//------------------------------// // Prologue -- Humanity Disappears // Story: Tasavir's Little Ponies // by Mike the Red //------------------------------// After I had sealed the rift in the fabric of the continuum, life finally returned to some semblance of normality. Brenda cashed that enormous lottery check and we went on the biggest spending spree of our lives. I remember visiting my parents and giving them a suitcase full of cash -- same for my brother and his wife. Words could not accurately describe their joy and happiness at being given such a large sum of money. Brenda and I remained together for a very long time, even though there were times I couldn't stand to be around her. As far as her having any children by me, that was impossible as my altered genetic structure prevented me from being able to impregnate her. I continued to faithfully execute my duties as a Solar Regent, raising and lowering the Sun like clockwork every day. Life was good and stayed that way for many years. I can't remember exactly when it happened -- it seems so long ago, though I can recall my wife, Brenda and her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and their children as well huddling in the basement of our safe house. There had been a catastrophic turn of events on the world stage as politicians, military generals, presidents and dictators waged their war of words. Tempers flared and the media acted as cheerleaders for a major war between the world's most powerful nations. Their intransigence and ignorance was truly breathtaking, leaving me astonished and flabbergasted. I had tried to communicate with these people. I had teleported to each leader's primary office of power in order to get them to calm themselves. I had even gone so far as to use my power, with as much restraint as possible, to dissuade them from engaging in their self-destructive behavior. It had all gone for naught. As a last resort, I held the Sun below the horizon for five days in order to prove I was not joking about this matter. I became a pariah as a result of this -- I was deemed an enemy of the planet and nearly all of humanity focused their anger on me, though I had tried to inform them of their real enemies. They wouldn't listen.. I became very busy trying to destroy all the weapons of war -- I nearly succeeded in that endeavor. Unfortunately, I couldn't be everywhere at once as humanity engaged in its orgiastic nihilism, decimating itself with reckless abandon. I shook my head in disbelief at the wanton destruction and cleaned it up as best I could, though there was much that still needed to be done. After five additional days of darkness, I returned the Sun to the sky to witness for myself the level of carnage and destruction, simply appalled by the ultimate manifestation of mankind's hubris. It didn't take too terribly much longer after that for the remnants of humanity to slowly fade from existence on the planet, leaving me as the only sapient being still alive. Of course, there were many other species of animals, birds, fish, reptiles, plants, and other living things that had managed to survive the cataclysm, but try talking to them? Not much response there, other than basic needs and desires. Even the primate species didn't have a whole lot to say, other than to wonder what had happened. That was about a hundred years ago or so, I think. Maybe it was longer -- I don't know. I lost track of time, being an Alicorn and all that. Raise the Sun, lower it. Raise the Moon, lower it. Day in and day out. Maybe I should call the whole thing off. But then, that wouldn't be fair to the planet, nor all the living things on it. I am so bored. You know, it would be nice if I had someone or somepony or something to talk to for a change. Perhaps ... Do I dare? Is there anyone to tell me otherwise? I came up with a new plan -- I was going to try to bring those colorful ponies into existence in this universe -- if nothing else, perhaps I could actually talk to them, even if they might not be able to wield magic or fly or whatnot. I had spent a considerable amount of time scouting for a relatively safe location and set up a large area that hadn't been badly damaged by the final human war so as to establish a city of sorts. Using my magic over the course of several years, I built the necessary buildings and living spaces so the augmented ponies might have what they needed for their comfort. The hard part was the actual genetic augmentation of the ponies themselves. I had selected about 20 wild ponies for this purpose and truthfully, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I went ahead anyway. I changed their external appearance to resemble what I recalled from memory, but refrained from giving any of these ponies the ability to use magic. I didn't want them turning on me and attacking me, as this sort of experimentation would make me a monster. I rationalized it by reminding myself that since I was the only sapient being on the planet and able to use my magic in this fashion that a small experiment would be acceptable ... maybe. I sensed a sort of gnawing in my gut telling me that what I was about to do was sacrilege, but I was determined to see this through. My first attempt failed miserably -- the ponies didn't take too well to the genetic manipulation, proving to be sterile as mules, completely unable to reproduce. I took another 20 wild ponies and altered their genetic structure as a second attempt. This time, the ponies were able to reproduce, though their offspring turned out to be normal ponies as opposed to the genetically enhanced ones. I altered their genetic structure, causing the first group to violently kill their offspring. I shook my head in despair at this result, but allowed the second experiment to continue apace, though with slight tinkering to further alter their genetics. I gave them the names I remembered from the past, though this group were ones I attached the Roman number II to. I was able to communicate with them on a very rudimentary level, their intellect not having evolved enough for them to hold any truly meaningful conversation. Their offspring seemed to evolve a little more quickly and the intelligence levels of this second grouping of offspring was a little more advanced, though this led to further conflict between parents and offspring. It took another twenty generations of parents producing offspring before the intelligence was such that I could finally talk to these ponies with some degree of success -- this is not to say that they had advanced to the point where the conversations were anything more than early childhood levels, but given enough time, the evolution of these ponies and their subsequent offspring would finally produce what I was looking for. My guess was that it would take another 30 generations of ponies for their intelligence to be on a par with the humans. It was only when Twilight Sparkle XLVII approached me and asked me about her origin that I finally knew my experiment had succeeded. Lord, please forgive me for what I have done ... "Tasavir? That is what you are called? Why is my name Twilight Sparkle?" the lavender mare asked me. She did not carry a unicorn horn -- she was still an earth pony, like all the others. I was still quite apprehensive of separating the ponies into their distinct races and imbuing them with their respective magicks. "You carry the name of Twilight Sparkle because that is the name I gave you," I answered. "Are you my daddy?" she asked, giving me a quizzical look. "I suppose you could say that, though I am not your biological father." "Old Rarity was telling me about the pony who carried my name before me and that you were her daddy." I mused thoughtfully, giving a wistful look at the lavender mare. I held my silence for several seconds before finally clearing my throat to answer her. "Twilight, it's like this -- I get lonely sometimes, and female companionship is something I have a tendency to crave from time to time. If I am the daddy to some of these ponies, it is possibly true -- but you shouldn't concern yourself with that matter." "Okay," she said, smiling, then turned around and trotted off to the house I had assigned her. I'm going to have to be a little more careful about this sort of thing -- can't give away too much information.