Equestria: A Flux Tale

by Star Sage

Time Passes

The next few days pass in a blended together blur. In the morning you wake up, have breakfast, which usually consists of at least a small piece of the Sage Blossom, to keep your energy up. Next you meet with the Captain, who continues to explain a bit of life around the palace, and always makes sure you go out with a guard, either himself, or sometimes a pair of guards, one in the pegasus armor, one in the unicorn armor.

One interesting thing you learn while talking with him is that the guards, down to the last mare, are all Earth Ponies. Apparently the armor doesn’t work for the other two types. However, that’s fine, as wearing it, they’re stronger than the average unicorn, and faster than the average pegasus, and at the same time, they retain their Earth Pony stamina, a fact you see when Dash challenges the Captain to a race one morning, and she starts to wear out much sooner than he does, though she does obviously have the speed advantage there.

After the mornings, you typical just wander around the palace, or Canterlot, asking questions of your escort, curious about things. You learn about the Gyphon Kingdoms of the west, the Dog Tribes, of which Diamond is only one of many. You learn exactly where it is the buffalo roam, and even that Equestria actually has a coast boarding a large ocean, that they have to constantly patrol with pegasi units due to pirates.

Some mornings are different, of course. Sometimes Octavia and Vinyl are waiting for you, and you three just enjoy the city. Other days it’s somepony else, Applejack and Big Mac, Rarity, who insisted you come with her to meet Fancy Pants, who turns out to be a pretty cool stallion. Rainbow Dash twice dragged you off to go flying against her and the Wonderbolts, doing loops, pulling stunts, and even a few seconds of dog fighting, which you lost, interestingly enough.

Speaking of the Dash, Applejack’s rumor proved to be true. The Wonderbolt squadron, led by Spitfire, had an opening, and they decided to fill it with Rainbow. She was so excited when she told her friends that, that it all came out in one quick burst of sound before she fainted. Luckily, Soarin and Spitfire had been right behind her, and filled the group in on what she’d said, and there were cheers, well wishes, and even a few drinks all around to celebrate.

Fluttershy and Twilight were rarely companions you saw, the former because she tended to keep to the animals on the castle grounds, and the latter because she tended to keep to the library. You did try to hang out with them, of course, but the animals tended to be rather frightening at your size, including the phoenix, who had a bad reaction just being near you, flaring up and driving you off. The library, meanwhile, proved to be dull beyond belief, as the tomes were written as information, rather than exciting pieces. Even the story books, of which there were many, proved to be dull.

Pinkie Pie…was really hard to pin down long enough to say you were hanging out with her. More often than not, your guards and you just lost her somewhere in the crowd, only to find her a few minutes later, causing what the guards would call a riot, but what she called a party. Not that anypony ever stopped her, since she was the Element of Laughter, and even the most stoic of the guard ponies eventually joined in with her fun.

On days when you didn’t go exploring, you went instead to the Professor’s lab for a new round of tests, and there were many. From a stretch test, where he tried to make you taller by force, to a test of your magical endurance which was just holding a rock above your head for an hour. He also insisted on taking more blood samples, saying something about chemical reactions and things that you didn’t understand, though Tailfire explained it as just making sure your body was absorbing nutrients like it should.

During the time between tests, you got to hang out with the various apprentices. From Tailfire and Deasly whom you’d gotten to know, to Pyro, who turned out to be shy, believe it or not, when you tried to talk to him, but fun to just talk at. Mind, you couldn’t understand but one in every five words he said, so it made conversations with him kind of one sided, but he seemed to realize this, and offered to play games with you, including a version of chess that involved setting the pieces on fire.

Others you met included the zebra, a native of Manehatten, second generation immigrant named Diamond Eye, for his eye he claimed to have lost in a dock side brawl. He had an interest in chemistry and mixed a lot of potions that you were forced to drink. Luckily, he didn’t talk in rhymes, so you could follow what he was saying easily enough.

There was also the dog, not from the Diamond tribe, but from Tall Grass. Apparently he’d joined after meeting the Professor and Strong Arm during one of their adventures, during which Strong Arm earned his name. Apparently he’d arm wrestled a hundred dogs, and they’d bestowed that name on him, though that made you wonder what his real name was, a question he dodged, and others just told you to ask him.

Anyway, the dog, whose name turned out to be Rex, was a canine who spoke softly, but carried a pretty big stick when required. One time, when Diamond and Pyro were having an argument, something about Pyro flaring up in bed, Rex casually walked over, and tossed the two apart, sending Pyro several hundred feet into the sky, and Diamond to land half way across the field behind the lab. He never said anything during this, just tossing them and going back to reading his book, but they didn’t fight again for the rest of the day.

Weeks passed as they tended to do, as you got to know several other apprentices, and the various peoples of Canterlot. From the ponies, to the visiting dignitaries, including a rather stuffy Griffon ambassador, who you quickly learn to despise considering he disparages the Princesses as spoiled monarchs of a bygone age whose time had long since passed. That didn’t stop the jerk from trying to recruit you for his kingdom, which you turned down as politely as you could, after you poured hot coffee down his shirt.

Soon though, it was time for parting, as the Mane Six, save Rainbow Dash, have to head home. The pegasus had already moved all her stuff into the barracks behind the palace, and so, didn’t need to return with them. That meant you got to watch her tearily say goodbye to her friends at the Canterlot station, even crying with Fluttershy, telling the sweet pegasus to take care of Scootaloo, and teach the little orange pegasus to fly.

Applejack, while that’s going on, took you aside and got you to promise to spend time with the spectrum colored pony, saying that she would need some friends, and more, she would need some competition, which you’d already shown you could provide. You actually look forward to that, and as the others are riding away into the distance, you challenge Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts to a race back to the palace, one that Soarin wins, interestingly enough, after Spitfire promises him a pie for a victory feast.

After that, most days include at least one race, or even dog fight against Spitfire, Dash, and Soarin, usually in a veritech, though sometimes you mix things up, creating various single piece mecha(You still aren’t sure you could create a combiner), including Jehuty and Vic Viper from Zone of Enders, Gurren Lagann from the same, and even a Big O, just to show the ponies that speed wasn’t everything, as your tank like body took everything they threw, and then sent it back at them.

Thanks to all these events, your repertoire of spells, items, and abilities grew immensely. You learned dozens of healing spells, several attacks, and even a few more utility spells like the field growing one. Your favorite by far was an aura spell that sped up you flight. It seemed to burn through you flying powers more quickly, which you more or less determined only lasted about two hours, and then only once per day, but the extra speed allowed you to actually beat Dash in a race, twice.

Your nights, depending on what day it is, are usually spent in your room, more often than not with one of the Princesses, just chatting. From them you begin to learn things about the history of the ponies, and the world of which Equestria was only one small part. More, you begin to feel a connection with them that is quite a bit deeper than you had expected. As much as they are respected, and even looked up to, the Princesses are not really ponies either, not normal ones, and stand apart.

During your chats with Luna, you make tea, and discuss politics of the world. You learn of the formation of the Griffon Kingdoms, the first Dog Tribe, and even that the Dragons have something called a Moot, in which they gather together one every millennium or so. She told you, much to your disappointment, that the next won’t be for three hundred years, but assured you that they’re boring anyway, and rarely involve anything more exciting than a few bits of flame from dragons that have been bored to sleep.

For Celestia, you skip the tea and make coffee instead, since she seems to appreciate the caffeine to help stay awake into the wee hours of the morning. Her topics tend more towards the current state of affairs, but are no less interesting. From a discussion on land rights, to a minor skirmish in the east with some tribe of buffalo that had migrated into the area, all of it was current crisis’s that she asked your opinion on, as an outsider, which you gave as best you could.

Once a week though, you got to spend with Octavia and Vinyl on the show, though you mostly just suggested music from the library, while giving a comment here and there. Guests for the show during your tenure included Spitfire and her squadron, the Captain, and Fancy Pants, who brought Fleur De Lis, on with him, though she never said a thing, just sitting with him, making you wonder if she could speak, though you wisely kept your mouth shut about that.

Before one such show, Vinyl pushed, poked, prodded, and then blackmailed you and Octavia into going on a date. Not that said date was unpleasant, just a bit awkward, as the two of you dined at a one pony table, and then just cantered all about Canterlot, with her telling you stories about her family, and you telling her about yours. Of course, all that turned out to be part of Vinyl’s sinister plot, as the next show she kept asking the two of you about your date, playing love songs and everything.

You would go on several more, just enjoying the company of a nice mare, though she did seem to linger on the goodnight kiss a little longer each time, making you wonder just where this relationship could go. Dash, just like Vinyl, always got onto you about it, teasing you in a good natured kind of way, and driving your desire to show her up in any competition she challenged you to for that day, which was probably the whole reason she did it.

Doctor Whooves and his family also made some return appearances, both in your day life, as Sparkler had been accepted into the school for Gifted Unicorns so they’d pulled up roots and moved to Canterlot, and in your night life, where some nights you would come back to your apartment to find the TARDIS waiting for you, the Doctor himself wanting to do some test or another, continually telling you how impossible it was for you to exist.

A month passes, and Pinkie Pie throws you a month-a-versary party, which included cakes, games, and some little chocolate dot things that were just delicious. Everypony you’d met showed up, had a good time, and played all sorts of fun games, including pin the tail on the Luna, which ended with Twilight and the Night Princess falling over in a laughing heap when the bookish pony had tried to do a running leap to win the game.

Another month passed, no party this time, just life, continuing on. Now the representatives of other nations came more frequently, and you insisted on talking with at least a few of them. Some, like the buffalo tribesman, simply tried to get a boon from you, to bless a field they were using to grow crops on, one you refused to grant directly, but suggested they ask a nearby town for food. Not that you knew about that before Luna had told you all about it, even giving you suggestions to give to the buffalo on what to trade, something he wouldn’t have listened to from a pony, but did from you.

The next visitor you got was far more interesting, and one even Luna didn’t have a clue on, as it turned out to be a dragon. Not a small one like Spike, or even the jerk teenagers, but a full grown one, who offered to fly you somewhere more private so the two of you could talk. You regretted agreeing to it almost the instant you’d left the ground, as the best flew pretty fast, and its body was hard to hold onto, threatening to send you spiraling into the nearby mountainside several times before he landed.

As it turned out, fortunately, the dragon just wanted to talk. Apparently you weren’t the only non-native to this particular Equestria, and the thing saw a kindred spirit in you. How it found out about you, considering what you’d seen of dragons, you never did find out, the big lizard dodging the question, but it proved to be an interesting way to spend an afternoon, finding out about some valley called Landover from him, while he listened to you talk about Earth, and you both shared your experiences here on Equestria.

Most of your other visitors were nowhere near that exciting. From a unicorn that tried to get you to sign some contract you couldn’t understand, to a griffon knight who started off by apologizing for the ambassador’s rudeness, and then tried to get you to move to his nation, as a guise of protecting you from the powers of the Princesses, and other ponies who would use your abilities for their own selfish gains. You told him no, quite directly, and when he wouldn’t listen, you got the Captain to help with that, sending him on his way.

Your third month passed, and you were pretty settled in, even redoing your room yourself, moving some furniture around, and helping Luna to make a game system for you. You still weren’t sure how that worked, but using your memories, focused through a wish, she could make one. Sadly, she couldn’t make any games you hadn’t played before, but you’d been an avid gamer in your youth, and spent an hour or so a night playing the Moon Princess at Mario Bros. or some fighter.

All in all, life was good. You looked out on Equestria every morning, sometimes even waking with the dawn, and then had a day among friends, laughing ,playing, and just living life. This was really paradise, and you forgot most days about the home you’d left behind, even if a pang or two sometimes entered your thoughts. So it was, that three months, one week, and four days after your arrival, you went to bed with a smile on your face, imaging what tomorrow would bring in this world of harmony in which you’d found yourself.

(A/N: And then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked! No, that’s not happening, but it would be interesting, wouldn’t it?

Sweet Celestia, have you seen how long this has gotten? Since when do I have the dedication to do something like this? I never even did my English homework as a kid, and now I’ve written a small novel. A novel about ponies. And strangely, I’m okay with that.

Seriously, this story has been a blast to write, and I love doing it. It definitely had a rocky start, but the I think the overall effect has been good, don’t you?

Still, if it wasn’t obvious from the three months condensed into a single chapter, some big changes are coming. That first week needed to be detailed so you all knew how it felt to be this smuck, dumped into this world, shrunk, and then given super powers. You had to see the kind of life he was building, to really understand who he was, and what he was fighting for.

Yep, we’re going back to have ourselves a villain next chapter, someone is going to start pushing buttons that ought to not be pushed.

For now though, I want to thank the readers I’ve gotten all over the net for this thing. Over a thousand unique hits on four different sites, which is more than I ever thought I’d have. As I said to a few people, I plan on doing some side stories, and am working on a list of DawnChasers apprentices, which includes several OCs already, and may include more if some are offered.

Beyond that, I hope everyone is enjoying this fic, and is interested to see where it’s going, because I know I am, considering half this stuff(From the crying, to the TARDIS’ rejection), just happened, I had planned on something entirely different both times, and then that stuff just wrote itself.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop this little note before the big change happens, and tell all of you out there to expect something big. Next time ‘Interlude: Of Dreamscapes and Nightmares’ see you there my fellow bronies.)

Comments

[Mike32oz]

Wow... just wow...

[Gilgamesh King of Heroes]

Is that a Slave King reference I spy in there?

[Darkheretic]

When I first saw this story the discription kinda put me off of it until the other day while I was bored I dissided to give it ago and boy was I terribly wrong in my asuptions. This fic is pure awesomesauce I can't wait for more.

[Tadpole]

Wow, it has been long. I can see this fic will go on for a good more chapters.

But, like all things, everything that is good will eventually come to an end. :c

[Star Sage]

1312063
I know, right?

1310708
You have no idea.

1312629
It's possible, but then, that chapter was full of references.

1308148
Actually, the Neutrinos were a Deep Space Nine reference, one I'm particularly proud of(It involved a device that caused probability to alter wildly). But yes, the Doctor will never be more than supporting cast, nothing major to the story.

1312661
Heh, well I'm glad you gave it a chance and are enjoy it. Here's hoping you continue to do so.

1313944
And now I'm tempted to watch TNG again...all of it. To Youtube!!!

[CPT]

Haha nice vic viper thats my favorite game man keep it up

[Yuki Harima]

wow...I did a lot in three months...Wait a minute...THIS ISN'T REAL LIFE! I need to get back to reality I have Home work! i love the story...I can't wait till I catch up to you and your dastardly long story... From a fellow brony. Yuki Harima!

[dzv13]

I would put a comment like yuki harima but i have a hard time feeling like this is happening to me (even though its written in 2nd person i have a problem in my head and even saying "you" makes me see someone else thats not me. Im weird like that). Enough of me Thank you for writing this I have about 114 in my read later pile and i am going in order of date added so when i reach one with like infiniti chapters im like "NOOOOOOO" but then i start reading and its totally worth it. I am not someone that enjoys going into fantasy world but the fan fiction on MLP has captured me. And you authors making awesome stories are not helping me kick this addiction. Thx again. (Still dont know why you chose to make it a 2nd person story I feel like it wold be cooler if it was a regular story but like i said im weird).

[Old Diggy]

though she did seem to linger on the goodnight kiss a little longer each time,

I recall you saying he was 3 inches tall, wouldn't her giving him a kiss basically just be her kissing his entire head? The way you describe certain things, mostly happenings between him and Octavia, it makes it almost impossible to imagine him as a 3 inch tall human.