Nightmares
Chapter 34
Nightmares
“…and It’s our task to figure out why they haven’t been in contact with us. I don’t need to remind anyone that we need to figure out what Saren is doing in that base.” Shepard finished.
After Fluttershy, Garrus and Tali had been picked up by the Normandy the quarian had been brought to the medbay where Chakwas wanted to keep and monitor her for a couple of days. Shepard gave her another slight dressing-down but was interrupted by an incoming call from the Council at the Citadel had cut that short. Though not long after the Commander had left he had called for a meeting in the comm room.
That was where Fluttershy was sitting now. Shepard had just laid out that the Council had an STG—Special Tasks Group—unit investigating a base that belonged to Saren. The unit itself had lost communications except for a scrambled message that was sent on a channel reserved for mission-critical communications. Since they were hunting Saren anyway, Shepard had been tasked with finding out what the status of the unit was and figure out what Saren was doing on that planet—Virmire.
“Next update will be when we reach Virmire. Get some Z’s people, almost all of us just ran an op so I want everyone fresh by the time we make planetfall.” Shepard told everyone, the comm room emptying out as everyone was headed off to their sleeping space. The same going for Garrus as he made his way over to his own bunk until Fluttershy stopped him.
“Could you, uhm, maybe if you don’t mind keep me company tonight?” Fluttershy nervously asked, Garrus shrugged in response.
“Sure, rest is rest, right?” He said as he followed Fluttershy into the medbay instead of heading to his own sleeper pod. Out back in the medbay’s storage where Fluttershy’s bed was located, the two stripped off the armored plate from their bodies but leaving the undersuits on. Not that it was impossible to sleep while fully armored but it was much more comfortable to do without.
“Goodnight,” Fluttershy said as she snuggled up closer to Garrus. The mattress wasn’t that wide so he wouldn’t mind her laying this close, would he?
“Yeah, sleep tight,” Garrus responded, almost immediately falling asleep afterward. Fluttershy’s eyes also starting to feel heavy as she too was sucked into the realm of dreams.
Ponyville
Fluttershy was walking through the abandoned streets. Where there usually were various ponies walking around now it was just silent.
Deathly silent.
Fluttershy noted that no damage had been done to the buildings so there probably hadn’t been a fight, as she carefully made her way to the center of town.
“Hello? Is anypony there?” No answer came, but as Fluttershy turned the final corner into the center of town her heart stopped. Standing before the town hall in the middle of town facing away from her were her friends…
Something was wrong.
Their fur was patchy and bare skin could be seen where fur was supposed to be and there were growths across their bodies that had no right to be there.
“Girls?” Fluttershy asked, the five ponies in front of her stirred and turned to face her, their eyes glazy and devoid of emotion. Twilight let out an animalistic scream and charged Fluttershy, the other four following her lead as they fought each other to get to the yellow pegasus first.
A tear rolled down Fluttershy’s cheek as there was only one kindness she could give them now.
Pointing her wings forward a black orb started to form between the tips of her primaries and within a fraction of a second it flew off towards her former friends. The black orb cutting of their crazed cries as it tore them apart.
Fluttershy wept as the village was, once again, completely silent.
“Fluttershy?” a distant voice said but the pegasus didn’t take notice.
“Fluttershy!” The voice said again, the pegasus opened her eyes and had her heart stop again as she found Dash standing over her with the blank look in her eyes. The surrounding village started to disintegrate into an encroaching blackness.
“FLUTTERSHY!” Garrus shouted as the pegasus shot up in a panic, her breathing ragged and cold sweat covering her body. The turian had wrapped his arms around her barrel and wings so that she couldn’t make any moves that were too sudden. “Hey, it’s all right, you’re safe here. No-one is going to hurt you,” He softly said, Fluttershy crying into his shoulder.
“We all have our demons, Fluttershy. If you ever want to talk don’t hesitate to ask me or anyone else on the crew, they’ll understand.” Garrus softly said as he stroked her hair, "We should be getting ready for Virmire now anyway."
Fluttershy nodded and walked up to her neatly stacked pile of armor plates and started to attach them to her undersuit. A couple of minutes later she had cleaned herself, tied her hair in a ponytail, and walked out of the medbay with Garrus.
"Shy, Vakarian, Report to the garage," Joker ordered over the intercom which prompted the pair to take the elevator down instead of the stairs up to the CIC. Shepard and Kaidan were already loading various pieces of equipment into the MAKO as they arrived.
"We've picked up the STG beacon on planet but the Normandy can't approach due to three defense towers. We're going to take them out to create a safe corridor to what we presume is the STG unit's main camp." Shepard informed the two as he noticed them approaching. "Garrus you're the gunner, Kaidan is on shields, Fluttershy's support, and I'm driving."
"Understood Commander," Garrus said as he got into the MAKO and strapped into the gunner's seat. Fluttershy, Kaidan, and Shepard did the same for their respective functions and Shepard drove the vehicle into position.
"We're coming in under the radar, good luck Commander," Joker said as the external hangar door opened and Shepard drove the MAKO out of the garage, the thrusters on the bottom of the vehicle slowing its fall down to a safe speed.
"Status!" Shepard said as the MAKO came to a stop.
"Turrent operational," Garrus reported after finishing his check on the system.
"Shields at one hundred percent and structural integrity nominal," Kaidan immediately reported after Garrus finished his.
"Copy that. We've got a clean drop Joker, see you at the base camp. MAKO out." Shepard said as he revved the engine and rapidly drove to the location of the first AA tower. Along the way, there were scattered geth forces armed mainly with rocket launchers but none of those lasted long against Garrus' barrage of fire once they revealed themselves. This also meant that it didn't take long for the group to reach the first AA tower. After destroying all the enemy forces that were exposed, Shepard parked the MAKO and disembarked from the vehicle with Fluttershy and Kaidan. Garrus remained in the MAKO to give supporting fire with the main cannon if necessary.
"Fluttershy, fly up to the bridge and flank whoever is waiting for us up there," Shepard ordered, Fluttershy quickly saluted, spread her wings and flew up to the bridge above them while Kaidan and Shepard used the ramp. Fluttershy immediately noticed a geth hiding behind a pillar waiting for anyone coming up the ramp.
Her wings became enveloped with the blue biotic aura, her flight ability immediately cutting out as she did so. The sound of the pegasus' hooves hitting the floor of the bridge attracted the attention of the geth but by that point, it was way too late. The geth was flung against a wall in the open and was ripped open by bullets from Shepard and Kaidan as the two reached the top of the ramp.
"Nice throw, now let's deactivate that tower," Kaidan said as he looked at Fluttershy in approval of her biotic usage. The three only encountered one more geth that was quickly dispatched as the combined firepower from both Kaidan and Shepard overwhelmed it.
After disabling the first tower they headed for the second, resistance along the way started becoming heavier as the geth started sending reinforcements to the towers though nothing too heavy yet and with Garrus' support they were able to disable the second tower almost as easily as the first one. But the third was going to prove to be a challenge.
"COLOSSUS!" Shepard shouted as he hit the brake of the vehicle. Garrus immediately opened up on the geth heavy weapons platform. Shepard engaged the thrusters below the MAKO and flew over the first shot it threw at them but the second shot connected. The MAKO shook violently for a moment as the energy dissipated on the shield.
"Shield at fifty percent!" Kaidan reported, "Structural integrity still nominal!"
"Eat lead, tin can!" Garrus growled as he fired the main cannon alongside the coaxial machinegun at the large geth. Holes appeared throughout the machine as its shields failed and it collapsed. There was no time to cheer as the MAKO was hit by something else and shuddered again. "Damnit! Main turrent is jammed, Shepard!"
"Shields at twenty-two percent! Something pierced it and hit the turret ring!" Kaidan reported as well but the commander had just floored the accelerator and was headed full steam towards the rocket wielding geth and drove over it.
"I got him," Shepard calmly stated, "Disembark, if we can take the turret out of action than the Normandy can give us fire support."
The four occupants immediately left the confines of the MAKO and rushed into cover at the base of the ramp that led up to the bridge. "Fluttershy, go fly up there and use whatever biotics you deem necessary to get us a clear foothold on that bridge!" Shepard ordered as bullets were regularly impacting their cover.
Fluttershy swallowed nervously but obeyed the Commander and shot up into the air. A couple of rounds bounced off her barrier, but it didn't take long for the fire to focus on the three ground-bound soldiers again. Fluttershy leveled out and looked for a good cover. Once she found it, she said a quick prayer to Celestia and dove down. Rainbow might have found the speed Fluttershy was going at a nice pace but for the usually shy pegasus, the speed was terrifyingly fast. She flared her wings and managed to bleed enough speed to make a hard touchdown.
Okay Fluttershy, now you just have to clear that bridge.
What biotic move does Fluttershy use? Singularity
Fluttershy took a deep breath as the only thing that came to her mind that was powerful enough to destroy the pesky robots was to create a singularity. She brought her wings together in front of her and concentrated on generating the black ball of energy in front of her, careful not to put too much energy into the move so as to not hurt herself.
After she thought the energy in the ball to be enough, Fluttershy jumped from her cover and flung it at the group of geth that were pinning her three other companions in place. The robots never stood a chance as the passing black orb sucked them along and ripped their components from their sockets. "We're clear!" Fluttershy shouted down at the others who swiftly moved up to the bridge and together pushed the geth to the control room where they disabled the final AA tower.
"AA's down! You're clear to engage Joker!" Shepard shouted into his comm, a couple of seconds later the Normandy passed overhead firing its main cannon at the heaviest of the targets. The four soldiers quickly headed back to the MAKO and drove the rest of the way to the STG camp, mopping up the couple remaining geth.
After arriving at the camp, Shepard went to talk to the commander while Fluttershy went to sit somewhere to the side to quickly eat an energy bar. Though she couldn't hear the conversation from her position she saw that at some point Wrex involved himself only to shout something at the STG commander and barge off, the commander following him. The two of them had an argument but what happened next made the pegasus spit out the remains of her energy bar.
Wrex pulled his shotgun on Shepard who in turn pulled his pistol, the entire camp tensed up as they awaited the conclusion of the conflict in their midst but Fluttershy wasn't going to just sit on the sidelines.
I don't know whatever this is about but I'm not letting them hurt each other.
1. [Try stopping the two of them with Biotics] Dangerous
2. Tackle Wrex to the ground
3. Fly between the two of them
4. Tackle Shepard to the ground
5. [Paralyse the two of them with the Stare]
Turns out we got done with the prep for tomorrow's event at 1400 hours which meant I had the entire afternoon to write.
Welp, tomorrow my day starts at 0500 and ends at 1900-2000 hours so I definitely won't have time then. 
[Paragon] or a [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/18064445
[Certainty: 60]
Now edited by gerandakis
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wrong poll is up
9646344
fixed it
https://www.strawpoll.me/18064445
Ow, wonder what made Wrex snap like that.
Wrex is too big to tackle normally, Sheperd should be too reactive, getting between them, ow, no idea whats going on, Biotics I would think would trigger both combatants automatic reactions.
Im stuck.
At this point in the game I think I would swear, switch the thing off and go play Lets Go Pickachu.
Its better than the usual of having a neural storm and being out of action for three days. Again.
Got a feeling fluttershys shields are gonna take a hit hard enough to shut down next chapter. And the two parties involved are gonna feel super shitty. Man when fluttershy runs into harbinger i think shes gonna become a priority target to the reaper. When he tries to use indoctrination and she resists or shoots her own version back he will flip his shit. A species with the natural ability to indoctrinate maybe even undo indoctrination plus massive biotic potential is a threat.
Tackle don't care witch
9646447
itle hurt though
she can tackle eaither if she has enough speed
turret
Two quick questions. First, why isn't the stare option in the poll? I wasn't planning on picking it, but I thought that it was weird that it wasn't available. Secondly, is there a particular reason why there isn't an option for Fluttershy to wait and see if it defused on its own. Was this a situation where you couldn't see Fluttershy doing anything than intervening in some way?
Hopefully Shepard did Wrex's loyalty mission
Another tough one. For me, first one is out. Tackling also seems like a bad idea to me and the Stare... no. So that leaves only one choice for me.
9647933
It’s OK, I myself am only a joke.
9647985
cdn.drawception.com/images/panels/2018/5-19/ARKZFMTkse-2.png
"A couple of minutes later she had cleaned herself, tied her -air- in a ponytail, and walked out of the medbay with Garrus."
"Hair"
Aw, no "Shepard is a bad driver" gag? For shame, sir.
9647160
The stare isn't available because we don't have enough renegade points
at least that's my assumption sense its a pretty renegade act.
As for the second one I have no idea
9651659
Yeah, you're probably right. However, I could see her doing that accidentally by just being nice. That's what usually happens to me in the game.
9651804
Oh, good. My offer still stands though, if you ever feel like taking me up on it.
Guess I'll finish this tomorrow. I still have the last 5 chapters to read, but I should have gone to sleep before I even started reading!
Option 3 is way more paragon than option 1. Option 1 risks hurting others while option 3 only risks Fluttershy.
Celestia damn it! Wrex is dead. Without doing his personal quest, no amount of Paragon levels will keep Wrex alive.
I... I can't deal with this right now. I'm going to shelve this fic for a few months. Maybe then I'll be able to handle reading about my favorite character in the Trilogy getting shot by Ash. Whom I have never forgiven, and ALWAYS sacrifice at the upcoming decision point. Speciesist prick.
9664942
I'm playing ME1 while writing this and can confirm you can save Wrex without getting his armor, you need at least 8 points invested in either paragon or renegade in the lvl up screen.
Also, 9664957 is right. While Garrus, Tali, and Shy where strike team nr1, Shepard, Wrex, and the others were going after another item.
In short, Wrex doesn't get shot and I've already thought up an incredibly important role for him in ME2
9665117
Thanks for the update. Sorry about all the posts on the subject. I was busy replying to 9664957's comment when yours went through. Gods, I wish Knighty would just fix the cross-chapter reply non-notification issue already. Reply snafus like this are my pet peeve with this site.
Me, excited for Vermire:
Me, remembering what happens on Vermire:
9801619
Death
9665117
At least 8 Renegade you say
I never felt so good being a horrible person in anything ever.
3, pone to cute to shot.
9646447
Pone to cute to shot
9646500
Yep, perhaps they guess there original creators have survived and try a organic approach?
9647160
Because a forced conclusion will breed a worse result in the long run...
9647282
Indeed...
9647862
Pone to cute to shot
9649387
Fluttershy cute and badass
9650837
Indeed a missed opportunity, but than again... Seriouse combat situation...
9651154
Actualy a good call mate!
9653150
It's the kind thing to do...
9665117
Something new was learned today
9801619
Down with Bitchface
9801626
Of a Bitchface noone will miss
3 because cuteness is victory or stare... But rather going for cute.