• Published 25th Sep 2011
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Pony Effect - Grif



What if ponies replaced humans in the Mass Effect universe?

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Chapter 9

[Scathi Mountains, Poneria]

Ponerian weather was definitely not for her, Fluttershy decided. Despite the special thermal flight suit she was specially assigned for this trip, she had been anything but warm, with the bone-chilling cold somehow managing to seep through despite her best efforts. Even her hoofcovers managed to acquire a layer of frost within fifteen minutes of flight. At least she had Angel for company, the bunny volunteering to stay with her despite the atrocious temperature. Even now, she could feel the comforting weight of Angel riding on her tail.

“Fluttershy, we’re approaching the Peak 15 sensor range. On my mark, we’re going to ease the cloud down slowly,” Rainbow’s voice crackled over the radio.

“Remember, we’re supposed to remain hidden. So no heroics, Rainbow. Just ease us in, nice and slow,” Twilight added.

“Relax, I got this.” Rainbow’s confident voice made Fluttershy relax. Just a little.

Not for the first time, Fluttershy wondered how she was managed to be roped into this. Just three months ago, she had been living her dream on Appleloosa—caring for animals and adjusting to life on a new, pristine colony. The next thing she knew, monsters landed and started to do horrible things to her friends. The weeks after that had been a blur, anchored only by the fact that she had followed Twilight because she had nowhere else to go. To her dismay, they seemed to lurch from one life-threatening experience to the next. Still, she had grown close to this strange group of ponies and aliens that were following Twilight around in their quest to save the galaxy. She found herself opening up to Rarity and Tali in particular. She took to Rarity for their shared interest in fashion and the fact the unicorn took her in like an older sister. As for Tali, she found her to be a pleasant conversation partner, ever since their little talk in the park—

“Fluttershy! Concentrate! We’re drifting off-course,” Rainbow barked.

“Y-Yes!” Fluttershy squeaked, adjusting her course to match Rainbow’s lead. She felt a tap on her shoulder just then, and turned to see Angel pointing downwards. Blinking, Fluttershy glanced down, following the rabbit’s outstretched paw. It took her a moment to recognise the domed shape amidst all the craggy rock formations below. Ominously, the dome seemed to whirl and move as she watched, growing steadily taller in profile. Her eyes widened as the dome unfolded to reveal what even her inexperienced mind recognised as some sort of large gun.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Fluttershy quickly fumbled for her radioset, and said quickly, “T-Twilight! There’s a big gun below us!”

“Huh, what?” A few second of silence. ”Rainbow, she’s right! I’m detecting multiple heat signatures coming online...” A deep intake of breath from the other side of the radio. “These aren’t standard Ponerian defense turrets. Unknown IFF. These must be geth. They must have known we were coming.”

“Rainbow, I’d be mighty appreciative if we’all didn’t die on this here planet,” Applejack dryly added.

“Yeah, way to encourage a pony, AJ,” Rainbow replied. “Hang on!”

Fluttershy yelped as the precious vehicle they were pushing along suddenly took a nosedive, leaving her pushing empty air for a moment. Shouts and curses echoed through the radio accompanied the sudden course change.

Scant seconds later, she reflexively ducked her head, as a searing bolt of plasma passed mere inches from her mane. The shock of the near-miss was enough to spur her on to catch up with Rainbow. “W-Wait!” she exclaimed softly, angling her body downwards to catch up with the speeding cloud. All around her, explosions and plasma fire began filling the air, making her wince and yelp with each close call. It seemed like the entire world was filled with fire and smoke.

“Pony! I swear if I die on this miserable planet I will haunt your afterlife and kill you there too,” Wrex snarled.

“How crude,” Rarity managed to admonish, before going off in another shriek as their makeshift vehicle swung abruptly to the left. A few stray rockets trailed past the cloud as they dove through the air and towards the general direction of Peak 15.

“Fluttershy! We need to get to ground as soon as poss— Gyah!” Rainbow cried, a bolt of energy narrowing passing through the air space she had just occupied. “Just push!”

“R-Right!” Fluttershy blurted, willing her wings to go faster. She squealed as another barrage of blue plasma whirled past her. Finally, reaching the cloud, she laid her hoof to the soft structure and begin adding her own effort to the desperate move. Just beyond the outline of the cloud, Fluttershy could finally make out their destination, a cluster of low buildings set into the mountain. A tall tower, adorned with all manners of radio dishes and antennas, jutted out from west end of the compound. The only relatively open area she could make out was a flat clearing on the east side of the compound. On the edge of the snowcapped cliffs, she could make out a thin gray line, presumably the sole road winding around the mountain leading to the facility.

“I knew we should have taken the goddamn Mako!” Wrex said, anger infusing his voice. “At least we wouldn’t be in danger of falling to our death.”

“Shut up, Wrex. Rainbow can handle this,” Garrus snapped.

Fluttershy was suddenly aware of how fast the snow-covered landing pad seemed to be growing. Too fast for any form of controlled landing. “Uh... Rainbow, shouldn’t we um... slow down—”

“Are you crazy? Those turrets would—Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!” Rainbow broke off in a cry of pain. Fluttershy snapped her head towards her fellow flier, just in time to see Rainbow dropping back, the fringe of her left wing smoking slightly. It looked like a surface burn, but it was enough to cause Rainbow to fly unsteadily, every beat of her wings causing Rainbow to wince in pain.

“R-Rainbow?”

“I’m okay!” Rainbow said, in a strained voice. “Just land this thing before they actually score a hit.”

“B-But... I don’t know if I can...”

“You can, Fluttershy. Just keep going. I can already see Peak 15 from here,” Twilight encouraged. Fluttershy squeaked as another bolt of angry energy passed between her legs, punching a neat hole through the fluffy material.

“Oh-okay!” Fluttershy replied, willing her wings to pump harder, straining to push the bulky cloud past the hail of fire. She wasn’t really adding to the speed of the ride, but at least it was still moving.

“By the goddess!” Liara squealed as yet another plasma bolt pierced clean through the cloud, following by a mad scramble of curses on the radio. Amongst the chatter, Fluttershy could pick out a familiar bubbly voice squealing with joy, as if this was a ride on the theme park.

Fortunately for them, the volume of fire decreased as they neared the facility at almost sonic speed. Fluttershy’s eyes widened as the ground seemed to rise up to greet them all. She squeezed her eyes shut, fervently hoping that her passing would at least be quick and painless.

*Fwumph!*

The cloud disintegrated into vapours of air as it hit the snowy ground at full speed, causing everyone to tumble out onto the snowed under landing pad. Fluttershy herself bounced off a dissipating cloud, and landed belly first into a mound of soft snow. The pegasus lay still for a moment, taking the time to savour the lack of pain and the fact that she was still breathing. Miraculously, she didn’t seem to have broken any bones. Moments later she heard another smaller wet thud beside her. From the angry chitter, it appeared Angel had survived the crash as well.

“Hey, everypony alright?” Rainbow gasped as she finally fluttered down on the pad.

“No thanks to you, Dash,” Garrus said good-humouredly, as he sat up from the edge of the landing pad. He nonchalantly scraped the snow off his mandibles and face, and looked up at Rainbow Dash as she trotted over. “Good thing clouds are as soft as they look... You need help there?” The turian hurried over to the injured pegasus and began inspecting her wings. Against the Rainbow’s protestations, he began applying medigel on the smoking wound.

“A little help here?!” Rarity cried. Fluttershy, who just managed to extricate herself from her little snow pile, quickly trotted over to where two primly manicured rear legs was sticking out. Applejack, who seemed to have the same idea, trotted up from behind and took one leg. Fluttershy, naturally took the other. With a mighty heave, they plucked Rarity out of her mound of snow.

“Oh, my mane! My beautiful, beautiful coifs! Ruined by the snow,” Rarity wailed as she inspected her tousled mane.

“Aw shucks, Rarity. It ain’t so bad.”

Rainbow Dash piped up from the other side of the landing pad, “Yeah! I mean, it’s not like you got shot or anything.” She punctuated her sentence with a yelp as Garrus began bandaging the wing. “Garrus, watch it!” She glared at the amused look the turian gave her.

Rarity scrunched up her face and let out a loud hmph. “Why, I never!”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile shyly as Rainbow Dash and Applejack alike shouted down Rarity, then at each other. Even after that close brush with disaster, they still found the spirit to make banter. It really surprised the sheltered pegasus. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Tali making a beeline for the green-hued door marking the entrance to the facility. The quarian kneeled, her omni tool already active in her forearm, the other hand navigating through the control panel. Pinkie bounced beside the quarian, apparently assisting.

“Hah, these geth aren’t as formidable as they appear, if they cannot even shoot us out of the sky,” Wrex said. He looked none the worse for wear.

“Actually, we were probably lucky there,” Twilight said, shaking the last of the snow out of her mane.

“Oh? Explain, Sparkle.”

“Those turrets are firing via visual acquisition. We don’t have the normal heat signatures that a shuttle would give off, and that makes targeting us all the more difficult. A conventional shuttle would have been downed the instant it even approached the mountain range. We’re lucky we stayed undetected for as long as we did.”

Wrex snorted, clearly not convinced. “I thought our weather passes are supposed to bypass those defenses?”

“They did. Matriarch Benezia installed her own defense guns apparently. I guess the geth don’t mind the cold as much as we do. At least they didn’t install any guarding this close to the facility. I guess they didn’t expect anypony making it this far.”

The two stopped as a loud chirp pierced the wind roaring in the background. “Door’s open, commander,” Tali radioed. Apparently, she had been busy unlocking the door while they were talking.

Twilight only hesitated briefly before moving towards the now-open door. “Let’s move, ponies.” The commander quickly cantered past Fluttershy, and was followed by the rest of the team on her tail. As she debated whether to follow the team in—staying outside in the frigid cold seemed preferable to almost certain death inside—Fluttershy felt a weight settle on her back of the team in. She turned to see Angel glowering at her, shotgun in paws.

Fluttershy sighed and began trotting into the darkened interior. “Yes, Angel. I know. Twilight needs all the help she can get.”

***

[Peak 15, Poneria]

The last geth trooper fell to the floor with a metallic thud, its head shot clean off by three different guns. Twilight grimaced as she waved away the steam from her submachine gun and holstered her weapon.

“Where is everypony? We seen nopony but geth,” Twilight wondered aloud as they stepped into the room at the end of the hallway. She picked her way through the overturned tables and chairs, in what appeared to have been a cafeteria in a happier time. Much of the lighting were dimmed or turned off, as if the entire complex had suffered a massive power outage.

“Beats me,” Rainbow said, shrugging. Her ears perked up as a synthetic female voice boomed over the intercoms.

“User Alert: All Peak 15’s facilities sustaining heavy damage. User Alert: Biohazard materials present throughout the facility. Virtual Intelligence user interface offline.”

Applejack scratched her head. “I thought we’re s’posed to break into breaking into the place, not be the cleanup crew. What the hay happened?”

“I don’t like the sound of biohazard materials, Twilight,” Fluttershy squeaked. Angel, who was riding on her mane, pumped his shotgun and frowned.

Tali looked up from her omni-tool. “It appears the main reactor for the facility is also offline. They’re running on backup power at the moment.”

“Whatever it is, it’s too late to turn back now.”

Twilight led the group through the cafeteria down another steel-lined corridor. Just around the corner was another unmarked door. Looks were deceptive though, as Twilight remembered from memory that this should be one of the security checkpoints guarding the outermost ring of the facility.

“Alright, get ready. They should know we’re in by now,” Twilight whispered, a hoof on the control panel. A series of radio clicks indicated her team’s readiness. A brief glance around showed that her ground team was already taking cover behind whatever they could find, though the sight of Wrex crouching behind a slightly too small table nearly brought a chuckle to her lips.

The door released a hiss, before sliding open smoothly. Twilight pressed herself against the wall as soon as the door opened, expecting the corridor to be filled with metal and fire shortly. Five seconds. Ten seconds... nothing.

Twilight blinked and peered cautiously around the door. The security choke was empty. Actually, not quite empty. Several security turrets, set on tripods were up and active. Oddly enough, Twilight noticed they were facing towards the inwards. The security room beside was likewise empty, as far as she could tell from the blurred reinforced glass.

“Why... are the turrets facing inwards?” Tali questioned.

Rarity joined Twilight’s side and studied the turrets. “It looks like they’re trying to keep ponies from getting out.” She grimaced slightly at the thought. “But why?”

“Ooooh! Maybe they’re having a big party and they don’t want anypony missing out!” Pinkie added.

“I don’t know. Something feels weird about this...” Twilight said, going over to deactivate the turrets. “Keep your eyes peeled, ponies. I have a feeling we’re walking into another big mess.”

“Sparkle, I think that’s becoming all too common around you,” Garrus quipped.

***

Twilight stepped through the elevator doors cautiously. So far, the facility had been quiet. Too quiet. Except for a few more stray geth, they did not encounter any more resistance past the security checkpoint. The station VI kept repeating its announcements, as if to warn any deaf enough not to heed its warning the first time.

A quick hack by Tali on the computer systems showed that that they were currently still in the central Peak 15 hub facility, where most of the support systems were contained. There was a tram system that they were supposed to be able to take to reach the real heart of the facilities: the laboratories of Binary Helix.

Twilight tapped her omni-tool again and brought up the map of the facility. “Okay, we should be coming up to... administration offices. Beyond that would be the hallway leading to the VI core and the support systems.”

“No problem,” Rainbow said, pushing past Twilight towards the closed door. Twilight’s eyes fell on Rainbow’s bandaged wing. It suddenly occurred to Twilight that she probably won’t be flying for quite some time. The door slid open as Rainbow approached, and they were immediately greeted with a blast of freezing cold air.

“Oh dear, did the life support system break down?” Rarity commented, wrapping her scarf around her neck tightly.

“Looks like somepony left the freezer open,” Pinkie said cheerfully.

Twilight peered into the room, noting the large gash in the normally impenetrable armoured glass windows looking out onto solid ice. The interior was blanketed in snow, and more was pouring in through the crack. “I think the VI wasn’t exaggerating when it said they suffered heavy damage. Not many weapons can break armoured glass.” They slowly filed into the room after a cursory glance indicated that it was just as abandoned as the rest of the facility.

“I don’t think we have to worry about weapons...” Tali said, walking ahead and kneeling down beside a fallen geth. With a loud snap, she wrenched the head unit off and held it up. A half-chewed geth head unit. Twilight cringed as her imagination began to run wild. Was Binary Helix working on some secret, forbidden xenobiology project? And now their creations are loose in the facility? Or did they unearth a previous unknown alien race which then ran amok in the facility?

Twilight’s train of thought was derailed by a high-pitched wail, followed by what seemed like skittering. The group tensed, weapons held at the ready.

“What the hell was that?” Garrus said, swinging his rifle about slowly.

“This better not be zombies, Twilight. I hate zombies,” Dash added, her own sniper rifle unfolded on her shoulder back and following her head movement gently. Twilight caught Garrus rolling his eyes.

Rarity let out a most unladylike snort despite her best attempt not to. “Oh, Dash. You’d loved it on Appleloosa.”

Twilight frowned. “No... it doesn’t sound like zombies. More like... insects...” Sure enough, they heard the skittering again. This time, it seemed like it came from under their feet.

“This feels like one of them bad horror holovids...” Applejack remarked, swinging her rifle on her two hoofs warily.

The next thing Twilight knew, the entire room erupted into chaos as the ventilation duct covers exploded in a mass of angry mandibles, poisonous spit and green writhing horrors. She watched as a swarm of small green aphid-like creature crawled up toward her... before exploding in a shower of green goo. Eyes widening in horror, the commander rolled and narrowly dodged the liquid, which splashed on the metal floor. The liquid fizzled and bubbled angrily as Twilight rolled away. She quickly resolved to make it a point not to get hit, ever. The next swarm was already reaching her by the time she got to her feet. This time, however, she swatted them away with a telekinetic shockwave, leaving them to splatter harmlessly on the metal walls.

“Ponyfeather! The green goo stings like a nest of angry bees!” Applejack cried, hopping from one leg to another in a vain attempt to shake the offending liquid off the armoured piece on her right leg.

“Careful! These creatures are loaded with some form of corrosive acid,” Liara shouted. She quickly put a table to squash the little aphid-like creatures and quickly jumped away as the table melted.

“A lil’ too late for that, sugarcube,” Applejack dryly replied. The soldier had shook off the armoured boot, leaving her right foreleg exposed to the elements. The discarded armour piece lay on the ground, slowly melting into its constituent elements.

The room shook as a grenade erupted, taking out most of the swarm of little green insects. “Hah! Nothing a grenade can’t solve,” Wrex said, his battle rifle barking away steadily. The floor was now covered in green offal and puddles of bubbling acid, happily eating away at the metal floor. “These puny creatures are not worthy adver—”

A loud crash interrupted the rest of Wrex’s words. Twilight looked up in time to see a large insectoid creature crawling out of a hole ripped in the walls of one of the offices. Its sleek red carapace gleamed in the light, as the creature reared up to its full height—about twice as tall as Twilight. Sharp, gleaming, large mandibles and a pair of thin, wavy tentacles arising from its midsection all spoke of a creature bred for one purpose only: to kill. True to form, it immediately lashed out at the glass window separating it from the group, cracking the glass with a solid thump. It reared back and spat a glob of green liquid at the offending barrier; the crack widening with a slow fizzle. Another quick stab and the glass shattered.

Letting out another piercing hiss, it took several step towards the group... before a dozen bullets ripped through its torso. The creature thrashed and fell to the ground, quivering and twitching in its death throes. A brief silence fell as the stunned group first stared at the creature, then at each other.

Garrus was the first one to lower his rifle. “Well... that was an anticlimax.”

Another series of the same shrill piercing cry answered the call. The large ventilation grates that had lined the room and the offices beyond began to rattle ominously.

“Garrus, shut up,” Rainbow said, as the first of the grate flew upwards, revealing the top of another red-caraspaced nightmare.

Gunfire filled the room as more of the creatures emerged. Wrex let out an angry roar and charged down the nearest alien, bashing its skull in just as it clambered out of the opening.

“They’re using the ventilation systems!” Twilight shouted. She lifted one of the dislodged steel grate and slammed it against another of the creature that emerged. The metal connected with a sickening crunch, and crushed the creature’s head. It slumped to the ground, hissing even in its death throes. Just as Twilight stepped back, another emerged from the opening, spitting green acid, its tentacles lashing furiously against the unicorn. Twilight deftly stepped back out of reach and brought her submachine gun to bear, firing as she retreated behind a desk.

More and more emerged even as the defenders cut the first wave down. The small green aphid-like creatures made a second appearance, further complicating matters. Grenades exploded, magic and biotics swept the creatures aside and volleys of weapon fire cut swathes into the advancing xenos. Still, they were slowly, but surely being pressed to against one corner of the room.

Then suddenly, just as suddenly as it began, the horde of creatures stopped pouring through. The remaining creatures charged in a suicidal frenzy, only to be met with a wall of bullets.

“I think that didn’t turn out too bad, right?” Garrus said, brushing a stray chunk of offal that landed on his arm.

“Except for the few close calls with acid to the face you mean,” Rainbow retorted.

“Well, what’s life without some excitement, eh Dash?” Garrus replied, a mischievous glint appearing in his eyes.

“Well, I’d appreciate it if you two could stop bickerin’ and find me a spare right boot...’ Applejack said, picking her way gingerly across the pile of insectoid corpses that had piled across one of the entrances.

Rarity was quick to the rescue. “Applejack! You really have to cover that hoof. We don’t want to lose a limb to frostbite now, do we?” She fussed over Applejack’s exposed hoof, before taking out another scarf. The engineer only hesitated for a second before wrapping it snugly around the hoof. “There! That should tide you over till we get a spare.”

Applejack favoured Rarity with a small, but sincere smile. “Thank, Rarity. I guess all that fashion hubbub has its uses after all.”

“Applejack, someday you’ll learn that fashion always has its uses. Anyway, happy to help.”

Twilight smiled a little as she walked past, carefully picking her way past the corpses, to join Liara who was kneeling, studying one of the fallen alien.

“Commander, those insectoid creatures, have you seen them before?” Liara asked.

Twilight shook her head. “No. I don’t recall seeing such a creature in my studies. Then again, xenobiology is a constantly evolving field, and Binary Helix could have found these on the frontier.” She glanced at the gently steaming corpses that lay beside her. “They must have attacked before we arrived. I wonder just how many they are.”

“I wonder what they had hoped to gain from them,” Garrus said. rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Twilight nodded. “Whatever they were doing, our top priority is still Benezia. If we can stop their plans along the way, then it’s a bonus.” The commander peered carefully into the adjoining corridor, noting the lack of pony-eating giant bugs. She waved for the team to move on.

***

They reached the core after fighting through several more of xeno-infested corridors. The VI core room itself was a spartan affair, consisting of only a circular room and a hollow CPU tower in the centre of the room. An elevator led down to the main controls of the VI unit, which was actually housed underground. Rarity, being the natural tech guru of the group apart from Tali, had gone down to manually start the VI unit on backup power.

“So, what do you think caused the facility to go dark?” Tali said, folding her arms over her chest.

“Assuming those creatures are from the labs, I think we can safely assume a biological weapon gone wrong. If this was what Saren has been working on...” Twilight felt a chill run down her spine, despite the mind-numbing cold. As if as a reminder, the VI echoed its announcement again.

“There!” Rarity’s voice shouted with glee. A steady hum began to emanate as various panels began to light up in sequence on the outer circuit banks of the circular CPU core. The elevator returned with the triumphant engineer, her face beaming with pride.

Twilight saluted Rarity as she stepped off the platform. “Good work, Rarity. Now let’s get this station running and find out where Matriarch Benezia is.”

Just as the words left her mouth, an image of a holographic pony appeared beside the two. Twilight was startled by the sudden appearance, though she quickly regained her composure. It intoned in a smooth monotone synthetic female voice, “It appears you’re trying to restore this facility. Would you like help?” Twilight stared at the VI for a moment, debating on whether it was trustworthy or not. Technically it could be programmed to stonewall any potential intruders. However, she took comfort in the fact that VIs were only allowed a limited amount of independent thought and throughly limited in their capability for critical analysis.

Rainbow Dash snorted behind Twilight. “Well, duh?”

Twilight ignored the snide remark. She began earnestly, “Yes. My name is Twilight Sparkle, Commander of the ESV Normaredy.”

“One moment please.” The VI hologram shimmered and flickered. “I am sorry. You are not authorised to secure access of this facility. Please contact the technical team for support.”

Twilight smacked her hoof against her head. “Oh, for Celestia’s sake...” she groaned in disbelief.

“Commander, maybe you could try using your Spectre rank instead?” Garrus suggested.

Twilight very nearly smacked her own face again. How could she have forgot? “Oh. Right,” she answered sheepishly. “Authorisation for Commander Sparkle, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance.”

“One moment please... Council authority confirmed. You are entitled to secure access of all systems. Please note that queries regarding to corporate secrets require privileged access that is only available to Binary Helix executives. This system is ready to process queries.” The VI stared at the commander with a blank look.

“Well, looks like Binary Helix thought of everything. Anyway, how do we refer to you?”

“This construct is programmed to respond to the name Mira,” the VI replied.

“Very well. Mira, where is Matriarch Benezia?”

The VI did not hesitate. “Lady Benezia has made her way to Rift Station. User Alert: Tram links between the Central Hub and Rift Station is currently offline.”

“We... kind of got that. Mira, what happened to the facility?” The million bits question, Twilight thought.

“One moment please...

Diagnostics in progress...

Critical failure: Main reactor shut down in accordance with emergency containment procedures. Manual restart required.”

“C-Containment?” Fluttershy blurted nervously.

“Must be those creatures we fought earlier. No wonder the whole place was deserted.” Twilight felt a chill run down her spine. If even their emergency containment failed, these creatures must have overran the whole place.

“Turn off the heat and hope the cold puts whatever you unleashed to sleep,” Wrex commented.

“Didn’t work too well, by the looks of things.”

Mira was not finished with her report. “Critical Failure: Landlines connection are disabled. Passenger tram systems are offline. Report complete. Do you have any additional system queries?”

“Great. Sounds like we have to repair both before we can get to Rift Station.”

Mira interpreted that as a statement directed to her. “That is correct, Commander. Would you like to know how?”

“That would be appreciated.”

“The main reactor system can be...”

***

“There’s that,” Twilight said with satisfaction as the group reassembled in the VI room. “Good job, ponies.” She nodded at the team led by Garrus who went to the roof of the communications tower to reactivate the land lines. The turian’s team had no trouble reaching the roof, with only a few more of the ravenous xenomorphs barring their way.

Twilight herself led the other half to reactivate the He3 reactor of Peak 15. To their surprise, what remained of the geth seemed to have holed themselves in the reactor room, delaying the fire team. They found themselves unable to advance, being caught in a crossfire on an open walkway leading to the reactor proper.

It was Angel who finally broke the stalemate. The shrewd rabbit crept forward unseen through the ventilation system, and reappeared in a small vent above the largest geth that was spewing deadly plasma on the fire team. The oblivious geth—a Geth Prime as Twilight later nicknamed it—did not notice him until it was flying halfway down the reactor core. The fire team wiped out the remaining opposition in short order, and restarted the reactor as instructed.

She turned towards Mira, who seemed to be politely waiting for the commander to make a request. “Mira, please reactivate the tram station between Central Station and Rift Station.”

“Very well, commander. Tram link activated.”

“Good. Now send a distress signal towards Port Heihe requesting reinforcements. Warn the port authorities that unauthorised weapon emplacements are in place around Peak 15 and they would need to approach with extreme caution.”

“Acknowledged, commander. Message sent to Port Heihe’s administrator.” Twilight briefly recalled the fate of the former administrator of Poneria. The memory of the salarian being led away to his fate brought a small smile to her face. Then she sobered. That meant Zecora would probably be the one receiving the message, though Twilight herself was unsure how the system worked in the event of a temporary power vacuum. Perhaps removing the administrator wasn’t such a good idea. The idiots in Port Heihe will be debating over how to pass the buck.

“Twilight, what now?” Applejack said.

“Now?” Twilight brought out her sub machinegun and slid the safety back. “Now, we go to Rift Station and bring Matriarch Benezia to justice.”


***

[Rift Station, Peak 15, Poneria]

“Now arriving in Rift Station. Please secure your belongings before leaving the tram,” Mira intoned.

The tram slowly rumbled into the station, giving the passengers inside a clear view of the battle-stricken place. The station looked like it could comfortably serve dozens of passengers at any one time, with two platforms hanging out from the main waiting area. A deadly firefight had clearly taken place in the station, with upturned benches, pockmarks from bullets, various piles of rubble where the ceiling caved and the occasional splatter of blood or ichor. Not much of the combatants remained though. Twilight presumed the fallen were consumed by the ravenous creatures. The sound of Fluttershy gagging over the sight was indicative enough of the rest of the crew’s feelings, with the possible exception of Wrex.

“... That’s just plain wrong,” Applejack said slowly.

“Goddess... it looks like the survivors tried to make a run for the trams,” Liara said.

Wrex snorted, slinging his assault rifle over his broad armoured shoulders. “And they failed miserably.”

Rainbow Dash pressed her snout against the window, her breath making leaving a fine mist of the glass. “Well, we can’t just leave them here, can we?” she croaked.

“Damn straight. They might be workin’ for Benezia, but they sure as hay don’t deserve a death like this,” Applejack said, tilting her hat back. “Not even them batarians deserve it.”

The tram finally coasted to a stop, the glass doors sliding open. Despite the cold, Twilight could taste the sharp tang of death and decay in the air. Grimacing, she cautiously peered out of the tram, her submachine gun floating steadily beside her. Seeing nothing, she waved for Wrex and Applejack to scout ahead. The two moved past her and took up positions covering the only walkway leading to the tram.

The team secured the station arrival hall and soon found themselves looking at the three doorways leading off the arrival hall. One led to the Hot Labs, where Twilight presumed was where they held the dangerous experiments. One more led to the Xenobiology Research Laboratories I and II. The last door was unmarked, but appeared to lead to a secure storage facility-cum-maintenance area of the station.

“Where to?” Twilight said.

“I think we can safely rule out the Hot Labs,” Tali said. The quarian thumbed through the undamaged console she had found behind the reception counter. “The security logs indicate that the containment failure started there. No further logs beyond the initial report.” Twilight could add two and two together. The Hot Labs was probably overrun by the creatures by now.

Rarity spoke up from her position by the unmarked door. “I don’t think we can go through this door, Twilight. Somepony had locked down access on both end. It’s not possible to bypass... at least not without considerable time.”

Twilight bit her lower lip a little as she mulled over her choices. “I guess that leaves the Xenobiology labs,” she finally said, trotting towards the elevator.

***

The first thing Twilight sensed when the elevator door opened was the overwhelming stench of decomposing alien bodies—even worse than the arrival hall. The second was the sound of bullets ricocheting over her head as she reflexively ducked behind the elevator walls. The third was that the corridor beyond was barricaded haphazardly: filing cabinets, assorted desks and even one that Twilight suspected was once a lab table piled over the small hallway.

“Stop firing, you idiots! The aliens never used the elevator before and they sure as hell won’t this time,” a gruff voice shouted over the commotion.

“Glad to see a working brain on that side of the barricade,” Wrex dryly commented. The amount of fire steadily dried up rapidly, until only the sound of two assault rifles remained firing. “If you idiots are done shooting at us, mind actually stopping the bullets?”

A solid thump answered his request, followed a heavy thud hitting the metallic floor. The same voice spoke, “Sorry for the warm welcome. My ponies have been living on stims for days now and this poor boy snapped.” Twilight peered out to see a somewhat burly dark blue earth pony stepping out of the barricades. His armour seemed badly scratched and dented. A dark bruise marked the side of his head, with an ear partially torn off. “Damn insects. If there’s one thing I give them, it’s that they’re relentless. Security Chief Frostfire. Glad to see help finally arrived.” His green eyes were lined with bags, but were unusually alert, darting side to side occasionally. He offered a hoof out.

Twilight finally stepped out to greet Frostfire, very much aware of the uncomfortable amount of guns still pointed out at her. She shook the proffered hoof. “I’m afraid we’re the only help you’ll get for the time being. Commander Sparkle, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance.”

“A Spectre, eh?” Frostfire actually grinned back. “At least I know you can handle yourself out there. I definitely wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth... pardon the pun. At this point, I’ll take even the administrator himself—if he knows how to bring a gun.” He glanced about at the two aliens which joined Twilight. “I take it you’re not alone?”

“Actually, I have more ponies waiting downstairs.”

Frostfire sighed with relief. ”Perfect! When can we evacuate?”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple...”

***

“... I see. Well, I cannot help you with Lady Benezia. All I know she went into the Hot Labs soon after she arrived. Well, I don’t see how one person could help.” He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “I don’t know about you, but I think the Board was crazy only to send her.”

“Interesting...” Twilight debated whether to mention that Benezia probably left geth to secure the central facility. She decided to hold onto that little piece of information, in part because she wasn’t sure if she could trust Frostfire and the fact that Frostfire technically worked for Binary Helix and might be complicit in the whole shady business.

“At least we have plenty of supplies to last us... not many of us left after the aliens broke into my command post. That was the first warning of the containment failure we had,” Frostfire said grimly. He seemed mildly amused at Rarity’s horrified expression and Fluttershy’s inevitable cowering. “We managed to seal the vents, and secured the Xenobiology Labs against further intrusions. The only way in now is through here. Well, there’s the maintenance entrance at the other end of the this facility. But then they need to trek their way across the mountain and they still freeze like anypony else, thank Celestia.”

“How many survivors?”

“Around forty, including twelve armed guards. Well... eleven now, with him down.” Frostfire gestured at the unconscious pegasus lying on a stretcher in the corridor. “We’ve barely gotten a break since we retreated back here... those creature attack every few hours. And those noise. The scratching. Poor Barley Hop here finally broke when you showed up.”

“You poor things! I must insist you get a good nap first. We will help you stand watch against these foul creatures.”

“Sparkle, we’re here for Benezia, not to rescue some corporate scumbags from their own goddamn mess,” Wrex interrupted

“I don’t think I can leave them here in good conscience as well.”

Wrex waved at the guards. “They can take care of themselves. You said Benezia went down to the Hot Labs?”

Frostfire seemed unamused. “Yes. The whole place was overrun by the aliens the last we heard. That part of the station was built into an old glacier, very stable kind. There’s supposed to be a kill switch that melts the glacier and sinks the whole thing into the frozen sea, but Benezia specifically forbidden us to even do that.”

“Must be something pretty important,” Liara commented.

The security chief shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care. It got a lot of good ponies killed. Han Olar was the only one who made it out alive. Even he isn’t all there anymore. The rest of us might join him soon.”

“Hold on, you said Han Olar was the only survivor from the Hot Labs?” Twilight asked. Frostfire nodded once. “I need to talk to this Han Olar. Garrus, can you handle a team helping the guards?”

Garrus nodded. “Of course, commander. Dash and Applejack might need medical attention though.”

“There’s a doctor in the labs. Dr. Bones is down in the makeshift infirmary. He could help you with those,” Frostfire offered.

“Right, anything else we might need to know?”

“The maintenance area, as I said, has been sealed to prevent further incursion by the aliens. I would suggest you avoid that entrance if possible. There’s nothing there of importance anyway, so it’s not a big loss to us.”

Twilight heard enough. “Alright. Let’s go.”

***

The volus in question was in the lower levels of the living quarters adjacent to the Xenobiology labs. The living quarters themselves were standard colonial design, with a central common room and the individual quarters branching off on the outside corridor ringing the common room. The team found themselves swiftly directed to the common room by an irate scientist.

Oddly, the short, stout alien was standing alone in a corner of the room, staring at the wall. He turned as Twilight’s hooves clipped towards him. His voice was dull and monotone as he looked up at Twilight slowly, the glowing eye ports on his environmental suit studying her intently. “Canterlot-clan. What do you wish of me?”

“Mr Olar, right? My name is—” Twilight began.

“You came to find out about them, didn’t you? Everyone is talking about the new Spectre who arrived.” Han Olar paused. “Huh. I thought you would be bigger.”

Twilight tilted her head slightly. The volus seemed unsurprised by her rank and status. Even the monotonous voice that all volus seemed to possess sounded even flatter than usual. “Yes, those creatures. Are they aliens?”

The volus sucked another breath of air and pondered the question for a moment. “Aliens? I suppose that is true. In a way.”

Something about the volus’ stance made her wary. “Care to explain?” Twilight said.

“They’re rachni, you know,” he replied, almost conversationally. It took a moment for Twilight to process the name before it hit her. The rachni? The insectoid race that waged an intergalactic war against the then fledgling Citadel Council, long before ponies ever discovered space flight? From what she read, it was by mere chance that a hapless Citadel expedition discovered the rachni, after activating a then-dormant relay leading to their worlds. Unfortunately, the rachni proved hostile and declared war on the rest of the galaxy.

“Don’t screw with me; they can’t be rachni,” Wrex spoke up.

“He’s right. The krogan wiped them out over a thousand years ago!” Liara said.

The battle went poorly for the Citadel races in the opening moments of the war, losing world after world to the merciless rachni without a means to strike them back on their toxic worlds. Then, the salarians discovered the krogans. Tough, long-lived reptilian species that had just nuked their own homeworld back to the pre-industrial era. In view of the Council’s desperate position, the salarians was forced to uplift the pre-spaceflight krogan to help them turn the tide against the rachni. True to their savage potential, the krogan began to systematically pushed the rachni back. Using superior numbers and their adaptability to toxic worlds, the krogan exterminated the rachni—one world at a time—until they were declared extinct. For a brief moment in galactic history, the krogan were lauded as heroes.

Han shook his head slowly. “They found it in a derelict ship. An egg. Waiting since the last battles. They brought it here—”

The angry voice of a turian cut into the conversation. “Shut up! Are you trying to get us killed?!” Twilight glanced at the source of the voice. A turian dressed in the civilian attire of a scientist, and even had the ID card of Binary Helix tucked into his breast pocket. He glowered at Twilight, then back at Han Olar.

“I have no control about who lives or dies on this station. Do you?” Han Olar answered.

“If you want to be the crazy, be the quiet kind,” the turian said in a huff.

“Crazy? I’m sane. God, I’m sane.”

Twilight shot the turian scientist a black look. “What? Why did he call you crazy?”

“Do you know how I got out of the Hot Labs? I killed her. I was sane then.”

“You wha—?”

The volus ignored the little interruption. “I killed her. Dr. Blueheart. We were going to lunch, when the alarms went off. I ran into the tram and I closed the doors. She banged on the glass once, then they sliced her to pieces. Her head came apart like a melon. I closed the door; I killed her.” Twilight found herself recoiling a little as the volus calmly told his tale.

“... That sounds horrible.”

“At least you got out of it alive. I don’t think you would have survived had you opened the door,” Liara said.

The volus nodded his head slowly, his reply still devoid of emotion. “Yes. That is true. Of course.”

“Perhaps it’s best if we... um... don’t dwell on the matter.” Fluttershy said. She shrank shyly away when Twilight glanced at her. “If... you don’t mind, of course.” She blinked as Twilight nodded slowly.

“Of course. Mr. Olar, perhaps you could tell us more about the Hot Labs?”

“Nothing you wouldn’t already know from Mr Frostfire himself. Assuming you already asked about the facility beforehand.”

“How about Benezia?”

The volus just shrugged. “She went into the Hot Labs herself to deal with the matter.”

“Could she have survived there?”

“It’s... possible. The creatures are sensitive to biotics.” Han Olar glanced away for a moment, before looking back at Twilight. “Whether or not the matriarch manages to survive, I do not wish to speculate.”

***

Rainbow Dash grimaced as she trotted down the hallway leading to the infirmary. Several beds were laid out on the corridor, with various ponies and aliens lying on the bed, moaning softly. As she walked past, one of the patients—a salarian—leaned over and vomited over the side of the bed.

“What the hay happened here? I though’ they all were supposed to be healthy as a whistle.”

“Beats me. I just hope they aren’t infectious.”

“They’re not, in case you’re wondering.”

Rainbow Dash looked up to see a slate-gray unicorn dressed in science personnel attire standing at the door of the infirmary. The dark bags under her amber eyes spoke belied her energetic speech. “I see you’re not from our little group. Are you the rescue team?”

“‘fraid not, ma’am. We’re here to nab that varmint, Benezia. We didn’t know you’re in trouble.”

The unicorn’s face fell a little. “I see.”

“We’ll do all we can to help you! Don’t you worry... Owwww!” Rainbow Dash yelped as she accidentally unfurled her bound wings in her excitement.

“Oh dear, let me have a look at that,” the unicorn said, unwrapping the bandages with a steady glow of her horn. She made a few thoughtful sound as she inspected the burnt wing, before glancing up at Applejack.

“Well, she’s lucky. Any closer and her muscles or joints might have been damaged by whatever caused this nasty burn. As it is, she’ll heal, though you won’t be able to do some heavy flying for some time.”

“Ya hear that, Rainbow? No more of them fancy stunts of yours.”

Rainbow grumbled and muttered under her breath, but nodded grudgingly.

“Come along now, we’ll need to look at that properly and dress the wound...”

***

“Hey Doc?”

“Yes?” Dr. Bones replied, bandages floating around her in a field of magic. She deftly dabbed the worst of the injury with more medigel, eliciting a winced gasp from Rainbow. Then she began wrapping the worst of the injury with gauze and bandage.

“Mind tellin’ us ‘bout those patients out there?”

The doctor did not answer for a long moment, busying herself with bandaging the last of Rainbow’s wing. Finally, she put her things aside and spoke softly, “There... was an outbreak. Right after we lost all communications with Central Hub.”

Applejack nearly choked on her cup of water. “An outbreak? I thought you said this wasn’t contagious!”

Bones looked away. “It’s not. I mean, not now...”

Rainbow rolled off the bed and tested her wings gingerly. After a few test stretch that found her bandages adequately tight, she looked up at the doctor. “Hey buddy, are you trying to hide something here?”

“I... um... I really shouldn’t discuss this with you guys...”

Applejack looked at the unicorn in the eye, her own green eyes drilling into her amber. “But you’re goin’ to. I can tell.”

“Uh... I like to think the company values our lives more than their secrets...” She rubbed her fore hooves nervously, glancing at the door. “You see... we were working on a toxin. The toxin only reacts with a specific species found on the frontier. Don’t ask me why the company wants such a specific toxin, I am not cleared to know the details.”

“Uh huh. Go on,” Applejack said, with a slow nod. Rainbow just continued to stare at the doctor with a quizzical expression.

Dr. Bones gulped. “So we worked with it some more. Tinkered with it. Made it infect more species.”

Applejack stomped a hoof down. “Hold on! Yer sayin’ yer made it even more deadly?!”

The doctor shrank from Applejack’s outburst. “Y-Yes. I mean, we weren’t really going to sell it or anything, but our lead thought it would be an interesting application of the toxin. Anyway, during one of our experiments, our link with Mira, the central station VI, failed. It was, simply put, disastrous. The quarantine protocol was all handled by her and when the link was cut, so did the quarantine. Many of the staff were infected on-site—”

“How the hay was this not contagious again?”

“Let me finish. We designed it to be spread pandemically on first contact, but subsequently limited to only the being it was infected to. A biological weapon without the secondary effect, to paraphrase my colleague.”

Bones sighed. “Speak Equestrian, girl. I can’t make head or tails of this.”

“To put it in layman’s terms, it’s not contagious after the first hour.”

“Great, so why aren’t ya curing all these poor souls?”

“We... can’t. Our labs were locked down after the initial quarantine failure and in our haste, we did not bring our notes on our work with us. The chief refused to let the staff in, convinced that the toxin was still a threat.”

“Are you guys dumb or what? Why are you messing around with a virus with no cure?” Rainbow demanded.

“First off, it’s not a virus. Second, our lead was more interested in getting the job done before moving on to the antidote. We were just about to complete our final sequence when... well, you know the rest.”

“Who’s your ‘lead’?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, our project leader. Dr. Green Hooves. A brilliant mind. A shame he succumbed to the virus so early. He would have been able to figure out a cure even without the any help as it is.” Dr. Bones seemed to be momentarily lost in her recollections.

Applejack tapped her hooves impatiently. “This is all leading somewhere, right?”

“Of course, of course! See, now, the only remaining hope for a cure lies locked up in our labs—”

“And you want us to get it, right?”

“... Right. I’m sure the guards would let you in. I mean, you do have some pull with him right? Saving us and all.”

“And you wouldn’t have to be exposed to this toxin of yours, right?” Applejack said, jabbing a hoof at Dr. Bones snout. The unicorn cringed at the accusation, but one look at her guilty eyes told Applejack all she needed to know. “Fine. We’ll git yer cure. You better be right about these toxin not bein’ contagious and all or I swear mah sister will be the one doin’ you in.”

***

Twilight turned away from the last group of scientists in the living quarters, looking glumly at Wrex and Liara. “Well, none of these scientists know more than Han Olar about the whole incident. Wonder what they meant by the outbreak anyway... I guess we might as well check out the Hot Labs.”

“Hey, Twilight!” Applejack and Rainbow greeted.

“Oh, hello, Applejack, Rainbow. How’s your wing?” Twilight peered at the newly bandaged wing. Rainbow seemed more at ease now, at least.

“Better. Doc says I can use it after a few weeks.” Rainbow winked. “Don’t ya worry, Twi. I’ll be back in action sooner than you think.”

“A few weeks of complete rest, Rainbow,” Applejack said.

Rainbow waved away Applejack’s words. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

Applejack rolled her eyes, but declined to press the issue. Instead she turned to Twilight again. “Twilight, we need to talk.”

“What is it, Applejack? You sound concerned.”

“There’s sick ponies down in the infirmary. We gotta help them.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Applejack, as much as I liked to, we’re not here to treat a cough.”

“Ponies lives are at stake. Yer gotta listen to me, Twi.” Applejack briefly narrated their talk with Dr. Bones and her plea for help.

At the end of it, Twilight gave Applejack a firm nod and marched up to Captain Frostfire demanding entry to the quarantined labs. Much to her surprise, Frostfire immediately agreed, probably not keen on antagonising the commander; not when Garrus, Tali and Rarity were helping out in the perimeter against the “aliens”. However, he also stipulated that only a maximum of three ponies were allowed in. He would not be risking losing the new reinforcements he just acquired on the ramblings of a scientist. After some deliberation, Twilight chose Applejack, and Fluttershy along with Angel to accompany her.

The team found themselves hustled through the sealed airlock, with a nervous ERCS turian guard closing the door swiftly behind them. “You ain’t coming out until every molecular scanner on this base says you’re clean,” he declared as he shut the door.

“Well, that was fast. So, um, lead the way, Applejack. Just where exactly this ‘antidote’ might be located?”

“Doc said it would be in the toxin labs. Their notes should all still be inside.” A paranoid part of Twilight’s mind suddenly hoped that Applejack didn’t inadvertently lead them into a convenient trap.

***

“Well, that wasn’t so hard,” Twilight said, inspecting the flask of colourless liquid sitting in the chemical mixer. With a glow of her magic, she opened the transparent panel and held it out for Applejack to see.

“Speak for yerself. My head is still spinin’ over all them numbers, words and fancy-schmancy chemicals,” Applejack grumbled.

Twilight spun around to face Applejack, an excited expression visible on her face. “Nonsense. It makes perfect sense. It’s a brilliant design in a way. I must congratulate the scientist that came up with this concept. Did you know that the antidote is designed to block the receptors on the leucocytes that mediate...” Fortunately, Fluttershy intervened before Twilight could run her mouth.

“Uh, Twilight? Did we leave the door open?” she managed to squeak in between a handy pause, peering down the corridor.

Twilight turned to stare at Fluttershy. “No. Why?”

“Because there’s an asari coming through and she has those scary robots—”

“What robots—”

Applejack was the first to realise the danger. She quickly dove towards Fluttershy pushing her behind some crates. “It’s an ambush, git into cover!” she yelled, rolling into the same crates herself as bullets ricocheted past her legs.

“How perceptive of you!” the asari shouted as she stormed into view, her figure already glowing a light blue. A table in front of Twilight flung itself at her, only to be batted aside by the glow of the unicorn’s own magic. Twilight quickly fired a few bursts from the submachine gun levitated from her own holster as she scrambled behind the counter. Behind the familiar figures of several geth troopers began advancing, firing steadily to suppress the beleaguered defenders.

“How the hay did they get into the station?” Applejack shouted.

“I recognise that asari! It was one of the scientists I talked to earlier. Benezia must have planted her here in order to tie up loose ends!” Twilight shouted back.

The asari chuckled. “Lady Benezia would be pleased to know that one of her biggest thorns in her side finally meeting her end.”

“Not if I had anything to say about it!” Twilight riposted harshly. Her horn began glowing a brilliant purple, and a similar glow enveloped a nearby pipe. With a metallic clunk, she wrenched the pipe off its hinges and launched it at the asari.

Instead of trying to match her power for power, the asari just ducked to one side and slammed Twilight against the wall in a flurry of biotic powers. The unicorn squealed in pain as she was pinned against the wall, her horn flickering out as her concentration was disrupted. “Nggh!”

“So... the famous Spectre is nothing more but a novice in combat. How pitiful,” the asari mocked as she tightened her grip on the spectre, slowly but surely crushing the air out of Twilight’s lungs.

“Leave her alone, ya blue-haired skunk!” Applejack shouted, rising from the shadow of the crates she had been hiding behind and giving the party a healthy dose of her assault rifle. The asari quickly ducked behind a nearby pipe, but that was enough for her to loosen her hold on Twilight. Applejack was quickly forced to duck again as her kinetic barriers shorted out with a visible buzz.

With the brief respite, Twilight managed to crawl to a reasonable safety of a fallen filing cabinet. She nodded gratefully at Applejack, and forced herself to bring her gun up to at least cover for Applejack and force some of the geth troopers back into their cover.

“Don’t think we can hold ‘em off fer long, Twi. Sorry.” Somehow, Twilight managed to imagine that apologetic smile on Applejack’s face.

Then another thought occurred to her. She began to smile slowly. “I think we’re missing somepony... or rather, some rabbit.” True to her words, a loud crash punctuated the gunfire. Twilight peered over the metal walls to see two of the geth trooper lay on the floor, their innards crushed. Angel stood tall on one of the overhanging pipes, his ears twitching irritably. With another wave of his hand, he sent another of the geth flying into the wall.

“Obstinate animal. I will flay you alive for intruding on our plan!” the asari screamed. Though Twilight could not see what the asari was doing, she could very well see what Angel was being subjected to. The rabbit’s biotic field crashed against the asari’s creating a brief light show. If any time was a good time to break the stalemate, this was it.

“AJ. Now!”

“You got it, Twilight.” With a cheesy warcry, the earth pony leapt from the shelter of her crates and galloped down the corridor swiftly. Applejack did not even hesitate as her kinetic barrier failed for the second time under the withering storm of fire. Instead, she reached into the bandolier of grenades she had carried by her side and flung one, two grenades down the corridor and slid just behind the pipings the asari had ducked into prior. Leaning on the pipes, she held her breath as the specially modded grenades went off in searing column of flame past her. As the flames died, Applejack stepped out, took two steps forward and reared her hind legs to strike the stunned asari hiding on the other side.

By the time Twilight arrived, she could see the unconscious figure of the fake asari scientist slumping to the floor. “Good job, Applejack.” she said. A flicker of movement in Twilight’s peripheral vision caught her attention. The unicorn turned and sent another barrage of magic missiles flying down the corridor. The geth trooper—which by now was missing an arm—promptly lost its head as well and fell to the floor in a clatter.

Applejack tilted her head in appreciation, seemingly unperturbed by the near-death experience. “Just doin’ my job, ma’am.” She glanced over at the crates she had took shelter behind. “Come on out, Fluttershy. It’s safe now.” A now-familiar squeak of fear sounded behind the crates. A pale yellow face peeked out from a corner.

“A-Are you sure?”

“Sure as rain,” Applejack replied in her best drawl.

“Oh-Okay...” Fluttershy peeked out of her hiding spot, and glanced around nervously Seeing no murderous robots about, she meekly rejoined the group.

Rarity’s voice crackled into her intercom. “Commander. Are you there? What’s happening?”

“I’m here, Rarity. Sitrep?”

“Oh, thank Celestia. We heard gunfire over the radio,” Rarity said. Her normally dignified voice had an undercurrent of worry.

Liara’s calm voice cut into the channel. “Commander, we were ambushed by geth in the scientists’ quarters. Minimal casualties, though a guard was fatally wounded by the crossfire. We are fortunate that you warned us in time. We were just about to to intervene when the geth burst into the room. It is clear there are elements in the survivors that are fanatically loyal to the the matriarch.”

“Garrus here. Perimeter team saw no geth, though we had a boatload of rachni trying to come through about an hour ago. The perimeter held, though Frostfire took a blow to his head. He seemed to be shaking it off just fine. Captain’s tougher than the bugs themselves, I swear.”

“Any idea where they came from, Liara?” Twilight said.

“The volus, Han Olar said he saw the geth emerge from the sealed maintenance area. Looks like it’s not as empty as we thought.”

“I see.” Twilight reassessed her options in her mind. “Let’s not waste time. Benezia might attempt an escape once she finds out her ambush failed. Liara, Wrex, Pinkie Pie, meet us at the maintenance entrance. We will meet you there. Garrus, you stay put at the perimeter. Rainbow Dash, sorry, but I need you to stay with Garrus. Moving now might trigger suspicions amongst the remaining guards. We have to assume that they’re on Saren’s payroll. Keep an eye out for any potential betrayal. Especially the good captain.”

“Roger, Twilight. I’ll have Tali prepare a little surprise for the ERCS guards if they try anything funny.”

“Alright. Let’s move. It won’t be long before they find out.”

“Twilight, what about the cure?”

Twilight stared at Applejack blankly for a moment, before she remembered the original reason they came to the abandoned lab. “Oh right! Mustn’t forget. Despite my words, I do sincerely believe the scientists here are just here doing their job. Here, Applejack. Take this to Dr. Bones and double time it back to the entrance.” She levitated the vial containing the colourless liquid towards the earth pony.

“Yes, ma’am.”

***

Applejack quickly made her past the long line of patients parked outside the infirmary. It still made her queasy, even after the doctor’s assurance. “Okay, doc, I got ya cure,” she said, stepping through the door.

Dr. Bones looked up from her console and greeted Applejack with a big smile. She swiftly snatched the vial and ran a sample through the lab equipment next to her workstation. Her smile turned into barely contained glee as she read the results of the tests on her console. “Oh, thank you so very much. You don’t know how many lives you have saved,” she gushed.

“No problem, ma’am. Ya have Twilight to thank for that.”

“Be sure to pass my compliments to her. This batch of serum is as perfectly mixed as an understudy of mine would have done.” Dr. Bones paused and then tilted her head at Applejack. “I heard there was some commotion outside. Was there any trouble with the guards getting the cure?”

“Oh nothin’. Just some run-in with the geth,” Applejack replied nonchalantly.

Dr. Bones blinked. “The what?!”

“Geth. Ya know: tall, walks on two legs, has a flashlight for a head.”

Bones whistled. “Dear Celestia... I heard about the attacks on Appleloosa but I never thought they would come all the way here to Poneria. How did they even manage to get past our port security?”

“Well, it’s a long story...”

Before Applejack was forced to elaborate further, her earpiece saved her the trouble. “Applejack. Come in.”

“Yea, Twilight?”

“Apparently we need a keycard to unlock the maintenance doors. Han Olar suggested we ask around, preferably a project leader or somepony important.”

“Hold on a sec.” Applejack looked up at Dr. Bones. “Hey Doc. Ya owe me right?”

“I suppose...” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not going to ask for credits, are you? I don’t have much on me and I doubt I can access my extranet account at the moment.” She grimaced and quickly added, “Not that I don’t want to pay or anything. You have been most helpful.”

“How ‘bout you lend us the keycard to the maintenance areas?”

The scientist hesitated for a long while. Then she sighed and opened her bag on her workstation, fishing out a dull coloured plastic card. She waved the card in the air. “Just don’t tell anypony, okay? And try not to do anything too illegal! I don’t want to lose my job. The economy for rogue scientists are not what they used to be.”

Applejack swiped the card out of the air with her mouth and winked at the scientist. “Don’t you worry. We’ll just need to have a quick look around, m’kay?”

***

Twilight nodded her thanks at the volus scientist still patiently awaiting them at the door. “Thank you for your help, Han. We’d never known if you hadn’t told us.”

“A part of me died when the rachni overran the Hot Labs. I don’t consider Binary Helix to be paramount to my interest anymore.”

“Aren’t you worried?”

The volus snorted derisively; the first sign of emotions Twilight seen ever since she met him. “As I said, I don’t control who lives or die. Perhaps you do. I most certainly don’t.” His eye ports looked towards the frozen passage beyond. “I wish you luck,” he said simply, before turning and waddling away.

“Twilight, shouldn’t we... um... protect him or something?”

Twilight shook her head sadly. “No time. Besides, I think he knew the risks of helping us. He simply didn’t care.”

Fluttershy frowned. “B-But...”

“Listen, Fluttershy, if we don’t move now, then all our efforts would have been for naught. I’m sorry, but the mission takes priority over a civilian scientist.”

Fluttershy frowned and dug her hooves into the snow, as if she wanted to protest. After a brief silence however, the pegasus bowed her head, flattening her ears against her head. “Whatever you say, Twilight...” she whispered, before turning away.

Twilight watched Fluttershy join the group. “I wish I could help everypony, Fluttershy. I really do...” Twilight murmured.

***

The door to the secure storage facility slid open, with Twilight the first one to creep through the door. At first glance, it seemed to be partially filled by crates of various kind. A large tank of some sort was built into the middle, with elevated walkways ringing the tank and the upper levels of the room. Her eyes widened as a familiar rasping voice greeted her.

“Commander Sparkle. We finally meet.”

“Benezia!” Twilight cried, galloping ahead so that she could see where the matriarch was hiding. Her team thundered behind her, trying to keep up. The unicorn blinked and slid to a halt as she realised the matriarch wasn’t hiding at all.

On the contrary, she was standing on an elevated platform overlooking a large transparent tank behind her—in full view of Twilight—her back towards her. Despite the frigid atmosphere, Benezia only wore a simple black gown, topped by an elaborate headpiece covering her scalp crests. Just behind the matriarch, Twilight could glimpse a much larger version of the rachni they had encountered previously, sealed within the tank. The queen, Twilight guessed.

“You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life: turn it toward happiness or despair...” Benezia said as she watched the large rachni squirm within the tank. “Her children were to be ours; raised to hunt and slay Saren’s enemies.” Benezia slowly turned and strode slowly towards the metal railings. The matriarch clasped her hands behind her back, her gaze fixated on somepony just beyond Twilight. “I won’t be moved to sympathy, no matter who you bring into this confrontation.”

Twilight stared blankly at Benezia for a moment, before she realised Benezia meant Liara. “She came her of her own free will!” the commander replied.

Benezia’s eyes lingered on her daughter. It was not a look of affection or pity. It was a look of contempt. “Indeed? What have you told her about me, Liara?”

“What could I have told her? That you were insane?” Liara said. “Evil? Should I explain how to kill you?” She shook her head. “What could I say?”

“You could have just walked away.” A flicker of regret danced over her features before she refocused her gaze on Twilight. The ghost of a smile lit her face. “Have you ever faced an asari commando unit before? Few ponies have.”

Twilight flicked an ear with interest. “Asari commandos?”

“Allow me to demonstrate.”

Benezia’s body glowed a brilliant blue and hurled a powerful shockwave towards the group. Twilight found herself knocked off her feet and thrown into the ground. Feeling the stars dancing in her eyes, she nonetheless got up, just in time to hear the familiar sounds of armoured boots thundering into the room through the other entrances.

“Incoming!” Twilight yelled, diving aside to dodge a slew of grenades rolling past her. Her world exploded into a brilliant flash of white and her ears was assaulted by a deafening ringing. Time seemed to slow as she unholstered her submachine gun by reflex. The sea of white resolved somewhat into a blurry view of her surroundings, just in time to see one of their assailants—an asari in black skin-tight body armour not dissimilar to the one worn by Shiala on Harnos—bounding towards her, her rifle spitting metallic death.

Twilight let her kinetic barriers absorb the few bullets that connected, while she charged one of her tailor-made spells: a special spell she kept in reserve to overload an assailant’s kinetic barriers. She nicknamed it “Overload”. With a brilliant flare, she unleashed the full power of her magic on the asari; overloading her barriers instantly and causing her to stumble. With a precise motion, she aimed her weapon and riddled her head and chest with bullets.

Her ears still ringing and her sight somewhat hampered by dancing spots, Twilight drunkenly stumbled into the cover of a pile of crate nearby, trying to find some space to recover. To her surprise, she found Liara sharing the same space with pistol in hand.

“I never thought I would be facing a squad of my mother’s commandos.”

“What?”

“Never mind!” A rocket whizzed overhead and impacted noisily on the far end of the wall, leaving a smoking crater. Twilight’s ears flattened in a desperate attempt to keep the ringing out. “Oh goddess, they got us pinned!”

***

Wrex was having the time of his life. Killing enemies was one of his few pleasures in life and he revelled in the opportunity whenever he could. The krogan popped out around the metal piping and fired off a couple more bursts. A smile curled around his lips as he spied one of the pesky commandos staggering, her kinetic barriers vanishing with a loud zap.

As he darted back into the relative safety of his cover, his hand fell onto the pack of grenades he had carried just for such an occasion. One would do to flush the now-shieldless enemy out where he could cut her down. As he rummaged through his pack, Wrex couldn’t help but think of the enemy Benezia had pitted them against.

Asari commandos were known for their resourcefulness and cunning, together with their fearsome biotic powers. He was pointedly reminded of his time on a space station with an asari commando. Now that was a true test of his strength. The two had spent days on the station trading ever increasingly creative ways to kill each other. Said stalemate ended up in the station self-destruct.

By contrast, the group facing him and Commander Sparkle were not showing any of the positive qualities he had come to expect from their kind. For all their biotic prowess, Wrex thought the this particular batch of asari commandos were quite unimaginative in their application of their powers. Their tactics seems to consist of mainly saturating an area with bursts of their—admittedly powerful—singularity fields and biotic shockwave, before moving in to finish their enemy off. They were more like a pack of feral varren rushing in for the kill.

All in all, it seemed to have contributed to a surprisingly robust display by Sparkle’s team. Sure, they had cut through the geth on Harnos, but Wrex never took their ground forces too seriously. Synthetics would never match a true krogan battle fury. But here, they were holding their own, taking down the commandos with little losses of their own. As he readied his grenade, Pinkie Pie waltzed past him, seemingly dancing past the bullets flying through the air. As Wrex leaned out to toss his grenade, a flicker surrounded the pink pony and she vanished from sight. The krogan grunted, sensing that Pinkie had already guessed his plan and moved ahead to take advantage. With a precise movement, he tossed his live grenade and ducked back.

“Grenade!” one of the asari shouted.

A mad scramble of feet followed, before the explosion Wrex was waiting for thundered. The krogan leaned out to see two of the commandos stumbling in the open and the one whom he was targeting within plain sight. He ended her misery quickly with a quick shot through her chest. Pinkie reappeared behind the second one and bucked her head in with a powerful kick.

“Thanks, Wrex!” she cheerfully called out, before somersaulting away towards the next cluster of commandos.

***

“Fluttershy! We need to move!” Applejack said, urging the pony forward. An explosion rocked their left side as Applejack ducked lower by reflex. She winced as it was followed up by a singularity explosion, sucking the crate upwards and dumping it down again. It was only by sheer chance that the two weren’t pulled into the artificial gravity well. Feeling their time was up, she forcibly pushed the pegasus to her feet and started galloping towards the next line of safe cover she could find. “C’mon!”

Fluttershy, shocked into action, quickly followed her and resumed her cowering as soon as she thought she was safe. “Make them go away...” she whimpered, putting her forehooves over her face.

“Well then, stay ‘ere where it’s safe,” Applejack said, not unkindly. She leaned out and swore as another hail of bullet sailed past. If only she hadn’t lost her gun earlier when Benezia thrown them apart. The best weapon they had now was her own feet and angry words and Applejack very much doubted the latter would actually have any effect. The commandos seemed to know that fact as well and were pushing ruthlessly ahead. The two were rapidly running out of crates, pipes and space.

“Girls, we might need a lil’ backup,” she shouted into her radio.

***

“Hey Wrexie! I think Applejack and Fluttershy need help.”

Wrex quickly took stock of their tactical situation. The two seemed to have been cornered by a better organised group. “I see them. Distract them. I’ll flank.”

“Okie-dokie!” Pinkie replied, disappearing again.

The krogan crouched low and began making his way across the room. He sped from cover to cover, using the large crates and various disused machinery in the room to minimise his profile. From a corner of his eye, he saw Twilight and Liara taking shelter from another trio of commandos. Too bad, they’re handling this on their own. Wrex doubted the cowardly one and the headstrong one would last much longer against such odds.

The krogan ducked past the next set of crates and found himself staring at the behind of a black suited commando. Without further hesitation, he charged and knocked the asari down. With a sickening crunch, he broke her neck and then flung her aside. Just as he did so, Pinkie appeared on top of a nearby crate and launched herself downwards on the other side. A surprised yell followed by the satisfying sound of solid hooves on flesh told Wrex all he needed to know.

“Two down, two to go,” he murmured, as he popped up to assess his options. The remaining two were about thirty feet away, each to one side. From their demeanour, they seemed to have realised what happened to their companions and are trying to regroup. As he watched one of the commandos gestured at the other, before darting towards her. The other commando rose up and began spraying suppressive fire on Wrex, forcing him down.

“Damnit. They know.”

“At least Applejack and Fluttershy are okay,” Pinkie said, as she reappeared beside him. Wrex was not surprised to find her somewhat splattered in blood, the retractable gun on her shoulder following her every turn of her head.

“We’re not letting them regroup.”

“Don’t think we have to,” Pinkie replied cheerfully. She raised a hoof and pointed towards the fleeing asari commandos.

Wrex followed the hoof and was surprised to find one of the asari thrown aside to the wall before his very eyes. Then he realised why. The bunny. “Always knew the furry one had something in him,” he said. Angel deftly dodged the singularity hurled by the remaining commando and knocked the gun out of her hands with a small shockwave of his own. With a smooth motion he jumped and landed behind the stunned asari. Two shotgun blasts later, the asari crumpled to the floor without further resistance.

***

Rarity trotted up to her post on the barricades facing the elevators. She glanced around, only to find Tali and Garrus in one corner, chatting away. “Garrus. Where’s Captain Frostfire? I haven’t seen him. Actually, where’re all the other guards? You’d think they’ll be more people here.”

“Now that you mention it, he hasn’t appeared at the barricades for quite some time. Did he return to his command post?”

“Not at all. I just came from there.”

Tali activated her omnitool and looked expectantly at the C-Sec officer. “Shall I prepare our contingency plan?”

“Yeah, I think it’s about time—”

“Greetings, gentleponies,” Frostfire said, interrupting the little conversation. Rarity looked up to see the captain in his full armour outfit, his twin assault rifles staring down menancing at them. He was flanked by two equally heavily armed turians. “I think there might be a slight change of plans.”

“Let me guess, is it the betray-and-kill-us-at-the-behest-of-your-master time?”

Frostfire gave them a grim little smile. “I see you’re as well-informed as I suspected. Truth to be told, I wished there was some other way. But Lady Benezia was adamant. And so here I am. I am sorry, but I much rather take my chances with you guys than her.” He nodded at the turians, who raised their weapons, forestalling Garrus’ move for the pistol on his hip. “We’ll make this painless.”

Rarity glanced at the quarian, who was busy fiddling with her omni tool behind Garrus. Tali nodded at the unicorn, then activated a button on her omni tool.

Frostfire raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to order his men to shoot. His eyes widened as the smell of acrid smoke filled the air, his HUD piece on his left eye flashing red. He quickly detached his guns and watched his guns, sparking and smoking, fall to the floor with big round eyes. His two bodyguards yelped and dropped their weapons as well.

“Now, I’m pretty sure we have the upper hoof here, so let’s do this peacefully and avoid any incidents. After all, we still need to protect the civilians from the Rachni and that just got a lot harder with only the four of us remaining.”

“But... how...?”

Rarity adjusted her coifs, and gave Frostfire a sly smile. “Tali and I have a certain skill in machines, see. That also extends to your weapons. It’s a simple matter of modifying their programming when you weren’t looking.”

Frostfire’s gaze flitted back and forth between Tali and Rarity, before finally settling on Garrus. He let out a tired resigned sigh. “I guess I underestimated you more than I thought. Fine. I’ll tell my ponies to stand down. No point throwing away lives in following an order that we cannot carry out.” He gave Rarity a pointed look. “You saved more lives than you know. Lady Benezia wanted the entire facility silenced after we eliminated you.”

Rarity knew enough the implications of that order. She favoured Frostfire with a smile as she gestured at the door. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing it worked out the way it did, yes?”

“Rarity, we might want to get Rainbow Dash. No telling what she might do to the poor guards when they try to knock her out...” Garrus said.

A raspy voice screamed in the radio, followed by the sound of bucking.

“I think that pretty much answers your question,” Rarity replied dryly. She quickly put a hoof to her earpiece. “Rainbow, try not to injure anypony too badly please?”

“You’re not the one who was just grabbed by two thugs!” Another solid buck. “Okay, so maybe one might only suffer concussion. Happy?”

“Quite.”

***

Twilight was certain she saw one of the commandos moving towards the stack of machinery on her left. She cautiously raised her submachinegun and put out another burst of suppressive fire. Thank Celestia for virtually unlimited ammo, Twilight thought. The only thing she needed to worry about was heat-build up. Then she heard the dreaded click of her gun locking itself out to cool its weapon. Speak of the devil! I should have paid closer attention to the heat monitor. Twilight quickly dropped the now-useless gun, and clumsily levitated her pistol instead. She cursed the precious seconds this manoeuvre cost her.

“Commander! Behind us!” Liara shouted.

Twilight turned sharply to see another commando popping out from the cover of heavy-duty forklift, her hand already glowing with blue energy. Twilight’s own horn flared in response. The two opposing energies collided into a flare of brilliant light midway between the two. “Come on, Liara! It’s not safe here anymore.”

“And just where do you think you’re going?” Benezia intoned. Twilight raised her head cautiously above the line of now-battered crates. The matriarch was standing out in the open, a faint blue sheen covering her being. She seemed to be unconcerned about herself being exposed to weapon fire. A biotic barrier. Powerful one at that, Twilight thought. Her eyes widened as Benezia raised her own arms. Before she could react she found herself pinned towards the wall for the second time of the day, struggling against an invisible force.

Benezia stared at Twilight squirming for a moment, before nodding at the rocket launcher wielding asari, who had stood up from her vantage point on the elevated walkway. “Sergeant, take care of the others. I’ll take of these two personally.”

“Yes, Lady Benezia!” the two commando rose and disappeared through the crates.

“Mother!” Liara cried, raising from her own covered position with her pistol raised.

Benezia shook her head and Twilight soon had company of Liara. “Ah, Liara. I should have disciplined you when I had the chance,” she said, a little wistfully. Twilight felt her magic being resisted despite her desperate attempt to free herself. For the first time in a long time, she realised she was evenly matched power-wise. She had always taken for granted that her innate affinity for magic would grant her an advantage nopony else had. Then, she realised something else. Benezia was alone. More importantly, the sound of fighting had died off.

“Ordinarily, I’d chosen to take you back to Sovereign... but you have interfered with our plans for far too long. Goodbye, Twilight Spa—”

“Not so fast, yer ladyness,” Applejack called out, kicking the body of a dead commando towards the surprised Benezia. She flash a lazy grin at Twilight. “Sorry, got held up for a bit there.”

“Fools. I’ll destroy you all myself then.” Benezia lifted her hand and sent a massive singularity flying towards Applejack.

“Applejack!” Twilight cried, and renewed her struggle to free herself, even as she felt the air being slowly crushed out of her. Unlike the asari who had ambushed her previously, it looked like Benezia had supreme mastery over her own biotic powers. That and the lack of air was making it hard for her to focus. A quick glance at Liara showed that she was similarly struggling.

Applejack quickly ducked out of way of the glowing blue ball of death, which instead smashed harmlessly into a metal crate that got in the way. The earth pony stopped to pepper Benezia which her rifle. Infuriated, the matriarch began hurling her biotic powers at Applejack. The earth pony ducked and dodged deftly, always pausing a moment to whittle down the biotic barriers as she danced.

“You’re up, Pinkie!”

“Look out below!” Pinkie shouted from above. She apparently had somehow climbed all the way to the elevated walkway overlooking the room. The pink pony leaned over the railings and then to Twilight’s amazement, dived headfirst towards Matriarch Benezia!

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

Benezia herself seemed taken by surprise by the stunt. She hesitated briefly before blasting Pinkie off with a ball of blue energy. Pinkie continued to squeal in delight as she was sent flying off across the room. Despite her somewhat asphyxiated condition, Twilight noticed a couple of glowy discs dropping around Benezia.

“Imbeciles! Is this the best you can do?”

“Guess again, sugarcube,” Applejack called out.

“What—” The matriarch disappeared in a cloud of explosions that erupted at the same time. Unsurprisingly, the explosions were multi-coloured as well as shrouding the room in confetti. Twilight felt the hold on herself disappearing immediately and gasped for breath as she fell to the ground. Even in her dizzy state, she quickly began to scramble around for her dropped pistol.

As the smoke cloud began to clear, Twilight could make out the outline of the matriarch hunched over. Apparently even grenades were nothing to such a powerful biotic. The figure slowly rose to her full height, and Benezia emerged from the pall seemingly unscathed. “This is not over. I will destroy you and—” The matriarch suddenly tumbled forward roughly and fell facefirst on the metal flooring. Her body twitched as she hit the floor with a loud thud, but even Twilight could see she was knocked unconscious by the blow. Wrex emerged from the smoke, grinning.

“Always wanted to headbutt a matriarch.”

***

“So... Twilight, what do ya reckon this critter is?” Applejack said, looking down on the large transparent tank. The creature trapped within seemed to be well-fed and thrashed about occasionally. Its large tendrils brushed and tapped against the glass in regular intervals. Unlike the smaller rachni they encountered before, this one has multiple glowing orbs staring at them.

“I... don’t know. It looks like the queen, from the large size and the extra large abdomen at the end, but there is no way to tell for certain. It could just be a huge warrior breed that they managed to raise.” Twilight could feel those glowing blue orbs staring at her, even if she couldn’t be sure if they could even see. It gave her a chill.

“I say we flush it and haul Benezia’s ass back to the Normaredy,” Wrex said.

“Uhh... Twilight... I think she’s coming to...” Fluttershy squeaked.

Twilight quickly scrambled Benezia’s side with her gun ready. She motioned the others to do the same. The matriarch slowly opened her eyes and shook her head in apparent confusion. ‘Wha...” Benezia glances around at the pointed weapons to her head. She began to chuckle, despite the apparent pain lancing through her face. Her eyes shone with the conviction of a religious zealot. “You will never stop us. Saren’s unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light! Everything is cle—” Benezia suddenly clenched her eyes shut.

“Lady Benezia?”

The matriarch’s eyes opened again, this time filled with a wild light... and something deeper. With one desperate motion, she grabbed Twilight by the shoulders roughly, ignoring the ominous clicks of the guns around her. By some miracle, Twilight managed to still her own reflex to shoot Benezia right now in the head, and motioned for her companions to lower their weapon as well.

“You... must listen. Saren still whispers in my mind.”

“Saren... what? How?” Twilight said, trying to release herself from the hold Benezia has on her.

Benezia’s fingers tightened around Twilight’s shoulders. “I can fight the compulsions. Briefly. But the indoctrination is strong.”

“Hold on a darn tootin’ minute. You’re sayin’ you’re bein’ brainwashed?” Applejack demanded.

Pinkie shrugged. “Personally, I think she’s just cuckoo in the loco.”

“People are not themselves around Saren. You come to idolise him. Worship him. You would do anything for him,” Benezia replied, her previously smug face cringing. Whether from physical pain or wounded pride, Twilight found it hard to tell.

“Mother. What have Saren done to you?”

“The key is Sovereign, Saren’s flagship. It is a dreadnought of incredible size and its power extraordinary. Thoughts echo strangely within Sovereign. Its rooms are built at unsettling angles. The longer you stay aboard, the more Saren’s will seems correct. You sit at his feet and smile as his words pour into you. It is subtle at first. I thought I was strong enough to resist. Instead, I became a willing tool, eager to serve...”

Twilight asked, “Why did you come to Poneria then?”

“Saren sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay, as well as deal with our little problem here.”

“The Mu Relay?”

“The Mu Relay’s destination was lost thousands of years ago. I know not of Saren’s destination. But you must find out quickly. I have transmitted the location of the relay as you fought below. Here! Take this OSD. I have transcribed the coordinates in it.” Benezia clumsily fished out a data disk from her robe and shoved it in Twilight’s direction. After a brief hesitation, the unicorn floated the data off her hand and into her bags.

“But... why? Why is the Mu Relay so important? How did you even get the coordinates? Who gave them to?” Twilight asked rapid-fire.

Benezia abruptly let go, her hands going to her forehead. “You have to stop... me... I can’t... His teeth are at my ear. Fingers on my spine. You should... uh... you should—”

“Twilight! We got to help her!” Applejack cried, her green eyes flitting back and forth between Benezia and Twilihght.

“I don’t know how! I don’t even know what is affecting her!” Twilight replied desperately, racking her mind for anything that matched Benezia’s apparent condition. She came up empty.

Liara knelt beside Benezia.“Mother! I— Don’t leave! Fight it!” Tears streamed down her freckled face.

“I... I’m always proud of you, Liara.” The matriarch eyes rolled back, before closing with a solemn finality.

Twilight bit her lower teeth and glanced upwards at Liara, who seemed to be choking back tears. The asari quietly looked away, before nodding slowly.

“I’m sorry, Liara.” Twilight said.

Twilight looked back on Matriarch Benezia, who was beginning to open her eyes again. That religious fanaticism was back in her eyes. Benezia opened her mouth to speak, her body already flaring with power, straining against her bonds. “Di—”

A single gunshot boomed through the room.

Twilight turned away from the now-limp body of the matriarch, her eyes clenched shut. She forced herself to walk away, to not look at the life of the one she had just taken. She blinked as she felt a foreleg wrap around her shoulder.

“It’s okay Twi. You did what ya had to...”

“I know... Applejack. I just wish... I could have helped her...”

“I don’t think anypony could have helped her...” Twilight nodded again and wrapped Applejack in a tight hug. Celestia knew, she needed it.

Twilight nodded softly, blinking away the tears that formed around the edges of her eyes. She glanced around for Dr. T’Soni and found her leaning against the edge of the railings. Twilight slowly trotted up to join the asari, with Applejack in tow. She reared up on her hind legs and leaned against the metal barrier, looking down on the aftermath of their battle below for a moment, before addressing Liara. “I... I’m sorry. I know she was your mother and—”

“What is done is done. I prefer to remember her as the way she was before. A kind, loving mother.”

“Yeah... I guess that is for the best...” Twilight bit her lip, debating whether she should ask the burning question in her mind. Thankfully, Liara pre-empted her before she could ask.

“I don’t know how Saren got to her. She’s one of the most iron-willed person I know.”

Twilight frowned hard. “What do you think she meant about Sovereign?”

“It sounds like that ship has a power of its own. I guess whatever it was... this... ‘indoctrination’... is a subtle brainwashing process. If it could turn Benezia into a willing slave, I dread on the possibilities—” Liara’s voice suddenly died.

Twilight blinked for a moment, puzzled by the sudden silence. Then she realised everypony was staring at something behind her.

“T-Twilight! Z-z-zombies!” Fluttershy stammered.

“What? Where... Dear Celestia...”

Twilight’s eyes bulged as one of asari commando, who had just recently been rendered dead, rose unsteadily to her feet. Despite the obvious hole in her gut, there seems to be otherwise no impediment in her movement. Clicks of weapon safeties being turned off sounded as Twilight drew her own gun, ready to shoot.

“This day just keeps gettin’ weirder and weirder,” Applejack muttered as her green eyes followed the erstwhile alive asari shambling towards the control area of the tank. The group stood aside to let it pass, seemingly unwilling to take the first step.

“This one. Serves as our voice,” the dead commando intoned. Her voice was reminiscent of the asari’s, yet mixed with something more alien echoing beneath it. “We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colourless.” Twilight sucked in a deep breath as she realised it was the creature in the tank that was controlling her.

“Musics?”

“It... it speaks?” Fluttershy said. Twilight blinked as the shy pegasus’ face lit up like a Hearth’s Warming Eve tree. She flapped her wings excitedly. “Oh, Oh! Do you have a name?”

“Your way of communicating is strange. Flat. It does not colour the air. When we speak, one moves all.”

“This is going to be a fun conversation,” Wrex said dryly.

“I wonder if they have the word parties in their language. I can’t imagine them holding parties if they don’t even have the words to describe it!” Pinkie added. “Oh, oh, do you think they have words for balloons, and party streamers, and fruit punch. I mean, how could somepony have no words for fruit punch...”

“We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced.

We are rachni.”

Fluttershy continued, oblivious, “So, your name is rachni? That isn’t a proper name. Hm, maybe I’ll call you Miss Queenie instead. You don’t mind, right, Miss Queenie?”

“Wow... just... wow. How are you doing this? This... err... reanimating body thing?”

“Our kind sing through touching of thought. We pluck the strings, and the other understands. She is weak to urging.”

“Why can’t somepony in this place speak normal for once?” Applejack grumbled.

“I think she means she can communicate through telepathy!” Pinkie offered.

“How the hay do you even understand the gibberish the critter is spoutin’?”

“Experience!” Pinkie replied, her typical infectious grin lighting up her face.

Applejack buried her face in her hat. “... Never mind.”

“She has colours we have no names for. But she is ending. Her music is bittersweet. It is beautiful.”

“You don’t seem like the others we encountered. Why do you send your own kind against us?” Twilight asked.

“The children we birthed were stolen from us before they could learn to sing. They are lost to silence. End their suffering. They cannot be saved. They will only cause harm as they are.”

“Wait. Why? You can’t control them?”

“Those needle-creatures. They stole the eggs from us. They sought to turn our children into beasts of war. Claws with no song of their own. Our elders are comfortable with silence. Children know only fear if no one sings to them. Fear has shattered their mind.”

“Those... poor babies...” Fluttershy whispered.

Pinkie nodded sagely. “I know I would go insane if I was locked up for too long! Trust me, it’s not a pleasant experience.” Twilight knew better than to open that can of worms.

“We will do as you ask. Are you sure we cannot save them? At all?”

“It is lamentable. But necessary. Do what you must.

Before you deal with our children, we stand before you. What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?”

“There are acid tanks rigged up on that thing. Set them off. Millions of my ancestors died to put these things down. Don’t let them come back,” Wrex urged Twilight.

“Twilight! Please don’t! I mean, they are scary and they did try to eat us and poison us and uh... melt us with acid...” Fluttershy pleaded.

“Fluttershy, ya ain’t helping yer case,” Applejack said with a sigh.

“But they are still intelligent beings! Scary, maybe... but they don’t deserve to be wiped out like that. And the queen seems like a nice pony. Right, Miss Queen?”

“Your companions hear the truth. You have the power to free us, or return our people to the silence of memory.”

Fluttershy stared at the puppeteered asari with wide round eyes. “Miss Queen, you wouldn’t attack the other races if we let you go, right? That wouldn’t be nice and then everypony would be sad.”

“Fluttershy is asking the right question though. What is there to prevent you from attacking again? Rachni already tried to conquer the galaxy once.”

“No. We—” The asari twitched and craned its neck in an unnatural angle. For the first time in their short conversation, Twilight detected a note of fear in its voice. Not of death, of that Twilight was certain. But something more sinister. “—I do not know what happened in the war. We only heard discordance, songs of the colour of oily shadows.”

“Discordance? Do you mean that you were being tampered with? Mind-controlled perhaps?”

“We do not know. We were only an egg, hearing Mother cry in our dreams. A tone from space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with its own sour yellow note.

Then we awoke, in this place. The last echo of those who came out of the Singing Planet. The sky is silent.”

“Interesting...” Twilight frowned and turned towards her assembled group, noting the varied emotions on each member. Applejack seemed mildly bemused. Wrex plainly itching to finish the job his race started thousands of years ago. Fluttershy was staring at the asari and the Queen in the tank with fascination, Liara had an unreadable polite mask, and Pinkie was... Pinkie.

“What do we do?”

“Sparkle, don’t screw around with this thing. You know what happened the last time they were let loose.”

“But Miss Queen said that she would behave! Shame on you for judging a pony just from her past actions. She had nothing to do with it; she said so herself.”

“We have no way to account for her actions if we let her loose, Commander. It would be a risk, certainly.” Liara said thoughtfully.

“Aw, shucks. I don’t know if I like the idea of genocidin’ an entire race... there’s just some things ponies shouldn’t stick their snout into, if you know what I mean.”

Wrex stepped forward. “Sparkle, if you won’t do this, step aside and let me do it. I’ll even take responsibility, if you like.”

“Wait. No. I won’t allow this. You can’t just kill Miss Queenie just like that,” Fluttershy quickly said, taking a timid step forward as well.

“Try and stop me.”

Twilight stared in awe as Fluttershy seemed to snap, her face contorting slightly in anger, her ears standing up straight. With a single flap, Fluttershy leapt over the krogan and planted her hooves firmly on the metal flooring. Her aquamarine eyes locked onto the krogan’s reptilian face.

“No!” she said, in a firm authoritative voice.

The krogan jabbed a large finger into Fluttershy’s snout. “I’ll give you one chance to move out of the way.”

“Make me,” a firm, unnatural voice that resembled Fluttershy’s replied.

The krogan and Fluttershy glared daggers at each other; the pegasus’ determined gaze never wavering. After a long moment of awkward silence, Wrex grunted and looked away. Twilight quickly took the opportunity to intervene. “Wrex, Fluttershy. Stop it. I’ll make the decision. I’ll take the responsibility.”

Twilight trotted forward and pushed past the awkwardly animated caricature of asari that served as the Rachni’s Queen voice. She blinked as a yellow shadow fluttered down in front of her.

“Please, Twilight. Please don’t do it,” Fluttershy pleaded with both hooves.

“Are you sure, Fluttershy? You seen what her children can do. You seen what rachni has done to the ponies of this place.”

“I believe in her, Twilight. Miss Queen won’t hurt a fly.”

The pegasus turned and hovered over to the tank. Slowly, she set a hoof on the reinforced glass. The queen seemed to tilt its armoured head at the pegasus, its glowing “eyes” studying Fluttershy closely for a moment. Then, one of its tentacles reached for the hoof, touching the glass just opposite the hoof. Fluttershy turned to Twilight and gave her a soft smile.

Twilight blinked, reaching out to catch a closer look of the queen. Though the frosted glass somewhat obscured her view, she noticed the Queen seemed less agitated. More calm. She noticed Fluttershy seemed to be speaking softly, almost as if she believe the queen could hear her words. Her hoof never moved from the glass, and tellingly, neither did the tentacle. With a smile, she turned and addressed the puppeteered asari again.

“Very well. I will let you go.”

“You would let us compose our song anew? We will sing to our children tales of your kindness.”

Twilight shook her head and gestured at Fluttershy. “Don’t thank me. Thank Fluttershy.”

“A strange name. But we shall do so. We shall sing songs of Fluttershy’s kindness. We shall take our children to a hidden place, where we can teach them how to sing. With time, we might return.”

Twilight nodded, this time at the Rachni Queen herself directly. With a telekinetic push of the button on the console, she began lowering the suspended tank to the floor. At the same time, the whirl of machinery began to start on one end of the room, opening a sealed entrance on the ground level. The tank soon reached ground level, and a tube extended from the open entrance to the tank. With a hiss, the tank’s airlock opened and the last barrier to her freedom was gone. Yet, the queen hesitated, turning her head to look first at Twilight, then at Fluttershy who was sobbing quietly.

Again, the queen reached a tentacle out to the pegasus, who replied in turn with a hoof. Despite herself, Twilight couldn’t help but feel that Fluttershy probably made a powerful friend on this day. The Rachni Queen pulled back her tentacle and then scuttled out of tank and out of sight. As the queen disappeared, the dead asari collapsed to the floor.

Twilight watched as Fluttershy slowly fluttered over and landed on her four hooves beside the unicorn. “I guess that was goodbye, huh,” Twilight said.

Fluttershy used a forehoof to wipe away her brimming tears. “Yeah... she was saying goodbye to me too,” she said. “She has a very nice voice...” Behind them, Pinkie began bawling, somehow procuring a handkerchief from her seemingly endless stash of random odds and ends, claiming this was the most touching moment yet.

Twilight shook her head. “That wasn’t her voice. It was the asari... Wait a minute, I didn’t hear the asari say anything...” She whirled to face Fluttershy. “You... You can hear her? In your head?!”

Fluttershy nodded slowly. “I guess. She said it took some doing, but she finally managed to ‘pluck my strings’, whatever that meant. I think she’s being nice.”

“Fluttershy. Do you even know what this means?” Twilight quickly grabbed her shoulders eagerly, flushed with enthusiasm.

“N-No. What does it mean?” Fluttershy squeaked, squirming at the sudden intrusion of personal space.

“You communicated with a Rachni Queen! I mean, sure we all did, through that asari over there—which we probably should bury and all—but the point is, you are probably the first one to communicate with a rachni telepathically! Do you what this means for science?!”

“Um, Twilight. I don’t think I want to be—”

Twilight continued. “Can you imagine it? We might open a whole new world of possibilities with telepathic communications! Imagine the day when we don’t need radios! Where even non-unicorns can send messages through their mind and without effort as well! The day when—”

Applejack coughed and waved her hat in front of the commander. “Ahem. Twilight, I think we still have a job to do?”

Twilight blinked, slowly letting Fluttershy go. She grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head. “Oh right. Sorry. Got carried away there.”

“Shall we go, commander?” Liara said.

***

“Were they any trouble with the guards, Rarity?” Twilight asked.

Rarity shook her head, and gestured at Frostfire who was standing at attention stiffly beside her. “None at all. The captain here proved to be most reasonable. I can’t say the same for the guards though.”

“Yeah! These two creeps tried to jump me in the living quarters!” Rainbow said grumpily, glaring at the huddle of prisoners sitting sullenly in the corner of the room. They were all disarmed and bound with rope. Her magenta eyes fell specifically on a poor red-coated unicorn and a hapless turian, who was both still groaning in pain.

“Now, now Dash. I think giving them a near concussion with those hooves of yours are lesson enough.”

Rainbow Dash folded her hooves and turned her nose away. “Hmph.”

“What now, Spectre?” Frostfire said. His voice remained genial, even friendly. His good ear twitched erratically.

“You disappointed me, Captain. I was hoping that I could trust you.”

Frostfire held his gaze steady. “Like I said, it was nothing personal. Benezia paid my fees. I’m duly obliged to carry out her will. Even if I don’t like it.” A flicker of doubt appeared in his eyes.

“You know what Benezia did here was illegal. Even by your world’s standard. Even if it’s not, it’s still extremely dangerous. By the suns and moons, it’s the rachni! What were you thinking?! You know what happened before!” Twilight said furiously.

“Don’t you lecture me on what to do and what not to do. Not everypony is born with a silver spoon.” Frostfire’s eyes hardened. “I have no say in the matter and certainly little choice else. Do you think we would be able to stand up against the asari commandos like you did?”

“Well... no, but—”

“Then what would you have us do? Face up against the asari commandos who can tear our faces off with their brains? Or kill the unknown quantity that is you, Commander? My men are not faceless monsters here. They have family. Friends. They don’t want to die anymore than you do. I just took what seemed like the choice that would have the best outcome.”

“To you, you mean,” Rarity muttered darkly.

“I regret nothing,” Frostfire said.

Applejack spoke up, “Yer gotta admit, I don’t think he’d much of a choice there. Talk about stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Twilight stomped her hooves. “The fact is: he tried to kill us. Or at least some of us. By right, I should drag you off to the Citadel now and charge you for attempted homicide.”

Frostfire stared at Twilight steadily. “But you won’t. I can see it in your eyes,” he said evenly, never wavering.

Twilight glared back murderously for a moment. Then her shoulders slumped. “... no, I won’t.”

“What?” Wrex demanded.

“He’s right. I cannot in good conscience sentence a pony to death for doing his duty. Even if he was on the wrong side at the wrong time,” Twilight replied heavily.

“A-Are you just going to let him go? Twilight, please tell me you are not serious.” Rarity said, her eyes flicking back and forth between the commander and Frostfire.

Twilight’s eyes twinkled, as a smirk slowly crossed her face. “I think I know what we can do with him.”

***

[Port Heihe, Poneria]

It proved to be a simple affair of ridding the main nest of rachni in the facility, as they seemed to have clustered around the Hot Labs, where they were originally raised. It only took a quick sojourn down the emergency elevator to manually set off the detonation charge to sink the entire subsection into the cold, deep ice, where even the rachni would have no hope of living. Fluttershy accepted the decision quietly, though it was clear even to Twilight that the pegasus mourned the loss of these creatures, lost as they were to redemption.

Even after the eliminating the rachni, it had been an anxious wait for the ground team till the rescue team from Port Heihe and Normaredy arrived. The team suffered one more suicidal attack by another agent planted within the remaining scientists. The asari managed to free Frostfire and exhorted him to follow Benezia’s order. Frostfire responded with a solid buck to the face and handed the asari over to Twilight. There were to be no further dissent by the Rift Station’s surviving personnel.

Handling the aftermath of the incident took a further week, in which reports were filed, prisoners interrogated and the corpses studied and preserved for further study. The Normaredy crew took the time to unwind in the small port. Surprisingly, Sweetie Belle proved to be an invaluable help in obtaining the necessary parts to fix up the Normaredy, her established contacts on Poneria proving to be a blessing in disguise. That and Twilight’s Spectre status ensured that it was in their best interest to get the only representative of Citadel authority off the planet as quickly as possible.

“Phew. I reckon I seen enough snow to last me two lifetimes,” Applejack said as she stared out the frosted windows of the hotel lounge. “I had just about enough of this snow-accursed world. Too much white and ain’t enough green.”

“Applejack, it wasn’t too bad now, was it?” Rarity replied. She deftly put the finishing touches to her newly made hat and admired her new creation.

Applejack snorted and looked away. “Rarity, there’s just something about warmer weather that I fancy.”

Twilight trotted into the room with a broad smile. Rainbow Dash and Zecora followed in her footsteps. “Girls, saddle up. The Normaredy is fueled up and ready to go,” she announced. “Oh and Rarity, Sweetie she needed a ride back home. So she would be hitching a ride back to the citadel, so you two won’t have to say goodbye. Not yet anyway.”

Rarity’s eyes widened with joy. “Oh Twilight, you’re such a dear!” She stepped over and wrapped her friend in a tight hug. She practically skipped with joy as she made her way out of the door. Applejack and Rainbow Dash snickered as they made their way out. Twilight shook her head and moved to follow, only to feel a tap on her shoulders.

“Commander, a word if you please. It’s only quite fitting I tell you about a certain sleaze.”

“Sleaze? What, sleaze?” Then light dawned. “Oh, you meant Anoleis?”

Zecora nodded. “You’d be pleased to know that he’s currently enjoying his time in jail. It is not pleasant to go without bail.”

Twilight found herself giggling at the mental picture of the diminutive salarian in jail. “Very pleased.” She sobered up as another thought struck her. “Did they find any connection to Benezia and Saren?”

“Unfortunately, though we had our conjectures, we cannot tell for certain at this juncture. The witness was unable to prove any dealings with Saren and the Board is not interested in being associated with his brethrens.” Zecora seemed a little disquieted by her own words. Perhaps even she was disturbed by the rumours floating around Port Heihe.

“A shame. What about Frostfire?”

“He is still in custody, awaiting a Poneria tribunal. It is expected to be short, and most genial. I believe he wishes to convey his thanks, and the gratitude of his men in his ranks. As for the rest, the scientists were most relieved. Many have claimed that they were deceived.”

“Yeah, right. And I am Princess Celestia,” Twilight replied dryly.

“You do not understand Poneria, Sparkle. These scientists are valuable and they are fickle. To lose them now, is something Poneria can ill-afford to allow. Our business is the art of research, and profits is our church.”

Twilight shook her head slowly. Politics. The one thing her great intellect could not fathom, no matter how much she tried.. “I will never understand this place.” She looked up at Zecora, favouring her with a smile. “But at least I know I can count on a friend here.”

Zecora answered her smile with a wink. “Someday, Commander, we would sit down for proper tea. Not today, I fear. For too much work remain and so you must excuse me.”

“Of course.”

Zecora nodded her head politely and trotted out of the room.

Twilight stopped and glanced back at the hotel lounge.. She watched as a snowflake drifted down from the ceiling vents. A corner of her mind told her that it was impossible, but she followed the snowflakes’ journey through the room, drifting gently to rest on one of the pillow couch. With a blink, it melted and disappeared.

“Goodbye, Poneria,” Twilight said, turning and closing the door.

***

[Unknown location]

The room was dark. So very dark.

Luna could hear the whispers all the time now. They were clawing at the edges of her mind, and she swore she could feel the presence of shadowy figures flirting at the edge of her vision. It was unnerving and she dared not fall asleep, lest they take her.

She had long since lost track of the time she spent here, though she managed to count at least two dozen meals since she came to. Not that it mattered. They fed her when they pleased and only after she behaved. The first time she tried to buck her asari guard in the face, she was left to starve until she begged to be fed. It was a humiliating experience.

She shook her head again, trying to gain some respite from the incoherent whispers tickling her ears.

“Leave me alone,” she mumbled, a tear slowly falling from an eye.

The whispers redoubled, as if sensing weakness.

“Leave me alone...”

The voices filled her ears with a roar. Shadowy figures danced in and out of her sight.

LunaLunaLunaLunaLunaLunaLuuuuuuunnnnnnaaaaaaaaaa

LEAVE ME ALONE!” she screamed.

The whispers disappeared. Luna slumped back onto her restraints, her eyes closed.

A moment later, the door to her cell opened, filling the room with the dim light of the corridor. An asari peeked through the door. She spoke quickly into her earpiece, before nodding rapidly. Several more minutes passed before Saren and an asari medical orderly walked into the cell. The orderly knelt and injected a stimulant into a foreleg. She stood up and nodded at the turian, before bowing out of the room. Saren grunted and folded his arms, eyeing the seemingly comatose pony.

Soon enough, the restrained pony opened her eyes. Cyan pupils studied the turian standing before her. “What is it?” a deeper and more sultry voice demanded. Her star-field mane glowed dimly.

“Congratulations on your victory... other Luna. I was quite surprised it took this fast to drive the princess into her shell.”

The not-Luna snorted. “Of course not. She never was very strong mentally, despite her recent centuries of questionable work.”

Saren tilted his head. “The question is, are you more pliable than she was?”

“Pliable? No. More willing to listen? Certainly. But do not take me for a fool. We both desire different things, I can tell. The real question is, what can you offer me?”

Saren smiled and bent to whisper into her waiting ears. The cyan eyes widened as she listened and the traces of a smile began to form at her lips.

“I see. As long as your... masters are willing to let me... enact my revenge, I have no objections... for now.”

“The Reapers are most willing to accommodate you. Provided you remain loyal.”

The smile on her lips widened into a toothy grin. “Then you just have to give me cause to remain loyal... Saren.”

“Of course.” Saren smiled, his fangs bared for the not-Luna to see. “By I can’t very well call you Luna now, can I?”

The not-Luna stiffened “Never address me by that foal’s name.” Her starry mane rose and caressed the side of Saren’s cheek. “Call me... Nightmare Moon.”