I must have been kneeling there for ten minutes before Luna finally took my rifle. Once she does, I put my wrists side-by-side and wait.

"Um... what are you doing?" she asks.

"Aren't you going to arrest me?"

"Why would I do that?" I'm a little stunned by this. Does she really not know? ...Well, if it's been three-thousand years, I guess they would forget.

"Well, I am your prisoner." She looks me over a bit before magically locking my wrists together. She then walks around me, inspecting me from all sides. She stops in front of me and brings her hoof to my face. I try to avoid it, but she eventually does touch me, and I can feel her wipe a tear away. When the fuck did that get there?

"Are you alright?" she asks as she tries to get a better look at my face.

"Well, I did just get captured," I joke, "but..."

"Yes?"

"Can you tell me the date, real quick?" She looks a little confused, but answers anyway.

"It's August 24th, 4132. Why do you-"

"And how do ponies keep track of years?" Please don't say ‘celestial calendar.’ Please...

"Well, we use the celestial calendar to-"

"SON OF A BITCH!" She looks a little taken aback by my outburst, but I don't care. Three-thousand years! Three-thousand fucking years; I'm in the fucking future! I've lost everything...! Everyone I’ve ever known is dead... I'm-

"A-are you OK?"

"No! I'm not!" I snap. "I've just lost everything! I'm alone; I have no idea where I am; nothing here makes any sense...! *sigh* I just want to go home..." I drop my head and wallow in my sorrow. This is too much to take in right now. I don't know how to process this - how could it be the future? Did we win? Is Topaz Falls even there anymore? What the fuck is on my shoulder? I look over to see that the pony is sitting by my side, with her wing stretched across my back. She's looking at me with compassionate eyes. I look away and break the hold by standing. I don't want pity - I want answers.

"Why don't we get going? There are many things I would like to ask." I nod and follow her down the road. As we walk, I look back up to the lights above. I don't know what it is about them, but they seem to take the edge off my pain. Especially the massive one, there. It's like they're all telling me that everything is going to be OK. It doesn't make much sense; though nothing else seems to either, for that matter.

"What are you looking at?" she asks as she looks up with me.

"I don't know... the lights, I guess."

"What lights?"

"Those ones," I say while bringing my bound hands up to point them out. She looks up, then back to me.

"Do you mean the stars?"

"Is that what they are?"

"You don't know what the stars are?" I shake my head. “What about the moon? Do you know what that is?"

"Is it that big yellow orb, from earlier?" I ask, getting her to giggle.

"No, that would be the sun. That's the moon," she says as she points up to the big white orb above us.

"Hmm..." I like the moon. It's beautiful, yet ominous. As we continue our walk, I keep my gaze on the moon and stars; if I'm going to face some form of judgment, I want my last moments to be of something serene.

I look down and see that we’re approaching one of the columns. This one is at least four stories tall, with windows that have a warm, yellow light glowing from within. To the left of the column is a pretty badass-looking carriage. It's all black, set fairly low, and the corners come to a point. The front has a decal of a light-blue circle with a dark blue line going through it. There are two winged ponies waiting in front of the door to the column. They’re dark grey, have dark yellow eyes, and have dark blue metallic armor covering their bodies. Their wings also seem to be dark blue, and are membranous instead of feathered like the others. One is talking to the other - who has the barrel of my revolver in his mouth!

"What the fuck are you doing?!" I yell, and sprint towards them. As I approach, they look up in astonishment, dropping the revolver before anything regrettable can happen. I slide to my knees and pick up the gun. I try to unload it, but am promptly tackled to the ground by the two. They pin me so that I'm lying on my stomach while they hold my arms behind me.

"Hold it right there," says one of them. "What should we do with him, Princess Luna?" So this is the princess Twilight mentioned earlier. She walks up to me and looks down at me with a shocked expression.

"What was that all about?"

"I was just trying to keep stupid here from killing himself." She looks a little shocked by this, but quickly composes herself and motions to the two. As they get off, I feel her magic dissipate from my wrists, so I bring my hands forward to stand up.

"How exactly were they going to kill themselves?" she asks. I ignore her, pop the cylinder out of the pistol, and drop the ammo into my hand. Two live rounds, four casings. I pocket these and holster the gun before turning to Luna.

"It’s a weapon. That's all you need to know." Something smacks the back of my left knee, making me drop to the ground. I look back to see one of the winged ponies behind me re-sheathing a sword, looking really pissed.

"Learn your place, you disrespectful foal." What's a ‘foal’? As I stand, Luna quickly steps in-between the two of us.

"Lieutenant, there is no need for violence, so I would ask for you to control yourself."

"Of course, Princess."

"And as for you," she says while turning to me, “being my prisoner, I expect better manners from you. Am I clear?" Is she serious? By the look she's giving me, I’m guessing that she is. Great. I save him from himself, and I'm the bad guy. I nod to her and cross my arms. "Well...?"

"‘Well,’ what?"

"Aren't you going to shake on it?" she asks. Really? I look down to the one in front of me and reluctantly stick my hand out. He looks to Luna before reaching out with his wing. I take it and do a quick shake before letting go. "That's better. Now let's go inside and continue our discussion with the others."

I follow her into the column, with the other two behind me. The room we enter is circular in shape. Carved into the walls are bookshelves that are filled with various books and scrolls. In the center of the room is a table that has a carving of a pony's head, minus the horn. A staircase starts on my right, and goes around the room to the next floor. The three girls from earlier are crowded around a small stand on the right side of the room, reading from a book that’s sitting on it.

"Ladies," Luna says, gaining their attention, "I have returned with our friend here. If you don't mind, I would like to begin asking questions."

"Of course, Princess. Let me get some cushions," says Twilight as she runs upstairs. I walk around the room, examining the books. They're all in the same hieroglyphic text as the calendar, so I can’t read any of them.

"Oh, one more thing, Mr. ...," Luna leads as she faces me.

"Miles."

"Right. Miles, would you turn in that weapon as well?" Damn. I thought I could hold onto this one, just in case. I pull it out and hand it to her. She picks it up with her magic and levitates it to one of the winged guards, who takes it and holds it in his mouth - dumbass.

"Um... Miles?" I look down to see that Fluttershy has approached me. She's hiding her face with her hair and is scratching the floor with her foreleg.

"Yes?"

"I, um... well, I was... that is, I wanted to... say I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I didn't mean to chase you. I thought you were a creature from the forest, so I wanted to take care of you. It was just awful the way I chased you-"

"Don't worry about it," I say, cutting her off. "It was actually pretty brave of you to just approach something you've never seen before."

"Oh, but I’m not brave... I just love taking care of creatures. It's my special talent, after all."

"You could have fooled me." She gives me a smile before walking over to Applejack. Twilight suddenly flashes into the room with four cushions.

"Sorry, but I don't have enough for everypony." Did she just say every'pony?’ I continue walking around the room as they get situated, until I get to a window. There's a small space in front of it, which I take a seat in so that I can continue to stare at the stars. Someone coughs from the room, gaining my attention. I look over to see the four of them lying on large red cushions, facing me.

"Are you ready?" asks Luna.

"As I'll ever be," I say as I lean against the window and look back out to the sky.

"Great! So let's start. First off, what are you?"

"I'm a human." As soon as I say this, Twilight takes note of it on a scroll that's lying in front of her.

"And where do humans come from?"

"Terradisia."

"Hmm... would that be on ‘Terra?’"

"Yeah... why?"

"‘Cause I haven't heard that term for some time. Everypony uses ‘Earth’ instead, nowadays. Now wh—"

"I have a few questions I'd like to ask." I interrupt. She looks at me for a second before nodding. "What are you? I know you’re a pony," I say while pointing to Luna, "but what are you three?" They all look to each other in confusion.

"We’re all ponies," says Twilight. "I’m a unicorn pony, Fluttershy is a pegasus pony, Applejack is an earth pony, and Princess Luna is an alicorn." Hmm... I didn't know ponies came in different species. "How do you only know about alicorns?"

"I met some once. Good peo—er, ponies. They were representing all ponykind during some important negotiations, so I assumed that all ponies looked like that." Luna's face lights up at this.

"Did you happen to get their names, by any chance?"

"Yeah, Tempus and Spatium. Why?" She recoils as if she's about to faint.

"U-uh, nothing. I was... just curious. So..."

"Why did ya have all those weapons?" asks Applejack. I look over to Luna. She seems deep in thought. I wonder if she knew them... No, they lived over three-thousand years ago; there's no way she would’ve know them personally.

"Well, I'm a soldier - those are my weapons. By the way, when can I get them back?" Everyone, except the guards, tenses up at this.

"Well, Miles, you can get them back when you prove to me that you will cause no harm to anypony," says Luna, who still looks stunned.

"OK, and how can I prove that?" Luna looks away, deep in thought. She then leans over to Twilight and whispers something to her. Twilight's face goes from curiosity to shock. She turns to Luna and whispers something back to her. This goes on for a while, until they both look back at me.

"Well Miles, I've decided your fate," she says as she stands up and approaches me. Well, here it comes. "You will live here in Ponyville, under the supervision of Twilight Sparkle. She will be the one to determine whether you are a threat to the ponies of Equestria or not. I am also stationing a royal guard to follow you around. He will act as your liaison to Equestria. I will visit from time to time to check on you until you are deemed harmless to ponykind, at which time you will be set free. You will also work at Sweet Apple Acres until you have repaid your debt for the damages caused. Do you have any questions?"

This... can't be right. Last I checked, I was wanted for murder! Now... now I just have to not hurt anyone and do some manual labor! Maybe she doesn't know... That's probably for the best. At least now I can have some time to think about what I'm going to do next. I look up at Luna and give her a deep nod. She gives me a smile and walks to one of the guards. I look over to Twilight and find that she's gone, as well as Applejack and Fluttershy. Luna returns with a glass chest that holds all of my weapons. The chest is a meter wide, and about half as tall and thick. She sets it down against the wall and puts her horn against it. After some bright glowing, she looks back to me.

"I've magically sealed this chest shut. Only I, and a few others I've chosen, can open it, and I will only open it when I deem you’re ready." When she finishes, the guard from earlier approaches the two of us. "This will be your liaison, Lieutenant Storm Cloud." Of course he will be. I look down at him and give a short nod, which he snorts to in response. Well, at least he doesn't hate me. "Now, unless you have any questions, I will take my leave." Once she steps out of the building, she engulfs the entire thing in her aura field.

I look back to Storm Cloud and ask, "Know what that was about?" which he snorts to. "Is that all you do?"

"Why do you keep talking?" he asks in a deep voice; not quite as deep as Big Mac’s, but still deeper than mine. Twilight and the others come running down the stairs and stop by the door.

"D-did she leave already?" asks Fluttershy.

"You just missed her." They all look to one another before doing a group sigh.

"Welp, yer stuck with’m now," says Applejack to Twilight.

"Yeah, I know. But I couldn't tell her ‘no,’" replies Twilight, dropping her head and ears.

"You know I'm right here, right? I can hear everything you’re saying." Twilight turns to me, gives another sigh, and heads to the stairs.

"Just follow me, Miles, and I'll show you to your room." Storm Cloud and I follow her up the stairs to an open room that has a second floor above it, making one big room. The walls are covered in books, like the room prior, but the second story also has a bed that has a blue blanket with a yellow pattern on it. Twilight continues across the room to another set of stairs that winds down. These stairs go down one story and end at a door. When we reach the door, Twilight turns around to face me while opening it magically, revealing yet another set of stairs.

"There are two cots down there for the two of you. If you read any of the books, just please remember to put them back in the right spots. There's also a bathroom down there that you can use. Breakfast should be ready at eight tomorrow, so if you want to eat, that's when it'll be. If you need anything else, my room is up the stairs. Any questions?" I shake my head. "Good. Now if you don't mind, it's one in the morning, and I would like to get some sleep," she says bitterly as she marches up the stairs. I look to Storm Cloud, who only shrugs and walks through the door.

The stairs curve down a story before revealing another round room. This one has shelving similar to the others, and a strange-looking computer tower pushed to the left side. In the center are two twin-size cots, one with a blue blanket and one with a pink blanket. Storm Cloud looks over to me, then flies straight down and lands on the blue cot. Flying fucking asshole. I walk down the stairs and approach the pink cot.

"Joke’s on you - I like the pink one," I say as I sit on it and begin removing my armor.

"That doesn't surprise me," he replies. What a dick. I look back at him and realize he looks completely different. He's now a real light grey, with bushy black hair. His eyes are light blue and his wings are back to what they should be. His mark is a black clump that is sending two yellow bolts down. Before I can ask about the change, he gets under the blanket and turns away from me. I lay my armor under the cot and lie down. Today has been too much, yet it doesn't feel as wrong as it should. I'm sad, but at the same time, I feel... content. I close my eyes and think back to everything that has happened. The first thing to come to mind is that ‘moon’... that beautiful moon.

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