//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Face To Face // Story: A New Life // by arc5162 //------------------------------// I switched to my personal camera to see her reaction, she was shocked to say the least. I was just a mere collection of computer parts, wires, and an artificial horn attached to one of them, my way of doing magic. But to her, I was something alien, and I suppose I was. She then looked around my room a little bit more, it was filled with my memory banks, some old, some new, and some that people back in the 21st century would consider theoretical. I displayed my deer face on my main monitor so she would have something to look at. She then looked at me and spoke. “This is you?” She asked with a glimmer of amazement in her eyes. “Yes.” “What is all of this stuff?” “That’s a long story, but to put it simply, all of these machines contain my memories, and also the memories of all my people so they can never truly be forgotten.” “Really?” “Yes.” “But why are you like this?” “Because I died.” “Died?” “Yes, my original physical body died a long time ago, but the smartest minds of my time were able to save my memories and consciousness in this computer you see before you, this is how I survived when the rest of my people died.” “That explains why you never eat, so you’ve been stuck here for 500,000 years?” “Yes, I spent most of it evolving myself, trying out new experiments, new ways to store my memory, I can even do magic.” “That’s amazing.” “I know, it was amazing to me as well, but I also gained some abilities that even I could never have expected.” “Like what?” “Well, I gained the ability to see into the future. I know all the major events that are going to happen.” “Really?” “Yes, however, I can’t predict any small events. For example, I never could have predicted that you would come into my life. But what I can tell you is that this Grogar you told me about so long ago will meet his end.” “He will, but my village couldn’t do anything to him.” “They couldn’t, but when I looked into the future, I saw that an army of ponies lead by Gusty the Great will banish him using his own bell, never to return.” “Well, that’s certainly good news. Anyway, can you tell me more about your people, and why they died?” “Very well, my people were called humans, before they died out, they roamed every corner of the world. Unlike the many species roaming now, they were the only intelligent species in the world. “Wouldn’t that make them lonely?” “No, because there were many different cultures and languages, and each of them were so different, it was like talking to a different species.” “Oh, ok, continue.” “They died out because they killed themselves. They invented the most powerful weapon in the world, and all of the different countries used them on the others, until there was no one left. The magic released by the weapon changed the animals that were left behind after humanity’s extinction. It made them smarter, and over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, the animals began to make their own civilizations. That’s why there are so many intelligent species today.” Maple stepped back for a moment to process this, looking amazed and scared and the same time. After a few minutes passed, she spoke. “Wow, so they destroyed themselves?” “Yes.” “Why?” “Because of the darkness that lurked within them, Fear, Greed, Hate, it built up inside them until eventually, they went to war, a war that consumed the entire planet.” I paused for a moment. “A war that everyone lost.” “I’m so sorry you lost everyone.” “It’s ok, I learned to accept it. Now I’m the only one who remembers what was, but that was the past, I need to look to the future.” Just then, I sensed something. “Hold on, my motion detectors are sensing a large group heading this way.” “Really, who?” “I don’t know, let’s go outside together and look.” Then, I conjured my physical form again and walked with her to the front door, opening it and walking outside with Maple past the barrier. What did I see? None other than a group of 50 deer, carrying their supplies behind them.