The Last Madpony's Scribbles and Scratches
November 10-ish-th (?), year 1034 ALB (I think? Not needed)
Hi! Hello! Good morning!
I don't really know what to put down here, forgive me if you will, I've never been too good at this. I've never written anything, so, yeah... It was always my sister who was into books. Ever since we met Yearling back on that CON, she's been crazy about literature. Not like it helped her in the end, of course.
Now however I just, you know, got the idea... as this is probably it, the finale, the last moments, then hey, why not? Since all's already lost anyway, I figured it might at the very least help to take my mind off of everything, just for a while, you know? At last.
'You'.
It's funny, right? How I keep referencing others. Like there is somepony, somepony who will, even in some distant future, read this. Like things will last, in one way or another, plants will grow, the moon will shine...
There is nopony. There never truly was. So who am I really addressing here?
This sheet of paper? Yeah, it's this sheet of paper, you know!? To hay with this.
There's also, of course, the question of who this last 'you' is...
Nopony!
Hah!
Surprised!?
Probably not at all.
A shame, truly.
You should be.
'You'.
Again.
There is no 'you'.
There is no 'who'.
I'm stuck here, waiting for nothing but demise... ironic, isn't it? How we shaped this world, built it, built cities, houses, barns, and now I sit here, surrounded by all that stuff, invented by us, created by us, and can't use a thing. There is no use. There is no way. I can't. And even if I did, what then? What then? What then? Can I spread? Divide? How? Can I? I can't. No, I can't, I can't, I can't. I'm here, all alone, and that will forever be. Like that. Nopony left. Nopony left...
With my demise everything dies. With my passing the world ceases to breathe. For what does existence matter if there's nopony to witness?
Or maybe there is someone. Them. They may be. They may. They may! I think, I actually do, that this is what I've been silently hoping for, you know? That they come back, one day or another, when this world breathes no more, or when it does, when I do, maybe, maybe. Maybe they will, you know? They really may. They will come, find this, and read it. See it. Or maybe nopony will see?
I mean, it's not like anypony seeing this paper would ever be the point.
There is no goal here.
Or at least I don't think there is.
I'm writing just to do so.
For the pure sake of it, you know?
'You'.
My back hurts. I have to move, just...
It stings so much in the open, in the sun.
Hey, I'm back, back with this useless paper. Or not useless, actually. It's been a while, and I've been thinking. What about, you ask? I can tell - about various things. But this sheet amongst others. I thought and considered, and I think it's worth to write something. A little. Last time I think I was just a bit... shaken, you know? I think. Not like I'm okay right now, like, with all that happened, but at least I don't feel like mourning all the time anymore.
So I've been thinking, and I thought, maybe I should detail it? What happened. The past. Back in the day, I remember my granny used to say it helped to calm down. To operate, you know? Writing what you think, what you regret down. Or saying it out loud, shouting, but this works not. I've tried so many times already...
And I figured, hey, maybe they will come back at one point? And maybe, just maybe, by some truly extreme string of luck, they will actually find this, and at the very least, they'll have something to read. Scratch that, they'll have something to HAVE TO read. And if that's the case, maybe it's for the best the author is as much of an amateur as you can get?
Or maybe someone else will come. Will come, see these landscapes, these brick blocks, these metal rings all around, leaning against mountain slopes, cities devoid of life, cloud houses here and there, not linked in any way, shape or form... and then the shattered ground, scorched as hay, the red, flaming sun, my personal nemesis by the way, so hard to omit it with your eyes.
Maybe someone else will come. If THEY could, then hey, why not? Maybe someone will. Maybe they, or her, or him - I don't know - will come, see this wasteland or however you want to call it, and, by some slim chance, they'll wonder about us. Maybe they will. Maybe they will. They may.
And then, just then, they will find this paper, if it even survives that long, and they will know. They'll know there was somepony, they'll know what happened. Why not make it easier for them? A final act, if you wish.
So, future alien explorer, I think a more formal introduction is due.
Welcome! I am Forest Light, your new chronicler! Read cautiously!
So, what would you like to know, then? Huh?
Who I am, most likely. Pardon me, who WE are.
We are, we were, PONIES. Yes! These houses, these cloud colosseums, the cities, they all are what we have built. WE. These are all our creations! Not theirs; if you find their remains, some traces, I don't know... then keep in mind they built NOTHING here. Okay? NOTHING. NOTHING. Nothing. They're not from here. Maybe you know them, actually. You may. Then maybe you've heard about us. Maybe that's why you've come. Maybe you recognize these rings, these metal rings, reaching mountain tops, all crashed, wherever you look. Sure, we built them as well, but it was them who advised us to, after all. We probably weren't the only ones, right? The only ones they've met. The only ones they've done this to.
But read. Please read. To gain a perspective, you know? A new one. Even if you've already heard of us. If THEY told you. They lie. They say gibberish. Please read. Maybe you don't believe me, I know, why would you after all... I probably seem like a madpony... but at least to discover how I, how we, see it. Almost everypony I've ever met told me I'd understand things better if I, you know, tried to remove bias. So try. Please. Please.
Actually, I've just got another thought. So, I'm leaning against this big, big barn by the Everfree, right? Okay. This old-fashioned, like, no machinery at all, barn - and it shows by the way, it's all tattered and stuff. But there's been this dark grey house floating above me, one of those that broke off of Cloudsdale, right? Yes, so, I've just noticed it moved away, and I can see a mountain. I think, I really, really do, I think THIS is where Canterlot stood, you know? I really think. I really think! This is this! This is, this is, actually THIS! Amazing!
Amazing, isn't it? Amazing! This is this! This is Canterlot! It is. It really is, you know? It really is!
I've only ever seen pictures, so I wouldn't know. But I can see some bricks, concrete, even from here. It is the platform it once stood on. It is. It has to, a bit to the right, by another huge, metal ring. Did it tear the city down when it fell? I don't know. Such things did happen, so maybe, but who am I to judge, honestly...
But anyway, I'm sitting here, looking at Canterlot, and I'm thinking, even if you know THEM, I can't imagine how much you know about us. How much context you need. And if you haven't met them, then you need all the context in the world! So maybe I'll start from the beginning, you know?
The beginning.
The very.
Or later.
Or here, or then.
Nightmare Moon.
No, just what's needed, maybe.
Cities? Celestia. Luna.
What else.
What else?
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I've never been good at this. I'll just go with my gut, alright?
SO. Here I stand, where all begun. Where all thrived. Here I stand, in the land of Equestria, where we lived for millennia. This is our home, you know? It was.
I still remember how it was before THEY arrived. We flourished, life was good. We lived normally, like everypony with a mind should, but as we learned later not everyone did. We lived our lives among what we have achieved, among the tamed chaos. How could we be different? Well, as I said, it eventually turned out we could. Everypony could. Now that I think about it, this may have actually been what THEY initially saw in us, you know? Yes, actually, it may have, it makes sense. Among all the pointless killing they endured, one species was normal, we weren't possessed like them - as they clearly are, more so even than the griffons used to be. We were normal, we dumped these barbaric practices long ago.
But anyway; I still remember Nightmare Moon's return. When she abandoned the stars and came back, and when the Elements triumphed over the menace, and when, finally, Luna returned to rule side-by-side with Celestia. I was only a foal back them, you know? I didn't understand much, but to this day I remember I felt this... scent, or something, of importance in the air. Everypony was just so... tensed up... happy, sad, cheering. And I, young as one can be, just sat there, not understanding much; but even then I was excited as never before - for some reason, I was. I didn't get it at the time, but I surely do now - it was amazing. Amazing - truly, truly amazing. Amazing. For a thousand years we ponies sang songs about Nightmare's banishment. For a thousand years, we wrote legends and novels about these events, to the point where they kind of became legendary, you know? Legendary. They eclipsed everything else for an entire millennium. It was such an important event, and yet it occured so long ago... So long it almost became mythical.
But it didn't. And now, after all those years, suddenly WE were witnessing something equally important. Something that was to be remembered for another millennium, and more even, as the Royal Sisters continue to rule for thousands of years, reunited!
How could we know back then that their positions would soon be... made redundant. By fate itself, if you wish.
But it was incredible, truly! It really was! It was us, get it!? From all the generations, all the times we could live in, it was US who witnessed this. US. Such an event. It was amazing. Truly, incredibly amazing. I'm not A.K. Yearling to be able to describe what I mean, like, in-depth, and in a way you honestly feel it as well - sorry for that, I guess. Just know that, once I grew up, I eventually realized - it was incredible, that simple fact. Truly, incredibly, unfathomably incredible; in the purest, truest meaning of the term.
And then, when I couldn't possibly think that something more impactful, important, will ever happen in my life, THEY came. Luna's return was nothing; THEY came. They came. Did they come to you too? Or maybe you've heard how they do it? Metal descended from above, and for that moment, Celestia's graceful sun was no more; Luna's sky vanished in a blink, even though it was day. We gazed and saw, and beheld, the steel titan. The steel titans, as there were many, as there was a Legion.
And they came, and lurked, and rained, but as we braced, they fell not, they schemed not. The host of metal, the steel legion, but floated, and a grey canopy set about over our land.
However, as we prepared ourselves for the titans' demise, knowing the Sisters and the Elements will soon save us, they did not act. Days and nights passed under the gloomy ceiling, and no signs came, neither from Canterlot, nor the titans themselves.
Actually, now that I think about it, at that very moment we should've already known something was wrong.
Or... was it? I don't know anymore. Not really. And quite frankly, I don't care - but I still believe it was.
But then, a miracle happened - Celestia and Luna stepped out to the ponies of Canterlot - or so they say - together with somepony new, somepony... strange - someone alien. Friendship had won, they were but our new brothers, this new race - not from Equis, but from beyond - that we would now live with, as we already had been with others. That, or something similar, I don't know. I didn't hear these speeches, so, well, you know, just citing Equestria Daily here - or, more accurately, what I remember they wrote, which is next to nothing. Oh, well...
I've never been in Canterlot, and maybe for the better... okay, who am I kidding, for the worse. But hey, I have to cheer myself up somehow, alright? At least in these final moments... Let a foal dream.
But anyway, this announcement was unbelievable for us, you know? Not the part about a new race, no, nor the one about newfound friendship - for this was nothing but optimistic. No, something else bothered us.
In fact, I wrote it clear as day, up there, a few paragraphs. You see!?
Did you catch it?
Did you? Did you?
You must have! Or maybe you didn't? Look again, then!
...
'You'.
I need a break. I'm sorry. And I have to move again.
I'm tired. I rest a lot. Not good.
Hello once more. Forest Light here. I hope you missed me. Who am I kidding, you didn't. What for me was dozens of hours, for you just a short glance downwards. Hah! But not to change the topic in its very middle...
What I meant these few paragraphs prior, what was unbelievable for us when those strangers - well, those aliens, why bother with mysteries anymore - arrived, was of course their origin - which was beyond Equis. I don't really know why I decided to write... well, what I wrote last time, by the way. I guess I must've simply been exhausted, I remember the scorching sun was especially burning back then, with very little clouds to obscure it. But anyway, I'm going to be clear from now on. Sorry for that.
So, where was I? Oh, yes, right. These new arrivals, these steel titans, were from beyond Equis! I understand now that it ain't a miracle, that one can traverse the stars and settle there, make it home. If you came here, then most likely considering it weird is even stranger to you - you've just made such journey yourself, after all. But remember, we've never even thought about entering the void - space - before. We technically knew it was there, or at the very least that something was, but, you know, I think we've never really registered the possibility - not realistically. No such thoughts ever occured, and quite honestly I can't tell why. I guess 'world' had always meant just Equis for the ponies.
Whereas for them it was so much more. Entire planets, our whole reality, were nothing more than cities for us - and not even Canterlot or Manehattan, no. More like Dodge Junction.
Such was the species, the empire we were to be dealing with. So advanced, so incredible, and yet in the end so brutal... with so much potential, with a great, creative and deductive mind, able to construct true marvels without the use of magic, but also a mind shattered by their own will... truly a shame they had to be like that.
In their trickery, they fed us with the feeling of safety, they fed us with hopes for an even better world. They fed us with lies.
We were told we were special, we were told great promise lied within us - and just please try to understand, that... how could we know back then this only concerned the ponies?
We were told we'd soon rise to the stars alongside them, but to do so, we had to change. We had to prepare.
And so, soon that change began - thousands and thousands of... well, everything - plows, radios, carriages - left the factories every day, in numbers yet unseen, each sturdier, smoother, more practical than the one before. Here we were, witnessing something unfathomable - products came in amounts uncountable, but it was nothing like these madponies Flim and Flam had developed and ferried to every town across Equestria for just a slice of attention - and profit, of course. No, this was different, these new products lacked nothing! Furthermore - they were even better than their hoofcrafted kin! Mass production had entered our lands.
In the coming months, this was taken further. They promised to show us where they came from and where we'd soon be going as well. Oh, what joy it brought us, what excitement, you cannot imagine, trust me. Entire towns cheered at that promise, even more so than ever. Equestria drowned in confetti.
Princess Luna was the first to visit the abyss, her reaction never precisely reported, and only described as bewilderment, amazement. It was not long before others saw space, and then others, in numbers greater and greater. Among this fervor, it was easy not to notice that the griffons and dragons, the zebra... they haven't showed up all that much anymore. And then even less so.
All around us, the world was becoming more and more bleak. Flowers stopped blooming, at least like they used to. Grass was not evergreen anymore, not by the long shot, and tree canopies shrunk by the day, as clouds became darker over our lands - both literally and figuratively.
I remember talking with my friend Lightning Twist, a pegasus, during this time, right after she returned from a business trip to Cloudsdale. It was a weird talk - the first of a long series I'd experience, all the same, all sharing common points. Anxious, nervous, and somehow... out-of-place, I think, Lightning explained - quite curiously still keeping the normal optimism about the aliens - how the pegasus crown jewel was not like it used to be anymore. She talked about grey clouds all around, with no sight of the usual white flush. She talked about the lost vibe the place used to have.
But even as we saw our world struggle all around, we wanted more. The machinery that gave abundance had left us in want. We exploited, and exploited, and exploited. We could satisfy our needs no longer, as - and this, despite everything, I have to state clearly - ponies wanted more. Ponies proposed more. It was us, yes, US who decided to cover our eyes and ears and keep exploiting - but do you think they helped us!? Do you!? No!
These scoundrels just watched. Yes, they had advised us to calculate, to be careful, but beyond this, NOTHING came! Get it? Nothing! I imagine now this must've been what they told you, if you know them that is, right? That we destroyed ourselves in our greed? NO! It was them! Noone but them! When we struggled, they did nothing, while they clearly COULD! THEY COULD! How cold a heart you need to have to be so... insensitive? How could you be that insensitive at all!?
They watched us unknowingly walking towards disaster, with a wild smile on our faces, but THEY did see the aftermath, they realised what awaited us! They had all the power to act, and yet, what did they do!? NOTHING!
In these times of greatest need, their promises of protection boiled down to nothing more than just passive watching. Yes, you read that right, don't go back - passive watching. Could you believe it? It sounds absurd, I know, I know, I know very well, believe me I do! But it is true, it really is. Why would they even do that!? Why would anypony do that!?
While we bathed in our newfound abundance, the technological marvels they had provided, we didn't notice as their assistance was, gradually, retracted, and before we knew it - which we knew never - they didn't assist us at all anymore. They didn't advise. They simply scrutinized - like we used to scrutinize magic and spells, they now scrutinized us.
And, watch this, when our downfall becomes more and more clear, you know what they do!? They make us build these Celestia-forsaken RINGS in the abyss, these steel titans of our own - you know, a metal complex in the middle, connected in several places to a vast, vast surrounding ring.
These constructs - these space stations - were supposed to be our 'gateways into space', allowing us to finally depart into the great, unknown void. And, as you might imagine, or expect, or... to hay with it, who cares about wording anymore; but yeah, hearing this made ponies completely lose their minds. There was no way we'd avoid the inevitable anymore - everypony was just simply, plainly... too deluded.
And it was all their doing. Do you get it now? THEIR. Not ours! Was it our fault that we seeked the unknown!? That we wanted to venture into the stars, we wanted to discover? That we wanted to live even better lives? NO! Why the hay would it ever be, I just don't get it! Why? Why!?
Can you explain? Please, for Celestia's sake, explain me, a last favor, damnit! Please! You are more similar to them. You may be, alright!? YOU MAY. IF YOU SHARE THIS UNDERSTANDING, say WHY! JUST WHY. PLEASE, DAMNIT. I don't get it! Why fault us!? We did nothing! NOTHING!
...
Who am I kidding... there is no 'you'. There probably never will, and even if so, you obviously can't answer. I'm just writing words on a stupid piece on paper.
There is nopony. There will never be again. Never. Never. Never. Never
Somepony come. Please come. Please Please Please ~~pleasepleaseple~~asepleaseplease
I'm so alone alone alone
Hi again. Sorry for cutting off so abruptly earlier, I just... I guess I needed a little break, you know? I think I did.
My whole side is aching. I can't stand the scorching sun anymore, I really can't, I think I'm gonna die if I have to endure this thing any longer. I swear it's getting hotter by the minute, I do. If it only went down, just for a while... not anymore.
I think this might be the endgame, you know? It really may. It really may... at last.
It's clear now I won't hold on. I'm not deluded anymore. Shelters are running out, and even if they weren't, how am I supposed to survive? The ground is cracked and barren, nothing rustles, nothing grows.
Barely anything flows.
Even the ruins, of the metal rings that is, seem to agree. I've seen three collapse under their own weight over the last hour. It's like everything, everywhere is giving me signs...
'This is the end, my friend.'
This is the end indeed... but it is the end of so much more. It isn't the end of what began in a hospital in Manehattan thirty eight years ago, no. It isn't the end of my life.
It is the end of what began a thousand years ago with Discord's petrification. What began centuries earlier in a freezing cave in the snowy North.
What began millions of years ago, when the first pony lit up their horn.
With me dies ponykind, Equestria, the diarchy... actually, no, scratch that; that last one is already dead. And the second as well.
...
I need to move. The tree is falling apart, the sun will soon be upon me.
I... don't think there's a point in running anymore, you know? What do you think? Don't answer, there's no need. I've already decided.
Looking for shelter makes no sense anymore, not at all. Yes? Yes.
Maybe I... maybe maybe
Ma~~ybe I~~
Maybe I
Should May~~bemay~~
M I should seek my grave? Graav gravgr maybemaybemayee
Thank you, granny. It does help. It really does help. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I'm sorry this is the only way I can relay this. Such symbolic way.
Thank you. It helps. Thank you.
Screw the explorers. Nopony will ever find this. Nopony will ever find this. There is nopony. There is nopony. There is nopony.
~~Nop~~onynoponynoponynoponynoponynoponynoo
Why am I even writing this ?? Why wHY jIioeopszjal
Okay, once more, I'm scribing.
Hello, me! I hope you're having a wonderful day! Are you?
No, I'm not, me, you know that, me. I'm not. How could it be wonderful? How would it ever be?
But me, why are you so sad?
The same reason you are, little Forest Light. The same reason you are.
Seriously? Are you truthful, me? Are you truthful, Forest Light?
Yes, I am. I am very serious. I am very truthful. And you know it, don't you, me?
Why would I know, me? How would I?
Well, let me tell you something, dear Forest Light. For, you see, we are all the same, yes? We are both one. We are one.
...There is one...
Who am I kidding? Why did I even sit back with it again? Why!? I guess I'm just addicted. And right when I thought I no longer am. It must've been hundreds of hours since I last took this thing out, it would've been days if the sun still moved, instead of staying in one place, burning the hay out of this world.
Why do I do this? Because it helps.
Why do I keep questioning? Why do I even wonder? I do what I do. No matter. Nothing will matter anymore, there's just one outcome.
So... hello, alien explorer, I guess. I know you don't exist, I know you never will. I've accepted it long ago. Some time.
I think I, like, subconsciously clung to this thought, that there is somepony else, somepony I may still be somewhat communicating with, you know? Irrationally, to keep myself alive. To keep myself sane. And it DID work for me, it surely did.
But now? Now I am alive, but not for much longer. Am I sane? I don't even know.
So... why do I keep writing 'you', addressing somepony, as if there was a recipient? Hah, a good question! A really good one!
Unfortunately, however, the answer is not interesting at all. Frankly, it is quite simple: I want to finish what I've started. Finish the story. Tell you everything, whether you truly are an alien explorer, archeologist or whatever, or another pony, hiding somewhere, in a place incomprehensible, or even just air, or wind, or the infinite void of space - as THEY have described it. I want to finish what I've started. I want to finish this, before that last, lonely tree I'm now lying under, in the middle of the vast plains by what must've once been Canterlot, collapses as well, and this place, with the last decent view in existence, becomes my grave - a role I've chosen for it myself.
So, where was I, my final friend?
I see.
I've checked.
Not much remains, by the looks of it.
Well...
By the time we learned of the imminent downfall, we realised what our actions had brought upon this world, their help was here no longer. When all delusion faded, we pleaded for advice, we pleaded for help, but nobody answered. And so we pleaded, and pleaded, and pleaded, each time more desperately, and as wild cries for help filled our world thoroughly, they answered - oh, did they answer.
They told us we've failed our test, we failed to modernize, we were eliminated by the 'great filter' - which I have no idea what they meant by, for the record. Sorry. Nopony had. Maybe you do, though?
They told us we wasted our potential, the promise that lied within us, and that by doing so, we've closed our way to the stars. That they would not assist us anymore.
And then, they left. Steel legion adorned the skies no more. It was only at that moment most ponies realised our guests had actually retracted all assistance long before.
And so, we were left with nothing. We could satisfy our needs no longer. Equis was destroyed, and even reverting back to old, inefficient ways was not an option anymore. It would give nothing, yield no results. Earth pony magic or not, no difference.
When all options failed, when our world was collapsing right beneath our hooves, panic spread - rational or not, no matter. Ponies rioted, took out to the streets, ransacked the few stocks that were left. I remember it was scary to even stick one's muzzle outside for a few seconds, that was the degree to which we'd degenerated. Every time I ventured to the streets, in search for nothing less than materials to survive, I was met with one of two sights: all venues were either abandoned, wind whistling in my ears as I traversed them, or sprawling with life, but not life how it used to be. No, instead of normal ponies doing normal, like, you know, usual stuff, the streets were filled with what was basically an army descended into civil war, everypony fighting with one another for Celestia-knows-what - but presumably, the very same things I desired.
Well, surely even - it's not like I wasn't involved in those fights, right? Of course not. Of course not, I was. Hay, one of them was how I lost my horn - from the base up, the entirety, severed in its very connection to the skull. Poor me, huh? Not really, more like, insanely lucky me. Or maybe not. Depends on if you want to live forever, it's the same thing. If you do, you may desire my fate. If you don't, well... take a guess.
Oh, one thing I didn't mention: remember the griffons? You know, the ones I wrote about earlier, or at least I think I did. It's a different species, that- actually, to hay with this, that's enough. It was a different species on Equis. If I said something earlier, great, you know what I'm talking about, and if I didn't, then well, that's too bad. Not like it matters, you don't exist anyway.
So, the griffons? The zebra, the dragons? Some ponies went to visit their friends or family that lived on their lands in these turbulent times - because of course they did, why wouldn't they, that's normal, right?
Only when they came back and spoke of what they'd seen did it truly come to us.
There was nothing there. Not a single being. Throughout all this mess nopony noticed as, somehow, they killed them off. Killed off, abducted, whatever... eliminated. There was nothing there. There was nothing on their lands. It had only been one species - not the entire planet - that had been given a chance: us, the ponies. We were the only ones who'd been given a chance, and we promptly squandered it. They wrecked us, yes, but let's be honest here... it was our fault as well, wasn't it? It really was... even though we never asked for that 'help' of theirs. If they hadn't showed up, everything would still be normal. It really would. They destroyed us, and only they. Only they.
But yes, that's mostly just about it. Everytime I went on the streets and was met with a mob of ponies, that mob would be smaller, and smaller, and smaller, until eventually, you could practically go into whichever house you wanted and nopony would notice. In fact, you could rearrange the interior however you liked, and it'd stay that way for weeks - that is, if some other looter didn't visit it in the meanwhile, which there was a good chance they did. Basically always.
And so, I began to wander, across Equestria. Everywhere I went, cities were falling, collapsing. It was still easy to come across communities, but the Princesses couldn't really play the government anymore. Hay, getting news from anywhere further than a few kilometers was basically impossible, simply nothing worked. Sad, isn't it? Maybe it isn't. But for me it is, you know? Not the downfall, not the end of ponykind, not that we were unable to revert what was brought unto us - although these things certainly as well.
What is especially sad though is that in these circumstances we became nothing more than them. We abandoned our ways, our NORMAL ways, for Celestia's sake, and became obsessed - obsessed like they were, and likely still are. I know that sometimes one needs to change their habits, their ways, to survive, to carry on, to get by, but... it's still sad they forced us into that misery, into that bloodshed. Into that bloodshed and out of our normal, sane world.
That we failed.
Here, if you're a historian, oh my thought-up alien explorer, I may - very, very sadly at that - have to dissapoint you! For, you see, here my history recount, so to say, gets a little fuzzy. It'll soon be over though, don't worry. You won't have to struggle THAT much, if, you know, by some incredible chance you actually ARE there.
Which you are not, well, surely, there's no way you are. There is no doubt. Sad that simple logic is enough to conclude you aren't. You aren't. You aren't. Only I am.
Only me.
Just me.
Nopony. Nopony.
I apologise, once again. Forgive me, but understand I just need to write, yes? It helps. It does.
About that history, however...
I don't know much. There's only rumour from here on out. Word spread that one day Celestia, our gracious ruler, if you don't know - (which you both do and don't; 'do' because you're, at best, me, and 'don't' because there is no you; clever, ain't it!?) - well, Celestia couldn't bear the blame anymore. She watched her ponies fight and die en masse, cities collapse... the land get destroyed. She'd worked so hard and so long to build what had been built: Equestria like it was, a rational, normal place - a rarity, as it now seems - that when she saw it all fall, collapse right before her eyes, and by what I'd imagine in her book would be nothing but her own, small mistake... I think something just broke inside her, you know?
They say she was so obsessed with saving what was left, preserving all the good that used to be, that she completely lost it. She started calling herself 'Daychanger' (?; I don't remember, sorry; but does it even matter, really? It's all gossip anyway), and, well, she wanted to consolidate what was left under the Crown, harnessing the sun's ultimate power to somehow save the situation... I guess. There are holes in this, I know, but hey, it's not my fault; somepony had to put all the clues together, and that was probably the best they could do. At least they managed to create something.
But anyway, Luna - Celestia's sister and her fellow diarch - opposed this. They battled, for days and days, blah, blah, blah. What you've just read was all rumour.
What is fact in turn, is that nopony has seen any of the two since. They vanished. Nothing was heard, and even the few news I did come by in the complete and utter chaos seemed to be simply, well, riffled with confusion. Nopony knew anything.
Also, the sun ceased to move around that time, so there's that. At this point, I'm pretty sure no eyes remained closed. I can't imagine how you could possibly stay deluded, ignorant, seeing such a thing.
And so, surrounded by ruins, I made my way to Ponyville, which I think is actually somewhere around here - I don't know, I didn't stay there long back then. But yeah, along with some other ponies, two dozen or so, we tried to get to the Elements, the Elements of Harmony that is, to... I don't even know, to be honest. I don't know what they'd be able to do, and I don't really know what we expected. But it didn't matter regardless; one zebra, the only I'd seen in months, Zecora I think was her name, knew where they lived, Celestia-knows how, and so we tried to, you know... pay them a visit. When nopony answered, we broke in, house after house. And then every other building in the town.
Nopony was anywhere. It was a ghost town. We failed, and so the group soon dissipated. I made my way back East.
What else? Well, those that still had stuff, or, with time, those more potent with magic basically became the new Princesses. It was them ponies listened to, marveled at... obeyed. But as months went by, there was less and less. And less. And less even - no, not less 'stuff'.
Less ponies.
Some of these groups attampted channeling spells, to... I don't even know why, to be completely and utterly honest with you. To 'elevate' themselves, I guess. To make themselves immortal, like, immune to starvation, to the heat, etc. - these few things I know, as I once stumbled upon one such group, a dozen ponies, maybe a few more. Truly though, if you looked all across Equestria, motives would've probably been all across the board.
And so, the leader, the one most potent in magic, would cast a spell, then make it jump from one member of the group to another, and another, and another, until... well, until all died. Usually.
Don't believe me? Fine. I don't know what you expect from what were essentially cults. Trust me, every single such group could be called a sect, and there wouldn't be a tinge of exagerration there. Yes, really. Really.
Then, an especially widespread rumour shook the land: Eternal Flame, an... impressive unicorn, so to say, as most news I heard these days regarded her. The most powerful individual in 'Equestria' - and, unfortunately, another cult leader. Cheers, right? Cheers indeed, because she now wanted to save EVERYPONY! How, I wouldn't know, and I quickly dismissed this absurd as either just stupid gossip or a madpony's raving. But soon I, not yet knowing it, saw the last living pony I ever would, and then, after waking up the next day... the only thing I came across were corpses. Everywhere. For hours and hours and hours, until, at last, there was nothing.
They disappeared. Poof. Like everything.
Poof! Not there! Not! Nothing.
Not there, there's nothing! No. Nothing. Poof!
Poof! DISAPPEAR! ALWAYS! EVERYTHING. NOTHING. Nothing left.
I am the last. I am the last. I am the last. ~~The last The last The last The la~~st The last The
Do you understand now!? They broke my horn off! Completely! Severed me from magic! Well, nice! When Eternal cast her spell, it affected them, everypony, but not me! Not me! I was severed from magic! Completely! Completely!
...
Sorry...
But yeah, that happened. Really. Don't believe me? Don't, then. See if I care. You're not there anyway.
It was an incredible coincidence. It must've been, I see no other explanation. My horn had been severed in a perfect, exactly perfect way. I likely became the only pony disconnected from magic, as I had no pegasi flight or earth pony resilience. I didn't have their, you know, passive magic. I was severed, I became severed. In a sense, I kinda became like them, you know? Hah. Heh. Huh.
And I survived. And they did as well - they had survived everything, as it seems. Is it for the good?
The former, I don't know. The latter? Don't ask me. You may know them yourself.
But this is it. The end. I've been left alone, all alone, on a dying world. How ironic, that it seems only those faulty endure, or survive, or whatever. Them with their berserk, warring nature, and me - disabled without a horn.
Did I just call myself 'faulty' just because I'm technically disabled?
They truly did manage to make us barbarians. They truly did.
I'm tired. Less strength then usually. Even in the shadow the sun stings. The scorched earth hurts.
Here I'm signing off, reader. Whoever you are. Farewell. Good luck, whatever's your endeavor.
It's... it's incredible, isn't it? We've faced villains in the past, but we prevailed. Our friendship and forgiveness have prevailed, with the use of their great power. We've defeated foes thought of as nearly almighty, blessed with great, great strengths. We've had heroes so incredible, great and powerful, able to stand up to everything that threatened Equestria...
And then this civilization appeared, and showed us our real place. Showed us how there existed powers for whom we were but mere crumbs, against which we couldn't do anything regardless of how much we wanted and tried. We were at their mercy.
And, well, they've destroyed us through, what, a failed test? Completely and utterly destroyed. I can only imagine how an actual attack would go...
For all those struggles, all those great dangers, foes, villains we've defeated, all the great heroes, both living and from the vast annals of Equestrian history... before them we were nothing. They showed us we were nothing. They showed us our true, honest place.
We were nothing.
