Diu vixit. Natura integra.
Prologue
Written by: Slayerbrony
In a hotel off the side of Las Vegas, there sits a man with a glass of scotch in his hand and staring out the window. It was the year 2025 and the world calmly and anxiously awaits the decision of the leaders of the world.
Do they launch the nukes to save themselves? Or do they simply negotiate?
To the man this did not matter. He had seen countless wars. He had seen them end, and had seen them begin. He didn’t even care anymore. He would simply watch as the world burned.
No this man wasn’t invincible. Not this man had no regeneration abilities. His body simply refused to die. He had been stabbed, slashed, drowned, burned, buried alive, and even shot multiple times in the chest. Yet he didn’t die. He felt every second of pain they each brought and he lived through it. Age seemed to plainly ignore him as well seeing as he was practically stuck in a state of a middle aged man. This was his curse. He would watch everything that this world would go through and live to tell about it.
This man was called longaevus (Long-A-Vus), he chose it from Latin meaning 'Long lived'. He though his was quite fitting for him as he took this name over many others as it was one of the only things he cared to remember. He was six foot even and had coal black hair along with a five O'clock shadow to help complete his slobbish look. His black suit was undone and tattered, his white undershirt untucked and his pants wrinkled from the night’s events all covering his scarred and broken body. His almost cold and unforgiving ice blue eyes had an almost permanent tone of apathy to them.
He sniffed as he gazed out the window and took a slow sip from his glass. Licking his lips to clear them of the flavor of his beverage, he simply got up and walked to the window as he heard the audible siren from the evacuation shelter. He sighed as he knew what would happen next. The bomb would hit. People would die. War would erupt. And he would simply sit and watch.
But somehow this time was different. As he watched the missile cruise from the sky, leaving a sickening trail of thick black smoke, he realized something.
“This is the end. This is the end of humanity. May life...” He said with a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “... Begin a new!”
He finished his drink and let it drop to the ground before he raised his arms in the air as if he was trying to signal someone and held them there as he saw the missile smash into the middle of the city. With a massive, blinding, white glow the explosion tore through the cities incinerating everything in it’s wake. The blast hit his hotel making the building crumble and burning the clothes on his body leaving charred and barely holding clothing hanging from his body.
As the building crumbled underneath him, he frowned. He survived the blast. He let out an angry growl before he shouted out his frustrations as he fell into the depths of the ruins that used to be a hotel, burying him alive. Here was his tomb. His everlasting torment until he was unburied. Tears simply escaped his eyes as he closed them. He would sleep. He would ignore the hunger. The malnourishment. The dehydration. Everything. Until the sun hit his eyes, he would not even think of opening his eyes.
And here he waited. Pondering his past, sleeping, and waiting for the sun to shine on him again. The only three things that ever crossed his mind.
=+-+=
Here in Las Pegasus, there was a excavating team unburying the ruins of an archeological find that would shape the history books of Equestrians everywhere! A lavender Alicorn oversaw this dig as it would be extremely important that every high end scholar was here to see what would be undug from the clutches of the unforgiving dirt.
Twilight took in a deep breath of air as the last of the dirt was taken away. She exhaled it nervously as she watched the dig teams pull pile after pile and mound after mound of dirt up to the normal level of ground to be taken and placed into the ever increasing hills of dirt that dotted the land around the dig.
Twilight was nervous, if not slightly terrified, of what she would find in these ruins of a culture long passed. Celestia was adamant that she be here, as she would need to have a great responsibility some time. As the last of the dirt had been pulled out a mud and grime covered earth pony stallion with a shovel on his back came running up with a smile.
“Princess Twilight! We have uncovered the ruins! They are able to be accessed now!” He said almost hopping in place. Twilight’s excitement, and nervousness, was so great that she was afraid she would faint right there and then.
“Well what are we waiting for! Grab the flashlights and let’s go!” She said with a grand smile running down into the hole of dirt as the other pony bolted off to the supply tent to grab the flashlight helmets.
No more than a few minutes later Twilight, along with a team of several diggers, archaeologists, and a couple anthropologists, were taking their first steps into the broken entrance of the ruins. As they walked in they immediately noticed several things. One being, that this particular ruin seemed to be the living area of somepony, if not many ponies. Even more curious, the technology they found, some broken, some still in operable condition, was far more advanced than they hoped to see in their lifetime, save for Twilight.
They grabbed several devices, art pieces that littered the halls, and bits of decorative items like furniture and some vases. As they were exiting, Twilight found something rather fascinating. It was a large pile of rubble that seemed to be in the corner of the room near the entrance. Even stranger still this rubble seemed almost out of place. As if what was there was not meant to be there. She had seen it when she had come in and paid it no mind at first, but now that she had a second glance, something almost seemed a miss. She walked over to the rubbled, noticing that Celestia’s sun was low enough to provide light enough for her to take her helmet off and she inspected the rubble.
As she looked over the pile of rocks and concrete she found a small piece of burnt cloth, long decayed and possibly petrified. She tugged at it for a moment, but failed to retrieve it as it was firmly stuck into place. She gave a small huff before using a bit of magic to lift some stones away to grab the specimen.
“I can’t simply leave this here! It would be silly to pick up everything and leave this small sample here to decay in the dark.” She justified as she took the stones away. One by one they floated away until she found something that made her heart stop. Something that made all the stones in her magical grip drop to the ground. Several ponies ran in to see what the commotion and to make sure there wasn't a cave in. The main digger, a mare clad in a hard hat and a shovel firmly strapped to her back, was the first to reach Twilight.
“Princess Twilight! Are you oka-.... Oh my goddess...” The mare said as she and several other walked over and gazed upon what Twilight had found. “I-is that....”
Twilight nodded almost too stupefied to realize the gravity of the situation. She gulped down a bit of her own saliva to wet her throat before she uttered out.
“It is... It’s a one of them. The... Humans.”
Author's Note
Long lived and The long lived have different Translations in case you are wondering.
Also was it good? Was it bad? Needs more work?
Please comment.
Diu vixit. Natura integra.
Chapter 1: Awakening
Written by: Slayerbrony
This was an extraordinary find! She and her team have discovered a Human! In almost perfect condition at that. She ran up out of the dig site before she simply grabbed a massive tarp in her magic and took it down to the ruins with her as she ran back down. As she arrived, the other ponies were carefully removing the stone from the corpse, making sure not to even touch the body as they removed the stones.
A good ten minutes of moving rubble and the body was free. Twilight smiled excitedly as her horn lit up and she attempted to pick the Human corpse up. She got a expression of confusion and slight worry as her magic simply turned to mist as it attempted to grab her. With a few more tries she was able to slightly move the body about an inch before her magic gave out, leaving her terribly exhausted.
“What’s the problem Princess? Are you hungry or tired?” The dig pony asked worriedly. Twilight shook her head and sat up straight still panting a bit.
“It’s this... Body.” She said careful to not say anything more grim. “Whenever I try to pick it up with magic, it’s like trying to pick up a wet bar of soap!”
“That is.... Amazing! This would explain why all of the books said they couldn’t use magic! Their bodies simply wouldn’t allow magic near, on, or in them!” The pony said almost jumping in place.
“Yes it would. Although we still need to get the body onto this tarp without damaging any part of it.” Twilight said gazing at the corpse. Something struck her as odd about the Human. It seemed that this one in particular was petrified in the stone, but why wasn’t it at least slightly decayed? She walked over to examine the corpse as the other ponies walked away to discuss a plan of how to get the Human out.
As she walked over the sun’s rays escaped from between the shadows of the other ponies and smacked right onto the Human’s face lighting it up for Twilight to see properly. She gasped as she saw the Human's expression. It was terror of death or anger. It was sadness. She felt pity and sympathy for this Human as she turned to walk away.
“-So if we get clamps and gently pull it out, that should we right?” The main digger said looking to her compatriots for agreement. A few nodded while others remained silent. “Princess Twilight, what do yo...”
The pony went dead quiet as her eyes widened and her expression went to one of complete unexpectant and terror as she looked behind Twilight. Twilight looked at herself and got a confused expression as the other ponies soon followed their friends expression slightly more terrorfied.
The sound of stones moving and falling caught her attention as she turned her head slowly, hoping to Celestia that was not what she thought it was. The sound of stones hitting the concrete floor only made her more terrified as she turned her head and succeeding in making a few of the dig ponies run away in fright.
As Twilight’s eyes fell upon the rubble again, she let in a silent gasp of amazement as she saw something that no pony, even Celestia or Luna, could have possibly lived to see.
A living Human.
It stood unsteadily and stumbled a bit as it looked around the place it was in. After a few minutes of it looking around, and the ponies including Twilight backed into the wall, it saw the light of the world for the first time in who knows how long. With brisk, and still unsteady, steps it walked over to the light.
Twilight was the first to snap out of the trance of terror as she realized the royal guards would most likely attack the Human in natural fear. With a jump and flap of her wings she dashed her way over to the Human and stopped in front of it before holding up her hooves.
“Please stop!” She shouted as she winced thinking of what it might do. The Human’s eyes shifted from the light to the small Purple alicorn making it blink. It’s expression was one of apathy before it’s mouth opened up.
“Why?” Was uttered out in a dry, raspy wheeze, still noticeably male. Twilight’s jaw dropped as she noticed she was talking to an actual Human. She shook her head out of the stooper.
“You need to stop because if you go up there, the guards will attack you!” She said hoping to avoid the subject of him most likely being the only human left alive. The Human let out a small sigh as he shook his head.
“Even now there is violence. Wonderful. It’s still not going to stop me from getting something to drink.” He said as he continued to walk up. Twilight used her magic again only for it to simply turn to mist again as the Human walked straight into the light of the world. The entire dig team and Twilight ran up to make sure the Human wasn’t attacked.
Instead what the found was astonishing. He was standing there wide eyed as he looked over the expanding land. It was lush and green with several animals happily playing about the world. He was ignoring the guards that were holding spears to him as he looked around. He finally looked down at the guards before saying in the same raspy tone.
“Can I have a glass of water please?” The guards looked to each other before one nodded and whispered something to his fellow guard. The guard simply held up his spear before he walked off and soon came back with a canteen. He slowly and carefully walked over to the Human and held it out.
The human whispered out a ‘Thank you’ before slowly and gently grabbing the canteen and twisting the cap off before taking a long drink from the canteen, gulping several times. By this time Twilight and her dig team were back up and ran to the guards.
“Guards! Leave this creature alone! He is the last of the Humans!” Twilight blurted out before covering her mouth with a hoof as the guards looked at each other before backing down. The Human looked to her for a moment before he chuckled and went back to drinking what was left in the canteen. As he finished he let out a small sigh of relief before looking to Twilight.
“So all the Humans are dead eh?” He said as his voice was no longer awful or raspy. More gentle and deep. Twilight held her breath for a moment before letting it out and nodding.
“Well good riddance.” The human said much to the ponies surprise. “Humans were an awful bunch anyhow.”
Twilight blinked before furrowing her brow and slightly puckering her lips in confusion. “What do you mean Humans were an ‘Awful bunch’?” She asked curiously.
“Well not all of them, but there were just enough bad guys in the world to make the good ones seem like ants by comparison.” The human said shrugging before he sat down in the dirt. “I may be exaggerating, but my point still stands.”
“I see... Well, I am sure that waking up after all this time is distressing-” Twilight began with a kind tone before the Human held up a hand to silence her.
“Please. All I would like is an actual bed to sleep in. You don’t have to try and spoil me.” The Human said with a frown. “I fu-... Hate spoiled people. Or in this case equines.”
“Just wait till you meet Blueblood.” Twilight muttered under her breath before smiling at the Human. “Of course. If you would not mind, we have a few questions for you before we... Escort you to the princess.”
“There’s a monarch now? Huh. Haven’t lived under that for a while... This will certainly be an experience.” The Human said wetting his lips a bit before looking around. “So... New world. Where can I find a book on it’s history?”
Twilight looked at him strangely before shaking her head. “You will be filled in our history later mister... Oh I completely forgot!” Twilight groaned as she facehoofed. She groaned one more time before removing her hoof from her face and smiling at the Human. “Where are my manners? My I ask your name?”
The Human looked at her and gave a small smile before holding out his hand for her. “The name is Longaevus. Pleased to meet you.” He said as Twilight put her hoof in his hand and shook it.
For Twilight, this action wasn’t unfamiliar to her, but the strange feeling of the five small fingers gave the action a bit more depth for her. It was the same as shaking hoof and talon with a griffon or hands with a Minotaur, but they always shook her hooves harder than Applejack did when they first met her. This Human’s way was gentle, but still held a firm grip and shake.
“May I ask your name now?” Longaevus said with his same small smile. Twilight shook her head out of her mini-trance and smiled back.
“I am Princess Twilight Sparkle and it is a honor to finally be meeting a real life Human.” She said as her smile grew a little larger at remembering that she was meeting the first living Human, well for them the first living Human.
“Princess? Is there a queen as well?” Longaevus asked as he let go of her hoof. Twilight was about to open her mouth then thought about it for a second.
“Well... No actually. That is rather strange now that I think about it.” Twilight said scratching her chin with a hoof. Longaevus shrugged and stood up to his full height casually dwarfing everypony there with his height. “Wow... It still amazes me how tall your kind was.”
The Human let out a small chuckle and coughed a bit before frowning. “Anyway. You said that you had some questions for me. May we discuss them over something to eat?” He asked forcing a weak smile.
Twilight hadn’t noticed it before, but this Human was rather skinny, almost nothing but flesh and bones. She almost gasped in horror before quickly nodding and began to lead him to a tent to get them all out of the heat, but not before telling a nearby worker to bring food to her tent.
=+-+=
Twilight watched in awe as the Human sat down and crossed his legs in one swift, fluid motion at the small table that was in the center of the tent. She trotted over to the other side of the table and sat down smiling happily as Longaevus inspected the tent he resided in. He sighed and coughed a bit more as he looked back at Twilight.
“I apologize for not being more vocal, but being stuck in a tomb of concrete for, who knows how long, really dehydrates you.” Longaevus said making Twilight get confused.
“What do you mean? Weren’t you in any form of stasis?” Twilight asked making Longaevus give a weak, but meaningful chuckle.
“No, my dear.... Winged unicorn.” Longaevus began.
“Alicorn actually...” Twilight corrected with a sheepish smile.
“Alicorn, my apologies.” Longaevus said. “I did survive that time, but not in the way you think.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, “There is no way you just survived sitting there with no food or water.” Twilight chuckled at such a propertus idea. Longaevus simply stared at her not saying a word. Twilight blinked and began to stutter.
“Y-you can’t be s-serious...” Twilight said beginning to freak out a little as Longaevus simply stared at her. “Th-there’s no way you lived that long and didn’t die. I-it’s just not possible!”
“Miss Sparkle, I must tell you that as silly, stupid, idiotic, and completely unbelievable as it may be, I sat in the stone tomb for however long it has been. I didn’t have any food, water, and barely any air to breath is not any.” Longaevus said grimly. Twilight slowly brought her hooves to her head and rubbed her aching temples before she looked at him and quietly asked.
“H-how?”
“To be honest, I don’t even know myself. I found out when this man tried to spear me to death. I passed out from pain and when I woke up, I had a three meter wide pool of blood around me and I was still bleeding.” He said lowering his head. “I was in such great pain. I didn’t move until three days later, and by then a pond of my blood was nearby.”
Twilight dry heaved for a moment before putting a hoof to her mouth. Longaevus just sighed and put his bony elbows on the table before leaning forward on them.
“Miss Sparkle, do not ask about what I have endured. I don’t want to relieve that pain again, and I certainly don’t want to put you through it.” Longaevus said smiling weakly again. Twilight just smiled back, albeit slightly gagging off to the side once or twice trying to clear her mind of that image.
“Alright, I will trust you on what you say. So how do you live? Is it magic? Is it regeneration?” Twilight asked with curiosity and finally stopping with her gagging.
“I have no idea my dear little alicorn. All I know, is no matter how many times I am fatally wounded I feel every second of it and it takes it’s sweet time to heal.” He said running a skinny hand through his hair. Twilight simply nodded and pulled out a stack of parchment and quills along with a few inkwells.
“I would like to ask you a few questions about Humans in general if you don’t mind.” Twilight said smiling widely. Longaevus gave another smile and nodded as the pony from earlier brought a tray of fruit and water in.
“Here is the food you requested Princess Twilight.” The pony said as he set the food down, casting awed glances at the human. Twilight thanked the pony before he scurried off.
“Shall we begin?” Twilight asked as Longaevus took a apple and bit into it, savoring the flavor like it was a fine wine. He smiled a relieved smile as he looked back at Twilight.
“Of course, Princess. Who am I to refuse royalty?” He said chuckling as he took another bite.
Author's Note
This guy has WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much time on his hands. And much more patience than me.
