Paragon

by zeroxwolfx

Princess Celestia

Chapter 2: Princess Celestia

He ran down the large corridor. There were no lights and the oxygen was so thin he could hardly breath. Only the glass windows, which displayed a blue earth, lighted his way. They led him to a garage, but time was running out fast. All around him, wires and sparks flew, entire sections of the colossal station exploded and broke off. It seemed there was still enough oxygen to fuel the raging fires that sparked up and threatened to overtake him. The smoke created a horrible smell that was a mixture of broken metal parts, and the horrifying smell of the decay of the citadel residents. Right now, the only thing he could afford to have on his mind was getting to a vessel, a ship, anything that with luck was still functional.

The garage supported several red emergency lights that flicked on and off ominously. He didn't have much time to look over the many Kodiak Shuttles and cars that lined the garage. In truth, many of them weren't worth looking at, as they were in several pieces or otherwise obviously non functioning. He jumped in the first one that looked like it might be operational, no luck. An explosion rattled him, knocking him out of the car and slamming him onto the floor. He had to get up, time was running out, the fires were getting more violent, and the explosions were getting louder, and more frequent.

He was running out of options now. So many of the cars were too mutilated to even attempt starting them. The second one looked in good shape, too bad it didn't start. He cursed, taking a moment to think that he should sit there, and let his fate meet him. But his survival instinct energized him and he jumped back out, searching through the garage. In his frustration, he tripped over some wreckage, under which was concealed a blue Alliance Kodiak. It looked in good shape. Gods, maybe this was it.

He smiled at himself, as the moment he pressed the ignition the lights lit up on the ship. It was short lived, as another second later, the lights went out, and the vessels engines whined off. He could hardly believe his misfortune. “Come on you piece of garbage... don't let me die like this!” he said as he smashed his fists against the dash. Just his luck, that seemed to do it; the dash lit up again, and the engines turned back on. He maneuvered the ship out of the rubble. There wasn’t enough light to show him the way, so he flicked on the headlights. After which, he wish he hadn’t, as this revealed more of the piles of, “remains”, that littered the garage. Then he had to think fast, as the entire station rocked, making a huge broken car engine nearly crash into him, but he managed to swerve the agile ship out of the way in time. Up ahead he could see a small emergency exit with the door closed, and just big enough for the Kodiak to fit through. He found an exit protocol on the ships directory, but after a few presses, he found that it was useless, he should have thought so. He hopped out of the Kodiak, wise enough to keep it running, and dashed towards the exit door, flipping the manual release lever. The door creaked open about a quarter of the way, then stopped. Despite numerous attempts, it wouldn't budge.

He was running out of options fast, so he jumped back into the ship, and looked around, desperately trying to find a way out. He could find no obvious exits, except for one, that is. The blue earth above him shined through the glass. He had never known just how thick that glass was... guess there was only one way to find out.

The shuttle craft sealed, and then, it crashed through the glass. Air and debris were sucked out into space violently. The station was on the verge of collapse. Before him, Shepard could see the earth, filling almost the entire view of the shuttle, and he smiled. The view of the earth was soon eclipsed, a massive spherical shape of the station, a piece had broken off, and was block his bath. He moved the steering controls on the ship. No response, the Kodiak continued ominously in front of the station. He tried everything, he rerouted power, tried manual thrusters, even tried pushing himself against the side of the ship to move it. He was headed straight into the exploding sphere of the station.

This was it, he thought. After several minutes of trying, he knew now that this is what he had to accept. There was nothing he could do. He breathed heavily, in the face of his doom. Still, he smiled. He had won. His friends, his home, and the whole galaxy was safe now. He had done everything he could, stood up against the impossible, and he was victorious. Liara, Joker, Wrex, Garrus... and Tali; he'd never see them again. It was alright though, they were safe, they had done their duty, and they'd get to live their lives now, everyone would. The shuttle came closer yet to the station. Shepard laid back in his chair, slowly beginning to breath easier. The closed his eyes as he found peace. Peace; something that every soldier seeks, but seldom obtains. It was alright now, It was alright. An inexplicably loud and terrible sound, and then, silence.

There was no pain. Shepard awoke in such a way that he could never remember. There was no rush to ascend out of bed, if it was in fact a bed he was sleeping in. There was just, quiet, and peace. Surely, this was death, for it was peaceful. Slowly though, realization, and consciousness began to fill his mind once more. He became more and more awake, although a certain haziness would linger on in him. The realization came to him after he eventually opened his eyes, that he just may not be dead. His eyes opened to a simple wooden room before him, supporting his claim. Surely this... wasn't death? He tried to travel back in time with his mind, but his brain worked slowly still, and every small conclusion he would come to was that he should be dead.

Shepard's muscles twitched as he moved in his bed. His mind raced, and then he felt a small ache. It wasn't from his muscles, or his skin, which also felt quite sore, but from the last thought that he remembered having, before waking up. He had given up. This wasn't something he'd forget about, but it was something that he was able to push to the back of his mind, with the comfort of the room, which smelled of a rich oak wood, and a certain haze that kept his mind comfortably numb, almost like he had just had a dose of painkilling medi-gel.

He sat up in the bed, and like any soldier who had just woken up from injury, he examined himself. His body ached at the movements, muscles feeling bruised and torn. He looked down at himself, and found that parts of him were covered in some sort of gauze bandages, who still used these? He also noticed several stitches in his body, where he must have been cut. Remembering back, he did have quite a collection of wounds, but simply ignored them in his rush to get to a ship. His armor was gone too, and his clothes it looked like, or rather, the top half of them. As he looked around, he saw his standard alliance shirt, folded neatly on a side table. Surely, that of all articles would have been ruined, someone must have repaired it.

His head felt heavy, as he rolled it to the side, to look out a glass pane. His jaw dropped as he observed the beauty of green, rolling hills, with lush, full trees decorating the hill tops. This was a scene of which he had never laid eyes on before. He had in fact, seen little of earth, and the last he saw of it, was not under the best conditions. This was something he had only read about, seen in pictures, in vids, that could never possibly capture the beauty of it. It seemed almost too bright, too vivid to even be real. Maybe he really was dead.

He heard some sort of footsteps, in an old clacking fashion approaching his room. From the sound of it, it probably had more than two legs. And he was right. Of course, he didn't know what the hell this thing was. It was the oddest sort of alien he'd ever seen. It had four legs, a body covered with a thin coat of fur, a large head propped on his body by its neck, and a pair of very large, friendly looking, almost “cute” looking eyes. A brown crop of hair stood across its head, and a little tail, sprouted out it's hindquarters, of the same color. The creature looked almost unreal, too loud, too colorful to be real, and yet despite this, he could have sworn that he'd seen something like it before, but he couldn't put his finger on where.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, in such a human voice, it's muzzle, and mouth moving, just like he thought it would. And in English, even more unusual.

Shepard had to think for a moment, “My uh... my head hurts a little...” he said, rubbing his head from his dizziness, and dreaminess, “But I guess I'm alright other than that...” he said quietly.

The creature gave him a nod, “Are you able to walk, sir?”

Looked down at his legs, they looked to be in much better condition than the rest of him, except there were odd muscle aches here on them. He scooted his legs off the side of the bed, bending them despite their protests, and setting his feet down on the soft carpeted floor. His legs propped the rest of his body up, shakily though, feeling stiff, and sore. He looked up to the four legged creature, “I think I can manage,” he said as he reached to the side table for his shirt.

The creature nodded to him, “As soon as you can then, the Princess is waiting for you outside, and would like to have some words with you,” he said, with a bit of caution in his tone.

A Princess? What sort of place was he in? Shepard tried to fish through ideas in his mind of where he was, and why he'd be meeting a “Princess”. Come to think of it, there were hardly any civilizations around in his time that used any such title, unless it was some far off, undeveloped planet that he hadn't heard of. But that didn't make sense either, how could he have landed on some distant uncharted planet... when he was so close to Earth? All of his thinking was doing none too well to answer his questions, the only way he'd find out more would be simply to dive into whatever new world this was.

As he dressed himself, he lumbered his way out of the room, legs and body aching slightly as he walked through the wooden door. Outside, was a hall filled with similar rooms. And just a few feet down was large waiting room, filled with several chairs. He had guessed this was a hospital, but he found it strange that there were no other patients. There were several more creatures in the room, many of them taller than the doctor, their heads coming up just barely to belly level on Shepard, as well as having a set of what looked like wings on their backs. They supported shimmering golden armor and helmets with blue plumes atop of them. They also carried intimidating looking spears, although he wasn't quite sure how. Their keen eyes fell upon him, and looked none too happy.

Shepard stepped forward, and the golden armored guards stepped aside, and revealed yet another creature. Just as unusual as the others, this one was far more glamorous, and considering what a strange species she was, quite lovely to look at. Simply by her appearance, he could tell she must have been the “princess”. She had a shimmering white coat of fur on her body, and she was also taller than the guards, and the doctor, standing up just an inch or so shy to eye level. She was also a bit thinner than the others, and just like the guards, supported a large pair of white wings. Unlike the guards, she also had a long spear like horn protruding from her head. There was unusual hair that came from her head. Unlike the doctor, whom had a very convincing, and familiar head of brunette hair, the princess' hair was long, cascading off of her head almost like flag, and it flowed in the air, despite the lack of wind. It was also multicolored, like a pale rainbow, and was exceptionally bright, with a little bit of sparkle to it. This was perhaps, the most unreal thing he had seen thus far. She was dressed in a golden chest piece of some sort, as well as golden shoes that were at the end of her feet. Unsurprisingly, she also bore a jewel encrusted, golden crown atop her head.

She opened her mouth, and spoke, like a soft, lovely female. It was similarly pleasant to the Asari that he's heard in the past, but something not quite so intimidating about it. It was much more, maternal, “If you'd have a seat there, good sir,” she said, lifting her hoof up, and signaling him to the chair in front of her. The guards stepped out of the way, making a path for Shepard. He made his way through them, and tediously took his seat, across from the regal looking white creature. The Princess herself moved aside to have a seat, then, she upturned her lips into a gentle smile and spoke again, “I suppose it would be rude of me not to introduce myself first, I am Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria, the land that you now find yourself in,” she said, pausing as he knew she expected the same from him.

He looked at her for a moment, trying to take in everything she said even though it hardly made any sense to him, “I'm Commander John Shepard, Alliance Navy, of planet Earth.”

She nodded softly to him, “I am pleased to meet you John Shepard, of earth,” she looked at him with a bit of concern, her smile disappearing, “I am sorry for this sort of treatment John Shepard, but I did not know who, or what you were, and I hold the safety of my subjects in the highest regard...” she said to him, seemingly apologetically. It seemed like pretty standard first contact procedures to him.

He raised a hand, “You don't need to apologize for anything your majesty, you're just looking out for your people, I can understand that,” he said attempting to curve her worry about offending him

“Yes, and that actually brings me to a few questions that I must ask you. I think the most obvious one is, what brings you to our fine nation?” she asked softly.

Shepard thought about this, at first, he thought it might be better to make something up, after all, a strange being not knowing where he was, or how he got there didn't sound very reassuring. But at the same time, just looking at her, he felt as if he could trust her. He felt as if it would hurt him, just to lie to her. As much of a tactician as he was, he also knew that he was in no position to bargain. After all, he was not in fighting shape, and they had him surrounded, with weapons. He thought for a moment, as he came up with his words, “To be quite honest your majesty, I'm not entirely sure what brings me here. Hell, I'm not even sure how I got here...” he said, knowing full well how odd that sounded.

She tilted her head slightly at him, “We did find some sort of vessel that you came out of.”

He looked up at her, “The Kodiak... the last thing I remember was that I was in that ship.... there was an explosion and then... well then I woke up in a bed here,” he said shrugging, he almost figured she'd know more about his situation than he did.

She looked at him with some concern in her eyes, “So, you don't know how you got here, not at all?” she asked.

He shook his head, “No... I wish I did, but I can't remember anything after blacking out in the shuttle.”

The princess raised a hoof to cover her mouth with surprise, “I see... perhaps in time, we will be able to find a way to return you home... I realize this must be very troubling for you John,but would you mind if I asked you just one more question?”

“Not at all,” he replied.

Then something strange happened, there was a sort of light that glowed around her horn. The same light formed around something behind her. She was levitating his gun on front of a table in front of her, his M8 Avenger and his Predator Heavy Pistol. She must have been a biotic. Up until now, he had assumed that this place was primitive, but harnessing biotic abilities was a fairly advanced ability, how would this place have primitive structures, weapons, and medical facilities, but have something as advanced as practical biotics?

She looked at him with a stern look on her face, “Tell me, John Shepard, what is the purpose of these devices?” she asked him

Shepard blinked, he wasn't entirely sure if he should tell her. He had been fooled before about idyllic worlds and he didn't want to be caught in a situation where he needed a gun, and didn't have them. He also didn't want to be responsible for upsetting the balance of evolution on an undeveloped world. She still had him at a disadvantage though what choice did he have? “They’re thermal based firearms,” he saw her looking at him plainly, this didn't mean anything to her obviously, “Uh... they’re weapons,” he finished.

She blinked and nodded, setting them behind her again. She levitated another device in front of her, the wrist module for his omni-tool, “And what of this?” she asked, in a gentler tone.

“That’s what’s called an ‘omni-tool’, your majesty. It’s used for making minor repairs,analyzing, collecting and storing information. It’s also used to treat people medically,” he said. He forgot to mention that it could also be used as a potent weapon.

She gently levitated the module over to Shepard, setting it in his hand, then she spoke, “I hope you will understand, but we do not have such dangerous things freely available to my subjects, to my little ponies, and I would feel more comfortable if I kept them under my care for now,” she said regally. She didn’t look upset, or angry with him, but he could still hear the air of caution in her tone.

Shepard learned forward in his chair, obviously irritating the golden gaurds as he did so, "I don't know if that's such a good idea, your majesty. These weapons are my responsibility. They are dangerous, and I don't want to uh... I don't want someone to have an accident with them..." he said, hiding the guise of wanting protection, with caution and safety.

Princess Celestia blinked at this with a bit of surprise, "Surely, a dangerous sword kept in our vaults will not pose a threat to any wary filly or colt?" she asked curiously as she looked to him.

He shook his head, "I wouldn't exactly call this a 'sword' your majesty," he said sighing.

The Princess tapped her chin, she set them on the table for now, "I will have my student watch them closely for you then, that way, they will be under your observation. Will this satisfy you?" The gaurds were getting a little tense around them.

He nodded to her, “I'll have to meet this assistant first, and if it’s alright with you, your majesty, I’d like to ask, what exactly are these creatures, and yourself? I’ve seen all kinds of sentient creatures in my life, but I’ve never run across ones such as these,” he asked, reaching down to fix his omni-tool over his wrist, feeling a bit more relaxed, now that he knew he'd have his weapons close, should a sticky situation arose.

She gave him a friendly smile and nodded, “We are called ponies, John Shepard. There are three kinds of us that inhabit this beautiful world,” she motioned over to one of her guards, “There are the pegasus ponies, who have the ability to fly. There are also the unicorn ponies, gifted with the ability, and the responsibility of magic, and then there are the earth ponies, the strongest ponies, and the stewards of the land.”

Unicorns, that word sounded so familiar... where had he heard it before? And pegasus too, he could have sworn he had heard that too. For some reason his mind kept trailing him back to basic classes, but he still couldn’t put his finger on it. Unicorns must have been like the doctor pony, with the odd horn on their head, those must be the biotic ones. Shepard gave a sideways glance at the princess, “But how come you have wings, and a horn?” he asked her, his curiosity getting the better of him.

The princess was a bit taken back by this question for a moment, but then she simply gave him a regal smile, “That’s a tale for another time, John Shepard. For now, until you get better, I’m leaving you under the care of my brightest student, a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle,” she said as she began to stand up, the guards making way for her as she walked out of the room and into the hallway. She motioned for Shepard to follow her, and he hobbled behind her, “She is a very knowledgeable pony, and I believe that she is the most qualified pony to have any information about getting you back home. I will also have her share the responsibility of keeping your belongings in good care. I believe that you will find her trustworthy of this.”

Celestia came to a double door, and the guards opened it, revealing a balcony outside. The tall pony spread her wings, preparing to take off. Shepard watched her, as fear took hold of him, he spoke back to her before she left, “What if I can’t get back home?” he asked, with a hint of sorrow.

The princess simply turned around, giving him soft smile before she spoke, “Good luck, John Shepard,” was all she said before she took off.

Author's Note:

The ponies are NOT using biotics. They are using magic, just like they do in the show. Shepard is only calling it biotics, because that is the closest thing he knows that is remotely similar.

Comments

[redskin122004]

"I'm going to keep these weapons with me."

"Yeah... I don't think so lady. You didn't even know what the hell they were, I'm not going to leave my guns with you. Especially due the simple fact that they are advance technology and I would be introducing you to something beyond your means of current understanding or care."

"You dare speak to the Princess like that?!"

"Look buddy, unless your Princess is a swarm of 2 kilometre ships, has the ability to mentally mind rape people, and has been committing xenocide for the past 1 million plus years on a galactic scale, I can speak to whoever I want, however I want."

No offense man, but I doubt Shepard would just hand his weapons over willy nilly like that. Not because he is a bad ass, but because there will be little doubt in his mind something could happen to them if he wasn't there. Princess or no.

[MicNight]

i thought omni tools were surgically implanted since in the game there are times where he is not wearing his gloves or clothing that covers his arms. also what class is he adept, sentinel, engineer, soldier, inflitrator. also love the story.

[Azphel]

3084484
My thoughts exactly, I wouldn't give a gun to a child, and that is exactly what Celestia is when it comes to advanced equipment, Princess or no, because she lacks the understanding necessary to safely use, store, and care for it.

Not to mention that you can bet your ass the Alliance has regulations about military equipment in the hands of foreign powers. Especially pre-spaceflight foreign powers.

It's pretty suspension-of-disbelief-breaking, to be honest.

[zeroxwolfx]

Chapter 2 has been edited.

[redskin122004]

3092698 better. Not sure if they just left them there though. Still, I doubt it will work out they way she wants it.