Equestria: A Flux Tale

by Star Sage

Angels Lose Their Way

The figure loomed large over the Princess, its deadly weapon aimed right for the spot between her wings as she continued to smile at you. Not even thinking, you leapt forward to defend her. You don’t know what you expect to do against something that big, but then, without willing it, you feel your hand gripping something, and suddenly you’re wearing a strange suit of armor that glimmers in the light of the golden clouds surrounding you.

The image of your charge causes the figure to pause for a moment, looking at you with a slight tilt to its helmet. However, whatever its thoughts, the figure did not share them, making no noise as you rushed it, jabbing your blade forward to try and skewer the armored one. Not that you got close, as the thing just dodged, dancing around your blade, and causing you to fall all over yourself as you tried to stop on the jello like cloud you were walking on, slamming into the wall nearby with a dull clunk.

“Heh, not a bad charge but perhaps you should work on your tactics a bit,” comes a male voice from the figure, whom you can almost imagine smirking at you beneath his helmet. The image makes you growl in the back of your throat as you look to see the Princess standing off to the side, not in danger anymore, but obviously in no position to get between you and the armored one. For a moment, you wonder why she’s just standing there, but before you can contemplate it too far, the figure raises his weapon, and rushes at you.

The spear flashes at you, quick a rattlesnake’s bite, and probably just as deadly, but without know how, you bounce away, coiling your own body around the strike, curving about the weapon, and then leaping away, your legs carrying you far into the air, where you point your blade towards the wall, feeling a satisfying shing noise as its driven within, and then stays there, giving you something to grip and hold yourself in the air above your foe.

“Impressive,” was all he said, his spear tip having been driven into the ground where you’d been standing a moment ago, the cloud bending around it. He didn’t move for a few second though, just standing there, staring at you, like you were some fruit in the produce section he was thinking of picking. When he did move though, it was startling, his left hand hefting the spear wide, throwing a chunk of the clouds at you, and forcing you to dodge it, pulling at your blade as you push with your legs, bounding away from the wall, and towards the center of the open area.

The figure pressed the advantage, already on you when you land, his weapon twirling now, forcing you into a defensive roll and duck maneuver as soon as your feet hit the floor, and doing so again as he brings the hard side down towards you, that meeting the clouds with a clack like wood, and leaving an indent a good six inches deep, showing how hard that blow had been. Enough to break you probably, showing that even the end of his weapon without the pointy thing was dangerous.

You weren’t about to surrender though, and drew yourself back from him, trying to gain some space. His weapon had reach on yourself, the way he moved it giving him greater angle ability as well, but without knowing how, you knew your blade was heavier. That was an advantage in any fight, and even with his speed, all you needed was one good shot at him to fell him, and end this.

He made a ‘come at me’ motion with his right hand as he stood back to his full height, seemingly without a care, but a quick eye told you his stance was that of a master. At any second he could have his weapon pointed at you, ready to drive it through your eye before you could blink, which would probably not be a fun way to end this little adventure you’d been on. You wouldn’t let him hurt Celestia though, and so you did the only thing you could think of.

“Kya!” you yelled, slamming your blazing sword into the clouds beneath your feet, pointing the flat end towards the armored man. He just stood there, his helmet tilted, obviously wondering what you were doing. Well, he wondered right up until the blade of your sword popped out of the ground in front of him, missing him by mere inches, and causing him to vault backwards, right towards a second blade that came out of the clouds where he was aiming.

It was then that he did something that would make a physicist cry, twisting his body around like some kind of top, and somehow changing the direction of his momentum, landing beside the blade, and then running off as you willed another one up out of the clouds, and then another, and another, trying to catch him with one, and creating a forest of blades between you and him, a forest that continued to move and waver as more and more blades came out of the ground.

“Clever boy,” you heard him say from far away, as he leapt towards a wall. You didn’t let him get away though, not after all this, and soon a line of blades was popping out of the wall too, coming straight for him. He wasn’t going to let that happen either, though, and with a grunt, he dug his spear into the wall, making you panic, thinking he was about to pull a copy cat maneuver, and using your own trick against you. Worry about that, trying to will the line of blades to go fast, you’re caught completely off guard when a piece of cloud, hard as a wet pillow, slams into your face, knocking you back.

The instant your hands leave the handle, the sword and the blades all do that same pixilation thing, popping like bubbles of light. That same instance sees the armored figure, who’d used his spear to hurl some of the clouds at you, leaping for you, his spear first, and with a cry of terror, you cover your face with your arms, expecting any second to hear the dull squish as the spear tears through your insides, and connects with the cloud below you.

THUNK

…

…….

……….The sound of the spear hitting the clouds beneath you makes you keep your eyes closed, expecting the void to close in around you any moment. Any moment now….even after a count of one hundred heartbeats, nothing happens, and you finally creak your eyes open a bit. What you see is less than encouraging towards your vitality though, as the spear is shoved into your chest, the handle of it sticking out of you like some skinny tree.

“Are you done playing yet, my friend? It was exciting to watch you two bounce around like that, but him just lying there while you stand over him is growing rather dull,” said a voice, and your eyes finally move from the shaft growing from your abdomen and look over to see Celestia standing off to the side with another pony, about her size, and white as she was, though he had a long flowing mane of primarily red colors, with a beard of similar hues, looking like it belonged on Will Riker of Star Trek.

“Spoil my fun why don’t you? It’s been years since I got to greet a newbie,” said the armored figure, and he drew the spear from your chest. Well, more accurately it passed though you. Not like it or you were made of dust, clouds, or wind or something, but just…once second it was in you, the next he had just hefted it through you like you weren’t even there. A moment afterward he lets go of it, and it vanishes, popping like a bubble and leaving behind little beads of light that flare for a moment, and then die.

“Whahuh?” you go as you sit up, the armor dissolving around you. You begin to feel at your chest, searching for some sign of a wound or the like. What you find though is almost as surprising, in that you find nothing. It was just your chest, you slightly fat, but overall still whole chest.

“Heh, that was rather exciting, thank you for the show,” said Celestia as she walks over to where you are, and then offers you a hoof to help you to your feet, which you take, staring at the three shapes in front of you.

“What’s going on?” was all your mind could think of to ask as you stood there.

“It’s simple, you just fought an epic battles with a great warrior. You lost, but then, that’s no mark against you. I mean, you can already summon items. It took me weeks to figure out that trick. And that thing with the blade through the ground, brilliant. Was that a property of the sword? No…no it couldn’t have been, that sword was the Blazing one, Voltron’s, right?” says the armored figure, and you dully nod at him.

“The armor though, that’s not from Voltron. They wore stupid Space Ball uniforms. That wasn’t Beetleborg armor either, not high tech enough. Hmm, the cape…Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog? No, their armor wasn’t nearly as easy to move around in. It has to be a Power Ranger suit, right?” he asked, pointing a finger at you.

“Um, well, yeah. Solaris Knight, from Mystic Force,” you admit, and the finger snaps as he nods.

“Of course, that one with the train. Man that was stupid. I mean, the others all had kick ass transformation into their zords, and then this guy gets a train,” he said, obviously to himself.

“Oh, they have a knight named for me in your world?” asks the big white male pony, and the armored figure turns his head towards him.

“Well, it’s not like your names isn’t a general word for the sun, or close to it, Princey boy,” chided the figure.

“Uh, what’s going on here?” you finally ask, the two turning towards you, and then chuckling a bit before the male pony, an Alicorn now that you’re looking at him closely, turns to Celestia.

“I thought you were going to tell him at least something before he came,” he asked.

“I did, I called this place what yours said to, but I don’t think he was listening too closely,” she answers.

“Listen then; this is ‘The Place Where Angels Lose Their Way’. Ring any bells?” asks the armored figure, and you have to think for a moment, the neurons in your brain firing at irregular intervals, telling you that you should know this place. When it hits you at last, you look at him with an incredulous expression.

“That place from Chrono Cross. A place where two worlds meet,” you repeat to yourself, remembering the game.

“Yep, right on the money. I’d like you to meet Prince Solaris, Lord of the Sun, and brother to Prince Artemis, Lord of the Moon,” said the armored figure, motioning towards Solaris who inclined his head. Looking at him for a moment, you begin to take in details you hadn’t with a single glance.

He stood the same way as Celestia, though a bit straighter with the back legs. He was a bit taller, but for the most part, the proportions were all the same. Heck, their ‘clothing’ looked similar, with Solaris having simply armored bits were the Princess didn’t, including the crown turned into a helmet with one of those fuzzy brush mops on top.

“And allow me the pleasure of introducing, yourself,” said Solaris, his horn glowing, causing the helmet of the armored figure to rise off even as he tried to grab it. Beneath said helmet was a worn face, longer than your own, and with a stubble of a beard, something you had a bit, but not this thickly. There was also a scar above the left eye you sure didn’t have. Yet…it was your face, the face you stared at in the mirror sometime.

“That’s…that’s….what’s going on?” you ask again, and all three faces smile.

“I think our friend needs a sit down and talk, would you please Solaris?” asks the armored fig-asks the other you, and Solaris’ horn glows again, this time covering a small section of the clouds in it’s warm light. A second or two passes as those clouds mold themselves into a crud bench, and you find yourself taking your arm, and guiding you to sit down on it. Once your seated, he does away with his armor, revealing a much fancier suit beneath, and sits beside you.

“So, I assume you have many questions, let them flow naturally, and I shall answer them, as best I can,” he offers, as you hold your head in your hands, and then finally turn to him, letting out one long sigh.

“How long?” was all you say, but a grimace flashes across his expression, obviously signifying that this was a question he didn’t want to answer.

“Due to the time difference between dimensions, ten years, or around there. I stopped counting after the first three anniversaries of my arrival,” he told you simply, and you nod again.

“So, I’ll never go home again than?” you ask, this time expressing more complex thoughts, as your brain starts to catch up to itself.

“There’s no way to know that for certain, not really. However, I will admit, I’ve never heard of one of us making it. Perhaps we do and just have no way back though,” he offers, and you can’t think of a response to this, as you fold your arms up and curl in on yourself a bit.

“Do you want to go back?” he questions, and you just sit there for a moment, letting the idea of what he’d asked rattle around in your brain. Looking up, you see the Alicorns looking at you, expectantly.

“-sigh- no. I don’t. What kind of life did I have back there? No family that still talked to me after that….you know. A dead end job that couldn’t fire me, but I couldn’t get a better position either. No friends. No one who cared about me,” you admit at last, thinking back to those last few weeks. It had been lonely, living in the city like you did. The paradox of urban living. People everywhere close to you, but no one you could ever allow to get close. That thought set a smirk to your lips, and chuckle came from your throat.

“Not all true, or at least, I tell myself that, but still, the gist of it is correct,” he admits, and you feel his strong arm come around you, hugging you against him, causing you to laugh. Not chuckle, you burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation. You’re so depressed that another version of you is hugging you. Of course, after a few seconds, tears start streaming down your face, and you bury yourself in his chest, letting out everything that you’d been holding back.

“That’s it, just let them flow,” he told you, and patted your back. It takes several minutes of crying before you feel you can’t do so anymore, and at last, you raise your head, sniffing back to prevent your nose from dripping all over his nice suit. Not that it wasn’t covered with liquid already, but he seemed to appreciate the gesture.

“Are you feeling better now?” he asked simply, and you try to say something, but it comes out as a hoarse squeak, so you just nod.

“Good. I know how you feel, believe me. I heard this speech from one of us that had gone hard hearted to deal with…everything, and he didn’t let me cry. He told me to suck it up, and move on with my life. I’ve always hated that bastard,” he admits, and then smiles at you. You can’t help but do so in return, and then you both start laughing, a laughter that doesn’t stop until you start wheezing a bit.

“Okay, my next question. Rule 63?”

“Heh, indeed. All over the place. Still, it’s not so bad. Butterscotch really helped me when they found me. I was one of the less lucky arrivals. I popped up about twenty feet in the air, and then dropped the rest of the way. Broke two ribs, my left arm, and my right leg on landing. The crème colored pegasus refused to leave my side until I was better,” he explained, and you nod, figuring that Butterscotch, probably Fluttershy from the description of the color, would never think of leaving a little thing like you hurt and alone.

“Different for me. I just woke up out of the void on the ground. Mind, I then had to dodge Vinyl’s big feet, er hooves. And of course, there was that thing at her house with Octavia,” you tell him, and he smiles at you.

“Ah, Vinyl Scrape. He must have been on something, not noticing a full grown man in his way,” he said with a smile, and your own expression suddenly goes a bit funny. Before you can say anything though, Celestia stands up from where she’d been sitting beside Prince Solaris.

“Ah, my cue. I told you Solaris that there was something odd about this one, but I wanted him to get to know himself first. Still, this is as good a time as any,” she said, and then she did that thing where she gathered her wings in front of her again, a little orb of green light forming, before shooting out in a wave of energy, making you instinctively raise your hands against it, even as your other senses told you it was harmless, and washed right over you.

When it clears, you blink against a few spots in your eyes, and then look around you. Celestia is once again a mountain of white, with a crown of rainbow colors streaming around her. Next to her stood Solaris, who was just staring at you, one eyebrow raised. Beside you, as you saw when you turned, was a massive, imposing figure of a human being. One who was of a size with the ponies.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” said Solaris with a grin, while the other you just stared, not sure what to say, and you just as silent, for different reasons.

Comments

[Mike32oz]

Hmm.... this is really good

[Strong Shield]

Agreed ^

[Star Sage]

1263558

1264139

Thanks to both of you. I hope it continues to be as good.

[CPT]

awesome XD

[Star Sage]

1264697

Heh, thanks.

[Tadpole]

Wow, 2 chapters in a day.

[Yuki Harima]

Wow...what happened. My mind is confused at the event that transpired

[Star Sage]

1354306

Basically, you're in a place where two versions of Equestria have crossed, the one you're in, and one that's been rule 63'd, meaning everypony is the opposite gender(The big stallion mentioned here is Prince Solaris, a male Celestia). There's a version of you there too, that's also male. However, he's normal sized, and it's been 10 years for him since he arrived, due to a different flow of time between dimensions.

[Paddle Steamer]

Uhhh herp da derp, I understand, but I mean...what in the world? So it's another universe where the ponies are opposite genders and he's fullsized in that universe, but I mean why, just why?
Only way to make this more complicated, and random, is if a battleship just fell from the sky in the middle of Canterlot and suddenly there are 1,200 sailors roming around lol.

[Spirit Shift]

2199752
Actually this universe is something the fandom recognizes so while I'm surprised to see it here I'm not surprised that it exists there are allot of stories that use it. As a recommendation you should read THE BEST rule 63 fic "On a cross and arrow" by Connor clockwork

[Ron_Gamer]

If that was really me, I'd be all like, "Man, fuck this." *makes a gun* BANG dead