The Legend Ends

by 654_nosneb

Chapter II - A Lot Has Changed

The orange pony in front of me was terrified at the sight in front of her. I quickly understood that she never saw a human before. I get it; after all, I was the only one left even a thousand years ago.

"Sunny, I know that I look a bit weird to you but believe me: you don't have anything to worry about. I do not mean any threat to you," I tried to calm her down.

She just stood still, watching me in fear while breathing hard. After a few moments, she managed to calm herself down. "Excuse me, William; I'm not usually like this," she apologized a bit ashamed of herself. "I was just... 'surprised' by your appearance. I never saw anything like you ever before."

"I believe you," I replied while vanishing my sword.

"Out of pure curiosity, what's the name of your species? You look kinda like a dragon, only taller, with clothes, and without scales."

"I am a human, Sunny," I said to her, "a race that went extinct over 21000 years ago or so." Then I realized it. It stung deep within my heart to realize that I was probably the last one of my kind to be alive on this planet; not only that, this time, I was all alone as well.

"A human?" she said with a puzzled expression on her face. "Sorry, I don't know anything about them."

"Do you know what those badges you wear are supposed to mean? I asked her.

"Yes!" she said. "These represent some of the elements of harmony that, a thousand years ago, defended harmony across the land of Equestria. This one's from Twilight Sparkle," she said pointing a hoof to her badges, "the bearer of the element of magic; this one's from Fluttersy, the bearer of the element of kindness; and this one's from Rainbow Dash, the bearer of the element of loyalty."

"So," I said, "you're telling me that you know all of that, but you don't know anything about what a human is?"

"Yeah, exactly that." That declaration made me feel sad, but also... intrigued. I could tell by the badges she wears, and the fact that she was keeping the vault door that was supposed to be below Canterlot's castle that she wasn't exactly unaware of Equestrian history. She also knew the ponies that were my friends good enough. Most likely, she was some kind of researcher of some sort. And even so, she doesn't even know what a human is! Either way she's just starting to know about history, or something horribly wrong happened when Opaline used that spell.

"William, is it normal for a human to change its eye color in a matter of seconds?" Sunny asked.

"What? No! Why do you ask?"

"Because, when you first busted through that golden door, I'd swear that I saw your right eye was red and that your left eye was green; however, now they're both blue."

"You probably just think you did, Sunny. Humans don't do that." She had to be wrong. I remember those eyes; they were from Owlen, the nightmarish abomination that almost erased from existence everypony that ever existed. He was erased by the very elements of harmony when he tried to go back in time to alter the past. I remember very clearly how it was to have him inside my mind: I would hear voices, get painful headaches, or even faint at random. None of those things were happening right now. Owlen was not coming back... I think.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Sunny spoke after a brief silence. "Do you have anywhere to go? Do you know anypony that might help you?"

"Is princess Cadence still around, perhaps?" She was the last alicorn princess that was still an option. If she also disappeared, then I was totally alone.

"Not even the Crystal Empire stands to these days." was her reply. "She's also missing from history. As I said before, alicorns are considered to be myths, made-up stories for five-year-old colts or younger." Her face suddenly changed from showing sympathy to showing a child-like excitement. "Wait! You're telling me that you met them personally!" Her eyes expanded far beyond what I considered possible. "How were they? Were they nice to be around with? Did Celestia and Luna really moved the sun and moon? Wait, did you meet the bearers of the elements of harmony?"

"Enough, Sunny!" Another voice, also feminine, said from upstairs. Both Sunny and I turned to see who the owner was of said voice. It was a white pegasus mare with a pink mane and with blue strands of hair. Due to the fact that the basement in which we were in was poorly illuminated, I could barely distinguish her features. "Don't you see that he's not exactly prepared to answer your questions?"

"Zipp! Zipp?" the orange mare said. "Since when were you listening?"

"Since the beginning. When you woke me up, I was about to go back to sleep, but then I also heard the same noise that you heard. I, the detective Zipp, had to investigate. I admit that it was a bit weird to find you talking with a vault. But when that thin... 'creature'," she corrected herself and showed a shameful expression on her muzzle, "this 'human' busted through a vault that we thought impossible to open like it was made of cardboard, I stopped with my plans of interrupting you."

Zipp glided down to our eye-level in a few seconds. With some kind of weird helmet that looked like a VR headset, she scanned me from my head to my feet.

"Fascinating." she said. "I've never seen a creature like this before."

Ponies weren't exactly my height. I'm taller than them; however, that didn't mean that I had to look down to them. They were, in average, just half a head shorter than me. Having this mare examining me so close was very uncomfortable. She took a modified magnifying glass out of her wings (which I don't know how she did to avoid from falling when she flew) to inspect me even further. I didn't oppose any kind of resistance. From what she had shown, even though she was indeed interested in knowing what I am, she had some limits; I wouldn't become her lab-rat. Even if she tried to do so, I think that if I did oppose a little bit of resistance would be enough to escape from her. In the meantime, I'd let her do what she wanted to do and see where she was going.

"Bipedal as a dragon, exposed skin with little to no fur except for the head (I guess that's why you wear all of that clothing), absence of a muzzle, and odd-looking, soft claws instead of hooves." She pulled out something I thought I'd never see somepony else using apart from me: a phone. It looked exactly like the one I still have in my pocket, only that this one had a place on the back in which the hoof was supposed to go. She started to take several pictures, and I guess that videos of me. "This is a human. Origin: unknown; current habitat: unknown; abilities: apparently, they're able to use very strong magic, otherwise I don't understand how he was able to practically obliterate that vault, also, its cognitive skills are very similar of the ones a pony would have; life expectancy: unknown; reproduction method: it seems like a mammal, so..."

"Zipp!" Sunny shouted. "He's not your lab-rat, he's my... OUR guest. Since I can save my questions for later, do you think that you could maybe save your investigations for later?"

"I'm willing to answer any questions you may have, but later. I don't know what time of the day it is, but I'm severely injured and tired. Can I just... lay down here for some hours?"

"It's 2 AM." Zipp said.

"No!" Sunny exclaimed. I was about to think of sleeping in an alley, when she added: "Not in this basement! As I said, you're our guest, and you should be treated as one. We don't have any bed available right now, but in the meantime, you can sleep on the couch that's in the living room. At least it's better than sleeping on the floor."

"Yeah, that'd be great, Sunny." I told her.

She led me upstairs and escorted me to the living room. Her house was way bigger than what I initially thought. It was some sort of huge tower very well decorated. The living room itself was massive. There was just too much space.

"How many people live here?" I asked.

"People?" Sunny asked in confusion. "Don't you mean ponies?"

"Yeah, yeah, that. Sorry, that vocabulary still comes out of my mouth sometimes." When was the last time that I used that word properly? I can't remember; it was too long ago.

"Well, I live here with my friends. You already met Zipp, but I also live with her sister Pipp, my best friend Izzy, and with my fillyhood friend Hitch."

"Hm. I almost thought that Zipp was your sister."

"Zipp? My sister? But that'd be impossible!"

"Why? As far as I know, your parents could be an earth pony and a pegasus."

Her excitement returned in minor proportions. "I forgot that you come from a time in which the three tribes didn't hate each other too much."

"Wait," I quickly said, now scared, "the three tribes hate each other!?"

"No! No! Well, at least not anymore. That's a story that I should tell you tomorrow."

Once I crashed on a sofa, she leaved. At least she was kind enough to give me a blanket.

It didn't take long for me to get asleep, after all, I was very tired; it didn't take long for me to cry, after all, I was alone.

Author's Note:

New chapter! I hope that you like it and where the story is going.
Enjoy :)

As always, I accept suggestions.