Last

by Alan Smithee

Night

Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created Harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies.

I promised Luna that we could make Equestria a paradise on Earth: A land where all were accepted and had purpose. A world bound in Harmony.

“But what of the stupid, the selfish, and the cruel?” she asked, for in those days, many such souls still existed in Equestria.

“Some will change their ways when they see the bliss that Harmony brings forth. Others will continue to reject it. They will live and die in loneliness. Their seed will not prosper. It shall take many lifetimes, but the day will come when all who live in Equestria are bound in Harmony.”

“How will we teach our subjects the way of Harmony?”

“We will show them by ruling together, as equals. As friends.”

But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night.
One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one’s heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night.

“I will have no more of your folly”, she told me, “You say Equestria shall be rid of cruelty, yet you condemn Discord to be forever cast in stone. Why not be merciful and destroy him?”

“Because to destroy him is to destroy Harmony. Even he has a purpose in this world, and someday he may come to accept it. Would it be merciful to deny him his place?”

“Spare me your lies and fantasies. You speak of friendship, and yet I am shunned by all. They see me as the taker of day, not the bringer of night. Perhaps they would see me differently if there were no day to be taken”

She thought she could force our subjects to accept her, even though I’d taught her that false friendship will always bring suffering.

Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: The Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and Harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.

Nothing I have done has caused me more pain than banishing my beloved sister. But I knew she had to be given a chance to redeem herself. Today Equestria is peaceful and prosperous. Perhaps now she will see what I promised her, and Nightmare Moon’s ignorance will be broken, and Luna will believe in Harmony once again.

My thoughts turn to Twilight Sparkle. She has a brother, who she loves dearly. What if greed or bitterness took him? Would she do as I did? I can explain to her why I did what must be done, but I fear that in the crucial moment she will fail.

On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape.

---

Simon walked at a brisk pace. The sun was setting fast. When it fell behind the treetops, he broke into a run. Gnarly tree branches and plants reached out to him as he sped past, but by staying in the middle of the path he stayed out of the reach of most of them.

In his head, he heard a chant: li-ons and ti-gers and bears, oh-my! li-ons and ti-gers and bears, oh-my! li-ons and ti-gers and bears, oh-my!

London, England, once the capital of an empire on which the sun never set, had become a thousand-square-mile forest.

Al had tried to land as close to London as possible. They had run out of fuel while hovering above Hackney, near the heart of the forest.

As Simon ran, the ground beneath him crunched. It contained much concrete, metal and glass. Normal plants didn’t grow in the forest. The trees and plants that made up the forest were of a type that did not match anything in the ship’s archives, which were supposed to be complete. They thrived on ruins, and nowhere else: The forest ended precisely where London had. They had dark bark and knotted trunks and branches. The pattern of tree growth created paths that corresponded with the city’s streets. Simon had walked in circles several times because he’d followed the path of a roundabout. The fact that the plants followed such structure gave one an almost intangible sensation that the forest was in some way artificial.

He’d explored most of southern London, but had not ventured beyond the forest’s boundaries other than to confirm them. The northern portion he hadn’t explored at all yet.

He’d given up hope that there were any humans left alive: the Earth was clearly not spent. The world still held all forms of life. Yet London was completely abandoned. Humans don’t tend to abandon cities of this size. They’d much more likely build another city on top of it.

It was very dangerous at night, so he ran faster. The chant in his head sped up, and the voice in which he hear it louder and more urgent:

Li-ons-and-ti-gers-and-bears-oh-my! Li-ons-and-ti-gers-and-bears-oh-my! Li-ons-and-ti-gers-and-bears-OH-MY!

He burst into a clearing and under the protection of the ship’s floodlights. He looked up. The stars were coming out.

Aboard the ship he found a scene of carnage: Hundreds of tiny bodies lay dead on the floor. Out of the eating room Al appeared.

“Be careful. The carbon monoxide should have cleared by now, but if you feel strange, get outside immediately”

Simon looked at Al, and mouthed “What happened?” Al had become proficient at reading lips.

“There was an outbreak. They came from the specimen tent.”

Simon stooped and picked up one of the bodies. It was blue, perfectly spherical, had wings and six legs. He had put two such insects in a cage earlier in the day, and had put the cage in the tent that was pitched behind the ship’s stern.

“They multiplied too quickly. They got into the food supply.”

Simon looked up at Al, who was now in front of Simon.

“We only have fifty days left.”

The two stood for a very long time. Al’s screen clock indicated it was nearly ten minutes before either one moved.

Simon walked past Al, and turned into his cabin. The door had been closed and none of the locusts had gotten in. He stood over his bunk.

“Are you all right? Remember, if you feel strange...”

Simon didn’t hear the rest. He teetered and fell onto his bunk, and passed out.

Al was watching over him when he came to. He had slept through the night: Al’s clock now read 6:57 AM. The stench of decaying corpses shrunk his stomach, because it confirmed last night had not been a dream.

“Take it easy”

What am I going to do?

There was a painfully long pause.

“I don’t know.”

What are you going to do?

“I’m going to do what I’ve done since I was assigned to you. I’m going to do everything I can to keep you alive.”

Will you do something for me?

“Of Course.”

Remember me

“I give you my word.”

Simon rushed outside. The sky was still dark, unusual for midsummer.

He walked round the ship. His mind was frantic.

What was he going to do? Fifty days. Then what? There must be a place to go. There are no humans. There must be help somewhere. There are no humans. Send up a signal rocket? There are no humans. Rebuild the city? There are no humans. Get some fuel? There are no humans. Take off and fly to Vigilant? There are no humans.

Every path of action he could consider taking was thwarted by this unbelievable fact. It closed around him like a cage. It enraged him. He tried to scream in fury, but his throat would only release a short croak.

He stumbled into the tent. From under his workbench he picked up a heavy, lumpy white sack. He held it above his head and slammed it into the ground. The bag’s contents cracked loudly. He raised the bag above his head again, but was distracted by the sound of flapping wings.

He set the bag down. He lit up his flashlight mounted on his shoulder and pointed it at the workbench. On it was a wire cage, almost full of the damned locusts that had attacked his ship.

How had there been an escape if they were still in the cage?

Simon decided not to ponder the question. Instead, he picked up the bag and the cage and went outside.

He went to the very edge of the clearing and emptied the bag onto the ground. A wolf came tumbling out. A wolf made of sticks and branches and logs. The wolf had been bundled up with twine. The bundles rattled, trying to break free and put itself together again. Simon had wanted dearly to discover what force kept this beast alive, but the events of the evening changed his priorities.

Simon struck a match.

As he expected, the bundles started violently shaking. The wolf looked up at Simon, and whimpered, as though it were pleading for mercy.

Simon dropped the match. The wolf howled.

He picked up the cage. The locusts inside cooed lovingly as he held them close to his body.

The coos turned to screams as he placed the cage on the flame.

The cage vibrated as the locusts flew every direction to try and escape. One pushed another against the bars with such force it passed through like a grate. The two halves mended themselves into two perfect, living locusts. Before they could take to their very first flight, they landed on the burning wood and caught fire.

Simon watched with bemused interest as the two locusts frantically darted about, before their wings burned away and they fell.

He’d now figured out how the breakout had occurred.

The screams and howls quickly ceased.

His racing mind was calmed by the mesmerising flame.

As he stood over the dead wolf, he had a sense of familiarity with the situation. He’d stood over Mimi, his black standard poodle, as he stroked her wooly hair with one hand, and with the other he plunged down a syringe hooked to an intravenous, setting her free at last.

The floodlights flicked out. It was 7:30 in the morning.

Simon looked up at the sky. Surely it must be sunrise by now, he thought. But the sky was still black. Since the lights of London were extinguished, the night sky had regained its unparalleled beauty. Simon didn’t like looking at the night sky anymore. Having actually been there, in the inky void between the stars, made looking at it too harrowing to bear.

The fire went out. He was immersed blackness. He realized for the first time that the sun was not going to rise.

---

Re-formatted by Admari 07/10/13

Comments

[Alan Smithee]

Sorry for the wait.
This was an incredibly difficult chapter to write.
It went through 3 style changes, and about 15 drafts.
The next chapter is underway.
I hope you enjoy it.

[butterfield pancake]

Wow can't wait till Simon meets the mane 6

[skultech]

Now this took a long time, but I'm quite interested how this will go.

[TracTix]

It's updated? Wonderful! I can't wait for more of this story.

[Alan Smithee]

2313297
Yeah. I think I've just about pushed the limit for how long a story can go before the all-important first meeting can happen.

Today I saw a thread where the consensus was that 5 chapters before human meets pony is absolutely unacceptable.

I guess this story is an exception.
You'll get your wish next chapter!