Newcomers
Chapter 103
Newcomers
“So let me get this straight. There’s a race of machines that cleanse the galaxy of life every fifty thousand years, the last time around there were ponies who fought them, and now they’re maybe months away from arriving in the galaxy proper?” Particle Bit asked in astonishment after the newcomers had been given the short version of the structure of the galactic races and their situation. Luna had been silent throughout the story as she soaked in all of the information while Gabby was nervously rocking on her seat.
“Don’t forget the part where there’s a race of bug things called the collectors harvesting human colonies for some reason,” Rainbow added casually, for Gabby that was her breaking point as she jumped off her seat and ran out of the room they’d claimed for themselves.
“I’ll go after her,” Fluttershy said as she quickly got off of her own seat to chase after the young griffin. As the door closed behind the yellow pegasus, Luna leaned forward.
“So, mister Vakarian, how is it that the Element of Kindness looks as if she went hoof to claw with a hydra?” Luna questioned, keeping her eyes locked on the turian. Garrus didn’t even flinch a bit under the accusing glare of the princess.
“We spent time fighting gangs in the uncontrolled space of the Terminus Systems,” he answered truthfully. “There are things we did out there that neither of us are proud of, Princess. She might look different now and be much tougher than she used to be but at her core, where it matters, she still is that very pony we picked up right here on the Citadel two years ago.”
Rainbow looked a bit ashamed as Garrus laid out how he saw Fluttershy and Luna seemed to find this explanation acceptable. “It’s still jarring to see her in her current state, but if you claim her kindness has not left her I’ll trust your word as her bondmate.”
Garrus sighed. “That's just how I see it, I think Fluttershy herself thinks she's lost it… That she's a monster to be feared.” The turian glanced sideways at Rainbow Dash who made herself slightly smaller.
“That's... unfortunate, but I have confidence that you and Rainbow Dash can help her out in this matter,” the princess said, letting the topic slide as she had other things that needed discussing. “Would you excuse me and the captain? Since Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash seem to be in no need of saving or help in the slightest, I'd like to know where we stand politically. Equestria is going to need much more help than we do and I’m sure there is going to be some conversation if a planet popped out of nowhere in places known by your civilizations.”
“Alright, see you around, Princess,” Dash chuckled as Luna and Shining went looking for a room where they could discuss in private. This left only Particle Bit remaining at the table with Garrus and Dash.
“So, what is on your mind, mister Bit?” Garrus asked as the stallion had been in shock through the previous conversation.
“I’m not sure, it's quite a shock when you get the answer to the question of 'are we alone?' and then hear you're threatened with extinction,” the stallion admitted. “Also, I have no interest in either politics or combat so, after figuring out how, I intend to enroll in a school here to learn about physics.”
“Sounds respectable,” Garrus said, approving of the professor’s plan. “The Normandy would have become rather crowded if every pony coming through would join,” he added in a chuckle.
Particle joined in with the chuckles as he placed one of the sets of saddlebags he’d hauled with him on the table. “I’ll make sure to keep in contact with everypony else. See you two around.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Dash asked and pointed at the set of saddlebags the unicorn had left behind.
“Those aren't mine, they belonged to Twilight Sparkle. I think you should take a peek, Miss Dash, you might find something interesting.” Rainbow watched Particle leave before grabbing a hold of the saddlebags and looking through the contents. She picked out some of the items she’d expected to find like food and water before her eyes widened.
“No way... what did you take these for, Twi?” Garrus looked at what Rainbow had in her hooves, raising an eyebrow as he didn’t see the significance of the object.
“It’s just a necklace? I mean, it’s a very nice one but you know...” he questioned as Dash pulled out another necklace and a tiara.
“They’re not just necklaces, Garrus. These are Elements of Harmony.”
Fluttershy ran after the young griffin who cried as she turned corners and evaded humans. Her path took her into a hallway ending in a dead end where she collapsed onto the ground and curled into a little ball.
“Gabby... Gabriella?”
“Go away,” the griffin croaked as Fluttershy carefully approached the ball of feathers. This didn't deter the pegasus who lay down next to the crying griffin and covered her with a wing.
“You’re missing home already?” Fluttershy asked gently as she carefully brushed Gabby’s feathers, the little griffin weakly nodded.
“I-I was supposed to g-go meet Auntie Gilda later, to go back to Griffinstone,” Gabby sobbed. “B-but then this purple pony a-approached and asked if I could help, of c-course I wanted to help! But then we m-meet up and teleport into this warehouse with a-all these strange machines! And now I’m in a w-whole new world and don’t know if I’ll ever see home again!”
“So Twilight needed your help...” Fluttershy surmised, Gabby meanwhile had scooted close against the pegasus. “Of everything I remember about Twilight, I don’t think she ever wanted to send you out here. She probably really needed the help to get herself out here... but we know how that worked out.”
Gabby nodded and looked up at Fluttershy with tearful eyes. “So what am I supposed to do now?”
“That’s entirely up to you. There’s plenty of wonders to see out here and I’m sure you’ll find a place wherever you go,” Shy answered, suddenly finding the little griffin attached to her in a tight hug.
“Then I’d like to stay with you.” Fluttershy went slightly pale at this exclamation, she didn’t exactly see herself as the best candidate to keep an eye on the griffin.
“Are you sure? I’m not— I don’t think I’m exactly the best pony to be around, not after all I’ve done over the last two years.”
“B-But you seem nice. You came after me to help!” she stammered, griping Fluttershy even tighter in desperation. “I can learn quickly, I won’t hold you back or get in your way!”
Fluttershy was lost for words as she couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to be around her.
She’ll probably become afraid of me after a while… unless… No! I can’t
1. I can’t take you, you’re safer here on the Citadel.
2. Only if Garrus agrees. And Shepard too when we get a hold of him.
3. If you’re coming with me I’ll hold you to my own standards, understand?
I'm back to finishing my space marine cosplay, I'll put up the pictures when I'm done 
[Paragon] or [Renegade] are colored when available, though normal options might also contribute to one or the other. As for the shippers under us, [Romance] is now also a thing.
When an option is not available due to various reasons it will be colored [Grey]
https://www.strawpoll.me/19796999
[Certainty: 90]
Now edited by gerandakis
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Although I really hate having to say stay in the biggest target for conflict in the galaxy, I say Gabby should stay at Citadel, or at least with Particle Bit, for Equestrian company, and so she can help him with his work when biotics and magic will mess up the experiments and measurements?
I say keep her in the citadel. She is a kid with no combat experience, she will be much more useful as Bit assistant that trying to get herself killed in the Nomandy.
It looks like the vote has been all but decided at this point. Not that I'm too surprised. Not taking her cuts her out of the story, and Fluttershy's standards have gotten rather... strict... as of late.
So what loadout do you think Gabby will pick?
i dont think its a good idea for either to be seperated, arent there organizations interested in capturing ponies, and probably a griffin if they find one?
I can see which way the vote is going, but I also think it's a terrible idea. It's one thing to take a soldier into battle. And Fluttershy got co-opted because the Citadel was being its usual head-up-its-own-ass self. But Gilda's just a child. You don't take a young teenager into a war, no matter how helpful she thinks she can be. Especially not when the mission is expected to be a suicide run.
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I suspect both Garrus and the Commander will agree with you. Even if they do allow her on the ship, there is no way they would let her get involved in combat, she doesn't have the heart for it. I'm not sure the Citadel would be the best place for her, maybe send her to Earth? (Hardly safe in the long run, but okay for right now).
10186279
One possibility that suggests itself to me, which would lead into the third game, would be if Particle Bit went to Mars to study the Prothean archive. He could take Gilda as a research assistant with him. She might find it boring, but it would be safer than the alternative. And they might learn a few interesting things in the process. Such as how to activate any other defenses around Equis that the current diarchs never learned about, and of course, the Crucible.
Who knows? They might even fix what was broken with the actual canon version of the game. (To wit, the idea that the Reaper AI in the Citadel was able to "bias" the choices to kill Shepard no matter what choice you made, because no one had successfully connected the Crucible to the Citadel before, and thus, no one knew that the programming would fall short in that one critical way.)
Well, lucky me, I'm not gonna feel too guilty about my vote...though I only made it cause of the following:
I feel like Gabby might be as good of a test as any to see if what Garrus said is true. In other news...
Oh Twi, you dumb bi
10186300
First: Gabby, not Gilda
And no, I'm not going to pull a Fluttershy on Gabby. She has a lot of potential other than shooting things.
(Fuck the Starchild Citadel AI, it's the one thing I really don't like about ME and although I do subscribe to the indoctrination theory, I'm going to just throw out and change a whole bunch of ME3 stuff to make the ending better)
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I'm all for Particle Bit going to Mars, which might be an old pony outpost in this setting, so even better!
And a better end would be much appreciated. :)
As for the dumb Starchild, I always assumed it was lying through it's virtual teeth about what would actually happen, as with two of the three choices the Reapers still effectively win and the third being far more exaggerated to make it seem genocidal. I do believe there was a good share of indoctrination to go along with it.
2 is the best option here. Shepard is still the commanding officer on the Normandy, so they would need his permission anyways.
As for combat, Gabby wouldn't need to get involved at all. Between maintenance, medical, janitorial, food service, etc, there would be plenty of potential places she could work, even if she was made to in some way.
10186319
Agree wholeheartedly here. Have you ever seen the MEHEM mod? It modifies the ending of the game into a really long cutscene, cutting out the Starchild nonsense entirely. I use it myself, and consider it the only "official" ending I care to acknowledge. If you don't want to replay the whole game just to experience it, I'll include a link to the movie ending below.
If you do want to experience the full glory of the best ending for the game, you can go get it from the ME3 Nexus site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49GnPjj6HHI
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Oh I know about it, had it installed for quite a while already. And I've been replaying ME1 with improved graphics again just for the hell of it this week.
What do you want me to say? People probably would want to lock up Gabby on a Citadel. I myself don't really mind if Fluttershy would take Gabby under her wing.
I'm honestly surprised Garris let Particle Bit just walk out of the room, considering all he knows about how valuable a pony slave/dissection specimen is.
I go for 2. Because the Shadowbroker is a thing...
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Nope, i get no notification but i check manual
10185837
Pretty sure the STG or Shadowbroker get a hold of her than...
10185879
Chakwas could need a Assistant perhaps? Maybe Joker a Co-Pilot ?
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Shadow Broker and Black-Market...
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Gabby...
10186279
There is a lot non combat stuff to do on a ship...
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Fuck the Starchild...
Krogan, Salarian, Turian, Human, Equestrian, Rachni, Quarian, Geth maybe even Batarians. All together im sure the Reapers might lose to organised defenses...
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I love it already. Nothing can be worse than the EA shitpile we got...
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Very good point...
Gabby is in for a bad time... But she could help Tali in the Normandy technical areas. That what she helped Twilight with.