What else is up There?

Chapter Twenty

Heart of Darkness

March 30th, 2553
Equestrian star system
Old gem caves beneath the Royal City of Canterlot
Captain James Mitchell of the UNSC Dawn of the Sun
11:42 AM

Silence.

That was all there is. That is all there ever will be, now that Fleetmaster Rala 'Toram is dead.

Captain James Mitchell hung his head and dropped the radio, drawing his MA5C over his back and nodding to his companions that had come with him into the caves; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Spike, and Lieutenant Robert Crusher.

"It's just us now. Let's find out what the Brutes are doing and just fucking kill them" Captain Mitchell said viciously, preparing to continue moving deeper into the caves.

It was eerie, as there were almost no sounds with the exception of the Covenant glassing the mountain far above them as they dug for what they had found.

Captain Mitchell looked down at Twilight, noticing that she's very quiet as she slowly trudged along with her head hung low.

Upon closer inspection the Captain could see tears falling to the dirt below her hooves.

"Stop, everyone stop" Mitchell stated, stepping over to Twilight and crouching down in front of her, asking "hey, are you OK?"

Twilight sniffled loudly and looked up at the Captain, her eyes red and soaking wet with tears and looking absolutely miserable.

"S-She's gone" the lavender Unicorn said, referring to Princess Celestia.

"I know, Twilight. But look, if you can stay strong and help us, then we can get back at the bastards that killed Princess Celestia" Mitchell said, determination in his voice.

"B-But..." Twilight said, unsure of what to say.

"Come on" the Captain stated, motioning for his companions to follow him.

As they proceeded deeper into the caves the sounds of the Covenant digging grew louder and louder, a symbol that they were getting closer to what the Covenant had found.

As they walked along a thought dawned on Captain Mitchell, and he turned to Twilight to ask her a question related to the thought.

"Twilight? With the Princess gone, who will lead Equestria after this is over?" Captain Mitchell inquired.

"If he survived the attack on Canterlot then Prince Blueblood will. If not, then I'm sure Princess Cadence will do just as well" Twilight answered.

Captain Mitchell nodded.

"Heh, remember how Rarity would always rant on about her 'Prince Charming' Blueblood before we all went to the Gala?" Applejack asked Twilight.

"Hahah, yeah. Whenever the topic of him came up she would go into this big tirade of 'oh, he'll be the greatest Gentlecolt that ever lived'" Twilight replied.

"Haha, you said it, Sugarcube. But you know what the weirdest thing is? After the Gala every time we talked to her about him she would just say 'never speak of him, ever again'" Applejack exclaimed.

"I know, right? It's like after the Gala he became the plague. I wonder why she thought so differently of him afterwards" Twilight said.

"Dunno, Sugarcube."

"The hell are you two talking about?" Lieutenant Crusher inquired, greatly confused.

As the two ponies began to explain to him what had happened Captain Mitchell looked around the cave, noticing mirror-like surfaces on the walls, ceilings, and even the floor.

Sudden movement caught the Captain's eye and he dropped to one knee, holding up a first and declaring "quiet! Stop."

The rest of the group did as told and also began to look around, wondering what the Captain had seen.

"Sir? What's going on?" Lieutenant Crusher asked, pulling an M6G/C out of his holster and holding it in a neutral stance.

"I don't know" Mitchell idly responded, still looking around for any other movement.

After a few moments without any visible movement the Captain stood and motioned for his team to continue following him, saying "come on, let's go."

For a while they walked in silence, occasionally stopping when Mitchell saw movement or heard something that wasn't their footsteps or the sound of the Covenant digging.

Eventually Twilight increased her speed a little until she was right next to Captain Mitchell, looking up at him and saying "Captain? I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate what you and the Sangheili did for us."

"We were just doing our jobs, Twilight" Captain Mitchell told her.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate you for it" the lavender Unicorn replied.

"It's not over yet, Twi, so I'll tell you what; appreciate us as much as you desire when this is all over. Deal?" Captain Mitchell stated.

"Deal."

They were about to move out again when a Brute War Chieftain dropped down in front of them, brandishing a gravity hammer and slamming it down directly in front of them but missing all of them.

"JESUS CHRIST! Where did he come from?" Lieutenant Crusher yelled, opening fire with his M6G/C while Captain Mitchell dove away from the hammer.

Mitchell levelled his assault rifle and began to pepper rounds at the Brute, each and every last bullet pinging off his power armor.

The Captain dropped the empty magazine and rolled away as the Brute attempted to bring the hammer down on him again.

"RUN! Run, God damn it!" Captain Mitchell yelled, sprinting down the cave away from the Brute along with his companions.

As the Captain approached the end of the cave he saw that it was partly blocked off, a large rock having fallen a bit and leaving but a foot and a half of room at the bottom to slide under.

Captain Mitchell dove and slid through the gap, rolling over and reloading his MA5C to cover his friends.

One by one Lieutenant Crusher, Spike, and Twilight Sparkle dove through, with Applejack the last in line.

"Come on, Applejack!" Twilight yelled, desperate for her friend to get through.

Applejack increased her speed and it would seem that she was about to make it when suddenly there was a metallic ping as a bolt on one of her mechanical legs broke and fell off, causing the leg to snap off from her body and making her slide face first across the ground.

"APPLEJACK!" Twilight screamed as the farm mare rolled over, groaning in fear as she attempted to scramble away from the Brute that was right above her.

"I'll save you!" Twilight shouted, beginning to channel magic to her horn as the Brute raised his gravity hammer up.

"UAAH! NO! HELP ME, PLEA-" Applejack attempted to yell, cut off when the Brute slammed the gravity hammer down on her.

From under the hammer's head blood sprayed out in all directions as Applejack literally disappeared, crushed into nothing but pulp from its weight.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Twilight screamed, having watched everything through the gap, failing to help her friend in time.

The Brute roared triumphantly as Captain Mitchell dragged Twilight away from the gap, eager to get her as far away as possible from the Chieftain.

"APPLEJACK!" the lavender Unicorn screamed in vain as she was dragged away by the Captain.

"She's dead, Twilight. SHE'S DEAD! WE HAVE TO GO!" the Captain shouted.

"Noohoho!" Twilight cried as she collapsed to the ground, broken by the loss of one of her last friends. Tears stained the dirt beneath her as she sobbed uncontrollably.

"Twilight, we have to keep moving!" Captain Mitchell exclaimed, trying to get the Unicorn to stand up.

It didn't work.

"Come on, I'll carry you!" Mitchell said, hoisting Twilight over his shoulder as she continued to cry out for Applejack.

The Captain wasn't happy that Applejack was dead either, she would be another casualty tacked on to the list of those killed by the Brutes, but he knew that the faster they stopped what the Brutes were doing the better the chance Equestria had to survive.

And so he trudged on, carrying Twilight over his back while the last of his companions followed him.

Soon they reached an entrance to some kind of cavern and Captain Mitchell set Twilight down, noticing that she still looked miserable as hell.

"I-I just w-want it to stop" she stuttered out, sounding like she was on the verge of sobbing again.

With a sudden burst of magic she tried to grab the Captain's M6C from his holster, failing when the human jerked back and kept the weapon in place with his hand.

"NO! Don't do that! You listen to me, Twilight Sparkle! You're gonna make it! You can get past their deaths! You just have to stay strong!" Mitchell yelled.

"I d-don't want to" the lavender Unicorn exclaimed in sorrow as she lied on the ground, unwilling to move.

"Come on! We're almost there, trust me! As soon as we destroy the Brutes this will all be over and we can go back to living happy lives."

Twilight didn't respond, prompting Captain Mitchell to crouch down and cup her chin in his hand, bringing her eyes up to look into his.

"Please, you must stay strong. For Spike. For Equestria. For...yourself" Mitchell stated.

The Unicorn sniffled and nodded, shakily getting to her hooves as the Captain turned to face Lieutenant Crusher.

"Weapon check."

The Lieutenant checked his M6G/C and his current magazines, stating "I've got a full one loaded and one extra."

The Captain checked his MA5C and M6C and said "I've got one fully loaded for each, and three extra for each."

"So we're a two man army, right?" Crusher asked sarcastically.

"Yeah. I think at this point we could destroy the entire Covenant army" the Captain replied. "Come on, let's get in there and see what they're doing."

The group rushed in and were completely unprepared for what they saw.

"What is that?" Spike asked, his jaw dropped down.

"It's huge!" Twilight exclaimed, also shocked by what was before her eyes.

"No way, it can't be" Lieutenant Crusher declared.

"It is" Captain Mitchell replied, also a little unbelieving of what he was looking at.

Standing tall in the middle of the hollow mountain, illuminated by the sunlight streaming through a hole at the top that had been made by the Covenant via their glassing of the mountain, was a Forerunner Dreadnought, the same type as the Prophet of Truth's had been.

And the Covenant were about to take it.

"OK, what do we do about that?" Lieutenant Crusher asked, pointing to the Dreadnought.

The Captain was about to say he didn't know when he looked to the right, seeing a transport beam on top of a flat rock that stretched from its transmitter all the way to the Dreadnought.

Suddenly the inside of the hollow mountain was illuminated in a flash of brilliant orange and white as the Dreadnought came to life, its engines activating as it started to lift off.

Without thinking Captain Mitchell stowed his MA5C and immediately began sprinting for the rock that the transport beam's transmitter was on, looking to get aboard the Dreadnought before it escaped.

It was time to save Equestria.

*-*-*

Author's note: a Forerunner Dreadnought hidden in the mountain that Canterlot is built on? What crazy shit will I think of next? Talking spaceships?

This story is almost over, we have but one chapter left and that's the ending. I hope your collective bodies are ready, because all of you will be destroyed by what I have written for the ending if you're not prepared.

Time to write this shit so I can go back to playing Resident Evil(yes, the original Playstation game): Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Spike the Dragon, and all related characters belong to Hasbro. Captain James Mitchell, Lieutenant Robert Crusher, and all related characters are copyright to me. My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro. Halo belongs to 343i.

Oi! See that comment box down below? You should type something in there(related to the chapter/story of course.)