Authors Note: I'm not going to lie, I'm disappointed that I only got three reviews. I know that they were all that was needed to reach my goal of one hundred reviews but come on. I wrote this chapter and the first chapter of the sequel I honestly expected to have more than three reviews considering how long ago I posted that chapter.

Epilogue: Steel

Afterlife
Time since death: Unknown

When my eyes opened and all I saw as white I started to laugh. Not because of how short my time in Equestria was but because I finally realized the true reason I was sent there in the first place. Once I calmed down I decided to confirm what I thought was true. "You sent me there to stop him." Despite not being able to see him I knew he was there. "That's why you were so adamant about me getting a second chance. He was always going to attack Equestria and sending me there probably saved hundreds of lives." He chuckled, "I'm actually surprised you figured it out. After your first encounter I didn't think you would put it all together since you knew everything you needed to. Personally I thought putting vice versa in the prophecy was a dead giveaway." I shrugged, "Sometimes it takes me awhile to figure things out. So me and Luna… was that part of your plan?"

"No, that was not planed." That made me confused, "I know your confused but let me explain. Most beings either believe in destiny or they don't, in truth neither of those are true. I made the universes using what I like to call destiny points. Someone must go from point A to point B to point C but how they get there is up to them. If said person is destined to be an architect, they will be an architect but first they could try being an engineer. As long as they reach the 'destiny point' it doesn't matter how long it takes them to reach it or if they make a few stops along the way." It made sense in confusing way. I never truly believed in destiny but I always thought that there were things everyone needed to do… maybe it's just the way he explained it. I looked around, "So I guess this is the part where I move on." The light around me shimmered, I guess it was him nodding. "Before I go, can I see Luna one last time?" A shimmering portal opened in front of me. Luna was sleeping peacefully, I'm not sure when it was but I took comfort knowing my death wouldn't ruin her life. "What will happen to her?"

"She will continue to live her life. You will always be in her memories even after all the others who knew you die, the four alicorns will remember you. And to answer your question the fourth alicorn is Twilight Sparkle, she transforms six months after your death." I nodded, "Well then, it looks like she's in good hooves. *sigh* I guess it's time than…" He chuckled, "Not quite, you see I have a proposition for you." The air around me shimmered and suddenly I found myself in a hallway next to Morgan Freeman. "You're dead?" He shook his head, "No I merely took this form so you would be more comfortable while we talked." So it was still him, he just looked like Morgan Freeman… his voice was still the same though. "So what did you want to talk about?" He started to walk down the hallway and I followed. "As you may or may not have already suspected, Discord did not create the being that would become Shadow Steel. He was created by another being I have come to refer to as Shade. But to truly understand you need to know the history of Shade. You see, your world was the first I made. After seeing how violent you had become I wanted to destroy you and begin a new but I couldn't bring myself to destroy that which I had created. That's when the multiverse was created. Every book, every movie and TV show in your universe takes place in a different universe that exists somewhere in the multiverse. Now to the uninformed, it would be logical to assume that every universe was connected to the others in the same way… that is not true. I used your universe as a template for all the others I have and will create, that is why it is connected to the others. In the beginning I tried to change the balance of good and evil in the ones I created after yours but I failed. That is why the Mass Effect, Gears of War, Halo, and countless other universes of death and destruction exist. Eventually I was able to create universes without conflict and hate, Equestira being one of them. But my actions had unforeseen consequences. I learned too late that evil cannot simply be removed for all that I had tried to remove from these universes had manifested itself into a new conscious, the being I now call Shade. It was Shade that corrupted Lucifer and created hell. By the time I realized what happened it was too late to save Lucifer but I stuck down Shade to keep something like that from happening again. I thought that I had destroyed him but he was only weakened. He moved in the shadows creating conflict where it should not be. Discord was one of his first creations but at the time I thought that Discord entered his universe by natural means. He did other things as well, the phazon meteor that struck Aether is one example. The Q continuum is another, although I don't think that worked out like he hoped." That was… just, damn. He was probably right about the Q though, they just sit around and do nothing with their power. "Wait, what about Fan Fiction's, are those different universes as well?"

"They are nothing more than speculation and what if scenarios. Anyway, I want you to became part of a team I'm putting together a team to fight Shade and his influence. I cannot challenge him directly for I fear he will run to the shadows again. You see, just like me he has no set point in time." Seeing my confused expression he explained. "While we're talking right now I am also talking to you the first time we met and to Mary the mother of my son. He can also place his agents in any point in time he wants." We reached a door I was sure wasn't there a minute ago and he opened it. It led to a room not unlike a recreation room, of course it was about the length of a football field but that wasn't what I was focused on. The room was filled with people and creatures I had only seen in movies or read about. From my position I could only make out a few of them, John and Jane Shepard, Admiral David Anderson, Noble's one through five, Sargent Major Avery Johnson, Coryn, Ghost, Matoro and Anthony Carmine were only a few of the people I could see and recognize. "I served and died in the military and I helped save Equestria, haven't I earned my eternal peace?" He nodded, "Yes, you have earned that and more. But ask yourself, would you sit back while someone else goes through what you did?" I wanted to say yes but one thing was on my mind. "Can you even make me another body?" He nodded, "Well I guess the Hindu's were right about reincarnation."

"That's not true. When you died the first time I brought your body here and changed into an alicorn. I can only give someone a new body once after their birth because of the massive amount of energy it takes and even then I rarely do it." That caused me to think, "So if you brought my body here what happened back home? The others did come back to look for me right?" He opened a portal in front of me, showing me what it looked like when the others came back. "They did come looking for you but all they found was your MP5 and a blood stain. Officially you're listed as MIA probable KIA." I felt bad my mom must be worried if only I could send her a message… I took a moment to think and in the background I heard Don't You Worry Child playing. Either I was doing it subconsciously or he was doing it, it didn't matter thought since I had made my decision. "If I do this I want my own personal squad and I want to pick who's in it."

"That can be arranged, do you have anyone specific in mind?" I smiled. "Yes but two of them might be hard to get. To be honest I'm not even sure they're dead. But first I want to know what you've done so far." He motioned to the crowd, "I've gathered three hundred of the greatest hero's that have died, all of them are volunteers. I'm hoping to get that number up to four hundred. You'll get final say regarding goes on each mission, but not all of you can go at once or else Shade will know you've arrived and send reinforcements." As we continued to talk I realized something, this isn't going to be easy but I'll be ready. I also couldn't keep myself from wondering if any of the missions will take me back to Equestria… back to my home.

Authors Note: Well that's it, the end of the story. I know this is probably the most difficult chapter to read not to mention boring. But it had to be written since it was the set up for the sequel, Following Darkness. I'm also posting the first chapter of Following Darkness so you can follow it now. However, be aware that I will be taking a break from writing for a while. I most likely won't start writing again until the start of summer. If during the break any of you want to ask me questions about my story or just talk because you have nothing else to do either PM me or follow me on twitter thelordcurly. I have to say I enjoyed writing this but my two favorite chapters were twenty-three and twenty-five. Twenty-three because Bar Rescue is one of my favorite shows and twenty-five because I got two ideas that had been in my head written down. The first one was the sex scene, I'm not a clopper but I just couldn't avoid thinking about it so I put it in. The second was the Iron Wolves, now some of you could think that it wasn't a big part, that's wrong. I put a lot of thought into them, I have even more than what I wrote but I haven't thought of a story to write with them yet so I was glad I wrote it so I can't forget about them. I want to thank you all for following the story but there are a few people I want to mention. I would like to thank Dylan Boggs and crystal-shinobi for following it since day one and I would like to thank Battle Damage, SpitfireUSN, ShiningShadow1965 and Major Simi for their constant reviews. Now don't get pissed if I didn't mention you, these are the people I thought deserved a shout out. If you don't like it you can send me your reasons why you should have been mentioned which I will promptly ignore.

This is Lord Curly signing off, I hope you enjoyed this story and will come back for the sequel.

John Shepard, Jane Shepard and David Anderson are from Mass Effect
Noble team and Avery Johnson are from Halo
Coryn is from the Guardians of Ga'Hoole books
Ghost is from Call of Duty
Anthony Carmine is from Gears of War
Matoro is from Bionicle