Suponynatural

by thepinkparty

pegacas

. . .

Dean blinked several times, demanding incredulously, "An angel? That…Perfect-Storm-with-an-attitude thing is a freaking ANGEL?"

Cas nodded grimly. "I'm afraid so."

Twilight looked confused. "What do you mean, an angel?"

Both Dean and Cas opened their mouths at once to define the word, probably in vastly different ways, but Sam quickly overrode them. "We'll explain later." He turned towards Cas. "So how do we stop him?"

"And by 'stop' we mean 'gank'," Dean added, in a low growl.

Twilight opened her mouth as if to ask him to clarify this term, then seemed to have second (or third) thoughts, and closed it again.

Cas shook his head. "We can't."

Sam gaped at him. "What?"

Ears flattened, Cas let out a snorted breath. "We. Can't. Stop him," he said very slowly and deliberately. "What part of that am I failing to make clear?"

There were a few moments of very uncomfortable silence, broken only by the hammering rain against the walls and windows, and the occasional muffled baby-dragon snore. Finally, Sam turned around to look at the group. "Ladies, could you give us a moment, please?"

The three girls looked at each other, then Applejack slowly nodded. "Sure, no problem." She and Twilight turned and headed for the far side of the library, while Rainbow Dash remained stubbornly flapping in place. "You too, Rainbow," Applejack insisted, grabbing Rainbow by the tail and dragging her off.

"But I wanna…! Aww," Rainbow protested sullenly as she finally gave in and joined her friends. Sam waited until they were all deep in conversation on the other side of the room. Then he and Dean moved in towards Cas, huddling together as Sam spoke in a low, aggravated whisper.

"What's going on, Cas?" he demanded. "I mean, you dump us in this dimension, then you vanish and we don't know what the hell happened to you…"

"Not to mention you turn us into barnyard animals," Dean added irritably.

"And now you say we can't even stop the thing that's causing all this? I mean, what the hell?" Sam angrily lashed his tail back and forth, looked back as he realized what he was doing, and quickly pressed it against his body to hold it still.

Castiel looked defensive. "I'm sorry if you find your circumstances…unpleasant," he said. "But I did try to warn you. Humans can't exist in this reality." He flared his wings, nearly whacking Dean in the face. "This was the best I could do, believe me."

Dean took a step back to avoid any more wing attacks. "Yeah, well, never mind that now. What happened back there? Why'd you bail on us?"

Cas looked away, his mouth setting in a hard line. "Asfaloth attacked the instant I completed the ritual. I had only a fraction of a second to act." He looked at them both in turn. "So I transported myself as far away from you as possible, hoping to draw him off." He nodded towards their scratches and scrapes. "From the looks of things, I assume I didn't quite succeed."

Sam and Dean looked at each other uncomfortably. Finally, Dean offered, "Yeah, well…guess you did your best. So thanks for that."

Cas nodded. "You're welcome," he replied, without a trace of irony.

Sam exhaled heavily. "OK, fine. Now we know what we're up against. So why can't we do something about it?"

Cas' ears and tail drooped. "Because I'm powerless."

"WHAT?" the brothers yelled in unison.

From the other side of the room, the three fillies looked up from their conversation, staring at them. Dean tried to give his absolute best don't-worry-everything's-fine smile. From the dubious looks on their faces, it didn't go over as well as he'd hoped. However, they turned away and went back to their own conversation, Twilight insistently pointing to the page of an open book.

Dean leaned in towards Cas, his voice an extremely dangerous whisper. "Cas, this better not be your idea of a joke, because I swear…"

Cas snapped, flaring his black-feathered wings again, "It isn't a joke, Dean-!"

Dean narrowly avoided another wing-smack. "And watch it with those things, willya?"

"It took an immense amount of power to transport us here! Then Asfaloth nearly destroyed you the moment we arrived, and I had to use the last of my energies just to stop him!" He lowered his wings again, and his voice grew acidic. "So I'm sorry. But for the moment, I have no more power than any other…" He glanced back at himself. "…flying…hooved mammal."

Sam gave a weary sigh, squeezing his eyes shut and rubbing his forehead with a hoof. "Pegasus, Cas. You're a Pegasus."

Dean smirked. "PegaCas," he observed, in the tones of someone who'd just come up with something very clever. His only reward was a pair of withering looks. "What?"

Cas exhaled heavily and sat down on his haunches, nudging the bookcase behind him. "Asfaloth has been drawing power from the very storms he creates, blending it with his own. So he's not entirely an angel, not any more."

Sam looked worried. "So we can't do the banishing thing on him?"

"No. The energies he's absorbed have bound him to this world. We can't banish him without causing substantial damage to the planet." He shook his head. "And we can't just-gank him-" he added, with a significant look towards Dean, "either. He has no physical body to kill."

Dean stomped a hind hoof in frustration. "There's gotta be something." He wracked his brain for a solution, but came up with nothing. He looked pleadingly over at Sam. "Well, come on, Sammie! You're supposed to be the brains of this outfit!"

"Well…ah…" Sam looked thoughtful. "Maybe we could, I don't know, contain him somehow?"

"A-hem," came a hesitant voice from behind him.

"Just a second, Twilight," Sam said, without turning around. "You know, maybe there's some kind of ritual, or binding spell…"

"Excuse me," Twilight said, more insistently.

Dean snapped, more angrily than he'd intended, "Hang on, OK?" Then he frowned, forehead creasing in thought. "So, what, you think we can find some way to trap him, or something like…"

FWHEEEEEEEEET!

An ear-piercing whistle caused the trio to startle in unison. They all stared at Applejack, who lowered her hoof from her mouth with a smug expression. Rainbow Dash, smirking from overhead, looked towards Twilight. And the unicorn telekinetically floated an ancient-looking tome in front of them, gestured towards the open pages, and asked in triumph:

"Is this what you're looking for?"

. . .

In short order, three colts and three fillies gathered around a large, antique-looking book laid open on the floor. A ring of candles surrounded them, the warm orange light casting flickering shadows as the group peered intently at the thin, angular writing and faded diagrams. A distant rumble of thunder made the treehouse vibrate, but the storm's wrath seemed to have subsided for the moment. And the interior of the library was much cozier now that someone had actually had the idea to shut the window.

Twilight moved her hoof across the open pages. "This is really old magic," she explained. "I don't think anypony's tried it for over nine hundred years. But it talks about a malevolent force of pure energy, and how a group of ponies managed to imprison it forever."

Dean nodded. "OK, we're listening."

She seemed briefly intimidated by the weight of all the eyes upon her, but visibly gathered her courage and continued. "The magic-users of old used this incantation to split the evil force into pieces." She tapped an archaic-looking, stylized drawing of a unicorn with wavering beams of light emanating from its horn. "They bound its energy into several large gemstones, then buried the stones deep underground, imprisoning it for all time."

Sam looked intrigued. "So I don't suppose you happen to have some really big gems lying around?"

Applejack smiled mysteriously. "We don't. But I know somepony who probably does."

Dean glanced towards the solemn-looking Pegasus beside him. "Well, Cas, whattaya think?"

Cas looked thoughtful. "It's a start," he acknowledged. "But it may not be enough. However…" He looked up at the group. "If we bind his energies, bury the stones, and I place an anti-angel sigil over them…"

"Don't ask," Dean quickly told the confused-looking fillies.

"…then that might be enough to keep him confined." His expression became unreadable, the wavering candlelight casting dark shadows beneath his eyes. "Trapped and helpless, alone beneath the earth, forever."

Rainbow Dash burst up into the air. "Well, what're we waiting for?" she demanded, throwing forehoof punches. "Let's take this thing out!"

Applejack said, "Hold on, sugarcube." She pointed towards the page. "This here spell says we need three in the air, three on the ground." She looked around at the gathered group. "By my count that leaves us one flier short."

Twilight looked thoughtful. "Well," she suggested, "I could use a spell to give one of us wings…"

Dean scooted backward with a look of terror. "Uh uh. No. No way."

Sam looked wickedly amused, but said, "Nice thought, but it looks like this spell needs seven participants." He tapped the top of the drawing with his hoof, reading aloud from the text. "Three in the sky, to split the power's will." Then he tapped the bottom. "Three on the ground, to draw the power into the earth."

"I volunteer for that," Dean said quickly. Cas rolled his eyes, but offered no comment.

Sam continued reading, "And one in the center of all, to speak the words and bind the power for eternity." He smiled across the book at Twilight. "So I'm guessing that'd be you."

Twilight giggled nervously, giving him a starry-eyed look. Then, at a pointed throat-clearing from Applejack, she shook herself and said, in exaggeratedly serious tones, "Ahem. Yes. I can do that." Then she seemed to deflate as she added meekly, "That is…I'll do my best."

For what seemed like a long time, no one spoke. Then, slowly, Cas nodded once. "This is a reasonably intelligent plan," he said. "It almost has a chance of working."

The others looked dubious, but Dean only shrugged. "Hey, from him? That's like jumping up and down and cheering."

Then he looked around at the three fillies, and gave a slightly wicked grin. "So whattaya say, ladies? Do we do this?"

Rainbow Dash and Applejack chorused, "Yeah!" while Twilight leaped to her feet and shouted, "Group hug!"

Several blank pairs of eyes stared back at her. Slowly, with a weak, embarrassed smile, Twilight sat back down. "Or…not."

. . .

Less than an hour had passed as the wind and lightning grew quiet, and the rain subsided to a sullen drizzle. Dean stood outside the library, gazing up at the featureless, iron-gray sky. He cautiously took a few steps out from under the shelter of the tree, looking up as if expecting to be incinerated at any moment. When this failed to happen, he visibly relaxed and glanced back towards Sam and Cas. "Looks like the coast is clear."

The other two approached him, both sporting a pair of white saddlebags across their backs. Dean snickered at them. "Dudes, nice fanny packs." He smirked openly. "What, were they having a sale down at the Gap?" However, his smirk vanished as Applejack came up behind him and plopped a matching set on his own back.

Sam affected a look of saintly innocence. "Nice fanny p-"

"Dude, I will break your face."

Applejack glanced back towards the library's front door, where Twilight was saying her farewells to a pair of new arrivals. One, a white unicorn with a curling purple mane, appeared to be having a moment of drama as she flung herself into a rib-crushing hug with Twilight, sobbing as if her friend was heading for certain death. The other, a bright pink pony with an exaggeratedly curly mane and tail, was gleefully bouncing around in circles, seeming completely unfazed by anything up to and including the prospective end of the world.

Noticing the boys' expressions, Applejack chuckled. "Rarity an' Pinkie Pie'll be OK," she observed. "They're gonna stay at the library and look after Spike in the meanwhile."

Sam looked doubtful. "Uh…OK." Then he blinked as Rainbow Dash approached, flying at a much slower speed than usual. This was because she was forcibly dragging along a pale yellow Pegasus with a pink mane and tail. The latter was trembling violently and digging all four hooves into the ground so hard she left scrape marks. Sam blinked again. "So, ah…she's our third flier?"

Applejack sighed, shaking her head sorrowfully. "Yep, that'd be Fluttershy."

"Uh huh," Dean said, in flat, disbelieving tones, as Fluttershy curled herself up into a tiny ball and emitted high-pitched whimpers. Rainbow flapped over the other Pegasus with her forelegs folded, her expression surly as Dean concluded, "I can see this is gonna go real well."

Sam leaned in to whisper to Dean, "You could always change your mind and get a pair of wi-"

"NO."

"Fine, fine." Sam somehow managed to look innocent and evil at the same time. Cas only watched without comment, as if nothing in Heaven, Hell, Earth, or Equestria could faze him any more.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie entered the library, the latter singing a festive and off-key song as they shut the door behind them. Twilight approached the rest of the group, looking pensive. She nodded at them all, then pointed her muzzle back at her own saddlebags. "All right. I have the spell book, everyone else has a gem."

Applejack warned, "Now, remember, six o'these things was all Rarity could get for us. So don't nopony go losin' any of 'em."

Dean nodded and gave a lopsided smile. "Yes, ma'am." Then his expression turned serious. "OK, this is it, guys and gals. We head out, and we do this. Right?"

He was answered by overlapping replies of "Right!", except for Fluttershy, who was circling around in place trying to dig a hole in the ground and hide in it.

Sam looked dubious at her, but decided not to comment. Then a thought occurred to him. "Cas, can we even get close to this guy without him noticing? I mean…" He made a rueful face. "Seems like he's managed to spot the three of us pretty well so far."

Cas shook his head. "I believe Asfaloth is dormant for the moment, regaining his strength. Besides, he'll expect us to be hiding, not attacking."

Rainbow Dash laughed and kicked at the air. "Ha! He's in for a surprise."

"Still," Cas continued quickly, looking at her in alarm as if she might decide to kick him in the ribs next, "It might be best if we proceed quietly, and not speak any names. Especially not my own." His expression turned wry. "His visual perception may not be acute, but he can hear very well."

Applejack nodded, then turned to address her friends. "All right, ladies. Let's move it out."

Rainbow Dash snorted as her friends broke into a fast trot. "Finally! Some action!"

Then she whirled around and came up behind Fluttershy, pushing her firmly with her forehead. Fluttershy protested, "But…but…!" Then she trailed off with a squeak as she was shoved along the path out of Ponyville.

Dean turned to look at his brother and Cas. "Well, guys, guess we hoof it from here." He grinned. "Get it? Huh?"

Sam glowered at him. "I'm not walking with you." With that, he turned and trotted off ahead of them, kicking up a cloud of dust behind him as he went.

"What? What? I swear," Dean observed in disgust to the silent Castiel as they started to move forward, "that kid's got such a stick up his ass sometimes."

For a while, the two of them trotted along without speaking, the only noise the sound of their hoofbeats and the rush of the ever-present wind. In a matter of moments, they'd left the village and found themselves out in open country, fields of grass lying gray and silent beneath the threatening sky. They passed by several skeletal trees, stripped of their leaves by the storm, thin black branches creaking in the cold wind.

Still, Cas stared straight ahead in total silence, not even acknowledging Dean's presence. Finally, Dean couldn't stand it any longer, and turned his head to look at his friend. "Hey, Cas. You all right?"

"Yes," he replied immediately, without looking at him. Then he lowered his head, swishing his tail once. "No."

"So what's the problem? I mean," he corrected himself sarcastically, "besides that this whole situation's completely batshit insane?"

Cas sighed, and finally turned his head to look Dean in the eye. "It's Asfaloth. Whatever he's become, he was once a brother angel." He looked down at the road under his hooves, his expression growing dark. "And we're about to condemn him to an eternity of imprisonment."

Dean shook his head, his pace slowing as the road grew steeper and rockier, heading for the top of a high ridge. "Well, sorry, Cas, but I don't see that we've got much choice. You said yourself the guy was a threat."

Then he gestured with his head towards the fillies, trotting in a tight group up ahead. "Besides, we gotta help these gals, right? It's not like they asked for this crap to get dumped on them."

"No, you're right," Cas admitted, turning his gaze towards the sky. "I just…wish there was another way."

Dean followed his gaze as they reached the top of the ridge. Up ahead, a swirling mass of clouds glowed in violent shades of green against the black night. The ponies left the road behind, and finally came to a halt in the center of a wide, flat field. The long grass billowed in waves all around them with a sound like sullen, whispering voices. Dean shivered, thinking, Man, this whole field looks like one giant buffet to me now. That is goddamn SCARY.

Dean and Cas slowed, then stopped as they joined Sam. He stood some distance behind the four fillies, who were huddled together looking up at the sky with various degrees of concern, caution, defiance, and total paralytic terror.

"Hey, Cas?" Sam asked under his breath. "Is that…" He pointed with his head towards the glowing, churning mass high above them. "…what you look like? I mean, what you really look like?"

"Of course not," he replied, deadpan. "I'm much bigger."

. . .

Comments

[gcwg57]

I know another way to beat the angel!