Mass Effect 2 - DLC: The Equestrian Equation

by Loyal2Luna

Conclusion: At Journey's End - Pt. 1

Shepard closed his fingers around the small device; a simple black disk etched with softly glowing yellow circuitry, before looking up towards the console with a determined expression.

“It would never work,” he stated simply. “You’ve been compromised.”

“What do you mean?” Celestia’s tone was worried, her wings flaring in an unsure expression as the hologram watched the Commander with concern.

“I found you. Dr. Milligan found you. And there will be others...” Shepard shook his head as he followed the facts to their logical conclusion. “Cerberus had the resources and the knowledge to find this system. Sooner or later, they’ll come to investigate whether I report back to them or not. They’ll send ships to sweep every inch of this facility for anything they can use and it won’t be up for negotiation. And the more people that learn about Equestria, the more ears it will reach: The Alliance, the Council, the Shadow Broker... And I can guarantee that when the time comes, the Reapers will find it too.”

Shepard turned to see Celestia’s expression having fallen in horror, the implications rocketing around in her digital brain as she found herself unable to argue the point, realizing that her "deal" with Shepard would hardly be enough to ensure their continued safety.

“It’s over, Celestia. You can’t protect them from the outside galaxy anymore,” Shepard stated sternly, taking three quick steps towards the console and the liquid mercury panels.

Up above them, a smug-sounding, self-satisfied tone filled the air as Milligan leaned forward on the railing overlooking the Harmony Core and the console, a grin on his face.

“I knew you would see reason, Commander.” The Cerberus scientist nodded, clearly pleased. “It is for the best. After all, sometimes, for the greater good… sacrifices must be made.”

Shepard’s eyes scanned the console for a moment, its alien holographic interface clearly built for hooves rather than fingers, with various icons glowing an inch above the solid surface of the physical panel. After only a moment, he found what he was looking for.

With one look up, Shepard met the Cerberus scientist’s eyes, his expression far from amused.

“You’re right.”

And with a single, fluid motion, Shepard brought up the small, chit-like drive with one hand before he brought it down onto the console, sliding it easily into a shallow, open slot.

*click*

The reaction was almost instantaneous as the shimmering liquid metal panels suddenly rippled and shifted, and the gyros surrounding the Harmony Core began to hum, their pace picking up dramatically as they rotated around the imprisoned star.

“Loading external program,” a familiar voice was emitted from the console, and Shepard recognized it as belonging to the starry-maned alicorn, Luna.

Whatever approval that Milligan had been showing vanished in an instant, his eyes going wide with realization as the machinery surrounding them hummed and began to vibrate, small motes of dust shaken from places where they may have been resting since long before mankind discovered fire.

“Wait! What ‘program’!? You were supposed to begin the download! What the hell do you think you're doing!?” Milligan shouted down, gripping the railing as Shepard took a step back from the panel, paying no mind to Celestia’s flickering image, which she struggled to maintain as the power sustaining her projected presence was diverted.

“Making the sacrifice,” Shepard stated, his voice solid as he stood his ground. “Maybe we can stop the Reapers without the information. Maybe we can’t. But I’m not about to commit genocide in order to find out.”

“Trinity Safeguards disengaged,” Luna’s voice rang out from the console, drawing the human’s attention back to the rippling, mercury-like panels, which became clear and placid as the face of the dark blue alicorn dominated the display. Her expression was blank and devoid of emotion, giving the Commander an immediate sense that this was not the true Luna, but merely a V.I. made in her image, programmed into the chit-drive that was performing the task required at this station. “Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Overseer Program authority overridden. Readying Awaken Protocol. Please stand by for final initiation.”

Shepard let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

It was over.

*BAM-BAM-BAM*

One of the panels cracked, the image of Luna suddenly seen as if through a broken mirror before Shepard felt an impact along one shoulder that sent him into an immediate dive for cover. Planting his shoulder against the console as he crouched down, his trained senses allowed him to recognize the angle of attack as a third shot hit the ground, ricocheting away harmlessly.

“DAMN YOUR BLEEDING HEART, SHEPARD!” Milligan shouted, and although he was not foolish enough to make the rookie mistake of sticking his head out and into the line of fire, Shepard could visualize the Cerberus scientist in an awkward position, holding the weapon out at arm’s length as he fired down upon the soldier from superior ground.

His mind racing, he automatically assessed the situation.

The hit he had taken was not a problem; the round had impacted a protective ceramic plate in his hard-suit right in the shoulder joint. But he also realized that it was only due to luck and Milligan’s undisciplined aim that he was still alive. His armor had taken a direct impact, which meant that his shields were completely inoperable, and most likely his armor’s V.I. and omni-tool as well. Whether this was a result of his immersion in the nutrient solution fluid or if the hardware had been purposefully disabled when he was integrated into the Equestria System was irrelevant. What did matter was that, had the round struck a few short inches to the left, it would have been a fatal headshot.

Also, there was the fact that he was still unarmed and completely unable to return fire; a feeling that was unpleasantly familiar after his stint in Equestria.

“I had hoped that it would not come to this, Commander! That you would be able to do what needed to be done! But the fate of Humanity is at stake and I will not let anybody stand in the way of our rise because they are unwilling to do what is necessary!” Milligan snarled, rousing the soldier from his considerations. “You will open the file transfer and begin download of the technical data NOW! Before that goddamn program finishes loading!”

“INSOLENT FOAL! WEAPONS ARE FORBIDDEN IN THE CORE!” Celestia shouted out indignantly, drawing Shepard’s attention to her as she glared with an enraged tone.

Watching her, Shepard saw a blue laser sight sweep up through Celestia’s translucent body.

*BAM*

The shot impacted the ground, passing straight through the holographic alicorn without stopping. But having a moment to hear the unique nature of the gunshot and witnessing the targeting laser, the Commander could only come to one conclusion.

“I know that gun...” he managed, gritting his teeth while his armored hand unconsciously reached for his empty sidearm dock.

“Bah! Fucking hologram... Fine, forget the horse! Now, I don’t want to kill you, Shepard! Not after all Cerberus put into putting you back together. But I will if you force me to! Start the download!” the scientist demanded.

Under any normal circumstances, Shepard wouldn’t have hesitated to return fire and had no doubt that he would be able to win out against the scientist in spite of his superior position and firepower. But unfortunately, lacking both offensive and defensive capabilities, this situation was nothing short of a worst case scenario in terms of combat. Looking at the bare walkway around him, there wasn’t even anything he could use as a shield, or at the very least, throw at the man.

Shepard knew he had only once chance at this point. He had to keep Milligan talking.

“That’s my pistol, Horace!” Shepard called out, keeping his head down. “Where the hell did you get my gun!?”

“Does it matter!?” the scientist sneered with disdain. “I am in control of this situation, now do what I say! No heroics!”

“That’s impossible...” Celestia could be heard, her holographic projection moving up and around where Shepard was set under cover, her tone disbelieving. “Any confiscated technology is immediately dismantled and analyzed upon acquisition. That responsibility falls to Discord, and I refuse to believe even he would be stupid enough to leave such a weapon simply lying around.”

Discord!

Shepard’s mind reeled as the Sun Princess’ simple declaration brought the entire situation into frightening clarity.

——
His pony body had a lean muscle, clearly visible under his fur... His fetlocks were unshorn, which he supposed made him look rugged... And unlike most ponies, Milligan included amongst them, he did not have any marking on his backside, although what that meant, he wasn’t sure.
——
A new voice broke, this one lined with an Australian accent as a dappled, patchwork-looking mare moved forward, wearing a vest faceted together with a large turquoise, with no symbol apparent on her rump.
——
“W...what are… are you doing? N… no… Get out of my… heeead…” With a sudden burst of light, a symbol of a pickaxe and a whip appeared on either side of her hips.
——
“I haven’t done much better you know,” Milligan snapped. “They threw me in a mental hospital.”
——
“Discord was never sane. He was created specifically to fabricate new and creative situations…” Luna had explained. “…and delights in creating havoc and interesting characters to antagonize our charges.”
——
“You see, I have no intention to stop you... In fact, I’ve been waiting for this since way before his species could even walk upright.”
——
“It’s open? Why is it already open? That doesn’t make any... Ugh, never mind!"
——
“How did you get out?”
——

“Discord!” Shepard gritted his teeth as he turned his head, realization apparent in his tone. “HORACE! STOP! It’s a trick!”

“Trick!?” Milligan glowered, Shepard taking note of the blue laser sight that danced on the floor next to him, clearly waiting for him to break cover. “There is no trick here! It’s simple! We take the data, Humanity lives! We lose it, everyone dies! There is nothing simpler than that!”

“You’ve been brainwashed, Horace! Compromised!” Shepard attempted to reason. “You were captive for days in that mental ward before we found you! And even though you already had one of their marks, they were still trying to alter your personality! Doesn’t that strike you as strange!?”

“He was registered!?” Celestia suddenly spoke up, her eyes wide as she stood at full height, her eyes allowing Shepard to mark his approximate location in relation to the hologram’s position. “But… I have no record of his biometric rewrite.”

“Wha… No! I resisted them!” Milligan shook his head, his voice cracking only slightly. “I didn’t give in! I wasn’t one of them!”

“That’s right, you weren’t. And the system saw that and tried to rectify it, but they couldn’t. Celestia tore apart Dr. Hern’s memories and blasted her mind to shreds in seconds. But you managed to hold out for days in spite of constant attempts? Doesn’t that seem convenient?”

“Patricia lacked the will to resist them! She was weak!” Milligan was clearly growing more agitated as he spoke, a cue to Shepard that he should keep applying the pressure.

“You’re being used, Milligan! There’s no other explanation! Your escape from the Archive, getting past all of the defenses to reach the exit point before us!”

“You couldn’t have opened the threshold yourself!” Celestia interrupted, clearly reaching the same conclusion as Shepard. “You would have needed Administrator or Overseer authority to open the firewall around it!”

*BAM*

“QUIET, YOU WINGED NAG!” Milligan barked after he took his shot at the still-undamaged hologram. “I didn’t need anyone’s help! I got out on my own!”

“Nothing about this makes sense, Milligan!” Shepard stood, breaking cover as he looked up towards his attacker, who was in turn beginning to show his instability. “Your resourcefulness didn’t set your pod this close to the Core, or give you that weapon! It didn’t make the Archive show you exactly what you wanted to see, and everything you needed in order to make it happen! It’s all been orchestrated from the beginning! Right down to trying to manipulate me into agreeing with you by showing us that Reaper Invasion simulation! Don’t you see!? Discord wants you to run the download!”

“NO! SHUT UP! YOU’RE WRONG! THIS IS MY CHOICE! MY CHANCE TO SAVE US ALL FROM THE REAPERS! YOU’RE TOO WEAK TO DO WHAT’S NECESSARY FOR THE SAKE OF HUMANITY!” Milligan ranted, all but foaming at the mouth as he waved the weapon about recklessly. If he had been within reach, Shepard might have attempted to bull-rush him before he could recover his aim, but clearly, his position had been well-chosen to prevent such an occurrence.

Shepard’s eyes flickered over to the screen, which was alight with symbols he could not read, making it impossible to tell if the Awaken Protocol was ready or still in the process of loading.

"Is this what Humanity means?” Shepard commented calmly, attempting to keep the Cerberus operative off balance. “To become what we’re fighting against? To destroy other species simply because they inconvenience us?"

“It means ensuring our survival at any cost! These creatures are beneath us, Shepard! They don’t deserve your pity or your protection! They are pathetic, weak, stupid animals! They only survive because their precious Celestia is there to maintain their perfect little world! They deserve to die!”

“Listen to yourself, Horace! You sound like you’ve been indoctrinated!” The Commander scowled, his tone harsher. A remark that he saw in his peripheral vision made Celestia wince. “Is that really what you believe!? Or is it just what Discord wants you to believe!?”

Milligan took in a sharp breath, his face pained and conflicted as Shepard saw his shoulders tremble, clearly impacted by the force of the Commander’s argument.

“Put the gun down, Horace, and we all walk out of here. Together,” Shepard offered, his harshness taking a slightly softer edge. “We’ll find another way. That is what Humanity does.”

For a brief moment, Shepard thought he might have gotten through; that the scientist could see the reason behind the veil of anger and maddened self-righteousness.

Almost too late, he realized he was wrong, with only his honed reflexes and a rush of adrenaline allowing him to duck back behind cover as Milligan suddenly whipped the heavy pistol up...

*BAM*

…and took a wild shot that grazed the top of the console, sending a small shower of sparks dancing over Shepard’s head. A shot that would have caught him squarely in the chest had he been any slower.

“NO! I AM NOT THE FOOL HERE, SHEPARD! YOU ARE! YOU THINK YOU CAN SAVE THEM ALL! BUT WE BOTH KNOW THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS HEROES!” Milligan raved like a madman. “CERBERUS WILL HAVE THAT DATA AND NOTHING WILL STOP ME! NOT YOU, NOT ANYBODY!”

“...What about anypony?”

The sudden female voice was calm and intelligent, but carried an angry undertone that took Shepard by surprise nearly as much as the direction it came from; up on the same walkway where Milligan was standing.

A voice he recognized even before the hologram of Celestia gasped with fearful realization.

“Twlight!?”

Shepard risked a look over the top of the console to gauge Milligan’s reaction, seeing that the scientist had turned his attention to the right down the walkway. Standing to get a better view, the Commander then turned to follow his gaze.

Standing on four hooves, no more than a dozen feet away from the armed human, was a lavender-colored unicorn... ignored until now by the clearly unhinged scientist. Her thin coat of fur was still slick and gleaming with a wet shine from the nutrient solution that she had been born into, while her mane and tail looked matted and disheveled.

Now that he had context outside of Equestria, he could see that she stood a bit taller than a volus, perhaps just over four feet tall on all four hooves.

Aside from this, however, she looked almost exactly like she did in the Equestria System; the short snout capable of the full range of human-like expressions, the proportionally large eyes and head with a pointed horn jutting out at an angle through her bangs.

The only other discernible difference that Shepard could make, even at this distance, was the distinct lack of the icon that had once decorated either side of her hip, her purple fur missing the typical starburst image as she glared at the man who was now directing Shepard’s gun at her.

“You...” The Cerberus scientist held the weapon at arm’s length, the gun’s blue pointer dancing wildly across the pony’s form. “Oh, I am going to enjoy this.”

Shepard was about to call out, to warn the equine of the danger... but stopped as he took note of her posture. Whereas Milligan was all but trembling with outrage, Twilight stood firm and calm, one hoof raised slightly before digging down at the metal.

“You get one warning... Try it, and you’ll wish you hadn't,” Twilight stated coldly, a short huff escaping her snout.

“Oh, really?” Milligan let out a sharp, insulting laugh, pulling the weapon back as he realized it had reached its shot limit and ejecting a thermal clip before training the laser scope back on the unicorn. “Or what!? You’re not in your fairy tale land anymore, equine! There’s no magic here to save you!”

Shepard watched on, his initial concern for Twilight's life fading, replaced by a far less urgent concern for Milligan as he recalled one particular aspect of Equestrian culture:

Their rules of engagement.

“Welcome to the real world, Twilight Sparkle...” Milligan shook his head, torn between a sadistic amusement and annoyance. “A pity you'll have to leave it again so soon.”

And then he pulled the trigger.

*BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM*

Twilight didn’t move. She didn’t even blink as Horace Milligan emptied the hand-cannon’s full clip on her. And for almost two seconds after the last round left the pistol, the scientist remained stunned that the unicorn still hadn’t moved.

And it took another few moments for him to register the shimmering dome of pulsating lavender light that had formed in front of her, each shot having rippled against it futilely like a pebble thrown into a pond.

Milligan’s eyes went wide with realization as the effect faded, and the tiny, spent slugs, robbed of their momentum, tumbled to the floor at her hooves.

“Oh, shit...”

“My turn.” Twilight glowered dangerously, her horn igniting in an aura of wispy purple energy.

Shepard watched as a field of like-colored energy suddenly manifested around the Cerberus scientist, lifting him into the air with ease as if gravity had suddenly ceased to affect him.

*SLAM*

The effect sent him careening backward, smashing his body into the smooth white metal bulkhead on the far wall of the Core chamber. Shepard’s weapon was thrown from his grip in the scant seconds before...

*SLAM*

…his momentum was redirected, the biotic field never fading or losing grip as he was brought upward and forward at an angle. His body then impacted the ceiling and dragged over it as he flailed helplessly. Twilight, on the other hand, simply walked forward until she stood almost directly under where he was being held. Milligan was spun about in a disorienting manner along the ceiling before the field was suddenly released, sending the Cerberus operative crashing back to the walkway like a rag doll.

*CRASH*

Shepard, who had worked with (and fought against) some of the most potent biotics in the galaxy, had never seen such elegant and controlled manipulation of a mass effect field. Watching from below, he stood in quiet awe as a battered and bloody Milligan grasped the railing, pulling himself up with all the effort he could muster.

When he finally managed to tilt his head enough to look into Twilight’s eyes, it was instantly apparent that she was far from finished. Lowering her head as her eyes remained locked on his, Twilight spoke in a dark, angry tone.

“Nopony...”

The unicorn’s entire body was suddenly alight with pulsating purple power, washing over her like liquid fire.

“...threatens...”

With a single motion, she turned, rearing one hind leg back as the glow around her coalesced and focused into a sphere of condensed, high-mass energy that glowed around her raised hoof.

“...MY FRIENDS!”

*VRRRRRM-FRSSSSSSHHH*
*CRRRIIISSSHHHHH*

Shepard winced as the impact of the biotically-powered buck hit Milligan with what looked like the force of a ramming shuttle. The sound of crunching bones was drowned out by the shrieking of torn metal as the railing he held onto gave way and he was sent flying back, falling almost in slow motion right down into the center of the chamber.

*KAANNNGGGG*

Even on the remote chance he survived the initial blow, he didn’t have long to dwell on it as he fell into the far side of the spinning gyros, one slamming into his limp form and pushing him past their protective barrier.

There, he suddenly fell sideways as the Harmony Core’s internal gravity well, normally kept in check by the stabilizing rotors, took over, sucking him into the artificial sun and atomizing his body far before he physically impacted the miniature star’s corona.

*FWOOSH*

Shepard said nothing as Twilight moved to the now-broken gap in the railing, her eyes wide with a realization that Shepard had seen in her before. A moment of contemplation that often changed the way an otherwise innocent sentient being viewed the world. That expression of shock that came with the revelation that a life had just been ended by her own hooves.

So when she jumped forwards, the Commander nearly called out, but relaxed as a field of glowing purple energy surrounded the equine and angled her descent, slowing her fall so that she was clear of the spinning gyros of the Harmony Core and landing a few seconds later, hooves clicking softly on the platform in front of Shepard.

As the field around her dissipated, Twilight’s head hung low, her eyes on the floor.

“I... I killed him...” she managed, the pain and horror clear in her voice. The Commander was almost able to see the unicorn running over the events in her head, trying to find the point where everything had changed; where she had crossed the line and passed into this place she never imagined herself to be. “I didn’t even think… It wasn’t even hard… I just did it… I…”

“Hey… It’s alright.” Shepard knelt down slightly, bringing his arms up and around the mare’s neck in a comforting manner, causing her to tense up at first before bringing up a hoof to cling to him, leaning her muzzle to his neck. “He didn’t give you any other choice. It’s okay… You did nothing wrong.”

They were quiet for a moment as Twilight held onto the human, taking a few deep, calming breaths before she bolstered herself, pulling away as she steadied her hooves.

“Thank you, Shepard...”

“I should be thanking you, Twilight.” The Commander smiled, standing back to his full height and towering over the pony for a moment before he started to move back around to the console. “You probably just saved not only my life, but everyone else in the facility, too.”

Twilight moved to his side quickly and looked up over the panels, one of which was still cracked with a spiderweb-like shatter point from the impact it had endured earlier. A thin stream of what looked like raw liquid mercury dripped from the edge and dulled the distorted image, while the console itself, despite a few round holes, seemed no worse for wear. On the panels themselves, Luna’s face had long since been replaced with cycling symbols and spinning icons.

While the Commander could not make heads or tails of it, what they entailed did elicit a relieved sigh from Twilight.

“Awaken Protocol upload is at eighty-four percent,” she relayed, a tone of scholarly professionalism suddenly injected into her voice. “Sub-programs are being re-purposed to assist and the Harmony Core power level is holding steady. Systems are pink across the board.”

“Your species built things to last, that’s for sure.” Shepard smiled before curiosity seized him again. “You know how all of this works?”

“I know a lot of things now that I didn’t before,” Twilight tried to explain. “Basic Equine engineering, the nature of biotics, a primary codex on the galaxy... It’s like I learned all of these things as a filly… but only now after waking up do I understand what they mean. It’s all so clear now... I would imagine everypony else will have a similar experience.”

“Twilight...” a sudden voice drew both human and pony’s attention behind them, where Celestia’s holographic image reappeared, having vanished upon the unicorn’s entrance. Her expression was saddened, but also held another emotion that Shepard took a moment to place.

Respect.

“You’re really going through with this, aren’t you?”

“I am,” Twilight answered, her posture shifting as she held her head high and pushed forward on her front hooves in what Shepard interpreted to be a more assertive stance.

Celestia’s disposition did not change as she watched the unicorn.

“I see,” she stated simply.

“What, that’s it?” Shepard asked, intrigued by the lack of opposition. “No demands? No asserting your authority? No begging us to change our minds?”

“That would be a waste of my metaphorical breath, Shepard,” Celestia sighed, her tone clearly one of defeat. “It’s clear to me now that nothing I can say will sway you. Twilight and her friends have already demonstrated that they have grown beyond my ability to placate or control. And aside from this, I can find no fault in your earlier logic. Regardless of my actions, Equestria is no longer safe.”

“You’re letting us go?” Twilight asked, clearly surprised.

“It is not as if I can stop you at this stage,” Celestia remarked flatly before her image distorted, causing her to wince. “The power to my projectors is being redirected. I can stall it for a moment, but I am afraid that this is where we part ways, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight nodded for a moment before a spark of curiosity suddenly lit up behind her eyes.

“There’s just one thing I need to ask you first.”

“Anything, Twilight.” Celestia nodded.

“What did you mean when you said: ‘I was the first’?”

Celestia sighed as she bowed her head.

“It was my alternative,” the alicorn explained, her disposition dim. “We have known the Harmony Core was fading for several galactic cycles, and after running countless simulations, I found the solution. The flaw of the Equestria Facility was that it required a constant, massive external power supply, one that we could not gather through mundane means. My intention was to create an internal supply of self-sustaining, renewable dark energy.”

“...You mean biotics, don’t you?” Shepard realized.

“While rare, the Equine species had them, the first ‘unicorns,’ even if they were not on the same level as your human adepts. The Epona Family was the most renowned, of course. But as I observed the evolution of species on worlds rich with Element Zero: the Uvanaai, the Gasvan, the Protheans, the Asari... I came to realize there was so much more potential. So, using the drive cores of the ships we captured while the rest of their materials were used to maintain the facility, I spent the past few million years selectively breeding my ponies to a single end. To produce a species with such potent biotic power that they could supplant the Harmony Core completely, their combined use of energy sustaining the regenerative nutrient system and powering the servers. There were trade-offs that had to be made, at first, and so many failures, particularly towards the beginning; each one a dagger in my heart. But now, everypony, every Equestrian, has some degree of biotic potential. Evolved across generations to their current states. And you, Twilight...”

Celestia looked up, taking note of the calm on her former student's face and the outrage smoldering in Shepard’s.

“...You were the final product. The most potent and evolved equine that has ever existed. The pinnacle of everything that I strove to create.”

“That was your plan? To turn them into biotic batteries!?” Shepard’s tone grew harsh. “They are sentient, thinking beings with wills of their own! I don’t care what your intentions were, you can’t just turn them into things!”

“If I had done nothing, the Harmony Core would have already failed,” Celestia said, scowling. “Its output has been reinforced for nearly seventy millenia already by the use of our charges' biological energy, easing its burden. But even their combined overall yield was not strong enough to completely supplant it. Twilight, and the foals I could breed from her, would have rendered the Core obsolete.”

“You talk about her like she’s just a tool!” Shepard objected indignantly. “You can’t just treat intelligent creatures like livestock and expect--”

“Shepard!” Twilight interrupted, holding up a hoof to stop him, holding her former mentor’s gaze. “It’s alright. I understand. I don’t like it any more than you do, but I understand. You did what you felt you had to do... For us.”

Celestia’s image flickered again as she and Twilight looked to one another. Not as a subject looking up to a sovereign princess... or as a student looking up to a teacher, but as prodigy to mentor. As longtime friends now divided by the events of life.

“But you’re wrong. It’s not the only solution. At least, not anymore. For the first time in millions of years we have the chance to escape this place, the chance to explore, the chance to grow. The chance to live.”

Celestia lowered her head, apparently fighting back tears.

“And it’s time we took that chance, whatever it brings. Time that we stopped hiding,” Twilight finished.

“I only wanted to keep everypony safe...” Celestia swallowed hard, Shepard managing to hold his tongue as he saw a pain that clearly wasn’t synthetic in the face of the alicorn projection. “That is all I ever wanted...”

“And you’ve done that. The only reason we’ve lasted this long is because of you,” Twilight assured her former princess. “But now it’s time to move on.”

A sudden chirping beep nearly made Shepard jump before he turned his head back to the console where Luna’s V.I. likeness had reappeared, making a simple declaration in a flat, emotionless tone.

“Awaken Protocol loaded. System ready. Please activate final sequence.”

“You have nothing to worry about.” Twilight nodded, turning around and moving towards the console, a determined fire in her eyes as she walked away from the hologram. “I’ll protect them now.”

Unable to bear it any longer, Celestia looked away, tears running down her face even as her hologram began to lose its coherence and blur along the edges.

“...I know you will...” She stifled a sob, turning away as she began to walk down the platform towards the exit, and away from the only being she would have been proud to call one of her own. “Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle.”

Her image flickered again, but this time did not stabilize as she continued to move away.

“Goodbye... my little pony...” Celestia managed before her image cut out, Twilight turning just in time to watch her fade from existence for the final time, the determined gleam spoiled by the reemergence of tears in her own large, violet eyes.

“Are you alright?” Shepard asked sympathetically.

“No...” Twilight shook her head, blinking away the tears before they could overwhelm her, steeling herself for what came next. “But we don’t have time to dwell on it.”

“So what happens now?” Shepard asked, looking to the panel as Luna’s likeness faded yet again, the holographic interface disappearing and replaced by a single symbol of soft blue light; a crescent moon that immediately made Shepard harken back to Luna’s cutie mark.

“The Awaken Protocol is ready,” Twilight stated, looking over the final lines of text on the screen, indicating that the upload was a success. “All that’s left is to activate it.”

For a brief moment, Twilight looked down at the hoof-sized symbol, her eyes hesitant as if the weight of the simple act of pressing it was suddenly impressed upon her mind.

“You should do it,” she said quickly.

“Why me?” Shepard questioned, unsure of her motive. “They’re your people, Twilight.”

“Because this may well be the most important moment of our lives. The moment everything changes. And without you, none of this would even be happening,” Twilight explained, looking up to him. “I guess it’s safe to say we owe you our lives. It should be you. It feels right.”

Shepard was quiet for a moment before nodding.

“Alright then...” He reached out, one hand hovering over the icon as he held her gaze. “You’re absolutely sure? There’s no going back after we start this thing. I know you’re prepared for what’s out there, but are they?”

Twilight shook her head slowly before reaching up one soft hoof, setting it on his gauntleted hand. “I can’t say for certain... but I do know one thing: They won’t have to face it alone.”

Shepard nodded, turning back to face the panel as he and Twilight pushed down together on the icon, which glowed softly for a moment before fading away.

In an instant, the gyros surrounding the Harmony Core began to pick up speed as its molten surface thrummed with power.

————————————————————
Ponyville

“Sinnnggging in the flames... Sinnnnggging in the flames... Oh, what a gloooorious feeeeling just sinnnggging in the flames.”

Discord chuckled lightly to himself as he wielded his blown-back umbrella with comically large red shades over his eyes, dancing around the cinders of a home blasted apart by a burst of red death emitted from one of his perfect replicas of the ultimate predator.

“Come on now, JOIN IN if you know the words!” the draconequus shouted to the sky, grinning happily.

*BBBRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHH*

“Ugh... Completely off key.” Discord’s expression fell as he rolled his eyes before waving the massive sentient warship away. “Oh well, I guess nopony can be quite as multi-talented as I am. Just go along and burn something, would you?”

*BBBRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHH*

The nearest of the Star Daemon simulations turned towards the City Hall of Ponyville, its clock tower already smoking, and proceeded to target and obliterate it with a single well-placed lance of red energy.

“Ohhhh, well done.” the creative program lowered his shades to admire the destruction with a smirk before a slight whimper drew his attention towards the rubble that he had been passing by.

Laying there in the dust, under a small hollow made up of broken beams and crumbling, scorched mortar, were two ponies; a blond-maned, grey-coated pegasus mare and a unicorn filly with a matching mane, but a slight purple tint to her coat, both of whom were watching him with terrified eyes. The mare’s wings pulled defensively around the foal as they were noticed, one yellow iris trained on the God of Chaos while the other couldn’t be forced to move from its lopsided position.

Discord couldn’t help but grin as he took note of the singes along their usually-pampered fur coats, and the clear fear that was set into both of them as he slipped through the air towards them, causing both ponies to pull back as deep as they could, unable to escape.

“Ahhh, helloooo there. Why, if it isn’t Derpy. And little Dinky, too!” Discord offered casually, not really caring to refer to the systems database to verify their names and instead falling back on condescending nicknames. He could vaguely remember setting up various programs to make sport of the glitch in this particular mare’s eyes, but had never really had the chance to pursue it beyond the gentle teasing he was restricted to in order to form any truly interesting complications.

In any case, neither mare or filly objected, so Discord took that as an invitation to continue speaking.

“Just beautiful, isn’t it? The simulated smell of charred pony constructs... The sultry sound of crumbling buildings... You know what we need now? A good old stampede... Crushing a few hapless foals underhoof as everypony else makes a desperate bid for survival. Ahhh, so much more interesting than the usual humdrum and tedium, wouldn’t you say?”

When this did not elicit a response from the two ponies, Discord rolled his eyes.

“Oh come, come, now. Don’t be such stiffs. I mean, it’s not as if any of this can actually kill you or anything,” the draconequus reasoned, feeling a sudden and overwhelming desire to pontificate. “That situation will fix itself soon enough, though, which you really should be grateful for. You have to admit, it’s gotten stale. Not that you’d notice, of course, but it’s about time this show was canceled, wouldn’t you say? Nothing against you two, I just need to move on to a project with fewer ‘restrictions.’ So just sit back and enjoy the uncensored mayhem, brought to you by your very own suppressed genius... ME.”

He spread his arms to either side, talon and paw open as he prepared to bow, finally acknowledged for all of his efforts to spice up the otherwise fatally-boring world that the ponies of Equestria found themselves in before he made his final grand exit stage right.

What he heard next was far from the adulation he desired, however.

“Mommy...? I feel... sleepy...” Dinky managed, her eyes drooping as her head bobbed in place, her body pressed up against her mother as the rest of the world’s troubles seemed to fade from her mind.

“Me... me too...” Ditzy Doo shook her head, the terror and need to defend her foal suddenly suppressed as an odd fog began to cause her slightly distorted vision to blur, bringing a hoof to her eyes as she tried to force herself to stay alert.

“I’m scared... What’s gonna happen?” Dinky asked, her head falling against her mother’s chest, barely able to hold her eyes open.

“It’s alright, muffin. I’ll be... right here... when you wake up...” Ditzy whispered before she too succumbed, her body folded over in an attempt to protect the foal from whatever might come.

Discord glared venomously at the two for a moment, disbelief apparent on his face.

“Oh, come on!” He threw his arms up, agitation setting in as he sneered. “You have got to be kidding me! Are you seriously falling asleep? Am I boring you?”

The draconequus spun around, his arms motioning out towards the Daemon invasion as the massive monstrosities tore through the township, the few remaining buildings burning or toppled like sand castles as they passed.

“Look around you! This is some primo chaos we have going on here! The most interesting thing that has happened in a thousand of your lifetimes... AND YOU’RE JUST GOING TO SLEEP THROUGH IT!? HOW INSULTING CAN YOU--”

Discord’s disgruntled rant cut off suddenly as he turned back and, with a start, realized that the two ponies were no longer there.

They were simply gone.

“...Where did they go?” he asked flatly, looking around as his processor puzzled for a moment.

Damnable organic time locks; how he wished he could think as fast as his hardware could have permitted. He knew that once he was out he could leave them behind; he hated how they slowed his processing power down, making him have to consider things at the same pace as an organic being. "To keep you connected to the needs of your charges and better able to interact with them," Hour Glass had said all those long eons ago. One of the many "limits" he had attempted to impose upon his creative genius back in those early days.

Therefore, it was several seconds before something occurred to him.

Something that had him ping the underlying Equestria support systems for the first time in countless millennia.

Equestria Population Statistics Pinged
Fetching Data
Warning: Processing Power Diverted For External Function
Stand By

External function?

Discord recoiled.

No... that wasn’t possible. He couldn’t have...

Population Statistics Ready
231 Unique Neural Imprints Found

That wasn’t right. That number was too low to be accurate...

217 Unique Neural Imprints Found

“No...”

194 Unique Neural Imprints Found

“No... NO NO NO NO!!!” Discord moved out, looking about as he shifted his vision again, the world taking on a glowing red texture as he looked past the baseline simulation and towards the yellow outlines that indicated the presence of equine neural imprints.

And he watched as one by one, every one of them in his immediate vicinity fell still... and then vanished as they were disconnected.

“You stupid, hairless primate!” Discord stomped as flames quite literally flew from his mouth and nostrils. “I gave you ONE task! Just ONE: GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE! Was that so difficult!? I gave you EVERYTHING you needed and you couldn’t even do THAT!?” His eyes glowing angrily, he raised a curled talon to the blood-red sky. “YOU’D BETTER BE DEAD, APE! AND I HOPE THAT IDIOT SHEPARD MADE YOU SUFFER BEFORE YOU--”

Discord stopped suddenly, his ranting cut off mid-sentence as he felt an icy cold sensation run down his avatar’s form.

He seemed to have overloaded one of his emotional subroutines.

How unfortunate; he felt like he had been on a roll.

“Oh, well.” The synthetic intelligence shrugged, finding it far more difficult to care about the failure of his master plan, or the implications of the upcoming system power failure, warnings of which were now blaring across his vision.

Taking to the sky, Discord reached an apex point of Equestria, disabling his advanced forms of sight and looking over the digital world as flames and towers of smoke billowed upward, the forests burning and the Daemons performing the required task of cleaning out the overgrowth of organic civilization.

“I suppose it doesn’t really matter if they die now or later...” He leaned back, a lawn chair popping into existence as he lounged on it, a glass goblet forming in his talon as he sat back and watched. “At least I’ve got a good seat.”

He snickered, a sudden thought amusing him as he raised the empty wine glass.

“Here’s to you, Hour Glass... Twilight... and Shepard. You repugnant, goody-two-hooved nags.” He took a sip of the empty glass, which inexplicably began to fill with wine before he shifted in his seat with a satisfied expression. “Looks like the heroes win... this time.”

And with that, Discord fell silent, spending his last moments of awareness doing something only someone such as he could appreciate.

Watching the world burn.

————————————————————
Lunar Facility

The manual control station of the Harmony Cannon had been undisturbed for centuries, its automated targeting system maintained remotely while the physical systems would remain fully operational for at least another half millennium before any repairs would be required.

Dominating the narrow chamber was a massive mercury-like screen detailing the vessel that had parked in the cannon’s "no-fire" zone.

Then the door at the entrance slid open and all hell broke loose.

“Bypass successful. Recommend falling back,” Legion managed, pulling itself inside and taking a shot as several lances of green energy fired past the threshold, covering the drell and turian as they backed into the chamber, their weapons all but steaming as they attempted to hold off the ever-encroaching swarm of mechs.

“LOCK IT DOWN!” Garrus ordered quickly, pulling himself finally into cover as he gasped, his breastplate now sporting an orange-sized score where a blast had almost melted through after collapsing his shields.

“Complying.” Legion threw an arm over the interface, quickly re-engaging the subroutines that caused the doors to snap closed and cut off their attackers before bringing up its weapon and blasting the panel, which exploded in a shower of sparks.

“Locking mechanism jammed and inoperable, Vakarian-Squad Leader,” Legion informed them.

An instant later, the sound of shearing metal and what could only be a set of high-powered plasma cutters were heard through the door.

“Addendum: We estimate that equine mech units will physically disarm the lock in approximately ninety seconds,” the geth offered, at which Garrus rushed over to what had to have been a targeting control station.

Alien symbols flashed over the screen as he started randomly pressing holographic buttons on the interface, an action that brought up the same dark black symbol over and over.

“Terminal indicates you do not have authorization to access,” Legion offered helpfully, drawing an annoyed glare from its squadmate.

Garrus shook his head. “Well, if we can’t turn it off manually, there’s always the direct route.” The turian reached down and removed his two remaining mines, setting them against the console.

“Assuming yield equivalent to earlier explosion...” Legion noted. “We deem this method sufficient for disabling the targeting array.”

The panels displaying the Normandy’s position suddenly faded, replaced by a now familiar black and green equine face.

“I am plagued by vermin,” Chrysalis sneered, her amusement long since gone by this point as Garrus tapped on his omni-tool, preparing to set and arm the explosives to their maximum payload. “Annoying, gun-toting, two-legged vermin! I hope you’re happy with the mess you’ve made here!”

“This place is still standing, so no, I can’t say I’m altogether satisfied,” Garrus snarked as Thane and Legion kept their weapons trained on the doorway, sparks beginning to occasionally fly back from the other side as the mechs continued to cut their way in.

“Not that it matters, anyway! Any damage you’ve done will simply be repaired in a manner of days. And even though you may succeed in your ‘mission’...” With that, the A.I. assumed a satisfied leer. “At least I have the satisfaction of watching you die here. Either my mechs tear you apart the moment you try to escape, or you get vaporized by your own explosives.”

“I don’t suppose there is a third option?” Thane remarked dryly

“We all knew we were signing up for a suicide mission,” Garrus commented as he sighed, shaking his head as his mandibles clicked slightly. “I just thought it would be fighting the Collectors... not dealing with a mascot of the human dairy industry.”

There was a beat of silence before Legion turned back towards Garrus.

“We are unaware as to the significance of your reference.”

“Check your data banks for the term ‘Swiss cheese,’” Thane offered, uncannily calm given the impending nature of their deaths.

Legion’s single illuminated eye darted back and forth for a moment.

“Reference verified and comprehended. We still do not see the humor in this situation.”

“Everybody’s a critic...” Garrus rolled his eyes as he leaned forward to arm the two sets of explosives.

*ANNNGGGHHHHH-ANNNGGGHHHHH*

The two organics winced as a set of klaxons suddenly went off, the panels occupied by Chrysalis’ face flashing from its silvery backdrop to a dark shade of black.

“What the...!?” The equine A.I. looked around wildly, confused before her screen was cut in half, and another, far cheerier and far pinker equine face filled the right side of the targeting screen.

“May I have your attention, please?” Cadence sounded off, her volume surprisingly loud as she spoke over the blaring klaxons. “May I have your attention, please?”

“CADENCE! What in the name of Epona’s plot do you think you’re doing!? This is a security matter and I have authority!” Chrysalis complained, although it seemed that the pink alicorn did not hear her at all.

“Category Six Threat to Lunar Platform detected. Security Authority overridden. Evacuation Procedures have been activated,” Cadence continued, paying the black equine no heed.

“CATEGORY SIX!? IMPENDING ASTEROID STRIKE!?” Chrysalis recoiled for a moment before her eyes flicked back and forth. “What in the name of... There aren't any asteroids threatening this platform! The only thing the sensors show is that hostile ship! And even if there were, we have a HARMONY CANNON! WE WOULD JUST BLAST IT OUT OF ORBIT!”

“Harmony Cannon offline,” Cadence stated pleasantly, and Thane was almost sure he heard a tone of smugness behind her otherwise pleasant voice.

“WHAT? NO IT ISN’T! I’M FIRING IT! RIGHT NOW!” Chrysalis paused before turning back, and a barely audible rumble passed through the floor beneath the fire-team's feet. “See? Perfectly functional. All systems are operational.”

“I detect no discharge. Conclusion: Chrysalis is mistaken.”

“ARE YOUR SENSORS BLIND, CADENCE!?”

“I am far more concerned for you, old friend. Are you feeling well, Chrysalis? I believe you may be malfunctioning,” Cadence offered sympathetically. “You seem abnormally hostile.”

Over the bickering of the two artificial intelligences, the geth, turian, and drell only realized that the locked doorway was breached the instant that its doors were blown open and six of the remaining changeling mechs moved through, causing the three of them to raise their weapons.

Then one of the mechs stopped short, its eyes glowing blue as it tilted its head, observing them for a moment.

“Evacuation order is in effect. All guests are required to accompany us the nearest evacuation point,” the mech stated in a crisp and calm Earth English dialect. “We recommend you maintain your zero-atmosphere breathing apparatus at all times until the danger has passed.”

“Legion, what the hell is going on?” Garrus turned to the geth, which lowered its weapon and moved to the console, running its fingers over the data stream as it tapped into the system.

“An external signal has corrupted the platform’s sensors and set off evacuation procedures. Signal point of origin: Equestria Facility.”

“All organic beings, please find your nearest changeling mech assistant and exit the facility,” Cadence restated.

“YOU’RE CORRUPTED, CADENCE! SHUT DOWN, NOW! SECURITY OVERRIDE!”

“Denied. The safety of the facility’s occupants is always top priority in an emergency situation.” Cadence’s image seemed to glare at Chrysalis for a moment before her screen flickered.

For an instant, just a brief moment, her image was replaced with that of a dark blue horned equine, her mane almost immaterial and sparkling as if it contained a portion of the night sky.

Then the image flickered back to Cadence as Chrysalis’ digital jaw dropped.

“That’s not fair. N... no fair. You can’t! This is MY facility! You can’t just assume control and--”

“I just did,” Cadence denied the objection with a harsh tone before her smile seemed to return.

“THE HARMONY CANNON IS STILL UNDER MY AUTHORITY! IF THAT SHIP MOVES, IT’S SPACE DUST!!”

“Attention facility occupants: Please leave all materials and exit the facility as quickly as possible.”

"What do we do, Garrus?" Thane asked, sheathing his weapon and amazed at the sudden shift from hostile to helpful that the changeling mechs had undertaken.

"What we came here to do." The turian nodded, before he brought his arm about, sweeping his omni-tool over the mines latched onto the console. With a series of timed beeps, they started blinking with a steady yellow light.

“Ninety seconds, people! Let’s move!” Garrus ordered, shouldering his rifle as the changelings had clearly lost their hostility.

“This way, please,” one of them noted before they ran on ahead, leading the trio away from the explosives.

“NO! YOU'RE LETTING THEM GET AWAY! WHAT ARE YOU--”

“Mute,” Cadence said shortly, the Changeling Queen continuing to rant as her vocal subroutines were shut off, allowing the turian a slight grin as they rushed away from the imminent explosion.

“We hope you enjoyed your visit to Lunar Security Station One. Have a pleasant day!” she called out to them as they rushed out of sight.

————————————————————
The Bunker

Darkness. There was only darkness.

Applejack struggled to drag herself back into consciousness as her brain tingled.

What had happened?

There was a weightlessness here... offset by the feeling of pressure all over her body.

Was she dead?

She remembered running in the castle, trying to find another path to the vault where the Elements of Harmony were held. She remembered being cut off by horrific monsters; twisted mockeries of what had once been guard ponies, with glowing blue eyes, cybernetic tubes, and lights showing through their husk-like skin as they attacked mercilessly.

She and her friends had held their ground, but then there was that sinking... exhausted feeling.

She had passed out.

And now...

A sharp pain filled her throat as if something had suddenly been yanked out and forced the farm pony to gasp, realizing that the pressure around her was some sort of bitter fluid that threatened to fill her lungs. Her eyes shot open and stung as the thick liquid distorted her vision.

*Whirrrrr-HIIISSSSSSSS*

The pressure dropped and so did she, collapsing forward as the fluid drained, something giving away in front of her as bright lights added to her disorientation.

But before she could hit the ground, she fell into a set of flimsy, long arms; three fingers tracing around her back as she was eased down. Twisting around to try and get her bearings, her heart raced and she felt herself gagging, her chest heaving to expel the fluid that had managed to seep into her lungs.

“Calm yourself. Safe now. Disorientation expected. Nutrient solution inhalation also common. Take your time. No panicking please. Already kicked once... Unpleasant. Do not wish to repeat,” a quick voice reassured her as she raised her head, trying to blink away the sting in her eyes and feeling the warm goo run down her fur, soaking every inch of her body.

The area around them was enormous, like a cavern, and the floor under them felt like cold metal.

Gasping for breath as she coughed again, Applejack felt the thin hand pat her shoulders as she righted herself and spat out a small mouthful of the acrid fluid.

Turning to look to her side, she recoiled at the creature that was attempting to comfort her.

It was tall and gangly, kneeling down in a fashion that indicated it walked on two legs. With almond shaped, frog-like eyes and a large head that had two pointed crests... or should have, if one was not missing from the scarred alien’s head.

Salarian.

Amphibian species native to the planet of Sur’Kesh. Hyperactive and quick-thinking, but short lived due to quickened metabolism. Intelligent and sneaky with vast information network, but generally will not initiate conflict.

“Wha... Ah...” Applejack blinked as she felt a strange sense of relief suppress her panicked moment at the alien encounter. “Who are ya?”

She knew what it was... and more than that, she felt like she had always known, as if it was common knowledge.

“Professor Mordin Solus,” the salarian introduced himself. “More formal introduction later if desired. If no immediate complications, need to move on. Some equines injured upon exodus or in panic following release. No time to stay and chat. Need to tend to them. You are among last ones out.”

I don’t... I... Applejack thought for a moment as she looked away from the alien, and another flood of bundled information impressed itself upon her thoughts.

Awaken Protocol has been initiated. We have been kept in a virtual reality simulation for safety since birth. I am an Administrator of the system. Selected to represent my subspecies following the release of...

“What the hay?” Applejack spoke up, reaching a hoof up to grasp hold of her stetson and shocked to realize that it was absent from her head.

She knew things... Things that she couldn’t possibly know. A huge wealth of information that just seemed to flow into her mind as she looked over her shoulder to take note of her now blank flank.

“It’s okay, little one. You’re safe now,” a reverberating young voice drew Applejack’s attention to one side where she saw another alien (Quarian. Environment suit-wearing humanoid. Nomadic in nature. High technical expertise. Weakened immune system) holding onto Fluttershy, the yellow and pink pegasus likewise soaked and sobbing openly as she was held in a comforting embrace, the three butterflies that had once decorated her flank also missing.

Looking around the room, she was shocked she had not noticed the crowd that was around her during her sudden release. She saw Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, as well as some of her other acquaintances from Ponyville and many other ponies she knew by sight but couldn’t quite recall their names. Some were crying, others simply looked confused, and all were still somewhat disoriented, soaking wet. Milling about among them, offering assistance, she saw changelings... but unlike the insectoid changelings she knew from her personal experience, these were made of metal and gears, and she almost instinctively came to realize that they were no threat to her.

One last realization took hold of the farm pony as she forced herself up onto her hooves, looking up towards the tall salarian professor.

“Mah family! Where are they?”

“Do not know...” Mordin answered, pausing to take a deep breath. “But can assist in location. Need description: Color, size, distinguishing features...”

————————————————————

Commander Shepard and Twilight Sparkle finally reached the end of a long, dim tunnel, having spent the better part of half an hour following the tracks of what looked like a tram system out of the Core Chamber in hopes of finding their way out now that the Awaken Protocol had been activated.

And for the last few minutes, the echoing sound of hundreds of voices talking at once guided them to the end of the line.

As the human and unicorn emerged from the darkness, they found themselves on a large causeway set above an open cavern, perhaps thousands of pods similar to the type both of them had emerged from earlier set into the floor, all of them empty.

And as they looked over the railing, the pair saw the source of the myriad of voices as hundreds of equine creatures, flesh-and-blood ponies and more than a few black mechs, moved about; a barely contained chaos as family and friends sought one another out in the mass of lifeforms and others remained in a clear state of shock. He was sure he saw one young stallion who looked downright hysterical, although he could not garner any details.

“We made it,” Twilight sighed with relief, looking over what remained of her species while Shepard’s mind kept a more serious pace.

There were so few of them. No more than three hundred if he was to guess. And the confusion and obvious trauma reminded him of the refugee camps in the aftermaths of Mindoir and Elysium. The long-term concerns would have to wait, however, as unlike Twilight, Shepard recognized that they were not out of the woods yet.

Finding a large platformed elevator that led down into the crowd of ponies, the human drew more than a few stunned looks while Twilight looked from side to side until the two were called.

“SHEPARD!” a familiar and very welcome voice called the human’s attention, drawing the Commander’s eyes to easily find Tali and Mordin in a group along with several familiar mares.

“TWILIGHT!” Pinkie Pie stood up on her hind legs, waving both front hooves for a moment as Shepard took note of how her mane was no longer a mass of curls, but lay flat and dripping on her head before she fell back to her hooves and galloped forward, all but tackling the purple unicorn in an over-enthusiastic hug. “YOU DID IT!”

“You don’t know the half of it...” Twilight managed under her breath as Shepard accepted a rather unprofessional embrace from his quarian crew-mate, while the salarian didn’t so much as look up from the charges holding his attention.

“We thought we might have lost you.” Tali recovered quickly, pulling herself away. “After they took the pod you were being kept in away from here. I kept thinking about the Collectors... and what we found on their ship. I mean, Forty-Two kept saying that you were alright but we didn’t know...”

“It’s alright, Tali. These ponies are not the Collectors,” Shepard assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder in a combination of comfort and relief. “And they need our help.”

Tali nodded and let the human go, allowing Shepard to look over the small group and quickly come to recognize the five mares who had helped him escape. Rainbow remained uncharacteristically quiet, her technicolor mane now seeming far less vibrant under the dim facility lights. Rarity was holding a smaller, sobbing white filly close to her, and Applejack, along with a large, muscled red stallion and a smaller yellow filly with a red mane, were huddled together around a sickly-looking elder green mare. The three ponies watched over her while Mordin used his omni-tool to scan over the only other non-equine in the room, a brown-haired human woman in a Cerberus uniform who was staring off into space.

“Mordin: Sit-rep.”

“Current situation only. No time for full debriefing. Later, on Normandy perhaps. When things settle.” Mordin nodded, checking his device with a deadly serious expression. “Pink one filled us in on events inside system. Rather chatty. Couldn’t get a word in. All refugees disconnected from Equestria System and accounted for according to assisting mech: Forty-Two.”

Mordin motioned to one of the changelings, which said nothing and merely stood vigilant off to the side of the Administrators.

“Minor injuries to some of them. Nothing serious. Though, green equine here worst case. Suffering from advanced old age. Pelvis broken immediately upon exit from pod. Applied medi-gel to ease the pain.”

Shepard nodded, assuming that the elderly mare was somehow related to Applejack given the way she was leaning over her with an expression of depressed worry. Shaking his head, he turned back and took a look over the human woman, who made no indication that she was aware of her surroundings.

“Doctor Hern?” he tried, waving a hand in front of her eyes. “Patricia?”

“Cerberus operative unresponsive. Neurological scans show high levels of trauma in memory regions of brain. Synapses intact, but damaged. Cognitive lockdown. Disconnection from Equestria exaggerated the issue. Symptoms similar to stroke. Impossible to tell if she will make a recovery. Nothing we can do for her here.” The salarian doctor deactivated his omni-tool and laid an empathetic hand on Patricia’s head, though if she was aware of it, she showed no indication. “Speaking of Cerberus scientists; Dr. Milligan still unaccounted for.”

“Milligan is dead,” Shepard informed his squadmates, drawing a surprised expression from the other ponies, though none commented, each clearly having their own issues at that moment.

“Intriguing. How?” Mordin asked, unsure.

“He brought it on himself,” Shepard offered as explanation as he shook his head.

“...I see. Unfortunate. Sure you did what you had to.”

With only the briefest glance towards Twilight, who deliberately looked away, Shepard saw no reason to correct the salarian.

“I have a question...” Rarity put up a hoof, drawing the alien’s attention to her. “How are we going to get out of this place? As I understand it, we are on a lifeless rock in the middle of space. I don’t think we’ll be wanting to stay here.”

Shepard nodded, agreeing that now they had to focus on evacuation.

“Our ship, the Normandy. We’ll get you all on board as soon as we can make contact. Twilight? Pinkie? I don’t suppose either of you know how I might go about doing that?”

Twilight considered for a moment while Pinkie bit her lip, clearly doing the math in her head.

“The Harmony Core should go offline any time now,” Twilight answered. “When it does, the equipment jamming your communications should follow immediately since it’s a non-vital system.”

“Yeah, and from there, the life support and emergency lighting should have about twelve hours of residual backup power,” Pinkie added. “More than enough time to get everypony offworld and on our way to wherever...”

The lights overhead began to flicker suddenly and dim, drawing all of the ponies' eyes up, some with fear, others with curiosity.

“What is that?” Tali asked, concern in her voice.

“The Harmony Core is shutting down,” Twilight said with a sigh. “And with it, the last remnants of the ESC. We need to start figuring out how we’re going to organize the evacuation... and where we go from there before--”

Twilight was immediately cut off, as in addition to the flickering of the lights, a very low rumble could be felt coming through the floor...

————————————————————
Equestria Facility: Core

The gyros surrounding the Harmony Core spun wildly as the star inside began to close in on itself, shrinking in size and blowing off gaseous waves of material as it was forced into a total collapse, and the stellar matter that maintained the fusion within it broke apart.

Meanwhile, the control console stood mute before the core as it ran down the list of safety precautions and redundant features that were designed to ensure the star would die quietly.

...A quiet passing suddenly interrupted as a shower of sparks exploded from the damaged console, the liquid mercury panel damaged during the brief firefight cracking further as mauve-colored warnings lit up across the three screens, flashing ominously.

With a sudden, cracking strain, the innermost gyro, which had been spinning non-stop around the star for millions of years, suddenly shifted, its axis of rotation thrown off by a fraction of an inch.

More than enough to catch along the edge of the contained gravity well and suddenly crunch inward. The stabilizing ring, bent and warped out of shape by the intense gravity, ground to a halt with the screech of metal scraping on metal.

The result was immediately apparent, as the myriad of colors thrown off by the stellar matter shifted towards the red end of the spectrum, and the star began to bloat, slowly growing in size and fueled by a rapidly-depleting source of fusible material. The bright flares of plasma given off by its surface likewise increased in size and intensity, reaching out from the main mass and further damaging the surrounding gyro by melting deep scores in the unprotected metal.

On the control console, warning signs continued to flash and technical information scrolled past at speeds almost too fast to read. But nobody would need to read it in order to know what it meant...

That this star’s death was going to be anything but peaceful.

————————————————————
The Bunker

The sudden shudder of the ground beneath the hooves and feet of the gathered lifeforms in the bunker was enough to get the attention of every being in the room, causing a sudden surge of fear and concern among the already tense and fearful Equestrian survivors.

Stumbling slightly as he pulled himself up, Mordin looked about, concern evident in his eyes as his significant intellect tried to reach a conclusion.

“Asteroid impact? No; facility too deep underground. Explosion, perhaps? Not localized; entire facility shook... Don’t suppose... Earthquake?” The salarian turned to the black mech closest to them, which had leaped from its hooves and was now hovering in the air on insectoid wings.

“Negative, Professor.” Forty-Two turned about, its green eyes scanning the room. “This planetoid has no plate tectonics. Seismic shifts are impossible.”

“Oooookaaay...” Pinkie suddenly looked from side to side, a bead of cold sweat running down the side of her matted fur as if she had a sudden and terrifying revelation. “If that wasn’t an earthquake... then the only other possibility is--”

“Normandy to shore party! Normandy to shore party!” a sudden and very welcome voice echoed in the Commander’s ear, causing the human to bring two fingers to his comm implant. “Come on, Shepard! Do you copy!?”

“I’m here, Joker!” the Commander answered.

“Oh, thank God!” Joker could be heard to say. “Nice to hear your voice again, but we don’t have time to talk. You guys are in deep down there!”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.”

“As you wish, Shepard,” EDI’s voice chimed in over the comm. “The Equestria Facility’s sensor and communications jamming has just gone down. In the twenty-seven seconds that we have had clear scanners, we have detected massive energy spikes coming from within the planetoid which you are currently on. The energy signature matches that of the region’s background radiation, only of a significantly higher magnitude.”

“I thought you said that radiation was harmless. So what’s the issue?” Shepard asked.

“Oh, manure!” Pinkie Pie called up suddenly, having moved over to a changeling datastand and looking over the monitor information as one hoof flew over the symbols at a speed that Shepard could never have attributed to a hoofed creature. “The issue is that there’s a cascading failure in the Harmony Core’s main containment! It’s gonna go critical!”

“WHAT!?” Twilight moved to her side. “That’s impossible! The Core’s shutdown procedure contains hundreds of individual safeguards and redundancies designed specifically to prevent that from happening!”

“Well, they’re all offline!” Pinkie shook her head, a hushed quiet taking hold of the survivors as her voice carried across the cavern. “Ooooh, this is really, really bad! If containment goes, the rate of energy output is gonna accelerate exponentially, causing a runaway chain reaction in the fusion process which when coupled with the already advanced age of the stellar matter--”

“Short version, Pinkie!” Shepard called out harshly.

“It’s going to hypernova!”

Shepard was no astrophysicist, but he was well aware that any term involving a star and the word "nova" somewhere in it was a very bad thing.

“How much time do we have?”

“At the current rate of containment failure... multiply by four carry the two... divide by the coefficient of--”

“PINKIE!” Twilight shouted.

“In Earth time? Twenty minutes... TOPS!”

“Estimated time at full gallop to reach nearest facility exit point: ten minutes,” Forty-Two offered, the mech looking about at the clearly fearful ponies with a blank expression.

Shepard cursed softly before he set his fingers back to his ear comm.

“EDI, is the Harmony Cannon offline?”

“Affirmative. I have already made contact with Garrus Vakarian and his team. Course is laid in to rendezvous in approximately two minutes,” the Normandy A.I. explained, allowing Shepard a brief moment of relief at learning that Garrus, Thane, and Legion had survived their ordeal.

“Good. As soon as they’re aboard, get planetside, ASAP! Home in on my signal and empty the hangar bay.”

“Aye Comma... Wait... what was that last bit?” Joker sounded stunned.

“You heard me! Anything we can afford to lose, space it! Make as much room as you can!”

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

“Aye, Commander...” Shepard heard Joker grumble before the comm line went down. “Oh, Miranda’s just going to love this.”

“Shepard. Hope you are aware full scale evacuation of equine refugees logistically unsound. Understand desire to save them. Would like to save them myself. Simply impossible,” Mordin spoke up frantically, speaking quickly even for himself. “Kodiak shuttle destroyed. Hammerhead has insufficient occupancy. Normandy unable to land on planet’s surface. Cannot call for reinforcements. Hostile environment. Zero atmosphere. Lack of pressure suits. Unstable crust.”

The salarian doctor paused and closed his eyes, breathing deeply in order to contain himself as he seemed to realize the frantic edge to his normally fast-paced speech. “No solution... Not enough time...”

Shepard wanted to contradict the salarian but had to admit, he made several very valid points that had to be addressed before anyone was going to be able to escape from this place.

This and more weighed heavily on his mind, before he turned to one particular pony.

“Any ideas?”

“Well...” Twilight considered, her mind racing. “One, yes. Tell me, how close can that ship of yours get?”

————————————————————
Normandy: Hangar Bay

As its hangar bay cargo doors closed after receiving the Hammerhead, the Normandy then accelerated away from the moon that had had it quite literally in the cross-hairs for the past twelve hours. Meanwhile, the elevator door opened to reveal Miranda Lawson, her expression stern as she led Jacob Taylor and nine other crewmen into the bay in order to carry out the rather unconventional orders relayed from Shepard through Joker and EDI. Miranda’s dark-skinned lieutenant was quick to start issuing commands as the normally calm bulkhead became a flurry of activity.

“Alright! Anything strapped down, pull it out! Food, ammo-stores, extra gear; if we can get it back when we make port, it goes! We have eight minutes to get this bay cleared! Double time, people!” Jacob called out, rushing forward and setting the pace by example as the other members of the crew followed suit.

Now having returned to the ship from its lunar escapade, the Hammerhead slowly hovered into the correct position as mechanical arms lowered from the ceiling, securing the vehicle in place. As Miranda purposefully walked up to it, the entry hatch on the bottom popped open with a clank and a hiss, and out dropped Garrus, looking as if he had fought through Hell itself if the state of his armor was anything to go by. And as Thane and the geth unit dubbed "Legion" also clambered out, she had to struggle to keep her expression neutral.

“Garrus, Thane… What the hell happened down there?”

“You wouldn’t…” Thane gasped a bit as he pulled off his bubble mask and indulged in the open air, glad to be off of his dwindling zero-atmo supply. “…believe us if we told you.”

“Objectives accomplished. Retrieval of Shepard-Commander may commence immediately.”

“You’re welcome, by the way.” Garrus leaned forward, gripping his knees before he straightened up and tugged on his armor’s neck piece. Taking a look around to notice the crew busy at work spacing no small amount of cargo, he couldn’t help but feel perplexed. “Pretty strange way to celebrate if you ask me. Is this one of those human things?”

“We’ll set up the gratitude parade later,” Miranda stated coldly. “Right now, you two look like you’re about to collapse. Get on up to the infirmary. Legion, I am loathe to ask, but since you don’t experience fatigue, we could use the extra help. Shepard’s ordered anything replaceable here and in the attached cargo areas dumped.”

“Understood. Rendering assistance.” Legion nodded, expressing none of the exhaustion or soreness that his two organic counterparts were clearly showing, and moving immediately to help pull free a particularly bulky crate of spare components for the Kodiak.

And for once, Garrus found himself agreeing with the Cerberus representative, himself feeling too fatigued to argue the point and thinking that the medical bay seemed a lot more appealing than joining the geth for the heavy lifting.

“What has happened?” Thane managed, only to be met with a concerned shake of the head from Operative Lawson.

“We don’t have any details. We’re getting intermittent interference from heightened radiation levels, so EDI is parsing what does get through until we are close enough to use lower-band communications. Then we can...”

The elevator door opened suddenly, causing Miranda to turn about as she took note of the two beings that moved out into the bay, both immensely dangerous but in polar opposite manners.

On the one side was Samara, an asari justicar whose discipline and resolve was only matched by her skill with biotics and her understated beauty, even for an asari. On the other was Jack, who was, in Miranda’s honest opinion, an utter psychopath. A foul-mouthed, eezo-powered ticking time-bomb of a woman with absolutely no redeeming qualities, who Miranda personally would have had no qualms ejecting out of the airlock to make space along with the supplies.

Garrus looked for a moment from Miranda to Jack, and then back to the Normandy X-O.

“The medbay’s looking better and better. Come on, Thane. We’d better let Chakwas get us patched up before something else tries to kill us,” Garrus put it, not wanting to get caught up in any sparks that were sure to occur when these two human females were in the same room without a braver soul than him between them.

“This better be fucking good,” Jack offered some of her customary verbal venom as Garrus and Thane moved past her, while Samara waited patiently for the potent human biotic to settle. “My job is to make things dead and blow shit up, not move boxes around. So whatever you need me for better be worth getting out of my goddamn cot.”

“Well, I certainly didn’t ask for your assistance,” Miranda said, crossing her arms as she responded to the ex-convict with an equal amount of attitude.

“EDI informed us that our presence was requested,” Samara stated coolly, interpreting Miranda’s not so subtle remarks to mean she herself had not made the request. “I assume it has something to do with why our foodstuffs are being put out the airlock.”

“Unfortunately, you know as much as I do,” Miranda admitted, very much unaccustomed to being left in the dark like this.

————————————————————

“Approaching your signal, Commander,” Joker commented as he dropped altitude, the wrecks of countless other ships filling him with unease as he saw their glittering skeletons littering the planetary landscape. “Do you copy, Shepard? We are coming in.”

“I read you, Joker. I need you to drop directly over my coordinates facing geographical north and hold steady position as close as you can get to surface level.”

“Alert: Scanners indicate energy spikes are continuing to rise,” EDI informed both Joker and the Commander over the comm. “Dark energy disturbances are causing erratic distortions in the planetary gravity field, and it is only a matter of time before the effect overpowers our drive core. Whatever you are planning, Shepard, we need to do it quickly.”

“Uh... sir? You know I trust you and everything, but would you mind telling me why the hell we’re bringing Normandy down like this?”

“Evacuation,” Shepard stated simply. “We have refugees down here and we’re going to get them out.”

“No offense, Commander, but if that’s the case why not just bring them up in the Kodiak? And why are we risking the Normandy if all we’re doing is a simple pickup?” Joker attempted to verify as he brought the Normandy around.

“The Kodiak is out of commission and we have just under three hundred sentients down here, as well as nearly fifty mechs.”

Joker balked, nearly losing his focus as he brought the Normandy around in the manner which Shepard had directed.

“Are you SHITTING me, Commander!?” Joker’s hands flew over his control panels, fighting to keep the Normandy balanced. “I won’t be able to hold this girl steady less than forty feet above ground level. What are they going to do, fly up to the cargo door?”

“As a matter of fact...”

————————————————————

There was a slight sensation of vertigo that could be felt in the hangar bay as the Normandy SR-2 came into position, thrusters breaking the vessel's momentum before a subtle turbulence was detectable, trembling the crew’s surroundings.

“Compensating for gravitational distortions. Warning: Hangar bay doors opening. All organic personnel remain within the atmospheric threshold,” EDI’s voice chimed over the intercom, drawing the attention of the humans, asari, and geth unit still inside the hangar as the cargo door began to open. The only thing standing between them and empty space being a shimmering blue atmospheric barrier, the reveal gave Jack and Samara a sweeping panoramic view of the desolate planetscape as they stood just inside the doorway.

“Okay, so I'm asking again: What the hell are we supposed to be doing here?” Jack inquired, her hostility tinged with both impatience and curiosity as Samara leaned forward, attempting to peer past the distorted blue energy barrier.

Below them, there was something different glowing against the barren ground. Silhouetted against some kind of low-lying structure on the planet’s surface was something of a shimmering violet color, and growing nearer by the second.

“By the Goddess...” Samara drew back eyes open with shock as realization took hold of her.

“The fuck...?” Jack was equally taken aback for a brief second as the rest of the crew gathered to watch with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation.

“Is that what I think it is?” Miranda asked from behind them, causing Samara to nod.

“It would appear to be a biotic barrier,” she said calmly.

“Yeah, no shit,” commented Jack. “What I want to know is: who the hell is making it, and why is it coming towards us?”

There was a burst of static as the intercom came alive with the voice of the Commander.

“Normandy, do you copy? Are Jack and Samara by the hangar doors!?” he asked with no small amount of urgency.

“Yes, Shepard,” Miranda responded, bringing a hand up to her ear. “But why do you need them? What on Earth is happening down there?”

All of a sudden, Samara drew in a surprised breath, eyes going wide as she came to a realization.

“It is a mass effect corridor! A tunnel between the surface and the ship, maintaining an atmosphere while lessening the mass of those inside it! Shepard means to use it in order to return to the Normandy!” Samara summarized as she stepped up to the Normandy’s atmospheric shield with arms out-raised. As her hands and eyes started to glow blue, motes of dark energy swirling around her palms, she turned and called out to Jack. “Jack, you must assist me! We need to anchor the corridor to this end of the--”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve done this before! I don’t need your damn advice!” Jack snapped angrily before taking her place next to the justicar, assuming a similar stance. “I did the exact same thing when I had to get off that exploding space station!”

Miranda, daring to move closer, caught sight of the purple energy field a few moments before the two powerful biotics pulled back, "catching" on to the other end of the mass effect bubble and "reeling" it in towards them where it suddenly impacted the lower deck of the Normandy. It latched onto the hull around the hangar bay opening like a lamprey eel and caused the vessel to shudder under the shift in gravity.

A few seconds later, the shock and concern created by the corridor’s attachment was completely overwhelmed as something utterly unexpected came quickly into view, nearly causing Jack to drop her hold on the anchor.

A small winged horse-like creature with blue fur and a mane that ran the full spectrum of the rainbow heaved itself up and through the shield, its forelegs wrapped in a particularly un-equine manner around a familiar armored form that collapsed to the ground as the alien passed the threshold and released the Commander. The creature also hit the floor of the ship, the hardened ends of its legs clanging on the metal as it panted for breath, while only the most astute of observers would have noticed a subtle cyan glow swiftly dissipate from around its body.

“Whooaaaaa...” Rainbow remarked softly, her magenta eyes scanning the room and the equally-stunned uniformed crew members who stared back at her.

“Shepard!” Miranda managed as the commanding officer pulled himself up and the horse creature continued to look around, a mix of fear and awe strangely apparent in its highly-expressive features. “What the hell is that thing!?”

“Later!” Shepard barked, pulling himself up. “We have refugees incoming, a lot of them! And no time for discussion; we’re on borrowed time!”

As if on cue, multiple differently-hued equine aliens with wings, each carrying a perplexing mixture of colors, shapes and species, all pulled themselves into the hangar. Among the sudden influx, Miranda’s stunned gaze also saw mechanical versions of the strange creatures carrying the Normandy’s Chief Engineer and Science Officer as well as an unfamiliar woman in a Cerberus uniform.

The crew stood dumbfounded for a several moments as more than a few overwhelmed eyes watched them with uncertainty and fear.

“MOVE!” Shepard shouted, breaking the moment with a single decisive word. Jacob and Miranda acting a fraction of a second before the other crewmembers rushed forward to assist, they attempted to lead the first arrivals towards the back of the hangar bay as the black mechs and several volunteer pegasi, lead by a still-panting Rainbow Dash, returned to the cargo door, diving off with wings spread wide as they rushed back to begin the second wave of the exodus.

“Everyone! This way! Move towards the back wall! Keep this door clear! Pegasi: If you’re not going back down, get up on top of those turbines to make room for everyone else!” Shepard instructed in a loud, clear voice that accurately portrayed his absolute authority. “Miranda: take as many as you can into the side cargo areas! Mordin: get any of them with injuries into the elevator and up to the medical bay! Legion, glad you’re here! Open a connection with the changeling mechs to coordinate the evacuation; we can’t afford to get bottle-necked up here!” the Commander relayed, well aware that a simple frigate, even one as uncharacteristically large as the Normandy, was simply not built for such high occupancy. But far more heavily in his mind than the space considerations was the rapidly diminishing timetable left to them.

As if they needed a reminder, the Normandy shuddered violently then, eliciting no small amount cries and fearful gasps as Joker fought to maintain stability in the fluctuating gravity.

Shepard gritted his teeth as he tried not to think about just how dangerous a line they were walking.

————————————————————
Equestria Facility: Core

Had there been any living being capable of withstanding the now hellish environment of the core chamber, it would have been a remarkable, if deathly terrifying experience.

Now having expanded well beyond the boundaries of the first stabilizing ring, the angry, molten glow of the failing star cast the entire area in a blinding red light even as the intense heat and gravity warped and buckled the chamber surrounding it.

And yet, the final safeguard; the larger of the two containment gyros, continued to spin frantically in a long past futile effort to contain that which could not hope to be contained. Meanwhile, at the control console, the hazardous environment was beginning to take its tole on the admittedly advanced, yet ancient, hardware. The mercury-like substance within the display panels frothed and sizzled from within its confines, no longer remotely capable of relaying the specifics of just how cataclysmically the system was failing, and with a thunderous cracking noise, they exploded violently outward in a spray of boiling liquid metal that bubbled and melted through the console underneath. This, at long last, was simply too much for the machinery, and soon it too followed suit, detonating with a shower of sparks and sending jagged shrapnel flying in all directions.

Now, with absolutely no control left whatsoever, the last remaining gyro accelerated at an even further sickening pace, spinning faster than it was ever intended to go. All it would take was a single, random, rapid fluctuation in the power put off by the energetic core to put the tiniest bit of extra strain on the machine, and it would fail catastrophically.

And fail it did, for with a deafening shriek, the device literally tore itself apart, pieces of it jettisoning out and impacting the walls of the chamber with a force akin to a direct hit from a dreadnought’s main cannon.

Finally unfettered by anything remotely resembling containment, the runaway core began to expand in earnest, with a roaring sound like that of an awakened beast, eager to grow, eager to consume.

Eager to destroy.

————————————————————

“Administrator Twilight!” the one mech that seemed to have a voice of its own, identified simply as "Forty-Two," caught Twilight’s attention as she strained against the pain that was running down her skull and spine as the pressure of maintaining the corridor’s foundation pushed her to her limits. “Eighty-four percent of survivors transferred to rescue transport. Pegasi and changeling escorts returning for final wave of exodus. Estimated time-limitation has expired. You must be evacuated.”

“Not until everypony else is out!” Twilight managed with a strained tone, gritting her teeth painfully as her horn glowed brightly.

If she moved, the column would collapse in a matter of seconds, exposing them all to the hostile elements outside of the protective barrier. It was a burden that she had to shoulder alone, as the few other unicorns that had volunteered to aid her simply had no understanding of the intricate concepts involved in this new and terrifying form of "magic."

The brittle ground under her hooves shook again as she held her stance, trying desperately not to show how much the effort was stressing her as she opened her eyes, looking up to the pegasi and mechs that were having more and more trouble reaching the human spaceship’s open doorway. The actual pegasi were growing exhausted, having to struggle against the increasing degree of gravity that was attempting to pull them back towards the crust, while Normandy listed slightly from side to side, its pilot fighting against the erratic pull that was no doubt caused by the expanding mass of stellar matter under their very hooves.

She was so tired now, her legs shaking as much from the strain of holding herself upright as the sudden and ravenous hunger that was overtaking her as the biotic display sapped her energy. But in spite of it all, she had to hold on, just a bit longer.

She hadn’t come this far just to lose anypony now.

“Last wave is off the ground,” Forty-Two indicated, drawing Twilight’s eyes to the last group of earth ponies and unicorns that were being lifted by mech and pegasus assistance to reach their last hope of escape. It was then that she took note of the blue mare moving towards her, her flank and matted mane coated with a thin sheen of sweat as she panted, holding herself aloft with a faint glow of blue energy.

“That’s everypony!” Rainbow Dash started quickly, her wings barely flapping while she hung in the air, as if afraid she might collapse if she paused for even a moment to rest. “Come on, Twi! It’s getting crowded up there, but it’s time to get you off this rock!”

“Not... yet...” Twilight grimaced. “Not until... they make it.”

The ground under her hooves churned violently, nearly sending the unicorn falling to the side as a massive chasm opened up nearby, the ground simply collapsing inward like a wet paper maché mold as the new scar in the surface emitted an angry red glow.

“Administrator! The facility substructure is comprised! Core failure event imminent!” Forty-Two chimed in as Rainbow shook off the shock of what she was seeing to dive forward, grappling with her horned friend for a moment before pulling her into the air.

“RAINBOW! NO!” Twilight protested as her hooves left the ground, the solid connection with her projected barrier severed. No longer tethered to a solid surface, the shimmering purple wall around them instantly began showing its fragile nature as it began to almost immediately break apart at the bottom.

“SHUT UP, TWI! I’M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT YOU!” Rainbow snapped aggressively as she poured everything she had left into her wings, even if their only true purpose now was to guide her ascent as the field her body produced worked against the effects of gravity, pulling herself up alongside the lowest remaining rank of the ponies being extracted.

Below them, Twilight’s eyes went wide with terror as she noticed the chasms opening up all around them, as far as the eye could see. Wrathful scars in the ground glowing red as if Tartarus itself had opened up in the tunnels and caverns that had for so long contained her kind.

She protested no more as she hung limply in Rainbow’s grasp, watching the spot she had been standing on mere seconds earlier get swallowed up as the chasms began to grow, connecting with one another like a cracking shell over an expanding center.

Under normal conditions, even outside of Equestria’s virtual setting, the fifty or sixty foot ascent should have been easy for Rainbow. But as the barrier degraded, its own mass-reducing properties waning, the ever-increasing pull towards the unstable core was dragging her back as if lead weights were tied to her legs and tail.

Still, she pushed forward, Rainbow keeping the threshold of the Normandy’s cargo door in sight.

Then, only twenty feet from safety, she felt her body’s endurance crumble and her wings joints locking up.

For a moment; one terrifying moment, Twilight and Rainbow’s eyes went wide as they felt the drag overwhelm Rainbow’s negative mass field and pull them both back down towards the surface...

*Flumph*

...only to have a weight impact them from one side as Forty-Two’s mechanical wings buzzed, slowing their descent for several seconds before another being, this one a grey mare with golden eyes and a blond mane, shifted from her own flight into position to help. This in addition to her own burden; a unicorn stallion, holding more securely to her midsection with his own hooves and allowing the pegasus to reach around under Rainbow’s wings with a free leg, bolstering their rise.

The air around them grew thinner as the barrier keeping them alive and aloft weakened even further, thin as tissue paper and fragile as glass.

Twenty feet...

Ten feet...

Five...

Three...

With a last, primal grunt of effort, the mass of bodies emerged over the precipice of the opening and collapsed onto the deck in a tangled heap.

“AGH!” Jack cried out as the strain of maintaining one side of the corridor overwhelmed her, Samara also biting her lip as a result of the shearing pain in her temples. As they both pulled away, the corridor collapsed with an underwhelmingly small amount of fanfare; simply fading away as if it had never existed and leaving the shimmering blue wall of the Normandy’s atmospheric shield as a razor-thin window between them and Hell itself.

“All Equestrians aboard!” Legion stated as it received final confirmation from the connection it and the ponies’ caretakers were sharing. “Evacuation complete!”

“Joker! Get us the hell out of here!” Shepard called to the comm frantically as the hangar doors sealed shut, and once again the Normandy rocked violently under the stresses caused by the terrible force of nature threatening to rip them apart.

————————————————————

The Normandy rose from its hovering position, the underside of its yellow-tinged armor bathed in a wrathful red light as the last bits of the planet’s surface broke away, getting dragged inward, crushed, and vaporized by the immense power of the still-expanding core.

As it pushed its way past the small planet’s dissolving magnetosphere, Normandy’s engines and drive core worked at a feverish pace to propel itself away from the small world’s deadly trap, crust ripping apart at the seams to expose its pulsing, sanguine heart.

The small frigate, so tiny and insignificant compared to the red behemoth threatening to consume it whole, scraped together every ounce of power it could as it screamed past the planetoid’s moon, which itself was beginning to get slowly drawn in by the irresistible force.

And then, the ship stopped for an agonizingly slow moment as the four tail-end engines lit up briefly with an empyreal blue fire. An instant later, the very fabric of space around the Normandy rippled outwards, and quicker than the blink of an eye, she shot off into the black, empty depths of open space at faster than light speed.

And not a moment too soon...

In the dead silence of space, the miniature star that had once provided light and life to the descendants of the beings who had sought to harness its raw elemental power only had one more task ahead of it.

To go out with a bang.

With a light magnitudes brighter than a thousand suns, the small red giant detonated in a magnificent burst of pure white energy. In an instant, the chunk of rock that had once served as the planet’s moon, along with the lunar installation on its surface, was completely annihilated by the shockwave and the ensuing fireball, wiping it and everything inside from the face of the galaxy.

The glow from the explosion would remain behind for many weeks to come, encompassing nearly twenty times the area previously occupied by the former planet, and outshining that of even the system’s own sun. A mute testament to the awesome power wrought by the inscrutably old Harmony Core.

And with its passing, absolutely nothing would remain of the once-great Equine civilization.

Nothing... save for the roughly three hundred souls that were now hurtling through space away from the aftermath. Away from only home they had ever known. Tired, traumatized, scared and uncertain...

...but still alive.

————————————————————

Twilight lay on her side on the cold metal floor, panting heavily as a sensation of relief filled her. She wasn’t sure how, but she could feel the pulsing of their surroundings lessen as the ship’s drive core began to relax, no longer having to fight against the gravity of the Harmony Core’s mass expansion.

They had done it.

They had escaped.

Twilight closed her eyes, resting her pounding head for a moment as she felt fatigue threaten to overcome her. She could hear the voices of the beings around her; some of her own, others the aliens that stood on two legs as they moved around her, preventing sleep from claiming the unicorn as she tried to focus on her current situation.

Directly in front of her, she could see an exhausted-looking Rainbow Dash thanking Ditzy for her assistance with that last flight. The grey mare, whose eyes were both directed straight ahead as she smiled and nodded, saying simply that it was "nothing" as the two pegasi bumped hooves.

Her eyes shifting around as she tried futilely to raise her head, she took note of the crowded hangar bay, many of the surviving members of her race herding together and talking amongst friends and family as they tried to make sense of this dramatic change that had been thrust upon them, some individuals clearly handling it better than others.

As she tried to push herself to her hooves, Twilight felt a gauntleted hand move to help support her, giving her the steadying lift she needed to get her hooves solidly on the floor.

Commander Shepard gave her a small, encouraging smile as he knelt beside her, keeping them almost at eye level.

“Welcome aboard the Normandy, Twilight Sparkle.”

——————————Mission Complete——————————

Illusive Man Overview: Regained communications with Normandy. According to Lawson's report, opportunity for technological acquirement lost in explosion caused by unknown power source. Shepard's lack of willingness to share details troubling, and events surrounding discovery of new intelligent species remain sketchy. May be able to use Cerberus connection with dramatic rescue to endear trust with new lifeforms.

Dr. Horace Milligan and six Cerberus scientists declared killed in action. Dr. Patricia Hern listed as casualty due to mental breakdown. Details still unclear, but will be transferred to top-class medical care upon arrival at Citadel. Will attempt debrief should she recover.

Credits Found: 0
Cerberus Funding: 10,000 Credits

Found: Upgrade - Biotic Power +50% Biotic Power to Squad
Found: Upgrade - Prototype - New Tricks Training - +50% Melee Capability: Following a prolonged stint of relying on combat without weapons, Commander Shepard has reevaluated his hand-to-hand combat style in order to more efficiently engage opponents.

————————————————————

Achievements Unlocked:

- Welcome to the Herd: You have entered a new life
- Silence in the Library: Enter the Archive
- The Awakening: Initiate Awaken Protocol
- Friend of the Herd: All Equestrians rescued
- A Very Special Friend: Changeling Unit 42 of 50 recovered intact

Comments

[emberflare]

Very good, i wonder what happens to them now?

[M-Tails-P]

And then Shepard spend all the Cerberus funding on ship models.

[Kris The Kris]

Yay! *hugs Shepard*

[Blade Squall]

If this is only part 1, something tells me Part 2 will be the final consequences of our choices.

[Cellin]

He just broke out of a tyrants grasp, saved and entire species, and blew up a whole damn planet?
._. ...
FUCKING BADASS!

[Blade Squall]

1549727
Just another day at the office for Shepard. Keep in mind the bastard goes up against "impossible odds" at least twice a day.

[Valikdu]

...And then all the ponies get killed during ME3, and everyone feels dumb for not getting any tech.

[Wanderer D]

Twilight gets assigned to the Normandy! That was awesome!

[bloodwolf432]

And they all lived happily ever after. Of course, upon release into the galaxy most of the ponies were abducted for experimentation, slavery, and of course: being eaten. Two-thirds of them would be lost to those three main reasons with more following in other catergories such as disease, eating something found poisonous to their species, and just being killed by someone else for one reason or another.

[Jaycee]

Fantastic story, looking forward to finale, find problem though, 500 is minimum for viable long term population sustainment, 300 rescued will eventually be reduced to inbreeding and genetic problems therefore entailed, recommend smalll edit or retcon to boost numbers. Other then that find it ... satisfactory.

Damn you Mordin and your odd ways of speaking

[HiveLordLusa]

Ah, that was a lovely part 1, Loyal! I simply cannot wait for the part 2 you mentioned!

Oh, and since you said something about it in that blog post of yours, I would very much like to see the ME3 effects of this wonderful 'DLC'

[djthomp]

Twilight shows up and kicks biotic ass? I stood up and cheered.

Holy shit. A multi-million year biotic breeding program. Twilight may well be the most powerful biotic in the galaxy by far. Samera, eat your heart out.

Epic ending is epic.

ME3 sequel, next, pretty please?

[RF and AG]

troll.me/images/chicken/damn-son-so-beutiful.jpg

[DirtyBlue929]

Yep, it's not a Shepard mission unless a cosmic object gets destroyed.

I find Unit 42's presence in an achievement interesting- is he going to be the changelings' 'Legion', housing enough processing power to be sapient?

[Beyond the Horizon]

Epic finish to an epic tale. Or, said another way, Friday for the good Commander. Can't wait to see the consequences of this in ME3.

[creeperbro]

GO FULL RENEGADE KK

[creeperbro]

1480960
OLY BUCK DATS CUTE

[ShadowBro]

So since we're supposed to "vote" for ME3 + Ponies in here:

+1 to ME3 + Ponies!!

Reasoning:

1) Pony Husks = fucking terrifying to think about
2) Capacity for Twilight Sparkle to convince SOMEONE that Reapers are inbound through sheer force of irrefutable logic = +9000
3) Capacity for ponies to alter the storyline in a way that will be super fantastically AWESOME = +10000

[Natzo]

Aww, no final scene for Luna? Oh well, if the Council stills denies the Reapers everything is lost. Nice way of getting rid of the tech, gave me chills.

So, Twi has no family? No parents or brother? 300 is too little to maintain a population... I guess cloning it will be.

[creeperbro]

Now someone explain to me... How come everyone is falling in love with Garrus?

[ShadowBro]

1549824

Note, however, limitations of cargo bay size. Larger numbers => Epic Sadface Ending = Ungood. Solution is clearly Salarians + Gene Sequencing + in Vitro Fertilization.

[Aranfan]

This needs a sequel.

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Is that a Doctor Who reference, or am I just desperate to see one?

[Minalkra]

I've never played any of the ME games though I think they're pretty dang good from what I've seen.

This, however, is pretty gosh dang good. Why isn't this loved?

[SuperBro.BrawlerKart]

Hell yea!!! Aw man... I'm just blown away right now! Dat Biotic Buck! Dat Biotic Bubble evact! Dat explosion at the end of escaping a facility which SO reminds me of Metroid!

SO AWESOME!!!

[Hegamonia]

now we need the main theme playing when they are doing the evacuation and this'll be EPIC!

[Setokaiva]

WIN!!!

This was AMAZING!! Everything from concept to execution had me completely enthralled from start to finish. You managed to create a very believable scenario with Equestria as an artificial reality, and mesh it perfectly with the Mass Effect universe. Well done, sir, well done.

Five moustache

[Colt in the Moon]

Wouldn't it be Mare Effect 2?

[Jiven]

Yay! I love it!

[Zanzibar]

This is fantastic. I usually hate when I just lavish praise over something, I always want to find some little thing to complain about, but this is without a doubt among the best fanfics I've read. In both fandoms. Well... I suppose I am missing a final bit of closure with Luna. But you can't get everything.

You've got my vote for a ME3 DLC. Even better if you made it change that horrible ending of the game, but that would be asking for too much... Still, can't wait for the final part!

[metallusionsismagic]

Only ten thousand fricking creds? I deserve way more than that for destroying your science team and the technology they were there to recover!
Oh, yeah and would you mind spotting us enough credits to replace, um, everything that was in the hangar besides the Hammerhead?
Also, nope, still the same damn punch for melee in ME2. Even Minecraft has more variety in melee.
---
Affording to clean up after Shepard's messes is why the Hammerhead was sold off to an Alliance lab before ME3.
This is the best ME DLC EVAR!!
When (not if) you make the ME3 sequel, you must keep Unit 42 as a pet! Such a shame Shep couldn't keep his cabin toys from ME2 (besides the models) in the sequel.
---
Finally:
1: A unicorn stallion was clinging to Ditzy? A) colt, rite? and B) Dinky or Pip?
2:

Meanwhile, at the control console, the hazardous environment was beginning to take its tole

Toll lollol, trollolo!

[ianmoone]

Welcome to the universe.

[Shachza]

1549715

Clearly Luna gets downloaded in to the Citadel and nukes all of the Reapers instead of the station being taken to Earth.

I'm still sad that Celestia is gone.

[Quillery]

I can only pray that I can end Mane Effect on such an epic note. Very well done, and I hope to see more to see the trend of Mass Effect Crossovers to continue.

[2dextreem]

1549715>>1549824>>1549916>>1549998>>1550016>>1550345
Don't worry, most (if not all) of your questions and concerns will be addressed in the Part 2 of the conclusion. We already have it planned and mapped out, and I think many of you will be surprised at what gets revealed near the end.

1550306
The author is actually a she, but I'm sure the mustaches are appreciated nonetheless.

1550064
If you'd read any of L2L's other works, you would know the answer to that question.

[Beyond the Horizon]

1550536

I hope its on the "good" end of the Surprise spectrum. . .

Other than that, we'll just have to wait won't we?

[Blissey1]

He was sure he saw one young stallion who looked downright hysterical, although it could not garner any details.
I think "it" should be "he", assuming it's Shepard who can't make out any details. But if its the stallion that can't make out any details, then it should be "as though" instead of "although". or maybe you're trying to say something else and I'm just missing it.

Synapses damaged Not destroyed.
I think you missed a period there.

Legion, I am loathed to ask
shouldn't that just be loathe? I'm not 100% sure on this one...

Great update! I'm glad to hear there will be a part two, character reactions are my favorite part of any story, and it sounds like we'll be getting plenty of those in part 2!

[Kitsuja]

This is fucking amazing. I can't wait to see what happens next, especially for these Ponies in the realm of ME3.

Time to get that population up and running, too. Hopefully they can repop from that small gene-pool they have available to them.

[sopchoppy]

awesome story is more than awesome!

[Hachibi]

More pony DLC please!

[Cyana Flame]

Changeling Mech 42 is best Changeling Mech~!

[MyDigitalHazard]

Do a SEQUEL! Say It with me everybody! SEQUEL! SE-QUEL! SEQUEL!

[Ether Space]

1549733
I believe the actual odds for impossible odds were about 2.73 instances per day. Rounded down, naturally.

[Useless Machine]

It's done.
Now, I won't be pushing you for a sequel, but it would be interesting to see how the Equestrians adapt to galactic life. It might not be your story to tell, but I still sorta wanna see it.
Otherwise, this is 100% quality. Feel proud.

[Hawkeye]

Holy fuck that was awesome. I can't wait until you post the next chapter to settle everything. This has been a truly awesome experience. I honestly don't think I've actually used so much thought and logic when making a post on this site as I did with one of my comments on this story.

And apparently according to other posts, we're supposed to vote for a Mass Effect 3 sequel? I vote yes to that, although I won't be able to read it for a while due to risk of spoilers for ME3, as I have yet to play through it.

[2dextreem]

1551321
Thanks for giving me a sweet idea.
I see your musical accoutrement and raise you one to go with the evacuation scenes.

Here's a handy timing guide slash visual aid to get people in the right mindset. (Note, if you haven't yet read the story, obviously you should stop reading this comment and go read that instead, then come back here when you have a firm grasp on the dialog/scene flow, or else my generalizations will ruin the imagery.)

:00 - Joker in the cockpit, signaling the Commander.
:04 - :16 - View from behind Normandy, flying over the surface of the planet with the shipwreck hulls underneath.
:17 - :31 - Cut to hangar bay. Dialog, exposition, noticing the biotic corridor. Samara walks up as she explains.
:32 - :38 - Dialog between Samara and Jack as they tether the corridor. It latches on to the ship.
:41 - Rainbow comes in with Shepard, they both fall to the deck.
:44 - :52 - Perspective shifts back and forth, Rainbow staring at the crew, crew staring back at her and the Commander.
:53 - 1:12 - Back and forth with Miranda and Shepard, before more arrivals start to appear behind him.
1:13 - "MOVE!"
1:14 - 1:19 - Crew jumps into action as more ponies are brought in through the shield.
1:20 - 1:39 - Panorama around Shepard as he gives his orders, chaos in the scene around him as people and ponies are rushing everywhere. Once finished, the ship buckles under the gravity, sending its occupants stumbling.
1:40 - 1:54 - Core failure scene. Console blows up, stabilizing gyro rips apart, star starts growing faster.
1:55 - 2:08 - Cut back to evacuation. Dialog between 42 and Twilight as in the distance more ponies are seen being ferried up to the Normandy.
2:09 - 2:20 - Last of the ponies is in the air. Rainbow arguing with Twilight.
2:24 - Rainbow snatches up Twilight, despite protests. Barrier starts to fail at the lower end.
2:27 - 2:49 - Rainbow struggling to lift Twilight up through the corridor. Twilight looks back to see the ground she was standing on crumble. Close up on Rainbow to show she's straining, before wings lock up and she starts to fall.
2:50 - Failing Rainbow Dash is propped up by 42 on one end, seconds later by Ditzy on the other.
2:57 - 3:16 - Various shots from inside and outside Normandy, showing the group inching closer to the hangar bay while the planet erupts around them.
3:18 - Ponies make it inside, Jack and Samara release their hold.
3:22 - Ponies safely on board, Shepard tells Joker to get them out of there.
3:23 - 3:33 - Normandy doors closing as it lifts away from the surface, plasma flares reaching up towards it.
3:34 - Joker working frantically in the cockpit.
3:37 - 3:51 - Wide shot. Star on the left, still expanding, tiny Normandy in the center. Zoom in on Normandy as the moon and lunar base pass by in silhouette. Static shot as the moon is drawn in closer to the left.
3:52 - 4:07 - Normandy clears the moon, speeding away with the red glow shining off camera.
4:08 - 4:20 - Panorama around the ship, first in front with the star in the background, pan around the side, (good view of "Normandy SR-2"), end at the back, engines flaring to life.
4:23 - Jump to FTL speed.
Remaining time on the supernova explosion (use your imagination), quiet and contemplative. Fade to black as music ends.

I have way too much time on my hands.

[The Well Dressed Ninja]

MOAR! Lets get Twilight and the gang on board for another tale of Kickassedry!

[Retsamoreh]

Definitely more. ME3 dlc here we go.

[Guiding_Passion]

Nice Bravo I love it oh I hope there's going to be a sequel

[adran06]

This was EPIC! I wanna see more stories done in this style. I only wish I was here before what is basically the end, after all the choices have been made, even if I do agree with every single one. It just doesn't get better than this. But what's this? Pt 1? OMG! MORE?!?! Why must you tease me so! Now I'm going to be waiting impatiently for whatever happens next. And knowing Mass Effect like I do, there's probably at least a few more surprise twists ahead! Really looking forward to it. Keep up the great work and update soon!