//------------------------------// // Ponyville // Story: Paragon // by zeroxwolfx //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Ponyville         Slowly but surely, Shepard was regaining the use of his legs. One of the tall guard ponies walked him outside of the hospital. The journey just from the balcony to the main door was a strange one. Several of the doctor and nurse ponies gave him odd stares. They weren't so much frightful as much as they were curious and shocked to see something so out of place. And of course, there were also some that were frightful of him, some of the smaller and younger looking ponies seemed to react this way.         The sun was so bright, and the colors so vibrant of the world outside that it hurt Shepard's eyes. These weren't the cold, dim lit corridors of a space vessel. This was a world that teemed with life and energy. Colorful wooden and brick structures surrounded him, along with rolling green hills beyond. And beyond the hills was a colossal spire of a mountain, dominating the landscape. Once his eyes focused he could make out a little city, or rather, a very large city, far far away, on the top of this sky scraping mountain. The clouds were few and far between and the sky was bright and vibrantly blue, full with the occasionally winged pony that fluttered around the air like a busy bee. Where the hell was he?         Shepard's mind came back to pain as he took a few steps down from the hospital, his wounds complaining to him again. The guard ponies stood by him until they saw someone approach, giving her a salute before they took off into the air, towards the city on the mountain. The pony that approached was a little purple unicorn, with a purple hair cropped halfway, and a little pink stripe through it, which was parted by the short horn that was perched on her forehead. The little pony had a look of fascination in her eyes, similar to the curiosity that the ponies in the hospital held. No one had ever mentioned the word, “Alien” or anything to that effect. He was curious to know what they thought he was. Did they think he was some sort of monster, or god, or angel?         The unicorn shook off her curious nature and looked at him, in a regal sort of way, still giving him a little smile, “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia has asked me to take care of you and offer you any kind of assistance you may require,” she said with poise. The wonder came back to her eyes as she finished.         He gave her a wave, not sure how to greet her properly, “Hi, my name is uh, John Shepard. Thanks Twilight,” he stopped himself, “Is it alright if I call you Twilight?”         The casualness of this question caught her off guard, “Oh uh, of course... is it alright if I just call you, John?”         He brought one of his hands to rub at his sore rib cage, waving back at her, “I prefer Shepard, if it's all the same to you,” no one had called him by his first name since his mother, “And, that's alright Twilight Sparkle, I don't mind you being honest about why you're watching over me.”         Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but she stuttered some, “But how did...”         He interrupted her, “I had a chat with the Princess. First contact procedures are pretty standard. I'm guessing she asked you to keep me under guard, to make sure I wasn't a threat to the populace.”         She blinked with her maw agape in surprise. She was stunned at how he could figure that out, even the princess was very, very subtly hinted at that in her orders. Something was rather strange, and cold at the way he insinuated though. And yet he didn't seem perturbed by it, “Well um, Shepard...” she then chuckled at him, “ARE you a threat to the populace?” she asked with a smile.         This time Shepard was taken aback, she wouldn't take his word for it, of course. He looked around for a moment, “I don't have any intentions to harm any life forms that haven't done me wrong,” he held his side again, “And besides, the way you patched me up, I guess I kind of owe you,” he showed the first sign of emotion since arriving, in the form a tiny smile.         Twilight Sparkle nodded at this with a smile, “Then I guess we don't have to worry about that anymore!” she said brightly.         She was about to continue, but Shepard was too perplexed. She wasn't being sarcastic, or insincere in anyway. It was so odd that he had to interrupt her, “Wait... you mean you're just going to take my word for it? You don't even know me.”         Twilight looked up to him, “I believe that it's best to give someone the benefit of the doubt. That's the best way to make a new friend after all!” she said, still smiling at him, “And as far as not knowing you goes, I'd actually like that to change. I won't lie, I'm quite curious about what you are and about where you come from and...” she was about to continue, before she saw Shepard hunch over, clutching his wounds again, “Oh but um, perhaps we should get you home first, you look pretty beat up...” she said looking worried.         He was about to wave her down, but the pony took off, coming back a few moments later, pulling a wooden cart that was harnessed to her back, “It's a long way back to the library, why don't you sit in here, and I can pull you?” she proposed.         Shepard thought about denying this offer of course, he was a soldier after all, he needed to find his balance and get back on his feet. But his wounds were a little more than bothersome, and he didn't want to wear himself out all at once. He simply nodded to her, slowly maneuvering himself inside the wooden cart, leaning back some as he found a comfortable position for his sore limbs to rest in.         As Twilight Sparkle pulled him along, Shepard took in the scenery around him. Across the streets were old wooden and brick buildings, many of them colorful, with various signs and banners. They came to a broad street, with a wide open circular area. Here there were several stalls with many more of the colorful little ponies all browsing and buying things, most of which seemed to be any variety of food items. Some of them looked familiar. He would know them as native earth foods; cucumbers, heads of lettuce, apples, oranges, and every variety of greenery he could think of.         Shepard could at this point, to a degree diagnose which of the ponies where male, and female. The females appeared to have rounder faces, eyelashes, and be somewhat smaller than the males. They also usually had somewhat more extravagant, colorful and stylish hairstyles. Regardless of their gender or age, almost all the ponies of the town square stopped what they were doing to look at Shepard. He stared back at them, a bit nervously as all the strange colorful creatures began to whisper and chatter amongst themselves, all looking to the strange two-legged creature that Twilight Sparkle pulled behind her. A couple of the braver ponies even went so far as to come a bit closer to him, getting a better look. The occasional small, child pony even trotted right up to him, tilting their head curiously as they examined the alien before them, before their guardian called them, or tugged them back aside.         They were so happy looking. Some curious, some fascinated, some even just a little bit cautious, but none of them showed fear, distrust, or hatred towards him. He was an alien species, something that they had never seen before and yet they did not shun him, nor treat him poorly. Their eyes and facial expressions were so surreal. The bright eyed creatures kept surrounding him, walking along with Twilight Sparkle to peek at the new life form. The closeness of the unfamiliar species made Shepard uncomfortable, he was surrounded by alien creatures and he was wounded. This wasn't a very strategic position for him to be in. No matter how friendly and welcoming they were, he always had the tingling instinct at the back of his mind to be wary of strange things. It was apart of his combat training. They had him in a helpless position. The other part of it was him being wary of things that were seemingly, “too welcoming” or too polite. Anything that was this kind and understanding of him surely had to have some ulterior motive.         They moved on, and out of the town square, for which Shepard was glad. The number of gazing eyes and curious ponies seemed to dwindle as they went down the streets. Eventually they left the busy streets, and up ahead, Shepard could see a tall, wide tree sprouting from the ground. Far from a normal tree, this one support a full front door, several windows, even what looked like a balcony on the side.         Twilight turned around, unhooking herself from the cart and turning around look at Shepard, “Whew... here we are, sorry it took so long, I'm not really used to carrying heavy carts for so long...” she said as she gave him a slight smile.         Shepard slowly made his way out of the cart, propping himself back up on his legs as he looked up at the large tree structures, he noticed the picture of the book on the front.         “This is actually a library, but it's also where I live. I've made all the amenities of a proper house here, after all I can't think of anyplace I'd rather live than I library!” she said a little enthusiastically. She trotted towards the door, opening it for him, “Watch your head, Shepard, these doors are usually only tailored to ponies I'm afraid,” she said with a chuckle.         Shepard ducked and found himself inside a large circular room, with several flights of bookshelves surrounding him. On his left and right side where two more hollowed out entryways which led to other rooms, and in the middle was a flight of stairs that led to a small hollowed out room at the top, this must be what led to the balcony. On these stairs, there was a little purple and green creature that was peering out at them. This creature was certainly not a pony, and did not bear any resemblance to one, so Shepard's first reaction was a defensive one. He shifted his stance and took a step back towards the door.         Twilight must have seen this, so she stepped forwards, “Shepard, this is my assistant, Spike. You probably noticed he's NOT a pony... he's actually a baby dragon, but he's really nice though!” she said as she signaled him to come down.         Spike hustled down next to her before he looked at Shepard, “Whoa, so you must be the new colt... er... guy... er something. Well, whatever you are, it's nice to meet ya. I'm spike, Twilight Sparkle's right hand dragon!” he said with pride.         Shepard relaxed, and waved a bit, “Hey Spike, I'm Shepard.”         “So anyway, what brings you to Ponyville?” said the little dragon.         Shepard shook his head, “I don't really know. In fact, I couldn't even tell you how I got here,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders, sorely.         “Well, however you got here, it must have been from pretty far away, I mean, I don't think I've ever seen one of... whatever you are, anywhere! Where do you come from anyway?” the little dragon seemed to never run out of questions for him.         Twilight chimed in, “Um spike, he's had kind of a long day... why don't we let him get settled in first, and save the questions for later, alright?” she said shooting Shepard an apologetic smile, “Why don't you see if you can give him a hand up the stairs spike?” Twilight made her way to the stairs, and the little dragon rushed over to Shepard's side, to take his hand. He looked strange to him, and Shepard recoiled.         Spike chuckled at this, “Aw don't worry mister, I know dragons are pretty fierce and deadly and all that, but I won't hurt anyone who's a friend of twilight!” he said happily, clearly taking a bit of pride in being a dragon, whatever that was. Reluctantly, Shepard let the scaly hand take his, and he hobbled along again, to the stairs. He was surprised, but grateful for the fact that Spike took quite a bit of weight off of his legs, making it easier for him to ascend the stairs.         There were unsurprisingly, more books in this area, along with two small beds squished together, “This is where you'll be staying. This is normally where I sleep, but spike and I can sleep in the basement for a bit,” Twilight said quizzically.         Shepard shook his head, “Twilight... you didn't have to give up your bed for me. Why don't you just let me sleep in the basement, I'll be alright I...” she interrupted him.         “No no, Princess Celestia said that I should accommodate you properly, and I intend to do just that. Besides, you're still injured and you need proper rest,” she said insistently, “Now let me just show you a couple other things around here, since this is where you'll be staying for a while...” Twilight trotted beside him, and made her way downstairs. In the other room, she showed him the kitchen, as well as the refrigerator, and a few other essential items, as well as the bathroom.         Eventually she finished her tour, and brought him back to the main room, “Now then... I hope you'll find this place suiting for you... is there anything else that you need?” she said, being true to her word to be accommodating.         He shook his head, giving another small smile at the pony's attempt to please, “No, everything's just fine twilight, I'm sure this will be a nice place to rest until I get my strength back,” he said, trying to sound as thankful as possible.         The unicorn's ears perked up as she went over to a shelf, grabbing a book off of it, using her strange looking biotics to lift it up, and carry it to Shepard, “There is one other thing Shepard... I don't know if you do much reading... or any... but I thought it might be nice if you maybe knew your way around here. You know, how things in our world work and, stuff like that...”         Shepard held up the book, and read the title quietly aloud, “My home, Equestria...” he read.         “It's well... it's actually meant for little fillies and colts, to teach them about where we live. Basic things like how weather works, going around ponies, getting to know, and learning about other types of ponies, how bits work, a little bit about government too. I know it's kind of basic but... I just thought since you were new here... it would help a little,” said the unicorn.         It was quite obvious to Shepard that this was a highly knowledgeable pony, at least in her world. He smiled at this. It reminded him of someone he knew, “Thanks Twilight, I'm sure this will help me out...” he said, holding the book up before he held it under his arm. He wasn't going to read it though. He wouldn't put it in his mind that some other place would become his home. He had a home, and he had someone he loved, and he was going to get back.