The Last Man Standing

No Business Like. . . .

Adrian found himself running, he had no idea what he was trying to escape or why. His surroundings were blurred, as if he was looking at them through the bottom of a soda bottle. Adrian could see indistinct shadows flitting by him far too fast for him to guess what they could be. As Adrian tried to force his legs to stop moving his surroundings changed. Now he was somehow standing before a figure who looked like he was made of shadows and dark mist. Adrian wanted to demand to know what the hell was going on but found that while his mouth was able to form the words, no sound came out. As Adrian glared at the strange apparition it pointed to the right, following its hand Adrian saw two statues. One was of a monster that looked like it had been cobbled together with the random parts of various other creatures. The other looked like a twisted (Though still strangely attractive) parody of Celestia. As he examined the statues Adrian noticed words engraved at their base. The creature whose parts didn't match had the word "Humility", while the Celestia parody had the word "Mercy". The shadow then pointed to the left where a polished silver mirror hovered in the air. As Adrian watched the mirror turned into liquid reminiscent of Mercury and formed a sphere, then it flowed into the letters C-A-V-E in fancy gothic lettering. Adrian just had time to wonder what the hell a cave had to do with anything, before the shadow creature rushed him. Adrian panicked as the shadow tried to smother him, he fought to free himself but the monster bound his arms. Helpless Adrian felt the shadow creep up his face covering his mouth and nose like a wet rag, he screamed as the darkness enveloped him.

Adrian opened his eyes to a white room that smelled faintly of antiseptic, raising his head Adrian noticed he wasn't the room's sole occupant. Laying on the floor fast asleep were Luna and Twilight. The room also contained various charts and medical equipment, including a heart rhythm monitor and surgical tools, "Am I in a hospital?" .Adrian also noticed a number of chairs placed randomly around the bed he lay in "I wonder who else came to see me? Wonder how long I've been here?". Looking out through the curtains of the room's only window Adrian figured it to be late morning. Rubbing sleep from his eye's Adrian's stomach growled loudly "Man I am starving, I must have been here at least a day or so.". Folding back the crisp white bed sheets Adrian got out of bed and knelt next to his sleeping marefriends gently shaking them.

"Hey girls wake up."

Slowly Luna and Twilight raised their heads to see who had disturbed them. For a few moments the two mares stared bleary eyed at the figure sitting beside them, then their eyes flew open completely.

"ADRIAN!!"

Before Adrian could so much as blink Twilight and Luna wrapped him in a bone crushing hug. Until that moment Adrian would never have imagined that quadrupeds could manage to hug someone hard enough to hurt.

"W-w-we t-thought you w-would never wake up!" sobbed Luna.

Twilight was also crying at this point and struggled to form words.

"Y-y-you a-almost, almost!" unable to finish the thought Twilight buried her face in Adrians chest as she cried.

Adrian held the two distraught mares as the door opened revealing a doctor and two nurses who came to see what the commotion was about. The doctor opened his mouth to demand the two mares release the patient, but stopped when Adrian gave him a warning glare. After about twenty minutes Luna and Twilight finally pulled themselves together enough to talk.

"W-when they found you, you were barely alive your body was suffering from stage 3 mana burn."

Adrian shivered as he recalled Celestia explaining the hazards of over channeling mana. . . .

"Celestia had been lecturing Adrian on the dangers of magic as one of his first lessons.

'The most dangerous injuries caused by magic are those caused by forcing one's body to contain more mana than it can cope with. This process is known as mana burn, and depending upon the severity it can be fatal. Mana burn injuries are ranked on a scale of one to five, at stage 1 the damage is relatively small. Stage 1 injuries range from extreme nausea to unconsciousness. Stage 2 is more severe and can result in unconsciousness, temporary memory loss, crippling pain, and minor neurological damage. Stage 3 mana burn is much more damaging it can cause rupturing of blood vessels, shock, permenant nerve damage, coma, or even heart failure. Stage 4 is almost always lethal causing internal bleeding, organ failure, brain damage, and sometimes explosive immolation. Finally there is stage 5 which is always fatal, the pony's body is unable to contain the sudden surge of mana, and they explode in a destructive maelstrom of uncontrolled magical energy. The good news is that the more a pony uses magic the higher their mana tolerance. Because of this mana burn is usually only a problem for young or inexperienced unicorns, it's almost unheard of in adults.".

Adrian knew he was lucky to have survived without any permanent damage, suddenly Adrians eye's widened in panic.

"THE GIRLS! WHERE ARE THE GIRLS?!!" Adrian shouted. As he lept to his feet Adrian was forced to sit down again as his head spun almost causing him to lose consciousness.

"Adrian relax the girls are fine, you saved them with that spell of yours. They told everypony what happened and Rainbow Dash set out with a rescue team of pegasi. The girls spent almost the whole weekend at taking turns at your side waiting for you to wake up, we had to all but drag them to school." Twilight explained.

Adrian allowed himself to calm down again at the news that the girls were ok.

"How long was I out?"

"Three days, the doctors say that anypony else would have died from your injuries. My sister and I have been taking turns staying at your side, Celestia was frantic when we found out what happened."

Just as Luna finished talking there was an explosion of light in the hall followed by Celestia rushing into the room.

"Adrian, Thank the sun you woke up!"

Celestia ran to Adrian's side almost tripping over a chair in her haste. On reaching Adrian, Celestia threw her forehooves around him holding him in a tight hug.

"When they first let us see you. . . ." Celestia broke off crying on Adrians Shoulder.

Adrian held Celestia patting, and reassuring her, at the same time he tried not to imagine how he must have looked three days ago.

"I'm sorry I made you so worried, but I promise I'm ok now."

Adrian felt awful that he had put the three mares he loved in so much pain. Seeing them cry was like a knife twisting in Adrians guts and he felt a deep self hatred for having caused their tears.

After about an hour the news had spread across Ponyville that Adrian was awake. The ponies cheered and hollered at the announcement, the crusaders having made certain to tell the story of their rescue (with a few embellishments) to the whole town. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, rushed over the instant they got the news. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow each thanked him profusely for their sister/sidekicks rescue. Rarity promised him that he would never have to pay for cloths as long as he lived. Applejack stated that any time he wanted apples from her farm they were on the house. As for Rainbow she gave Adrian a hug and promised to repay him any way she could, Adrian however refused their gifts.

"Girls, I saved your sisters because it was the right thing to do, I neither want, nor deserve, a reward for that. Besides, if I had been more competent they would never have been in the forest."

"Don't say such things, the girls know better than to enter into the everfree forest."

"Rarity is right, you didn't do anything wrong."

Adrian considered Rainbow and Rarity's words, he still felt like it was his fault but decided not to argue. The three fillies were safe, that was all he cared about, still it was a close call. A short time later Adrian was discharged from the hospital, heading home he was hailed as a hero by everypony that saw him. Adrian was almost knocked over when Applebloom, Scootaloo, And Sweetie Belle tackled him in a hello hug. Finally Adrian managed to get to the library where he was fussed over by everypony. Celestia and Luna were forced to return to Canterlot and their duties and the others eventually left after Adrian assured them for the millionth time that he was ok. Finally only Adrian, Twilight, and Spike remained, Twilight was still a little clingy, not that Adrian minded. As Adrian lay on a couch with Twilight he replayed the Linnorm battle in his head.I guess that just because the ponies are peaceful it doesn't mean there's no violence. When I get the chance I better develop some more combat spells. But before I start anything else I need to find some paying work." As Twilight fell to sleep in his lap Adrian remembered the pony who gave him her card at Pinkie's party, that seemed like a lifetime ago.

Removing it from his pocket Adrian read:

Hoofbeat Club
Vinyl Scratch, co owner, DJ, and talent scout
23 Bay st, Ponyville .

Adrian considered the card, "Well might as well check it out.", Adrian resolved to go the next day and see what Miss Scratch had in mind for him.

The following afternoon Adrian found himself walking down Bay street looking for the address on the card. Adrian had tried to maintain a low profile coming here, but being the only Human on the planet made that rather difficult. The reason he wanted to avoid attention was because of ponies constantly wanting to shake his hand or get him to sign an autograph. Everypony wanted to associate with the heroic human they had been told about. Most of the problem lay in the story of what happened, as is usually the case it had not taken long for the information to get distorted. In the last thirty minutes Adrian had heard three separate versions of his exploits, each more outlandish than the last. His favorite adaptation was the one where he had fought off the Linnorm with only a broken branch and a rubber chicken. Adrian had tried to set the story straight but everypony thought he was just being modest. It wasn't that Adrian didn't appreciate the praise, he just felt that accepting a reward of any kind for doing the right thing was wrong. He believed that the right thing should be done because it was right, never because you would gain a reward. To him accepting even simple praise cheapened the lives of those he helped, reducing them to a tool for feeling good about himself.

After a few minutes of looking Adrian was able to find the place he wanted. The building was a large brick structure with a deactivated neon sign saying "Hoofbeat Club". A bluestone path led up to a pair of large double doors flanked by heavily tinted windows, and a surprisingly well done flower garden. "So this is the place, wonder how it looks at night?", Adrian shrugged his shoulders and knocked on the door. It was only a moment before the door was opened to reveal a pony with a raven black mane and grey coat. She had a cultured sophisticated air about her which was enhanced by the white collar with pink bowtie on her neck and her musical note cutie mark.

"Can I help you?"

She spoke with a slight British accent that made Adrian think of Canterlot, she also seemed unfazed by the presence of a human (for about point five seconds.).

"Yes I'm looking for-"

Adrian was interrupted by a loud fangirl squeal.

"Oh my goodness your him your Adrian the human hero!"

Adrian wanted to respond that he was no such thing but was pulled inside by the strange mare before he could offer protest.

"I can't believe it's really you, oh I am such a huge fan!"

Adrian wasn't sure how to respond to that, frankly he was still wondering how he could have a fanbase at all.

"My name is Octavia, oh you're even more handsome up close! nopony will ever believe this, I was so jealous that Vinyl met you before me!"

Adrian was happy that he was in the right place after all, but this mare was creeping him out a bit. Besides if Twilight or the princesses saw a mare clinging to him like this, they might get the wrong idea. Octavia continued to babble like a boyband groupie as she led him through the club. He managed to catch a glimpse of a raised stage with all kinds of DJ paraphernalia, and an elaborate lighting setup. His view was cut off as he was all but dragged into a large office with two desks. The whole room was neatly divided into what could be called a classical section, and a modern section. One side looked like it belonged to an 17th century composer while the other looked like it came from a high end nightclub. Adrian saw that Vinyl Scratch was seated behind the desk on the nightclub side of the room. Octavia finally released Adrian and at long last ceased talking about how amazing he was. Vinyl smiled behind her black framed sunglasses the pink reflective lenses flashing as they caught the light.

"Sup, Adrian?"

Adrian shot a quick glance at Octavia before responding.

"I was hoping you could tell me, you said you had a proposal for me?"

Vinyl smiled and nodded.

"Yeah I wanted to ask if you would be interested in performing at the Hoofbeat Club. I saw what you could do at the party and it was amazing, your song and illusion routine could be the next big thing in Equestrian entertainment. I figure you could do a few shows here and if they work out I could sign you with my studio, what do you say?"

Adrian smiled, this was exactly what he had been hoping for.

"Sounds good to me."

"Awsome, but before we go into details there are two things I need you to do."

Adrian raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Oh, and what might these things be?"

Vinyl gave Adrian an appraising look.

"Well first you need a stage name, but that's easy enough it's the second thing that's kind of tricky."

Adrian frowned slightly.

"And what is the second thing exactly?"

Vinyl sighed.

"Well all your songs so far are taken from music groups in your world. I need you to give me at least one song original to you."

Adrian smirked.

"Is that all? and here I thought this would be hard. As it happens ladies I do have a song original to me, shall I demonstrate?"

Vinyl and Octavia nodded.

"Well then let's go to the stage and I will show you."

One hour later Adrian left the studio, after his performance Vinyl and Octavia insisted that Adrian return that evening for his first public debut. Adrian's demonstration more than reassured the two music ponies that he could indeed create his own songs. After making a few arrangements Adrian decided to return to the library and rest for the performance. As Adrian walked back to the library a squirrel scampered out in front of him. It stopped in the middle of the street and paused to look at him. Normally Adrian would not have found this unusual, or even worth noticing. But the longer he watched the squirrel the more uneasy he felt. Adrian couldn't say what it was but the squirrel seemed. . . . .wrong somehow. The squirrel looked normal enough the only odd thing about it was it's fur. The fur looked just a bit too long and it had a shimmering silver grey color that looked almost metallic. Adrian stepped closer to the small creature to get a better look, but the squirrel bolted into a patch of long grass and disappeared. Adrian shook his head, "I must be nuts if I'm suddenly paranoid about a squirrel" Adrian mused as he started walking again.

After returning to the library Adrian helped Spike with his chores and minding the library before taking a nap, waking up around 7:00pm. His performance was at 10:00pm. When Adrian had gotten back from his interview at the Hoofbeat Club he had asked Twilight to come to the performance. When Scratch and Octavia convinced him to perform the same night they hired him, he attached the condition that seats be made available for all his friends. Adrian also sent a letter inviting Luna and Celestia to come, but they had to decline because of work piling up. During dinner Twilight tried to get Adrian to describe the performance, but he would only tell her it was a surprise. After their meal Adrian left for the club to go over last minute details with Scratch and Octavia.

Heading out the door Adrian paused to admire the sunset, the sun itself was gone but a wonderful mix of purple, orange, and yellow light still lingered on the horizon. As Adrian walked down the all but deserted streets of Ponyville he let his mind wander. He found that his thoughts kept returning to two things. First was the odd dream he had while he had been in the hospital, second was the squirrel he had seen earlier. Adrian had no idea why his brain was so fixated on such a useless pair of thoughts. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get them out of his head. "It's strange, I feel like they are connected, but that makes no sense. I must be suffering from some kind of weird PTSD, I'm making up threats where there are none.". Any further thoughts Adrian might have had on the subject were cut short by his arrival at his destination. Word must have traveled fast because it looked like ninety percent of the town was waiting to get in. The club wasn't open yet but a massive line had formed in front of the door. Adrian hid before the crowd noticed him and entered through a backstage entrance Vinyl had shown him earlier that day.

"Hello Adrian, it's wonderful to see you again I can't tell you how exciting this is. Vinyl and I are so honored that you're performing at our club."

Octavia had apparently been waiting for him to arrive. No sooner had he entered then she latched on to his arm and yanked him onto the stage where Vinyl was getting things set up.

"Yo Adrian I almost have everything ready, this place is gonna be jumpin tonight. As soon as you left Octavia started going round putting up flyers about your performance. Next thing I knew half of Ponyville showed up outside, you must be the most happenin stallion in town to draw a crowd like this."

Adrian was glad so many ponies had shown up but he was starting to wonder if his recent fame wasn't getting just a bit out of control. Next time I do something heroic I'm telling everypony that it was Rainbow dash..

"Hey Vinyl, what's with all the electronics? I don't need you to provide music or anything, heck, I don't even need a microphone."

"Oh this is for when your act is over, and I set up some equipment to make a live recording of your song. Speaking of, it's just about showtime. I'll give your name and intro then you start the song the second I finish, got it?"

Adrian nodded taking his position on a soft cushion where he would maintain and direct the spell. Closing his eyes Adrian relaxed his mind and body. Adrian found that if he was relaxed it was easier to perform and maintain the spells. As Vinyl and Octavia let in the crowd Adrian began gathering mana.

Twilight and her friends were escorted to front row seats as soon as they arrived. As the club was filled to capacity they chatted among themselves.

"So he wouldn't say anything about what he was planning tonight?"

"No Rainbow I tried to get him to tell me at dinner but he wouldn't say anything."

Rainbow was about to reply when Vinyl appeared on stage.

"How's everypony doing tonight?!"

The crowd roared and stomped in response.

"All right well we have a very special performance for you tonight! Appearing for the first time on stage I give you the rocker from another world. . . Twinstar!"

The instant the name left her lips Vinyl jumped off the stage and the show began. A light jazzy tune coming from every direction as Adrian sang, his eye's glowing.

In the city now.
In the city now.
In the city nowooowowoow.

Look up high as I walk down the street.
See the towers of glass, steel, and concrete.

In the city now.
In the city now.
In the city nowooowowoow.

Walkin on down that crowded street.
So many people I never did see.