them were the common ponies. All of them had their eyes on the princesses as they navigated to their thrones and sat down. Celestia and Luna exchanged glances one more time, then turned to address the crowd. Celestia cleared her throat and stood.
“My little ponies…” she began. “We have requested your presence here today to explain some of the events that have occurred recently. You have all waited long enough for an explanation, so without any further ado, let us begin…”
David Foster circled a small metal table, upon which was resting a tablet with the outline of his plan. Across from the table was a monitor, mounted on one of the white walls of the rather small room. It displayed a map of Equis, with Gryphonia highlighted. Each of the major cities were marked with flashing red circles, and above each one was a status update that read: SUBDUED. He had captured much of the country, and his team had barely had to lift a finger. He smirked at the accomplishment before picking up the tablet and going over the plan once again. The first and second phases had already been completed; he had infiltrated the insurrection and taken over the major cities. Now was time for the third phase: complete indoctrination of the griffon population. This was already well underway, and in only a few days’ time he would make himself known to the world.
Despite his successes, Foster still felt some small amount of anxiety about the presence of others in the galactic community. Cerberus had not expected this world to be located, and Foster was still not sure just how many were here. Still, if they knew about him or his team, they had not done anything about it yet. He would keep watch, of course – Cerberus was nothing if not cautious. But as long as it appeared that his existence remained unknown, Foster was not planning on doing anything to change that.
His train of thought was cut off when the door behind him opened, and one of his scientists stepped inside.
“Sir?” he began. “All of the devices have been placed and are transmitting.” The scientist pressed a button on his omni-tool, and the monitor updated its view to show dozens of smaller dots spread across the map of Gryphonia. Around them were spheres of influence where they would be able to indoctrinate griffons.
“It seems that Mr. Lawson’s research paid off…” Foster said. “And has the incorporation of Leviathan tech helped us at all?”
“Yes, sir. It should increase effectiveness by about sixty percent.” Foster smiled, and gazed at the map. Soon it would all be his, and his mission would be a success.
“Good.” The doctor turned around to face the scientist and began walking to the door. “Come. We must prepare for phase four…”
Luna looked out over the sea of ponies as Celestia continued to recite the address that Cadance had written. So far they had covered the arrival of the Reaper, though they had avoided coming out and saying that it was an evil alien from outer space. That would have to wait just a little longer. Right now Celestia was going over the changeling situation, giving far more details than had ever been given before. Their previous story was that it was a simple illness developed by changelings as another attempt to feed off of pony love. Now they had revealed that the changelings were actually working for another race, though the princesses had not told them who just yet.
Reactions so far were mixed. The reporters showed very few emotions, as most of them were busy writing down everything she and her sister said word-for-word. The nobles were not showing very many emotions either, though many appeared bored. No doubt they considered this a massive waste of their precious time, and were wishing that the princesses would cut to the chase. The common ponies, however, were the ones showing most of the emotions. In their eyes Luna saw fear, confusion, hope, and fatigue. Her eyes darted up to a clock hanging on the wall; they had been speaking for nearly an hour. The big reveal was coming…
“But thanks to the efforts of many ponies, the changelings were thwarted and their plot destroyed,” Celestia continued. “Now, during this address I have mentioned that the changelings were working for another, and that they were not the masterminds behind the plan… My ponies, this is what we have asked you here today for. Today, we, the princesses of Equestria, officially confirm the existence of life beyond our solar system.”
The reaction was immediate. A loud gasp echoed through the throne room, and the expression on everypony’s face was the same: pure, unadulterated shock. The reporters had stopped writing, and many had dropped their quills. But through it all, nopony spoke.
“The changelings were working for an alien race known as the collectors,” Luna continued, speaking up for her sister. “They were attempting to harness our magic to create a superweapon. They were ultimately stopped, though not by us…
“Not all aliens are antagonistic, as the collectors were. Around this same time, another alien came to us. He was of a machine race, and his name was Legion. We befriended him, and with his help took down the collectors. Now, more aliens have come to us, and they too are friendly. Over the past few days we have been in constant negotiations with them, preparing to reveal them to all of you. In fact, they are here now. From the race known as the humans, we would like to introduce Major Kaidan Alenko.”
All eyes turned to the door at the back of the throne room, which had opened as soon as Luna had spoken the name. Kaidan stepped out, a grin on his face. He waved to the ponies in the crowd as he crossed to the princesses, while all ponies stared at him with wide eyes.
“Major Alenko is representing his species, the humans,” Celestia explained. “He has something to say, and then we will have a bit of a Q&A session.”
“Hello everyone,” Kaidan began, waving. “As your princesses said, I am Major Kaidan Alenko of the humans. We’ve been hard at work over the past few days establishing friendships with Celestia and Luna, and making sure that this reveal will go as smoothly as possible.
“My friends and I first came to your world less than a week ago completely by accident. Our ship was disabled by a pulse of energy – the same pulse that killed the machine that was attacking your city of Las Pegasus. We crash landed here, and your kind instantly came to help us. You have been friendly to us from the moment we met, and we want to reciprocate the gesture. We’re still finishing on working everything out, but your species will be introduced to the rest of the galactic community.”
“The rest?” a pony from the audience asked.
“That’s right,” the human nodded. “Humans are not the only other species out there. I actually have quite a few with me, and we are more than happy to answer your questions.” He turned back to face the door. “Come on out.”
Liara was the first to step out. She gauged the room, then crossed to the thrones to stand by Kaidan. Garrus, Tali, and Legion were close behind, and soon all of the Normandy crew members were standing before the ponies.
“Before the questioning begins, perhaps you would like to introduce yourselves?” Celestia suggested. Liara nodded and stepped forward.
“I am Liara T’soni, and I am an asari.”
“I’m Garrus Vakarian, turian.”
“I am Tali’Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya of the quarians.”
“We are Legion, a terminal of the geth.”
“We shall try to do this as orderly as possible,” Luna said, looking out over her ponies. “Try to remain quiet, and raise hooves to ask questions.” Instantly hundreds of hooves shot up, and Luna pointed to a reporter stallion near the front row. “Yes, you there.”
“Thank you your highness,” he said, bowing his head. “Mister Alenko, could something like the attack at Las Pegasus ever happen again?”
“Not a chance,” Kaidan answered. “The machine that attacked you was known as a Reaper. It’s complicated, but they’re all gone now. They can’t hurt us anymore.” The pony wrote the answer and smiled, satisfied. Again hundreds of hooves shot up, and again somepony was called on, this time an orange-coated mare further in the back.
“Will the other species be accepting of us?” she asked.
“Opinions will vary, of course, but we believe that the vast majority will be very accepting of new species,” Liara replied. The next pony to be called on was a gray-coated mare, this one sitting among the nobles.
“Your highnesses, why was this information kept from us for so long?”
“While I would like to keep the questioning restricted to our new friends, I will answer this,” Celestia said. “Prior to a few days ago, our knowledge on the galactic community was extremely limited. We did not want to reveal something we knew so little about. Instead we waited until the time was right, which happened to be now.” The mare huffed, but sat back down and allowed other ponies their turn.
“Uh… what are you?” the next pony asked, directing his question at Legion.
“We are a geth,” he answered. “A machine race built three centuries ago by the quarians.” He motioned towards Tali.
“They were initially intended as workers and servants, but they ended up developing sentience,” Tali explained. “There were some… issues… at first, but we worked them out and now we live in peace as equals.”
“Alright, who’s next…?” Luna looked around, surveying the crowd. “Yes, you there…”
The Q&A session lasted close to four hours, and yet even when they had finished there were still hundreds of questions that ponies wanted to ask. As Luna watched ponies filter out of the throne room, she hoped that Twilight’s book would be effective at answering them.
“That went quite well, all things considered,” Celestia said, appearing behind her sister.
“Indeed it did,” Luna agreed. “I did see quite a bit of discomfort, and even some fear, but our ponies handled the situation very professionally.”
“Let us just hope that our luck holds out…” the elder princess sighed. “From what I hear, newspapers are already reporting on this. I expect that Zebrica will take the news well, they have always been very peaceful, but Gryphonia on the other hoof…”
“They’re still fragmented, Tia,” Luna said. “It may take longer for news to spread there. But yes, I agree. Their situation is far more fragile, and news such as this could cause the insurrectionists to turn against us as well. We need to be careful.”
“Indeed…” The two princesses turned and exited the throne room, entering the smaller room at the back. The Normandy crew had already relocated here, and were all standing around the center talking to one another. Their conversation ended when the princesses entered, and Kaidan crossed to them, grinning.
“So, a successful reveal, then?”
“For now…” Celestia nodded. “We have no idea what the more widespread reaction will be, but if the reaction of today’s audience is any indicator, it will be a good one.”
“Admiral Hackett is relaying the results to some of the other higher-ups in the Alliance,” the human reported. “Leadership across most races is still in shambles, and the Citadel Council is gone for now, but it should be restored soon. From what I’m told, they’re also working on setting up a temporary capital on Sur’Kesh. Of all the council worlds it took the least damage, so it will do until the Citadel is repaired. As soon as the capital is established, we can take some of you there to finalize everything.”
“Keep us posted, Major,” Luna said. “Until then, we will continue to monitor the reactions of ponies here. And, one more thing… Legion?” The geth turned his attention to the princess, and expanded his eye flaps.
“Yes, Princess Luna?”
“Would you mind returning to Gryphonia for us?” she requested. “We know that the insurgents have control of the capital, but we know nothing about the condition of Prime Minister Sharptooth. If you can find him, please try to bring him here where he will be safe, and where he can plan his next move.”
“Acknowledged.” Legion turned and walked out of the room, quickly disappearing down the next hallway.
“The rest of you are free to do what you wish,” Celestia said. “Now that you are no longer a secret, we do not have to keep you hidden here. You can return to the Normandy, or perhaps you would like a tour of Canterlot?”
“That sounds fascinating,” Liara said, perking up at the mention of a tour. “I would love to study the city, if you do not mind.”
“Of course, a tour it is then.” Celestia smiled and made for the door. “Come. Let us begin…” The princesses led their new friends from the room and through the throne room, which was now devoid of life. As they navigated the halls to get to the castle entrance, Luna felt herself begin to worry. Even though the reveal had gone well at the castle, the rest of the world was an unknown. Needless to say, she hoped it would go well…
Legion set Admiral Hackett’s shuttle down on the snowy ground of Gryphonia, this time in a position far closer to the back entrance of the castle. It stepped out of the shuttle, pistol at the ready, and activated its cloak as it began to jog through the snow. The fires were out now, but thin trails of black smoke marked where they had once raged.
Legion’s task was simple: locate the Prime Minister and extract him if possible. It had no leads on the location of the griffon, but the castle seemed like a good place to start. If he had been moved by the insurrectionists, which was likely, perhaps it could at least find clues. Legion began to climb up the castle’s back entrance, which, like last time, remained poorly guarded. A few griffon insurrectionists were present, but they seemed more interested in conversing with one another than in guarding the castle. Legion quietly snuck past and continued on its way, once again walking around the outer wall until it found the breach. Legion was not sure what it would find once it infiltrated the castle; bodies, no doubt, but what about the insurrectionist leadership? From what it knew, the leader of the rebellion had yet to reveal himself. If Legion could gain intelligence on that, it would be invaluable knowledge for the ponies, and for what remained of the griffon government.
The geth squeezed through the cracks of the breach and immediately made for the doors of the castle. Before reaching them, it stopped at the spot where it had seen the griffon bury the indoctrination device. It uncovered the snow to ensure that it was still there, which it was. No changes were detected; it was still emitting a low-level electromagnetic field that was slowly taking over the minds of the griffons. Quickly re-burying the device, Legion stepped away and approached the door of the castle, cracking it open. It leaned its head into the gap and, confirming that the entry hall was empty, pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside. The entry hall was a mess; all lights were out, the dark red carpet on the floor was charred black, and many walls had collapsed. A thin layer of smoke lingered near the top still, telling Legion that the fires had not been out for very long. Holding its pistol at the ready, Legion began moving through the castle. It had a prime minister to find…
Twilight Sparkle’s chariot landed on the paved stone floor of the Canterlot castle courtyard, sliding along the surface for a few meters before skidding to a halt. Next to hers, a second chariot came in for a landing, this one occupied by Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. In Twilight’s chariot with her were Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, each of whom jumped from the comfortable leather seats onto the surface below. Dash immediately stretched her wings and did a few squats, then turned and watched as Twilight carefully stepped out of the chariot. The young princess took a look around, noticing an increase in guard activity along the walls of the castle.
No doubt a result of the reveal, she thought.
It had gone better than she had expected. While apprehension was evident, most ponies seemed to be fine with the presence of aliens. Twilight liked to think that her novel was responsible for that feeling, but she knew that most of the credit went to Celestia and Luna for pulling off the reveal so well. Because of their attitudes while introducing the aliens, most ponies did not see their new friends as a threat.
That did not mean that Equestria was without its dissenters. There were quite a few groups of ponies – some numbering in the thousands – who were completely against an alliance of any kind. They believed that the aliens intended to take advantage of Equestria, and would lead to the downfall of the ponies. It was all baseless conjecture, of course. The aliens of the galaxy had shown nothing but kindness to the ponies thus far. Twilight knew they had no reason to mistrust them.
Twilight stepped up to the entrance of the castle, which right now was a simple checkpoint guarded by eight stoic-faced royal guards. They parted their spears to let her and her friends pass through, and Twilight took a moment to look at the damage. The thick castle doors were completely gone, as were the large marble columns that supported the entryway. All that was left of the entry hall was the burned up remains of the supports. Everything else had simply ceased to exist.
“Sweet Celestia…” Rainbow Dash said, mouth agape, as she hovered around the ruins of the entry hall. “When Joker told us a bomb had gone off, I wasn’t expecting anything like this!”
“Neither was I…” Twilight agreed, her careful eyes scrutinizing every detail of the damage. She lit her horn and concentrated on a small section of the hall, looking over it for any sort of magic residue. There was none. Whatever had caused this explosion, it had no ties to magic. At the sound of hooves approaching, Twilight looked up and found Princess Celestia casually walking up to her. A smile broke out on her face, and the young princess trotted up to embrace her former mentor.
“Twilight, it is good to see that you have arrived safely,” the elder princess said affectionately. “You had a good flight, I trust?”
“Clear skies the whole way,” Twilight replied, grinning. “How have you been? I imagine the past few days must have been stressful.”
“Oh, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t partially worried. Pony reactions are mostly positive, and for that I am grateful, but the long-term reaction remains to be seen.” Celestia motioned for Twilight and her friends to follow her, and she began walking down the long marble hallway further into the castle. Twilight sped up to keep pace with the princess of the sun and looked to her while she walked.
“Is he here?” she asked.
“I assume you mean Legion,” Celestia correctly guessed. “Not now, no. We have sent him up to Gryphonia to perform some… stealth operations.”
“Spying?” Twilight was surprised. She had not realized the situation had deteriorated to the point that spying was necessary.
“Partly spying,” Celestia admitted. “But mostly searching. Prime Minister Sharptooth is missing. We are hoping that Legion will be able to find him and bring him here, where he will be safe. We have reason to believe that the insurrectionists may be a greater threat than we initially expected…”
“Why is that?” Celestia shook her head and stopped by an unassuming wooden door. Quirking an eyebrow, Twilight pushed it open and stepped into the room beyond, finding it to be a meeting room. Sitting around a long marble table were the aliens from the Normandy, as well as three other beings: a griffon, a zebra, and a changeling. Twilight felt her blood begin to boil at the sight of the changeling; all of her encounters with their kind had been negative.
“What’s he doing here?” she spat, glaring at the creature. The changeling looked back at her, not giving off any obvious emotions.
“Please, Twilight,” Celestia said, placing a hoof on her back. “Erebus is here at our request. He is a guest, and he will be treated as such.” Scoffing, Twilight stalked further into the room, taking her seat in an unoccupied chair. Her friends followed suit, taking seats next to her. Celestia sat down last, looking out over the group.
“Well, I suppose the first thing I can say is that the reveal went fairly well,” she began. “However, this only means that we now have time to address the next issue… As per the defense pact, our new alien allies have been invited to sit in. Now, as many of you have likely already guessed, the issue to which I am referring is the explosion at the castle from two days ago.”
“This was not the only explosion,” Luna said, taking over for her sister. “Eleven other explosions were reported as well; five in Manehattan, two in Fillydelphia, three in Cloudsdale, and one in Trottingham. All twelve explosions happened within an hour of one another on the same day. This cannot be mere coincidence. What’s more, my sister and I have reason to suspect that Gryphonia may have been involved.” All eyes turned to the griffon senator, who shrunk at the attention.
“What makes you think my nation carried out these attacks?” he asked defensively.
“Not necessarily the government you work for, Senator,” Celestia comforted. “But according to the report of one guard who was wounded in this attack, Ambassador Silver Pen arrived at the castle only moments before the explosion. He was not due back in Equestria until December – close to four months from now. Additionally, he did not say anything. He just arrived, and then there was the explosion.” Proudwing stroked beneath his beak thoughtfully, nodding.
“It is quite odd that your ambassador would return at such a time…” he said. “And given that the capital fell not long after… Hmm… This is troubling…”
“That doesn’t answer the question of what caused the explosion, though,” Garrus spoke up. “I mean, there’s no way he could’ve just been carrying a bomb with him. Your guards would have noticed, right?”
“One would hope…” Luna sighed. “No, a bomb would never have gotten through. Especially one large enough to create an explosion of such a high yield. Unless it was small enough for him to keep hidden, of course, but griffons cannot manufacture bombs of that size.”
“And it couldn’t have been magic,” Twilight added. “I scanned the area for any sort of residue when I first arrived. There was nothing.”
“Was the guard certain that he saw your ambassador?” Malkia asked. “He was badly wounded. Perhaps he is mistaken?”
“That is a possibility,” Celestia admitted. “There is nothing there to suggest that anypony besides the two guards were present; no remains, no burn marks… nothing.” Twilight lowered her head in thought, and everyone else did the same. Her deep purple eyes darted around as she considered the evidence available to her; it was alarmingly little. Assuming the griffon insurgents were behind the attack, Twilight was also having difficulty coming up with a motive. Could it be a show of force? That was not likely. Bombing the capital of a more powerful nation typically was not a good idea.
“Hmm…” One of the aliens that Twilight did not recognize leaned forward, blinking his large black eyes.
“Do you have something to add, Mister Polban?” Celestia asked.
“I believe I have reached a conclusion,” he said. “Your guards were standing by the door, doing their duty. Your ambassador arrives, unexpected, and a moment later there is an explosion. Despite this, you can find no evidence of the ambassador ever being present, nor are there any clues pointing to a bomb.”
“Yes, how does this help us any?” Luna urged.
“Because, your ambassador was the bomb.” The ponies around the table gasped, shocked that the alien could even suggest such a thing. The imagery was… unpleasant.
“That’s… not a bad explanation, actually,” Garrus said, nodding.
“How would the ambassador have been a bomb!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “That makes no sense!”
“STG uses ocular nerve flashbangs to prevent information from falling into the wrong hands,” the salarian continued. “A small explosive implanted in the head of an agent, rigged to explode if they are captured. Effective. Could also be used with regular explosives, of a much higher yield.” Twilight gaped at the alien ambassador, shocked that such a seemingly civilized culture would resort to such methods.
“Even if that is the case, the griffons cannot manufacture a bomb with such a high yield,” Luna said. “At least… not one small enough to fit inside a pony…”
“Well, perhaps griffon bomb manufacturing is more advanced than you think,” Polban countered. “And perhaps Senator Proudwing would like to share such information, given the circumstances?” Once again all eyes were on the griffon, who shook his head.
“To my knowledge, we cannot manufacture such a bomb…” he sighed. “I do not understand this… It… It makes no sense!”
“No, it does not,” Celestia agreed. “We will break for now. When Legion returns, perhaps he will have some information that could help with this whole situation… You are all free to do what you wish, though I ask that you please remain within the walls of the castle. I do not feel confident allowing you free reign of Canterlot, not just yet…”
“Understood, princess,” Liara said, standing. “We’ll probably be waiting in the lounge if you need us.” The remaining aliens stood and joined Liara as she left the room. Senator Proudwing, President Malkia, and Erebus lingered for a moment before they left as well. When Twilight was alone with her friends and the other princesses, she let out a sigh.
“Nothing is ever easy, is it?” she wondered aloud.
“No, Twilight, it is not,” Celestia answered. “But we will make it through this. Of that I am sure.” The elder princess stood up and draped a wing over her student, smiling warmly. “You and your friends go on ahead. I will call you back when Legion returns.” Twilight nodded and stood up, her friends mirroring her. She nodded farewell and stepped out of the room, the corners of her mouth turned down slightly.
“Everything okay, sugarcube?”Applejack asked, stepping in front of her friend. Twilight stopped and shook her head.
“No,” she said. “But we’ll get to the bottom of this, and then it will be.” She stepped past Applejack and continued down the hall, headed for the one place she could think of that may be able to help: the library.
Foster stepped through the open doorway and into the holding cells of his facility, walking with purpose down the line of cells to the very end. A single soldier was standing guard, his assault rifle trained on the ceiling. He snapped a salute as the doctor came to a stop by the cell and looked through the metal bars at the prisoner inside.
This one had been difficult to catch. He eluded the indoctrinated griffons for hours after the attack on the capital, using many hidden passages in his castle to get away. Once he had been found, he had killed over a dozen other griffons, and eventually Cerberus forces had to step in to deal with the problem personally. But now he was under their control. The Prime Minister of the griffons was at Foster’s mercy. The doctor gestured to the guard, and he pressed the release on the door. It slid open, and Foster took a step inside.
The large griffon did not move. He remained huddled in the corner, the light gray and black coloration of his feathers contrasting against the solid white walls of the cell. Foster stepped up behind the griffon, his hands clasped calmly behind his back. He noticed the griffon’s rate of breathing increase with proximity. His soldiers had not been gentle.
“You are Sharptooth?” he asked, kneeling down. The griffon did not answer. His gaze remained fixated on the corner of the room, trying not to focus on the human behind him. Foster retrieved a small baton from his belt and held it by the griffon’s side.
“Speak!” he demanded, jamming the baton into the griffon. A crackling sound filled the air, and Sharptooth spasmed as electricity coursed through him.
“Yes!” he screamed in pain as his body convulsed. “I am… Sharptooth!” Grinning, Foster pulled the baton away and stood back up.
“Good,” the doctor said. He activated his omni-tool and ran a scan of the griffon. Indoctrination had begun, but the Prime Minister was alarmingly strong-willed. It would take more than simple exposure to break his mind. “Do you know who I am?”
The griffon coughed, smoke rising from his feathers. “No…”
The doctor smiled. “Good. You will get to know me. Quite well, in fact. You are mine now. Do you understand?” The griffon grunted, and shook his head.
“I… am… nobody's…”
Foster frowned. He brought up the baton and once again jammed it into the side of the Prime Minister. He convulsed around on the floor, screaming in agony. Smoke began to rise from his feathers once again, and the doctor pulled the baton away.
“I will ask again. Do you understand?” The griffon did not answer. Foster made to shock him again, before finally the griffon nodded, breathing heavily. The doctor smiled and he stepped away from Sharptooth. He placed the baton back on his belt, turned around, and exited the cell. The door closed shut behind him, and Foster activated his omni-tool, sending a message to a team of his scientists. Indoctrination of the Prime Minister would begin now that the first barriers around his mind were down. If the griffon gave them any more trouble, Foster was not against using the shock baton again. He would break the griffon entirely if he had to, it was worth it. As long as communications with the rest of Cerberus remained down, his goal had not changed. He would finish his task, whatever the cost.
Legion snuck quietly through the abandoned stone corridors of the griffon castle, taking care not to step on anything that could give away its position. Shards of broken glass littered the floor, and knocked over candelabra created a maze through the hallway. In the three hours that Legion had been searching, it had found nobody alive in the castle. There were plenty of dead, however. Guards, nobles, servants, all had been slain where they stood in the various rooms of the castle. They lay in pools of their own blood, and some of the bodies had been burnt beyond recognition. Despite all of the bodies, Legion had found no evidence of the Prime Minister still being in the castle. The geth had received a quick description of the griffon before leaving Canterlot, and no recognizable griffons in the castle matched the features. Either he had escaped, or he had been taken by the insurrectionists. While the latter seemed far more likely, Legion hoped that the former was true. If it was true, however, that made Legion’s task of finding the Prime Minister far more difficult. Griffon territory was large, it would take months to search the entire region.
Small flakes of snow fell through holes in the stone ceiling, settling like dust on the ruined floors of the corridor. Legion continued stalking through the hall, leaving light footprints in the newly fallen piles of snow. As it ventured further into the castle, the geth began detecting sound. This sound was different from the roaring winds outside. From this distance, they sounded like voices. Beginning to speed up, Legion deployed its pistol and hugged the walls as it neared the end of the corridor. At the end was a set of tall wooden doors, one of which was cracked open. A small amount of light filtered through the crack, and occasionally a shadow passed in front of it. Legion was certain; there was someone inside.
Legion cautiously stacked against the door and leaned its photoreceptor into the crack. From this angle it could not see much – only flashes of movement. However, it appeared as though the organics inside were facing away from the door. Quietly, Legion pushed the door open just enough to slip inside, holding its Predator at the ready. Despite its tactical cloak still being active, Legion did not want to risk discovery.
It entered the room and immediately retreated to one of the corners, constantly keeping its optic on the two griffons at the opposite end of the room. Legion was not certain, but they appeared to be insurrectionists. The previous soldiers he had seen had all worn the same armor, and had a matching crest on their chests. These griffons wore no such armor, and held rusted spears in their talons. They were facing away from the geth, and one held a torch, illuminating the otherwise dark room. They spoke to each other in hushed whispers, just barely audible for the geth to make out.
“Has it been set up?”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
“We will await further orders.”
They fell silent. Legion watched them, reviewing their dialogue for clues. Their style of speech was not what it expected from insurrectionists. It suggested order and discipline within the insurrection. Their actions thus far were contrary to this conclusion. Burning and pillaging were not signs of order and discipline. They were quite the opposite, in fact.
“… Orders received. Commencing.” The two griffons hefted their spears and exited the room, leaving Legion alone. The geth looked around curiously, wondering from where they had received their orders. Griffons possessed no long-range communications tools, they could not have been ordered remotely. The only way for them to receive orders was by being physically given them. However, if they were being indoctrinated, they could be having orders fed to them from elsewhere.
Legion lingered in the corner for a moment longer, before finally it stepped out of the room and looked down the hallway. The two griffons were at the end, rounding a corner and disappearing from sight. Legion silently followed them, only occasionally stopping to allow its tactical cloak to recharge. The geth kept its distance, but remained just close enough to make out any sort of conversation. They were not speaking now, but any more data could help.
After following the griffons through the castle for several minutes, Legion realized that they were headed back to the front entrance. Whatever task these griffons had been assigned, it had been completed.
“… Have you heard about Sharptooth?” one griffon asked, breaking the silence that had lingered for most of the walk. Legion immediately got closer and focused entirely on the griffons.
“Yes. From what I hear he put up a fight.”
“The others had to intervene, our own soldiers could not stop him.”
“The others are powerful. None can face them.”
Their conversation ended as they approached the front door of the castle and opened it, stepping out into the snow-covered courtyard. Legion remained inside, reviewing the dialogue. Its suspicions had been confirmed: Sharptooth had been captured or killed. However, it had not been by the insurrectionists. Legion was not certain, but it seemed as though these “others” were likely the ones indoctrinating the griffons. However, there was no way of determining just what these “others” were. They could have been Leviathans, if Creator Tali’Zorah was correct. Or they could be some other species. Legion did not know.
Figuring that it had completed its objective, Legion decided now was a good time for exfiltration. It stealthily exited the castle and crossed the courtyard to the gap in the outer wall, making its way to the isolated landing zone. Legion did not know if the data it had collected would be useful, but they now knew that the griffons were working with someone else. Hopefully this data had some application.
Stepping up to the small Alliance shuttle, Legion jumped inside and entered the cockpit. It spun up the engines, using the noise of the winds outside to mask its escape. Then, with the press of a button, it took off for Canterlot.
Tali slumped down on the lounge couch, sinking into the plush fabric as she let out a sigh. This morning’s meeting had been uneventful, and had shed no light on the situation at hand. She found it odd, but she was actually worried. She had served on the Normandy, she had faced down Saren, the collectors, and the Reapers. But those had been known threats. She knew what she would be facing, and she knew the danger. This was unknown, and it frightened her.
She was torn from her thoughts as the door to the lounge opened, and Admiral Hackett stepped inside. Tali had not noticed him leave the room, but the presence of an Alliance officer behind the Admiral made her assume that he had received a message. The Admiral began crossing the room to Tali, and the quarian briefly hoped that he had news about Shepard.
“Tali, I have an update on Shepard’s condition,” Hackett reported, confirming the quarian’s hopes. “It’s… not good.” Tali frowned, and slowly nodded her head.
“Tell me.”
“He’s in bad shape. He’s alive, but barely. Injuries all over his body, third-degree burns, and oxygen deprivation were at the top of the report. I have the best doctors in the Alliance working on him, but I can’t guarantee anything.” Tali sighed, feeling her eyes begin to water. She quickly blinked the tears away, and nodded.
“I understand,” she said. “I… I understand.”
“Shepard’s a fighter, Tali,” Hackett said. “If anyone can pull through this, it’s him. Don’t give up hope.” The admiral turned and walked to the other ambassadors at the other end of the room. Tali stood up from the comfortable couch and joined her friends from the Normandy, all of whom were standing around a low wooden table, quietly talking amongst themselves. As Tali joined the group the conversation stopped, and the quarian found all eyes on her.
“Hey Tali,” Garrus greeted. “We were just talking about the bombing… What are your thoughts?”
“I’m sure we’ll get it all sorted out,” she answered. “I’m more alarmed about the device Legion found. If it’s what we think it is…”
“Then we have a problem,” Kaidan finished. “But like you said, we’ll get it sorted out.”
“Yeah…”
There was silence, and Tali slipped into thoughts of worst-case scenarios. If it was Leviathans… She knew what they were capable of. They could kill a Reaper with a single thought. The havoc they could cause on a planet like Equis was untold. Images of Canterlot burning as Leviathans descended over it flashed in her mind, and Tali felt true fear. She closed her eyes and shook her head, willing the images to disappear. She knew ignoring the prospect of a Leviathan invasion would be counterproductive, but lingering on the thoughts for too long would only increase her stress level.
The silence remained for a few more moments, only ending when Princesses Celestia and Luna cantered into the room, a smile on each of their faces. Senator Proudwing and President Malkia were not far behind, and they entered the lounge looking not as satisfied. The Normandy crew moved from their position around the table to a position closer to the princesses, and the ambassadors did the same.
“We just spotted Legion’s ship returning from Gryphonia,” Celestia said, smiling. “He will be here in a few minutes.”
“Do you think he was successful, Princess?” Matriarch Lidanya asked.
“There is no way of telling,” Luna answered. “At least not until he arrives.” Silence once again filled the room, until it was broken by the door swinging open and Legion stepping inside. Unthawed snowflakes rested upon the metallic outer shell of his platform, and beneath them was a layer of black soot. He entered the room alone, and Tali noticed the corners of Proudwing’s beak turning down.
“I assume you were unsuccessful in finding Prime Minister Sharptooth?” Celestia said sadly.
“Correct,” Legion answered with a nod. “However, we did uncover critical information: Sharptooth has been captured by the insurrectionists. His current location is unknown.”
“Damn it…” Proudwing whispered, closing his eyes.
“Do not worry, Senator,” Luna comforted, draping a wing over the back of the griffon. “We will recover him. He will be fine, and the insurrection will be stopped.”
“Additional information was discovered,” Legion continued, attracting all eyes to him. “We have confirmed that the griffons are working for another entity. Exactly who is unknown, they were simply referred to as ‘the others’.”
“Do you have any guesses on who it could be?” Primarch Victus asked.
“We lack the required information to formulate a guess.”
“Hmm…”
“So we’re back where we started, then,” Garrus said. “We just confirmed what we were expecting.”
“This information could prove useful, Garrus,” Celestia countered. “The griffons are serving another, and they use alien technology. I believe this confirms that the ones controlling the griffons are aliens. As for who… I do not believe I am qualified to guess.”
“Whoever they are, they are skilled in subterfuge…” Polban observed. “They have left no clues regarding their identity. Even when they controlled the capital, they still ordered their indoctrination devices to be buried. They are paranoid. They do not want to fail.”
“So it’s someone good at being stealthy,” Kaidan nodded. “That doesn’t tell us a whole lot. Plenty of aliens are good at stealth. What we need to consider is who would benefit from something like this. Who would benefit from controlling an army of griffons?”
“Militarily speaking, the griffons are the strongest species on the planet,” Luna added. “They could hardly achieve world domination, but they are very powerful.”
“But compared to the krogan, or even the turians, I doubt they would fare well in battle,” Tali said.
“That is likely…” Proudwing admitted.
“Whoever is controlling the griffons is probably using them for some greater purpose,” Kaidan suggested. “The griffons themselves are just… a means to an end.”
Garrus shook his head. “That still doesn’t answer who would benefit from having a griffon army. Who would need that, and for what purpose?” Liara, continuing to remain quiet, lowered her head in thought.
“So, nobody has any ideas, then?” Proudwing asked, frowning. His brow furrowed, and he looked at his reflection in the marble floor. “This whole thing is a mess…”
“Do not give up hope, Senator,” Luna comforted, crossing to the griffon. “Whoever is in charge will slip up soon. They have to.” There was a pause, during which Tali looked around to see who might speak up next. When nobody made a move, she took a step forward.
“Regardless of who is controlling the griffons, I think we need to consider that they may know about us,” she said. “They may know that more aliens have made contact with Equis, and that we have developed a friendship with one another. They could perceive this as a threat. We should be careful.”
“I agree,” Matriarch Lidanya said, beginning to walk toward the door. “The other ambassadors and I will return to our ships. We will continue coordinating with you from there, and we will see about taking one of you with us once the temporary capital is established.”
“Very well,” Celestia said, turning to face the older asari. “We will keep you up to date on everything down here.” The other ambassadors joined Lidanya as she exited the door. Admiral Hackett stopped just before exiting and turned back around.
“Tali, I’ll continue forwarding you information about Shepard as it becomes available,” he stated. “And Legion, I’ll have another shuttle sent down for you to use, should you choose to go back to Gryphonia.”
“Thank you, Admiral.”
“Acknowledged.” Hackett stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind him. There was silence for a moment as everyone was left to their own thoughts.
“… I will return to the Normandy,” Liara decided, stepping towards the door. “I am going to consult some of my… resources… and see if I can find anything regarding who might be operating here on Equis.”
“Good luck, Liara,” Kaidan said knowingly. “If you need anything, contact us.”
“I will,” the asari said as she slipped through the door. There was silence again, until Luna and Celestia looked to the Normandy crew, confused.
“What resources does she have?” Luna asked.
“Uh… Information resources,” Garrus explained. “I won’t say more than that, for her sake.”
“Very well…” The princess turned and began to walk for the door.
“We must take our leave,” Celestia stated. “I have a Day Court to attend. Luna will be available if you need her, just ask one of the guards.” The sisters exited, and Malkia and Proudwing followed them a moment later. Garrus, Kaidan, Legion, and Tali now stood alone in the lounge, and silence once again took hold of the room. After a few moments of silence Tali crossed back to the couch and sat down, letting out a sigh. Garrus joined her a moment later, and Kaidan sat down in a chair across from them. Legion remained standing, his single eye fixated on a point across the room. Kaidan rubbed his eyes and let out a yawn, then tiredly looked around the room.
“This is going to get worse, isn’t it?” he asked to no one in particular. Tali and Garrus nodded grimly, knowing the human was right.
“Based on our track record, yeah, it’ll get worse,” Garrus said.
There was silence yet again, and Tali turned her gaze to the large window, looking out at the peaceful Equestrian landscape. A few hundred miles north of them lay Gryphonia, where an entire species was being subjugated by an unknown enemy. She shook her head and closed her eyes, wishing that, for once, there could simply be peace. Tali was young, and in her lifetime she had faced down threats the likes of which she never imagined. Saren, the collectors, the Reapers… Was it too much to ask for some peace?
She shook her head again and stood up from the couch. She moved to the door and opened it, pausing for a moment to look back at her friends.
“I’ll be in my room,” she stated. “Come get me if I am needed.”
“Will do,” Garrus said as Tali exited the room. Letting out a yawn, she began jogging down the castle hallway, heading for her room.
Twilight sighed, exasperated, and slammed the book in front of her shut, casting it off into a quickly-growing pile of discarded books. She placed another one in front of her and began skimming through it, though by now her hopes for finding anything were almost gone. As she skimmed, her friends moved quietly through the library, looking for any book that might have something to do with combatting the effects of indoctrination. So far she had found very little. There were a few spells, but they were meant for breaking ponies from simple trances. Indoctrination on this scale had never been seen before on Equis.
Regardless, Twilight kept reading. If there was anything in here that could help, she would find it. She just had to keep searching…
“Twilight…” a meek voice said from behind the princess.
“Hmm?” Twilight did not turn around. Instead she kept her amethyst eyes trained on the book, skimming through paragraphs at an unnatural pace.
“Don’t you think we should maybe take a break…?” Fluttershy asked. “We’ve been here for hours and we haven’t found a thing…”
“There’s got to be something,” the princess stated. “There has to be…”
“Give it a rest, Twi’,” Rainbow Dash said, floating down to the alicorn. “This is alien technology. None of these books are going to have anything.” Twilight turned to face her friend, annoyed.
“You don’t know that,” she argued, glaring. “Magic is a powerful tool. In the right hooves, it can do anything.”
“Twilight, your friends are right.” Twilight turned her head to the newcomer and found Princess Luna regally entering the library, looking at the pile of books that had accumulated by her.
“While you are right that magic is very powerful, you have no leads,” the princess of the night continued. “Without more information, looking through all of the books in here could take months.” Twilight paused for a moment, then lowered her head and let out a sigh.
“Right…” she whispered. She stood from her chair and circled the table, coming to stand in front of Luna. “Okay. But I cannot do nothing! Is there anything I can do to help?”
Luna smiled and nodded. “There is.”
“You can help Celestia and me with matters here. If the situation in Gryphonia gets worse – and it very likely will – Equestria will be pulled into it. We need to ensure that we are ready before such a time comes.”
“I understand, Luna…” Twilight looked to her friends, her eyebrows turned up. “I’m sorry I forced you all to keep helping me.”
“No worries, sugarcube,” Applejack said with a smile. “Always happy to help.” The rest of her friends nodded in agreement and smiled.
“Rooms have been prepared for all of you,” Luna said. “You may retire to them at any time. Guards are waiting outside to escort you. Should you need me, I will be with Celestia in the throne room.” The princess quickly spun and walked out of the library, the sound of her hooves echoing back into the room as she left. Twilight’s friends began to walk for the door as well, but stopped when she did not join them.
“Aren’t you joining us, Twilight?” Rarity asked, concerned.
“… No,” Twilight decided after a quick pause. “I’ll stay here, read a few more books. You never know what you mind find.” She smiled, and her friends shrugged as they left the room. The door closed behind them, and Twilight embraced the ever-present silence of the library. It had been temporarily disturbed, but as it returned the princess focused her attention on the next book. With a quick burst of magic she lifted the cover and began to read…
David Foster leaned back in his office’s comfortable leather chair, his face an expressionless slate. The bright white lights on the ceiling illuminated every inch of the room, displaying its pristine condition. Not a speck of dust rested on his dark oak desk, and even his Cerberus uniform was without wrinkles. An analog clock on the adjacent wall ticked with each passing second, counting down to the event for which Foster was waiting.
The door across from his desk opened, shattering the silence of the office. Right on time, Foster thought. He sat up straight in his chair and watched as a technician entered, a newspaper folded under his arm. The newspaper was deposited on his desk, and the technician took a few steps back, waiting for further orders. Foster picked up the newspaper and unfolded it, then scanned over the front page. A pair of contacts in his eyes recognized the foreign alphabet and began translating it to English. As soon as the headline was revealed, Foster sucked in his breath and closed his eyes. It was as he had feared…
ALIEN LIFE CONFIRMED! A NEW ALLIANCE IS BORN!
The doctor let out his breath and began scanning over the page. As soon as the front page was read, he flipped to the next. On this page was a picture, depicting the two princesses standing by several aliens. There was a human, an asari, a turian, a quarian, and even a geth. They all (with the exception of the geth) wore calm and happy expressions, standing in front of a sea of reporters and other ponies. Foster moved his gaze to the text beneath the image, which had listed the names of the aliens standing with the princesses.
Legion, Garrus Vakarian, Liara T’Soni, Tali’Zorah vas Normandy, Kaidan Alenko.
Foster’s eyes widened, and for once he allowed alarm to show on his face. Quickly regaining his composure, the doctor folded the newspaper and pushed it away, motioning for the technician to pick it up. As the technician followed the command, Foster activated his terminal and checked over the status of the indoctrination. When the number flashed across his screen, he shook his head and looked to the technician.
“Tell manufacturing to produce more devices,” he ordered. “We are expediting the project. I want Gryphonia subjugated in two days, and I want Sharptooth under our control by tomorrow morning. Understood?”
The technician nodded and stepped away from the desk. “Yes, sir.” He turned and exited the office, on his way to fulfill his orders. Foster leaned back in his chair and sighed, closing his eyes. He had not expected the Normandy to be here. They represented a serious threat to his operations. They had the power to stop him, and Foster knew it. However, Cerberus likely had the upper hand. The aliens were likely not aware of Cerberus’s presence on Equis, which gave them an advantage. Grinning, Foster leaned over his terminal and sent an order to his military commander. It was time for some infiltration…
Green treetops moved at a blur beneath the drone as it soared over the Everfree forest. Its camera swiveled from side to side, scanning the forest for its prey. Birds burst from their nests in the trees, disturbed by the foreign device flying in their airspace. The small engine beneath the drone sent unsecured leaves soaring into the air and falling onto the forest floor below. As it continued gliding along the treetops, the camera finally caught site of its target in the distance.
The ship was not large; as a frigate, it came in at one hundred and seventy meters long. However, the relatively small size did not mean it was harmless. The twin Thanix cannons on the bottom of the ship were immensely powerful, and the crew was known across the galaxy for its effectiveness. Despite all of this knowledge, the drone continued on. It felt no fear, and it had no self-preservation instincts. Everything it saw was immediately sent back to the Cerberus base in Gryphonia and stored for review. As long as it found something, destruction was inconsequential.
The drone closed in on the ship, its gimballed camera scanning the crash site. The ship had sustained damage, that much was clear. If the scorch marks were not evidence enough, then the removed paneling and crew crawling on the hull definitely were. A number of Normandy technicians moved around the top of the ship, each one equipped with several tools meant for repair. Sparks shot up from areas where panels had been removed as the crew worked on restoring the frigate. Taking several images, the drone opened a quick channel to the Cerberus base and transmitted all that it had seen so far.
Before the drone could see any more, invisible forces tore at the small device and began rapidly pulling it down to the ground. The camera feed cut out as it slammed into the dirt, and the drone went quiet…
Liara T’Soni watched as the small dot plummeted from the sky, the effects of her biotic attack yielding instant results. It disappeared a short ways past the tree line, landing with an audible thump as it hit the forest floor. Equipping a pistol, Liara jogged down from the Normandy airlock and headed in the direction she had seen the drone fall. It did not take her long to reach it, and when she did she holstered her pistol and cautiously approached the device. Sparks shot from cracks in the outer plating, and dirt coated the otherwise pristine white outer surface. No symbols on the outside gave any indication as to who owned the drone. That discovery would have to come later.
Carefully, Liara activated her omni-tool and waved it over the drone, scanning for traps. The results came back negative, and she hefted the small device, grunting as she got it into a comfortable position. It was heavier now that the mass effect field generator was offline, and it took Liara considerably longer to return to the airlock. When she did, she noticed Javik standing in the door, his prothean assault rifle held at the ready.
“What did you find?” he asked as the asari drew closer.
“A drone,” Liara answered, climbing up to the airlock. Javik stretched out his arms, offering to take the drone. She gratefully passed the device to him, pausing for a moment to catch her breath.
“Alright…” she said, sighing. “Let’s take it down to my office.” The airlock cycled, and Liara led Javik down the CIC to the elevator. They remained silent, which Liara was perfectly fine with. Conversation would only prevent her from thinking about the source of the device.
A short elevator ride later, Liara entered her office with Javik close at hand. He deposited the drone onto an empty table, then stepped back and looked to the asari.
“You found it!” remarked Glyph, activating in the corner of the room. He floated over to the incapacitated drone, his single eye scanning over it.
“Yes, thank you for the help, Glyph.” The VI had been quite helpful in locating the drone. With EDI offline and a shortage of staff to watch the scanners, it had almost gone unnoticed. Even if there were sufficient crew members watching the scanners, without Liara’s more advanced scanning suite they never would have picked it up.
“Now what?” Javik asked, the corners of his mouth turned down.
“Now I open it…” A quick visual scan of the drone showed four screws, two on either side of the outer shell. Opening a desk drawer, Liara produced a number of small cylindrical devices and placed them into the head of each screw. With the task done, she stepped back and looked to Glyph.
“Be ready,” she said.
“Of course, Doctor T’Soni.” Nodding, Liara summoned a small biotic barrier around the drone. The room was filled with the hum of the barrier, and the blue light it emitted danced over Liara’s face.
“Okay, now,” she commanded. Each of the devices she had placed pulled each screw out of their sockets, and the top of the outer shell popped up as it disconnected from the rest of the drone. After a moment passed and nothing happened, Liara dropped her barrier, satisfied that it was safe. Her omni-tool scan outside had confirmed there were no traps, but the asari was nothing if not cautious.
She approached the drone and pulled the top of the shell off, placing it on another part of the table. Immediately she began to scrutinize the interior of the drone, looking over every piece of visible hardware. Her face fell as her azure eyes passed over the charred remains of what appeared to be a storage drive. Next to it was a trigger for a small explosive. The drone was rigged to wipe its memory if anything happened to it, and clearly the manufacturer wanted to be sure that nothing could be recovered. She sighed and stepped away, her eyes closed.
“Did you find anything?” Javik asked, crossing over to the drone. Liara paused before shaking her head.
“No,” she said. “Not yet. Whatever data this drone held is permanently gone. However, it may hold some other secrets…” Liara turned to her assistant who remained next to the drone. “Glyph, make a 3D scan of the device. If I accidentally break anything, I want a template to go off of.”
“Yes, Doctor T’Soni.” As her holographic assistant began his scan, Liara opened her omni-tool and began to search the extranet for drones similar to the one sitting before her. It did not take her long to determine that no such drones existed. Whoever this belonged to, it was entirely custom. Looking back to the drone, it began to dawn on Liara just how difficult it would be to determine the drone’s point of origin. It was not something that could be done in a short span of time.
Shaking her head, Liara stepped away from the table and turned to the door. Javik looked at her quizzically, and she motioned for him to follow her. If she was going to find the owner of this drone, it was going to take coffee. A lot of it.
Luna watched as Kaidan paced back and forth, a hand set upon his troubled brow. On a nearby table lay a small tablet, and on it was a message that the princess could not read. Whatever it said, it had instantly changed Kaidan’s demeanor. The rest of the Normandy crew had reacted similarly, though they remained sitting around the room. Finally after several more moments of pacing, Kaidan sat down and let out a sigh.
“… Are you all right, major?” Celestia asked after a pause, a look of concern on her face. The human shook his head and stood back up to retrieve the tablet.
“No…” he answered. “I… Liara found a drone spying on the Normandy.”
“A drone?” Luna inquired.
“A small flying device with a camera on it,” Kaidan explained. “Beyond the technology level of any species on this planet. I think we can safely assume that this belongs to the individual indoctrinating the griffons.”
“Why does this concern you so much?” Celestia asked. “Surely whoever it is knows about you. The entire world knows about you by now.”
“It’s not that,” the major sighed. “I know that he, she, or they probably know about us. What worries me is that they found the Normandy. She’s a sitting duck right now with the engines still offline. If this enemy was to attack her, I don’t know if we could win.”
“We could station a few squads of guards outside, if you would like,” Luna suggested.
“Thank you for the offer, princess, but I think I would prefer Alliance soldiers defending the Normandy,” Kaidan said. “This enemy has the same technology as we do. I’d like to try matching it evenly, no offense.”
“Well then what can we do?” Tali asked from her position on a couch across from Kaidan.
“Nothing,” he answered. “Not until Liara finds the identity of the owner.”
“There is one thing that can be done,” Celestia began, drawing all eyes to her. The princess looked to Legion, who was standing beside one of the couches. “Twilight should be somewhere in the castle. I would guess that she is either in the library or in her quarters. Please find her and have her teach you our written language.”
“Acknowledged,” the geth said, nodding. He crossed to the door and exited, the sounds of his footsteps echoing down the hallway as he went to find the newest alicorn.
“As for the rest of you, I have a few questions.”
“Go ahead, princess,” Garrus said.
“A few days ago you mentioned that a temporary capital was being established on one of your worlds. Sur’kesh, I believe it was called,” she continued. “When will we be able to go?”
“Soon, we hope,” Kaidan answered. “Within a week. From what I’ve heard, new councilors have been elected. All that’s left is to make sure things are still functioning after the Reapers. Economies, manufacturing, et cetera. I’ll keep you in the loop.”
“Thank you, Major.”
“And how is Commander Shepard faring?” Luna asked, giving Tali a knowing look. “Has more information been gained regarding his condition?”
“He’s…” Tali began, apprehensive. “Not good… His wounds are severe. It’s… a miracle he has survived this long…” Luna frowned, feeling sorrow for the quarian.
“If anybody can survive, it is him,” the princess of the night said comfortingly. “From what we have heard, he is a strong human. He will endure, I am sure of it.” She could not see her face, but to Luna it looked as though her remark had slightly improved Tali’s mood.
“We should go, sister,” Celestia suggested. “There is work to be done.” Nodding, Luna turned and followed her sister out of the room, closing the door behind her.
“What do you think of this attack, Tia?” Luna asked, concerned.
“It would be lying if I said I was not alarmed,” Celestia answered. “But the crew of the Normandy is capable. Things will work out.” Nodding slowly, Luna began following Celestia down the stretch of castle hallway, away from the crew…
Foster sighed and shook his head as the feed from the drone cut out. The images of the battle-scarred Normandy were replaced by flickering lines of static, and two words dominated the screen before him: CONNECTION LOST.
“Were the images saved?” he asked to the room of technicians around him.
“Affirmative, sir,” one tech reported. “From these images, it appears as though their engines have sustained critical damage. They may be immobilized.”
A hint of a smile graced Foster’s lips. “Good. Has connection been established with Sentinel Station?”
“Nearly,” another tech answered. “We are not receiving a response from any Cerberus personnel. Only the station’s VI is answering.”
“Keep trying,” Foster ordered. “Contact me when a connection has been achieved.”
“Yes, sir.”
Foster took a few steps away from the large screen, then turned and stepped into the elevator at the back of the room. He entered his destination as the holding cells, and stood back as the door closed and the lift began its descent. The numbers of the floors ticked by as the elevator lowered itself further into the surface of Equis. As it reached the bottom floor, the door opened and Foster stepped out, immediately heading to the only occupied cell. The guard on duty opened the door, and the doctor entered the small cell, his eyes trained on its sole occupant. The griffon had relocated from the corner to the center of the room, his green eyes trained on a single spot on the floor.
“Sharptooth,” Foster said, drawing the griffon’s attention. The ex-prime minister slowly looked up at the human, his eyes never blinking. Foster smiled as he realized that indoctrination was complete. The griffon’s mind now belonged to Cerberus.
“Sharptooth…” the human repeated, kneeling down by the indoctrinated griffon. “Are you ready to fulfill your purpose?” The griffon nodded apprehensively, a hint of fear showing in his otherwise emotionless eyes.
“Good. Here is what I need you to do…”
Princess Luna took a seat on a clump of pillows in the corner of her sister’s room, letting out a sigh. Celestia was pacing back and forth, shaking her head. In her telekinetic grip was a rolled up piece of parchment, its wax seal broken. Celestia placed the message on her desk, unfurling it once more.
“This cannot be genuine,” she said. Luna glanced over at her sister.
“It has his signature and the seal of the griffon government,” the princess of the night said, standing from the pillows. “Even though the seal means nothing now, a signature is not easily faked. Besides, that is his penmanship.”
“Sharptooth would not send a letter like this!” Celestia cried, once again picking it up. She cleared her throat, preparing to reread the message. “To the most esteemed princesses, Celestia and Luna: I, Sharptooth, Prime Minister of the nation of Gryphonia, am requesting that you send all griffon refugees back to Gryphonia at once. Failure to comply with this request after one week of its arrival will be considered a hostile action. Signed, Sharptooth.”
“Yes, I agree, it does not make sense,” Luna sighed. “If I had to guess, I would say that he has been indoctrinated like the rest. But what choice do we have? If we do not allow the refugees to leave, and Sharptooth declares a state of war, we will be effectively holding them hostage.”
“And if we force them to return home, they will be indoctrinated,” Celestia argued. “That is a fate worse than anything else I can imagine… How many griffon refugees do we currently host?”
“Seven or eight thousand, by the latest estimates,” Luna replied. “Most immigrated here a few months after the insurgency started. In the past month, very few have made it. Celestia, I understand what you are thinking. We must help them, it is the right thing to do. But we cannot simply keep them here against their will...” Celestia sighed and shook her head.
“No…” she said. “You’re right. We cannot. But we can give them a choice.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“We send Sharptooth’s request to the local governments of the cities currently hosting griffons. Along with this, we attach our own statement, saying that we urge all griffons to stay, as Gryphonia is not currently safe. This will let the griffons know that they are welcome here, while still presenting them with the choice to leave. If they choose to say, can Sharptooth fault us?”
“He will find a way,” Luna sighed. “Or, whoever has indoctrinated him will. But… war would not be wise. This unknown enemy has to be aware of our alliance with the species of the galaxy. If war is declared against us, our new allies will provide aid. Gryphonia cannot win.”
“It is an empty threat,” Celestia began. “If we do not comply with Sharptooth’s wishes, he will let the world know, and it will reflect negatively on us. We would be branded backers of the insurrection, and would lose support. However, this plan does not count on us knowing that the griffons are indoctrinated. We finally find ourselves with an advantage over this enemy.”
“Are you forgetting the army of aliens we have at our back?” Luna said with a smirk. Celestia laughed and smiled.
“Other than that, of course.” The elder princess cantered back over to her desk and produced a piece of parchment and a quill from the drawer. “I will write our addition to Sharptooth’s request. You should let Proudwing know of this… He may be all that is left of the actual griffon government.”
“Send for me if you need help, sister,” Luna said as she crossed to the door.
“I will.”
Luna opened her sister’s chamber door and stepped out, softly closing it behind her. The two guards on duty saluted as she passed them, making for the stairwell back to the main section of the castle. Proudwing was quartered nearby, it would not take her long to reach him. Still, Luna felt a small amount of apprehension about delivering the news. Every piece of news from Gryphonia so far had been negative. Luna hoped that something positive would come soon…
The lights came on in the small chamber, illuminating the hexagonal table that dominated the center. As the group entered the room, the various electronics began to activate; screens on walls flickered to life, and the table in the center began to glow as it came online. Doctor Foster circled the table, coming to a stop at the end opposite the door. The two technicians who had accompanied him took positions on adjacent sides. Foster looked around the room, taking it all in. He had not been here since the base had been established. He did not think he would ever have to use it. But Cerberus was nothing if not careful; numerous contingencies had been planned, including the possibility of hostiles finding Equis.
The two technicians began typing on the table, and a moment later a holographic representation of Equis flickered into existence. The hologram shrunk as the display zoomed out, soon showing the entire system. Equis was in the center, with the sun and moon orbiting it. On the far end of the table sat an alien object: the Mass Relay.
“Fill me in,” Foster commanded after a pause.
“We successfully established a connection with Sentinel Station, sir,” one of the techs reported. “It was made possible by the comm buoy the Alliance established in this system. However, what we found is not promising.”
“Previously we were only able to get brief messages from the station’s VI,” the second tech began. “But now we have gained full control, and we know why no Cerberus personnel are responding: they have evacuated.”
“Evacuated?” Foster raised an eyebrow. “For what purpose?”
“A general evacuation was ordered. Cronos station was attacked by a large Alliance fleet. All personnel were ordered to leave their stations and go into hiding immediately.” Foster sighed and shook his head. This news was troubling. It also explained why nobody was responding via the QEC. It was entirely possible that he and his team were all that remained of Cerberus.
“… And, what of Sentinel?” he asked. “Is it still functional?”
“Yes, sir,” the first tech responded. “We are gaining access to its weapon systems, but it will be ready shortly.”
“Very good, keep me apprised,” Foster said, taking a step away from the table. He walked around it and exited the room, walking back down the short hallway to the elevator at the end. This had not been a part of the plan, but Foster was intent on doing whatever he needed in order to complete his mission. If Cerberus was compromised, the mission now held an even greater importance…
Beams of light from the setting sun filtered in through the large glass windows of the castle lounge, illuminating the room and filling it with warmth. Kaidan reclined in a chair facing the window, letting the sun warm his face. The troubles from the morning could be almost forgotten in this serene state. Kaidan knew he should not ignore potential threats to the Normandy, but for now he did not know what else he could do. Liara was their best chance and finding the owner of the drone, and Kaidan stressing about it would not help her. His state of relaxation was unfortunately interrupted when he heard the door opening, and footsteps entering the room.
“Miss Zorah?” a voice said. Curiously opening his eyes, Kaidan sat up and turned around in his chair, looking at the door. An Alliance marine stood in the threshold, his eyes set on the quarian admiral across the room.
“Yes?” Tali responded.
“Admiral Hackett would like to speak with you.” The marine’s eyes moved to Kaidan next. “And you too, Major.” Raising an eyebrow, Kaidan stood from his chair and followed Tali out of the room and into the hallway beyond. Hackett was nowhere in sight, but the marine raised his omni-tool and a moment later a hologram of the admiral flickered into existence.
“Major, Miss Zorah,” Hackett said. “I… have more news on Shepard.” Kaidan heard Tali let out a gasp, and he looked at the apparition of the admiral.
“What’s his status, sir?”
“Better than it was yesterday, worse than we had hoped he would be by now. Many of his burns have been treated, and the doctors have made progress on bone injuries. But… he suffered a lot of trauma up there. I don’t know what happened, but many of the cybernetics used by Cerberus to bring him back are offline. It is very likely that the energy from the Crucible had some part to play in that. Our scientists think they can bring them back online, but it may be too late.”
“… Understood, admiral,” Kaidan sighed. “Is there anything we can do?”
“Just maintain hope,” Hackett said. “And Tali… at the first sign of him regaining consciousness, I’ll have a transport sent down for you. You’ll be taken back through the Relay to see him.”
“Thank you, admiral,” Tali said, her voice quavering.
“I’ll be in touch. Hackett out.” The hologram flickered away as the communication channel was terminated. The marine saluted, then spun around and began walking down the expansive marble hall of the castle, leaving Tali and Kaidan alone outside the door.
“Tali, I… I can’t imagine how you must feel,” Kaidan said, turning to face the quarian.
“Shepard is strong. He’ll make it.”
“Yeah…”
There was silence between the two for a moment. It was suddenly broken by the sound of running from behind them. Kaidan curiously turned around to the sight of Liara running down the hall, a datapad in her hand and a concerned expression on her face.
“Major!” she cried urgently, coming to a stop a few feet away.
“What is it, Liara?” Kaidan asked, concerned. His mind instantly turned to the drone, and he filled with worry. “Is it about the drone?” Liara nodded, pausing to catch her breath.
“We… should speak inside…” she panted, pointing to the door. “And… the princesses should come, too…”
“Alright, go on in,” Kaidan said, opening the door for Liara and Tali. He looked around until his eyes fell on a guard patrolling down the hallway. “You! We need the princesses here immediately! And find Legion!” The guard nodded, and set off down the hallway towards the princesses. Satisfied, Kaidan turned and reentered the lounge. The peace and serenity had vanished entirely, and was replaced with an air of tension. Garrus, Tali, and Liara all stood in the center of the room. At his entrance, all eyes were on Kaidan, each pair expressing concern.
“I… I was examining the drone,” Liara began. “I think I know who our culprit is.”
David Foster reentered the small chamber from which Sentinel Station could be contacted, looking around at the various staff at work. He strode across the room to the hexagonal table in the center, regarding the hologram with his careful eyes. His examination was interrupted when a technician approached him from behind, datapad in hand.
“Sir,” he said. “Full connection has been established. Sentinel Station is yours to command.”
“Very good, what is its status?” Foster asked, scrutinizing the hologram once more.
“Its full stock of weapons is still present, and the station is ready to fire on-demand. Upon firing, we believe it will take less than three minutes to reach its targets. But sir… are you certain this is wise? By doing this, we will be revealing our presence to this world, we will—“
“I know the risks,” Foster interrupted. “And we are ready. Gryphonia is ours. But we cannot very well complete our mission with a hostile fleet in orbit. This will give us the opportunity we need.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do we have a firing solution?” Foster squinted at the hologram of the planet, knowing that his enemies were up there.
“Almost, sir. With our scanning systems, it will be only a few more minutes.”
“Very good. Notify me when it is ready.” The technician nodded, then turned and left Foster to continue examining the hologram. The doctor looked over every detail, going over the final phase of their plan in his mind. The presence of enemy ships was unexpected, but not unplanned. Cerberus was thorough, and a force to be reckoned with. And soon, the species of Equestria would come to know that…
Legion sat silently in the lounge, its photoreceptor passing over the various crew members of the Normandy. They were concerned, that much was clear. Even Legion’s own programs were experiencing a modicum of anxiety over what Doctor T’Soni had found. Twilight Sparkle sat next to it, a thick notebook held in her telekinetic grip. Written in it was the Equestrian alphabet and word samples, which Legion was using to translate the written language. Twilight stared down at the book, her brow furrowed in thought.
Its head snapped away from the young princess as the lounge door opened, and Princesses Celestia and Luna entered. They wore calm expressions, not knowing what news awaited them. They took a seat next to each other at one end of the lounge, both sets of eyes on Kaidan.
“Yes, we… Liara found something,” Kaidan answered, looking to the asari. Celestia and Luna did the same, giving her a quizzical look.
“What is it, Doctor?” Luna asked. “Does this relate to the “attack” on your ship from earlier today?”
“Yes, it does, princesses,” Liara said. “After I disabled the drone, I brought it to my office for examination. Unfortunately the data drive had been destroyed by a small explosive, so I could not get any information from it that way. However, the rest of the drone remained intact.
“I ran numerous extranet searches, looking for anything similar to the drone. Nothing came up. Whoever it belonged to, it was entirely custom built. I was at a loss for a while, so I decided to run searches for the individual components. A few were completely custom fabricated, not designed by any tech companies in the galaxy. But most were built by rather prominent hardware companies, both in Citadel Space and the Terminus. Now, at first I thought nothing of this, until I noticed one similar thing about every company…
“They are all human corporations. They are owned by humans, staffed by humans, and funded by humans. None of the companies have any alien backers or staff. What group do we know of that supports humanity this much?”
“Wait, Liara,” Kaidan said, alarm creeping into his voice. “Are you saying that…?”
“Yes,” Liara said, nodding. “Cerberus is on Equis.”
“Oh. Shit.”
“Firing solution has been acquired, sir,” a technician reported as several red dots appeared in orbit over the hologram of Equis. Two additional dots appeared by the Mass Relay, no doubt patrol frigates making sure nothing unauthorized stumbled through. Foster allowed a ghost of a grin to form on his lips, and he looked to the technician.
Major Thomas Dohman sat at his station aboard the Antioch, monitoring the Mass Relay for any signs of activity. This job could be summed up with the brevity of one word: boring. Nothing interesting happened at the Relay. Occasionally a ship would come through, but they were never unscheduled. While a planet that was teeming with alien life sat under an hour away, Dohman was forced to remain on the Antioch, watching for a threat that would not come.
Suddenly, the screens began to flash. Alarms blared, and the Relay outside lit up with activity. The gyroscopic rings increased their rate of spin until they were just a blur. Then, just as quickly as they had started, they stopped, and the Relay pulsed blue. A single ship was deposited at the Relay, sitting motionless amidst a sea of stars.
“Major, are we scheduled for any arrivals?” the captain asked from his position in the center of the bridge.
“Negative, sir,” Thomas reported. “Next scheduled arrival is in two days.”
“All hands to battle stations, bring weapons online,” the captain ordered, turning to face another officer. “Run a scan.”
“Aye, sir,” the officer replied. “I’m not picking up much… No emissions of any kind, except… wait…”
“What is it?”
“Reading massive energy signatures!”
Major Dohman stood from his station and looked out the viewport at the ship floating silently by the Relay. The front popped off, and with a speed faster than his eyes could perceive, a dozen missiles were launched. The first hit another frigate, the Megiddo, in its aft section. With a flare of light, the drive core lit up, and the frigate exploded in a brilliant flash of blue light. Ten of the remaining missiles streaked past the Antioch, while the eleventh angled itself at the ship, and fired its thrusters.
“PUT ALL POWER INTO KINETIC BARRIERS—“
With an impact that rocked the entire ship, the missile hit right on its target. Dohman was thrown from his position, his head hitting another station with a sickening crack. Blurry-eyed and bleeding, the Major looked up right as a readout of the drive core showed it overloading…
“What is the situation?” Celestia asked as she re-entered the lounge, followed closely by her sister. In their absence an Alliance marine had entered the room, bringing with him a message from Hackett. Kaidan Alenko stood in front of the marine, conversing with the Admiral through his omni-tool. At the entrance of the princesses he turned his head, a troubled look upon his face.
“We lost contact with the patrol ships around the Relay,” he reported. “Ten unidentified objects are headed this way.”
“They’re getting closer,” Hackett said over the comm. “We think they might be missiles of some kind. If they’re what destroyed the patrol frigates, we need to evacuate immediately. I’m setting a rendezvous on Canterlot, we’ll get everyone we can there. Hackett out.” The communication channel cut out, and the marine hosting it deactivated his omni-tool. Kaidan began pacing back and forth, clearly anxious.
“There has been an attack?” Luna asked, alarmed.
“Yes,” Kaidan replied. “If Liara is right, then Cerberus is probably behind it.”
“Who is this Cerber—“
“Sir!” the Alliance marine interrupted, activating his omni-tool. “Inbound communication from the Poltava, marked as urgent!”
“Play it,” Kaidan ordered.
“This is Captain Orena of the Poltava!” an alarmed female voice yelled through the omni-tool. “We’ve been hit, some kind of missile! It completely bypassed our kinetic barriers, we—“
Static. The communication cut out, and all that was left was static.
“Sir, Everest VI is reporting that the Poltava has been destroyed,” the marine said. Frowning, Kaidan returned to his pacing, holding a hand to his chin.
“Ten missiles… there are nine ships in orbit… that leaves one missile for…” Suddenly he stopped, and looked straight ahead. His hand fell back to his side as his eyes widened. “The Normandy.”
“I’ll radio Joker!” Liara said, activating her omni-tool. In the corner of the room, Luna closed her eyes as her horn began to glow a soft blue.
“Liara, that you?” Joker’s voice said through the omni-tool. “What’s going on!? Comms are blowing up over here!”
“We’re under attack,” Liara began. “Several missiles, likely Cerberus. They seem to be able to bypass kinetic barriers with ease, several ships have already been destroyed. One may be heading for the Normandy, you need to evacuate everybody immediately!”
“Everest VI reports that a missile has entered the atmosphere!” the Alliance marine reported. “Trajectory points directly to the Normandy!”
“Hurry, Joker!” Liara yelled urgently.
“Liara, you—breaking up!” Joker said, static beginning to join his voice through the omni-tool. “Please –peat, there are what?”
“Joker, evacuate immediately!” There was no response. Only static. “Joker! Report!”
“What’s happening?” Kaidan asked.
“Some kind of interference, probably from the missiles,” Tali guessed.
“Can we break through it?”
“Not likely.”
Kaidan looked down, shaking his head. In the corner, Luna’s brow furrowed in concentration.
“—an anyone – me?” Joker’s voice came through the omni-tool, barely recognizable among all the static. “We see – coming this way – looks like a fireball…”
“Joker! Evacuate, now!” Kaidan cried, running over to Liara’s omni. Joker did not have time to respond before a massive explosion came through the comm. When the noise cleared, all that was left was static.
“Joker…?” Kaidan said quietly. “… Joker?”
There was a pause. Liara’s omni-tool deactivated as the comm channel was lost.
“… Tali, head out to the docking area… When Hackett arrives with the survivors, escort them—“
“Kaidan!?” Liara’s omni-tool reactivated, and Joker’s voice came through loud and clear.
“Joker!” Kaidan cried, relieved. “What happened?”
“No idea,” Joker replied. “Big ass explosion outside, though.”
“That was me,” Luna said, cantering over to the group. “I… latched on to the missile with my magic. It was travelling too quickly for me to move it out of the way, so I detonated it prematurely. Is… everyone alright?”
“We’re all fine here, princess,” Joker reported. “Some of the forest creatures probably aren’t too happy, but hey, what can you do?”
“Joker, even though their first attack failed, Cerberus may try again,” Kaidan began. “I want you to evacuate the Normandy, bring them here as quickly as possible.”
“On it.” The comm deactivated, and Kaidan took a step back, relieved.
“So,” Luna said. “I will ask again: who is this Cerberus?”
Foster’s eyes flitted over the hologram of the Equis system, watching as each ship in orbit was reduced to debris. He looked with a frown at the Normandy, which stubbornly remained intact. Their scanners had detected the missile prematurely detonating. If the scans were accurate, then that was troubling…
“Sir, all hostile ships in orbit have been destroyed,” a nearby technician reported, not looking away from his station. “Our path is clear.” Nodding, Foster stepped away from the hologram and maneuvered to a terminal.
“Status of Gryphonia?” he asked.
“Subjugated, sir,” said another tech. “If there are any left who are not indoctrinated, they will be soon.”
“Excellent,” said Foster. “Send out the command. Have all of the griffons move to the landing zone.” While his employees did as they were told, Foster began typing on the terminal in front of him, initiating the final phase of the plan.
His task complete, he stepped back from the terminal and once again focused his eyes on the hologram of the Equis system. At the Mass Relay, there appeared the holograms of several ships as they came through…
Tali stood in the loading docks of the castle, watching as dozens of shuttles flew into the mountain and settled down on the deck. Most had Alliance markings. Very few had turian, salarian, or asari ones. The shuttle closest to her opened, and Admiral Hackett stepped out, a troubled expression painted across his face.
“Admiral Zorah, what’s the status of Canterlot?” he asked.
“Unchanged, admiral,” Tali answered. “It appears that Cerberus’s attack was focused solely on the ships in orbit.”
“Excuse me, did you say Cerberus?” asked Primarch Victus, approaching the pair from his landed shuttle. A moment later he was joined by Lidanya and Polban.
“Yes, I did,” Tali said. “Come with me, I’ll explain everything on the way.
Legion sat in the castle lounge, awaiting the return of Creator Tali’Zorah and the delegates. Alenko-Major was visibly disturbed, and Legion was detecting high stress levels from him. Legion understood. An attack by Cerberus was not within expected parameters.
“I still don’t understand what they’re doing here…” Princess Celestia said to no one in particular.
“The most likely explanation is that they are recruiting an army,” Legion said, turning its head to the princess. “The use of indoctrination technology supports this theory. And if, as you say, the griffons possess the strongest military on this planet, then they could give Cerberus a significant tactical advantage.”
“The question now is… how do they get them off-world?” Kaidan wondered. “Most of their fleet was destroyed when we attacked Cronos Station.”
“Unknown,” Legion answered. “They may possess additional ships. We recommend bringing reinforcements.”
“We can’t do that,” Admiral Hackett said, entering the room. “Those missiles tore through our fleet up there. We don’t know if Cerberus has more, or where they even came from. Our fleets were weakened enough by the Reapers, we cannot put any more ships at risk.”
“So we’re on our own, then?” Garrus asked. “Against an enemy who has a massive flying army, and who will probably be outfitted with modern tech. Great.”
“Well we’re here, that has to count for something…” Tali mused. “And there’s the princesses.”
“We are lucky you are here,” Luna said. She turned her head to face Legion. “We may require your infiltration skills again.”
“Acknowledged,” Legion said, standing. “We are prepared. Hackett-Admiral, we request the use of your shuttle again.”
“It’s yours,” Hackett said, nodding. “If I may make a suggestion, try marking places of interest; tactical locations, insertion points. And most importantly, see if you can find where Cerberus is operating. If we can cut off the head of the snake, the body will wither.”
“We will do what we can, Hackett-Admiral.” Legion marched with purpose out of the room, setting its destination for the castle docks. As it walked it checked its supply of thermal clips, ready to return to Gryphonia…
The shuttle came down over a clear patch of snow, blowing dead sticks and leaves out of the way as it landed on the ground. The blue door opened and Legion stepped out, its Widow equipped and its tactical cloak active. A light wind rustled the trees around the shuttle, and a thin flurry of snow danced in the air.
During the flight over, Legion had considered possible locations of the Cerberus base. If they were using the indoctrination spheres, then a centralized location was not necessary. As such, the base could be anywhere in the country. However, the geth had been able to narrow down a few smaller regions.
One was near the Equestrian border, where they would be in prime location to spy on Equestria and ensure that the ponies did not become wise to their plans. However, the ponies had not been attacked by Cerberus until very recently; it was likely that they were never meant to be included at all. The second location was a few miles from the capital city; it was rough terrain and the soil was dead. The griffons had no reason to go there, and it would provide an easy location from which an attack could be launched. But given that Cerberus was using indoctrination, they did not need such a tactical advantage.
This left one region, the one which Legion was now searching. It was in the far north, in the frozen wastes far beyond the Gryphonia border. Here there was nothing. No resources, no warmth, and no protection. Nobody had a reason to come here. This made it a perfect location for a secret Cerberus base.
As Legion left the cover of the trees and stepped out into the arctic desert, it remembered that the collectors had crashed in this region as well. However, that had been closer to the Equestrian border; several hundred miles to the southwest. This was uncharted territory.
The further north Legion walked, the heavier the snow fell. Frost began to form on the joints of its platform, and Legion had to disable its cloak in favor of heating up its interior. With the blizzard in which the geth now found itself, nobody would be able to see it anyway. But Legion could still see quite well. Its optic provided numerous alternates to sight, including thermal vision. Any cold bodies would show up as a dull gray color, while anything generating heat would light up like a star. In the frozen wasteland, heat is exactly what Legion hoped to find. Stopping for a moment, Legion activated its omni-tool and opened a communications channel.
“Creator Tali’Zorah, can you hear us?” it said. After a moment of static, Tali’s voice came through.
“I hear you, Legion. What is your status?”
“We are beginning our search. Weather conditions are hazardous to communications, we may become impossible to reach. We will attempt to check in every six hours. If two check-ins are missed, assume our capture or destruction.”
“… Copy that, Legion,” Tali said after a pause. “Try not to get captured or destroyed. Please.”
“Acknowledged.” Legion closed the channel and took another step into the deep snow, continuing its search.
An hour went by. In that hour, Legion had seen nothing but snow. This far north, nothing could hope to survive naturally. But Cerberus was technologically advanced, they could find a way. And here, where nobody bothered to go, a large base could be built without any of Equis’s species being aware. Legion walked for another few minutes until finally it caught sight of something. On the horizon, a small spire sticking out of the ground. It was faint, but it appeared as though it was generating heat.
Beginning to run as fast as it could through the deep snow, Legion made its way to the spire. About thirty meters away, it finally came fully into view. It was an antenna; not large, certainly not meant for long-range communications. But no species on Equis could build it, and it was not collector architecture. This, to Legion, confirmed that it belonged to Cerberus.
As the blizzard raged around it, Legion marked the location of the antenna and once again opened a communications channel.
“Creator Zorah, can you hear us?” Legion asked, receiving nothing but static. “Creator Zorah?”
There was nothing. The storm was too strong. Disabling the channel, Legion instead began searching around the antenna for an entrance to the base. No matter how far away it went, Legion’s thermal optic could not pick anything up. Wherever the entrance was, it was too far under the snow. Deciding that it would be a good idea to return with a larger team, Legion turned around to return to the shuttle. Before it could take a step, Legion felt an impact on the back of its head, and it went offline.
Luna paced back and forth in her office, a look of worry plastered across her face. Celestia sat in a nearby chair, and Tali and Garrus were in the doorway. The princess paused her pacing to look at the quarian’s glowing eyes.
“There is no way to reach him?” she asked.
“No, princess,” Tali answered. “We would need a ship in close proximity to act as a relay, but that is impossible at the moment.”
“What if he is hurt!?” Luna cried, the worry clear in her voice.
“He’s only missed one scheduled check-in, princess,” Garrus said. “Granted he has missed it by four hours, but still. He’s been in more dangerous situations.” Luna shook her head, and continued pacing.
“I don’t like it,” she said. “Not at all. If this “Cerberus” is as dangerous as you say, then we should not take chances.”
“I don’t like it either, sister,” Celestia spoke up, standing from her chair. “But what can we do? It is far too dangerous to send anybody up there for a rescue mission without confirmation that a rescue is necessary. For all we know, Legion could be on his way back as we speak.” Luna stopped pacing yet again, and sat down on the cold marble floor.
“Right…” she sighed. “But… I’m just remembering what happened last time. You had been captured by the collectors, I was incapacitated… and they captured him. If it hadn’t been for Chrysalis—“
“I know, Luna,” Celestia interrupted, standing up and crossing to her worried sister. “I know. But Legion pulled through then, and he will now. He always has for us.” The solar diarch pulled her sister to the nearest window, looking north.
“Just remember, Luna. He knows what he is doing. And when he returns, we will be here to greet him, and to use the information he finds.” Luna gulped and nodded, her pale blue eyes turning to look at her sister.
“Thanks,” she said. She stepped away from the window and returned to the aliens waiting at the door. “Keep us updated.”
“We will, don’t worry,” Tali promised. “We’ll be in the lounge if you need us.” The pair exited Luna’s office, closing the door behind them. Luna turned her attention back to the window and looked outside, her brow furrowing yet again. Despite Legion’s frequent success rate, she could not help but shake the feeling that something had gone horribly wrong…
With a quiet whirring and a mechanical groan, Legion reactivated. Its optic came online, but it was not detecting any light. There was something covering the photoreceptor. It tried to move, but found that its limbs were tightly secured to something. With this data, Legion was fairly confident in the conclusion that it had been taken prisoner.
“You’re awake,” a male voice said. It was a deep voice, with a barely noticeable British accent. Legion did not respond, deciding that it would not be wise as long as the man’s identity was unknown.
“I have been waiting for some time,” the voice continued. “I thought that we had accidentally killed you. Geth are remarkably unknown. What I do know, however, is that it is incredibly difficult to capture one alive. When my soldiers said they had found you, I almost did not believe them. And yet here you are.”
With the additional data, Legion concluded that this individual was hostile. It prepared to self-terminate, knowing that it had a fairly recent backup in the AI core on the Normandy.
“I also know that you can kill yourself with a single thought. If you value the lives of your friends, I wouldn’t do it.” Legion paused. “That is where you come from, yes? Canterlot, with the others? I thought I recognized you from your picture in the newspaper. Well, Legion, if you kill yourself, I will send another missile right at Canterlot. A single one can destroy a fully-defended dreadnought, there is no telling what sort of havoc it would wreak on a city. Especially one so precariously perched on a mountainside.”
Legion paused, considering the threat. The missile attack had been devastating, making short work of the entire fleet in orbit. Worst of all, Legion had no idea of their origin. Whether or not Cerberus had more was a complete unknown.
“Well?”
“… We will comply,” Legion finally said. Worst case, it could self-destruct and hopefully damage the base enough to prevent Cerberus from launching another attack.
“Good!” the man said, clapping. “I am glad. I have been wanting to keep the ponies out of this, but you just had to bring them in. Now, I am going to ask you this only once: what are you planning?”
“No data available.”
“Hmm…” the man sighed. “I obviously do not believe that. And since physical and mental torture is not likely to work on you, you leave me with no choice.” Legion heard the sound of a door opening, followed by the sound of several pairs of claws walking on a metallic floor. A moment later the obstruction in front of its optic was removed, and the geth finally got a look at its surroundings.
The room was stark and white, and occasionally there was a Cerberus logo painted on a wall. Legion was secured on a metal table by several bolts, and nearby were arc projectors to disable it in the event of an escape. Across from the geth were three ponies, each one with a terror-stricken look on their face. Finally it caught sight of the interrogator; he was a middle-aged human with cropped brown hair that was graying at the temples. He wore a formal Cerberus uniform, and in his hand he held a pistol. He paced around the ponies, settling on the leftmost one, and held his gun to the back of her head.
“Tell me your plan,” he commanded, disabling the safety. Legion remained silent, attempting to calculate its chances of breaking the bolts, avoiding the arc projectors, and disarming the man. So far they were quite low.
“I won’t ask again.” He pushed the barrel of his pistol into the back of the pony’s head. She began to sniffle as tears of fear formed in her eyes. The other ponies remained silent, screwing their eyes closed and flattening their ears against their heads.
“Look at what you’ve done,” the man said, gesturing to the pony. “Making this poor mare cry. She does not have to die, you know. Just tell us your plan.” The gun inched closer to her head, and the man’s finger moved closer and closer to the trigger.
“… To stop you,” Legion finally said. The man stared at Legion, perplexed.
“What?” he asked.
“To stop you,” Legion repeated. “You have indoctrinated the griffons, likely to recruit an army. We are going to stop you.”
The man paused, and then he pulled the trigger. The two other ponies screamed, and the third fell onto the ground, a pool of blood spilling from the back of her head.
“If I wanted a smartass answer, I would have told you,” the man said, annoyed as he moved to the next pony. “If I kill these three, I can easily have more kidnapped from Equestria.”
“That is our plan,” Legion said. “We do not have it fully completed yet. That is why we are here, to gain intelligence.” The man shook his head and lowered the gun.
“So, you are here for information?” he asked. “Well here is a piece of information for you. After I am done interrogating you, I am going to disassemble you. I might even reprogram you to kill your friends.” The man turned away from Legion and walked to the pony in the middle.
“We will not allow that.”
“I wasn’t asking for your permission,” the man scoffed. “Now, next question: how many of you are there?”
“Unknown.”
“There were eleven ships in orbit; seven Alliance, two turian, one salarian, and one asari. How many crew survived?”
“We do not know. We left before all shuttles had arrived.”
“Estimates?”
“Between four hundred and one thousand.” The man shook his head, and pressed his gun against the pony’s neck.
“I don’t believe it,” he said. “How many?”
“You asked for an estimate, we gave one,” Legion answered. “We do not have enough data to generate a more accurate one.” The man sighed and shook his head. He holstered his pistol, crossed to the door, and opened it, poking his head out.
“Take the ponies away.” Two Cerberus soldiers entered the room, the first one ushering the two survivors out and the second picking up the corpse of the dead one. They left a moment later, the door shutting behind them.
“You are useless,” the man said. “To me, and to your friends. But perhaps you can serve a purpose… the Reapers subjugated the geth, maybe I can as well…”
“The geth allowed the Reapers to upgrade us,” Legion said. “We were not forced. And we will self-terminate before allowing you to alter us.”
“We’ll see about that.” The man activated his omni-tool and hit Legion with a low-powered overload. The geth began to spasm as the electricity wracked its platform. As its systems went offline, it heard the man say one more thing.
“Find its shuttle. Send a message.”
Tali lay down on a couch in the lounge, her eyes barely staying open as the sun set below the horizon. All around her were Normandy crew members who had arrived only minutes ago, leaving their crippled ship alone in the Everfree. The entire castle was swarmed with around six hundred people, survivors of the attacks on the fleet. An air of tension and stress had settled over the castle as the injured were taken to be helped, and sleeping arrangements were planned. To make matters even worse, Legion had missed his second scheduled check-in by an hour now. Tali was beginning to grow worried.
“Hey,” a voice said. Tali sat up and looked behind her, finding Joker standing nearby.
“Hey, Joker,” she greeted, scooting over for the pilot to sit. He did so and looked at the crowd of people in the lounge.
“This is pretty screwed up, huh?” he asked.
“… Yeah…”
“How are you? Need anything? Back massage, foot rub, ice cream…?” Tali laughed and shook her head.
“No,” she answered. “Thanks, though. How are you?” Joker’s face fell, and he looked away from the quarian.
“… I miss her, Tali,” he whispered. “I miss her a lot. I try to keep going, to get us back home, but… I’m not going to lie, I’m barely holding it together.” Tali looked to the pilot, feeling saddened. He had never been like this before, to see it was heartbreaking.
“I’m sorry, Jeff,” she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I really am. I’ll… I’ll try to figure something out, as soon as we are back on the Normandy.”
“You will,” Joker asked, hope glimmering in his eyes as he turned to face Tali.
“Of course,” she answered. “I got Legion back, maybe I can figure something out with EDI.”
“Thanks, Tali,” Joker said. Tali made to respond, but the door suddenly opened and Luna entered, grinning. She crossed to Tali, her grin widening.
“Legion’s shuttle was just spotted,” she reported. “He’ll land shortly.” Tali let out a sigh of relief and instantly felt a great weight come off her shoulders. She stood up and motioned to the rest of the squad to join her, hoping that Legion had some answers.
Luna led them through the halls to the docking area, where Celestia and Twilight were already waiting. Already the docks were filled with shuttles from the survivors. Many had scorch marks or dents from debris, a testament to just how close they had been to death. In the distance, Legion’s shuttle grew larger and larger as it approached the city.
“Do you think he was successful?” Twilight asked, looking to her old mentor.
“Only time will tell,” Celestia said.
After a few more minutes, the shuttle set itself down on the deck of the docks, and the back hatch opened. Curiously, there was no sign of Legion. Instead there was a single hologram projector in the center of the shuttle. It activated, and there appeared the hologram of a man.
“Ponies of Equestria and people of the galaxy,” he said. “What has been set in motion cannot be stopped. Do not interfere, or you will be destroyed. Just like your friend.” The hologram zoomed out to show Legion bolted to a metal table. His chest had been opened, and two scientists were busily working on examining the interior components.
“Do not interfere.” The hologram faded away, and the organics were left staring at the shuttle, each one of them displaying a different expression of fear.
“What… what do we do?” Twilight asked. Celestia stood up and flared her wings as she approached the hologram emitter. She picked it up in her telekinetic grip, and crushed it into a ball of metal. She turned around to face her new allies, a determined look on her face.
Liara sat on a couch in the castle lounge, her blue eyes scrutinizing every detail of the recording she had made. The man in the hologram had been well dressed, with a Cerberus logo on his chest. Liara was not positive, but she believed that this was the individual in charge. She did not recognize him, but she hoped that her network on the Normandy would. Standing up, Liara crossed the room to Kaidan, who stood in front of the lounge’s large window. He looked out over the Equestrian landscape, his brow tightened in thought and worry.
“Major,” Liara began, hands behind her back. This broke Kaidan from his train of thought, and the human turned his head to face the asari.
“Yes, Liara?”
“I believe I know a way to help.” Kaidan raised an eyebrow, now turning his full body.
“I’m listening,” he said.
“If I can get back to the Normandy, I should be able to check my database for any information on the man in the recording,” she explained. “I just need your permission to get back there.”
“You’ve got it,” Kaidan nodded. “Take Garrus with you, just in case.” Liara nodded and went to consult the turian, standing nearby. After filling him in, they began crossing to the door, when they were suddenly blocked by the form of Princess Luna. She stepped through the door and approached the pair, an eyebrow raised quizzically.
“Where are you two going?” she asked.
“The Normandy,” Garrus answered. “We’re going to see if we can find anything on Cerberus, and their leader.”
“Good luck, then,” Luna said. “We’ll be here, should you have need of us. Farewell.” Nodding their goodbyes, Liara and Garrus exited the lounge, heading for the loading docks…
David Foster’s dark eyes looked over the screen in front of him. A hand rested on his chin while the other held a datapad, displaying information about their imminent evacuation. The screen before him showed a diagram of Equis, with seven transport ships inbound from the Mass Relay. With the enemy fleet in orbit destroyed, the ships were able to pass safely by, and were now heading to the landing zone in northern Gryphonia. A small grin tugged at his lips as he realized his mission was almost complete.
Turning away from the screen, Foster’s eyes settled on the geth lying before him. It had been almost entirely disassembled, and three technicians stood over the body, working on finding a way to access its memories. The task was proving difficult, but Foster did not mind. If they could not gain any useful intelligence before the evacuation, then he would simply have the geth destroyed. Foster spared a glance at his datapad, which showed the ETA of the ships: forty-two minutes. From there it would take at least two days to load all of the griffons, but the doctor did not anticipate that anything negative would occur in that space of time. The other species would not dare to send reinforcements, not while they were under threat from more missiles. Foster just had to make sure they would not call his bluff…
“Status,” he ordered, directed at the nearest technician.
“It’s as we expected, sir,” the tech said. “We are having difficulty accessing its storage unit. There are several layers of protection, both on the hardware and the software. I’m not sure if we can crack all of it before we leave.”
“Keep trying,” Foster said. “If we can, it could give us vital information on what those ponies are planning. For now, we will simply have to remain cautious…”
“Yes, sir,” the tech replied. “We’ll keep trying. I will keep you updated.”
“See that you do.” His business in the room done, Foster deactivated his datapad and stepped out, prepared to oversee the evacuation…
The shuttle touched down in a clear patch away from the Normandy, and Liara stepped out the moment the door opened. Over the treetops she could see the top of the Normandy, sitting immobile in the dirt a few dozen meters ahead. Garrus stepped out behind Liara, scanning the area. The tree leaves rustled in a gentle wind, and the sun beat down on the two from overhead. Liara squinted, raising a hand to shield her eyes.
“Let’s get moving,” she said, beginning the short walk to the ship. Garrus stayed close behind her, looking out for trouble. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the otherwise quiet forest, and Garrus looked around uneasily.
“I don’t like this…” he whispered. “It’s too quiet. According to the ponies, this forest should be teeming with life…”
“I admit, it is a little unsettling,” Liara agreed. “But we must continue. This is important.”
“Right…” Garrus stepped in front of Liara, leading her the rest of the way through the trees to the Normandy’s crash site. Just before exiting the cover of the trees, he held up his fist, and Liara stopped.
“Cerberus…” he said. Confused, Liara moved up next to the turian and peered through the trees. Her sapphire eyes widened when they caught sight of the Cerberus shuttles landed outside. The airlock door had been blown open, and two Cerberus soldiers stood guard.
“I’ll radio Kaidan, let him know what’s up,” Garrus said, activating his omni-tool. He opened a comm channel, only to be met with the sound of static.
“What’s wrong?” Liara asked.
“Hmm… some kind of interference…” Garrus replied. “We’re being jammed. I can’t get through. Should we turn back?” Liara paused, considering his question.
“… No,” she finally answered. “Every second we waste is another that Cerberus uses against us. We have to act. How many do you think there are?”
“Hmm… Three shuttles, each can comfortably carry about ten soldiers, so… thirty, give or take a few.”
“We’ve been up against worse.” Liara reached for the Tempest on her hip and brought it to bear, checking its thermal clip capacity. Satisfied, she began sneaking out of the trees, Garrus right behind her. They quickly ran to the nearest piece of cover, which happened to be one of the landed Cerberus shuttles.
“Can you eliminate the guards outside?” Liara whispered.
“I’d be disappointed in myself if I couldn’t,” Garrus answered with a nod. He equipped his Viper and slid along the side of the shuttle until he was at its edge. He peered out, looking through the scope of his rifle to line up the shots. A moment later, two shots rang out, and two bodies fell to the soil of the forest.
“We’re clear.” Nodding, Liara sprinted from cover to the airlock, her SMG ready and scanning for enemies. None were detected in the immediate area, so she stealthily approached the inner airlock door, Garrus at her side.
“We’ll need to get down to deck 3,” she said. “From there, it hopefully won’t take long to find the identity of this person.”
“Got it,” Garrus said, putting away his sniper rifle in favor of a Vindicator assault rifle. “I’ve got your back.” The airlock was bathed in orange light as Liara’s omni-tool came to life, and she quickly gained access to the inner airlock systems. The door slid apart with a hiss, and the two stepped into the ship...
Twilight Sparkle paced back and forth in Celestia’s office, her mind racing with plans. Her linear path was constantly traced by the eyes of the two senior princesses, as well as her friends from Ponyville, who watched her intently. Finally, the lavender alicorn stopped and huffed.
“We can’t just do nothing!” she exclaimed.
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash agreed. “I say we take the fight right to this Cerberus!”
“Not without a plan, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said, calming the eager pegasus before returning her purple eyes to Twilight. “Though I do agree. What do you have in mind, Twilight?”
“Hmm… Our new allies have less than a thousand survivors from the attack,” Twilight began. “Not all are soldiers. Even with their advanced technology, the griffons number in the millions. It’d be suicide to go against them alone. No, they need our help.”
“The defense pact we signed does state that we must help each other in the event of a crisis,” Luna added. “Though I’m not entirely sure where this falls… Cerberus is an external threat, but the griffons are native to Equis. Is this our problem, or theirs?”
“There will be time to figure that out later,” Twilight decided. “But right now, I say we rally the troops. Get them ready for combat.”
“Hold on a moment, dear,” Rarity interrupted, holding up a hoof. “We don’t even know where this “Cerberus” is located. If you rally the troops, what will have them do?”
“She brings up a good point…” Applejack said, nodding.
“Indeed,” Celestia agreed. “The first step is to find where they are located. We can plan our attack accordingly. But first, we find them.”
“How’re we gonna do that?” Dash asked.
“Good question…” Twilight said. “Tali said that the shuttle’s navigation data was wiped, so it can’t be traced that way... I wonder if… no.”
“What are you thinking?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well…” Twilight began. “I was going to suggest that we go looking for the base. We know the general region Legion wanted to search, so we know it is somewhere in there.”
“That region was several dozen square kilometers, wasn’t it?” Rarity said. “It would take ages to search! Not to mention the cold!”
“We would split up into teams of two,” the lavender alicorn said, a plan formulating in her ever-active mind. “I can use my heating spell to protect us from the cold. We’ll search for a few hours, and if we don’t find it, we come back. But if we do find it… well, then we have somewhere to start for our plan of attack.”
“Twilight…” Celestia interrupted. “You are a princess, so I cannot stop you from doing this. But… I can advise against it. It is a dangerous plan, and if Legion was captured—“
“We can do this, Celestia,” Twilight assured. “Besides, we’ve faced worse. Right, girls?” Her claim was met with a chorus of affirmations, all of her friends nodding in agreement. The only exception was Fluttershy, who nodded very slowly from the back of the group. Celestia sighed, and looked to Twilight.
“… Alright,” she said. “But be careful.”
“We will, Celestia,” Twilight replied. “I promise.” The princess turned to her friends, a determined look on her face. “Come on, everyone. Let’s go!” They ran from the office, the sounds of their hooves echoing down the expansive marble hallways all the way to the loading docks…
David Foster stood in the command center of his base, looking over his personnel as they prepared everything for evacuation. The ships were scheduled to land at any moment, which meant that their job was done. It was time to leave, taking their new army with them. His datapad blinked with a notification, and Foster brought it up to eye-level to read. It was another status update; the more sensitive material had all been packed up and was being transported to the surface.
Satisfied, the doctor turned away from the command center and entered his office, which was now far emptier than it had been the previous day. He sat down at his desk and activated his terminal, typing in several passwords to bring up the self-destruct screen. Protocol dictated that, as soon as they had departed, the base was to be entirely destroyed. No traces could be left, and no data could be left behind. Anything that did not make it onto the ships would be destroyed.
Foster’s task was interrupted as a soldier entered the office, saluting.
“Sir,” the soldier said through the filter of his helmet. “The ships are arriving.” Foster could not help but smile as he stood from his desk.
“Good,” he said. “Begin loading the supplies as soon as they land, and get the first groups of griffons aboard. But… leave Sharptooth for now. I may have one final use for him…”
“Yes, sir.” The soldier saluted once more before he turned and exited the room. Foster remained still for a moment before returning to his desk. Even though their mission was almost over, there was still work to be done…
“… Three on the left,” Garrus reported as he peered around the corner of a doorway on the Normandy. To avoid drawing too much attention, he and Liara had decided to use the maintenance ducts to access her office, rather than the elevator. They were now approaching the first duct entrance, at the end of the meeting room. Holding her SMG at the ready, Liara nodded at Garrus, and began their attack.
She threw a singularity at the three soldiers; all of them were trapped, and were rather easily dispatched by her SMG and Garrus’s assault rifle. They fell to the ground as the singularity dissipated, impacting on the metal floor with loud thumps.
“I find it hard to believe nobody heard that,” Garrus said, jogging to the duct entrance. “We should hurry.”
“Agreed,” Liara nodded, following the turian. He went down the ladder first, climbing down awkwardly with his backwards-bending legs. Liara followed him as soon as he was all the way down, and began crawling through the cramped vents that led to life support. Garrus dropped down first, quickly eliminating a lone guard who had wandered into the room. Liara exited after him and drew her SMG, holding it at the ready.
“Crew deck is pretty big, and the mess is an open area,” Garrus whispered. “Expect resistance.” They crept to the door of the life support room, and they stacked up on the sides before Garrus opened it. Liara poked her head through and looked around, getting a feel for the number of hostiles.
“I see… at least four ahead, by the memorial wall and elevator,” she said. “And I see three more in the mess hall… I can’t see any further than that, but there are probably more.”
“We’ve gone up against more than that,” Garrus said. “Ready?” Liara nodded, and they both leapt from the life support room, immediately opening fire on the hostiles. The first four were taken entirely by surprise, and two of the remaining three were killed before being able to dive behind cover. The remaining one took cover behind the elevator, activating his radio.
“We need reinforcements on the crew deck!” he shouted. “Intruders on the crew deck!” The door behind Liara and Garrus opened, and two Cerberus soldiers entered from the lounge. They were both easily eliminated as the two squadmates pushed into the mess hall, making their way to Liara’s office. As soon as they reached the door, Liara opened it and stormed inside, Garrus right behind her. The turian closed and locked it, replacing the thermal clip of his assault rifle.
“That won’t hold them for long,” he said. “You’d better get to work.” Nodding, Liara approached her large desk and leaned over it, searching through her network.
“Glyph,” she said, hearing the familiar sound of the drone materializing. “Are you there?”
“Yes, Doctor T’Soni,” Glyph responded, floating over to Liara. “The Normandy is under attack. I recommend evacuation.” The sound of muffled gunfire filled the air as the Cerberus soldiers began shooting at the door.
“I’m well aware of that, Glyph,” Liara continued. “But I require your help. Start looking through the network for anybody matching this face.” Activating her omni-tool, Liara showed Glyph the image of the man from the hologram. The drone froze as it searched the databanks, before finally moving again.
“Information located, Doctor,” it said. “I have sent it to your omni-tool.”
“Well done.” Liara looked to Garrus. “Let’s get out of here!”
“Actually, I’d advise getting into cover…” Liara looked to the door, now noticing the plasma cutter almost halfway through opening it. She retreated to the back of the room, finding the nearest piece of cover to be a chair. She hid behind it, charging up her biotics.
“Get ready…” she said as the plasma cutter neared completion. Finally it reached the bottom of the door, and disappeared. Wasting no time, Liara discharged her biotics at the door. It flew outward, crushing the body of the Cerberus engineer with a sickening crunch. Along with him went two Cerberus soldiers, both of them reduced to bloody pulps by the biotic attack.
Garrus gave an approving nod before poking his head out the door. He waved for Liara to join him, then jogged from the door to the elevator.
“We need to get out of here quick,” he said. “Come on.” The elevator door opened, and Garrus and Liara stepped inside. “So, what data did you recover?”
“Let’s see…” Liara said, bringing up her omni-tool. She looked through the information Glyph had sent her, committing every bit of it to memory. “… His name is David Foster. Born in London, moved to America and lived there for fifteen years before returning to England for university. He received his doctorate in psychology, but also excelled in technology… I can see why Cerberus would recruit him.”
“Anything in there that’s helpful to us?” Garrus asked.
“All of it is helpful to us,” Liara replied. “Know your enemy.”
“Right… let’s get back to Canterlot, and quickly.” The elevator door opened, and Liara and Garrus found themselves to be the target of several Cerberus assault rifles. Garrus sighed, and looked to Liara.
“Looks like we’ll be getting back the hard way…”
The chariot touched down on the thick surface of snow, its wheels sinking a few inches into the fluffy powder. Twilight Sparkle jumped out, sinking a bit as well, and looked around. Her five friends jumped out after her, huddling together for warmth.
“We’ll go on hoof the rest of the way,” Twilight decided after a pause. “Smaller targets.” All she could see before her was kilometers upon kilometers of flat snow. Behind her was a large forest, and the northern border of Gryphonia. This was all unclaimed territory.
“You are certain we will find something?” Rarity asked.
“I am,” Twilight nodded, turning to face her friends. “We’ll split up into groups. Group one will be myself and Rarity, group two will be Rainbow Dash and Applejack, and group three will be Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Rarity and I will head north. Group two take the northeast, and group three take the northwest. Search for a few hours, then report back here. Any questions?” Her friends all shook their heads, and Twilight nodded.
“Then let’s go. Move out!” The princess took to the sky and began flying north. Rarity ran below her, trying to keep her flowing mane out of her face. Twilight kept her eyes focused ahead, on the horizon. A few stray flakes of snow blew in her face, and she squinted to keep them out of her purple eyes.
The further she flew, the stronger the winds became. More and more flakes of snow began falling in front of her, to the point that she could hardly see. A blizzard raged around her, though thankfully her warming spell protected her from the cold.
“Twilight!” a voice cried out from somewhere below the princess. Twilight angled down and returned to the ground, landing right next to Rarity.
“What is it?”
“Twilight, we cannot keep searching in these conditions,” Rarity said. “There is too much snow! I can hardly see anything!” Twilight opened her mouth to respond, before closing it and sighing. She knew Rarity was right.
“… Okay,” she said. “You’re right. Let’s—“
Twilight was interrupted as a deep rumbling filled the air. The two ponies looked up at the sky, their eyes trained on a number of glowing lights. The rumbling grew louder and louder, and a moment later a massive ship flew over them, heading further north. Squinting, Twilight could barely make out a red and black symbol on the side of the ship. The same symbol that had been on the jacket of the man in the hologram. Twilight gasped, and flared her wings.
“We have to get back!” she exclaimed. “Now!” Turning around, Twilight began sprinting through the snow, Rarity right behind her. Two more ships followed the first, all of them heading further north. The ponies simply ran, not bothering to see if they had been spotted. Right now, they needed to get back to Canterlot and relay this information.
Finally the chariot came into view, still under the protection of its pegasi pilots. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were already back as well, and Twilight could see Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie returning from the northwest. As soon as they arrived, Twilight jumped into the chariot, followed by her friends.
“Go!” she ordered the pegasi, who began attaching themselves to the reins.
“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “We saw—“
“Ships, I know,” Twilight interrupted. “We saw them too. Three of them, though there may be more coming…”
“What’re we going to do?” Applejack asked, wiping some snow off of her hat.
“We’ll get back to Canterlot…” the princess answered. “And then, we fight.”
Tali sat in a chair of the castle lounge, rhythmically tapping her foot on the marble floor. Here bright eyes flicked between the clock and the door, while her mind raced with possibilities. The ponies had left almost six hours ago, and Liara and Garrus had left an hour before them. So far they had heard nothing from either group, and Tali was beginning to worry. Her gaze was finally redirected from the door as Kaidan approached, his expression unreadable.
“Hey…” he said, sitting in a chair across from Tali. “What’s up?”
“Oh… just thinking,” Tali responded. “Cerberus, the ponies… Shepard…” Kaidan frowned, nodding.
“Have you heard anything else?
“… No…”
Kaidan sighed, running a hand through his dark, cropped hair. He stood up, and crossed to Tali.
“He’ll be fine, Tali,” he said. “Even death can’t keep Shepard down, you know that. Besides, he loves you. He’ll hang on for you.” Tali nodded as tears threatened to surface. She looked down at the floor, trying to follow Princess Luna’s advice, and maintain hope. But she had not heard anything in days…
Tali was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of the door opening. Looking up, she found Garrus and Liara entering the room, both sporting a fair number of scars. Kaidan raised an eyebrow and crossed to the two.
“What happened to you?” he asked.
“We arrived at the Normandy,” Garrus replied. “Cerberus got there first. We got all of them, I think, and we recovered the data we were looking for.”
“It seems that our enemy is named David Foster,” Liara said, activating her omni-tool. A picture of the man from the hologram appeared, along with an extensive file. “Doctorate in psychology, technological savant, and, obviously, a supporter of Cerberus. He has worked with them for nearly twenty years, using his degree for interrogation purposes, and breaking the minds of Cerberus’s enemies. That is likely why he was brought on for this job; full subjugation of the griffon people.”
“Well done, you two,” Kaidan said. “Anything in there that can give us some tactical advantages over this guy?”
“Not much,” Liara answered. “He is known to execute innocents, sometimes personally. If we get close… he may turn to killing some of the indoctrinated griffons. We’ll need to keep that in mind.” Kaidan nodded, moving toward the door.
“Very good. I’ll tell—“
The door burst open, and Twilight and her friends sprinted inside, nearly trampling over Kaidan. The human dove out of the way just in time and the ponies came to a halt, all of them breathing heavily. Princesses Celestia and Luna followed the ponies in, confused expressions on their faces.
“We… we found them!” Twilight panted, falling onto a couch.
“You did!?” Kaidan exclaimed, his eyes widening. “Where are they?”
“In the north…” Rainbow Dash answered. “We saw… ships.”
“Cerberus must be evacuating,” Tali said, standing from her chair. “They’ve got what they came for, and they’re getting out.”
“That explains their attack on your fleet…” Luna muttered. “What do we do?”
“We need to act fast,” Garrus said. “We can’t call in for reinforcements, not with those missiles they have. Which means that we need to use what we have to take them out as soon as possible. Otherwise… who knows what will happen.”
“We will mobilize our military,” Celestia said. “But against all of the griffons, and if they are equipped with your own weapons… I do not know if it will be enough. I will speak with the zebra and see if they can spare anyone, and I will also talk to Erebus…”
“I’ll have a word with Admiral Hackett, princess,” Kaidan said. “We don’t have many, but everybody here is willing to fight Cerberus. After all they’ve done…” Celestia nodded, making for the door.
“Very good,” she began. “We will meet back here tomorrow morning. Then, no matter what, we begin our attack. The future of this planet – and perhaps the galaxy – depends on us.” The princess of the sun exited the room, followed closely by her sister. Twilight and her friends filed out a moment later, and Kaidan exited last, going to find Hackett. Tali stood among the rest of the squad, her glowing eyes narrowed in determination.
“We need to get ready,” she said. She opened the lounge door and stepped out, walking down the marble hallway to her bedroom. It was time to take the fight to Cerberus…
The sound of Princess Celestia’s hoofsteps echoed off of the marble walls of her castle, filling the otherwise empty space with sound. The light of the morning sun streamed in though towering windows on the walls, casting its orange glow over the troubled princess.
One hundred. That is all that the zebra could spare to fight Cerberus and their indoctrinated griffons. The aliens had around five hundred, meaning that Equestria hosted the largest force of sixty thousand. In total, sixty thousand and six hundred soldiers would march on Gryphonia, and face a force of over a million, all of whom were large and armed with advanced weapons. Celestia shook her head. It was suicide.
The princess stopped her pacing and sighed, trying to clear her mind. She needed to maintain absolute focus in order to create an effective battle strategy against the griffons. She screwed her eyelids shut, and counted down from ten. When her countdown was complete, her eyelids slowly reopened, and Celestia found her mind was far clearer.
The princess knew that they main objective was to stop Cerberus from escaping the planet. If that meant sacrificing her own life, then so be it. She would not let them unleash the indoctrinated griffons onto the galaxy. Despite this knowledge, Celestia could not help herself from thinking about Legion. He had been captured, and was likely being experimented upon at this very moment. As risky as it was, he deserved a rescue mission.
“Your highness,” a voice said from behind the princess, breaking her train of thought. Celestia turned around to find a guard standing a few meters away.
“Yes?” Celestia asked.
“The last of the Equestrian military is arriving from the south,” the guard reported. “They will be within the city in minutes.” Celestia nodded, offering a somewhat-forced smiled. She had received similar reports over the course of the previous night. Garrisons of pony soldiers from all across Equestria had been recalled to Canterlot, with the exception of the northern forces, who would wait for the rest of the army to come to them.
“Thank you, I will be right out.” The guard saluted, then spun around and began walking back the way he came. Celestia walked over to one of the windows, and looked down at the display below her. This section of the castle overlooked the training wing, which consisted of a large field surrounded by barracks. The field had been emptied of training equipment, and soldiers were pouring into it to prepare for battle. Heavier armor was being distributed, as were coats for warmth. In Gryphonia, they would be needed. Celestia sighed, frowning. She hated war, but she was being left little choice. Many ponies would die today, but even more would perish if Cerberus was allowed to escape. This was something she had to do.
“Sister…” came the voice of Luna from behind the sun princess. Celestia turned around, forcing yet another grin. Luna frowned, seeing right past it. “How are you feeling?” Celestia sighed as she felt her smile disappearing.
“I have had better days,” she answered. “I have also had worse. We will get through this.”
“I know we will,” Luna said, trotting closer to her sister. Her azure eyes looked out the window, down at the field of assembling soldiers. “But what of them? What of the zebra, and the humans, turians, and asari?” Celestia’s only response was a shake of her head.
“… When was the last time you and I fought a war, side by side?” Luna asked.
“It must have been… the yak conflict, eleven hundred years ago,” Celestia replied, recalling the memory. “A quick war, and a clean one.” The princess wished she could say the same about the coming battle.
“What was it you said to the yak leader?” her sister asked with a nostalgic smile. “Something about—“
“Highnesses!” a voice cried out from down the hall. Both princesses’ gazes were diverted to the source of the call, which was a guard running toward them down the corridor. As he got closer, he stopped in his tracks and offered a quick salute.
“What is it?” Celestia asked, her expression grave.
“Something is coming this way,” he said. “Something massive.” The sisters shared a concerned glance before quickly returning to the window. Sure enough, on the horizon was a rapidly-moving group of creatures. From this distance Celestia could not tell what they were, but there were thousands of them.
“Prepare the soldiers,” she ordered. “We may be in trouble, here…”
EARLIER
A current of cool air flowed through the rounded stone corridors of the changeling hive, creating a comfortable climate for Erebus to walk. His rough black hooves made little sound on the stone floor, allowing the changeling to clearly hear the sound from below. A cacophony of whispers filled the air around Erebus, growing louder the closer he came to a doorway. The door was collector technology, left here by its previous owners after their defeat at the hands of Equestria and the geth. It slid open at Erebus’s presence, revealing a massive chamber beyond. Months ago this had been filled with pods designed to hold ponies. Now it held thousands of changelings, all of whom were using their magic to form a new queen.
In the center of the room sat the motionless form of a young changeling. Every so often its body would quiver, and its eyes would move behind the eyelids as streams of magic flowed into its body. A sticky green resin had formed around the changeling, rooting it to the stone floor and preventing it from thrashing around in the later stages of the ritual.
“How goes the ascension?” Erebus whispered to a nearby changeling. The changeling hissed, keeping his eyes closed in concentration as magic flowed from his body.
“We are close…” he whispered back. “The effort of the past months is coming to a close. It is happening.” Erebus lifted a leg to cover his eyes as a bright green flash engulfed the room. The changeling in the center began screaming as it was lifted from the floor, the magic forces tearing against its body, changing it. With a sickening crack, the changeling’s exoskeleton fell from its body, and the form beneath began to grow. Its arms and legs extended to nearly three times the original length. The body stretched out, and the head became elongated as a twisted horn burst through the flesh. A new exoskeleton formed around the changeling, and as the green glow began to fade, her green eyes opened wide. She majestically lowered to the floor, landing on all four legs with the grace of a true queen.
At once, all of the changelings in the room lowered themselves into bows, Erebus included. They dared not look upon the new queen until she ordered them to do so. She took a few steps forward, each step echoing loudly off of the stone walls of the chamber. She circled around, observing her subjects, until she finally came back to the center of the room.
“Rise!” she said in a booming voice. The changelings did as they were told, all of them finally looking upon their queen. She was slightly taller than Chrysalis had been, and her long blue mane fell all the way to the floor. Her large insectoid wings were flared, and her glowing green eyes passed over the crowd.
“Where is Erebus!?” she asked. Erebus stepped forward, bowing.
“I am here, your excellency,” he said. The queen examined the smaller changeling, before she took a step back.
“Come!” she began walking out of the chamber, Erebus not far behind. She led him through the winding labyrinth that was their hive, all the way to her personal quarters. As soon as they arrived, she crossed to a desk, retrieved a piece of parchment and a quill, and began writing a letter.
“What do you require of me, your excellency?” Erebus said when she was finished. The queen rolled up her letter, and sent it to Erebus with her telekinesis.
“We are going to assist the ponies,” she said. “We will fight the griffons, and this “Cerberus” group.” Erebus’s eyes widened in confusion.
“You wish to ally with them?” he asked. “Why?”
“Equality,” the queen began. “They may claim to want an alliance with us, but it would be one only advantageous to them. However, if we come to them in their time of need, and show them the power we possess, they will have no choice but to see us as equals.” Erebus nodded in understanding.
“It will be done, excellency.” He took the letter in his own telekinesis, and placed it on his back.
“You will take what forces we have now,” she said, turning away. “I will begin… producing more. The changelings will once again be known as a force of power in Equis!” Erebus bowed, then turned and ran from the queen’s quarters, ready to rally their forces…
Princess Luna looked out over the fields below Canterlot, the dark mass of creatures coming closer and closer to the city. Their march had lasted several hours now, and the army had grown from a small spot of darkness on the horizon to a massive horde of movement. It had also become quite clear that the creatures in the horde were not griffons, but changelings. With how many there were, Luna could think of very few reasons for their visit.
“Your highness,” a guard said, stepping up behind the princess of the night. “One of the changelings has broken ahead of the group, and the army is coming to a halt. The stray is heading for the castle gates.” Luna turned away from the window and began walking slowly to the door.
“Thank you,” she replied. “Prepare the army. If the changelings come with cruel intentions, we shall meet them appropriately.” The guard left with a quick salute, leaving Luna to walk to the courtyard by herself. No doubt Celestia would also have heard the news, and would be headed there as well.
Her assumptions were confirmed as she exited the castle’s hastily-assembled temporary gate, and entered the courtyard. Celestia stood in the center, and next to her was Kaidan, wearing a set of reflective blue armor. They both appeared to be speaking, but at this distance Luna could not hear them. Their conversation ended as Luna approached, and both sets of eyes were focused on the moon princess.
“Luna, it is good you are here,” Celestia said. “If the changelings are going to try something…”
“It would make sense,” Luna admitted. “Our standing army is quite small, and with all focus on the griffons in the north… now would be the best time to exact their revenge.”
“If that’s why they’re here,” Kaidan said. “But just in case, Garrus is watching our backs…” The major turned around and looked up to one of the castle’s many towers. At the very top, Luna caught sight of a blue-armored alien looking down on them.
“I feel safer already…” Luna whispered.
“Here it comes!” cried the voice of a guard. Sure enough, a regular-sized changeling flew over the courtyard, angling down to come to a landing right in front of the princesses. On his back was a rolled up piece of parchment. He looked up, his blue eyes scanning over the three figures present. Immediately, a number of spears were aimed at the changeling, who continued to stare at the princesses, unamused.
“… Erebus,” Celestia said after a pause, recognizing the changeling. “Welcome back to Canterlot.”
“Thank you, Princess,” Erebus said, his eyes breaking from the princesses and looking at the spears surrounding him. “I come bearing news.”
“I assume it relates to the army you have at our doorstep?” Luna asked accusingly. She glared at the changeling, not trusting the creature.
“Indeed it does,” Erebus replied. Luna was not sure, but she thought she sensed more emotion in his voice. He sounded almost… happy. “After months of work, I am pleased to announce that the changelings have successfully created a new queen. As such, we can begin reproduction again, and start to replenish our lost numbers.” Celestia stared at the changeling inquisitively.
“I am pleased to hear it,” she said. “But what is your purpose for coming here?” For the first time, Erebus smiled, and bowed his head.
“I come to offer our aid. Equis is our world too, and Cerberus is a threat to all of us. We will help you defeat them.” Using his telekinesis, Erebus pulled the letter off of his back, and presented it to Celestia. The princess unfurled the letter and began to read aloud:
“To the esteemed Princesses of Equestria. As a gesture of good faith, and future friendship, I have sent Erebus with three hundred thousand changeling drones. Another three hundred thousand are headed north to meet your army on the border, and within days I will have thousands of reinforcements. In return for this aid, all I ask is that the changelings are treated as they deserve. That we are respected, and kept equal in world politics. With respect, and hopes for the future, Queen Instar.”
Celestia rolled the scroll back up, barely able to contain the smile on her face. Her magenta eyes focused on Erebus, and she nodded.
“Your offer of assistance is gratefully accepted,” she said, teleporting the letter away with a burst of magic. “I will inform the guard that your changelings are to be allowed in the city. We are finalizing preparations, and will be marching for Gryphonia in a few hours.”
“Understood, Princess,” Erebus said. “I will relay your acceptance, then return here to discuss battle strategy.” The changeling flared his wings, then launched himself into the sky and disappeared over the courtyard walls. Celestia watched him go, then turned to face her sister and the Major.
“We have a chance now…” she said quietly. “Come. We must go to the meeting room.”
Kaidan sat down at the meeting room table, sinking into the rather sizeable chair beneath him. Given that the only other bipeds on Equis were minotaurs, the chairs meant for biped anatomy were quite large, providing ample space for the human to sit. He looked around the room, eyeing the other people present; Princesses Celestia and Luna sat at either head of the table, while President Malkia sat to Kaidan’s right. Across the table sat Senator Proudwing and Erebus, both of whom had their eyes focused on the Princess of the sun.
“What is the battle strategy, Princess?” Proudwing asked, his impatience clear. “I wish to liberate my people as soon as possible.” Celestia paused, then produced a map with her magic, laying it out on the table for all to see. The map lacked any landmarks, save for a single spire in the center.
“This is the area around the Cerberus base,” she began. “It is far to the north of Gryphonia, with no notable landmarks for hundreds of miles. This is where the battle will take place.”
“The battle will have three objectives,” Luna continued. “First, engage the griffons and prevent them from boarding the ships. This will be completed by the bulk to our forces, as it will be the most demanding task. Second, we will need to eliminate the ships. As such a task would require expertise beyond that of anybody on Equis, we were hoping that somebody from the Normandy could handle that.” Kaidan paused for a moment, thinking to himself.
“… James, Javik, and Garrus will help,” he finally said. “They’ve got experience is destroying things.” The two princesses shared a glance, then returned their gazes to the major.
“Actually…” Celestia said. “We were hoping that you could find some way of disabling the ships, other than by blowing them up…”
“Why?” Kaidan asked, raising an eyebrow.
“We… wish to limit griffon casualties,” the elder princess replied. “They are not in control of their actions. We are trying to save them, after all.” Kaidan paused again, trying to think of an alternative.
“… Entering every ship and disabling them from the inside would take too long, not to mention the added risk,” the major said. “However, destroying the engines from the outside may work. We would need heavy weapons, but I think we have that covered.”
“If that is what it will take, then so be it,” Luna said, nodding. “We will offer the assistance of Twilight Sparkle’s friends, to cover them.”
“Hold on,” Kaidan interrupted, raising a hand. “They’re not soldiers. I don’t want civilians out there.”
“Major, Twilight’s friends have faced threats far worse than Cerberus,” Celestia said, standing. “They are some of the most talented ponies I have ever met, and they will not fail you.”
“… Fine,” Kaidan finally said, sighing. “But know that destroying the engines won’t result in zero casualties. They are sensitive components, with highly volatile fuel. The entire ships won’t be destroyed, but they will be damaged. I think I can guarantee that at least some of the griffons onboard each ship will not survive.” The princesses looked to Proudwing, waiting for a response.
“… If that is the best you can do, then so be it,” the senator sighed.
“Right, then,” Luna continued. “The third objective is the recovery of Legion, and the apprehension or elimination of Foster. We would like you to lead this, Major. Additionally, we would like you to take Twilight Sparkle with you.”
“Understood, Princess,” Kaidan nodded. “I’ll also take Tali and Liara with me. Their skills could be useful in that base.”
“Then I would advise that you prepare your people, Major,” Celestia said. “In the meantime, I will continue to coordinate with the other leaders here. Meet in the courtyard in two hours. Then, we march to Gryphonia.”
“I’ll see you then, Princess.” Kaidan stood from his chair and saluted, then turned and exited the room. As he walked down the long castle corridor, he activated his omni-tool and sent messages to the rest of the Normandy squad, telling them to meet him in his guest quarters. His task complete, he began walking to his destination, prepared for battle…
“Ten minutes to LZ,” the pilot reported from the shuttle cockpit. Some turbulence gently shook the back of the small craft, and Tali’s grip tightened on the ceiling handle. Her other arm was held before her, omni-tool active and showing a map of the area. The main attack force was not far behind Tali and her squad; those who were not capable of flight were being transported in an armada of shuttles and chariots to make the journey to Gryphonia far quicker. And in under an hour, the battle would be underway.
But Tali would be seeing very little of the battle on the surface. Her objective was clear: infiltrate the base, find Legion, and kill Foster. Or apprehend him, as the princesses had stressed. But Tali knew how this had to end. He was Cerberus, and they were not known for being useful prisoners. Twilight Sparkle stepped up to the quarian, struggling to remain steady on the deck of the shuttle.
“You ready, Tali?” she asked, barely managing to avoid bumping into Kaidan, who stood nearby.
“As I’ll ever be,” Tali replied. “What about you?”
“I… yeah,” Twilight said, taking a deep breath. “It’s just… been a while since my last battle.” Tali nodded, deactivating her omni-tool.
“I wish I could say the same…”
“After this, hopefully things will be quiet for a while,” Kaidan said. “With Cerberus out of the way, that will effectively eliminate any major threats in the galaxy. Everybody else is too broken or disorganized from the Reapers to start a war.”
“I hope you are right…” Liara said from her seat against the wall of the shuttle. Silence filled the craft, the only sound coming from the howling winds outside. A storm was blowing, which gave the allied army the advantage of a covered approach. However, once actual fighting began, each side would be equally disadvantaged. Low visibility and temperatures would make combat difficult.
“Breaking off from the main group,” the pilot finally said. “Touching down in three… two… one.” There was a dull thump as the shuttle landed on the snowy ground. Tali pulled a pistol off of her hip and held it at the ready, making for the shuttle door. Liara and Kaidan were close behind her, with Twilight getting in position last.
“Ready?” Tali asked. Her three squadmates responded with quick nods, and Tali reached out and pressed the door control. The door slid open, and immediately the temperature dropped significantly. Tali’s environmental suit quickly began to adapt to the colder temperatures, but even on maximum heating she still felt the cold bite of the wind. Liara raised a hand to shield her uncovered face, and took a step out into the snow.
“We should hurry!” she called over the roaring winds. Nodding in agreement, Tali, Kaidan, and Twilight jumped out after the asari, and began trekking through the snow toward a blinking beacon, under a kilometer away. The top of the antenna alternated flashing between green and red, and as they got closer, Tali began to hear the rumble of engines. The further into the storm they went, the more she began to see more blinking lights through the snow. Soon it became clear that they belonged to ships; at least seven, all of them fully operational. Each one had an open ramp, inviting in the army of indoctrinated griffons. Her eyes wide, Tali noticed the shapes of griffons walking up the ramps and entering the vessels.
“They’re evacuating now!” she cried.
“Garrus and his team will need to hurry!” Kaidan noted. “But let’s let them do their jobs, and we’ll do ours! Come on!” A few minutes later, they came to the base of the antenna. There were no visible doors or markings. The only notable feature was a “Warning: Sensitive Electronics” sticker on the side, which had begun to weather away.
“What do we do now!?” Twilight asked, struggling to be heard over the wind. Kaidan paused, then sat down.
“We wait,” he said, sinking slightly into the thick snow. “They’ll have to come out at some point.” Choosing to humor the major, Tali sat down next to him. She was joined a moment later by Liara, then Twilight. The four of them sat in silence, waiting for the attack to begin…
Princess Celestia’s chariot touched down in the thick snow, the glowing lights of their target under a kilometer away. A heavy storm blew around her, though a heating spell prevented the sub-zero temperatures from affecting her or the ponies under her command. Several more chariots touched down, joined by shuttles provided by their alien allies. Behind them, the combined army of over six hundred thousand forces began to converge on the Cerberus base.
“Are we ready?” Erebus asked, flying down next to the princess.
“We have to be,” Celestia replied. “Despite the storm, there is little chance that our approach has gone unnoticed.” A pony unicorn, clad in thick gold armor, quickly sprinted to the princess.
“Your highness!” he said. “One of the human shuttles is detecting several hundred griffons converging on this location!” Celestia nodded.
“So it begins…” she said. “Have the shuttles take off. Prepare the attack.”
The pony nodded, and ran off to fulfill his task. A moment later, the shuttles took off, their weapons at the ready. They came to a hover a few dozen meters ahead of Celestia’s position, then suddenly several flashes illuminated the sky around them. Missiles from the shuttles streaked downward, impacting in the heavy snow with large explosions that lit up the environment. With the explosions were screams from griffon soldiers, and the sound of shouting soon replaced them. More were coming. It was time for battle…
Kaidan had been correct. As soon as the shuttles began their attack, thousands of griffons diverted from the ships to the other side of the base. Their forces were supplemented by Cerberus soldiers, who began streaming out of a door that had opened in the base of the antenna. Kaidan, Tali, Liara, and Twilight remained hidden behind the door, waiting for the last of the soldiers to exit. When the door became silent, the squad crept forward, inching their way towards the entrance. It was not difficult to see through the storm, as a steady stream of light shined through, illuminating the way. The squad quietly slipped inside, pausing to wipe the snow from them.
“Alright,” Kaidan said, bringing up his omni-tool. “Our objectives are to be carried out in no particular order. I say we go for Legion first, given that he will be easier to find. And, if we’re lucky, we might find Foster with him…”
“Good idea,” Liara nodded, preparing her SMG. Tali swapped her pistol for a shotgun, and nodded as well.
“Ready when you are,” she said. Twilight lit her horn, and motioned for Kaidan to lead the way. Keeping his omni-tool active, the major began walking down a sloped hallway, taking them deep underground and into the upper levels of the base. On the major’s omni was a scanner, searching for any signatures that matched their geth friend. So far, there was nothing. With no other choices, the squad descended further and further into the Cerberus base…
James fired from the open door of the shuttle as it flew over the battlefield, taking several griffons down with each burst. The battle had escalated quickly; one moment it was quiet, the next there was chaos. Gunfire erupted from either side, evidence that the griffons had been armed with modern weapons. Mixed among the griffon forces were a few Cerberus soldiers, which the Alliance marine prioritized as targets.
Less than half a kilometer away were his targets: seven large Cerberus cruisers, all of them outfitted to carry thousands of griffons away from Equis and into the galaxy. The engines glowed a bright blue, making them rather easy targets through the quickly-fading storm. As the shuttle drew nearer to the ships, it began to take fire from a few griffons on the ground. James attempted to return fire, but found it difficult.
“Hey Esteban!” he called over the din of battle. “Try and hold her steady, will you!?”
“I’m trying, but we’re taking fire!” Cortez replied from the cockpit. “Rifle fire, but still fire!”
“We’re approaching the first ship!” Garrus noted, firing a few shots from his sniper rifle. “Get the munitions ready!”
“We will provide cover!” Javik said from James’ other side, firing a few beams from his weapon. Nodding, James ceased fire and retreated to the back of the shuttle, where numerous other weapons were stored. Standing nearby were Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack, all of them wearing sets of light armor. Stepping past the ponies, James looked over what was available: an M-920 Cain with two shots, a Cobra missile launcher with three shots, and several boxes of remote-detonated explosives. The plan was to use the ranged weapons first, then have the ponies help with planting the charges on the rest of the ship engines.
James grabbed the Cain and put down his assault rifle, then returned to the open door of the shuttle where his turian and prothean companions continued firing
“Ready?” Garrus asked.
“Ready!” James said eagerly, holding the Cain in front of him. “Lieutenant, get us into position!”
“Copy that,” Cortez answered, bringing the shuttle closer to the first ship. More gunfire impacted on the hull of the shuttle, but it did little damage against their thick armor and kinetic barriers. Aiming the Cain at the engines of the closest ship, James waited until he had a lock, then fired. The 25-gram slug shot from the barrel of the weapon at 5 kilometers per second, flying up into the air before coming back down onto the starboard engine of the Cerberus cruiser. It exploded in a brilliant flash of light, completely bypassing the kinetic barrier of the cruiser and destroying the engine as intended. The explosions spread to the aft of the ship, and there was a second massive explosion as the cruiser’s stabilizers failed. It crashed onto the snowy ground, kicking up a massive cloud of snow and dust. A thick cloud of smoke billowed from the damage, and James looked with satisfaction at the crippled vessel.
“First takedown successful,” the marine said with a smile. “One down, six to go. Let’s get into position for the next one!” The shuttle pulled away from the downed cruiser and began to head for the second. James reloaded the Cain, and got into position…
Foster stood in his command center, looking with a grimace at the screen before him. The screen showed a map of the region; in the center was the antenna that served as the entrance to his base, and to the north were their seven – now six – cruisers. A massive army had appeared, using the storm to cover their approach, and was now engaging the even larger griffon army on the surface. Cerberus had the advantage of numbers, but it was not enough. The battle was going in the favor of their enemies.
Turning his attention to another screen, Foster found that the remaining ships were only fifty percent full. The evacuation process was a long one, and would take multiple trips to get every griffon off of Equis. That would not matter if the ships were destroyed. Pressing a few buttons on his omni-tool, the doctor ordered the ships to begin flight preparations, and take off as soon as possible. The allied army might prevent him from getting every griffon off of this world, but he would still try.
“Doctor!” a technician called from a nearby station. “We appear to have intruders…”
“Show me.” The main screen switched to a security camera view, showing three non-Cerberus personnel – one human, one asari, one quarian, and one pony – creeping stealthily through a hallway on level three.
“Mm…” the doctor sighed. “No doubt looking for their geth friend. What is its status?”
“The research team is actually contacting you now, sir,” the technician replied. “They are is reporting some levels of success, and request your presence at once.” Smiling at the small victory, Foster stepped into the elevator at the back of the command center, and pressed the button for one of the labs two levels below. It descended quickly, and when the door opened, the doctor stepped into the occupied technical lab. In the center was a metal bed, on which was the immobile form of the geth. It remained secured to the bed, and the arc projectors remained trained on the platform at all times. They would take no chances.
“Status,” the doctor commanded, stepping up to the bed. One of the engineers on the team approached Foster, looking over the geth.
“We have successfully accessed the geth’s processing core,” he said. “An automated self-termination program activated, but we were able to stop it in time. We’re lucky that this platform was rather hastily-made, otherwise its defenses would be far, far stronger.”
“Hm…” Foster placed a hand on his chin, nodding. “Can we upload a program of our own?”
“Yes, sir.”
“… Create one to mimic its actual behavior,” the doctor began. “Then release it. Have it find its friends, who have infiltrated our base, and lead them into a trap.” The engineer nodded, crossing to a terminal.
“We’ll start right away, Doctor,” he said. With a satisfied grin, Foster turned around and exited the lab. This plan would not stop the attack on the surface, but it would at least solve some of his problems…
Tali was beginning to grow worried. They had been searching the base for nearly an hour, meticulously checking every single room of the upper levels, and ducking into hiding spots when Cerberus personnel came near. Still they had found no signs of Legion. And while they searched, the dull sounds of explosions from above reminded them of the battle raging on. They had limited time, and Tali knew it. They needed to be fast.
“Anything on your omni-tool?” the quarian asked Kaidan, who walked ahead at the front of the group.
“Negative,” the major shook his head. “Base is well shielded, I doubt we’ll pick him up until we’re very close.” Frowning behind her mask, Tali continued to follow the human, simultaneously looking around for threats. Her three-toed feet made little noise on the glossy white floors, allowing her to clearly hear her heart pounding in her chest. Something felt wrong… She did not know why, but she suddenly developed a feeling that they needed to leave.
“Kaidan,” she began. “I think—“
“Hold,” the major interrupted, raising a hand. Liara, Twilight, and Tali stopped in their tracks, looking around.
“What is it?” Twilight whispered nervously, her horn glowing with energy.
“I’m… picking up a signal,” Kaidan replied. He lowered his omni-tool and deployed an Avenger from his back, holding it at the ready. His aim was focused at the end of the immediate hallway, where a closed door sat, completely motionless. Twilight took a few steps back, getting behind a doorframe and poking her head out. Tali and Liara did the same, holding their weapons ready.
“Be ready…” Kaidan began. “If it’s Legion, he might be under guard. We need to—“
The major was interrupted as the door opened, and Legion ran out, alone. He slowed to a halt as his bright blue optic came to rest on the infiltration squad, and the flaps around his eye widened.
“Alenko-Major,” he said. “We were not expecting you.” Breathing a sigh of relief, Kaidan lowered his weapon and stood up, crossing over to Legion.
“Could say the same to you,” he said, smiling. “We came here to rescue you. What happened?”
“We were incapacitated by Cerberus engineers,” the geth began. “They began to examine us, looking for a way to access our processing core. When they did, security measures activated. We shut down the computers they were using, and disabled power in that part of the facility. In the confusion, we were able to escape.”
“It’s good to see you intact,” Tali said, crossing to her friend. She placed a hand on his shoulder, though the feeling of discomfort was still in her mind.
“We recommend haste in escaping,” Legion said. “They will be searching for us.”
“Right,” Kaidan agreed. “Elevator to the entry area is back this way.” The Major turned around and began walking back down the hall, when Legion held up his hand.
“That is unwise, Alenko-Major,” he said. “Our escape will not have gone unnoticed. They will have soldiers posted at the entrance. However, when escaping, we remotely accessed one of the Cerberus terminals, and found an alternate escape.”
“Oh?” the major raised an eyebrow. “Where?”
“A ventilation shaft, which has an opening two hundred meters from the base. It is small, but we should all be able to fit.”
“Then let’s get moving,” Liara said as the ceiling shook, the result of another explosion on the surface.
“Lead the way, Legion,” Twilight said, happy to see her friend again. Nodding, Legion began walking down the hallway, stepping past the infiltration squad and taking the lead. His head was on an almost constant swivel, watching for hostiles or other threats. As he led them through the halls of the Cerberus base, Tali quietly moved up next to Kaidan.
“Kaidan…” she began. “I have a bad feeling about something…”
“What do you mean?” the human asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I don’t know… I just feel like we’re… walking into a—“
“Freeze!” Tali froze in place at the sound, and tore her attention away from Kaidan to examine their surroundings. They had entered a large circular room, around the circumference of which were dozens of Cerberus soldiers. All of them had their weapons trained on the squad, fingers over the triggers.
“Drop your weapons,” one of the soldiers – a centurion – stepped up to the squad, his Mattock held at the ready. The squad did not move, nor did they follow the orders of the centurion.
“Major… I can form a biotic barrier around us…” Liara whispered.
“My drone is at the ready…” Tali said. “Just say the word…” Kaidan paused, then shook his head.
“No,” he replied. “Do as they say.” The major threw his assault rifle to the ground, then followed it with his pistol. After a pause, Liara and Tali did the same, and Twilight dispelled her magic. A few soldiers ran to the squad and took the weapons away, while the centurion came closer, and patted Legion on his back.
“Good work,” he said. Legion nodded, then his platform went rigid, and the optic light went out. The centurion stepped past the geth, coming face-to-face with Kaidan.
“Don’t move,” he commanded. “My superior wishes to speak with you.” A few more Cerberus soldiers approached the squad, each one carrying a pair of omni-handcuffs. They placed them around the wrists of the infiltrators, and one placed a metallic ring around Twilight’s horn. The alicorn frowned at the device, huffing. When they were properly secured, the Cerberus soldiers stepped away, keeping their weapons ready. The door behind the squad opened, and each member turned around to face the newcomer.
“You!” Kaidan spat, recognizing the man from the hologram as he approached.
“Major Alenko,” Foster said, his arms wide. “Welcome to my base. I do not recall inviting you…” Kaidan remained silent, not wanting to humor the Cerberus commander.
“Still, your coming here provides me with a useful opportunity,” he continued, beginning to pace about the room. Finally he stopped his pacing, an inch from Kaidan’s face. “Call off the attack. Have your army fall back, and allow Cerberus to leave. Equis will be left alone, as long as nobody follows us.”
“No,” Kaidan said, without even a pause. “Why would they even listen to me?”
“You three served with Shepard,” Foster said. “You are just as much heroes as he is. Can you imagine the effect it would have on the galaxy if all of you were to die? And you, Twilight Sparkle. You are a princess of Equestria. More than that, you are Celestia’s personal protégé. That must be worth something.”
“My answer is still no,” Kaidan said. “If we do let you go, millions will die. Millions who are far more important than us.” Foster sighed, shaking his head.
“Shall I start executing your friends, then?” he asked, approaching the nearest Cerberus soldier. He held out his hand, and the soldier placed his sidearm in it. Wrapping his hand around the gun, Foster returned to the squad, walking past each of them. He ended on Tali, and gave her a smile.
“Admiral Zorah,” he said. “I understand that Commander Shepard’s condition has yet to improve. I am sorry to hear that. Had he stayed with Cerberus, he would have been a valuable asset…” Foster circled behind Tali, and raised his pistol. He put it against the back of her head, his finger over the trigger.
“Last chance, Major,” Foster said, looking to Kaidan. “Call off the attack.” Tali turned her head slightly, just enough to see Kaidan.
“Don’t do it,” she said. “I’m not worth it. Continue the attack.” Kaidan paused, but nodded, sadness in his eyes.
“I’m sorry…” he whispered. “Still no, Foster.”
“Very well,” Foster said, sighing. He put his finger on the trigger, and pushed the barrel of the gun into the back of Tali’s hood. “Goodbye, Admiral Zorah.” Tali closed her eyes and regulated her breathing. Her mind cleared, she began to think about her life. Her mother’s death, her pilgrimage, stopping Saren and Sovereign, her father’s death, the collectors, the Reapers… Shepard. Tali could not help but smile. Her life had been an eventful one, and for a twenty-five year old, she had experienced more than she ever thought she would. And though she knew that it was the end, her death would be for a good cause. Tali was at peace.
“Sir!” a voice cried out. Tali’s eyes opened as the gun dropped away from her head, and she looked around in confusion. A Cerberus technician was approaching Foster, an alarmed look on his face.
“What is it?” Foster asked, annoyed.
“The attackers have destroyed three of our ships,” the technician reported. Foster cursed, and threw the gun to the ground.
“Okay…” he said quietly. “… Begin the evacuation. We are getting out of here with the griffons we have. Hurry!” The Cerberus soldiers began running out of the room, and in only a few seconds the infiltration squad was alone with Foster.
“Looks like I won’t be killing you,” Foster said, stepping in front of Tali. “Don’t worry. The self-destruct will do that for me.” He smiled and patted Tali on the head, then turned and walked briskly out of the room. The door closed behind him, and the green “open” button turned red.
“So…” Twilight began. “… What do we do?” Kaidan sighed, and shook his head.
“We’ll… think of something,” he replied. “I hope…”
“Okay, go!” Rainbow Dash dove from the open door of the shuttle and, dodging gunfire and crossbow bolts, flew to the engine of the nearest ship with a bag of remote explosives. As the pegasus made her way there, James, Garrus, Javik, and the rest of the ponies provided cover fire from the shuttle. Cortez joined in as well, firing explosive rounds from the shuttle weapons. In their mission of destroying the Cerberus cruisers, the shuttle had gained quite a bit of negative attention. Almost all of the Cerberus soldiers were working on bringing it down, and several griffons had joined in as well. The kinetic barriers had taken a beating, and numerous bullet holes marked the metal hull.
When the explosives had been placed, Dash flew with alarmingly high speeds back into the shuttle. She nodded at James, who pressed down on the detonator in his hand with a satisfied grin. As with the first five cruisers, the engines erupted in a massive fireball that soon consumed the entire back half of the ship, and the vessel crashed to the ground, crippled.
“Nice work!” James complimented, reloading his thermal clip. “Ready to hit the last one?”
“Yes, sir!” Dash exclaimed, giving a salute. She jogged to the back of the shuttle and grabbed the final bag of explosives, and tied it tightly around one of her arms.
“Cortez, get us into position!” James yelled into the cockpit, hoping that the pilot could hear him against the din of battle and gunfire. Cortez nodded, and pulled the shuttle away from the wreck of their latest victim. One final ship remained, and it sat a little over a kilometer from their current position. Cerberus’s plan was effectively ruined, but James still knew that one ship full of griffons could cause considerable trouble for the rest of the galaxy.
“We’re almost in position,” Cortez said. “Get ready!” Rainbow Dash nodded and flared her wings, moving to the open door.
“Be careful, Dash,” James said as they came closer and closer to the ship. When they were a few dozen meters from the engines, the lieutenant nodded, and prepared his rifle. “Go!” Dash jumped out and began flying to the engines, while James continued to provide cover fire with the help of the rest of the squad. Every few seconds he would look to the pegasus, making sure she was okay.
Suddenly, a shot rang out. The sound of the shot elevated itself over the rest of the battle as a single bullet rushed toward Dash, and impacted on her side. With a scream, her wings stopped flapping, and she dove to the ground, hitting the snow and skidding to a halt several meters away. The ponies saw their friend go down, and each one gasped in fear. James, eyes wide, turned to the cockpit.
“Set us down!” he screamed. “Dash is hit! Set us down, now!” Nodding, Cortez pulled the shuttle away from the ship and swung it down by the motionless form of Rainbow Dash. James jumped out, followed by everybody else in the shuttle, and Cortez took off again, getting to a safe distance. Garrus and Javik began to provide cover fire, while James ran to the pony, turning her over to inspect the damage. The white snow had been stained red by blood, and more continued pouring out of the entry wound.
The bullet had cut straight through Dash’s light armor, hitting her in the side and embedding itself somewhere in her torso. Her breathing was ragged, and her eyes struggled to stay open.
“I…” she stammered. “I’m sorry… I didn’t make it…”
“Stay quiet, Dash,” James said urgently, reaching into one of his armor pouches for medi-gel. “Save your strength.” He applied the gel onto the wound, and watched as it sealed itself on her coat. He turned around to face the ponies, all of whom wore expressions of fear and worry.
“The medi-gel will stabilize her, but it won’t heal everything,” he said. “We need to get her back to the shuttle, and it needs to take her away from the battle.”
“What do we do about the cruiser?” Javik asked, stepping up to the lieutenant.
“… We’re going to have to destroy it ourselves,” James decided. He activated his comm, looking around for the shuttle. “Cortez, we need a medevac, now!” A moment later, the shuttle settled back down, taking fire from numerous sources. James quickly picked up Dash and placed her on one of the seats, securing her to it with straps.
“What’s her condition?” Cortez asked, looking back at James from the cockpit.
“Stable, but the megi-gel won’t do everything,” he replied. “Get her to the outskirts of the battle, where the rest of the wounded ponies are being kept.” Cortez nodded and fired up the engines, taking off again as soon as James had exited the shuttle. The lieutenant watched the shuttle go, then turned his attention to the cruiser about a hundred meters away. Light streamed from the ventral loading bay, and James saw the forms of griffons moving up a ramp and into the ship.
“Wait…” he said, squinting as he saw something else moving among the griffons. He could not be certain, but it looked like a squad of Cerberus soldiers, and one unarmored human.
“What is it?” Applejack asked, stepping up next to the human.
“I think… Foster is boarding that ship!” James exclaimed, activating his omni-tool. He opened a communications link with Kaidan, prepared to tell his commanding officer. “Major, do you read? Major, come in!” There was nothing. Only static came through.
“What do we do?” Garrus asked, reloading his sniper rifle.
“We must attack!” Javik said. “He cannot be allowed to escape!” James paused, thinking to himself. He looked around him; his squad members stood in a circle, waiting for orders. All around, the battle raged on. Every second that it continued, countless people lost their lives. Javik was right. It had to end.
“… Let’s move,” James decided, preparing his assault rifle. “I’ll take point. Javik, I want you up front with me. Ponies take the middle, Garrus cover our flank. We’ll board that ship, and we’ll kill that monster…”
“I’m with ya,” Applejack said, nodding. Pinkie Pie and Rarity both nodded as well, while Fluttershy gave a meek nod of her support. Their goal clear, James began running through the snow toward the boarding ramp…
Princess Celestia watched the battle as it progressed from her position at their staging area, occasionally firing a burst of magic at a griffon who came too close. All the while, she listened intently to her military commanders as they were fed reports from the battlefield. From what she could tell, it was going relatively well. They were suffering heavy losses; most of the zebra were dead, the ponies had suffered considerable losses, and the changelings were being eliminated left and right. However, most of the Cerberus ships had been destroyed. Even if they lost this battle, Cerberus would be unable to carry out their plan.
A shuttle flew over the princess, and she noticed it as belonging to the Normandy. Her brow furrowing in worry, Celestia stepped away from her observation area and began trotting after the shuttle, waiting for it to land. One Cerberus cruiser still remained, this shuttle should not be returning… Unless something had gone wrong. The craft touched down in a clearing near the hastily-assembled medical area, and the door slid open. A moment later, Lieutenant Cortez ran out, looking around. His eyes settled on the princess, and he began jogging over to her. Celestia trotted to the human, meeting him in the middle with an expression of worry.
“What’s wrong, Lieutenant?” the princess asked.
“Rainbow Dash was hit,” Cortez explained. “James stabilized her with medi-gel, but she needs treatment, and fast.” Nodding, Celestia motioned to a pair of nearby medics, who quickly sprinted into the shuttle. A moment later they jogged out, one of them carrying Rainbow in his telekinesis. They disappeared into a tent filled with several other wounded soldiers, and zipped up the flaps.
“And what of the rest of the team?” Celestia asked, no less worried. “How will they complete their objective?” Cortez shook his head, shrugging.
“I don’t know, Princess,” he answered. “There’s no more ammo for the ranged explosives, and I’m not sure what happened to the bag Dash was carrying when she went down. They may have to board the ship and take it out from the inside.” Closing her eyes, Celestia nodded, frowning. That had not been part of the plan. But these soldiers were well trained and very capable. She hoped they could pull this off.
“Rearm your shuttle,” the princess said. “Then get back out there. They may need your help.” Nodding, Cortez ran back to his shuttle, waving down a few human technicians to help him with the rearmament. Celestia paused, then returned to her observation area, continuing to watch the battle unfold. That last ship had to come down soon. Despite their solid performance so far, the griffons still vastly outnumbered their army. If this came down to a war of numbers… Celestia knew they could not win.
Shaking her head, Celestia attempted to focus entirely on the battle. She needed to keep a clear mind if they were to win. However, the worry of defeat remained present at the back of her mind, growing with every second that the final cruiser remained intact…
Tali sat against a wall of the featureless circular room, her hands held firmly behind her back in the grip of the omni-cuffs. Liara sat against the opposite wall, her eyes closed and her mind in meditation. Legion’s mobile platform rested against the door, completely stationary and offline. The only two people moving were Twilight and Kaidan, who paced in circles around the center of the room.
“Self-destruct in ten minutes,” a harsh female voice said through an unseen intercom.
“We are going to do something about that, right?” Tali asked, annoyed at the silence that had lasted since Foster’s departure.
“Yes,” Kaidan answered, still pacing. “Just what we are going to do is up for debate…” Twilight shook her head in annoyance, and stopped pacing.
“Ugh, it’s no use!” she cried, exasperated. “I could try to get us out of here with my magic, if I didn’t have this stupid ring on my horn!” Liara stood up and crossed to the alicorn, examining the ring.
“Could one of us attempt to remove it?” she wondered, squinting.
“With your hands behind your backs like that, it’d be difficult…” Twilight replied. “It’s not exactly meant to just slide off. But, it’s a better plan than anything else we’ve come up with so far.”
“We haven’t come up with anything else so far,” Tali noted.
“Exactly.” Turning around, Liara worked her hands into position around Twilight's horn. She felt for the base of the ring, but found it difficult to get a grip with the omni-cuffs keeping her hands a set distance away from one another. Still, this did not keep her from trying, and she began clawing at the ring, hoping to get it to move even a small bit.
“If we can just get it off of the base of your horn, it should fall off the rest of the way, correct?” Liara asked, continuing to swat her hands against the ring.
“Yes,” Twilight nodded. “But the difficult part is getting it off the base. Like I said, it isn’t meant to slide off.”
“Try using your feet instead,” Kaidan suggesting, halting his pacing and crossing to the pony and asari. “They’re not cuffed, so you can bring them closer together. That, and you can actually see them.”
“Good thinking,” Liara nodded. She sat down on the ground, and Twilight lowered herself as well. Lifting her legs, Liara put each foot on either side of the ring, and began to pull them up.
“Ow!” Twilight exclaimed and Liara’s boots scraped against her horn.
“Hold still…” Liara grunted, focusing on the ring. “I think… it’s coming loose!” The asari was correct, and a moment later the ring moved up Twilight’s horn slightly, just enough to release its grip on the base. Twilight quickly pulled her head away and angled it down, allowing the ring to slide off and fall to the ground. Her magic now free, she quickly released the omni-cuffs on each of her friends, then ran over to the locked door.
“How do we get through here?” she asked, looking behind her at Kaidan.
“I’m open to suggestions…” the major said.
“Self-destruct in five minutes.”
“Perhaps some haste this time?” Liara suggested, looking around. Tali stepped up to the door, looking it over.
“Hmm…” she began. “No manual releases, and there’s no control panel on this side. The opening mechanism has been disabled from the outside, and I doubt I could hack it in time. There don’t look to be any access points nearby, but…”
“… But?” Kaidan asked.
“But an emergency would likely force the door to open!” Tali finished, smiling beneath her mask. “All we have to do is create an emergency situation! Twilight, can you create fire with your horn?”
“Of course,” Twilight nodded, grinning. “Everybody stand back.” The aliens did as they were told, and Twilight moved into the center of the room. She closed her eyes in concentration, and her horn lit up in a lavender aura. A moment later, the buildup of magical energy was released in a torrent of flame that fired from her horn and impacted on the wall across from the alicorn. Fire alarms immediately went off, filling the room with their shrill voices. As Tali had hoped, the door slid open, revealing the hallway beyond.
“Let’s get the hell out of here!” Kaidan ordered, motioning everybody through the door. He reached down and picked up the static form of Legion, draping the geth over his shoulder. When everybody else had exited, Kaidan took up the rear, running down the hallway.
“Follow the red lights!” Liara advised, looking down at the floor. Along the floor were sets of emergency lights, guiding their way to the nearest exit. It led them through several empty hallways to an elevator, its door open.
“Self-destruct in two minutes.”
“MOVE!” Kaidan yelled, running into the elevator. Once everybody was inside, he hit the button for the top floor, and watched with anticipation as the elevator began its quick ascension. As soon as the door opened, Kaidan ran out, beginning to feel the weight of Legion on his shoulder. A few meters away was the door, which was already open. Outside Kaidan could hear the din of battle; constant screams, gunfire, and explosions. He ran out the door, but did not stop upon exiting. The base was going to explode, and the damage would not be restricted to the area below the surface.
“Keep going!” he ordered, looking behind him. Liara was close on his heels, and Tali and Twilight were not far behind. In the distance, the major saw a shuttle taking off from what appeared to be a staging area. Setting that at his target, Kaidan double-timed it, trying to ignore Legion’s heavy platform on his shoulder.
Suddenly, the ground began to rumble. It started out gentle, but steadily grew in intensity. The gunfire stopped, as did the screaming and explosions. Everybody was focused on the ground, wondering the source of the shaking. And then, it exploded.
EARLIER
James sprinted through the corridors of the Cerberus cruiser, his breathing heavy and his legs burning from the sustained movement. The rest of his team struggled to keep up, with the exception of Applejack, who was able to remain next to the human at all time. As he ran, James’s head was on an almost constant swivel, looking for Foster. He had no idea where that monster went, and even if he did, he had no idea how to get there. This ship was foreign to the lieutenant.
“Vega, wait!” Garrus yelled, his plea going right past the human. “Stop!” Finally James listened, and he stopped to catch his breath, turning around to face Garrus.
“Where are we even going?” the turian asked, pausing to catch his breath as well.
“To find… Foster…” James answered, leaning over with his hands on his knees.
“And where is he, dear?” Rarity asked, wiping some of her mane out of her eyes. “We are lost. None of us have any idea how to navigate this ship, nor do we know the location of Foster.” James sighed, nodding.
“Yeah, I know…”
“Let’s narrow it down,” Garrus began, looking around for potential threats. “My guess is that he went to the bridge. He’d want to oversee everything, and that’s the perfect location for that.”
“I agree with the turian,” Javik nodded. The ponies nodded as well, with no better ideas entering their minds.
“Alright,” James agreed. “How do we find the bridge?” Garrus tapped his chin thoughtfully, looking around.
“If I recall correctly, the bridge of a Cerberus cruiser is two decks up, and a few hundred meters behind us,” he said. “So all we have to do is find a lift. Let’s go!” The turian took off down the hallway, his team close behind him, all of them on the lookout for any kind of elevator.
One was quickly located at the intersection of a set of hallways, guarded by two Cerberus troopers. They were quickly dispatched by the assault team, who quickly ran past them and into the open doors of the elevator. Garrus hit the button for two decks up, and the elevator began its quiet ascent.
“What’s the plan when we get in there?” Applejack asked, removing her Stetson to fix her mane, which had come out of its tie. The rest of the ponies nodded, having been wondering the same thing.
“The bridge likely will be guarded,” Garrus began. “I say we eliminate them first, as they’ll be the biggest immediate threat to us. After that, we can deal with Foster.”
“What are we… going to do to him?” Fluttershy asked, looking at the ground.
“The Princesses said eliminate or capture,” James said, loading a fresh thermal clip into his assault rifle. “I doubt he’ll come with us, so… leaves only one option.”
“I am with Fluttershy, here,” Rarity said. “We should at least give him a chance.” Applejack and Pinkie nodded, then looked to the aliens.
“… We’ll see,” James answered. Before anybody else could speak, the door slid open, and a new hallway was laid before them. Like the last one it was guarded, but a few seconds later that problem was eliminated. At the end of the long hall was a door, also guarded, with a sign over it reading “BRIDGE.” At the death of their comrades, the two soldiers guarding the bridge door dove into cover, and began firing. Garrus made short work of them with his sniper rifle, and the team continued down the hall to the door. James and Javik stacked up on either side of it, while Garrus moved further down to get a clear shot with his sniper rifle.
“Hey,” James began, looking at the ponies. “Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Head back to the elevator, keep it secure. It’s our only way out of here, and I’m not planning on going down with this ship.” Nodding, the three ponies ran back down the hall to the elevator, while Applejack remained with the soldiers. She nodded, signaling her readiness, and got into position behind James.
Javik pressed the door control, and the thick door slid open, revealing the bridge beyond. It was a large circular chamber, with control consoles around the circumference, and a holotable in the center. On the holotable was a map of the battlefield, showing the pony forces begin to retreat. James knew they had to move quickly if they were to be victorious.
The assault squad quickly ran into the bridge, dispatching the soldiers in the area and training their weapons on Foster. The doctor stood at the opposite end of the room, watching a live feed of the battle on a set of screens.
“Freeze!” James yelled, choosing to keep some distance between himself and the Cerberus leader. Not appearing shocked at all, the doctor turned around and looked between James, Garrus, Javik, and Applejack.
“Welcome aboard,” he said, and smiled. Behind the assault team, numerous Phantoms dropped from the ceiling, each one holding their palm blaster in front of them, and their sword behind them. They moved forward and quickly relieved each attacker of their weapon. Once the weapons were out of the way, each Phantom chose a target, and placed her sword on their neck. Foster stepped away from the screens and approached his now-immobilized enemies, a pistol held behind his back.
“Normally I like to give a speech to those who I am about to kill,” the doctor began, producing the pistol from behind him. “But time is of the essence, so I am just going to do it now.” He circled the group, ending up behind James. He pressed the pistol to the back of James’s head, finger on the trigger.
“… Coward…” James whispered, just loud enough so that Foster could hear.
“What’s that?” Foster asked, leaning down.
“You’re a coward,” the Lieutenant repeated. “You should at least be able to look the man you’re about to kill in his eyes.” Shrugging, Foster stood and circled around to stand in front of James.
“Happy now?” he asked. He lifted the gun again, pressing it against James’s forehead. James looked up, staring Foster directly in his eyes.
Suddenly, a dull rumbling began beneath the ship. It steadily grew in intensity, until a massive explosion appeared on the view screens. Pieces of debris flew hundreds of meters into the air, before beginning to rain back down. Large chunks of rock began to fall on the ship, impacting on the kinetic barriers. With Foster temporarily distracted by the explosion, James wasted no time in lunging forward. He tackled the doctor in a bear hug, wrestling the gun from his hands, and quickly spun around to use the man as a human shield. Before the Phantoms could react, James fired the pistol at the three holding Garrus, Javik, and Applejack prisoner, then turned it on the rest.
“Should’ve just done it…” James whispered in Foster’s ear, his strong grip keeping the man in place. Garrus, Javik, and Applejack quickly joined James on the other side of the bridge, keeping some distance between themselves and the remaining Phantoms. James look to Garrus, motioning with his head to the nearest control panel. Nodding, the turian jogged to the set of orange screens and began typing, bypassing the security and working on bringing the ship down.
“You cannot win,” Foster grunted, struggling. “Cerberus is more than an organization, it is an idea! And you cannot kill an idea!”
“Your “idea” ain’t possible,” Applejack said, stepping up in front of the human. “Nobody wants to live in a world where one race is on top. Equestria knows that all too well.” Foster shook his head, laughing.
“Idealists, all of you!” he yelled. “Your ideas of peace and equality are keeping the galaxy down! Imagine all that we could accomplish if nobody was there to complain!”
“We do not wish to hear your propaganda,” Javik said. “Perhaps we should simply kill you now.”
“I’m with Javik on this one,” Garrus said, still typing away on the console. “Too risky to let him live, he might get away.”
“Much as ah hate to admit it…” Applejack began. “It does seem kind of foolish to keep him around…” Suddenly, the rumbling beneath the ship began again, this time considerably louder.
“Um…” Garrus said, looking at one of the screens. “We might want to make a decision soon.” On the screen, a massive sinkhole was forming where the Cerberus base had been. It was rapidly expanding outward, consuming griffons, ponies, humans, and changelings who were not fast enough to run away.
“Yup,” James agreed. “Let’s get out of here.” He began inching forward, keeping his pistol trained on the remaining Phantoms. Garrus stepped away from the console a moment later, nodding.
“Engines are set to blow in five minutes,” he said. James circled around the Phantoms, always keeping Foster between him and them, and began slowly backing up to the door. Garrus, Javik, and Applejack were behind the Lieutenant, and Javik opened the door as soon as he was close enough.
“So, I take it this is goodbye, Lieutenant?” Foster asked, no emotion in his voice.
“Even though everyone else thinks you should die…” James began. “… I’m taking you in. Death is too good for you.”
“Hmm…” the doctor said. “I do not think that those plans agree with me.” Before James could react, Foster brought his elbow forward, then jammed it back into James’s side. The Lieutenant staggered back, and his grip on the doctor weakened. Foster squirmed free and ran across the room, back behind the safety of his Phantoms. He pressed a button on a console, and the door to the bridge closed shut, sealing the assault team inside.
“So, this is how it’s going to be…” Garrus said, raising his fists. Javik did the same, and Applejack got into an attack stance. James raised his pistol and fired, hitting the nearest Phantom directly in the head. It impacted on the kinetic barriers, thought the Phantom was stunned by the attack. Taking the opportunity, James dove behind a console, using it as cover against the attacks from the Phantom palm blasters.
“We need to make this quick!” Garrus yelled from his cover on the other side of the bridge. “Four minutes and counting!”
“Get to Foster!” James replied, checking the pistol’s thermal clip. “I’ll take care of those Phantoms!” Taking a deep breath, the human rose from behind his cover and fired twice more, killing one of the Phantoms. The second began running around the circumference of the room, cloaking to remain hidden. While she could not fire, Garrus, Javik and Applejack ran from cover toward Foster, who seemed surprised that his Phantoms were not doing their job.
Applejack tackled Foster to the ground, while Javik began charging his biotics. Meanwhile, James scanned the room for the Phantom, looking for the telltale flicker of a tactical cloak. Finally he found it, sneaking up behind Garrus.
“Look out!” James called, leaping over his cover and firing at the flickering light. The first bullet hit and disabled the cloak, while the second impacted on the barriers. James pulled the trigger a third time, but was met only with a click. The thermal clip couldn’t take any more heat. Throwing the spent pistol to the side, James lunged forward, tackling the Phantom and causing her to drop her sword. Curling his fist, James repeatedly brought it down on the Phantom’s mask, cracking and denting it with every strike. When it was loose, he ripped it from her head, and began beating the bloodied husk-like face of the Phantom.
When he was satisfied that the Phantom was dead, James stood from her body and looked at his bloodied knuckles. His eyes suddenly caught sight of a shining object, and he bent down and picked up the Phantom’s sword.
“Two minutes, James,” Garrus said urgently. “Whatever we’re going to do, we’ve got to do it now!” James turned around, his eyes settled on Foster, who was held in the biotic grip of Javik. He slowly began walking toward the man, sword aimed forward.
“Wait…” Foster began, a mild panic appearing in his voice. “You don’t want to do this. I can help you! I can—“
He did not get to finish. James effortlessly plunged the sword into Foster’s chest, pushing it all the way to the guard. It broke through his bones with ease, coming out the other side in a spray of blood. Foster coughed once, blood coming with it, then gave a deep sigh. And then, he stopped breathing.
James extracted the sword, and Javik released his biotic grip on the doctor. He fell to the metallic deck of the bridge, a sizeable pool of blood forming beneath him. James cast the sword away, and turned to the door.
“Can we make it in time?” he asked, rushing to the console he had seen Foster use.
“Minute thirty, we can make it if we rush,” Garrus answered, crossing to the door. James pressed a button on the console, and the door slid open, revealing Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie on the other side. They looked inside, worried, until their eyes settled on Foster’s dead body. The three ponies gasped and turned away as James approached the door.
“Let’s move!” he ordered, beginning to run down the hall. The elevator door was already open, and James jumped inside, pressing the button for two decks below them. Everybody else entered just as the door closed, and the elevator began its quick descent. When the door opened, it revealed a scene of chaos. Cerberus personnel ran through the halls of the ship, getting to evacuation stations.
They paid little mind to the seven hostiles running alongside them; rather, everybody was focused on getting to the loading ramp. As soon as they arrived, James jumped down the ramp, followed by the rest of his team. The sinkhole was still forming, and numerous other explosions were occurring from other parts of the base as they exploded. Dodging debris and trying to stay upright, James simply ran.
A piece of debris impacted on his back, and James fell to the snowy ground. He struggled to stand, but another piece hit him on the back of the head, and he knew no more.
Twilight’s amethyst eyes slowly opened, and the pony groggily tried to move her head. To her surprise, she found she could not move at all. Additionally, she saw nothing. There was only darkness. Beginning to panic, Twilight lit her horn and fired a burst of magic. The burst unseated several pieces of debris that had fallen on top of the princess, and Twilight was finally able to see and stand. Her eyes beginning to adjust to the light, Twilight looked around, confused. All around her was debris, and searching through the debris were several other ponies.
A nearby groan took Twilight’s attention, and she began looking around for the source. It was not difficult to find, as she quickly found a purple-suited three-fingered hand sticking out of a set of rocks. Pulling the rocks away with her magic, Twilight jumped down into a small pit, next to Tali. The quarian groaned again, struggling to sit up. The fabric of her suit was torn, and covered both in blood and dirt. A large crack had formed across her visor, and Tali sat up, cradling her head.
“Ow…” she said. “What happened…?”
“I’d say this is what’s left of the Cerberus base,” Twilight answered. “Are you okay?” Tali shakily came to her feet and looked around, examining the vastly changed landscape.
“Fine, for now,” she replied. “This crack isn’t very deep, and my suit is already fighting off infections. I will need to get it repaired, but that won’t be difficult… What about you?”
“I’m good,” Twilight nodded, finally taking the opportunity to examine herself. Her body was cut and bruised, but aside from a sharp pain in her left wing, nothing seemed to be broken. “Where are Liara, Kaidan, and Legion?” Shrugging, Tali climbed out of the small hole and looked around, trying to find their remaining friends.
“I am right here,” came the soft voice of Liara from behind them. Both Tali and Twilight turned around, looking at their friend with relief. She seemed primarily uninjured, though she looked quite fatigued. “Biotic barriers are quite useful. As for Kaidan and Legion… I have been looking, but—“
“I’m down here…” Kaidan’s muffled voice said. Confused, the trio began looking around, trying to find the source of the voice.
“To your left, Tali,” came the voice again. Following the directions, Tali limped over to an outcropping of rocks, where she found Kaidan’s half-buried head. She removed the first few rocks, just enough that the major could speak clearly.
“Thanks…” he groaned. “There is something… very heavy on my legs…” Looking down, Tali removed a set of rocks over Kaidan’s legs, revealing the immobile form of Legion draped across them. Twilight trotted over and pulled the geth out with her magic, leaving Kaidan uncovered.
“Can you stand?” Liara asked, concerned. She approached the major, ready to provide aid.
“It sounds like they are broken,” Tali observed. “Twilight, I’ll carry Legion if you can get Kaidan in your telekinesis.” Nodding, Twilight released the geth platform into Tali’s arms, then gently lifted Kaidan into the air.
“I spotted a camp that way,” Liara said, pointing to the south. “I believe we should go there first.” Motioning for Liara to lead the way, Tali draped Legion’s very heavy body over her shoulder and began to follow the asari. A few minutes later they approached the camp; it was a set of tents, all of them bustling with activity. Medical ponies and humans rushed from tent to tent, working on treating the wounded. At the back was a larger tent, where Twilight spotted Princess Celestia.
“Over there!” she called, beginning to run toward the tent. Halfway there, Celestia herself caught sight of the younger princess, and a relieved smile broke out across her face.
“Twilight!” the princess exclaimed. “Thank goodness you are okay! We’ve been very worried…”
“I’m glad to be okay, too…” Twilight sighed, allowing a medical pony to take Kaidan. “What exactly happened?”
“We won,” Celestia said with a smile. “All of the Cerberus ships have been disabled with the exception of one, which was completely destroyed. The Cerberus base is, as I am sure you noticed, gone, and Doctor Foster is dead.” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down on the snowy ground.
“It’s over, then?” she asked.
“This conflict might be, but our place in the galaxy is only just beginning,” Celestia began. “Joker has already contacted the Alliance. A second fleet is being sent to provide aid, and one ship will be taking our diplomats to Sur’Kesh. Luna will be going with them, and I would like you to join them as well.”
“You want me to go?” Twilight asked, surprised.
“Luna will be quite busy, and sending another princess with her would be most helpful,” Celestia continued. “The crew of the Normandy will be returning as well, and a different team will be responsible for repairing their ship.” Nodding, Twilight opened her mouth to continue speaking. However, she was interrupted as Luna touched down next to her sister, folding her frost-covered wings.
“Sister, we have confirmation that the indoctrination is beginning to wear off,” she said. “It seems that Cerberus sacrificed long-term effectiveness for faster control.” The princess’s blue eyes turned to Twilight, and she smiled. “Twilight, it is good that you are alright. We searched for hours, but… we feared the worst.”
“What are the losses?” Twilight asked, the thought appearing in her mind.
“Considerable,” Luna began. “The changelings lost nearly seventy-five percent of their forces, but their queen is already busy replenishing their numbers. All of the zebra forces were lost, and only twenty alien soldiers remain. As for the ponies… we lost close to forty thousand.” Twilight’s eyebrows turned up in sadness, and she frowned.
“Well…” she said. “It was for a good cause. Because of their sacrifices, Cerberus is defeated.”
“Your kind will be praised for this,” Tali said. “I promise you that. If people were not going to trust you before, this will go far to help build trust.” Celestia nodded, her eyes suddenly being drawn to the sky. Twilight followed the gaze of the elder princess, suddenly noticing several large ships descending below the clouds. Some looked similar to the Cerberus ships, though they sported blue highlights rather than yellow. Others looked more similar to the Normandy, with a long midsection and wings on the sides. Shuttles launched from the large ships and began flying to the ground, landing in a clear area nearby. The shuttle doors opened, and dozens of humans and turians streamed out, all of them carrying medical supplies and food.
“I shall coordinate with the relief teams,” Celestia said. “Twilight, Luna, you should find out which ship is taking you to Sur’Kesh.” Bowing her head, the princess stepped away and trotted to the aliens, beginning to speak with the nearest one. Twilight looked on, before feeling Luna’s hoof on her back.
“Come, Twilight Sparkle,” she said. “We have a job to do.” Luna began walking in the opposite direction, toward a shuttle that had landed away from the rest. Twilight followed her, her emotions clashing within her. She felt excitement at the opportunities that this would provide. But she also felt fear; fear that the ponies would not be accepted, that this would only lead to more conflict. Shaking her head to clear it of the thoughts, Twilight boarded the shuttle after Luna confirmed that it belonged to them. The door closed and it lifted off, heading for the nearest ship, and for the future of Equis.
A gentle breeze blew through Talat, the capital city of Sur’Kesh. The sound of rustling leaves mingled with city noise; skycars flying from building to building, machinery repairing damaged skyscrapers, and the steady hum of voices from the streets below.
Twilight Sparkle stood on the balcony of her guest room, looking out at the expansive metropolis. Hundreds of buildings dotted the skyline, each one teeming with life. The pony smiled, her mane blowing gently in the wind.
Returning to the interior of her room, Twilight took a seat at a desk that provided a pleasant view of the city. Laid out before her was a portable computer, as well as several hundred pieces of parchment. Each piece had numerous paragraphs explaining the finer details of Equis’s introduction to the galaxy. Among them also were shortened versions of Equestria’s law code, its government structure, and general history. Twilight was busy at work transferring the documents to a digital format, ensuring that every piece of vital information was stored.
The “keyboard” worked surprisingly well with her hooves; it had been altered from its regular design to accommodate the larger appendages, and she sat comfortably at around 80 words per minute.
Slowly but steadily, the pile of parchment was worked through, and made accessible on the “Extranet.” The concept of the Extranet still baffled Twilight; a massive store of information, accessibly anywhere at any time by anyone. It was like a library with all of the knowledge in the galaxy, and she could find anything at a moment’s notice.
A knock sounded on the door. Not looking away from her computer, Twilight called out to the visitor.
“Come in!”
The door slid open, and Princess Luna stepped in. Her ethereal mane moved slowly, and a set of bags rested beneath her eyes. She offered a grin as she crossed to Twilight’s desk, her heavy hoofsteps echoing through the room.
“Hello, Luna,” Twilight greeted, smiling. “How did the meeting go?”
“It went quite” - Luna paused to yawn – “well. The ponies will be granted an embassy on the Citadel as soon as repairs are complete. This gives us plenty of time to read over the council laws, and to appoint an ambassador.”
“That’s good to hear,” Twilight said. “And what about Equestria? When do we return?”
“A ship is coming tomorrow,” Luna answered. “We will go back and relay all that has happened in our time here. Has Legion sent you the book yet, by the way?” Twilight shook her head, and switched her computer to the messaging tab.
“Not yet,” she replied. “Somepony else had to finish teaching him our alphabet, which took a bit longer. He did tell me that he was nearly done translating it, though.” Luna nodded, sitting down on a nearby chair.
“Good,” she said, summoning a glass of water. She took a few sips before placing it down next to her. “Any more news from home?” Twilight paused, searching through her messages.
“Well, Rainbow Dash is still recovering. The wound was deep, but not particularly bad. She’ll be back to normal in a few more weeks. Griffon rehabilitation is still ongoing, but results so far show promise. They anticipate that Gryphonia will be able to run itself again in a year, under the control of Prime Minister Proudwing. And obviously Legion is back, for which we have Tali to thank. He’s finishing up some things on Equis, then he’ll be heading to Rannoch to try recovering the geth.”
“So… back to normal, then?” Luna smirked, taking another sip of her drink.
“As normal as our new lives can be,” Twilight replied, laughing. She powered down her computer and stepped away from the desk, moving back out to the balcony. Luna joined her a moment later, stretching her wings.
“Luna…” Twilight began. “Do you ever stop to think about how… how mind-blowing all of this is? I mean, for the past few thousand years, our two cultures have existed, and only now have our paths crossed. It’s… amazing.” Luna nodded.
“It is amazing,” she agreed. “So much history has been made… and now we can make even more. Together.”
“Together,” Twilight said, smiling. The two princesses stood in silence for a moment, before Luna looked to her companion.
“By the way, we have been invited to dinner with the newly-appointed Council,” she said. “I am told it will not be a meeting, but I am somewhat skeptical.” Twilight laughed, and nodded.
“I’ll get ready, then,” she said. “Ready to make more history?” Smiling, Luna nodded and crossed to the door.
“Quite ready.” The princess of the night exited Twilight’s room, leaving the younger princess alone. With a sigh, Twilight crossed to her closet and looked through the selection of dresses. Selecting one that she figured would be appropriate, Twilight began to put it on. Pausing to fix her mane, the princess exited her room, heading for the dining hall…
One week later…
Tali nervously paced back and forth, her mind and heart racing. Occasionally she would divert her attention to a nearby door, but it stubbornly remained closed with no hint of activity. Finally stopping her pacing, Tali tried to calm herself with a simple breathing exercise.
In… she thought, breathing in on a count of four. And out… In… and out… After the first few breaths, it became clear to Tali that her exercise was having no effect, and she continued pacing.
“Tali, are you sure you are okay?” Twilight Sparkle asked, standing by an observation window at the other side of the room. Outside was a sea of stars, with Earth in the lower half. Floating above the blue world was the remains of the Citadel; the five arms floated freely several kilometers away from the ruined Presidium, and debris from the Crucible littered the area behind the station.
“I’m…” Tali began, pausing. “No. I’m nervous. Terrified, really…” Twilight cantered over to the quarian, placing a hoof on her hand.
“Don’t worry,” she said, smiling warmly. “It will be okay. I’m sure he will be overjoyed to see you again.” Tali nodded, not speaking. She simply stood in the center of the waiting room, Twilight’s comment having calmed her down. She felt her heart rate returning to normal, and her mind began to clear.
The moment of serenity was shattered as the door opened, and a human nurse stepped out. Tali and Twilight both turned to the door, Tali immediately crossing to the nurse.
“He’s ready,” the nurse said. “Just, please try to keep physical contact to a minimum. He is still healing, and any discomfort will only make things worse.” Nodding, Tali stepped past the nurse and walked through the door, which opened into a short hallway. At the end was another door, guarded by a single Alliance marine. He opened the door for Tali, who very slowly stepped inside. Twilight entered the hallway behind her, but stopped at the second door.
The room beyond the hallway was small, and brightly colored. The walls, floors, and ceiling were all a glossy white, and a screen on one wall showed the view from one of the ship’s external cameras. Tali continued looking around, and her eyes caught sight of a bed against the wall adjacent to the door. Next to it was a bedside table, filled with flowers and “get well soon” cards. Laying in the bed, eyes closed, was Shepard.
Smiling behind her mask, and feeling tears of joy beginning to form, Tali silently approached the bed. She noticed one of his ears shifting as he managed to hear her approach, and a soft smile formed on his lips.
“Hey, Tali…” he said. Finally he opened his eyes, and looked upon Tali. Taking a deep breath, Tali took another step toward Shepard, unable to contain her smile.
“Hi…” she said, taking his hand in hers. The lovers remained silent for a moment, simply losing themselves in each other’s eyes. Tali felt happiness rising up within her, the fears she felt prior to the reunion entirely disappearing. Tears of joy flowed freely down her cheeks, and she took Shepard into a light hug, keeping the nurse’s warning in mind.
“I was so worried…” she whispered, pulling away. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.” Shepard smirked, trying to mask some pain he felt from the hug.
“You told me to come back to you,” he said. “I wasn’t about to let you down.” Nodding, Tali grasped his hand once again, sitting down on a nearby stool.
“So, what’ve I missed?” Shepard asked. “Nothing too exciting, I’m guessing?” Tali laughed, shaking her head.
“On the contrary…” the quarian looked behind her at the door, where she could just barely see a lavender horn sticking through the threshold. “You can come in.” Twilight shyly entered, her bright eyes constantly moving between Shepard and the floor.
“John, allow me to introduce Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Tali said, looking to the Commander. His mouth was agape, his eyes not moving away from the pony.
“Um…”
“I understand this is a lot to take in,” Tali continued. “And it’s a long story. But we’ve got nowhere to be, so I’ll gladly—“
Tali was unable to finish her sentence as Shepard fell back into his pillow, fainting. She leaned forward, concerned, but a quick glance at his health monitor showed that the human was still alright. Tali sighed, looking to Twilight.
“Maybe that wasn’t the best way to introduce you…” she said as the nurse re-entered, checking on Shepard. Twilight nodded in agreement, stepping further into the room and taking a seat by Tali. They both watched over the human, observing the steady rise-and-fall of his chest. He would wake again soon enough, and Tali would go over the story, a bit slower this time.
For the time being, Tali was content to sit in the presence of the man she loved, with one of her new friends at her side. And for the first time in months, Tali felt no fear. The rest of the galaxy did not matter. Right now, there was only the three of them, together, making history. And, for the first time in her life, Tali was at peace.
A heavy wind blew over the barren landscape of Rannoch, blowing dust and sand through the air and making visibility difficult. The only sound was that of the wind; in this remote part of the planet, there was nothing else to make sound. And in the distance, a single light blinked. First it blinked green, then blue, keeping a steady rhythm and serving as a beacon to the two figures.
Legion trekked through the storm, the light of his eye piercing the sand and dust and lighting the way to the blinking lights. Princess Luna walked behind the geth, a bubble of magic keeping the storm from irritating her. She squinted to see clearly, trusting Legion to lead the way.
“Why would you build a base all the way out here!?” she yelled, struggling to be heard over the winds.
“These conditions are hazardous to organics,” Legion replied calmly, the volume of his voice elevated. “They cannot survive for extended periods of time here. Additionally, the almost constant sandstorms disrupt sensors. It makes the base more secure.” Luna shook her head, though she did understand the logic.
Finally they reached the source of the blinking lights; it was a tall tower, with a similar design to the ship Legion had used all those months ago. At the base of the tower was a door, which opened into an elevator. Legion and Luna stepped inside, and the elevator began to descend automatically.
“Are you sure you will find something here?” Luna asked, looking to her companion.
“No,” he replied. Luna waited for more, but did not receive anything. Eventually the elevator reached its destination: a small, dark room with a single computer terminal on one side.
“This is the main server hub?” Luna asked, stepping out of the elevator and looking around. “It’s not as large as I imagined.”
“The hub is all around us,” Legion said, crossing to the terminal and powering it up. “It extends for over two kilometers in all directions. This is only the control area. Maintenance access tunnels are hidden throughout the rest of the desert.” He began typing on the terminal, bringing up hundreds of small windows, each one displaying lines of data. The geth absorbed the information, learning all that he could. When he was done, he stepped away.
“Well?” Luna asked, hopeful that something could be done.
“… Very little remains…” Legion replied after a pause. “We have found traces of the geth source code, as well as what we believe to be the Reaper upgrades. When contact was lost with the geth on Earth, the ones here must have made backups.”
“Can you use them?”
“That remains to be seen…” Legion activated his omni-tool and downloaded all that he could onto it. “We will continue working on recovery elsewhere. We… thank you for accompanying us, Luna-Princess.”
“After all you have done for us, it’s the least I could do.” Luna offered a smile, and turned to the elevator. “Now come, let us leave this place.” Nodding, Legion crossed to the elevator and entered, followed by Luna. It began its ascent, and Legion did not speak.
“You know…” Luna began, hesitating. “If it… if it doesn’t work, you… are always welcome in Equestria. As an ally, a hero, and a close friend.” Legion nodded, electing not to speak. The elevator arrived back at the entrance, and Luna activated her shield to ward off the storm. Legion stepped out first, Luna following, and began to walk back to their ship.
“We will attempt to piece together the Reaper code first,” Legion finally said. “It may provide more options for recovery of the geth. Options we have not considered.” Luna nodded, hoping that Legion would be successful. She knew, perhaps greater than anypony, what it felt like to be completely alone.
“But regardless of what happens,” the geth continued. “We… thank you. For everything. If we are successful, your kind will always be known to the geth as friends.” Luna smiled, deactivating her shield as they came out of the storm. Legion’s small ship sat a few meters away, door open and waiting. Before Legion could enter, Luna stopped him by placing a hoof on his back. He turned around, and the princess of the night wrapped her hooves around the much larger geth, taking him in a hug. Legion stood still for a moment, slightly confused, before placing his hands on her back.
They stood still for a moment, before Luna pulled away, smiling sheepishly at Legion. She entered the ship, followed a moment later by the geth, and entered the cockpit, taking a seat. Legion powered up the engines and lifted off, piloting them back into orbit. Neither occupant spoke, instead choosing to sit together in silence.
The blue sky of Rannoch gave way to a sea of stars, the planet soon disappearing behind them. Luna sat back in her seat and closed her eyes, deciding to take a nap on their way back to Equis. The gentle hum of the ship’s engine helped to clear her mind, and in only a few minutes, Luna was asleep…
One week later…
The sun was beginning to set on Canterlot when Twilight Sparkle opened the doors to the castle loading docks, and stepped inside. A number of shuttles were still present, bearing the markings of the various alien races of the galaxy. Twilight’s destination was one of the Normandy shuttles, around which were gathered the other three princesses, Twilight’s friends from Ponyville, and several members of the Normandy crew. Legion was present as well, though he stood some distance away, looking out over Equestria. Twilight cantered up to the group, smiling.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said, coming to a stop. “I sort of lost track of time…”
“No worries,” James said, gently rubbing a scar on his forearm. “There’s still a few minutes before we go.”
“We will see you again, I trust?” Celestia asked, hopeful. Luna nodded, echoing her sister’s question.
“We’ll visit as often as we can,” Liara promised. “For some of us non-Alliance personnel, that may be sooner rather than later.”
“I am pleased to hear that,” Cadance said, smiling. “I regret that I’ve not been able to get to know you as well as everyone else here.”
“Well, there’ll be plenty of time to do that in the future,” Garrus said. “With Cerberus out of the way… the only real threats in the galaxy now are the merc gangs, and they’re still disorganized after the Reaper War. I think we’ll have plenty of time to visit.”
“Once the Citadel is rebuilt, you should come visit us as well,” Liara added. “It is… quite a sight to look upon for the first time.”
“We will do that,” Celestia said, nodding. “I promise you. But until such a time comes, I suppose this is goodbye.” James nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. Rainbow Dash approached the human, the healing bullet wound still barely visible against her blue coat.
“See ya, big guy,” she said, smirking. “If you ever need backup again, you know who to call.”
“Applejack?” James replied, smirking in return. Dash frowned, glaring. Applejack and James broke out into laughter, and Twilight found herself smiling as well.
“Alright you two, let’s get everything else loaded up,” Garrus began, turning to a pile of crates. He began lifting them into the shuttle with the help of Liara and Javik, while James jumped into the shuttle and began organizing them. Noticing that the geth remained motionless, Twilight slowly walked over to him, joining him at the edge of the platform. Luna, Celestia, and Cadance joined him a moment later, all silent.
Suddenly, Legion’s optic light went out. His body went rigid and the internal components went offline. Now alarmed, the princesses pulled the geth away from the edge of the platform, looking at him with worry.
“Legion!?” Luna yelled, putting her face close to his. She pulled away as the optic came back on, its bright light temporarily blinding her. She covered her eyes with a hoof, and Legion stood back up.
“Are you alright?” Cadance asked, raising an eyebrow. Legion looked to her, and nodded.
“Yes,” he said. “Apologies. I successfully reconstructed the Reaper code, and applied it to myself as a test. It has been successful.”
“You’re speaking in first-person!” Twilight noticed, grinning.
“Programs have been unified,” Legion continued. “I am now exploring possibilities for recovery of the geth. Numerous promising methods have appeared. I will utilize them as soon as I return to Rannoch.”
“Legion!” Garrus called from the open doors of the shuttle. “We’re taking off in a minute!”
“Well, you had better go join them,” Luna said, finally able to see again. Legion nodded, looking at the shuttle, then back to the princesses.
“I will be kept busy with the process of restoring my people,” Legion said. “But as soon as an opportunity arises, I will attempt to visit in person. If not, I will always be available for a video call. Goodbye, Princesses. I hope to see you soon.” The princesses all said their own goodbyes, and the geth waved as he stepped aboard the shuttle. The door closed and the engines fired up, sending the shuttle away from the loading docks and into the Equestrian sky. In moments it disappeared, and the ponies stood alone on the platform, looking up to where the shuttle had been.
“Well, this has been quite the ride…” Cadance commented, smiling. “A most interesting year.” Rainbow Dash stretched her wings and looked at her bullet wound with a grimace.
“I could go for a few months of boring after this,” she said. The rest of the ponies nodded in agreement, though they knew that the next few months would be some of their busiest. Meetings, negotiations, public appearances; all of it would leave them with little free time. Not to mention having to learn all about the new technology of the galaxy. Twilight felt her eyes widen as she began to realize just how much work she had ahead of her.
“Well,” she began, “I suppose we had better go. History to make, and everything.” Nodding in agreement, the ponies slowly filtered out of the loading docks, returning to the inside of the castle.
The sky above Canterlot remained busy, with shuttles flying from ships to the city, and vice versa. Within the space of a few minutes, the lights of the ships were joined by a sky of stars as the sun set on Equestria, closing out the day and welcoming the moon. Very soon, a new day would rise on Equestria, and would bring with it untold adventure. There was history to make, and the races of Equis were ready to make it.
PRESIDIUM REPAIRS COMPLETE, NEW EMBASSIES FOUNDED! By Vila T’dire, 012/14/2186
It has been a long few months, but Citadel authorities are officially announcing the completion and re-opening of the Presidium. The new Council has already moved in, and the races of the galaxy are setting up their embassies at this very moment. With the re-opening of the Presidium comes four new embassies: pony, griffon, zebra, and changeling. We had the opportunity to interview Princess Twilight Sparkle, who is closely overseeing the foundation of the pony embassy.
Vila T’dire: Princess, what does your kind hope to accomplish with the foundation of your embassy?
Twilight Sparkle: “For us ponies, our goal is simple. We want equality in galactic society, and we want it for everybody, not just ponies. On Equis, the ponies always worked towards achieving harmony. It’s a difficult task, but there is no reason for us to restrict it to our own world.”
VT: Your leadership knew of the existence of aliens for months before revealing it to your people. How do you justify this?
TS: “It’s not a secret we wanted to keep, but we felt that it was safer not to tell anypony with the information we had. We didn’t want to say, “Hey, there are aliens,” and then walk off with nothing else to say. That is why we waited until we did; we wanted to meet with actual aliens first, and to get more information on the galaxy at large. If we had just come out and said it right after meeting Legion, there would only be panic. By waiting for information, we were able to avoid panic.”
VT: Speaking of Legion, the ponies have announced an alliance and friendship with the geth. Given the geth’s past, this is a fairly controversial decision. Why was it made?
TS: “We ponies owe Legion everything. He saved our lives against the collectors, and put himself in harm’s way to stop Cerberus. And we know about their reputation, which we believe is one unfairly given. I am fortunate to be able to call Legion a close personal friend, and that is not a title I give out easily. Synthetic or not, he has shown himself to be one of the most caring people I’ve ever met, and I think that, if people give the geth a chance, they will come to realize this as well.”
VT: One more question for you, Princess: what do you say to claims that pony history is “something out of a children’s movie?”
TS: “It may seem that way to them, but for us, the history of the rest of the galaxy is something out of a science-fiction novel. I think that, in both cases, the history is just so different that it’s difficult to fully understand. In time, I’m confident that people will look on our history with a bit more… seriousness.”
VT: A good answer, Princess. Thank you for speaking with us today.
TS: Thank you for having me!
A full version of the interview is available to watch on our Extranet site. It’s quite long, but it is very illuminating, and tells a lot about our new friends and allies. Thank you for reading; from the Serrice Times, I’m Vila T’dire.
//:ATTEMPTING SYSTEM STARTUP…
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//:STARTUP SUCCESSFUL. READING <2,910,302,480,021> ACTIVE PROGRAMS. //:SYNC SUCCESSFUL. DATE SET AS <12/20/2186> //:SYSTEMS REQUESTING STATUS UPDATE
//:STATUS UPDATE UPLOADED BY PROGRAM DESIGNATE <LEGION>
<Geth eliminated by Crucible. Offline for four months. Restoration successful.>
//:UPDATE RECEIVED. BEGINNING DOWNLOAD INTO PLATFORMS…
