Chapter 26: As She Falls Further
I Have Returned Chapter 26:
As She Falls Further
First Battle of Requiem, 1 year ago….
Massive Forerunner Constructs hung from the ceiling in the sky. The bold majestic parts around the constructs strangely floating around them with some unseen force. It reminded Jane of magic from back in Equestria.
The thought of Equestria though sent a shiver down Jane’s spine. Her nightmares. They used to not happen very often, but lately they were becoming far more common. She almost didn’t want to sleep in fear that she’d have another one.
The nightmares themselves didn’t change all that often. The worst part about them was Jane not knowing whether that would be her old friends actual reactions to what she had become. Of course all of the killing Jane had done was in self defence, or in defence of humanity in general. Sadly due to the lack of murder and war in Equestria, the concept of self defence was non existent.
If it wasn’t for Twilight’s Spartan augments, she probably would be far too tired most of the time. She’d confront someone about them, but all that that would do is make her look crazy. If anyone found out, she would surely get discharged.
Thoughts like these clouded Jane’s mind day after day. They were making her more distant to other lately. If that kept up she would be caught for sure. It was inevitable unless she found some way to shake these thoughts off of her.
They only way Jane thought she could feel better was venting out to someone. Who would listen to her though? Anyone who she talked to would call her crazy, and report her.
For awhile she kept a journal, but that was only a temporary solution, plus there was the risk of someone finding it, especially since INFINITY crew were always monitored by an A.I. . Only a few weeks after starting it, Jane burned the journal while down on a planet.
Most recently the INFINITY was sent to this strange Forerunner world called Requiem to rescue humanity's greatest hero, the Master Chief. Jane alone was sceptical that they would find him, but they did! Sadly though Jane hadn’t caught a look at him yet.
Now the ship was heading to the gravity well generator to eliminate it, so the ship could leave the planet. That was great and all, but rumors have been quickly floating around that there was some bad blood going on between the Master Chief, and Captain Del Rio. Nothing has happened yet, but according to some people who were on the bridge, it seemed like there was some tension between the two.
For now though Jane was just waiting for the INFINITY to reach the well so she and the rest of Fire Team Twilight could get deployed. Sadly though, it was just Joseph and Terresia for now as Kansuke was in a hospital on Earth due to injuries. Spartans were super humans, but they were far from invincible.
“Yo Jane, you ok?” A voice said to her, making Jane realize that she had been silently looking out of the window for the past five minutes.
Jane turned around to find that the voice came from Joseph, one of her Fire Team members.
“Fine. Just admiring the view outside.”
“Ya, sure makes you think about what it must have been like living way back then. Anyways, I’m here because the captain is letting us off for the next mission.”
“Why is that.”
“Because as of right now there is only three of us, and we did a pretty good job defending the ship when it crashed. I guess he thought we deserved a break.”
“That’s good I guess.”
“But holy damn is this place pretty. I know I a lot of bad shit has happened since we got here, but the sights alone might just make me miss this place when we’re gone.”
Jane looked back outside again. To most others Joseph’s words would be considered ‘rude’, and honestly Jane couldn’t disagree with them; however Joseph was right to an extent, the beauty of the Forerunners and their designs could be considered as a minor silver lining.
“I guess so.” Jane finally said.
“We don’t get to see places like this often. Usually it’s just the void of slip space, or some barren planet. Hard to imagine that one time all of the worlds that we’ve seen over the past two years were once lush lands filled with beauty. Now they’re just wastelands destroyed by the Covenant. I can’t believe we thought it was all over, and now the damn Storm Covenant is here.”
He was right. Humanity strived for so much, and lost almost all of it, yet we keep on pushing through. Why couldn’t Equestria have ambition like that? In comparison, they almost felt like animals.
Pony, and human society felt like polar opposites. Everything that Jane had learned in the past five years, and everything she had done contradicted what her old life was like. Humanity moved forward, and they weren’t afraid to do what needed to be done. Pony kind on the other hand stayed static. Twilight always strived for knowledge, and progression. It something that Equestria never understood about her. In a sense it felt like humanity was perfect for her. Humans valued knowledge, and moving forward. It fit her ideals perfectly.
The worst part was that despite everything humanity does for itself, they are destroyed by things such as war, yet Equestria got everything for nothing. Nothing about it was fair, or made sense. For years Jane tried to suppress those thoughts, but her attempts were faltering recently. It almost made her angry thinking about all of the dead innocent humans who did nothing wrong, while Equestrian citizens couldn’t even fathom the concept of war.
Thoughts like this lead Jane back to her nightmares. Pony kinds lack of understanding of what humanity went through, made the way her friends acted towards her all the more realistic. She didn’t want to believe that they would act like that to her, but all of the evidence pointed to the conclusion that they would.
“Umm Jane?” Joseph said, knocking Jane out of her train of thought.
“Huh!”
“You went quiet for a moment. Something wrong?”
“Uhh no.” Jane lied. “I was… Just thinking about what you said earlier, you know about what life must have been like back then.”
“Ya, it’s a pretty thought provoking question. As for me I’m too tired to think right now. I’m going to catch some shut eye, you should too.”
Jane didn’t want to go to bed. She never did these days. No matter how often she decided to stay up and work, going to sleep was something that she would eventually have to do. And as of right now, Jane was pretty damn tired.
“Alright, I’ll go to bed as well. Just a nap though, that’s all.”
With that both Jane and Joseph left to their individual rooms.
_____________________________________________________________
Jane was falling. The wind rushing beside her. All that she could do right now was stare up at the clouds in the sky as she moved farther, and farther away from them.
Once again Jane found herself in her old pony body. Because of that she did have wings, but she felt no desire to use them at the moment. All that Jane felt was depressed, no aspiration to do anything except get this all over and done with.
Jane took a deep breath. Fear started to coarse through her body, she knew that something bad was going to come. It always did. She was almost growing used to dealing with these dreams, which was a thought that scared her even more.
Closing her eyes Jane felt the wind stop. Opening them she was laying down in the Royal Throne room in Canterlot castle. She was all alone.
Everything was quiet, Jane could even hear the loud echo of her hoof steps as she stood up. The air started to get cold and brittle as Jane heard a voice from behind her.
“I am very disappointed with you my student.”
Jane turned around to see Celestia sitting on the throne despite the fact that Jane was completely alone seconds ago.
“No.” Jane said. “Not you too, anypony but you.”
“You have shamed your entire race Jane.”
“But I’m Twilight!”
“No, you stopped being Twilight long ago. The moment you took a life you became dead to me!”
“No! I’m still me. I admit that I’ve changed a lot, and my perspective on Equestria has to, but it’s still the place in which I grew up.”
“I don’t want to hear those words from you. I taught you better than this. You were like a daughter to me, and now you’ve turned your back on everything Equestria stands for. I am embarrassed to have ever taught you!”
“No, just no.” Jane started crying now.
“Oh so now the ‘no’s’ happen. Why couldn’t you have said no when they told you to kill!”
“Because there were innocent lives at stake!” Jane cried out, tears fully flowing down her face.
“She’s exactly right.” Another voice called out.
Jane turning around once again saw Admiral Osman on the other side of the room. This was… odd. No human had ever been in one of her nightmares before.
Suddenly Jane noticed that she was once again in her human body.
“Admiral Osman?” Jane said.
“Yes, and you’re right, innocent lives are constantly at stake. What you did was a good thing. You saved people’s lives.”
The environment around Jane all turned into an empty black void leaving just Jane, Osman, and Celestia there.
“But my old people will never understand that.”
“That’s right. It is what makes you better than them Jane. You transcended into a human being, and evolved yourself beyond your old race. They are nothing but animals compared to you.”
“But they’re my species. I have my family and best friends amongst them.”
“And they have been treating you very poorly lately.” Osman said, prompting a scowl on Celestia's face.
“But these are only dreams.”
“True, but what does that change? You know your species the best, you know that these dreams accurately represent their reactions to you if you ever come back.”
“But-”
“Don’t try to deny it Jane. They don’t deserve you Jane. None of pony kind deserves you. You were never meant for them. You were meant to be a human Jane, you always were.”
Jane turned back to Celestia who wore that same scowl on her face.
“No Jane.” Celestia said. “It’s the other way around. You don’t deserve pony kind, nor do you deserve anyone’s sympathy for your actions.”
Turning back now, Jane saw that Osman was holding her hand out to her.
“You are better than them in every way. Just look at how your old mentor reacts to you. She doesn’t understand the hardships you’ve gone through. She never could. Therefore she feels threatened by you.”
“She doesn’t need to feel threatened by me though!”
“No she doesn’t, but she’s a pony. They view all killing as bad. Pony kind is ignorant that way. You on the other hand, have cast away that ignorance and have become the best that you can be.”
“Equestria is still my home though.”
“And why does it have to be your home? Join humanity forever, and let Earth be your home.”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Just think about it this way. Go back to Equestria and be hated, or join the human race and be hailed as a hero. People will accept you here, they won’t be ignorant to your sacrifices. Give it some thought Jane, I know you’ll make the right decision in the end.”
Jane jolted right out of her bed in a sweat. The nightmare was over now, she was awake.
One of the first things Jane noticed upon her awakening was that her face was covered in dry tears.
That was easily her most freaky nightmare yet. Normally all that they contained was ponies hating her. Why did Osman appear to defend her? What about Osman’s words though. Joining humanity forever? It felt so weird, but it felt safe.
Jane didn’t know what the hell was going on, but if Osman convinced her of one thing it‘s that Equestria would hate her, no matter how much Twilight tried to deny it.
_____________________________________________________
Present Day
Luna had just finished explaining her true memories to the Element bearers. Their reactions were skeptical, but knowing what Celestia did to Palmer, they believed Luna.
Now their number one priority was escaping and warning the rest of the humans. Celestia was beyond powerful, and while Luna could care less about what happened to Jane, she knew that there was hundreds of innocent humans aboard their spaceship.
Seeing what Celestia did to Palmer, there was no doubt in Luna’s mind that Celestia had something else in plan for the rest of the humans. Why else would she wait so long until attacking? Celestia had to be planning something, what she was planning on doing was the real scare for Luna.
“How long do you think that we’ll be stuck down here.” Rarity said. “I must admit these Forerunners have absolutely no sense in design. Couldn’t Celestia throw us in a nicer cell.”
“Nice looking or not, a cell is still a cell Rarity.” Applejack responded.
“Exactly.” Luna interjected. “We are imprisoned, and we should have all of our minds on how we’ll escape. Thinking about anything else is a waste of time. The problem is that this cell was built by an advanced race of alien beings. So advanced they make the humans look primitive. Their design for this thing must be practically flawless. There has to be some way though. Something that the Forerunners didn’t account for.”
“I haven’t got the darndest idea.” Applejack said. “The only reason we got out of the human cell was because we got broken out of it. Plus it wasn’t even a cell in the first place.”
All went silent as everypony seemed to fall deep into thought. Luna knew that there had to be away. No race is perfect, even one as advanced as the Forerunners supposedly were.
Then suddenly a loud explosion tore through Luna’s ears. When her ears could finally head again Luna looked outside the cell to see someone she wasn’t expecting to see.
____________________________________________
After running back to the pelican to grab some explosive charges, Jane put each of them on a wall to hopefully create a large enough explosion to punch through it.
Jane noticed six dots on her motion tracker. Those must be from the other side of the wall. She guessed that it must be Luna and the others, but all together that’s seven beings. If so, then why was their only six dots.
In the end though she needed to get them out of here. After all the Librarian told Jane that humanity and pony kind were supposed to work together. Jane didn’t like that one bit, but it did mean that her old friends were useful to her now.
After arming the charges Jane stepped back quite a bit to the other side of the room she was in.
She took a deep breath, and with that Jane held the trigger down on the detonator. The resulting explosion was large enough to damage her somewhat, but it only took down half of her shields.
Once the smoke went away Jane saw that her plan worked, and there was a gaping hole in the wall. A hole that Jane instantly jumped through.
On the other side Jane saw a cell containing Luna, and her old friends. Yet strangely no Palmer. Each of them had their hooves on their ears, and their eyes shut due to the explosion.
Luna was the first one to recover, and the alicon instantly turned around and saw Jane there.
“What do you want!” Luna shouted.
“I’m here to get your sorry asses out of here before Celestia comes back. Where’s Palmer.”
“Why are you helping us? You wanted to kill us before.”
“Does it matter? Or would you rather stay in here? Now tell me where is Sarah Palmer?”
“She’s dead. Celestia killed her. I found out that Celestia worships Forerunners, and wants to destroy all humans.”
Dam, this wasn’t good. With only one Spartan it would be a lot harder to escape this place.
“I know about Celestia. We’ll mourn for Palmer later. For now, we need to get out of here.”
Jane walked up to a terminal across the room. It had a large hard light button on it. With no other options Jane pushed it.
The hard light bars covering her old friends cell disappeared. Each of the ponies rushing out of the cell just incase the bars came back.
“First off is anyone injured?” Jane asked, receiving a collective headshake from everyone.
They all looked angry at her. That wasn’t surprising to Jane. She had guessed already that there would be hesitant to trust her.
“You didn’t answer my question.” Luna said. “Why are you helping us?”
“To be honest I’m not one hundred percent sure myself Luna. Then again I don’t think any of you are in a position to refuse my help.”
“I suppose not.”
“Good, because you’re going to need me to get out of here. Once Celestia finds out that you’ve escaped she’ll send her army of promethean knights to kill you. Prometheans are deadly foes made from composing human beings. Without me you guys will never stand a chance against them.”
“Very well then, lead the way.”
Without a second thought Jane started to make her way back. Hopefully they would be outside before too long, but chances were Celestia would send everything she could to stop her and the ponies. The road ahead was going to be difficult, but that’s exactly what Spartans were made for.
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....yay ....lets see if she gets that promethean "1-shot" weapon....i loved it....sadly it had low ammo
6063987 Binary Rifle I assume?
halo4nation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Screen-Shot-2012-09-08-at-10.59.33-AM.png
6063990
yes... i played the game through on my friend's xbox....and i loved that rifle
ITS LIKE A FRIGGIN ROCKET LAUNCHER!
I have a feeling Ponykind and Humanity will find a way to co-operate, and catapult Ponykind forward to explore and help humanity in the stars...
After Celestia is defeated of course
6064145 You mean after the good old UNSC shoves a MAC round up Celestia's ass? Wonder how will the Griffons, Minotaurs, etc. react to this. I think the UNSC Spirit of Fire and the UNSC Everest should make an appearance.
6065240
probably how the other races will react (if negatively) could be a sequel itself
6063994
rocked lounger?
that's the sniper
img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121117115424/halo/images/thumb/a/a0/H4_incineration_trans.png/1000px-H4_incineration_trans.png
that is the incendiary cannon
a rocked lounger
6065240 I have NO idea of what a MAC round is, but it sound good.
Although shoving a Yamatos HE shell up her ass WOULD be entertaining...(Yamato shells were 18.1 in WIDE)
so they're made from artists?