//------------------------------// // Chapter 30: One Final Letter // Story: I Have Returned // by EPiiCx5587 //------------------------------// I Have Returned: Chapter 30 One Final Letter “So what is this sacrifice you speak of Jane? What will it take to defeat Celestia, and will it harm any ponies?” Luna asked. Jane had just finished putting on her armour save for her helmet. She was in a hanger standing next to the Broad Sword she asked Roland to prepare for her. Soon she would be off to the core, but first Jane wanted to know is she had Luna’s consent with the plan. It was the very least she could do after everything that happened. “You know that Celestia is connected to the planet’s core right?” “Yes I do.” “Roland theorizes that if we reset the core, all magic will be lost. This will in turn make Celestia mortal so we can kill her.” “You want to destroy all of Equestria’s magic!” “That’s what I’m going to do. It’s going to happen regardless of what you say, but if I had your permission to do it, it would make this a lot easier on my conscience.” Jane knelt down a bit to meet Luna on eye level. She gave the Lunar Princess her most sincere look she could muster up. The two pairs of eyes met. Luna’s face looked conflicted. The two stared at eachother for a moment before Luna’s face looked down upon the floor. “Jane?” Luna asked. “Yes?” “I think Equestria has relied on magic for long enough. It’s time for us to move forward, and this will be the push pony kind needs. Like you said, one who cannot sacrifice anything, can never change anything.” Jane gave Luna a smile. Now she could do her work without any moral chains to make her hesitate. “Thank you Luna. I have a job for you though.” “And what would that be?” “There are places that require magic to live, like Cloudsdale for example. Once Equestria loses magic pegasi will no longer be able to fly, or walk on clouds. I’m sending you down along with Crimson, and other groups of people to evacuate places like this. Can I trust you to do this for me?” Luna just smiled. “You can count on me.” Jane put on her helmet and walked over to the pedestal where Pearl was waiting for her. The A.I. looked normal at first glance, but she flashed red a few times reminding Jane of her impending doom. Performing this action was probably going to kill Pearl. Whatever strength she had left would be put into this one final effort. “You ready Pearl?” “As ready as I’ll ever be Captain.” Jane ejected Pearl’s brand new data chip and inserted it into her helmet to the A.I. could connect with her neural implants. It was a strange feeling everytime Jane did that, especially considering that when the A.I. would talk it would sound like the voice was inside her head. The creepy part was that the voice was inside her head. Once Pearl’s avatar disappeared from the pedestal, Roland's avatar took her place. “You sure you want to do this with her Jane? It would be safer if I went down there with you.” “No, you have so stay with the ship incase I fail.” “I don’t just want to sit here and do nothing.” “I know, which is why I’m ordering you to send a warning to Earth. Tell them what’s coming their way, and to prepare all of their defences. They’re going to need everything they can to protect themselves if I don’t succeed.” Roland sighed. “Yes Captain, I’ll get right on it. Just promise me that you’ll do your best to come back.” “I will Roland, I will.” Jane walked over to the Broadsword prepared for her and took a deep breath as she opened the hatch and climbed in. There was a good chance that she was going to die today. The scariest part though was that that death may come from the hands of one who she used to look up to. Celestia was like a mother to her throughout most of her life, and now Celestia and herself were going to try and kill each other. Fate was indeed cruel today. Crimson walked up beside the broadsword and looked up at Jane. “Be careful out there Jane. Even through all of the bad, you have no idea how much I’ll miss you if you die down there.” “Don’t worry Crimson, I’ll do my best to come back in one piece. You’ve been a great friend to me despite all of the bad things I’ve done. Can you do something for me though?” “What is that?” “If I succeed, but don’t make it back, tell em to make it count.” And with that Jane closed the hatch which sealed with a hiss. No more words were needed to be spoken. They both understood their duty, it was time to bring it to and end. Crimson locked locked eyes with Jane as the platform in which the Broadsword was on lowered. They both knew very well that this could be the last time they saw each other. The Broadsword was lowered into a long corridor with a blast door at the end of it. Two metal camps grabbed onto the Broadsword as the airtight hatchway leading back into the hanger above her closed. The corridor was then depressurised before the blast door opened revealing the cold emptiness of space. Jane activated the Broadswords engine, the thrusters spitting out fire like a dragon. After a few seconds the clamps holding onto the fighter released, and the Broadsword flew out of the ship and into space. In the distance Jane could see Equestria in all of it’s glory. The place in which she grew up in. It looked so different to any other world she had been on, like it was some sort of cartoon. Equestria’s days of looking like that were at an end though, soon it too would be a regular planet. ___________________________________________________ Crimson climbed into the pelican’s cockpit alongside princess Luna. He couldn’t focus on the wrongs that were committed by Jane during his time in Equestria, all that he needed to do right now was help with the evacuation effort and hope that Jane would be successful at shutting down the core. He glanced over to Luna, and from the expression on her face, he diagnosed that she was feeling the same way he was. “You ready to have this all over and done with?” Crimson asked. “More than you know. My life has been turned upside down in the past few days. I honestly don’t even know what’s true anymore.” Crimson started up the pelican, and flew it out of the hanger. In the distance he could see Jane’s Broadsword speeding towards Equestria, the metallic hull of her ship reflecting the light of the nearby sun. Luna seemed to be staring at the Broadsword too as she said. “Please Jane, save us one last time.” __________________________________________________________ Awhile later…. Jane’s Broadsword was just about to hit the atmosphere high above the Crystal Empire, or what was left of it. Due to Jane heading to Canterlot immediately after her attack, she didn’t get to have a proper assessment of the damages she caused. The Broadsword started to shudder as the cold vacuum of space was replaced by Equestria’s atmosphere. Equestria’s moon was right in the middle of the sky. On the planet it was well past midnight for sure. Sunrise would be in a few hours. It made Jane wonder if it was going to be a sunrise of a new world, a new beginning for Equestria. After flying through a layer of clouds, the Crystal Empire started to come in view, or what was left of it. Charred housed littered the streets, the aftermath of all of the fires that raged through the city. There didn’t seem to be a single living soul down there amongst the recent ruins of the city. The sight made Jane shudder. She should have taken more precautions to minimize casualties. In the middle of the city where the dreadnought ship used to be was just a massive hole leading into the inner planet. That would be Jane’s entrance. Hopefully it would give her a direct shot at the core. If it didn’t then this would have been all for nothing. Jane angled the Broadsword towards the hole, and put the fighters thrusters on maximum. Once she was over the hole Jane could see the surface of the inner planet which also had a massive hole in it leading further into the planet. “Captain?” Pearl asked, her voice distorted a little bit. “I have noticed that you have no weapons equipped. Can you elaborate?” “The way I see it is that my magic is about to go away. Might as well use it while I have it. You know, one last time.” “I see. A strange choice indeed, but I’m going to die anyways so it’s all the same to me.” “Don’t think like that Pearl. If we pull this off, you’re going to die a hero. That’s something that some humans can only dream of. Going out in a blaze of glory. You’ll be remembered throughout history for your actions today.” “I suppose so. Thank you Captain.” “Dispense with the formalities Pearl. Right now were just two people trying to save humanity. We’re probably going to die today, so we should die as equals, as comrades.” “As friends?” Jane let out as chuckle remembering all of her studies about friendship, and how many memories that one word brought up. “Yes Pearl, as friends.” “You got it Jane!” The Broadsword was now going through the second hole into the deep planet. From here on there was no more layers, instead Jane saw that the rest of the planet was hollow with nothing but the core in the middle. Her destination. “Jane! Incoming targets! I count about six Forerunner Phaetons!” “Well, we were bound to get some resistance!” On the radar in Jane’s heads up display six dots appeared behind her. In response Jane cut the thrusters on her Broadsword slowing it down, forcing the Phaetons in front of her. Before the Phaetons had time to adjust their speed Jane fired missiles at each one of them. Each missile landed save for one due to the Phaeton making its way behind the Broadsword fast enough. Jane had no time to react as the Phaeton fired hardlight rounds at her Broadsword. The shields on the fighter didn’t last for long as the hard light bullets were soon impacting the Broadswords hull. It wasn’t long before the damage became excessive and Jane started losing control of the fighter. Reaching deep inside her magic Jane conjured up a spell to start compressing the Phaeton until she eventually destroyed it. It was a small victory, but it was short lived as Jane now had to cope with her Broadsword spinning out of control. Jane was starting to near the spherical core of the planet now. She could see an opening at the top of it with the Forerunner Dreadnought slowly lowering into it. Jane wanted to fly over to the opening, but the controls to the Broadsword were now entirely non functional. “Pearl! Status report!” “All flight control systems are non responsive. Our current trajectory will take us to a landing pad on the edge of the core. Sensors detect that there is a small opening therein which we can enter. At least they were going somewhere. That was better than nothing. The problem was that is was just a little too convenient. This was probably going to lead Jane into a trap made by Celestia. Chances are she did this so the two could have a little talk before she killed Jane. The small landing pad was in view now as the Broadsword hurdled towards it. Jane held her breath, clenched her teeth, and braced for impact as the fighter slammed right down onto the platform. Her body due to the force of her going at an incredible velocity then suddenly stopping sent her flying out of the cockpit, smashing through the hatch and out onto the landing pad. Her armours shields were instantly depleted as it tried to absorb the impact. By the time Jane was able to catch her breath her whole body ached. Thankfully she was a Spartan, and her body could take damage far beyond what a normal human being could. In fact her bones were borderline indestructible. “Pearl you still there?” “Of course I’m still here! Do you honestly have that low of an opinion of me! Ugggghhh I’m sorry the rampancy is taking over. It’s getting harder to think straight!” Pearl cried out. “It’s ok, just hang in there Pearl, we’re almost done.” “What if I don’t make it in time?” “Don’t worry, I prepared for that.” Jane managed to get up and walk over to the wreckage that used to be her Broadsword. Opening up a compartment on the bottom of it Jane pulled out her last resort, a havoc grade payload. “Is that what I think it is?” Pearl asked. “Yes. It’s plan B.” “I had no knowledge of this.” “I know. I didn’t tell anyone that I put this in. Rolands theory of resetting the core is just a hypothesis. If that doesn’t work I’m going to go to the Forerunner Dreadnought ship to detonate this nuke. It’s a last resort if you die, or Roland was wrong.” “Why didn’t you tell anyone!” “They wouldn’t let me go if I told them. I’m prepared to sacrifice myself. I owe it to all of the pony’s I’ve killed, and to humanity for being so kind to me. Going out in a blaze of glory, that’s the Spartan way. I’m prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice today, that’s why I told Brennan to tell them to make it count.” “But you’ll die!” Jane chuckled at Pearl for the second time that day. “Don’t be silly Pearl, I’m not going to die. I’m just going to be missing in action.” Taking no more arguments from Pearl Jane placed the bomb on her back and marched into the opening to the core. Jane found herself on a long walkway suspended over a large pit. Looking above herself Jane could see an overwhelming amount of Forerunner machines operating. She could only imagine what they were doing. Everything around her was lit up in a pink hue, much like Celestia’s prometheans of which there were strangely none of at the moment. On the other side of the walkway there was a large wall with a small door in it. Looking over in both directions it seemed as though the wall went on forever. Eventually Jane made her way to the door which opened as she got just a few meters away from it. Jane walked through the door and came to a small room with pathways leading of in both directions. A data port was in the middle of the room in which Jane walked up to briskly and inserted Pearl. “So Pearl, I have two questions. First off where do we go from here, and secondly will Roland’s plan work? “Yes. It seems that his hypothesis was correct; however we need to go to the center of the core to reset it. It seems that there is a control panel there. It is separated from the rest of the system though, so I cannot access it.” “Which way to the core, give me a nav point.” A nav point appeared on Jane’s heads up display. It was about a kilometer away from where she was standing. “Place me back into your helmet. I can give you direction from the- You filthy swine! I ottah kill you! AHHH! I’m sorry!” Jane took Pearl’s data chip and placed it back into her helmet. “It’s ok, just focus on getting me to the core for now.” “Take the left path. Turning left Jane started walking down the hallway Pearl guided her into. Strangely though, she came across a dead end. Jane was about to turn back until a portal opened in front of her very eyes. “I took the liberty of setting up a chain of portals to take you to the center.” Said Pearl. “Good, thank you.” Jane responded as she lept through the Portal. Jane came out on the other end into a room full of prometheans waiting for her. Not wanting to deal with them Jane simply used the same spell she used on the Phaeton on all of the Prometheans. Each of them exploded in a barrage of pink light leaving Jane alone in the room. She checked her nav point, she was still five hundred meters away from the core. “Pearl what the hell was that!?” “I’m sorry Celestia must have interfered with my chain of portals. You’re going to have to hoof it from here on out.” Jane bolted for the nearest hallway in the direction of her nav point, grabbing a scattershot from the floor on her way just in case. She had no time to waste. Suddenly though a voice came through Jane’s com unit. A voice she knew far too well. “I see you made quick work on my prometheans.” Said Celestia. “I guess it was a mistake to make you an alicorn.” “And I see that you’re too afraid to show your face. What’s wrong, are you afraid of a measly human?” “That’s not a proper way to speak to your mentor Twilight. Also I’m busy preparing for the cleansing of the planet Earth.” “First off fuck you, second off my name is Jane.” “Yes I know, and your actions in Equestria these past few days have been a disgrace to your heritage.” “Yes, but not this one. I’m going to save humanity and Equestria.” “Humanity and their destructive tendencies do not deserve to be saved.” “That doesn’t matter. Nothing gives you the right to slaughter billions.” “Don’t give me that. Humanity led the flood to the Forerunners, they deserve what ever punishment the Forerunners deem worthy.” “Yeah, but you’re not a Forerunner.” “Yes, but I looked around on your ship’s records while I was aboard it.” “You killed Lasky you sick fuck!” “Yes, and I came across the records of the Didact’s attack on Earth. Sadly he failed, but in his honour I’ll finish what he started.” “Not before I finish you.” Jane said before shutting off her com unit. After all talking to Celestia was nothing more than a waste of time.” Jane came out into a large opening. Above her Jane could see the Forerunner Dreadnought Ship coming through the hole at the top of the core. Then Jane started to see the composer being raised up into it. In front of Jane was a gravity lift. The nav point on Jane’s hud pointed to a small sphere in the middle of the opening. “Quick!” Pearl yelled. “We don’t have much time left. The grav lift will take you to the control panel!” Without a second though Jane lept into the gravity lift and found herself soaring through the air. She must have been a few hundred meters off of the ground as the grav lift was just before a large drop off that seemed to lead to the bottom of the core. Jane flew closer and closer to the control panel, and once she was a few dozen meters away from it a fifty meter long hard light platform extended from it which Jane landed on. Quickly Jane ran up to the sphere and inserted Pearl into it. Within just a second though Jane heard the sound of someone teleporting behind her. Turning around Jane saw a very angry looking Celestia who was charging up her horn. “This is the end for you Twilight Sparkle! Or should I say Jane Arimondo!” Celestia screamed. Jane braced for incoming doom, but soon a massive wave of light flew over Jane and Celestia. The first thing Jane noticed that nothing looked like a cartoon anymore and Celestia was just standing there looking dumbfounded as to why her horn wasn’t working. That meant that Pearl succeeded! “What’s going on!” Demanded Celestia. “Where is my magic!” “It’s gone. All magic in Equestria is gone now. We reset the core of the planet. You have no more power now.” “No, No! NO!” Celestia screamed as she fell to her knees. “You’ve cheated death long enough Celestia. How does it feel to be mortal?” “You human! I taught you better than this.” “You’ve taught me a lot of things, but yet you have so much more to learn.” “You sicken me.” “But I’ve learned quite a bit during my time as a human. In fact I’ve just learned a valuable lesson about friendship. I learned that no matter what a friend will always do their best to understand you, and that a true friend will always give you a chance to explain your actions even if those actions go against their morals. If only I had learned that lesson sooner than maybe I wouldn’t have assumed that all my friends would think of me as a monster just because of my actions as a human. I didn’t learn that lesson in time though, and that made me cause so much pain and suffering upon my return to Equestria.” “I could care less about the words of a human!” “Well you better remember them, because that was my final letter.” Jane said as she pulled out her scattershot she picked up earlier and fired it directly at Celestia’s face, disintegrating her instantly. What was left was an eerie silence as Jane realized that it was all over now. “Good job Pearl.” Jane said. “Lets go home now.” Strangely though, there was no response. “Pearl, you there?” Nothing. Jane soon realized that resetting the core must have taken all of what was left of the little A.I.. Pearl just like Jane said, died a hero. _________________________________________________ Jane came back out onto the landing pad where her crashed Broadsword was. Now though there was a pelican with Crimson standing next to it smiling at her. “You did it Jane.” He said. “It’s all over now. You saved Equestria and humanity.” Jane exhausted now climbed into the back of the pelican, buckled up, and took her helmet off. “I know. Celestia’s dead now. You can tell Infinity to move back into low orbit.” “Already have.” Crimson said as he went into the cockpit and started up the pelican. “Luna is up on the surface directing ponies evacuated from magic required places to refugee camps we set up. I’ll take us there now. In the mean time get some rest.” The pelican lifted off of the landing pad and soared through the air and up to the surface. As the ship exited the opening to the planet Jane could see the sun on the horizon casting a glow over the mountains. Equestria now looked like a normal planet just like Earth. Soon ponies would be waking up to the new world and all of its glory. As Jane looked down upon the landscapes she had a smile on her face. It truly was a world born anew.