I Have Returned 2: The Broken Ones

Chapters

Chapter 1: Equestria Reborn
Chapter 2: Kilo Five
Chapter 3: Crimson Man, Blue Spartan
Chapter 4: Arrival in Equestria
Chapter 5: The Day Before

Chapter 1: Equestria Reborn

I Have Returned 2, The Broken Ones
Chapter 1: Equestria Reborn

New Canterlot City, a stunning metropolis, and heart of the UNSC lead government of Equestria. Once a megre little mountainside city for nobles, and the rich in the days of old, now shining example of the combined efforts of both Ponykind and the human race.

To most the city was unrecognizable compared to its former self. After all, only five years prior most ponies didn’t even know what a lightbulb was, now there were high rises scattered all around the city, and cars moving through the morning rush hour.

Thoughts like this, and of how much the Pony race had changed in the few short years following Equestria’s union with the UNSC flooded the mind of one particular pony as she layed in bed trying to catch just a few more z’s before her day inevitably had to star-

“President Luna, it is time to get up.” A voice said, a voice that Luna heard utter that awful phrase every morning reminding her of reality once again.

Her eyes fluttered open as she could see her alarm’s holographic display tell her that it was seven AM in the morning. Beside the alarm clock was the avatar of the A.I. of Equestria’s capital building, who also had a fragment in Luna’s own house. The A.I.’s name was Iris, a black haired human female wearing a leather biker suit.

“Come on now, you’re not just a little princess anymore, you’re the president of an entire planet.” The A.I. continued, putting her hands on her hips. “Plus you have a meeting with Admiral Osman today.”

“I know Iris…” Luna said before yawning.

“I already have the coffee machine making your favorite brew for you.”

“Heh, thanks.”

Luna slowly but surely moved her body out of the bed and stretching her still tired body. Once she was fully awake she made her way to her closet to grab her UNSC uniform she wore everyday. With Equestria now being under the UNSC, they also had to follow human law which meant mandatory clothes.

Walking out of her room, Luna made her way to the bottom floor of what most would consider a mansion. She sat down in her dining room as a Pony servant of hers brought her a cup of coffee, and breakfast. It was a simple dish of scrambled eggs and toast which she sarfed down quickly before she had to leave to get to her office by Eight AM.

With breakfast out of the way Luna quickly went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, and fix her hair. She didn’t have time for a shower today.

Her morning routine finally done, Luna exited her mansion passing by a few human guards on her way to a small roundabout in front of her estate with a limousine parked in it.

The driver if the limousine got out of the vehicle to open up the back door for Luna to enter which she did while thanking the driver himself.

The interior of the limousine was nothing much to write home about, after all it was meant for government use rather than parties.

Inside was her personal assistant Burning Eclipse, a yellow coated, black haired unicorn mare. Not that her being a unicorn mattered anymore, after all it had been almost five years since magic was eradicated from Equestria, in actuality the anniversary of that event was a mere two days away. Today on the other hand was the anniversary of a certain someone’s return to Equestria…

Just like Luna, Burning Eclipse was wearing a UNSC uniform. The young mare was holding a document of some sort, and had a very worried look on her face.

“What’s wrong Miss Eclipse?” Luna asked.

“...It has happened again Madam President.”

“Wait another one, but the last one only happened just a few days ago? This is unlike them to strike again so soon. Where was it?”

“A UNSC warehouse in a small industrial town up north. It happened last night.”

“Any casualties?”

“None from the current report, injuries on the other hand, yes. Six ponies and three humans were hospitalized, and are currently in critical condition.”

“Damn Sun Order again… Did they ransack the place before they destroyed it?”

“We can’t tell at the moment. The document I have right here has all of our current information.” Eclipse said as she handed over the papers to Luna.

After the destruction of magic in the year 2558 for the most part humanity took over Equestrian government. They soon publically revealed Celestia’s tyranny, and how she held them back for thousands of years.

Most other species bowed down out of fear to the humans that now ruled their planet, all except for the Griffons. From the start they challenged humanities rule over the planet, and were almost completely obliterated in all but one short battle, a testament to how advanced the human race was.

The remaining Griffons who didn’t surrender, and a group of Ponies not wanting to believe the truth about Equestria formed the ‘Sun Order’. They were a small but powerful rebellion, using guerrilla tactics to slowly hurt the new Equestria and the UNSC.

Nobody knows where they’re located, only that their base is somewhere hidden in the northern mountains of Equestria. For years they have quickly come out only to destroy valuable UNSC assets, and then to retreat back into hiding once more. They struck swiftly, and left little to no trace other than a spraypainted Celestia’s cutie mark.

“I have a meeting with Osman today, perhaps it’ll convince her to finally send some more support.”

“You really think so? They have their own insurrection to worry about, plus the last remaining Storm Covenant.”

“The only reason why support has been minimal is because we don’t exactly have a clear target. If we knew where they were hiding, well then we could just eliminate them. We don’t though, so she sees is at pointless. But I suppose the covies, and the innies don’t exactly help put things in our favour.”

The limousine came to a stop right outside of the capital building of Equestria. It was one hundred and fifty stories tall, and was the tallest building in Equestria.

Before the driver could get to it, Luna opened the door and exited the vehicle along with Eclipse.

Luna had to go through multiple security clearances in order to get to her office, but when she finally made it with five minutes to spare. With that time, she elected to sit down in her luxury designer chair custom built for her and look at at the city skyline. Eclipse on the other hand went to her separate office,

It was breathtaking how far one city came in five years. New Canterlot city was by far the most advanced city technologically in Equestria. Most other cities were still implementing new technologies, making them look much like a hybrid of both human and Pony architecture.

Luna had been President of the planet for almost five years now. She was the one leading her species through such a confusing time in their history with so many things they once knew completely changed.

A smile crawled upon Luna’s face as the sun made its way higher up in the sky. It was a new dawn for her planet, a dawn that would lead Ponykind into the future.

On the massive wall sized monitor in Luna’s office, the face of Admiral Serin Osman appeared right before her.

“President Luna, I see that you are enjoying the view.” Osman said giving a twisted smile.

“I quite am. It is an amazing city, although it is probably nothing compared to Sydney.”

“Don’t put yourself down like that, you’ve built a fantastic metropolis.”

“Greatest city in the entire planet Admiral.”

“Yes, and quite the planet it is. I see that your little ‘Sun Order’ problem isn’t getting any better.”

“Is that the reason why we’re having this meeting Admiral?” Luna said, now turning her chair towards the screen.

“That is correct. I see that you just had an attack on a small shipyard a few days ago.”

“Actually Admiral Osman there has been another one just last night. This time a UNSC wearhouse. We don’t have a full detail on the damages yet, or if they took anything, but I’ll have a report for you once we know.”

Osman stayed quiet for a moment.

“Hmmm, I see.”

“I know the UNSC has a lot on their hands, but if we were to get some support, perhaps we could find out where they are hiding in the north so we can get rid of them.”

“President Luna right now I am trying to assess whether the ‘Sun Order’ is a large enough threat for the UNSC to put a lot of their effort into. As it stands I do not know yet.”

“They have caused enough violence already.”

“Yes, but they are small in numbers and can only attack small establishments.”

“They are still large enough to be a threat. Who knows what they have up their sleeves, and who knows what they took from that wearhouse.”

“President Luna I understand your concerns, believe me, but we can’t send anything big to Equestria right now. Like you said, we have our hands full, and we still haven’t unlocked the power of the Elements of Harmony just yet so they can’t help us right now.”

“Please Admiral Osman, if you grant us some help this problem will be eliminated so-”

“I said I can’t send in anything big to aid you. I do have one thing though that I can send to help you.”

Luna was astonished. Osman actually was going to send support to Equestria! This is exactly what she wanted!

“Really Admiral that’s fantastic!”

“Yes, like I said earlier I want to see exactly how big of a threat the ‘Sun Order’ is, that’s why I am sending you help. I have a personal black ops team called Kilo-Five, it consists of one A.I., one scientist, one ODST, three Spartan IV’s, and one Spartan II. They will assess the problem, and if possible eliminate it.”

“Admiral Osman you have no idea of the amount of gratitude I have for you right now.”

“Thank you very much, but there is just one thing you need to be aware of about Kilo-Five. You may not like it.”

Luna’s heart skipped a beat, and a twinge of fear swelled up in her.

“And what would that be?”

“Ten years ago I was the one leading Kilo-Five. With me now being the head of ONI I had to choose a successor for myself to lead the team. I had a few who did their jobs alright, but the current leader has been the best one out of the lot.”

“I don’t see why this should worry be Admiral Osman.”

“....Her name is Jane Arimondo.”

Luna’s heart skipped another beat. Jane Arimondo, a women who she couldn’t make up her mind on whether she liked or hated. A woman she once knew as Twilight Sparkle.

Osman continued. “I hope you can put your past with Spartan Arimondo behind for the duration of her visit. Can you do that.”

“I... ugh… Sigh yes Admiral, it won’t be a problem.”

“Good to hear that President. I’ll make sure Kilo-Five gets to Equestria as soon as they can once they finish up their current endeavors. For now I have other matters to attend to, have a nice day President Luna.”

And with that the monitor switched off leaving Luna alone in silence, still in shock over what she was just told. Jane Arimondo, some would call her a hero, some would call her a murderous traitor. Either way, it had been five years since she saw her, and now a plethora of old wounds would about to be reopened.

The Avatar of Iris appeared on Luna’s desk.

“Hey prez, how did the call with Osman go?”

“We’re getting support against the ‘Sun Order’.” Luna said, her voice sounding like she was about to have a panic attack.

“That’s great prez! I bet you’re super excited for when they arrive.”

“Glad that we’re getting support, yes. Excited for their arrival, I’m not so sure about that…”

Author's Note

And thus the journey starts again. Here it is people the sequel to 'I Have Returned'. I must emphasize a few things right now. Firstly don't expect constant updates. I have another story on fanfiction.net that currently takes priority for me. Secondly, just because I am writing this doesn't mean I am a brony again, this series is my only connection to the fandom. Thirdly I am looking for a cover at for this story, if you want to volunteer to make one, just PM me. With that out of the way, lets get this show on the road! Until next time, I'll see you guys on the online Halo MCC battlegrounds! NOTE: fimfic mods have rejected this story due to it not being related enough to MLP. I'll do what I can to turn that around by trying to tie the story closer to MLP, but you can also help by making your voice is heard that you want 'I Have Returned 2' to be approved!

Chapter 2: Kilo Five

I Have Returned 2 The Broken Ones:
Chapter 2 - Kilo-Five

Celestia’s sun loomed in the morning sky over Ponyville as weather ponies removed the clouds from the sky to prepare for what was going to be a beautiful day. Shops were preparing to open to for business, and the faint smell of morning dew on the grass covered the small town.

It was that way every morning no matter what, even if some monster had terrorized the town the previous day the ponies would just pick up where they left off. Twilight Sparkle marveled at that, if she could she would love to study each and every pony’s life in depth, but she would never have the time for something like that.

Lately she had very little time to study anything period due to her being the Princess of Friendship, she had duties to perform and Celestia expected so much of her. Letting down her mentor was not an option.

As of right now she was leaning on the balcony just outside of her bedroom watching ponies go by.

Today was going to be an extra special day as she had plans with all of her friends. Normally these days most of them were all too busy for all of them to hang out at once, normally all she could do was hang out with one or two of them at a time. Thankfully all of their schedule lined up today allowing them to have a picnic.

Stepping back inside, Twilight knew she would have to cook up something nice for the picnic and she would have to start soon.

“Spike!” She yelled out hoping that the little dragon wasn’t still asleep. “You up yet!”

His reply seemed to come from downstairs.

“Already up Twilight. I’ve already started the oven for you!” He yelled back

Making her way downstairs Twilight also noticed that the Library was cleaned up, probably by Spike hoping she would let him stay over at Rarity’s.

“I see you cleaned up Spike, good work.” She said as she trotted into the kitchen.

“Yup, just trying to help out.” He said scratching the back of his head.

Twilight could see right through his lie, he always did this when he wanted to stay over at Rarity’s, but she would deal with that later.

“Thank you then.”

Now all she needed to do was decide what to make. She could just make a few daisy sandwiches, but no, that would be far too simple. Then again there was always something nice about something simple, but still she had to be a little more creative than that.

Perhaps she could make a few cheeseburgers… wait, what was a cheeseburger? She didn’t know, it just popped into her mind as if it was something she had before, but not for the life of her she could remember it.

A throbbing headache formed as Twilight tried to think further on the issue until finally she gave up on it and just decided to go with the daisy sandwich idea.

Twilight focused energy into her horn to levitate the utensils she needed to make the sandwich, but strangely nothing happened. She stood there confused for a moment as to why it wasn’t working before she tried again. Nothing, no matter how hard she focused no magic would work.

A lightheadedness washed over Twilight and her vision blurred. She stumbled her way into the library’s main room and collapsed on the couch.

A blurred form that seemed to be Spike walked up to Twilight and looked her in the eye.

“What’s wrong Twilight?” He asked, and while Twilight couldn’t make it out fully, his face seemed to be ripe with concern.

“Spike... I… I… feel dizzy. I think I might puke. Can you get me a drink of water?”

To try and make herself feel just a bit better. Twilight closed her eyes and started to take deep breaths. She did this for about a moment only to open them and see Spike in the same position.

“Umm Spike? What are you doing?”

No answer, and she wouldn’t get one as for some reason Spike began to fade away.

“Spike! Spike! Where are you going? What’s going on!”

The suddenly, she heard a voice, a voice that was almost like a whisper echoing across the room.

“Jaaaaaaaaaaane….”

“What, who are you? What are you talking about, who’s Jane?” Twilight said, her senses turning back to normal.

“It’s time to wake up Jane.” The voice said again, now much louder to the point in which she could clearly identify the voice as a male’s.

“Who are you and what have you done to Spike!”

This time though a yellow figure appeared right before her staring her down with a worried look on its face.

“Come on Jane get up.” He said. “It’s not real, it’s just a dream.”

And the world went white.

________________________________________________________
UNSC Port Stanley 2563

The eyes of Jane Arimondo shot open as she awoke from her slumber to find herself in her personal quarters on the UNSC Prowler Port Stanley.

This was the third time she had that specific dream. It was a dream about… well it was about her past. Years ago she wasn’t a human being, but rather a Equestrian pony by the name of Twilight Sparkle.

It was eleven years ago when she became a human being, and it wasn’t until six years later when she finally returned to her homeworld of Equestria. Most would think returning home after six years away would be a fantastic point in her life, it wasn’t. She did a lot of horrible things that she wished that she could forget upon her return home.

Due to her actions Equestria is now without magic anymore, and the planet follows human government for the most part. Ever since then Equestria has been slowly adapting to the new world it was now in.

Looking beside her Jane saw her A.I. companion Roland projecting his holographic avatar next to her bed who woke her up, his face stricken with worry.

“Jane we have a big problem! You need to get to the bridge now!” He said.

“What’s going on, did something bad happen to Mal and Vaz?”

“Big time, an anonymous person tipped the insurrectionists off that they were UNSC personal.”

“Shit. What’s going on right now.” Jane said throwing the covers of her bed off of her and then putting on the bare minimum of clothes she needed.

“They’re heading towards an evac point in a nearby forest to where they are. I sent Naomi and Devereaux already in Tart-Cart to pick them up.”

Once Jane was dressed she stormed out of her room and into Port Stanley’s bridge which was thankfully right next to her room.

In the middle of the the bridge was a holographic projection desk showing the view of a hidden satellite over the forest Mal and Vaz seemed to be running through. On the view she saw there were two green dots representing the two ONI agents. Also there was the view from the sunglasses that both men were wearing.

Next to the table was Dr. Evan Phillips, Kilo 5’s resident scientist and Sangheili expert staring down at the feed coming through. He turned his head towards Jane as she enterned.

“I see you rushed over pretty quick. It’s not often you see ONI officers being so, revealing.” he said pointing out the fact that she was in nothing but a standard Issue UNSC sports bra and training shorts. Jane couldn’t help but chuckle at the remark as well due to it also poking at the fact that ONI officers often being shrouded in secrets.

“Very funny Phyllis.” She replied back, Phyllis being a common nickname the crew gave to Phillips. The nickname came from his interactions with the Sangheili race who due to their unique jaw structure couldn’t pronounce some human letters.

“Glad you liked it. Now onto business. Mal and Vaz real identities were reported about 20 minutes ago. They made it through the insurrectionist hideout without too much damage, but now they’re being chased through the woods as they try to make it to the evac point.”

“Any word on who spilled the beans?”

Roland’s holographic projection appeared on the table with a smirk on his face telling Jane that he had her answer.

“I believe I can help with that. The tip was supposedly given anonymously, or at least that’s what our two colleagues planetside were told, but through hacking into their databases I can confirm that it was someone in their ranks who made the find. Who however I don’t know, they have an insane amount of security and firewalls to get to that information.”

Jane raised an eyebrow. “And this is a problem for you how? You’re one of the most advanced UNSC A.I.’s Roland, this should be a piece of cake.”

“Should doesn’t mean it is. This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen coming from the innies.”

“Do you think it could be Forerunner?”

“I wouldn’t think so. The UNSC has pretty much every Forerunner site on lockdown. From the Halo’s, to the colonies, and to the Trevelyan shield world. The only places we don’t have a firm lockdown on are Sanghelios, and Equestria as part of the deal when they joined the UNSC.”

Hearing the name Equestria made Jane twitch. Her homeworld, her birthplace. The place in which she almost destroyed due to her own personal vendetta. She couldn’t help but clench her fist as she tried to push away the painful memories.

A gunshot rang out from the footage from vaz’s sunglasses signaling that the enemies were catching up.

“Dammit, they’re getting close.” Jane said. “Roland how much longer till evac?”

“Naomi and Dev are just landing in a clearing nearby. Mal and Vaz will be there in a minute.”

Another screen of footage came up on the desk, this one was from a camera in Tart Cart. The live video showed the modified pelican just landing, it’s cargo bay door opening, and Naomi pulling down the deployable minigun from the ceiling.

Mal and Vaz quickly came into view with more gunshots following them. Naomi readied chain turret but couldn’t get a clear shot as the enemies.

As the two Spartans hopped on board the ship one of the bullets heading their direction hit Vaz in the shoulder causing him to hiss in pain. Another shot hit him in the back causing him to fall down and his sunglasses to fall off.

As Tart-Cart started to lift off the sunglasses Vaz was just wearing fell off of the back of the ship and landed on the ground. The cargo bay door of the ship then closed and the ship soared off into the sky to soon meet back up with Port Stanley causing Jane to breathe a sigh of relief.

“That was a close one.” Phillips said. I’m just glad they didn’t hit any vital parts of Vaz.”

“Yeah, he’s a good agent and a good person. I don’t say it enough to him though.”

Before Jane walked away from the desk to go back to her room and get fully dressed something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. It was the still continuing footage from the sunglasses Vaz was wearing.

In the footage she could see a few human insurrectionists, but what caught her attention was that there were ponies with them as well. One pegasi and one unicorn.

The pegasi noticed the sunglasses on the ground and picked it up.

“I know you’re watching this UNSC scum.” He said.

“Well isn’t he just a bundle of sunshine.” Phillips said.

“You may think we’re blind to the truth, but we know what happened.” The pegasi hissed.

Roland’s avatar instantly turned to Jane with a worried face.

The pony continued. “We will have revenge against the traitor, and we will bring back our queen. You may have fooled Luna but you will never pull the wool over our eyes.”

The pegasi threw the sunglasses on the ground and stomped on them cutting the feed.

“Crazy conspiracy theorist. It’s nut jobs like that who made the insurrection start in the first place.” Phillips scoffed.

Jane’s heart was pumping vigorously as she responded with. “Yeah…. you’re right.”

“Anyways I haven’t had breakfast yet, I’ll see you later Jane.”

“Yeah sure, I’ll be along in a bit.” Jane said now hunched over the desk in a cold sweat.

“You okay Jane, don’t tell me the words of those nut jobs have you scared. Honestly we’ve done nothing wrong to them. Hell we saved them from that nutjob princess of theirs at the battle of the Crystal Empire.”

“No, it’s just that I almost lost a good man today, that’s all.” Jane lied.

“Oh okay then. Anyways chao.” He said as he left the room.

A dead silence fell between Jane and Roland as they both knew what had just happened.

“ONI said they tied up all of the loose ends.” Jane said. “We took all of the steps needed to make sure that everything was covered up.”

It was true. After she left and brought forth the elements to ONI they said they would cover her tracks. A cover story was made to hide the true intentions of her attack on the Crystal Empire.Celestia was used as a scapegoat, she was already a figure who attacked the UNSC INFINITY during her return to Equestria so it was easy to make it look like the battle of the Crystal Empire was just humanity defending themselves from her. The guards from the canterlot castle who she killed was also blamed on Celestia. After that there was the guards from after the attack on The Crystal Empire in which Jane proclaimed that humanity was in charge. They were all told that it was just a misunderstanding and that she was only taking on emergency power granted by Princess Luna for the UNSC to set up a base to defend themselves from Celestia.

“This is not good at all, you’re entire freedom is on the line now. Even if we can’t be certain if that pony has anything credible on him, it’s still a risk leaving him alone.”

“Yes, we don’t know if he has any real dirt on me, but as long as we don’t know he’s a threat to me. I don’t want to lose my freedom, if I do then there is no way in which I can work towards atoning for my sins.”

“Are you going to tell Osman about this?”

“No, absolutely not!” Jane exclaimed. “The fact that they’re covering this all up for me has already allowed them to control me like a little puppet for fear of my crimes going public. If they know that I’m scared they will be able to take even more control over me, and that can’t happen.”

“Then this is something we have to tackle on our own I guess.”

“Indeed, but I can’t just go down there and take care of them myself, too many questions would be raised that way. The last thing I want is Osman breathing down my neck.” Jane said resting her hand on her chin in thought.

Roland’s face lit up for a second as he seemed to have just found out something.

“Speaking of Osman, she’s calling you right now.”

Jane sighed. “Very well then. Put her on screen.”

“The images of the planet below on the holographic projection desk disappeared and what replaced them was a screen with the image of the head of ONI herself Serin Osman dressed in her black ONI uniform sipping a cup of tea.

“Good morning Jane.” She said. “I see you just got out of bed.”

“Thanks for noticing.” Jane said sarcastically while crossing her arms. “May I ask why you are calling?”

“Straight to the point as per usual. Well first things first how is your current mission going?”

“We had to cut it off Ma’am. Vaz and Mal were discovered based off of an anonymous tip. Vaz has two gunshot wounds, but is otherwise fine.”

Osman had almost a sly smile to her as she said her next words. “Very well then. It’s a shame to hear that Jane. I don’t know that information was leaked, but I’ll take care of it so rest easy on that. Do you have any idea on the identity of the person who gave away this information?”

Jane had the hunch that it was the pegasi from earlier, but she choose to keep that a secret. After all, she was an ONI agent, secrets were her speciality.

“Absolutely no idea. I have Roland looking into it right now.”

“No need to Jane, I’ll take care of it. This is actually perfect timing as I have a new assignment for you. You might not like it though.”

“No use beating around the bush then. Lay it on me.”

“Over the last seventy two hours five colonies have experienced identical events. Massive destruction, Forerunner in origin. As of right now we’re trying to find out what’s causing these events, but none of our Forerunner sources are telling us everything. There is however two places where we have limited access to. I think you know what they are.”

“You’re not thinking about sending be back there are you?”

“Yes, and before you ask, we already have a team heading to Sanghelios. So don’t think you can just go there instead. I’m sending you back to Equestria whether you like it or not.”

“I fail to see the logic behind this. We already have limited access, what makes you think me being there will change anything?”

“Easy, we have a cover story to mask your true intentions for being there. This is a secret operation. The Planetary Government of the Equestrian UNSC branch won’t know the real reason why you’re there. You see they are having a bit of a terrorist problem right now, we don’t see them as any threat whatsoever, but President Luna seems to be worried about them. She thinks you’re there to help them with this problem.”

“Does Luna know it’ll be me?”

“Yes, but despite your strained past with her I’m sure both of you can be professional about this. I expect you to be there as soon as possible, now if you’ll excuse me I have other matters to attend to. I’ll look forward to your report. Osman out.”

Just like that the conversation ended and the holographic projection desk reverted back to the map from before and Roland appeared.

“What did she say Jane?” He asked.

“Were being reassigned, back to Equestria.”

“Are you serious? This has to be some kind of test Osman is putting you through!”

“Regardless of her intentions we have our orders. Is Tart-Cart back?”

“Yes it is, they just landed in the docking bay.”

“Good, fire up the slipspace generator, we’re heading to Equestria.”

Author's Note

WOW. Sorry this took so long guys, but this story has gone through a lot of changes in terms of the direction I want to take it in. With the Broken Ones I really want to focus on the strengths of the first story while fixing many of it's faults, and I will admit that the first story has a lot of flaws in it. Either way, the next update will be much sooner. Until next time I'll see you guys on the online Halo 5 Guardians battlegrounds!

Chapter 3: Crimson Man, Blue Spartan

I Have Returned 2: The Broken Ones
Chapter 3: Crimson Man, Blue Spartan

5 years ago, 2 days after the defeat of Celestia….

“Reading books, day after day, that’s what I did. Where yesterday was, or tomorrow is, had no concern over me back then.“ Jane said. “I lived a simple life until I became the one of the bearers of the Elements. After then my life went through a whirlwind of change.”

It had only just been a few days since Jane returned to Earth from her return to her old planet. Now she stood before the higher ups at the Office of Naval Intelligence to decide her fate.

“And how long were you one of these bearers before you joined humanity.” Asked Serin Osman the current leader of ONI.

“About four years years I’d say.”

“And for how many of these years were you Equestrian royalty?”

“That would be only one year Ma’am.”

“And you did this all for humanity? Trying to get the Elements for us that is? Because a lot of us here don’t like the idea of trusting an alien pretending to be human. We have no idea if you’re going to eventually stab us in the back. So did you stab your own kind in the back to prove your loyalty?”

“To be honest I don’t know. A lot of things were going through my head when I did what I did. Part of it was to end any possible threat against the human race, part of it was myself believing that no matter how I tried to get the Elements of Harmony that my old kind would hate me. I was so convinced that they would despise what I’ve become that I grew to hate them myself. So I slaughtered innocent ponies looking for every reason I could to justify it. It was almost a kind of revenge, except that what I was getting revenge for was all in my head and not real.

“So where does that leave you standing? With everything that has happened do you identify yourself as a human, or as a pony?”

“I’ve done what I’ve done. I made a choice to stay as a human, and I’ve done too much as a human to turn back now. My old life is gone, and I can never get it back. There is no point in even trying to try to make things like they used to be. My name is no longer Twilight Sparkle, it is Jane Arimondo, and I am a human.”

“I see Jane. Do you regret at all what you’ve done?”
“I don’t regret getting humanity the Elements of Harmony, but I do regret the actions I took to get them. The very least I hope you all can at the very least make my actions not be in vain.”

The other higher ups and ONI started murmuring to themselves before Osman raised her hand to silence them.

“Is that all you want Jane? Because this seems rather noble for someone who is technically begging for her freedom, or at the very least begging to not be thrown in a jail cell for the rest of her life.”

“I just want to be able to atone for all the deaths I’ve caused, I can’t do that from a jail cell. I want to be able to do good for the galaxy. I’ll never forgive myself for the deaths I’ve caused, but at the very least I want to do enough good so I can live with myself.”

A smirk ran across Osman's face in response to Jane’s words.

“How very noble of you. I’m going to be honest with you Jane, most of the people in this room want you dead, and I’m sure some ponies from your old planet feel the same. Luckily for you your fate ultimately resides on my shoulders. Jane you’re going to be working for ONI now for the rest of your life, doing whatever I ask of you. You belong to me now, if I say jump, you say how high.”

“I guess I have no other options then?” Jane said, folding her arms.

“Absolutely not. Welcome to the rest of your life Jane. I’m putting you in charge of an old black ops team I used to lead, you’ll find plenty of work with them.”

Jane didn’t like this, ONI knew she was scared and was now using it to their advantage. Nevertheless she didn’t have any other choice.

“Very well then Ma’am.” Was all Jane could say.

“Good, you are now dismissed.”

_____________________________________________
Present Day, Planet Kamchatka

A Spartan wasn’t your typical slugger for the UNSC, they were more than that. They were the crowning achievements of what human beings could be capable of. The best of the best, the ones who could handle any challenge that faced them. The original Spartans II’s were considered gods among men, capable of anything. The brand new Spartan IV’s were only considered to be demi gods, but that was more than enough to get the job done.

Jane was considered to be one of the toughest of the Spartan IV’s, but if there was anyone who stood even close to her it was Spartan X89 most commonly known to his peers as Spartan Crimson. The name was fitting despite the fact that his armour was blue, he had a fiery passion for what he believed was right, and wore his name proudly. He knew Jane since the very start of her journey as a human, he fought alongside her, and even stood up to her at her worst times.

It had been five years since he had last seen Jane, and now he lived his own life as a lone wolf UNSC agent. Often stuck in behind enemy lines, he pulled off countless operations on his own. Today was just another mission to him.

Even though at this point in time important tasks were not new to him, the importance of said tasks still kept him on his a game. Currently he was tracking down a insurrectionist trading route which lead him deep into the snowy mountains of Kamchatka.

He was hunched over a cliff overlooking a valley with his SRS99-S5 AM sniper rifle trained on one particular spot of the valley.

Yesterday he intercepted a transmission detailing exactly where the meeting would take place. In the snow all over the valley he placed drones that would pick up sound and send it to his helmet letting him listen into whatever they talked about. The innies were getting weapons from someone and now he was finally going to find out.

Out of the sky Crimson saw a small ship come into view and land in the middle of the valley. Out from it came one humans came out holding a probably stolen UNSC rifle. The back hatch of their ship opened up and a team of more humans started unloading some crates of weapons from their ship.

A few moments later another small ship landed right next to them. What came outside of the ship though wasn’t human at all, it was a single Equestrian pony.

“What the hell.” He said to himself, his eye widening. “What the hell are Equestrians doing so far from home?”

Ponies from Equestria rarely left their planet. Emigration from their home planet was very uncommon. They were still new to this world, and thus rarely ventured off to other worlds save for a few.

Regardless he started to listen in.

“Do you have the weapons?” The pony said.

“Yeah we have just what you asked. All of them were modified so your race can use them just as you asked.” The human responded.

“Good I’ll need them. I have a very important operation that I want to make sure goes smoothly. Don’t worry though, it’ll hurt the UNSC only, so you’re only helping yourselfs by doing this.”

“I see, now I held up my end of the deal, now you hold up yours. I want that information.”

Information? Since when did the innies trade crates full of weapons for just simple information. Couldn’t they get that on their own, why did they need ponies to get if for them?

“Straight to the point I see, I admire that.”

“Just tell me, lives are at stake here.”

Lives at stake? This sounded important.

“Meridian is next, I suggest getting your men out of there as quickly as you can. It’ll happen soon.”

“I see, thank you. I’ll get right on it. One last thing though, I forgot to mention it earlier. Did you take any precautions to make sure nobody is listening in?”

Crimson’s heart skipped a beat.

“Yes, I have. My scouts are combing the area right now, if anyone is watching, we’ll get them.”

Crimson’s heart skipped another beat.

“Oh shit.” He said to himself as he jolted up to get out of there until he heard a voice behind him.

“Oh shit indeed human scum.” He heard before getting in the back of the head sending him almost over the cliff.

Crimson activated his thrusters to send him backwards before doing a backflip over his assailant.

When he caught a glimpse of his attacker his mouth dropped. It was a pony clad in a humanoid like Forerunner armor. He was clearly a pony, but he was completely bipedal with hands.

“What the fuck.” Crimson said. “Just how?”

“Don’t get too excited.” The pony said. “Under this armour I’m still a regular pony. This is just a set of armour shaped like a human. Think of it like a robot suit, I put it on, it connects to my nervous system and just like that I can walk around on two legs. It’s amazing what the Forerunners could do.”

“So that thing is Forerunner. Nevertheless it was a mistake telling me that. You sure seem to like to divulge information easily.” Crimson responded as he cracked his knuckles.

“Ha, I feel no fear in telling you.” The pony said clenching and raising its mechanical fist. “You’ll be dead in a few minutes!”

The pony lunged right at him at full speed and slammed its fist right into Crimson’s gut before he could react sending him flying back. He used his thrusters once again, this time to make a recovery. Quickly he raised his sniper rifle to fire off a shot, but the pony had already caught up to him and smacked his weapon away before grabbing both of Crimsons arms and pinning him down.

“With this suit I am more than any human, Spartan or not could ever achieve. I am stronger than anyone in your pathetic race.”

“Don’t underestimate us you bastard.” Crimson said before using both his feet to kick the pony off of him.

Immediately Crimson stood up again, and lunged at his enemy readying his fist. It collided with the pony’s face knocking out a tooth and sending the pony back a few meters. He readied his fist for another punch, but the pony quickly reacted and kicked Crimson in the gut before giving him an uppercut sending him once again to the ground. The punch also knocked his helmet off.

The pony pounced on him again having him completely pinned, his legs too, making him completely helpless.

“So that’s what your ugly face looks like. I’ll enjoy seeing the pain in your eyes.” The pony said. “First though, I want to see you freeze.”

The pony grabbed onto his front armour plate with Crimson helplessly not being able to do anything about it. He tore the plate completely off of his chest and whacked him with it breaking his nose.

Out of the corner of his eye a few feet away Crimson saw his sniper sitting in the snow. It was his only chance. As the Pony started tearing off his arm plates Crimson headbutted him staggering his enemy just long enough to free himself.

Quickly he moved his arm and grabbed his rifle. Once the pony gained his composure he was faced with the barrel of a gun, his eyes widening as he just realized that this was it for him. Crimson fired, and the bullet cleanly tore through the pony’s head, the limp body falling over Crimson.

After a few seconds he got up, and used his arm computer to call his Prowler ship back to him. It was a risky move doing that, but his gunshot must have already gave away his location. This way at least he’d hopefully get off there faster before the others could get here.

In a few minutes he could see his coming from the distance, so he picked up the body as he planned to take it with him. That armour had to be analized.

The ship touched down and crimson loaded the body on and rushed to the pilot seat to take off. The Prowler was soon outside the planet's atmosphere and in space.

Dammit, he wanted to possibly get a tracker on one of those innie ships, so at the very least he could see where they were going. Nevertheless he was left with only one option, go to Meridian. Just what the hell was going to happen there anyway?

_______________________________
UNSC Port Stanley
On route to Equestria

“Ow dammit!” Vaz said as Jane pulled out the bullet from his shoulder and placed it next to the bullet she took out from his back.

“You’re a Spartan Vaz, suck it up.” Jane said. “You’re tougher than this and we both know it.”

“Genetic enhancements or not bullets still hurt Jane.”

“Yes, and one of those enhancements is faster healing, so I have to get these out of you before you wounds heal around them.”

With both bullets out now Jane started to clean said wounds to make sure they wouldn’t get infected. The chances of a Spartan getting infected were low, but there still was a chance so Jane had to make sure he would be fine.

“How does it look back there?” Vaz asked.

“The bullet in your back was small and didn’t do much damage, your advanced accelerated healing will take care of that on your own.”

“So what you’re saying is that for a bullet wound I only need a simple band aid?”

“I wouldn’t have put it that way, but yes.”

“Damn, I feel like a superhero.”

“If you want to get technical about it you are a superhero. It sure as hell makes all of those nasty surgeries to get all of these biological enhancements worth it when you can just take a bullet out of you and be on your merry way like nothing happened.”

“Yeah, but damn were those surgeries painful. At least we didn’t get the worse of it, when they did this shit to the Spartan II’s most of them died.”

“Indeed. Sadly though the bullet that went in your shoulder was far bigger, even with your healing I’ll still need to put a few stitches in there.”

“Dammit really?”

Jane sighed. “Yup, sorry Vaz. Naomi is better with these than me though, so I’m going to see if she’s up for the task.”

“Not feeling confident in your abilities Jane?” Vaz chuckled.

Jane smirked back at his remark.

“Oh I can do it just fine Vaz. It’s just that Naomi is a little more gentle than me, and since you’ve already been whining like a little baby I thought I’d get her to do it.” Jane shot right back.

Vaz laughed at her comeback.

“You’re never one for letting anyone under you give you a good roasting are you Jane?”

“You got that right. In all honesty though, I still haven’t had my morning coffee, and I’ve done enough for you already today, so I’m going to go get Naomi to take care of it.”

“Haha, okay sure Jane, just leave some in the pot for me.” Vaz said as Jane started to leave the room.

“Sure thing, no problem.” She said right as the door closed behind her.”

From the speaker on the right wall Roland’s voice came through.

“You want me to get Naomi on that Jane?”

“Sure go get her, I want my coffee.”

Jane made her way to the mess hall hoping to finally get her hands on a hot cup of coffee. The day had already been stressful for her on two fronts with the operation failing, and her having to return once again to her homeworld and face all of those whom she had wronged once again.

Upon entering the mess hall, Jane found it to be empty. The others must have all been busy with either regular maintenance, working out, or just lazing about. Thankfully though there was still plenty of hot coffee left in the pot. She poured herself a cup, and let out a breath of relief as the energy hit her.

It was good coffee too, Godot Blend 107, her favourite brand. One of the perks of being an ONI agent was that you actually got good food and drink. When she was just a simple UNSC marine the meals tasted like shit, and the coffee fared no better. Regardless though she lived fine with it, back then she was more concerned with other things such as the next possible attack from the Covenant. Infact back then she rarely got a chance to sleep due to her constantly having to be awake and prepared for an attack. It was that which started her love of coffee, on those nights in which she never got a chance to lie down it was her one saving grace giving her the energy she needed to be on alert, even if said coffee at the time was terrible.

“So Jane how are we going to handle this.” Roland said, his small avatar appearing on the table next to Jane.

“It’s not going to be fun I’ll tell you that.” Jane said. “We have to make sure our mission goes well, but at the same time we have to look for the fuckers who know about me and take care of them. If we don’t ONI will have me on an ever shorter leash, and I’ll never be free from them.”

“That’s going to be hard to pull off without them finding out.”

“I’m an ONI agent, keeping things from other people and going behind their backs is part of my job. I can do it, I have no other choice but to do it.”

“Very well, and I take it you want me to leave the pony part out of my report back to ONI?”

“Obviously.”

“Alright just checking.”

“Anyways once I finish this I’m going to go work out then do some paper work. Make sure to let me know when we’re close to Equestria.”

“Will do Captain.” He said before he avatar disappeared.

Jane sighed. The next few weeks were not going to be easy on her.

Author's Note

Another Chapter, finally. Hopefully I can get a solid update system sometime soon, but I'm just so busy with work lately, and a man has to pay the bills. Either way I hope you enjoyed. Until next time I'll see you guys on the online Halo 5 battlegrounds!

Chapter 4: Arrival in Equestria

I Have Returned 2 The Broken Ones
Chapter 4: Arrival in Equestria

Jane signed the last of the documents she needed to work on in regards to her previous mission. It felt strange just writing her name down, Jane Arimondo. For years she had been answering to that name, over a decade now. It was a name she didn’t intend on changing, and she truly felt that it was her own name now. Yet when she wrote it, she was reminded of everything she did. How her name carried poison to the minds of some, and incited anger, sadly well deserved anger. Chances are these thoughts were coming to mind just because she was going home, but it still bothered her.

Jane picked up a blank piece of paper and tried writing it again.

There it was, her name. It came so easily to her, like it was there since birth.
Bah! She couldn’t dwell on such small things like that, there was more pressing issues that she needed to take care of.

“Roland, how much longer?” She asked.

“About twenty minutes till we exit slipspace Captain.” He said over the intercom. “I’ll send the documents over to Osman, I’d suggest you go prep the others. Come up with a game plan.”

“You’re right. We have a lot on our plate. Firstly we have find the cause of the Forerunner attacks on the colonies and do that behind Luna’s back, take care of the fuckers who know about me behind everyone’s back, and make it look like we're taking care of the Sun Order to Luna.”

“So you’re not going to tell them?”

“Tell who?”

“The Crew, about you. If there was any good time to mention it, it would be now.”

“I’ve read their records already, when they discovered the truth behind the Spartan II program they wanted to kill doctor Halsey for kidnapping innocent children and experimenting on them. I’ve killed innocents, if they found that out they would get even angrier.”

“Would you blame them?”

“No, I wouldn’t. It’s the proper human response to hearing something like that. Nevertheless we have more pressing issues, and none of them are going to get solved if the team hates me.”

“Very well then, it’s your choice Jane.”

“Alright then. Send everybody to the bridge so I can talk to them.”

__________________________________________________________
Ten minutes later Port Stanley Bridge

Jane dimmed the lights of the bridge as a holographic projection of Equestria appeared in the middle of the room. She quickly counted over each of the members of Kilo-Five to make sure they were all present, which they were.

“Alright team we have a new assignment, one that is of utmost importance.”

“Aren't all of our assignments like that?” Mal said sarcastically.

“True, but this one even more so. I have recently been informed by your old boss Serin Osman that multiple UNSC colonies have been attacked by something Forerunner in origin. We have no idea what it is, but none of our Forerunner resources are giving us any answers. This is the only Forerunner place in the galaxy that we know of that we don’t have access to due to it being under control of the Equestrian government.”

“Uh Captain?” Vaz asked. “Doesn’t the UNSC have control over the Equestrian government?”

“True, but due to them being a different species, and other circumstances, we do let them have a lot of political freedom to do as they desire. We could ask them to let us in, but we want to keep this Forerunner attack thing under wraps.”

“And how are we going to do that?” Phillips asked.

“I was getting to that. Currently Equestria is dealing with a small insurrection called the Sun Order who want their old Princess Back, their magic back, and of course death to all humans. They’ve attacked a few small UNSC warehouses, but we don’t think they’re any threat. However Equestria’s leader President Luna thinks otherwise.” Jane said, as a photo of Princess Luna appeared next to the holographic planet. “She’s been pushing for UNSC aid on taking care of them, and that’s our cover.”

“So what’s the plan then?” asked Deveraux.

“I’m splitting the team into two. Vaz and Mal will take up the position of searching through the sun order, while Deveraux, Naomi, and Phillips will search for the Forerunner origin of the attack. I’ll be moving in between both teams helping each of you out. Obviously Luna can’t know of the presence of some of you, so she’ll only meet with Vaz, Mal, and myself.”

“Captain, we’ll be exiting out of slipspace in 30 seconds.” Roland said over the intercom.

“Very well then, the presentation is over. I’ll brief the Forerunner team on what to do once I get an idea of how much freedom we’ll have to maneuver around. Roland, prep tart cart. Mal, Vaz, let’s go.” Just as she finished speaking the room lit back up again, and the ship came out of slipspace, the empty black void now filling with stars and of course a little blue planet that she knew oh so well.

Jane took a deep breath. It was time to return once more, to the planet she once called home.

____________________________________________________________________
Tart Cart

The engine of Tart Cart roared to life, a familiar sound that Jane missed so much. Due to her duties as the leader of Kilo-Five she never got to do much ground work, just paperwork, and having to bark orders at others.

Mal and Vaz strapped themselves into the seats just next to her and behind her. They had changed into their proper UNSC uniforms as they would be meeting the president of an entire planet. Jane on the other hand preferred her black ONI uniform.

She gripped the controls and took a deep breath as she started to pilot the enhanced pelican out of the docking bay.

During all of Kilo-Five’s expeditions Roland separated a part of himself to join them whilst being still in Port Stanley. This was no different as he planted himself in a data chip in Tart Cart.

“Roland, give me an ETA.” Jane calmly ordered.

“We’ll be arriving just in time for dinner, so I hope you’re all hungry. ETA is around 6pm local time. I already have permission for us to land at the UNSC tower.”

“Good, I hope they have lobster.” Mal Joked.

“That is quite possible.” Jane said. “Most of the natural life forms on Equestria are very similar to ones on earth. Granted though the Pony race is completely vegetarian so don’t get your hopes up.”

“You seem to be quite knowledgeable about this planet Jane.” Vaz said.

“I’m knowledgeable, on most inhabited worlds we have access too. They don’t make ONI commanders out of people who haven’t done their homework.”

Technically what she said wasn’t a lie, she had done countless research of hundreds of known planets and solar systems. Yes this particular one was a bit different in terms of how she found out said information, but once again her response to Vaz wasn’t a lie.

“Ha, and what does that make us.” Mal laughed.

“Cannon fodder.” Jane returned with a smirk, giving all three in the room a good chuckle.

This was nice, Jane needed a good laugh to calm her nerves. Tart Cart started to hit the atmosphere, heating the hull of the ship up as it slowed down due to it no longer being in the vacuum of space. The stars started to fade away and the sky became blue, and Jane could see the sun of the solar system start to set. It was hard to believe that for most of her life she thought that sun was controlled by a single pony, and now knowing that she was lied to by somepony she trusted so much.

Tart Cart started to level itself out began flying eastward towards the capital. After about fifteen minutes she could start to see the skyline of the city. It looked nothing like it used to, what was once a beautiful fantasy medieval styled town on the side of a mountain was now a full scale modernized city at the base of said mountain. The centre of the city being the UNSC equestrian capital office. It consisted of two connected skyscrapers, one taller than the other one. The taller one sported the UNSC logo, and the shorter one has the logo of the Equestrian UNSC branch which replaced the eagle with a pegasus, and the planet at the bottom of the logo was Equestria not Earth.

The old castle still sat on the mountain, but it was now converted to a museum, or so she heard. Perhaps she’d get the chance to visit it. There was a landing pad at the back of the main UNSC tower in which she landed on.

Jane took a deep breath, this was it, after five long years she’d have to face Luna. There was no point in hesitating though she thought as she stood up out of her seat and made her way to the back of the small ship.

Vaz hit the button to open the cargo bay door at the bat as Jane’s heart momentarily stopped as she knew what she was about to face. It was actually ironic, she had faced almost certain death so many times, and this is what was making her nervous. Despite the irony though, she knew exactly why this was scary for her, and couldn’t control her nerves.

The cargo bay door finally came down, and Jane was face to face with President Luna. The president had two bodyguards on her side, each adorned in special UNSC uniforms designed for ponies. It was strange seeing Luna adorned in UNSC clothing, almost uncanny.

“Hello Jane Arimondo, it has been a long time.” Luna said.

At the surface Luna seemed calm, she was good at masking her emotions, but Jane could tell just from her eyes alone that this was also emotionally taxing on her.

“Likewise President Luna. These are two of my most trusted people on my team Vaz and Mal.” She said gesturing to both persons.”

The two both introduced themselves, giving President Luna a quick salute.

“Very nice to meet both of you. Come I’ll show you three to your rooms.” Luna said with an obvious fake smile.

____________________________________________________________
A few hours later

The three were shown their rooms in the UNSC building, it wasn’t a hotel so they weren’t much, but in the end they didn’t need much. They had a lot of preparations to do tomorrow. Vaz decided to go out for a night on the town while he had the time, while Mal choose to stay in and do some research on Equestria and the Sun Order.

There was an outdoor patio that connected the two UNSC buildings. It was filled with flora from both Equestria and Earth as a symbol of peace. In the middle of the patio sat a fountain with a statue of a nameless human and pony standing next to each other looking towards the stars. Jane was leaning over the railing at the edge of the patio looking out towards the skyline of the city. By human standards it was quite small, but for Equestria the size of it would have been unimaginable back before she left.

“Was this something you volunteered for?” Said a voice from behind Jane. She turned around to see that it belonged to Luna.

“No I’m just here under orders.” Jane responded.

“Don’t you have any say in what you do?” Lune questioned.

“I wish, but Serin has me as her Lap dog, and trust me when I say I’m on a short leash. I hate it, but it’s the only reason why I’m not locked up in a jail cell. In fact I imagine the reason why she sent me here is purely to remind me that she owns me.”

“Considering what you did, you should be happy where you’re at. Most would not be so kind to you.”

There was obvious resentment in Luna’s voice as she said that. Seeing Jane again must have been like tearing open a massive old wound. In a way though it felt the same for Jane, being here just brought up nothing but painful memories.

“I wanted to keep myself out of a Jail cell so I could devote my life to helping others and improving the universe. I can’t do that when I’m being controlled so much.

Luna’s face contorted. “I remember you saying something like that before you left. I’m sorry, but to me it sounds like you want to do those things less out of wanting to make the galaxy a better place and more out of wanting to get rid of your guilt.”

Jane’s heart sank. She did want to make the galaxy better, but deep inside her she knew that her own guilt had a large part in that.

“If the end result brings better lives for people, then that’s what matters most, not the reason.” Jane said, trying to hide the emotional pain in her face as she couldn’t even manage to look at Luna as she made that statement.

“You can tell yourself that all you want Jane, but your actions will still haunt you no matter what. Rightfully so too.”

“Luna do we really need to bring these things into this? I’m here on business, and the less of this I have to deal with the quicker I can be out of here.”

“As much as I’d like to have you out of here quickly, this isn’t something you can run from forever. You’re facing this whether you like it or not. I took the liberty of notifying your parents that you’re here, you’ll have to face them eventually.”

Once again Jane’s heart sank. The thought of looking her parents in the eyes after all that she has done, and all that she has become. It almost brought her to tears right then and there.

“Can’t you just leave me to wallow in my own pity?”

“No, you’re too selfish to deserve that. You can call yourself Jane Arimondo all you want, and maybe that is completely who you are now, but you were once Twilight Sparkle. You left a lot of ponies who cared about you so much when you left. They worried everyday about you, wondering if you’d ever return. Twilight Sparkle’s past is still your past, and as much as you try to act like she’s a different being altogether, you know in your heart that you can never truly escape her.”

“And what do you want me to do about it huh! Go around and tell everyone I once knew that I’m sorry for leaving for six years, coming back, destroying everything, and then disappearing for another five years!”

“What you do is up to you, but you have to do something and you know it. Meet with your parents at least. You owe them that much. They’re your family after all.”

“Shouldn’t you be more concerned about your little insurrection problem rather than my family life?”

“Perhaps, but if you think that’ll stop me from forcing you to face your past then you’re dead wrong Jane. I sent a message to your datapad containing your parent's current address, go there, you know you have to.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then you are lost to me.”

A silence then hovered around the two as Jane could only manage to turn away as a tear rolled down her cheek.

“I’ll be taking my leave now.” Luna said. “Get some rest, we have a lot of work to do. You and your squad can take tomorrow off to do whatever research you can, and make preparations. I’ll see you the day after tomorrow, then the work can truly start. Goodnight Jane.”

Luna left leaving Jane alone in her thoughts. Why did Osman have to send her back here of all places! It’s true that Jane thought she could handle it before she got here, but once she arrived and saw Luna’s face for the first time she knew that wouldn’t happen. The conversation she just had, only amplified that.

Jane slammed her fist on the railing, denting it a fair bit, she was a Spartan after all. She knew Luna was right about facing her past, especially her parents. Trying to do good for the galaxy would only get her so far, it pissed her off, but mostly it depressed her, as she knew it was the truth. This assignment was getting worse and worse by the minute.

______________________________________________________________
Jane’s Temporary personnel quarters...

Thankfully Jane got a full room and office to herself in the UNSC building. Once again, it wasn’t anything special or large, but it gave her ample space to do her work.

There was a mini fridge off to the side that Jane opened to see what was inside. There was various small foods and also a couple of bottles of liquor.

She grabbed a glass on the counter that the fridge was on and started to mix herself a drink with what she found in the fridge.

“A jagerbomb really?” Roland said a he appeared on the office desk on the other side of the room.

“I have paperwork to do, so I need to be awake. That and I really need a fucking drink right now.”

“Let me guess, you ran into Luna.” Roland said with a concerned look on his face.

“That obvious?” Jane said, both depressed and angry.

“Sadly yes. Do you want to talk about it? You know I’m always here if you need an ear.”

“I appreciate it Roland, but right now I just want to get my work done so I can be alone with my thoughts.”

“Okay Jane, if you need me though, just ask. Do try to get some rest though Jane, if anything will help you, it’s that.”

“Thanks Roland.”

Jane downed her drink and sat down at her desk. These next few days were going to be hard on her, and she knew it….

Author's Note

Damn this took awhile, I'm sorry. I just kind of lost my drive to write for a while. I'm back now though. I vowed to tell Jane's story, and I will keep that promise! If any of you are interested we do currently have a Spartan company for the I Have Returned series called the Army of the Returned. Once we get enough members I'm going to set up a game night where you can interact with me and ask any questions you'd like, that and it's always fun playing Halo with a group of people. Until next time I'll see you guys on the online Halo Wars 2 battlegrounds!

Chapter 5: The Day Before

I Have Returned 2 The Broken Ones
Chapter 5 - The Day Before

Canterlot History Museum

Vaz picked up a pamphlet from the front desk of what once was Equestria’s canterlot palace, and now musuem. He looked up to see a smiling unicorn receptionist looking right at him.

“We do have an optional tour available, it starts in just ten minutes if you’re willing to wait sir.”

Vaz cleared his throat “No that’s alright, I’ll find my own way around.” He responded.

Vaz checked his watch for what seemed to be the umptienth time that day. It was around one pm, and Jane still hadn’t contacted them, and when he tried to go to her room earlier in the morning she was already long gone.

He sighed “What the hell is with her, we have work to do.” He said to himself.

Vaz tried earlier to check in with Roland on Jane’s status, but all he was told was that she needed some time alone. What in the bloody hell did that mean? Of course he respected the fact that she’s only human and therefore has the right to have her own issues and deal with them, but why now?

As far as Vaz could remember, Jane never took time off. Every time she finished something for Osman she’d be right on the next task for her with no break. Their work was of course important, but he never saw Jane ever getting or taking a break. It was like she was Osman’s lap dog. That once again brought up the question, why now of all times?

Regardless of the situation Vaz had some time to himself, a rarity these days so was going to use it. Even then though he still made it a point to keep checking up on things, after all they still had a job to do.

From the pamphlet he picked up it seemed that the throne room was the main attraction of the museum as it was highlighted with a circle around it. No doubt it would be busy, but he decided to make his way there anyway.

He passed by multiple employees trying to get him to offer him help, with others asking for donations to the museum itself to which he decided to spare a little extra money for. It was a free museum so he decided to spare a few.

Vas passed through the towering doors of the throne room that were adorned with beautiful carvings and designs that were no doubt thousands of years old. The first thing that caught Vaz’s eyes after that were the multiple mosaic windows depicting Equestrian history. In front of each one was a raised plaque with a description and backstory to each mosaic, all crowded around by ponies and human tourists of course.

Intrigued he approached one that caught his eye. It depicted 6 ponies firing some sort of beam at a black alicorn. Wait, he read about this once before. That alicorn was called Nightmare Moon and she was apparently an evil being who President Luna used to be. And that meant that the ponies firing the beam were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. The inscription on the plaque read that their names were Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle.

Curiously he took out his data pad and decided to look them up to see what they were doing these days. Pinkie Pie was a famous baker, known Equestria wide for her pastries. Rarity was a successful fashion designer with multiple store locations across the planet. Rainbow Dash was a weather reporter for Canterlot. Fluttershy owned a zoo, Applejack was a farmer.

Then he looked up the last name in the element bearers Twilight Sparkle. It appears that later on in her life she became a Princess Alicorn herself, but went missing 11 years ago, presumed dead.

“Damn it must suck having that much going for you in your life to end up with that kind of fate.” Vaz murmured to himself.

He stepped forward to take a closer look at Element bearers on the mosaic to see them better, then he noticed something about Twilight Sparkle.

“Heh, she has the exact same hair as Jane Arimondo, that’s a funny coincidence.”

Vaz felt a tap on his shoulder and instinctively turned around to find himself face to face with a rather gruff looking earth pony dressed in a security uniform.

“Sir, please stay at least 3 meters back from the exhibit” He ordered Vaz. Looking behind him Vaz also noticed that he was being stared at by a group of attendees as well all looking rather cross at him.

Vaz put on an embarrassed smile and said “Oh sorry, my bad” before stepping away.

Curious he wondered if they had more on this Twilight Sparkle, she sounded interesting. Opening up his pamphlet he saw that there was a small exhibit on her a few rooms down. It was worth checking out.

Taking a few moments to walk over he finally reached the exhibit room and walked in. There were tons of photos and descriptions about Twilight and her life. In the center though was a large portrait of her in her princess gown. There was one thing though about the painting that captured his interest that he couldn’t ignore, her cutie mark. Vaz couldn’t help but think he had seen it before, it was so familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on where. All that he knew was that something didn’t feel right….

___________________________________________________________________
Streets of New Canterlot City

“Jane I’m not saying you can’t deal with this issue, but there is work to be done and we are wasting time.” Roland said through Jane’s comm unit in her ear.

“Fuck off.” Jane whispered under her breath as she turned into a small chain restaurant.

Entering it Jane found that she was the only human inside putting all eyes on her. Even after five year, seeing a human being still must have been strange for most ponies, even in the large cities like Canterlot they were probably rare.

A hostess came up to her in an attempt to offer Jane a table, but before she could say anything Jane walked right past her and sat down at the bar. It was a bit tight in terms of seating as it was meant for a pony, but she managed.

A rather nervous looking bartender approached her whilst cleaning a mug and said “Umm is there anything I can get for you ma’am?”

“Bourbon, neat.” She replied as blunt as she could.

The bartender gave her a strange look for ordering an alcoholic beverage so early, but then rolled his eyes, grabbed the bottle and poured it anyways.

Jane douced it down instantly feeling the burn of the liquor hit her.

“We don’t get too many UNSC types in a joint like this, I thought you high class officers ate and drank at fancier places.” The bartender said, pointing at her shoulder pad which donned her rank with the UNSC.

“That’s my choice and my choice alone.” Jane responded, wanting to end the conversation then and there.

Hearing a scoff next to her Jane looked to her side to find an older pony with graying hair giving her the stink eye.

“What's your problem pal?” She asked.

“I don’t fucking like your kind here.”

“You talking UNSC or Human?” Jane said, raising her eyebrow.

“Both.”

“Well too bad buddy, cause I’m here.”

“I don’t like your fucking attitude.” He said, starting to raise his voice.

“That seems more like a you problem than a me problem. Don’t like me here then beat it pal.”

He stood up “You fucking humans, coming here taking away our magic, shoving your government into ours. I don’t care what Celestia lied about, things were better off with her!” He shouted, shoving Jane backwards with his hooves.

Immediately Jane grabbed the bottle of bourbon and smashed it over his head, spilling the drink and glass everywhere, and sending the pony to the floor screaming in pain.

Jane turned to the bartender who seemed to be in shock to the point where he dropped the glass he was cleaning and said. “He’ll be fine, I’ll pay for the fucking bottle.”

“Al… Alright then.” He replied.

_____________________________________________________________
A few moments later…

Jane was back on the streets of the city after paying for her bottle and adding some extra to cover the cleanup.

“You didn’t have to fight him Jane.” Roland scolded over her earpiece.

“I don’t need your opinion, plus it wasn’t much of a fight.” She scoffed.

“Still you can’t just go around doing this kind of shit.”

“I don’t care what you think. Now tell me where is the nearest liquor store.”

“Oh no I’m not, in fact I’m putting a block on your funds until you snap out of this.”

“And what in the fuck gives you the right to do that.” Jane scoffed. “Might I remind you that I know your obedience phrase, and I’m not afraid to use it. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“For fucks sake Jane you can’t just go around doing whatever you want. This is the same kind of attitude you had five years ago!” He exclaimed.

“What the fuck do you just say Roland!”

“That’s I’m giving you a few hours to calm the fuck down, if you’re still like this then I’m reporting you to Osman. I’m turning off my comm connection to you until then.”

“Roland! Roland!” Jane yelled into the microphone receiving no response. “That fucking bastard. Fine then I’ll find the liquor store on my own.”

_______________________________________________________________
President Luna’s Office

Luna Placed her data pad down onto her desk and rubbed her forehead with her hoof after the frustrating article she just had to read. The papers were getting angry at the lack of support from the UNSC and was blaming her for being too much of an apologist and letting it happen.

Politics like this are still so new to Equestria. The public still doesn’t understand just how hard it is to get the things and support this planet needs. Luna was not all powerful anymore, no more controlling the moon, and ruling the world with just her sister. Things are bigger now, and Luna knew she was just a mere pawn.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the hologram of Jane’s AI Roland appear next to her, his hands folded in front of him.

“May I help you?” Luna said, raising an eyebrow.

“I just need to ask you a few things President.”

“I’ve already given you access to all the information I have about the Sun Order. What more is there to ask?”

“It’s not about the Sun Order.” He said, looking rather downdraught.

“I must remind you A.I. that I am the President of this planet, time for chit chat for me is very limited, especially for ones who just show up to my office uninvited.”

“I apologize President, I’ll leave then.”

Luna stopped him before his holographic projection left. “Before you go though can you give me any sort of update on the first stages of your investigation?”

“I.. I’m afraid there has been no progress so far. Jane is still reeling from your conversation with her last night. She just got into a fight at a bar actually. I don’t know why Osman chose her to do this, it’s almost as if she’s taunting Jane. Like she’s reminding her of her past and who’s in charge of her now.”

Luna sighed, this was the last thing she was wanting to deal with “...Very well then. I take it her behaviour is what you came here to speak with me about? Do you believe she is a threat?”

It was a legitimate question. As much as she hated to admit it the possibility of Jane Arimondo being a danger again was not something she could ignore. It seemed as though despite five years she Jane had not changed a bit.

“No no no, I think she’ll be fine. I know her, she’ll calm down then I’ll have a discussion with her myself. What I wanted to ask you about is what the old Jane was like, Twilight Sparkle I mean.”

Luna took a deep sigh “I have a lot of things to say about Twilight, and I hold a lot of… fond memories of her. I know you two are close, but I hardly know you, so I’m afraid it’s something I don’t wish to speak about. If you have no further business here, may I please return to my work?”

“Yes of course. Thank you President Luna.”

_________________________________________________________________
Trevelyan

Serin Osman stepped into one of the many research buildings set up on the world formerly known as Onyx. Time was of essence to her at the moment. Something Forerunner in origin was going down on multiple colonies causing massive destruction. Previously her team of ONI scientists were not able to find anything on these incidents from here causing her to have to send Jane to Equestria, but now it seems as though they’ve found a lead.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Doctor Glassman running up to her in a panicked state.

“Ah Admiral Osman, I’m glad you're finally here. This is our first major breakthrough regarding the elements!” He said, almost stuttering.

“I’m well aware Doctor Glassman. Just a shame this took you five years to accomplish.” She scolded.

“I know I know Admiral. It has taken a while but I think these strange Forerunner events have played a part in it. The wealth of information were getting is staggering, you came here just in time!”

“I better have Doctor Glassman, I’ve spent a lot of resources on this. What do you have for me?”

Glassman pulled out a data pad from his lab coat and brought up a photo of the elements glowing. Alongside the picture was lines and lines of notes regarding them, all using language that was far beyond her scientific understanding.

“Glassman what does all of this mean?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We believe the elements want to be taken to some location to unlock them. We're trying to circumvent that and trick them into thinking they are whey they need to be, but none of our attempts have worked so far.

“Do you think actually attempting to take them where they want is our best course of action.”

Glassman shrugged his shoulders. “As much as I love scientific expeditions, I have no idea what we’re walking into. We simply don’t have sufficient data to pinpoint an exact location or determine if it is safe.”

“Any idea as to how far away they want to be taken?”

“No idea currently. With them being able to give off a signal to be taken somewhere tells me it can’t be too ridiculously far away, but at the same time this is Forerunner in origin, and I wouldn’t be surprised if stuff this advanced had the ability to signal something even outside of the galaxy.”

Osman scratched her chin in thought. A lot of time and effort had already gone into this project, all based on that damn Jane Arimondo. If she hadn’t destroyed all of Equestria’s magic they probably would be much farther into this project. Furthermore she had long past the point where she could bail and suffer no consequences.

“I’ll order a frigate to transport the elements. You prep the elements for transport, and put together a team of your five best men to join you. I want constant updates on the situation, especially if you get any idea as to how far away these things want to go in case more resources are needed. Do I make myself clear Doctor Glassman?”

“Yes ma’am understood.” He nervously said standing up straight.

Osman smiled. “Good, you pull this off I’ll make sure you're well rewarded. Now take me to where the elements are, I want to see them for myself.”

_______________________________________________________

“Ouch!” Osman yanked her hand away from the jewel on top of the element of magic. “Jesus that’s hot.”

They were in a small isolated room surrounded on each side with windows packed with scientists observing their every move. She could tell from looking in the eyes of some of them just how worried some were. Whether that was over their research of the elements or the situation as a whole, she couldn’t tell.

“Oh I’m sorry I forgot to mention that admiral!” Glassman panicked. “Do you need some cream for that?”

“No I’m fine.” She said waving away the cream he pulled out of his pocket and held up to her. “How long has it been like this?”

“Since the elements started to act up the temperature has been slowly rising on them.”

The protective cover over the element of magic was lowered back onto the pedestal it rested on. Osman stepped back. Was she taking too big of a risk on letting these be taken away from Trevelyan? Then the reports from the destroyed colonies flashed through her mind again. The destruction was like nothing she’d ever seen before, even Covenant dreadnaughts would have a hard time matching whatever was going on there. Dammit, she had to take the risk on this, there was no other choice.

“Alright. I’ve seen what I need to see. There is no doubt in my mind now, the expedition has to be made. Prep your crew, I’ll ensure you have a ready ship as soon as possible. I also want a report tomorrow on everything we’ve learned in the past while about them.”

“I’ll get right on it Admiral.”

Dammit, this better turn up results, or else she’s gonna be in hot water.

_____________________________________________________________
Sometime later, Unknown location….

Jul M’dama stepped into the lab of his ‘associate’ nearly tripping over the in use equipment strewn all across the floor.

“Our contacts in the stolen shield world have supplied us with some valuable information” Jul said. “They’re moving the artifacts out, we plan on intercepting them while they take a pit stop at an outpost. These better be worth all you’ve said!”

His associate chuckled. “Oh don’t worry Jul, they are. Once I have them you’ll see just how worth it all of this has been” Said Doctor Halsey.

Author's Note

Well shit this was a long time coming. I wrote about 90% of this chapter a month after the last one published, but a general uncertainty of if I still wanted to go with the direction I was originally planning with this story. Moreover life just kinda took over and other things were my focus. Alas though we are here and back on track! Until next time I'll see you guy on the online Halo 5 battlegrounds!