The Weary Traveler

by The Psychopath

Aggrandizing

"Fine..." the traveler reluctantly agreed. "I'll explain it, but we need a better, wider, and brighter area for this."

"We can always arrange for another place to be used for these," Celestia suggested.

"No need."

The cephalopony nodded one to his companion. The rotund pony returned to his thin form once more and released several bizarre items into the auditorium. They had the appearance of two, slightly convex bars of black metal interconnected by a semi-transparent film of night-blue. The yellow lines running along the angular ridges on the surface of the metal ebbed and thrummed with power, releases simulacrum of lightning in the air around them. They clung to the chamber's walls, including the backstage. The traveler pulled out a collar he hid in his tentacles, placed it around his neck, then pressed a few buttons. Everypony's vision became blurred for several minutes, then they found their eyes which had adjusted to the dim light of the auditorium were being assaulted by sunlight.

The devices on the wall had changed the auditorium, making the space between seats wider, and the wooden floors into white marble covered by blue pillows. The back of the auditorium was accented by a 'crown' of marble pillars around its demi-circle shape. The ponies looked around, seeing more auditoriums and other buildings floating in a bright, blue sky.

"What the..." Luna gasped. "What is this?"

Looking closely, the ponies present could see an undulating form of energy at the border of the metal plates. It was quite the cause for alarm.

"What is this?" an audience member screamed. "What's going on?!"

"This is 'displacement'. Very different from multiple other methods of temporal transportation." The traveler tapped the hard floor below him and nodded with confidence. "A very stable one at that."

"Wh-wh-what is thiiiiis?!" Twilight stammered.

The now-emaciated pony flew in front of the lavender alicorn. "Using my magic and the bits there, we've created a bubble which transports us and areas around us into the space of another timeline or moment in time."

"In this case," the traveler interjected. "I had us transported to a larger, more open area. It's basically like taking a picture and putting it over another."

"But there's floating islands!" an alchemist shouted."

"Yes. That's why it's another timeline but also its own universe. You can't do that here as elements are lacking for it. Too different, but it's still temporal."

The mare scratched her head in confusion. The traveler shook his head in disappointment. "Twilight Sparkle, you told me that your traveling into the past caused the future to change, am I correct?"

"Yes," the mare answered quickly.

"Then that would mean that your own was 'destroyed', yes?"

"I..."

"Don't get an existential crisis."

"W-well...in theory, yes. That's what happened."

"In another reality, you told me you had a brush with time travel before, with you repeating the actions your 'future' self was doing to warn you."

"Wait, how--"

"It's another timeline, Twilight. I assume it was very similar to this one," Luna sighed.

"Um...Well, yeah...Yes. I did repeat them all, but I learned that--"

"That's good enough for me. I don't need to learn about your lessons," the traveler interjected. Twilight appeared insulted. "There's two things that happened with what you mentioned: A paradox, and a time-curve. The first requires more details." He cleared his throat. "Were there any consistent elements with every trip?"

"Well...Spike, myself, and the Crystal Map."

"Hmmm." The traveler faced the audience. "I know you are still mumbling about this current event, but what would happen if you went into the past to change things?"

"You would change the future, thus you shouldn't touch anything," a stallion shouted proudly.

"Such vim and vigor," the traveler congratulated. "In being wrong," his voice dropped. "That's a paradox."

"How so?"

"For one, if you change the past, you warped the future."

"And?"

"That would mean that the you that changed the past no longer came to be, which means you couldn't have gone back in time, which means that you couldn't changed the past, yet you did."

"I...uhh..." the stallion slumped in his seat, his brain visibly overheating.

The emaciated robopony chuckled at the sight.

"The PRECISE MOMENT you're in the past, you've changed it, because you weren't present during that time originally."

"Then what are you trying to say?" another audience member asked. "That there's millions of repeating timelines and we can do whatever we want and it won't change anything?"

"I didn't say that, you imbecile, so sit down!" The traveler cracked his neck. "Redundancy tangents occur if you just travel in the past and do nothing. There's no notable difference to our own, but with every possibility comes a reality. That's why I can do things like this without a care: No matter what I do, the 'original' timeline will always exist." A tentacle waved angrily at the crowd. "You can't rivet a metal plate on a first generation hover tank with your 'imagination'!"

"Hover tank?"

"Is that what you meant by reality theory?" Celestia chimed in.

"Yes," the traveler said. "Knowing that the most mundane of things can create a new reality is the basis of that."

"But, when we did that, we always ended up in new timelines!" Twilight said.

"That's because you were responsible for its change."

"But the table--"

"Was likely a catalyst, and because you were linked to it -I imagine-, then it traveled with you. Since you created the new timeline, you became a part of it and were sent to that reality accordingly."

"But Starlight was nowhere to be found."

"Most likely she remained in the past or her actions were so minimal that she wasn't responsible for the changes."

Twilight pondered the saying, and her eyes shot wide with horror and realization. "Ooooohhh..."

"There's multiple different ways of manipulating time and space."

"But what about the time curve you mentioned? And shouldn't it be a 'loop' instead?"

"Mmmm...no. Curves and loops are different. A loop is an artificial impediment of time's natural progress. What you did was a curve, where time repeated itself for one event and didn't trap anyone. Since the events continued and nothing stopped them, no loops occurred. Just think closely about what the origin of the curve looked like."

"I...see..." Twilight mumbled. She didn't understand.

"But like I was saying: There are multiple ways to manipulate time."

"Wait wait wait. Hold on just a minute!" a stallion shouted.

"We can hold a minute," the robot mused.

The traveler exhaled loudly from his snout.

"How did they stay in time or travel it anyways? That's extremely difficult and can only be done for but a few seconds. Even the strongest of spell casters can't do it for long."

The traveler stared at the pony in question and looked around this timeline's appearance. "For the same reason that we aren't technically within this alternate reality and are only applying its physical existence here."

"Huh?"

"Think of a river. That's the analogy you use, right?"

"Yes." The stallion mimed a river flow with his hooves while he spoke. "Time can only go forward, and much like a torrential river: You can travel in the opposite direction as much as you want, but you'll eventually be swept away by the current."

The ponies around him nodded in agreement. The cephalopony, however, was not amused.

"And much like with a river, there's a thing that lies next to it that adds to the water's qualification of 'river'."

"And that would be?" the stallion asked smugly.

"A riverside." He walked up and down the stage. "All you did is walk on the riverside then jump at the spot you want to reach, and there you go. It's done. You go with the current." The traveler smiled sarcastically. "You didn't go against anything and followed the basic flow of time."

"But...the water still moves forward."

"Yes, but the water is not time itself. It is the flow of time. Additionally, the river bed would represent certain points of time. This is also part of why and how I'm easily capable of traveling through time."

"Would you teach us, then?" Twilight asked.

The traveler and the emaciated robot looked at each other for a moment but did not respond. The metal plates retracted from their positions and returned to the robot, causing the distortion to revert. The ponies yelled loudly when they hit each other due to the room shrinking.

"I'd rather share the mathematics and start introducing advanced technology to these ponies before delving into the complex functions of time and space." He scowled. "And yet...I find myself growing angry at the lack of knowledge I am imparting, but that is for the best. The plans must continue unimpeded."

Comments

[Canary In The Coal Mine]

"Would you teach us, then?" Twilight asked.

What good would come of this? I mean, seriously, what good would come of it? These beings seem to be adrift and keep traveling to new timelines over and over again. Can they get back to their own? Why would you want to abandon your world for another if you can't control the outcome? Starlight couldn't, and these travelers can't either. It's a crapshoot, and probably a one-way journey at that, so why would it be taught except as a variation of a suicide technique? Because that's effectively what it is from the timeline's perspective.

[The Psychopath]

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Remember: He mentioned 'attempts' at something, but not specifically what they were, only that the thing he was trying to prevent is the 'decay' of the ponies. It's the reason why he left his world.

[Paladin Redflare]

Sounds confusing, sounds like I should just time travel willy nilly without a care and say fuck it to everything