Chapter 54: Repressed Nightmares

Perspective: Jake

Planet: Raylon, Part of the American Branch of Colonies

Year: 2844

I gave a small huff as I sat down in a chair, looking around the room.

’Where the hell is Chris? He said he’d be here by now’ I thought to myself as I looked around the room.

I was inside my classroom, sitting in my desk waiting for my friend to get here. It wasn’t like him to take this long but I’m sure he just got held up with something.

I let out another sigh as I pulled my backpack off and started rummaging through it, before I pulled out a rectangular glass device. I flipped it sideways and started playing games on it, waiting for the time to go by. After a while I checked the time, and saw roughly half an hour had gone by and he still wasn’t here!

“Where the hell is he?” I thought as I dialed him on my phone.

There was a short pause, then the ‘Disconnected’ tone started beeping through my phone.

’Huh that's... weird? Service is down...’ I thought to myself as I put my phone in my backpack and pulled it over my shoulder.

I stood up and walked over to the nearest window and looked outside it as I leaned against the wall. I watched the clouds drifting through the sky slowly and the thick vegetation around the buildings. Jungle trees stretched up tall over a lot of the houses present in the area with vines hanging down under them, some reaching the ground.

A small ball suddenly flew out of the treeline, followed by a few kids. I couldn’t hear them, but I could guess they were all laughing and having fun. I watched them kicking the ball around a bit before they all suddenly stopped. The light casting down into the area was suddenly blotched out by something as the kids looked up, a couple of them pointing at something.

I leaned into the window and looked up, trying to get a good look at what they were looking at.

*kraaa-BOOOM*

A thunderous noise erupted all around me, as the area the children were in was engulfed in fire and a moment later the window in front of me exploded.

I was thrown back, covering my face with my arms as I fell and landed on my back. I could feel glass shards slicing through my arms and side as I hit the ground.

“Ahhh! Ffffuck!” I yelled out in pain as I moved my arms and blinked away my blurred vision.

My ears rang as I looked around, the muffled sounds of screaming barely coming to my ears. A few moments went by, then my hearing started to get clearer along with my vision.

I shakily supported myself as I climbed to my feet, a sharp pain rushing through the right side of my stomach. Looking down, I could see a large chunk of glass roughly about the size of my wrist jutting out from my side. Reaching down, I touched it and immediately seethed in pain, a tear rolling down my face.

I stumbled over to a nearby wall and leaned against it, taking in a deep breath... before pulling the glass out.

*Shink*

“AHH!” I screamed, dropping the glass and holding the spot where it had been.

Breathing heavily, I looked up to where I had been standing. The window was completely blown away, allowing all the sounds outside to come flooding in.

The sounds of screams were the first thing I heard, followed by the sound of shooting and explosions ringing out in the distance. Holding onto my wound, I walked over to the window and looked out.

It was horrific.

The bodies of the children I saw before were burning in a small crater where they had been playing, and these metal monstrosities were running everywhere. Chasing people down and slaughtering them before they even had a chance to fight back.

My heart was pounding out of my chest, and I began panicking as I turned and ran out of the room, ignoring the pain in my side. I quickly reached the doors of the school, flung them open and took off as fast as my legs could carry me. I could hear plasma fire all around me as I ran towards the treeline.

I could hear footfalls next to me, and snuck a glance to my right as I ran. For a small moment I could make out another person running next to me, before their head exploded into blue and red gore.

I suppressed vomit as I reached the trees and didn’t stop running while the vines and trees blurred past me.

’What the hell is going on! I have to be dreaming, this must be some sick nightmare!’ I yelled in my mind as the pain in my side grew.

The warm feeling of blood had spread from my wound all the way down my side and leg, drenching my pants. But I had to keep going, I had to. After what felt like an eternity, I broke the treeline and saw two houses directly in front of me. The one on the right was engulfed in fire, the sound of screams rang out from inside.

I forced myself to look away, and ran up to the other house, bursting through the door and locking it behind me. Wasting no time, I turned and sprinted through the house and came up to some stairs. I followed them up and could hear someone rummaging around inside a nearby room at the end of a hall. I ran over and burst through the door, coming face to face with the person inside. He stood towering over me, in full military uniform except his hat.

“Dad!” I yelled as the man turned from where he was standing and opened his arms.

I ran into him, and he embraced me tightly. “Jake! Where the hell were you!” He asked as he let go of me and pushed me to arms length, not letting go.

“M-My friend C-Chris was gonna m-meet me after school...” I sputtered out in between hiccups and breaths. “B-But he n-never-“

He cut me off by shaking me a little. “It doesn't matter now, we need to get out of here!”

He looked down at my figure, and saw the still bleeding wound in my side.

“Oh my god what happened to you!” He yelled as he let go of me and turned around, going back to rummaging through a tall cabinet.

After a few moments he turned back around, a large plasma rifle hanging from his left hand and a small blue container in his right.

“Hold still.” He said as he knelt down and brought an end of the bottle to my wound.

A moment later, a cool wave washed over where I had been hurt, followed quickly by a numbing feeling. I looked down, and could see a layer of gel covering my wound, stopping anymore bleeding.

My dad threw the bottle behind him as I heard it hit the ground with a *Clunk*, before he turned back to me and looked me right in the eyes.

“We will make it out of this, you just have to do exactly as I say, okay?” He said as he brought his rifle up to both his hands.

I let out a small nod, my tears finally stopping now that the pain had stopped.

*KABOOM*

A loud sound erupted from downstairs, and my dad looked past me with worry in his eyes. Without a moment of hesitation, he stood up and motioned behind him towards the closet.

“Quick, go in there and hide and do NOT come out until I tell you to, understand?” He asked getting me to quickly nod and run past him.

I threw open the closet doors and went inside, before closing them behind me. I couldn't see out the closet as it didn’t have shutters, so I very slightly cracked open the right door, and peered outside. My dad was against the wall of the room, next to the door so that when it opened it covered him.

The tension was so thick you probably would feel like you’re walking through molasses while I watched the door. A few, agonizing seconds went by, and the sound of metal against wood could be heard outside as they burst through each room in the hallway.

*bang*

*Bang*

*BANG*

With every sound, I could feel my heart-rate rising higher and higher, until there was a pause.

Moments went by, with nothing happening as I watched my dad slowly take in a breath and tighten the grip on his rifle.

*BANG*

The door exploded violently as one of those horrible monstrosities came flying through the opening. Before it could even look around the room, my dad lowered his rifle and a cascade of plasma shots ripped through the things body, dropping it instantly. Not even half a second later another one ran through the door, this time gripping the door frame and wrapping it’s body around, swinging at my dad.

He ducked, just barely missing the swing as it caved into the wall behind him, and jumped forward and spun around. The monster gave him no breathing room as it leaped at him again as he fired more rounds at it, each hit landing on it’s mark. The machine shrieked a horrible metallic sound as it swiped at my dad, smacking the rifle from his hands before it fell to the ground, dead.

The rifle hit the ground and slid over to the closet I was hiding in, stopping just a few feet from it. My dad barely had a second to look where it landed, before he was tackled by another one of those things. They fell to the ground and tore at each other. My dad threw a few hard punches directly to it’s head and quickly bloodied his knuckles in an attempt to knock it off him.

I watched in horror as the machine was completely unfazed and began ripping and tearing at my dads chest. I watched, helplessly, as my dad fought an uphill battle. I wanted to go out there and help, pull the thing off him... but I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed in fear. It wasn't until the machine began to tear through the Kevlar vest under his uniform that his screams started.

I snapped out of my stupor, and listened to his bloodcurdling screams, which quickly began to sound like gurgling. My adrenaline spiked, and I burst through the closet doors and picked up the rifle on the ground. As I pulled the rifle up, the sound of fighting stopped and everything fell quiet.

I looked up, and saw that monster down on all fours, looking right at me with menacing red eyes. It let out a low hiss, and leaped towards me.

I let out a quick scream, and closed my eyes as I pulled back on the trigger.

The rifle kicked back and quickly made me point it straight up in the air as it flew out of one of my hands. I kept my eyes glued shut, terrified to open them. Moments went by in silence, and I creaked open one of my eyes to see the body of that twisted machine on the ground, it’s head caved in and smoldering with blue plasma.

I let the rifle down to my side and held it with my right hand as I ran past the body of the thing and up to my dad, who lay there not moving. I hit the ground to his right and let go of the gun as I leaned over him.

“Oh god... nonono.” I said aloud as I slowly reached my hands forward to touch his cheeks. “This can’t be happening, this isn’t real.” I kept saying to no one as I kept touching my dad, trying to get a reaction out of him.

Nothing.

Finally, the floodgates blew. I sat there and cried. I cried for what felt like an eternity. I cried until I had no more tears left and it was just howls in a raspy voice.

’This isn’t real, this isn’t real, this can’t be real, it can’t-

A sound from the stairway knocked me out of my thoughts. I quickly wiped away my tears and snot that was on my face and picked the rifle back up. I shakily aimed it towards the door, and waited.

I could hear the sound of multiple feet hitting the ground, coming towards me. With every step, I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. I gripped the gun tighter, and-

“Don’t shoot!” A man called out just as he turned the corner with a raised hand.

I let out a small gasp and dropped the gun, Causing it to clang against the floor. I dropped to my knees and tried to catch my breath. I couldn’t accept this was happening, this would never happen to me. It just couldn’t.

I flinched as a hand touched my shoulder, getting me to look up at him. He was tall, maybe even taller than my dad. He had dark skin and a military uniform, along with a rifle just like the one I had been holding. He looked down at me with sorrowful eyes, and motioned to the door.

“We have to go.” He said as he sprayed some kind of foam on my wound.

I let out a small hiccup and looked back down at my dad.

“B-But... I can’t j-just leave him here...” I said as he started to help me stand up.

“...we’ll come back for him, I promise. Right now, we need to get you and the rest these people off planet.” He stated grimly as I wiped my eyes and nodded.

Before I left, I took his leather jacket laying on the ground, which must have fallen out of the closet when I came out...

The next moments passed by in a blur. I’m not sure if it was just the shock of what happened, or if it was the blood loss and receding adrenaline. Soon, I found myself boarding a small ship as the man followed me in and the doors slid closed behind him. The sound of gunfire stopped as the door closed, and I was brought over to the cabin where I saw many other people sitting on the ground.

I saw children, adults, wounded, all sitting together and waiting for it to all be over. The room was barely illuminated by the red light in the ceiling, and gave the whole place an even more grim feeling to it.

“You should rest here with everyone else, you’ve been through a lot.” The man said as he motioned to the group of people.

As he did, he turned and walked off. I watched him, and looked back at the group of people, before turning and following him. He walked over to a window and looked outside it to the planet below. I walked up next to him and took a look for myself, just barely being tall enough to see through it.

What I saw almost made me sick.

The planet below, the one I called home all my life, was in complete turmoil. Half of the planet looked as if it was engulfed in fire and ships all over the planet were escaping from it’s clutches. Far past the horizon, I could barely make out a massive ship, much different in look than any of ours. From the sides of it, it looked as if millions of small dots were flying out from it and down to the planet.

I watched the planet, a lump forming in my throat as I remembered everything that just happened.

“It’s not fair...” I said quietly as I watched the planet burn from the window, pulling the large jacket tighter around me.

The man to my right raised an eyebrow towards me, then looked back out the window. “*Sigh*... listen kid, I’m gonna tell you something I was told a long, long time ago.” He said as he leaned over to me a bit. “War. Isn’t. Fair.” He said, enunciating each word with as much malice as he could. “They show us NO mercy... you experienced that firsthand.”

I didn’t take my eyes off the planet, but answered back. “So what happens now?” I asked getting him to let out another sigh.

“Well...” He began, “For you, you’ll be dropped off on a temporary refugee camp on Varion. There you’ll be given what you need to get yourself back together and get an education. Then you’ll-“

“I meant,” I cut in, “What happens to my home.” I asked finally looking away from the window and over to his eyes.

He didn’t say anything, just looked back out the window and avoided my gaze.

The silence gave me all the answers I needed.

I was never going back.

****************************

Perspective: Jake

Present time

I let out a gasp as I sat up, breathing quickly with a cold sheen of sweat covering my whole body. In between gasps of breath I looked around the room, quickly taking in my surroundings. I was laying in a bed which didn’t have any special characteristics about it, other than the fact that it was almost too small for me.

’Looks like I’m back in Canterlot castle’ I thought to myself as the door to the room creaked open.

“Jake?” A familiar voice asked from the door.

Luna slowly pushed her head through the door, and upon seeing me awake she exploded into glee. The look on her face was so infectious I even felt a small smile coming on my own face. She cleared the room with a small jump, as she spread her wings and glided all the way across.

She landed next to the bed and pulled me into a vice grip of a hug. I could feel her sobbing and laughing over my shoulder as she held me. A few moments went by and I wrapped my arms around her as well.

“I’m so happy you’re back! I thought you’d never wake up! I... I thought-“ She attempted to talk through her sobs as I brushed her mane with my right hand.

“Shhh. It’s alright. I’m not going anywhere.” I whispered into her ear.

She pushed me away, her hooves pressed against my chest. I could see tears plastered down her cheeks and bags under her eyes. Her eyes also looked a bit red from rubbing, and she couldn't seem to stop crying even though she was trying hard to.

“Don’t you ever, EVER, do something so STUPID like that again. Do you hear me Jake?” She begged as I watched her broken form.

Before I could answer, the sound of the door opening again grabbed my attention.

“Is everything alright?” Another familiar voice asked.

I looked over to see Celestia peering in, along with Discord.

“Y-Yeah... everything's fine.” I said aloud, getting Celestia to smile and give a small nod.

She started to back away from the door, before I spoke up again. “Actually uh, can I talk to Discord for a moment?” I asked, getting her to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

She didn’t question it though, instead she just pulled her head out of the door frame, and Discord came walking in looking a bit less spastic this time around.

I looked down to Luna as she turned back to me. “Luna is it alright if I talk to him for a minute?” I asked getting her to wipe a tear and nod.

Luna reluctantly got off the bed, and walked past Discord. But not before stopping next to him and doing something I didn’t expect at all. She reared up on two hooves and wrapped Discord in a hug, which shocked him as well. I saw her whisper something to him, but I didn’t hear it. After a moment she pulled away and walked to the door, but not before giving one last glance to me and shut the door.

There was a heavy silence in the room as Discord didn’t look towards me, and instead at the ground.

“Did you see it too?” I asked him, getting him to nod.

He pulled in a breath, and looked to me. “It... it was never my intention to show you that. I was just so eager to get on the princesses good sides that I... I grabbed the first memory that had a strong connection... I-“ I cut him off by raising a hand.

“It’s alright. It was a long time ago. I’ve gotten over it then, and I can get over it now... I just need time. I don’t blame you for it... if anything I thank you for helping me the way you did. If it wasn’t for you I’d be dead...” I finished getting him to sigh.

“Regardless...” He began, “I feel horrible for putting you through that again. If there’s ever anything you need, just let me know.” He said getting me to nod.

He then snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of light. Luna must have heard it, because she cracked the door open and peeked in.

“Oh, he’s gone already?” She asked getting me to nod. “Oh... okay. Well I guess I’ll give you a bit of time to rest.” She said as she began to close the door.

“Wait.” I asked, getting her to stop and look back over to me. “Can you stay with me? I don’t want to be left alone with my thoughts tonight...” I said in a low tone, getting her to nod and come in the room.

She shut the door behind her and I lay back down in the bed as she jumped in and lay next to me, extending a wing over my chest.

My memories had returned, all of them. Even the ones which I had fought to keep buried all those years.

I guess you really can never outrun your demons.

Author's Note

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