Far beyond the reaches of mortal breaths, blanketed in golden mists within a sea of stars, fragments of locations so close to Heaven itself floated through the comforting void. Hallowed melodies from unknown origins swam through the space beyond space, weaving through the infinite atmosphere like a gentle stream. Speckled in the haunting distance, among the endless diamonds all around, strange avian figures of white and gold flew about, entering and leaving the fragments scattered. Creatures so pure, their only interest laid in committing miracles both grand and mundane in the name of their Father. It was as divine as it was systematic, etched with hundreds, if not thousands of years of practice and obedience. Across the cosmos, these beings had many names, but in the tongue of English speaking humans beings, they were called Angels. Majesty, patience, glory, grace, and joy followed them in their wake, with plumes of white feathers being their only evidence of existence remaining upon departing the land of the living.
However, despite the good they intend to spread, their brilliant nature obscured the dark deeds they needed to commit to keep the purity of their realms. In the name of their Father, the darkness must be pushed back at any cost, no matter the lives sacrificed, no matter the pain endured, no matter the chaos it brings. This grim task brought them to a lone floating fragment, where a peculiar black clad maiden stood, guns at the ready in each hand and attached to each heel. A smile of wicked playfulness adorned her face, as her fingers twitched in anticipation, holding her scarlet firearms aloft.
In an effort to throw her off, some of the angels that decided to engage her in battle used their halos to teleport directly to her location, in order to strike her down quick. However, before any could materialize and throw a well practiced attack at her, she had already dodged as if she had seen it before hand. Even if the attack came from behind. From then, she would pummel the offending entity while filling them with magic laced lead bullets for extra measure. Upon being significantly beaten, the angel would then see a crippling punch from a giant black fist, or other times a stomp from a giant black stiletto. Both sizable attacks would erupt from peculiar portals formed from the black body suit she wore that seemed to melt away to varying degrees to summon those strikes. Despite the punishment dished out, the angels subjected to those thunderous strikes were far more well off. From time to time, at the snap of a finger, strange and brutal contraptions summoned from hell itself would appear near the maiden and nearby angel. The end result was always painful, always bloody, and never, EVER merciful. Never the less, this intruder, this witch, was a blight to their perfection and order, and had to be stopped no matter what. Each and every angel near by gave in their best effort to send her to hell, but each and every one met with a brutal fate. Except, perhaps, for one.
Bestowed the name Adna, it was nothing more than a simple warrior of light and messenger in the name of their Father. It's crimson helm gleamed in the light of the void around them. Its skin was a brilliant and unmarred white marble, decorated in circlets of gold around its arms and legs. Its golden edged wings flexed out pure white feathers in anticipation. The nails of its symmetrical, four fingered hands were also a brilliant gold, as were the claws of its didactyl feet. Its pure white and green decorated robe fluttered from the shifting heavenly mists along with the stray plumes that floated about the air. Carrying a staff depicting an image of the sun, the angel under the title Affinity charged forward to their common foe, winding its staff backward, ready to strike. Mere moments before the strike could make contact however, there was a sudden influx and distortion all around the angel. Upon realizing what was happening, it was too late. The witch had somehow manipulated the fabric of time itself to avoid the incoming attack, and had moved behind Adna. Before the angel could react, Adna's ankles were kicked out from underneath it, causing it to crash to the ground. Just as it landed, a portal of purple and black erupted between it and the witch, before the shape of a giant boot shot out, slamming against the helpless angel. The impact was so massive that the force shred Adna's wings, making it unable to fly, and cracked its marble skin, greatly diminishing its defense and endurance. Not only that, but its battered body was sent flying at a high speed off of the platform like fragment and deep into the star ocean.
The angel had failed spectacularly, and in record time. Its body spiraled out further and further into the vastness, with no end in sight, and no way to die. Adna was too far from any potential fragments to land against, and it knew no angel would help it when they had more important duties to tend to. The injuries it sustained only continued to sap the angel's energy as it continued to sail on through the infinite, praying for mercy until the subconscious consumed its thoughts. However, while its prayers were heard without it knowing, it wasn't from a God he knew, or a Devil he loathed. Never the less, in an effort to assist the passed out Affinity, the trajectory of Adna's body was tweaked, putting it on a course towards a strange looking castle made of the clouds themselves. A multi-storied tower, built of finely crafted pillars and archways, wrapped lovingly with billows of cloud formations, pooled with rainbow falls from the top and off to the sides.
Just before it got close enough, Adna's body hit a barrier the shimmered in gold. Upon the impact, the angel's halo began to glow brilliantly, becoming more intense in light than the sun itself, before finally shattering into pieces. With that, the shimmering force field changed swiftly, and Adna began to seep through the nigh invisible wall, disappearing on the other side. The barrier rippled from the transition, before settling once again in its forever changed state.
-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-
"So, Fluttershy, what's this all about?"
Upon a grassy hill, just on the northeast outskirts of Ponyville, Fluttershy had called upon a dear friend of hers for an urgent discussion. From an elegantly designed tower made of clouds descended the cyan coated and rainbow maned wonder herself. Rainbow Dash; the Element of Loyalty, member of the Weather Patrol in Ponyville, an aspiring prospect of the Wonderbolts, and capable of speeds far beyond pegasus abilities. In spite of her accomplishments, or perhaps because of them, her attitude always exhumed an air of pride and cockiness. However, despite her intense and arrogant nature, she had since learned to tone it down, especially around her friends. More so around Fluttershy.
"Oh, uhm, I was just wondering if you could tell me the schedule for the weather this week."
"Sure," Rainbow Dash said, "The boss has no qualms about telling other ponies about it. Why do you need to know, though?"
"Bael is coming to visit tomorrow."
Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrows in shock. "You mean that giant frog thing that you told us all about a while ago?"
Fluttershy grumbled a little, not appreciating how four of her good friends continued to call Bael a "giant frog thing" or some other variant, but let it slide just like before. "Yes. Twilight has been working on something for him so he can visit more places without his size being a danger to everypony around him. She told me a few days ago she had it completed, and is eager to test it."
Rainbow Dash nodded, but was honestly not entirely interested in her egghead friend's assumed experiment. However, the prospect of finally meeting the giant ice toad that basically saved the Crystal Empire was intriguing enough. "Well, the weather is going to be sunny for the next few days, but the schedule does say that we'll need to start up a chilly wind to run through the south and east side of town. Tomorrow night we start and it stops in three days, I think. I can re-check the schedule on that if you want."
"Oh, that'll be good. Any rain?"
"Sorry, but that's not until the week after next, and only for a couple days."
"Ok."
Suddenly, a loud crack was heard coming from the sky. Both pegasi looked towards the offending sound, and noticed a fireball of a sort, screaming down towards Ponyville. Or, more specifically, towards Dash's home. Before she could react in time, the unidentified flaming object collided with the top of the tower and sailed through a stream of rainbow. Said object was now on a direct course for the two mares. Fluttershy screamed in panic.
Without saying a word, Rainbow tackled her canary yellow friend out of the incoming object just before it could land on her. Up in the air and a decent distance away from the impact point, Rainbow Dash let go of Fluttershy once she was sure her friend was alright. Then, out of curiosity, the two mares floated down to the small crater to get a look at what almost hit them, before Fluttershy gasped and realized something. Whatever almost crashed into them was some sort of creature, and it seemed to still be alive and breathing.
"I'll go and get Twilight!" Fluttershy said, before turning to Ponyville and began making her way to the library.
However, Rainbow remained behind, fixated on the being laying before her, face down in the scorched and rainbow splotched ground. It was a little difficult to tell with the multiple colors, but she tried getting a good look at the being. It was strange to be sure. It seemed bird-like to her, but the body structure was all wrong. While its leg structure seemed right, despite how muscular they were, the upper body was most definitely off-beat, featuring a well toned torso, and two arms that had symmetrical hands. Its neck was thick and elongated, capped with what seemed to be a red helm, with a white beak just barely poking out at the tip. At the base of the back of its neck featured what seemed to be an open mouthed face. Going down its back, she saw two de-feathered wing-like appendages, still smouldering slightly from the fall. Its white marble skin, when not painted with the liquid rainbow, had slight chips and cracks that revealed something red underneath. The gold it wore seemed to wind around its arms, legs, and neck, either as decoration, or significance of something she couldn't tell. The only other thing it wore was a singed and torn white and green robe that covered its front and back.
"Oh yeah, that," Rainbow Dash said, snapping out of her awe. She then quickly grabbed a cloud, positioned it over the fallen creature, and kicked the cloud, causing it to rain on it, washing it down. Swiftly, the creature was relatively clean and no longer smoldering in no time. "That should do it," she said as she kicked it again, turning the cloud off, and pushing it back into the sky at a safe distance. Once she returned, and felt that waiting around for her friends in the mud wasn't right for this new being, the mare decided to pick it up and take it somewhere warm and dry in the meantime. Lifting its body gingerly, Rainbow was surprised to learn that, despite it being a little more than twice her size, it seemed to be quite light. Perhaps even lighter than herself. Figuring she should not dwell on it, she took flight, and proceeded back to her cloud house. Rainbow looked towards the damage done to the top of her tower, clicking he tongue in slight annoyance, before finally flying inside her home.
Once inside, she made here way to the empty couch, and gently placed the creature's body on the soft furniture in a recovering position. Racing out of the room, she then retrieved a dry towel from her bathroom, and came back to pat the being down, gently trying to dry it off. Getting as much of the water and residual liquid rainbow off of it, she tossed to soaking towel away into the laundry bin once she felt she was done. She then backed off from the being, giving it room to breathe, and realized something.
"So, am I going to be eventually partnered up with you, or something?" Rainbow Dash assumed, based on what happened with her friends. Silence prevailed the air as the being remained still. She laughed at the prospect, before saying, "Well, it could have been worse. You could have been some weird flaming spider monster, or a jerk with slicked back hair and a blue coat, or whatever other dumb thing that could have shown up." She sighed. "Guess I won't know until you get up." She then turned her attention to her pet tortoise, Tank, whom had stirred from the disturbance and decided to see what was up. "Hey Tank," Rainbow Dash said, before looking back to the creature, "I guess we have a new guest in Ponyville. Hopefully Twilight will help us figure out what exactly it is. Not like she'll need to, unless it has amnesia after that crash, or something lame like that." The hardy reptile simply smiled at her, as she continued to talk, "Geez, there seems to be a lot going on around here. Weird creatures showing up left and right, Discord returning, another Changeling attack, a letter from the Wonderbolts Acadamy..." She looked out the window. "THAT, I can't wait to go and do. Training with THE Wonderbolts." Rainbow Dash sighed in affinity, musing to herself about the possibilities and the inspired feeling deep in her heart. She looked back down to her beloved Tank, whom just smiled at her, unable to NOT feel some of his owner's joy. She then turned her attention to the strange creature. "I guess I should go wait outside for Twilight and Fluttershy, eh? You stay here and be good until I get back. You too, Tank." With that, she exited the building, leaving her pet and the new guest behind.
-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-
It felt like an eternity. Adna's whole body ached beyond anything that it had suffered in the name of the Father. If this was the concept of Hell, it most certainly did not enjoy the feeling. Its consciousness swam through the nothing deep within its own mind, as memories slowly came back, bit by bit. It remembered the many duties it was assigned to do, and the miracles it was called for. It remembered the intrusion of the witch, and the colossal failure against what should have been an easy target. With the sheer numbers they had against her, it was almost flabbergasting that she took them all on so easily. It was a disgrace, and the fact that Adna still lived was an even bigger dishonor. It would rather reset in the meadows of Heaven as a Decoration than to live as a failure. However, because suicide was forbidden among their kind, all it could do was beg for forgiveness.
"Ils micaolz olpirt od ialprg de bliors, il Mad aaf tol, yolcam iehusoz od bams ol dobix. Gnay ip adrpan ol gah, crp loholo g-"a
"It's saying something..."
The angel stopped its prayer for mercy, and zeroed in on the unknown voice. It wasn't the Father that Adna prayed to, certainly, as it was distinctly singular and female in tone. For a moment, it worried that the witch it fought had found it, and was now waiting for Adna to return to the world of the conscious in order to enact terrible brutality. The terror subsided, however, when it realized the voice sounded younger and far kinder than expected. As the silence lingered, Adna started to become more aware of its presence, which gave way to its return to the waking world. Slowly but surely, the subconscious began to melt away, and more physical sensations became recognizable.
"It's waking up!"