//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Endangered Spectrum // Story: The Last Man // by YoloSwagginz //------------------------------// The Last Man Chapter 2: Endangered Spectrum By: YoloSwagginz Imagine if you would, that you are in a peaceful clearing in the middle of a dense forest, and as you sit and look, you can hear a strong breeze flowing through the tree tops accompanied by the song of birds. You can see the sun's rays casting over pollen in the air and you can even imagine the smell of spring if you like. And if you were here, you would probably reckon that its the late afternoon. In this lazy and beautiful clearing you would be unpleasantly suprised by a reverberating soundwave that is heard echoing through the forest with a loud "SMACK", almost like thunder. You would not only be suprised by the sense of sound, but your sight would be taken for a whirl as well. There is a large ring of colour flowing through the sky absorbing clouds as it went... ---------- "That was some speed! Wait until the Wonderbolts see this! They are totally going to see how awesome I am!" Rainbow Dash laughed verbally and as usual, was very impressed with herself. Now she was gliding only ten feet off the tree tops and was feeling great! She started for flip and a roll to show everyone how awesome she was. "Another Sonic Rainboom!" she thought "This is the 3rd one I've done in a week!" To Rainbow Dash the fact that the residents of Ponyville had asked her to practice her famous move somewhere else had felt like and insult. But she figured that the Everfree deserved a show once in a while. And so she showed them! With another flip and even another Rainbow was feeling unstoppable. As she glided around she noticed that she had gotten pretty far into the forest and that it was probably time to head back. But before she banked off she saw a small clearing. "Huh? That looks halfway interesting..." she mused. Rainbow Dash took one final flight around the clearing and decided to touch down... ---------- Jan... Hmmm.... Isn't that my name?... [Bird chirping]... That was definitely a sound... Isn't that a bird?... Ah yes that was a bird I would say... [darkness starts to fade and light as if down a long and narrow tunnel starts to slowly open up.]...Woe?... Oh my, I... That is light I think... Yes that is... Yes and now I believe I am feeling now? Strange... I am... By the gods... At this point Jan is slowly looking around and is noticing the senses of mortality bleeding back into his life. The first thing that struck him was how green everything was... My hand? Why is it sticking out in front of me? Oh that is my sword yes! I remember now... I... I... [Jan is now fully un-petrified] Jan for the first time in 1000 years takes a breath, and with that breath his arm falls out of place and his sword falls to the ground with a clatter. His first breath is now quickly being choked up by sorrow. He bends his neck down and tears slowly start to form in his eyes. He leans forward and falls immediately onto his knees. His vision is blurred and he now slumps down onto his head. Jan starts to cry and in the process falls down onto his side. -As he lay there a strange spectrum coloured creature takes notice- Jan starts to look at his useless hands and lets pure emotion flow through him. And after a couple of minutes of this he realized that he sounded like a new born. He took another look at his useless hands and after a moment of breathing decided that getting up was probably a wise decision. He started to stumble onto his feet and made it halfway up before falling again. With another try he came to a vertical position and stood awkwardly. "Ahh!" he thought "Stop being such a baby!" Jan took off his helmet and took his armoured hand and ran it through his long brown hair. He brought his hand onto his "proto-beard" and scratched it a little. He took another breath and found his sword lying next to a small pile of vines and roots sitting around the imprint of two feet. He walked over to his long sword and gingerly picked it up. "That was I'll done my noble blade... I should not drop you again." Jan put it up into the air and waved it around a little. He put the thing back into the sheath and pulled his helmet back onto his head. He sighed and thought of what was had just happened. His mind was somewhat fuzzy of this "re-awakening" and so he decided to put it off. "Uh, It would be best if I went home I think..." Jan started to turn around to recall the path he had entered and was caught off guard. Standing ten feet in front of him stood another one of those things. "Stay back you foul beast! I wish not to quarrel with you!" Jan was already scared at the sight of this creature, and was thinking of a hundred different ways to escape its curious stare, and when he thought that running was about to be a good idea the blue horse had said something. "What are you?" said the creature To Jan these words were slightly recognizable and his mind tried to understand them. "What?" said Jan giving the creature a moment. "I said what are you?" "What? Am I? Yes? I'm sorry but your accent is astonishing." "What hey?! You're the weird one!" "Weird? How so? I cant say I've seen very many of you around?" "Likewise weirdo!" exclaimed Rainbow Jan didn't understand the last word and when he tried to repeat it, it came out funny. "Weeerdoh? What in the name of the gods is that?" This Rainbow Dash laughed lightly into her arm and gave a small smile. "I'll admit, I have seen a lot of freaks in my time but you buddy! You take the cake!" Rainbow Dash then followed her own misunderstood joke with a series of laughs. Jan stood there motionless and had taken the statement as an insult, even though it was hard to understand. He had then taken his hand and started to move his fingers around in front of his face as if to brag of his articulation. To that Rainbow simply laughed louder. "What am I supposed to be jealous of your stupid claws? They don't even look sharp! Pfff hahaha!" Dash then cascaded into another cruel series of laughter. Jan simply shook his head and decided he was wasting his time. He then ignored the cruel pony creature and started to look around for the entrance. Surprisingly it looked as if everything had grown over and it seemed that the sky was letting on to believe that night was not far away. So to this Jan decided he would rather leave this pony and find another spot to camp. As he started to leave the clearing in the general direction he thought he had come he heard the creature call out to him. "Hey wait! Don't go. I was just messing with you, you weirdo." Jan didn't want to waste his time so he decided to keep walking. "Hey!" she said, sounding a little worried now. " I was talking to you!" Jan then turned around to see the creature following him out of the clearing. "Aye, Well I don't take well to mean beings" he said. "I'm not being mean I just can't say I've seen someone like you around here before. I'm actually really sore from flight and I was hoping you could like... Wait for me or something..." Jan stopped now and looked at the pony. "Do you want me to make you a fire and read you a night story too?" "Hah sure weirdo I was just hoping that we could, you know camp the night out, it's getting dark out and I can't fly right now...Wait you can make fire?" Jan was actually tired, and that biscuit he ate 1000 years ago wasn't leaving a lasting imprint on his stomach. He then conceded to the blue pony and said "Yes I can make a fire! Can you breath?" To this Dash simply laughed again. Jan then started to gather sticks. After this he was ready to gather those larger pieces and after a while he was starting to break a sweat collecting the proper elements to make a good fire. After 15 minutes it was dark out and the pony had wandered closer to the human. "Well let's see it I'm getting cold!" Jan ignored her rude remark and started to pull out his flint and parrying dagger. He glanced at his the blade and saw his uncle's name pressed into the blade. He wondered for a moment how is gambling, drunken, fun making smith of an uncle was doing. No doubt he was at some inn impressing women with his "hot poker" trick. "What a bugger" Jan thought and the lightly laughed to himself. He started to strike the rock and steel and had started to make sparks. Rainbow Dash watched from 3 feet away slightly impressed and interested onto how this creature could create fire. Jan sparked about three times before he caught his kindling on fire. He pulled his helmet off and started to blow into the small flame. Gradually he brought it's presence to a heightened sense of being and thus his fire was alive! Dash was not normally impressed by anything but herself but to this she was slightly jealous. "Okay" she said "That was pretty cool, but I think I can still fly faster than you." Jan then gave a laugh and shook his head. ---------- It was about midnight now and the fellow mortals were making fast friends. Jan had tried his best to understand the pony and she did likewise. Jan was telling a funny story he remembered from last week. "And that is when my dad came in... And he said..." "John I swear to the gods, you teach my boy how to dice and I shall have you strung up by your beard!"... " My uncle was not deterred though, and when he saw it fit to mock my father he had said." "[Mocking tone] John.. I swear you teach my beard to hang I'll play games with yer sister!" To this Jan laughed out loud and started slapping his leg in enjoyment. Dash was yawning and sitting there giving courtesy laughs at Jan's strange stories. She started to think to herself. "Wow this thing can talk, like A LOT. I guess I can live with that... He is kind of funny and... uh cute? Pfff..." Dash shook her head at her last thought and began to yawn again. "Alright weirdo I'm goin' to sleep now, do you mind? Jan looked over at her and said "Ah yes, a good story does bring one to thoughts of sleep. I think it wise to find sleep myself." "Alright, I hope you don't mind if I go use the little fillies room?" Jan just shrugged at her strange statement and said "Yes I do care not" he then yawned and stretched his arms. Rainbow Dash then slowly got up and trotted to a quiet place about 300 yards from the fire. She started moving her wings and then thought about the strange bipedal creature. She did feel kind of bad for lying to him about her wings, she wasn't very sore at all she was just really curious about this thing. She hoped that her friends back in Ponyville weren't too worried about her. But she figured by morning she could convince the weirdo to go with her to Ponyville. PinkiePie would love to meet him she knew. After finding a spot she slowly walked back to the fire, but as she got close to the location she noticed that the fire was very dim. As if it had been kicked out or something. She looked for Jan but saw that he was gone. "What the hey?" she thought. She started to look around for prints and thought "Your not getting away from me that easily!" She saw his trail, it looked as if he got up and had started to wonder off. She was then stopped by a hand over her mouth. She tried to scream but she calmed down when she realized it was Jan. "What the heck she whispered!" Jan looked very tense, even under his armour in the black of night. "Pony creature be quiet!" he hissed. I heard chains jingling from over there about 1 minutes ago. Rainbow looked at him in the darkness and said "What?" She took a listen for herself and then she heard it. "Cling cling Cling...Bshhhhhhhh, clink" The sound of dragging chains made Dash tense. "Uh, what the hey is that?" whispered Dash in a scared tone. Jan replied with a "I think---!!!! A large voice boomed "Gotch Ya!" and in seconds Jan was being flung into the air! Rainbow yiped in astonishment and she tried to hide in the bush she was next to. She starred in shock as Jan was throne to the ground with and audible "Thud". She sat there paralyzed watching the scene unfold. ---------- I was aware that the pony was coming my way and I was going to have to silence her. She was following my trail and when she got close I put my hand over her mouth. "Pony creature be quiet!" I hissed. A couple moments of waiting and tense listening were about when suddenly I stopped in fear.... The creature was behind me... I mumbled that I think, and then suddenly my feet were off the ground. I was slammed against the dirt and leaves and then my breath had been taken. I looked up at the creature to see a tall walking wolf. It went to stomp me but I rolled out of the way. I was quick and within and instant my longsword was in hand. My adrenaline was peaking now and I backed into a fighting stance. The creature looked at me with teeth gleaming in the moon light. "Fuck you" I said, I then took a daring stagger towards it. The creature deftly moved and made a mocking noise. This made me smile, I was ready to lay this creature out. "What's wrong, lost your bone doggy?" I said in hopes of agitating it. The creature knew my words and then spat back "I've found my bone ri-" I gave it no time to respond and immediately took a savage swing at it's elongated and scarred face, and much to my adrenaline filled happiness I took it's whole ear off in one swing. It sprung back and started snarling, I then took another swing at it now merely toying with the dumb wolf. It started to go into a run and so I called back to it. "Go back to your master you petty beast!!!" To this I started laughing until my ears caught the sound of the chains again. I quickly swiveled to look at the source and then I saw it. The poor pony was being cornered by a Minotaur. The thing was absolutely gigantic and it started to advance onto the pony with a gait that suggested it was not afraid. The little blue Pegasus turned promptly turned and bucked the creature square in the face. The pony turned and smirked at her work only to be grabbed by the neck. She started screaming and then I heard the beast handle chains. By this time my bow was loaded and I fired a bolt into it's back. I saw it's skin twitch slightly but the creature hadn't seemed to notice. I then saw the massive creature put the pony down, but now she was adorned with a rusty collar around her neck. This bothered me quite so and so I charged towards that horned monster, sword in both hands I screamed. "For KuhlValans!" I tried to plant the sword in between the beasts shoulders only to by knocked back... It was as if I hadn't remembered the blow, I was on my back and I could taste blood. I slowly rolled around in agony and tried to feel my body. I felt something hard in my throat. It was my tooth! The Gigantic Minotaur simply glanced at me and said "Stay down human, less you lose your place in this world." To this I replied "Fuck you!" through a bloody mouth. I sat there holding my jaw hoping it wasn't broken and I listened to the beast walk away with that poor Pegasus struggling the whole time. I was in so much pain my head began to spin and I started spitting blood into my helmet... I started to attempt a move only for everything to go dark... My head hurt...