1 - The Mission Begins (Edited)
"Hehe, beat that!" challenged the Saiyan, Purika, moving her figure on her side of the table.
"Oh, I will," grinned Magica, the pink Majin woman, moving one of her own figures and pressing a button on the table, causing the figure to erupt in red light and subsequently do the same for Purika's figures.
"H-Hey! That's not fair!" Purika argued, puffing out her cheeks.
Magica rolled her eyes. "Grow up, Purika. It's perfectly legal," Magica countered.
Larimar smiled lightly to himself as he laid back against the wall, arms crossed whilst he watched two of his good friends play their game. He smirked, adjusting his glasses. 'Though it looks more like they're focused on arguing now,' he mused, observing as Purika pointed a finger at her Majin friend in accusation whilst Magica once more rolled her eyes, giving a cool-headed retort. The man chuckled as the duo's argument steadily got more heated. 'Yep, figures.'
"Just because you're angry doesn't mean you have the right to call me flabby!" Magica growled.
"Does too!" Purika shot back, slamming her hands on the table.
"Stop acting like a damn child!" Magica shouted.
"Make me!" Purika retorted, sticking out her tongue.
"Why you-!" Magica was cut off as a new voice entered the small, floating building's confines.
"Now now ladies, let's calm down, shall we?" came a familiar, smooth, Italian voice.
Larimar and his friends turned their heads to the entrance, seeing a tall, black and grey Arcosian standing there, hands behind his back as his purple, reptilian eyes scanned the room.
"Hey sensei," Larimar greeted, pushing off of the wall and turning to face his mentor. "What're you doing here?"
Asala smiled. "Well, before we get to that," He looked to the Majin and Saiyan, smirking. "Ladies, you may want to look at the table."
The two blinked and looked down at said table. "Oh come on!" Magica groaned, letting her head slump to the table.
"That wasn't even a fair fight!" Purika whined.
"Don't start that up again, Purika," Magica intoned from the table. "You won, anyways."
"Yeah, but only because the stupid thing has a time limit!" Purika argued.
Asala chuckled and shook his head before looking back to his student. "Now, to answer your earlier question, the Supreme Kai of Time asked me to fetch you. She has a new mission for you."
Larimar grinned, slamming his fist into his palm. "Awesome. I'll be over there in a jiffy!" He ran past his mentor and took flight, stopping mid-air to turn and wave. "See you all later!" And with that, he flew off.
Asala sighed and shook his head with a smile. "That boy is always so eager..." He looked to the girls behind him. "Hmm, ladies, tell me, how would you feel about a Figure Battle with me?"
Larimar walked through the rippling, water-like gate and into the Time Nest, swiftly making his way down the path. As he did, he took the time to appreciate the scenery.
Well-cut grass stretched out for a good ways all around, with a small, round house surrounded by junk and machine parts and a small, man-made lake to the left complete with two small islands with large bird perches. One of those perches was currently being used by the divine, golden bird Tokitoki. Larimar gave the bird a salute before continuing onwards and up the steps to the large, circular building of white marble and blue mosaic.
After making his way up the stairs and past the doorway, he was greeted to a similarly large and circular room, a skylight overhead bearing a large number of roots from the tree that had somehow grown in said skylight. Diamond-shaped cubbies were scattered around the walls, containing hundreds upon hundreds of scrolls, and in the center of the room, at the bottom of the stairs, was a large, round wooden table.
A girl with pointed ears, pale purple skin and pinkish-red shoulder-length hair smiled at Larimar as he walked down the steps.
"Good to see you, Lari," she greeted.
Larimar returned the smile. "Same to you, Supreme Kai of Time," he said as he made it down the stairs and stopped in front of her. "What's the situation this time?"
The Supreme Kai nodded. "Right," she turned to the table, taking a scroll from it and unfurling it. "Have a look at this."
Raising his brow, Larimar stepped forward and looked down at the scroll, watching as a scene began to play out on it.
Star Swirl's spell spat out Twilight and Spike, the white magical sphere disappearing soon after as Twilight stopped her fall with her wings. Spotting her target, she shot a beam of magic from her horn just as Starlight emerged from a cloud, nailing the pink unicorn and encasing her in a rosy pink crystal.
Twilight flew up to it, smirking. "Now more than ever I know how important it is to stop you!" she proclaimed.
Starlight's face swiftly shifted, gritting her teeth as her own horn lit up in it's signature teal aura and cracked the crystal rapidly until it shattered. Just as swiftly as she did this, she levitated herself and gave the alicorn a smug smile. "Well good luck," she said, before speeding off.
Twilight ground her teeth and flew after the mare, trying to catch up. Sadly, she wasn't swift enough, as Starlight made it to her own target. She quickly hid beneath some clouds as a number of young pegasi raced each other. Just as the filly Rainbow Dash reached Starlight's cloud, the unicorn shot a hoof out and tripped up the poor filly, letting the other pegasi zoom ahead.
Starlight peeked out of her cloud, glancing behind her with a smirk as Twilight and her assistant were sucked into Star Swirl's spell again.
When they were spat out again, the entire terrain was different. When they looked about themselves, they saw a burned and broken Equestria, and the sounds of lasers and loud, thundering stomps alerted them to what was behind them; Tirek, larger than ever, and more powerful than ever, grinning like a madman as he fired off laser after laser from his horns at the landscape.
Spike swiftly raised up the scroll detailing Star Swirl's spell, and Twilight gave no hesitation as she activated it's inlaid magicks, once more being brought to the past.
As soon as Twilight and Spike were spat out again, Twilight fired a beam of magic as soon as she spotted Starlight. Starlight deftly dodged, a smirk on her face as she watched the beam hit filly Rainbow Dash, encasing her in a rosy, transparent crystal. Starlight turned to Twilight and clapped her hooves mockingly as the alicorn and dragon were dragged back to a separate future.
This continued over and over, Twilight being sent to a future where Discord ruled, or where Flim and Flam ruled, and each time Twilight would come back and fail to foil Starlight's plan, to stop her from ruining Equestria. Again, Twilight appeared in the past, narrowly dodging a beam of magic from Starlight.
"Up for another race-ending fight, Twilight?" Starlight queried, giving a smug smile.
As the scene faded from the scroll's surface, Larimar simply stood there, staring at it blankly. The Supreme Kai sighed, rolling the scroll up.
"Yeah, I kinda expected that," she said, turning to face him.
"What...did I just see?" he asked slowly, putting a hand to his cyan-haired head. "Were those...tiny horses?"
"Ponies," The Supreme Kai corrected.
He shook his head. "Not the point. What the hell was that?"
The petite Kai sighed once more, putting her hands on her hips. "Well, you remember how Tokitoki's egg hatched not too long ago?"
Larimar nodded. "Yeah, I remember we had a huge celebration and everything." He crossed his arms. "Why?"
"Well, the universe that was born from it houses the world of these ponies, Equus," The Kai explained, gesturing to the scroll.
"Okay but still, just..." he started, before sighing himself, slumping a little as he held his head. "...This is just really, really weird. I mean, come on!" He gestured to the scroll. "Talking pastel ponies? That's like a concept straight from a little girl's show!"
The Supreme Kai smiled, shrugging. "I've seen some pretty outlandish things before, and I know you have as well, especially during the Tournament with Universe Six."
The man pinched the bridge of his nose. "The sad thing is I know you're not wrong."
She giggled. "I'm rarely not," she agreed.
Larimar removed his hand from his face, staring down at the Kai. "So, what am I doing, exactly?"
The Supreme Kai picked up the scroll and offered it to him. "Simple. Head in, and investigate."
Larimar sighed, taking the scroll. "Right, right, of course." He looked at the scroll, frowning as he realized what he was getting into, before sighing and closing his eyes as he focused on the scroll's energy. 'Well, since they seem to use magic, maybe some of them will be fun to fight...' He mused before the scroll's power whisked him away in a burst of white light.
Author's Note
This chapter is susceptible to future changes for a bit, but right now, I'll leave it as is. I hope you all enjoyed it, even if only a little. I promise things will heat up in the next chapter.
The sounds of chatter and laughter resounded throughout the cafe, the murmurs of those going about their day only adding to the cacophony. Ponies of all colors, shapes, and sizes conversed with friends and family alike as they ate, nary a care in the world registering in their minds.
One table in particular, situated outside, was host to a number of ponies many around Equestria knew of.
"He did not!" Rarity gasped, leaning forward on the table.
"He totally did!" Rainbow reassured, slamming a cup of tea down. "As soon as I brought the guy to my room, he was all over me!" She giggled. "He even stuck it in my plothole!"
"Oh my..." Fluttershy uttered, her face a bright, cherry red.
"That's kinky," Starlight mused, taking a sip of her espresso. "I mean, it's hard enough to get a stallion to go to your place, but anal?" She shook her head, smiling. "That's a rarity."
"Tell me about it. Ah can't tell ya how many stallions Ah've tried to get with who broke it off 'cause I wanted something in m' tail hole," Applejack agreed, nodding sagely with crossed hooves.
"Oh yes, there are so few stallions out there who just can't handle a little bit of experimentation, it's quite upsetting," Rarity concurred. She lifted her fork with her magic, stabbing it into her salad and taking a bite of it before she continued. "I'm honestly just surprised you found a stallion like that, Rainbow."
"So am I! Most stallions I know would rather have me lick their lollipops!" Pinkie added, taking a loud slurp of her milkshake.
Rainbow shrugged, grinning as she sat back. "What can I say? Stallions can't get enough of me."
"What happened afterwards?" Twilight queried before she took a bite of her hayburger. After chewing and swallowing, she added, "Did anything, ya know, romantic happen?"
Rainbow snorted, waving it off. "Nah, he left in the morning. 'Sides, you know I don't do mushy romance stuff. I'm too awesome for just one stallion."
The girls all rolled their eyes.
Fluttershy, having recovered, looked to Starlight. "Speaking of romance, have you found a stallion that you, um, like, Starlight?" She asked, hiding behind her mane.
Starlight sighed, putting her cup of espresso down. "No. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, no stallion would be interested in a mare who nearly destroyed time itself." She leaned back. "I mean, seriously, most stallions run off if you don't impress them enough, and a lot of them are pretty skittish, it'd be a miracle for one to even be interested in me." She picked her cup back up, taking a long draft of it as she glared down at it's contents as if it had wronged her. "'Sides, most I've met aren't my type."
The girls all frowned.
Twilight put a hoof on her student's shoulders. "Starlight, you can't-"
"What the buck is that?!" a pony cried, pointing skyward.
The girls and all present shot their views to said sky, and saw an object hurtling towards the town. Their eyes widened, watching in shock as the object burned through the air, streaking across the sky and heading towards town square.
Twilight shot up out of her seat. "Come on, girls!" She shouted, galloping off after the meteor. They did as told, following after the alicorn, Starlight leaving a few bits behind to pay for their meals.
Down the streets they ran, passing screaming and panicking ponies as they did. Pinkie's frown was firmly etched on her face as she followed her friends, different from the smile she always wore. Her friends were not much different, faces set in frowns as they tried to keep up with the meteor. The eyes of the mares shone with determination, though they held a tinge of fear as well.
Twilight looked above to the meteor, taking note of it's trajectory. 'Crud, it really is heading for town square...' She grit her teeth. 'I really hope nopony is there right now...'
The meteor did not let up, did not falter in it's path as it soon landed with a resounding boom, heard for miles all around. Screams followed, and Twilight grit her teeth. She turned her head to her friends. "Hurry!" She urged before running as fast as she could towards town square.
Her friends made no complaints, doubling their speed as well.
Finally, they reached the square, coming to it to find the fountain replaced by a crater that took up most of the area, it's edges smoking and smoldering. Twilight and her friends looked about, noticing with relief that nopony was hurt, that there were no corpses in or around the crater.
Pinkie tapped her shoulder, pointing to the center of the crater. "What is it, Pinkie-?" She began, before her eyes locked onto the one form inside the crater. There, in the dirt and charred earth, was a being Twilight hadn't expected to see on this side of the Mirror.
"It's a human..." She breathed.
"That's a human?" Rainbow asked, pointing to it. Twilight nodded. "Dang," Rainbow said, turning back to it. "Why didn't you tell us human stallions were so hot?"
"How do you know it's a stallion?" Starlight asked, quirking a brow at her.
"It doesn't have teats, and there's a bulge in it's..." She looked to Twilight. "...Pants, right?"
Twilight nodded, "Yeah, but... How did the poor guy end up here?"
"Ah dunno, but we should take the fella somewhere safe. Celestia knows he'll probably be scared stiff, what with bein' somewhere entirely new," Applejack pointed out, tipping her hat up.
The others couldn't find any reason to disagree. They all knew stallions were not normally danger-prone, and did not normally like violence, preferring instead their ways of mind games and fashion and drama. Knowing that a stallion had gone through some terrifying event of being shot through the sky like a meteor, well, it simply invoked their protective sides. Thus, they all slid down the crater to the man's unconscious form. As they reached him, they took note of his condition, and appearance.
His hair was a bright and lustrous cyan, short and spiky and unruly. His skin was pale, with two grey stripe tattoos on his cheeks and a pair of black-rimmed glasses resting over his closed eyes. He wore some sort of uniform, similar to those used in schools in Canterlot, only his blazer was a bright white with deep blue and yellow trims. The symbol of a gold star was on the right breast of the blazer. A sky blue undershirt covered what his blazer could not, though his heavily muscled pectorals still showed through. He wore white slacks with a gold belt, and his hands were wrapped in golden cloth, whilst his feet were covered with yellow and cyan boots.
But the thing the girls noticed immediately was how heavily muscled he was. His biceps and arms, legs and thighs, and abdomen and pecs were heavily chiseled and muscled, yet he looked young and youthful.
Starlight took note that, strangely, he seemed unscathed. His clothes weren't torn nor burned, simply dirty from the landing, and he bore no wounds.
"How in the hay is he not hurt at all...?" Starlight wondered, looking him over.
"I dunno, but he smells really nice, don'tcha think?" Pinkie mused, unashamedly taking a large whiff of the man.
Rarity nodded. "He certainly does."
"Girls, focus!" Twilight urged. "We need to get this poor colt somewhere safe, not ogle his unconscious form!"
"She's right," Applejack said, nodding. She trotted over to his legs. "Rainbow, mind grabbing his other end? Ah'll take his legs."
Rainbow gave a mock salute. "On it!" She flew over to his head, wrapping her hooves under his armpits.
"On three," Applejack started. "One, two, three!"
With a grunt, the duo lifted the man up, though both of them staggered momentarily.
"Ugh, jeez, this guy weighs a ton," Rainbow noted.
"You're tellin' me," Applejack agreed.
"Let's just get him out of here," Twilight urged.
Rainbow looked to the mare. "Where to?"
"Let's take him to the castle for now," Twilight said.
They all nodded, and made their way out of the crater, starting towards Twilight's castle.
Larimar groaned as he cracked his eyes open, wincing soon after. "Ugh, my head..." He complained, placing a hand on his aching skull. He slowly sat up, taking in his surroundings. "What the hell...?" He muttered as he did.
The first thing thing he noticed was that he was not in Conton City, nor anywhere he recognized. No, he was in some sort of bedroom made entirely of mixed bluish-purple crystals. He also noted that he was in a very soft bed, softer than any bed he'd ever laid in.
"Where am I?" He wondered aloud. He tried to think of what events had happened which led up to this. He put a hand to his chin. "I remember being called by the Supreme Kai of Time for another mission, then using the scroll, and then..." He hummed, closing his eyes in thought. Suddenly, he remembered, opening his eyes. "That's right! Some weird tree interrupted the time travel!" He looked around again. "That must be why I didn't end up right in the middle of that fight like I normally would..." He glanced to the window outside, seeing the clear blue sky beyond. He looked back to the bed and the room around him. "Someone must have brought me here, though, because I don't remember ending up in some weird crystal bedroom..."
The door to the room opened, a pink mare with a purple mane with streaks of mint-green stepping inside, a tray of food on her back. She blinked, then jumped a little as she saw he was awake. "Ah!" she cried, nearly dropping the tray. Swiftly, she balanced herself and then shook her head, giving him a nervous smile as she trotted over. "Eheh, s-sorry, I just didn't expect you to be awake..." Her horn lit up, covering the tray and offering it to him. "Food?"
Larimar stared at the twinkling teal aura of the tray. 'Riiight, magic...' He looked to her, body tensing. 'Why is she not hostile?' He sighed, taking the tray and placing it on his lap. On the tray was a bowl of salad and a fish, complete with utensils like a fork and a knife. 'Did that weird tree send me farther along in the timeline...?' Once more, he sighed. 'I'll have to figure that out later.' He turned his head to her. "Thanks. Starlight, right?"
She blinked. "How do you know my name?"
Larimar froze. "U-uuhhh..." He fumbled. 'Shit, gotta think of something quick!'
"Did you hear it while you were drifting in and out of consciousness or something?" Starlight unknowingly supplied.
'...Roll with it.' "Yeah, I think so," he said, nodding.
Starlight shrugged. "Makes sense, I guess." She smiled broadly at him. "So, how are you feeling?"
"Huh? Oh, well, I feel just fine. Weird, huh?" He said, chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck. He looked around. "Where am I, by the by?"
"You're in Equestria, specifically Twilight's Castle," the pink mare answered, before posing her own question. "You came from the Human World, right? On the other side of the Mirror?"
Larimar tilted his head at her, making Starlight's heart ache briefly. 'So cute!' She squeed internally. "Mirror?" Larimar asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"O-Oh, right, ehehe," Starlight rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. She cleared her throat. "So, your world is parallel to ours, and the connecting point is a Mirror; one here in the Castle, and one at Canterlot High."
Larimar frowned at this, brow furrowing. 'Should I correct her? Considering how I'm probably further in the timeline than I should be - judging by how she's friendly - there's a good chance getting back to Conton City will be problematic. Hopefully not impossible, but still. So, the question remains; do I tell her the truth, or take the offered scapegoat?' Larimar grunted.
"Uhh, you there?" Starlight queried, waving a hoof in his face.
Larimar shook his head rapidly. "Oh, uh, sorry, spaced out for a second there." 'Screw it. So long as I don't tell them their future, I should be good.' He managed a small smirk. 'Not like I know this universe' future or past, anyways.' He coughed into his fist. "Back to the subject, I uh..." He smiled nervously. "...I'm not exactly from whatever Mirror World you're talking about. I'm from a planet called Earth, in Universe 7. A different timeline's Earth, at least."
Starlight stared at him blankly. Slowly, she blinked, then immediately shook her head. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" she rubbed her ear. "I could've sworn you said something about 'timelines' and 'universes.'" She rolled her hoof around, then made an overly large smile. "That was just my imagination, right?"
Larimar slowly shook his head. "No, you heard me right."
Starlight nodded once. Twice. Thrice. "Right, right, okay..."
"You alright?" Larimar asked, quirking a brow.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Starlight screamed.
'That's a solid no.'
Author's Note
Well, sorry this one took so long guys, and while I know it isn't the update some of you were looking for, this story is one I wanted to get a few more chapters out for before I lost this drive for it.
Either way, hope you all enjoyed it at least.
Thanks for reading!
-Timeless Celestial
