Chapter VIII
The Princess
Last Part
Day 31
Adam wakes up the next morning in his cell, he cleans his face to get ready for the hearing today at noon. Adam then hears a knock on the door and then someone opening it. In comes Shining Armor.
“My sister requested that you join her and her friend to eat breakfast in the guest dinning room Mr. Gray.” said Shining Armor.
Adam quietly accepts and follows him out of the cell.
Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy are eating their breakfast by themselves quietly. Soon they see Adam being escorted in, they both run towards him and hug him. Shining Armor reluctantly leaves them alone.
“How was last night, are they treating you okay?” asked Twilight, still huging him.
“Don’t worry, they’re treating me fine, how about you?” answered Adam, glad that someone cares.
“We stayed in one of the guest chambers here.” said Fluttershy in a quiet voice, happy to see Adam again, enjoying the hug.
The two mares lead Adam to the table where there’s a plate waiting for him. Adam sees the plate to find a cheese omelette with hashbrowns and orange juice. Adam sits down and begins to eat.
“What do you think is going to happen at the hearing?” asked Fluttershy.
“They’ll probably question my loyalties and intentions.” answered Adam, matter-of-factly, mouth full of food.
“But you’re intentions are noble.” stated a confused Twilight.
“But Princess Celestia doesn’t know that Twilight.” answered the human.
In Princess Celestia’s chambers, Celestia is paceing back and forth mumbling to herself. “A human? A human in my kingdom? I thought humans killed themselves into extinction millions of years ago!”
Then the large doors to her chambers open to reveal her sister Princess Luna. “Sister, what brings you here?” asked Celestia.
“Just checking on you before I sleep, are you sure you’re okay?” asked a concerned Luna, Celestia has been acting strange.
“Yes…yes, just a little stressed, I’m just worried about how this creature is influenceing my student.” answered Celestia, referring to Twilight Sparkle.
“Don’t worry sis, I’ve checked his memories and dreams, his intentions are good, but he has lived a life of emotional trauma.” explained Luna. “He came here accidentally while on a journey for answers on his ‘time machine’, don’t worry, threatening the sanctity of Equestria is not his objective.” smiled the princess to Celestia.
“Thanks Luna.” said Celestia, a little calm form the news.
“Oh, by the way, don’t you find it odd that I never heard a single mention of humans in any historical texts nor any archeological evidence as well, it’s like they never existed before he came here, yet his memories proved that they inhabited this planet long before us.” wondered Luna as she is leaving.
“Maybe the evidence was lost in time.” said Celestia, giving an answer, Luna not realizing that she knows more than she is telling.
“Well, see you later, sis.” said Luna, leaving to go to bed.
The bedchamber doors close as Luna walks off to her chambers, passing several guards, but little did Luna know, but one of the guard’s eyes briefly changes color to green.
It is noon, and Adam is sitting by himself at a table, guards standing on both sides, while Twilight and Fluttershy is sitting in the gallery. It is a large hearing room as a guard enters the room.
“Announcing Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, controller of the Sun.” announced the guard, then Princess Celestia along with several guards surrounding her enter. They pass Adam as Celestia sits on her throne.
“How does she brush that mane?” mumbled Adam to himself in awe at the princess.
Adam then sees all the ponies in the room bow, Adam decides to give a deep bow from the waist.
“You may sit down.” said Celestia. Everyone in the room sits down. The princess then gets down to the business at hoof.
“You must be Mr. Adam Gray, human, where are you from?” asked Celestia.
“More like WHEN, your highness.” said Adam, trying to show respect.
“Okay, WHEN are you from?” said Celestia correcting herself.
“I’m from the year 1899, which, from your perspective, is about 1.6 million years ago.” answered Adam.
“That is a very long time ago, and you came here on something you call a ‘time machine’.” asked Celestia, her horn starting to glow, then in a brief flash of golden light, Adam’s time machine appears next to her throne. “Why did you come here?”
“To look for answers, I decided to go to the future to see if we humans perfected time travel and could answer my questions, but I accidently went too far into the future.” explained Adam.
Celestia then turns to her favorite student, Twilight Sparkle. “How did you find him?”
“I found him unconscious in his machine, me and my friends took him in to heal him.” explained Twilight.
“How has he been treating you?” continued the princess.
“Very well, his heart is in the right place, tries his best to fit in, doesn’t like to bring to much attention to himself, and almost everypony seems to like him.” explained Twilight. On the outside, Celestia accepts her answers, but on the inside, she is reluctant.
“Well, before I give my verdict, I would like Mr. Gray to explain these items he brought along.” said Celestia, suddenly, all of Adam’s possessions materialize.
“Okay, from your left to right, the first item is my pocket watch, a gift from my father, the next item is my almanac, self-explanatory, and the last one is my pistol, it is a weapon that use in case I run into something dangerous during my adventures across time.” explained Adam.
"Self-defence?" clarified the sun princess.
"Yes...ma'am." politely answered the human.
Celestia then uses her magic to give him back his items. “Well, Mr. Gray, I’ve made my decision.”
Adam, Fluttershy and Twilight hold their breath.
“You are free to stay here, and I’m decreeing that you’ll be made citizen of Equestria with all pony laws to be applied to you.” decreed Celestia. “Hearing adjourned.”
Twilight and Fluttershy quickly run to Adam and hug and tackle him with joy. Celestia is slightly skeptical at the sight, and a little jealous, but keeps a poker face. The princess then teleports herself out.
It is sunset, Adam, Fluttershy and Twilight are in the train heading home, Fluttershy is resting her head on the human’s lap, he just smiles at the sight and looks at Twilight stareing out the window.
“It’s over.” said Adam, breaking the silence. “I’m a citizen now.”
“Does that mean you’ll be staying here longer?” asked the unicorn. Adam can’t help but think that Twilight remindes him so much Mary.
“Well, with my machine in Canterlot, I have less motivation to leave.” stated Adam.
Twilight smiles at the comment, something inside the unicorn telling her that he’s her match, but she ignores it.
“1.6 million years and not much has changed, well, except for the inhabitants.” said Adam while looking out the window.
The train then continues its speed towards Ponyville where tomorrow, Adam will start his first full day as an official inhabitant of Equestria.
The Canterlot statue garden, a place with many different statues of ponies, one of them being a strange looking creature, a creature made from parts of different animals. The statue begins to shake as the sky turns cloudy and the winds pickup, soon, cracks appear over the statue as the winds continue to howl and an evil laugh rings out.
At the castle in Canterlot, Celestia is in her personal library, her horn glows and she mumbles the phrase “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”
Soon, a piece of wall opens, revealing a secret passage, she walks down a series of stairs, her horn illuminating the way. She soon comes across a large metal door. Her horn glows even brighter as the door slowly lifts out of the way.
Celestia enters and flips a switch, turning on a series of flourecent lamps, the lamps each turn on one row at a time revealing a large room filled with documents, artwork and objects.
Behind Celestia, on either side of the door, is the “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo de Vinci, and “The Card Players” by Paul Cezanne, their inclusion serves as proof that this is not an ordinary collection, but a collection of human objects.
This collection is Celestia’s biggest secret, not wanting for her subjects to know that there was an advanced civilization before them, especially one that ended by destroying itself in war. Celestia has been keeping this secret, she would go to archeological sites and take any items that involved human civilization and wipe ponies memories or worse if necessary. Not even her sister Luna knew about this. She does not want her subjects to doubt about how long Equestria could last and know that empires and kingdoms that last over a millennia were the exception rather than the rule, but she defiantly didn’t want her subjects to know that humanity revolted commonly revolted against their rulers, a concept that sent chills across her back.
Celestia worked hard for millennia to gain this much power and harmony, she will not loose it by informing her subjects that there is other forms of government that didn’t involve a monarch. But there is a human living in Equestria now, and she must make sure he doesn’t threaten her rule.
“Humans, all they were good for was using the knowledge they gained to destroy themselves.” said Celestia to herself looking at the collection before her.
NEXT TIME: The Forest