Humani Victoria

Chapter 24- All Roads Lead To Rome

"I came. I saw. I conquered"

                                                                    -Julius Caesar

South Field, Appleoosa, Equestria, Friday, 15th of January, 1:27pm, 2206 AC

The Buffalo ran past like a thunder storm, the ground shook with their collective hoofbeats. Jason estimated several hundred ran past them before the river became a trickle and then faded away as the herd stampeded out of the woods and towards Appleoosa proper. Braeburn and his fellow townsfolk came out from their tree cover, looking in horror as the Buffalo neared their town.

"Git back to the town! Don't let those natives take anything!" Braeburn yelled, running forward along with the settler ponies. Jason came out from behind his own tree with Roseluck close by, the Mane Six conjugated around him as they watched the townsfolk gallop towards Appleoosa.

"Natives?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, the Buffalo are native to these lands and lived alone until Ponies started settling in the south," Twilight explained "I'd imagine there's probably tension between them."

"You got that right," Applejack said "Braeburn's always writing to me about how the Buffalo always trample through their orchards and harass the town and sometimes things will go missin' he says, small things, Braeburn thinks that the Buffalo are ta' blame."

"Wait a minute; don't the Buffalo have a right to do whatever they want? I mean they were here first," Rainbow Dash argued "the settler Ponies shouldn't be taking their lands way from them."

"Hey! I know! Let's all go see what's happening at the town! Come on gang!" Jason said way too cheerfully and began to walk away way too quickly. Roseluck quickly caught up as did the rest of the girls.

"Awkward topic?" Roseluck asked.

"Rosy my dear, you have no idea," Jason said tiredly.

Their group re-entered Appleoosa in a timely manner, the Buffalo had stopped stampeding and stood segregated from the Ponies as they faced off. One Buffalo stood in front of the group; he was larger than the others and his head being adorned with a feathery headdress that was rather familiar in design for Jason. Next to the large lead Buffalo stood a decisively smaller one, small in frame and with her head adorned with only a couple feathers that was more similar to the headdress that the majority of their herd wore, they both stood off facing Braeburn and another pony that sported a black Stetson a moustache and a sheriff’s badge.

"Ah told ya' once Thunderhooves and I'll tell ya' again, we can't just move hundreds a' trees!" Braeburn said as Jason and his lot came within ear shot.

"And I have told you, Braeburn, that those trees should not have been planted in the first place. The Thunder Clan has been stampeding over these lands for thousands of years, and we will not stop simply because you Ponies cannot keep to your own borders," Thunderhooves said in retort.

"Our own borders? These are our own borders! We settled here! Traveled far and wide before comin' here! And we ain't gunna leave just because ya'll Buffalo can't run somewhere else!"

"We have been stampeding here for generations! My father did it! And his father before him and his father before him and his father before him! We will not change our ways on the whims of Ponies!"

Braeburn looked like he was about to retort viciously but Twilight stepped forward and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to intrude, but what is the issue here?" She asked.

"No offence Miss, but this ain't really your problem." Braeburn said dismissively, Twilight frowned but Applejack beat her to the punch.

"Trust her cuz, she's the smartest Pony I've ever met, she can help," she said, eliciting a smile and a faint blush from Twilight at the praise.

"Well if yer sure, ah suppose it couldn't hurt," Braeburn relented before looking back at Twilight "Well you probably guessed from our little spat, but basically these here Buffalo keep runnin' all over our orchards for no good reason, we've told 'em ta' stop but they just won't."

"No good reason?!" Thunderhooves rumbled "we have all the reason you should need! These are our lands! Our tradition holds that we must stampede over these lands every turn of the season!"

"But, to what end?" Twilight asked.

"It's tradition!" Thunderhooves bellowed.

"But... What purpose does it serve? Practically speaking?"

"To honour our ancestors! Who stampeded before us!"

"...But..."

"Come on Twilight," Rainbow cut in "it's not like Ponies don't have traditions that don't make sense, it's just something they've always done and now the settlers are getting in their way, on their land."

"Now wait just a minute," Applejack said "these folk worked their tails off building this town and maintainin' this orchard, and I can tell ya' they have the best apples of the south, better than my own farm. What do these Buffalo do with their runnin' around?"

"Uhhhh... How about compromise?" Jason offered unsurely.

"I do not think that compromise is possible..." Thunderhooves said but then paused when his eyes lay on Jason.

"Go on, say it," Jason said tiredly.

"By the ancestor! A Golden One! “The Chief asked.

"I'm a Hum-wait, what?" Jason said.

"A Golden One! Those who lived before the time of the Great Ancestor! During the mythical Era of Fire!" Thunderhooves exclaimed.

"I... Have no idea what you’re talking about," Jason admitted.

"But... The Ancestors Words speak of your kind! 'Beings of Gold, living in a time of fire. Before your ancestor, they ruled all lands and all oceans, tall, two-legged, and powerful, they flattened the ground to make way for the stampeding grounds of the ancestor and all his children' this describes your kind does it not?" Thunderhooves said excitedly.

Jason looked at Twilight for help but she only offered a shrug and a sympathetic smile

"Humans were wide spread back in the day," she said "it's no surprise that they have a part of a culture, this probably won't be the first time we come across something like this."

"Well poop," Jason said, before looking back to Chief Thunderhooves "look, I'm not... Whatever you think I am, but I and my friends are more than happy to help solve this spat of yours."

"I am grateful for your offer Golden One, but I do not think a compromise can be reached," Thunderhooves said sadly.

"But wait," Jason said "you need to stampede where the orchard is but the trees are in the way, the settlers can't move their trees because it would be too much unnecessary effort, but couldn't the settler Ponies just remove a few trees? A path through the orchard for you guys to run through."

Both Braeburn and Thunderhooves took a moment to consider that, exchanging glances before coming to a conclusion.

"I can see that working." Thunderhooves said

"So do I, shouldn't be too much trouble replantin' a few trees rather than the whole orchard."  Braeburn admitted.

"What?!" The moustachioed Sheriff exclaimed "ya' can't do that Braeburn! Ya' let these natives have any leeway! First we're lettin' them runnin' through our orchards, next thing ya' know they're makin' us sacrifice foals and eat cactuses!"

By forces unexplained, but have been around since before the dawn of man. Jason's right appendage lifted from his side and came to embrace the face of its owner, the palm making contact with the forehead in a perfect fit that evolution had crafted over thousands of years.

"There's always one of them..." Jason mumbled into his hand.

"That's just stupid," Rainbow Dash said "you can't seriously think they would demand anything that ridiculous."

"She's right sheriff," Braeburn said "this option is the best for everypony, I'll even organize the whole thing myself."

"Mark my words! Nothin' can come from dealin' with Buffalo," the Sheriff grumbled before storming off.

"Well, fuck him," Jason said casually "I'll leave you lot to work out the solution, we gotta head back to the station, I'm pretty sure our escort it waiting for us."

"Jason right, come on girls," Twilight said and led them back towards the train station, with Jason sparing a look and a wave behind him before following through.

"I can't believe it..." Thunderhooves said wispily "A Golden One, here, in the flesh, and then he just leaves.... I neglected to ask him his name! What if he knew the ancestor!"

"He told me his name was Jason," Braeburn said.

"Strange, he seemed to know nothing of the fame of his people."

"I don't know about that, but I think we should start makin' that path through the orchard."

"I agree, we will help of course."

Shining Armour was waiting in front of his soldiers who were formed up in ranks but in a relaxed stance. Their equipment and kit packed up as they were made to wait nearly half an hour, many of them grumpily saying 'hurry up and wait' in bitter joke.

"What took so long?" Shining asked when Jason and his posse arrived; he had that bitter edge to his voice of an officer who had been made to wait.

"Something came up in the town," Twilight said "but we can get going now,"

"Good, we need to make up for lost time," Shining said "I want you and your friends in the middle of the battalion with the 2nd Cohort; they'll protect you if we run into trouble."

"Um... Is it dangerous where we're going?" Fluttershy said softly.

Shining looked to her in sympathy "We're going into the unknown here, literally, we don't know what we'll find, or even if we'll find anything, but of I promise we'll keep you safe."

"Okay..." Fluttershy said, with slightly more confidence.

"Jason, I want you in the front with me and Green Breeze, to navigate," Shining said.

Jason nodded, he noticed that Rose didn't seem too happy with the placements; Jason knelt down to her level.

"I'll only be a little ways in front," he assured her "if anything goes wrong I'll head straight to you."

"Good, then I can keep you from getting yourself hurt," Roseluck said, grinning, Jason grinned back and the party moved into place.

"We move at medium pace! Follow the lead exactly and do not deviate from our course, keep a weather eye about you! We march into the Southern Unknown! Never before has these lands been explored by our kind! Go forth and make your Princesses proud!" Shining Armour called, his voice echoing to the ears of all his troops.

"Lead the way, Jason," Green Breeze said, Jason nodded and pulled out his map that Celestia had given him, and the small pocket compass that had come with him from home.

With a simple method Jason set in a south-east heading into his compass, he then turned his body to match the needle into the red marker on the compass wheel. With a deep breath and stolen confidence he began walking forward. The first ten kilometres or so was flat barren desert, they passed by Appleoosa and the accompanying orchard, already Jason could see the settlers and the Buffalo's clearing a path through the trees to be used for stampeding.

The barren landscape lasted another three kilometres before they crested a smell hill and spotted green in the distance, jungle, thick and tall loomed before them. Already they could hear the chirping and clicking of creatures unknown inside, they stopped just outside the entrance to the woods.

"The Southern Unknown," Green Breeze stated "we are on course then?"

"For now," Jason said "but we're aiming for a peninsula, it's possible that we could end up swinging wide of it, see if you can't hear or smell the sea while we go."

"Sir," one of the scouts spoke up "there's a game trail leading forward over there, sir," the stallion pointed to their right at a path through the foliage that would speed their progress.

"Good eye," Green Breeze complimented "let's keep moving."

The path was a relatively even one, with only the occasion hill or root. Jason had tucked his map away and only checked their heading ever few minutes or so, as they went Jason's mind was filled with his own thoughts. What would they find at Rome? There was a vague hope of a secret civilization of Humans that had survived the war, but it was a faint hope and Jason squashed if before it could drudge up darker thoughts. He then thought of what he planned to do, should I really tell them? Jason could imagine his friends reactions to the fact of his race being all but extinct, with him being the last.

They would contort him of course, angry and confused by the lie of course but the well being of their friend was of more import. But then Jason would tell them why, why the Humans were gone, how his race was almost responsible for the extermination of the Alicorns that would eventually give way to Ponies.

They would hate him.

Jason shook the dark thoughts from his mind; he didn't want to focus on such things right now. Instead he referenced his compass again and looked around, the Appleoosan sands were long behind them and the jungle was a thick as ever. The sun streamed through what little breaches in the thick leaves that existed, Jason squinted through and spotted something odd.

"Are those... Mountains?" Shining said, looking trough the thick branches, he was right a series of mountains lay together throwing everything around them in shadow.

"Oh yeah..." Jason said.

" 'Oh yeah'? What do you mean 'oh yeah'?!" Shining Armour bellowed.

"Well, there're mountains in our way," Jason stated.

"Oh you don't say?" Shining said sarcastically "and I suppose they just slipped your mind? I thought you've been here before!"

"Hey, wait a minute, who said I've ever been here before? I'm goin' offa memory and the map Celestia gave me, I thought you knew that." Jason said defensively.

"Y-you never..." Shining Armour stuttered, before slamming his forehead on a nearby tree.

"I hate you," he mumbled.

Green Breeze guffawed "oh lighten up Shiny! You’re with the scouts! We've been through uncharted lands with even less info!" He looked to Jason "do you recall if there are any passes through the mountains?"

"There should be a bunch, both natural and Human made, if we're lucky we might be able to find a road or a highway and have an easy passage through and all the way to Rome," Jason said.

"You see? It's not so bad," Green Breeze said positively, he glanced back at the sky, the sun was almost kissing the tallest peak of the Alps "we'll find a place to camp for now, brave the mountain pass in the morning."

They found a decently sized clearing near the base of the mountain, they entire way there Shining Armour had been silent, only sparing Jason angry glances from time to time.

Green Breeze took charge and quickly had his troops set up camp, a large fire and cooking their food rations.

Green Breeze tossed Jason a bundle of fabric that was bound together rope "I assume you know how to pitch a tent?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Jason said, or so he thought. As it turned out the tent was Pony sized, not Jason sized, he would have to curl his legs on to fit comfortably.

"Um... Jason?" Roseluck's voice said behind him, uncharacteristically bashful, Jason turned and saw that her cheeks were bright red and she wouldn't look him in the eye.

"Uh... I was thinking... That you know.... We could... Share a tent?" Rose said, meeting Jason's eye. With delayed reaction Jason came to a conclusion, his eyes widened and his face grew hot.

"D-do you mean-" he stuttered.

"No! No! That's not what I meant!" Roseluck stuttered, her face as red as her hair "it's just there aren't a lot of tents and the soldiers said to get a tent partner! So I thought-"

"Grubs ready! Come get yer supper!" Applejack called, rattling a spoon on a metal pot, she had taken over cooking from the soldiers.

"Oh look! Foods ready! We should go eat!" Roseluck said loudly and trotted off as quickly as she could without looking like she was running away.

Jason let out a breath, these Ponies are gonna give me a heart attack.

Supper consisted of a thick broth with noodles, carrots and peas all swimming in tomato sauce. As Jason gulped it down with slow spoonfuls he secretly fantasized about juicy steaks, seasoned pork, and tender moose meat, but was dragging back to reality as he continued to eat. Roseluck joined him on his log-turned-chair; they faced away from the camp, looking into the jungle and the face of the mountains.

"Sorry about earlier," Rose said sheepishly "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Nah, it's my fault, I shouldn't jump to conclusions." Jason said "We can still share a tent if you want.... Although it might be a bit small with the two of us."

"It's okay," Rose said, the conversation trailed off and they both contently sipped at their stew. Roseluck looked up at the tall mountain peaks, her curiosity peaked at the prospect of seeing ancient lands that had not been inhabited since... Well since Jason's time.

She looked at the Human, as he stared at the ground, slurping at his soup. It dawned on her that she was sitting next to someone older than history, who had lived long before her entire race had even been conceived, Rose had never really considered this, she'd had always seen Jason as just that, Jason.

"Hey," Rose said "I overheard you talking to Shining Armour; you've never actually been to Rome?"

"That's right, I haven't," Jason said "but it's not exactly going to be hard to find, my guess is that crossing over the Alps, these mountains here, will be the hardest part."

"And... When we get to Rome, what will find there?"

"...I don't know," Jason admitted "the city itself is obviously there, but I don't know in what condition, as for anything else it's impossible to say."

"Could there be other Humans there?" Rose asked.

"No, the city has been abandoned for centuries," Jason stated, not meeting Rose's eyes.

"How can you know?" Rose asked.

"The Gryphon's letter didn't make mention of any, and I don't think they could have gone unnoticed, especially for this long," Jason said.

"You shouldn't think like that, it's not healthy." Rose said.

Jason grunted and knocked back the rest of his soup "Let's get some sleep," he said "we have a long climb tomorrow."

                                                                   ~~*~~

Base of the Alps, Southern Unknown, Saturday, 16th of February, 6:25am, 2206 AC

Jason awoke to the sound of commotion outside his tent, hoofbeats moving to and from, voices calling to each other with a distinct lack of subtlety. Jason could feel the fuzzy warmth radiating from Roseluck who was curled up next to him, her head resting in the crook of his shoulder, her steady breathy caressing his cheek, Jason sighed contently. He really, really, really, really, didn't want to get out of bed.

Roseluck shifted and opened her eyes, a small smile on her lips.

"Morning," she said.

"Sleep well?" Jason asked.

"Yeah."

"You know we have to get up, right?"

"I know," Roseluck wrapped her hooves around Jason tightly.

"Rose..." Jason said.

"Hush," she answered.

"We have to get up..." Jason said.

"Fine, but I want to ask you something first," Rose said softly, meeting Jason's eyes.

"Shoot."

"Well... I... I wanted to..." Rose stuttered, heat flushing her cheeks "a-ask you about..."

"Oi!" An angry voice yelled, as their tent began to shake back and fort "outta bed you two! Y'all gonna need some food for passin' through these mountains."

Roseluck slipped out of Jason's arms before he could react, she exited the tent without a word. Jason stared after her, confused by her strange behaviour. He laced up his boots and crawled out of the tent, the moment Jason was clear of the tent it was set upon by three soldiers who disassembled it and packed the tent away in mere seconds, all the other tents and gear had been packed bar the cooking equipment that was currently making breakfast.

Roseluck had sat down with the Mane Six, all of them munching down on bowls of shredded wheat. Jason grabbed a bowl for himself and sat down with them, deciding not to mention Roseluck's odd behaviour.

"So, Jason," Twilight said "Shining told us that the scouts found a road that takes us through the mountains; they said they found a lot of strange black rocks on it."

"Asphalt," Jason guessed "it's what most roads were made of."

"Sounds like fun!" Pinkie exclaimed "We're going to go walking! With lots of talking! And then we'll get there and someone will di-"

"Yes, Pinkie, that's the plan," Rarity said "I am just glad that we will have easier passage, my hooves are aching from this rough ground."

"I wouldn't count of it," Jason said "out of everything, Human roads aren't exactly the most lasting thing, and I expect the asphalt is all rubble now."

"Oh, lovely." Rarity said sarcastically.

"You'll live." Jason said with a smile.

They ate and packed quickly, the soldiers reformed their ranks, with one of the scouts joining Jason, Shining, and Green in front to lead them to the road. It was only a kilometre or so away, a clear path that winded up the mountains and through them, just as they started up the slope Jason spotted something off to the side, concealed by the jungle.

"No way," Jason said, he leaped down and ran over to it "...Holy shit, it is!" He exclaimed, pulling out his knife and hacking away at the vines that had claimed it.

"Jason?" Shining called "What the buck is that?"

Jason grinned "It's a car!"

Defiantly a Mercedes model, the poor thing was in terrible shape. Every centimetre of it was claimed by rust and overgrowth, the tires had long since disintegrated into nothingness leaving the rims behind that were well on their way of joining them. Even as Jason shifted plant life off of the vehicle, whole chucks of the body fell off and turned to orange dust, Jason refrained from touching it further for fear of getting an infection.

"What the buck is a car?" Shining asked, as he arrived next to Jason.

"A vehicle that moves by itself," Jason explained "a Human's favoured way of transport back in the day, this one must have been as recent as possible for it to be still here."

Without warning Twilight was besides him, practically bouncing at the sight of the Human technology.

"How does it work?" She asked eagerly.

"Well... Uh... It works off of gasoline, a combustible liquid, the explosions push out pistons that create movement that through a series of gears makes the motion to push the shells and the car forward," Jason said "or at least that's how I understand it."

"I would love to study it!" Twilight said.

"I don't think you can," Jason said "even touching it makes the thing turn to dust, and if it's even nearly as old as me than you can't do any magic with it either."

"We're wasting daylight," Shining said "come on sis, let it go."

"But...but...." Twilight said sadly.

"But nothing," Shining said "let's get moving."

Twilight pouted but complied anyway, they got back onto the road and continued on their way. The mountains grew in size around them, the round twisting up the face until evening out and leading them straight through a canyon of sorts, the sun partly obscured by the rocks.

"I don't like this," Green Breeze said "perfect place for an ambush."

"Do you think that's likely?" Jason asked.

"The Gryphons like ambushing, we're assuming they don't know we're here but they could easily have been tracking us the entire way," Green said "keep a sharp eye about you lads," Green told the troops behind them.

The walls narrowed around them, until their path became blocked by a thicket of branches and vines. Green Breeze tried parting them but with no avail, Shining attempted to slash them away with his own sword but the blade got stuck in one of the branches.

"Strange, that should have gone straight through, it's enchanted with magically induced sharpness," Shining said.

"Magic huh?" Jason said, running his hand along one of the branches "I don't think magic will work very well from now on, this is old land."

Jason took out his knife; it sliced through the thicket cleanly and parted the branches out of the way. Jason replaced his knife and stepped through the gap, the mountain walls ended there and Jason was temporarily blinded by the flare of sunlight, his eyes adjusted and he looked out from the natural balcony onto a beautiful sight.

"Italy," Jason said, as Shining Armour and Green Breeze joined him, the Italian peninsula laid out before them, the Mediterranean Sea bordered it. On the south half of the peninsula, just at the edge of Jason's visual range was a point of light, a city of marble glowing in the midday sun.

"Is that Rome?" Green Breeze asked.

"Yeah," Jason said quietly.

"Let's have a brief rest and snack, and then continue on," Shining said, before turning around and relaying the orders to the troops.

Jason simply found a comfortable patch of ground and sat, gazing out towards Rome with mixed feelings. Both anticipation and dread, on one hand they were almost to Rome, fucking Rome, who knows what they could find there? But on the other hand, Jason hadn't forgotten what he had promised to do, rather what he inevitably had to do, tell the truth about the fate of his species, not something Jason looked forward to. Rose sat down next to Jason, leaning against his side.

"So that's Rome?" She asked.

"Yeah, the Eternal City itself," Jason answered "just wait until we get up close, it's a sight to see."

"You've never been there before?"

"No, I've only seen pictures, back when it was mostly still standing."

"Mostly?"

"Even back then parts of the city were in ruins, I'd imagine all of it crumpling to dust at this point."

"Still, it's amazing that's it's stood for so long."

"I guess it is."

The path down was less steep than the path up had been, but was longer. It snaked down the side of the mountain until levelling out, the path they followed was still relatively clear of trees, only the occasional root or fallen log to bar their path. Occasionally Jason would spot pieces of asphalt or even marble, sometimes stone pieces that looked like they had once been apart of some larger structure. Eventually the came across several wide pillars that had broken long ago, not of marble but of a grey construction-quality stone, Jason guessed that there may have been a highway there at some point.

Their path took a small incline; they crested the hill and were greeted with the majestic sight of Roma, only partially hidden by foliage and the once mighty wall that ran around its limits.

Shining halted the battalion "Sweeping formation! I want eyes on every corner as we move, Twily? I want you and your friends up here with me now, so I can keep you safe."

Twilight gasped as she came atop the hill "this must be the largest historical sight ever discovered! Imagine what we could discover with an archaeology team!"

"Imagine what the Gryphons have already found," Shining said.

"We haven't seen them yet, we may have missed them," Green Breeze said.

"Best move in otherwise, see if we can find anything the featherheads missed."

"No one touches anything," Jason said suddenly.

"What?" Green asked.

"I said don't touch anything, this place is over a billion years old, I don't want it collapsing on us."

"Well that's all well and good, but what if we find an artefact or something of importance?" Shining asked.

"I'll take care of it then, just don't disturb the ruins, this place has been sacked, razed, occupied, burned, and invaded hundreds of times, and I’m not keen on finding out if something was left behind."

"Fine. Let's get moving," Shining said.

The city grew around them and the full extent of the damage to the city was Madame obvious, the narrow stone streets were pot-marked with holes and cracks. The buildings laid in ruin, huge piles of rubble were at their bases, the entire area was eerily quiet.

They exited the street into a city square; in the middle of it was a tree that had overgrown massively, its roots breaking the marble around it. Shining hummed in thought as his troops spilled into the square, scanning for foes.

"Where do you think the Gryphons are?" Shining asked.

"If it was me, I would set up camp somewhere near the centre, or an otherwise obvious land mark," Green Breeze suggested "Any ideas, Jason?"

Jason thought for a second, his eyes scanned around them until the focused on a tall spire in the distance, towards the centre of the city. He stared at it fir a solid minute, before the info clicked in his brain.

"Well, there's Vatican City," he said.

"Vatican City?" Twilight interrupted.

"Another city?" Shining Armour deadpanned.

"Well not really, Vatican City is a religious area, smack dab in the middle of Rome, on paper it's technically it's own city but in practice it's a part of Rome," Jason explained.

"Why in the world would you put a city inside another city?" Shining asked, rubbing his temples.

"Oooooooh! City-ception! Bwaaaaammmp!" Pinkie interrupted suddenly.

Everyone stared at Pinkie Pie for a few seconds as she bounced contently. Jason blinked before regaining his thought process.

"I have no idea why it's like that, it just kinda... Is," he said.

"Fine then," Shining sighed "it's as good a place to start as any, what way?"

Jason pointed towards the distant spire "That should be it there."

Their continued journey was made in relative silence, permeated only by the chorus of hoofbeats echoing off the ruined marble buildings and the rapid quill-scratches coming from Twilight as she noted down various observations about the city.

The streets were narrows, but allowed a path straight forwards with little to no deviation.

They passed many sights of grandeur that retained their impressiveness even in disrepair; the Ponies were clearly impressed by the city although many of them- Shining Armour -tried to hide it.

It took them no longer than two hours to navigate through the city; they turned a corner and arrived in a huge open circle with a tall marble spire that was broken towards the top. They were surrounded by tall marble pillars that curved in to meet with a huge temple; all of this went largely unnoticed because of the group of dead Gryphons sprawled around St. Peter's Square.

"Check for survivors," Shining ordered, the Royal Guards spread out, turning over the dead Gryphons.

Jason went over to one of the bodies, this was the first time he had seen a Gryphon in real life. This one was large, dark mahogany feathers covering his body and wings while snowy white ones coated his eagle head, his eyes were still open revealing his lifeless yellow eyes. A sword was stuck in his chest, dried blood caked his underbelly, the expression on the dead face was not one of surprise as Jason was expecting but one of desperation.

"How do you think they died?" Green Breeze asked, walking over to were Jason was.

There was a traveling bag next to the body, gently Jason picked it up and emptied the items inside. There was a water skin, a small dagger, a few quills and a bottle of ink, and a small leather-bound journal, Jason opened the journal and read what was inside.

12th of Icewind, 462 7E

When I set out on this expedition, I had my doubts of course but never could I have imagined what I would eventually find. This was supposed to be a step in a process, a way of locating Lost Artefacts but instead we found a city!

Rome, it had only existed in the most obscure of texts but here it stands the, Eternal City, it baffles the mind to think that this place was once home to Forerunners but now is not the time to dwell on such things, it's only a matter of time before the Equestrians learn of our movements, I imagine their spies have been following our trail, honour-less swine.

I've sent Ironbeak to bring a message to the High King, we will need more of us to search the city in its entirety, and to defend it from our enemies should they find us.

13th of Icewind, 462 7E

We have searched the temple from top to bottom, nothing, the surrounding building have given us no clues either. The frustration is great and it shows on the others, I will have to be careful lest they plan treachery, that us so etching I cannot afford.

This place has an aura around it; it feels off, like it is missing something. The others whisper of curses and ghosts, ridiculous notions clearly.

14th of Icewind, 462 7E

Ironbeak has not returned, nor have any reinforcements arrived. We must assume he was intercepted by the Equestrians, meaning they know what we are doing, no matter, I doubt those cowards could navigate the Southern Unknown let alone find this place as we have.

Sleep has become difficult, the others complain about horrid nightmare and I share in their plight. It is strange because we seem to share in our nightly visions; all of us hear whispering voices that speak of war and pain, of empires long dead. We see shadowy images of Ponies that have both horns and wings, like those heretic Princesses, and we see golden shadows of what I swear to be Forerunners, they talk to us, promising bliss and happiness in exchange for something but they never say what.

Clearly the stress is getting to us; we must ignore these nightmares and continue our search.

The writing stopped for three pages, the last words were messy and rough unlike the eloquent script that was used before, no date accompanied thus entry.

I... I see now, I understand what they want, the others understand as well. There is price to be paid, if we want to see the truth.... We must escape this plane, onto the next, that is where we will find our treasure, it makes sense! The artefacts do not exist on this world! They only truly exist in Eitheruim! Yes, the Forerunner's chant the word, Eitheruim, a price must be paid.

A price of blood.

Jason handed the journal over to Green Breeze; he read it quickly before hailing Shining Armour over. Shining read through the journal as well, he frowned in thought.

"So they took their own lives?" He asked.

"It looks that way," Green Breeze said.

Shining hummed "We need to find more clues," he said, and then called out "search for anything of interest! Be thorough but don't go too far!"

Green Breeze and Shining Armour trotted off, Jason stood up and looked around, trying to piece together what exactly went down here. His thoughts were interrupted by the tap on his leg; Twilight looked up at him with a strange look on her face.

"Jason... Could I talk to for a second?" She asked quietly.

Jason had a bad feeling "Uh... Sure."

Twilight lead him away from everyone else, not speaking until they were out of earshot.

"When we were moving though the city, something occurred to me," she said, getting straight to the point "this place is still intact on a large scale, it still could harbour a large population with little work."

"I guess so." Jason said neutrally.

"So I had a thought, why isn't it inhabited? I'm sure the modern day Humans could manage it," Twilight continued "and something else, assuming that there was a high enough Human population to sustain itself then logically they should have some sort of population growth, meaning they would spread, which begs the question why no word of their location or even their existence gas been reported?"

"Twilight..." Jason said softly.

"But I'm sure there's an explanation, other wise it wouldn't make much sense would it?" Twilight said her tone unsure.

"Twilight... There's something you need to know," Jason said, forcing himself to look at her.

"Jason?" Twilight asked "What..."

"I've been lying to you," Jason said "to all of you."

"No... Don't," Twilight shook her head, taking a step back.

"I only did it because Celestia wanted me to, for your sake, and I guess because I liked pretending."

"Jason, stop it..." Twilight said, tears were beginning to form in her lavender eyes.

"I'm not just a Human," Jason said "I'm the last of the Humans, everyone else... They're all gone, that's why the city isn't inhabited, and that’s why you've heard nothing about Humans before me, because there were none."

"No... W-why... H-how," Twilight said, tears streaming down her face "how did they die?"

Jason looked at her sadly, he saw the betrayal in her eyes, and he couldn't bring to hurt her further, not now.

"I-I don't know," he lied, guilt immediately hitting him.

Twilight slowly started to back away, hurt written all over her face.

"Twilight... I..." Jason said weakly, but was too late as she galloped away. Jason sighed, nearby was a bench and Jason sat down on it, resting his head in his hands and trying to keep the tears at bay.

After a while hoofbeats approached and Jason looked up, Roseluck, she stood there with a neutral look on her face.

"Why?" She asked simply.

"It was Celestia's idea, but I went along with it," Jason said "she didn't want anyone worrying about me, especially not the Element bearers, and I... I didn't want anyone worrying either."

Roseluck sighed before taking Jason's head in her hooves, kissing his forehead and cradling his head to her chest.

"You're such an idiot," she said, Jason didn't respond he merely hugged her back and laid his face into her chest with much regret on what he had done.

                                                               ~~*~~

Jason calmed down after a few minutes, by that time Twilight had told her friends everything. None of them would speak or even look at Jason, on a few occasions Jason spotted Fluttershy crying to the comfort of the others who spared Jason only betrayed and angry looks, the more intense glares coming from Rainbow Dash.

The soldiers had found nothing in the area; Shining and Green Breeze had been discussing ideas for five minutes or so. Jason decided that he needed something to distract him so he decided to help out with the search.

When Jason approached, Shining Armour gave him a look that told him he knew the truth. Fortunately Shining didn't press, Green Breeze on the other hand seemed as friendly as ever.

"Ah, there you are Jason," Green said "we've searched the entire area and turned up nothing, so now we're going to search the temple here, but I know it's kind of a... Sacred place, so I'm willing to let you go in first."

"Thanks for the thought, but it doesn't matter to me," Jason said "we can all go in together."

Shining rounded up the first cohort, ordering the rest to set up a watch and warn if anyone approached. They burst open the doors to the Vatican and quickly entered, the interior was in decent shape with only minor damage to the walls and mosaics that coated them, the shrine and statue of Jesus Christ was in surprisingly good condition.

"Who's that supposed to be?" Green Breeze asked, gesturing to the likeness of crucified Jesus.

"I'd really rather not talk about it..." Jason said quietly, walking way.

Jason walked over to the shrine, admiring the ornate design of the entire thing. As he looked over it he noticed something, on the smooth top of the shrine there was a small round bump that poked out, curious Jason ran his finger over it.

With a small click the bump pushed inwards, it was a button. There was a series of clicks and gear grinding notices and a small square panel flipped open smack dab in the middle of the shrine, it had a metal border and a lack screen centre.

"No fucking way." Jason said, placing his hand on the black screen.

A green light flashed from the screen and a static-full female robotic voice spoke from somewhere.

Human DNA verified, please stand back for the chamber to open, welcome brother.

The ground underneath Jason began shuttering violently, Jason quickly stepped away just before the stone floor fell inwards and separated into two panels bad slid away to reveal a dark metal staircase that lead down so far that Jason couldn't see past the darkness.

"What in the name of Celestia?" Shining said, walking over with Green Breeze.

"It's a chamber of some sort," Green Breeze "should we explore?"

"I think I should, you guys should keep back." Jason said.

"Absolutely not, we don't know what's down there," Shining argued.

"It opened because I'm Human, clearly anything that isn't Human isn't supposed to be in there," Jason said back "I don't like it either but chances are, and I’m the only one who will be safe down here."

"Fine," Shining said unhappily "but after an hour we come get you."

"Okay," Jason agreed. Green breeze gave Jason his short sword, and a torch that Shining lit with his horn.

"One hour," Shining reminded him; Jason nodded and entered the darkness.

The torch quickly became the only source of light; it illuminated the cold metal floor and walls. The stairs gave way to a straight hall, Jason carefully followed the path with Green Breeze's sword held out in front, the hall continued on until the torch illuminated an open doorway.

The room was round and dark, glass and metal shined from the torches light. Jason spotted something, a small red light on the far end of the room, it blinked on and off, and Jason approached the light. It was a lever, the end blinking like an emergency light.

Against his better judgement, Jason pulled the lever.

There was a click and then a very familiar humming sound, Jason was nearly blinded by bright artificial lights. His eyes adjusted and he could see the room in its entirety now, lining the round walls were control panels coated in buttons, levers and all sorts on things that Jason had no name for. In front of him was a large screen that was ill imaged with power now, green letters glowed on it.

Power Status: Unstable

Security System Status: Active

Security Perimeter Status: Breached

File /Intro/ Status: Corrupted

File /Primary Objective/ Status: Available

Activating File /Primary Objective/

Playing Video

The text was replaced by the image of an elderly man, clothed sharply with a lab coat over top. He spoke to the camera with a slight accent that seemed similar to British but not quite.

"Are we rolling? Ah good, ah-hem, Hullo, I am Dr. Haden. Head researcher for Project Isaac. And what is Project Isaac you ask? Well ever since the war began, the Academy has been very interested in what the Alicorn's call 'magic' Project Isaac is just one of many operations dedicated to unlocking the secrets of magic, in particular how magic can benefit Humanities military might."

"In our case, we study the concept of resurrection; bringing living things back from the dead. Until recently it was not considered in the realm of possibility, but the Alicorn's changed everything, it seems the feat is possible through their magic and we aim to harness this power."

An image popped up in the bottom right corner, a simple scroll on a pedestal.

"Thanks to the research done by the Academy, the ability to capture magical abilities into simple parchment scrolls has been developed. This is the Resurrection Scroll, it contains the spell to summon warriors from the dead, unfortunately, this one just like the others, and it summons only warriors from ancient times, who once garrisoned this city. It is good progress but our goal of bringing back men who fall in battle has not been met yet."

There was a click and a panel opened in front of Jason, out of it rose the same scroll that the video had described. Jason carefully took the scroll in his hands and examined it, it seemed normal to him.

The screen exploded into static and Dr. Haden was back, looking annoyed.

"A new development as occurred, the Academy has secured an Alicorn artifact, this one taken from a battlefield in the British isles, from one of the Alicorn generals that think they're gods. For some reason the Academy sent it to us, something about studying it away from the populace? I don't know and I don't care, it's ridiculous, were a development project not an artefact research project!"

An image appeared, showing a stall pole topped with a pony skull that was surrounded with black feathers.

"It's called the Staff of Morpheus, we have no clear idea what exactly the effect of the artefact is but of course we are tasked with finding out..."

The screen went to static again before going black; green texted began to line the screen again.

File /Update 1/ Status: Corrupted

File /Update 2/ Status: Corrupted

File /Update 3/ Status: Corrupted

File /Update 4/ Status: Corrupted

File /Update 5/ Status: Corrupted

File /Update 6/ Status: Available

Playing Video

With a burst of static the doctor was back, but this time he wasn't in a right state. His hair was long and unkempt, bags hung from his eyes and he had a look of respiration and insanity about him.

"Yes... Yes it makes so much sense now, the Staff... Ooooohhh the Staff, it's a key! A key to the truth! We have to escape this plain, onto the next, they... They call us to them, the Alicorns, those who gave up their physical form for true enlightenment! They call themselves gods because they are! They beckon us to them! To Eitheruim! But a price must be paid... A price, a price of blood."

The image shifted and it showed the Staff again, it stood in the middle of a white room. Surrounded by yellowed Human skeletons, all of them looking like they had died strangling each other.

Jason's breath became ragged; his heart beat spiked as he took fearful step back. His brain scrambling to decide what to do, it decided to run. Jason sprinted out of the room, the scroll clutched in his hand, the hall now illuminated by artificial lights; he reached the stairs in minutes.

As he did Jason heard a voice calling his name, he reached the edge of the stairs to see Roseluck stepping through the entrance, Shining and Green Breeze scrambling to pull her back, clearly caught off guard by Rose rushing past.

"Jason are you down there? You've been gone for nearly half an hour!" Roseluck called.

"No! Wait! Get back!" Jason said in a panic.

As Jason yelled, the ceiling over the staircase opened up and a large machine fell down, it fixed it's barrel on Roseluck and opened fire.