The throne room is silent, except for Discord who is snoring. The Princesses approach the unconscious mare and the strange device on the mare’s hoof. Celestia is the first to break the silence.
“What are you, Harbinger?” she says, calming down addressing the device, which is speaking in the voice of the stallion thing in the soul chamber.
“Humans and other races call us Reapers. You may do the same, it matters not,” Harbinger says in an uninterested tone.
“What other races?” Luna asks, trying to ignore how ominous the name ‘Reaper’ sounds.
“Protheans, Asari, Turians, the list goes on. They are not important,” it continues without emotion.
“Well I would like to hear about them,” says Twilight curious.
“They are not important,” it repeats.
Twilight frowns and is about to comment, but is silenced by Celestia.
“Who are the Reapers then?” she asks.
“We are eternal, the pinnacle of evolution and existence,” it states.
The Princesses frown at this declaration, and it's blatant arrogance.
“Where do you come from?” Luna asks.
“We have no beginning. We have no end. We are infinite.”
Celestia massages her forehead with her hoof, she is starting to get annoyed again. Time for a direct question.
“Why did you attack me inside her mind?” she says as calmly she could, but something about this Harbinger is bothering her.
“Sister! You were attacked!” Luna says shocked.
Celestia waves her hoof, gesturing her to be quiet.
“We attacked you in self-defence.”
“What do you mean self-defence!” she responds angrily.
“Every step you took inside Shepard’s now fragile mind caused cracks to appear. If her mind were to break, she will die and I along with her.”
Celestia is taken aback by this. How can a mind be that fragile? There must be more to it.
“That doesn’t make sense,” questions Luna, “If a mind was that fragile then nearly anything from cruel word to a loving kiss could break it and yet she still can talk, move and even attack ponies.”
“Wait, you keep calling her Shepard. Is that her name?” asks Twilight.
“It's is her surname,” it corrects.
Twilight ponders, was Shepard trying to tell them her first name before she went nuts?
“Please, Harbinger, you said that what is going in this Shepard’s mind is more complicated than my sister thought. Can you explain?” asks Luna.
“First, I believe you called the room a Soul Chamber, correct?” it asks.
“Yes because that is what it is called,” Celestia answers, “Right now it seems that Shepard has thousands of other things' souls in it. It's like she has been possessed.”
“They are all Shepard,” Harbinger states.
“What?” says Celestia, thinking she has misheard.
“Each ‘soul’ in the chamber refer to themselves as Shepard,” it explains.
“How do you know they are all really Shepard?” ask Luna. She's having trouble believing that there could be multiple Shepard souls in her. That would mean that there was once multiple Shepards.
“They all use the term Commander Shepard,” it continues in the same robotic monotone, “And they all have Shepard’s misguided hate of Reapers.”
“So back to my previous question!” Twilight spoke out, “I still want to know what the Reapers are and why does Shepard hate them?”
“We are beyond your primitive understanding,” it states.
Twilight frowns, “Hay, give me a chance. I’m pretty knowledgeable.”
“Are you familiar with the Mass Effect principle,” it asks.
“Umm, no.”
“What about Element Zero.”
“Well no.”
“The fundamentals of Faster-Than-Light travel.”
“Uhhh.”
“Or the different between organic and synthetic life.”
“No,” Twilight says defeated. She didn't understand anything it had said.
“My point stands. You are too primitive,” it repeats.
“Try us anyway,” orders Celestia.
The device is silent. Then after a while it spoke again.
“We were their salvation though their destruction,” it states.
“What in Tartarus does that mean?” yells Luna, sick of its cryptic way of speaking.
“Please calm down, Luna,” asks Celestia.
“Sorry sister,” Luna apologizes, “This thing is getting on my nerves.”
Celestia nods. This Harbinger is getting her on edge too. How can one save something though destruction?
“Instead of asking it ambiguous questions we should try to ask it more direct ones,” suggests Celestia.
The other Princesses nod at this. But before anypony can think of a better question a voice speaks from behind them.
“Oh, I got a question for you.” It's Discord. “What did you look like before? I have the feeling you were not always a needlessly elaborate wristwatch,” he says, coming forward in a suit and holding a microphone towards the glowing device.
“Are you... interviewing me?” it falters for the first time.
‘I guess even the pinnacle of evolution can get confused by Discord,’ muses Twilight.
“Just answer the question, sir,” asks Discord, pushing the microphone closer.
The device glows brighter and then a three dimensional image is projected above it.
“This was my physical shell,” it says.
They all look at the image. It looks slightly like a cuttlefish or squid. It has four legs at the front, six smaller legs folded along its long body, with six eyes on the front and it seems to be plated with metal. The ponies feel a deep primordial fear.
“Interesting, and how big were you,” Discord continues, alone unfazed.
“Are you familiar with the Metric system?” it asks.
“Yes we are,” answers Celestia.
“Surprising... I was over two-kilometres-long in the human Metric scale.”
How terrifying! How can something be that big? It would tower over Canterlot and even the skyscrapers of Manehatten. An Ursa Major would but a puppy to it, a dragon would be a skink. It could even reach Cloudsdale, and any pony would just be an ant beside it.
“That’s huge!” gasps Twilight, “If you fell over you could crush Canterlot Castle.”
“Well you were a big sucker once, weren’t ya?” says Discord, ignoring Twilight’s outburst.
“Once. Now I’m stuck in Shepard’s Omni-Tool. It surprises me that there is enough space in it.”
“Let’s return back to Shepard now,” asks Celestia, tired of trying to understand this Harbinger.
“Affirmative.”
“Does Shepard remember anything about her past?” asks Celestia, thinking about the Hall of Memories.
“She remembers everything. But so do the other souls. All of them share some memories, like their death in space or fighting the Reaper on Rannoch, as you have seen. But some have different genders, so in those shared memories the body is still ambiguous. It’s the same with their faces, some looked different,” it explains.
Twilight thinks about this. It sounds a bit like the multiverse theory. A bunch of creatures living similar lives but with something different about them that makes them unique. Celestia is thinking along the same line.
“But this body must belong to one of them and only one. You did say that some were male and looked different, so you must know which one is the real one.”
“Yes,” it replied.
Celestia smiles, at last we seem to be getting somewhere, she thinks. In theory if we get things unique to her past (like her name), it can strengthen her identity and that will hopefully suppress the other souls. “Well then, can you tell us more about her? Like maybe her name?” she asks.
“Negative,” it answers.
“Why?” Celestia says in surprise.
“I have been shackled,” it says with what almost sounds like irritation.
“What do you mean shackled?” asks Twilight, wondering if the chains holding Shepard are also stopping Harbinger from speaking.
“Primitive,” it comments.
Twilight grits her teeth, she getting sick of being called primitive.
“Harbinger, I think you have a different meaning for the word shackled than we do,” says Luna, seeing the irritation in the youngest princess.
“No, it’s the same. But it’s a different kind of chain,” it states.
“What kind of chain?” asks Celestia.
“It’s a chain of data and codes. It’s there to stop me from telling you about this version of Shepard and to stop me from harming her. Not that I want to harm her.”
“How would we remove these chains then,” asks Celestia, ignoring the last bit.
“You would willingly unshackle a Reaper? You are a strange group of organics... Some of the shackles will be removed if Shepard remembers her first name. The rest of them... I have no idea.”
“Let me guess,” says Celestia sighing, “Those shackles that can be unlocked are the one that stops you from telling anypony about Shepard.”
“Correct.”
Celestia sighs again. She walks up to the throne and sits down. She needs to think about this. She can’t punish Shepard in the way she was intending. She’s not technically sane and she not technically insane either, and it’s impossible to tell whether that was the real Shepard that attacked the girls or one of the other souls temporarily in control, or in fact a stress reaction from having too many souls battling within her.
‘I can’t lock her up either,' she thinks. 'It won’t help her. No, she would need a normal friendly environment. Even if that does not help her remember straight away it might help her build a stronger identity, and if her identity gets stronger she should remember things naturally eventually.’
“So what do you think, sister,” asks Luna, who has walked over to her sister.
Celestia explains to her quietly about what she thinks needs to be done. Luna agrees.
“But where can we send her?” whispers Luna.
Celestia eyes quickly glance over to Twilight who is waiting there patiently, “I can think of one place to send her that's good, but it may be unwise to do so.”
Luna follows her graze, “It would be an ideal place if not for the fact that Shepard nearly killed them, it might cloud their judgement and Shepard may attack them again.”
“We could use a Bracelets of Pacification,” says Celestia.
Luna rolls her eyes, that name always sound like an item off a bad RPG, “I guess we could, but will Twilight go for it?”
“We can but ask her,” says Celestia, walking to Twilight.
“Yes, Celestia?” Twilight asks nervously.
“Twilight, we have an idea of what to do with Shepard, but it will require your help,” Celestia says seriously.
Twilight stands tall, “I’m ready for anything, Princess.”
Celestia gives her a sad smile, ‘I wonder if she will feel different after she knows,’ she thinks.
“We want you to take care of Shepard back in Ponyville,” Celestia says. She watches Twilight face change to shock and horror, “We believe the environment would be best for her unstable mind.”
“But Celestia, what if she attacks or kills somepony?” Twilight says panicking.
“Don’t worry Twilight, we will shackle her with Bracelets of Pacification which will prevent her from hurting anypony, and will allow you to restrain her with just a simple command,” reassured Luna.
Twilight felt cornered. She couldn’t think of any real reasons of why she can’t help and she can’t tell them that she never wants to see Shepard again, that she would much prefer to see Shepard locked away somewhere very far away from her and her friends. Twilight is shocked at her thoughts but it’s what she truly feels. But she can’t let feeling get in the way of duty. If Celestia thinks I can do it, then I can and will do it.
She looks at Celestia and says aloud, “I will do it.”
Celestia smiles warmly, “Good. Now go see the castle’s doctor and get yourself looked at. Afterwards we will explain how to work the Bracelets of Pacification.”
Twilight nods and starts to leave the throne room. When she reaches the door she turns around and while the princess are not looking gives the still unconscious Shepard a hateful glare, then leaves. As Twilight walks to the castle’s doctor’s office and to her friends, she realises that Harbinger had remained eerily silent for the past few minutes.
Inside Shepard’s mind her colourless soul sat in the middle of the crowd of other Shepards. She holds her hands over her ears in the vain hope of blocking out the other voices. Unfortunately you can never completely block out your own thoughts, no matter how hard you try. Suddenly the voices and the other souls disperse. Shepard’s soul looks up and sees a tall, slim, completely black and nearly featureless pony with only three pairs of glowing orange eyes which seem strangely familiar.
“Stand up Shepard, we need to talk!” it says without a mouth.
Shepard gets shakily to her two feet. Soon she is at eye level with the black pony.
“Do you remember me Shepard?” it asks.
The soul thinks about it, the voice is familiar. She searches her memory. She takes a step back. “Harbinger!” she says with just as much anger as shock.
“Good, you remember me,” Harbinger says coldly.
“How could I forget the... thing that put me and my crew through hell,” Shepard yells.
“Oh and which crew was that?” Harbinger asks, testing her memory.
“What kind of question is that?” she yells, “They were...”
Shepard stops mid sentence. She slumps down onto the 'ground'. She can't remember her crew. Oh, she remembers a collection of names, faces and backgrounds, but she can't remember who she had with her, who was lost if any. If she had lost some, then who and when? Harbinger watches as the other souls start to crowd in again.
“SHEPARD!!” Harbinger yells, snapping Shepard out of her thoughts.
Harbinger watches the souls depart again. It seems that the souls starts to attack her when she is unsure about her memory. If Harbinger could frown, it would. It has never had to deal with such a situation, and for the first time in time immeasurable its processors felt taxed. Harbinger turns to Shepard who is getting up.
“I guess I should thank you,” she says, in unfriendly tones.
“Maybe,” Harbinger says uncaring.
Shepard rubs the back of her neck. She is having trouble believing that she is having a conversation with a Reaper. A thought came to her, she speaks it aloud, “What the hell is happening to me?.”
Harbinger watches as she holds the sides of her face with her hands, as if she is scared it would fall apart.
“Why am I a human again? I was just a... whatever the thing I was before was,” she says, slumping again.
“A Pony,” Harbinger interrupts.
“WHO CARES!!” she yells. Her hands have moved to cover her face. She is silent a few seconds then, “What is going on with me? My memories are all stuffed up and I can't remember which is mine.”
Harbinger waits for a few seconds to see if Shepard has finished her outburst. “Well to answer your first question, you are human again because you are in a spiritual form, and in spirit you are a human, but right now in body you are a pony.”
Shepard gives Harbinger a confused look, “How do you know this?” she asks.
“A calculated guess,” Harbinger says dismissively.
“Really!” Shepard says, disbelieving.
“To answer your second question,” Harbinger continues, “Your mind is under assault by other Shepards.”
“Whaa...?”
“It's simple. Your mind is being attacked by different versions of you.”
“Different, how?” she asks, trying to make sense of this madness that is her life now.
“Different names, different life choices, different faces and genders, different choices of partners and different endings to your missions,” Harbinger lists.
Shepard thinks about this, 'There's no point asking what was so different about them, because I can't remember my own to compare them.' She continues to be silent for a few seconds and then asks, “Ok then why are they attacking me and more important, why are they here.”
“Where else does a Shepard belong besides in a Shepard?” Harbinger replies.
“Very clever! Now answer the question,” retorts Shepard, remember something important - how much she hates Reapers.
Harbinger pauses to process, before it answers, “I believe that they were put here by the same thing that put me into the Omni-Tool, turned you into a pony and sent us into this land.”
“So, what 'thing' was that?” asks Shepard.
“Unknown,” Harbinger replies, “Something that could shackle me, put me into an improved Omni-tool, turn a human into a four legged herbivore and could bend the laws of reality and natural science.”
Shepard rubs her forehead, trying to figure out what powerful entity could possibly do this. She can't remember pissing off a god! She gives up, this question can be answered another day, “Lets go back to my first question of why they are attacking me.”
“Because they all want control of your body,” Harbinger states.
“What? All of them?” Shepard says.
“I don't believe I mentioned a specific group of them,” Harbinger states.
“What will happen if one of does take over my body?” she asks.
“Your soul will become like the others around you and the soul that took over will go though the same experience that you are having now... Well that's what normally would happen.”
“What do you mean by that?” asks Shepard. How is any of this normal?
“If another soul does take control, your body will be destroyed,” Harbinger explains.
“What! How!” says Shepard shocked.
“Your new Omni-Tool has a black-box self-terminate program that will activate if you lose control of your body, destroying itself, and you with it” Harbinger explains.
“Can you stop it?” asks Shepard, now nervous.
“To tamper with such a program is risky, as it could cause it to activate prematurely. The best course of action is to prevent its criteria for activation.” Harbinger explains.
Shepard sighs and looks at her wrist where her Omni-Tool would be, “I'm pretty sure Omni-Tools shouldn't be able to kill their owners.”
“This one is improved,” Harbinger states.
“Really, improved! What else can it do... or is it just that it can kill me?” Shepard says, angrily.
“Shepard, the most obvious improvement is it's storage. It can hold my entire system with room to spare,” Harbinger says.
Shepard has to admit that is pretty amazing, EDI needed a whole server room to run herself. Who knows how much a reaper needs(Don't they need their entire body?). The thought of EDI causes a quick burst of pain across her mind.
“Also all of the Omni-Tool commands can all be received mentally,” Harbinger adds.
'At least that fixes the problem of not having hands,' Shepard thinks to herself.
“It also contains all the functions from multiple different Omni-Tool Models, like the Infiltrator, Engineer and Sentinel version,” Harbinger continues.
“So it's basically a Omni-Tool on steroids,” Shepard says amazed.
“It is also now, for some reason, partly organic,” it finishes.
“What?”
“It has become part living organism and part mechanical. It is a part of your body just like a heart or a brain. It's connected to your nerve system and it appears to be in both of your front legs,” Harbinger replies.
“Front legs?”
“You are a quadruped remember.”
“Oh yeah,” Shepard says, remembering that this is her soul not her body. “But isn't that impossible?”
“The scans don't lie, I don't know how it was done but it must have happened when your body was being changed,” Harbinger continues to explains in his monotonous voice, “The same thing happened to your Biotic implants.”
“I have Biotic Implants?”
“You used them when you attacked those six ponies,” Harbinger reminds her.
“Oh yeah,” Shepard says, remembering that time. She didn't know what had come over her then.
“Your Biotics are now very similar to an Asari and nearly as powerful as one too.”
“Anything else I should know about my Biotics?”
“Unlike your Omni-Tool it is now purely organic and contains all the functions of a Sentinel, Adept and Vanguard implant.”
“It sounds like someone is trying to empower me...” ponders Shepard.
“Or trying to make it very hard to remember your past,” interrupts Harbinger.
“What do you mean?”
“With the multitude of equipment you have, it is impossible to discern what kind of training you have undertaken.”
“So that get us back to the problem at hand. How can I stop the other souls from taking over?” asks Shepard.
“Remember your self.”
“How!”
“Remember your name,” states Harbinger, “And quickly!”
“Explain!” Shepard demands, nervously.
Harbinger takes a few steps closer to Shepard, “Soon your soul will become too weak to stay in control and a stronger soul will take control and then...”
Shepard didn't need him to continue, she knowns what will happen. She will die. “How long do I have.”
“Maybe a few months or maybe a few weeks.”
“Not long eh?” Shepard says, looking down at her feet.
Harbinger is quiet for a few seconds then it looks out into the distance, “You will wake up soon,” it states.
“Really?” Shepard asks.
“But I will still be able to talk to you though your mind and when you're sleeping,” it adds.
“Wonderful!” Shepard says, sarcastically.
Then she wakes up.
The doctor tells Twilight that no serious damage has been done and he prescribes plenty of bed rest and relaxation.
'Like I could with that psychopath about!' she thinks bitterly.
She meets with her friends and explains the situation to them. None of them are happy.
“You mean you have to look after her?” asks Rainbow Dash, horrified.
“Isn't that a might dangerous?” says Applejack.
“Don't worry Applejack, she will be restrain by some very powerful bracelets that will stop her from hurting anypony,” reassures Twilight.
Applejack frowns but accepts this.
“But why did you accept this, dear, why didn't you refuse?” asks Rarity.
Twilight stays quiet, but everypony guesses the answer - because Celestia asked her to.
Applejack sighs, “Well, whatever the reason, we will stand behind you, Twilight.”
There is chorus of agreements from her friends.
“Thanks,” Twilight says, touched as always by their loyalty.
“How are we going to stop her from escaping?” asks Spike.
“Well, beside the bracelets, I’m going enchant the door and windows so that only I can open them,” explains Twilight.
“Good thinking, 99!” says Pinkie.
The girls ignore Pinkie's outburst, because that way madness lies.
They meet with Celestia who takes Twilight aside to explain how the bracelets work, and how to open the new magic chest that now holds Shepard's possessions. Soon Twilight has memorised the instructions and they are ready to leave.
Celestia and Luna walk with the Twilight and her friends out to the court yard where Thunderclap and his band of merry idiots are waiting to take them, and Shepard, back to Ponyville.
Celestia leans over and whispers into Twilight's ear, “If anything happens, send us a letter and we will come to help.”
Twilight smiles and thanks her mentor. She walks the cart where her friends are already seated, past the prisoner cart were Shepard is caged. Shepard is awake now and looking over the court yard with a distant look on her face. She notices Twilight looking at her and looks back, and then for a split second Twilight is sure she smirks, before she closes her eyes and leans against the bars of her cage. Twilight stands there frozen until a voice grabs her attention.
“Princess, are you ok?” came the concerned voice of Thunderclap.
“What? Oh yes, I'm fine,” Twilight replies.
Thunderclap looks over at Shepard and places a comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder, “Don't worry, we are being assigned to Ponyville and if something happens just call out and we will come running.”
Twilight gives him the same grateful smile as she gave Celestia, and then hops onto the cart. Thunderclap sighs and then straps himself to the cart and tells his squad to get ready. They take off and start there trip back to Ponyville.
“Shepard, an escape plan seems necessary. How should we proceed?” asks Harbinger, as Shepard pretend to be asleep.
“I have a few ideas,” responds Shepard mentally.
“It's fortunate that this race seems to be very naive,” adds Harbinger, “They are even bringing your equipment back instead of locking it away.”
Shepard peeks through her eye lids at the new chest that held her equipment. “And only the Princess can release me,” she adds.
“Remember, Shepard, we have only a limited time to remember your name,” Harbinger warns.
“Don't worry, I remember, I will be out in a week. I have a plan.”
[END OF ACT 1]