The sounds of screaming and raging fires fill the afternoon skies with the smell of burning wood and fur, ponies running left and right trying to get away from the coming doom as they run into their old homes and hiding under anything that they think that will protect them from evil. Black crystals rising from the ground as it saps the life from anything nearby corrupting the very soil till it withers and dies from the taint.

Tall thin figures shuffling down the streets of the city, their corroded, bullet-ridden armor partially reflecting in the dull light of smoke covered skies, the faces of the figures are just like the armor they are wearing, corroded and destroyed, their pitch black eyes blankly staring forward as they fire at whatever moves or makes a sound, their shots going wide as ponies run and cower in terror and fear.

As I watched the city burn and crumble as the darkness began it's cursed siege I only watch it unfold until the tiny voice in my head along with single pleading look from an exhausted princess was all it took for me to put on my helmet and grab my rifle before walking to the large doors leading out of the throne room to stop the siege.

Turning my head to the ponies in the room and the princess I can only nod at them before turning on the visor and obscuring my face to their views as I speak one last time to them.

"Last one out, get the lights."

Earlier That Day

"So you are telling me Twilight, we need to raise these ponies spirits..."

"Uh huh."

"By throwing a large ass carnival of sorts that consists of food and games and other fun stuff..."

"Yea."

"And by doing all this not only these crystal ponies will be happy but it will also do some sort of crazy pony magic that will banish King Sombra back to wherever the hell he came from and save the Crystal Empire?"

"In a nutshell, pretty much yes and you can help us!"

"When have I ever agreed to such thing?"

"You did when you were told to help us do anything it takes to save the Empire, oh and that Princess Celestia said that if you don't help us that she will have a surprise waiting for you back home."

"Oh dear god she found my por-...I mean my dru-.... I mean....fine I'll help you...." I sagged as I got off my temporary bed, my armor resting on half a ponyquin and my helmet resting on a small hat rack, my weapons litter the floor except for my pistol which remains strapped to my right thigh encase of an emergency or in the event I need to shoot something that is annoying.

As we both walked out to the halls of the crystal palace I realized that their was hardly any guards present along with the servants, my guess Sombra made his own during his reign. Taking glances around I saw that everything was shiny, and by shiny I mean it was so reflective that you can see yourself, the wall behind you reflecting off the wall you were facing so it would create an infinite reflection, it was oddly relaxing.

Walking down the corridors was near deathly quiet and it was uneventful until we were followed out by the rest of our friends, except that Katherine stayed in my head so no one notices that I brought a ghost that used to love drinking probably her weight in booze...she probably could if she wanted to. As soon as we take out first step out of the palace I noticed how festive the place looked already, stalls were open, food was cooking or already on display, all sorts of games were up and running and in the corner of my right eye, a jousting area was set up with armor and lances.

"Okay I take that back, I am helping you girls with this...and...and is that pie I smell?" I said while looking towards a stall that was absolutely filled with pies, the sweet tasty aroma coming off that stall was enough to send my body on a 'Search-and-Consume' mission which I accepted without a moments pause.

There are a few things in life that I can truly appreciate and even fewer of those things now exist in this world and those things are pies, jokes, enemies, cheese wheels, wine bottles, healthy doses of insanity, drinking friends, affection and above all else, someone to fall head over heels for but sadly that is a shot so long that even the most professional of snipers will have trouble acquiring and firing at. Just as my thoughts started to strangely drift over to the love section of my head I was blindsided by a pie to the face by none other than Pinkie Pie, the notorious prankster and breaker of the laws of physics. Licking and wiping my face clean before looking to where the pink devil has galloped off to in hopes of evading capture by me but since this strange festival has put me into a happy mood for once in a long ass span of time I decided against chasing the demon from hell and returned to my hunt of the pie stand which gladly ended shortly because I was in front of it.

"Hello delicious pies, I hope you have been waiting for me cause I am so hungry and can devour you all and still have room for one more. Now which one of you shall I try first....hmmm....pecan pie....blueberry pie....whipped cream pie....cherry pi- wait....whipped cream...why is that-" I was cut off when the pie shot right at my face but my reflexes kicked in to avoid that a second time but sadly Twilight was behind me about to say something when it flew right to her face and with a loud splat as it exploded all over her face.

I just stared at her for a few seconds and before I even have a chance to laugh her horn started to glow and that was my que to not laugh as the whipped cream was wiped off and placed into a nearby trash can. Waiting for her to clean up I quickly snag myself a free pumpkin pie slice and with the greatest of smiles I can procure at such an hour I make a small moan of satisfaction as I rapidly consume the pie piece before moving onto another and another and seven slices later left the stand in a much brighter mood with Twilight trailing after me, giving me a quizzical look wondering how I can manage to pack away a whole pie without feeling sick or in my case, bloated and slow.

"Tons of practice, when you live on the streets for your entire youth you pick up things relatively easily, eating, stealing, lying, pick pocketing and lock picking are a few things I can tell you, the other things I rather not say in public. And besides Twilight, it was just one pie and that wouldn't have put a dent into my muscularly trim body, best it would have done was give me an excuse to start exercising again to burn off that one pie. If I had eaten three to five pies than I would have forced my ass to go on a diet....so food was good, what was next on your list of things to raise the spirits of these ponies?" I said while licking my fingers clean of pumpkin and cherry residue on my finger tips as we walked down the streets going over to a different section of the city.

Taking a look around I noticed that these so called 'crystal' ponies were steering clear from me as if I was royalty or the plague, either one was good in my books cause I have no time in dealing with ponies coming up to ask me what the hell I am and that to not eat them, pony meat is fucking nasty, tried it once at a eatery on Earth. I wanted to burn that building down to the ground but sadly I was still a recruit in the Alliance and I didn't want to get kicked out to early for arson.

Going around a few buildings we ended up at a large arena like area of sorts, filled with stalls filled with different games and assorted events, a jousting area to the far right, what I think is the hoop throwing game to the left, frisbee tossing, puzzles and other things that do not grab my attention but the jousting area did.

Jogging over to it and picking up the gear required to play it, the armor it appeared to look almost like the roman armor worn by their soldiers and the lance that was to be used seems to be attached to the left side of the chestplate . The helmet and armor alone looked like royal guard armor just lightened and reinforced to prevent the lance from caving in the armor and maiming or killing the occupant.

"Not sure how you ponies manage to put things on but this I can guess is that this is a full on physical game....I can probably do this...." thinking on it a bit and looking around I can tell that this will require me to be moving alot and exerting myself for the sake of the jousting but it will be so worth it when I slam into the unsuspecting pony that thinks that they can beat me in brute strength.

About three hours into the day everything is in full swing, or more apparently slow-as-a-fucking-turtle swing. These crystal ponies all have their heads down, barely touching the ground as they slowly shuffle from place to place, all sad and gloomy.

"I'd find more cheer in a graveyard." I said to Pinkie Pie who strangely understood it and giggled at it.

"Silly Rorry, graveyards aren't full of cheers but tears!" I rolled my eyes before explaining it to her.

"Pinkie, if you have seen the graveyard I was in than you would understand but sadly you didn't see it and you weren't there. It was a glorious shooting gallery and I won so many prizes that day. So many trophies, lamps, codpieces, cups and bowls....hmm....now that I remember it was kinda sad now that I think about it....eh better to forget about certain things and focus on- is that a knife throwing game? How the hell do you ponies even manage to grip those things and throw it?" I stared confusedly as I watched one of the few stallions I have seen in this city managed to grab a knife in his hoof and very carefully threw it at the wooden board that was like ten feet away.

Looking right at Twilight and trying my best to give her my sad child face, wanting to start having fun with the violent and fun games and as she gave the smallest of nods I pumped my fist into the air and sprinted off in some random direction.

"WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!"

As I ran off around corners, stalls and buildings the sounds of hooves steadily catching up behind me meant that I was still being followed, most likely to make sure I don't accidentally harm any civilian. Ignoring the trailing pony I ran to the first game that caught my attention and it was a pony version of the strong arm game with matching tiny mallet and metal bar.

'Huh...pony sized mallet....I thought they needed fingers to work a pole.'

'Haha nice one.'

'Thanks.'

Going over to the game I stood near the end of the line, watching pony after pony take a turn at swinging the large-for-a-pony sized wooden mallet at the ramp, sending the metal bar up and come back down, a few of them walked away with a slight smile on their face and a spring in their step while others grumbled under their breath and with their heads low. As I waited for my turn I saw Pinkie operating the game for a moment before walking behind it and suddenly appearing right next to me which earns a loud cursing from me and a facehoof from Twilight.

"Pink Demon I swear if you scare me like that while I am armed with anything large than a pen cap than you would be scaring yourself to an early funeral." her ears lowered for a moment as I continued, "But I will play your games, it has been so many years since I had any real enjoyment in these types of activities, and besides this one looks like my sort of thing." Pinkies ears went back up as she rumbles a bit before somehow launching into the air and somehow an explosion of confetti showers everywhere as I start to question how long my sanity can hold on when that reality defying pony is near me.

Facing Twilight I just look at her with a look of quizzical 'what the fuck' stare as she shrugs and just mouths 'Pinkie being Pinkie' which to me currently is the most legitimacy of an answer that will ever be created for that pink fluff of sugar coated energy of doom.

Going to the small mallet and ramp I stood a fair distance away so I could have a clean hit on the small white painted target on the wooden board and as I placed on hand on the mallet I took notice that I would only need one hand to grip it and looking at the target I could easily smack it into kingdom come and than some more. Smiling broadly I covered my eyes with my free hand, stood on one leg and raised the mallet above my ahead as I started to laugh like a normal person.

"Hey look! One hand only!" I said before bringing the hammer down on the ramp, the metal bar flew upwards and with a resounding KLANG sound I hit the top but the sound did not die off it instead kept going but in a garbled echo until all the crystal ponies and normal ponies plus baby dragon looked up to see the bell as a clean hole the exact shape of the bar going through both ends. I stared sheepishly at Twilight who was just staring at the bell, amazed that I smacked the ramp with such force that it probably sent the metal bar into orbit, Spike was busy trying not to die from laughter from all the slack-jawed expressions from everyone around me and Pinkie, I had no fucking idea what that crazy mare was doing cause I couldn't find her at all.

After a while the crystal ponies still maintained their slack-jawed expressions and Twilight finally snapped out of it and was slowly backing away from the game with Spike in tow, I took that moment to slowly backpedal away from all of them and ever so carefully crawled under a tent flap and moved through it, trying to be as stealthy as possible which achieved nothing cause I was at the receiving end of a throwing knife which landed near my head with a soft puff sound of it landing on hay.

The pony who through that knife seemed to look like an off-duty guard and when he saw me he almost went for another throwing knife but thought against it and allowed me to get pull myself off the dusty ground and walk off the target range and as I did he grabbed a knife with his hoof somehow, tried to focus on the wooden plank on the other side and let loose, this time his aim was true and it got a bullseye which he did a small hoof pump in the air and I shit you not I saw his color go from depressing-as-fuck grey blue to a not-so-depressing-as-fuck light blue.

"Hey big fella, you up for a match of long knives?" he said while grabbing a third knife and threw it at the target, hitting near the center but was slightly off course. Looking at him I saw that his armor was resting by his right front hooves and his helmet on the counter, and inside said helmet was a sandwich of sorts and if my eyes were being crappy and were failing on me now I can instantly recognize that strange brown and purple colored combination.

"Okay I'm in, winner gets the sandwich, loser has to do twenty laps around the palace before sundown." I said back to him as he raised a hoof and we shook on it.

First up was me and sadly the poor bastard did not know was that I was a fucking champion knife thrower back at the Earth Systems Alliance N7 HQ, and everyone always bet that I would win, I never disappoint my fans. Grabbing the first knife on the counter I twirled it in one hand before giving it a soft fling into the air, letting it spin rapidly before grabbing the blade and threw it not as hard as I can out of fear that the knife will go right through the wooden target, the tarp, the wooden pillar behind the tarp and into an unsuspecting ponies skull. The knife sailed toward its target and with a resounding thunk it landed directly in the middle, resting flat horizontally.

"Your turn." I said with a bemused smile, my arms crossed as he grabs his knife with his teeth, and with a slight turn of his body and a massive turn from his neck and head, his knife flew and smacked sideways into his target, getting a near center.

By the time Twilight found me I was eating a delicious otherworldly peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich, I was in pure and utter childish bliss, taking the smallest of bites from it while watching the guard march around the palace his head hung low in defeat. Twilight stares at me for a while, just looking at me very slowly eating my easily hard earned sandwich than to the guard that was now doing his second lap around the palace, head still hung low.

"Don't say anything Twilight, just don't. Do not ruin this moment for me." I said while taking another bite.

After finishing my taste lunch of sorts I followed Twilight and Spike to Rarity's area of the carnival-like event, her spot was a hat making of sorts with what I think is wicker basket material and that the way she was making it seemed easy enough that an idiot can do it.

Walking over to her booth I sit down on the grass instead of the stool to save what little money I have, Celestia never really telling me what I can buy with 500 bits but than again she might just think that I know and might ignore my ignorant ass. Grabbing a few strands of hat material I began to assemble the headband of the simple hat that I was making but little did I know that I had no fucking idea what I was doing.

"Erm....a top hat? A wicker top hat? Not sure how I even managed to make this." placing the all beige one and a half feet tall top hat down I had a very quick brainfart and made a matching wicker monocle eye piece to go with the top hat and in an even dumber state of mind went over to Spike, placed the hat on his head and put on his eye the monocle.

As Spike looks up at me I just shrug and mindlessly wander around, the crystal ponies still avoiding me like the plague but a few do not move away, seemingly thinking that I am safe to be around until I turn to look near their general direction and they act up and try to leave my gaze.

"So Spike," I said while sitting next to him, watching Twilight talk to Rarity about the crystal heart and some other BS that I am to bored to pay attention to at the given moment, "Is this mare always so inquisitive about every little thing and does she really go to bed with a small doll?" pulling out a cig from the train ride in and lighting it a second time and taking a good inhale of the smokey death stick.

Spike takes a few moments to think before giving his reply, "Yea Roran, she does act like that when she finds something interesting or new to her, and besides I thought you liked receiving the attention."

"Not like that, I like the kind of attention when the hero returns from something very important and has defeated the evil demon and rescued the damsel in distress, being the subject on a rotating disk getting prodded with a stick for a science experiment is something more like a salarian might enjoy, that or an asari scientist....I bet you ten bits that Twilight is gonna ask me more questions once we get back home."

"I raise your ten bits with five bits and a ruby that she won't ask you any questions once we go home."

"Deal."

Shaking hands with Spike I get moving to the next attraction that has captured my gaze for the moment and moved over to the jousting area and took a seat on a fairly sturdy stool that seemed to support my weight. Taking a few glances around I can see and hear that these crystal ponies are looking and talking about me behind my back, saying things that I thought ponies would never say to someone.

"How did a human get here?" "I thought they were all defeated when the royal sisters banished King Sombra back into the darkness?" "I hope he doesn't try to harm us just for being in his presence." "He seems pretty docile for an agent of Sombra? Maybe he was a new recruit and was spared from the spell?" "He doesn't look like an agent of Sombra....is..is that Princess Celestia's symbol on his shoulder?""

Without even turning I just sigh and slowly roll my shoulders, giving them full view of the stitched in symbol that Celestia decided to behind my back sew into both of my shoulder-pads of my uniform but what I do know is that these ponies seem to respect her enough to stop questioning my presence and who I owe my loyalties to.

As the ponies behind me talk amongst themselves again I see two familiar ponies walk out from their respectable areas, both wearing the jousting armor and each hefting up the lance that they are to use against the other.

'Oh god...Fluttershy how the hell did you get yanked into doing this?' Shaking my head shamefully as Fluttershy ever so nervously moves her way to her side of the rail as Rainbow Dash, who appears to be into this match and most likely begged the nervous wreck of a pony into doing this with her. As the two charged towards each other, or in this case Rainbow Dash charged and Fluttershy I think hopped her way to about 1/4th across before coming to a grinding halt and getting the receiving end of the lance and goes sailing off into a pile of hay.

After watching about an hours worth of Rainbow Dash beating other victims I got off from the stool and went looking around for more food or something to distract me until my eyes came upon something I thought I will never see again.

Off in the distance I spotted the glorious claw machine, sitting there in all it's beautiful glory. The machine glistening in the sun's light, sparkling metal gleaming and casting numerous colors all around and within it's metal confines dolls, dozens upon dozens of plushie dolls.

And I must have one.

Slowly walking towards the machine of destiny and skillful credit eating I moved like a man possessed by a spirit, which was technically true since Katherine is in my head for now, and as I get closer to the machine I see a little crystal filly playing it but the claw dropped the little plushie doll as it was close to the bucket and from the sniffles the filly was making she must have lost numerous times at trying to get the doll she wants. After I was within spitting distance she was called over my her parents as they went to the tables to try and comfort her as I dug into my pockets and pulled out a small bag of bits, courtesy of Celestia, and slipped in two bits and started the game to try and win the sad filly her doll.

2 Hours Later

"Son-of-a-bitch!" I shouted while moving back a few inches from the game, I can just hear it laughing at me. As I moved back in to try again the sounds of hooves and pitter-patter of feet told me that Spike and most likely Twilight were behind me and as I picked up the doll for an umpteenth time and just as I was getting close it drops as I grab a rock from the floor, threw it into the air and blasted it with my biotic energy from my palm.

"Your really want one of those plush dolls don't you Roran?" Twilight asks with an amused grin while I try my hardest not to punch a hole in the glass or slam my fist down onto the controls.

"You god damn right I want one of them!" I shouted as I turned my head to look at her, Spike was busy laughing on the floor, thinking it is funny as hell to see a seasoned war veteran getting his ass kicked by a child's game. Without even looking at her I turn my head back to the game, preparing myself with another tango with the machine of evil. "Bits."

Holding my hand out to Twilight and Spike since I know one of them is holding my spare coin bag that I gave to them in the event that I spend all my bits in the bag that is currently strapped to my belt-loop, which sadly it is more empty than a convicted criminal stuck on death row.

Twilight still holding her amused smile on her face speaks up after I had my hand open for a while. "Sure but even a ruthless agent of Celestia has to use manners." I swear I could hear and feel a blood vessel in my head explode from what she just said.

'Fucking hate you...' The sounds of my teeth grinding against one another can clearly be heard by the two, my fists clenching tightly to the point where they can see the veins in them bulge out from the tightness of the skin being pulled and they can see the false knuckles from the angle they are standing in.

"Please." I grumbled while trying my hardest not to break out into a killing spree and strangle the purple mare.

Taking the one bit that Twilight held in her magics grip and slide it into the slot and gripped the small hoof-joystick and ever so carefully lifted up a small miniature plushie of Celestia and just as it gets half way to the waiting basket, the claw slightly wiggles and the little dolls falls free and lands back into the pile of the other dolls and prizes. Slamming my hands down on the control panel in disappointment as I glare at the infernal machine.

"This fucking this is obviously rigged somehow..." I stalked the machine, looking for any hints of structural weakness's or any means of getting that blasted doll.

"I am going to hunt down this shit-for-brains inventor of this crooked game and pull out his fucking spine and put in the game so he can try to win it back." tapping the glass mirror with a knuckle and stalking all around the game, glaring at it with the evil eye, wanting it to burst into flames.

"Probably some smart-ass, unicorn professor." Twilight took offense to that as Spike is still giggling madly as I give a quick apology before looking back at the doll.

'I want that fucking plushie...' "I'm going back in....bits." Spike hands me one of Twilight's bits and I get a quick grip of it before pushing it into the machine.

"Here we go.......got it...." with a loud yell in triumph with a fist pump into the air, Twilight clapping her hooves together with a smile while Spike was still laughing at my repeatable failures, but the doll of Celestia was well worth the attempted murder of a game machine in public.

Going to the little filly that failed to grab her doll the earlier and walking over to her and dropped it in her hooves with a small smile , "Here you go pony." the little filly finally stops crying and with a smile on her face that is still ridden with fresh tears, hugs my left leg before her parents quickly try to pry her away but I just wave them off and let the filly finish her hug before she lets go and takes the little doll and goes back to her parents.

Looking at Twilight with a grin plastered on my face and with a small spring in my step before stopping in front of her and and resuming my usual shit looking attitude as Twilight asks with the same smile on her face, "Where do you want to go Roran?"

"The hell should I know? Brown Tart's Cafe, the Rust Red Stadium..." I look over at the claw machine, contemplating if I should try to play it again, "More Claw?"

As Twilight tries to stifle her laughter along with Spike I resume another game of the claw and for the first time ever won back-to-back and pulled out a mini version of Cadence and placed it into my left pocket before walking away from the machine and wandered over to the food carts for another slice of pie but as I grabbed a slice of apple pie I overheard the conversation between three ponies that I distinctively remember.

"Of course we got it, we can't have the crystal fair without the crystal heart!"

"Of course you can't, the whole purpose of the crystal fair, is to lift the spirits of the crystal ponies, so the light within them can power the crystal heart so the empire can be protected!" and in a flash for two seconds she went from gloom to joy as she speaks again, "I do work at the library." at that I facepalm in failure, my ruse to slow them down just ruined in a matter of seconds.

At that moment Rainbow Dash who was quickly accompanied by Applejack says in a slightly confused tone, "What was that about powering the crystal heart?" the look of worry clearly written on both of their faces.

"I just can't believe you actually found it! King Sombra said he hid it away so that nopony can never see it again! I only hope that it is still as powerful after all these years." the old librarian said before turning her gaze to a nearby food cart, "Mmm funnel cake."

As the librarian goes to the funnel cake stand, Rainbow Dash bull rushes into the air before flying off in the direction of the fake crystal heart, grabbing the flag on top of a building and with my eyes optics zooming in at maximum just in time to see Rainbow Dash drape the flag over the heart and half of Twilight who at the moment was reading a book before saying something and looking scared shitless.

5 Minutes Later

Standing by the railing with a third lit cigarette in my mouth, watching Twilight flip through the pages of the book, trying to figure out where she went wrong. I scowl at the sun as I hear the sounds of pages flipping back and forth, my plan to slow these ponies down long enough to let Sombra roll in and reassert himself onto the thrown so I can save Hilo'Jaa is well worth the damnation I know that my ass is going to get.

"I didn't know it was an actual relic, the book didn't even mention that the crystal ponies powering the heart." she flips the pages in the book to the last page only to reveal that the final page was ripped out, "There was a page missing, how'd I not notice!"

I smirk at the horizon, smirking in victory knowing they they will have to haul ass just to try and stop Sombra but knowing that they left their trinkets behind back in Canterlot and that Cadence is weak as hell from exhaustion and that Shining is in no position to even assist with the shield spell.

"It's alright Twilight.." Cadence says while swaying a bit, her eyes are heavy and that she is having a hard time even staying up and conscious. And in that moment her hooves fall out from under her as she falls into Shining Armor's forelegs, catching her as her horn sputters out and the magic around it fades away, and as it sputters and fades, so does the barrier protecting the city.

"Twily." Shining says as all four of us hear the howling sound of the arctic winds as I spot in the distance with my optical eyes, the ghastly visage of Sombra's phantom eyes.

'Their fucked.'

As I smile at the impending victory I hear the sounds of hooves moving around and then ever so slowly the barrier begins to reform the same color as Cadence's magic and moments later I hear Sombra roar out in pain as I barely see the tip of his horn get sheared off by the barrier.

'That sounded like it hurts like a motherfucker.'

Turning around to leave I make my way to the throne room and since that Cadence was tired of fuck and that Shining was busy keeping her standing and conscious and Twilight busy trying to find her answer in that book of hers. Upon entering the throne room and closing the door behind myself and finding that not only was it empty, it was boring as fuck.

"These ponies really need to put some fucking potted plants and paintings in here...this place is as colorful and entertaining as a krogan bathroom." in reality it is fucking horrible to even enter one without holding your breath or letting the smell get stuck to your gear.

Taking my sweet time walking to the throne I take note of things that I would change if this place was mine.

'Flower pot right over there and another across from it...a painting of a Reaper getting blown out of the sky right there and one getting blasted by an Alliance Dreadnought right over there....maybe a statue of Shepard bitch slapping Udina and a statue of me riding on top of a Kodiak into battle with two Typhoons...hehe...a statue of a Thresher Maw looming over Discord as he cowers in fear....or a group of ponies....flower pots near the throne in case of an emergency techni colored yawn or a hidden weapon compartment...'

Deep in my musing I didn't realize that the ground was shaking for a while before it died down and that was when I found myself sitting in the throne with my pistol out on my lap, my right hand firmly gripping the grip of it and my trigger finger resting on the guard as I was staring at the door before shaking myself from the thought of waiting for that king to come in and relieve me of duty.

'Man you gotta keep it together, your mind is on the fritz and I ain't gonna help you put it together if that dark wizard pony thing fucks it up, being a therapist is not my job, that was Urta's.'

'It's hard to keep my shit together when one of my few living friends is currently held in the hands...hooves of someone that was considered a real McAsshole by their own kind.'

'Well that pony reminds me of someone right now.'

'Haha very funny Kat.'

"Of course!" a voice snaps me out of my rabble with Katherine as I point my pistol in the direction of the speaker only to stop to see it was Twilight and Spike. "What did you find it?" "No, because this isn't Sombra's Castle." the sound of her hooves approaching me as Spike gets off the floor and starts to follow her as I put my pistol away.

"But wasn't this where he lived when he was in power?" he said before I had a chance to tell him he was right Twilight cuts him off with an answer of her own, "It is, but it didn't look like this." looking at the one stray crystal on top of the throne.

As her horn started to glow I remained seated, hoping for the best that she does not blast me with magic to reveal a hidden passage or worse, blow up my seat. At first it was the same lavender color of her usual magic but than she started to concentrate harder as she began to sweat and her horn started glowing back as her eyes began to leak green mist before blasting the gem with a black beam. The dark light reflecting out of the black crystal causing it to reveal a hidden floor in the center of the room.

"Well...ain't that a kick in the head...pretty cool hidden exit." I said, getting up and looking down the largest staircase I have ever seen." Spike and Twilight going to the stairs as I wait for one of them to make a move until Twilight lit her horn purple as she started to go down the stairs as Spike barely took one step forward before he was told to stay behind.

"How's it look outside!" I barely need to turn my head to see the shield sputtering again, smirking in victory as Spike says it's looking bad.

"Eh fuck it." I said before jumping over the edge, turning on my biotics to slow my decent until I reached the bottom and stopped behind Twilight to find her tracking down a door that is moving around the room.

Watching the lavender mare chase after a door is funny as hell, hearing the sounds of a body thumping down the long ass winding stairs before crashing to a halt is just plain fucking hilarious as Spike pulls himself up and dusts himself off as I my gaze back to Twilight who was standing dead still staring at an empty door, the door itself leading nowhere but the wall. After a while I had to poke her a few times with my foot a few times till she snapped out of it and looked generally confused until she remembered where she was.

"Okay, door leading to a wall, what now cause I don't see anywhere else to go but up." I said, crossing my arms cause I have no idea where the hell I currently am besides being under the throne room which I think is odd as hell since this would lead to being outside of the palace.

As Spike moves to the door the top of the door a black gem shoots him with a beam as he starts to speak nonsense until I heard clearly that he didn't want to leave home again, but with tears in his eyes as if he was facing an ultimatum of some kind by someone significantly more powerful than him.

'Okay...a door that makes you see some crazy shit...never saw that before.'

"That door makes you see your worst fears...how do we get past it?" I shrug before taking a step towards the door and just like the other two I get blasted by its dark cursed beam as my eyes start to fade to black before it resumes its normal vision but of someplace else.

"What are your fears.....what is it that you are afraid of the most....face it and you can continue on your path....failure to face your darkness and you shall be consumed by it..."

"My greatest fear has already came and went, taking everything that I cherish. The Reapers may or may not still be out there but I do know is that they failed to kill, corrupt or change me and I am not afraid of them. My greatest fears are gone like ashes in the wind."

"I may be the last of my kind but that doesn't mean a damn thing to me, I will carry out my duty and my oath till my dying breath and so far I don't see a worthy challenge that would leave my gasping for air and for mercy, so bring it on, I got nothing to lose."

That was all it took for the door to click open and ever so slowly creak towards us three to reveal the city but at a much higher elevation. Going through the door I am met with a winding staircase and taking a short lean off the side and looking up before going back to the safety of the room behind me.

"You know that feeling you get when you just want to question the intelligence of someone else? I just got that feeling..."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Big ass spiral staircase leading up to the top of the spire, and by big ass I mean like the infinite staircase or the stairway to heaven. I ain't climbing that, you two can but I ain't." I said before starting my climb back up the stairs but the sounds of something exploding caught my ear as I turned my head back outside to zoom in on the outer edge of the city, a house was on fire and thin figures started pouring out of it and in their hands, old Mattock Assault Rifles.

'Motherfucker...Sombra you bastard you said no one would be harmed or killed when you came to seize the thrown!' I slammed my first into the wall making the two jump a bit until I gave them the look to make like a baker and move their buns as they started to scale the spire.

As Twilight and Spike sprint to the top of the spire I look down over the bottom of the stairs to find that the area I was at was slanted at a near perfect 45 degree angle. Taking a chance I jump over the side and with my feet slanted at an angle I managed to keep my speed at a slightly suicidal rate as I slid down till I reached the bottom but my foot caught onto a vine as I tumbled a few feet and slammed into a tree before pulling myself up and ran to the gathering of ponies that was surrounding the fake crystal heart.

"Girls we got a problem." I said before jerking a thumb over west to the rising mists of black smoke on the horizon and as if I let out some big cat out of the bag the crystal ponies started galloping around like chickens with their head cut off but when the approach of an incoming rocket alerts me to the coming clusterfuck storm but with enough time to use Overload on it, and as it trails off course and skids on the ground, rolling and tumbling towards the palace before coming to a screeching halt in front of Applejack who has no idea what it is and just as her hoof is about to touch it I Pull it towards me, revved up my throwing arm and threw that rocket as hard and far as I can before it reactivated and detonated in midair over someones house.

"Get everyone into the palace now and keep those doors closed! Do not let anyone in that is not a pony, even if it's me, get going!" I shouted at them as another missile arcs its way towards the palace but tracks a target just as it goes under one of the support struts holding up the palace, the missile itself hurling towards a building and explodes on the other end, not meant to hit soft buildings.

As the last of the civilians entered the palace and the doors were closed shut behind me and the tall-tell signs of it being sealed shut by something heavy when the sounds of a heavy weight being pressed into it was heard by Katherine, who told me as I watched the smoke on the horizon.

'So fake heart equals Sombra stays and wins, real heart equals Sombra goes back to whatever hell exists for ponies...and most likely Hilo'Jaa goes with him....any plans come to mind besides the two I got?'

'Well one comes to mind but...how do you feel about being a backseat observer?'

Thinking on her idea and the few sounds she makes while impatiently waiting for me to respond I give my thought of what she has in mind.

'Well, like I said, your going to be the one that will be the observer for me for a change while I am the one running around, since we both know that you are not the most stealthiest of people...'

'Cause being a ninja is for cowards and people that can't fight for shit.'

'And that you make more noise than a buffalo in a china shop. My plan is that I take over your body, you watch my back while I take out as many of the enemy as possible while remaining undetected and hopefully, we can get out of this frozen country in one piece.'

'Ya know...that sounds better than my idea of running in headlong and destroying everything in sight with biotic and tech powers while shooting anything that moved.'

I heard Katherine laugh in my head, her laughter filling me with a luke-warm warmth that I have come to miss during the times we were apart but as that feeling started to rise I felt my body slowly giving way to someone else, my nerves dying out and eventually going numb as my body begins to refuse my commands until the only thing I can do is just stare forward. Slowly bit by bit my body began to move on someone else's accord and will, my hands reaching up to touching my face before moving to my hair and feeling it between my fingers.

'Feels so good to be alive...now I know why you enjoyed every second of living when we were in the same unit together, you were getting high on life hehe.'

'Not really but than again taking a shot of ryncol and a small dosage of Hallex did help me a bit...oh how I will miss those days. But enough reminiscing of the past, get to the silent executions so we can go get our squad mate back from the clutches of a douche-bag.'

'Aye, let us be off!'

Katherine's Point of View

'So tell me again oh sweet buddy of mine,' I said to Roran mentally while slowly getting accustomed to his form, stretching out his arms and legs while keeping him at the ready in the event that black unicorn arrives earlier than intended, 'Why did you make a deal with this asshat when you know it was going to somewhat end like this?'

'Well I was hoping that by the time he started his siege he would have teleported Hilo'Jaa in my room in the palace or at the front door, but since he didn't it and that he just fired two rockets at us which is telling me that the deal is now off...just, start tearing him a new asshole, alright.' Roran said while crossing his arms, his mind crossing them for me since he still has partial control over his body.

Taking a look back at the palace I now realized that this building was as large as an apartment complex except that it had a bit of an asari influence on it and that it was made of a very shiny blue marble or some form of crystal, but whatever it is made out of had a very high probability of not withstanding the explosive power of the rockets that the black unicorn was using against Roran and his pony friends.

Moving towards the nearest building to the west of the palace in the direction of where the two rockets came from, I crouched down and turned on the two omni-blades that Roran had with him and grinned with a manic glee that he had his upgraded to the N7 Destroyer blades, reverse style and perfectly curved for maximum swinging through enemies throats and limbs. Taking a moment to adjust the blades so that they activate at the right moment when needed I turn them off for the moment, I moved through the empty streets of the city, knocking on house to house and telling them to move their flanks to the palace as quickly and quietly as possible and to try to spread the word to other houses they get to when going to the safe zone.

As I traveled along the streets edge and houses I came across the sounds of gunfire and the screams of ponies before they died off and started back up again, the sounds of torture or amusement coming from around the bend, towards the food carts from the carnival if the occasional glimpse Roran's eyes during his festive activities serve me right. Quietly stalking the noises, I crouch down and move towards the disturbance as quiet as the grave, and within moments as I spot my prey, three Cerberus soldiers with Mattock rifles, all three firing from the hip at a family of ponies, all of them cowering together in fear and slowly moving towards a burning building, and from the sounds of it that the support columns within are going to give way soon.

Looking at the family of three my eyes catch the glimpse of a small filly holding tightly to her mother and next to her hooves, a small plushie doll of a white winged unicorn with a rainbow mane, and in that instant it was hit by one of the soldiers as he laughed at the little filly who kept crying.

'Oh hell fucking no, he did not just shoot my prize for the little filly! Tear his fucking head off now!' I hear Roran shouting in my head, his voice filled with unrestrained rage and anger.

'It was just a plush doll dude, no need to go ballistic over...' I stop myself as I squint a bit at the little filly and the doll before thinking back to when he was playing the claw machine for two hours straight trying to get the same doll over and over again before finally winning the blasted thing and giving it to a crying filly, 'You won that doll for her didn't you?'

Roran's Point of view

'You god damn right I did! It took me two fucking hours to win that thing and in only a few fucking minutes they fucking shoot it! Tear them apart or I will resume control over my body!' my yelling reaching new heights of loudness as I feel the tugs and pulls of my false arms and legs moving on my accord only to realize that it Katherine is no longer moving me, and in that moment of control, just as I started to scale the house in front of me and slowly crawled onto the roof.

Rolling my eyes to my Katherine's outburst I crawl ever so slowly on the roof, making my way across it and into the perfect position to strike at the right moment, and that moment quickly approaches when two of the three Cerberus soldiers move closer to the family of three, aiming their rifles at them as the third one stays behind, looking like he is saying something but nothing is coming out.

At that moment they raised their rifles at the defenseless family, I leaped off the roof and raised both my arms above my head, the omni-blades forming perfectly and as I bring my arms down I yell as loud as I can, distracting the two soldiers from shooting the family long enough for them to see me take out the one behind them, both blades brought down onto his head as it crushes its helmet, causing it to cave in as the body falls over limp and lifeless.

Just as they turn around to raise their Mattocks at me, the little filly levitates a small chunk of brick from the rubble behind her and throws it at the nearest soldier, the brick manages to connect with his helmet making him stumble from the impact giving me enough time to roll the corpse that I am on top of over and bring up his rifle in his limp hands.

As one of the soldiers starts to fire at the corpse trying to get the bullets to penetrate the armor to get to me, the soldier that stumbled turned around to fire at the family, but only in time to see a large chunk of lumber smack directly into his helmet, launching him back and dropping his rifle onto the ground.

"Now you die Cerberus scum!" Roran shouts as he regains control long enough to use his biotics on both of the living Cerberus soldiers, the one firing on him is frozen in place from Stasis, his body completely stuck in the standing firing position while the one that took a broken support column to the face is hit with a Lift and as he is several feet in the air, Roran throws out a Warp and as it connects, the Cerberus soldier explodes in a bloody mess of slowly disintegrating limbs and armor chunks, scattering blood and gore everywhere and as the Stasis'ed soldier slowly begins to move again, Roran raises his palm right at him and biotic energy begins to focus at the center of his palm before it gets blasted out and hits the soldier in the head, blowing it clean off.

"NO one, dares to harm my ponies, and gets away with it alive." Roran says as he walks over to the ruined plush doll and hands it back to the filly as he picks up one of the Mattocks and searches the area for spare thermal clips and anything else of use. Not noticing the little filly Roran turns around faster than normal and picks up the little filly that was directly behind him and lifts her up in one arm, the other still holding the rifle as he moves to the filly's parents.

"We need to go, now, the enemy must have heard the rifle fire by now and are on their way here to investigate the disturbance, I will escort you three to the palace where you will be safe, just follow my lead and keep low. Stay alive, that's an order." he says with the utmost of authority in his voice as the two adult ponies nod and slowly trail behind him, looks of worry and fear clearly evident in their eyes but for the little filly, it is one of hope.

Moving at a rushed speed, I keeps a firm hold on the filly in my left arm, while her parents stick close behind me, just as my rifle aims around the corner and I give the 'all-clear' signal, we rush to the next house and as we all get within spotting distance of the door to the palace across the wide open area the sounds of thundering thuds, the sounds of numerous hostile forces rushing in.

At the sound of rolling thunder we all sprinted towards the safety of the palace walls, gunfire surges in the air as rounds start hailing down at us, the barrage of fire unorganized and wild as each wave of bullets hit anything but us four but as we get close to one of the support columns for the palace, I turned my head in time to see a rocket blaze towards them but before I had a chance to temporary disarm it, it detonates four feet in front of us, throwing both him and the filly more than four meters away from the nearest piece of cover.

'Roran!'

"Skylight!"

My senses rattled and my vision blurred badly from the rough landing and concussive impact was enough to leave me disorientated and wobbly but the sounds of more gunfire and the cries of both the filly and her parents shake me loose from my stupor. Slowly getting to my knee's I activate my barriers and angled it to the left of myself, placing it between me and the oncoming barrage of bullets from hitting me and the little filly who just now started to come to her senses.

As the little filly got to her little hooves the bullets starts to slow down enough for us to find a clear path to the safety of the palace columns but that only meant that the enemy themselves were setting themselves up for a much large and more orchestrated barrage of energized lead.

"Okay little filly, when I count to three, you gallop as fast as you can to your parents and when you get to them, go straight to the palace doors and the ponies inside will let you in, you will be safe there from these monsters of evil. I will keep you safe, I promise you that."

"On three, One." I said while getting to my feet as the little filly turned to her parents and I can see from this distance that they started to figure out what we were about to do and were trying to tell us not to do it by waving their hooves at us, trying to warn us away from this area but it won't work on me.

"Two." the soldiers started to form an organized firing squad by the front row laying down as the second and third rows move behind them and all three are now formed into a right angle of Mattock rifles aimed right at us.

"THREE!" I shouted as the filly galloped as fast as her tiny hooves could take her as I got to my feet and held between us and Cerberus the only barrier that I could muster in my slightly disorientated state, the one thing keeping us alive.

Running as fast as I can while keeping pace with the little filly in tow, doing my best to keep my barrier up between us and certain death by the Cerberus firing squad. As we get half way to the palace columns they opened fire with everything they got and every few stray shots ricochet off the floor and nail me in the legs or feet but it does nothing to distract me from protecting a child, the pain of having the heated metal burning into my skin forces me to grit and gnash my teeth in pain as each round strikes my lower legs.

As we finally get to the column the filly leaps at her parents and gets caught in heir waiting hooves, crying and bawling over their poor foal, saying words of encouragement and other things that parents would say to their beloved child but as they keep talking I knock on the door and hurriedly sprinted back to the family, telling that they had to go inside now before the enemy gets close enough to open fire again on all four of us. I had use Lift on all three of them just to make them snap out of their short reunion, making them realize that they were still in danger of dying and as I watch them go through the doors as they slowly closed, I could have sworn that the parents were mouthing a silent 'thank you' and the little filly was waving at me before the doors sealed shut behind them.

'Brave thing you did back there, but that was highly suicidal and stupid, no wonder you were discharged from the Alliance during the Eden Prime War.' Katherine said while I peered around the support column and fired a few shots from the fallen Mattock I have taken from one of the three soldiers I killed earlier.

'Bite me Katherine, I don't have time for this shit.' I growled back, peeking out again as I took aim this time and started taking headshots, watching their bodies go limp and fall to the side or just drop like a sack of hammers, blood seeping out of the holes in their helmets, their blood black in color and appears to be a thick ooze, almost like jelly.

Taking the time to look around the bend of the column, I peer over to see just how many are still alive and with a heavy explosive sigh there was still enough of them to form a platoon, about fifty-five soldiers still alive or in this case, undead. As my head was sticking out of cover a few of them opened fire again just as I ducked back into cover but the sound of glass breaking was the only indication that a stray bullet shot through a palace window and most likely scared the crap out of whoever was on the other side at the time.

'Okay...at least fifty enemy foot soldiers on the other side of this column and at least one of them has a rocket launcher...looks like I have to be lucky and time my shots and peeks carefully, otherwise my ass is grass.'

'Well think fast cause they are moving up and they are not taking the slow route, they are coming in hard and fast!'

Peeking my head around the corner again I saw what she meant by hard and fast, the hostiles were breaking ground and they were charging right to the palace, a few with their guns raised while the others had them down for maximum running speed, perfect targets. Taking a deep breath of air and a quick prayer to whoever is listening in at the time, I reloaded the Mattock and turned the corner, my rifle aimed high and started to squeeze the trigger at the first target to be lined up with my sights, and as the first squeeze of the trigger a Centurion's head exploded from the bullet's impact as my rifle moved a few centimeters to the left to be squeezed again as a troopers body tilted to the side and fell over, its body tripping those behind it as a few stumbled and roll over the corpses of their fallen comrades.

"Bring it on motherfuckers! I can take you all on!" shouting as loud as I can, raising my left arm as the omni-blade extends outward as my right arm recoils back a bit as I kept squeezing the trigger, watching the rifle kick back every metal round flies from its barrel to meet its new home in the head case of a Cerberus soldier.

'Biotic Barriers at 73% strength, vital signs pushing into blue zone.' my micro HUD showing in my left eye, the bullets coming in from all directions as I feel them pelt my barriers, reloading my rifle in time to resume firing at the enemy as I watched more bodies fall to the ground, a few with wounds while others fell dead.

'Biotic Barriers at 47% strength, cover is advised, vital signs are pushing into the green zone.' my HUD flashing a bit as I get slammed with a high powered round from a Nemesis before I used Slam on the bitch, her body turning into a pancake on the ground as her rifle slid across the ground next to some ponies mailbox. My body starting to slow down from the running as I slowed down to take careful aim at my targets, a few are still standing while others are getting up from their wounds to continue fighting while others are crouching down to make themselves smaller targets. It doesn't matter cause they will all die the same.

'Biotic Barriers at 11%, barrier collapse imminent, seek immediate cover to recharge, vital signs pushing into the yellow zone.' my teeth clenching in pain as I start to feel weak from all the bullets slamming into me, my body still in pain from the rocket blast and the high powered rounds from both the one Nemesis and a Cerberus soldier who picked up her rifle before I Lifted him up into the air as high as I could and let him fall to his end to be impaled on a spike on top of some ponies home.

'Biotic Barriers have collapsed, vital signs are pushing into the orange zone.' my vision blurred in time to watch the last soldier fall dead over a pile of his own comrades, my body slowly giving way as I slowly began to turn around and limp back to the palace, my legs feeling like they both got crushed under an Atlas's foot.

'LOOK OUT! I heard Katherine shout before I felt something wrap around my left leg and threw me into the air before slamming me back down onto the ground.

Rolling over by whatever is wrapped around my leg I shake my head to open my eyes to a sight that I thought was a hallucination. Standing tall, proud and most likely very dead, a Dragoon, Cerberus's finished product of Project Phoenix, and one hell of a foot soldier they are, instead of shields they have armor plating at least an inch thick and that fucker looked like he spent plenty of time in the same suit of armor from all the wear and tear on it. Both of his hands were empty of any weapon but at his palms were his biotic lashes and one was tightly crushing my left leg to which I can no longer feel because of damaged sensors and servo's.

I looked directly at its helmet and saw that there was a bullet hole in it and through that hole I only saw the thing's eye, it was a golden amber and it was not showing any sign of decay or glazing...a sign that it was not dead.

"Well I'll be damned, another human that is still alive, and managed to get his hands caught in the cookie jar while being watched, what a damn shame. I knew I would face you again in one way or another but I didn't know that we would be going at this again this damn soon. And it looks like that it will be me that will be walking away from this city with my life instead of left to rot in the alleyway in Berlin." the strange said in a voice that I partially remembered, its tone was something of a machine and that of a sultry dancer at Chora's Den.

Looking back to my leg I twisted it a bit to see how much leverage or motion I had at my dispose but neither were even a snowballs chance in hell that I could easily break out of this mess in one piece.

"So...it seems that you managed to evade the grave just like me...to bad you are fighting for the side that favors subjugation and fear over peace and prosperity...and here I thought Cerberus favored the peace for humanity." I said in a brash response, pointing my palm at her to fire off a quick pulse to throw her off her guard but she quickly caught onto it and grabbed my right wrist with her other lash and lifted me back into the air before slamming me back down with bone shattering results.

The Dragoon only smiles coyly under the helmet the left eye that I could see turns the same color as mine than reverts back to its original golden ember color.

"You were always so pious in your actions, you always acted in the way you thought was right, in ways that you know was wrong, hell even evil but yet you still hold fast to your beliefs like a drowning man would cling to a piece of driftwood in the middle of a raging storm. Your actions are commendable, but your actions are also condemning...Sombra knew that you were going to help these ponies all along so he decided to go ahead and give you back your bitch with her new immune system but we both know that it was out of kindness that you delayed these foals long enough for his tools to lock down this kingdom. You will die here and this time you won't be left to be waiting in some cavern to be discovered by whatever species come after the ponies." the Dragoon said while lifting me back up and with both arms, whipping them behind her as I felt the lashes tighten around my right wrist and left leg as I get thrown through three houses and had the wind knocked out of my lungs when I felt something pierce my back.

As I looked down I saw that there was a piece of rebar, coming right through my left shoulder-blade and effectively killing it by destroying the small power cell within the shoulder compartment, giving it life but now it hangs limply by my side, useless and dead weight.

Grunting in pain I moved my right hand to the piece of rebar, I gripped it as tightly as I could as I began to yank it out from my back and shoulder, grunting and groaning louder in pain as the pieces of metal rub and grind against the muscles, bone and flesh, blood coming down the wall as the rebar slowly dislodges itself from the wall.

"I swear when I get my hands on that bitch...I am going to kill her for real this time...that bitch should have died in fucking Berlin!" I grunt out quietly as I hear the sounds of footsteps coming closer to me, her feet crushing the bricks and timber chunks. Quickly moving and jerking my right hand, keeping my grip on the piece of rebar as the steps get closer and closer and as I feel it slowly give way I stopped trying to remove it as I spot her outlines, quickly dropping my hand to my side as I wait for her to get closer.

"You know...if you had stayed with Cerberus you too would be given the same reward as I would receiving the same reward as I, but sadly you chose wrong. I was told by my master Sombra to take you in alive but knowing our past together, we know that you will fight me and try to escape to go back to your precious ponies, but what he doesn't know, won't hurt him." the girl mockingly says as I hear her footsteps get closer and closer until I can see that she was very close and if she got any closer she would be pressing her body against mine.

"And if I had stayed with Cerberus than I would have been indoctrinated by the Illusive Man and have become a mindless drone like the rest of his people and yours. If I had stayed than I would have been a target by pretty much every single Citadel race, I like to be alive to enjoy my shot of ryncol and occasional line of red sand. But now that I am here in this earthly plane I must now rely on whatever these ponies have for entertainment, sometimes enjoying the sheer amount of stupidity that they produce." I said waiting for her to speak up as I slightly move my right hand.

She laughs under her helmet and as she slowly begins to get closer I made my move by grabbing the rebar pipe, yanking it through my shoulder and hitting her upside the head and with a pained smile as she goes down from the hit.

"One thing you forgotten about me bitch...I can actually say no to a nice piece of ass..." huffing a bit from exhaustion but mostly from the blood loss and pain. Dropping the pipe and dropping to my knees as I grabbed the bitch by the neck as I started to drag her heavy body back to the palace, staggering back to safety as I made my way through the three houses that I went through.

'Kat...do your ghost thing on her...I don't have time for this shit....'

'Do what with her?'

'Just take over her body and make sure that whore doesn't surface back to take control...think of her body as your present from me to you...gods I need a drink...'

Getting to the palace was hard enough when I had to drag an unconscious body that weighed pretty close to how much I weighed on a good day, but dragging a body while weak from the ass-beating I went through and the blood loss...yea it was horrible as fuck.

Upon knocking on the palace doors a few times, and as the doors were slowly swinging open I push my way through to be greeted by the sight of countless crystal ponies who made their way into he palace when I was not paying attention and as the guards came I told them to take the body I was lugging around to my room and for one of them to grab my footlocker and brought it to the throne room.

What was waiting for me in the throne room was something I was not expecting to see.

From where I was standing at the throne room main doors, I saw Rarity holding a floating Hilo'Jaa in a magic bubble, Rainbow Dash and Applejack in a fighting stance while Pinkie Pie was behind a cannon of sorts, Fluttershy was somewhat trying to stand her ground, Shining Armor was still trying to keep Cadence up and powering the bubble barrier spell for the city. Hilo'Jaa was just floating there very pissed off and cursing out in her peoples language which I had no clue to what she was saying except for one word.

"Bosh'tet, girls put down my quarian, step back at least ten hoof paces and also, what the fuck was going on here?" I said weakly before everyone started to yell at me and at each other.

"Your quarian? When did I become your property?"

"Well when you joined my squad babe, that and when we did the Randy McNasty in the elevator to the top of the Citadel Tower." I said with a weak smirk, Dashie was busy snickering loudly, Shining was also snickering along with Cadence whose was even weaker than mine, Rarity was busy trying not to look like she was blushing, the others were just confused.

After a few moments of trying to explain things to her, I managed to calm things down but at the cost of getting slapped across the cheek which left a nasty welt and a nasty stinging pain.

Throne Room, 15 Minutes Later

"As I told you Fluttershy...I'm fine....just blood loss, fatigue and a dead arm....not the worst things I went through in my cycle but it still hurts...now just hand me my footlocker so I can tend to my wounds."

"Man, how did you even manage to walk back like that! I mean come on I get hurt on occasion when I practice my stunts but that,-" Dash says while pointing at the small hole in my left shoulder as I reach out to grab my footlocker from Fluttershy's grasp, "-that is just to painful to even look at!"

Snorting at her I just reach out to try and grab out the locker but just as Shy tries to take it back I growl weakly at her enough for her to give up in her attempts to stop me from reaching something potentially dangerous but as I crack it open I reach for the first vial of medi-gel and injected it straight into the wound, sealing it off from any further infection and bleed out.

"There we go...and now...to put on my armor and to get back out there." I said reaching back inside to get my armor sections, the rebuke I got from the mares and one stallion was all I heard for the greater part of my donning of my armor.

Taking my rifle out of the locker along with my helmet I placed both items on top of the locker before closing it but what I smelled next, alongside a loud scream was what set me off.

The smell of burning flesh and death slowly began to fill the room.

The sounds of screaming and raging fires fill the afternoon skies with the smell of burning wood and fur, ponies running left and right trying to get away from the coming doom as they run into their old homes and hiding under anything that they think that will protect them from evil. Black crystals rising from the ground as it saps the life from anything nearby corrupting the very soil till it withers and dies from the taint.

Tall thin figures shuffling down the streets of the city, their corroded, bullet-ridden armor partially reflecting in the dull light of smoke covered skies, the faces of the figures are just like the armor they are wearing, corroded and destroyed, their pitch black eyes blankly staring forward as they fire at whatever moves or makes a sound, their shots going wide as ponies run and cower in terror and fear.

As I watched the city burn and crumble as the darkness began it's cursed siege I only watch it unfold until the tiny voice in my head along with single pleading look from an exhausted princess was all it took for me to put on my helmet and grab my rifle before walking to the large doors leading out of the throne room to stop the siege.

Turning my head to the ponies in the room and the princess I can only nod at them before turning on the visor and obscuring my face to their views as I speak one last time to them.

"Last one out, get the lights." looking back at the ponies and quarian before slowly closing the door behind me.

"Don't worry about the lights, just worry about coming back to me in one piece, and just maybe we can talk about us."

I gave a weak smile as I shoved an adrenaline shot into an injection port and rode out the wooziness until it kicked in and my body kicks into overdrive.

Crystal City, Afternoon, Operation Fire Cobra Claw

'This has got to be the stupidest idea I must have ever created for the greater good...' I grumbled to myself as I went back outside after pushing my way through the ponies that were waiting in the halls of the palace, I had to pick up and throw Pinkie at least five times just to get to the front door. That insufferable mare kept clinging to me each time I managed to dislodge her from my body, first throw I did was met with her somehow clinging to my head, second was her clinging to my right arm, third was my side, fourth was my back and fifth was hanging to my chest until I finally froze her to the floor and as I got outside I sighed in relief to find her not attached to me for the sixth time.

Taking a few steps away from the palace I found the spiral staircase and with a bit of mathematics and some biotics, I launched myself at the tower hoping to reach the staircase in time to warn Twilight of my plan but when I open my eyes I only had a split second to close my eyes again.

'I am definitely going to be paying for this...'

Upon impact with the spire I felt something shift and open my eyes to see that I left a human shaped indent on the wall and knew that if anyone came out to see if anything needs fixing, and they find this, I know for a fact that they will mail me the bill of repairs for it.

Peeling myself off the wall and shaking away the stupid of my decision I started to run up the stairs, the adrenaline shot doing its job just as it was designed for, even though it was meant for medical use of a patient's heart stopping but I ignored that little fact in the heat of the moment.

After a few minutes of sprinting up the nearly endless flight of stairs I managed to reach Twilight and Spike at the top of the spire, and all three of us were looking at the real crystal heart, I was in awe by it, mostly because that thing could be worth a fortune.

"Well...now I see why Sombra hid this thing away from everyone, the damn thing must be worth a fortune in gold and credits alike!" I said while eyeing the crystal, my eyes widening under the helmet as I tapped my omni-tool and took a picture of it and sent it to the extranet to see what the price of it would be, when it came back I nearly fell over from a heart attack.

The feeling of vertigo passes as I get back on my feet and focus back on the heart just as Twilight gets to the alter and Spike looks over the edge to see what is going on I hear the sounds of ponies panicking and following in Spike's footsteps, I looked over the side and saw the black crystals forming up all over the city, slowly making their way to the palace.

"Twilight, while you and Spike deliver that heart to the Cadence while I deal with King Sombra and end him." I said while looking around for the little bastard through the scope of my Javelin and hoping to the gods that I see him in time to bullet in him.

"Roran you can't do that! All we have to do is just place the crystal heart back where it belong and Princess Cadence can simply banish Sombra back where he belongs! No pony else needs to be harmed by him and we all get to go home! Please don't go through with your plan!" she said while looking utterly disgusted by my words, Spike seemingly doesn't know what is going on but he partially agreed with the both of us.

Turning around to face her I take off my helmet and let her see all the pain and regret that my eyes could muster before speaking up, "Girl your plan is simple and naive, that's like trying to tame a shark Twilight, somebody is going to end up dead. In this case it will be rather me or Sombra, and I know for a fact that if either of us die that there will be collateral damage. No one will be escaping from this place in one piece, that much I can promise you."

Walking over to her I got down on my knee and looked into her eyes before saying, "I will kill King Sombra, that is an order given to me."

"By who?" Spike and Twilight said at the same time, wondering who would be so cruel and evil to give such an order.

Taking a deep breath before placing my helmet back on my head and sealing it tight I speak up over my deep breathing, "By someone I care for." walking back to the edge of the spire and resumed by search for the black red-horned unicorn.

Just as Twilight was about to ask specifically who, she grabs the crystal heart and in that instant black crystals forming an effective cage that trapped the lavender mare within.

"You know I saw this in a movie once...never thought this shit actually happens in real life...I guess that old Earth saying of movie magic is real." I mused while looking smug at the trapped mare.

Taking a look back I spot Sombra slowly forcing his way into the barrier until finally it gives and the black fog starts to move into toward the city, blanketing everything in darkness and corruption.

"Okay Twilight, stop goofing around and get out here, Sombra is making his move and we sorta need to get moving, unless you want to be under the rule of an corrupt dictator that needs to get a boot shoved up his ass. Hurry up and teleport out of the cage and take Spike down to the alter to shove the heart on it to get it working."

Waiting for the tall-tell sound of popping and failing to hear any of it I turn to see that Twilight is still in the cage but her magic is having no effect on the cage itself or allowing her to leave. Looking at the cage, I see that it was exactly like the black crystals that are signature to Sombra's power and the same that is still currently wrapped around Shining Armor's horn. Tapping it with my knuckles a few times I felt a tiny jolt of energy zap at me every time my knuckles connect with the black crystal and that each repeated tap causes an increase in the jolt till it gets to point where it discharges a volt of energy, which sadly feels like someone dropping something heavy on your foot.

"Spike, looks like you and I have to save the day...Twilight pass the crystal heart to Spike so we can go down the palace and place this damn thing home, well Spike will place it while I stall and hopefully kill Sombra but most likely piss him off before he gets banished back into that canyon from whence he came from.

Putting my sniper rifle away and going back to where the stairs begin, looking past the edge I can plainly Sombra getting closer to the city as the black crystals get bigger, larger and closer to the buildings and homes. Hearing Spike and Twilight talk for what was mere moments about how to get her out and the loud roaring yell from Sombra, Twilight passes the heart to Spike, which as soon as it enters his hands I rush over to him and grabbed him by the waist before throwing him onto my shoulders and started to back down the spiral staircase. Turning on my omni-tool and tapping out a single command phase before disengaging it and began to run full tilt down stairs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1kjxGr_xQw&list=RD02NCBXtUNyXPI

"You know Spike, for a baby dragon I had somewhat expected you to have like tiny wings or even the ability to sense gems and gold, but I guess my people's version of dragons were more mismatched what actual dragons are like...but please tell me that it is true that dragons have colossal hoards of gold and gems, cause assuming that I survive this place, I might go searching for dragons, maybe even write a book on them...or two if I am really lucky." I said while sprinting down the stairs, trying to keep a firm hold on his tiny legs which were wrapped around my neck along with his tail since my armor is not the most grip-able of suits.

"Well...now that you mentioned it, I have no idea what type of dragon I am...and yes us dragons have hoards but only if we have gone out in the world to collect it...me, not really." he says rather sadly, almost making me trip from a bit of shock but mostly shame for lack of knowledge.

"So you have no clue to what type you are...well since your flame has been modified or just how it is, whatever the hell it really is, I am just going to classify you as a magic dragon...and from what Twilight told me your tail can also act like a shovel so that is convenient in the event you ever need to hide something below ground and since I know that dragon scales are nearly impenetrable to almost everything, except for my blades, you can handle impacts, and from what I hear about your job at the library, getting covered in a mountain of books counts when you fall down and knock over a bookshelf...and for fuck sake how long is this goddamn stairs!" I yelled the last part after meeting the same bullet hole for the fifth time in a row.

Off in the distance I hear the sounds of Sombra roaring again but this time I am looking right at him and if he is not looking at the two of us, he is now, and he looks pissed.

"OH hayseed..." "Oh shit..." taping my omni-tool I pressed a button and than pressed another so everyone can hear what exactly I know will be worthy to be remembered.

"Crystal...mine"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0zdqeivGaU

Looking at the rising black crystals around the palace and looking at the one that Sombra is riding in on I looked back at Spike who is shaking out in pure fear, but what I did not know was that my legs were shaking a bit as well from the closing consuming darkness.

"Spike, do you trust me?" I said as I moved back to the wall and braced myself for the coming plunge.

"I sort of do, but you still haven't-"

"Good enough for me, hold on!" I said as I took three steps before jumping off over the side and landed on a chunk of black crystal as I started to maneuver around the parts that are growing to try to hinder my speed and movements.

As I ran around and over the rising and shifting black crystals to get to the bottom of the palace I know that Sombra will beat us to the punch and get there before us or more likely intercept us and fighting him in my current condition of holding a baby dragon who is holding the salvation for an entire race, the weight of so many lives bearing down on not just just tiny shoulders but on mine as well.

"Spike, this is gonna be threading the needle, hold on as tight as you can to that crystal heart and if you let go of it you will be condemning hundreds of innocent lives to a tyrant, do you hear me?" I said while sliding over a smooth patch of crystal before jumping onto another black spire and sliding down its length and jumping over to another diagonal black plank towards Sombra.

'Surrender the hatchling...I shall overlook your transgression against me...refuse and all shall suffer.'

'Stay the fuck out of my head!'

Running out of crystals to run on and seeing a grinning Sombra I looked for anything to save everyone, but found nothing.

Gambling with every single life in this city, I took the plunge into the heart of darkness, throwing Spike into the air before slamming down onto Sombra's head.

"This is for Hilo'Jaa you son-of-a-bitch!" I roared as I knee'd him in the stomach before rearing back and slamming my fist into his jaw to see a molar fly out of his mouth in a spray of blood. My voice carrying over farther than normal and the feeling of air being rushed by me was my sign that Dash came and picked up Spike from his plunge to his death by my eyes catch the sight of pink feathers and fur, Cadence, and she does not look like she went a week without sleep.

'You chose poorly...your life is for nothing...prepare yourself for the end.'

'Than if I am going down I am taking you with me!'

Turning my head back I catch a hoof to the head but my helmet protected me from the damage but what I felt next was something I would never expect to happen. As I started to rear back from the impact, an orange glow started to form from his hoof and in that second I quickly fall onto my back in time to avoid an orange blade from slicing my face open.

An orange blade...an omni-blade...a pony using human technology against its creators.

"Goddamn it! How the fuck did you acquire our omni-tools! I thought only I knew how to use those as a pony!" I said as he started on his offensive as I was immediately was forced into the defensive as each of his slashes were powerful enough for me to stumble and buckle under each blow.

'Your own weapons turned against you...soon others shall feel this sword's blade.'

"Not unless I kill you first!" I yelled as I forced him back with a Shockwave, long enough for me to return the favor, slashing and kicking at him as both began to fight to the death, knowing that neither of us will be leaving this battlefield unscathed.

Knocking Sombra away from me, giving me space and time to raise my left palm and fired in short bursts of biotic energy to keep him off-balanced as I raised my fist and extended out my omni-blade in time for him to raise his own as we clashed into a sword fight of the ages.

Swinging my right arm at him while keeping my left arm close to my body, still not completely in control of it from the destroyed output generator that I had to haphazardly fix at a moments notice but keeping it in a 'complete focus' mode, only to be used when standing absolutely still.

'This kingdom is mine...and soon that princess and student will be mine as well...an heir will be made.'

"Yea, well over, you have to get past me first, and my two friends as well and we both know that if I go down they will ensure that your body will redecorate the throne room! I will use your skull as my new drinking cup and your cape will be my new knighthood cloak!"

Blow for blow we both started to collect fresh wounds from one another, each cut, slash, scrape and bruise we matched as the fight turned into a brawl until I was facing the palace and Sombra me and the wastelands beyond the city limits. My eyes were watching the King for any moves he might have pulled but what my eyes were mainly trying to focus on was the sight of Cadence and Spike, knowing full well that they hold the key to saving countless lives.

'Your lack of faith within these ponies fills me with joy...you think they can not do what is necessary for when the time comes to do the deed that will cover their hooves in the blood of another, you do not trust them with your life...you fear that you will be just another tool to be cast aside when you are to worn down and damaged to be of any use...you are nothing more than a tool to everyone, your own mother used you like a tool.'

"S-Shut up! Shut the fuck up! I am no tool! I am the tool wielder and I will never be too worn and damaged! I am man! The pointy fucking tip on the motherfucking food chain! And your grass-eating ass is about to turn into a tasty fucking meal!" yelling loudly as I stab into his left hoof with my right blade and bringing up my right foot as I kicked him in the chest, sending him back near the edge of the black shard he raised to meet the palace.

'Your time has come, bare witness to my arrival as the king of Equestria, you shall be the first to have their blood spilled in the name of harmony.' his voice cutting into my mind as I reel back from the increasingly overwhelming power of his will until I feel something cut through my armor and a weight is lifted off before falling onto my back in shock.

'You are no longer human...you are only a machine to be repaired and replaced, your own humanity sacraficed long before your time.' he says before levitating my severed left arm and throwing it over the ledge as it tumbles end over end into the black fog below.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh.......mother....you mother...motherfucker!" I yelled while panting rapidly, my breaths now ragged and irregular, shock starting to set in, "That was my favorite fucking arm! That was my master debating arm you pompous fuck!" still yelling as I roll forward and slam back into his chest but this time my helmet being released from its locks as it rolls off the other side of the crystal ledge as I bite down onto his neck as I stab into his gut in his shattered defense, my teeth biting down harder on his neck as blood starts seeping out from the wound.

"I am going to fucking murder you!" still yelling from both the pain riding up and down my body as well as from the adrenaline coursing through my veins as I take another bite into his neck, sinking my teeth deeper into his flesh as I yank my head back, bringing up pieces of his fur, meat and blood with it as I stab back into his chest, severing, burning and melting organs as I lift him up with my one arm and threw him to the very edge of the crystal.

Watching him gurgle and cough up blood, I stumble my way over to him, my blade still out as I climbed over him, the sounds of the crystal cracking behind us as it slowly begins to deteriorate from the extra weight placed on its lightest point.

"Any last words before I send you to hell?" I said as I brought up my blade, aiming for his heart.

'Yes...you will be joining there before me.' his voice rings out as I feel something pierce my armor for the fifth time in its use.

Looking down I see his omni-blade stabbed into my left lung, blood pooling into it as my breathing becomes near non-existent. The pain finally overpowering my will to survive and my body finally saying it has had enough of this crap as I fall over next to him, both of us in a pool of mixed blood, our eyes locked onto the others.

"Fuck you....you fucking...fuck....fucker....McFucklips...." my words coming our jagged, sharp and weak as I give him the finger with my good arm.

Before he has a chance to say anything I feel the air getting colder yet soothing, the light itself starts to get brighter as I see the tunnel of light approaching but what I did not know was that just beneath us, Spike and Cadence did what I needed them to do.

"The one thing...you underestimated Sombra....is that us...and the ponies of both...Equestria and the Crystal...Kingdom...is that when...we are at our weakest....we are also at our strongest....you have failed....in your conquest....you have a first class ticket to hell...wait a bit longer...and I will be taking a seat next to you....punk bitch." I said as I feel something shatter the black crystal beneath us, the force of the winds sending me away from the city as my eyes catch a glimpse of Sombra, the bastard had it coming.

His body exploded from the power of the winds, his entire form just shattering like fragile glass getting smacked by a baseball bat as his disintegrates away, his crown and cape oddly clinging to my body as I go sailing off into the tundra.

My body landing deep into the snow as my blood slowly freezes from within, my body shutting down as my armor tries to do its best to preserve what little of vital blood and energy I have left, trying to hold out till rescue arrives but me and the suit knows it won't be coming.

"So cold....so very cold...." my thoughts slowly clouding and the power even to think soon becomes to heavy, if only--

Purgatory

"Gosh son, thank you so much for slaying the cursed demon pony, I am sure my soul will rest easy now."

"Shut the fuck up dad..."

3 Months Later

Katherine's Point of View

Every pony is in attendance for the funeral, all dressed in black, no face is free of tears. My own face is drenched in the tears for the man that has always stood by my side, even at times when I was yelling at him, verbally chewing his head off when he did not deserve it. My eyes looking at the empty coffin, its contents are his helmet, a large gash in the visor from where Sombra, and his left arm, the only part of his body we managed to find during the clean up of the Crystal Capital.

Sighing heavily I closed the casket as the last of the ponies sat down in the pews, Hilo'Jaa standing beside me, wearing my spare black dress uniform, no longer does the quarian have to fear about open-air exposures or sickness, the one gift from Sombra she will ever keep from the unicorn that held her hostage.

Slowly facing those in attendance I made my way towards the center isle, my face filled with nothing but pure sorrow and pain, having to lose my close friend for a second time now was just unbearable but I know that he would have wanted me to continue to live on, just as much as I wanted him to as well. Looking at the four unicorns and two gryphons standing by Roran's casket, each one holding a salvaged Mattock by their side as I prepared myself.

"Present Arms!" I yelled, the unicorns and gryphons standing at attention stand in a uniform line, their rifles pointing over the edge of Canterlot, pointing towards the Everfree Forest.

"Standby!" their rifles clicking off the safety.

"Fire!" all six fired off a single round, the sounds of ponies weeping, each one for different reasons.

"Fire!" the eight ponies and baby dragon sitting at the front are crying the most, they were the ones who have lost someone very close to them, behind them sat twelve diamond dogs, a few were wearing armor stamped with both Princess Celestia and Luna's symbol as the one sitting at the edge of the isle was wearing a black blouse, and tied to the end of her tail was a red bandanna, Roran's blood rag.

"Fire!" I shouted for the last time, the six fired their last rounds before standing back at attention.

Walking towards the podium, I stand at attention before everyone present, my eyes still wet from fresh tears but I have to be strong for those that are too weak to hold themselves up.

"Roran....was a good man, several times he has gone above and beyond the call of duty, a duty that he could have refused to serve several times, but instead he has taken up the sword and shield and defended those that couldn't protect themselves. Roran was always a hard-headed bastard, but...he was my bastard....he will always be my hard-headed bastard. He will be missed dearly by those lives he has touched, by those he has met...and by those he cared for. I...I....I will miss you..."

Stepping down from the podium I let the next person to say a few words about Roran, than another, another, and another before finally the sun was slowly setting off in the distance.

Taking one last look at the casket I lowered it into the ground next to the other stone coffins within the tomb built by Discord, the wild chimera seemingly sane at this moment when he has taken it to the tombs for me and even waited patiently for me to arrive to escort me to his final resting place.

"Farewell friend, see your ghost soon..."

End of Story Arc 1

Written by: Roran Dreamon

Idea's from: Mass Effect 3 and all of it's DLC, My Little Pony, and a bottle of Kiwi Strawberry juice

Editing by: One-Eyed Willy

Thank you fans for reading this section of the story, I will be writing the next story arc soon enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLeaib9IW_g

Arid Wastelands, Badlands

Unknown

"God...where am I....and why does my mouth taste like honey?"