Equestria: A Flux Tale

by Star Sage

A Night with Celestia

The sky overhead turned purple as the two of you worked your way down the stairs. At the bottom, the path split, one going towards the city, the other towards the castle in the distance, and after a moment of thought, you decided to return to the castle for the night, sure Vinyl would tell you everything about the clothing that Frazzle made Big Macintosh. Telling Octavia this, she smiled, nodded, and trotted off towards the city. Watching after her, not really sure why, you sighed, and then flew higher than usual, going up into the sky, and then rocketing off towards the castle, looking down as the outskirts of the city passed quickly below you, and within a few moments, you arrive in the garden, hovering just above the trees. Looking through the branches you spot the various animals that make the gardens their home. One form though, belongs to a pony you recognize, and with a smile, you descend from the sky, and nod to her in greeting.

"Hello, Ms. Fluttershy," you say simply, as you come down to hover near her head, finding that she's covered with various animals, as she lays down upon the grass.

"Oh, hi there. How are you, Mr. Human?" she says, and you smile again at her name for you. You don't know whether she forgot your real one, or just chose to call you what you are, which, considering you're the only one of your kind that you know of on the whole planet, isn't something that bothers you.

"I'm fine. Just got back to the castle after an afternoon with Octavia and the others. I'll assume you've been here all afternoon yourself with the animals," you tell her, not really a question, just a statement of fact.

"Oh, I have. It was so traumatic that first night at the gala, but since then, I've gotten to know the birds and the animals here a little better. That time I was trying to keep them up way past their bed time. Now, thanks to Mr. Hayseed, I know when to leave them alone, and when we can play," she says, and then whistles a few notes, getting the birds to flap their wings, and fly into the trees, the squirrels, after hugging her, going to their homes as well, followed by the various other.

"Heh, adorable. So, are you gonna head to bed yourself?" you ask her, wondering when you yourself would be heading off to sleep.

"Well, I suppose I should. We had a really exciting night last night, and a long day today. Besides, I think Angel got here with Spike, and has been in the rooms Twilight made ready for us, and is probably 'claiming' everything in there as his toys, so I need to go dissuade him of that, before he and Rainbow Dash get into another argument," she tells you, and then with a bit of a flutter to her wings, she rises to her hooves, and trots off, towards the tower where the girls are staying. You spend a moment watching her. Even just trotting, Fluttershy somehow exudes this aura of adorability that you don't think anypony, or anything else, can match. That only makes you smile more broadly, as you look up towards the castle, and take off like a shot for it.

The air around the castle tastes of magic, as it had before. It was no secret why of course, considering the palace here was home to twin goddesses, and likely several unicorns. Heck, knowing now that the armor gave the guards their wings and horns, you begin to wonder, idly, if you can feel them too, and resolve to one day ask to touch one of the armors with you power, both in rest state, and as it's put on, just to see if you can somehow replicate the effect. Your idle thoughts are banished when you notice the large balcony approaching you, and zip around it, finding yourself at the door to Celestia's own room, with two shapes silhouetted inside, the sizes of them making it obvious they were the student and the master, and the sounds of silvery laughter coming from within showing they were having a private moment.

With no wish to disturb the pair, you fly upward to where you own room is, shaking yourself as you land, trying to work the kinks out of your muscles. Oddly, despite only eating once today, you don't feel hungry or tired, but as you land, you find every muscle in your body is sore, making you wonder if your power uses them in some way you don't yet understand. Stretching upward, you pop a few vertebrae in your back, the feeling of release sweet agony to you, as you look upward, and feel, rather than see, Luna on her balcony above yours. You toy for a moment with going to join her on her deck, to watch her again raise the night, and after a moment fly up to her.

Lifting off your balcony, you float upward slowly, coming to the edge of Luna's, and then lightly waft to land on the low railing. Before you stands the Princess of the Night, her mane, styled after a starry night sky, flowing around her body. Staring at her, it's easy to see how she scared the others during Nightmare Night. Her visage is imposing, her size, a good twice what the others had, would have been intimidating, if you weren't already used to it, and her expression was chiseled, like she had been born of some obsidian block, lovingly crafted into a creature of terrible beauty.

"Are you just going to stand there, or do you have some greater purpose in coming here?" she asks, without turning her head to you, and you float off the railing, to move closer to her, finally coming to a stop near where she's standing, and looking off with her into the distance. From her balcony one can see almost as much as Lookout Mountain. In the distance are cities, some like Ponyville, small places, patches of light in a darker world, while others shine like beacons of fire against the cold night, obviously larger places, like Manehatten. In the day, they would have been obscured by distance, but in the night, they blaze, like stars fallen to Earth, and you can pick out dozens close by, within miles, while others are obviously farther out.

"I had no purpose, Princess, other than to look out on your night, and enjoy it, as you see it," you tell her simply, and you can see out of the corner of her eye, she's smiling at you. Smiling yourself, you look up into the starry night sky, and find the star she'd shown you the night before, and closing your eyes, you make a wish. She gasps beside you, and your smile becomes a satisfied smirk.

"Interesting wish, little one. Still not a desire to go home though, curious," she says, reminding you that, once again, your wishes involve this place, this world on which you've found yourself. You're no longer bothered by that though.

"Heh, it's a simple wish, and it's made for a friend," you tell her simply, and after a moment of thought, she nods.

"True, but it is one that those two have to sort out for themselves. Trixie was one of the most stubborn, sure of herself little ponies that has ever been in my sister's tutelage, and DawnChaser....he's something different," she says, chuckling.

"He is. Then again, no two ponies are alike. That's why this place is so awesome. So many different faces, but all so friendly at their core. Heh, back on my world, someone with the differences I face would probably have been locked away for study. Here, I have no doubt, you and your sister would let me go my own way, if I chose to do so," you tell her.

"And so you chose to stay near us then?" she offers to finish your thoughts for you.

"Yeah, I suppose so. You would never do anything to force me down the road you want. Celestia, for all that some others, like Vinyl, see her as a tyrant, isn't. She's a soft, gentle, guiding light. She shows the road that one might walk, but then shows a thousand others. The path she illuminates is, to her, the best, but it's not the only road, and she knows it," you explain, remembering the Solar Empire stuff that net had dreamed up around her.

"And what of me? Was I not just tyrant once? As Nightmare Moon, I made horrors and fears take flesh, and I made the little ponies quiver in terror at the very sound of my name," she counters, bringing up her own flaws.

"No, that's not you at all. Nightmare Moon, whatever she was, wasn't Luna, not the one I've come to know. You're a guarding darkness, a shadow that protects those who walk the path, unnoticed, but always felt, a presence that makes one safe to trek, to explore, and to discover. Never showing the path that can be taken, but instead allowing them to find their own way through the world, and just removing a stone or two from the path, to make sure they don't stumble," you say, chuckling again. You turn to face Luna, who actually seems to be crying a little at your words, and then, without warning, kisses you, before pulling back.

"Thank you, it's not often I hear such kind words. My sister doesn't speak them, because it is not something she can say, and the ponies, even Twilight and her friends, don't think that way," she tells you, and you feel for her. It's probably really hard to come back to a place like this, to a life you'd left behind, and then try and take it all back. Still, Luna is pretty cool, to have done so as well as she had.

"It's also because your sister doesn't think such words need to be said," came a motherly voice from behind you, and you and Luna turn to find the sun goddess standing in the doorway to the balcony, alone, probably having said good night to Twilight.

“Oh, um…how long have you been standing there?” asks Luna, obviously flustered that she’d been so distracted as to not notice her sisters approach. You yourself aren’t sure how she would have hidden herself, as looking at her, she’s radiant as a rising sun, and your powers literally taste her from where you’re standing on the rail a few yards away.

“Long enough. I had come looking for our guest, as I had a surprise for him, but now I come to see he has a surprise for me as well. It’s good to see you smile that sincerely little sister,” says Celestia as she walks closer and then does that pony hug thing where she sets her neck on Luna’s, her height, about half again Luna’s, allowing her to do so with ease.

“Heh, it is not often times I am given reason to smile these days, what with the duties of being a royal. I rarely have time to enjoy the company of friends now, or even to see Hoyden and Sundance most days, outside their simply being here in the palace,” she tells her sister, and you get the impression that you should leave, that the discuss is about to get private, but Celestia uses her power to stop you, generating a rainbow of light just behind you to keep you on the balcony.

“Then perhaps we should discuss a short holiday for you, Sister. For now though, I believe the Night Court awaits you, and I have business with our visitor,” said the sun, and the moon nods, turning back to you with a parting smile, before proceeding out the door, and into the palace.

“Um….is this business personal, or just business?” you ask, looking up at her from your perch. It was interesting feeling her now, as you did, compared to your impressions of her. What you’d told Luna was the truth, she was a light, but this close to it, the light was a bit overwhelming, and you could see why some thought like Vinyl, that she was a tyrant. Right now, if she had asked you to stop flying, and then jump off the balcony, you were almost certain you would have.

“A bit of both, but I’m sure you’ll like it,” said Celestia with an almost motherly tone, and in the next moment, instead of standing before you as a snow covered mountain, she stood beside you, sized for your scale, about as large as a regular horse. She then leans down, sloping one of her wings so that it looks like a ramp to get on her back, and you look down at the ground before her, and then stare into her face.

“You do know how to ride, don’t you?” she asks, in an oddly familiar voice, and you quickly shake your head.

“I’m a city slicker. I’ve never seen real horses. Heck, the cops don’t even keep them. Still, if you hum a few bars for me,” you tell her, and then start towards her. It is a few minutes of grunting from you, and laughter from Celestia, before you finally manage to get into a stable seat, and she then rises, nearly making you fall off again.

“You know, wouldn’t it be easier if I just flew with you?” you ask, having not thought of that before, as her offering to let you ride her….er, to let you….well, you know, was something they you doubted would be a good idea to turn down.

“It might have been, but you don’t know where it is we’re going, and I wouldn’t want to spoil your surprise when we get there,” she said, and then with a rather mischievous smirk, Celestia leaps forward, her wings flaring, and you almost go flying off her back, as those massive, for her size, white wings caught the air, sending her feathers fluttering in the wind, and the two of you ride off into the night.

Below you passes Canterlot Castle in all its beauty. With no party or the like tonight, some of the lanterns are dark, but even with only one in three on, the palace shines in the night, really looking the part of a seat of power for a Deity. Better, you can see others on the grounds, Twilight, specifically, but a dozen or more other ponies you don’t recognize just doing things that were their job, from Earth Ponies tending the gardens, to a unicorn mending a bit of well that had gained a crack, to several dark shapes you recognize as the Wonderbolts flying in the air, laughing as they play an aerial version of tag with somepony who could only be Rainbow Dash.

“Your home is lovely,” was all you say, as you smile, and you can feel the princess chuckling. In lieu of a response, however, Celestia flaps her wings hard, and suddenly you have trouble breathing. It takes you a moment to figure out that despite her reduced stature, Celestia is still a powerful thing, her wing beats making you fly faster than the wind, as she does it again, and again, leaving her palace and city far behind.

Once beyond the borders of the city, the lights below taper off, showing up intermittently, probably camps of things, given the flickering nature of some of the sources, are using large bonfires to illuminate the evening. Above, the moon is full, giving off enough light that, without the fires, you could have made out that not all those camping were ponies. Some looked like Diamond Dogs, others like the Drakes, the ones older than Spike, and one appeared to be a group of griffins in battle armor.

You would look back up to ask Celestia what those are, but when you look forward, something far more interesting catches your eye. It was…a golden cloud. Not one with the hue of golden like from a setting sun, but more, it really looked like a formation of water condensation that was made of solid gold, reflecting the moon light in odd patterns, and giving it a bit of a striped look, with the surface going from a lustrous sheen to pure black, and back again, as your angle on it changed.

“Um, is this your surprise?” you ask, not sure, since this world could have many surprises. Celestia doesn’t respond save to laugh again, and soon you find the pair of you diving for the cloud, making you instinctively raise your hands. Despite the cloud shape, the thing looks solid, and so you brace for an impact, one that doesn’t come. Instead there’s a feeling of the world flipping upside down, and your stomach heaving, so that when you open your eyes you nearly vomit all over Celestia’s back.

“This is indeed my surprise,” she says, as she lays down again, giving you the chance to get off, and you have to swallow several times to get everything back in place, distracted by your discomfort so it’s only when you’re standing on it, that you realize the cloud is supporting your weight. After looking down to confirm that, you then look around, and gasp.

This place was…lovely would be a good way to describe something a millionth as beautiful. Here, within the gold cloud, you can see little drops of pure light fall from above, some of them dripping into puddles the ripple and move in strange ways, but echo as well all around you. You’d seen pictures of what some people called heaven before, and for a moment, just a moment, you wonder if Celestia has taken you there.

Turning back to ask any one of the million questions you have about this place, you find that the Princess apparently wasn’t done surprising you, as she stood now, her wingtips and horn meeting in front of her chest, and you could feel the power emanating from the point where they touched, even before an orb of magic formed there.

It felt, to your new sense, almost like the cloud, which, now that you were within, was easy to gauge. It was a point where power gathered. All around you was power, but not straight forward power, if that made any sense. It felt twisted and looped, like the power of this place came from many sources, and Celestia’s spell orb thing tasted the same to that sense, twisting and turning, before finally flashing outward, a wall of light coming from her, and then passing through you harmlessly.

Blinking away a few spots, you try to get your vision back, looking around, and finding that, now, the golden cloud was glowing of its own accord. Instead of being lined with shadows were light didn’t touch it, not it looked like something Scrooge McDuck would have spent an adventure finding, a fluffy bit of solid gold, that you reach down and pluck a bit of, just to make sure it was really still a cloud, before finally returning to gaze at Celestia, who looks a bit drained, but smiled warmly at you.

“What is this place?” was all you could think of to ask, and the Sun Princess chuckles at you, looking around herself, drawing you gaze with hers to get just one panoramic look at the cloud around you.

“I’ve been told you would call it, ‘The Place Where Angels Lose Their Way’. Of course, I wasn’t told what an angel was, but I assume it’s something from you world,” she answers, and absent mindedly you nod, still caught up in the wonderful look of this place. It’s only in the back of your mind that you wonder who called it that, as it seemed familiar.

Your gaze, after spinning around the whole cloud, comes to look at Celestia again, however, the instant your eyes look to her, they turn behind her, as the drops from above seem to be hitting something behind her, slowly taking a golden shape, that looked rather large, and rather odd. It takes until the shape is complete for you to realize what it is, and even then, it changes as you watch, going from solid gold, to almost blackest night, taking on colors that are no fun to look at.

A moment passes before the shape, an armored figure, shows that its new coloring is not just a paint job, moving its hands together. When they meet as fists, a weapon, a spear, seems to grow from then, which the figure then twirls a bit, and aims right at Celestia’s back, her smile still fixed on you as the sharp end dives right for her neck.

Comments

[bocaj518]

O_O

[Star Sage]

1262144

What? Do I have something on my face?

[Sonicbrony66]

1262150 Yes. Its a big ol cliffhanger.

[Star Sage]

1262180

Heh, well, if you want to read where it goes, give me a bit, I'll be streaming it.

[Sonicbrony66]

1262193 I look forward to it.

[Ron_Gamer]

OH SHIT, LOOK OUT WE GOT US A BADASS OVER THERE!!!

[forevertheDoctor]

What? WHAT?!
...what.

[Mr Swanky Hat]

3752540
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