What else is up There?

Foreword: this is an alternate ending to the story. I have not yet revealed which one is canon, but I do know which one I have chosen.

Another song is in this chapter and if you decide to play it end the song when you reach the epilogue.

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Chapter Twenty two

After dark

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
11:57AM

It was time to save Equestria.

Captain James Mitchell sprinted for the rock that the transport beam's transmitter was on, eager to get aboard the Forerunner Dreadnought before it took off.

"Captain!" Lieutenant Crusher yelled as Mitchell hoisted himself up onto the rock and jumped into the transport beam, immediately rocketing down the beam and into the Dreadnought as it ascended the morning sky and into the center hole of the Covenant space station Devout Believer, coming to a stop in the center hole.

With the Dreadnought a part of their space station the Brutes would have very little trouble destroying all of Equestria.

Not if Captain Mitchell has anything to say about it.

"If I overload the engines they should detonate with enough force to take the space station with it" the Captain said to himself, looking his MA5C over and preparing to move out inside the Dreadnought.

"Step one: find the engine room. Step two: light fuse. Step three: embrace my father" the Captain said, knowing full well what the explosion would incur.

Mitchell snuck his way through the Dreadnought, making his way to the engine room while avoiding any Brutes that might be on the Forerunner ship.

Eventually he made it to the engine room and was greeted with the sight of the core glowing a bright blue, a Forerunner holo-console in front of it and a Covenant console off to the right.

Captain Mitchell sealed the room and began to approach the Forerunner console, hoping there was some kind of self-destruct mechanism.

"Your fault" a voice whispered, the voice of Mitchell's father.

"No" James said as he approached the Forerunner console, intent on ending it all.

"Your fault."

"It's all your fault."

Captain James Mitchell reached the console and scrutinized the Forerunner symbols displayed thereon. A gut feeling guided him as he pressed several symbols and began the sequence.

"Reclaimer" a voice declared, the sound reverberating off the cavernous walls of the engine room and causing the Captain to involuntarily step back.

"The hell?" the Captain said, confused.

"It is good that you are here. The meddlers have stolen this ship. Have stolen me. They plan to use me to destroy all life in the universe. For what purpose I do not know, but I know you must stop them" the voice said.

The engine core brightened when the voice spoke.

"What about Equestria?" Mitchell asked.

"It will be glassed by the meddlers" the voice answered.

"My orders are to protect Equestria no matter what. If I destroy this ship will it take the Covenant space station with it?" Captain Mitchell inquired.

"Yes, but the meddlers will proceed to destroy the rest of the universe. You must stop them. I cannot guarantee that the rest of the reclaimers and their allies will be able to stop them" the voice explained.

"Will Equestria be safe from the Covenant? Will destroying this erase all recorded knowledge they have of the planet?"

"Yes, Equestria will be saved. The only way the meddlers could ever find it again is if they accidentally stumble across it."

"I have faith in my kind and the Elites. They'll stop the Covenant" Mitchell replied.

The Captain knew what his choice was.

Mitchell struck the last symbol and the self-destruct sequence began, beginning to overload the engine core which would cause it to explode and incinerate the Dreadnought and the Covenant space station.

Suddenly a video feed appeared on the Covenant console near the door and the Captain approached it, noting it was from a Covenant drone that was watching the Devout Believer as it glassed the planet; red plasma rained down and turned everything it touched to flaming red glass.

Twilight...Spike...Lieutenant Crusher...I'm sorry, but this is the way it was meant to be. This is the only way to stop the Covenant here in Equestria. This is the only way to save you all. This is the only way the Captain thought.

Rala... Dad... I'm coming to see you guys.

Captain Mitchell looked down at Equestria through the video feed, noting that the planet looked absolutely beautiful from space; the blue oceans, the green flat lands, the sprawling deserts, the cities that stand out from everything else, and the clouds floating above it all.

It truly was beautiful.

An intense humming caught Mitchell's attention and he looked back over at the engine core, watching it go critical and detonate, sending him on his way to greet his father.

"It was never my fault" were Captain James Mitchell's last words.

From far away the unmanned drone watched as the Forerunner Dreadnought detonated soundlessly in the vacuum of space, creating a massive orange fireball that enveloped it and almost all the Covenant space station immediately, vaporizing 3/4 of the station and killing millions of Brutes instantly.

The fireball expanded, blossoming across space and washing over the moon of Equestria, scorching thousands of moon rocks and incinerating a layer of its surface as it spread over the moon, expanding exponentially.

The fireball continued to grow and soon it reached the part of Equestria closest to it; the massive fireball obliterated several cities and killed the last of the Dragons in their home territory, leaving Spike the last surviving member of the species. Spreading over the top of Equestria the fireball incinerated dozens of other cities and set many a forest ablaze, turning them into raging infernos of hellfire.

Then, when it seemed that all of Equestria would be taken by the flames, the planet-sized fireball collapsed to nothing and turned into a supernova explosion that obliterated the rest of the Devout Believer, reducing it to naught but alloy shards that glittered in the light from the system's parent star.

As the soundless explosions ceased and were replaced by the usual stillness of space that held no evidence of any kind of Covenant presence in the star system a piece of debris floated near the drone and it turned to look at it, trying to focus its camera lens on the debris to identify it.

When it succeeded the drone analyzed it, noting that it was a strip of fabric from a UNSC uniform. Upon closer inspection the drone saw a name tag pinned on the strip.

Mitchell, James. Captain. Service number 01994-12307.

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Epilogue

April 7th, 2553
Equestrian star system
Grounds of New Ponyville.
Lieutenant Robert S. Crusher of the UNSC Dawn of the Sun
12:00AM

"Robert! Lunchtime!" Twilight Sparkle called out from a housing trailer that had been set up by the construction ponies as they busied themselves with building New Ponyville.

"Coming, Twi!" the Lieutenant declared, hopping off the hammock he had erected between two trees near the designated build site for the town.

The Lieutenant stepped into the trailer and was immediately assaulted with the delicious smell of a hearty lunch, with all the expected foodstuffs set about on a table.

"I made this for you" Twilight stated with a sheepish smile, pushing forward a delectable looking meal that was actually edible for the human.

"Thanks, Twi" Robert stated, beginning to eat the food along with Twilight and her dragon assistant Spike.

After a while Lieutenant Crusher looked up and saw Twilight staring at him, prompting him to wipe his mouth with a paper towel and ask "what?"

Twilight smiled a bit more and shook her head, blushing a little. "I was just thinking" she said.

"About?"

"Well, now that the Covenant have been defeated here in Equestria I was just wondering; what's gonna happen between us?" Twilight inquired.

"Well the Captain did have Rala order his fleet to come out here. Perhaps you'll be able to establish a healthy friendship with them now that it's been proven they aren't going to hurt you" Lieutenant Crusher answered.

"No, I meant...what's going to happen between us?" the lavender Unicorn said again, sounding like she was trying to drive home a specific meaning.

"Oh. Well, I guess that since I'm the last human here I can help build your relationship with the Sangheili. At least before the UNSC comes looking for me" Crusher stated.

Twilight sighed and rubbed her head, motioning towards the door and saying "Spike, why don't you go hang out with the old Cutie Mark Crusaders? I heard Applebloom and her friends are in the area to help build New Ponyville."

"Good idea!" the dragon said, hopping down from his chair and heading outside.

"What I really meant was what's going to happen between you and me?" Twilight said to the Lieutenant.

A look of realization dawned on Robert's face.

"I don't know, Twilight. What do you want to happen between us?" Robert inquired.

"I just want to get to know you more" the Unicorn answered, taking a bite out of a Daisy sandwich she had set aside.

"I suppose that can be arranged" Lieutenant Crusher replied with a smile, standing from the table and washing his hands.

"Where are you going?" Twilight asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Out for a walk. I'll be back later" the human stated, heading out for a nearby forest.

While walking through it the Lieutenant thought about many things; Rala 'Toram, Captain Mitchell, all the ponies that were killed, and anything else related to the conflict that had ended just seven days ago.

I can't believe he's gone. My Captain, my oldest friend, my leader, is gone.

As he walked on the path he passed by a bush that was quite charred, perplexing him as the forest he was in hadn't been touched by the Covenant during their crusade against Equestria.

Looking into the bush the Lieutenant saw some kind of black object lying on the ground. Reaching down and picking it up he realized it was an M6C magnum sidearm.

It was ruined; the barrel was bent, the slide was cracked, the entire thing was scorched like it had fallen in from outer space, and the thing was gummed up like there was no tomorrow.

The Lieutenant was about to discard it when he noticed some non-standard writing on the slide, prompting him to take a look.

For my son, James Mitchell. May you exemplify the utmost in courage and self-sacrifice for the innocents of the galaxy.

Robert smiled sadly as he realized the magnum really had fallen in from space, launched down to the planet when the Covenant space station exploded. He pocketed the ruined handgun and continued back to the site of New Ponyville, looking to bury the weapon as a sort of grave for Captain Mitchell, hoping it will bring a sense of peace for those who are mourning the loss of the human they owe so much to.

On the way back to the construction site Lieutenant Robert Crusher smiled and thought fear not, Commander Preston, for your son has indeed exemplified the utmost in courage and self-sacrifice.

The Lieutenant smiled and looked up at the sky, enjoying the pleasantly warm air that was currently bestowed upon Equestria.

It was going to be a beautiful day.

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Author's note: this is the 'bad' ending: Captain Mitchell sacrifices his life to save Equestria but causes the destruction of the rest of the galaxy.

In unrelated news I AM THE BATTLEFIELD 3 GOD! I was playing Rush on the map Derpshahr(Noshahr) Canals with a bunch of random teammates and the enemy team = rape with their fucking Little Bird and Venom helicopters. So objective by objective we fell. We got pushed back to the third duo of M-Coms(on the hill) and the damn choppers were still giving us hell. I was in the garage that the second M-Com is in and half of the building was gone. I pulled out my RPG and started firing on the Little Bird, missing like every shot. Annoyed, I loaded up another rocket and aim a little ahead of the Little Bird, pulling the trigger.

HIT! Got a fucking quad kill! I was like "OOOOOOOOHHHHHH SHIIIEEEETT! I'M A SUPERHERO!"

Then, not five minutes later we got pushed back to the fourth duo of M-Coms in the warehouse and the fucking gay Vemon is like "hay guyz, what r going on in this lev-"

I lead my shot and it takes an RPG rocket to the knee(engine), and I get a double kill.

Me = BF3 God.