//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Seeds of the future // Story: I Have Returned // by EPiiCx5587 //------------------------------// I Have Returned Chapter 10 Seeds of the Future ______________________________________________________________________________ Six years ago... Dear Princess Celestia I don’t know why I still write to you; there is no magic in this world, so there is no way that you can read my messages. I guess that writing to you just makes me feel better, it’s a hard life being a human; so I’ll take any chance I can get to calm myself down. I want to come back so much, but I would feel bad if I left for a peaceful world fully knowing what is going on here. I’ve met some nice people, but as soldiers it’s hard to have friends considering the circumstances we are always in. Send my love to all of my friends, especially my brother Shining Armor, he would be so proud of me now that I am a soldier. Your faithful student always, Twilight Sparkle. Jane pressed the save button on her data-pad, and looked over her message. She had been writing supposed letters to Celestia for awhile now. She knew she couldn’t send them to her, but just being able to write her thoughts down helped her so much. It had been a month since she joined up for the UNSC. With their desperate need for soldiers, training was quick, and she was sent out to the front lines. She hadn't killed anything yet, so she wasn’t as useful as a normal soldier. It scared her to her very core just thinking about it, killing something, ending a life. A frightening thought, but she knew it would eventually have to happen. She looked at her message and smiled. It was so fascinating seeing so many amazing technologies that humanity had, she would definitely have to tell her friends about it when she got back, especially Celestia. Princess Celestia was so good to her, always, she was like a second mother to her. Her ears twitched when she heard footsteps coming closer, she panicked, and quickly turned off the data pad, and placed it on her bed. The door opened up and in came on of her fellow soldier: Brennan Dougherty. He saw the data-pad, shot her a smile and said. “Sending a letter to someone?” “Yeah.” Twilight said smiling back at him. “An old friend. Actually she was my teacher, but she was like a mother to me.” “Wow, that’s nice. What kind of teach was she? Elementary? High School?” “Umm, I guess you could say it was a university.” Brennan chuckled at this. “You guess? That’s a strange response.” “Heh, you’re right.” He sat down right next to her, still smiling. He chuckled again at her words. “Now tell me Jane, why in the hell would a girl with a university level education become a soldier?” Twilight scratched her head at this question as she tried to make up a story. “Uhhh well, when the covies attacked earth I felt bad that so many were sacrificing their lives. Being a privileged civilian while others were going through that just didn’t sit right with me.” “That’s really noble of you Jane, I wish others were like that.” “Good save.” Twilight thought to herself. And it wasn’t entirely false, back home she was just that: someone who came from a higher place in life but answered a call when evil threatened others. “Sadly for me I didn’t get any fancy educations, I didn’t have the money for it. I grew up in Vancouver. I tried to get good grades, and possibly get a scholarship, but it was hopeless. In the end I joined up with the UNSC, so I could get my collage paid for once the war was over.” “Well, hopefully this will all be over soon, and you can get the education you want.” Twilight replied, returning his smile. Brennan looked down at Twilights data pad, then back up meeting her gaze. “What other kinds of things do you have on that Jane?” Twilight’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, almost shocking her fellow soldier. “I have sooo many books on it.” Brennan not knowing what he was getting into continued to question Twilight. “Oh, so you’re a big reader?” He just made a huge mistake Twilight shot out of her bed with excitement. “The biggest!” Twilight instantly logged on to her data-pad, and pulled out her selection of novels. “So far I’ve managed to read all of the most famous literature up to the twenty first century!” Brennan utterly shocked at this could only say. “Wow, that’s…. impressive.” “Thank you.” She said, her face gleaming with joy. “Next week, I’m planning on covering the twenty second century.” “Umm…. okay….” “I Haven’t done this much reading since I lived in the library.” “Wait, you lived in a library?” Asked Brennan. Twilight froze up upon realizing her slip up. “Oh uhhh, ya, I lived in a library. Uhhh my parents owned one, and we lived in the apartment above it. So, it was like I was living in a library.” Brennan nodded at this, accepting the strange, but believable story. “That makes sense I guess. It certainly explains how smart you are, and why you got such a good education.” “Hehe, ya.” She replied, twirling her hair a bit. Silence fell between the two. Jane started to look around the room diverting her attention from the soldier. It was so blank, nothing like she used to have. The colours were just your simple military green, and grey. As for furniture there was just a set of 4 bunk beds, and a table in the middle which her and her fellow soldiers played card games to pass the time. She had never learned back in Equestria to play games like poker, and black jack. Back then, the only card game she ever played was go fish because of Pinkie Pie. Oh god, did she miss the smiles of her friends. Brennan stood up, and stretched his arms out wide. He took a deep breath in, then looked at Twilight. “I’m going to hit gym. You up for some weights Jane?” She stood up with him. “Might as well, it’s not like we have much else to do.” ______________________________________________________ The two soldiers walked into the gym. Instantly the smell of sweat filled Twilight’s nostrils, almost making her gag. Luckily, she had come here before, she had almost gotten used to the smell. Humans definitely sweated a lot more than the ponies did. “Still bothering you?” Brennan asked. “Not much these days, I’m getting used to the smell thankfully. Still not quite there yet sadly.” Twilight made her way towards some dumbbells, and picked two of them up. She sat down on a bench, and started pumping them up and down, taking in deep breaths through her mouth while she was at it. So, this was it, military life. She would of never thought in a million years that she’d be doing this. Imagine if Rainbow Dash was here to see this, she would be laughing her flank off seeing her do this. Twilight didn’t even notice, but she had a huge grin on her face. “What’s making you so happy Jane?” Brennan said grabbing a towel, and water bottle. Brennan stepped onto a treadmill. He carefully mulled over his options before finally picking the second fastest option. Immediately the treadmill started picking up speed, almost throwing the young man off of it. He quickly got his balance, and proceeded to run while trying to take deep breaths to keep himself from getting tired. “Oh, it’s just, I have a friend who would of never thought I’d ever be caught dead in a gym.” “You seem to reminisce about your friends a lot Jane, it sure sounds like you had a good life before all of this.” “I did. And one of these days, when this is all over I’m going to go back to that life.” “We all do at this point. But let me tell you Jane, once you’ve killed it’s hard to go back. Listen Jane, I know you haven’t gotten your first kill yet, but it changes you. Even people with strong minds eventually break after enough killing. You’re a good person Jane, and I don’t want to see have to see that happen to you, so be careful out there.” Twilight stopped for a second. It hadn’t crossed her mind. How would taking a life affect her? She had fought in battles before against foes like the changelings, and Tirek, but she never killed. Sure she knew that it would change her to a cirtain degree once it happened, but she would still be Twilight? Would she? “Why are you telling me this Brennan?” “Because, I can tell that you’re not the military type Jane. You just seem so innocent, like you came from a place where war doesn’t exist. I haven’t been in the military for too long, but I’ve been here long enough to see good people like you become something that they’re not.” He was spot on, where she came from, there was no war. But she knew she had to stay the same, for her, for her friends. “Then I hope that I can prove you wrong.” She said putting a smile on her face to ease Brennan. “Trust me I want to be proven wrong.” He replied returning her smile. “Still though be careful.” “I will.” While they were working out they noticed about two or three people enter the gym, the reason why they stood out was because they weren’t just normal people; they were Covenant elites. Upon instinct Crimson rushed to his work out bag to pull out a magnum that he usually had concealed in it, before Jane stopped him, by grabbing his hand. “No, I think they’re supposed to be allied with us.” Twilight said. The room went silent, as all stared at the Sangheli. All of them looking at them with disgust. Then again, they had killed off most of their species, so it was natural. All except Jane, and Brennan. The elites noticed that, and made their way to the two soldiers. There were three of them, all towering over the Jane, and Brennan. Things continued to stay silent in the room, until the one in the middle spoke up. “This is where you humans exercise? Correct?” You could tell he wasn’t very good with english. Most of his words came out funny, like a child who just learned how to talk. Then again, most of that was due to him having mandibles instead of a regular human mouth making it hard to pronounce some letters. “I guess you could say so.” Brennan started, trying to be nice hoping that he wouldn’t piss the thing off “Chances are though that the weights are going to be to light for your species. So you might have to stick with cardio work like I’m doing.” He finished pointing to the treadmill he was just on. “Very well human.” The elite behind him muttered something to the one in the middle. He spoke Sanheli, so neither of them could understand what he said. “He can’t speak english I’m guessing?” Brennan asked. “Either that or he said something he didn’t want us hearing.” Twilight added. “Quiet you naked brute. I can speak your pathetic laungage just fine.” It hissed. “Enough Viral.” The middle one retorted. “My apologies.” Brennan sighed, as much as he didn’t want to speak to these guys he knew that forging new bonds were important if things were ever going to change. “After thirty years of war I wasn’t exactly expecting a nice friendly conversation anyways. Thank you though. I’m Brennan, and this is Jane.” “I am known as Veren. These are my brothers Viral, and Vussen.” “Umm excuse me.” Jane spoke up. “I have a question Mr. Veren.” “Very well what knowledge do you desire?” “Why, like Brennan said our races have been at war for over thirty years. What made you join us?” Vussen clenched his hand tightly, and growled. “Our prophets betrayed us, and then replaced us with those animalistic beings you call brutes.” Twilight opened her mouth to pursue more information, but was pulled back by Brennan putting a hand on her shoulder and saying. “I think that’s enough Jane, this isn’t exactly an area we should be prodding at if you know what I mean.” Twilight knew what he was trying to tell her. “Yeah, sorry I didn’t mean to pry into other species problems.” “It it...alright, but for the moment none of us are ready to speak about it on good terms. We have to go now, excuse us.” The three elites left just as quickly and abruptly as they came. “Jeez, hope I didn’t make things awkward for them.” Jane said, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.” Brennan chuckled a bit. “What? You acting awkward? No, that’s never happened.” Jane playfully punched him in the shoulder, she knew it was just good humored ribbing. Sometimes you need to keep the mood light, especially when dealing with these sorts of scenarios. Suddenly there was a loud boom and the two marines felt the ground underneath their feet shake. “What the hell was that?” Brennan asked. “Explosion, very large if it was that loud and close if we felt the shockwave.” Jane hypothesized. As if to confirm her suspicions an alarm blared through the room and an announcement began playing on the loudspeaker. “Attention all available marines: We are under attack by covenant. Suit up and report to the front lines as quickly as possible.” Brennan responded immediately and began running out of the room, Twilight however was having a hard time moving her legs out of pure shock. Brennan noticed this and looked at her with concerned eyes. “Jane...you gonna be okay?” That was enough to get her out of her stupor. “What? Yeah, yeah i’ll be...fine.” “Look I need to go join the rest of the troops and hold off these guys. You can stay back and defend the base from anyone who tries to get past us, you don’t have to be up in front if you don’t want to.” “No!” She replied quickly and loudly. She was nervous as hell but she wouldn’t let that get the better of her. “I mean...no, i’ll be fighting with the rest of you.” Brennan knew that someone like Jane had never seen combat like this, he knew that she was a squeaky clean kind of woman and may not be ready for what was out there. But he also knew she was very capable and resolute so all he did was nod and give her a reassuring smile. “All right, good luck out there.” Brennan ran out of the room and headed for his quarters to suit up and Jane followed behind him until she took a turn towards her own room. She stepped in quickly and hit a button on the wall, opening up the closet where her armor was stored; each of the soldiers rooms had a specially made closet where their armor could be stored compactly and conveniently as well as allowing for tuneups and repairs if necessary. Twilight stepped into the closet and stood on the floor spot for the process to start. The armor started with her boots whose metal plates snapped into place all the way up to her knees, next came the back piece, after that was the chest piece which covered her front and extended all the way to her forearm. The chestpiece and the boots extended and locked together in order to form the leggings, the gauntlets locked in to the end of the arms so they’re hands couldn’t be broken while in combat, and finally one of the most crucial pieces of a marines uniform laid on a shelf at the back: the helmet. Twilight put the helmet on her head strapped it on, and once she got it in a comfortable position the HUD whirred to life. Her breath starting to rapidly increase uncontrollably, her adrenaline was pumping and that only made things worse for the young girl who normally thought first and then acted. She went to grab her weapons from a chest in her room; the standard issue marine assault rifle and magnum. Making sure the rifle was locked and loaded she strapped the magnum to her side and started running out of the room and to the front of the building where they are being attacked. As she runs through the halls she tried to calm herself down “All right Jane, this is what you signed up for. This is what you’ve been training for, a way to help defend humanity.” She saw a group of marines running out the same way so she grouped up and joined them. Soon enough the large group and made it to the front door and as she looked outside the whole scene brought a chill up her spine: She could see the covenant grunts and Brutes marching towards them, firing off dozens of rounds of their energy weapons and the marines retaliating with an equal number of bullets. The battle had just begun and yet she could see quite a few covenant bodies littering the ground. Most of the marines charged forward quickly to get into the thick of things but Twilight had stayed back a bit, veying to go for a smarter strategy. There was a small dugout close to the front of the base, Twilight holstered her assault rifle on her back and pulled out her pistol for more accurate shots. Her plan was to stay back and support the rest of the troops by shooting the enemies in places that would harm and cripple them: legs, arms, the chest, and then the other marines could finish the job. The pistol came with its own scope so her shots had a very small chance of missing; she stayed back and began shooting the incoming covenant which staggered them for just long enough so that the rest of her fellow soldiers could finish them with a quick shot to the face or snapping of their necks. At first this worked very well, she was assisting the troops but still staying out of the majority of the fight. However, for the moment the marines were winning and driving back the covenant forces meaning that they were farther away from Twilight and the farther they got the less accurate her shots got. She started moving up and while she had some time she reloaded her pistol so she wouldn’t unexpectedly run out of ammo. Unfortunately, she didn’t noticed one of the bodies on the ground jump up and run towards her. When she turned her head it was too late as a brute jumped up and tackled her to the ground, unfortunately Twilight wasn’t very top heavy so she didn’t have enough strength to push the beast off as he stood over her menacingly with a plasma pistol pointed at her face. “Human…” It screeched in it’s deep pitched voice. “Filthy human, thinking it can kill me with a blow to head. But I am tough, I will kill you filthy human!” Twilight struggled underneath the things weight, trying to get out, but it wasn’t working. Then she looked to her side and saw something lying within her grasp; a covenant elite’s energy sword. She still could move her arms, she had the potential to grab it and use it to kill the brute on top of her. But… The brute’s energy pistol began whirring to life, glowing with green light. That was the universal signal that he was about to fire a fully charged shot which at this range would blow Jane’s head clear off. She made her decision, she reached for the saber and pressed the switch on the side to activate the blade, then with all her force she swung it at the brute which knocked him off her. He groaned but was still pointing the fully charged shot at her. “You pig, I’ll…” He didn’t get to finish that sentence, in a moment of panic Twilight took the blade and lunged at the brute as hard as she could; the result was that she impaled the brute right in the face. The blow did not kill him quickly, he screamed at the top of his lungs in pain and she could see his blood leaking out of the back of his head and staining the ground. Even after he died Twilight could not get up from that spot as the gravity of the situation kept her in place. She had done it, she had ended another being’s life. Her eyes were the size of pinpricks, there was sweat going down the side of her face. Then she noticed something. She was grinning. Why was she grinning? “Jane!” She heard someone shout at her, she looked up and saw Brennan’s armor. “Are you okay?” He asked her. She looked back down at the dead enemy in front of her and tried to think of a responce. “No...I don’t think I’m okay.” Brennan extended his hand to her, Twilight grabbed it and pulled herself up. “Come on, these guys are almost all but gone. Why don’t you head back to the base and we’ll clear out the rest of them?” “That...sounds nice.” “Okay.” He patted her on the back. “Get some rest Jane, I’m sure everything will be okay.” “Yeah...right.” She said halfheartedly. Brennan ran back into the thick of things while Jane headed in the opposite direction. She doubted that things could ever be the same now, because as much as Jane hated the thought that she ended a life, she couldn’t help but feel...excited. She looked at her hands, the blood that had stained them, and she felt a certain sense of satisfaction, almost exhilaration. Things may be okay, but now...they were certainly different.