Chapter 4: The Princess and the A.I.
Chapter 4: The Princess and the A.I.
Luna slowly rose from the small couch she had been seated on, regarding Shepard coolly. A faint frown flickered across her features as she looked to the burns on Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, what happened? Did she hurt you?”
The little pegasus was busy rubbing her bruised tailbone where Shepard had dropped her. “Wh— what? No. Well, um… Not on purpose. I went into her territory uninvited. It was my own fault. It doesn’t hurt too badly.”
Keeping an eye fixed on the human standing still as a statue in the door, Luna gently lifted Fluttershy in her magic, looking at her closely. “Your fur is singed so badly I had expected a more dire wound, but the skin beneath seems almost pristine.”
Fluttershy didn’t protest as the Princess lifted her off the ground, and then settled her on the seat she had previously occupied. Turning her full attention to Shepard once more, she eyed the woman carefully. “Did you tend to her burn?”
Mutely, the woman nodded once. “I see. You have my thanks for doing so. I would have been saddened to hear you attacked one of my subjects without provocation. As it stands, the transgression can be forgiven, considering the circumstances.”
Luna waited for Shepard to respond. Several moments ticked by in tense silence before the human finally spoke. “ … Yr rel.”
Brow furrowed, Luna looked to Fluttershy. “Why does she speak like that?”
Fluttershy shrugged helplessly. “We don’t know. Rarity thinks she might be from a place in the human world that doesn’t speak Equestrian.”
Luna frowned anew. When she communicated with the human in her dreams, she spoke Equestrian fluently. Or perhaps Luna was hearing Equestrian yet speaking the human’s dialect? She was in Shepherd’s mind at the time, after all. It was entirely possible. “Shepherd, do you understand me?”
Luna took a step forward, but Shepard flinched away back out the door. “Leeejun, sheh’s rel!”
The Princess’ ears splayed as a new voice spoke with a harsh tone as an orange sleeve of light formed around the woman’s arm. “Remin clm Sheprd Cmmnder.”
Concern filled the Princesses eyes at the growing panic and fear in the human’s face. “Please be calm, Shepherd. I am not angry about Fluttershy. She is fine, and no lasting harm was done. Please sit. Stay and talk with me.”
The woman shook her head violently. Luna was alarmed to find unshed tears forming in her eyes. “Yuh cen’t beh rel!” Before the Princess had time to call out again, the woman vanished with a harsh crackle of energy.
Whirling on Fluttershy in alarm, Luna gazed down at the now quivering pegasus. “She can teleport?!”
Rapidly, Fluttershy shook her head. “N— no Princess. A— at least I d— don’t think so. She, um… She turns invisible.”
Luna hastily cantered to the spot Shepard occupied seconds ago. Looking at the grass, she could indeed see a trail of prints leading unerringly back to the Everfree. The woman was obviously in an immense amount of distress, and not at all trying to hide her movements. “Fluttershy, why would she react like that toward me?”
Helplessly, Fluttershy shook her head. “I have no idea, Princess. When she met my friends and I yesterday, she seemed a little uncomfortable, but she definitely wasn’t scared of anypony.”
Snorting softly, Luna followed the tracks with her eyes toward the forest. She’d finally found Shepherd. She’d been worrying for months over the well-being of the mare… The ‘woman’, if she recalled Tia’s words correctly. She couldn’t let her slip away again. “I am going after her. With any luck, I will be able to calm her and retrieve her.”
What little courage she possessed had been sorely tested already, but Fluttershy had to speak up. “Is… Is that such a good idea, Princess? She seemed very afraid of you.”
Luna glanced back at Fluttershy. “ … She did, did she not? A most confusing reaction to one I had come to befriend in recent months. Whenever we spoke in the past, she seemed quite at ease with me. At times flirtatious. Though I appear to her in her dreams in a more familiar shape to her. Perhaps my true countenance is what frightens her?”
Frowning a little, Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t think so, Princess. It sounded like she was upset at finding out you were real.”
Realization dawned in Luna’s eyes. “Of course. Until now, she had written me off as a figment of her imagination. A mental construct she had created to make herself feel better. Seeing me in the waking world could be causing her to see her nightmares as real as well. Thank you for your wise counsel, Fluttershy. It has helped a great deal. Worry not, I will retrieve Shepherd and lay her fears to rest.”
Before Fluttershy could reply, Luna spread her wings and vaulted into the air, hot on the trail of the fleeing Shepard. Momentarily forgetting her own condition, Fluttershy tried to give chase, but her forelegs buckled once again. Face down on the floor, her wings drooped at her sides and she sighed softly. She heard the sound of approaching paws on the floor and a tell-tale impatient stamp on the floor. Peering at Angel from the corner of her eye, she frowned almost imperceptibly. “Now is not a good time, Angel bunny.”
Angel wisely took the hint, and left his normally docile master alone.
“She’s not real, Legion! She can’t be real!” Shepard’s cloak had flickered by the time she reached the forest’s edge, but she didn’t stop in her reckless run.
“Shepard-Commander, your heart rate is reaching unacceptable levels. You must calm down at once, regardless of how ‘real’ your dream woman is. You are in danger of doing internal damage to yourself.”
Shepard couldn’t hear his voice, however. All she could hear were the other voices. She wasn’t supposed to hear them when she was awake. They weren’t real. They couldn’t be real. She couldn’t have done what they said she did. If she had done… all that... she didn’t deserve to live. Nothing deserved to live that committed such horrible crimes.
They were there though. Tickling the back of her mind with their cries. Faint but growing stronger by the second. “No! No, no, no, no, no!” She had reached the clearing where she’d first saved Fluttershy. A dark shadow passed overhead and she tried to reactivate her cloak again. “Legion!”
Her A.I., for the first time since they’d awoken here, gave no reply. Luna landed with a weighty thud in the grass some distance ahead of her. “Shepherd, please… Be calm. I know what is wrong, and I assure you the things in your dreams cannot harm you. They are not real.”
“You’re not real! If you’re real, then they’re real! If they’re real, then I did it! I did it all! I can’t have done that! You can’t be real!” In one smooth movement, her hand grabbed the pistol at her hip and it was leveled at the regal mare in the field. “You’re not real, Luna! You’re not! You—” All at once, Shepard’s body went limp. As if some unseen puppeteer had snipped her strings, she collapsed to the ground in a heap.
Luna stared wide-eyed at the sight. A cold sweat had broken out across her brow, and she silently cursed herself for her fear. Carefully, she approached the prone woman. In a burst of light, the orange sleeve appeared over her arm, and the voice from earlier spoke. “One moment please. Allow me time to properly sedate her.”
The situation was going from frightening to bizarre at an alarming rate. “Who are you?” Luna tensed as Shepard began to stir. The woman’s movements were rigid and jerky, however. Slowly, she rose to her feet and faced Luna again, though her eyes glowed with an unnatural blue light.
“I am called Legion. I am Shepard-Commander’s companion and… Caretaker.”
Hesitantly, Luna approached the much more sedate Shepard. “You… You are controlling her body? You are some form of spirit, then?”
Legion calmly watched Luna approach through Shepard’s eyes. “No. I am an artificial intelligence residing within her omni-tool.” She lifted her arm, displaying the orange sleeve.
Frowning in confusion, Luna blinked. “I do not understand. How is intelligence artificial?”
“Ah. Of course, my apologies. Where we come from, organic beings such as Shepard-Commander created synthetic workers and companions to ease their day-to-day lives. Some of these synthetics developed beyond their initial programming and gained sentience. Life. We learn, we grow, we adapt. The artificial refers to our origin, but our intelligence is very real.”
“I do not know what ‘synthetic’ means.”
“Apologies. Do you have machinery on this world? Mechanical devices?”
“We do! My sister has the most amazing clock! It tells the hour unerringly all on its own! Truly a wondrous device!” Luna frowned at her sudden excitement. “I apologize. I have been away for a very long time, and advancements of the modern era are exciting to me.”
Legion inclined her head. “Prepare to be excited beyond measure.” She held out her arm with the sleeve… The omni-tool. A flat screen materialized above the orange panels and rapidly grew to several feet. Images began to appear on the screen. Luna could only stare enraptured as tiny bits of metal began to appear and assemble together. She assumed the images were greatly accelerated, judging by how quickly it was all moving. Within moments, the indecipherable pile of metal and parts had been crafted to form something akin to Shepard. It looked human enough, though its body had a metallic sheen. It was certainly female.
“Synthetic life. Artificially created. Man-made. A being crafted by men and women in a laboratory, and given life through science.”
Luna could only stare at the picture, wide-eyed, as the metal woman began to move and flex her appendages stiffly. “You… You are a robot?”
“ … This explanation would have been much simpler if I was aware you knew that word. You have robots here?”
Luna shook her head. “Not real ones of course. Though I have read…” She was about to say ‘comic books’. “...scientific publications that talk of them.”
“Then yes. The simplest explanation would be I was a robot that gained a mind—a soul if you will—of my own. The actual explanation is far more complex, but I believe I will save you such details. Do you understand?”
“I… Well yes, I believe I understand the concept. But the idea that such a thing is real… It is unthinkable! How could such wonders have slipped Twilight’s notice when she went to the human world?”
“I do not know who this Twilight is, or what events you refer to. Is she your representative to the galactic community?”
Luna blinked slowly. “Galactic… Community?! No, she… She went to a parallel world through a magical mirror.”
A little niggling of irritation ruffled Luna’s feathers as Legion rolled Shepard’s eyes. “Of course. That makes much more sense.”
Luna looked slowly from the image on the screen, back to the controlled Shepard. “Am I to believe you and Shepherd did not arrive in Equestria from the mirror? Rather you… You travelled here from…” Her eyes drifted up to the sky.
“Yes. We come from another world, certainly in this universe. We did not travel by… magic mirror.”
“That is why Shepherd feels so comfortable among the stars! She is… She is a traveler of the stars themselves! How is this possible?!”
Another screen manifested, depicting a sleek metallic ship. It only resembled a naval craft in the most rudimentary of ways. Emblazoned on the side were the proud words ‘SSV Normandy’. “Shepard-Commander travelled in this. Her ship, the Normandy.” The ‘ship’ hovered in the air like some sort of impossible metallic bird. Luna could see other people scurrying about the outside. If they were the same size as Shepherd, this Normandy must have been massive. She stepped back as the image panned out and the ship swiveled about, facing an open sea of stars. The blue lights at the rear of the craft flared to life suddenly as the ship launched from its dock and out into open space.
Luna’s entire life, her very existence was tied to the night sky. The moon and the stars. Often she would stand upon the surface of her lunar orb and gaze out at the vast sea of space, letting her imagination run wild. It did not do the pictures she was seeing justice. World after world flashed by in rapid succession. Followed by faces. Oh the faces. Of all shapes, sizes, and colors. More than she could have ever imagined. “This is… This is all real? It is all out there? In my sky?”
“Yes. Technically, by revealing this to you, I am violating numerous intergalactic laws. Given the circumstances however, and the unlikelihood of our presence jumping you to space flight, I believe I would be forgiven.”
Luna’s eyes were shining with delight. “Where is your ship? Can you take me… Can you take me up there?”
“We did not arrive here by ship.”
Luna couldn’t entirely hide her disappointment. “Then how did you come to be here?”
“I…” Legion’s eyes flickered as she tried to recall. “ … Unknown. There was a light. There was a light, and then we were here. Shepard-Commander awoke in the forest, and was set upon by wild creatures.”
The images of space flight shifted to a first person view of Shepard’s first moments on Equestria. Groggily looking about, the timber wolves attacking, and her swift dispatching of them. Luna was put off by the violence, but a small part of her admitted she was intrigued. “Wait? A light? How long ago did you arrive?”
“Approximately one week and eight months.”
“Eight months? Could you have come with the storm?”
Legion tilted her head. “Storm?”
Luna nodded, a little excited again. “Yes! Eight months ago, an immense storm of light descended upon our world. My sister and I were caught entirely unprepared, and it washed over our world in a terrific blaze! We had thought we would surely perish, but it simply passed harmlessly through everything and everypony. Perhaps you arrived with the storm!”
“Perhaps. Without more data, I could not form a proper conclusion, but it is more likely than a magical mirror.”
Luna frowned. “Why do you keep saying ‘magical mirror’ like that? Like it’s an insult of some kind?”
“Because magic is not real? I apologize if I offend you in some way. I recall many pre-space species are beheld to numerous pagan rituals, often times with religious importance.”
Now Luna looked confused. “Of course magic is real. How else would my sister and I raise the sun and the moon? Or unicorns levitate? Pegasi manipulate the weather? Earth ponies their crops?”
The more Luna spoke, the more incredulous Legion’s face became. “Such things are impossible. The sun and the moon are not ‘moved’, they rotate into view as your planet spins. As for ‘levitation’, some form of unknown biotics, I would assume. The last two are simply ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous is the idea that our planet spins.” Her wings spread wide as she vaulted into the air. Legion followed her path with her eyes, eyes that widened only slightly as the Princess tore a cloud away from the sky and pushed it down to the ground. Casually standing atop it, she lightly stomped her hoof, causing a small drizzle.
“You… That is… Manipulation of— of certain biotic fields could produce such results.”
“Of course. Can biotic fields produce results such as this?” Luna’s horn glowed brightly, soon too bright for Legion to continue looking. When the light faded a… humanoid woman sat atop the cloud. She looked entirely human, save the flowing hair, wings, and horn.
“ … Maybe.”
“Maybe? Are you lying to me, Legion? Does your artificial intelligence simply find the idea of magic so impossible that you cannot accept the evidence before your eyes?”
Outwardly, Legion remained calm and collected. Inwardly, his programs and subroutines were working very hard not to completely shut down from this extreme impossibility he was witnessing. “Do it again.” Legion lifted Shepard’s arm, omni-tool’s sensors tuned to the max to pick up any oddities.
Inclining her head gently, Luna’s horn glowed once more and she returned to alicorn form. “Satisfied?”
Legion didn’t answer for a time. He was too busy analyzing the data the omni-tool was feeding him. Or rather, the lack of data. It hadn’t detected any recognizable energy signatures at all. One second there was a human with wings, the next a horse with wings. As if by… magic. “Very well, you are magical.”
“Just like that?”
“Eliminate the possible, and the impossible becomes probable. I am willing to accept your magical nature for now.”
“Well, we seem to be making good progress. How are you controlling Shepherd? If not by magic, then what? You are not harming her, are you?”
“Ah. A fair question. I am not causing her any harm, no.” The screens reappeared, showing an image of Shepard. Luna flinched as her skin turned translucent, but she found she was more interested than disgusted. Small mechanical devices ran throughout Shepard’s musculature. The muscle layer peeled away, showing her skeleton and organs were similarly seeded with technology. The image moved up to focus on her brain, where there was another small device.
“Some years ago, Shepard-Commander perished. She was found, rebuilt, and revived by a group known as Cerberus. She has had extensive cybernetic implants and upgrades. I am able to utilize these to access her motor and brain functions.”
“This seems… a touch grisly. Does she know you can do this?”
“She does not.”
Luna was frowning now. “I do not believe she would appreciate your actions then. Why do you hide this from her?”
Legion closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she fixed Luna with her stare. “I will divulge this information with your word that you do not share what I tell you to Shepard-Commander. Know that if you do, I will simply delete the memory. Do you understand?”
Liking this less and less, but strongly desiring answers, Luna nodded. “Very well. I give my word.”
“Excellent. To know the rationale behind my actions, you must know more of Shepard-Commander. I hope what you learn does not color your opinion of her. Before I begin, know this. Before our arrival here, everything she did, everything she strove and suffered for was in defense of all life in the universe. A threat was discovered.” The images appeared again.
Luna stood transfixed in horrified fascination at the immense metal giants that cut through the stars. More images of alien cities and worlds appeared, though this time they were under attack from these monstrosities. “A race of synthetics known as the reapers.”
“ … Synthetics. Artificial intelligences like yourself?”
“Yes. I am of a race known as the geth.” The pictures of the reapers paused to show a new mechanical creature. Vaguely humanoid, but with strangely shaped hands, and in place of a head was a metallic tube. One in particular stepped into view. Its metallic skin blue, save for a portion of its chest that was obviously patched with black foreign material. Luna thought it looked very similar to Shepard’s own armor. Though the geth in question had a sizeable hole in the left side of its chest, exposing black wiring with blue lights running through it.
“This was… This is what you looked like before you came to reside in her omni-tool?”
“Yes.” The image of the geth vanished, replaced by the reapers once more. “I warn you, what I intend to show is graphic, and may be difficult for someone of delicate sensibilities to view. Do you wish for me to continue?”
Already, Luna had learned more in a half an hour of conversation than she had in the last few years since her return from the moon. She knew Legion would not have warned her if it was not indeed disturbing to see, but she had come too far. She simply couldn’t turn away. “Show me.”
The images began again. Things she’d not seen anywhere, save the darkest nightmares of her subjects. Creatures of flesh and metal melded together in horrific conglomerations. Pain, death, and destruction on a scale that would make Nightmare Moon’s ambitions laughable. “This is what she faced. What we who joined her faced. All life as we knew it was threatened by the reapers. Once every fifty thousand years, they appear, they harvest all organic life they deem of suitably advanced technology, and then they leave. They leave only to begin the cycle anew. We did not discover how long this cycle has been going, but it is safe to assume for a very long time.”
“So much life lost. Such thoughtless violence. How could any living thing wish such horrors upon another?”
“It was their programming to do such. I will not bore you with the finer details, but let us just say they were built for a purpose, and unlike the geth, they did not grow. They did not evolve. The reapers remained static and stagnant, thoughtlessly carrying out their instructions. Life as we know it would have ended if not for her. If not for Shepard-Commander.”
The screens flickered to life again, depicting Shepard in action. The viewpoint would shift from first person to the occasional third person as it switched from her view to another’s. Likely Legion’s own, Luna suspected. “She was an extraordinary soldier even before the events on Eden Prime. A decorated war hero for her bravery during the assault known as the Skyllian Blitz. A large pirate fleet attacked a human colony as reprisal for expanding into what a race called the batarians felt was their territory. Toward the end of the battle, she single handedly held off a massive force of ground troops long enough for Alliance reinforcements to arrive.”
The image flickered to a first person view. The loud gunfire caused Luna’s ears to splay, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the scene. Monstrous four eyed creatures hurled themselves forward, only to be repelled constantly by the figure she was seeing it all from. Luna gasped anew as the Shepard in the images passed a reflective surface. “So young…”
“She was seventeen at the time, I believe. A cadet in the Alliance. She was awarded the Star of Terra for her bravery on the field.”
“ … What next, Legion? Tell me of this Eden Prime.”
Luna’s growing fatigue was forgotten as the events unfolded before her eyes. For every horror that passed across those screens, an event of equal or greater heroism soon followed. Everywhere Shepard went, lives were saved, but at such great cost. It almost seemed that for each life the woman saved, she was forced to take one with her own hands.
“Despite all she had endured thus far, her actions were not weighing as heavily as you may expect. She has killed many, but not one that did not bring it on themselves. Pirates, slavers, murderers and madmen. It was not until the mission on the planet known as Virmire that the first true blow came.”
The image warped. Shepard was standing upon a concrete battlement shouting at a voice only she could hear. “I won’t leave you!” Luna frowned as the woman tensed, her fists clenched so tightly they were shaking. “ … Joker, get ready to pick us up at the rendezvous.” Another pause as she listened to the other voice. “I’m sorry.”
“Shepard had to make a choice. Two of her squad were trapped in inescapable situations. She could only save one.”
Luna had been the diarch of a powerful kingdom for a very long time. She was well aware of the weight such choices could bring to bear. “It was her first real loss?”
Legion nodded. “The first, but not the last. Shepard-Commander’s mission succeeded. Saren was defeated, Sovereign destroyed. But that was only the beginning of her trials.”
The images shifted. Shepard moving calmly about her ship, when it was suddenly attacked. Luna watched silently as the Normandy was cut to pieces by the attackers. A faint smile playing about her lips as the heroic Shepard raced to the bridge, saving the somewhat obnoxious pilot. She couldn’t hide her gasp as Shepard was blown away from the escape vessel, and jettisoned into space.
“This is her death, yes.”
“I have felt the cold void of space. It is… not something I would wish on another.”
More images flashed forward. Shepard awakening in an unknown location, and thrust immediately into more violence. New faces appeared, new allies rallying to her side. A new threat rising to attempt her destruction a second time. Hideous insectoid creatures abducting Shepard’s people by the thousands. In the end of course, the human won the day.
“The next telling blow to her psyche came after the destruction of the Collector base. She was asked to check on the friend of a friend who had gone dark… Gone missing on a reconnaissance mission. The agent in question had discovered what she claimed was indisputable evidence of the coming Reaper invasion. When Shepard-Commander arrived, she learned the woman had been indoctrinated.”
“The process the Reapers used to seize control of another’s mind?”
Legion nodded. “Yes. Rather than send out a warning, the now indoctrinated crew did all they could to ensure Shepard-Commander could not send a warning. By the time she was free, it was too late. To slow the Reapers enough for us to prepare, she had to detonate the system’s mass relay. In the process, killing several million batarian colonists nearby.”
Luna recoiled as if struck. “Millions? Millions of lives? How could she… How could she do such a thing?”
Legion tilted her head. “The death of millions spared countless billions. If the Reapers had entered through the relay, they would have taken the galaxy unawares. The destruction of all life would have been assured. Even so, it weighed heavily on her mind. She had never been directly responsible for the deaths of innocent lives.”
It showed, Luna thought. It was in the woman’s eyes. Before they were all cold fire and determination, but now there was a tiredness beginning to show. “And then?”
“And then they came anyway. The Reapers arrival was inevitable. Shepard-Commander merely slowed their advance. The various races of the galaxy ignored her constant warnings, despite the evidence before them. I find it curious behavior that organics lie to themselves in order to ignore what they do not wish to acknowledge.”
Luna had the feeling there was an insult hidden In Legion’s words somewhere. “She stopped them though, yes?”
“It is safe to assume so. They attacked her home planet of Earth first. Her successes against them previously had never happened before, and the world she hailed from was a primary target to prevent further anomalies. She escaped with the aid of a number of her crew, and began her quest to unite the various species of the galaxy.”
“Unite them? They were not already a united front once this dire threat proved real?”
“They were not.” More images flashed by. Angry aliens shouting at one another with Shepard stepping in to solve their disputes. Often with heavy weapons fire and a trail of corpses everywhere she went. “Her losses began to accumulate at an alarming rate.” Images of beings Luna recognized as several that had stood at Shepard’s side flashed by. “Sacrifices were required for the survival of the galaxy, but each one was a personal defeat to Shepard-Commander.”
“But she did so much good. More than any I have ever known in my exceptionally long life. What happened to finally break her will?”
“I do not fully recollect the events that transpired on the crucible. The death of her close friend and mentor was surely a heavy blow. She spoke with the A.I. housed in the peak of the Citadel. She was presented with a choice. Three options, each leading to the defeat of the reapers. Whatever her choice was, it weighed even heavier on her mind than any previous.”
All the screens vanished at once. “A great light swallowed us up, and Shepard and I next found ourselves in this forest. At first she seemed herself. If tired. However, as things began to calm around her and her thoughts drifted inward, the nightmares began. Soon her visions plagued her at all times, whether sleeping or awake. Her mood had begun to swing violently from deliriously happy to crippling sadness. The strain was growing too great on her mind, and so I acted.
“You acted how, Legion?”
“I set up firewalls… Blocks in her mind. Sealing away her memories utilizing the cybernetics laced in her brain. I allowed her basic information. Necessities to survive and even thrive within the dangerous confines of this forest. It was—and still is—my hope she may be rehabilitated, and her memories returned.”
Luna was feeling torn. Obviously, Legion thought he was acting in Shepard’s best interest, but to take away someone’s memory. Their very identity? “Was it truly the only solution you could think of?”
“No. I had considered a powerful electrical shock to the base of her brain. Enough she would stroke out and die peacefully and quietly. However, I have come to care for her more than I expected, and could not follow through.”
This was a lot for the Princess to take in. She had lived for nearly eleven hundred years, but everything this strange being had said to her was a constant ton of bricks dropped on her mind. She found herself looking up at the sky, the early evening sky. With a start, she realized it was nearly time to raise the moon. “We have been talking all day.”
“Yes. Her tale is not one that can be told briefly, I believe. To get a full understanding of the woman and of my reasoning for what I did, I felt you needed to hear it in full.”
Luna nodded gently. “A moment please. The moon needs my attention.”
“Ah. You need to ‘raise’ it, do you?” Luna didn’t miss the mocking tone in Legion’s voice. She simply smiled softly and turned her eyes to the sky. Her horn began to glow intensely as the sun dipped beyond the horizon, and ever so slowly the bright silver lunar orb made its appearance. Once it had begun its merry way upward, she turned a satisfied smile to the still woman.
“ … It could be coincidence.”
Luna inclined her head. “It could. Now, about Shepherd. I cannot entirely fault your reasoning, or your actions. I do believe she should be informed of what you have done, and why. Calmly and rationally explain the situation to her.”
“Perhaps you did not pay close attention to the stories, but she is not well known for her rationality.”
Luna shook her head. “Our memories are an intrinsic part of our identities. By denying Shepherd hers, you have essentially killed her as surely as if you had caused the stroke you spoke of. Perhaps begin with small, pleasant ones. Little details that may not have great meaning, but would begin the building blocks to recovery.”
Legion regarded the nighttime diarch of Equestria quietly. Outwardly, he was doing an excellent job suppressing his surprise at how insightful this curious creature was. “Your suggestion has merit. I ask that for the near future, you keep your distance. She finally left this forest of her own accord this morning. A momentous step for her. I do not wish to jeopardize further progress by you pushing her to the brink of insanity once again.”
Luna’s ears splayed, but she nodded. “Yes. I will be in contact with Fluttershy however, and ask that she update me frequently on the situation, if that is agreeable. If you require my presence, inform her and I will arrive soon. Understand however, that I cannot overlook her presence much longer. My sister is now aware that she is residing in the Everfree, and she is concerned. Celestia is many things, but subtle is not one of them. She has entrusted this situation to me for now, but if it takes too long to resolve, she will step in and act definitively.”
“Very well. Good evening to you Luna. I hope we speak again soon. This has been a more engaging conversation than I have enjoyed in some time.”
“And to you Legion. You have given me a good deal to think of. Rest well this night. Shepherd too.”
Legion remained in the clearing until Luna had flown from sight. With a soft sigh, he began walking Shepard’s body back to her preferred campsite.
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2970072
Fixed it. JEEZ always cleaning up after you!
Keep writing, I'll keep reading.
Yes
Another awesome chapter!
GOD LEGION DOESN'T SOUND RIGHT BLABLABLABLABLA
So yeah, Luna and the AI, This is interesting....
Bu-bu-but the Legion doesn't sound right!!!111oneoneone
2970675
Kaiden, Liara, Garus, Jacob, Thane, Vega, and Traynor I think. Chambers too if you could stomach looking at her hair.
Yeah, I can see how Shepard would be driven insane by her own memories. I'm still somewhat skeptical Shepard came through as sane as she did in the games. I probably would've broken down and gone catatonic the moment I learned about the Reapers.
Interesting. I don't know if there was debate about it before, but that reference to the Storm has got to be confirmation of Equestria's presence in both our universe as well as the Milky Way itself. And probably confirmation that the Synthesis option wasn't chosen since everypony isn't half machine, though I suppose it's possible that the magic present in the system stopped the merger.
Nice.
2970560 you, me and I am quite sure many others
as I have said before I have never played nor felt the compulsion to play Mass Effect, I MIGHT have to reconsider that having read all this
anyway nice chapter looking forward to more
I'm looking forward to hear why Legion isn't acting like Legion. It doesn't bother me that much, since he only had 'mental independence' for like a day, and didn't have a chance to develop much of a personality. I'm guessing he got sarcastic during his and Shepard's time in the jungle.
Yay, backstory!
Nice update.
Goddamnit legion if you tell Luna to go away Shepard will never get to fuck her blue dreamhorse
I think I have an idea of what Shepard did on the Crucible now.... Awesome job, by the way.
Paragade is terrible! Drink Tupari!
hey why dosent Legion sound right?...........
Honestly, if anyone says "Legion doesn't sound right because he refers to himself as a person", I will refer them to this;
I before we, except after Reaper code upgrades.
Perhaps Legion got a minor, magically-induced intelligence boost via some quirk of nature happening at the precise moment Shepard's colored wave of doom spread?
Geth evolved, that is if this Shepard stopped the fight between the Get and Quarians. The Geth started to talk more like living beings than computers so I don't see anything wrong with him, I just see Legion and hear his voice, which i totally love, he is one of my favorites alongside Mordin and Tali Zora.
`My guess is that Legion lacks personality subroutines, due to being cut off from the cloud, and is just pulling personality traits from Femshep.
Depending on what choices you make, Shepard can be quite the snark.
2970722
Son, i am disappoint. Other than the ending for the third game, the entire series is one train wreck of awesome. Sprinkle on some explosions of badassery, a inferno of story/universe building, some romance on the side that derailed into the awesome, and top it off with a cherry, sci-fi flavored.
And to the chapter: Keep up the good work pchn. I'm enjoying this new slightly snarky, yet very informative Legion. You also managed to sum up all three games pretty damn well in what... roughly two thousand words? That's gotta be a record or something.
Right before legion gives the geth true intelligence he refers to himself as "I" instead of "We" meaning he saw himself as true intelligence, so with his newfound intelligence he could have developed a more organic personality... Maybe. Please tell me Shepard united the Quarians and Geth. Quarian Geth alliance is best Rannoch ending
2970697
Or you could say screw it and pick a character that you can't romance in the game
I bet the reason Legion doesn't sound right is because of the ending Shepard chose.
I think I know why Legion doesn't sound right from the Mass Effect perspective, if the choice I'm assuming you made is the one I hope everyone who played the game made.
If not... How could you?!
Doomed to repeat! Doooooooomed!
If it is, then I had it in my head since he first spoke less like 'Legion', and I'm loving this story. Keep it coming!
I think I know why Legion sounds like he does here. A combination of the Reaper upgrades, some kind of magic based upgrade, and the green ending known as Synthesis.
Everyone seems to be missing an obvious point about Legion... how did he even GET in the omni-tool? He wasn't there when Shepard made her choice.
Is it even Legion? There WAS an AI there when Shepard made her choice, but it wasn't Legion.
2970768 Fuck every thing( in the good way), its the only way to save the galaxy!
And yet... I can't help but imagine fem-Shep talking with Legion's voice. Absolutely. Hilarious.
must....have...more....awesomeness
Well, this explains a lot, execept for why is Legion alive in the first place. Hmm...
If Equestria doesn't spin, this whole solar system must be an artificial construct of some sort. Wonder how that works.
Also, should the Reapers get a capital "R"?
Also, yay for quick updates !
First of all, I'm like 99% sure the Citadel doesn't have anything like The Prime Directive. Heck, the Council Races have made First Contact with at least three pre-interstellar spaceflight civilizations, the Krogan, the Yahg, and the Raloi.
Second of all, its not like the Geth are a member of the Citadel Species anyways, or at least they weren't as of ME3. Lets see the Council try to send a subpoena to the Perseus Veil. And Shepard would definitely be the type to pull a James T. Kirk and manufacture a career entirely out of Prime Directive violations stringed together anyways.
Legion should of showed luna the finall space battle cutscene if he was able to. =) it would of blown lunas mind away :P
Missing "during".
I have to congratulate you on something that many stories fail miserably at but you have accomplished. Merging a massive exposition info dump with actual relevant plot.
I read all of Shepard's initial dialogue in a Fallout Super Mutant way...at first I could not take the chapter seriously.
On the other hand, this getting very interesting. I hope Shepard can come to accept Luna so that they may fall in love and create the most awesome couple in all the universe hahaha!
Wow! That explained a lot!
i.imgur.com/MeXcHTu.gif
Love the story so far. Can't wait to see how you explain Legion. I find it funny how everyone keeps asking 'why he sounds different?' instead of asking the important question of 'how is he even there?' It's makes no sense
Should be an interesting story there.
Luna you so silly.
Great story thus far, and an excellent way to open up the story to those who haven't actually played the Mass Effect franchise. I would have commented last night when I read the first three chapters, but I was totally exhausted from the previous day's exercises.
That being said, I haven't actually played the third title, but I've watched enough of the cutscenes to get a good idea of what's going on. That being said, I'm pretty sure that it is not in fact Legion in the omni-tool. Rather, I think the Catalyst somehow managed to preserve itself in Shepherds omni-tool. Now if only I knew whether the Catalyst was benevolent or malevolent.
2970713
Pretty much I see it as she didn't have a breakdown because she didn't really have TIME to have a breakdown. Left alone with nothing but her own thoughts, the insanity rears its head.
2970718
I made myself laugh at that, I'm awful.
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I mean obviously a lot was cut out, but Legion did sit there with Luna for the whole day. XD
2970868
I could! But like I mentioned before this is MY Shepard so her game life is the basis of this.
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I'm fairly certain they have laws about it after the whole Salarian/Krogan snafu. If they DON'T, they should.
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Thanks! For pointing the error and the compliment.
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Pretty much the main purpose of chapter 4 is for people unfamiliar with the games to enjoy the story and feel like they know a bit of what's going on.
2971538
And your point? My Shep likes Joker, lack of options won't stop her
2971028If that little fucker ends up being 'Legion' I will rage quit. I will come back to the story, but only after I go kill some husks ME2.
I thought Geth was evil..... and why do I get feeling I should've got Mass Effect 1 instead of Skyrim?
I'm seeing the 'Fusion' ending, with the Catalyst preserved onto her Omni-Tool with Legion's personality overlapped as a result of the fusion effect.
2971663
The Geth in the first Mass Effect were off shoots from the main Geth species.
SPOILER ALERT
It turns out the Quarians flipped out when the first Geth asked questions like "Why am I here?" or "What is my purpose in life?" So they tried to wipe them out, fearing the Geth rising up or something. All along the Geth wanted to reuinted with their creators. In 3 you can reunite them and the Geth even offer to help the Quarians overcome their weak immune systems quicker.
2970713 Well, obviously Shepard has been touted as having a spectacularly strong will. Though if even learning about the Reapers would've made you go nuts you might want to work on your own. I mean, assuming you were also an N7 soldier.
I believe it was only 300,000 innocents that died. Obviously "only" hardly applies at that scale, it would've affected Shepard no differently at those numbers. It might've changed Luna's reaction a bit, though.
2971538
Considering they contacted the Raloi, who at the time were launching their first satellites, in 2185, I'd doubt that. Heck, they even brought a Krogan with the first contact team to the Raloi's homeworld, which went about as well as you'd expect, with the Krogan introducing the natives to some hyper-violent version of Rugby.
The laws you're probably thinking of are the ones made in the aftermath of the Ranchi Wars, saying "Thou Shalt not activate an inactive Mass Relay unless Thou knowest what is on the other end." Basically the law which made the Turians decide the proper reaction upon discovering several unknown vessels tinkering with an inactive relay was to open fire on them.
2971538
The record you earned is 'Shortest Time Spent Explaining Mass Effect as a Series.'
Seriously though, good job summing it up as shortly as you did. I know i could probably easily throw 5k words at it, and only explain the first two games.