//------------------------------//
// Equestria 
// Story: Paragon 
// by zeroxwolfx 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 5: Equestria

        Shepard was never one much for sitting around.  If there was any medigel around, he would have been combat ready by now.  But his leg was still incapacitated, and his back occasionally gave him trouble.  At least it wouldn’t be too long before he’d be able to walk properly again, until then, he figured like any good soldier, he should know his environment.

        This was quite obviously a humid continental climate, with a vast majority of deciduous trees, and a minority of coniferous trees.  From what Shepard could see outside of Twilight’s windows, and on the library balcony, this looked to be a small farming community with obviously military defense or strongholds.  The only means of long range infrastructure he saw was the train tracks, an ancient means of transportation.  He only then remembered about the flying ponies, of course, with such an ability, land transportation would clearly not be a priority.

        Shepard would spend a few hours thumbing through books, looking at maps, which were only semi-useful, as none of them contained any detailed star-charts or locations of where this planet was.  In fact, there was never any actual mention of the name of this planet.  There was only various countries that were named.  Some of them had rather less creative names too, “The Griffon Kingdom”, or “The Buffalo Tribe Lands”.  This may have been a result of a cartographer, that was less experienced in actually going to any of these places.  Another thing that surprised him, was that despite the small size of the countries and landmasses, climates and weather changed drastically over very short distances.  There was a very small area to the south of this town, called the Everfree Forest, which seemed to have almost a tropical jungle environment.  Planets with such extremes in weather patterns were usually too inhospitable to inhabit life, especially such vast, and vibrant life, as these pony creatures were.

        Shepard was busy, trying to exercise his legs, when he noticed spike belch and through a green mist, a paper scroll appeared from it, seemingly from nowhere.

        “What the hell… what was that!?” he said, never having experienced something like this before.

        Spike looked to him in surprise, “Huh what? Oh, that’s just how I get messages, usually from the Princess or some other unicorn, and give them to Twilight,” he said shrugging, as if it were nothing.  He had been doing it ever since he was young, after all.

        Shepard did a double take at this, paper messages from his breath, “But… HOW did you do it?  How did you get a paper message through your… did that come out of your stomach?” he asked perplexed.

        Spike chuckled at this, “Ah ha no no, I wouldn’t have enough room in there for all the messages I get,” he said patting his belly, “A unicorn, like Princess Celestia writes the message on a scroll, and sends it to me with magic!” 

        There was that word again, “Magic”.  He had seen some pretty remarkable things done with biotics but he’s never seen someone materialize matter and have it re-materialize somewhere else perfectly.  Even technology like that was at least a century off for his people.

        Twilight came in and took the letter from Spike, peering over it quickly, “Oh! It looks like Rainbow Dash is going to come visit tomorrow!” she said smiling up to Shepard.

        “Is that someone you know?” Shepard asked curiously.

        “Indeed! She’s one of my very good friends.  I’ve been telling them all about meeting you, and when you crashed here.  Rainbow Dash was at the Wonderbolts Academy when that happened, but after she heard about you, she’s decided to take some time off to come visit!” she said happily.

        Shepard put down one of the books and looked at her, “Is that some sort of training center?” he asked, making note of the word academy.

        “Indeed!  The wonderbolts academy are where Equestria’s top fliers, go to train.  If they are accepted, they can become honorary wonderbolts.  It’s been a lifelong dream of Rainbow Dash’s since she was a filly,” Twilight said, shuffling through several books easily with her “magic”.

        He felt something kinking up in his back and after pressing a bit on his spine, he took a seat down, cringing a bit.  He shook his head, trying to take his mind off of the pain, “So what exactly does a ‘wonderbolt’ do in Equestria?”

        Spike jumped in, and exclaimed, quite vocally and expressively, “Oh man the WONDERBOLTS are the best fliers in Equestria! They got super cool moves and tricks and one time I saw them do like FIVE barrel rolls before doing a triple underwing and…” he began to run on like this for some time.

        Twilight shook her head, “The wonderbolts are Equestria elected top fliers.  Aside from putting on shows, where they perform daring and amazing stunts, they are also available to the princess, in case of weather emergencies, and search and rescue.  Like if a certain area isn’t getting enough rainfall, or they need help controlling a tornado or a hurricane.”

        That didn’t add up.  But there had to be something behind it.  Shepard crossed his arms, “Pegasus ponies must have access to some pretty advanced equipment to be able to control a tornado or a hurricane,” he asked suspiciously.

        This confused twilight and she turned to face him, tilting her head, “Oh, not really, they pretty much just use their wings, and their own flying ability…” she said, as if it were common knowledge.  Then it hit her, “..oh! You’ve never been told! I’m sorry, I forgot…  Aside from flying, one of the special abilities of Pegasus ponies is that they can control the weather.”

        This made Shepard do another double-take, “And just HOW do they do that?” he asked, although, he was pretty sure he knew the answer he was going to get.

        Twilight nodded to this, smiling as she pulled a book down quickly from her shelves.  She opened it up, and began to read it word for word, “Only pegasus ponies, not unicorns or earth ponies, have the ability to physically interact with the clouds around them.  This can allow Pegasai to control the weather, by dispersing clouds to cause clear weather, or by accumulating clouds to create precipitation…” Twilight then passed the book over to Shepard, whom would then look the book over, finding it all here word for word.   What the hell kind of freaking shit was this?

        “That makes me kind of wonder… how do they control weather where you’re from, John?” Twilight asked, looking at him quizzically.

        “We don’t.  Weather happens naturally, on it’s own on my planet,” replied shepard.

        Twilight looked slightly disturbed at this, “That must be awful… how do you survive, if it’s too cold… or if it’s too hot, or too dry?” she asked with worry.

        Shepard shook his head, “Our planet goes through cycles of hot, cold, wet, and dry naturally throughout the year.  During the hot seasons, we stay cool, and during the cold seasons, we stay warm.  I guess you could say, we adapt and survive,” Shepard said.

        Twilight nodded at this, “Ah ha, you must use magic to keep yourselves warm and cool during the changing seasons.  Of course that’s what it is!  I mean with such an advanced looking vehicle, obviously powered by magic and all…” she said flipping her head.

        Shepard didn’t exactly know how to tackle this one.  Should he even tell her? Maybe not, not yet, “Yeah, sure Twilight, we have our own magic that we use to survive…” he said with a sigh.  Stepping out to look outside.  He had notice, that every day he had been here, it had been sunny, and cloudless, without there ever being a single drop of rain, or gust of wind, or stray wisp of a cloud.  These ponies seem to depend a lot on magic, much like his people depended on technology.  Regardless, it was something that he would have to get along without for now.  That’s one thing he could probably make do in.  Adapt, and survive.

        There was a knock at Twilight’s door, and then there was a pony sounding from outside of it, “Yooo hooo!!! Are you home dear Twilight?” said the voice.

        Shepard started to hobble his way up stairs, whomever was behind this voice, they sounded a little too eccentric for him to get involved in.  He was too late however, as he saw Spike rushing over to open the door.  He let a white pony, with a stunningly sleek, and styled mane, that curled every-so-slightly at the end and had remarkably long eyelashes.  

        She gasped the moment she saw shepard, “OH there you are dear! I apologize I haven’t made the time to greet you properly, I’ve just been rather busy, as always…” she said, all the while the little dragon looking at her, strangely.
        “Hello Rarity! Shepard, this is my good friend Rarity, she was there with me when we saw your ship crash in Ponyville.  When we pulled you from the wreckage, Rarity was kind enough to do some repairs on your clothes!” she said, pointing to the stitches and seams along his uniform.

        He hadn’t noticed them until now, but when he looked closely, he could see that his nano-fiber, and kevlar stitched uniform had lesser cottons and linens sewn into the damaged portions.  Whomever fixed it still did a hell of a job, since it was so hard to even notice in the first place.

        “Uh, hey Rarity, I’m John Shepard…” he said, giving her a mild wave.

        The white pony flipped her hair aside with her hoof as she nodded.  She didn’t seem to be as pleased with her work as he was, “Well I did do the best I could dear, but to be quite frank, I simply didn’t have anything in my supply to match the… exquisite material that your uniform was made of…” she stamped her hoof slightly, “... I absolutely MUST know, where can I get some magnificent threads like these! Not only for my future work, but to make a proper repair on your attire!” she said exuberantly.

        Shepard was a bit overwhelmed by the straightforwardness of the pony.  He wasn’t entirely sure of the suits composition himself anyway, “Uh well, I can’t really say for sure Rarity, I’m not the one who made it.  But I think you’ve done a great job already in your repairs.  I’m sure no one else will even notice the difference in material,” he said, thinking that this would calm the pony.  

        Rarity gasped out, stomping her hoof once more, “But RARITY will notice! And I simply won’t be able to sleep at night, knowing that one of Rarity’s works are out there, in public, half finished!” she said dramatically.
        Twilight Sparkle chimed in, clearly seeing that Shepard was having a hard time dealing with her, “You did a great job fixing his uniform Rarity.  But the truth is that there is a lot that we don’t know about John.  Not even what his clothes are made out of…” she said, setting a hoof on her shoulder.

        “I guess I’m in the same boat you are; I don’t really understand much about this place.  There’s pictures, and minor descriptions in these books, but that only gives me so much information,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning on the stairway.
        Rarity pondered for a moment before she lit up, “Well that’s because you’ve been stuck in this stuffy old library… no offense Twilight.  You’re not going to learn anything about Equestria unless you go out and see it! Surely you can at least get around a little bit, even with your injuries?” she asked him.

        Shepard looked over to Twilight, “I have been feeling better lately.  Since I’m stuck here for now, I might as well get to know my way around the place?  Why the hell not?” he said shrugging, standing back up on his leg.  Of course, this made him stumble slightly, “Might not be a bad idea to have a pony or two by me though…”

        “Alright, alright… just let me finish up a few things here.  Then we can get going.  Spike, do you think you can look after the library while I’m gone?” asked Twilight.

        The dragon nodded and saluted twilight, “Yes ma’am! I’ll hold down the fort Twilight… oh and if you go out, do you think you could get more of those creme puff things?” he said, licking his lips some.

        As Twilight rolled her eyes, Rarity pulled out a bonnet, and a pair of sunglasses to put on herself, “It certainly would be a nice day to get out, I’ve been cooped up inside myself with all of my work… Oh! How could I forget!  I had something made for you as well, just to give you a little more of a local look!” she started to pull something out of her pack.

        Shepard shook his head.  From what he saw of the ponies, he expected something that was overly colorful, and more than likely flamboyant, “Ah no really that’s not necessary… ah…” before he finished, he saw what she revealed.  It was a lightweight, black and grey hoodie, made from fine stitched cotton, just like one on earth would be made of.  The colors actually went with his uniform.  More to his surprise, the N7 logo was printed on the right breast, right where it should be.  He took a look at the back, and he saw the flag with twin princesses on it, he recognized it from books, as the flag of Equestria.  This was printed much larger on the back, but the colors on this too went with the rest of the outfit, “Huh, you know this actually looks pretty good…” he turned his arms into it, and placed the hoodie on, it was a perfect fit.

        Rarity chuckled at this, “Well of course it does… did you think I was going to give you some mish mash of color and flash?” she said turning her head at him.

        “Well actually…” he didn’t finish.

        “I based the style, the colors, and the size of course, off of the outfit that I repaired.  And I just thought it might be nice of you to have a little piece of Equestria.  To make the locals more comfortable with you that is.  Oh don’t get me wrong, they are all very nice ponies, but why shouldn’t one of our guests get to look his best?” she said, adjusting her glasses a few times.

        Shepard chuckled a bit, “Thanks Rarity, it looks great,” he turned to look to Twilight, who was putting a few more books away, “Are we just about ready Twilight?” he asked.

        “All done!” she said, putting on her own pack, “Alright Shepard, lets go meet some ponies!  And on our way back, we can see if you’re up for taking a peek at Applejacks barn!”  she said triumphantly, before she opened up the wooden door. 
 
        Shepard, with the other ponies at his side made his way outside.  He felt the warm sun wash over him.  The scenery was bright, vibrant with colors that nearly assaulted his eyes.  Everything was just so damn bright, just like when he first woke up in that hospital bed.  Despite all of the brightness, he could still make out the strange pink blur that was charging towards them, “Wait, what the hell is that…”
        
        
        


        


Anonymous:
Main Story Link?
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/80725/paragon