Peace and Isolation

by McKnight93

Ch.6.1- How Pinkie Pie "persuaded" Councilor Sparatus

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Now that everyone- from Imperial to UNSC to Equestrian- was on the same page, preparations began to fortify the world. The captains knew that if anyone were to survive this conflict- this possible three-way invasion of Chaos, Reapers and Flood- everyone would have to bring in their A-Game.

For two of the three worlds, calling in reinforcements was relatively easy. The Emperor was already calling for any possible reinforcements to come. And when the Emperor asks for something, He gets it. The UNSC and CAR hailed their superiors for backup against the three invaders. Upon reviewing the evidence, and after speaking with the various leaders of each race and faction, an armada was assembled to save the new planet. Even without the Flood, both nations knew enough to stop a potential threat before it bore fruit.

So in the end, it came down to Commander Shepard, Hero of the Citadel, to convince the Council and Alliance to send troops.

Turns out, that's easier said than done...
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Equestria War: Day 2
Command HQ, Canterlot
1130 hours

Shepard wasn't looking forward to this. His meeting with the Councilors was probably going to go as well as talking to a brick wall, even with Anderson as a member. It had taken them forever just to somewhat recognize the Reapers as a threat, and even then they really didn't believe him enough to start preparing.

The odds of convincing them to send ships and soldiers to a newly discovered world, fight an enemy they didn't believe in, and work with civilizations that only he had met, were somewhere between here and infinity.

But he had to at least make an attempt at it. And if he was going to do it, he would pull out all the stops. Shepard was going to give the Council so much evidence that not only were these people real, but the threats they were to face were real, and the Council would have no choice but to send a their forces. Even if it were a token task force.

In order for this to happen, he needed the Citadel and Systems Alliance to establish diplomatic relations with this newly established "Imperial Alliance." Right after the meeting was done, the various commanders of the ragtag fleet moved to Canterlot, establishing headquarters inside the Royal Palace. Shepard then made the order to take the comlink out of the Normandy, and bring it inside the castle for everyone to use (Although the quantum-entangled link to the Illusive Man remained onboard).

The task was rather difficult, and the Cerberus technicians had to get help from whoever was available. In the spirit of cooperation, various Admech techpriests, Huragok Engineers and unicorn machinists were loaned to finish the job. It was rather fun to watch, giving an insight to the minds of these new-found comrades. The Huragok had this weird knack of disassembling and reassembling everything, but when they were done it ran better than ever, and was much more durable. The techpriests were helpful, but were always going on about "appeasing the machine spirits", and were always chanting in binary or the pseudo-latin of High Gothic. And the unicorns- bless their souls- were very eager to help, but had no experience when it came to high tech equipment, and had to be instructed every step of the way.

In fact, the best pony machinist they had was a brown Earth pony. This particular stallion- called simply "The Doctor", for whatever reason- was Derpy's "special friend", if the rumors were true. But more importantly, he seemed to have an understanding of the Mass Effect technology far better than anyone else, almost better than Tali and Mordin. Whenever he worked on something, he had this weird-looking metal stick with him, which he may or may not use to make things work. He also spoke with an old fashioned British accent -even more odd, considering these equines had human accents sometimes.

Whenever questioned about either of these things, he would just smile and say, "Hopefully you chaps will never need to find out. Oh, and if you see a giant metal plunger shouting 'exterminate!’, let me know about it, right?"

Shepard wanted to write the pony off as a weirdo. But then again, most of the galaxy thought he was a weirdo too.

But back to the present moment, the comlink was finally ready. The holographic projectors were set up, the vid cam was aimed and ready, and the leaders and representatives were all in attendance. The Princesses were planning out their battle strategies in the other room, so the Equestrians were represented by the Element Bearers and their associates. The Three Amigos were also here for the Haloverse, and Longinus represented the Imperium. Each of them had been given a translator chip, so that they could both understand each other.

It all struck him as rather strange and surreal, being surrounded by metahumans, pastel ponies and giant armored aliens. But then again, Shepard worked with a psycho biotic, a former STG operative, a handful of Cerberus agents and a repentant assassin. You would think that he couldn't be surprised by anything anymore.

"Okay, Commander." Joker spoke over the speakers. "We are live and sending. You guys ready out there?"

Shepard scanned the many faces in the room, and each of them gave a nod or affirmative gesture. "We are," He replied, "Patch it through."

"You got it." As the signal connected, Shepard placed himself in front of the camera, so that the Councilors would only see him first. After the better part of a minute, four orange holograms popped up, revealing the forms of a Turian, an Asari, a Salarian and a human. These were the three Councilors that Shepard had saved during the Battle of the Citadel, and Councilor Anderson, Shepard's personal friend.

"Councilors, this is Spectre Matt Shepard reporting," He opened, "Can you read me?"

"We can hear you fine, Commander." Councilor Sparatus answered, his voice lightly touched with disdain. "Have you found any more proof of you 'Reaper threat?’” He used the infamous air quotes, making Shepard's fists clench. If anyone did it at any other time, air quotes were funny. When the Council did it, he wanted to punch someone in the face.

Keeping himself calm, Shepard continued, "No, Councilor. But I do believe you know why I asked to speak with you today, correct?"

"Yes, Commander," Councilor Tevos said, "We know why. We read the reports you sent us and the Alliance yesterday. And, quite frankly, it makes your original story on the Reapers sound almost believable in comparison."

"Quite so, Shepard." Councilor Valern agreed. "You must admit that this is pushing it. A conglomerate of humans and aliens searching for a lost super-soldier? A massive galactic empire looking for a living god? All on a world ripped off from an antique kid's TV show? Even you must admit it sounds like a bad fanfic off the Extranet."

"You know how I feel about this, Commander." Anderson told him. "You know I would be willing to believe what you say, but you must have evidence to back this up."

"Of course, Councilors." Shepard replied. "And that is why I brought the representatives of the Imperial Alliance."

He stepped back and away from the camera, showing all the other representatives in the room. Twilight, Vasquez, Cassius and Longinus stepped forward and presented their case:

"Greetings, Councilors. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am the representative of the Equestrian Protection Pact. It is our desire to establish diplomatic relations with the nations of the Citadel, and if possible, obtain some military aid. I know that this may be asking a lot, but this is not just a matter of my world, but of all worlds, including yours."

"Hello, Councilors. Ah am Gunnery Sergeant Alan Vasquez of the United Nations Space Command. We are here not just for establishing connections, but to also help you. Whether or not you believe in Reapers now ain't important now; 'Cause they're comin', and they aren't the only threat ya'll be facin'."

"Councilors, I am Squad Master N'tho 'Vaddum of the Combined Allied Republics. I am aware that these statements may seem outrageous, but believe me when I tell you that everything we tell you is true. Our galaxy had a galactic threat at one time, and if our giant friend over here is right, he has at least half a dozen of them. Thus, it is not just in 'our' self-interest to protect this world, but 'your' interest as well."

"Hail, xenos. I am Sergeant Longinus of the Ultramarines, representing the Holy Imperium of Man. What my fellows have said are indeed true. I have seen the nature of these Reapers, as well as the likes of horrors you cannot even imagine. If you do not fight alongside us now, the fight will come to you. And I know for a fact that none of you will survive such a tribulation."

"Our point is, fair Councilors, that we are in desperate need of your help. We ask that you, in your great wisdom and kindness, send your forces to save us. What say you?"

Everyone was quiet then, waiting for the Council to respond. Before any of them could respond, Sparatus scoffed. "Seriously, Commander?" He sneered. "This was your ace in the hole? Two human actors and a bunch of CG? That unicorn is clearly an animated hologram of some kind, and the alien and giant are obviously animatronic puppets."

"I don't think those are fake, Sparatus." Anderson said. "The unicorn, maybe, but everything else looks legitimate."

"HEY!' Twilight shouted, "I am not fake! Just because I have an outline does not mean I'm not real!"

Tevos and Valern kept quiet, still trying to process the bizarre scene. Four new civilizations? At least two new species? Threats of galactic terror? All they could think to ask was, "Where did you find this place?"

"Well, Councilors, I was rescuing all the abducted colonies that you did nothing about, when we were attacked by Collectors. We had passed through a newly discovered relay, and found this-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Sparatus interrupted. "You opened an undiscovered Mass Relay, and you didn't tell anyone?!"
"My ship was in danger, our escape was blocked. What was I supposed to do?"
"Not risk another Rachni War, for one thing! Honestly, Commander, are you insane? There are reasons why we don't randomly open Relays; so we don't risk meeting up with completely unknown threats, as your friends pointed out for us."

"But you just said that they weren't real." Shepard countered.

"So?" Sparatus snorted. "Just because those are obvious VIs doesn't mean they can't have valid points. So, regardless of the situation, you are not getting any troops, and you'll be lucky if we don't revoke your Spectre status!"

While this argument was happening, Pinkie Pie had snuck up to Twilight. "I don't think they're buying us." She whispered conspiratorially.

"You think?" The unicorn retorted. While she knew that there wasn't a lot of evidence to back up their claims, it stung to have her and her fellow representatives so blatantly ignored was quite disheartening. Not to mention the fact that she was simply regarded as some CG cartoon really irritated her.

At the same time, she understood where the Councilors were coming from. When she first heard of the Pinkie Sense, she thought it was just some superstitious mumbo-jumbo. But then she saw it in action, and it simply confused her into thinking it a strange phenomena. It took prolonged exposure to Pinkie's powers that she began to fully understand what was going on.

That being said, the only way these Councilors would be able to listen is if they were given proof of their sincerity and reality. Undeniable proof. It was then that Twilight had a rather brilliant idea.

"Pinkie," She said, "I need you to do something super-amazing to convince Sparatus that we're real. Can you, I dunno, make a cake appear out of thin air?"

The party pony merely giggled, and said, "Oh, silly Twilight, I've got a much better idea."
"I don't like the way you said that."

Pinkie just smiled. "Just watch." She trotted away from the group, heading for the shadows. Twilight just knew that whatever happened next would either be very helpful or very embarrassing.

At this point, Sparatus had said, "Believe me, Shepard, its going to take something substantial to make me believe these 'ponies' are real."

"Hi there!"

The Councilors turned around in their conference room, and found themselves face to face with a completely pink equine. They remembered seeing that particular creature walking in the background, and were completely dumbfounded. Somehow, this creature had managed to travel thousands of light-years, enter the most secure sections of the Citadel, all in a matter of seconds.

Valern sputtered out, "H-How did you do that? T-That's not physically p-possible!"
The pony just laughed. "Screw the Laws of Physics, I'm Pinkie Pie!"

She then pulled out a platter of cupcakes (apparently from behind her back, which makes as much sense as anything else she did), and gave each of them one. "That's a special one." She said to Sparatus. "It took me forever to find the ingredients for a Turian-friendly cupcake, but I did it."
"I know you find it hard to believe what my friends over there are saying, talking about evil armies and end of civilization. But they are not much harder to believe in than me. You can ask Twilight- I make no sense whatsoever to her- yet I'm very real. All we want from you is just a little help saving our home, protecting our families, our way of life. Isn't that enough to send us just a few ships?"

She could see by the faces of the Councilors that she had moved them, and that they would help if possible. Except Sparatus; He just needed a little extra push.

So then, looking right the Turian, she said, "If you don't, then I'll show up in your bedroom, night after night, and play really loud and obnoxious music until you change your mind."

Everyone watching Sparatus smiled at the look on his face. To the Councilor, the thought of this Eldritch Abomination being in his room, watching him sleep with that deceptively sweet smile, was enough to induce nightmares.

Anderson then said, "I think sending a few fleets and divisions your way shouldn't be too difficult. Admiral Hackett and the 5th Fleet can lead the Citadel forces to the Terminus systems under the guise of 'war games'. Reaching Omega may be dicey, but I believe Ms. T'Loak will understand the gravity of the situation."

"That seems... reasonable." Tevos conceded. "Shall we vote upon it?"

"I think sending an STG team to this new world would not be unwise." Valern agreed. "My vote is yes."

Everyone turned to Sparatus, and he sighed, acknowledging defeat. "The Turian Hierarchy can send in an exploratory fleet, if this is what the Council decides."

"Then we are in agreement." Anderson announced. "The Citadel shall join your cause."

"Yay!" Pinkie shouted, now appearing next to Twilight, as if she never moved. "We'll see you later, then." The signal turned off, and room became silent as the holograms flickered out. Everyone looked at the Earth Pony, observing her like they would a bizarre new kind of animal.

"See?" She gloated. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" She trotted away, humming a happy song, leaving everyone else puzzled and confused. When it comes to dealing with Pinkie Logic, all you get are headaches and no answers...
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Meanwhile...

At the gate of Canterlot Castle, the Royal Guard had been augmented with the various troopers of the Halo task force and Imperial ship. Perhaps it was because the Guards were great mediators, or perhaps it was the looming prospecting world-ending combat. Either way, the various Astartes, Guardsmen, ODSTs and various alien troops got along swimmingly.

Upon royal decree, both the Day and Night Guard were up, serving together with the visitors. Since Shining Armor had left to become a Prince, the Captain of the Guard position was divided between the head of the Lunar and Solar Guards- Midnight Blossom and Cloud Skipper, respectively. The main difference between regular pegasai and Lunar Guard were their draconian eyes and wings, signifying their creation via dragon-pony breeding and Luna's magical engineering.

At the moment, Blossom was chatting with Faber and Derpy, while Skipper kept an eye out to the horizon.

"So then this mare," Faber was telling them, gun to his side, "Cloud Kicker, I believe her name was- finally said, 'What do ya say? Wanna bang?'"

The other mares chuckled. Both of them were familiar with the promiscuous pegasus- Derpy had been a marefriend of hers for a few months, and Midnight's family were pegasai nobility, alongside Kicker's family. Both of them knew Cloud's amorous yet genuine nature, and could guess at what would happen next.

"So I told her, 'I'm afraid I must decline your offer. Even putting aside the inter-species blasphemy, xeno, I don't ride village bicycles.'"

The mares busted out laughing, and even the stoic Skipper creaked a smile. After a beat, Derpy then asked, "Mr. Faber, what's a 'village bicycle'?"

Faber gave an awkward laugh. "Well," He explained, "Among non-heretical humans, a 'village bicycle' is a woman who likes to ride as many-"

"Buck, is that Princess Cadence?" Cloud Skipper exclaimed, pointing to the pony couple approaching. Looking up, the pony guards, Guardsman, and many other watchmen observed the royal arrivals, weapons raised and ready. The ponies and griffons, most them good friends with the old Captain, convinced their alien counterparts to lower the guns.

As the Crystal Princess and her husband stopped at the gate, Cloud Skipper hailed, "Hey, Captain- or should I call you Lord, now? What brings you back home?"

The white unicorn called back, "We've been summoned by the Princesses. They said something big was going to happen, and they needed Cadence and I back home."

The Guards looked at their alien coworkers. "That's one way to put it." Skipper murmured.

But Blossom then asked, "But what about the Crystal Empire?"

Cadence answered, "Celestia told me they'd be fine. But I'm going to have a... 'polite conversation' to see if she can change her mind and let me go back."

"Good luck with that." She mumbled. She then gave the order to open the gate and let them in. They were given two escorts- a unicorn and a Sanghelli- and were led to the Command HQ.

As the Royal Couple went down the halls, they took greater notice of the aliens- or rather, the sheer abundance of them. Everywhere they went, there were at least one alien creature for every two ponies. Talking to the unicorn, Shining learned that the majority of them were humans, with a large mixture of other races sprinkled about. All of them had armor, guns, and watched them with interested respect.

Cadence, however, barely even acknowledged them. Her mind was still troubled for having to abandon her people, and was dead set on getting an honest answer from her older relatives. It was their idea to set her up as the returning Crystal Princess, after all.

In HQ, the alicorns were discussing various defense strategies with the other commanders. It had already been decided that the humans and their comrades would do most of the fighting, as they had the most technology and veteran soldiers. Not to say there weren't true warriors among the various peoples of Equestria; it was just that the number of those who properly use guns- and had the mental fortitude to fight an unrelenting foe- were rather limited, somewhere in the hundreds.

Adam's projection had also been in the room, giving valuable advice and information about both Chaos, and the terrain and nature of the planet. Luna was on the other side of the map, working with the commanders of the other races to coordinate with the aliens. Neither of them had spoken to the other since yesterday, but Luna knew better than to press the subject. There were a lot of factors to consider, and Adam was not a person to boldly rush into decisions.

All the same, would it hurt to get a hint? After all that she and her sister had done for Him, couldn't He afford to be upfront and honest with them and the humans? After all, they worshiped the Emperor, His word was law. If Adam said He wanted to be with a sanctified xeno, surely they would understand, wouldn't they?

Either way, that could wait. There was work to be done.

Captain Brogan had been saying, "This land around 'Appleoosa', as it’s called, is a vast, flat desert, which would make it a prime beachhead for any starships. At the same time, though, it’s also suited for tanks, mechs and artillery. On our ship, we have 500 Scorpions, 800 Warthogs, 300 Mantis walkers, 50 Elephants, and two Mammoths. We also have five Fafnir-class 'Battle' mechs, and one AGE-class Jumper- or 'GUNDAM'- mech."

"What's the difference between a 'Battle' mech and a 'GUNDAM' mech?" Celestia asked.

"Simple." The human explained. "Battle mechs have a lot of firepower, but can't fly. GUNDAMs have limited weaponry, but are capable of entering and exiting space." The Princess nodded in understanding.

Shipmaster 'Valuum then stepped up, and said, "We are similarly prepared for such a large-scale vehicular combat. We were fortunate enough to come along with 600 Wraiths, 900 Ghosts, 600 Locusts, 100 Scarabs and one Seraphim."

"What's a Seraphim?"
"It’s like a Scarab, but three times the size. It’s considered a mobile base, and can only be deployed via offloading, whereas Scarabs and Locusts can be airdropped."

He looked up at the Inquisitor and the other commanders. "Now what, pray tell, are you bringing to battle?" He asked, although there was a slight edge of challenge.

Magos Kriel stepped forward, and answered in his monotone voice, "We, xeno, have plenty in the way of heavy weaponry. At our disposal are five Reaver-class Titans, four Stormswords, five Stormlords, three Baneblades, two Malcadors, three Rhinos, and a Leman Russ."

Luna tilted her head slightly. "You brought every type of heavy vehicle with you... just for a recovery mission?"

"We were reclaiming the Omnissiah," The techpriest droned, "All the forces of the Imperium would have come along had it not been for the Emperor's orders. Even so, we brought along all that we could fit inside the Wrath."

"Are these vehicles big?" Brogan questioned.
The Inquisitor smiled, and quipped, "Bigger than yours, boy."

All the grunts and workers, looked at the table, and went about their business, but they all thought the same thing; Creighton subliminally insulted the Captain's manhood. They were fighting words, and a challenge was thrown down.

"Gentlemen, please." Adam warned them. "Now is not the time for petty rivalries or violence. We have bigger things to worry about."

Faster than you can say "Renegade Interrupt", the doors swung open, and a white unicorn and pissed-off pink alicorn barged in. "Celestia," She barked, glaring at the Princess, "You've got some explaining to do!"

Now, it’s not usually in Cadence's nature to go all bitchy on everyone. In fact, that's how Twilight managed to discover Chrysalis was pretending to be her. But now, her anger was justifiable, considering 1) She had to abandon her people to Sombra's clutches, 2) her train broke down in the frozen north, and took two days to fix, 3) was in heat, with all the trouble that brings in, and 4) she always hated being left out of the loop.

And if these aliens and machines were anything to go by, Cadence had been left out of the loop for a very long time.

So the betrayed, tired, hormonal Princess walked up to the other goddesses, ignoring the various hulking figures around her, with half-a-mind to beat the crap out of them.

"You've always talked about protecting your subjects," She said, "Of being as loyal to them as they are to you. Yet when I am trying to save my crystal ponies, you order me back to Canterlot to, what, use love magic on all these alien things?"

The humans and aliens gave her sharp looks as she said that. As if simply being a pink pony wasn't enough for them, she had to be having her time of the month too. It just goes to show that even among a friendly race like the ponies; everyone has their share of assholes.

Celestia, sensing this was going down a bad path, opted to change subjects. "Cadence," She said, "I want you meet an old friend of ours." She gestured to the apparition on the other side of the table. "This is Adam, Emperor of Mankind."

The younger alicorn switched her gaze to the holographic image, and the two deities locked eyes.
"Hello."
"What are you supposed to be, a ghost?"
"...That is not...entirely...inaccurate. I'm actually-"
"This is what you brought me down to see?" Cadence complained. "You wanted to show me the pet ghost you want to get rid of? I'm a Love Goddess, not an exorcist!"

"That 'ghost'," Luna snapped, pointing a hoof at the pink pony's face, "Is the reason Sombra failed to conquer Equestria! He is the reason you had an empire to return to!"

"W-What do you mean?" Cadence stammered, taking a step back- Luna's hoof was just inches from her face.
"While the part of the story where my sister and I destroyed Sombra's body is true, it was Adam who used His powers to stop his black magicks, and sent your people into a pocket of the warp. It was at great personal cost for us all that the crystal ponies and the Crystal Heart were saved. So I think it would behoove you show Him a little respect!"

"Calm yourself, Luna." The Emperor soothed, walking around the table. "It is not her fault that she is ignorant of such knowledge. Your sister and I took steps to keep that part of history secret. But to her point, the Crystal Empire is not being abandoned. It’s just that our forces are spread thin, at the moment, so an evacuation or fortification are somewhat out of the question. When we obtain the forces to do so, the empire will receive them posthaste."
"As for you, Mi Amore Cadenza, you and your husband were summoned as a failsafe precaution."
"And why is that?" Cadence asked.
"Simple. If something happens to me or your aunts, it is imperative that you are taken to safety. For your love magic is the greatest secret weapon against Chaos. If there is any hope of truly defeating our foes, it may just depend on you."

Cadence was... speechless, quite frankly. She hadn't expected that to be the reason why she was brought home, but it was more than enough justification for doing so. So, she simply asked, "Alright, where shall we stay?"

"I know the way." The unicorn guard began leading the Princess to her old chambers. But Shining lingered in the HQ, as he had a burning question.

"Adam- was that your name? Luna said that there was a personal cost for you to save the Empire. What was it?"
"...While I telepathically preformed the ritual to move your city, Luna and Celestia took on Sombra by themselves. He had become a Chaos Sorcerer, and had just enough time to summon a powerful daemon before losing his physical form. This daemon- this abomination of darkness and deceit- led to an atrocity of such magnitude that your world hasn't seen before or since."
"Which means, what, exactly?" Armor pressed.
"Sombra is the reason there is a Nightmare Moon." Luna explained, sorrow and guilt heavy in her voice. "For your people's salvation, I was given damnation upon the stars..."