A Celestial Interlude
A Celestial Interlude
More and more of late, it seemed, Celestia was experiencing the extremely unpleasant sensation of pain. The changeling invasion had been a humiliating and painful reminder that she was not in fact a deity made flesh, but merely a very large pony who happened to raise and lower the sun every day. She had never forgotten that she was not the goddess most of her ponies believed her to be, but after her power had gone untested for so long she may have let it go to her head. Just a bit.
First the changelings, and now these collector creatures. It seemed she was destined to be tormented by insectoid creatures of one variety or another. Thinking back, she recalled a parasprite invasion in Fillydelphia not too long ago as well. She had picked up a nasty flea infestation from the tiny fiends.
Parasprites and changelings paled in comparison to the new bugs which were now plaguing her. She had no idea what had happened to the other ponies abducted by them, but she could only hope they were faring better than herself. The horrific device holding her chest wide open, exposing the organs within while simultaneously keeping her alive, made her wonder how anypony could NOT be faring better than she was.
At first she had screamed, naturally. For the first few hours she had been so stricken with terror and disgust she nearly went mad. Now, after watching her own heartbeat and the machine work her lungs for a day or two, it was turning into something of a novel sensation. She had no fear of death, and indeed would have welcomed it at this point. If her body were destroyed she knew she would simply reform in the heart of her sun. Oh, it would take her a good decade or three to do so, but Equestria was in good hooves. It would be there waiting when she returned.
A little jolt ran down the length of her horn, causing her every muscle to twitch and her heart to visibly skip a beat. She glared balefully at the metallic clamps firmly holding her horn and head in place. She knew the collectors were performing tests of some sort on her, studying her anatomy and possibly even her magic. She didn’t understand the specifics; the machines and science at work here were likely above even Twilight Sparkle’s realm of knowledge, and Celestia had never had much use for the mechanical advancements slowly appearing in her kingdom. Now she was beginning to wish she’d showed a little more interest.
A door hissed open at the far end of the room, revealing her usual torturer. It advanced toward her at a leisurely pace, examining the various monitors and studying newly collected data. Today, however, something else drew her attention - another presence, lurking nearby but out of sight. She looked about slowly, examining the room carefully. High above was what she assumed to be some sort of observation deck. The glass was a reflective mirror, but she suspected it was a one way mirror and that she was being observed from behind it. This was new.
The collector finally turned its attention to her, speaking in it’s harsh, and in her opinion irritatingly clicky, voice. “You will utilize your ability now.”
This was also a first. They’d never bothered to speak to her before, let alone make requests or demands. She licked her lips as she formulated an appropriate response. The voice coming from her mouth sounded far too hoarse and dry to be her own. “Which abilities are those?”
She knew, of course. Physically she wasn’t terribly different from any of her other subjects, who as far as she knew didn’t have anything anatomically astounding about them. Unicorns’ horns and pegasus’ wings were a mild curiosity at best to the other races of Equus, long since written off as ‘magic’ and promptly ignored. The only thing it could want was a display of her magic, which ordinarily she would be overjoyed to give. Nothing would please her more than to turn this thing into a pile of steaming ashes.
The collector didn’t seem to appreciate her cheekiness. Tapping a console attached to the clamps on her horn, it sent a series of powerful jolts racing through her body. She gritted her teeth against the pain, hard enough she tasted blood. When it was over, she turned her attention to her wildly beating heart. There was something soothing about watching it pump. Relaxing, in a way.
The collector pulled its hand away from the control suddenly and stepped back, head tilted as if listening to another voice. One Celestia certainly didn’t hear. “Your horn. Focus energy into it or the pain will be worse.”
Celestia rolled her eyes. “I doubt it could get much worse than this. And I’m not really in the mood for a display of magic.” She had tried unleashing any number of spells, but each time the energy was simply funneled through the clamps and to wherever they lead.
“I did not mean it would be worse for you.” The creature tapped a different button, and a screen lowered itself into her field of vision. The image on it caused the first genuine gasp of fear she had given in the past week or so. Row upon row of large, cocoon-like tubes filled the screen, and trapped within each one was a pony. “Process chamber three-three-five-one.”
The Princess’ eyes darted back and forth from the collector to the screen as the pony within the first chamber began to writhe and pound on the lid sealing him in. It was a pegasus stallion, one of her royal guard. She wanted nothing more than to look away as his fur and skin dropped away, falling wetly to the floor of the chamber, and his frantic thrashing died away as life left his body and his remains suddenly… liquidated, before it was all drawn up into a tube connected to the bottom of the chamber and funneled away elsewhere in the ship.
“You will utilize your ability, or processing will continue.”
Tears flowed freely down Celestia’s cheeks, tears she thought had long dried up. She intimately recognized the screaming, terrified mare in the next chamber. Her personal assistant, poor Noteworthy, had seen better days and no doubt would be traumatized for the rest of her life even assuming she lived through the next few minutes, let alone however long it would take them to be rescued. “Very well.”
Eyes closed, she fanned the flickering ember of magic within her core. She felt the usual tingle through her body as the energy passed up and into her horn, and then the horrible sucking sensation as the clamps drew it up and into themselves.
Instead of stopping as they normally did, the pulling continued. Celestia’s eyes opened wide and she gasped as the device pulled at her more and more. A tiny bit of relief found its way into her wildly hammering heart; if all her magic was pulled away she would surely die. It was the most heartening thought she had had in some time.
---
A number of collectors tapped rapidly on the controls in the observation deck, as one of their masters looked on with interest. Immensely tall, swathed in a deep, voluminous cloak, its face concealed behind an expressionless mask, the Ein studied the monitors carefully. “You are certain it draws energy from stars?”
One of the collectors, the head of the project, bobbed its head in a nod. “Yes. Traces of solar radiation are apparent each time it uses its power. We have concluded it draws strength from stars. Its home star, specifically, but we believe the device we have crafted can tune it’s draw to any star. Observe monitor three.”
The Ein turned to the indicated monitor, which prominently displayed the star of the system they were inhabiting. It was not on galactic charts, and was inhabited only by a small, primitive tribe of sapients. A blinding beam of golden light lanced from a satellite tower on their ship, plunging into the heart of the star. The light grew in strength as the star’s energy was drawn away from the celestial body and into the ship itself. The instruments and monitors began to fluctuate wildly from the massive influx of solar energy, each collector working furiously to manage it.
“We are allowing enough energy to go to the creature so it may remain alive. It does not require sustenance outside of solar energy so far as we know. It can eat and drink, but it is not required to.”
“Why do you use such crude instruments in your experimentations? None of these devices appear to be utilizing mass effect field technology.”
The collector clicked its mandibles as it activated a new screen, showing a recording of the large equine alien on an operating table. One of the surgeons in the room attempt cut into her side with a mass effect enhanced scalpel and there was a loud, sharp POP as the area cut into simply detonated. The monitors surrounding the subject began to scream wildly, and the collectors rushed about trying to save her. “It reacts poorly to dark matter.”
“It utilizes biotics, does it not? How is such a thing possible?”
A simple shrug was the collector’s response. An innocuous gesture on any other species, but the Ein found it odd that the collectors had begun using them. “The most popular hypothesis is that it and its species do not utilize biotics. Rather, that it is some new form of energy. The subject’s horn acts as a sort of conductor for, for lack of a better term, light matter. Its power seem fundamentally opposed to biotic energy. This one’s body is saturated with the light matter. Other subjects showed no detonation unless specific areas were disturbed.”
Following the collector’s gesture, the Ein eyed the monitor as another video played back. Numerous subjects with wings, horns, or neither seemed to be missing chunks from their heads, in the horned ones’ cases, backs, from the winged, and legs from the ones with neither. “Curious. Each subspecies collects and utilizes light matter in a different manner?”
“Yes. We have learned all we can from the testing of the beta subjects, and the rest were sent for processing. Our alpha subject we have kept to run constant tests on. We… believe it may power one of the special projects we were tasked to work on.”
Folding its arms beneath its cloak, the Ein turned to a new monitor. “Show me.”
This monitor displayed the only inhabited planet of the system. A second satellite tower blazed with a harsh reddish light as a new beam fired, impacting the planet. Seconds passed as the surface burned to glass, before the energy beam impacted the planet’s core and the entire world detonated spectacularly. Chunks of debris impacted their ship’s shields, though nothing penetrated them. Gradually the light of the star dimmed and died, leaving the system to freeze over.
The Ein’s face was obscured behind its mask, but the chief scientist was certain it was smiling. “Seal the creature’s chest back up. And take the greatest care with it. The moment we’ve been waiting for has finally come. With this weapon we will at last be free.”
The collector bowed and barked orders to its fellows, who scrambled to obey. All the while the Ein gazed down at the captive pony, its smile never fading.
---
Noteworthy had finally cried herself to sleep. After watching poor Comet Chaser just… die as she had… she knew she’d never forget the look on his face. The sound of his screams. At this point she was hoping her turn would come soon, if only to escape the memory. It was cowardly she knew, but she didn’t care. After weeks of being poked, prodded, studied, and ultimately thrown in this tube being fed nothing but a thick paste she was ready to see the Fields of Elysium.
She was jostled from her rest by the sudden wild thrashing of her prison. Her head bounced hard off the inside of the tube sending jolts of throbbing pain through her muzzle and to her head. She felt a bit of wetness on her nose and realized it was bleeding. Shaking her head groggily she rose to her hooves gazing out of her little prison in confusion.
A dull WHOOM sounded from somewhere in the ship, and rocked her prison again, sending her sprawling onto her flank. By now she could hear other ponies up and chattering in confusion and fear. A new sound reached their ears, one that they were unfortunately familiar with by now. The harsh cracks, raps, and booms of gunfire.
Were the aliens killing each other? She knew she shouldn’t feel quite as happy as she did at the idea. All life was sacred after all but… these things didn’t deserve the gift of life. They were dark and cruel and twisted monsters. Worse than any changeling.
Ponies screamed anew as an explosion went off near their prisons, and… a door came hurtling down the hall skipping along the ground and coming to rest just in front of Noteworthy’s tube. She looked from it, than back up and felt her heart freeze up in fear.
Outside her prison was an alien. Though one she hadn’t seen before. It was massive… both height and width. Wearing very intimidating armor. A huge, broad face with wide spread eyes, like a dragon’s eyes but a bright, vibrant blue. It turned its head to gaze at her fully with one eye before grunting and nodding. She could see more aliens like it rushing into the room as they began grabbing at the tube’s doors and prying them off.
The alien before her was no exception. It ripped the door clear away from her tube and tossed it haphazardly aside. “You talk?”
It’s voice as deep, gravelly, and she assumed masculine. “Wh--what?”
It snorted. “That’d be a yes then. It’s just you horses in here?”
Noteworthy’s eyes widened. This thing was speaking to her. Its fellows were freeing the captive ponies. Was it… saving them? “I… y--yes I think so? We’re um… we’re ponies.”
It narrowed its eyes staring at her hard. “...huh. Wrong ship I guess.”
One of the other aliens lumbered up to the one speaking to her. “This is it, Commander. Only life signs on the ship aside from more bugs. Whaddo we do?”
The Commander rubbed his chin with his free hand. the other one clutching a massive weapon that had Noteworthy’s undivided attention. “Eh, get these ponies on the ship. Then we’ll kill the rest of the bugs. Maybe… I dunno… do some kinda computer stuff? See if we can find more prison ships?”
It’s fellow chuckled. “I’ll get the quarian in here to do its thing.” The second alien trundled off, leaving the first to stare down at Noteworthy.
“Well, let’s get moving. Should be enough room in the hold for you and the rest of your uh, ponies.”
Noteworthy’s eyes were wide. “You’re… you’re really rescuing us?”
The alien shrugged. “Not who we’re looking for, but hey a rescue’s a rescue. Be a waste if we came all this way and didn’t save something. Now c’mon, the ship’s not far.” It started off at a surprisingly quick pace for a creature of its size, and Noteworthy wasted no time chasing after it.
More of the aliens were running alongside the recently freed ponies, keeping them in a tight little herd. That’s when she heard it. And judging by the saddened groans behind her, the other ponies recognized it too. The droning buzz of approaching insects. Just like the ones that had frozen them all in Equestria.
The aliens seemed unconcerned as the swarms began to pour from the ceiling and descend upon them. The reason for this became apparent as a new trio of creatures appeared from within the aliens ranks. Furless and blue skinned with strange tentacle-like hair, their eyes glowed with what Noteworthy assumed was magical light. Suddenly a bright blue dome appeared over the group blocking the bugs from entering.
“Heh. Interspecies cooperation. Ain’t it great?” It took Noteworthy a minute to realize the huge Commander alien was speaking to her.
“Um… y--yes?”
“Ha! Damn right yes. C’mon ladies let’s keep this train movin’!” They were running again, one of the blue aliens very near to Noteworthy.
It was clear the new alien was focusing on keeping her magical shield in place, but she was also studying the unicorn curiously. “I have never encountered your species before.”
The sudden harsh crack of gunfire brought shouts of alarm from the ponies, Noteworthy was no exception. The Commander just laughed uproariously lifting his weapon and firing an explosive blast from it, catching the trio of incoming collectors and more or less blowing their chests completely clear of their bodies.
A wide-eyed Noteworthy looked from the scene of carnage, up to the blue alien. “...we’re um… new.”
The pony wasn’t sure if the blue alien’s ability to smile pleasantly in such a situation was a good, or bad thing. “Then this is certainly a pleasure. No doubt you have endless questions to ask of us, as we have of you. Obviously this is not the best way of making first contact, but we must make the best of the circumstances we are given, don’t you think?”
“Um… yes. Endless would be a good way to describe the questions I have. I think they can wait until we’re safe though.”
The alien nodded in understanding. “Of course. You have nothing to fear, Commander Grunt is one of the most decorated officers in the N7 Alliance. We’ll have you and your people to safety momentarily.”
Noteworthy couldn’t help but feel a little assured. This alien creature, a mare she was guessing, seemed so strong. So sure of herself and her friends. Even if those friends were giant, terrifying alien lizard monsters with enormous guns. Noteworthy was, if nothing else,a professional. Serving as Celestia’s right hoof pony meant she had entertained griffons, buffalo, dragons, and in one extremely memorable occasion Discord himself. She was heartened to see a number of the free ponies, most of them still in the armor of the royal guard seemed to be coping better than could be expected as well.
She didn’t want her first encounter with a friendly alien species to be embarrassing after all.
Her thoughts then strayed to home. This wasn’t the first alien she’d met. She’d seen Shepherd, even spoken with the alien mare once or twice when she was in Canterlot to see Princess Luna. She’d seemed nice enough, if a touch on the hard side. She didn’t recognize any of the aliens being the same species however. Curiosity niggling at her brain she picked up her pace to trot beside the towering Commander Grunt. “Excuse me, Commander?”
The big alien gazed down at her from the corner of one of his wide-set eyes. “Yeah? Now’s not the best time for chatting.”
Ears splayed, Noteworthy nodded. “Y--yes of course, I’m sorry. It can wait I suppo-” She was cut off by an explosion detonating against the shield not far behind. She felt the force even through the magical bubble and was flung forward along with Commander Grunt. The towering Commander slammed his head hard against the floor and lay still, a small amount of blood leaking from a nasty cut.
Noteworthy rushed to his side, only to hear the droning buzz of the horrible paralyzing insects growing closer. Screwing up her courage and gathering as much magical strength as she could she created a shield of her own. She was certainly no magical savant but she had attended Princess Celestia’s school. She could throw up a shield or two that would hopefully hold out long enough for the blue alien mare to get to them.
She breathed a sigh of relief as the insect swarms bounced off her shimmering green bubble of magic. A low groan from the Commander drew her attention as she knelt beside him again. “Commander Grunt? Are… are you alright?”
Noteworthy drew back as some sort of sleeve of orange light sprang into being around the Commander’s arm. “Yeah. Medi-gel takes a second to kick in. Head’s spinnin’ like I downed a keg of rynchol but I’ll live. What hit us?”
Noteworthy could only shake her head helplessly. “I don’t know. Some kind of explosion.” Her ears splayed as a sudden barrage of gunfire assaulted her shield. Each projectile bouncing off the bubble send waves of pain throbbing through her horn and into her body. A number of the bug aliens who’d captured them were rapidly approaching. She could see another, far larger group engaging the rest of the freed ponies and their saviors.
“C--Commander I can’t keep this up much longer!”
“Had to hit my damn head. Couldn’t get impaled through the chest or something easy. Noooooo. Had to be the head!” Woozily Grunt worked to push himself to his knees, fumbling for his weapon. Noteworthy could tell his ‘medi-gel’ whatever that was hadn’t done its job yet. She didn’t know a lot about aliens but when a pony had a head wound it was best they stayed still and relaxed.
Another peppering of gunfire hammered her shield, and cracks were beginning to splinter from the impact sights along the length of the bubble. She knew she couldn’t keep it up through another attack. Most ponies, in such a situation would resort to their old standby of ‘cover your head and duck, waiting for the heroic or guardsponies to handle the problem’. It was a tried and true method that had worked pretty well for the general populace of Equestria for a few centuries now.
Noteworthy had never considered herself brave. Sure she said no to Princess Celestia now and again, but the worse she received for doing so was a lot of pouting, usually followed by the Princess sneaking off to get whatever she wasn’t supposed to be eating or playing with or whatever nonsense she got up to, herself. Saying no to your boss, even if she did raise the sun every day was a different sort of brave than staring down a bunch of giant bug monsters with guns.
There were three of them, bearing down on her bubble. Their expressions unreadable but she knew what they were thinking. Easy targets. Her eyes fell on the massive Commander Grunt’s equally huge weapon. The nasty little buzzing swarms of bugs were nowhere to be seen outside her bubble, they must have left to give the big bugs a clear line of fire on their targets. The weapon looked simple enough. Like a big, fancy, metal crossbow. She’d never handled one herself of course but it wasn’t exactly advanced spell matrix theorem on how they worked. Point the barrel at whatever you wanted to leave you alone, pull trigger, ideally it goes away.
In a flash she dropped her shield and snatched up the weapon, grunting in surprise at its weight. But she grit her teeth and her horn blazed brighter as she hefted the gun, swinging the barrel toward the aliens. She felt a moment's hesitation then. If she pulled that trigger she was very likely going to kill these creatures. She’d never even considered taking somepony’s life in her lifetime. Maybe throttle the Princess a bit here and there, but not really harm her, let alone kill her.
Then she thought of the guardspony in the tube next to her. The one who’d… who’d melted. Comet Chaser was a young, friendly colt, probably fresh out of training. She hadn’t said more than three sentences to him, but she liked him. The other dead or injured ponies in Canterlot, the missing Princess Celestia. Noteworthy thought about it all, and her hesitation vanished as quickly as it took her to pull the trigger. She heard a deafening BOOM as the gun went off. With a cry of alarm she was flung across the corridor slamming into the wall hard and slumping to the floor. Blinking the spots from her eyes she raised her head woozily. Where the aliens had stood there was little more than A large pile of broken carapace and yellow-green goop.
Noteworthy’s breath was coming in sharp ragged gasps as she struggled to wrap her head around what she’d done. Her ears perked at the sound of a continued fire fight back down the hall. “Commander your friends need you!”
Teeth gnashing, Grunt heaved himself to his feet, scooping his gun from the floor and heaving back on the pump, replacing his spent thermal clip. He cast a glance at the dead collectors and nodded once. “Not bad, pony.” He started toward the fight but was forced to draw up short as the bulkhead slammed shut, nearly crushing him.
Giving it a fierce scowl he brought up his omni-tool. “Das’t was that you?!”
Noteworthy approached curiously as a face appeared on one of the little screens. It wasn’t much of a face, covered in a shaded visor and hood. “Sorry Commander, we’ve got bugs pouring down every corridor. I have control of the ship and am venting the rooms as I seal off the bulkheads. I’ve got most of them but there’s a squad heading your way. About twenty or so. I’ll get reinforcements to you as soon as I can.”
Grunt looked from his omni-tool, to the little pony at his side. “...don’t bother. We got this.”
“We? Commander who is w-” Grunt shut his omni-tool down and lumbered over to the dead collectors, scooping up one of their rifles and tossing it Noteworthy’s way. He nodded in satisfaction as she caught it in what he assumed was a biotic field.
“Works the same as mine, only you might not launch yourself across the ship shooting it. Heh.” He knelt down pointing to the slide. “When it stops firing, pull down on this. It’ll eject the clip. Then you put a new one in.” He scooped up a few thermal clips, then frowned at the mare’s lack of pockets. Or hands.
“Um…” She looked about a bit frantically, settling on the dead alien remains. She spied what looked like it could have been some sort of pouch hanging from a disembodied leg. Her magic wrenched it loose and she settled it around her flanks, trying to ignore the wet gooey fluid still clinging to it.
Her actions seemed to please the Commander however. “That works. So, pull down, clip pops out, you pop new clip in and boom. Keep shooting. Easiest thing in the galaxy.”
The displaced unicorn nodded once. “I--I understand.”
While not the gentlest of souls, Grunt had picked up a BIT of sympathy and compassion here and there. A small bit. “Toughen up, pony. You got a name?”
“N--Noteworthy, sir.”
“N--Noteworthy?”
She swallowed a heavy lump in her throat. “Noteworthy.”
“Alright, Noteworthy. The name’s Grunt. Commander Urdnot Grunt if we’re getting fancy, but we’re not getting fancy. I saved your life, you saved my life. That means we’ve got a bond between us. For the next few minutes, you get the honor of being my krant. We live and die for each other, got it?”
Having no idea what a ‘krant’ was, but feeling the weight of Grunt’s words, the mare nodded. “Yes sir.”
“Yes what?”
She couldn’t help but crack a tiny smile. “Yes, Grunt.”
He gave her a deep, rumbling chuckle. “Well then Noteworthy, let’s kill some collectors.”
Noteworthy’s stomach was still doing flips. She was equal parts terrified, disgusted, and… excited. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Looking up at the fierce grin on Grunt’s face, she felt the worst of her nerves ease. Then looking to the collector’s she’d already killed… she felt the rest of them vanish. Leaving only the excitement. Her own grin mirror’d the Commander’s to an eerie degree.
---
The hard nosed asari Lieutenant Keena Veras was not even remotely happy. Not only had they not found the missing N7’s, but now they were saddled with nearly a hundred unknown alien civilians who strongly resembled earth herbivores. “Please continue moving in a calm and orderly fashion. The hold of our ship is not incredibly comfortable, but we will have you to safety and comfort soon.”
It was fortunate they spoke something her translator could pick up on at least. The finest Ein crafted enhancements went into her personal tech, ensuing everything was top of the line from her omni-tool to her cybernetic implants. It had taken only a moment to understand the first ‘pony’, who was now MIA along with her Commander. She wasn’t terribly worried about Grunt, but having one of these aliens die on their watch was going to be a mountain of paperwork.
She pulled herself from her musings as their tech expert, Das’t Rayen nar Rannoch approached. “Lieutenant, I have data mined the collector ship. They were recently in contact with another, larger vessel located in deep space. A previously unknown, and unexplored sector.”
“Alright. Send the information back to the Citadel and let’s get ready to pull out. Has there been any sign of the Commander?”
“I tracked the locator in his armor as he wove his way seemingly randomly throughout the ship. It’s presently on the way here, ma’am.”
As if on cue loud, boisterous laughter reached their ears. “Can’t believe you make them explode by giving them a dirty look!”
Asari and quarian shared a confused look, as their krogan Commander came into view, a pony perched on his shoulder, her fore legs dangling down across Grunt’s chest. “Well I didn’t know either, I was just trying to trip him then… boom.”
“Boom! Ha!” Grunt stopped in front of his second in command. “Get this pony a uniform!”
Veena had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly what sort of uniform he meant. “...a uniform sir?”
“Yup! Noteworthy’s my krant. She’s sticking with us.”
The pony in question offered a wan, tired smile and waved her hoof timidly. “Um… hello.”
Veena took a slow, deep breath. “Commander, obviously we can’t have this unknown, alien civilian in our unit.”
Grunt brushed by her and up the boarding ramp to his ship. “I’m in charge. It’s my unit. I say she’s in. Think she might’ve killed more bugs than I did. I’m onto your sneaky little biotic tricks now. We’ll see what’s what when we find this Princess of yours.”
Das’t shrugged and followed his CO into the ship, Veena ground her teeth together hot on his heels. “Commander what Princess?”
Grunt thrust a stubby finger at Noteworthy. “Hers. Big pony Princess, rules her whole damn planet. Bugs got her in a different ship I guess. So we’re gonna save her.”
“...sir. That is not even remotely our mission. Remember last time we ignored the Council’s orders?”
“Yup. They said they’d take my command and my ship.” Shrugging it away as if entirely inconsequential he looked at the pony riding on his shoulder. She was getting more than a few stares from her fellow Equestrian’s. “Let’s get you a shower. All that blood in that fur’s gonna start to stink and asari get all funny about stuff like that.”
Noteworthy nodded. “I’d appreciate that. And I appreciate you accepting the mission to save the Princess.”
“Bah. We’re krant. You need something, I’ll get that something. If it’s a Princess, shower, or… I dunno, whatever the hell you eat. Plus it means we get to kill more bugs. I love killing bugs.”
Smiling now, Noteworthy gave the krogan a nuzzle to the cheek. “Thank you, Grunt.”
If any of the krogan’s crew found the sight funny, one look at his scowling countenance encouraged them to keep it to themselves.
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Glad to see that you are finally back in business, and looking forwards to more.
We'll this will be quite a reunion. Also how old is Grunt from the time of 'birth' from the chamber? Just wondering.
Now there needs to be a drawing of Noteworthy (aka Raven?) and Grunt firing wildly with gleeful expressions. The caption will be "Friendship" in bold, dramatic text.
Making collectors explode by poking them with magic is truly the most awesome way of killing them short of the CAIN.
and now the collectors have a whole bunch of N7 operatives after them.
And Grunt.
So if they find them its going to be fun!
For Grunt.
Grunt is BEST krogan!!!
I was SORELY disappointed in the lack of Krogan you can get to join your team in ME3 mainly the fact neither Wrexx or Grunt do.
Give pony a gun.
Pony learns to shoot it.
Pony outshoots Grunt.
???
Profit.
I wonder when all grown up Grunt meets momey Sheppard.
This will be intersting.
Though a side note on a earlier chapter, why would weapons be less power three hunderd years later. From what I know, technology advance slowly in weapons unless your a young race. And considering hand held weapons could take down Reaper units, the more advance group, why would there be such a degee that it would be comparing a crossbow with a assault rifle.
...I am struggling to find the words to express the glorious awesomeness that is this chapter.
It started out grim but suddenly the depressing tone got a boot to the quads.
At first I didn't realize who the Krogan leading the rescue was...my reaction to it being Grunt was to practically shout for joy!
So while Wrex is taking care of Politics, Grunt is kicking ass and taking names.
I can't wait for more. Especially the inevitable point in the future when Grunt and Shepard are reunited.
All I have to say is "Fucking A!"
I was wondering when this ship was going to sail again.
Huzzah! a great fun update!
You've again proven some damn fine skill with this chapter! After reading about what Celestia's been forced to endure, I was more than happy to see Grunt's particularly gleeful style of violence- and his great diplomatic skills! Now, a picture of Noteworthy and him, eh? Tell ya what- I can do that.
Huzzah!
It has returned!
With Grunt!
And Ein as the confirmed Baddies!
Now I want that Yahg who is a janitor on the Normandy Museum who happened to be sleeping in the captain's room when they took off!
New companion get!
Do eet nao!
EXCLAMATION POINT
Eeeeee, I'm so excited! Can it be time for revenge, now!?
Triumphant return indeed! Loved it! Looking forward to more!
Nice way to come back.
So wishes DO come true!!!
Minor spell check for the future, Krantt has two T's in it.
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One does not simply tell a Krogan what they can and cannot do.
This was certainly interesting. Makes me want to play the Mass Effect games...
If only I had them
I'm really loving this new addition. Noteworthy is a total badass. And Grunt's just the best.
GRUUUUUNT.
I approve of this. Somewhat sad we didn't see Shepherd, etc (REALLY want to see Grunt's reaction when someone mentions "Heeeeeey, you happen to know this other Commander-person we met before things got crazy?"), but even so, excellent chapter. Glad to see this is still alive!
Hmmmm. I wonder what Grunt would look like with a solid crest.
"Our enemies are in trouble."
"Everybody gets a turn."
Best. Lines. EVAR!!!
heck.
i had all but discarded this as canned.
awesome to see it is still alive man.
Noteworthy ha connections, first the princesses assistant an now the krant of Grunt? Noteworthy you sly bitch, I know your secrets!
Yes. Yes. YES. YESSSSS.
Please pardon the caps party that shall follow...
YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYSEYESYESYEYSEYSEYSEYSEYSEYSEYSEYSE
I'm so glad to see you back, and with my favorite crossover! I loved Noteworthy in this. You made her moral struggle of taking a life flow so well, and you didn't dwell on it too long. And I have to say that Noteworthy and Grunt are my new favorite pairing (mostly platonic.) since Bulk Biceps and Fluttershy. Great chapter without too many technical errors. Once again allow me to be the first to welcome you back to the world of the living!
Great, now the ein have a death star. Time for shepard to say "whatevs" and save the day.
New Chapter!?
headbutt everything, including the swarmers
Happy day indeeD!!!!
3851481 Eh, you're not really missing much in my opinion. Picked up the first two on steam in the $9.99USD Christmas package. They're okay, but they're both super duper fuckin' slow in the beginning doing all the sidequests.
Grunt? And he went on a shooting spree with Noteworthy {Raven}?
But that scene with Celestia...THOSE COLLECTORS WILL PAY!
NO ONE ABUSES THE GOD EMPRESS OF PONYKIND LIKE THAT! NOBODY! DEATH TO HER ENEMIES!
Also, I kind of view Noteworthy and Grunt as similar to Fluttershy and Bulk. {Complete opposites, but the best of friends...Or more.}
Great chapter, nice to see this fic get an update after so long. Mind you, I found it to be excessively gory which as far as my opinion goes retracted from chapter, but yeah still happy to see the update.
Soo glad you're back!
Celestia needs to invest in bug spray.
Woooo!
You nailed his personality! Every line was heard in his voice!
I have such a huge grin on my face after I finished. Plus, Noteworthy is now the first N7 Equestrian. Mass Effect 3 Mod Incoming
Welcome back! And you've returned in superb form, at that. This chapter alone completely re-invigorated my affection for this story. Especially with Urdnot "Mother****ing" Grunt showing up to save the captives like a krogan Brock Sampson.
And while I'm throwing out references, I just have to say that the Ein are giving me something of a Babylon Five vibe, along the lines of those aliens who showed up late in the series and were clearly meant to become the new villains after the Shadows left. Given that the Ein already have the Citadel races wrapped around their fingers, I have to wonder what their goal is that requires a planet-buster, given that the Reapers have supposedly been wiped out.
Whatever it is, Shepard's boots are going to find a home in SO many Ein asses. And that's assuming any manage to survive after Luna finds out what they did to her big sister.
Krogans are badass. Why can't I like more than once?
Yay to see this back <3
3852295 really badass
they are giant thick skinned (with shells over sensitive skin areas) reptilians, with secondary and sometimes tiertiary pairs of vital organs, rapid healing system, hyped adrennaline glands, redundent nervous system and can live over a thousand years.
but my dear sir you have miststaed for this isn't just krogun
urdnot grunt is a MAJOR BADASS!!!! *picture comes up of grunt wearing krogun shades walking away from an explosion*
remembering this stuff could save your life if you ever meet a krogun one day.
3851378 lol
Great chapter worth the wait and yes Grunt is still the bad ass we all love and how noteworthy gets some needed payback. i cant wait to find out what the collectors are going to do and how bad they get there ass kick
Yes, finally the new chapter
and glad you are back friend :D
I smell of a hint of a potential Reaper Pony about
(oh I mean I mean, oh no, a Reaper 
) (sarcastic)
Love the combat pairing with Grunt and Noteworthy. A huge ass (super) Krogan and a small pony kicking ass and fighting space bugs
Just one more thing, will there be pairing in this fanfic? Because I sense (and read of course) many Luna/FemShep moments and wondering if there will be pairings. I'm pretty sure there are others who sense it too.
It would be good..... just a thought
Anyways keep up the good work
THE TIME HAS COME!
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*Checks email*
Huh, three new emails, knowing my luck, it's more back to college shit.
........
Well, they're all fimfiction, let's see what I've got.
Hmmmm.... mediocre..... funny and entertaining, but short, and last but not lea-
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*Clicks email*
*Reads Chapter title*
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INTERLUDE!!?!?!!?!?
*sigh* I'll read it anyways.
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Grunt is friends with a magic pony that doesn't mind killing...
This spells all sorts of bad.
For everyone.