Alright people, lets get this party started. Got done early with a couple of days to spare and I will upload for your pleasure.

-Canterlot, Equestria-

The last 1000 years have been good to Canterlot. The castle still rested on the mountain, but now was surrounded by skyscrapers and homes. Unlike other places in the galaxy that build and waste away the natural beauty of their world, Equestrians build with nature in mind. Move a tree here, place a shrub there, lets make this waterfall part of the building itself. All in all, the buildings of Equestria are Eco friendly. Its not odd to see wild animals forge on the outskirts of the cities due to amount of fruits and vegetables that are grown within the city limits. While the city of Canterlot is a sight to see, it is the main palace that is the real attraction.

Moving the main city of Canterlot to the base of the mountain so the city could expand was Princess Luna's idea, as it showed that space was getting harder and harder to come by. With space exploration becoming a common thing, the palace undergone a refit of sorts. Gone was the homes of former nobles, replaced by armories and barracks. Gone was the towers for pegasus guards to keep watch, now replaced with automated turrets. It is the most secured area of all of Equestria.

A shuttle came to land at the spaceport, dropping off several soldiers and crew members. A single one stood out though.

Commander John Shepard walked out of the shuttle, at this side was Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, both wearing System Alliance fatigues. As they walked towards the check in station, Kaiden took a deep breath of air.

"Ah...good to be back." he said happily

"You were station here, Kaiden?" Shepard asked as he signed the sheet.

"Yeah, lived here actually." Kaiden received the clipboard and began to sign it. "My mom is living in the skyscraper right over there." pointing at one of the few skyscrapers that reached the height of the palace based foundations.

"You going to go visit?"

"Probably, if we get the chance." Kaiden shrugged his shoulders. The two walked on, receiving salutes from lower enlisted as they went. Kaiden watched as the pegasus and griffons fly around in the sky, taking packages or orders to several areas.

"Again maggots!" both turn and found a Senior dragon barking at younger enlisted dragons. All the dragons took a deep breath of air before jetting out a stream of fire.

"Line 3, that was the sorriest excuse of dragon fire if I ever saw one! DO IT AGAIN!" the Purple and red spiked dragon roared out.

"Sergeant Fandore. How is going!" Kaiden called out, waving his hand to him. The larger dragon turned and gave a toothy smile.

"Kai boy! Come here you midget. How you doing?" Kaiden and Fandore shook hands/claws with one another.

"I am doing fine, Fandore. How is your father doing?" Kaiden smiled at the larger dragon. Fandore grin became a little bigger.

"My pa is currently going through a 100 year nap time. So it will be awhile before I see his scaly butt again."

"And your grandfather?" Kaiden asked

"On Eden Prime. Enjoying the new sky and different stars." Shepard walked up to Kaiden and coughed a little.

"Sorry Kaiden, but were are running a bit late." Shepard said.

"Shoot...sorry Fandore, duty calls." Kaiden grumbled a bit.

"No worries Kai Boy. I will send a message if you have go right after this. Commander." Fandore nodded his to both of them before turning around and started shouting. "JUST BECAUSE MY BACK IS TURNED DOESN'T MEAN I WANT YOU LOT TO STOP. KEEP GOING!"

As they walked away, Shepard turned to Kaiden, "Who was that?"

"Fandore. He is friends with my family. Actually help set me straight after..." Kaiden look down.

"Sorry." Shepard said, looking somewhat downcast. The subject was a sore one for both of them. Shepard felt responsible for Majid's death, while Kaiden felt the need to rise up to his father's standard of conduct, but felt he always fell short.

"No...its not your fault Shepard." Kaiden said. "Nor Destiny's. I know my dad would of done anything to protect you or anyone else. Besides, its been several years already, no doubt my old man will kick me in the ass if I mope about it. Yours too probably." Kaiden grin at Shepard's chuckle.

"You got that right. Come on." Shepard and Kaiden walked into the castle courtyard, walking by soldiers and guardsmen going about their business. They walked up to Castle Reception Desk and saw a rather bored looking Earth pony.

"Hello and welcome to Canterlot Castle." He said in a dull voice, reading a book and not paying attention to them. Making Kaiden smirk and Shepard roll his eyes. "What can I do for you today Gentlemen?"

"We got an appointed meeting with the Queen today." Shepard stated. The Earth pony sighed and pulled out a list.

"Names." Shepard waved his arm to Kaiden, allowing him to go first.

"Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko. N-5 Special Operative."

"Commander John Shepard. N-7 Guardian Operative." The Earth pony spluttered at Shepard's name, actually removing his eyes from the list and placing them on Shepard.

"S-s-s-sir! Sorry sir! I didn't mean to offend you!" The earth pony saluted, actually striking his temple hard enough to jerk his head back.

"Next time, pay attention." Shepard scolded. "Are we on the list or did me and the Lieutenant here make a trip across several thousand light years for nothing?"

"N-n-n-no Sir. Step right on the telepad. It will take you both to where you need to be."

"Thank you."

Both men step onto the pad before vanishing in a flash of light. They appeared in another section of the castle, this one less busy than the main hall. Both of them began to walk down the hall towards another reception desk. The female griffon was quietly working on some paper work when they stepped up to her. She looked up and smiled at both of them.

"Hello! Commander Shepard, Lieutenant Alenko?" Both of them nodded. She got up and began to walk down the hall. "This way."

"We're not late are we?" Kaiden asked. The griffon shook her head in response.

"No, you're early. That and Prime Minster Udina is having a meeting with the Queen at the moment." A scowl appeared on Shepard's face.

"Something wrong Shepard?" Kaiden prodded.

"Udina." Shepard growled.

"The Prime Minster? What wrong with him?"

"He got a stick the size of the Citadel up his ass." Shepard snarled, the female griffon gave a small giggle. "Plus he talks bad to Master."

Kaiden's eyes widen, "Really? I thought Commander General would of put him in his place?"

"Udina is special. He is a politician, and Master wants be miles away from any politician if he can help it." Kaiden got a confused look before gaining a look of understanding.

"Old Earth?"

"Old Earth." Shepard confirmed. The griffon stepped to the side and pointed inside.

"Please wait here, I will summon you when the Queen calls." She said, her tail slowly wrapping around Shepard's right leg. "If you need anything..." She walked away, slowly and sensually unwrapping as she did, before turning around and winking at him. "You can find me at the desk, for anything at all."

Kaiden chuckled at Shepard's beet red face. "I thought you would have been use to it already."

"I have you know that my momma raised a good man. Not some playboy." Shepard manged to stammer out. "I will date a women that will respect me, not one that will use me as a form of status enhancer." Kaiden only chuckled at the response. "Sure...if you say so." Both of them walked into the waiting room and stared at the two occupants inside.

An Asari and a Turian.

The Turian was sitting in one of the chairs, his arms crossed and his eyes closed, looking like he was taking a nap. He opened his eyes and took note of the two humans before closing them again. The Asari on the other hand was on the balcony, her eyes wide with delight and happiness. She leaned out and touched a passing cloud that was being pushed by one of the civilian workers. The Pegasus looked at the Asari for a moment before continuing his duties, waving a goodbye to her as she waved back. Both men were utterly confused before taking their seats on the other side of the room.

"Uh...what is an Asari and Turian doing on Equestria?" Kaiden whispered. Shepard only shrugged.

"Who knows." Shepard said, "All I really want to know is why 'WE' are here." The Asari came back in, looking somewhat surprised to see two more occupants in the room. She looked like she wanted to introduce herself, but her Turian friend only gave a gruff cough. She frowned, but sat down next to him.

For the next 15 minutes, the most awkward moment of their life fell on all four of them. Both groups whispered to their partners, not willing to give out crucial information, though both groups actually lacked anything substantial at the moment. The female griffon came back into the waiting room, actually pouting at Shepard for not visiting.

"The Queen will see all of you now." she said sadly, giving Shepard sad puppy dog eyes. Shepard ignored it to the best of his ability. All four of them looked confused, each looking at the other group before silently agreeing to leave the room. All followed the griffon until they came upon a large door. The griffon knocked several times before a voice called out.

"Enter." The griffon open the door and stood the side to allow entrance for the four. Sitting behind her desk was Queen Celestia, standing in front of said desk was Prime Minister Udina, much to Shepard's annoyance. Udina had a scowl on his face.

"Shepard."

"Udina."

"You can't trust Shepard with this type of mission, my Queen." Udina growled, "Things tend to blow up around him, not surprising given who his mentor is."

Shepard growled, his right arm began glow a light blue. "To hell with you Udina. Just because Master doesn't bow down to your wishes-"

"He is ancient byproduct of our history!" Udina snapped, "He represent everything wrong in humanity. He doesn't receive orders well, he back talks, he cause mayhem wherever he goes. It is because of him that we are on bad terms with Citadel Council. Instead of working together, he forces us apart from the rest of the galaxy. Think of all the things we will learn if we became a part of it."

Shepard got into Udina's face. "And lose who we are? Become weaker? Allow some beings we never met before dictate what and how we are suppose to run our lives?" he turned to the turian and asari, "No offense."

"None taken." the turian waved him off.

"Enough!" Celestia sternly said. "Minister, this is partly the reason why I wish for you to leave. You and the General's lack of cooperation with each other sprinkle down to the ranks. I know of our standing with the Council and this mission is critical for its success. You antagonizing the soldiers that are partaking it is not how we win the hearts of our people or the council's."

"Bah, you can even say his name. It Ramirez. Simply because he wishes to remain known as a rank doesn't hid who he is." Udina said, glaring at Shepard, who equally return it in force. "An ancient barbarian whose first reaction is to smash something with his club doesn't deserve his rank he has gotten."

"I do believe I can say that he is not a barbarian." a quiet voice spoke out, everyone turn to see the dark blue form of Luna followed by the esteemed Captain Anderson. "I can quite say he is a gentleman."

"Only to you Princess." Udina spat, "Fine, I will leave. Don't screw this up Shepard. You do and you make my life harder than it already is." Udina turned and left the room, only to get slightly shoved by Anderson as he tried to bully his way past him. Celestia simply sighed and picked up a hidden ice pack and placed it on her head.

"And there goes our revered Prime Minister." She simply said. Shepard scowled and crossed his arms.

"Why don't you fire him?"

"Because dear sister will have to take his position for several months until a replacement is voted in." Luna said. "Hello John."

"Princess Luna." Shepard bowed down to her. Celestia gave a strain smile before turning towards the Turian and the Asari.

"Perhaps an introduction is in order." The turian nodded his head and stepped forward.

"Nihlus Kryik, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." he then gestured to the Asari who stepped up next to him and gave a big smile.

"Lonar Maerum, Trainee Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." she stated. Celestia smiled at her vigor.

"Pleasure to meet the both of you." She nodded her head. "No doubt you know myself and my dear sister Luna. At her side is Captain David Anderson." Anderson stepped forward and smiled at Nihlus, sticking out his hand to him.

"Spectre Nihlus, its been awhile since we crossed paths." Anderson said grinning.

"Oh...you two know each other?" Celestia said, surprised at the news. Anderson looked back at Celestia.

"The Ialessa System, in the Athena Nebula, on the planet Sanves. I was on a lead when I ran into him and a Justicar named Samara duking it out. I tried to play mediator, instead I was launched out of a 4th story building."

Nihlus chuckled, "Yes, well, Anderson here decided he didn't like being thrown out of a building so violently and rushed right back up and throw both of us out of it. I managed to land on the adjacent building, the Justicar wasn't so lucky. Still, the brawl between us three made a lot of damage. Thankfully, Anderson managed to trick the Justicar into a pre-program ship that made a one-way trip to Thessia."

"Yes, afterwords, Nihlus and myself managed to meet with one another on neutral grounds and try to figure out what happen." Anderson said, crossing his arms

"Lets just say that the scene the Justicar witness was much more than what it seemed." Nihlus said cryptically.

"Enough about the past though." Anderson said, receiving a nod from Nihlus. Celestia smiled and nodded to Kaiden and Shepard. Kaiden took the lead and step forward.

"Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko." He said, shaking hands with Lonar and Nihlus.

"Commander John Shepard." Shepard nodded his head at the two. Nihlus eyes filled with recognition.

"Ah...the Sword of Elysium." Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"You know who I am?"

"Who doesn't Commander." Lonar said with a grin. "You manged to clean up the scum of the underworld pretty well in the Skyllian Blitz, along with your partner of course. No one wants to mess with you guys after that fiasco."

"I was just doing my job." Shepard said, standing at ease. Nihlus shook his head.

"Commander, you and the Sergeant Major managed to put down over 12000 mercenaries, slavers, drug runners, and general bad guys in a single attack that 'didn't' wipe out a city in the process. Not to mention you and the Commander General managed to scare away any future attempts at invading your systems." Nihlus said. "You actually made my job and several spectres' jobs easier when several of the dead came back as wanted men and women for many heinous acts. We thank you for that." Shepard simply scratched the back of his head.

"Thanks...I guess." Celestia smiled at the scene.

"Now that we are introduced to one another. Lets start the mission briefing." She nodded her head at Anderson, who stepped up and a holographic image sprang up in the center of the room.

"We found several ruins on the planet called Eden Prime when we first settled there. Since then, we have been digging up and preserving anything we can find. Then we found this." An image of a device sprang up. Nihlus and Lonar immediately recognized the object.

"A prothean beacon..." Nihlus said softly. Anderson nodded his head at him then turn back to the screen.

"Yes. Pretty intact too. Normally we would of locked it away." Lonar looked stunned at this.

"What? Why? Do you know how much knowledge is on there? Think of the-" A hand covered her mouth, Nihlus looking at her with a look that said to stay silent.

"Number 1, we do not use the same tech your people uses. And two, we have found several ...inconsistency ...when dealing with these ruins."

"What do you mean?" Nihlus asked

"Why did the protheans died out?" Luna asked, "We asked this question in the beginning and all we got in return was a shrug. You use their technology with little regards of anything else. To hear that an entire empire, galaxy wide one at that, simply disappeared would of caused us a great concern to our people. But your people...They just simply shake it off and move forward."

"Luna and Discord express concern when we first ran into prothean tech. It was...limiting to say at least. All the technology we ran into runs on Mass Effect. While we understand that it makes things easier, it does limit on how you want your tech to evolve." Celestia said.

"In other words," Anderson said, "We don't want to use your tech due to its limitations. Magic on the other hands has very little limitations."

"So...you are giving us the the beacon?" Nihlus asked

"Yes," Luna answered "As a form of peace between our governments. Hopefully, another invasion doesn't hamper this peace."

"Aww...and here I was hoping some other fools coming rushing in." A voice pipped up behind them, Luna squealed and took flight before being caught by two strong arms. Luna pouted at him.

"You know, you are only proving Udina right with those words."

"Udina can kiss my ass as far as I am concern." Commander General stated. "I smell the asshat too. He was here wasn't he?"

"Yes." Anderson said stiffly. "He was."

"Good Job, little one."

"Why are you thanking me?" Shepard questioned.

"Because I know you would of annoyed the hell out of him to make him leave." Commander General grinned. Celestia coughed lightly, gaining everyone's attention.

"Well, now that the pleasantries are out of the way." she said, giving Luna and Commander General a knowing look. "Captain, please continue."

-Several hours later-

Shepard looked out the window to see Equestria in all of her glory.

"It such a beautiful planet." A soft voice rang out behind him. Shepard turn to see the Asari Lonar behind him. Her deep blue skin, startling green eyes, and deep pink markings on her face stood out from the darkness. Shepard chuckled a bit at her response.

"Thanks." he simply stated. He heard her sigh, turned to look at her. "Whats up?"

"I envy your people." she stated. Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Your people lead the galaxy and known to be wise and caring." he said. He only got a snort in response.

"Hardly...look out there." she said, pointing at the floating stations and ships. "Your people created your own future...you didn't find some scraps of tech laying around and decided to use it and throw everything else away. You made your technology. Your abilities are so astounding and magical..." she giggled at that, "Magical...your people use magic. Of course its going to be magical." Shepard laughed along with her. She turned to him. "But it is the humans that define Equestria herself."

"Eh?" Shepard looked at her confused.

"You humans...your willingly sacrifice yourselves to save everyone else...I know not of a species that is willing to do that for someone not of their own." Shepard looked back to Equestria.

"We owe a lot to Equestria...We could have been forced to jump to another reality by the royal sisters if they wanted us to leave. Instead, they open Equestria to us. We always wanted to pay everyone back for their kindness. Well...here is our chance to do that." Shepard explained. Lonar gazed at Shepard for a moment, drinking in all of his features.

"Such a noble species." she said quietly as she turned to walk away, to leave Shepard to his thoughts.

-VIP Quarters-

Lonar was enjoying the food she received from the galley, while Nihlus was forced to eat Dextro paste.

"What in the spirits are you eating?" Nihlus asked, watching as Lonar practically inhaling the food she had set before her. She looked up at Nihlus, a single strand of noodle hanging from her sauce covered lips. She slurped the noodle before answering Nihlus.

"Spaghetti with tomato sauce and tofu balls. It is quite spicy. And this bread! It is simply divine!" she said, using the bread as a form of napkin to clean her face before eating it. Nihlus simply rolled his eyes at her.

"At least eat with some manners. By the Spirits, you are my senior by a century and you act like a child most of the time." Lonar simple stuck her tongue out at him.

"So." She started, idly twirling the fork in her hand, "What do you know of this fine ship so far?"

Nihlus activated his Omni-tool and began report his findings.

"The SSV Normandy. Named after a place of battle on Old Earth. It is prototype ship, first of its class. No idea what it actually does though. Classified due to being sensitive information, and since the Alliance are not part of the Council, I can't exactly demand the answer."

"Well..." Lonar placed the fork on her chin, marking the spot with sauce, "She is classified as a frigate, maybe a heavy one, and the weapons I saw from outside a quiet large for a frigate."

"Krogan work if I ever saw one." Nihlus stated. "Make a gun big, make it loud, and make sure it does a lot of damage." Lonar giggled a bit.

"Like your modded assault rifle?" she prodded, Nihlus ignored her, but turned his head a bit.

"Ignore her baby, you are very slimming and very ladylike." he spoke softly to his rifle. Lonar just started laughing at the scene. Nihlus grin a bit before turning back to his omni-tool.

"The captain of the ship is Captain David Anderson, Guardian Operative. His XO is Commander John Shepard, also a Guardian Operative. Two Guardian Operatives along with one planet side. They ain't pulling punches on this mission." Nihlus said.

"What is a Guardian anyways?" Lonar asked.

"A Guardian Operative is part of the Guardian Corps." Nihlus started, watching as Lonar got comfortable. "Only the best of the best are allow into its ranks. Kinda of like Asari Commandos or Salarian STG. But they function like the Justicar Order." This caused Lonar to wince.

"Unlike them, they are not limited to codes or some nonsense. They wander around to help those in need, whether to build a home or arrest corrupted business personal. They do fall under military doctrine, so they have to follow standard procedure and orders."

"So...they are like Spectres too, right?" Lonar asked.

Nihlus nodded his head. "Yes, they only answer to three people unless stated otherwise: Queen Celestia, Commander General, or the Grandmaster. If order into a unit, they will follow the highest ranking officer unless they are placed into a position of leadership."

"So...they are like Spectres with ties into their military as well. Huh, that sounds nice to have. We would never have to go looking for guns or money otherwise." Lonar pouted. "Ok, back to ship, what else did you find out?"

"Their pilot, Jeff Moreau, is a top tier pilot. Boast frequently about being the best in the galaxy." Lonar snorted, "And I believe him."

"What?" Lonar stared at Nihlus.

"I gave him a turian simulation programs on several suicidal missions that were successful but had high counts of failures. These missions are meant to push the pilots beyond what is expect of them. I can only count several people actually passing these. The guys that pilot the said missions, and a very lucky trainee pilot that could never pass it again if he tried." Nihlus looked somewhat amused, "After figuring out the controls and their functions. He jumped right in."

"What happen?"

"He aced it." Lonar jaw dropped, "Not only did the simulator had trouble keeping up with the way Mr Moreau flew, but it actually crashed during the final mission."

"Why did it crash?"

"Because Mr Moreau was simulating a successful mission that ended in the death of the pilot itself. It 'was' suppose to teach the pilots that sacrifices were needed if the situation was dire. Mr Moreau decided he can do better. Not only did he accomplish the mission, his simulated ship was still relativity intact. It was considered impossible to beat. Guess the Turian Hierarchy never thought someone will actually beat it so they never input the codes for a successful mission with the pilot still alive." Nihlus mused. "Good thing I recorded it. Can't wait to see their faces after I send it to them."

-Briefing Room-

"So Shepard, any other questions about the mission?" Anderson asked

"Yeah, who is meeting us on the ground?" Shepard asked as looked over the data before him.

"That will Sergeant Major Sparkle." Anderson answered.

"Really? Des is down there? I haven't seen her in person in over 2 years." Shepard smiled at the thought of seeing his friend again.

"Good time to catch up if anything. Joker." he looked up at the ceiling.

"Yes Captain?"

"How many hours out are we?"

"Mmm...by the computer here, 7 hours, but I can make it in 4 if you really need me to push it." Joker answered, Anderson shook his head.

"No thats fine Joker, no need to make the new girl work herself a sweat for nothing." Anderson order.

"Aye Aye, Captain."

"Get some shut eye, Shepard." Anderson said as he walked out "This is going to be a very boring mission if all goes well."

-Eden Prime-

Destiny Sparkle walked around the dig site, watching as the scientist packed up the site. All around them was System Alliance soldiers. Humans and ponies sitting down and watching for any curious wanders or prying eyes. Up in the trees several more look outs were placed...expect one.

"Private Kaleen!" Destiny shouted at the napping griffon. "Wake up and pay attention!"

"Aw come on Sergeant Major!" Kaleen protested, "This is boring!"

"That doesn't excuse you from simply laying around!" Destiny answered, her eyes narrowing on the lazy private.

"Fine fine." Kaleen stood up and flew into the sky to stretch out her wings. Destiny shook her head and turned to walked towards the scientist. "How is coming, Doctor Warren?"

"Oh its going great Sergeant Major." Doctor Warren answered, a man came up to them, looking around nervously.

"We shouldn't be here...the darkness is coming." he whispered. Destiny felt a chill run up her spine at the comment.

"Manuel!" Warren exclaimed, "You shouldn't say those things, ever since you touched this device you gotten so paranoid!"

"Its true...the darkness...I can feel it surrounding us...it feels like the end is coming...I can see it." Manuel continued. Destiny took a step back.

"Is he going to be ok?" Destiny asked.

"I will give him something to calm his nerves, Sergeant Major. Don't worry about him." Warren said smiling. "Come Manuel, lets go get something to calm you down." Destiny watched as they walked away, the feeling of dread now settling in her stomach.

"Sergeant Major!" a unicorn trotted up to her. "I can't seem to raise HQ on the comm."

"Really?" Destiny looked perplex, "Come on, lets go see if we can fix it." Before she took a step, Kaleen squawked out in surprise.

"Hey! Were we suppose to get some falling stars today?" Destiny looked up and saw a very large amount of falling stars in the sky. Her eyes widen when she saw one actually turn towards them.

"INCOMING!" she shouted, all the personal ran for cover as the large object slammed into the ground throwing dirt and rocks into the sky. Everyone groaned a bit, coughing and swatting at the air to clear it.

"Everyone! Are you up?" Various positive calls were shouted out, but was interrupted by a strange noise. "What was that?" A bright light appeared in the dust cloud, a single Unicorn took a step closer to figure what it was. His horn glowed and the dust cloud vanished revealing a large white bipedal machine. It made a series of clicking noise before grabbing something from its back, pulling out a large heavy assault rifle, and pointed it at the stun unicorn.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Destiny screamed. The closest person, a human ranked of a specialist, grabbed the pony and covered him his body. It was all for naught, the heavy assault rifle tore into both of them, leaving a steaming mess in its wake.

"NO! RYAN! YOU TIN CANNED BASTARD!" Kaleen screamed as she dropped onto its back and began to claw at it. Everyone else began to open fire on it lower torso to avoid hitting Kaleen. The large machine swung its arms in attempt to throw the angry griffon, but she refused to let go. Hot tears streaming down her face as she clawed at its back. "YOU KILLED MY FIANCE YOU RUSTED PIECE OF CRAP!"

Finally, the machine manage to toss Kaleen off and attempt to shoot the distress griffon as it fell, but a pegasus caught her before flying off. Several pegasi activated their weapons, mounted gun extended from their armor and began to open fire, all while dodging the large machine own weapon fire. Kaleen freed herself from the pegasus, grabbed her rifle and began fire as well.

No matter what they did, the shields on the machine were too powerful, and it tore into cover with frightening ease, killing several soldiers as it was as simple as sweeping a broom. Even when she boosted everyone's weapons and shields, it almost didn't matter as they drain quickly due to the heavy slugs the machine used.

One by one, she watched them simply vanished into bloody mist. One by one, she saw the shocked faces as they died before her eyes. By the time the machine finally began to be riddled with bullet holes, the only ones left were Kaleen and Destiny. Destiny was controlling several dozen weapons with her magic, making them fire unrelenting on the murderous killing machine. Kaleen was avoiding shot after shot, returning it with equal force. Destiny was building her magic for a powerful lighting spell, she watched as the machine's own rifle began to glow as well. Her eyes narrowed as she channeled her magic as quickly as she can. The machine was finished before her, but before it can fire, a griffon cry caught its attention and saw the griffon flying straight at it, her assault rifle spewing round after round. It turned it weapon towards the griffon and fired a large rocket at her. Destiny watched in horror as the rocket tear Kaleen in half, her upper half flying in one direction and the lower half being carried away before it was detonated. Destiny screamed as she released the ball of concentrated lighting straight at the machine. The machine convulsed before it exploded into pieces. Destiny slumped to the ground, exhausted. Her ears perked up at coughing. She managed to get to her feet and rushed forward to see Kaleen laying on the ground, bleeding out on the floor.

"Its okay, I got you." Destiny said, her magic covering the lower section of Kaleen's body. Tears streamed down Kaleen's eyes.

"Ryan..." she cried.

"Kaleen..." Destiny spoke softly.

"He...he asked me to marry him...two weeks ago." Kaleen sniffed, "After this mission, we were going to go to Terra Nova to make it official...to let his parents know." Destiny patted Kaleen's head. "We were together for 4 years...and on our anniversary...he asked...and...and..."she started coughing.

She looked up at Destiny. "We known each other since we were hatchlings...our entire lives was spent around each other. He protected me...he stood up for me...he loved me so much...and now he is gone...please...please I want to see him...let me see him..." Destiny looked away.

"No...I can't let that happen." Destiny answered, Kaleen looked at her, pleading to her.

"If I live...I can't face his parents...Please...He is the only person... in my life that mattered...I will...I will..." Kaleen's eyes began to droop. Destiny looked away, her horn had stop glowing. "I won't make it...with out him..."Kaleen looked down to see the magic had stopped, she looked to the sky, her body felt lighter and lighter. "I'll see you soon...Ryan..." she said with her last breath. Destiny looked up to the sky, tear stinging her eyes, that was before a object descended through the clouds. A very familiar object that looked very familiar to Destiny as she was shown to it when she just received the Element of Magic.

"No..."

-Somewhere out in the country-

Several troops of the machines walked around the large underground cavern. They followed several fleeing groups into the cave, but they have yet to see any signs of them. A warning signal echoed out before it was cut out. All the machines turned towards the sound and opened fired, thousands of rounds flew through the cavern. After several seconds they stopped, they looked to one another before a large set of green eyes glow from the darkness and a rather chilling voice echoed out.

"Well...that was a nice argument...Let me give you my rebuttal." the voice growled before the entire cavern filled with white hot flames.

-Normandy-

"Commander!" Shepard's eyes snapped opened at the urgent tone. He looked out of the pod to see Kaiden standing anxiously outside. Shepard yawned as he stepped out of the sleeping pod.

"Whats going on Kaiden?"

"You're needed in the briefing room." Kaiden stated as he walked away, Shepard following behind him.

"Whats going on?" Shepard asked again, confusion all over his face.

"We have been getting reports from various colonies that they have been receiving refugees." Kaiden answered as they walked up the stairs to the main deck. Kaiden turned to Shepard with a serious look on his face. "From Eden Prime."

"What? What the hell happen?"

"Don't know. Anderson call for a meeting with us and the Spectres." Kaiden said, both walked several more feet before finally reaching the briefing room. Inside, Captain Anderson and Spectre Nihlus were standing in front of 5 holographic images of their respective leaders.

"Is this all the reports so far?" The Salarian Councilor asked.

"Yes, Councilor." Nihlus answered. "So far, we haven't received any feeds from the planet itself."

"Shit...I just received reports from my men from nearby colonies. That can't make the jumps to Eden Prime. The pads are destroyed." Commander General growled. "Anderson, your group will be on their own until re-enforcement comes. The fact that over 60 ships are not answering hails just made your job a whole lot harder. Hopefully they took out several of them out."

"Spectre Kyrik and Spectre Maerum." the Asari Councilor spoke up. "Assist them anyway possible. Understand?"

"Yes mam." both of them answer.

"At this moment, the beacon is a main objective." The Turian Councilor stated. "Find out who is attacking and why. If it linked to the beacon...then destroy it before it gets into enemy hands." Both of them nodded their heads.

"Captain Anderson..." Celestia look at him with deep sadness in her eyes. "Please save as many people as you can." Anderson nodded his head.

"And terminate the enemy with extreme prejudice." Commander General scowled before all of them signed off.

"My god..." Shepard said quietly "Eden Prime is under attack?"

"It gets worse Shepard." Anderson stated. "We believe Eden Prime is under attack by heavy ground forces. Eden Prime has very good defenses, but against an invasion force? We will have to take this-"

"Captain Anderson!"

"What is it Joker?"

"We got a transmission from Eden Prime sir!" Anderson and the other looked stunned "You better see this."

"Bring it up on screen."

The screen flash to life. It was not a pretty picture, in more ways than one. Grainy and out of focus, the sounds of gunfire and explosions blasted from the speakers. The video cleared up to see a single Unicorn releasing a blast of lighting. She turned her head towards the camera, her eyes wide before rushing up and pushing the person into cover. "Get down!"

"Destiny..." Shepard whispered, recognizing his friend on the screen.

Destiny looked back up, her horn glowing, an assault rifle floating up behind her, firing on full auto. The screen suddenly was filled with dirt as an explosion happen nearby where Destiny was standing.

"No! Destiny!" Shepard cried out! Kaiden placed his hands on Shepard's shoulders, holding him in place. The camera continue to play, the scene began to fill with various soldiers returning fire. A single Pegasus filled the screen.

"We are under attack! Taking heavy casualties! I repeat: Heavy Casualties! We can't-" An explosion was heard, close by from the way the pegasus was knock around "-eed Evac! They came out of no where! We need-" A sniper shot sounded out and the pegasus head jerked back before slumping to the ground. Then silence...the camera pan around to see several species of the System alliance look up in awe and terror. The camera turned around to see something so terrifyingly large coming from the cloudy sky. Bolts of red energy skimmed its surface and it seem to roar out like an angry Cuttlefish god. What came next stun everyone back into the fighting. A large jet of Whitish-Green flames raced across its leg and a very large and purple dragon with green spikes landed on its main body. It shrieked as the Dragon began to tear into it. While impressive in size, it still was dwarf by the monstrous ship by many times. Didn't seem to bother the dragon all that much though. The ship shrieked again and the camera was cut out.

"My god...Was that Spike?" Anderson softly said.

"Everything cuts off after that. No comm traffic at all. Everything is just dead."

"Reverse and hold at 38.5." Anderson ordered. The frozen image of the monstrous ship along with the dragon was shown. It was strange, to see something normally so big look tiny when compare to it.

"That is Spike." Anderson said.

"He just...dove right after it." Kaiden said quietly.

"Who is Spike?" Lonar asked.

"One of last of the ancient Dragons." Kaiden answered, "Former assistant to Twilight Sparkle and leader of all the Dragons."

Nihlus stared at the image, glaring at the large ship. "I don't know that model."

"Neither do we." Anderson said. "A new player decides to test his luck?"

"He just made a bad choice." Shepard growled, his fist covered in blue magic before small bolts of lighting covered the his hand.

"Status report, Joker."

"17 minutes out, Captain...Nothing but debris surrounding the planet sir..."

"Take us in Joker, fast and quiet...This mission just got a lot more complicated."

Nihlus spoke up. "A small strike team can move quickly to get to the beacon, with out drawing attention. I can move on ahead to relay any important information that comes up. Go in and secure the beacon. Destroy it if they have to." Anderson nodded his.

"Shepard! Kaiden! Grab your gear and meet us at the cargo hold." Shepard nodded his head, glaring at the screen again. Bolts of lighting raced across his body before turning and heading towards the exit, followed by Kaiden.

"Lonar." Nihlus spoke up.

"Yes Nihlus?"

"I am placing you under Shepard's command as of now." he said.

"What? Why!" Lonar asked, stun.

"I need you to help them secure the beacon or destroy it. I can handle being a scout on my own." Nihlus explained "This may be a good time for you to learn how the System Alliance operates."

"You want to do a trial by fire?" Loran jaw drop at what he said. "NOW?"

"Its one of the best ways to learn." Nihlus cheekily answered.

"NIHLUS!"

-Cargo hold-

"Somebody was doing some serious digging Captain." Joker called over the intercom, "All the buildings I can make out are either on fire or broken into." Anderson nodded his head.

"Thank you Joker." He turned to Shepard, Kaiden, and Lonar. "Your team is the muscle of this operation, Commander. Go in heavy and head straight for the dig site. Find that beacon."

"What about survivors Captain?" Kaiden questioned.

"Sadly, the beacon is more important." Anderson replied. "Its the only reason why these assholes would show up now. Helping survivors is a secondary objective. Remember, the beacon is your top priority."

"Approaching drop point 1." Joker called out. Everyone turn to see Nihlus walking towards the exit. Anderson handed him a small object.

"Nihlus, activate this the moment you are several feet above the ground. Its a zero drop module. It is used by our non-magical and non-flyers members." Nihlus nodded his head. Lonar walked up to him.

"You better be careful Nihlus..." Lonar looked at him with worry. "I should come with you."

"I'll move faster on my own." Nihlus shook his head before moving towards the exit and jumping out. Anderson grab the attention of the group.

"Nihlus will scout out ahead. He will feed you status reports throughout the mission." Anderson explained. "Otherwise, I want radio silence."

"We got his back Captain." Shepard nodded his head to Anderson.

"The mission is yours Commander. Good Luck."

The Normandy flew straight to the second drop point, remaining invisible to the naked eye and scanners.

"Approaching drop point 2." The Normandy hovered above the ground by at least 50 feet. Shepard, Kaiden and Lonar stepped to edge. They turn to one another and nodded their heads in unison.

"Move out." Shepard order. All three jumped out. How they landed was something else though.

Lonar's biotics flared, slowing her down enough to land gently on the ground.

Kaiden drop until he was 10 feet above the ground before his magic flared, halting his fall till he was just hovering a foot above the ground before releasing it.

Shepard on the other hand drop like a rock, bolts of lighting flared around him, making him look like lighting bolt. Sounded like one too when he slammed into the ground, throwing debris into the air. Shepard walked out of the dust cloud, his eyes glaring at the sky filled with smoke.

An ear splitting roar echoed out, causing all of them to cover their ears. Kaiden managed to give a grim smile.

"Looks like Spike is still giving to whatever the hell that is some trouble still."

Shepard shook his head and turn to the others. "Lets go."

"Roger Commander."

"Right behind you."

They began to move forward, checking their surroundings as they moved.

"Commander." Nihlus called over the radio.

"Go ahead."

"This place got hit hard." Nihlus said, "Hostiles everywhere."

"Roger that. Moving ahead." Shepard said. They had just moved passed several boulders before Lonar spoke up.

"What in the name of the Goddess are those?" she asked, pointing at several floating creatures. Kaiden answered her.

"Gas bags, native to Eden Prime. They're harmless." Lonar looked sheepish, her faced flushed a deep blue.

"Oh..."

They continued on, watching for hostiles. It was then they came across several bodies that were laying in the path they were taking that sent Shepard's anger skyrocketing. Shepard saw flashbacks to Mindoir, bodies of civilians, young and old racing across his eyes. Lonar took a knee next to a pair of bodies, a baby dragon that was covered by a elder human male.

"Goddess...they were shot in back...these people were fleeing." Lonar said quietly. "This one tried to save the young one..."

Shepard growled, this was becoming too much like Mindoir. "Come on, we can get them some peace when we secure the colony. Right now, we have to make sure these asswipes plans don't come to fruition."

"Yeah..." Lonar whispered. Kaiden walked up next to her.

"Shepard has seen this before," Kaiden whispered, making sure he wasn't broadcasting on the radio net, "Its too close to home for him..."

"Goddess...he seen something like this?"

"Worse. He lived it." Lonar eyes widen at this "He never really left...he sees it every night...the General makes sure that he remembers all the good things in his life before the attack, but sometimes..."

"Things bring it back and throw it in your face..." Lonar answered.

"Yeah..."

They came across an open path with rock outcroppings scatter across the road. Shepard and the others slowly made their way across. He sent Kaiden to secure the other side of the path when he heard a strange noise. 4 deep purple drones appeared and began to fire at Kaiden. Kaiden's eyes widen when his shields were rapidly drain, he threw himself behind an outcropping, coughing as he got a mouthful of dirt.

"KAIDEN!" Shepard shouted as he took cover. "YOU ALRIGHT?"

"FINE!" Kaiden shouted back over the sounds of gunfire. "DAMN THING NEARLY PUNCHED THROUGH MY SHIELDS!"

"LETS GET THESE ASSHOLES!" Shepard roared, swinging his assault rifle and began to throw rounds down range. Kaiden's Omni-tool glowed as he popped out of cover and threw out his arm. The cluster drones were suddenly engulfed in a sabotage pulse, making them wobble in the air. Lonar biotics flared as she threw a warp at one of the drones, causing one of the machines to spaz out and detonated itself, also taking out one of the other weaken drones. Shepard growled as he pulled his arm back, bolts of lighting covering his arm before he threw it out, a bolt of lighting leaving his arm and striking one of the remaining drones. The last made a desperate last stand, but was destroyed by the combine fire of the three soldiers. More drones were coming on to the scene, but the three continued it destructive spree. A mix of magic, tech, biotics, and good ole fashion bullets quickly put down any resistance they put up. Nihlus's voice came over the comms.

"I am at a nearby village...its look bad Shepard. I've got a lot of burn out buildings...A lot of bodies..." Shepard felt his stomach drop at the response, "I am going to check out the space port, I'll try to catch up to you at the dig site or the main camp."

"Be careful Nihlus." Lonar whispered.

"Always." he responded. The three moved on, Shepard literally cutting a swath of destruction through the drones in trying to find his friend and praying that she was still ok. They came to ridge of a small hill and saw their first signs of life. A unicorn wear light blue armor came running around the corner, her horn glowing brightly. Following her was two drones, firing full auto in their attempts to kill her, the rounds slammed into her shields, causing her to stumble and fall. She turn and released her spell, bolts of fire rushed out and slammed into the drones, destroying them. She wasn't safe yet as they all saw two machines placing a Diamond dog, a dockworker from his attire, on some sort of platform. The unicorn slowly got on all four, watching the machines activate the device. A spike punched through the Diamond dog, a whimper of a whine escaping before falling silent, raising the body into the air. The unicorn looked horrified, stumbling while she tried to run. The two machines turned to her, pulling out their assault rifles. She ran behind a boulder, taking cover and out of view. Her horn glowed, but she collapsed to the ground, exhausted beyond all reason. Shepard's eyes widen when he recognized her.

"DESTINY!" he shouted. The two machines pulled around the cover and raised their weapons at her. Shepard roared, his body exploded into action, bolts of lighting racing across it. He threw his rifle and pulled his sword before rushing forward, vanishing from sight after the first step. The machine were about to pull the trigger when something appeared before them. Shepard appeared in front of the machines, his sword raised overhead, his face contorted in pure malice at the machines. He began to tear them apart, to any outside viewer, they saw only after images of Shepard's attack. Lonar stood in shock, her eyes widen when she saw the machines jerk around for a moment before falling to pieces. Shepard tossed his sword aside and began to check on the fallen unicorn.

"John..." an exhausted Destiny coughed out, "How come I am not surprised to see you here."

"Well...you know me, love to be the center of attention." Shepard said quietly, he reached into one of his pouches and pulled out several vials. "Here, drink these." Lonar and Kaiden walked up, Kaiden walking up and handing Shepard his rifle, Lonar reached for his sword, admiring the blade itself. Destiny looked up and smiled at Kaiden.

"Hello Kaiden."

"Sergeant Major." Kaiden replied, causing Destiny to frown.

"Kaiden..." Destiny said in annoyed voice, causing him to wince

"Sorry Destiny." Kaiden apologized. She smiled at him before turning to Lonar.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met?"

"Nope," Lonar said, handing Shepard back his blade "Lonar Maerum, Trainee Spectre, at your service."

"Sergeant Major Destiny Sparkle, Guardian Operative." Destiny replied. Shepard touched Destiny's shoulders, gaining her attention.

"Des, what happen?" Destiny looked away, her eyes filled with sadness.

"I...I don't know. One moment I was at the dig site, watching the scientists and archeologists putting stuff away, the next, some giant machine falls out of the sky and the entire unit under my command was wiped out by it. I lost...everyone." Destiny said, her eyes brimming with tears. "I manage to link up with the rest of the company at the main camp, but we were over run...I am the only one left." Shepard hugged her, holding her tightly.

"Its okay Des, I'm here." Destiny shoulders shook, trying to with hold a painful sob. She pulled away and wiped her eyes. "I can break down later...what is next?"

"We are heading towards the beacon." Shepard answered, "Either to secure it or destroy it. Still have no idea what we are up against."

"Geth." Lonar answered, "At least I think it is Geth."

"Geth?" Kaiden turn his head. "The Geth haven't been seen outside the Veil in over 200 years. Why attack here? We haven't done anything against them. Unless they are after the beacon, there is no reason to attack us."

"Thats probably the reason right there." Shepard answered, standing up. "Des, can you get us to beacon's last known position?"

Destiny stood up, she grabbed two of the geth's rifles and had them float just above her. "Yeah," she nodded, "Last I heard, it was at the Main Camp."

"Lead the way." Shepard said. The group of now 4 moved forward down the path. As they passed the group of spikes, Destiny held her head slightly.

"Des?"

"Nothing, just a headache." Kaiden on the other hand was staring at the spikes and the dead attach to them.

"Shepard..."

"What is Kaiden?"

"Wasn't there reports of large purple spikes similar to these back on earth?" Shepard and Destiny froze, both turn to look at the devices.

"Yes...there was." Shepard answered.

"That...that doesn't make sense." Destiny said, her voiced filled with confusion. "Those spikes was thousands of years old. How did the geth get them?"

"I'm confused here." Lonar said. "What about these spikes?"

"On Earth, there was an entire field of these." Kaiden clarified, "I mean dozen of square miles of the stuff. The few test we done on them before we had them destroyed suggest that they were thousands of years old. Destiny is showing signs of headache was one of the signs that these things were around, or at least close by. All unicorns have a form of mental shielding, so it was suggested that whatever these things were, it did something to those around it. A form of mental intrusion or something. Commander General order them destroyed and black listed the planet when other Unicorns were showing the same sign of headaches at other locations. But... how did the geth get these?"

"Maybe they found them?" Lonar answered. Kaiden shook his head.

"And then just leave them here? No, these look newer. Meaning they created them."

"But geth are only 3 centuries old." Shepard stated. "Meaning they found a small batch from somewhere else and created more. This also means there more of those spikes are scatter galaxy."

Shepard looked at the devices "There has to be a reason why though, why make these things."

Lonar pointed at the hanging dead. "Maybe they see it as a form of mental warfare."

"Maybe..." Kaiden said.

"Come on, we are not going to solve this by standing around. Lets move." Shepard ordered. The group move on. They ran into several more geth troops, mowing them down. The reached the main dig site, and was disgusted at the amount of dead laying around.

"Sparkle, you weren't kidding when your group got wasted." Lonar said, seeing large amounts of blood and gore laid around. "My god...are those legs!"

"Yeah...as tall as a Minotaur and just as tough, if not tougher." Destiny said, "Come on, the camp is this way."

"Shepard, its Nihlus." the radio crackled to life.

"Go ahead, Nihlus."

"I am at the spaceport. Looks like this place didn't get away either. I am going wait for you here."

"Roger that Nihlus. I found my partner, she is the only survivor so far."

"That some good news at least." Nihlus said, "I been seeing a sea of dead bodies the moment I...Shepard, I am going to cut this short."

"Nihlus?" Lonar questioned the abrupt ending.

"Nihlus out."

"Nihlus!" Lonar pouted.

"Come on. Lets just get to the camp. There maybe more survivors if we hurry." Shepard said. They walked up the small path, Destiny grimacing as her headache grew.

"More spikes." She muttered. "The camp was hit pretty hard, so they may have brought more of those bloody devices." Shepard nodded his head.

"Its a good place for an ambush then." Kaiden whispered, "Keep your guard up."

As they entered, Destiny headache grew worse. She heard whispering, but was unable to make out what was being said, Shepard looked at her with concern. They crossed into the camp area and saw at least a dozen spikes in the area. Each one had dead body on it, whether it be pony, griffon, dog, or human. These bodies looked different though, almost...machine like. Suddenly they began to twitch and moan.

"Oh god," Kaiden moaned, as he saw the spikes lowered their cargo. "They're still alive." the group watched as the bodies pulled themselves from the spikes, turned towards the group and as one, screamed.

"AAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!" All 12 of the former soldiers and civilians rushed at them like the living dead!

"OPEN FIRE!" Shepard roared. Three of them raised their weapons and began to fill them with bullets. Destiny, on the other hand sat down, completely traumatized by what she saw. She even recognized several of them, screaming for her blood as they rushed at them.

"Shit." Shepard cursed as he saw Destiny's state. "Destiny! Come on girl! Get it together." he shouted, though he knew it was all for naught. It was too much for her, her mind simply shut down from too many losses and horrors to take.

Shepard grabbed his sword and lobbed off the head of one that got too close, apparently building up energy to perform some sort of attack. Kaiden sent out a Decoy Construct, the nearest undead creature simply swiped at it before it had a chance to release a spell. That was fine for Kaiden, as the the drone exploded, taking several of the creature with it. Lonar sent out a singularity, capturing the rest and the group open fired, killing off the helpless undead.

Finally, silence fell in the area. Kaiden rushed to the side of the building and messily empty his stomach. Lonar grimaced, staring at the creatures that laid there. Shepard was quietly consoling Destiny, who was shaking like a leaf, hot tears streaming from her face.

"God..." Kaiden was filled with dread, "There was thousands of those things on Earth." Lonar winced at that. "That is what they do? Who in their right mind would create such a thing?"

"A tactical and sadistic genius." Shepard answered. "Damn these spikes!"

"Dragon teeth." Destiny said quietly. Shepard looked at Destiny.

"What?"

"Dragon teeth." She said again, looking at Shepard in the eyes. "Sow onto the ground with these teeth and warriors will rise to do thy bidding."

"Old Earth Mythology, Jason and the Argonauts. " Kaiden said, "Horrifyingly accurate description."

"These things are no longer sentient beings." Lonar said, carrying a skull of a human. "Nothing inside their heads. Literally, its empty." she said, showing them the lack of a brain, only small machine parts.

"Husks." Destiny said again.

"Shells of themselves." Kaiden clarified. "These things are not alive...Not anymore."

Destiny stood up, her legs shaking as she did. "Des..." Shepard whispered.

"I... I need to move. Its not safe here." a noise rang out, causing everyone to bring there weapons up.

"What was that." Lonar whispered.

"Came from that prefab over there." Kaiden answered. All four of them silently made their way to it.

"The door's security lock is engaged." Lonar whispered. Shepard turned to Kaiden, jerking his head towards the door. Kaiden nodded and silently made his way to it and started to hack it. A few seconds later the door opened and they rushed in.

"Aah!" a woman cried out, closing her eyes and covering her face, causing everyone to stop. The woman opened her eyes and saw them. "Oh thank god, you're Alliance!" Lonar coughed, but was ignored by the woman.

"Hurry...close the door...before they come back." a loud whisper echoed out.

"Doctor Warren, Doctor Manuel. You two are ok." Destiny said, relieved that some made it through this ordeal.

"Yes, the soldiers told us to hide in the shed. Told us to be quiet and they locked the door..." she looked away, "They gave their lives to keep us safe."

"No one is saved!" Cried Manuel, "The Golden Age of Equestrians has ended...Soon, only ruin and corpses will remain."

Shepard turn his head and looked at Manuel, "Whats up with him."

"He touched the device and gone a bit loopy." Destiny answered, "Coming off a bit mad there Manuel."

"Mad!" he cried "Is it mad to see the future?" Lonar coughed a bit, sounding a bit suspiciously like a yes, "To see destruction rushing towards us! To understand that there is no escape and no hope!"

Doctor Warren simply shook her head at this, "No...I am not mad...I am the only sane one left!" he declared.

"I gave him a double dose of meds to calm him down." Doctor Warren said. Shepard nodded his head, but gave a flick of his finger to Destiny, who nodded her head at the signal.

"Say goodnight Manuel" Shepard said, smiling innocently at the man.

"You cannot silence my voice..." Manuel said, but a yawn escaped his mouth, his eyes slowly closing. "My voice...*yawns* must...be...hea..." Manuel drop to the ground, snoring. Doctor Warren raised an eyebrow, pulling out a medicine bottle and reading the description.

"Strange...Doesn't say anything about drowsiness or exhaustion."

"That was me, Doctor Warren." Destiny said, "It will be better if he just sleep, keeps him safer that way."

"Don't you think that was a bit extreme Commander." Kaiden said, but Shepard only shrugged

"Better that punching his lights out." Kaiden only rolled his eyes, while Lonar giggled a bit.

"Sorry Doctor Warren." Shepard apologized. "Better to keep him off his feet than running around screaming at the top of his lungs about the end of days."

"I suppose you are right." Doctor Warren agreed, watching as Destiny levitated Manuel to a bunk. "By the time he wakes up, the meds would of kicked in already."

"Shepard," Lonar spoke up, "The beacon." Shepard nodded his head.

"Where is beacon now?"

"It was heading towards the space port last I saw it." Shepard nodded his head.

"Thank you. Des, lead us to space port." Shepard ordered, Destiny nodded and lead them outside. Doctor Warren leaned out the door.

"Good luck to all of you!" she called out before closing the door and locking it. The group of 4 began to trek on the path when a loud gunshot rang out. Lonar frown at the noise.

"What the hell was that?" Kaiden asked

"Sounded like kinda a sniper." Destiny said.

"No...not that loud. High powered pistol." Lonar said, "Heavily mod from the sound of it."

"We will figure out when we run into it." Shepard said, then shook his head "I seem to be saying that a lot lately."

"Too many questions with not a lot of answers to, Shepard." Kaiden simply stated. Sadly, Shepard could only agree to it.

They turn a corner and stood in shock, except Destiny who already seen the object. They watched as the massive ship began to fly off into the sky. However, it was looking in worse shape than when it landed. Large rents, gashes, and fires dotted the ship surface.

"What is that..." Kaiden whispered

"Thats...a ship." Lonar said in awe "Look at it...its huge!" Suddenly a large screeching sound emitted from it, something exploded from the ship itself, causing it to shudder. A large dragon appeared from the explosion, tumbling out as the ship made its way to safety of the stars.

Kaiden laughed as he saw the dragon attempt to pursue it, but was left in the dust. Still, the dragon roared out, emitting whitish-Green flames as it did. "Well, looks like the Dragons still have their esteem leader." Shepard smiled and nodded his head.

"The Queen, Princess, and Commander General will be pleased, that is for certain." Shepard said, "Come on, if that thing is leaving, then there is a good chance these geth are bugging out too. We need to make sure they didn't take the beacon."

"Roger." they said. The moment they cross into the spaceport, they came under fire. More husks and geth came out, rushing to stop them. Kaiden let loose with sabotage pulses and decoy constructs. Destiny improved their weapons and shields, along with tossing a few bolts of magic. Lonar threw biotics around like it was going out of style. Shepard let loose a few rounds along with a few armor fractures spells. The space port fell silent once all the enemies were taken care off.

"Okay, let clear the rest of the space port." Shepard order. They walked up to a surviving prefab and checked for survivors. Several Diamond dogs appeared when they opened the door, holding bloody weapons and shaking badly. After several minutes of calming them down, the Diamond Dogs informed them that the beacon was suppose to be at the dock nearby.

"How did you get those weapons?" Kaiden asked, staring at the state of them.

"We...we searched after all the machines left..." the leader said, trembling. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do a bad thing!"

"Bad thing?" Lonar asked

"We...we took them from the dead and dying." a smaller Diamond dog whimpered. "We tried to save those who were still alive, but they just gave us their weapons and told us to defend ourselves. To hide!"

"Its okay." Shepard said, "Were they human?" The leader nodded his head. "They wanted you to stay alive. There is nothing to be ashamed of a dying soldier's wish." The leader nodded, but was still shaking badly.

"We lost one of the workers when the machines came back." he said, "Somewhere nearby, at the docks. A unicorn pony."

"Whats their name?"

"Fancypants." Destiny blinked at the name, while Lonar laughed.

"Who names their kid Fancypants." Lonar laughed.

"Its their last name, and if he is who I think he is, then he is the heir to the Fancypants trade empire." Destiny answered, "They are a very rich family."

"If he is so rich, why is he working as a grunt." Lonar asked.

"Through out their family history," Kaiden started "Every Fancypants is require to work as an lower employee. So they can understand how everything works from the bottom and work their way up. They have to earn it too. Its the Fancypants way."

"Wow. Thats different."

"Near the docks, right?" Shepard asked, the leader nodded his head. "Alright we will see if we can find him, stay safe."

"Please...he...he is a good pony. Will make his father proud." the leader said before ducking back into the prefab along with the others.

"Alright people lets move." Shepard ordered. The made their way to the dock, as they walked up the ramp, Lonar's eyes widen and she rushed past Shepard.

"Nihlus!" she cried as she rushed up to the fallen Spectre. "No!"

"Shit." Shepard muttered as he saw the spectre laying in a pool of his own blood.

"I take it this is Nihlus." Whispered Destiny, Shepard and Kaiden nodded their heads.

"He is the Senior Spectre," Kaiden whispered, "He was with us on the Normand-*clank*"

Lonar growled as her biotics flared and threw them in the direction of the noise, causing many containers to fly as well. A single container stop in mid flight and was moved to the side, revealing a white unicron with blue mane.

"Wait! Don't shoot! I am one of you!" the unicorn said. Destiny eyes widen as she recognized the pony.

"Fancypants!" Destiny said. Lonar turned towards the group and saw them recognizing the pony, so she stood down.

"Sorry." She murmured.

"Please, call me Ware." Lonar thought there was a joke somewhere in there, but was too upset to care.

"Ware." Shepard spoke up, "You alright? Your friends are worried about." Ware gave a grim smile.

"I know they are. They were busy trying to hide when I decided to lead those machines on wild goose chase." a frown graced his face, "But I got stuck here, I was able to hide before they found me...then I saw that murder walk by."

"Murder!" Lonar asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I saw a turian wearing some sort of odd armor, with tubes sticking in and out of it, walking around here and those machines just ignored him as they walked by. I was debating about showing myself when another turian walked up. Called him Ceran or Saren."

"Saren!" Lonar whispered, "What is he doing here? Wait, are you calling Saren a murder?"

"I don't know what else to call someone when they pull a gun and shoot someone in the back of the head...or are they called an executioner?" Ware said, looking to thoughtful. Lanor stood stock still, dumbfounded beyond belief.

She shook her head. "No that can't be Saren... I mean...sure he is a little...um...rough. But it can't be Saren!"

Ware simple shrugged his shoulders. "If you say so."

"Where is the beacon located at?" Shepard asked.

"Its at the other end of the Space port, just shipped it over there not even two minutes before the attack started. Take the cargo train to get there." Ware said, as the group turn to leave. "It is also where that other turian went to. If you hurry you might catch up to him."

Shepard nodded his, "Listen, several Diamond Dogs are hiding out in the prefab over there." Pointing at the shed, "They are worried about you." Ware smiled at this.

"I know they are. They are good friends of mine. Thank you Commander. Oh and Miss?" Lonar turned her head when she realized she was being spoken too. "I will take care of the body until Alliance arrives." Lonar nodded her head at Ware.

"Thank you." she whispered. The group left to the train yard and ran straight into more geth. The group continue to fight through them, managing to get on board.

"Damn it!" Destiny cursed.

"What is Des?" Shepard said, taking cover.

"Another one of those big geth are coming down the line!" Shepard popped out of cover, his eyes widening at the size of it when he saw.

"Shit!" he saw the big white one along with 3 other 'little' big ones. "And he brought some of his little brothers too."

"John! I barely survived the big white one when I had half of a platoon with me!" Destiny shouted, "Now there is four of those killing machines."

"Damnit!" as the all of Geth open fired, two of them throwing rockets at them. "Fall back! We are outgu-*RAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHH*" Shepard was cut off when a large roar echoed out, the sounds of wings was heard before the sun was blotted out of the sky. The geth looked up, and attempted to fire on the dragon that showed up.

"Enough of that." a cultural voice said calmly, grabbing all four in his claws before crushing them easily. Lonar looked up at the large dragon that landed on the edge of the hill, intelligent green eyes focusing on the small group. "Ah! I knew I smelled the Element of Magic when I woke up from my nap. Hello Destiny." Spike said, throwing the bodies of the geth causally behind him.

"Hi Spike!" Destiny called out.

"Oh, and John and Kaiden are here as well." The large dragon drew his head closer. "Hello boys." Both Shepard and Kaiden waved at the ancient dragon.

His eyes drew on Lonar, frowning as he took her in. "I'm sorry dear, I don't believe we met."

"N-n-n-o Sir!" Lonar stammered out. "My name is Lonar Maerum, Trainee Spectre."

"Ah, a Spectre no less." Spike said. "What are you doing here? And why are we being invaded...again." he growled at the end of the sentence. Shepard filled him while the walked towards front of the train.

"I see." Spike said, taking in all the information given to him. "Well, I doubt that ship I just gutted will be use to anyone anytime soon. Sadly, I got my own injuries to look after, so I can not help you all that much, but I will help when I can around the nearby areas. Goodbye, and good luck. Give my greeting to Anderson and the others." The dragon gave a tired groan before taking flight, throwing a breath of fire at a location they could not see as he passed.

"Wow..." Lonar whispered.

"Yeah, thats the Elder Spike." Kaiden said. Shepard manipulated the controls, forcing the train to move forward. "Hey, Lonar."

"Yes Lieutenant?"

"Why did you seem so sure that this Saren guy couldn't of killed Nihlus?"

"Cause Nihlus was trained by him." Lonar said, "Nihlus use to tell me stories of how he and Saren worked together when he was first elected as a spectre. He didn't really approve of Saren's tactics, but Saren would listen to his ideas and give him a straight answer if he saw that it could be done." Lonar fell silent, her thoughts on a single person they left at the port.

"Are you...okay about Nihlus?" Destiny asked. Lonar looked away from them, hugging herself as she did.

"Nihlus put my name for Spectre material after I helped him on Illuim when I was caught up in a drug and slave trading group that I was investigating. I stumbled across them when I was checking out a warehouse. Nihlus was inside and was surrounded, so I rushed in to help and I found myself in the fight for my life and Nihlus's." She smiled as she thought about the memory. "That was about a solar year ago. I remember about two weeks later, after everything cleared up, Nihlus showed up at my door with some Thessia flowers and some of those Dark Chocolates you Equestrians make. He also had a form for me to fill out... to be a Spectre." Tears began to fall from her eyes. "He said I had the right stuff for the job. And he told me he brought the flowers and the candy to butter me up."

"I'm sorry." Shepard said softly, listening in on her tale. Lonar wiped her eyes, shaking her head.

"No...its fine. I just...I just wish I had more time with him." She looked up at the moving sky, seeing the stars beginning to shine through the evening sky. The train to began to slow down, coming to a stop at the next port. All 4 got off the train and brought out their weapons to bear.

"What is that beeping sound?" Lonar asked. All turn their heads and saw what could only be a bomb. It didn't help that there was a nuclear symbol stamp on the side as well.

"Oh god damn it!" Shepard shouted. "Kaiden! Diffuse it."

"Uh...Shepard...I don't think..." Kaiden was roughly shoved towards the bomb.

"You don't have much of a choice, Lieutenant! Get to it!" Destiny shouted.

"GETH!" Lonar said, throwing a singularity at the group. Shepard looked at the sky, almost pleading at the heavens.

"Anything else you want to throw at me!" Shepard cried out, shooting at the groups of geth that were attempting to kill them.

"Shepard!" Kaiden called out. "There are three more bombs nearby!" Lonar and Destiny glared daggers at Shepard after Kaiden said this.

"Me and my big mouth." Shepard muttered under his breath. "It was a rhetorical question!"

Shepard, Lonar, and Destiny took the fight to the geth, insuring that Kaiden was protected from the geth's guns. Kaiden, on the other hand, was sweating up a storm. He never diffused a bomb before, especially not a nuclear one. But he did his best, diffusing 3 of the bombs with some quick thinking and luck. It was the last bomb that gave him trouble.

"What is taking so long!" Lonar shouted, a few more geth and husks were in the next area, attempting to stop the 4 from diffusing the last bomb.

"The damn thing is damage. One of you must of shot it!" Kaiden gritted his teeth. "All the wires are jacked up and charred and I can't figure out which one of them will diffuse the bomb."

"How much time we got?" Shepard asked, placing a bullet in the light of one of the geth.

"40 seconds."

"Hurry up then." Shepard growled. "I swear to god, Kaiden, if you don't diffuse that bomb. I am going to kick your ass in the after life!"

"I'm trying!"

-30-

"Kaiden!" Destiny lifted one of the husks, and tossed it at the small mob rushing the small walkway, knocking them over.

"Give me a moment!"

-20-

"Stop shooting at me, you plated bastard!" Lonar growled, her left arm glowed, capturing the geth, before crushing it. "Lieutenant?"

"STOP SHOUTING ME!"

-10-

"Kaiden?"

-9-

"What is taking so long!"

-8-

"I...I..."

-7-

"I can't diffuse it!"

-6-

"Oh for crying out loud!"

-5-

"Move!"

-4-

"Shepard what are you doing!"

-3-

"Saving us."

-2-

"BY SHOOTING IT!"

-1-

*BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, BLAM*

Everyone stood frozen where they were. Shepard stood over the bomb, his pistol slightly smoking and the bomb's access panel was slightly sparking. Kaiden had tossed himself to the ground, his hands over his head. Destiny had throw up a powerful shield that glowed a deep purple, her eyes closed tightly. Lonar had cross her arms over her face, waiting for the end. Slowly, Shepard took a step back, a smile on his face.

"See! You can solve some problems by sho-" The bomb sparked violently, throwing it everywhere. "HIT THE DECK!" Shepard shouted throwing himself onto Destiny, knocking her to the ground.

"GAH!" Destiny cried out. "John get off!"

"WE'RE DOOMED! DOOOOOO-" Destiny slapped Shepard across his face with her hoof, knocking him for a loop. Kaiden slowly got up and made his way to the bomb. His omni-tool glowing as he read the scans. Kaiden gave a sigh of relief.

"You got lucky, Shepard." Kaiden grin, "The last bomb is diffused." Shepard gave a weak chuckle, scratching the back of his head slightly.

"I knew that."

"Right..." Destiny said. The group slowly made their way down to the docking area. There, sitting innocently all by itself, was the beacon. Shepard gave a sigh of relief when he saw it, though by the looks of it, it was an active beacon. He gave a tired smile and began to call for the Normandy.

"Normandy, the beacon is secured. Requesting immediate evac at our location."

"This...this is amazing." Lonar said softly, "An actual working prothean technology. I...I never seen anything like this before."

Destiny frown, noticing the activated beacon. "That is so strange." she said.

"What do you mean, Destiny?" Kaiden asked

"It wasn't doing anything when the scientists and archeologists dug it up." she said, she took a step closer, but then backed away from it. "Come on Kaiden, lets check out the area, just to be safe."

"You got it, Destiny." Kaiden said. Lonar watched the two walk away from the beacon. She started to get closer to it.

"So...who activated you...HUH!"

Shepard received Anderson's transmission. "Roger, Normandy. Standing by for pick up." Shepard turn to see Kaiden walking up to him. Kaiden open his mouth to tell Shepard about securing the area when Shepard looked over his shoulder, his eyes wide in surprise before rushing past him.

Lonar felt herself being drawn to the beacon, a building pressure on her skull the closer she got. She felt herself beginning to float when two strong arms grabbed her by the waist and began to pull her back. She was then violently thrown away from the beacon. She looked up in shock as she saw Shepard groaning, holding his head and shaking badly. Destiny turn her head just in time to see Shepard lifted off the ground.

"JOHN!" her horn glowed and cover Shepard, attempting to pull him out. But it felt like she was trying to pull a mountain. Lonar tried to get up and get him, but Kaiden held her back.

"No! Don't try to touch him. Its too dangerous!"

In Shepard's mind, overwhelming information rushed through his skull. Flashes of images and noise racing around in his mind. He saw people being torn apart, he saw some sort of machine covered in blood, and finally he saw what look like a being that was speared and had tubes growing out of it mouth. The last thing Shepard saw was the beacon glowing a bright green, before exploding in his face. Darkness over came him, and he heard his name being called before blissful unconscious over took him.

End of Eden Prime

Start of The Council and Spectre

WELCOME TO THE CODEX PERSONAL FILES. WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOOK UP?

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CODEX SEARCH ENTRY: Lonar Maerum

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Codex Personal Entry File: Lonar Maerum

Please note that several files are classified

Name: Lonar Maerum

Race: Asari

Age: 158

Birthplace: Thessia

Affiliation: Citadel Council

Occupation: Spectre/ Former Detective of the Illuim Police force

Rank: Spectre

Notes: Lonar is a recent addition to the Spectre task force, but shows large promise in the future. She was chosen by Spectre Nihlus Kryik due to her action on Illuim and her timely assistance to Spectre Nihlus. Their capture of [Classified] led to several caches on [Classified], which broke down alliances between the [Classified] and the [Classified]

Battle Tactics: Lonar uses biotic frequently, like all asari do. But she does prefer to use weapons more often that not. She can even modify Weapon mods and even create a few with proper resources. Her skills are considered top notched and she is of very keen mind and can form plans on the fly. She does however, work better in groups due to her time in the Illuim Police force.

Skills:

High accuracy with rifles

Singularity

Warp

Throw

Crush- Created by her on own time

Advance Hacking skills

Weapon Mod Enhancements upgrades.

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NEW SEARCH?

CODEX SEARCH ENTRY: Kaiden Alenko

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Codex Personal Entry File: Kaiden Alenko

Name: Kaiden Alenko

Race: Human

Birthplace: Canterlot, Equestria

Age: 30

Affiliation: System Alliance

Occupation: N-5 Special Operative

Rank: Lieutenant

Notes: Kaiden Alenko is a N-5 graduate. Meaning he is no push over. He is a TechnoMage classification. He has been under several commands, but only seen few combat scenarios. He is an untested soldier that holds a lot potential.

Battle Tactics: Kaiden uses his Decoy Constructs whenever he can. He has modify his to blow up when destroyed, making it very deadly to those close by. He also has training in telekinesis and wind magic, a very hard form of magic to use. Kaiden can use all of his abilities to a good measure, and can be good back up technician. However, he does cave under pressure, though it has to be in extreme circumstances for this to happen.

Skills:

High accuracy in Rifles and Pistols

Sabotage Pulse

Decoy Constructs

Telekinesis

Power Drain

Overshield Armor

Wind magic

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NEW SEARCH?

CODEX SEARCH ENTRY: Destiny Sparkle

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Codex Personal Entry File: Destiny Sparkle

Name: Destiny Sparkle

Race: Pony (Unicorn)

Birthplace: Canterlot, Equestria

Age: 28

Affiliation: System Alliance

Occupation: N-7 Guardian Operative

Rank: Sergeant Major

Notes: Destiny Sparkle is a Guardian Operative. A mage classification of unparalleled skills, she is one of the shining stars of the System Alliance. Destiny has pushed herself very far in the art of magic and still continues to grow. She has seen dozen of combat scenarios with high praises in all of them for her quick thinking and planning.

Battle Tactics: Destiny's use of the Ally Enhancements spells are well known. They turn the tide of any battle. She is also a powerful Element magic user, all of her spells are nearly double the effectiveness of their uses. She also use her magic to control several weapons at the same time, usually seen carrying an assault rifle and a shotgun. Making her deadly at either long range or short range. The draw back is that she can only aim so much from an over the shoulder position, so her aim is sub par. She also use a power boost call the Enhanced Form, which boosts all of her abilites, skills, and magic. Too much use of this form can wear or even knock her out.

Skills:

Double Guns (Low accuracy)

Ally Enhancements

Elemental Magic

Telekinesis

Force Push

Enhance Form

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NEW SEARCH?

CODEX SEARCH ENTRY: John Shepard

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Codex Personal Entry File: John Shepard

Name: John Shepard

Race: Human

Birthplace: Farplane, Mindoir

Age: 29

Affiliation: System Alliance

Occupation: N-7 Guardian Operative

Rank: Commander

Notes: John Shepard is a Guardian Operative. Shepard can not really be classified due to his large skill areas that he posses. Although he prefers to let his guns talk for him in a battle, if not that, his sword will do just fine as well. Shepard had been tested in battle many times and is considered a top notch soldier. He is well known for his bravery and sacrifices in battle, always heading into battle and pulling a win.

Battle Tactics: Shepard likes guns, the main being his assault rifle and his sniper rifle. If he has to get close, he uses his sword instead of shotgun. When at close to mid range, he will use Armor fracture spells often and go into Rage mode afterwords. At Mid to far range, he will use the Eagle Eye boost along with Weapon Boost in tandem. He is also very skilled in extreme close range combat and will use Imbued Element with the Dark Shade spell. Shepard is a true Jack of trades in combat scenarios, and very dangerous. He also use a power boost call the Enhanced Form, which boosts all of his already impressive abilities, skills, and magic even further. Too much use of this form can wear or even knock him out.

Skills:

High Accuracy with Sniper Rifles and Assault Rifles

Sword Play (High skills, close range only)

Imbued Element

Rage

Weapon Boost

Eagle Eye

Armor Fracture

Dark Shade

Enhance Form

Done. Alright. What you think? Much better writing style than compare to System Alliance. Alright, next on the list is the Council, lets see what they have to say about the mission.

Please Review!