Chapter 18: A Little Boy
I Have Returned Chapter 18:
A Little Boy
4 years ago…
Twilight checked her new BR85 Heavy Barrel Service rife to make sure that it was in perfect condition. Everything had to be in working order. She unloaded the clip, and put the magazine back in again one last time, before loading in a bullet to the chamber of the gun.
She couldn’t go back now, her weapon was locked, loaded, and ready for combat, and so was she.
Recently a civil war in a civilian space station designed for living in broke out. They were cut off from supplies during the attack on earth, and some of them believed that the UNSC had abandoned them. Soon people grouped together in an anti UNSC faction and took control over the station.
Of course after the war we sent help to the station, but we were too late as the faction refused help in their hatred of the UNSC, and even threatened us.
Now their job was to save as many Civilians not associated with the faction as possible. But the faction didn’t back down as they planted a bomb in the station, and rigged it to blow on a countdown timer.
There was already a team working on the bomb, but Jane’s job was to escort as many citizens as possible to safety. And now she was waiting patiently in the bridge of a UNSC Corvette heading towards the station.
The strange thing was though that they specifically asked for her to be a part of the mission. Why? And they didn’t let her have access to most of the ship, just a few rooms to let her equip herself.
It was odd having them limit her so much. Were they hiding anything? Did they not trust her? They must have trusted her somewhat, they even gave her ODST armour to use for this mission alone.
Twilight had a feeling that she knew why they were keeping things from her. As she looked at the other soldiers in the room who were also armoured up. She counted three ODST’s, and even a Spartan. All of them, they all had the Office of Naval intelligence logo on them.
Twilight had heard rumors about ONI before, but she didn’t know if any of them were true, but for now she’d keep her mouth shut. If what she heard about ONI was true, then these people must have known everything about her, other than the fact that she used to be a pony, but who knew? This was the infamous ONI after all.
In the end though, Twilight highly doubted that they knew every single detail of her life, but one thing was for sure though, she didn’t know much about them. All that Jane knew about them was their names, basic info she got from small talk, and what they called their team. Kilo-Five.
“You okay there Jane?” One of the ODST’s asked. His name was Vaz Beloi, a russian guy with a crude scar running down his jaw that made him look scary. But what she had seen so far, Vaz seemed like a very nice person despite his looks.
“Ya a little nervous.” She said back.
Out of nowhere Twilight heard a disembodied voice flood the room. “Aww she’s scared of the big bad ODST’s and Spartan.” It said before a holographic blue cube manifested before her very eyes causing Twilight to flinch. It was an A.I.
“I don’t think we’ve met before.” Jane said.
“Oh god, how terribly sorry I am. I forgot to introduce myself. I’m BB, the ships magnificent A.I.”
“Jane Arimondo. Nice to meet you.”
It was strange having that roll off of her tongue like that. After being with humanity for two years now, referring to herself as Jane came as almost instant as this point. It was definitely a habit she’d have to try and get rid of once she came back to Equestria.
“Don’t mind him, he likes to pop up unannounced every once in awhile.” Said one of the other ODST’s. A british man named Malcolm Geffen, but from what Twilight could tell, everyone just called him mall. “You get used to bloke after a while.”
“Oh shut up Mal, you love my antics and know it.” BB responded.
The Spartan whose name was Naomi put a hand on Twilights shoulder. “Don’t be afraid. We’re all pretty friendly here.”
Hearing Naromi talk was quite opposite of what the common view of spartans was. She expected them be heroic inspirational beings of wonder, but from what Jane had seen of Naomi so far, she just seemed like a relatively quiet, but kind individual. She had almost platinum blond hair, and her face was very pale.
“I know, but my nerves have a mind of their own.”
The door to the bridge slip open, and in came her current commanding officer. Admiral Serin Osman.
Jane hadn't really had much of a chance to talk to Osman, but Twilight could feel that she radiated with power, and authority.
“Alright Kilo-5 listen up.” Osman said turning her head towards Twilight. “Or in this case Kilo-6”
“So what’s the plan?” The last ODST asked. Her name was Lian Devereaux, a chinese Canadian.
“B.B. Get the plan up.”
The room went dark as a holographic display of the space station appeared. The base of the station was a hexagonal shape, but it had multiple extensions protruding out of it.
“There you go captain. I worked really hard on it. Maybe Maggie will give me a gold star on it.” BB joked.
“Thank you BB.” Osman said as one of the sections of the station turned red. “This right here is section G of the station. Our goal is to move as many civilians as possible to it. The section is designed to be able to detach from the rest of the station in case of emergency. Jane and Mal will be given the responsibility of escorting the citizens to section G. Vaz and Naomi on the other hand will try to defuse the bomb in the stations head office with the aid of BB. Sadly though this station has its own A.I. that the faction has corrupted, so it won't be a walk in the park for even BB.”
“Well, we’ll just see about that. You know me, I’m a miracle worker.”
“I know BB, but in the event that we can defuse the bomb, Jane and Vaz will be ordered to disconnect section G from the rest of the station, and get it to a minimal safe distance. Lastly Deveraux will stand by in Tart-Cart incase you guns need to bang out in a hurry. Is there any Questions?”
Jane looked around. Nobody seemed to be asking anything. It must have been clear for all of them, but after all, the plan was simple, and she had the easiest part of it.
Osman continued. “What about you Jane? Is there anything you need clarification on?”
“Sir no sir. My role is clear.”
“Good then. We’ll be coming out of slip in about five minutes, so get ready.”
Twilight and the others exited the bridge, and made their way to the hanger, save for Naomi who went to get a fragment of BB. It felt odd for Twilight to be around them like this. They all looked like they knew each other so well, and here she was walking alongside of them. She felt so out of place, but they must have gotten on this mission for a reason, and Twilight bet that they probably know why.
“So why was I chosen for this mission. If you don’t mind me asking.”
Vaz turned his head around, and looked at her as if he was contemplating on whether to say something, before Mal spoke up in his place. “We’re down one man for this mission, so we picked you at random as a replacement.”
Twilight felt that this was a lie, and her suspensions were supported when Vaz shot a glare to Mal, almost as if he wanted to tell her the truth, but Mal didn’t want him to.
“Ok then. Simple enough.” Twilight lied. It was best to just go along with this for now. They’d reveal their true reasons sooner or later.
They entered a hanger where there was two pelicans. One called Tart-Cart, and the other one called Bogof. They all stepped inside Tart-Cart, and sat down except for Devereaux who stepped into the cockpit.
Twilight placed her rifle on her back, then strapped in, and then put her hair in a bun before she placed her brand new helmet on top of her head, her brand new head up display coming online.
Jane felt a strange shake beneath her feet, like a subway train stopping. They must have come out of slipspace.
Soon after Naomi returned, and sat down as well before Devereaux finally closed the cargo bay door, and took off.
Tart-Cart left the hanger. Twilight leaned forward in her chair till she could just barely see into the cockpit and out the window. She could just faintly see the station, orbiting a massive gas giant as Tart Cart drew closer.
Eventually they got close enough to the station for Twilight to make out the words ‘SECTION G’ on the hull of part of the station.
“You ready?” Mal asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Good, but remember, these blokes are human too. It’s not the same as shooting covies.”
Twilights heart sank for a moment. She hadn't really thought of it at this point, but she was going to be killing humans this time. It didn’t matter though, killing an alien, and killing a human were one in the same thing. They’re both living beings, and is she could take the life of a covie, taking the life of a human should be no different.
“I know sir. In the end it’s all the same. You’re still taking a life.”
“Good point, but it’s kinda nice not having to think before you pull the trigger though when it comes to shooting a covie bastard.”
It was true. When you saw an alien, you shot it, you didn’t think about who it was, or whether it was on your side. It was strange noticing that. These days Twilight felt little remorse in killing. It was just a job at this point, and something that she had gotten used to. Was it a good thing or a bad thing though?
Twilight looked once again outside at the station as they got close now. It seemed so peaceful outside, but she knew that hell was awaiting her when she got in.
Tart-Cart slowly entered a hanger in section G, and landed.
“Okay, we have forty minutes until the bomb blows. That doesn’t give us much time, but thankfully the station is small.” BB said through Naomi’s armour.
The cargo bay door hissed open as Twilight unbuckled herself and rushed out of Tart Cart with Mal.
Behind them were Vaz, and Naomi who immediately started to head in the other direction.
Twilights comms lit up from an incoming transmission from Osman. “Get a move on. The faction has too much control over most of the sections, but they don’t have much of a presence over sections E, and F, so we can probably save some people from there.”
“What about the other sections?” Twilight asked.
“It’s too late for them.”
Twilight wanted to protest that, but doing so would waste time she had to save as many people as possible. If she had learned one thing in the two years she had been in the military, it was take what you can get.
“Sir yes sir.” Twilight responded.
Twilight, and Mal instantly started running, as they didn’t want to waste any time.
They sprinted out of the hanger, and into a room where dozens of people were crowded. Each one of them looking like refugees struggling to survive. There were other UNSC personnel there as well.
Sadly though, the only other UNSC vessel that was able to make it to the station on time was another small one, and didn’t have enough room to fit very many people on it.
Twilight, and Mal didn’t have any time to waste though as they made their way through the crowd. It seemed as though the entire section was filled to the brim with people. Twilight wondered herself if there was even that many people to save from the other sections.
Eventually the ODST, and marine made their way to the door separating section G from section F, which was the only section connected to section G. It was a huge blast door that was currently open. Anti faction soldiers, and UNSC marines were hunkered down there behind sandbags, and barriers ready at a moments notice in case of attack.
One person there who seemed to be the commanding officer noticed Twilight, and Mal.
“Thank god, finally some damn back up” He said.
“Actually were here to grab any civilians we can from the other sections.” Twilight responded.
“Very well then. We do got most of the citizens who are against the faction here, but there is bound to be some more out there.”
This time Mal spoke up. “Okay then, but be sure to have this place prepared to detach. The bomb will be going off soon, and we don’t know if we can detonate it.”
“Yes I know. I was informed of the plan from the CO of the ship that just arrived. I assume you guys are from it?”
“Yes, we are.”
“Then get a move on.”
The two soldiers quickly started to sprint into the other section. They didn’t have much time, so they split up to cover the thankfully small section faster.
Twilight ended soon ended up in a dimly lit room. She initially saw nothing, until she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.
“Hello, is anyone there? I am a UNSC soldier. I am here to bring you to safety.” Twilight announced.
Out from under a bench she saw a head poke out. It was a child, a young indian boy looking to be no more than six or seven years old.
Trying to be friendly she holstered her weapon and carefully approached the child.
Twilight got up close to him, took of her helmet, and knelt down in order to show him that she meant no harm at all.
“Hey there. What’s your name?” She said, putting on a smile.
The boy stood there for a second, motionless before he finally responded. “Chamdi…”
“Chamdi. That’s a really nice name. My name is Jane Arimondo, I’m a soldier.”
“You’re not one of those mean soldiers are you?”
“No, I’m not. I’m here to rescue you.” Twilight said, giving Chamdi another reassuring smile.
Suddenly Chamdi’s eyes widened with fear. “Look out!” He yelled.
Twilight instantly turned around to be faced to face with a man holding a small pistol. He swiped it at her, hoping for a quick kill and silent kill, but Jane ducked out of they way.
Jane gave him a quick punch in the face knocking him back, before pulling out her BR85, and wasting him with a few rounds.
When the dust settled, Jane’s unknown assailant was on the flood dead. She guessed that he must have been from the faction.
Twilight turned herself back around to find that Chamdi was long gone.
“Chamdi!” Twilight yelled out, but she got no response. He must have ran for it, when Twilights attacker came.
All went silent for a moment, until Twilights coms lit up. “Jane this is Vaz. BB can’t defuse the bomb, he’s been locked out. Get ready to detach section G, we’ll be there momentarily.”
“Okay. Mal and I have been separated though, so contact him too.”
“Will do. Vaz out.”
Twilight grabbed her helmet, and burst into a sprint back to section G, meeting up with Mal on the way. The two got back to the blast doors, which were now unguarded as the troopers probably went to prepare the section to detach.
“You wait here for Vaz, and Naomi.” Mal said. “I’ll head up and help the blokes in charge of getting this section out of here. You be on standby though, I’ll radio you in when it’s time to close the blast doors, which will be your job.
“Got it.”
Mal ran past her, deeper into section G. Soon after, Vaz and Naomi caught up with her.
“Where’s Mal?” Vaz asked.
“Section G’s control room I assume. I’m waiting her for orders to close the blast doors, until then I’m going to be waiting for any more civilians.”
“Okay he said.” Before the two went after Mal.
A few more minutes passed, until she saw from the other side of the hallway Chamdi.
She felt relieved for a moment knowing that he would be ok as the boy started to run, Until Mal contacted her through her com unit.
“Jane close the door, now!”
Twilight froze up for a second. Chamdi was still on the other side trying to make his way to section G. The hallway was a long one, and he still had a decent bit to go.
“What are you waiting for close them!” Mal barked.
Twilight couldn’t respond, her heart was racing, and she didn’t know what to do as Chamdi got closer.
“JANE NOW!” Mal yelled.
Without thinking Jane closed her eyes, and slammed her fist down onto the button to close the doors. She heard them close, and felt section G propel itself away from the rest of the station.
Twilight opened her eye, and looked around her. Chamdi wasn’t there, he didn’t make it in time.
She rushed to a nearby window, and saw the station moving farther, and farther away from her, until finally blew. The resulting explosion shaking section G, damaging it’s outer hull.
Twilight fell to her knees in despair. She could of saved him. All that she needed to do was run out there, and grab him. She was after all a faster runner. But she didn’t think.
Jane took off her helmet as Tears ran down her face. He was just a boy, and thanks to her, his life had ended.
Her coms lit up again. She didn’t have her helmet on, but she could still hear it.
“Thank god. If you took one second longer, we would have been blown to smithereens.” Mal said over the coms unit.
Twilight wiped the tears off her face, put her helmet on and responded. “Ya, I know.” She said in a monotone voice.
Twilight picked herself up, and slowly made her way into section.
She got into what seemed to be the main area filled with people who all seemed to be relived. Then she an indian man shuffling through the crowd. Her heart instantly sank once again.
“Has anyone seen my son!?” He yelled over the crowd. “His name is Chamdi!” He continued holding up a photo of Chamdi.
Twilight wanted to go up to him, and tell him what had happened, but she felt far too ashamed of herself. Instead she burst into tears again, and entered a nearby bathroom in shame.
She ripped of her helmet once again, and looked at her crying self in the mirror. She couldn’t even look at herself at this point as she punched the mirror shattering it.
Eventually she slumped down onto the floor crying. Why? Why did horrible things had to keep on happening to humans. We were constantly in a state of war. What did we do to deserve all of this pain and suffering?
Then Jane thought of Equestria. They had everything. Peace, safety, and harmony. What did they do to deserve it. Absolutely Nothing. All while humans fought day after day after day for the peace that we never would get. She hated to admit it, especially since she was a pony once, but it made her angry inside seeing all of the pain and suffering that humanity went through, while they got everything.
Jane eventually composed herself, and managed to stop crying. She still felt depressed though.
She left the bathroom with her head held low. She noticed a man sitting down on the floor, leaning his back onto a wall. He was drinking a bottle of whisky.
Jane sat down next to him.
“Can you share any of that?” Jane asked. “I could really use a drink right now.”
Jane wasn’t a drinking person, the taste of alcohol usually disgusted her, but right now she needed it more than ever.
The man seemed to contemplate it for a second, before handing the whisky to her. “Anything for a soldier.” He said. “After all you guys just saved us.”
Jane took a rather large drink out of the bottle before handing it back to him. “Not all of us.” She said. “Not all of us...”
___________________________________________________________
Crystal Empire, Present day
Jane looked upon the Forerunner Dreadnought ship towering above her. The Spartan 4 team staring up at it in awe with her.
“That’s one big ass ship.” A spartan in gray armour said.
Just then Roland talked to Jane. “That must have been what the tower was all along.”
“You’re right.” Jane responded.
“Thank you sir.” The Spartan said. Thinking Jane was responding to him.
Jane had a lot of questions right now, but she had to push them out of her mind. Luna and the others were still up there, and she had to take care of them.
She turned towards the Team of Spartans. “Spartans, what is your fireteam?”
“Fireteam Wolf sir!” The same spartan responded. He was wearing his own unique set of armour, which meant that he must be the fireteam leader.
“What is your name Fireteam leader?”
“Sir, my name is Devon.”
“Well Deven I have a task for us.”
“What is it sir?”
“Up in that ship there is Enemies of humanity who want to keep the key to our salvation away from us. We have to arrest them. Sadly Fireteam Crimson leader has chosen to emphasize with them, and has committed an act of treason, we’ll have to arrest him too.”
“Sir yes sir!”
Jane got into a nearby troop transport warthog, and started to drive with Fireteam Wolf to the former Crystal tower.
She got there soon, and thankfully for Jane, all of the entrances were the same as before. They all got out of the warthog, and entered the ship.
Once again the layout was the same as Jane was easily able to make her way to the throne room once again encountering little resistance on the way.
There she came face to face with Luna, Crimson, and Shining armour. Her mom and dad though, were nowhere to be found. Jane guessed that they must have scurried away.
“You are all under arrest by the UNSC!” Devon said. “Stand down, and we can do this peacefully.
Shining Armour on the other hand ignored him, her focus seemingly on Jane. “Where is Cadence, what have you done with her!”
Shining looked down onto the floor. Killing Cadence was not something that she enjoyed.
“You didn’t!” Shining shouted. “You couldn’t have!”
“I’m sorry Shining, I tried to make it as quick as possible.”
“You, how could you!” He said, bursting into tears.
“Jane what the hell! You two were related!” Crimson shouted in anger.
“I didn’t want to, trust me.”
“I’m through with trusting you Jane!”
Devon intervened. “Quiet traitor!”
At this moment Luna snapped. “I am through with this! You’ve betrayed your people Twilight. You are now an enemy to Equestria, you have become the very thing you once protected us from.” Luna said as she fired a bolt of magic at Jane.
Jane quickly evaded it though before her and Fireteam Wolf ran in.
Two members of wolf were able to restrain Crimson, and two others restrained Shining Armour, leaving Luna to Jane.
Luna shot another bolt at Jane, which once again missed. Before she could fire off another though, Jane threw a swift punch to Luna’s horn cracking it and making the Lunar Princess scream out in agony as she fell to the floor.
It would take a long time for Luna’s horn to heal, which was good. Luna was no longer a problem.
“You will never get away with this.” Luna managed to say. “I am Equestria’s current sole princess, and will not stand for this.”
“No you’re not Luna. You are incapacitated, and therefore making you unfit for your royal duties. Leaving me as Equestria’s sole ruler.”
“No… You can’t”
“Yes I can. And as my first act as Equestria’s one and only leader, I declare this planet as a Colony of the United Nations Space Command, and the human race. This world will never belong to you again.”
Luna then passed out to what Jane assumed was exhaustion. Jane knew that Luna would be okay though, and with her horn cracked, she posed no threat anymore.
Jane motioned Devon to take her away, which he did leaving Jane alone in the throne room.
She noticed on the side of the now Forerunner throne Fluttershy’s saddle bag. Jane picked it up and opened it. There they were, the elements of harmony.
A large grin formed on Jane’s face, she finally had them, the answer to all of Humanity's problems.
She turned her attention to the nearby windows which she walked up to.
There outside she saw crystal ponies emerging from their homes trying to combat the far superior human soldiers. Sadly their resistance meant that the soldiers had permission to kill them, which they did.
Jane looked across the entire city, it was burning from all of the fighting and explosions going on. None of that mattered though, the ponies choose to resist, they sealed their own fate. All that was important right now was that Jane was victorious.
Equestria, a planet filled with natural resources, and mystery. Now she knew that it was also filled with Forerunner secrets below its surface, and it all belonged to the human race.
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And here comes the haters! cdn.meme.am/instances/45088232.jpg
You put my favorite book inside of my favorite book. You are awesome!
I still don't get it. How come there are Forerunner secrets below under Equestria's surface?
I know that a lot of the Forerunner race hates Humanity, but whatever Forerunner that's been on the planet for thousands years, what will he do about the ponys, will he help them?
5856773 I bet Celestia is responsible for keeping Equestria's technological level as it is. Wonder what the UNSC's high command will do if they found out what Jane/Twilight has done.
5855940 Shield world.
5857112 Ah, That makes sense.
you mean sympathize. empathy and sympathy are two very different things