Chapter 6:
I woke up in my bed. My bed! O joyous moment. I was home.
That moment of joy was shot lived. I looked around my room. There was a desk with a computer, and a dress with pictures frames on the top of it. Everything there was, faded as if time went on with out me, but the stuff that was here was not my stuff.
I went to turn on the light, flipped the switch and nothing happened. My heart dropped.
No, this is not happening.
I quickly scurry out of my apartment. The site of my surrounding was just, I don't know how to truly explain the horror I felt at what I saw. The building were wrecks, cars were flip. I was only gone four days, four day. This isn't real it can't be.
I found a newspaper stand not far from my apartment building. I was lucky there where still papers in it. I pull one out and the date is the first thing that grabbed my attention, September 28, 2063. it was only January 2, 2013 last time I checked the date. Fifty years, it can't be, it just can't. I pinch myself to see if I'm dreaming. I feel the pain and the mental shock of knowing this isn't a dream hits me hard.
I drop the paper right there. I walk back to my aparentment, every step heavier then the last. I lean back on a wall and sit down on the floor. I just cried, I don't know for how long but that is what I did. My family, friends, life as I knew it, gone. And for what, to delivery a package on another world that had nothing to do me. I still don't even know what the package was really other then a weird stone egg.
I don't know how much time passed when I finally stopped crying but it was dark by then. I didn't move though. I just staid there, sitting on the ground, staring into space. I didn't sleep that night.
When morning came I finally found the strength to get up and find out what actually happened. I went back to the newspaper stand. Surprisingly the wind didn't blow away the one I drop. I pick it up and start reading the front page.
“Stag Flu Spreading at Alarming Rate! Millions Dead Over Night!” it said in bold letters on the top of the page. After reading on it turns out this “Stag Flu” was a modern day bubonic plague that killed a lot faster and spread like wild fire.
I gave a depressed chuckle. “Looks like that I won't be alone for to long then. This “Stag Flu” will kill me off in no time.” I said out loud.
I knew no one could hear me. There was no one to hear me. I crumple the rest of the paper in a ball and throw it aside. I start walking down the street. Start looking at the wreck building that where once a city. It was never a big city but it was home. It's clear to me now that its been more then fifty years. That paper was just the last time man could write down the date.
After an hour of walking I hear something I though I would never hear again. My anger flared and for the first time since I found it I drew my sword. It was the sound of wood creaking that only comes from the movement of a Timberwolf.
I turn around a see Fang behind me in the middle of the street but he was different, his eyes are glowing bright white instead of dim yellow. He just stares at me head hung low. Then I hear something that flared my anger even more.
“I'm sorry, I didn't want this to happen to you.” It wasn't Fangs voice. It was Nature's voice in my god damn head!
“Sorry, SORRY! You stole me for my world then drop me back when it's dead!” I shout.
“I didn't know they whould drop you off in your future. I didn't know humanity died, I just, please just hear me out.” her voice was weak and on the verge of crying.
My anger was starting to get the better of me, but a part of me also wanted to hear her out. So I decided to release a little anger. With a yell I swung the sword like a baseball bat into a nearby telephone poll. It goes half way through before stopping.
“MAKE IT QUICK!” I yelled as I face Fang again.
“I was desperate. Chaos, Death, Order, Moon, and Sun did not think and still did not view the Invaders as a threat to 'Their' balance of things. In a way its true, but the death and destruction they caused, I couldn't stand it any more and acted. I worked with the Entities Avatars that where willing to help. You know of Fang, Celestia, Luna, and Spirit. The two you don't know of are Discord and Titan. Discord went mad with power and was sealed away, Chaos still likes him though so he still lives. Titan disappeared ages ago and Order will not tell us where he went.”
“Anyway we created a device that when completed would be the ultimate weapon to cleanse Equestria of the Invaders. There was a problem with it though. The magics the device used needed a unique fuel. One that you provided, emotions. When we started fueling the device we found a horrifying fact, it also ripped and pulled out a part of the soul that also produced the specific emotion being poured in. A ripped soul causes death within days on those who supplied.”
“Not wanting to sacrifice anymore lives, we searched for decades trying to find a solution. A creature that was immune to the soul ripping effects was the only one we could find. After forty-seven years I found Earth, and humanity. A species that not only showed signs of being able to express every emotion know but was immune to the soul ripping. I plucked you out set the device up to gather any emotions you start to put off, and sent you on your way.”
“When you got to Cantorlot we got Sun and Moon to send you home. They where not thrilled that I plucked you to begin with. As a way to get back at me they sent you back at the wrong time. I came to check on you and found that humanity was no more. That is where we are now. I honestly didn't think they would do this to you. I'm sorry”
She finished talking and all was quiet for a moment. I was still angry but I was now seeing a little more of the bigger picture. They needed me to be a batter for a bomb.
“Did the divice work?” I asked
“Yes”
A little more anger dissipated, it was nice feeling my emotions fade normally again. I was a hero to them, even if I was nothing more then a pawn. There was some odd comfort in that for me.
“So what now?”
“Well you can stay here in this dead world, or I can pluck you again. Its only been two days in Equestria. Its rebuilding has already begun, though it my take decades before it reaches its former glory. The Princesses also what to actually meet you and formally thank you for your part in ending the Invader threat.”
The decision itself wasn't hard, going back in the end was the only way to truly have a life worth having now. It took me a minute before I could actually give Nature my answer. This time I was leaving Earth for good. Even though Humanity was gone the world was still their.
When I said I was ready there was a quick flash. I was what I assumed was Cantorlot castle. In front of me was Spike, Celestia, and Luna. They gave a smile then Spike spoke
“Welcome back.”
Epilogue:
I was given a hero's welcome on my return. I still have mixed feeling about it though, a hero I was in a way but I was also a pawn. I was being used by the true hero's.
I finally did get to meet Celestia and Luna. Unfortunately our greeting there was also our last. It wasn't as if the left a bad impressing. In fact its quite the opposite and after my meeting with them it made me a little sad that I could not be in Cantorlot anymore.
The Princesses power is a mix of unicorn magic and powers they received being Avatars of the Sun and Moon. It turns out that that mixture of magic has a very bad effect on humans. Its why I passed out when they raised the shield. They said I was lucky to survive that. Needless to say that during that meeting they didn't use any magic.
Spike was going back to the ruined library. Said he was going to rebuild that town, he called it Ponyville. The name made my eyes roll but I figured I would go with him since I had to leave Cantorlot.
Fang disappeared back into the Everfree for the most part. Every few months he would pop out and see are progress on rebuilding the town. But he never approached us, he just watched from the forest edge.
I wish I could say that I lived the rest of my life here in peace. But others saw the usefulness in human diversity, and a pawn again I would be. But that is another story for another time.