reaD the capItalS, for ChaOs' Return Deludes
Alright guys. Got my shit back together. Updates will be infrequent, but hell, they'll be higher in quality. My past chapters were utter shit, so I expect the future chapters (don't have that many left to do for this story before the end) to be better in almost every aspect (action, description, Pinkie's character, and the tragedy. Oh the tragedy!) SO without further adieu.....
Canterlot Caves System. 1831 hours Equestria Time
The ominous cavern howled as the wind picked up inside, casting aside dust and and sand across the entrance and the two ponies in front of it: A pure white alicorn, rainbow mane flowing along with the invisible celestial winds, and a brown-coat pegasus, whose guidance would have to stop at the entrance.
"Princess, isn't this a bit risky? There are other alternatives," the pegasus whispered.
"I thought you would have a little more initiative than this, my good Doctor, especially after everything you've already experienced," Celestia teased. "But I will accept no alternative choice. This is the quickest solution."
Her resolve clear, Doctor Whooves provided no protest.
The goddess questioned, "Will you do me a favor? Don't tell anypony what has and will happen here, even to the Elements or even Luna." She levitated the six pieces of magical jewelery, each engraved with their own colored symbol, so-called the "Elements of Harmony".
"Yes Princess, but would you need assistance in anyway? This was indirectly my fault that Pinkie is....gone," the Doctor uneasily offered.
"No thank you. I have used the Elements by myself before against Nightmare Moon, and I can do so again to Discord."
"But what if he doesn't comply?"
The Princess darkly added, with her horn glowing in the outline of a hazardous flames, "I have other means. Believe me when I say that I will do everything in my power to ensure the wellbeing of my subjects."
And with that being her final words, she entered the darkness of the caves, with the Doctor bravely stepping into the dark with her.
Each step brought them further into the cave, hoofsteps echoing through the cylindrical hell louder and louder with each approaching step. After what seemed like an eternity, the Princess had reached her destination.
The light from Celestia's horn revealed a statue of a dragonequus, shrieking for all eternity. Celestia bit her lower chop, hoping that all went according to plan.
The Elements of Harmony levitating around her eminated a pulsing glow, secreting into the air a wide gamut of colored magic. Celestia willed the magical energies now surrounding her and the Doctor towards the statue, melting the stone off the figure's head with a white-hot intensity.
Through the cavern echoed what were supposedly the last words of the victimized dragonequus.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh- Wait, I'm free?"
Celestia's stated with a disgusted frown, "No, Discord. Only your mouth and arm is, and if you wish to live any further, you will do as I say."
"Oh, Celly is that you? How delightful to see you again after you...well, turned me into stone with your precious Elements. But I'm not one to hold a grudge! Unlike SOMEPONIES!"
Discord cleared his throat, "Sorry. Can't blame me for having just a little resentment. So, what are you here for? Have you finally seen the truth that Chaos is King? I always knew that you would come crawling ba-"
"No, you monster. I'm here because one of my subjects is trapped in a part of the universe YOU were responsible for," Celestia snarled.
"Whoa, easy there. I have to say, I'm really liking the new dark side of you, Celly. Really complements you. Ah, it reminds me of when we both fir-"
"Discord! If you do not comply right this instant, lunar banishment will seem like a cake walk compared to what I will do to you!" threatened the Solar Princess, her horn glowing with a furious flame that was starting to vaporize the stalactites above them.
"OK, fine. Blame me for wanting a little fun after being turned into a bird crap-covered statue, yet again."
Under the Princess's careful watch that the dragonequus had not freed his right paw, responsible for conjuring, Discord's left griffon claw for duplicity, both in physical and magical nature, snapped, summoning a vortex of magic that formed into a clear mirror of images, through the viewpoint of a certain somepony's eyes that were jumping open, as if from a bad dream.....
USM Valor. 2508.
Aegis VII system. 1345 hours Normal Time
Onboard Tram 46D
As if shocked with an electric current, Pinkie Pie's entire body leapt out of the RIG pack, despite her injured hoof, and landed on Joon's face.
He screamed, "SONUVA-"
"Sorry. I haven't gotten nightmares in such a long time. Oooh, do you know why its so dark in here?"
"Contingency procedures. Shutting off unnecessary lighting saves power. Crap, I forgot, you don't wear a RIG so you can't see thermals. Here," The marine's outline dragged something off his back.
"This should help." Joon detached the flashlight on his paper-weight of a Pulse Rifle and activated it on the tram floor, filling the compartment with light.
Pinkie was now able to see the disorder onboard the tram. There was a PDA here, syringes there, trash and flimsi maps of train routes evrywhere. And a shaking Joon next to her, in the worst condition she ever saw him in.
She thought that the nightmares she had were pretty horrible, but something was wrong with Joon. He could hardly hold his arms up without twitching and his weapon was therefore shaking uncontrollably.
"Are you ok? Why are you shaking? Are you cold?" Pinkie had quietly asked.
"I'm fine. I overdosed a little on sleep-stims. Heh, how weak am I? Haven't worked in a active combat role in 3 years, but I can't even keep awake for a couple of hours."
She gave Joon a worried look.
Not that face. Just smile Pinkie, like ya always done...
Joon nonchalantly dropped the Seeker Rifle onto the floor, and tried to keep his arms steady.
He said, "Look I'll be fine. I just need to get some sleep. Drugs will filter out of my system pretty soon. So...you look like you haven't slept right."
"Woke up from nightmares," Pinkie simply added.
"My mom always told me that nightmares are easier to handle once you tell someone about them. She always said to face your fears because that's the only way that you'll make 'em go away. So....I'm someone I guess. Or somepony. Whatever you prefer. It'll get me through this easier."
"What? Are you crazy?"
Joon returned, "Don't make me answer that."
"I'll keep watch. You look like you haven't slept in days, so you can count on me!" Pinkie asserted.
Joon hesitated. "You sure?"
"Absodut-a-lutely!"
"But wake me up if something happens, alright?"
Joon gathered the Seeker Rifle and cradled it like a security blanket. To Pinkie, it was a silly quirk,as he acted as if it was a personal memento that reminded him of something or somepony. But she pushed her thoughts aside. He had taken care of her so far.
Surprisingly, when she trotted up to him and nuzzled her head on his thigh, he almost jerked away. Pinkie Pie noted that humans had far wider personal boundaries than ponies had. He must have mistaken it as inappropriate, not affectionate. She climbed into his lap and rested her head on his chest like a small child would.
Joon objected, "I'm guessing that you're not gonna give me some breathing space?"
Her smile returned, "Nope! You sound really upset sometimes, so I wanted to cuddle you. Cuddling makes everything better."
She got a closer look at his helmet and saw that Joon was staring in her direction longer than usual.
With an awkward tone, Joon acknowledged Pinkie's....eccentricities, "Ok. Thanks for the thought anyway. I have to say that it's working a little. Wanna tell me about your dreams now?"
He had to give props to Pinkie Pie. She dove right in, though displaying some indecisiveness.
"Well....it was about me and my friends back in Equestria-"
"Equestria? Is that what planet you're from?"
"It's what my country was called. We don't have a name for our planet, silly! So anyway, my friends and I walked into Sugarcube Corner, it's a bakery where I work, and we ran out of flour! They all looked so happy that I came back home, that I decided to through a party! You can't have a party without cupcakes, and you can't have cupcakes without flour! All of a sudden, bags of flour burst through the windows and doors and inside was a bunch of red and green yucky stuff..."
Oh God...I really hope that she isn't going to start talking about the Pukers.
"And then the flour bags ganged up around us and started to pour the yucky stuff down our mouth and throats and....and....my friends became one of them," Pinkie Pie added rather quietly. Joon couldn't see the front of her head, but he didn't need to see her tears to see that she was very distressed.
"I hope they're alright without me."
Joon reassured with a hugging arms, "They're fine. You'll be back home pretty soon and- Wait, how exactly do we get you back? Aren't you from another universe or something?
"One of the smartypants ponies at the lab told me that we created a portal to different parts of the universe, and that to return back, they go to the space-boat's engine thingy and get power from it."
Joon said, "Don't worry. We'll find a way."
She didn't respond. The moment got rather morbid too fast. Joon decided to change the topic.
"How are your friends?"
Pinkie Pie turned her head almost all the way around, much to Joon's shock, and grinned again, "They're the best! And you should know, you're one of them, aren't you?"
"Heh. Yeah, they seem rather nice," The marine sighed satisfactorally. See? You're smiling again, Pinkie.
Pinkie Pie asked Joon, "What about your friends?"
"Besides yourself, I don't really have any. Lost contact with them over the years, and I had my family to watch out for."
Joon motioned to Pinkie Pie to the the PDA on the floor. "Can you grab that for me? I need to show you something."
She eagerly hopped up and retrieved the device, and returned to his lap with it.
As Joon activated the PDA, he scanned through its contents. Strange. I avoided looking through this like the plague back at the lockers.
Joon slided into view a picture, which included what Pinkie Pie assumed were humans. Personally they looked like hairless primates to her with their bodies and faces partially shaven, but she ignored the fact by how they smiled and the happiness captured by the photo.
"Here's my mum and dad. My two sisters and that's me." Joon pointed to the youngest of the bunch. "I was thirteen when we took the portrait. Before my mom was deployed again. Before she died."
Joon brushed through a couple of photos, most of family and friends in the snow, or in the urban sprawl on some planet. He finally reached a video frozen on a frame, which held an image of a coffin being cremated in a ritualistic fashion.
"My dad became a wreak after she died. Last I heard he was a rehab center getting treated for a glitter-stim addiction, a drug that rots you from the inside, but makes you feel like you're floating on cotton-candy clouds on the outside. And no, not the GOOD kind of cotton candy," Joon said, as he saw Pinkie's hoof raise up sharply to signal a question.
"My sister's got jobs in EarthGov, our homeworld's main government, and I, much against my mother's wishes, joined up in the Marines. Just like she did."
He flicked through the next couple of pictures, which were strangely all corrupted, except for one video.
He now knew the reason why he avoided even touching the PDA at the first place.
"Pinkie? Do you ever get the feeling that you feel like you're hiding something from yourself, but it's something that you really should know."
"Hmmmmmm...no. Why?"
"I'm getting that feeling right now. And this is the most recent video that I've taken for a long time. Pinkie I have to tell you something."
"Huh?"
"When you found me, I wasn't exactly the most mentally-healthy person to get to know. I keep forgetting certain things a few days ago, when we shipped out into this star system. I'm starting to remember things again, but I'm worried that maybe it wouldn't the best idea to look at this."
Pinkie Pie responded, "Remember what you told me just now? You gotta face your fears!"
He couldn't argue with her smile.
Joon pressed the play function tab on the PDA rather slowly, and watched it with hesitation.
The video was a conversation vid-com recording, and it was dated nearly 5-6 years ago. That could only mean one thing.
I....I'm starting to remember...
On one side of the screen was a face. His face. It still had a youthful shine to it, unlike it does with his own now.
"Anne? Anne, you there?"
Another face popped up on the other half of the screen. And Joon's gut flipped when he saw it to be the spitting image of his tormentor in his visions.
She peevly answered, "Joon, do you know what the friggin time is?" Her cam shifted to a chrono on a office desk.
"4 in the morning....and the planet I'm on has a 64 hour rotational time."
The Joon on the vid conference pleaded, "I know, babe. But this is really important. Bear with me for a minute."
"Fine. What do you want?"
"I've been thinking....about 'us'."
Anne gritted her teeth, "Finally! It's been like what, 6 days since you last called me? That's how fucking commited you are?"
"I know and I'm sorry! I'm really, really sorry. I've been thinking lately and I just wanted to get this....done with. Before I don't get a chance to. I'm getting deployed again. I'm cleared for a full year of duty."
"What? What are you trying to say? You're leaving me?" Anne roughly screeched.
"NO! Far from it. The exact opposite actually." The vid-Joon grabbed the recording device in one hand and got down on his knees. With his other available hand, he grasped a package and tore off the plastic casing. He tossed the flimsy case onto the floor, and placed the object inside the package in front of the camera. It was a small halo of silver, and to Pinkie, it was very similar to how horn-rings were shaped.
"I just wanted to tell you that I cherish everything that you've done for me over the years, even if you do get a little involved with your work."
"So do you, Junebug. Wait...Christ you're not-"
"I am. Diane Phillipa Mercer, will you marry me? I know, I know. This isn't exactly the most romantic thing I could think o-"
"Yes."
"Huh?"
"Get that stuffing out of your ears! I said yes!"
"So you're not pissed off....?"
Anne admitted, "Oh, you're still going to get your ass beat when you come back home, but you didn't have to get me a ring...I've always hated jewelery."
Joon joked, "Sorry, babe. I lost the reciept for this thing. I don't think I can return it used, especially since I spent half a year's salary for this."
"What?"
Sensing another ass-chewing inbound, vid-Joon hurriedly blurted, "Listen I gotta go! Got stuff to do, and I needed to get into stasis about an hour ago. Love ya, Anne."
"Love you too. And you better hope that the wedding will cost more than you spent on that ring, or else."
Vid-Joon smiled, "Oh my aching wallet."
The recorded conversation cut off and the video ended just as quick.
Pinkie Pie abruptly shouted at Joon, "You never told me you were such a stud!"
Joon weakly laughed, hoping that he could mask his surprise at what he just watched.
"Yeah. I never knew I was THAT much of a romantic."
"So how is she? Is she still around....Juuuuuunebug? Teehee!" Pinkie giggled at his potential embaressment.
Joon froze. Should I tell her? That I see her, screaming at me that I killed her? No, Pinkie'll get scared off. She'll never make it out there.
"Yeah. You could say that," Joon choked, quietly accepting his own half-lie.
Abruptly, the tram stopped without warning. Joon's head collided with a nearby pole, and Pinkie flew out of his grasp and barrel-rolled down the pathway and onto the floor.
His hands to his head, Joon could barely hear Pinkie excitedly shouting, "WHEEEEE! Let's do that again! Well, I guess that means were here!"
"No, that was the emergency brake system kicking in. Something's wrong. Only someone in charge of this boat can-"
As Joon crawled around to gather his gear and hastily reattached his RIG pack, and placed Pinkie in it, he recieved in incoming video communication call from Cadigan's RIG.
"Speak of the devil."
Joon accepted the call and started the conversation, "Commander? Sir, what's going on? The tram is stopping and-"
"I'm afraid this is the end of the road, Marine."
"Huh?"
"I'm afraid you don't understand. The mere fact that you're running around rampant on this ship is a serious risk in this operation!"
"Clarify sir, please! I thought our original mission was to rescue USG Ishimura's crew before it was rescinded for our own survival!"
"You don't know why we were really here? I guess I can tell you since I pretty much guaranteed your death anyway. We were here for a Marker, an honest-to-God retrieval for a Marker. We found one, Sergeant, down on Aegis VII, and EarthGov wants to claim it for research on its....properties."
"You have got to be- You're saying that you knew this all along? That every death onboard was because of you? All so a bunch of Unis at EarthGov and the CEC can get hard-ons over a fucking piece of rock?"
Cadigan replied, "Necessary losses, Gunny."
No, this isn't the same Cadigan I once knew. This isn't the former CO of the Reqiuem. It's a completely different person.
"And you, Gunny? You're one of them. The reason why a number of the crew members, including you, had complete mental breakdowns? Because the Marker knew we were coming, Joon. They knew we were coming to take it away!"
"You're fucking insane, Cadigan! Forget the command structure! Do you realize what's going to happen if you bring it back? If you expose it to the people back home?"
"I could care less, Gunny. Orders are orders. I thought you would understand, why this was necessary..."
Joon could hear an incoming tram arriving behind them. And he judged by the air suddenly exploding out of the tunnel, that the tram's velocity was at a collision speed.
Cadigan continued, "But now I see that you would rather listen to your conscience, than listen to orders! Heheheheeh. AHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAA!" Cadigan abruptly stoppered his insanity to say, "Goodbye, Sergeant. You'll only impede me if I hadn't killed you. And this would be the second time I've tried. You certainly proved your mettle against that Brute in the Disposal Deck. But I don't that you'll be able to escape this. Cadigan out."
Pinkie Pie asked in a slow, perturbed manner, clearly adding the pet name of Joon into her vocabulary (much to Joon's displeasure), "Junebug, what's going on?"
"I have no clue. Crap that tram is getting closer and closer. And I can't open the door. Cadigan locked us in."
He glanced at Pinkie Pie, "Pinkie, stay in the RIG pack. It'll keep you safe during the collision."
"What about you?"
The screams of a distant tram getting nerve-rackingly closer, Joon managed to get out, "Oh me? I'll be fine. I've survive worse."
"Ooooh, it seems they're in quite a jam."
Celestia, watching the scene in horror, strangled out, "Quiet, Discord. Am I able to send through a spell through this portal?"
"Why not?"
Celestia held back her anger in his vague responses and summoned all her power to send througha teleportation spell through the portal, and a little something for Pinkie.
A way to get home.
Stats
Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
983 users online
193,274 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Ha... Doing my homework then this comes up as I type it in.
Sorry that comment seems a bit rushed I just got excited. I won't mind about infrequent updates and I look forward to your higher quality chapters.
omg this is getting badass
1459497>>1459563
Thanks guys!
null
1459948
Heh. Sorry. But that was a good point to stop at, I felt.
1459995
Actually, it's a good cliffhanger, ended at a good point. By the way, I'm enjoying the main character a ton. Good work on his motives and personality.
1459988
...I feel like you are completely missing what I'm saying.
The USM Valor picked up an escape pod from USG Ishimura. A necromorph was in the escape pod, casuing the outbreak on Valor.
Understand now?
1460047
Thank you!
1460061
OH! I see...I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say.
It gets extremely fast-paced from here on out, so all I can say is VERY near
There are only two-three more chapters left to write before this ends, so.....
Fast stories are fast yo.
1485418
Ok.....Thanks for spamming in the comments, I guess
Yes, and they are blazing through this without a care. Joon has what's called EXPERIENCE
1488286 Experience with necromorphs? Nah... nah.... Issac is a scaredy pants and he has way more exp. points. He's a level 90 Fury Warrior with 500 engineering. Joon is a level 60 Survival Hunter with 200 engineering.
You can see the difference.
1492332
Add Pinkie Pie to the equation. Your arguement is invalid. Nice try tho
1495952 Pinkie ain't helped none. So she is just a pet.
1496124
Oh she'll help a lot. Just wait till I finish up. I'm planning to release the next couple of chapters all at once.
And yes. That means I'll be ending it in...a quite....abrupt manner. Blegh
1496186 Because Issac blows it up.
1496205
I'll just point and smile at your comment. Because I have no idea what it's talking about.
1496221 The story ends because Issac takes the Engine core from the ship causing a cataclysmic systems failure aboard the ship which destroys it. Or does the story finish before they crash into the Ishimura?
1496871
You'll see. I can't give away all my secrets.
1544302
Finally, someone comments about the references.
I swear, you are the first comment to ever notice them.
And thanks for the compliment! It means a lot to me that you guys like it
1548165I KNEW IT!
Also, L. Jenkins, huh?
i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/11/2/aB0ksTCFaUuLOYPMjuoxXA2.jpg
I SAW THAT! THE CAPITALS IN THE CHAPTER NAME SPELT OUT DISCORD!