The Man of Metal

The Equestrian Board of Economics was one of the country’s most important boards. It met on the first Tuesday of the month every month, without fail. Even if that Tuesday had an social event, this extremely vital meeting was held, and all members of the board were expected to come. It was one of the things that made Equestria the political powerhouse it had been for over 300 years.

It also bored Celestia half to death.

That sentence could be applied to almost all of her duties as Princess of Equestria at this point, of course, not least because she wanted to just go out and have actual fun every once in a while. But if she were to be honest, the EBE meetings bored the absolute horseapples out of her.

As the chairpony droned on about the problems with the economy of the day, Celestia was looking out the window above her. The room the EBE met in was one of the most beautiful rooms in the entire palace; at least, Celestia thought it was. It had patterns all around the room, of meetings past and famous events from pony history, which spiralled up around the building before stopping. Then, after that came a huge glass domed window. It was perfectly smooth, built to see the sky and how beautiful it was on the nights that came and went. Sometimes, Celestia just lay there all night long, looking up at the sky.

It wasn’t because of her love of how beautiful the cosmos were; no, Celestia did this because of her sister, Princess Luna.

Or as the ponies of the modern age knew her, Nightmare Moon.

The sound of a gavel jolted Celestia out of her funk. Her eyes met the chairpony’s, who was unimpressed. She chuckled nervously. Then, the chairpony spoke, his dull glare going off Celestia to face the rest of the room. “…And with that, this meeting is adjourned.” He stood, getting off his seat, and with that, the rest of the room’s ponies followed his example, standing to leave.

Well, not all of them. Celestia was still sitting, her train of thought returning as she flicked her eyes upwards, looking at the large domed window at the top of the room. The electronic lights that had been installed were dimmed to a low beam, just before the final board member left.

It was night now, and she could see the moon even as she occasionally gave it a little push along the sky. Her sister was trapped on that place. Even hundreds of years after what had happened, she still thought about that day like it had been just yesterday; her memories were as clear as water.

When her sister had become jealous, Celestia had become conceited; she craved attention from anyone she could, and her self-assurance had been great enough that she’d alienated Luna. She’d been very different as a young mare; she’d been arrogant, greedy, and attention-seeking, and although she still had those traits, over a thousand years in office had taught her self-restraint.

But learning self-restraint afterwards changed nothing. It wouldn’t stop Luna from being possessed by the Nightmare. It didn’t stop her from feeling the weight on her chest that came whenever she made an important choice.

A single tear fell from her eye, trailing down her cheek.

It wouldn’t stop her from failing Equestria.

It was only a few years until Luna would return. And then what would happen? Would Luna still hate her, down on the inside? Would she still be an awful sister? Would her ponies still put her on such a pedestal that she would no longer have any true friends?

At that moment, a shooting star streaked across the sky, in front of the window. Celestia knew that it was just a myth; something parents told their foals to help them get to sleep at night. But she’d always longed for her days of fillyhood; the days where ponies would treat her just like any other pony.

“I wish that I had somepony else to talk to,” the ancient alicorn sighed, her gaze trailing the shooting star as it arced across the sky. Cadence was fine and all, but she had only recently ascended to her status. She still acted as if Celestia was above her.

To tell the truth, Celestia knew that almost everyone else in Equestria had it better than her. While she had to sit on her throne, smiling and dealing with a bunch of stuffy old farts, everyone else had freedom. While she raised the sun by day and moon by night, other ponies could laugh, play, and have fun in the fields. She sighed. Sometimes she wished she hadn’t accepted the position of Princess…

Suddenly, the shooting star stopped. Celestia blinked. It hadn’t faded out, which meant that the meteor hadn’t dissolved in the atmosphere. Neither had it been stopped by Telekinesis; those who had such reach and ability with it were few and far between; Celestia, being a fairly powerful Full-Spectrum Magus, had access to each of the schools, and her mastery over them was greater than the average unicorn, but even she had no ability to stop something moving so quickly with telekinesis.

Also, the shooting star seemed to be getting… brighter? “What?” muttered Celestia, squinting her eyes.
Then, suddenly, her eyes widened. She jumped back, hiding behind a bench for cover. She may have been the most powerful pony in the world, but she wasn’t invincible. After all, resistance to magic didn’t necessarily mean resistance to physical force.

Less than a second later, the glass on the roof of the window shattered, and a thundering boom sounded throughout the room and likely the palace, given how loud it was. She opened a single eye, and looked around the corner of her bench.

There was a huge crater in the center of the room; glass was scattered all around it, and the ground around it was glowing. Any glass that was there seemed to have melted, and Celestia sighed with relief. Extreme heat, she could handle. She stood up.

Looking at her front hooves, she made sure to avoid any dangers that may have been on the floor. Her eyes scanned the crater’s rim; it wasn’t exactly spherical, but it was definitely a huge carving into the ground.

She continued to approach the crater. Her instincts told her she shouldn’t, but she’d never listened to her instincts often.

What could be in this crater, though? There was no way it was an ordinary meteor; meteors didn't just act like that. It wasn't created with magic either; usually magical objects didn't leave craters. So what could have created the impact?

Her train of thought was cut short when she saw it. At first, Celestia stepped back, her face showing confusion. Then, it quickly morphed into concern. There was a creature within the crater; it seemed to be unconscious. It looked… odd. It had a pair of legs and arms that reminded her of a dragon's, but instead of short, stubby legs that many dragons had, its legs were large and muscled. And then there was the rest of its body.

Its head looked like a pony's, but without a muzzle, instead having a small nose like a Diamond Dogs. In addition, Celestia noticed that it had no external organs aside from its skin. Overall, it looked like the top half of a centaur combined with the bottom half of a monkey, minus the tail.

Except it was made out of metal. She prepared herself. “GUARDS!” she shouted, the Royal Canterlot Voice being used by her for the first time in millennia. She would have this creature tended to, and have it back on its feet soon; she wasn’t stupid, after all, and she knew that even if something came from the sky, there was no need to alienate it.

But she couldn’t help but wonder… what was that creature?