The Weary Traveler

by The Psychopath


A first step

Caramel sat upon a tweed chair, revising several of the documents and blueprints given to him by the traveler. The noble and his colleagues had decided to fund the whole construction of the prototype step-farm, but no pony really understood how it worked...or what most of the construction material was. Most things were easily recognized, like bolts and tethers, but others were...even if the traveler said this was 'primitive', most of the supervisors had scratched their heads through to their brains in confusion.

"How do we even build these things? Most of the parts for this thing..." The supervisor grabbed the blueprints and flipped them over. "I don't even know what this 'tendon' is for in the building."

A loud, stretched out bawl came from one of the beams of light emanating from the saucer. Several crates appeared underneath one along with several of metal poles. The parts were carted off by the minotaurs and earth ponies whilst others brought in raw materials like metal and resin and deposited them in another beam of light. The same sound occurred, but the event worked in reverse this time.

Caramel ignored the event, leaned against his chair, and took in the outside air. "I got this gig from him, and he put his trust into us, so we need to do it, if not for the betterment of Equestria. And to line my pockets with his tech." He snickered internally.

"We need to talk about security, though." The bulky mare looked around nervously, her bang swishing around in tandem. "There's some spies popping up around here."

"And there could be some more aggressive ponies and people coming to see everything or steal from us," a stallion interjected. He checked a laminated card glued onto his fur displaying his face and black bars, and frowned. "Why do we even need this?"

Caramel flattened out the blueprints back onto the table and grumbled in annoyance when he noticed that they weren't doing what he wanted them to. "I don't know why. The traveler didn't explain it when he took our pictures. As for the security," he turned towards the mare. "I had the foremen take care of that," he spoke with an angered tone. He pointed to the distance to ponies and minotaurs wearing orange suits over their torsos and speaking with the gigantic, orb-like metal pony.

The mare rubbed the back of her neck. "We can't even estimate the full cost and time it would take for this." Her eyes shot wider as she realized a misgiving. "I mean...the cost of basic materials, yes," she shrugged. "The rest, though..."

A loud, single, increasing tone blared from the saucer, its scream reaching across the countryside. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing from the great startle they received, but nothing else was happening, leaving them confused.

"What was that?" one of the supervisors wondered.

Caramel leaned forward. "Why are the foremen standing around like they're going to attack that ball?"

Too fast for their eyes to adjust to; Several objects had been shot from the saucer and slammed into the ground at various areas of the construction site. Two had landed between the ball pony and the foremen, and unlike the other objects, these ones rose instantly from the ground. They were eight-legged robots with a central body shaped like a cylinder with hexagonal faces. The legs took the form of massive, wide shields with a sharp stilt pointing inwards at the the bottom serving as the foot. The legs themselves were attached to a rotary ring at the top of the central body. The shields were a shining silver in color whilst the stilts were a deep red. Patterns on the central body followed suit, but they were spinning along the body of the machine inexplicably. They made no true sense.

"What is that?!" a supervisor shouted. "The security?!"

The machines screeched loudly, then the red patterns on the silver body stopped to form six, dna-spirals that surrounded the ring of legs. The top of the cylinder opened up, and the heads of missiles poked up while six of the legs swung forward, creating a large shield while the other extended back to create a recoil-stopper

"That's enough!" Bolbo shouted to the machines. "The test is over. Verify the perimeter and scan the badges."

The minotaur, with his bulk, was the easiest to see relax from the machines realigning their legs and stomping away into the distance. The round pony dismissed the foremen and hurried over to Caramel, a smile on his face.

"There ya go. We got our Hex units to patrol the building site and help with lugging around heavy weights when needed."

The supervisors stared at Bolbo slackjawed. "They can do that?" the bulky mare asked.

The round pony nodded excitedly. "Their legs can position however they need them to, so they can use six for walking around and two for lifting and pulling." His body digitally imitated the aspect of sweating, and pupils shrunk while he retracted his lips. "Among other things..."

Caramel looked down at his chest then bounced in sudden realization. "What are these things for?" he asked. "I understand they're badges, but we know who is coming and going from the site."

"You do, but-" Bolbo pointed to the spider-robots. "they don't. The symbols on the badges dictate who can and can't enter, the id is for good measure. Not the best of security." He scratched the back of his neck. "But considering your current technology, I suppose it's good enough. Even if someone steals the badge their face won't match."

"Then what happens?" a supervisor asked.

The round pony's answer was bring his hoofs together to his face then slowly spread them apart whilst imitating the sound of an explosion.

Applejack, on the other hoof, was talking with the traveler on the outskirts of the worksite. "Ya see this? The top 'o the dome needs ta be able to angle 'tself 'bout five degrees more ta the south. It'll pool any stagnatin' water down the crevices of the soil to the dry parts underneath." The traveler nodded and wrote down the details on a holographic notepad. Applejack looked at him then down at the notepad and frowned. "Ah figured you'd already known about all this if ya did it before."

Traveler didn't remove his many eyes from the notepad as he calculated the implications of the mare's requirements into the design. "Every reality had its own needs and instructions for its plantlife." He erased a calculation and corrected it. "What the mung fruit tree needed to grow fully was a large deposit of sulfur in its soil, or else its fruits would grow into highly toxic bombs, so to speak," he explained casually.

"Mung...fruit? What was it like?" Applejack asked with intrigue.

"Much harder to grow and maintain than an apple tree, it seems. With your plants, good soil and fungal prevention, among other things, and it's good to go."

"Would we be able ta...grow 'em here?"

Two of the traveler's eyes looked up to meet the farm pony's, and he stopped his calculations. "I don't think there wouldn't be a reason not to try...I have much plantlife garnered from the Equestrian ecosystems I visited over my lifetime." He tapped his cheek with a tentacle. "If this project works under your guidelines, I might introduce these plants, but in a controlled environment."

"Anythin' ta know beforehoof on what ta expect?"

"Work you were never adapted to," the traveler explained. "You know your plantlife, but this one comes from other worlds and have different requirements befitting the title."

Applejack grinned and pulled down her hat. "Sounds like a challenge, and I do love a good challenge."

The traveler didn't react and added more to his virtual notebook. "I have an idea on the best position for the apple trees in one of the three pods, but I need your input." He pushed down on the top cylinder of metal, shutting down the screen and locking the two pieces together before hiding it within the mass of his head. "Care to follow?"

"Sure thing, but ah'm quite sure yer gonna be wrong 'bout where ya want them put," AJ stated. She was quite cocksure of herself.

"If you say so," the traveler answered flatly.

AJ became disconcerted and clicked her tongue. "Ah know this is pryin', but just what happened to ya that yer so...apathetic to everythin'?"

The cephalopony's eyes darting in multiple different directions while he thought, and AJ would have run away screaming if she weren't used to him by now. She was still running in circles within her own mind, however.

"I already mentioned it before."

AJ nodded. "Yes, the million years thing, but ah figured there'd be more to it than that." She smirked. "Ah know a thing or two 'bout my family 'n friends, so ah know when somepony is really hurtin' inside."

"A very astute observation." There was a short pause. "One that doesn't apply to me."

"What?"

"Let us avoid the prying." The travelers tentacles were jittering and bobbing erratically on his head. "But if you want to know why, ask your Princess Celestia what will happen to Twilight in the coming decades, and then you'll understand."

"What?" AJ repeated with an even more confused expression.

"Even *I* know that the faces they put on are masks to hide behind."

The farm pony stopped for a moment, pulled her hat off, and wiped her forehead. She used it briefly as a fan. "Can't say ah understand him," she said to herself. "Plum strange feller."

As for the sisters, they were lying down on the steps leading to their thrones, utterly exhausted. The guards were dismissed from the premises just so the sisters could have a moment of privacy to themselves.

"I can't deal with this anymore..." Luna complained. She wobbled around a bit, but couldn't get off of her back, and her legs were splayed about like a dead animal's. "I just want to sleep."

Celestia was lying on her belly with her head on a foreleg and left wing spread out over the floor. "You? Sleeping?" She snickered. "That's a first."

Luna puffed up her cheeks. "Don't make fun of me, sister."

The two stopped talking and were slowly dozing off, but they bounced in terror when the doors slammed open and Twilight Sparkle came rushing through with a letter in her magic.

"Ah! My everything!" Celestia whined.

"PRINCESSES! PRINCESSES!" Twilight screamed. "I got a letter from Cadence!"

"You did?" Luna said. She turned to her sister. "Didn't we send for her at some point?"

Celestia looked in all directions then dragged her hoof across her face and dropped onto her rear. "I can't remember. Too much has happened in only a few days." She looked at Twilight with tired eyes accentuated by large bags. "What does it say, Twilight?" she asked between tired yawns.

"It says the whole Crystal Kingdom was engulfed in a dome of energy, and no pony can get out."

Luna dropped her head and groaned loudly. "Is it Sombra again?" she complained.

"SISTER!" Celestia scolded.

The lunar mare shrugged in response.

"No. It says that a huge thing flew above it, made the dome, then left."

"Not MORE problems with him!" Celestia groaned.

Twilight frowned. "I know he's been strange up to this point, but he wouldn't do something like that without reason." She shook her head at the sight before her.