The Last One

What is hardest to accept about the passage of time, is that the people who once mattered the most to us are wrapped up in parentheses  ~John Irving

"Sir, if nobody believes you, why would you make space for more than just yourself?" Chase asked the man working on his seventh set of blueprints for his ship. It was perfect for almost any disaster he could think of. Except one, the only one that mattered.

"Because life is sacred Chase, This is the most important lesson I could ever teach you damn it, All life is sacred.And besides, I don't think I could go on alone in the universe. Knowing that I would be the only human would hurt. And besides, humans have always survived, since the dawn of time, we have been resilient, and able to grasp ideas. So why wouldn't anybody else not grasp this idea?"

"Sir, the ideas that humans have been able to grasp have almost never been immediate. Most taking years, some even hundreds, the odds of them believing that Solaris is going to explode within their lifetimes is exactly 7,000,000,000 to 1, by rough estimate."

"You know Chase, sometimes the facts are not what a person needs. For instance, I first built you when I was only eleven. You know why?"

"My prime directive is to help you at all costs."

"Yes, but way back then, you had another directive, and I know I haven't gotten rid of it."

"To be your friend through and through. And I always will be."

"Then could you please, for just a little while, encourage me, instead of telling me that it won't work? I kind of need the reassurance right now."

"I believe as your friend, you should take a break, and pour yourself a shot of whisky. You are quite tense."

"I think you have a point there. Might as well stop for the night."

"What do we do?" Chase asked. "Twilight, you've been asking that question for the last ten minutes!" He answered himself.

"Uh Chase, are you malfunctioning?" James asked.

"Do not worry, he has just passed out, he should come to any moment now, as a matter of fact, judging by the fact his brain is emitting confusion, I would say he was waking up right now." Chase replied. James's eyes fluttered open slowly, and he was met with a rather colorful picture of six colorful ponies. He stood up, and straightened his collar.

"How long was I out?" James asked.

"Two hours sir, by rough estimate," Chase replied.

"I need a drink."

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James sat at a booth, the six ponies surrounding him all looking worried as he sipped his beer. "Well, at least I know that beer exists here," he said with a chuckle. Nobody laughed. They were currently in Ponyville's best (and only) bar, the Drunken Dragon.

"James, why did you faint?" Twilight asked. James' smile was quickly replaced by a look of pain and sorrow, if only for a moment. he stayed silent, a frown on his face. after about twenty seconds, he sighed.

"Look around yourself. All around you, tell me what do you see?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow, but looked around the bar. Rainbow Dash had left the group and was having a drinking contest with a large pegasus named Snowflake, and seemed to be winning. A wonk eyed pegasus mare was showing a tan stallion with an hourglass on his flank how to pick up a drinking glass with his hooves. The barpony was wiping down the bar he was behind. Twilight turned around again. "I see ponies going about their business. What does this have to do with my question?" Twilight asked, slightly annoyed.

"Now, imagine, if every single person in this room, in this town, even this entire world, was gone, and you were left. How does that make you feel?" James asked. Twilight pondered this for a moment.

"Wow, heavy." She said simply.

"That's why I fainted, hell, that's why I'm even here. I am James D. Hyden, the last living human in the universe. I've always been known as the luckiest man to ever live, and with good reason too! When I was born, I was sent to an orphanage, only to be picked up by an extremely wealthy family. I was known to be one of the smartest minds of the earth when I was only twelve. I remade the entire world I had lived on so it was better in almost every way! And in the end, when the earth dies, I managed to be the one, and the only one who got off of it! But my good luck is a curse as well, for I am the last one! I can be surrounded by people, but I will always be alone." He had said this with increasing volume, until he was shouting it. After this, he started to do one of the only things his own mind would let him. He couldn't cry, not now, so he began to laugh. It started with a chuckle, but grew, until he was sore in his side.