Chapter 16: Loss
I Have Returned Chapter 16:
Loss
6 years ago…
It had been one week sense Brennan left. If felt strange for Twilight, the possibility of never seeing him stuck with her. It was a shitty world out there, something that Twilight soon learned after joining humanities fight.
In Equestria good ponies lived long fantastic lives, here on Earth it didn’t matter who you were, anyone could homeless, injured, or even killed the next day thanks to the Covenant.
Nobody was safe, no matter how strong, well respected, or good you were. It’s a sad reality that humanity lived with everyday, and yet Equestria didn’t. Why? Humanity constantly fights for peace, and yet they never get it, and then ponykind gets it just handed to him on a silver platter.
Twilight couldn’t help but feel sorry for all of the humans who lived like this. They suffered so much. When Jane thought about it, some of them deserved peace far more than the snobby nobles in Canterlot. But it was a dark line of thought she was entering, so she decided to push it to the back of her mind.
In the end though that’s why she chose to stay here. Humanity needed heros, and after saving Equestria so many times, Twilight knew that she had the potential to save the human race. Celestia told her for so many years that she was special, and she proved that to all of pony kind, it wasn’t out of the question that she could do the same for humanity.
Twilight sighed to herself, and laid back onto her bed. She was stuck in another one of those never ending thought loops. She needed to find something to distract her.
Thankfully for her Jones just walked into the room.
“Hey Jones.” Twilight said with her trademark smile. “What are you up to today.”
“Well as of right now, I’m looking for you.” He said back.
Twilight was a little surprised by this, but the surprise wasn’t unwelcome. “What for?”
“I’m teaching a few of the hinge heads here how to play pool. We were going to have a two on two game. I wanted to see if you wanted to be on my team?”
Hinge heads. A derogatory term for the Elites or Sangheili used by humans, Twilight had come to learn it fairly quickly after becoming human.
Twilight once again was surprised. “I’ve never played pool before, so I wouldn’t be very good at it. Why don’t you get Anthony or Terresia to play?”
“Well Anthony is too busy being a lazy fuck right now. And Terresia is hanging out with some other soldiers.” Jones joked. “So you’re all I have. Don’t worry I can teach you to.”
Twilight stood up out of her bed. She hadn’t done much that day other than her usual mandatory exercises. She would always play games with her friends back in Ponyville, so it would be like a taste of home to her by going along with Jones.
“Sure why not then. It would nice to learn a new game.”
The two started to head the the leisure room at the base. War was shit, but they still had facilities to keep soldiers minds off of the horrors of the Covenant.
The entered the small room, which showed little signs of life. Most of these days soldiers just slept of trained in preparation for an eventual attack. The games room itself was even moved to a smaller room because the larger one was needed for more important tasks.
Twilight looked around her. The room had once again the typical barren colour palette that the rest of the base had. All that was in there was an air hockey machine, a foosball table, a regular table with a deck of cards and of course the pool table.
A few soldiers were playing what seemed to be blackjack, but other than them Twilight and Jones were the only ones in the room.
After about five minutes of Twilight and Jones making small talk the elites finally came in. Jane immediately recognized them from the exercise room a little over a week ago. It was just Veren, and Vussen.
Veren was the first to speak. “Viral didn’t desire to attend.”
“I can’t imagine why.” Jane responded with lighthearted sarcasm.
Jones chuckled at this. “That’s ok man, after all this game is usually played two versus two anyways.”
“Very well then human.”
Twilight could tell from Veren’s voice that he didn’t have much interest in playing. After all, she had heard that the Elites were a very honour based society, so she couldn’t imagine playing games being a well respected pass time. Twilight could only guess that they were just trying to fit in for the time being.
“What if the purpose of this ‘game’?” Vussen asked.
“Well.” Jones started while moving towards the pool table. “The game is called pool.”
Jones started to take an assortment of multi colour balls from pockets on the edges of the table, and place them in a small triangle save for one white ball. Some were stripped, and some were fully coloured, and they all had numbers on them.
“As you can see we have two different kinds of balls. Solids, and stripes. One team will have one type of ball, and one team will have another.” Jones continued as he grabbed some long wooden sticks. “The goal is to use a stick called a pool cue to hit a white ball in a way that will cause it to collide with one your teams balls to get them into the pockets on the ends of the table.”
Jones took out a blue ball from the triangle, and placed it down onto the pool table. “Let me demonstrate.”
Jones took the pool cue lined up his shot, and hit the white ball sending it rolling towards the blue one. The two smashed into each other, and the blue one ricocheted into a pocket on the corner.
After that Jones took the blue ball back out and placed it once again into the triangle. “The ultimate goal of the game is to get the black ball with the number 8 on it, but you have to sink that one after all of your other balls are sunk.”
“Is that all?” Veren asked. “And why is it called pool?”
Veren due to being an elite couldn’t pronounce some human letters, so it came out as fool, but Jones got the gist of what he was saying.
“There’s a few other things, but you’ll learn as you go. As for the name of the game, I have no fucking clue why they call it that.”
Jones grabbed a few pool cues, and handed them out to Twilight, Veren, and Vussen.
“Jane and I will be strippes, you guys can be solids.”
Jones removed the triangle keeping the balls together, and lined up for the first shot. He took it sending the cue ball smashing into the the group of all the other balls sending them in practically every direction.
“Ok.” He said. “Which one out of your team will go first. The next time you’re team goes though, it’ll have to be the other one taking the shot.”
“I assumed as much.” Vussen said. “I shall go first.”
Vussen had a hard time properly grasping the pool cue due to hum having less fingers, but he managed as he lined up his first shot with the cue ball. There was a green ball with the number 6 on it in a relatively good position near a pocket.
He pulled the pool cue backwards just like Jones had done, and pushed it forward quickly hitting the cue ball. It hit the green ball, but it sadly didn’t manage to get into the pocket.
“It’s alright.” Jones said. “Nobody gets it their first time.”
Suddenly the sound of an explosion soared through the room with a shock wave sweeping everyone off of their feet. Soon after the alarm sounded.
Jone was the first to get up, quickly followed by the elites, and Twilight.
“What the hell was that!” Jones asked.
“The followers of the false prophets must be attacking!” Veren shouted before running off with Vussen.
Twilights heart felt like it was about to bust out of her chest. She felt her body go numb as she didn’t know what to do. Before she had Brennan to protect her, but he was gone now. She only had Jones, Anthony, and Terresia, but they never gave her the same support Brennan did.
Jones quickly knocked her out of her frightened state. “Let’s get a move on Jane!”
“Right... Yes right!” Twilight said standing up. She had to push all doubts out of her head now. She killed before she can do it again. She could do this, she knew she could, she had to.
The two instantly ran back to their rooms catching up with Anthony in the process who was also making his way towards their room.
They instantly ran inside, opened their lockers and immediately started putting on their armour. Twilights hands were fumbling around in her fear, not quite locking the different pieces of armour together properly before Anthony who was at that point fully suited up came to her aid.
“Thank you.” Twilight said as she put on her helmet, her hud flickering to life.
Twilight grabbed from her locker a MA5C assault rifle, and a M6G magnum. She also noticed at the back an old photo of her and her friends from back in Equestria. She quickly grabbed it before anyone could notice, and stuffed it inside her armour.
The three soldiers comms burst alive with the voice of Terresia. “Guys are you alright!” She shouted.
It wasn’t often they heard Terresia raise her voice, she was usually very quiet, but that didn’t matter right now.
“Ya we’re here Terresia, what’s going on.” Anthony said.
“The covies have started to glass the city. They’re also bombarding the base with plasma mortar cannons. I’ve already been evacuated via pelican.”
“Shit then. We’ll get out as soon as we can.”
“Be quick, because from up here it already looks like they got troops entering the base.”
Twilights heart skipped a beat hearing that. With enemies in the base there was no way she could hide, or avoid killing anything.
“Will do.” Anthony said before turning back towards Jones and Twilight. “Lets get out of here guys.”
“No arguments here.” Jones responded.
The three ran out of the room to be faced with two grunts, but Jones and Anthony shot them before Twilight could even think.
Two more jackals came around the corner, Twilight raised her assault rifle to fire, but once again Jones and Anthony were far faster than her.
They moved forward as fast as they could while still being cautious of their surroundings. Twilight looked around to see bodies strewn across the floor, some of them having their entrails ripped out by brutes. It was frightening and it almost made Twilight puke.
“We should be nearing the helipad.” Anthony said. “They’re bound to be evacuating people via pelican there.
Jane saw a sign on the ceiling with a helipad symbol, with an arrow pointing forward on it. Good, they were going the right way.
Soon they finally got to the helipad outside. They quickly noticed a pelican loading soldiers on it.
A sergeant seemed to notice them and yelled. “You guys! Get your asses over here!”
Twilight felt relived. She was getting out of this, and she didn’t have to harm anyone. It was a stroke of good luck that they made it on time, until her ears perked up as she heard a faint sound behind her.
She looked up to see a massive mortar fire of plasma over her. It crashed right down onto the pelican practically melting it, and sending a wave of heat around her.
There it was, her extraction, her chance to get out of there, now gone. Twilight fell to her knees as the fear took over her. “It’s gone! Our ride out of here is gone! And now were going to die!”
She had always been so brave before in Equestria. But there she magic, and her very closest friends always around her. She was special in Equestria, but she just realized here and now that as a human she was no more unique than any other human.
“I’m going to die.” Twilight said. “This is it for me.”
She started to cry right then and there. Tears rolled down her face, and her nose got stuffed as she cried her eyes out before Anthony put his hands on her shoulders.
“Snap out of it!” He yelled. “Were not doo-” But he was interrupted by a needler spike piercing his head sending his limp now dead body onto Twilight.
Twilight screamed as she kicked the body off of her upon instinct.
Jones turned around to be face to face with a brute.
The brute swung it’s fist at him, knocking him down. He got up quickly though before pulling out his shotgun and pumped three shells into it’s face sending it to the floor.
“Anthony…. he’s dead!” Twilight cried out. She never thought anyone would go out like this. No poetic final words, no goodbyes, just one spike to the head and that was it. It shook her to her very core.
“I know.” Jones said. “But that doesn’t matter right now. We can mourn him later.”
“I… I don’t know what to do, I’m scared!”
In a rush Jones looked around him outside. Mostly everything was burning. But his eyes diverted to a charred hill right near them. “Look, we can run up there and set off a flare.”
He instantly started to fun for the hill, but he stopped for a second to turn around to see Twilight in the fetal position crying.
Jones grabbed her, and pulled her to her feet. “This is no time for crying! Right now we have to focus on getting the hell out of here.
Twilight caught her breath, and nodded in response as she tried to hold back more tears.
He started to run again, this time holding Twilights arms to keep her up with him. Thankfully all her training kept Jane from running out of breath.
The two reached the top of the hill to be faced with the sight of the burning city. Two CCS battlecruisers firing their ventral beams at the city, reducing it to molten glass. Twilight could almost seem to hear the screams of the people trapped in the city being either burning alive or melted. She almost broke down again there.
Jones lit off a red flare, and started to yell over his comms unit trying to get some help. Eventually he stopped, and turned towards Twilight. “We have a pelican inbound on it’s way to help us. Don’t worry Jane, we’ll be safe.”
Once again relief washed over her. “Good.”
“Don’t get too comfortable yet, there still might be som-” But like Anthony he was cut off by an energy beam from a beam rifle going through his body.
He fell to the ground and Twilight rushed over to him. “No no no no. Not you to Jones, don’t do this to me!” She yelled, tears once again rolling down her face.
All that she got in response was a few gargles as Jones choked on his own blood.
“No No! Jones don’t die!” She screamed.
It was hopeless though as his body soon went limp as blood oozed from his wound.
Jane’s breathing got quicker and quicker. The tears suddenly stopped as she turned her attention to a squad of grunts and jackals making their way up the hill.
Strangely though, Jane didn’t feel sadness at that moment. All that she felt was anger, pure anger. Suddenly all that mattered to Jane was seeing those Covenant bastards dead.
She stood up with a growl on her face, pulled out her Assault rifle and immediately started firing bullets after bullets at her advisories, all while screaming at the top of her lungs in vengeful rage.
Jane wanted to see them pay, she wanted to see the blood spurt out from their bodies as she slaughtered them.
Soon after there was only one jackal left. Jane pulled the trigger again, but found that she was out of ammo. She threw her assault rifle down to the ground, and picked up Jones’s shotgun.
Then she noticed something about the final jakal. It was holding a beam rifle.
Jane’s rage hit a peaking point seeing that as she charged forward at it tackling the jackal as it finally managed to get to the top of the hill.
She pointed the shotgun at its chest, and fired shell after shell after shell at it until the shotgun had ran out of ammo, all while screaming. “DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!”
The jackal was long dead at that point, but it didn’t stop Jane from raising the butt of the shotgun and slamming it down onto it’s skull. It splattered blood, flesh and brain bits all around until its head wasn’t even recognizable as a jackal anymore.
Jane finally managed to catch her breath as she saw the pelican in the distance bringing her out of her fit of fury upon the jackal who took Jones’s life.
The pelican landed on top of the hill as Jane stood up and walked towards it, as the cargo bay door opened.
Inside there was an old looking sargent who was now faced to face with a heavily blood stained Jane. Her face was expressionless, except for a cold almost life like stare in her eyes sending chills down the sergeant in the pelicans spine as he saw her standing there looking she’d been through hell and back.
“Are you ok?” He said.
Then she spoke in an emotionless death like tone. “Private Jane Arimondo reporting for duty sir.”
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Well shit.
Ape shit.
And that was how equestria was made!!!!
But in all seriousness, it is good to see how twi transitioned into her icy persona. And how diluted her good intentions became as the years went on.
5831083 Oooo trust me when I say that this is only the beginning!
MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAmedia0.giphy.com/media/TJKm32CqAr0CA/giphy.gif
5831608 Shit this is getting good, well it was already a few chapters back. But I can't wait for the next chapter, the one part when Twilight went insane, she was just like a ODST I made up named Killman. I turned like this when I was getting angry in the Halo 3: ODST legendary campaign, and I got less deaths surprisingly.
gamingscholar.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/we_are_odst__halo_odst_fanart_by_refrigerador.jpg
5830411 no shit
also why does Lyra have an M1 Garand?
I'm not a big fan of twilight acting all evil her friends. But I lover the idea of her playing pool with the elites. Thumps up there!
By the throne...
Huh...ok. I’ve seen worse, scratch that, I’ve been in worse...but to put someone with as much innocence as Twilight in that situation? I’m not surprised she fell.