I don’t know how much time has passed since I was unceremoniously knocked out. As my eyes start to open, I glance around. This isn’t some empty plot of land, so that’s always good. That’s where the good news ends, of course, because of where it is. This looks to be some sort of cell, concrete with some metal bars that will prevent me from escaping. Well, no, it can’t really prevent me from leaving if I really want to.

Nothing stops time travel.

Another good note is that I know I’m definitely in the future now. I can just feel it. A look down at my device shows exactly what year I’m in, which is exactly the one that I thought I would have been at. Twenty million years into the future, and they used what looks to be medieval style jail cells. Maybe I should say something about that. On the plus side, though, there’s less than no chance that I’m going to be dealing with those crazy dreams of mine.

Maybe I need to figure out what caused it. I need to know what caused those dreams before I bring my parents along. All of that, and I need to figure out if the machine did anything permanent to my brain. As unlikely as that is, I don’t want to bring my parents to the future if it damages their brains. I would be a horrible person to do that, not to mention a terrible son.

Okay, time for me to be serious. I need to figure out why I’m in this prison. I take a couple of steps forward, only to look out and see that this isn’t right at all. Either I’m continuing this dream, which doesn’t seem likely as my head still hurts a little, or this is the future. If this is the future, that means I was completely wrong about one major fact.

There is no human race, there are only talking colorful horses.

“NOOOOOOOOO!” The idea of being surrounded by these creatures, as adorable as they are, just isn’t something that I think is a good one. If this is the future, it means that it will happen regardless. This means that I’d have to find a time before or after them. At some time between the fifty second century and today, there are talking ponies that come into existence. That doesn’t make any sense, I don’t know how that could have happened.

Finding a good time could take forever, even if it is possible.

I look at two guards, the only two guards out there, who seem to be watching the wall more than they’re watching me. I don’t really know what to say about that. “Hey, fellas, you wouldn’t happen to be able to tell me why I’m here, would you?” Neither of them turn to face me, though I do hear what sounds like a sigh. Apparently, neither of them expected to be asked anything.

Maybe they hoped I would just disappear or something, I’m not sure.

“You’re here until we figure out what happened, who you are, how you came here, and why you came here.”

I don’t even know where here is, other than earth. That little piece of knowledge isn’t even something that I can take for certain, considering everything that has gone on already. Earth had horses at one point, I had read that, but they lacked the capability of speech. That wasn’t the only thing though, none of them were as colorful as I had seen before I had been put here.

So obviously they aren’t the same species.

I try to think of all of the things that they can be, if this is real. They could be an alien species that wants to scare me. They could be an alien race of horses. They could still be human, but genetically modified to look like humans. Actually, that last one doesn’t even sound realistic. Humans are proud of their two legged nature, their hands, and their normal sized noses.  Even the person with the biggest nose doesn’t have anything on a horse.

I need to get out of this cell.

“I will be honest and say that I have no real clue how I got here specifically.” It likely isn’t a good idea to bring up time travel, or that I plan on moving more people here. They don’t even seem to know what to do with one person, I don’t know what would happen if I happened to bring two more. “But I came here because I wanted to find a place to stay.” One of the two looks back at me, a confused look on his face. At least, it looks confused to me.

“Why not just stay where you were at?”

Another question I don’t think I should answer completely. “It got old. I mean, imagine living in the middle of nowhere, just your family. Now, my family are good people… but I’ve lived with them for a good twenty years. Time for me to move out, get a place of my own.” I wonder if that’s going to be enough, if he’s going to trust that explanation. It definitely isn’t the truth, but sometimes there are better answers than the truth.

“And your name?” Something about this seems to make him happy. It’s almost as if they really just want some explanation. “Is it really Jack Feathersword?”

“Afraid not, it was a joke in poor tastes.” I pinch my own cheek, just to prove to myself again that I’m awake. “Haven’t exactly been asked my name by talking horses before, after all. Big universe, though, so who knows?” I look at the ceiling. Something tells me that the two of them are giving me a strange look. It’s almost like a sixth sense of mine, I can just sense when people are giving me weird looks.

Apparently, it translates well over to ponies.

Apparently English does, too, which is definitely a benefit to me.

One of them looks to the other. “I have to present this to the Princesses. They’ll know what to do.” The other simply nods to him, though the line itself gave me some important knowledge. There are princesses, which mean there must be a king or queen. Not only that, but it makes this entire thing make sense. The spears, the royalty, and cell, it all fits into a theme. This society has only advanced far enough to be considered where humanity’s Middle Ages were.

I don’t know how I can use that to my advantage, or to get out of here, but there has to be something.

I could always address them as ‘your majesties’. If I’m remembering my reading correctly, that’s how you’re supposed to address royalty. That might show them that I’m respectful, which gets me out of the cell. It doesn’t do much more, but one step at a time is most important. Once I get out of here, I can figure out what the next step is. There is more than one thing that I can do after I get out, after all. While I wait, I might as well list them.

I can figure out if this place is safe, and just use this as a destination. Talking horses are weird, but the safety of my family is more important. The fact that they can talk means that they might make good conversationalists. Another idea is to go back and not think about this at all. I could just pretend that I found nothing, or that it isn’t that something that we want. The third thing that comes to mind is that I can go forward and try to find a time that isn’t ruled over by talking horse. The final thing that comes to mind is to roam this world to find an area that might have something other than talking horses.

It is about this time that a pink horse shows up.

“Princess Cadance. It is an honor to meet you. But are you sure you want to be around the prisoner? We have no clue what he might be capable of, he might be a threat.” At this point, I really don’t know what to say. So there are horses who can talk, horses with horns, horses with wings, and now horses with both horns and wings. Well, at least there’s one horse with both a horn and wings. Things are starting to make even less sense than before, but I might as well go with it.

This is my chance to get out.

“I promise to not do anything, your majesty.” Another thing I remember is that people used to bow to royalty, so I do the same. This isn’t something I’m used to, but this entire situation is something that I’m not used to. I might as well try to get out of here as quickly as possible, and without causing myself too much pain. I’ve read some horrible things about what medieval kings used to do to the people who they threw into their dungeons.

Three princesses, though, that king must be very busy with the queen.

I hear a chuckle, and I stand back up. “He doesn’t look like much of a threat to me.” That might have something to do with the fact that I’m in a cage.

“I have to admit, though, he’s bigger than I expected him to be.”

She seems to be studying me, though her expression is a smirk. Then she snaps to attention, almost as if she realized she has done something wrong.

“Not to ignore you … whoever you are. I just wanted to see what all the commotion was about. Apparently, Captain Armor doesn’t know why you’re in here either.”

I shrug, she shrugs, and the guard just clears his throat.

“We’re going to make sure he isn’t a threat to anypony out there.” And there it is, a weird word. They might speak English, but it has some words I don’t know. Anybody becomes anypony, or maybe it’s anyone becomes anypony. Maybe it’s both. At least that tells me that they don’t really call themselves horses, they call themselves ponies.

Makes sense, they’re small horses mostly.

“I’m no threat.” That isn’t something that I can really prove easily. There is one piece of knowledge that I have that might help.

“I actually don’t even know where I am. The last thing I remember is a flash of bright light, and then the spears were all pointed at me.”

That last part if slightly true, which I know makes for a better lie. The device that is hidden on my wrist did make it to where the last thing I saw was a flash.  Cadance looks into my eyes, almost as if she’s trying to decide if I’m telling the truth.

In the end, she just continued to smile at me.

“It sounds like somepony was teleported her by magic.”

That might seem like the truth to a lot of people. Science often seems like magic to those that don’t understand it. That is doubly true if it’s new technology that barely anybody understands. If somebody were to walk up to me and show the device, I would definitely think it’s magic. Well, okay, maybe not.

I know magic isn’t real.

For some reason, I can’t help but say something about that. “Magic isn’t real, is it? I mean, it’s all science, right?”

This earns laughter, though it doesn’t sound like she’s mocking me. “Afraid it is.” With that, I see her horn light up. A bucket in my cell starts to move, straight up. It’s about three feet into the air before it’s dropped. The look on my face as I see it, one of complete disbelief, apparently amuses the guard.

“Okay, that’s amazing. How did you do that?”

“Magic.”

That doesn’t even seem like a good answer. “Listen, why don’t I let Auntie Celestia explain it better.” She looks as though she’s going to let me out, but now both guards are standing in front of her. Apparently, the other guard had shown back up at some point.

“Are you sure about this, your majesty? This could all be a trap.”

“He has nothing other than the clothes on his back. I doubt he can do anything to anypony here.” The door of the cell lit up, just like the bucket had, and soon enough it was open. “Besides, he went down with a single kick to the back of the head… I’m told. If you really feel so worried, why don’t you join us? You can watch the scary monster over there.”

That’s what I am to them? I guess there are worse things.

“I should probably call you something other than monster, that’s just rude. Why don’t you tell me your name?” There is something about the request, something about the fact that she’s been nothing but kind, that makes it seem like a small request. This might be, of course, because this is nothing but a small request.

“Roger Fleitas.”

“Well, Roger, I’m sure Celestia will be happy to meet you.”

I don’t know why she’d say that. Royalty, at least those in the books I read, were hardly thrilled with meeting the common folk. I don’t think I’m royalty, so that makes me a commoner.

One question pops into my head, though, as I start to walk. If this pink pony can do this, what does that say about the others? If she’s bringing me to Celestia, it means that the hierarchy of this group has Celestia having more authority. If that is because of strength, it means I’m going to be meeting a pony that could probably kill me at any point if she wanted to.

I definitely needed to behave.

As we keep walking, Cadance clears her throat. Apparently, she just said something. “So, since I got you out of prison… I’d hope you could tell me more about yourself. I mean, I’ve never seen a hairless ape before. If Twilight were here, she’d probably be able to tell me more about your kind. But she’s not here, so…”

She looks at me, a hopeful expression on her face.

“I’m afraid I don’t know of many of my kind . As far as I know, I’m the only one here.” That is the truth, I don’t know of any more humans in this future. “I haven’t even seen my parents in what feels like forever.” In terms of time, it could either be a few hours or over twenty million years. It really depends on how I look at it.

Her expression changes to a sad one. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you were alone.”

“Completely by choice. We all have to grow up eventually, and I decide growing up meant moving away to make my own life.” This lie is becoming bigger and bigger, but at the same time it’s becoming easier for me to tell. “Nothing to be sorry about.” Almost out of instinct, I rub the back of my head. It hurts a little, but I can feel some blood that was likely from whatever hit me in the back of the head before. “So, what is this place anyway?”

I might as well know that.

“This is the castle in Canterlot.”

At about this time, I see an even bigger pony. She’s completely white, and she has flowing hair. I don’t mean this as anything other than a blatant description. This has to be something else that’s magic, but I don’t know how to ask about it. As soon as she sees me, there is a shocked look on her face. Her eyes then move to everybody in the room, and she says one quick order.

“I will deal with him alone, you don’t have anything to worry about.”

I really don’t know if I like this idea. None of the others do, either, or at least it doesn’t seem like they do. We all have something else in common, too, in that we don’t have any power over what’s going to happen here. I can only stand there and wait, maybe for my demise, and the others simply leave. The only thing that makes me feel better is when Cadance says one thing.

“See you later.”

“I don’t know how you can exist, you just can’t.” I have to wonder what she means. “I’ve read all about you, humans you are called. Homo-Sapiens-Sapiens.” That was the scientific name, so I simply nod and she continues. “But you’re all… gone. There aren’t any more humans on earth, and there were never any in Equestria.”

Well, this is interesting. At the very least, I’m learning more and more about this place as I go along. At this point, I am up to a few things. This is a castle in Canterlot in the country of Equestria. Or it might be called a kingdom, or a princessdom. No, no, I know that there is a king somewhere. I have read enough about royalty to know that there is always a king. That is why these places are called kingdoms.

“Well, your majesty, you have it partially right. Humanity is all gone, or at least mostly.” If she knows this much about the human race, then there is no reason for me to just lie. “I would rather not talk about what happened, though.” With that, she nods and I continue. “Actually, the reason why I’m here has to do with that. Even where I’m from, there aren’t that many humans. I was hoping I might find a place to stay, and bring my parents.”

That seems to earn me a confused look.

“Have you tried living with just two people? They’re nice, but mom and dad get a little … well, variety is the spice of life, right?” I don’t want to come out and say that talking to just two people eventually wears on a person. I know that they feel the same, new people are always interesting. “Besides, if something happens to them, nobody could help … because there is nobody.”

I don’t know why I’m telling her this, there’s nothing that she can do about it beyond simply letting me stay.

“There is something else that is I don’t quite understand.” There is probably a long list of things that this could be. “How did you get here? Even you just admitted that there aren’t any more humans, and you mentioned getting your parents. Where have you been all this time?” When I rink about it, that is an interesting way of asking.

I really should answer her, but that takes away part of the mystery. Then again, if I refuse to answer she might just flat out say no. I will refuse to tell that many people, or even ponies, but she is royalty after all. Who knows? This might turn out to be an amazing thing, telling her. “Funny you should mention time.” That earns me another confused look. “It’s been a long time since I saw my parents. I would go so far as to say … millions of years since I saw them.”

That earns a look of surprise.

“Yep, made this thing myself,” I say as I show off the device on my wrist. “This is going to be my ticket back, when I go get my parents. Human engineering at its finest.”

Beyond her being royalty, I kind of feel nice telling this to somebody. Not only that, but she seems to give off an aura of calm when she isn’t telling me that I don’t exist. Whatever it is, I hope she doesn’t ask too many questions. I kind of like there being some mystery to me here.

First comes a sad expression, as if she just realized something bad is going to happen. I know that can’t be true. I’ve been studying this for a while. As far as I know, nothing bad happens by travelling in time. After the sad expression comes one of contemplation. I wonder what she’s thinking about. If I’m lucky, maybe she’ll tell me.

“I might be able to help you.” She finally says, after a couple of minutes.

“But I have to be sure that you’re not a threat to my little ponies.” I don’t know if I like where this is going. It is so much harder to prove that you’re not a threat than to prove that you are.

“And that is why I’m going to have you watched for a while by some of Equestria’s most capable ponies.”

I sigh with relief. That definitely is better than I had thought it would be. I had thought that she might have something else planned, some sort of test. I am really bad at tests sometimes.

“In fact, I think I’m going to send for a chariot and a couple of ponies right now. This will be a test, you might say. I don’t think I have to tell you that failure is not an option.” I simply nod, there isn’t much else for me to really do. I might not like the idea of being watched, really, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a better choice.

“Before I go, is there anything you wish to ask me?”

A thousand and one questions appear in my head. I could ask her about why she has a horn and wings, how magic supposedly works, if there is a class system, who the ponies that are going to be watching me are, where the king is, and a good many things that would give me an insight into how their world and how Equestria works. In the end, though, I know that she’s a princess. There’s probably a lot on her plate.

“I could ask you questions all day, your majesty, but there is one thing that I can’t learn anywhere else.”

“And what might that be?”

“How do you get your hair to wave like that? It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

That seems to earn me the equivalent of a facepalm, only with what I assume is called a hoof, and then she chuckles and looks into my eyes. “I never bothered to learn why it happens, to be honest.” And with that, she turns away and starts to walk. Apparently, there are going to be two ponies, at least two ponies, watching me do whatever I’m going to do. That, of course, leaves me wondering what I’m going to be doing during that time.

I also wonder who they’re going to get to watch me.