Three equines stood around what appeared to be a large, stainless steel coffin on an examination table. Two of the ponies, the pure white alicorn Princess Celestia and the lavender unicorn Twilight Sparkle, gazed at the object with looks of confusion. The third pony, with a gray mane that frizzed out in about as many directions as he seemed to be pacing in, was adjusting endless tools and meters.

"What exactly is this thing, Doc?" Twilight inquired, a single eyebrow raised. If it truly were a coffin, she had no idea why Doc would have connected all of these machines to it, let alone called herself and the Princess to observe. She trotted another lap around it, examining every surface.

"What it is exactly, I'm not sure. However, what I *think* is that it is some sort of life support system. My colleagues' analyses led me to believe it still contains some power, meaning somepony could still be alive in there. What anypony would be doing in such a contraption is beyond me, especially considering how deep underground our archaeologists found it," Doc wheedled as he continued to flip switches and enter data into his keyboard, "but I fully intend to open it up and find out!"

The Princess wore a look of concern on her face, "Are you sure that this is safe? That whatever is in there is of no threat to us?"

Doc stopped fidgeting with his tools, his eyes shifting side to side.

"That's what I thought. Guard!", Celestia shouted, motioning towards her usual escort in the outer room, "Have the rest of your squad on guard outside this room." The lone guard bolted outside.

Doc quickly returned to work, "Almost ready... A few more commands aaaaand.... There! Stand back everypony!"

The top of the coffin unlatched, and a slow hiss could be heard as the contents depressurized and the lid slid open. All three observers craned their necks over the edge, and saw a very strange creature inside. It was clearly not a pony, or anything they'd seen before. In fact, Twilight realized it slightly resembled some of the species of monkey and ape that Fluttershy looked after back in Ponyville, though it was mostly furless, save a patch of chestnut-colored hair on the top of its head. It also appeared to be wearing clothing; nothing that would catch Rarity's attention, Twilight thought, blue cotton pants and a black shirt.

The Princess was the first to break the silence, "So, Doc, Twilight, do either of you know what this is?" Neither of the other two ponies had time to answer, as the creature inside began moaning like it was ill, and began trying to pull itself upright and out of the box. All three observers began slowly stepping away from the creature, until it managed to sit up. It stopped groaning, looked each pony in the eye, and said, "How long have I been out?"

Twilight fainted.

Doc spoke first, "Can... Can you understand me? Do you have a name? And what are you?" The Princess managed to rouse Twilight from unconsciousness.

"Yeah, I hear you fine. My name's Sam, I'm a human. And you guys are horses?! And you can TALK?" Sam blacked out, doubling over on the edge of the coffin.

Doc yelled for a medic team, prompting the royal guard to stream in and surround the Princess. "My lady, are you injured? Did it attack you?!" "No no no, Doc wasn't calling them for me, he called them for the creature!" She nodded towards Sam's unconscious form.

After much effort, the EMT ponies managed to get Sam out of his box and onto a hospital cot on the level above the lab. Having never dealt with his kind before, they couldn't really do much other than make sure he was still alive, and strap his limbs down. The possibility of this alien creature posing a threat to ponykind had yet to be ruled out.

Twilight, having recovered from her own fainting, began to process what she'd seen, "I've never seen anything like that before, but it could perfectly understand us? I hope it isn't hurt, I can't wait to figure out what it is and how it ended up in a-" She was cut off by Celestia's hoof on her mouth, "I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to ask it questions. That's why I invited you here; if anyone can figure out what it is-"

The Princess herself was cut off by the alien in the cot speaking up, "I'm a 'he', not an it. You can call me by my name you know. And maybe let me out of these restraints? I'm pretty sure horses are stronger than humans." He struggled against the straps to sit up in his cot, which was obviously not designed to accommodate someone of his shape and size. "I guess I'm not dreaming then," he muttered, "Unless I'm on some sort of drug or something, there really are talking horses in front of me. Mind explaining why I'm here?"

Twilight walked over to his bedside. "Well, we were honestly hoping you could answer that for us. Why were you in that box?" The way she inquisitively cocked here head somehow set the human slightly at ease.

"My memory is a little fuzzy... How long was I in there?" Just as Sam finished his sentence, Doc cantered through the doorway, "Well, by my estimates, a few hundred thousand years at the very least, and that's based on calculations with some very conservative restraints on them."

Sam's jaw dropped. "A few hundred thousand?! Well, I suppose this is better than waking up on a planet ruled by apes." His movie reference was lost on his equine observers, he noted sadly. "Alright... You, the purple pony, I don't think I caught your name? Twilight is it? I don't remember much, but I think I was in here to escape an explosion... Why an explosion? Jeez I feel like I've got cobwebs in my skull. And seriously, can you untie me please?"

Doc began cautiously removing the restraints when his assistant researcher, who had been examining the interior of the coffin after Sam's exit, came rushing into the infirmary with a book in his teeth. "Doc, this is incredible! Whoever put the subject in there included a brief record of his medical info and the history of his time! It's a first-hand source of pre-Equestrian history!"

Twilight, always a sucker for a good book, instantly snatched the volume out of the assistant's mouth, levitating it to her side of the room. She quickly found an explanation for Sam's predicament: he was one of the last human survivors of a nuclear holocaust. "I don't quite understand what 'nuclear' means, but I'm guessing that in Sam's time, his civilization was at war, and used some sort of explosive weapon of incredible power. It seems they underestimated it's effects, however. I think Sam's coffin was supposed to keep him preserved until it was safe to surface again. Here's a journal entry describing the complete destruction of ecosystems, farmland, and inhabitable areas in general. Princess, I think this could even explain why the sun, moon, and weather patterns need our manipulation to function correctly!"

Doc's eyes grew wide, "A sizeable enough explosion could in theory cause our planet's rotation to slow at a small rate. Given enough time... It is plausible that it could slow to the point that the lunar orbit and the sun's movement appears stationary to us, requiring your Highness and her Highness Princess Luna to move them manually, or rather manually rotate the planet. That could easily cause the right temperature changes necessary to disrupt normal weather activity, which explains why our friends, the pegasi, have to manage the weather! This most definitely warrants further study!"