//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Politics & BULLSHIT // Story: The Other Ones of Me (A Mass Effect Crossover) // by DragonsHeart //------------------------------// Celestia looks through all the papers that have come in the last few hours and frowns at the huge pile. She sorts through the mess of papers. Letters from nobles complaining, letters from nobles panicking, letters from various newspaper companies asking what the hell is going on, letters from the University asking why they can’t look at the meteoroid, letters from idiots thinking there is a visitation or invasion by aliens, and finally one of the few she cares about: a report from the team she sent to investigate. The content of the report does not help her mood. It reads like this. To Princess Celestia, We have found out that the object is not a meteoroid, but something manufactured. It is made from a metal that after close examination and magical analysis, was found to be an unknown alloy. We have sent a piece off for further investigation, but we are not hopeful that it will yield useful data about its origin. The object contains a corridor and a room. We found a lot of mostly fresh blood spread across the floor of the room, and a lot of dry blood on the floor and wall of the corridor. After analysis we found out it is Unicorn blood. We believe the Unicorn came from inside the object, because of the state of the door. It had obviously been forced open from within. After searching the immediate area, we found a few dead creatures that had been brutally killed, but no Unicorns. We believe it is most unlikely that the Unicorn could survive the creatures of the Everfree Forest indefinitely in its apparent state but no body was found. The rest of the investigation was fruitless, no signs of magic or any signs of another worldly power being involved. We plan to move the entire object to a secure facility. So for now we will continue station Guards at the site. Signed Coverup Sighing she puts the letter back down and picks up a letter from Twilight. It read. Dear Princess Celestia, My friends and I have some news regarding the object that landed in the Everfree Forest. Upon investigating the object we found a trail of blood leading away from the craft. Following it, we encountered a strange mare clad in armour, who attacked us with odd weapons that Rainbow Dash identified as ‘Guns’. We managed to subdue her, sustaining minor injuries, and took her back to the Library. We removed what we thought were all her weapons and armour, and bound her hooves. When she awoke, we questioned her as to who she was and why she attacked us. Her answers were cryptic at best and she seemed not to remember attacking us. This is possibly due to a concussion she took while we subdued her. At first she seemed quite confused to her situation, however, when we asked for her name she had some sort of breakdown before becoming violent and confrontational. She then broke her bonds and proceeded to attack us once again. This time with a host of strange and unnatural powers. With a great deal of difficulty, we subdued her again, but now we are unsure of what to do. This mare is dangerous, and possibly alien, and any attempts to restrain her seem futile. What should we do Princess? I anxiously await your reply. Signed Princess Twilight Sparkle. This letter is very worrying, not just for it does say, but for what it doesn't. She has known Twilight since she was a filly, and there are some very obvious gaps in the letter. What were the nature of the injuries? How did the visitor get a concussion? Why didn't they send for help before now? Did they leave some out because Spike was writing it? She looks up at her clock. If Sergeant Thunderclap and his squad are on time(which they always are), Twilight and her friends will be here soon. She gets out from behind her desk and heads towards the throne room. The walk feels like it takes for ages, her body still exhausted from trying to stop the Meteor. She stops by a window and gazes out, allowing herself a little smile at the thought that even though she could not stop the fireball, no pony got hurt. She then finishes her walk to the throne room and sits down on the throne, wishing that it had another cushion. Twilight absently watches Canterlot Castle approaching in the distance. “A bit for ya thought, sugarcube,” says Applejack, breaking Twilight out of her trance. “I’m just wondering what’s going to happen to her?” she says, voicing her thought. “I hope she gets locked up or banished,” Rainbow Dash says bitterly. Fluttershy, unlike the other times, stays quiet. “Twilight,” asks Spike, looking at her with worry, “What happened to you when you were holding her with your magic?” “Yeah!” says Pinkie, looking at her with curiosity, “What did happen? One second you were smiling at catching her, then you looked scared, and then you were screaming and twitching like you were having a spasm.” “You looked like you were in so much pain,” says Fluttershy, looking down at the ground. Probably feeling guilty about helping the mare. Rarity softly grabs Fluttershy and starts to hug her. Fluttershy hugs back. “There, There, Fluttershy. It’s not your fault. How could you know she would attack us.” “I don’t blame you, Fluttershy,” Twilight also reassures her, “You were just following your heart.” “So what did happen?” butts in Rainbow Dash. Twilight sighs, “Dash, have you ever got stuck by lightning before?” Rainbow Dash frowns, “Yeah once or twice. Its stings like heck.” “Well imagine being hit by a lightning bolt that so powerful that your natural resistance only barely helps,” Twilight says. Rainbow Dash looks alarmed, “Sweet Celestia! That’s a lot of electricity! If you weren’t an Alicorn you’d be burnt to a crisp.” “Lucky you weren’t still a Unicorn Twi, otherwise that probably would have killed ya,” Applejack says. Twilight nods, “Instantly, most likely.” “What about the punch?” asks Spike, “That completely floored you!” Twilight smiles grimly, “Well just before it hit me I projected a shield on my chest to stop the blow, but because of my weakened state and the speed by which I cast the spell, she broke through it,” She points to a bruise on her chest, “But not before it absorbed most of the force, stopping her from smashing my rib cage.” She looks ruefully at her friends, “But the force had to go somewhere, so it sent me flaying backwards,” she winces, “And into the wall, and then down the stairs.” “I’m just happy we’re all OK,” says Pinkie happily. “Me too,” says Thunderclap, who was pulling the Chariot, “Now please hold on and keep quiet, we are about to land.” The girls comply as the chariot begins its descent and lands in Canterlot Castle’s courtyard. Twilight and her friends gets off the chariot. “Celestia will be waiting for you,” Thunderclaps says, as he and his squad disembark and unstrap themselves from the chariots. The girls thank him, and start heading for the throne room, but they pause when they hear Thunderclap address his squad. “Alright soldiers, I need some of you to carry a very dangerous pony to the throne room! Any volunteers?” he barks. There is the sound of multiple sets of running hooves and a slamming of a door. The girls turn around and to their shock see all the guards have left except Thunderclap, Corporal Fisher, and Private Whiplash. “Damn! Wish we thought of that,” says Whiplash, kicking the ground in frustration. Thunderclap, all smiles, says, “Great! Two volunteers! Now carry the prisoner to the throne room.” “But sir! Who will carry the chest?” asks Fisher. “Since I’m the highest ranking officer, I will carry it,” he says proudly. Twilight, remembering the chest's contents, calls out, “Be careful with that, it’s full of dangerous weapons.” Thunderclap still smiling, puts his hoof on Whiplash shoulder and says, “Private Whiplash, I give you the honorary position of carrying the chest and the prisoner!” “Get BUCKED sir!” says Whiplash angrily. “Mutiny! Fisher arrest him!” Thunderclap yells. “Sorry sir can’t,” says Fisher smiling. “Why can’t you?” asks Thunderclap. “Because an idiot told me to carry the prisoner to the throne room,” he replies. “Who is he?” asks Thunderclap. “A Sergeant called Thunderclap!” he replies again. “Well arrest him too!” Thunderclap yells. At that point the girls left the idiots alone and continue their walk to the throne room. Celestia waits on her throne for the girls to arrive. She didn’t have to wait for long, the throne room door opens and Twilight and her friends walk in. She winces internally at the state the girls are in, they all look like they have been in a street brawl. Twilight looks especially bad, she has bandages all over her and lot of dark bruises. The girls reach her throne and then bow down. She wishes she had asked them not to, they look like they are in an enough pain already. As they rise, so notices some of them having trouble getting up, mostly Rarity. “Are you girls alright?” Celestia says in concerned tones, “You look like you been through Tartarus and back.” “It’s been a hard day,” Twilight says, giving a weak smile. “I imagine it has been,” Celestia says, returning a warm smile. “Celestia we have so much to talk about,” says Twilight. “I’m sure we do, Twilight. But I want to do talk to you alone,” Celestia says, in a serious tone. This surprised the others. “You mean we have to leave,” says Rainbow Dash nervously. “No. I want you to go see the Castle’s Doctor and then get yourself mended,” orders Celestia, she then looks at Twilight, “And after we finished talking, I want you to go as well.” “But I’m fine,” Spike says, crossing his arms. “Yeah me too!” agrees Pinkie. Celestia sighs at this, “I want you Spike to take them to the doctor, and I want you Pinkie Pie to keep them company,” she says firmly. Pinkie and Spike frown, but nod and start to leave the room followed by the rest of the girls. When they reach the door they turn around and give Twilight a worried look. Twilight just smiles at them and nods her head, as if to say it’s alright. The girls nod in return and leave. Twilight turns back to Celestia who is smiling at her. “Umm Princess…” Twilight starts. “Please, Celestia will do, remember we are equals now,” Celestia says, giving her a warm smile. Well, Celestia,” Twilight says, still never going to believe that she and Celestia will ever be equals, “Why did you send my friends away?” Celestia just sighs and says, “It’s hard see you and the girls hurt like that. And some of your friends look like they’re in real pain,” she then gives Twilight a sad look, “You look worst of all, but I need you to explain what happened. But afterwards I want you to go see the doctor as well.” “I understand, Celestia,” replies Twilight. “Good, now on to the problem at hand,” Celestia says, but before she can continue the door opens. Twilight turns around to see who has come in? She give an inwardly groan when she sees who it is. It is Sergeant Thunderclap and his two extra idiots. The three Guards walk past Twilight toward Celestia. When they reach the edge of her throne, they lay down the mare and the chest. “Ah, Sergeant Thunderclap, I guess this is the prisoner,” says Celestia, with a large smile that confuses Twilight. It looks like she happy to see these buffoons? “No your highness, it’s a new recruit,” replies Thunderclap, giving an equally large smile. This really confuses Twilight, even more so when Celestia replies, “Oh, and what’s the new recruit doing in chains?” looking like she is trying very hard not to laugh. “Well, when she went to mess hall and saw what is for lunch, she tried to dessert,” replies Thunderclap, still smiling. “Oh dear, we really got to do something about the mystery casserole,” says Celestia, still trying very hard not to laugh. “Yeah, it got off its leash again,” says Thunder, dealing the final blow. Twilight watches in shock as she sees her Teacher giggle like a school filly. Celestia is covering her mouth with her hoof, as if to stop it, but it wasn't work. Her giggling went on for maybe 15 seconds, until Twilight interrupts out of confusion. “Umm, Celestia, what’s going on?” Twilight says, trying to find the logic in this. Celestia, now getting herself under control, answers, “Sorry it’s just a little bit of fun,” she tries to turn serious, but it’s hard because she is still smiling, “So this is the prisoner then?” “Yes, this is the alien. And here is the chest with her dangerous weapons in it,” he smirks, “Which I carried without a hint of complaint from my lips.” Twilight and Celestia are sure they hear Whiplash blow a raspberry. A voice is heard from the side of the court, “Did somepony say alien?” It is Luna, she is wiping the sleep out of her eyes. “Luna! What are you doing out of bed?” scolds Celestia, glaring. “I was told,” says Luna, ignoring her sister, “that something had come out of the object and is in the court. So I had to come and see it.” “Oh, and who was that?” asks Celestia, annoyed that somepony had disturbed her sister. “It was me,” comes an annoying voice from the ceiling. They all look up to see Discord on the roof. He is sitting at a small table and seems to be having tea. He gets the teapot and attempts to pour himself a cup, however since he is upside-down, the scolding hot liquid decides to follow gravity instead, nearly drenching Twilight. “Get down here, Discord!” snaps Celestia. Discord and the tea party disappear and then he reappear next to the mare. “What a boring looking alien,” comments Discord. “It looks like a normal Unicorn,” Luna says. She sounds disappointed too. “That because she is a normal Unicorn,” says Celestia, getting annoyed. Discord is bored of looking at the mare just lying on the ground and turns his attention to the chest. “I wonder what’s in here,” he says, throwing off the lid of the chest. Before anypony can stop him he pulls out the armour. “Oh, look! Space armour!” He slips head first down the armour's neck piece. After a few seconds his head pops back out. “Look! It fits me perfectly,” he brags. After a few seconds of nothing happening he speaks again, “Actually I’m stuck, can I have some help,” one of his hands sticks out beside head and flails about trying to grab something to pull himself out. Celestia ignores him and turns to Twilight, “Twilight, could you please explain what happened to you?” She does. “So those weapons can do all that?” says Luna, having trouble believing it. “It does sound slightly unbelievable,” agrees Celestia. “It’s the truth!” Twilight cries. “Don’t worry, Twilight, we know you’re telling the truth, it’s just hard to swallow,” Celestia reassures her. “I guess this is one of the weapons,” says Discord, pulling out one of the weapons. It’s is the black tube, that Pinkie had knock the mare out with. “Put that down, Discord!” warns Celestia. Discord ignores her and examines the weapon. “I wonder how it works?” Suddenly a light bulb appears above his head and lights up. He gives Twilight a mischievous grin, “Hey Twilight, mind if I borrow your magic for sec?” Before she can answer or even think about the question, her horn lights up and envelops the weapon in her magic aura. She can feel her magic exploring the item as if the magic has a life of its own. She feels something go click. From the front of the weapon a barrel shoots forward. On the top, a small tube slips out. A handle slides out from under the base and other smaller parts slide out in . Finally small red light start to glow. “What did you do?” Celestia asks. Discord shrugs, “I just guessed that it might need Unicorn magic to use it, because the owner appears to be Unicorn,” he says, modestly stroking a large white goatee he just appeared on his face. He looks at the base of the weapon, “Still no trigger? I guess it’s inside it,” he frowns. Suddenly the weapon is enveloped in a dark blue magical aura which tries drag it from Discord's hands. It is Luna. “Put the weapon down!” she growls. Discord tugs back, “Careful, Luna,” he warns, waving a finger at her, “It’s magically operated. If you’re not careful you might make it go…” Suddenly there was a loud bang and the sound of stone and glass breaking. They all turn toward the source, and their jaws drop. There is a clean hole right though one of the pillars and the window smashed behind it. Discord shoves the weapon at Luna and start to whistle innocently. Luna drops the weapon in surprise, as it falls it folds up again back to a dark black tube. “It just shot a hole right though solid marble,” Luna says, in shocked awe. “All right, Twilight,” says Celestia, looking at the weapons like they would explode, “The question on how dangerous the weapons are have been proven. Now continue your story.” Twilight nods and continues. “So even without the weapons she is dangerous,” Celestia says, rubbing her forehead. ‘This day just keeps getting better and better,’ she thinks, sarcastically to herself. “We will have to ask your friends to find out what happened when you were unconscious,” adds Luna. Twilight nods again. “We should wake her up now, and ask her some questions,” decides Celestia. Twilight is suddenly concerned that the mare is still unconscious. This worries Twilight because she thinks the mare should have woken up by now, especially considering the speed she was waking up before. Twilight starts to panic, has she overdone the sleep spell, causing the mare to be put in a magical coma. “Why bother yourself,” Discord smirks. “She’s already awake.” Before anypony can say or do anything he flies over to the mare and starts rocking her. He speaks in a mocking mare’s voice, “Wake up, dear. It time to get up, I know you’re awake.” One of the mare's hooves suddenly shoots out and slaps Discord away. “Get away from me, you creep!” she says as she gets up. She scans the room. Her eyes stop briefly on Celestia, then Luna, then move on until she finds the pony she's looking for - Twilight. Their eyes lock, and she speaks, “Why didn’t you kill me?” “What!!” says Twilight, in shocked tones, “Why would I kill you!?!” “Because I tried to kill you,” she says with absolute calm, “So keeping me around is only a risk. Unless…” she says, her voice hardening and her eyes narrowing, “You have something gain by keeping me alive.” “She didn’t kill you, because two wrongs do not make a right, and killing you would serve no purpose,” Celestia answers. “I wasn’t talking to you, daddy-long-legs,” the mare says, rudely, “I was talking to the purple one.” Celestia eyes narrowed, she had heard a lot of insults before, but she has never been called a spider. It didn’t help that Discord is laughing at her. “Daddy-long-leg! That rich!” Discord says, in a fit of laughter. “You can’t say that to my sister,” Luna says to the mare. The mare ignores Luna and continues glaring at Twilight, waiting for her to answer. “I didn’t kill you, because it’s not right. Just because you tried to kill me and my friends, doesn’t mean I should,” Twilight says, giving into the glare. The mare shakes her head at this, “You’re naive!” she says. Twilight glares at her. Who does she think she is? But before Twilight can reply, Celestia speaks up. “On the subject of the attempted murder. Would you tell us why you tried to kill Twilight and her friends,” she says, calmly. The mare turns to face Celestia, and glares at her, which Celestia returns. “Who are you anyway,” the mare asks, unfazed. “I’m Princess Celestia, Co-Ruler of Equestria,” answers Celestia. The mare turns to face Luna, “I guess you’re a Princess too?” she asks. “Yes, I’m Princess Luna, also Co-Ruler of Equestria,” replies Luna. The mare then turns to Discord, “What does that make you? The court Jester?” she says, with no humour in her voice. “Now that an interesting idea,” Discord says, giving a wicked grin. “Please, I asked a question, can you answer it,” Celestia says, getting irritated. “Sorry I wasn’t listening, what was the question,” she says, in bored tones. “Why did you try to kill Twilight and her friends?” Celestia says, now definitely irritated. “I don’t know,” she says, flatly. “What do you mean you don’t know?” says Twilight, angrily. “Like I said, I just don’t know,” she says, suddenly sounding less sure, “One minute I was just confused and the next minute a bullet between their eyes looked pretty good.” “From what I heard from my friends you think we did something to you?” asks Twilight. “Can you blame me!” she says, angrily, “I wake up, and find out I’m now the same species as group of creatures who have tied me up, who have stolen my weapons and armour and with a bunch of voices in my head that are screaming at me. And when you open your eyes, who are you likely to thing is responsible? An unseen force or a bunch of creatures standing in front of you?” Twilight considers this, it makes sense in a way. “I can promise you this, we did not change your species or put any voices in your head,” she says, sincerely. “Then who did?” the mare asks. “I don’t know,” Twilight replies. “Then do you have any proof that you didn’t do it?” she asks. “No,” Twilight replies. “Then your word is worth mud,” she states. “SILENCE!” shout Celestia, glaring at the mare, “Instead of blaming everypony, can you tell us about the voices.” The mare seems to ponder this, “I think they are like me, only different. They make it impossible to answer questions, because my head is full of different answers. The voices have different names, so I can’t remember which is mine. They have a different pasts, so I can’t remember which is mine,” she says, sadly. “What do mean?” asks Luna. The mare looks annoyed, “Look at it like this, some voices want me to trust you, some want me to be wary around you, some want you all to shut up, and some want you to die,” she says. She then looks at them with a hint of growing desperation in her eyes, “Can you tell me who I am? Am I one of the smaller voices or one I can't hear?” Her eyes start to mist up and she holds her head in her hoofs, “Who I’m I? Who I’m I? Who I’m I?” she repeats as she rocks her head in her hoofs. “Shhhh,” Luna says, as she uses her magic to put the mare back to sleep. Celestia turns to Luna who gives her a sad look, “I could not watch her lose herself anymore.” “I understand,” replies Celestia. She looks down on the mare while she sleeps. Maybe she's not totally to blame after all she thinks. “Luna, I’m going to enter her mind.” “Wait, you can do that?” asks Twilight, awe in her voice. “Yes it’s like dream walking, only more complicated,” Celestia says. “How so?” ask Twilight, confused, “I thought dream walking is already super complicated?” “It is, but a mind is more complicated than a dream. A dream is an ever changing idea that will most likely disappear when you awake. But a mind is a small world that you have been building ever since you were young, full of your hopes and dreams, your fears and nightmares, your experiences and memories, and your identity,” Celestia says, smiling. “I guess that makes sense,” replies Twilight. “Are you sure this is wise, sister?” asks Luna, “Her mind sounds like it’s in a mess, who knows what see has seen, or what she has experienced.” “I know, Luna,” Celestia says, seriously, “But the root of the problem is in her mind. And if we are to help her I need to see it.” “Well, good luck, sister,” Luna says. “Be careful, Princess,” Twilight says. “Good luck, we are counting on you,” says Thunderclap. Causing Celestia to smile. “And don’t come back,” says Discord, smiling evilly. Celestia ignores Discord, and starts to concentrate on her magic. She feels her consciousness slip away as she transfers it to the mare mind. She starts to fall over. Luna catches her and holds her close, “Please be careful, sister,” she says softly. Celestia wakes up in darkness. She gets to her feet and watches as the darkness slowly takes shape. Soon she stands in an arid and rocky landscape. It looks peaceful, an undisturbed rocky wasteland. She hears a groaning sound from above her. She looks up just in time to jump out of the way of a black object descending from the sky. To her horror sees it is foot of a huge dark metallic creature. Its four massive spider like legs are advancing on a tiny blurred figure. Celestia guesses the blurred figure is the mare who is so confused about her identity that she has no clear image of what she looks like, or even what gender she is. The metal creature halts and plates on its body open revealing a growing red light. The blurred figure shoots a beam at the creature. At first nothing happens. Celestia hears a loud 'beeeep' and then fire rains down on it, causing explosions which make it stagger. It soon rights itself and advances again. This repeats multiple times, until it's nearly on top of the tiny figure. Suddenly this world fades leaving Celestia in darkness again. “Shepard Commander!” an odd voice echoes around her. Celestia's head whips around looking for the source of the voice. When she cannot find it she guess it’s a memory linked to the one she just saw. Shepard? It sound like a name, is it the mare's? And Commander? Was she military? But before Celestia can ponder it more, a different scene emerges from the darkness. She finds herself in a flaming corridor. She can hear explosions in the background. A figure that is rapidly flicking between three forms runs through her towards another figure constantly switching between genders. The second figure puts on its helmet and turns to the tri-figure. They talk but Celestia cannot understand them. There are more explosions and then the tri-figure is sent running off. Celestia is drawn to follow the second figure as it walks forward through the flames and up some stairs and through a door. Above them the roof is gone and Celestia looks up in awe at a deep black sky full stars and a pale planet. They are in space! Whatever the mare once was, her people had somehow reached the stars, they must be highly advanced. Celestia drags her mind away from these fascinating thoughts, and catches up to the figure who is assisting a male in an odd transparent mask walk to a door nearby. The door opens revealing a short row of seats on each side of the small space. The male is helped into the first seat but before the figure enter itself an orange beam slices the walkway behind them and an explosion sends Celestia into space and the figure slamming into a wall where it clings. The figure looks back at the male who is calling. “SHEPARD!!” The figure slams a button, closing the door sealing the male inside,before letting go and and being knocked into space by the next explosion. The figure floats for a while, then something starts to spray out of its neck piece, which the figure desperately tries to stop. It didn’t take a genius to guess what is happening, it is losing its air and is suffocating. Luckily the world fades before Celestia has to watch any more. This doesn’t make sense? If Shepard died in space, who is the mare in my hallway? Celestia has heard the focal figure of these memories being called Shepard twice now, it has to be the mare's name. Only names stand out this strong in a mind, because it is the most important part of a being's identity. “It’s a pity that memories do not have time-stamps,” Celestia says, curious to the chronology of the two events. The blackness changes again. She is now in a hallway. At last! She knows what this is, the Hall of Memories. All creatures have one, it’s a place where the memories are stored for later use. She walks down the hallway. The walls are metallic, but no Halls of Memories are ever the same. Her mind wanders back to the two strong memories she had just witnessed. Why where they out of the Halls? Were they a warning? It probably would have worked too, if it were somepony else, but Celestia is not so easily intimidated. She has seen war before, she has fought giants before and she has most importantly seen death before. But a mare in such a strong magic induced sleep should not be able to defend herself, you need to be conscious to do something like this. She stops and looks around, this is very weird she has been walking for a while and she has not seen anything on the walls: no objects, no images, no symbols, no scents. Usually Celestia would see things like a bouquet of flowers from a first love, a medal earned, a sisters face, a broken toy, a enemies cap, a gutted building or a grave. The hallway is still empty. Usually an empty section like this meant somepony had a bad case of amnesia. She looks back down the way she had come. Judging by the length she has travelled and the amount of side passage she has passed, she must have walked through the mares first 5 years of her life. Celestia starts to gallop down the hallway, searching for any sign of a memory. She runs on for what feels like hours, looking for even a single memory, but only finding empty wall after empty wall. Is this mare really that confused about her identity, that all her memories have gone? Eventually Celestia sees something down the end of the hallway. Finally! But when she reaches it her hope drains away. It’s only a door with the words ‘Which is the real me?’ burned into the wall above it. This confirms that the mares identity is seriously compromised. Celestia puts her hoof on the door and tries to sense what’s behind it. It feels like the soul chamber. She smiles at this, for she has found the hardest part of the mind to locate. This should give her the answer she seeks. A soul is a creature's essence, even if a pony’s memory fails, a soul will remember and persevere. She opens the door and walks though and the hallway and door disappear behind her. She heads for a light she can see in the distance. ‘That must be her soul,’ she thinks. But to her surprise, as she gets closer, the light seems to split up. Soon there are thousands of lights. Each light starts to take shape. Soon each one has the shape of the creatures she had seen in the warning memories, though some were male and others were female. Some were shaded red, some were blue and a few were purple. They are souls, all of them. The poor mare has thousands of souls in her, this must be what’s causing the problem. Celestia takes off and flies over the crowd of souls, searching for the one belonging to the mare. It’s not hard, in the middle of the crowd, is a clearing where a small grey soul is curled. The soul is surrounded and suppressed by the other ones. Before Celestia can give any aid, a red beam shoots close in front of her. She turns to look at her attacker and sees a tall black thin stallion. Celestia flies down and lands a few meters away from it. Now that she is closer she can see that it’s not a stallion, only stallion shaped. It has no mane or tail, it does not have a mouth or a nose, it also seems to have no fur. Instead it has a shiny black metallic surface. The only feature is four pairs of glowing orange eyes. It stands a head taller than her and is as slim as an Alicorn. “Hello?” Celestia says, nervously. “LEAVE!” it says in a booming, harsh, reverberating voice. “What?” replies Celestia backing off. The creature’s eyes start to glow brighter and a red beam is shot at her. Celestia takes off to dodge the beam. The creature fires another one at her. She dodges that one as well. “Why are you attacking me?” she calls out, “I want to help!” “You’re failing,” it says in an insulting tone, and fires some more beams at her. “But why are you attacking me?” she says, as she dodges again. “Self-Defence,” it states flatly. “Wha…” she tries to say. “LEAVE!!” it yells again and an army of the great metal giants she had seen in the first memory appear and start attacking. Celestia does the only smart thing. She retreats! She turns and flies away, dodging incoming beams. She tries to use her magic, but this mind doesn’t seem to understand magic, causing her spells to fizzle. Soon she outdistances the giants and reaches the edge of the mare’s mind. She lands and looks back and sees the black stallion standing in the distance, watching her. It takes one threatening step forward. Celestia gets the message and jumps off the edge, leaving this mind and returning to hers. Celestia wakes up with a jolt, and checks her body. One time she woke up and found herself in a body of a mouse. Not fun! “Sister, is everything alright?” asks a worried Luna. “I’m fine, sister,” reassured Celestia, “Just making sure I came back alright.” “That’s good,” Luna says in relief, “What did you see?” “I was only able to find two memories, one of a gargantuan creature of metal and destruction, the other of the apparent death of our friend here,” replies Celestia. “That’s all?” Luna says. “They were rogue memories. Floating around her mind and I just happen to run into them,” Celestia states. “Oh!” replies Luna, “What about the Hall of Memories?” “Empty!” Celestia say, “She can’t remember a thing about her past, not even her name.” “Did you learn why she acted the way she did then?” asks Luna. “Yes I did,” answers Celestia, “When I entered her Soul Chamber I found it inhabited by thousands of other souls, and they were suppressing hers.” “That horrible!” Luna says horrified, “That means she won’t be able to remember anything properly, and if she does remember something it might not belong to her.” “Not quite,” says a familiar voice, “It’s quite a lot more complicated.” They all turn toward the still sleeping mare, whose left hoof is glowing red. The voice came from it. “You stumble around in ignorance, incapable of understanding the true problem that Shepard faces.” “Who are you!” Celestia says angrily. “You may call me Harbinger!”