//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Shepard-Commander // Story: The Commander of Shepherds // by pchn00 //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Shepard-Commander It had started with a choice. At its core her option was simple. Presented with three different solutions there was no hesitation in her actions. She’d strove for years to end the threat that was poised to destroy all life in the universe. She’d lost good friends in the process, maybe even a lover? But in the end she’d made her choice. She’d saved all life as she knew it. If only she could remember what her choice was. If only she could remember the threat she knew she’d faced. If only she could remember the faces of those she knew had been so dear to her. If only she could remember herself. The woman had been reclining in one of the larger trees she’d claimed as her own, letting her mind wander back to the first morning she came to be here. Almost immediately after waking she’d been attacked by horrific creatures out of a nightmare. Impossible beasts made of animated wood and leaves, twisted into the shape of wolves. She hadn’t even thought on what to do, merely reacted. She put down the first half dozen or so with the pistol strapped to her hip. There was no time for consideration to her actions, simply reacting to the threat in front of her. The gun began to overheat but more of the things came rushing on. Up came her other arm, the orange device made of hard-light interfaces flared to life and discharged a super-heated ball of plasma impacting with the creature nearest her and turning it to ash, the small explosion carried to several of its fellows. After that display they left. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused on the gorgeous starry night sky overhead. She climbed one of five of the same trees every night near her territory to gaze up at the night sky. Something about focusing on the stars gave her a calm focus she lacked when they weren’t visible. Just being able to look out at the ocean of twinkling lights overhead soothed the rage and survival instinct she’d come to rely on to keep her alive. A faint chime from her omni-tool drew her attention. It flickered to life around her arm as a male, heavily synthesized voice spoke. “Two hundred and forty seven days Shepard-Commander.” She had no idea where the voice, the ‘A.I.’ had come from. After her initial confrontation with the wolves it started speaking. She was a little embarrassed to remember when it first spoke she’d reacted poorly, trying to shoot the ‘thing’ living on her arm. Of course the bullets passed harmlessly through the holographic interfaces and one shot had grazed her arm. Thinking back on it she was lucky she didn’t shoot herself in the hand or something. “Thanks Legion. You know how I love being reminded how long I’ve been stuck in this god forsaken jungle.” Legion and her own voice were the only ones she’d had to keep herself company for the last eight months. Her synthetic companion had been an invaluable asset once she’d gotten used to the idea that an artificial intelligence was living inside the tiny device implanted in her hand. Like herself it had little to no knowledge of itself or how it came to reside in her omni-tool. It had known its own name, and hers. “You know I do all I can to make your life more pleasant. And again I must remind you this is a forest, not a jungle.” Shepard smirked down at the ‘face’ of Legion displayed on one of the screens in her tool. Face wasn’t quite the right word. It was more like a long tube for a head with oddly expressive plates that served for eyebrows. “Smart ass.” “I am incapable of sarcasm as you know.” “You keep saying that, but you keep being a smart ass.” It chose to ignore her prodding. “I have sent another S.O.S. pulse though I must remind you nothing has responded the past one hundred thirty six thousand, three hundred and fifty seven times.” “Well… Keep sending them.” “Of course Shepard-Commander. Can I do anything else for you? Provide an early wakeup call? Some soothing music to lull you to sleep?” Her smile grew just a bit. “The music would be lovely Legion.” “Happy to serve of course.” The A.I.’s face vanished, to be replaced with gently playing Asari Opera. She had no idea what an Asari was, but Legion assured her that of all the music she had stored in her omni-tool’s database it was the most prevalent and therefore safe to surmise her favorite genre. The volume was only high enough for Shepard to hear. She didn’t want to attract anything hoping for an easy meal. Not that most of the things in her forest would consider her an easy meal. She’d killed just about everything that eyed her sideways and most of the other denizens gave her camp a wide berth. Double checking the vines securing her legs and torso to the wide tree branch she nodded in satisfaction before leaning back to turn her attention to the stars again. Slowly her eyes drifted shut, lulled to sleep by the soothing music and comforting presence of the stars in the sky. *** Mornings started the same every day. Carefully untying the vines keeping her from falling from her tree-of-the –night, Shepard would then drop to the forest floor and set a swift pace for the nearby river. Pointedly laying her weaponry right next to the bank she began unfastening her armor and laying the heavy gear out by her weaponry. Even exposed as she was she knew nothing would try to bother her. The big scorpion-bat-lion who had wound up with her omni-blade wedged in the side of its head had taught most of the monsters a clear lesson. The things in this forest were smart she knew, they learned what to keep away from. Easing into the frigid waters she unbound her thick fiery red head of hair letting it fall in wild tangles about her back and shoulders. Briefly submerging only long enough to rinse it clean she surfaced and spent a few minutes just lounging against the river bank. Today was an unusual day. She could hear loud rumbling coming from the forest down the river a ways. Slowly a massive form lumbered into view. A faint smile came to the woman’s face as she observed the huge purple bear with the stars glittering inside its body. She’d seen the star bears a few times. The smaller had approached her curiously. Something in the way it regarded her told her it wasn’t interested in attacking. Maybe giant star bears ate something other than meat? She’d never seen it or the other one eat anything really. The other one was far more intimidating. Quieter too. She could never hear her coming, but soon the smaller was joined by the towering form of what Shepard assumed to be its mother. The mother wasn’t overly fond of Shepard but they had an unspoken understanding. Keep away from one another and there would be no trouble. This suited Shepard just fine. The small bear would occasionally wander into her camp and just collapse beneath one of her trees staring up at her. Eventually she grew bold enough to risk a pat to its head, which it seemed to enjoy. She didn’t like the thought of having to take the strange bear cubs’ mother from it. Speaking of, the mother swung her head around fixing Shepard with her piercing gaze. The woman returned the look, and raised a hand in greeting. The huge beast snorted once before nudging its cub and the pair disappeared back into the trees. Smiling now Shepard climbed out of the water and lay flat in the grass, letting the sun dry her. “Not going to say hello to them this morning?” Cracking an eye open she glanced toward her arm. “Not when the mother’s around. She doesn’t like her cub socializing with me.” “I find it unlikely that racism runs rampant among these creatures but evidence points to the contrary.” Shepard laughed aloud at the absurd idea and closed her eyes again. “Maybe it does. Who knows? Maybe star bears are the dominant species of the planet.” “Might I suggest we again attempt to find the exit of this forest Shepard-Commander?” The idea sent a shiver down her spine. She’d faced down every monster this forest had thrown at her, even the dragon that made its home deeper into the forest, (though by face down she more hurled a pulse of electricity into its face and ran while it was disoriented). Something about actually LEAVING her forest though held a strange primal fear for her. “No. We tried finding an exit once remember?” “I recall you climbed to the top of a tree, declared you could see nothing but MORE trees and called an end to the search.” “Exactly.” Nodding in satisfaction she rose and started to reclaim her armor. The handgun and SMG she attached to her hips while the huge, sleek rifle she fastened to her back. Deciding the matter of leaving the forest settled she tied her hair up again and set off to check her traps. It was a good morning already. The first she came to had more than a dozen Poppers squirming within. Part of her felt a little bad for making them her primary food source. They were pretty cute. Like brightly colored puffballs with big eyes and wings. But a girl had to eat right? Carefully taking down the net, ensuring none of the Poppers escaped she carried them back to her campsite. A small spark from her omni-tool got a fire going and she hastily speared the Poppers to her cooking stick and held them over the fire. The name Popper came from the loud POP sound they made as they cooked. She wasn’t sure why they made that sound but in the end she supposed it didn’t matter. Food was food, fluffy big-eyed bugs or no. The things had no bones so they were easy enough to eat, and had a rather unique flavor. Satisfied with her morning meal she stood and took a deep breath gazing about her camp in satisfaction. “Think I’ll see if we caught anymore fruit bats.” “The rate you eat Shepard-Commander I suspect you will drive the native species to extinction within the next eight months.” Ignoring the jibe from her A.I., Shepard clambered into the tree tops and started crossing the massive network of branches. Most of the trees grew so large it was like crossing man-made walkways to get to where she wanted to go. The Poppers didn’t come up this high, but she’d discovered strange colorful bats that tasted like ripe fruit when bitten into. Unfortunately none of her traps held any of the juicy treats. A quiet alarm sounded from her omni-tool. “It is the fourth day in the week Shepard-Commander. And approaching the approximate hour she appears.” A delighted, almost child-like grin formed on the woman’s face. “Thanks! I almost forgot.” Springing from tree to tree now she raced for the huge meadow of herbs and flowers. It was close enough to the swamp she preferred to avoid the area, the place stank something fierce. But it was also the only place she got to see Buttercup. Right on cue she came trotting into view. It was one of the stranger creatures Shepard had seen in the forest so far, but it was also her favorite. When she’d first seen it she briefly considered it as a source of meat, but there was just something about her. She’d named her Buttercup, and assumed it was a her. It certainly looked girly enough. It vaguely resembled a small horse, but only as much as she resembled a big monkey. Its coat and hooves were a beautiful shade of butter-yellow; hence the incredibly creative name Shepard had come up with. Her mane and tail a shockingly bright shade of pink, falling in rich cascades of hair. Most interesting of all were the wings the strange little horse always kept tucked into her sides. Shepard had never seen her use them. Buttercup always arrived on foot, and left on foot. Reaching back she retrieved the heavy rifle off her back. Keeping her eyes on Buttercup she waited a few seconds as the large weapon whirred mechanically as it unfolded to its full size. Legion had told her according to the data in her omni-tool it was a Black Widow class sniper rifle. All she knew was it let her see far and shoot far. Keeping her hand away from the trigger she rested the bipod of the powerful sniper rifle on the branch before herself, spreading out on her belly and watching Buttercup go about her business through the telescopic lens. The cute little horse would trot from hole in the ground to hole in the ground, peeking her head in for a few moments than moving onto the next. Now and again a patch of flowers would catch her eye and she’d pause, give them a tentative sniff than take one into her mouth chewing with a little smile. Shepard always had to hold back delighted laughter at the adorable little creature. Not for the first time she considered approaching Buttercup and trying to introduce herself. The little horse would make an excellent pet. But then she considered all the predators about her campsite, and doubted the creature would be able to survive for long away from its home. Wherever its home might be. Shepard was reasonably sure that it didn’t live inside the forest. Nothing so small and fragile would survive within its boundaries for long. But like clockwork she came to this clearing once a week for a few moments, no fail. Still, the weekly sighting of Buttercup was enough to make Shepard smile, and that was what mattered. Gently swiveling her rifle to keep the horse in her sights she watched her go about her business as usual. It was barely noticeable, but movement in the tree line behind Buttercup drew Shepard’s eye. Frowning now, she swung her gun toward the spot. Looking closer she could see nothing but thick brown tree trunks. Tree trunks with claws? Angling her scope lower she could see the trunks did indeed end in massive claws. They weren’t trees at all, but legs. How had something so huge snuck up on the little horse? Flicking her attention back to Buttercup she found the horse had her ears perked, eyes slowly looking back and forth nervously. “Come on get outta there.” Obviously the horse couldn’t hear her from so far away, and shrieked a strangely human shriek as the massive creature lumbered out of the woods. It was almost as big as the dragon Shepard ran afoul of a few months back though it had no wings or forelimbs. It made up for the lack of limbs in heads evidently. Four long, sinewy necks snaked back and forth ending in four huge reptilian heads. As one they roared and lunged for the little horse. Buttercup took off like a rocket for the trees but Shepard knew there was no way she’d make it in time. Part of her said to just let nature take its course, but the look of terror on Buttercup’s face was anything but animal. She had no idea how much the little creature actually thought or felt, but she couldn’t let it be eaten. Taking a deep breath she held the air in her lungs as she eased her finger over the trigger of her weapon. Getting the monstrous reptile’s heads in her sights she waited for just the right shot… *** “It’s fine girls. I go into the Everfree all the time. I have to check on the critters out there. I raised most of them myself you know? It’s not too deep and nothing big ever comes that way.” Fluttershy was definitely regretting her words now. She had never imagined a hydra could be so sneaky, but here she was galloping for all she was worth with the monster hot on her hooves. Part of her mind screamed at her to spread her wings and take flight. The very, very tiny, brave part of her mind. The rest of her mind was screaming incoherently in panic making it impossible to coordinate her wings. She could see the tree line ahead and knew if she could make it to them the hydra wouldn’t be able to chase her inside. Her shrieking started anew as she felt one of the heads jaws snap down on her tail and fling her up into the air. Legs flailing wildly she couldn’t help but look down as all four of the monsters mouths opened wide, lined up perfectly to bite down on her simultaneously and no doubt tear her into four tiny bite-sized morsels. Not willing to look any longer she scrunched her eyes shut as tightly as she could, waiting for her end to come and hoping it would be quick. The deafening ‘BOOM’ that sounded from the forest brought forth another alarmed shriek from the poor mare. She wasn’t even aware the hydra had stopped roaring. She yelped as she collided with something hard and scaly, and then resumed her screaming and flailing as she fell to the ground, landing in a heap in the grass. With a little groan of pain she peeked an eye open, curious as to why she was still alive. The hydra stood stock still, its necks swaying back and forth slowly as it gradually toppled onto its side and collapsed to the ground in a heap. Breath coming in quick little gasps she slowly forced her shivering body back to her hooves, and tentatively approached the still monster. She knew she should still be running but some tiny part of her had to know why it hadn’t eaten her. Maybe it took pity on her and decided to let her go? But no. Seeing the very large, grisly holes going through one head and out all four of the others she swiftly decided it had NOT taken pity on her after all, but something had killed it. Or all four heads spontaneously exploded at once but that seemed just a tad farfetched. It finally clicked in her mind that she was staring at a rather gory mess of dead hydra, and she turned a little green backpedalling hastily. Something HAD killed it! It must have! And that something was probably still nearby! Maybe about to do to her whatever it had done to the hydra! She tried to tell her legs to turn around and gallop her right back to Ponyville, but they were being more than a little uncooperative. Instead of running they just flopped down like wet noodles, bringing the rest of her with them. Curling up into a tight ball she buried her face beneath a wing, hoping whatever had killed the hydra would just move on. Her ear twitched soon as she heard hoof steps approaching. Trembling heavily she dared to peek out beneath her wing. She immediately wished she hadn’t. There was a… a something approaching her slowly. It had a shiny black shell with a red and white stripe on one shoulder. Its exposed face was pale, with small green eyes, a tiny nose and a flat little mouth. Its mane was a tangled mess of red curls held back with some kind of vine for a scrunchie. Was this the creature that killed the hydra? It sure didn’t look like it could kill much of anything. Maybe it had some sort of powerful magic? Zecora once told her there was all kinds of magic besides unicorn magic. Mercifully the thing stopped a good fifteen feet away, just staring at her quietly. Then it did something very unexpected. It squatted down on its long legs and held one of its paws out toward her. Tilting its head it smiled, and clicked its tongue softly while making a faint beckoning motion with its paw. Fluttershy gasped softly as she realized what it was doing. It was almost the exact same way she treated a scared or wounded animal she’d come across that needed tending. Wordlessly she stared wide-eyed at the creature as it slowly lowered its paw, the smile fading as it regarded her thoughtfully. Its smile returned bigger than ever and it spun on its heel rushing to a small patch of flowers. Fluttershy found herself frozen more by curiosity than fear at this point. It was gathering a sizeable pile of flowers before turning back to her and dumping the whole mess on the ground. Looking from them to her expectantly. Fluttershy’s quivering stopped for the most part and her ears perked up. If you were going to kill and eat something you didn’t try and feed your prey or make it happy, you just killed and ate it. So obviously this thing didn’t want to eat her. She tilted her head as the creature frowned again, pushing the small pile of flowers closer to her before hopping away again. Obviously it was trying hard not to frighten her. Slowly she rose back to her hooves doing her best to wear a kind smile. “N-no thank you. I just ate.” She wasn’t sure if it spoke Equestrian, so she rubbed her tummy and made loud ‘mmm’ sounds. “I’m all full.” The creature’s eyes went wide and its jaw fell open. Frantically it lifted one of its forelimbs and a bright orange… SOMETHING burst into shape around its arm. Almost like a sleeve made of glowing orange light. So it WAS magic! Fluttershy tilted her head to the side again as it began to rapidly jabber at the orange light. Fluttershy’s ears folded back as a second voice spoke from seemingly nowhere. It was much deeper and harsher sounding than the creatures. The thing looked like it had what might be teats or udders on its chest under its shell, it would probably safe to assume it was a female… Whatever it was. Maybe the shell opened to nurse its young? The animal caretaker part of her was fascinated by the idea of such an unknown creature, the Fluttershy part of her was getting louder and louder telling her it was time to go find Twilight and the others. The decision was made for her as the creature began to rapidly approach her. Eyes wide now the pegasus turned on her hooves and galloped as quickly as she could back to Ponyville. Whatever that thing was, it had killed a full grown hydra apparently with little to no effort. It might be nice to her but who knows how long that might last? This was most certainly a Princess problem. She was relieved when she looked over her shoulder to find it wasn’t giving chase. Breathing a sigh of relief she lowered her head and ran with all speed back for home. She hadn’t been lying to her friends when she said she didn’t go very far into the forest, and her cottage was in sight within minutes. She didn’t slow her frantic pace until she’d finally reached the library; bursting into the doors she was relieved to find Twilight Sparkle in the midst of her weekly re-shelving day. “Twilight!” The young alicorn yelped in alarm and dropped the stack of books she was in the middle of organizing right atop poor Spike, burying the little dragon. “F-Fluttershy? What’s the matter!?” “I saw something! In the Everfree!” Fluttershy was so worked up her voice had risen to veritable normal levels of volume. Twilight just raised an eyebrow and gently moved the books off her assistant, helping him to his feet. “Well we’ve all told you I don’t know how many times about going in there. Didn’t Rainbow Dash offer to go with you? You know the Everfree Forest is filled with all kinds of monsters.” “That’s just it! This wasn’t a monster! At least… I don’t think it was a monster.” Now she had Twilight’s attention. “Was it a pony?” Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh no, definitely not. It’s something I’ve never seen before.” Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened in delight. While Fluttershy may not have a Canterlot education, she could normally be counted on to identify pretty much any type of fauna you could find in Equestria. If it was something even SHE hadn’t seen they may have very well discovered a new species! “Tell me all about it! I’ll set some tea on. Was it dangerous? How big was it? Oh! Does it speak?!” “Umm… it killed a hydra.” Twilight halted in her trip to the kitchen. “Pardon me?” Fluttershy swallowed and helped herself to a seat. “I was at the clearing checking on all my little animal friends when a hydra attacked me. It scooped me right into the air and was about to eat me when there was a… An explosion! It sounded like one anyway… when I looked again the hydra um… Well… Had holes. In its heads.” Twilight blinked slowly. “All of them? From ONE explosion?” “Oh yes. It was definitely one. I’m surprised everypony in town didn’t hear the noise, it was very loud.” Seeing Twilight preoccupied now, Spike rolled his eyes and headed into the kitchen to make the tea himself. “That’s when I saw it. It stood on two legs and had arms like Spike. Only instead of scales it had a shiny black shell that covered its whole body buts its face. It came closer than it um… It smiled at me. And tried to feed me flowers.” For the second time in the conversation Twilight looked flabbergasted. “It tried to FEED you?” Fluttershy nodded hastily. “It did! It was so strange; it was treating me like I was a wounded critter. It got very excited when I politely told it I was full, then um… Started talking to its arm.” Twilight’s eyebrows rose simultaneously. “It spoke Equestrian? To its arm?” Slowly the pegasus shook her head. “No, I didn’t understand it. But its arm sort of glowed orange, I think it was magic. It must have been what it used to kill the hydra. It talked really fast to its glowy arm then started running my way and I um…” Twilight smiled softly. “You came to get me?” A little embarrassed by her continuing cowardice Fluttershy could only nod. Twilight however offered a warm smile. “It sounds like you had a pretty scary ordeal and were very brave through the whole thing Fluttershy. I’m proud of you. And if this creature is as powerful as it sounds you did the right thing in coming to get me.” “Are you um… Going to tell Princess Celestia?” Twilight eyed the returning Spike, considering doing just that. “Not yet. It sounds as if this creature went out of its way to protect you don’t you think? In that case it’s safe to assume it’s going to be friendly toward other ponies. Besides I’m a Princess now too. I have to be able to handle problems on my own without relying on Princess Celestia for every little thing. We’ll let her know if she’s needed but for now I think I’ll round up the girls and we’ll see if we can find this creature on our own.” Fluttershy opened her mouth to ask something, but Twilight already knew the question. “I know it’s already been a scary day Fluttershy, but I’d really appreciate it if you came along too. It sounds like this thing knows you and cares about you on some level. That may be helpful. We don’t want any misunderstandings with somepony getting hurt right? Besides, we’ll all be there with you this time.” Taking a deep breath, the timid mare nodded. She didn’t want her friends getting hurt, and she didn’t want the creature hurt either. It had saved her life after all. “Ok Twilight. I’ll go.” Giving her friend a firm squeeze Twilight smiled. “Thank you Fluttershy. Why don’t you sit here and relax with a nice cup of tea? I’ll round up everypony and we’ll set out soon.” Accepting a steaming cup with a little smile of gratitude from Spike, Fluttershy watched her friend and newest Princess race from the library. Sighing a little she took a sip of the tea. Two trips into the Everfree in one day was definitely not her idea of a good time, but sometimes a pony had to do what a pony had to do.