//------------------------------// // Meeting Ponies, New and Known // Story: Equestria: A Flux Tale // by Star Sage //------------------------------// (And we begin the cameo parade with the introduction of Typhlofang's pony, and since it’s easier to show than to describe a pony, he can be seen in the first panel of this comic with Deasly's pony, http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7071878 Art is by Deasly himself, Typhlo is on the left, Deasly on the right.) You'd watched him and the Professor and Deasly do the spell enough that it should work out. Well, maybe. You could still try, if it didn't work, no harm no foul, you thought, as you closed your eyes, reaching towards your inner 'star' again. Taking it into your grasp within your mind, you pulled at it, siphoning off some of the magic inside yourself, and willing the change to happen, imagining the food getting smaller as you set your hands upon it. You feel the power flowing outward, and then open your eyes, only to be blinded by a flash of light, causing you to scream a little as you cover your eyes. Luckily, it was no worse than a camera flash, you had just been unprepared for it, and were a little afraid you might have accidentally cast another Ultima. Instead, when your vision clears a bit, you find yourself on the plate, at your typical size, with the sandwich of a size with you. "Oh, I didn't blow anything up this time," you say to yourself, walking along the plate, leaning down, and picking up the sandwich. Not wanting to find out you'd somehow turned it into a monster, or made it radioactive, or anything like that, you immediately take a bite. It tastes normal, as your teeth tear into the bread, and the fillings hit your tongue, a little oddly textured, like there are chunky bits this time, but maybe you just burned it somehow, and so you swallow it down, taking another bite, and then another, before finishing the sandwich and licking your fingers, glad to have had a meal that didn't require you to dive into it for once. "Mmm, you make good sandwiches Octavia....Octavia?" you say, turning around, realizing for the first time that you don't hear anypony, that the dining room you were in had gone completely silent. Looking around, everypony was gone, not just here. The Six, the Wonderbolts, and Vinyl too. That....could not be good, and you quickly shot into the air, and bolted for the front door. Luckily, it had been left ajar, and you exit to find Luna doing math with an abacus, while the Professor wrote stuff down, and Twilight was discussing something with Celestia. "Um, guys, I think we have a problem!" you shout, not sure how to phrase this, and all four of them turn towards you. "What? Did Deasly turn on the reactor again?" asks DawnChaser. "Reactor?" says Twilight, staring at him. "Uh...nothing, now, what is the problem?" he asks, trying rather clumsily to deflect the question. "I tried to copy Deasly's shrink spell, to make some of the food my size like he did, but then everypony just vanished, and I think they might be really small or something," you say, giving your best guess as to what happened, hoping you didn't somehow transport them to your world. Could the ponies even survive back home? "Oh, is that all? I thought it was something serious the way you tore out of the lab like that," said DawnChaser rather nonchalantly. "What? You mean me possibly turning them into microscopic things isn't serious?" you ask, a hint of panic at the end, while Twilight and Luna both look concerned themselves. Celestia, meanwhile, smiles at the Professor, who both burst out laughing. "Twilight, you have got to learn not to be so much of a worry wart sometimes," she tells her student through her laugh. "Indeed. This is my home, and I'm a magical researcher, don't you think there are dozens of safety spells in place, for just such situations. In fact, Deasly and I have a locator spell on each other, for just such an occasion, so if you'll give me a moment to cast it, we'll be able to find my wayward assistant, and hopefully, everypony else," said DawnChaser, and you felt him start to weave a spell, his horn glowing as tiny lines of force came from inside him and around him, gathering together and taking shape, before flying outward, and then looping around towards what you thought would be the lab....then they wrapped around the lab, and pointed right at you, specifically your stomach. "Um...does that mean what I-urg," you start to ask, but then feel a kick from inside your stomach, something hard and strong, and DawnChaser, starting at you, suddenly starts laughing again, this time falling over from it, while you, holding a hand against your stomach, look at him like he's gone nuts. Twilight and Luna share your lack of humor at this turn of events, and Celestia just chuckles behind a hoof, before walking between you and the Professor before anypony can get some ideas about kicking him. "What the Professor means by this, is that they're perfectly fine. I'm sure Deasly's protecting anypony with him, and if he's inside you, you can be assured the others probably are as well, so all we have to do is get them out," she explained. "Exactly. My assistant is used to this, as he told you the day before, and if you did indeed copy his spell, they're perfectly fine...if a bit dirty. Still, now have to decide. It might not be a good idea to use a teleport spell, as you might absorb it mid porting, and that would be a bad thing. It might be better if we just let them come out....naturally," he said, and you remembered going to the bathroom in the pony stall back at the restaurant the other day, not an experience you wanted to share with everypony, as another powerful kick was delivered to your insides. Right now though, everypony is looking at you, as if asking what you want to do, and thinking for only a heartbeat, you tell them to get them out, now! * "Well, that could be problematic," said the Professor, as he want to one of his books, and wrote down some numbers, before he could get too far though, Luna came up to you. "I think I know what he's talking about. Winking is a powerful spell, that requires a lot of a unicorn, or even my sister and I. It also needs us to lock onto the target for teleportation. That was why Twilight's ability to teleport out her friend, Ms. Applejack, was such a remarkable skill, she was able to separate two different life forces despite one being in the other," she explained, and DawnChaser nodded, while still writing down a few things. "But you're gods! You mean you can't do what a mortal can?" you ask, and then feel really bad about it when you gives you a hurt look, her head drooping to the side a bit. "I mean....oh I'm sorry Luna, but I just don't want to risk hurting them. I'm not from you world, and my diet is...well, a bit different. I know the Professor and Big Macintosh survived going through a pony earlier, I saw that, but I'm not one of you. What if I hu-burp!" the last comes out as a long belch, as air escapes from inside you, and you find yourself suddenly ejecting a few balloons, the float away into the air. This causes surprise on all five faces standing outside the lab, as you stare at the objects, and then Celestia starts to laugh, followed by the Professor grabbing them out of the sky with his magic, and Twilight walking close to you, and staring at your stomach, which feels like everypony inside is moving around rapidly in. "That had to be Pinkie Pie's Party cannon," says Twilight, and you try to say something that would be less than pleasing to the shows makers. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on which side of the exchange you're on, instead of an obscenity, what comes out of your mouth is a cloud of very tiny confetti. "Looks like you've got a party in your tummy," said Celestia through another bout of laughter, and suddenly you have a very strong urge to commit deicide. You resist only because she's not wearing a fuzzy orange hat, or had the name DJ Lance. "Anyway, what Luna meant wasn't that they couldn't do what I did, if you were one of us, it's more that, you make it impossible. There's no way to lock onto them with the spell, as you'll just absorb it before it gets inside you. Still, perhaps you could do to them what you're doing to the party supplies?" offers Twilight, and you do consider it for a moment, but then shake your head. "Vomiting is not my idea for a good time. But if you can't lock onto them, perhaps I can do something. If I focus, maybe I can teleport myself, and leave them here," you say, and DawnChaser's face brightens, as he seems to just pull a dozen and five recording devices out of thin air, pointing them at you. The Royal Pair, and Twilight, watching this exchange, all back up a bit, glancing at the crater you'd made with one of your latest spells, and remembering that another one is what caused this. You concentrate again. This is not as easy as it sounds, as apparently somepony's still got in their head that grooving inside your stomach would be a good idea. You tune it out though, and try to call up the void while awake. It works, oddly enough, and soon you are floating in the void again, not asleep, just not part of the same world anymore. It's really quite an experience, and if not for your thoughts rattling against the edges of it, you would have tried to stay here. Instead, you focus, finding your star again, and trying to pull off a bit of it to fuel this latest spell. What you get is more than a small sliver though, as the star 'visibly' shrinks under the strain of your imaginings, the power need of a teleportation spell obviously being huge. It is only as you consider where to teleport that you realize that the sisters may have had another reason not to use their own powers on you. When Celestia had tried it before, you'd nearly turned into a super villain and drained her dry, not an act she would probably like to repeat, and Luna likely felt the same way. You wondered idly, if that was a lack of trust on your part, as you'd been able to resist it once, or just caution about what such a drain could do to them. It hurt a little, to not be trusted, and as you shaped the magic to move you, while keeping the others where they were, you were determined to earn their trust. Still, that was the future, and for the present, you let the 'Wink' go, and felt yourself becoming insubstantial again, like a ghost, before reforming. The distance to you is, of course, much greater than a few feet, but luckily, nopony seems to have been harmed, as you turn around, to find yourself facing all of the ones who'd been inside with you, all back to their normal height. Idly, you wonder if you caused that as well, but figure it was a question for another time, as you look from one equine to the next, trying to see that they were all unharmed visually, before bowing to them. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sooooo sorry, is anypony hurt?" you beg forgiveness, looking into faces that don't seem to be too concerned, despite what you just did to them, even if on accident. "Heh, little dude, it's not a problem, chill," said Soarin, and everypony seemed to have the same reaction. "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't keep us inside long, and even if we had to go the long way out, my magic protects us, remember?" said Deasly. "Indeed. It wasn't exactly the most pleasant of experiences, to go from being a giant to you, to the opposite, but still, it is in the past. You seem to have even cleaned us up a little, at least compared to your own state of affairs after such an experience," says Rarity, showing the fact that her main and hair are completely dry, in sharp contrast to what happened to the clothing you wore when you got eaten. "Yes, I do believe I see somewhat the problems you've been having since before Vinyl and I found you, and probably even now. I hadn't considered, even when we shrunk down before, we only saw objects, and a single pony who knew we were there. It must not be easy to be stuck at that size," says Octavia, and Vinyl, rather than make a sarcastic comment, just nods. "You get used to it. Besides, I can fly, cause explosions that impress gods with my mind, and I made some really cool friends since this happened. Anyone of those things would have impressed me back home, all three, and I can call this place paradise," you said, motioning towards the crater you'd caused a little while previous. "He's got you there Tavia. Still, maybe a little less explody next time. Can't have you risking our world, just because you have one to go back to sometime," chided Vinyl. "I'll try to remember that. Anyway, now that everypony's safe and out of m-BURP!!!" this belch is again accompanied by balloons coming out of your mouth, far more than the first time, and when it's over, you look at Pinkie Pie, rather than blush, finding embarrassment is no match for irritation at a certain pink party pony. "What? It was the first time I'd ever been eaten like a cupcake! I had to throw a party to celebrate," she explained, and her reasoning somehow gave you a headache just by her saying it, making your irritation fade, as you started to rub your temples, before waving your hand. "You know what, I don't care, just tell me that was the last time I'm going to burp up balloons?" you ask, and Pinkie looks up, and begins to move her hoof while counting aloud, before perking up and smiling. "Yep, that was the last of them. I think you already digested the cakes and stuff too, so your tummy should be party free now," she told you, and you were relieved. Hopefully this didn't mean you'd be seeing some party supplies come out of your back end later, but for now at least, you didn't have to worry about any ill effects. "Moving on from that, shouldn't we let the Princesses return to the castle, and move ourselves to the train station. If I'm right, he should be arriving in less than an hour, and I would kind of like to look at the Vault before you go spending anymore bits," said Deasly, looking into the sky. "Oh my, I did lose track of the time. Still, unless Luna wants to sit in on the Sun Court, she can accompany you," said Celestia, turning all eyes to her sister, who nodded. "I believe that would be an excellent use of my time, since sleeping is probably going to be beyond me for a few hours anyway. It would be a pleasure to go with you all, if you want me to," she offered, and was suddenly caught up in a Pinkie Pie group hug. You avoided that fate narrowly, mostly by flying into the air, followed swiftly by Dash. "Mushy stuff," she said, flapping her wings next to you, and you nodded. A few minutes of goodbyes later, Celestia hugging her student a little longer than seemed appropriate for their relationship, and then the group was off to the train station in Canterlot, the Sun Goddess returning to her own Court in a flash of light. "Yer sister sure makes a flashy exit, if you don't mind me sayin' Princess Luna," said Applejack as she followed along beside the Night Princess. "Heh, Tia has always been one for flash, and was always good at impressive displays of power. Still, I wouldn't say she's all flash and no substance. There's a reason they're called Solar Flares, after all. Her anger, back when I was around, was quite a sight to behold," explained Luna. "Oh really? Was she prone to temper?" you ask, avoiding asking about PMS for now, both because it seemed rude, and because the male to female ratio in your current party didn't seem to favor surviving such an inquiry. "Indeed. I remember this one time...." she began, and regaled you with a tale of Celestia apparently getting slighted by some pony on a date, and then leveling his castle with a fire storm, and after that, she somehow got him to agree to a second date, and when he'd tried to back out, she'd boiled a lake he'd tried to hide in to steam in seconds, leaving him quite exposed. Such tales were told of Celestia's anger that you almost came to believe the Trollesstia interpretation of her character, but then realized that all this was being told from Luna's perspective, and one might want to ask Celestia how she'd seen events. You decide not to ask, of course, because you didn't feel like facing the wrath of a Goddess, at least not until you had more firepower on your own side. The station was soon in sight, and it was obvious even from a distance that the train was arriving at the station, causing everypony to start running for some reason, no pony wanting to get left behind as DawnChaser made a dash for it. Mind, this made Dash herself want to have an unofficial race with the Wonderbolts, who both took her up on it. You did as well, shooting forward like a torpedo, though like yesterday Dash herself proved just slightly faster than you and the Bolts, arriving a mere heartbeat ahead of you. Luckily for your pride, you stopped a bit better, and got to watch as Rainbow Dash slammed into the station sign like in Over a Barrel, forcing you to suppress a laugh as she extricated herself, and then stared daggers at you. "Not one word, when the others get here," she threatened, as the Bolts, who had been flying a bit more casually despite the race, showed up, soon followed by everypony else. The unicorns were out of breath from the run, Vinyl leaning against a bench, looking like she was having some kind of attack, while Octavia next to her, roller her eyes, and smiled reassuringly at you. Apparently it was just Vinyl being a drama queen. Mind, you had some competition at that, as Rarity was playing up her own breathless state, looking like she was going to keel over any moment, and for once, you really did get the impression that the two were related. "That was -huff- invig-puff-orating," said the Professor through loud gulps of air, smiling, and seemingly enjoying himself as he trotted towards the train, that had come to a stop. One of the car doors soon opened, and a conductor pony with a lamp in his mouth stepped out, shook the thing so that it rang like a bell, and soon a single earth pony stepped forward from inside, looking around at everypony standing there. He was actually a bit taller than Deasly, and had a saddlebag similar to the one that Deasly wore too, covering his Cutie Mark with a color that almost blended completely in to his own fur, which was yellow in color. Interesting, he had a different mane color from his tail, his mane looking like a dark blue, which his tail looked like it was made of fire, dark red outline with an orange center, no matter the angle you looked at it from, which was an interesting trick. "Tailfire?" said an unexpected voice, and you looked behind you to see that Spitfire was staring at the pony. He was carrying what looked like a strong box on a handle in his mouth, and had to set it down before he could respond, setting the thing right in front of Deasly. "Aunt Spitfire, what are you doing here?" he asked. "Young man, I live here, so the better question is, what are you doing here?" countered the Wonderbolt. "Tailfire, you never told me you were related to one of the Wonderbolts," complained Deasly, looking between the two, and obviously trying to see how they were alike. You spotted it right away, of course. Not only where their tails similar colors, but their coats and physical builds were close. These two were obviously family members, and close ones at that. Heck, you would have guessed brother and sister more than aunt and nephew, though that was likely because, thanks to your small stature, all ponies looked to be near about the same size, i.e. as big as a mountain. "You never asked, Deasly, and it didn't seem that important, since I didn't go with you on the desert mission a few months back," he said, and you remember Spitfire mentioning a mission like that back when you first met her. "And the Professor knew?" said Deasly, pointing to DawnChaser, who was opening the strong box up, using a serious of small levers on the front, manipulating them with his hoof rather than magic, and causing the top to pop open. Looking over his shoulder, you stare into it, and realize, with shock, that this Vault thing that he and Deasly had mentioned, was what he was holding. It was full of bits, coins the size of grains of sand, and probably shrunk by the spell that he used to change his own size. "I'm not sure he ever paid attention to me mentioning it," responded Tailfire. "Heh, he is a bit flighty. Sometimes, I think he'd make a good pegasus. So, what's in the box anyway? Some kind of bomb?" asked Spitfire, looking at DawnChaser as his eyes moved rapidly over the piles of gold. It was then that you realize you were the only one with a good angle on the inside, and you decide to speak up before either of the two assistants. "Nope, he's got a few million bits inside it though. All shrunk down...that, or he's been breaking down full sized bits into tiny ones, and then minting mini coins he intends to grow big," you say, speculating on it, and the ponies look at each other, before crowding closer to look in themselves. Of course, from their perspective, all they see is what looks like sand, piled up inside. "No, that's all shrunk bits. The growth spell wears off after a while, since it's a series of minor spells that come unraveled. These, meanwhile, are stuff I shrunk with my spell. They'll never grow back until you remove it. Makes for easy storage," boasted Deasly with a smile. "And while he's been gone, I've just been putting anything that comes in into the bank....um, by the way, Professor?" said Tailfire, waving his hoof to get DawnChaser's attention. The purple stallion doesn't seem to notice at first, but then finishes his count, or whatever he was doing looking into the lock box, and turns to the earth pony. "Yes Tailfire?" he asks. "Well, I kinda ran into somepony you're not gonna like on the train, and she's probably gonna wake up any second now, so we might want to....late," said the earth pony, changing his sentence in mid word, as you saw a flash of light come from behind him, followed by smoke, and then a familiar voice that made you both want to hit the speaker, and to run away in the opposite direction. "How dare you not awaken the Great and Powerful Trixie as you promised, peon. I ought to have you flogged! But, Trixie will be merciful, since you led us to our quarry," said Trixie, as she shoved her way past Tailfire rather rudely. You expect, of course, for Trixie to go to Twilight and demand satisfaction for the whole Ponyville thing, but instead she stalks right up DawnChaser, who quickly slams the Vault shut, and then passes it to Deasly with his magic. "You! Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?!" she demands, pointing an accusing hoof into the Professor's face. Having seen the Professor idly talk about opposing gods, it was kind of a shock to seem him back up, as if in fear from the unicorn, whom he had a good foot on, and several pounds at least. "Well, considering the last time we saw each other, I'd say since then, right?" he said, and she looked at him with fire in her eyes....literally, you could see fire inside her eyeballs, probably some trick of magic, and it made DawnChaser back up even farther. "Indeed! Now then, explain to me how you could abandon Trixie like that, brother!" she said.