The Last of Equestria

19 years, 7 months, 15 days and 1 hour. Nothing has really changed. Like...like at all. There has been many rumors recently going around. But that wasn't new news either. It's been an environment with no rules for nearly 20 years. These rumors are more of bounties. Ponies say bad things about other ponies and put a bounty on their head. This has happened to Corvo before, though not many times. He always manages to pull through... Some how.

--

"Grrrrr", Corvo grunted as a knife got closer to his face.

"What's wrong? Grrrrr, can't get yourself out of this one"? Another survivor was on top of Corvo, and quite literally had a sharp knife aimed for his eye. Now you know what it's like in Germaney. Corvo had both of his hooves against the other threat's hooves. Trying to not die, he kneed the other pony in the ribs, causing him to flinch. He then flipped over the survivor and forced the knife to be motioned to his neck.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can", the dark survivor stated as he forced his hooves down on the knife, stabbing the other pony straight through the neck.

A small pile of blood formed around the dead body, that told Corvo that he could get off now. As he picked himself back up, his ear twitched. He quickly dodged out of the way as an arrow flew passed him, breaking in contact with the floor.

"Nice reflex", said the mysterious voice from behind him. As Corvo looked, another earth pony came out of a pile of rubble, a bow in his hooves with another deadly arrow already loaded. With quick thinking, Corvo saw a nearby building and started running. He broke through the dark only to fall down a dark pit. He painfully rolled down until he hit a stone floor.

Now usually, Corvo would take notice of his surroundings. But he couldn't this time. He felt an extremely sharp pain in his lower ribs. He slowly looked down, only to find an arrow sticking out of him. Corvo felt light headed and he could hardly breath. As his vision blurred, his last sight was a few dark figures getting closer to him. That was the last thing he saw.

--

A Bon fire was all that was heard. And the rattling noise of chains every once in a while. His brain was foggy as he again heard the spitty noise of flames burning wood. Almost everything else was a blur, but it slowly came back.

Corvo slowly opened his eyes. He breathed hard as he tried to move, but his whole body failed. He felt very tired, he was on something rough. Like some kind of scratched up cloth, he also felt a wet feeling on his forehead. He slowly moved his hoof to it, a wet cloth was around his forehead. He then finally took notice of his surroundings. A small fire was in front of him, causing a dim light to illuminate the area. He then got up, to his luck, his body didn't fail this time. He was indeed on a thin cloth.

Corvo slowly walked by the fire, taking in some thought that he had no idea where he was. Then a voice spoke behind him.

"Ah, you are finally awake, you are lucky i brought you here". Now usually, Corvo would turn around right away and see what threat was behind him. But instead he just slowly turned around. In front of him was a light brown mare wearing some kind of black hoodie. He didn't respond, he just listened."You lost quite a bit of blood from that arrow, but nothing I can't fix".

Just the mention of the arrow, Corvo looked down to his ribs here he was recently shot. But was he saw was brown medical cloth wrapped around his waist with a red stain on it."Where am I"? He finally asked. The hooded mare only gave him soft eyes.

"You are in the Underkeeper territory". As she said that, many other ponies formed from the shadows and circled them, all wearing the same black hoodie.

"The Underkeeper"? Corvo asked, clearly confused since he has never heard of that name.

The mare in front of him then started explaining."Germaney wasn't in very good living conditions, even before the virus. The Underkeepers are the people who run the under ground base of this city. It started about". She then put a hoof to her chin, trying to remember how long ago this base started."About 5 years after the virus".

"So um, thanks for everything but can you show me the way out"? He asked as he picked up his saddle bag and firmly attached it to his back.

"I see. You are in a hurry and must go. One of the members here will show you the way out". That's when a hooded stallion came up to Corvo and signaled him to follow him.

"Wait, what's your name"? Corvo asked.

"My name is Dalara", she humbly stated."And you are"?

."I'm Corvo".

"Well then, see you later dear Corvo. And if you ever need us again, we will be here".

With that, Corvo and the hooded stallion walked through an iron door which led to a tunnel."Now just go down this tunnel and you should be outside", the hooded member advised Corvo before turning back and leaving him.

--

It sure was a long way to go. Corvo had been walking down this so called tunnel for nearly 10 minutes. That's when he saw it. A small speck of light in the distance. As he kept walking, the light got bigger and bigger. He also began to fell warmer for some reason. Then he got to the end. He reached the end and was now witnessing the most beautiful scenery he had ever seen in the past 30 years. He was nearly on top of a mountain, and in front of him a huge hill in the background with the sun barely touching the horizon. A wave of clouds softly passed by the middle of the bright orb. There were many small, grassy hills almost shaping out a circle. And in the middle was wide lake. Many fish could be seen from the distance and few birds flew freely in the air.

Corvo took a moment to take it all in. There hasn't been a moment this amazing ever since he got married. But that thought was long gone, and Corvo tried to push it out of his head.

The only sound to be heard was the humming of nature. And he just stayed there which felt like an eternity. It truly was a happy sight to see, but then again it was probably one of the only sights to see.

After what felt like hours, Corvo finally gained conscious and started to move down the mountain.

--

The dark survivor was now traveling against the coast line of the Equestrian canyon. It was midnight by now. Telling from the position of the moon. He was leaving Germaney since he didn't have much luck there. He passed Appleloosa and after hours of walking, was now on a dirt road. For some reason, he felt like going to Canterlot. He has been there before and even found princess Luna there. But other than that, he didn't have much business there. His luck was that no other pony tried to attack him. All this time, ever since he left Germaney, everything has been quite peaceful. By the time he climbed the mountain which Canterlot was on top of, and got on the main stone road, it was already dawn. The sun started to become visible just on top the opposite side of the horizon where it always sets.

But why was he here. Something just told him to go here. Whatever it was, Corvo was already in the down town of Canterlot.

He looked around the place. Many buildings were still demolished and grass littered the streets. After hours of looking around, he found something that caught his attention. An old-looking library was still standing in one piece. It had a couple of stain glass windows, although some were broken. The wooden doors were still intact and everything was just standing. So he decided to go inside.

He opened the doors, making a very shrill squeak. He then looked around. There were many shelves scattered everywhere. Most of the books were still organized, while some were on the floor. There was also barely any plant life anywhere. Not on the stone walls or the wooden boards known as the floor.

"I guess not a lot of people cared about reading ever since the virus came into place", he tried to think to himself although it came out loud.

He found a book on the floor that surprisingly caught his attention. He picked it up to read the title."End of the world jokes: 1001 jokes on how Equestria might end".

"Hm". He hummed at the irony of the book's title."Ponies were making apocalypse jokes like there's no tomorrow; to soon".

He kept walking around, not sure why he was here. Then he heard a noise. Corvo quickly turned around to found nothing there. As he turned back, that noise returned. It sounded like a squeaking sound. then he noticed it. Whenever he moved his hoof, he would slightly move one of the wooden boards. Wait... they moved?

Right away, the survivor kicked it aside, revealing emptiness. Then he noticed how the other boards around it seemed to move. As he pushed those aside, Corvo noticed that it was a hole. Not a dirt hole, but some kind of burrow that probably led to an underground room. But then he noticed how many shelves were on the sides of the hole. Filled with water and food.

"Water and food down here? Is there somepony in here", he thought to himself as he put his head through the hole, which was probably now an underground bunker. Then another pony appeared right in front of him. It was a stallion, had alight brown coat and a darker brown, curly mane. But he didn't noticed Corvo. But that's when he looked up.

For the first five seconds, they just stared at each other. Then the brown stallion was the first to act.

"Aaaaahhh, no-no-no, just take whatever and spare me". He screeched in fear as he gathered many water bottles and canned foods that were on the shelves, and pointed it straight at Corvo.

"Um", Corvo was kinda confused. then there was the awkward moment that lasted for the same five seconds like last time.

Corvo just rolled his eyes and took some of the food and put it in his saddlebag. When the other survivor looked, he saw Corvo leaving.

"Wait". He yelled back as he dropped the supplies in his hooves and came out of the burrow. Corvo just turned around with a bit of frustration in his face."So your not gonna kill me".

"Do you want me to". He said in a sarcastic tone.

"No-no-no it's fine". He answered quickly."So what's your name"?

"Why". Corvo asked, already not trusting him.

"Well, isn't it natural for you to ask for somepony's name when you first meet them"?

"Yeah, it was natural, twenty years ago". Corvo answered in a bored tone before turning around for the door, only to be followed by the other brown pony."Why are you following me"?

"Well you know. It's always a good thing to stick together. Oh wait, let me get something". In two seconds, the pony quickly went into his bunker, got his saddlebag and went back to the dark hunter."Just some things to keep me alive".

"Aren't you eager". Corvo said with sarcasm in his voice.

"The name's Thunder Strings, but just call me Strings". Just by the name, Corvo could see that he was a Pegasus.

"If you really want to know, my name's Corvo".

"Hm, cool name. So what do you do"? Strings was trying to get some information from Corvo.

"I just travel". he answered in a very flat expression.

"Any special talents. Mine is music". Strings then pointed to his cutie mark which was a musical note."What's your's"?

"Surviving". Strings then saw his cutie mark. It was a six-pointed black star with an arrow on it. It really was a unique cutie mark.

"So where are we going". Strings asked in curiosity.

"Were going to Manehatten. Oh and one more thing". Then Corvo pointed a knife at the brown musician who froze right away."Just remember to watch your back".

--

Manehatten was still the same. Though the population reduced. What awaited the survivors was still a mystery. It's really been 20 years huh. Nopony knows how it all started. Maybe it was just an experiment that lost track of it's purpose.