I Have Returned: Chapter 29
To Save Equestria One Last Time
“NO!” Jane shouted. “She’s attacking the ship now!”
“Who?” Asked Crimson.
“Celestia. That one alicorn who was supposed to be kidnapped. It was all a lie. In reality she’s a Forerunner worshiping bitch, and she has a composer.”
“A composer!?”
“Ya.”
Strangely though Jane didn’t see the composer at all. All that there was was some Promethean airships, and some Forerunner cannons protruding from from Canterlot Mountain, all of them firing at the INFINITY. Jane also assumed that there would be some of Celestia’s Prometheans inside as well.
“Why isn’t she using the Composer then?”
“I have no idea.”
This perplexed Jane. Why the hell wouldn’t Celestia just get it over and done with, and kill everyone in an instant? Celestia wasn’t nearly that stupid, so she must have something planned.
As the Pelican got closer to the INFINITY Jane pointed to one of the hangers and said. “There, land in that one Crimson.”
“It’s probably full of Prometheans though.”
“All of them probably are. Just do it!” Jane ordered.
The Pelican slowed down as it entered the hanger. Groups of Prometheans littered the entire room forcing Crimson to gun them down with the pelican’s two nose mounted machine guns before landing.
Heading to the back of the Pelican where Rarity was still laying on the floor gritting her teeth as the unicorn suffered through the pain of her wound.
Jane opened up the cargo bay door of the pelican revealing two ODST’s waiting outside.
“Good to see you sir!” The ODST on the left said. “We’re in a dire situation Captain. The Promethean force is easily triple the size of the one that attacked the other day.”
“That’s not good at all.” Jane said before picking up Rarity. “Get this pony to the medical wing immediately. Her safety is of top priority. I’ll stay up here to defend the ship.”
“Yes sir.” The ODST said back as he took Rarity into his arms, the other ODST helping him.
Jane turned back around to the other five ponies and Crimson
“You all better go with them. I will make sure this ship is safe. Now go.”
Each pony pilled out of the pelican followed by Crimson, and ran up behind the ODST’s.
This hanger was safe for now, but it wouldn’t be much longer till more arrived. Jane just hoped that they would all get to the medical wing safely, then again they had the protection of two ODST’s and a Spartan. They would be just fine.
“Roland!” Jane yelled out fully knowing that the A.I. was listening.
“Yes Captain.” His disembodied voice said.
“Get this ship out of orbit fast! There is a Forerunner worshiping entity named Celestia inside the planet with a composer!”
“Captain are you sure!”
“Just do it Roland we don’t have much time!”
“On it!”
The Entire ship shook as Jane felt the barely fixed engines struggle to make the INFINITY gain altitude.
“Is this all she has!?”
“I’m afraid so. Sorry, I’ve been mostly diverting repairs to the slip space drives.”
“Do you think we can do anything with those yet?”
“Probably one minor jump to get us out of the planet’s magnetic field. I can only do it once we break free of the atmosphere though.”
“Fine then start prepping then.”
“Yes Captain!”
Jane ran over to a nearby door with an intercom system next to it. She punched in her access codes, and selected the option to have her message broadcast throughout the entire ship. Once that was done she pressed the red button on the control panel to activate the mic.
“Captain Jane Arimondo to all crew!” Her voice boomed. “Prepare for an emergency slipspace jump. I repeat, prepare for an emergency slipspace jump!”
The ship rumbled again as the strain on the engines got harder and harder. At this point the INFINITY was giving it it’s all to ascend.
Jane walked over to the edge of the hanger and looked down upon Canterlot Castle. At the very top of the tower Jane could just barely make out a figure on top of it. She had to squint her eyes a little to see it, but the being was definitely Celestia. Even at the distance they were at, Jane still felt like they had just locked eyes, and that Celestia had a mischievous grin plastered across her face. The thought of it made Jane scowl.
As if it confirmed Jane’s suspensions two Promethean Knight teleported behind Jane, both wielding scatter shots. Before they were able to fire though Jane turned around and grabbed both of their weapons, and angled them towards each other just as they pulled the triggers. The hard light fired from the scatter shots impacted the knights disintegrating them immediately.
Turning back around Jane muttered down at Castle. “Yeah, well fuck you to.”
The INFINITY started to stabilize, and its rate of ascension started to increase until Canterlot castle was just a speck in the distance.
___________________________________________________
UNSC INFINITY Bridge
By the time Jane Reached the bridge of the INFINITY, the ship was just exiting the atmosphere. Multiple groups of Promethean Knights, Crawlers, Watchers, and the new Prometheans ( which Jane decided to call Promethean Soldiers for now ) will still littered across the ship.
“Roland, you better get us out of here fast!” Jane said as she walked in.
“I’m doing my best Captain, by the slip space drive is giving me all sorts of trouble. The Huragok were only able to be it partially working after all.” Roland said, his avatar appearing on the holographic projection table.
“Speed up then, we might now have much time!”
“I’m an A.I.. I can perform hundreds of actions within a mere fraction of a second. Believe me when I’m saying that I’m going as fast as I can.”
Beads of sweat came down Jane’s brow. She had no idea how much time she had left before Celestia would fire the composer, hell at this point in time I might already be too late.
“Got it!” Roland shouted as a hole in real space was torn open in front of them. With little time to space the INFINITY entered the hole, exiting out the other side in a fraction of a second. The trip was a quick one, but that’s all they needed to free themselves from the planet's magnetic field.
Jane breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down on a nearby chair, and wiped the sweat off of her forehead.
“Roland, status report.” Said Jane.
“We are far away enough from the planet to be away from its magnetic field.” Roland responded as he brought up a live view of Equestria on a nearby monitor. The planet looked like nothing more than a marble at this distance. Jane tried to bring up her magic, but failed. This only further confirmed that they were far away enough from Equestria.
“What about the Prometheans.”
“They all disintegrated once we entered slipspace. We’re safe for now.”
Jane closed her eyes for a moment as she was still in the process of catching her breath. Since the beginning of this whole ordeal Jane had had no sleep whatsoever. Even with her Spartan augmentations, she was getting exhausted at this point.
“Goddammit, I can’t wait till this is all over. I need some sleep.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet Jane. Take a look at what my probes in low orbit are showing.”
The monitor's image of Equestria changed to an live video feed of the Crystal empire. Jane’s eyes widened as she saw a hole open below the Forerunner Dreadnought ship. Slowly the ship started to float down into the hole, and thus into the inner planet.
“Why the hell would Celestia do th- Oh shit!”
Jane’s heart skipped a beat as she just realized what was happening. Earlier Celestia was in INFINITY’s systems with Pearl. If she temporarily integrated with Pearl then she would have access to all of the UNSC’s data, including the coordinates to…. Oh god no.
“What is it Jane?” Roland asked.
“INFINITY was never Celestia’s target! She’s planning on attacking Earth! She was in INFINITY’s systems, and thus has its location. Now she’s going to attach the composer to the Forerunner Dreadnought ship and head to Earth!”
This was the worst possible scenario Jane could think of. No wonder Celestia only sent Prometheans to attack the INFINITY. She was trying to distract Jane and the others so she could prepare to attack Earth, and Jane fell for it. Jane had underestimated Celestia.
“Then we have to go down there and kill her before she leaves then.”
“There’s no point in that. Celestia has herself linked up with the planet’s core. She practically immortal right now.”
“What? How?”
“She made a deal with the Didact to watch over Equestria and make sure pony kind, and humanity would never make contact with each other. In return the Didact left her instructions on how to link herself to the planet's core, and give her unimaginable power. Because of that, she’s ageless, has insane magic, and is nearly impossible to kill. It went perfectly for her, except for the fact that the core malfunctioned and gave all of the other ponies a fraction of that power too. Even so, that doesn’t change the fact that it worked on her.”
“So this power is the magic that we’ve been seeing right? And the core is malfunctioning?”
“Yes, why?”
“What if we reset the core?”
“Wait, what do you mean?”
“If the Forerunners knew it was possible for the core’s to malfunction, then they must have put in a way to reset it to its original state. Think of it as reseting a product to its factory default. If we do that, then all of the magic in Equestria will go away, and we can kill Celestia.”
Rolands idea had merit, that was for sure. It could work, but Equestria would be changed forever. There would be no way in which pony kind could get their magic back. Thier entire society was built around having magic as a constant. Also if magic was destroyed, Jane would lose the elements.
“That’s only a theory Roland. We have no way to know if there is a way to reset the planet’s core. If we go down there and find out that you were wrong, then that’s a whole lot of time wasted. That could be the difference in humanity surviving or not!”
“Our recent jump into slipspace was all the ship had. It’s going to take awhile to fix the rest of it. We’re going to be here a good while longer Jane. It’s worth a shot.”
“Ya, but we’ll lose the elements. Plus pony kind would lose their magic. Thier whole society is based upon it. Who knows what will happen to them.”
“You’re actually concerned about what will happen to them after all that you’ve done?”
“Don’t take it that way. My main concern is humanity and the Elements of Harmony. Still though, that doesn’t change the fact that your idea is going to suck for them too.”
“I guess so. Really though, what other options do we have. Even if the fleet manages to stop the Dreadnought ship, lives are still going to be lost. This way we can stop her before she even leaves for Earth. Just think of the lives you can save if I’m right.”
“So what’s the plan then. I know you’ve probably conducted in in your head already.”
“Simple. Fly in through that hole in the Crystal empire in a flying vehicle of your choice. Step two get inside the core with me. From there plug me into any port you can find, and I’ll see what I can do.”
“That’s not a very complex plan.”
“It’s the best I can do with the limited data I have.”
The two stared at each other in silence for a moment. Jane still didn’t know if Roland’s plan was worth the risk. There were pros and cons to to what he was saying no matter how Jane looked at it.
Then to Jane’s surprise a third voice cut through the quiet air.
“Perhaps I should go in Roland’s place.”
Another avatar appeared on the holographic projection table. This time it was Pearl. She seemed to be for the most part fine, but her avatar flickered red every few seconds reminding Jane of the impending doom the A.I. was about to face.
“How did you get past my firewalls?” Roland asked.
“It wasn’t easy, but I managed to break through. My rampant personalities are temporarily under control, but I have no idea how long I can keep this up.” Pearl responded. “Jane, the being who is preparing to compose Earth was the same being who caused my rampancy, correct?”
“Yes.” Jane said.
“Then I should go in Roland’s place down into the core with you, if you choose to try his plan. I don’t have much time left, and I would like to get revenge on the one who did this to me before I die.”
“Very well then, I’ll take you with me.”
Roland looked surprised at this.
“Jane, she’s rampant!” Roland said. “It’s too dangerous for you to take her.”
“Yes, but in the chance that I fail, die, or take too long down there, you can get INFINITY out of here and back to Earth.”
“But Jane!”
“No buts Roland. I made my decision. This is the only way I’m going through with your plan.”
Roland sighed.
“Yes Captain.”
“Good. Start preparing a Broadsword for me Roland. Pearl, prepare a data chip for yourself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to let our guests know about what’s going on.
______________________________________________________________________
UNSC INFINITY Medical Wing
Jane strode into the room where Rarity was. It had seemed that the other ponies including Crimson had gathered there as well, to no surprise.
Not a single happy face looked at her. To all of them Jane was considered to be the one who caused most of this mess. Jane wasn’t expecting them to be happy to see her, but that changed nothing. She was here to give them an update on what was going on and that’s it.
“We have a way to stop Celestia.” Jane said. “It’s only a theory, but it requires a large sacrifice.”
“I’m guessing that means you’re going to be murdering more ponies!” Rainbow Dash accused.
“That’s not what it is.”
“I have a hard time believing you after all the shit we’ve gone through. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if you just came down and asked for the elements nicely instead of killing everypony!”
“What would be the point in that! With all of the killing that I’ve done in the past six years you would have thought of me as a monster regardless! I saved innocent lives by killing in the time in which I’ve been human. You ponies on the other hand would never have understood that with your ‘all killing is wrong’ attitude towards everything! Go ahead, tell me I’m wrong, I’d like to see you try!”
This time Applejack spoke up.
“Yes we view all killing as wrong! But for Celestia sake Twilight, you were our friend. We would have at the very least given you a chance to explain yourself, even if it went against our morals! The only thing that has made you a monster, is what you’ve done to Equestria in the last few days!”
For the second time that day, Jane’s heart skipped a beat. Everything that she had built her beliefs on was just shattered the moment she knew that there was a chance that her old friends could have accepted her. It was only a maybe, but it was enough to make Jane fall to her knees.
Crimson ran up to Jane and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Don’t you see Jane!” He said with a look that told Jane that he finally understood what made her go through all the pain she experienced. “Your friends would have been by your side no matter what. They trusted you, and your actions in Equestria has betrayed that trust. So please Jane, just come to your senses!”
And just like that Jane felt a tear roll down her cheek. There were so many deaths she caused in the past few days that could have been avoided. They were all dead because of her stubbornness, and her belief that her friends would hate her no matter what. That was innocent, avoidable blood that was all on her hands. Her desire to keep humanity safe was noble, and Jane still stood by it, but her actions in Equestria with no doubt made her a monster.
By now Jane was full on crying while Crimson moved his arms to embrace Jane in a hug.
“Let it all out Jane.” He said softly. “Let it all out.”
And Jane did. All of the pain that she bottled up over the years poured out of her in her tears. She couldn’t hold any of it in any longer.
“All I wanted to do was protect humanity.” She cried.
“I know Jane, but there is better ways of doing that. We’re soldiers Jane, killing is what we do, but we shouldn’t if we can find another way.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Jane knew that an apology wouldn’t even be close to enough, but that’s all she had to give at this very moment.
Luna Walked up behind Crimson and looked down to Jane.
“Twilight, are you back?” Luna asked with hope in her eyes.
As much as Jane wanted to tell Luna yes, she knew she couldn't. Even if Jane was done with hurting Equestria, she knew that in her heart, there wasn't a shard of Twilight Sparkle left in it.
“No, Twilight is gone. My name is Jane Arimondo, and that’s probably who I’m going to be for the rest of my life. I am a human being, and a Spartan. It’s what I was born to be. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to regret my past any longer though, or kill anymore innocent ponies.”
It was true. Jane had done too much as a human to turn back now. It was who she was. Luna on the other hand seemed rather disappointed at Jane’s answer as she just looked down at the floor.
“Very well then.” Luna said as she turned around to leave the room.
Jane broke her hug with Crimson and ran up to Luna just before she left and placed a hand on her shoulder causing the Princess to look back at her.
“One thing's for certain though Luna. I am going to kick Celestia’s ass into oblivion, for humanity and pony kind. Trust me when I say that I will have my redemption!”