Author's Note

I go in and out of referring to Nightmare Moon in her disguised form in this. Attempting to keep fresh in the mind, who the group of humans were really talking to.
Unlike the first half: This is all of the doom, gloom, and sadness.

My inspirations were the subtexts found in things like: RE/Biohazard, and the Fic: 'Bane' (a great read).

The Mystery of the 21st Century City: Last Impressions

Standing before the group of mystery seekers; was what appeared to be a man. Dressed formally, he looked to be of retirement age, though the way he spoke made him seem much older.. antiquated even.

Only a few meters from them, he was almost in the way of the doorway they entered through.

"Who, who're you!?" Eric challenged the stranger.

"The name I go by in this era is unimportant. However, I am the one responsible for the founding of this city, and the construction of all that you have seen here." The stranger replied.

Taking a step towards them, they retreated a couple of steps back.

"Please, be at ease. I am the last person that would do you harm. In fact, it was I whom left the doors unlocked for your entry. I wanted to meet you, and talk to people openly one last time" he told them.

"What do you mean; 'Openly'? And what do you mean you were expecting us? And what is all this?!" Aaron demanded, gesturing around him at the incubators.

Nodding thoughtfully, the strange man before them answered;

"I have been laboring in secrecy for the last many decades, and in doing so; has left me wanting for a real conversation. One not steeped in subversion, or secrecy of silence nor untruths. To be frank; Your arrival here is of a much needed service to me, and for that, I am thankful should you indulge me" He replied.

Taking a breath and looking over the assembled group, he continued;

"To answer your second question; Yes, I knew of your attempt to seek the answers to your questions, and what day that would occur. I, have the ability to know such things" he finished.

"How? Are you like, a mind reader or a fortune teller?" Joey asked with disbelief in his voice.

"The answer to that would be more of a yes, than it would be a no. However, both of those answers would rely on the supposition that I was like you are. That, is not the case" he answered.

"Pfft. Oh, I get it, you're an alien right?" Mark mocked him.

"I know of a way to make this clearer to you. If you would please take out your phones and watch them closely?" he prompted them.

Begrudgingly, they did, if only to appease the eccentric rich guy with dementia.

While watching the screens and not touching them; their personal unlocks were entered, their picture apps came up, and all of the pictures they took since they arrived were deleted before their very eyes. Following that, their phones acknowledged that they were powering off.

"That should save you some battery as well, as there is no service down here" he added.

Looking up from their phones, they looked to each other. Finally, Mark broke the silence;

"How did you do that? You entered my password!"

Giving a nod, the strange man answered;

"Indeed. It is not a difficult thing to do, when one has had to practice as often as I have had to do these many years. I did not fund the city's infrastructure on investors alone."

"What are you?" Eric asked him.

"I, am not a human, nor even male. Though you see and here me as one, it is simply a means to live peaceably amongst strange peoples, and achieve what I must. My true form; you have seen depicted in my study. Recall the portraits hung high there?" He asked them.

A few of them nodding, he continued;

"The portrait in the center, is of myself. Of dark coat, and unusual eyes. The two besides mine, are of my kind, which there are only three" Moon finished.

"And where are they?" Leah asked the human looking creature before them.

"Home. Far far from this world. For you see, I was exiled here for my transgressions" Moon replied, a hurt entering his voice.

"What did you do?" Eric asked.

Looking down to the floor with a pained expression, he replied;

"I am ashamed to say, that I attempted a coup against my own kind. And in my anger, I endangered all around me."

"Then why the city, and all of this? Are you going to take over the world?" Mark asked, half believing the strangers words.

Shaking his head, he answered Mark's question;

"Quite the opposite. It is through my not taking rule of this world, that is the reason for all this that you see here" he answered cryptically.

"Then, you are just getting back a piece of what you lost?" Sarah asked.

Shaking his head again, he stepped closer, closing the distance between them somewhat;

"I am doing all of this, so that I will not be alone in the coming times. So that there will still be voices, and dreams, hopes and love. I cannot abide the silence of endless solitude.." he said softly, sadness saturating his tone.

Taking a deep breath, Moon added;

"This city, is myself making the best of a terrible situation. One that is coming."

"W-what do you mean?" Eric asked him, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

In a startling flash of blue light, a dining room chair appeared next to the human. Taking a seat, he asked if they would like one also, for they would need to sit down after hearing the answer to Eric's question.

A few in the group nodding, if only to see the trick again; caused a number of chairs to appear in the room full of quietly incubating ponies.

Checking to see that the chairs were real, some of the group tested them the old fashioned way. Their legs quite tired by this point, most sat.

Taking a deep breath, the alicorn in human form leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"You are aware of the concept of mutually assured destruction warfare, yes? In which, the balance of power is achieved by potential combatants having similar or equivalent means to wage destruction on the other?" He asked them.

Receiving nods back, he continued;

"The concept of such balance could not stay limited to the realm of massive destruction. As technological capability evolved, so did alternatives. All, searching for the means, correctly assuming the others were as well, I am sad to say. The alternatives, were expected to never be utilized any more than the massive destruction kind ever were."

Looking down, Moon couldn't bear to see the look in their eyes as she prophesied their doom;

"It escapes. A mere prototype of what they were actually striving for..."

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she choked out her next words;

"It.. there were none left! All were silent within a year, I saw it! And I looked, I searched everywhere, for months; Islands, jungles, even icy outposts..."

A tear rolling down his face, there came a flash of anger in his voice;

"They called it a more civil form of weapon... Because it destroyed less Things. And they thought it could be controlled more readily than radiation! Hah, though they could not even consciously control their own base impulses, the fools thought they could control life, down to its smallest and most elusive of forms!"

Rising out of his chair as did his voice; he hurled his words at the group in front of him, his eyes flickering to a slitted turquoise as the illusion faltered;

"They were well wrong, and all everywhere would pay the price, Forever! ..Even myself."

Moons anger fading; the human dropped back into the chair in a slumping fashion.

"No more voices. No songs but what birds could sing.... At least, there would have been, had the last acts of desperation not brought forth the launch of the conventional mass weaponry..."

Looking back up to the paled faces before her, Moon spoke in a defeated voice;

"The final hopeless and desperate acts of the plague, brought repercussions that would echo into hundreds of thousands of years afterward. More so if one considers the complete loss of an individual species, beside the humans..."

Remembering the images she saw, she summarized the devastation;

"Where the plague didn't affect other species, such was its design, radiation largely compensated for it."

Sighing and looking over their heads, he was quiet for a moment.

Bringing his eyes back to theirs, he spoke in a resolute tone;

"No. I will not be dragged unwilling into that future. I will not let the earth and its creatures pay the price for fools final negligence. Their weaponry will not avail them at the end, for I will see to it myself. The earth will continue, it's ecosystem intact, with me and my future family; its stewards."

"But, can't you stop it?! If you can do all that, you must be able to stop it!" Leah pleaded.

"Do you realize what that would entail myself doing; To the thousands of humans wills, possibly the millions or billions that supported them?" He challenged her.

"I would have to perpetually stifle the very will of countless humans; destroy them at the deepest meanings of their existence." he continued.

"But they'd at least be alive!" She countered.

"Would they be? Living without a will of your own.. Is that being alive, young one? Or is that akin to what you call a vegetable?" he asked her.

"What if you just took over to stop it?" Mark asked him.

Laughing, Moon asked him;

"Would a human trust a talking horse, and be ruled by one? If only that could be possible. Even the ones that could, should it even turn out to be half of the humans; would in turn, fall prey to the others who could not. Fighting would be everywhere throughout the planet. Pushing me to either suppress the wills of half, or end their entire lives to even bring a chance of stopping the fighting. Subsequently, the largely willing of the first group, would eventually turn away after my doing so" he finished.

"But.." Joey faltered.

"All of this conjecture is moot. For despite my coup, it is not in our nature to crush masses under our hooves. The circumstances that led me here were unusual and fleeting, and I do not wish to repeat them in any fashion. In fact, our two kinds do have something in common; While we do not always make the best choices, we value the freedom to make those choices for ourselves."

A flash of pity and unease crossing his face, he concluded;

"As so, I must honor humanities choices, wherever it leads them. I will not live your lives for you, nor throw them away. Only you have the purview to do so."

Eric, trembling by this point; grabbed the unused chair next to him, and made to smash anything around him in his frustration.

John, latched his arms onto its legs and struggled with him for a moment.

At first Eric wanted to change his target to John for intervening, but then looked into Johns eyes and noticed the horror in them at what he was doing. With his anger melting into sorrow, his grip on the chair slacked.

Setting the chair back down, John sat Eric down on the chair. And sliding another chair next to his, John joined him.

"That was close!" Joey sighed.

"Sorry about that" Leah apologized, Eric nodding without making eye contact.

"I understand. However, the chair was never a threat. The greatest threat to my little ones here, would be my own shouting earlier, to which I apologize for my outburst in front of you all. This, is the first I have ever been able to speak of what I have seen to anyone." Moon returned the sentiment.

After many moments of silence, Aaron spoke;

"So, there's nothing we can do?"

Shaking his head sadly, the disguised alicorn spoke;

"Philosophy, culture, and technology, intersected to create this.. 'Pandora's box' as you call it. Where; in something of this nature, puts it into free-fall as soon as it is made. The only hands that could catch it before it impacts, would be an immediate and drastic philosophy change. Which from what I understand of humans, would take lifetimes to achieve. Thus, I spent mere decades planning all of this around us, as this could be achieved in the time allowed."

"What's going to happen?" Eric asked.

Taking a deep breath, she answered;

"Once it escapes containment, it will take nearly two months to incubate into noticeable symptoms. During that time however, it will be mildly transmissible. Spreading quickly, it will be carried by the winds as well as birds. When the symptoms do start to show; they will be first ignored, then misdiagnosed, and finally recognized and tracked. Once the symptoms start to show, three weeks.."

Pausing to collect herself, Moon continued;

"As a high security secret of a research that is not supposed to exist, responsibility will not be claimed by any nation. Despite that, tensions will rise as blame is laid in deflection of their own complicity in partaking in such. When the mortality crosses ninety percent of the population, all hope will be lost. The leaders will launch their missiles... and then they will find them crashing down without detonating, their warheads already having been turned to inert carbon... My doing."

With a bitter chuckle, she lamented;

"Had things been different, they would have combed the globe searching for 'the most dangerous creature imaginable' that had pulled their teeth out without them noticing.."

"As well as finding that their fissile materials; both active and disposed, will begin cooling and slowly becoming inert. Inhibiting them from releasing their toxins once there are none to maintain them. As it will be, they shall not have the time to contemplate as to how or why; Possibly attributing it to one of their own deities intervening."

Glancing at Eric for a second, she detailed another event;

"Before that time however, another group of humans will be escorted to my city. Under military convoy, persons of noted value will be brought here seeking refuge from the inevitable. The orders of the escort will be to seize and secure the city on the behalf of themselves, as well as their charges; Requiring my 'liquidation' in the process... I have read their orders."

Moon laughed at the idea of a bullet harming an alicorn, even unconscious.

"They would fail of course, both in seeking my death, as well as escaping what they fled. However, neither the city, nor I will still be here when they arrive."

Sporting a grin at her audience's surprised looks, she elaborated;

"What they will find instead of the city, will be a wide pit in the ground. As if the city were scooped off of the face of the earth. Leaving them no choice except to turn around and find another place to take their charges."

"Where will it go?" John asked their host.

"Little more than a century into time. It is something that I learned of from another where I came from. Though, that city had yet to return in the thousand years that had passed..."

Pausing for a moment, he continued;

"While my city is absent, the world will be healed. Acting slowly, a wave of entropy will break down all that now is. Waste, toxins, cities, landfills, ...remains. All will become wild and green lands once again; leaving only collections of gravels under the surface, divots, and mounds of moved earth to allude to what was once there. Leaving this city the lone surviving thing built of human hands and knowledge, when it returns."

Shaking his head, he spoke again with bitterness in his voice;

"It is most ironic that there are so many that would seek to tear down what would eventually be the last remnants of their world and works. Both the willing investors, as well as those that contributed without their knowledge" Moon finished.

"How did they not know?" Sarah asked.

"I believe you would call it 'Robin Hood'? Numerous business of great wealth found their funds pilfered without realizing it occurred, records altered to disguise where it went, and the minds of those whom job it was to notice; distracted by more important issues at hand over the years. Eventually, they would put the pieces together and come; To tear all of this apart to recoup a little of their losses. However, time is as much their enemy as it is mine." she answered Sarah's question.

"Did the investors know about all this?" Mark asked their host.

"No, they made their choices to invest under somewhat false pretext. Expecting the dividends to be returned to themselves and their children, they shall never live to see them. However, their dividends will be greater than they could possibly envision in the times that will come. Their unknown heirs, keeping a small piece of what was; alive" he said, looking toward the incubators.

"My little ones will defeat the intended results of what will come, robbing it of its goal to bring all to silence and oblivion." he finished with a triumphant smile.

As the group fell into silence as the weight of what surrounded them sank in, the alicorn searched their eyes for words unspoken.

In their eyes was a question that built in intensity until one of them spoke; it was Eric again. Obviously the most impulsive of the group;

"Why? Why tell us all of this? Are you just punishing us for what's going to happen? Payback?" he asked.

Shaking his head slowly;

"No. As I said before, I needed to speak honestly with someone once more. I, am not without flaws, as you have come to know, and am acting selfishly. I had rather speak of this with another, one whom was not going to befall this doom.. However there are none. Both our options; having eroded to only one, in these last days."

Looking down and taking a deep breath, the alicorn addressed them once more;

"As you must realize, our conversation must be kept within these walls. Speaking of what you now know, would only bring yourselves woe as those around you would disregard it. As for the ones that do not, completely; they would come here. And as the work is not yet finished, that must not happen."

Looking back up to them with regret on his face, he said;

"As such is required, your memories of our time together will fade as you leave the city. Your curiosity sated, however without the understanding as to why. Though you shall not remember this nor myself, I shall remember for the both of us."

Standing up, the man spoke;

"As a final parting gesture, I will show you what none others have seen."

The illusion spell dropping; where there was once a well dressed human standing there, now stood a creature they had never seen before in the flesh.

It stood before them with piercing slitted eyes, but its posture spoke of uncomfortable exposure. One of its forelegs raised in uncertainty.

"Now, you see me as I am. The last bit of secrecy I kept with all of you, now shed." Moon spoke softly.

With all of their eyes glued to the creature before them, one of the group eventually asked it;

"Even though it wont really matter, I guess... What's your name?"

Dropping its head slightly, and placing its hoof onto the floor with a clop, she spoke; her voice laden with sorrow.

"Nightmare..." she nearly whispered.

As the moments passed, silence hung in the air.

Closing her eyes tightly, she turned her head from the group before her. Pointing to the door with a wing, she bid them leave;

"Go now. Leave me to my labors, and yourselves to your unburdening of future events. The gates will be open and unguarded to aid your exit; unchallenged. My, best wishes would go with you...would they..." She trailed off, unable to finish.

Moving slowly, they passed by the alicorn as tears began to fall from its eyes.

As he was about to leave through the door, Aaron stopped. Looking back to the creature facing away from them; its wings hanging limply over its silently heaving sides as it stood there, he spoke;

"Thank you... for, saving what you could..."

Not knowing what else to say, he followed the rest through the door, back toward the elevator.

Leaving the strange creature alone once more; A whole world on its shoulders, and with no one to lean on.