‘I just need to slow down and think’ Connor thought, ‘I don’t know what these things are or what they are capable of, so I’d better play it safe and be polite.’
“Hello?!” Connor called out “is anyone there?!”
“Oh good, ‘yer awake.” Silverstar said calmly. “I’ve got a few questions for you. First off, what are you?”
“I’m a human, what are you?”
“Ahm’ a pony. Everybody in this whole town is. Heck, most of this world’s population is ponies. I’ve never even heard of a human. So since you obviously aren’t from here, where are ya’ from?”
“I’m from a planet called earth.”
“So there aren’t ponies where you’re from?”
Connor thought for a moment about telling him about what ponies are used for on earth, but decided better of it. He didn’t want them to think he was some kind of slave driver.
“no,” Connor lied “ponies do not exist where I am from.”
“strange, very strange.”
A new pony ran in, he had a tan coat with a short, brown mane and tail. He had an odd tattoo-like thing on his rear of a small scroll tied with red ribbon. As far as Connor could tell, all ponies had the strange tattoos. He made a mental note to ask about them in due time.
“Sheriff! The letter you sent to the princess has just gotten a response! She wants the alien moved to the town of ponyville!”
“Why would she ask that? Why wouldn’t she just teleport here?”
“She said that she didn’t know if it was a threat, and wanted the elements close by in case it’s dangerous.”
“Well if that’s what she wants,” Silverstar said with a groan “get him on the next train to ponyville.”
Sheriff Silverstar walked over to the cell door and unlocked it. Connor decided now would be a good time to ask something from the sheriff.
“Excuse me sheriff, could you remove the ropes on my wrists?”
“’fraid I can’t. We still aren’t sure what you are capable of and we need to ensure the safety of all those around you until you are deemed safe.”
Connor thought for a moment about protesting but decided he’d wait it out.
“Follow me” said Silverstar
Connor exited his cell and looked around. He knew he was in a jail, but he expected it to be much bigger than it was. ‘There must not be much crime here’ Connor thought to himself. He walked up the stairs leading into the sheriff’s office and walked towards the front door. He walked out the door, and right into a tan pony wearing a hat and vest.
“WELL HOWDY THERE STRANGER! THE SHERIFF GOT TO YOU BEFORE I GOT TO WELCOME YOU TO OUR FINE TOWN!”
“Well, that’s very nice of y-“
“YOU HAVE TO COME SEE ALL THE GREAT THINGS ABOUT OUR GREAT TOWN!”
“well thanks, but I have to get to the trai-“ Braeburn cut him off by grabbing him in a way that didn’t seem possible for someone without fingers and dragged him to the center of the town,
“Here is the town center of the beautiful town of APPLEOOSA!” he grabbed Connor again and dragged him in a new direction.
“Over here is a bar, the salt lick, and over here are our horse-drawn carriages, and over here are our horse-drawn horse-drawn carriages, and over here,”
“BRAEBURN LEAVE THAT PRISONER ALONE I’M TRYING TO TRANSPORT HIM”
“Well sheriff I’m mighty sorry. You can have him back.”
Connor walked back to the sheriff in a state of shock from what he just experienced. They began to walk toward the train station again in silence. As they arrived at the train station, Silverstar turned to Connor.
“I must apologize for Braeburn’s behavior. He gets very excited whenever somepony new comes into town.”
“It’s alright” Connor responded looking out at nothing. He heard a whistle blow and turned his head to see the strangest train he had ever seen heading his way. It looked as if each train car had a layer of frosting for its roof and the lead train car looked like some kind of massive cupcake. Connor was confused as to how the machine even worked.
The train’s brakes squealed as it pulled into the station. From what Connor saw, it was a coal operated train. He said goodbye to the sheriff and stepped on to the train car. He looked around the spacious car which he only shared with the two security guards meant to keep him from running away. On the left side of the car were the beds. They looked to be bunk beds and, of course, much too small for him. On the right side of the car were a couple benches. The train groaned as it began to pull out of the station toward his destination.
He laid down on one of the beds in a very comically scrunched up way and tried to go to sleep, but couldn’t. Instead he decided that he would listen in on the guard’s conversations.
“So what do you think of that freak we’re guarding?” the first guard said in a hushed voice.
“I don’t like it. It seems freaky. I don’t trust it.” Whispered the second
“I know that its claws are bound, but that doesn’t make me any more comfortable being around it”
“I know, and did you see that things teeth? They aren’t scary, just really odd. They aren’t like ours.”
“No, really? Because I thought the alien would look exactly like us.” The first guard said in a very sarcastic way.
“Shut the buck up shield.”
“No need to get mad at me because you said something stupid.”
They began to bicker as Connor stopped listening and drifted off to sleep.
Connor awoke to the sound of a train whistle going off and a frightened looking guard poking at his chest with a hoof. Connor was confused, he thought that this “Ponyville” would be at least a few days journey from Appleoosa, not a single nights. He gave a groan as he rose from the bed, forgetting that his hands were bound and fell flat on his face. The guards began to laugh but immediately went silent when he glared at them.
He got up from the floor of the train car and began to walk towards the entrance of the car when he was stopped by one of the guards.
“Alright prisoner, you’re going to be met by one of the elements of harmony and escorted to the town library where you will meet our princess. After that, she will deem whether or not you are worthy to live in this beautiful country or if you will be banished. That is all” Said the first guard as the second removed his bindings.
Connor was just glad to be away from his guards and walked towards the door of the train as the car door opened to reveal a purple unicorn with a smile on its face bigger than Connor thought possible.
“Hii’mtwilightsparkleandimheretogreetyouandi’vealwayswantedtomeetanalienand-“
“Slow down please, I can’t understand you.”
“Sorry” she said sheepishly, as a light blush grew on her cheeks. “I’m Twilight Sparkle and I’m just very excited to be able to meet an alien! I want to learn everything about where you are from and everything about you!”
Connor was beginning to feel a bit nervous around the unicorn and her boundless enthusiasm and began to look for an excuse to slow down for a bit.
“ Aren't we supposed to be meeting some princess?”
“Princess Celestia, and yes, we are meeting her.”
“Well then let’s get going, wouldn't want to leave royalty waiting then!”
This statement seemed to send Twilight into a panic.
“WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE!!!” she said as she took off running down one of the cobbled streets of the town. Connor began running after her. She stopped running as she reached some kind of a giant tree with a door and a window. Connor was more than a just a little bit confused as to how a tree could be made into a library. His confusion only got worse as he entered and realized just how much was actually within the tree. There were bookshelves all around him, a large staircase and what appeared to be even more rooms at the top! And at the center of the library were two pegasi, a unicorn, to normal looking ponies, and some strange hybrid of the pegasi and unicorns.
He looked at the hybrid pony’s mane in amazement as it seemed to be flowing with some kind of non-existent wind blowing it in an amazing way. He then began to explore the room with his magic and realized just what kind of a situation he was in. The purple unicorn that greeted him appeared to have magical power that matched his own, while the one in the center of the room could probably wipe him off the planet on a whim. He decided he would show extra respect to the hybrid.
Connor got down on a knee and bowed. “So you are the princess I've heard so much about. Celestia, right?”
“It is not very common to speak to royalty before spoken to but I will allow it just once as I do not know your customs.” Celestia said in a calm, yet somehow threatening voice “Now tell me human, where are you from?”
“I’m from a planet called earth.”
“How did you get here?”
“I was attempting to be the first of my kind to master teleportation.”
Twilight spoke up. “You’re a mage?!” she said with a type of glee only she could produce. “wait, you don’t have teleportation where you’re from?”
“No, do you?”
“Of course we do! We-”
“Twilight we can talk about magic later. I need to ask him a few more questions” Princess Celestia scolded.
“Sorry princess”
“It’s fine twilight. Now, human, I never did get your name.”
“I’m Connor”
“Well Connor, I have only one more question of you and then you will be free to go.”
Connor’s eyes flashed with hope. “Ask away princess!”
“Do you have any abilities or weapons that may pose a threat to my country and its people?”
“I am, as I have said, a mage and I study elemental magic. Fire, ice, water, earth, lightning, you name it. I have no violent intentions so my abilities will not pose a threat.”
“Why did you have to learn combat magic to begin with if you didn’t plan to harm?” Celestia said, a glare beginning to form.
“For protection,” Connor said without missing a beat “In my world we were at war and I was a mage in my kingdoms army.” He was lying through his teeth and knew it, but he wanted to be released and this was the best way to get there.
“I still do not trust you but provided that the elements of harmony agree to keep an eye on you I will let you live here. Under heavy supervision.”
Connor looked to the other ponies in the group that he saw form a huddle and begin talking in hushed whispers. Twilight joined them and began talking with them. He began to hear traces of their conversation.
“He looks scary.”
“But think of all we could learn!”
“His clothes look nice.”
“What do his clothes have to do with anything?
“I was merely stating an observation darling don’t be so critical.”
They all turned to look at him then turned back to their huddle and talked in whispers too hushed for Connor to hear for about another minute. They turned back and Twilight began speaking to Celestia.
“We have agreed to watch over him. He will live in the library with me. Is this ok with you princess?”
“Of course Twilight, just be careful, I still don’t trust this man.”
“I think he just needs a friend in this world and he’ll turn out great.” Twilight spoke with a smile.
“If you think so my faithful student. I have important meetings to get back to in Canterlot so I’m afraid I must be going. Good luck.” Celestia said just before she vanished in a sphere of golden light.
Connor turned to all the ponies and looked over all of them. ‘The elements of harmony huh? From what everyone keeps saying they must be pretty powerful. Odd considering that the only one of detectable power here is Twilight, and apparently she had never even heard of combat magic before in her life so he could still destroy her if she attacked him.’ He thought while looking them over.
“Well are you just going to stand there darling or are you going to introduce me to everybody?” he asked Twilight.
“Everypony, and of course. The white unicorn is Rarity, she’s a clothing designer. The rainbow maned pegasus is named Rainbow Dash, she works on the weather team.” Twilight was about to continue before Connor interrupted her.
“What the hell is a weather team?”
Twilight looked at him like he was a complete idiot. “You know, the weather team, controls the weather, changes seasons, any of this ringing a bell?”
“In my world the weather controls itself and the seasons change on their own.”
This drew a collective gasp from the group. They all looked at him with confusion.
“Can we get back to the introductions please?” Connor complained
“Yes, of course. The yellow mare over there is Fluttershy, she takes care of the animals. And over there is Applejack, she owns an apple orchard. And last but not least is-“
“I’M PINKIE PIE! Wait a second,” pinkie paused for a moment staring uncomfortably at Connor “You’re new in town! I have to go get my supplies!” she boosted out of the door at a speed that Connor didn’t think possible. Twilight turned at him smiling.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Well Connor, I hope you’re ready for a very long night.”