//------------------------------// // A Royal Pain // Story: An Angel Among Ponies // by thunderclap //------------------------------// Twilight had led me to some sort of basement with all sorts of strange equipment. What surprised me was that the place was a mess. Twilight had struck me as the obsessive type that wouldn’t allow a mess to exist in her presence. I looked around to get a better look at everything. There was equipment for just about every field of science. There were multiple telescopes, beakers, test tubes, and several tall devices that looked like they belonged in a science fiction movie from the 50’s. “Twilight, have you been trying to reanimate any dead bodies lately?” “No,” she replied with a roll of her eyes, “I’m not some sort of mad scientist from an old horror story. Honestly, is every other thing that comes out of your mouth a smart alecky comment?” “Every other thing? If that’s true then I have to work harder. I must be losing my edge.” The others found my statement funny, but Twilight failed to see the humor as she shook her head. “Would you just follow me to these machines so we can get started? She said leading me towards the large machines in the back of the room. She asked me to take off my shirt and placed all sorts of electrodes around my body. Then she placed a strange helmet on my head that made me start thinking about “Back to the Future” for some reason. She turned over to the machines and they started with a deep hum and some sheets of paper started to spill out. Twilight picked up the sheets of paper with her magic and closely examined them. “If these readings are accurate then your body is fairly complex and you share a lot of organ systems that we do.” “What were you expecting to find, some sort of magical golden fairy dust?” “No, I was expecting your body to have some sort of anomaly due to your abilities, but I guess I was wr… hold on what’s this?” She stated, staring at a particular piece of paper. “What is it Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Is something wrong?” “I think the brain scanner is broken.” Said, opening a panel on one of the machines. ‘Uh oh,’ I thought. “What’s wrong with it?” Applejack asked. “The machine is saying that Grant has two sets of brainwaves, but that couldn’t possibly be true.” “Actually Twilight,” I said, causing everyone to look at me, “it is possible. I have another person in my head.” “Are you saying you’re schizophrenic? Because if you are, you’d still only have one brainwave pattern,” Twilight explained. “No, I’m not schizophrenic. I mean that my Angel half has his own separate personality. He’s always with me and we talk on a regular basis. Wow, I just realized how insane that sounds.” “So you have two active personalities? That’s completely unheard of!” Twilight exclaimed. “That is seriously freaky.” Rainbow Dash blurted out. “Rainbow Dash, that is very rude to say about, Grant.” Rarity scolded. “It’s fine Rarity,” I said with a slight smile. “I understand how weird it is, that’s why I don’t go around advertising the fact that I have a voice in my head constantly talking to me.” ‘They’re taking this pretty well.’ Gabriel said. ‘Well, they haven’t called you crazy or tried to throw you in an asylum at least.’ ‘As ever you are the shining beacon of hope in my life.’ I shot back. “Can we talk to your other personality?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Huh?” Everyone said simultaneously. “Can we talk to your other personality?” She repeated. “I think it might be fun to get to know the other you.” “I don’t know if I can.” I replied. “I’ve never given Gabriel full control of my body before.” “This really has been an eventful day.” Twilight said, trying to change the subject. “I’ll just write a letter to Princess Celestia and then we can discuss living arrangements for you, Grant. Spike, take a letter…” After that Twilight had Spike write a letter recounting the events of the day. I had her leave out a few details like my being half Angel, and my second personality. I figured it would be easier to explain in person… err, face to face rather, if I chose to explain them at all. Spike fixed a gold seal on the parchment, and blew a pale green flame on it causing it to disappear. Just as we were about to start talking about where I was going to stay for the duration of my stay in Equestria, Spike belched out more green flames and a letter dropped onto the floor. All it said was, To my faithful student Twilight, I would like to meet this strange being that you have found. You, your friends, and the being in question should meet me on the outer limits of Ponyville as soon as possible. We did as the letter said and walked to the outskirts of town. To the left was a large open field that went on into the horizon, to the right was a large wooded area, and to our front was the road out of town. I had gotten a bad feeling about the letter and was taking stock of my surroundings in case things took a turn for the worst. I had gathered the Rift into my eyes to increase the distance I could see, to check when the princess would arrive. “I wonder why the princess would take time out of her busy schedule to see Grant.” Rarity wondered aloud. “The discovery of parallel worlds and new life is extremely important,” Twilight reasoned, “but it does feel a little odd that she would ask us to meet her here. She could’ve just asked us to come to the castle, or meet us in the library.” “Is there anything I should know about the princess?” I asked, “Certain traits, or abilities?” “She’s a white alicorn, which means she has traits from all three types of ponies. She’s a little taller than you, is one of the most powerful magic users in all of Equestria, and is in charge of making the sun rise every day.” Twilight explained. ‘Yeesh, do you think she does enough?’ Gabriel said. ‘Will you stop chattering for a moment? I’m trying to think. Ok, if she has traits from all three types of ponies here then she can obviously fly and do magic. But what traits would she get from a regular pony?’ ‘Well, maybe they have stronger bodies or something?’ Gabriel offered. ‘That makes sense, and if she’s one of the most powerful magic users in Equestria and can make the sun rise…’ ‘Anyone stupid enough to mouth off to her would end up extra crispy.’ Then a white ball of energy appeared in front of us, blinding us for a moment. When the light died down, a tall, white pony with flowing, multicolored hair was standing in front of us. And the look on her face was less than friendly. “I’m glad you were able to get here quickly.” Celestia said in a cold tone. “Um, yeah, no problem,” Twilight stuttered, “this is, Grant. He’s the being that I mentioned in my letter.” “I see,” she replied, her tone unwavering, “so you killed a hydra, can heal your wounds, and claim to be a soldier from another world.” “Well, yeah.” I said, unsure of what to say. This is kind of humiliating to admit, but I was somewhat intimidated by this pony. “In that case, I’m afraid you have to die.” “What?” the girls and Spike cried. “Why would you want to kill, Grant?” Twilight asked. “He saved our lives.” “Twilight, it’s fine.” I said kneeling in front of Celestia. “How can you say that?” “I’m a soldier. I have to face the possibility of death every day. If this is how it has to be, then so be it.” “That’s very noble of you.” Celestia stated. Then she raised her horn and placed it over my heart about to kill me, but I moved in a flash, grabbing her horn and lifted myself onto her back. Then I pulled her head back by her horn and formed my sword. I was just about to slit her throat when she teleported again. I managed to land on my feet, and craned my neck looking for her. I heard a *whoosh* and saw a large fireball heading toward me from above. I rolled away but was knocked back from the small explosion it caused. I looked up and saw Celestia flying a few hundred yards away from me. “What happened to accepting death?” She boomed. “Sorry, but I have a policy against dying without a fight.” “Very well, if that’s the way you want it.” Celestia started throwing more fireballs at me. I gathered the Rift into my legs and ran as fast as I could to dodge them. Despite all my efforts the fire kept getting closer to me. I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere if I didn’t use my Angel abilities. I stopped and unzipped my uniform. If Celestia seemed confused by my actions then she didn’t show it because she continued her assault. I threw off the shirt of my uniform and concentrated on my Angel form. A ball of light formed around me and absorbed the oncoming fireballs. The ball of light intensified as my mind merged with Gabriel’s. The light disappeared and I stood with my wings outstretched and sword in hand, with a subtle glow surrounding me. “What is this?” Celestia asked, wary. I kicked off of the ground and raced toward Celestia. I brought my sword up in a wicked arc and she blocked it with her horn. “This is my way of leveling the playing field.” I said with a wide grin on my face and some distortion in my voice. We clashed a few more times and Celestia’s horn was bathed in a golden light. “You’ll need to do more than fly to beat me.” Celestia said, using her magic to push me away. “I think I’ll be fine.” I charged forward and Celestia threw more fire at me. I did my best to dodge them but one took me in the wing. I started to careen towards the ground, spinning like an old fighter plane. At the last second I stretched my wings out to allow me to glide and avoid crashing. I corrected my path and brought myself back up to my original altitude. I had Gabriel concentrate on the Rift, while I charged at Celestia. She kept trying to hit me with fire balls but I dodged them all. When I was almost on top of Celestia, Gabriel gave me the signal and we sent a bolt of lightning straight at Celestia’s back. She was taken off guard and took the full force of the attack. Before she could fully recover I slashed at one of her wings, causing her to crash. While she was falling, she caught me in some magic field and landed on top of me. The sheer pain of the fall was enough to bring me out of my Angel form, and I wasn’t sure if anything was broken or not. Celestia picked me up with her magic and glared at me for the longest time. When she finally did speak it sent a chill down my spine. “You’ve tricked me, grabbed my horn, and struck me. Do you have anything to say for yourself?” “The aristocrats,” I croaked. “Well then, you’ve just made my decision easier to make.” “Princess no!” Twilight cried, snapping out of her shock. “Yeah, you shouldn’t hurt Grant, he saved our lives.” Applejack agreed. “So, you think Grant deserves to live?” All the girls nodded at once and the look on Celestia’s face softened. “I agree,”