//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Harmony Effect 
// by DW_Beast 
//------------------------------//


What Happens Now


Shepard got up from his seat in the Mako following out his team members an the newly acquired Dr. T'Soni after having parked the tank in it's usual spot in the cargo bay. As he leaped  from the hatch and back onto his ship he bumped  into the three who seemed to be standing right outside in the way. Stumbling a little he goes to say something in aggravation before a loud bang sounded through the large metal room, forcing him to look up only to discover why the other three where halted right outside the hatch. There on the other side of the bay the small orange equine Applejack had body slammed the massive krogan into the wall with incredible force. He now like the other three stood in awe as the barely 5 foot pony woman lifted Wrex right back up with seemingly no effort the hurled him halfway across the room making him slide at their feet.

After Wrex came to a stop Shepard found his voice. "What the hell is going on here?" His tone and demeanor showing his frustration thinking Wrex or Applejack started something.

With a grunt the massive alien warrior brought himself to his feet and gave a gravely chuckle. "Just a little match there Shepard. Can't say I fought like that in a while little fur ball has surprising strength." As Wrex spoke his arms dropping making the equine do the same showing their match was over, while the grin on his face showed just how much fun Wrex had been having.

Shepard turned to Applejack with a raised eyebrow in question. "Is this true Applejack?" The orange mare nodded with a proud grin before speaking to Shepard. "Sure is, ah and that varmint Wrex just hav'n a bit of fun.  Thou suppose should be get'n back up to Twi, ya'll have a good day now ya hear." And with that she turned and walked to the elevator leaving the group of assorted races  and a still grinning Wrex alone in the bay.

Shepard just shook his head at not only the spectacle but also the surprise that she had a southern accent, he had never heard an equine with one before. He then motioned the other to the elevator. "Alright enough about that I need you all up in the communications room we need to discuss what's going on with Liara." Then lead all of them to the elevator while sending out communications to Tali and Kaiden to  head up as well.







After the meeting and a quick communications with the council Shepard headed back down to the mess to have a talk with Twilight. As he approached the table he only saw Rarity and Applejack there, the former still looking up information on the extranet terminal they had provided her and the later chatting with her with soft tones making it hard to hear what was being said but didn't appear secretive. 

"Where is Twilight?" He asked the two.  

Applejack pointed back toward where the sleeping pods where, and sure enough there was the light purple mare sitting cross legged her eyes closed seeming to meditate. "She's over thar, said she need'n to check on some'n when ah told her bout feel'n stronger."

Nodding to the two he turned walking toward the alicorn leader of the group. As he started to get close to her he started to feel heavy, like something was pressing down on him making his movements slow down. The oppressive feeling never got to the point of being restrictive luckily. "Twilight?" He said to get her attention, and upon seeing the violet eyes now looking back at him he motions his thumb up over his shoulder. "Let's head back to the table so we can talk. "With a nod she stands up with somewhat still shaky legs and with out a word follows him to the other two, while Shepard sent out a ship wide broadcast telling the others to meet them there as well. 








It took about 15 minutes for the rest of them to finally make it each having been caught up in what they were doing, and once again the meeting commandeered the mess again so the mares sat in the same spots as the last meeting. 

"Well I thought it would be best to talk about what happens from here." He said looking around making sure he had all their attention before continuing. "I have one more mission in the cluster, though it is only a investigation and or rescue mission shouldn't take to long. After that we will head back to the citadel where I will take you to the equine counselor, after that you should be safe with your own people no more danger."

A moment passed as the mares seemed to think this over before Twilight reaching over activating extranet terminal before speaking in a slight bit of a subdued tone as if she were afraid to say what she was saying. "Well while i haven't talked to the other girls, I think I and maybe we all would like to stick with you." She continued to mess with the terminal looking for something.

"Not that I want to get rid of you ladies, but this is a dangerous mission and I couldn't put your lives in danger for no reason when you could be safe with your people." Shepard responded his eyes watching the light purple alicorn.

Twilight found what she was looking for on the terminal before letting out a grin that seemed to only show she was happy at being able to find it. Her eyes that shown down on what she got were a different story showing a little sadness, fear and curiosity all in equal measures. "Well there is a reason, and a good one. Now I know we don't fully understand this new universe we are in, nor do we know how to use the weapons and technology completely yet. We have our own skills and some new ones we will have to discover." She paused a moment taking a deep breath. " We will come back to those, the reason I want to stay is this. I saw the recording of your initiation into the specters and your mission so I know what you have to do. I also saw another video apparently from the description was posted by one of six people you saved on a planet called Eden Prime."

Turning it so everyone could see the stilled video on the screen to show the massive ship Shepard himself saw over the decimated colony. While it should not have been posted with six civilian survivors there was bound to be a leak somewhere. What he didn't expect though while looking at the image was for the other five to gasp in recognition of it.

He was about to ask if they knew it before Twilight beat him to it. "While not a perfect match, there are some small differences this looks like the thing that attack Equuis all those millennia ago. After my research into the history of the galaxy I discovered the time of the attack also coincides with what seems to be around when the Protheans started to disappear. I don't think that is a coincidence, also this thing may have answers as to why the star beast attacked and we lost everything we loved to defeat it. So yes I want to stay with you and join your mission." As she spoke her voice got harder and more angry until at the end Shepard can hear her rage.

"We may not know about how to use your weapons yet but that we can learn. We do on the other hand bring our own gifts. I know you saw what Applejack did and how much stronger she should be for her size." She looked up to see an intrigued Shepard nodding to her before she continued. "After she told me what had happened I went back to focus on my magic core, though I think my people eventually called the energy mana.  I noticed my mana was a little more then twice the size it should be meaning somehow we are more powerful then we have ever be. I think the new mana is manifesting in different was for each of us, in AJ's case strength an durability, in mine stronger magic. While I don't know the rest yet I have a theory on two of us and could guess one of the other two know her's." Looking at Pinkie as she said that last line, remembering Pinkie seemed to know things she could never possibly know.

She gave the information to sink in before getting their attention with a shout "Rainbow Dash!" before pulling out a small rubber squeeze ball she had borrowed from Dr. Chakwas while they waited for the others to gather. Using her magic she flung it at Rainbow Dash using her magic to make it fly so fast it became nearly invisible blur.

Rainbow Dash so looked up in time to see the ball flung at her watched as it slowed down to her, as she looked around it looked like everyone in the room was frozen. Looking back at the ball she reached up and snagged it from the air in a relaxed pace before everything seemed to return to normal.

A gasp filled up the group including Shepard minus Twilight who looked smug and Dash who looked confused. To them she seemed to blur moving so fast they couldn't follow.

"Applejack has always been one of the strongest and most durable ponies in Equestria now it seems like it's amplified, I was always one of the most powerful magically and now my reserves and the strength of the feel of my mana is increased, and Rainbow over there was the fastest pegasus known now it seems her speed, reflexes and reaction time are amplified." She looked at the group watching as it sunk in before continuing. " I will work with the others to explore this new development and figure out what they can do as well as try to learn more of the galaxy, its history and its cultures. I do have a theory though of how this happened. " Looking up at Shepard. "You said you saw those odd shaped gems floating over us as we changed, then vanished into the cocoons of energy around us right?" He nodded. "Those gems from your description of them were the Elements of Harmony, in our time the most powerful objects ever known. What I think happened was the elements merged with us while we were transforming, this would have had some serious side effects. Those included but not limited to some of our traits being amplified like my magic, Rainbow's speed and Applejack's strength. I will have to study it to see what other effects it had on us. So as I said we bring in gifts of our own to help this mission."

Shepard seemed to think about this before standing. "While it is not all that simple I can see why you want to , also how some of these gifts would help the mission. Problem is getting your government to agree, you see you six are considered historical mythological heroes, so I doubt they will be so willing to let you run off into battle and risk your lives. I will talk to some of the crew and my team to see somethings and see if I can get some support to talk this over with your counselor. You may need to make your own plea to him and explain your case. Till then this meeting is over, work with your team Twilight try to figure out what else they can bring to the mission, if you can talk him into it they won't have time after the meeting to figure it out as we will need free time to train them. Also most of you thank to your wings and or your horns will need specific armor, we would have to figure it out how to get it."

"I could make our armors I have been learning about how combat armor is made for different races, noting majorly specific but enough to make our own style." Rarity cut in. "I can work on the planning with Twilight and design and build them once we get the resources to make it."

Shepard nodded in acceptance. "Very good till we get to the citadel this meeting is adjourned." He then turned and walked out back up the stairs to the command center again deep in thought.