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// Prologue (Part 1) 
// Story: The last of Humanity 
// by ChiefKitsune 
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A cold wind sweeps up from the cooling valley to reach the two beings sitting silently on the cliff looking over such an important and chaotic place in recent history.  To one side one can see the infamous Everfree Forest at the far end of the valley sitting on the highest mountain in the area rests the glittering city of Canterlot and nestled between the two was a cozy little hamlet by the name of Ponyville.  The newest addition to the town is the large crystal castle for the new princess of Friendship, though to both of the beings thought the same, that it was more of an eyesore than the owner will admit.

But the view was not what drew these two souls to this location this evening, rather the taller of the two a god of Chaos by the name of Discord had asked for the gryphoness beside him to meet him there so they would be alone for their coming chat that he was not looking forward too.  But for now she seems to be content to sit and take in the rare view of Canter Valley, which the god of chaos was glad for as he was unsure how to begin and with a new feeling of butterflies in his stomach.  Literally, as with a hiccup, a few flew out and away which drew the gryphon's attention to him stealing away any chance he had to flee and get out of discussing this with her.

"So...." the gryphoness draws out as her left eye looks up at Discord, her golden eye shining in the setting sun in the distance though she remains looking out to the valley.  "What did you want to talk about Discord, I mean we all forgave you fro what you did with Tierek.  But you made this sound like it was even bigger than that"  The melodic voice of the female gryphon was soft and full of confusion, and while he usually enjoyed confusion he promised he would tell her.

So with a sigh to try and gain a few more seconds before having to begin the chaotic god started "Nala that is because it is, you know of the ancient race called 'Humans'?" he gets a nod from her, "You know those nightmares you had when you were growing up?" With a slight frown, the gryphon nods wondering where he is going with this.

"Yeah, though why you know about them I can't imagine why." The gryphon with the snow leopard feline body and Falcon avian parts revealed to be named Nala mutters more to herself but Discord still catches it.

"Yes, well you know how real they feel whenever you have them? And how Princess Luna hasn't been able to help you be rid of them either since her return?"  He continues to which the gryhoness nods with a shiver and not because of the cool wind blowing against them.  "Well that is because her powers do not let her affect memories, dreams and nightmares, yes.  But memories she can only watch them play out"  This got her attention and brought about her confusion.

"What do you mean memories? In those nightmares, I was a completely different being, with a whole life and family.  A whole world of beings with technology so far advanced than ours is now. How could those be memories because in them I was an adult?" She questions rapidly her stoic demeanor cracked by the reminder of her troubled mind and memories that didn't add up.  "And what does this have to do with Humans?"

Sighing he nods to her "Yes because they are your memories of your original life.  From a time when Humanity was the only sentient race on Earth.  And as for why they are no more it is because of how I was when I myself was young.  Having been born from the energy of the expanding universe and feeling the pain of entropy and rebirth for millions of years before I gained form and consciousness only to find Humanity below enjoying life to its fullest without the pain of the universe filling their very soul since before they existed and it angered me to no end."  He began his tail, the gryphon staying silent out of the confusion of why he was telling her this and what it had to do with her life long nightmares and dreams of a different world.

"And so filled with fury and pain I set myself upon Humanity, destroying cities with but a thought taking the living and torturing them as I twist their bodies and break them like a child with new toys.  Taking the joy from breaking each one like a child enjoys burning ant after ant.  But I quickly grew bored of just breaking their bodies and killing them so I moved on to breaking and torturing their minds leaving many unharmed on the outside but mindless beasts with nothing left of their old selves.  But once more I grew bored with this and I had the grand idea to mix the two together and so began the true horror  for humanity as rather than the occasional disappearance of some people but able to keep living their lives none the less.  But that changed as I broke their bodies and twisted them into cruel mockeries of what they once were with deep red leathery skin standing well over the tallest human with unnatural muscles bulging from their limbs as I broke their minds and remade them to attack and kill anything they come across.  Before they knew that I even existed having blamed the destruction of the city and little towns on terrorists causing them to nearly jump at each other to blame them for the disappearance of so many people.  And as the tensions were near there peek I let my monstrosities loose on the world a army of those red devils rained down on cities all over the world as they began their work of killing and spreading their forms to other humans like a virus."  

Shivering as she is lost in her nightmares now known to be memories of the time he is talking about the gryphon begins to shiver and shake in fear and pain as she remembers her human family, and how she was away on drills when the demons attacked her hometown and moved on a day later.  As when she was human she was in the military of one of the strongest nations in human history the United States of America, she was also a male human with a wife and kid of his own.





So it was shortly after he received word that his town was one of the ones attacked by the red demons he was lucky his unit was rushed in to search for survivors or so he thought.  What they found instead was broken twisted bodies of the dead and those were the lucky ones there were signs of the worst part of the creatures in being able to spread their forms to other people and with most of the people unaccounted for they could only imagine what happened to them as their imaginations ran wild.  But none of this mattered to the young soldier as he raced to a side street of the small town, sliding around the corner before sprinting to the two houses on the end of the street.

The first one he entered was a single story home with a large underground living space making it as large as a above ground two story home.  He was ready to smash in the door to get in or maybe smash and crawl in through a window but his heart sank as he saw the splintered remains of the one strong door.  With claw marks marring the wood floor leading to the first floor living room where the young soldier felt fear clutch his heart as he turned from the hallway into the family room finding it a mess with smashed furniture and bullet holes in the wall next to him.  But none of that held the man's gaze for in the center of the room was a set of four mutilated and burned bodies of three adults and one child.  

Right away the man knew who they were and tears formed at the corner of his eyes as his heart sank to a whole new low one the man had never felt before as depresion set in.  The larger of the bodies was holding a bent shotgun showing it was his father trying to defend against the hord of demons while the two women, his mother and wife huddled over the child.  His heart broke at the pained look of pure terror on the little girls face as she stared at the doorway to the hallway, looking her father straight in the eyes for that was were the demon had come in.

The despair grew worse and worse till it felt like the earth was about to open up and swallow the young soldier whole, but as he stand their staring into his daughter's lifeless eyes that despair changes to anger.  The anger turns to rage as in his heart nothing on earth could put out the raging flames of his desire for revenge.  Calling to the heavens "Come out you mosnter! And Face me!  I promise to make it entertaining for you before I ripe that ungodly head from your shoulders with my bare hands!"

Then silence as the young soldier stood there with his arms raised waiting for something to happen when he knew nothing would and he would be forced to face the end of the world without his family.  At that thought a grim smile formed on his face at least his family wouldn't have to endure the pain that he is now faced.  Finally after about three minutes of heavy breathing the man sighs and drops his arms muttering "I knew it. That monster is too much of a coward and too predictable why would he come at my call?" 





Laying back in the void of space sat the spirit of disharmony watching as his creatures overwhelmed any who opposed killing and consuming the victims as they move.  Though suddenly time resumes its usual pace slowing down form the high speed he had it at to watch the effects of his anger grow.  When he hears some nameless soldier called out to him, this was not the first nor would it be the last but for some reason the being felt compelled to appear before this human and make him suffer in person.  So with a silent snap of his talon he vanished from the void of space.





Turning and beginning to trudge out of the house in utter brokenness the young soldier stops and turns as he hears slow ominous clapping coming from the living room he just left.  Turning with a hint of fear in his eyes the man turns and makes his way back to said room.  That fear turns to burning rage as the sight before him is the monster that created and commanded the demons to destroy mankind.  Before the man could do anything the being stopped clapping "Bravo my boy, truly no human has actually succeeded in grabbing my attention and summoning me for whatever their reason.  I don't even know why I am here but you promised to be entertaining. So tell me how you plan on that?"

"Well I doubt anyone has been brave enough to challenge you to a fight one on one." the soldier unclips his rifle and sets it agasint the wall beside him and begins to take off his jacket.

"And what makes you think I wouldn't just kill you were you stand?"  The being questioned

"Becasue I know you won't.  You wish to be entertained since your so powerful you can kill hundreds with but a thought, I'd imagine that would get old and boring fast.  And like I said I bet no one has challenged you to a one on one fight before." the man smirks to hide his growing terror at facing the being that will likely be the end for humanity.  "Well not before shooting you a dozen times or trying to blow you up."  He snarks feeling showing false bravado.

The god like being grins "you are right about that so why not entertain me before you die?" as he the man rasies his fists showing he's ready.  The mismatched being doing the same as both stand there neither seeming to breath as they wait for the other to make the first move.

.....

The creature lunges forward fast almost to fast for the soldier to track but thanks to his training he was able to keep up and dodge the first lunge but barely.  As the creature stopped in front of the man he reached around its slender body and kicked off the ground with everything he has to send them into the air and moments later they land on the hard floor with the human on top raining down blows onto the creatures face.  Not letting up for a moment as that would be all it would take for the tables to turn, and they do as one of the soldier's punches misses its mark thwoing is balance off just enough for the being to act and throw him off.

The young man soared though the air and smashed into the wall causing dust to get into his eyes.  As he reaches up to clear them he ducks down and to the left nearly avoiding a lunging stab by the creature though his talons still raked the man's shoulder rending the flesh like a hot knife through warm butter.  The soldier letting out a cry of pain as he gets the dust from his eyes to see only for his vision to flash as a solid punch strikes him on the nose breaking it and causing more blood to flow from the human. 

Blinded once more the human dives and rolls to the right his vision clearing once more giving him enough time to see the next lunging stab with the creature's talons so he drops to the floor and lets the beast over reach as his legs kick out as fast as lightning to the fork between his legs.  Before rolling away and standing up with a smirk at the pained cries of the monster.  The human opened his mouth to taunt his opponent but is cut off as a serring pain blosums forth from his stomach which lets the man know it was a ruse and now the monster had sunk his dagger like talons deep into his gut.  

So knowing he's on borrowed time the man fights with renewed vigor since with his gut wound he would not live long even if he wins but with a roundhouse kick the beast sends the soldier flying out through the big picture window showering the lawn and human in shards of glass as bits of it embedded into his back and arms.  Looking up with the man could barely see out of his one eye as they were both swelling closed as he tries to get up the monster rushes in and stomps on his left leg breaking it with the bone piercing through his skin and combat pants causing him to cry out in pain once more.

"uh huh, you didnt' think you would get off that easy did you" the beast taunts as he picks the man up by his short brown hair and begins to drag him thought the broken glass to lean against the wall of the house.  "No you wanted my attention and now you've got it"  He continued not noticing that the man's hand was gripping something and blood was dripping from his clenched fist.

As the monster wrapes his paw around the human's throat and starts to lift him the man makes his final move as he rases his hand and with a shard of glass he slices into the flesh of the creatures arm causing him to hiss in pain and drop the human with a dull thud as his vision began to darken he saw olily black blood oozing form the wound that the creature was staring at before he began to laugh an insane laugh.  "You hurt me, you actually got me."  He pokes his wound as it visibly beins to close "You know that's the first time I've seen my blood" he mentions conversationally to the fading human before his gaze sharpens to something never seen before.  "You will suffer for that"  

Yanking the man up into a siting posisiton once more the beast began to force its power into the human, who noticed as his body began to burn as if he was being bathed in lava but he felt so drained from the fight that he couldn't lift any part of his body.  Not that he could if he had the energy as at a steady pace from his hands and feet his tanned skin was turning to a stone white.  His mouth open in a slient scream of pure pain as his body becomes solid stone and the young soldier new no more.