Mass Effect: The Spectre in the shadows

by Equestriasservant

Chapter 3: guest or captive?

Twilight Sparkle growled angrily into her pillow, trying to ignore the insistent pounding on her front door. Whoever was torturing the poor piece of wood seemed intent on depriving her of the long nights sleep that she so desperately needed. The Unicorn had been organizing and re-organizing the books of the golden oaks Library for the best part of the day. Then there were meetings with her friends around Ponyville, reports to the Princess Celestia to send and other tasks that others might have delayed in doing. Priding herself on being a hardworking, studious Unicorn, Twilight could spend almost two hours doing, what might normally take 15 minutes, making sure every imperfection was checked, cataloged and eliminated. That was the way she did things. Do things thoroughly or don't do them at all. She figured that she'd earned a rest.

But now their was some-pony attempting to deprive her of the hard-earned rest. Any-pony who knew Twilight, knew not to disturb her when she was sleeping. Twilight pulled the pillow tightly over her head, hoping that whoever was at the door would go away, trying to drown out the aggravating pounding. It didn't help, as the pounding seemed to worm its way through the pillow and into her ears. Normally, the Unicorn would do all she could to help a pony in trouble. But she was tired, grumpy and it was past her tolerance point. Any-Pony who was knocking at the door at this time of night, obviously knew nothing about the Unicorn sleeping in the Library. Twilight squeezed her eyes tighter shut, trying to get back to sleep.

The pounding continued. Twilight grunted, hurling the pillow off the bed angrily. It hit the opposite wall with a muffled thump and slip down the wall, until it landed on top of the large, blanket covered basket, covering the small form of her dragon assistant, Spike. Rolling off the bed with a sleepy yawn, Twilight walked over to the door, glancing briefly at the mirror on her table, making sure that she looked at least presentable. Her bright purple fur was sticking out in places, so that it partially concealed her cutie mark, a six pointed pink star with several smaller stars. Her dark purple mane, shot through with a bright pink streak was unkempt and messy. Her violet eyes were bloodshot with tiredness. She sighed, annoyed with her bed-hair and ran a hoof clumsily through the mane, trying halfheartedly to smooth it out. The curls smoothed out for a brief-second then retreated back into its untidy curls. Giving up, the Unicorn opened the door and walked downstairs.

The library was slightly creepy this late at night, with long shadows creeping across the floor and the large, circular bookcases. Being set inside a tree, the library was circular in design, with the bookcases set deep into the wood, with a writing desk set into a small alcove along the back. Twilight walked across to the window, set into the wood beside the door, in an attempt to see whoever was pounding on her door. The outside was so dark however, that visibility was reduced to zero. Growling with irritation, Twilight pulled open the door with a violent flourish, ready to unleash her disapproval on whoever dared to disturb her...But it was only AppleJack standing there. Twilight's irritation drained away almost immediately. She knew that the Orange, Stetson-wearing farm-pony only ever visited this late at night when there was something either very wrong or very important. Looking closer, Twilight saw that AppleJack looked strained and worried, shifting hurriedly from hoof to hoof.

"Twilight, ah'm gonna need ya to come with me. Right now." AppleJack said, her voice strained with worry. Twilight frowned and AppleJack answered the Unicorn unspoken question. "A...things turned up at the farm." The earth-pony said, turning to leave. "Please just with me Twi. I'll explain when we get there!" AppleJack waited whilst Twilight hurriedly tried to re-order her mane and fur with a small brush and grabbing a few quills, a bottle of ink and a notepad. The Farm-pony was obviously nervous and kept shifting from one hoof to another, a feat Twilight hadn't seen in AppleJack for a long time. It made Twilight nervous. The Farm-Pony was usually calm and collected, not fidgety and wild-eyed, breathing heavily, despite her athletes build. After gathering up her supplies, Twilight followed AppleJack out into the night, closing the door and locking it behind her with magic. She hurried after her friend who had started trotting off without her.

"AJ wait!" Twilight called, hurrying to keep up. AppleJack didn't stop but slowed her trotting, though with considerable strain. "AJ..."Twilight began and jumped when the farm-pony whipped her head round fast, so fast that her Stetson slipped, covering her left eye. "What in the wide world of Equestria is wrong with you?" Twilight demanded scrutinizing her friend closely. "You've never looked this...spooked." AppleJack sighed, tipping her hat back to its usual position. Now she looked closer, Twilight noticed that AppleJack's mane was almost as unkempt as hers had been and her mane was stained with sweat, sticking out in odd places. The last time the farm-pony had looked this crazed was when she'd tried to harvest her entire orchard alone. It hadn't been a pretty sight then and it wasn't a pretty sight now. "Listen AppleJack." Twilight said soothingly. "What is this...thing you've found? It's obviously something bad to cause you this much stress."

By this time, both ponies had reached the outskirts of the farm. Twilight watched AJ hopefully, waiting for the reply she was sure to come. AppleJack had always been honest, to the point of being a little blunt. But this time, the farm-pony was keeping her mouth tightly shut. Now feeling very concerned, Twilight picked up her speed slightly, noticing that AppleJack was also starting to speed up. Just as they walked up to the main house, the door blew open, revealing a worried looking Apple-Bloom and the stoic Big Macintosh. The red stallion had taken off his work collar, and the Stallions muscles were tensing, as though the Big pony was resisting some urge to spring at something. Apple-bloom ran down the porch, coming to a stop just in front of the pair of ponies. Twilight noticed that both of the other Apple relatives were scared. Big-Macintosh's usually contented face was set in a grimace and Apple-Bloom was shaking from head to hoof.

"Where is this...thing Apple-Bloom?" Asked Twilight, reading the looks on the families face and not liking it. Apple-Bloom looked towards her sister who shook her head. AppleJack led the way into the house. Twilight froze, staring at the kitchen table in shock. A sword was lying upon the table, accompanied by a large pile of what looked like bloodstained...armor. She stared at the sword, feeling something akin to fear well up inside her. A sword? Something was incredibly wrong. What in Equestria had AppleJack found in her orchard? Twilight watched AppleJack pick up a tray of food, a bowl of oats, a small green apple and a glass of water. Food for it? Twilight shook her head, confusion and fear rapidly building inside her. Following the Farm-Pony, wishing she had stayed in bed, Twilight followed AppleJack into the hallway and up towards the guest room. Twilight guessed that the spacious room was where they were keeping the creature. She stopped suddenly.

The guest room meant that whatever was in there was...intelligent. Though in her experience, anything that was found wandering around an orchard, carrying a sword and wearing bloodstained armor was something that she wanted to avoid. Period. It was with some trepidation therefore that Twilight watched the Farm-pony slowly approach the door, reach up and tap it gently with a hoof. There was a soft thumping noise from the other side, followed by what sounded like a muffled curse. Twilight's ears perked then splayed slightly. The thing had a harsh obviously male voice. Twilight frowned as AppleJack pushed the door open...then her ears folded back as a loud voice barked out:

"CLOSE THAT DAMN DOOR! I'M BUTT-NAKED HERE YOU KNOW!"

---

Personal Diary of Spectre: James#3

So now I've seen a purple Unicorn. Yep, I just said that. I've seen the four eyed mugs of Batarians and beaked faces of Turians but now I've seen a purple Unicorn. She came with the Stetson wearing Pony. From what I've gathered through the open window, this, Twilight is supposed to be the one in the know. Judging from the notepad in the saddlebags, she probably wants to ask some questions about who I am and where I've come from. That's gonna be a fun conversation. Still, maybe this Unicorn will know where I can find a communication array to contact either the alliance or the Council. If...they haven't won the war yet. It's disturbing how peaceful things are here. Sure I got tied up and stripped naked but...well, no there's no way that's gonna come out right but whatever. Maybe if I cooperate with these...ponies then I can get a shuttle out of here within the week.

I'm kinda happy that my wounds don't hurt any more. Whoever bandaged them knew their stuff. The bandages will probably need to be changed soon but still, there's barely any blood on them and they don't hurt as bad as they did before. Still...I wish I could check them myself. Having my wrists bound up means these ponies don't want me to escape but the bandages suggest that these ponies want to help me. But not being able to check underneath the bandages means I can't track how well the wounds are healing...nor can I track whatever sedative these ponies have given me. If I knew what sedative they'd used then I'd be able to counter it. Whatever they've given me's stopped my Biotics cold. Annoying and slightly worrying.

Still...It's creepy how these ponies don't seem to worry about the...the enemy. There doesn't seem to be any ammo stockpiles, no GUARDIAN defense weapons...nothing. Judging from these farm-ponies, they don't even have a pistol between them. I'm starting to think that this world is either really far from council space or...something else. It's unnerving to be the only human here and since I haven't heard anything about the extra-net news, I'm starting to get really nervous. I'd climb the wall with boredom if I wasn't tied up. Being a soldier, sitting around with no news about your comrades is a really trying experience, especially since I'm stuck on some backwater world. With no extra-net to give news or even entertainment is something I always hated when on missions. Though I guess the missions weren't as bad since I wasn't stripped...hang on I think I hear something at the door...

Comments

[TheNotSOWittyOne]

Well I guess it's a more amicable first contact than with the yahg and rachni

[Equestriasservant]

6641618 lol
the rachni come into it a bit later