Unfortunately for Angel, his evening did not go any better than the rest of his day. Upon returning home, he and Fluttershy discovered that Rainbow Dash had crashed into a flock of geese during her afternoon training session, and Angel spent the next several hours fetching bandages, ice packs, and other assorted supplies as Fluttershy tended to both Rainbow and the geese. The interruption also meant that dinner was a rushed batch of stewed vegetables, and the carrots Fluttershy had purchased were as bland and tasteless as Angel had feared.
By the time night fell, Angel was so exhausted that he simply collapsed into bed. He hoped that sleep would provide a respite from his eventful day, but his mind had other plans...
"Would you like some more phalaweed, Prince Demilan?"
The sound of the long-forgotten name startled Angel, and he looked up from his plate. He found himself seated at a long table covered in bizarre-looking delicacies, foods that he had not seen in ages. A tall, thin creature with three eyes and green skin stood next to Angel, holding a plate of what appeared to be neon-orange leaves. "Prince Demilan?" the creature asked again.
Angel looked back down at his plate, grimacing at the sight of the similar green, three-eyed face that reflected back at him. "What's going on?" he demanded. "What am I doing here?"
The tall creature offered the plate of leaves to Angel. "Won't you have another helping? They're cooked just the way you like them."
"Answer me!" Angel shouted. "How did I get here?"
"Why, you were invited here as my special guest." The sound of a far-too-familiar voice made Angel's blood run cold, and he turned to see another green-skinned figure sitting on an ornate throne at the end of the table. "After all, what better way to welcome our lost prince home than with a grand feast?" the figure cackled.
"Vargos." Angel spit the name out like it was a rotten carrot. "I'm surprised you're not wearing your crown, given all the effort you put into stealing it. Or perhaps you've sent it out to be resized, so that it will fit your swollen head!"
Vargos laughed at Angel's bluster. "Such fire! Such emotion!" he marveled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was speaking to your father."
"My father," Angel growled, "was a soulless warmonger who cared for nothing but the glory of his precious empire."
"And what a man he was!" Vargos raised a golden chalice in toast. "You see, Demilan—I'm sorry, it's 'Angel' these days, isn't it?—I didn't steal anything. In fact, you should be thanking me for saving the empire from ruin, and for carrying on King Horvath's legacy. I'm sure you would have done it yourself if you had been here, but your brother..." Vargos paused to take a sip from his chalice. "Well, I'm afraid he wasn't quite up to the task."
"What did you do with Zagar?" Angel leaped angrily from his seat, but suddenly found himself restrained by a large, muscular alien with blue skin, pointed teeth, and a spiked collar around its neck.
Vargos laughed. "What do you think we did with him?"
Angel's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare. Not even our kind would stand for a murder of a member of the royal family."
"Or would they?" Vargos shrugged. "We Quulranians have never been ones to suffer weak minds. Speaking of which..." He snapped his fingers, and another large blue alien stepped into view, this one roughly pulling a muzzled yellow filly along behind him via a chain wrapped around her neck.
"Fluttershy!" A fiery rage shot through Angel, and he lunged forward, nearly breaking free from his captor. "Why have you brought her here?" he demanded. "She played no role in my disappearance. Let her go at once!"
Vargos shook his head, though his smile remained. "It seems that even the strongest among us are vulnerable to Stockholm syndrome," he mused as he drew a long, silver sword out from underneath the table. "Fortunately, more rational minds have prevailed on this matter, and we are not predisposed to show mercy to the captor of our dear prince."
"She knew nothing of my true form!" Angel insisted as Vargos approached the cowering mare. "You cannot hold her responsible!"
"Oh, but I can," Vargos replied in a cold tone.
"No!" Angel screamed as Vargos raised the sword over his head. "You cowardly cur, Vargos! If you hurt Fluttershy, I'll—"
Vargos simply looked back and winked at Angel before swinging the sword down on Fluttershy's neck...
"Gah!" Angel leaped from his bed towards where he thought Vargos was standing, but instead he landed on the floor with a thud, startling an otter that was sleeping nearby. He leaped to his paws and looked around wildly for a few moments before realizing that he had been dreaming, and that he was still in Fluttershy's cottage.
Taking no chances, Angel raced upstairs and into Fluttershy's bedroom, verifying that the yellow mare was safe and sleeping peacefully before allowing himself to relax. He lingered at Fluttershy's side for a minute, contrasting the peaceful scene before him with the frightening images of his dream. She was blissfully ignorant of the danger Equestria faced, and if he could help it, she always would be.
Zagar, however, may not have been so lucky. While Angel held out hope that Vargos would not have taken the risk of killing Zagar, he also knew that there were many levels of pain between life and death, and given what he remembered about the palace dungeon...
Angel hopped to the window and stared up at the night sky. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, there were creatures on both ends of the galaxy that he cared about, and some of them were already in danger. Somehow, he had to find a way to return to his long-forgotten home and right the wrongs that stemmed from his absence. Getting back would be easier said than done, but he knew of an old acquaintance who might be able to help.
Angel attacked the next morning with a vengeance, digging out his old star charts, speed-fluffing his tail, and scarfing his breakfast carrot down as fast as he could. "Not too fast now," Fluttershy reminded her pet. "You don't want to get a tummyache."
Angel smacked his face with his paw, tossed the remainder of his carrot away, and hurried back into the cottage, emerging a few seconds later carrying a small suitcase. "What are you doing with that?" Fluttershy asked. "Are you going somewhere?"
Angel nodded, and pulled out a photograph that depicted a group of about twelve rabbits hopping around. He pointed at an elderly pair of rabbits in the corner of the photo, and gave Fluttershy his biggest smile.
"I see!" Fluttershy returned Angel's smile. "You're going home to visit your family!"
Angel nodded and played along with the story. The picture was actually just a bunch of random rabbits, but Fluttershy didn't need to know that.
"Well, that explains your hurry this morning," Fluttershy said. "How far away is your family? Would you like me to take you to the train station? We don't want you to be late."
Angel shook his head, and wrapped Fluttershy's left front leg in a hug. "I'm going to miss you too, Angel," Fluttershy assured him. "Have a safe trip, and we'll all see you when you get back."
Angel began hopping down the path towards Ponyville, but stopped and looked back as he reached the bridge in front of the cottage. He took a long look at Fluttershy as she waved from the cottage doorway, and hoped that this would not be the last time they met.
Once he was out of sight of the cottage, Angel made a mad dash over to Carousel Boutique. He quickly hopped up onto the nearest windowsill and scanned the area inside until he saw Opal sleeping on a pillow twenty feet from the window. Rearing back with his hind legs, Angel began rapping on the glass for all he was worth.
Eventually, Opal raised her head and scowled as she looked around for the source of the noise. Upon seeing Angel, however, her scowl changed to a smug smirk, and she rose up from her seat, yawned, stretched, and leaped down out of Angel's sight. A few seconds later, Angel heard a loud meowing sound coming from just behind the boutique door.
"Opal, darling!" Rarity could be heard saying. "Would you like to go outside?" The door swung open, and Opal stepped daintily out into the light.
Angel quickly dropped down into a bush below the windowsill. "Psst!" he hissed as he stuck his paw out of the bush and motioned for Opal to approach.
Opal sauntered slowly over to where Angel was waiting. "I'm surprised to see you out and about," she remarked. "I assumed you were out playing hide-and-seek with your 'friends' from back home."
"What?!" Angel stared at Opal in disbelief. "You know about the others?"
"Of course! They've been Rarity's best customers for the past two weeks!" Opal revealed. "They're always in disguise, of course, but I can spot a Quulranian coming a mile away. Thankfully, unlike you, those idiots are too thick to notice little old me."
"And they've just been buying dresses?"
"One of every design Rarity has." Opal chuckled. "They're either very interested in Equestrian fashion, or their latest super weapon is powered by fabric."
"Interesting." Angel scratched his chin as he processed the information. "Perhaps that fool at the market was telling the truth after all..."
"So they know about you, then?"
"Not quite," Angel replied. "They just know there's a bunny rabbit running around who could blow their cover." He took a deep breath. "Let's get down to business, madam. It's time to see if those stories you've been telling me are true."
Opal scrunched up her face. "And just what 'stories' are you referring to?" she hissed.
Angel folded his arms. "The ones about you being the greatest engineer ever to come out of the Gavalian Technical Academy."
Opal glared at Angel. "I assure you, your highness," she stated pointedly, "that my name is inscribed on every plaque that hangs in their halls, and is still spoken in reverence by every last professor!"
"Good," Angel replied. "Come with me. I've got a project for you."
Angel led Opal on a long trek deep into the EverFree Forest, past Zecora's cottage and the ruined castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. "Are we there yet?" Opal whined. "Seriously, I would've eaten a bigger breakfast if I would have known you were going to make me run a marathon."
"You really need to get out more," Angel remarked. "Don't worry, it's just a bit farther."
Four prickly bushes, three mud holes, and two fallen trees later, the pair arrived at a large rock sitting in the center of a small clearing. "We're here," Angel declared. "Lend me a paw with this rock, would you?"
The pair carefully pushed the rock over to one side, revealing a small pit underneath it. Sitting at the bottom of the pit was a twisted, rusting, pancaked pile of metal, with some unidentifiable liquids still oozing out onto the ground. "What is that?" Opal asked.
"That," Angel said, "was my ride here."
"With a heavy emphasis on was." Opal hopped down into the pit and began circling the wreckage. "Boy, this is going to be expensive," she observed. "Your warp drive is shot, your thrusters are where your steering column should be, and I've seen pretzels less twisted than this frame." She stopped in front of one of the strange puddles. "Wait... Does this thing still have plasma stabilizers?" She laughed. "No wonder your ships were so easy to shoot down. I wouldn't put plasma stabilizers on a kite, let alone a battlecruiser."
"So sue me. I couldn't get the keys to the nice transporters on short notice." Angel folded his arms. "So can you fix it?"
"Oh, I can fix it," Opal assured Angel, "but it's going to take some time. I'd have to borrow some equipment from Twilight Sparkle's basement to rebuild the thrusters and straighten this frame out, and I'd have to rewire the equipment panel and get a new warp drive from my friends in Trottingham, but frankly, it would take me less time to just build a whole new ship from scratch."
Angel cursed under his breath. "I was afraid you'd say that."
Opal rolled her eyes. "You didn't really think you were going to fly this hunk of junk all the way back to Quulran, did you?"
"I don't have a choice," Angel replied. "There's been a coup of some sort, and the throne has fallen into the clutches of a bloodthirsty warmonger."
"As if it's ever not been in the clutches of a bloodthirsty warmonger," Opal muttered.
"My brother was different!" Angel shouted angrily. "He was removed from power because he was trying to make peace with your brethren!"
"Then he's even dumber than you are!" Opal shot back. "The only thing in this galaxy more savage than a Quulranian is a Gavalian!"
"I can see that!" Angel turned to leave before his temper completely boiled over. "Forget it. I'll find another way back."
"Just a minute!" Opal jumped back out of the pit and scurried over to cut Angel off. "Look," she said, "if you really want to go back home and try to save the world or whatever you think you're going to do, then hey, it's your funeral. All I'm saying is, wouldn't the easiest thing be to catch a ride on a ship that's already fully functional, like the ones your 'friends' came in on?"
Angel shook his head. "If we're lucky, I scared them away with my threats yesterday."
"Pshaw," Opal said. "Every Quulranian I've met has been too stupid to be scared, including you. Besides, another one stopped by the boutique an hour before you did."
"That's great, but how am I supposed to find their ship?" Angel asked. "I don't have time to scour the entire town!"
Opal smirked. "Typical Quulranian, always doing things the hard way."
"And you have a better idea?"
"Don't I always?" Opal said with a smile. "Take that fellow you met yesterday. Did you happen to notice his cutie mark?"
"Yes," Angel confirmed. "It was a trio of flowers, just like—"
"Cheerilee's mark!" Opal interrupted. "I've seen two ponies with that same mark, and another that had four flowers instead of three. Now, what do you suppose that means?"
Angel shrugged. "They're trying to blend in. We don't have flora like that in Quulran, so by—"
"No, I mean why take that particular cutie mark? Why not, say, Rarity's mark, or Fluttershy's?"
"Good question." Angel scratched his chin as he racked his brain. "Hmmm... Well, given the public nature of their operations, they would have had to put together their disguises relatively quickly."
"Keep going..."
"Which means that Cheerilee was probably one of the first few ponies they observed," Angel continued.
"Bingo! But out of those few ponies, your friends picked her mark because—"
"The other ponies didn't have marks!" Angel practically shouted. "They observed her with her students, which suggests that their initial landing point is somewhere near the schoolhouse!"
"So there is a brain in there!" Opal patted Angel condescendingly on the head. "I knew you'd find it eventually."
Angel chuckled and shook his head. "Madam, I don't know whether to hug you or slap you."
"Just remember who the real brains of this operation was when you get back to Quulran," Opal said. "Of course, you'll have to convince your friends to give you a ride once you find them, but I'm sure you can handle that."
"I believe so." Angel bowed to Opal. "My thanks for your assistance."
"Give my regards to King Whatshisname!" Opal said as she turned to leave.
"Wait!" Angel shouted. "We need to put this rock back into place."
Opal sighed and trudged back. "If I break a claw on that thing," she warned, "you're paying for my pedicure."