The Solitary Ape: episode 1

I am Winston Morris, a man from San Francisco, USA. I stand at five foot eleven, am broad-shouldered, a brunette with my hair up in a shoulder-length ponytail, brown eyes, and a love for foreign cultures. Now, what's interesting about this story is I was brought to Equestria through a machine that my family had been working on, with the purpose of observing and traversing through other worlds. After arriving here, it didn't take me long to become familiar with the princesses and the champions of the land.

They had been very hospitable compared to if humans suddenly encountered talking equine, who spoke of another world and wasn't remotely close to anything they had ever seen. I soon came to learn that no humans, apes, or even monkeys existed here and as such, I was alone in that manner. I had no species, no creature to which I could relate and that was rather saddening, but I soon came very comfortable with ponies. They're inherently friendly nature was too much for me to stay moping around.

I learned very soon to avoid hanging around the country's champions as often as possible, monsters seemed to follow them like a duckling. I did however grow to the decision that I should at least work to join the royal guard, as a human I would probably have an advantage in my agility and mobility. The ingenuity of my kind in combat was also a help.

As it turned out the princesses all had their own separate system of guards, this allowed more simplicity in making certain each one would be equally defended, rather than all of them crowd in front of Celestia. One roll of the dice late I made my way to Canterlot castle, they didn't even have a recruitment center, I was heckled for a while but was accepted into the Lunar guard. This soon turned out to be a good decision as I was able to fulfill one of my biggest dreams and take part in the battle of Thermopylae with myself as Leonidas.

A swarm of changelings had invaded and had fought their way through the city, tumbling the guard and nearly capturing the elements and Cadence. They had arrived at the castle and where swarming down the hallway to the throne room, I had managed to have the guards lock their shields in the same formation as the Spartans in the aforementioned battle. We managed to hold them back and even force them out and back onto the streets, leaving dead insects in our path and causing a retreat from our foe. We managed to capture a great number of them, even their leader, Queen Chrysalis, who had found a new hive and taken it over by killing their matriarch.

I was chosen to replace the ill-fated Great Willow as the captain of the Lunar guard, this did wonders for me. I always received a ticket to the Gala and to many Wonderbolt shows, members of the upper crust came to learn my name and I became a regular consultant of Luna as she had become fond of many human practices. On my off-time I would travel the country and study its history, anatomy was an occasional interest but it never lasted long, though what intrigued me the most was magic, I quickly got to work, seeing if any of the magics of human myth worked.

Now I think that's enough exposition for us to get started with our actual story so, let's get to it.

I was on a visit to Ponyville, hanging out with Raindrops, she had been the first pony I met here in Equestria and we had become rather good friends. We didn't get to each other as often since I moved to Canterlot but we still talked as often as possible.

"Winston lad, it's been to long I've seen ye." She said, we were sitting on her brown velvet couch sipping on a bitter tea she was oddly fond of "How have ye been with your Cappin of the guard business?"

"Not much luv, we've been working on training Princess Twilight's guard and getting Cadence's to be less bloody useless." I say laughing in my British accent, about as real as a flying pig "Those blokes didn't last thirteen minutes against the changelings and her husband's not much better."

"Yeah, I've learned that they aren't the most adept o' warriors. They mostly come from down here in central and Eastern Equestria, those lads are patriotic but they Can'nae fight worth a damn. Ponies from up north in the tundra's, like myself are far tougher than the wee folk from around here. Though I fear some of that frailness has rubbed off on me, when the changelings came last time I was only able to kill twelve before they took me down, I used to be able to manage thirty-eight!" she said boasting her kin and homeland

"Yeah, that's how it was in the old days of my world to. The Nords were regarded as some of the greatest warriors history has to offer, though they were pretty outdone by the knights, samurai, ninja, Mongols, Huns, Spartans, and the list goes on. Though they still managed to terrorize the Romans." I say in agreement

"Well I can guarantee we could beat those savages with ease, 'specially with these ol' things." She says extending her wings with a smirk "And we can't forget about unicorn magic, can we now."

"That is true, but it wouldn't be very hard to beat cold bones and ancient helmets, now would it?" I say "When I left, the Nords were crushing the world in the Olympics and that's about it."

"That's a sports competition, yeah?" she asks, raising an eyebrow

"Right as rain, Raindrops." I confirm for her "I didn't know I mentioned them before."

"Yeah, you rambled on about it when we went out drinking a couple of weeks ago." She tapped her head with a jasmine hoof "Tis a steel trap in here, it is."

I chuckle "That it is. So, speaking of going out and drinking, do you wanna go and get a bite to eat?"

"Sugar cube corner or te café?" she asks

"Sugar cube corner, I'm in the mood for a Danish." I reply

She nods "Sounds good. Do ya wanna invite te others?"

"Yeah, I'll swing by Lyra and you get Trixie, we'll meet you there." I tell her as I get up and collect my cane

"I still don't know why you use that thing, you walk just fine." She said raising an eyebrow and joining me by the door

"Well humans like myself have this thing for clothing and props we can use in dramatic ways, instead of just practicality." I reply only earning an eyeroll from her "Well, I'll see you in a few."

"Same to ye." She said turning away from me and trotted down the street

After she was out of sight I turned in my own direction and began my trek to Lyra and Bonbon's house. I had met Lyra a few days after Raindrops brought me into Ponyville, the mint-hued unicorn had been very interested in me from various scientific standpoints, biological, anatomical, and from her personal long-standing belief in humans. For several weeks she had shown me off like a trophy with lots of smug looks and told you so's, I found it hilarious really because I had always believed in unicorns and I have no doubt I would be doing the same if our positions were reversed.

We usually wind up in an over the top conversation about our respective anthropologies, she was particularly interested in old stories and our naturally patriarchal society, as pony society is matriarchal. Her favorite story was 'Moby Dick' as she loved trying to decide who was the villain between Captain Ahab or the white whale. Bonbon on the other hand, while we did get along alright, neither of us really went out of our way to start up conversations with one another.

When I had arrived at their cottage I knocked on the door and waited, hoping that it was Lyra who answered, I really didn't feel like ending up in one of me and Bonbon's usual awkward stand-offs until the unicorn intervened. I glanced over my shoulder at Rose Luck who was passing by and gave her a quick wave before the door opened and I almost sigh aloud with relief when I see it was Lyra.

"Hello friend, me and Raindrops were wondering if you wanted to come with us to Sugar cube corner?" I ask

"Okay, but first there's something I want you to see." She says turning around "Come on Winnie."

I follow her to her room which as per usual is littered with books and scrolls strewn everywhere, stopping behind her when we get to her closet. She opens and from within she pulls three objects, many of which I recognize instantly. A sword with a long double-edged blade, shined to perfection, its handle, handguard and hilt were all made of gold in a beautiful design, it also had a beautiful golden scabbard encrusted with jewels around the mouth. The second was a silver ring with an eight-point star with various symbols in the openings. The final was a steel sabre with a fine steel handle and handguard.

"Where did you get those? Wait, how did you get those?" I ask frantically

"Oh, I got them from a traveling shop, why do you know them? They looked important." She asked

"Yeah, I recognize them! Those are ancient human artifacts! Joyeuse, the sword of Charlemagne, the greatest king humankind has ever known. That is the seal of Solomon, the great ring of another powerful king, slayer of the goliath. And that is the sabre of Genghis Khan, the greatest conqueror ever to live, wherever he rested his gaze was his soon after." I tell her rambling on "Wait, if those are here than that means… this isn't another world… this is Earth… this is the future."

I am Wilhelm Bergmann an astrophysicist from Trier, Germany. I am six foot three with a burly, strapping build, black hair in a short French crop with a Kaiser bar moustache. I arrived in this odd world roughly two years ago, shortly before a creature called 'Discord' ravaged the land and twisted reality. For the duration of the time he was active I lost touch of sanity and only regained it upon the heathen's defeat. I witnessed the statue being hauled off to a city in the mountain tops, though I dared not leave the forest in which I made my home.

I travelled throughout it until I came across a marvelous piece of architecture which highly resembled the castles of the middle ages, so I moved right in. My keep however has been tread upon by the defeaters of the reality warping chimera, so I would hide in one of the many hidden rooms until they would vacate the premises. I made a point to avoid altering as little of the visible main corridors as possible, the few exceptions I made were the collection of a few tapestries for my personal chambers as well as strange blue armor that was in various pieces on the floor of the highest most tower in the castle.

As far as my knowledge goes from the books I have taken from the local settlement's tree-like castle made from crystal, these fragments are the armor of some sort of symbiotic demon called Nightmare Moon. She had bonded to Princess Luna, the local moon goddess and was slain by the nearby town's Princess and five champions. I took to reassembling the armor in my spare time, if for nothing else than to use it for decoration in this gloomy place, I had always had a taste for decorative suits of armor.

I soon learned that the suit was not merely metal, Nightmare Moon had, in a last-ditch effort to survive had bound herself to it and when I had finished its assembly she came back to reality in her own body. She was able to mimic one after being fused with the princess for so long, though it was not perfect and she had to feed on the nightmares of the town and animals of the forest in order to maintain it. Just after the first night of her return is where we begin.

I am wandering the castle searching for my new companion, there were things in this world that I was very oblivious to and I had a distinct distaste for ignorance, especially in myself. She had been very venomous in our first encounter and I could see a distinct hint of fear in her eyes, as if she had been trying to determine whether I was friend or foe. I had assured her that I was an ally and that she would be safe here, she appeared to suffer from severe traumatization, whatever it is that happened to her must have been something to be feared.

However, while the method of which we met was quite unperformable she was truly a relief to have around, I had begun to enter insanity from the isolation and had even started to see illusions of flashings lights and hearing screams I didn't recognize were my own for many hours. Having a companion meant everything here and I intended to make certain that she was soothed from her paranoia, in turn she would keep me anchored to sanity whether she was doing so on purpose or not.

After arriving at the doors to her room which she had chosen at the top of the tower directly above my own chambers. When I asked her why she wanted those she responded with 'A Princess should be near her subjects as to keep an eye on them, shouldn't she?'. I had just shrugged and went on my way, leaving her to settle in.

I knocked and waited as I heard metal clamoring together as she moved to the door and opened it, her helmet hid little of her short light blue mane. It still hadn't come back to is natural ethereal state, her power was still far weaker than normal as all of her magic was going into keeping her body on the material plane and in on solid piece. Her snake-like eyes were calmer now than yesternight but there was still an air of caution seemingly hanging around her.

"Guten morgen dame Nightmare, I take it your condition has improved since ve spoke last?" I ask, slipping into my odd habit of mixing a few words from my own language into this one to ease the annoyance of having to use another tongue

She replies slowly "Yes Mr. Bergmann, thank you for your concern. Though I would like to know more about what exactly it is you were doing here. I've been alive for a few millennia and I have never seen anything quite like you."

"Oh, certainly though I hope you will agree to do the same service for me when I am done." I say, receiving a nod in response "I am a human, a creature descended from apes in the continent of Africa on a planet called Earth. A planet is a large sphere composed of stone, gas, ice, metals, or other materials that is above a certain size. Life on the planet started within the sea and over the course of many years expanded to the land."

I continue "Mankind than split in many directions, some to the nearby Asia, some across the straight to Europe, some followed a chain of islands to Australia, and some took a land bridge to the Americas. They all developed separately for quite some time though in Europe, Asia, and Africa trade had begun to connect them once again. Thousands of years of war, disease, religion, genocide, and beautiful achievements later they reached a point where, for the first time in their history, they had a true chance for peace as a species. They ignored it, instead they decided to descend into war with weapons that could turn entire cities and their populations to ash, leaving the land scarred for years to come."

I finish with a cold "I had no intent of having any hand in the end of our species and left before our D.I.Y. Armageddon could begin."

She stared at me for a moment before speaking "You sound much older than somepony of your kind lives for. Though I haven't seen one of you with my own eyes before, only through Luna's memories."

At that statement my eyes grew to the size of plates "You mean to tell me that humans existed here?"

Somewhere deep in the trenches of Tartarus a giant that appeared as a rotting corpse with a crown and the silvery robes of a king set his eyes on a red and black centaur tyrant. The Triad Melancholy's first pawn was in reach.