//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Inked Up // Story: I Have Returned // by EPiiCx5587 //------------------------------// I Have Returned chapter 12: Inked Up 6 years ago… The air was still. Her breath in an almost panic like state. Jane was only able to calm herself down for a little while, before the reality hit her again that she had taken a life. That was a thought she just couldn’t get out of her head, something she never thought she was capable of...and now her hands are stained with blood. What does this change? Does it make her a different person than she was no more than an hour ago? How would her family view her? Of course Shining was a soldier as well, but he had never taken another life before. Did this make her a better soldier than her own brother? Even princess Celestia herself had only gone as far to banish others, but never kill them. Killing was illegal under any circumstance in Equestria. Only soldiers had the right to, but Twilight wasn’t part of the Equestrian Military, she was part of the United Nations Space Command. Equestria was lucky to be in the position it is in. No war, no violence. It was a happy place where anyone could feel like they belonged. Smiles everywhere you looked, and good ponies who would always wish you a happy day. From all that she read, it seemed like humanity has never had a period of time like that. Even during times without war, there was still murder, rape, and other crimes. Humanity needed peace, and Twilight wanted to help. But did that mean doing this over and over again? Would she even be able to keep count of all the lives she would have taken by the end of this? Just then Brennan walked into the room, back from the battle. He had some dirt on his face, and a cut above his left eye, but he seemed ok. He saw Jane there in her state of panic, not being able to sit still as her body shook. “You ok Jane?” He asked. “I…. I don’t know.” She responded, barely managing to get out the sentence. A worried look formed on his face as he sat down and put an arm around her for comfort. “It will be alright Jane, everyone here has been in the same position as you before, and if they haven’t they will be sooner or later.” Brennan made a strong point, but that didn’t ease her pain, and her worries. “Am I still going to be the same person? I really don’t want this to change me. I spent my whole life believing that violence was horrible in any situation no matter what.” She said. Twilight looked at him hoping for answer. He felt sad just looking at her face, it was covered in dried up tears, and her eyes were full of fear. Brennan sighed as he struggled to find the right words for her. He wanted to tell her that everything would be fine, and that she would be the same but he didn’t want to lie to her. “Look Jane...I’m not going to lie, this will change you. That change will never be undone, it will be with you for the rest of your life, but it doesn’t have to change who you are. I’ve changed since I first killed, but I am still me, and in the end that is what matters. So as long as you don’t let it get to you, you will still be the kind hearted Jane Arimondo who I know.” Jane threw her arms around Brennan surprising him. “Thank you Brennan.” She said. “I promise that I will always be who I am.” “I’m glad to hear that.” He said back returning the hug. Deep down though, he was worried. Twilight was just too innocent not to be heavily affected by this. She may be smart, but that doesn’t mean she has a strong mind. “But killing is still terrible, and what I’ve done is awful.” She said. Brennan sighed. “That’s true Jane, that’s true. Killing is bad, but that doesn’t mean that reason behind it has to be. Today you killed out of self defence, and in protection of the human race, there is no shame in that.” Twilight could only tighten her hug after that. “I understand, and thanks again.” The two continued their hug until a voice interrupted them. “Aww aint that cute.” The voice said. Twilight and Brennan quickly snapped back to reality ending their hug. They quickly looked up to see the rest of Twilight’s roommates all laughing at them. The voice was that of private Jones, a tall muscular african american. Behind him was Terresia, and Anthony who was a short italian man, but boy did he pack a punch. “You two having some fun?” Anthony laughed. “No I think they were hugging.” Terresia said completely missing the meaning behind his statement. Brennan chuckled. “Very funny Anthony, but you know I have a girl back home. I’m just comforting Jane after her first kill.” The three soldiers lit up with excitement like a christmas tree. They all crowded around Twilight’s bed with smiles on their faces. “Holy shit Jane, I didn’t know you had it in you.” Jones cheered while giving her a slap on her back of approval. “So, Jane what was your first kill?” Terresia asked. “Was it a grunt?” Twilight was to say the least astonished by all the attention she was getting. “It was a brute.” Instantly they three soldiers turned towards Brennan. Obviously getting the hint, he spoke up. “I can vouch for that, I saw it with my own eyes.” He said. They all turned back to Twilight absolutely ecstatic, especialy Jones. “Woh hoh, Jane Arimondo, Official badass!” Quickly an idea snapped into Anthony’s head. “Hey Jones, you thinking what I’m thinking?” “Ohh ya, I’m thinking that.” He responded. Jones walked over to his bed, opened up his bag and started to rummage through it. Brennan quickly realized what the two were planning, and spoke out against it. “No, you can not honestly think that I’m going to let you do that to her Anthony.” “Oh come on.” Whined Anthony. “Lighten up. Besides, I bet Jane would look kick ass with one.” “Ah ha!” Jones said, pulling out a small device with a needle on it out of his bag. “Found it!” Out of curiosity Twilight asked. “What is that?” “It’s a tattoo machine, we’re going to give you a tattoo!” Jones said, his smile gleaming. “A tattoo!” Twilight yelled. She had heard about them before, they were permanent marks on her body, and they wanted to give one to her! “Oh come on Jane.” Anthony said. “It’s for a celebration of your kill.” “I’m not too sure about this.” Jane said. Brennan couldn’t stand for this. “Don’t give into peer pressure Jane, you don’t have to do this!” “Oh shut up Brennan.” Anthony said while handing Twilight a piece of paper, and a pen. “Here, draw us what you want for a tattoo Jane.” Twilight froze up, the idea of putting a permanent mark on her body was almost repulsive. She was about to yell ‘no’ at him, but suddenly it struck her. She had a great idea. Twilight took the pen from Anthony and started drawing. The rest of the soldiers sat there in silence as she drew, with Brennan giving a glare to everyone else. “Done!” Twilight said holding up her drawing. It was her cutie mark, not that any of the soldiers in the room knew that. Jones laughed. “Seriously Jane? Is that the best thing you could think of? A couple of stars?” “Hey, it’s her tattoo, she can get what she wants.” Brennan said. “Fuck man, fine.” Jones complained while grabbing the other equipment he needed. “Where do you want it?” “On my shoulder will be fine.” Twilight said while taking her shirt off. Thankfully she had a bra on. Jones quickly set up his equipment, but before he started Brennan spoke up again. “Jane, are you sure that you want to do this?” Jane gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m sure Brennan, don’t worry.” Jones got to work on her. The needle felt strange due to this being her first, and hopefully last tattoo. To distract her from it, Twilight turned her head towards Brennan. “So, you’ve never told me about this ‘girl’ from home before haven’t you?” “Oh ya. Well she’s a high school sweetheart of mine. To be honest I’m surprised her and I are still going strong all these years later. When I get back, I’m planning on marrying her.” “Aww that’s so sweet. I hope this all ends soon so you two can be happy together” “Haha, ya, she makes my heart flutter.” Brennan laughed. “Do you have anyone from home like that?” “No, I have a lot of friends, but nobody who I’m really interested in. To be honest, I’ve never had a boyfriend before.” “You’re in you twenties and you’ve never had a boyfriend before?” Terresia asked. “As embarrassing as it is, yes.” Twilight answered. The idle chatter distracted Twilight from the pain of the tattoo, and pretty soon it was over with. Jones wiped down the last of the ink and then stepped back. “I’m done Jane, tell me what you think.” Twilight looked down at her shoulder and she was...impressed. Despite the pain in her shoulder the mark looked pretty much exactly like it did when it was her cutie mark; the lines didn’t run, the colors were nicely saturated, and the stars were symmetrical. It was very good for an improvised tattoo. “I love it, you do good work Jones.” Twilight complimented. He just shrugged it off. “Eh, a guy’s gotta have his hobbies.” Anthony gave a loud yawn. “Well my hobby is sleeping, let’s get some rack time. Who know’s how much rest we’ll have before more Covenant shown up?” “I hear that. See you two later.” Jones agreed. Now Twilight’s room was vacant, except for her and Brennan. Brennan was silently wondering what was going on Twilight’s mind, while she was still admiring the tattoo. “I know you told me not to give into peer pressure Brennan, but I really like this tattoo.” “Alright Jane, but remember, it’s on your body forever, and you’ll never get rid of it. If you’re willing to live with that, then enjoy it.” Brennan said while walking out of the room. “Goodnight Jane, get some sleep, you’ll need it.” He closed the door on his way out leaving Twilight all alone. She looked at her arm once again and marveled at her cutie mark. “Don’t worry Brennan, I accepted this thing being permanent years ago.” She giggled. Now that Jane got a good look at her arm, she noticed that she was now quite muscular. Hell, she bet that she could beat Applejack at a hoof wrestle if she wanted to. She might even be able to beat both her, and Rainbow Dash. It was hard to believe how strong she had become recently, and it was even more shocking knowing that she would continue to get stronger. Twilight wondered if when she got back would she her newly found strength carry over to her pony body. It was possible, plus it would be funny to see the looks on her friends faces when she got back. Hopefully by the end of all of this Twilight would have a lot of good stories to tell her friends about her time as a human in the UNSC. There would be a lot of bad things up ahead for her, but at the same time Twilight bet there would be some good things as well. Twilight made a choice to join humanities fight for their right to exist, and she was too far int to back out of it. She would get through this, she had to, no matter what. In the end when she thought about it, she was surrounded by good people, and they had all taken lives. There was no reason why she couldn’t still be a good person despite what she had done earlier today. She wasn’t going to change who she was, and Jane knew it. __________________________________________________________________ Crystal Empire Present day. Luna could see the Crystal Empire in the distance. She had been flying all day to it after the events earlier today. What ever that thing was, it wasn’t the Twilight she used to know. Luna gasped for air as she struggled to keep moving forward after so long. She was an alicorn, but even she had her limits. Luna just could not fathom what made Twilight or whatever she called herself now they way she was. How could any being believe that such generous violence could accomplish anything. Still though that species of hers seemed somewhat familiar, what were they called? Luna tried to delve deep into her mind, but instead a sharp pain coursed throughout her body. “AAAAHHH!” She screamed. The pain made her body go numb, stopping her mid air, and sending her plummeting towards the ground. Her body hit the ice cold tundra, thankfully though she was already close to the ground while flying so it didn’t hurt her that much. Still though, she was exhausted, and lying on the freezing ground. She didn’t understand, she had the same pain earlier when she tried to think about it. Luna tried again to think of what that species was, but as soon as she tried the pain rushed back to her. She couldn’t think about it now though, what mattered was that she got to the Crystal Empire with the rest of the elements. Luna got up on her hooves, spread her wings, and took flight again despite her lack of energy. Closer, and closer she got, as the lights from the Crystal Empire grew bigger. It wouldn’t be much longer now till she was there. They had to know about Celestia’s kidnapping, and of Twilights return. She also needed to protect the elements from there. Twilight knew Luna well, and she would know that Luna would come here. She’d be back, hopefully this time though, Luna would be ready. That wasn’t the only Twilight related thing she would have to deal with soon. There was her family. Her brother Shining Armor, and sister in law Cadence lived in the Crystal empire. A few years after Twilight left, her parents also moved there in hopes that they would be the first ones to see their daughter when she came back. In her thoughts though, Luna didn’t realize that she finally made into the city. With a sigh of relief she flew up to the tower. She saw a large landing strip at the back of the tower. Luna flew down, and landed with a thud onto the landing strip instantly collapsing from exhaustion after. She struggled with all her might to stay awake, but darkness quickly consumed her as she passed out. ____________________________________________________________________ A few hours later... Luna shot up awake. Instantly she looked around herself to find that she was in the guest bedroom at the Crystal Empire’s palace. From the look outside the window, it was still night. Luna calmed down, and caught her breath. The Elements of Harmony were still in Fluttershy’s bag, now next to the bed she was in. Luna had a sigh of relief knowing that she and the elements were safe. Suddenly Luna saw the door to the room creak open. To her surprise, it was Twilight Velvet, Twilight Sparkles mother. Velvet opened the door, and Luna noticed that Velvet wasn’t alone. Behind her was Twilights father Night Light, her brother Shining Armor, and Princess Cadance. Sadness swelled up in her heart seeing them after what she just experienced with Twilight, or Jane, or whatever she called herself back then. Luna knew she had to tell them, they deserved to know what happened to Twilight. She didn’t know what to say though, all that she could do was stare at them, and try not to cry. “Your Majesty, what’s wrong?” Velvet asked picking up Luna’s sadness. Luna couldn’t take it anymore, she had to tell them.“I have some awful news for you all, news that pains me to share with you. Celestia has been kidnapped.” She received a collective gasp from the entire room at once. Tears started to form in Luna’s eyes. “That’s not all though. Twilight is back, normally I would be happy about something like that. Sadly though things didn’t go nicely.” Luna said trying to hold back the tears. “She’s not the same anymore, she isn’t even a pony. She’s some freakish alien now. The worst part is though is that she stormed the castle at Canterlot, and tried to steal the Elements of Harmony. I was able to save most of them, but she got away with one.” Luna looked up at Twilights family expecting to see faces of shock, instead the all fell silent. Then Luna noticed something, they all had dried up tears on their faces. Why would they have those? Then Cadence spoke. “We know Luna, we know.” Luna was absolutely dumbfounded by that answer. “What! How?” Then Luna heard loud footsteps from outside the room. Curious she sat up wondering what is was. They grew closer, and closer until she saw it. A large alien right outside the door to the room. She recognized it instantly, it was the other one with Twilight earlier that day! It was wearing dark blue armour that was very dynamic. It had strips of white in it too, which added to the effect. This time though, it didn’t have it’s helmet on revealing its pale face. It had dark brown eyes, and relatively long brown hair to match it. Luna felt her heart racing, why was it here? And why wasn’t it hurting anyone. Strangely though, it looked sad for some reason. “What are you doing here!?!” Luna yelled. Suddenly though, it spoke back to her. “Princess Luna, my name is Brennan, but you can call me Crimson.”