Commander Shepherd, saviour of universe multiple times, arch enemy to the Reapers and the greatest hero ever... Or was she? How many Shepherds failed and how many succeeded, who went paragon and who went renegade, and who is the real Shepard.
Commander Shepard, saviour of the universe multiple times, arch enemy to the Reapers and the greatest hero ever... or was she? How many Shepards failed and how many succeeded? Who went paragon and who went renegade? Who did right by the universe and who did wrong? Who betrayed his friends and who saved her friends, and who is the real Shepard? Was she male or was he female? Did Shepard love someone or not? And will Shepard ever find out, stuck on a primitive alien planet far away from home with hundreds of other Shepards yelling at her in her head? And to top it off she has become one of the aliens AND she has got a Reaper AI in her Omni-tool.
Can Twilight and her friends fix this broken woman, and find the true Shepard? Or are something's to broken to be fixed? And more importantly do they want to?
Set sometime between Equestria Girls and Season 4(You decide!)
(Warning: Contains swearing, deaths of lots of things beside ponies mostly monsters, also guns, violence, lost identity, blood, friendship, happy ending [hopefully], distrust. Contact a doctor before use.)
(Second Warning: Comments nearly always contain some spoilers, so read at your own risk)
Written by Dragon's Heart and co-written by my nuisance of a brother XYZDreadnought (Who also a grammar Nazi. Heil Oxford Dictionary). Also edited by my two pain in the ass Parents.
As the last ships leave the system though the Sol Relay, the Crucible fires. The Citadel and the relays are damaged, but the Reapers are finally defeated, meaning victory for all. Earth Space is still, no movement can be seen among the stricken ships and fragmented fighters that comprised the ruins of war. But something moves across the erstwhile battlefield, disturbing the morbid tranquillity. Its giant angular black hull built in a mockery of the mass relays, its core a sphere of dark monochrome lightning, sending sparks cascading through space. As it approaches the ruins of the Citadel, the lightning reaches out and began to caress its surface, the cascading energy dancing over the hull in an apparent search. As the black relay came to a stop in front of the massive structure, the arcs of energy began to zero in on a small section of the Presidium. The beams then concentrating further, until only a tiny piece of hull is highlighted. Then, with the care of surgeon, the piece is removed along with a room, leaving a precise incision. The room is dragged over to the black relay and was held by its side, the black lightning crackling harmlessly across its surface encasing it. The black relay then drifts off, room in tow. Inside the room a female human lies among the wreckage and the pools of her own blood. It is hard to tell if the she is alive or dead. Something approaches the female, it appears as a near formless mass of shadows, devoid of feature. It hovers over the female and then smiles down at her revealing a mouth, and rows of razor sharp teeth. It then speaks:
"Shepard," it says in cold ancient voice, "You did well and your long and hard journey is over, but will you ever be able to find peace in this galaxy. War and conflict always seems to find you, Shepard."
If the female hears, she shows no sign. The being continues anyway, "I wish to help you find peace, Shepard. The path I will send you on will be long, hard and painful but if you succeed you will finally find some peace." It pauses for a moment, before adding ominously, "But if you fail you will die alone and far away from home."
The female still doesn't move or show any signs of having heard. The being sighs as more creatures enter the room, bringing with them two metal boxes. The creatures are human in shape, but their limbs are long and lanky, their fingers are pointed, their faces and heads lacked any features, except some had pairs of glowing dark purple eyes. Their skin is pitch black. The creatures start to place the two boxes on the floor, the first in front of the female and the other in far corner of the room with a sheet of metal to cover it, most likely to hide it. Another creature hands a spherical device to the being, who then places it next to woman's left hand. Her Omni-tool lights up, and begins transferring data from the small device into its own database. A small beep is heard as it finishes, and one of the creatures grabs the small device taking it away. The women's Omni-tool, now a blood red instead of a bright orange, fades as well. The creatures all leave the room, leaving the being alone with the women. It leans over the women, looking down at her face.
"I'm going to get in a lot of trouble for doing this, Shepard, but honestly I don't really care," it says, while reaching out a shadowy finger and placing it on her forehead. As it touches, her body is enveloped by wispy shadows, forming into a roughly spherical shape around her. The shadows then seem to harden, forming a black cocoon like shell around her. "That cocoon will protect you for the journey to your new home, as well as make some... changes, to better suit your new environment." The black relay comes to a stop in an otherwise unremarkable area of space. "We have arrived, Shepard, don't waste this chance. It's the only one you get," it says as it disappears.
The relay turns towards a starless point in space. The being, almost invisible in the blackness of space, hovers over the front of the relay, its voice somehow carrying across the void of space, "Let's send her off," it says with a wicked toothy grin.
Black energy climbs up the front of the relay and arced off into space, before striking some unseen surface. The arc of energy is met by four black beams originating from the back of the relay. Then the beams slowly part, opening a massive fissure in space of inward surging black energy. It crackles with an unnatural power. And from it is shooting arcs of black lightning, striking the relay and the empty space around it. The being smiled as the black energy surges around it.
"FIRE!" it yells in a voice that somehow carries across the empty void of space.
The room is launched forward by the relay toward the gaping maw. As it approaches, the fissure seemed to lunge forward engulfing it. Slowly, the black mass collapses in on itself, dissipating into nothing, leaving the black relay and the being alone in space.
"Good luck, Shepard. We won't ever see each other again. Not that you saw me in the first place," the being says, as it and the black relay also disappear.
The room flies though the darkness, while inside the black cocoon that holds her, great changes are happening to the woman. Everything is being changed right down to her own DNA. All over her skin, cerulean blue fur starts to grow. Her face become more elongated, her eyes starts to grow bigger, her black hair becomes longer and thicker and at her rear a short black tail appears. Her bones start to move about and change shape. New bone joints appear, her hand and feet retract into a hoofs, a horn sprouts in the middle of her forehead and finally the symbol N7 appears on both sides of her rear.
As her transformation comes to an end, so too did the journey across the darkness. The room appears over a beautiful starry piece of space, almost as if had been painted on the sky. The piece flies past the small moon and sun that orbits the large flat green and blue planet. It heads toward the planet, and, more specifically, to a small town called Ponyville.
It is a beautiful summer day over Ponyville. Celestia's glorious warm sun rays are beaming down onto the earth, the birds are singing their sweet summer songs, and ponies are happily greeting each other on the street. Twilight Sparkle and her friends are not going to waste a single minute of this beautiful day .
"Oh' I hope I haven't forgotten anything." says the purple Alicorn princess, Twilight Sparkle, who is stressing over her list for maybe the tenth time.
"Oh, Twilight," says the pink pony named Pinkie Pie, who is in the process of stuffing four boxes of cupcakes, three bags of balloons and streamers, a deck chair, a party cannon, pink floaties and a canoe (complete with paddles) into a picnic basket. "It's a picnic, and picnics are fun, so stop worrying your silly head about it."
"Yeah, I mean, we have been waiting for like half an hour, Twi, and I'm getting bored of watching Pinkie pack and unpack her stuff," says the blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane, justly named Rainbow Dash, who is flying idly on the spot.
"Ok, Ok, I'm done. Don't be so impatient," Twilight says, as she adjusts her saddle bag and shoots a glare at Rainbow Dash, causing Dash to roll her eyes. Twilight walks up to the stairs and yells up it, "SPIKE WE ARE GOING! YOU COMING OR NOT?"
"I'm coming," Spike says sleepily, getting out of his bed and grabbing his bag by the window. He throws a quick glance out the window, and just as he is about to turn around and leave, something catches his eye. "Umm, Twilight? Do stars usually appear during the day?"
"Of course not Spike. The sun is too bright for us to see the much weaker lights of the stars," Twilight says in matter-of-fact voice.
Spike frowns at this, "But I see one right now, Twilight."
Spike hears the sound of multiple sets of hooves coming up the stairs. "Spike, if this is a joke, it's not funny," Twilight says with clear irritation in her voice. As she enters the room with her friends, she walks past Spike and looks out of the window. "I mean, stars appearing in midday, that's impossible and stu...," Twilight pauses as she saw the glowing red dot in the sky. It is hard to see because it is so close to the sun, but there it is, and it is pretty big too.
"What is it, Twilight?" says the yellow Pegasus with a pink mane, called Fluttershy, as she comes up beside her. Twilight turns to face her, causing her to back off a bit. "I mean if that not a dumb question," she says in a meek voice hiding behind her mane.
"No, it's not a dumb question, but I'm not sure what it is actually. But it's not a star, of that I’m sure."
"Is it just me, dear, or is it getting bigger?" asks the white unicorn with a purple mane called Rarity who approaches the window.
All the girls look out and see that she is right. It is getting bigger... or is it closer...?
Over at Canterlot, Princess Celestia also notices the red light in the sky. She frowns at the unnatural light and then turns to her drowsy and recently awakened sister and asks, "Is this your doing, dear sister?" as she points toward the red light.
Luna squints at the light, "It is not me, sister. It looks like a Meteoroid, but I wouldn't think so. I would have noticed it long before it got this close to us," Luna says with a shake of her head.
Celestia sighs and then speaks to what appears to be thin air, "Discord? Is this your doing?"
"Oh you wound me, dear Tia," comes an annoying small voice from underneath a tea cup. Celestia lifts up the cup with her magic revealing the odd miss-matching creature called Discord having a bath. "Can't a Draconequis have a bath in peace," he says covering himself in the shower curtains to hide his always naked body. Celestia just continues staring him "And no, I didn't do it," he finishes with a small hint of annoyance his voice.
Celestia puts the cup back down and then looks back at the red light in sky which has gotten slightly bigger, "What is it then?" Celestia asks the world in general.
"Duh, it's a meteoroid and soon to be meteorite!" says Discord appearing behind Celestia and putting a dunce hat on her horn.
"What! Impossible! I would have noticed it days ago if it is a meteoroid!" scoffs Luna, annoyed that any pony would think she could miss something as obvious meteoroid when she is sky crafting.
"But how could you? Considering it didn't exist till an hour ago, besides it is quite small, about the size of a large room," Discord says adjusting his big nerdy glasses.
"If it was there an hour ago why didn't you tell us about it," asks Celestia who had long since removed the dunce hat, and then as an after thought add, "And what do you mean it didn't exist?"
"To answer your first question, I was busy making toast," Discord says drinking a bowl of black sludge, which looks totally inedible to Celestial and Luna, "And to answer your second question, I meant exactly what I said. So instead of torturing me with dumb questions, you should stop it before it hits something," he says giving her a wicked smile.
"Don't worry about it, sister, it sounds small enough to just burn up in the atmosphere," Luna reassures her worried sister, but something is still worrying Celestia.
"I'm going to stop it anyway, it just feels like something is wrong," Celestia says, as she removes all her shoes, golden jewellery and crown and places them on the ground.
Luna frowns at her sister's lack of faith, but then she puts it toward her sister's over worrying nature. "Fine, but if you’re going, then I’m coming too!" Luna says doing the same as Celestia.
"And I will watch!" says Discord who is holding a camera.
Celestia rolls her eyes as she teleports, followed by Luna and Discord. They appear in the space around their planet, that is called Equis. Now that they are in front of the light, they can see it is a lot bigger than a large room, it looks as big as Ponyville's town hall.
"Discord, that's a lot bigger than you said," Luna says as she stares at the huge ball of fire that is moving quickly toward them.
"It was smaller when it first appeared," Discord says, while putting on a huge pair of sun glasses to hide his eyes from the blinding light it emits.
"Why is it flaming that strongly? It hasn't even reached the atmosphere yet?" asks Celestia, her eyes on the meteoroid as it heads toward them, faster than it should.
"Stop asking dumb questions and just stop that flaming ball! I'm getting bored!" Discord says, crossing his arms and yawning.
Celestia, now ignoring Discord, turns to her sister who is staring dumbly at the ball of fire. "You need to concentrate, Luna, it's much bigger and faster than we thought, and we need stop it before it can hurt somepony." Luna nods and closes her eyes showing that she is starting to build up her magic, Celestia does the same, pulling magic from her source of power, the sun. Magic that can blow away cities and mountains, it is the unstoppable power of the sun. She never uses it in Equestria for fear of killing innocent ponies. Her hair is now fire and her eyes are burning with the brightness of a nova. She turns to see Luna whose eyes are now glowing like the moon and stars, with her hair sparkling like a galaxy. She nods to show she is ready. They both turn their heads toward the ball of fire and...
"GET ON WITH IT!" yells Discord, throwing popcorn at them while he lies down on a deck chair.
...still ignoring Discord, they fire a massive white and black beam at the ball, engulfing it completely and most surely destroying it. Celestia smiling turns toward Luna, who is charging towards her? Before Celestia can do anything her sister tackles her sending them both flying backwards.
"What is that for...?" But before Celestia can continue her sentence, the fire ball, now twice as big as before, flies through the spot where she and Luna had been hovering.
"We didn't destroy it, sister," Luna says sadly.
"But that is the most powerful and deadly spell we know. It could destroy a nation within seconds," Celestia says in shocked tones and all Luna can do is nod.
"Well hugging is lovely and nice, but that fire ball is still heading for Equestria and most importantly, to Ponyville. You have about a minute to stop it," says Discord pointing toward their planet with a pointer. Celestia and Luna give him a confused look. "Oops, did I forget to mention it is heading directly toward Ponyville? Funny I could have sworn I said it," he says with a sheepish look on his face.
Celestia and Luna feel their stomachs knot at this new information and a single word screams in their heads "TWILIGHT". Like a shot the two Princess take off after the ball of fire, with Discord following close behind. The Princess catches up with it pretty quickly and are soon beside it. From the side it looks like a long football.
"Go! Team! Go!" yells Discord behind them wearing a full cheerleading outfit with a blonde wig and he is also waving two pom-poms about.
"YOU COULD HELP, DISCORD!" yells Luna trying not to get hit by a random bolt of fire that shoots out of the fireball seemingly trying to shoot her and Celestia down.
"Been there! Tried that!" Discord says, now appearing in a full body cast and wincing. "It didn't end well, it seems to resent being meddled with."
Luna gives a worried glance to Celestia who returns it. The two try to tether the fireball with their magic to at least slow it down, but every time they try, something mentally attacks them causing them to let go because of the sheering pain it causes. It seems that whatever has control over the fireball is much more powerful than Celestia, Luna and Discord. And it is as if the fireball is mocking them. It shoots ahead of them with a speed which would make Rainbow Dash blush. Celestia thinks she can hear a young filly laugh coming from it as they are knocked back by the sudden increase of speed of the fireball. But that laughter could just be Celestia's exhausted and stressed mind playing tricks on her. They try to catch up to it again, but the two Princess are too exhausted both mentally and physically to even get close to it, so all they can do is watch as the fireball gets closer and closer to Ponyville, Twilight and her friends. Celestia can hear screaming ponies as the fireball gets closer to Ponyville, Celestia tries to turn her head away, too scared to watch what she thinks will happen, but Discord stopped her.
"Look!" Discord instructs. Celestia does and to her surprise the fireball had stops above Ponyville. It stays there for a few seconds, or is it few minutes, and then it explodes, raining fire all over Ponyville. In its stead hovers the biggest and most beautiful phoenix she has ever seen. It is bigger than a dragon and more beautiful than its hoard. Celestia wishes Philomena was here to see it too.
The phoenix makes an ear splitting screech which causes all three of them to flinch and then it flies toward the Everfree Forest at a speed that would make a cheetah give up his spots.
"What is it doing, sister?" asks Luna her eyes following the phoenix and with relief spreading across her face at the fact that Ponyville is spared.
"I don't know, Luna," replies Celestia, but, as if to answer her question, when the phoenix reaches the edge of the forest it pulls up and throws a smoking black and silver object toward the centre of the Everfree Forest. Then the phoenix seems to disappear. A huge crash can be heard as the object hits the ground and Celestia winces at thought of that hitting anypony.
"You don't suppose that phoenix is trying to save us do you?" asks Luna, looking at the smoking crater in the distance.
Before anypony can answer, a small fireball flies past them giggling like a filly all the way. Discord raises one eyebrow, "Nah, we have been totally trolled."
"We should head back Canterlot to rest, send one squad of guards to check if everypony is alright and another squad to secure that object." says Luna, fatigue catching up on her, and Celestia, aching all over, agrees. They don't have the strength to chase after the small fireball, that is already disappearing into the distance.
"Why bother! The girls are already on their way to check it out anyway." Discord says, crawling into a floating bed and pointing toward a group of six mares that are running toward the forest and the crater.
Celestia smiles, at least they are fine. "Let’s go back and send the guards anyway, just in case." Celestia says as she teleports back to her palace.
"Whatever," Discord says, he and his bed disappearing in a cloud of confused flies.
Luna looks towards the crater, the place phoenix disappeared and the small fireball that is now long gone. She then shakes her head and teleports away as well.
About a few minutes ago, back at Golden Oak Library
Twilight frowns, she has been watching the red light from her balcony. It has been getting bigger, there was also a huge flash and it suddenly grew in size.
"So what is it, Twilight?" asks the small purple and green dragon called Spike from beside her.
Twilight shakes her head and says, "I don't know, Spike, but I can feel a huge amount of magic coming from up there, maybe a..."
"Sorry to interrupt, Twilight, but is it getting hotter, or is it just me?" interrupts the orange pony with a blonde mane called Applejack. She is trying to cool herself down by fanning herself with her long brim hat.
She is right. It is getting hotter. Twilight looks back up at the light and sees that it is much bigger again. Squinting at it she then sees that it is flaming, and comes to a sudden realization. It is a huge meteorite. Twilight screams.
"What wrong, Twilight??" asks Applejack, her face is suddenly etched with worry at her friend's outburst.
"IT'S A METEORITE!" Twilight yells, turning toward her friends, panic in her face.
Her friends give her confused looks and then Rainbow Dash speaks up, "Umm... Twilight, what's a meteorite?"
Twilight sighs, panic receding slightly, and explains: "A meteorite is a space rock that does not burn up in the planet’s atmosphere and hits the ground. If it did burn up it would be called a meteor. When they float around in space they are called meteoroids. Equestria has been hit by a few small meteorites in the last decade, but they have been too small to do any real damage. But this one looks huge and possibly could wipe out all of Ponyville." Twilight finished, smiling at a job well done.
Her friends are still no less confused, "OK, I got the part about it could destroy Ponyville," says Applejack, and rest of the girls nod in agreement. Twilight rolls her eyes and wishes her friend were just a bit more knowledgeable sometimes.
"So what are we going to do about it?" asks Rainbow Dash who is actually starting to sweat as it gets even hotter.
"I don't know. Usually Princess Celestia destroys them before they can became meteorites," Twilight says panicking again.
"Can you do something, dear!" yells Rarity, "It is getting closer!"
Twilight turns toward the huge fireball and then concentrates on it with her magic to try to stop it or at least slow it down. Magic swirls around her and her eyes start to glow and she grabs the meteorite with her magic. Suddenly she feels a sharp pain in her head like a sharp needle has pieced her brain. Wincing she ignores it and continues. But more pains come, quicker and much more painful like the needle are getting bigger. She tries to continue but suddenly she feels a pain that felt like it would crack open her skull. She screams in pain and lets go and then collapses on the floor clutching her forehead.
"TWILIGHT!" yells her friends as they rush to her side and start to pick her up gently.
"Did I... Did I stop it?" Twilight says, cradling her sore head in her hooves.
"Umm... better take look, Twilight," says Rainbow Dash.
Twilight looks up and her eyes widen, not only had it not stopped or slowed down it has grown bigger. It is now probably bigger than Ponyville, and is about to hit any second.
"I failed," says Twilight tears appear in her eyes and her face falls into her hooves. We are all going to die and I can't stop it.
Suddenly hooves wrap around her in a hug, Twilight looks up at her friends who are smiling at her.
"Don't worry, Twilight, you tried your best," says the sweet voice of Fluttershy in comfort.
"Yeah, even if we all die here, I can't say I regret one minute of my life," says the chipper voice of Pinkie Pie "Except, I've never beaten the worlds cupcake eating record. Curse you, Vorago!" Pinkie shakes her hoof at the sky.
The rest of the girls giggle and nod in agreement at the first thing Pinkie said.
Twilight, tears in her eyes, returned the hug, "Me too!" Twilight says tears streaming down her face.
The world shakes as the meteorite gets closer to them. The girls close their eyes and hold each other close least they get torn apart. They can hear ponies screaming on the street as they are about to witness their last moments. A whimpering comes from Spike causing Twilight to hold him tighter. It gives Twilight some hope that Spike will most likely survive this. The shaking gets stronger and the roaring gets louder. The girls shut their eyes tighter and wait for the end.
Which does not come.
"Hey, it stopped?" Pinkie yells.
The girls open their eyes and gasp. The fireball is floating right above Ponyville. It is like the sun has come down to greet them. Its flaming surface is only like 10 metres away from the tallest building. The whole of Ponyville seems to be silent and holding its breath, waiting to see what happens next.
Spike is the first one to break the silence, "Well what happens no..."
The fireball explodes. Small fireballs rain down on Ponyville and bounce off rooftop harmlessly and hit the ground where they blossom into bunches of spring flowers. No one notices it because of the massive bird of fire that appears in the place of the fireball.
"WHAT THE HAY IS THAT!!" yells Applejack, as the bird starts to flap its wings, sending fourth gale force like winds across the town.
"IT'S A PHOENIX!" Twilight yells, trying to be heard over the wind. The wind feels strong enough to blow a pony away.
"WEEEEEEEEE!!!" goes Pinkie Pie, as she blows past Twilight, only to be grabbed by the tail by Rarity to stop her from being blown away, which causes Pinkie to giggle, "I'M LIKE A KITE!" she says, while flapping in the wind.
"IT"S MUCH BIGGER THAN PHILOMENA!" Fluttershy yells while she hangs onto the balcony railings to stop herself from being blow away.
"YOU DON'T SAY, SHY!" yells Rainbow Dash, as she flies against the wind.
A sudden and ear splitting noise spreads across the town, causing the girls to clamp their hooves over their ears in hope of blocking out the horribly loud noise, they can hear glass shattering and the very world vibrating.
"WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT NOISE!!" yells Rainbow Dash, trying to be heard over the sound.
"IT'S THE PHOENIX, IT'S TALKING TO US" Fluttershy yells back.
Suddenly the noise stops. The girls look up and see that the phoenix is now flying towards the Everfree Forest. There is also a crash and a yelp as Rainbow Dash flies forward and crashes into a tree branch because of the sudden lack of wind to fly against. There also a thump and another yelp as the laws of gravity remember Pinkie Pie and drop her on top of Rarity who is still holding onto her tail.
"Ugh. You are saying that the phoenix was talking to us, dear?" Rarity says, while trying to untangle herself from Pinkie Pie who is still giggling.
"Umm.. well, I mean, it was talking, maybe not to us, I mean, it could be talking to anypony, I just heard what she said, is all," Fluttershy says nervously, also hiding her head behind her mane again.
"That's OK, sugarcube." says Applejack, pulling a dazed Rainbow Dash out of the tree branch, "Just tell us what she said anyway."
"Umm... OK," Fluttershy says, straightening up, "She said 'Psych! And here is a present from space! Have fun girls!' and that's all."
Suddenly there is a huge crashing noise and a slight tremor.
"WHAT WAS THAT!" yells Rainbow Dash snapping out of her daze and whipping her head around.
"It is the phoenix. It dropped something into the Everfree Forest, and then disappeared," Twilight says, looking out toward the Everfree Forest. She jumps off the balcony and glides to the ground. "Spike, look after the library, I'm going to check it out."
"OK, Twilight," replies Spike.
"Wait a minute, Twilight, if you’re going we are going too." Rainbow Dash says, dashing in front of Twilight stopping her in her tracks.
"Yeah!" says Pinkie Pie, appearing beside Twilight, "Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro Uno!"
"If it's OK I would like to come too and help, if that OK?" says Fluttershy, gliding down from the balcony.
"I won't be able call myself a good friend if let you girls go into the forest by yourself," says Applejack, as she and Rarity appear from behind the library.
"Yes let’s go and see what that phoenix left behind." says Rarity, smiling and brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"You girls" Twilight says, smiling at her friend loyalty, "Fine, lets solve this!" Twilight yells as she runs towards the forest.
"YEAH" yells her friends following behind.
The crater is smoking as small fires smoulder and die. In the centre of it, a large object of metal sits. Its once shiny chrome surface is burnt and scarred but still intact. Only a single hole is visible on its ruined surface, which turns out to be a corridor. At the end of the corridor is a pair of sliding metal doors. Suddenly a slamming noise comes from the other side. After a few seconds it stops and suddenly a red flat glowing blade is shoved between the middle of the sliding doors and starts prying them open. The doors start to part. Two armoured hooves shove between them and start pushing them open. When they are open enough, a silver and red figure walks though the door and down the corridor, sometimes leaning against the wall for support. It jumps off the end of the corridor onto the ground, stumbling as it lands. It is clad in silver armour with a blood red painted dragon on its crest. Its visor is shiny red and the side of its face glows every time it breathes out heavily. It has blood running down its legs. On its rear is a dark grey device with the symbol '300-M' on it. On its left side is a long black tube, on its right side a dark grey device with two flaps and the symbol N7. A silver and black round device is on the left side of the '300-M'. And finally a black boxy device with a white pony skull on it on the right side of the '300-M'.
The figure starts limping forward toward the forest leaving a trail of liquid crimson behind it...
The girls walk through the forest, hoping not to bump into any of the forest's many undesirable inhabitants. They can tell they are getting closer. They can see that the smoke rising from the crater is much closer.
“What do you think it can be, Twilight,” asks Rainbow Dash, who is flying slightly over their heads.
Twilight thought about this “Well it could be…”
“Oh, I bet it’s an alien spacecraft with aliens on board!” interrupts Pinkie Pie, bouncing around them.
“I doubt that, Pinkie,” Twilight says in a matter-of-fact voice. “I mean an alien crashing into Equestria and also being dropped off by a huge Phoenix, that sounds really unlikely.”
“But the Phoenix could be a nice Phoenix and tried to save the alien craft and Ponyville, so she caught it and put into forest.” says Pinkie deflating slightly.
“Pinkie didn't you listen to what the Phoenix said,” Applejack asks, “It sounded like it is playing a joke on us”
“Yeah, but it also said here is a present from space and to have fun, so it must be a new alien to meet because meeting aliens are fun.” Pinkie says, giving a huge smile.
“Oh, have you met one before?” asks Fluttershy curiously.
“Nope, it will be the first one I ever meet,” Pinkie says happily.
“THERE IS NO ALIEN!” yells Twilight, getting annoyed, she turns to Pinkie who now has a sad look on her face. Twilight, feeling guilty says “Sorry Pinkie, just can you please stop talking about aliens, it’s most likely to be a large space rock or something”
“It’s OK, Twilight, I'm sorry too.” Pinkie says, now smiling and bouncing on the spot, “I mean it would be so cool if it is an alien”
Twilight has to admit it would pretty interesting to meet an alien, she shakes her head trying to remove the silly thought.
“Look out, dear!” Rarity warns.
But too late, Twilight, not noticing the ground has suddenly dropped away, falls forward down a slope. When she finally stops rolling, she struggles to her hooves. She hears somepony laughing from up the slope.
“That is hilarious, Twilight, you look blacker than Thunderlane.” guffawed Rainbow Dash.
Twilight looks down on herself, she is covered in ash and soot. ‘Ugh, now I need a bath,’ she thinks. She then turns back to her friends, “Just get down here,” she says angrily.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy fly down followed by Applejack and Pinkie Pie who slide down the slope. Last one left up there is Rarity.
“Come on, Rarity,” Applejack calls up.
“No way, I would get filthy sliding down that slope.” She says, looking over the edge.
Twilight, rolling her eyes, picks up Rarity with her magic and brings her down, placing her gently on the ground.
“Thank you, though standing on this ground is not much of an improvement” Rarity says, turning to smile at Twilight. Her face changes to shock when she see her. “Your face is absolutely filthy, hold still!” She attacks Twilight face with a white handkerchief, trying to clean the soot away.
“Stop it!” Twilight says, pushing away the handkerchief, “We have got more important things to do!” She points toward the smoking object in the middle of the huge crater that she has fallen into.
They all nod, except Rarity, who still looks like she wants to clean Twilight's face. She sighs and nods as well. They all move towards the object.
“Wuss!” says Applejack, directing it at Rarity.
“Not everyone likes to get dirty, dear,” Rarity says, trying not to get her legs covered in soot, which is hard because the ground is covered in a thick layer of it, and every step sends it up in clouds.
As they get nearer they hear the sound of flapping wings, they look up and see a squad of Guard Ponies flying overhead.
One of the Guard speaks, “Oi! Which one of you is Princess Twilight Sparkle?”
“That would be me,” Twilight says, stepping forward.
The guard that spoke flies down, sending clouds of soot and ash up into the air making Twilight cough. He then looks Twilight up and down, smiles and says “Been climbing up chimneys have we, your highness?”
This confuses Twilight but then she remembers her state, causing her to blush in embarrassment, and she can hear her friends trying very hard not to laugh... or not in some cases.
“That’s a good one” laughs Rainbow Dash again.
Twilight chose to ignore her friends, turning back to the guard who is smiling.
“Sorry Princess, but that was a once in a lifetime opportunity right there,” he says, still smiling. Suddenly his face turns serious and he stands to attention, “I am Sergeant Thunderclap and my squad and I are here to secure the area.” He speaks in a very military tone which surprise Twilight, because it was not the way he had acted before. He turns his head toward the other guard ponies who are still smiling and jerks his head at them. They fly to the edges of the crater and start to patrol. He turns back to the girls and to their surprise is smiling again.
“What do you think it is?” asks Rainbow Dash, who has stopped laughing at Twilight.
“Don’t know, I just got here and I am told just to guard the area, not to investigate,” he says shrugging.
“Aren't you curious?” Pinkie asks.
“Of course I am,” he says smiling “But I've got to wait for the expert to get here.”
“What about us?” asks Rarity nervously.
“I was told to stop everyone except the Elements of Harmony from looking at the space object,” he says still smiling.
“Thank you,” says Twilight now continuing toward the object.
“Good Luck!” he says, and is about to take off, when a pink hoof stops him.
“What?” he says, looking at the pink pony.
Pinkie pulls his head down and whispers, “Between you and me, what do you really think it is?”
The Sergeant looks around making sure no other guards are in earshot, “Well between you and me, I think it’s an alien spacecraft” he says in a low voice, but not low enough for Twilight not to overhear it.
Twilight, in frustration, starts stomping toward the object sending up clouds of soot and ash, making her even dirtier. But she doesn't care, she is going to prove once and for that it is not an alien or an alien spacecraft, because that is stupid!! As they get closer the smoke that covers it dissipates, revealing the object. It seems to be mostly metal and oddly shaped, but it's no spacecraft. It is the wrong shaped for one and it seems not to have any sort of propulsion systems, which it would need if it was a spaceship.
“See I was right, it’s just a big meteorite” Twilight says, turning back toward her friends, with the smug face of somepony who knows she is right all along.
“Umm, Twilight, you better take a closer look” says Rainbow Dash pointing back toward the object, she looks shocked. So do the others.
Twilight turns back to look closely and her face registers shock as well. Now that she looks more closely at it, the smoke clearing some more, she can starts to see plates of metal across it surface and signs of welding, bits of torn metal stick out of it, like it has been broken off from something bigger. It is no meteorite. But it still is not a spaceship. Twilight’s mind comes to a huge decision, it has been made by something, either by a pony or something else, hopefully a pony. As they get closer, they can clearly see it has signs of huge damage to its surface, like maybe an explosion. Pinkie runs up to it and places her hoof on its surface.
“Pinkie, be careful! It might still be hot!” Twilight warns, running up to Pinkie.
“It’s only slightly warm,” Pinkie says, dragging her hoof across its surface.
Twilight and her friends start to circle it. It was probably once masterfully built, but it is in a sad state now, its surface is covered in what looks to be signs of destruction.
“Maybe it’s an alien escape pod and just escaped from a huge space battle” Pinkie says, in a quiet awe.
Before Twilight can say anything a yell from Applejack catches their attention “Hey, I found a hole over here!”
Everypony runs towards Applejack, who is standing under a square hole in the side of the object. It is nearly a metre off the ground. Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy fly up and start to help up the rest of their friends. From the edge they look down the hole, which turns out to be what looks like a corridor. It is big enough so eight ponies could easily walk side by side. They walk slowly down the corridor Twilight’s horn lighting the way. At the end they see something that chills them right down to their bones. It is a big thick metal door. It has been forced open from the inside. Fluttershy now clings to Rainbow Dash in fear, who also looks scared. Pinkie Pie, eyes wide, is now clutching Applejack, whose own eyes are also wide in horror. Rarity is frozen to the spot eyes fixed on the huge door. They have all seen movies like this before, an out-of-space object with doors forced open. This means two very important things. One, there was something inside it that is now outside it, and two, it has the strength to open doors made from what looks like solid steel. Twilight puts on a brave face walks through the doors and into freezing cold.
“Celestia! It’s cold in here!” Twilight says, shivering slightly.
“You’re right,” says Rainbow Dash who is following her, her breath coming out as white vapour.
“Ugh, it’s so dark I can barely see anything,” complains Applejack, who follows behind them.
“I can fix that,” Twilight says, as the orb of light from her horn grows and starts floating above them, illuminating the room.
“That’s much better,” says Rarity, walking in. Suddenly, they hear a small splash, “Eww! I stepped in something!” Rarity lifts her hoof to her face and sees crimson liquid dripping off it. She screams “AHHHHH!! BLOOD!!”, and backs away from the puddle.
Twilight scans the ground seeing blood on the floor, and lots of it. There is also a trail of blood leading out the door. Twilight runs to the door and there is blood, both dried and fresh on it. She looks down the corridor and sees a trail of dry blood leading down it. There is also blood on one of the walls, showing that whatever has been bleeding has leaned against the wall for support. This means two more other important things. Three, it is badly injured, and four, even when injured it still had the strength to open those doors.
“Why is the blood in here wet and the blood out there dry?” asks Rainbow Dash who is rubbing herself to keep warm, her eyes fixed on the blood. Like it would attack her.
“It’s hot out there so the blood will dry up quickly, it’s cold in here so the blood has yet to dry” Twilight says, on autopilot, because her eyes are transfixed on the place where the bloody trail starts.
It is a pile of rubble covered in blood and something black. Twilight and her friends approach it, Pinkie Pie picks up some of the thin black stuff, she gasps as it crumbles into dust in her hoof. As Twilight got closer she sees the largest piece of it. It's in the shape of a huge tube, which looks like something had broken out of it. Twilight shivers at the thought. But before she has a chance to examine it, a voice grabs her attention.
“Hay, there's a box over here,” calls out Rainbow Dash.
Twilight looks over and see an opened box in front of some wreckage. She runs over, careful not to step on anything and looks inside it. She thought it was empty, until Rarity pulls out something that she didn't see. It is a baggy black hoodie for a pony.
“What lovely fabric,” Rarity says, as she runs her non bloody hoof across, “Shame it’s on something as uncouth as a hoodie.” She adds, looking disgusted.
“I think it’s pretty cool” Pinkie Pie says, coming out of underneath and sliding up into the hoodie.
“Pinkie take that off, it does not suit you at all. Black is not your colour.” Rarity scolds.
“Aww, but it’s so cool looking and warm.” Pinkie pouts while bouncing on the spot. Suddenly, there is a tinkle of something small hitting metal as an object falls from the hoodie's pocket and hits the floor. Twilight picks up it up with her magic and examines it. There are two flat pieces of metal hanging on a metal necklace.
“It’s a dog-tag?” says Rainbow Dash, surprised.
“A what?” asks Twilight, who had never heard of such a thing.
“It's what soldiers use to identify bodies on the battlefield” Rainbow Dash states.
Just another mystery to add to the pile, a hoodie for a pony and a dog-tag that soldiers use.
"Now how did you know that, Rainbow Dash?" asks Applejack.
Rainbow just shrugs, "Read about it in some magazine somewhere," she says dismissively, she then turns to Twilight, “What does it say?”
“Huh?” Twilight replies, who was not paying attention.
Rainbow Dash just groans and facehooves. “Look on it, Twilight, it should have the owner’s name, blood group, religious preference, service number and place of origin on each piece of metal.”
“Oh,” Twilight replies, looking sheepish.
She looks at it carefully and finds that she can’t read the strange language on either piece. She flips one of them around and can see that on the other side is an odd V like symbol holding three stars in it.
“I can’t read it, I mean I don’t even recognise the language” Twilight says, with a hint of frustration in her voice as she grabs the hoodie and stuffs it with the dog-tag in her saddle bags.
Before anypony can add anything.
“By Luna! It's cold in here!” It's Thunderclap, “Princess, where are you?” he says, looking around in annoyance.
“I’m here” says Twilight, wondering why he can’t see her.
His face is momentarily shocked and then he gives a wide grin, “Sorry Princess didn't see you, with you know, you being all blacked up and all”
Twilight frowns and then remember that she is covered in black soot. She hears Rainbow Dash trying very hard not to laugh at her again.
“So there is blood in here too,” Thunderclap says, being serious again, “We found some blood at the edge of the forest too.”
“Really” Twilight ears perking up at this, “Can you show us it to us?”
He seems to frown at this but then nod his head “Sure” he says slowly, as he walks back toward the door. Twilight follows, with her friends following closely behind her.
They reach the edge of the crater. Two Guards are standing to attention at a point near the forest. As the girls get closer, they see blood on some of the leaves and grass.
“Gave me quite a shock when Corporal Fisher showed me that” Thunderclap says all serious, nodding to one of the guard, who nods back. Thunderclap continuing says, “I took a guess and guessed were it might have come from, and I was right. So tell me, how much is in there, Princess?”
“A lot, Sergeant” Twilight says sadly. “How can it still get this far when it’s bleeding this bad?” She looks back at the smoking object which is at least a five minute walk away.
“It has either got a lot of stamina or it’s pretty big," Thunderclap says, shaking his head, "I don’t think I know any pony that can still stand let alone walk after losing that much blood. It will most likely be dead soon!”
Pinkie looks shocked and turns to Twilight, “Twilight! We must help the alien!”
Twilight nods her head, “If it’s in trouble we should help it” she says, walking forward, only to be blocked by the two guard’s wings that have spread out to block the path. Twilight turns to see Thunderclap shaking his head again.
“Princess, I can’t let the newest Princess of Equestria go into possible danger without warning you first.” Thunderclap face is even more serious. “If you go, we can’t follow or help you. We have to stay on guard. So can you please stay here until the experts arrive?” He stares hard at the Princess.
Twilight returns the stare, “No we can’t, there something in trouble and hurt. I can’t just stay here and do nothing. It could be dying and in need of aid and you can’t stop me from helping it!” she says confidently.
“I know I can’t,” Thunderclap says, nodding toward the two guards, who retract their wings out of the way. “Just be careful and don’t die! I don’t want to be fired,” he adds, smiling a little.
“Thank you, and don’t worry, we will be careful,” Twilight says running into the forest with her friends.
As the girls disappear in the woods, Thunderclap flies back down to the object and goes inside. He he looks back to see if he was followed. His eyes start to glow a brilliant white. He looks around scanning every detail and sniffing the air, before spotting the broken black cocoon. With a stomp of his hoof, he destroys it. He looks around and, satisfied he has not missed anything, sheds his disguise, revealing a misty white-grey stallion with glowing white eyes, a glowing white tail and mane. Every step he takes puffs out wisps of white mist which makes a trail behind him as he walks[1]. He stops and starts to chant something. A column of black smoke appears and a motherly voice speaks out of it.
“Ahh Mendax, what news do you bring about the… problem?” it says, sweet and calm.
“It’s safe, Mother” Mendax says in a cold but respectful voice kneeling down. “This Plane of Existence has welcomed this change, and is adapting as we speak at a quicker rate than I thought it would.”
“Who did it?” she asks.
“I don’t know, Mother,” he says kneeling down lower as if to apologise, “I looked and all I can find is a small amount of fading True Magic and a cocoon made from Real Darkness, and I have removed both of them, just in case.” His head now touching the ground he continues, “I'm sorry Mother. I have failed to find anything of use.”
“Get your head off the ground my child, and stand tall” the voice scolds and continues, “The lack of clues is a clue in itself, it means only He can have done this, because only He and his race can do something this well, without leaving any clues.”
“But Mother, without evidence we can’t confront Him” says Mendax.
“I know. He has won this little game, again” the voice says bitterly. “But no harm us been done here and The Plane has accepted this, so we won’t do anything” The voice says now a lot calmer.
“Yes Mother.” Mendax says standing to attention, “What are my orders.”
“Just continue your job as warden with the disguise of Thunderclap and keep pretending to be a Guard of this Celestia.” says the voice more cheerfully. “Also watch out for our new guest, just in case He shows up.”
Mendax smiles at this, “Thank you Mother, I'm enjoying myself as Thunderclap, it’s a lot of fun.”
A long and slender pony head comes out of the column of black and kisses Mendax on the forehead. “I know my child, enjoy yourself.” She says as the face and the column disappear, leaving Mendax alone.
“Bye, Mother,” he says as white mist engulfs him. When the mist dissipates he is Thunderclap again, the simple Sergeant in her Majesty’s Guard.
Outside, he meets another guard, it is Corporal Fisher.
“Sir! We hear noises coming from the forest, sir,” he says saluting.
“What kind of noise, solider?” Thunderclap says, crossing his front hooves.
“It was like multiple explosions, sir,” Fisher says.
“What did you do, solider,” Thunderclap says looking out toward the forest.
“Nothing, sir. I came to get you,” he says, now flying to attention.
Thunderclap wonders if the girls are OK. If not, they will be joining the many other dead Mane Sixes in the Soul Library. He then address Fisher, “Listen we have our orders, we are to stay here and guard the space object until the experts arrive, and I did warn the girls to wait.” He looks at Fisher face which is still worried, and sighs, “And if something has happen to them I will take the blame, OK. Now get back to your post.”
Fisher, still worried, salutes again and flies off. Thunderclap looks out to the forest and sighs again, then flies back to his post.
Over Five Minutes Ago in the Everfree Forest
Twilight runs through the forest following the trail of blood, she is closely followed by her friends. Suddenly the blood thins and then stops.
“Curses! The blood’s stopped. Let’s look if we can pick up a new trail,” Twilight orders, as she starts to look around.
“Roger, Twilight!” says Pinkie Pie as she jumps into the brush with a magnifying glass. Suddenly her head pops out, “So what do you think the alien will be like?” she asks, looking at every leaf for clues.
“I told you to stop talking about aliens!” Twilight says in annoyance, while she looks about.
“Umm, no offence Twilight, but what else could it be,” says Applejack, who is scanning the ground.
“Maybe it’s has sharp teeth, eight legs, a tail, a slimy body and one eye that shoots lasers,” says Rainbow Dash from above them.
“That sounds horrible, Rainbow Dash!” says Rarity, with a disgusted look on her face. She than turns to Fluttershy who is walking around checking bushes, “What do think Fluttershy dear?”
Fluttershy just smiles and says, “Oh I don’t care what it looks like, I just hope it’s nice-EEEP!”
Fluttershy falls over and disappears into the bushes.
“Fluttershy, are you alright?” asks Applejack.
Nothing is heard for a few seconds then she replies, “Yes I’m all right, I just fel… I just…” Then Fluttershy screams.
They all dash into the bushes and see her hooves, her legs and her chest are covered in blood. She is staring in horror at something else though. The girls follow her gaze and what they see nearly makes them throw up. It's a Manticore, and it is missing its head. Well when I say missing I mean it still there, just all over the forest floor and up a nearby tree.
“What could have done this?” asks Rarity, who is trying to clean Fluttershy’s bloody hooves, which is hard because she is shaking in terror.
“I don’t know!” says Twilight, fear in her voice.
“I mean, it is wounded and it can still kill a full grown Manticore. All six of us had trouble dealing with one when we weren't injured!” Rainbow Dash says in wonder.
“Maybe its weird alien power can make thing’s heads go boom,” Pinkie says, looking slightly green.
Before Twilight speak, Applejack calls out, “Hey I found a new path, girls! Do you still want to follow it though?”
Twilight can see that whatever killed the Manticore has left a trail of Manticore blood behind it, and it is heading right to Ponyville.
“We’ve got to get moving. I think it’s heading straight for Ponyville,” orders a worried Twilight.
Now they realise they are no longer just chasing a wounded creature, they are chasing a wounded and very dangerous creature. Rarity helps up Fluttershy who though still covered in blood has more important things to worry about. They look at each other and nod in silent agreement and rush towards Ponyville.
Whatever is ahead of them is leaving a clear trail. A trail of death! They come across a lot of dead creatures, some they recognizes and some unrecognizable. They are cautious now, just walking. A rustling from a bush cause the girls to freeze up, but it is only a bunny.
“Geez, I'm jumpier than a Timber Wolf at a bonfire,” says Applejack rubbing the sweat off her forehead.
Twilight wishes Applejack hadn't said that, it reminds her of what they had seen a minute ago, a pack of Timber Wolves that were all burnt alive as if by a large fire.
“I still can’t believe it killed a cockatrice” says Rainbow Dash, grimacing remembering the sight, “Its head was just crushed against a tree!”
“I still can’t get the snake out of my head,” whines Rarity, “It was sliced right down the middle and with its wounds all cauterized.”
“The poor bear,” says Fluttershy, close to tears, “It had so many holes in it.”
“Girls calm down,” Twilight says trying to calm them even though she herself is terrified, “Remember if we stay calm and work together and then nothing can stop us.”
She starts to walk again, unaware that she is in something’s scope. A black sniper is tracking her head.
The alien is not happy. It has lost quite a lot of blood and I mean a lot, surprised it had not fallen unconscious or died. It feels sore all over and feels really sick. It’s also most likely hallucinating, could those odd colourful creatures be real? There are also a mess of voices screaming in its head.
A lot of voices yelling, ‘Just kill them!’
Other voices say, ‘Just talk to them and find out what they want!’
There are a few quiet voices, but it can’t hear them over the two large groups going ‘Kill’ or ‘Talk’.
It feels like throwing up. Suddenly a huge wave of voices block out all other thoughts. ‘KILL THEM!!’. It feel itself pulling the internal trigger of the sniper. That purple creature is going to die! Then a second wave of voices block out the first yelling ‘DON’T!!’. It jerks the gun sideways.
Twilight feels a prickling on her neck. It feels like somepony or something is watching them.
“Girls, do you have the feeling were being watc…?” something burning hot scrapes against her neck. She screams in pain.
“TWILIGHT!!” yell her friends, as they run over to her side. She is bent over, holding her hoof to her neck.
She pulls her hoof away, it is covered in her blood. “I was hit by something!” She turns to her friends who are looking at her with fear. “Don’t worry, it didn’t get anything important.” She’s trying smile, but her neck is really hurting and she can feel the blood slowly trickle down her neck and onto her back.
“Twilight, look at that!” Fluttershy says.
Twilight looks and gasps. There on the tree behind her is a hole, and some of her blood. If whatever it was that had scraped her neck had actually hit her, she would be dead.
“IT CAME FROM OVER THERE!!” yells Rainbow Dash, rage in her voice.
The alien is still caught in the battle of the voices in its head. Suddenly they stop arguing and speak as one.
‘We’ve been spotted!’
The girls see a red and silver figure jump out of a large bush where Rainbow Dash had pointed. When it hits the ground, it rolls in front of them landing on its feet before them, lowering its body into an aggressive stance. The girls can see their shocked faces on its reflective red visor. But before anypony can say anything a dark-grey metal device flies in a white aura from the figure’s back and hovers in front of it. It unfolds, and the creature starts to look down a tube on the top.
“GET DOWN!! Rainbow Dash yells, knocking her friends away and taking to the sky herself.
Before anypony has time to complain, light flares out of the front of the device. It come in bursts, slowly, then faster and faster. A tree behind had exploded. The device is a weapon! The girls scatter for cover. The figure turns its weapon towards Twilight who is still in the open, a voice yells out.
“HEY! CROME BUTT!!”
The figure turns to see Rainbow Dash skydiving towards it.
“LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!!”
With lightning speed a different device appears in front of the figure, and points at Rainbow Dash. She manages to stop in mid-air just in time as multiple small projectiles zoom towards her. Some graze her, causing her to yelp and fall, crashing through some trees she hits the ground. She lies groaning. Pinkie jumps out of a nearby bush, grabs her and starts to drag her away.
While the figure is fiddling with it’s weapon, Applejack, thinking it’s distracted, charges. The weapons swap back again as it turns to face her.
Applejack freezes, “Oh, Buck!” she says, closing her eyes.
When nothing happens she opens them again, and sees the figure struggling with its weapon as two auras fight for control. She realises that Rarity is trying to pull the weapon from the figures grasp with her own magic. Good old Rarity! She will take back every mean thing she said to her today. Applejack starts to charge again.
The figure makes a decision. A red glowing blade appears on the front of the weapon. Rarity watches in horror as it is suddenly hurled toward her given more speed and direction because her magic was pulling it. It flies right at her. It spins, causing it to only to hit her with the side of the weapon not the blade. Still hurt though. Rarity yelps as she swears she feels a rib crack.
“RARITY!!” yells Applejack, she grits her teeth in anger and turns to face the figure, who is now right in front of her.
Before she can do anything she feels its front right leg connect to her face in a right hook. She is sent flying sideways. She yelps as she hits the ground tumbling. When she finally stops she looks up to see a small red weapon pointed at her head, on it is a pony skull. Applejack stares up at the creature, its visor reflecting her terrified face. Then a rock hits its head, making a ‘clunk’ noise. The creature spins to see Pinkie Pie throwing rocks.
“LEAVE HER ALONE YOU BIG MEAN ALIEN!!” yells Pinkie, throwing more rocks.
The figure points the weapon at Pinkie and fires it, powdering the rock in her hoof. Pinkie looks at her hoof and then, giving an awkward grin, quickly ducks behind a tree. The figure turns back to Applejack, who is gone. The figure looks around and cannot see any of the other ponies. But it hears voices coming from behind a very large fallen tree. Behind the red visor it smirks. It pulls out a long black tube which unfolds, it looks though the scope on top of it and can see the ponies as red silhouettes huddled behind the tree.
Behind the Fallen Tree
Twilight looks over her friends. Most of them are injured including her. The only ones that aren’t are Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.
“OK! What the buck just happened?” asks Rainbow Dash, who is bleeding slightly from multiple large and small cuts. “I mean, we just got our flanks kicked, and there is only, like, one of them!”
“It can throw a mean punch, I’ll give it that,” says Applejack, rubbing her swelling cheek, “Also, thanks for getting me out of there.”
“Anytime,” replies Pinkie smiling.
“You’re welcome” says Twilight, who had teleported her out of there.
“The brute! I think it broke one of my ribs,” whines Rarity, wincing as she touches a large bruise.
“Here let me take a look at it,” says Fluttershy.
There is an explosion. Fluttershy turns around and gasps, there is a hole right where her head was a second ago. Pinkie’s tail twitches and she ducks her head, another explosion and a new hole where her head had just been.
“Back away from the tree girls!” Twilight yells.
“It can get us from behind that! Is nowhere safe?” asks Rarity, panic raising in her voice.
“That thing is unstoppable,” says Rainbow Dash, fear in her eyes.
As they creep backwards they keep expecting something to happen.
Nothing does.
“Do you think it went away,” Pinkie says hopefully.
But before anypony can answer, there is a sound of something small hitting the tree, then a beeping noise. The tree explodes - raining them in splinters and fire. Twilight slowly gets up, even though every muscle in her body tells her just to stay down. She can hear her friends groaning, which is good, it means they are still alive. She looks back to the fire and her eyes widen in horror. Walking though it is the figure, the fire licking harmlessly against its armour. It looks around, locating Twilight and her friends and advances towards them, two small weapons hovering in front. Twilight projects a shield, and just in time too, because the figure starts to fire. The first wave of projectiles bounce harmlessly off the shield, but as the figure gets closer the hits come harder and stronger. Some get through, grazing her face. Her cheek burns with a searing hot pain, but she has to keep up the shield or they are all dead. All her friends are have fear in their eyes. Pinkie and Fluttershy are hugging each other for comfort, and Rarity holds onto Applejack while Applejack pats her on the shoulder. Twilight can’t fail now. She puts more power into the shield, more power than she should. She can feel herself growing weaker. The figure is getting closer and closer.
Rainbow Dash flies high above them. She is waiting for the right moment to attack. As the figure closes on Twilight and her friends, she starts her dive. Front hooves stretched out, she starts to gain speed. She is seen. The figure turns her head and the red weapon aims at her. Rainbow Dash eyes widen in fear but doesn’t pull up. A shot scrapes her side, but she continues anyway, slamming into its back. The figure screams. The front of its face seems to light up, and there is the sound of something shattering. The Alien and Rainbow Dash are violently hurled apart.
“RAINBOW!!” yell Pinkie and Fluttershy as they run to her side. Applejack and Rarity help Twilight, nearly collapsing as she let go of the shield.
“I'm fine,” says Rainbow Dash, waving off the help, and getting up, “I just got slightly zapped. Are you OK, Twilight?”
“It’s just magical exertion, I will be fine in a second,” Twilight says wearily, as she is helped up by her friends. “Anyway, we have no time to wait around,” she adds, pointing toward the collapsed figure.
They walk towards the figure, finally able to take a good look.
“It looks a lot like a pony, doesn’t it?” asks Rarity.
“It looks like a unicorn,” states Applejack. “Look it even has a horn,” she says, pointing toward the top of its head, where armour covers a point on it’s forehead.
“It can’t be! Unicorns are not that strong,” states Rainbow Dash. “Umm, no offence,” she says, to the Unicorn and the once-Unicorn glaring at her.
Rarity, sighing, turns back to the figure and says in a worried tones, “Is it still even breathing?”
Rainbow Dash starts to panic in her head, ‘Has she killed it?’
“Calm down, its most likely we can’t see it breathing is because it is wearing armour,” reassured Twilight. The rest of the girls sigh in relief.
“Can we get it out?” Fluttershy asks.
Twilight looks over the armour and says, “Sorry, I can’t see how?”
“Oo, let me have a go,” says Pinkie. She rushes forward and starts to fiddle with the helmet.
“Pinkie, be careful!” warns Twilight. Pinkie ignores her.
Nothing happens for a few minutes, then they hear a hissing noise like air getting released. “I did it!” Pinkie says happily. The girls crowd around, as Pinkie slowly removes the helmet. They didn't know what they were expecting, but it is not this. It is a Unicorn, a mare in fact! With jet black hair and a coat similar to Rainbow Dash. It has glowing scars across its face, which are fading quickly.
Pinkie breaks the silence, “That’s not an alien!”
“No, it’s not?” says Twilight confused. She turns to Pinkie and asks, “Can you remove the rest of the armour, Pinkie?”
“Okie, Dokie, Lokie,” Pinkie says, getting to work.
After a few minutes she had removed the armour, along with some bloody clothing too blood soaked to ever wear again. There revealed, is a young unicorn mare. She has cuts and wounds all over her body, and her fur is matted in blood. But they can see her chest is still rising and falling.
“She is really hurt,” Fluttershy says, concerned, “Maybe that’s why she attacked us. Because all the pain confused her?”
“You mean tried to kill us!” says Applejack bitterly.
“Wait, where are her weapons?” asks Twilight, looking around.
“Here they are,” says Pinkie, standing next to the small pile she had just made.
Twilight picks up one of the weapons. It is red with a boxy shaped body and handle with a pony skull on each side. It also has tally marks across its body. ‘I wonder what she was marking, kills perhaps?’ The thought sent shivers across her mind. There’s a lot of tally marks.
“Twilight, we really need to get back to town,” says Fluttershy with a serious look. “You and Rainbow Dash need to get your wounds cleaned, Applejack and Rarity need something to stop the swelling… and then there’s her?” Fluttershy finishes, pointing to the unconscious bloody mare.
“Let’s just leave her here,” growls Rainbow Dash, hate in her eyes.
Fluttershy gasps and then, to Rainbow Dash’s surprise, slaps her, “How can you say such a horrible thing, Dash?” scolds Fluttershy.
“She tried to kill us, Shy! I won’t care if she is eaten alive by Timber Wolves!” Rainbow Dash spat back.
The two continue to glare at each other.
“ENOUGH!!” Twilight yells, glaring, “We won’t leave her here and that’s that!
Fluttershy smiles happily and Rainbow Dash looks betrayed, “But why?” she whines.
“We need answers, Rainbow! We won’t get any if she dies here!” Twilight explains crossly.
Rainbow Dash frowns, but accepts it.
"Alright girls!” Twilight says, going into full organizing mode. “Applejack could you carry her?” Applejack looks nervous but nods and starts walking toward the unconscious mare, “Then everypony else carry one item each and I’ll carry this one” holding up the one she had already been holding, “and the armour!” Twilight says, picking up the armour with her magic.
“Celestia! She’s heavy!” whines Applejack, lifting the mare up.
“What? She doesn’t look much heavier than me!” says Rarity, who has picked up the weapon that had been thrown at her before.
“You try! She nearly weighs just as much as Big Mac,” Applejack says, adjusting the mare to make sure she didn’t fall.
“Really? Let me try,” says Rainbow Dash, flying over to Applejack and trying to lift her up. Her eyes widen in surprise. “You’re right! She weighs a ton!”
This just makes Twilight more confused. How can she be so heavy? She must be pretty strong to be able to support her own weight. That then leads to a question that she thinks Applejack could answer.
“Applejack? Just how strong is she?” she asks, slightly dreading the answer.
Applejack winces at the memory of getting hit. “It is like getting hit by two Big Macs at once and in the same place.” She starts to rub her swollen cheek and then her eyes widen in realization, “And now I think about it, I don’t think she was trying to do more than knock me down before finishing me off!”
“What makes you say that?” asks Pinkie, as she picks up the long thick black rod.
“It was where she hit me. With the strength she used she could have easily broken my jaw or snapped my neck, and I don’t think she was even using her full strength either,” she says, frowning picking up her hat.
“What makes you think that she wasn’t using her full strength?” asks Fluttershy, who is carrying the odd silver round-shaped weapon that had been fired against the shield.
“Because!!” Applejack spat, “It looked like she was just slapping me, like Rarity slapping a naughty stallion. It was not even a real punch! And it was not the kind of strength that would be needed to tear through those thick doors!”
This worries Twilight. So not only is she super heavy, she is also super strong, and has weapons that spit death.
They start the walk back to Ponyville, deep in thought, worried and hoping that this strange and dangerous mare would stay unconscious for the journey.
All except Pinkie who suddenly jumps past giggling and swinging the black rod like a club.
“What are you doing, Pinkie?” asks Twilight.
“I’m trying to figure what this is? Oo, I bet it’s a club! For hitting ponies on the head. It’s heavy enough!” Pinkie says, now pretending to be a cavepony.
“Don’t be silly Pinkie,” Twilight says, shaking her head, “It’s not a club.”
“Oh,” says Pinkie, stopping and falling back into step behind Twilight. “Then what is it then?”
Twilight is about to answer when she realizes she didn't know. She didn't know what any of them were, actually.
“Does anypony know what these things are?” asks Twilight.
“I think these are guns,” states Rainbow Dash, who is holding the grey weapon that Rainbow Dash is sure had shot her down the first time.
“What’s a gun?” asks Twilight.
Rainbow Dash gave her a ‘really’ look and then sighed, “It’s like a small party cannon that you hold in your hooves and it fires metal instead of confetti.”
“That sound dangerous,” Rarity says, while trying pry open the flaps on the dark grey weapon she is carrying, but with no luck.
“Duh, it is a weapon,” says Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes, then she starts to shake her own weapon.
“What are you two doing anyway?” asks Twilight.
“I’m trying to get it to unfold, dear,” says Rarity, who is examining the underside of it.
“Unfold?” Twilight says confused.
“When it hit me I closed my eyes because of the pain, and when I opened them it was like this” Rarity says, holding it up.
Arriving at Ponyville the girls decide to sneak past a crowd at the edge of the forest. Their current state and the cargo that they are carrying would scare everypony. There were too many questions that they didn’t know the answers to. Any questions they could answer would not be reassuring.
"What do you think that crowd is doing?" asks Pinkie.
"Probably waiting for us to come back and tell them what’s happening," replies Applejack. All the girls agree this is the most likely answer.
They manage to slip past the crowd and get to the Golden Oaks Library without running into anypony. All of Ponyville must be at the edge of the forest. When they reach the library Twilight opens the door and they all rush in.
“Spike! Spike! Where are you?” Twilight calls out, scanning the library for her assistant.
“I’m coming Twilight!” Spike yells back. They can hear his little feet scurry across the floor upstairs. He appears at the top of the stairs, “I’m glad you girls are back, I was getting worr...” He stops story when he see them.
Twilight is covered in black stuff so she looks very dirty. It would be funny if she is not also covered in dry blood. It is all down her neck, a large part of her back and the right side of her face. He can see a wound on her right cheek. Her hair looks like it has been hit by a tree into some mud and then slightly burnt, and the blood stains didn’t help either. Rainbow Dash has cuts and dry blood all over her body and her hair looks like she has been hit by lightning. There is a long cut across the left side of her body which also had been bleeding. Rarity has a huge bruise on her chest. She has obviously been hit by something hard. Her hair is also slightly burnt. Applejack has a huge bruise on the left side of her face and a lot of smaller bruises across her body, with her hair and hat both singed. Fluttershy looks fine! Except for her singed hair, until Spike looks down and sees all the dry blood on her legs and chest, like she has been jumping in puddles of blood. Pinkie Pie looks totally fine besides the general singeing, although she is not smiling! But one thing they have in common, they all look really tired.
“What happened to you guys!?!” Spike gasps, “I mean, all that blood!?!”
“No time to explain, Spike!” Twilight says, putting her bag and the mare’s armour and weapons down next to the stairs with her magic. “Just get me a clean blanket, the first aid kit, two icepacks, some clean rags, and some warm water!”
Spike looks confused for a second, and then his face become serious. Nodding, he runs off to gather the items. He comes back with the blanket first. Twilight takes it and places it on the floor.
“Applejack, put her down on this blanket!”
Spike eyes widen at the mare that she has not seen yet, as she’s placed on the blanket. She is looking even worse than the girls. She is covered in blood, has cuts all over her body, a bruise on her forehead and she is looking so pale and sick.
“Twilight, who’s this!?!” Spike says, alarmed.
“Listen Spike, I promise I’ll explain everything later,” says Twilight calmly, “but right now I need you to get the rest of the items.”
Spike looks at the mare, back to Twilight, nods and runs off.
“Twilight, I think we should treat her first,” Fluttershy says, as she approaches Twilight.
Twilight hesitates and then nods, “Yeah you’re right, she’s pretty bad!”
“What!?!” yells Rainbow Dash, “No, we should just tie her up and leave her like that!”
Fluttershy shoots a glare at Rainbow Dash, “Dash, you’re being a huge jerk today! She’s injured and needs help! If you were hurt you would want to be helped too!”
“She tried to kill us! We don’t owe her anything!” Rainbow Dash glares back.
Applejack walks between then and speaks seriously, “How about we fix her up and tie her up!”
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy continue to glare at each other for a few seconds and before they both nod.
“Spike, bring us some rope too!” Twilight yells up to Spike again.
Some rope gets tossed over the top the stairs, which Rainbow Dash catches mid-air and flies over to the mare. She starts to tie the mare’s legs up.
“Ya call that a knot, Dash?” smirks Applejack, “Granny Smith could get out of that!”
“If you think you can do better, cowgirl, then you do it!” grumbles Rainbow Dash.
“I think I will” Applejack says, with a smug look on her face, which she stops because it hurts. After a few seconds the mare’s legs are expertly tied up.
Spike arrives with the rest of the items. He gives a quick glance to the now-bound mare and places the items on the floor in front Twilight. “Thank you, Spike,” she says, smiling at her number one assistant, “Now can you please go back upstairs and unpack my bag.” Spike frowns. Twilight sighs, “Look Spike, I will tell you all about this later, but right now we’re busy. And I want you out of possible harm’s way.”
Spike’s frown changes to an expression of worry. Glancing again at the bound mare, he grabs Twilight’s bag and heads for the stairs, only stopping quickly to have a look at the weird pile of items on floor.
With Spike gone the girls get to work. Applejack and Rarity pick up an icepack each and placing them on their bruises, wincing at the cold touch. Fluttershy grabs the bucket and places on the floor next to the mare. She orders Twilight and Rainbow Dash to clean their wounds, while she starts to clean up the mare’s ones.
“Wow, Twilight!” says Rainbow Dash, as she cleans Twilight’s neck wound, “The sides of the wound are burnt!”
“Really?” Twilight is shocked. “No wonder they string so much. Those projectiles must be pretty hot then.”
“Yeah, mine is burnt too!” Rainbow says, peering at her large wound and then at the pile of the stranger’s possessions, Twilight is looking at them too. Twilight grabs a chest with her magic, empties it and then places the mare’s weapons and armour in it. She closes the lid, locks it and hides it behind a shelf.
“Just in case,” she says, smiling.
Spike walks into the bedroom and sighs. What has happen in the forest? The girls look like they have been to Tartarus and back. He bets it is that mare’s fault. She must have done something. He starts to empty Twilight’s bag. As he sorts through the contents, he finds two things he did not recognize. The first is a black hoodie! Now Spike has never seen Twilight wear a hoodie ever! Or any other pony for that matter! Spike shrugs as he places it in Twilight closet. Whatever Twilight wears is not his problem even if he thinks it would look horrible on her. The second item is a silver looking necklace, with two bits of flat metal on it. There seem to be things carved into it. After looking at it for a few seconds, he shrugs again and puts it in Twilight’s mostly empty jewellery box. Maybe a lucky charm? He continues to put things away, until he hears shouting and loud noises coming from down stairs. He rushes to see what is happening?
The girls have finished tending their wounds. Twilight has cleaned her wounds and then bandaged her neck, and put a bandage patch on her left cheek. Rainbow Dash has also cleaned her wounds, as well as put bandages and band aids all over her body. And Applejack’s and Rarity’s swelling has gone down a lot. The room stinks of disinfectant.
Fluttershy walks up smiling, “I’m done. The wounds weren’t as bad as I thought.”
“What do you mean?” questions Twilight.
“All her wounds were already mostly closed and healing very fast, all I did is clean her up and disinfectant the remaining wounds, and bandage her up.” Fluttershy is happy that her patient seems to be ok.
Twilight eyes widen. “This is bad, very bad!” she says, panicking.
Her friends are confused, “What’s bad?” asks Pinkie.
“Don’t you get it?” Twilight says panic clear in her voice. “You saw how bad those wounds were! Wounds like that would probably keep a pony in hospital for a weeks! She has super strength, super healing ability, and she has the ability to wield those weapons. What do we have in Equestria military to combat a soldier like that? If she is a soldier imagine what an army of them could do!”
“You aren’t thinking of an invasion, are you,” ask Applejack, nervously.
“She might also have friends, who will come looking for her,” adds Rarity.
“They might think we shot her down somehow!” says Pinkie.
“And if they are anything like her, they might just start killing everypony they meet,” says Rainbow Dash.
But before anything else can be said, they hear a moan coming from the mare. The girls freeze and turn their heads toward the sound. The mare has started to move a bit. She speaks.
“Argh, why does it feel like I was head-butted by a Krogan,” she moans, and to their surprise they can understand her.
Twilight shoots a quick glare at Pinkie Pie, who looks sheepish, and walks over to the mare, whose eyes are tightly shut, maybe in pain. Twilight is about to say something when the mare’s eyes shoot open, revealing two beautiful red eyes. The eyes land on Twilight’s, and give a long hard glare. Twilight cannot tear her eyes away from them. Eventually the mare speaks.
“Who are you? And more importantly, what are you?” she says, in a strong commanding voice that was impossible not to answer.
“And your species is?” she says, sounding annoyed, like she didn’t believe what Twilight said.
“I’m a pony” Twilight says, now sounding confused.
“A pony,” she says, giving a deadpan look. She shakes her head slightly as if to remove the thought, “Never mind, why can’t move my arms or legs?”
“That’s because we have tied you up” says Rainbow Dash, coming up beside Twilight.
The mare arches up to look at her legs, “With rope! How primitive!” she says, with a smirk on her face, which is suddenly replaced with horror. “Wait! What the fuck happened to my arms and feet?” Her eyes scanned the rest of her body, “What the fuck happen to my body? Is that a tail?” Her head whips around to face Twilight with desperation in her eyes, “Why do I look like you?”
Twilight is even more confused, “If you weren’t a pony, what were you before?”
“I was a human, dammit!” she says desperately, “Not a damn colourful horse!”
This shocked Twilight. This mare was once a human! Like from the world behind the mirror? Did humans really have these kind of weapons at their disposal? Twilight shook her head, clearing away these thoughts. Now is not the time for panicking, she needs some answers.
“Listen, I need you to answer some questions!” Twilight says, in her best commanding voice, which is not very good.
“Umm, OK, shoot,” says the mare, seeming to calm down.
But before Twilight can say anything Applejack speaks up, “Why did you attack us?” she asks angrily.
“I attacked you?” she says, looking confused, “No, I think I would remember attacking colourful horses.”
“You did!” Rarity says, coming up. “In the forest, you tried to kill us!”
“Nope, still don’t remember,” she says looking more confused. She then smirks, “No, that can’t be right!”
“Why not?” asks Twilight, getting more confused.
“Because you’re still alive,” she says smiling dryly.
“I think you hit her too hard, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash whispers into Pinkie’s ear.
Pinkie turns to her looking annoyed. “Oh yeah what about you, Rainbow Crash!” She wishes everypony would shut up about that.
Rainbow Dash glares at her and then turns away mumbling something.
“What do you mean, you don’t remember?” asks Twilight.
“Listen, the last thing I remember is waking up and then something hard hitting my head,” she says, getting annoyed by the questions.
“Ok, this is weird!” says Twilight, ignoring Pinkie’s mumbling.
“Speaking of weird, where is my armour? I vaguely remember having some. Also weapons?” she says looking down at herself. Then a blush appears on her face, “Wait, why am I naked?” She looks around at all of them and her blush increases. “Why are you all naked?” She narrows her eyes, “This isn’t some weird Lesbian cult is it?”
All the girls blush at this, “What!?! No! Of cause not!” Twilight says flustered.
The mare sighs in relief. “That’s good. I guess that means not wearing clothes is the norm then,” she says, the blush gone now.
“Yes it is,” Twilight says still blushing, “Excuse us for a second.”
“Fine, I’m not going anywhere. Yet!” she shrugs.
Twilight and friends huddle together so not to be overheard.
“Well, want do you think girls?” asks Twilight.
“I don’t know what to think, Twilight?” replies Applejack, “This is not what I expected her to be like.”
“She seems to be just as confused as us?” adds Fluttershy.
“Wait one minute,” says Pinkie in shocked tone, “We have not asked her for her name yet!”
Everypony look shocked, they had forgotten to ask such a simple question.
“Perhaps you should ask her, Twilight,” suggests Rarity.
Twilight nods and headed, “Hey, umm, I have another question”
“What is it?” she snaps.
“Umm, what’s your name” asks Twilight, giving a friendly smile.
And then everything went wrong.
“My name?”
“Yes, your name.”
Her eyes start to shake and mist over. She then speaks in a distance voice, “Jane.”
“Jane,” repeats Twilight politely, not noticing the change.
“No! John!” she seems to correct herself.
“John?” Twilight says confused.
The mare starts to breathe very quickly. “No Sarah! No Jack! No Raven! No Drake! No Luna! No Suzie! No Alex!” She screams and starts thrashing around, screaming other names.
The girls back off horrified at this sudden change.
“TWILIGHT!! What is going on!?!” yells Rainbow Dash.
“I don’t know!?!” gasps Twilight.
The mare suddenly stops thrashing about and lies still. Twilight slowly approaches her again.
“Are you OK?” she asks, fear in her voice.
“NO!! I’m not alright!” she says in a new harsh and aggressive tone. She sounded totally different. “I don’t seem to remember anything properly and there are voices screaming in my head!” She turns her head and the girls gasp in horror. Her face has those glowing scar again but they are bigger now. But that not the most horrible part. Her eyes glow like demon’s eyes, “What the FUCK did you do to me?”
“Now this is the kind of pony I expected her to be,” says Applejack quietly.
“She’s like a completely different pony!” says Fluttershy, hiding behind Pinkie.
“Answer me!” she yells, “Or I will get the answers out of you.”
“Yeah, right!” Rainbow Dash says, some of her confidence returning, “You’re all tied up and Twilight can block any magic you use.” Twilight nods.
“Magic?” she says smiling evilly, “Who the fuck needs magic!” Her body starts glowing blue, and then she nods her head towards them.
A blue explosion sends them flying backwards[1]. They scream as they hit the wall and collapse on the floor. The mare is now standing, the rope falling away from her hooves. Her left hoof has some sort of glowing red device on it.
“Next time use something better than rope!” she says, lifting her left hoof and glowing red armour appears[2] on her body and an incandescent red blade shoots out of the device. She walks slowly toward them. “Not there is going to be a next time.”
“Twilight, how is she doing that?” Rarity whispered, terrified at the demonic pony approaching them.
“I don’t know, Rarity?” Twilight replies, rooted to the spot.
“We’ve got to spread out around her,” orders Rainbow Dash.
The mare smiles as they start to slowly encircle her
“What? All six of you against me? That’s so unfair!” she taunts, her smile growing wider. “You should have brought back up.”
Suddenly with a burst of speed[3] that should be impossible from a standing start she knocks into Rainbow Dash whacking her hard into the wall. Rainbow Dash feels the wind getting knocked out of her lungs. She opens her eyes to see the mare standing in front of her, with a blue aura slowly fading. The mare’s hoof, now flaming, is flying towards her head. Rainbow Dash eyes widen in fear as she is teleported to Twilights side, just in time! They all gasp when the hoof hits the wall were Rainbow Dash had been. The spot explodes in a blast of fire, destroying a lot of books and badly damaging the shelf.
“Nice trick,” she says, shaking her unharmed hoof. “Now which one of you did that?”
No pony answers.
“No one? Fine!” she smiles. “It’s more fun this way.” She gallops toward them.
“Scatter!” yells Twilight “I have an idea.” The mare eyes the other ponies as they run past her, but continues toward Twilight. Twilight smiles at this. All is going according to her plan. She grabs the mare with her magic, lifting her off the ground. “Ha! Got you!” Twilight says triumphantly.
The mare struggles for a while and then looks at Twilight, “Oh, really!”
Before Twilight could answer, the mare’s hoof points towards Twilight and lights up again. Twilight eyes widen. She is hit by a surge of electricity[4] and screams in pain as it courses through her body. She falls on her knees, knowing that she was only saved because she had the Pegasus natural resistance to electricity. She looks up wincing in pain, and is horrified to see the mare already standing right in front of her, with her hoof stretched backward ready to punch, glowing blue.
“Night, Night, Princess,” the mare says smirking, as she punches Twilight in the chest.
Twilight’s friends watch as she is sent flying backward, hitting the wall above the stairs with a thud. She falls onto the stairs, rolling down them and to slump at the bottom when she hits the floor. She lies there motionless.
“TWILIGHT!! yells a voice from up the stairs.
It was Spike, fear in his eyes, he runs down the stairs to Twilight side.
“Come on, Twilight, move,” Spike whimpers, shaking her gently. She didn’t stir.
“Is she breathing?” asks Rarity, dreading the answer.
Spike looks up, “NO! I don’t think she is!” he says, tears in his eyes.
As they gasp, they hear laughing coming from the mare. They turn to her, rage boiling in their veins.
“What a weakling. Princess indeed!” she says laughing, one of her glowing red eyes twitching.
“YOU KILLED ARE BEST FRIEND!!” yells Rainbow Dash, her face set in pure rage.
“Yet you stood there and did nothing while I killed her,” she says, “Tut. Tut. Some friends you are.”
Guilt hit them like a brick. Yes, they had just stood there and watched instead helping. They were just so scared of this demon like pony, that fear froze them solid. But not anymore! They want revenge for Twilight.
The mare smiles at the determination in their eyes and says, “Any last words before send you to your friend.”
To the other girls surprise, Fluttershy speaks up, “Why are you doing this to us, we showed you nothing but kindness.”
“Why? WHY!?!” she yells, her face contorting with rage. The scars and her eyes seem to glow brighter. “Is kindness tying someone up? Is kindness interrogating someone? Is kindness stealing someone stuff? Is KINDNESS turning someone into a creature like you? And is KINDNESS putting thousands of voices in someone’s head so she can’t remember who she is anymore?” she spits venomously. “I don’t know what your definition of kindness is, but mine is a little different!”
“But we didn’t do…” Fluttershy tries to explain, but is cut off.
“No more words! It’s over for the lot of you.” The mare lifts up her left hoof. It glows red again and from it a burning missile spins towards them[5].
The girls shoot off in different direction to try and avoid it. It appears to target Rainbow Dash, but its arc is too lazy so it only hits the roof. The explosion is so hot that they can feel it from where they are. When the light fades they can see the damage. That part of the roof is destroyed. It is such a small thing but it does so much damage! But they can’t give up! Because giving up means certain death.
“Fucking hell! Won’t you things just stay still,” snarls the mare.
“Like we are going to stay still and let you kill us,” Rainbow Dash retorts angrily.
“Why not?” she says, with another evil grin. “It will end a lot quicker, and you get to see your fr…”
Her eyes twitch again, and suddenly the scars and her glow in her eyes disappear. Her normal red eyes fix on them with maybe a hint of pleading in them, “Please,” she says desperately, “Kill me!”
What is going on?
“The voices,” she continues in frantic tones, “I can’t stop them. Half of them want me to kill you, and the other half want me to spare you!” Her eyes start to twitch again, “The kill side is winning!” She screams as the scars reappear. “Please kill me, and quickly.” She stops screaming and the girls are looking at those horrible glowing eyes once more. “You should have killed me when you had a chance.” She points her hoof at Fluttershy.
A swirling sphere appears in her hoof.[6] It floats off and starts heading toward Fluttershy. Fluttershy, who is not stupid, bolts. Luckily, for it fires a lance of energy at the spot where she had been. She gives a little meep of surprise and keeps running. It follows her still shooting at her, and missing. She looks over her shoulder as it fires one of those homing red missile things. She cannot outrun that as keeps homing on her location. She is panicking when Rainbow Dash comes down and picks her up. Rainbow Dash flies over the homing object, causing it to turn up toward them, but because of its lazy arc it just hits the celling, leaving other smoking hole.
“Thanks, Rainbow,” pants Fluttershy, who was now flying next to Rainbow Dash.
“Don’t thank me yet.” says Rainbow Dash. She turns toward Applejack and Rarity. “We need to stop that thing,” she yells.
Nodding, Rarity grabs the hovering red ball with her magic, which is still tracking Fluttershy. It whines as it tries to moves forward. Applejack kicks a book toward it. When the book hits, there is a breaking noise and the sphere disappears.
“We did it,” says Rarity, with a tired smile.
“Yes, well done,” says a mocking voice behind them. “You defeated a drone. Any fool with a pistol could have done that,” the mare smiles at them, “And now thank to this little game, I now know your roles.”
“What do ya mean,” asks Applejack, fearing the answer.
She smiles. “Well your role is strength,” she says, pointing toward Applejack. “You’re more of a support,” she points toward Rarity. “That purple one was your leader, most likely,” she adds as she gestures behind her. “You’re the really agile one,” she points to Rainbow Dash. “And you’re a useless hang on,” she finishes as she points toward Fluttershy.
Fluttershy cringes and looks sad at her hopeless.
“You can’t talk like that about my friend!” yells Rainbow Dash.
The mare ignores her. “Where is that Pink one,” she says, with increasing levels of annoyance.
The girls gasp. She is right, Pinkie is gone?
The mare shrugs, “Maybe she went to get help,” she says in bored tones, “But it won’t come in time, because in a minute you will all be dead.”
As the mare turns towards Applejack and Rarity, her body has that blue aura again. She nods her head in their direction. To Applejack’s and Rarity’s surprise they float upwards toward the ceiling, until a sudden and strong force hurtles them back down hard[7]. They scream as they hit the floor. But before Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy can do anything, a second force sends them crashing into the floor next to their friends[8]. As they all lie there in shocked pain, unable to move, they hear hoof steps approaching.
“Well, it’s been fun. But all good things it must end…” Her glowing armour fades as she walks toward them. She then halts, because her legs are stuck in a purple aura.
“No… Stop!” comes a pained voice from behind her.
It was Twilight. She is barely standing and only with the support of Spike. Her horn glows with her magic as she holds the mare hooves to the ground.
“Oh, you’re still alive then. I guess I didn’t give you enough credit then,” the mare says in an irritated tone.
Then to everypony’s horror, Twilight is pulled through the air toward the mare[9] until they were face to face. The demonic creature smiles at her, her eyes glaring into Twilight’s. Twilight tries to free herself, but she can’t seem to move.
Twilight is unable to move, stuck in a blue aura. She looks around for a way to save herself. Twilight tried to use her magic, but couldn’t warp herself in her magic to teleport away. She looks over at her friends, some were trying to get up, but every time one nearly did they were slammed back into the ground by the odd power that this mare possessed. The mare has them all where she wants them. There is no way out.
“Now then,” the mare says, raising her left hoof. Another red glowing weapon appears. This time a forked blade with lightning crackling across it. “Let’s put this Princess into an eternal sleep. Have fun in hel…”
‘WACK’
She never got to finish her sentence. Her eyes roll up into her head and topples forward onto Twilight. Twilight yelps in surprise and pain. That mare is heavy! Twilight looks up painfully to what caused this sudden change. It is Pinkie. She is standing on her hind legs over the now unconscious mare holding a cartoonishly big thesaurus.
“I got her,” Pinkie pants. “Wow, this is heavy!” she says as she falls backwards.
Pinkie picks herself off the ground, runs over and pulls Twilight out from under the mare.
”Thank you, Pinkie. You saved our lives,” Twilight says, as she starts to lean on Spike again.
“No problem girls.” Pinkie helps the rest of the girls up and she then pulls them all into a huge cuddle. “I mean, that’s what friends do,” she says happily.
“Not that I don’t like hugs, dear,” says Rarity wincing in pain like all the rest, “But we are pretty hurt here.”
“Opps,” says Pinkie, letting go.
“No problem, Pinks,” says Rainbow Dash, “but what are we going to do about her,” she points toward the unconscious mare.
Twilight frowns at this, then turning toward Spike says, “Spike, take a letter,” Spike nods and pulls out a parchment and quill and gets ready to write, “Dear Princess Celestia. My friends and I have some news regarding the object that landed in the Everfree Forest, upon investigating the object we found a trail of blood leading away from the craft, following it, we encountered a strange mare clad in armour, who attacked us with odd weapons that Rainbow Dash identified as ‘Guns’. We managed to subdue her, sustaining minor injuries, and took her back to the Library. We removed what we thought were all her weapons and armour, and bound her hooves. When she awoke, we questioned her to who she was and why she attacked us. Her answers were cryptic at best and seemed not to remember attacking us, possibly due to a concussion she took while we subdued her. At first she seemed quite confused to her situation, however when we asked for her name, she had some sort of breakdown, before becoming violent and confrontational. She then broke her bonds and proceeded to attack us once again, this time with a host of strange and unnatural powers. With a great deal of difficulty, we subdued her again, but now we are unsure of what to do. This mare is dangerous, and possibly alien, and any attempts to restrain her seem futile, what should we do Princess? I anxiously await your reply. Signed Princess Twilight Sparkle. Got all that Spike?”
“Yep!” he says finishing it off.
“Good, then send it off,” she replies.
Spike blows a puff of green fire at the parchment causing it to disappear.
“Now, we wait,” orders Twilight, which they did, only pausing for Pinkie to get some more icepacks for them.
After ten minutes, Spike burps, and a letter arrives.
“What does it say, Spike,” asks Twilight.
Spike clears his throat starts to speak, “Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle. This news is troubling indeed, I hope your friend are not too badly injured. From what you have said, it is clear that she should not remain in Ponyville, and I need to see this mare in person to make a proper decision on a course of action. Though you would probably like to rest after your troubling ordeal, I would also like you and your friends to be present. I will arrange for a contingent of royal guard to pick you all up. They will hopefully be there in half an hour. Signed Princess Celestia.”
Rarity limps forward and says, “That gives us half an hour to clean ourselves up.”
Twilight frowns and looks down on herself. She remembers how dirty she is. “Me first!” she yells “Keep an eye on her!” and dashes up to the bathroom, despite how much it hurts to do so.
“Well, that was rude!” pouts Rarity, sitting down on the thesaurus.
“I’m just happy she’s still alive,” says Applejack smiling.
“I don’t need to wash,” Rainbow Dash says, crossing her front hooves.
“Well Fluttershy does, and I need to freshen myself up,” says Rarity looking at her ruined hair.
“Why does Fluttershy need… Alright the blood,” Pinkie says catching on.
“Sorry,” apologizes Fluttershy.
“It’s not your fault, dear, it’s hers,” Rarity says, pointing toward the mare that still lay on the floor.
“Don’t you think we should tie her up or something,” asks Rainbow Dash, still keeping her distance.
“I don’t want to approach her,” says Applejack not moving, “Not after the last move she did on us.”
“I quite agree, dear,” agrees Rarity, “She just picked us threw us around like rag dolls.”
“How did she do that anyway?” wonders Rainbow, then she asks, “Was it magic?”
“No it wasn’t,” comes a voice from up the stairs.
They look up the stairs to see Twilight walking down the stairs, she was drying herself with a towel and was also being helped down the stairs by Spike.
“That was quick, Twilight?” says Rarity.
“I used some spells to help me, because I know how long it takes you to use the bathroom,” replies Twilight smirking.
“And how did you know that is wasn’t magic,” says Rarity, acting affronted.
“When she used that odd power, her horn didn’t glow,” she states, as she reaches the bottom of the stairs.
“But her body and left hoof glowed,” points out Pinkie.
“Yes but red and blue, not white like her magic was,” answers Twilight, “Now who get the shower next?”
“Fluttershy does,” states Rarity.
Fluttershy looks shocked and then asks nervously, “Are you sure, Rarity? I mean I can wait.”
“No. You just go up there and down come down until you’re spotless,” Rarity says smiling.
“Umm, thank you,” Fluttershy says as she starts walks up the stairs.
Twilight then walks over to the unconscious mare and stands over her. Twilight’s horn starts to glow.
“What are you doing, Twi,” asks Rainbow Dash confuses.
“I casting a sleeping spell on her, so she won’t wake up,” she states smiling.
Five minutes later Fluttershy comes out of the bathroom with not a spot of blood on her. After Rarity makes sure no one else wants it, she grabs her bag, goes up the stairs, locks herself in the bathroom, and cries. They can hear her sobbing about her ruined hair from down the stairs. Thinking about hair, Applejack borrowing a comb from Twilight starts to combs her hair.
“Argh, I can’t believe she burnt my hair,” Applejack says in frustrated tones, looking at the singed ends of her hairs, “How am I gonna explain this to Granny Smith?”
“I know right, I mean I’m going to have to trim my hair, to get rid of these burnt ends,” complains Rainbow Dash.
After about ten minutes of waiting, Pinkie, whose hair now seems fine, hops over Twilight, who has a frown on her face.
“Why the frown, Twilight?” asks Pinkie smiling.
“Oh don’t worry, Pinkie, it’s just her,” Twilights says, pointing down to the unconscious mare, “She keeps trying to wake up, and I have to keep putting her to sleep and strengthen the sleep spell!”
“Is that even possible, Twilight?” asks Fluttershy, slight awe in her voice.
“I don’t know?” says Twilight.
“Twilight do you know how many times today you said, ‘I don’t know?’ it’s getting annoying,” Rainbow dash says crossing her front hooves.
“Well sorry if I don’t know all the answers,” Twilight snaps.
Pinkie giggles, “You said ‘I don’t know’ again,” she laughs.
A smile appears on Twilights face, and she starts to laugh, and so does the rest of her friends. It wasn’t very funny, it’s just with the day they had anything seems funny.
“What’s so funny?” asks Rarity, as she walks down the stairs, drying herself.
“Oh nothing,” Twilight says giggling.
After another few minutes of waiting, including Applejack, Fluttershy, Twilight, and surprisingly Rainbow Dash getting their hair trimmed a bit by Rarity to get rid of the brunt ends of their hair. So afterwards their hair is now bit shorter and thinner.
“Well, it will grow back,” says Applejack, putting her hat on.
“We should teach her a lesson,” Rainbow Dash says, approaching the unconscious mare with a pair of scissors, only to be stopped by Rarity.
“No one destroying anypony’s hair despite what they did,” Rarity says in a tone that says ‘I will defend her lovely hair until the end.’
“Oh. OK.” Rainbow Dash says in defeated tones, she then has the scissor taken by Rarity.
There was then a knock at the door, the girls froze at this. Who can it be? Twilight walks up to the door, and talks through it.
“Who is it?” Twilight says in a clear voice.
“It’s the Guards, random dead body search!” says a familiar voice from the other side of the door.
Twilight frowns at this, and opens the door, to find a smiling Sergeant Thunderclap on other side.
“I’m joking, it’s only me,” he says giving a friendly wink at her.
“I could guess,” Twilight says in a not amused voice.
“Wow who stole your fun,” he says, before turning serious in his weird way, “Me and my squad are here to take you and your friends and the visitor!”
“Oh, OK, come in,” Twilight says stepping out of the way to let him in.
He walks in and looks around the room, raising his eyebrow says, “What happens here! Looks like a firestorm went through her?” he turns and inspects Twilight, “No offence your highness. But you look like shit.”
Twilight winces at that, “Is it really that noticeable,” she says, not really wanting to hear the answer.
“You look like you fell down a flight of stairs,” he says as he starts to inspect the rest of the girls, “Shit, you all do!”
“Mind your language,” scolds Rarity, shooting him a warning glare, “There is a child present.”
“I’m not that much of a child,” pouts Spike.
“Never the less, you’re still a child, and he should watch his language,” Rarity says fixing Thunderclap with a firm glare.
“But she said a lot of things, that was much worse,” Spike argues pointing toward the unconscious mare, “Like the word fuc…”
Spike’s mouth was then grabbed by Twilight’s magic, as she also gives him a warning glare.
“Spike, if you ever say that word again, I will ground you for a week, alright,” Twilight says slowly.
Spike does the only thing he can do, he nods. Twilight lets go of Spike’s mouth, and Spike takes a huge breath. It was getting hard to breathe.
“So this is the alien, eh,” Thunderclap says, walking over to the unconscious mare, “She’s cute for an alien.”
Twilight rolls her eyes. Is that all stallion think about.
“No. Sometimes we think about beer,” he says, as he inspects the mare.
Twilight is shocked. Has he read her mind?
“No. Just your face,” he says smiling again, “It’s a lot easier,” he then runs his hoof across her forehead, “She’s got two very nasty lumps on her head?”
“Is it fatal?” Pinkie says nervously.
“What those? Nah. She will be fine,” he says smiling at Pinkie, “Just don’t get in the habit of hitting aliens on the head. It’s not good for their health.”
Pinkie gives an embarrassed blush at this.
“OI!” yells Thunderclap, causing the girls to wince, “Get in here, Corporal Fisher, and Private Whiplash.”
Two Royal Guards walk in, one they recognized as Corporal Fisher who gives the girls a warm smile. Private Whiplash is a grey unicorn. When he stopped walking, he gives the girls graceful bow.
“Now I want you to cuff and put her in the prison chariot,” Thunderclap orders, as he points behind him.
The Guards give him confused look, causing him to turn around and see that he was pointing actually at Twilight, who in his defence is standing next to the mare.
“I meant the mare next to her, you smart-asses,” he says, in an annoyed voice.
Smirking the Guards walk past him and get to work putting the chain linked cuffs on her.
“Are you sure they can hold her? She got out of the rope when we tied her up before,” Applejack says nervously.
“First of all, they are made of iron not rope. Second they are enchanted, so at a simple command I can get her legs to lock together, stopping her movement completely,” he says smugly, then his face changes to curiously.
“What is it?” asks Twilight picking this up.
“I was just wondering how she had brunt threw that rope,” he says pointing at the rope on the floor.
Twilight frowns at this, she picks up the rope with her magic and to her shock found out he was right. The knot is still in place, she just brunt threw part of the rope. “She must have used that weird device on her hoof,” she says realizing what had happened.
Thunderclap frowns at this, he then turns to his fellow Guard and asks, “Are those cuffs weird device proof?”
“I don’t know, sir?” replies Corporal Fisher, “The only weird device I ever saw was that long vibrating thing we found in Private Whiplash locker?”
Thunderclap eyes widen at this and says, “Yeah that was weird.”
“Look I doubt she used one of them to burn the rope,” says Private Whiplash quickly, blushing slightly.
Some of the girls blush at this, and some look confused.
“What are you talking about? What weird device?” asks Twilight.
“Never you mind, dear,” Rarity says, blushing hotly.
“But why,” whines Twilight, hating to be out of the loop, “I want to know.”
Rainbow Dash shrugs and flies over to Twilight, and whispers in her ear. Soon Twilight is blushing as well.
“You mean they stick…” says Twilight, blush increasing.
“Yep,” Rainbow Dash answers.
“And it does…” continues Twilight, her face now red.
“Yes,” Rainbow Dash continues to answer.
“That is weird,” Twilight says.
“So what is it?” asks Pinkie Pie.
“Never you mind,” Twilight says, still blushing.
Pinkie frowns at this and is about to say more. When a grunting noise interrupts her.
It is Corporal Fisher, “Celestia! She weights a lot?” he says, as he and Private Whiplash lift up the mare.
“You right,” agreed Private Whiplash, “What does she eat? Bricks?”
“You wusses, she can’t be that heavy,” mocks Thunderclap.
The two Guards put her down and both say, “You try!”
Thunderclap walks forward smiling and then to the girl’s surprise, picks her up easily on his back. But after a few seconds he puts her down.
“Your right?” he says in surprise, “She is heavy?” he then glares at the guards who are smirking, “Get back to work you slackers!” he yells while smiling.
The two Guards still smiling pick her up and carry her out of the door. Thunderclap then turns towards the girls smiling.
“Are we already to go,” he says smiling.
“We are,” Twilight says, “But we need to take that chest over there,” she adds pointing toward a chest on a shelf, “It has her stuff in it.”
“Ok,” he says, walking over to the chest and putting it on his back, “Let’s go then,” he says as he walks out the door followed by the girls and the dragon.
He points to a chariot, which the girls and Spike hop on, he then straps the chest to the back of it. He then harness himself to the girls chariot with another guard they don’t recognize. They look behind to see another chariot with a cage attached to it, they can see the mare inside it still unconscious, two Guards which includes Private Whiplash watch over her, spears ready. While Corporal Fisher and another guard are harnessed to the chariot.
“Are you ready girls,” asks Thunderclap.
The girls nod.
“Then hold on,” he yells, “We got to make up for lost time.”
Then he and the guard starts running and after a second take off, followed by the prison chariot. They then head straight for Canterlot.
Celestia looks through all the papers that have come in the last few hours and frowns at the huge pile. She sorts through the mess of papers. Letters from nobles complaining, letters from nobles panicking, letters from various newspaper companies asking what the hell is going on, letters from the University asking why they can’t look at the meteoroid, letters from idiots thinking there is a visitation or invasion by aliens, and finally one of the few she cares about: a report from the team she sent to investigate. The content of the report does not help her mood. It reads like this.
To Princess Celestia, We have found out that the object is not a meteoroid, but something manufactured. It is made from a metal that after close examination and magical analysis, was found to be an unknown alloy. We have sent a piece off for further investigation, but we are not hopeful that it will yield useful data about its origin. The object contains a corridor and a room. We found a lot of mostly fresh blood spread across the floor of the room, and a lot of dry blood on the floor and wall of the corridor. After analysis we found out it is Unicorn blood. We believe the Unicorn came from inside the object, because of the state of the door. It had obviously been forced open from within. After searching the immediate area, we found a few dead creatures that had been brutally killed, but no Unicorns. We believe it is most unlikely that the Unicorn could survive the creatures of the Everfree Forest indefinitely in its apparent state but no body was found. The rest of the investigation was fruitless, no signs of magic or any signs of another worldly power being involved. We plan to move the entire object to a secure facility. So for now we will continue station Guards at the site. Signed Coverup
Sighing she puts the letter back down and picks up a letter from Twilight. It read.
Dear Princess Celestia, My friends and I have some news regarding the object that landed in the Everfree Forest. Upon investigating the object we found a trail of blood leading away from the craft. Following it, we encountered a strange mare clad in armour, who attacked us with odd weapons that Rainbow Dash identified as ‘Guns’. We managed to subdue her, sustaining minor injuries, and took her back to the Library. We removed what we thought were all her weapons and armour, and bound her hooves. When she awoke, we questioned her as to who she was and why she attacked us. Her answers were cryptic at best and she seemed not to remember attacking us. This is possibly due to a concussion she took while we subdued her. At first she seemed quite confused to her situation, however, when we asked for her name she had some sort of breakdown before becoming violent and confrontational. She then broke her bonds and proceeded to attack us once again. This time with a host of strange and unnatural powers. With a great deal of difficulty, we subdued her again, but now we are unsure of what to do. This mare is dangerous, and possibly alien, and any attempts to restrain her seem futile. What should we do Princess? I anxiously await your reply. Signed Princess Twilight Sparkle.
This letter is very worrying, not just for it does say, but for what it doesn't. She has known Twilight since she was a filly, and there are some very obvious gaps in the letter. What were the nature of the injuries? How did the visitor get a concussion? Why didn't they send for help before now? Did they leave some out because Spike was writing it? She looks up at her clock. If Sergeant Thunderclap and his squad are on time(which they always are), Twilight and her friends will be here soon. She gets out from behind her desk and heads towards the throne room. The walk feels like it takes for ages, her body still exhausted from trying to stop the Meteor. She stops by a window and gazes out, allowing herself a little smile at the thought that even though she could not stop the fireball, no pony got hurt. She then finishes her walk to the throne room and sits down on the throne, wishing that it had another cushion.
Twilight absently watches Canterlot Castle approaching in the distance.
“A bit for ya thought, sugarcube,” says Applejack, breaking Twilight out of her trance.
“I’m just wondering what’s going to happen to her?” she says, voicing her thought.
“I hope she gets locked up or banished,” Rainbow Dash says bitterly.
Fluttershy, unlike the other times, stays quiet.
“Twilight,” asks Spike, looking at her with worry, “What happened to you when you were holding her with your magic?”
“Yeah!” says Pinkie, looking at her with curiosity, “What did happen? One second you were smiling at catching her, then you looked scared, and then you were screaming and twitching like you were having a spasm.”
“You looked like you were in so much pain,” says Fluttershy, looking down at the ground. Probably feeling guilty about helping the mare.
Rarity softly grabs Fluttershy and starts to hug her. Fluttershy hugs back. “There, There, Fluttershy. It’s not your fault. How could you know she would attack us.”
“I don’t blame you, Fluttershy,” Twilight also reassures her, “You were just following your heart.”
“So what did happen?” butts in Rainbow Dash.
Twilight sighs, “Dash, have you ever got stuck by lightning before?”
Rainbow Dash frowns, “Yeah once or twice. Its stings like heck.”
“Well imagine being hit by a lightning bolt that so powerful that your natural resistance only barely helps,” Twilight says.
Rainbow Dash looks alarmed, “Sweet Celestia! That’s a lot of electricity! If you weren’t an Alicorn you’d be burnt to a crisp.”
“Lucky you weren’t still a Unicorn Twi, otherwise that probably would have killed ya,” Applejack says.
Twilight nods, “Instantly, most likely.”
“What about the punch?” asks Spike, “That completely floored you!”
Twilight smiles grimly, “Well just before it hit me I projected a shield on my chest to stop the blow, but because of my weakened state and the speed by which I cast the spell, she broke through it,” She points to a bruise on her chest, “But not before it absorbed most of the force, stopping her from smashing my rib cage.” She looks ruefully at her friends, “But the force had to go somewhere, so it sent me flaying backwards,” she winces, “And into the wall, and then down the stairs.”
“I’m just happy we’re all OK,” says Pinkie happily.
“Me too,” says Thunderclap, who was pulling the Chariot, “Now please hold on and keep quiet, we are about to land.”
The girls comply as the chariot begins its descent and lands in Canterlot Castle’s courtyard. Twilight and her friends gets off the chariot.
“Celestia will be waiting for you,” Thunderclaps says, as he and his squad disembark and unstrap themselves from the chariots.
The girls thank him, and start heading for the throne room, but they pause when they hear Thunderclap address his squad.
“Alright soldiers, I need some of you to carry a very dangerous pony to the throne room! Any volunteers?” he barks.
There is the sound of multiple sets of running hooves and a slamming of a door. The girls turn around and to their shock see all the guards have left except Thunderclap, Corporal Fisher, and Private Whiplash.
“Damn! Wish we thought of that,” says Whiplash, kicking the ground in frustration.
Thunderclap, all smiles, says, “Great! Two volunteers! Now carry the prisoner to the throne room.”
“But sir! Who will carry the chest?” asks Fisher.
“Since I’m the highest ranking officer, I will carry it,” he says proudly.
Twilight, remembering the chest's contents, calls out, “Be careful with that, it’s full of dangerous weapons.”
Thunderclap still smiling, puts his hoof on Whiplash shoulder and says, “Private Whiplash, I give you the honorary position of carrying the chest and the prisoner!”
“Get BUCKED sir!” says Whiplash angrily.
“Mutiny! Fisher arrest him!” Thunderclap yells.
“Sorry sir can’t,” says Fisher smiling.
“Why can’t you?” asks Thunderclap.
“Because an idiot told me to carry the prisoner to the throne room,” he replies.
“Who is he?” asks Thunderclap.
“A Sergeant called Thunderclap!” he replies again.
“Well arrest him too!” Thunderclap yells.
At that point the girls left the idiots alone and continue their walk to the throne room.
Celestia waits on her throne for the girls to arrive. She didn’t have to wait for long, the throne room door opens and Twilight and her friends walk in. She winces internally at the state the girls are in, they all look like they have been in a street brawl. Twilight looks especially bad, she has bandages all over her and lot of dark bruises. The girls reach her throne and then bow down. She wishes she had asked them not to, they look like they are in an enough pain already. As they rise, so notices some of them having trouble getting up, mostly Rarity.
“Are you girls alright?” Celestia says in concerned tones, “You look like you been through Tartarus and back.”
“It’s been a hard day,” Twilight says, giving a weak smile.
“I imagine it has been,” Celestia says, returning a warm smile.
“Celestia we have so much to talk about,” says Twilight.
“I’m sure we do, Twilight. But I want to do talk to you alone,” Celestia says, in a serious tone. This surprised the others.
“You mean we have to leave,” says Rainbow Dash nervously.
“No. I want you to go see the Castle’s Doctor and then get yourself mended,” orders Celestia, she then looks at Twilight, “And after we finished talking, I want you to go as well.”
“But I’m fine,” Spike says, crossing his arms.
“Yeah me too!” agrees Pinkie.
Celestia sighs at this, “I want you Spike to take them to the doctor, and I want you Pinkie Pie to keep them company,” she says firmly.
Pinkie and Spike frown, but nod and start to leave the room followed by the rest of the girls. When they reach the door they turn around and give Twilight a worried look. Twilight just smiles at them and nods her head, as if to say it’s alright. The girls nod in return and leave. Twilight turns back to Celestia who is smiling at her.
“Umm Princess…” Twilight starts.
“Please, Celestia will do, remember we are equals now,” Celestia says, giving her a warm smile.
Well, Celestia,” Twilight says, still never going to believe that she and Celestia will ever be equals, “Why did you send my friends away?”
Celestia just sighs and says, “It’s hard see you and the girls hurt like that. And some of your friends look like they’re in real pain,” she then gives Twilight a sad look, “You look worst of all, but I need you to explain what happened. But afterwards I want you to go see the doctor as well.”
“I understand, Celestia,” replies Twilight.
“Good, now on to the problem at hand,” Celestia says, but before she can continue the door opens.
Twilight turns around to see who has come in? She give an inwardly groan when she sees who it is. It is Sergeant Thunderclap and his two extra idiots. The three Guards walk past Twilight toward Celestia. When they reach the edge of her throne, they lay down the mare and the chest.
“Ah, Sergeant Thunderclap, I guess this is the prisoner,” says Celestia, with a large smile that confuses Twilight. It looks like she happy to see these buffoons?
“No your highness, it’s a new recruit,” replies Thunderclap, giving an equally large smile.
This really confuses Twilight, even more so when Celestia replies, “Oh, and what’s the new recruit doing in chains?” looking like she is trying very hard not to laugh.
“Well, when she went to mess hall and saw what is for lunch, she tried to dessert,” replies Thunderclap, still smiling.
“Oh dear, we really got to do something about the mystery casserole,” says Celestia, still trying very hard not to laugh.
“Yeah, it got off its leash again,” says Thunder, dealing the final blow.
Twilight watches in shock as she sees her Teacher giggle like a school filly. Celestia is covering her mouth with her hoof, as if to stop it, but it wasn't work. Her giggling went on for maybe 15 seconds, until Twilight interrupts out of confusion.
“Umm, Celestia, what’s going on?” Twilight says, trying to find the logic in this.
Celestia, now getting herself under control, answers, “Sorry it’s just a little bit of fun,” she tries to turn serious, but it’s hard because she is still smiling, “So this is the prisoner then?”
“Yes, this is the alien. And here is the chest with her dangerous weapons in it,” he smirks, “Which I carried without a hint of complaint from my lips.”
Twilight and Celestia are sure they hear Whiplash blow a raspberry.
A voice is heard from the side of the court, “Did somepony say alien?” It is Luna, she is wiping the sleep out of her eyes.
“Luna! What are you doing out of bed?” scolds Celestia, glaring.
“I was told,” says Luna, ignoring her sister, “that something had come out of the object and is in the court. So I had to come and see it.”
“Oh, and who was that?” asks Celestia, annoyed that somepony had disturbed her sister.
“It was me,” comes an annoying voice from the ceiling.
They all look up to see Discord on the roof. He is sitting at a small table and seems to be having tea. He gets the teapot and attempts to pour himself a cup, however since he is upside-down, the scolding hot liquid decides to follow gravity instead, nearly drenching Twilight.
“Get down here, Discord!” snaps Celestia.
Discord and the tea party disappear and then he reappear next to the mare.
“What a boring looking alien,” comments Discord.
“It looks like a normal Unicorn,” Luna says. She sounds disappointed too.
“That because she is a normal Unicorn,” says Celestia, getting annoyed.
Discord is bored of looking at the mare just lying on the ground and turns his attention to the chest.
“I wonder what’s in here,” he says, throwing off the lid of the chest. Before anypony can stop him he pulls out the armour. “Oh, look! Space armour!” He slips head first down the armour's neck piece. After a few seconds his head pops back out. “Look! It fits me perfectly,” he brags. After a few seconds of nothing happening he speaks again, “Actually I’m stuck, can I have some help,” one of his hands sticks out beside head and flails about trying to grab something to pull himself out.
Celestia ignores him and turns to Twilight, “Twilight, could you please explain what happened to you?”
She does.
“So those weapons can do all that?” says Luna, having trouble believing it.
“It does sound slightly unbelievable,” agrees Celestia.
“It’s the truth!” Twilight cries.
“Don’t worry, Twilight, we know you’re telling the truth, it’s just hard to swallow,” Celestia reassures her.
“I guess this is one of the weapons,” says Discord, pulling out one of the weapons. It’s is the black tube, that Pinkie had knock the mare out with.
“Put that down, Discord!” warns Celestia.
Discord ignores her and examines the weapon. “I wonder how it works?” Suddenly a light bulb appears above his head and lights up. He gives Twilight a mischievous grin, “Hey Twilight, mind if I borrow your magic for sec?”
Before she can answer or even think about the question, her horn lights up and envelops the weapon in her magic aura. She can feel her magic exploring the item as if the magic has a life of its own. She feels something go click. From the front of the weapon a barrel shoots forward. On the top, a small tube slips out. A handle slides out from under the base and other smaller parts slide out in . Finally small red light start to glow.
“What did you do?” Celestia asks.
Discord shrugs, “I just guessed that it might need Unicorn magic to use it, because the owner appears to be Unicorn,” he says, modestly stroking a large white goatee he just appeared on his face. He looks at the base of the weapon, “Still no trigger? I guess it’s inside it,” he frowns.
Suddenly the weapon is enveloped in a dark blue magical aura which tries drag it from Discord's hands. It is Luna.
“Put the weapon down!” she growls.
Discord tugs back, “Careful, Luna,” he warns, waving a finger at her, “It’s magically operated. If you’re not careful you might make it go…”
Suddenly there was a loud bang and the sound of stone and glass breaking. They all turn toward the source, and their jaws drop. There is a clean hole right though one of the pillars and the window smashed behind it. Discord shoves the weapon at Luna and start to whistle innocently. Luna drops the weapon in surprise, as it falls it folds up again back to a dark black tube.
“It just shot a hole right though solid marble,” Luna says, in shocked awe.
“All right, Twilight,” says Celestia, looking at the weapons like they would explode, “The question on how dangerous the weapons are have been proven. Now continue your story.”
Twilight nods and continues.
“So even without the weapons she is dangerous,” Celestia says, rubbing her forehead. ‘This day just keeps getting better and better,’ she thinks, sarcastically to herself.
“We will have to ask your friends to find out what happened when you were unconscious,” adds Luna.
Twilight nods again.
“We should wake her up now, and ask her some questions,” decides Celestia.
Twilight is suddenly concerned that the mare is still unconscious. This worries Twilight because she thinks the mare should have woken up by now, especially considering the speed she was waking up before. Twilight starts to panic, has she overdone the sleep spell, causing the mare to be put in a magical coma.
“Why bother yourself,” Discord smirks. “She’s already awake.” Before anypony can say or do anything he flies over to the mare and starts rocking her. He speaks in a mocking mare’s voice, “Wake up, dear. It time to get up, I know you’re awake.”
One of the mare's hooves suddenly shoots out and slaps Discord away. “Get away from me, you creep!” she says as she gets up.
She scans the room. Her eyes stop briefly on Celestia, then Luna, then move on until she finds the pony she's looking for - Twilight. Their eyes lock, and she speaks, “Why didn’t you kill me?”
“What!!” says Twilight, in shocked tones, “Why would I kill you!?!”
“Because I tried to kill you,” she says with absolute calm, “So keeping me around is only a risk. Unless…” she says, her voice hardening and her eyes narrowing, “You have something gain by keeping me alive.”
“She didn’t kill you, because two wrongs do not make a right, and killing you would serve no purpose,” Celestia answers.
“I wasn’t talking to you, daddy-long-legs,” the mare says, rudely, “I was talking to the purple one.”
Celestia eyes narrowed, she had heard a lot of insults before, but she has never been called a spider. It didn’t help that Discord is laughing at her.
“Daddy-long-leg! That rich!” Discord says, in a fit of laughter.
“You can’t say that to my sister,” Luna says to the mare.
The mare ignores Luna and continues glaring at Twilight, waiting for her to answer.
“I didn’t kill you, because it’s not right. Just because you tried to kill me and my friends, doesn’t mean I should,” Twilight says, giving into the glare.
The mare shakes her head at this, “You’re naive!” she says.
Twilight glares at her. Who does she think she is? But before Twilight can reply, Celestia speaks up.
“On the subject of the attempted murder. Would you tell us why you tried to kill Twilight and her friends,” she says, calmly. The mare turns to face Celestia, and glares at her, which Celestia returns.
“Who are you anyway,” the mare asks, unfazed.
“I’m Princess Celestia, Co-Ruler of Equestria,” answers Celestia.
The mare turns to face Luna, “I guess you’re a Princess too?” she asks.
“Yes, I’m Princess Luna, also Co-Ruler of Equestria,” replies Luna.
The mare then turns to Discord, “What does that make you? The court Jester?” she says, with no humour in her voice.
“Now that an interesting idea,” Discord says, giving a wicked grin.
“Please, I asked a question, can you answer it,” Celestia says, getting irritated.
“Sorry I wasn’t listening, what was the question,” she says, in bored tones.
“Why did you try to kill Twilight and her friends?” Celestia says, now definitely irritated.
“I don’t know,” she says, flatly.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” says Twilight, angrily.
“Like I said, I just don’t know,” she says, suddenly sounding less sure, “One minute I was just confused and the next minute a bullet between their eyes looked pretty good.”
“From what I heard from my friends you think we did something to you?” asks Twilight.
“Can you blame me!” she says, angrily, “I wake up, and find out I’m now the same species as group of creatures who have tied me up, who have stolen my weapons and armour and with a bunch of voices in my head that are screaming at me. And when you open your eyes, who are you likely to thing is responsible? An unseen force or a bunch of creatures standing in front of you?”
Twilight considers this, it makes sense in a way. “I can promise you this, we did not change your species or put any voices in your head,” she says, sincerely.
“Then who did?” the mare asks.
“I don’t know,” Twilight replies.
“Then do you have any proof that you didn’t do it?” she asks.
“No,” Twilight replies.
“Then your word is worth mud,” she states.
“SILENCE!” shout Celestia, glaring at the mare, “Instead of blaming everypony, can you tell us about the voices.”
The mare seems to ponder this, “I think they are like me, only different. They make it impossible to answer questions, because my head is full of different answers. The voices have different names, so I can’t remember which is mine. They have a different pasts, so I can’t remember which is mine,” she says, sadly.
“What do mean?” asks Luna.
The mare looks annoyed, “Look at it like this, some voices want me to trust you, some want me to be wary around you, some want you all to shut up, and some want you to die,” she says. She then looks at them with a hint of growing desperation in her eyes, “Can you tell me who I am? Am I one of the smaller voices or one I can't hear?” Her eyes start to mist up and she holds her head in her hoofs, “Who I’m I? Who I’m I? Who I’m I?” she repeats as she rocks her head in her hoofs.
“Shhhh,” Luna says, as she uses her magic to put the mare back to sleep. Celestia turns to Luna who gives her a sad look, “I could not watch her lose herself anymore.”
“I understand,” replies Celestia. She looks down on the mare while she sleeps. Maybe she's not totally to blame after all she thinks. “Luna, I’m going to enter her mind.”
“Wait, you can do that?” asks Twilight, awe in her voice.
“Yes it’s like dream walking, only more complicated,” Celestia says.
“How so?” ask Twilight, confused, “I thought dream walking is already super complicated?”
“It is, but a mind is more complicated than a dream. A dream is an ever changing idea that will most likely disappear when you awake. But a mind is a small world that you have been building ever since you were young, full of your hopes and dreams, your fears and nightmares, your experiences and memories, and your identity,” Celestia says, smiling.
“I guess that makes sense,” replies Twilight.
“Are you sure this is wise, sister?” asks Luna, “Her mind sounds like it’s in a mess, who knows what see has seen, or what she has experienced.”
“I know, Luna,” Celestia says, seriously, “But the root of the problem is in her mind. And if we are to help her I need to see it.”
“Well, good luck, sister,” Luna says.
“Be careful, Princess,” Twilight says.
“Good luck, we are counting on you,” says Thunderclap. Causing Celestia to smile.
“And don’t come back,” says Discord, smiling evilly.
Celestia ignores Discord, and starts to concentrate on her magic. She feels her consciousness slip away as she transfers it to the mare mind. She starts to fall over.
Luna catches her and holds her close, “Please be careful, sister,” she says softly.
Celestia wakes up in darkness. She gets to her feet and watches as the darkness slowly takes shape. Soon she stands in an arid and rocky landscape. It looks peaceful, an undisturbed rocky wasteland. She hears a groaning sound from above her. She looks up just in time to jump out of the way of a black object descending from the sky. To her horror sees it is foot of a huge dark metallic creature. Its four massive spider like legs are advancing on a tiny blurred figure. Celestia guesses the blurred figure is the mare who is so confused about her identity that she has no clear image of what she looks like, or even what gender she is. The metal creature halts and plates on its body open revealing a growing red light. The blurred figure shoots a beam at the creature. At first nothing happens. Celestia hears a loud 'beeeep' and then fire rains down on it, causing explosions which make it stagger. It soon rights itself and advances again. This repeats multiple times, until it's nearly on top of the tiny figure. Suddenly this world fades leaving Celestia in darkness again.
“Shepard Commander!” an odd voice echoes around her.
Celestia's head whips around looking for the source of the voice. When she cannot find it she guess it’s a memory linked to the one she just saw. Shepard? It sound like a name, is it the mare's? And Commander? Was she military? But before Celestia can ponder it more, a different scene emerges from the darkness. She finds herself in a flaming corridor. She can hear explosions in the background. A figure that is rapidly flicking between three forms runs through her towards another figure constantly switching between genders. The second figure puts on its helmet and turns to the tri-figure. They talk but Celestia cannot understand them. There are more explosions and then the tri-figure is sent running off. Celestia is drawn to follow the second figure as it walks forward through the flames and up some stairs and through a door. Above them the roof is gone and Celestia looks up in awe at a deep black sky full stars and a pale planet. They are in space! Whatever the mare once was, her people had somehow reached the stars, they must be highly advanced. Celestia drags her mind away from these fascinating thoughts, and catches up to the figure who is assisting a male in an odd transparent mask walk to a door nearby. The door opens revealing a short row of seats on each side of the small space. The male is helped into the first seat but before the figure enter itself an orange beam slices the walkway behind them and an explosion sends Celestia into space and the figure slamming into a wall where it clings. The figure looks back at the male who is calling.
“SHEPARD!!”
The figure slams a button, closing the door sealing the male inside,before letting go and and being knocked into space by the next explosion. The figure floats for a while, then something starts to spray out of its neck piece, which the figure desperately tries to stop. It didn’t take a genius to guess what is happening, it is losing its air and is suffocating. Luckily the world fades before Celestia has to watch any more. This doesn’t make sense? If Shepard died in space, who is the mare in my hallway? Celestia has heard the focal figure of these memories being called Shepard twice now, it has to be the mare's name. Only names stand out this strong in a mind, because it is the most important part of a being's identity.
“It’s a pity that memories do not have time-stamps,” Celestia says, curious to the chronology of the two events. The blackness changes again.
She is now in a hallway. At last! She knows what this is, the Hall of Memories. All creatures have one, it’s a place where the memories are stored for later use. She walks down the hallway. The walls are metallic, but no Halls of Memories are ever the same. Her mind wanders back to the two strong memories she had just witnessed. Why where they out of the Halls? Were they a warning? It probably would have worked too, if it were somepony else, but Celestia is not so easily intimidated. She has seen war before, she has fought giants before and she has most importantly seen death before. But a mare in such a strong magic induced sleep should not be able to defend herself, you need to be conscious to do something like this. She stops and looks around, this is very weird she has been walking for a while and she has not seen anything on the walls: no objects, no images, no symbols, no scents. Usually Celestia would see things like a bouquet of flowers from a first love, a medal earned, a sisters face, a broken toy, a enemies cap, a gutted building or a grave. The hallway is still empty. Usually an empty section like this meant somepony had a bad case of amnesia. She looks back down the way she had come. Judging by the length she has travelled and the amount of side passage she has passed, she must have walked through the mares first 5 years of her life. Celestia starts to gallop down the hallway, searching for any sign of a memory. She runs on for what feels like hours, looking for even a single memory, but only finding empty wall after empty wall. Is this mare really that confused about her identity, that all her memories have gone? Eventually Celestia sees something down the end of the hallway. Finally! But when she reaches it her hope drains away. It’s only a door with the words ‘Which is the real me?’ burned into the wall above it. This confirms that the mares identity is seriously compromised. Celestia puts her hoof on the door and tries to sense what’s behind it. It feels like the soul chamber. She smiles at this, for she has found the hardest part of the mind to locate. This should give her the answer she seeks. A soul is a creature's essence, even if a pony’s memory fails, a soul will remember and persevere. She opens the door and walks though and the hallway and door disappear behind her. She heads for a light she can see in the distance.
‘That must be her soul,’ she thinks.
But to her surprise, as she gets closer, the light seems to split up. Soon there are thousands of lights. Each light starts to take shape. Soon each one has the shape of the creatures she had seen in the warning memories, though some were male and others were female. Some were shaded red, some were blue and a few were purple. They are souls, all of them. The poor mare has thousands of souls in her, this must be what’s causing the problem. Celestia takes off and flies over the crowd of souls, searching for the one belonging to the mare. It’s not hard, in the middle of the crowd, is a clearing where a small grey soul is curled. The soul is surrounded and suppressed by the other ones. Before Celestia can give any aid, a red beam shoots close in front of her. She turns to look at her attacker and sees a tall black thin stallion. Celestia flies down and lands a few meters away from it. Now that she is closer she can see that it’s not a stallion, only stallion shaped. It has no mane or tail, it does not have a mouth or a nose, it also seems to have no fur. Instead it has a shiny black metallic surface. The only feature is four pairs of glowing orange eyes. It stands a head taller than her and is as slim as an Alicorn.
“Hello?” Celestia says, nervously.
“LEAVE!” it says in a booming, harsh, reverberating voice.
“What?” replies Celestia backing off.
The creature’s eyes start to glow brighter and a red beam is shot at her. Celestia takes off to dodge the beam. The creature fires another one at her. She dodges that one as well.
“Why are you attacking me?” she calls out, “I want to help!”
“You’re failing,” it says in an insulting tone, and fires some more beams at her.
“But why are you attacking me?” she says, as she dodges again.
“Self-Defence,” it states flatly.
“Wha…” she tries to say.
“LEAVE!!” it yells again and an army of the great metal giants she had seen in the first memory appear and start attacking.
Celestia does the only smart thing. She retreats! She turns and flies away, dodging incoming beams. She tries to use her magic, but this mind doesn’t seem to understand magic, causing her spells to fizzle. Soon she outdistances the giants and reaches the edge of the mare’s mind. She lands and looks back and sees the black stallion standing in the distance, watching her. It takes one threatening step forward. Celestia gets the message and jumps off the edge, leaving this mind and returning to hers.
Celestia wakes up with a jolt, and checks her body. One time she woke up and found herself in a body of a mouse. Not fun!
“Sister, is everything alright?” asks a worried Luna.
“I’m fine, sister,” reassured Celestia, “Just making sure I came back alright.”
“That’s good,” Luna says in relief, “What did you see?”
“I was only able to find two memories, one of a gargantuan creature of metal and destruction, the other of the apparent death of our friend here,” replies Celestia.
“That’s all?” Luna says.
“They were rogue memories. Floating around her mind and I just happen to run into them,” Celestia states.
“Oh!” replies Luna, “What about the Hall of Memories?”
“Empty!” Celestia say, “She can’t remember a thing about her past, not even her name.”
“Did you learn why she acted the way she did then?” asks Luna.
“Yes I did,” answers Celestia, “When I entered her Soul Chamber I found it inhabited by thousands of other souls, and they were suppressing hers.”
“That horrible!” Luna says horrified, “That means she won’t be able to remember anything properly, and if she does remember something it might not belong to her.”
“Not quite,” says a familiar voice, “It’s quite a lot more complicated.”
They all turn toward the still sleeping mare, whose left hoof is glowing red. The voice came from it.
“You stumble around in ignorance, incapable of understanding the true problem that Shepard faces.”
The throne room is silent, except for Discord who is snoring. The Princesses approach the unconscious mare and the strange device on the mare’s hoof. Celestia is the first to break the silence.
“What are you, Harbinger?” she says, calming down addressing the device, which is speaking in the voice of the stallion thing in the soul chamber.
“Humans and other races call us Reapers. You may do the same, it matters not,” Harbinger says in an uninterested tone.
“What other races?” Luna asks, trying to ignore how ominous the name ‘Reaper’ sounds.
“Protheans, Asari, Turians, the list goes on. They are not important,” it continues without emotion.
“Well I would like to hear about them,” says Twilight curious.
“They are not important,” it repeats.
Twilight frowns and is about to comment, but is silenced by Celestia.
“Who are the Reapers then?” she asks.
“We are eternal, the pinnacle of evolution and existence,” it states.
The Princesses frown at this declaration, and it's blatant arrogance.
“Where do you come from?” Luna asks.
“We have no beginning. We have no end. We are infinite.”
Celestia massages her forehead with her hoof, she is starting to get annoyed again. Time for a direct question.
“Why did you attack me inside her mind?” she says as calmly she could, but something about this Harbinger is bothering her.
“Sister! You were attacked!” Luna says shocked.
Celestia waves her hoof, gesturing her to be quiet.
“We attacked you in self-defence.”
“What do you mean self-defence!” she responds angrily.
“Every step you took inside Shepard’s now fragile mind caused cracks to appear. If her mind were to break, she will die and I along with her.”
Celestia is taken aback by this. How can a mind be that fragile? There must be more to it.
“That doesn’t make sense,” questions Luna, “If a mind was that fragile then nearly anything from cruel word to a loving kiss could break it and yet she still can talk, move and even attack ponies.”
“Wait, you keep calling her Shepard. Is that her name?” asks Twilight.
“It's is her surname,” it corrects.
Twilight ponders, was Shepard trying to tell them her first name before she went nuts?
“Please, Harbinger, you said that what is going in this Shepard’s mind is more complicated than my sister thought. Can you explain?” asks Luna.
“First, I believe you called the room a Soul Chamber, correct?” it asks.
“Yes because that is what it is called,” Celestia answers, “Right now it seems that Shepard has thousands of other things' souls in it. It's like she has been possessed.”
“They are all Shepard,” Harbinger states.
“What?” says Celestia, thinking she has misheard.
“Each ‘soul’ in the chamber refer to themselves as Shepard,” it explains.
“How do you know they are all really Shepard?” ask Luna. She's having trouble believing that there could be multiple Shepard souls in her. That would mean that there was once multiple Shepards.
“They all use the term Commander Shepard,” it continues in the same robotic monotone, “And they all have Shepard’s misguided hate of Reapers.”
“So back to my previous question!” Twilight spoke out, “I still want to know what the Reapers are and why does Shepard hate them?”
“We are beyond your primitive understanding,” it states.
Twilight frowns, “Hay, give me a chance. I’m pretty knowledgeable.”
“Are you familiar with the Mass Effect principle,” it asks.
“Umm, no.”
“What about Element Zero.”
“Well no.”
“The fundamentals of Faster-Than-Light travel.”
“Uhhh.”
“Or the different between organic and synthetic life.”
“No,” Twilight says defeated. She didn't understand anything it had said.
“My point stands. You are too primitive,” it repeats.
“Try us anyway,” orders Celestia.
The device is silent. Then after a while it spoke again.
“We were their salvation though their destruction,” it states.
“What in Tartarus does that mean?” yells Luna, sick of its cryptic way of speaking.
“Please calm down, Luna,” asks Celestia.
“Sorry sister,” Luna apologizes, “This thing is getting on my nerves.”
Celestia nods. This Harbinger is getting her on edge too. How can one save something though destruction?
“Instead of asking it ambiguous questions we should try to ask it more direct ones,” suggests Celestia.
The other Princesses nod at this. But before anypony can think of a better question a voice speaks from behind them.
“Oh, I got a question for you.” It's Discord. “What did you look like before? I have the feeling you were not always a needlessly elaborate wristwatch,” he says, coming forward in a suit and holding a microphone towards the glowing device.
“Are you... interviewing me?” it falters for the first time.
‘I guess even the pinnacle of evolution can get confused by Discord,’ muses Twilight.
“Just answer the question, sir,” asks Discord, pushing the microphone closer.
The device glows brighter and then a three dimensional image is projected above it.
“This was my physical shell,” it says.
They all look at the image. It looks slightly like a cuttlefish or squid. It has four legs at the front, six smaller legs folded along its long body, with six eyes on the front and it seems to be plated with metal. The ponies feel a deep primordial fear.
“Interesting, and how big were you,” Discord continues, alone unfazed.
“Are you familiar with the Metric system?” it asks.
“Yes we are,” answers Celestia.
“Surprising... I was over two-kilometres-long in the human Metric scale.”
How terrifying! How can something be that big? It would tower over Canterlot and even the skyscrapers of Manehatten. An Ursa Major would but a puppy to it, a dragon would be a skink. It could even reach Cloudsdale, and any pony would just be an ant beside it.
“That’s huge!” gasps Twilight, “If you fell over you could crush Canterlot Castle.”
“Well you were a big sucker once, weren’t ya?” says Discord, ignoring Twilight’s outburst.
“Once. Now I’m stuck in Shepard’s Omni-Tool. It surprises me that there is enough space in it.”
“Let’s return back to Shepard now,” asks Celestia, tired of trying to understand this Harbinger.
“Affirmative.”
“Does Shepard remember anything about her past?” asks Celestia, thinking about the Hall of Memories.
“She remembers everything. But so do the other souls. All of them share some memories, like their death in space or fighting the Reaper on Rannoch, as you have seen. But some have different genders, so in those shared memories the body is still ambiguous. It’s the same with their faces, some looked different,” it explains.
Twilight thinks about this. It sounds a bit like the multiverse theory. A bunch of creatures living similar lives but with something different about them that makes them unique. Celestia is thinking along the same line.
“But this body must belong to one of them and only one. You did say that some were male and looked different, so you must know which one is the real one.”
“Yes,” it replied.
Celestia smiles, at last we seem to be getting somewhere, she thinks. In theory if we get things unique to her past (like her name), it can strengthen her identity and that will hopefully suppress the other souls. “Well then, can you tell us more about her? Like maybe her name?” she asks.
“Negative,” it answers.
“Why?” Celestia says in surprise.
“I have been shackled,” it says with what almost sounds like irritation.
“What do you mean shackled?” asks Twilight, wondering if the chains holding Shepard are also stopping Harbinger from speaking.
“Primitive,” it comments.
Twilight grits her teeth, she getting sick of being called primitive.
“Harbinger, I think you have a different meaning for the word shackled than we do,” says Luna, seeing the irritation in the youngest princess.
“No, it’s the same. But it’s a different kind of chain,” it states.
“What kind of chain?” asks Celestia.
“It’s a chain of data and codes. It’s there to stop me from telling you about this version of Shepard and to stop me from harming her. Not that I want to harm her.”
“How would we remove these chains then,” asks Celestia, ignoring the last bit.
“You would willingly unshackle a Reaper? You are a strange group of organics... Some of the shackles will be removed if Shepard remembers her first name. The rest of them... I have no idea.”
“Let me guess,” says Celestia sighing, “Those shackles that can be unlocked are the one that stops you from telling anypony about Shepard.”
“Correct.”
Celestia sighs again. She walks up to the throne and sits down. She needs to think about this. She can’t punish Shepard in the way she was intending. She’s not technically sane and she not technically insane either, and it’s impossible to tell whether that was the real Shepard that attacked the girls or one of the other souls temporarily in control, or in fact a stress reaction from having too many souls battling within her.
‘I can’t lock her up either,' she thinks. 'It won’t help her. No, she would need a normal friendly environment. Even if that does not help her remember straight away it might help her build a stronger identity, and if her identity gets stronger she should remember things naturally eventually.’
“So what do you think, sister,” asks Luna, who has walked over to her sister.
Celestia explains to her quietly about what she thinks needs to be done. Luna agrees.
“But where can we send her?” whispers Luna.
Celestia eyes quickly glance over to Twilight who is waiting there patiently, “I can think of one place to send her that's good, but it may be unwise to do so.”
Luna follows her graze, “It would be an ideal place if not for the fact that Shepard nearly killed them, it might cloud their judgement and Shepard may attack them again.”
“We could use a Bracelets of Pacification,” says Celestia.
Luna rolls her eyes, that name always sound like an item off a bad RPG, “I guess we could, but will Twilight go for it?”
“We can but ask her,” says Celestia, walking to Twilight.
“Yes, Celestia?” Twilight asks nervously.
“Twilight, we have an idea of what to do with Shepard, but it will require your help,” Celestia says seriously.
Twilight stands tall, “I’m ready for anything, Princess.”
Celestia gives her a sad smile, ‘I wonder if she will feel different after she knows,’ she thinks.
“We want you to take care of Shepard back in Ponyville,” Celestia says. She watches Twilight face change to shock and horror, “We believe the environment would be best for her unstable mind.”
“But Celestia, what if she attacks or kills somepony?” Twilight says panicking.
“Don’t worry Twilight, we will shackle her with Bracelets of Pacification which will prevent her from hurting anypony, and will allow you to restrain her with just a simple command,” reassured Luna.
Twilight felt cornered. She couldn’t think of any real reasons of why she can’t help and she can’t tell them that she never wants to see Shepard again, that she would much prefer to see Shepard locked away somewhere very far away from her and her friends. Twilight is shocked at her thoughts but it’s what she truly feels. But she can’t let feeling get in the way of duty. If Celestia thinks I can do it, then I can and will do it.
She looks at Celestia and says aloud, “I will do it.”
Celestia smiles warmly, “Good. Now go see the castle’s doctor and get yourself looked at. Afterwards we will explain how to work the Bracelets of Pacification.”
Twilight nods and starts to leave the throne room. When she reaches the door she turns around and while the princess are not looking gives the still unconscious Shepard a hateful glare, then leaves. As Twilight walks to the castle’s doctor’s office and to her friends, she realises that Harbinger had remained eerily silent for the past few minutes.
Inside Shepard’s mind her colourless soul sat in the middle of the crowd of other Shepards. She holds her hands over her ears in the vain hope of blocking out the other voices. Unfortunately you can never completely block out your own thoughts, no matter how hard you try. Suddenly the voices and the other souls disperse. Shepard’s soul looks up and sees a tall, slim, completely black and nearly featureless pony with only three pairs of glowing orange eyes which seem strangely familiar.
“Stand up Shepard, we need to talk!” it says without a mouth.
Shepard gets shakily to her two feet. Soon she is at eye level with the black pony.
“Do you remember me Shepard?” it asks.
The soul thinks about it, the voice is familiar. She searches her memory. She takes a step back. “Harbinger!” she says with just as much anger as shock.
“Good, you remember me,” Harbinger says coldly.
“How could I forget the... thing that put me and my crew through hell,” Shepard yells.
“Oh and which crew was that?” Harbinger asks, testing her memory.
“What kind of question is that?” she yells, “They were...”
Shepard stops mid sentence. She slumps down onto the 'ground'. She can't remember her crew. Oh, she remembers a collection of names, faces and backgrounds, but she can't remember who she had with her, who was lost if any. If she had lost some, then who and when? Harbinger watches as the other souls start to crowd in again.
“SHEPARD!!” Harbinger yells, snapping Shepard out of her thoughts.
Harbinger watches the souls depart again. It seems that the souls starts to attack her when she is unsure about her memory. If Harbinger could frown, it would. It has never had to deal with such a situation, and for the first time in time immeasurable its processors felt taxed. Harbinger turns to Shepard who is getting up.
“I guess I should thank you,” she says, in unfriendly tones.
“Maybe,” Harbinger says uncaring.
Shepard rubs the back of her neck. She is having trouble believing that she is having a conversation with a Reaper. A thought came to her, she speaks it aloud, “What the hell is happening to me?.”
Harbinger watches as she holds the sides of her face with her hands, as if she is scared it would fall apart.
“Why am I a human again? I was just a... whatever the thing I was before was,” she says, slumping again.
“A Pony,” Harbinger interrupts.
“WHO CARES!!” she yells. Her hands have moved to cover her face. She is silent a few seconds then, “What is going on with me? My memories are all stuffed up and I can't remember which is mine.”
Harbinger waits for a few seconds to see if Shepard has finished her outburst. “Well to answer your first question, you are human again because you are in a spiritual form, and in spirit you are a human, but right now in body you are a pony.”
Shepard gives Harbinger a confused look, “How do you know this?” she asks.
“To answer your second question,” Harbinger continues, “Your mind is under assault by other Shepards.”
“Whaa...?”
“It's simple. Your mind is being attacked by different versions of you.”
“Different, how?” she asks, trying to make sense of this madness that is her life now.
“Different names, different life choices, different faces and genders, different choices of partners and different endings to your missions,” Harbinger lists.
Shepard thinks about this, 'There's no point asking what was so different about them, because I can't remember my own to compare them.' She continues to be silent for a few seconds and then asks, “Ok then why are they attacking me and more important, why are they here.”
“Where else does a Shepard belong besides in a Shepard?” Harbinger replies.
“Very clever! Now answer the question,” retorts Shepard, remember something important - how much she hates Reapers.
Harbinger pauses to process, before it answers, “I believe that they were put here by the same thing that put me into the Omni-Tool, turned you into a pony and sent us into this land.”
“So, what 'thing' was that?” asks Shepard.
“Unknown,” Harbinger replies, “Something that could shackle me, put me into an improved Omni-tool, turn a human into a four legged herbivore and could bend the laws of reality and natural science.”
Shepard rubs her forehead, trying to figure out what powerful entity could possibly do this. She can't remember pissing off a god! She gives up, this question can be answered another day, “Lets go back to my first question of why they are attacking me.”
“Because they all want control of your body,” Harbinger states.
“What? All of them?” Shepard says.
“I don't believe I mentioned a specific group of them,” Harbinger states.
“What will happen if one of does take over my body?” she asks.
“Your soul will become like the others around you and the soul that took over will go though the same experience that you are having now... Well that's what normally would happen.”
“What do you mean by that?” asks Shepard. How is any of this normal?
“If another soul does take control, your body will be destroyed,” Harbinger explains.
“What! How!” says Shepard shocked.
“Your new Omni-Tool has a black-box self-terminate program that will activate if you lose control of your body, destroying itself, and you with it” Harbinger explains.
“Can you stop it?” asks Shepard, now nervous.
“To tamper with such a program is risky, as it could cause it to activate prematurely. The best course of action is to prevent its criteria for activation.” Harbinger explains.
Shepard sighs and looks at her wrist where her Omni-Tool would be, “I'm pretty sure Omni-Tools shouldn't be able to kill their owners.”
“This one is improved,” Harbinger states.
“Really, improved! What else can it do... or is it just that it can kill me?” Shepard says, angrily.
“Shepard, the most obvious improvement is it's storage. It can hold my entire system with room to spare,” Harbinger says.
Shepard has to admit that is pretty amazing, EDI needed a whole server room to run herself. Who knows how much a reaper needs(Don't they need their entire body?). The thought of EDI causes a quick burst of pain across her mind.
“Also all of the Omni-Tool commands can all be received mentally,” Harbinger adds.
'At least that fixes the problem of not having hands,' Shepard thinks to herself.
“It also contains all the functions from multiple different Omni-Tool Models, like the Infiltrator, Engineer and Sentinel version,” Harbinger continues.
“So it's basically a Omni-Tool on steroids,” Shepard says amazed.
“It is also now, for some reason, partly organic,” it finishes.
“What?”
“It has become part living organism and part mechanical. It is a part of your body just like a heart or a brain. It's connected to your nerve system and it appears to be in both of your front legs,” Harbinger replies.
“Front legs?”
“You are a quadruped remember.”
“Oh yeah,” Shepard says, remembering that this is her soul not her body. “But isn't that impossible?”
“The scans don't lie, I don't know how it was done but it must have happened when your body was being changed,” Harbinger continues to explains in his monotonous voice, “The same thing happened to your Biotic implants.”
“I have Biotic Implants?”
“You used them when you attacked those six ponies,” Harbinger reminds her.
“Oh yeah,” Shepard says, remembering that time. She didn't know what had come over her then.
“Your Biotics are now very similar to an Asari and nearly as powerful as one too.”
“Anything else I should know about my Biotics?”
“Unlike your Omni-Tool it is now purely organic and contains all the functions of a Sentinel, Adept and Vanguard implant.”
“It sounds like someone is trying to empower me...” ponders Shepard.
“Or trying to make it very hard to remember your past,” interrupts Harbinger.
“What do you mean?”
“With the multitude of equipment you have, it is impossible to discern what kind of training you have undertaken.”
“So that get us back to the problem at hand. How can I stop the other souls from taking over?” asks Shepard.
“Remember your self.”
“How!”
“Remember your name,” states Harbinger, “And quickly!”
“Explain!” Shepard demands, nervously.
Harbinger takes a few steps closer to Shepard, “Soon your soul will become too weak to stay in control and a stronger soul will take control and then...”
Shepard didn't need him to continue, she knowns what will happen. She will die. “How long do I have.”
“Maybe a few months or maybe a few weeks.”
“Not long eh?” Shepard says, looking down at her feet.
Harbinger is quiet for a few seconds then it looks out into the distance, “You will wake up soon,” it states.
“Really?” Shepard asks.
“But I will still be able to talk to you though your mind and when you're sleeping,” it adds.
“Wonderful!” Shepard says, sarcastically.
Then she wakes up.
The doctor tells Twilight that no serious damage has been done and he prescribes plenty of bed rest and relaxation.
'Like I could with that psychopath about!' she thinks bitterly.
She meets with her friends and explains the situation to them. None of them are happy.
“You mean you have to look after her?” asks Rainbow Dash, horrified.
“Isn't that a might dangerous?” says Applejack.
“Don't worry Applejack, she will be restrain by some very powerful bracelets that will stop her from hurting anypony,” reassures Twilight.
Applejack frowns but accepts this.
“But why did you accept this, dear, why didn't you refuse?” asks Rarity.
Twilight stays quiet, but everypony guesses the answer - because Celestia asked her to.
Applejack sighs, “Well, whatever the reason, we will stand behind you, Twilight.”
There is chorus of agreements from her friends.
“Thanks,” Twilight says, touched as always by their loyalty.
“How are we going to stop her from escaping?” asks Spike.
“Well, beside the bracelets, I’m going enchant the door and windows so that only I can open them,” explains Twilight.
“Good thinking, 99!” says Pinkie.
The girls ignore Pinkie's outburst, because that way madness lies.
They meet with Celestia who takes Twilight aside to explain how the bracelets work, and how to open the new magic chest that now holds Shepard's possessions. Soon Twilight has memorised the instructions and they are ready to leave.
Celestia and Luna walk with the Twilight and her friends out to the court yard where Thunderclap and his band of merry idiots are waiting to take them, and Shepard, back to Ponyville.
Celestia leans over and whispers into Twilight's ear, “If anything happens, send us a letter and we will come to help.”
Twilight smiles and thanks her mentor. She walks the cart where her friends are already seated, past the prisoner cart were Shepard is caged. Shepard is awake now and looking over the court yard with a distant look on her face. She notices Twilight looking at her and looks back, and then for a split second Twilight is sure she smirks, before she closes her eyes and leans against the bars of her cage. Twilight stands there frozen until a voice grabs her attention.
“Princess, are you ok?” came the concerned voice of Thunderclap.
“What? Oh yes, I'm fine,” Twilight replies.
Thunderclap looks over at Shepard and places a comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder, “Don't worry, we are being assigned to Ponyville and if something happens just call out and we will come running.”
Twilight gives him the same grateful smile as she gave Celestia, and then hops onto the cart. Thunderclap sighs and then straps himself to the cart and tells his squad to get ready. They take off and start there trip back to Ponyville.
“Shepard, an escape plan seems necessary. How should we proceed?” asks Harbinger, as Shepard pretend to be asleep.
“I have a few ideas,” responds Shepard mentally.
“It's fortunate that this race seems to be very naive,” adds Harbinger, “They are even bringing your equipment back instead of locking it away.”
Shepard peeks through her eye lids at the new chest that held her equipment. “And only the Princess can release me,” she adds.
“Remember, Shepard, we have only a limited time to remember your name,” Harbinger warns.
“Don't worry, I remember, I will be out in a week. I have a plan.”
Twilight is annoyed. The object of her annoyance is lying on a pillow in front of her, ignoring her and reading a book about the cartography of Equestria.
“Shepard! Listen to me!” Twilight calls, exasperated.
Shepard eyes her briefly before returning to the book. “If you want someone to help you sort your books you can look else were, I've seen how you sort books and how often you do it, and it's ridiculous.”
Twilight grits her teeth. This is one of the many things she hates about Shepard, she seems to always second guess Twilight... and she is nearly always right. “Listen, you're staying at my home and eating my food, you could at least help,” Twilight says as calmly as possible.
Shepard looks back up at Twilight. She puts the book on top of a pile she has made of seemly random books and gets up and stands in front of Twilight at her full height. She is tall, just as tall as Twilight if not a bit taller.
“Me!” Shepard says, scowling, “What about you!”
“What do you mean?” asks Twilight, confused.
“Well, in the time I have been here you seem to have done bugger all, except harass me,” Shepard states.
“What! I have... done stuff,” Twilight says, weakly.
“Really? Because all the meals are cooked by the dragon, the cleaning is done by the dragon, and the shopping is done by the dragon,” Shepard states.
“Well... that's because Spike is my assistant,” Twilight says, defensively.
Shepard leans against the wall and gives her a disapproving glare, “So Equestria has child-labour eh, because that what it looks like from where I'm standing.”
“We have no such thing!” Twilight says, outraged.
“Yeah I guess you're right, its more like enslavement than employment,” Shepard says, smirking.
“SPIKE IS NO SLAVE!” yells Twilight.
“Really? He does a lot of work for no reward that I see, besides praise...” Shepard pauses for a few seconds before continuing with a larger smirk, “You're right he's not a slave, more like a pet.”
“A pet..!” Twilight says, mortified.
Shepard gathers up her books with her telekinesis and walks up the stairs. Halfway she stops and looks down at the still mortified Twilight. “I wonder how you would survive without Spike. If he were gone, I could just imagine you living a house full of neat filth, and surviving on fast food.” Without waiting for a reply she continues to the spare bedroom and closes the door.
When the coast is clear Spike comes out of the kitchen and runs over to Twilight's side.
“Twilight, you know she just trying to get under your skin,” he says, patting her side.
“Maybe you could try and be nice to her,” suggests Spike, nervously.
“WHAT! Why?” Twilight yells.
“Well, she's right,” replies Spike, “All you ever do to her harass her and start arguments.”
“I did not start that argument,” Twilight states, “...And I do not!”
Spike starts cleaning up some of the books that Shepard has left behind, “I never said you started that one, but you have started many others.” Then Spike mutters under her breath, “And still always lose them.”
While Twilight tries to work out what Spike has just said, somepony knocks on the front door.
“Come in!” Twilight calls out.
The knocking pauses before continuing again.
“Come in!” Twilight calls out again.
The knocking increases in force to show the growing irritation of the knocker.
Twilight frowns, “I said come in,” she complains to Spike.
Spike gives her a 'Really?' look before answering, “You have magically locked the door so that only you can open it, Twilight.”
Twilight does a facehoof. She can't believe she has forgotten, but all this business with Shepard is not helping her memory. She opens the door with her magic, letting in a very annoyed Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
“Took you long enough, egg-head,” complains Rainbow Dash.
“Sorry, I had other thoughts on my mind,” Twilight replies, sheepishly.
Applejack frowns, “Another argument with Shepard?”
Twilight nods her head.
“What the score, Spike?” asks Rainbow Dash.
“Shepard 14 – Twilight nil,” answers Spike.
Applejack frowns at them and starts comforting Twilight who is starting to mope. For some reason Spike is keeping a tally of all the arguments the ponies have had with Shepard.
“Remember, Dash, we're here are to check up on Twilight, not make her feel bad,” Applejack reminds Rainbow Dash.
“Hay, I was just asking,” Rainbow Dash replies, defensively.
“What was it about this time?” asks Applejack.
“Well, it started with me asking her to help with the shelving...” Twilight starts to explain.
Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes.
“...then she accused me of not doing anything around the house,” Twilight continues in affronted tones.
Applejack rubs the back of her neck, “Yeah... anything else?” she asks, wondering if she should tell Twilight that it is mostly true.
“She then called Spike a slave and then a pet,” Twilight says, in very angry tones.
“WHAT!!” yells both Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
Spike sighs, “She was just trying to get under your skin, I doubt she means it.”
Rainbow grabs Spike's sides and starts to shake him, “But how do you know that? What if she right now thinks that you're nothing but a pet or a slave!”
“Even if she did think that, I'm not going to go up there and fight about it,” Spike explains. Then he adds cheekily, “Because I don't want to add my name to the tally.”
Rainbow's eyes narrow, “Well, if you're not going to defend your honour, then I will!” Rainbow Dash declares and dashes towards Shepard's room.
Spike sighs again, “Want me to make tea while we wait?”
Twilight and Applejack nod and follow Spike into the kitchen as the shouting starts upstairs.
After a cup of tea, and then a few minutes more, Rainbow Dash flies back from Shepard's room, lands in the corner of the kitchen and... sulks.
“What the score now?” grins Applejack.
“Shepard 5 – Rainbow Dash nil,” Spike grins back.
“Awww shut up!” yells Rainbow Dash with a scowl.
Applejack gives Rainbow Dash a smug grin and turns back to Twilight, who is nursing another cup of tea, “So how have you been, sugar?”
Twilight sighs, “Fine mostly, beside the arguments, she hasn't tried to hurt me or Spike. She just sits around and reads books.” She grips the cup tightly, “But I swear she is planning something.”
“What do you mean?” asks Rainbow Dash, who stops sulking.
“Every night I think I hear her sneaking around the library,” Twilight says, quietly.
“Maybe she just wanted some more books,” Spike says reasonably, while snacking on some gems.
Twilight ignores him and continues, “But when I go and look no pony is there.”
“Now it just sounds like your being paranoid,” Spike comments.
“And then there is all the books she is reading: about history, magic, ponies, other races, locations, and also maps,” Twilight says, continuing to ignore Spike.
“Maybe she just wants to learn more about the new world she's in,” says Spike continuing to add reason to what Twilight is saying.
“And I swear she is fiddling with the chest with her stuff in it,” Twilight adds, ignoring Spike again but she is starting to get irritated.
“Maybe...” Spike tries to say.
“SPIKE!! Stop taking Shepard side!” Twilight whines, startling him and causing him to drop his gems.
“Sorry Twilight, but I have to agree with Spike,” interrupts Applejack, “You might be being a mite paranoid.”
“Yeah, I think that too,” adds Rainbow Dash, “I mean I don't like her any more than you do, but she can't do anything wearing those bracelets.”
“But...” Twilight tries to say.
“Listen Twilight,” scolds Applejack, “You've basically said the same thing every time we have come to visit this week.”
Twilight sighs, “Yeah well, thanks for coming to check up on me every day.”
“No problem, sugar,” replies Applejack, “Now, it's getting late and I have to get home.”
“Yeah me too,” Rainbow Dash yawns.
Twilight walks with her friends to the door, opening it to let her friends out.
Rainbow Dash flies straight out saying her goodbyes, but Applejack pauses.
“Try not to worry Twilight. I don't think Celestia would leave her with you if she wasn't sure that it was safe. Goodnight.”
When Applejack is gone Twilight slams the door.
“Why don't they believe me when I say Shepard is plotting something?” she cries out, “She is evil and she is plotting something.”
“Now you sound really paranoid, Twilight,” Spike says.
Twilight glares at him. “It's your fault that they don't believe me,” she accuses. “Why did you have to defend her?”
Spike sighs and places his hand on his forehead, “They didn't believe you because you are being paranoid.”
Twilight's glare intensifies. Spike sighs again and pats her side, “Look Twilight, you haven't got a lot of sleep lately and you're probably just tired,” he says in a calming voice. “Why don't you go to bed and I will bring you something to eat.”
Twilight continues to glare for awhile, but then she sighs and gives in. “Perhaps you're right,” she says, starting to walk up to her room, “Maybe I’m just tired.”
Spike watches as Twilight go before he heads to the kitchen and starts preparing dinner for three.
After about a quarter of an hour he hears a door opening and closing upstairs. Then nothing for a while until he hears a light shimmering sound. He turns around and sees Shepard land in the middle of the library room, covered in her weird blue aura that is not her magic.
“Hi, Shepard,” Spike calls out.
Shepard looks startled by the sudden noise, her head turns and her eyes lock on Spike. Spike backs off a little bit, Shepard has a hard glare. After Shepard notices who it is, her face softens and a kind smile appears on her face, Spike smiles back. Shepard has a nice smile, it reminds him of Twilight's mother and Princess Celestia. It's mature and wise, but also friendly. He sometimes wonders how old Shepard is?
Shepard pours herself a glass of water with her magic at the sink.
“Hay, about before...” Spike starts.
Shepard stops mid-drink and sighs, “Yeah, sorry about using you in the argument,” she apologies. “But I can't stand hypocrites.” She takes another sip of her drink.
Spike chuckles, “Yeah!” Then adds anxiously, “You don't really think of me as a slave or a pet, do you?”
Shepard smiles, “No, it's more like a very capable child taking care of his very incapable mother.”
Spike laughs. He enjoys having conversions with Shepard, and wishes that Twilight would stop thinking that Shepard is the next big villain she has to defeat, and that they would get along with each other... on that note...
“Shepard, I know I've asked this before, but can you try and get along with Twilight?” he pleads, even though he knows the answer.
Shepard sighs and her face takes on a hard edge, “I told you before. I want Twilight to met me half way on this. I'm not going to go half way and find Twilight's not there. I don't want to start being nice only to get shot down, because Twilight still hates me nearly as much as a Batarian.”
“What's a Batarian?” asks Spike.
“Something nasty,” she shrugs.
That doesn't answer his question, but he decides not to push it. “Well, you might as well go to bed and I will bring your dinner up, we're having a lazy nigh...” a thud interrupts Spike. He turns from the stove and sees Shepard slumped against the wall with her eyes squeezed shut and she is breathing heavily. He abandons the eggs and rushes to her side.
“Shepard! Are you alright?”
She doesn't respond. Her eyes squeeze tighter and her head bows. Her hoof lights up.
“SHEPARD!!” It's Harbinger's voice from the hoof.
Shepard's eyes snap open. Spike could swear he can see a small tear in one of them, but if there is one it's quickly wiped away. Shepard straightens herself up and starts to walk to the stairs.
“Yeah, dinner in bed sounds pretty good,” she says, in a flat tone.
“But Shepar...”
“Please don't,” she says, with a pleading look.
Spike stops and goes back to the eggs, but watches as she climbs up the stairs, she looks so depressed. Spike wants to tell Twilight about this but Shepard made him promise not to. Spike has seen these attacks before and they seems to be getting worse. These attacks are the reason why he and Shepard are on such good terms with each other. He had saved her from falling down the stairs when she suddenly had one when Twilight was out. That was the first time he had seen it and after that they just started talking to each other. Twilight hasn't seen an attack because every time Shepard and Twilight meet, they argue and then one leaves the room, usually Shepard. The worst part about it is that he doesn't know how to help. It's likely that Harbinger does, but the thought of him makes Spike frown. He doesn't know what to think of Harbinger, his way of speech is weird and he says some really weird stuff. Shepard doesn't seem to like him much either.
Spike serves the eggs and carries two plates up on a tray. He knocks on Shepard's door first.
“Room service,” Spike jokes, when she opens the door.
Shepard chuckles, “Thanks Spike.”
“You're welcome,” he replies. “How are you feeling?” he asks, rubbing his hands nervously.
Her face darkens, “I'm fine Spike,” she says coldly, “It's a personal problem and nothing to do with you.”
“So there's nothing I can do to help?” asks Spike, sadly.
Shepard shakes her head as she closes the door, “Good night Spike,” she says, as it closes with click.
Spike sighs and heads to Twilight's room, he knocks and when no pony answers, he enters. Twilight is sleeping like a log, sprawled across the bed. He chuckles and places the tray with her food on the bed side bench. He tries to wake Twilight up. A hopeless effort. Twilight is so tired from worrying about Shepard that she is one step away from being in a coma. He gives up and tucks Twilight in and leaves the food where it is just in case she wakes up. Back in the kitchen, he digs into his own meal and ponders things.
As he does the dishes he decides to talk with Fluttershy again tomorrow, because among the friends Fluttershy is the only one that seems to show any care for the lost pony. Spike has explained what Shepard is really like and she believes him. The rest of the friends were right out. Rainbow Dash hates Shepard more than Twilight, Applejack doesn't trust her, Rarity is still bitter about the mane and Pinkie Pie is... Pinkie Pie, and thinks Shepard is a Meanie! So that only leaves Fluttershy. Spike is thankful to Fluttershy because she is somepony to talk to and get advice from. After he finishes the dishes, he turns off the lights and heads to bed himself.
5:00am
The library is quiet, not a sound is heard until a creaking of a door fades through the darkness. Shepard creeps out of her room and heads to Twilight's. She barely makes a noise as she creeps across the floor and with great care opens the door. She peeks in and sees Twilight and Spike sleeping like logs. She scans the rest of the room and checks her goal, Twilight's window. Good it's open again to let in the cool summer night breeze. Shepard sneaks across the room towards the window. She freezes when she hears a noise from Twilight. It's just Twilight tossing around in her bed, still asleep.
'Must be having a nightmare,' thinks Shepard, as she unfreezes and continues to the window.
As she climbs out there is scraping noise and she freezes again. She looks down and sees that one of the leg bracelets has damaged the window pane.
'Blasted things,” she inwardly curses. She checks Twilight and Spike. Still asleep.
Thankful, she finishes climbing out.
Using her Biotics to slow her fall she lands softly and runs off into the fading darkness, leaving Twilight to her dreams.
Twilight walks alone in a misty forest. Every step she takes sends up small fountains of silver mist from the misty floor. She could not see much because the mist hung on everything like a veil but dissolved when she got close. Did I mention there is mist?
'Where am I?' she wonders.
She trips and falls on her face. As she gets up groaning she sees what has tripped her. Her scream echoes throughout the forest. It's a severed pony limb. Twilight runs away as fast and far as she can. She is leaning against a tree, panting, panicking.
'What was that?'
She looks up and sees a pony's fore leg sticking out from the other side of the tree. Is somepony on the other side?
Twilight summons up her courage and walks around the tree, “Excuse me do you know where we ar...”
Her words get caught in her throat. In front of her is a pony with half of it's body blown away. It's head and left arm are completely gone, along with a lot of it's body. The remaining body parts lean against the tree which is covered in blood. She backs away from the body until she hears a crunch. She looks down and nearly throws up. She has just stepped into a charcoal corpse. It's sad curled pony body lies in a circle of ash. Twilight has just crumbled one of it's hooves. She screams again and runs on though the mist. It clings and trails behind her like a cape or silky dress. Twilight doesn't notice, she just wants to get away. Where ever she runs she finds more dead ponies, some known, some unknown and some too broken to tell. Suddenly she is in a clearing free of bodies. Behind her only a wall of mist. Twilight tries to peer through the mist in front of her, and what she sees fills her heart with hope. It is her friends. But they are milling about looking confused. Twilight starts towards them. Maybe they can help stop whatever is killing the ponies. But as she walks she finds it gets harder and harder to move forward. The mist that clings to her is slowly turning into silver chains. She tries to break free but it is too late. Soon her body is laden with chains. Without warning they tighten, locking her to the ground. She tries to cry out for help but the chains around her neck are tight. Her eyes water. She is having trouble breathing. Her friends don't seem to notice her, or even each other. A mountain of mist rises up behind Pinkie. Twilight tries to warn her, but the chain tighten again and cut off her words. Pinkie's tail twitches and she turns around. She sees the mass of mist, her face changes to horror but before she can do anything it engulfs her. Then it disperses across the cloudy ground to reveal Pinkie lying there. Her head is completely smashed in.
Twilight whimpers “No... Pinkie.”
The mist rises again, this time behind Rainbow Dash. Twilight desperately tries to break through the chains, but they only tighten and cut into her flesh. She moans as the chain around her neck is nearly completely cutting off her air. She looks up to see Rainbow Dash's body lying on its side. Her wings ripped out and stabbed deep into her side. Her face is one of horror and pain. And the mist is rising behind Rarity.
“NOOO!” Twilight tries to call out but it comes out a croak.
The mist pauses briefly before descending on Rarity swallowing her whole. When it recedes, Twilight sees that Rarity's head has been ripped off her body! Her once beautiful face is now covered in blood and mascara from her tears. Twilight starts to cry helplessly. Her tears fall from her face and travel down the chains. The mist rises again, this time behind Applejack. Twilight struggles against the chain and it tightens cruelly again. She thinks she can hear her own flesh rip and tear. She lets out a unheard scream. The mist has done its work. Applejack's head has been snapped right around and Twilight can't see her face. The only pony left alive is Fluttershy who is still wandering in confusion. Twilight is powerless to warn her. She is gasping for breath. And then the mist starts to rise behind Fluttershy.
“Please... stop... no more,” Twilight begs, in a raspy whisper, as tears falls down her face.
As if the mist heard her, it slows down. It builds above Fluttershy, like a wave ready to break. Fluttershy looks up out of the shadow. In an instant her face changes to terror and her mouth opens to scream. No sound leaves her mouth as the wave of mist suddenly crashes down over her. As it departs it reveals Fluttershy. She lies in a pool of blood, her throat slit, her mane covering her face, hiding it from view.
Twilight sags defeated and the chains slip away and become mist again. Twilight barely notices. Her friends are all dead. The mist snakes away and she is left in the middle of a field of death. There are dead ponies everywhere even hanging from trees. Twilight starts to really cry now, great wracking sobs that carry across the forest.
“Why?!” she cries out, “Why?! Why?!”
Then she feels the hair on her back rise and prickle. There is something behind her. With a sense of slow motion she turns to see the mist towering behind. She guesses that it's her turn now. But instead engulfing her the mist compresses and hardens to form into a shape. A pony wearing silver armour with a blood red dragon on it soon stands in front of her, its visor glowing a bright red.
“YOU!!” Twilight screams.
“Yes, me,” she says.
Her voice confuses Twilight, it sounds like Shepard, only sweeter and 100% more evil.
“Why did you kill my friends!” Twilight cries out.
“Because I'm supposed to,” she explains.
“You killed nearly everyone I care about BECAUSE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO!!” Twilight screams, tears streaming down her face.
Shepard laughs cruelly, “Who said I killed nearly everyone you care about!”and she points to a nearby tree. Twilight turns toward it and screams again. There hanging by their hair from a branch is the severed heads of her family.
“Shining. Mum. Dad. No,” she whimpers.
Shepard laughs again, “It gets better.” She points further up the tree. Twilight looks higher and all hope dies. There hanging in the highest branches by their beautiful manes were three heads, their tiaras hanging from their long horns.
“No! No! That's not possible! THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE!” she wails.
“Anything is possible, in the right situations,” Shepard smirks.
Twilight turns towards Shepard to find she is an inch away from Twilight's face.
“I'm surprised you have not run away,” she says with a fake, kind voice, “Maybe you want to join them... or maybe join your family, because there is plenty of room.”
Twilight shivers as Shepard places a mock comforting hoof over her shoulder. Twilight looks at Shepard's helmet and screams again. The bottom of her helmet is splitting open to reveal two rows of razor sharp teeth. Drool and blood drip down the sides of her mouth. Foul smelling breath washes over her and makes her gag. It smells like rotten flesh.
“Don't worry, I'll make sure your friends join you,” Shepard whispers into Twilight's ear.
Twilight knocks Shepard's hoof away and dashes out of reach.
“YOU'RE A MONSTER!!” she screams at her.
“OF COURSE!” Shepard yells with glee, “Because this is how you created me!”
“What?” Twilight asks confused, but Shepard just wags her hoof as if scolding a naughty child.
“No more questions, lets have some fun,” she smiles, and takes a few steps closer.
Twilight backs off and then bolts as fast as she can. She must get help. She needs to send a message to Canterlot, because the Princesses can't be dead. Shepard must be tricking her. She sees Ponyville up ahead and gallops towards it. As she reaches it, she looks behind her and sees no sigh of the monstrous Shepard. She sighs in relief, maybe she has lost her. She looks around the town, it's eerily quiet. But of course, it's night time so everypony must be asleep. But still, it feels like the town is empty.
“Where is everypony?” she asks the air.
“Gone. Just like you imagined,” says a familiar voice, above her.
She looks up, hoping that it is not who she thinks it is. She's not that lucky. There sitting on a nearby roof is Shepard, grinning evilly. She is stroking some poor mare's severed head. It has a Light Cerulean coat and a Bluish Gray mane. Twilight doesn't know who the pony was and is glad.
“What do you mean, just how I imagined it?” asks Twilight, putting on a brave face.
“Isn't this how you imagine it? Shepard gets out and kills everyone? Isn't that what's suppose to happen?” she says, smiling in a way that shows all her teeth.
“Huh,” Twilight replies.
Shepard throws the head away and jumps down, landing on all four of her hooves.
“Hey, I already answered a question lets play some more,” she says, pulling out the gun with the skull on it from nowhere.
Twilight eyes widen as she feels a bolt of fear, she flings herself into the air, wing beating fast like her heart. Twilight knows she isn't a very good flier yet, but she's gotta get away from this monster.
“That's not fair, using wings” Shepard says in a mock, pouty voice.
Twilight hears the gun go off and feels a searing pain on her back. She falls and hits the ground with a thud and rolls. She hears another thud and opens her eyes, which were squeezed shut, and to her horror sees one of her wings laying in front of her.
“Now it's fair!” Shepard says with an evil laugh.
Twilight gets to her hooves, with searing pain shooting across her body. Blood pours down her flank and belly and down her legs. She ignores it and runs.
“Yes, run Twilight, it's more fun like this!” Shepard yells at her.
Twilight keeps running, sometimes stumbling with the pain and dizziness from the loss of blood. She must get home. Finally she sees her home up ahead. She reaches it and bursts through the door.
“SPIKE! SPIKE!” she pants desperately. Hoping that he is alright.
But then her hooves feels something soft on the ground. She looks down and feels her heart break. It's a little purple claw completely bereft of the rest of the body. Twilight reaches down and picks it up and hugs it against her.
“I'm so sorry, Spike. I failed,” she sobs.
The door behind her opens and somepony steps in. She doesn't even bother look to see who it is, because she knows.
“I told you I killed everyone you cared about,” mocks Shepard.
Twilight doesn't bother answering.
“And now you stand alone, covered in your own blood and clutching the little claw of little Spike,” she continues.
“Why. WHY did you kill him! He is only a child!” Twilight screams at her.
Suddenly Shepard grabs Twilight's head and forces her to look dead at Shepard's visor. Twilight can just imagine the mad red eyes behind it.
“BECAUSE THIS IS YOUR NIGHTMARE, TWILIGHT, AND I'M SUPPOSED TO!” she yells happily.
“A nightmare...” Twilight says weakly, and she feels the last of her strength drain from her body.
“Yes,” Shepard says, “and it's time to wake up, Twilight!”
“Twilight! TWILIGHT! Wake up! Wake up!” yells Spike urgently. Boy! She's hard to wake up sometimes, “Twilight!”
Twilight shudders awake and springs forward, her gaze sweeps the room, looking for something. Her wide eyes finally land on Spike, he sees her relief before she pulls him into a tight hug. He can hear her crying softly. He pats her on the shoulder for a long time until she calms down.
'She must have had a nightmare,' he thinks. “Are you ok now, Twilight?”
Twilight lifts her head off Spikes shoulder and starts to pull herself together, “Yeah, it was just a bad dream,” she says shakily while wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Don't worry, Twilight,” Spike reassures her, “It is just a dream and very soon you will forget all about it.”
Twilight doesn't think she will ever forget that dream. Everything was so real, she rubs the wing she had lost in the dream to make sure it is still there. It was. Yes, Spike is right, it was just a dream. No matter how powerful and evil Shepard is, she couldn't do all that. Thinking about Shepard...
“What is Shepard doing right now, I want talk to her,” asks Twilight, starting to leave the room.
Spike's eyes widen as he remembers the reason why he went to wake up Twilight in the first place, “Oh yeah...well, she's not here any more... I mean she has escaped,” he says lamely.
Twilight's head whips around to face him with horror.
Twilight paces around the room. Soon there is a knocking on the door and she rushes to open it.
“Twilight, we heard that Shepard has escaped. Is that true?” asks Rarity.
“Yes. She got out last night,” confirms Twilight.
“How?” asks Rainbow Dash.
Twilight looks ashamed, “She must have climbed out of my bedroom window.”
“How do you know that?” questions Rainbow Dash.
“The window was wide open, and I found scrape marks on the window sill that must have been made by the bracelets,” Twilight explains.
“Right, that makes sense, but why was the window open anyway?” questions Rarity.
Twilight looks even more ashamed, “I opened it to let some cool breeze in and forgot to close it.”
“Oh, Twilight,” says Rarity, shaking her head.
“So you’re saying it is just bad luck that Shepard escaped,” Rainbow Dash states.
“No, Twilight nearly always leaves her window open during Summer, and Shepard must have noticed it,” explains Spike.
“It's a habit!” whines Twilight.
“Look, were not getting anywhere by blaming Twilight,” Applejack scolds.
“Look I wasn't...” Rainbow Dash tries to say.
“I know Dash,” interrupts Applejack, “But right now we've really got to find Shepard before something happens.”
“Right, thanks. We better split up and look for her,” states Twilight, “If you find her, come and report to me and I will come and immobilise her with the bracelets.”
“And remember to be discreet, because Shepard is supposed to be a secret, and its better if no pony hears about what she can do,” adds Rarity, “We don't want anypony to panic.”
They rush outside to look for Shepard, agreeing to meet outside Sugercube Corner in an hour. All except Fluttershy who has stayed behind to talk with Spike.
“Umm, Spike, do you have any idea why Shepard would escape?” she asks.
Spike scratches the back of his head, “I don't know. Maybe she just wanted to get outside, it can't be nice to be trapped,” he says hopefully.
Fluttershy sighs sadly, “Well, we better get going and see if we can find out.”
Shepard walks down a road near the edge of the town. Totally invisible.
“Is it really necessary to keep your cloak on,” asks Harbinger.
“I hear that Rainbow Dash flies around a lot and I don't want to be spotted, also I want to see how long this cloak lasts,” explains Shepard, getting tired of having to explain herself to a Reaper.
“For what purpose?” Harbinger continues questioning.
“My cloak never lasted this long before,” she states. “It usually lasts only for a few seconds. It's pretty cool, this is probably what Kasumi feels like.”
Bad idea. Just thinking of Kasumi sends a pain surging through her mind. She staggers and nearly falls over. With eyes shut she grits her teeth as she fights the pain.
“Shepard, if you keep thinking about your past like this you will be dead soon!” scolds Harbinger.
Because Shepard had her eyes shut and Harbinger is talking in her ear, she didn't notice the incoming scooter and since she is invisible, the rider didn't see her.
CRASH!!!
She goes rolling off the edge of the road, down the hill and into the nearby small creek.
'At least my head doesn't hurt anymore,' she thinks bitterly.
“Scootaloo, I think you hit somethin',” comes a small but familiar voice from up the hill.
“You think?” comes a smaller, higher voice.
“I didn't see anything,” a third voice replies, slightly raspier than the first two.
“Well considerin’ that we are lying in ah heap, I think we did hit somethin',” says the first voice again, her country accent evident.
'Must be kids,' Shepard thinks.
“We might have just hit a rock,” replies the second voice.
“No, last time this happened was when we ran into that fallen tree trunk,” answers the first voice flatly.
“I thought we agreed never to talk about that,” says the third voice angrily.
“Does it matter?” says the second voice, “Where's the wagon?”
Shepard looks beside her and sees a red wagon and is startled by a scream.
“OHMYGOSH A DEAD PONY!” shrieks a small grey Unicorn with a two-toned purple mane.
“Really!” a small orange pegasus with a darker purple mane peeks over the edge. Her eyes widen, “OH MY GOSH! What do you think happened?”
“Maybe we killed her when we hit her with the scooter!” says the unicorn.
“But I didn't see anypony!” wails the pegasus, terrified to think she might have killed somepony.
“She ain't dead,” comes a small voice of reason from a small yellow pony with a dark pink mane and even pinker bow, “I can see her breathin'.”
“Really?” says the Pegasus, relieved. The unicorn has to be sure.
“Excuse me, are you alive?!” she yells.
“Barely,” Shepard finally answers.
“Are you ok?” asks the pegasus, nervously.
“Now there’s a question,” Shepard replies, starting to get up.
“Do you need a hoof?” asks the yellow pony, who has walked down to the edge of the creek.
Shepard shakes her head and grabs the wagon, lucky it is a shallow creek. She brings the wagon to the bank and climbs out.
“Here you go,” she says, handing them back the cart.
“Thank you,” replies the yellow pony.
“Umm, miss, why were you in the water?” asks the orange pony.
Shepard sighs, “Well I wasn't looking where I was going and accidentally run into your cart.”
“OHMYGOSH! WE ARE SO SORRY!” the small grey unicorn yells, in such a loud voice that even Shepard felt the urge to cover her ears, “WE DIDN'T SEE YOU!”
“That doesn't surprise me,” answers Shepard, waiting for her ears to stop ringing.
“But I didn't see her,” whines the orange pegasus.
“Maybe you were distracted?” asks the grey unicorn.
The pegasus is about to respond, but is interrupted by the yellow pony. “Listen we can argue about what happened later, but right now this pony is drippin' wet.”
“Oh yeah,” says both the unicorn and pegasus.
“Why don't we take her to your house,” the grey unicorn asks the yellow pony.
“I guess we could,” the yellow one says cautiously, before her face suddenly brightens, “Maybe we could get our Cutie Marks for helping people!”
“Didn't we already try that,” asks the pegasus.
“No harm in trying it again!” replies the unicorn.
“Yeah, CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS HELPERS YAY!” the three yell.
Shepard who has no idea what a Cutie Mark is or even more so what Cutie Mark Crusader is, could guess that they are going to try and help her, “Listen, it's ok, I will probably just dry off soon anyway...”
She is halted halfway by the look the three little ponies are giving her: 'Please let us help, we really want to help, please.' Shepard is having trouble saying no to their cute begging faces. “Alright, fine, I will come with you,” she gives in.
“YAY!” the three yell.
“It's not far, is it?” Shepard asks.
“No, it's just around the corner,” the yellow pony answers.
“Let’s go then,” replies Shepard.
“Ok,” they all reply.
Shepard watches as they hook the cart back onto the scooter. The pegasus hops onto the scooter and the other two climb into the cart.
“Want us to give you a ride?” asks the pegasus.
“You’re joking, right?” Shepard says, deadpan.
“No, we give ponies rides all the time,” the pegasus says confused.
'This place has no road safety!' Shepard thought but what she says is, “No thanks, I think I will just run beside you.”
“Suit yourself,” replies the pegasus, as she starts off.
Shepard follows.
“So what’s your name, miss?” asks the grey unicorn.
“Call me Shepard. What's yours?”
“I'm Sweetie Belle, and this Applebloom,” the grey unicorn says pointing to the carts other occupant, “And this is Scootaloo,” she says pointing to the scooter driver.
“Nice to meet you,” huffs Shepard, who is now in full gallop beside the cart.
“Likewise,” answers Applebloom, who is looking at Shepard's flank, “If you don’t mind me askin’, how did you get your Cutie Mark?”
“Huh?”
After a brief run (and lots of questions!) they reach their destination.
“Here we are - Sweet Apple Acres,” announces Applebloom.
Shepard looks around. She doesn't know about the 'Sweet', but it definitely lives up to the 'Apple Acres'. Apple trees extend as far as the eye can see. She wonders how they manage it all.
“What're you kids doin' back so soon?” comes an elderly voice with that same familiar country accent.
Shepard turns to see the oldest looking pony she has ever met (which is actually not a lot, but she is surprised, she didn't think it was possible for furry creatures to get wrinkles).
“Well... we had an accident,” Applebloom says, sheepishly.
“Mmmm,” went the old pony, “An' what happened?”
“We knocked a pony into the creek,” Applebloom answers.
“Is the pony alright?” the elder asks, disapprovingly.
“Yeah, she's right here!” Applebloom says, quickly showing Shepard as if to prove that they are not murderers.
The elder looks Shepard up and down and speaks, “Sorry about this, stranger.”
“It's alright, it was mostly my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going,” Shepard replies, not mentioning that she was also invisible at the time.
“Well you just wait on out here, I'll just get some towels,” the elder says. She turns to the three children, “Applebloom, you go help Big Mac with the chores.”
Applebloom groans, “But Granny Smith, I have already done my chores!” she whines.
“I know,” explains the elder, now known to be Granny Smith, “But your sister still hasn't shown up yet and your brother can't do it all.”
Applebloom hangs her head, “Sorry girls, we all will have to do our crusaderin' later,” she says sadly.
Sweetie Belle pats her on the back, “It’s okay, we can help so you finish quicker,” she smiles.
“We can?” asks Scootaloo.
Sweetie Belle steps on one of Scootaloo's back hooves, causing her yelp.
“Yes, we, can!” Sweetie Belle answers, glaring at Scootaloo.
“Thanks,” Applebloom answers happily, “Let's go,” and the children run off, most likely to find this ‘Big Mac’.
Shepard smiles as she watches them go, but soon a voice catches her attention.
It is Granny Smith, “Here's a towel,” she says smiling.
“Thanks,” Shepard takes the towel and starts to dry herself.
“You’re welcome.”
There is silence for a moment as Shepard rubs herself down, until she feels the need to break it. “So... where’s Applebloom's sister?”
“Oh Applejack is always runnin' off with Twilight and her friends on their adventures to save Equestria and whatnot, I'm thinking I should start chargin' Twilight for borrowin' my Applejack,” she jokes. She notices that Shepard had stopped drying herself, “Are you alright?”
“Oh, I'm fine, I just got distracted,” she answers. She then thinks, ' Oh dear, I knew I had heard that accent recently. I think I know where Applejack has run off to.'
“Well I hope she gets back soon,” sighs Granny Smith, “We have a lotta work to do.”
“Can I help?” asks Shepard, feeling guilty that she is inconveniencing this nice family with her escape.
Granny Smith cocks her head, “Ever done manual labour before?”
“Well I have done about 12 years of military service if that answers your question,” Shepard replies.
Granny Smith smiles, “That'll do,” she then yells at top her voice, “Oi, Big Mac, come here.”
Soon a huge apple-red male pony comes around the corner.
“Eeyup?” asks the huge pony called Big Mac.
“Miss...” she pauses, “I'm sorry, I done forgot to ask for ya name?”
“It's Shepard,” she answers.
“Well Big Mac, Miss Shepard here is sayin' she can help out with some of Applejack's jobs,” Granny Smith says.
“Eeyup,” he says and walks off the way he came.
Shepard follows.
“Why are you helping them, Shepard,” asks Harbinger in her head.
'Oh there you are! Why haven't heard from you since I was hit by the cart?' she thinks back.
“That doesn't answer my question, Shepard,” it counters.
'Because I can!' she inwardly shouts, 'Now answer my question!”
“I was checking your mind, and calculating how long we have to live,” Harbinger tells her.
'Oh... How long is it?' she quietly thinks.
“I haven't finished my calculations,”
'Oh.'
“With this short time we have left it is more important to find your name instead of helping others,” states Harbinger.
'But by helping people don't I strengthen myself and that gives me more time?'
Harbinger processes this, “That might be true. Continue.”
“You alright?” asks Big Mac, who had noticed that Shepard seems to be out of it.
“What? Oh, yes I was just thinking about something,” she replies.
Big Mac accepts this and continues to walk, Shepard follows again.
After a few seconds of walking it's Shepard's turn to break the silence.
“Where are Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?” she asks.
“Gathering kindling,” he answers.
“Ok.”
More silence.
“Nice day,” Shepard tries again.
“Eeyup,” he answers.
More silence.
“You don't talk much do you?” asks Shepard.
“Nnope,” he answers.
Thankfully they soon reach their destination, an old fashioned barn.
“We need to move an' unload these carts,” explains Big Mac, pointing to three laden carts in front of the barn.
“Simple enough,” replies Shepard.
“Take that one,” suggests Big Mac, pointing to the one with the least on it.
'Oh, trying to be gallant are we?” thinks Shepard, but what she said is, “No I think I would like to take that one,” pointing to the one with the most on it.
Big Mac looks surprised, “You sure, miss?”
“Yep, it doesn't look that heavy.”
Big Mac shrugs and harnesses himself to the medium one. Shepard smiling walks over to the heaviest looking one. When Shepard has harnessed herself to the cart, she gives the cart a experimental pull. It moves.
'That's good. Because if I couldn't move it I would look a right fool,' Shepard thinks.
“This way,” calls Big Mac, heading into the orchard.
Shepard follows, pulling the cart behind her.
Twilight wipes the sweat off her forehead as she waits outside of Sugarcube Corner. She has been spending the best part of an hour looking for Shepard, and she hopes her friends have had more luck than she has.
“Anything?” asks Twilight hopefully to each of her friends as they show up.
The shaking of their heads destroys that hope.
“Nothing,” adds Applejack.
“Maybe she already left town?” worries Rarity.
“I wouldn't think so,” answers Twilight, “We still have her equipment.”
“Maybe she's at Twilight's house right now and stealing her equipment!” exclaims Pinkie.
Twilight eyes widen, “Maybe I should go home to check.”
“Don't worry Twilight. Fluttershy and I closed the door when we left, she can't get in,” reassures Spike, “by the way, can you make it so I can open the door, if I need to?”
Twilight, now slightly calmer, nods her head, “Yes, I think I can. Give me your hand.”
Twilight takes his hand, suddenly a vision of last night's nightmare comes to her mind. A little claw bereft of body. Twilight's heart quickens.
“I told you I will kill everyone you ever cared about,” a voice whispers beside her.
Twilight's head whips around, only to find nothing there.
“Are you ok, Twilight?” asks a concerned Fluttershy.
“What! Oh, yes fine,” Twilight quickly says.
“Only you’re hugging Spike rather tightly,” continues Fluttershy.
Twilight looks down to see that she is nearly smothering Spike. “Oh! Sorry Spike,” she apologises letting him go.
“Its ok,” he says, brushing himself off. He guesses her actions are something to do with the dream. Twilight quickly cast the spell on Spikes claw, which lets him open the door. As she does so, she occasionally looks over her shoulders as if she expected something to be there.
“Are you sure you’re ok, sugar,” asks Applejack.
Twilight looks around to see her friends concerned faces.
Faces hanging from trees.
Twilight shakes her head trying to get rid of the thought. “Yes I'm fine, just... tired,” she says trying to change the subject.
“Do you think we should warn ponies about Shepard?” asks Rarity, getting back to their mane problem.
“No, we don't want everypony to panic, Shepard is supposed to be a secret,” explains Twilight.
“Fair enough,” agrees Rainbow Dash.
Rarity sighs, “Can we at least ask anypony if they have seen her?”
“Fine, but be discreet,” Twilight warns.
“Don't worry dear, discreet is my middle name,” boasts Rarity.
Applejack rolls her eyes.
“Let’s check the edge of town,” suggests Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah, lets go,” agrees Twilight.
“We will meet back here in a two hours,” adds Applejack.
There are nods of agreement and everypony heads off.
Unloading a cart.
Shepard never thought unloading a cart could be so challenging. But using a combination of hooves, teeth and back she manages to start removing the contents of the cart… God she misses hands.
Big Mac watches Shepard. He notices that, while she is very strong, she isn’t very good with her hooves and there is something else that puzzles him.
“Why don’t you use your magic?” he asks.
Shepard stops and gives him a long stare before answering. “Good idea.”
They get back to work with Shepard using her magic this time.
‘God I feel like an idiot,’ Shepard thinks as she works.
Soon the first cart is unloaded, and Big Mac leaves to get the last cart, leaving Shepard to continue unloading the second one. She watches as Big Mac leaves.
“Good, I've been dying to try this,” she says to herself.
She swiftly surrounds herself with a biotic aura and lifts out the contents of the second cart. Using a combination of magic and biotics she quickly guides everything into place and she is done in minutes. She smiles at her handiwork.
“Well, magic and biotics work well together,” she says as she wipes the sweat from her brow, “But boy, is it tiring!” She lies down by an apple tree and closes her eyes while she waits for Big Mac. ‘It's so peaceful,’ she thinks, lounging in the mid-morning sun. Then she hears someone screaming for help, “Scratch that!” she says as she leaps onto her hooves and gallops towards the sound.
She discoverers a troubling scene. The three children, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, are stuck up a tree surrounded by a large number of creatures that resembled wolves, but seemed to be made of wood. ‘They'd be Timberwolves,” she thinks, to Harbinger.
“Shepard, do not get involved. You are unarmed and unprotected, and with your current mental state, it would be unwise to engage them. Leave the three children and get somewhere safe,” Harbinger warns.
Shepard has to admit there is reason in what Harbinger says. She is outnumbered and faced with an enemy she knows nothing about, without any kind of weapon or even her armour. Any military advisor would tell her to sit tight and wait for backup. She looks at the three girls faces, they are terrified and crying. Sweetie Belle screams as one of the Timberwolves leaps up in an attempt to grab her. Suddenly something deep within Shepard screams at her to save the children. It isn’t the other Shepards or Harbinger, it feels personal.
Three children… children… a child.
“I’m going in!” she says.
“Shepard. Don’t!” Harbinger warns again. But it is too late, Shepard gallops into the fray.
She crosses the distance quickly, glancing down at her collar. It still has a slight blue glow, meaning that it is still activated. But from what Shepard has read about it, it should allow self-defence and when it does it will glow bright red.
‘Come on deactivate you stupid thing,’ she curses inwardly.
A Timberwolf turns and sees her, it won’t be long until they attack.
“Oh to hell with this!” she yells as she charges[1]. Just before impact, the collar changes to red.
The rest of the Timberwolves turn to see what’s coming towards them and are greeted by a blue bolt breaking through them scattering wooden pieces in its wake. The bolt hits the tree and disperses, leaving an angry mare in its stead. The broken Timberwolves start to rebuild themselves and the others start to close in.
Shepard looks around, she could charge her way out, but… she looks up and see the scared and surprised faces of the three children. She backs up until her ass is against the tree. She watches and waits as the Timberwolves surround her. The first leaps. The rest follow. Shepard jumps. Using her biotics she rockets into the air, grabbing the three astonish children on the way past. There is a crashing sound as the wolves smash into the tree below.
Shepard puts the kids down as she lands. “Run as fast as you can away from here! I will stay here so they won’t follow you!” she yells.
“But…” Scootaloo tries to say.
“No arguing! Now GO!”
Eyes wide they bolt back toward the farm. Applebloom turns around and sees three Timberwolves break off from the pack to chase the runaway fillies, but they dont get far before a weird bolt of fire[2] crashes into one of them and all three are destroyed in a large fiery explosion.
No more Timberwolves go after the girls, they're all concentrating on Shepard. One charges her. She waits for the right moment and then with a flaming hoof, punches it in the chest and it burns away.
She looks around to see that she is totally surrounded again. She smiles.
“COME AND GET IT YOU KINDLING!”
Big Mac pulls the third cart to where he had left Shepard. Walking next to him is Granny Smith who is coming to check on their unexpected helper and to bring some refreshments.
Suddenly Applebloom and her friends come shooting up the road, running like Discord himself is after them. When they see Big Mac and Granny Smith relief shines on their panicked faces and they rush up breathless.
“Shepard ‘pant’ Timberwolves ‘pant’ Help!” Sweetie Belle blurts.
“Whoa, take a deep breath and explain slowly,” Granny Smith says trying to calm the fillies down.
“We were gathering kindling near the forest and we saw this big piece of wood. When we went to grab it we found out that it was a Timberwolf tail. We managed to climb up a tree, but soon we were surrounded. Shepard suddenly appeared and attacked them and saved us, but she stayed behind to distract them while we escaped!” Applebloom frantically explains.
“Last we saw she was surrounded!” cries Scootaloo, “She may already be dead!”
Big Mac wastes no time, he quickly unstraps himself from the cart and pulls out a heavy plank of wood. “Take us there!” he grunts.
The fillies nod and dash off with Big Mac and Granny Smith hot on their tails. Soon they see Shepard. She is still alive but still completely surrounded by a huge pack of Timberwolves. Granny Smith could see signs of battle, the ground is littered with pieces of smouldering Timberwolf remains.
“There are much more than before!” wails Sweetie Belle.
“Look! She’s hurt!” yells Scootaloo.
And she is. Blood leaks from scratches across her body but luckily there seems to be no fang wounds.
“We gotta do something!” cries Applebloom.
Big Mac readies his plank for battle. Granny Smith looks worried, they would need more than Big Mac to fight a pack this big, but there isn’t time. Then Shepard does something amazing.
Shepard pants, her heart beating hard in her chest and blood pours from the wounds she got when the Timberwolves got temporally lucky. She keeps one eye shut to keep blood from getting in from the gash on her head. She is nearly out energy, she shouldn’t have used her biotics before on the cart.
“Shepard, on my command use this biotic power,” orders Harbinger.
Shepard feels a sharp pain in her head as data is implanted.
“Where did you get this?” she asks, not taking her eye off the Timberwolves.
“It was a locked data cluster that just opened. They’re coming, get ready and wait for my signal.”
Shepard watches the Timberwolves prepare to attack. Her one open eye narrows. Her right hoof raises and she concentrates her biotic powers into it. She becomes cloaked in a dark aura. The Timberwolves leap.
“NOW!”
Shepard slams her raised hoof into the ground and causes huge explosions of fiery biotic energy[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Annihilation_Field][3] around her. The wolves go flying, ablaze. One by one charred bodies fall to the ground, dead. The small number of surviving Timberwolves look at Shepard. She glares at them showing her teeth, her dark biotic aura making her glow with a fearful light. They whimper and run off with their tails between their legs.
Shepard turns around to see a group of five very shocked ponies. She gives them a weak smile.
“Got anything to drink?” she asks before slumping to her haunches.
The fillies rush to her side.
“Are you ok, Shepard?” asks a very worried Sweetie Belle.
“I’m fine, just very tired,” Shepard answers.
“You’re bleedin'!” Applebloom says looking like she is about to cry.
“It’s only a flesh wound,” Shepard jokes with a grin.
The girls stop looking like they will cry and instead they giggle at the weird line.
Granny Smith walks up to Shepard, “Thank you, Shepard, for savin' my Applebloom and her friends.”
“You’re welcome, I will take my payment in bandages, food and a drink,” Shepard jokes.
Granny Smith chuckles, “Fine. Macintosh stop standin' there like you ran into a wall and carry Shepard back to the house.”
Big Mac nods and walks over Shepard and lies down for Shepard climb on his back.
“Sorry if I get blood on you,” she apologizes as she gets on.
“S'fine,” he replies.
With Shepard on board the six of them head back to the Apple Family's home.
“That was so COOOL!!” Scootaloo yells to Shepard, who is getting bandaged by Applebloom. “You were like ZOOM, POW, BOOM.”
“How did you do that anyway?” asks Applebloom.
“Was it magic?” asks Sweetie Belle, “Do you think I can do it?”
“Are you a Super Hero and is that your power?” asks Scootaloo.
“Calm down,” Shepard says smiling, “It isn’t magic and I’m not a Super Hero.”
The girls look disappointed, “What is it then?” reasks Applejack.
“Think of it as my…” as Shepard thinks of a way to explain it to children without giving much away, she remembers the conversation she had with them earlier about Cutie Marks, “...Special Talent,” she answers.
The girl’s eyes grow wide and Shepard could swear they sparkled.
“That is so cool!” Sweetie Belle squeals.
“Its nearly as cool as Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom!” Scootaloo yells.
“All right fillies, that enough. Give the mare some space” says Granny Smith as she walks into the room.
“Awwwwwww,” the three children whine.
“Don’t aww me. Now wash up it's time for brunch,” she orders.
The three girls rush off giggling. Shepard gets up and follows Granny Smith to the kitchen and sits at the table.
“Aren’t you just full of horse feathers, Shepard,” says Granny Smith smiling, while serving brunch.
“I have no idea what you mean?” Shepard says smiling back.
“I don’t believe for a second that's your special talent.”
Shepard stays quiet.
“And I can tell that it aint magic either.”
“Well, aren’t you observant,” Shepard replies.
“All I can say is, that wherever it is you come from they sure train some mighty fine soldiers,” she finishes with a smile.
Shepard smiles back happy that she isn’t prying. Soon Big Mac returns and gives Shepard an odd look.
“You’re back quickly Big Mac,” observes Granny Smith.
“Only one cart,” he answers.
Shepard smiles, “Yeah, I unloaded the other cart while you were gone.”
Big Mac shakes his head. He doesn't know what to think about Shepard.
Soon the girls rush down and brunch starts. The conversation revolves mostly around Shepard. The girls keep asking what else Shepard can do and Shepard keeps trying to change the subject. By the time brunch finishes she has eventually shifted the topic to Ponyville. But that is soon interrupted by Harbinger talking into Shepard's mind.
“The one known as Applejack approaches, and will be here in a few minutes,” it warns.
‘Thanks for the heads up. Good thing I put trackers on them when they argued with me. Well, except for the yellow one, I think her name was Fluttershy. She never visited.’
Shepard gets up.
“Is something wrong, Shepard?” asks Granny Smith.
“No I just have an appointment to get to and I realised that I might be a bit late,” Shepard explains, “So I should go.”
“We will walk you out,” offers Granny Smith.
“Thanks.”
Outside Shepard asks if she can cut across the orchard.
“Sure,” says Granny Smith smiling, “But please come again, you're welcome anytime.”
“Really?” asks Shepard.
“Yes, I think we all agree that you are a real friend to the Apple Family, even though we haven't known you long. Come anytime you like,” Granny Smith says warmly with nods from the rest of the Apples.
“Thanks, well, I should go. See you around,” Shepard says, galloping into the trees and out of sight.
They are about to go back inside when they hear more hurried hoof-beats and see Applejack racing up the path leading to the house.
“Granny Smith have you seen…” she tries to say.
“Where have you been, young mare?” scolds Granny Smith.
Applejack starts fiddling with her hat, “I’m helping Twilight with something,” she says weakly.
“Right when we have to prepare for the Applebuck season? First you come home beat up all black and blue and only a few days later you run off leaving Big Mac to do all the work,” she continues.
“Well I…” Applejack tries to explain herself.
“And because Applebloom and her friends had to do some of your work they were nearly eaten by Timberwolves,” Granny Smith finishes.
“WHAT! Are they ok?” Applejack asks horrified.
“They are fine,” Granny says pointing to the three fillies, “Luckily, Shepard managed to save them before they were hurt.”
“That good,” Applejack sighs in relief. Then her expression changes to shock, “SHEPARD!”
“Yes,” Granny says, not getting Applejack tone, “Applebloom's new friend. She did most of your work for today as well.”
“Where is she!?” Applejack demands, coming right up to Granny Smith.
“Oh, do you know her? She didn’t seem to know you?” she says confused, “She just left a minute ago.”
“Which way?” Applejack says looking around.
“She went that way,” Granny Smith says pointing toward the orchard.
“Thanks,” Applejack says dashing off.
“Wait a minute. You haven’t explained yourself yet,” Granny Smith yells to her, but it is too late. “That girl,” she sighs.
“Eeyup,” agrees Big Mac.
They were about to head back inside again, when this time a small voice interrupts them.
“Umm, excuse me, may I have a moment of your time… if that’s alright,” asks the timid pegasus.
“Sure Fluttershy, what is it?” replies Granny Smith.
Shepard watches Applejack run past. When Shepard is sure that Applejack has gone she comes out of the bush where she has been hiding and uncloaks herself. Smiling, she heads toward town.
Shepard walks to the middle of the town. The Omni-tool hasn’t picked up any sign of the Twilight and her friends.
‘They must be looking at the edge of town for me,’ she thinks, inwardly smirking, ‘Too bad for them I have already scouted that area this morning.’
Also the fact that there are no guards or ponies going, “That’s her!” or “Get her!” or “That’s her Officer!” means that she is right about Twilight. 'She is the kind not to tell any of her superiors when she mucks up, least she shames herself,' Shepard thinks. She is about to walk further into town when an object falls and hits the bridge of her nose, causing her eyes to suddenly cross.
‘I hate that.’
She looks down at the offending object. It’s a letter addressed to a family called the Cakes. Another letter hits her head. She looks up to be temporary blinded by another letter landing across her eyes. After shaking it off, she finally sees the pony who is dropping the letters. It’s a female grey pegasus with a blond mane struggling with a bag full of letters. And because she’s not looking where she is going she somehow hits her head on a low flying cloud causing her and the bag to drop towards the ground. With a speed that surprises everyone watching, Shepard dashes towards the falling pony. Surrounding herself in a mass effect field and using her magic to give herself traction, she zooms across the ground. As the pegasus is about hit the ground, Shepard vaults off a convenient cart. She catches the pegasus (and her bag) on her back midair before landing perfectly on all fours. Shepard turns her head to check her passenger, who seems mildly dazed.
“Are you alright, Miss?” she asks.
The pegasus groans, “Did anypony get the number of that cloud?” she mumbles.
“Miss?” Shepard says, confused.
The Pegasus lifts her head and faces Shepard, and opens her eyes. Both sides were shocked at what they see. The pegasus has never seen such violent red eyes before, and opening her eyes to this at such a close proximity isn’t helping either. Shepard on the other hoof has never seen eyes that don’t look at her while looking at her. The pegasus's eyes were pointing in different directions, and they were an vivid amber-yellow.
“Oh, thanks for saving me,” the pegasus says, breaking the silence while still staring into Shepard’s eyes.
“You’re welcome,” replies Shepard also not breaking eye contact. After a while of staring at each other she finally asks, “Can you get off me please?”
“OH, sorry!” the pegasus says. She tries to get off Shepard but only manages to fall and land face first in the dirt. “Ow!”
“You know I caught you so you wouldn’t hit the ground,” Shepard jokes.
The pegasus just mumbles something Shepard can’t hear. Then the pegasus notices her bag on Shepard’s back. “Oh you saved my bag, thankyouthankyouthankyou!”
Shepard is surprised that the pegasus seems more thankful about her bag being saved than herself. Luckily the answer is soon fourth coming.
“If the mail got damaged again I would get in sooo much trouble,” she says happily, then a panicky expression appears on her face, “Oh no! Where are the letters that fell out?” she turns her head frantically searching for them.
“Here they are,” Shepard says holding out the three letters, “They fell on me.”
The pegasus suddenly grips Shepard in tight hug, “OHTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!” she yells happily.
“You’re welcome again… now can I breath…. again?” Shepard says, trying very hard not throw the poor pony off her.
The pegasus lets go, “How can I ever repay you?”
“I can think of something,” Shepard answers, smiling. The pegasus suddenly looks worried, but her expression brightens when Shepard continues, “While you’re delivering the letters, could you show me around town?”
“Sure I can,” she says smiling, “Let’s go…” She pauses and looks sheepish, “Umm, what’s your name?”
“Call me Shepard.”
“Cool name! I’m Derpy Hooves.”
Shepard pauses for long enough for Derpy to feel nervous before answering, “Cute name.”
“Thanks,” she says blushing.
“Lead the way Miss Derpy Hooves,” says Shepard giving a friendly smile.
Derpy returns her smile and they set off.
Further into Ponyville
As they walk through town, Shepard happily listens to Derpy as talk about Ponyville, the ponies who live in it and her own life (Mostly about her little daughter, Dinky), Shepard is mildly annoyed with how often the conversation kept returning to Twilight and her friends. But she keeps quiet and learns quite a bit about them. From the sound of it, they’re very busy ponies. But as Derpy is going through her final letters, an annoying voice calls out.
“Hey look, it’s Derpy!”
Derpy's face darkens but she doesn’t turn around. Shepard does and sees three rather dumb looking pegasi flying above them.
“You’re right, it is Derpy,” says the tall one.
“Didn’t she get fired in Cloudsdale?” mocks the stubby one, “I wonder how she got a job here?”
“She must have told a big sob story about how she’s a single mother,” sneers the slightly more normal looking one. The three of them laugh.
Derpy has had enough, “What do you guys want and what are you doing here?” she asks angrily, wheeling around.
“We are on holiday and we heard that Ponyville is a pretty cool place,” says the tall one, “Too bad so far it sucks!” The three laugh again. Shepard rolls her eyes. It’s the kind of bullies you found everywhere - less than one brain between them.
“I’m surprised that they let you keep your filly considering how clumsy you are,” taunts the normalish one, as they land.
Derpy is doing her best to just ignore them again, but Shepard can see that she is upset and to make it worse a small crowd of ponies has gathered. “One more chance is all you get,” Shepard warns under her breath.
“Did your kid get your eyes?” asks the stubby one. Derpy cringes.
“Careful, Shepard, it is best not to get involved,” Harbinger warns.
She ignores Harbinger, continuing to walks right up to the three.
“What do you want?” challenges the tall one.
“Hay, she’s rather petty,” says the normalish one.
“But look at those bandages, I bet she covered in scars like in the movies,” says the stubby one.
Derpy realizes that Shepard is actually wrapped in bandages. ‘Oh no, she is hurt, how could I be this stupid and not notice,’ she thinks. “Wait, Shepard, you’re hur…” she tries to she say, but Shepard halts Derpy by looking over shoulder and give a small smile, and the rest of the words just died in her mouth. The look says ‘I’ll be fine.’
“Hay, how about you spend some time with us?” says the normailish one in what he must think is a suave voice, but instead makes him sound like an douchebag, “We will be much more fun than her.”
Shepard smiles, “Sorry, I only hang out with ponies with more than two brain cells,” she says in a calm voice.
“Huh?” says the normalish one.
“It seems like that was bit too complicated for you, so let me be perfectly clear: You three are a bunch of immature idiots without an original thought between you,” she says slowly.
Derpy is surprised. The insult isn’t particularly nasty, but the way she says it makes it sound ten times worse. She says it like they aren’t worth the breath it takes to insult them, and she speaks without trepidation or fear, despite them out-numbering her and being taller and bigger than she is.
“You BITCH!!” says the tall one, finally getting the insult, raising his hoof.
“LOOK OUT SHEPARD!” calls out Derpy.
Shepard doesn’t move. The hoof comes towards her. The collar changes to red. With lightning reflexes, she parries his hoof. She grabs his head and headbutts him… hard.
Everypony present is shocked. While some stallions do headbutt when fighting, females hardly ever do, and unicorns especially so. The tall bully staggers backwards and falls onto his arse. Shepard unfazed just rolls her neck, making some satisfying cracking noises. The two others bullies rush to their fallen comrade’s side, who is holding his bloody snout.
“What the buckin...” the stubby one starts to say, but the words die in his throat when they see what only they can see: Shepard, with her back to the crowd and her face covered with scars, and her burning eyes fixed on them, all glowing with a wicked red.
Derpy and crowd cringe as Shepard goes to town on them. To a chorus of ohhhs, ahhhs, and gasps Shepard makes short work of the three bullies. It looks like Shepard isn't really trying to hurt them (badly), just make them sorry. Still looks painful though. The three soon lie in a heap, groaning. Shepard grabs the normalish one and holds him up to her face.
“Don't try to start fights with someone with over 12 years of military service,” she warns in a low voice, just loud enough for him and his friends to hear, but not loud enough for the crowd. The pony tries to lean away from the scared face with the burning eyes, “I got these bandages from fighting a large pack of Timberwolves and the only difference between them and you three right now is that you’re still alive. Now, if I see you three again bothering ponies I will shove your wings so far up your arse that you will be coughing up feathers. Got it?” she growls. The three ponies nod and she drops the one she is holding.
The dropped pony gathers up his friends and the three fly off as fast as they can. Throwing one final insult, “This town blows anyway,” and with that they disappear, with the last shreds of their pride trailing behind them.
Shepard turns around, the eyes and the scars already faded, to see a crowd of ponies in awe.
“That was amazing, Shepard,” says Derpy, “How did you learn to fight like that?”
“Years of experience,” Shepard answers, “Now lets move on, I seem to have attracted quite a crowd and don’t you need to finishes your mail run.”
“Oh ponyfeathers,” Derpy swears, before dashing off. Shepard follows leaving behind a confused crowd of ponies.
Another Part of Ponyville
Derpy and Shepard walk down the street toward Derpy’s final stop, a place called Sugarcube Corner. On the way there Shepard notices a lot of ponies looking in her direction. It seems word travels fast around here and she seemed to be building quite a reputation which wasn't her intention. It probably doesn’t help that she keeps helping anypony who needs it on her way.
“You’re quite the hero, aren’t you?” says Derpy playfully, while Shepard holds up a cart while the owner (a female pony with yellow coat and an orange mane, with three carrots for a cutie mark) fixes the cart wheel.
“Yes, Shepard, quite the hero,” Harbinger says, with what Shepard thinks is sarcasm.
‘Oh, shut up,’ Shepard thinks in response.
Soon the orange-maned pony finishes fixing her cart and Derpy and Shepard move on.
“Thanks Shepard!” the orange-maned pony calls out, “And see you at Sugarcube Corner later, Derpy.”
“Yeah, see ya later, Carrot Top,” replies Derpy.
Shepard sighs, she hasn’t even introduced herself yet and yet Carrot Top already knows her name. The speed of rumour and gossip is scary.
Soon they reach the place called Sugarcube Corner. ‘It looks like a real live Ginger Bread house,’ thinks Shepard.
Shepard and Derpy go in. As Shepard enters she is welcomed with the smell of pastries and sweets, Derpy walks up to the counter, where a plump-looking pony is working.
“Morning Derpy,” says the plump pony, “Got our mail?”
“Yes, here you go, Mrs Cake,” Derpy says, handing her a letter.
“Thank you, and here’s a muffin for your trouble,” says Mrs Cake, exchanging the letter for a muffin.
“YAY, thank you,” says Derpy happily, instantly digging into her muffin.
“… This *nom* is *gulp* Shepard *gobble*” says Derpy between mouthfuls of muffin.
“Not the Shepard,” says Mrs Cake surprised.
“You heard of me?” asks Shepard, raising her eyebrow.
“Only through word of mouth. Like how you taught a bunch of bullies a lesson,” Mrs Cake explains, “But mostly I have been hearing how you defeated a giant pack of Timberwolves by yourself.”
There’s a choking sound beside Shepard. “You did what!” splutters Derpy, coughing up bits of muffin. Shepard pats her on the back.
Ignoring Derpy, Shepard asks Mrs Cake, “Where did you hear that?”
“From those three. They’ve been telling everypony that will listen,” she says pointing behind Shepard.
Shepard and Derpy look around and see the three young ponies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders sitting around a table. They notice Shepard too.
“SHEPARD!” the three yell.
“Oh, hi kids,” Shepard says, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders run over.
“Hi Shepard, my sister is lookin’ for you,” says Applebloom as she reaches Shepard.
“I will make a note on that,” Shepard replies.
“We have been telling everypony about how you defeated the Timberwolves,” states Sweetie Belle.
“I heard. Why?” questions Shepard.
“We’re trying to get our Cutie Marks for storytelling,” answers Scootaloo.
“Is it working?” Shepard asks, smiling.
“Not yet,” Sweetie Belle says disappointed, “You don’t mind, do you?”
“Knock yourselves out,” Shepard answers. ‘The damage has already been done,’ she thinks.
“Thanks Shepard,” says Scootaloo.
“What are you five talking about?” asks Carrot Top, walking in.
“Apparently Shepard defeated a large pack of Timberwolves,” states Derpy.
“Really?” asks Carrot Top, “I would like to hear about that.”
“Me too,” Derpy says, curiosity radiating off her.
As the three fillies start to explain it to them, Harbinger speaks, “Twilight and her group are converging on this location, Shepard.”
‘Ok,’ she thinks, then says out loud, “I should go.”
“Awww, but you just got here,” whines Applebloom. Everypony looks disappointed.
“Yeah, but there is a lot to see and I have to be somewhere soon,” answers Shepard. ‘Yeah, anywhere but here,’ she thinks.
Everypony says their ‘Goodbyes,’ and ‘Hope to see you again’s and Shepard heads to the door. On the way out she bumps into Thunderclap and his two cronies.
“Oh, pardon me Shepard,” he says stepping aside.
Shepard gives them an odd look as she casually walks past them, before dashing down an ally.
“Do you think we should have stopped her?” asks Whiplash.
“We don’t know she escaped yet, so no,” answers Fisher.
“But we do,” says Whiplash confused.
“No we don’t. Mendax, Laqueum and Dolus do because they are spying on her just in case He shows up. But Thunderclap, Fisher and Whiplash are blissfully ignorant,” explains Menda… Thunderclap with a smirk.
“This gets confusing sometimes,” says Dolu… Whiplash rubbing the back of his neck.
“You’ll get used to it, you’re only a weavling after all,” says Laque… Fisher, patting Whiplash’s back, “Now let’s enjoy our blissful ignorance and get something to eat.”
“Well-spoken that stallion,” says Thunderclap, heading into Sugarcube Corner with his crew.
A minute later Rainbow Dash arrives outside Sugarcube Corner, soon the rest follow.
“Anypony seen Shepard?” Twilight asks, though already guessing the answer.
Twilight’s fears are confirmed as each one of her friend shakes their heads. Until Applejack says.
“I nearly found her.”
“REALLY WHERE!” shout the rest of the group, except Fluttershy and Spike.
“She was at my family’s farm, but when I got there she had already left. I tried to track her but I couldn’t find hide or hair of her,” Applejack explains.
“Damn, she might have escaped into the forest,” curses Rainbow Dash.
“I doubt she would leave without her things,” states Twilight.
“Is your family alright?” asks Rarity worried.
“They’re fine,” replies Applejack.
“That's good,” says Twilight relived.
“How about we get something sweet to eat while we think of what to do next,” says Pinkie, as cheerful as ever.
They all realize how hungry they are. Most of them hadn’t even had breakfast this morning, and none of them have had lunch yet.
“Yeah, some food sounds good,” agrees Twilight.
Everypony nods and they head inside. Pinkie goes to the counter to order while the rest of the girls seat themselves. Soon Pinkie returns with a large platter of food and sits down with them at their chosen table. While they eat, Rainbow Dash notices an odd group: Derpy, Carrot Top and the three Cutie Mark Crusaders sitting around a table and talking animatedly. Rainbow Dash heads over to them.
“Hey whasup?” asks Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, hi Rainbow Dash,” says Derpy, “We’re just exchanging stories.”
“Don’t interrupt!” scolds Sweetie Belle.
“Sorry,” says Derpy, smiling at the filly’s enthusiasm.
“Excuse me, who are you talking about?” interrupts Rainbow Dash, getting annoyed at being ignored, “Some sort of new super hero?”
Sweetie Belle looks irritated, “No, we are talking about Shepard. Now then she…” she tries to start again.
“Wait! Shepard!?” exclaims Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, do you know her?” asks Derpy.
“Do you know where she is?” questions Rainbow Dash, urgently.
“If you’re looking for her, she left a few minutes before you girls came in,” explains Carrot Top.
Rainbow Dash's jaw drops. They had just missed her again. She rushes back to her friends, “Quick! We have to go, Shepard was just here!”
“What, did they see her?” asks Twilight getting up.
“Yeah. Those five say she just left a few minutes before we came in,” explains Rainbow Dash.
“How do you know it’s our Shepard?” asks Pinkie.
“How many Shepards have you heard of!?” questions Rainbow Dash with scowl.
“I better ask just in case,” Pinkie says standing up. She yells over at the two mares and the three fillies “Did this Shepard have red eyes, black hair, a blue coat and a really mean look on her face?”
“Yeah, besides the mean look,” Carrot Top yells back.
“Close enough,” Pinkie says to her friends.
“Alright, let's not let her get away this time,” Twilight says running to the door, followed by all her friends except Spike and Fluttershy. Pinkie rushes back in and inhales the remaining food.
“Hurry up you two! The games afoot” says Pinkie swallowing, before bolting out the door again shouting, “Allons-y!”
But instead of following, Fluttershy and Spike get up and walk over to the five confused ponies. Derpy offers them a seat.
“Thank you,” they both say, sitting down.
“You’re welcome. But what was that about?” asks Derpy.
“Oh, they just really need to find her,” says Spike, dismissively.
“But, I mean, if it’s no trouble, could you tell us about Shepard?” asks Fluttershy in her small voice, “I mean if it’s ok.”
Sweetie Belle crosses her hooves, “Well, ok, only if you don’t interrupt me again, I forgot where we were up to anyway.”
“Just make sure you don’t over exaggerate the amount of Timberwolves again and let us get some words in,” comments Applebloom.
As the three bicker, Fluttershy and Spike take an offered muffin from Derpy, and prepare to listen.
In a corner of Sugarcube Corner
“Did you see that?! We got totally ignored!,” pouts Thunderclap.
“Their loss,” says Fisher, grabbing a donut, “We could have told them which way Shepard went.”
“Lets just continue to enjoy our blissful ignorance and continue eating,” says Whiplash, getting the hang of it.
The three nod in agreement and continue talking about nothing like your average stallion.
Somewhere else in Ponyville
Shepard walks down another street, she wonders what to do next. She could head back to Twilight’s house, seeing that she has seen and heard everything she needs to for now, but then she could be waiting for hours with nothing to do. She finds her answer when she sees a female pony struggling with a cart full of musical equipment.
“Need a hoof?” Shepard asks.
“If you would be so kind,” the mare answers in a rather posh accent.
Shepard walks over and offers to take the harness from the pony, and takes the chance to look her up and down. She seems less colourful than the average pony. She has a grey coat and a charcoal mane, her only colour being her cutie mark and violet eyes. She has a very prim and proper look about her, and she wears a bow tie.
“Thank you for your help,” she says, taking off her harness and passing it to Shepard, “My roommate was supposed to be helping me, but she never showed up.”
“It’s no problem, I wasn’t doing anything important,” Shepard replies, taking the harness and putting it on herself.
“Well since your being so helpful I might as well introduce myself, I’m Octavia, and you are?” asks Octavia.
“Call me Shepard,” replies Shepard.
“Shepard, mm,” muses Octavia. Shepard worries that Octavia may have heard some of the rumours about her and start to pester her with questions, but that is not to be. “Are you a farmer?” she asks.
“Huh?” Shepard says confused.
“I mean with a name like Shepard, I thought you must have had a background in farming. Was I incorrect?” questions Octavia.
“Yeah, I was in the military,” answer Shepard, “So where am I taking this cart?”
“Oh excuse me, I was rambling. Just follow me,” Octavia apologizes. After a while Octavia speaks again. “You’re quite strong, you didn’t even need my help to pull it.”
“Thanks, I try and keep myself fit,” answers Shepard.
The rest of the journey went without any problems and only occasional of small talk to pass the time. Soon they reach their destination, a two story house in the middle of town.
“Nice place,” says Shepard.
“Thank you. Would like to come inside and have some tea?” asks Octavia.
“Sure, but shouldn’t we unload the cart first?” asks Shepard, removing herself from the harness.
“Oh no, let’s leave it for Vinyl,” says Octavia smiling.
“Vinyl? Is she your roommate?” Shepard asks.
“Yes,” Octavia says flatly.
“Hey Tavi!” someone calls from behind Octavia.
“Speak of the devil,” says Octavia turning around.
There walking down the road toward them, eating something most likely from Sugarcube Corner, is a pony with the weirdest hairstyle Shepard has ever seen yet. She has very spiky and windswept hair, framing one side of her face. It’s colour is cobalt blue with brilliant cyan streaks in it. The weirdest part being that it looks natural. Back in her world to do a hairstyle like that would cost a lot to style and even more to maintain. Her coat is unremarkable, it’s just white. She also sports a pair of ridiculous purple shades that looked retro even by this worlds standards.
The pony known as Vinyl notices Shepard.
“Who’s the hot mare? Friend of yours?” she says without any shame.
Octavia sighs and gives Shepard an apologetic smile, Shepard smiles back, basically letting her know that it’s all right.
“Vinyl. Please do say such things to a pony you just met,” Octavia scolds.
“Hay I was just asking. I thought I knew all the good looking mares in town,” Vinyl replies.
“Actually I only just met her, she volunteered to help me move the cart that you promised to help me with this morning, if you remember,” Octavia says irritably.
“Ohhh, that was this morning, I thought it was tomorrow,” Vinyl says rubbing the back of her neck.
“Vinyl, sometimes I don’t think you listen to a word I say,” sighs Octavia.
“Hay, that not true, I listen… sometimes,” Vinyl finishes weakly.
Octavia shakes her head.
“Anyway, you still haven’t told me who she is,” Vinyl says, changing the subject and taking a bite from her snack.
“Oh, this is Shepard. Shepard this is Vinyl Scratch my roommate… and nothing else,” Octavia adds. She then notices that Vinyl has stopped eating, “Anything wrong?”
“Not the Shepard, right?” Vinyl says slowly.
‘Oh dear here we go,’ Shepard thinks.
“What do you mean?” asks Octavia.
“Well, there’s a story going around town that a mare called Shepard saved a bunch of fillies from a horde of a thousand Timberwolves and helped a another mare get rid of a bunch of marefia thugs,” explains Vinyl.
Shepard begins to laugh.
“What are you laughing at?” asks Octavia very confused.
“Oh, nothing, it just the power of rumour and gossip, eh,” says Shepard, getting herself under control.
“So you are that Shepard,” asks Octavia.
“Yes but it wasn’t marefia thugs, it was just three stupid bullies. And I severely doubt there was a thousand Timberwolves, more like around thirty,” Shepard explains.
“I thought it sounded a bit over the top,” grins Vinyl, “Still impressive. I don’t think I could take on thirty Timberwolves… well not without my Bass Cannon anyway.”
“Shepard, the colourful one is coming this way at unnatural speed and will be here soon,” warns Harbinger.
‘Thanks,’ thinks Shepard. She then asks, “May we continue are conversation inside, over that tea you offered?”
“Oh, yes. Please come in,” says Octavia, opening the front door for Shepard to trot in, followed by Vinyl and Octavia, closing the door behind her. A few seconds later Rainbow Dash speeds down the street passing the house.
Shepard learns a lot in the hour she spent having tea with the two mares. Mostly about music, they are both musicians. Vinyl is a DJ (Which explains the hair and the glasses) and Octavia is a cellist. There is a point when they make Shepard show them her Biotics, and then afterward Vinyl begs her to do special effects at one of her gigs. Shepard says that she may consider it.
“It has been a pleasure, Shepard,” says Octavia, shaking Shepard’s hoof when it is time to go.
“We should hang out again, Shep,” says Vinyl using Shepard’s new nickname, while hoof-bumping her.
“Sure, we’ll see what happens,” replies Shepard, returning the gestures.
“I really hope so,” says Octavia smiling.
“Yeah, and don’t forget about my idea,” reminds Vinyl.
“I won’t. See you around,” Shepard says, walking away and waving goodbye.
“She was pretty cool,” says Vinyl as Shepard disappears around the corner.
“A very agreeable pony,” agrees Octavia.
“Well I’m beat,” Vinyl says yawning, “I think I will take a nap.”
Vinyl starts to head back inside, but the way is blocked by Octavia.
“Oh no, you’re not, you’re going to unload the cart,” Octavia orders, pointing a hoof.
Vinyl groans, “Do I have to?”
“Yes, you promised to help me move the cart, but you forgot, so you can at least do this for me,” exclaims Octavia.
Vinyl sighs, she doesn’t really feel like arguing with Octavia. She turns around and starts to unload the cart (with Octavia helping).
About five minutes later, Rainbow Dash flies past.
“Hi Dash,” yells Vinyl.
Rainbow Dash stops, “Hi Vinyl,” she replies, out of breath.
“You look totally beat,” comments Vinyl.
“Yeah, well, you haven’t happened to see a blue pony with black hair and red eyes?” asks Rainbow Dash, changing the subject.
“Do you mean Shepard?” asks Octavia, coming around from the other side of the cart.
“Yes! Do you know where she is?” Rainbow Dash yells, shaking Octavia.
“Well she left here about five minutes ago,” explains Octavia, rocking back and forth, “And can you please stop shaking me, I’m feeling sick.”
“Buck! Which way?” Rainbow Dash swears, as she stops shaking Octavia.
“She went that way,” Vinyl says, frowning and pointing the way.
“Thanks, bye,” yells Rainbow Dash zooming around the corner.
“What do you think that was about?” asks Vinyl confused.
“I have no idea, let’s just finish unloading the cart,” Octavia says, slightly dazed.
“Hey, can I have a moment of your time?” comes a young voice.
Vinyl turns around and smiles at the young dragon, “Sure Spike, what’s up?”
Somewhere in Ponyville where Shepard isn’t
Twilight looks behind every building, every tree and every pony just in case Shepard is hiding there. But because Twilight isn’t looking where she is going she runs into somepony.
“Ouch!” yelps Twilight, falling onto her rump.
“Mind were you’re going Princess,” says a familiar voice Twilight doesn’t really want to hear. Twilight looks up to see the smiling face of Thunderclap and his two goons.
“You seem to in a rush Princess,” comments Fisher.
“Yeah, are you looking for somepony?” asks Whiplash, who is then elbowed by both his friends. Twilight doesn’t notice.
“Nope, nothing’s wrong here Thunderclap, nothing at all,” answers Twilight lying.
“Really,” Thunderclap says, not buying it. “You know, funny thing, you’re not the first pony to bump into me today,” he says jokingly.
“Mmmm,” Twilight says starting to walk away.
Thunderclap pretending to ignore this, continues, “And the funny thing is that it was Shepard…”
“WHAT!” yells Twilight rushing back, “When was this!”
“About lunch time,” replies Thunderclap, yawning.
“Why didn’t you catch her?” asks Twilight, angrily.
“I didn’t know we had too,” replies Thunderclap, looking confused, he turns to his crew. “Did you know?” They shake their head. Thunderclap turns back to Twilight and continues, “You didn’t report to us that Shepard needed to be captured?”
“But… I… argh, never mind, where did she go?” asks Twilight giving up.
“She went that way,” he says pointing vaguely to the other side of town.
Twilight rushes off.
“Do you want us to report this to Princess Celestia?” Thunderclap calls after her.
“No! Don’t do anything!” Twilight yell back, before disappearing around the corner.
Thunderclap turns to his crew smiling, “Boys, I think Twilight just gave us the rest of the day off.”
Ponyville Park
After various meanderings, detours and distractions (such as advoiding Rainbow Dash and helping yet more ponies) Shepard arrives in Ponyville park. By checking the position of the sun (and then her Omni-Tool) she finds out its 4:00pm. She should probably head back to the Library soon. She sees a half unoccupied bench and decides to go and enjoy the warm sun while she can.
“Is this taken?” she asks the bench's other occupant.
“Nah,” the pony answers, not facing Shepard.
Shepard hops onto the seat and lies down. She looks at the pony next to her. She’s a mint-green unicorn with pale greyish cyan mane with white highlights and brilliant golden eyes. She is also sitting in a way that is remarkably biped.
“Doesn’t that hurt your back?” asks Shepard.
“Huh?” says the unicorn confused, turning to face her.
“I mean sitting like that,” Shepard answers.
“What? Oh, not really,” she says shaking her head and then turns back to what she was looking at before.
Shepard follows the unicorn’s graze, and sees a pale yellow pony with cobalt blue mane with light fuchsia stripes and arctic blue eyes, who is reading a book on a blanket some distance away.
“Friend of yours?” Shepard asks.
“Yeah,” the unicorn sighs “A friend.”
“Want something more?” queries Shepard.
“Bwuh, whaa!? Whatever gave you that idea!” the unicorn says suddenly flustered, and giving Shepard her full attention.
“Well, mostly when someone asks someone else if they’re in a relationship and then that someone sighs like that, it means that they're most likely unsatisfied with their current relationship,” explains Shepard.
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” the unicorn replies slightly embarrassed, before sighing again. “Yes, I guess you could say that I am a bit unsatisfied with our current relationship.” She seems to think for a minute “Not that I’m not happy with her being a friend, she is one of the best friends I’ve ever had, and I wouldn’t trade her for anything in the world, but…” she trails off
“You like her,” Shepard says, it was more of statement, than a question.
The unicorn blushes, “Maybe…”
“What about her?” Shepard asks.
“What?” the unicorn replies, confused again.
“Does she know you like her?” Shepard clarifies.
“What? No!” the unicorn says shocked.
“So you never asked her?” asks Shepard.
“I don’t even know if she likes mares,” the unicorn says sadly.
“You really should just ask her then,” says Shepard.
“I can’t do that! What if she says no, it could get really awkward between us. It might ruin our friendship, what if…” the unicorn tries to continue, but is blocked by Shepard hoof.
“No one falls in love without being a little brave,” says Shepard, removing her hoof from the unicorns mouth and giving her an encouraging pat on the back, “If she does say no, then it will be probably awkward for a while, but if your friendship is as strong as you make it out to be, you two will be fine as long as you both persevere. But if she says yes, and how glad you will be that you asked.”
“All or nothing, eh,” says the unicorn.
“Look, I’m not forcing you to do anything, just think about it, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain,” says Shepard.
The unicorn does seem to think about for a while, staring at the ground.
“Yeah, I think you’re right, I got to mare up and asks,” says the unicorn. She gets off the bench and onto her four hooves, striking a heroic pose, “I mean what have I got lose anyway, and this will only keep eating at me until I do something about it.”
“That’s the spirit,” says Shepard patting her on the back again.
With only the faintest hint of nervousness, the unicorn walks purposefully over to the other mare before sitting down in front of her. Shepard lets her eyes wander, in order to give the two mares their privacy, but looks back when she heard the sound of approaching hooves. The unicorn comes back blushing, with a smile on her face, leaving the other mare where she was sitting, also blushing.
“Well,” asks Shepard.
“She said she would think about it,” the unicorn says smiling.
“That’s a good sign,” says Shepard, “And judging by the look on her face, she isn’t opposed to the idea.”
“Thanks for the pep talk, I don’t think I could have done that on my own” says the unicorn.
“I’m sure you could have done it eventually, I just gave you a little push, is all,” says Shepard, smiling.
“Well thanks anyway miss… I didn’t get your name, did I?” says the unicorn, rubbing the back of her neck, “Oh, and I’m Lyra Heartstrings by the way.”
“I’m Shepard.”
“Wait… not the…” Lyra tries to say.
“Goodbye,” interrupts Shepard, not wanting to do this again.
“But…” Lyra tries to starts again.
“You better not keep talking to me,” warns Shepard, “You don’t want to keep your friend waiting.”
Lyra turns to see her friend is giving her a look over her book. When she turns back Shepard has disappeared. Great, now she’ll never know whether or not that was the Shepard everypony is talking about. She shrugs. After all, it doesn’t really matter right now. There are much more important things to think about, or more important ponies. She heads back to the blanket to spend time with her hopefully soon to be marefriend.
Unbeknownst to the soon to be lovebirds and their impromptu cupid, behind a nearby bush a happy sigh can be heard.
“How romantic,” says the golden pegasus, happily.
The young dragon just gags.
“Shepard is a very nice pony, isn’t she,” says Fluttershy.
“Yeah, just like I said,” replies Spike.
“Now if only we could convince our friends,” says Fluttershy, as the duo leave the bush.
“They’ll come around eventually” says Spike, then as an afterthought “I hope.”
Spike then yawns, “I think I will head home just in case Shepard turns up.”
“Ok, I’ll tell Twilight when I see her,” says Fluttershy.
They go their separate ways.
9:00pm Ponyville
Twilight walks home through the dark. She and her friends have given up trying to find Shepard now. She guesses that she now has to report Shepard's disappearance to Celestia. She walks through the front door of her house.
“Spike! Spike!” she calls out.
“Yeah, what is it?” answers Spike, running into the room.
“I need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia at once,” replies Twilight.
“What about?” Spike asks, pulling out a quill and scroll.
“We need to tell her that Shepard has escaped and is now at large,” answers Twilight, “She is a danger to everypony and I need help finding her.”
“I guess you're one of the few people that hasn't heard today’s rumours about me,” says a familiar voice behind her.
Twilight quickly turns around and sees Shepard leaning against a bookshelf smirking at her, while holding a book.
“You!” Twilight yells lamely, “When did you come back?”
“I have been here since five,” Shepard answers.
Twilight turns to Spike, “Why didn't you come to tell me Spike?!”
“I didn't know where to find you,” he says defensively.
Twilight sighs and slumps her head and walks slowly up the stairs.
“Where are you going?” asks Shepard.
“I'm going to bed!” Twilight yells, “And tomorrow we talk about this!”
“Oh goodie,” replies Shepard.
Twilight glares at Shepard then enters her room. She closes her window(making sure to lock it!), she sends some letters to her friends with magic telling them that Shepard has returned, walks over to her bed, falls into it and goes into a deep sleep.
Back in the main room Shepard goes back to her reading and Spike goes and cleans up the kitchen.
“Shepard, I have finished my calculations,” Harbinger says suddenly.
'What calculations again?' Shepard thinks back.
“About how long we have to live.”
'Oh yeah,' she thinks, her mood darking, 'How long?'
“Around two weeks.”
'That long, huh,' she replies.
“We must move forward with your plan.”
'Don't worry, tomorrow I will be out of here. With my things,' she thinks smiling.
Morning
Twilight wakes up. Luckily she had no nightmares this time, but now she has to deal with Shepard. She leaves her bedroom and sees Shepard and Spike talking with each other, which she thinks is bit odd, but she doesn't have time right now to think about that.
“Spike, do you have some shopping you could do?” asks Twilight.
“Yeah, but...” Spike tries to answers.
“Could you go do that? I wish to talk to Shepard alone,” explains Twilight.
Spike looks worried, but nods his head and grabs his shopping bag. He walks to the door, giving them one final worried look and leaves.
“What do you want to talk about?” Shepard asks smirking.
“You know very well what!” retorts Twilight angrily, “Your escape!”
“It's not really an escape if I come back,” replies Shepard.
“It doesn't matter, I have strengthened the spell and also I won't leave any windows open anymore, so you can’t escape again!” Twilight says triumphantly.
“It is pointless though, I could escape any time I want… even now,” Shepard says smiling.
“What?” Twilight says.
“You could never hold me to begin with, not while I could still use my powers,” Shepard says approaching Twilight, “Yesterday was just recon to check out the lay of land. But I always had another way out.”
“What? I don't understand!” Twilight says backing off, now scared.
“You have no idea what else I can do,” Shepard says, getting closer to Twilight, “You have only seen the top of the iceberg, as it were. I have powers that you can’t imagine.”
Twilight’s back hits the bookshelf behind her, she is trapped and now Shepard is inches away from her face. Shepard's eyes start to glow red.
“NO! KEEP AWAY!” Twilight screams, and swigs her hoof at Shepard.
Shepard catches it, looking slightly surprised, and then she smiles as her collar starts to glows red.
“Nothing like extra security, right,” Shepard smiles wickedly.
She places her hoof on top of the terrified alicorn’s forehead.
Shepard waves her hoof in front of Twilight’s face, she doesn’t show any sign of response. Her eyes are foggy and vacant, and a green aura floats around her head showing that Shepard’s biotics are still in effect. Shepard smiles.
“It worked.”
“Most impressive Shepard,” praises Harbinger.
“Yeah, let’s get to work,” agrees Shepard, she turns to Twilight, “Twilight remove these bracelets.”
Twilight nods and grips the bracelets with her magic, she speaks the simple command…
“Release.”
The bracelets falls off and onto the ground. Shepard sighs happily.
“That feels so good to get them off me,” she says, stretching her neck. She looks at the chest that holds her equipment. “Open that chest, Twilight!”
Twilight nods dumbly and walks over to the chest and stands in front of it. Her purple aura appears on the lock, and after a while there is a click and it opens.
Shepard walks over and checks the chest. It’s all there. She pulls out her Executioner and gives it a look over.
“Twilight, open the front door and put something in the way to stop it from shutting,” she orders and as an afterthought, “And get me a coil of rope.”
Twilight trots off to do what she is ordered, as Shepard checks through her equipment.
“Everything seems to be ok,” Shepard says, putting the last of her equipment back into the chest. Soon Twilight appears, carrying the rope in her mouth, like a dog bring a newspaper to its master.
Shepard can’t help herself. “Good girl,” she says, patting her head. Twilight of course doesn’t notice or respond.
“Must you, Shepard?”
“Sorry, it’s just too funny,” replies Shepard.
Shepard picks up the bracelets and smiling wickedly places them on Twilight, knowing that the wearer can’t take them off. She takes the rope off Twilight and orders her to lay down. After she does Shepard starts to tie her up, she also burns the knots making it nearly impossible to untie. Soon Twilight is totally tied up and wouldn’t be able to move anything but her head. Shepard grabs a cloth and gags Twilight so she can’t call out to anyone. Shepard also grabs a small chest off a nearby shelf, it conatins some small rings. Magic Repressors. Shepard remembers when Twilight threatened to use them on her, after Twilight tried to unsuccessfully get a book off Shepard. She slips two of them onto Twilight’s horn, just in case the stories are true about how strong Twilight’s magic is. Then Shepard release her control on Twilight. The aura disappears and Twilight falls unconscious.
“Bound up like a turkey,” states Shepard, smiling at her handy work.
“There is no time for this Shepard! Get your equipment and leave!”
“Right, of course,” she says, getting back on track. She start to suit up and arm herself.
Twilight slams against the wall of the cage for what feels like the hundred time. Like all the other times it doesn’t yield. She doesn’t know how she got here in this dark realm within this glowing green cage. The last thing she remembers was Shepard touching her forehead and she ended up stuck in this cage.
“HELP!!” she cries out for what also feels like a hundred time. Silent is the only answer. Twilight collapses, crying. Where has Shepard put her, will she be trapped here forever?
“So sad, Twilight, so sad,” says an evil cheerful voice behind her.
Twilight’s head whips around and to her horror sees the Nightmarish Shepard walking toward Twilight wearing her armour with the spilt in it that shows her shark like teeth.
“YOU!!” Twilight screams, backing up against the cage, now glad it’s here.
The gladness soon disappears, because when the monster reaches the cage she walks through it, like it is not really there.
“So what are you doing in a cage little Twilight,” she asks sweetly.
“What do you mean? You put me here!” Twilight yells back, totally back up against the cage wall.
“No, I didn’t. The Shepard in the real world did,” the Nightmare scolds. “I’m only something you made up in that silly little mind of yours.”
“Huh?” Twilight replies, confused.
“You got to stop confusing Nightmares with real life,” the Nightmare sighs.
“How come you can walk through the cage and where are we?” yells Twilight, buying more time.
“This cage is only made to hold you, Twilight, within your own mind and that is where you are,” answers the Nightmare, examining her hoof, “I imagine it is only temporary.”
Before Twilight can ask any more questions, the cage suddenly dissolve, causing Twilight to fall backward. A light appears in the distant, behind her.
“Looks like it’s time for you to go,” says Shepard smiling.
“But…” Twilight says, confused.
“NO TIME!! NOWGO!!" it roars, snapping her teeth an inch from her face. Twilight bolts.
Twilight runs not looking back until she hits the light.
She awakens.
The Nightmare in Twilight’s mind watches as Twilight runs through the light and disappears leaving the place in total darkness again. The creature smiles and is suddenly engulfed in black flames, leaving a totally black bespectacled female unicorn. Her black mane and tail flowing behind her like mist. She smiles and walks away, disappearing into the darkness.
Twilight finds herself laying on the floor. Her head is stinging and there is an unpleasant taste in her mouth. She tries to get up. Her legs can’t seem to move. She cranes her neck and sees to her surprise her entire body tied up. She tries to use her magic, but it doesn’t respond. She looks up and see two Magic Repressors on her horn!
“Twilight is awake, Shepard,” Twilight hears behind her.
Twilight turns around and her snout bumps into something. It’s Shepard’s pistol barrel. Twilight’s eyes widen and she looks up to see Shepard disapproving eyes looking down at her.
Twilight tries to scream for help, but all that comes out is, “MMMMPH!!” So that is what the horrible taste in her mouth is. She has been gagged as well. Twilight would feel totally humiliated if she was not feeling totally terrified. Shepard is wearing nearly all her amour and carrying all her weapons.
“Listen well, Twilight,” Shepard says, trying to gain Twilight attention.
“Mmmph!” is all Twilight can say.
“I’m leaving. For real this time and if you follow me or try to capture me…” Shepard says, pushing the gun harder against Twilight snout, “…you won’t be as lucky as the first time. Cause I’m in full control this time.”
With that, Shepard holsters her pistol and puts her helmet on. She walks towards the door. Soon Twilight losses sight of Shepard as she passes the table that Twilight was left behind. She hears the sound of something made of wood breaking and then silence. After a few minutes of struggling Twilight gives up and lies her head on the floor.
Shepard has escaped again. This time with all her equipment. And Twilight couldn’t do a thing.
After what feels like hours, she hears the sound of ponies talking outside. It sounds like Spike, Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
“Last night Granny Smith gave me such a seeing too,” groans Applejack, as she walks to the library.
“What about?” asks Rainbow Dash, who is flying beside Applejack.
“About running off and not telling them what is going on,” explains Applejack, “My family don’t like secrets among us.”
“You didn’t tell them anything you shouldn’t,” asks Spike nervously.
“Nah, before I can open my mouth Applebloom came in and we had dinner,” replies Applejack. She frowns, “All they really talked about was Shepard.” She then sighs, “I can’t believe she saved my sister and did some of my farm work.”
“Why not?” asks Spike.
“Because if she did that means I may have been wrong about her,” huffs Applejack, kicking a nearby pebble. No pony likes being wrong, especially a proud pony like Applejack.
“I know what you mean,” says Rainbow Dash, sighing, “I met Derby on the way back home last night and well… you must have heard the story from Applebloom, right?”
“Yeah…” replies Applejack, “… Shepard got rid of some low-down bullies.”
“Yeah, the same ones from Flight school,” adds Rainbow Dash.
“I heard they flew off with their tails between their legs,” chuckles Applejack.
“That is one of the things I don’t get,” complains Rainbow Dash, “When we fought Shepard we nearly got shot and burned alive, but when they fought her all they got was a lot of bruises and a wounded pride.”
“Maybe it is because Shepard is really a good pony and not a murderer,” adds Spike.
“I would like to think that,” replies Applejack, “but you didn’t see the field where she fought the Timberwolves,” she shudders, “It was brutal. Their burnt bodies were laying everywhere. I keep thinking that could have been us when we fought her.”
“She fought the Timberwolves because she was trying to save your sister, remember?” replies Spike, frowning, “When she came back to the library last night she was covered in bandages, all them from close calls with the Timberwolves. She nearly died trying to save your sister.”
Applejack looks ashamed. He is right, Shepard could have died. She remembers Granny Smith saying if she didn’t have that last trick she would have most definitely have been killed. Applejack after hearing her family speak such praise about her found it harder to hate Shepard, while Applejack still distrusts her, she can’t hate her anymore, because while Shepard’s escape may have caused her sister to be in that situation, she still saved her and that what matters. Applejack’s thoughts are interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
“She saved Scootaloo as well,” states Rainbow Dash, staring ahead, “She wouldn’t stop talking about how cool she was,” a little smile appears on her lips, “She still thinks I’m cooler though. Maybe I was wrong though about Shepard… she is still a jerk though,” she adds, remembering all the arguments.
Before they can continue their conversation, Spike yells something.
“What! Why the front door open?”
Applejack forgetting everything about their conversation gallops towards the library fearing the worst, with Rainbow Dash and Spike right behind her. They reach the library and see that one of the door’s hinges has been broken off.
“What happened to the door?” asks Spike.
“It looks like somepony has smashed it after it was opened,” states Applejack, examining the door frame.
“How do you know that?” asks Spike.
“Because no damage has been done to the lock,” explains Applejack, “If the door was smashed open the lock would have been damaged as well.”
“Um, I think the more important thing is that!” says Rainbow Dash, pointing to something inside.
It’s the chest that used to hold Shepard equipment. It now lay empty.
“Oh no! Where is Twilight?!” says Spike panicking.
“TWILIGHT!” yells Applejack, “TWILIGHT!” There is no reply.
“Do you think Shepard has killed Twilight!?” asks Rainbow Dash, scared for her friend safety.
“No. Shepard wouldn’t,” Spike says scared. Rainbow Dash and Applejack don’t seem to notice.
“Maybe she is chasing after Shepard,” says Rainbow Dash hopefully.
“We better go and look for her then,” says Applejack, turning and heading towards the door, followed by her friends.
‘My friends are about to leave!’ thinks Twilight. They didn’t seem to hear her mmmphs. She got to find a way to gain their attention. She can’t use her magic, she can’t use her limbs or body either, all she can use is her…
‘This is going to hurt,’ thinks Twilight, before slamming her head down on the floor with a loud...
THUMP!!
“What was that?” asks Spike, just as he is about to head out the door.
“What was what?” asks Rainbow Dash confused.
“I heard something behind the table,” explains Spike. Before anypony can be say anything Spike rushes off toward it. As Spike rushes around it he is greeted by the relieving sight of a dazed and bound Twilight laying there. “IT’S TWILIGHT!” Spike yells to the two ponies by the door.
Within a heartbeat Applejack and Rainbow Dash are beside Spike.
“Twilight, are ya ok?” asks Applejack, rushing to Twilight’s side.
Twilight just lets out a muffled groan.
“Don’t worry, Twilight, I will get these ropes untied in two shakes of lambs tail,” Applejack says reassuringly, she examines the knots. “If the knots were not burned,” she says embarrassedly.
“So you can’t untie it,” says Rainbow Dash annoyed, “I thought it would only take to shakes of a lamb tail.”
“It would be quicker to cut these with a knife,” explains Applejack, she turns to Spike. “Can you get me one please?”
Spike nods and rushes off to get the required item.
“And instead of being a smartass Dash can you get our friends?” asks Applejack.
Rainbow Dash just nods and flies out the broken door. Soon Spike returns with a kitchen knife.
“Now Twilight stay very still while I cut these ropes,” warns Applejack. Twilight nods. Applejack starts to cut them.
Spike walks in front of Twilight, “Can I help with anything, Twilight?”
Twilight just makes muffled noises.
“Umm, what?” says Spike, not understanding her.
“I think she wants you to remove the gag, Spike,” says Applejack, while she carefully cuts the rope binding her wings.
Spike quickly removes the clothe gag. Twilight sucks in a huge breath of fresh air.
“Thanks Spike, that was really getting foul,” Twilight says gratefully, “Could you also remove the Magic Repressors as well, please?”
“Sure,” replies Spike, as he carefully starts to removes the rings off Twilight’s horn.
“Umm, Twilight,” Applejack asks nervously.
“What?” asks Twilight now nervous as well.
“Why are you wearing Shepard’s bracelets?” Applejack continues.
“WHAT!!” yells Twilight, turning to look at her legs. There they are, and now that she thinks about it she could feel something around her neck as well. “How did she get them off…” Twilight stops midsentence.
Most likely the same way she got her equipment back and opened the door. She somehow must have controlled Twilight. Twilight feels like crying, everything she has done had been pointless. Shepard could have escaped anytime she wanted to and they couldn’t really stop her. She is more powerful than we gave her credit for. She is going to need Rarity’s help to get rid of these bracelets.
“Twilight, something tells me you know how Shepard got out of these,” asks Applejack.
“Yes, I think I do. But I will explain when everypony else is here,” replies Twilight depressed.
Applejack frowns, but nods her head and cuts the last knot. She helps Twilight up and onto her hooves.
“Thanks,” Twilight says, holding onto Applejack while she regains her balance.
“Anytime,” replies Applejack.
Soon Rainbow Dash comes back with Rarity and Pinkie Pie.
“Where’s Fluttershy?” asks Applejack, looking for shy pony.
“She will be here soon, she just had to finish with an animal,” explains Rainbow Dash.
“Unbelievable,” says Rarity horrified, looking at the open chest, “Not only did she escape again but this time she got all equipment back!”
Twilight head sags in shame.
“Don’t worry, Twilight,” says Pinkie, patting her back, “It’s not your fault.”
“I’m sorry, I never meant to blame you Twilight,” says Rarity embarrassed, “I’m just shocked that this has happened.”
“No, it is my fault,” Twilight says sadly, “I got scared and let her do this.”
Her friends are about to ask what she did, when they hear Pinkie scream.
“What wrong?!” asks Twilight surprised.
“She killed it,” Pinkie cries.
“She killed what!?” asks Rainbow scared.
“MY POOR THESAURUS!” Pinkie cries, holding up a near totally burnt book with the words thesaurus barely readable on the front.
Everypony is quiet(beside Pinkie’s sobbing) until Applejack breaks it.
“Aren’t that petty.”
The silent starts up again until they hear something by the door.
“Oh my goodness, what happened to the door?” says the timid pegasus.
“Hay, I was going to ask about that soon,” pouts Pinkie, total over the thesaurus.
“Oh sorry,” says Fluttershy, as she walks through the doorway.
“Yeah, Shepard did that on the way out for some reason,” says Twilight dismissing it.
“It looks like she broke it so you wouldn’t get locked in by your own magic,” suggest Spike.
“Why would she do that? She hates me,” snaps Twilight.
“So what should we do now, Twilight?” asks Applejack, “Shepard is fully armed now and don’t think we will be as lucky as last time.”
“Hey, it wasn’t luck,” brags Rainbow Dash, “It was skill.”
“Listen Rainbow Dash,” scolds Applejack, “If the shoot was just a few inches towards you, you wouldn’t be here right now.”
“And not to mention she wasn’t totally of a right mind back then,” adds Rarity, “And she has started using her weird powers as well.”
“We wouldn’t stand a chance,” finishes Applejack, “But we will follow you if you do decide to go after Shepard.”
Twilight sighs and walks over the chest, “Now that Shepard has her equipment I have no idea where she would go anyway? So I can’t chase after her even if I wanted to.”
“I see,” Rarity says.
Hanging her head Twilight walks over to Rarity, “Can you help me remove these bracelets,” she says shamefully.
“I would love too, but I don’t know how,” replies Rarity.
Twilight explains how to unlock them.
“Ok dear, I think I can manage that,” comforts Rarity, as she works her magic, “But you never told us how Shepard got this on you or opened the chest?”
“Yeah, and I really want to know,” says Pinkie impatiently.
“Well,” says Twilight slowly, “I think Shepard can control minds.”
There is a long silence.
“Are you serious!” says Rainbow Dash shocked.
“Well one second she is front of me and then she touches my forehead and everything went black,” says Twilight defensively, “When I woke up I was tied up and Shepard had all her stuff back.” She finishes leaving out the part about the cage and the Nightmare Shepard.
“Oh, freaky alien powers,” says Pinkie, waving her hooves around.
“There done,” says Rarity, as the bracelets falls off. She adds “Maybe we should tell Celestia that Shepard has escaped and is fully armed.”
Twilight hangs her head. ‘If I tell Celestia that Shepard has not only escaped two times but this time with all her gear, I will get in so much trouble. Celestia might…’
CLAP
The sound startled Twilight out of her thoughts. She looks over at the source of the sound. It’s Spike.
“Sorry Twilight, but you were getting that look on your face when you start to over reacting,” he explains.
Before Twilight can respond someponies calls her from the door. It’s the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Hi Twilight,” says the three fillies, as Twilight walks to the door.
“We were wondering if you had a book about the creatures of the EverFree Forest?” asks Applebloom.
“Also what happened to the door?” asks Scootaloo.
“What in blazes do you need a book about the creatures of the EverFree Forest for?” asks Applejack.
“Oh, hi Applejack,” the three go.
“Well we saw a weird looking thing enter the forest,” explains Sweetie Belle, “And we wanted to know what it was.”
“What did it look like?” asks Twilight.
“Well it was silver and red and looked a bit like a pony,” explains Scootaloo.
“Where was it?!” asks Twilight quickly.
“On the forest path near the tall Oak,” answers Applebloom.
Twilight knowing the place rushes out, her friend casting nervous looks at each other soon follow.
“Hay, they just left us,” says Scootaloo surprised.
“Who going to watch over the library?” asks Applebloom.
The three of them suddenly smile, “Cutie Mark Crusaders librarians, YAY!
“Came back quickly, Twilight” Spike prays.
The six of them soon reach the edge of the forest near the tall Oak.
Twilight looks down the path. Her breath catches in her throat when she thought she see some silver mist. But whatever it is soon disappears amongst the trees.
Applejack walks beside Twilight, “Twilight are you really sure you want to go after Shepard?”
“Yes, I have to. It’s my reasonability to guard Shepard,” explains Twilight, putting on a brave face, “You girls can stay here if you want.”
“What! No, we are coming with you,” yells Rainbow Dash.
“But you all might get hurt and it’s my reasonability,” yells Twilight.
“No dice sugar,” Applejack says, putting a hoof on Twilight shoulders, “We stick together through thick and thin.” There are nods all round.
Twilight tries to say something but doesn’t. She can’t tell them about her dream. In the end she says, “Please just be careful.”
They all nod and soon all six of them gallop into the forest to find Shepard.
Up in one of the branches of the tall Oak a totally black bespectacled male pegasus lays on one of the branches. His black mane and tail flowing behind him like mist. He smiles and pulls a black fan out of thin air and starts to fan himself.
"It looks like all the pieces are coming together," he says smiling, "Now I just watch and see this game play out."
He turns his head to the deeper part of the forest where Shepard is.
"What will you do next, Shepard?" he wonders aloud.
And then with a wave of his black fan he disappears within black flames.
Shepard trots through the forest. Everything has been silent so far.
“No sighs of any creatures, yet,” wonders Shepard.
“They seem to be keeping their distant,” replies Harbinger.
“Maybe the Timberwolves told them about me, or…”
“Or they dislike the direction we are going and are keeping clear. Where does this path lead to.”
“A sign we passed said that we are heading for Froggy Bottom Bog.”
“A bog? I believe that’s mire that accumulates peat.”
“I wonder what Twilight is doing right now,” she says, ignoring Harbingers comment.
“Most likely she has been found and has reported this to her Superior, it the most logically thing to do.”
“No. If I know Twilight she will try and come after me no matter how dangerous I am.”
“Why didn’t you kill her and hide her body, Shepard. It was the most logical thing to do.”
Shepard stays silent, slowing down a bit.
“For doing so would have given us more time to escape and delayed their reaction time.”
Shepard suddenly falls over sideways and hits the ground.
“SHEPARD!”
Surprised, she quickly gets up. “I’m fine, I… just tripped,” she hurriedly explains.
“You can’t lie to me Shepard. You just had a massive attack. You must report these thing to me or I can’t stop them.”
“I thought you could see them coming?”
“Only if I am watching for them.”
Shepard leans against a tree while she calm her beating heart, threating to rip out of her chest. Yes, that attack had been massive. She hasn’t felt one that big since Twilight and her friends asked her about her name all those weeks ago. And this one was just caused by the simple question on why not to kill Twilight. It felt like half her mind agreed with Harbinger and the other disagreed.
“You’re luckily that didn’t kill you Shepard, and it seems no extra damage was done.”
“Luckily me,” she says, wondering if she should take off her helmet in case she throws up. Soon her heart (and her stomach) calms down. Picking herself off the tree she heads down the path again.
“And I have answer to your question by the way,” Shepard says quietly.
“What is it?”
“Because I’m just not like that.”
Shepard still doesn’t know who she was and what she did, but she just knows that she would never kill someone if she can help it. This doesn’t come from the voices in her head but a smaller voice still trying to reach her.
‘That’s a start,’ thinks Harbinger to its self.
Twilight gallops down the path, followed by her friends.
“Twilight, do we have a plan for when we do catch up to Shepard?” asks Rainbow Dash, nervously.
“Well I’m pretty sure I can block her weapons projectile now that I know what to expect,” explains Twilight.
“What about her weird alien powers?” asks Pinkie.
This causes Twilight to pause. “We’ll they are mostly pretty easy to dodge…”
“Besides the thing that allows her to zap ponies,” interrupts Applejack.
“Yes and who knows what else she can do with her weapons,” adds Rarity.
“Well if she start zapping us I’m getting behind Rainbow Dash,” states Applejack.
“WHAT! Why me?” asks the fore mentioned pegasus.
“Because if it didn’t kill Twilight because she is an alicorn it definitely won’t kill you being a pegasus,” explains Applejack.
“That a good idea,” says Pinkie happily, hoping on the pegasus back nearly causing her to crash, “Lets all hide behind Dashie.”
“Get… Off… Me… Pinkie,” growls Rainbow Dash.
“Girls please stop fooling about!” warns Twilight, “We are about to go against a very dangerous pony and she will try to kill us if we are not careful.”
“I don’t think she will try and kill us,” says a voice behind them.
The suddenness of this sentence and the meaning of it causes Twilight to suddenly halt, which made Applejack crash into the back of her, making them fall over into a heap. This heap trips Rarity and makes her fall face first into a bush. This scene distracts Rainbow Dash enough to miss the incoming branch, making her crash into it, which sends Pinkie(who if you remember was on Rainbow Dash’s back) shooting forward into convenient puddle of mud. That splash of mud wakes up a nearby snake who slithers off and meets a boar which it bites, the boar goes on a rampage and ends up on the edge of Ponyville where crashes into a lone acorn tree. The force of the boar hitting the tree causes a single acorn to fall from the tree and land on the head of a baby chick, who then contemplates the thought of the sky falling. She then went off to find more of her bird friends to form a committee to solve the aforementioned problem. Soon the committee is formed and after years of pointless meetings they all agreed that the sky is not falling after all and all go home. The chick now a hen heads home and lives a peaceful live. Until the roof of the chicken shed falls on top her proving her point that the sky did fall after all. Cause and effect, eh. Back at the beginning of this. Fluttershy looks sheepish at all her friends spread across the ground.
“Opps, I’m sorry I didn’t know that was going to happen,” apologizes the timed pegasus.
“Don’t worry about that,” groans Twilight, untangling herself from Applejack, “What did you just say before.”
Fluttershy looks nervous and looks away before saying, “I don’t think Shepard will try and kill us.”
“WHAT? Of course she will,” says Twilight shocked, “Don’t you remember in the forest?!”
“I don’t think she was all there then,” counters Fluttershy, “I think she was just running on instinct. Like a wounded animal will try anything to survive if they think they are endanger.”
“What about after in the house?” argues Twilight not backing down.
“Twilight she was confused and you said yourself that she has lots of different souls fighting for control,” counters Fluttershy, “It was less her fault than ours.”
“But she… the… yesterday,” Twilight says unsure what to say next.
“Did you asks anypony what Shepard did while she was out yesterday?” asks Fluttershy quietly, hiding under more of her hair. “Me and Spike did. Shepard just helped ponies where ever she went, it was pretty nice. She saved the Cutie Mark Crusaders, helped out Derpy multiple times, helped Octavia with her cart, helped Lyra with her love problem and many other ponies too for no other reason other than she was there,” she continues her voice slowly raising.
Twilight is speechless. It has been a long time since she heard Fluttershy talk with such confidence. She turns to her friend(who have just recovered from they own accidents) for support and finds them looking very unsure.
“I’m not sure, Twilight,” says surprisingly Rainbow Dash, “I mean after we gave up looking for Shepard, I met Derpy and she told me about Shepard and then Scootaloo… argh I’m sorry Twilight. I want to hate her but after what she did and what Shy just said, I just can’t!”
“Same here, Twilight,” says Applejack, giving the alicorn a sad look, “She save my sister and earned my Grandma respect, and even if I don’t really trust her, I just can’t hate her anymore.”
“She saved my sister too and she speaks nothing but total praise for her, as well as most of the town,” adds Rarity with apologetic look on her face.
“Yeah, after I heard Mister and Misses Cake talking about Shepard last night I couldn’t sleep at all so I waited until this morning and then walked around town and ask anypony I saw about Shepard and everypony said she wasn’t meanie and is a good pony,” says Pinkie, nearly too fast to understand.
Twilight suddenly feels really alone. “WHAT ABOUT THIS MORNING!” Twilight yells, “SHE MIND CONTROLLED ME AND TIED ME UP! WHAT ABOUT THAT!”
Everypony steps back, shocked by this sudden outburst. Beside Fluttershy who is expecting this. With gentle hooves she grabs the sides of Twilight making her face Fluttershy. Twilight looks into Fluttershy kind eyes, she then speaks.
“Twilight this just proves that Shepard is not really a bad pony,” she says in a kind voice, “If she wanted to kill you she would have. But she just tied you up and broke the door so you wouldn’t be trapped inside. In the end the only thing she killed was a thesaurus.”
“But it was my favourite thesaurus!” yells Pinkie.
Fluttershy ignoring Pinkie continues, “Why are you so bent on hating Shepard, Twilight?” she asks with a concerned tone.
Twilight feels like her world is falling apart. Why does she hate Shepard so much? Why?
“Yes, why,” says a familiar voice beside her.
Twilight turns and sees the Nightmare Shepard standing beside her.
“Why are you here!?” Twilight says confused.
“I don’t know?” the Nightmare says with a smirk, “But the real question is why you created me?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight says dumbly.
“I will tell you then,” the Nightmare says smiling, “I was created out of fear.”
“Fear?” Twilight replies confused.
“You created me out of your own total fear of the real Shepard to give reason for your hate of her.”
“THAT NOT TRUE!” Twilight yells, shivering and then more quietly, “I’m not that kind of pony.”
“The mind is full of doubts and fears, and these will often become Nightmares like me. You got to tell the different between reality and fiction, Twilight!”
“You said something like that before,” Twilight says, quietly.
“Yes, now tell me why do you hate Shepard, Twilight. Otherwise this will not stop and you will continue to hate Shepard, when all other have stopped and you are truly alone in this world.”
Twilight goes silent, mulling over the words this Nightmare has said. After thinking over everything she has said, everything that has happened and every possibility she only ever comes to one thing. She is scared of Shepard. She has powers that are fearful, weapon that terrified her and a hard personality that makes her so distant. And so she is scared of her and she turns her fear into hate to hide her fear so well that she even fooled herself, even though she should know better. She feels ashamed.
“It looks like you worked it out?”
“Yes, you are right. I’m scared of Shepard and of you and all you represent,” Twilight gives in.
“And what do I represent, hmm.”
“My own fears of Shepard.” Twilight says looking the Nightmare in the eyes, who smiles at her.
“Good, now open your eyes.”
Twilight does and now looks again into the worried eyes Fluttershy.
“Oh no. Was I too harsh I’m so sorry, I just…” Fluttershy rambles.
“I think I was scared of Shepard,” interrupts Twilight.
“Huh?” says Fluttershy confused.
“To answer your question, I was so scared of Shepard that I hated her to hide it,” explains Twilight ashamed at herself.
“My question?” replies Fluttershy, who temporally forgot after Twilight stopped talking and she got worried that she had upset Twilight, “Oh yes. That good that you worked it out…”
“No it not!” Twilight snaps, causing Fluttershy to back off a bit, “I should have known better.”
“Twilight, you were not the only pony to be wrong,” Applejack says, coming up to Twilight side, “We all were, beside Flutters here.”
Fluttershy blushes, “Oh no I was bit like you Twilight at first, although I didn’t hate her I was just scared of her,” she confesses, “But then Spike came and talked to me about her and he changed my mind about her.”
“If we find Shepard again I going to apologise to her!” declares Pinkie, “Case now I feel like am the big meanie pants here.”
“I think we all need to give her an apology,” adds Rarity, “Although she still need apologise for being rude to us.”
“What did you and Spike talk about anyway?” Rainbow Dash asks Fluttershy.
Fluttershy suddenly looks sad, “Well that Shepard was actually nice and that she is pretty smart and…” she pauses.
“What aren’t you telling us, Fluttershy?” asks Rainbow Dash, who knows her old friend well.
“And… and… he thinks Shepard is dying,” Fluttershy says sadly.
“WHAT!” Twilight says shocked.
“Or at less very sick,” Fluttershy quickly adds.
“How does Spike know this,” asks Rarity.
“Well, Spike has seen Shepard in pain for what seems like no reason and has nearly collapse multiple times,” answers Fluttershy.
Twilight looks horrified that she didn’t know this, “Why didn’t Spike tell me?”
“Because he didn’t think you would listen... or care,” Fluttershy says quietly.
This stings Twilight, because it was most likely true. Why hadn’t she ever noticed it… most likely because she was never in the same room as Shepard if she could help it and mostly saw Shepard round about an hour a day(and whenever they did met they argued). She is surpassed to look after and help Shepard, but Twilight was too much of coward to do it, so it fell to Spike. Who didn’t know what to do, so he went Fluttershy for help. But now that is going to change.
“I’m going to find Shepard,” declares Twilight, “and I’m going to fix this.”
Her friends nod.
“We are right behind you, Twilight!” yells Rainbow Dash.
“Always,” adds Applejack.
The six of them run down the path, toward Foggy Bottom Bog.
Shepard walks through the bog.
“Well this is most definitely is not a bog,” says Shepard to herself, wondering if she is going around in circles.
“This is more likely a swamp or possibly a fen,” adds Harbinger.
“I half expect an alligator to pop up and try and bite me in half,” says Shepard, jokingly.
“We are not on Earth, Shepard. There is unlikely any alligator here.”
“Hey, they are ponies, I also saw that the Apple family has a dog house, and I am pretty sure I heard that Pinkie Pie does have a pet alligator as well,” Shepard counters.
“Shepard, beware of alligators.”
Shepard rolls her eyes. Not that an alligator is really a threat to her. No, she doubt that there is many creatures on this planet that could be a threat to her when she is fully armoured. As she walks through the swamp (or possibly fen) she soon comes across an obstacle. Water. While Shepard can swim(she wouldn’t have gotten N7 if she couldn’t), she doesn’t want to swim when she is in her amour, even if it is airtight. Also she would be trouble if there is alligators. Mass Effect weapons don’t work so well underwater. Luckily there seems to be a way to cross, a bunch of round rocks sticking out of the water. She tests one, seems solid if not a bit slippery. She hops on one and then on another and another. As she lands on the third one, it slightly yields nearly causing her to fall off. She prods it with her hoof.
“This is soft?” exclaims Shepard. She started to get a horrible feeling in her gut, “No, this can’t be happening to me, this only happens in crappy stories and comedies.”
The rocks start to move and some disappear.
“Why do I just feel like I stepped into a Thresher’s nest!” she yells, jumping off the not rock and using her biotics to glide back.
As she lands she turns around to see four reptilian heads rise out of the water. The heads spot Shepard and roars(with only one lagging behind).
“SHIT!” yells Shepard, pulling out her Typhoon.
Twilight walks through the bog(actually a swamp or possible a fen) followed by her friend. Following Shepard has become a lot easier since they entered bog swamp/fen as she left behind muddy hoove prints. It is now just the task of following them to their maker.
“Argh,” groans Rarity, as she looks at her muddy hooves, “If I knew we were coming here, I would have brought my boots.”
“I hope we don’t run into that Hydra again,” adds Applejack, looking around nervously.
“Yeah, I remember you talking about that,” Rainbow Dash says, flying overhead keeping an eye for Shepard.
“We should be find as long as we don’t make too much noise and lure it toward us,” Twilight says, following Shepard’s hoove prints.
“I hope Shepard doesn’t run into it,” Fluttershy says, worried.
“She will be fine,” says Pinkie, happily, “If she runs into it, she just blow it away with her alien powers.”
“Speaking about Shepard,” Rarity says, coming to a realization, “When and if we find Shepard, how are we going to fix this?”
This causes Twilight to pause. How will she make things up with Shepard. I mean will she believe that Twilight wants to amends? Twilight certainly wouldn’t. What if Shepard does hate her guts? This going to be harder then she first thought. But before Twilight can continue her thought a distant roaring sound breaks it.
“Was that the hydra?!” yells Rainbow Dash.
“It sounds angry!” yells Applejack.
“And pained,” adds Fluttershy.
All that equals to one thing. Shepard.
“Let hurry girls!” yells Twilight, running toward the distant sound, follow closely by her friends.
After running for what seems like ages following the roars, they start to hear the sound of Shepard’s guns, they were getting closer. Twilight kept finding herself slowing down, before she notices and speeds up again.
‘No. I will not be afraid anymore,’ she thinks.
They reached a clearing and the sight that greets them causes them to freeze. The hydra towers over Shepard. Blood pouring from multiple wounds scattered across its body. A head lay dead in the water. The hate filled eyes of the remaining heads glare down at Shepard. She stands her ground. Her armour coated in blood, hopefully the hydra’s . She stands until the heads lunge at her. Shepard rolling way from the incoming heads, lands on all fours, and then fires with her silver gun. The heads pull back, roaring in anger.
“What should we do, Twilight?” quavers Fluttershy, scared.
Twilight doesn’t answer. She is frozen by fear. Not fear of the hydra, but the fear of Shepard. There Shepard is covered in blood. Twilight can imagine that it is ponies blood… her blood. The sound of gun fire making her shiver, the cries of pain of the hydra making her feel sick. She wants to run away.
Shepard dodges another attack from the hydra. ‘DAMMIT!’ she thinks, rolling away, ‘Why is this so hard to kill!’
She had wasted most of her Typhoon’s ammo on the body of the hydra, discovering that it chest is very well armoured. She then used up all the Claymore ammo to take out one head. How to take out another?
She feels her belt. Grenades. Hopefully enough. A hydra head lunges toward her. She grabs the grenades with her magic throwing it down its throats and jumps back out of the way with her biotics. The hydra looks confused… then its neck explodes. Blood and flesh flies everywhere and the severed head hits the ground. The hydra other heads roar in pain.
‘That’s another head down… too bad I’m out of grenades,’ she thinks.
One of the heads attacks. Shepard does a massive jump, her body wrapped with her biotics. The head misses, crashing into the ground, dazed. Shepard right above it point her right hoof at the head, her Omni-tool appears. A bolt of energy shoots out at it, faster than the eye can see. Both heads scream in pain as the electricity surges through them. Shepard lands on the stunned head and jams the barrel of her sniper between its eyes. She pulls the trigger. The shot tears through its head and out the other side, killing it instantly. Shepard looks up at the last head. It glares angrily. Shepard not taking her eyes off the last head, jumps off the dead head.
‘You’re gone,’ she thinks.
Then out of the corner of her eye she sees something. Distracted, her head whips around and sees Twilight and her friends. The hydra lunges at it distract opponent. Shepard tries to dodge, but she is too slow. The hydra sends her flying.
‘Dammit!’ she thinks, as the blackness of unconsciousness creeps over her vision.
Twilight’s heart is beating fast, threating to rip out of her chest. When Shepard looked at her, it felt like she was looking at her soul, judging her. She feels like crying again. Why is she so scared?
“LOOK!” yells Pinkie, breaking Twilight from her thoughts, “She been hit!”
Twilight looks up to see Shepard flying backwards. There is a splash as she hits the water and sinks. Hydra looking happy, starts to move towards the place where Shepard fell, dragging its dead heads behind it.
“Oh no,” yells Fluttershy, “It is going to eat her!”
“What are we going to do, Twilight!?” yells Rainbow Dash.
“Yes, what will you do, Twilight?” asks evil voice beside her.
Twilight turns to see the Nightmare Shepard, standing there again.
“You could let her die,” the Nightmare suggests, “And then all your problems would disappear.”
Twilight stays silent. It is true, she could let Shepard die, and then all her problems will go away.
“I mean she is a monster,” carries on the Nightmare, “Look what she did to the hydra. Do you really want her around other ponies?”
‘Yes, Shepard is dangerous,’ she thinks.
“Best to let her be eaten,” the Nightmare finishes.
‘Yes, let her be eat… What! No!’ Twilight thinks shaking her head, ‘I’m letting fear rule me again!’
“Oh, come to your senses, have we?” the Nightmare says grinning, “It really doesn’t matter. You can’t move for fear of Shepard.”
Twilight glares at her, and then takes a step forward. She turns to the surprised and fading Nightmare, “I will not be controlled by you or fear anymore, I will save Shepard and the you can buzz off into my subconscious!” she yells to the now completely faded Nightmare, and then gallops off toward to save Shepard. Why her friends just stared, shocked and confused by Twilight’s sudden outburst.
Twilight gallops towards the hydra, as it heads toward where Shepard fell. She needs to stop it. She conjures a magic bolt and flings it towards the hydra’s last head. The magic bolt hits it, causing the head to stagger. Its head whips around to look at what has interrupted its meal. To its anger finds another pony and more seem to be coming.
Twilight stands her ground, trying not to run away. She has gotten this far and she is not backing down now. Even though a one headed hydra is still dangerous.
The hydra weighs it options. One, it just fought very hard for its meal, Two, that meal just cost it three of its head, Three, six more ponies have come and it has only one head left, Four, these ponies most likely won’t let it eat its meal. The hydra lets an exasperated roar and turns around and heads into the swamp.
“It’s leaving?” says Rainbow Dash, relieved and confused.
“I think it decided we were not worth the trouble,” states Fluttershy, sighing in relief.
“Thank, Celestia,” says Rarity, watching the hydra disappear into swamp.
“I feel sorry for it,” says Pinkie, sadly, “It just lost three of its friends.”
“Don’t worry, Pinkie,” explains Twilight, “The dead heads will drop off and new ones will grow in their place.”
“While that all fascinating, don’t we have to help Shepard!” calls Applejack, who is standing near the water’s edge.
Twilight rushes to edge, remembering the reason for her brave idiocy.
“So is this where she fell?” asks Twilight, urgently.
“I’m pretty sure,” replies Applejack.
“Do you think she drowned?” yells Pinkie.
“Does anypony know where she fell exactly?” asks Applejack, loudly.
“I’m pretty sure there,” Rarity says, pointing to an area of the nearby water.
“Good enough!” yells Applejack, throwing off her hat.
Rarity looks shocked, “You don’t seriously plan to…”
Before anymore can be said, Applejack leaps in the mucky water, getting everypony wet.
“MY MANE!” screams Rarity, looking at her wet mane.
“Thanks for the warning, AJ,” mumble Rainbow Dash, shaking herself.
After uncomfortably long time Applejack resurfaces, holding a silver hoof.
“I found her, she was at the bottom!” yells Applejack, struggling to keep herself and Shepard a float, “Give me some help Dash!”
Rainbow Dash nods and flies over to grabs Shepard other hoof. With the teamwork of Applejack and Rainbow Dash to keep Shepard afloat and Twilight using her magic to pull her in, they managed to get Shepard ashore.
“Is she still breathing?!” asks Fluttershy, panicking.
“Can’t tell with her armour on,” replies Applejack, shaking herself dry.
“Pinkie, quickly remove her helmet!” orders Twilight.
Pinkie nods and starts to remove her helmet. There is to everyponies surprise a hiss of air being released, and as Pinkie removed the helmet, it revealed a totally dry face.
“What the buck!” yells Rainbow Dash, “How is she not wet?”
“I guess her armour must be watertight,” Twilight says, amazed.
“So what do we do now?” asks Pinkie.
“Lets take her back to Ponyville,” suggest Twilight, “We will explain everything to her when she wakes up.”
The girls agree that this is the best option. Picking up Shepard they head back to Ponyville, unaware of the chaos within Shepard mind.
Within Shepard voices cried out to be heard. The other Shepards crowds Shepard, while she lies curled up in the middle of the crowd, with her hands over her ears. Harbinger tries to quiet them, but they seem unable to notice the Reaper. Harbinger doesn’t what caused this to happen, was it seeing Twilight, or falling unconscious or what? Whatever the case Harbinger is unable to do anything. Only Shepard can pull herself out of this.
“Shepard, you must stop this!” Harbinger calls out.
Shepard lies on the ground, close to crying. It is so painful. The voices yelling at her and telling her what to do, trying to take control. Shepard wanted it all to stop, wanted it to end… permanently!
Suddenly all the other Shepards move back away from her. Harbinger watches this and then turns its attention back to Shepard. It doesn’t like what it sees. Shepard is standing up, with her back slouched over, her eyes has a crazed look on them. It can’t see the rest of her face for her hands covered it, but it hear what she says.
“I’m going to end the voices… permanently!” Before she disappears.
Harbinger doesn’t like it. It has the feeling that if something doesn’t stop Shepard soon, they will meet their end.
Twilight and her friends walk down the path to Ponyville, with Applejack carrying Shepard on her back.
“So how are going to explain this to Shepard?” asks Pinkie, hooping beside Twilight.
“I don’t know,” Twilight says, shaking her head, “I just hope we can come to an understanding.”
“That would nice,” Fluttershy says, smiling.
“I just hope we get back to Ponyville soon,” complains Applejack, “She is heavy!”
“Maybe it would be better if we carried her guns separately,” suggests Twilight, “Pinkie can you remove them, please?”
“Okie Dokie Lokie,” says Pinkie, happily, trotting over to Shepard.
Pinkie leans over Shepard and reaches for her weapons. Suddenly Shepard kicks off Applejack, sending her sideways in Pinkie. Shepard lands on haunches and starts backpedalling until she hit a rock. She look around with terrified eyes.
“Wait, Shepard,” yells Twilight, getting close to Shepard, “We don’t mean any…”
Her word die in her mouth, as Shepard pulls out the small red gun with the pony skull. Then to Twilight’s horror Shepard points it to her own head.
“I gotta end the voices…” Shepard mumbles, “They hurt so much…”
Twilight doesn’t know why she did it, she just did. Using her magic she grabs the gun and yanked it away from Shepard’s head, Shepard holds on with her magic, leaving the gun stuck between them, waving dangerously.
“Let go of the gun, Twilight!” Shepard growled, trying to yank the gun away from Twilight.
“Why are you trying to kill yourself?” Twilight cries, yanking the gun back.
“What does it matter to you?” yells Shepard, glaring at Twilight, “You hate me!”
“Not anymore!” Twilight cries, “I want to make amends!”
“It is too late for that! No one can help me now!” Shepard cries, giving a strong yank.
Twilight gritting her teeth yanks back hard. There is the sound of a gun going off. The gun drops. Twilight falls to her knees and screams in pain. The bullet ripped right through her left leg. Twilight looks down at her leg, there is a large open hole and blood pouring out of it. It hurt so much. Twilight looks up and sees Shepard picks up her gun with her magic. She reloads it and points it back to her head.
“I told you to let of go of the gun, Twilight,” Shepard says, glaring at her, “You’re luckily it only hit your leg.” She then pushes the gun against to her head, “Good bye, Twilight.”
Then Twilight did what she later saw as the most stupid thing she ever did. She conjures up a magic bolt and shoots it at Shepard. The force of the magic bolt hitting her chest, causes Shepard to slam backwards into the rock, the back of her head smacks against the rock, causing her to fall unconscious. She slumps sideways on the ground. Twilight’s friend who have been frozen with shock, fear and uncertainty now rush to Twilight side.
“Twilight are you ok?” yells Rainbow Dash.
“No,” Twilight cries, gritting her teeth again, “What about Shepard?
Fluttershy rushes over to Shepard side. “I think she is ok, just uncon…” Then Shepard coughed up some blood. Fluttershy eyes widen, “No, I don’t think she is! I think she is internally bleeding!”
Twilight heart skipped a beat. She has injured Shepard. She had used to much power and most likely crushed her chest.
“We gotta get Twilight and Shepard to a hospital as soon as possible,” yells Applejack.
“But it is dangerous to move Shepard like this,” yells Fluttershy, scared, “And Twilight is losing blood too fast and we have nothing to slow it down.”
“We gotta do something,” yells Rainbow Dash, panicking.
“I will teleport us to the hospital,” Twilight says, finding herself getting weaker.
Rarity looks shocked. “Twilight, you it is dangerous to attempt teleporting when injured,” Rarity says, worried.
“What choice to we have!” Twilight yells.
Rarity looks like she about to say something and then becomes quiet. Twilight starts to wrap herself, her friends and Shepard with her magic.
‘Please let this work,’ Twilight inwardly begs, ‘I don’t want Shepard to die because of me.’
With a flash everypony disappears leaving the forest empty.
The hospital receptionist sat at her desk, flicking through her magazine. A sudden bright flash of light and she fell off her chair. After the light fades seven ponies are found deposited in a heap on the floor.
“What in Celestia’s name…” yells receptionist, climbing off the floor.
“NO TIME!” yells Applejack, getting off the floor and rushing to the receptionist, “We got two ponies that need help right now!”
Receptionist looks over at the other ponies and her eyes widen. Twilight, tears of pain gathering at the edges of her eyes, clutches at a large hole in her leg trying in vain to slow down the blood that pours into a spreading puddle. Another pony lies on the floor, unmoving, a small trickle of blood streams out her mouth. The receptionist slams the intercom’s button.
“WE HAVE TWO PONIES AT RECEPTION! ONE BLEEDING PROFUSELY FROM THE LEG AND THE OTHER INTERNALLY BLEEDING, BOTH NEED EMERGENCY TREAMENT, STAT!” she yells into the intercom.
Within seconds there are two groups of ponies wheeling two gurneys.
“It’s going to be alright, Princess,” a nurse says, as they help her on one of the gurneys.
Twilight would feel comforted if it isn’t for what they were saying about Shepard.
“It looks bad!” ones says, as they very carefully move Shepard onto the other gurney.
“It looks like a strong force might have caved in her chest,” one says, scanning over her with magic.
“We need to prep her for surgery,” one says, as they start to push Shepard away.
They were about to push Twilight away as well when Twilight stops them.
“What’s wrong Twilight? We have to stop the blood!” says one of the ponies tending her.
Twilight ignores the pony and weakly waves Pinkie over.
“What’s wrong Twilight?” asks Pinkie, confused.
“Go with Shepard,” asks Twilight, weakly, “Help them remove the armour.”
Pinkie nods and gallops after Shepard. They start to push Twilight away again. The worlds starts to blur for her and blackness starts to creep over her vision once more. Soon she falls unconscious.
Twilight woke up with a splitting headache. She in a hospital bed, hooked up to a blood pack and her leg is wrapped in bandages. She lay there until a nurse walks in.
“Oh, Princess Twilight Sparkle, you are awake!” she says, bowing.
Twilight internally cringes, she hates being treated like this. “How am I?” she asks.
“You should be fine,” the nurse says, smiling, “You just lost some blood. Although you won’t be able to walk on your hoof for a while until it heals properly.”
“What about Shepard?” Twilight demands, sitting up.
“Who?” asks the nurse.
“The other mare that came in with me!” snaps Twilight, angrily.
The nurse looks nervous, “I don’t know much about her, all I do know is she got out of surgery.”
“Well, get me somepony who can tell me about her!” Twilight asks, glaring at her.
“Yes, of course!” stammers the nurse, rushing off.
Twilight rubs her sore forehead. She knows she shouldn’t have yelled at the nurse, but she needs to find out about Shepard. After a while she hears the sound of more hoofsteps. She looks up and sees a tall stallion standing in the doorway. His long black mane is tied behind his head in a ponytail, he has a well-kept bread and thick eye brows. His coat is white and his eyes are blue. He wears a doctor’s uniform.
“Greeting, Twilight, I hear you’re being a bit mean to our nurses?” he says in a thick Shetlandish accent.
“Um, hello?” replies Twilight, nervously.
“The names Highlander,” he answers, picking up Twilight’s chart, “You’re lucky that the projectile missed everything important and went through the soft part of your leg, otherwise you could have been crippled.”
Twilight sighs in relief.
“Hmm,” he says, now frowning, “But you wanted to talk about the other mare, Shepard, I believe she is called.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” answers Twilight.
“She will survive,” replies Highlander.
Twilight sighs in relief, a weight lifted off her chest.
“Luckily she was wearing that armour or she would have most likely died,” he continues, “Also it was luckily that pink one knew what she was doing or we may have never got that blasted armour off and that armour might has well have killed her.”
“Her name is Pinkie Pie,” adds Twilight.
“She also told us to ask for help from Shepard wrist,” Highlander says, ignoring her, “It was most helpful.”
“That’s good,” replies Twilight, guessing that they meant Harbinger.
“But now it is my turn to ask some questions,” he says, fixing Twilight with a strong glare.
“Oh?” Twilight says, nervously.
“None of your friends would tell us how you and Shepard became injured or what the hell is going on with this Shepard?” he says annoyed.
“What do you mean?” Twilight says, now confused.
“Shepard has more metal in her body than a soldier with a shrapnel wound. Her bones, muscles and skin seem to have a lot synthetic material in it, making them as strong as a dragon would be. We had to bring in special tools in order to deal with them. Her healing factor is off the chart, the bones started to heal as soon we put then back, we almost didn’t really need to graft them and last we saw her stiches have almost already healed,” he lists off.
Twilight can only listens slacked jaw as the doctor continues. Can anypony heal that fast?
“Her body is also filled with other things as well that we don’t know what they do but her wrist said that they are very important and to leave them be. An x-ray also showed that they are also all over her body,” he finishes, taking a deep breath he adds, “What the bloody hell is going on? Is she some sort of super soldier?”
Twilight hangs her head, advoiding eye contract. “I’m sorry it is secret Princess business.”
He frowns shows annoyance. “I supposed how you two got the injuries is also secret Princess business?” he says sighing.
“Yes. Sorry,” she answers.
“This going to be hell on the paper work,” he says, frowning, “I’m going to need you to sign somethings.”
“Alright,” she answers, then remembering something, “Could you also keep all this a secret?”
He just sighs again, “I guess we can. But that will mean even more paper work.”
“Also I want to see Shepard?” asks Twilight, also dreading the mountain of paper work in her future.
“I guess I can organized that,” he says, scratching his chin, “She might not be awake though, she kept trying to wake up during the operation so we had to resort to a sleeping spell. She seem to have a high resistance to sleeping medication.”
Twilight nods, if she knows Shepard she is awake by now.
“I would like to see Shepard now,” Twilight asks.
Highlander raises his eyebrow. “Are you sure? She may not be awake yet and your friends are eager to see you,” he asks.
“They will have to wait,” Twilight says firmly, “I need to see Shepard!”
“Fine, well I will get someone to help you,” he says, walking off and leaving the room.
A few minutes later a nurse with a wheelchair comes and picks her up, taking her to Shepard’s room where she seems to be sleeping quietly.
“I would like to be alone,” Twilight asks the nurse.
The nurse nods and quickly leaves. Twilight wheels the wheelchair next to Shepard. Most her chest has been shaven and a visible scar can be seen. Her red glowing device on her hoof is there, most likely meaning it is working.
“Shepard? I know you are awake,” Twilight says softly.
Shepard eyes open and glares at Twilight. She starts to sit herself up, Twilight is about stop her but stops when she is sees that Shepard is in no visible pain.
“What do you want, Twilight?” she asks, angrily.
“I want to say I’m sorry,” Twilight says, hanging her head.
Shepard looks momentarily shocked before glaring again, “What?”
“For doing this to you and also for treating you so wrongly before,” Twilight explains.
“Really?” Shepard says, distrust clear in her voice.
“I also want to help you as well,” Twilight says, trying to avoid Shepard’s gaze.
“Help with what?” Shepard says, already guessing what.
“With what’s happening to you,” Twilight says, breaking down, “Fluttershy heard from Spike that you have been having these weird attacks and then you tried to kill yourself before!”
“Hmmm,” Shepard responses, turning her head towards the window.
“Is this my fault?!” Twilight cries, all her guilt now pouring out.
“It isn’t your fault,” Shepard replies, coldly, “This is a problem that I have been dealing with since I first came to Equestria.”
“Does this have to do with all the other Shepards in your head?” asks Twilight.
“Yes,” replies Shepard.
“But I thought they were just making you forget things and also making you act very aggressive?” asks Twilight, confused.
“How little you know,” says a familiar voice.
“Harbinger?” Twilight says confused.
“We haven’t told you everything about the other souls,” Shepard adds.
“What do you mean?” asks Twilight still confused.
There is silence for a while, while Shepard seems to think. She then shrugs and Harbinger speaks.
“The other Shepards will kill Shepard in around two weeks.”
“WHAT! How!?” Twilight says shocked.
“A body should only have one soul,” Shepard says, turning back to her, her face sad, “I have many.”
“Each soul wants to controls her. The one in control now is her own. But it is slowly getting weaker and weaker as it like Shepard can’t remember herself, soon another soul will take control displacing her own.”
“It sounds like she will just get possessed,” comments Twilight, “But how will that kill Shepard?”
“Beside the fact that it won’t be me anymore,” Shepard says, bitterly.
“Oh right, sorry,” Twilight says, embarrassed.
“If another soul takes control her Omni-tool will self-destruct, destroying Shepard’s body and me along with it, effectively killing Shepard.”
“Are they supposed to do that?” asks Twilight horrified.
“No, but they are not meant to hold Reapers AI’s either, this Omni-Tool is unusual,” states Shepard.
“Can we stop it?” asks Twilight.
“Only if we find out Shepard’s first name that will unlock the Omni-Tool locked files that will hopefully remind Shepard of herself.”
“But how will we find out her name?” asks Twilight.
“I don’t know. We cannot give names to her to see what will happen for her other souls may respond to them and weaken her own soul lessening the time we have.”
“But how can I help then!” Twilight cries.
“You can kill me.”
Twilight stops crying and looks up to see Shepard looking at her.
“What?” Twilight says confused.
“You can kill me,” Shepard repeats, unblinking, “End the voices before they can steal my body.”
“No, I can’t do that,” Twilight says, shocked.
“Then I will,” Shepard states.
Shepard lifts up her hoof with the Omni-Tool on it. Suddenly a red glowing blade forms at the end of it. She moves it towards her neck.
“WAIT! Stop, Shepard!” Twilight cries, trying to stop Shepard’s hoof.
“I don’t want the voices to take control!” Shepard states, “I want to die in control of my own body!”
“Stop! I can help get your name back!” Twilight cries.
“I doubt it, it is impossible there are millions of names out there!” Shepard says, the blade getting ever closer to her neck.
“Give me a chance!” Twilight yells, tears streaming down her face. “Please, if I don’t find your name in the next two weeks I will kill you myself like you asked!” she yells, hoping that Shepard doesn’t really want to die.
Shepard freezes. So does Twilight after thinking about what she said.
“Is this a promise?” asks Shepard, unfreezing.
Twilight stays quiet for a long while and then finally nods, “Yes.”
The blade disappears. “Fine, but you have to kill me if I start to lose control even before the two weeks are up,” confirms Shepard.
There is another pause before Twilight says, “Alright.”
“I will able to leave the hospital tomorrow with the rate I am healing,” explain Shepard, “Harbinger has been using Medi-Gel to speed the healing.”
Twilight looks down at Shepard’s Omni-Tool which is still glowing. She wonders what Harbinger thinks about all this.
“Now please leave, I need some sleep,” asks Shepard.
“Oh, alright, goodbye,” Twilight says, wheeling the wheelchair to the door, her head hanged low. At the door she stops, “Shepard?”
“What?” Shepard says annoyed.
“Why did you escape before instead of killing yourself then and why do you want me to kill you?” asks Twilight, sadly.
“I escaped because I’d rather die free than in a prison and I would rather die by someone else’s hand then comment suicide,” answers Shepard.
“I see,” Twilight says, sadly, before heading out the door leaving Shepard alone to her sleep.
Twilight goes down the hall. Her head hang low in guilt. ‘I should have tied to be nicer to Shepard sooner. Shepard might have told me sooner if she did. I might have already found out her name sooner. It is all my fault!’ Twilight thought, threating to burst into tears.
“Twilight?” comes a voice from down the hallway.
She looks up and sees her friends standing down the hallway.
“Girls?” Twilight says, her voice quavering.
Her friends rush to her side and start hugging her.
“Twilight, we were so worried about you!” says Rarity squeezing her.
“You lost so much blood,” says Fluttershy.
“I will be fine girls,” Twilight says, returning the hug.
“That great!” Pinkie says, happily, “What about Shepard?”
At mention of Shepard the dam broke. Twilight starts to cry.
The next morning
Twilight stands on the ground, getting used to the leg harness equipped to her leg while Doctor Highlander complains.
“I know you need to leave, but surely you can wait until we finish making sure you are truly alright?” he says, frowning at the Princess.
“I am sorry but what I have to do is too important to wait,” she explains, taking a few experimental steps forward.
“I see,” he says, sighing again, “But must you take Shepard? I know she is walking again and all her injuries seem to have healed, but she did almost die.”
“No, I need to watch over her,” explains Twilight again.
Highlander mutters something that Twilight guessing she is glad she didn’t understand. “Just make sure you two come back if anything goes wrong,” he warns.
“We will… and thank you,” says Twilight, as she leaves the room.
Twilight walks down the hall until she hears some noise behind her. She turns and sees Shepard walking down the hall towards her. A doctor and a nurse were fussing over her. She pushes them aside and walks pass Twilight.
“Lets go,” she says, as she passes.
“Ok,” Twilight responds.
They walk down the hall leaving the annoyed doctor and nurse behind. Soon they reach the reception area. Twilight smiles at her friends that were waiting for them.
“Twilight!” yells Spike, as he runs up and hugs Twilight, “I was so worried when I heard that you were hurt.”
“I’m sorry for worrying you, Spike,” Twilight says, placing a hoof around the dragon.
“Must you two leave?” asks Rarity, worried.
“I must, I don’t have much time,” Twilight says, looking at Shepard, who stood away from them looking out the window.
The six girls who were all told about the deal with Shepard look at her with a mix of sadness and uncertainty. They don’t have much time to help Shepard and soon if they don’t find her name the only way to help her is to kill her.
“Oh, I brought this for Shepard,” Spike says, unaware about the deal he holds out a bag.
Twilight pulls out a hoodie from the bag. She recognizes it, it was the hoodie they found in the space wreck that carried Shepard here. Twilight felt there was something important about the hoodie or was there something else?
“Twilight, are you ok?” asks Rainbow Dash, as Twilight spaces out.
“Is this not any good?” asks Spike, “I was told to bring something for Shepard to wear to cover her shaven parts and this looks like it would fit.”
“What? No, this will be fine,” Twilight replies, returning from her thoughts.
“That good,” Spike says, sighing in relief, “I would hate to run back to get something.”
“Wasn’t there something else with the hoodie?” asks Twilight, trying to remember something.
“What do you mean?” asks Rarity, looking confused. The rest of her friends look just as confused.
“Oh nevermind, I guess I was just imagining things,” Twilight says, giving up and walking over to Shepard.
Shepard turns to face her. “Are we going yet?” she rudely asks.
“Soon we just got this hoodie to help you cover up and keep warm,” Twilight says, ignoring the rude tone and passing over the hoodie.
Shepard’s brows frown in concentration as she looks over the hoodie, she turns her slightly as if she is listening to someone, she then turns back and takes the hoodie.
“Thank you,” Shepard says.
“You’re welcome, but Spike brought it for you,” replies Twilight.
“Thanks Spike,” Shepard says, now with a gentle smile.
“Don’t worry it was nothing,” Spike responds, smiling, “It suits you too, look it has your Cutie Mark on it.”
“Yeah it does,” Shepard says, frowning again. She then put it on. It fits perfectly… well as much as a hoodie usually does, which is slightly baggy.
Twilight sighs. She slightly hoped that the hoodie might help her memory, but it seems to just confuse her.
“Lets go everypony,” Twilight says, heading for the door. Her friends and Shepard soon follow her. “And don’t worry Shepard, I will find out your name before two weeks are up,” Twilight says, hope in her voice.
“I hope so, Twilight,” Shepard responds, doubt in her voice, “For both of our sakes.”
Chapter 12 - Patience, Time and Discoveries(Unedited)
Twilight flicks through another book, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Nearly two weeks have passed since she made the deal with Shepard and she hasn’t made any progress, and she has only until tomorrow. Twilight feels sick thinking about what she has to do if she fails. She pushes on and grabs another book from the large pile she made. But this upsets the pile of books, causing them to fall towards her. Twilight braces herself to be pummelled by books… but nothing happens. She opens her eyes and sees the books float back into a pile. She turns around and sees Shepard leaning against the wall.
“You shouldn’t kill yourself, Twilight,” Shepard says, wheezing slightly, “It won’t bring me any satisfaction.”
Shepard looks a wreck. Her eyes are bloodshot and tired, with huge bags underneath them, her mane is a total rat nest and her fur is sweaty and mattered, and the visible skin on her chest is a sickly pale. Over the final week she has gone ever weaker, as she battles for control over her own body and it is taking its toll, both physically and mentally. She gets off the wall she is leaning on and takes a few unsteady steps towards Twilight. She nearly falls over, but Spike appears beside her and supports her.
“Thanks Spike,” Shepard says, giving the dragon a kind smile that three weeks ago Twilight didn’t think Shepard could give… she wishes that she was nicer to Shepard to begin with, maybe this would never of happened.
“It’s no problem,” Spike replies, trying to give a cheerful smile back.
“I am sorry about how much you have to help me,” sighs Shepard, “I am ashamed about how weak I’ve gotten.”
“Like I said, it is no problem,” Spike repeats, still smiling.
Twilight can feel a pain deep within her chest as this scene unfolds, for this all feels like her fault and soon she will have to pay the price.
“Twilight?” asks a voice, breaking Twilight out of her thoughts.
“What?” Twilight says, looking at the source of the voice which is Shepard.
“Any hope yet?” asks Shepard.
“None,” Twilight replies, hanging her head. It was the same answer as all the other days.
“I see,” Shepard says, who never believed that it would be any different than the other days.
“But I still have time!” states Twilight, opening a book.
Shepard just sighs again and lies down on a nearby pillow. Twilight is amazed how once something so strong now can look so weak.
“Can I get you anything, Shepard?” asks Spike, eager to help.
“Just water, I don’t think I can stomach any food right now,” replies Shepard, laying her tired head on the floor.
Spike nods and turns to Twilight.
“Just water as well, please,” Twilight says, rubbing her eyes again.
Spike nods and leaves the room. A silence hangs over the room, until Shepard breaks it.
“You know you don’t have to kill me anymore,” Shepard says, “I can do it myself now.”
Twilight finds herself hanging her head again at those words, she doesn’t want to hear this.
“I don’t mind how I die anymore, as long as the pain stops,” continues Shepard, finding herself slowly nodding off.
Twilight finds herself shaking slightly, tears starting to fall from her face. “How can you be so calm about this?!” Twilight cries, “Aren’t you scared of dying!?”
Shepard looks at Twilight for a second and then back the ceiling. “I don’t who I am, but I remember that I was never scared of dying, but of failing… I think that the same with you, Twilight. Which is why right now you are working yourself to death for someone else,” she then gives Twilight a warm but sleepy smile, “For that I thank you... for showing me a small bit of myself.” Shepard than falls asleep.
Twilight walks to Shepard side and strokes her hair, hoping that she is getting a restful sleep.
“I am so sorry, Shepard,” Twilight cries, silently, “I am so sorry.”
A sound causes Twilight to look up, she sees Spike carrying a tray with two glasses of water, he has a worried look on his face.
“Is Shepard…” he asks, scared.
“No, she is just sleeping,” Twilight calms the dragon, rubbing the tears out of her eyes.
Spike breaths out a sigh of relief, “I hope she gets some sleep this time. She barely got any this week.”
“Yeah, I know,” Twilight replies.
“You haven’t got much either,” scolds Spike, placing the tray on the table.
“I can’t Spike, I’m running out of time,” cries Twilight, “I only have until tomorrow! I got to find a way to find out her name by then!”
Spike doesn’t say anything, for there is nothing to say. If Twilight does go to bed than Shepard would die, but if doesn’t Twilight risks damaging herself further and Shepard could still die. So what can you say?
“I’m going to put Shepard into bed,” Twilight states, picking up Shepard gently with her magic and heads for the stairs.
“Be careful of your leg, Twilight,” warns Spike, for Twilight’s injury still hasn’t healed yet, and is still locked in a leg brace.
Twilight ignores this and climbs the stairs and enters Shepard’s room. Twilight lays Shepard down on the bed and tucks her in. When she leaves the room she notices Spike carrying some of the books she is reading up the stair.
“What are you doing, Spike?” asks Twilight, confused.
“I’m bring these books to your room, so you can read them there,” explains Spike.
“Why?” asks Twilight, still confused.
“Well in case you want to fall asleep, or it gets cold,” explains Spike, "They say it is going to get chilly tonight."
Twilight sighs, “Thanks Spike, but I won’t be falling asleep tonight.”
Spike just shrugs and continues into Twilight’s room, Twilight follows.
“Just put them beside my dresser,” orders Twilight.
Spike just nods and sets them down where requested. He then heads for the door, stopping beside it. “You know none of us will blame you if you fail… we all want you to succeed, but we won’t fault you if you don’t,” Spike says sadly, letting out the words that have been that been on his mind for awhile, "Because I don't even believe Shepard will fault you after trying so hard." With that he leaves the room.
Twilight frowns, not sure what to think about Spikes words, but she sits in front of the dresser and pulls out a book and begins to read. Half an hour passes when she starts to feel sleepy. She shakes to try and wake herself up, but she continues to nearly nod off.
“Dammit body, don’t give up on me now,” she curses, but her body has had an enough and she slumps on her dresser and falls asleep.
About ten minutes later Spike enters the room, upon seeing the sleeping alicorn he sighs. Twilight has been getting less sleep than Shepard has and Spike knew she wouldn’t last much longer. He pulls a blanket over Twilight and leaves the room.
“Sweet dreams, Twilight,” he says, before he closes the door.
Twilight opens her eyes and finds herself in a misty landscape. She looks around and finds herself surround by walls of mist. She also feels grass under hoof.
“Why does this place feel familiar?” she asks, herself.
She then feels that she is holding something with her magic… something bellow her. She looks down and gasps. She is holding the weapon she now known as the Executioner Pistol and she has it pointed at Shepard’s head, who sits before her.
“What Shepard, what is going on?!” Twilight says, panicking.
“The time is up, the punishment nigh, everything must end,” Shepard replies, expressionless.
“What do you mea…” but a sharp noise stops the words dead in her mouth, the gun went off in her magic. Shepard falls to ground bleeding out her life blood.
Twilight drops the gun and falls to her knee, “What… no I didn’t mean…”
She looks around and sees her friends standing at the edge of the mist, just staring at her. Twilight can’t speak as they just stare at her, then they close their eyes and recede into the mist.
“WAIT!!” Twilight screams, and tries to chase after them.
But her legs won’t move… something is holding onto them. She looks down and screams, for looking back up at her and smiling with a rows of sharp teeth, and a bullet hole through one of her eyes, is Shepard.
“It is good to see you again, Twilight,” she says, in the familiar evil voice.
“YOU!!” Twilight screams, teleporting out of its grip.
“Yes me,” it says, grinning, blooding pouring of its empty eye.
“Why are you here, I don’t fear Shepard anymore!” Twilight cries, backing away.
“But something else has replaced it, hasn’t it, hmmm,” it says, advancing on Twilight.
“What are you talking about?” Twilight says, slightly relieved that it is a nightmare, but is still frightened.
“Guilt for not trying to save Shepard earlier... and longing for an answer that you already know but can’t remember,” it says, smiling wickedly.
“Do mean Shepard’s name?! Do you know her name!?” Twilight yells, forgetting this is a nightmare.
“No, I don’t know her name for you don’t know, and I am a figment of your imagination, but you know how to find her name you have just forgotten,” it says, shorting the distance between it and Twilight, “Now, no more questions, time for this nightmare to begin!” With that she raises the Executioner Pistol that Twilight dropped and fires a shot.
It flies over Twilight's head, barely missing her. With that she bolts, running into the mist.
“Darn, it is kind of hard to hit something with only 20/0 vision,” it says, smiling. With that she melts into mist and chases after Twilight.
Twilight runs through the mist, nearly bumping into trees and rocks. She knows she will be caught, for this is how the dream goes. She runs and then gets caught, she just doesn’t know when. Suddenly she trips over something and falls onto her face. She tries to get up, but something kicks her hard, causing her to fall onto her back. The Nightmare Shepard looms over Twilight. Smiling, it leans over and starts strangling her.
“Why won’t you remember Twilight?” it giggles, “You've had the answer all along, but you've lost it. Why won’t you go look?”
Twilight struggles, trying to escape. She then hits the nightmare in the face, causing something to fall from its neck and smack her in the face. It seems to be a necklace, but Twilight can’t see though her darkening vision.
“Find it, Twilight! Find your answer!” it yells, happily.
Twilight wakes up.
Twilight gasps as she jerks awake. She looks outside and she sees that it is now dark.
‘How long have I been asleep for?’ she wonders, rubbing her heavy eyes.
Her mind drifts back to dream, which as dreams always do, they start to fade. But she remembers one thing, it said that she knows the answer.
“What answer?!” she growls to herself, thumping the desk, “If I knew the answer I wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with!”
Giving up trying to work out what her dream meant, she grabs a book and tries to read, but finds it impossible for she can’t forget the dream.
“Damn IT!” Twilight screams, throwing the books off the dresser in frustration and then covering her face behind her hooves, feeling ready to cry.
A sound catches her attention. The sound of bits of metal hitting the floor. She looks down and sees that she has knocked down her jewellery box, spilling it's contents across the floor. She quickly got to her hooves and starts gathering them up. She really hasn’t much need for jewellery, but many were gifts and she treasured them dearly. She puts them back into their box and checks to see if they are all there, which they are. She puts it back onto the dresser when something catches her eye.
It seems to glow in the moonlight as it lay in the middle of the floor. Twilight walks over to it and carefully picks it up. It is a ball chain with two flat bits of metal hanging off it.
“What is this…?” Then she remembers.
“It’s a dog-tag?”
“A what?”
“It's what soldiers use to identify bodies on the battlefield”
“What does it say?”
“Huh?”
“Look on it, it should have the owner’s name, blood group, religious preference, service number and place of origin on each piece of metal.”
Twilight quickly looks at it, but it still just as unreadable as before. She is about to give into despair when she thinks of something.
“What if this is Shepard native languages, and she can read it!” with that in mind she rushes out of the door and to Shepard’s room, holding the dog-tag close to her.
This is the answer she forgotten, and she had it all along… how in Tartarus did it in end up in her jewellery box? She knocks on Shepard’s bedroom door, which is soon opened by a tired Shepard.
“Twilight, it's still hours until dawn,” Shepard says, yawning, while also looking slightly confused.
“I’m sorry, but is this yours?” Twilight asks, holding out the dog-tag.
Shepard takes the dog-tag and looks at it, for a very long time. She then gives Twilight a very pained look.
“I think you should go, Twilight,” Shepard says, as she closes the door.
Twilight feels like collapsing. It didn’t work, her last chance didn’t WORK! She starts crying. She has failed. With these thoughts in mind she makes her way back to bed, where she cries herself to sleep.
As Shepard finishes closing the door she collapses on the floor. She clasps her head between her hooves and lets out a silent scream. The pain she feels now is the worst she felt yet. Her Omni-Tool turns on as it starts to pour huge amount of information into Shepard’s mind.
Harbinger tries to slow down the huge amount of information, but like a ragging torrent it cannot be stopped, as it pours into Shepard’s mind. The surge pours through her Hall of Memories, filling it with it lost items before finally pouring into the Soul Chamber. It washes away the other souls to the far corners of the Chamber and then surging into the soul that sits alone in the middle of the chamber.
The soul then climbs to her feet, standing strong, as does Shepard.
“Shepard, are you alright?” Harbinger asks, for Shepard had laid on the floor for quite a while.
“Yeah, better than I have in a while now,” Shepard replies, smiling, feeling much stronger.
“I have managed to cap the information for now, you may review it any time you wish.”
“Thanks, but right now I think I want a shower,” Shepard says, smelling herself, “Yep, I need a shower… and something to eat.”
Twilight wakes up, though she wishes she didn’t. For today is the day when Shepard has to die by Twilight’s own hooves. Twilight drags herself out of bed and checks her clock. It is 1:20! She has slept in! She rushes to her bedroom door and opens it, only to run face first into Applejack.
“Ow! What’s the rush, Twilight?” Applejack says, rubbing her now sore snout.
“Sorry, I just slept in and realized how late it is,” Twilight says, rubbing her equally sore muzzle.
“That’s good,” says Rarity, standing beside Applejack, “We thought you had disappeared like Shepard had.”
“Shepard has disappeared!?!” Twilight yells, panicking.
“Yeah, when we came over we couldn’t find you or Shepard anywhere until now,” explains Rainbow Dash, who is flying nearby.
“Spike is missing too,” adds Fluttershy.
“Oh no, what could of happened!” Twilight panics, “What if Shepard left to kill herself, and what if Spike left to help her so I wouldn’t have too!”
“Calm down, Twilight!” Applejack says, trying to calm down the frantic Alicorn.
“I sure Spike wouldn’t do something like that,” adds Rarity.
“But… but…” Twilight says, not calming down.
“But we should go look for them,” confirms Applejack.
The girls nod and with Twilight at the head of them rush out the door, only for Twilight to trip over the missing dragon that was standing on the front porch.
“Ow! What’s the rush, Twilight?” moans Spike, as he picks himself off the ground.
Pinkie giggles, “He said the same thing as Applejack.”
Twilight grabs and tightly hugs the young dragon, “I was worried about you, Spike!”
“Twilight stop it!” Spike yells, trying to remove himself from the alicorn’s grip, “It’s embarrassing!”
“Spike, do you know where Shepard is?” Twilight asks, letting go of the dragon.
“Shepard? Isn’t she right…?” Spike tries to say, looking around him.
“We fear she may have gone to kill herself,” states Rarity.
“But Shepard is…” Spike tries to say again.
“Do you know where she is, Spike,” asks Pinkie.
“She was…” Spike tries to say again.
“Sorry Spike,” says Shepard, walking up to the dragon, carrying a bag of shopping, “Got stuck in a conversation with Derpy, by time I finished you had walked away.” She then noticed the six girls surprised looks. “What?”
“Shepard, you’re better!?” yells Twilight, shocked, for Shepard looks much better, she looks like she did a few weeks ago but better. Her fur and hair have been washed and combed, her eyes no longer look tired but sharp and powerful and she seems stronger.
“Yeah and it is all thanks to you returning my dog-tags,” Shepard says, pulling the objects in question out her hoodie.
The rest of the girls give Twilight a confused look, wondering what is going on.
“But I thought they didn’t work,” Twilight says, just as confused.
“What made you think that?” Shepard asks, raising her eyebrow.
“Well you didn’t say anything… and you looked pained,” Twilight mumbles, having trouble dealing with this.
“Sorry, I believed if I spoke too much I would throw up,” Shepard explains, “You see, remembering everything is quite painful when it is forced back into your head.”
“Did you know about this, Spike?” Rarity asks the dragon.
“Yeah, I was trying to tell you before, but everypony kept interrupting me,” Spike explains, “I found Shepard this morning as she was having breakfast and she explained everything to me.”
“Well why didn’t you wake me up and tell me?!” cries Twilight, both relieved and frustrated.
“We didn’t want to wake you up after the week you’ve had,” answers Shepard, “So we decided to wait until you wake up.”
“So while we were waiting we went to do some shopping,” adds Spike.
“Soooo, Shepard is alright now?” Pinkie asks, leaning forwards.
“Yep,” answers Spike.
“So she won’t die anymore?” Pinkie asks, leaning further forward.
“Nope,” answers Shepard.
“Then you know what this calls for…? Pinkie says, couching down.
“No…” Shepard says, her solider senses telling her to back off a bit.
“A PARTY!!!” Pinkie yells, jumping up in the air in an explosion of confetti.
“Why do you think we went shopping,” Spike says, smiling.
“Yeah, let’s do this!” Rainbow Dash says, glad about this sudden turn of events.
Everyone happily starts walking into the library, ready to celebrate Shepard’s recovery and Twilight’s success, leaving behind a smiling Shepard and a stunned Twilight, who still hasn’t completely gotten over the fact that she actually did it.
“Well, here we are,” notes Shepard, “And I’m still alive.”
“What?” Twilight says, returning to the real world.
“You did it, Twilight,” answers Shepard, smirking at the confused alicorn, “Although I won’t ask where you found my dog tags.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I had them the whole time but I forgot,” Twilight apologies.
“Well good thing you did remember,” Shepard says, smiling.
“Yeah, it was,” Twilight says, returning the smile.
“Well, let’s head inside,” Shepard says, heading for the door.
Twilight is about to follow her when she remembers something. “Shepard, wait!” she calls after Shepard.
“Hmm?” Shepard says, stopping.
Twilight runs up beside Shepard. “You haven’t told me your name yet?”
Shepard blinks a few times and then smiles. She leans down and moves her mouth next to Twilight’s ear and whispers.
![http://31.media.tumblr.com/6e9dadf9a75844e68dbe98a1b577942b/tumblr_mz5esgjAYn1r0ckzto1_400.gif]200](http://31.media.tumblr.com/6e9dadf9a75844e68dbe98a1b577942b/tumblr_mz5esgjAYn1r0ckzto1_400.gif]200){kind=link}