The Weary Traveler

by The Psychopath

The metallic nightmare

Celestia woke up from her long slumber, her mane and tail unkempt. Her face was drooping, her eyes underlined by dark bags, and her fur splitting all over her face. The mare flipped the covers off her enormous, circular bed and walked to her bathroom, grumbling along the way. As Celestia opened the door, she was engulfed by bright white lights created by blue crystals within the bathroom wall tiles and flinched away painfully. It took her a moment to adjust.

"I need to brush my teeth first..." she mumbled and rubbed her eyes. "Or should I take a shower and brush my teeth while I do that?"

Shelves fell down along with the trinkets decorating them, producing loud shattering from glass and pottery. Her bed screeched along the stone floors, hurting the alicorn's ears and preventing her from focusing on keeping herself upright. She took care of the bed and the rest of her room's furniture by encasing them in her magic. Eventually, the tremors stopped, allowing Celestia to get back onto her hooves and rush out of her room. Unfortunately, she was interrupted by a guard doing the opposite and crashing into her chest in the process.

She frowned and looked at the guard. "Ow," she spoke flatly.

"Princess, there's something happening to the sky outside," one of the guards shouted.

The princess kept her head clenched under a hoof and looked at the guard through one eye. "What thing?"

"Um..." He rubbed his chin. "It looks like a haze distortion of some sort?" he explained with a flat expression.

Celestia stared at him silently for a moment. "Take me there," she ordered.

While Celestia seemed serious despite her unkempt appearance, internally, she was crying about just waking up and only wanting a bit of cake. It was an unpleasant moment when one was attacked by a massive threat just minutes after awakening. The group exited through the castle's entrance upon a stone trail leading from the gates, and near its end was Luna. She was sitting in the short grass of the castle grounds and staring at the sky, but she quickly took notice of her sister's approach.

"Oh, sister!" she shouted. "I'm glad you're awake...and feel so good about yourself that you don't care what other ponies think about what you look like." She hid her mouth behind her hoof and audibly laughed at Celestia's expense.

Celestia responded by sticking her tongue out at her sister. "If you're done, I want to know what that is and how long it's been happening." She pointed to the sky.

Luna continued to grin at her sister despite the serious situation. She cleared her throat and regained a serious composition. "Well, it's been happening for a few hours now. It just never did much until now."

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Celestia noticed her sister making a face and felt her anger bubble inside her.

"Because it wasn't serious enough at the time. I could have taken care of it on my own if it wasn't causing damaging tremors." She couldn't help but grin at her sister's appearance ruining the situation.

"I s...STOP. MAKING THAT FACE!" Celestia shouted.

The distortion in the sky, creating a heat haze effect, let loose a thrum of energy and noise akin to a horn being blown. Everypony around fell to their knees, their minds becoming numb and their stomachs feeling sick. When the effect subsided, the ponies looked up to see that...nothing had changed. There was a long search for around an hour at and around the distortion in the sky, but it proved fruitless.

"Looks like it might have been a distortion of magic of some sort," Luna mused. "I guess we should return to our duties." She looked towards the sky to evaluate the time. "I think it's about time that you do your first round of duties. Leave the distortion to us. You have ponies to calm."

"And what would those duties be again?" Celestia asked.

An elderly stallion with a gray coat, trimmed mustache, and tuxedo walked up to the white alicorn and cleared his throat to get her attention. "You have audiences until lunch time, your highness," he explained. He eyed the mare with a judgmental gaze. "I would suggest you get yourself prepped up, first. You look like you just got out of bed."

Celestia leaned in close to him, creating a pressure that made him instantly nervous. "I did," she said.

"R-right..."

The white alicorn looked to her sister. "Luna, I want you to tell me everything about that distortion that you know of when my audience session is over, alright?" She straightened herself out and did her best to lessen the stress displayed on her face. "I need to reassure the populace as best as I can." Luna nodded in response. "Thank you," Celestia said.

The white mare sat upon her throne, trying to resolve any issues that came her way and expecting any news on the abnormality that occurred early in the morning. The amount of audience members from Canterlot were quite enormous, reaching upwards of a few hundred ponies outside the throne room. Most of their qualms came from minor damages caused to architecture and the city-wide dizzying effect caused by the abnormality that occurred recently.

"So it wasn't just confined to the castle," Celestia thought to herself.

Although, while the throne room was filled to the brim with audience members and royal guards flanking them, not all were there for just those gripes. Some were just there to deliver boxes and letters from thankful citizens; Gifts, and Celestia loved to get them. One pony had brought a massive cardboard box to the princess' hooves, and after the guards checked it for any danger, gave it to Celestia. Many of them were just drawings by young foals, and seeing them made the mare audibly 'aw'. It was a nice moment of reprieve from the unknown object floating above the city, and she was grateful that the delivery service hadn't ceased its duties. It was another scenario that would help alleviate the people's concerns, she thought. She was about to set the box down on the three-step pedestal her throne sat upon when a disturbance occurred behind the massive doors the crowd had come through.

"What is going on?" Celestia asked. "Somepony check if it's a danger to the civilians here."

The doors were forcefully pulled open by the perpetrators of the disturbance. Two of the guards ordered them to halt, but they were casually tossed over the crowd and towards the other guards. The audience didn't move at first, and they didn't need to. The intruders pushed them to the sides of the narrow path set to them. Everyone who turned to look at the one pushing them displayed a form of displeasure ranging from mildly disturbed to abject horror.

"Who is it? What do you want?" Celestia asked in a steady tone.

Her serious expression lead way to wide eyes and furrowed brows. She had no way to process what was before her. Four intruders stood before her throne, the one answering being the one closest to her.

"That depends first," the visitor asked. "Are you going to attack us?"

"Do you plan on harming everypony here?" Celestia replied.

"The guards were thrown away as a means of self-defense," he answered casually.

Celestia raised a brow. "Then your aggression won't be a consistent behavior?"

"No," the intruder said dryly.

Celestia eyed him and relaxed herself. "If I may be so bold to ask, what are you?" she asked as she sat down. She was keeping a close eye on this intruder and a spell at the ready to tie him down should the need arise.

"A pony, just like you," the intruder answered.

Celestia blinked at the response. "This...perplexes me. You look nothing like us."

"DNA tests would show our genetic makeup to be one hundred percent identical." He shrugged. "That is, if we ignore the minor mutations every being acquires during gestation."

"I see..." She rubbed her chin.

The visitor in questions had a bare, purple body devoid of any fur. His skin was soft and leathery, like a cephalopod. His hooves ended in hard blocks of darkened skin and preventing any of the sliminess of his skin to slide upon the ground. He had no tail. Instead, much like with his head, he had a slew of tentacles that her clearly controlled. His tail tentacles were wrapped around each other, creating a simulacrum of a spear that he flicked around from time to time. The tentacles on his head had white undersides with black circles, and the five of them wobbled around like snakes on the head of a medusa. He had five eyes, all of them with a black iris and a mulberry pupil. His mouth was very long and narrow, but still looked like a pony's rather than a beak.

Celestia felt disturbed by his claims and his clearly weary face. He had weathered quite a bit, she could see, but she wasn't sure to what extent. If anything, he appeared quite annoyed.

"And why are you here?" she asked him. "You must be related to the disturbance in the sky."

The cephalopony nodded. "Indeed I am. As for why I'm here?" He looked around at the audience and guards pointing their spears towards him and his companions. "To keep your kind from falling to the one thing that no civilization has survived up to this point."

Celestia raised an eyebrow, and a hushed brouhaha came from the crowd. "And what exactly would that be? If it is an enemy, we can certainly fight it."

Remaining static and seemingly apathetic, the cephalopony answered. "It is not an enemy with a physical body, but it still accompanies progress."

The alicorn leaned back in her throne and rested her head on a foreleg. "I'm not in the mood for riddles."

"I'm aware." The entity exhaled. "I'm here to accelerate pony progress to surpass 'decay'."

"Decay?"

"The one thing that prevents any civilization from reaching its ultimate existence, and I have witnessed them all." A tentacle scraped his right cheek. "I have also come to timelines similar to this one thrice before."

"Oh? And what happened."

"I destroyed them," he stated nonchalantly.

"You what?!" Celestia yelled at the top of her lungs.

The crowd started to panic after hearing that.

"Elaborate or I'll have you imprisoned at once!" Celestia shouted.

A 'mare' next to the visitor cackled in response. "Like that would be a deterrent," she mocked.

The 'pony' was as bizarre as the visitor. She was encased in a semi-transparent metallic armor. She had narrow, mischievous eyes and jagged lips imitating sharp teeth. Her mane was a clump of artificial hair glowing a faint neon yellow. Her body was very narrow and both of her legs had sharp barbs on their inner side. Additionally, her hooves were twice-cloven, giving her three toes, and she made a chittering noise akin to insects when she looked at Celestia. This wasn't lost to the alicorn who chose to ignore it for the time being.

"The first of the three attacked me immediately," he trailed off. "The second came to a good start. We managed a few thousand years of progress, but then they tried to backstab me and steal everything."

"We killed them all," the mare chuckled. "Painfully!" Her voice cracked with joy.

Celestia fumbled uncomfortably upon her throne. "And the last?" she asked.

"The last didn't go far. Spies from other kingdoms stole the technology I had imparted, and in but a hundred years, created a side-development, and the world destroyed itself."

Celestia put a hoof to her chin. "I see. And how can I believe you and your armored bodyguards just like that?" she gestured to the four.

"They aren't armored. Those are their bodies."

Celestia dropped her hoof down and required several takes before being able to formulate the right words in response to what the visitor said. "Excuse me?"

"Those are their bodies. Hyper-developed machinery by your standards. I put those few I befriended into them at their behest."

"Wh..."

"I will prove my sayings, but I require to speak with you and your sister; Luna."

Celestia leaned towards the elderly butler and whispered to him. "Get Luna. I don't trust this...'pony'...Tell her to keep a contingent nearby."

"Right away, your highness," he bowed and left in a hurry.

The alicorn reluctantly left her throne to follow the group outside, but was stopped by the thin, robotic pony.

"What do you want?" Celestia asked.

She sported a sinister smile. "So you're this timeline's 'Princess Celestia'?" she mused. "Always such a 'pretty thing', huh?" she growled through her 'teeth'.

The pony walked towards Celestia, but as she did so, her body extended and stretched out multiple times, creating a metallic creature twice the height and length of the white alicorn. It had the appearance of a doll with its pieces placed on black, thin metal beams. The 'toes' of the metallic pony's hooves became sharp claws that were used to push the alicorn's head up to meet her own. Celestia looked at her, undaunted, while the robot smile gleefully with dark intent.

"I don't like you, Celestia. I never have."

"And?" the princess asked dismissively. She gestured her guards to stand down, as they were already approaching the robotic pony slowly to attack her by surprise.

The metallic pony's smile faded to a toothy frown. She eyed Celestia up and down. "Hmph. You change in appearance, but you're still the same deep down." She 'threw' Celestia's head back as best as she could, but the alicorn was stronger than she appeared and was only slightly bothered by the strength used. "I killed my Celestia, and I hope I will be able to do so again."

The robot reverted to her original form and followed the intruder, leaving Celestia to ponder about the dangers these visitors could bring to her and her people. Her nerves loosened slightly after the creature left her throne room.

"What in Equestria...?" Celestia stuttered.

She had come outside to witness a massive saucer floating above Canterlot. Its body was vertically pierced with multiple shapes, the most prominent being rectangular.

"As you can see, I've been doing this for a very, very long time, and I have gathered much technology and knowledge for my dream." The visitor turned his head to look at the alicorn still gawking at the machine the size of a city. "I refuse to die until that dream is fulfilled." He also noticed in the corner of his many eyes, a certain robot mare glaring at Princess Celestia. "And if that mare gives you any trouble, do tell me." His tone became deeper. "I'll take care of her going out-of-line."

Author's Note:

My patreon is here

Comments

[mastermenthe]

this timeline might be a failure, but then, it seems as if this betentacled Machinator has poorly studied the modalities of his failure.

[The Psychopath]

8510714
Heeeyyy. Haven't seen you in a while.

[Paladin Redflare]

I would hella read more c:

[mastermenthe]

8510745
i lost steam
you might think it seems silly that it takes energy to enjoy things... actually come to think of it, you of all people probably understand that better than most; my bad!

[The Real Lunaby]

Haven't sat down with one of your stories in awhile. Bout time I make up for that. I've always loved your works

[mastermenthe]

woops, forgot to hit tracking. fixed.

[The Psychopath]

8511390
Then you've got a lot of lost time to make up for.

[Canary In The Coal Mine]

Perhaps the weary traveler should work on his opening lines, or have some kind of systematized way of taking different approaches and seeing how each one does. Instead, I get the feeling the major differences aren't him, but the timelines he travels to.

[The Psychopath]

8512000
There's a reason he's 'weary'.

[wildlander84]

8510745
I gotta know, who's the artist behind that cover art and where did you find it?

[The Psychopath]

8512121
If I knew I would've put it in the source. I found it on a blog after searching for 'future cities' or 'sci-fi' city' in google.

Funny how I often find cover art that people love but can never refind the place where I first...found...it...

[RDDash]

What can they really do? This time traveling reject of a pony can just kill them all.