The Last Stand, The Last Lieby Blazing WardChaptersThe Streets of New YorkSupplies and NightmaresA Nice ChatThe Streets of New YorkThe date was October 20th, 2019. They came out of nowhere, changing and bending the laws of physics to their will. Changing humans into ponies, every single one of them. Except for one, and he is only known by the ponies as,”The Impure”. He was immune to this,’Operation Conversion’, or so the ponies called it. He called it,’Operation Purge’. Location: New York City, New York, USA. - Time: 6:00 am The echos of boots impacting the cement reverberated throughout the city. A lone figure walking down a desolate street, the last human on Earth. His appearance didn’t differ too far from that of a S.W.A.T. officer. He had on all of the body armor an officer would normally wear during an engagement, except for the fact that he had a gas mask on. His weapons consisted of an M4 Carbine and an M9 Baretta, used by the S.W.A.T. forces he took the armor from. The city of New York was the first to fall in the mass conversion efforts by the Equestrians, then came L.A., Las Vegas, Berlin, London, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong-Kong, and Warsaw, shortly followed by Washington D.C., and when Washington fell, so did the world. The invasion lasted no more than 4 months, any attempts at resisting were met with conversion without mercy. Beating the individual to near death, then converting them into the pastel-colored ponies that now roamed the Earth. Lucky for this human, he was immune to the potion used. The fall of a piece of rubble caused the man to snap to attention, weapon up, aiming at the location of the disturbance, swiftly and deftly pulling back the charging handle while doing so. Checking the alleyways while marching onward. In the distance, he heard the flapping of wings and the stampede of hundreds of hooves battering the pavement. The man bolted for the nearest building, taking cover, praying to whatever God was listening for him to remain unseen. His wishes would not be granted. “You’ve got nowhere to run, human! Surrender now! The sooner you get it over with, the sooner we can all go home!” A loud and commanding voice said. “Fuckers… they make it sound like it’s a good thing.” The man whispered to himself. He looked around at the building he was in, reading the banner that was strung across the wall. “Conversion Bureau… Son of a bitch, this is where it all started. The damn conversion efforts to eradicate the human race.” he spouted in a pissed off manner. He couldn’t leave just yet, he had to wait for the ponies to clear out. Time: 9:00 am After about an hour or two of not moving a muscle, he decided to take a peek outside of the building, the ponies were gone. “They must’ve moved on, and good on that.” Getting up slowly, the man snuck his way to the back door, which led to an alleyway. Said alleyway was near empty, aside from a few dumpsters and trashcans that lay on their sides. The man yawned, he hadn’t slept in 2 days, but he kept going despite that setback. He didn’t care, he needed to keep his head on a swivel. The man stumbled along the ally way, still paranoid that he might be caught when he turns the corner. He was already captured once and the Princess herself went to convert him herself but was shocked when he didn’t turn into a pony. Fear was evident in her eyes, and she locked him up for about a month before he escaped captivity, which eventually led him to the current situation he was in now. “I’ll be damned if I am to be captured by these fucks,” he grumbled as he took out his rifle,”Even if It means my death.” Stepping out onto the street, he sees something that made his eyes go wide in shock, over a million ponies, armed to the fucking teeth, walking in his direction. They hadn’t spotted him yet, so he ducked into a nearby car, and waited for them to pass. He knew that his time was coming to an end, might as well go down with a fight, yes? Seeing as the ponies had passed him, he sat up in the back of the car and looked around to see if he could find something useful, he found two things that surprised him. One was a frag grenade, still in working order, so he clipped it to his chest rig. The next one made him nearly scream with excitement, the car had gas, and it fucking worked. He knew how to hotwire the car, and did so, and after about 10 minutes of messing around with wires, the car jumped to life with a low rumble. He had a plan already, and that was to meet the ponies out in the fields, set up all armaments he could find on the way, and rain hellfire on the enemy. He knew he’d die in the process, but he didn’t care, he just wanted to go out with one hell of a roar. Pushing the gas pedal down, the car lurched forward and sped off into the distance, leaving behind a cloud of dust in its wake. “I can’t run forever, and I can’t outsmart them forever. Might as well send myself off with a message to the Princesses, that just because I'm the last human on Earth, doesn’t mean that I won't give in to their demands of surrender.” The man said to himself while holding the grenade in his hands, with a malicious idea forming in his head. Unknown to him, a certain Princess of the Day was spying on him. Location: Canterlot, Equestrian Captial - Time: 11:00 pm Princess Celestia was stressed and for a good reason. She just heard what the man had said, how he wasn’t going to give in to her and her sisters demand to surrender peacefully without bloodshed. While she was lost in thought, Shining Armor, the Captain of the Royal Guard walked through the door with a message to deliver to the Princess. “Princess? I bring news from the patrol in New York City and their findings.” Shining Armor said while standing at attention. “Yes? What is it you need to tell me? Is it good news, or bad news?” The Princess responded, with uneasiness evident in her voice. Shining Armor seemed to notice this but didn’t pay any mind to it. “Well, your majesty, the human was last spotted around 6:00 am, walking the streets of the city, and we dispatched about one hundred or so ponies to weed him out of hiding,” Shining said, stopping only to take a breath,”He was then spotted around two hours later by Swift Wing, driving away in one of those metal carriages at high speeds.” Shining finished, waiting to see the Princesses reaction. What he got wasn’t what he expected. “I know, I am very aware of that fact… He knows that the end is near and that we will soon be upon him. Prepare the rest of the army, we move on his position at once when he is found again.” The Princess said with a solemn tone. “Of Course Princess, right away.” Shining stumbled on his words as he hastily went to prepare for the confrontation ahead. The Princess then closed the doors as Shining left and walked out onto a balcony. A tear formed under her eye and dropped to the floor. She had hoped that the man would see the truth by now, she never wanted this to happen. “Why… Why must you refuse the truth? Why can’t you believe us that we didn’t do this? Why, Markus, why?” The Princess whispered to the night sky, more tears falling while doing so. Celestia wept for what seemed to be hours, She wanted nothing more than to free Markus from the lie he had been living for the past 6 months. Author's Note To be honest, I have been wanting to write a story like this for a while. This is a story that I am writing for fun mostly, but to also remove the writer's block that has been plaguing me for the past few weeks. I hope you enjoyed! Supplies and NightmaresLocation: Countryside, New York, USA. - Time: 2:00 am The sound of an engine roaring broke the silence of the countryside as a vehicle tore down the road towards its destination; The Holdout Point. The Holdout Point was a place Markus had picked out a while back for just this situation when he was on his last legs, which he was. He didn’t have enough time or room left to breathe, he was after all being hunted down by an entire species who he thought wanted him gone. “Fucking… Shit.” Markus cursed for what seemed to be the fiftieth time that night. He still hadn’t gotten any rest, and he was trying to keep himself awake. What made it worse was that he didn’t have any food with him. This may truly be his last stand. Thinking about it more reminded him of the last stand of the Swiss Guard in 1527 as well as the stand of the Lost Battalion in World War 1. Funny, now it was his turn to face an onslaught of enemies wanting to end his life. Except for this time, it’s one against thousands. Seeing what looked to be buildings in the distance, he slowed the car down and parked it on the side of the road. What stood in front of him was a farmhouse, one with sandbags piled high on the walls and barbed wire everywhere. Since no one was clearly using it, he used his gloved hands to drag the barbed wire and dump it into the back of his car, then did the same thing with the sandbags. “If I want to have the ability to fight back, I need to build up some sort of defense.” With his heart racing at the thought of fighting off thousands, he worked faster. Time: 5:00 am For three hours, Markus dragged every length of barbed wire and every sandbag into the car, which could somehow handle the weight. But with that job done, he turned around and looked at the farmhouse. He still hadn’t taken a look inside, and it had two floors. Approaching the door, Markus took out his pistol, getting ready to open up the door. He didn’t know if a pony was on the other side or not, but it was always a good idea to be cautious. Reaching a hand out to the doorknob, he grabbed it and twisted. The door was unlocked and opened with no trouble. He turned on his flashlight that was mounted to his shoulder and swept the room. The room looked to have been abandoned a month or two ago, and everything was a mess. Sweeping the left side of the room, he didn’t find anything interesting aside from a few broken chairs and shattered picture frames. Moving onto the right side of the room, he didn’t find anything there either. He scoffed and cursed aloud once again more wasted time, time that he didn’t have. Pulling back from the right, he made his way to the staircase, flashlight pointing up the stairs. He slowly but surely made his way up, the stairs groaned under his weight but held strong. “I hope this isn’t a waste of time… but I need everything I can get.” He said aloud, making it to the top of the staircase. The hallway was nothing special, just more smashed picture frames and broken chairs. There was a door to his left, and directly ahead of him. He decided to try the door on the left first. Putting his hand on the knob, he slowly pushed it open. Inside was nothing. “Are you kidding me?! Why?!” Markus half-shouted in anger. More time wasted, less time to prepare. He left the room and slammed the door. Taking a look to his right he contemplated even going into the last room, so far this place had been useless to him. “Fuck it, might as well.” He walked down the hallway and opened the door. It was a bedroom with a large mattress in the middle of the room, along with a dresser to the right of it. Seeing the bed, he suddenly grew exhausted… almost like someone or something was forcing him to walk towards it. “A few hours of sleep couldn’t hurt, could it?” he yawned, already taking off his gear and laying them beside the mattress. Having not slept for three days straight, he immediately passed out. The same figure from earlier was watching his every move, with another watching at the same time. Location: Canterlot, Equestrian Captial - Time: 5:00 am Celestia was glad that Markus was now asleep for the first time in three days. This meant that her sister, Princess Luna, could finally monitor his dreams to see if she could spot what was causing him to think that the Equestrians converted the entire human race. She knew it wasn’t Markus’s fault he thought this way, she knew deep down that someone was causing this pain in his life. She knew that he just wanted it to all end without bloodshed, even if he didn’t know it. She was going to try her hardest to make sure that he was saved. “Princess, I have assembled the army as you requested. Maybe I ask why though?” Captain Shining Armor questioned, confused. “Well Shining Armor, I am planning to confront the human in the next two days. I want you to assemble the best unicorn you can, and develop a shield that will prevent his weapons from harming us in any way.” Celestia answered in her motherly voice. “Yes Princess, right away.” With his question answered and new orders received, he made his way to assemble the best unicorns he could find. Meanwhile In the Dream Realm “Wha- Where am I?” Markus asked out into the black abyss. Looking around, he saw that he was in a city, but not any city on Earth. The buildings around him were white, with golden accents and purple roofs. It was familiar to him in a way that he couldn’t explain, it was almost as if he had been there before. The sky was a dark purple, so it must’ve been pretty late out. Running for about 20 minutes, with distant screams and whispers in his ears, he ran into a palace of some sort, with the same style as the rest of the city. The architecture from what he could see should be impossible, but he’d seen the impossible done. Flying ponies is a good example. As he approached the door, he instinctively reached down for his pistol, which wasn’t present. In fact, all of his gear was gone, revealing his pale white skin. Ignoring this, he reached for the door handle and grasped it. Once the knob was twisted, he blinked. He was at the main entrance one moment and in a throne room the next. Confused as all get out, he turned around looking for what had caused that oddity. Finding nothin he turned to face the thrones only to see a spectral figure staring at him. Needless to say, he was freaking out at this point, as he didn’t have anything to defend himself with. The figure slowly morphed into a horrid being by his standards. It was spectral, and it was huge. Looking much like the night sky, it slowly enveloped him into inky blackness. What reached his ears next made him shed a tear. Screams, screams of the damned. Screams of those who were lost, and screams of those long dead. He wasn’t mentally prepared for this and nearly broke down into a fit of tears, clutching his head in pain to try and make the sounds go away. He’d been through near hell and back, but this was something new. It was now his turn to scream out in distress and pain. “Please! Make it stop! It hurts!” He screamed out in pain. An echoed laugh rang throughout the space as if it was mocking him and enjoying his suffering. It was evil, he could tell that much. A cold chill ran down his spine, he had never experienced anything like this. Then suddenly, a voice that held authority and power shouted back in response to the evil laugh. “BEGONE FOUL DEMON!” With a flash of light, the darkness was gone, once again replaced by the throne room he was previously in. In front of him wasn’t the black abyss he was expecting, but instead, a dark blue Alicron, making direct eye contact with him. His emotions were going crazy right now, with a mixed feeling of relief, surprise, horror, and terror. A motherly voice, though a bit rough, spoke out to him. “Sorry I’m late, I ran into a few complications,” The Alicorn said, looking at Markus,” My name is Luna, Princess of the Night.” Author's Note Hey everypony, thanks for checking out chapter 2 of The Last Stand, The Last Lie! I know it's not the best quality and the pacing is a bit off, but I tried to make it as smooth as possible. The story isn't so well developed, but I'll say it again. This story is to help me get rid of my writer's block on The Lost Courier, so the pacing will be off and the chapters will not be as refined. Thanks again for all of your support, I hoped you enjoyed! A Nice Chat"Are you alright? The demon didn't hurt you, did it?" Luna asked Markus, a concerned look on her face. "I... Uh... No?" Markus responded, unsure if he could trust this 'Luna'. She was a pony after all. "I know what you are thinking, how could you trust a pony after we destroyed your entire race?" Luna continued, "No need to worry, dear Markus. We are not here to hurt you. Just to explain what has happened to you, if you are willing to listen of course." "I suppose I do owe you for saving me from whatever that thing was. So I'm all ears." Markus said, allowing for Luna to begin explaining. "Well, you see, we didn't exactly... cause any of this," Luna said slowly as Markus's eyes widened. "Bullshit, you ponies killed every single human on Earth, except for me. Now I don't know about you, but I think it's right to say that you caused this." Markus responded with an aggressive tone lacing his voice. "I understand that you are mad at us, but please just listen to me." Luna's horn lit up and the environment around them changed from the dark throne room to a nice garden with a fountain at the center. "This is The Royal Garden, where I come to think about the problems I stress over," Luna explained as she led Markus over to a bench while levitating a teapot and pouring herself and Markus a cup. Markus, unsure of what to do next, reached for the cup and took a sip. It was Bengal Spice tea! His favorite! "This... is good. Thanks, but why are you here?" Markus questioned Luna. "Well, I came to explain what has happened to you over the past few months. Including what happened to... the rest of the humans." Luna explained to Markus, who flinched slightly at the mention of the now nearly extinct race. "I... see. Please, explain." Markus said, allowing for the Princess to begin to explain. "Well, you see, ponies never actually had a part to play in this whole predicament with you being the last human and all," Luna started, unsure of how Markus would react. He just nodded for her to continue. Relieved that he had not tried to interrupt her, she continued. "We became aware of your world through an incident back home during an accident with a beast called Tirek. When my sister's student, Twilight Sparkle, used Alicorn magic to banish him to Tartarus, it tore a portal between dimensions," Luna stopped to take a breath as well as a sip of tea, "Any questions so far?" "Yes, how long ago was this?" Markus asked, slightly confused. Luna nodded in understanding. "This all happened about 3 months ago..." Luna answered. Markus blinked in confusion. "I don't understand... humanity and civilization ended 6 months ago," Markus said to Luna. "Yes, that is exactly why I am here to attempt to get you to understand what had truly happened," Luna said, "Shortly after the portal opened up, I led a group of Royal Guards to assess what the strange portal was and where it led to. When we stepped into the portal, we were greeted by a desolate wasteland, with a crumbling city in front of us." Stopping to tap a sip of tea and waiting for any questions that Markus had about anything so far. Taking another sip of tea, Markus sighed and shook his head, "Please, continue." Luna nodded. "Of course. Anyways, we walked towards the city, finding it empty. Devoid of life," Luna explained, "As we kept searching, we eventually found something. A newspaper. It's heading read 'Death toll rises to Four Billion'." Luna stopped, remembering the headline and what could have caused it. "Wait... newspaper? Death toll?" Markus asked Luna, sounding slightly scared. "Yes, when we found the newspaper and read about the death toll, we kept marching on. Then we came across another newspaper, this time... it said the death toll was around seven billion." Luna said solemnly, ears laying against her head. Markus just stared at her, processing the new information. It then occurred to Markus that something wasn't right. That something was wrong. He couldn't process the new information given to him as well as he would have liked. He hadn't noticed it before, but his mind felt clear for once after Luna banished whatever that thing was from his dreams. Like he was locked away from his memories. "So if what you're saying is true... then you ponies didn't cause any of this, did you?" Markus asked Luna sadly. She nodded. Just as he had feared... he's been living a lie. The ponies never did this, they were innocent. Something else did. But what? Taking a sip of tea to calm himself down, he asked the question that has been on his mind since the start of this conversation. "What did cause the death of all of humanity then?" Markus finally asked Luna, who looked at him sadly. "We are not too sure ourselves. Seven billion deaths in such a short amount of time just can't happen." She answered, expressing her confusion as well. "Then why were there ponies looking for me in the streets of New York City? Saying that it would be painless?" Markus then asked suddenly, looking at Luna directly into her eyes. "What do you mean? My sister and I have never sent any other ponies to Earth after the portal opened up." Luna said, looking at Markus with a puzzled look on her face. Markus's eyes widened suddenly. "Wait, so that giant army of ponies marching down the street looking for me wasn't sent by you?!" Markus asked with panic evident in his voice. Luna shook her head. "The portal has been under lock and key ever since it appeared. Nopony has gone in or out." This caused Markus to pause. "If that's the case then what the hell did I see?" Markus asked, taking another sip of tea to calm himself down. Looking into the cup, he was empty. Damnit. "I'm not too sure. I can have my sister look into it for you if you'd like," offered Luna, "I can ask her why you saw Equestrian forces out and about when the portal is supposed to be sealed off. I'd like to know myself." "That would be great, thanks." Markus thanked Luna. After asking for more tea, they continued to talk for a while. Mostly about what was going on, but sometimes the conversation would go back to Equestria and what life was like there. turns out that Luna spent 1000 years on the moon for going all evil. Something called the Nightmare, which freaked Markus out the slightest bit. In all honesty, Luna wasn't so bad. Probably the only pony Markus doesn't hate at the moment. She was easy to talk to, gave honest answers to questions she had the answers for, and even played chess with him while in the dream realm. he liked her, but sadly all fun must come to an end. "I'm sorry Markus, but it seems you are waking up. I must depart now, good luck!" Luna waved as she faded away and everything started to turn white. Loaction: Canterlot Castle "Sister, how did the talks with Markus go?" Celestia asked as soon as she saw Luna. "I assume they went well?" She added when she saw the still smiling Luna. "Indeed it did sister, he took it surprisingly well!" Said Luna in a surprisingly joyful tone. "That's great to hear!" Said Celestia in an equally as joyful tone. "Anything else?" Luna suddenly turned serious. "Yes. He saw ponies in New York, even though we locked the portal away. Why is that?" She narrowed her eyes at Celestia. "Oh, uh..." Celestia stuttered. "I wanted to make sure he was safe!" Luna raised her eyebrow an put on a look that said, 'Come one, I'm not that stupid.' Celestia gave in and said, "I needed to make sure that he was taking care of himself. I'm worried for him, Luna. Honest." Luna seemed to understand. "Don't worry sister, I don't blame you for wanting to check in on him, but next time don't send an army?" Celestia blushed and chuckled, "You know, that's a good idea." "Indeed it is. May I ask where Shining Armor is?" "I told him to prepare Unicorns that could create a shield strong enough to either deflect or stop his weapon's projectiles from injuring or possibly killing one of my little ponies," Celestia answered honestly. "I don't want to see them get hurt in case something goes wrong." Luna nodded in agreement with her sister's logic. "I see why. Now then, care for a game of chess?" Celestia smiled, "Oh, you're on!" Author's Note hey everypony! Sorry for the long hiatus, state testing and exams have really bogged me down as of late! I've decided to try to write these chapters with about 300-600 words a day, and it seemed to work! Sorry if this chapter makes zero sense but I'm trying my hardest to make something I'm proud of. Leave your comments down below as to what you think will happen next, until next time!
The Streets of New YorkThe date was October 20th, 2019. They came out of nowhere, changing and bending the laws of physics to their will. Changing humans into ponies, every single one of them. Except for one, and he is only known by the ponies as,”The Impure”. He was immune to this,’Operation Conversion’, or so the ponies called it. He called it,’Operation Purge’. Location: New York City, New York, USA. - Time: 6:00 am The echos of boots impacting the cement reverberated throughout the city. A lone figure walking down a desolate street, the last human on Earth. His appearance didn’t differ too far from that of a S.W.A.T. officer. He had on all of the body armor an officer would normally wear during an engagement, except for the fact that he had a gas mask on. His weapons consisted of an M4 Carbine and an M9 Baretta, used by the S.W.A.T. forces he took the armor from. The city of New York was the first to fall in the mass conversion efforts by the Equestrians, then came L.A., Las Vegas, Berlin, London, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong-Kong, and Warsaw, shortly followed by Washington D.C., and when Washington fell, so did the world. The invasion lasted no more than 4 months, any attempts at resisting were met with conversion without mercy. Beating the individual to near death, then converting them into the pastel-colored ponies that now roamed the Earth. Lucky for this human, he was immune to the potion used. The fall of a piece of rubble caused the man to snap to attention, weapon up, aiming at the location of the disturbance, swiftly and deftly pulling back the charging handle while doing so. Checking the alleyways while marching onward. In the distance, he heard the flapping of wings and the stampede of hundreds of hooves battering the pavement. The man bolted for the nearest building, taking cover, praying to whatever God was listening for him to remain unseen. His wishes would not be granted. “You’ve got nowhere to run, human! Surrender now! The sooner you get it over with, the sooner we can all go home!” A loud and commanding voice said. “Fuckers… they make it sound like it’s a good thing.” The man whispered to himself. He looked around at the building he was in, reading the banner that was strung across the wall. “Conversion Bureau… Son of a bitch, this is where it all started. The damn conversion efforts to eradicate the human race.” he spouted in a pissed off manner. He couldn’t leave just yet, he had to wait for the ponies to clear out. Time: 9:00 am After about an hour or two of not moving a muscle, he decided to take a peek outside of the building, the ponies were gone. “They must’ve moved on, and good on that.” Getting up slowly, the man snuck his way to the back door, which led to an alleyway. Said alleyway was near empty, aside from a few dumpsters and trashcans that lay on their sides. The man yawned, he hadn’t slept in 2 days, but he kept going despite that setback. He didn’t care, he needed to keep his head on a swivel. The man stumbled along the ally way, still paranoid that he might be caught when he turns the corner. He was already captured once and the Princess herself went to convert him herself but was shocked when he didn’t turn into a pony. Fear was evident in her eyes, and she locked him up for about a month before he escaped captivity, which eventually led him to the current situation he was in now. “I’ll be damned if I am to be captured by these fucks,” he grumbled as he took out his rifle,”Even if It means my death.” Stepping out onto the street, he sees something that made his eyes go wide in shock, over a million ponies, armed to the fucking teeth, walking in his direction. They hadn’t spotted him yet, so he ducked into a nearby car, and waited for them to pass. He knew that his time was coming to an end, might as well go down with a fight, yes? Seeing as the ponies had passed him, he sat up in the back of the car and looked around to see if he could find something useful, he found two things that surprised him. One was a frag grenade, still in working order, so he clipped it to his chest rig. The next one made him nearly scream with excitement, the car had gas, and it fucking worked. He knew how to hotwire the car, and did so, and after about 10 minutes of messing around with wires, the car jumped to life with a low rumble. He had a plan already, and that was to meet the ponies out in the fields, set up all armaments he could find on the way, and rain hellfire on the enemy. He knew he’d die in the process, but he didn’t care, he just wanted to go out with one hell of a roar. Pushing the gas pedal down, the car lurched forward and sped off into the distance, leaving behind a cloud of dust in its wake. “I can’t run forever, and I can’t outsmart them forever. Might as well send myself off with a message to the Princesses, that just because I'm the last human on Earth, doesn’t mean that I won't give in to their demands of surrender.” The man said to himself while holding the grenade in his hands, with a malicious idea forming in his head. Unknown to him, a certain Princess of the Day was spying on him. Location: Canterlot, Equestrian Captial - Time: 11:00 pm Princess Celestia was stressed and for a good reason. She just heard what the man had said, how he wasn’t going to give in to her and her sisters demand to surrender peacefully without bloodshed. While she was lost in thought, Shining Armor, the Captain of the Royal Guard walked through the door with a message to deliver to the Princess. “Princess? I bring news from the patrol in New York City and their findings.” Shining Armor said while standing at attention. “Yes? What is it you need to tell me? Is it good news, or bad news?” The Princess responded, with uneasiness evident in her voice. Shining Armor seemed to notice this but didn’t pay any mind to it. “Well, your majesty, the human was last spotted around 6:00 am, walking the streets of the city, and we dispatched about one hundred or so ponies to weed him out of hiding,” Shining said, stopping only to take a breath,”He was then spotted around two hours later by Swift Wing, driving away in one of those metal carriages at high speeds.” Shining finished, waiting to see the Princesses reaction. What he got wasn’t what he expected. “I know, I am very aware of that fact… He knows that the end is near and that we will soon be upon him. Prepare the rest of the army, we move on his position at once when he is found again.” The Princess said with a solemn tone. “Of Course Princess, right away.” Shining stumbled on his words as he hastily went to prepare for the confrontation ahead. The Princess then closed the doors as Shining left and walked out onto a balcony. A tear formed under her eye and dropped to the floor. She had hoped that the man would see the truth by now, she never wanted this to happen. “Why… Why must you refuse the truth? Why can’t you believe us that we didn’t do this? Why, Markus, why?” The Princess whispered to the night sky, more tears falling while doing so. Celestia wept for what seemed to be hours, She wanted nothing more than to free Markus from the lie he had been living for the past 6 months. Author's Note To be honest, I have been wanting to write a story like this for a while. This is a story that I am writing for fun mostly, but to also remove the writer's block that has been plaguing me for the past few weeks. I hope you enjoyed!
Supplies and NightmaresLocation: Countryside, New York, USA. - Time: 2:00 am The sound of an engine roaring broke the silence of the countryside as a vehicle tore down the road towards its destination; The Holdout Point. The Holdout Point was a place Markus had picked out a while back for just this situation when he was on his last legs, which he was. He didn’t have enough time or room left to breathe, he was after all being hunted down by an entire species who he thought wanted him gone. “Fucking… Shit.” Markus cursed for what seemed to be the fiftieth time that night. He still hadn’t gotten any rest, and he was trying to keep himself awake. What made it worse was that he didn’t have any food with him. This may truly be his last stand. Thinking about it more reminded him of the last stand of the Swiss Guard in 1527 as well as the stand of the Lost Battalion in World War 1. Funny, now it was his turn to face an onslaught of enemies wanting to end his life. Except for this time, it’s one against thousands. Seeing what looked to be buildings in the distance, he slowed the car down and parked it on the side of the road. What stood in front of him was a farmhouse, one with sandbags piled high on the walls and barbed wire everywhere. Since no one was clearly using it, he used his gloved hands to drag the barbed wire and dump it into the back of his car, then did the same thing with the sandbags. “If I want to have the ability to fight back, I need to build up some sort of defense.” With his heart racing at the thought of fighting off thousands, he worked faster. Time: 5:00 am For three hours, Markus dragged every length of barbed wire and every sandbag into the car, which could somehow handle the weight. But with that job done, he turned around and looked at the farmhouse. He still hadn’t taken a look inside, and it had two floors. Approaching the door, Markus took out his pistol, getting ready to open up the door. He didn’t know if a pony was on the other side or not, but it was always a good idea to be cautious. Reaching a hand out to the doorknob, he grabbed it and twisted. The door was unlocked and opened with no trouble. He turned on his flashlight that was mounted to his shoulder and swept the room. The room looked to have been abandoned a month or two ago, and everything was a mess. Sweeping the left side of the room, he didn’t find anything interesting aside from a few broken chairs and shattered picture frames. Moving onto the right side of the room, he didn’t find anything there either. He scoffed and cursed aloud once again more wasted time, time that he didn’t have. Pulling back from the right, he made his way to the staircase, flashlight pointing up the stairs. He slowly but surely made his way up, the stairs groaned under his weight but held strong. “I hope this isn’t a waste of time… but I need everything I can get.” He said aloud, making it to the top of the staircase. The hallway was nothing special, just more smashed picture frames and broken chairs. There was a door to his left, and directly ahead of him. He decided to try the door on the left first. Putting his hand on the knob, he slowly pushed it open. Inside was nothing. “Are you kidding me?! Why?!” Markus half-shouted in anger. More time wasted, less time to prepare. He left the room and slammed the door. Taking a look to his right he contemplated even going into the last room, so far this place had been useless to him. “Fuck it, might as well.” He walked down the hallway and opened the door. It was a bedroom with a large mattress in the middle of the room, along with a dresser to the right of it. Seeing the bed, he suddenly grew exhausted… almost like someone or something was forcing him to walk towards it. “A few hours of sleep couldn’t hurt, could it?” he yawned, already taking off his gear and laying them beside the mattress. Having not slept for three days straight, he immediately passed out. The same figure from earlier was watching his every move, with another watching at the same time. Location: Canterlot, Equestrian Captial - Time: 5:00 am Celestia was glad that Markus was now asleep for the first time in three days. This meant that her sister, Princess Luna, could finally monitor his dreams to see if she could spot what was causing him to think that the Equestrians converted the entire human race. She knew it wasn’t Markus’s fault he thought this way, she knew deep down that someone was causing this pain in his life. She knew that he just wanted it to all end without bloodshed, even if he didn’t know it. She was going to try her hardest to make sure that he was saved. “Princess, I have assembled the army as you requested. Maybe I ask why though?” Captain Shining Armor questioned, confused. “Well Shining Armor, I am planning to confront the human in the next two days. I want you to assemble the best unicorn you can, and develop a shield that will prevent his weapons from harming us in any way.” Celestia answered in her motherly voice. “Yes Princess, right away.” With his question answered and new orders received, he made his way to assemble the best unicorns he could find. Meanwhile In the Dream Realm “Wha- Where am I?” Markus asked out into the black abyss. Looking around, he saw that he was in a city, but not any city on Earth. The buildings around him were white, with golden accents and purple roofs. It was familiar to him in a way that he couldn’t explain, it was almost as if he had been there before. The sky was a dark purple, so it must’ve been pretty late out. Running for about 20 minutes, with distant screams and whispers in his ears, he ran into a palace of some sort, with the same style as the rest of the city. The architecture from what he could see should be impossible, but he’d seen the impossible done. Flying ponies is a good example. As he approached the door, he instinctively reached down for his pistol, which wasn’t present. In fact, all of his gear was gone, revealing his pale white skin. Ignoring this, he reached for the door handle and grasped it. Once the knob was twisted, he blinked. He was at the main entrance one moment and in a throne room the next. Confused as all get out, he turned around looking for what had caused that oddity. Finding nothin he turned to face the thrones only to see a spectral figure staring at him. Needless to say, he was freaking out at this point, as he didn’t have anything to defend himself with. The figure slowly morphed into a horrid being by his standards. It was spectral, and it was huge. Looking much like the night sky, it slowly enveloped him into inky blackness. What reached his ears next made him shed a tear. Screams, screams of the damned. Screams of those who were lost, and screams of those long dead. He wasn’t mentally prepared for this and nearly broke down into a fit of tears, clutching his head in pain to try and make the sounds go away. He’d been through near hell and back, but this was something new. It was now his turn to scream out in distress and pain. “Please! Make it stop! It hurts!” He screamed out in pain. An echoed laugh rang throughout the space as if it was mocking him and enjoying his suffering. It was evil, he could tell that much. A cold chill ran down his spine, he had never experienced anything like this. Then suddenly, a voice that held authority and power shouted back in response to the evil laugh. “BEGONE FOUL DEMON!” With a flash of light, the darkness was gone, once again replaced by the throne room he was previously in. In front of him wasn’t the black abyss he was expecting, but instead, a dark blue Alicron, making direct eye contact with him. His emotions were going crazy right now, with a mixed feeling of relief, surprise, horror, and terror. A motherly voice, though a bit rough, spoke out to him. “Sorry I’m late, I ran into a few complications,” The Alicorn said, looking at Markus,” My name is Luna, Princess of the Night.” Author's Note Hey everypony, thanks for checking out chapter 2 of The Last Stand, The Last Lie! I know it's not the best quality and the pacing is a bit off, but I tried to make it as smooth as possible. The story isn't so well developed, but I'll say it again. This story is to help me get rid of my writer's block on The Lost Courier, so the pacing will be off and the chapters will not be as refined. Thanks again for all of your support, I hoped you enjoyed!
A Nice Chat"Are you alright? The demon didn't hurt you, did it?" Luna asked Markus, a concerned look on her face. "I... Uh... No?" Markus responded, unsure if he could trust this 'Luna'. She was a pony after all. "I know what you are thinking, how could you trust a pony after we destroyed your entire race?" Luna continued, "No need to worry, dear Markus. We are not here to hurt you. Just to explain what has happened to you, if you are willing to listen of course." "I suppose I do owe you for saving me from whatever that thing was. So I'm all ears." Markus said, allowing for Luna to begin explaining. "Well, you see, we didn't exactly... cause any of this," Luna said slowly as Markus's eyes widened. "Bullshit, you ponies killed every single human on Earth, except for me. Now I don't know about you, but I think it's right to say that you caused this." Markus responded with an aggressive tone lacing his voice. "I understand that you are mad at us, but please just listen to me." Luna's horn lit up and the environment around them changed from the dark throne room to a nice garden with a fountain at the center. "This is The Royal Garden, where I come to think about the problems I stress over," Luna explained as she led Markus over to a bench while levitating a teapot and pouring herself and Markus a cup. Markus, unsure of what to do next, reached for the cup and took a sip. It was Bengal Spice tea! His favorite! "This... is good. Thanks, but why are you here?" Markus questioned Luna. "Well, I came to explain what has happened to you over the past few months. Including what happened to... the rest of the humans." Luna explained to Markus, who flinched slightly at the mention of the now nearly extinct race. "I... see. Please, explain." Markus said, allowing for the Princess to begin to explain. "Well, you see, ponies never actually had a part to play in this whole predicament with you being the last human and all," Luna started, unsure of how Markus would react. He just nodded for her to continue. Relieved that he had not tried to interrupt her, she continued. "We became aware of your world through an incident back home during an accident with a beast called Tirek. When my sister's student, Twilight Sparkle, used Alicorn magic to banish him to Tartarus, it tore a portal between dimensions," Luna stopped to take a breath as well as a sip of tea, "Any questions so far?" "Yes, how long ago was this?" Markus asked, slightly confused. Luna nodded in understanding. "This all happened about 3 months ago..." Luna answered. Markus blinked in confusion. "I don't understand... humanity and civilization ended 6 months ago," Markus said to Luna. "Yes, that is exactly why I am here to attempt to get you to understand what had truly happened," Luna said, "Shortly after the portal opened up, I led a group of Royal Guards to assess what the strange portal was and where it led to. When we stepped into the portal, we were greeted by a desolate wasteland, with a crumbling city in front of us." Stopping to tap a sip of tea and waiting for any questions that Markus had about anything so far. Taking another sip of tea, Markus sighed and shook his head, "Please, continue." Luna nodded. "Of course. Anyways, we walked towards the city, finding it empty. Devoid of life," Luna explained, "As we kept searching, we eventually found something. A newspaper. It's heading read 'Death toll rises to Four Billion'." Luna stopped, remembering the headline and what could have caused it. "Wait... newspaper? Death toll?" Markus asked Luna, sounding slightly scared. "Yes, when we found the newspaper and read about the death toll, we kept marching on. Then we came across another newspaper, this time... it said the death toll was around seven billion." Luna said solemnly, ears laying against her head. Markus just stared at her, processing the new information. It then occurred to Markus that something wasn't right. That something was wrong. He couldn't process the new information given to him as well as he would have liked. He hadn't noticed it before, but his mind felt clear for once after Luna banished whatever that thing was from his dreams. Like he was locked away from his memories. "So if what you're saying is true... then you ponies didn't cause any of this, did you?" Markus asked Luna sadly. She nodded. Just as he had feared... he's been living a lie. The ponies never did this, they were innocent. Something else did. But what? Taking a sip of tea to calm himself down, he asked the question that has been on his mind since the start of this conversation. "What did cause the death of all of humanity then?" Markus finally asked Luna, who looked at him sadly. "We are not too sure ourselves. Seven billion deaths in such a short amount of time just can't happen." She answered, expressing her confusion as well. "Then why were there ponies looking for me in the streets of New York City? Saying that it would be painless?" Markus then asked suddenly, looking at Luna directly into her eyes. "What do you mean? My sister and I have never sent any other ponies to Earth after the portal opened up." Luna said, looking at Markus with a puzzled look on her face. Markus's eyes widened suddenly. "Wait, so that giant army of ponies marching down the street looking for me wasn't sent by you?!" Markus asked with panic evident in his voice. Luna shook her head. "The portal has been under lock and key ever since it appeared. Nopony has gone in or out." This caused Markus to pause. "If that's the case then what the hell did I see?" Markus asked, taking another sip of tea to calm himself down. Looking into the cup, he was empty. Damnit. "I'm not too sure. I can have my sister look into it for you if you'd like," offered Luna, "I can ask her why you saw Equestrian forces out and about when the portal is supposed to be sealed off. I'd like to know myself." "That would be great, thanks." Markus thanked Luna. After asking for more tea, they continued to talk for a while. Mostly about what was going on, but sometimes the conversation would go back to Equestria and what life was like there. turns out that Luna spent 1000 years on the moon for going all evil. Something called the Nightmare, which freaked Markus out the slightest bit. In all honesty, Luna wasn't so bad. Probably the only pony Markus doesn't hate at the moment. She was easy to talk to, gave honest answers to questions she had the answers for, and even played chess with him while in the dream realm. he liked her, but sadly all fun must come to an end. "I'm sorry Markus, but it seems you are waking up. I must depart now, good luck!" Luna waved as she faded away and everything started to turn white. Loaction: Canterlot Castle "Sister, how did the talks with Markus go?" Celestia asked as soon as she saw Luna. "I assume they went well?" She added when she saw the still smiling Luna. "Indeed it did sister, he took it surprisingly well!" Said Luna in a surprisingly joyful tone. "That's great to hear!" Said Celestia in an equally as joyful tone. "Anything else?" Luna suddenly turned serious. "Yes. He saw ponies in New York, even though we locked the portal away. Why is that?" She narrowed her eyes at Celestia. "Oh, uh..." Celestia stuttered. "I wanted to make sure he was safe!" Luna raised her eyebrow an put on a look that said, 'Come one, I'm not that stupid.' Celestia gave in and said, "I needed to make sure that he was taking care of himself. I'm worried for him, Luna. Honest." Luna seemed to understand. "Don't worry sister, I don't blame you for wanting to check in on him, but next time don't send an army?" Celestia blushed and chuckled, "You know, that's a good idea." "Indeed it is. May I ask where Shining Armor is?" "I told him to prepare Unicorns that could create a shield strong enough to either deflect or stop his weapon's projectiles from injuring or possibly killing one of my little ponies," Celestia answered honestly. "I don't want to see them get hurt in case something goes wrong." Luna nodded in agreement with her sister's logic. "I see why. Now then, care for a game of chess?" Celestia smiled, "Oh, you're on!" Author's Note hey everypony! Sorry for the long hiatus, state testing and exams have really bogged me down as of late! I've decided to try to write these chapters with about 300-600 words a day, and it seemed to work! Sorry if this chapter makes zero sense but I'm trying my hardest to make something I'm proud of. Leave your comments down below as to what you think will happen next, until next time!
